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Nick Brumfield

@nickjbrumfield.bsky.social

12K followers 2.8K following 23K posts

Researcher on Yemen, MENA, Maritime Domain | Posts about MENA, Appalachia, Rivers | Words in Daily Beast, FPRI, Amwaj, Al-Jazeera, 100 Days in Appalachia | Contact [email protected] for work, media inquiries | he/him

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 29d

In a world obsessed with Israeli airstrikes, in this piece I argue that you're never going to contain the Houthis without a stronger IRG

And that's going to require addressing deep obstacles to the flow and distribution of Yemen's hydrocarbon wealth

Fueling Instability: Hydrocarbons, Protests, and the Limits of Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government

In late July 2025, large-scale protests against electricity outages, economic deterioration, and general mismanagement by Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) erupted in Mukalla, Yemen’...

arabcenterdc.org

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 7h

Spent most of today managing 15 GB worth of photos from the last year and a half and if you're under 20 you don't understand how that would've sounded impossible in the 2000s

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 9h

"Was Kay's abortion in The Godfather Part II because of Michael's "Sicilian thing going back 2000 years" eugenics?" thread locked after 12,789 posts

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 11h

Guy who watches The Godfather Part II as a tragic documentary about the fall of the Batista regime

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 17h

It'd be like if Trump used taxpayer dollars to hold a comedy extravaganza at the Kennedy Center. Any comic who went to that would be sending a clear signal.

So stop painting KSA with too broad a brush, or setting up strawmen about how activists have no leg to stand on in criticizing any state.

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 17h

Since this is *still* going on, it's important to formulate one's comedy festival criticisms around its relationships to specific actors

It's not that the festival took place in Riyadh. If some random club had a festival, there'd be no problem imo. It was its relationship to the Saudi state.

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 17h

You can tell so much more of his brain is being taken up by trying to develop a synergistic business strategy rather than compelling storytelling and last I checked he ain't got an MBA

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 18h

They shoulda never given James Gunn corporate control he's an amazing storyteller but the minute he switched to "the goal is to preserve and expand the DCU's diamond properties" the magic got kinda lost it's not punk rock to be a suit

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Reposted by Nick Brumfield

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 19h

“ICE kidnapped a community member here,” reads one. “Never forget/no nos olvidamos,” says another.

The signs have appeared across some of D.C.’s heavily immigrant neighborhoods where federal immigration arrests have escalated.

Signs popping up around D.C. note: ‘ICE kidnapping happened here’

The signs range in style and mark numerous locations where people have been taken by federal agents.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Nick Brumfield

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

Ok locking this down because rando anons are starting to come into my mentions to argue the merits of geographical determinism

To put my cards on the table, I think these things are the product of the concentration and distribution of capital, the result of both space (geography) and time (history)

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Reposted by Nick Brumfield

Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 21h

People who act confused by Hamas' desire to free Barghoti are bizarre to me, Hamas wants him out even though he isn't Hamas affiliated because they believe he is one of the few, or maybe even the only, individuals who can unite the whole of Palestinian factions under the PLO

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

Time to go read Nature's Metropolis while blasting Bon Iver's Second Nature

Bon Iver - Second Nature (From 'Don’t Look Up') Lyric Video | Netflix

YouTube video by Still Watching Netflix

youtu.be

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

Pour one out for a Red

Reds (1981) Congressional Hearing scene

YouTube video by Ryan

youtu.be

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

A fair rejoinder!

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

Geography isn't destiny. But it can definitely help!

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 19h

Robert Putnam: Why is North Italy so much more prosperous than South Italy? Are the southerners less capable after centuries of social fragmentation?

Me, two seconds after looking at a map: Maybe. But could it also have something to do with the Po Valley being the one flat piece of land in Italy?

A topographic map of Italy showing most of the peninsula covered in mountains, but the wide Po Valley very apparent in the north

A map of population density of Italy with large concentrations in the Po Valley, Rome, and Naples

A map of life expectancy in Italy, with the greenest clusters in northern Italy, especially the Po Valley, while southern Italy is increasingly dark shades of orange

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 20h

Diane Keaton, man. Fuck.

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

But today's trip was mostly about Bangkok's history as a port destination for Chinese migrants

Started at a migrant museum, walked the Chao Phraya to a wat built in the shape of a migrant ship, then to a mall where the migrants' labor has been packaged for consumption by their affluent descendants

A panorama of Yaowarat road at the Wat Traimit Chinese migrant museum

Nick Brumfield standing in front of a boat plying a muddy brown Chao Phraya River

Wat Yannawa, with part of the temple constructed as a stylized replica of a Chinese junk

A statue of a Chinese laborerer pulling a stone

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

Some scenes from a predominantly Muslim area of Bang Rak around Masjid Haroon

Street art depicting women and men of all colors and races, with some in hijab, and a giant sleeping kitty in the back

Colorful street art of a woman in hijab looking contemplative

Street art showing men and women in Muslim garb in front of a depiction of Masjid Haroon Mosque

A firetruck with a Palestinian flag flying beside it

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

Bangkok's Grand Central Post Office, completed in 1940, an amazing example of Thai-style Neoclassical architecture

A brick and mortal building in the Neo-Classical style with two Garuda statues on top

A cast iron door in blue and gold with Thai Art deco motifs

A large white post office room with a chandelier

A giant art deco bas relief done in the style of a postage stamp with a man on a horse

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

It gets really good and then screws up at almost Game of Thrones levels in the last episode. Gets more interested in moving pieces around for the DCU than delivering a satisfying ending to this series, which is basically confirmed to not get a season 3.

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

Been sitting quietly on public transit with my partner for like an hour and every little bit one of us will ask "whatcha thinking about?" and the other will say "just thinking about how disappointed I am in James Gunn"

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

I don't need to inflict my legs on the world, more Bug Maniac vibes

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 1d

Currently dressed like a Pokemon Bug Catcher

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Reposted by Nick Brumfield

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 2d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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