Rob Shum
@robshum.bsky.social
Public policy ( #climate / energy policy, more specifically ) & IR prof (but also ex-🇨🇦 trade diplomat). PoliSciSky 🗺️, EnergySky 🔌💡, & GreenSky 🌱.
Cf. same handles on birdsite & mastodon.social/@robshum
Cf. same handles on birdsite & mastodon.social/@robshum
Pinned
Rob Shum
@robshum.bsky.social
· Oct 28
You don't have to ask <if> or <when> 🇺🇸 democracy will backslide. It it hadn't already, we would not be speculating about where the loyalty of the generals lies & whether that might matter in a matter of days/weeks.
I think it is safe to say that after this week, Trump does not have the loyalty of the generals. That means something
How many “Republics” have the USA had? As many as France?
1 possible way to count:
1. Articles of Confederation
2. Current (unamended) Constitution
3. Post-Civil-War
4. Post-Civil-Rights
And we’re currently witnessing an Algerian-type crisis, and waiting for a Fifth Republic.
1 possible way to count:
1. Articles of Confederation
2. Current (unamended) Constitution
3. Post-Civil-War
4. Post-Civil-Rights
And we’re currently witnessing an Algerian-type crisis, and waiting for a Fifth Republic.
For small towns with shrinking demographics in developed countries everywhere: *this* is the future that nativism and xenophobia offers you.
Destroying Newport's fishing and tourism to house Stephen Miller's sadistic fantasies.
Where the Waters Are Rough, a Fishing Town Confronts Trump’s Priorities
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:29 PM
For small towns with shrinking demographics in developed countries everywhere: *this* is the future that nativism and xenophobia offers you.
Reposted by Rob Shum
If the EU debt and migrant crises hollowed out center-left and center-right parties, it was because the debt crisis revealed how much neoliberalism had removed the social from social democracy; and the migrant crisis revealed how much nativism had removed the Christian from Christian democracy.
November 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
If the EU debt and migrant crises hollowed out center-left and center-right parties, it was because the debt crisis revealed how much neoliberalism had removed the social from social democracy; and the migrant crisis revealed how much nativism had removed the Christian from Christian democracy.
Wag the Snoopy Balloon.
I know this sounds partisan but I generally think it would be a bad idea for Trump to bomb Venezuela during the macys day parade
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Wag the Snoopy Balloon.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Oh that's cool it's the Japanese government's literal nightmare about Trump throwing Japan and the region under the bus to get a trade deal with Xi
“.. Japanese officials said the message was worrying: the president didn’t want friction over Taiwan to endanger a detente reached last month with Xi, which includes a promise to buy more agricultural products from American farmers ..”
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
November 27, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Oh that's cool it's the Japanese government's literal nightmare about Trump throwing Japan and the region under the bus to get a trade deal with Xi
Reposted by Rob Shum
This will be a great opportunity to take an x-ray of global sentiment wrt who's bearish or bullish on the power and influence of Trump and the US.
The fact that the Dec. 2026 summit will come just a month after the congressional midterms also means there may be some late-breaking shifts on both.
The fact that the Dec. 2026 summit will come just a month after the congressional midterms also means there may be some late-breaking shifts on both.
Trump Says South Africa Is Not Invited to G20 Summit in U.S. in 2026
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM
This will be a great opportunity to take an x-ray of global sentiment wrt who's bearish or bullish on the power and influence of Trump and the US.
The fact that the Dec. 2026 summit will come just a month after the congressional midterms also means there may be some late-breaking shifts on both.
The fact that the Dec. 2026 summit will come just a month after the congressional midterms also means there may be some late-breaking shifts on both.
Reposted by Rob Shum
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
Reposted by Rob Shum
New Report: 7 regional grids across the U.S. and Canada face an “elevated risk” of power shortages.
The threat stems from a mismatch of growing electricity demand — much from data centers — and lagging additions to the grid’s generating capacity.
#energysky #powergrid
san.com/cc/data-cent...
The threat stems from a mismatch of growing electricity demand — much from data centers — and lagging additions to the grid’s generating capacity.
#energysky #powergrid
san.com/cc/data-cent...
Data centers drive ‘elevated risk’ of electricity shortages this winter
A new assessment warns that much of North America could face electricity shortages during extreme winter cold snaps.
san.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:18 AM
New Report: 7 regional grids across the U.S. and Canada face an “elevated risk” of power shortages.
The threat stems from a mismatch of growing electricity demand — much from data centers — and lagging additions to the grid’s generating capacity.
#energysky #powergrid
san.com/cc/data-cent...
The threat stems from a mismatch of growing electricity demand — much from data centers — and lagging additions to the grid’s generating capacity.
#energysky #powergrid
san.com/cc/data-cent...
Reposted by Rob Shum
This is not different from the Republican desire to end the ACA with no plan to replace it.
This is like demanding that someone jump out of a plane before they’re given a parachute. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
US demands peace deal before security guarantees for Ukraine
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European allies that President Donald Trump will negotiate long-term assurances for Ukraine’s safety.
www.politico.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:32 AM
This is not different from the Republican desire to end the ACA with no plan to replace it.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Dear foreign nationals in war-torn countries, terrorism hot-spots, and amidst our enemies:
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
So now they’re going to be doing individualized re-review of tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees’ cases on TOP of the re-review of 200,000+ refugees who entered under Biden?
November 27, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Dear foreign nationals in war-torn countries, terrorism hot-spots, and amidst our enemies:
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
Reposted by Rob Shum
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
Call it the Great Vibes-Economics Divergence.
It seems to be happening all over.
Probably has something to do with mass media fragmentation, and its replacement with self-contained social media & information ecosystems.
It seems to be happening all over.
Probably has something to do with mass media fragmentation, and its replacement with self-contained social media & information ecosystems.
Starmer and Reeves run probably the most economically left-wing government of past five decades and yet bleeding support to its left thanks to dumb strategy www.economist.com/britain/2025...
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Call it the Great Vibes-Economics Divergence.
It seems to be happening all over.
Probably has something to do with mass media fragmentation, and its replacement with self-contained social media & information ecosystems.
It seems to be happening all over.
Probably has something to do with mass media fragmentation, and its replacement with self-contained social media & information ecosystems.
Reposted by Rob Shum
November 27, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Rob Shum
"The bill for a $21 ball of yarn now includes $12 to $15 in brokerage fees that her shipper UPS charges, plus state taxes and a 6.5% tariff, all of which almost doubles her costs."
“It’s amazing how many people really didn’t know what the impact was going to be.”
apnews.com/article/de-m...
“It’s amazing how many people really didn’t know what the impact was going to be.”
apnews.com/article/de-m...
Sellers in other countries struggle to maintain US customers as holiday shopping season starts
Small businesses are struggling to adapt since the U.S. ended the "de minimis" exemption on Aug. 29, which allowed imports under $800 to be tariff-free.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:42 PM
"The bill for a $21 ball of yarn now includes $12 to $15 in brokerage fees that her shipper UPS charges, plus state taxes and a 6.5% tariff, all of which almost doubles her costs."
“It’s amazing how many people really didn’t know what the impact was going to be.”
apnews.com/article/de-m...
“It’s amazing how many people really didn’t know what the impact was going to be.”
apnews.com/article/de-m...
Reposted by Rob Shum
SCOOP—In August, nearly 200 current/former FEMA staffers published the Katrina Declaration, a whistleblower letter detailing all the dangers posed by current leadership.
All current employees were put on indefinite leave, and now I've learned one has been fired in violation of federal protections:
All current employees were put on indefinite leave, and now I've learned one has been fired in violation of federal protections:
FEMA employee terminated for signing whistleblower letter
It appears to be a major violation of federal whistleblower protections and constitutional rights.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 26, 2025 at 7:58 PM
SCOOP—In August, nearly 200 current/former FEMA staffers published the Katrina Declaration, a whistleblower letter detailing all the dangers posed by current leadership.
All current employees were put on indefinite leave, and now I've learned one has been fired in violation of federal protections:
All current employees were put on indefinite leave, and now I've learned one has been fired in violation of federal protections:
Reposted by Rob Shum
"It was supposed to be a celebratory milestone, the final step in the process to obtain U.S. permanent residency. Instead, as each interview with an immigration officer wrapped up, federal agents swooped in, handcuffed the foreign spouse and took him or her away."
“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"It was supposed to be a celebratory milestone, the final step in the process to obtain U.S. permanent residency. Instead, as each interview with an immigration officer wrapped up, federal agents swooped in, handcuffed the foreign spouse and took him or her away."
This reminds me of St. Alban’s, England, where historical plaques explained how the Roman bricks there would be re-used, after the knowledge of how to make new ones was lost.
Right now on reddit there's a guy inventing a new kind of brick to build his home with and it's going about as well as you can imagine
November 26, 2025 at 9:04 PM
This reminds me of St. Alban’s, England, where historical plaques explained how the Roman bricks there would be re-used, after the knowledge of how to make new ones was lost.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Taking Donald Trump’s evident cognitive deterioration seriously
Taking Donald Trump's evident cognitive deterioration seriously - Lawyers, Guns & Money
This is a followup to Scott’s post about the NYT publishing a story this morning that suggests in the most mealy-mouthed and hedged way possible that just maybe somebody might have some questions about whether there might be something problematic about Donald Trump’s mental state, related to his age. This by the way is a […]
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Taking Donald Trump’s evident cognitive deterioration seriously
Reposted by Rob Shum
ICE placing kids in shelters, though, when they have parents or guardians to care for them, echoes the widely condemned policy of separating families at the border in Trump’s first term attorneys said: “They are creating unaccompanied children this way.” 8/ www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...
www.propublica.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:58 PM
ICE placing kids in shelters, though, when they have parents or guardians to care for them, echoes the widely condemned policy of separating families at the border in Trump’s first term attorneys said: “They are creating unaccompanied children this way.” 8/ www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
Reposted by Rob Shum
In a policy advocates have called "unspeakably cruel," the Trump administration has frozen the distribution of Green Cards to more than 230,000 people approved for refugee status under Biden, who have already undergone extensive vetting.
'Unspeakably Cruel': Trump Freezes Green Cards to 235,000 Refugees Admitted Under Biden
"These are refugees who fled persecution...refugees who had been more thoroughly vetted than any other population before entering our country," said the head of the Refugee Council USA.
www.commondreams.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
In a policy advocates have called "unspeakably cruel," the Trump administration has frozen the distribution of Green Cards to more than 230,000 people approved for refugee status under Biden, who have already undergone extensive vetting.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Some may take comfort in Trump not being able (yet) to jail his enemies, but these attacks are costly and deter people from opposing him. In that way, they tilt the playing field even when the efforts at retribution are not fully successful. Precisely what competitive authoritarian regimes look like
NYT: “.. Trump is facing obstacles as he tries to use the Justice Department to investigate, prosecute and jail those he targets.”
But his appointees “are harnessing a range of departments .. and rarely used powers outside the Justice Department to inflict pain.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
But his appointees “are harnessing a range of departments .. and rarely used powers outside the Justice Department to inflict pain.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
November 26, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Some may take comfort in Trump not being able (yet) to jail his enemies, but these attacks are costly and deter people from opposing him. In that way, they tilt the playing field even when the efforts at retribution are not fully successful. Precisely what competitive authoritarian regimes look like
Reposted by Rob Shum
This reporter will get vile death threats and may need security just for doing her job. Not acceptable.
November 26, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This reporter will get vile death threats and may need security just for doing her job. Not acceptable.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Stunning. The Trump administration has claimed the police were slow to protect federal agents on Oct. 4, but videos and audio show that their rationale conflates hours of events involving a shooting, a protest, a car crash and a police radio call. @nytimes.com
Times Analysis Finds Errors in Trump’s Supreme Court Filing That Calls for National Guard in Chicago
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Stunning. The Trump administration has claimed the police were slow to protect federal agents on Oct. 4, but videos and audio show that their rationale conflates hours of events involving a shooting, a protest, a car crash and a police radio call. @nytimes.com
Reposted by Rob Shum
The person with the most demanding job in the world should not be so old they get fatigued after a few hours. (It's been almost nine years since we had a president under 70.)
November 26, 2025 at 12:21 AM
The person with the most demanding job in the world should not be so old they get fatigued after a few hours. (It's been almost nine years since we had a president under 70.)
Reposted by Rob Shum
ICE Offers Up to $280 Million to Immigrant-Tracking ‘Bounty Hunter’ Firms
The Trump government is hiring thousands of BOUNTY HUNTERS to expand their violent kidnappings and terrorism throughout the country, showering private “surveillance firms” with hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Trump government is hiring thousands of BOUNTY HUNTERS to expand their violent kidnappings and terrorism throughout the country, showering private “surveillance firms” with hundreds of millions of dollars.
ICE Offers Up to $280 Million to Immigrant-Tracking ‘Bounty Hunter’ Firms
Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifted a $180 million cap on a proposed immigrant-tracking program while guaranteeing multimillion-dollar payouts for private surveillance firms.
www.wired.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:50 PM
ICE Offers Up to $280 Million to Immigrant-Tracking ‘Bounty Hunter’ Firms
The Trump government is hiring thousands of BOUNTY HUNTERS to expand their violent kidnappings and terrorism throughout the country, showering private “surveillance firms” with hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Trump government is hiring thousands of BOUNTY HUNTERS to expand their violent kidnappings and terrorism throughout the country, showering private “surveillance firms” with hundreds of millions of dollars.
Reposted by Rob Shum
Meanwhile Texas has also seen a reduction in gas.......because it was replaced with coal (and all the new renewables were diverted to meeting new demand instead of eliminating fossil fuels)
www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
November 25, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Meanwhile Texas has also seen a reduction in gas.......because it was replaced with coal (and all the new renewables were diverted to meeting new demand instead of eliminating fossil fuels)
www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...