Caroline Baxter
@ccbaxter.bsky.social
Once and future🙋public servant.
Global risks; music; food; the occasional drink.
Impact and leverage are not verbs. I am not your key stakeholder.
Global risks; music; food; the occasional drink.
Impact and leverage are not verbs. I am not your key stakeholder.
“American spy agencies have given the military intelligence about the location of such facilities in both Venezuela and Colombia. But U.S. military officials have developed a range of target options for Mr. Trump.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Trump Declares Venezuelan Airspace Closed
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:01 PM
“American spy agencies have given the military intelligence about the location of such facilities in both Venezuela and Colombia. But U.S. military officials have developed a range of target options for Mr. Trump.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Turns out, just as air campaigns are ineffective tools of coercion, so too do time outs achieve the opposite effects. Rather than inspiring young children to capitulate to your demands, it simply encourages them to double down on their resistance. Pape: right again.
November 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Turns out, just as air campaigns are ineffective tools of coercion, so too do time outs achieve the opposite effects. Rather than inspiring young children to capitulate to your demands, it simply encourages them to double down on their resistance. Pape: right again.
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
Interesting detail in this very important story: The unit involved was (per 4 sources) SEAL Team VI.
When Justice Sotomayor asked whether a grant of presidential immunity would permit Trump to order Seal Team 6 to commit murder on his behalf, his lawyer (now DOJ's #2) dismissed it as far-fetched.
When Justice Sotomayor asked whether a grant of presidential immunity would permit Trump to order Seal Team 6 to commit murder on his behalf, his lawyer (now DOJ's #2) dismissed it as far-fetched.
November 28, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Interesting detail in this very important story: The unit involved was (per 4 sources) SEAL Team VI.
When Justice Sotomayor asked whether a grant of presidential immunity would permit Trump to order Seal Team 6 to commit murder on his behalf, his lawyer (now DOJ's #2) dismissed it as far-fetched.
When Justice Sotomayor asked whether a grant of presidential immunity would permit Trump to order Seal Team 6 to commit murder on his behalf, his lawyer (now DOJ's #2) dismissed it as far-fetched.
Hell of a way to tee up America’s 250th year.
November 29, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Hell of a way to tee up America’s 250th year.
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
when you’re trying to evade capture after WWII ends:
November 28, 2025 at 6:26 PM
when you’re trying to evade capture after WWII ends:
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
Declaring “no quarter” is a war crime.
Even assuming an armed conflict exists.
Even assuming an armed conflict exists.
November 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Declaring “no quarter” is a war crime.
Even assuming an armed conflict exists.
Even assuming an armed conflict exists.
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
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.
Grateful for a beanbag in front of a roaring fire, for a son reading next to me, for dinner in the oven, a healthy and safe family, and a country worthy, still and to the last, of our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving.
November 27, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Grateful for a beanbag in front of a roaring fire, for a son reading next to me, for dinner in the oven, a healthy and safe family, and a country worthy, still and to the last, of our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving.
“Citizen with no authority or position in government takes a wild guess” isn’t quite update-worthy. It didn’t even make me laugh, unlike the NYT update that gave a historical background of Farragut Square (“update: we finally figured out who Farragut was!”)
very odd that the Post would write up someone’s speciation as if it’s news. What are we doing here
November 26, 2025 at 11:41 PM
“Citizen with no authority or position in government takes a wild guess” isn’t quite update-worthy. It didn’t even make me laugh, unlike the NYT update that gave a historical background of Farragut Square (“update: we finally figured out who Farragut was!”)
“As Trump wields deadly force without constraints, he offers a model for lethal, lawless action, thereby posing a threat to international security that extends well beyond the Western Hemisphere.” Spot on.
Pleased to share my new essay in @foreignaffairs.com on the broader implications of the Trump administration’s killing spree at sea.
www.foreignaffairs.com/central-amer...
www.foreignaffairs.com/central-amer...
America Unbound in the Caribbean
The real costs of Washington’s use of force.
www.foreignaffairs.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:41 PM
“As Trump wields deadly force without constraints, he offers a model for lethal, lawless action, thereby posing a threat to international security that extends well beyond the Western Hemisphere.” Spot on.
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
Two National Guardsmen serving away from their families on Thanksgiving. Hell isn’t hot enough for the shooter.
November 26, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Two National Guardsmen serving away from their families on Thanksgiving. Hell isn’t hot enough for the shooter.
Every now and again I misunderstand my neighborhood listserv’s acronyms and think someone wrote an email with the subject like “F#%^ Sake Toddler Boots” and for minutes I think the “get off my lawn” vibes have gone to a new high until I realize they’re just looking to sell some shoes.
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Every now and again I misunderstand my neighborhood listserv’s acronyms and think someone wrote an email with the subject like “F#%^ Sake Toddler Boots” and for minutes I think the “get off my lawn” vibes have gone to a new high until I realize they’re just looking to sell some shoes.
But here's the thing: Americans' energy bills are already 3x inflation, so the WH needs to figure out how to power this AI boom real fast. Putting it under DOE suggests it'll be nuclear but it takes 10 years to build a plant and our current stock won't cut it.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
November 25, 2025 at 2:53 AM
But here's the thing: Americans' energy bills are already 3x inflation, so the WH needs to figure out how to power this AI boom real fast. Putting it under DOE suggests it'll be nuclear but it takes 10 years to build a plant and our current stock won't cut it.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
The Boy brought home a construction paper ring garland thing (whatever those things are called) from school on which he’d written things he’s thankful for, two of which were “glitter” and “pain” because “pain is useful for the body” and I think he wins the “who needs a vacation most” competition
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
The Boy brought home a construction paper ring garland thing (whatever those things are called) from school on which he’d written things he’s thankful for, two of which were “glitter” and “pain” because “pain is useful for the body” and I think he wins the “who needs a vacation most” competition
Like what foreign policy practitioner worth the title, having watched Venezuela these past few weeks, wakes up one morning and exclaims, “Yknow who we *really* need to hear from? The Iran-Contra guy”
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
War criminal says what
November 24, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Like what foreign policy practitioner worth the title, having watched Venezuela these past few weeks, wakes up one morning and exclaims, “Yknow who we *really* need to hear from? The Iran-Contra guy”
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
November 24, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
This is spot on — and my biggest fear is that it will become more expensive to learn how to think and a lot cheaper to just use AI. Majoring in the humanities will resurge as a marker of class.
Who invests in critical thinking and who invests in an AI chatbot to help you think will be really telling.
November 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
This is spot on — and my biggest fear is that it will become more expensive to learn how to think and a lot cheaper to just use AI. Majoring in the humanities will resurge as a marker of class.
One ping only.
Nov 23rd 1984 - Jack Ryan came to the conclusion that the rogue Soviet naval captain, Ramius (Sean Connery), plans to defect to the United States.
📽️📅 The Hunt for Red October (1990)
📽️📅 The Hunt for Red October (1990)
November 23, 2025 at 2:37 PM
One ping only.
Just another normal afternoon in America, parking at a supermarket near a car with a “THE-1488” license plate.
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org
November 22, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Just another normal afternoon in America, parking at a supermarket near a car with a “THE-1488” license plate.
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
The Moscow Times: „The very emergence of such a U.S. initiative signals, in Putin’s view, that Washington is capitulating. And capitulating not because it has suffered losses — it has lost neither tanks nor aircraft nor soldiers — but because it is tired,frightened and eager to avoid involvement.“
November 22, 2025 at 5:28 AM
The Moscow Times: „The very emergence of such a U.S. initiative signals, in Putin’s view, that Washington is capitulating. And capitulating not because it has suffered losses — it has lost neither tanks nor aircraft nor soldiers — but because it is tired,frightened and eager to avoid involvement.“
305 down, 1,156 to go.
November 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
305 down, 1,156 to go.
Until humans evolve to have little floppy disk slots in their brains for new files, learning will always take (1) time, (2) effort, and (3) a certain degree of friction. I don't know why we needed to study this but ok.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Until humans evolve to have little floppy disk slots in their brains for new files, learning will always take (1) time, (2) effort, and (3) a certain degree of friction. I don't know why we needed to study this but ok.
Ah yes - the extremely opaque, hard to nail down swastika. One man’s hate symbol is another man’s historical throwback to fascism. This’ll do wonders for unit cohesion.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
www.washingtonpost.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Ah yes - the extremely opaque, hard to nail down swastika. One man’s hate symbol is another man’s historical throwback to fascism. This’ll do wonders for unit cohesion.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
NEW: Sean Duffy frequently calls safety his “top priority” as transportation secretary. But I spent months wading through regulatory notices and found something far different: that USDOT has been delaying, weakening and killing dozens of safety rules, many opposed by the transportation industry.🧵
November 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
NEW: Sean Duffy frequently calls safety his “top priority” as transportation secretary. But I spent months wading through regulatory notices and found something far different: that USDOT has been delaying, weakening and killing dozens of safety rules, many opposed by the transportation industry.🧵
This is an essential point: “A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window.”
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This is an essential point: “A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window.”