Sandra Raponi
@sraponi.bsky.social
Philosophy professor, Honors faculty.
JD, PhD. Political & legal philosophy, global justice, international human rights law.
Working on human rights-based climate litigation, right to food, right to water, refugees, online speech.
Zen Buddhism.
JD, PhD. Political & legal philosophy, global justice, international human rights law.
Working on human rights-based climate litigation, right to food, right to water, refugees, online speech.
Zen Buddhism.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
My recent conversation: What Is Engaged Buddhism? with the great @joanhalifax.bsky.social now available on The Road Home podcast.
You can subscribe to the substack or download wherever you get your pods (please *don't* use Spotify, thank you deep bows).
ethannichtern.substack.com/p/ep-164-wha...
You can subscribe to the substack or download wherever you get your pods (please *don't* use Spotify, thank you deep bows).
ethannichtern.substack.com/p/ep-164-wha...
Ep. 164 - What is Engaged Buddhism? A Conversation with Roshi Joan Halifax
Listen now | At a recent event in support of Dharma Moon’s Yearlong Buddhist Studies program on January 6th, Ethan was joined by the great Roshi Joan Halifax, to discuss the practice, history and theo...
ethannichtern.substack.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:50 PM
My recent conversation: What Is Engaged Buddhism? with the great @joanhalifax.bsky.social now available on The Road Home podcast.
You can subscribe to the substack or download wherever you get your pods (please *don't* use Spotify, thank you deep bows).
ethannichtern.substack.com/p/ep-164-wha...
You can subscribe to the substack or download wherever you get your pods (please *don't* use Spotify, thank you deep bows).
ethannichtern.substack.com/p/ep-164-wha...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Leaked documents about ICE deployment to Minneapolis suggests they're more worried about the backlash to Renee Good's death than they're letting on:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigratio...
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigratio...
Immigration Agents Terrified by ICE Backlash
Leaked documents show Border Patrol needs volunteers for Minneapolis surge
www.kenklippenstein.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Leaked documents about ICE deployment to Minneapolis suggests they're more worried about the backlash to Renee Good's death than they're letting on:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigratio...
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigratio...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
They refused to probe a murder. The people with consciences walked out.
🚨 NEW: At least four leaders of the DOJ Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
🚨 NEW: At least four leaders of the DOJ Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
January 13, 2026 at 4:31 AM
They refused to probe a murder. The people with consciences walked out.
🚨 NEW: At least four leaders of the DOJ Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
🚨 NEW: At least four leaders of the DOJ Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Why Donald Trump is telling such obvious lies on the ICE Minneapolis killing
Philosophers Tim Keyon and Jennifer Saul on authoritarian discourse
#philsky
theconversation.com/why-donald-t...
Philosophers Tim Keyon and Jennifer Saul on authoritarian discourse
#philsky
theconversation.com/why-donald-t...
Why Donald Trump is telling such obvious lies on the ICE Minneapolis killing
Obvious lies aren’t necessarily failed lies. They can confuse, distract, excite and intimidate a range of audiences. They can also be believed, no matter how obviously false they seem.
theconversation.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Why Donald Trump is telling such obvious lies on the ICE Minneapolis killing
Philosophers Tim Keyon and Jennifer Saul on authoritarian discourse
#philsky
theconversation.com/why-donald-t...
Philosophers Tim Keyon and Jennifer Saul on authoritarian discourse
#philsky
theconversation.com/why-donald-t...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
semi-regular reminder that ICE was only created in 2003
when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
January 12, 2026 at 8:04 PM
semi-regular reminder that ICE was only created in 2003
when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
FOX: Where’s the protest against the regime that's killing people in the street right now?
Trent: They are doing those today. It’s called the ICE protests
FOX: Are they talking about Iran at the ICE protests?
Trent: No, I think they are talking about the regime that is shooting people in the face
Trent: They are doing those today. It’s called the ICE protests
FOX: Are they talking about Iran at the ICE protests?
Trent: No, I think they are talking about the regime that is shooting people in the face
January 11, 2026 at 5:44 PM
FOX: Where’s the protest against the regime that's killing people in the street right now?
Trent: They are doing those today. It’s called the ICE protests
FOX: Are they talking about Iran at the ICE protests?
Trent: No, I think they are talking about the regime that is shooting people in the face
Trent: They are doing those today. It’s called the ICE protests
FOX: Are they talking about Iran at the ICE protests?
Trent: No, I think they are talking about the regime that is shooting people in the face
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
THIS WEEKEND: More than 1,000 marches and vigils are taking place nationwide to honor Renee Nicole Good, demand accountability for ICE’s killing of Renee, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s terror. Please join us: mobilize.us?tag_ids=2913...
January 10, 2026 at 1:18 PM
THIS WEEKEND: More than 1,000 marches and vigils are taking place nationwide to honor Renee Nicole Good, demand accountability for ICE’s killing of Renee, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s terror. Please join us: mobilize.us?tag_ids=2913...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Think about the mindset, and the expectation of immunity, of someone who texts this to friends.
January 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Think about the mindset, and the expectation of immunity, of someone who texts this to friends.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
NEW: Data released by ICE shows that virtually the entire growth of detention in the last few months has been among people with no criminal record at all - no prior convictions (no matter how minor) and no pending criminal charges.
January 9, 2026 at 12:55 AM
NEW: Data released by ICE shows that virtually the entire growth of detention in the last few months has been among people with no criminal record at all - no prior convictions (no matter how minor) and no pending criminal charges.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.
Just days into 2026, the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has sparked protests around the US.
If you’re planning to protest, here’s how to safeguard your digital security.
If you’re planning to protest, here’s how to safeguard your digital security.
How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance
Law enforcement has more tools than ever to track your movements and access your communications. Here’s how to protect your privacy if you plan to protest.
www.wired.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:35 PM
We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
The ICE killing takes America a step closer to George Orwell’s nightmare
The ICE killing takes America a step closer to George Orwell’s nightmare
The ICE killing takes America a step closer to George Orwell’s nightmare
www.independent.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
The ICE killing takes America a step closer to George Orwell’s nightmare
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
This is insane. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United
www.whitehouse.gov
January 8, 2026 at 1:39 AM
This is insane. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Tonight, I was one of more than 200 people who gathered on Chicago’s North Side to mourn Renee Nicole Good. Several people asked me to publish my remarks from the vigil, so I’m sharing them here.
The Cost of Staying Human
Remarks from a vigil for Renee Nicole Good
organizingmythoughts.org
January 8, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Tonight, I was one of more than 200 people who gathered on Chicago’s North Side to mourn Renee Nicole Good. Several people asked me to publish my remarks from the vigil, so I’m sharing them here.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Texas A&M actually tells a philosophy professor he may not teach Plato.
Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous
Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy a...
dailynous.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:37 AM
Texas A&M actually tells a philosophy professor he may not teach Plato.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Life Under a Clicktatorship
What happens to government when everything is content?
donmoynihan.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:40 PM
New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
"The bad news: The crisis of the humanities has been revealed by the events of the last year to be a crisis of civil society writ large."
This was published in the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s. If you work in education & were, reasonably, taking a break, maybe you missed it.
Don’t miss it.
Don’t miss it.
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:55 AM
"The bad news: The crisis of the humanities has been revealed by the events of the last year to be a crisis of civil society writ large."
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
I've been tracking the spread of nonconsensual deepfakes on X for more than two years. Here's a timeline of how Musk's leadership allowed the practice to flourish from a once-underground market to a viral trend, with little recourse for victims or legal enforcement.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...
How Grok's sexual abuse hit a tipping point
Nonconsensual deepfakes on X are nothing new, but now it's built into the platform.
spitfirenews.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:47 PM
I've been tracking the spread of nonconsensual deepfakes on X for more than two years. Here's a timeline of how Musk's leadership allowed the practice to flourish from a once-underground market to a viral trend, with little recourse for victims or legal enforcement.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Not sure how to summarize this one. Wrote about the podcaster-occupied government invading for content, how the algorithmic internet is governed by the logic of reaction videos, and how it has contributed to a very nihilistic illiterate politics and culture of performance for imagined audiences
Everything Reacting to Everything, All at Once
Why the Trump administration is posting messages like “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” after the attack on Venezuela
www.theatlantic.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Not sure how to summarize this one. Wrote about the podcaster-occupied government invading for content, how the algorithmic internet is governed by the logic of reaction videos, and how it has contributed to a very nihilistic illiterate politics and culture of performance for imagined audiences
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
For those teaching International Law this semester, you may want to consider assigning South Africa's statement to the UN Security Council today:
dirco.gov.za/statement-by...
dirco.gov.za/statement-by...
Statement by the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations Security Council Meeting on the situation in Venezuela, 5 January 2026
Mr President, We wish to congratulate the Federal Republic of Somalia for assuming the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of January and wish you and your delegat...
dirco.gov.za
January 5, 2026 at 7:36 PM
For those teaching International Law this semester, you may want to consider assigning South Africa's statement to the UN Security Council today:
dirco.gov.za/statement-by...
dirco.gov.za/statement-by...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Your activism will be even more important this year.
Here are 10 crucial things you can do in 2026. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-in-2026
Here are 10 crucial things you can do in 2026. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-in-2026
10 Crucial Things You Can Do in 2026
Your activism will be even more important this year
robertreich.substack.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Your activism will be even more important this year.
Here are 10 crucial things you can do in 2026. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-in-2026
Here are 10 crucial things you can do in 2026. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-in-2026
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Might Unmakes Right
The catastrophic collapse of norms against the use of force.
www.foreignaffairs.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
You can read my take on Trump's illegal invasion of Venezuela here: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
The Brazen Illegality of Trump’s Venezuela Operation
A scholar of international law on the implications of the U.S. arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.
www.newyorker.com
January 3, 2026 at 11:02 PM
You can read my take on Trump's illegal invasion of Venezuela here: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Wow. Genuinely shocked, and a hugely consequential decision.
Importantly, this is a case where @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief appears to have made a MAJOR impact. Before he wrote it, courts were sidestepping the "regular forces" issue entirely. And that's what the Trump admin lost on.
Importantly, this is a case where @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief appears to have made a MAJOR impact. Before he wrote it, courts were sidestepping the "regular forces" issue entirely. And that's what the Trump admin lost on.
NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
![The Government asked this Court to stay the District Court's order. After the response and reply were filed, JUSTICE BARRETT referred the application to the Court. We directed the parties to file supplemental letter briefs on an issue that the District Court had addressed but the parties' initial briefs had not: the meaning of the term "regular forces" in §12406(3). In its supplemental brief, the Government argues that the term refers to civilian law enforcement officers, such as those employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Federal Protective Service.
Respondents, echoing the District Court, maintain that the term refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary.
We conclude that the term "regular forces" in §12406(3) likely refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary. This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be "unable" with the regular military "to execute the laws of the United States." Because the statute requires an assessment of the military's ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws. Such circumstances are exceptional: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from "execut[ing] the laws" "except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress."
18 U. S. C. §1385. So before the President can federalize the Guard under §12406(3), he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be "unable" with those forces to perform that function.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiftbhzwvn3vgwhqsi7k2paizvdw4t26ailljvovso3chqupnmj364@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Wow. Genuinely shocked, and a hugely consequential decision.
Importantly, this is a case where @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief appears to have made a MAJOR impact. Before he wrote it, courts were sidestepping the "regular forces" issue entirely. And that's what the Trump admin lost on.
Importantly, this is a case where @martylederman.bsky.social's amicus brief appears to have made a MAJOR impact. Before he wrote it, courts were sidestepping the "regular forces" issue entirely. And that's what the Trump admin lost on.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
And now someone has uploaded a version that wasn't filmed off a TV.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
Pulled 60 Minutes segment on CECOT : CBS : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This is a screen recording of a 60 Minutes segment about the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, which was intended to be...
archive.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:51 PM
And now someone has uploaded a version that wasn't filmed off a TV.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
Reposted by Sandra Raponi
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
December 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full: