Today is my favorite day of the semester, because it's the first discussion section meeting for the course on terrorism that I TA, and we get to talk about definitions! Definitions sound very boring, true, and as such a poor way to get students excited about the class. But the definition of terrorism is a different matter.

Censorship based on the State Department's FTO list is a bad idea. Thoughts incoming. lawfareblog.com/combating-terr… The FTO list is and always has been incredibly politicized. ISIS and AQ are on the list, but so are numerous revolutionary & insurgent groups. Devoting scarce resources to censoring those groups' info seems inefficient; they're no threat to U.S. homeland security.

The #MeTooPoliSci short course today at #APSA2018 was educational, emotional, and empowering. A smattering of things I learned and practices we can all implement: (thread) 1. Title IX leaves a lot of room for interpretation & many universities have different policies regarding things like mandatory reporting. Find out if you're a mandatory reporter, and if you are, put it in your syllabus/discuss on syllabus day.

Baghdadi's speech is yet another reminder that thinking about IS as a singular, incomparable group isn't a productive analytic or policy strategy. (thoughts incoming) theatlantic.com/international/… Like Al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram, territorial defeats haven't decimated IS—it's just shifted the balance of its strategy in the Middle East away from governance and toward insurgency.

Why I don't ban laptops: a thread (1/n) My goal on the first day of class is to establish reciprocity. Here's what I expect from you; here's what you can expect from me. Here's how we'll learn from each other.

The #GTD2017 data is out! Some big-picture takeaways from @START_UMD's overview of the data: start.umd.edu/pubs/START_GTD… 1. Even though the overall number of terrorist attacks globally seems to be declining, this has to be considered in context. Annual terrorist violence prior to 9/11 was less than one-third of what it is now.

I could scream "Camp Bucca" into the void again, or I could point you to work on prisons in Europe also serving as centers for radicalization. Let's do the latter (quick thread). chicagotribune.com/news/nationwor… Farhad Khosrokhavar has been researching radicalization in French prison for years. He finds that since the start of the 21st century, recruiters in prisons have gotten better at evading detection. …bscohost.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/ehost/detail/d…

My first job was at a library. Let me tell you about a few things libraries do that Amazon wouldn't: (thread)

https://twitter.com/PMourdoukoutas/status/1020654721655242754

1. Provide summer camps, book clubs, computer classes, and talks to the community, all free of charge.

There's a lot to take away from this fascinating story on foreign fighters with the YPG in Rojava (northern Syria). Thoughts incoming. (1/?) rollingstone.com/politics/polit… 1. Foreign fighters are consequential. The "Antifa Platoon", along with Arab SDF fighters, turned out to be instrumental in turning the tide against the Islamic State in Raqqa. FFs are a diverse group with diverse skills that contribute in a variety of ways in-theater.

This oversimplifies some things and exaggerates others (quick thread, speaking as a longtime observer of German politics, not a migration or EU scholar):

https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher/status/1014139037827960833

1. Germany is not in sync with Hungary. Seehofer is anti-immigrant, but he is not Orban. Get back to me when Germany criminalizes NGOs aiding asylum-seekers. dw.com/en/hungarys-vi…

We need to have a serious conversation about what violent attacks on the media mean in a democracy. (1/?) I'll start off with a couple of stories from my time as a student journalist, which may seem entirely different from what happened in Annapolis (and they are), but they're not unrelated. Misunderstanding and hatred of the media have deep roots in this country.

Finally getting around to reading this excellent paper from @a_a_jackson @ODIdev. Big takeaway: insurgent governance doesn't stem from the capture of territory. It precedes it. odi.org/sites/odi.org.… This has implications for how we understand the ways in which groups gain control of institutions and populations not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc.

As a positive extension to this thread, I thought I would share some ways I've found to make extra $$ as a grad student. (another thread)

https://twitter.com/anna_strophe/status/1004402827169542147

Some of these require a lot of planning; others are easier to do on the fly. The biggest thing: you cannot produce good research if you cannot pay your rent. Secure your income first. This is your first priority. (This is not how we are socialized, but it's true.)

Things my university doesn’t tell grad students about their stipends that they should really know in advance: a thread. First: no one who TAs or PAs (our version of RAs) in the fall gets paid until October. Good luck covering your security deposit and first month’s rent as a new student.

Hi, no. nytimes.com/interactive/20… No, $6,000/year isn't magically doable if you come from a family that makes $30,000/year (say). That's 20% of your family's income. Sure, you can contribute by working, but...

Hi, resident vegan in your feed here to remind you that eating fewer animal products is good for the environment, speaking very generally. BUT—and this is a big but—we need a more nuanced discussion of agriculture here. (thread) theguardian.com/environment/20… In much of the world, animal agriculture either looks like small farmers trying to eke out a living or like large corporations massively misusing land and natural resources.

As IS loses territory, it's relying more and more on nostalgia narratives for the "glory days". This demands different counter-messaging strategies. Thoughts incoming. (1/?) fpri.org/article/2018/0… Drawing focus to IS's comparably less golden present is a dangerous strategy. It gives IS an opportunity to blame literally anyone else for its bad fortunes (see: Nazi narrative in the 1930s).

Sparked by the Jorge Domínguez revelations, I'm starting a thread on sexual assault and harassment of students by faculty members because many people don't seem to realize how common it is. bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/… Thomas Roma, photography, Columbia. nytimes.com/2018/01/03/art…