“Politically homeless”

I’m excited to share that I’ll be giving a virtual talk on Tuesday, April 21st from 5:30 to 7:00 PM Eastern via Zoom, hosted by the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Mercy University.

Join Here:https://buff.ly/0hcS3iP

We have a great Zoom talk planned for next week! Please join!

mercy.edu/news-events/...

@austinkocher.com

Reminder that this awesome talk is coming up next week!

Vance, who wasn’t keen on Iran war, now tasked with trying to end it
The weekend’s peace talks in Islamabad mark Vance’s highest-profile assignment as vice president, with concomitant political risk.
Today at 5:00 a.m. ET

How Vance Became the Point Man to End a War He Didn’t Want The anti-interventionist vice president is now inextricably linked to the outcome of the war with Iran

JD Vance PR team really getting their moneys worth from American papers. Blatant propaganda.

“'I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,' the congresswoman said, fighting back tears.

"She described the way people were laying down inside as “like sardines.”

“'It is frightening in there,' she said. 'It is disgusting'..."

azmirror.com/2026/04/10/i...

Any headline that’s not “Trump Threatens Genocide” is a failure

This is really all they have left. "We have a pointless and criminal war pushing gas prices through the roof and the global economy to the brink but at least the government isn't treating trans people like they're human beings" will be the entirety of the midterm message.

In my observation, this is the modal Christian right defense of Trump's deranged statements. It's not "Hell yeah! Get 'em Trump!" More often it's an attempt to ease their consciences by framing it as a false choice: "It's either Trump or [imagined persecution of Christianity]. What else could I do?"

100% of the people who claim to be “defending Western civilization” think Western civilization is Christian ethnonationalism

I’m somewhere between the hardcore optimists and pessimists on AI, but I think one thing few people are saying out loud, particularly when it comes to the arts, is that AI is simply not cool

When some people look back on the pandemic, what irks them most is imperfect policy or guidance, or that they were unnecessarily inconvenienced. For me, it’s that millions of people died while Republicans said the whole thing was fake and purposefully spread misinformation

I would also add people being inconvenienced or financial issues related to the pandemic, but thoughtful criticism of the approach of public health institutions is likely far down the list for the average person

The most true answer in a widespread sense which won’t make anyone here’s list is that Republicans told them so

The US government collected over $1 billion in immigration fees then refused to process the applications. No denials. No refunds. Just silence. This is the largest fee fraud in the history of the American immigration system. Here's what's happening. 🧵

Please join us for this research talk with the brilliant Io Brooks next month

www.mercy.edu/news-events/...

This is what ICE has done to journalist Estefany Rodriguez.

OBAA wasn’t my personal pick but I’m pretty shocked to see people on here say it wasn’t worthy. It’s very good!

CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen says black, oil-contaminated rain is falling over Tehran after strikes on oil facilities by U.S./Israeli airstrikes.

In other words Trump-Netanyahu have effectively carried out massive uncontained poison gas attacks on Tehran and its people.

Steep Decline in Visas Issued to Students in India India has been the engine of the post-pandemic international-enrollment rebound. But visa issuances to students in India in May through August 2025 nosedived by 61 percent compared to the same time period in 2024. from https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-drop-in-international-students-last-year-was-worse-than-we-thought

this is a remarkable chart

Asked about the administration’s plan for Iran after the war, that official responded: “Whatever.”

Anybody I know teaching at John Jay this semester?

i wind up tweeting this basically every time there's an article like this, but the fundamental thing to me: ask yourself whether you earnestly believe there's more social pressure to be trans, or more social pressure to be cis. it's actually a super easy one!

How have crime rates in the United States changed over the last 50 years? Both violent and property crime are far below their 1990s peak, but some crimes see periodic rises.

Looking at the 2024 crime figures, it's absolutely insane how Trump, tech billionaires, and centrist pundits fooled everyone into thinking Biden had turned the U.S. into some Hobbesian hellscape.

50-year lows for violent crime, armed robbery, property crime. Second-lowest homicide rate.

Congressman Brandon Gill @RepBrandonGill How many Americans have to get Allahu Akbar’ed before we realize Islam is a problem?

The way sitting politicians can say this stuff about Muslims while facing zero consequences is an indication of just how entrenched Islamophobia still is in our institutions and culture.

I’m certain that when what remains of Iran’s security forces begins its existential crackdown on civil dissent, we will welcome Iran’s dissident refugees and fast-track their asylum applications

Trump’s 2016 criticism of the Iraq war was the US didn’t do enough war crimes. He argued that the US should’ve stolen oil and killed insurgents’ innocent family members.

That’s what some prominent media figures presented to the public as isolationist, anti-intervention, anti-war, “Donald the Dove.”

Here is his justification and his examples. Surely if one candidate is lying through his teeth and likely to take the country into a disastrous war, that is the core message to convey to voters.

Such a perfect example of Pundit Brain at work: Harper says he always knew Trump was lying about being the peace candidate — but still turned that into criticism of Harris.