Every time some major online infrastructure gets hacked or breaks down, I have to learn the name of at least four new tech companies. Reminds me of this all-timer:

Yessss!! Academia would be better if the incentives were such that people read more and published less.

Linked In's no doubt AI-fueled jobs tab just suggested I apply to work as Adjunct Instructor at the university where I'm a full professor. 😂 So the good news is I don't think the robots are *quite* ready for their takeover.

Happy May Day! I fucking love it here

As @mcopelov.bsky.social reminds me, I'm going to have to update my voting rights timeline...

Re the Voting Rights Act: I've used this graph a lot to illustrate how the VRA largely ended the historic pattern of blocking and burdening Black voters in the south. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.

Small point but today illustrates pretty clearly why they were so obsessed with banning critical race theory. Derrick Bell’s work predicts this type of regression on rights.

NEW from @pewresearch.org: Gun suicides in the US reached their highest level ever in 2024, according to recently published CDC data. Gun homicides declined sharply, pushing the total number of gun deaths down for the third consecutive year. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

I'm going to be hooding my first solo doctoral advisee at commencement next week (🎊) and the happy occasion prompted me to recall that I haven't actually attended a graduation since my own high school ceremony. 😳 looking forward to breaking the streak, lol

The number of AI emails I get from "marketers" using my own book description to pitch me on my work is wild. A whole new kinda spam.

Today, the Hennepin County Attorney made history by announcing the first-ever criminal charge against an ICE agent for their actions during Operation Metro Surge.

By our count, 1 in 61 people nationwide are under some form of correctional control. In fact, if the number of people on probation & parole alone were its own state, it would be roughly the size of Connecticut. ...So much for the land of the free.

yes *and* there are more people in prison today who were on probation/parole at the time of arrest than the entire prison pop in 1974. The problem is not only technical violations but how easy it is to get a new charge while on supervision. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....

I am once again reminding you that more people are on probation than in prison. Check out this excellent new report from (you guessed it) the Prison Policy Initiative. 😂

It's another artifact the US press's normalization of Trump, where his deranged posture during this war, the whipsawing between murdering his counterparties and leaking news of "productive talks," is all sidelined in favor of serious-business furrowed-brow reporting about diplomatic breakthroughs

If a student asked how we got here and what's the way out, I think that's where I end up. I don't always think leaders, or Trump, change the course of history. But here, we are at the mercy of Trump and his team of yespeople in a war that may harm millions globally. That's why I'm scared. 13/

This & the cancellation of Title VI/FLAS funding for foreign language & area studies pose existential threats to the social sciences at every R1 university in the country. And it's been ~total 🦗🦗 from our university presidents/chancellors & a total lack of public collective action.

New paper alert! Together with PhD candidate Hannah Schwendeman (UMN), we show the consequences of a "graying" probation population. The paper finds unique pains of supervision among older adults, especially related to chronic health conditions. doi.org/10.1177/1462...

There it is -- "The ICE data show, however, that less than one-quarter of those arrested during the operation had been convicted of a “crime” — the agency’s definition of a crime includes misdemeanors, such as unauthorized entry into the country or traffic violations." Appalling.

Really enjoyed this conversation on policing/punishment & democracy, focused on lessons from Minneapolis + filmed during the ICE Surge.

After 17 years (!) together, my academic spouse and I are finally doing the one thing we promised never to do: collaborate on a research project together. Pls keep us in your thoughts & prayers. 😂

I interrupt your doom scrolling with flowers courtesy of Philly. 💜

Congrats to @michellesphelps.bsky.social, whose book The Minneapolis Reckoning won the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Outstanding Book Award. This urgent work describes how Minneapolis arrived at the brink of police abolition and why reform is so difficult. Get your copy: hubs.ly/Q0453BKz0

This morning, more arrests of activists were made as the federal government unsealed the full superseding indictment from a grand jury that charges 39 people who were allegedly involved in a January protest at Cities Church in St. Paul where an ICE field director is also a pastor.

Throughout the Twin Cities, residents are carrying on the state’s long-standing tradition of solidarity. You can read my latest piece on mutual aid and 'Minnesota nice' in The Conversation. theconversation.com/minneapolis-...

in 2020, voters for the winner (Biden) outnumbered eligible people who didn't vote for the first time in about a century. In 2024, even though Trump got a *slight* majority of those who voted, people whose decision was "nah, not going to do this" outnumbered people who voted for Trump.

This has nothing to do with fraud. The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DOJ is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.

We sued for I213 forms, records the govt uses to prove that a person is in the country illegally. The forms detail a person's criminal history. We got 8 months of records and only 23% of people had a criminal conviction

Really appreciate this data reporting from the @startribune.com, which comes with the appropriate cautions about the crowd-sourced data. Looks like the ICE/DHS surge in MN is down significantly, but (a) was HUGE compared to other cities, (b) impacted the suburbs A LOT, and (c) is still happening.

An anonymous government is no government at all. It cannot be held accountable. ...A regime of secret policing has no place in our society. Here, the Government’s power is derived by the People, and the People must be able to identify the Government when it acts to infringe on their liberty.

At the stage of exhaustion where my husband had to convince me we should order pizza instead of having cereal for family dinner. That's partnership. 😂

New study from @curaumn.bsky.social: "We estimate that 30–50% of immigrant renters may be at least one month behind on rent by February 2026." Researchers estimate that excess statewide rent debt linked to ICE's occupation reached between $27.4 million to $51.3 million by February 2026.

7 detainees were loaded onto today's ICE Air flight at MSP. The number of detainees leaving MN is down, but demand for rent/food assistance remains high. 📊 Data: ottergoose.net/ice-flights-msp/msp-ice-flights.numbers 💵 Help: standwithminnesota.com 🚗 Airport Parking: mn50501.org/donate

We should know how many DHS agents are still in MN. There's definitely fewer abductions happening in Minneapolis, but it's not over.

Let me explain what this genuinely EVIL memo does. The admin is doubling down on its plan to arrest, detain, and interrogate tens of thousands of legally present refugees; people already vetted who’ve lived here legally for 1+ year. Hundreds were arrested in Minnesota before a court blocked this.

If you like Will's writing, you should read his book of essays called Farewell Transmission: bookshop.org/p/books/fare...

My friend, the brilliant essayist Will McGrath, wrote an essay about the beauty of resistance in all its forms here in Minneapolis. "Everyone is doing his part here, each to his ability. This is easier to accomplish, it seems, when joy and love are the engines." 🎁: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

But he will also be remembered for the quiet moments. If you were in his company, you would feel seen. You would feel seen in your own struggle to be understood, in the fight for this country. His fight for justice, for humanity, for Black liberation & Black joy lives on in every one of us.

These are the conditions under which the Trump regime wants to detain noncitizens indefinitely. It violates international law, the Eighth Amendment, and our own laws & regulations. And the DOJ and DHS are willing to manipulate any law, defy any court order, to keep doing so. 26/

Operation Metro Surge resulted in a $203 million impact on Minneapolis. Every penny is a loss to the City’s economy, people’s livelihoods, shelter and food security. Read more about the preliminary impact assessment released by the City: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/news/

‘Our opponent is tricked out with military gear, staying in Hilton hotels and renting Enterprise cars, with technological support from Palantir and Amazon Web Services.’ NEW: Amna A. Akbar writes from South Minneapolis www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

a beautifully written and powerful piece from University of Minnesota Law professor Emmanuel Mauleón on the stakes of how the legal profession responds in this moment. lpeproject.org/blog/whistli...

Here’s the thing: All non-violent political movements are engaged, at some level, in a contest of persuasion. In such a contest, images matter. Optics matter. Always.

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾✊🏾

It remains to be seen how this promised "drawdown" in MN will go, but in the meantime as the prez admin declares "victory!" people in MN are hitting a new crisis of overdue rent, failing businesses, and traumatized kids with learning loss. This was always the "best case" end and still it's so bad.

I would like the definitions of "small" and "footprint" please

My defense of the traffic calming checkpoints in South Minneapolis. www.minnpost.com/community-vo...

I’m seeing more and more Minneapolis/Minnesota people naming that they are burned out and I just hope people allow themselves to change their pacing from sprint to marathon or better yet, a relay. Slow down if the alternative is you crashing out and not being able to do anything.