man he’s still got it

"I’m free today because of this advocacy,” Soliman said. “Don’t underestimate your voice."

What's the deal with all major home improvement stores being owned by right wing billionaires?

There were excesses, frankly, but they were mostly really dumb and harmless. (Ex: my nephew in kindergarten or so getting "anti-racist baby" as a required text in boston public schools ... which is just objectively bad). It is insane that we went from this to pretending slavery didn't happen.

We have learned nothing

I'll get to a point in life when I'm no longer excited by articles about "gentlemanly price-fixing" in the 19c explosives industry, but I haven't reached that stage yet

What a great victory over foreign social media platforms for US progressives!!!

Just unbelievably evil and lawless.

Curious if anyone has any information about adapting general pickling guidelines to indian-style pickles (which generally do not use vinegar, and which sometimes use oil)

"Pinging sonar off the substance of the world" - great image

#OnThisDay Sept 19, 1970: Mary Richards throws her hat into the air in front of Dayton's on the Nicollet Mall for the first time, as the ground breaking Mary Tyler Moore Show begins a 7 season run. The Writer's Guild of America ranks it 6th best written television series of all time.

What a sad and broken organization. (Yeah, I see the member polling, and I also see the influence the horrible leadership has exerted)

Israel’s recent strike in Yemen reportedly killed 31 journalists – one of the deadliest attacks on the press in over a decade. As we fight to protect the freedom of the press at home, we must also do so abroad. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/19/yemen-journalists-strike-israel-houthis/

The FCC once enforced the "fairness doctrine," requiring broadcasters to air both sides of an issue. Now, the FCC enforces an unfairness doctrine, threatening broadcasters that air views critical of Trump or his MAGA right.

If you appreciate my coverage and analysis— would appreciate some support!

Week in Review: @gabrielwinant.bsky.social on Marxism and Antitrust, Andrew Bilodeau on labor unions for incarcerated workers, and a collection of some of favorite posts on LPE & Criminal Law. Plus, the best of LPE from around the web in the 🧵👇

After months of smearing this guy as a possible terrorist or terrorist supporter who they needed to eject as soon as possible back to Egypt, the trump administration today filed a motion in court basically going, eh nvm Glorious taxpayer funded use of time www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I don't find the self coordinating market idea useful, but I do find a number of the concepts developed in its pursuit useful: eg, an "inferior good," but applied to your energy budget at any given time

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

Me rn

You know a food container that is completely -and actually- compostable without making a big fuss about it? Pizza box

It's almost time to teach the antitrust case BMI. That means I've had the great song "EMI" stuck in my head, which is also : - from the late 70s - about the music industry - echoes themes of the case ("unlimited supply," "money making")

Seeing lots of people talking about canceling their Disney+ subscriptions. If you happen to have some extra money around that used to go to Mickey Mouse... small indie media sites like mine could always use some assistance. Especially these days. www.techdirt.com/support/

Just want to add to this a little bit. The working theory used by antitrust law says that a monopoly and a cartel both increase price and restrict output (resulting in total welfare reduction) but the causal mechanism remains a bit obscure. What is it? One of two possibilities I think:

The Telecom Act of 1996 reduced the FCC regulations on cross ownership, leading directly to this rapid consolidation.

Weird that the FCC Chair had no issue with Kilmeade wanting to euthanize homeless people.

Current* conditions near Grand Haven, MI:

This is so incredibly clear to some and i think perhaps still obscure to others. It's not an abstract thought or a gotcha. It's a sinking, gut feeling re: a causal pattern you recognize playing out on a much greater scale. Exactly how it felt in fall 2023 in the first place.

So where are all the progressives who supported the tiktok ban now that the US tiktok entity is being sold to trump donors?

Why do republicans seem to have so much leverage to exercise when they're the minority party and democrats seem to have zero? I understand some pieces of the explanation but don't feel like I have a handle on the whole thing. Is there a good one stop shop explainer?

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

We're in crazy town, officially.

One thing that seems really really underdiscussed to me as a cultural phenomenon is pilates as a product of essentially world war II - including joseph pilates fleeing from nazi germany - and this massively influencing both the form and nomenclature of all of the equipment!!!

Over the weekend, the world's richest man appeared on screens in central London to call for a race war and for the UK government to be overthrown. No arrests were made in connection with that communication.

A major problem with viewing market demand as the aggregation of social benefit (to be reconciled with aggregate costs) is that it massively overvalues the preferences of the very rich in the social tally of benefit. That's a completely *separate* point from inequality/ distributive justice

This essay, by an Egyptian-American former New Yorker staff fact-checker, is an incredible read And incredibly damning Huge recommendation

This is insane. Insane. What in the world??

A major problem with viewing market demand as the aggregation of social benefit (to be reconciled with aggregate costs) is that it massively overvalues the preferences of the very rich in the social tally of benefit. That's a completely *separate* point from inequality/ distributive justice

Complete madness. The deadly violence that has been loudly demanded by some of the most powerful, petulant people on earth is underway.

Someone should make a dark romantic comedy of Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem

My family escaped Ukraine from the pogroms and were lucky enough to escape to the US. They took my family in — we had nothing and offered nothing, but a desire to get ahead and be free while being safe. This is a country of immigrants, and we should be honoring that history.

One thing that's interesting is that very broadly speaking, rico enterprise requirement operates in opposite direction of the concept of an "entity" in antitrust: being an entity *insulates* you from scrutiny of internal "conspiracy" rather than being an element of it

My own accumulated past knowledge is like a vampire feeding on the new knowledge I acquire

Teamwork makes the dream work

Just in: Minnesotans have elected who will replace Melissa Hortman. Xp Lee, a Democrat, just won today’s special election. He’s a former Brooklyn Park city councilor, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand; he beat Republican Ruth Bittner after winning a competitive Dem primary last month.

Tom Alter's basically been dismissed for being an intellectual, despite having tenure, and that obviously puts him and his family in a hard spot financially. If you can afford to donate, please consider doing so via this link. (More details at the link.) www.gofundme.com/f/support-fr...

Everyone wants to use nuns as a fun plot device, but that requires it being plausible that there are *Catholics* in the area

Interesting question! There are some obvious cases where this is certainly true. Elite universities, for example, have great deal of freedom to vary their price independent of quantity.

One thing I suspect (don't know for sure, but suspect) is massively overstated is the conventional account of monopoly and cartels in which output decrease *necessarily* accompanies price rise (or maintenance). I don't think every example of horizontally coordinated prices = less output

Aside from everything else, this should not be surprising given that Utah really does not fit neatly into the uniform national political culture.