M. Burawoy: “Ron DeSantis…went after sociology…This shows that sociology is at the cutting edge of the attack here. We can defend ourselves and retreat or we can advance. And I think sociologists should be really at the vanguard of the critique of the new Trump administration and its policies.”

Breaking News: Trump announced that Federal agencies would cease using Anthropic's tools within six months.

The British rock band Radiohead is demanding that the Trump administration take down a promotional video for ICE that uses one of their songs

‘We defeated the parties of billionaire donors’: Hannah Spencer’s victory speech

“Taylor finds that elite schools…enabl[e] students to push boundaries, bend rules and negotiate with those in authority. … This ability to navigate elite spaces with confidence—which she conceptualises as ‘audacity’—is a carefully cultivated form of privilege that is frequently mistaken for merit.”

"Global stocks…are up by 2 per cent so far in 2026. That’s decent. But if you strip out the US, you’re up a much rosier 9 per cent. The fact is, it has paid to give US markets a swerve … This is shaping up to be the worst year for US stocks compared with the rest of the world since at least 1995."

Nurul Amin Shah Alam was a blind refugee, unable to speak English. DHS improperly detained-but finally released him Instead of bringing him home, they dropped him miles away-without regard to his disability or notifying his family Unable to find his way, he died on the streets of Buffalo Alone

“An artificial intelligence researcher conducting a war games experiment with three of the world’s most used AI models found that they decided to deploy nuclear weapons in 95% of the scenarios he designed.” #AI #simulation

Trump administration's 'third country' deportation policy is unlawful, judge rules

“Anthropic had until 5.01pm on Friday ‘to get on board or not’ with Hegseth’s terms, said a senior Pentagon official. ‘If they don’t get on board, [Hegseth] will ensure the Defense Production Act is invoked on Anthropic, compelling them to be used by the Pentagon…if they want to or not.’” #AI

Breaking news: Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office following claims he leaked confidential UK government memos to Jeffrey Epstein ft.trib.al/cRr1m4T

“Top Democratic officials who worked on the party's still-secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration's approach to the war in Gaza, Axios has learned.”

“The president’s approval rating stands at 39 percent positive and 60 percent negative, including 47 percent who say they strongly disapprove.” #Trump #BlueWave

“Silence has largely defined Bannon’s public posture toward Epstein since the Justice Department released records on January 30 detailing a close personal relationship between the two men.”

“It was the beginning of an ordeal that would see Karen…incarcerated for a total of six weeks – even though she had been travelling with a valid visa. Karen has no criminal record. She is a grandmother who spent eight years working as an admin assistant at a primary school before her retirement.“

“Critics have often assumed that MAGA’s downfall would lie in its vulgar money-grubbing. It will be an extraordinary example of Hegel’s cunning of reason if MAGA eventually falls because it cares too much about high-falutin’ ideas.”

“‘Time to pay the piper, Donald,’ [Gavin] Newsom said in a statement. ‘These tariffs were nothing more than an illegal cash grab that drove up prices and hurt working families, so you could wreck longstanding alliances and extort them.’”

#AI #misalignment: “In plain language, an AI attempted to bully its way into your software by attacking my reputation. I don’t know of a prior incident where this category of misaligned behavior was observed in the wild, but this is now a real and present threat.”

Latest updates: Supreme Court rules against Trump's tariffs, limiting the president's power to impose taxes.

“Love is not neutral. Love is not weak. … Love sometimes requires that we look evil in the eye and not blink. Love sometimes requires that we flip over the tables of injustice. That kind of love has always been a threat to the powers that be.” @jamestalarico.bsky.social

Yesterday, those who teach Intro to Sociology at Florida colleges (as opposed to universities) received a ready-made curriculum from the state and were ordered to teach it. Yes, you read that correctly. The *state* is enforcing a curriculum on college profs, complete w/ the following restrictions:

Rümeysa Öztürk: “I was detained for co-writing a op-ed about Gaza as a student at Tufts. My experience has only made me feel more connected to others facing oppression.”

Trump’s DOJ seems to think “Horowitz, Andreesen [sic]” is the name of an individual.

“Bannon had been highly critical of [Pope] Francis whom he saw as an opponent to his ‘sovereigntist’ vision, a brand of nationalist populism… Francis…was a counterweight to the Trumpian worldview, strongly critiquing nationalism and making advocacy for migrants a hallmark of his pontificate.”

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the party supported by JD Vance and Elon Musk, are now looking to ICE in the US for inspiration and saying Germany needs an ICE of its own. www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Never interrupt your opponent when they are busy making a mistake. #BadBunny #Trump

“The new revelations have stunned Norway, a society that has prided itself on the integrity of its officials, and they could lead to a steep fall from grace for one Europe’s most prominent diplomatic figures.”

“Thiel and Musk could be described as “accelerationist”…Where some see climate breakdown, civil disorder and societal collapse as disasters, they see opportunity. All of which leads Gatehouse to ask: “Are big tech billionaires using the Maga movement as a vehicle for their accelerationist cause?”

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

"Customs and Border Protection officers used a high-powered laser borrowed from the Defense Department to shoot down four 'Happy Valentine’s' balloons they thought were cartel drones over El Paso, Texas, according to an internal FBI document." www.ms.now/news/fbi-cbp...

US President Donald Trump revoked a key 2009 scientific finding that has been the basis for all US actions to fight climate change.

Mamdani calls for 2% tax hike on wealthy New Yorkers reut.rs/4rgmvRQ

Norway has been roiled by a whole host of Epstein-related scandals for multiple weeks now—yet here’s the country’s Conservative Party moralistically beating the drum of “immigrants must adapt to the values that prevail in Norway.” It’s a politics of deflection and scapegoating.

NY Fed report says Americans pay for almost all of Trump's tariffs reut.rs/4643ERt

Trump orders Pride flag yanked from Stonewall Inn National Monument—calls it "too political." Bull. To us, it's history: birthplace of LGBTQ+ movement. Not politics—raw fight for rights. He erases our story to appease bigots. We won't forget. Fly it higher. 🏳️‍🌈

“‘If you stripped Elon Musk’s name off of these things and showed them to me, I would think that this was a white supremacist,’ said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Extremism, who reviewed a selection of the posts.”

Last year, I wrote about Tommy Olsen of the Aegean Boat Report -- an organization that tracks illegal refugee pushbacks by the Greek authorities-- and Greece's campaign to cast him as a criminal for his watchdog work. They've now issued a warrant for his arrest. inthesetimes.com/article/gree...

“Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, wrote…at the time that [Tommy] Olsen “is being targeted in what appears to be an arbitrary investigation criminalising his work in defence of the rights of migrants”.”

Now more details in the Epstein files reveal Bannon as part of a successful plot to topple Theresa May with Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees Mogg, here’s an article from the archive about Johnson and Bannon’s collaboration bylinetimes.com/2023/04/24/b...

Gallup will no longer track presidential approval ratings after more than eight decades doing so, the public opinion polling agency confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday.

“Seamus Culleton said conditions at his detention centre in Texas were akin to “torture” and that the atmosphere was volatile. “I’m not in fear of the other inmates. I’m afraid of the staff. They’re capable of anything.””

SWALWELL: You said you wanted to see a deportation process that was 'like Amazon Prime but with human beings.' How many times has Amazon Prime shot a mom 3 times in the face? LYONS: None SWALWELL: How many times has Amazon Prime shot a nurse 10 times in the back? LYONS: None

#PhD alert: We’re hiring! Join the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway for a fully funded PhD in Environmental #Sociology. Choose a 3-year research track (or 4 years with teaching). Deadline: 15 March. #sustainability #climate

Ethiopia is hosting a secret camp to train thousands of fighters for the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in neighboring Sudan, Reuters reporting found, in the latest sign that one of the world’s deadliest conflicts is sucking in regional powers from Africa and the Middle East reut.rs/3ZnRcIu

Trump threatens to bar new US-Canada bridge from opening, demands talks with Ottawa reut.rs/4aKWDqj

Bad Bunny‘s halftime show was a brilliant act of cultural politics, a huge celebratory affront to MAGA, forcing “America” to confront its plural reality and wider continental context. God bless America? Sure, but all of America, with all its polyvalences and multitudes, Bad Bunny seemed to suggest.

“Samoan officials later said Kennedy’s trip bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists ahead of the measles outbreak that sickened thousands and killed 83 people, mostly children under age five.”

Right now Rikers Island, the physically largest jail in the entire United States, is holding under 7,000 people. ICE's warehouse plans include detention camps which will hold between 8,500-10,000 people in buildings not designed for human habitation.

An eight-month study at a US tech company finds AI tools didn't reduce work but intensified it, as employees worked faster and took on a broader range of tasks (Harvard Business Review) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink