“Can’t believe NYC elected a Muslim as mayor.” In truth—a Black American Christian woman swearing in a Ugandan American Muslim of South Asian ethnicity as his Syrian American wife holds the Qurans he swears in on, all while standing on the steps of a subway station—is the most NYC thing imaginable.

We can finally discard a once evergreen @theonion.com article. Here’s to hoping it’s not the only one, 2026.

Orwell's "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears..." quote is way too overused, and often incorrectly. But fucking... come on man...

Being included in one of these weekly roundups last year was such an honor. Really appreciate all the work @americanstudier.bsky.social does to find all this great scholarship. Here’s to more people recognizing it in 2026.

The entire article is gross trash (NYPost of course), but it’s wild to realize that Liel Leibovitz thinks a litany of “digs” like this makes him look like anything but a petulant whiny baby. Trying to argue with cheap hits that aren’t even remotely funny or clever is the real childish behavior.

This is why voting in primaries and doing stuff to change your local Democratic Party for the better is so cool. You can tell deranged do-nothings like Nancy and Dan Goldman to eat rocks! While you get someone like Zohran or Brad to represent you instead.

"Never tried therapy before but this is probably it?" Therapy is hard. It is work. A good therapist makes you come to realize things that make you uncomfortable. I would know. But, those high up in the tech sphere always want the easy/yes-man route to everything. And we will all suffer for it.

One of the most important and revolutionary bands of all time. Also proof that even if you can’t afford any instruments greater than literally recycled garbage, you can still push the bar and create something amazing. Alan Vega and Martin Rev are two of my heroes.

Astoria > UES This is not controversial unless you’re lame.

READ THIS: Still probably the best #ChristmasEve tradition I’ve heard. Iceland definitely does Christmas well — my Reykjavik clients had funny comments about this! Are you planning to curl up with a great new book on cities this #Christmas? Share your pick with us using hashtag #UrbanismBookClub!

At first I went “Wow! even the imbecilic ICE goons know that ‘AI’ is shit.” And then I saw the second comment…

The self-fulfilling paradox by the rich and powerful (or people with clout who write for places FOR the rich and powerful, like the Atlantic) that - if this person is rich and powerful, they must be right! - is one of the core sources of rot in this country.

I just uploaded @jasonparis.bsky.social 's recording of the segment CBS News pulled from "60 Minutes" to YouTube:

Fascists always need to build the “biggest, baddest, most manly” weapon possible. The Nazis could never build enough Panzers, but an even dumber choice was their building the “even more manly” Tiger tank. And then the USSR churned out >1,000 T-34s per Tiger tank. Logistics win wars people! 🗃️

!! Here’s a link to full video of the 60 Minutes segment that Bari Weiss killed last minute, via @jasonparis.bsky.social: is.gd/paU8Ko (It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)

I’ve now lived in NYC for 45% of my life. I’m also married to someone who was born and grew up here. And yet I’ve met many “John Samuelsen’s” who tell me I don’t get to have an opinion on anything because “you’re not from here you don’t understand!” It’s nativism in a local jacket, and it’s gross.

Well said, and it shouldn’t be so difficult for people to understand this. The only world that will treat you equally is one that treats everyone equally.

New School “administrators have started to implement a plan to close, overhaul or merge about 30 academic programs or majors; pause nearly all admissions to doctoral programs; and offer buyouts or early retirement to what professors say is about 40 percent of the full-time faculty.”

When I was a young, wide-eyed WFP canvasser, I marched with them for a $15 minimum wage. Little did I know that council member Lander was already there pushing for the same thing. The guy has always put his neck out for working class New Yorkers. Dan Goldman would never. Go Brad.

I witnessed this insanity today. 7 cases I observed in a row went as follows: 1) Russian Asylum Seeker > DHS Lawyer motioned to "pretermit" their case and send them to Uganda. 2) Pakistani Asylum Seeker > DHS Lawyer motioned to "pretermit" their case and send them to Uganda. 1/

In all my previous jobs, mostly nonprofits, white people like me were 100% of the room. Now I work at a diverse university where in my department of ~200 people, white people make up ~10% of the room. It is hands down the warmest and most productive place I have ever worked. Fuck all this noise.

AI is absolutely destroying academia and making it more challenging than ever to teach history. But it also tells the much-derided "End of History" guy that he is still "very smart." And, at the end of the day, isn't that worth destroying the planet for? 🗃️

Lo and behold, the ICE agent in charge of this scene in Minnesota, indiscriminately pepper-spraying people while on the phone, is none other than the "Where's Waldo" of shitty ICE agents, Brenden Cuni! This is the type of goon that they feel is capable of directing these atrocities across states!

Had the pleasure of being introduced to Mamdani when a professor in grad school assigned When Victims Become Killers, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Thanks to this thorough review from @hofrench.bsky.social, I’m even more excited to pick up Slow Poison.

Believe it or not, moderate Dems, you don’t actually “have to hand it” to Ronald Fucking Reagan. One of the worst, most evil, corrupt, and dangerous people to ever serve as president of this country.

I suppose that, to a lot of people, this makes no sense. But having been a way-too-online millennial in 2010 when the whole "Brony" thing began, it actually makes a ton of sense. People who feel lonely and unheard in society latching onto something that feels "countercultural" is pretty normal. 1/

I’m dying over this because 1) I’ve never even heard of “The Calm & the Storm” and I’ve played a LOT of these games, which means it probably sucked or just seemed complex because the UI was full of numbers. /

A million Muslims live in New York City. We belong here, as does every other New Yorker. This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.

Even if he wasn’t a corrupt piece of shit who ruined the subways, public employee pensions (myself included), and so much more, I was so motivated to do as much as I could to prevent his “comeback” because of how emblematic he is of the fact that powerful narcissists never face consequences…

Home Depot on 23rd st in NYC kicked everyone out and locked its doors because some of us bought and returned $ice scrapers, but they continue to welcome ICE agents in as they kidnap people across the country. #ICEOutofNY #ICEOutOfHomeDepot #StopTheRaids #ProtectDayLaborers #SilenceIsComplicity

Damnit this is good writing, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social.

Eye-opening moment for me when I was in grad school was that I could even email the lauded historians who wrote the books I was using for my research and that they would enthusiastically respond to me with a ton of resources I never would have found on my own. 🗃️

I was out there for Lander when he ran for mayor, and I’ll be out there in NY-10 in 2026 for him too. It was bittersweet when it became clear he couldn’t win the primary, but it’s surreal that two progressive candidates I love are able to keep advancing. Go get ‘em Brad.

Appreciate those who make these incredibly difficult decisions for the benefit of their movement. Like Brad and Zohran's co-endorsement in the primaries - @yuhline.bsky.social would have been an excellent rep 4 years ago and now. But stepping aside because Brad has the best shot is wise and brave.

Yuuuuup.

Given that it's still dubious to claim that all this investment in AI actually DOES anything, and that majoring in it might be a monumental waste of one's education, if students want an Astrology major is it "her responsibility to give them one" too?

It was getting time to build another PC (would be my 3rd). I mean… I would like to be able to finish a game of EUV one day and even my pretty decent CPU from 2020 and 16gb of RAM is struggling with that. But I won’t, because I’m competing with an AI bubble for RAM sticks. The future is stupid.

"Accommodations have gone too far" is on the same path as eugenics. I'm lucky to be an incredibly fast test taker, but I did poorly on the tests I didn't study for, and no amount of staring at stuff I didn't know would have improved my grade. Making people's lives better has no impact on "fairness."

Democratic politicians need to stop accepting Trump’s white nationalist premise that immigration is bad and proudly and loudly make a positive case for why America’s identity and history as a nation of immigrants is so important.

This. The second you say even the smallest, most specific group of people shouldn’t exist, you open the door wide open to people who want to exterminate everyone who doesn’t look like them. Making life bearable for people with disabilities should be the norm. It shouldn’t be controversial.

You can find all the 75+ "How to Report ICE" zines (English & Spanish versions) in the link in my bio.

Took a looooong slow taxi ride from JFK to my apartment this morning and although it was muted, I noticed that all the Taxi tv ads were for the Free Press and Newsmax. Which supports this @hellgatenyc.com article. But holy shit NYC. What are we doing?

Great thread. Yet another example of when you throw this crap into any field, the actual professionals will immediately recognize how terrible it is, and how much it actually just makes their jobs harder.

The vibe shift today is, I think, due to the fact that New Yorkers were on the offensive instead of the defensive. Usually with protests, demonstrators have to defend the space, defend their right to march, etc. They get beat up and pushed around and antagonized into chaos and trauma. 1/

Hate that this thread I wrote feels so relevant again, given the president and Stephen Miller’s recent tirades. Immigration is good. Trying to discriminate immigrants based on where they’re from is cruel, AND it doesn’t even work. Humanity is a beautiful mosaic and I wished the U.S. embraced that.

I think it's shameful that during a second Trump administration, and after NYC voters rejected a return to moderate, conciliatory governance, that a Democrat would tout the entirety of the Council's Republican caucus as her supporters.

Did you canvas for or donate to Harvey Epstein or Shirley Aldebol? Are you disappointed to learn that they’re joining with Vickie Paladino, who called for the mayor elect’s deportation, in their support of Julie Menin for City Council speaker?

As it does, the Times is already making it sound like this is a done deal when it’s not. The council picks a new speaker in January, so there is still a lot of time. Also, Menin prides herself as a “common sense” pick, who has already publicly opposed some of Mamdani’s agenda /

Personally knowing >10 people on these committees who are not just rich donors to the philanthropies I once worked at is surreal, and inspiring. Obviously there is so much work for everyone to do, but NYC governance suddenly doesn’t feel so walled off from normal folk, and that is amazing.