If I had to sum up what I’ve learned from analyzing mountains of election data—and what Mamdani’s campaign exemplified perfectly—it’s this: Stop moderating. Start energizing.

Very proud @cuny.edu and my beloved alma mater @reed.edu are prominently featured (though of course signing a letter only scratches the surface of what institutions should do to protect students)

The last words of 23-year old journalist Hassan Shabbat. A haunting call to action

If you’re at CUNY, check out the Grad Center’s political science student conference in the department lounge 3/28! I’ll be presenting in the American Politics section (as an undercover Sociologist)

Spread the word! The organizers select a smaller (but not too small!) of a group which is great for more sustained interaction

It is being reported that hundreds have been killed and injured. People targeted in their homes, tents, and displacement centers, which are being bombed at this very moment in Gaza. WAKE UP!

Fav place to get work done

The issue isn’t free speech *per se* — one has to consider the degree to which the speech reflects the priorities of those in power versus opposition to injustice, hegemonic vs. anti-hegemonic speech. The frames we adopt in our movements and micro-interactions matter a lot for material outcomes.

The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.

Data request: Does anyone know of any campaign contribution data available through relatively recently (at least ~2018) that aggregates spending by donor sector or industry? I am trying to use finance aggregates for robustness checks and have searched far and wide, but can’t find anything. Thanks!

A graphic designer has joined the inequality group I coordinate at @stone-lis.bsky.social and I’m very happy about it:

The Inequality Podcast from @ucstonecenter.bsky.social has become my go-to sociology listen. In the most recent episode, @gtwodtke.bsky.social interviews @jakerosenfeld.bsky.social and Daniel Schneider about precarious work. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... the-inequality-podcast.captivate.fm

Breaking: ICE arrests a Palestinian student at Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, whose wife is 8 months pregnant. They revoked his student visa and his green card. BOYCOTT COLUMBIA. WRITE & Demand answers. This is fucking sickening. zeteo.com/p/breaking-d...

New York Times, 2003

The Democratic Party is not “broken”; it has long been a party out of touch with most voters, over-representing the interests of (certain types of) elites. There’s no “saving” a party embedded in interlocking unequal systems.

Come check out the “Replicating Inequalities” session at #ESS2025! At 2pm this Saturday, I’ll be presenting “Business, Finance, and the Politics of US Income Concentration.” #EasternSociologicalSociety

I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!

A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever. I wonder whose name will carry the dunce cap in the history books. Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.

The ASA, American Federation of Teachers @AFT, and AFT-Maryland, facilitated by @DemocracyForward, have filed a complaint today in federal court in Maryland challenging the “Dear Colleague Letter” published by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

There is no way for for “democracy” to function in a world that looks like this

No surprises here!

Love this recent short segment from @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social gives an accessible class-race analysis contextualizing the recent dismantling of DEI (also recommend reading “elite capture” if you haven’t).

Steve Bannon is out here doing a Nazi salute and nodding to an applauding audience after Elon did it and it is honestly chilling how white supremacy here, like in the Germany they’re mimicking, has taken all these forms over the centuries but will not die.

The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️

I am never going to forget the virulent, eliminationist anti palestinian racism that this society's elites have chosen to tolerate while pretending to care about universalist human values. I simply cannot unsee it.

@aoc.bsky.social today in NYC for the #SaveOurServices Day of Action. But it’s about more than public services, about more than one oligarch, one party, the current moment. Systemoverhauls are needed. Get organized. Already organized? Get more organized @demsocialists.bsky.social @socialists.nyc

No words

Ironically came across this great recent @jacobinmag.bsky.social episode on Christian nationalism & the current Trump regime w/ historian @kkdumez.bsky.social, right on the heals of discussing with my Soc students a paper on white Christian nat-ism & Trump voting from 2017 (Philip Gorski, AJCS)

Late, but awesome, stacked talk from Fred Block and panelists Nancy Fraser, Bhaskar Sunkara, & Natasha Lennard

Of course I’m horrified by the current “billionaire takeover” described by elite Democrat politicians and pundits. But let’s remember: ❌ Middle- and low-income citizens’ preferences have ~ no impact on policy outcomes when they diverge from the preferences of the wealthy (Gilens & Page, 2014)

If you’re going to #ESS2025 stick around until the end! I’ll be presenting “Business, Finance, and the Politics of Income Concentration: A Panel Study of US States” that Saturday @ 2 (according to the preliminary schedule)

PAA & the Association of Population Centers call for re-opening access to crucial #data, to enable research on health and wellbeing. Blocking these data is nonsensical. We researchers must not surrender. This is a time to make good trouble. @stone-lis.bsky.social @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social

A study stating they use whatever technique to avoid a biased estimator would get flagged. Wild.

oh

Continuing to learn from and engage with organizing and activist contexts has been such a critical component of my academic, political-sociological growth. Bridging this disconnect among academics of politics, labor, inequality, etc seems more critical than ever.

16 Democratic senators recently voted to confirm the Trump-appointed Treasury Secretary who just gave Musk’s team access to a Treasury payment system that disburses trillions and holds mass quantities of personal information. Food for thought. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Out knocking doors today with the @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social campaign to bring unprecedented economic justice, social equality, and democratic representation to NYC!

Just hope that the extremist coalition in power & their diabolical moves represent enough of a status quo shift to inspire mass-based, real counter-action. Everything from the political & social institutions that govern us to the everyday ways we relate to each other have long required reimagining

"where are all the protests?" read our series showing the legacy of both the Trump and Biden admins—from BLM in the 2010s, to Standing Rock, to George Floyd, to the Palestine encampments—as protest suppression and criminalization. politicians want to call blocking traffic and masking "terrorism."

Democrats in Congress: WHAT IS THE PLAN? Going on Sunday shows and spewing consultant speak isn't going to cut it. Twelve inspectors general fired and there's no sit-in? No filibuster? No direction to voters? And in fact, some of you are actually voting for Trump's agenda?

On this frigid day in January, nearly 400 volunteers knocked on 11,717 doors to share our vision for a city working people can afford. We are building a campaign unlike any other.

I think there’s a big difference between blaming individual normie voters for not being rational/strategic (mostly a waste of time) and blaming people/organizations that work professionally in politics for doing dumb shit (absolutely fair game). Worth it to try not to conflate the two.

Pay attention to America's infrastructure of wealth, secrecy, and tax avoidance, and you might find yourself asking an uncomfortable question. “We talk all the time about Putin and his oligarchic friends," Bernie Sanders told us. “But for obvious reasons, we don’t talk about oligarchy in the US.”

Amidst terrifying executive order after order, one of the most critical steps we can take is to insulate our local communities from bad nat’l policy. Local and state govs have enormous power in some areas in the US. Here in NYC, the @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social campaign couldn’t come at a better time

Officially hard-launching my migration to BlueSky; “”X”” , you will not be missed!