Fascism is here and yet we insist on continuing to make things. Keep creating. It's so important. Do not let the fascists colonize your imagination or curtail your creativity.

This week @jamellebouie.net had some questions for me about where the US is at now and why the term "concentration camp" might be a useful way to think about the crisis. (He interviewed me eight years ago for Slate on a similar topic. Let's hope we don't end up having the same discussion in 2034.)

Planning a Bsky-free week. Let's see how it goes. Take care, everyone.

Goodness, this is precious!

This morning, check me out on @bloomberg.com Everybody's Business with @svaneksmith.bsky.social and @chafkin.bsky.social! ✨ We discuss how rising Black unemployment and America's Double Tax problem go hand in hand to shrink the economy for all of us, and what we can do about it. #blacksky #econsky

I may say more later but part of what some of us need to understand is that the right has built an entirely distinct civic society, with its own hierarchy and (mostly networked) cultural institutions. That includes celebrity.

I feel this way about pretty much all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. You shouldn't be allowed to dump cyanide into municipal drinking water and you shouldn't be allowed to recreationally spread viruses around shared public spaces.

This is a really nice piece on what it means to make art in an era where the idea that someone will pay you for it or that tons of people might see it seems to be going away.

You can help build billionaire-free local news. Repost this -> I give $1 Follow @51st.news -> I give $1 Follow me -> I give $1 Donate -> I match your gift Let's fight misinformation, help good journalists to make a decent living, and stick a big ol' finger in Jeff Bezos' eye.

Actual footage of Vince Guaraldi performing "Linus and Lucy". I'm gobsmacked that this exists, but utterly thrilled too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMf...

Memphis is under a federal task force occupation that includes DEA, CBP, ICE, National Guard, state troopers, and (I’m not joking) IRS agents (IRS jackets kidnapping people). No national news.

A few folks in my life with "chronic decision paralysis" are increasingly telling me "well, I asked Chat or Gemini and it said...." Habibi, there is literally no faster way to get me to stop listening to you than uttering that sentence.

@carmelhealth.bsky.social @mrpepper.bsky.social Hi friends! Any chance you have resources related to using memes to help teach health concepts? My colleague is on the lookout. TYSM!

The SAVE act also forces states to submit their voter registration lists to the DHS! I know we’ve been focused on voter ID but that’s only the tip of the iceberg !

There's a link between the AI disruption and the authoritarian political attacks on expertise. Highly educated white collar folks considered ourselves to be a powerful culture, on the basis of our expertise & credentials. But that's not where power comes from, and we're learning that the hard way.

we know this, but a reminder: anytime ICE CBP etc says they’re drawing down their presence in a city, it’s bullshit. whatever their numbers, lawless federal agents remain behind & still cause havoc & kidnap people. Also relocated agents just go somewhere else to destroy lives. Abolish ICE end DHS

yep, they're still at it in LA and Portland too the media is gonna be like "time for a new narrative" and it's so important to keep talking about how none of the cities they invaded have become more safe since the spotlight shifted away from them

"Where negotiations for facilities are underway, fight the leases, fight the purchases of the facility by getting the word out on the ground..." - @andreapitzer.bsky.social degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/building-t...

To help in #Maine, donate to the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) ilapmaine.org/donate

To everyone thanking me, much appreciated but not why I posted! Pls support your local immigrant defense group like: The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: www.ilcm.org/donate/ Or my hometown LUCE: www.lucemass.org/donate Or Google your city/state & “immigrant defense” to find your local heroes!

And please thank lawyers doing this work. We’re carrying a lot of trauma for voiceless clients. We are tired. We have become experts in new law under the most dire circumstances. If you can, donate to immigration defense funds. They’ve been at it the longest and have the least resources. 30/end?

WE WANT ALL OF OUR NEIGHBORS BACK.

This is really part of the moment- there is an emboldened and extremely wealthy, connected class of people explicitly saying "we'll put you out of work" and, well, that your local misery is social & human progress.

And, also, they are going for it-- not just through DOGE style mass layoffs, but by becoming the infrastructure of mass deportations and private prisons. I think workers are very much caught trying to sort the real threat of an LLM, for example, and more general political economic madness we're in.

Anyway, I used “refusal” intentionally. academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

I fear that men are about to do what men do. They are about to characterize any sober thinking about power as non-technical and therefore unserious. We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.

As an established writer, I'm not really worried by AI, because AI can't do what I do. It can only pretend. And I've cultivated the kind of audience that can spot the difference. BUT... that word "established" is load bearing. The opportunity to LEARN to do what I do is what AI is taking away.

😂

checking the status of my manuscript

#Deepfake #AI hits the Olympics. In this video the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation de-bunks a fake video that is circulating. As much as there may be debate about #AILiteracy, creating awareness about #disinformation is part of our job as educators and citizens now. youtube.com/shorts/c8K8-...

Back on my mutual aid fundraising train. 1) donate to mutual aid. 2) email your receipt to [email protected] 3) be entered to win these mittens. Every $5 is an entry.

Your $5 donation can count as a twofer! It can get you an entry to win these awesome mittens AND entry into the upcoming Heated Rivalry virtual trivia night (2/21 at 6 PM EST)!

Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/1982385705...

The fact the Kickl is highlighted here in the visual speaks volumes. (He's the leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, currently in the opposition vs. coalition gov't)

More people should listen to @tressiemcphd.bsky.social When people say AI is inevitable, let them know the future isn’t settled.

THIS is a must-read, with action items that can be successful. How do we stop concentration camps? Andrea has answers.

I set up a free OpenAI account in 2023 to test ChatGPT since our students were using it. Haven't touched it since, but I still get their TOS updates. The most recent one is a doozy. When we say LLMs are a grift...

Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, amid daily violations of a ceasefire agreement. Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 587 Palestinians. Over 1,550 have been injured. Death toll figures are tentative.

This article is full of important information and guidance for steps to take in blocking the expansion of concentration camps across the US. Arresting clarity. A few highlights to share: 🧵 1/

It's jarring to see how much money is going to ICE instead of education, healthcare, public transportation, international aid, green energy infrastructure, and the arts, but I guess that's the point.

Baffled by transphobes insisting that the name on your birth certificate is Your True Name Forever when it was common in my grandparents' generation to just...pick a name you like and use that, nbd. I literally found out both of my grandma's birth certificate first names FROM THEIR OBITUARIES.

"I have my wings. I had to expand my environment. Even when people say “I like all music except country,” what did country ever do to you? That’s us. That is us. It’s all Black music. Except for polka. That is not us." - @durandbernarr.bsky.social TY, for this! 😅 hammerandhope.org/article/dura...

it drives you insane how much erosion of freedom is justified by concern for kids when the people who actually hurt them will never face consequences

These might be the steps that lead people to just leave the internet alone after all.

if you aren't familiar with LifeTouch, the company took every school picture of mine from probably 2nd grade on

More from @beckyhammer.bsky.social!!

Was there anything that happened at the Super Bowl besides Bad Bunny's performance? 😅

perfect chaser to watching the halftime show! Informative, entertaining, all the things!

Iconic moment as he says "God Bless América" and then names every country in South, Central, and North america in order For the rest of the hemisphere, América doesn't mean the U.S. It means evveeerrybody

Just watched the Bad Bunny halftime show during my planning period and whew, boy! I am fired up! 👏🏾👏🏾 www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Fu...