Free speech & academic freedom are essential to our country and our campuses. That’s why @afthighered.bsky.social & @aaup.org launched a campaign fighting for higher education for all. Because we know that higher education saves lives, builds futures, & powers our economy. #HigherEdBenefitsEveryone

“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” Colbert said. “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.” @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Got to hang out with Meghna Chakrabsrti in the @wbur.org studio while Adam Minsky and I broke down the state of private student loans after the One Big Beautiful Bill on @npr.org’s On Point. Tl;dr: it’s bad for students and good for big banks. Listen here: www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

It’s corruption, plain and simple.

Happy Labor Day Boston

@persisyu.bsky.social on @pbs.org /@pbsnews.org:

AOC: The order has come down to this committee. Find $880 billion to pay for a tax cuts on yachts, jets, billionaires, and mega corporations while working class people pay higher tax rates than Facebook does. Undocumented immigrants pay more in taxes than many large corporations

Lesley Stahl reports on President Trump’s efforts to halt the work and cut the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an enforcement agency that was created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. 60 Minutes, Sunday.

My statement on President Trump’s Cruel Decision to Cancel TPS Protections for Haitian Immigrants. Note that the cancellation would go into effect August 3 of this year. If you are in need of information or resources, please see our immigrant resource guide: bit.ly/RLbosguide

Call it what it is: a plan to re-segregate the federal workforce. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

My grandfather died (circumstance disputed) in a political prison in China following the Cultural Revolution. His charge was criticizing the government. My family history has been heavy on my mind. The parallels frighten me.

Donald Trump said he’d lower costs for working people on "day one"—but his actions have done nothing but look out for his billionaire boys club, captained by Elon Musk and his DOGE allies. @alexsjacquez.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Daily reminder of this. One of the clients in our attempt to save the CFPB medical debt rule is a truck driver who voted for Trump but deals with massive medical debt. Grateful to have him in the fight

Julia Barnard is a fierce advocate and a good friend. Her role as Student Loan Ombudsman is vitally important. Firing her and so many others makes students, borrowers, and our country at large less safe to predatory actors. And to be clear: that is Trump, Musk, and Vought’s goal.

The decades-long trend of corporate concentration limited competition, resulting in dire consequences. "All of these attacks converge on a single goal: to clear the remaining structures of democracy so that oligarchs like Musk can run freely." More ⬇️ rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/m...

By eliminating CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman, the President is making clear his crusade to “delete” the CFPB is a gift to corporations and a betrayal of working families. protectborrowers.org...

I get so many questions about what shutting the Dep't of Ed would mean for borrowers. @stephmhall.bsky.social lays out how harmful this would be to students, borrowers and their families. 👏👏👏👏 www.teenvogue.com/story/what-w...

Currently @Linda_McMahon is testifying before the Senate for her confirmation hearing as @POTUS’s pick for Secretary of ED. McMahon has ZERO relevant education policy experience & would usher in radical #Project2025 proposals, like abolishing ED itself. #EducationNotDebt Live tweet thread👇

Musk is working to turn Twitter/X into a financial behemoth. CFPB exists to rein in abuses by firms like the one Musk is building. His radical play to “delete” CFPB isn’t just bad government—it’s a case study in public corruption. New from our team👇 protectborrowers.org...

NEW POLL from @dataforprogress.org / @thesbpc.bsky.social / @groundwork.bsky.social shows voters across party lines and demographics REJECT attacks on borrowers & the student loan safety net to pay for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy. Poll: protectborrowers.org/new-poll-ove... Highlights below 🧵

President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings.

Hmmm... I thought we were against waste, fraud, and abuse? Yet Vought and the 'lil muskies want to pay people to literally not protect consumers from predatory financial products and scammers. Who benefits from that I wonder 🤔🤔🤔

Every consumer who plans to walk into a bank, take out a loan, or engage in almost any financial transaction should be on high alert. This is not hypothetical. CFPB protects everyday consumers EVERY DAY.

This is why they're attacking science and education: if you can only win with disinformation, data become a threat.

It's breaking through.

The new acting ED Undersecretary was previously the president of NCHER - the trade association of student loan servicers and debt collectors. Now he is deploying nazi-esque tactics to deny the humanity of our trans siblings to line the pockets of his corporate pals. History has seen this playbook.

Trump is gearing up to destroy the Department of Education. This will be bad for everyday working families and voters know it.

Trump is gearing up to destroy the Department of Education. This will be bad for everyday working families and voters know it.

"Borrowers and their families lost an ally at the highest levels of power in Washington—a dark sign of things to come as millions of borrowers face debt collection, wage garnishment, and damaged credit for the first time in five years." More from us 👇 protectborrowers.org/trump-sacks-...

This is some bombshell, scandelous, spy-novel-esque news in the climate space: It’s alledged that a lobbying firm representing ExxonMobil engaged in hacking and targeting 128 climate activists and/or environmental organizations involved in climate ligation to discredit those individuals/groups.

Trump et al are using these tactics to reassert dominance and impose hierarchies they consider "natural" on every level. Men over women. Parents over children. White people over everyone else.  America over the world... The goal is far more ambitious than deregulation and privatization.

And yet you still vote for his nominees

💪💪💪💪💪💪 Still more fight to be had but grateful to @democracyforward.bsky.social for coming out swinging!

“Millions of students are waiting for disbursements of their federal aid so that they can continue their education, & eat & keep a roof over their heads. Wielding this fear is an abuse of power," - @persisyu.bsky.social of @thesbpc.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/b...

This is how you say “go fuck yourself sideways with a porcupine” in inspector general speak. Going to be interesting to see how the administration responds

Democrats need to start feeling more pressure. Us in blue states need to start making more calls. I've started but I need to ramp it up.

I’d like to give a shout out to her therapist.

Apt.

BREAKING: The National Treasury Employees Union is suing the Trump administration. They're suing over Trump's "schedule F" order that that makes it easier to fire career federal workers. The union's president says, “This order is about administering political loyalty tests."

Cato wasting no time. Privatizing student lending will keep higher education out of the reach for people of color and the poor while enriching predatory private corporations. www.cato.org/briefing-pap...

Student debt remains a central issue for working families struggling to get ahead. https://protectborrowers.org/release-november-2024-poll-student-debt-electorate/

“America voted for corruption, and that’s what Trump is delivering…. Trump’s corruption and naked profiteering is so open, extreme and pervasive this time around that to comment on any one aspect of it would be to lose the forest for the trees.” Damn.

Not going dark today. Spending my time with intention, rest, and fresh baked bread.

"Thanks to this IDR Account Adjustment update, borrowers can finally receive the credit they’ve earned,” - @persisyu.bsky.social. Borrowers: Be sure to screenshot your new payment counts! https://protectborrowers.org/final-idr-account-adjustment-payment-counts-announced/

Rooting for more stuff like this in the final days www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...

As everyone should know by now, the anti-trans rhetoric isn’t about “protecting women” in bathrooms or sports … but about removing trans people from public life. And it’s working. This is a big company, making a big change that isn’t about protecting anyone (except men from having to see tampons).

SCOTUS rejects Trump's bid to delay NY sentencing. Order is below. It's insane that this was 5-4 and that Alito participated in the deliberations. I'm wondering if the Chief and ACB would've sided with the other conservatives if the Alito-Trump phone call hadn't been made public last night.

😭😭😭😭

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes announces she's quit the paper because her editors wouldn't print a cartoon going after Big Tech and media oligarchs paying tribute to to Trump A new low in mainstream media's post-Trump meltdown anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...