The fact that Democrats have a 10 point advantage over the GOP in Virginia on education shows just how wrong the national party/pundit takes on this issue have turned out to be. Virginia, of course, is where the narrative about the electoral power of school culture wars began

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

Apple has removed apps used by people to share the location of Federal agents of social control

Newsom: "If any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding – including Cal Grants – instantly. California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom"

Amidst the shutdown and the continued attacks on institutions, individuals, and communities, it's important that we document human toll. To that end, here's a chance to share anonymously how you and your loved ones are faring in the wake of rapid social and policy change. tinyurl.com/thehumantoll

Republicans are clear about power and how to use it. Until the rules create a fair institution, Democrats should learn how to use power and act!

A portrait of people at risk of being kicked off Medicaid because of work requirements. Lots of them are in poor health. E.g., 41% have three or more chronic conditions. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

In today's @latimes.com, @georgianndavis.bsky.social writes about teaching statistics as an intersex scholar, and having to choose between lying to her students about the biological realities of sex and gender or teaching what the administration insists is true. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Pope Leo--weirdly normal Midwesterner--gave a key climate speech yesterday that couldn't have been more different from Trump's disturbing and dangerous harangue of the generals billmckibben.substack.com/p/a-differen...

Everybody notices incompetence and bs

Thank you so much for this. I'm reminded of 2 years ago, when my sophomore students that worked in admissions had to answer random calls about where the university stood on DEI and free speech for days because a conservative faculty member doxxed her (genocide studies) grad students in the WSJ.

And I don’t think I’ve posted my book here so: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708739...

So proud of our Kaela Berg and her announcement on running for Congress! We’re ALL IN for this @afacwa.org member and we encourage you to be too! kaela4congress.com/launch1a?t=1...

US Department of Labor walks back funding freeze for DOL’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) after a class action lawsuit was filed

Tech workers in the most corporate, nerdy, non-union, Northface-wearing-ass environment you can imagine have been putting their jobs, safety, and even immigration status on the line to try to stop a genocide, writes @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

happy 90th birthday @davidharvey.org! been learning from you for as long as I can remember. grateful for these commemorative essays! www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/h...

If Russell Vought had escaped your attention so far, my Businessweek colleague @chafkin.bsky.social wrote a great profile earlier this year that gets into what exactly his whole deal is. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Jane Goodall, we miss you.

In These Times has great new articles on how workers pension $$$ is being invested in corporations that are bad for workers, the economy and democracy. inthesetimes.com/article/fina...

Bluesky runs on open protocols with open source code. Today we’re taking an additional step and making a patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everyone can build confidently on our work. Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...

A study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that Flight Attendants in the U.S. have a higher prevalence of every cancer they studied, especially breast cancer, melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancer. Remember, AFA EAP is always available.

Close to 65k watching the livefeed from the Global Sumud Flotilla off the coast of Gaza. Israel seems to be intercepting right now. All eyes needed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEN2...

Jane Goodall's work insisting, with evidence from her brilliant and tenacious fieldwork, that we were not so separate from animals, and they were much more like us than the Eurocentric theorists asserted, was so important.

The courts will eliminate freedom of thought and speech; they will not save democracy. Saving democracy is collective action by citizens.

Zucman publishes in English and you might also read the work of his Berkeley colleague Emmanuel Saez on taxing concentrated wealth in US.

If you find it too daunting to read Judge Young's opinion in full, read this excellent summary from @emptywheel.bsky.social. I promise, it is worth your time.

Go, Jane, go! She's rounded up hundreds of Hollywood figures to revive the First Amendment organization her father championed. Fonda, in her late eighties, is in her prime as a climate champion and a powerful voice for justice.

Great column by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social (gift link)

Tressie Cottom has written an excellent explanation of the state of affairs in the US. “Debate is a luxury of norms and institutional safety . . .” Norms and institutions that are being destroyed. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is a fantastic documentary about US power and how Jazz musicians played a part in that power. Look up what Malcolm X among others had to say about the US role in murdering Lumumba.

BREAKING: WE WON!!! 💥 💥 💥 Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment. Full ruling here:

Judge Young: "The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence." An extraordinary, historic victory for democratic freedom. knightcolumbia.org/content/in-l...

This was 2018, but still seems relevant

The product marketer in me wants to do a feature list for tax rates and the government services provided at different rates. Broadband should be a utility. I don’t care if that pisses Verizon and Comcast off.

Today Brendan Carr's FCC is poised to vote to kill a program that helped bring free Wi-Fi to rural schoolkids at no additional cost to taxpayers:

Social science shows us that the rules, forms, schedules imposed to gain access are effective barriers to minimize participation. A design of denial is pervasive in US social policy, becoming more so this year.

Only a failed nation fails a human like this. www.instagram.com/reel/DO_dOVf...

Larry Ellison envisions a surveillance state in which techbros rule. '“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.'

The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

"“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social , a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Human labor powers machine ‘intelligence’

The revolutionary hero Assata Shakur has left us. She died in Cuba, a communist country that welcomed her, celebrated her, and gave her free health care until the day she died, as opposed to the country where she was born, which offered her only a lifetime of contempt, abuse, and imprisonment

I’m starting to notice a trend in the polling data… —Top Public Worry: Corruption —Biggest problem in Fed Gov: Corruption —Top fear: Corruption —What one word would you use to describe American government?: “Corrupt” It’s almost like voters are trying to tell us something.

Let’s remember that the Republican Party has a rich legacy to uphold. Coasters that were part of a set of important statements by Bush fils.

My latest column for the Chronicle of Higher Ed is now live. It's an argument for including AI-critical voices in campus conversations and policymaking workgroups, and I'm proud to get this dissenting piece into the mainstream genAI/higher ed discourse. Please read and share if you're so inclined 🙂

US climate scientists are being silenced. The world’s scientists need to speak up against the obscurantism spewing out from Washington.

The richest man on earth owns X. The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok. The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post. See the problem here?

If only Derrida were alive to write about cartridge engravings.

Angela Davis, Silvia Federici and Patricia Hill Collins, long term fighters to expand democratic politics, gaining attention for their work. Still important for each of us to continue reading their writings!