Two agents involved in the shooting deaths of US citizens in Minneapolis are reportedly part of paramilitary tactical units—including ICE’s two Special Response Teams (SRT), CBP’s one SRT, and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)—whose extreme tactics are generally reserved for war zones.

The present is shaped by things that take time. It doesn’t happen all at once. People were worried and warned about where things could lead after 9/11. Things that happened back then led to the abuses of state power—and the democratic backsliding—we’re living through now.

You can tell that it isn't about "historical accuracy" because he's not mad about fair-skinned guys being cast as Odysseus when Homer described Odysseus as being brown or even Black-skinned

Some good news: one of my fav players heading to the Giants. Old school contact hitter like my all-time favorites Carew and Gwynn.

"'All the bookstores here are fighting this,' she said, 'I can’t overstate how involved all the stores are and how much work everybody is doing. It is a really incredible moment to be here. And to be part of this.'"

Just finished (for now) a major project. A BlueSky thread describing the key distinctions I use to bring clarity to my own thinking as a press critic. It's long (28 slides) but I tried to make it worth the trip. It ends with the people of Minnesota and their version of "citizen journalism."

Update: We added 500 signatures yesterday. Despite knowing how folks feel about generative AI, I’m amazed by this response. Our union, California Faculty Ass’n, will be sending the petition to all members shortly. We aim to break 3K signatures and will deliver the petition to CSU admin in a week.

For our Search & Discovery class I'm 👀 for a pithy piece (article or podcast) that comprehensively + critically chronicles the decline of web search — SEO, link rot, AI summaries + ☠️ of click-through, AI slop, etc — but of course, thanks to search's brokenness, I can't find what I'm 👀 for! 😫

"The solution to technology is not more technology. The solution to loneliness is each other, a wealth that should be available to most of us most of the time." @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in @theguardian.com with a must read www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Once again here to tap the mic and say Texas is a gerrymandered, voter repressed state, not a "red" state. And every one of you celebrating the (significant) win in Tarrant County better not be the same people in my mentions saying to throw the whole South away. There are good people fighting.

This race was such a massive swing blowout that Democrat Taylor Rehmet literally won a city called White Settlement

Special bat signal for the esteemed SFSU alumna @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social. We would love to invite you to read and consider signing this open letter re: AI use in the CSU system. (Too, I so appreciated your recent essay on Silicon Valley in The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte... !)

The California State University system spent $16.9 million last year giving ChatGPT to all students, faculty, and staff. We are asking the CSU chancellor not to renew the contract with OpenAI when it expires. Anyone can sign the petition — link below!

We need these people out of government ASAP.

The Judge: "Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency," the judge wrote. “And the rule of law be damned.”

The co-author of "How Democracies Die" says the guys who own the media platforms — Musk, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Bezos, Cook — led the way. "Their capitulation empowered the Trump administration to do much more than it might have otherwise, to reach further and eventually overreach.” Via @status.news

Yes.

Getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio, which was ground zero of Vance’s lies about Haitians during the campaign. Haitians lose temporary protected status on February 3rd. Reporters, lawyers, neighbors — please get ready.

“With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ordered.”

"Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his dad released from ICE detention" apnews.com/article/immi...

Federal Judge Fred Biery: "Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. "And the rule of law be damned." www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

I think we must clarify that he means Trump. We are now in the business of random presidential arrests.

Back in my days as a bartender and server this kind of situation would result in the very inspirational "Time to lean, time to clean" line from one of the managers. Lessons in meaningless busywork.

“Or do productivity increases from AI assistance undermine skill development?… We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery” Another study showing that AI creates a world where we are producing more, but understanding less. AI Bad.

the atrocities we are committing already and those to come… This must not be. Contact Congress. Protest. Sand in fascist projects. Diversity of tactics. Together is the only way we build liveable todays and tomorrows. ————————————- For Liam. W/alt text.

For Liam.

👇

Roman archaeologist here. These arches were emperors’ propaganda in the Empire, and they’re Orange Julius Caesar’s propaganda now.

We've been talking about the Latin-Americanization of race and racism in the US for quite some time now, but this "Scandinavians are white but not quite" discourse has exceeded my expectations

Yet another good point of evidence for why the boundaries of whiteness are always politically contingent, and that race ultimately is not reducible to how people look.

Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday. 📷️: Aaron Lavinsky

"Scandinavian transplant cultures," he says. With their "over-empathizing element."

Look, you don't gotta hand it to 'em, but I am guessing this movie will not have the same impact or be remembered in the same breath as Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Nice short video about the life and work of anthropologist Eric R. Wolf, via CUNY TV: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VQj... #anthrosky #anthropology

Yes to all this. We have been around for 250k plus years but some folks are like 'sorry due to changes that have happened in the last couple of centuries we're totally out of options here and there's nothing else we can possibly imagine.'

"there have always been alternatives" 👇

All i can say is that a an archaeologist (a) i wish my specialist knowledge a was LESS relevant to the present moment and (b) nothing breaks the spell of capitalist violence faster than taking just how long we existed without it and that there have always been alternatives

In my latest blog post I think through how ICE agents targeting immersion schools in Minneapolis connect to a broader collapse of neoliberal multiculturalism and what we should do about it. educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/i...

I have a new article out! It’s about the “technological fictions” that Big Tech leaders perform during corporate keynotes, particular Zuck and Cook as they tried to sell the metaverse and spatial computing. 1/

You know who is never going to see this money? The Venezuelan people.

What a fucking disaster. Not only are OpenAI and the likes unleashing this shit on the world, they are deliberately leaning into the harms that their business model causes with products like Prism.

Well, this makes the Chavista regime either imperialist collaborators, or snakes eating each other for the sake of retaining power. This makes really difficult the mental gymnastics for people who still wants to support the Bolivarian Revolution.

I posted Chaplain Moberg’s statement and it got 20,000 thumbs up which to put it mildly was unexpected. This terrific piece shows the person and politics beyond the words.

I see Bluesky is debating optimism vs. pessimism. I always liked what Gramsci had to say about this: “I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”

My latest, for the MIT Press Reader: Why is an anti-immigrant extremist force cracking down on non-immigrants? Because when extremists can't win over their in-group, they must assign dissenting members to an out-group in order to maintain legitimacy. thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/anatomy-of-e...

Former MLB OF Kole Calhoun speaks out. “What this administration is doing is blatantly racist…I’ve been silent because that is easy. I don’t care what side you’re on or who you voted for, this is wrong… Wake up! Speak out!”

Coincidence it will be in the Bay Area, a place they have long had on their brutalization list? No. What a shitshow.

With 2 white people murdered by ICE for standing in solidarity with POC, we are now at the Mississippi Burning stage of this latest fight against white supremacy. The major difference is that the feds are now the murderers and state & local police must decide if they will investigate and prosecute.