a strong letter! We’re saved!

Really love that the Lions used their first two picks this year on the D Line and O Line. Especially re the O Line, this is all about ensuring that a current strength remains a strength. Dan Campbell 101: shore up those trenches.

Americans, especially white collar Americans, not understanding labor organizing is one of the greatest successes of the Reagan era. People just don’t understand solidarity and say stupid shit like “Fuck that union because I don’t like its president” instead of “join and fight!”

The reason billionaires like McMahon are obsessed with student debt is that creating financial precarity makes people more stressed about losing their job. If you’re worried about your job you’re less likely to quit and find work elsewhere. You’re less likely to ask for a raise. It’s pure class war.

Generations of poor kids were sold the idea that taking out a student loan was an investment on their future and one they couldn’t afford to pass. Now after multiple once-in-a-lifetime economic downturns and endless avocado toast pieces those same poor kids are being targeted for immiseration.

Watched Sinners last night and was wowed. This might be best review I’ve read of it yet, by Nadira Goffe. Only critic I’ve read so far that really grapples fully with the racial politics of the vampire metaphors, what it means that Remmick is Irish, the layers of villainy. slate.com/culture/2025...

Van Hollen has been pretty good fighting this whole Trump II term, but I’ll be honest that I didn’t know he had that El Salvador trip in him. In an era full of unpleasant surprises, really nice to get pleasantly surprised by someone showing some actual guts

This is it, folks. Far larger than Harvard itself, as large as Harvard is. Every nonprofit from the center leftward is on notice for potential destruction.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump admin must facilitate the return of SMART Union Local 100 apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They need to quit wasting time and bring our union brother home NOW!

Sometimes my intellectual brain melts away for a moment and I wonder what went wrong in our society that there is a mass constituency for this absolute, undiluted wickedness. These photo ops are evil. The politicians engaging in them make me question my core belief in the possibility of redemption.

Grim. It’s tough to understand what’s happening without paying attention to the ideology that underlies the unprecedented actions & ambitions of the 21st c right wing.

Proud to have you as my senator @vanhollen.senate.gov. Thank you!!!

Gathering sources for my next dissertation chapter today and pulled back up this Detroit Free Press profile of DFT prez Mary Ellen Riordan during the 1967 Detroit teachers’ strike. I love it so much.

My God

I still can’t get over how crazy this is. Republican House blew up DC’s budget (by accident?) in their spending bill, and sanctimonious zealot Mike Johnson refuses to schedule a bill to fix it. Thus DC is barred from spending ITS OWN TAX MONEY - resulting in layoffs, service cuts, & more. TYRANNY.

Really respect Van Hollen for this. Next level shit. Happy he’s my senator.

Despite attacks from Trump and Musk, educators & community partners stood strong to protect and invest in public schools. This contract pushes back against dismantling public ed—securing smaller classes, more resources, student protections, and respect for veteran teachers. bsky.app/profile/ctul...

I will say this - EVERYONE with power seems to be desperately hoping that unpopularity does the work that consequences need to do

This reminds me that the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next yr offers a prime year-long organizing opportunity for any and all activist groups who oppose this lawless, fascist administration. SO much you can do with this (assuming Trump isn’t impeached and removed before 2026)

Good way to see the current tariffs, as of literally today, is no tariffs on high value add manufactured goods marketed to middle and upper middle classes. Massive tariffs for cheap consumer items which amount to the biggest economic privilege of working class/middle class life in US.

The late Mike Davis (RIP) said in an interview near the end of his life that a good 30% of ppl in this country are hardcore fascists…

I’ve had the “Devereux Wigs” jingle in my head all day - the version with Tim in it 😭 #Detroiters

Stuff like this helps me remember what the brilliant Marcia Chatelain told a class of undergrads in her “American Activism” course I TA-ed. When ppl say “I can’t believe ___ is happening in 2023,” she said, it shows that a lot of ppl’s understanding of history follows a progressive narrative /1 of 2

Love the creative ideas in here. As this political crisis deepens, our foremost public sector labor historian @josephamccartin.bsky.social continues to sound the alarm: the US labor movement needs to respond to this moment with more than lawsuits and strongly worded statements. It’s action time.

Schools should be a safe and welcoming place for students to learn. That is what this teacher did, a beloved teacher with a stellar record and she got fired for it. We stand with her. www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2...

lol. This reminds me of my mother - an anarchist in the ‘80s, slightly softened up to lefty teacher unionist in the following decades. She heard me in high school playing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and said she didn’t like it, it reminded her of “those wishy-washy hippies” 😂😂😭😭

“Chicago Teacher's Union is leading the way by including affirmation of trans youth and teachers in their contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools” As Trump Attacks Trans Youth, States and Schools Step Up transupfrontil.substack.com/p/as-trump-a...

Incredible how similar the background stories are of many Detroit teachers/teacher unionists I study in early and mid ‘60s. Fathers - whether white or Black - worked at auto factories. Teaching was the next generation’s pathway to the middle class.

The cake looks delicious — too bad Republican Economic Policy “doesn’t leave much on the plate” for the average family!

Beyond the world being on fire, we’ve had a lot going on personally. Was able to write 1K words today on my diss for first time in wks and it honestly feels like a big victory. To many more (words).

Wild to owe in taxes this yr (PhD student worker, paid partly in grants, this happens some yrs) as Trump and his minions illegally gut all the programs that actually help human beings AND as billionaires way underpay their taxes. Truly have to dissociate so as not to combust with rage

Absolutely horrifying - EVIL - and so, so close to home. As with many things these days I’m not sure my brain is fully confronting the depravity & the tragedy on display here - to do so would be too intense, too painful, too heartbreaking. This is WRONG.

For real. And serve some cheap or free food while you’re at it. Campaigns as civil society & direct support/service. It’s what needs to happen. 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

the de facto social contract in this country has been you don't get a good welfare state or infrastructure or (with few exceptions) a union job, but you do get access to a cornucopia of cheap consumer goods. I'd guess people will *flip the fuck out,* but we'll see!

Wild to owe in taxes this yr (PhD student worker, paid partly in grants, this happens some yrs) as Trump and his minions illegally gut all the programs that actually help human beings AND as billionaires way underpay their taxes. Truly have to dissociate so as not to combust with rage

This is totally evil

First illegal impoundment to directly hit us. The 7 y/o’s after school reading program? Ending 6 weeks early. I am so mad at these ghouls. Props to local NBC affiliate for making it clear in headline that Trump admin is responsible for taking $$$ from our kids www.wbaltv.com/article/fede...

i think it's worse than this. the Republican Party as an institution has thoroughly discredited itself as either interested in or capable of being trustworthy with respect to basic democratic governance

Everything is going down in flames but my 7 y/o just explained that a chapter in his Dogman book “is supposed to say ‘The Man with the Plan’ but instead it’s ’The Bot with the Plot’ because he’s a robot” and at least the orange motherfucker and his sycophants can’t take that moment away from me

I knew Strong had a good game while watching but that stat line 🤯🤯🤯 Insane touch for a post player…an absolute joy to watch

Was hoping Bueckers would finally get a natty and it’s gonna happen. UConn has looked incredible today. Really impressed with Strong too, only a freshman (!!!)

If a school’s reading teacher uses a book the President doesn’t like, is funding for after-school care cut? If a school is celebrating Jewish Heritage or Juneteenth, does it lose tutoring support? If an educator teaches Jim Crow, is summer school gone? This is wrong! www.aft.org/press-releas...

🚨UPDATE: Rümeysa Öztürk has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in DHS custody. She has not received her required asthma medications—a violation of her fundamental right to medical care. This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.

Educators and parents know that teaching should be guided by what is best for students, not by threat of illegal restrictions and punishment. Instead, Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding from public schools that promote an inclusive education for all students. This is unconscionable.