Hamilton Nolan
@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social
Read me: HamiltonNolan.com My book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamilton-nolan/the-hammer/9780306830921/ Email: Hamilton.Nolan@gmail.com
created July 31, 2023
39,790 followers 90 following 988 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Engels in the Outfield (@nostaticatall.bsky.social) reposted
“If the rulers of the past are destined to end up remembered for their villainy, might the rulers of today suffer the same fate after they are gone? It is a paralyzing thought for those concerned above all with self-glorification.”
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Desperate feds offer ever increasing bonuses in search of a single cop physically capable of pursuing us for three blocks at a light jog
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
America's grand battle to write the myths that people of the future will tell about us. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/symbolic-b...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
If You Didn’t Want the Police to Shoot You With 100 Bullets Then You Shouldn’t Have Jaywalked
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Way to zero in on the important aspect of this story. Well done.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
"Telling the truth about hard problems" is extremely disincentivized in our nation's political system! www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/cheap-tric...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Feel like this is less an issue with "the left" and more of a broader issue of the rejection of expertise, which is pervasive in our current right wing government as well.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Thousands of DC residents chanting “fuck Jeff Bezos” outside of the P Street Whole Foods
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
“To see an unhoused person and think first of optics and not of the human soul involved is callous. That’s not what nurses do.” - a union nurse on Trump’s DC homeless sweeps.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
A DC public school history teacher repping the teachers union just said “We will not back down to fascists” which is pretty hardcore
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Big rally of multiple unions in DuPont Circle in DC right now. “They want us to be quiet, but we’re just gonna get louder.”
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
The bargain that authoritarians often make with the wealthy is "you can enjoy your money as long as you stay out of politics" and there is a strong incentive to make such a deal sound reasonable enough to swallow without having to feel guilty.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
One extremely powerful political current that cuts across parties is the desire of the comfortable to minimize the importance of issues that they may be ideologically against but which they don't believe will impact their own lives.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Trump is assembling a personal army and he is going to use it. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-a...
Greg Spooner (@spoonsky.bsky.social) reposted
I would personally be interested in organizing around mutual aid groups to support strikers operating against a military dictatorship occupation of the cities I live and work in.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
There are few if any real barriers left to Donald Trump using the military to seize full political control of an American city and I think that is likely to happen. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-a...
Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) reposted
Does laborsky know about this? A local of @opeiu.org is seeking management pay cuts at an Ohio Planned Parenthood before it lays off any union members Cc @banditelli.org
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Seems like NABTU's statement last month saying "Mr. President, we need your help. You’re a builder. You’ve forgotten more about what it takes to develop and build a project than practically anybody in the world ever knew" (and asking him to send ICE to a construction site) didn't work, weird.
Kickstarter United (@kickstarterunited.org) reposted
It’s time for a fair contract. Our union is fighting to protect what makes @kickstarter.com special, and we need your support. Sign onto our petition to show your solidarity: actionnetwork.org/petitions/ks...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
It sure seems like we are very, very close to Trump using the military to directly seize power away from Democratic elected officials. I hope I'm overreacting but I kind of think a lot of people are under-reacting right now.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Today's executive order calling for "a standing National Guard quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment" seems like a setup for a 100% Trump-controlled military force to be used against domestic enemies. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Anthony Ha (@anthonyha.bsky.social) reposted
"An entire nation full of middle managers who just a few short years ago were speaking like Harriet Tubman have had their masks yanked off, Scooby Doo-style, to reveal the pathetic little bureaucrats inside." www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-dei-l...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
International Rescue Committee workers who work with refugees, unionized with @opeiu.org, are rallying in NYC for a contract after MORE THAN A YEAR bargaining. Give em a contract!!!
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 (@needhibhalla.bsky.social) reposted
“The fact that a concept as tepid as ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ caused our nation’s racists to become so enraged that the backlash to it threatens to end the American democratic experiment once and for all has made me reassess the virtues of the term.”
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The University of Chicago “lost tens of millions investing in crypto around 2021” Hahahahahahaha
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Big businesses and institutions that rely on government funding folded to the racists immediately, to their eternal shame. But there are millions of SMALL businesses and institutions that can loudly embrace DEI right now, and they should. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-dei-l...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
I used to find "DEI" to be a weak corporate counterpoint to "racial justice" but now I unironically want every business in America doing DEI as loudly as possible because the relevant counterpoint today is "overt racism." www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-dei-l...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Bing bong www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-subway...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
In a city where 3.6 million people ride the subway every day, “I am scared to ride the subway” does not make you sound like a strong leader.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The NYT is a vital news organization but they are ~6 months behind independent media when it comes to “understanding how fucked things are”
Vox Media Union (@voxmediaunion.bsky.social) reposted
We're still shy of our GoFundMe goal for departing Eater staff! These are our brilliant colleagues who've done so much for journalism and for this union. If you can contribute, share, or pass this on, please do! Thank you all! #voxunion #1u #unionstrong www.gofundme.com/f/eater-isnt...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
I can only surmise that this was a segment on young men failing to live up to their potential.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
I do increasingly suspect that "Let's rebuild all the stuff that these dumb assholes tore down" can be a successful Democratic Party message in coming years (if they are still counting votes by then)
Mike Royce (@mikeroyce.bsky.social) reposted
come for the essay, stay for the chart
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Failure to organize causes a union membership crisis. Weak unions cede power to the right, causing a political crisis. Oligarchical politicians create a legal crisis for organized labor. Each crisis exacerbates the others. Now we either do new things, or die. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/three-cris...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Three forces of doom are converging on working class power. On the bright side, the one path out of this is clearly illuminated now. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/three-cris...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Of all of the ways that right wingers try to discredit the media, the most powerful is by being corrupt themselves, leading the public to imagine that other journalists are like them.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
expecting internet people to read the story is the path to despair
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
For too long, online leftists have persecuted Dick Cheney just for his Jewish faith
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
It is mind blowing to hear Democratic politicians talking about the president sending the military into American cities as a “distraction.” Actually you are all now one degree away from being violently removed from power. The fact that this may not happen does not erase the fact that it may happen.
Brandy Jensen (@brandyjensen.bsky.social) reposted
lots of people have written about Zohran’s video strategy, but @coreyatad.com actually talked to the people who made them
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Detroit, this is tomorrow. Come through!
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
inthesetimes.com/article/stri...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Badass. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
FOREIGN LEADER, LIPS CURLING IN DISGUST, GLANCING DOWN AT INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT THAT READS “FLATTER THIS BITCH”: Your head is… certainly large TRUMP: Let’s get the press in here
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Trump gets a lot of attention for being a con man but that clip of him talking about how Putin said he won the 2020 election reminds me that he is somehow simultaneously one of the world’s biggest suckers. An incredible combination.
Vox Media Union (@voxmediaunion.bsky.social) reposted
Our Eater GoFundMe is up! We all know this has been a difficult year for Vox, but the folks at Eater have been extremely dedicated in their support for each of their colleagues, past and present. Let's support them now!!! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u gofund.me/04932462
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Every fascist dictator needs patsies like this.
Evan Sutton (@evansutton.bsky.social) reposted
"Understanding what is happening when soldiers with machine guns start fanning out across American cities does not require any great expertise. All it requires is the ability to open your fucking eyes and be honest about what you see." @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/how-pretex...
Brooklyn Web Workers (@brooklynwebworkers.com) reposted
Speakers announced for Brooklyn Web Workers on August 25th: 🕯️ @jennschiffer.com on quitting tech to make candles 🃏 @jiajiechen.bsky.social on Notatio, a music card strategy game 🤖 @ohhoe.goblinmo.de on lesser-known web APIs 🛠️ @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social on tech worker organizing
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Dealing with bad-faith pretextual power grabs requires speaking about them for what they are, rather than treating the pretext as honest. In other words if you are writing stories right now saying "hmm well DC DOES have crime," you are a fucking patsy. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/how-pretex...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Flooding a city with law enforcement produces the crisis that it purported to solve, thereby manufacturing its own justification. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/how-pretex...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/leave-the-...
Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson.bsky.social) reposted
Over the past 16 months, @thenation.com has published regular dispatches from Lujayn, a teenager in the Gaza Strip. Lujayn has endured huge loss and trauma. Now she, along with the rest of Gaza, is starving. But she is still writing. This is her latest. www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
If you are employed as a professional journalist and you’re not able to say “this is stupid” then you are Bad At Your Job
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
PERSON WHO SPENDS 98% OF THEIR TIME IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER, IN A TV GREENROOM, OR AT A GOURMET RESTAURANT: Things are probably bad outside
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The journalists who spend the least amount time walking city streets go on tv and say city streets are dangerous. Stop talking about things you don’t know!
Mike Royce (@mikeroyce.bsky.social) reposted
"Look, you do not have to explain to me things like 'America was always corrupt!' or 'People have always just been trying to get rich!’ Yeah. This is not the same though. This is worse."
Bruno J. Navarro (@brunojnavarro.bsky.social) reposted
The United States government taking steps to deliberately introduce cryptocurrency into the heart of our nation’s economy is kind of like a healthy person deciding to pick up a syringe and inject an unknown, harmful virus into themselves.
Sam Biddle (@sambiddle.com) reposted
Definitely makes sense to "refocus on Hollywood" by laying off the greatest film critic of our time!
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
The mainstreaming of crypto, the funneling of retirement money into scam assets, the disinterest in concealing direct bribery to our government leaders--these things are symptoms of a newly manic, predatory approach that will cause incredible economic damage. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/scams-and-...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The extent to which the American economy is being transformed into a machine for scams and outright bribery should be spoken about more directly. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/scams-and-...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
www.pathfinderpress.com/products/lab...
Rebecca Givan (@rkgwork.bsky.social) reposted
"Trump has already eliminated more union members than the entire US labor movement typically gains or loses in an entire year. And there are still at least nine more federal agencies that have yet to complete their union purges." – @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/fragile-mo...
Nolan Hanson (@nahh22.bsky.social) reposted
@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/a... www.freetalap.org
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
HELLO. HELLO
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Hello, this is the creation of a publicly traded stock that is a way to directly bribe the Trump family. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
check this out www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamil...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
this review reminds me of
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Trump has done a shocking amount of damage to unions already. If they don’t rethink the way they wield power, soon, we’ll be rebuilding the labor movement from the ground up. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/fragile-mo...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Sickening. Every journalist in America should think deeply about the fact that most American politicians are willing to accept and indeed facilitate the murder of our colleagues.
Diane Galloway (@adgwatches.bsky.social) reposted
“the labor movement has coasted on the easier public sector membership, and failed to invest and fight to maintain or grow private sector membership. This is, quite simply, an abject failure of the labor movement.”
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
It is very possible that the power of organized labor will be effectively broken under Trump and we will need to rebuild the American labor movement again, without making the same mistakes that got us here. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/fragile-mo...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Ha
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
The headline should be the most important part of the story. Typically “President tells statistically verifiable outright lie” would be the news. Trump is not consistently held to normal standards
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The correct news headline for this is not "Trump to Lay Out His Plan for Reducing Crime in Nation’s Capital" (Bloomberg) or "Trump to speak at White House on violent crime in D.C." (CNBC), but rather "President Lies About Crime in DC." News outlets are obligated to maintain a grip on reality!!
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
We Must Pay More Boring Writers In Brooks Brothers Shirts $200k Per Year to Write Pieces Titled “The Dangerous Myth of Free Buses” Or Maoism Is Sure to Rise Again
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Zohran’s primary victory has broken the WSJ opinion section’s brain in a way reminiscent of 17th century Massachusetts residents spiraling into panic about witchcraft. Fascinating to watch.
UAW (@uaw.org) reposted
Check out this FREE event coming up at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social! Telling Labor's Story brings two panels of labor writers and union communicators to the stage on August 18, 2025, 11 am-4 pm ET. Register here: ow.ly/ThYh50WAsGH
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Watching someone beat us to death as we consider whether the time has come to escalate. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/they-are-g...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The VA’s unilateral termination of union contracts for ~360k workers represents a loss of 2.5% OF ALL UNION MEMBERS IN AMERICA. I’m not sure what it will take for the labor movement to get into crisis mode, but the crisis is here.
Vox Media Union (@voxmediaunion.bsky.social) reposted
Vox Media Union statement on today's devastating round of layoffs at Eater. We stand with all of our wonderful colleagues. #solidarityforever #unionstrong #1u
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Unarmed 15 year old boys and girls are antifa
Flaming Hydra (@flaminghydra.com) reposted
TODAY: @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social asks, from the bottom of his heart: what's the deal with car trunks? "Am I to be made to feel like a fool because I do not possess X-ray vision that reveals to me the inner workings of each and every model of car trunk? Is this my fate?" flaminghydra.com/cars/
Dave Infante (@dinfontay.com) reposted
A particularly fascinating part of @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social's book, The Hammer, was his report on the emphasis the Culinary Workers Union places on continual *internal organizing*—ie, not taking already-unionized workers as a given. It's a key source of their superlative power amongst its peers.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you I will check it out
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
I need to check that out
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The Culinary Union is maybe the single best demonstration of how unions can transform America for the better. Read all about it: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamil...
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
Among the things that the BLS produces are America’s annual union membership statistics. If that agency’s work is not trustworthy, it’s a Big Fucking Deal for the labor movement.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
The business community happily funding the destruction of everything that created its prosperity will be studied by historians of stupidity. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-busine...
ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper.com) reposted
"If Trump had demanded that these schools agree that 1+1=3 in order to have their funding restored, you can be sure that the schools would have done so, while adding a sub-clause noting that they have only the highest respect for the concept of mathematical truth."
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
“VOTE ZOHRAN: I don’t drop everything when a billionaire comes calling.” Sincerely hope this guy meets with Cuomo and Adams instead, to complete the ad.
John M. Willis (@jmwillis.bsky.social) reposted
On Brown's shameful deal with the Trump administration: "These schools do not believe in anything. A fuller way to say this is that, like many institutions that come to thrive under capitalism, these schools do not have any ideological values other than their own flourishing"
giri nathan (@girinathan.bsky.social) reposted
nyc... come yap with us on 8/19, the day that CHANGEOVER comes out www.eventbrite.com/e/squawkin-s... @pjsauer.bsky.social @davidjroth.bsky.social
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
no doubt.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
not hard to imagine
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social) reply parent
An easy prediction is "the Trump administration will keep harassing universities even after they sign extortionate agreements with the government." The schools have zero ability to enforce their own agreements. And they have no ideological red lines to stop themselves from giving up more.
Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social)
America's most prestigious universities fundamentally believe in nothing except themselves. Their capacity to lose ideological battles is therefore infinite. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/negotiatin...
Sara Nelson (@flyingwithsara.bsky.social) reposted
If this is how the IDF treats American citizens traveling with media attention, it brings even more credibility to the reports of their abuses of Palestinian civilians. I stand in solidarity w/ my brother Chris, the civilians in Gaza and all working towards peace and dignity for all. End this horror