"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station." (Then Vance will throw him down an energy shaft.)
Sociologist, social work faculty Posting topics include community, disability, social welfare, Chicago, social movements, organizing, policy, the state, labor, coffee, and various nerdy side trips. Personal account
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"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station." (Then Vance will throw him down an energy shaft.)
He's going to announce that Murderbot and ART are friends again. They'll both immediately announce that he sucks.
Organized a few friends in my upstate city to put together a sponsor-level donation to @jfrejnyc.bsky.social for The Mazals in a week and a half. Because despair is boring. There’s good work going on, and it deserves support, and it's even better to provide that support with other people.
Weird question: is there a supply chain issue with walnuts right now? My local grocery store has been out a couple of times now. But that could be coincidence.
Listened to this song for Labor Day, and McCutcheon’s version is way better than Billy Bragg’s. (Though I appreciate Bragg popularizing it.)
Michelle Obama: kids should have healthier school lunches RFK Jr: maybe if we let the plague run wild we can build a master race Media: wow these are the same thing
Is there any choice left for us But to organize and fight?
it is underdiscussed how "learning loss" can also be attributed to the fact that millions of people were dying and the kids were fucking terrified all the time - not just that they were on Zoom
W.E.B. DuBois described the American Civil War as a “General Strike” because of the 100s of thousands of enslaved people who stopped their work, many of whom also joined the Union Army. Slavery offers a powerful example of what it looks like when the law prioritizes "property" over human beings.
In our hands is placed a power Greater than their hoarded gold, Greater than the might of armies Magnified a thousand-fold. We can bring to birth a new world From the ashes of the old For our union makes us strong.
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Here is a gift link. I know people have feelings about the times but this is free and reading this should make you very very mad and then you should do something:
Folks, this document is not being shared by the city of Chicago. It is being shared by Alderwoman Maria Hadden. Facts matter, and so does giving credit where due. (Even if an incorrect post did numbers and you don’t want to delete it.)
One of the things that drives me up the wall is when people say students “need to learn how to use AI” to succeed in the workplace. It is EXTREMELY EASY to use a chatbot. That’s the whole point of it! You do not need training to type in the box! What are you even TALKING about?? +
I’m not in any way claiming responsibility for the fact that lots of people are making a comparison today. But here’s proof that I was likening AI to Clippy nearly a year ago.
This is correct, and we got a demonstration of how correct it is with John Fetterman. His social media team got him over the finish line (against a joke of an opponent). He’s now one of the worst Senate Dems, most recently seen defending Trump’s plans to spend millions on a White House ballroom.
"Her patient had signs of what could be a cancer or could be an unusual infection — diagnoses that would require completely different treatment. Ordinarily, she would confirm an infection after sending a sample to the CDC for testing ...the CDC no longer has the capacity to do that"
I think that this went well. At one point, as I tried to describe all of the ways that this administration has broken from the past, I almost made a reference to the Pepe Silvia scene. But I refrained. After class, I looked, and I saw it first aired in 2008. So that would’ve gotten blank stares.
The maddening thing is that we know EXACTLY how to prevent this. Yes, kids should get vaccinated, test, stay home when sick, mask as much as possible. But even without any of that: Better ventilation and filtration in schools can MASSIVELY reduce viral spread, for all sorts of respiratory diseases.
It’s a fair question. In this case, I think that going over the details of why it’s a dumpster fire, rather than the image, will help students piece it together rather than throwing up their hands and feeling overwhelmed.
THESE COLORS DON'T RUN
“Capital is dead labour, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks. The time during which the labourer works, is the time during which the capitalist consumes the labour-power he has purchased of him.” The man could write.
Hard to overstate the extent to which the people in power are a small epistemic bubble, shielded from reality by funders like Thiel, who essentially pay them to be each other’s yes-men. Outside the bubble, their ideas offend basic human decency.
I look to your guidance on whether any of them deserve Mattsupport.
"Pediatric Brain Cancer Trial Group to Be Phased Out" "A network of hospitals and cancer centers dedicated to early phase trials of novel treatments will no longer receive federal funding." 🎁🔗 Nina Agrawal for @nytimes.com
I *think* that I'm going to let discretion be the better part of valor, and *not* include a slide labeled "2025" with a picture of a dumpster on fire in my History of US Social Welfare Policy lecture tomorrow. But I'm not saying that it would be inaccurate.
CBO analysis of the One Big Beautiful Bill and how it impacts different parts of the income spectrum: —A net resource increase of $13,600, on average, for the top one-tenth of U.S. earners. —A net resource decrease of $1,200, on average, for the bottom one-tenth of U.S. earners.
I dare you to go to Annunciation School and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns don’t kill kids, antidepressants do. Just shut up. Stop peddling bullshit. You should be fired.
“(If I got angry at myself for being angry I would be angry constantly and I wouldn’t have time to think about anything else.) (Wait, I think I am angry constantly. That might explain a lot.)” Oh, Murderbot. I liked that passage the last time I read this book too.
Am I the only one who finds the sound of the dishwasher soothing?
There's a lawsuit about AI stealing your work. It's the same lawyers taking on Elsevier et al in a separate case. Academics: 1. Check if your work is in LibGen at www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... 2. If so, let the lawyers know at www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
CHILD: I had a bad dream! There was this big dragon, and it ate a moderate Republican US Senator! PARENT: There there, honey, it was only a dream. There's no such thing as a moderate Republican Senator.
Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:
What an embarrassment. Yes, I’d expect certain types of crime to drop when half the city is afraid to leave their homes as the gestapo demands people show their papers. Do you want to live in that world?
Spoke on a panel for new graduate students. Hard to know what resonated, but I hit the 3 main areas that helped me (most of which I wish I’d done sooner): -Find a therapist -Get involved with the union -Get comfortable not knowing things, even if you’re used to being the student with the answers.
In a bold move to cement its position, the new junta seized control of the main transport artery between the nation's political capital - which they now control - and its financial one, which they do not. Armed loyalists roam the site demanding to see freedom-of-movement papers. bit.ly/4fWlaKR
Breaking: After months of uncertainty, most of the staff of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights were subject to a Reduction in Force on Monday, leaving the office effectively gone. Trump has made clear the disdain he holds for both environmental justice and civil rights.
used to be you could get an indictment against a ham sandwich. now you can't even indict a guy who throws a ham sandwich. folks, www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
This is pathetic.
NEW: More than 199,000 federal workers have left their jobs or have been forced out by the Trump admin since Jan. 2025, per a new report. That’s nearly 10% of the entire federal civilian workforce. “We’re seeing the arson of our government." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Tim Walz : trans rights are human rights JB Pritzker : we’re taking names of all you fuckers and coming after you Gavin Newsom : lol my pr firm made another meme while i guest starred on another right wing podcast
Get rid of the trains and we can realize what @theonion.com predicted five years ago.
When a large language model generates human-sounding text, it doesn’t consider the impacts of its words, because it doesn’t consider. It has no self. But we do. We can choose whether to normalize and encourage the use of these destructive platforms. I know what I choose.
Visit @joshshepperd.bsky.social's profile and scroll down. You'll find the articles I shared and many more.
I have a number of complaints with Pritzker, both now and from the six years he was my governor. But saying this—without it sounding like focus-group mush, and without doing podcast interviews with the far right in his spare time—puts him head and shoulders above many of his peers.
Me when I was in school: oddly specific that they put this “bills of attainder” thing in the constitution, what is that really for Me now: ah
“I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again.” -Marge Piercy, “To Be of Use”
Heard from a close friend in DC that the occupying forces have arrested a few observers who were documenting their actions. Not a surprise, but that’s an escalation from how things had been.
Paul Robeson singing “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” fits that register for me.
Dude is an ouroboros of clownery.
While we’re all laughing at Cuomo for being afraid of a subway that literally millions of New Yorkers ride daily, let’s not overlook that affordable housing, which he says Zohran is ignoring, is literally one of Mamdani’s key issues. And one where Cuomo led the state backward as Governor.
Hard for me to believe, but the calendar says so! Hope you’re doing okay there!
Went to the Caribbean Carnival in a park in my neighborhood. Ran into friends and met some new folks and played frisbee and danced. A year after moving, starting to feel like I really live here.
Much appreciated! And I have a a lot of students from rural areas, so that part of the impact as likely to resonate.
A student asked about the effects of public broadcasting cuts, and so I sent her two items that @joshshepperd.bsky.social had posted recently. Despite the ways social media can suck, I really am grateful for good people doing good work and sharing it on here.
I see that Daniel Diermeier is in the news. So it’s worth revisiting his overtly hostile effort to quash grad student organizing when he was Provost at UChicago. Below is his actual written response to a demand to bargain in 2018, which the union marked up as if it were an assignment.
Some of these are terms that no elected Dem uses. But not all. My local food bank talks a lot about food insecurity. So do local electeds who support its vital work. Would Third Way suggest icing them out until they adjust their language?
🎵When the union's inspiration Through alpacas' blood shall run There can be no llamas greater Anywhere beneath the sun🎶
Finalizing a syllabus, and it appears that I lose a class session this semester because a random Friday has been declared “Rejuvenation Day.” It’s not a holiday, nor a larger break. I’m all for giving students time off when needed, but hiding an Easter egg in an academic calendar seems odd.
Home. Can I sleep for a day now? (Actually, that comes after teaching the first day of a course tomorrow.)
Definitely!
The entire Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, starting with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Amazing world building and character-driven stories
Love a train selfie. Mostly because I love when my self is riding a train, I suppose.
Fabulous headline: "It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes" Also: "Microsoft explicitly warns users that its AI function should not be used for things like "doing math" or "anything actually important""
For October, looking to profile a former government worker with a disability who was laid off this year at @motherjones.com for National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I imagine this should take roughly an hour of your time. Please reach out at jmetraux@motherjones.com
Gene Siskel's old post, eliminated. Presumably so the hedge fund that owns the Trib can wring a tiny bit more profit out of it.
I wrote about how Trump's threat to end mail-in voting is just his latest attack on disabled people, some of whom find voting by mail to be much more accessible, at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I haven't read the article (though it looks good!), but it already seems like a strong contender for Best Title of 2025.
"There were 13% fewer international travelers, and hotel occupancy fell by about 15%"
Let me know if this works. wapo.st/45FHROW
Side note: If a student tried to define liberalism that way in a social theory course, I would probably tell them to re-read Locke and try again.
When they say “crime is up,” they don’t mean actual violations of law. By crime, they mean visible evidence of unsheltered homelessness. They mean immigrant communities that violate their assumptions about what languages & cultures should be present. And they want to incarcerate both out of sight.
Deadline extended www.instagram.com/p/DNd-PdvyU3F/
Judge: The charging document states that the accused burned down a school. Democratic Senator [acting as prosecutor for some reason]: Your honor, that was a stunt and a distraction. Let me tell you what he should really be charged with…
I watched The Last Jedi for about the 87th time and it still makes me cry. Save what we love. Keep the spark of hope alive.
Obviously this occupation is targeting particular groups, like (those assumed by Trump's goons to be) migrants and unhoused folks. And the impact on them is top priority. But let's also not overlook the cumulative impact on everyone living amidst roving bands of federal agents and Guard units.
I talked today with a friend in DC who happened upon ICE agents who had just tried to abduct someone. This time, fortunately, they withdrew under bystander scrutiny. But even that left people shaken. And the longer this goes on, the tougher emotional toll it's likely to take on everyone in DC.
An incredible moment at tonight's Washington Spirit home game at Audi Field, as the crowd erupts in a "FREE DC" chant.
That said, I think that there's a nonzero chance that I have a Chidi Anagonye-style Peeps in the chili pot meltdown during at least one class session.
It's not Ed, but I'm teaching social welfare policy this Fall. My plan for many of the units with a federal focus is to teach policy history, then dive into the past ten years: where Obama left things, what happened in Trump I and early pandemic, how that lasted or rolled back, then Trump 2.
When Trump seized D.C., he said these forces could do “whatever the hell they want.” They took the directive seriously. According to residents, a gaggle of federal agents took a photo around a pro-immigration banner, before tearing it down and leaving a dildo in its place. trib.al/1cnDqLN
Before I go to bed, I would like to tell the world about my new sitcom about a wildebeest who moves into a loft with three guys. It's called Gnu Girl.
Got an unsolicited email from something called American Opposition that seems to be one dude claiming to have inspired all large days of protest over the past 8 months. And if that isn’t a grift, I’d be shocked. It’s like seeing a new Shaun King attempting to establish himself.
Whether it’s the privacy of people’s tax data, or how long someone has to save their few belongings, the Trumpist state has no compunction about breaking basic promises. How can you maintain a society without a modicum of social trust?
Legal counsel urges me to clarify that I did not personally toss any foodstuffs. This is what’s called a lyric. Also a joke.
🎵I tossed the sandwich, The clowns say it was a felony. 🎶
A friend in DC shared this recently. I don’t know the source or circulation (besides the fact that it was on Reddit).
Sidewalks. I live some place now where some streets don’t even have sidewalks, and those that do exist are often empty. In a big city, sidewalks are places of life, where you say hello to a friend, or have a passing interaction with a stranger, or simply share space with others going somewhere.
It took the cops a while to catchup with the guy when he ran.
But I heard the injuries were sub-critical.
In case anyone wanted a good measure of the overkill here... "Two days later, prosecutors obtained a new arrest warrant — this time in federal court. Dunn’s attorney says he tried to turn himself in, but instead, 20 OFFICERS CAME TO HIS HOME to arrest him."
Thank you to the two protesters standing in front of the National Guard with signs that say, “Shame” and “Fascism Is Not Welcome Here.”
Excellent statement from @dredf.bsky.social on Trump’s authoritarian attack on DC. I appreciate the direct links both to his executive order calling for detention of people with mental health issues, and to last year’s Grants Pass ruling. This is about removing “undesirables” from public space.
This would add administrative costs, making rent stabilization much more expensive for the city, while discouraging ppl from seeking better jobs/pay. They'd lose housing before they could afford market rate. We'd have more homelessness! More poverty! More ppl leaving the city! It makes no sense!
Oh nice, I may use this in class. This is location of detention facility, not where people lived before detention or wheee they were first picked up, right?
The fact that a wealthy manbaby scares himself made-up scenario does NOT mean that a place where he imagined it is dangerous.
Sound on for this one: there's honestly something heartening about hearing the boos resonate from both people on the streets and residents of nearby buildings. Huge gratitude to everyone who made clear that we won't passively acquiesce to this authoritarianism.
I suspect that some are wealthy, and some are not. Some are probably District residents and some suburbanites. Lots of people driving up 14th Street on a given night.
14th Street is a major artery through DC. I once lived not far from this spot (more than 15 years ago—couldn’t nearly afford it today). I suspect that a lot of people who didn’t think this would effect them directly found themselves at this police state checkpoint tonight.