Rahul Bhargava

UCLA said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is backing off.

Harvard said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is left sputtering.

Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern giving in was a big mistake. If only there were lessons against appeasing fascists.

What is Technofascism? I’m on sabbatical this spring and was studiously avoiding starting any new projects. But the siege of Minneapolis, the killings of Renée…

New & necessary thinking from @kanarinka.bsky.social trying to explain technofascism to those involved in its systems: medium.com/data-feminis... "the collusion of large technology firms, right-wing billionaires, and tech culture with authoritarian and anti-democratic political agendas "

My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has shared a big data update, covering all recorded US protests through Jan 2026. Some key takeaways 🧵:

📆 Mark your calendar: "CyberHearts" (🤣) party & fundraiser *Sat 14th @ 8pm*. Cyberarts gallery has been a welcoming home to show student work many times 💜 Come support local arts in Boston! givebutter.com/Cyberhearts2...

Her community rallied so fast and so diligently. This is a victory to uphold and celebrate. Reminds everyone that it's worth fighting back.

You will cry.
Then you will believe this kind of imprisonment is a crime against humanity.
Keep up the pressure on those in power to end this.

And they kept the celebration going outside the stadium 🎉🇵🇷. This is the joy that I love about playing street music!!! bsky.app/profile/esqu...

Watch the world's biggest artist on the world's biggest stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show. Get 3 free months of Apple Music and listen to Bad Bunny in Spatial Audio, access… Bad Bunny's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show

Take a break today to revel in the joy of a man unapologetically celebrating his Boricua culture. youtu.be/G6FuWd4wNd8 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Then learn more from @beckyhammer.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/beck...

Headlines in news writing indicate what you stand for. They are a statement of priorities.

How an open-source investigation by the Wall Street Journal unmasked the official narrative of the killing of Alex Pretti - Storybench U.S. Border Patrol head Greg Bovino justified the shooting of Alex Pretti, who was killed by federal agents at a protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, saying the 37-year-old ICU nurse was aiming to…

How did the WSJ use open-source investigation techniques to uncover the series of events that led to the terrible killing of Pretti? The backstory is on Storybench:
www.storybench.org/how-an-open-...

Op-ed: Journalism faculty members condemn the arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort As current and former faculty members of Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, we condemn the unconstitutional arrests of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. We…

There's outrage to be had as a journalism Prof every day, but sometimes you just gotta write a solidarity letter. I'm pleased to join current and former colleagues in condemning the latest arrests of journalists: huntnewsnu.com/91095/editor...

A community organizer’s guide to Signal group chats Key privacy settings and best practices.

So many niche publications are stepping up with helpful journalism in the ongoing crisis in the US. Latest example is this wonderful Signal guide for community organizers from the Verge 👏🏽
www.theverge.com/tech/872493/...

Excited to be speaking Wed evening on "Doing Civic Data Design" with the UConn Digital Media & Design speaker series. Join the YT stream online 📺 dmd.uconn.edu/major/divers...

I just got tear gassed along with thousands of union members, many of whom had their families with them. Federal agents at the ICE facility tear gassed children. We must abolish ICE, DHS, and we must have prosecutions. I expect to see enforcement of our city code prohibiting the use of tear gas.

Journalists are being arrested in the United States.

It’s time for everyone to read @mariaressa.bsky.social’s How To Stand Up to a Dictator and watch the documentary A Thousand Cuts.

Screenshot of the OVA website, showing all courses

The Open Visualization Academy (OVA) IS LIVE!
openvisualizationacademy.org

Thread follows #dataViz #infographics #dataJournalism #dataVisualization

The thing about this is that I don’t know a single journalist who will be intimidated by Don Lemon being arrested?

But, then, that’s not why the administration is doing this. The founders couldn’t have imagined a president violating core freedoms for the purposes of social-media accolades.

This is a huge win for higher ed! Unfortunately, many institutions complied in advance and already folded many of their DEI efforts. This is an example of why it’s so important to resist until there is no other option. Most of the programs that were terminated won’t be resurrected. What a loss.

If you have not yet read @adamserwer.bsky.social on Minnesotans' heroics, you are going to feel way better when you do. He went there. He talked to the people doing the work. Then he thought about it and produced something rare. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... [gift link]

News & Events | Local News Impact Consortium News & Events

One to keep track of: the Local News Impact Consortium is building toolkits and methods for mapping local news ecosystems. These kind of baseline assessments are critical for understanding some of the most trusted new sources in the US. www.localnewsimpact.org

Join us in Bologna, Italy, 4–6 Nov 2026 for Visualising Climate — the first global conference fully dedicated to climate data visualization and its power to transform public understanding of a changing planet. Come see the data.
visualisingclimate.org
#VisualisingClimate2026 #DataVis #ClimateCrisis

I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work.

I don’t let bullies win.

Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.

Data by Design

More good news, this time on the local front. DATA BY DESIGN has a page on the MIT Press website and with that, an official pub date! October 20th, 2026. Watch the skies! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205618...

Trust trans people + what they tell you From our interviews, we found trans activists had savvy and complex understandings of how they could use data to serve their activist needs, retain their political commitments, prioritize care and support, and uplift trans communities. We call this approach trans data: Trans data is about materially approving trans lives Trans data crosses boundaries Trans data requires power analysis We hope these principles can be used to help build new data collection, analysis, and communication systems that serve trans liberation and help reorient researchers to the deep political commitments of data for and about trans people.

We have a lot to learn from and about trans data activism! Read a summary of new work my amazing colleagues Amelia Lee Dogan, @drnikko.bsky.social & @kanarinka.bsky.social presented at @acm-cscw.bsky.social this past fall. medium.com/acm-cscw/tra...

Abolish ICE now.
Stephen Miller is a key architect of this war on the American people. He must go.

Music drives movements. So happy to see Brass Solidarity out there despite instrument-busting temperatures. They've attended HONK! Fest a few years in a row and are a fave 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Damn proud of Minnesota.

Our data reveals @baltimoresun.bsky.social is the hyperbole champion here, with almost 250 uses of "Snowmageddon" since 2008 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

"Snowmageddon" incoming @bostonglobe.com? ❄️☃️
@mediacloud.bsky.social is primed and ready to track the use of apocalyptic storm names in news 🤣

two images of an arrest, one digitally altered by the White House to make it look like the arrestee is crying

This is the first example I’ve seen of an American government using AI to meaningfully misrepresent actual events with the intent to deceive the public. We are at Stalinesque levels of propaganda.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...