@thomasbirm.bsky.social
Y23, He/Him | Someone once said I’m naturally anti-dogmatic. Housing is a human right. Currently @thenation.com. Previously @inthesetimesmag.bsky.social and more!
In NY, homeowners are 2x as likely to vote as tenants. Unless there are pro-tenant policies on the ballot, that is, like a rent freeze.
In the mayoral race @tenantbloc.bsky.social tried to awaken the untapped potential of tenants as a political bloc. Read @thomasbirm.bsky.social on this strategy ⬇️
A Mamdani win would freeze rents for 4 years for 2 million+ rent-stabilized tenants, who disproportionately vote less, in NYC.
"Tenants are a sleeping giant," @ceaweaver tells me for @inthesetimes.com. "If you could wake up the tenant vote, that would be an unstoppable force in New York politics.”
NEW: Since February, I've followed @tenantbloc.bsky.social's campaign to win a rent freeze in NYC. Now, Zohran Mamdani is on the verge of a victory that would deliver one.
Here's a first look into how organizers brought over 20,000 tenants into Mamdani's coalition. inthesetimes.com/article/zohr...
"These are the moments where we need to turn to our coalitions. We need to have as much communication and joint organizing as possible." Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, speaking with @thomasbirm.bsky.social
11.06.2025 21:20 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
@thomasbirm.bsky.social spoke with Marissa Nuncio of the Garment Worker Center in LA.
They discuss the ICE raids—at which two dozen garment workers were abducted—that sparked city-wide protests and how labor can respond to Trump's assault on migrant workers: inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
“They’re picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work," Nuncio told me.
See below for a way to support the families of the abducted garment workers: www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-aid...
I got to speak with Marissa Nuncio at the Garment Worker Center in LA for @inthesetimes.com.
We discuss the ICE raids—at which two dozen garment workers were abducted—that sparked city-wide protests, and how labor can respond to Trump's assault on migrant workers: inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
Congratulations to @thomasbirm.bsky.social, a named a Livingston finalist for his groundbreaking investigation of a mold crisis in New Haven, CT, fueled by landlord neglect.
Read his reporting here: inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
You can read the full investigation here: inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
The piece led to hearings and the establishment of a working group in New Haven to address the issue: inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
I'm so grateful this work gets to be in company with these other incredible finalists!
I'm so, so honored to be named a 2025 Livingston Award finalist for “As Corporate Landlords Spread, a Mold Epidemic Takes Root” in @inthesetimes.com.
I spent 6+ months on this investigation, interviewing New Haven tenants who developed respiratory conditions thanks to landlord neglect. Read below!
He also spearheaded a petition against a pro-Palestinian Yale professor and wrote about it for the Times of Israel.
Let’s all use our brains about this and not fall for the same bits used by the same grifters.
blogs.timesofisrael.com/remove-zaree...
As someone who was there, the Jewish student the YDN quoted as saying he was “blocked from walking through Yale’s campus”was:
- Attempting to forcefully move into the circle of students while filming them
- Was the first to inform admin the encampment was being built
- Is a frequent Fox News guest
A flyer advertising an action at Yale
The crackdown from administration comes just hours before Israeli war criminal Itamar Ben-Gvir is scheduled to give a talk to Yale students.
The move also comes even after students heeded administrations warnings last night and dispersed the encampment. Y4P was shut down anyway.
BREAKING: Yalies4Palestine, Yale’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, was deregistered as an official student org at 3 PM today by Yale admin.
The move comes after 200 students built a new encampment last night, an action the group says they were unaffiliated with. 🧵
A flyer for an action at Yale
With the encampment dispersing, I’m signing off for the night. Thanks to everyone for checking in.
Free Palestine
BREAKING: Under threat of imminent arrests, organizers have instructed the newly constructed Gaza solidarity encampment at Yale to disperse for the night.
They instructed protestors to reconvene tomorrow, when war-criminal Itamar Ben-Gvir will be addressing a Yale society
With the encampment dispersing, I’m signing off for the night. Thanks to everyone for checking in.
Free Palestine
A flyer for an action at Yale
Police presence was increasing over the last half hour, despite no signs of the protest being anything but peacefully.
Things on the agenda was: learning songs, giving speeches, watching dance performances, and screening a documentary.
BREAKING: Under threat of imminent arrests, organizers have instructed the newly constructed Gaza solidarity encampment at Yale to disperse for the night.
They instructed protestors to reconvene tomorrow, when war-criminal Itamar Ben-Gvir will be addressing a Yale society. 🧵
I encourage you all to follow the Yale Daily News’ live coverage of this as well!
23.04.2025 03:11 — 👍 111 🔁 4 💬 3 📌 0It’s 11:00 PM, and students have once again formed a chain around the Gaza solidarity encampment at Yale and have begun singing “We shall not moved.”
Earlier, organizers affirmed their commitment to staying the night despite the risk of arrest.
A card from Yale admin
A card from Yale admin
Peacefully protesting students at the newly built Gaza solidarity encampment at Yale have been told they may be subject to arrests.
Admin have been passing out cards with the following:
“You are now in violation of [Yale’s] policies regarding free expression.”
BREAKING: A new Gaza solidarity encampment is being built at Yale, one year after dozens were arrested here. They demand immediate divestment from Israeli weapons manufacturing.
Despite the Trump admin abducting activists like Mahmoud Khalil nationwide, hundreds of are here anyway.
FREE PALESTINE!
An email from the Department of Housing and Urban Development
BREAKING: I’ve confirmed that public housing authorities (PHAs) have been told that Trump’s funding freeze has been RESCINDED.
Also received word from multiple PHAs that February Section 8 payments will go out as planned.
See the email that went out today from HUD below:
NEW: My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night's federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.
28.01.2025 18:13 — 👍 21327 🔁 8514 💬 2017 📌 1138
"54 people died while experiencing homelessness in Rhode Island last year...When the polar vortex arrived, it exacerbated the already dire conditions for homeless residents throughout the state."
Great reporting in @thenation.com from @thomasbirm.bsky.social.
New from me @inthesetimesmag!
In October, I published a feature on the massive and underreported epidemic of hazardous mold exposure in low-income housing, focusing on New Haven.
Less than two months later, the city held a hearing to begin addressing the crisis.
inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
Less than two months after a @thomasbirm.bsky.social
investigation @inthesetimesmag.bsky.social on the nation’s unrecognized mold health care crisis, one city at its center shows signs of taking action. inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
In case you need good news:
This month, two Providence city councilmen turned City Hall into an emergency shelter, saving homeless residents from sub-20 temperatures.
Their refusal to abandon their neighbors is becoming a statewide reckoning (for @thenation.com)
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
“1, 2, 3, 4 we won’t take it anymore!”
“5, 6, 7, 8 come down and negotiate!”
The picket comes after months of organizing that has kept the tenants in hotels, but without new action from Greyhill, many will soon be on the street.
