Dr. Dave Haskell

The wealthy have a million ways to wriggle out of their debts, and as a result, when government debt is transferred to the private sector, that debt always gets passed down on to those least able to pay it: into middle-class mortgages, payday loans, and so on. The people running the government know this but they’ve learned if you just keep repeating, “We’re just trying to behave responsibly! Families have to balance their books. Well, so do we,” people will just assume that the government running a surplus will somehow make it easier for all of us to do so too. But in fact the reality is precisely the opposite: if the government manages to balance its books, that often means you can’t balance yours. – David Graeber

As a society, we need to stop treating people in debt as if they are criminals who committed a crime.

A lesson I’ve learned as a Black dev is that when folks tell us to go do our own thing if we don’t like what‘s available, it’s based on the assumption we can’t so we disappear.

When we actually do it, it pisses off bigots because they’re faced with the reality they aren’t as good as they thought

Can't say it enough, if you are going to build ANYTHING, you are going to be criticized much more than you will be praised. Do not be deterred. Build what you want to exist. Find your people and seek their counsel. Keep it moving.

I'm sorry the guy changing the rules on the fly is named what

There is no way to fix the core problem, which is that the statistical production of symbols by definition is not based on their meaning

I got my PhD at UF and still keep up with someone there. It's grim. Basically the only thing that has prevented the dept from being shut down is the archaeology program, which the state gov sees as "science." Xmas card said "be glad you left higher Ed. You wouldn't recognize it."

“They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation,” said one attorney.

Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social

Mamdani Teaches Us How to Speak the Language of Illegitimacy How should the next Democratic government act on the belief that Trump's second term was lawless and illegitimate?

'all a tyrant's acts are void' is an ancient (& good) principle

i'd apply this to the supreme court - after reform/packing a blanket overturn of every trump era decision

www.liberalcurrents.com/mamdani-teac...

I don't want to speak rashly here, but I'm starting to get the feeling that the Trump administration is *not* actually concerned with holding pedophiles to account?

Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is

"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)

Twin Cities tow truck driver returns abandoned vehicles to families after ICE arrests Juan Leon sends a "chase" car to check out where abandoned vehicles are located and arranges discreet drop-offs. Since late December, he estimated they have dropped off 250 cars.

ICE has grabbed so many people from their vehicles that there are abandoned cars across Minnesota.

This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.

They hate the helpers.

Which is why must keep helping.

From Big Lots to warehousing humans: ICE plan sparks fear in Schuylkill County | Will Bunch A massive warehouse in Tremont. Pa. that once moved cheap goods will now detain migrants in an $119 million ICE deal.

The banality of evil is shocking. An ex-Big Lots warehouse for cheap consumer junk is bought by ICE to ship as many as 7,500 handcuffed human beings, as the Trump regime builds a U.S. gulag archipelago

The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...

SWORN TESTIMONY!!!

June 18, 2016
"I personally witnessed defendant trump telling the plaintiff that she shouldn't ever say anything if she didn't want to dissappear like the 12 year old female ⬛️⬛️⬛️ and that he was capable of having her whole family killed."

A ★★★★ review of Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) Really good on almost all counts, including one of the best performances of Robert DeNiro's career and one of my favorite scores in recent years. Truly admire how deftly Scorsese kept this thing movin...

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is, in my opinion, good. letterboxd.com/andrewmoxon/...

NYT: How Trump/Kash blocked an investigation into the murder of Renee Good. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...

Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.

I have been musing about the hypothesis that the ultimate consequence of SCOTUS's opinion in Trump v. U.S. will be the destruction of the rule of law in the U.S. This gift article helps to explain why, in part by emphasizing the evisceration of the Dept. of Justice.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...

By the way, for those of you not in MN: Homan’s strategy was to withdraw some agents, so it felt like we were in the denouement of the crisis, and then escalate hard against observers. They’re being incredibly aggressive with observers now. National media may not want to check out just yet

This is overriding a ballot initiative approved by voters.

Y’all, I’m losing my mind over here. I need everyone to read this article. I can’t go it alone!!!

“Epstein argues that teaching children to write may be harmful because writing forces “linear” and “narrow” patterns of thinking, whereas the greatest thinkers never wrote.”

Not in the slightest. There's basically an entire genre of academic writing on the subject dating back decades.

Ted Cruz Newsroom Press Releases Published:11.25.2025 Sens. Cruz, Cornyn File Amicus Brief Backing Texas’ Emergency Application to Implement New Congressional Map WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, and John Cornyn (R-Texas) filed an amicus brief in support of the State of Texas’ emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of the district court injunction that barred Texas from implementing its new congressional district map. The Senators did so in part on the basis of the Purcell principle, which holds that courts should not change election rules shortly before an election. Sen. Cruz said, “The Constitution entrusts redistricting matters to the states and to state legislators. The federal district court’s preliminary injunction was not made on the merits of the case, runs counter to precedent and to principles of federalism, and undermines the prerogatives of Texas lawmakers and the will of Texas voters. The Supreme Court should stay that preliminary injunction, and do so expeditiously in order to provide certainty in our election maps and rules as we approach deadlines for the 2026 election.”

Newsweek: Ted Cruz has proposed that Texas extend the state's Republican advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives to a full Democratic wipeout if Gavin Newsom goes ahead with a proposal to redraft congressional maps in his state in response to a similar plan by Republicans in Texas.

@tedcruz on X: A brazen abuse of power & an insult to democracy. 47% of VA voted Trump. They will now get just 9% of the seats. 52% of VA voters voted Harris. Now they get 91% of the seats. (By comparison, in TX, 56% voted Trump; GOP gets 79% of the seats.)

@SenLouiseLucas on X: You all started it and we fucking finished it. @tedcruz on X: A brazen abuse of power & an insult to democracy. 47% of VA voted Trump. They will now get just 9% of the seats. 52% of VA voters voted Harris. Now they get 91% of the seats. (By comparison, in TX, 56% voted Trump; GOP gets 79% of the seats.) 06 Feb 26

Like his Confederate forebears, Ted Cruz talked a big game, started a fight, got absolutely dog walked, then cried about how unfair it all was. A story in four images.

"What you did was racist."

"Well ... you're fat."

Kind of proves the level of people we're dealing with.

What's the Matter with Florida? An Interview with Zachary Levenson A discussion about Florida's censorship of sociology and teaching under authoritarianism

This week at Group Threat, I spoke with @grundrza.bsky.social about Florida's censorship regime, teaching under authoritarianism, and how folks are coping (or not).

The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.

Great work everyone.

This is why we use every tool, including the courts.

This is why we don't let the regime future fake us.

This is why we don't give them any victories.

This is why we defend the rule of law.

This is why we don't say, "I guess this is a thing they can do now."

We hold the line.

"We're all looking for the guys who did this"

Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”

The Big Lie was always a racist project Trump's racist video had two parts: a Big Lie rehash and a Jim Crow cartoon. They’re not separate stories.

@klasfeldreports.com notes something others are missing: Even the beginning of Trump's super racist meme is racist.

www.allrisenews.com/p/big-lie-ra...

That Refugees International study Marcy cites has a great example of how this regime would rather brutalize poor brown people than achieve their professed goals.

www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-brie...