Geoff Pfeifer

One of the many great things about teaching is that I get to keep being excited about a snow day basically in the same way as when I was a kid.

One thing this shitty moment we are living through has done is that its helped my gen X brain recall what it was like to remember numbers before smart phones. I can memorize the fuck out of a license plate and vehicle description so fast.

EXCLUSIVE: Markey says transgender rights fight is ‘next frontier’ Mass. senator, 79, running for re-election

Massachusetts folks considering Moulton over Markey because of age ought to read this interview. Markey may be older but he is still way more progressive than Moulton and not only on this issue.

www.washingtonblade.com/2026/02/18/e...

Rent Board Resignation Clears Path for Mamdani Rent Freeze Promise The new mayor is now able to appoint a majority to the Rent Guidelines Board, giving him the numbers for a signature campaign promise.

looks like Mamdani is gonna get his rent freeze this year after all. big news on the housing beat from @smaldo.bsky.social:

Sorry. Did not mean for the OP to be cryptic but can see now how it was, lol.

Yes! Dig them. I meant that public art is for everyone. It resists enclosure and those who would restrict it based on who they think deserves such luxury.

Kraken arms coming out of a building in downtown Boston

Artificial humans public art in Boston.

Fascism sucks. Public art in this city is resistance.

With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules

“The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups…

“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”

Lol. It is a machine.

This is good. And Ring is still shitty surveillance.

tfw 39 degrees feels like shorts weather.

Building the camps The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it.

When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.

Next time somebody tries to get me to justify the existence of the humanities, I’ll just point out how for the past two Super Bowls we’ve all jumped online and engaged in collective semiotics and hermeneutics of the half-time show as text.

It was transforming the biggest NFL stage in the world into a sugar cane plantation that did it for me.

Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?

When we're annoying and say America is a continent not a country this is what we mean.

Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous

That critique of the government extracting resources from PR. The power poles.

The Bad Bunny halftime show syllabus we are going to get in the coming days is going to be awesome.

Old man status: first time I saw Green Day was for $5 at a tiny little place called the Grange in the middle of nowhere outside of Fort Collins, Co. with about 30 other kids in the audience. They were great.

Statement on this morning’s ICE Abduction in Rozzie Square.

Please report any ICE sightings to the LUCE hotline at 617-370-5023.

US judge halts Trump plan to end protections for 350,000 Haitians A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal protections for more than 350,000 Haitians, preventing their potential deportation to a country that has been ravaged by ...

Oh hell yes.

www.reuters.com/world/us-jud...

Protest sign from MN that says, “DEARLY BELOVED. WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY TODISMANTLE THIS THING CALLED ICE.” with a picture of Prince in the left hand lower corner.

10/10 ICE protest sign

How to Film ICE Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact.

NEW: The @wired.com Security desk put together a comprehensive guide to filming ICE—with tips for reducing risk at the forefront. No paywall, but please consider subscribing to help find these kinds of resources. And stay safe out there. www.wired.com/story/how-to...

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

Climate Lessons: Volume 2 This book explores current status of climate change by exploring Earth systems and impacts on communities.

A little bit of light in the darkness is that this OER book written entirely by first year undergraduate students in my co-taught Climate Change class is out today. They are giving me some much needed hope.

pressbooks.pub/climatelesso...

We’ve spent time over the past few weeks criticizing Democrats who are pro-ICE, like the 7 House Dems who voted for DHS funding.

But this is an important no vote, and it’s incredibly that every Dem senator + 8 Republicans (counting Fetterman) voted against it.

Dem Senate leadership stood up today🎉

ICE ACTIONS: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey plans a 2:30 p.m. press conference at the State House today to “to announce new actions to protect Massachusetts residents from the harmful actions by the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” #mapoli

Following the killing of AFGE Member Alex Pretti and the subsequent slanderous rhetoric that followed from top Trump administration officials, AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement: “Yesterday, AFGE brought together labor and faith leaders from Minneapolis and across the nation to mourn our fallen brother from Local 3669, Alex Pretti. We honored his life and legacy and lifted up his family, his friends, his union, Minneapolis, and our nation in prayer. “Today, we demand accountability. “In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a “domestic terrorist.” Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota. “Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired

2 feet of snow in this city and its coming down good again now. Possible nor’easter this coming weekend. Real 2015 winter vibes for those who remember.

Also fuck ICE, all power to Minnesota.

Certainly appears moms with whistles won the Battle of Minneapolis.

Feeling thankful for the impending snowstorm for many reasons. One of which is that I do not think I can walk into a classroom in this country and teach normal shit on Monday.