Sarah Sobieraj

Hey sociologists -- help your far flung colleagues out -- more #ASA2025 #ASA25 posts!

Twins!

Dream team of folks to work with (@nancybaym.bsky.social, @marylgray.bsky.social, Tarleton Gillespie) Principal Researcher position for a social scientist doing critical analysis of tech and society: jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...

👏👏👏

Remember this? Matt Stone and Trey Parker aren't attacking Trump, they are *using* him. They'll keep going until he slaps Paramount with one of his patented defamation lawsuits, then reminisce abt their brutal licensing negotiations amidst and explosion of free publicity (cue maniacal laughter).

F.C.C. Approves Skydance’s $8 Billion Merger With Paramount

Nothing to see here. @onthemedia.bsky.social

“After a few weeks or months, you give up asking,’’ the women told me. I tried many times, and many times I gave up too. We felt horrified, invisible, helpless, and dehumanized.

“Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk opens up about her 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility—and the generous and compassionate women she met.

Grateful for Rümeysa Öztürk's bravery and insights. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...

"In the nearly six months of his second term, he has used [the word "evil"] 11 times to describe Democrats or journalists."

Most popular podcasts on YouTube, says YouTube. charts.youtube.com/podcasts

1. Joe Rogan Experience
2. MeidasTouch
10. Tucker Carlson Show
13. Pat McAfee Show
26. Black Conservative Perspective
32. Bulwark Takes
34. 60 Minutes
47. Democracy Now
60. PBS News Hour
64. Call Her Daddy
74. Roland Martin

Online Abuse and US Politics, a Conversation with Moya Bailey and Nina Jankowicz

New Ask a Feminist with @ninajankowicz.com, @moyazb.bsky.social, and @sobieraj.bsky.social! They analyze the harassment and abuse that women—esp. women in politics—face online and how it impedes women’s equal political participation. Check it out FREE on our website or your favorite podcasting app!

Online Abuse and US Politics, a Conversation with Moya Bailey and Nina Jankowicz

Delighted to facilitate this conversation about the way intersectional inequality, technology, and politics intersect with @moyazb.bsky.social and @ninajankowicz.com for @signsjournal.org. Critically important for all of us.

Friendly note for the email marketers out there... there is almost certainly no such thing as a "can't miss webinar."

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour Understanding the root causes and possible solutions for rising political violence

Insights from @milleridriss.bsky.social on @pbsnews.org www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjMx...

The Box — The World's First Anti-Deepfake Wearable Feel safe in public again. Our elegant, full-size wearable has you covered.

SNL-worthy chuckle (that also stings) courtesy of Nitya Kuthiala and @louisbarclay.bsky.social‬ wearthebox.com #gender #deepfakes

Thanks for this!

Congratulations! Super news!

The contents, that cover...it's about to drop! Keep a lookout for the latest @contexts.org, where we stay true to our promise to keep things rigorous, relevant, readable, and rad. #sociology #protecthedolls @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social

After I watched those people storm the capitol on January 6, I vowed to never again be shocked on behalf of this country.

It’s a struggle to hold that line as I watch L.A.

SINNERS second Saturday is $18.5M. 13% higher than last Saturday.

Who would be down to contribute to an essay collection on Sinners? #academicsky

What is a View, Really? feat. Drew Baldwin, Founder & CEO of Tubefilter Creator Upload · Episode

Fascinating conversation about new YouTube Short measure of view as a ‘vanity’ metric and smart discussion of its meaninglessness. As if our metrics weren’t troubled enough… open.spotify.com/episode/51N9...

Just what we need in these challenging times - frickin’ victim-blaming fortune cookies

My Matcha-Dusted, Lemon-Scented, Tahini-Drizzled Adventures in Flavormaxxing When did our taste buds become so spoiled?

More than the headline suggests - nice piece re: food / culture / status

Why, thank you!

4. With her consent, the University can confirm that Ms. Oztürk is a third-year doctoral student in good academic and administrative standing. Her research focuses on how young adults can use social media in positive, prosocial ways and she is described by her faculty as a hard-working student dedicated to her studies and the Tufts community. The University has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention. The University has seen an outpouring of support for Ms. Öztürk over the last week from Tufts students, faculty and staff. These individuals have described Ms. Öztürk as a valued member of the community, dedicated to her academic pursuits and committed to her colleagues.

NEW: Tufts files a declaration in support of Rümeysa Öztürk: "The University has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention." www.tufts.edu/president/sp...

I have reviewed the Declaration of David T. Wesling. In my 16 years of practice, I have not seen or even heard of an ICE detainee arrested in Massachusetts being booked and repeatedly moved in the manner described in that declaration. I have never seen or even heard of an ICE detainee arrested in Massachusetts being moved to Methuen, Massachusetts, then Lebanon, New Hampshire, then St. Albans, Vermont, within a matter of hours. The conduct described in Mr. Wesling's declaration is, in short, highly irregular. Executed on April 2, 2025, in Boston, MA. Stefanie Fisher-Pinkert

13. I have reviewed the Declaration of David Wesling. The procedures described therein for Ms. Ozturk are not consistent with anything I have ever observed in my 17 years of immigration practice. I have never seen or even heard of an immigrant booked in 14 minutes. I have never seen a client transferred twice in the same day. The fastest transfer I recall seeing was 24 hours after initial placement. I do not recall ever seeing a client arrested in Massachusetts be detained in St. Albans, Vermont. I have never seen an F-1 revocation where the noncitizen was arrested and detained on the street, by masked men, with no prior notice that the visa had been revoked. To the best of my memory, in each of the F-1 revocations I have seen, the noncitizens' alleged actions leading to the visa revocation would (if true) have been clearly in violation of the terms of the visa (e.g., the immigrant was no longer attending the listed school, the immigrant had overstayed the visa). I have never before seen an F-1 visa revoked, and the student arrested without prior notice of the revocation, based on an op-ed published in a school newspaper. Executed on April 2, 2025, in Boston, MA. Heather Yountz

6. CCJ provides our clinic with daily data concerning, among other things, the number of civil immigration detainees housed in its facility. Paragraphs 7-11 below summarize voluminous writings that cannot be conveniently examined in court, in part because they contain personally identifying information concerning certain persons housed in CCJ. 7. On March 7, 2025, records indicated that approximately 27 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 at CCJ. Pod C3 is the female housing unit. 8. On March 7, 2025, records indicated that approximately 62 total female detainees, including civil immigration detainees, were housed at CCJ. 9. On March 25, 2025, records indicated that approximately 19 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 (the female housing unit) at CCJ. 10. On March 26, 2025, records indicated that approximately 18 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 (the female housing unit) at CCJ. 11. On March 26, 2025, records indicated that approximately 46 total female detainees, including civil immigration detainees, were housed at CCJ. 12. Based on my review of these records, and my extensive experience working with CCJ and detainees at CCJ over more than a decade, I conclude that there were at least 16 open beds to house additional female detainees at CCJ on March 25 & 26, 2025. 13. Throughout my years of experience working with the immigrant population in northern New England, I have never heard of an ICE detainee being arrested in Massachusetts and being transferred to Methuen, MA, Lebanon, NH, and then St. Albans, VT in a matter of hours. Executed on April 2, 2025, in Boston, MA. Anna R. Welch

6. The St. Albans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office serves as a subordinate office to the ICE Boston Field Office and is where ICE conducts Enforcement and Removal Operations including supervision. It is a small administrative office that has been staffed by visiting officers on secondment from southern districts for several years since marked attrition over 2020 and 2021. In my years of practice in Vermont, I have only ever seen or heard of people being detained at the St. Albans office upon initial arrest in Vermont. I have never previously seen or heard of people from other states being transferred into the St. Albans Office for detention. 7. Last year, ICE Boston Field Office and St. Albans Sub-Office leadership called a meeting with Vermont immigration legal services providers in Burlington, Vermont to introduce us to new management who would be permanently staffing the office. There, I had the chance to personally meet with Boston and St. Albans ICE leadership, solicit their practice and prosecutorial discretion priorities, exchange contact information to facilitate more efficient resolution of represented parties' immigration custody and removal proceedings. I understood from this engagement and have heard confirmed by numerous and pro bonos I supervise, that the St. Albans office is a small, simple administrative office not suitable for long-term custody and detention. 8. Moreover, in my seven years of practicing in Vermont and serving as a local expert on immigration matters, I have never once encountered the case of a detained person who is being transferred into Vermont for the purposes of continued ICE detention. I have only encountered individuals being held in Vermont who were initially detained in Vermont and being held temporarily on their way to longer term detention in nearby over-72-hour facilities. It is even more extraordinary for a person to be transferred into the St. Albans ICE office, which is a government office and not a det…

NEW: Rümeysa Öztürk's latest filings include a strong set of declarations from a number of experienced immigration lawyers in MA, NH, VT, and ME who say the way Öztürk was rapidly shuttled out of state and then from place to place was highly unusual, illogical, and (by all appearances) unnecessary.

ICE states that it decided that Ms. Oztürk would be transferred to Louisiana even before she was arrested because it had "determined there was no available bedspace for [her] at a facility where she could appear for a hearing" in New England. D.E. 19-1 I 6. Yet ICE provides no explanation of, or support for, how it reached this "determin[ation]." Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts, Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, Stafford County Correctional Facility in New Hampshire, Cumberland County Jail in Maine, Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in Vermont, and ICE's Buffalo Facility in Batavia, New York can all hold women detained by ICE. Yountz 11 8-9; Fisher 4 6. There is no indication that ICE communicated with any of these facilities to determine whether they had bedspace available for Ms. Öztürk. To the contrary, it seems ICE either did not communicate with these facilities or ignored what it heard. For example, it appears that the Cumberland County Jail had at least 16 open beds on March 25 and March 26, 2025 Exhibit 5, Anna R. Welch Decl. 9 7-12.

6. CCJ provides our clinic with daily data concerning, among other things, the number of civil immigration detainees housed in its facility. Paragraphs 7-11 below summarize voluminous writings that cannot be conveniently examined in court, in part because they contain personally identifying information concerning certain persons housed in CCJ. 7. On March 7, 2025, records indicated that approximately 27 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 at CCJ. Pod C3 is the female housing unit. 8. On March 7, 2025, records indicated that approximately 62 total female detainees, including civil immigration detainees, were housed at CCJ. 9. On March 25, 2025, records indicated that approximately 19 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 (the female housing unit) at CCJ. 10. On March 26, 2025, records indicated that approximately 18 civil immigration detainees were housed in Pod C3 (the female housing unit) at CCJ. 11. On March 26, 2025, records indicated that approximately 46 total female detainees, including civil immigration detainees, were housed at CCJ. 12. Based on my review of these records, and my extensive experience working with CCJ and detainees at CCJ over more than a decade, I conclude that there were at least 16 open beds to house additional female detainees at CCJ on March 25 & 26, 2025. 13. Throughout my years of experience working with the immigrant population in northern New England, I have never heard of an ICE detainee being arrested in Massachusetts and being transferred to Methuen, MA, Lebanon, NH, and then St. Albans, VT in a matter of hours. Executed on April 2, 2025, in Boston, MA. Anna R. Welch

NEW: There were plenty of open beds in New England—maybe even in Massachusetts—when ICE claimed that Rümeysa Öztürk had to be transferred to Louisiana for want of beds locally, according to Öztürk's lawyers and the director of UMaine Law's refugee & human-rights clinic. www.aclum.org/en/cases/ozt...

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow As the administration does its best to hide public records from the public, Wired magazine is stepping up to help stem the secrecy

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.