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Laura Murphy

@lauratmurphy.bsky.social

Today: prof at Sheffield Hallam U, Senior Associate at CSIS; Previously: Policy Advisor at Department of Homeland Security in Biden admin Always: researcher on forced labor

278 Followers  |  148 Following  |  19 Posts  |  Joined: 17.11.2024  |  1.6215

Latest posts by lauratmurphy.bsky.social on Bluesky

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If you’re around LSU on Wednesday, come for a talk I’m giving. I’ll be talking about how we use research to fight forced labor in China and the lessons we’ve learned that can be applied to fighting authoritarianism at home and abroad.

April 16, 4Pm
143 Coates Hall, LSU

14.04.2025 22:13 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

'They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.' - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925

14.03.2025 16:33 — 👍 96    🔁 26    💬 5    📌 0

Why are academics too timid to raise our voices?

We have the platforms.
We are trained to speak.
We have extraordinary privilege.
We even have flexible schedules.

We teach about rights and equality.
Why aren’t we defending them?

We have to speak up now.

07.04.2025 17:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

When we protested the Iraq War, our professors led the chants. They marched with us.

Professors at universities across the United States should be defending their students and themselves. Defending intellectual inquiry. Medical research. Human rights. The future we all worked so hard to build.

07.04.2025 17:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Today Loyola University New Orleans Law School *secretly* hosted a talk by Amy Coney Barrett. Students gathered outside to remind her that she is on the Supreme Court to uphold the constitution, not support dictatorship.

I was appalled to find that exactly ZERO profs came out to support.

07.04.2025 17:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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This Monday at 9:30, come out to Loyola New Orleans law school to remind Amy Coney Barrett that her job is to uphold the constitution, not a dictator.

05.04.2025 20:28 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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What I did today to fight authoritarianism:

My first call out to a university president by name for pre-complying with Trump’s demands instead of standing up.

You can do it too!! Write/call your Alma mater, the school you attend or your children attend, the uni down the road, etc.

03.04.2025 22:43 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

What I did today to fight authoritarianism:

1) finished reading Applebaum’s Autocracy, Inc.

2) followed all the steps (except writing an op-ed) in the list of actions to defend the National Endowment for the Humanities listed in the link below.

03.04.2025 02:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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‘No Way’ to Please Everyone: Columbia’s President Confronts Trump’s Ultimatum With Trump intent on making an example of Columbia, Armstrong is at the center of a fight over the future of higher education.

‘No Way to Please Everyone’ Says Only University Where Students Are Regularly Kidnapped

21.03.2025 12:00 — 👍 14999    🔁 3474    💬 211    📌 110

News flash: the *American made* washer/dryer I bought last week costs $200 more today than it did yesterday.

Who wins in a tariff war??

02.04.2025 17:56 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

This is critical! We cannot let these cases be heard in Louisiana.

I wonder: are there protests or actions happening outside the detention centers?

01.04.2025 22:38 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Tune in to CSPAN live now for an incredible filibuster from Cory Booker. He’s been speaking for 20 hours, but he’s on fire.

01.04.2025 18:29 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Resources for federal workers continue being added to this list:

01.04.2025 15:18 — 👍 58    🔁 40    💬 2    📌 0
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What I did today to fight authoritarianism:

1) donated to Trans Justice Funding Project for Transgender Day of Visibility

connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/64330...

2) postered my neighborhood for Int’l day of action on Saturday. So easy!

www.mobilize.us/handsoff/eve...

01.04.2025 04:13 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

So true. This spot is especially weird. I have no idea why they even have a spot on Tchoup. But we do see a wide demographic passing that way, so it’s nice to get support from everyone.

01.04.2025 04:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Her cone (and its cause) is just one of the many plagues that befell our house last week. It was a truly cosmically bad confluence of horrific and weird events But she is recovering just fine. And the rest of us are too.

01.04.2025 04:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Post image 31.03.2025 00:09 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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What I did today to fight authoritarianism:
1) Tesla protest
2) Vote in state elections
3) Made list of signs of dictatorship in US
4) Began research on orgs to donate to that were DOGE cut victims
5) Began list of things you can do to fight

#PeopleKeepAskingMeWhatTheyCanDo

29.03.2025 22:06 — 👍 14    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0

Work for/run an organization that lost government funding due to DOGE cuts? Accept donations? Please let me know here — especially if you’re in Louisiana but even if you’re not. I’m going to start posting this so people can know where to direct their donations.

#PeopleKeepAskingMeWhatTheyCanDo

29.03.2025 20:28 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Uniqlo faces online China backlash over Xinjiang cotton comments Commentators call for a boycott of the chain in China after it told the BBC it does not use Xinjiang cotton.

Uniqlo faces online China backlash over Xinjiang cotton comments

30.11.2024 03:14 — 👍 22    🔁 7    💬 3    📌 0
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‘Italian’ purees likely to contain Chinese forced-labour tomatoes Some products described as “Italian” appear to contain Chinese tomatoes, BBC investigation suggests.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

01.12.2024 22:59 — 👍 3    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 1
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Hong Kong Court Sentences Dozens in Case That Crushed Pro-Democracy Camp Defendants include politicians and activists who had hoped to win control of legislature, a plan Beijing found subversive.

Benny Tai, a scholar at the heart of Hong Kong’s biggest national security trial, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday. Other sentences in the case, which crushed the pro-democracy camp here, ranged from just over 4 to more than 7 years in prison.

Gift link:

www.wsj.com/world/china/...

19.11.2024 04:22 — 👍 45    🔁 25    💬 2    📌 1

You were the first to send me an invite. But it was just at the time when I decided maybe talking to or listening to or lurking on other humans wasn’t exactly my jam any more. Not sure much has changed on that front, but let’s roll.

17.11.2024 23:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

People talk about most of the ghosts and monsters on Scooby Doo actually being real estate developers in disguise but rewatching with my kids there are also a LOT of Scooby Doo villains who are academics, are they getting course releases and grants for the costumes, plotting, and special effects?

17.11.2024 15:57 — 👍 18    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 0

Okay. Me too. I’m here. Please suggest starter packs… because just what I need right now is more doom scrolling. Thanks in advance.

17.11.2024 14:48 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 1

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