Michael Kerns

ICYMI: @larrysabato.bsky.social @kkondik.bsky.social and @jmilescoleman.bsky.social have a new book out on the 2024 election, Campaign of Chaos. Terrific analysis and A-list contributors up and down the Contents.

deploying practices of contestation and liberation that did not continue widely in the subsequent decades and have become subterranean currents, which have the potential to spring forth once again."

I'm intrigued to see how he connects these global phenomena in the 70s with today: "I will also indicate some instances in which movements of the 70s were actually ahead of those today, . . .

and increasing the gap between rich and poor, while making the state less responsive to social demands and progressive reforms."

to post-Fordist models, initiating an era of increasingly precarious and informal forms of employment. At the same time, neoliberal policies set a course of privatizing public goods, undermining welfare structures, . . .

a variety of angles with various terms. Postindustrial society, for instance, took form in the seventies: it was, perhaps paradoxically, as I said, the peak of industrial workers' power as well as the beginnings of its decline. Simultaneously, labor and wage regimes shifted from Fordist . . .

Have started reading Michael Hardt's The Subversive Seventies. From the Introduction:
"The 1970s, in contrast, mark the beginning of our time. It was a decade of great tectonic shifts in the structure and mechanisms that rule the social order, which scholars have tried to capture from ...

This is not what @kamalaharris.com said. The leftist Guardian is making up a fake headline, presumably to use against her if she runs in 2028. She said she's not returning to elected office right now. She said nothing foreclosing a future run nor suggesting she's abandoning our broken system.

Birthright Citizenship Under the U.S. Constitution The 14th Amendment has long been understood to grant American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.

As lawsuits challenging the president’s attempt to end birthright citizenship make their way through courts around the country, we explain what the 14th Amendment says about birthright citizenship and why it matters.
bit.ly/44Tm6Mn

I spent decades at Columbia. I’m withdrawing my fall course due to its deal with Trump | Rashid Khalidi The university’s draconian policies and new definition of antisemitism make much teaching impossible

Historian Rashid Khalidi cancels his Fall class

Throw in some Gil Scott Heron, Whitey on the Moon: I can’t pay no doctor bills, but Whitey’s on the moon…

Speaks volumes to income inequality, policy choices, and race in America!

In Gaza, mounting evidence of famine and widespread starvation “The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza,” UN-backed food security experts said on Tuesday, in a call to action amid unrelenting conflict, mass displacement and the near-tot...

“”The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza,” UN-backed food security experts said on Tuesday…
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform, two out of three famine thresholds for food consumption have been breached across most of Gaza”

💯

New book review:
Lawniczak on McFate, Montgomery: _Dr. Seuss and the Art of War: Secret Military Lessons_. Rowman & Littlefield, 2024. Published by H-War.
Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20054736

Nice to see this review of a book I published last year, Dr. Seuss and the Art of War: Secret Military Lessons, edited by Montgomery McFate.
journaldialogue.org/alt-dialogue...

This is so important to understand: the Roberts Court is *changing the constitution* to empower Trump. You can't understand why this all matters so much without grasping that "the Constitution" stretches far beyond the narrow text of the 1787 document and its 27 amendments

Trump is calling for the Fed to cut interest rates to one percent. Under what circumstances might this make sense?

We are living in the most stupid timeline. Who is going to stop all this? It’s “I’m rubber, you’re glue” meets democracy crumbling around us.

This whole TX flooding issue should be top news. Can you imagine if Mayorkas waited that long to deploy Search and Rescue? It would be the only thing the media would be talking about!

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations “In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

Exactly this. Planned parenthood provides life saving care in addition to reproductive care, often for people in low income and rural communities. This isn’t only an attack on reproductive rights, it’s an attack on the fundamental freedom to make your own health care choices.

Iran Join Rick as he explores the most surprising and fascinating land he's ever visited: Iran. In a one-hour, ground-breaking travel special on public television, you'll discover the splendid monuments of...

If you want to be a savvier consumer of the news as Israel and Iran duke it out in 2025 and as the USA considers joining in, please educate yourself by watching this special: www.ricksteves.com/watch-iran. Shalom and Salam.

Map of Europe that failed its Geography exam

Just in case you’re wondering where the missiles will be targeted, here’s what AI is currently churning out.

Sen. Alex Padilla: "If this is how this DHS responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they're doing to farmers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country. We will hold this administration accountable."

House Democrats need to bring articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem, while Senate Democrats need to bring that chamber to a fucking halt.

Sitting US Senator Alex Padilla forcibly wrestled to the ground and arrested by the FBI for attempting to ask a question of DHS secretary Kristin Noem.

If criminalizing legitimate protest and sending troops to smash it are not clear signs we live in an autocracy -- what is?

@unlawfulentries.bsky.social ?