Daniel Laurison
@daniellaurison.bsky.social
10K followers 4.2K following 3.3K posts
Sociologist at Swarthmore College, trans man. Wrote Producing Politics & The Class Ceiling & a bunch of articles on class & race & inequality &/or political participation. DanielLaurison.com = me WeAreHigherEd.org = standing up for education and democracy
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daniellaurison.bsky.social
We've compiled all the instances we can find of academics standing up for higher education and democracy, as well as attacks, at WeAreHigherEd.org. Please visit, and sign our letter and/or others (bit.ly/DemocracyAndHigherEd - 13k people have signed one or more statements).
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
annakornbluh.bsky.social
week 7, in a city under siege for 32 days and counting, and the students who are able to come to class despite the blitz are showing up like their lives depend on those 50 minutes of togetherness, poetry, and big questions
miriamposner.com
IDK, man. School started 2 weeks ago for us, and once again students remind me that they’re so curious and interested in the world and anxious to ask big questions. We hear that these questions are no longer useful or relevant, but wherever that’s coming from, it’s not what students believe.
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
katelynburns.com
I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...
daniellaurison.bsky.social
I don't think we disagree - tried to make clear in the thread that things are already unacceptably bad and may very well get much worse - but I *had* thought of fascism as more of a binary, even if intellectually I also knew better.
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
nberlat.bsky.social
the washington post is sparking debate with claims that jeff bezos has a spine and heart, but scientists say the evidence is lacking
washingtonpost.com
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sparking debate with claims linking circumcision and Tylenol to autism, but scientists say the evidence is lacking.

Here’s what the science actually says:
RFK Jr. linked circumcision and Tylenol to autism. Here’s what scientists say.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparks debate with claims linking circumcision and Tylenol to autism, but scientists say the evidence is lacking.
wapo.st
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.
ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.
A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.
www.mississippifreepress.org
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
hannahgais.bsky.social
Those are three people in inflatable frog suits.
@MrAndyNgo
Now that the local and national press have started to cover the Portland ICE area round-the-clock in reaction to the President, Antifa have devised a plan where they are encouraging one another to come in animal costumes.

The costumes serve the function of masking the violent extremism to make the direct action appear like a family-friendly gathering on camera, and to whitewash the past ultraviolence. 

In 2019, Antifa devised a similar plot by giving out free "milkshakes" at a protest. But they couldn't contain their bloodthirst and nearly killed me when they saw me. In 2020, they mobilized a fake "Wall of Moms" where female Antifa supporters and members wore yellow shirts to act as human body shields while violent rioters behind them hurled projectile weapons.

photo of three people in inflatable frog costumes
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
moryan.bsky.social
Among other updates, ICE/DHS were told -- again, this time by a judge -- to remove the fence around ICE Broadview. It was still up when I left at noon. And as this story reports, today IL Sens Duckworth & Durbin were denied entry, as other local officials have been for weeks.
blockclubchi.bsky.social
Protesters gathered Friday outside the Broadview ICE facility, as they have for weeks in resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. blockclubchi.co/48oEVt5
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
evansutton.bsky.social
Folks can say protest is ineffective. You can claim it's not achieving anything. But there's no way Dick Durbin is doing this if courageous protestors aren't out there daily for the last few weeks forcing people in positions of power to take action.
durbin.senate.gov
We’re outside of the Broadview ICE facility.

It’s clearer than ever before.

What’s happening in Illinois is an unprecedented, unlawful abuse of power.
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
The president says there are very few stores left in Portland, Oregon, and the ones that are left are made of plywood.

I know we’re numb to this, but in any other time he’d have been removed by the 25th Amendment by now
atrupar.com
Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Thanks! It's so bad in both the US and the UK.
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Thanks! One of my responses to Trump's election was adding a LOT more trans content to my t-shirt collection.

Mostly people assume I'm cis (and straight) and I like to do my little part for - well, for the message on the shirt.
daniellaurison.bsky.social
The shirt in question.

I think I got a few more glares on the walk onto my second plane, but people also might just be grumpy unrelated to my shirt. Hard to know!

bsky.app/profile/dani...
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Today my trans existence is resistance shirt has gotten me:
1) a smile and nod from a woman ~my age.
2) a really unsubtle side-eye/glare from a priest (or guy in a priest's collar).
3) an exclamation from the woman who sold me pizza - "I love your shirt!" She repeated the message to her co-workers.
Bearded bespectacled white trans guy in a purple shirt at the airport. Shirt reads "trans existence is resistance" in white lettering.
daniellaurison.bsky.social
That's great!

I also have a transexual menace t-shirt that is almost 30 years old (I was given it in 1998 or so).

The thrilled pizza worker was really a plus. She was so happy to see it and I don't think she was trans or queer (though of course you can never tell by looking).
daniellaurison.bsky.social
(I'm not particularly notorious or otherwise well known, but I am flying across the country announcing I'm trans on my shirt, and that's no problem.

I'm also aware I may have to fly with an F on my transport when it expires in 2 years. That will probably be harder.)
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Again, not to downplay AT ALL, and we don't know where things are going, but many of the worst things get a lot of coverage/play in the media environments I'm in, and no one ever sees (for good reason) anyone saying "hey I'm a notoriously left academic and I just flew out of the country with ease."
daniellaurison.bsky.social
& it's not all the time.

I don't mean either of those to downplay how awful so many things really are - I assume I don't need to list them - but a lot of people, even in targeted groups, are still able to live our normal lives. More scared and worried, but not in direct danger.
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Two things about fascism I didn't really grasp until it became our reality:

1) it's not all-or-nothing. You can have more or less fascism. (Which means even though that's where we are, we can still push back, resist, make many things less bad for many people.

2) It isn't *everywhere* +
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
daniellaurison.bsky.social
I read her as cis and possibly but not definitely a gay woman/lesbian (a certain sort of soft butch androgyny that in a 50+ white woman can mean any number of things). But your version is also possible!
daniellaurison.bsky.social
Today my trans existence is resistance shirt has gotten me:
1) a smile and nod from a woman ~my age.
2) a really unsubtle side-eye/glare from a priest (or guy in a priest's collar).
3) an exclamation from the woman who sold me pizza - "I love your shirt!" She repeated the message to her co-workers.
Bearded bespectacled white trans guy in a purple shirt at the airport. Shirt reads "trans existence is resistance" in white lettering.
daniellaurison.bsky.social
I don't have an inflatable frog but if anyone in Philly wants to borrow my inflatable unicorn for No Kings on the 18th, let me know!

(I was expecting it to be on the Sunday and will be on planes on the Saturday.)
thefarce.org
Halloween 2025 is going to become one of the most glorious protest events in American history (if there are enough frog costumes).
oregonian.com
Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
kissphoria.bsky.social
my compact that requires universities to accept the government's definition of gender is actually protecting free speech
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Marc Rowan says the "compact" will "protect free speech," but First Amendment scholars across the political spectrum are of one mind that the compact is flagrantly unconstitutional, and every major free speech org--from the ACLU to FIRE to PEN--agrees. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
oregonian.com
Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Reposted by Daniel Laurison
jayulfelder.bsky.social
"What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we're actually not that afraid."