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jon ben-menachem

@jbenmenachem.com

18K followers 860 following 7.5K posts

criminalization, abolition, labor, politics, journalism—social science theory & methods too. sociology phd candidate @ columbia. @swcolumbia.bsky.social

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · Apr 17

It shouldn't matter if Trump’s victims have criminal records. If we only defend the “innocent,” the fascists will argue that their victim “was no angel.” An anti-fascist rhetoric that carves out exceptions for imperfect victims is a gift to our opponents.

New from me for @us.theguardian.com:

What is a ‘criminal’ immigrant? The word is an American rhetorical trap | Jonathan Ben-Menachem

Labels like ‘gang members’ and ‘terrorist supporters’ are an easy way to make humans disposable

www.theguardian.com

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 1h

I am happy that more people see that the police state is a BIPARTISAN project.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 4h

From a theoretical perspective I actually don't think it has to be the case that increased research productivity via LLMs = more LLM slop in circulation (although that is totally possible as well). Ironically, qualitative methods are best positioned to produce reliable short-term evidence about this

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 4h

It's an interesting research question, but the research design is a bit outdated. I also just tend to think that we'll need to wait a few years to allow for publishing lag to play out; even if someone started working on a bunch of papers in the beginning of 2023, peer review takes a while.

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 10h

Does AI improve or undercut academic scholarship?

A new study finds that academics who use AI increased both the quantity & quality of their academic scholarship and it appears to reduces inequality (helping junior and non-english speaking scholars the most).
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.02408

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

I think if you take a cynical view of what productivity means / the relevant disciplinary and organizational incentives, it's totally possible

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

Given that there is probably variation in treatment uptake, I do wonder whether there's a case for using the Callaway estimator here. It's also just kind of odd to see a DiD paper posted without an obvious parallel trends diagnostic? They say it's Table 5 but that's... not the right diagnostic?

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

all that being said, I do buy the argument that GenAI use could boost academic research productivity, and I don't necessarily think that it has to occur via the propagation of slop

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

(4) what is the conceptualization of "technical" disciplines? I would agree that publishing norms differ in important ways and think it's good to look at TE heterogeneity. but if sociology is 'more narrative' and 'more qualitative' (true enough), aren't those areas where LLMs shine? text data?

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

(3) some questions about matching... "The underlying assumption is that matching
on observables also brings users and non-users close in unobserved dimensions that correlate
with observables." I think this is definitively not the consensus in 2025

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

Lots of questions about the identification strategy here.
(1), treatment uptake. Would have been nice to see when GenAI use actually picks up; I doubt it's at the beginning of 2023
(2) publishing lag, which differs across fields. Has enough time even elapsed to observe treatment effects?

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Eric Levai @ericlevai.bsky.social · 5h

Writers Guild rightly tells members not to respond to Bari Weiss

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/wga-cbs-news-staffers-not-respond-bari-weiss-memo-1236546038/

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

tbh the experience of using bathrooms in japan is humbling for a US citizen

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 5h

the japanese bidet setup is superior (also heated seats++)

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5h

All right, y'all, help me out. This is a bidet, right? (It's in my airbnb.) So, the idea is, you poop in the toilet and then...crab walk a few feet to your left, with your pants down? And stick your butt down in this thing? There's no seat, as such, so you're just...hovering your butt down into it?

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 7h

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Thomas Harvey @tbh1910.bsky.social · 8h

Liberals never learn: when fascists attack the left, don't join them.

Trump sends the feds after protesters.

Democrats send state and city cops, while prosecutors seek max jail time.

This is history on repeat: You can't fight fascism with fascism lite.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Boston Prosecutors Invoke Law Used Against Anarchists to Charge Protesters

www.nytimes.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 9h

worth revisiting this piece on the value of prosecuting killer cops (or lack thereof)

www.essence.com/feature/breo...

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 9h

Yes, my employer continues to be an international embarrassment. The Board wanted to bypass the Senate to crack down on student protest and hire campus cops. Trump gave them the opportunity to make those changes under the guise of being extorted.

Kevin Carey @kevincarey1.bsky.social · 10h

It's clearer by the day that Columbia making a deal with Trump in July was a catastrophe for higher education as a whole. It gave terrible people a bottomless appetite for extortion. The other eight universities must follow MIT's lead.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

www.nytimes.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 9h

Much like e.g. wrongful conviction cases, the money can’t fully address the pain that victims of state violence have experienced. But isn’t there a basic ethical obligation to at least provide some compensation? We paid for their pain, we can pay for their healing too.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 9h

I have seen a lot of conversation about punishing / incarcerating these people, but making victims whole should be a higher priority.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 9h

In addition to destroying ICE and DHS, we should probably start thinking about a reparations framework. If they keep records on which officers conduct arrests, we could make individual officers liable to pay damages to their victims.

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 10h

In Broadview, IL this morning outside the Chicago area ICE detention center—

Just rolled up, immediately saw ISP/CCSO arresting a protester w/ a guitar (he appears to be in good spirits over it).

ICE vehicles have been coming and going, including a large bus driven by a masked agent seen earlier.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 10h

I’ve usually found common cause with civil libertarians on CJ and immigration stuff

Reposted by jon ben-menachem

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 1d

CHICAGO: REBUILD is providing therapy to folks detained by ICE. Please feel free to let people know.

findmeatherapist.org

Find Me A Therapist

findmeatherapist.org

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Michael Sainato @msainato.bsky.social · 21h

Many employees don't know if they've because they have no email access while furloughed during the shutdown

Michael Sainato @msainato.bsky.social · 21h

RIF notice at Department of Education claiming firings are necessary due to government shut down

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: The private jet that flew 10 shackled migrants to an Eswatini prison last weekend is owned by Israeli-American billionaires with close ties to Trump.

It’s oligarchs all the way down.

My first for @zeteo.com:

zeteo.com/p/this-famil...

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Alyssa Katz @alykatzz.bsky.social · 1d

Cuomo has, shall we say, baggage when it comes to Letitia James. Hence his conspicuous reaction to her indictment: calling out law enforcement politicization "whether it comes from the right or the left." @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

Tish James Indictment Reverberates in Cuomo-Mamdani Fray

Trump’s prosecution triggers the former governor to decry “politicization of law enforcement” in nod to his own probe by the dogged state AG.

www.thecity.nyc

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

“FPS could even enter a private residence containing an identified sniper blocks away from a federal facility in order to eliminate that exigent threat…we do not live in a world of sticks and stones, but Mausers and Winchesters.”

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

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