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Benjamin McKean

@blmckean.bsky.social

4K followers 800 following 1.8K posts

associate professor of political science at Ohio State University // global justice, supply chains, populism, climate change, critical theory, etc // all tweets (skeets?) produced accidentally by having my phone in a pants pocket while I walk the dog

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · Nov 20

OK, with many new followers this week, it's a good time for a thread introducing myself - I'm a political theorist who works on questions of global justice, focusing on supply chains, populism, and (increasingly) climate change. Below I'll link some of my work that's free to read benjaminlmckean.com

cover of Disorienting Neoliberalism: Global Justice and the Outer Limits of Freedom by Benjamin L. McKean (that's me)

It's the outline of a figure standing amidst a confusing space that is yellow and black

Art by the great Michael Kupperman (@mkupperman.bsky.social)

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Alex @purplechrain.bsky.social · 14h

They gave the Nobel Peace Prize to someone who supports and praises Trump’s extrajudicial execution of Venezuelan civilians?

Max P III @blackballer.bsky.social · 14h

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

How did they manage to design the walk from Midway Airport to the Orange Line so that it always feels like you are taking a Walk of Shame

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

“Politics is the art of the possible” is the funniest possible answer to a question about stoning adulterers

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Listening and learning

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

a man in a suit and tie is playing drums .

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is playing drums .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Benjamin McKean

Ben Gerstein @bwgerstein.bsky.social · 1d

Per the Trump playbook, Jews who do not adhere to fascist tendencies are categorized as "bad Jews" alongside the enemy "other." Investigating these Jewish orgs. also tracks the targeting of JVP featured prominently in the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther: lpeproject.org/blog/how-the...

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

goes without saying but: #AbolishICE

CollinCountyDems @collincountydems.bsky.social · 1d

This is terrifying!

ICE breaks into this woman’s car in the pick-up line at West Loop Elementary school in Chicago and detains her before she can pick her kids up from school. (They were eventually let go after showing their documents)

This is Trump’s America.

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure why anyone would listen to what one of the most famous AfD supporters in the world has to say about this (or anything else)

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Presumably the character would have to get measles or something

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Feel like this alone might inspire Larry David to bring Curb Your Enthusiasm back for another season

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

RFK JR: There are many other confirmations -- there are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It’s highly likely because they are given Tylenol

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Ah bummer! I guess we may find out which is more expensive: international shipping or having a new office key made

Reposted by Benjamin McKean

Christopher McKnight Nichols @cmcknichols.bsky.social · 1d

On why it is so problematic that the Ohio State Legislature is trying to define and dictate what is taught, particularly via taxpayer funded "ideological diversity" centers, a good op-ed #Dispatch: www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...

Ohio State's new politicians crafted 'unit' will tilt the scales, bury truth | Opinion

If the concern is that universities lean too far left, the remedy isn’t to let lawmakers in Columbus dictate the curriculum.

www.dispatch.com

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Yesterday morning, my kid showed me an AirTag key ring I got as a gift and asked why I wasn’t using it.

“Oh, I never lose my keys,” I said.

Yesterday afternoon, I lost my keys.

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Daniel James @schlawinerkreis.bsky.social · 2d

1/ I'm excited to share that Franz Knappik’s and my Cambridge Element on Hegel and Colonialism is finally out – open access below! We trace how Hegel defends European colonial rule, including transatlantic slavery, and how that defence runs through his entire philosophical system.

Thread below ⬇️

Hegel and Colonialism

Cambridge Core - Classical Philosophy - Hegel and Colonialism

www.cambridge.org

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

"The event will build community and promote resilience."

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, this is NOT the Harvard I thought I knew from watching How High and Legally Blonde

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

Shocked, just shocked, by this important scoop on front page of today's NYT. /s/

Based on report that came out ... nine months ago

And behavior long predating that

("Skip a class? Perish the thought!!" Says anyone who ever worked on a college newspaper, which covers a lot of people in the media.)

NYT front page headline: "Harvard Finds Skipping Class Part of Culture."

Reposted by Benjamin McKean

Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 2d

This is what every Democratic state needs to do, tell its state university leaders that they will lose all state appropriations if they sign the compact. Take the decision out of feckless college administrators’ hands.

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 2d

Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 2d

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

More intolerable bullshit from the gerrymandered Ohio legislature

Columbus Underground @colsunderground.bsky.social · 2d

Planned Parenthood calls the “Baby Olivia” video “inaccurate, misleading, and manipulative.”

MORE: columbusunderground.com/ohio-gop-wan...

Ohio GOP Wants Mandatory Pro-Life Propaganda in Public School Curriculum - Columbus Underground

A Republican lawmaker introduced a bill this week that would require Ohio public schools to show a video about fetal development to students starting in the third grade.

columbusunderground.com

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

Sorry to bring thjs garbage over here but as someone who teaches The Second Sex regularly, thjs is such a funny thing for someone who calls themselves a feminist to say

J.K. Rowling
@jk_rowling
X.com
A woman is someone who doesn't need to put in any work to become a woman, because she's already a woman.
adamina barx
@AdaBarx
X.com
To be honest, I never liked the "a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman" line. It doesn't feel right. In my experience with transitioning, it's more accurate to say "a woman is anyone who puts in the work to become a woman"
7:42 AM • 10/8/25 • 1.7M Views
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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks a million, RFK Jr!

An Update on Measles from Columbus Public Health
Personal/Elka/Kenwood
Inbox
Columbus City...
3:37 PM
to me v
•••
PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATE
Measles
There is a Measles Outbreak in Central Ohio.
Measles is a very serious and contagious disease caused by a virus that spreads easily in the air by coughing and sneezing.
Up to 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to measles develop the disease. One in five people with measles are hospitalized.
The Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against measles. The MMR vaccine is very safe, highly effective, and does not cause autism. Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting measles.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

Governing Magazine has run not one but TWO puff pieces about Mayor Ginther this year and having read them, I still have no idea what policies he is pushing forward or what he actually does with his time (other than occasionally show his kid how the other half lives) www.governing.com/poy/2025/col...

Ginther sometimes brings his teenage daughter along with him as he visits the city’s poorer quarters, wanting as his own parents did for her to understand the challenges that people from different backgrounds and circumstances may face.

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

I guess Ginther was just too busy handing out business cards or cutting ribbons or doing whatever the hell he does while the Columbus Partnership actually runs the city

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2d

love how the president ordering the invasion of cities by troops from other states is apparently only important enough to warrant a mild statement from a deputy chief of staff for communications, not the mayor of Columbus himself

Asked this week about Trump deploying the National Guard to cities and broadly characterizing cities as dangerous, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther's deputy chief of staff for communications, Jennifer Fening, told The Dispatch:

"Mayor Ginther believes that whether you’re in Columbus, Portland, Chicago or any major American city, it’s mayors, local law enforcement and community partners who possess the wisest insights for fighting crime and making cities safer. We hope that federal leadership will continue to respect mayors and police chiefs’ understandings of their cities."

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David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 2d

DEI for me, not for thee.

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Sam Menefee-Libey @sml47.bsky.social · 2d

www.impactcounter.com/dashboard

A BU Mathmatician has been using what we know about the impacts of these programs to project estimated deaths since the cuts in January. The methodology is linked on every page.

All Tracked Programs

Deaths caused by Funding Discontinuation

175,640 Adult Deaths

365,287 Child Deaths

[as of 9am PST, 10/8/25]

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Reposted by Benjamin McKean

AAUP @aaup.org · 3d

NO LOYALTY OATHS IN HIGHER ED!

Trump's attacks on our universities are an attempt to consolidate power. This loyalty oath directly undermines our right to academic freedom & goes against every democratic principle our country should uphold.

Please click below, sign, & share.

#DefendHigherEd

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

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