Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
I teach history and write about US politics, cities, and inequality, most recently in ILLUSIONS OF PROGRESS: Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century (Penn Press, 2023).
Pinned
Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
· Sep 12
Adding Value | Phenomenal World
Mortgage insurance has traditionally been the method the federal government has used to induce investment in owner-occupied housing. But for multifamily rentals, the history of mortgage-insurance prog...
www.phenomenalworld.org
Mike Glass and I argue for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social that we’ve tried the #abundance incentive-based approach to housing crises before. But lack of oversight + incentives produced fraud, profiteering, and inflated rents -- and the Trump family fortune.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Feds suspect arson: "Two days before an apartment complex once hailed as a shining example of Philadelphia’s urban renewal went up in flames, its owner, embattled city landlord Phil Pulley, transferred the vacant property to a New York investment firm."
www.inquirer.com/news/phil-pu...
www.inquirer.com/news/phil-pu...
Landlord Phil Pulley transferred ownership of West Philly apartments days before suspected arson, records show
Property records show the notorious landlord signed a deed transfer two days before the June 2025 fire. The new owners are now demolishing the building.
www.inquirer.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Feds suspect arson: "Two days before an apartment complex once hailed as a shining example of Philadelphia’s urban renewal went up in flames, its owner, embattled city landlord Phil Pulley, transferred the vacant property to a New York investment firm."
www.inquirer.com/news/phil-pu...
www.inquirer.com/news/phil-pu...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
Reposted by Brent Cebul
worth reading the whole thing but here’s the quote about the EndTimes coalition.
@susglickman.bsky.social
@susglickman.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
worth reading the whole thing but here’s the quote about the EndTimes coalition.
@susglickman.bsky.social
@susglickman.bsky.social
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Why the New Deal Matters
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Brent Cebul
We are all so screwed because the entire global economy has bet on an industry that can’t make money.
Read about the massive fraud:
open.substack.com/pub/shanakaa...
Read about the massive fraud:
open.substack.com/pub/shanakaa...
The Algorithm That Detected a $610 Billion Fraud: How Machine Intelligence Exposed the AI Industry’s Circular Financing Scheme
On November 20, 2025, trading algorithms identified what may become the largest accounting fraud in technology history—not in months or years, but in 18 hours.
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:22 PM
We are all so screwed because the entire global economy has bet on an industry that can’t make money.
Read about the massive fraud:
open.substack.com/pub/shanakaa...
Read about the massive fraud:
open.substack.com/pub/shanakaa...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
The thing that these instructors most appreciate about this format is having 1-on-1 conversations with all of their students
Can confirm re: check ins I had with my class yesterday & today. They may be humoring me, but these meetings were invigorating (for me at least). I know this doesn't scale...
Can confirm re: check ins I had with my class yesterday & today. They may be humoring me, but these meetings were invigorating (for me at least). I know this doesn't scale...
Nice feature by my colleague on Penn faculty from different disciplines who've been using oral exams of various kinds, some since the Covid year of remote instruction
Building Deeper Learning Through Oral Exams: Conversations That Count
Faculty from across the university share how oral exams are helping them assess students' learning and engage with students' thinking.
cetli.upenn.edu
November 20, 2025 at 10:41 PM
The thing that these instructors most appreciate about this format is having 1-on-1 conversations with all of their students
Can confirm re: check ins I had with my class yesterday & today. They may be humoring me, but these meetings were invigorating (for me at least). I know this doesn't scale...
Can confirm re: check ins I had with my class yesterday & today. They may be humoring me, but these meetings were invigorating (for me at least). I know this doesn't scale...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
My seminar tomorrow is talking about modernism and neoclassicism in the Trump administration, centered around the amazing “regional car dealership rococo” essay by @katewagner.wehwalt.net. mcmansionhell.com/post/7810945...
Bonus Post: The McMansionization of the White House, or: Regional Car Dealership Rococo, a treatise
Get more from McMansion Hell on Patreon
mcmansionhell.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:20 PM
My seminar tomorrow is talking about modernism and neoclassicism in the Trump administration, centered around the amazing “regional car dealership rococo” essay by @katewagner.wehwalt.net. mcmansionhell.com/post/7810945...
We're open for pitches of any length! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/se...
November 19, 2025 at 12:53 PM
We're open for pitches of any length! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/se...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Philadelphia—I make monthly donations to Nationalities Service Center, a century-old immigrant services agency here, and to Juntos, a community-led immigrant rights organization in South Philly. If you have & to spare, these orgs are essential infrastructure.
November 18, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Philadelphia—I make monthly donations to Nationalities Service Center, a century-old immigrant services agency here, and to Juntos, a community-led immigrant rights organization in South Philly. If you have & to spare, these orgs are essential infrastructure.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Jeffrey Epstein Was a Warlord. We Have to Talk About It.
www.thenation.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Brent Cebul
this story is the perfect one to share with anyone who extols the virtues of big tech and big data to improve our lives or address our problems. this is what these tools are for, built by bad people who want to hurt us. and I don't think we get to liberation using them. I think we get to hell.
During the height of the pandemic, Tyson used Palantir to predict Covid-19 infections among meatpacking workers down to a nearly exactly figure. But rather than using this data to increase worker protections, Tyson used it plan for labor shortages + plant closures
My latest for @sentientmedia.org
My latest for @sentientmedia.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
this story is the perfect one to share with anyone who extols the virtues of big tech and big data to improve our lives or address our problems. this is what these tools are for, built by bad people who want to hurt us. and I don't think we get to liberation using them. I think we get to hell.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I spoke to @lkatfield.bsky.social about her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to...
Talking to Laura K. Field about MAGA "Ideas"
Author Series No. 4
www.unpopularfront.news
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I spoke to @lkatfield.bsky.social about her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
photos of Trump sleeping through yesterday's Oval Office event via Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
photos of Trump sleeping through yesterday's Oval Office event via Andrew Harnik of Getty
Reposted by Brent Cebul
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 6, 2025 at 6:10 PM
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
Reposted by Brent Cebul
An excerpt of my @pennpress.bsky.social book -- on school bonds in Levittown -- was just published in FINANCIAL HISTORY MAGAZINE. 🤑
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
November 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
An excerpt of my @pennpress.bsky.social book -- on school bonds in Levittown -- was just published in FINANCIAL HISTORY MAGAZINE. 🤑
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
If you liked the 2008 bank bailout, you're going to LOVE the 2026 AI (and crypto) bailout garymarcus.substack.com/p/if-you-tho...
OpenAI probably can’t make ends meet. That’s where you come in.
If you thought the 2008 bank bailout was bad, wait til you see the 2026 AI bailout
garymarcus.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:04 AM
If you liked the 2008 bank bailout, you're going to LOVE the 2026 AI (and crypto) bailout garymarcus.substack.com/p/if-you-tho...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Faculty are the primary stewards and enactors of the mission of research and teaching; knowledge creation and dissemination. The administration exists only in its capacity to forward that mission.
November 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Faculty are the primary stewards and enactors of the mission of research and teaching; knowledge creation and dissemination. The administration exists only in its capacity to forward that mission.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Johnson’s refusal to seat Grijalva feels like a foreshadowing of this GOP plan to stay in power post-2026 regardless of the outcome of the election. This thread is about a well connected Oregon MAGA activist who just podcasted it out.
Two big GOP activists from Oregon were in DC last month for meetings with Trump admin officials. On their podcast they talk about a plan they discussed to nullify the results of Oregon's 2026 federal elections. Pass federal voter ID law, then refuse to seat OR delegation because OR didn't comply.
November 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Johnson’s refusal to seat Grijalva feels like a foreshadowing of this GOP plan to stay in power post-2026 regardless of the outcome of the election. This thread is about a well connected Oregon MAGA activist who just podcasted it out.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Very helpful public good here
Whatever strategy you’re about to suggest, we’ve thought about it. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments Because this document has escaped containment, a couple points of explanation. I wrote this for myself and a few colleagues as we work out how to handle...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Very helpful public good here
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Read this @gregsargent.bsky.social piece on a super important @rooseveltinstitute.org report coming out today, which draws key lessons from the Biden experience for how our side can do better the next time we have the reins of power.
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
Why Is Trump Autocracy Rising? These Dems Have an Unnerving Answer.
A new Biden administration autopsy, based on internal assessments from many government insiders, has crystal clear lessons for the future.
newrepublic.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Read this @gregsargent.bsky.social piece on a super important @rooseveltinstitute.org report coming out today, which draws key lessons from the Biden experience for how our side can do better the next time we have the reins of power.
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I think if you want a theory of how Democrats “decide to win”, you need to begin with the organizational substructure of the party. My @catalystjournal.bsky.social article from July lays it out: www.catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
Why the Democrats Are So Useless
The Democratic Party’s transformation into a network of policy clientele organizations has left it incapacitated as an opposition party. These groups, which lack strong mass-membership bases and sourc...
www.catalyst-journal.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:17 AM
I think if you want a theory of how Democrats “decide to win”, you need to begin with the organizational substructure of the party. My @catalystjournal.bsky.social article from July lays it out: www.catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Trump's "friend" who donated $130 to pay (a small portion of) what's owed to troops moved to Wyoming to escape taxes, complained that Black people were “even more belligerent” after social programs were expanded in the 1960s and ’70s, and described social safety net programs as “slavery redux.”
Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune
www.nytimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Trump's "friend" who donated $130 to pay (a small portion of) what's owed to troops moved to Wyoming to escape taxes, complained that Black people were “even more belligerent” after social programs were expanded in the 1960s and ’70s, and described social safety net programs as “slavery redux.”
One of the better takes on the Platner episode. Further proof of the excellence of @defector.com and the importance of independent platforms. Thanks @davidjroth.bsky.social
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
October 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
One of the better takes on the Platner episode. Further proof of the excellence of @defector.com and the importance of independent platforms. Thanks @davidjroth.bsky.social
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
“If you’re a moderate party and you are talking about what we call cultural issues – migration, integration – in a way that is dictated by the rhythm of the far right, that’s the whole idea of agenda setting.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds
Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
“If you’re a moderate party and you are talking about what we call cultural issues – migration, integration – in a way that is dictated by the rhythm of the far right, that’s the whole idea of agenda setting.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
This article is so very much my kind of shit
Check out my story with @maxmmarin.bsky.social about the bizarre struggle between the Polish American Museum and the Redevelopment Authority, with roots in the ethnic politics of urban crisis era Philadelphia: share.inquirer.com/Ex2xE6
A Polish museum got a free Society Hill home for nearly 40 years. Then the city evicted it.
For decades, City Hall never questioned whether the nonprofit actually owned the building at 308 Walnut St.
share.inquirer.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:41 PM
This article is so very much my kind of shit