David Kaib
@davidkaib.bsky.social
Political education, socialism, abolition, unions, cats
Pinned
David Kaib
@davidkaib.bsky.social
· Jul 12
For what it's worth, if you are a socialist or interested in socialism, it is *my job* to educate you, so ask away.
Reposted by David Kaib
In 1854, after watching the federal government deploy 2000 federal troops and spend $40,000 sending Anthony Burns back into slavery, Boston's Amos Adams Lawrence said “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 5:07 PM
In 1854, after watching the federal government deploy 2000 federal troops and spend $40,000 sending Anthony Burns back into slavery, Boston's Amos Adams Lawrence said “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
Reposted by David Kaib
The better course was never to capitulate, but it's important to remember, you can still back out. The agreements are unenforceable and no one works at the DOJ anymore.
NEW: The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a federal court order blocking its $1.2-billion settlement demand to UCLA over alleged campus civil rights violations: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Trump administration drops its appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. But it ...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:27 PM
The better course was never to capitulate, but it's important to remember, you can still back out. The agreements are unenforceable and no one works at the DOJ anymore.
Reposted by David Kaib
You can help build billionaire-free local news.
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Let's fight misinformation, help good journalists to make a decent living, and stick a big ol' finger in Jeff Bezos' eye.
Repost this -> I give $1
Follow @51st.news -> I give $1
Follow me -> I give $1
Donate -> I match your gift
Let's fight misinformation, help good journalists to make a decent living, and stick a big ol' finger in Jeff Bezos' eye.
February 13, 2026 at 6:50 PM
You can help build billionaire-free local news.
Repost this -> I give $1
Follow @51st.news -> I give $1
Follow me -> I give $1
Donate -> I match your gift
Let's fight misinformation, help good journalists to make a decent living, and stick a big ol' finger in Jeff Bezos' eye.
Repost this -> I give $1
Follow @51st.news -> I give $1
Follow me -> I give $1
Donate -> I match your gift
Let's fight misinformation, help good journalists to make a decent living, and stick a big ol' finger in Jeff Bezos' eye.
Exceedingly tired of politicians, university management and union presidents insisting our most urgent problems are too much worker power, a lack of plagiarism and wrong information as opposed to troops in our communities and concentration camps.
February 14, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Exceedingly tired of politicians, university management and union presidents insisting our most urgent problems are too much worker power, a lack of plagiarism and wrong information as opposed to troops in our communities and concentration camps.
Reposted by David Kaib
Me at 20: I’ll have it all figured out by the time I’m 40.
Me at 40: wtf do you mean they rearranged the grocery store
Me at 40: wtf do you mean they rearranged the grocery store
February 13, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Me at 20: I’ll have it all figured out by the time I’m 40.
Me at 40: wtf do you mean they rearranged the grocery store
Me at 40: wtf do you mean they rearranged the grocery store
Clown shit
BIG NEWS: We’re partnering with Open AI to launch a phased rollout of a ChatGPT-powered AI assistant for state workers – the first state in the nation to do it.
AI is here. Let’s use it as a tool to make government work faster and better for the people of Massachusetts.
AI is here. Let’s use it as a tool to make government work faster and better for the people of Massachusetts.
February 14, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Clown shit
Reposted by David Kaib
Never forget that the administration didn't want to fight this and was making moves to give in
February 14, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Never forget that the administration didn't want to fight this and was making moves to give in
Reposted by David Kaib
Ok I see you UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations, pushing your university to be better and creating the space for this to happen!
NEW: The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a federal court order blocking its $1.2-billion settlement demand to UCLA over alleged campus civil rights violations: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Trump administration drops its appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. But it ...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Ok I see you UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations, pushing your university to be better and creating the space for this to happen!
Reposted by David Kaib
I also wonder if Trustees prefer administrators with up-and-out aspirations over ones who want to stay long term, since up-and-out aspirations might make administrators easier for Trustees to manipulate during the time they're there.
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Yep. The market problem writ large is exceptionally true in highered. But it won’t matter — and doesn’t matter — to those in charge right now because the point is to strip the institution.
February 14, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I also wonder if Trustees prefer administrators with up-and-out aspirations over ones who want to stay long term, since up-and-out aspirations might make administrators easier for Trustees to manipulate during the time they're there.
Reposted by David Kaib
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 2:37 AM
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
Reposted by David Kaib
In order to abolish ICE and defeat fascism, people in this country need to rethink their relationship to the criminal system and why it determines one's fate.
February 12, 2026 at 8:18 PM
In order to abolish ICE and defeat fascism, people in this country need to rethink their relationship to the criminal system and why it determines one's fate.
Reposted by David Kaib
I don't think it is only our job to teach students how to read long novels; it may also be our jobs to teach them how to live without an online surveillance state. To learn without intrusive apps. To swap notes. To write in a book's margins. To exist in their communities in slow, clunky, human ways.
February 14, 2026 at 3:41 PM
I don't think it is only our job to teach students how to read long novels; it may also be our jobs to teach them how to live without an online surveillance state. To learn without intrusive apps. To swap notes. To write in a book's margins. To exist in their communities in slow, clunky, human ways.
Reposted by David Kaib
“Who’s kitchen table?” remains a hell of a question.
February 14, 2026 at 1:58 PM
“Who’s kitchen table?” remains a hell of a question.
Reposted by David Kaib
It’s very wild we still have people dismissing Black people being pushed out of the workplace as a distraction from “working class”/“kitchen table” issues…
February 14, 2026 at 1:58 PM
It’s very wild we still have people dismissing Black people being pushed out of the workplace as a distraction from “working class”/“kitchen table” issues…
I have spent the last year or so working my way through the Revolutions podcast and it has been immensely clarifying for our present moment.
February 14, 2026 at 3:39 PM
I have spent the last year or so working my way through the Revolutions podcast and it has been immensely clarifying for our present moment.
Reposted by David Kaib
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Yep. The market problem writ large is exceptionally true in highered. But it won’t matter — and doesn’t matter — to those in charge right now because the point is to strip the institution.
Faculty have a role to play, but I'm convinced the most recent drive to automate education will fail, just as it has in every decade since the 1950s, because tuition-paying students hate it.
That said, each new iteration of this drive chips away at budgets, at public trust, at institutions, etc.
That said, each new iteration of this drive chips away at budgets, at public trust, at institutions, etc.
February 13, 2026 at 5:34 PM
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Reposted by David Kaib
Oh yeah. The careerism is certainly a part of this. I go back and forth on if it is an independent variable or an intermediary one. Probably depends on the context.
But I can guarantee you that almost 100% of your “outside” leaders are using this job to run for office.
But I can guarantee you that almost 100% of your “outside” leaders are using this job to run for office.
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Yep. The market problem writ large is exceptionally true in highered. But it won’t matter — and doesn’t matter — to those in charge right now because the point is to strip the institution.
February 13, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Oh yeah. The careerism is certainly a part of this. I go back and forth on if it is an independent variable or an intermediary one. Probably depends on the context.
But I can guarantee you that almost 100% of your “outside” leaders are using this job to run for office.
But I can guarantee you that almost 100% of your “outside” leaders are using this job to run for office.
Reposted by David Kaib
I fear that men are about to do what men do. They are about to characterize any sober thinking about power as non-technical and therefore unserious.
We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.
We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.
February 11, 2026 at 5:55 PM
I fear that men are about to do what men do. They are about to characterize any sober thinking about power as non-technical and therefore unserious.
We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.
We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.
Reposted by David Kaib
When people declare that discussing history is an attempt to “permanently stain” etc they’re telling you they’re unwilling to do anything to address the actual history.
It’s like resenting your partner for raising past infidelity, because you refuse to stop flirting with other people.
It’s like resenting your partner for raising past infidelity, because you refuse to stop flirting with other people.
Tell me (aside from the "some progressives" blame) how this conclusion differs in any way from NHJ's framing essay in the 1619 Project.
These arguments are all so annoying. What exactly is the proper amount of guilt? Two pumps of sorrow is acceptable but don't you dare pump a third time?
These arguments are all so annoying. What exactly is the proper amount of guilt? Two pumps of sorrow is acceptable but don't you dare pump a third time?
February 14, 2026 at 2:52 PM
When people declare that discussing history is an attempt to “permanently stain” etc they’re telling you they’re unwilling to do anything to address the actual history.
It’s like resenting your partner for raising past infidelity, because you refuse to stop flirting with other people.
It’s like resenting your partner for raising past infidelity, because you refuse to stop flirting with other people.
Reposted by David Kaib
The Atlantic hires Tommy Chats precisely to produce this type of bullshit and I very much suspect he is in on the con.
February 14, 2026 at 1:57 PM
The Atlantic hires Tommy Chats precisely to produce this type of bullshit and I very much suspect he is in on the con.
Fascinating how people whose job is to convince other people to do something increasingly attack them for not doing it.
February 14, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Fascinating how people whose job is to convince other people to do something increasingly attack them for not doing it.
Reposted by David Kaib
I think people who already don't want to care about trans people, poor people, or the chronically ill are happy to find someone on "our side" who makes it clear that he'll make it so they don't have to pretend to. His list of acceptable targets is bolded and underlined.
February 14, 2026 at 1:46 PM
I think people who already don't want to care about trans people, poor people, or the chronically ill are happy to find someone on "our side" who makes it clear that he'll make it so they don't have to pretend to. His list of acceptable targets is bolded and underlined.
Reposted by David Kaib
The tv commercial for AI that I saw during the Olympics makes it very clear that the product is theft, just selling you pirated recipes and words. A yard sale of stolen things marked up and stitched together.
February 14, 2026 at 1:19 PM
The tv commercial for AI that I saw during the Olympics makes it very clear that the product is theft, just selling you pirated recipes and words. A yard sale of stolen things marked up and stitched together.
Reposted by David Kaib
"you unwashed rubes keep talking to one another and drawing connections from whats obviously in front of you when you should instead join me in turning to the unbiased analysis and synthetic insights of apps that tell you gravel is a great substitute for Hamburger Helper"
February 14, 2026 at 12:58 PM
"you unwashed rubes keep talking to one another and drawing connections from whats obviously in front of you when you should instead join me in turning to the unbiased analysis and synthetic insights of apps that tell you gravel is a great substitute for Hamburger Helper"