C. Henry
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henryhenryhenry.com
C. Henry
@henryhenryhenry.com
14K followers 3.5K following 310 posts
political scientist @ University of Zürich

platforms, political violence, social media, computing

research & writing:
henryhenryhenry.com

sometimes land of enchantment, sometimes land of Helvetia
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by C. Henry
adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com
Two stats I just saw (and double checked)
DHS says they're mobilizing 2000 ICE agents (not sure if this has been independently confirmed given their propensity to lie and exaggerate, but they've certainly sent hundreds)

Minneapolis has SIX HUNDRED COPS TOTAL
WHAT THE FUCK
January 13, 2026 at 2:05 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
can Claude Cowork post for me
January 13, 2026 at 2:07 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
extremely common David Shor L, collapse of data journalism as we know it, etc.
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 39m
shot chaser etc

These early 2025 electoral realignment takes are so insane in hindsight
January 13, 2026 at 1:43 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
indescribable
ziibiing.com ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 1h
just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday
Eyewitness account: Good morning, My name is Brandon Siguenza, and l am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction. I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend. As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said "I'll be taking this, I might need it later." My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn't mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it. We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn't figure out how to use the building phones, or complai…
January 13, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Reposted by C. Henry
stevevladeck.bsky.social
It would take a two-word amendment to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to subject ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officers to the same liability for constitutional violations that local and state officers currently face.

If Congress actually cared about what it's seeing, it could pass that overnight.
January 12, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
theophite.bsky.social
the investigation of the shooting of Renee Good appears to be an attempt to bring felony murder charges against her widow and the other protesters present at the scene
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...
F.B.I. Inquiry Into ICE Shooting Is Examining Victim’s Possible Ties to Activist Groups
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by C. Henry
simonwillison.net
Wrote up my first impressions of Claude Cowork, Anthropic's new general purpose agent released today for $100+/month subscribers as part of their macOS desktop app simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/12/...
First impressions of Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s general agent
New from Anthropic today is Claude Cowork, a “research preview” that they describe as “Claude Code for the rest of your work”. It’s currently available only to Max subscribers ($100 …
simonwillison.net
January 12, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
noamlaw.bsky.social
Internal DHS training docs are correct: profanity-laden screaming at ICE agents is protected First Amendment speech
kenklippenstein.com 口 What is NOT a Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111? • Passive resistance alone is NOT conduct under 18 U.S.C. § 111 • Examples: •Noncompliance/refusal to cooperate with officer's commands •Disobeying commands without fighting back • Taking photographs or videotaping an officer or operation in public Legal refresher Protected Activity First Amendment protects freedom of religion, speech, press, right to assemble, and to petition the Government Protected Activities • Speech or expression • Non-verbal communications • Photos, recordings, media • Noncompliance • Peaceful protest, march, rally • Leaflets, signs, picketing NOT Protected • Incitement • Fighting words • Incites imminent violence or lawlessness • Threats of imminent violence against an officer Legal refresher What is NOT a Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111? • Profanity or personal insults directed at officers • Rude gestures directed at officers • Arguing with officers • Challenging officers' authority •Talking back to officers during police
January 13, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by C. Henry
simonwdc.bsky.social
This YouGov poll on ICE is really eye-opening. Public opinion has really swung against DHS/ICE and their terror regime.
d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/IC...
January 13, 2026 at 12:12 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
non-violent protests work by forcing security state defections through humiliation and other social costs, part ten thousand
January 13, 2026 at 12:40 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
nothing says 'most lethal military in the world' than hiding like a little bitch while killing helpless civilians
kylegriffin1.bsky.social Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 2h
Breaking NYT:

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first boat attack, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The laws of armed conflict forbid combatants from feigning civilian status.

That is a war crime called "perfidy."
U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
henryhenryhenry.com
what a rich text
birdrespecter.bsky.social Winthrop R. Frick @birdrespecter.bsky.social · 4h
Imagine ruining your family’s vacation because you get drunk and cry like a 3 year old over a racist podcaster you never even listened to lmfaooooooo
January 12, 2026 at 10:48 PM
henryhenryhenry.com
ICE is this old
January 12, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
mrdanzak.com
Here are 50 of the 300k civil servants purged by Trump. "A portrait of the void that will haunt American life."

The woman trying to get seeds to Sudan, the woman modernizing our tsunami warning system, the top investigator of Chinese counterintelligence... www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The Purged
Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.
www.theatlantic.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
aelkus.bsky.social
one payoff of being a bureaucracy understander is functionally achieving goal of ‘abolish ICE’ without the slogan and its political overhead. republicans know how to do this and have done it often
resnikoff.bsky.social Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 8h
The case against Graeberism and for Mamdanism dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
Instead of retreating into facile cynicism about the safety net and regulatory state, people on the left should be trying to occupy the bureaucracy at the state, local, and, after the MAGA putschists are finally expelled from power, federal level—not simply because we need good people in those jobs, but because enough good people in any given department can change its internal culture for the better. A lot depends, for example, on whether state and local transportation departments are staffed by car-brained traffic engineers or planners who are genuinely invested in walkability and developing viable mass transit networks. Just as much hinges on whether state health agencies are staffed by people with a genuine commitment to the cause of universal healthcare, even in the face of brutal federal Medicaid cuts. There’s another reason for occupying the bureaucracy, too. For a movement that wants to transform the state, there is tremendous value in understanding how policy implementation and institutional change happens on a granular level. If you spend some time working inside the bureaucracy and you keep your eyes open, you can learn a lot about the points of leverage that leftist politicians and outside advocacy groups can press to their advantage. On the flipside, you can also learn a great deal about the tradeoffs associated with certain approaches and how well-intentioned but undercooked policy initiatives can produce unintended consequences. These are all important lessons for anyone trying to push any level of government in a more humane direction. But they’re especially important lessons for leftist officials who have ambitious agendas, a finite amount of time in which to implement them, and little room for error.
January 12, 2026 at 6:21 PM
henryhenryhenry.com
you can't retrain this, but you can definitely take its pension and immiserate it with a thousand other policies
henryhenryhenry.com C. Henry @henryhenryhenry.com · 2d
man, I’m really struck by murderer Jon Ross’s CV. not a single job or skill outside of killing and repression. an entire life that amounts to a moral obscenity. and the US has manufactured so many guys like him.
January 12, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
gelliottmorris.com
New Gallup figures in these charts. Well, so much for that emerging Republican majority people were writing about in November 2024. Was evidently a mass overreaction to Trump's win and failure to acknowledge softness of support, and thermostatic politics www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trumps-win...
January 12, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
dancassino.bsky.social
Wasn’t expecting these for another couple of weeks! In stores next month!
January 12, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
whstancil.bsky.social
Hearing many stories now of ICE going to the homes of observers and activists to menace them.
January 12, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
transform6789.bsky.social
My annual wrap-up of the US Far Right is out! I look at the soaring fortunes of the Active Club, Groypers & Blood Tribe; arrests of neo-Nazis and NVE actors for encouraging & committing murder; and the Trump admin's conspiracy theories & fashy graphics.

Please share!
newrepublic.com/article/2049...
The Far Right Is Quietly Building Power Under Trump
Extremist groups are some of the biggest winners of the second Trump administration.
newrepublic.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
hikikomorphism.bsky.social
If you can substitute "hungry ghost trapped in a jar" for "AI" in a sentence it's probably a valid use case for LLMs. Take "I have a bunch of hungry ghosts in jars, they mainly write SQL queries for me". Sure. Reasonable use case.

"My girlfriend is a hungry ghost I trapped in a jar"? No. Deranged.
August 13, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by C. Henry
wrigleyfield.bsky.social
This is what I heard checking in on friends yesterday. People are in hiding, or aren’t but are agonizing over whether they should be, or are trying to reassure terrified parents who want them to be

The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
liberalcurrents.com Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 12h
"The logical outcome of ICE’s siege is the fear that now grips Minneapolis immigrants, even those with U.S. citizenship, about sending their kids to school, going to work, buying groceries, or seeing a doctor when they’re sick." www.liberalcurrents.com/return-of-th...
Return of the Silver Shirts
In ICE's invasion of Minneapolis, an echo of a dark past.
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
anamariecox.bsky.social
Can verify based on friends I've talked to. A friend who is a *Canadian* immigrant carries his passport and is asking neighbors in his building to not let in anyone they don't recognize.

Other people report residential neighborhoods that are empty of parked cars; everyone who can get out, has.
wrigleyfield.bsky.social Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 11h
This is what I heard checking in on friends yesterday. People are in hiding, or aren’t but are agonizing over whether they should be, or are trying to reassure terrified parents who want them to be

The scale of this doesn’t seem to be known to even newshound NYC friends w/o Minneapolis connections
liberalcurrents.com Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 12h
"The logical outcome of ICE’s siege is the fear that now grips Minneapolis immigrants, even those with U.S. citizenship, about sending their kids to school, going to work, buying groceries, or seeing a doctor when they’re sick." www.liberalcurrents.com/return-of-th...
January 12, 2026 at 4:35 PM
henryhenryhenry.com
can you imagine how different universities would be if provost-level admins ever had a conversation with a student, even by accident?
lollardfish.bsky.social David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 10h
For my higher ed niche: WHY DO UNIVERSITIES STILL VARY FUNDING FOR DEPARTMENTS BASED ON "FIRST" or "SECOND" MAJOR?

Do you know why most students declare one major first or one major second? It ain't usually because of intellectual priorities, but whether an advisor is free on a given day.
January 12, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by C. Henry
henryhenryhenry.com
the diseased info ecosystem has destroyed large-scale collective sensemaking, and smaller communities have either sprung up or more deeply integrated their networks. political & social elites aren’t in them and don’t have access to them any more, but continue to assume what they see is real.
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 1d
I see this take around from time to time and totally disagree. ICE just murdered a woman standing up to them. No Kings is among the largest protests in history.

The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof X.com I'm struck by the contrast between the passion for democracy shown by Iranians willing to die for it and the complacency with which many Americans have accepted an authoritarian slide. Americans should cheer for Iran's democrats--and also learn from their determination.
January 12, 2026 at 6:58 AM