Jon Shaffer
@jonshaffer.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Sociology @UVM | STS | Med Soc | Social Movements | Previously Post-doc @BermanInstitute, Partners In Health
Personal Website: https://www.jonathanshaffer.net
Personal Website: https://www.jonathanshaffer.net
Pinned
Jon Shaffer
@jonshaffer.bsky.social
· Sep 23
From Evidence to Power: Organizing for Public Health with Jon Shaffer, PhD
Sociologist–organizer Jon Shaffer, PhD, joins Infectious Dose to explain why organizing—not just evidence—wins public-health protections, how DPH is building state teams, and what you can do next.
www.infectiousdose.com
Public health people have to get themselves organized to fight back, otherwise we're toast.
If we don't, the eugenic madness coming from Trump, RFK Jr., Oz, etc is going to kill lots of people.
Here I share some thoughts about how we can start to organize: www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
If we don't, the eugenic madness coming from Trump, RFK Jr., Oz, etc is going to kill lots of people.
Here I share some thoughts about how we can start to organize: www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
Scary stuff.
GOV. WALZ CALLS UP MINNESOTA NATIONAL GUARD TO "PROTECT THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE PEACEFULLY"
“We are staged and ready to respond. We are not deployed to city streets at this time" said MN NG Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya,...
“We are staged and ready to respond. We are not deployed to city streets at this time" said MN NG Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya,...
January 17, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Scary stuff.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
How much more in your face can it be?
"Why are you asking me for my paperwork?"
"Because of your accent."
"You have an accent too."
"Where were you born sir?"
"Where were you born at?"
"Put your hands behind your back."
"Why are you asking me for my paperwork?"
"Because of your accent."
"You have an accent too."
"Where were you born sir?"
"Where were you born at?"
"Put your hands behind your back."
January 17, 2026 at 9:16 PM
How much more in your face can it be?
"Why are you asking me for my paperwork?"
"Because of your accent."
"You have an accent too."
"Where were you born sir?"
"Where were you born at?"
"Put your hands behind your back."
"Why are you asking me for my paperwork?"
"Because of your accent."
"You have an accent too."
"Where were you born sir?"
"Where were you born at?"
"Put your hands behind your back."
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Another possible avenue of indirect regulation: AI data centers are energy intensive (equivalent consumption of 1 million homes or more) and typically require contracts with electric utilities that are approved by state public service commissions.
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Another possible avenue of indirect regulation: AI data centers are energy intensive (equivalent consumption of 1 million homes or more) and typically require contracts with electric utilities that are approved by state public service commissions.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
This is so good.
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 9:58 PM
This is so good.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 7:23 PM
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
goddamn
Just in: The Trump administration sent hundreds of letters Tuesday terminating federal grants supporting mental health and drug addiction services.
Trump administration sends letter wiping out addiction, mental health grants
The Trump administration sent hundreds of letters Tuesday terminating federal grants supporting mental health and drug addiction services.
n.pr
January 14, 2026 at 3:27 PM
goddamn
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Me on LLMs, Grok especially, as epistemic weapons:
January 14, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Me on LLMs, Grok especially, as epistemic weapons:
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Last article I commissioned for the neoliberalism–fascism special issue is out!
The article shows how neoliberal capitalism's racial hierarchies, border regimes & patriarchal structures create the conditions for fascism to thrive. Fighting it means systemic change, not just defending liberal ideals.
The article shows how neoliberal capitalism's racial hierarchies, border regimes & patriarchal structures create the conditions for fascism to thrive. Fighting it means systemic change, not just defending liberal ideals.
January 14, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Last article I commissioned for the neoliberalism–fascism special issue is out!
The article shows how neoliberal capitalism's racial hierarchies, border regimes & patriarchal structures create the conditions for fascism to thrive. Fighting it means systemic change, not just defending liberal ideals.
The article shows how neoliberal capitalism's racial hierarchies, border regimes & patriarchal structures create the conditions for fascism to thrive. Fighting it means systemic change, not just defending liberal ideals.
"Brusque and strong-willed to the point of rudeness, Chadwick was in many ways a Victorian rendition of Robert Moses (that is, if Moses had lost his grip on New York City’s power structure halfway through his career and spent the last thirty years of his life editorializing from the sidelines)."
January 14, 2026 at 10:59 AM
"Brusque and strong-willed to the point of rudeness, Chadwick was in many ways a Victorian rendition of Robert Moses (that is, if Moses had lost his grip on New York City’s power structure halfway through his career and spent the last thirty years of his life editorializing from the sidelines)."
Paul Giamatti as Edwin Chadwick biopic when?
January 14, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Paul Giamatti as Edwin Chadwick biopic when?
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
This woman is harder than goddamn steel dealing with these goddamn thugs. I want her to be my neighbor.
January 12, 2026 at 6:47 PM
This woman is harder than goddamn steel dealing with these goddamn thugs. I want her to be my neighbor.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
happy first day of school to semester colleagues please enjoy this jameson syllabus from January 1996
January 12, 2026 at 5:23 PM
happy first day of school to semester colleagues please enjoy this jameson syllabus from January 1996
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
happy first day of the semester to all who celebrate
January 12, 2026 at 9:26 AM
happy first day of the semester to all who celebrate
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
i do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
January 12, 2026 at 12:03 PM
i do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
PLEASE SHARE
📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity”
Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)).
Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles.
Links in🧵
#commsky
📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity”
Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)).
Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles.
Links in🧵
#commsky
January 8, 2026 at 9:14 AM
PLEASE SHARE
📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity”
Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)).
Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles.
Links in🧵
#commsky
📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity”
Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)).
Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles.
Links in🧵
#commsky
happy first day of the semester to all who celebrate
January 12, 2026 at 9:26 AM
happy first day of the semester to all who celebrate
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
This is what I meant when I wrote that "we can overthrow them with a union of care."
"At schools, volunteers are forming human chains as students and employees enter and leave, with whistles to blow if ICE shows up.
Volunteers—many of them moms already involved at their schools—divvy up tasks, such as delivering groceries to immigrant families..."
www.wsj.com/us-news/insi...
Volunteers—many of them moms already involved at their schools—divvy up tasks, such as delivering groceries to immigrant families..."
www.wsj.com/us-news/insi...
Inside Minneapolis’s Sprawling Network of ICE Watchers
Renee Nicole Good lived in a community where residents by the thousands are using text alerts, whistles and Google documents to shadow federal agents
www.wsj.com
January 11, 2026 at 9:23 PM
This is what I meant when I wrote that "we can overthrow them with a union of care."
Teaching Monday morning will be… interesting.
January 11, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Teaching Monday morning will be… interesting.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
A fire heavily damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue — the same one the Ku Klux Klan bombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights
A suspect has been arrested, authorities say
A suspect has been arrested, authorities say
Predawn fire reduces parts of Mississippi's largest synagogue to charred ruins - Mississippi Today
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights...
mississippitoday.org
January 11, 2026 at 3:17 PM
A fire heavily damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue — the same one the Ku Klux Klan bombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights
A suspect has been arrested, authorities say
A suspect has been arrested, authorities say
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
@mirandayaver.bsky.social getting featured on the *lead* story on CBS Sunday Morning.
the story is great, Prof. Yaver is great, and on a platform that an average of 5.19 million normies watch.
academics who do public engagement *have* to hunt where the ducks are.
the story is great, Prof. Yaver is great, and on a platform that an average of 5.19 million normies watch.
academics who do public engagement *have* to hunt where the ducks are.
State of denial: How insurance companies impact health care today
YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning
www.youtube.com
January 11, 2026 at 4:23 PM
@mirandayaver.bsky.social getting featured on the *lead* story on CBS Sunday Morning.
the story is great, Prof. Yaver is great, and on a platform that an average of 5.19 million normies watch.
academics who do public engagement *have* to hunt where the ducks are.
the story is great, Prof. Yaver is great, and on a platform that an average of 5.19 million normies watch.
academics who do public engagement *have* to hunt where the ducks are.
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
This is such a brilliant response to our OpEd about how powerful doctors—like Bhattacharya, Makary, & Prasad—are aiding & abetting Trump and RFK Jr’s damaging policies
Good response to our @bmj.com op ed from Y Tony Yang at GW: www.bmj.com/content/392/...
"...the call for mobilisation is important, but it should be paired with institutional design... Public health cannot rely on heroism; it needs hardened systems that make integrity the path of least resistance."
"...the call for mobilisation is important, but it should be paired with institutional design... Public health cannot rely on heroism; it needs hardened systems that make integrity the path of least resistance."
January 11, 2026 at 2:38 AM
This is such a brilliant response to our OpEd about how powerful doctors—like Bhattacharya, Makary, & Prasad—are aiding & abetting Trump and RFK Jr’s damaging policies
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Kelly Morrison on a Twin Cities ICE facility she & other members of Congress tried to visit: "We were told to leave. We met with 2 of the commanding officers & they told us the reason we were not able to stay & meet with detainees is because the funding for ICE came from the 'Big Beautiful Bill.'"
January 10, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Kelly Morrison on a Twin Cities ICE facility she & other members of Congress tried to visit: "We were told to leave. We met with 2 of the commanding officers & they told us the reason we were not able to stay & meet with detainees is because the funding for ICE came from the 'Big Beautiful Bill.'"
Reposted by Jon Shaffer
Minneapolis public schools canceled classes officials after Roosevelt High School said armed Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt
Minneapolis schools closed for the week citing safety concerns after an encounter involving armed Border Patrol agents near Roosevelt High School.
www.mprnews.org
January 8, 2026 at 1:13 PM
Minneapolis public schools canceled classes officials after Roosevelt High School said armed Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...