Elisabeth R. Anker
@libankerdc.bsky.social
7.8K followers 710 following 660 posts
Professor: Political Theory & US Culture. Author: UGLY FREEDOMS & Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Promise of Freedom (both Duke). Coeditor: Theory&Event Next Book: “Every Man a Sovereign” Libby to my peeps Web: https://tinyurl.com/Elisabeth-Anker
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libankerdc.bsky.social
Just dropping this piece I wrote here. This entire administration is the ugliest of ugly freedoms: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/o...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
propublica.org
Blue Cross had refused to pay thousands of claims for the center’s patients, but on several occasions executives at the insurance company had signed special one-time deals with the center to pay for their wives’ cancer treatment.

(Published April)
“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay”: Trial Reveals How Insurers Try to Wield Power Over Doctors
Blue Cross authorized mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay the full doctors’ bills. A jury called it fraud and awarded the practice $421 million.
www.propublica.org
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
altcdc.altgov.info
RIFed:

LLS - Laboratory Leadership Service

Y’know, another crucial hands-on and practical training program where fellows hone their laboratory expertise and skills.

Yet another blow for when the next novel disease outbreak comes…..

So fucking short sighted.
About The Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS)
LLS is a laboratory fellowship for health professionals to gain laboratory expertise and skills.
www.cdc.gov
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
dimitridrekonja.bsky.social
The people getting laid off are some of the highest-trained and most specialized people in healthcare. They don’t just get replaced by hiring some new people when a sane administration takes over. This is a huge loss for America.
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
nslayton.bsky.social
Cannot stress enough how terrifying this is.
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
libankerdc.bsky.social
They be trying to conjure a bipartisan bill on minor housing subsidies for people in the 47th-61st tax brackets
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
crushbort.bsky.social
is it not weird that every day there’s a new video of anonymous masked men having the time of their lives beating/shooting/disappearing people and the dem response from the top down is “republicans want to double your health insurance premiums”
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
newsjennifer.bsky.social
ICE IS OUT OF CONTROL

TACKLING A JOURNALIST TO THE GROUND LIKE THIS IS OBSCENE.
 Illinois judge blocks federal authorities from using force against Chicago journalists

Chicago journalists and protesters sued senior administration officials this week, arguing that the government had prevented them from using their First Amendment rights. ICE handcuffing and restraining journalist

BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook)
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
socio-steve.bsky.social
THANK YOU. THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EVERY BILLIONAIRE IS A POLICY FAILURE. IT'S THE INSTABILITY LARGE CONCENTRATIONS OF POWER CREATE. NOT THE LOST REVENUE.
liberalcurrents.com
“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”
Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money
Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.
www.liberalcurrents.com
libankerdc.bsky.social
Hell YES MIT 🙌 this is how you do it
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
jfallows.bsky.social
Adventures in framing:

Headline presenting this as a real-world question. Rather than as another sign of deepening vortex of narcissistic delusion and detachment from reality.
Headline: Trump Has His Eyes on Nobel Prize. Will He Get It?
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
jamellebouie.net
practically a requirement for this administration to be a sex pest
donmoyn.bsky.social
"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
gregsargent.bsky.social
Yup. Now.
simonwdc.bsky.social
We are witnessing the most lawless behavior by a leader in American history, just daily, extraordinary abuses of power. National Democrats must speak out in a loud and clear voice against Trump's escalating authoritarianism. It is time now.
annabower.bsky.social
The Guardian reports that Letitia James has been indicted

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
kylegriffin1.bsky.social
New statement from AG James:

"This is nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system.

"I am not fearful — I am fearless."
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
mjsdc.bsky.social
It is pretty galling that the Supreme Court spent four years telling Biden "you can't do that without Congress" then allowed Trump to seize a once-unthinkable amount of power from Congress within nine months and concentrate law-making authority almost entirely in the executive branch.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
🎙️ Last week, a group of Columbia professors — most of them Jewish — took a stand. Risking reprisal, they publicly rejected the university’s recent incorporation of a controversial definition of antisemitism. Their statements, excerpted here, can be read in full at cu-standsup.org/events/free-....
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
bwgerstein.bsky.social
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...
libankerdc.bsky.social
Such a pleasure to be part of this conversation!
libankerdc.bsky.social
This is the kind of answer I come to blue sky for! But also maybe it needs two dupers
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
jmcoghlan.bsky.social
Grateful for the inspired and inspiring talks that @libankerdc.bsky.social @posypoet.bsky.social @mbpearl.bsky.social gave at today’s “Resistance in the Age of Trump 2.0” roundtable today & for the great student turnout!
libankerdc.bsky.social
thanks Michelle, and you know exactly why I am writing this 🤣!
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
wired.com
At the airport, after scanning their passports, getting boarding passes, checking bags, and clearing security, Bray says he and his family were denied boarding. When they arrived at the gate, their reservations had vanished from the United Airlines system.

Read more: www.wired.com/story/mark-b...
He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US
Rutgers historian Mark Bray is trying to flee to Spain after after an online campaign from far-right influencers was followed by death threats. He was turned back at the airport on his first attempt.
www.wired.com
libankerdc.bsky.social
boring work question for academics: when you give a talk that is virtual, how do you list that on your CV?
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
veenadubal.bsky.social
(2) (continued) So, to be clear, to review the names of students & professors who 3rd party vigilante organizations Canary Mission & Betar had identified as critics of Israel, the DHS took intelligence analysts away from analyzing threats of terrorism and cyber crime.