Thomas Masterson
banner
thomasmasterson.bsky.social
Thomas Masterson
@thomasmasterson.bsky.social

Senior Scholar and Director of Graduate Programs at Levy Economics Institute of Bard College

Economics 23%
Political science 16%

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

“I’ll take my horchata warm cuz fuck ice” But it’s the cubes that make this art.
Outside Gracie Mansion. This is his job. But dare I day it he seems genuinely affected and happy to be there. There’s potentially immense power in that.

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

SNAP now has work requirements for people 55 to 64. But because of the axing of a USDA food insecurity survey, we may not have comprehensive data of the effects of this barbaric change. My latest for @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/food/2026/01...
Trump's USDA is hiding the data on food stamp cuts
The agency's Food Insecurity Survey was pointless "liberal fodder," a spokesperson said.
www.motherjones.com
"Officers threw flash bangs and tear gas in my car. I got six kids in the car"
"His wife, Destiny Jackson, told FOX 9 their 6-month-old infant stopped breathing and lost consciousness. She then performed CPR on her baby."
‘Washington Post’ Publishes Editorial Defending FBI Raid On Its Reporter https://theonion.com/washington-post-publishes-editorial-defending-fbi-raid-on-its-reporter/

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

Today is the deadline for priority scholarship consideration for the Levy Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy!

Final deadline: April 15

Contact us at [email protected] or visit our website for more information.
*ORSTED WINS RULING TO RESUME US WIND PROJECT HALTED BY TRUMP

Birth: Rhine
HS: Charles
College: Merrimack
Work: Charles
Grad School: Connecticut
Now: Hudson

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

Andor has a lot to say about the world we live in now.

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

I've often told my students that when doing cost-benefit analyses, if you only count the benefits everything seems like a great idea. The opposite is also true.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

Wanda Sykes presented an award at the Golden Globes to Ricky Gervais, who didn’t show up. ‘He would like to thank God,’ she said, ‘and the trans community,”
Wanda Sykes Uses Ricky Gervais’s Absence to Thank the Trans Community
Wanda Sykes presented an award at the Golden Globes to Ricky Gervais, who didn’t show up. ‘He would like to thank God,’ she said, ‘and the trans community,”
www.vulture.com
The leading cause of death by far among ICE officers is COVID-19.
How dangerous is it really to work for ICE?
According to ICE’s own data, none of its officers have been killed by an immigrant in the agency’s history.
www.motherjones.com
Posts may be a bit more sporadic from me today as my kids are home from school because my city is being brutalized by the federal government to the extent that it's unsafe for schools to be open

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

I just left the Venezuela briefing.

It's worse than you thought.

Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.

We need public Senate hearings NOW.
On December 10, the Fed lowered rates—again.

Our final policy note of 2025 argues that the Fed isn’t fighting inflation; it’s managing class power. Read the latest from scholars Nersisyan and Wray, who show what the data actually say.

www.levyinstitute.org/publications...
The Fed Lowered Rates Again. Is It Really a Surprise? – Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
The whole world was watching on December 10, 2025 to finally find out what the Fed was going to do. Big money bets were placed—would the Fed leave rates unchanged...more
www.levyinstitute.org
Parker's piece nails why this matters. "Tech companies... would rather not answer for their products’ failures. Every headline that says “Grok apologizes” or “Grok admits” or “Grok says” creates a world where the chatbot takes the fall while Musk and his executives face no scrutiny whatsoever."
I wrote about Grok's CSAM problem and how journalists keep fumbling the story

www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
Grok Can't Apologize. Grok Isn't Sentient. So Why Do Headlines Keep Saying It Did?
Elon Musk’s chatbot has been “undressing” women and children in public. Journalists are letting xAI off the hook by pretending the bot is responsible.
www.readtpa.com
so basically our rich oligarchs launched a racist propaganda media campaign to demonize taxpayer-funded childcare, our garbage oligarch press parroted the attack, and now they're going to steal that money to put into their assorted cryptocurrency grifts
‘Scorched-Earth Attack’: Trump Admin Cuts Off Childcare Funds to All States | Common Dreams
"My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ell...
www.commondreams.org
This would be so popular at the national level if centrist Democrats let us use those words in that order
Mamdani: "The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family, because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few"
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
What the KENNEDY Center used to be…

Remember that time Aretha Franklin performed at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, paying tribute to Carole King, who co-wrote “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman,” and it brought a tear to Obama’s eye and everyone to their feet? And Carole King’s reaction. Wow.
truly a joy to discuss We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope with @annaleen.bsky.social @older.bsky.social @drkarenlord.bsky.social for my first-ever interview on @kfai.org's Write On! Radio kfai.org/we-will-rise...
We Will Rise Again w/ Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older - Write On! Radio | News | KFAI | Minneapolis & Saint Paul
We Will Rise Again is an anthology of stories, essays, and interviews that offer inspiration for the social justice movements of tomorrow.
kfai.org

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

7 beers a day is serious stuff. 3-4 cups of coffee is life sustaining in middle age.
Our 2nd most-read piece of 2025 is by the forever funny @mikedrucker.bsky.social, and we have no idea what he was getting at here, but it seemed to have struck a nerve with many, many readers.
Voting for the Mayor Who Promised to Blow Up the City Doesn’t Mean I Approve of the Mayor Blowing Up the City
It’s so easy to label people these days. From the way folks have been talking, you’d think everyone falls into two buckets: those who voted against...
buff.ly

Reposted by Thomas Masterson

You similarly won’t find the NYT pressing Greene on her harassment of Marie Newman and her trans daughter, or Greene’s promotion of transphobic conspiracy theories.

To admit that her worldview is based in hatred and conspiracism would deprive the NYT of presenting that hate as a “controversy”
Next time someone says they don’t have to apologize for being white anymore, ask them to tell about the most recent time they were forced to apologize for being white and who made them do it.
Jo Ann Allen Boyce Dies at 84; She was one of the Clinton 12, a group of Black students who faced white mobs when desegregating a Tennessee high school in 1956 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/u...
Jo Ann Allen Boyce Dies at 84; Braved Mobs in Integrating a School
www.nytimes.com