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Amy M. Traub

@amymtraub.bsky.social

1K followers 480 following 150 posts

Research for a more just and equitable economy. Currently focused on unemployment insurance policy.

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Amy M. Traub @amymtraub.bsky.social · Apr 24

Amid warnings of a looming recession, my new research with @awhf.bsky.social and Sanjay Pinto (and via @nelp.org) exposes major deficiencies in the unemployment insurance system that millions of workers will rely on if they lose their jobs. 🧵 www.nelp.org/insights-res...

The Unemployed Worker Study - National Employment Law Project

As analysts warn of the risk of recession, strengthening unemployment insurance should be an urgent priority for policymakers.

www.nelp.org

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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 7h

This sucks! These workers fought their asses off. Shout out to @reiunion.bsky.social

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 11h

REI to close its soho location, the first shop that unionized. www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-new...

REI to close three stores, including NYC SoHo location

SEATTLE (BRAIN) — A week after announcing a strategic plan to employees that would involve difficult decisions to grow sales, REI Co-op said it will close three stores next year, including the New Yor...

www.bicycleretailer.com

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National Employment Law Project @nelp.org · 11h

The president’s words don’t change the facts: Furloughed #FederalWorkers are entitled to back pay under the law.

Since getting paid back can take time, we also urge furloughed #workers to apply for #unemployment benefits (known as UCFE) ASAP.

See our blog for more: www.nelp.org/unemployment...

Unemployment Insurance and the Government Shutdown: What Federal Workers and Contractors Need to Know - National Employment Law Project

What federal workers and contractors need to know to help support themselves during the government shutdown.

www.nelp.org

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 14h

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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People Who Work @deptofworkers.bsky.social · 1d

Threatening to not give federal workers back pay after the government shutdown ends is a cruel and illegal attack on the federal workers who make our country run.

Trump Plans to Stiff Federal Workers Furloughed During Shutdown

The Trump administration wants to withhold backpay from thousands of federal employees.

newrepublic.com

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Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 1d

He was always going to do this. Chicagoans have not rioted, so the administration just lied and said we have. We have not attacked ICE agents, so they just lied and said we did. There was no chaos here, so they created chaotic scenes by attacking people and filmed that shit.

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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 1d

The real value of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's budget has fallen for over a decade.

The president is proposing deep cuts alongside other attacks on the agency.

Progress requires Congress to re-establish BLS independence & support innovation & funding.
www.americanprogress.org/article/the-...

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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 3d

"The proposed 'compact' for unis is similar in a key respect to this govt’s actions across many areas of law & policy...replacing the regularity & fairness of law w highly discretionary systems that ensure all sorts of entities & institutions will face the govt...as supplicants in need of largesse."

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 4d

Eating is woke

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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Amy M. Traub @amymtraub.bsky.social · 5d

The Trump administration’s attacks on federal civil servants have been relentless. And now the shutdown…

@nelp.org is out with a new resource on what federal workers and contractors need to know about unemployment insurance during the shutdown www.nelp.org/unemployment...

Unemployment Insurance and the Government Shutdown: What Federal Workers and Contractors Need to Know - National Employment Law Project

What federal workers and contractors need to know to help support themselves during the government shutdown.

www.nelp.org

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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 5d

Note that the Trump administration is illegally depriving food banks of supplies *after* they and their cronies in Congress slashed SNAP by $186 billion. Objectively a pro-hunger administration. www.urban.org/urban-wire/s...

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 6d

Trump wants to use a shutdown of Republicans’ own making to keep YOU in the dark about our economy.

The September jobs numbers are ready – and Trump must release them.

Without them, the Fed is flying blind while making decisions that impact you.

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National Employment Law Project @nelp.org · 5d

It’s #JobsDay and the Bureau of Labor Statistics should have released the monthly Employment Situation Summary, a source of reliable economic data with critical information for decisionmakers. But this vital public report was blocked by the government shutdown. A 🧵 www.nelp.org/government-s...

Government Shutdown Delays September Jobs Report: Decision-Makers Blindfolded Without Reliable Economic Data - National Employment Law Project

Without this important data, decision-makers will not be able to monitor the impacts of the Trump administration’s anti-worker policy choices.

www.nelp.org

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AAUP @aaup.org · 6d

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda.

This is corruption.

Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin 'Loyalty Oath' Compacts

The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological...

www.aaup.org

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Cliff Poole @cpoolenyc.bsky.social · 6d

This is evil and indefensible. #AbolishICE

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 6d

“Fuck them kids.”

That’s literally what an ICE agent said when ICE, the FBI et al. raided an apartment in Chicago, including with a Blackhawk helicopter, separated children from their parents, and zip-tied them to each other.

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

bangs.

"They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other," Watson said. "That's all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where's the human? One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, 'f*** them kids.'"

Watson said trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building.

"They had a big, 15-inch chainsaw with round blade on it, cutting this fence down," said witness Darrell Ballard. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military."

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 7d

Overnight, Trump and Republicans in Congress shut down the federal government.

They shut it down because they’re determined to strip healthcare from millions of Americans, to enrich the billionaires they serve, to continue the assault on our rights.

We must fight back.

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 8d

AOC: I think there's two things that are happening at once: One, there absolutely is an unprecedented abuse of power, destruction of norms, erosion of our government and our democracy in order to prop up an authoritarian style of governance

However, they are weaker than they look…

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 8d

This is absolutely a lie. There is no reason shutdowns trigger layoffs. They never have before. Trump is simply using the shutdown as an excuse to take federal employees hostages and to further gut the government.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/shutdown-h...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump: "When you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So, we'd be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected, and they're gonna be Democrats."

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · 8d

Democrats, your messaging is pretty easy here.

"Republicans control Congress, but they can't agree on a budget. And we won't support their proposal that would hurt so many people.

Now Trump says he'll shut down the government, and cut benefits you depend on. We won't be part of it."

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 9d

It certainly appears the United States murdered an innocent fisherman who was a husband and father to four children, claimed he was a "narco-terrorist," posted a video of the execution, and then made jokes about it

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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 9d

Fed govt seems likely to shut down.

That'll deprive many Americans of many things, including data used to make biz and community decisions.

Flying blind is worse than having recent info.
bsky.app/profile/benc...

Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 9d

Update: Commerce has now also posted its shutdown plan. BEA would completely shut down, and Census would shut down apart from some operations related to the 2030 decennial census. So no retail sales, international trade, PCE, GDP...
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul... #EconSky #NumbersDay

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Michele Evermore @micheleevermore.bsky.social · 9d

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for unemployment agencies even if the government doesn't shut down, because all the deferred resignation people will be trying to figure out if they are eligble.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 10d

Trump is building a personalist regime where every university must bend the knee or lose funding and every business must bend the knee or face tariffs, H-1B fees, and regulatory blackmail. You can't cover each domain in isolation; they are all the same story.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 10d

Awarding scientific grants based on scientific merit? That pales in comparison to my strategy, giving grants based on political loyalty

www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Wp EXCLUSIVE
White House considers funding advantage for colleges that align with Trump policies The proposal could potentially transform the government's vast research funding operation, which has long awarded university grants based on scientific merit.
Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT

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Boycott Citizens Bank @boycottcitizens.bsky.social · 13d

Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, died in ICE custody on Monday. He was brought to the United States at four years old and lived most of his life in Westminster, CA.

He was the 14th person to die in federal immigration custody this year.

California officials investigate death of Mexican man in Ice custody

Ismael Ayala-Uribe, who suffered from hypertension, was transferred from a center to a hospital to treat an abscess

www.theguardian.com

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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 12d

Des Moines is the semi-liberal bastion in Des Moines, and the Des Moines Public Schools are one of the particular bugbears for the Iowa GOP. This is absolutely a specific political attack on the DMPS, on the African community in Des Moines, and on the most diverse city in the state.

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 12d

What the fuck?

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts detained by ICE agents

The superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa has been detained by federal immigration officials. Superintendent Ian Roberts of Des Moines Public Schools was detained Friday morning, accor...

www.iowapublicradio.org

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