brian nam-sonenstein
@bson.bsky.social
senior editor & researcher @prisonpolicy.org; 1/2 of @beyondprisons.bsky.social; fmr editor and founder shadowproof.com
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"Strong floor, no ceiling" is very literally the basis of like every Gilded Age political cartoon
November 30, 2025 at 9:41 PM
"Strong floor, no ceiling" is very literally the basis of like every Gilded Age political cartoon
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Mass incarceration *is* an economic justice issue.
It's no coincidence that the poorest & most vulnerable communities are also the most policed.
It's no coincidence that the poorest & most vulnerable communities are also the most policed.
November 30, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Mass incarceration *is* an economic justice issue.
It's no coincidence that the poorest & most vulnerable communities are also the most policed.
It's no coincidence that the poorest & most vulnerable communities are also the most policed.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Another bad deal to highlight on #BlackFriday: Some jails & prisons are taking money from incarcerated people and their families to go on shopping sprees for gun range memberships and fitness trackers 🤔
November 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Another bad deal to highlight on #BlackFriday: Some jails & prisons are taking money from incarcerated people and their families to go on shopping sprees for gun range memberships and fitness trackers 🤔
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Seriously, when you study the history of racism, a lot of things are not as brand new as we’re encouraged by the headlines to believe.
November 29, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Seriously, when you study the history of racism, a lot of things are not as brand new as we’re encouraged by the headlines to believe.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
This AP news story is incredible from front to back but I wanted to flag something super serious and wildly illegal that may have flown under the radar. It’s called parallel construction and it’s when intel is washed from spy agencies and used by local cops. apnews.com/article/immi...
1/
1/
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This AP news story is incredible from front to back but I wanted to flag something super serious and wildly illegal that may have flown under the radar. It’s called parallel construction and it’s when intel is washed from spy agencies and used by local cops. apnews.com/article/immi...
1/
1/
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
So what’s going on is that the federal government is running a massive domestic spying operation and getting local cops to do their dirty work once a car is stopped. They call this siloing of data “walling” it off from their true source.
November 22, 2025 at 7:25 PM
So what’s going on is that the federal government is running a massive domestic spying operation and getting local cops to do their dirty work once a car is stopped. They call this siloing of data “walling” it off from their true source.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
For those who believe "the rule of law" is sacrosanct: so much evil has been legal. The Black Codes (and chattel slavery itself); Indigenous genocide; internment of Japanese Americans in WWII; so much more. The law is always a double-edged sword.
Black Codes didn’t “restore order.” They rebuilt slavery with paperwork — criminalizing rest, movement, labor, even childhood. Freedom was legal in theory, illegal in practice. New shackles, same fear of Black autonomy. #ReconstructionTruth #AbolitionLogic
November 30, 2025 at 12:39 AM
For those who believe "the rule of law" is sacrosanct: so much evil has been legal. The Black Codes (and chattel slavery itself); Indigenous genocide; internment of Japanese Americans in WWII; so much more. The law is always a double-edged sword.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"[O]ne problem shared by prisoners across the country is that while the walls in a living unit might be sturdy, they're not insulated. ... [T]he temperature inside stays pretty close to the temperature outside."
In recent years the Georgia Department of Corrections has restricted or removed access to boots, jacket liners, thermal underwear, long-sleeved shirts, raincoats, knit hats and having a second blanket.
Some Prisons Have Quietly Stopped Giving Us Winter Clothes - Filter
After issuing prisoners the same lined winter jackets since 1991, last winter the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) sent them ...
filtermag.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:35 AM
"[O]ne problem shared by prisoners across the country is that while the walls in a living unit might be sturdy, they're not insulated. ... [T]he temperature inside stays pretty close to the temperature outside."
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
This great piece by @joshuaclarkdavis.bsky.social (as well has his excellent new book) gets at something I'm always exploring: While we think of surveillance as an issue of the latest technology, and it is, it's also a historical constant about states forcing vulnerability onto political targets.
Newly Unveiled Photos of MLK Jr. Show Depth of NYPD’s Surveillance
After J. Edgar Hoover cast civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a “liar,” the New York City Police Department’s spy unit heeded the call.
theintercept.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
This great piece by @joshuaclarkdavis.bsky.social (as well has his excellent new book) gets at something I'm always exploring: While we think of surveillance as an issue of the latest technology, and it is, it's also a historical constant about states forcing vulnerability onto political targets.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
The problem with fetishizing the rule of law is that people have to break the law to resist fascism, state violence, and oppression. This has always been true, and is very much the case RIGHT NOW.
November 29, 2025 at 1:44 AM
The problem with fetishizing the rule of law is that people have to break the law to resist fascism, state violence, and oppression. This has always been true, and is very much the case RIGHT NOW.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Wild to see Whelan say this, but to be clear the OLC's immunity powers are fake anyway. The "golden shield" idea was made up to justify rampant criminality in the GWBush years, then adopted by Holder to excuse Obama's inaction. It's not in the Constitution, statute, or precedent. It's not the law.
Does Pete Hegseth have a "golden shield" against prosecution in the form of a DOJ OLC opinion? Ed Whelan thinks not.
November 28, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Wild to see Whelan say this, but to be clear the OLC's immunity powers are fake anyway. The "golden shield" idea was made up to justify rampant criminality in the GWBush years, then adopted by Holder to excuse Obama's inaction. It's not in the Constitution, statute, or precedent. It's not the law.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Zero reckoning from any of the elites who credulously parroted the absurd idea that the right wing was in favor of free speech.
Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
Alarm as Tennessee libraries shut down for Republican 'book purge'
Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters.For Popular Information, Rebecca...
www.rawstory.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Zero reckoning from any of the elites who credulously parroted the absurd idea that the right wing was in favor of free speech.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Moving tribute to Alice Wong from Rebecca Cokley: “Alice was constantly watching what people were doing, & lifting up people whose work she thought deserved attention & amplification. This was core to the creation of the Disability Visibility Project.”
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A Tribute to an Oracle, Alice Wong
Alice had the ability to look to the future and a world where laws and attitudes did not keep disabled people poor, pitied, and isolated.
www.thenation.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Moving tribute to Alice Wong from Rebecca Cokley: “Alice was constantly watching what people were doing, & lifting up people whose work she thought deserved attention & amplification. This was core to the creation of the Disability Visibility Project.”
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
My book about sheriffs and right-wing violence is a good book for the dads (and nongendered dad-types) in your life, especially for those who loved watching Yellowstone, Fargo, or Eddington!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...
November 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
My book about sheriffs and right-wing violence is a good book for the dads (and nongendered dad-types) in your life, especially for those who loved watching Yellowstone, Fargo, or Eddington!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
"Contrary to Miller and Trump, Lakanwal’s shooting spree is not the result of importing Afghan culture to America. While much will surely be revealed in Lakanwal’s upcoming trial, it looks more like the result of importing American culture to Afghanistan." New from me @zeteo.com
He Killed for the CIA in Afghanistan. Trump Blames Afghan Culture Instead of Langley’s
After the National Guard shooting, the US needs to reckon with how its legacy of global violence inevitably comes home. Stephen Miller wants to do anything but.
zeteo.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:20 PM
"Contrary to Miller and Trump, Lakanwal’s shooting spree is not the result of importing Afghan culture to America. While much will surely be revealed in Lakanwal’s upcoming trial, it looks more like the result of importing American culture to Afghanistan." New from me @zeteo.com
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Every Republican's a gangster until they come for a member of your own family. Many such cases.
h/t @adamwren.bsky.social
Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."
Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."
November 28, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Every Republican's a gangster until they come for a member of your own family. Many such cases.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Also, when you see a local area w a HUGE amount of gun violence, it could be real.
Or it could be where the precinct station house is, and a large number of shootings get geocoded to there, either as a default when hard to pin down or out of laziness.
Centuries later. Same problems!
Or it could be where the precinct station house is, and a large number of shootings get geocoded to there, either as a default when hard to pin down or out of laziness.
Centuries later. Same problems!
Like: medieval urban crime data was too high bc short-cut taking ancient data ppl didn’t pay close attention to borders (so “Oxford”’s crime rate included local suburbs, but its pop did not, so per capita is too high).
Still an issue today! It’s why FBI says don’t compare crime across cities.
Still an issue today! It’s why FBI says don’t compare crime across cities.
November 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Also, when you see a local area w a HUGE amount of gun violence, it could be real.
Or it could be where the precinct station house is, and a large number of shootings get geocoded to there, either as a default when hard to pin down or out of laziness.
Centuries later. Same problems!
Or it could be where the precinct station house is, and a large number of shootings get geocoded to there, either as a default when hard to pin down or out of laziness.
Centuries later. Same problems!
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
“He suffered obvious trauma that everyone knew about from morally indefensible and strategically unnecessary violence work and couldn’t get help and then drove a long distance for inscrutably idiosyncratic reasons to fire his gun at strangers in a public place” is a pretty unmistakably USian tragedy
The DC shooting story is really getting to me because we literally trained this man as a child soldier for a death squad in a forever war and Stephen Miller et al want to blame it on other cultures? It's our culture, American culture, that killed that woman.
November 28, 2025 at 9:55 PM
“He suffered obvious trauma that everyone knew about from morally indefensible and strategically unnecessary violence work and couldn’t get help and then drove a long distance for inscrutably idiosyncratic reasons to fire his gun at strangers in a public place” is a pretty unmistakably USian tragedy
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
The only correct pie take is that pies are like dogs—they’re all good, we just have stronger personal attachments to some than others.
November 25, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The only correct pie take is that pies are like dogs—they’re all good, we just have stronger personal attachments to some than others.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Hi. Please support my favorite independent news outlet in Chicago. Unraveled's recent work revealed:
-DHS agent Timothy Donahue's racist X account.
-DHS agents lied about killing Silverio Villegas Gonzalez
-IL Dems caved to RW law and order rhetoric and built a surveillance state using ALPRs
-DHS agent Timothy Donahue's racist X account.
-DHS agents lied about killing Silverio Villegas Gonzalez
-IL Dems caved to RW law and order rhetoric and built a surveillance state using ALPRs
~1 yr ago we sent a Giving Tuesday email to our tiny mailing list shortly after starting our own publication.
In the time since, we have been overwhelmed by how many of you find our work worth supporting.
No email this time around. But if you'd like to support indie media today, here's how:
In the time since, we have been overwhelmed by how many of you find our work worth supporting.
No email this time around. But if you'd like to support indie media today, here's how:
Support Unraveled
unraveledpress.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Doing groundwork for a story about nobody wanting to be a cop and got this FOIA record back from Dallas PD about their hiring/retention numbers. The department spent millions to net gain 219 sworn officers over 4 years. Imagine what alternatives to policing you could fund with their hiring budgets!
November 25, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Doing groundwork for a story about nobody wanting to be a cop and got this FOIA record back from Dallas PD about their hiring/retention numbers. The department spent millions to net gain 219 sworn officers over 4 years. Imagine what alternatives to policing you could fund with their hiring budgets!
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Someone give me $500,000 so I can offer 1 year fellowships to young people in 2026.
November 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Someone give me $500,000 so I can offer 1 year fellowships to young people in 2026.
Reposted by brian nam-sonenstein
Some of you might recall the reporting from @prismreports.org about @penamerica.bsky.social's treatment of incarcerated writers. It's a long list of horrendous behavior.
November 25, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Some of you might recall the reporting from @prismreports.org about @penamerica.bsky.social's treatment of incarcerated writers. It's a long list of horrendous behavior.