Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
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emdillon.bsky.social
Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
@emdillon.bsky.social
Literature professor at Northeastern University. Book-in-progress: Sweetness and Ruin: A History of Sugar, Race, and Capitalism (Dutton 2026). From the 17th-century plantation to 21st-century diabetes epidemic.

Writing: https://emdillon.substack.com
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
In case you were wondering who had more power inside the Trump regime RFK or the chemical industry… Here’s a key data point.
The EPA has approved two new pesticides with "forever chemicals" that will be used on food.

The agency has also announced plans for four additional approvals.

The approved pesticides will be used on vegetables such as romaine lettuce, broccoli and potatoes.
November 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."

BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
So Jim Justice is one of the wealthiest people in the country.

And in 2021, we wrote a story about how almost never paid taxes

www.propublica.org/article/how-...
November 25, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Are Americans supposed to think that the Trump administration canceling the release of economics reports is somehow a good sign for the economy?The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Monday that...
Trump Cancels Release of Crucial Economic Report to Hide His Failures
Donald Trump has now blocked three economic data reports.
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Here to ruin your holidays, one history lesson at a time.
The Tradwife Origins of Thanksgiving
No Indians, No Pilgrims, Just a Heaping Serving of Gender Roles
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
does anyone know how to apply for reimbursement from the tech industry for university faculty's labor hours lost to pursuing AI-related academic integrity cases?
November 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Those two little words — a low among lows for sexist comments from a sitting president — speak volumes about how Trump views women. They should also be a warning sign about the rampant normalization of misogyny in U.S. political culture, and how it could affect our democracy more broadly.
Why Trump’s ‘quiet, piggy’ comment should be seen as a warning
The president's vicious and casual comment represents the normalization of misogyny in U.S. political culture — and is a potential threat to democracy.
www.ms.now
November 24, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Insurers are now seeking to exclude AI from corporate policies because the risks are too unpredictable and liability is unclear. This is a signal: we cannot rely on insurance markets or tort law to protect against AI harms. We need actual governance and policy.
Insurers AIG, Great American, and WR Berkley seek permission to limit liability from AI agents and chatbots and to retreat from coverage of AI risk as multibillion-dollar claims mount

www.ft.com/content/abfe...
Insurers retreat from AI cover as risk of multibillion-dollar claims mounts
AIG, Great American and WR Berkley seek permission to limit liability from AI agents and chatbots
www.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
tbf, this is Trump's entire schtick
November 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Black women are down 297,000, but men’s gains have surged to +621,000. That’s a 324,000 widening of the gender gap in two months—a 34% jump. Since February, the swing between black women’s losses and men’s gains approaches 1 million jobs.
November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Since February, according to my latest analysis, almost 600,000 Black women have been economically sidelined. The November 20, 2025, Jobs Report makes clear this isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. That is not a recovery. It is a redistribution of opportunity.
The exit economy is here. Black Women are paying the highest price | Fortune
This isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. And it's not a recovery, it's a redistribution of opportunity.
fortune.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
This is not law enforcement it’s a slave catching militia
Border agents are set to target communities in southeast Mississippi and Louisiana in a major immigration crackdown called "Swamp Sweep.”

Federal agents aim to arrest 5,000 people during the operation.

buff.ly/ISpXE0l
Border Agents Target Mississippi Communities in ‘Swamp Sweep’
Border agents are set to conduct a major immigration crackdown called "Swamp Sweep,” targeting immigrants in southeast Mississippi and Louisiana.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
If the motto of the first Trump regime was the cruelty is the point (Adam Serwer) then the motto of the second is every accusation is a confession: the weaponization of the federal government against political opponents, the Trump crime family, and the torpedoing of the economy and U.S. hegemony.
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
This is Republican Party fascism, arresting children at their school. A Heritage Foundation and Stephen Miller dream come true. Can you look without turning away?
November 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
We have 500 op-eds about how Democrats should somehow ensure no one in the country with lefty vibes ever says anything that's not strictly on message. It could alienate voters!

Meanwhile, the President of the United States, God-Emperor of the GOP, just said "quiet, Piggy" to a reporter on camera.
November 19, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Giving away a record amount of money from my checking account to my savings account
November 19, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.

Got it.
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”

He will continue teaching.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Donald Trump said “quiet piggy” to a female reporter because she dared to ask about the Epstein files, and as bad as that is, the fact that none of her colleagues defended her, is even worse.
November 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Kelly Hayes’ writing and her Movement Memos Podcast episodes about AI have been immensely useful to me and I recommend them. In this clip from our recent conversation, Kelly talks about how AI is emerging in a context of alienation and dehumanization.
November 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
Exclusive: President Trump's approval rating fell to 38%, the lowest since his return to power, with Americans unhappy about his handling of the cost of living and the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found reut.rs/47O9ckj
November 18, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
So I say this as a proud academic labor union member who believes deeply in the importance of tenure to the academic mission:

FIRE
LARRY
SUMMERS
November 18, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
THIS IS BIG

For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 18, 2025 at 12:43 AM