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jon ben-menachem

@jbenmenachem.com

18K followers 860 following 7.4K posts

criminalization, abolition, labor, politics, journalism—social science theory & methods too. sociology phd candidate @ columbia. @swcolumbia.bsky.social

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · Apr 17

It shouldn't matter if Trump’s victims have criminal records. If we only defend the “innocent,” the fascists will argue that their victim “was no angel.” An anti-fascist rhetoric that carves out exceptions for imperfect victims is a gift to our opponents.

New from me for @us.theguardian.com:

What is a ‘criminal’ immigrant? The word is an American rhetorical trap | Jonathan Ben-Menachem

Labels like ‘gang members’ and ‘terrorist supporters’ are an easy way to make humans disposable

www.theguardian.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 10h

also improved ability to keep in touch with friends who I met in person but moved away from

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 10h

Met lots of like-minded people—including long time friends and professional collaborators!

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 12h

You can’t talk seriously about gun violence in Chicago without talking about where the guns come from. www.pbump.net/o/the-red-st...

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Reposted by jon ben-menachem

A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 17h

Check out my latest, this time for Time magazine’s Made By History series:

time.com/7318570/cbs-...

CBS Has Been in Conservative Sights for Decades

It was once deemed the "Communist Broadcasting System" by conservative activists.

time.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 15h

Community input in the form of “that new housing unit would be too tall” 😵‍💫

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 17h

This one has really well executed chicken kebabs/gyro which I feel like I usually cannot order at delis that have famous Reubens

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 18h

Currently experiencing a hybrid Jewish deli / Mediterranean restaurant and it is basically the platonic ideal

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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 20h

This is notable www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

Journalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by jon ben-menachem

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d

When it wasn't deploying troops to U.S. cities, accusing judges of terrorism, and politicizing the military this weekend, the Trump administration also carried out another extrajudicial execution in the Caribbean, murdering four people.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Trump says US hit another boat off Venezuela coast on Saturday

U.S. forces hit another vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, adding that the U.S. would also start looking at drug trafficking occurring on land.

www.reuters.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 21h

I’d gladly read a paper about the deficiencies of existing theory for this case!

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 21h

Yeah but if you’re finding that RW news practice is professionalized then it seems like orgs/professions theory would fit closely

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

You can get a decent handle on triangulation between talk and practice through analysis of news content produced by participants

bsky.app/profile/ajba...

A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 23h

This needs to be studied, admittedly. I do think so in individual cases. I think the real issue here is the expectation that professionalism results in impartial or neutral reporting. That's not even really the case with paragon journalistic outlets.

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

I think 20th century scholars already gave us a useful toolkit here — Gans, Tuchman, Schudson, Fishman, Chibnall, Hall… Also a big fan of the ethnography volumes beginning w Visualizing Deviance (Ericson)

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

Being part of an anti racist group is a reasonably low bar.

In any case, fuck Nazis and hope he’s able to find a safe and stable living situation abroad

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, part of any kind of antifascist or anti-racist organization - I just haven't. I'm a professor,"
Bray said on Monday about the circumstances. Noting that antifa is a decentralized movement, he added: "I'm a professor of the history of the left."

The Change.org petition aiming to remove him from Rutgers mentioned how Bray's handbook pledged at least 50% "of the author's proceeds would go to the International Anti-Fascist Defense fund"
Bray countered that the fund collects donations "to help with the legal or medical costs of people facing charges for organizing pertaining to anti-fascism or anti-racism".
"It is itself not an 'antifa' group," Bray said.

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

I hope this doesn’t sound flippant but the article kind of reads as “Professor accused of doing cool, good things insists he has not done those things”

Audrey Truschke @audreytruschke.bsky.social · 23h

A Rutgers professor has been forced to flee the country for his safety, after targeting by a far-right student group that was *checks notes* claiming they felt unsafe.

I'm horrified.
I'm angry.

A short 🧵 #AcademicFreedom #Rutgers #violence #antifa

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

Eager to undermine the bargaining process, the university has now graciously announced a “raise” in stipends that amounts to… a 0.1% increase after inflation

Student Workers of Columbia @swcolumbia.bsky.social · 3d

Columbia canceled bargaining, again.

We are still gathering at Trinity Lutheran Church on Monday. Our demands are commonsense: protection for non-citizens, no cops or surveillance on campus, and fast resolution for contract violations.

Columbia, will you meet us?

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23h

There really isn’t much of a future left for TV news. I don’t know anyone my age who watches the stuff.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 1d

I think it is probably a gamble made in the context of declining ratings, in a news medium whose days are numbered (due to generational cohort behavior shift). They’re shaking the box to see if anything sticks

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

Do CBS News executives understand that MAGA will not be in power forever? I genuinely think this is lost on a lot of people. They've gotten scammed by bad actors into believing Trump's 2024 win represented something seismic and even permanent. I predict they'll look back on this as a serious error.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 1d

CBS News current president Tom Cibroski praised Weiss on the call, saying "Bari's energy and passion is infectious and you will feel it, big time." He also added that the Free Press and CBS News "are going to learn a lot from each other...that's what this is all about."

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 1d

Are their practices consistent w values?

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 1d

I think “professionalized” is a salient distinction, in the sense that professionalized news will soon not exist anymore

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 1d

This is actually part of a series

me, wearing a suit. in the near background, an emu

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 1d

Touch grass one time and you become snow white

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 2d

still in disbelief that professionalized national news outlet(s) ran stories about this in the “safety” frame at all.

Nick Wilson @nickbwilson.bsky.social · 2d

National Guard troops won't make cities safer in the long-run. Local cities & counties must be in control, with support from federal law enforcement such as providing crime gun intelligence

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: Second, expanded TRO issued in Oregon case challenging Trump's National Guard deployment to the state bars any state or D.C. National Guard being deployed to Oregon.

Update at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/judge-bloc...

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 2d

I’m talking about events that occurred a century ago

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 3d

😆