Jim Freeman
@jimshy49.bsky.social
Religious Studies professor, gardener, cocktail book author, home cook, mindfulness teacher, martial artist, Zen Buddhist. No wisdom, no attainment, and nothing to attain.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that gambling was the second-highest service-sector industry for GDP growth between 2019 and 2024, behind only software publishing."
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Very annoyed at the people who decided to open the floodgates to online sports betting, it is absolutely a scourge. Great piece from Gabrielle Gurley on people spending hours a day on these predatory apps.
The Scourge of Online Sports Betting - The American Prospect
States and leagues must face up to the damage from app-based gambling for the next generation of bettors, most of them young men.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:55 PM
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that gambling was the second-highest service-sector industry for GDP growth between 2019 and 2024, behind only software publishing."
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
February 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
Reposted by Jim Freeman
I wrote about these warehouses in the context of Friday's Fifth Circuit mandatory-detention ruling over the weekend here: www.lawdork.com/p/fifth-circ...
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:29 PM
I wrote about these warehouses in the context of Friday's Fifth Circuit mandatory-detention ruling over the weekend here: www.lawdork.com/p/fifth-circ...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
I know I shouldn't swear, being a university professor blah blah blah, but fucking hell these concentration camps where kids are being tortured must be shut down now
“There were children in Dilley who were so distraught they cut themselves or talked about suicide…Moms told me that their kids had lost their appetites after finding worms and mold on their food”
NEW: ProPublica went inside the detention center for immigrant families in Dilley, Texas.
Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of what comes next.
Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of what comes next.
February 9, 2026 at 2:46 PM
I know I shouldn't swear, being a university professor blah blah blah, but fucking hell these concentration camps where kids are being tortured must be shut down now
Reposted by Jim Freeman
100% this. This is a brilliant metaphor.
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
VC, founder, dumbass
February 9, 2026 at 2:50 PM
100% this. This is a brilliant metaphor.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was shot in the back by a Klansman in 1963.
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was shot in the back by a Klansman in 1963.
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
Reposted by Jim Freeman
🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections
Trump doubled down on his comments to nationalize voting Tuesday during an Oval Office press conference. “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” Trump sai...
www.democracydocket.com
February 4, 2026 at 5:33 PM
🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
“We remain in the early days of a fight that will not soon end or be cooled by these anti-American extremists who want nothing less than a white nationalist state, the destruction of the Constitution and the dissolution of democratic life in America.”
www.americaamerica.news/p/there-will...
www.americaamerica.news/p/there-will...
De-Escalation Is a Lie
Don't believe the momentary softening rhetoric toward Minneapolis. It's only meant to quiet the opposition.
www.americaamerica.news
January 30, 2026 at 1:34 PM
“We remain in the early days of a fight that will not soon end or be cooled by these anti-American extremists who want nothing less than a white nationalist state, the destruction of the Constitution and the dissolution of democratic life in America.”
www.americaamerica.news/p/there-will...
www.americaamerica.news/p/there-will...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
In 1935, a critic predicted how mass media would enable fascism boingboing.net/2026/01/29/i...
In 1935, a critic predicted how mass media would enable fascism
Walter Benjamin warned that fascism turns politics into entertainment. Open Culture revisits his prescient 1935 essay.
boingboing.net
January 30, 2026 at 2:37 PM
In 1935, a critic predicted how mass media would enable fascism boingboing.net/2026/01/29/i...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
This was the plan
January 14, 2026 at 2:58 PM
This was the plan
Reposted by Jim Freeman
This is surreal. 4 Oglala Lakota men kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis have finally been located. One of them was released but the other 3 are being held at Fort Snelling, a former concentration camp used to imprison Native people incl. the Dakota 38 during Dakota Wars.
ictnews.org/news/north-c...
ictnews.org/news/north-c...
Four Oglala detainees located, three still in ICE custody - ICT
The four Lakota detainees were reportedly sent to a former concentration camp used during the Dakota Wars
ictnews.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:31 PM
This is surreal. 4 Oglala Lakota men kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis have finally been located. One of them was released but the other 3 are being held at Fort Snelling, a former concentration camp used to imprison Native people incl. the Dakota 38 during Dakota Wars.
ictnews.org/news/north-c...
ictnews.org/news/north-c...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
If you know anyone that works for the government, it's completely reasonable to cut them out of your lives and tell them to fuck themselves Fascism is fascim. Complicity is complicity. Fighting authoritarianism isn't just screaming slogans, it's making fascists uncomfortable.
January 14, 2026 at 11:03 PM
If you know anyone that works for the government, it's completely reasonable to cut them out of your lives and tell them to fuck themselves Fascism is fascim. Complicity is complicity. Fighting authoritarianism isn't just screaming slogans, it's making fascists uncomfortable.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
AOC: I want everybody to understand that the cuts to your health care are what’s paying for this. You get screwed over to pay a bunch of thugs in the street that are shooting mothers in the face.
January 13, 2026 at 1:20 AM
AOC: I want everybody to understand that the cuts to your health care are what’s paying for this. You get screwed over to pay a bunch of thugs in the street that are shooting mothers in the face.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
The State of Minnesota is a separate sovereign, entitled to enforce its own laws. Feds are certainly entitled to conduct a parallel investigation, but not to freeze out state investigators.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/p...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/p...
What’s behind the highly unusual move to block Minnesota officials from investigating ICE shooting | CNN Politics
Mutual distrust between federal and state authorities derailed plans for a joint FBI and state criminal investigation into Wednesday’s shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer, leading to the...
www.cnn.com
January 11, 2026 at 3:57 PM
The State of Minnesota is a separate sovereign, entitled to enforce its own laws. Feds are certainly entitled to conduct a parallel investigation, but not to freeze out state investigators.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/p...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/p...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
we’re never returning to “normal “
that world is dead and gone
we create a new one, or we live in hell
that world is dead and gone
we create a new one, or we live in hell
January 8, 2026 at 3:51 AM
we’re never returning to “normal “
that world is dead and gone
we create a new one, or we live in hell
that world is dead and gone
we create a new one, or we live in hell
Reposted by Jim Freeman
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
Trans rights are workers' rights.
literally fuck anyone who doesn’t see at this point that it’s an organized nationwide effort to make trans people unemployable.
every trans person they push out of public life is a win for them & a whole hell of a lot of cis people need to start stepping up and saying fuck off to freaks like this.
every trans person they push out of public life is a win for them & a whole hell of a lot of cis people need to start stepping up and saying fuck off to freaks like this.
December 23, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Trans rights are workers' rights.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
Police should be held to the same accountability standards as any other professional, EFF’s Adam Schwartz told @utahnewsdispatch.com. “They’re the ones with a badge and a gun who are enforcing the law. They, more than anyone else, should be following rules.” utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/12/19/...
Failure to activate: When Utah officers violate body-cam policies • Utah News Dispatch
The Utah Investigative Journalism Project filed nearly 170 records requests with 48 Utah law enforcement agencies about body camera use.
utahnewsdispatch.com
December 22, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Police should be held to the same accountability standards as any other professional, EFF’s Adam Schwartz told @utahnewsdispatch.com. “They’re the ones with a badge and a gun who are enforcing the law. They, more than anyone else, should be following rules.” utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/12/19/...
Reposted by Jim Freeman
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 21, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
My hometown. Has gotten a lot less coverage than ICE invasions of other cities. Memphis is majority-Black, which may have something to do with it.
A city under siege by its own government.
A city under siege by its own government.
December 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM
My hometown. Has gotten a lot less coverage than ICE invasions of other cities. Memphis is majority-Black, which may have something to do with it.
A city under siege by its own government.
A city under siege by its own government.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
getting kids up at the asscrack of dawn is bad for them! we’ve had actual research on this shit! it doesn’t build character, it just means they’re tired and cranky and don’t learn as well
No it's because for some of us it is more convenient to drive our kid to school than to have to get them up at 530 in the morning to be able to make the bus at 615 and then have them sit on the bus for an hour and a half on the way home too. 8 year old should not have a 530am-430pm day
What should I have expected from the hand wringing was website but people who are smothering their kids in the hope that their kid will never ever develop the independent skills to actually leave. If you're going to do this, get a dog, it's less cruel.
December 16, 2025 at 6:29 PM
getting kids up at the asscrack of dawn is bad for them! we’ve had actual research on this shit! it doesn’t build character, it just means they’re tired and cranky and don’t learn as well
Reposted by Jim Freeman
It’s interesting that multiple law firms, universities, media outlets, politicians, and corporations have given in to the demands of Donald Trump, while some Indiana Republicans found the backbone to stand up to the wannabe Dictator. The lesson here: Grow a fucking backbone.
December 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
It’s interesting that multiple law firms, universities, media outlets, politicians, and corporations have given in to the demands of Donald Trump, while some Indiana Republicans found the backbone to stand up to the wannabe Dictator. The lesson here: Grow a fucking backbone.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
In cutting off federal funds to Catholic charities in Texas and threatening to cut off federal funding to Indiana if the state Republicans don't vote the way he wants, Trump has managed to create two of the most explosive, impeachable scandals in presidential history in the last twenty four hours.
December 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM
In cutting off federal funds to Catholic charities in Texas and threatening to cut off federal funding to Indiana if the state Republicans don't vote the way he wants, Trump has managed to create two of the most explosive, impeachable scandals in presidential history in the last twenty four hours.
Reposted by Jim Freeman
“Faith leaders have been beaten, arrested, even shot with “less lethal” weapons, and church attendance has fallen significantly—by more than 50% in Spanish-speaking parishes in one Catholic diocese. But now there’s a plan to target Spanish-speaking churches nationwide during the holiday season”
Trump's War On Christmas Is A War On Liberalism
After decades of make-believe, the Trump administration is promising an actual war on Christmas that would traumatize religious communities with armed state power.
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
“Faith leaders have been beaten, arrested, even shot with “less lethal” weapons, and church attendance has fallen significantly—by more than 50% in Spanish-speaking parishes in one Catholic diocese. But now there’s a plan to target Spanish-speaking churches nationwide during the holiday season”