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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Lilly Irani @gleemie.bsky.social · 8h

Hollowing out of the democratic party by @philiprocco.bsky.social pretty much contextualizes so much of my experience of policy and organizing around technology, work, and surveillance issues.

Organizations organizations organizations

jacobin.com/2025/08/demo...

How the Democratic Party Was Hollowed Out

Democrats appear incapable of mounting a real opposition to Donald Trump. Their weakness is the result of a decades-long hollowing out of the party, in which organized labor has been displaced by a pa...

jacobin.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

The time is nigh: Pynchon night in Milwaukee

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

When I look at the ICE strategy in Chicago, I think of Arendt's line that "removing a fact from the world can be done only through radical destruction—as in the case of the murderer who says that Mrs. Smith has died and then goes and kills her."

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · 1d

You know how hard it is to get even 60% of faculty to agree on something?

Adrienne Wood @adriennewood.bsky.social · 1d

Over 400 faculty and staff from the #uva College of Arts and Sciences convened for an emergency vote. 97% of eligible voters endorsed a resolution demanding President Mahoney refuse to consider the Trump admin's Compact for Academic Freedom!!

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Jared Holt @jaredlholt.bsky.social · 1d

This really makes it sound like a Border Patrol agent tried to kill an anti-ICE activist in Chicago and DHS lied to cover for him

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Alex Zielinski @alexzee.bsky.social · 1d

“It appears the federal government is engaging in prohibited viewpoint discrimination by targeting demonstrators based on the content of their speech, while favoring those with whom the federal government agrees,” he wrote.

OPB @opb.org · 1d

Portland’s top attorney lambasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Monday, in a letter accusing the department of turning a blind eye to federal officers’ heavy-handed response to protests.

Portland accuses federal officers of violating demonstrators’ constitutional rights

Portland’s top attorney lambasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Monday, in a letter accusing the department of turning a blind eye to federal officers’ heavy-handed response to protests.

www.opb.org

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

I do think states experiencing the brunt of Trump’s attacks could benefit from a joint programmatic statement that articulates the meaning of federalism, enumerates the violations, and makes a commitment of mutual aid. The only way forward here is through. / end

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Not a time for blind optimism in the potential of intergovernmental retaliation. But the disassembled nature of states’ power resources is not an insurmountable obstacle. (Read the work of @djmallinson.bsky.social and Lee Hannah on “defiant innovation”. nyupress.org/978147982794... ) /12

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

We can also see glimmers of this approach to recombining existing resources and authorities in new ways in the work of regional vaccine coalitions. vtdigger.org/2025/08/28/w... /11

With CDC in chaos, Vermont joins regional coalition to navigate public health challenges - VTDigger

Eight Northeast states band together to prep for uncertainties amid sudden departures of high-level federal officials and concerns about the CDC’s vaccine recommendations.

vtdigger.org

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

It wasn’t just that states and cities litigated to stop the Trump administration’s assault on census integrity, they made investments that leveraged their public trust — and the trust of community-based organizations — to counteract disinformation and generate census participation. /10

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

There is a great deal of potential in tapping into these reserves of legitimacy and local identities as a means of catalyzing necessary public action (eg community defense against ICE). I saw this at work again and again in my research on the 2020 census /9

bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · Mar 5

Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...

Counting Like a State

An inside look at the 2020 Census that shows the importance of state and local cooperation in the complex federal project of census taking.The census plays a...

kansaspress.ku.edu

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Those relations of trust, in addition to other forms of what @askellyphd.bsky.social and @didikuo1.bsky.social refer to as “informal embedded capacity”, have enabled states, cities, and counties to make giant policy leaps in the past in ways that were juxtaposed to the national govt /8

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

But courts are not, have never been, the only federalism safeguard. States and local governments have vast stores of untapped power resources at their disposal. Probably the most immediately important is that these governments enjoy far higher levels of trust than any federal institution. /7

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

The problem of course is that, when push comes to shove, decades of federalism jurisprudence might well turn out to operate only at the limits of the now-existing Trump Solicitude Doctrine. /6

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Added to that leveraging federal aid as a tool of personalized power, with disbursements or denials based solely on loyalty or out of pique, and making determinations about the overarching structure of federal and state responsibilities without a moment’s intergovernmental consultation. /5

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed, in Trump’s case, the only logic to his suggested centralization or deconsolidation of control is a matter of (sometimes momentary) political convenience for him personally. /4

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Reposted by Phil Rocco

David W. Congdon @dwcongdon.com · 1d

Very good article in this morning's @kansasreflector.com on Todd Arrington by @claywires.bsky.social. The article provides helpful clarification and context for this story.
kansasreflector.com/2025/10/06/a...

'A mystery to me:' Eisenhower library director ousted after sword denial, but he doesn't blame Trump • Kansas Reflector

We don’t know for certain why Todd Arrington was ousted as the Eisenhower library director, a role he filled for a bit more than a year.

kansasreflector.com

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

I do think states experiencing the brunt of Trump’s attacks could benefit from a joint programmatic statement that articulates the meaning of federalism, enumerates the violations, and makes a commitment of mutual aid. The only way forward here is through. / end

1 2 13

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Not a time for blind optimism in the potential of intergovernmental retaliation. But the disassembled nature of states’ power resources is not an insurmountable obstacle. (Read the work of @djmallinson.bsky.social and Lee Hannah on “defiant innovation”. nyupress.org/978147982794... ) /12

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

We can also see glimmers of this approach to recombining existing resources and authorities in new ways in the work of regional vaccine coalitions. vtdigger.org/2025/08/28/w... /11

With CDC in chaos, Vermont joins regional coalition to navigate public health challenges - VTDigger

Eight Northeast states band together to prep for uncertainties amid sudden departures of high-level federal officials and concerns about the CDC’s vaccine recommendations.

vtdigger.org

1 3 16

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

It wasn’t just that states and cities litigated to stop the Trump administration’s assault on census integrity, they made investments that leveraged their public trust — and the trust of community-based organizations — to counteract disinformation and generate census participation. /10

1 4 17

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

There is a great deal of potential in tapping into these reserves of legitimacy and local identities as a means of catalyzing necessary public action (eg community defense against ICE). I saw this at work again and again in my research on the 2020 census /9

bsky.app/profile/phil...

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · Mar 5

Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...

Counting Like a State

An inside look at the 2020 Census that shows the importance of state and local cooperation in the complex federal project of census taking.The census plays a...

kansaspress.ku.edu

2 6 21

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

Those relations of trust, in addition to other forms of what @askellyphd.bsky.social and @didikuo1.bsky.social refer to as “informal embedded capacity”, have enabled states, cities, and counties to make giant policy leaps in the past in ways that were juxtaposed to the national govt /8

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

But courts are not, have never been, the only federalism safeguard. States and local governments have vast stores of untapped power resources at their disposal. Probably the most immediately important is that these governments enjoy far higher levels of trust than any federal institution. /7

1 9 31

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 1d

The problem of course is that, when push comes to shove, decades of federalism jurisprudence might well turn out to operate only at the limits of the now-existing Trump Solicitude Doctrine. /6

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