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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 1d

One of the costs of the spread of legalism in Democratic politics is the loss of capacity to translate technical or domain-specific terms to plain language. That’s probably part of what distinguishes Mamdani and Pritzker and a few others in the current moment.

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 3d

Refusal to acknowledge the factual record put in front of the court by excellent litigators

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Gravy Crockett @bostonjerry.bsky.social · 7d

This article by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social on how monopolized corporate control of news content, social media algorithms, the internet, and information itself has enabled the destruction of civic culture is a must read. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

At the very least, read her closing argument:

So by all means, celebrate a burst of collective action that reinstated a TV show host and vote the bums out if you get the chance. But voting won’t be enough, just as canceling the Disney app won’t be enough. When I look at the consumer response to Disney censoring Kimmel, I don’t see an allegory for America’s salvation. I see a threat — that we will see ourselves as the authoritarians see us, users whose only power is in our pocketbook.

We can’t just reject the threat. We have to reject the idea that our only, best power is our pocketbooks. That’s a desecration of civics, as corrosive as the idea that debate is the pinnacle of civil discourse. It cheapens our actions by degrading what we believe is possible. Our power isn’t in making one of the choices that are presented to us. Our power is in shaping the choices available to us.

The fusion of corporate control and government power that empowered this administration will need to be unmade. Courts will need to be reconfigured. Market power will need to be subsumed to electoral power. Bureaucratic legitimacy will need to be restored. Information will need to be competitive and available.

To achieve any of those goals, we will have to become far less complacent and far less scared. We also will have to organize. Because no citizen who simply settles for being a consumer of democracy should expect to have a real democracy ever again.

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Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 8d

Another win for the people: Gavin Newsom signed AB288! The law states that if the NLRB fails to respond to petitions to vindicate the rights of workers, then the CA Public Employment Relations Board can take up the matter - this is particularly important for ULPs!

legiscan.com/CA/text/AB28...

California AB288 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session

Bill Text (2025-09-22) Employment: labor organization and unfair practices. [Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.]

legiscan.com

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Durba Mitra @durba.bsky.social · 13d

The cover for my book, The Future That Was, is now live! It features the MacArthur genius artist Shahzia Sikander's Infinite Woman (2021), where earth is surrounded by an infinite series of women marching around the globe who, from afar, become rays of the sun ☀️

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The Future That Was

How Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism and imagine a future freer than our present

press.princeton.edu

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Alex Press @alexnpress.bsky.social · 9d

wrote about a great writer thealexpress.substack.com/p/kaleb-horton

Kaleb Horton

Writing can be beautiful.

thealexpress.substack.com

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Maya Manian @mayamanian.bsky.social · 15d

Thrilled that HLPP is hosting Risk and Resistance on Oct 3! Honored to celebrate @azizaahmed.bsky.social’s groundbreaking book and so grateful to our amazing co-sponsors, speakers, and panelists who will make this such an inspiring event.
#RiskandResistance
#healthlaw

AUWCL Health Law and Policy Program @auwclhealthlaw.bsky.social · 15d

Join us Oct. 3 (12–5 PM ET | hybrid) for Risk and Resistance: Feminist Interventions in Health Law, Science & Policy. Featuring Prof. @azizaahmed.bsky.social keynote on her new book followed by panels on feminist activism, law & public health.

Details & Registration: tinyurl.com/yt2zex6u

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 18d

Reminds me of how the Federalist Society was legitimated by countless liberal academics for decades while it‘s judicial takeover unfolded.

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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 19d

this is the kafala system.

roydosan.bsky.social @roydosan.bsky.social · 19d

It depends on the immigration system. The UK should have a UAE style immigration system - work permits for a defined period, no citizenship or permanent residency, and no rights to bring dependents unless you meet a salary threshold. The Gulf countries have no shortage of workers in their hospitals.

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 22d

and the Pulitzer Prize for sophistry goes to …

NYT headline:

OPINION
GUEST ESSAY
Barnard President: Now Is the Time for Colleges to Host Difficult Speakers
Sept. 17, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 21d

Last night the 14th Amendment Center had a terrific opening session on birthright citizenship w/ historians @marthasjones and @kate.masur.TONIGHT is Part Two. With an extraordinary line-up of scholars & advocates. It’s not too late to register. howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
@aaldef.bsky.social

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 22d

Proud that my @ucirvinelaw.bsky.social colleague @veenadubal.bsky.social is on the papers -

The national @aaup.org campaign is extraordinary, as is the number of unions and faculty associations brought together in defense of the UC.

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 22d

I'd like to commend the lawyers who wrote this complaint on behalf of the professors and employees of the University of California against the Trump administration.

It's a sober legal document with strong claims, but also, this is a fight for public opinion, and this reads like the writers know it.

AAUP-UC-Trump Lawsuit -- Uploaded by Jaweed Kaleem of the Los Angeles Times

www.documentcloud.org

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 25d

By @alfatau.bsky.social

tamara nopper @tamaranopper.bsky.social · 25d

”Black radical thinkers have long sought to expand the historical and political imagination of an anti-fascist left.”

They moved beyond the European analogy and emphasized racial slavery, colonialism, the prison industrial complex, and surveillance technology.

www.bostonreview.net/articles/alb...

The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism - Boston Review

A debate is roiling about the aptness of comparing Trump to European fascists. But radical Black thinkers have long argued that racial slavery created its own unique form of American fascism.

www.bostonreview.net

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 25d

A really beautiful piece by Issa Kohler-Hausmann at @yalelawschool-yls.bsky.social. There is so much cowardice and anticipatory obedience these days. Bravery is in short supply. Thanks Issa. yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/09...

KOHLER-HAUSMANN: A Yale worth fighting for?

I hope this is the season those in the Yale administration take their own advice to heart. That is where you, the student body, come in. You have more power than you think to make those in power brave...

yaledailynews.com

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Alex Newhouse @alexbnewhouse.bsky.social · 26d

the national park service budget is roughly $5 billion. those are rookie numbers. amateur hour. I want President Pritzker to be using all of his political capital to get to $50 billion. I want 100 new national parks. I want maglevs from cities to visitor centers.

Alex Newhouse @alexbnewhouse.bsky.social · 26d

the central pillar of my philosophy: build rec centers and build libraries and build schools and fund after school programs and sports teams and clubs and literally never stop building more of them

🎃scarecrowcialism👻 @swolecialism.bsky.social · 26d

I should really write it up (I will never write it up) but the defining thing, to me, is not being Online, it's being Only Online. a family or other social graph in your offline life is grounding and fundamentally a basic human need.

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Alex Newhouse @alexbnewhouse.bsky.social · 26d

the central pillar of my philosophy: build rec centers and build libraries and build schools and fund after school programs and sports teams and clubs and literally never stop building more of them

🎃scarecrowcialism👻 @swolecialism.bsky.social · 26d

I should really write it up (I will never write it up) but the defining thing, to me, is not being Online, it's being Only Online. a family or other social graph in your offline life is grounding and fundamentally a basic human need.

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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26d

Most of us who study these things knew, right away, there was a very good chance this was a groyper or accelerationists, all while our politicians and media members lined up to normalize Kirk and blather on about “disagreeing better.”

It’s horseshit and detrimental. The story was obvious.

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Aziza Ahmed @azizaahmed.bsky.social · 26d

I wrote a book that I hope helps people think about the relationship between law, science, social movements, &political economy.

It tells the story of how feminists transformed the response to AIDS to ensure better access to healthcare.

Avail for preorder!

www.cambridge.org/core/books/r...

Risk and Resistance

Cambridge Core - American Studies - Risk and Resistance

www.cambridge.org

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 28d

bsky.app/profile/same...

Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 29d

”’My boys,‘ was all he could say when he saw them lying dead in the street. He tried to approach them and was shot.“

Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 29d

Wrenching and enraging. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Reposted by Sameer Ashar

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 28d

Who gets read as being legitimately able to grieve? And who is ignored?

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David Naimon @davidnaimon.bsky.social · 28d

Congrats to Omar El Akkad for making the National Book Award longlist in nonfiction for One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
ICYMI, what better time to listen to our conversation about this incredible book
Audio📻: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
#freepalestine

Omar El Akkad : One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Tin House

In late October 2023, weeks into Israel’s bombing of northern Gaza, the novelist Omar El Akkad retweeted a video taken by a Gazan man. This video showed a lifeless moonscape with endless empty streets...

tinhouse.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 28d

have to say that i liked this one quite a bit

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29d

wrote about the “national conservative” vision for america

Opinion | They Don’t Want to Live in Lincoln’s America

www.nytimes.com

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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 29d

”’My boys,‘ was all he could say when he saw them lying dead in the street. He tried to approach them and was shot.“

Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 29d

Wrenching and enraging. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

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William Baude @williambaude.bsky.social · Sep 8

Sincerely wondering: what remedies does Justice Kavanaugh believe are and should be available in federal court these days for excessive force violations by federal immigration officials?

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