“But the Beatles turned out to be one of the things you couldn’t avoid, like alcohol, or death.” —Elif Batuman, The Idiot #summerreading
Brendan P. O'Malley
@bomalley500.bsky.social
Public school teacher in Worcester, MA. DSA🌹. Holden DTC Chair. Historian of immigration politics in the 19th-century US. NYC history. CUNY GC PhD. Sloppy indie rock drummer. Massachusetts politics. He/Him/His. Diss topic essay: https://tinyurl.com/cm55m
Long plane ride finally allowed me to dig into @unlawfulentries.bsky.social’s new book. Makes such a convincing argument for the American Political Development (APD) approach to yield insights (w/ a shoutout to Richard Bensel). It synthesizes so many disparate bodies of lit. Going to learn a lot!
Never thought I would escape horrifically bad air quality in New England by spending a week in California, but here we are.
My 19yo nephew had absolutely no idea who Mick Jagger was when the camera panned to him during the England/Argentina match. Of course he wouldn’t, but it still blew my mind.
I wrote a book about that. From the colonial period to 1888, international & interstate borders were controlled by the colonies and then states, in large part b/c of slavery. The feds don't take over until slavery is politically off the table, states stop fighting to retain migration control.
Book - Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship — Anna O. Law
annaolaw.com
David Nelson@dtnelson.bsky.social · 3w agoI notice that the Constitution does not give Congress the power to make laws regarding immigration. Naturalization, yes, but not immigration. I’m wondering how our unconstitutional immigration laws came to be.
as a committed centrist, it saddens me that both parties are falling captive to their extremes - the right to insurrectionist cultists who want to invade american cities, and the left to socialists who want better bus service
Fortunate enough to have employer-provided health insurance? If so, have you received threatening letters from third-party subrogation firms? Disturbed that our insurer let a shady entity called "Katch" review our claims and try to deny services ex post facto. Going to campaign to end this practice.
screworm outbreak is another good opportunity to remind americans that government is what protects us from things like this and not the magical free market. want safe food? government, bitch.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2mo ago(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday confirmed two additional cases of New World screwworm in Texas, involving a calf in La Salle County and a dog in Andrews County. @reuters.com
The USPS’s proposed rule on how states handle their mail-in ballots would be an implementation nightmare for voters and already overburdened election officials. Read our latest on what we can all do about it: https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/the-post-office-has-no-business-deciding
Re: The Pelley NYT interview & his outrage at the inhumane treatment by Weiss et al. My thoughts throughout were working-class people have been treated this way by corporate capitalism since the 1800s. His temporary humiliation is the daily existence of an Amazon warehouse worker. #scottpelley
Christ, you're the governor of the entire state. Shut the building down. It's not sovereign territory like a foreign embassy. Pull the certificate of occupancy. Cut the power. Back it up with state police. Stop coddling fascists and groveling every time they order you around. Act like an American.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2mo agoGov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said that federal immigration officials were continuing to bar her from entering a detention center in Newark, raising “serious questions about what is happening behind its walls.”
“The best humor is offered up to you by the stupidity of your opponents.” —Barney Frank #mapoli
Our 15yo used the word "diagetic" correctly and I nearly spit-taked. "Where did you learn that?" "YouTuber talking about game design."
How about the "weaponization" slush fund be used to award damages to US citizens and their familes who have been murdered and illegally detained by ICE? Todd Blanche said anyone can apply.
First, they taxed the private jets And I did not speak out. fortune.com/2026/05/16/n...
Mamdani's New York is coming to tax your private jet. Here's how to prepare | Fortune
Here's how Mayor Mamdani's tax agenda could reach the Teterboro ramp — and which airports, ownership structures, and strategies offer the most protection.
fortune.com
Does Payton Tolle give off Rod Beck vibes to anyone else? #redsox
I’m no expert, but on the surface Cora looks to be taking the fall for Breslow’s failures. #redsox
New book from IEHS member @unlawfulentries.bsky.social: Anna O. Law, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants (Oxford University Press, 2026) global.oup.com/academic/pro...
just about burst a blood vessel this morning when I was catching up on crypto headlines and came across several to the effect of "but what will a Trump genocide in Iran mean for the price of bitcoin"
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe matter-of-fact way she asks what investors should do if Trump destroys Iran. Absolutely wild. "Let's talk about tonight, this deadline that President Trump has set 8 p.m., has threatened to destroy a civilization. How does an investor process that? Is it a bigger upside risk or downside risk?"
This is my periodic plug for tutoring immigrants in English/for the citizenship test - established orgs will provide training/materials, and they all need help. You will see immediately what a tangible, life-changing difference you're making. There's no more motivated student than an immigrant.