This is astoundingly evil - *best* case scenario this is rank corruption, funneling $150M in tax dollars to incompetent ideological allies (with the requisite sexual harasser). Worst case it is deliberate sabotage of children's asylum cases and potential violation of these lawyers' ethical duties.

Corey Rayburn Yung@coreyryung.bsky.social · yesterday

In addition to having no experience in immigration, their website shows Ilya Shapiro (!) and disgraced former law prof Joshua Wright (!) as Senior Counsel. I don't think this massive contract was awarded to give immigrant children effective, zealous advocacy. burkegroup.law/our-team/

This is, consciously or not, laying the ground for another attempted autogolpe in 2028/9 and is wildly irresponsible journalism.

Philip N Cohen@philipncohen.com · yesterday

No, they are not "locked in a tight battle." The campaign is over and now election officials are just counting the votes.

This essay by Erica Newland is brilliant. She identifies a common theme underlying the many disparate separation-of-power doctrines promoted by the conservative legal movement & adopted by our right-wing Supreme Court. Of course, it comes down to gender & patriarchy.

Megan Wachspress@meganwachspress.bsky.social · 2d ago

Everything is Gender, but *specifically* SCOTUS's understanding of the presidency across doctrines reproduces the doctrine of coverture, with Congress as the feminized object. One of those "it all clicks into place" articles... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Everything is Gender, but *specifically* SCOTUS's understanding of the presidency across doctrines reproduces the doctrine of coverture, with Congress as the feminized object. One of those "it all clicks into place" articles... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

It's automating gendered emotional labor & executive functioning because the ladies didn't want to be secretaries and wives anymore, it's not the singularity it's just another app for gig-ifying reproductive labor!!!

Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 2d ago

De-skilling humans in the navigation of everyday public interaction

Dachshund rhymes with coxswain

Everything is Gender, but *specifically* SCOTUS's understanding of the presidency across doctrines reproduces the doctrine of coverture, with Congress as the feminized object. One of those "it all clicks into place" articles... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I know it's uncool to be a virtue ethicist but Cunningham's conduct is up there with Eric Adams selling out NYC immigrants to avoid federal prosecution as just the most obvious, disgusting examples of inviting cruelty to others for narrow, selfish gain. On top of everything, it's so uncouth.

W.E.D.em Boyz@leftistwonk.bsky.social · 3d ago

Jesus Christ. Sophie Cunningham fully embracing the right wing grift.

“The moment in which we find ourselves is not without precedent. For nearly 150 years, antipathy—if not outright hostility—toward grassroots activism that takes aim at the status quo has been the norm.” www.liberalcurrents.com/the-third-re...

The Third Red Scare

“Antifa” serves much the same function today that “Bolshevik” did a century ago.

liberalcurrents.com

Anyway, your problem isn‘t finding the time to take notes. The problem is that taking notes is thinking and thinking has to be done by someone. women have been doing a lot of metacognition that looks like a task when it’s really thinking.

I am begging everyone on this site to stop debating "is it OK to bring a gun to a protest?" a question every left group has debated since the invention of firearms and which will not finally be resolved on this, a niche social media site, in the year of our Lord 2026, and keep your eyes on the ball.

Megan Wachspress@meganwachspress.bsky.social · 4d ago

OK let's talk about how the Prairieland sentences got so long. Turns out it has very little to do with Trump's Executive Order designating Antifa a "domestic terrorist organization" because, as it happens, U.S. law does not recognize a thing called a "domestic terrorist organization."

This is as per usual a brilliant articulation of something I've fumbled around thinking about - LLMs are the latest Silicon Valley effort to automate gendered labor by people who are very bad at it because they've been outsourcing it their whole lives.

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d ago

I like this notetaking example. it is a good case of how gender works. Notetaking has never been about producing a transcript. It is a bureaucratic skill in the 20th c. organixarion because it is SENSEMAKING. Those women socialized to take notes? They have been doing men’s metacognition for them

OK let's talk about how the Prairieland sentences got so long. Turns out it has very little to do with Trump's Executive Order designating Antifa a "domestic terrorist organization" because, as it happens, U.S. law does not recognize a thing called a "domestic terrorist organization."

Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization

Section 1.  Antifa as a Terrorist Threat.  Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States

whitehouse.gov

This is hitting the Discourse so I'm going to be annoying and link to an essay I wrote 18 months ago arguing the LLM pitch has always been about gendered identity except rather than sexual domination it has been about professional & intellectual status.

On the Gender Wages of AI

In which I suggest the appeal of LLMs has more to do with our conceptions of our own intellect and professional status than anything the technology actually does.

cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com

Kotaku@kotaku.com · 5d ago

YouTuber Hank Green Admits He Has Unhealthy Relationship With AI After Facing Backlash Over Recent Video 'The level of dopamine I've been getting from interacting with LLMs is not healthy for me,' said Green

We sent both our kids to the same preschool & today is the last day, after 7 years, we are dropping a kid off there. They were our pseudo-pod during the pandemic, taught our kids half the songs and poems they know, and patiently co-potty trained my younger. Early childhood educators are a miracle

More seriously the construction jobs they do offer are transient and so often don't go to people in the community already and they employ like seven people on a permanent basis. All the brutal piecework of training and moderation is done by subcontractors in the global South.

David_j_roth@davidjroth.bsky.social · 6d ago

Got a good job down at the Data Center. I work on the line, and it's hard work but it's honest and the wage is fair; my family and I are grateful for it. I rivet the word "absolutely" onto the little apologies that chatbots do when they misunderstand a prompt.

Come party with us at Eli's, August 20th! Celebrate our LAUNCHIVERSARY! We'll have lots of stuff!!!! luma.com/6viuhae6

ORB Launchiversary: Always Be Launching · Luma

Oakland Review of Books continues to exist in space and time, and like Oakland, is always becoming. Celebrate with us on a randomly chosen day we've deemed our…

luma.com

It's almost as if there's some kind of personality trait that causes men to seek power *and* to pursue deeply unequal romantic & sexual relationships...

Dan Shafer@danshafer.bsky.social · 6d ago

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The decision by Barnes came amid reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel into allegations that Barnes was taking advantage of his role in the party to have sexual encounters with young adult women." www.jsonline.com/story/news/p...

Actually did something and donated to the Haitian Community and Support Center emergency fund, consider doing the same if you can: ancljkuy.donorsupport.co/page/FUNDVDT...

Stand with Haitian Families in Crisis

Build the Emergency Fund that protects families when everything feels uncertain. The end of TPS. Increasing ICE actions. Families losing work authorization overnight. For Haitian parents and children ...

ancljkuy.donorsupport.co

Megan Wachspress@meganwachspress.bsky.social · last wk.

The Trump administration has done many terrible things but what they have done to the 350,000 Haitians living as our neighbors and colleagues and carers, even if not a single one is deported (and there will be many deported, to death) is I think among the worst.

Not going to be salty this doesn't quote my May piece arguing that it is precisely AOC's relationship to a movement and constituency that both makes her the right candidate *and* provides a way out of the Gender Trap in which Dems found themselves w/ Platner but uh, I did say that!

AOC for President

Whether or not she runs, Ocasio-Cortez is invoking a feminist politics that Democrats should adopt if they are serious about defeating fascism.

liberalcurrents.com

ryan cooper@ryanlcooper.com · 6d ago

'It is generally a mistake, in American politics, to say “let’s wait four years and build.” It is wiser to seize every momentary advantage and push it as hard and as far as you can.' www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/aoc-must-r...

OK one last point on the "fascism" debate: there are a lot of people quoting Andor as inspiration for resistance that seem to forget Luthen is an accelerationist who's express theory of change is funding small-scale violence designed to provoke mass repression leading to wide scale uprising...

Ok I'll argue against myself here and say: Hegseth's resegregation of the military, which induces compliance by awarding white men jobs they feel they were unfairly deprived of by Others, *does* have specific analogs in 1933-era civil service purges. But that comparison suggests concrete dangers

Megan Wachspress@meganwachspress.bsky.social · last wk.

I am no fan of Moyn but I am also in the decided minority on here who does not think calling Trump II "fascism" is particularly useful for diagnosing how we got here or figuring out what to do next. OTOH, if the Republican party is a fascist party, historical comparisons suggest it can only be...

I am no fan of Moyn but I am also in the decided minority on here who does not think calling Trump II "fascism" is particularly useful for diagnosing how we got here or figuring out what to do next. OTOH, if the Republican party is a fascist party, historical comparisons suggest it can only be...

Working on a scholarly and more comprehensive piece with a non-bsky colleague on this but the notion that these data centers are ordinary customers which utilities have a duty to serve is unfounded in the history and justification for that legal duty.

Arlyssa D. Becenti ✍️🗞️@abecenti.bsky.social · last wk.

I am in favor of maximally flexible work arrangements because workers should have maximal control over their conditions of work *but* I think framing this as a "feminist" issue reinforces rather than challenges the allocation of unpaid reproductive labor in the home.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown@enbrown.bsky.social · last wk.

Remote work is a feminist issue and this study (and NYT op-ed) panning it are just plain silly reason.com/2026/07/27/n...

I am currently adapting previous year's curriculum to NextGen because after their *own* catastrophe, California is going to use them for rising 2Ls. I am FURIOUS on these graduates' behalf. Thousands of dollars and hours down the drain, careers disrupted - totally inexcusable.

David Ziff@djsziff.bsky.social · last wk.

"Dear Applicant, With deep regret, I write to inform you that Washington’s July 2026 administration of the NextGen bar exam has been cancelled. We will not continue tomorrow. . . . We do not have sufficient confidence that the technology issues have been resolved . . . . We sincerely apologize."

Our friends at @coyotemedia.org are doing a subscription drive, so support them if you can (even though they outrageously stole our unique and proprietary idea to be a hyperlocal bay area voice that publishes an events calendar and is mad about tech barons): www.coyotemedia.org/email/ad0d0c...

COYOTE Weekly: We're Having a Subscriber Drive!

We're having a big sale!

coyotemedia.org

I will be there avoiding social interaction by selling raffle tickets! JOIN THE ORB.

Oakland Review of Books@oaklandreviewofbooks.org · last wk.

We're having a party! luma.com/6viuhae6

The Trump administration has done many terrible things but what they have done to the 350,000 Haitians living as our neighbors and colleagues and carers, even if not a single one is deported (and there will be many deported, to death) is I think among the worst.

I think the anti-juristocracy turn in left scholarship doesn't adequately account for how courts (plural) have actually acquitted themselves quite well under Trump II and how much repression has failed to materialize in the face of it.

Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · last wk.

BREAKING: Justice Department drops criminal case against CA labor leader David Huerta over 2025 anti-ICE protest. Prosecutors had previously downgraded it from felony interference w/fed agent to misdemeanor. Via @jeremybwhite.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/07...