Joel Berger
@joelberger313.bsky.social
PhD candidate in history writing about Detroit teachers, race, and education politics in the 1960s-70s. Former Detroit Public Schools teacher/DFT member. Dad of two boys. Husband. Current Baltimore City resident. Forever a Detroiter.
Really love that the Lions used their first two picks this year on the D Line and O Line. Especially re the O Line, this is all about ensuring that a current strength remains a strength. Dan Campbell 101: shore up those trenches.
Pride of Detroit@prideofdetroit.bsky.social · last yr.Lions select: G Tate Ratledge, Georgia!
Americans, especially white collar Americans, not understanding labor organizing is one of the greatest successes of the Reagan era. People just don’t understand solidarity and say stupid shit like “Fuck that union because I don’t like its president” instead of “join and fight!”
Dan Greene@dmgreene.bsky.social · last yr.Just saw a lefty lawyer on here saying workers filing for a union election with UAW should vote no bc he doesn't like what Shawn Fain has said and I frankly can't imagine anything more anti-solidarity! As if people risk their livelihoods for *years* organizing for a president, rather than each other
The reason billionaires like McMahon are obsessed with student debt is that creating financial precarity makes people more stressed about losing their job. If you’re worried about your job you’re less likely to quit and find work elsewhere. You’re less likely to ask for a raise. It’s pure class war.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.McMahon: "The plan is very simple. We have announced that beginning May 5, you must start to repay your loan. This is not to in any way to try to cause hardship. There are several different payment plans ... but they need to get on it. Because there isn't going to be any loan forgiveness program."
Generations of poor kids were sold the idea that taking out a student loan was an investment on their future and one they couldn’t afford to pass. Now after multiple once-in-a-lifetime economic downturns and endless avocado toast pieces those same poor kids are being targeted for immiseration.
The Associated Press@apnews.com · last yr.BREAKING: Education Department says it will begin collection on student loans for over 5 million borrowers in default.
Watched Sinners last night and was wowed. This might be best review I’ve read of it yet, by Nadira Goffe. Only critic I’ve read so far that really grapples fully with the racial politics of the vampire metaphors, what it means that Remmick is Irish, the layers of villainy. slate.com/culture/2025...
What, Exactly, Is Sinners Trying to Say?
The racial politics of Ryan Coogler’s buzzy new vampire movie aren’t so black and white.
slate.com
Van Hollen has been pretty good fighting this whole Trump II term, but I’ll be honest that I didn’t know he had that El Salvador trip in him. In an era full of unpleasant surprises, really nice to get pleasantly surprised by someone showing some actual guts
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump admin must facilitate the return of SMART Union Local 100 apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They need to quit wasting time and bring our union brother home NOW!
Sometimes my intellectual brain melts away for a moment and I wonder what went wrong in our society that there is a mass constituency for this absolute, undiluted wickedness. These photo ops are evil. The politicians engaging in them make me question my core belief in the possibility of redemption.
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last yr.We've reached the point where Republicans are flying to El Salvador to visit one of the most vicious prisons in the world to have photo ops so they can prove their loyalty to the President of the United States.
Grim. It’s tough to understand what’s happening without paying attention to the ideology that underlies the unprecedented actions & ambitions of the 21st c right wing.
The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them
theguardian.com
Proud to have you as my senator @vanhollen.senate.gov. Thank you!!!
Senator Chris Van Hollen@vanhollen.senate.gov · last yr.I’m about to board my flight to El Salvador, where I hope to meet with senior government officials to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. I also hope to see Kilmar and check on his condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home.
Gathering sources for my next dissertation chapter today and pulled back up this Detroit Free Press profile of DFT prez Mary Ellen Riordan during the 1967 Detroit teachers’ strike. I love it so much.
I still can’t get over how crazy this is. Republican House blew up DC’s budget (by accident?) in their spending bill, and sanctimonious zealot Mike Johnson refuses to schedule a bill to fix it. Thus DC is barred from spending ITS OWN TAX MONEY - resulting in layoffs, service cuts, & more. TYRANNY.
Martin Austermuhle@maustermuhle.bsky.social · last yr.BIG NEWS: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is imposing "extraordinary measures" to close the budget gap created by Congress. Those include freezes on spending, hiring, promotions, overtime, and some contracts. She's also planning for possible furloughs and facility closures.
Really respect Van Hollen for this. Next level shit. Happy he’s my senator.
Senator Chris Van Hollen@vanhollen.senate.gov · last yr.I've been clear: if President Bukele doesn't want to meet here in D.C., then I intend to go to El Salvador this week to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's condition and discuss his release. Kilmar was illegally ABDUCTED and deported by the Trump Admin. He must be brought home NOW.
Despite attacks from Trump and Musk, educators & community partners stood strong to protect and invest in public schools. This contract pushes back against dismantling public ed—securing smaller classes, more resources, student protections, and respect for veteran teachers. bsky.app/profile/ctul...
Chicago Teachers Union@ctulocal1.bsky.social · last yr.🚨 BREAKING: CTU members overwhelmingly vote for a historic contract! This contract means Chicago’s school children will have more access to arts, sports, wrap around supports, libraries, and so much more. This is a major leap forward for the schools our students deserve.
I will say this - EVERYONE with power seems to be desperately hoping that unpopularity does the work that consequences need to do
This reminds me that the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next yr offers a prime year-long organizing opportunity for any and all activist groups who oppose this lawless, fascist administration. SO much you can do with this (assuming Trump isn’t impeached and removed before 2026)
AFT@aft.org · last yr.To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America250 is holding a nationwide scholastic competition for students in grades 3-12 to win exclusive field trips to some of America’s most iconic sites. Learn more: america250.org/fieldtrip/
Good way to see the current tariffs, as of literally today, is no tariffs on high value add manufactured goods marketed to middle and upper middle classes. Massive tariffs for cheap consumer items which amount to the biggest economic privilege of working class/middle class life in US.
The late Mike Davis (RIP) said in an interview near the end of his life that a good 30% of ppl in this country are hardcore fascists…
I’ve had the “Devereux Wigs” jingle in my head all day - the version with Tim in it 😭 #Detroiters
a group of people in suits are dancing together
Alt: a group of people in suits are dancing together, doing the Hustle in Detroit
media.tenor.com
Stuff like this helps me remember what the brilliant Marcia Chatelain told a class of undergrads in her “American Activism” course I TA-ed. When ppl say “I can’t believe ___ is happening in 2023,” she said, it shows that a lot of ppl’s understanding of history follows a progressive narrative /1 of 2
Equal Justice Initiative@eji.org · last yr.On this day in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson authorized overt racial segregation in federal employment. Federal endorsement of Jim Crow policies was a significant blow to Black civil rights.
Love the creative ideas in here. As this political crisis deepens, our foremost public sector labor historian @josephamccartin.bsky.social continues to sound the alarm: the US labor movement needs to respond to this moment with more than lawsuits and strongly worded statements. It’s action time.
Joseph A. McCartin@josephamccartin.bsky.social · last yr.Several commentators have drawn parallels between Trump's effort to strip union rights from roughly a million federal workers & Reagan's firing of PATCO strikers in 1981. Here I reflected on the lessons from 1981 that can help guide labor's resistance to this assault. labornotes.org/blogs/2025/0...
Schools should be a safe and welcoming place for students to learn. That is what this teacher did, a beloved teacher with a stellar record and she got fired for it. We stand with her. www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2...
Florida teacher loses job for calling student by ‘preferred’ name
Thousands are signing a petition to try to help a teacher get her job back at Satellite High School. Brevard Public Schools said it isn’t renewing Melissa Calhoun’s contract for next year because she ...
clickorlando.com
lol. This reminds me of my mother - an anarchist in the ‘80s, slightly softened up to lefty teacher unionist in the following decades. She heard me in high school playing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and said she didn’t like it, it reminded her of “those wishy-washy hippies” 😂😂😭😭
Asher Elbein@asherelbein.bsky.social · last yr.Speaking as someone who’s lived and moved in hippy-adjacent spaces for most of my life: the hard truth that you should not trust most new age people as far as you can throw them