Walter
@walterkatz.bsky.social
Policy and politics at the intersection of race, tech, and justice. MuckRack: https://muckrack.com/walter-katz/articles
60 years ago on July 11, @thenation.com published James Baldwin's, "A Report from Occupied Territory." What is occupied may have moved. The brutality remains. As does the impunity. I urge you to read it even if it isn't your first time. www.thenation.com/article/cult...
A Report from Occupied Territory
These things happen, in all our Harlems, every single day. If we ignore this fact, and our common responsibility to change this fact, we are sealing our doom.
thenation.com
The brilliance of Orwell was to never reveal whether The Brotherhood in ‘1984’ was real or a fabrication. That ambiguity served its purpose for the state to do whatever it wanted to define it as it pleased and to do what was “necessary” to wipe out the “threat.”
I will say it again, the lack of a private setting in the @bsky.app means it is not suitable for this environment: www.wired.com/story/inside...
Walter@walterkatz.bsky.social · 11mo agoAfter 2020, especially, the right moved to private messaging, such as Telegram and Discord. Since last week, people’s public social media posts are being used to attack them and their livelihoods. In this environment, that a private setting is *impossible* renders @bsky.app fundamentally flawed.
It was taken down by Reddit mod, so here is the YouTube version of the explainer by @cybelecanterel.bsky.social about always online Gr*yper meme extremism which has been outside the view of the vast majority of people until now. Best explainer I have seen on this: youtu.be/Wcw02sEslog?...
Blackpill Aesthetics: A Crash Course in Meme Extremism
YouTube video by Cy Canterel
youtu.be
Walter@walterkatz.bsky.social · 11mo agoThis thought-provoking explainer of the conflict between Christian nationalists, who want to take control of institutions, and blackpilled memetic nihilists, is what a lot of mainstream writers should watch before doing a Steve Buscemi. www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCrin...
This thought-provoking explainer of the conflict between Christian nationalists, who want to take control of institutions, and blackpilled memetic nihilists, is what a lot of mainstream writers should watch before doing a Steve Buscemi. www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCrin...
From the TikTokCringe community on Reddit: A breakdown of the differences between the Christian Nationalist and Black Pill Accelerationist Communities
Explore this post and more from the TikTokCringe community
reddit.com
After 2020, especially, the right moved to private messaging, such as Telegram and Discord. Since last week, people’s public social media posts are being used to attack them and their livelihoods. In this environment, that a private setting is *impossible* renders @bsky.app fundamentally flawed.
With all else going on, this incident will likely receive little traction but it does call into question the “run/hide/fight” approach to active shooters. A sheltering midshipman apparently mistook a law enforcement officer as a threat and ended up being shot. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/u...
Midshipman shot during police response to Naval Academy threat
A midshipman was shot at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland Thursday as law enforcement responded to reports of threats made to the military school, a source told NBC News.
nbcwashington.com
This chart in the 2024 WICHE annual report on college enrollment projections on state by state high school graduation projections, should put to bed any delusions about saving House seats in Blue states. NY, CA and IL won’t save Democrats. This also explains the purpose of stifling immigration
The relentless dishonesty is revealing. This was a meeting of the *academic advisory council* of the Chicago Fed. Think: Nerds around a conference table. No, academics don't set rates. No, the Chicago Fed doesn't set rates. No, the Chicago Fed President didn't even vote on rates that year.
Follow @unraveledpress.com for the clearest real-time reporting on what is happening in the streets of Chicago.
unraveled@unraveledpress.com · 11mo agoJust watched ICE hand off three women in shackles to sheriff's officers bound for Clinton County, Indiana.
“What one man’s 45-year-old case tells us about the ‘Jim Crow juries’ haunting Louisiana” - 19-year-old Lloyd Gray, a Black man, was sentenced to prison for life even though the only two Black jurors had voted not guilty. @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/lloy...
What One Man’s 45-Year-Old Case Tells Us About the “Jim Crow Juries” Haunting Louisiana
Today, a split verdict would mean a mistrial. But in 1980s Louisiana, when nonunanimous juries were still legal, 19-year-old Lloyd Gray, a Black man, was sentenced to prison for life — even though the...
propublica.org
Consumers are even more skeptical about AI than a year ago, yet enterprise and public sector adoption is accelerating without that valuable public/worker input or visibility into potential impact. www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/...
Smartphone Buyers Care Even Less About AI Than They Did Last Year, CNET Survey Finds
Shoppers aren't sold on thinner phones, even as rumors suggest Apple will soon debut the iPhone 17 Air.
cnet.com
A truly remarkable achievement. Chicago has seen the fewest homicides for June, July and August in 60 years. Overall violent crime remains near its lowest point in more than four decades. www.wbez.org/news/2025/09...
Chicago sees its fewest summer murders since 1965
The Chicago Police Department’s criminal homicide tally for June, July and August is the lowest in 60 years. And overall violent crime remains near its lowest point in more than four decades.
wbez.org
What works to reduce homelessness? Housing first policies and harm reduction programs. What does the July executive order specifically prohibit? Federal funding to cities that have housing first and harm reduction programs. gothamist.com/news/a-new-t...
A new Trump order could upend the way NYC treats homeless people. Here’s what to know.
Trump’s executive order “ending crime and disorder” proposes a shift away from solutions the city says have worked for decades to address homelessness.
gothamist.com
From a a source in the Texas governor's office: "I'm not sure where the Governor got his information but it is not accurate." @wttw.bsky.social
Heather Cherone@heathercherone.bsky.social · 11mo agoBREAKING: Gov. JB Pritzker says the Trump administration has sent the Texas National Guard to Great Lakes Naval Base outside Chicago, awaiting orders to deploy to Chicago. Trump administration officials will target Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16) celebrations. @wttw.bsky.social
Trump Plans to Send Texas National Guard, ‘Armed Military Personnel’ to Chicago: Pritzker
President Donald Trump is preparing to send members of the Texas National Guard as well as “armed military personnel” to Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday.
news.wttw.com
Heather Cherone@heathercherone.bsky.social · 11mo agoBREAKING: Gov. JB Pritzker says the Trump administration has sent the Texas National Guard to Great Lakes Naval Base outside Chicago, awaiting orders to deploy to Chicago. Trump administration officials will target Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16) celebrations. @wttw.bsky.social
Unemployment among Black people is at the highest level since 2021 and up significantly for college-educated Black workers. DOGE cuts disproportionately hit Black federal staff. Add nonprofit cuts caused by grant cancellations, attacks on diversity and there you have it. www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...
Black Americans Are Losing Jobs in a Warning for the Economy
Unemployment among Black people reaches highest level since 2021. “I am in the fight of my life.”
wsj.com
Among cops in LA there is a longstanding joke that CHP stands for Can’t Handle Policework. “They know how do a traffic stop but not much else.”
Joey Scott@joeyneverjoe.bsky.social · 11mo agoCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom announced he is sending CHP officers assigned to Crime Suppression Teams into San Diego, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Central Valley, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area. He will, among other things, use predictive policing to suppress “criminal activity.”
They're openly calling to lock up every trans person by force. We need every ally to speak out forcefully against this because trans folks cannot do this on our own.
Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 11mo agoPeople need to understand just how openly genocidal the rhetoric on the far right is getting towards transgender people. They're openly talking about eradicating us and forcefully mass institutionalizing all trans people. These are people with direct ties to the Trump administration.
It happened before 2022. The rapid rise in violence in 2020 continued into 2021. Journalists had a hard time understanding that COVID-related factors drove it and the easy answer was to blame George Floyd protests that either emboldened criminals or demoralized cops - which evidence doesn’t support.
Jamison Foser@jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 11mo agoIn general, media & pundits assume crime helps Republicans. And it often* does! But despite months of friendly "Trump is tough on crime" coverage in 2020, it didn't much help him. After 2022, lots of journos retconned 2020 results to fit narrative * largely because of the way the media covers crime
“It turns out ‘states’ rights’ was never about principle—it was just about who had the whip hand. Funny how ‘federal tyranny’ became ‘law and order’ the moment their guy was holding the federal badge.”
Techdirt@techdirt.com · 11mo agoThe Inversion Of American Values There’s a particular kind of person who cheers when the president deploys military forces against American cities over the objections of their elected leaders. They call themselves patriots. They wrap themselves in the flag while applauding the systematic…
This is absolutely true. I’ve been away from Chicago since 2020 but I’m still in regular contact with funders, community service providers, funders, and more. There is such a deep commitment to make a difference in under-resourced neighborhoods that see too much gun violence.
Chicago Tribune@chicagotribune.com · 11mo agoWhat often gets lost in the dialogue about Chicago is the tremendous, tireless work that takes place here day in and day out to prevent violence, to heal trauma, to build and sustain communities that honor people’s dignity and protect their safety and peace, writes Heidi Stevens.
The full text of Gov Prtizker’s remarks yesterday are a must-read. Not enough has been said until now on the glaring hypocrisy behind the false claims that the military is needed www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
What’s unnerving is the hybrid of traditional and compulsory visibility- Foucault: “Traditionally, power was what was seen, what was shown, and what was manifested. Disciplinary power… is exercised through its invisibility… it imposes on those whom it subjects a principle of compulsory visibility.”
Currently reading - Hallucination, Perception, and the Limits of Knowledge: “Whether in neuronal circuits or neural networks, the feeling of plausibility is unreliable, always vulnerable to error or bias.”
Immigration officials’ primary objection to releasing Mario Guevara on bond as he awaits the outcome of deportation proceedings, according to court records, is rooted in how he reports on law enforcement. — @samatl.bsky.social
ICE relied on sheriff’s office to fight releasing Spanish-language reporter in Georgia, records show • Georgia Recorder
The federal immigration case against a jailed, Spanish-language journalist has been bolstered by the help of a metro Atlanta sheriff’s office, public records show. Mario Guevara’s two-month confinemen...
georgiarecorder.com
“trust declined among many white Americans after the 2020 election when President Trump began to blame his loss on voter fraud among Black Americans, majority-Black cities, and immigrant communities.” Notice how claims of mortgage fraud are now being waged against high profile Black women.
Brennan Center@brennancenter.org · 12mo agoTwo troubling new studies find that lies about the 2020 election tapped into racist attitudes and white America’s long-standing fear of a real multiracial democracy. Read about the studies here: bit.ly/3Jqxp6A
The subhed: “The remark, made as the president has ordered a wide-ranging review of museum exhibits, added to his pattern of minimizing Black history.” “Minimizing” is the exact verb I was looking for too. /s www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...
Trump Says Smithsonian Focuses Too Much on ‘How Bad Slavery Was’
nytimes.com
OMG, this photo. I have walked out of Union Station dozens of times after arriving from NYC and I never saw any need whatsoever for the National Guard at the rideshare pickup island. This is a colossal waste that deserves nothing but derision. www.publicnotice.co/p/democratic...
Don't listen to centrist Democrats about crime
They're wrong on the policy and wrong on the politics.
publicnotice.co