ZSW
@zsw.bsky.social
I teach American Studies, labor history, and abolitionist university studies. Also I post about birds. https://abolition.university/
I think the fact that he is describing his stool to a journalist is more striking than the fact that he is publicly admitting that he does not wipe himself, which is in turn more striking than the apparent fact that he does not wipe himself.
Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 19h agoOh my god the dietician who is telling everyone in the White House to only eat steak and sauerkraut doesn't wipe his ass.
"Every Flock license plate reader camera operated by the Winona Police Department has been sawed off and stolen in what investigators believe was a coordinated theft." www.valleynewslive.com/2026/08/04/e...
All of Winona Police Department’s Flock cameras cut down and stolen
Lost cameras valued at about $24,000
valleynewslive.com
The slur "tonks" is used by Border Patrol to describe migrants. It's derived from the sound a baton or heavy duty flashlight makes when hitting a migrant over the head.
Sergio olmos@sergioolmos.bsky.social · last wk.‘Pretty sure he’s wet:’ Immigration agents used racial slurs during LA sweeps, court records show. “Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we’ll jump out.” “tonks everywhere selling food.” W/ @wendyfry.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2026...
Exclusive from me — Daniel Moraff, one of the political operatives behind Graham Platner's rise and fall, has been accused of sexual assault. Full story here:
Exclusive: Political operative behind Graham Platner's rise accused of sexual assault
A spokesperson for Daniel Moraff said: “Any suggestion that he committed a criminal offence is false and without foundation."
thehandbasket.co
UPDATE Brazil has denied visas to the two State Department officials Trump planned to send to undermine confidence in the country’s electoral system
Brazil denies visas to U.S. delegation aiming to impugn election system, officials say
The U.S. delegation had planned to visit the Brazilian capital and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting system before a presidential election this fall, officials said.
washingtonpost.com
I am 32 pages into “Beneath The Wage,” and it is excellent.
ZSW@zsw.bsky.social · 2w agoSix new books I’m excited about: 1) Tejasvi Nagaraja - Troop Movements - a new labor history of the WWII era 2) Annie McLanahan - Beneath the Wage - teaching this Marxist account of gig work next week. 3) Stuart Schrader - Blue Power: Stuart’s history of the rise of the political power of police
I watched “The Mandalorian and Grogu” yesterday, and besides the absurdity of swole Jeremy Allen White hutt pit-fighter with a heart of gold, and the underwhelming plot and pacing, my main takeaway is that Andor is a tough actor to follow.
Going to pretend that Forster’s Terns are named after Robert Forster of the great Australian proto-Indie rock band The Go-Betweens.
Just watched a large rat flush two semipalmated and two least sandpipers off of the rocky tip of Piermont Pier.
We just completed Nusantara, @thedigradio.bsky.social's 8-part series on the history of Indonesia. The fourth largest country is barely understood in the West and yet has decisively shaped the world: from Dutch colonialism to third world revolution to US-backed mass anti-communist genocide. 1/
Police murdered a Black man in the street in Madison WI today. Shot point blank in the head while on the ground, tased, and surrounded by four cops. It looks like an execution. Multiple videos circulating online. Things are about to get very bad here.
Joan Scott: "Princeton operates as a centralized, hierarchical institution (one scholar has dubbed this form of admin 'presidentialized'). There is no shared governance w/the faculty as a collective body &, as a result, the administration’s power remains unchecked." academeblog.org/2026/07/14/a...
Academic Freedom and the Palestine Exception at Princeton
BY JOAN W. SCOTT Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber has carefully curated his public reputation as a defender of free speech and academic freedom against the wanton attacks by the…
academeblog.org
Got a useful question on the thread about student visas as to whether it's contradictory, from an abolitionist perspective, to describe the university as "a sanctuary for knowledge." The answer, for me, is both yes and no. Sharing an elaboration here.🧵
I was today years old when I realized that Thomas More and Thomas Aquinas are different people
Dinesh D’Souza is a frothing racist, and 8’m not sure why anyone should assume that this 14-words ass meme and being married to D’Souza’s daughter are contradictory rather than complementary subject positions
Seth Cotlar@sethcotlar.bsky.social · 2w agoHis father-in-law (and the grandfather of the white appearing baby he’s holding) is Dinesh D’Souza, who was born in India and first set foot in the US at the age of 17.
Six new books I’m excited about: 1) Tejasvi Nagaraja - Troop Movements - a new labor history of the WWII era 2) Annie McLanahan - Beneath the Wage - teaching this Marxist account of gig work next week. 3) Stuart Schrader - Blue Power: Stuart’s history of the rise of the political power of police
I have, unfortunately, known Jamie Kirchick since college. His concern for the Democratic Party here is an act. He is a neoconservative who tries to bestow his noxious right-wing politics with fictive legitimacy by claiming to be more left wing than he has ever been.
Tom Nichols@radiofreetom.bsky.social · 2w agoThe DSA Is a Parasite The left-wing faction is hijacking the Democratic Party. by James Kirchik www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Important analysis from Abbie on the Trump administration’s new restrictions on student visas.
Abbie Boggs@abbieboggs.bsky.social · 2w agoOn 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/
A university cannot be a sanctuary for knowledge while serving as an agent of the border. As long as some students can be threatened with deportation, no one's academic freedom is secure. 20/
But there is far more to all of this, of course. The current policy was established in 1978, as the #s of nonwhite noncitizen students in the US grew rapidly and as the US worked to extend its global power. It enacted a broadly held understanding of the university's function for the US state. 11/
Immigration law has always functioned through both spectacular acts of exclusion and through the accumulation of administrative obstacles. To state what is obvious to many: bureaucracy is a technology of power. 10/
This is more than just extra paperwork. It creates new bureaucratic checkpoints to be anticipated and navigated throughout students' educational lives. Every extension. Every recertification. Every application becomes another moment where permission must be sought and secured. 9/
Under Duration of Status, students could remain in the U.S. for as long as they made satisfactory progress toward their degrees. The terms of their visa were governed by educational rather than bureaucratic time. 7/
Some good coverage is out explaining the rule - see Brookings and Truthout, and @nafsa-official.bsky.social provides functional guidance. DHS says the policy is necessary to combat "abuse." My research points to broader frames for understanding why this matters. 5/
DHS Final Rule Ending Duration of Status
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.
nafsa.org
Right now, people are understandably focused on the Trump admin's abduction, detention, and visa revocations targeting noncitizen students. Yet, this less spectacular effort is also potentially devastating: moving from "Duration of Status" to a 4-year limit dramatically remakes the terrain. 4/
The current admin's racial logic is radically different. Their agenda works to implement white nationalist ideals by narrowing pathways that have diversified the US. Student visas should be understood within that broader demographic politics. The new rule is not about nat'l security. 3/
On 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/
DHS formalizes major student visa changes: what to know
The Trump administration said the changes will apply to student, exchange, and foreign media visa holders.
newsweek.com
Saw a new bird last week, a Curlew Sandpiper, a rare visitor from Eurasia. New York gets this species somewhere between once a year and once every two years, almost always on the barrier beaches of NYC and Long Island.
