Ben SK
@bensk.bsky.social
Founding Creo College Prep in The Bronx.
Thinking @ bsk.education
Thinking @ bsk.education
Reposted by Ben SK
i think a (perhaps underappreciated) aspect of this whole situation is the extent to which every elite profession is filled with people who excel at drawing attention and want to be famous more than they want to do the actual job
December 11, 2025 at 2:18 PM
i think a (perhaps underappreciated) aspect of this whole situation is the extent to which every elite profession is filled with people who excel at drawing attention and want to be famous more than they want to do the actual job
These two sentences need to end up in a history textbook, assuming we get history or textbooks.
December 10, 2025 at 2:21 AM
These two sentences need to end up in a history textbook, assuming we get history or textbooks.
Reposted by Ben SK
I am no longer employed so I'm not blogging Zohran tonight but I can just repeat exactly what I said in June :-)
he won on the back of a pro-migrant, pro-trans, pro-working class campaign. and also: Dem pundits are full of shit
he won on the back of a pro-migrant, pro-trans, pro-working class campaign. and also: Dem pundits are full of shit
The Democratic Party Needs to Learn from Zohran Mamdani's Guts and Backbone
Zohran Mamdani did something different, and it made all the difference.
www.teenvogue.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:29 AM
I am no longer employed so I'm not blogging Zohran tonight but I can just repeat exactly what I said in June :-)
he won on the back of a pro-migrant, pro-trans, pro-working class campaign. and also: Dem pundits are full of shit
he won on the back of a pro-migrant, pro-trans, pro-working class campaign. and also: Dem pundits are full of shit
Reposted by Ben SK
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
“Liberal orthodoxy” is an absurd phrase to use alongside “restricted what schools can teach.”
I’d love a political movement with a positive vision for public schools. Until then I’ll keep running a school and fighting for the people who believe in reading books instead of burning them.
I’d love a political movement with a positive vision for public schools. Until then I’ll keep running a school and fighting for the people who believe in reading books instead of burning them.
August 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
“Liberal orthodoxy” is an absurd phrase to use alongside “restricted what schools can teach.”
I’d love a political movement with a positive vision for public schools. Until then I’ll keep running a school and fighting for the people who believe in reading books instead of burning them.
I’d love a political movement with a positive vision for public schools. Until then I’ll keep running a school and fighting for the people who believe in reading books instead of burning them.
Reposted by Ben SK
You can watch this Green Beret describe this experience in his own words to @vanhollen.senate.gov, and for us, and I cried. I’m not sure how you could watch this veteran tell this child’s story and not feel all of the emotions at once.
July 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
You can watch this Green Beret describe this experience in his own words to @vanhollen.senate.gov, and for us, and I cried. I’m not sure how you could watch this veteran tell this child’s story and not feel all of the emotions at once.
Reposted by Ben SK
There's an ad for Smarty Pants vitamins--a parent says to another "raising smart kids isn't a competition" then to the camera "except it totally is."
It's so over-the-top it could be parody. But it's real. So we need to talk about what's driving this competition, and why it's apt to get worse. 1/🧵
It's so over-the-top it could be parody. But it's real. So we need to talk about what's driving this competition, and why it's apt to get worse. 1/🧵
July 26, 2025 at 9:16 PM
There's an ad for Smarty Pants vitamins--a parent says to another "raising smart kids isn't a competition" then to the camera "except it totally is."
It's so over-the-top it could be parody. But it's real. So we need to talk about what's driving this competition, and why it's apt to get worse. 1/🧵
It's so over-the-top it could be parody. But it's real. So we need to talk about what's driving this competition, and why it's apt to get worse. 1/🧵
Reposted by Ben SK
that is one way to describe a white supremacist, politico!!!
Academic with history of incendiary remarks to lead US Institute of Peace
Darren Beattie once said on X that “competent white men must be in charge.”
www.politico.com
July 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
that is one way to describe a white supremacist, politico!!!
Reposted by Ben SK
like don't get me (or Michael) wrong--willful complicity is def a thing--but it is, also, astonishing the extent to which some of these people are like, 'but my colleague is always so nice in the capitol cafeteria' or 'but he too is a harvard man' and similar foolishness
the number of elected dems who actually understand the republican party is shockingly small. rather than giving them better insight, knowing and working alongside republicans has blinded them. it’d be fascinating if it wasn’t such an existential threat
NEW: Sen. Angus King admits he made "a mistake" when he voted Tuesday to confirm Josh Divine, an 35-year-old archconservative with a long record of attacking abortion rights, to a lifetime federal judgeship.
“I took Josh Hawley’s advice." www.huffpost.com/entry/angus-... w/ @igorbobic.bsky.social
“I took Josh Hawley’s advice." www.huffpost.com/entry/angus-... w/ @igorbobic.bsky.social
July 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
like don't get me (or Michael) wrong--willful complicity is def a thing--but it is, also, astonishing the extent to which some of these people are like, 'but my colleague is always so nice in the capitol cafeteria' or 'but he too is a harvard man' and similar foolishness
Reposted by Ben SK
this reminds me of the period in american politics when pundits would demand that any black politician of note — really, any black person in politics with a national audience — “condemn farrakhan”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro chides Zohran Mamdani for not condemning other people’s antisemitism:
“He left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things.”
“He left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things.”
Shapiro rebukes Mamdani for failing to condemn ‘blatantly antisemitic’ extremists
The Pennsylvania governor told JI: ‘When supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can't leave room for that to just sit there’
jewishinsider.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:01 AM
this reminds me of the period in american politics when pundits would demand that any black politician of note — really, any black person in politics with a national audience — “condemn farrakhan”
Reposted by Ben SK
the difference between Dem politicians like Beshear & Walz (who say supportive things about LGBTQ ppl) and the Newsoms, Emanuels & other Dem politicians/pundits throwing trans ppl under the bus isn't "strategy", it's that the latter group is transphobic
If the (wildly popular) governor of Kentucky can say this with his whole chest then what excuse does the (wildly unpopular) governor of California have?
July 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
the difference between Dem politicians like Beshear & Walz (who say supportive things about LGBTQ ppl) and the Newsoms, Emanuels & other Dem politicians/pundits throwing trans ppl under the bus isn't "strategy", it's that the latter group is transphobic
Reposted by Ben SK
Once, ever, NYT should (a) disclose who writes these headlines, and (b) have him or her answer questions about why.
Not “liberal states,” New York Times. Pro-democracy states.
July 10, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Once, ever, NYT should (a) disclose who writes these headlines, and (b) have him or her answer questions about why.
Reposted by Ben SK
Millennials just screaming into the void - “what if we didn’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again”????
June 22, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Millennials just screaming into the void - “what if we didn’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again”????
Reposted by Ben SK
the complaint here seems to be “the extremely rich children of NYC are class traitors”
this kind of panic is completely disconnected from objective reality, what on earth are they expecting will happen if the city becomes (optimistically) 10% more responsive to the needs of people who will never know anyone who has a line drawing of themselves in the newspaper
June 20, 2025 at 1:05 AM
the complaint here seems to be “the extremely rich children of NYC are class traitors”
Reposted by Ben SK
All while pretending it’s about ‘government experience’ rather than ideology. We have an entire intellectual elite that is allergic to clearly stating what they think and providing evidence.
I don't think I've ever felt more like burning it all down than I have while witnessing the elite project to turn Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander into scary, incompetent monsters while turning an actual incompetent monster, Andrew Cuomo, into a merely complicated fellow who just made an oopsie.
June 16, 2025 at 10:58 PM
All while pretending it’s about ‘government experience’ rather than ideology. We have an entire intellectual elite that is allergic to clearly stating what they think and providing evidence.
Reposted by Ben SK
if you are a cis person it costs you nothing to just say today that you see & hear your trans sisters & brothers & others over in the UK today -- and around the world, too, knowing that rulings like today's ripple out in ugly ways.
April 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
if you are a cis person it costs you nothing to just say today that you see & hear your trans sisters & brothers & others over in the UK today -- and around the world, too, knowing that rulings like today's ripple out in ugly ways.
Reposted by Ben SK
Tonight, hours after the Paul Weiss news broke, an associate at Skadden Arps sent a firm-wide email:
"Please consider this email my two week notice, revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment...We do not have time. It is now or it is never..."
"Please consider this email my two week notice, revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment...We do not have time. It is now or it is never..."
March 21, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Tonight, hours after the Paul Weiss news broke, an associate at Skadden Arps sent a firm-wide email:
"Please consider this email my two week notice, revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment...We do not have time. It is now or it is never..."
"Please consider this email my two week notice, revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment...We do not have time. It is now or it is never..."
Reposted by Ben SK
If you want to run for school board, @runforsomething.net will help you. We will desperately need good leaders for public education at the local level everywhere. runforwhat.net
March 4, 2025 at 12:02 AM
If you want to run for school board, @runforsomething.net will help you. We will desperately need good leaders for public education at the local level everywhere. runforwhat.net
Reposted by Ben SK
TLDR: The paper I'm teaching tomorrow finds that the shadow of enslavement is SO LONG that there's NO level of saving, education, capital gains, wealth tax, or income redistribution that closes the racial wealth gap.
Only one thing closes the gap: REPARATIONS.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
Only one thing closes the gap: REPARATIONS.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
March 2, 2025 at 11:06 PM
TLDR: The paper I'm teaching tomorrow finds that the shadow of enslavement is SO LONG that there's NO level of saving, education, capital gains, wealth tax, or income redistribution that closes the racial wealth gap.
Only one thing closes the gap: REPARATIONS.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
Only one thing closes the gap: REPARATIONS.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
Reposted by Ben SK
this is not a story about private sector brilliance being misapplied in the public sector. this a story about a failure of capitalism who glutted himself on government contracts and an inflated PE, rollerskating through the commons with a sledgehammer
March 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
this is not a story about private sector brilliance being misapplied in the public sector. this a story about a failure of capitalism who glutted himself on government contracts and an inflated PE, rollerskating through the commons with a sledgehammer
Reposted by Ben SK
AOC has them sputtering mad because she’s educating people on constitutional rights. You don’t see them freaking out at Jeffries for talking about egg prices.
February 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
AOC has them sputtering mad because she’s educating people on constitutional rights. You don’t see them freaking out at Jeffries for talking about egg prices.
Reposted by Ben SK
The position of ivory-tower “view from nowhere” journalists is that democracy owes everything to journalism while journalism owes nothing to democracy, and they are unable to see why their readers find that demand neither convincing nor compelling.
February 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The position of ivory-tower “view from nowhere” journalists is that democracy owes everything to journalism while journalism owes nothing to democracy, and they are unable to see why their readers find that demand neither convincing nor compelling.
Reposted by Ben SK
DOGE in practice: Disabled Army veteran who has 4 kids and did 3 tours overseas is fired from his job at Bronx VA hospital
February 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
DOGE in practice: Disabled Army veteran who has 4 kids and did 3 tours overseas is fired from his job at Bronx VA hospital
Reposted by Ben SK
I find the doomers in my replies yelling “there won’t be future elections!!” exhausting - (1) don’t give them credit for something they haven’t done & (2) there is no mechanism for cancelling elections! Our elections aren’t run by the fed govt; they’re run by states, counties & municipalities.
February 16, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I find the doomers in my replies yelling “there won’t be future elections!!” exhausting - (1) don’t give them credit for something they haven’t done & (2) there is no mechanism for cancelling elections! Our elections aren’t run by the fed govt; they’re run by states, counties & municipalities.
Reposted by Ben SK
a good part of me thinks that in addition to everything else, the reason they are scrubbing these stories is they do not want disadvantaged kids to believe they can aspire to anything other than their designated “black” or “hispanic” or “woman” job
This profile has been scrubbed from the site. Rose Ferreira grew up without reliable electricity, immigrated to NY, then survived homelessness and cancer on her way to NASA. She was so moved by images from the Webb telescope she wept. This is what’s at stake
web.archive.org/web/20231206...
web.archive.org/web/20231206...
NASA Intern Found Hope in the Moon - NASA
Lee esta historia en español aquí
web.archive.org
February 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
a good part of me thinks that in addition to everything else, the reason they are scrubbing these stories is they do not want disadvantaged kids to believe they can aspire to anything other than their designated “black” or “hispanic” or “woman” job