Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
I teach history and write about US politics, cities, and inequality, most recently in ILLUSIONS OF PROGRESS: Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century (Penn Press, 2023).
Pinned
Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
· Sep 12
Adding Value | Phenomenal World
Mortgage insurance has traditionally been the method the federal government has used to induce investment in owner-occupied housing. But for multifamily rentals, the history of mortgage-insurance prog...
www.phenomenalworld.org
Mike Glass and I argue for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social that we’ve tried the #abundance incentive-based approach to housing crises before. But lack of oversight + incentives produced fraud, profiteering, and inflated rents -- and the Trump family fortune.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
Well hello there @dygottlieb.bsky.social! So excited to jump into this! Congratulations!
February 10, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Well hello there @dygottlieb.bsky.social! So excited to jump into this! Congratulations!
Older daughter to younger after tickling her: “I just took my happiness out on you”
February 7, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Older daughter to younger after tickling her: “I just took my happiness out on you”
Reposted by Brent Cebul
This is such a shame
The closure of the Bryn Mawr birth center is an inconceivable loss | Opinion
After 47 years and over 16,000 deliveries, the birth center will close its doors. The reason is simple and stark: It can no longer afford the rising cost of insurance.
share.inquirer.com
February 2, 2026 at 2:21 PM
This is such a shame
Reposted by Brent Cebul
New in paper or new editions: great books by @timothyjlombardo.bsky.social and @brentcebul.bsky.social
www.pennpress.org/978081222483...
www.pennpress.org/978151282381...
www.pennpress.org/978081222483...
www.pennpress.org/978151282381...
January 30, 2026 at 3:57 PM
New in paper or new editions: great books by @timothyjlombardo.bsky.social and @brentcebul.bsky.social
www.pennpress.org/978081222483...
www.pennpress.org/978151282381...
www.pennpress.org/978081222483...
www.pennpress.org/978151282381...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
My article on the occupational sterilizations at a chemical factory in West Virginia has escaped the containment of the paywall.
". . . this essay examines the 'fetus protection policy' implemented at American Cyanamid’s Willow Island plant in West Virginia in 1978. The policy required women between the ages of sixteen and fifty to undergo sterilizations in order to keep their jobs."
Adding this to several of my syllabi
Adding this to several of my syllabi
Damned Women: Fetal Protection as Employer Offensive at American Cyanamid | Labor | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
January 29, 2026 at 2:32 PM
My article on the occupational sterilizations at a chemical factory in West Virginia has escaped the containment of the paywall.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
The next deadline for the Silicon Valley Archives's travel fellowship program is March 1, 2026. Apply! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
Fellowships: The Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University Libraries Announces New Travel Fellowships (Next Deadline 01 October) | H-Net
The Travel Fellowship Program is a pilot program supported by the Silicon Valley Archives to encourage awareness of the rich collections gathered by Stanford University Libraries over the past forty y...
networks.h-net.org
January 26, 2026 at 10:02 PM
The next deadline for the Silicon Valley Archives's travel fellowship program is March 1, 2026. Apply! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
In 1994 I took an anthropology class called "Cultures of Terror." It was about power and violence in authoritarian regimes.
I think about that class daily.
Here are some of the lessons that have kept me grounded because they help sense of the US right now.
I think about that class daily.
Here are some of the lessons that have kept me grounded because they help sense of the US right now.
January 25, 2026 at 9:51 PM
In 1994 I took an anthropology class called "Cultures of Terror." It was about power and violence in authoritarian regimes.
I think about that class daily.
Here are some of the lessons that have kept me grounded because they help sense of the US right now.
I think about that class daily.
Here are some of the lessons that have kept me grounded because they help sense of the US right now.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
January 24, 2026 at 5:42 PM
This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
these are public executions. 6 men against 1 they do not fear for their lives or even their safety. continuing to shoot him after he is lying immobile bleeding on the ground really drives home that this is just pure anger and hatred.
There appears to have been another ICE murder in Minneapolis this morning.
[CW: graphic video]
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
[CW: graphic video]
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
From the Minneapolis community on Reddit: Another ICE murder in front of Glam Doll Donuts
Explore this post and more from the Minneapolis community
www.reddit.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM
these are public executions. 6 men against 1 they do not fear for their lives or even their safety. continuing to shoot him after he is lying immobile bleeding on the ground really drives home that this is just pure anger and hatred.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
So grateful for the opportunity to welcome and work with @victorpickard.bsky.social, one of the foremost scholars and advocates for media democracy in the US. Victor's work on public media is especially urgent as oligarchs and media conglomerates amass ever more communication power at our expense.
➡️ @victorpickard.bsky.social
👥 Victor Pickard, a key contributor to our Political Economy of the Media paper, will now join us as a full-time fellow where he'll continue to research policy tools to reconstruct the public media system.
Full bio 👉 rooseveltinstitute.org/authors/vict...
👥 Victor Pickard, a key contributor to our Political Economy of the Media paper, will now join us as a full-time fellow where he'll continue to research policy tools to reconstruct the public media system.
Full bio 👉 rooseveltinstitute.org/authors/vict...
January 22, 2026 at 5:03 PM
So grateful for the opportunity to welcome and work with @victorpickard.bsky.social, one of the foremost scholars and advocates for media democracy in the US. Victor's work on public media is especially urgent as oligarchs and media conglomerates amass ever more communication power at our expense.
Totally - hasn't hit a real swing state yet
January 22, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Totally - hasn't hit a real swing state yet
I was deep in comps prep and responded to the snow with the glee of an undergrad set free . . . until I realized I just had to keep reading books.
January 21, 2026 at 10:08 PM
I was deep in comps prep and responded to the snow with the glee of an undergrad set free . . . until I realized I just had to keep reading books.
I’ll never forget the huge snow there in 2010 — the whole place shut down for a week. Roasted a number of chickens.
January 21, 2026 at 9:42 PM
I’ll never forget the huge snow there in 2010 — the whole place shut down for a week. Roasted a number of chickens.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Journalists, Editors, Podcasters interested in national security, technology, surveillance, foreign policy, intelligence, law enforcement, activism:
With the (audio)book's release, @brianhochman.bsky.social and I are happy to talk with you or facilitate a copy if you want to write about our volume.
With the (audio)book's release, @brianhochman.bsky.social and I are happy to talk with you or facilitate a copy if you want to write about our volume.
Do you want to read about how the government hurts movements but don't have time to read a massive government report? You can now listen to the *audiobook* of how the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Military killed, surveilled, and sabotaged their way through the 20th century.
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
The Church Committee Report Audiobook on Libro.fm
After fifty years, this shocking report—released in a single, accessible volume for the first time—is still the most accurate account of the US government spying on its own citizens.Fifty years ago, a...
libro.fm
January 21, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Journalists, Editors, Podcasters interested in national security, technology, surveillance, foreign policy, intelligence, law enforcement, activism:
With the (audio)book's release, @brianhochman.bsky.social and I are happy to talk with you or facilitate a copy if you want to write about our volume.
With the (audio)book's release, @brianhochman.bsky.social and I are happy to talk with you or facilitate a copy if you want to write about our volume.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I saw that The Graduate hotel is hosting ICE in Minneapolis. I won't be staying at that chain until they stop. @graduatehotels.bsky.social Please contact your local Graduate hotel if you agree.
January 14, 2026 at 3:43 PM
I saw that The Graduate hotel is hosting ICE in Minneapolis. I won't be staying at that chain until they stop. @graduatehotels.bsky.social Please contact your local Graduate hotel if you agree.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
@historians.org leadership’s refusal to let its own membership vote on a resolution on academic freedom is an anti-democratic act of moral and political cowardice. The organization can’t credibly oppose Trump’s assaults on academic freedom while repressing the freedom of its own members.
Leaders of Historians’ Group Veto Resolutions Critical of Israel
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:59 PM
@historians.org leadership’s refusal to let its own membership vote on a resolution on academic freedom is an anti-democratic act of moral and political cowardice. The organization can’t credibly oppose Trump’s assaults on academic freedom while repressing the freedom of its own members.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
The Church Committee's investigation into the crimes of the intelligence community is about as good a model as we have for the kind of investigation into the crimes of ICE and other agencies. This is really a must-read for understanding our own moment.
With MLK day approaching, worth reading what the official Senate investigation found about surveillance, sabotage, and blackmail as part of the FBI's "war" on Martin Luther King.
"No holds were barred. We have used [similar] techniques against Soviet agents...This is a rough, tough business."
"No holds were barred. We have used [similar] techniques against Soviet agents...This is a rough, tough business."
The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation Into the National Security State
Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation Into the National Security State
bookshop.org
January 11, 2026 at 6:48 PM
The Church Committee's investigation into the crimes of the intelligence community is about as good a model as we have for the kind of investigation into the crimes of ICE and other agencies. This is really a must-read for understanding our own moment.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
People don't realize how much corporations are collaborating with—and making possible—ICE's deportation machine
January 9, 2026 at 6:15 PM
People don't realize how much corporations are collaborating with—and making possible—ICE's deportation machine
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Something I always wondered is how it would be covered if America became a dictatorship
This is it
This is it
January 9, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Something I always wondered is how it would be covered if America became a dictatorship
This is it
This is it
Reposted by Brent Cebul
The era of small government is over. The only people who don't seem to recognize it are democratic centrists.
January 8, 2026 at 11:33 PM
The era of small government is over. The only people who don't seem to recognize it are democratic centrists.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Great @lioneltrolling.bsky.social post. Havel has been a really important beacon for me in recent years, and this past year especially. What Ganz says here is totally right. open.substack.com/pub/johnganz...
Living in the Lie
And How Not To
open.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Great @lioneltrolling.bsky.social post. Havel has been a really important beacon for me in recent years, and this past year especially. What Ganz says here is totally right. open.substack.com/pub/johnganz...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
This angle. My god.
NEW: Second video shows ICE shooting in Minneapolis. A woman, a U.S. citizen, was killed
January 7, 2026 at 6:24 PM
This angle. My god.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Ruy Teixeira is paid by Harlan Crow, the guy who bribes Clarence Thomas, at AEI.
Teixeira was so wrong and toxic that the centrist think tank CAP pushed him out.
Now he’s paid by Republican billionaires. Do not listen!
Teixeira was so wrong and toxic that the centrist think tank CAP pushed him out.
Now he’s paid by Republican billionaires. Do not listen!
The NYT is saving on fact checkers with Ruy Teixteira column www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/o... The guy complains about fraud but doesn't give us a clue how much.
Opinion | Minnesota’s Fraud Should Be a Wake-Up Call for Democrats
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Ruy Teixeira is paid by Harlan Crow, the guy who bribes Clarence Thomas, at AEI.
Teixeira was so wrong and toxic that the centrist think tank CAP pushed him out.
Now he’s paid by Republican billionaires. Do not listen!
Teixeira was so wrong and toxic that the centrist think tank CAP pushed him out.
Now he’s paid by Republican billionaires. Do not listen!
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Suggested reading: Michael Rogin’s RONALD REAGAN, THE MOVIE.
January 3, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Suggested reading: Michael Rogin’s RONALD REAGAN, THE MOVIE.