Carl Beijer
@carlbeijer.bsky.social
Socialist writer. Read me at The People's Line at http://www.peoplesline.org. Other links at https://linktr.ee/carlbeijer
Pinned
Carl Beijer
@carlbeijer.bsky.social
· Nov 5
The SNAP Freeze Shows Charity Is No Substitute for Welfare
The Trump administration suspended funding for food stamps this weekend, and local food banks are already overwhelmed by hungry Americans — belying conservative arguments that private charities can fi...
jacobin.com
ICYMI: My latest in Jacobin.
Conservatives want to use the SNAP freeze to replace the entire program with private charity. But they're already failing.
jacobin.com/2025/11/snap...
Conservatives want to use the SNAP freeze to replace the entire program with private charity. But they're already failing.
jacobin.com/2025/11/snap...
This study that's going around is interesting, but unfortunately it fails to control for a major factor: exposure. They document how much time people spend on social media at an extremely broad level (do you post daily or weekly?) but don't track daily hours spent.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature
Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared...
www.nature.com
February 19, 2026 at 7:25 PM
This study that's going around is interesting, but unfortunately it fails to control for a major factor: exposure. They document how much time people spend on social media at an extremely broad level (do you post daily or weekly?) but don't track daily hours spent.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Turns out that if you popularize misleading defenses of the economy and dismiss popular sentiment about it, The Manhattan Institute will use that to defend Donald Trump
February 19, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Turns out that if you popularize misleading defenses of the economy and dismiss popular sentiment about it, The Manhattan Institute will use that to defend Donald Trump
THE VIRGIN BLUESKY LIB: Denies material hardship with kooky theory about a "vibecession" in order to defend Bidenomics
THE CHAD BIDEN ADMIN ECONOMIST: Material hardship is real and measurable, your measures of economic welfare are just too simplistic
newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...
THE CHAD BIDEN ADMIN ECONOMIST: Material hardship is real and measurable, your measures of economic welfare are just too simplistic
newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...
February 18, 2026 at 9:11 PM
THE VIRGIN BLUESKY LIB: Denies material hardship with kooky theory about a "vibecession" in order to defend Bidenomics
THE CHAD BIDEN ADMIN ECONOMIST: Material hardship is real and measurable, your measures of economic welfare are just too simplistic
newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...
THE CHAD BIDEN ADMIN ECONOMIST: Material hardship is real and measurable, your measures of economic welfare are just too simplistic
newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...
This post is cracking me up. Jain accidentally proving that people will support Democrats *even if* they take unpopular positions on trans rights
February 18, 2026 at 8:19 PM
This post is cracking me up. Jain accidentally proving that people will support Democrats *even if* they take unpopular positions on trans rights
This explains why so much music comes from Sweden, too. One of my best friends from there has a 35-hour-a-week day job where she teaches music to kids, then she spends the rest of the week making music for herself. Was able to buy a house, vacations regularly, complete job security. It's unreal
I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland.
And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
I’m constantly astounded at the sheer level of artistic production coming out of Iceland. Novels, movies, music. Amazing.
February 18, 2026 at 6:06 PM
This explains why so much music comes from Sweden, too. One of my best friends from there has a 35-hour-a-week day job where she teaches music to kids, then she spends the rest of the week making music for herself. Was able to buy a house, vacations regularly, complete job security. It's unreal
How about you stop promoting Bill Kristol and then we can have a coherent conversation about who needs to be excluded from our politics.
February 18, 2026 at 5:34 PM
How about you stop promoting Bill Kristol and then we can have a coherent conversation about who needs to be excluded from our politics.
You can really tell how anxious liberals are about socialist activism just by noticing how many of them are repeating this utterly fabricated detail that the arsonist is a "No Kings winemom"
February 18, 2026 at 2:17 AM
You can really tell how anxious liberals are about socialist activism just by noticing how many of them are repeating this utterly fabricated detail that the arsonist is a "No Kings winemom"
Worth bearing in mind that the kind of belligerently anti-left liberals you see all over this site today were the exact same guys who marginalized Jesse Jackson. Jesse marched with Code Pink and PSL. Jesse hung out with Castro. Don't let liberals co-opt his memory. He was firmly on the left.
February 18, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Worth bearing in mind that the kind of belligerently anti-left liberals you see all over this site today were the exact same guys who marginalized Jesse Jackson. Jesse marched with Code Pink and PSL. Jesse hung out with Castro. Don't let liberals co-opt his memory. He was firmly on the left.
Keen responded to this objection (which was better articulated and actually published by Paul Anglin) eight years ago.
arxiv.org/pdf/1309.3369
arxiv.org/pdf/1309.3369
February 17, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Keen responded to this objection (which was better articulated and actually published by Paul Anglin) eight years ago.
arxiv.org/pdf/1309.3369
arxiv.org/pdf/1309.3369
RIP to one of our last off-ramps
February 17, 2026 at 8:08 PM
RIP to one of our last off-ramps
From my latest: did you know that the so-called "Law of Supply and Demand" was formally disproven three quarters of a century ago? And not by a Marxist, but by a Nobel Prize winning liberal economist?
You know who *don't* know this? Most capitalist pundits.
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
You know who *don't* know this? Most capitalist pundits.
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
February 17, 2026 at 7:16 PM
From my latest: did you know that the so-called "Law of Supply and Demand" was formally disproven three quarters of a century ago? And not by a Marxist, but by a Nobel Prize winning liberal economist?
You know who *don't* know this? Most capitalist pundits.
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
You know who *don't* know this? Most capitalist pundits.
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
Yet another anticommunist shooter. Has there been mass shooting in the US by a communist in the last century? We need to outlaw capitalism.
February 17, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Yet another anticommunist shooter. Has there been mass shooting in the US by a communist in the last century? We need to outlaw capitalism.
Funny how many "leftists" criticize Israel but won't say a thing about Clavicular getting frame mogged
February 17, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Funny how many "leftists" criticize Israel but won't say a thing about Clavicular getting frame mogged
Any "Top 50 powerful Chicagoans" list that doesn't include WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is garbage
Chicago Magazine named Nick Fuentes #7 in its list of Top 50 powerful Chicagoans of 2025.
February 17, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Any "Top 50 powerful Chicagoans" list that doesn't include WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is garbage
RIP Robert Duvall, you are relieved of the Night's Watch
February 16, 2026 at 6:41 PM
RIP Robert Duvall, you are relieved of the Night's Watch
Reposted by Carl Beijer
Similarly, here are the results from a relatively recent CNN poll. Way more democratic socialists making less than $50k a year than progressives. Again, if you actually cared about the data you'd know this stuff.
February 16, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Similarly, here are the results from a relatively recent CNN poll. Way more democratic socialists making less than $50k a year than progressives. Again, if you actually cared about the data you'd know this stuff.
Reposted by Carl Beijer
Similarly, while it's "a cliche" among right-wing liberals that DSA members are privileged trust-fund kids, the only hard data we have on this (their membership survey a few years ago) made it clear that DSA members are disproportionately working class.
February 16, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Similarly, while it's "a cliche" among right-wing liberals that DSA members are privileged trust-fund kids, the only hard data we have on this (their membership survey a few years ago) made it clear that DSA members are disproportionately working class.
Reposted by Carl Beijer
There is not actually a lot of data making this case, just demagogues making just-so claims like you are doing here. If you actually look at the data it's pretty clear that people with far-left politics are near the bottom of the income stack while people with your politics are near the top.
February 16, 2026 at 6:16 PM
There is not actually a lot of data making this case, just demagogues making just-so claims like you are doing here. If you actually look at the data it's pretty clear that people with far-left politics are near the bottom of the income stack while people with your politics are near the top.
It's impressive how candid she is about only caring about issues when they potentially affect her
February 16, 2026 at 8:47 AM
It's impressive how candid she is about only caring about issues when they potentially affect her
Every right-flank Democrat on Twitter is now waiting for Stancil to say something they endorse (frequent) and then attributing all criticism to "far left anarchists". That's his role in the discourse now.
February 16, 2026 at 7:54 AM
Every right-flank Democrat on Twitter is now waiting for Stancil to say something they endorse (frequent) and then attributing all criticism to "far left anarchists". That's his role in the discourse now.
Stephen datamogging Bill Pencil once again
From 2021-24:
Poverty: +65%
Child poverty: +158%
Difficulty paying bills: +25%
Overdraft/NSF fees: +46%
Food insecurity: +38%
sources: Census Bureau, CFPB, USDA
Poverty: +65%
Child poverty: +158%
Difficulty paying bills: +25%
Overdraft/NSF fees: +46%
Food insecurity: +38%
sources: Census Bureau, CFPB, USDA
Allow me to suggest that lying to yourself about what actually happened - the working class did great 2021-24 - is a great way to keep walking into the same traps!!
February 16, 2026 at 5:42 AM
Stephen datamogging Bill Pencil once again
NEW: Richard Hanania has written a dopey post scolding Jon Stewart for not understanding economics. The problem is that his understanding of science isn't much better
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
Richard Hanania doesn't understand economics
In his latest misunderstanding of science, Hanania misses economics' crises of legitimacy.
www.peoplesline.org
February 16, 2026 at 5:03 AM
NEW: Richard Hanania has written a dopey post scolding Jon Stewart for not understanding economics. The problem is that his understanding of science isn't much better
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
www.peoplesline.org/p/richard-ha...
Guys on here will think of themselves as radical socialists and then they'll do the most textbook liberal-right nostalgia about the good old days when US foreign policy wasn't hypocritical
February 14, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Guys on here will think of themselves as radical socialists and then they'll do the most textbook liberal-right nostalgia about the good old days when US foreign policy wasn't hypocritical
Worth noting that this is the exact economic theory of fascism that would often get you smeared as a class reductionist even by other leftists if you voiced it between 2016 and 2023/4
AOC: "Extreme level of wealth inequality leads to social instability and drives authoritarianism, right-wing populism, and really dangerous domestic internal politics. That is a direct outcome of the failure of democracies over decades to deliver."
February 14, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Worth noting that this is the exact economic theory of fascism that would often get you smeared as a class reductionist even by other leftists if you voiced it between 2016 and 2023/4