jennifer kates
@jenniferkates.bsky.social
public interest law/policy/advocacy always. opinions and idealism all mine. 🔗 https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/leadership-in-government-fellowship
Reading this book now, and it is a respite
On IG, @ollycostello.bsky.social has a really wonderful set of illustrations about @biidaasamose.bsky.social's writing about sintering (from her wonderful book "Theory of Water"). www.instagram.com/p/DUWOcBFFh2...
Olly Costello Creative Practice on Instagram: "S❄️I❄️N❄️T❄️E❄️R❄️I❄️N❄️G
Drinking in words from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson in her book Theory of Water; Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead which came ou...
664 likes, 10 comments - olly.costello.art on February 4, 2026: "S❄️I❄️N❄️T❄️E❄️R❄️I❄️N❄️G
Drinking in words from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson in her book Theory of Water; Nishnaabe Maps to the Times A...
www.instagram.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Reading this book now, and it is a respite
Reposted by jennifer kates
“In my profession, I have seen many people break down in grief, but that image of Elizabeth’s father will stay with me forever,” she said. “I watched him sit in his car, bury his head in his hands, and cry uncontrollably. Those are images you do not forget.”
Elizabeth is a Columbia Heights fourth-grader who loves volleyball, learning English and giggling in the halls with her friends. She's been held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for nearly a month, and she and her mom have both fallen ill. sahanjournal.com/education/co...
Sick fourth-grader among 4 Columbia Heights students held by ICE
Columbia Heights Public Schools says four students remain detained by ICE after Liam’s return, including 10-year-old Elizabeth, who has fallen ill.
sahanjournal.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:31 AM
“In my profession, I have seen many people break down in grief, but that image of Elizabeth’s father will stay with me forever,” she said. “I watched him sit in his car, bury his head in his hands, and cry uncontrollably. Those are images you do not forget.”
Reposted by jennifer kates
We have a Boston Review Forum out today on the Democratic Party in a time of authoritarianism
www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
February 3, 2026 at 3:50 PM
We have a Boston Review Forum out today on the Democratic Party in a time of authoritarianism
www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
Reposted by jennifer kates
About activism, June Jordan said, “You do something, rather than nothing… You do whatever you can. You reach beyond yourself in your imagination, and in your wish for understanding, and for change. You admit the limitations of individual perspectives. You trust somebody else. You do not turn away.”
February 2, 2026 at 12:25 AM
About activism, June Jordan said, “You do something, rather than nothing… You do whatever you can. You reach beyond yourself in your imagination, and in your wish for understanding, and for change. You admit the limitations of individual perspectives. You trust somebody else. You do not turn away.”
Reposted by jennifer kates
"When in doubt, draw a distinction."
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
February 1, 2026 at 4:31 PM
"When in doubt, draw a distinction."
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Thread
Comparing US response to authoritarian threat with that of other places I've worked, witnessed or studied, one striking difference has been how much default toward thinking "someone" - institution, leader, legacy org - will step in has kept us pursuing approaches unfit for the task.
January 31, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Thread
Reposted by jennifer kates
“There’s no single answer that will solve all our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers—at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”
― Octavia E. Butler, A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay
― Octavia E. Butler, A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay
January 31, 2026 at 7:57 PM
“There’s no single answer that will solve all our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers—at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”
― Octavia E. Butler, A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay
― Octavia E. Butler, A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay
Reposted by jennifer kates
George Washington University, 1970 student protest against the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State.
January 31, 2026 at 2:22 AM
George Washington University, 1970 student protest against the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State.
If you have a middle grade kid in your life who is trying to understand/process what they see about deportation, I read this with mine and it’s incredibly moving. No happy ending, but people figuring out how to keep going 🧡
Efrén Divided
Check out Efrén Divided - <p><strong>Winner of the Pura Belpré Award!</strong></p><p><strong>“We need books to break open our hearts, so that we might<br>feel more deeply, so that we might ...
bookshop.org
January 31, 2026 at 2:46 AM
If you have a middle grade kid in your life who is trying to understand/process what they see about deportation, I read this with mine and it’s incredibly moving. No happy ending, but people figuring out how to keep going 🧡
Reposted by jennifer kates
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday.
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
January 30, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday.
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
Reposted by jennifer kates
We are many, they are few
January 30, 2026 at 3:51 PM
We are many, they are few
Reposted by jennifer kates
Speaking of:
404 Media has published the full user guide for ELITE, the tool Palantir made for ICE to bring up addresses for deportation targets. @evystadium.bsky.social has more.
Scoop here by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
Scoop here by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
January 30, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Speaking of:
Reposted by jennifer kates
This is a horrendous, racist agency and sending them back to the border just returns the horrors.
prospect.org/2026/01/30/b...
prospect.org/2026/01/30/b...
January 30, 2026 at 2:33 PM
This is a horrendous, racist agency and sending them back to the border just returns the horrors.
prospect.org/2026/01/30/b...
prospect.org/2026/01/30/b...
Reposted by jennifer kates
The memories of Alex Pretti and Renee Good deserve to be uplifted. So does Keith Porter and all the Black, Latino and Asian people dead at the hands of ICE/CBP. Naomi Bethune writes about these differences in attention.
prospect.org/2026/01/30/i...
prospect.org/2026/01/30/i...
Responses to ICE Violence Reveal a Racial Double Standard - The American Prospect
The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good are getting national attention. The brutality against primarily Black, Latino, and Asian immigrants has not triggered the same outrage.
prospect.org
January 30, 2026 at 2:38 PM
The memories of Alex Pretti and Renee Good deserve to be uplifted. So does Keith Porter and all the Black, Latino and Asian people dead at the hands of ICE/CBP. Naomi Bethune writes about these differences in attention.
prospect.org/2026/01/30/i...
prospect.org/2026/01/30/i...
Everyone knew and seemingly no one important cared, til Dan worked his particular magic and it all changed.
longreads.com/2019/06/06/h...
longreads.com/2019/06/06/h...
January 29, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Everyone knew and seemingly no one important cared, til Dan worked his particular magic and it all changed.
longreads.com/2019/06/06/h...
longreads.com/2019/06/06/h...
Reposted by jennifer kates
Scrolling through Twitter, finding the ancient texts, discovered a quintessential Dan tweet.
January 29, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Scrolling through Twitter, finding the ancient texts, discovered a quintessential Dan tweet.
what an immeasurable loss 💔💔💔
Utterly gutted to learn tonight that Dan McQuade, great writer and a real Philly original, has died. He was just 43, the son of my Philly Daily News friend and former colleague Drew McQuade. Seriously, fuck cancer
January 29, 2026 at 12:50 AM
what an immeasurable loss 💔💔💔
Reposted by jennifer kates
A lot of people gathered tonight outside the Department of Veterans Affairs in D.C. for a vigil memorializing Alex Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.
January 28, 2026 at 11:12 PM
A lot of people gathered tonight outside the Department of Veterans Affairs in D.C. for a vigil memorializing Alex Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.
Reposted by jennifer kates
Page after page of DHS agents too ashamed to be pictured doing their job isn’t actually sending the power signal Pam Bondi thinks it is.
Scrolling through the photos of Pam Bondi's "Minnesota rioters," it's just hero after hero. Every photo includes a cowardly DHS agent with their back to the camera.
Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.
Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.
January 28, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Page after page of DHS agents too ashamed to be pictured doing their job isn’t actually sending the power signal Pam Bondi thinks it is.
Reposted by jennifer kates
"I find myself wondering if I still have a home here in Minnesota, in America, in the world of the people who get to decide who is valuable and who is not, who belongs and who does not, who lives and who dies."
- Kao Kalia Yang, one of the best writers in MN and in the rest of the universe
- Kao Kalia Yang, one of the best writers in MN and in the rest of the universe
Letter From Minnesota: “If They Take Me and Leave the Children…”
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. I got gas for the first time this year by myself. The gas station was mostly empty. I drove into the station, heart thudding in my chest. I did everything as f…
lithub.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:37 PM
"I find myself wondering if I still have a home here in Minnesota, in America, in the world of the people who get to decide who is valuable and who is not, who belongs and who does not, who lives and who dies."
- Kao Kalia Yang, one of the best writers in MN and in the rest of the universe
- Kao Kalia Yang, one of the best writers in MN and in the rest of the universe
Reposted by jennifer kates
California's proposed wealth tax is a good idea, but a better one is not structuring the market to give the rich all the money in the first place deanbaker22.substack.com/p/all-in-on-...
All in On California’s Big Tax on Billionaires
Great to tax them, but the market shouldn't be structured to give them all the money in the first place
deanbaker22.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:39 PM
California's proposed wealth tax is a good idea, but a better one is not structuring the market to give the rich all the money in the first place deanbaker22.substack.com/p/all-in-on-...
Reposted by jennifer kates
At the Lowell National Historical Site, workers can no longer show films about the grueling conditions in 19th century mills (which led to historic strikes by the Lowell 'mill girls'). Films are *implicit critiques* of the Gilded Age, of which the boss is a fan www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/c...
January 28, 2026 at 2:08 PM
At the Lowell National Historical Site, workers can no longer show films about the grueling conditions in 19th century mills (which led to historic strikes by the Lowell 'mill girls'). Films are *implicit critiques* of the Gilded Age, of which the boss is a fan www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/c...
Subscribe to The Prospect if you want more of this impeccable work.
January 28, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Subscribe to The Prospect if you want more of this impeccable work.
Reposted by jennifer kates
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
January 27, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
Reposted by jennifer kates
I've been noting that Stephen Miller is significantly (entirely?) responsible for the rules of engagement that keeps leading to experienced goons murdering bystanders.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/07/t...
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/07/t...
Time to Ask if Stephen Miller Has Authorized Assault and Murder of Peaceful ICE Observers - emptywheel
Given how consistently Greg Bovino is at the scene of unjustified violence against ICE observers, including today's shooting, and given Bovino's refusal to answer whether Stephen Miller has given him ...
www.emptywheel.net
January 27, 2026 at 9:10 PM
I've been noting that Stephen Miller is significantly (entirely?) responsible for the rules of engagement that keeps leading to experienced goons murdering bystanders.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/07/t...
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/07/t...