John McLaren
johnmclaren.bsky.social
John McLaren
@johnmclaren.bsky.social

Economist, classical music nerd, and family man.

Economics 44%
Political science 23%
Pinned
I'm seeing a huge spike in interest in tariffs from people who normally don't work in the economics of international trade. Here are a few useful things to know about them. (1/14)

I’m going to grab some of these images for my course in the economics of immigration.

Reposted by John McLaren

“I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner,” a former federal prosecutor and federal judge said. “They said they were going after ‘the worst of the worst,’ then they became the problem.

Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters
Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.
www.nbcnews.com

Yes, the headline is spectacular malpractice.

Unbelievable.

Can't express my anger at this.

Newsome's primary chances better drop to zero.

Can't express my rage at this.
Swalwell: ICE agents shot Alex Pretti and Renee Good. And the only person in the world who has been held accountable by DHS is the pilot who somehow forgot to move Kristi Noem’s blankie.

Reposted by John McLaren

This is makes Japanese internment look good.
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
This post is really taking off. I know the Thanksgiving detail is grabbing, but I would encourage everyone to also read the full article about this family’s struggle at Dilley.

They’ve been locked up for 130+ days.

I spent hours with them on Zoom this week, and their story deserves to be heard.
'Even in Russia, they don't treat children like this': A family's nightmare in ICE detention
A Russian couple and their children sought asylum in the U.S. In a Texas detention center, they say they endured worms in the food and hourslong waits for medicine.
www.nbcnews.com

Folks should be aware of the silent film series at the Violet Crown! About once a month, Sundays, Matt Marshall (UVA Media Studies) screens a film and plays live musical accompaniment. It's great. Next up is this Sunday (2/15). charlottesville.violetcrown.com/movie/live-m...
LIVE MUSICAL SCORE - The Flying Ace
To celebrate Black History Month, we present the 100th anniversary of this 1926 race film inspired by the story of Bessie Coleman, who was the first African-American woman and first Native American to...
charlottesville.violetcrown.com
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

Reposted by John McLaren

I hear young people every day in the office talk about fears they have for their safety & the safety of their classmates. And also the strategies that they’ve devised to keep each other safe. I respect the heck out of the fact that they’re raising their voices.

cvillerightnow.com/news/208802-...
Albemarle County students walk-out to protest ICE - Cville Right Now
Close to 300 students walked out of Albemarle County High School Friday morning in a protest against ICE actions across the nation. The students left from school property just before 11 a.m., carrying...
cvillerightnow.com

Not quite sure it’s relevant, but it struck me in that Finland is in the extreme upper left-hand corner of this graph.

bsky.app/profile/wtfd...
How rejection of homosexuality and Religion correlates

Reposted by John McLaren

I haven’t seen this announced through any official/campaign channels, but he’s sharing it with his friends. In case anyone wants to go and say hi.

Reposted by John McLaren

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state can proceed with an April 21 referendum that could give us a new congressional map.

Story online: augustafreepress.com/news/virgini...

#Virginia #Congress
Virginia Supreme Court allows congressional map referendum
Augusta Free Press provides breaking news and sports coverage for Waynesboro, Va., Virginia and across the United States and the world.
augustafreepress.com

Reposted by John McLaren

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win.

Proud of all these high schoolers, and all the honking cars in support!

Reposted by John McLaren

Reposted by John McLaren

A huge win for Virginia voters.
SEN. KAINE: “You said American whites are victims of a cultural genocide… are they represented in the senate? House? Presidency? CEO’s?”

Trump’s white nationalist pick for a top state department spot Jeremy Carl skewered by @kaine.senate.gov

Reposted by John McLaren

Looking for guidance about what to do to prepare for ICE? Join us on 2/25 at the UU Church in Charlottesville! CARPOOLING strongly encouraged!
Current state of things: One Fox News host casually declares that Epstein’s money comes from “Jewish billionaires” and a “Jewish banking family,” another responds that he was a “sex rabbi.” www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/jes...
👇👇

Reposted by John McLaren

Congressional candidate Perriello pays visit to BEACON kitchen.
Perriello pays visit to BEACON kitchen
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Tom Perriello, candidate for the Fifth District seat in the House of Representatives, visited BEACON Kitchen as part of his efforts to better understand the
www.cbs19news.com

Reposted by John McLaren

Wow! Truly humbled to receive the unanimous support today of the Cville City Council and Albemarle Board of Supervisors.

True, but it’s a bit less of an issue because ML is a narrower term and no one is tricked into asking an ML program for therapy or relationship advice. But I would love to find a better term. Maybe “complex pattern recognition?”
I’m currently writing a book about the attempted Nazi demonstration in Skokie in 1977. This is indistinguishable from how American Nazis talked in public.
Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.

I don’t use the term “AI.” We don’t have any technology that produces a sentient program, so the term “artificial intelligence“ is fraudulent. We have LLM‘s, image generators, and machine learning programs, which are all different, and all of which have their uses and misuses.

Reminds me of a certain scene in Magnolia.

At first glance that looked like it was about a tap-dance photographer lawyer, which sounded even better.
RFK Jr: I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.