Kristen Evans
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Kristen Evans
@paperalphabet.bsky.social
Culture writer: buzzfeed, new republic, la times, boston globe, etc. | content strategist for hire | still writing that novel! | newsletter: https://interior-castles.ghost.io/ | hello@kristen-evans.com
Reposted by Kristen Evans
The public library is an essential component of a 21st-century left political project as an example of both what is already available to us and what can be improved upon in the future. The library is a public good, and it is free as a public service.

I want more people to make the connections.
January 31, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
👀 Every Senate Democrat + Collins and Murkowski just voted for the Bernie Sanders amendment to repeal the $75 billion in additional ICE funding under Trump’s “big beautiful bill.” The measure failed 49-51.
January 30, 2026 at 11:05 PM
i haven’t been able to stop thinking about this since 2016 and earlier. about a decade of profit- and access-motivated business decisions from some of our most important outlets have led us to this moment.
If the journalism would've been done then... they wouldn't be arresting journalist NOW
January 30, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
Please buy books that are coming out this year.

Doesn’t have to be mine. But there is a stellar release calendar this year especially of Black writers and it would be a shame if one of the fascist victories was people not buying those books (from the indies that are in the fight with us). #BookSky
January 30, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
The billions to DHS have built the for-profit panopticon surveillance state they were unable to fully push through after 9/11 because people fought back.

It took 25 years but they have it now.

This cannot be reformed. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:10 PM
jesus
CNN is reporting that federal authorities may have been collecting information and "documenting details" about Alex Pretti before killing him on Saturday, and that officers tackled him a week earlier. www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...
Alex Pretti was in earlier confrontation with federal agents who tackled him, broke his rib, sources say | CNN
Federal immigration officials have been collecting information on protesters and agitators, sources told CNN.
www.cnn.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
While independent bookstores are giving out free whistles, hosting protest sign making events, and donating proceeds to mutual aid, Amazon is *checks notes* providing technology that assists ICE in their terrorizing of communities.

Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.
January 27, 2026 at 5:07 PM
i wish it would stop snowing. looking forward to next week’s high temperature of ::checks notes:: 26 degrees lol
January 27, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”

That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
January 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
The terror that ICE and CBP have inflicted on the children of the Twin Cities is, by itself, a crime of scandalous proportions that will forever stain this country's moral fabric, and all those responsible should never know another day of peace. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
January 26, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
ICE is changing tactics in Maine: "Now, the volunteers in Maine say federal agents have started showing up at their homes and intimidating them or threatening arrest. Some of them, masked and wearing tactical gear, have issued stark warnings not to follow them." www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
ICE watchers in Maine say they were threatened by federal agents
Community members have been monitoring the activity of immigration agents in Greater Portland.
www.pressherald.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
It’s always funny when palantir employees discover that they work at palantir
Palantir employees are pressing company leadership over its work for ICE in internal company Slacks obtained by @wired.com

"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."

Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
If you work for Palantir and have concerns about its role in US federal immigration enforcement, please reach out. You can remain anonymous.

Signal: makenakelly.32
SCOOP: Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti

WIRED obtained Slack conversations + an updated internal Palantir wiki defending the company's work for ICE to outraged workers.

More here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:29 PM
the vehicle currently struggling most on my block belongs to triple A, which doesn’t bode well for anyone else lol
January 26, 2026 at 7:58 PM
debating on the following linkedin post, what do you guys think?

“for people who claim to be horrified by what’s happening, a lot of you seem to be friends with palantir employees.”
January 26, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
tomorrow, StandWithMinnesota.com will hit a million site visits and over 650,000 unique visitors.

i made it 10 days ago with $600 from you guys for hosting and cloudflare.

thank you. thank you.
Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory
Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.
StandWithMinnesota.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:12 PM
i’m really grateful to the people like this who are doing invaluable work with allies abroad
The idea that there are no protests in the US and no one is standing up to Trump is proving incredibly hard to kill over here in Germany. It’s become dogma, utterly detached from empirical reality.

I wonder if the people who keep talking like that understand they’re perpetuating regime propaganda.
January 21, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
“One notable MIT study found that 95 percent of companies that integrated AI saw zero meaningful growth in revenue. For coding tasks, one of AI’s most widely hyped applications, another study showed that programmers who used AI coding tools actually became slower at their jobs.”
AI Completely Failing to Boost Productivity, Says Top Analyst
AI may or may not excel at a lot of things, but from an economic standpoint, it's definitely not making us more productive.
futurism.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
Good morning. I read this dispatch from a comrade in Minneapolis this morning and thought that some of you might appreciate it too.
January 17, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
"This is a verified page fundraising support for the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and Working Partnerships' 2026 rapid response effort to meet the needs of impacted union members, worker center members, and their families..."

workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/su...
Support Impacted Union Families! | Working Partnerships
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org
January 17, 2026 at 1:52 AM
I’m seeing a lot of anger in the publishing world about this statement, and I thought I’d weigh in with my perspective because I’m not sure the anger is entirely warranted in this particular case.
Our official policy provides clarity on our AI usage and the broader impact of AI on the book industry as a whole. Read OverDrive's full policy here: https://bit.ly/4be33jB
January 13, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
We are dealing with an institution modeled on slave catching and the great news is that we also have resistance models

This is a great book about the Underground Railroad in an urban environment, New York City:

wwnorton.com/books/gatewa...
Gateway to Freedom
The dramatic story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them reach freedom., Gateway to Freedom, The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, Eric Foner, 9780...
wwnorton.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
"...the emerging research is making clear that the ability to plagiarize is inherent to GPT-4 and all other major LLMs. None of the researchers I spoke with thought that the underlying phenomenon, memorization, is unusual or could be eradicated."
AI’s Memorization Crisis
Large language models don’t “learn”—they copy. And that could change everything for the tech industry.
www.theatlantic.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
So many things are bad right now, but I interviewed @maggietokudahall.bsky.social about painting pigeons and small acts of survival. 📸 by @estefancy.bsky.social
Local Woman Has Hobby: Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Pigeon Paintings
“Everything that we think is disgusting about human life, pigeons wear without shame.”
www.coyotemedia.org
January 7, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Kristen Evans
In a @phillymag.com exclusive, here's the inside story of how Sasha Suda's reign at the Philadelphia Art Museum fell apart so spectacularly, and the board of directors who made it happen.
Inside the Philadelphia Art Museum’s Epic Meltdown
The exclusive story behind the brutal ouster of Sasha Suda and the new civil war at Philadelphia’s premiere cultural institution
www.phillymag.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:43 PM