paul johnson
@rhetoricpj.bsky.social
I live in pittsburgh and like it. wrote a book about conservative populism. have spent the last 15 years studying the right.
go arsenal! I like gin.
Book: https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817321093/i-the-people/
go arsenal! I like gin.
Book: https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817321093/i-the-people/
Few movies more coked up than Natural Born Killers
November 12, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Few movies more coked up than Natural Born Killers
ok but the spoiler is its just Morgan Wallen
November 11, 2025 at 8:35 PM
ok but the spoiler is its just Morgan Wallen
i don't even think its that perverse, really. the production of failure and catastrophe for right-wing forces who need catastrophe to be the state of things is a feature not a bug. if they had shame or were restrained by intellectual consistency it might matter but...
The thing to understand about this is that this catastrophe in the UK has redounded to the political benefit of the very same people and political movement that pushed for it! Extremely perverse.
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
November 11, 2025 at 8:09 PM
i don't even think its that perverse, really. the production of failure and catastrophe for right-wing forces who need catastrophe to be the state of things is a feature not a bug. if they had shame or were restrained by intellectual consistency it might matter but...
Reposted by paul johnson
It is hard to come up with a better analogy for whiteness than preferring the AI simulacra of your supposed authentic art form to whatever a Black woman from your art form’s cultural geography might make.
As long as it's not Beyonce country music fans are fine with this development
November 11, 2025 at 7:53 PM
It is hard to come up with a better analogy for whiteness than preferring the AI simulacra of your supposed authentic art form to whatever a Black woman from your art form’s cultural geography might make.
Reposted by paul johnson
80 year mortgages
November 11, 2025 at 2:22 PM
80 year mortgages
tonight's seminar readings:
-selections from Fanon's Wretched of the Earth
-Mirzeoff's "Right to Look" in Critical Inquiry
-Mack and Na'Puti on the body and anti-violent sovereignty
-Byrd "Weather with You"
-selections from Fanon's Wretched of the Earth
-Mirzeoff's "Right to Look" in Critical Inquiry
-Mack and Na'Puti on the body and anti-violent sovereignty
-Byrd "Weather with You"
November 10, 2025 at 9:47 PM
tonight's seminar readings:
-selections from Fanon's Wretched of the Earth
-Mirzeoff's "Right to Look" in Critical Inquiry
-Mack and Na'Puti on the body and anti-violent sovereignty
-Byrd "Weather with You"
-selections from Fanon's Wretched of the Earth
-Mirzeoff's "Right to Look" in Critical Inquiry
-Mack and Na'Puti on the body and anti-violent sovereignty
-Byrd "Weather with You"
Reposted by paul johnson
BREAKING: We won!
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
November 10, 2025 at 5:48 PM
BREAKING: We won!
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Reposted by paul johnson
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
"No sir they saying Schooo-mer"
[Dems hearing how mad folks are on BlueSky]
“Vote Booooo No Matter Who”
“Vote Booooo No Matter Who”
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 PM
"No sir they saying Schooo-mer"
rare you see a guy like Josh be like "this sitting Dem is trash" but like...yup! he is!
Durbin is trash. Yes, lots of great stuff in the past. Sure he’s a decent guy. But he’s pure trash now. Important to see that the bulk of Team Cave is made up of people who are retiring.
Durbin is a YES on this deal: “At Democrats’ urging, today’s bill is not the same one we’ve voted down 14 times. Republicans finally woke up and realized their Groundhog Day needed to end. This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt.”
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
rare you see a guy like Josh be like "this sitting Dem is trash" but like...yup! he is!
"CHARLIE BROWN WOULD HIT NFL RECORD FIELD GOAL UNDER NEW DEAL WITH LUCY TO STAGE A KICK" - Politico
November 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
"CHARLIE BROWN WOULD HIT NFL RECORD FIELD GOAL UNDER NEW DEAL WITH LUCY TO STAGE A KICK" - Politico
Reposted by paul johnson
I'm playing bass with Chariot Fade and joining Garment District on trumpet tonight at the brillobox. If you're in Pittsburgh and don't yet have plans, consider attending!
November 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I'm playing bass with Chariot Fade and joining Garment District on trumpet tonight at the brillobox. If you're in Pittsburgh and don't yet have plans, consider attending!
Patriots are in control
November 8, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Patriots are in control
Got to tell a Post Gazette writer asking for a quote today my perspective on unions. A true joy.
November 8, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Got to tell a Post Gazette writer asking for a quote today my perspective on unions. A true joy.
nice to read a thoughtful academic treatment about the relationship between trauma and representation, one that really breaks from some of the conventional wisdom about the need to represent hideousness etc.
November 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM
nice to read a thoughtful academic treatment about the relationship between trauma and representation, one that really breaks from some of the conventional wisdom about the need to represent hideousness etc.
lovely wackadoo weather again today.
November 7, 2025 at 7:28 PM
lovely wackadoo weather again today.
the monetization of masculinity as failure continues apace, case no. 5,643
we talk too much about the male loneliness crisis and not enough about the male suckerfication crisis maxread.substack.com/p/prediction...
November 7, 2025 at 5:43 PM
the monetization of masculinity as failure continues apace, case no. 5,643
Reposted by paul johnson
Tuesday's elections were about the Democrats finally waking up to the idea of power, maybe open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Were Tuesday's elections the end of the Democrats' Obama era?
Maybe the party is finally figuring out power
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Tuesday's elections were about the Democrats finally waking up to the idea of power, maybe open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Reposted by paul johnson
UT Austin is discussing eliminating or consolidating our departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican/American and Latino/Latina Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Here is what AAADS alumni have to say. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
November 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
UT Austin is discussing eliminating or consolidating our departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican/American and Latino/Latina Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Here is what AAADS alumni have to say. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Reposted by paul johnson
My new article with @econsocjournal.bsky.social on Gary Becker's analyses on suicide is out! I use Becker's assertion that ‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’ to reflect on how the late Chicago School framed death and mortality as a choice, thus normalising mortality inequality
‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’: Human capital and endogenous mortality in Gary Becker’s work
Chicago School economist and Nobel Memorial Prize winner Gary Becker writes that ‘most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent “suicides” in the sense that they could have been postponed if more re...
www.tandfonline.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
My new article with @econsocjournal.bsky.social on Gary Becker's analyses on suicide is out! I use Becker's assertion that ‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’ to reflect on how the late Chicago School framed death and mortality as a choice, thus normalising mortality inequality
I agree with most everything John Podhoretz says on this day after election episode of the Commentary pod. But definitely not the turn at the end where he recommends Houellebecq's Submission as especially important after the Zohran win.
www.commentary.org/abe-greenwal...
www.commentary.org/abe-greenwal...
The Day After
In yesterday's elections, the Republicans took what John calls both a thumping and a shellacking. Donald Trump wasn't on the ballot, but he was on voters' minds. What are the
www.commentary.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I agree with most everything John Podhoretz says on this day after election episode of the Commentary pod. But definitely not the turn at the end where he recommends Houellebecq's Submission as especially important after the Zohran win.
www.commentary.org/abe-greenwal...
www.commentary.org/abe-greenwal...
Reposted by paul johnson
BREAKING - Jury finds DC sandwich guy not guilty
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus... by @ryanjreilly.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus... by @ryanjreilly.com
Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.
www.nbcnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:30 PM
BREAKING - Jury finds DC sandwich guy not guilty
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus... by @ryanjreilly.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus... by @ryanjreilly.com
weirdly reality keeps becoming a metaphor
November 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
weirdly reality keeps becoming a metaphor
RFK genuinely looks at him like "I poisoned that guy, uh oh" then leaves
RFK Jr's response to someone collapsing nearby him was to haul ass out of the room as quickly as possible
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
RFK genuinely looks at him like "I poisoned that guy, uh oh" then leaves