Robin L Turner
@robinlturnerphd.blacksky.app
Mostly a reskeeter. tradition, gender, land tenure, and resource politics in Southern Africa. I block would be followers without profiles.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
BREAKING: In a sweeping victory for voters, a Utah judge struck down the GOP’s latest gerrymander ruling that lawmakers violated the state constitution. This restores a voter-approved ban on partisan gerrymandering and enacts a fairer map for 2026.
Utah Judge Strikes Down GOP Gerrymander, Restores Voter-Approved Fair Map
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
BREAKING: In a sweeping victory for voters, a Utah judge struck down the GOP’s latest gerrymander ruling that lawmakers violated the state constitution. This restores a voter-approved ban on partisan gerrymandering and enacts a fairer map for 2026.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
To repeat: I have studied a lot of cases of autocratization over the past 15 years. Wrote about them, taught about them, consulting about them.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
March 13, 2025 at 11:22 PM
To repeat: I have studied a lot of cases of autocratization over the past 15 years. Wrote about them, taught about them, consulting about them.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
This tactic is used by dictators to fragment the internal security apparatus and consolidate power.
In Zaire, Mobutu kept kept the huge personal fortune he had amassed from pilfering the country’s diamond and copper exports as a ‘rainy day’ fund, which included paying the army’s wage bill.
In Zaire, Mobutu kept kept the huge personal fortune he had amassed from pilfering the country’s diamond and copper exports as a ‘rainy day’ fund, which included paying the army’s wage bill.
New: The Pentagon confirms to CNN it will funnel $130M from an anonymous Trump “friend” toward military pay.
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics
The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...
www.cnn.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:32 PM
This tactic is used by dictators to fragment the internal security apparatus and consolidate power.
In Zaire, Mobutu kept kept the huge personal fortune he had amassed from pilfering the country’s diamond and copper exports as a ‘rainy day’ fund, which included paying the army’s wage bill.
In Zaire, Mobutu kept kept the huge personal fortune he had amassed from pilfering the country’s diamond and copper exports as a ‘rainy day’ fund, which included paying the army’s wage bill.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
In the transition to autocratic rule, independent media outlets face a choice between (1) resisting and eventually facing consequences; (2) self-censoring and hoping to survive; and (3) becoming a propaganda arm of the new regime.
@washingtonpost.com = 3
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
@washingtonpost.com = 3
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | In defense of the White House ballroom
Donald Trump vs. the NIMBYs
www.washingtonpost.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:27 AM
In the transition to autocratic rule, independent media outlets face a choice between (1) resisting and eventually facing consequences; (2) self-censoring and hoping to survive; and (3) becoming a propaganda arm of the new regime.
@washingtonpost.com = 3
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
@washingtonpost.com = 3
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Robin L Turner
In Italy labor unions helped start a network of left-leaning news/music radio stations that have become some of the staples of public information in much of the country. They now run on a donation / ads model, but initial investment was from labor. I think about this often.
The AFL-CIO should start throwing some money towards labor journalism. If it was done right (i.e. with them accepting that journalists must have full editorial control over what’s published, whether or not union leaders like what they have to say) it could really have such a hugely positive impact
November 7, 2025 at 2:09 PM
In Italy labor unions helped start a network of left-leaning news/music radio stations that have become some of the staples of public information in much of the country. They now run on a donation / ads model, but initial investment was from labor. I think about this often.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
major snowfall = disabled folks walking on the street w mobility devices bc it`s the only clear path = societal failure
November 11, 2025 at 2:08 PM
major snowfall = disabled folks walking on the street w mobility devices bc it`s the only clear path = societal failure
Reposted by Robin L Turner
In these fraught times, we need spaces & communities of our own, that we can make what we want & use to support each other & our work. &, yes, to avoid Nazis as much as possible. That's why we left Substack, & why @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social worked so hard on our new website. So+🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com
blackwhiteandread.com
Black and White and Read All Over
Where Scholarship Meets the Public
blackwhiteandread.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 PM
In these fraught times, we need spaces & communities of our own, that we can make what we want & use to support each other & our work. &, yes, to avoid Nazis as much as possible. That's why we left Substack, & why @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social worked so hard on our new website. So+🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com
blackwhiteandread.com
Reposted by Robin L Turner
If you have been framing your work as involving/in relation to "AI", what do you mean by "AI"? How would you describe your work without using that phrase?
>>
>>
November 10, 2025 at 8:33 PM
If you have been framing your work as involving/in relation to "AI", what do you mean by "AI"? How would you describe your work without using that phrase?
>>
>>
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Leonard Bright, president of the Texas A&M Chapter of the AAUP said faculty were not consulted on the proposed changes, which he called “a direct violation” of their expertise + freedom to teach. “If that’s the case, there’s just going to be a further black eye on higher education here in Texas.”
Texas A&M to vote on banning “race and gender ideology”
The proposal appears to mark the first time a Texas university system offers definitions of what kind of instruction related to race and gender should not be permitted.
www.texastribune.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Leonard Bright, president of the Texas A&M Chapter of the AAUP said faculty were not consulted on the proposed changes, which he called “a direct violation” of their expertise + freedom to teach. “If that’s the case, there’s just going to be a further black eye on higher education here in Texas.”
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
n.pr
November 11, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Reposted by Robin L Turner
The outcome of these talks – a world-first United Nations tax convention – will impact every one of us, wherever we are in the world, and shape people’s lives for generations to come.
It’s not just trillions of dollars on the line, but our democracies, human rights and planet.
It’s not just trillions of dollars on the line, but our democracies, human rights and planet.
November 11, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The outcome of these talks – a world-first United Nations tax convention – will impact every one of us, wherever we are in the world, and shape people’s lives for generations to come.
It’s not just trillions of dollars on the line, but our democracies, human rights and planet.
It’s not just trillions of dollars on the line, but our democracies, human rights and planet.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
"But the biggest benefits are anticipated to be in lessening the severity of the disease rather than stopping you getting ill or slowing the spread of the virus."
Vaccines help mitigate. Get your flu shot if you haven't yet!
Vaccines help mitigate. Get your flu shot if you haven't yet!
Leading flu experts predict this will be the worst flu season in a decade.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
New flu virus mutation could see ‘worst season in a decade'
Leading flu experts say they will not be surprised if this year's is the worst flu season for a decade.
www.bbc.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
"But the biggest benefits are anticipated to be in lessening the severity of the disease rather than stopping you getting ill or slowing the spread of the virus."
Vaccines help mitigate. Get your flu shot if you haven't yet!
Vaccines help mitigate. Get your flu shot if you haven't yet!
Reposted by Robin L Turner
This looks like an incredible opportunity! Black Spatial Relics 2025 Culture Council Funds - funding for Black gathering spaces that center cultural organizing - www.blackspatialrelics.org/conjurecounc... #BlackSky #SFF #QueerCommons
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
This looks like an incredible opportunity! Black Spatial Relics 2025 Culture Council Funds - funding for Black gathering spaces that center cultural organizing - www.blackspatialrelics.org/conjurecounc... #BlackSky #SFF #QueerCommons
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Yes! And to build on this, there are often times I start writing something and by the end I have problematized my own argument to the point where I have talked myself out of it.
And that is very annoying but also a sign that the writing is doing its job
And that is very annoying but also a sign that the writing is doing its job
This. Especially because I believe that writing is thinking (for me). I don’t want to lose that.
What people do not do, they often lose the ability to do. Which is sometimes fine! In my own life, I don’t have any great need to know how to do some of the math I once learned. But I don’t want to forget how to write.
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Yes! And to build on this, there are often times I start writing something and by the end I have problematized my own argument to the point where I have talked myself out of it.
And that is very annoying but also a sign that the writing is doing its job
And that is very annoying but also a sign that the writing is doing its job
Reposted by Robin L Turner
You cannot run the basic infrastructures of a functioning society- healthcare to education-on systems that cut out human empathy & negotiation. So we have to reassert over and over again that the problems aren’t glitches or errors—even big ones. The problems are fundamental, systematic, endemic.
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 AM
You cannot run the basic infrastructures of a functioning society- healthcare to education-on systems that cut out human empathy & negotiation. So we have to reassert over and over again that the problems aren’t glitches or errors—even big ones. The problems are fundamental, systematic, endemic.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Identifying flaws in GenAI unfortunately offers a pretext for claims that perfecting the product is just a matter of time & money. So pointing to chatbots’ role in,say, suicides can only go so far if we don’t also identify the systemic, irresolvable lack of Gen AI’s human commitment bc math has none
November 8, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Identifying flaws in GenAI unfortunately offers a pretext for claims that perfecting the product is just a matter of time & money. So pointing to chatbots’ role in,say, suicides can only go so far if we don’t also identify the systemic, irresolvable lack of Gen AI’s human commitment bc math has none
Reposted by Robin L Turner
When I told a French colleague about the student debt crisis in the US, his response was something like, “oh, they designed that to make it impossible to protest, because everyone will be in debt to the system.”
November 9, 2025 at 8:58 PM
When I told a French colleague about the student debt crisis in the US, his response was something like, “oh, they designed that to make it impossible to protest, because everyone will be in debt to the system.”
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and they will connect you with your senator's office.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
Sounds like the squishes in the senate caucus are ready to pull the plug with no ACA changes. This is real. If you want to register your opinion you shld call yr senator in the next hour. They not only want to reopen w/nothing. They want cover from their colleagues who still want to hold out.
November 9, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and they will connect you with your senator's office.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
If you're represented by one of the squishier centrists, be sure to make a call. Now.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Republicans are for “state’s rights” when that means promoting segregation and tormenting LGBTQ folks.
When state’s rights means feeding your state’s residents, they are all in for the federal government ensuring starvation.
When state’s rights means feeding your state’s residents, they are all in for the federal government ensuring starvation.
The US Department of Agriculture has ordered that "states must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025".
November 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Republicans are for “state’s rights” when that means promoting segregation and tormenting LGBTQ folks.
When state’s rights means feeding your state’s residents, they are all in for the federal government ensuring starvation.
When state’s rights means feeding your state’s residents, they are all in for the federal government ensuring starvation.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Reductions in Force not required by shutdowns, have never happened in any previous shutdown, and a judge has ruled they are illegal.
The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.
The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.
Lee Zeldin announces on Fox that there will be "severe" layoffs at the EPA if the shutdown continues
November 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reductions in Force not required by shutdowns, have never happened in any previous shutdown, and a judge has ruled they are illegal.
The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.
The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
$1.99 ✦ Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
When they first meet, he finds her passed out in the Nevada desert. She's a cook headed to California with dreams of opening her own restaurant.
Historical Romance (MF) amzn.to/4hQdRFQ
When they first meet, he finds her passed out in the Nevada desert. She's a cook headed to California with dreams of opening her own restaurant.
Historical Romance (MF) amzn.to/4hQdRFQ
Forbidden (Old West Book 1)
amzn.to
November 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
$1.99 ✦ Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
When they first meet, he finds her passed out in the Nevada desert. She's a cook headed to California with dreams of opening her own restaurant.
Historical Romance (MF) amzn.to/4hQdRFQ
When they first meet, he finds her passed out in the Nevada desert. She's a cook headed to California with dreams of opening her own restaurant.
Historical Romance (MF) amzn.to/4hQdRFQ
Reposted by Robin L Turner
the only time the filibuster has ever been used to protect a particular interest of a set of states is to kill anti-lynching and civil rights legislation. that's it.
November 8, 2025 at 10:14 PM
the only time the filibuster has ever been used to protect a particular interest of a set of states is to kill anti-lynching and civil rights legislation. that's it.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
What's happening in Sudan is horrific and deserves more of our attention.
“We're seeing a level of proliferation of bodies & body piles from space that's unlike anything I've ever seen…”
Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza.
🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...
Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza.
🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...
November 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
What's happening in Sudan is horrific and deserves more of our attention.
Reposted by Robin L Turner
Two things:
The federal government is starving the public but plans to buy warehouses for mega detention centers.
The plan is for detention centers to be run and staffed by the government. We can’t limit our critiques of the prison industrial complex to privatization!
apple.news/A-w34SnpqSzq...
The federal government is starving the public but plans to buy warehouses for mega detention centers.
The plan is for detention centers to be run and staffed by the government. We can’t limit our critiques of the prison industrial complex to privatization!
apple.news/A-w34SnpqSzq...
'Mega detention centers': ICE considers buying large warehouses to hold immigrants — NBC News
The Trump administration is exploring a plan to buy warehouses designed for companies like Amazon, sources said, which would drastically increase the Trump administration’s capacity for detaining immi...
apple.news
November 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Two things:
The federal government is starving the public but plans to buy warehouses for mega detention centers.
The plan is for detention centers to be run and staffed by the government. We can’t limit our critiques of the prison industrial complex to privatization!
apple.news/A-w34SnpqSzq...
The federal government is starving the public but plans to buy warehouses for mega detention centers.
The plan is for detention centers to be run and staffed by the government. We can’t limit our critiques of the prison industrial complex to privatization!
apple.news/A-w34SnpqSzq...