Michael Kevane

@mkevane.com

1.9K followers 620 following 1.9K posts

Economics professor, Santa Clara University. Political economy of Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Puerto Rico, university governance, and housing issues in San José, CA. Posts here are strictly personal opinion. Also, libraries and reading: www.favl.org .. more

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Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · Dec 2

Proud the FAVL partner in Burkina Faso distributed 1,520 illustrated, locally produced books to 152 students in Maro, Tuy Province. The books cost about $.75 each, so this is about $1200 to produce and distribute. Or $7 per child to get 10 books to read. favl.org/2024/12/02/d...

Distribution de 1,500 livres aux élèves du CEG de Maro

L’association des Amis des Bibliothèques de Villages du Burkina Faso/ABVBF a distribué gratuitement ce 27 novembre 2024, des livres produits au centre multimédia de Houndé/CMH aux élèves du collège…

favl.org

Reposted by Michael Kevane, Aaron Sojourner, Birthe Larsen

The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · 2d

Recently accepted by #QJE, “Who’s Afraid of the Minimum Wage? Measuring the Impacts on Independent Businesses Using Matched U.S. Tax Returns,” by Rao (@nirupama.bsky.social) and Risch: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

Who’s Afraid of the Minimum Wage? Measuring the Impacts on Independent Businesses Using Matched U.S. Tax Returns*

Abstract. A common concern surrounding minimum wage policies is their impact on independent businesses, which are often feared to be less able to bear or p

doi.org

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 2d

COLAU’s latest newsletter with updates from August to December

COLAU newsletter Dec 2025Download

COLAU’s latest newsletter with updates from August to December

COLAU newsletter Dec 2025Download

favl.org

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve, Michael Kevane

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 3d

“there are only 7 full-time book critics left in the US: three at NYT ( Jacobs, Garner, Szalai), 2 at WaPo(Rothfeld, Charles), 1 each at WSJ (Sacks), NY mag (Chu), Slate (Miller)

more people have walked on the moon than write book reviews for a living”

worldliteraturetoday.org/2025/septemb...

Criticism Is Literature. Why Is It Vanishing?, by Adam Morgan

What do the best book reviews do? What is the current state of the critical ecosystem? Chicago Review of Books founder Adam Morgan takes stock of book reviewing in the US.

worldliteraturetoday.org

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Eric Goldman @ericgoldman.bsky.social · 3d

Blog Post: District Court Again Rejects Plaintiffs’ Attempts to Manufacture Common Law Notice-and-Takedown Duties–Bogard v. TikTok

blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/202...

District Court Again Rejects Plaintiffs' Attempts to Manufacture Common Law Notice-and-Takedown Duties-Bogard v. TikTok - Technology & Marketing Law Blog

This is a quirky lawsuit designed to subvert Section 230, the First Amendment, and traditional common law. I previously summarized the case: This lawsuit purports to focuses on the allegedly defective...

blog.ericgoldman.org

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 4d

ED is launching a Clery Act investigation of Brown following the recent killings on campus. I don't recall them doing that with this fall's high-profile killing at Utah Valley.

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

U.S. Department of Education Announces Review of Brown University for Potential Clery Act Violations

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced it will conduct a program review of Brown University in response to the December 13, 2025, shooting on its campus, which killed two students.

www.ed.gov

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 4d

Some photo from Nyariga Community Library in Ghana

favl.org

Reposted by Michael Kevane

David Moore @davidrussellmoore.bsky.social · 4d

Palantir gave $10 million to Trump's ballroom project, per NYT. Earlier this year, the defense contractor got a new $10 billion / 10-year package.

Palantir's lobbyists at the bipartisan firm Invariant also bundle money for the DSCC and DCCC.

DSCC Took Lobbyist Bundles From Firms Reaping Rewards Under Trump

Senate Democrats’ campaign arm quietly received donations in the first half of this year from lobbyists for Palantir, Andreessen Horowitz, and SpaceX, according to a new disclosure.

readsludge.com

Reposted by Menzie Chinn

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 4d

@jayfonsecapr.bsky.social

Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP-2: Isabela Herrera donated $2.5m to MAGA Inc. on 12/31/2024.

At the time, her father, a Venezuelan-Italian banker, was being prosecuted for bribing Puerto Rico's governor.

In July, Trump's DOJ authorized a misdemeanor plea deal, overruling career prosecutors who had pushed a harsher sentence

Campaign finance filing showing Isabela Herrera's $2.5 million donation to MAGA Inc.

Justice Department press release about the indictment of Isabela's father, Julio Herrera Velutini.

Bloomberg News story about how Chris Kise, a lawyer who has represented Trump, was hired by Julio Herrera Velutini. Kise approached top Trump Justice Department officials, claiming that Herrera was the victim of a politicized prosecution -- a claim that echoed Trump's own claims about the charges he has faced. In response, Trump's DOJ officials overrode the career prosecutors on the case, brokering a deal with Kise under which Herrera and others charged in the case would be able to plead to misdemeanor offenses that carried far less severe penalties than they would have faced under the initial charges.

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 4d

Was told by a CBS News source that Bari Weiss held a "big managers crisis meeting" in the New York offices today in which she tried to assure everyone that the 60 Minutes CECOT story isn't dead.

"I think that's what the trades call backpeddling," the source added.

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Menzie Chinn @mchinn.bsky.social · 4d

@heritagefdn.bsky.social EJ Antoni now heads CDA #EconSky
econbrowser.com/archives/202...

Reposted by Menzie Chinn, Michael Kevane

Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 4d

Reposted by Michael Kevane

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Activist group says it has scraped 86m music files from Spotify

Platform with 700m users worldwide says it is investigating after Anna’s Archive claims to have accessed tracks and metadata An activist group has claimed to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify and is preparing to release them online. Observers said the apparent leak could boost AI companies looking for material to develop their technology. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 4d

Reading Lost Horizon by James Hilton for book group. Very interesting! The racial stereotypes are odd for a modern reader but the stereotypes of the British are almost equally odd. Did Hilton read Joyce and Woolf?

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 4d

Pluribus 8 advanced the story so much. We now know they are building an antenna. Show not tell so shot was of Carol having written it on the whiteboard. Sarcasm.

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Melissa Chemam @melissaontheroad.bsky.social · 5d

The Voice of Hind Rajab - Official Trailer youtu.be/hrssPpqv6vc?...

The Voice of Hind Rajab - Official Trailer

YouTube video by Madman Films

youtu.be

Reposted by Michael Kevane, Robert C. Richards, Daxton R. Stewart

Eric Goldman @ericgoldman.bsky.social · 5d

An attorney couldn't stop using Grok (?!) to help draft filings, producing "a flood of tainted filings" & apparently triggering the implosion of a law firm & 3 lawyers' careers 🤖😵 The court called her misconduct "particularly egregious & prolific"

cases.justia.com/federal/dist...

cases.justia.com

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Benoît de Courson @bdecourson.bsky.social · 5d

I'm on my knees

Backing up Spotify

We backed up Spotify (metadata and music files). It’s distributed in bulk torrents (~300TB). It’s the world’s first “preservation archive” for music which is fully open (meaning it can easily be mirro...

annas-archive.li

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 6d

Seen while out Christmas shopping

H.P. Love Craft's The Call of Cthulhu for beginning readers

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 6d

To me, artist Allen Seaby is best known as the illustrator of the first Ladybird bird books. But I also love his Japanese influenced woodcuts.
‘Snow and Hare’ (c.1923)

Wood block print in the Japanese style of a hare against grey sky in a snowy landscape

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 6d

What's there to coordinate? Everyone in Bay Area of California tips 20%....?

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Tom Shakespeare, Dirk Pilat , and 2 more Nandita Sharma, Tom Shakespeare, Dirk Pilat, Michael Kevane, Anthony Burke

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 6d

Did you know that the US hasn’t had an ambassador in Moscow in 6 months?

Or that our chief envoy to Russia won’t take briefings from the CIA?

But wait, there’s more. Much more in this 6-byline WSJ piece on the Witkoff-Putin axis.

Free link www.wsj.com/world/putin-...

Today, those structures are virtually absent. America has had no ambassador in Moscow since June. There is no assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. Witkoff has declined multiple offers from the CIA for a briefing on Russia. The State Department assigned a small group of staffers to support Witkoff, but members of that team, and others across the administration, have struggled to get summaries of Witkoff's foreign meetings. Longtime allies in

Reposted by Tomasz Mickiewicz, Eric Goldman, Michael Kevane , and 2 more Tomasz Mickiewicz, Eric Goldman, Michael Kevane, Iikka Korhonen, James Goodwin

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6d

CATO INSTITUTE:

Despite DOGE slashing jobs, government spending in every month of 2025 “was greater than in every other year .. An observer who did not know when DOGE started could not identify it” on a chart. 🤡

www.cato.org/blog/doge-pr...

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 6d

Rapport de mission d’une équipe de ABVBF à Waly

Dans le cadre de ses activités, une équipe des Amis des Bibliothèques de Villages du Burkina Faso (ABVBF), composée de l’animateur Boué Alidou et du stagiaire Bazongo Emmanuel, a effectué le 10 décembre 2025 une mission à Waly dans la commune de…

Rapport de mission d’une équipe de ABVBF à Waly

Dans le cadre de ses activités, une équipe des Amis des Bibliothèques de Villages du Burkina Faso (ABVBF), composée de l’animateur Boué Alidou et du stagiaire Bazongo Emmanuel, a effectué le 10 décembre 2025 une mission à Waly dans la commune de Koumbia. Cette mission avait pour objectif de faire un don de livres CMH aux élèves des classes de CM1 et CM2 de l’école de Waly.

favl.org

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 7d

H&R Block just snuck a $5.99 "extra stuff" charge in while I was purchasing the software and I am not happy. Enough to make me switch next year. Whomever is the UI web designer- kudos, jerk....

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Doug King in San Jose @dekgreen.bsky.social · 7d

One of the more frustrating things about #HVAC systems I've heard repeated again and again is that it saves energy to keep the house at a regular temp at night or when you're away. The theory seems to be that the system does more work to get the house back to temp later.

This is completely wrong.

Reposted by Michael Kevane

David Rothschild @davmicrot.bsky.social · 7d

Shocked that after 10 years of no accountability for continuously publicly blazingly breaking the law, after Supreme Court told Trump he can break any law he wants without accountability, Trump thinks he can break any law he wants without accountability.

House Judiciary Dems @democrats-judiciary.house.gov · 7d

🚨 NEWS: Ranking Members @raskin.house.gov and @robertgarcia.house.gov released a joint statement after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the Department of Justice will not be releasing the full Epstein files today.

Reposted by Michael Kevane

NPR @npr.org · 7d

The late, great Fela Kuti is known as the "Black President" for his role as both a musical and a political leader. Now he has become the first African artist to get this Grammy honor. n.pr/4oXdpat

He's the first African musician to get a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The late, great Fela Kuti is known as the "Black President" for his role as both a musical and a political leader. Now he has become the first African artist to get this Grammy honor.

n.pr

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 7d

Introduced daughter to Manchurian Candidate, 1962 Frankenheimer version.... it's spotty, but the scene with the Senator "I have a list...!" is brilliantly filmed, with Angela Lansbury watching the closeup on the TV screen in the foreground www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Zn...