Ben Mauk
@benmauk.bsky.social
Pinned
Ben Mauk
@benmauk.bsky.social
· Nov 16
For two years, Nyrola Elimä and I have been investigating a mass exodus of Uyghur asylum seekers from China.
Our reporting, published earlier this week in the New York Times Magazine, shows in unprecedented detail the extent of China’s pursuit of Uyghurs beyond its borders.
Our reporting, published earlier this week in the New York Times Magazine, shows in unprecedented detail the extent of China’s pursuit of Uyghurs beyond its borders.
My friend and colleague Caren Beilin's new novel SEA, POISON is out with New Directions. I may be biased but it's the best new novel I've read in a long time. A paranoid comic body horror thriller by way of Oulipo, it's enormously fun, smart, and disturbing.
www.ndbooks.com/book/sea-poi...
www.ndbooks.com/book/sea-poi...
Sea, Poison
Cumin Baleen is a forty-one-year-old writer living in Philadelphia—this city of hospitals—who works at the upscale grocery Sea & Poison and is navigating the onset of an autoimmune condition. To start...
www.ndbooks.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM
My friend and colleague Caren Beilin's new novel SEA, POISON is out with New Directions. I may be biased but it's the best new novel I've read in a long time. A paranoid comic body horror thriller by way of Oulipo, it's enormously fun, smart, and disturbing.
www.ndbooks.com/book/sea-poi...
www.ndbooks.com/book/sea-poi...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Last November, the New York Times had a searing exposé on the treatment of Uyghurs trapped in Thailand during a migration crackdown. Worth your time if you want to learn more about what was happening here. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/m...
March 6, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Last November, the New York Times had a searing exposé on the treatment of Uyghurs trapped in Thailand during a migration crackdown. Worth your time if you want to learn more about what was happening here. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/m...
"I don’t even know a single person in the movement who hasn’t been physically assaulted in some way by the cops. Punched, choked, shoved, slapped, kicked – I am at a loss for words to describe how bad the police abuse situation here is.”
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
Irish protester Kitty O’Brien accuses Berlin police of widespread violence
Investigation under way into assault on O’Brien who claims police brutality expected in pro-Palestine demonstrations
www.irishtimes.com
September 5, 2025 at 12:21 PM
"I don’t even know a single person in the movement who hasn’t been physically assaulted in some way by the cops. Punched, choked, shoved, slapped, kicked – I am at a loss for words to describe how bad the police abuse situation here is.”
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
The biggest problem in America is a right-wing disinformation machine that has waged a decades-long war on public attention, conquered the media landscape, and entirely reshaped civic society.
Every other problem, including higher ed, is downstream.
benmauk.substack.com/p/the-crisis...
Every other problem, including higher ed, is downstream.
benmauk.substack.com/p/the-crisis...
September 3, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The biggest problem in America is a right-wing disinformation machine that has waged a decades-long war on public attention, conquered the media landscape, and entirely reshaped civic society.
Every other problem, including higher ed, is downstream.
benmauk.substack.com/p/the-crisis...
Every other problem, including higher ed, is downstream.
benmauk.substack.com/p/the-crisis...
"I don’t write to convey a message, and I don’t write stories to achieve any particular purpose. I don’t write stories to persuade a reader of something I believe, though I have many, many beliefs."
Lydia Davis in Harper's
harpers.org/archive/2025...
Lydia Davis in Harper's
harpers.org/archive/2025...
Demanding Pleasures, by Lydia Davis
On the art of observation
harpers.org
September 1, 2025 at 12:54 PM
"I don’t write to convey a message, and I don’t write stories to achieve any particular purpose. I don’t write stories to persuade a reader of something I believe, though I have many, many beliefs."
Lydia Davis in Harper's
harpers.org/archive/2025...
Lydia Davis in Harper's
harpers.org/archive/2025...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Opinion | America Is Pushing Its Workers Into Homelessness
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
August 28, 2025 at 10:24 AM
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Reposted by Ben Mauk
"Days after rejecting the claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group J Street, has said he has been “persuaded” that he was wrong."
admitting you were wrong is good
www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-hea...
admitting you were wrong is good
www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-hea...
J Street head says he’s now convinced Israel committing genocide in Gaza
Jeremy Ben-Ami explains he has been 'persuaded rationally' by legal and scholarly arguments, stresses that though he won't use term himself, he won't argue against it either
www.timesofisrael.com
August 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
"Days after rejecting the claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group J Street, has said he has been “persuaded” that he was wrong."
admitting you were wrong is good
www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-hea...
admitting you were wrong is good
www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-hea...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Border Patrol at a Home Depot in Los Angeles days after the 9th circuit affirmed a court order that purports to block this exact behavior. They don't even know who they're chasing! This is insane. Send them all to jail.
August 6, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Border Patrol at a Home Depot in Los Angeles days after the 9th circuit affirmed a court order that purports to block this exact behavior. They don't even know who they're chasing! This is insane. Send them all to jail.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
“Joseph Pilates was by most accounts neither socially graceful nor articulate. He was possessed, though, of a lifelong boundless faith in himself and in [his] machines.” —Alma Guillermoprieto
Bodies by Joe | Alma Guillermoprieto
With his strange machines and an uncanny, intuitive understanding of muscles, Joseph Pilates created a new technique for improving strength and movement.
buff.ly
August 6, 2025 at 10:22 AM
“Joseph Pilates was by most accounts neither socially graceful nor articulate. He was possessed, though, of a lifelong boundless faith in himself and in [his] machines.” —Alma Guillermoprieto
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Just to reiterate: What this administration is doing right now is orders of magnitude more dangerous for academic freedom and free speech than anything the right has spent the last 30 years complaining about.
Faculty who wrote to defend their president and object to a DOJ investigation of their university...are now being investigated by the DOJ.
The most banal defense of free speech and academic freedom will trigger the full wrath of the US government now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
The most banal defense of free speech and academic freedom will trigger the full wrath of the US government now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation
www.nytimes.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Just to reiterate: What this administration is doing right now is orders of magnitude more dangerous for academic freedom and free speech than anything the right has spent the last 30 years complaining about.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
“‘This is an unprecedented situation where hundreds of detainees are held incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts, under legal authority that has never been explained and may not exist,’ they argued.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Lawyers question legality of Alligator Alcatraz, ask federal judge to intervene
“This is an unprecedented situation where hundreds of detainees are held incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts, under legal authority that has never been explained and may not exist,” pl...
www.miamiherald.com
July 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
“‘This is an unprecedented situation where hundreds of detainees are held incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts, under legal authority that has never been explained and may not exist,’ they argued.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Flieger gestartet: Merz-Regierung schiebt trotz Taliban-Herrschaft nach Afghanistan ab
Trotz der verheerenden Menschenrechtssituation in Afghanistan schiebt die Bundesregierung Dutzende Personen dorthin ab. Asyl-Organisationen schlagen Alarm.
www.fr.de/politik/merz...
Trotz der verheerenden Menschenrechtssituation in Afghanistan schiebt die Bundesregierung Dutzende Personen dorthin ab. Asyl-Organisationen schlagen Alarm.
www.fr.de/politik/merz...
Flieger gestartet: Merz-Regierung schiebt trotz Taliban-Herrschaft nach Afghanistan ab
Trotz der verheerenden Menschenrechtssituation in Afghanistan schiebt die Bundesregierung Dutzende Personen dorthin ab. Asyl-Organisationen schlagen Alarm.
www.fr.de
July 18, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Flieger gestartet: Merz-Regierung schiebt trotz Taliban-Herrschaft nach Afghanistan ab
Trotz der verheerenden Menschenrechtssituation in Afghanistan schiebt die Bundesregierung Dutzende Personen dorthin ab. Asyl-Organisationen schlagen Alarm.
www.fr.de/politik/merz...
Trotz der verheerenden Menschenrechtssituation in Afghanistan schiebt die Bundesregierung Dutzende Personen dorthin ab. Asyl-Organisationen schlagen Alarm.
www.fr.de/politik/merz...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
In @theintercept.com, Debbie Nathan reports on ICE lawyers refusing to give their names in court - and immigration judges going along with it.
theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i...
theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i...
ICE Lawyers Are Hiding Their Names in Immigration Court
ICE attorneys fighting to deport immigrants are able to obscure their identities — no masks required.
theintercept.com
July 15, 2025 at 4:43 PM
In @theintercept.com, Debbie Nathan reports on ICE lawyers refusing to give their names in court - and immigration judges going along with it.
theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i...
theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i...
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Law is fake, power is real.
Since April 4, #SCOTUS has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Trump (three birthright citizenship apps were consolidated).
It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings.
It has written majority opinions in only 3.
Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*
It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings.
It has written majority opinions in only 3.
Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*
Here we go again: Over an acerbic dissenting opinion by Justice Sotomayor (joined in full by Justices Kagan and Jackson), #SCOTUS, with no explanation, grants a stay in the Department of Education RIFs case—effectively clearing the way for the Trump administration to dismantle much of the agency:
July 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Law is fake, power is real.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
An Israeli airstrike just killed 10 people—six of them kids—as they stood in line for water. Yesterday 31 more Palestinians were shot dead while trying to reach an aid distribution site.
This is what our tax dollars continue to fund. And most of the country couldn't care less.
This is what our tax dollars continue to fund. And most of the country couldn't care less.
Israeli airstrike kills at least 10, including six children, at Gaza water station, say health officials
Nine killed in separate bombing of a home on Sunday and 31 others shot dead near aid distribution site on Saturday
www.theguardian.com
July 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
An Israeli airstrike just killed 10 people—six of them kids—as they stood in line for water. Yesterday 31 more Palestinians were shot dead while trying to reach an aid distribution site.
This is what our tax dollars continue to fund. And most of the country couldn't care less.
This is what our tax dollars continue to fund. And most of the country couldn't care less.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Another ICE "assault" case unravels. Border Patrol and ICE are arresting US citizens and then after they find out that they are US citizens, they are charging them with "assault" to justify their actions. This is clearly DHS policy at this point. We've seen it repeatedly now.
July 12, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Another ICE "assault" case unravels. Border Patrol and ICE are arresting US citizens and then after they find out that they are US citizens, they are charging them with "assault" to justify their actions. This is clearly DHS policy at this point. We've seen it repeatedly now.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
NEW: The contractors working at Alligator Alcatraz are illegally covering up the USDOT numbers on their trucks.
Trucks Entering Alligator Alcatraz Are Hiding Their Logos, DOT Numbers
The contractors are illegally covering up the USDOT numbers on their trucks.
www.miaminewtimes.com
July 7, 2025 at 4:34 PM
NEW: The contractors working at Alligator Alcatraz are illegally covering up the USDOT numbers on their trucks.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha says he’s been suspended from Substack, a platform where white supremacists publish without issue. I can’t recall this happening to any prominent writers in the past.
July 6, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha says he’s been suspended from Substack, a platform where white supremacists publish without issue. I can’t recall this happening to any prominent writers in the past.
Reposted by Ben Mauk
Boston Consulting Group is consulting on how to ethnically cleanse hundreds of millions of Palestinians.
Genocide is done through consulting firms now.
Genocide is done through consulting firms now.
on.ft.com/4nEiYvk BCG modelled plan to ‘relocate’ Palestinians from Gaza
BCG modelled plan to ‘relocate’ Palestinians from Gaza
Consulting firm had multimillion-dollar role in contentious new aid scheme for shattered enclave
on.ft.com
July 4, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Boston Consulting Group is consulting on how to ethnically cleanse hundreds of millions of Palestinians.
Genocide is done through consulting firms now.
Genocide is done through consulting firms now.