Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
I teach history and write about US politics, cities, and inequality, most recently in ILLUSIONS OF PROGRESS: Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century (Penn Press, 2023).
Pinned
Brent Cebul
@brentcebul.bsky.social
· Sep 12
Adding Value | Phenomenal World
Mortgage insurance has traditionally been the method the federal government has used to induce investment in owner-occupied housing. But for multifamily rentals, the history of mortgage-insurance prog...
www.phenomenalworld.org
Mike Glass and I argue for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social that we’ve tried the #abundance incentive-based approach to housing crises before. But lack of oversight + incentives produced fraud, profiteering, and inflated rents -- and the Trump family fortune.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Jeffrey Epstein Was a Warlord. We Have to Talk About It.
www.thenation.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Brent Cebul
this story is the perfect one to share with anyone who extols the virtues of big tech and big data to improve our lives or address our problems. this is what these tools are for, built by bad people who want to hurt us. and I don't think we get to liberation using them. I think we get to hell.
During the height of the pandemic, Tyson used Palantir to predict Covid-19 infections among meatpacking workers down to a nearly exactly figure. But rather than using this data to increase worker protections, Tyson used it plan for labor shortages + plant closures
My latest for @sentientmedia.org
My latest for @sentientmedia.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
this story is the perfect one to share with anyone who extols the virtues of big tech and big data to improve our lives or address our problems. this is what these tools are for, built by bad people who want to hurt us. and I don't think we get to liberation using them. I think we get to hell.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I spoke to @lkatfield.bsky.social about her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to...
Talking to Laura K. Field about MAGA "Ideas"
Author Series No. 4
www.unpopularfront.news
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I spoke to @lkatfield.bsky.social about her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
photos of Trump sleeping through yesterday's Oval Office event via Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
photos of Trump sleeping through yesterday's Oval Office event via Andrew Harnik of Getty
Reposted by Brent Cebul
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 6, 2025 at 6:10 PM
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
Reposted by Brent Cebul
An excerpt of my @pennpress.bsky.social book -- on school bonds in Levittown -- was just published in FINANCIAL HISTORY MAGAZINE. 🤑
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
November 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
An excerpt of my @pennpress.bsky.social book -- on school bonds in Levittown -- was just published in FINANCIAL HISTORY MAGAZINE. 🤑
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Freely available here: fhmagazine.org/tRDd/p18/p18.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
If you liked the 2008 bank bailout, you're going to LOVE the 2026 AI (and crypto) bailout garymarcus.substack.com/p/if-you-tho...
OpenAI probably can’t make ends meet. That’s where you come in.
If you thought the 2008 bank bailout was bad, wait til you see the 2026 AI bailout
garymarcus.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:04 AM
If you liked the 2008 bank bailout, you're going to LOVE the 2026 AI (and crypto) bailout garymarcus.substack.com/p/if-you-tho...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Faculty are the primary stewards and enactors of the mission of research and teaching; knowledge creation and dissemination. The administration exists only in its capacity to forward that mission.
November 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Faculty are the primary stewards and enactors of the mission of research and teaching; knowledge creation and dissemination. The administration exists only in its capacity to forward that mission.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Johnson’s refusal to seat Grijalva feels like a foreshadowing of this GOP plan to stay in power post-2026 regardless of the outcome of the election. This thread is about a well connected Oregon MAGA activist who just podcasted it out.
Two big GOP activists from Oregon were in DC last month for meetings with Trump admin officials. On their podcast they talk about a plan they discussed to nullify the results of Oregon's 2026 federal elections. Pass federal voter ID law, then refuse to seat OR delegation because OR didn't comply.
November 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Johnson’s refusal to seat Grijalva feels like a foreshadowing of this GOP plan to stay in power post-2026 regardless of the outcome of the election. This thread is about a well connected Oregon MAGA activist who just podcasted it out.
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Very helpful public good here
Whatever strategy you’re about to suggest, we’ve thought about it. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments Because this document has escaped containment, a couple points of explanation. I wrote this for myself and a few colleagues as we work out how to handle...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Very helpful public good here
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Read this @gregsargent.bsky.social piece on a super important @rooseveltinstitute.org report coming out today, which draws key lessons from the Biden experience for how our side can do better the next time we have the reins of power.
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
Why Is Trump Autocracy Rising? These Dems Have an Unnerving Answer.
A new Biden administration autopsy, based on internal assessments from many government insiders, has crystal clear lessons for the future.
newrepublic.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Read this @gregsargent.bsky.social piece on a super important @rooseveltinstitute.org report coming out today, which draws key lessons from the Biden experience for how our side can do better the next time we have the reins of power.
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
newrepublic.com/article/2023...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I think if you want a theory of how Democrats “decide to win”, you need to begin with the organizational substructure of the party. My @catalystjournal.bsky.social article from July lays it out: www.catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
Why the Democrats Are So Useless
The Democratic Party’s transformation into a network of policy clientele organizations has left it incapacitated as an opposition party. These groups, which lack strong mass-membership bases and sourc...
www.catalyst-journal.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:17 AM
I think if you want a theory of how Democrats “decide to win”, you need to begin with the organizational substructure of the party. My @catalystjournal.bsky.social article from July lays it out: www.catalyst-journal.com/2025/07/why-...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Trump's "friend" who donated $130 to pay (a small portion of) what's owed to troops moved to Wyoming to escape taxes, complained that Black people were “even more belligerent” after social programs were expanded in the 1960s and ’70s, and described social safety net programs as “slavery redux.”
Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune
www.nytimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Trump's "friend" who donated $130 to pay (a small portion of) what's owed to troops moved to Wyoming to escape taxes, complained that Black people were “even more belligerent” after social programs were expanded in the 1960s and ’70s, and described social safety net programs as “slavery redux.”
One of the better takes on the Platner episode. Further proof of the excellence of @defector.com and the importance of independent platforms. Thanks @davidjroth.bsky.social
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
October 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
One of the better takes on the Platner episode. Further proof of the excellence of @defector.com and the importance of independent platforms. Thanks @davidjroth.bsky.social
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Gift link: defector.com/what-job-is-...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
“If you’re a moderate party and you are talking about what we call cultural issues – migration, integration – in a way that is dictated by the rhythm of the far right, that’s the whole idea of agenda setting.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds
Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
“If you’re a moderate party and you are talking about what we call cultural issues – migration, integration – in a way that is dictated by the rhythm of the far right, that’s the whole idea of agenda setting.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
This article is so very much my kind of shit
Check out my story with @maxmmarin.bsky.social about the bizarre struggle between the Polish American Museum and the Redevelopment Authority, with roots in the ethnic politics of urban crisis era Philadelphia: share.inquirer.com/Ex2xE6
A Polish museum got a free Society Hill home for nearly 40 years. Then the city evicted it.
For decades, City Hall never questioned whether the nonprofit actually owned the building at 308 Walnut St.
share.inquirer.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:41 PM
This article is so very much my kind of shit
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I’ve come to understand that a lot of it comes from deceiving senior citizens
open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
Spam PACs Raise Money by Deceiving Seniors
One 89-year-old woman made 7,532 donations totaling $68,666
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I’ve come to understand that a lot of it comes from deceiving senior citizens
open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
@geraldo-cadava.bsky.social with an amazing piece on what it's like to be in Chicago in the age of ICE www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
The Conflict on the Streets of Chicago
Federal agents have violently arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in the city. Pastors, activists, and lawyers are considering how aggressive the response should be.
www.newyorker.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:51 AM
@geraldo-cadava.bsky.social with an amazing piece on what it's like to be in Chicago in the age of ICE www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Reposted by Brent Cebul
I don’t know how to make it matter but I want to pay a lot more attention to the people who refuse along the way than the little fascists destroying everything. The student editors, this fired director. People who rise to the ethical challenges before them, for no glory.
Indiana University Media School Dean David Tolchinsky terminated Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush on Tuesday afternoon after he refused to censor the Indiana Daily Student.
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU fires student media director after he refused to censor the IDS
Indiana University directed the IDS to stop printing news.
www.idsnews.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I don’t know how to make it matter but I want to pay a lot more attention to the people who refuse along the way than the little fascists destroying everything. The student editors, this fired director. People who rise to the ethical challenges before them, for no glory.
Give this piece a few minutes. The water is nearly boiling. www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-... Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next
Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next
We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.
www.thebulwark.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Give this piece a few minutes. The water is nearly boiling. www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-... Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next
And another beauty just arrived! Congrats @m-r-glass.bsky.social!
October 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM
And another beauty just arrived! Congrats @m-r-glass.bsky.social!
A blistering piece by Penn historian Ben Nathans on the dangers of Trumps’s Faustian compact www.thedp.com/article/2025... Benjamin Nathans | Autonomy or obedience | The Daily Pennsylvanian
October 8, 2025 at 11:19 AM
A blistering piece by Penn historian Ben Nathans on the dangers of Trumps’s Faustian compact www.thedp.com/article/2025... Benjamin Nathans | Autonomy or obedience | The Daily Pennsylvanian
Reposted by Brent Cebul
OPINION: "Signing on to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offered by the Trump administration would end the school's ability to determine its own future." — The Inquirer Editorial Board
Federal funding is not worth Penn’s independence | Editorial
Signing on to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offered by the Trump administration would end the school's ability to determine its own future.
www.inquirer.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:25 PM
OPINION: "Signing on to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offered by the Trump administration would end the school's ability to determine its own future." — The Inquirer Editorial Board
Reposted by Brent Cebul
good read even if you are not in uva networks
for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
good read even if you are not in uva networks
Reposted by Brent Cebul
Price Lab exec committee member @brentcebul.bsky.social and Mike Glass are in the Journal of American History on FHA housing and segregation
Mortgaging Out: Fha Credit Policy, Segregated Rental Housing, and the Remaking of Metropolitan America
On a hot afternoon in July 1954, Fred C. Trump sat as a witness before the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. He had been subpoenaed for an investig
academic.oup.com
October 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Price Lab exec committee member @brentcebul.bsky.social and Mike Glass are in the Journal of American History on FHA housing and segregation