kennan
@kennan.bsky.social
Political theory &c. Emphasis on the &c.
Pinned
kennan
@kennan.bsky.social
· Oct 17
Why does the Cook County Sheriffs Dept hate Baptists so much?
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 15, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Why does the Cook County Sheriffs Dept hate Baptists so much?
Reposted by kennan
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by kennan
my "Indigenous person who has been asked to help write them a truly irritating number of times" opinion is I find them mostly pretty useless and perfunctory
but also despite that perfunctory nature, sometimes they make total assholes incandescently angry, and I find that extremely funny
but also despite that perfunctory nature, sometimes they make total assholes incandescently angry, and I find that extremely funny
November 14, 2025 at 1:11 PM
my "Indigenous person who has been asked to help write them a truly irritating number of times" opinion is I find them mostly pretty useless and perfunctory
but also despite that perfunctory nature, sometimes they make total assholes incandescently angry, and I find that extremely funny
but also despite that perfunctory nature, sometimes they make total assholes incandescently angry, and I find that extremely funny
Reposted by kennan
more to the point: "this doesn't do anything" / "this is performative (derogatory)" is a criticism of land acknowledgements I find compelling from people actively engaged in reparations projects and pretty much no else
November 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM
more to the point: "this doesn't do anything" / "this is performative (derogatory)" is a criticism of land acknowledgements I find compelling from people actively engaged in reparations projects and pretty much no else
Reposted by kennan
Houses like diamonds are fixed in supply and must be mined in the dark deep of Khazad-dûm
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 14, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Houses like diamonds are fixed in supply and must be mined in the dark deep of Khazad-dûm
Reposted by kennan
I wrote a piece for @frenchhistory.bsky.social about the 40th anniversary of the French bombing of the "Rainbow Warrior."
Huge thanks to @eldrclaire.bsky.social @donalh.bsky.social @meghankroberts.bsky.social & the journal's extremely patient staff.
doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1093/fh/c...
Huge thanks to @eldrclaire.bsky.social @donalh.bsky.social @meghankroberts.bsky.social & the journal's extremely patient staff.
doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1093/fh/c...
November 13, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I wrote a piece for @frenchhistory.bsky.social about the 40th anniversary of the French bombing of the "Rainbow Warrior."
Huge thanks to @eldrclaire.bsky.social @donalh.bsky.social @meghankroberts.bsky.social & the journal's extremely patient staff.
doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1093/fh/c...
Huge thanks to @eldrclaire.bsky.social @donalh.bsky.social @meghankroberts.bsky.social & the journal's extremely patient staff.
doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1093/fh/c...
Reposted by kennan
This is what male solidarity & collective action to oppress women looks like:
Artist Andres Serrano--successful, but nowhere near the same class as Thiel & other billionaires in the files--stating that he'll vote for Trump, despite his politics, out of *sympathy* with T's sexual assaults on women.
Artist Andres Serrano--successful, but nowhere near the same class as Thiel & other billionaires in the files--stating that he'll vote for Trump, despite his politics, out of *sympathy* with T's sexual assaults on women.
November 12, 2025 at 10:11 PM
This is what male solidarity & collective action to oppress women looks like:
Artist Andres Serrano--successful, but nowhere near the same class as Thiel & other billionaires in the files--stating that he'll vote for Trump, despite his politics, out of *sympathy* with T's sexual assaults on women.
Artist Andres Serrano--successful, but nowhere near the same class as Thiel & other billionaires in the files--stating that he'll vote for Trump, despite his politics, out of *sympathy* with T's sexual assaults on women.
Azari: “impeachment is much more rooted in race and racialized institutions than most accounts would suggest.”
The backlash presidency - Niskanen Center
Julia Azari finds that backlash presidents like Trump tend to follow transformative presidents like Barack Obama who represent changes to the American racial order.
www.niskanencenter.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Azari: “impeachment is much more rooted in race and racialized institutions than most accounts would suggest.”
Reposted by kennan
Do you like listening to books as well as reading them? My work on the political theory of cookbooks is celebrating being one of the top philosophy audiobooks of the past decade with a 70% off sale!
70% OFF Cookbook Politics
Cookbooks are not political in conventional ways. They neither proclaim, as do manifestos, nor do they forbid, as do laws. They do not command agreement, as do arguments, and their stipulations often ...
www.audiobooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Do you like listening to books as well as reading them? My work on the political theory of cookbooks is celebrating being one of the top philosophy audiobooks of the past decade with a 70% off sale!
Reposted by kennan
imo you're supposed to read asimov in middle school, clarke in high school, le guin in college, and lem in grad school. I fucked up and read lem in college and le guin in grad school and it's set me back a bit.
November 12, 2025 at 12:07 AM
imo you're supposed to read asimov in middle school, clarke in high school, le guin in college, and lem in grad school. I fucked up and read lem in college and le guin in grad school and it's set me back a bit.
Do you like listening to books as well as reading them? My work on the political theory of cookbooks is celebrating being one of the top philosophy audiobooks of the past decade with a 70% off sale!
70% OFF Cookbook Politics
Cookbooks are not political in conventional ways. They neither proclaim, as do manifestos, nor do they forbid, as do laws. They do not command agreement, as do arguments, and their stipulations often ...
www.audiobooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Do you like listening to books as well as reading them? My work on the political theory of cookbooks is celebrating being one of the top philosophy audiobooks of the past decade with a 70% off sale!
Greene is perhaps the first person to convince me of the legitimacy of the “horseshoe theory of politics.”
November 9, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Greene is perhaps the first person to convince me of the legitimacy of the “horseshoe theory of politics.”
Reposted by kennan
My old pal Pete Coviello — one of the best writers and thinkers I've ever known — wrote the piece of the moment
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:17 AM
My old pal Pete Coviello — one of the best writers and thinkers I've ever known — wrote the piece of the moment
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by kennan
I skipped this article for a while because I figured I'd read enough about the NYT's Mamdani coverage. I don't want to say the headline does the article a disservice - it is also very much about that - but goes well beyond as well
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I skipped this article for a while because I figured I'd read enough about the NYT's Mamdani coverage. I don't want to say the headline does the article a disservice - it is also very much about that - but goes well beyond as well
Reposted by kennan
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
"Store employees are now required to smile if they are within 10 feet of a shopper.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
Target is now requiring its employees to smile more
As the holiday season fast approaches, Target is urging its employees to add a little more “jolly” to their work routine.
www.wilx.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:12 PM
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
Who is the best contemporary theorist of lustration?
November 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Who is the best contemporary theorist of lustration?
Reposted by kennan
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. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
hoping that someone with fp chops such as @abuaardvark.bsky.social will write an essay on real estate diplomacy
Reports across the Middle East that Syria has given the US an airbase outside of Damascus and has given the Trump organization exclusive rights to build a new hotel there. www.reuters.com/world/middle...
November 7, 2025 at 1:34 AM
hoping that someone with fp chops such as @abuaardvark.bsky.social will write an essay on real estate diplomacy
Reposted by kennan
Important thread about your settings on here, and how they restrict, well, everything
Remember that people do abuse these tags to keep you from seeing content they don't like. You may think you don't want to see threats but conservatives flag anything hostile toward their Great Leader as threats, for example. Keep that in mind as you pick your filters.
November 7, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Important thread about your settings on here, and how they restrict, well, everything
Reposted by kennan
is a sandwich a speech act
November 6, 2025 at 8:34 PM
is a sandwich a speech act
Reposted by kennan
The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout:
Humanities majors killed on the job market
1) Mamdani- Africana Studies
2) Spanberger -French
3) Sherill - Global History
Humanities majors killed on the job market
1) Mamdani- Africana Studies
2) Spanberger -French
3) Sherill - Global History
November 5, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout:
Humanities majors killed on the job market
1) Mamdani- Africana Studies
2) Spanberger -French
3) Sherill - Global History
Humanities majors killed on the job market
1) Mamdani- Africana Studies
2) Spanberger -French
3) Sherill - Global History
Reposted by kennan
INTERVIEWER: Any comment on Zohran Mamdani's victory and what it says about immigrants and trans rights?
LABOUR POLITICIAN: (panicking) I've never heard of New York
LABOUR POLITICIAN: (panicking) I've never heard of New York
November 5, 2025 at 1:15 PM
INTERVIEWER: Any comment on Zohran Mamdani's victory and what it says about immigrants and trans rights?
LABOUR POLITICIAN: (panicking) I've never heard of New York
LABOUR POLITICIAN: (panicking) I've never heard of New York
Is the motivating factor here:
A) Speed
B) Potential for corruption
C) Top-down control
D) Leverage over contractors
A) Speed
B) Potential for corruption
C) Top-down control
D) Leverage over contractors
Draft memo reveals potentially sweeping Pentagon acquisition reforms
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/11/dod-draft-memo-acquisition-reform-hegseth-commercial-scorecard-exclusive/
Draft memo reveals potentially sweeping Pentagon acquisition reforms
Breaking Defense obtained the draft memo just days before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to address a crowd of defense CEOs and top military acquisition officials on Friday, where he is expected to announce significant changes to how the Pentagon buys weapons.
breakingdefense.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Is the motivating factor here:
A) Speed
B) Potential for corruption
C) Top-down control
D) Leverage over contractors
A) Speed
B) Potential for corruption
C) Top-down control
D) Leverage over contractors
All those times you want to follow along as someone skeets a trial, but you lack the legal knowhow to tell what is happening: this one is for you:
Big day at U.S. District Court in D.C. where Sean Dunn, the D.C. Sandwich Guy, is on trial for misdemeanor assault of a federal officer.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore is on the stand narrating surveillance video of the sammie toss.
'Now he’s struck me with the sandwich,' Lairmore says.
November 4, 2025 at 4:52 PM
All those times you want to follow along as someone skeets a trial, but you lack the legal knowhow to tell what is happening: this one is for you:
Reposted by kennan
It is worth saying that putting “Africana studies” in scare quotes as if it’s a ridiculous concept is not a political argument. It’s just racism. “Africa is not worthy of a major” is the implication. Yeah dude you’re just racist. (From Gerard Baker at the WSJ today)
www.wsj.com/opinion/mamd...
www.wsj.com/opinion/mamd...
November 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM
It is worth saying that putting “Africana studies” in scare quotes as if it’s a ridiculous concept is not a political argument. It’s just racism. “Africa is not worthy of a major” is the implication. Yeah dude you’re just racist. (From Gerard Baker at the WSJ today)
www.wsj.com/opinion/mamd...
www.wsj.com/opinion/mamd...