Marjorie Pak
@marjoriepak.bsky.social
I teach linguistics. I help people vote. I read a lot and write a little. I like democracy. Atlanta, GA. she/her
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
If cost has kept you from picking up There Is No Place for Us (which is totally understandable), good news: the ebook is *$1.99* today—93% off!—on Kindle, B&N, Bookshop, and elsewhere.
So grateful to everyone who's been reading and sharing the book this year. It means a lot.
So grateful to everyone who's been reading and sharing the book this year. It means a lot.
There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone: 9780593237144 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE ATLANTIC’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:28 PM
If cost has kept you from picking up There Is No Place for Us (which is totally understandable), good news: the ebook is *$1.99* today—93% off!—on Kindle, B&N, Bookshop, and elsewhere.
So grateful to everyone who's been reading and sharing the book this year. It means a lot.
So grateful to everyone who's been reading and sharing the book this year. It means a lot.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Maybe this new blog can respond, in one of its first posts, to the argument that the term “interim docket” is a deliberately misleading attempt to minimize the (very permanent) doctrinal and real-world consequences of #SCOTUS’s rulings on emergency applications?
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
December 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Maybe this new blog can respond, in one of its first posts, to the argument that the term “interim docket” is a deliberately misleading attempt to minimize the (very permanent) doctrinal and real-world consequences of #SCOTUS’s rulings on emergency applications?
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
This. This was the formative event of my generation & our entire politics in 🇺🇸. The structural break after which we were no longer a full democracy, when 5 Wizards In Robes decided they were a super-legislature & counting all the actual votes didn’t matter. The rest has been 25 years of commentary.
25 years ago today, SCOTUS elected George W Bush president of the United States by blocking completion of a voting canvass in Florida. A subsequent canvass by the Associated Press showed that Bush's rival, Al Gore, had won the race in Florida—and thus the contest for the presidency—by 700 votes.
December 12, 2025 at 7:50 AM
This. This was the formative event of my generation & our entire politics in 🇺🇸. The structural break after which we were no longer a full democracy, when 5 Wizards In Robes decided they were a super-legislature & counting all the actual votes didn’t matter. The rest has been 25 years of commentary.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
This is what it looks like when an attempt at authoritarian consolidation stalls out. The wheels are coming off the bus
Showing they won’t be bullied, Indiana Senate votes against GOP gerrymander. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
In Blow to Trump, Indiana Rejects GOP Gerrymander
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:27 AM
This is what it looks like when an attempt at authoritarian consolidation stalls out. The wheels are coming off the bus
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Damn good questioning here.
FBI operations director Michael Glasheen says antifa is the government’s “primary concern” as “the most immediate violent threat” domestically. Bennie Thompson asks where antifa exists in the US and how many members it has.
“Well that’s very fluid.”
A remarkable exchange. Full:
“Well that’s very fluid.”
A remarkable exchange. Full:
December 12, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Damn good questioning here.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
When you hire a white man because they’re a white man that’s not identity politics. Identity politics is when you get hired and you’re not a white man. The anti wokeness hysteria was always a backlash to integration of white collar jobs bsky.app/profile/jami...
Hiring a Black woman: “identity politics”
Hiring a white guy for a job that has been held disproportionately by white guys, because he is a white guy: “subverting” identity politics!
(The author of this sentence is Dylan Byers; you will not be surprised to learn that he is a white guy.)
Hiring a white guy for a job that has been held disproportionately by white guys, because he is a white guy: “subverting” identity politics!
(The author of this sentence is Dylan Byers; you will not be surprised to learn that he is a white guy.)
December 11, 2025 at 11:01 AM
When you hire a white man because they’re a white man that’s not identity politics. Identity politics is when you get hired and you’re not a white man. The anti wokeness hysteria was always a backlash to integration of white collar jobs bsky.app/profile/jami...
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Rigorous and important empirical study on the impact of SCOTUS’s gutting of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Especially troubling now that Section 2 is also on the chopping block.
New from Michael Miller and me at @thejop.bsky.social: Evidence that, in most areas that were affected by the decision, the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act in 2013 (Shelby County v Holder) increased the racial turnout gap. A thread...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
December 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Rigorous and important empirical study on the impact of SCOTUS’s gutting of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Especially troubling now that Section 2 is also on the chopping block.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
In August, we got a bit of extra money from a generous donor, and I used it to expand into coverage of trans life in American prisons.
This piece, by incarcerated journalist B Speaks, describes the chaos Georgia's forced detransition regime, currently halted by the courts, wreaked in one prison.
This piece, by incarcerated journalist B Speaks, describes the chaos Georgia's forced detransition regime, currently halted by the courts, wreaked in one prison.
EXCLUSIVE: Forced Detransitions ‘Nearly Toppled’ Medical Unit in Georgia Prison During Care Ban — Assigned
In the midst of a lawsuit, a Georgia prison resumes gender affirming care for trans inmates.
www.assignedmedia.org
December 7, 2025 at 6:42 PM
In August, we got a bit of extra money from a generous donor, and I used it to expand into coverage of trans life in American prisons.
This piece, by incarcerated journalist B Speaks, describes the chaos Georgia's forced detransition regime, currently halted by the courts, wreaked in one prison.
This piece, by incarcerated journalist B Speaks, describes the chaos Georgia's forced detransition regime, currently halted by the courts, wreaked in one prison.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
📽️ WATCH: As her health declined during a high-risk pregnancy, Tierra Walker asked doctors for an abortion. They assured her she didn’t need to worry. Then she died of preeclampsia.
Listen to her aunt Latanya Walker recount Tierra's story. More: https://propub.li/3MkJs6L
Listen to her aunt Latanya Walker recount Tierra's story. More: https://propub.li/3MkJs6L
December 6, 2025 at 2:00 AM
📽️ WATCH: As her health declined during a high-risk pregnancy, Tierra Walker asked doctors for an abortion. They assured her she didn’t need to worry. Then she died of preeclampsia.
Listen to her aunt Latanya Walker recount Tierra's story. More: https://propub.li/3MkJs6L
Listen to her aunt Latanya Walker recount Tierra's story. More: https://propub.li/3MkJs6L
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
It's hard to explain to normies how much effort Trump is putting into anti-trans policies.
This is like the 12th thing just this week. And there were 12 things the week before, and 12 things the week before that. There will be 12 things next week.
This is almost everything the government is doing.
This is like the 12th thing just this week. And there were 12 things the week before, and 12 things the week before that. There will be 12 things next week.
This is almost everything the government is doing.
BREAKING: Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans & intersex people, memo says. A DOJ memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) do not align with Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-trans executive order, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports.
Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people
A Department of Justice memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act do not align with Trump’s executive order
prismreports.org
December 5, 2025 at 11:44 AM
It's hard to explain to normies how much effort Trump is putting into anti-trans policies.
This is like the 12th thing just this week. And there were 12 things the week before, and 12 things the week before that. There will be 12 things next week.
This is almost everything the government is doing.
This is like the 12th thing just this week. And there were 12 things the week before, and 12 things the week before that. There will be 12 things next week.
This is almost everything the government is doing.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
The current Supreme Court has forfeited all legitimacy.
Democrats (and everyone) need to address that reality.
John Roberts > Roger Taney.
Court needs to expand. And have fixed terms—like *every* other supreme court in developed world. And have ethics rules, like all normal organizations.
Democrats (and everyone) need to address that reality.
John Roberts > Roger Taney.
Court needs to expand. And have fixed terms—like *every* other supreme court in developed world. And have ethics rules, like all normal organizations.
Democrats need to lay the groundwork for reform by attacking the villains on the Supreme Court - loudly, angrily, personally, relentlessly. And they should start now.
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
Democrats Need to Treat the Supreme Court Like the Villain It Is
The Court is out of control, and we'll never see reform unless we build the case for it. Starting now.
paulwaldman.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The current Supreme Court has forfeited all legitimacy.
Democrats (and everyone) need to address that reality.
John Roberts > Roger Taney.
Court needs to expand. And have fixed terms—like *every* other supreme court in developed world. And have ethics rules, like all normal organizations.
Democrats (and everyone) need to address that reality.
John Roberts > Roger Taney.
Court needs to expand. And have fixed terms—like *every* other supreme court in developed world. And have ethics rules, like all normal organizations.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
THEY DID THIS TO A MOTHER AND HER CHILD
Her baby was in the NICU. She was in ICE detention.
Nayra Guzmán was arrested 15 days after her daughter’s difficult birth. Before Trump took office, postpartum immigrants were rarely detained by ICE.
azmirror.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:32 PM
THEY DID THIS TO A MOTHER AND HER CHILD
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Issues like anti-trans panic are not organic red state issues. They are engineered like viruses in a lab of bad faith politics, and the way to deal with bullies using them is to tell them to fuck off.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/culture-wa...
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/culture-wa...
Culture Wars Are For Cowards
And most people don't like bullies.
www.hamiltonnolan.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Issues like anti-trans panic are not organic red state issues. They are engineered like viruses in a lab of bad faith politics, and the way to deal with bullies using them is to tell them to fuck off.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/culture-wa...
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/culture-wa...
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Kavanaugh stops.
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
December 4, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Kavanaugh stops.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Feels really significant that the Trump admin is making a concerted effort to force colleges to undo policies that made campus safe and accessible for trans people, because for so many trans people college is the first place they ever get to be themselves.
November 29, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Feels really significant that the Trump admin is making a concerted effort to force colleges to undo policies that made campus safe and accessible for trans people, because for so many trans people college is the first place they ever get to be themselves.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Happening tonight: I'll be on PBS NewsHour Weekend talking about There Is No Place for Us and the roughly four million people—many of them powering, through their labor, the very companies raking in profits this weekend—who are experiencing homelessness in America right now.
November 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Happening tonight: I'll be on PBS NewsHour Weekend talking about There Is No Place for Us and the roughly four million people—many of them powering, through their labor, the very companies raking in profits this weekend—who are experiencing homelessness in America right now.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
It remains not only so shameful and such a profound betrayal but also just so EMBARRASSING that universities are signing things that are like:
"Men" and "Women" are defined the way President Buttface said in his Big Fancy Statement.
Signed,
The Leader of an Actual Institution of Higher Education
"Men" and "Women" are defined the way President Buttface said in his Big Fancy Statement.
Signed,
The Leader of an Actual Institution of Higher Education
November 29, 2025 at 1:29 PM
It remains not only so shameful and such a profound betrayal but also just so EMBARRASSING that universities are signing things that are like:
"Men" and "Women" are defined the way President Buttface said in his Big Fancy Statement.
Signed,
The Leader of an Actual Institution of Higher Education
"Men" and "Women" are defined the way President Buttface said in his Big Fancy Statement.
Signed,
The Leader of an Actual Institution of Higher Education
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Just catching up with the budget coverage in the papers.
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Just catching up with the budget coverage in the papers.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
I didn’t want to overreact, and took time to read this. Having done so, I’m adding Northwestern to the list of places I won’t visit or speak. The concessions re: international students and gender-affirming care are not merely symbolic.
Here’s the text of the Northwestern settlement with the DoJ, which includes a $75 million financial component / payoff (cc @profmarkovic.bsky.social):
November 29, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I didn’t want to overreact, and took time to read this. Having done so, I’m adding Northwestern to the list of places I won’t visit or speak. The concessions re: international students and gender-affirming care are not merely symbolic.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
HOW @nytimes.com?
How did the @nytimes.com editors let this sentence appear?
"Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s approach to extortion, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with this administration."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
"Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s approach to extortion, while others have chalked it up as a cost of doing business with this administration."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Northwestern University Nears Deal to Resolve Its Conflict With the White House
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:28 AM
HOW @nytimes.com?
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
After Tierra Walker died, her family was confused by her medical care.
“They didn’t want to offer to end the pregnancy, because the government or someone says you can’t?” her aunt said. “So you’d rather let somebody die?”
“They didn’t want to offer to end the pregnancy, because the government or someone says you can’t?” her aunt said. “So you’d rather let somebody die?”
“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.
Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.
www.propublica.org
November 29, 2025 at 2:30 AM
After Tierra Walker died, her family was confused by her medical care.
“They didn’t want to offer to end the pregnancy, because the government or someone says you can’t?” her aunt said. “So you’d rather let somebody die?”
“They didn’t want to offer to end the pregnancy, because the government or someone says you can’t?” her aunt said. “So you’d rather let somebody die?”
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
👀 when it comes to "harassment" and student protest, northwestern has given the trump administration what appears to be a veto over changes in policy: "Northwestern shall not revise or modify these policies and procedures without the consent of the Assistant Attorney General".
horrible.
horrible.
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:24 AM
👀 when it comes to "harassment" and student protest, northwestern has given the trump administration what appears to be a veto over changes in policy: "Northwestern shall not revise or modify these policies and procedures without the consent of the Assistant Attorney General".
horrible.
horrible.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Any person who claims to be an academic leader and signs a document like this is neither.
November 29, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Any person who claims to be an academic leader and signs a document like this is neither.
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
We have to use every tool available to us - including our dollars. This Black Friday and weekend @blackvotersmatterfund.org asks you to join “We Ain’t Buyin’ It!” to send a message to Trump’s corporate enablers. Learn more about the companies targeted in this campaign here: weaintbuyingit.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM
We have to use every tool available to us - including our dollars. This Black Friday and weekend @blackvotersmatterfund.org asks you to join “We Ain’t Buyin’ It!” to send a message to Trump’s corporate enablers. Learn more about the companies targeted in this campaign here: weaintbuyingit.com
Reposted by Marjorie Pak
Probably not ideal to publish a long piece on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving… Would you help me spread the word?
I wrote about some persistent myths regarding what’s happening in American society and politics we desperately need to discard:
I wrote about some persistent myths regarding what’s happening in American society and politics we desperately need to discard:
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment of the established order.
New piece:
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment of the established order.
New piece:
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment
steady.page
November 27, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Probably not ideal to publish a long piece on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving… Would you help me spread the word?
I wrote about some persistent myths regarding what’s happening in American society and politics we desperately need to discard:
I wrote about some persistent myths regarding what’s happening in American society and politics we desperately need to discard: