Matthew
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matthaion.bsky.social
Matthew
@matthaion.bsky.social
75 followers 110 following 2 posts
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Reposted by Matthew
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
Andrew Cuomo could’ve spent the years since his resignation making amends and helping New Yorkers.

Instead he hounded the women who spoke out about his serial harassment, fought to keep his book deal millions…and advised a foreign crypto exchange that broke US law.
April 2, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Matthew
bakerdphd.bsky.social
These are the people we should be spending most of our time on when we're mad about something "the university" does
illdottore.bsky.social Joseph Howley @illdottore.bsky.social · Apr 1
Arjun Appadurai and Sheldon Pollock on boards of trustees: “Who actually runs Columbia University?” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Who becomes a trustee? At Columbia there are 21, all of them from business, law and technology, with the exception of a former journalist. Although they are in charge of an academic institution, none of them is an academic. None as ever led a classroom or a lab meeting or medical rounds with interns. None has gone through the process of tenure, where their teaching, publication record and service are rigorously assessed by colleagues in the field both from within the institution and outside it. None as ever had their work peer-reviewed by anonymous readers or panels of experts. None has ever published in academic or scientific journals or presses and had their ideas debated in the public sphere. None has ever framed a hypothesis and tested it on the basis of evidence they have collected. None, in short, has sought truth and had their search confirmed by objective scholars and scientists.
April 1, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Matthew
alondra.bsky.social
The Shame of Columbia: violating academic freedom

“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
The shame of Columbia University
In surrendering to Trump, it's opening all universities to Trump's tyranny
open.substack.com
March 22, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Matthew
premthakker.bsky.social
New from Columbia's President, as the school meets Trump's demands to violate academic freedom:

"…we are guided by our values, putting academic freedom, free expression, open inquiry, and respect for all at the fore of every decision we make."

"Standing together for Columbia,
Katrina Armstrong"
Dear fellow members of the Columbia community: As I have shared with you, we have been working this year on critical priorities for our University, which you can find on our “Fulfilling Our Commitments” website. We have shared our progress on several of our key priorities with the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration. You can find that document here, and on our website. This past year has been one of enormous progress, where our community of thoughtful faculty, students, and stakeholders has shaped a principled and methodical approach to meeting the moment’s challenges. Our response to the government agencies outlines the substantive work we’ve been doing over the last academic year to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus. We have much to be proud of as a community, and it has been a privilege to share our progress and plans. In the spirit of great American universities, we expect Columbians to engage in robust debate and discussion about our way forward, and we welcome it as an opportunity to shape the future of Columbia. The way Columbia and Columbians have been portrayed is hard to reckon with. We have challenges, yes, but they do not define us. We are a community of scholars who have deep respect for each other and our mission. We teach the brightest, most creative students in the world, and we care deeply for each and every one of them. I have every faith in our ability to overcome the greatest of challenges. We stand resilient and brilliant. At all times, we are guided by our values, putting academic freedom, free expression, open inquiry, and respect for all at the fore of every decision we make. Standing together for Columbia, Katrina Armstrong Interim President, Columbia University in the City of New York
March 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Matthew
noethematt.bsky.social
This is the part to really hammer home, about IMLS and about library funding in general:

Libraries have, largely, had strong bipartisan support for decades. What we're seeing right now is against the will of the people. M4L and the like are loud, but few. And yet.

news.artnet.com/art-world/do...
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) points out that IMLS accounts for just 0.0046 percent of the overall federal budget. “We’ve generally had bipartisan support in Congress,” said the employee. “The vast majority of our budget goes to libraries, so every state gets money, every Congressional district and every county. Generally speaking, public libraries are universally applauded. Even during the first Trump administration, when they called for our elimination, Congress would turn around and not just fund us—they increased our funding every year. We didn’t even ask for more money.”
March 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Matthew
esqueer.net
Columbia University has destroyed itself. A shameful dark day.

archive.ph/1elJh
A news headline from U.S. Education News reads, "Columbia Yields to Trump in Battle Over Federal Funding." The subheading states, "School to ban masks, empower police and rein in controversial academic department." The byline credits Douglas Belkin, with a timestamp of March 21, 2025, at 4:01 pm ET.
March 21, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Matthew
moiradonegan.bsky.social
I wrote about Chuck Schumer. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
March 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Matthew
maris.bsky.social
Chuck Schumer right now:
This is fine meme, but with dog saying “So I have a book coming out”
March 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Matthew
brandonfriedman.bsky.social
Only takes 23 Senate Democrats to remove Chuck Schumer from leadership and replace him with someone willing to fight
March 14, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by Matthew
junlper.beer
chuck schumer needs to go. the democratic party leadership is useless. they are not opposition, they are complicit. if you care at all about this country or anyone in it, you NEED to vote against this bill
climatebrad.hillheat.com Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · Mar 12
BREAKING: @schumer.senate.gov is whipping Ds to vote for the Trump-Musk coup continuing resolution.
March 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Matthew
theintercept.com
Statements from prominent Democrats suggest much of the party is taking the Trump administration’s targeting of Khalil in good faith.

Which... maybe isn't the greatest idea.
Dems for Some Reason Expect Trump to Follow the Law on Detention of Mahmoud Khalil
“I expect the Department of Justice to work within the confines of the law,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who counts Khalil as one of his constituents.
interc.pt
March 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Matthew
noethematt.bsky.social
I propose a new rule:

Library vendors don't get to call themselves our partners if they aid in the censorship of material

Christ almighty, what are we even doing 📚

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Reed noticed abundant searches for information on current events. “In the early days of Covid 19, ‘coronavirus’ was one of the top searches, and there were a lot more for ‘online education,’ ” she said. “Some of the searches will break your heart too: seeing ‘gun control’ as a top search, ‘depression,’ ‘anxiety.’ But it’s important children have that access. And the way organizations are implementing stopwords, so much access is restricted.” Jennie Rose Halperin, executive director of Library Futures, agreed that digital censorship obscures data without leaving a literal gap on the bookshelf. Until recently, she said, “no one knew what a database was, so they came for the books.” But, Halperin noted, once so-called parents’ rights groups and conservative organizations focused on data providers such as EBSCO, ProQuest, Sage, Cengage Group, and Follett Content Solutions, they took steps to scare entire organizations into compliance. According to the Neo-Censorship report, this resulted in content providers implementing “local controls” on databases, particularly related to health and race. “Under even the smallest of threats, the companies have provided the tools or have secretly put on the tools—we don’t know—that apply the content blocking on these systems,” Halperin said. “It’s more wide-reaching than banning a list of books” because a stopword may be assigned to an entire database and restrict every student from that term.
March 12, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Matthew
lindseyboylan.bsky.social
This is just the most incredible effort by REAL Democratic leaders in our city. Over 150 of them across every borough. We are going to beat this monster once and for all.
newkingsdems.bsky.social New Kings Democrats @newkingsdems.bsky.social · Mar 12
Democrats say no to Cuomo!

We are proud to join a coalition of nearly 200 Democratic leaders—state and city legislators, District Leaders, County Committee members, and Democratic clubs—in urging our party leaders to oppose Cuomo’s self-centered bid for rehabilitation.

bit.ly/nocuomodems
NYC Democrats Can't Support Cuomo – Letter
bit.ly
March 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Matthew
murshedz.bsky.social
👀 🚨🚨 House Dems want hold the line vs Musk/Trump and are calling our @schumer.senate.gov:

"If Chuck Schumer can’t get us a better vote, he should resign."

House Dems are hearing us - let's keep pressuring Schumer/Senate Dems - #NotOneVote 4 Musk/Trump (202) 224-3121 www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/p...
March 11, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Matthew
bigbash.bsky.social
"We need to insist that crisis demands a response, not the feigned continuation of normalcy."

"No matter how atrocious the fascist encroachment gets, they rely on the continued flow of daily life, of money and people and activity to create the continued illusion of normalcy. "
jphillll.bsky.social Read the book Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @jphillll.bsky.social · Mar 10
Columbia students and workers need to shut down the institution in response to the kidnapping of Mahmoud Khalil.

TSA workers need to shut down airports in response to the Trump attack on unions.

No magic moment is coming, we need to force a tipping point.

www.jphilll.com/p/dont-wait-...
Don’t wait for the tipping point
ICE agents have kidnapped a Palestinian man, Mahmoud Khalil, who helped organize Columbia student protests against Israel’s genocide.
www.jphilll.com
March 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Matthew
mcopelov.bsky.social
Look, folks, this is it. The entire ballgame. Either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution, or we have a dictator. This is fascism, & the impeachment vote should be happening today. Every single university president in the country should be out, in front of microphones, condemning this.
justinbaragona.bsky.social Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · Mar 10
Trump takes credit for Mahmoud Khalil's arrest by ICE:
Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!
March 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Matthew
williamcson.bsky.social
It’s imperative that we understand that longing for the return to what was already an atrocity is not freeing us. We can fight for the world we want instead of begging for the previous (also) oppressive arrangement.
March 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Matthew
tomtomorrow.bsky.social
see, here's the thing. columbia could hold a big press conference tomorrow, saying this is absolutely unacceptable and we will do anything legally possible to protect our students. Or they could shrug and say they had a warrant, maybe, we think, and we didn't like that guy anyway.
March 10, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Matthew
tahir.bsky.social
There is a real, genuine 1st Amendment crisis in the United States right now.

The government is openly retaliating against anyone with a viewpoint it doesn't like: Pro-Palestinian protesters, law schools teaching Black History, pro-immigration public service loan forgiveness seekers.
March 9, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Matthew
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil—a green card holder whose wife is eight months pregnant—is a blatant assault on the First Amendment and a sign of advancing authoritarianism under Trump. He must be released now.
jfrejnyc.bsky.social Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Action @jfrejnyc.bsky.social · Mar 9
This extreme escalation is an egregious violation of first amendment rights. Now is the moment to speak out and oppose this as fiercely and loudly as possible.
This weekend, DHS targeted and seized Mahmoud Khalil as punishment for his political speech, and indicated that they are revoking his green card. They have since handed him over to ICE where he is being detained — his location unknown — and held for deportation without due process. This is what fascist governments do, and it will not stop here. This extreme escalation is the test case; the Trump/Musk administration is trying to see how far they can go without public outrage and legal checks on their power. Now is the moment to speak out and oppose this as fiercely and loudly as possible.
March 9, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Matthew
self.agency
the leap from disappearing the undocumented to disappearing visa holders to disappearing green card holders to disappearing naturalized citizens to disappearing natural born citizens is no leap at all, but a series of tiny steps

block the path
March 9, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Matthew
east-bay-teacher.bsky.social
Civility is a weapon when wielded by those who demand politeness while enforcing brutality. They call for decorum as they cage millions, for measured debate as they rain fire on cities. The contradiction isn’t accidental. It’s how power masks violence with a smile.
March 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Matthew
jamellebouie.net
re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens
March 9, 2025 at 10:25 PM