Megan Wachspress
@meganwachspress.bsky.social
Legal teaching fellow, former climate attorney, parent, technically a doctor (of jurisprudence & social policy).
https://cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/
https://cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/
Being a woman in 2025 is getting photographic evidence that every famous dude you got creepy vibes from but if you accused of being a creep you'd be dismissed as hysterical was actually in a massive conspiracy to exploit teen girls and just...having to live with that fact, I guess?
December 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Being a woman in 2025 is getting photographic evidence that every famous dude you got creepy vibes from but if you accused of being a creep you'd be dismissed as hysterical was actually in a massive conspiracy to exploit teen girls and just...having to live with that fact, I guess?
The second-order impacts of this are really something. I teach 1Ls at Stanford and they are *withholding* first semester "grades" until after the hiring process is complete, to basically force firms to hire on pre-law record, school rank, and vibes. "Grades" because there are two: H or P....(cont)
In a first, many top law firms this year are recruiting summer associates during students' first semester. Some are dangling ‘jumbo offers’ and ‘loyalty’ bonuses for students who do two summer stints back-to-back, keeping them out of other firms' reach reut.rs/44U44cD
December 18, 2025 at 5:31 PM
The second-order impacts of this are really something. I teach 1Ls at Stanford and they are *withholding* first semester "grades" until after the hiring process is complete, to basically force firms to hire on pre-law record, school rank, and vibes. "Grades" because there are two: H or P....(cont)
Somehow thought that Knives Out 3, because about a village church, would be *less* explicitly political than the tech-billionaire-violates-COVID-rules Glass Onion, but it turns out I was wrong!
December 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Somehow thought that Knives Out 3, because about a village church, would be *less* explicitly political than the tech-billionaire-violates-COVID-rules Glass Onion, but it turns out I was wrong!
Since we're doing anecdata, let me add that I may have overlapped with this guy and can report that of the four folks in my law school class with tenured law prof jobs all are white and three are men. If you add the three other folks I overlapped with with TT jobs, two are white men.
December 17, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Since we're doing anecdata, let me add that I may have overlapped with this guy and can report that of the four folks in my law school class with tenured law prof jobs all are white and three are men. If you add the three other folks I overlapped with with TT jobs, two are white men.
My Princess Bride story: When I was in 7th grade my best friend (who was in 8th) and I were obsessed with the film. As a ploy to spend more time with her (appropriately blonde and floppy-haired) crush, she adapted and directed the film for the stage. Her crush was cast as Wesley of course...
December 15, 2025 at 4:59 AM
My Princess Bride story: When I was in 7th grade my best friend (who was in 8th) and I were obsessed with the film. As a ploy to spend more time with her (appropriately blonde and floppy-haired) crush, she adapted and directed the film for the stage. Her crush was cast as Wesley of course...
Reposted by Megan Wachspress
Happy Hanukkah, the holiday where we celebrate the defeat of a large cosmpolitan empire by a small determined group of militant religious fanatics
December 14, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Happy Hanukkah, the holiday where we celebrate the defeat of a large cosmpolitan empire by a small determined group of militant religious fanatics
I know there have been 13,756 intervening things and everyone (myself included) moved on but I am really glad that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is home.
December 12, 2025 at 5:25 AM
I know there have been 13,756 intervening things and everyone (myself included) moved on but I am really glad that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is home.
This is all good news but I worry the Dems, who have collectively been uh, less than active in their opposition to Trump and who continue to fail to articulate an alternative vision beyond "affordability" will learn the wrong lesson which is just lay low while the other side destroys the country.
A huge night for Democrats:
—They flip Miami's mayorship.
—They flip a state House district in Georgia that had voted Trump by 13%.
—They keep Albuquerque's mayorship, while the liberal faction flips city council.
—And they get big overperformances (+18 & +22) in 2 Florida specials.
—They flip Miami's mayorship.
—They flip a state House district in Georgia that had voted Trump by 13%.
—They keep Albuquerque's mayorship, while the liberal faction flips city council.
—And they get big overperformances (+18 & +22) in 2 Florida specials.
December 10, 2025 at 5:52 AM
This is all good news but I worry the Dems, who have collectively been uh, less than active in their opposition to Trump and who continue to fail to articulate an alternative vision beyond "affordability" will learn the wrong lesson which is just lay low while the other side destroys the country.
"AI" (really LLMs) is a product pitch for automating feminized labor designed & sold by people who have never done that kind of labor and could not do it well.
Jimmy Fallon: "And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?"
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
December 9, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"AI" (really LLMs) is a product pitch for automating feminized labor designed & sold by people who have never done that kind of labor and could not do it well.
1. The Roman Republic has a name for the kind of usurpation of public powers Trump is engaged in - maiestas. It was incorporated into the English crime of treason.
2. Impressed at how SFGate has become the go-to source for Trump's attacks on the National Parks.
2. Impressed at how SFGate has become the go-to source for Trump's attacks on the National Parks.
Why am I not surprised?
NPS has made Trump's birthday a free admission day, while deleting MLK Day and Juneteenth.
NPS has made Trump's birthday a free admission day, while deleting MLK Day and Juneteenth.
National parks change prioritizes Trump birthday over days honoring Black people
Free entrance days at national parks no longer include MLK Day and Juneteenth.
www.sfgate.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:42 AM
1. The Roman Republic has a name for the kind of usurpation of public powers Trump is engaged in - maiestas. It was incorporated into the English crime of treason.
2. Impressed at how SFGate has become the go-to source for Trump's attacks on the National Parks.
2. Impressed at how SFGate has become the go-to source for Trump's attacks on the National Parks.
Lot of effort among a lot of neoliberals to avoid the very obvious lesson from US history that we still rely on infrastructure built as part of a massive public jobs program using deficit spending and high tax rates and, uh, maybe we should just do that again.
Vox is launching a major, multi-year editorial project, supported by a grant from @arnoldventures.bsky.social, exploring what it will take for the U.S. to restore its capacity to build — from new energy solutions, to upgrading transportation systems, to expanding the nation’s housing supply.
Vox launches new editorial package examining how America can improve its capacity to build
Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters expl...
www.vox.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Lot of effort among a lot of neoliberals to avoid the very obvious lesson from US history that we still rely on infrastructure built as part of a massive public jobs program using deficit spending and high tax rates and, uh, maybe we should just do that again.
We should use "LLM" rather than "AI" when talking about most the "problems with AI." Not only because it *isn't intelligent* but because LLMs, specifically, produce the social & energy harms and LLM boosters strategically conflate their slop machines with application-driven models using "AI"
Application-driven AI can be distilled into less energy intensive miniature models - think the difference between DeepSeek and ChatGPT. The training is still resource intensive but the distilled model is not.
November 29, 2025 at 6:45 PM
We should use "LLM" rather than "AI" when talking about most the "problems with AI." Not only because it *isn't intelligent* but because LLMs, specifically, produce the social & energy harms and LLM boosters strategically conflate their slop machines with application-driven models using "AI"
November 25, 2025 at 6:35 AM
The NYTimes has another entry in it's roughly annual "San Quentin as redemption" series, a popular prestige media trope about which I am deeply ambivalent, having volunteered with one of the much-vaunted programs there off-and-on for 15 years.
cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/p/what-good-...
cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/p/what-good-...
November 24, 2025 at 10:53 PM
The NYTimes has another entry in it's roughly annual "San Quentin as redemption" series, a popular prestige media trope about which I am deeply ambivalent, having volunteered with one of the much-vaunted programs there off-and-on for 15 years.
cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/p/what-good-...
cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/p/what-good-...
I am so confused.
November 21, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I am so confused.
Two weeks ago Trump literally demolished part of the White House to replace it with a corporate-sponsored ballroom and now the venue at the most significant annual international climate change conference is on fire and I really think the writers have gotten lazy and need a break.
November 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Two weeks ago Trump literally demolished part of the White House to replace it with a corporate-sponsored ballroom and now the venue at the most significant annual international climate change conference is on fire and I really think the writers have gotten lazy and need a break.
Because Nothing Ever Works Out, am convinced Bondi is going to manipulate the files in a way such that releasing them seemingly exonerates Trump and really hate that I'm prepared to respond to whatever is in these documents with conspiracy theories to protect my priors.
November 18, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Because Nothing Ever Works Out, am convinced Bondi is going to manipulate the files in a way such that releasing them seemingly exonerates Trump and really hate that I'm prepared to respond to whatever is in these documents with conspiracy theories to protect my priors.
Amazing how often the answer to "seriously, that's legal?" is a law enacted in 1996. Congress + Clinton effectively eliminated habeas corpus for the death penalty and the IIRIA, which set up the immigration enforcement infrastructure Trump is using now. Worst legislative year ever of modern era.
Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast are putting in bids for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was, in the long run, a very bad idea with disastrous consequences.
www.wsj.com/business/med...
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was, in the long run, a very bad idea with disastrous consequences.
www.wsj.com/business/med...
Exclusive | Paramount, Comcast, Netflix Prepare Bids for Warner as Deadline Approaches
Warner Bros. Discovery is holding an auction process in the hopes of having it completed by the end of the year.
www.wsj.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Amazing how often the answer to "seriously, that's legal?" is a law enacted in 1996. Congress + Clinton effectively eliminated habeas corpus for the death penalty and the IIRIA, which set up the immigration enforcement infrastructure Trump is using now. Worst legislative year ever of modern era.
This week I learned the NYTimes considers debates about advocacy priorities among Sierra Club chapters in 2021 worthy of more column inches than the close relationships between numerous powerful and wealthy academic and political leaders and a convicted child trafficker after the conviction.
November 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
This week I learned the NYTimes considers debates about advocacy priorities among Sierra Club chapters in 2021 worthy of more column inches than the close relationships between numerous powerful and wealthy academic and political leaders and a convicted child trafficker after the conviction.
Once I was at a friend's wedding where Larry Summers was in attendance & I came very close to confronting him about his comments about women and advanced math and was held back by my husband who felt it would have been rude to cause a scene at a third party's major life event. I have some regrets.
November 12, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Once I was at a friend's wedding where Larry Summers was in attendance & I came very close to confronting him about his comments about women and advanced math and was held back by my husband who felt it would have been rude to cause a scene at a third party's major life event. I have some regrets.
Relatedly, as someone who is very good at math but also A Girl, I can report that the "put up with many things" offer is only good for boys.
I think the belief by the powerful that "people will put up with many things if you are excellent at math" is incredibly revealing in terms of understanding How We Got Here
November 12, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Relatedly, as someone who is very good at math but also A Girl, I can report that the "put up with many things" offer is only good for boys.
OK since this thread has blown up I have a couple things to add, with more time to think. Curiously absent from this article is discussion of Sierra Club's role in ensuring passage of the biggest climate law in US history in 2022 or in EPA rulemaking that would have forced the closure of...
I was at the Sierra Club during the period described in this article and although I have my criticisms, it gets the issues in the Club fundamentally wrong. A 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart.
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:21 AM
OK since this thread has blown up I have a couple things to add, with more time to think. Curiously absent from this article is discussion of Sierra Club's role in ensuring passage of the biggest climate law in US history in 2022 or in EPA rulemaking that would have forced the closure of...
The only way I can make sense of the Dems caving now is that they literally only care about winning elections and the point was not to protect health insurance but drive turnout and now they've got that, they'll sell out their voters. Does anyone else have any explanation of the timing?
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 AM
The only way I can make sense of the Dems caving now is that they literally only care about winning elections and the point was not to protect health insurance but drive turnout and now they've got that, they'll sell out their voters. Does anyone else have any explanation of the timing?
Feels like a good day to say my first born is named after Rosalind Franklin.
November 7, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Feels like a good day to say my first born is named after Rosalind Franklin.
I was at the Sierra Club during the period described in this article and although I have my criticisms, it gets the issues in the Club fundamentally wrong. A 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I was at the Sierra Club during the period described in this article and although I have my criticisms, it gets the issues in the Club fundamentally wrong. A 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...