Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 21m

Just to give one example, the March on Washington was a massive demonstration of organization, skill, and depth of commitment. Politicians knew that it reflected a year of resource-intensive organization. Just not true of NK mobilizations, where people just show up. It's a different thing.

Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 27m

Counting as a substitute for thinking:

Few things strike me as sillier than comparing the deep, intensive *organizing* of the Civil Rights Movement with the sporadic mobilizations of No Kings, via participant counts. Nothing wrong with NK! But come on.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 1h

Fantastic news!

Now NY should go further and pass the REST Act. The beautiful thing about rent stabilization is it works really well at preventing landlords from jacking up the rent--whether they use an algorithm or not

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 4h

BREAKING: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed a bill banning landlords from using algorithms to collude and raise rents.

Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 3h

She's gotta be from Waukesha

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Butlerian jihadi @rsgreacen.bsky.social · 4h

“Get out. And give us more money”

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

'Rural folks just want to be left alone': Farmers push back on California redistricting

California's redistricting push is causing heartburn in the heartland.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 22h

Politico received an initial tip that a Taylor staffer had a swastika neatly pinned to his cubicle during a zoom call. When confronted, the congressman’s press office pretty implausibly sought to present the situation as a police matter, and Politico went along with that in its headline and lede.

Zach D Roberts @zdroberts.bsky.social · 23h

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23h

Trump and Vought are now breaking both sides of spending law. They’re illegally not spending where the law requires them to spend, and they’re illegally spending where they don’t have the money to spend.

What we have is an appropriations king.

Spending “deals” are meaningless under that setup.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 1d

"How Does it Feel (Untitled)" is for rhythm sections what "Giant Steps" is for soloists

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 1d

We need more D’Angelo posts

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Jim Kane @kanejim.bsky.social · 10d

If you're trying to make sense of BlackRock's recent buying spree, we have a deep dive into the firm's operations and where it's likely headed.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 2d

Truly the singular genius of the past 25 years of popular music. Time has never been the same.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 2d

A painful, profound loss for the world.

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 3d

Yeah the nice thing about Columbus is he neatly sidesteps debates about historical relativism by just being bad relative to every time. Superbad, but in the analytic philosophy way not the cool way.

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Dangit @dangbeetle.bsky.social · 2d

Now that’s what I call cover art

Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Crassly dipping my toe onto this platform with self-promotion: My book, Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy now has a beautiful cover, and a release date: April 20th. So you'll have something to enjoy with your 4/20 Taco Bell order! bookshop.org/p/books/chai...

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 2d

Melville's repeated info-dumping of WHALE AND WHALING FACTS into the narrative is like the best part of Moby Dick.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 3d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 3d

“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

With franchisees bearing the costs of higher sectoral wages in California, and franchisors continuing to refuse to accept responsibility for business and labor conditions they control, the franchisor-franchisee coalition is under pressure.

What happens next, who knows?

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Fast food workers threatened this alliance with the Fight for $15, which sought to hold franchisors responsible for low wages. Recently, workers won the creation of a franchisor-franchisee-labor sectoral council to govern wages and working conditions in fast food in California.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

With franchisee livelihoods depending on low wages and labor discipline, many franchisees ultimately accepted franchisors' invitation to join the big business/small business coalition against workers that became one of the hallmarks of the neoliberal era.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Since franchisors control nearly all variables influencing franchisee profitability *except* labor costs, franchising is tailor made for disciplining a low-wage, high-turnover workforce. In short, the business model forces small business owners to ruthlessly squeeze labor.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Consolidating their gains post-1980, franchisors not only won the right to dominate small business franchisees, they also managed to defuse franchisee rebellion as well: by turning franchisee anger against corporate control into rage against a common enemy: low-wage workers.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

However, better resourced and organized franchisors won. In victory, they created a degraded version of small business ownership in which would-be entrepreneurs supplied intense labor effort under the thumb of corporations, exercising little independent initiative or dynamism.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

The book is also about the transformation of entrepreneurship. For decades, small business franchisees fought against control by distant corporate interests, invoking antimonopoly symbols and rhetoric long after Richard Hofstader declared the antimonopoly movement dead.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Thus, franchising's revolution in antitrust helped created the "fissured workplace."

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

On one hand, franchisors fought to overturn antitrust precedents preventing big business from dominating and controlling small business owners. On the other, they fought to prevent control from creating the employment and liability relationships that normally accompanied control

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

It's about the big business of small business: how the legal entrepreneurs who invented franchising engaged in a decades-long campaign of lobbying and litigation to transform the meaning of business ownership and employment, pioneering the tactics now standard in the gig economy.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Crassly dipping my toe onto this platform with self-promotion: My book, Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy now has a beautiful cover, and a release date: April 20th. So you'll have something to enjoy with your 4/20 Taco Bell order! bookshop.org/p/books/chai...

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