Jonathon Booth
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jboothhistory.bsky.social
Jonathon Booth
@jboothhistory.bsky.social
4K followers 820 following 3.5K posts
Associate Professor of Law, CU Boulder

Current projects: The Legal Architecture of Emancipation

Studying Policing from a Law and Political Economy Perspective

jonathonbooth.com
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jboothhistory.bsky.social
Jonathon Booth @jboothhistory.bsky.social · Jan 14
So happy that my article about the origins and first decades of the Atlanta Police is finally out!

It traces the institutional development of the department, the discourses of Black criminality that underlaid racist policing, and protest against the police.

lawreview.colorado.edu/print/volume...
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Raise taxes (including taxes on trusts)
November 28, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
drewflanaganphd.bsky.social
I've got a book coming out in April (available for preorder) on the civilizing mission of France in post-WWII Germany and its links to the emergence of European unity. Check it out!

lsupress.org/978080718678...
November 26, 2025 at 10:23 PM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Worth thinking about the theory of this: if we have more soldiers standing around, that will deter people from walking up to and shooting the soldiers standing around
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16h
REPORTER: There are people upset with the president, believing the National Guard members shouldn't have been there

PIRRO: I don't even wanna talk about whether they should've been there. We ought to kiss the ground and thank God that the president said it's time to bring in more law enforcement
November 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
gauthamrao.bsky.social
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30

uncpress.org/978146969484...
White Power
Beginning in the colonial era and growing through the American Revolution and the Southern plantation system, slaveholders’ violent police regime continued...
uncpress.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
This piece is good and the complete denial among zionists that israel's actions are connected in anyway to rising anti-israel sentiment continues to astound me
The Zionist Right Has a MAGA Problem
A conference aiming to confront antisemitism on the right offers a portrait of an old guard left twisting in the wind.
jewishcurrents.org
November 26, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
mjsdc.bsky.social
Nestled within this bizarre story is the important news that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has taken the first steps toward striking down its state’s GOP congressional gerrymander, a move that could net Democrats 2-3 more seats in the House of Representatives. slate.com/news-and-pol...
Conservative Justice Uses Fake Quote to Justify Wisconsin Republican Gerrymander
It is not clear how Ziegler’s misquotation wound up in the published opinion of a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice.
slate.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:21 PM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Hit my out of pocket max, time to get lots of unnecessary health care
November 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
kylec.bsky.social
NEW: Tina Peters is staying put in a Colorado prison.

Colorado's Department of Corrections tells me it does not intend to respond to a DOJ request to move Peters to federal custody.
www.9news.com/article/news...
Tina Peters to remain in state custody despite federal request
The Colorado Department of Corrections is resisting federal pressure to transfer a former Mesa County clerk to federal custody, despite Trump's backing.
www.9news.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:37 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Trump old!
katz.theracket.news Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 2d
Credit where it’s due. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this new framing comes out after a Democratic wave election, the ascendance (and surprisingly broad acceptance) of Mamdani, and his steadily crashing poll numbers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:11 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
I was paranoid about this not working a few months ago when I was trying to get the covid booster, and I was right!!!!
November 26, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
katz.theracket.news
Credit where it’s due. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this new framing comes out after a Democratic wave election, the ascendance (and surprisingly broad acceptance) of Mamdani, and his steadily crashing poll numbers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
The clear lesson from this: liberals, not conservatives, care about the traditions of western civilization inequalitybyinteriordesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
inequalitybyinteriordesign.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
alyssaharad.bsky.social
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
blipstress.bsky.social violet allen @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Wrote this jot about Grace Watkins's great article Piety Police, highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of universities or policing
Religious Police Forces with Public Powers - Legal History
Grace Watkins, Piety Police, 134 Yale L.J. 2645 (2025).Jonathon BoothOver the past decade, histories of American policing have proliferated. Understandably, the majority of these works have focused on...
legalhist.jotwell.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
Britain is a failed state at this point but it’s only going to get worse
theguardian.com The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d
NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity
NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity
Exclusive: NHS websites pointed women to factsheet featuring podcast by ‘dangerous’ influencers linked to baby deaths • Full story: How the FBS is linked to baby deaths around the world The NHS has been directing pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society, an organisation that has been linked to baby deaths around the world after promoting labour without medical support. A number of NHS trusts are directing women who are contemplating a “free birth” to a charity website that until Monday referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” that can help British women “preparing for their own birth”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:14 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
The answer to Noah smiths first question is of course that everything the United States did against slavery was the result of a radical faction, which had spent the precious 20 years being attacked and killed, managing to seize federal power and win a war
November 25, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
copolitics.bsky.social
Hells yes

www.9news.com/video/news/l...
Judge rules that strippers are employees and protected under Denver's wage and employment laws
Lawyers for the strip clubs argued the dancers were "licensees," not employees, and were exempt from certain city wage and employment laws.
www.9news.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
discography.bsky.social
Swing pianist Teddy Wilson made over 200 records for ARC and related companies in the 1930s, notably as Billie Holiday's backing band on Brunswick. Session data now online.

adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/ma...
November 22, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
nealfig.bsky.social
Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist and arranger, was born on Nov. 24, 1912 (d. 1986). #TeddyWilson

Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and Lester Young - "Easy Living" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) (1937)
#Music #Jazz
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Fe...
Billie Holiday - Easy Living (Official Audio)
YouTube video by BillieHolidayVEVO
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
davidc1935.bsky.social
Teddy Wilson - #BOTD - with Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa, 1937.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRXE...
Benny Goodman Quartet | Hollywood Hotel (1937)
YouTube video by Tomasz Wojdat
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
tomasjmurray.bsky.social
Teddy Wilson, Jazz Pianist, #BornOnThisDay in 1912, in Austin, Texas

(cc @glennkenny.bsky.social)

‘Prisoner of Love’: youtu.be/yJb-03xp2ZU?...
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
davidc1935.bsky.social
The superb pianist Teddy Wilson was born on 24 November 1912.
November 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
I think I've found the best name of a guy
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM
jboothhistory.bsky.social
I put on some of the earliest Billie Holiday recordings, with Wilson on piano, Chu Berry on sax, and Roy Eldridge on trumpet. Some of the best music ever recorded

open.spotify.com/track/56qjJi...
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Reposted by Jonathon Booth
primaryschool.bsky.social
Isaac Chotiner like my editors haven't assigned me a new act of violence in two whole weeks I gotta start freelancing
karenho.bsky.social Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 3d
A new kind of rapid Chotining. Please appreciate the alt-text.
Isaac Chotiner: "You would have to be brain-dead to read this piece and not immediately wonder who is funding Semafor Gulf." Quote post of Ben Smith saying: "Fascinating @msergie piece on covering a monarchy" about a Semafor article on Saudi Arabia's crown prince Smith responds to Chotiner: "That's a hell of an allegation/implication, Isaac. To figure out the literal answer to your question, you'd either have to look and see who the sponsors are in the email (I haven't checked today!) or read our publicly disclosed list of investors. I believe you're trying to imply that it's the Saudi government? Have you read more of our coverage, or just this tweet? My impression — correct me if I'm wrong — is that you're working on zero information and smearing us in general, and an experienced journalist @msergie whose work I suspect you're totally unfamiliar with in particular." Chotiner responds:"I’m not making any allegation. I’m making a simple point about how an average reader—myself included—might respond after reading this ridiculous piece" Ben Smith: "Just asking questions! Come on. You genuinely know better. Or read Mohammed's long career of work covering the Gulf and the Syrian war before you imply he's some kind of stooge." Noah Kulwin: "The point is not about who funds your reporting/if your colleague is a “stooge”. Isaac’s comment is that the reporting is so bad so as to make a reader wonder who is funding it" Smith: A reader, sure. A journalist who can do very basic homework, kind of lame. Chotiner: "You are right, I’ll do some homework now by perusing Jay Solomon Semafor pieces, and reading Jason Greenblatt Semafor columns. In the meantime, I will formally say that I am making no accusation and was just astonished at how inane the piece was" Chotiner quote-posts with "I see Semafor loves running column after column by this guy (https://semafor.com/author/faisal-j-abbas), who also publishes pro-Saudi conspiracies about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi https://arabnews.com/node/1386291" Ben Smith's post says "I hope I'm not overreacting, but it makes me crazy when people I think of as reporters do this "just asking questions" stuff. Feel free to report it out by googling/asking me/reading our various scoops and reports about the region — these two just now" and links to two Semafor articles Chotiner quote posts Ben Smith: "You might have heard that the UAE is helping destroy Sudan, but at the next Semafor event, all is well." Screenshot says "Held at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Semafor will spotlight insights from the Global Findex 2025 report and the Global Digital Connectivity Tracker, translating global research into actionable, locally relevant conversations. As the third stop on The Next 3 Billion Tour, this edition explores how the Gulf's growing investments in Africa can accelerate digital connectivity and financial inclusion. With Abu Dhabi's focus on sustainable finance, digital transformation, and cross-border collaboration, it offers a strong platform to examine how technology and capital can work together to expand access and opportunity." Ben Smith's post says "Just asking questions! Come on. You genuinely know better. Or read Mohammed's long career of work covering the Gulf and the Syrian war before you imply he's some kind of stooge."
November 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM