Elisabeth R. Anker
@libankerdc.bsky.social
Professor: Political Theory & American Culture
Author: UGLY FREEDOMS (Duke) & Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Promise of Freedom (Duke)
Next Books: “Every Man a Sovereign” and “Going Low”
Libby to my pals
Web: https://tinyurl.com/Elisabeth-Anker
Author: UGLY FREEDOMS (Duke) & Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Promise of Freedom (Duke)
Next Books: “Every Man a Sovereign” and “Going Low”
Libby to my pals
Web: https://tinyurl.com/Elisabeth-Anker
Pinned
Just dropping this piece I wrote here. This entire administration is the ugliest of ugly freedoms: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/o...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
pretty stunning chart
February 15, 2026 at 7:58 PM
pretty stunning chart
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Part of my theory of change is to share the words white men need to hear, spoken by white men. This is because creating defections is crucial to stopping authoritarianism and democratic backsliding. This is because almost everyone else is already off the Trump train.
"I never want to see a child ever run away from our own government ever again"
Notes on changing brains. And Brians.
www.thefarce.org
February 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Part of my theory of change is to share the words white men need to hear, spoken by white men. This is because creating defections is crucial to stopping authoritarianism and democratic backsliding. This is because almost everyone else is already off the Trump train.
This also justifies abortion bans and blocking pregnant women from control over their reproductive futures
MAGA measures how "good" a father is by how many children he has. As if impregnating someone is the same thing as being a dad.
This attitudes isn't just wrongheaded. It encourages neglect — and even abuse.
An analysis.
www.salon.com/2026/02/16/m...
This attitudes isn't just wrongheaded. It encourages neglect — and even abuse.
An analysis.
www.salon.com/2026/02/16/m...
MAGA loves bad dads
Raising kids should be about quality, not quantity
www.salon.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:01 PM
This also justifies abortion bans and blocking pregnant women from control over their reproductive futures
My sister-in-law and nephews were rescued by a stranger in an ice storm, who helped them escape when their car was stuck and they ran out of gas. The stranger possibly saved their life. It is absolutely disgusting that DHS agents are preying on the kindness of those who help the stranger.
CCTV footage appears to show DHS agents posing as people having car trouble in order to lure a target out of his house before arresting them. The target comes out and starts helping them before 3 vehicles surround the scene. The car "experiencing" trouble then drives off with them.
February 16, 2026 at 2:59 PM
My sister-in-law and nephews were rescued by a stranger in an ice storm, who helped them escape when their car was stuck and they ran out of gas. The stranger possibly saved their life. It is absolutely disgusting that DHS agents are preying on the kindness of those who help the stranger.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
They hate humanities because they hate critiques of the brutal power they wield:
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
February 15, 2026 at 7:26 PM
They hate humanities because they hate critiques of the brutal power they wield:
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
“The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups…
“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”
“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”
With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules
www.nytimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 12:28 PM
“The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups…
“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”
“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”
Ken Fucking Starr of Clinton impeachment fame went on to defend Jeffrey Epstein after he was accused of sex trafficking.
How is this timeline even real
How is this timeline even real
Oh haaayyyyy Ken Starr, been a minute
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
Meet the elite Texans who enabled and associated with Jeffrey Epstein www.chron.com/culture/arti...
February 15, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Ken Fucking Starr of Clinton impeachment fame went on to defend Jeffrey Epstein after he was accused of sex trafficking.
How is this timeline even real
How is this timeline even real
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Oh haaayyyyy Ken Starr, been a minute
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
Meet the elite Texans who enabled and associated with Jeffrey Epstein www.chron.com/culture/arti...
When Jeffrey Epstein needed help, he turned to these Texas elites
DOJ-released documents highlight Epstein's close ties to powerful and famous Texans.
www.chron.com
February 15, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Oh haaayyyyy Ken Starr, been a minute
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
"After famously serving as the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, the Texas lawyer...[later joined] Epstein's legal team in 2007. Epstein, living in Palm Beach at the time, was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing high school girls."
I think this is what passes for rational self-interest in capitalism
As somebody who has worked on Wall Street for the last 19 years, I promise you that a lot of people who are insanely rich - not just average millionaires, people with true wealth - are dumb as dog shit, but just have no morals and know ways to make tons of money by not caring about hurting people.
Dumb and evil are not mutually exclusive and Elon is not a genius, or even an above average thinker. I have dealt with enough of these people directly to see their stupidity in action, not just reading about it on this website.
February 15, 2026 at 10:11 PM
I think this is what passes for rational self-interest in capitalism
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
New fusionism:
“Citing their work, Brockman predicted in 2005 that the “dangerous idea of the next decade” would be that “groups of people differ genetically in their average talents”.”
ht @libankerdc.bsky.social
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
“Citing their work, Brockman predicted in 2005 that the “dangerous idea of the next decade” would be that “groups of people differ genetically in their average talents”.”
ht @libankerdc.bsky.social
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-lo...
www.thenerve.news
February 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
New fusionism:
“Citing their work, Brockman predicted in 2005 that the “dangerous idea of the next decade” would be that “groups of people differ genetically in their average talents”.”
ht @libankerdc.bsky.social
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
“Citing their work, Brockman predicted in 2005 that the “dangerous idea of the next decade” would be that “groups of people differ genetically in their average talents”.”
ht @libankerdc.bsky.social
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
University of Texas Austin announced it was closing its American Studies Department just as Harper attacked one of the few foundations left willing to fund American studies research
In the middle of a once-in-a-generation attack on academia and the humanities by the right in the US, as people are losing funding and jobs, and we don't even know if our disciplines will make it out alive, Tyler Austin Harper decides that it was time to attack the Mellon Foundation.
hey cool man while you were deep in research or whatever you might want to catch up on some other stuff that has happened in the world in the past year
February 15, 2026 at 9:00 PM
University of Texas Austin announced it was closing its American Studies Department just as Harper attacked one of the few foundations left willing to fund American studies research
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
It does not take any especial brand of genius to understand that if you have no moral standards and don't care about breaking the law, you can accumulate wealth and power in a way that people who are morally and ethically upright cannot.
February 15, 2026 at 7:58 PM
It does not take any especial brand of genius to understand that if you have no moral standards and don't care about breaking the law, you can accumulate wealth and power in a way that people who are morally and ethically upright cannot.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town. | Will Bunch
A much-hyped ICE pullback from Minneapolis is a blip in a looming nationwide surge of arrests, concentration camps.
www.inquirer.com
February 15, 2026 at 6:25 PM
While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
“If this is true, it would mean the Department of Justice redacted more than 96% of the mentions of Trump." trib.al/0LEUOPT
February 15, 2026 at 8:05 PM
“If this is true, it would mean the Department of Justice redacted more than 96% of the mentions of Trump." trib.al/0LEUOPT
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
As somebody who has worked on Wall Street for the last 19 years, I promise you that a lot of people who are insanely rich - not just average millionaires, people with true wealth - are dumb as dog shit, but just have no morals and know ways to make tons of money by not caring about hurting people.
Dumb and evil are not mutually exclusive and Elon is not a genius, or even an above average thinker. I have dealt with enough of these people directly to see their stupidity in action, not just reading about it on this website.
I am once again begging liberals to understand the difference between dumb (which they are not) and evil (which they are).
Do people like Elizabeth truly not grasp this? You are *paid to observe people*!!! How much more do you need to see?
Do people like Elizabeth truly not grasp this? You are *paid to observe people*!!! How much more do you need to see?
February 15, 2026 at 8:05 PM
As somebody who has worked on Wall Street for the last 19 years, I promise you that a lot of people who are insanely rich - not just average millionaires, people with true wealth - are dumb as dog shit, but just have no morals and know ways to make tons of money by not caring about hurting people.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
These are concentration camps and its our duty as citizens to ensure these things don't get built.
Breaking news: ICE expects to spend $38.3 billion on its plan to acquire warehouses across the U.S. and retrofit them into immigrant detention centers that can hold tens of thousands of people, according to agency documents.
ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into detention centers
ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion converting warehouses into detention centers, according to planning documents, more than the annual budgets of 22 states.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 14, 2026 at 12:28 AM
These are concentration camps and its our duty as citizens to ensure these things don't get built.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
“Race science and rape apologetics” —
the scholarship you hear about on “edgelord podcasts”
They go together because babymaking is a duty of the edgelord class, which must ramp up the birth rate and gift their superior genes to the next generations… 🤮
the scholarship you hear about on “edgelord podcasts”
They go together because babymaking is a duty of the edgelord class, which must ramp up the birth rate and gift their superior genes to the next generations… 🤮
Epstein & Co HATE humanities:
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
February 15, 2026 at 7:19 PM
“Race science and rape apologetics” —
the scholarship you hear about on “edgelord podcasts”
They go together because babymaking is a duty of the edgelord class, which must ramp up the birth rate and gift their superior genes to the next generations… 🤮
the scholarship you hear about on “edgelord podcasts”
They go together because babymaking is a duty of the edgelord class, which must ramp up the birth rate and gift their superior genes to the next generations… 🤮
They hate humanities because they hate critiques of the brutal power they wield:
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
February 15, 2026 at 7:26 PM
They hate humanities because they hate critiques of the brutal power they wield:
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knows no bounds.”
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Some very powerful people want us to believe human labor is obsolete & way too many people are buying it.
Don’t let them make you think that you are disposable.
Time to revive the idea of a job guarantee. They just created a bunch of fascist ICE jobs overnight. Imagine that for work that matters.
Don’t let them make you think that you are disposable.
Time to revive the idea of a job guarantee. They just created a bunch of fascist ICE jobs overnight. Imagine that for work that matters.
February 15, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Some very powerful people want us to believe human labor is obsolete & way too many people are buying it.
Don’t let them make you think that you are disposable.
Time to revive the idea of a job guarantee. They just created a bunch of fascist ICE jobs overnight. Imagine that for work that matters.
Don’t let them make you think that you are disposable.
Time to revive the idea of a job guarantee. They just created a bunch of fascist ICE jobs overnight. Imagine that for work that matters.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Epstein & Co HATE humanities:
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
February 15, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Epstein & Co HATE humanities:
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
“It offered intellectually insecure reactionaries a pass. Without opening a book they could dismiss all of feminism, postcolonial & queer studies...& devote their brains instead to the race science & rape apologetics that now pass for scholarship on edgelord podcasts.”
“The salon played yenta to billionaire money and alpha-male minds, and together they all converged on a master philosophy: they were apex predators ordained by nature to exploit and subjugate others. This creed allowed them to steer intellectual history into its current fascist dead-end.”
February 15, 2026 at 2:22 PM
“The salon played yenta to billionaire money and alpha-male minds, and together they all converged on a master philosophy: they were apex predators ordained by nature to exploit and subjugate others. This creed allowed them to steer intellectual history into its current fascist dead-end.”
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Why does everything need to be "hyper-personalized"? Why would that be better? Why not share in common cultural experiences? It's fun when we're all comparing our perspectives about some event, it brings us together. So why would they.....
Oh. They don't want us united. They want us divided
Oh. They don't want us united. They want us divided
‘We control one of the handful of commodities keeping the entire cable television industry alive so our plan is to do everything possible to destroy its value.’
![Adam Silver: "There's no doubt that AI will have the same impact on sports... how we're going to be able to [hyper-personalize] our telecasts... We're about to witness probably the most significant change, certainly in my lifetime, in how sports are presented." 🏀📺🎙️ #NBA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tgw3d4hvw3x5ijrxax7lg26u/bafkreih2lyjgxff6fhw7fzuaylomh2gygwheuxkubtf7hbinuqfia4ecle@jpeg)
February 15, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Why does everything need to be "hyper-personalized"? Why would that be better? Why not share in common cultural experiences? It's fun when we're all comparing our perspectives about some event, it brings us together. So why would they.....
Oh. They don't want us united. They want us divided
Oh. They don't want us united. They want us divided
This is hands-down the best thing I’ve read on Epstein‘s worldview and those of his fellow tech, finance, and academic elite. It’s a rough read, but at least every paragraph is a banger. 🔥🔥🔥😭
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-lo...
www.thenerve.news
February 15, 2026 at 1:36 PM
This is hands-down the best thing I’ve read on Epstein‘s worldview and those of his fellow tech, finance, and academic elite. It’s a rough read, but at least every paragraph is a banger. 🔥🔥🔥😭
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
They talk and act exactly like Nazis in pursuit of the exact same objectives as Nazis using the exact same tactics and rationales as Nazis but it would be wrong to call them Nazis until they grow the little mustache.
White House stands by State Department nominee who complains that "white Americans are increasingly second-class citizens," warns of "white erasure" and says "the Jews love to see themselves as oppressed." @camcgrady.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...
Trump Nominates an Apostle of ‘White Erasure’ for the State Department
www.nytimes.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:43 AM
They talk and act exactly like Nazis in pursuit of the exact same objectives as Nazis using the exact same tactics and rationales as Nazis but it would be wrong to call them Nazis until they grow the little mustache.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Julian Bailey, 43, is the man who was killed by U.S. Marshals in DC earlier this week.
This is a message from his family.
#JusticeForJulian
This is a message from his family.
#JusticeForJulian
February 14, 2026 at 11:07 PM
Julian Bailey, 43, is the man who was killed by U.S. Marshals in DC earlier this week.
This is a message from his family.
#JusticeForJulian
This is a message from his family.
#JusticeForJulian