Dave Kamper
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dskamper.bsky.social
Dave Kamper
@dskamper.bsky.social
5.8K followers 2.4K following 3.2K posts
Avuncular unionist, uxorious husband, labor historian, cat guy. "Who's Got the Power?: The Resurgence of American Unions" coming in 2025 from New Press. Lives in Minnesota. Posts are personal. The cat in the profile pic is Laverne, aka Peanut.
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dskamper.bsky.social
This is Mrs Farnsworth. She didn’t purr; she made a sound like a duck quacking. One day we came down in the morning and there was half a (deceased) mouse on the floor. Never found the other half.
A very pretty, prim and proper white car rests on a blanket, looking at you with polite interest.
November 13, 2025 at 8:12 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Shirley and Inspector Waffles update
Two tabby cats, one with huge saucer eyes and a white face, the other with ginormous ears and mitts and copious amounts of drool, are snuggled together on a bed, super cute. The one with the white face has her hand on the other one's shoulder and is resting her head on his. It’s freaking adorable.
November 13, 2025 at 6:04 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Jeff the Neighborhood Opossum update: really has a problem with the camera.
November 11, 2025 at 1:12 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Gus the Neighborhood Tomcat update:
Grainy video still of a mottled grey cat eating food from a bowl on a back porch
November 9, 2025 at 11:15 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Me in the @startribune.com today on the moral obligations of elected officials: www.startribune.com/twin-cities-...
Text of letter in the Strib, slightly truncated for length: “Shannon Watson (“Candidates should stay in their lanes,” Nov. 2) takes a legitimate concern — current candidates for state auditor seem to be running for what they wish the role was, rather than what it is — and broadens it to the point of erasing many of American history’s most inspiring moments. America is a much better place today because politicians stepped outside their lanes. The United States wouldn’t even be the United States if New England town meetings and colonial legislatures hadn’t supported active resistance to King George III. There were plenty of people who said Samuel Adams and George Washington should stay in their lanes and let the British crown pass the laws it wanted to. Thank goodness they didn’t listen. In the 1850s, cities and towns in northern states (including Minnesota) brazenly defied attempts to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, freeing Black prisoners from jails and obstructing bounty hunters trying to send Black men, women and children to captivity. This defiance was well outside the lane of a city council, but thousands of northerners recognized that their duty to justice was more important than their duty to unjust laws. I for one agree with them. Today we see state and local officials standing up for their friends and neighbors in resisting the thuggish acts of masked street gangs operating under the auspices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies. Families are being ripped apart, innocent lives ruined, whole communities terrorized. Would Watson prefer that governors and others simply stand aside, telling fearful children that it’s just not their lane? Of course, local officials have a job to do. But part of living in a democracy is the obligation of those with a democratic mandate to stand up for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It should be the rule, not the exception. Dave Kamper, of Brooklyn Park, is a writer and organizer.”
November 9, 2025 at 3:38 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Jeff the Neighborhood Opossum update: Jeff the Lesser enjoying carrot.
Somewhat grainy video still shot of a cute widdle possum eating a carrot on a back porch.
November 9, 2025 at 1:07 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Laverne update
A cute little peanut of a torbie cat sits on a floor, clearly puzzled as to why you have not given her treats.
November 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
While the trend for the lower wage workers has indeed been downward over the long term, during the years 2019-23 the lowest quintile saw the largest real wage growth.
Figure A from the chart in this report: https://www.epi.org/blog/the-post-pandemic-recovery-is-an-economic-policy-success-story-policymakers-took-the-best-way-through-a-rocky-path/
November 8, 2025 at 1:03 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Jeff the Neighborhood Opossum update: in which Jeff the Lesser Possum goes absolutely ham on the cat camera.

(CW: possum going ham on cat camera)
November 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Jeff the Neighborhood Opossum update:
A possum is in a heated cat shelter, looking for food
November 7, 2025 at 4:31 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Laverne and Shirley update
A cute little peanut of a torbie cat and a white faced tabby cat with big saucer eyes are looking at each other warmly.
November 5, 2025 at 11:50 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Heated cat shelter update: Gus got there first tonight and is currently consuming four cans of food.
The hind quarters of a mottled gray cat in a cat shelter. The photo is from a security camera in night vision.
November 4, 2025 at 11:53 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Heated cat shelter update: Jeff the Opossum snug as a rug. Been in there about an hour.

Maybe he and Gus the Feral Cat have a sign up list or something.
Night vision camera shot of a possum sleeping like a log inside a cat shelter.
November 4, 2025 at 4:16 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
We’ve set up a heated shelter and heated water bowl for Gus the neighborhood feral cat, but he isn’t showing up. Instead we’re getting Jeff the neighborhood possum, who can pack it away.
Overhead security camera showing an opossum eating from a cat food bowl on a porch.
November 1, 2025 at 12:20 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
DC-area peeps: A comrade has let me know that my book is available at Politics and Prose, so if you wanted to go over there and look at it, that would be cool. Also, if you wanted to tell P&P that you think it would be awesome to have me for a book event, I would not complain.
A copy of Who's Got the Power?: The Resurgence of American Unions by Dave Kamper, on a table at a bookstore. It looks like a super interesting book, the kind of book you buy ten or twenty copies of to give to friends at parties.
October 27, 2025 at 4:14 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Simon Sparklepants update. Apparently this is comfortable?
An orange cat is sleeping on a blanket up against a leg. He's all scrunched up in a way that looks super uncomfortable but he's snoring loudly so he must be sleeping.
October 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Mr Pickles update
A black and white cat is looking at the camera from very close. A human head is barely visible behind him.
October 22, 2025 at 10:02 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Shirley and Inspector Waffles update: keeping me company while I'm sick in bed.
Two cute tabby cats are spooning together on a bed. They look impossibly cute.
October 21, 2025 at 5:22 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Laverne update
A cute little peanut of a torbie cat is peeking out of a cat house that looks like a pineapple. She's really adorable.
October 18, 2025 at 1:40 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Laverne update: keeping the world safe from bananas.
A cute little peanut of a torbie cat is playing with a catnip banana toy on the floor.
October 16, 2025 at 3:57 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Further update
Two tabby cats have their heads snuggled against each other as they nap on a bed
October 15, 2025 at 4:58 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Shirley and Inspector Waffles update
Two tabby cats are lying next to each other on a bed, not quite cuddling but close.
October 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
dskamper.bsky.social
Inspector Waffles update. Keeping an eye on Jeff the neighborhood opposum as he eats the food we left out for Gus.
A tabby cat looks out a glass patio door at an opposum eating from a bowl of cat food on the porch.
October 14, 2025 at 1:02 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Gus Update: our neighborhood feral cat got scooped at dinner last night by Jeff, a local opossum, so Gus was here early today to get his chow.

Bonus Waffles reflection in the glass (guest services monitor).
A grey cat, a little rough around the edges, eats food from a bowl on a porch. Barely visible in the glass of the door (through which the photo was taken) one can see the reflection of two ginormous mitts which must indicate the presence of Inspector Waffles.
October 13, 2025 at 12:18 AM
dskamper.bsky.social
Shirley and Inspector Waffles update
Two tabby cats, one with a white face and huge saucer eyes, and one with huge ears and copious amounts of drool, sit in a cat tree looking at us as if to say, "Treats are coming when?"
October 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM