James Lindley Wilson
@jameslwilson.bsky.social
Political Science prof at University of Chicago. Democratic theory, egalitarianism, global justice. Will hammer like button on any dog pics.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
For two months, the U.S. government has been racial profiling as masked federal agents hunted for immigrants throughout Chicago. They’ve repeatedly snatched up U.S. citizens while traumatizing communities. “I felt like a piece of trash.” Here is our story www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
Latino US citizens racially profiled by federal immigration agents in Chicago: ‘I felt like a piece of trash’
The Tribune spoke to U.S. citizens and green card holders who have either been questioned or detained during Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
For two months, the U.S. government has been racial profiling as masked federal agents hunted for immigrants throughout Chicago. They’ve repeatedly snatched up U.S. citizens while traumatizing communities. “I felt like a piece of trash.” Here is our story www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
UVA Pres. Ryan's letter isn't just about the DOJ though. It credibly details dubious conduct from many people who were supposed to put UVA's interests first and didn't (likely because they agreed with DOJ's far-right pressure campaign): the Board, the AG, outside counsel, etc.
Mafia governance in action
"the only offer on the table was that I needed to resign by 5pm that day or the DOJ would basically rain hell on UVA... If I did not resign that day, I was told that the DOJ would extract/block hundreds of millions of dollars from UVA before they would even negotiate."
"the only offer on the table was that I needed to resign by 5pm that day or the DOJ would basically rain hell on UVA... If I did not resign that day, I was told that the DOJ would extract/block hundreds of millions of dollars from UVA before they would even negotiate."
November 14, 2025 at 4:17 PM
UVA Pres. Ryan's letter isn't just about the DOJ though. It credibly details dubious conduct from many people who were supposed to put UVA's interests first and didn't (likely because they agreed with DOJ's far-right pressure campaign): the Board, the AG, outside counsel, etc.
Not only are race-conscious policies often justified; it's usually an easy case, given any sensible political-philosophical foundations plus the most basic, "I wasn't born yesterday," knowledge of facts. The anti-affirmative-action position has strong intuitive pull but is really hard to justify.
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Not only are race-conscious policies often justified; it's usually an easy case, given any sensible political-philosophical foundations plus the most basic, "I wasn't born yesterday," knowledge of facts. The anti-affirmative-action position has strong intuitive pull but is really hard to justify.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
Fantastic @americalabs.org and @nehls.bsky.social interview of Ruth Bloch Rubin, one of the smartest Congress scholars out there firstbranchforecast.substack.com/p/interview-...
Interview: Ruth Bloch Rubin
"I think the idea that there can be flavors to partisanship is good when voters chafe at the two-party structure."
firstbranchforecast.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Fantastic @americalabs.org and @nehls.bsky.social interview of Ruth Bloch Rubin, one of the smartest Congress scholars out there firstbranchforecast.substack.com/p/interview-...
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
NIH scientist Dr. Jenna Norton was just placed on nondisciplinary leave.
She led a team who wrote a sign-on letter critical of The Regime.
A person at NIH asked to give a reason for her leave called her “radical leftist”; while the NIH Director has claimed that “dissent is productive”.
She led a team who wrote a sign-on letter critical of The Regime.
A person at NIH asked to give a reason for her leave called her “radical leftist”; while the NIH Director has claimed that “dissent is productive”.
N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Health Policies Says She Is on Administrative Leave
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
NIH scientist Dr. Jenna Norton was just placed on nondisciplinary leave.
She led a team who wrote a sign-on letter critical of The Regime.
A person at NIH asked to give a reason for her leave called her “radical leftist”; while the NIH Director has claimed that “dissent is productive”.
She led a team who wrote a sign-on letter critical of The Regime.
A person at NIH asked to give a reason for her leave called her “radical leftist”; while the NIH Director has claimed that “dissent is productive”.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
"You know us...So please trust us now when we say that what is happening in the Chicago area is wrong."
Powerful letter from retired Chicago broadcast journalists about what ICE/CBP is doing to our city: "it is terror"
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/l...
Powerful letter from retired Chicago broadcast journalists about what ICE/CBP is doing to our city: "it is terror"
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/l...
November 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
"You know us...So please trust us now when we say that what is happening in the Chicago area is wrong."
Powerful letter from retired Chicago broadcast journalists about what ICE/CBP is doing to our city: "it is terror"
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/l...
Powerful letter from retired Chicago broadcast journalists about what ICE/CBP is doing to our city: "it is terror"
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/l...
I've assigned a chapter on "Decolonizing Global Governance" (organized around a reading of Nehru) from Shuk Ying Chan's book, "Postcolonial Global Justice" for my new Global Political Justice class today. It is really good; highly recommend for both research and teaching.
Postcolonial Global Justice
A new account of global justice that recovers anticolonial thought for resisting a neocolonial age
press.princeton.edu
November 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I've assigned a chapter on "Decolonizing Global Governance" (organized around a reading of Nehru) from Shuk Ying Chan's book, "Postcolonial Global Justice" for my new Global Political Justice class today. It is really good; highly recommend for both research and teaching.
As usual, the good folks at the Crimson do their homework:
Email Cache Reveals How Former Harvard President Larry Summers Stayed in Jeffrey Epstein’s Orbit | News | The Harvard Crimson
A new cache of emails released by a House committee paints a vivid portrait of the relationship between former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers and convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein. The ...
www.thecrimson.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:15 PM
As usual, the good folks at the Crimson do their homework:
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
NEW: @propublica.org investigated the Chicago apartment raid where kids were zip-tied and citizens detained for hours. They find:
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
NEW: @propublica.org investigated the Chicago apartment raid where kids were zip-tied and citizens detained for hours. They find:
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
This man had absolutely no business being in academic leadership and everyone who said so twenty years ago should be taking a deserved victory lap. (And, more importantly, we should all be listening to them more.)
Something absolutely perfect about Larry Summers riffing about the scourge of woke cancel culture being unfair to predatory men in a friendly email to his pal JEFFREY EPSTEIN.
November 13, 2025 at 1:57 AM
This man had absolutely no business being in academic leadership and everyone who said so twenty years ago should be taking a deserved victory lap. (And, more importantly, we should all be listening to them more.)
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
I'm trying to figure out why the American elite (Larry Summers) thinks sexual harassing women should be irrelevant to one's chances to work for a network or a think tank, but also sexually assaulting girls should be irrelevant to whether one merits a friendly correspondence.
Oh, wait.
Oh, wait.
November 12, 2025 at 7:43 PM
I'm trying to figure out why the American elite (Larry Summers) thinks sexual harassing women should be irrelevant to one's chances to work for a network or a think tank, but also sexually assaulting girls should be irrelevant to whether one merits a friendly correspondence.
Oh, wait.
Oh, wait.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
The fact that this, and every other Trump pardonee who has subsequently broken the law, has not ended Trump's political career, that it barely even registers on the national discourse, underlines just how far we are from a functioning democracy that values accountability.
A man pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in January 6th - he assaulted Capitol Police officers with bear spray & a metal whip - has avoided prison for child sex crimes because of the president’s sweeping pardon, despite pleading guilty to soliciting what he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex
Trump Pardon Lets Convicted Child Sex Predator Walk Free
Andrew Taake walked free because of Trump’s pardons, despite being convicted of a child sex crime.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:29 AM
The fact that this, and every other Trump pardonee who has subsequently broken the law, has not ended Trump's political career, that it barely even registers on the national discourse, underlines just how far we are from a functioning democracy that values accountability.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
ICE detention is tantamount to torture.
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 PM
ICE detention is tantamount to torture.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
The NYT has used some version of this sentence in multiple stories about the Columbia settlement but it is highly misleading. Yes, the Columbia settlement included that pledge, but it also included multiple terms that “dictate academic matters.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
November 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
The NYT has used some version of this sentence in multiple stories about the Columbia settlement but it is highly misleading. Yes, the Columbia settlement included that pledge, but it also included multiple terms that “dictate academic matters.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
Coming to bookstores this spring: "If I Did It," by Sandwich Guy.
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Coming to bookstores this spring: "If I Did It," by Sandwich Guy.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
Ellis turns to the testimony of U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino. How he denied using force against a man he tackled and said he didn't see the Rev. David Black hit by pepperballs.
"More telling," she says, "defendant Bovino admitted that he lied."
"More telling," she says, "defendant Bovino admitted that he lied."
November 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Ellis turns to the testimony of U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino. How he denied using force against a man he tackled and said he didn't see the Rev. David Black hit by pepperballs.
"More telling," she says, "defendant Bovino admitted that he lied."
"More telling," she says, "defendant Bovino admitted that he lied."
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
“'Some complaints are just rants with almost no evidence or detail,' noted Darryl Li, a professor at the University of Chicago and co-author of the report. 'Government civil rights enforcement is now being driven by the equivalent of a YouTube comment section.'”
Important new report out from AAUP & MESA, “The data…offers a detailed account of how landmark civil rights legislation – and particularly Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – has become a primary tool to restrict speech on campus.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows
A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:31 PM
“'Some complaints are just rants with almost no evidence or detail,' noted Darryl Li, a professor at the University of Chicago and co-author of the report. 'Government civil rights enforcement is now being driven by the equivalent of a YouTube comment section.'”
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
A Border Patrol agent was caught on video telling another to throw tear gas “for fun,” according to a court filing. They also mocked protesters and residents who were getting gassed.
November 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
A Border Patrol agent was caught on video telling another to throw tear gas “for fun,” according to a court filing. They also mocked protesters and residents who were getting gassed.
Reposted by James Lindley Wilson
New, from me: DHS says immigration enforcement employees like ICE are facing unprecedented threats and 1000% increase in assaults. But the data does not add up. Look at the details, and we see state agents using excessive force, and then lying about it.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
Who's Threatening Who?
The Trump administration says immigration enforcement are being assaulted; the details tell a different story
donmoynihan.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New, from me: DHS says immigration enforcement employees like ICE are facing unprecedented threats and 1000% increase in assaults. But the data does not add up. Look at the details, and we see state agents using excessive force, and then lying about it.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...