Mark Igra
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markigra.bsky.social
Mark Igra
@markigra.bsky.social
290 followers 550 following 120 posts
Started sciences.social. Sociology PhD candidate at the University of Washington, studying altruism and morality. Former software guy.
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markigra.bsky.social
The @nytimes.com minimizing the unconstitutional assault on US cities so much that it didn't appear on the "front page" even on my big screen monitor. Had to export a pdf to capture the tiny headline. Truly atrocious. Does any major US news org care at all?
Screen shot of NYTimes online front page with tiny headline about Emergency powers circled in red. Red text on yellow saying "Unconstitutional invasion of us cities way down here!!! WTF NY Times." Another text saying "But at least I know where to find a tree house with rustic vibe" referring to NYT headline near top saying "6 Tree Houses You can Rent for Glamour With a Rustic Vibe"
October 7, 2025 at 5:34 AM
markigra.bsky.social
Having just been in New York, the Rosh Hashanah display at my local #seattle grocery featuring *Matzah* made me feel out of place. Do they get points for trying? Shanah Tovah all.
Shelves with kosher wine, grape juice, and matzo in the store display. I think there’s some honey on the top shelf.
September 22, 2025 at 11:08 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Ashland OR has free EV chargers in city owned parking lot - just plug in. 4hr limit. 9 x 9 kw chargers. Power ~8¢/kwh here so probably < $10/hr cost to city. People seem to love it. Seattle has some neighborhood chargers, but still have to pay via ChargePoint app.
Photo of sidewalk & trees & parking lot with 9 cars plugged into chargers.
September 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Nice to see my governor pushing back on Bondi:

governor.wa.gov/sites/defaul...
STATE OF WASHINGTON — OFFICE OF GOVERNOR BOB FERGUSON - August 19, 2025 Pamela Bondi Attorney General 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Attorney General Bondi: I am in receipt of your letter dated August 13, 2025, which purports to notify me that Washington State "has been identified" as a "so-called sanctuary jurisdiction" — on grounds that your letter makes no effort whatsoever to explain. You refer to unidentified "policies and practices" within Washington State that violate federal law-again, without any explanation. You baselessly invoke federal obstruction, conspiracy, and harboring statutes that carry criminal penalties with prison time. You even threaten that state officials "operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges." You are hereby notified that Washington State will not be bullied or intimidated by threats and legally baseless accusations. In the America that I love and have taught my children to revere, we resolve our differences peacefully through public discourse and, if necessary, through the courts—not by threatening political opponents with imprisonment. You take a different approach. You threaten me, police officers, state troopers, sheriffs, judges, and other officials with prison time. Why? Because our state legislature passed a bipartisan law that appropriately and lawfully limits the diversion of our state and local resources to federal immigration enforcement. Your threat to criminally prosecute state officials embarrasses and disgraces the office of the United States Attorney General. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi August 19, 2025 Page 2 Washington State is proud to be a welcoming community that values immigrants' and refugees' contributions to our economy and our cultural fabric. We do so while accounting for and complying with applicable federal law. If you really believe Washington State is in conflict with controlling federal law, you would make some effort to explain that. You did not, because you cannot. In 2017, I was the first state attorney general to challenge President Trump's efforts to trample our Constitution in court, and I was the first attorney general to defeat him. I, along with my team at the Washington Attorney General's Office, went on to defeat the first Trump Administration 55 times. We were unsuccessful in just three cases. Given that history, I am prepared to defend Washington from any litigation you wish to pursue. If you choose to challenge me and my state, be advised that we will defeat you and seek all appropriate costs and fees. You seem to believe that cavalierly threatening criminal prosecution will result in me compromising the values of my state. Never. You seek to have Washington State bend the knee to a Trump Administration that, day by day, drags us closer to authoritarianism. Never. I am not intimidated by you or the President. I will defend our democracy, the rule of law, and the people of my state. Always. Bob Ferguson
August 20, 2025 at 11:19 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Half of US history in a single photo. Man in "We the people Defend Liberty" t-shirt depriving someone of liberty. From New Yorker photographer Mark Peterson: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Photo from back of muscled man in tight t-shirt that says "We the people DEFEND LIBERTY estd 1776" with image of skull between words DEFEND and LIBERTY, and badge clipped to his belt grabbing the arm of smaller man with dark hair wearing button up shirt with backpack
August 13, 2025 at 3:28 PM
markigra.bsky.social
I have no idea how Safari on iOS decides what shortcuts to display when tapping the address bar, but I swear the giant LUST/SSM on my screen was unintentional.
Screenshot from Safari iOS with icons labeled L U S T S S M under the icons are Look Up Collection… University Library S3 Management Toggl SOCIOLOGY Seattle Public Utilities My Storm Account
July 15, 2025 at 12:27 AM
markigra.bsky.social
MacArthur Park brought to mind this passage from the devastating “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here” by @jonathanblitzer.bsky.social Rather than asylum, the US promises more militarized trauma.
Around two thirty, class let out, and he'd walk over to MacArthur Park to spend the rest of his afternoon getting to know his new surroundings. The Salvadorans in the park-all men—had each narrowly escaped murder, unlike so many of their friends, relatives, and spouses. Other family members had stayed behind because traveling north was too dangerous, expensive, and uncertain. A large contingent of the men drank and raged and lurched around in a fog. Others drifted into a quieter, nightly oblivion, having spent the day working menial jobs to the point of exhaustion.
July 7, 2025 at 11:38 PM
markigra.bsky.social
“corporate diversity programs will continue to flourish even in the absence of new legislation” - Dobbin 2009 Inventing EO.

Predictions are hard. Especially about the future.
Screenshot from Dobbin 2009: Current diversity measures face little overt opposition in corporate America, in large part because the human resources profession has done such a good job of framing them as promoting efficiency, of depicting the problem as one of outdated personnel systems rather than as one of prejudice, and of making the case that the workforce is in the midst of becoming dramatically more diverse. [These successes suggest that corporate diversity programs will continue to flourish even in the absence of new legislation.](red highlight)
June 30, 2025 at 4:17 PM
markigra.bsky.social
I’m glad that growers might support backing off, but this highlights how we got here: “I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just know that this is affecting the growers…These growers will lose a lot of money”. Try caring about “that stuff. ” It’s not just being a fan of a team.
"People watch the news," Zavala said, referring to masked federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining persons off the street. "It's definitely having an impact. "I don't care about that stuff. I just know that this is affecting the growers directly whether they are Democrat or Republican or whatever. These growers will lose a lot of money and are risking losing their farms because of a lack of labor."
June 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Ha ha ha. He uses the royal we to claim that he's not a king.
"No, no. We're not a king," Mr. Trump said. "We're not a king at all, thank you very much." In February, Mr. Trump likened himself to a king in another fight with Democrats in a blue state. As Mr. Trump sought to end congestion pricing for vehicles in New York City, the president declared on social media "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"
June 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Don't forget that the NYT first described this as being "escorted out". NYT defaults to pro-admin frame as usual.
Senator Padilla being handcuffed by 3 officers laying on the ground. NYT logo by Sonia A. Rao: Senator Alex Padilla of California abruptly interrupted the news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He yelled out that he had "questions for the secretary," and was promptly escorted out by security.
June 12, 2025 at 9:00 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Wait, the CEO of Palantir studied under Habermas? (Apparently they had a falling out). #sociology
From “Welcome to the Wretched” García Hernández 2024. p 115: But there's also an ideological commitment. Karp is a unique character. He's the company's CEO, a workaholic with a law degree and a Ph.D. in social theory who studied under the influential German philosopher Jürgen Habermas
June 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Sometimes you read something honest that takes your breath away: "We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
Quote from García Hernández 2019 "Migrating to Prison", itself citing Dan Baum, Legalize It All: How to Win the War on Drugs , Harper’s (April 2016), https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/. : “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” the disgraced Nixon official John Ehrlichman told a reporter years later. “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
May 31, 2025 at 10:11 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Riding the bus in Seattle. (No I didn’t put it there but it made me smile)
Metal setback with sticker of woman in dress holding bicycle painting heart with “fuck ice” written below
May 22, 2025 at 11:02 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Today I learned that Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, has a PhD in social policy from Brandeis, where his doctoral advisor was the socialist pacifist David Gil. (I was looking up Gil who someone mentioned in an interview.)
Screenshot from wikipedia: Lurie attended Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then earned a B.A. from Clark University, a master's degree in psychology from Boston University, and a doctorate in social policy from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where he wrote his thesis on the depiction of women in Hollywood movies. He has spent his adult life as a non-practicing Jew.l41 Prior to entering business, Lurie served as an adjunct assistant professor of social policy at Boston University.
May 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
markigra.bsky.social
This about conventional wisdom in markets from @pkrugman.bsky.social chat with @nathantankus.bsky.social must be a topic in intersection of sociology of knowledge with markets. @pardoguerra.bsky.social or @sarahquinn.bsky.social do you have pointers? paulkrugman.substack.com/p/nathan-tan...
These kinds of markets are conventional wisdom processors. That’s kind of a reference to Friedrich Hayek and the idea of markets as an information processor…there's a general idea among a certain rarefied group of people who are the most active participants in these markets and what is conventionally believed among them is really what drives things… The stock market would change very differently if suddenly, a week from now, all the major stock traders were scientists. What they would price in, especially around things like climate change, would be very, very different from the current set of participants. The way people talk about markets is that there is an objective measure. That they just take information from everywhere and process them. But really, it's a specific set of people. As I say in that piece, you would have to have a specific mindset and be a specific person in the world to believe that Donald Trump would be better for the stock market than Joe Biden. To believe not only that Donald Trump would be good for the stock market, that he'd be so much better than having four years of Kamala Harris or whatever
April 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
markigra.bsky.social
DOGE/SSA marked this person dead and *removed his savings from his bank account,* cancelled his social security and Medicare. #seattle www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
= The Seattle Times "There's nothing you need to do - we've deducted the funds from LEONARD A. JOHNSON's account." Uh oh. It itemized how $5,201 had been stricken from their bank account, on the grounds that Ned wasn't justified to get those benefits - because he was dead. That was for payments he'd received in December and January. Ned found that his February Social Security check hadn't been paid, and he's yet to receive his March check, either. His Medicare insurance had been canceled. He also learned that when you die, your credit score gets marked as "deceased, do not issue credit," which makes it tough to get a loan.
March 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM
markigra.bsky.social
The idea that individuals rather than systems made modern life safe and reliable is ignorance supported by everyday ideology. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/u...
The exchange ended with Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from M.I.T. as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be "geniuses," he said.|
March 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM
markigra.bsky.social
I noticed "the more we know the more we care" attributed to Thomas Schelling in Bohnet & Frey 1999. #econ and others cite it (never with page #). But it's not in the work cited. Closest I could find was "If we know the people, we care." Should I credit whoever misquoted it first?
Highlighted text: "With one- sided visual identification, other-regarding behavior is more pronounced if dictators are provided with some information on who their respective recipient is, supporting Schelling's (1968) claim that "the more we know, the more we care." Google search result highlighting 6 pages showing "the more we know the more we care" attributed to Thomas Schelling including 'Explaining the "Identifiable Victim Effect"' with 1030 citations.
February 14, 2025 at 11:19 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Early on I hated #rstats because it seemed inconsistent & inscrutable. Then I used it a lot and liked it. Then I didn't code for a while and was reminded why I hated it before I had internalized the nuttiness.
Screenshot from R console: > xx <- "2025-02-01" > parse_datetime(xx) [1] "2025-02-01 UTC" > ifelse(is.null(xx), NA, parse_datetime(xx)) [1] 1738368000 > if_else(is.null(xx), NA, parse_datetime(xx)) [1] "2025-02-01 UTC" >
February 6, 2025 at 4:27 PM
markigra.bsky.social
Has anyone started a project to track all the proposed tariffs that allow countries to “negotiate” exceptions? (EV battery materials here) Might be worth tracking exceptions and aligning timing with large purchases of Trump coin. arstechnica.com/cars/2024/12...
But according to the documents seen by Reuters, the tariffs on battery materials will be applied globally, something that should significantly increase the cost of a new EV. The transition team plans to allow individual countries to try to negotiate exemptions to the tariffs, Reuters wrote.
December 17, 2024 at 5:25 PM