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Ben Laurence

@agentsofchange.bsky.social
305 followers 150 following 33 posts

Author of Agents of Change. Political philosopher at UChicago who is obsessed with the relation of theory to practice. Currently working on the political theory of labor unions. benlaurence.net

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Reposted by Ben Laurence
Sophie Lewis @reproutopia.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I was annoyed at the *discourse* and wrote some rapid fire notes on Steinem www.patreon.com/posts/168891...
patreon.com
Eight theses on Gloria Steinem, because goddamn | Sophie Lewis
I think the phrase we’re looking for is social-democratic anticommunism. She was a metonym of the 20th century, which is currently dying. Sh
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If the US government cared about education, in addition to requiring watermarks on all AI produced texts, they would make illegal the marketing and sale of AI humanizing and other services directed primarily to students for the purposes of cheating. They could easily do this tomorrow.
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
How is it possible this song by 13th Floor Elevator was released in 1968? It sounds like a 1990's or even contemporary indie rock song. It's absolutely surreal! open.spotify.com/track/4pJK4K...
open.spotify.com
Dust - Mono LP Version
13th Floor Elevators · Easter Everywhere · Song · 2010
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
darkly funny that people objecting to Cofnas' suspension and investigation by Ghent have figured out how to judge a set of actions in the context of the broader political project they advance and not just their self proclaimed aims and rationales
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dread & circuses ♥️🖤🤍💚 @likeapen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
China Miéville's writing and thinking -- I think about his presentation on socialism and Halloween every day -- dare to bend and break and laugh, and I am so hyped for this new novel. www.bostonreview.net/articles/rev...
bostonreview.net
Revenance Event
China Miéville returns to fiction with a secret history of late-twentieth-century Britain.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 20/08/2026
I've never seen such an effort to censor a document as I have the Amnesty International report on gender critical groups because of JK Rowling. They removed the report from the Wayback Machine and now I got a DMCA strike on my Google Drive for having it. It was deleted and removed from my account.
A screenshot of an email viewed in dark mode with the subject line "Google DMCA Violation." The email from Google informs the recipient that they have received a notification under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that some of their materials allegedly infringe on copyrights. It explains the removal process, mentions that notice details will be posted on Lumen, warns against repeated violations, and lists one affected Google Drive URL at the bottomA nearly identical mobile browser screenshot of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. It shows a search for the same Amnesty International UK resources URL, resulting in the same message: "This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine."A mobile browser screenshot of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. A URL for an Amnesty International UK resources page is entered in the search bar, but the page displays the message: "This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine."
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Mika Fae Queen of Night 🏳️‍⚧️ @msmaxwellmusic.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
this has real "final video log on derelict space freighter" vibes
Kamala Harris Zoom call with the words Be "Ruthless"
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Listen to the man talk who outed Jason Arday.
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Your Evil Twin, Skippy 🇵🇸 🏳️‍⚧️ @twinskippy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams: “There’s a lot of discourse around trans athletes and what they can compete in. I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team. Anytime. I don’t think it’s a problem in the world, it’s just another way to kind of attack trans people.”
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I look forward to all the reports & coverage about all of the internal problems & mistakes of all of these other institutions, in the same way that universities are constantly blamed (& blaming themselves) for “declining trust.” “Compared to what?” news.gallup.com/poll/712436/...
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Ordinary Unhappiness @unhappinesspod.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 The brilliant @jackhanson.bsky.social joins us for a fantastic conversation about Pope Leo and the politics of the papacy; Catholic social doctrine, JD Vance, and the state of the American church; alienation, desire, AI, and much, much more! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnha...
patreon.com
Episode 152: The Pope, the Church, and the Politics of Progress feat. Jack Hanson | Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick welcome writer, critic, and religion scholar Jack Hanson for an in-depth and wide-ranging conversation about the politics a
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Reading this guy's book for the first time and it's 🤯🤯🤯. Anthropology peeps, just curious how well has his work stood up?
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
appears the US war apparatus is pivoting from general war crimes to a more openly genocidal strategy
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Like this shit is so sad. It's all what people want, and competence, and common sense, and joy...and their move is sharing it with the comment "This is bad". TRY HARDER
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noam @noamchompers.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
esteemed colleague: the problem with contemporary academia is relativism Me: Holy shit! metaethical noncognitivism? EC: LOL no...no not those relativists Me: So....neocarnapian metametaphysics? EC: Haha no not those views either Me: Which views, exactly? EC: Oh, you know the ones
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This reply is both measured and seems on its face devastating. Although unlike Anthony Appiah, apparently, I freely admit that I do not have mastery of the various fields relevant to his field report. What an embarrassment for philosophy.
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WRONG or METAPHYSICAL IN NATURE @jsthrill.modphi.com · 13/07/2026
“Trans widow’s voices”…jfc
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12/07/2026
Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12/07/2026
I don't think I've ever seen a group so litigious as gender criticals in the UK. They want to censor any and all criticism of them. Every time I criticize JK Rowling on here, there's like ten TERF accounts snitch tagging Rowling on X asking her to sue me. Thankfully, we have a First Amendment here.
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This is an excellent reply to the bafflingly biased and jaw-droppingly reckless letter attacking the humanities.
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Rebecca Nagle @rebeccanagle.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
BREAKING: Alligator Alcatraz has officially closed. A lot of outlets won’t report on this, but the Miccosukee Tribe played a key role in the fight.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/06/2026
I've spent the last two months putting together this exhaustive analysis of the New York Times coverage of trans people. It covers 3,242 articles over 12 years. In 2022, the NYT shifted towards a hostile stance towards trans people in their framing. www.thedissident.news/exclusive-ho...
thedissident.news
Exclusive: How The New York Times Changed Its Coverage of Trans People
An exhaustive analysis of over 3,242 articles by the New York Times covering transgender issues from 2014-2026 revealed a stark shift towards hostile framing in 2022. In January 2015, the New York Ti...
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Abe Silberstein @abesilbe.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Two years after Darializa Avila Chevalier took part in the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, she is now set to represent the district in which the university is located in Congress.
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Why is this WP exclusive written in this bizarre amateur first person form? It's a bombshell report and yet it doesn't read like it's reported from a real newspaper. Maybe because its not? www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career
I obtained hundreds of confidential memos detailing politics and policy guidance for Gabbard from her years in Congress, then embarked on a quest to identify who was behind them.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/06/2026
This is a pro rape policy. They want to facilitate the rape and abuse of trans women. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...
the-independent.com
Transgender woman 'raped 2,000 times' in all-male prison
'It was hell on earth, it was as if I died and this was my punishment'
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I'm dying
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UChicago AAUP @uchicagoaaup.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
This year, UChicago launched a crackdown on teaching at a sub-unit where there is no faculty governance, the Lab School, asserting its prerogative to regulate expression of teachers, justified by the Kalven Report. At every step it has insisted this is only germane to Lab.
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UChicago AAUP @uchicagoaaup.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Excellent op-ed from our own Mark Levin on UChicago's deal with Anthropic:
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Converting to Catholicism so I can tell my bosses using unregulated AI is against my religion and I will sue them like that cake lady who hated gay people if they make me use it
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Indeed. And shame on those Labour politicians who used to say all the right things but now lack the courage to.
liberalcurrents.com
The End of Trans Rights In the UK Is the Start Of Democratic Collapse
It's never just one minority.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Shocking testimony of how Israel's treatment of its prisoners changed after October 7th
equator.org
‘Why Don’t You Just Die?’ • EQUATOR
Surviving torture and brutality inside Israel’s prisons
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Get rekt Kathleen Stock
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
The midterm gerrymandering war and the Iran war alike show Trump's inability to imagine that the people he's picking fights with have any agency, any ability to respond. He loves his "you don't have the cards" metaphor but he's amazingly terrible at actually thinking about whether they do.
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Eman Abdelhadi @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
We've officially launched Project 2052, a website or revolutionary fiction and art in the world of Everything for Everyone. Here's our introduction, stay tuned this week for our first five stories! Pitch us an idea or help us pay writers by donating! www.commonnotions.org/project-2052...
commonnotions.org
Project 2052 — Common Notions Press
A website of revolutionary speculative short fiction, visual art, and poetry, set in the world of Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072.
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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
As the laid off Middle East News Editor, I concur. Management eliminated the positions of every single staff correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East.
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Pam Bondi is Disney villain levels of evil. From the Palm Beach Post
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Corey Brickley * Blight's Hollow Dot Com @coreybrickley.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Boromir from the movie The Fellow ship of the rings thinking out loud about the one ring, with the caption "Perhaps we could give the ring better training."
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Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Democratic Party Leadership continues to be spineless and complicit.
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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
UT-Dallas may suspend a student journalist for two years because they fact-checked a letter to the editor that argued Israel is not committing genocide (FIRE being FIRE, they do not emphasize that this is another example of the Palestine exception to campus speech protections)
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Ben Lorber @benlorber8.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Last week Yoram Hazony, far-right Israeli theorist & leader of National Conservatism, sat down with NYT columnist Ross Douthat to explain why he was surprised there's now an antisemitism crisis in the MAGA movement. Nobody else was surprised. My latest: bit.ly/HazonyAntisemitism
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Starbucks Workers United @sbworkersunited.org · 19/11/2025
Baristas are locking arms in front of lines of trucks. This distribution center is Starbucks’ largest on the East Coast, which is why we’re showing up to send a message. We're ready to continue escalating our ULP strike until Starbucks does the right thing. #NoContractNoCoffee
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/11/2025
The HHS report on gender affirming care released it's updated report showing they stacked its authors with anti-trans hate-group affiliated members, several of whom aren't even doctors with any sort of clinical experience. They selected their own ideologically friendly peer reviewers. It's a joke.
“Cover page of a report titled Supplement to Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices – Peer Reviews and Replies. The design features a dark blue header with white text, and below it a photo collage showing children’s hands covered in bright colored powder. The bottom section lists ‘Department of Health and Human Services’ and the date ‘November 19, 2025’ beside a blue vertical block.”
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
@leaypi.bsky.social delivering the Dewey Lecture yesterday! It was a banger about freedom, capitalism and impersonal domination.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
A picture of Dr Manhattan blowing up Rorschach but captioned with “the poorest person on Twitter may have access to more beauty and meaning in life than the most wealthy person in the world”
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Eric Blanc @ericblanc.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Everybody opposed to authoritarianism and oligarchy should needs to stand in solidarity with the Starbucks workers who are likely going on strike starting November 13 This is a winnable fight — but it'll take all of our support to help workers get past the finish line
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
I grew up in NYC. As a child of a single mom who worked tirelessly to support me, whose career fell apart later in life and was on workfare when I went to college, hard not to feel like the city chewed me up and spat me out. But I guess I can call myself a new yorker again.
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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Who is wise? One who learns from all people. Who is a fool? One who is content with their own limited understanding of the world. (Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Fathers)
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Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Awkward realization that my fashion sense is dominated by the question (aside from the unpleasant fedora issue): would Indiana Jones wear this?
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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion. As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
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