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Michael Pollak

@mdpollak.bsky.social
576 followers 301 following 654 posts

I love big books and I cannot lie

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Reposted by Michael Pollak
Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h
The NYC DOT and MTA are finally going to start a pilot to use authority that the state has granted for years to use bus-mounted cameras to issue tickets to cars blocking bike lanes nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/10/07/c...
nyc.streetsblog.org
Finally: City, MTA to Test-Run Bus-Mounted Cameras On Bike Lane Blockers - Streetsblog New York City
The city and state are gearing up to use the MTA's existing bus-mounted cameras to ticket drivers who park in bike lanes, more than three years after state legislators gave the Department of Transport...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 7h
He rides the L?
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 9h
It’s a replay of what happened with Jews and the Ivy League a century ago. Which is wonderfully covered in the beginning of sociologist Jerome Karabel’s _The Chosen_
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 06/10/2026
Vitol chief warns of tanker shortage and risk of $200-a-barrel oil ft.trib.al/zntHqhv
ft.trib.al
Vitol chief warns of tanker shortage and risk of $200-a-barrel oil
Head of world’s largest independent oil trader says shipping squeeze is creating new bottleneck despite increased Gulf flows
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Trump has systematically dismantled the data collection capacity of the government, and its cost is the slow disabling of democratic accountability itself. Great piece from Kevin Schultz and Jason Oh. prospect.org/2026/10/05/a...
prospect.org
An Architecture of Ignorance - The American Prospect
How the Trump regime is taking away our ability to know what’s going on.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One clear difference between left and right yimbyism thethornnyc.substack.com/p/interview-...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It would be unbelievably great if Zohran could untie the civil service knot in agreement with public sector unions. Like he said, taking the big shots.
nysfocus.com
Mamdani Enlists Unions in Push to Overhaul NYC Hiring
A new mayoral task force will study the dysfunctional 143-year-old civil service system and propose changes in Albany.
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
Equator @equatormag.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As Brazil heads to the polls on Sunday to decide between Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, former president Javier Bolsonaro’s son, Equator asked Rodrigo Nunes about his assessment of Lula’s third term, the origins of Bolsonarismo and what Brazil reveals about the global far right.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This article by @ericblanc.bsky.social is about labor organizing. There’s a lot more to this than I remembered at first. It’s encouraging to look at it this way.
jacobin.com
Bernie Sanders’s 2016 Campaign Lit a Spark Beyond Elections
Electoral campaigns can feed workplace struggle by politicizing people, raising their expectations, bringing activists together, and giving them experience organizing others. Bernie Sanders’s presiden...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
static.klipy.com
Clippy: The Microsoft Office Assistant
ALT: Clippy: The Microsoft Office Assistant
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Amazing chart from Adam Tooze's daily links newsletter
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Have you read first 2 appendices to the unabridged hardcover version of Goodwyn? Unabridged version is completely different book than the paperback all grad students had on our shelves. Abridged doesn't even have footnotes & lacks half the story. Unabridged is awesome on precisely this point.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A 3rd-party ballot line delivers you into your enemies' hands unless you create a party-that-is-legally-not-a-party on top of it. Otherwise they set the rules on how your party runs, and judge how you comply. You won't be able to decide who runs on your line.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A real party, with dues-paying members, a real platform and de-selection, requires innovative guerrilla tactics. Paradoxically, the only way to have a real party in the US is to legally incorporate as *not* a party.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Every leftist involved in elections must listen to Seth Ackerman's latest thoughts on the 10-year anniversary of his germinal article, Blueprint for a New Party. 3rd parties are literally against the law in the US. We're a 1 party state with 2 parties. www.patreon.com/radiowarnerd...
patreon.com
FREE REPOST Radio War Nerd EP #633 — America's Authoritarian Democracy, or Why The US Can't Have Third Parties, feat. Seth Ackerman [UNLOCKED] | Radio War Nerd
FREE REPOST Radio War Nerd EP #633 — America's Authoritarian Democracy, or Why The US Can't Have Third Parties, feat. Seth Ackerman [UNLOCKED] by Radio War Nerd on Patreon. Join Radio War Nerd's commu...
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
You would not guess it from the news coverage, but given stable growth and inflation and in the absence of a significant further rise in bond yields, current deficits of around 6% imply a *declining* path of debt relative to GDP.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes, but in a theatre to prepare to sneak off in the dark if it’s bad
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 28/09/2026
Digital rights activists have long railed at the use of the term "IP," criticizing it for being deceptively imprecise and also rhetorically dishonest. I get where these objections are coming from, but I think they're misguided.
A pastoral landscape with a cablecar system running overhead. A procession of old-timey cash registers are being moved through the sky on it.
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ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
People really need to go back to the original Jurassic Park and look at the rather disturbing ways in which InGen's management of it now looks prescient
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Mayfair Cynic @mayfaircynic.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
xkcd.com/1494/
xkcd.com
Insurance
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
dropsitenews.com
U.S. Makes, Israel Takes: The Real Story of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation
The Iron Beam laser and Arrow anti-ballistic missile systems are touted as examples of Israeli military ingenuity. But they were largely developed and financed by the U.S.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The latest official figure is that 60,000 rent-controlled apartments are being warehoused citylimits.org/opinion-most...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is a really wonderful debunking of the Huggingface AI stuff. It’s 25 minutes but I was riveted and now I feel liberated & smug again & it feels great youtu.be/jxM35ij5VGg?...
youtu.be
The Truth about OpenAI’s “Secret AI Civilizations”
YouTube video by Cal Newport
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A fact that astonished me when I learned it a few years ago, is that until the mid-1980s much of Manhattan had no waste treatment plants - untreated sewage was just piped straight into the Hudson. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/09/fact...
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 07/09/2026
worth tying this into the political economy of the slave south as well. from roughly the 1820s onwards, slavery became enormously lucrative in ways that had never been seen before. slave traders became millionaires. large planters had tremendous purchasing power. just huge amounts of wealth.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Yes, perfectly put
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
Eli Valley @elivalley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The transformation into David Irving is now complete.
Deborah E. Lipstadt
@deborahlipstadt
Proud to be among the signatories to this important statement.  A lie is a lie. Wrongs happen in every war.  But the accusation of genocide beggars the imagination.  Unless you redefine what genocide is which is what many are doing.
From creativecommunityforpeace.com
4:10 PM · Sep 10, 2026
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Song of the summer:
youtu.be
Send Us Thine Asteroid, O Lord
YouTube video by Joseph Murray
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Capitalists seem pre-feudal when it comes to making people work in ovens. As things get hotter, they are trying to pass laws against passing laws. Phoenix workers have had some great local victories using politics, but the heat exploitation is jaw-dropping.
labornotes.org
Will Republicans in Congress Torch OSHA’s Heat Standard?
Workers around the country experienced brutal heat this summer, with July the hottest month on record. It’s creating a safety crisis on the job, as workers report severe nausea, dizziness, exhaustion,...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Happy Labor Day! I've always known Labor Day as a fake holiday the US created to smother May Day. But it turns out Labor Day started 4 years before Haymarket & was a moving occasion. It was only transmogrified later. From Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac:
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
Daniel Ahmad @zhugeex.com · 04/09/2026
It takes you 20 paragraphs to get to the part of the article where they admit that Mamdani isn't paying the influencers and the reason they are posting videos of the stuff Mamdani is doing is because people are interested in watching it.
The mayor’s office says that it does not pay the influencers. Still, their proximity and access to a figure as popular as Mr. Mamdani can help increase their own social media following and, by extension, potentially put them in a position to attract paid content sponsorships from commercial brands. Some influencers said that when they feature Mr. Mamdani, the videos get more likes and viewers watch longer.
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
via @bcmerchant.bsky.social, who also links to a piece on why insurance claims adjusters specifically might be so anti-AI. www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/why-office...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Wow, that is incredible. One more reason to go to Staten Island. Did you eat some Sri Lanken food while you were there?
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The Pub-Liking Universal Friend @johnb78.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Really pleased to see they've gone for Equal Earth rather than the awful Gail-Peters
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Hahaha that’s so demented
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
My truelove Jenny Brown wrote an obituary against the grain but I think it's perfect
jacobin.com
Gloria Steinem Was the Godmother of Neoliberal Feminism
Gloria Steinem died this week at age 92. The establishment’s favorite “radical” feminist, Steinem worked with the CIA to promote reactionary propaganda and helped direct the women’s liberation movemen...
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Do you have a screenshot of this? I just see a blocked sign. Takes me back to the Old Site 😂
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Was that ever a part of campaign speech regulation? If not, is there an article on how to ground that argument? For that matter, do we have any campaign speech regulation? I thought the legal consensus was that political speech should be the freest speech. And then we decided money was speech.
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Reposted by Michael Pollak
Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I ask - in a world in which executives can replace the skill of workers, doesn't that mean that the executives get replaced by skilled workers? backofmind.substack.com/p/robot-clas...
backofmind.substack.com
robot class traitors
the future and its ownership
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Hard to convince anyone nowadays that lies will get you in trouble. Liars on top everywhere
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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I have a piece in the Atlantic about SCOTUS’s ballroom order - and how the Court has a very wrongheaded and destructive account of the separation of powers www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“The court is totally wrong on separation of powers”
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Great piece. Unbelievable. responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-oil-ve...
responsiblestatecraft.org
Trump plan to control Venezuelan oil has more holes than Swiss cheese
The Pentagon could find itself underwriting risky loans to put Caracas' petroleum infrastructure back on track
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Matt Levine finishes by saying this is basically Sam Bankman-Fried. He started out literally flipping coins for outrageous odds on Jane St. He did the same to become a billionaire. And to lose everything. His strategy was optimized to become a billionaire & a famous crook in that order.
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The follow up also good, quoting a post yesterday by Victor Haghani, James White and Jeffrey Rosenbluth of Elm Wealth entitled “Do You Really Want to Be a Billionaire?”
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
From today's Money Stuff by Matt Levine
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I feel same because I am old but UK'ers should realize this isn't faux folksiness. It's the opposite: political correctness. English doesn't have 2nd person plural; people objected to "you guys" being used for both genders; we ended up with this. It's prog New Yorkers saying this, not Southerners
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Michael Pollak @mdpollak.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
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