iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

"Are computers conscious" is a dull question, not worth spending any time on. "Can computers suffer" is the only interesting question, so I will be hitting them with hammers until I find out.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I have always assumed that the Fiesta Shows operate outside the world of law, generally

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Dan Rosen @danrosen.xyz · 04/10/2026

Absolutely. I think of slop as an explicit rejection of a mode of production

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“60’s Motown if it sucked” also a strong contender

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I can’t decide which of these descriptions I love most, but I desperately want to play bass in a band that sounds like “ABBA played by he Sonics.”

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Beautiful sight this evening at North Station: Boston and Maine livery.

An MBTA commuter rail diesel engine painted in Boston and Maine livery using that train line’s classic maroon and yellow paint scheme. It is clean and shining under a cloudy grey sky, stopped at a platform at North Station.

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SEIU Local 925 @seiu925.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If he can’t appreciate the union difference, how is he going to appreciate you? #UnionsForAll #unionmemes

Three glamorous, smiling women in eveningwear against a dark background, overlaid with large purple text reading "DUMP YOUR ANTI-UNION BOYFRIEND"

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😱 Spooky SpectreKILLoquy 🔪 🩸 @caulimovirus.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Union workers on Mars submitting their demands: 8 hours 13 minutes and 11 seconds for work 8 hours 13 minutes and 11 seconds for rest 8 hours 13 minutes and 11 seconds for what we will

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Western Mass has its pro-pathogen weirdos, too. But that is a harrowing story

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wow, Atkins Farms content? I gotta get back out to western mass sometime soon.

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Northeastern Law @nusl.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A major new ProPublica investigation into sports betting apps’ “responsible gaming” practices references the symposium hosted by the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern Law. #NUSLPride www.propublica.org/article/draf...

propublica.org

I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.

Amid growing public health concerns, operators like DraftKings have touted “responsible gaming” tools and prompts. But as I went off the deep end, I found they were no match for the incentives and pro...

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ask your doctor if turning off the lights and turning up Dwight Yoakam is right for you.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just brought my kids to see Coyote v Acme and it’s great except kind of unrealistic about litigation. The movie vastly underplays the amount of dynamite used in trying a typical civil case.

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Ed Markey @edmarkey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Our nurses are the backbone of Massachusetts, and they deserve fair pay and good conditions. They fight tirelessly for us—we need to fight tirelessly for their rights. I stand with the Brigham Nurses and the Massachusetts Nurses Association and I urge all parties to come to the bargaining table.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Literally teaching the Clayton and Norris-LaGuardia Acts today and could not be more excited

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I threw a fist into the air while listening on the subway when @nikobowie.bsky.social raised the history of Congress eliminating court jurisdiction to enjoin certain labor disputes. There is good history in labor law to draw from if we are going to constrain the courts. Can't wait to read the book!

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Mo Torres @motorres.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yeah so profs are gonna have to unionize like yesterday

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Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 02/04/2026

“It is a striking indication of the social and cultural decay inherent in the final stages of capitalism, when elaborate scientific methods begin to be used, no longer to promote, but to eliminate intelligence from among the workers, because intelligent workers become Communists.” R. P. Dutt (1934)

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Not going to gawk at western mass communities that I am not a part of, but it's beautiful how people go to great lengths to create community with very difficult people. The Globe's closing quote: "we just hope that there’s more repair than conflict...that’s the price you pay to be in community."

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Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 23/09/2026

EIon Musk’s Wealth 2009: $.6B 2026: $984B Jeff Bezos’s Wealth 2009: $6B 2026: $370B Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth 2009: $.6B 2026: $256B Federal Minimum Wage 2009: $7.25 2023: $7.25 Billionaire tax rate: 8.2% Worker tax rate: 13% Pay workers. Tax & Abolish Billionaires. Save our economy & country.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

hell yeah! who are we doing labor law to next?

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

You get to speak at union rallies more often as a labor law professor than as a labor lawyer, but less often than as a union officer. This is my main takeaway from my career so far.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"'We live in Massachusetts, where we have created health programs that were the model for our national system now,' [Quinn] said. '[W]e’re...in Boston where we have the best research hospitals in the world…it’s unconscionable that people who work [here can't] get that high-quality level of care.'”

huntnewsnu.com

Union representing Northeastern security guards rallies for health benefits - The Huntington News

More than 125 demonstrators gathered outside Ruggles Station Sept. 15 to support unionized unarmed security officers working without a contract.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“I contacted all the local stores selling these to tell them what to charge” 👀

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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

and all these celebs are promoting the gambling to kids and teens, no matter how hard they try to deny it

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Cullen @hellocullen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

youre not gonna lose your job to magic beans, you'll lose your job to someone who traded their cow for magic beans

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Where’s the write-up for people who are politically homeless because they have anarchist tendencies the more rigorous marxists reject? Why is it always center-right weirdos who get features?

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This isn't the important point, but it is fascinating that they articulate this as a theft of labor rather than intellectual property.

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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A minimum population size for local government in general would solve literally hundreds of problems. Lots of cities should be annexed or disincorporated.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. Sorry! Very jargony conversation

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I make no predictions and take no odds here. I just want to point out that cancelling performances by artists for their stance on Palestinian liberation has a long history here in Massachusetts. Vanessa Redgrave’s performances were cancelled before I was born.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A year later, in Bally (cited above), the SJC said “in Redgrave[], we stated that the [BSO] violated the [MCRA] because its cancellation of its contract with Redgrave had the effect…of coercing Redgrave not to exercise her First Amendment rights.” Hard to square that with the First Circuit.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Redgrave’s speech was outside the performance and was therefore not integral to the performance, but the First Circuit said that—predicting the SJC’s view of MA law—it must be balanced against the venue’s or headliner’s rights to decline to put on a performance and so there was no MCRA violation.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Anyway, when it went back to the First Circuit, that court affirmed dismissal of the MCRA claim because “There are at least four, and as many as seven, votes on the SJC for denying MCRA liability for refusing to perform an artistic work.” Redgrave v. BSO, 855 F.2d 888 (1st Cir. 1988).

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Agreed! I just reposted with a hopefully more accessible explanation of what was going on.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

(In the fourth post in this thread, I said “the coercion can be, e.g., threats to…” but the MCRA lists coercion and threats separately along with intimidation and I didn’t mean to suggest more than one is required. I meant to say “the action can be, e.g, threats to”)

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So cancellation of the contract standing alone can be economic coercion for the person who was not threatened but who just lost their contract outright. And then there’s tortious interference claims…

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The person who was dropped might have a harder time showing “threats, intimidation, or coercion,” but as the SJC said in Bally about Redgrave, “the [BSO] violated the Act because its cancellation of its contract with Redgrave had the effect…of coercing Redgrave not to exercise her [speech] rights.”

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So, hypothetically, a headlining performer who was told to drop another act or lose an established booking might have their constitutional speech rights threatened under the MCRA. (This presumes that the venue’s speech rights aren’t at issue—the Wilkins concurrence in Redgrave is good on this)

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

But the coercion can be, e.g., a threat to cause economic hardship for a person to prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights. Simply depriving them of their rights is not a "threat[], intimidation, or coercion" under the MCRA. See linked case: www.masscasesarchive.com/masscases.co...

masscasesarchive.com

BALLY vs. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, 403 Mass. 713

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

One important note here is that—unlike Section 1983–the Mass Civil Rights Act (MCRA), MGL c. 12, ss. 11H, 11I, doesn’t have a state actor requirement, but it does require a showing of "threats, intimidation, or coercion.”

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The SJC answered a couple certified questions saying, essentially, that for the Mass Civil Rights Act, she didn’t need to prove BSO’s specific intent and that the possibility of economic loss for the orchestra was not a defense to the civil rights act claim.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Apropos of nothing in the news, there’s a fascinating old MA SJC case about when Vanessa Redgrave sued the Boston Symphony Orchestra for firing her after third parties protested her position on Palestine and Israel. www.masscasesarchive.com/masscases.co...

masscasesarchive.com

REDGRAVE vs. BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, INC., 399 Mass. 93

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Ryan Quinn @ryanquinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If it was me (mine wasn’t “cool” but how many people on his app deleted a post about the MCRA), I decided to edit for clarity, but then took a shower and forgot about it. Sorry, I hadn’t seen anyone had replied or liked anything when I deleted.

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Amy Kapczynski @akapczynski.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

this is going to be so great. what are ppl cooking up??

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