david helps
@david-helps.bsky.social
historian & postdoc, University of Toronto • writing a people’s history of global LA • Great Lakes supremacist • he/they • https://www.david-helps.com/writing
Pinned
david helps
@david-helps.bsky.social
· Apr 23
Extreme heat kills over 500 New Yorkers each summer, when crowded, shadeless neighborhoods become furnaces and pressure-cookers. No borough is more vulnerable to heat-related deaths than the Bronx.
The Bronx Still Burns - Dissent Magazine
The borough's arson wave in the 1970s was caused by financial forces and political priorities that continue to hold power in New York City.
dissentmagazine.org
My review of @benchansfield.bsky.social’s brilliant history of arson is now unpaywalled @dissentmag.bsky.social:
Reposted by david helps
Reposted by david helps
This by Adam Tooze is good. I’ve always found overly materialist explanations of far right voting unsatisfactory and tbh a form of left cope at times.
Yes economic insecurity & loss plays a role but the driving force is simply racial resentment. It’s always best to look that squarely in the eye.
Yes economic insecurity & loss plays a role but the driving force is simply racial resentment. It’s always best to look that squarely in the eye.
Adam Tooze on the elections in Sachsen-Anhalt. He basically argues that what we are seeing is fight on ethos: who we are and what we will become if we follow this course of action rather than the other one: "The more obvious conclusion is that to contest+
adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
Chartbook 473 Germany’s democratic earthquake: the AfD breakthrough in Sachsen-Anhalt and the question of an “alternative to the Alternative”.
Germany’s democracy has suffered an earthquake.
adamtooze.substack.com
September 7, 2026 at 11:04 PM
This by Adam Tooze is good. I’ve always found overly materialist explanations of far right voting unsatisfactory and tbh a form of left cope at times.
Yes economic insecurity & loss plays a role but the driving force is simply racial resentment. It’s always best to look that squarely in the eye.
Yes economic insecurity & loss plays a role but the driving force is simply racial resentment. It’s always best to look that squarely in the eye.
Reposted by david helps
Republicans' largest donor (by far) is hosting a robust debate on his platform about whether Jews are white. Corporate Media will ask precisely 0 Republicans about their largest donor's all-consuming misogyny, xenophobia, antisemitism, he will instead by referred to as a visionary industrialist.
September 2, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Republicans' largest donor (by far) is hosting a robust debate on his platform about whether Jews are white. Corporate Media will ask precisely 0 Republicans about their largest donor's all-consuming misogyny, xenophobia, antisemitism, he will instead by referred to as a visionary industrialist.
Reposted by david helps
I'll again note that the folks willing to sign a letter supporting a raging eugenicist (purportedly in defense of his academic freedom to be racist) aren't nearly as motivated when it comes to *actual* threats to academic freedom, like this.
If you are wondering how bar-shit crazy Texas is these days: the University of Houston removed almost half of its courses to comply with state censorship laws.
UH removes over 45% of courses from its ‘core’ curriculum to comply with SB 37 | Houston Public Media
Some of the classes removed from UH’s core curriculum include those discussing race and gender, such as Introduction to LGBT Studies, Women and Gender in Arabic Literature, and Intro to Global Climate...
www.houstonpublicmedia.org
August 26, 2026 at 3:27 PM
I'll again note that the folks willing to sign a letter supporting a raging eugenicist (purportedly in defense of his academic freedom to be racist) aren't nearly as motivated when it comes to *actual* threats to academic freedom, like this.
Reposted by david helps
For this org to threaten its membership that their actions could lead to “the wreckage of our discipline" is breathtakingly awful.
The American Historical Association hired a lobbying firm to help silence member advocacy on Palestine. In this essay, Adam Rzepka covers @historians.org's relationship w/ Thorn Run Partners, its deep ethical conflicts, & the advocacy crisis AHA has thrust upon us.
www.chronicle.com/article/a-sc...
www.chronicle.com/article/a-sc...
Opinion | A Scholarly Association’s Secret Washington Playbook
Did the American Historical Association ask a corporate lobbying firm for advice on how to silence its members?
www.chronicle.com
August 26, 2026 at 1:08 AM
For this org to threaten its membership that their actions could lead to “the wreckage of our discipline" is breathtakingly awful.
Reposted by david helps
here is the thing. if you tell me that you believe that race is a biological category and that it is a guide to the objective superiority and inferiority of groups of people, i am not calling you a racist to *insult* you, i am calling you a racist because it best describes your beliefs.
not only that, they are demanding that they not be called racist when they are observed to be signing up to support the racist
August 23, 2026 at 12:22 AM
here is the thing. if you tell me that you believe that race is a biological category and that it is a guide to the objective superiority and inferiority of groups of people, i am not calling you a racist to *insult* you, i am calling you a racist because it best describes your beliefs.
Reposted by david helps
People with schizophrenia face a perfect storm of dangers on a hotter planet. www.wired.com/story/heat-w...
In a Heat Wave, One Medical Condition Is So Much Deadlier Than Any Other
People with schizophrenia face a perfect storm of dangers on a hotter planet.
www.wired.com
August 13, 2026 at 10:21 AM
People with schizophrenia face a perfect storm of dangers on a hotter planet. www.wired.com/story/heat-w...
Reposted by david helps
Over the last five years, my local CVS has been 1.) immediately adjacent to Skid Row in downtown LA, 2.) in the fanciest White people neighborhood of New Orleans and 3.) in a boring Inland Empire suburb.
In all three locations, everything was locked up because CVS only hires 2 people per store.
In all three locations, everything was locked up because CVS only hires 2 people per store.
over on the everything app, DC centrists still think that a shoplifting epidemic is the reason CVS locks up all the detergent. if they lived in reality, they would know that DC larceny rates have been falling by double digits year over year.
August 15, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Over the last five years, my local CVS has been 1.) immediately adjacent to Skid Row in downtown LA, 2.) in the fanciest White people neighborhood of New Orleans and 3.) in a boring Inland Empire suburb.
In all three locations, everything was locked up because CVS only hires 2 people per store.
In all three locations, everything was locked up because CVS only hires 2 people per store.
Reposted by david helps
The strangest thing about this week's academic cause célèbre is the impression it gives that we're still in 2021. In case some haven't noticed, rather more existential challenges to higher ed have emerged since. Would be good to focus on those.
August 12, 2026 at 6:54 PM
The strangest thing about this week's academic cause célèbre is the impression it gives that we're still in 2021. In case some haven't noticed, rather more existential challenges to higher ed have emerged since. Would be good to focus on those.
Reposted by david helps
"In fact, YIMBYs have plenty to say about power relations, inequality, and redistribution; it’s just that anti-YIMBYs haven’t been listening." publiccomment.blog/p/inequality...
Inequality and Housing Shortages
Wealth inequality is both a cause and a consequence of restrictive land use
publiccomment.blog
August 10, 2026 at 5:49 PM
"In fact, YIMBYs have plenty to say about power relations, inequality, and redistribution; it’s just that anti-YIMBYs haven’t been listening." publiccomment.blog/p/inequality...
Reposted by david helps
Except for religious studies, the graduates of these "loan ineligible" majors are disproportionately women.
Fans of this policy have probably never considered that social worker, cosmetician, teachers aide, etc might be low-paying jobs *because* women do them.
newrepublic.com/post/213446/...
Fans of this policy have probably never considered that social worker, cosmetician, teachers aide, etc might be low-paying jobs *because* women do them.
newrepublic.com/post/213446/...
August 4, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Except for religious studies, the graduates of these "loan ineligible" majors are disproportionately women.
Fans of this policy have probably never considered that social worker, cosmetician, teachers aide, etc might be low-paying jobs *because* women do them.
newrepublic.com/post/213446/...
Fans of this policy have probably never considered that social worker, cosmetician, teachers aide, etc might be low-paying jobs *because* women do them.
newrepublic.com/post/213446/...
Reposted by david helps
Every Gender Studies major deserves an apology for every joke made at their expense. People studied STEM because everything was science and engineering. People studied CompSci because everything was computers. People studied Gender because as it turns out, everything actually is Gender.
August 2, 2026 at 10:57 PM
Every Gender Studies major deserves an apology for every joke made at their expense. People studied STEM because everything was science and engineering. People studied CompSci because everything was computers. People studied Gender because as it turns out, everything actually is Gender.
Reposted by david helps
Reposted by david helps
This from @cgmaisano.bsky.social (and riffing my work, full disclosure) was illuminating: dissentmagazine.org/article/part...
Partyism Without the Party - Dissent Magazine
Zohran Mamdani’s victory was rooted in organizations that took up the base-building and mobilization functions that once fell to parties.
dissentmagazine.org
July 23, 2026 at 12:59 AM
This from @cgmaisano.bsky.social (and riffing my work, full disclosure) was illuminating: dissentmagazine.org/article/part...
Reposted by david helps
“You just couldn’t hold it, could you?” the Oscar-winning filmmaker said as he kicked his victim off the toilet seat and delivered a violent swing that shattered the porcelain stool.
Bat-Wielding Christopher Nolan Confronts Man Using Bathroom During ‘The Odyssey’
LOS ANGELES—Bursting through the stall door with a baseball bat hoisted over his head, director Christopher Nolan reportedly confronted moviegoer Luke Dias on Friday for using the bathroom during The ...
theonion.com
July 18, 2026 at 12:00 AM
“You just couldn’t hold it, could you?” the Oscar-winning filmmaker said as he kicked his victim off the toilet seat and delivered a violent swing that shattered the porcelain stool.
Reposted by david helps
this is the closest ICE has ever come to saying "yeah we just murdered a guy"
WHOA DHS does not say that the agent feared for his life… just the vague concern for “public safety.” So he killed him just because he did not want him in America, not because of any specific threat to agents?
July 14, 2026 at 1:01 AM
this is the closest ICE has ever come to saying "yeah we just murdered a guy"
Reposted by david helps
if you thought México losing meant Los Angeles would not be blasting fireworks you would be wrong
July 6, 2026 at 3:06 AM
if you thought México losing meant Los Angeles would not be blasting fireworks you would be wrong
Reposted by david helps
The newly formed coalition US Scholars Speak just published an important and powerful statement titled “Confronting the AHA’s (@historians.org) Palestine Exception.” Fellow historians, please consider signing it if you haven’t already done so. 🗃️ www.usscholarsspeak.org
US Scholars Speak
www.usscholarsspeak.org
July 5, 2026 at 11:41 PM
The newly formed coalition US Scholars Speak just published an important and powerful statement titled “Confronting the AHA’s (@historians.org) Palestine Exception.” Fellow historians, please consider signing it if you haven’t already done so. 🗃️ www.usscholarsspeak.org
Reposted by david helps
The PA spent the last 20 years providing security cooperation to Israel, after a decade of diplomatic concessions, and the response to the end of active fighting in the West Bank from 🇮🇱 has been to massively accelerate settlement construction and completely foreclosed on the possibility of a 2SS.
July 5, 2026 at 1:45 AM
The PA spent the last 20 years providing security cooperation to Israel, after a decade of diplomatic concessions, and the response to the end of active fighting in the West Bank from 🇮🇱 has been to massively accelerate settlement construction and completely foreclosed on the possibility of a 2SS.
Reposted by david helps
Please consider ordering my new book BLUE POWER from @redemmas.org today, to support legal defense for Prairieland and Minneapolis defendants. redemmas.org/titles/48838...
July 4, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Please consider ordering my new book BLUE POWER from @redemmas.org today, to support legal defense for Prairieland and Minneapolis defendants. redemmas.org/titles/48838...
Reposted by david helps
Its so cool how trans people get treated as nothing more than proxies in all these internecine beefs, often specifically by the people claiming to be supporting our rights by using us as tools.
June 28, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Its so cool how trans people get treated as nothing more than proxies in all these internecine beefs, often specifically by the people claiming to be supporting our rights by using us as tools.
Reposted by david helps
“How much is a magical world worth?”
A beautiful thread about Cabo Verde, the Peace Corps, and the World Cup:
A beautiful thread about Cabo Verde, the Peace Corps, and the World Cup:
June 26, 2026 at 11:33 PM
“How much is a magical world worth?”
A beautiful thread about Cabo Verde, the Peace Corps, and the World Cup:
A beautiful thread about Cabo Verde, the Peace Corps, and the World Cup:
Reposted by david helps
Kagan points out in the dissent here that Alito is too much of a coward to even put Trump’s supposedly non-racist statements in his opinion.
June 25, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Kagan points out in the dissent here that Alito is too much of a coward to even put Trump’s supposedly non-racist statements in his opinion.
Reposted by david helps
There’s been more elite Democrat anger at Democratic primary voters than outrage over the life imprisonment of anti-ICE protesters — including a couple whose only offense was printing zines.
Look at what they choose to talk about with the media and what they ignore. It’s revealing!
Look at what they choose to talk about with the media and what they ignore. It’s revealing!
June 25, 2026 at 10:26 AM
There’s been more elite Democrat anger at Democratic primary voters than outrage over the life imprisonment of anti-ICE protesters — including a couple whose only offense was printing zines.
Look at what they choose to talk about with the media and what they ignore. It’s revealing!
Look at what they choose to talk about with the media and what they ignore. It’s revealing!
Reposted by david helps
"i'm a committed catholic. also i waited six years to baptize my child"
June 19, 2026 at 11:06 PM
"i'm a committed catholic. also i waited six years to baptize my child"