Jesse S.G. Wozniak
@jessesgwozniak.bsky.social
Sociologist, Author of Policing Iraq
All views are those of your employer
All views are those of your employer
This is up there with "direct cash payments are so much more effective than means tested welfare" as one of the many frustrating things about being a social scientist: the question is settled! We don't need any more studies! We just need to actually do this.
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment.
www.nber.org/papers/w35854
www.nber.org/papers/w35854
October 12, 2026 at 10:51 AM
This is up there with "direct cash payments are so much more effective than means tested welfare" as one of the many frustrating things about being a social scientist: the question is settled! We don't need any more studies! We just need to actually do this.
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
Humoring conservatives & acting like they make good points over the last 30 years brought us here. You never have to listen to them for the rest of our lives. It's time to treat career arsonists with the contempt they've earned instead of imagining a fake world where they're reasonable interlocutors
September 23, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Humoring conservatives & acting like they make good points over the last 30 years brought us here. You never have to listen to them for the rest of our lives. It's time to treat career arsonists with the contempt they've earned instead of imagining a fake world where they're reasonable interlocutors
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
UCU members at Brighton University face the threat of derecognition. We have called an emergency rally tomorrow at 1:15pm.
It would be amazing to see as many #TUC26 delegates as possible in attendance.
58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 0JY
It would be amazing to see as many #TUC26 delegates as possible in attendance.
58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 0JY
September 14, 2026 at 7:40 PM
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
People say variations of this a lot, but it's just empirically not true. The vast majority of revolutions and radical social movements in the world were led by/primarily constituted with poor/oppressed people. Indeed, often the "hanging on by a thread" is exactly what prompts the movement!
When you're constantly just trying to keep the lights on and put food on the table, you don't have the time or energy to fight the system. Keeping people hanging on by a thread isn't a policy failure; it's how they keep us too tired to push back.
September 12, 2026 at 12:24 PM
People say variations of this a lot, but it's just empirically not true. The vast majority of revolutions and radical social movements in the world were led by/primarily constituted with poor/oppressed people. Indeed, often the "hanging on by a thread" is exactly what prompts the movement!
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
Once you've granted the idea that it's dangerous to allow trans kids to play organized sports, you're already 99% of the way to agreeing to bathroom bans. You've stipulated to the transphobes' central argument.
September 10, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Once you've granted the idea that it's dangerous to allow trans kids to play organized sports, you're already 99% of the way to agreeing to bathroom bans. You've stipulated to the transphobes' central argument.
They were not entirely wrong
September 5, 2026 at 10:43 AM
They were not entirely wrong
But remember, up until yesterday it was antisemitic to say Israel did this on purpose
August 28, 2026 at 10:52 AM
But remember, up until yesterday it was antisemitic to say Israel did this on purpose
Bsky is the ultimate liberal site because you get suspended for posting an inoffensive depiction of the Haitian revolution in a move that is obviously 100% based on racism, but it's not as ~gauche~ as twitter, so it's fine. This website is basically The Resistance (TM)
August 22, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Bsky is the ultimate liberal site because you get suspended for posting an inoffensive depiction of the Haitian revolution in a move that is obviously 100% based on racism, but it's not as ~gauche~ as twitter, so it's fine. This website is basically The Resistance (TM)
The real trick is to just actually support open borders, which already exist for capital
"If you say Abolish ICE, Republicans will say you want open borders." Right but it's your job to communicate persuasively enough to 1) win and 2) enact your party's agenda. If you don't have the requisite talent, you're unfit, step aside. If you don't *want to* then you're unfit, step aside
August 21, 2026 at 10:51 AM
The real trick is to just actually support open borders, which already exist for capital
The older I get, the more I shift from a scientific/academic Marxism to a "one precious life" Marxism b/c how do we tolerate a system where we continually get "worked hard and saved your whole life? Let's spin the big wheel and...nope, you have to go back to work and don't even get a retirement."
As the cost of living continues to rise in the United States, people are finding it more difficult to make ends meet. Older Americans are feeling it more than most. https://to.pbs.org/44DV7DL
As living costs soar, more retirees head back to work
As the cost of living continues to rise in the United States, people are finding it more difficult to make ends meet. Older Americans are feeling it more than most. Paul Solman reports on what's forci...
to.pbs.org
August 17, 2026 at 12:31 PM
The older I get, the more I shift from a scientific/academic Marxism to a "one precious life" Marxism b/c how do we tolerate a system where we continually get "worked hard and saved your whole life? Let's spin the big wheel and...nope, you have to go back to work and don't even get a retirement."
Sure wouldn't want to abolish this. Better to give them a couple hundred mil for trainings like "Don't rape the people you are warehousing"
US DOJ finds 'unbroken pattern' of sexual abuse by California prison staff
A two-year federal investigation found decades of staff sexual abuse against incarcerated women at California correctional facilities.
A two-year federal investigation found decades of staff sexual abuse against incarcerated women at California correctional facilities.
US DOJ finds 'unbroken pattern' of sexual abuse by California prison staff
A two-year federal investigation found decades of staff sexual abuse against incarcerated women at California correctional facilities.
cal.news
August 16, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Sure wouldn't want to abolish this. Better to give them a couple hundred mil for trainings like "Don't rape the people you are warehousing"
Rare time I have to disagree with the hippo -- McCarthy dragged people in front of congress and then imprisoned them and destroyed their lives. This is actually pretty mild compared to what HUAC was up to. Trump and his ilk suck shit, but let's not let them force us to forget history.
One drum I keep beating is that the Trumpification of the Republican Party is irreversible. Even after he's gone it will be exclusively cranks, charlatans, and malevolent antisocial goons. "It was always like that"-it wasn't! It's gotten steadily, measurably worse, and he was the nail in the coffin
New, from me: It is fine to disagree with aspects of the pandemic response. But what we saw at Fauci's hearing was something different: a show trial where cranks tried to threaten and shift blame to an public servant.
Here is why this is bad for all of us.🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/watching-t...
Here is why this is bad for all of us.🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/watching-t...
August 3, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Rare time I have to disagree with the hippo -- McCarthy dragged people in front of congress and then imprisoned them and destroyed their lives. This is actually pretty mild compared to what HUAC was up to. Trump and his ilk suck shit, but let's not let them force us to forget history.
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
Yes, the Problems are bad, but this is no time for radical things like Solutions
July 24, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Yes, the Problems are bad, but this is no time for radical things like Solutions
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
At some point it it became a media consensus that to reject a bad premise outright is a form of cheating
July 25, 2026 at 8:40 PM
At some point it it became a media consensus that to reject a bad premise outright is a form of cheating
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
My great-grandfather was among the first Jews sent to Dachau, but it had operated for 8 years prior. He arrived to find a concentration camp already full of communists and other leftist dissidents. The public's acceptance of their incarceration paved the road for his own.
fascists use anti leftism to build power and co opt centrists and liberals. they are doing this right now! this is what all the gibberish anti communist rhetoric is about!
July 24, 2026 at 2:57 AM
My great-grandfather was among the first Jews sent to Dachau, but it had operated for 8 years prior. He arrived to find a concentration camp already full of communists and other leftist dissidents. The public's acceptance of their incarceration paved the road for his own.
Guy who works for MSNBC chiding others for fealty to capitalism is a bit too on the nose to even function as parody
July 13, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Guy who works for MSNBC chiding others for fealty to capitalism is a bit too on the nose to even function as parody
A centrist laundering fascism? Must be a day that ends in Y
I think it's a moral abomination for Ezra Klein to have Chris Rufo on his podcast and then get a transcript of it published in The New York Times as if this is a conversation between equals and not a radical centrist and a fascist telling each other 'exaaaaactlyyyy'
June 30, 2026 at 3:40 PM
A centrist laundering fascism? Must be a day that ends in Y
When leftists say the point of the Democrats is to prevent actual progress, they get labeled as crazed conspiracy mongers. Meanwhile, dorks like this keep loudly saying that is their exact mission in life.
this leaves liberals to the left of the American public (like me) in an awkward position where i have to defend "socialists" against dumb accusations while simultaneously keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don't get any funny ideas
June 23, 2026 at 9:26 AM
When leftists say the point of the Democrats is to prevent actual progress, they get labeled as crazed conspiracy mongers. Meanwhile, dorks like this keep loudly saying that is their exact mission in life.
Reposted by Jesse S.G. Wozniak
the lesson of the second Trump presidency is the President can do whatever the fuck he wants and the next democratic president will have a lot of explaining to do when they pretend they've been thwarted by the Senate Parliamentarian or whoever
June 20, 2026 at 11:52 PM
the lesson of the second Trump presidency is the President can do whatever the fuck he wants and the next democratic president will have a lot of explaining to do when they pretend they've been thwarted by the Senate Parliamentarian or whoever
Being an admin means never have to face any scrutiny, but sure would love if someone could ask them why we're in dire financial straits one minute and on solid footing the next. Seems like you can't be both of those things at the same time, but I guess that's why I don't make the big bucks.
June 19, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Being an admin means never have to face any scrutiny, but sure would love if someone could ask them why we're in dire financial straits one minute and on solid footing the next. Seems like you can't be both of those things at the same time, but I guess that's why I don't make the big bucks.
Saw a poster for this a bit back and thought "I must be really out of touch, I had no idea He-Man was still a thing people paid attention to" and it turns out I'm not out of touch at all, He-Man is very much not a thing people still pay attention to
Box Office Disaster: ‘Masters of the Universe’ Suffers Historic Second-Weekend Drop, Now Tracking to Be One of the Biggest Bombs of All Time
Box Office Disaster: ‘Masters of the Universe’ Suffers Historic Second-Weekend Drop, Now Tracking to Be One of the Bigg…
Masters of the Universe is having a very rough second weekend at the box office, and the numbers are now putting the film in serious trouble. According to box office reporting and industry tracking d…
www.comicbasics.com
June 15, 2026 at 10:58 AM
Saw a poster for this a bit back and thought "I must be really out of touch, I had no idea He-Man was still a thing people paid attention to" and it turns out I'm not out of touch at all, He-Man is very much not a thing people still pay attention to
Man has never heard a Locust album in his life
Hot take: you can't call it an album if the total running time is 11 minutes. that's barely an EP.
June 13, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Man has never heard a Locust album in his life
"Northumbria offered staff between £8,000 & £12,000 to transfer to the USS. THE estimates that the university will therefore spend between £4 million and £6 million on staff payouts as part of the scheme, meaning that it will save nothing in the first year."
Stealing our pay for no actual benefit!
Stealing our pay for no actual benefit!
Northumbria pension switch scheme ends with nearly half signed up
Majority elect to stay enrolled on more expensive TPS despite offer of incentives up to £12,000
www.timeshighereducation.com
June 8, 2026 at 9:43 AM
"Northumbria offered staff between £8,000 & £12,000 to transfer to the USS. THE estimates that the university will therefore spend between £4 million and £6 million on staff payouts as part of the scheme, meaning that it will save nothing in the first year."
Stealing our pay for no actual benefit!
Stealing our pay for no actual benefit!