@aspishakthomas.com
Research professor @ Rutgers studying Medicaid. Social worker and health policy wonk. Union organizer (AAUP-AFT) and member of Brooklyn CB6. Baseball #LFGM and WNBA🗽enthusiast. Free 🇵🇸. ACAB. Still 😷. she/her. aspishakthomas.com
Sonny Burton is set to be executed by the state of Alabama on Thursday. There is a direct line between a government that murders its own citizens and the devaluing of life abroad. The sin has always started at home.
A judge just tossed out Columbia University's disciplinary actions against 22 students over the 2024 Hamilton Hall occupation, finding the school relied on sealed arrest records and held individuals responsible for group actions, violating its own rules.
iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/Documen...
“Nobody wants that product,” said Amitabh Chandra, a Harvard health economist who has studied high-deductible plans.
Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/h...
Absolutely
That’s crazy, these are some of the best ones by far!! If only CVS was like less prominent but it’s better than being sponsored by Ring (rip Thorns).
The process that led to the Holocaust didn't start with killing people.
First it made them non-people.
Then it killed them.
February 26, 2026 Dear members of the Columbia community: This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building and detained a student. We are working to gather more information, working to reach the family, and providing legal support. Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a "missing person." We are working to gather more details. It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including
It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient. If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University's response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena. We will update our community as additional information becomes available. Sincerely,
BREAKING: Columbia President Claire Shipman says DHS agents entered a residential buliding this morning and detained a student.
"Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person.'"
As of tonight, licenses of trans people across Kansas are being invalidated en masse, enabling the overnight criminalization of an entire group of people for going about our lives. It’s often said you never know when you’re living through history, so let me assure you: that’s what’s happening now.
Fuck this and everyone who helped get things to this point. Trans rights are human rights—full stop.
Saying it again: Winter lays bare all the ways our communities fail those not in cars. This is especially true if you are disabled. If accessibility disappears under a pile of snow, then a place was never really accessible to begin with.
Excited to announce publication of new JHPPL special issue: Public Health Under Siege (ungated) that explores the fate of public health during the second Trump administration:
read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/issue/...
I love this, let's pass a resolution
@thewaroncars.bsky.social 👀 Welcome to the War on Cars, gold medalist, Alysa Liu!
The new mayor pledged to dedicate 1% of the city budget to parks and 0.5% to libraries. His preliminary spending plan delivers less.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/19/m...
From @gothamist.com :
““If you're just going to say, ‘Oh, I love the library,’ but you’re not actually supporting them, then that’s a real disappointment and, frankly, bulls---,” said Abby Emerson, a member of the NYC Public Library Action Network, or NYC PLAN.
gothamist.com/news/taking-...
Small win in my neck of the woods: residents of New Brunswick, NJ raised a big enough of a stink to successfully block the development of a data center last night
NEED that pride jersey 😍😍
I hope New Yorkers will challenge Mamdani about this. Too often, people feel they need to be absolutely for or against a politician — ignoring their missteps or throwing them out with the bathwater. You can like and/or believe in someone and still challenge them to deliver on their promises.
Image showing Mayor Mamdani looking frustrated, with a text overlaid that reads “NYC Public Library Action Network” at the top, and in large bold letters text that reads “Mayor Mamdani did not honor his commitment to allocate 0.5% of the city expense budget to NYC public libraries in his preliminary budget” and then in smaller font below, there is text that reads “visit NYCPLAN.ORG for more information”
While a candidate, @mayor.nyc.gov pledged to commit 0.5% of the city’s budget to public libraries.
Unfortunately, Mayor Mamdani has broken this promise in his preliminary FY27 budget, released yesterday, where he allocated 0.39% to libraries.
This amount is well below the promised 0.5%
@nycplan.org will respond to @mayor.nyc.gov's broken promise re: NYC Public Libraries in the morning.
Speaking for myself only (not NYC PLAN), I am profoundly disappointed in the preliminary budget. It will not stand.
The Queens DA is throwing the book at the young man shot and still hospitalized by police after they responded to his family's call for an ambulance.
Well why would they need to protect their health if they’re young and healthy?? It’s because everyone is vulnerable to Covid. Athletes are starting to figure this out. Time for the rest of us to do so. fasterskier.com/2026/02/in-i...
“The full impact of the executive order will take decades to realize, since already-tenured faculty are not affected by the new policy. But its scope is significant: Oklahoma’s regional and community colleges employed more than 900 tenured professors in 2024, according to federal data.“
We're all we've got. Best to spend time figuring out how to live into this truth.
Another way to care about #libraries is to get involved in your Friends or Foundations group and amp up its power!. For The People is starting a Network to help people do exactly this. Register for our Feb 19th Open House and learn more! www.librariesforthepeople.org/events/ftp-f...
Alabama has the worst maternal mortality in the United States at 60 deaths per 100K live births. For reference, California has 18 deaths per 100K live births.
But Dr. Oz thinks it’s “cool” that American citizens do not have access to good reproductive healthcare in the wealthiest nation in history.
All prisons, jails & detention facilities generate violence & death.
They serve no other purpose.
"Officials Failed to Act When COVID Hit Prisons. A New Study Shows the Deadly Cost"
www.themarshallproject.org/2024/04/18/c...
#AbolishICE #DefundPolice
#AbolishPrisons #DismantleWhiteness
