#SocProf #KCSo @BrownSociology @Watson_School #GlobalizingKnowledge #ContemplativeSociology #TransformationalSolidarity https://xitter.cf/t.co/2nD1S5372W…
Rhode Island
Joined February 2011
- Tweets48.6K
- Following5.4K
- Followers4.1K
- Likes9.8K
Over the coming year, I prepare a #KnowledgeCulturalSociology #KCSo paper on (emergent) autocracies in practice focusing on the notion of "strongmen". My 2015 point of reference was #Brexit, Trump & Putin progressivepost.eu/eu-refere… and other expressions of #UbermenschEscapism.
"India’s democratic spirit has found a fresh lease on life tx to protests led by the #CockroachJantaParty, w an unmistakable sense of democratic renewal as a younger gen finds its voice thru #socialmediastreetmobilization" nytimes.com/2026/10/20/opini… Thx @AiyarYamini @SouthAsiaBrown
"Young ppl like Majumdar, educated, middle-class & Hindu are in open revolt, incensed by the govt’s derogation of education & democracy. Willing to risk detention & the baton blows of the feared lathi, they are setting out to make Modi.. an object of fun" nytimes.com/2026/10/26/opini…
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
This is why they’ve kept Cindy Hyde-Smith in a witness protection program. This Senator hasn’t had a single town hall in 6 years and literally runs away from reporters who ask real questions. She can run but can’t hide on Election Day. @scott_colom is coming for this seat
Oh boy, on the eve of Trump’s visit to Mississippi, Cindy Hyde-Smith *doubles down* on her other “proteins to choose from” comment.
“Thank goodness when mothers want to feed their families when you go out shopping, there are proteins, you want to feed meat, there are some cheaper prices. And that’s what that statement was about.”
#mssen
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
My fellow Mississippians I do give a damn that you’re suffering at the pump.
Cindy High Prices cares more about what’s best for her MAGA daddy than us. #PickAnotherSenator
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
This was my lede from last week. @LulaOficial gets one more dance:
In the final days of his final campaign, supporters of the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva turned to a British classic. David Bowie and Queen’s 1981 hit, “Under Pressure,” became the soundtrack of a viral video showing scenes from the eighty-year-old Lula’s half century in politics. Here was the humble trade unionist, born into extreme poverty, standing up as a fiery-eyed tribune of the workers. “Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?” the song implores, over clips of a younger, scraggly-bearded Lula rallying the people, casting his vote in the ballot box, and winning elections. “Why can’t we give love that one more chance?” we hear as the song crescendoes, amid footage of Lula mobbed by ecstatic crowds, kissing the Brazilian flag, and embracing a kaleidoscope of his countrymen, from red-shirted throngs in São Paulo to Indigenous leaders from the Amazon. Then there’s an older Lula, back on the streets after being freed from prison for what his allies always believed were unjust corruption charges, and mobilizing opposition to Brazil’s far right in defense of the country’s democracy. The song subsides: “This is our last dance.”
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
¡Gran victoria de @LulaOficial!
Lo que ha pasado en Brasil, pasará en España.
La remontada del progresismo global acaba de comenzar.
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
Congratulations, President @LulaOficial, on your re-election in Brazil.
The relationship between Canada and Brazil has flourished under our partnership. Let’s seize this opportunity to make it even stronger, together — to create major new trade opportunities, protect the environment, and build greater prosperity for both our peoples.
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
¡Viva Lula, viva Brasil, viva la igualdad en América Latina!
Foto: @nytimes
Travails of the Liberal/Left long before #GOPoT, here w/r to #ReproductiveRights: naively believing that "providing vital health care, w public opinion on our side, would be enough to overcome..the callousness of the Republican Party" nytimes.com/2022/01/21/opini… Thx @CecileRichards
Vucic did not outmaneuver in the end. nytimes.com/2025/12/15/us/po… The #TrumpKushnerGrenell trinity of investment pulls out of this deal because #RuleOfLaw asserts itself in Serbia, trumping #StrongMenLove.
Vucic loses even more. nytimes.com/2026/10/25/world… "Serbia’s longtime nationalist strongman, Aleksandar Vucic, conceded defeat Sunday in a general election held after his once-tight grip on power was weakened by nearly two years of student-led street protests" #StrongmenFail
I am grateful to be part of a community organized around #ContemplativeStudies @BrownUniversity brown.edu/academics/contempl…. While its value has long been apparent, we are most fortunate to be able to explore forms of meditation, mindfulness, & compassion in interdisciplinary fashion
"@lydia_sohn seeks "cultivation of a spiritual vocabulary w/in our intimate moral lives & faith communities rippling out into the public sphere.. drawing on karuna (compassion) & metta (loving kindness).. ahimsa (nonharm) & kshama (forgiveness/ forbearance); rahma & tawbah" 2/
I can readily say that @lydia_sohn nytimes.com/2026/10/25/opini… is not alone in her quest. In fact, a #ContemplativeSociology might even complement the search for grace and more. 3/3
"displacing Taiwan as a chief source of advanced chips unlikely..Taiwan’s dense networks of suppliers & engineering talent difficult to replicate.. structural interdependence provides the ultimate assurance for national security” nytimes.com/2026/09/21/world… #TaiwanSolidarity
The US can address "both its manufacturing needs & its national security — but only if #Trumpadmin fully embraces newcomers who wish to build their lives here" nytimes.com/2026/10/23/opini… #TaiwanSolidarity & semiconductor tech go together like a hand in glove. Thx Arizona. Carry on!
Lesson? #StrongMenLove is never as great as their narcissism nytimes.com/2025/11/24/world… Lula as #StrongMen antipode is confirmed as Bolsonaro is cast aside. #AntipodeLove in the offing? #LulaMamdani realized similar Trump applause following their resolute & principled positions.
P"resident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil surged to re-election.. delivering a rebuke to a conservative movement sweeping Latin American presidencies that Trump has trumpeted" nytimes.com/live/2026/10/25/… Bravo Lula!!!!
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
Durante estos años, España ha defendido en el mundo el sentir de su gente: que ninguna guerra es inevitable, que ninguna vida vale menos que otra.
Los mismos principios. En todos los conflictos. Sin dobles raseros.
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
I am following with concern the grave humanitarian situation in Yemen, particularly in the city of Taiz, where the population is suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care. I make a heartfelt appeal for hostilities to cease and for the Yemeni people and all the peoples of the region to be guaranteed the right to live in peace.
Michael D. Kennedy retweeted
We cannot truly love God unless this love overflows into love for our brothers and sisters. And we cannot truly love our neighbor except as children of the same Father who loved us first in his Son, Jesus. #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 22:34–40)
Among those of our Gen-Z political generation @AliVelshi interviewed was @repajaypittman xitter.cf/AliVelshi/status/16523…, a "a sixth generation Oklahoman and proud citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma". Her issues: medium.com/millennial-voices… are worth engaging.
Glad to read about a candidate for governor in Iowa with a @BrownUniversity education brownalumnimagazine.com/arti… Best wishes @RobSandIA
The contest for governor in Iowa heats up, with @RobSandIA moving serious qs about Koch & Kansas ties defining his rival's place in Iowa's everyday life nytimes.com/2026/10/25/us/po… #Election2026
All Dems “can learn from @paigegcognetti’s anticorruption moxie, a dose of which could help a Democratic Party struggling to regain the public’s trust.” nytimes.com/2026/03/17/opini… thx @mcottle
My childhome home may be a sign of things to come as @VoteBobBrooks may bring Bethlehem back to the Dems. @PaigeGCognetti seems poised to take Scranton to buttress that Dem majority in the House inquirer.com/politics/pennsy… #PAMatters big time.
In my old home of MI nytimes.com/2026/10/23/us/ro… we see #polarizationrules intensify as they are amplified by nastiness/racism/Islamophobia w Trump-style name calling capturing even formerly moderate GOP politicians. They too get swept up into this hysteria. Midwestern sense suffers.
Ohio suffers as Ramaswamy, in desparation, "tacitly sides with a man indicted on charges of child rape" & gives "conservatives space to reckon with the ethical degradation of Trumpism, tho without quite admitting that that’s what they’re doing" nytimes.com/2026/10/23/opini… Shameful.
