The replies make it clear that the 5 is not beloved. It is helpful in getting from A to B, but it's generally miserable.

Reminder: We spent YEARS reading thousands and thousands of articles on the Tea Party and how it was a true expression of the American people's will, and it never mounted anything nearly as big as Saturday's No Kings rallies. [1/3]

Some of the inflatable participants (and good signs) at Merced #NoKings

For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings

SNRI presents its Distinguished Climate Speaker Series event: a keynote talk from renowned climate scientist and author, Dr. Michael E. Mann, followed by a presentation by UC Merced climatologist Dr. John Abatzoglou. Mon, Nov 17, 2–4 PM UC Merced Conference Center Register: tinyurl.com/yc74v23y

Inflatable animals and eucharistic processions do different things and reach different audiences and communicate different messages and it's all important. This feels like one of those moments where people need to remember not everything is for them, specifically.

On 24th November I'll be giving a free talk in central London on the English Hospitallers in the countryside and all the feuds and fights they got into. #medievalsky www.orderofmalta.co.uk/events/chapt...

Hello UK! I wrote a book about living in London with an STI hundreds of years ago. Waterstones is having a preorder sale for 25% off that includes THE DREADED POX now thru Friday. Use OCTOBER25 at checkout.

Bargain! 🗃️

If you're in the UK, you can pre-order my book from Waterstones at 25% off with the code "OCTOBER25" #Shakespeare #EarlyModern www.waterstones.com/book/whats-i...

If you're in the UK, you can pre-order my book from Waterstones at 25% off with the code "OCTOBER25" #Shakespeare #EarlyModern www.waterstones.com/book/whats-i...

@uofcalifornia.bsky.social systemwide Academic Council today: "There can be no clearer attack on academic freedom than [Trump's] attempt to dictate curricular content, research priorities, hiring decisions, & admissions standards." senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/repor...

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

@davidveevers.bsky.social and others discussed historians who could write but the name 'David Underdown' did not appear in it, regrettably @sdamussen.bsky.social

This is what Trump's government thugs are willing to do in broad daylight, to a US Senator, with cameras on. They are sending the message that anyone who disagrees with Trump isn't safe in America. This is authoritarianism.

An English mother (Mary Morgan) in India in 1779 writing to her aunt about the importance of “inoculating” her toddler son against smallpox: “the catching of it is very dangerous.” Yep. Someone might want to tell RFK why vaccination matters 🗃️

Here is Senator Alex Padilla's entire full statement after being detained by Donald Trump and Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security. Like he said, if they're doing this to a sitting Senator, imagine what they're doing to other people. Unconscionable.

California Senator Padilla was thrown to the ground and arrested at a Noem press conference.

If you’ve never been to a protest, now is the time. If you've debated on going, now is the time. If you feel stuck and like you can’t do anything to help and a burning urge for Justice, NOW. IS. THE. TIME. #Protest #e3 #FuckICE #AmericaHasNoKing #NoKingsDay #r/50501 #50501st

AP footage of Senator Alex Padilla being physically removed from Kristi Noem's press conference about the LA @schiff.senate.gov @congresstran.bsky.social Thank you, Senator @padilla.senate.gov

Cutting lines or even whole departments is the frontal assault on higher ed, but another low key war of attrition is the slow accumulation of grinding, meaningless additional tasks concerning syllabus templates, learning outcomes, institutional pablum, and ever more intricate evaluation hoops.

Funding The War on Yourselves talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fundi...

NEW: The board of the Fulbright Program has just resigned after accusing Trump aides of political interference. They say a State Dept. office under Rubio and Darren Beattie has cancelled scholarships to nearly 200 US professors and researchers. Story: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...

I spent a career investigating Medicare fraud and abuse. It isn't as easy as snapping your fingers. However I do agree as someone familiar with Medicare Advantage that real abuse is taking place due to over coding patient diagnosis to receive higher per member reimbursement from CMS.

Medicare Advantage exists because insurers wanted a slice of the over-65 pie. Same with “Part D” that requires signing up with an insurer whose hundreds of different drug tiers are designed to maximize profitability.

I mean, scholars of fascism were like, “He’s going to attack universities, the media, and unions, and he’s going to arrest his political opponents,” and most of America was like, “Stop exaggerating.”

Google and Meta search both report that Cape Breton Island has its own time zone 12 minutes ahead of mainland Nova Scotia time because they are both drawing that information from a Beaverton article I wrote in 2024

'Manufactured crisis': CA takes Trump to court after 'outrageous overreach'... www.rawstory.com/california-v...

🚨I’m here with @RepLuzRivas, @RepNormaTorres & @RepLouCorrea at the Roybal Federal Building exercising our Congressional authority to investigate ICE’s inhumane detention of immigrant families—including moms & kids held after routine check-ins. No beds. No food. No water. We are demanding answers.

Free tickets for both keynotes can be found through the link above - the inestimable @sdamussen.bsky.social is speaking about her new project on 26th!

i could go on another rant about why majoring in something based on job prospects is a fool's errand, or I could just say that you should major in what you love because it will help you enjoy learning—and getting better at learning itself is what will really serve you futurism.com/computer-sci...

Pete Hesgeth — who wants to rename the Navy ship that honors Medgar Evers, a WWII veteran who landed on Omaha Beach — is using that same beach for a photo op in which he promises we will “never forget” the veterans there. What an unbelievable asshole.

Wow no one could have predicted this. I’m sure AI will fix all this up. futurism.com/computer-sci...

Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-century Barbados and Britain. A 2-day workshop 25-26 June in London at KCL. Be there. www.mmor.co.uk/events/carib...

@profjennyshaw.bsky.social @sdamussen.bsky.social @hsmurphy.bsky.social

🚨NEW: @cbsnews.com reports ICE is arresting people who can't even legally be deported and holding them without enough food or water in a federal building BASEMENT in Los Angeles. Families dutifully attending check-ins with ICE are being arrested and held for days, forced to sleep on the floor.

Today on the blog: a post by Joe Black on a copy of Robert Hill's popular Pathway to Piety in which multiple women have written their name and one used it to record some sad family history earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/06/06/r... #EarlyModern #HerBook

Maybe reducing the unit of resource for universities year on year while increasing both bureaucratic demands and institutional churn was not a very good idea for UK research productivity? Just a suggestion....

(•_•) <) )╯Publique fundinge / \ \(•_•) ( (> of the artes and humanityes / \ (•_•) <) )> doth benefit everyone! / \

UNC Library isn’t on Bluesky I guess so I’m sharing that they’re currently recruiting for the Hanes Curator of Rare Books: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/301... This is an amazing opportunity! Happy to talk to anyone about my experiences when I held this role!

Just think of all the people who bought Cybertrucks to support Trump! And now they are stuck with them!

New article! 'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research. It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it! Some context below: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

The public meltdown happening between the world’s richest man 🙄 and the President of the United States 🙄🙄 once again begs the age-old question: are men simply too emotional to be in positions of power?

Thrilled to say that this is now fully Open Access! Hopefully now available to any and all interested #earlymodern #skystorians

Well, it's done, at least for a few minutes.

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow. The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

This is a really fun question to throw at your colleagues when you’re a biologist

Well, it's done, at least for a few minutes.