Perhaps a late Xmas/Chanukah/Festivus/Kwanzaa present for some research hot shot currently not in Canada but who might like to move here - the new Impact+ Research Chairs. Note the strategic areas in Arctic, environment, climate resilience and water security. 🧪⚒️ careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/1717054...

It's Christmas Eve, which means it's time for Miracle on 34th Street (1947) The love for the Post Office and distrust of anti-social buisness (despite being a giant commerical) is always inspirational

Twas the Fight Before Christmas on Apple is an absolutely wild ride. Christian Nationalists, separatist militias, religious freedom grievances, HOA's and jurisdictional disputes, media outrage, over the top Christmas displays, county sheriffs, it's got it all.

Policy success is greatly shaped by the way in which policies are implemented. To better understand how this process works in different political systems, I am co-chairing this 👇 workshop on policy implementation in July 2026. We welcome contributions from around the world. Deadline 20 January 2026.

NEW: Organ tuners have been leaving temperature and humidity records in little-known books for decades. 🎹 They reveal how temperatures inside churches have changed over time due to climate change and increased heating. A new scoop for The Reengineer! www.thereengineer.pro/p/church-org...

Excited to launch the website for the project that Jolynna Sinanan, Ally Lomas and I are working on with local football club, Konger FC! This is our first big step towards the larger documentary film we’re making about the team, and the community of folks around it in Manchester www.kongerfc.org

Grades are in! Fall graduation is done! Break begins!

I need emergency preparedness people to grapple w/ the reality of our Rx drug system, where “having extra on hand” is damn near impossible w/ most insurance plans. I have ONE allergy pill left & am only able to pick up my Rx today, due to insurance (can’t reorder early!) and pharmacy supply chain.

Thrilled about this new grant we are offering for under-represented early career scholars. The first cycle is for scholars in history and area studies. Please spread the word widely. @universitypress.cambridge.org ********************************* Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr

Wake Up Dead Man was great! Really nailed the vibes of being an assistant pastor (you know, appart from solving a murder mystery). Benoit Blanc might also be Daniel Craig's best repeated role (yup, even better than his Bond)

Thrilled to share the news that I will be co-leading a 2026 NEH summer institute for higher education faculty focused on interdisciplinary connections between law and religion in modern American jurisprudence! www.neh.gov/news

We have only done a few movies twice on Historians At The Movies, but I think Rob Reiner’s work should be on that list. Join us on Disney+ this Sunday, December 21 at 8pm eastern for THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Keep #HATM growing by sharing and we’ll see you soon!

Just me trying to AI-proof my online winter class. I’m finding myself asking obtuse questions like “why did I use the example of a spatula when discussing media economics?”

⏰ DEADLINE ALERT: 10 January! ⏰ Want to use play, games, or creativity to tackle the climate crisis? YESI's "Play for the Planet 3: Play Harder!" is calling for your interdisciplinary ideas! We're looking for academics, artists + creators to join the fun. SUBMIT NOW: buff.ly/xL1Bxci

This entire weekend

Volunteer fire departments make up 85% of the departments in the country and private equity firms are gouging them on software that helps them, uh, do firefighting.

In other countries when the state collects data in this way, we have decried it as authoritarian and repressive (and rightly so!). There is no justification for this other than xenophobia.

Conservatives being shocked at the logical endpoint of their ideological commitments would be funny if it wasn't so costly to everyone who cares about democracy, equal rights, common decency, etc.

A bit lost in the FEMA news this week...the Road to Housing Act provisions were stripped from the National Defense Authorization Act by the House (it was included in the Senate version). That means that the permanent authorization of the CDBG-DR program is again on hold, at least until next year.

Yesh. FEMA has longstanding partnerships with faith groups, a dedicated office for communities of faith, and guides for faith leaders. For decades. "Christ centered" is code for a very specific kind of Evangelical.

If you or someone you know is a scholar of color who studies religion, here's a great opportunity: louisville-institute.org/programs-gra...

Amnesty International released findings from its investigation into the Everglades Concentration Camp (Alligator Alcatraz), which was built by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. They found evidence of torture, among other human rights violations. www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

Of all the challenges facing higher education, “too many kids getting extra time on tests” is at the bottom of the priorities list, right down there with “is there still be a budget code for fax machine related supplies?” Maybe focus on affordable tuition, academic freedom, contingent labor rights?

Unfortunately, our reactive solutions dependent on mutual aid, religious orgs, charity & local efforts reinforces the GOP agenda to destroy federal govn't & national standards for education, healthcare, food assistance, housing, product safety etc. This loss of trust will not be easy to repair.

In 2007, we made California’s fire hazard severity zone maps online (google maps was still new!), searchable by address, and were told to take them down immediately for property value concerns. Seemed pretty clear there was not going to be any sanctioned versions available moving forward.

No kidding! "Displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...

Hi!! I'm working a special series for @onthemedia.bsky.social, a deep dive into FEMA. I'll be looking at the history of the agency and what's happening there now. If you work there or know someone who does, please hit me up by email or signal... Thanks!

My colleague, Dr. Vahid Abedini, was illegally detained by ICE on Saturday. He is currently being held without a court date in sight, despite being in the country legally. Please spread the word! We must ensure his due process rights are upheld. www.oudaily.com/news/ou-prof...

This is just sad! Some of these funds were used for buyouts, historically implemented by municipal govts but pulled up to the state under NCORR, and then contracted out which ended up creating more problems. Our article on buyouts in eastern NC touches on this: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Rest in Power to Mother Viola Ford Fletcher. 111 years, the oldest survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. She never got the justice she deserved www.fox23.com/news/mother-...

NEW: Churches in Charlotte are hosting trainings on how to response to ICE agents — with *hundreds* filling pews. At one training, a child led those gathered in "This Little Light of Mine" — but changed the words to “All around Border Patrol, I’m gonna let it shine" religionnews.com/2025/11/20/a...

Bureaucratic capture? Authoritarian backsliding? Comparative cases from this century? Yup, this just got added to my class. Fits perfectly in the "current challenges for public administration" week at the end of the semester.

Via @charlotteobserver.com: Church members flee as federal agents arrive at east Charlotte place of worship “Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.” www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

here's a nice distraction: today Boston is getting it's tree from Halifax, a tradition going back decades since Boston sent help after a deadly explosion there in 1917. www.nbcboston.com/news/local/b...

✓ Increasingly expensive disaster costs ✓ Higher reinsurance pricing (insurance for insurers) ✓ Insurers reassess their portfolio exposure / raise premiums ✓ Replacement costs rise ✓ More people move to high-risk areas ✓ Home values decline ...and more. The link? Growing risks from climate change.

Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. " www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...

Protecting my sanity as votes happen by trying to make this cake.

Are you connected with recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene? If so, a request...we are beginning a new study on household financial recovery after the hurricane and hoping to interview several dozen households across all of the affected states.

There's a growing problem of politicizing disaster relief and mitigation, and that's becoming very evident across the country in some recent news stories.

The best arguments in favor of Dems caving all assume we're in the status quo ante regime and not experiencing rapid autocratization and constitutional failure

I spent years dealing with asthma without consistent or affordable medical coverage in the pre-ACA years. The only thing that made it bearable was my short time on a union-provided health plan. I am pretty close to a single issue voter on healthcare.

So, the caving, what's the "real" core concern? I'd guess: 1. The hungry? ❌ 2. The uninsured ❌ 3. Societal air travel addiction ✅ We'll see I guess.

How do so many democrats still not understand that the ACA *was* the compromise.

Watched Death by Lightening - for pedagogy, of course. Not alot about the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (sadly). But, episode 3 could be great in a PA classroom. Especially as part of a larger discussion about the return of patronage. Now I need to read Candice Millard's book on Garfield.

Why do Americans have so little trust in major institutions? Because we can't predictably rely on them to do what they were built to do.

This is how Pres. Obama responded when Karmel Allison fainted on stage. He caught her and said: “You’re OK. I’m right here. I got you." The idea that the president could -- as a natural impulse -- display genuine concern and empathy for another person feels completely unrecognizable today.

Colleagues - Consider serving as an 'expert reviewer' for IPCC-Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. Registration for expert reviewers closes Nov 30. Website Link: www.ipcc.ch/report/speci... Call for Reviewers: www.ipcc.ch/2025/09/17/p... Registration Page: apps.ipcc.ch/comments/src...

North Carolina has joined eleven other states in a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the agencies are withholding $17.5 million in grants over “unlawful terms.” www.bpr.org/politics-gov...

Australia has so much clean energy they're literally giving it away. Meanwhile, GOP is in all-out war to stamp out solar www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...