Very last post, another thing to keep in mind (and this is crucial) is that Trump only won because he picked up some traditionally Dem voters (i.e., Latinos), independents swung his way, and some Dem constituencies decided not to vote. Most of those groups are horrified by his immigration policy...

Hi, authoritarianism scholar here! To answer your question, no, these are terrible choices to make if one wanted to consolidate an authoritarian regime. In fact, I'd go so far as to say these choices are based on the flawed logic that enough repression will cause people to give up and stop... (1/n)

It happens very rarely, but this thread is where the good pastor and I diverge in opinion. If analyzed as an allegory for how transgressive movements thrive and decline, OBAA offers a really insightful commentary that represents how activists and counterrevolutionaries act in real life. (1/n)

It is also worth noting, because people seem to get confused, that this arrest occurred UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION! Law enforcement officials were already getting sex criminals off the streets (regardless of immigration status) before Trump/ICE unleashed their reign of terror.

I’d bet dollars to donuts that several members of the administration “randomly put tebs of thousands into natural gas stocks prior to this weather event.

The fact that Olivia Nuzzi was enamored with a man whose bodily excretions probablysmell like boiled gym socks means that she, and she alone, is capable of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

Biggest disappointment in adulting: when you forget to take out the meat/soup to thaw and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Praying that this coffee at Qamaria is good and that the shop isn’t too busy. I’d like a gentle day of working on my script/novel, please and thank you.

Question for anyone who follows me/knows: What are the top five hotels to stay at in Savannah?

Easy come, easily seized by a future Congress under a newly passed "Ill Gotten Gains" law.

I just got moved past the ASAC committee for tenure, so maybe, no, I won't be having day-old salmon leftovers for dinner tonight.

Portland Tribune reporting that two more people were shot, this time by CBP agents, in East Portland (portlandtribune.com/2026/01/08/t...). Shut it all down NOW. How many more lives need to be lost under this administration's terrible deportation regime?

Also, if you don't get it already -- @nytimes.com @washingtonpost.com -- this is the story. This is front-page news, and her photo and the photos of her mourning family and children should be on every newspaper cover. The Trump administration has blood on its hands, and it's your duty to say so.

I pray this is the moment that catalyzes the downfall of this regime. To kill a person in cold blood is unconscionable. The fact that she is a mother and that her children will have to live with her absence, after losing their father just two years ago, is even worse.

People (but women especially) if you live alone buy a drill! Drills are an essential part of any home toolkit — also get rid of that homeowners first toolkit and get some real tools — and are useful for so many things. I’m trying to fix my sisters bed and without a drill it’s impossible!

I cannot wait to post the syllabus for my Spring 27 First-Year Seminar: "Baddies, Brutes, and Bastards: Authoritarianism in the Modern Age"

Word on the street is that people are pessimistic about/weirded out by the Capital One Café coming to Southpoint Mall... but it sounds like prayers answered to me.

Is there such a thing as a lazy day of end-of-semester grading? I don't know, but I am going to find out.

Why are we using the US military to steal gas? I thought the motto was "drill baby drill?"

The real problem here is that OP seems to want individualized education when attending a community institution. Someone in that class could be the next Langston Hughes and really needed those four weeks. Also there is immense beauty in language you use infrequently.

I was actually in favor of putting real gyms in airports because these already exist and offer showers so that you can clean up afterwards. But putting a random pull-up bar in a terminal is just a waste of taxpayer dollars. It'll basically be a site for ego-driven pissing contests between flights.

I have a gambling mother (blackjack), and if I even hear the words "parlay" or "soft 16," I'm running full-speed in the other direction.

I think we should go back to calling all Black men ”Doctor” during greetings. That is one of the fondest memories of masculinity during my childhood. Two Black men dapping each other up and exclaiming joyfully “Doctor!”

I cannot thank God enough! Today, I received a positive vote for tenure, and I am so grateful... I don't have words. Thank you to my family, who supported me, my colleagues who fought for me, and everyone who ever hoped with me that this would come to pass.

I did every single thing that I could. Whatever happens tomorrow, happens.

Am I too broke to have access to the new Knives Out movie (I'm on the Netflix plan with ads because budget and fees)? My Netflix says it comes out on December 12, but everybody already seems to have opinions and write-ups about an unreleased film...

Does anyone in Durham have a read on whether Oxford Manor residents actually want lights and security cams in their area? That’s the only budget proposal I’m torn about.

Save a few sentences, I finished the edits to my article! To God be all the glory and the praise! He is a mighty God indeed!

I was not a good person today and I really dislike that about me.

I really do try to work with the NYT, I do, but they are actively running cover for Trump’s dumb ideas and I’m over it.

I hope it is totally intentional that this blob looks like a sperm.

The GOP hates Black people. That's all you need to know about them. They hate you, and they want you out of their sight.

This man is getting oranger by the day. Whoever is in control of the bronzer in the White House -- and I say this with all due love and disrespect -- put the brushes down.

Four episodes in, and I am not gripped by "All Her Fault." It is giving Grey's levels of heavy-handed messaging (patriarchy sucks, being a working woman is hard), and the Monterey Bay/Big Little Lies lighting style is dissonant for a story set in Chicago. It's grey, but it's not that kind of grey.

As OP points out, this is, on its face, an irrational proposal to any consumer. Most people try to pay off their debts more quickly, not more slowly. Second, if you bought a home at 22, you wouldn't own it until you're 72. At that point, you've paid the bank double to be a life-long renter.

Helen Andrews is a poor thinker, and I wish the NYT (and all news outlets, all podcasts, all of society) would stop inviting poor thinkers to tell us about what they think.

One more grant proposal left. Then one midterm (?), then glorious, glorious sleep!

In a just world, I’d be able to go to sleep right now. As it stands, I have 6 mock grant proposals to grade before EOD.

Three weeks ago, he was virtually pooping on us, and now it's all love. This man knows he's cooked.

NBC called it! Blue wave! Alhamdulillah!

I need a blue wave to come through tonight because I’m down to my very last bit of nerve and I could use a sigh of relief.

Sorry to that man.

I pray that Mamdani wins, but I feel like the late Trump endorsement, and everyone spreading it around could add an element of surprise here. Are former Cuomo voters going to switch to Mamdani? Will Silwa's support go to Cuomo now? Who will win the election? Tune in tomorrow to find out....

Blaming systemic/institutionalized poverty on sweets is crazy work. B*tch, I had a hard day working from 8 to 8 and I want a Snicker bar to calm me down. Meanwhile the price of Aldi chocolate bars has increased from 1.49 to 2.29 in two years time. Fix that!

Another potential scandal, "Mamdani tells campaign manager he is right around the corner when Find my Friends app shows he hasn't left his apartment."

If the Dems have any money to spend, they should be running "Are you better off this year than last year" ads from November to the midterms.

Analyses like these also miss part of the point of parties, which is to shape the popular consensus around certain issues. Providing (free) healthcare to undocumented immigrants might not be immediately palatable, but it's a good policy that actually saves most countries money in the long term.

My greatest hope is that we can eradicate the Trump administration and cryptocurrency in one fell swoop. #SENDITTOZERO

Also, not for nothing, but for an image that is, as the AP put it, "a widely recognized as a Nazi symbol," I would have seen that tattoo and not thought a thing of it. But I'm not out here studying up on Nazi symbols either, so why would I have known? 🤷‍♀️

My final thoughts about this Maine race and how everyone could save face: 1) Platner has to drop out of the race. His candidacy is too tainted and the Pod bros defense is just pushing people further away. He needs to stage a press conference where he expresses remorse for his actions, and (1/4)