An enduring problem for those of us who regularly code politicians' occupational backgrounds.

Because they axolotl questions.

what asshole assigned all this work to my students #evergreen

This is a big exception, because I generally don't like axolotls.

Finishing up a book manuscript with @noamlupu.bsky.social and my 7yo designed this incredible cover. The book isn't about axolotls PER SE but I'm sure we can figure out how to make this work.

Incredible.

"About 243,000 more children under 5 years have died or will die this year than in 2024" due mostly to DOGE's illegal dismantling of USAID

MURDER! Ryan Goodman, a New York University law professor & former Pentagon lawyer: “Even under a law of armed conflict, they were all civilians, & we are not actually in armed conflict. Either way, it was all murder.” @rgoodlaw.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

A corrupt president pardons a corrupt member of Congress for corrupt reasons. With multiple guilty pleas establishing a bribery-laundering scheme, Hakeem Jeffries still called the case “thin” and sought cover in a bribery-plagued Supreme Court. A lesson in squandering potential inroads with voters.

OK I’ve put together the list. Shame on all of them: Ford CEO Jim Farley Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa General Motors plant manager John Urbanic National Auto Dealers Association Chairman Tom Castriota Transportation Sec Sean Duffy Deputy transportation Sec Steven Bradbury 1/2

No people are “garbage.” That is the language of fascists. We need to rein this racist lunatic in.

This is so, so easy. You just say: "No one is garbage." "That's not the right thing to say about a person or a group of people." "I don't agree with that statement." When people brazenly refuse to challenge the dehumanization of entire groups, you know something is deeply, deeply wrong.

How far down do I need to scroll to find coverage of the TN-7 election, which would be nonstop, above-the-fold & masthead editorial panic (at the Paper of Record & everywhere else) about Democrats In Disarray & Denying Political Reality if the shoe were on the other foot?

Read the latest #APSR article, Curation Bubbles, exploring how information on social media is characterized by networked curation processes in which users select other users from whom to receive information.

Major decision. In D.C., ICE/CBP can no longer arrest immigrants without a warrant unless they find individualized probable cause of a flight risk. "Viewing all immigrants potentially subject to removal as criminals is, as a legal matter, plain wrong." www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Mapped every investor mortgage in the US in 2024 (HMDA data). Draw on any market --> get instant stats. Areas that stand out: - Exurbs (north of Dallas) - Vacation areas (Florida 30A) - Low-income urban (Memphis) Interested in this data? Send me a note.

Pure, unmitigated hate.

NU AAUP Condemns Resolution Agreement between the United States of America and Northwestern University, including $75 Million Extortion Payout. academeblog.org/2025/12/01/s... @academemagazine.bsky.social

Starting a purely consultant run college. All degrees will come with an AI concentration. We will break free from academic silos by having centers. Each faculty member will be empowered with an entrepreneurial spirit to teach the largest classes. Students will intern as administrative assistants

*you're

The end of academic freedom, Flowchart Edition.

Has this been posted yet

Showed a student his grade in my MS Excel spreadsheet and he expressed surprise that Microsoft had created its own version of Google Sheets.

stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.

Introducing whimsy into the day by signing a long bureaucratic email with "Gobble gobble"

This was reposted on my feed by Patton Oswalt. Why does a famous comedian better understand higher ed politics than so many people working in higher ed?

A little belatedly sharing this piece that I published in @chronicle.com 's Opinion Forum (sorry full text is paywalled) www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

"Agencies within [DHS], including [ICE and CBP] intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25." --> thisweekinworcester.com/exclusive-tr...

Watergate every day

New insult to life itself just dropped

Stephen King: “I wrote Pet Sematary as a cautionary tale of what happens when a grief and despair overpower the order of a natural world” Tech Bros: “At long last, we have recreated the pet sematary from the novel Pet Sematary”

"Other people have no interiority, and are just services I can access to make myself feel better" is a pretty keen insight into how these people think

"the wealthy and powerful appear not as master operators but as bumbling sycophants, eager to cozy up to influence no matter how villainous or depraved" PS read those emails and tell me you would pay that person hundreds of millions of dollars for investment advice

MAGA’s ongoing war on academic freedom, reflected in headlines from the last 24 hours.

Reading through these emails, I’m reminded of the saying: “You can’t con an honest man.” Epstein may not have understood grammar, but he sure understood that.

Printers and computers treat each other like they broke up the night before and you’re they’re mutual friend

"You know us...So please trust us now when we say that what is happening in the Chicago area is wrong." Powerful letter from retired Chicago broadcast journalists about what ICE/CBP is doing to our city: "it is terror" www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/l...

The 17 year old who had sex for money with Trump’s first nominee for Attorney General was in and out of a homeless shelter, working at McDonalds. and trying to save up for braces. (Gift link). www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.

Me, in class:

I would like to speak to the smug legalists who assured us this could never happen

Academia is a meritocracy without bias, evidence from a former Harvard president.