Didn’t realize my cat was a NASA girlie

If you’re actually from the area then you know just how insane this swing actually is. I’m one of like 5 left-leaning people I know from Murray County and none of them are over 35.

Grading research proposals with about 2 and a half weeks left in the semester, let’s see how many students spell my name wrong on the title page!

Great day to have functioning eyes and a working brain

The shift from "sir this is a Wendy's" to "just put the fries in the bag" indicates a cultural rightward shift; whereas the former is making fun of someone by implying they're a customer doing too much, the latter is making fun of someone by implying they're a *worker* & should know their place

⚠️ Danish military intelligence report raises concerns about U.S. for the first time: “The United States uses economic power, including threats of high tariffs, to enforce its will, and no longer rules out the use of military force, even against allies.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/w...

So many (especially young) political reporters were claiming a political realignment while us political scientists who have published peer-reviewed research on that were saying they're way too quick with such a proclamation. More interest in context & history could have saved that bad reporting.

It's a stupidity contest and all of us are the losers.

Last Friday, I offered my students different levels of extra credit if 80%, 90%, and 100% of them completed the course evaluation. By this morning, they managed to hit 100%. I never thought that would happen 🤣

THIS IS ONE NEURON! Jaw dropping. It distributes a particular neurotransmitter (norepinephrine) across the mouse brain; it’s a locus coeruleus neuron. @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social and colleagues at the @alleninstitute.bsky.social are using new biotech to see things never seen before.

It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd.

Today my students presented fake campaign ads for both parties with emotional rhetoric. I let them use real or fake politicians resulting in a fantastic ad that juxtaposed Trisha Paytas vs The Rizzler on the issue of gun control. If you let students be creative, they will entertain you every time.

“Political” is one of the terms, so I guess my entire discipline of political science can be just completely excluded from NSF funding. Insane.

Made the mistake of wearing a white and green rugby shirt today, thinking it was giving “sports chic”. As soon as I walk in to start class a student says “Have you ever seen Blues Clues?” Then I realize I’m actually twinning with Steve. The student did say it was a vibe though.

A new @reuters.com poll finds Americans have a dim view of many of the Trump administration's blizzard of executive actions, including the Jan. 6 pardons and his effort to limit birthright citizenship. But they *really* don't like the Gulf of America thing. www.reuters.com/world/us/ame...

If you’re in the US and you’d like to know what projects and vital services federal grants currently fund in your state, you can search here: www.usaspending.gov And you can find the contact information for your elected representatives here: www.usa.gov/elected-offi... They need to hear from you.

Read this piece by my friend, Stewart. He's on the job market and has great insights on the presidency!

The Mayor of Newark says ICE detained citizens and a military veteran in a warrantless raid there today. www.newarknj.gov/news/mayor-r...

NIH appears to have canceled/postponed all of its study sections—the independent review panels that approve federal grants for health research. Such grants fund the work/salaries of 300k people at more than 2,500 institutions

Audience members are attentive at SPSA

Putting the finishing touches on my presentation slides pool/oceanside for ASPA tomorrow. I think my productivity would skyrocket if I could work like this everyday.

Had my first class as instructor of record today. I think it went well!

Huge night here at NYU. An undergrad trying to fix their grade accidentally discovered how to email 11,000 instructors on a secret group email list, unifying the faculty like no one before. I have hundreds of email replies in my inbox. And apparently Onions, the puppy, has just been granted tenure.

Think carefully before buying a Greenland shark for the holidays. They are, after all, the world’s longest-living vertebrate.

i am declaring partial law!!! (only following the fun laws)

Lee Jae-myung, Leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, live-streamed himself scaling the walls of the National Assembly to bypass military barricades so that he could vote to overturn the President's martial law.

“Don’t feed the trolls” also extends to bad opinion pieces in papers of record. They run them bc people react to them the most. If we stop linking to bad columns and instead post thinkers we find valuable (& generate convo around it), incentives change. It’s not easy and takes constant practice!

Be in community with other doctoral students journeying through academia. Please reply to this post if you want to be added!! #DocStudents go.bsky.app/QTfevfQ

I underestimated how hard it would be to determine how I wanted to setup my Political Psychology class. I know all of the topics, main points and literature I want to use, it’s just the order that I can’t figure it. I think my syllabus is fighting back and it’s currently winning.

I never wanted to live in interesting times.

Subtle hint that I’m not allowed to use my iPad.

Obligatory cat introduction: This is Miss Waverly Anne Lamberth. She’s 4 years old and a little baby who has never weighed more than 8.7 lbs. Her favorite toys include a paint brush, a redwing shoelace she’s kept up with for 3 yrs (stolen from my pawpaw), and a 3 yr old specific fuzzy ball.

Scholars are under attack. Also those who study #disinformation, #elections, #democracy and #socialmedia. The changing political climate in many places makes it important to know what you can do. As funders. As institutions. As colleagues. Share and support this resource: researchersupport.org

Deleting my Twitter account was a little hard, ONLY, because she was just a couple months away from being old enough to get her learner’s permit but sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do🥲.

when I say "I'm busy writing today" this is what I mean

the trump campaign was literally bought and paid for by the wealthiest people on the planet — openly! — and dim-witted pundits are going on about how voters are tired of "elitist democrats"

In this darkestof timelines, it is inevitable that Lane Kiffin succeeds.

i’ll say i am darkly amused by the increase in web searches for “what are tariffs”

For the first time in history, every governing party has lost vote share in elections this year. It’s a trend that explains a fair amount of what just happened.

This is why the attack “Trump’s a fascist” flopped while the Project 2025 stuff reached people because it presented specific and concrete things

A unique quality of QAnon is that it's a conspiracist movement that emerged after their favored leader won power. Usually, a group turns to conspriacism in order to cope with losing power. Instead, QAnon emerged as a way to explain why Trump wasn't doing what he promised (e.g. locking Hillary up.)

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #2,028,199!