David Brooks being in the Epstein pics reminded me he got divorced from his wife of 28 years for sleeping with his 20 year old research assistant, but I'd forgotten *this* was the book she assisted him with lol

process is important but how do you not just dismiss this. The governments case is fucking nuts and obviously false.

White men have been griping about the unfair advantages given to Black people since literally the day after slavery

What the ever loving fuck. I mean I’m just a simple country interpretative scholar who doesn’t care about numbers or “generalizability” but how the fuck would you react if asked to review. Like laugh your ass off?

New book from IEHS members Eric M. Adams and Jordan Stanger-Ross: Challenging Exile: Japanese Canadians and the Wartime Constitution (University of British Columbia Press, 2025) www.ubcpress.ca/challenging-...

It is international law 101 that a military blockade is not just a violation of the UN Charter, but a crime of aggression. Unless that blockade is in response to an 'armed attack.' None of President's Trump's list of complaints come close to an armed attack. 1/

I'd love to see evidence of people just given a job, I mean it happened in the 1950s but that was a long fucking time ago. And in a world where colleges are closing Physics because it isn't generating enough jobs, how the fuck did you think Classics was going to have a ton of jobs?

On our last class, my censorship students took a look at the modern battles over Young Adult literature. adventuresincensorship.com/blog/2025/12...

One of my all-time favorite clips of Rob Reiner, from his Friars Club Roast in 2000, as he reads aloud Roger Ebert's infamous scathing review of his movie North. The man had an amazing sense of humor about himself. RIP.

I would have virtually nothing left to teach. I teach modern law and politics stuff. How do you do that without talking about race, gender, LGBTQ existence? I honestly think I'd give them redacted cases with all the words removed, and just sit in front of class gagged for weeks.

When Rob Reiner was on his all-time epic run at the start of his career, he had an opportunity to read a script that was looking for a production partner, and he lost his mind for it. He decided Castle Rock had to have it, no matter what.

In ConLaw I had not note that the once universally accepted criminal liability of Nixon (hence the pardon) is now protected by Trump v. US. The absurdity of modern politics is astounding.

As a professor I don't spend my time in lounges but I do interact with other professors. Top items: "How exhausted are you with right wing censorship?" "Hey, did you get 82% AI generated answers to work this semester?" "Wouldn't it be nice if we could do our jobs without all this shit attached?"

Having had to teach it recently I continue to be amazed at this bit of just idiotic judging.

Censorship in K-12 schools is still very much a thing, even though the media isn't reporting on it. Volume 2 takes up research on teachers' experiences. It also includes interviews with recent @ncte.org Intellectual Freedom Award Winners including Laurie Halse Anderson & Nic Stone. Drops Jan 27!

Birthright citizenship under the common law, a thread: I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:

Why fucking due process matters. I mean what the fuck?

Multiple cycles of mocking news coverage has an effect, even if mostly in rhetoric. www.ksl.com/article/5141...

He’s a rookie cop, he’s a relic from another age, together they fight crime in Natural Law

Sadly this is the exact foundation of how conservatives want race and gender taught in America. "Sure racism was bad and that is why benevolent white people ended it"

Can't do much about the NYT but I do wish this led us to reconsider taking law reviews too seriously. The meanings of some vague provision of the Uniform Commercial Code, law reviews probably OK. The historical meaning of issues of politics and law. Maybe peer review serves a good purpose.

Who has made this 🤣

I mean, obviously yes. But this downplays the power of hierarchy in conservative thought. Conservatives require a society of higher and lower structures to function. They need an underclass that is lesser and that has no legitimate rights they need to respect.

I think I've talked myself into a trip to UNC and Duke over Spring Break and this archival entry made me laugh. Confiscating a book of spells around 2000.

“Satan is in Libraries” Well if he can provide photo ID with his current address then he is entitled to sign up for a library card. We also have other ways he can sign up if he is currently without identification

I'm done with teaching for the semester, but I'm in the middle of grading. To procrastinate grading the book reviews that I require for my American Legal History course I'm gonna make a thread of all the books that the students reviewed.

This was more or less my experience, especially in upper division courses. My students were pretty engaged almost like they enjoyed the material and wanted to be there to learn it. Maybe just out of spite for the world, I get that too.

Hey I'm on this week's episode of American Campus podcast @americancampus.bsky.social talking about my latest article “The Straight College Strikes Back: 1990s Backlash Against Inclusive Campuses.” Thanks @llassabe.bsky.social for having me!

Getting closer to being caught up with my censorship class posts. Here is the video games one that again can't do justice to the student interaction. They were so on top of this subject. adventuresincensorship.com/blog/2025/12...

Academia has taught me that the folks who claim to work nearly impossible hours work the least of anyone.

But how many campus panic stories would survive? 5%? That’s generous.

I share this all the time. One of the hardest assignments I give is when queer politics and history students are asked to just sit with this and read sections, to explore it and think about the people lost and their stories.

My uncle, Douglas Colesworthy, on the AIDS Memorial Quilt. He died in 1987. Silence = death.

I just put together a quick outline for a chapter I am late on. Its 3000 words max. My outline is already 550 words. I'm in deep trouble.

My latest article is now up on ASR. In it, we argue that the U.S. LGBTQ movement is in the midst of a widespread, conflictual process of generational turnover—with important implications for the future of the movement. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

I fell behind on my censorship class posting but here is my music one. Sadly a lot of the fun of the class can't be adequately expressed here. adventuresincensorship.com/blog/2025/11...

Imagine sitting in that room and this is what you come up with.

Do I even want to know what this is referring to?

Sitting here grading and grooving to a new jack swing playlist. So I've pretty hit the peak of coolness.

This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.

Wow. Just straight lie after lie from the gestapo.

It's been 7 years since I started censorship work so lets do a thread. My first publication wrestled with the vague doctrine given by Pico through a case study of how NJ schools handled controversy over Fun Home. adventuresincensorship.com/blog/2021/10...

On the one hand I’m excited to get cool new queer history for both my work and teaching. On the other hand I have to find the time and energy to read it.

This was what I assumed but not being a person who actually practiced law I worried it was just one of those things that maybe doesn't happen. Glad my first instinct of WTF was good.

Good news!

In 1966 the U.S. military changed college deferments so that it was lost for men in the bottom half of the class. The weight of grading in that system is terrifying. Imagine staring at your papers/exams and thinking that a C vs. B could send some 19 year old to fight in Vietnam.

Excited

In "Sex Isn't Real," @beansvelocci.bsky.social traces the history of attempts to define sex and to create a world devoid of trans life, demonstrating that it is not the cis people who fit the categories but the categories that flex to make them fit. Read the intro for free now! buff.ly/TinoJLg

As a censorship scholar, I'm seen it all before so nothing truly surprises me. But this is still pretty amazing.