But! Starships really are optimized for carrying next-gen Starlink satellites. If Musk can get these Starships going, it's game over in the satellite internet sector. Musk wins. That's why some believe that Mars is a shiny object, and Starlink is the real goal. (5/5) www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

A quarter of Republicans say that a president would not take a bribe. More than two-thirds say that Trump specifically wouldn't. www.pbump.net/o/republican...

Universal COVID vaccination saves lives, averts 10% to 20% of disease burden, estimates suggest www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/uni...

A fun fact about McCarthyism is that just two and a half years after he was condemned and censured, Sen. Joseph McCarthy drank himself to death at 48. Fevers break. Petty tyrants fall. Censorship and persecution drive good people to stand together and fight back.

Countdown to the run on the giant bottles of Acetaminophen. Also? I’m guessing leuvocorin is expensive and insurance companies won’t be dying to pay for it.

If you’re canceling subscription services with giant companies with ties to terrible people, you should think about replacing them with a library card. Many library systems give you access to physical media (some of which you can’t find on streaming!) as well as other great stuff.

#OnThisDay - 21 September 19 BC is the date usually given for the death of Virgil. So here's the 3rd Century AD mosaic from Hadrumetum - Virgil flanked by the Muses Clio and Melpomene. The scroll on his lap has the text of Aeneid 1.8. #Virgil #AncientHistory 🏺 Image: Bardo National Museum, Tunis

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/w...

I made an early Christian studies group---come join! hcommons.org/groups/early...

Why does Spelling Bee become 50 times harder when the center letter is F

"The value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies dropped about 11% in the first half of this year, the biggest decline in more than 50 years, ending a 15-year bull cycle.

The layoffs will take place on November 1.

I blogged again www.businesslawprofessors.com/2025/09/its-...

NEW: Air Force jets are doing ICE flights to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable. This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight. We figured out where it landed. From me for @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Congratulations to Michael Satlow on his NEH award! mlsatlow.substack.com/p/the-citati...

Me on cognitive models in Roman land-surveying (OA): www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15...

Fascisms also look to men to be the state's enforcers. And I'd argue that they persuade men to fill those roles by making jobs in law enforcement, military, and corrections the best path to security and esteem for men without college degrees.

Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/08/myth...

Cc @iotasubscript.bsky.social

Tom Homan took a bag of cash from an undercover FBI agent the right way. by Ezra Klein

"My thoughts turned to David Rose, who volunteered to try to prevent another such attack on our country, and then, when back home, ran toward danger once again to help his fellow Americans." www.thebulwark.com/p/a-hero-dav...

The oddest thing about the maybe DM, maybe post is that we can’t tell the difference. On the one hand, surely he didn’t mean for this to be public? On the other, he communicates to the DOJ of the US as if he’s posting on Truth Social, stupid nicknames and all?

Justice Alito, in Rome, Says Religious Liberty Is Under Siege www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/w...

Ethnic outbidding rules our world. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I have to keep this deliberately vague, but this is a total disaster for academic research. And imposing it so suddenly is just cruel. I’ve got friends scrambling to get back to the US before midnight tonight. Do you know how hard that is to do on 36 hours of notice?

To recap, Trump signed a proclamation saying that after midnight tonight, no one with an H-1B visa may enter the US unless they have paid $100,000. However, anonymous White House officials are saying it doesn't apply to people with current H-1B visas — yet there is NO official guidance! None!

Go fash, lose cash

I'm going to need you men folk to stop using the term pro-life. The term is anti-abortion. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Lemme spell it out. Trump's only leverage over Jimmy Kimmel and ABC came from FCC regulation. His direct power over H1-B visas gives him similar leverage over tech, higher ed, and others.

Universities are not subject to the H1B cap, so they have many, many H1Bs. If they're subject to the new $100,000 H1B fee, that would be catastrophic to many departments.

The Pentagon is implementing new guidelines that will require journalists to sign a pledge and agree to report only approved and officially released information.

“If you are in H-1B or H-4 status and are currently outside the U.S., we strongly recommend that you do what you can to return to the U.S. tomorrow before the deadline.”

Major yn Englisshe: • focused readinge & writinge prepare you for anythinge • research, communicacioun, creativitye, and interpretacioun will be needed for careers not even invented yet • meaningful engagement wyth big ideas and textes that will staye wyth you forevir • it ys awesome • books!

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THIS SHIT www.kvue.com/article/news...

Do public universities usually rely on rich donors, rather than internal university funds, for the vast majority of costs assocated with constructing new research buildings and facilities? Or is this an underfunded red state thing? #AcademicSky

Assuming CDC formally adopts ACIP's recommendations, CVS tells me it will provide Covid vaccines without a prescription in all 50 states and won't require even self-attestation of a qualifying condition — "it’s up to the individual patient." No confirmation from Walgreens or Walmart yet.

Hi, I’m sorry that we can’t offer an engineering degree anymore at East State University. We couldn’t afford the hundred thousand dollar a year fee for our international faculty and our US faculty all got jobs at Google, who’s only hiring US citizens now.

Okay, maybe some good news. @melodyschreiber.com has just informed me that HHS said that ACIP’s vote today *does* constitute a recommendation. This is important because it *should* mean that in every state, people should be able to get COVID19 vaccines without a prescription.

There is still massive confusion around the practical outcome of ACIP’s vote on COVID19 vaccines today. Some are reporting that ACIP made no recommendations at all. This is the exact wording of what they voted “yes” on. Shared clinical decisionmaking could mean talking to a pharmacist.

I'm teaching a grad seminar on early modern British history for the first time in 7 years in the spring. I usually do a mix of "classics" and newer stuff. What new-ish books would you recommend? 🗃️

State public health law innovation FTW #PHLaw #LawIsASocialDeterminantOfHealth

Democrats helped Trump sell the most successful video app in America to a bunch of his right wing zealot friends under the pretense of fixing privacy and improving national security

The U.S. attorney whose office has been investigating mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James has been told to resign or be fired, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.

"Do your own research" is such a ridiculous notion if you know anything at all about actual research

We will see what happens next and you can’t put anything past the second trump admin BUT, fwiw, Ayman Soliman’s lawyer sees these developments in and out of court today as nothing but an unequivocal victory in this months long standoff and battle with Team Trump

New faculty book alert! Dr. Jenifer Barclay's new volume Cripping the Archive, co-edited with Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy, is out now from @illinoispress.bsky.social! This important text considers how and why disabilities are underrepresented, erased, or distorted in the historical record. #dishist

You say "happy birthday," I say "Another year older, another loss of 0.9 ml/min of eGFR"

The inexperienced, questionably qualified group that has espoused anti-vaccine rhetoric started its second day of deliberations by reversing a vote taken the previous day on federal coverage for the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine. arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Congratulations to my fellow @chancebonar.bsky.social on the publication of his new book!

This Texas man’s monumental U.S. Supreme Court case killed the doctrine of “separate but equal” 75 years ago today, paving the way for nationwide desegregation. This is a remarkable story. thebarbedwire.com/2025/09/19/s...