Given the MAGA's complaints about censorship and claims of "free-speech" advocacy, Texas A&M's actions to comply with GOP legal mandates is ironic. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Never forget. 🇺🇸

PSA: if you use Venmo, you can often see with whom your friends are doing business. Do them a favor: take a screen shot, send it to them, and ask them if they want this information made public. Most folks aren't aware of Venmo's default settings and quickly shut it down.

I've always wondered what it would be like -- but never wanted -- to live in a rogue state. Donald Trump is giving me the opportunity to experience this. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...

Guns have long been identified as phallic symbols. Apparently #PeteHegseth believes that to wave around such a phallic symbol, soldiers need to have an actual phallus. www.npr.org/2026/01/06/n...

In a move straight out of 1984, Trump and the GOP have tried to stuff all the records about the assault on the Capitol from govt websites and records. We have to look elsewhere for the history of this terrifying day. Jan 6 - never forget apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/

Jan 6 - Never forget A day that will live in infamy forever, no matter how much Trump and the GOP and Faux news try to stuff it down the memory hole.

Jan 6 - Never forget A day that will live in infamy forever, no matter how much Trump and the GOP and Faux news try to stuff it down the memory hole.

From June, 2025, and still valid...

Tom Lehrer's "send the Marines" rings true 60 years later. They've got to be protected, All their rights respected. 'Till somebody WE like can be elected. youtu.be/HHhZF66C1Dc?...

The handwriting on the wall for the 2026 midterms gets longer and more explicit daily. If I were Mike Johnson, I'd be thinking about how to get the House to pass some legislation that helps people other than billionaires and mega-corporations.

A "**scientific** review committee" has recognized an article I wrote about Satanic themes in film and invited me to the "1st Global Conference on Science, Engineering, Health & Education" in Barcelona. The N of #scamConferences is increasing and I think I've been targeted.

Some #DCmetro #graffiti is more thoughtful than others. . .

My new favorite dishtowel. . .

Not only a travel guide but also a moral guide. . .

Unhappy that Agent Orange and his lick-spittles in Congress defunded NPR? Help out by supporting @wbez.org or another NPR station (www.tinyurl.com/273pyq5w). If you give more than $8/mo, you will get access to plus.npr.org and can listen to 25+ podcasts without "sponsorship" interruptions.

@caseynewton.bsky.social and @kevinroose.com: you've probably seen this but if you haven't it's well worth watching! #anthropic #ai

The same folks who have complained bitterly about cancel culture and suppression of religious values have, for the second year running, cancelled and suppressed the free expression of a religious group they dislike. So much for first amendment absolutists. www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/p...

Ok, this is brilliant

#RFK-jr 's plan to reshape USA's vaccine program is beginning to bear fruit. If only his attempts to reduce ultra processed foods and nutrition were doing anything similar. #MAHA www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Like thillers and looking for a show to stream? Try #SlowHorses. Gary Oldman is an old, grubby, flatulent, MI5 agent waiting to retire, overseeing an office of sidelined agents. He is the worst boss imaginable. The show is excellent. But bad for your schedule: each episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Cyclists, if you haven’t checked out Bike Talk yet, take a moment this week. They show up for us every single episode—insight, stories, advocacy, the whole package. There are tons of ways to listen, so give them some love and support. Learn more at biketalk.org 🚴‍♂️📻 @biketalk.bsky.social

Apart from "kisses up to", this is an #theonion headline. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow

Given the topic of the article -- Trump's fear that white civilization could be wiped out -- the selection by the photo editor is apt: I don't recall seeing a photo of him looking paler ever. wapo.st/445lWAQ

Interesting to see Islamic courts singled out but not Jewish, Catholic, etc. Difficult not to see this as anything other than #Islamophobia. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...

CTA logs 14,000 smoking complaints in 14 months. Why is the CTA contracting with folks who can't issue fines?! This analysis would be much better if the data was normalized: what is the RATE of smoking complaints on each L line? chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...

I'm proud to work at Illinois College, which US News has placed among the top ten schools for social mobility. www.ic.edu/news/09-23-2...

I welcome the CTA acting to cut down on smoking and other prohibited behavior, but cutting federal funding isn't going to help people relying on public transit in Chicago (or Boston). chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...

Finished the Capital City Century bike ride. The last 40 miles were especially tough because of the 90+ degree temps.

Unclear if Paxton which version (Protestant or Catholic) of the Lord's Prayer recited -- but this sort of thing was the catalyst for beginning the Parochial school mvt in the 19th century. Nice to see my friend Mark Chancey quoted in WaPost wapo.st/3VyMUfd.

While I sympathize with the goal, I fear this lays the groundwork for when science-based leadership returns to the CDC, Red states will justify banding together to ignore science-based CDC guidelines. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Second time in two weeks #amtrak 319 has had problems with some passengers being sent by bus. Service seems less reliable than prior two or three summers. Anyone know if there are metrics about this?

This is a good training session -- recommended!

Another brick removed in the wall separating church and state, this time being taking out by the IRS rather than the Supremes. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/u...

Trump is the antithesis of Teddy Roosevelt - he may carry a big stick (or not) but he rarely speaks softly.

It's gonna be the best you'll have felt in days. Come on out with us!

Doesn't it make economic sense for insurance companies to pay for vaccines, even if RFK Jr's CDC doesn't recommend them? Vaccines are cheap and paying for measles or covid hospitalization is expensive. Wouldn't 1 patient in the hospital pay for hundreds (or thousands) of vaccines? wapo.st/3TBmtVd

I am happy that my TV thinks I have any interest in baseball, let alone a "top pick", because it suggests AI has some room for improvement. 😉

Whoops. Turns out that Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" mantra doesn't work well for the govt. #DOGE www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake

Since Reagan, the GOP has argued that tax cuts would spark growth and be revenue positive. NEVER true: Reagan, Bush, Trump tax cuts always increased deficit. Sen. Thune explains that he "believes" the theory. Faith > reason? Prob not: useful political cover. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The GOP's attack on higher education has been long-running (see what DeSantis has done in Florida). Reading about what's going on in Indiana (which employs some of my friends and relatives) shows why Harvard's resistance is so remarkable and important. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...

Interesting essay arguing that some Evangelicals are so focused on the vertical relationship with God that they are ignoring the horizontal relationship with other people. There is long tradition of individual-focused salvation, which may have its roots in slavery. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/o...

If former Israeli PM Olmert were to air this opinion at a US university, the Trump admin would accuse him of Antisemitism. It would also accuse the sponsoring organization of fostering Antisemitism. www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025...

Appointing inexperienced and/or incompetent (or industry shills) to important govt positions has long been a GOP strategy to ensure that its talking point (that govt is ineffective and useless) is correct. Agent Orange has taken this practice to a new height. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/u...

Fascinating example of how high tech might reveal the contents of an ancient library, perhaps significantly increasing the number of known documents from antiquity. #DigitalHumanities #classics www.economist.com/science-and-...

According to the Terminator movies #AI becomes self-aware in 1997. Cameron was off by 30 years, but #Skynet -like behavior - a system that will harm humans to preserve itself - is on the horizon. Need to program in #Asimov's three laws of robotics! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech...

Sen. Ernst's new media strategy is puzzling. She seems to be trying to "own the libs." But the people she insulted with her comments are Trump / MAGA voters. And while it's true that "we will all die," this doesn't justify GOP policies that will hasten that event. www.npr.org/2025/05/31/n...

The CPSC - where my dad worked for decades - protects consumers from getting injured/killed from poorly designed products. Every GOP admin has sought to muzzle CPSC. Trump fired them after voting to release a report about batteries igniting and killing people. www.theverge.com/news/664498/...