Been doing WAY too much “responsible oldest-sister” family caretaking bullshit this week. I’m exhausted.

New American Educator article with Eric Turkheimer @ent3c.bsky.social on what IQ scores mean. www.aft.org/ae/winter202...

NOOOOOO I hate Duke. I hate the CFP. I am cranky and going to bed.

AHHHHHH CARDIAC CAVS!!! That was insane

This is the first year in forever that I’ve made serious efforts to watch Virginia football. I generally don’t even like football; I’m a hoops fan. SO OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO BREAK MY HEART. Worst part is DUKE SHOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE.

I realize that this is absolutely NOT an actual, real problem, but WHYYYY IS UVA LOSING TO DUKE RIGHT NOW.

Fuck, this is depressing. Higher ed is dying an excruciating death.

"Fifty years ago, Ed Martin helped write the law that made clear to all states and all public schools: Children with disabilities deserve better. The law, he says, was "an affirmation of the values of the country." He hopes that's still true." www.npr.org/2025/12/03/n...

Saturday was the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I wrote about how the law helped make me who I am today and how losing it's protections may stifle the talent of generations of disabled individuals after me. www.the74million.org/article/weak...

“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds—if it were a bet you wouldn't take it.” -Tom Stoppard, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”

Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw. The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.

“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”

ICYMI Our Department of Education, which is helmed by a woman connected to a scandal involving child abuse, who was appointed by a man connected to a scandal involving child abuse, is now refusing to recognize the professions of our country’s mandated reporters of… child abuse.

Three blocks from my house. Hell yes Durham North Carolina

So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism. Got it.

"When an off-camera female reporter... began to ask if there was anything 'incriminating' in the Epstein emails, Trump pointed a finger in her face. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,' he said menacingly." Tell me again how it's women who are ruining the workplace? people.com/donald-trump...

Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ. It's a surreal--and troubling--read. drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...

My gosh this is great (and by “great” I mean both 🤣 and 🤦🏻‍♀️)

As a neuroscientist, I’d suggest there is a profound disconnect between what *some* computer scientists think is representative of “intelligence”, cognitive ability, or descriptions of consciousness from some in AI work. LLMs are not how neural systems process information, nor how brains function.

“On and on he went, a truly deranged lunatic.” 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

The Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office has an unusual unit at its office: A team dedicated to working with defendants who have cognitive disabilities. The office helps these people access treatment. n.pr/4oj2jNz

There’s (sadly) not much hope or relief to be found in NC politics these days, but AG Jackson and the NCDOJ are fighting all the good fights.

THE CRUELTY IS THE POINT.

Educators & parents: • Are public schools in your area losing funding or changing curriculum? • Are low-income, ESL or disabled students losing access to programs? • Are more families in your area sending students to private schools? Help us report ⬇️

Wahoowa!

Special education isn't a "nice thing to have." It isn't "charity" or doing something to make us feel better. It is a right. The right to a Free Appropriate Public Education is codified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, signed by a Republican president.

Happy Indigenous People's Day

The end of federal enforcement of special ed laws. Some states - including MN - will likely be ok. But a lot of disabled kids in a lot of states are going to lose the education that federal law and decades of jurisprudence say they are owed.

If you work in the Office of Special Education for the Department of Education and have been RIF'ed or if you work in a school that has been notified about it, please message me. My Signal is emgarcia.85. I'll protect your identity.

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education. America’s children deserve better than this.

Right-wing groups are increasingly requesting copies of syllabi and course materials to assess what's being taught in college classrooms. Universities like UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Greensboro are having to decide what to turn over, and what faculty can still control. www.wunc.org/education/20...

“Raleigh-Durham” (referred to as one city)

I have a full day today, but I woke up early to put this edition of my newsletter together because I need you all to have this rundown of what we've been up against this week in Chicago as the federal assault on our city continues. To ignore these developments would be a damning mistake for us all.

We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.

It makes me so fucking mad that there was a right wing conspiracy theory that Biden’s FEMA was denying funds to North Carolina and then Trump gets into office and actually does it and…mostly silence.

Speaking of voices under attack…can we be just as loud about Black journalists and comedians who are silenced, even by our so-called liberal outlets. • Joy Reid • Don Lemon • Melissa Harris-Perry • Tiffany Cross • Jemele Hill • Marc Lamont Hill • Karen Attiah • Amber Ruffin

While we brace ourselves for today’s expected pseudo-scientific, ableist nonsense, let’s try to remember that: 1) Autism is not an illness. 2) Autism is not a disorder. 3) Disability is not inherently tragic (though its cause, e.g., being a victim of violence, might be for some).

If you're upset about Jimmy Kimmel being "canceled," I'm sure you were just as furious when you heard about Joy Reid and Tiffany Cross or Amber Ruffin or Karen Attiah or Jemele Hill Because Kimmel might still have a job if you were

Alexa Heinrich's Accessible Social is a free resource for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, everyday social media users, and anyone who wants to learn how to make their content accessible for people with disabilities. www.accessible-social.com

A white man killed another white man, but Black people are catching death threats. So, instead of talking about white feelings again, I explored my own death threats, and tips for others who are unused to white America. My latest in @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Live every week like it’s fat bear week.

JD Vance: “Charlie Kirk never said Black women do not have brain processing power to be taken seriously. He never uttered those words.” Charlie Kirk: “Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson — you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously.”

Pilsen & La Villita (Little Village) are two of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Chicago. I was lucky to spend a lot of time there working with teachers a few years ago. Me rompe el corazón a ver esto… 🇲🇽 🦅 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

The Dept. of Education has pulled funding for programs in 8 states that support students with both hearing and vision loss. A staffer at one program says he was told the Trump admin. took issue with 2 words on the grant application: “transition" and “privilege": www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The Supreme Court is forging an America where weighing race can be used to harm minorities, but not to protect them.

Once again, I'm struck by the fact that the one thing all these shooters have in common is, uh, the guns?

i’m not going to be lectured about political violence by people whose politics is violence

“Continue his work”?!? When did Kirk ever say literally *anything* in “good faith”?? This garbage should be immediately disqualifying to anyone supporting Newsom for a Dem primary. Just crazy talk.