New ep of the Rhetoricity podcast! Super excited for this one: a roundtable on the “post-truth” world we are (or are we?) living in. Panelists include @jamesrball.com, @omediochieng.bsky.social, @rhetrickery.bsky.social, Barb Biesecker, & Robin Reames. rhetoricity.libsyn.com/rhetoric-bef... #NCA2025

I was on the German teevee machine yesterday to talk Trump and Musk. h/t to @jenmercieca.bsky.social for sending them my way. My part starts around 6:30. #rsa #public_scholarship #teamrhetoric

In which I welcome David Brooks to the resistance and urge Gayle King to get on board. biblioracle.substack.com/p/nope-not-n...

This piece by @sivav.bsky.social gave me a lot to think about. I'll admit, the fear to find somewhere to flee to is strong, but there's also a lot to be said for standing up to the threats we face at the moment. A lot to think about. newrepublic.com/article/1933...

He will 💯 use this to defend his selfless service to the US.

This thread treats questions of free speech on campuses with the kind of care and measure that it would be revolutionary for the NYT to employ. Alas.

Every time I get a camel, I just pile all the straw on it. As much as I can find.

In case you were wondering about what underlies anti-DEI measures and/or the curious partnership in the Oval Office. Is America finallygreat again? www.npr.org/sections/sho...

You know Musk is a business “genius” because he’s destroying his own brands in order to destroy other people’s lives. #genius

Among the material devastation to everyday people, Senate Dems have now blown a hole in their ability to work with the House. We had an agreed upon plan, House took immense risk, then Senate turned around midway and destroyed it w/ a fear-based, inexplicable abdication. They own what happens next.

Ok I know this is old-man irritability but I don’t care if Mahmoud Khalil has a pregnant wife, I don’t care if he and his wife are childfree, I don’t care if he’s in a fucking polycule with a hedgehog and a jar of mayonnaise, NOBODY should be detained for protected speech, including singletons.

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” Elon Musk said. I need you to understand that this is *literally* Nazi rhetoric. Hitler attacked empathy and humanitarianism as a Jewish plot to unsettle natural human inequality. It’s not hyperbole to call this what it is: Nazi shit.

If you have to wait until a genocide happens again before it's ok to call a nazi a nazi, then it's too damn late. The phrase "never again" refers to fascist rhetoric as well for this very reason.

honestly wild to me that, at this late date, any ostensibly informed person would insist that we could ignore trump’s words as just bluster

Things aren't worse than I feared, but we are certainly moving down the path toward what I feared.

I’m so discombobulated by the onslaught, I can’t even regrender my chorf.

No one tells you it’s a long game.

Join the Team Rhetoric feed! Like and pin it to your main feeds. And fill out this form to be added to the feed: bit.ly/bsky-rhetoric Find the Rhetoric & Writing Studies starter pack by @katjathieme.bsky.social at go.bsky.app/SCyxbJN

Why are the richest men so petty and vindictive?

We all need to start using the word "coup." They're well past the point where Hitler starts dictates his Enabling Act. I talk to Very Serious People who actually believe courts telling Trump that they he is breaking the law will stop this. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/u...

I wanted to re-up my Valentine's Day invitation. Less than a week away, and probably a million new complicating events between now and then. Come watch me try to make any sense of things. #teamrhetoric

I sincerely don’t know why people aren’t physically stopping those dorks. Move shit. Lock doors. Lose the keys. Everyone switch seats. Turn off all the lights. Switch the signs on the elevator lobby. Make the settings all silly. Use a different language. Wear costumes. Fill rooms with balloons

Are we all referring to the DOGE kids as the “Shitler Youth?”Cause I’m ready to go with that! 🙌

Elon Musk is a terrible president.

I think Americans, blessed with relatively stable government for a long time, assume there is someone, some adult, who will step in and make things right before the President does anything REALLY bad. There’s not.

Good thing all those pundits spent years writing the same article about the growing threat of students yelling a lot.

If you’re tempted to wonder why they’re doing *anything,* it’s about power. Gutting the government is about power. Breaking the economy, destroying global relations, killing people. At other points and times there may be other motives, but right now it’s all about consolidating power.

Wow. The candidate representing a party that’s been violently anti-labor for decades does something cripplingly anti-labor? Who could’ve guessed?

In case you didn't know, today is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It's as good a time as any to remember the important lessons of that death machine. Please don't lose sight of the fact that the Holocaust and attacks on democracy were intertwined. 1/3

Highly recommended- @rhetrickery.bsky.social is so smart and kind and has much to share with us all.

In case you're wondering, the purge of the civil service is already well underway. These are the people that know how the government works. Once they're gone, they'll be replaced (if they haven't been already) with Trump loyalists who will be chosen for their deference, not their competence. 1/

I’d like to dedicate all of today’s devastating headlines to the people who figured that he’s a problem but not a real threat.

If there’s anything we’ve learned about Trump in the last two days, it’s nothing. We’ve learned nothing. He’s exactly as cowardly, petty, self-serving, and vindictive as we knew he’d be. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so destructive and terrifying.

That was a tough game to watch. Sorry to see the Lions go down, but that Commanders QB is the real deal.

David Lynch and Bob Uecker died on the same day. This says something about the state of the world, but I'll be damned if I can put it into words.

Don't get so caught up on his monstrous cabinet picks that you miss when he starts to purge the civil service.

Last night I dreamed that I inadvertently (and unintentionally) misappropriated a bunch of money from multiple student groups; that I was chewing gum and pulled out a filling; and that I made a nice, herbaceous green sauce. All normal up in the brain hole, in case you were wondering.

Here's a better link to the workshop descriptions: rhetoricsociety.org/annual-meeti...

There's still plenty of time to apply for the Rhetoric Society of America's virtual summer workshops. There are some fantastic offerings, and you can take part from the comfort of your own home! (Or you can tell people it's in-person and staycate somewhere alone!) rhetoricsociety.org/2025-institu...

Some rhetoric definitions. Turns out there aren't that many short enough to work with this particular design option, but as rhetoric teaches us, we work with what we've got. Link to the whole gallery: ryanskinnell.com/rhetoric-sti... #TeamRhetoric

#TeamRhetoric, want some really cool stickers to put on recruiting tables or give to students as prizes or just get a good convo going? Check out Dr. Ryan Skinnell's @rhetrickery.bsky.social awesome sticker store! ryanskinnell.com/rhetoric-sti...

After a long hiatus, I started messing around with new rhetoric sticklies today. Slow going, but such is life. The whole collection in all its excessiveness is here: ryanskinnell.com/rhetoric-sti....

I finally completed an onerous task at 5:00pm on a Friday. Now I have to spend my whole weekend thinking of other reasons to feel guilty and ashamed! Just can’t win for losing.

Do I need a nom de guerre? I do, don’t I?

Rude, hurtful things my kids have said to me today: “What is this movie?” (This is Spinal Tap) “What is this movie?” (Love Actually) “What is this movie?” (Muppet Christmas Carol) Uncultured swine.

📣We’re excited to announce our very own Bluesky feed, your destination for everything rhetoric and composition! Use #TeamRhetoric, #RhetComp, #CompRhet, and #WritingStudies to contribute! Give it a follow! 🔗https://bsky.app/profile/constellationsjrnl.bsky.social/feed/aaajhfcyzq6qm #AcademicSky

With stories about how awful Pete Hegseth circulating and the Kremlin weighing in excitedly about Kash Patel for FBI chief, I figured, what they heck? Maybe I'll repost my op-ed from the other day about Trmup's cabinet picks, which features an image of Hegseth. www.commondreams.org/opinion/trum...

Biden pardoning his son is very bad. But I’ll admit, given the incoming administration’s open commitment to vengeance, I can imagine an understandable (if still bad) rationale.