5 years ago, I would have hunted around for patient zero but in 2026, I'm thinking it's coming from AI. A few times now, I've seen a newsletter author write that schools were feminized because men left the classroom to work in factories during the Industrial Revolution. One example:

In Boston ICE randomly pulled over this huge white Irish guy with a Mass drivers license, 20 years in the states, legal status, pending green card and have held him for 5 months, his citizen wife paid a $4k bond that was ignored(!) ICE forged his signature on deportation agreement, no appeal

Go to bed buzzing from the Bad Bunny concert and wake up to news we're topping r/Conservative. Good start to a Monday!

This is a great piece by my colleague spencer on the bad bunny helftimeshow but of course there’s never been a more divisive idea in American history than all of us being American, we fought a civil war over it and Trump is nothing if not manifest opposition to it www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

When he gave the Grammy to that young boy who made everyone think of Liam…even if that wasn’t actually Liam, it was just the perfect way of cutting through all the bullshit. Every kid impacted by this administration’s cruelty is another Liam.

In case anyone forgot or didn't understand the reference www.wgbh.org/news/2017-10...

i don't want to see a single opinion from any freak rube who hated this halftime show -- they are obviously boring losers who don't need to be read or seen or heard

#PairedTexts 1. OK, the Dunkin' ad was good. 2. What the fuck was that Dunkin' Donuts ad. 3. I now like Dunkin less because of that ad.

Welp. The last #HailyMary trailer made me burst into tears. Just ugly sobs by the end of it. I cannot wait for the movie. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0XN...

I have a hard time coming up with a counter-claim to this argument.

As a totally anecdotal measure of how normies are fed up: I’m on a peloton Super Bowl ride right now where 80 people are riding with #AbolishICE as their leaderboard tag

#PairedTexts 1. "The New Fabio Is Claude" (The New York Times, Feb. 8, 2026) 2. Romance readers on r/RomanceBooks: "Okay so it took me literally three minutes to uncover eight other likely pseudonyms of Hart's."

there’s a word for something most people generate about once a day and it’s not “book”

Need a mood boost? Watch the Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrate the Seattle Seahawks being in the Super Bowl

#pairedtexts @jennbinis.bsky.social?

Database of decisions/penalties in legal cases where "AI" was found to be used by either a litigator or a judge; does not count *All* cases of "AI" used in court filings, just those where it was a) found & b) officially remarked upon or penalized. Incredibly useful collection & arrangement of data:

The talented @mimicofmodes.com introduced me to the world of AO3 and I just spent the morning reading a truly incredible piece of multi-genre Heated Rivalry fanfic. The author wrote fiction vignettes, social media conversations, legal transcripts, podcast excerpts, and more.

If only sociologists would stop talking about structure & agency.

For non-NYers, five of these athletes are from upstate. Four are Western NYers and one is from Po-kip-see.

NEW: lawmakers in new york rolled out a proposed data center moratorium bill today, making NY at least the sixth state to introduce legislation pausing data center development in the past few *weeks*:

Opening ceremonies are making Mrs. Volts cry, and she can't quite explain why. I honestly just think that, these days, in the US, any glimpse of decency or beauty or love or wonder in public life is like an oasis in the f'ing desert. A reminder that humans can be good & creative & cooperative.

One of these platforms has been home to a decade-long project to bring curated, high-quality and in-depth public history content into people's feeds every day. Just saying.

Educator Who Read ‘I Need a New Butt!’ to Students Wins Job Back in Court 📚 (Four years later) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...

One of the paradoxes of this plan is that its fans should be some of the staunchest abortion access advocates out there. They're not.

Hey, everyone! You didn't realize, or weren't thinking thru effects or implications of sharing violent propaganda. Understandable! Researchers who study nazi/supremacist imagery mark it up when sharing to render it not reusable. So, please, "X out;" draw a line or otherwise disfigure these. 🙏🏼

ICE surge news: Minneapolis Public Schools has extended *optional* distance learning until April 6.

A very dear and smart friend of mine is confident she knows when AI is wrong and how to ask the right questions to prevent it from hallucinating. Going to try and subtly slip this thread onto her desk.

In NE Minneapolis and Columbia Heights today, Weds. 2/5/26, ICE has been focusing on schools and schoolbus stops. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLBUS STOPS. This is their “softer touch”

AI is a cancer on the profession. I know in all of these cases the judge is like "there are legitimate uses of AI that should not be discouraged" but I disagree. Just ban it. We practiced law without it for hundreds of years. It's fine.

"we prohibit the use of AI in peer reviews of articles ... conducting literature reviews, describing methods, collecting and analyzing data, ... drafting descriptions of analyses and findings, interpreting analyses, or ... identifying citations and references" 😍 psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

decided to see what upscrolled was like, and the third post i saw after making an account was csam i already had concerns about the platform’s leadership, but now you can be certain i’m going nowhere near it and would recommend others stay away too

The book that formed the base of Wikipedia and social studies classes, now gone for no reason. And that personnel bit at the end about how the World Factbook was built by generations of CIA officials is the strongest I've ever seen them criticize a current admin. www.cia.gov/stories/stor...

Being a poll worker is a powerful, life-affirming experience in many ways and I mean that with all sincerity I can muster in this day and age! And! Each time a new voter check ins, you get to lead everyone in a round of applause for them! (or at least we did in 2024 and it was great!)

Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great @michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.

as i keep saying, the things to do to secure elections are to volunteer to work the polls or to serve as an observer, & to pressure your *state representatives* to take steps to further secure voting locations and ballots. you should also learn about how election administration works in your area.

This is a great question and it's not going to happen in a world where the concept of "good schools" exists.

As an occasional writing exercise, I like to draft out what a progressive response to a conservative-authored educational essay might sound like. This is a good essay for such an exercise. Some of the questions I'm thinking about: fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

If people laid off from The Post are wondering about maybe starting a Substack, last summer I wrote about why I wasn’t. www.pbump.net/o/the-power-...

One of the many lessons of The Good Place was that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and WHY ARE WOMEN EDUCATORS STILL ON TWITTER?

This is my thing, yes criticize Dems and call them. But run your Republican Congress critters ragged right now. Make it impossible for them to have a moment of peace.

#Edusky may remember Emmanuel from his time on the education beat, at Hechinger... What a devastating day for the news.

Teachers are people. And some people are assholes. She's an extra special asshole because she used her access to a child's files and took advantage of her position to try and make life harder for a child in her trust. Also, this takes a wild turn around minute three. She is making CHOICES.

“.. Not a single Republican member of Congress showed up to the public forum .. on the violence inflicted by federal immigration agents, featuring testimony from the brothers of Renee Good ..” @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/post/206100/...

Opposition to data centers appears to be an issue that can bring a bunch of different people together. Let's do it! Broad coalitions are needed to take on oligarchs.

Look for a two-part series in @edweek.org this week featuring several educators sharing their suggestions for how to teach during these chaotic times. Contributors include @christienold.bsky.social , @scmaestra.bsky.social and others!

A whole of lot of the current administration's actions really don't seem to register with conservatives but I'll tell you what - the news about the changes to USPS postmark dates was just discussed at my very red town board meeting and it REGIS.TER.ED.