Way to go, America. You got Kimmel unfired. Fabulous. Now do college professors.

Yep. If this country would get behind university faculty the way it got behind Kimmel . . .

Also very cool and awesome how every Democrat in office gets held personally responsible for uniting the nation but Republican officeholders can say things like "I don't like my opponents and I want bad things to happen to them" and every pundit and journalist in the country just shrugs.

Thanks for the great conversation, @granthermes.bsky.social ! Check out the pod, #teamrhetoric.

My mom called me last night about the Kimmel firing, saying "This is how Hitler got started!" I quickly responded, "By firing the late night tv hosts?" Turns out, mom was right.

"It is an attack on all our free speech rights." anntelnaes.substack.com/p/censoring-...

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Tech companies are trying to replace teachers with this.

David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."

University folks, join the AAUP. CSU folks: American Association of University Professors @ Colorado State University | Protecting Academic Freedom and Higher Education in Colorado share.google/jajYuQCAOZGV...

in light of the kimmel news, just a reminder that a few days ago a prominent fox news host literally called for killing homeless people. right afterward, someone shot up a couple homeless encampments. that fox news host still has his job.

It seems that the only trans person known to be in the orbit of this horrific Kirk assassination saga expressed shock and horror, and immediately cooperated fully with law enforcement.

$34.28!

Important 🧵

Another way the Trump administration is subjecting universities to financial strain: defending the wrongful termination lawsuits that will proliferate as professors get canned without due process and for specious reasons.

Apparently SF Chronicle reports Judith Butler is on the list. This list is a dangerous capitulation.

I turned on the radio in my car for updates on the Charlie Kirk shooting, but our local station was covering an active shooter at Evergreen high school (3 students hospitalized). It's the guns, folks.

Lots of headlines about how Trump's moves "echo an authoritarian handbook." But bupkis in hard news coverage about Trump BEING an authoritarian, writes political communication expert @kvanderson.bsky.social theconversation.com/why-journali...

This is an imperative part of my pedagogy. Cultivating readers (and writers) is so important against the barrage of anti-intellectualism and AI

I said this on Threads.

Some liberal New York Times columnists are listened to more than others, no way to know why.

Burning books is so 20th century fascist. Innovative authoritarians are working overtime to convince people that reading and writing are for suckers.

TIL that Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, and Parents Defending Education have signed the White House's pledge to America's youth to invest in AI education, which further clarifies how this AI education initiative is a political project and whose vision of education is being prioritized.

What in the H--andmaid's Tale?

It's absurd seeing people lecturing trans people and telling them they HAVE to support someone who opposes trans rights for president three years from now—or else fascism wins!—when there are other leaders who are still standing up for trans rights, from Illinois to Kentucky.

Today in life under competitive authoritarianism

Dems shouldn't make trans rights the focus - they should just have the preparation to quickly and confidently shut down anti-trans attacks and pivot back to what they want to run on.

A visual representation of what fascism offers. Totalitarian gray.

We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.

Anyone who looks at America in 2025 and thinks, "maybe we can fix this by throwing trans people under the bus" 1) doesn't have the brains to understand what's going on or how we got here 2) doesn't have the stomach for any of the fights ahead and 3) is vice signaling to their MAGA friends.

This is the way.

I'm nowhere near NYC, but the #ZcavengerHunt feed made me happy today.

Last week someone made this point, a lot of money people (including tech) made a very clear, very calculated decision that authoritarianism, even a corrupt kleptocracy, was better for them financially than risking Dems doing a wealth tax/tax fairness etc. It was an eyes-wide-open choice.

Y'all, saying "nobody uses those words" is the same as saying "the crime rate has gone down in D.C." Stop accepting their terms (literally and figuratively).

Tomorrow in the New York Times: Was Ghislaine Maxwell Credible When She Said That Donald Trump Never Did Anything Wrong? We Asked Woody Allen

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

“The idea that all of this happened because, like, twelve professors at Berkeley used “Latinx” on their syllabi is just detached from reality, from my point of view.” @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social In full form www.thedriftmag.com/politics-is-...

I'm old enough to remember when "sexual harassment," "date rape," "Congress member," "firefighter," and pretty much any term that included more than one sex were considered "p.c." (the OG woke). The same groups who railed against them are railing against different terms now.

Sex offender says what?

Thanks to whomever recommended bingeing The Expanse after Andor concluded. Just started season 4 and am loving it.

@rosamikealm.bsky.social 👀

This is fucking terrifying. Genuinely truly terrifying. What’s their scheme? To prosecute parents? Doctors? To take people’s treatments away? Absolutely no way this can end well.

Here's hoping my favorite Colorado broadcaster gets to keep doing good work.

If you want to put back statues and memorials and names of Confederate traitors while tearing down museum exhibitions on slavery because they don't show the greatness of the nation... the nation whose history you're celebrating is whiteness. The kind of nationalist you are is a white nationalist.

Thanks for this, Patrick! The most thorough yet accessible AI article I've found that is suitable to assign to undergrads. Check it out, #TeamRhetoric!

No big deal "It's just till we get in office ..." "It's just sports," "It's just restrooms." "It's just your pronouns." "It's just your name." "It's just your medications." "It's just your job." "It's just your kids." "It's just you."

Life comes at you fast

Congrats to the nominal opposition for being to the right of *Bill Kristol* on Trump assualting DC

One year ago, we published 14 hours of Project 2025's "Presidential Administration Academy" training videos. Watching these clips back now, you can see how Trump 2.0 is deploying the PJ2025 playbook.

This helped me today. Small Kindnesses, by Danusha Laméris