We are living in an era when a vicious regime is bringing academic institutions and nations to their knees to elevate its self-interests at the expense of others’ humanity and inclusion in every facet of society. The clock has been turned back by more than half a century. Shame.

Kudos to Jim Ryan for a terrific tenure as the President of UVA. Again, this is not normal. We should all be alarmed.

“No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates.” –Justice Sonia Sotomayor. One of the most chilling sentences I have ever read.

Justice Sotomayor dissenting on birthright citizenship case: "The gamesmanship in this request is apparent and the Government makes no attempt to hide it. Yet, shamefully, this Court plays along. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent."

Academics and economists have long warned that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence will wipe out jobs and upend the global economy. Now that call is coming from inside the house. cnn.it/43RKTzK

The first screening of Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ in Clarksdale, Mississippi. This is the first time a lot of people in Clarksdale have been abled to watch the film for the first time. Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Evans, and Miles Caton were all in attendance. 📸: @/Carmen_A_Jude (on X)

💔😭

“.. European airlines are freezing their transatlantic growth and pulling back from major U.S. cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago as they redirect flights to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Caribbean.” $JETS $XAL www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article...

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez—AOC—gives Congress and this nation the Word, a sermon we all should hear and heed.

On this anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s Brown v Board decision, vouchers are expanding rapidly.

Today’s a great day to remind everyone that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625% That’s FAR lower than private sector retirement programs, btw.

The “fluoride removal” bit is a solution in search of a problem. Fluoride levels in Florida are completely safe, help prevent cavities, and keep kids in school. Where’s the evidence it’s been remotely harmful? There isn’t any. No ethics, no morals, all smoke and mirrors.

In 2024, nearly 38 million children under five were acutely malnourished across 26 nutrition crises. “We cannot respond to empty stomachs with empty hands and turned backs.” - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Learn more: unicef.link/4klPVdc

A testament to the incredible potential of research and development. This gene-editing near miracle wouldn’t have been possible without federal support of science. This little one now has a chance at living a long life. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

Irony, it turns out, is not dead

A powerful stance

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

This.

based on some reading i'm doing at the moment, there is a book to be written — if it already hasn't been — on defense of apartheid south africa as the great international cause of the american right

I think about this comic at least once a week

My guess: The US-UK almost-a-deal may have reduced the average tariff rate Britain charges on American exports from 1% to 0.8%. And the UK is only 3% of US trade. "So if this sounds like small potatoes to you, that's because these aren't potatoes. These are tiny little peas."

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.” It costs a lot less to house people.

Pope Leo XIV is a fascinating choice on many levels—one filled with so many levels of symbolism. Also, thinking about how the rule of hypodescent lies at the core of U.S. racial logic, whether Blackness is embraced wholly or not.

Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.

“Hey, “Sinners” fans, fyi, the late sociologist and historian James Loewen wrote a classic text in 1971 entitled **The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White,” and it is a good case study of the “middleman minority.” Great teaching tool.

I saw “Purpose” over the weekend and experienced a full spectrum of emotions, including much laughter. Anyone who knows something about family dynamics might appreciate this one. It was EXCELLENT. Congratulations to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on winning the Pulitzer. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/t...

The VA has abruptly ended the only low-interest, affordable loan modification option for thousands of vets who are behind on their mortgages. If you're a vet at risk of foreclosure, we want to hear your story.

Puppets…

1. This is heart wrenching. 2. I feel like every one of us needs to be spelling out SOS with our collective protests. AMERICA, YOU IN TROUBLE GIRL.

SCOOP: A young man with no government experience who hasn’t even finished his undergrad degree is working for Elon Musk’s DOGE at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and has been tasked with using AI to rewrite the agency’s rules and regulations.

TELSEY begins tracking price increases over the past week. Some highlights: * Abercrombie jeans: up 33% * Amazon Echo: up 38.5% * Target / Barbie doll: up 42.9%

Feminist have raised the alarm for years that Republicans want to trap women in dangerous marriages. This EO harkens back to a time when spousal abandonment left women in perilous situations too. www.newsweek.com/trump-execut...

Mississippi has the largest Black population by percent of any state in the U.S.; nearly 4 in 10 Mississippians are Black.

What’s interesting about this is there’ll be substantial overlap between the two populations given how segregated the nation has long been. This is just acquiescence theater. And it’s so troubling because all it does is embolden fascists

WSMV: “400+ workers losing their jobs after automotive manufacturer Adient announced permanent closure of 2 facilities in Tennessee— in Maury & Henderson Counties...” The CEO had said tariffs would be a problem. We’ve asked if they impacted this decision. www.wsmv.com/2025/04/27/o...

“Equal opportunity” becomes a meaningless principle without a society’s offering of it to either those who have lacked it or are not born with the means to necessarily obtain it. www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Sinners dropping just 6% in its second weekend merits a much bigger headline than its $48 million opening. It is actual box-office news--news as in "This never happens." Just a giant thing, for Ryan Coogler and for the future of original material.

been thinking about this and glad it's being explored in the media

“Serena Longley, Barnard’s general counsel, acknowledged in an email to the faculty members that Barnard had provided the [Trump EEOC] with the personal contact information of staff members”

Diversity is a GOOD BUSINESS DECISION.

Let’s dream up to ways to shit on women. Oh hey, let’s cancel the largest clinical trial ever for women www.science.org/content/arti...

This Administration wasn’t going to bring or enforce the Fair Housing Act, Title VII, ECOA or any other civil rights statute in any case. But ordering the review & presumably fed withdrawal of all existing DI cases and consent decrees….that’s bad. *btw disparate impact is not unlawful.

“Many people portray this as a war on the elite in higher education…[but] so much of what is being taken away are the programs that make science look more like America.”

Why is NPR facing losing funding? Because banana slugs became too woke. No, really.

🚨 BREAKING: US Department of Education has started the process to TERMINATE all federal funding for Maine K-12 schools. This is in direct response to Maine Dept of Ed refusing to comply with Trump's Anti-Trans Executive Orders. Full release here: www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

US students. Looking to apply to graduate school? Had an offer rescinded recently? The University of British Columbia in Canada will re-open the application portal in some departments for US students from April 14-18. Details: www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant... #ubc #AcademicSky #PhDSky #ScienceSky

Nearly a 1,000 student visas invoked by Sec. of State Rubio and counting.