MoCo Honk Report (Yom Kippur edition): 23 minutes, 152 honks, including one massive VHC! Also, a fist bump and a guy who walked by telling me he's been thinking he should do the same thing and "what you're doing is fantastic." @jamieraskin.bsky.social @vanhollen.senate.gov @jatucker.bsky.social

Georgetown Legal English Faculty Updates (Sep 2025), including some very sweet new additions. :-) legalenglish.georgetown.domains/law-linguist...

What we've been up to since last December. legalenglish.georgetown.domains/faculty/upda...

Honk Report Thurs pm: 25 mins, 191 honks, 4 VHCs, one of them capped off by a super loud shave-and-a-haircut from a giant truck with a Maryland logo.

Calling on engaged civil society to meet this moment defending our democracy… each in our own way, reach out to neighbors, find one thing you can do this week— who can make a poster and put it in your window, facing the street, sharing your support for democracy? What will your poster say?

Great metaphor. "If Murphy’s statement is a bracing shot of whiskey, recent statements by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are dixie cups of watered-down water-flavored LaCroix." smotus.substack.com/p/more-on-ch...

Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor’s response to interim US Attorney Ed Martin’s letter calling the school’s curriculum “unacceptable.” Bravo.

Just batshit insane that four 'justices' who thought Biden lacked authority to cancel student debt think Trump has authority to renege on lawfully contracted work already performed

That’s right. 🇺🇦

That's right! Come on by for Fed Fridays - have a cup of joe on us. We'll get through this. You can sign up for our newsletter chock full of other free events and goings-on at peoplesbooktakoma.com

A timely episode, hosted by my colleague Jonah Perlin: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...

It is absolutely unacceptable for the Trump administration to purge the CDC of important scientific data that matters to millions of people. I refuse to let ideologues stomp out evidence-based objective research—we all need to speak out. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

My calendar recently "freed up" this Fri, Feb. 7 at 1pm ET. Seems like a great time to have an impromptu chat with others in #opengov about how things are going. Would love to catch up with anyone I haven't seen in a while or meet new people in the community. RSVP: forms.gle/XVoiLy2SFfjX...

The Eagles are in the Superbowl so I'm drawing my sweat stained old eagles hat every day until the big game. #eagles #philadelphiaeagles #flyeaglesfly #superbowl

Case Western Law seems to be the first one to do this. Will this be the new way-of-the-law-school-world? (And more importantly, are there any legal English implications for this? :-) abovethelaw.com/2025/01/law-...

Day 57 large-scale, continuous; day 87 overall. Theatres disobedience rally marches to the main protest site, Rustaveli. We have two demands: New, free and fair elections; The release of the regime prisoners. #GeorgiaProtests

This is very much the language they used in Hungary and Russia to go after people, universities, and nonprofit organizations with a hint of foreign connection. Note the language "replacement of the culture." Yep, that's aimed at Muslims and Jews. from this EO: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

That was definitely a Nazi salute.

Also frustrating from a legal English perspective bc now I’m going to have to re-work how I teach the three branches of government.

What are equivalent phrases for "apples to apples" or "apples to oranges" in other languages?

It’s not so much what’s evolved, it’s remembering the basics that many lawyerseither never learned right or have forgotten. Even things like the subject, object, and predicate, or what’s a verb, adverb, and adjective. Possibly with a statutory construction emphasis.

Folks are mostly missing the forest for the trees re: the recent Meta announcement. Specifically, the focus on the move from fact checking to community notes. There two different changes that are a much bigger deal that have received less focus. 🧵 1/11

In case of interest, Ukrainian Parliament member Oleksandra Ustinova has started a substack to help everyone keep up on efforts to support Ukraine. oleksandraustinova.substack.com/p/welcome-uk...

The four most prominent Jan. 6 insurrectionists likely to be pardoned by Donald Trump are all leading figures in the seditionist “Patriot” and street-brawling outfits that invaded the Capitol that day: Stewart Rhodes (Oath Keepers), and Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Enrique Tarrio (Proud Boys). 1/29

Please read and share! We’ll be rolling out a new series about Trump 2.0 and how to fight back. Check it out:

Great quote by my cousin @jatucker.bsky.social in The Economist. www.economist.com/united-state...

So much good thinking packed in this short @himself.bsky.social post, but to me this gets at the heart of it: "Making individuals better at thinking and seeing the blind spots in their own individual reasoning will only go so far. What we need are better *collective* means of thinking."

Worst memory from this date is my son calling me at work, begging me to come home, and then asking why I was whispering. “They’re right outside the door. I have to go, baby. I love you so much. Please don’t watch the news.”

Four years ago right now. This was our evacuation team that got us out of the Capitol. When they knocked on our hiding place door, they had a code word & we had a response word so we knew they were actual USCP. You can see them holding back rioters. The “Join Us!” chant to cops was stomach turning.

Leave it to the business reporters to understand exactly what is going on. Framed perfectly.

My favorite new (to me) podcast. So much better than i thought based on just the generic sounding title literatureandhistory.com

A creative idea at the intersection of law and language (more or less.)

A great list of reads. Bonus: Includes two “law and language” reads (only one of which was nominated by me.)

On this day in 1855 a giant creature emerged from the James to wreak havoc on Richmond. Never forget 😤

My favorite new podcast! They have ads so they seem to be fairly established. But I just came across it a week or so ago. newbooksnetwork.com

I grew up w Intellivision. I loved Intellivision. This discussion is really cool and eye opening. overcast.fm/+AAOQ2pZqffc

I’ve been thinking for a while about the accents used in TV and movies for “bad guys” and the implications of those choices. Then I came across this wonderful discussion by @lauraskh.bsky.social about accents in kids’ cartoons. www.languageonthemove.com/whiteness-ac...

The latest Update from the Georgetown Legal English Faculty. legalenglish.georgetown.domains/engagement/u... @georgetownlaw.bsky.social @howilawyer.bsky.social

Quality journalism for and by Black communities is vital. I’ve been slowly building this starter pack of Black press and journalists brick by brick. This needs to be at least 100 strong— help me build it. go.bsky.app/QvS5FNb

Let's make Bluesky the home of independent news. Unlike X, where algorithms crush links & push content you don't want, news flourishes here. Particularly news from independent & non-profit outlets. If you prefer news away from MSM, here's a starter pack to share with valuable & verified accounts.

Tim White edited all of trump’s press conf comments on Ukraine today down to one clip. Tr’s professed understanding of the situation not encouraging.

Strange as it seems, this is actually linguistic humor. Bouba and Kiki are made up words used in linguistic research that shows how certain sounds tend to be associated w certain feelings and shapes across language cultures. This cartoon is having fun mixing scientific concepts.