ICE is building a 24/7 social media monitoring program that would scan Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and dozens of other platforms. Private contractors would turn public posts into enforcement leads fed directly into government databases.

From the Larchives: The Rocky Horus Picture Scroll. One of my favorite works. I had the assistance of an Egyptology PhD student to translate the Time Warp phonetically. Enjoy :)

Back to basics #maniarchaeology today. Maybe the most common ironstone pattern, this simple sprig motif in copper luster is called Tea Leaf, produced throughout 2nd half of the 19th century by many different makers. Sherd image courtesy Jefferson Patterson Park

🏺 Great writeup of our collaborative project with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to understand and revitalize potting traditions!

🏺 The Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) is hiring an archaeological analyst, based in Charlottesville, VA. bit.ly/DAACSanalyst

🏺DYK that the first people in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos made pottery with dust that originated in the Sahara?! Our new article confirms this, and a whole lot more about how the Lucayans engineered pottery in this challenging environment. doi.org/10.1080/1556... @emikracht.bsky.social

New 💅 based on this awesome early 18th c. English Delft (tin-enamel). The distinctive color palette of blue, red and green is called Bristol, though it was also made in London. This vessel was found at George Washington Birthplace, and was likely used by the Washington family. #maniarchaeology

🏺Nice work, @archfieldnotes.bsky.social!

🏺 Great writeup of our recent work!

Fox kit introducing themself!

my modest disagreement is that i think it is important to signal virtue even if, privately, you are a piece of shit. performing decency is an important part of maintaining the norm that decency is part of a well ordered society.

🏺New article! "Spanish Signatures? XRF Analysis of Iron Artifacts in the American Southeast" We found XRF of iron artifacts can distinguish 16th c. assemblages from later materials based on the iron purity. What assemblages should we zap next? Read it here for free: rdcu.be/euzoz #archaeology

YouGov poll, just out: "Should ICE agents be required to wear uniforms while making arrests?" Yes: 68% No: 18

A rule of thumb that will rarely lead you astray in this country is to assume that a riot was started by the people who showed up armed and dressed for a riot.

You know you’re winning when you post “We are NOT the Gestapo!”

🧪 National Science Foundation update alert ⚠️⚠️ NSF just made a **lot** of updates to its "priorities" page. It's mixed news. Some good. Some bad. ❌ Not welcome: NSF is now also terminating "environmental justice" awards. The highlighted text here is new: www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p... 1/8... 🧵

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.

🧪 Another round of NSF grant terminations is expected today. But here’s a silver lining: there’s already a webinar for you today at 2 pm ET if you’re in that boat! (Tries to find the dark humor in moments like these…)

🚨 Practical URGENT tip for NSF grantees: Out of an abundance of caution, I would right now go into Research.gov and… 1. Download your NSF award letters. 2. Print PDF your annual reports. 3. Screenshot the status table for annual reports. NSF is planning maintenance tomorrow to Research.gov

🏺 New #maniarchaeology inspired by 2 of my favorite things: porcelain and buttons! Prosser-molded porcelain buttons were made post-1840 and are very common archaeologically. However, the original transfer-printed designs on some of them, known as "calicos" are often worn away.

Remember, these forms are NOT toys. They are not jokes. If these forms are to be effective, they should under NO CIRCUMSTANCES be flooded with incorrect information, which would render them useless. So definitely do not do that. Do not do it one time, or a dozen times, or even hundreds of times.

NEW: Today, NSF "disestablished" most of its scientific advisory committees. These are committees of outside experts convened to help shape NSF programs. Only five statutorily required committees remain, the rest are gone. www.nsf.gov/executive-or...

If you are National Guard or active duty military & you are ordered to violate the Constitutional rights of your fellow Americans, call the Gl Rights Hotline 1-877-447-4487 There is support, you don't have to go through with it.

One thing I wish people understood about authoritarianism is life often looks more or less the same. Troops aren’t marching down the street every day; people go to restaurants, have their office jobs. But everyone knows that stepping out of line, even slightly, can derail your life with no recourse

3/4. If we accept the idea that moving a person from one place to another undoes rights and disempowers the judiciary, we are endorsing the basic Nazism practice that enabled the killing of millions.

My Slate piece on the widespread NEH grant cancellations is live. So much gratitude to everyone who took the time to talk with me these past few days while fighting fires on every side. #humanities #highered #neh slate.com/news-and-pol...

NEW: @nytimes.com reports that the Trump admin is moving to strip hundreds of thousands of immigrants of Social Security Numbers they got when they were granted work authorization, repurposing a "death master file" to try to erase their previous legal presence in the United States.

“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said, explaining he wants to see a deportation process “like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings.”

I've been busy restocking button boxes for the Society for American Archaeology meeting in a few weeks. Order online or visit my booth in Denver--I'll have special à la carte buttons for sale there too 🙂 The shop will be closing for the summer, so now is your chance! temperedarchaeology.com/buttons

Not sure who needs to hear this but one cannot “deport” a citizen. Thank you.

So weird to see colleges promoting their USNWR grad school rankings today like grad students aren’t being disappeared by their government.

Three million Americans marched today. Here’s why we wrote about one American who didn’t.

I said this on the other site, but I think the media needs to stop using the word “arrested” if a person hasn’t committed any crimes, hasn’t been read Miranda rights, hasn’t been formally charged with anything and their family and lawyer doesn’t know where they are. It’s kidnapping. It’s abduction.

🏺 #maniarchaeology inspired by this 19th c. transfer-printed whiteware with spearhead band, excavated at Mount Vernon, image courtesy DAACS.

re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens

🏺 And that little girl went on to learn French and become an archaeologist, both of which would change her interpretation of the museum 😂. Can you fault my logic though? #archaeosky

Opinion | By eliminating DEI, the University of Virginia is getting back to the racial ideals of Thomas Jefferson.

I've collated some ideas for the @standupforscience.bsky.social signs! Your favorites? 1. Science does not give a fuck what you believe 2. Got Polio? Me Neither, Thanks Science 3. Science: It's like Magic, but REAL 4. This is my EVIDENCE BASED OUTRAGE 5. Fund Science, Not Billionaires

With gaudy in the name, it has to be good 😆

💅 Though sometimes called Gaudy Welsh or Gaudy Dutch, this mid-19th c. British earthenware was actually influenced by Japanese Imari porcelain. Love the color palette and showy florals. This example is ironstone, but other refined EWs and European porcelains may have this design. #maniarchaeology

🏺 Must-see museums and archaeological sites in France? Bonus if they are ceramics-focused and/or not Roman :)

List of NSF grants that supposedly "support left-wing ideological crusades" 🫠 h/t to @brunalab.bsky.social for making the data more accessible!

Showing my students some medieval pottery from Yemen at the ROM today, including this one with a cat's paw impression in it! #MedievalSky #Archaeology #ArchaeologyOfStuff 🏺

As Trump prepares to turn Guantanamo into a concentration camp, the front page for the Amache National Historical Site is down. As if you could erase history by pretending a place doesn't exist. Stalin would blush. www.nps.gov/amch/index.htm

🏺I worked on this resource so I’m biased, but I think it’s very useful! Also includes pottery from broader Southeast and the Caribbean.

Make them tell you, specifically, what you're not allowed to do. Don't make changes you guess that they want. Don't offer them a menu of things that you infer they might be telling you not to do. Do the work you proposed, and received funding to do, unless instructed otherwise in specific detail.

Academic Skyers: I am compiling a list of policies and statements from various universities about how they are handling the "pause" in terms of stopping expenditures (or not). Please respond to this post with your institution and materials. THANK YOU!