Post-doc positions: "Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..." uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...

I have spent my share of Christmases alone, most recently 2024, 2023. It’s a very mixed, roller coaster time, highs and lows. It’s just…different.

Happy holidays to everyone who's in solitude today. You get to decide what this post-solstice 24 hours is like! You could mourn or reflect, give gratitude or binge-watch, join your chosen family or cozy up with your animals. You may not be surrounded by people, but a lot of us are in the same place.

Pouring one out for anyone who’s read any military history and understands why countries stopped building battleships after WW2.

Apropo of nothing that might have happened in mainstream media, please support independent media. It really is the last best hope for now, as mainstream media continues to voluntarily implode and self-destruct.

The great Thomas Downey’s oyster pan roast. Hope I’m doing it right.

R.I.P. James Ransone. For many folks this is very much not the happiest time of the year. Check on your people and stay safe.

I’ve reached a point in my long time on this rock that very few things surprise me. But encountering people who’ve never experienced death remains near or at the top of the list. What a world to inhabit.

Let’s go Reds!

Doing a potato pancake thing of sorts with the ever present and ubiquitous East European seasoning blend. Almost very happy with the results but not quite.

Out of 102 episodes globally in which a trend toward autocracy was reversed over the past century, the vast majority led to restored or even increased levels of democracy. doi.org/10.1080/1351...

For the surviving children, workshops, mines etc. The New 1820s are gonna be lit af

Gutted to learn of a former PhD student’s sudden passing. Taught at U WI-Milwaukee. Keep the good ones close.

Finally getting to Fallout S2 and forgot how much I loved Leslie Uggams.

New Gilded Age-ish.

We are in so much late Brezhnev territory right now that it’s grotesque how close the analogies hit despite all the wildly different contexts.

For virtually all my career I had a co-author who also happened to be my closest friend. A year after his passing got the first R&R on a paper without his name on it. All sorts of mixed emotions here. Keep the good ones in your life close and never take them for granted.

Twilight Zone’s “Night of the Meek” is still very above average holiday viewing. It’s hokey of course. But Art Carney’s dept store speech…

R.I.P. Joe Ely. Texas’s musicians are the mirror opposite of its politicians: gifts to the world instead of…something else.

The comments in this thread are interesting. I’m reminded of the demonstrations against Milosevic in Serbia. Yes many of the demonstrators were from various segments of the “Right.” Opposition coalitions can be strange and sadly unstable and conflictual.

More and more people are questioning the president's troubling cognitive state. This isn't likely to change.

🚨🚨 job alert time 🚨🚨 @unibremen.bsky.social 3 PhD positions within the 3rd phase of the @sfb1342.bsky.social, with a focus on computational methods and/or on protest mobilization, specifically with a focus on Africa. Starting time: early 2026, deadline: 14th of January. more info below:

Not a suggestion or a recommendation for red state faculty, but grade inflation is almost certainly going to be off the charts going forward. What the consequences of that will be, well…the sky’s the limit here.

Thinking a lot about my late best friend as one does during holiday seasons. He was very good at the craft of arguing. By that I mean, when you know you’re beat, you also walk away wiser and better, not bitter. And you try to pass that down in discourse to others.

I live in Texas and I was asked to verify my age on BlueSky today for the first time ever. Methinks there’s a bigger story here perhaps.

Unambiguous unhinged madness.

Shoutout to everyone whose regular depression is smacked head on by holiday season depression. You are very much in good company.

the first and only impeachment proceeding against a supreme court justice was over excessive partisanship fyi

"Canada Plans to Fast-Track Immigration for US H1-B Visa Holders in New Talent Drive" ☹️ share.google/WtKFYfJNhfye...

PhD opportunity at the University of Oxford. The Morelli scholarship funds a doctoral student to work with me on on democratic backsliding, strategies of democratic defense and regeneration, or the rise of illiberalism. Deadline Jan 9. More information at users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0073/

🚨 3-Year Postdoc in Political Science at Aarhus University 🚨 I’m seeking to recruit a postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu research project 𝑬𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑴 on state-citizen interactions. Link and more information in second post. Position Start: Fall 2026 Application Deadline: ‼️ February 5, 2026, 23:59 CET ‼️

That as many as 6 SCOTUS justices apparently don’t understand what this absolutely crystal clear statement means is almost impossible to fathom. Unless…just unless, they’re abrogating the duties they swore on. But that would just be silly.

Hoping Welcome to Derry E7 lives up to the hype tonight.

Red state public universities, once powerhouses to rightfully be proud of, are systematically being murdered.

Sign of the times at my local pharmacy. #Texas

Can’t help thinking that lawyers who specialize in “wrongful termination” suits are going to be having a field day with red state universities soon.

Soviet level stuff here.

I’m hiring a full-time predoc for 2026-2027! Please encourage your quant-minded students with strong interests in American politics to apply. They’ll be part of our vibrant community of CSAP/Tobin predocs who take PhD courses, present OG/collab research, & more. tobin.yale.edu/opportunitie...

🚨 Applications are open for the 2026–27 Good Authority Fellowship! 🚨 Political scientists passionate about public engagement will receive a $2,500 stipend and mentorship in writing for broad audiences. Apply by Jan 9, 2026, 5pm PT. Apply at the link👇 goodauthority.org/news/announc...

Webinar invitations. Please make them stop.

This could be the start of something great: the return of bell bottoms, huge porn star mustaches, leisure suits, and body odor.

Yikes.

Might repost this on Facebook and gently tell the poor souls there that this isn’t how the weather actually works.

We're looking for a colleague (postdoc) 📢 @politikuhh.bsky.social 3+3 years Doing your own research while teaching 2.5 courses per semester Research agenda with links to our team (democracy, digital politics, political competition/behaviour) DL 🗓️ 05/01 stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/6...

When I peek back on FB on occasion and navigate the sludge of AI slop that pretty much defines the place now, it’s absolutely clear that most users there have no idea what AI even is.

Circular firing squads within the military are yet another feature of authoritarianism. Posted apropo of nothing.

Once again: this is not something that "threatens" academic freedom, though it will doubtless be reported that way. This is only possible where academic freedom has already ended.

Paine’s of Maine always gives me joy.

“Stay away from old Mrs. Casey if you go down by the water! She’ll hex ye!”

Academia, at least red state academia, is about to see grade inflation that defies anything ever observed in the history of academia in this country.