In celebration of #Caturday in these horrible days I offer you a soupçon, or perhaps a potpourri, nay verily a smorgasbørd, of my cat’s feet:

Comey v. Croneys (Gift link): The Comey Indictment Plunges the Country Into a Grave New Period www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/o...

In 2016, JD Vance mused that Trump might be "America's Hitler"

Donald Trump wants to lend $20 billion of our money to bail out a political ally and his global investors before an election. Oh, and Argentina just struck a major deal with China that crushes American soybean farmers already suffering from Trump's tariffs. “America First.”

Last day of Prague summer

It’s just still #Caturday where I am so I give you 15 minutes with this adoring and adorable face…

What’s with Russia violating Estonia’s sovereign airspace with military jets? Could have been a mIsTAkE? Russian Fighter Jets Enter Airspace of Estonia, a NATO Member www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/w...

FCC Chair Brendan Carr: “This is an important turning point.” Speechless. (Gift link.) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...

Dan Brown’s 5 Favorite Places in Prague www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/t... Relieved to see none of my favourite secret places on Mr Brown’s list

Just an extraordinary statement. We are effectively in an abusive relationship: “Why should I stop hitting you? You wouldn’t say anything nice about me even if I did!”

"A rural horror story - what happens when a couple trades a ceramic cooktop in Prague for a gas stove that must be lit in a one-pub village": @coryoldweiler.bsky.social on PLAYING WOLF by Zuzana Říhová, tr from the Czech by @alexzucker.bsky.social via ON THE SEAWALL bit.ly/4plMxCs

We should be working to abolish billionaires, and instead we are about to create the first trillionaire. Complete madness.

“Democrat-run cities”?? @nytimes.com, you are supposed to be careful and indeed pedantic about phrasing—why are you adopting Tr*mpisms??

“There are reasons to hope Mr. Trump will fail to subvert next year’s midterms.” That’s the optimistic part of this article. Trump’s Stunning Power Grab on Elections www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

This is horrible. Attacks on the humanities are another way to destroy our future. Now is when we need the humanities the most.

I am unpacking my library. Yes, I am.

Oh, honey…

Well, that would disenfranchise me

I… I… I… … love it

Excellent essay (gift link): The Fundamental Truth About U.S. Strategy That Putin Knows and Trump Ignores www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/o...

This cannot be real but almost surely is

I did my PhD in Comp. Lit. at UChicago. The environment of seriousness and interdisciplinary curiosity there has remained an inspiration to me. Feeling now gutted and, frankly, betrayed

Sorry but this can’t wait till #Caturday

Sad that a President with an attention span of maximum two simple sentences will never read this. Can anyone make this article into a bright shiny picture, ideally containing a Big Mac? How Trump Is Undoing 80 Years of American Greatness www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

Went to Camber Sands, East Sussex, and O2 decided it was France

The Smithsonian Changes Its Description of Trump’s Role on Jan. 6 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/a...

“Honey, I amended the Constitution”

Treasure from charity shop in Rye: the iconic NYC Greek diner paper coffee cup, IN PORCELAIN 🤩

A very happy, if belated (or early?), #Caturday

Feels like part of my childhood and upbringing being torn out and thrown away, for no good reason

“A shift in the administration’s position from one that had downplayed the threat of global warming to one that essentially flatly denies the overwhelming evidence of climate change.” In Game-Changing Climate Rollback, E.P.A. Aims to Kill a Bedrock Scientific Finding www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/c...

Worth reading (the article, not the book):

A very happy #Caturday to all

(No paywall) I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

'The number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is set to fall by 60 per cent when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year, new figures show.' 1/3

No paywall: Canceling Stephen Colbert Isn’t Funny www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Why Colbert's cancellation marks a dangerous new stage for the culture at large

"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it" @hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000 www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

'This is the most engaging depiction ever made of a mighty battle....These deceptively simple, hand-stitched drawings pull you into a narrative of friendship and betrayal, vengeance and despair, unlocking unfiltered feelings and showing you war as both glorious exploit and futile carnage.'

This is a wonderful piece, and expresses much more eloquently than I could much of what I have also experienced as an American living abroad (except for the baseball comment)!

Absolutely thrilled to announce that from August 1st I will take up the position of Director of #NYU Prague!

Reminder that Michael Rosen (Harvard) and I are teaching: Meisterkurs: Accountability and Power | 21. - 25. July 2025 at the Humboldt University Berlin. No registration fee. If you are interested in attending please enrol by following instructions here. www.philosophie.hu-berlin.de/de/institut/...

I really never imagined @nytimes.com could sink this low. For shame—

Published today! My book on play and seriousness. “… explodes all academic frames and expectations.” Emmanuel Carrère @manchesterup.bsky.social manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177766/

The doctor will see you now

Delighted to announce that I have been promoted to Professor of Czech and Comparative Literature. Many thanks to all who have supported me in this process!

Prague out in full glory last night:

21 June 1899 | Czech Jewish composer Pavel Haas was born. Student of Leoš Janáček. Among his notable works are song cycles & string quartets. In 1941 he was imprisoned in #Theresienstadt Ghetto where he also composed. Pavel Haas was murdered in #Auschwitz on 17 October 1944.