Monkey's paw theory: Italy has been cursed by the crimes against fair play committed the last time they were in the World Cup.

maybe my favorite thing on the internet: neal.fun/deep-sea/

How to Win a Trade War, in sea shanty form... I'm posting this today because @barnesandnoble.com has a special 25% off deal on pre-orders with the code PREORDER25. Deal runs until tomorrow, so pre-order How to Win a Trade War now! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-win... #BNPreorder

"Mr. Brightside"

Also "Allah" is just the generic Arabic for "God." It's a declaration of broad monotheism - "There is no god but God" - that people like Timothy always want to sound more alien to Christian or Jewish expressions than it is.

friend, this is Marcus Junius Brutus CAESAR has declared himself DICTATOR FOR LIFE and MUST BE STOPPED can you rush a donation of ten denarii today to show that you STAND WITH THE REPUBLIC?

Sticker on top of dive bar toilet, New Orleans

Habermas dead. Arguably outlived the public sphere. apnews.com/article/juer...

We are living through an era of imperial polycrisis much like the one Smith tried to make sense of. Here at @uofgsocsci.bsky.social, our program of conferences, exhibits and interactive experiences on “The World in 1776/2026” begins in June: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...

250 years ago today, Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a proto-libertarian paean to free markets, but a blistering critique of vested interests, corporate power and the British Empire. Some favorite bits:

250 years ago today, Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a proto-libertarian paean to free markets, but a blistering critique of vested interests, corporate power and the British Empire. Some favorite bits:

Happy International Women's Day to the original International Woman

Odysseus had his crew lash him to the mast to keep him from doing an interview with Chotiner.

"Government goes to war by deleting the risks section of the pro-con intelligence analysis" is literally the plot of In The Loop.

"I had to punch that guy because I could tell he was going to hit me back once we jumped him" is just a description of jumping a guy

When assessing threats from fascism, the most important thing is not to assess how ridiculous those threats seem, but to assess the scale of the resources - both military and financial - that the fascists can use to carry out those threats. What seems ridiculous today can be executed tomorrow.

posting, once again, the well-established definition of the crime of aggression in the rome statute for the ICC

UK followers: I'll be on BBC News sometime between 4:30 and 5pm talking tariffs that were, tariffs that are, and tariffs to come.

The opera AU fan fiction where Rigoletto and Figaro are lads on tour in Egypt and meet Aida who is besties with Madama Butterfly is maybe of niche interest but it is so my niche. God bless the Italians for this gift. #milanocortina2026

Will I make it past the montage scored to "Con Te Partiro" without tearing up? No, no I will not. #milanocortina2026

Gotta put a crash test dummy in a bobsled and push it down the hill so we can get a better sense of what exactly the bobsledders are doing besides hanging on.

I made a bingo card for the tariff press conference

Kaori still a goddess. Absolutely breaking me to see her devastated by this result, even though *she* and the model she set is the reason there are so many greats today.

Well whoever wins women's gold figure skating singles is atop an actual pile of the best athletes and top performances the sport has ever seen in one place. Fantastic stuff.

I have so much trauma still from the men's that I am half looking away during the big jumps, but so far, so good.

Every year of UCU elections, I point out the voter turnout rate. Every year, it is like 12-14% of all eligible members who vote. Every year, I see people talk about how out of touch and frankly bonkers the decisions of the national union exec is. Every year, I explain that these are all connected.

This came across to me powerfully in the fall, when I saw the UK tour of Hamilton, a show I last saw during Trump's first term. This time, in the shadow of January 6th, it was Washington's Farewell that brought me to tears. He taught us how to say goodbye, but some of us did not learn.

Mughal Emperor Humayun, one of the most powerful men in the world, got startled by the call to prayer while carrying a stack of books in his library, fell down a staircase and died from his injuries.

Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and allies say

In the all important category of "their dance made me cry," Canada's Gilles/Poirier way above the rest of the field, whatever the technical scores say. #milanocortina2026

"You've got to be taught, before it's too late, before you are six or seven or eight, to hate all the people your relatives hate. You've got to be carefully taught." - Oscar Hammerstein II, 1949.

Kaori Sakamoto skating to Edith Piaf has healed my soul. An absolute goddess we are lucky to share the planet with.

the magic of the Muppets is that there are two fourth walls. they constantly break the one that reminds the audience they are performers. they NEVER break the one that reminds the audience they are puppets. this dynamic is the key to their entire comedy style

Winter Olympics also do the artistic elements of some sports better. All figure skaters skate to music and are scored for both technical and creative elements. In gymnastics floor routines in the summer games, by contrast, only the women tumble to music and get marked for their artistry.

Milano-Cortina: excellent opening ceremony overall but particularly stunning for its dance segments, which were the best I can remember. Hivemind, is there a list of the choreographers?

My brain read this passage aloud to me in the tone of voice of Bilbo Baggins trading riddles with Gollum in the cave, for some reason.

In 2022, I proposed a course @uofgsocsci.bsky.social on the politics of pop culture in which polisci undergrads would make art in lieu of a final exam. Tonight I saw a former student on that course, still an undergrad, smash the lead role on a semi-professional stage.

Meanwhile Pedro Sanchez, governing without a majority for the best part of a decade, is still there, nailing his colours to the mast www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/o...

If you teach young people, you know that many 90s trends are back. But I almost didn't believe the person who told me this is a debut video from a *new* band, so much does it sound (in a good way) like the guitar band music of my own youth. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErA...

Now: Bruce Springsteen sings “Streets of Minneapolis” in Minneapolis

I was invited to give a talk in the community last night on Trump's second-term foreign policy. I thought I'd share my slides and bullet points here too.

Political science 2026: just because something sounds plausible doesn’t mean you don’t need a quasi-experimental identification strategy Actual politics 2026: a nurse with a phone is a domestic terrorist

Look at it, it's got anxiety

the most critical praxis here is to call Trump a humongous bitch ( i have a phd so this is real praxis )

The UK very noticeable in its absence here...

I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts. open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

Late to this display of remarkable (because too rare) moral and political clarity from Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey. Telling ICE to "get the fuck out" of our communities may not result in them doing so, but it matters that leaders do not normalize this reign of terror. www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

@chrislhayes.bsky.social: “A 37-year-old American citizen, the mother of a young child is dead tonight. She was shot in the face by an agent of the federal government, and that government has spent the day telling despicable lies about her.”