Govt: Tariffs are not revenue-raising. Best tariffs would never raise revenue because Americans would just stop buying foreign goods. Sotomayor: then why not just ban the imports, which govt clearly has the authority to do? 🤣

Says a lot when a self-promoting hack like Rick Grenell refuses to do interviews.

Tomorrow I'll be adding Frankenstein to the short list of movies I've seen on the big screen since Covid. The others are Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Poor Things. Cellphones in theaters have kept me away. Sad.

Rick Grenell and Bari Weiss - proof that being gay is no barrier to incompetence wapo.st/4oSB7VX

Just discovered these. They're very good.

For some reason I was reminded of this: youtu.be/gVfaf43W9cM?...

Just got to hear Gustavo Dudamel conduct Mahler's Resurrection symphony. Here's my favorite performance of my favorite part. Janet Baker mezzo, Bernstein conducting. youtu.be/K6MRfaA4n78?...

The great flapjack debate in which I feel deeply invested

9/ I had launch with Paulina Borsook last month in Oakland. Her life is hard, but she still has a lot to say! She's trying to raise funds to get a new version of the book reissued on the Internet Archive. Some of her friends have a running GoFundMe to support her: www.gofundme.com/f/support-fo...

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

Shanah Tovah! youtu.be/0YONAP39jVE?...

I have questions: 1. Could Harris not afford a better editor? 2. Which is more satisfying: throwing Biden under the school bus then or now? 3. When she says the White House does she means Donilon, Dunn or Jill? 4. Is she running?

Playing this in class tomorrow. We've been talking about the gilded age and reading Robert Putnam's The Upswing. Mamdani's name had come up, so this ties things together nicely.

Despite the ridiculous opening, I'm optimistic about this season of #gbbo.

I'm rereading Brideshead Revisited and honestly, the perfection of that man's prose is just staggering.

Spent 3/4 of yesterday's Academic Senate meeting discussing university policies on what to do if federal agents enter campus. Fun times!

Don't know much about Gov Ferguson but listening to this press conference he really reads mensch.

How could you be a linesman and not have night cravings for Battenburg cake.

Love getting reader reviews on an article submitted a year ago then 2 weeks to resubmit with substantial changes! Sorry students!

I don't get it. Alex Lee applauds Texas Dems but doesn't support midterm redistricting in CA. Yes, Alex, we get it. It's bad. But so is fascism. You don't resist authoritarian destruction of democracy by playing by the rules when they ignore them. abc7news.com/post/governo...

Such self-sabotage on such a massive scale. Mind-boggling. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

I wrote something about #Taiwan and #Palestine

There’s an interesting reluctance to actually mention what it was the KMT did to trigger the recalls in international reporting so far—again, carrying out the largest set of budget cuts in history, which nobody asked for. Expanding legislative power in a means that prompted fears

Supporting the movement happening in Taiwan now. #大罷免 #台灣 #ElectoralRecall #Taiwan #Democracy #MotionGraphics #GraphicDesign

Critical recall effort in Taiwan happening this weekend. Graphic motion piece created by @fredchichih.bsky.social in support of the recall effort.

Du Bois on what these assholes were really like

Even The Guilded Age is moving to England: deadline.com/2025/07/the-...

Been seeking an answer to this question: is the Supreme Court all in on unitary executive theory for genuinely held philosophical reasons, or because it is the best route to advancing conservative goals? This excellent article by petermshane.bsky.social goes some way to answering that question.

Professor John Caravello has been located and we have connected with his family. We are working on getting him legal support. Thank you to everyone who has helped in this search, we will keep you posted on the process and bring John home. #ICEOutOfLA

The number of unhappy business students I've met who just never got the guidance or support to explore options better suited to their character and talents is staggering and tragic. Every one I meet who eventually escapes is a kind of minor victory.

To support bail and legal fees please scan the QR code below or find @SLOBailFund on Venmo.

Our wee potted olive tree has olives

One of my colleagues and a union comrade was abducted at the Camarillo action yesterday. We still don't know where he is, who is holding them, or any other information about his status. If you're in the area, please reach out to the folks listed in the press release and donate to the bail fund.

Anyone read this and have any thoughts? I'm teaching it next semester in a class on democracy that is also a workshop on civic conversation and engaging across political differences. I'm finding it a fascinating read (not least in the wake of what has happened to New College Florida)

An undergraduate student - reasonably intelligent guy, curious, a history major - recently asked me in all innocence, "So what is climate change?" What is going on in schools that climate change is a concept he's heard of but cannot begin to define or explain? Genuinely want to know.

Los Angeles 7.7.2025

“Conceived by a Kansas farmer and created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Food for Peace has sent burlap sacks of grain stamped “From the American People” to more than four billion people in 150 countries around the world. Now it is effectively dead.”

Boycott Etsy Etsy Allowing Alligator Alcatraz merchandise on their site Shameful and Infuriating

Someone needs to build a personality test where the answers are one of the Mitford Sisters. I suspect I'm a Nancy, with some Jessica and Pamela in the mix.

Just returned from a month in Taiwan, a sane, decent society with great public transport and an enviable healthcare system. A society worth defending 🌻

Reasons to love Taiwan: a rainy day in Alishan

Yangminshan National Park outside Taipei at the height of hydrangea flowering season #Taiwan

Reasons to love Taiwan #3

Reasons to love Taiwan #2

Goddammit www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Reasons to love Taipei #1

On a musty dog‐eared twentieth century British novel kick atm. This is the latest:

Just got my shingles, Covid and pneumonia shots. Streaming movie recommendations welcome!

"I’d wonder whom exactly it serves to make a generation of young people sick, weak, and incapable of doing the most basic research or reflection on their own."