Blueskis, studies have shown that when folks see or hear about a book more than five times, they are likely to check it out, and buy it. So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!

We now have a full-blown European-American crisis, and for no reason that the president is able to articulate

Today is National Thesaurus Day. Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.

DOJ investigating whether Denmark lied on its Greenland mortgage.

Nice thing about Minneapolis being kinda small is that it’s hard to convince us protesters are being paid because you’d go out and oh there’s that kid from my high school who played Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha one year, and is that the pharmacist at my CVS over there, and there goes our realtor

1) I have a new piece in the @lseinequalities.bsky.social blog today. Here I'm responding to the many who have suggested that all objections to inequality come from envy of the rich and "successful."

Not a humble brag (ok, maybe a little), but if somebody wants the chapter I wrote from this very expensive Oxford Handbook, please send me an email. This is not the best figure, but I promise the others are worth it! Transitional Justice and Elite Polarization url: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

There is little coherent thought animating the Trump administration, just a president motivated by his psychological urges (and greed) and a bunch of other key actors (Vance, Rubio, Miller, etc.) pursuing their own pet agendas. 2/2

I don't think we should over index Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" comments & infer that he favors a great-power-spheres-of-influence world. He's not that consistent. A few months ago he claimed to have brokered an Armenia-Azerbaijan deal, cutting out Russia. 1/2

Sopranos bustout episode

The Incas had ritual human sacrifice. We have Pop-Tart self-immolation and cannibalism.

Technically, ‘should of’ is ‘should have,’ but we’re all about showing grace in the new year.

The USC-Notre Dame rivalry may be ending, but we'll always have that weird bowl game they played on Christmas Eve in Die Hard... bit.ly/3NhIf0j

Whereas this student is being empowered for making vague and unsubstantiated references to Biblical authority, I was once placed on TPUSA's Professor Watchlist for specifically citing Biblical authority in a paper outlining the Bible's concerns about concentrated wealth. You can't win.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “I had just let the whole thing wash over me. I marveled at what a good story the truth could make in the right hands,” the author Stephen King writes about seeing “Stand by Me,” Rob Reiner’s adaptation of King's novella “The Body.”

Joe Ely has died at 78. A singer-songwriter at the forefront of alt-country, he earned the nickname Lord of the Highway thanks to tireless touring.

Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama. Us: Across your entire career? Reiner: In a 6 year period. Us: That sounds- Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.

Lastly, we get to ‘Donner’ and ‘Blitzen.’ ‘Donner’ was originally ‘Donder,’ which is Standard Dutch meaning “thunder.” ‘Blitzen’ comes from the Standard Dutch ‘bliksem,’ which means “lightning.” We've always thought these two were the bad boys of the sleigh.

The fact that 12% of federal judges are Black shows the corruption of DEI. The fact that 67% of Supreme Court Justices belong to a small legal cult called the Federalist Society shows the power of meritocracy.

Putin is the Hyacinth Bucket of great power leaders: it's all about keeping up appearances. Russia's a great power only to the extent that it can persuade others it is, because there's very little material basis for its pretensions to great power status. That's why Trump's deference is so important.

I used to feel bad for the aunt cleaning up while everyone else talked but now I know she just wanted to be alone

"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Happy Thanksgiving

Many men feel the stripper really likes them. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something

This showed up in the other place. I'm amused!

It's increasingly clear that these people portray immigrants, LGBT folks, and trans people as creepy predators who prey on women and children because they themselves are creepy predators who prety on women and children.

‘Father’ and ‘dad’ are synonyms. ‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms. But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…

Looks like Kim Davis is gonna have to go back to tying James Caan to the bed during a snowstorm now.

Generally, when a party is trying to appeal to a new cohort of voters, they don’t send masked men to publicly kidnap and disappear thousands of members of that cohort.

"Within a seminar series, women are interrupted more than men... Interruptions that are negative in tenor or tone, or cutoff the presenter mid-sentence, increase for women presenters"

Over the past year people have come to me & other Hungarians to ask what a slide into authoritarianism will look like. Well, our wisdom stops here - in 15 years Orban hasn't openly ordered the government to pay him a bribe (or used the Hungarian military against cities, for that matter).

Did a new one

the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist

Madison. WI:

Portland, OR, 2025

nothing from George Orwell or Terry Gilliam rivals the horror that is today's LinkedIn copy

Argentina edition of Libertarian bible

Working on a dissertation in American political behavior and need money for survey research? Apply for a grant worth up to $15,000 from the Rapoport Family Foundation. They’re planning on awarding up to 15 grants this cycle. Deadline Oct. 22. www.rapoportfamilyfoundation.com/phdgrant

Some good work by the Texas Tribune about the erosion of academic freedom at Texas Tech. Hot on the heels of our incoming chancellor appearing at at TPUSA rally held in town recently. As they like to say, From Here It's Possible.

Mars was the Roman god of war. That’s why we say ‘martial arts,' ‘martial law,' and 'court martial.' Marshall was the Roman god of designer fashion at discount prices. That’s why we have Marshall’s.

If you were on Sarah Palin's Alaskan porch yesterday, you might have looked up and gotten an entirely new view of Russia. meduza.io/en/news/2025...

Yes

Part of the Texas Tech system.

I know antifa isn't a real organization because I don't get 40 texts a week from them asking for donations.

Happy 21st of September 🎉….do you remember?

I am biased but I don’t think there is a better website on the internet today than TheOnion.com.

TCU's admin had some fun after the Horned Frogs dominated Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels 😅🐸