Wise words from @cbo.bsky.social re #AI and research: We should insist that researchers disclose their use of automated tools, that they are responsible for the veracity of their findings, that credit and accountability belong to people rather than to systems…”

It is 103 and feels like 111 degrees right now in Central NJ. I sure as hell feel like talking about climate change right about now.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws banning transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, the latest in multiple rulings against transgender Americans from the court's Republican-appointed majority.

Asheville bookstore sues SC Corrections for destroying their books

Foreign Policy's paywall is down all this week, so here's some pieces I think stand out of late. First up is this excellent breakdown of the geography of the Iran war, and why it gives Iran such an advantage. foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/23/i...

Pretty sure this is the first award issued for Bluesky posting 🎉

Sorry but this is some sick shit

And what does *medieval* history have to do w/ it? Doing the history of the pre-modern past requires training in languages, text-criticism, often quantitative & computing skills. And what are the disciplines being killed off at universities around the world? Those very same fields! #MedievalSky

Angry goose voice: And what do the humanities have to do with it? What? What exactly?

Jesus

Tremendous support from across various segments of our society--businesses, public figures, MPs, & even a former archbishop of Canterbury--against the UNNECESSARY cutting of humanities, arts & social sciences @exeter.ac.uk #DefendExeterUni @exeterucu.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I am not opposed to people leaving because that is what they want to do for their own well-being and have means to do so, BUT the problem with higher ed IS senior management & the millions they are scraping up top & investing in their stock portfolios with unnecessary expenses. #DefendExeterUni

Native people have been left out of the story of America's founding. But without us, you don't know what really happened. I sat down with @the1a.org to talk about my new podcast FIRST AMERICA. Listen here: the1a.org/segments/the...

In related news, the Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus project in Munich has just released its latest call for visiting fellowships: ptolemaeus.badw.de/jobs Applications due by September 4th, for 1-3 month projects to be undertaken between January and November 2027. #HistSTM #HistAstro #MedievalSky

Calling all history of astronomy nerds, the latest open-access book from the Alfonsine Tables project is now available, featuring late medieval tables from Central Europe - Jan of Głogów, Albert of Brudzewo, Johannes Schöner, & many more: 🌞🌒🪐 www.brepols.net/products/IS-... #HistSTM @brepols.net

This is my lane. I went through the 194 Trump v Barbara opinion from yesterday section by section, noting what they got right about US migration and citizenship history, and what the dissents get wrong. Please share if you think it is helpful to others.

Two years ago, my colleagues and I were sued by Stephen Miller's America First Legal. The Hines v Stamos case — built atop a number of false allegations — was a central element of the "censorship industrial complex" myth. Today, that case was dismissed (by a Trump judge in LA). We won.

Flu shots expired yesterday as US officials confirm a recruit died from the flu at Lackland Air Force Base. New doses aren't expected until August or September. But you know what might help in times like these? mRNA flu shots! youtube.com/shorts/eVek0...

Gonna take "febrile and mutinous" as my new motto.

"In excess of 21,000 people .. have signed a petition railing against the proposed redundancies at Exeter, which are expected to disproportionately fall on the humanities, arts and social sciences for which the highly ranked Russell Group university is famed." www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The public historian, author and creator of the You’re Dead to Me podcast Greg Jenner warned…”The arts and humanities are fundamental to the flourishing of our society; knowledge gathering, critical thinking and creativity should be defended as sacred things.”

Here’s what you should know about the historic heat wave headed our way. Especially if you’re (hypothetically) having your wedding at MSG this weekend.

I love it when readers ask their public or academic libraries to order my book so they and hopefully many others can read.

Very cool. Summary from Sigma Xi newsletter: "DNA from a 190-year-old pangolin has differentiated the species Manis aurita, which lives in Nepal and northern India, from the Chinese pangolin. The two species also have distinct size, tail length and ear shape." www.nature.com/articles/s42...

That's why you have "final", "final final", "final final final", "final revised", "final final revised v2", and "final final revised v2_kga" appended to "manuscript.docx". Everyone knows that. Though, some of us discovered ISO8601 a long time ago... 😇

From the Arizona Republic this morning: "Questions about Rep. Paul Gosar's health are getting harder to ignore as Washington faces a reckoning over the age and ability of elected officials." www.azcentral.com/story/news/p...

And read this as well: bsky.app/profile/cdel...

Please join this campaign, too! bsky.app/profile/greg...

Today, the SUNY University Faculty Senate Executive Committee approved this urgent call to action. Please share widely. It includes the most current and comprehensive compendium of opposition to OMB’s proposed rule attacking research for the public good we could compile. hdl.handle.net/1951/89039

Justice Brown Jackson's argument for birthright citizenship is very moving. I recommend reading it in full. An excerpt with alt-text below. “The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery.” — KBJ

🌿📚 More than 64 million pages of biodiversity knowledge are freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library. As funding challenges put its future at risk, the Internet Archive is proud to help preserve this invaluable resource. 🌎 Learn more 👇 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

VICTORY: We just beat Trump to defend billions in federal funding to fight homelessness. While states grapple with the housing crisis, this win ensures Trump can’t stand in the way of our work to help our residents achieve stability and opportunity. Everyone deserves to live with dignity.

Two Latin words for today. Learn them & you'll find you have some new pep in your step: *Damnatio memoriae*. And they mean pretty much what they look like: the damnation of the memory of evil-doers, literally rubbing their names out of history, permanently denying them any claim to continue harm.

which the amici mention some of on early republic/ antebellum migration which is an emerging field of US history. To that field my book Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship belongs. I have no audience with federal judges or SCOTUS, I can only inform you, readers, on why they're wrong.

Pg. 10 of Alito's dissent in Trump v Barbara. "in the yrs before Civil War--and indeed many years thereafter...During that period, immigration was unrestricted , so aliens could come and stay as long as they wanted." There is a whole ass literature...1/

www.ft.com/content/5032... 2/2

My latest for @hyperallergic.com is a new study which found DNA preserved in Paleolithic wall pigments in caves in Spain & Portugal 🎨 Art is an archive! Thanks so much to Dr. @monicamedhist.bsky.social for speaking to me about the present and future of paleogenetics. Thanks for reading!

Two Important articles dissecting the situation here and beyond for higher ed, including the problem with consultants @exeter.ac.uk @exeterucu.bsky.social #DefendExeterUni www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... 1/2

"Thus, the rulers of Venice pulled off a peculiar trick, both publicly erasing Faliero’s memory and solidifying the memory of the preservation of the republic. It’s a trick, if things go well, that Americans are going to have to learn as well."

ICYMI, Canada also rejected 50% of all visa applications for the World Cup. For Kenya the rejection rate was 91%, for the DRC it was 96%. About 4300 applications were filed in African countries and rounding up a visa application fee of USD 200 that’s just under 1 million dollars netted by Canada.

Independent agencies set standards that keep us safe across a wide range of areas. Imagine Trump’s friends want to market an unsafe product - for children, for elders, in construction. And the Consumer Products Safety Commn is run by Trump cronies who will approve whatever he wants.

“. . . it’s not just that most academic writing doesn’t earn you anything—most of the time, it costs you.”

Well, what do you know. The Renaissance Society of America has created a prize parallel to the one the Medieval Academy created several years ago, to "demonstrate the relevance of Renaissance studies (1300-1700) to our contemporary world." Interesting! cc: @medievalacademy.bsky.social

An odious piece by Matthew Vines. As a gay Christian, he has no fellow-feeling for anyone but the G in the LGBTQ community. It's a gospel of selfishness--I've got mine and the rest of you: I want nothing to do with you. We fought for your rights you sad, little man. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...

this

From a colleague @exeter.ac.uk @exeterucu.bsky.social . Read that carefully in terms of cash reserves of the uni & how much they have increased over the last few years, entirely thanks to some serious surpluses (which resulted in upper management taking bonuses one year while staff got cuts)

Three firefighters – Emily Barker, 38; Nick Hutcherson, 27; and Sydney Watson, 27 – died battling a wildfire in Colorado, according to the US Department of Interior. https://cnn.it/4g7VNbj

Morocco wins