This is a good essay. It takes everyone in good faith and its conclusions feel right to me. I especially like the reminder that we are not pundits and seeing ourselves as people with grand answers is not necessarily, and not necessarily even helpful, in guiding us toward helpful resistance.

We all deserve better than RFK Jr. Great piece from @gregggonsalves.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Chilling example of the abuse of government power A MAGA Warrior Is Rifling Through Your Mortgage Paperwork talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-mag...

It's hard to overstate how bad this is for the entire US scientific enterprise. Replacing expertise with ideology. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The White House is taking new steps to undermine every international student at our universities. It has approved a new rule restricting student visas to 4 years max. That's not long enough for PhD students, or about half of undergrads, to finish their degree. Likely to enter force within days.

Editorial: Indiana University, Ball State and Purdue are gutted without logic or thought www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/07/e...

Essential reading for anyone who cares about higher education and the media’s role in its dismantling. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

COYS!!

I can usually see at least a tenuous connection to what I actually do, but this journal solicitation has me genuinely stumped. “Air, Soil and Water Research is interested in your work”

🚨I converted the list of terminated #NIH grants (as of 3/22) into a google sheet. I added activity codes and award jurisdictions (see tabs for grant count and $ by each). Note this HHS list likely does not include all planned/completed terminations as of this date.🚨 Please use, share and distribute!

I weep for my Alma Mater. And I fully expect this will not protect them from future coercion. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...

A key step in fighting the Trump admin's attacks on higher education specifically and democracy more broadly is to say as clearly as we can that we share values that are meaningful and that we will not stand by while our institutions are destroyed. You can do that here: bit.ly/DemocracyAndHigherEd

The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between hard left, left and moderate. It’s between those who want to fight and those who want to cave. And Team Fight stretches across all ideological aspects of the Party. Misread this at your own peril.

Bit confused… Not sure how tariffs are supposed to generate massive national wealth if we keep, ya know, not applying them.

Kevin Drum, a blogger I've been following for more than 20 years, died on Friday. I counted on his thoughtful perspectives and level-headed skepticism, always firmly grounded in data. I'll miss him tremendously. jabberwocking.com/health-updat...

Sneak peak at upcoming Trump executive orders. youtu.be/zYjlZVNFjiI

Whatever Trump and Musk are doing, it's not about improving efficiency. It's about destroying government in order to privatize its functions and garner more wealth. Don't let the GOP claim otherwise. Requiem for 18F open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

Just re-watched "The King's Speech - what a great movie - and was struck by this passage from the actual 1939 speech: 1/3

Wow. @cbsnews.com Sunday Morning's "analysis" of Friday's Oval Office meeting was one interview with a conservative author? That's it?!! www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-...

No Republican in Congress should be allowed the claim to be “pro-life” ever again. This is a disgrace. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cdc-s...

Brilliant but devastating editorial in the Financial Times. “In the past 10 days, he [Trump] has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. If you are not at the table, you are on the menu. America has turned.”

So, this is the administration's Title IX playbook: use whatever willing federal agency gives substantial research funding to sue the university. They're making Janet Mills an example. I hope this turns out to be a costly mistake for USDA. #academicsky www.pressherald.com/2025/02/22/u...

it's not hyperbolic to say we're witnessing a coup.

Listen up, Democrats! Oppose, Oppose, Oppose — and Do It Loudly open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

[In my best John Mullaney voice] "Because *that's* what needed fixing in the [federal government]" abcnews.go.com/US/federal-e...

Unbelievable

NPR's All Things Considered: "As the debate continues about what...Elon Musk intended when he made straight-arm gestures at an inauguration event..." The story's tone was generally 'he said/she said' and omitted Musk's far-right political sympathies. We know what we saw, NPR, and so should you.

On the docket for today is work on a NIH grant proposal for the Feb. 5 deadline. Wondering whether there's any point...

Before you feel too sorry for this character, you should know that he was just outside and asked to come in. Don’t be fooled by his attempts at emotional manipulation.

As I might have foreseen, my purchase of a big-ass two stage snow blower ensured that we got [checks notes] NONE of the 3-6” of snow that were forecast.

Just saw a good piece on the life of Jimmy Carter on CBS Sunday Morning. Not an original thought, but as a society we don't do nuance and complexity very well, and it's not healthy for our politics or well-being.

Canceled our Post subscription after the spiked presidential endorsement, and now don’t plan to return. I no longer trust the Post (or NYT), and I’m really hoping sustainable alternative models for good journalism rise in their place.

After the endless sneering at IU’s inclusion in the CFP, I’m really looking forward to the sports cognoscenti discussing the fact that all four top-seeded teams lost in the second round.

In daylight the stars wait. Soon the winter dusk will prove them true. Let the early darkness call to you, bereft or grateful, lost or found, betrayed or saved. Dark proves light, loneliness proves the love we seek. At the year's turning, let the love in you draw others near.

Happy Boxing Day Premier League binge to all who celebrate.

There was a new toy, but it’s already been mutilated out of existence. Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

No dog in this fight, but VAR overturning that beautiful Forest goal is a complete farce.

Columbia tops Cornell 17-9 to earn share of Ivy League title for first time since 1961 As Columbia alums from the ‘80s sense a massive disturbance in the force.

This is so important. Few moved right. They just seemed to because so few Dems showed up that proportionally speaking it *looked* like they moved right. What matters is that people completely moved away from politics and voting. People are feeling helpless, and cynical. And for many good reasons.

Any updates on WaPo subscriptions? Are people migrating back, or are they still down?

Roxanne Gay making sense. “Mr. Trump’s voters are granted a level of care and coddling that defies credulity and that is afforded to no other voting bloc…We must refuse to accept that the ignorance on display is a congenital condition rather than a choice.”

Utterly & devastatingly clear- Timothy Snyder. Cuts to the core of our situation, pulls no punches. open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Fascism. In many ways we’re already there. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

From Heather Cox Richardson today: [Timothy] Snyder’s “On Tyranny” reads. “In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

The great @polgreen.bsky.social today on the real dangers that Trump presents. He's not "weird"--he's a dangerous demagogue who is promoting vile, racist ideas and policies. He makes George Wallace look like Shirley Temple. www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/o...

This is a @nytimes.com, @washingtonpost.com fail. Not newsworthy? Just flip the script: if Harris (or Biden) had said any of this, it would be. This is a choice that publishers and editors are making. H/T @msignorile.bsky.social

Listening to a recording of Billy Joel’s last residency concert from Madison Square Garden. He’s f*cking singing “Nessun Dorma!”