Is it even the dentist without Gin Blossoms?

This is a nuanced + generous conversation about "post-truth" rhetorics + rhetorics of post-truth via wider political contexts. A DREAM panel! This is the podcast version of our "afterwards" for the "Rhetoric Before and Beyond Post-Truth" collection I'm co-editing w/Scott Sundvall + Ira Allen.

We need more honest language: Theft Tech (AI) Grift Tech (crypto) Death Tech (automated weapons and military surveillance)

I got the video. We shouldn't get acclimated to this racist, edgelord shit.

And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.

Job in feminist/queer STS at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo: #STS @4sweb.bsky.social @aussts.bsky.social

This is bad. Some thoughts from a TAMU faculty member. gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

I say it nearly everyday about the rapid expansion of AI data centers and the immense extraction that is happening in the name of a failing business model but I'll say it again: REAL SICK STUFF.

Meanwhile on Facebook, a central Alabama food influencer posted photos/videos of a large anti-ICE protest last night in Jemison, AL, about 45 minutes south of Birmingham. Many folks detained there and held in city hall for processing. The local community is OUT

Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...

A new post on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies from @jsanofranchini.bsky.social, @rcmeg.bsky.social, and me: "A Year of Refusal" refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...

Great responses so far—keep ‘em coming!!

always remember:

This one time on Twitter, @lecagle.bsky.social asked ppl to link to 1 pub of theirs they loved, but maybe slipped under the radar. I got SO many good recs from that list, so I wanted to replicate it here: link to one of your pubs that you wish more people read/cited! #TeamRhetoric #AcademicSky

Dear @abigailspanberger.com, Congratulations on your historic win. Please now fix UVA, your Alma mater.

OPINION | Dick Cheney Was Practicing Politics The Right Way By Ezra Klein

The Platform Economy strikes again. OpenAI is now dependent on Amazon, who is already heavily invested in one of OpenAIs greatest competitors, Anthropic. In terms of power, Amazon just became the biggest AI player, simply by controlling dominant platforms and infrastructure. Platforms über alles!

arXiv is changing its submission rules because it's getting spammed with AI slop "research" www.404media.co/arxiv-change...

Make the obvious bullshitting of rich racist assholes not newsworthy again

Sitting around thinkin (how executive orders have cut regulations and sped up AI data center growth, how private equity firms are buying up utility companies to profit off of energy demands, and & how AI companies are building fossil fuel microgrids to fuel slopbots).

Without some hint of accountability, it seems unlikely we’ll get to that “after” scenario. The risks of GOPers defecting from Trump are clear, palpable. The risks of sticking with him… hazy, negotiable. For behaviors to change, the risks of continuing to support him would need to come into focus.

The (pedagogical) question of how does one ethically engage AI (in the classroom) is sort of like asking how does one ethically engage child labor or burning styrofoam (in the classroom).

They are also intentionally conflating machine-learning and generative AI slop to confuse and try to make GenAI seem necessary. Google Maps traffic stuff is machine learning, not GenAI, for example. Auto-correct is too. Don't let them make you lose the thread. GenAI slop is slop.

There are few things more beautiful than public demonstrations of solidarity. I just witnessed one, and it moved me deeply

fixed that for you

This Data Through Design program looks really cool. You can submit a proposal to make an art exhibition with data from NYC's open data portal. They give $900 stipends. Proposals are due November 2. datathroughdesign.com/2026

Our co-authored article on Twitter and Elon got a little shout-out in Cory Doctorow's newsletter!!! contemporaryrhetoric.com/wp-content/u... #TeamRhetoric #AcademicSky #PlatformStudies #DigitalStudies

"A Cesspool of Toxicity, Hatred, and Discrimination” is out! @jonathanscarter.bsky.social + I synthesize “free speech” paradigms via Twitter/X’s moderation practices to demonstrate that X initiates adoxastic enshittification of free speech. #TeamRhetoric #AcademicSky contemporaryrhetoric.com

“They have issues around hunger, poverty, mass unemployment – and we’re getting them to commit towards some fancy projects like using drones and AI.” @lighthousereports.com on The Tony Blair Institute, Oracle, and Larry Ellison. A fairly disturbing read archive.is/mKi7s

Crowd-sourcing: any recommendations for a student interested in pursuing a UX/technical communication/rhetorical analysis of patient portal design (in this case, MyChart)? #TeamRhetoric #TechComm #AcademicSky

Trying to promote a book in ~these times~

I was asked to write a piece about different genres/formats of “gathering” — the bookstack itself being one such example! This’ll be a fun collection to work through :)

We're hiring. It's a real needle-in-a-haystack search for an experienced teacher who can help reimagine our flagship (i.e., huge) intro course for a new era. 3/3 load. Convenient to Hollywood and Holbox. usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

I cannot believe what we are subjected to, day after day.

Preconvention half-day workshops for you. Train with excellent colleagues to be an external reviewer or work on banned books or writing studies research or AI. It’s worth coming early to #MLA26 in Toronto. www.mla.org/Events/2026-...

Here’s the final part of our four part Better Offline case against generative AI. I walk you through how there’s not enough money in the world to pay for OpenAI’s $1 trillion 4-year burn, and how retail investors are at risk as a result. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... Linktr.ee/betteroffline

Job posting: Critical Artificial Intelligence Librarian at Dartmouth College. searchjobs.dartmouth.edu/postings/83154

#HPS #STS 🗃️

First Concert: Good Charlotte, lol Best Concert: oof, how to choose….Vampire Weekend? Bilmuri? Jason Isbell? Last Concert: Blood Orange and Turnstile

Towson University's COMM department is hiring an Associate or Full Professor to join us and serve as department chair. See the link below for the call and to apply. I'm chairing this search, so I'm happy to answer any questions. Unofficial review of applications begins at the end of October.

I beg you: if you're submitting a chapter to an edited collection + the editors ask you to use a specific citational style, please do not use citation services or just copy + paste from who knows where. Sincerely, someone who has been chasing down authors' first names all weekend.

‘I can’t meet, I’m on an oil rig’: the signs it might be a romance fraud Source: www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s... #GuardianHaiku: wgx.github.io/guardian-hai...

"hey man, what are you up to today?" "tons of plans, man, busy day ahead for sure for sure" The plans:

artificial intelligence peaked with my email telling me I forgot to attach something

"If the essays speak to one another, flow logically from one to another, and/or are organized in tight thematic groupings, these qualities will also enhance your case." We in #teamrhetoric love a good edited collection. If you're developing one, this is a great brief read. (Also, send it my way!)

Colleagues: my department is hiring! Please share far and wide … psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Meta has created a super PAC to fight against AI regulation. Meta is pouring tens of millions into the American Technology Excellence Project—a super PAC built to block state-level AI regulations and boost tech-friendly candidates, Axios reports. techcrunch.com/2025/09/23/m...

My semi-annual reminders about the FIRE annual “free speech” rankings on college campuses: 1) FIRE has promoted highly punitive and restrictive positions on free speech in higher ed. They lack credibility as a source of information. 1/

New episode of Rhetoricity for the first time in a while. I talk with @kendalljoy.bsky.social about her timely and award-winning book Sensitive Rhetorics: Campus Activism and Academic Freedom! rhetoricity.libsyn.com/sensitivity-... #teamrhetoric