I’ve now read this multiple times and can’t figure out what feeling the simile is supposed to convey

This is sort of a throughline in cases of excessive force used by law enforcement. The civilian is supposed to perfectly adhere to some unwritten code of conduct; the armed professional supposedly trained for such situations is only human & must be given lattitude if they succumb to fear and rage.

the second half of Ravel's "La Valse" is to the viennese waltz what hyperpop is to pop

Something a lot of online lib types (and most nominal leftists, lbr) fail to understand is that for a large swath of the mainstream-adjacent right, their beliefs regarding 2A rights is the thing they have spent the most time thinking deeply about and developing real opinions on.

be wary of people whose Opsec advice is "don't go anywhere or do anything unless you've spent dozens of hours and thousands of dollars taking preventative actions to protect yourself"

one of the agents said “okay we know” when we were whistling so i leaned in and whistled louder and he threatened to pepper spray me. i then said “are you scared of a fucking whistle dawg” and he very meekly said “no i’m not scared of a whistle”

“Abolish” or “defund” aren't within grasp in 2026. But where are: - End qualified immunity - Rewrite use-of-force so this crap isn't ruled “within policy” - Overturn July 8 mandatory detention memo - Reinstate TPS - Open up detention centers, enforce humane conditions He doesn’t even *ask* for it.

not sure "extremely normal-looking midde-aged woman staring defiantly at the camera" is gonna have the effect they're hoping

one lesson of the Good & Pretti shootings is “film anything you see, whether or not it looks immediately threatening and whether or not others are filming”

a lot of pathologies of the culture of contemporary philosophy are the result of holding onto the heroic singular thinker as our paradigm when that’s neither practical nor desirable

people say Gettierology is pointless but idk “just bc you got lucky doesn’t mean you knew something” seems like a lesson more people could stand to learn

I thought “Never Again” was an exhortation that nothing comparable to the Holocaust happen again but apparently it really means that by definition nothing is comparable to the Holocaust

yessss, good

i didn't really find the williamson review to be gratuitously mean (other than like two 'quips' which i don't really mind). it's basically the review i would have expected him to write. of course he thinks thomasson is ignoring all the important stuff and completely wrongheaded about methodology

"...very few of my arguments or interpretations ever receive detailed scrutiny in the literature. Occasionally, there is a short footnote which conveys that the author has reflected on my work with critical attention, but the vast majority of the citations are wholly uninformative about my work."

I think it’s cool that Moodle designed the gradebook so if I’m editing a grade and then scroll it changes the grade

this whole thing us legitimately driving me insane, the penguin is obviously marching into certain death, there’s no other way to read it as a metaphor

Tim Williamson really is the master of making metaphilosophical claims I basically agree with but doing so in the most obnoxious way possible

"We are going to create a database, a list, we're going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods know exactly who to send those pies and fruit baskets to. We are going to give these people bragging rights like you wouldn't believe. These guys aren't gonna need to buy a drink for a week."

someday I will be a tenured prof who writes a book arguing for a reorientation of my field away from a set of commitments no one has held since I was in grad school

I just had the Dan Olson video about this pop up on my YouTube, and it’s completely insane

someday I will be a tenured prof who writes a book arguing for a reorientation of my field away from a set of commitments no one has held since I was in grad school

First they came for the immigrants, and the citizens of Minneapolis said "over our dead bodies"

I think the vibes might have shifted

This is what you say on the right when you want to establish credibility.

i love when a take is stupid in a completely unexpected way

"University professors, professors emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion" also eligible

if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.

Read this beautiful commentary from Stacey Patton. substack.com/@drstaceypat...

in my professional opinion as a philosopher of language who dabbles in sociopolitical philosophy of language, I endorse “An internet debate over a term is not a matter of existential urgency.”

it’s fun that “sicko fan” does a pretty good job preserving the meaning

My guess: the DHS official thinks the term is sicko fan and this is actually an accurate transcription of a mondegreen.

tbh it’s not at all obvious to me that the blatant lying of Trump admin officials is part of some russia-style information warfare strategy. I think they might just be compulsive liars

not gonna look at the comments but I’m sure they’re all super well-informed about how bipolar can present and in no way suggest that someone’s worst manic episodes are necessarily reflective of who they really are

I believe him and all of the bipolar people who said this is what was going on with him. Whether you believe him or not, please remember he won’t see what you say about him or this illness but other bipolar people will.

wouldn't necessarily assume inside information, but weiss is a reliable weathervane because she's a pure careerist and there has been a shift.

noting again how the civil rights movement put a lot of work into searching out and publicizing the most sympathetic victims and ICE/CBP just…went and did that work for us

holy shit

I have had "a giant MALE mystical sea creature" stuck in my dome all day like I can't stop thinking it

This is clearly Trump's cry for help in getting the fuck out of Minnesota.

[stares directly into the camera]

?????????

enjoy how utterly inscrutable the etymologies of several of their idioms are gonna be to future linguists

interesting take for a Roman statue avi

interesting take for a Roman statue avi

I actually don’t think this is true? all our evidence is that Trump is really unhappy about the optics of all this

Can’t get over that Pretti’s parents yesterday woke up thinking everything was normal and by the end of the day they were watching the federal government trash their dead son.

given my impression of the hobbies of the "not really political" but vaguely right-leaning crowd who were part of Trump's coalition, I'm not sure going all in on "he had a gun" is the best move

fascinated by the sort of account that would respond the Jamelle Bouie with their theory of how Trump might subvert the elections but has apparently completely missed that this has all already been discussed