Finally my dream of spending 26 hours a day negotiating with insurance companies so I don’t die on the sidewalk outside of a hospital might become a reality

overseeing 500% or larger increases in health insurance premiums on his watch is going to run head first into this law of nature too, no matter how much he tries to blame a guy who hasn't been president for roughly a decade

He keeps going to the hospital and having various procedures that he doesn't understand and can't explain because he's extremely sound of mind and body

MTG caught a glimpse of the post-Trump era and is reaching for that brass ring

They knew that messing with Texas-Georgia was going to ruin them all

Putting the finishing touches on a federal grant application. It’s the 1 program for Astronomy that I can reliably apply to that hasn’t been discontinued; I’m guessing it’ll have a success rate of <10%. My approach has always been to limit the amount of time I spend on grants; that goes double now 🧪

“We wanted to understand the potential benefits of legal sports betting. So we interviewed 3 men currently sobbing at the television and moaning ‘I’m ruined, ruined’ in a bar in Hoboken”

People are saying it’d be the most popular and moral action of any president ever

A silver lining in the push to include generative AI in every product: I routinely get to feel like John Henry (no, I’ve never read the last page or heard the last line of the song so don’t spoil it for me)

Every Pulte story should be legally required to note his age if his picture is shown: "Bill Pulte, who is 37 years old (yes, really), ..." (oh, and definitely read this really good article.)

Yeah, this checks out, nothing suspicious. Let’s close the books on this one. Just another dog shoots man story.

All I want in a social media site is to reinforce and venerate my brilliance, intuitively understand when I'm just making an edgy joke even if it sounds like a threat, and extend no such courtesy to my perceived enemies, why is that so hard?

I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.

This is true but it's also a selection effect: the corporate lobbyists are incredibly knowledgeable about the relatively narrow areas that matter to them, congressional staff have to know (collectively) about every piece of legislation and that's a much bigger ask

Every Pulte story should be legally required to note his age if his picture is shown: "Bill Pulte, who is 37 years old (yes, really), ..." (oh, and definitely read this really good article.)

I was shopping at Forever 38 the other day and thought I might have seen @jcsalterego.bsky.social, was that you?

All I want in a social media site is to reinforce and venerate my brilliance, intuitively understand when I'm just making an edgy joke even if it sounds like a threat, and extend no such courtesy to my perceived enemies, why is that so hard?

Chotiner: it’s a bit unusual, but do you mind if we wrap up with a joke? Summers: <chuckles> sure Chotiner: knock knock Summers: who’s there? Chotiner: Kudna Summers: Kudna who? Chotiner: you kudna thought I’d end the interview without talking about your relationship with Epstein, could you?

This is a Matryoshka doll of pretense and artifice

Everything he does has “King Midas in reverse” vibes

Once again, a huge thank you to SCOTUS for deciding that Trump is above the law, it’s an immaculate decision with no signs of cascading bad consequences both domestically and abroad

It is really hard to find words strong enough to 1) convey how bleak and bad this is, and 2) how it feels to now live through the real thing after all the years of ‘left wing cancel culture’ nonsense. This entire time, the fight has been about who gets to speak and what they are allowed to say.

This seems to be a common misconception. *There is nowhere to go* for most faculty & staff. The academic labor market is incredibly inflexible even in good times, we haven't been in good times for decades, and we're now in a *contracting* phase, not expanding. For most people, there's nowhere to go.

I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.

Everything he does has “King Midas in reverse” vibes

Chotiner: it’s a bit unusual, but do you mind if we wrap up with a joke? Summers: <chuckles> sure Chotiner: knock knock Summers: who’s there? Chotiner: Kudna Summers: Kudna who? Chotiner: you kudna thought I’d end the interview without talking about your relationship with Epstein, could you?

Once again, a huge thank you to SCOTUS for deciding that Trump is above the law, it’s an immaculate decision with no signs of cascading bad consequences both domestically and abroad

This might be my favorite plot of Joel’s. It contains most of our understanding of cosmology: density fluctuations enter the horizon with an amplitude independent of mass, stagnate when the Universe is radiation-dominated, and grow when matter dominates. 🧪

This mf be saying *anything*.

It’s pretty sick to trample constitutional rights while inventing imaginary rights. Illegal immigrants aren’t taking American’s housing: we refuse to build, and that — along with the rich hoarding their wealth & private equity (JD) hollowing out everything of value — is killing the American dream.

JD Vance, famously afraid of ascending to undeserved power

JD Vance, famously afraid of ascending to undeserved power

Some really dystopian controls being put in place here. The “approved” content is completely subjective and this will be weaponized to attack professors and instructors who teach about ideas that go against the prevailing statewide political winds. This is anathema to academic freedom & free inquiry

This might be my favorite plot of Joel’s. It contains most of our understanding of cosmology: density fluctuations enter the horizon with an amplitude independent of mass, stagnate when the Universe is radiation-dominated, and grow when matter dominates. 🧪

It’s pretty sick to trample constitutional rights while inventing imaginary rights. Illegal immigrants aren’t taking American’s housing: we refuse to build, and that — along with the rich hoarding their wealth & private equity (JD) hollowing out everything of value — is killing the American dream.

I am very saddened to hear that Prof. Joel Primack (UCSC) passed away today. He was a huge figure in the field of galaxy formation & was a mentor to many of today’s leading practitioners. His work — often with Faber & Blumenthal — helped establish the now-standard cold dark matter model of cosmology

Well, he's certainly innovating in the arena of both-sides-ism: "Many of the protesters who assaulted police officers in the summer of 2020, for example, did so with the same ethical certitude as those who stormed the Capitol in January 2021."

Some really dystopian controls being put in place here. The “approved” content is completely subjective and this will be weaponized to attack professors and instructors who teach about ideas that go against the prevailing statewide political winds. This is anathema to academic freedom & free inquiry

Hearing this as a Bon Jovi lyric... "When power's a prison, you can't break free" (everyone should watch @jamellebouie.net's insta video that @apocalypticanow.bsky.social posted below and ruminate on it)

Well, he's certainly innovating in the arena of both-sides-ism: "Many of the protesters who assaulted police officers in the summer of 2020, for example, did so with the same ethical certitude as those who stormed the Capitol in January 2021."

In which Milan and I see whether we can get ourselves (preemptively) excluded from the guest list of any event hosted by David Brooks and/or Jeremy Peters. Pour out a double of your favorite airport whiskey and have a listen.

I hereby call on President AOC to put in a budget line item for a dedicated rapid response team with the sole job of reminding Nate Silver of this post every time he calls someone else stupid:

In which Milan and I see whether we can get ourselves (preemptively) excluded from the guest list of any event hosted by David Brooks and/or Jeremy Peters. Pour out a double of your favorite airport whiskey and have a listen.

For our 10th episode, @mbkplus.bsky.social and I take on @bsky.app's favorite newspaper and its shoddy higher education coverage. We use pieces by David Brooks and Jeremy Peters to demonstrate the paper's elitist, yet anti-intellectual, slant. We also somehow touch on Cornell, Marxism, and Mamdani.

I hereby call on President AOC to put in a budget line item for a dedicated rapid response team with the sole job of reminding Nate Silver of this post every time he calls someone else stupid:

Hearing this as a Bon Jovi lyric... "When power's a prison, you can't break free" (everyone should watch @jamellebouie.net's insta video that @apocalypticanow.bsky.social posted below and ruminate on it)

Flip side of this is who did you expect to feature prominently and are surprised to find didn't? It's Ackman for me.