Kudos to Stephen Colbert on his Emmy win last night. It was a pleasure chatting with him a few weeks ago on The Late Show about how rampant inequality has brought us to this moment in American history — and what we can do to fix our politics.

Absolutely the most cat thing I've ever heard.

Slightly diminish a book. Reasonable Expectations

Keep speaking out! Recently, 21 medical & public health organizations demanded Kennedy resign, citing his efforts to undermine science and public health. His own family is doing the same. This strongly worded tweet by Joe Kennedy III echoes many sentiments. 🧪 www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Some solid advice on how to appreciate modern art from the Chicago Record Herald of 1913: "HOW TO APPRECIATE IT - Eat three welsh rarebits, smoke two pipefuls of "hop" and sniff cocaine until every street car looks like a goldfish and the Masonic Temple resembles a tiny white mouse."

Out now! Summary Report: Workshop on the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals and the AI Supply Chain www.ias.edu/sites/defaul... The report highlights how AI’s expansion is tied to critical minerals, energy, water, land, and labor—and why interdisciplinary approaches are essential for AI governance.🧵

Okay, where’s my Elderly White Hippie t-shirt? Ready to order same day delivery.

Remember the Cold War? He does. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/w...

ICE used your taxpayer dollars to trick out a bunch of trucks in new livery, all painted black with "ICE" and a logo printed in gold on the side (and Trump's name in gold on the back window), then shoot a rap video in DC to post on social media. I am not making this up.

Yes!

This is my philosophy in a nutshell: Expertise good! Technocracy bad!

WaPo has a piece on the anti-sunscreen movement, which is apparently a thing. We really do live in era where we are valorizing stupidity.

Had a similar experience when Google's AI insisted that Lincoln supported the Dred Scott Decision.

🚨JOB ALERT🚨 We! Are! Hiring! The Department of Africana Studies at Smith College invites applications for a tenure-track position in Black Women’s Studies/Gender Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor, to begin 7/1/26 More info here: apply.interfolio.com/171572 #blackademia #academia #PhDSky

Just saw a video about people going to escape rooms and then getting angry when they ask ChatGPT to help them figure out the clues & get out & it can’t. And this is why I’m adding a mini lecture on what LLMs actually do at the start of classes this fall.

In the disinformation war, reality is losing. The people who have promoted disinformation and conspiracy theories are now in charge of the US government. It runs beyond Trump in this admin. Reality, science, and education are losing to disinfo. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

The sense that women have excessive moral obligations to men—to care for their feelings, to defer to their interests—but can legitimately make only minor claims in such care from others is central to how misogyny actually perpetrates itself as an ideology.

This is true. Still, cannot stop thinking of Kane getting the staff of the Chronicle. www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7d...

Truth.

Happy 15th anniversary of the peak achievement of literary criticism, to all who celebrate

Superb!

From Kentucky, some fun music!

Total shot in the dark, but anyone on here study with Richard Marius at U Tenn Knoxville in the late 1960s / early 1970s?

This is why some people can be famous and have a lot of money. The rest are just embarrassing.

Me and my book project.

The buildings and skylines are pretty generic, but boy howdy, what does Donald Trump thin k a tree looks like?

Big Tech companies snuck a line into the Republican bill that'd stop local and state governments from having ANY rules about AI for TEN YEARS. But we fought back — and won! This fight is not over, but we are not powerless.

Would love to know if there's a term for this. Painters do this, too. (Include paintings in their paintings. Velasquez, for example).

Editor here. And I approve this message.

oh my god help www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

"I asked ChatGPT" "I asked Grok" ok well I asked Gandalf and he said he has not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm

The Trump administration is kidnapping and trying to deport American citizens who look “foreign.” No warrant. No due process. No rights. Americans voted for cheaper eggs, not for a night of broken glass. #MAGAKidnappers

This is really the only thing foreign intelligence services need to monitor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul says “the charges have been dropped” against Brad Lander.

This is right out of the Godfather

STATELY, PLUMP Opening pages of James Joyce’s Ulysses, as annotated by Nabokov (with notes for teaching) #Bloomsday

Happy #Bloomsday. And may Bloomian values triumph over those of the Citizen.

holy shit -- acting US attorney Thompson details that Boelter went to the homes of two other elected officials after shooting Hoffman but before going to Hortman's house. One cop encountered him at the third house but thought he was a police officer.

Respect and support. This from a Minnesotan today.

About the parade route . . . .

I tend to not buy into most of the “this is straight-up Nazi shit memes” — but handcuffing a top federal legislator because he nonviolently challenged a bureaucrat is some straight-up Nazi shit.

I'm on my way to the Senate floor to talk about the assault on my colleague, Senator Alex Padilla. This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.

A great piece by @georgemonaghan.bsky.social for @newstatesman.com including a mention for @markhussey.bsky.social's 'Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a novel', which is out now! #booksky #woolf

the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy but while they fight we can replenish ourselves. I recommend popcorn

Taco Tuesday came early this week.