Andrew Sabl
@andysabl.bsky.social
Political theorist (Univ. of Toronto). Toronto/NYC. Realism, liberalism, toleration, privilege and opportunity, Hume, political ethics—and politics, humo(u)r, puns. Also husband, dad, stepdad.
August arrives in the dark we are not even asleep and it is here how can it be so late all at once -WS Merwin, Nocturne II from The Shadow of Sirius #everynightapoem
Teach a man a joke about science and he’ll pun Faraday. #LunchPun
I have it on good authority that Flock cameras also contain melange, gold-pressed latinum, and vibranium.
Dan Davis@bindlestiff.bsky.social · 2d agoI have it on good authority that each Flock camera also contains a focusing crystal that is, in fact, a diamond.
the obsession with trans women in sports is, apart from the abject bigotry, a symptom of how we take amateur sports participation way too seriously in this country.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has called the state’s current system of felony disenfranchisement “a shameful relic of our Jim Crow past” and has expressed support for a ballot measure this November that would end it.
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - Bolts
This is the only state that was banning people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
boltsmag.org
during the lockdown in nyc, the sirens were incessant throughout the night. there were refrigerator trucks stacked with corpses. a field hospital was set up in central park.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d agoRFK Jr: Trump wanted to end lockdowns. In Fauci's diary, he talks about how the president was calling him trying to get him to reopen the country BASH: The lockdowns were down by governors K: They cited Fauci B: Govs were hearing from hospitals that their ICUs were overrun K: That's not true
Downplay a book or movie: Things to Do in Denver When You’re Sick.
Timurid@timurid.bsky.social · 3d agoDownplay a book or movie: Star Beef
I think the main thing we learned this week is that Emily Wilson really doesn’t like menudo.
Well before Trump II, Paul Weiss’s top corporate rainmaker—now its head—tried to keep its star young partner off big cases because they (the partner, not the rainmaker) were trans. The article has much more.
Andrew Sabl@andysabl.bsky.social · 3d agoPaul Weiss sold its soul (slowly and deliberately) to make more money from corporate clients. The NYT has the invoices. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
Paul Weiss sold its soul (slowly and deliberately) to make more money from corporate clients. The NYT has the invoices. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee (Gift Article)
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
nytimes.com
Making a certain kind of explicitly right-wing Jewish Studies a carveout to the general assault on the humanities is not ultimately good for Jews or Jewish Studies as an academic discipline. It makes us court Jews, only able to study and teach at the whims of the rulers, and easy scapegoats.
“Sandwich guy case” “Harvard clawed frog embryo smuggling case” “Olympic canoeist reflecting pool vandalism case” “James Comey seashells Instagram post case” New rule: If the case sounds like a Mad Libs story, it’s probably about to implode.
Since this thread provides no link to the original piece, here it is so that people can make up their own minds. (For my part, I don’t see how Preeti’s gun helped him much—but that’s just me.) www.liberalcurrents.com/dont-buy-a-g...
Don't Buy a Gun
Confrontational but nonviolent protest is more effective than the solipsistic comfort of an assault rifle.
liberalcurrents.com
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof@evanbernick.bsky.social · 4d agoWe seem to be tripling down on a really bad piece and I’ll just register my disappointment. (Alex Pretti was armed. I’ll wait for an explanation as to how that was bad/ineffective)
People outside the South don’t know this, but the “nation of immigrants” narrative, taken for granted in most of the US, never fully took there. Many white Southerners nonchalantly say that Americans came from the British Isles. (They also mention, sometimes, enslaved people and their descendants.)
Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social · 4d agoAnother datapoint for the fascist radicalisation of institutional pillars of much of the American Right
Another datapoint for the fascist radicalisation of institutional pillars of much of the American Right
I can't stress enough what a crisis this is. Trump's own intelligence agencies concluded that Iran attacked Minnesota's critical infrastructure and Trump is saying that it's Minnesota's own fault and denying it was Iran. The federal government won't defend blue states in a literal war.
U.S. Sees Iran as Likely Behind Cyberattack on Minnesota Water Systems (Gift Article)
Investigators cautioned that the assessment was preliminary. There were no indications that any water supply had been rendered unsafe to drink.
nytimes.com
If The Odyssey were Norse mythology instead of Greek, it would end with a sentence by Snorri Sturlsson literally saying, “and that is why we call a long, perilous journal an Odyssey.”
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
I asked the librarian if they had any books on paranoia. She whispered, "They're right behind you." 📚 #Puns #OneLiners #ScottishComedy
Love how much discourse is generated by suboptimal choice of wording under conditions of rigid character limits. It's almost like short-form social media posting sites are designed to produce misunderstanding, subsequent arguments and thus engagement.
It seems ludicrous that a paper like this would even need to be written, but here we are.
Ilya Somin@ilyasomin.bsky.social · 6d agoUpdated version of my article "Immigration is Not Invasion" now available on SSRN and under submission to law reviews. Everything you ever wanted to know about meaning of "invasion" in the Constitution & Alien Enemies Act, but were afraid to ask: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Not sure why this is news, it's called a lunch break
Vacancies reform needs to be high on the list for the post-Trump agenda. There should be a hard, unambiguous, and fairly short time limit clearly applicable in all cases for actings without Senate confirmation. Even for principal deputies, as Blanche is. The status quo is an easily abused mess.
The Trump admin had a real theory of war: Put on a show of toughness, tell people how manly you are, disdain law, do war crimes, and you win. Earlier losses came from leaders too "weak" to do that. It was a very stupid theory. But they espoused it a lot, really seem to believe it, and acted on it.
Shoe@shoe.bsky.social · 6d agoPresident Toddler
Righte now the greatest danger to the future of universityes ys universityes. Remembir the missioun, remembir the studentes, remembir those who have come bifor and will arryve aftir, remembir teachinge and learninge and dialogue. A universitye ys much more than a corporation wearinge a mortarboard.
I think people developed awful habits on Vichy Twitter, where Elon’s algorithm actively penalized tweets that cited sources. That’s not true on Bluesky! Cite your evidence!
Ariel Edwards-Levy@aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 7d agoIf you post survey data, news articles, etc. without a link back to the source whenever possible, you are weakening the informational chain of custody and making it harder for other people to confirm that they're seeing accurate information. This holds even if you're mad at whatever it is.