Ben Alpers
@benalpers.bsky.social
Professor of US History. Author of HAPPY DAYS: IMAGES OF THE PRE-SIXTIES PAST IN SEVENTIES AMERICA (Rutgers University Press, 2024). Opinions are entirely my own. He/him.
So campus speech. Much viewpoint diversity. Very marketplace of ideas.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2h agoI'd love to hear why my book White Flight -- which won prizes from the Southern Historical Association and the American Political Science Association -- was deemed not good enough for students at Texas A&M.
Hmmm, an interesting argument, but I prefer to re-interpret every election as validating my prior beliefs about electability! 🙃
Deva Woodly@devawo.bsky.social · 9h agoI’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.
The media's takeaway from an El-Sayed win is the same as it would have been from a Stevens win, and the same as it will be if El-Sayed wins the general, or if he loses it: everyone, no matter who they are, needs to take several steps to the right.
These are some of the last pristine ocean ecosystems. Trump is rolling back protections apps.npr.org/troubled-wat... #Project2025 #environment #nature #oceans #climate #EPA #Blues
These are some of the last pristine ocean ecosystems. Now, they're losing protections
The largest conservation areas in the U.S. are in the Pacific Ocean, where tiny islands are epicenters of biodiversity. The Trump administration is now opening their waters to commercial fishing, spar...
apps.npr.org
Some old man in Ohio wants to look at your daughter’s vagina before she can play volleyball, how about we start there
Thanks For Sharing, Jerk@thx4sharingjerk.bsky.social · 19h agoDemocrats are always accused of being the party of “radicals” when the GOP consistently excuses and supports child abuse, violence, rape, and murder—Dems should put 100% of their bandwidth into this message
It's bizarre that this particular, very dark song going gold makes me feel marginally more optimistic about my country and the world, but somehow it does. Congrats, John Darnielle, on having one of the truly great songs find the broad audience it richly deserves!
the Mountain Goats@themountaingoats.bsky.social · 2d agoI don't even know what to say. This is real, this is true, so, like, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. This took over 25 years to happen so if there's any lesson here it's either "keep at it, who knows" or "many people are divorced"
Me on the AAU "The AAU claims to be comprised of America’s leading research unis...But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
insidehighered.com
Harvey & Joyce's adopted daughter Danielle is trying to raise funds to deal with Pekar's raw archive; basically four storage lockers full of notes, outlines, ideas, etc. Note this is not Pekar's comics per se. Those rights have been tied up in court for years. Long, ugly story. Worth backing.
His Name was Harvey Pekar
Saving the legacy of Harvey Pekar:Urgent mission to rescue four full storage units of American Splendor history before its lost forever
kickstarter.com
The name of this playlist is hilarious 😂😂😂 the songs are 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Covid lockdowns demonstrated, in a deeply imperfect way, the possibility of large-scale social solidarity for a higher cause. That is a prime reason why so many powerful people want us to run screaming away from them into the comforting arms of selfish individualist competition.
I agree strongly with this -- in that difficult moment, the possibility of collective effort was conceivable. Not everybody felt it, but many did. I think the political class did not like this one bit.
Dave Andress@davidandress.bsky.social · 3d agoCovid lockdowns demonstrated, in a deeply imperfect way, the possibility of large-scale social solidarity for a higher cause. That is a prime reason why so many powerful people want us to run screaming away from them into the comforting arms of selfish individualist competition.
Goes for Paul, Weiss, goes for Columbia, goes for anybody who agrees to work for him believing they can do some good. He’s all scorpion, you’re all frog.
airbnb I’m staying at unintentionally created the toughest punk album cover of 2027
The inevitable result of "RELIGIOUS LIBERTY" vaccine exemptions: punishments against religions that support vaccines.
Christopher Hale@christopherjhale.bsky.social · 4d agoNEW: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, facing ethics inquiries for misconduct, has threatened to strip state scholarships from Catholic schools unless the Church rewrites its vaccine doctrine. It is an unprecedented attack by an American state on the religious liberty of the Catholic Church.
Republicans believe vaccines cause autism, Trump won the 2020 election, Michelle Obama is a man, and ivermectin can cure Covid. Democrats need to accept at least some of these or give up the charade of bipartisanship.
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
Charlie Kaufman is reportedly adapting Susan Orlean’s critique of Emily Wilson’s critique of Christopher Nolan
Joseph Rezek@rezekjoe.bsky.social · 4d agoSUSAN ORLEAN HAS JOINED THE ENEMY IN THE ODYSSEY WARS
this is extremely good, not because I think Harris is likely to be the nominee again but because this is how expanding the Court becomes table stakes for everyone who wants to run for President
Taegan Goddard@politicalwire.com · 5d agoHarris Says Supreme Court Should Expand to 13 Justices https://politicalwire.com/2026/07/31/harris-says-supreme-court-should-expand-to-13-justices/
On thing to keep in mind about this absurd reflecting pool case is the focus on the momentary whims of the president, his angst over bad news cycles. This whole thing was a travesty. Every lawyer involved knew these charges were factually in addition to legally baseless. But there are many more …
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."
Phillip Anderson@phillipanderson.bsky.social · 5d agoMake no mistake here. This is Trump objectively taking the side of Iran, a nation we are currently at war with, over the Americans in Minnesota because he hates the governor and the fact that a majority of voters there did not vote for him
So basically an adversary could attack any blue state and Trump wont care because he doesn't see himself as the President of the "United States" Without a doubt the most worst president we've ever had. Anti-republic, anti-democratic, anti-constitutional just devoid of basic dignity
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoTrump: "We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota."
Have you ever noticed that most of the major AI company logos look like buttholes? For my Sick Burns Friday post, I judged and ranked each of them based on how much they resemble hole: www.burnsnotice.com/ai-company-l...
AI Company Logos That Look Like Buttholes, Ranked
For this week's Sick Burns Friday post, we're asking the important questions like "why do all of these logos look like that?"
burnsnotice.com
