When Rand Paul is right, he’s right. Also: I think both the families of our Service members and the parents of the Iranian schoolgirls killed in the US strike would say there’ve been “significant casualties.”

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Sen. Rand Paul: "I've had the debate with this administration ... they told me this isn't a war. I said, why isn't it a war? They said, 'Well, a constitutional war has to have significant casualties' ... initiation or declaration of war is *before* the casualties."

1) Not pronouncing the “r” In “February.” 2) Spelling the past-tense of “lead” the same as the present tense. 3) “the decline of the Roman Empire” placed anytime before the Seljuks 4) ”the fall of the Roman Empire” placed anytime before 1204

Sanjay Srivastava@sanjaysrivastava.com · 6d ago

What is an extremely nerdy/obscure/specific thing you hate with a white-hot wrath?

There are no laws of history. The analogous physical sciences aren't physics or chemistry, where there are laws, but evolutionary biology and historical geology, where you're explaining past events from partial evidence and so you can't simply model with equations or perform controlled experiments.

Scientist falsifies hypothesis, film at 11

1) Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Loeb Classical Library edition (forgot I owned it, bought a second copy; later gave one to a friend) 2) Garry Wills, Reagan’s America (sold it back but needed it for another class) 3) Fergus Miller, The Roman Near East (gave it away for a relocation but needed it again)

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️@sophianyx.bsky.social · 2w ago

Name physical media you purchased more than once.

Americans have more confidence in higher education than in big tech companies, and the gap is growing rather than shrinking. The higher ed-doomsday pundits need to get on board with the real vibe shift in public trust that is happening right now.

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 2w ago

I look forward to all the reports & coverage about all of the internal problems & mistakes of all of these other institutions, in the same way that universities are constantly blamed (& blaming themselves) for “declining trust.” “Compared to what?” news.gallup.com/poll/712436/...

There is a lot to say about the Nolan Odyssey movie. But one point that I think has not been emphasized enough is: this is a film about living in LA, as Nolan, my erstwhile British compatriot and age mate, has done for years. I gather it’s a strange place.

If you have Odyssey fever, Oh Brother Where Art Thou? is a great viewing. This is a review from a classicist friend after its original release. scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcont...

Yes. Thermopylae was in fact a crushing defeat with zero upside for the Spartans. Hans van Wees, a top historian of ancient Greek militaries, proved this in 2018: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Thermopylae: Herodotus versus the Legend | Request PDF

Request PDF | On Nov 2, 2018, Hans van Wees published Thermopylae: Herodotus versus the Legend | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

researchgate.net

Gingerspiced@gingerspiced.bsky.social · 3w ago

Pete Hegseth: "We need our warriors to embrace the Spartan mindset" U.S. Military: *suffers crushing defeat to the Persians*

I’m honoured & proud to be a new FBA — a member of an institution which is defending the value of the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts in a period when they are increasingly under threat. These disciplines are crucial for a rich, deep and critical understanding of the world.

The British Academy@britishacademy.bsky.social · 3w ago

The British Academy has elected 92 new Fellows in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences. Congratulations to all those elected today. Read the full announcement: https://bit.ly/4f64C4x

Releasing public statements, covertly messaging on social media, trying to influence foreign leaders... Like diplomatic corps and intel agencies? Normal. Manipulating election and legal processes? Abnormal, worth countering. And as Trump just showed, the only country doing that to the US is Russia.

Will Sommer@willsommer.bsky.social · 3w ago

Trump's big document release tonight, supposedly meant to prove China stole the 2020 election, includes this classified intel graphic making clear that Russia was the only country trying to meddle in American voting systems.

In comparison with most other humanities disciplines in the US, Classics is (i) very small and (ii) very international. This "policy"—if actually implemented, sustained, and enforced—would be devastating.

David J. Bier@davidjbier.bsky.social · 3w ago

The most anti-legal immigrant administration ever just made it illegal for international students to transfer schools or change majors or shift any "educational objective" in their 1st year and for graduate students **at any point** ever, at all. There is no legal basis for this

Trent Reznor becomes Captain Ahab: Nine Inch Whales.

Corey Rayburn Yung@coreyryung.bsky.social · 3w ago

Trent Reznor becomes an inhumane warden: Nine Inch Jails

Harrison Ford played Connery’s son in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Ford was 12 years younger than Connery.

PJ Holden@pauljholden.com · 4w ago

I remember when Sean Connery won the Oscar for untouchables, and I remember a lot of the conversation at the time was about how he was old now and had never won an Oscar and this was awarded to him as a sort of mercy Oscar while he was still alive. He was 57.

I love the irony of requiring a class that plays up the benefits of personal liberty.

David Darmofal@daviddarmofal.bsky.social · last mo.

The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors A.I. labs are hiring contrarian, chin-stroking, finger-steepling sages. Who’s underemployed now? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/b...

The signing of the Declaration of Independence was just that. The war still needed to be won. A Constitution came later. Abolition of slaves later. The right of women to vote even later. All of us must finish and perfect our union. Happy Fourth of July, everybody.

Is there any good reason we should call the US founders “Founding Fathers,” the way Christians call early Christian writers “Church Fathers”? It accords familial/religious authority to some flawed albeit relatively publicly-interested men.

People who spiral out overusing LLM chatbots are really just experiencing the kind of brain-damaging stream of unconditional validation that’s always been the norm for the hyper-wealthy, which explains a lot.

Jon Hendry@jonhendry.bsky.social · last mo.

Worse than Twitter, private discussions (text, email, whatever) among like-minded wealthy lunatics who are all surrounded by yes-men who talk like ChatGPT in maximum ass-kissing mode.

Every single publisher getting an AI payout from the LLM lawsuits should be paying it to their authors & making that author’s book open access—regardless of who own the rights. Most academic authors (ca. 80%) do not own their own publishing rights (especially first authors) & wont get checks at all.

putin is bleeding his country dry for his own ego and megalomania

Peter Baker@peterbakernyt.bsky.social · last mo.

The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and three weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes. @peterfrankopan.bsky.social foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/25/r...

My favorite Mel Brooks movie has to be Silent Movie. And I have a soft spot for Spaceballs.

Judge You Harshly 🦋✌️🤟🖖🌈@judgeyouharshly.bsky.social · last mo.

In honor of his 100th birthday let’s recognize the genius that is Mel Brooks 🤟😎

Duh. Which means: the socialists in NY need to prove effective.

G Elliott Morris@gelliottmorris.com · last mo.

Generally speaking, polls have shown the Democratic Party's problem is not being seen as too woke, but weak and ineffective. Judging by tonight's primary results, Democratic Primary voters are intent on fixing this www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-d...

Stop extrapolating from outlier cases as though they’re representative cases challenge.

Happy Father's Day 🖤

1. An objective mindset & perception are impossible. 2. (1) doesn’t remove a shared reality of which observers have only partial knowledge & differing interpretations. That’s why analyses of the same evidence diverge. 3. Impartiality ≠ objectivity, & impartiality is possible.

Roopika Risam@roopikarisam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If you think that criticizing objectivity means evidence should be irrelevant, you have no business being an humanist or any kind of academic.

Ancient historian thoughts on Iran mess. One thing that always struck me about the Hellenistic kingdoms is how quickly they surrender. These are kings who build up their whole self-definition about being good at war, but they quit as soon as they lose a battle.

He signed an unconditional surrender at Versailles? Come the fuck on.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

Trump: "It's signed. I signed it in Versailles. I just signed it."

A recent poem of mine

Roman historian here. (The Romans perfected damnatio memoriae.) It wasn’t total erasure: the Romans would leave some reminder of the condemned name. If they scratched out an inscribed name, they’d leave the name partly visible still to recall terrors that person unleashed. How would we do the same?

Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Damnatio Memoriae Trumpi! It turns out this necessary task didn’t have to wait until January 20, 2029. It began at the Kennedy Center today.