"Those in attendance...received a book called “The War Department Field Manual,” a compilation of Hegseth’s past speeches. In a forward written by President Trump, the troops were told: “As your commander in chief, I will not ask you to fight dumb wars.” Perfect www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Five Takeaways From Hegseth’s Speech

The defense secretary gave a “State of the Force” address to hundreds of officers and enlisted servicemembers at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va.

wsj.com

“The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” besides being among the best shows the medium has ever produced, together served as a televisual Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." "...all four contained clear warnings about where the country was headed, and their warnings have come true."

Opinion | The Four TV Shows That Heralded America’s Fall

Four TV shows, now acknowledged as the medium’s high point, each cannily predicted the ways in which America would start to crack apart.

nytimes.com

Generational damage being done right now

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Hegseth: "It's worth saying again so the fake news understands it. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that -- no fatties no trannies no beardos no weirdos no wimps no radicals. Just warriors."

How's that Iran War going, Pete?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Hegseth: "It's worth saying again so the fake news understands it. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that -- no fatties no trannies no beardos no weirdos no wimps no radicals. Just warriors."

And this is also setting incentives and habits in the military organizational culture that is not easily undone. It also further erodes what little culture of academic freedom and critical obedience is still possible. Those arguing this can just be reversed are missing the larger picture.

Anne Helen Petersen@annehelen.bsky.social · 2d ago

This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...

This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...

What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now

As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.

thecut.com

Send Stephen Miller to The Hague.

Def. Sec. Hegseth signed a memo today that CBS News obtained two months ago eliminating civilian tenure at military service academies. The Daily Wire was first to report on Tuesday that Hegseth signed the memo CBS News first reported on. Story: www.cbsnews.com/news/dod-pen...

When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 4d ago

Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1

Hard to imagine what that would be like

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Marco Rubio: "Anything that had a chance of making money in Cuba was controlled by the Cuban military and the Cuban communist party to line the pockets of a handful of individuals at the expense of the entire country"

WOW

CNN@cnn.com · 3d ago

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito announced that he will recuse himself from a major climate change-related case the court is set to hear next week, following weeks of pressure from environmental groups that argued he was compromised by his financial holdings in the oil and gas industry.

Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.

You know when public attention can reverse a prosecutorial decision like this you almost get the sense that the decision to shrug it off in the first place was not based on an assessment of the quality of the evidence so much as an assessment of the seriousness of the crime.

Deb@sailebed.bsky.social · 4d ago

Update: abcnews.com/US/district-...

Deeply ashamed by Cornell, my alma mater. Deserves to be sued into oblivion for its institutional cowardice and heartlessness

Cornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024

A former Cornell student filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that she was gang raped after being coerced into consuming drugs by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell in 2024. 

cornellsun.com

Doesn't fit The Narrative™️, doesn't get the coverage

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 5d ago

Yeah, it doesn’t seem like the NYT has given any coverage to the frat gang rape scandal at Cornell. Not as important as Oberlin’s banh mi or Harvard’s eating clubs I guess

Deeply ashamed by Cornell, my alma mater. Deserves to be sued into oblivion for its institutional cowardice and heartlessness

Cornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024

A former Cornell student filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that she was gang raped after being coerced into consuming drugs by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell in 2024. 

cornellsun.com

Front page news, Boston Globe: Ivy provost leading charge to infuse AI into higher ed discovered using AI in academic & public work w/out disclosure--an action for which a student could fail a course or worse. Free link: archive.is/JoJbA

I mean, did you at least ask for your F-35 parts back?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Trump on if he talked about Taiwan with President Xi: "We didn't talk about it too much. Right now it's, you know, fine. It's just moving along. But we didn't spend a lot of time talking about Taiwan."

The NY Times has repeatedly used the phrase “to heel” in reference to Trump’s crackdown on universities, implicitly clarifying that Trump goal is to establish dominance. And what exactly constitutes this “woke” ideology in higher education?

The Pentagon cover-up of US military casualties in Trump’s catastrophic Iran War continues. 37 troops have been quietly added to the public tally of wounded personnel bringing the total to 861.

Your moment of early autumn Vermont Zen

ChatGPT gave the Tumbler Ridge school shooter tips on how to evade its own safeguards around violence, even helped plan the attack for maximum lethality and media coverage “Don’t use real-world locations,” ChatGPT said, later adding: “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it.”

Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · last wk.

We just dropped a bombshell investigation into ChatGPT's role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. Incredible reporting from @markfollman.bsky.social that will have far-reaching effects...hopefully: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...

Your moment of early autumn Vermont Zen

I hate it so much. This can happen to you too. A year ago, almost everyone doubted this would happen. I had faculty at other schools telling me I was hysterical. (Irony!) Watch for the installation of right wing figureheads without an academic background. Watch for assaults on faculty governance.

ChatGPT gave the Tumbler Ridge school shooter tips on how to evade its own safeguards around violence, even helped plan the attack for maximum lethality and media coverage “Don’t use real-world locations,” ChatGPT said, later adding: “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it.”

Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · last wk.

We just dropped a bombshell investigation into ChatGPT's role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. Incredible reporting from @markfollman.bsky.social that will have far-reaching effects...hopefully: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...

And in our final spotlight on #conflict research, @jaylyall.bsky.social, Kosuke Imai & @yangyangzhou.bsky.social ask if economic aid interventions—unconditional cash transfers and livelihood training—affect individual support for combatants during wartime. Read more about their #RCT: buff.ly/sf2hlPY

Brief 60: Reducing Youth Support for Violence through Training and Cash Transfers in Afghanistan – EGAP

EGAP researchers: Jason Lyall, Kosuke Imai

egap.org

8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says. The aircraft carrier with its crew of about 5,000 sailors has spent more than 300 days at sea. Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter... described the eight suicide attempts as a “disturbingly high number indicating a serious stress level”

8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says

The aircraft carrier with its crew of about 5,000 sailors has spent more than 300 days at sea.

nytimes.com