The Republican Party is starting to look like Odysseus if he had tied himself to the mast and then just sailed directly onto the rocks. www.economist.com/interactive/...

It’s important to understand that when 1.2 million Americans are dying from a disease, any government action is excessive and tyrannical, but if a dozen trans women want to play soccer no government action can go far enough

Hive mind: I am thinking about writing a lab manual for my research group. This is not something I have seen much in Political Science, but I think might be useful. If you have one you can share --- whether for politial science or another social science --- I would love to see it.

Senior State Department official Mislabels Several African Countries on Map at AIDS Conference Nigeria Mozambique Ivory Coast Uganda Malawi Cameroon www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...

U.S. Government Mislabels Map of African Countries at AIDS Conference

Nigeria, a coastal country in western Africa, was landlocked in the Sahara, among other errors. The department said it had been “hastily altered.”

nytimes.com

Endnotes

Sanjay Srivastava@sanjaysrivastava.com · 6d ago

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

Please spread the word far and wide that MANOVA is terrible

Publishers: Would you like to write a textbook? Me: Maybe. Will I get paid a lot? P: Not at all. M: Oh so it will be affordable for students? P: Also no. M: But at least I can easily make edits after release? P: Definitely not. ….

Jennifer N. Victor@jenvictor.bsky.social · 6d ago

Today, in middle-aged academics' rage, I learned that a paperback version of the course textbook I've used for 20+ years costs $265!! The electronic version, which requires students to read it through the publisher's proprietary software interface, is $98. RIP books! 😩

This is my sleeper issue for 2028. This industry is totally out of control

Catherina Gioino@catgioino.bsky.social · last wk.

I wrote about how much Americans wagered on sports betting in 2025 and how it’s more than they spent on movies, art, museums and music combined. Read my article @fortunemagazine.bsky.social fortune.com/2026/07/26/g...

Per @asanews.bsky.social email, after being cut off by NSF, ASA is ending the Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

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/...

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 3w ago

“Compared to what?” is always the essential question when asking about critiques of higher education & universities, whether we’re discussing declining trust, freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, or any of the other things.

Ok but before I can evaluate whether this proposal is good, I need to know whether *I* will be chosen for indefinite funding?

Jenny Cohn@jennycohn.bsky.social · 2w ago

14/ I believe that “PI” = Principal Investigator, usually the lead scientist on a project. Again, this is from one of Curtis Yarvin’s essays

Weird. These two screenshots were taken minutes apart.

Not to mention the millions of international faculty who are afraid to post or say anything critical of the government for fear of their immigration status. Somehow that never seems to enter the national discourse on free expression ....

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Actual faculty getting silenced and fired for their work from the right, and the big issue for a whole bunch of the commentariat is whether there is political discrimination against imagined faculty.

Actual faculty getting silenced and fired for their work from the right, and the big issue for a whole bunch of the commentariat is whether there is political discrimination against imagined faculty.

Another reason is that the consulting firms they hire to create “solutions“ rather than actually engaging faculty have never taught classes at all.

Jennifer N. Victor@jenvictor.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hypothesis: One of the reasons universities are struggling to adapt pedagogical policies and curricula to an AI world is that the vast majority of university administrators do not teach classes. It’s much harder to solve a problem you haven’t encountered yourself.

I really miss having a functional government.

Justin Zimmerman@jztidecat.bsky.social · 3w ago

Y’all are just going to have to let lettuce go.

Looking forward to polmeth at Michigan State this week where I will be eating only cheese.

Saeed Jones@theferocity.bsky.social · 3w ago

So this parasite situation …what CAN we eat???? I just threw out a salad because I’m scared.

Happening right in front of us. The world's richest man.

“Take this 33 year old Middle Eastern activist. No job, just travels around all days with his friends criticizing hard working entrepreneurs like the money changers. Do we really want someone like that in the US?”

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.

JD Vance says his faith makes him averse to “low wage foreigners”

This country was one person's vote away this morning from putting any birthright citizen in danger of being deported tomorrow. We are so much closer to the abyss than we think. Man oh man.

New paper w/ Soyeon Jeon, @lee-messi.bsky.social l, & @jacobmontgomery.bsky.social! We found that AI models were biased in inferring political ideology from images. Women were seen as more liberal than men than would be justified by real-world differences. 🧵 OA link: doi.org/10.1017/pan....

Truly one of the kindest, most thoughtful, and brilliant people I have known in my career. Very sad to hear this.

Mike Crespin@mikecrespin.bsky.social · last mo.

I was really sad to hear about Dave Rohde's passing. Dave was, of course, an incredible scholar. He was also a great advisor and so many of us owe him a debt of gratitude for helping launch our careers. When I'm puzzled by something, I'll often think to myself, what would Dave do. It usually helps.

I am curious as to whether Trump‘s pride can survive the barrage of criticism of the “deal”. It still feels very likely to unravel unless he convince Fox News he won….

There is, literally, always a tweet.

unlike the massively successful VR rollout a couple of years before by the same guy

Andrew Couts@couts.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth is doing damage control after what he called an "atrocious" rollout of the company's AI division, according to an internal memo viewed by @wired.com. @laurengoode.bsky.social and @peard33.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/andrew...

i have been obsessed with this for years. allowing manufacturers to sell direct to consumers would be good for consumers and also destroying the car dealership would be an existential crisis for republicans

Vituperative Erb@vituperativeerb.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I feel it’s sort of underrated the extent to which a Dem Congress and/or states could (1) absolutely destroy car dealerships as a business, and (2) this would cripple a lot of GOP state and local parties

Found out this morning that squirrels are omnivores. Also the bird nest on our porch is now empty and my children are traumatize. Thanks nature!

We've done it folks. It finally happened! Reviewer 2 is asking for a new analysis plan, *and* that the new analysis plan be pre-registered, and asking that we show that the sample size is powered for this new analysis plan. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

These decisions are being made by people who haven’t been in a classroom in 30 years. despite working (if being a trustee is “working”) in higher ed their opinions are shaped more by right-wing talking points than by the realities on campus

Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“The Auburn University Board of Trustees on Friday gave itself complete control over course offerings, curriculum, degree requirements and academic credentials while eliminating shared governance at the Alabama land-grant university… The policy leaves many questions unanswered”