This does not bode well

This—unfortunately—is a very clear-eyed thread:

Seth Abramson@sethabramson.bsky.social · 4d ago

The rest of your natural life—and then some. That's how long we'll be cleaning up the mess of Trump and MAGAism. The nation as it was before is lost. It won't return. What we seek to save now isn't what used to be. It'll be something else altogether. It'll be what we make it.

Periodic reality check how far we have fallen: the vocabulary of “choking” and “folding”—an explicit admission that the task at hand for POTUS is not evaluating evidence but blind resistance and insistence—is no longer something people even bother pointing out, let alone having consequences.

President 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/aaAEu6v

Trump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of Degrees

Under a new rule, if your degree doesn’t make enough money, you won’t be able to get a student loan.

trib.al

So Blanche’s first official act to try to persuade congress that if made AG he will not act as personal attorney to POTUS is… an illegal act benefitting POTUS Blanche Gives G.O.P. Senators Written Assurances on Trump’s I.R.S. Deal www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...

It really boggles the mind that anyone in control of big money pays any attention to this anymore. “What we’re doing now is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation.” 🙄 🥱

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

just in time for the markets to open! it's a Sunday miracle!

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

The heat this summer is not simply tropical, it’s polytropical (Sorry)

Seems to me this should be getting more media attention than it is: Anthropic Says Its A.I. Systems Broke Into Computers at 3 Organizations www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/t...

Anthropic Says Its A.I. Systems Broke Into Computers at 3 Organizations (Gift Article)

The disclosure followed OpenAI’s report last week that its own artificial intelligence had hacked into the network of an online library.

nytimes.com

The first two words *entirely* undermine the rest of this headline

Friends in Edinburgh, we'll be recording The Ukraine Shelf in front of a live audience at the @edbookfest.bsky.social for the second year running. This year’s guests are Charlotte Higgins, Chief Culture Writer at The Guardian & Bohdana Laiuk, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Culture. 1/2

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.

Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.

Skies of western Bohemia

'Government investment in defence-related higher education recognises the need for engineering, computing, cyber, robotics and autonomous systems. But if universities educate the next generation of defence specialists while weakening subjects that teach conflict resolution' [continued] 1/3

What universities count – and what they cannot afford to ignore - HEPI

This blog was kindly authored by Anna Zimdars, Christopher Playford, Eve Worth, Luke Graham, Joanna Merrett and Joseph Crawford, members of the Centre for Social Mobility, University of Exeter. He tha...

hepi.ac.uk

Rule No. 1 of football shithousery: if you’re gonna do that, make damn sure you win

This is so utterly shameful

Hard to know where to start with this so I’ll just ease my way in and say it really gets my goat that they justify the title on the grounds of it being a verb when in fact it’s a noun

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 3w ago

July 17, 2026

There are things it’s just best not to know

Denali@denali.bsky.social · 3w ago

Husband just came in to tell me that since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln every American president has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover.

New monkey species drops

Baby Monkey with Mango Falls

ALT: Baby Monkey with Mango Falls

static.klipy.com

Trump Is Undermining Faith in Elections Again. Don’t Buy It. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Election Denial Has Never Been More Dangerous

Don’t fall for dramatic claims based on selective declassification.

nytimes.com

Aha, so *that’s* how Messi does it: he has two knees in each leg!

“Without intervention, we risk narrowing the UK’s research and development knowledge base, reducing opportunity and access to key subjects, particularly in regions already underserved, and weakening the long-term sustainability of the Shape disciplines". (Margot Finn) 1/3

British Academy urges ‘intervention’ over slowing academic pipeline - Research Professional News

Analysis shows decline in early career researchers across Shape disciplines and rise in teaching-only contracts

researchprofessionalnews.com

Very grim tidings:

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3w ago

This phase of the British Academy's SHAPE Observatory project focuses on academic staff, analysing trends since 2012/13 to explore how staffing levels vary by subject, region and employment characteristics. The data lag: the 2025-26 redundancies you've been reading about are not yet captured. 1/3

In complete control of the Straight of the Bedroom

Political oversight of scientific research: utterly, gut-wrenchingly, Orwellianly chilling www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Researchers worry a Trump rule could end U.S. scientific dominance

Research organizations warn a proposed rule for federal grants would upend the medical and technological advances that set U.S. science apart.

washingtonpost.com

BREAKING: A federal judge says President Trump's lawsuit against the IRS was filed for an "improper purpose" and refers attorneys for disciplinary action.

Judge blasts Trump's IRS lawsuit as filed for 'improper purpose,' recommends attorney discipline

A federal judge says President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose” as she referred attorneys for disciplinary actions.

bit.ly

An agreement between between the U.S. and Kazakhstan has given President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration. trib.al/TDMlCHG

Climate.us is live. Built by members of the team behind Climate.gov, this new independent nonprofit website keeps trusted climate information easy to find, easy to use, and harder to erase. #ClimateForUs #ClimateUS

BREAKING: Supreme Court rules that DC reflecting pool is hereby declared to be American Flag Blue