Okay so here's what happened at immigration court today. Starting a new thread.

When we got to 26 Federal Plaza, about ten ICE agents were completely surrounding two courtrooms and two waiting rooms. Like a phalanx of ICE that people had to walk through to see a judge.

1/?

-Zero Congressional consultation or approval.
-Zero preparation of public for need/consequences of war.
-Zero evidence of thought about "OK, what might the other side do?" Next month. Next year.
-Zero mention of anti-nuke agreement Trump voided, or Trump claim last year that nukes "obliterated."

Screenshot of the NY Federal Plaza staff directory (Assistant Chief Immigration Judge= John P. Burns")

So here's an immigration court story that's unlikely to make the news, but is a big deal.

26 Federal Plaza (the big NYC immigration court where all the shit has been going down this past year) has a new chief immigration judge.

His name is John Burns. And his asylum denial rate is 96.1%.

Book covers of IMPOSSIBLE THINGS by MILLER OBERMAN, HANIF ABdURRAQib's They Can't KIll US Until They Kill Us, LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by RYKA AOKI, RABIH ALAMEDDINE's The True True Story of Raja the Gullible, ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by STEPHEN GRAHAm-JONES, ALISON BECHDEL's SPENT: A COMIC NOVEL, and Carmilla by Sheridan La Fanu.

I read a lot of books this year. These were some of my favorites.

I know this is happening but I cannot believe this is happening.

screenshot: “[These asylum-seekers] have filled out a full asylum application; they expect to be making an argument that they cannot return to their countries because of violence,” Boswell said. “They come in, and they’re told this is [already] over. We are now seeking to move you to Uganda or Honduras or Ecuador.”

I was interviewed by PIX11 for this article about how the Trump administration is trying to deport asylum-seekers to random third countries like Uganda, Ecuador, and Honduras.

It is one of the most horrifying things I've seen in immigration court, and I do not say that lightly.

A modern tragedy

Back in immigration court today. Of the 40 or so asylum cases my group observed, 80% were pretermitted on "safe third country grounds." Asylum-seekers were told they could be deported to either Ecuador and Uganda.

People in court were frightened, confused. They had no idea what was going on.

Uh Oh! Friend Clearly Not the Victim in Drama Being Described with a screenshot from Frankenstein (2025) of Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein lying in bed with the Danish sea captain played by Lars Mikkelsen

Frankenstein (2025)

My review of Wright, Hall, and Hill's "A New Commentary on the Old English ‘Prose Solomon and Saturn’ and ‘Adrian and Ritheus’ Dialogues" is out!

scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/ind...

a woman in a red dress says " read honey " ALT: a woman in a red dress says " read honey "

Seeing a lot of "read banned books" posts and I just want to remind everyone my upcoming book with @erikkaars.bsky.social is gonna be banned so you know what to do. 🤣

I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital. (🎥: Elias Eliahu)

Lol at the dictionary being like "I hope none of you go to heaven"

A lot to say about this, but one thing is that the Professor in question was a lecturer, and thus did not have tenure.

The destruction of academic freedom is inextricably linked to the loss of worker protection in the university.

"The department of justice has acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating."

Coming to a classroom near you.

Hey academics, this applies to you too!!!!! Especially if you have published a book *or* you have a work anthologized in a book. Go check the dataset, and register as a potential member of the class ASAP.

This is simultaneously the most important and the stupidest academic discovery I have ever heard of in my life (complimentary)

The story-tellers advise taking a leopard-bitten person out into the water on a boat or surrounding them with a circle of cats.

I trace this story back to a possible origin in the writing of Timotheus of Gaza and follow it through Persian, Arabic, and Latin texts. 🐆 🐁 💦

When the leopard’s away, the mice will pee: the medieval transmission of an animal narrative from timotheus of Gaza to Persian, Arabic, and English texts In his history of the kings of England, twelfth-century English historian William of Malmesbury makes the following curious aside:it is a known fact that i

Very silly new article out now, tracing the transmission of a medieval story that claims that--when a leopard bites someone--mice become DESPERATE to urinate on the leopard bite. If they manage to do this, the bitten person dies.

doi.org/10.1093/note...