Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo

This is just horrifying. No one will ever be willing to help us again.

Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...

This is so cool!

Oh no! How awful to betray his father’s legacy and values. I keep thinking about my parents (now deceased) who maintained their liberal values in the Deep South. They would be so appalled.

Don’t they have editors who know what’s in the pipeline?

I teach at a university and they keep pushing it on us too. Glad I am retiring.

Not how I remember it. The first time we took the car phone out and walked with it was memorable.

Are you worried about them?

Thank you so much!

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

For completeness

Here’s the gift link

www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

AI Use Appears to Have a "Boiling Frog" Effect on Human Cognition, New Study Warns A new study claims to offer the first causal link between AI dependency and cognitive erosion. Researchers warn of long-term implications.

NEW: A new pre-print study offers the first causal evidence that outsourcing reasoning tasks to AI can rapidly erode users' independent performance AND their will to persist despite difficulty.

"People’s persistence drops... they’re also not willing to try without AI.”

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Our latest from @kylebazgo.bsky.social: a look at 8 of the most insane fascist and antisemitic accounts JD Vance follows on X. No idea why mainstream outlets don’t think it’s notable he follows people who joke about Holocaust denial and an account that says Hitler was “the lesser evil.”

It's worth noting here that these aren't bombings. This is demolition

The IDF are able to freely walk around here and rig these obviously residential properties with demolition explosives, so it's not like there's any threat at all to them

This is, VERY clearly, the war crime of wanton destruction

For the day that's in it.

"...The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here."

The Cure at Troy

Good grief—he has really gone over the edge.

A statement has been issued by the US president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to President Trump's social media post about the pontiff.

Wow I didn’t realize this would generate such a response! Thanks for the chuckles.

Oops I’m in the U.S. maybe that’s a good excuse to come visit.

Ooh I would love to do that. Where did you go?

🔔⏰Just over 1 month to go! ⏰🔔

Call for papers: Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'

A two-day workshop organised by
@andrewseaton.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May.

Details in poster below!

1. Elahe Mohammadi’s reporting on the funeral of Jina Mahsa Amini — which ignited the Woman, Life, Freedom uprisings — led to her being imprisoned by the regime for 17 months.

God only knows what she endured while in prison.

So I hope you’ll read her message below.

Republican majority leaders Thune and Johnson refuse to call back their members for an emergency session in the biggest American crisis of the century.

Minority leaders Schumer and Jeffries should have their members in session right now on the steps of the capitol, if that's what they have to do.

Where is the door to this paradise, please?

Yep. Just a reminder about Substack's Nazi connection, which is the reason why I left a few years ago & don't even read any newsletters hosted over there.

Hmmm. I didn’t notice that but just logged on a little while ago. LinkedIn is very career oriented and Substack is organized very differently. Staying here for now.

Horrifying.

In my view there is nothing wrong with Bluesky. I am able to connect with academics and readers in my field in a very collegial way and have interesting discussions. Politically it’s a bubble but I feel safe here. I don’t get fake posts and endless ads.

So the astronauts had to hang a T-shirt in the window to screen out the Earth’s brightness. No one thought of shades?

I loved Witness! Still have vivid memories of that dance scene in the barn. And the barn raising!

I’m in that same situation. They do this because it’s been drilled into them in K-12 classes. I just tell them to address me as Dr. C. It doesn’t always take—after 40+ years I’m still getting emails to Mrs Maiden Name, At this point I just shrug it off.

Ooh thank you for this suggestion.