Kevin Warsh just lost me. He argues he's going to be an independent Fed Chair, but refuses to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election. If you can't state simple facts when you're in the political spotlight, you aren't independent. You're a coward.
But I hear that the *real* ethical crisis is journalism on the Supreme Court’s decision-making process
www.thedailybeast.com/chief-justic...
from the AP Lit FB group, this kind of thing happens across states—
Moving my newsletter off substack, and here's my first post in the new place--an amazing roundtable panel at the Organization of American Historians conference in Philly last week with @kevinmkruse.bsky.social @kcarterjackson.bsky.social and Jeff Cowie!
gauthamrao.beehiiv.com/p/race-fear-...
America 250 is being commemorated in communities across the United States. What happens or doesn't happen in Washington, DC is important, but it shouldn't be the sole focus for how we measure success. Focus on your local community and help create a meaningful commemoration that you want to see.
"She raised concerns about her company's contracts with ICE. Then she lost her job" www.npr.org/2026/04/21/n...
NEW Strength In Numbers/Verasight.io poll: Trump approval falls to 35% as rating for handling prices hits a record -46
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-21...
Several fish species illustrated in very fine detail in profile on a very old page. #sciart #booksky #fishes
Engraver, artist & physician Alexander Anderson was born OTD in 1775. Self-taught starting at age 12, he engraved these 🐟 illustrations in my 1815 copy of ‘Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York.’ His name under the smaller one means he also was the artist (1/2) 🐡
Thank you for being my constitutional commentary anchors, exemplified once again by your preface on @strictscrutiny.bsky.social , @leahlitman.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social . You guys rock. There is simply no substitute for smart, ethical evisceration of SCOTUS’ hypocrisy.
“Parents must realize that refusing vaccinations doesn’t just put your own child at risk. It puts other children” esp. those too young to be vaccinated “at risk….It’s one of the most contagious viruses that exists”
Dead from complications of measles at age ten (she contracted measles at 5 months).
“Parents must realize that refusing vaccinations doesn’t just put your own child at risk. It puts other children” esp. those too young to be vaccinated “at risk….It’s one of the most contagious viruses that exists”
Dead from complications of measles at age ten (she contracted measles at 5 months).
Kash Patel is suing the Atlantic for a quarter billion dollars. I am begging people who are not familiar with Oscar Wilde’s downfall to read about his legal case. He filed a similar weak defamation suit, lost, and ended up serving two years of hard labor for the “gross indecency” the trial revealed.
In our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we spoke about AI becoming as divisive as DEI, the prevalence of scholarly slop, and how Bluesky poisons academic discourse. Evan Goldstein: You’ve described the Substack series as “intentionally provocative.” What — or who — were you trying to provoke? Alexander Kustov: I started using Claude Code and other agentic tools, and I was impressed with the possibilities and functionalities. Yet I still hear a lot of negativity about AI from colleagues who haven’t used those tools. The vast majority of folks in academia still think AI is that chatbot interface from a couple of years ago that hallucinates and cannot really do anything. But that’s not what I saw on my computer. I’d written short items about AI, so I thought to try to see whether Claude could assemble that and create a coherent, substantive post. It did a pretty good job. I just posted it. Then I realized it was a big thing.
Kustov: If we look at the best agentic models right now, they can do most quantitative social-science research tasks better than most professors globally. All of the kind of caveats here are important. What made a lot of people upset about this statement is that they interpret it in a very America-centric way. People were thinking about their colleagues at Oxford and R1 research universities. But I was born in Soviet Russia and went to undergrad in Europe. I have seen a lot of human slop. It should not be a controversial statement to say that agentic tools can do better. The value of qualitative research is going up because that’s something that AI cannot do well — ethnography and actually interviewing people in person, especially in hard-to-reach places. If you are gathering new data that is not yet publicly available, that’s the highest value that you can have as a professor and as a researcher. But I just came from an International Studies Association conference. I saw so much poor research that, if anything, I’m more convinced that my original point is correct. Too many people with Ph.D.s, with tenure, are producing work that is not contributing to human knowledge.
Meanwhile, the Chronicle has decided to interview Dr Kustov, who repeats his claim that AI agents do "qualitative social science research better than most professors globally"
Imagine having tenure and stability, and choosing to shit on his colleagues in a time of great instability for academia.
Promotional BBC Radio 3 & BBC Sounds flyer for "The Essay: The Death and Life of Christopher Marlowe", written and presented by Professor Jerry Brotton. Mon-Fri at 21.45, Radio 3. 20th April – 1st May. Produced by Melissa FitzGerald. Christopher Marlowe read by Justice Ritchie. Other voices read by Tonderai Munyevu. The image shows Professor Brotton standing with his arms folded, looking up at a Tudor portrait of a man with arms folded.
We're in this! (As well as lots of other fine folk...)
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Written & presented by Professor Jerry Brotton
On BBC Radio 3 & BBC Sounds – ten 14 minute episodes, releasing 20 April - 1 May, at 9.45pm
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002v6z8
🇪🇺🏳️🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.
There's a global race to secure EV battery gigafactories & reduce reliance on China.
But not all clean-tech projects are created equal. Some generate good jobs & domestic capacities, others produce ecological harm & low value-added enclaves.
New paper & thread 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The British Academy Book Prize rewards outstanding books in the humanities and social sciences that combine original thinking, high-quality research and exceptional storytelling.
Discover more about our upcoming prize through the link below 👇
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/british-acad...
Apparently Sam Altman also wrote a manifesto (on top of Marc Andreessens a while back). Are there others?
Genuine question: why do we think the tech bros are doing this? Which need does this fulfill for them?
This is a war based on lies
JUST IN: Judge Amit Mehta (Obama/DC) opens door to deposition of Trump in #Jan6 civil lawsuits. Discovery against Trump on merits of cases could begin in May. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
A woman stands outdoors at a lectern bearing the seal of the City of Frederick, reading from a stack of papers into a microphone. She wears glasses and a green-and-white shirt with a printed portrait on it. Behind her are leafy trees, a low stone wall, and a red brick building featuring a large mural of a trumpet player. A water bottle and a bag rest on the wall beside the lectern, and parked cars and storefronts are visible in the background.
A middle-aged man stands outdoors at a lectern, speaking into a handheld microphone. He wears dark sunglasses, a light gray and white plaid short-sleeve button-up shirt, and dark trousers. He appears focused, looking down at notes as he speaks. The lectern bears a circular seal for City of Frederick, featuring illustrated church spires and the text “Founded 1745.” An unused microphone stand is positioned to his left. The setting is a sunny day in a landscaped public area, with green trees, shrubs, and a stone wall behind him. On the right side, a water bottle and a bag rest on the stone ledge. In the background, a large mural painted on the side of a brick building depicts a person holding a trumpet.
A blue and gold historical marker titled “The Lynchings of James Carroll, John Biggus, and James Bowens” stands outdoors under a partly cloudy sky and leafy trees. The sign reads: COMMUNITY REMEMBRANCE PROJECT FREDERICK THE LYNCHINGS OF JAMES CARROLL, JOHN BIGGUS, AND JAMES BOWENS Three Black men were victims of racial terror lynching in Frederick County between 1879 and 1895. Each was abducted following reports of attacks against local white women. On April 17, 1879, a mob of more than 70 white people lynched 24-year-old James Carroll. Mr. Carroll was on a train from Washington, D.C., to Frederick in police custody when he was seized by the mob. After he was forced off the train, the mob used a rope it placed around Mr. Carroll’s neck to drag him through a muddy embankment to the edge of nearby woods in Point of Rocks, where it hanged him. On November 23, 1887, John Biggus, a 19-year-old Black teen, was lynched by a mob of 100 or more white men. After seizing Mr. Biggus from the Frederick jail, the mob took him to a nearby field and killed him as he professed his innocence. Mr. Biggus was shot three times and hanged. On November 17, 1895, a mob of approximately 300 white men lynched a young Black man, James Bowens, after he was seized from the Frederick jail. As Mr. Bowens was hanged, the mob fired a gunshot into his head. A member of the mob made a brief speech afterwards, stating they had lynched Mr. Bowens “to teach men of his class that they must let the white women of Frederick county alone or suffer the consequences.” No one was held accountable for the lynchings of James Carroll, John Biggus, or James Bowens. EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE FREDERICK REMEMBRANCE MEMORIAL COALITION 2026
Jessica Fitzwater stands outdoors at a lectern with the seal of the City of Frederick, speaking into a handheld microphone while gesturing with her free hand. She wears glasses, a black top, and patterned black pants. Behind her are leafy trees, a low stone wall with a water bottle and books resting on it, and a red brick building featuring a large mural of a trumpet player. A few people and parked vehicles are visible in the background.
This weekend, a new marker was unveiled acknowledging the lives of Mr. James Carroll, Mr. John Biggus, and Mr. James Bowen, who were victims of racial terror lynchings in Frederick County. These acts spread fear throughout African-American communities; no one was held accountable for the lynchings.
📽️ Our Editor in Chief @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social will be hosting a Q&A with Noelle Cook and Liz Smith at the London premiere of their thought-provoking film 'The Conspiracists' – following the lives of women involved in the Jan 6 insurrection – at the Bertha Dochouse on 21 April.
Book your ticket:
Gil Duran tweet: TLDR: Fascism in response to Palantir's long fascists screed on X.
"Your Account is Suspended" Message on X
The CEO of Palantir posted a fascist manifesto on X.
I pointed out that it was fascist—which resulted in a permanent suspension from X (my second time!).
So, when you hear the tweeters complaining that BlueSky is intolerant, remember why many of us came here in the first place.
1/ I just wanna be super-clear: *The* thing that academics do that justifies our position is say what we think. That sometimes means publicly disagreeing with people who are our friends or our allies in other debates.
Hungarian taxpayers paid American “post-liberal” Rod Dreher $105,000 last year to produce propaganda for Orban’s regime. www.jaccusepaper.co.uk/p/the-strang...
"We are pleased to share more than 125,000 U.S. Supreme Court records and briefs. These materials which span nearly two centuries of American law are now freely accessible online."
"Includes records and briefs spanning cases from 1830 through 2019."
The Trump administration is considering a bailout for the United Arab Emirates over economic losses sustained as a result of the U.S. war with Iran. President Trump and his family also happen to have extensive business ties with the UAE. trib.al/CpCz4Oc
UT's leadership is not "submitting to political domination." The regents are all Republican loyalists installed by Greg Abbott to do whatever he wants them to do.
Texas universities will never recover unless the Legislature takes away from the governor the sole power to appoint university regents.
It's National Library Week. ❤️ That's it, that's the post.
Call for Applications: Assistant Editor of Disability Studies Quarterly One week left to apply! Deadline: April 15, 2026 Responsibilities will comprise no more than 250 work hours over a one-year (52-week) period; a five-hour/week commitment should be the average though the weekly load fluctuates based on the journal’s quarterly deadlines. The SDS President will provide additional support as needed and address funding requests for any needed disability access accommodations; such funding will be in addition to the $5,100 stipend. disstudies.org
Call for Applications: Assistant Editor of Disability Studies Quarterly
One week left to apply!
Deadline: April 15, 2026
disstudies.org/call-for-app...
#DisabilityStudies #Disability #AcademicChatter #DSQ
