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Reposted by Bijan Parsia

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 16h

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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Karen Graubart @kbgraubart.bsky.social · 7h

Moving quickly to a world where students use AI to complete work, profs use AI to grade it, no one learns anything and we will live in a world of mediocrity and incompetence where only the billionaires benefit.

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 1d

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The Dangers of using AI to Grade

Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains

substack.com

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 15h

www.vox.com/culture/4644...

There was an episode of Episodes where Matt LeBlanc attends a murderous dictator’s birthday party for the cash. Schwimmer is there and got paid twice as much.

Saudi Arabia’s comedy festival is no laughing matter

Comedians went to Saudi Araba — and faced blowback in America.

www.vox.com

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 16h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 16h

He needs professional help.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

Exclusive: Tech billionaire Peter Thiel warned that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and critics of AI are “legionnaires of the Antichrist” in private lectures that connected government oversight of Silicon Valley to an apocalyptic future.

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

wapo.st

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Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 1d

News: Bari Weiss just sent a memo to staffers at CBS News asking them to produce a memo explaining "how you spend your working hours—and ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of."

One CBS News staffer puts it like this to me: "We just got Elon Musked."

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 16h

I’m hearkens back to the campaign stuff about Springfield and cats and dogs. Media just lets him spout total falsehoods without massive appropriate coverage.

HELLody SchreiBOO @melodyschreiber.com · 16h

Oz, Kennedy, and Makary in the background

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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sarahquaint @sarahquaint.bsky.social · 17h

While providing tech support for my FIL:

FIL: What's that screen?

ME: The terminal. You should never use it.

FIL: Never?

ME: So you know how I'm allowed to watch you open the electrical panel and swap out breakers, but I'm not allowed to ever open up it myself?

FIL: Ah! I understand, thank you.

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Memento (Spooky) Morty 🌙 @mementomorty.bsky.social · 16h

Never in my life have I ever read a medical report that lists "cardiac age" in it. That isn't a thing.

Reuters @reuters.com · 17h

Trump, 79, has "cardiac age" of 65-year-old, doctor says reut.rs/4mZNZbu

Trump, 79, has "cardiac age" of 65-year-old, doctor says

Donald Trump was found to be in "exceptional health" in a medical evaluation, the U.S. president's doctor said in a memo released by the White House on Friday, with his "cardiac age" 14 years younger than in "chronological age."

reut.rs

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 16h

My academic regalia gets more head turns.

I do dress up for fun while teaching on Halloween and I once taught in a pink morph bodysuit for wear it pink day. Everyone enjoyed it. And like really, who cares?

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 16h

And it’s been this way for forever. I remember the first time I saw a person with a beard wearing a rather feminine skirt in…like 1989. I dyed my hair and beard pink in the 2000s. Etc etc.

Honestly, in most places wearing a cowboy hat would be more outlandish if only because it’s rare there.

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 17h

Trump got a Covid vaccine today.

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 18h

Department of Justice lawyers, from Main Justice to AUSAs in the districts, have ALWAYS enjoyed a sort of aura of truth and justice and trust. That was arguably always unjustifiable but Trump DoJ has absolutely pissed it away with compulsive lying.

Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 21h

There goes another Trump admin talking point.

Claim: Abrego told an immigration judge that he fears persecution in Costa Rica.

Judge Xinis reads the immigration judge's ruling, which doesn't say that.

"That's very troubling to me," Xinis tells Ensign.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 20h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 23h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 1d

HAPPY WEEKEND 😭 #ucu #UKHE

le.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...

UCEA announces Professor Nishan Canagarajah as new chair | News | University of Leicester

le.ac.uk

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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 1d

It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.

And there will be others within our lifetime.

That's biodiversity loss.

We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794

XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)

Awful wind noise in the original! See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...

xeno-canto.org

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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 1d

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 1d

I’m up for “make people uncomfortable via my taking about my mental health” day.

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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 1d

REF at a crossroads: revamp or get rid?

Pause intensifies debate on whether exercise is QR’s essential defence or outdated policy’s “monster”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

REF at a crossroads: revamp or get rid? - Research Professional News

Pause intensifies debate on whether exercise is QR’s essential defence or outdated policy’s “monster”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 1d

It's #WorldMentalHealthDay and this year's theme is both serious and timely "Access to Services- Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies" wmhdofficial.com

For many, mental health support and care simply doesn't exist, or is not available in accessible, attainable or affordable ways.

World Mental Health Day – October 10th

wmhdofficial.com

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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 1d

Worrying numbers

“Universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year”

“Four in 10 English universities are now believed to be in financial deficit”
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens

University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

Has anyone ever asked this man to explain what the is wrong with being Palestinian? Seems like a simple follow up question. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"

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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 2d

I mean I’ve heard better Mad Libs before.

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

what the living fuck are these people telling each other on Nextdoor

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 2d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Dr. Jen Gunter @drjengunter.bsky.social · 2d

lol if you are a young pregnant American citizen in an ER you may not get the treatment you need and instead get sepsis because of forced birth Republican laws

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 2d

Even so, it would have been much better as a suppressed thought.

Sean O’Kane @seanokane.bsky.social · 2d

WSJ is reporting that the Truth Social post where Trump told Pam Bondi to prosecute Comey *really was supposed to be a private message*

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Inside the Justice Department Where the President Calls the Shots

The president has executed a wholesale transformation of the Justice Department, taking control in ways he could have only dreamed of in his first term.

www.wsj.com

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