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Reposted by Erik Wade

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 17d

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)

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Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · 18d

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

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 19d

'Rapture' comes from the Latin 'rapere' meaning "to seize and carry off."

'Raptor' also comes from 'rapere.'

We hope neither carries you off today.

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Sep 10

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.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · Sep 10

Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president
president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...

This afternoon, following full consideration of the facts related to this situation, I directed the Provost to terminate the professor involved, effective immediately. Please understand that these decisions were mine alone and were not
made lightly. While I cannot provide all the details at this time, I will share the following facts.

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Sep 9

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

Coming to a classroom near you.

Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · Sep 9

Texas A&M’s President just removed a dean and department head from their positions after they supported a professor whose lesson on gender was challenged by a student. www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...

A&M Dean removed following student complaints over curriculum

The Department of Justice has also acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating.

www.kbtx.com

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Sep 6

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.

Ryan Estrada @ryanestrada.com · Sep 6

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Erik Wade

Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social · Sep 3

Mohammed is in a really dangerous place and needs to leave

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Reposted by Erik Wade

Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social · Sep 3

Im sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Dima. Dima is only 19 years old and she is studying to become a nurse. She just got engaged. Unfortunately she is also trapped in the North and doesn’t have the funds to escape. She also has really poor internet so it’s hard to reach out.

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Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · Sep 2

a thank you dear friend greeting card with a purple rose and stars .

ALT: a thank you dear friend greeting card with a purple rose and stars .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · Sep 2

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...

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

doi.org

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Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · Sep 2

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. 🐆 🐁 💦

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Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · Sep 2

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...

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

doi.org

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Reposted by Erik Wade

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · Aug 25

An Al Jazeera journalist is among 15 Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. At least three other journalists were killed in the attack.

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Reposted by Erik Wade

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 25

Four journalists among 15 killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza, say health officials

Deaths take to at least 192 the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the conflict since 7 October 2023 Four journalists were among at least 15 people killed by Israeli strikes on al-Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, Palestinian health officials said. The strikes on Monday killed Hussam al-Masri, who worked for Reuters, Mariam Abu Dagga, who worked for the Associated Press, the Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed Salam, and Moaz Abu Taha from NBC. Another Reuters journalist, Hatem Khaled, was also wounded in the attack. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Erik Wade

Reuters @reuters.com · Aug 25

BREAKING: Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza killed at least 15 people, including three journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, Palestinian health officials said reut.rs/45OFPfr

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Aug 18

The National Parks Service just fired SJ Joslin, a Yosemite Park Ranger, for their work hanging the trans pride flag on El Capitan in May.

Yosemite Employee Fired After Flying Trans Pride Flag

Shannon “SJ” Joslin says they were fired for exercising freedom of speech.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Erik Wade

Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · Aug 15

AFT and university administrators may have bought into the AI hype, but we don't have to join them!

A really great resource that includes a page dedicated to labor bargaining (and more evidence that the Luddites were right for fighting the obnoxious machines of automation).

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 15

teachers!

excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.

take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com

AGAINST AI

against-a-i.com

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Erik Wade @erikkaars.bsky.social · Aug 11

I bet Rotten Tomatoes thinks this means "Where are you, good movie?" but it actually means "Why are you, good movie?"

Rotten Tomatoes Score
Rotten
26%
Critics Consensus: Wherefore art thou, good movie?

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Reposted by Erik Wade

SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Aug 6

LMAO. This is a cartoonish example of the political truism that centrists will always ally with fascists to block the left.

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · Aug 6

Bombshell report from The New York Times reveals that President Donald Trump spoke directly to Andrew Cuomo about how to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming NYC mayor. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/n...

The president has been briefed by Mark Penn, a pollster who has worked for Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Stein, a former New York City Council president and decades-long friend of Mr. Trump, on a range of polling that showed Mr. Cuomo could still be competitive as an independent candidate. Both men have pushed Mr. Cuomo as the best candidate despite his loss in the Democratic primary, including in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. One of Mr. Penn’s firms did extensive work for a pro-Cuomo super PAC in the primary.

And in a previously undisclosed call in recent weeks, Mr. Trump spoke about the race directly with Mr. Cuomo, an old associate and foil, according to three people briefed on the call, who were not authorized to discuss it.

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