Erin S. Festivus
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erincikanek.bsky.social
Erin S. Festivus
@erincikanek.bsky.social
Political Scientist. Rhymes with mechanic. Emotions, media, measurement, food, coffee, rowing, and dogs.
She/her
Personal account
Pinned
Give my regrets to the entire field
We absentmindedly put this box on the radiator and Lemon has staked her claim.
December 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
this is AI, as should be obvious by the PICE vest, please stop sharing it.
December 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
🚨Jobs!🚨

3-year PostDoc positions (aka Research Officers) at @lsegovernment.bsky.social to work with me on the local consequences of border change. Please reach out for questions and apply by Jan 4th to join the team and department: I’d love to hear from you!

Job ad: jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Research Officer
Research Officer, , <p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #333333;">LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university</s...
jobs.lse.ac.uk
December 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Murder
December 6, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I hope these keep coming because they make me feel SO MUCH BETTER about my own writing.
Truly sorry to keep posting these but I cannot believe this book is real.
December 6, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
The White House’s insistence on using Sabrina Carpenter’s work and image to promote their crimes against humanity is also them appealing to their base, which already uses technology to try and humiliate and puppeteer the likenesses of women who have autonomy, success, and visibility in public
December 6, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
“This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.” Read our full statement by AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly:
www.aap.org/en/news-room...
December 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Here's the reality this example illustrates:

It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 5, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
It's the 160th anniversary of the United States' refounding, the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
December 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
I am happy to pay $30 a year for USPS Prime, which delivers mail daily to my home
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
I'm not exaggerating when I say following @boltsmag.org rn will unlock money for our journalism.

A generous reader, @russ41.bsky.social, has offered to donate $1 for every 1-person increase to our follower count.

If you're not following @boltsmag.org yet, it'll directly help fund our reporting!
December 6, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
This really is grotesque: they went through years-long citizenship processes and are now being denied simply because if the country they are from. It’s formalized bigotry.
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”

www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
www.wgbh.org
December 6, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
this sentence alone, my goodness
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”

www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
www.wgbh.org
December 5, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
HHS says they put Levine’s deadname up as a testament to “good science and biological reality.”

Names are not biological.
December 5, 2025 at 11:55 PM
…is this like a ‘Make A Wish’ thing or…
US President Donald Trump has been awarded the first FIFA Peace Prize.

"He has supported efforts to broker ceasefires and promote diplomatic engagement," says the FIFA announcement.
December 5, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Kennedy's zombie ACIP panel just voted to restrict hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. Experts say it will harm children for no reason. www.ms.now/news/rfk-cdc...

ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner:

"'Do no harm' is a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this wording. And I vote no."
RFK Jr.’s CDC panel: No more hepatitis B vaccine for some newborns
The CDC's vaccine advisory panel, stocked with anti-vaccine activists and loyalists to RFK Jr., voted Friday to stop recommending a birth dose of vaccine.
www.ms.now
December 5, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
True, all times are equally bad to quit caffeine.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/d...
There’s Never Been a Better Time to Quit Caffeine
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
NBC NEWS: Jack Smith’s final report “said that Trump ‘inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence’ by spreading ‘demonstrably and, in many cases, obviously false’ claims about the 2020 election.”

@ryanjreilly.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
December 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
"You can’t discredit community media the way you can discredit CNN," @seth-stern.bsky.social told @blockclubchi.bsky.social.

"People know their local reporters. They see them on the street. They rely on them. That makes it harder for the administration to control the narrative."
How The Feds Used Propaganda To Frame Their ‘War’ On Chicago: 'They're Lying Constantly'
Homeland Security has sought to reshape violent encounters into triumphant narratives — even as judges, journalists and experts said the agency has repeatedly distorted facts, misled the public and at...
blockclubchicago.org
December 4, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
EGOT!!!
this is a work of art
December 4, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Anniversary plans include statewide public art installations, music festivals, and events that celebrate the diversity of Illinoisans, highlighting Native American culture, Black history and the state’s immigrant communities.
Gov. JB Pritzker announces plans for America's 250th anniversary
chicago.suntimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Bluesky Wrapped and it's how many times your own joke was explained to you
December 4, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Erin S. Festivus
Pure Michigan
The bronze statue depicting the eponymous cybernetic star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 set-in-Detroit sci-fi satire was installed in Eastern Market on Wednesday, nearly 15 years after someone proposed it in a viral social media post.
Detroit finally has a RoboCop statue - Detroit Metro Times
Nearly 15 years later, Detroit finally has its statue of RoboCop.  The bronze statue depicting the eponymous cybernetic star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 set-in-Detroit sci-fi satire was installed in East...
www.metrotimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Is he doing this for attention? Maybe.
Do I think many more democrats should be doing stuff like this for attention?
Absolutely
Rep. Shri Thanedar said today he plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Democrat announces articles of impeachment against Hegseth
The articles will accuse the Hegseth of "murder" and "conspiracy to murder."
www.axios.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:45 AM