James Sims
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simsjames.bsky.social
James Sims
@simsjames.bsky.social
Associate Vice President for Communications, Wesleyan University | Prior: Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center, AMNH | Columbia Journalism Alum | Air Force Veteran 🇺🇸✈️ | Arts & Theatre Geek 🎭 Film/TV, Media, HigherEd & Democracy ✡️
Reposted by James Sims
Every day, Trump keeps escalating. He's showing us the power that he believes he has and how he'll wield it against all of us. It's on all of us to remind Trump that in America, we have no tyrants and no kings.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
FBI seeks interviews with six Democrats Trump accused of 'seditious behavior'
The lawmakers, who released a video urging members of the military and the intelligence community not to follow illegal orders, accused Trump of trying to intimidate them.
www.nbcnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by James Sims
The person with the most demanding job in the world should not be so old they get fatigued after a few hours. (It's been almost nine years since we had a president under 70.)
November 26, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by James Sims
Checking in! How are we?

Thanksgiving week is historically Very Weird. It's a Very Slow Week, that also has Key News Dumps. So, it's both and not always clear what's what.

If you're still in government, especially DOJ, and something unusual is going on this week, reach out! Signal is crg.32
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
"If we truly believe that the country is on the brink of a civil war or a fascist takeover, then a drastic plan of action is needed. We cannot wait for a war to solve our problems for us." — Wesleyan University professor @dsj2110.bsky.social in @commonweal.bsky.social
Conscription for Peace
What peaceful equivalent of war could generate the same sense of urgency and solidarity? William James had an answer.
www.commonwealmagazine.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
As our democracy fights for its life, today’s @nytimes.com morning newsletter reminds me of America’s priorities—the most clicked story yesterday was about shopping for a toothbrush…
November 25, 2025 at 1:18 PM
“This could result in a chilling effect on the usage of open federal data in all research moving forward, and there is no replacement for the breadth of data collection that the government does.” — James Guerrera-Sapone, Wesleyan University’s research data librarian, on disappearing government data
Disappearing Data
www.wesleyan.edu
November 25, 2025 at 4:17 AM
“A professor at the University of Oklahoma has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to an OU faculty member.” #AcademicSKY #HigherEd
OU professor with valid visa reportedly detained by ICE while boarding flight to D.C.
A professor at the University of Oklahoma has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to an OU faculty member.Dr. Vahid Abedini was
okcfox.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by James Sims
“.. The revisions set off a backlash. Seth Levi of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group, called the new policy ‘a national embarrassment.’”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
November 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
“The history of creating lists of Jewish people for the government is one of the most frightening in world history.” #highered
Federal Suit Seeking Names of Some Jewish Employees at Penn Sparks Backlash
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by James Sims
1/ This is a devastatingly good article on RFK Jr by @michaelscherer.bsky.social. Even if you’re someone, like me, who has followed this arc and his devastating impact on public health, it’s a must read. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Why Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. So Convinced He’s Right?
How an outsider, once ignored by the public-health establishment, became the most powerful man in science
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:41 PM
One in five students missed class during an immigration operation in Charlotte. #education
Border Patrol’s Charlotte sting reaches into country clubs, upscale shops
As undocumented immigrants stayed home and federal agents swept through the city, even the wealthiest neighborhoods got a glimpse of what life without migrants might look like.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Is this what making America “great again” looks like? “The G20 should send a clear message that the world can move on with or without the U.S.”
Can the World Move On Without the U.S.? G20 Leaders Gave It a Shot.
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:07 PM
This sounds thrilling! “A jaw-dropping feat of music theater, making a thrilling case for the vitality and potential of opera on a grand scale…’The Monkey King’ is an artistic triumph for the creators and performers alike.” #opera #arts
Review: A Chinese Classic Comes to Spectacular Operatic Life
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by James Sims
Wesleyan University's Center for Prison Education program offers multiple classes at correctional facilities in Connecticut, reaching 70–90 students. Our program's director Tess Wheelwright tells @ctmirror.org the work is powerful and necessary—but comes with real challenges. #HigherEd
College enrollment in CT prisons limited by lack of space, internet
About 320 incarcerated people were enrolled in higher education as of Oct. 2024. That's a fraction of the estimated 3,000 people eligible.
ctmirror.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by James Sims
ATTN Wesleyan University folks!

I'm discussing my new novel, THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED, @ the Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore with my How I Met Your Mother co-creator and fellow Wes alum, Carter Bays! Thursday, 12/11. 6:00 PM. Come say hi!

@wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social

rjjulia.com/event/2025-1...
Craig Thomas, "That's Not How It Happened" in conversation with Carter Bays
RJ Julia opened 35 years ago as an independent bookstore whose mission was, and is, to be a place where words matter, where writer meets reader, where the ambiance and selection and merchandising of books creates an atmosphere that is welcoming and presents the opportunity for discovery. Ultimately, we are fiercely committed to putting the right book in the right hands.
rjjulia.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by James Sims
I never expected after serving 25 years in the Navy flying combat missions over Iraq and Kuwait, flying the space shuttle, that now I've got to worry about my personal safety and that of my wife, Gabby Giffords, who was already nearly assassinated, because of something the president said.”
Trump targeted them for execution. They're not backing down.
The Democratic members of Congress whom President Donald Trump said should be executed for saying the military should defy his illegal orders are not backing down from their message. In response ...
www.dailykos.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Impressive.
November 21, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Wesleyan University's Center for Prison Education program offers multiple classes at correctional facilities in Connecticut, reaching 70–90 students. Our program's director Tess Wheelwright tells @ctmirror.org the work is powerful and necessary—but comes with real challenges. #HigherEd
College enrollment in CT prisons limited by lack of space, internet
About 320 incarcerated people were enrolled in higher education as of Oct. 2024. That's a fraction of the estimated 3,000 people eligible.
ctmirror.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The world is still full of beauty and serenity. ❤️
How to Fix a Typewriter and Your Life (Gift Article)
This is the story of how a man traded steady, grinding corporate security for a dying craft and, in the process, found his soul.
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by James Sims
Stirring up long-simmering anger from boomers aimed at mothers who threw out their comic books....
Superman Comic Sets Auction Record, Selling for $9.12 Million www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/a...
Superman Comic Sets Auction Record, Selling for $9.12 Million
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by James Sims
Calling women “pigs.” Check. Trivializing the brutal murder of a journalist by saying “things happen.” Check. And now, minimizing the threat of antisemitism. Check. “The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika…as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month.”
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by James Sims
Every member of Congress and frankly every American should denounce what Trump did today in suggesting members of Congress be executed.

It shouldn't even need to be said, but apparently does: it is beyond the pale for anyone to suggest such things, let alone the president of the united states.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by James Sims
🧵For over 20 years, Robert Pietranton toiled behind-the-scenes at Warner Bros. TV as one of the studio’s key publicity execs, focusing on telling stories about the division’s corporate successes (like how many shows it supplied to streamers like Apple TV and Netflix)....
November 21, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by James Sims
Those who try to appease Trump invariably lose. Those who stand up and fight back tend to fare well.

It’s true when it comes to law firms; it’s true when it comes to higher ed; and as his failed case against CNN demonstrated this week, it’s true in his court fights against news organizations.
November 21, 2025 at 1:09 AM