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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 8m

Right-wing terrorism is down from its historic highs, says Paul Krugman, but this may be because the Trump regime is doing their dirty work for them. In fact, he adds, "some people who might have engaged in terrorist assaults may well be working for ICE instead": is.gd/qyR7QC

State Terror, American Style

Forget about “soft autocracy”

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1h

I guess if I were a Christian (or an adherent of any religion), I'd be deeply offended by what MAGA folks say and do in the name of that faith. Similarly, if I were a conservative, I'd be outraged by how the media routinely uses that label to describe fascists, racists, and conspiracy theorists.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 14h

It isn’t surprising that this would be happening with a 79-year-old man. The crazy and dangerous part is that there’s an entire political movement and media ecosystem that rationalizes, justifies, and tries to retroactively validate every synapse misfire that escapes his mouth.

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 14h

I know invoking Latin terms can be a bit esoteric, and "dementia" is fine and accurate, but I think there's real merit in zeroing in on the relevant legal concept: he is non compos mentis. Not just that he's a batty old man, he is debilitated in a concrete legal sense, fit for conservatorship.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 20h

Ruben Gallego on whether Trump is talking to Democrats:

“Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia, so I think there's a he's probably talking to himself, or think he's talking to a Democrat, but I sincerely doubt that that's actually he's actually physically talking to a Democrat.“

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Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 1d

This guy is in charge of US health care.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 16h

Terrorizing immigrants is the cake; the grossly inappropriate invocation of religion by government representatives is the icing

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 16h

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is in Portland meeting with ICE, Border Patrol and DHS officials; Nick Sortor posted video of Noem saying a prayer for the safety of their officers at the start of the meeting.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 22h

... and have virtually all Congressional Republicans and 6/9 of the Supreme Court in his corner when he did so.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

NY Times headline writers are suffering from a crippling addiction to the passive voice. Won't you please help?

(After decades of telling us that Palestinians "died in clashes," they're now eliding the GOP Speaker's refusal to swear in Grijalva to protect Trump from releasing the Epstein files.)

NYT headline: "A Newly Elected Representative is Left in Limbo During the Funding Impasse"

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

NY Times headline writers are suffering from a crippling addiction to the passive voice. Won't you please help?

(After decades of telling us that Palestinians "died in clashes," they're now eliding the GOP Speaker's refusal to swear in Grijalva to protect Trump from releasing the Epstein files.)

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

Cartoon shows commanding officer addressing troops in front of a sign reading "Operation Circular Reasoning." He says: "We're being deployed because of the protests about us being deployed."

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

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Included in Trump's extortionate "compact" aimed at 9 colleges (is.gd/YLKEk1), alongside attacks on diversity, etc., are demands to require standardized tests like the SAT/ACT for admission and to curb grade inflation. Just in case you doubted the right-wing pedigree of both of these positions.

Trump offers top universities funds if they boost conservative ideas

Brown and MIT among nine schools told to back conservative views or risk losing federal support, sparking free speech fears

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success."
- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Read this article and then tell me how hopeful you are about the survival of democracy: tinyurl.com/y98f342h

tinyurl.com

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

But, hey, kids, it's up to *you* to use it "responsibly"

Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 2d

Really, truly amazing that OpenAI wants us to believe that they are worth a trillion dollars but also they are so desperate for revenue that they created an infinite SlopTok app that opens them up to a billion lawsuits just so that they can maybe someday make it even worse by filling it with ads.

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Kenji @kenjimallon.bsky.social · 2d

Americans have become so desensitized to violence that I'm not sure most get the gravity of this

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

Same judge. While Miller rails about judges.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsDe...

Monty Python - Can Do But Won't

YouTube video by Joe Craig

www.youtube.com

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

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Many have debunked the claim that such tests promote equity (e.g., is.gd/oBzkgb); it makes perfect sense that MAGA's anti-DEI agenda mandates their use.
And I explained the conservatism implicit in jeremiads against grade inflation many years ago (is.gd/lxL5hk) & later in the NYT (is.gd/E89KAS).

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

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Included in Trump's extortionate "compact" aimed at 9 colleges (is.gd/YLKEk1), alongside attacks on diversity, etc., are demands to require standardized tests like the SAT/ACT for admission and to curb grade inflation. Just in case you doubted the right-wing pedigree of both of these positions.

Trump offers top universities funds if they boost conservative ideas

Brown and MIT among nine schools told to back conservative views or risk losing federal support, sparking free speech fears

is.gd

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JLRay @jlray.bsky.social · 2d

A Texas megachurch pastor and GOP leader has been arrested for crimes against children. Not Robert Morris, a different one. Not Josiah Anthony, a different one. Not Luke Cunningham, a different one. Not Tony Evans, a different one. Not Scott Crenshaw, a different one. Not Steve Lawson, a different o

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

Something new to worry about

Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 2d

This feels like evidence Trump's aides are deliberately gaslighting him, which is unfortunately very easy to do with dementia sufferers (Trump did it to his father) and which aides are using to seize control of the US military for their own purposes.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

The protests are on one block. Nothing is burning down. His justification for sending in troops is all based on lies.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

"I care deeply about my students’ learning, but with all the new technologies available to help them cut corners, I worry that they’re not doing the deep thinking necessary to learn. That’s why I’ve been prompting AI to create lesson plans and assignments that will engage my students": is.gd/RSnETN

I Need AI to Write Better Lesson Plans So My Students Stop Using AI to Write Their Papers

I care deeply about my students’ learning, but with all the new technologies available to help them cut corners, I worry that they’re not doing the...

is.gd

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

Totalitarians have long preferred this rhetorical strategy: Classify everyone who opposes the regime; who defends the rule of law; who supports even moderately liberal, egalitarian, or democratic positions as "far left," "Communist," even "terrorist." This justifies all manner of violent repression.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

He’s foaming at the mouth to go full Gestapo.

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

So according to MAGA and many universities most Jews are antisemitic

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 3d

Many American Jews sharply disapprove of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with 61 percent saying Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 saying the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians, according to a Washington Post poll.

Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds

Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes — and 39 percent say genocide — while often distinguishing between the country and its leadership.

wapo.st

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

We just can't stop dangling goodies in front of people to make them do what we want. No matter how reliably rewards fail (and, indeed, often make things worse), behaviorists insist that a different version is sure to work this time.
(Second screenshot is from www.alfiekohn.org/article/rewa...)

Cash incentive pilot aims to improve student attendance

Digital Pioneers Academy in Washington, D.C., is launching a pilot program to address chronic absenteeism by paying students $50 weekly, inspired by a similar initiative by the Rooted School Foundation. The pilot, part of a national study on poverty reduction, has already attracted over half of the senior class.

Or what about rewarding people just for showing up? In 2015, researchers at Hong Kong University and New York University studied nine year olds in a very low-income area of India whose school attendance was spotty. These children were promised a reward if they came to school at least 32 out of 38 days. During that period, not surprisingly, many kids' attendance improved. Afterwards, however, it promptly dropped — either back to the earlier low levels or, in the case of students on whom the reward hadn't had even a temporary effect, to a level much lower than it had been to begin with.

Another study, conducted by Carly Robinson at Harvard and her colleagues, and released as a working paper this past summer, cast a much wider net. They followed more than 15,000 students in fourteen California school districts, watching to see whether those who received a reward for exemplary attendance in the fall would come to school more often in February as compared to those who hadn't been rewarded. Again, the rewards either had no effect or actually led to poorer attendance.

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 4d

1. This is one of the most insane statements ever delivered by a presidential spokesperson in U.S. history. Totally disconnected from reality.

2. There is either going to be a civil war or abject Democratic surrender to autocracy. They are telling this you, to your face, in explicit terms.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Leavitt: "President Trump will end the radical left's reign of terror in Portland once and for all. The president has directed Secretary Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland."

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

[poster on X]: Literally though, without X the entire West would be complataly captured by authoritarian rule at this point.

Elon Musk: Buying this platform has caused me enormous pain, but it had to be done to strengthen the pillars holding up the Western Civilization

Journal article
Delusional megalomania: An omnipotence founded on existential emptiness

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 5d

You know what they say: Fascism In, Fascism Out
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...

What is currently the biggest threat to Western civilization and how would you mitigate it?

July10 Grok:
The biggest current threat to Western civilization as of July 16, 2025, is societal polarization fueled by misinformation and disinformation.

July 10 Mr. Musk says: “Will fix in the morning"

July 11 Grok:
The biggest threat to Western civilization is demographic collapse from sub-replacement fertility rates (.g., 1.6 in the EU, 1.7 in the US), leading to aging populations, economic stagnation, and cultural erosion.

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