Jan McVicker
@jmcvicker.bsky.social
Professor, SUNY (English, INDS) focusing on lit/theory/culture/media. Virginia Woolf studies/modernism. Opinions my own.
‘It’s a Culture Now of Fear’: A Year of Chaos Inside the Justice Department
Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
‘It’s a Culture Now of Fear’: A Year of Chaos Inside the Justice Department
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 PM
‘It’s a Culture Now of Fear’: A Year of Chaos Inside the Justice Department
Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
School Groups Sue to Stop Dismantling of the Education Department
The new complaint is aimed at changes the Trump administration would make to shift significant functions from the department to other federal agencies.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
The new complaint is aimed at changes the Trump administration would make to shift significant functions from the department to other federal agencies.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
School Groups Sue to Stop Dismantling of the Education Department
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:34 PM
School Groups Sue to Stop Dismantling of the Education Department
The new complaint is aimed at changes the Trump administration would make to shift significant functions from the department to other federal agencies.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
The new complaint is aimed at changes the Trump administration would make to shift significant functions from the department to other federal agencies.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Iranian Professor in Oklahoma Released 3 Days After His Detention by ICE
Vahid Abedini, who colleagues said was in the United States on an H-1B visa, was arrested on his way to a conference in Washington. It was unclear why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Vahid Abedini, who colleagues said was in the United States on an H-1B visa, was arrested on his way to a conference in Washington. It was unclear why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Iranian Professor in Oklahoma Released 3 Days After His Detention by ICE
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Iranian Professor in Oklahoma Released 3 Days After His Detention by ICE
Vahid Abedini, who colleagues said was in the United States on an H-1B visa, was arrested on his way to a conference in Washington. It was unclear why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Vahid Abedini, who colleagues said was in the United States on an H-1B visa, was arrested on his way to a conference in Washington. It was unclear why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Great HCR wrap on signs that maybe we're reaching a pivot point in blind support for the illegality of this administration-November 29, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
November 29, 2025
In the wake of yesterday’s report from Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Special Operations to kill the survivors of a September 2 stri...
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Great HCR wrap on signs that maybe we're reaching a pivot point in blind support for the illegality of this administration-November 29, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
Reposted by Jan McVicker
Trump is invading American cities to nominally address crime, and I think the scale of his pardon-sprees should be given more political salience
When this criminal was jailed, the judge told David Gentile and America: ‘This is a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail.’ I guess not
November 30, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Trump is invading American cities to nominally address crime, and I think the scale of his pardon-sprees should be given more political salience
The Undermining of the C.D.C.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Undermining of the C.D.C.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell.
www.newyorker.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The Undermining of the C.D.C.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
NPR's Lauren Frayer speaks to Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacie about her new film on the Palestinian uprising against the British army in 1936. It's called "Palestine 36."
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
A new film depicts the Palestinian uprising against British colonialism in 1936
NPR's Lauren Frayer speaks to Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacie about her new film on the Palestinian uprising against the British army in 1936. It's called "Palestine 36."
www.npr.org
November 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
NPR's Lauren Frayer speaks to Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacie about her new film on the Palestinian uprising against the British army in 1936. It's called "Palestine 36."
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
think people will be hearing a lot more about this film soon...
Palestine 36 director Annemarie Jacir: ‘We don’t want a state, we just want to live’
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Palestine 36 director Annemarie Jacir: ‘We don’t want a state, we just want to live’
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Palestine 36 director Annemarie Jacir: ‘We don’t want a state, we just want to live’
Fresh from a 20-minute ovation at Toronto, the film-maker’s historical drama reveals how Britain’s 1936 crackdown created the blueprint for the ongoing genocide in Gaza
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM
think people will be hearing a lot more about this film soon...
Palestine 36 director Annemarie Jacir: ‘We don’t want a state, we just want to live’
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Palestine 36 director Annemarie Jacir: ‘We don’t want a state, we just want to live’
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Reposted by Jan McVicker
Workers at the drinking water plant in Louisville, Ky. saw a sudden spike in the level of a 'forever chemical.' They traced it up the Ohio River to a factory embroiled in a pollution lawsuit. n.pr/3M80fdi
More cities are seeing PFAS pollution in drinking water. Here's what Louisville found
Workers at the drinking water plant in Louisville, Ky. saw a sudden spike in the level of a 'forever chemical.' They traced it up the Ohio River to a factory embroiled in a pollution lawsuit.
n.pr
November 30, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Workers at the drinking water plant in Louisville, Ky. saw a sudden spike in the level of a 'forever chemical.' They traced it up the Ohio River to a factory embroiled in a pollution lawsuit. n.pr/3M80fdi
AI video slop is everywhere, take our quiz to try and spot it
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
AI video slop is everywhere, take our quiz to try and spot it
There's no one way to be absolutely sure about a video's authenticity, but experts say there are some simple clues that can help.
www.npr.org
November 30, 2025 at 2:50 PM
AI video slop is everywhere, take our quiz to try and spot it
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/30/n...
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence
David Gentile had been found guilty for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
David Gentile had been found guilty for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence
David Gentile had been found guilty for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
David Gentile had been found guilty for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Erykah Badu Says Making Music Is a Sport. It’s Game Time. The singer and songwriter on her reign as one of music’s most idiosyncratic and spiritual figures and where her creative impulses are headed next.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/a...
Erykah Badu Says Making Music Is a Sport. It’s Game Time.
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Erykah Badu Says Making Music Is a Sport. It’s Game Time. The singer and songwriter on her reign as one of music’s most idiosyncratic and spiritual figures and where her creative impulses are headed next.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/a...
graft, lies, corruption..
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his own tech investments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his own tech investments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:35 PM
graft, lies, corruption..
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his own tech investments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his own tech investments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
no contradictions here...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:34 PM
no contradictions here...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Millions of full-time workers are struggling to afford a place to live. Here’s why
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Millions of full-time workers are struggling to afford a place to live. Here’s why
The skyrocketing cost of living has left millions of people struggling to afford a place to live despite working at full-time jobs or a number of part-time jobs. Journalist Brian Goldstone, author of ...
www.pbs.org
November 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Millions of full-time workers are struggling to afford a place to live. Here’s why
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
Statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:54 PM
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
Statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
In Northern Scotland, the Neolithic Age Never Ended
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In Northern Scotland, the Neolithic Age Never Ended
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:50 PM
In Northern Scotland, the Neolithic Age Never Ended
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Megalithic monuments in the otherworldly Orkney Islands remain a fundamental part of the landscape.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
for shame...
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
The university will pay $75 million to regain its research funding and end investigations, the second highest payment by a school facing pressure from the administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
The university will pay $75 million to regain its research funding and end investigations, the second highest payment by a school facing pressure from the administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
for shame...
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
The university will pay $75 million to regain its research funding and end investigations, the second highest payment by a school facing pressure from the administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Northwestern Agrees to a Deal With Trump Administration
The university will pay $75 million to regain its research funding and end investigations, the second highest payment by a school facing pressure from the administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
meanwhile, fishermen are being blown out of the water
Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran president serving drug trafficking sentence
www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran president serving drug trafficking sentence
www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran president serving drug trafficking sentence
President Donald Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 ye...
www.pbs.org
November 29, 2025 at 12:40 AM
meanwhile, fishermen are being blown out of the water
Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran president serving drug trafficking sentence
www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran president serving drug trafficking sentence
www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
Long-overlooked marvel of ancient Indigenous engineering gets validation in Ohio
It is a place some archaeologists say is on par with Stonehenge
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
It is a place some archaeologists say is on par with Stonehenge
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Long-overlooked marvel of ancient Indigenous engineering gets validation in Ohio
On Native American Heritage Day, we examine a long-overlooked marvel of ancient engineering that had been tucked away beneath a golf course in Ohio. It is a place some archaeologists say is on par wit...
www.pbs.org
November 29, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Long-overlooked marvel of ancient Indigenous engineering gets validation in Ohio
It is a place some archaeologists say is on par with Stonehenge
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
It is a place some archaeologists say is on par with Stonehenge
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Trump’s Response to Shooting Shows Intensified Anti-Migrant Stance
The president is furiously demanding limits on migration and attacking ethnic groups as he steps up his efforts to equate immigration with crime and economic distress.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
The president is furiously demanding limits on migration and attacking ethnic groups as he steps up his efforts to equate immigration with crime and economic distress.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Trump’s Response to Shooting Shows Intensified Anti-Migrant Stance
www.nytimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Trump’s Response to Shooting Shows Intensified Anti-Migrant Stance
The president is furiously demanding limits on migration and attacking ethnic groups as he steps up his efforts to equate immigration with crime and economic distress.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
The president is furiously demanding limits on migration and attacking ethnic groups as he steps up his efforts to equate immigration with crime and economic distress.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Reposted by Jan McVicker
Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed "in cold blood." n.pr/44yxUms
Israeli forces kill Palestinian men in West Bank after they appear to surrender
Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed "in cold blood."
n.pr
November 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed "in cold blood." n.pr/44yxUms
Reposted by Jan McVicker
“There are costs to performatively deploying members of the military,” Juliette Kayyem writes, “one of which is the risk of endangering them”:
A Terrible and Avoidable Tragedy in D.C.
Trump was warned that members of the military could be attacked.
bit.ly
November 28, 2025 at 6:45 PM
“There are costs to performatively deploying members of the military,” Juliette Kayyem writes, “one of which is the risk of endangering them”:
Rebecca Solnit - An Insult Is a Confession: Notes on Journalism in the Time of Trump
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/an-insult-is...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/an-insult-is...
An Insult Is a Confession: Notes on Journalism in the Time of Trump
There's been a lot of fuss about Trump recently calling female journalists "stupid" and "piggy" though there's nothing really new about his misogyny toward that sub-population (I am so old I remember ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Rebecca Solnit - An Insult Is a Confession: Notes on Journalism in the Time of Trump
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/an-insult-is...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/an-insult-is...