ML Vercellotti
@mlvercellotti.bsky.social
professor of linguistics and TESOL, research on L2 speech (she/her)
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
An insane political move. One of the recurring complaints about immigration in the U.S. is that those seeking asylum jump the line. This is line-jumping — but for rich people, not those in need.
December 10, 2025 at 8:17 PM
An insane political move. One of the recurring complaints about immigration in the U.S. is that those seeking asylum jump the line. This is line-jumping — but for rich people, not those in need.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
🚨 New York Times reports more details than we've had before on how Donald Trump's administration pulled strings to pressure Romania to allow Andrew Tate to travel while he was charged with crimes including trafficking minors and violently beating and raping a 15-year-old girl.
December 10, 2025 at 10:13 PM
🚨 New York Times reports more details than we've had before on how Donald Trump's administration pulled strings to pressure Romania to allow Andrew Tate to travel while he was charged with crimes including trafficking minors and violently beating and raping a 15-year-old girl.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
@warren.senate.gov publishes a report listing all the $$ that Congress gave to DOD to do DOD things that DOD instead spent on Stephen Miller's snatch and grab.
As you look at these numbers, think how much cancer research could have been funded.
www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
As you look at these numbers, think how much cancer research could have been funded.
www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
December 10, 2025 at 10:51 PM
@warren.senate.gov publishes a report listing all the $$ that Congress gave to DOD to do DOD things that DOD instead spent on Stephen Miller's snatch and grab.
As you look at these numbers, think how much cancer research could have been funded.
www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
As you look at these numbers, think how much cancer research could have been funded.
www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials say.
South Carolina measles outbreak is 'accelerating,' driving hundreds into quarantine
Some students who remain unvaccinated are now in a second 21-day quarantine since the beginning of the school year.
nbcnews.to
December 10, 2025 at 10:20 PM
The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials say.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
December 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard and an absolute disservice to the incredible journalists still at The Washington Post
The Washington Post is launching a personalized AI podcast, saying users will be able to "shape their own briefing, select their topics, set their lengths, pick their hosts and soon even ask questions using our Ask The Post AI technology."
December 10, 2025 at 6:11 PM
this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard and an absolute disservice to the incredible journalists still at The Washington Post
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
The Department of Homeland Security recently signed a contract worth nearly $140 million to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportations. https://wapo.st/3KpFEkd
December 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The Department of Homeland Security recently signed a contract worth nearly $140 million to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportations. https://wapo.st/3KpFEkd
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
In other news, the whole thing about Calibri v. TNR isn't about a font face, it's about the fact that Calibri is easier for people with some disabilities to read.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
December 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
In other news, the whole thing about Calibri v. TNR isn't about a font face, it's about the fact that Calibri is easier for people with some disabilities to read.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
One of the most highly cited academic articles on the safety of glyphosate has been retracted, eight years after court documents revealed it was ghostwritten by Monsanto retractionwatch.com/2025/12/04/g...
Glyphosate safety article retracted eight years after Monsanto ghostwriting revealed in court
Credit: Mike Mozart/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) A review article concluding the weed killer Roundup “does not pose a health risk to humans” has been retracted eight years after documents released in a court…
retractionwatch.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
One of the most highly cited academic articles on the safety of glyphosate has been retracted, eight years after court documents revealed it was ghostwritten by Monsanto retractionwatch.com/2025/12/04/g...
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Brett Kavanaugh's "minor inconvience" now includes beating people up and cutting off their wedding rings for [checks notes] "observing ICE from a distance."
Federal agents are arresting American citizens.
This isn’t about public safety - it’s about stoking fear.
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
This isn’t about public safety - it’s about stoking fear.
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
Federal agents arrest citizen observer watching ICE detain neighbors on her north Minneapolis block
Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old American citizen, appears to be the first observer arrested by federal immigration enforcement officers since the agency launched an immigration surge in the Twin Cities l...
www.mprnews.org
December 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Brett Kavanaugh's "minor inconvience" now includes beating people up and cutting off their wedding rings for [checks notes] "observing ICE from a distance."
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Have just been reminded that my friend Christina once overheard the following in Waitrose: it’s perfect.
“Mummy, does Lego have a silent T on the end like Merlot?”
“Mummy, does Lego have a silent T on the end like Merlot?”
December 10, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Have just been reminded that my friend Christina once overheard the following in Waitrose: it’s perfect.
“Mummy, does Lego have a silent T on the end like Merlot?”
“Mummy, does Lego have a silent T on the end like Merlot?”
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
The sudden reappearance of Jared Kushner — President Trump’s son-in-law — as a major player in Trump’s second-term foreign policy has raised questions about his significant overseas financial interests.
How Jared Kushner became Trump’s indispensable second peace envoy
Despite promising to stay on the sidelines this administration, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has become enmeshed in critical diplomatic negotiations.
wapo.st
December 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
The sudden reappearance of Jared Kushner — President Trump’s son-in-law — as a major player in Trump’s second-term foreign policy has raised questions about his significant overseas financial interests.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
December 10, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Just taught my last class for the next 9 months (research leave this spring) 😭😭😭
December 9, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Just taught my last class for the next 9 months (research leave this spring) 😭😭😭
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
SCOOP — Gregg Phillips, a conspiracy theorist with no emergency management experience who helped produce the election-denying documentary ‘2000 Mules’ with Dinesh D’Souza and has faced numerous legal inquiries, has been named head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery.
My story:
My story:
Conspiracy theorist election denier given FEMA’s second-most important role
Gregg Phillips will lead the Office of Response and Recovery, “the heart of what FEMA does.”
www.thehandbasket.co
December 9, 2025 at 10:57 PM
SCOOP — Gregg Phillips, a conspiracy theorist with no emergency management experience who helped produce the election-denying documentary ‘2000 Mules’ with Dinesh D’Souza and has faced numerous legal inquiries, has been named head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery.
My story:
My story:
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
If you’re in criminal justice, I want you able to understand science, with high critical thinking skills, so you don’t get scammed by dowsers, blood spatter analysts, dentists faking evidence, or arson “investigators” who refuse to admit modern houses are made of solidified petroleum.
Is it too much to ask to get a criminal justice degree without having to also be required to spend $800 to balance chemical equations for some reason? The election valence of Mercury is irrelevant. It’s useful to someone, but it’s not useful to me.
December 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
If you’re in criminal justice, I want you able to understand science, with high critical thinking skills, so you don’t get scammed by dowsers, blood spatter analysts, dentists faking evidence, or arson “investigators” who refuse to admit modern houses are made of solidified petroleum.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
OBVIOUSLY do not use AI, at all. AT ALL, for anything. I don’t wanna hear about the theoretical good version, it’s not what they’re pushing on us. The absolute worst people in the world have gone all in on this shit, and it needs to be starved out as much as possible. AI: not even once!
Sec. Hegseth rolled out the U.S. military’s new AI platform, GenAi.Mil, with a link to an empty website. trib.al/tbCJAkT
Predictably, the platform can’t actually be accessed from external networks, but the wonky rollout triggered eyerolls across the internet.
Predictably, the platform can’t actually be accessed from external networks, but the wonky rollout triggered eyerolls across the internet.
December 9, 2025 at 9:18 PM
OBVIOUSLY do not use AI, at all. AT ALL, for anything. I don’t wanna hear about the theoretical good version, it’s not what they’re pushing on us. The absolute worst people in the world have gone all in on this shit, and it needs to be starved out as much as possible. AI: not even once!
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
The university bought Claude AI for students to use.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
December 9, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The university bought Claude AI for students to use.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
I genuinely do not understand why anyone in a decision-making role in academia would encourage use of these tools, unless they have a vested interest in the mass destruction of knowledge and thought. In which case, A+++ job taking the university down from the inside
The university bought Claude AI for students to use.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
Here it is at work, denying that the East Wing of the White House has been demolished.
Great stuff, academia.
December 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I genuinely do not understand why anyone in a decision-making role in academia would encourage use of these tools, unless they have a vested interest in the mass destruction of knowledge and thought. In which case, A+++ job taking the university down from the inside
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Mothers in New Hampshire who were downstream of sites contaminated with “forever chemicals” experienced triple the rate of infant deaths and had more premature births or babies with low birth weights, according to a new study.
‘Forever chemicals’ could cause more infant deaths and preterm births
Mothers in New Hampshire who were downstream of sites contaminated with “forever chemicals” experienced triple the rate of infant deaths, according to a new study.
wapo.st
December 9, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Mothers in New Hampshire who were downstream of sites contaminated with “forever chemicals” experienced triple the rate of infant deaths and had more premature births or babies with low birth weights, according to a new study.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Any crypto regulatory framework coming out of Congress must have real safeguards to fight crime and protect our national security.
December 9, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Any crypto regulatory framework coming out of Congress must have real safeguards to fight crime and protect our national security.
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
December 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Ossoff: "This is so much deeper than the politics. What does it say about the moral condition of this Congress that the thing that has them all tied up in knots is a very simple question: Should people's health insurance premiums go up double or triple? This is a policy choice."
December 9, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Ossoff: "This is so much deeper than the politics. What does it say about the moral condition of this Congress that the thing that has them all tied up in knots is a very simple question: Should people's health insurance premiums go up double or triple? This is a policy choice."
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Q: "When you were in [ICE] detention for 3 days, what were they telling you?"
U.S. citizen George Retes: "They literally just locked me up and they never said anything else…They gave me no explanation. That's why I gotta do all this work to hopefully get justice and the truth."
U.S. citizen George Retes: "They literally just locked me up and they never said anything else…They gave me no explanation. That's why I gotta do all this work to hopefully get justice and the truth."
December 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Q: "When you were in [ICE] detention for 3 days, what were they telling you?"
U.S. citizen George Retes: "They literally just locked me up and they never said anything else…They gave me no explanation. That's why I gotta do all this work to hopefully get justice and the truth."
U.S. citizen George Retes: "They literally just locked me up and they never said anything else…They gave me no explanation. That's why I gotta do all this work to hopefully get justice and the truth."
Reposted by ML Vercellotti
Wow -- Russia reportedly plotted last year to plant bombs on US-bound flights (gift link) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
December 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Wow -- Russia reportedly plotted last year to plant bombs on US-bound flights (gift link) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...