Thomas Bartscherer
@tbartscherer.bsky.social
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
For @theguardian.com, Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose wrote about the ongoing detention of Ali Faqirzada ’28, arguing for his release and return to Bard to continue his studies.
Ali Faqirzada is an Afghan refugee. He deserves to stay in America | Francine Prose
Ali Faqirzada is an Afghan refugee. He deserves to stay in America | Francine Prose
In a more reasonable, more compassionate country, we would thank Ali Faqirzada for how much he has done on behalf of his people and our own
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:36 PM
For @theguardian.com, Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose wrote about the ongoing detention of Ali Faqirzada ’28, arguing for his release and return to Bard to continue his studies.
We will arrest you, prosecute you, jail you, and then pardon you.
Patel on J6 arrest: "When you attack American citizens, when you attack our institutions of legislation, when you attack our nation's Capitol, you attack the very being of our way of life."
December 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
We will arrest you, prosecute you, jail you, and then pardon you.
A theater artist friend just wrote to say that she is working on "Beckett shorts."
December 4, 2025 at 5:54 PM
A theater artist friend just wrote to say that she is working on "Beckett shorts."
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century's most influential political thinkers, Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 - December 4, 1975).
What #HannahArendt book has most impacted your thinking?
@rogerberkowitz.bsky.social @tbartscherer.bsky.social #AmorMundi
What #HannahArendt book has most impacted your thinking?
@rogerberkowitz.bsky.social @tbartscherer.bsky.social #AmorMundi
December 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century's most influential political thinkers, Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 - December 4, 1975).
What #HannahArendt book has most impacted your thinking?
@rogerberkowitz.bsky.social @tbartscherer.bsky.social #AmorMundi
What #HannahArendt book has most impacted your thinking?
@rogerberkowitz.bsky.social @tbartscherer.bsky.social #AmorMundi
Anecdotal of course, but fwiw: I was asked over Thanksgiving how courses were going and found myself saying: the students are back! My sense was that it was the first semester that the social and psychological pathologies of Covid were not apparent.
Hearing, and seeing, many university professors express despair, of this sort, this fall. Faculty are famously headstrong and truculent, if sometimes grouchy. But this affect is new. ’ve never seen the widespread descent into sorrow before, that I am seeing now.
Today I'm teaching the last few classes of the worst semester of my career. Just poor attendance, rampant AI use, disruptive students, and a sea of blank, disinterested faces. That last one is especially tough. It's hard to perform for a crowd that seems intent on giving no reaction whatsoever.
December 4, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Anecdotal of course, but fwiw: I was asked over Thanksgiving how courses were going and found myself saying: the students are back! My sense was that it was the first semester that the social and psychological pathologies of Covid were not apparent.
The inimitable Nuruddin Farah spoke today at the United Nations. @BardCollege @BardAlumni
December 2, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The inimitable Nuruddin Farah spoke today at the United Nations. @BardCollege @BardAlumni
Who says the New York Times headline writers have lost their edge? "Flock" is brilliant here. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/t...
College Students Flock to a New Major: A.I.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Who says the New York Times headline writers have lost their edge? "Flock" is brilliant here. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/t...
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Two of our giants of poetry--Charles Wright & Mark Strand,conferring in,& toasting,the late light. Masters of the line,masters of the image--(& if Merwin & Simic had been there that Oct 9,2014,you'd basically have the corner on the"deep image"in the mid 20th C).We miss Mark, gone 11 years. Read him.
November 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Two of our giants of poetry--Charles Wright & Mark Strand,conferring in,& toasting,the late light. Masters of the line,masters of the image--(& if Merwin & Simic had been there that Oct 9,2014,you'd basically have the corner on the"deep image"in the mid 20th C).We miss Mark, gone 11 years. Read him.
Stopped.
Alas.
Alas.
November 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Stopped.
Alas.
Alas.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
November 29, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
The prohibition is rather specific.
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
November 29, 2025 at 4:33 AM
The prohibition is rather specific.
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
“Should we follow the Geneva Conventions?” Pete Hegseth asked in 2024.
It’s almost as if there were signs!
bsky.app/profile/anna...
It’s almost as if there were signs!
bsky.app/profile/anna...
November 29, 2025 at 3:05 AM
“Should we follow the Geneva Conventions?” Pete Hegseth asked in 2024.
It’s almost as if there were signs!
bsky.app/profile/anna...
It’s almost as if there were signs!
bsky.app/profile/anna...
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Let’s be clear.
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social got Trump so charmed that Trump posted two photos of the two of them with Franklin Roosevelt’s portrait behind them AND one of just Mamdani and FDR’s portrait.
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social got Trump so charmed that Trump posted two photos of the two of them with Franklin Roosevelt’s portrait behind them AND one of just Mamdani and FDR’s portrait.
November 22, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Let’s be clear.
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social got Trump so charmed that Trump posted two photos of the two of them with Franklin Roosevelt’s portrait behind them AND one of just Mamdani and FDR’s portrait.
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social got Trump so charmed that Trump posted two photos of the two of them with Franklin Roosevelt’s portrait behind them AND one of just Mamdani and FDR’s portrait.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
New online: Robert Pippin, @agcallard.bsky.social, Ben Jeffery, Rory O’Connell, Laura Baudot, Thomas Bartscherer, Jonny Thakkar, Jon Baskin, Leon Wieseltier and J.M. Coetzee remember Jonathan Lear.
Jonathan Lear (1948-2025) | The Point Magazine
Jonathan Lear, who died last month at his home in Hyde Park, Chicago, was, in addition to being a distinguished professor in the University of […]
thepointmag.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
New online: Robert Pippin, @agcallard.bsky.social, Ben Jeffery, Rory O’Connell, Laura Baudot, Thomas Bartscherer, Jonny Thakkar, Jon Baskin, Leon Wieseltier and J.M. Coetzee remember Jonathan Lear.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
The Loquaciousness of the Sirens
November 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The Loquaciousness of the Sirens
The most sinister version of amateur hour: "The government’s team consisted of Ms. Halligan, a former White House aide and personal lawyer to Mr. Trump who is working on the first criminal case of her career." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...
Trump Loyalist Admits Grand Jury Never Saw Final Comey Indictment
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 PM
The most sinister version of amateur hour: "The government’s team consisted of Ms. Halligan, a former White House aide and personal lawyer to Mr. Trump who is working on the first criminal case of her career." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Mary Shelley would like a word.
November 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Mary Shelley would like a word.
Mary Shelley would like a word.
November 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Mary Shelley would like a word.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
i'd say it did. the public put a group of thieves, vandals and extremists in office last november and they promptly went about destroying everything that might work to limit their ability to loot, steal and inflicting pain on the people they hate
This whole NYT account about the weaponization of DOJ is beyond disturbing. Kinda feels like the US government fell in January.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
November 17, 2025 at 2:19 PM
i'd say it did. the public put a group of thieves, vandals and extremists in office last november and they promptly went about destroying everything that might work to limit their ability to loot, steal and inflicting pain on the people they hate
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Trump re-pardons a Jan. 6 defendant to erase unrelated gun conviction
Trump re-pardons a Jan. 6 defendant to erase unrelated gun conviction
The new pardon ends a legal clash over the limits of Trump’s sweeping Day One clemency for those who stormed the Capitol.
dlvr.it
November 15, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Trump re-pardons a Jan. 6 defendant to erase unrelated gun conviction
The Loquaciousness of the Sirens
November 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The Loquaciousness of the Sirens
Like Saturn, the revolution will eat its own children.
November 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Like Saturn, the revolution will eat its own children.
Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer
Sometimes the truth escapes like a cat out a door you thought was closed.
November 13, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Sometimes the truth escapes like a cat out a door you thought was closed.