in case you dont understand why trump keeps saying portland is burning, its because he watches this sludge on a loop and thinks its reality

Obviously there is minority support for Trump here...but this is also shockingly low opposition for the idea that the President can turn the military on American cities on a whim.

70% of Republicans think the President should be able to send troops into a city even if the Governor objects!

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

"always already"

Relatedly, I think "clarity" in writing is over-emphasized in grading; or at least, I think there are lots of ways to have writing that expresses ideas clearly that extend beyond niceties of syntax. (But easy for me to say, as someone who doesn't write so much as extrude, like a pasta machine.)

Or put differently: ultimately most of what I teach is music composition, and I am trying to evaluate writing the way I evaluate their music: "Here's what caught my ear as special about what you produced, and why."

one anti-Chat GPT thing I am doing that seems to be working ok is that I am going out of my way to compliment students whose prose is in any way engaging, rhythmically interesting/surprising, or otherwise shows a voice.

"Matt's joking will continue until morale improves"

just feeling shellshocked and humorless in the face of it all.

Sort of a banal and inconsequential gripe but I really miss the days when I felt like making jokes about stuff.

Yet another poll finding the same thing polls have found for months: 66% of Israelis want to end the war, 69% think Netanyahu should resign either now or after the war. www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

As the people who insist otherwise try to burn the country, it's important to affirm that immigrants, from everywhere, are awesome, and America is better the more immigrants we have. You have to be just empty and vapid and unimaginably small to reject that.

Folks need to understand that when Trump says blue cities are burning down his supporters believe it cause that’s what Fox has been telling them for years, and no objective reality can penetrate that bubble. Otoh most normal people think that kind of talk is bonkers.

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

And I will die on the hill that she said nothing wrong. It was a comment specifically urging people to not write off all Trump supporters, but the press pushed its own insane version of it.

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported, according to a June @pewresearch.org survey.

Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies. For @reuters.com:

they’re intenionally advertising to and recruiting far right loyalists. they post and reply to explicit groyper memes. they’re not super subtle about what this government is

Unless I’m misreading, this short statement actually seems equivocal or at best a placeholder. It does not say they are refusing, and to the contrary seems to hold the door open.

Holy hell. DHS just openly stated that its agents use “reasonable suspicion” to make ARRESTS. This is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is clear that you need probable cause to arrest someone, as opposed to stop them to ask them a question or two. This is huge b/c…

LOGGING ON

Pop Conference 2026 is accepting submissions through Oct 22 www.popconference.org

Fetterman's numbers should alarm any pundits or consultants who believe Democrats should shift to the right and meet conservatives in the middle.

open.substack.com/pub/extremea...

"Trump's 'compact with universities is just extortion... the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it."

Very good from UC Berkley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

Higher ed leaders should all do so, and donors, unions, anyone with influence should pressure them to.