iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 38m

Sometimes when I’m feeling hyperbolic I say that there really isn’t a climate movement at all these days - and wow, this goes some way to demonstrating why it feels that way

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 2h

Genuinely wonder how Rufo’s boss at the Manhattan Institute, Reihan Salam, thinks about this and his role in mainstreaming this open racism

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Louisa @louisathelast.bsky.social · 4h

So my wonderful wife, @tekla.bsky.social, is one of the workers who was laid off Wednesday. The article is honestly too fair to A4TE leadership, who have handled this with a baffling level of hostility and callousness. And yes, they were notified with a one-sentence email starting “Dear Employee”

advocate.com

Workers fought to save jobs at a national trans rights group. Then came a one-sentence layoff email

Advocates for Trans Equality says a $2.4 million deficit forced painful cuts. Its union says management rejected alternatives that could have saved jobs.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 13h

important thread from @osuaaup.bsky.social on solidarity with students and faculty at Cornell and what it would look like for Ohio State University to take a real stand against sexual violence and dismantle rape culture here, where Jeffrey Epstein's close associate Les Wexner wields so much power

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Tej Nagaraja @tejnagaraja.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Every year at Cornell, I teach about Working Women United. It was Cornell workers who first put a name to "sexual harassment" — reaching a wider conscience. They did not see abuses as individualized tragic events. They saw gender & sexual abuses in terms of social hierarchy & institutional power.

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Andy Hoberek @thathoberekguy.bsky.social · 15h

How is Michael Kotlikoff still President of Cornell (is a question I asked after he hit students with his car)?

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James Stout @jamesstout.bsky.social · 15h

The border is a machine for killing people. They're just going more mask off with it now.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 14h

“In December, Flock reportedly installed two cameras in Cambridge, Massachusetts, without the city’s knowledge…More recently, in September in Millcreek, Utah, a Flock camera was discovered on city property, but neither the city nor police knew who had installed it.”

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 19h

Folks, we are 10 signatures away from this petition hitting the target when Change.org will deliver it to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission - won’t you help Columbus kids trick or treat on actual Halloween instead of some random Thursday? www.change.org/p/let-centra...

change.org

Sign the Petition

Let Central Ohio Kids Trick-Or-Treat on Halloween!

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 20h

100% chance the legislature tries to close the gap by doubling my annual registration fee and charging like $500 a year to register electric and hybrid vehicles

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John SLEEP DEPRIVATION Keynes @bnr-keynes.bsky.social · 20h

the idea that authoritarianism hasnt and probably wont consolidate but that *liberal democracy wont immediately consolidate either*, even after trump loses, is important to keep mind liberal democracy would itself need to RE-consolidate - it doesnt just magically come back because trump is gone

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 20h

Pretty much exactly what I would expect from an 80-year-old using a new technology

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 21h

God bless students who greet me at my class that starts at 2:20pm by saying “Good morning!”

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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Why doesn't right-wing Republican Jerry Cirino just make the right-wing Salmon P. Chase Center at Ohio State directly reportable to him and him alone at this point? Dude's obsessed with destroying higher ed in Ohio.

thelantern.com

Jerry Cirino pushes bill that would give Chase Center more independence from Ohio State

  State Sen. Jerry Cirino is sponsoring legislation that would give Ohio State’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society more independence from the university, as the center ...

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Scientist For President @scientist-for-pres.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

In a world where the government doesn't have to prove that anyone is guilty of anything, the government can do whatever it wants.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"The Sun is the oldest continuously independent college daily paper in the country. Ms. Dasser was adamant that the paper dominate the story not just in its reporting, but in its editorial response. Why be financially independent if not to publish sharp-edged views of the biggest campus issues?"

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's October so I am once again sharing my favorite spooky story: in Central Ohio, local governments team up to ban kids from tricking or treating on Halloween* - not a dystopian YA novel but reality! Sign and share my petition to end this nonsense. * when it falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

a song to welcome the onset of October

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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 01/10/2026

To lose visitors in the year you HOST THE WORLD CUP and celebrate a big anniversary is truly incredible.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

People often ask me, "How is it being in Ohio?" knowing the attacks on higher education are acute here. But the fact is, nowhere is safe. Here's a story about senseless and devastating budget cuts in Minnesota. There is no political party that seriously defends higher education in the U.S. today.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Based on this reporting, Mayor Bass’s answer seems to be a series of non sequiturs

Once Bass took the stage, Cohen posed the Gaza question a second time, asking whether the mayor views the term genocide as appropriate.
"When I think of foreign affairs, especially conflicts, my focus is on how they impact the city of L.A. - and no, I don't," Bass
responded.
Bass said the schools she attended growing up had many Jewish students whose parents or grandparents were
Holocaust survivors.
"My job is to keep Angelenos safe, and I think there is a lot of divisiveness that happens, and I don't want to see that happen at all," she said.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 30/09/2026

A Democratic governor celebrating a hedge fund billionaire's donation to a private university feels very on brand for the party's higher ed agenda.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Pete Hegseth removing tenure protections shows precisely why they are needed. He wants to silence dissent by being able to fire anyone who questions his vision of the military. www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...

militarytimes.com

Hegseth halts tenure appointments for civilian faculty at military academies

Military academies will no longer appoint civilian faculty to tenured positions as Hegseth says it can contribute to “academic stagnation.”

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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In 2013, the Daily Princetonian revealed that in 2008, Princeton University had paid to conduct a survey of students about sexual assault - then buried the results when *one in six* female undergrads reported unwanted vaginal penetration within the past year. That’s just under 17%.

dailyprincetonian.com

Survey quantifies sexual assault

More than 15 percent of female undergraduates reported experiencing non-consensual vaginal penetration during their time at the University, according to an unpublished survey conducted in 2008 by seve...

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Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

To bottom line this for you, the Supreme Court has allowed Trump to deport people without giving them a hearing, and said "we will consider next year whether this violated the laws against torture". They think it's worse to make Trump wait than risk him torturing people.

nytimes.com

Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration’s Third-Country Deportations, for Now

The court also announced it would hear arguments in December on the legality of the Trump administration policy to swiftly deport immigrants to countries not their own.

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Jim Kane @kanejim.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Good timing…

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The US securities regulator is set to propose rules on Wednesday aimed at expanding retail investors' access to private assets that have ‌traditionally been reserved for professionals, potentially offering higher returns but also exposing everyday Americans to more risk.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposals are part of a broader push by US President Donald Trump's administration to "democratize" private assets, such as private equity, private credit, real estate and venture capital, that can potentially result in higher returns than traditional stock and bond portfolios.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Some losers apparently put up KKK fliers around town

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m glad someone has responded to Danielle Allen’s latest nonsense, though this is a far more measured piece than I could manage. The charitable interpretation is that she’s a dupe in thrall to a fantasy world. The uncharitable view is that she’s a willing accomplice to Rufo, McMahan, et alia.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Would love to see Don Leonard pull this off but this is a Democratic poll so discount the result accordingly

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Talked to a guy at the gym this morning who said his favorite band used to be Nickelback - until a couple years ago, when he switched to Daughtry

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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

“This restatement of the law of Title VI & the First Amendment—offered unanimously by a bipartisan commission created by Congress—should offer a legal roadmap for schools and universities facing pressure to suppress student speech for fear of litigation.” 🧵

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The past week has made me think that the legal and cultural environment around campus sexual assault is even worse now than it was 25 years ago, when it was already very bad

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Now up to 14 buses cancelled today for the only public transportation that even hypothetically serves the Columbus airport

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Kalshi truck parked outside of the Ohio State campus, giving out free coffee to students in exchange for their contact info

Dark green truck with
MARKETS FOR EVERYONE
FREEDOM TO FORECAST.
painted on the side and back

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It remains a world historical error that Barack Obama openly embraced the household analogy & oversaw fiscal austerity that not only caused a Lost Decade & helped bring authoritarians to power, but also didn't finance all the things when real interest rates were negative: bsky.app/profile/mcop...

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mika @autophagy.io · 28/09/2026

Insiders within OpenAI have told me that they halted training because an internal model went rogue during an eval and completed the system of German idealism

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Surprise, it turns out AI regulation is *also* all about gender

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Angela Mitropoulos @mitropoulos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In case anyone required the data on "It's gender."

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Chase Madar @madar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“Despite Ms. Hinson’s and Mr. Husted’s calls for an end to the war, they recently voted against resolutions to rein in Mr. Trump’s ability to carry on the conflict.” – THIS should be the lede, not sediment gathered at the bottom of graf 6

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is not a very sophisticated response, and I am not a poltical theorists, but I Allen’s has two basic problems here. 1. Shes doesn’t really understand higer education, and 2. She assumes that any elected government’s actions are legitimate if not clearly illegal www.chronicle.com/article/coll...

chronicle.com

Opinion | Colleges Should Take Linda McMahon’s Call to Action Seriously

Conversation is not capitulation.

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Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I love discourse about this because people from Central Ohio will defend this inanity to the death and everyone in the rest of the country is like, “Why wouldn’t you trick or treat on Halloween?!? Do you give valentines in June? Celebrate New Year’s Eve in November??”

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