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James A. Palmer

@jamespqr77.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.8K following 1.2K posts

Historian of medieval Italy; dad; cook; hockey fan, Michigander living in Iowa. Speaking solely for myself. orcid.org/0000-0003-0656-9110

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 03/10/2026
It’s weird to see so many higher education leaders beat their chests about “the decline of trust” from the public while refusing to acknowledge the conservative movement organizing to destroy it. Imagine someone stabbing you repeatedly while you complain about not having enough blood to bleed out.
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💛Magda Teter🟦📖 @mteter-historian.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If "Blood Libel" unpacks how this libelous myth became embedded in Western imagination, this offers additional reflections on the archives and memory of these trials. www.routledge.com/Blood-Libels...
routledge.com
Blood Libels, Hostile Archives: Reclaiming Interrupted Jewish Lives
As a minority group for most of their history, Jews were often marginalized and persecuted. Traces of their lives can be found in the archives of the dominant societies, but only as they intersected w...
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 02/10/2026
Exactly. The left is not resource poor. It just doesn’t invest in higher ed. It doesn’t invest using public funds. It doesn’t invest using private funds. It just doesn’t seem to care.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
There are a lot of Trump officials who need to be impeached, but Russell Vought -- the quarterback of all the Project 2025 fuckery and a central player in the administration's overreach -- really needs to be at the top of the list.
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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I wrote about why the left has so little to say about public education (and why this is a big problem). educationwars.substack.com/p/whats-left...
educationwars.substack.com
What’s Left for Public Education?
The left has no vision for public schools - and that’s a big problem
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Matt Thiessen @mattthiessen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
your daily reminder that the field of religious studies remains relevant. In fact, it is increasingly relevant.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's easy to write off religious-tinged language or unexpected engagement with religious authorities by AI leaders as just more tech-bro weirdness, but this post rightly points out how wrong that is.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“For months, Anthropic has been hosting private meetings like this one, shuttling in dozens of religious scholars from across the world, papering them with nondisclosure agreements and demanding that key aspects of many conversations remain confidential.“ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Is Claude Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Quest to Instill Morality Into Its A.I. Models (Gift Article)
In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.
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Chris Brody @chrisbrody.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Editors of the Chronicle quite enthusiastic about the Trumpian project of destroying American higher ed
post from me a couple months ago: "Like do you think the industry mags for other sectors that Trump is trying to destroy with tariffs and political attacks are publishing a stream of “we deserve this for being so awful” boo-hoo thinkpieces? Of course they fucking aren’t! No clue why anyone would read the Chronicle."
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 02/10/2026
Excellent piece by @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social on the weak Left vision for public education. This extends to higher ed; beyond free tuition and full employment, the Left doesn’t have a program of what content people are supposed to get out of college. educationwars.substack.com/p/whats-left...
educationwars.substack.com
What’s Left for Public Education?
The left has no vision for public schools - and that’s a big problem
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I'm starting to feel like this is going to be a particularly horrible year to be a Red Wings fan. It would be nice if this corner of my world were not also in flames, but here we are.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I'm sure all my fellow Rome people will find this as cool as I did!
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Can someone unpack Tuskegee for me here?
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Jacqueline Murray @jacquelinemurray.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Greetings early medievalists. I am wondering if there is an English translation of Gregory of Tours History of the Franks that has superseded Thorpe's Penguin version and is easily/widely available? Many thanks. #medievalsky
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/10/2026
"they really believe it"/"they will try to do it"/"the promises are real" are things that most americans refuse to believe about politicians but if you take them seriously will help you predict political behavior more often than not
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The Heathen Historian 🔻 @heathenhistory.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is the most dangerous thing an administration has done religious wise since Reagan got rid of denomination quotas for military chaplains. This combined with his removal of 180 religious affiliations entrenches evangelicalism in the military.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
AI is a trust-destroying technology. @lollardfish.bsky.social has lamented the destruction of years of work on accessibility and accommodation being undermined by AI and backlash against it. Here we have another area of great progress poisoned. The undermining of trust is absolutely common to both.
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404 Media @404media.co · 01/10/2026
As the Cornell 7 case highlights the importance of student journalism, public records reveal how schools try to censor on-campus news outlets.
404media.co
How Schools and Universities Try to Censor Student Journalists
As the Cornell 7 case highlights the importance of student journalism, public records reveal how schools try to censor on-campus news outlets.
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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is one reason why the “polarization” discourse drives me up a wall. Not only do pretty significant majorities agree on a range of issues; many elected officials from both of the nation’s major political parties align on the OPPOSITE SIDE of many of those same issues.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I had somehow missed the fact that the Supreme Court was now overwhelmingly Catholic and until Gorsuch had a period entirely without Protestants.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"calling on schools to strengthen instruction on the history and human toll of communism and socialism, and to ensure students understand the principles of liberty underlying America’s constitutional system" Now, where have I seen ideas like this before? Oh! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Screenshot from my column which reads: As several characters in the classic 1980s movie Clue proclaim, when it came to the Red Scares, “Communism was simply a red herring.” Charisse Burden-Stelly, in her 2023 book, Black Scare/Red Scare, skillfully outlines how Blackness, particularly Black radicalism and the fight for racial justice, became synonymous with Communism and the dreaded moniker of being “un-American.” This scapegoating strategy meant that faculty members could be fired for being a current or former member of the Communist Party or for such transgressions as advocating as a member of a labor union, fighting for racial integration or being Black or homosexual.Screenshot from my column which reads: And so, the U.S. House of Representatives devoting precious time to passing bills “denouncing the horrors of socialism,” colleges firing or suspending faculty and staff because of their speech, and students getting grabbed off the street for writing opinion pieces seem like relics of the past.

Yet these events are part of our current, dangerous escalation in repression.
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Gautham Rao (pronounced: Knicks in 5) @gauthamrao.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Congratulations to my pal and an outstanding historian @arielron.bsky.social for winning a MacArthur! www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...
macfound.org
Ariel Ron
Uncovering the role of Northern agriculture in economic growth and the expansion of federal power in nineteenth-century America.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In case anyone needs to hear it, making references to Simon of Trent as if the legends about him have any basis in reality puts a big red flag on you that says "antisemite." If you don't understand why that is, I recommend reading a damned history book. Like this one maybe:
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Hannah Alpert-Abrams @halperta.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
What do you think "go all in" means? Here are some things on my mind: ✨ Tuition-free ✨ Education not entertainment ✨ Real vocational training ✨ Real liberal arts education ✨ Reinvestment in research ✨ Disinvestment from corporate pipelines
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Ben K. @benjaminkabak.com · 30/09/2026
I feel dumb even just having to say this but the reason passports are mailed out in plain regular envelopes is that so that people do not attempt to steal easily recognizable passports in the mail. bsky.app/profile/carn...
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Innovation ys not just tech. For a bettir future we need poetrye, creativitye, historical studye, love of languages, dreames, dialogues, new storyes, & intellectual curiositye. We must fund & expand higher educacioun yn HEART: H umanityes E thiques A rtes R hetorique & the crafte of T eaching
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“solution in search of a problem” was meant to be a criticism, not an ethos
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 30/09/2026
www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...
Screenshot of Times Literary Supplement note on Anchit Sathi’s article “AI and the crisis of the author” stating that “We have removed this essay. AI was used in its preparation. The TLS editorial guidelines prohibit the use of AI in the writing and editing process. The author states that he was unaware of the policy.”
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 30/09/2026
I'll have to be vague on the details, but I've been sad to see and hear how the Vanderbilt report is being used opportunistically by people who never cared for humanities research to begin with to begin "debates" about the "state" of the humanities.
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Susanne Hakenbeck @shakenbeck.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Big day! I finally got my own copy of Crossing the Danube. Ten years in the making and it’s now real and in my hands! You can preorder it here press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
A woman (I) wearing a rust-coloured top and blue jeans stands in her living room holding a book with a green cover
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm the wrong James Palmer to address this, but by gum, having to defend medieval territory from the late antiquers is really going to eat into my bandwidth for capturing territory from the blasted early modernists!
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The Independent @the-independent.com · 29/09/2026
Google Earth exposes devastation in Gaza with new updated images
trib.al
Google Earth exposes devastation in Gaza with new updated images
Google Earth shows the unprecedented devastation in Gaza, illustrating the scale of the wreckage
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Got to vent: Nothing makes me feel more sad than watching a young student reflexively reject the idea of even trying to engage with something novel to them, seeing them demonstrate a fundamental, derisive incuriosity.
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Tanya Goldman @tanyagoldman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Op-ed author: "It will take courage to demand that students demonstrate active, participatory mastery of ideas." Revision: "It will take MORE INVESTMENT IN HUMAN LABOR (i.e., MORE INSTRUCTORS WITH PERMANENT POSITIONS) to demand that students demonstrate active, participatory master of idea."
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Professa Murray @kalimurray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And when people ask me: is this not old timey, at both Marquette and Mississippi, I worked with the first woman receive tenure at each institution; I worked with the first black man or woman to receive tenure. I, myself, was the 2nd or 3rd Black Women to receive Full at Marquette University.
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Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Many thoughts about the argument in this piece but one is that citing a few studies to say that there is little evidence that "we discover what we think in the act of writing" contradicts everything I saw in 26 years of teaching college writing. Of course not the only we figure out what we think/1
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Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My department is hiring an Assistant/Associate Professor of Public History! I am on the committee so please let me know if you have questions and please feel free to share! Job ID 303951. campus.kennesaw.edu/faculty-staf...
campus.kennesaw.edu
Careers - Human Resources
find your next great career opportunity by finding jobs through the Department of Human Resources at Kennesaw State University!
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Kate Franklin @melucene.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
a little gasp at the Sasanian (?) silk lining the back board of the Fulda Gospel-- Universitat Wurzeburg M.p.th.f.66
the end board of a medieval manuscript, lined in bright yellow silk, with a woven pattern of two facing doves
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hey folks! If I deny certain basic truths, it turns out my whole idea of reality is malleable!
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm not a lawyer but today I've been trying to understand what aiding and abetting is in rape cases and why knowing about rape and not reporting isn't a crime. It appears to hinge on a legal duty to protect the victim and I wonder why the limits of that legal duty are drawn where they are.
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Josh Eyler @josheyler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sneak peek of 2 slides from my part of the online panel discussion "Resisting the Use of AI in Education" that @liznorell.bsky.social @cjdenial.bsky.social @thetattooedprof.bsky.social & I have organized. This webinar is free & open to all. Registration info: olemiss.zoom.us/webinar/regi... (1/3)
olemiss.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Resisting the Use of AI in Education: Taking a Stand for Our Students and Our Colleagues. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joi...
Among the many voices nudging instructors and administrators toward an acceptance, or even a warm embrace, of generative AI, most of the opposition focuses on questions of academic integrity. But ther...
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Columbia University Press @columbiaup.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We’re hiring! Columbia University Press is seeking an Editorial Director to lead our acquisitions department and help shape the future of our publishing program. Learn more and apply: buff.ly/HpkWWQK @aupresses.bsky.social #PublishingJobs #AcademicPublishing #UniversityPress #Hiring
Graphic announcing an Editorial Director opening at Columbia University Press. Text reads: “Join Our Team! Editorial Director. The successful candidate will be an accomplished, highly motivated publisher with a successful record of publishing important works for scholarly, general interest, and student audiences.” Columbia University Press logo appears at bottom right.
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 29/09/2026
if you want to be the party of government, you have to be the party of good government. this is another way of saying details matter. if you want to attack inequality, you need to make sure it *works.* and it turns out the design of tax systems matters quite a lot.
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Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
First proofs of the forthcoming book have arrived in my email inbox from Bloomsbury. In classic fashion: in the middle of frantic marking and at the start of the school holidays. 🤦🏻‍♂️
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 28/09/2026
It would actually have been conceptually impossible for the Vanderbilt/WashU report to have been peer reviewed because the premise of the report is that we should ignore half a century of peer-reviewed research in the humanities when we assess what they have contributed to knowledge.
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I've been reading Dacher Keltner's book, Awe, as part of a tutorial for first-years. He points out that being "astonished by the depravity of fellow humans" is much rarer than feeling awe at the moral beauty in others' deeds. I can't help but wonder if that gap is narrowing these days.
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Florence Ashley @floralashes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Let's see if we can beat it :D
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James A. Palmer @jamespqr77.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The idea that anyone should even want AI to do these things is just one more sign that people are terribly alienated from daily life and its small joys. These are things that have been stolen from us.
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