iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My latest obsessive hobby - cryptic crosswords and setting them - seems to be purely helped by AI... it really can't solve them... it can't even check answers that well, but it CAN check/help enough to speed up construction, provoke interesting ideas, and organize my notes.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

For a non-small undergrad lecture class where one typically assigned a research paper (in my case, in addition to a midterm and a final; the course is judicial politics)... what are people doing? Assigning research papers with scaffolding assignments and warnings? Dropping it? ?

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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I hear the kids these days use the Y2K bug as a punchline, like everyone was hysterical over this thing that was ultimately harmless. And like, it wasn’t. A lot of people whose names we don’t know worked themselves to the bone to *make* it harmless.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Please don't make racist whistle-blowers rich...

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

People who refuse to apply normal academic standards to those they agree with have no standing to criticize Trump for Jan 6 pardons (I mean, they're right on the latter, but...)

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

It was a smear campaign and it found real examples of plagiarism

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Megan Wachspress @meganwachspress.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Today the NYTimes published a story about prosecutors pursuing a criminal investigation against a judge's daughter as possible retaliation for that judge presiding over Trump's criminal trial. It had a single byline. The article on race and hiring at Cambridge, a UK university, had 5.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Or you could say these neighborhoods are about to reclaim 50% of their sidewalks from steaming hot bags of garbage.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Gosh, I hope Durbin got a pinky promise from him. You can't go back on a pinky promise. Everybody knows that.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

A very welcome digression into normative territory by @yamilrvelez.bsky.social in which he reflects over why a focus on the specific issues individual citizens care about matters for democracy—drawing from a recent paper of mine as well as Converse—to address deep polisci Qs like citizen competence.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Friends (or even frenemies) who cook - if you're not experimenting w shio koji, you're missing out

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Sure seems like the President of the United States is going to pardon a convicted sex trafficker and serial abuser who ran a pedophilia ring with his best friend in the whole wide world.

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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Another unequivocal lie about the law by the Attorney General.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I gave a campus talk last night on Trump's first 100 days for the WUD Society & Politics group. A student asked me if I thought that, at some point, we might start to describe the US as a competitive authoritarian regime. I said that we were already there, it's just that most folks haven't noticed:

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

I predict we’re in the golden age of academic AI: it's already pretty good, the training material predates AI contamination, and users were trained before this intellectual opioid was unleashed—so they still have the ability to catch mistakes.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Here's the letter Noem sent Harvard, as posted on X. Nothing alleges ANY specific violation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Nothing. She cites no law violated, no regulation broken, no policy ignored. I don't care what you think of Harvard; this is clear weaponization of government.

Secretary Kristi Noem
@Sec_Noem
This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.

It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.

Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.

They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law.

Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.

Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program Decertification
I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked.
As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus. All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program regulations, to maintain this privilege. As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies, you have lost this privilege.
The revocation of your Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.
This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard's failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.
On April 16, 2025, I requested records pertaining to nonimmigrant students enrolled at Harvard University, including information regarding misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable. On April 30, 2025, Harvard's counsel provided information that he represented as responsive to my request. It was not.
As a courtesy that Harvard was not legally entitled to, the Acting DHS General Counsel responded on my behalf and afforded Harvard another opportunity to comply. Harvard again provided an insufficient response.
Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to…

If Harvard would like the opportunity of regaining Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification before the upcoming academic school year, you must provide all of the information requested below within 72 hours.
Please be advised that providing materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent information may subject you to criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Other criminal and civil sanctions may also apply.
I expect full and complete responses to the following requests:
1. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding illegal activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.
2. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding dangerous or violent activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.
3. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding threats to other students or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.
4. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.
5. Any and all disciplinary records of all nonimmigrant students enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.
6. Any and all audio or video footage, in the possession of Harvard University, of any protest activity involving a nonimmigrant student on a Harvard Univer…

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Again, in any sane country with minimally functioning political institutions, this immediately ends the chief executive's tenure. And again, this shameful nonsense didn't happen when the supposedly incapacitated old Democrat was in office. I'm sure Tapper & Klein will cover this in detail tomorrow.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

More lies about who is responsible for this.

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Nice. Also, I don't really understand the reticence of authors/editors of admitting a mistake. Even on an instrumental level, trying to *hide* it is worse than the initial mistake.

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Johanna Rickne @johannarickne.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

🚨 REPLICATION REPORT UPDATE: One year ago, a tweet by John Holbein alerted me, @ollefolke.bsky.social, and @jopieboy.bsky.social to a paper with a shocking result about Sweden’s law criminalizing the purchase of sex.🧵

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I still don't think we have fully processed how a billionaire & his lackeys, who are unelected, unconfirmed, not-even-real-federal employees are just dismantling the entire government & stealing all of its/our data, while Congress does nothing. A total, unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Sunlight on the Sundial Report - standcolumbia.org/wp-content/u...

standcolumbia.org

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Texas Krusty @texaskrusty.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Most of the media I have encountered are only saying he is clashing with a federal judge. They will normalize everything and refuse to report the actual facts.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

RFK Jr. is seeking to destroy the consensus around vaccines, one of the greatest public health achievements in human history. People will die because of it.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Senate Democrats are so gloriously out of touch at social media that I wouldn't be surprised if the account offered us a Werther's hard candy

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Tammy Duckworth @duckworth.senate.gov · 26/03/2025

Pete Hegseth is a f*cking liar. This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Look, I'm sorry Columbia can't do performative speech against Trump nor performative speech for the campus radicals...

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tim frye @timfrye.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Earlier this week five of my senior colleagues wrote a response to the demands placed on Columbia. The link is here. I also post a short note from Senior Faculty in the Department of Political Science who endorse their response. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

Title: Both Liberal and Conservative Judges Rule Against Trump
Description: A scatter plot showing the rulings of judges against or in favor of Trump, categorized by ideology using the DIME score. The x-axis represents Judge Ideology (DIME Score), ranging from liberal (-1) to conservative (1), and the y-axis represents the case outcome (against or for Trump).
• Blue dots represent liberal judges, purple dots represent moderate judges, and red dots represent conservative judges.
• Some judges are labeled, including Rudolph Contreras, Lauren King, John Coughenour, and James Emanuel Boasberg on the liberal to moderate side, and Carl Nichols, Richard J. Leon, and Joseph N. Laplante on the conservative side.
• A note mentions that Boasberg, though slightly right-leaning, was initially appointed by George W. Bush.
• The visualization suggests that judges from both ideological backgrounds ruled against Trump.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Step 1. Demand slower additional processes amending fair neutral existing procedures. Step 2. Go to court to slow the extra fair neutral procedures. Step 3. Complain fair decisions weren’t reached sooner.

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Page Fortna @pagefortna.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Hey academic friends — universities need to stand together in the face of this onslaught. Please help mobilize your faculties, boards of trustees, etc to get your university’s leadership to stand with those already getting hit. Hiding won’t work. They are coming for you next.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

“So I smartly decided to give Trump a blank check to let *him* cherry pick which parts of the government to keep open. “P.S. Please donate to my campaign.”

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The Democrats face the only decisions because—in headlines—only the Democrats have agency in the federal government, even when they have no majorities and hold virtually no formal power.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

It's one thing to ask the uni to say "this shouldn't happen without evidence" and something very different to ask them to say "there is no evidence"

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I didn't write the law that way, I would not write the law that way, I'm trying to figure out if the specific acts followed that law... and so far I have not seen they have not... Various concerns people might legitimately have are with ICE in general and the statutes around green cards, etc.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

How does one claim we need to follow the law to attack various Trump initiatives/actions and say we have the right to refuse the law when it come to immigration enforcement?

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

What good is sitting alone in your room, come hear the music play... watch Pam Bondi sworn in as Attorney General...

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Told you so. Compare media now versus fake stories about fake crimes by Hillary, etc. -

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

So basically Trump can accept unlimited bribes by filing or having his companies file totally frivolous lawsuits and then accepting the “settlements” his targets offer. Cute trick.

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Andrew Kinsey @andrewkinsey.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

My lawyer hot take is that the lawyers defending the birthright citizenship EO should be driven from the practice. They shouldn't know a day's rest and should never get to practice law again.

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Jeffrey R. Lax @jeffreylax.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Columbia COULD likely find out who these students were... but will they just avoid doing so so they don't have to apply punishment? If there are no consequences, that is a uni choice in itself.

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Heather Thomas @heatherthomasaf.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

So when all was said and done, the only country that opened it's prisons and sent crazy murderous criminals to prey upon innocent American citizens, was us.

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