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Kreg Abshire

@kregabshire.bsky.social
1K followers 896 following 195 posts

American Studies--film, music, literature, and class. Was way out front on the nontraditional jobs for Ph.D.s trend--by choice of others like, you know, the market. Student once told me that he liked my "self-defecating sense of humor."

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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 5h
This one's funny and hopeful; I like that.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It is hard to like the people with different views when those views are just hatred and racism.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I love how this particular stream of fear mongering is essentially, if those people who care about law, the constitution, and democracy get back in power, all of us law-breaking fascists are in big trouble. Yes, let's get to work on that.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Or.... A candidate who is "moderate" in relation to a right that = fascism chose to primary a progressive dem. and the progressive kicked his ass. Yes, he's older than the "moderate." But why not frame it as another progressive win? That's the story of these primaries.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Yes! And as conservative "ideas" become more and more ridiculous--QAnon, pizzagate, race science, etc.--there are fewer conservative scholars because all of that looks stupid and not worth anybody's time. Debate the merits of pizzagate with the pillow guy? Nope, no thank you. That's not scholarship.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We bought linen drapes from Lithuania. Nice. Then we needed a couple more. The shipping service needed us to pay for tariff fees the were not there the first go around. So, our second round of drapes, still lovely, by the way, cost us almost 2X. WE paid the cost. Trump took my money. That is all.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Even Edwina knows this! youtu.be/jO93iNoAXdA?...
youtu.be
Raising Arizona -- Dip Tet Shot
YouTube video by David Petersen
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The first headline is about online school. Yes, it's not the best version of school. Odd, then, that an AI-driven online crap machine is what "they" want for school.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
From likely stage win to 3rd after 2 crashes in the final 5k. Such a disappointing finish for Sepp after such a great mountain stage. It was nice, while it lasted, to be cheering on an American rider, a Colorado goat.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Crap, two crashes, ahhhhhh
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Come on, Sepp Kuss!!!!!
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I will concede them the anthem-off; but that is the end of their winning today.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
And if we have to have Tom Cruise do this (what is this?), then he should drop in Mission Impossible style.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The FIFA Anthem is giving real Star-Wars-Theme-with-lyrics vibes. youtu.be/ljiVRV5B5i8?...
youtu.be
Nick The Lounge Singer Sings Star Wars Theme - SNL
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Craziest lineup: Wednesday, Jon Batiste, and Tyler Childers! All great, and, yep, all together.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Why the absolute F does Peacock have Lance F'ing Armstrong on its post stage analysis show? What can he tell me about what happened during a Tour stage other than Racer X would have done better had he cheated his ass off? Enough with the redemption arcs; no more getting out of shame hell.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I have some questions for the admissions offices at the other 1/3.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
2nd Father's Day without my dad. My dad was a welder; his three kids hold six degrees. One of only a couple of times I saw him crying was the day I received my Ph.D. He built my amazing and privileged life on his welding burns. youtu.be/WIpC_Icpb3A?...
youtu.be
Welding Burns
YouTube video by Slaid Cleaves - Topic
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
If you haven’t read this yet, fix that as soon as possible: it’s a beautifully crafted response to a great album. And if you teach literature, you might want to consider using the second and third paragraphs as an example of how close reading works.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
And Ms. 1920 is pissed about it.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I love this fantasy that Dem leaders talk about problems like they're leading a college seminar. Chuck Schumer, sadly, just sounds like a weak dumbass.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Certainly USC can afford to say no. And USC must know that the correct answer to "do you want us to trash your Uni for 200 mill" is no, no thank you. If they cannot afford to say no, then they should spin off the sports teams and just fold as a university.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Not to mention active citizenship. Crazy as a loon here, but I'm thinking that the ability to engage those texts is required of decent adulting in a democracy.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I don't like, but expect, the Yankees being good. BUT Colorado and Houston have the same record!? AND both of those terrible records are better than Boston's. I don't know any more. I blame those f'ing clocks.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
If one were absentmindedly scrolling through the feed, this image, at first glance, appears to offer something like a recipe for a bat burrito.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Welcome!
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
And even more confusing: one of them is the president of France. I’m not sure which one.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
"Way off" you say? Sure, there's all that pre-apocalypse anxiety. But your list seems pretty good. Good day. Oh, perhaps I'm projecting.....
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Sure, Bluesky sucks.... What's this? Amazing people sharing amazing ideas about how to teach something amazing. Thanks to you all for sharing.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Bunnicula!
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I love Radio Garden. Stop scrolling and spin the globe. You might, for example, learn that there are a lot of classic country radio stations in France. And you can listen to them. You can rebuild NATO. You. You can do it.
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Reposted by Kreg Abshire
Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Your periodic reminder that there is a website that lets you listen to local radio stations anywhere in the world This is honestly one of the coolest inventions ever, imo. Global access to hyper-local imagined communities
radio.garden
Explore live radio by rotating the globe
Explore live radio by rotating the globe.
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Reposted by Kreg Abshire
Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Happy Friday. As a form of resistance to all that sucks so much... Here's my dog, Louis, doing his best impersonation of Ferdinand.
Large dog, great Pyrenees mix, sitting under a flowering crab apple tree and looking like he's pretending to be a large bull to anybody who's read Ferdinand, the children's book.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Happy Friday. As a form of resistance to all that sucks so much... Here's my dog, Louis, doing his best impersonation of Ferdinand.
Large dog, great Pyrenees mix, sitting under a flowering crab apple tree and looking like he's pretending to be a large bull to anybody who's read Ferdinand, the children's book.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
We have one spot on a panel at Rocky Mountain MLA (Oct. 8-10 in Ogden UT). It's very open panel on US lit after 1900, and I'm open to expanding how we think about US and lit. Working on something and looking for a supportive audience? Join us! rmmla.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/...
rmmla.memberclicks.net
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Trump is basing his "argument" against birthright citizenship on this language, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" (suggesting that undocumented people in the US are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US). Is he, then, granting all undocumented folks something like diplomatic immunity?
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I'm adding the demand of any politicians who want my vote that they promise to turn over to international courts any and all members of this administration who have committed war crimes.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
There is a real opportunity here for a college or several to offer expedited admission and generous scholarships to students who had their educations disrupted because they sought to right a wrong. Those colleges win; Columbia loses.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
We really need to get to the bottom of what happened in that blank space between paragraphs! I think that's where the two normal teens from Pennsylvania were radicalized.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
No notes....
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
This really doesn't seem to be about the achievement gap. It's a measure of how the caste system will reproduce itself. Rich kids? Let's send them to private schools to focus on thinking and prep for SLACs. Poor kids? Prep them for automated thinking and this generation's version of the mines.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
I will keep this safely on my desktop for those moments when I need an emotional boost to face it all.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Wow, that takes a, on second-thought, very predictable turn.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
All terrible, but shouldn't we want them to be taller?
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I am not that man. But, yes, please, to that hat.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
In my mind it goes like this: Trump: Why don't you smile more? Any male reporter in the room: Why don't you shit your pants less?
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Just stop the funding to DHS. That'll do. Best partial government shutdown ever.
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Kreg Abshire @kregabshire.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Does he want to kill them?
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Reposted by Kreg Abshire
Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
This part of our response essay is where I'm at. Boiling down all of politics to electoralism has been absolutely terrible for resisting rising authoritarianism. www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
A final but especially important reason that popularism has put the United States at greater, not lower, risk of authoritarianism is the Democratic Party’s overly cautious use of institutional authority and political power beyond elections. Popularism doesn’t just urge candidates to check the polls before making a campaign decision; by defining politics down to poll-watching, it trains leaders to check with polls before governing—any use of their legislative and administrative power. Successful opposition parties in authoritarian environments around the world don’t do this: they engage in politics in order to wield power, not just to win or maintain it. But in the United States, the opposition party sees elections as its only tool, even as the regime repeatedly and brazenly threatens electoral integrity. The implicit pitch is “at least if you vote for us, you keep the right from governing.” Examples of Democratic squeamishness about power abound. The Democrats have just now begun to engage in partisan gerrymandering, fifteen years after Republicans used it to tremendous gain. And Democratic politicians who call Trump a dictator have voted for nearly all of his nominees in the Senate.

In this, Democratic leaders are the ultimate popularists—waiting to use their institutional power until it is overwhelmingly clear that public opinion is on their side. The results have been disastrous. Most consequential was the hesitancy of the Department of Justice under Merrick Garland to swiftly and aggressively prosecute Trump for the coup attempt on January 6, 2021. That’s exactly the opposite of what Lula’s government has done to Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil after Bolsonaro’s own coup attempt. As seen across more than two dozen other countries that convicted or banned from office national leaders for constitutional violations and crimes since 2010, this is not an impossible task.
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