iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Let's stop using anodyne labels like "the immigration debate" or "controversy over migrants" and start referring to things accurately. "Expelling children who, by law, are entitled to remain in the country" or "imprisoning toddlers in concentration camps" or "pogrom"

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

~Approximately no one in the general public knows because the leaders of the R1 research universities - whose budgets, programs, & personnel are entirely or significantly dependent on federal funding - have been totally absent from the public square in explaining & collectively protesting this.

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I read the ending and I wanted to koolaid man through a wall!!

Screenshot of article which reads: To restore a functioning and
pluralistic democracy in the United States, reversing over a decade of
democratic backsliding in the world’s oldest democracy, the thing to
“fix” is not polarization. Polarization is the country’s immune response
to an unpopular, antidemocratic, and intentionally divisive faction grabbing for disproportionate power to the detriment of national success,
reputation, and democratic self-government. Tamping down that immune response only allows this minority faction to have greater control.

Screenshot of article which reads: But the fury of the argument shows the importance of the outcome.
When we focus on polarization as the problem, the solution is for ev-
eryone to quiet down and be “civil”—an outcome that benefits those
who are willing to grab as much power as they can without concern
for legality or civility. When we see the problem for what it is, the
solution is to defend the most robust social progress in American his-
tory—progress that has already been codified into law and enjoyed
by everyone alike. U.S. democracy needs leaders who are willing to
defend those rights and voters who are willing to hold accountable the
leaders who will not defend them. It does not need everyone simply to calm down.

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens." There are not enough exclamation points to convey how I felt reading this paragraph

Screenshot of article which reads: From this perspective, the “both sides” frame falls apart. The prob-
lem is not that the parties are divided. The problem is the existential
threat that a reempowered ethnonationalist strain poses to pluralistic
U.S. democracy writ large. The current level of political animosity is
exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted
to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s
citizens. The only way to re-oppress most of a country is to use anti-
democratic and authoritarian tactics. And the only way to oppose those
tactics is to push back as a population and clearly reject them. This is
the argument happening in the United States, and its pathology is not
anger—it is the movement to undermine a generation of rights.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

'But if universities increasingly teach students that higher education should fit around life, work and employability, should we really be surprised when students begin treating it instrumentally?'

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I appreciate that Dolly Parton refused to participate in "dress respectability" and, by her own account, modeled her aesthetic after a town "tramp," who she thought was beautiful. She separated aesthetics from character and understood "classiness" to be about how you treat people, not how you dress.

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

User of the web, have you ever asked yourself, "where is this coming from?" I have. We all know this, of course, but it is well described here by Siva Vaidhyanathan. "Having organized the web, Google now proposes to replace it." www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...

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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 13/07/2026

Last year, the Trump Administration terminated or froze nearly 4,000 research grants, totalling some $3 billion—only restoring about half after being sued by several institutions. A new proposal is poised to even further politicize research efforts. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/SrkuX-

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

An O.M.B. Plan to Defund Science—and Anything Trump Doesn’t Like

Under a new proposal, Administration officials could deny government grants to any group or project on the ground that it didn’t fit the President’s agenda.

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

"'And my immediate reaction, on reading the story that Yale was considering settling, is that it cannot be that I, Becca, normal human, had the wherewithal to challenge something that was wrong and an abuse of power, and Yale — with its $44 billion endowment — does not,' she continued."

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I'm not even rooting against Argentina at this point I am rooting against FIFA

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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 10/07/2026

"Over the last couple of years, I’ve been focused on making a positive impact on how the future unfolds, especially in tech, AI, and which areas of the body outside the neck can cause you to bleed out with the right shot."

buff.ly

My Critics Are Missing the Nuance of My Membership in the Wealthy People Hunting Poor People for Sport Club

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve been focused on making a positive impact on how the future unfolds, especially in tech, AI, and which areas of the body ...

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Will Jones @willpjones.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

"The decision by the university’s AAUP chapter to retain outside lawyers is the latest example of faculty members and other groups choosing to fight settlements with Trump in ways that the colleges themselves often seem reluctant to." @aaup.org @yaleaaup.bsky.social

chronicle.com

Yale Professors Vow to Fight Trump if the University President Won’t

The opposition to a potential deal with the government reveals a strategy that Yale groups have spent a year honing.

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AAUP @aaup.org · 09/07/2026

We stand w/ our colleagues in Texas. Colleges & universities must be protected as places where ideas can be explored freely & evidence can be examined & thoroughly debated openly. Without academic freedom, students are denied the education they deserve, & higher education cannot fulfill its mission.

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

If you are a faculty member and worried about the fact no one seems to be fighting back against the attacks on academic freedom, it might be time to join @aaup.org

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 08/07/2026

funny how the cutting edge of the far right is just regurgitated slaveholder agitprop from 1850.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Don't want to speak ill of the dead, so getting this Mitch McConnell take out now. He saw Trump with complete clarity, as a danger to America, but protected him anyway. Perhaps more than anyone, he had the power to end Trumpism, but chose party over country. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/jan-6-and-...

And yet…McConnell refused to vote to convict. Seven of his colleagues did, and with McConnell’s leadership, more would have done so, potentially enough to get to the supermajority needed. With conviction, the Senate could have also taken the vote to block Trump from running again. Doing so would have ended Trump as a political power. McConnell was clearly considering this option. In an oral history interview at the time the House was impeaching Trump, McConnell said

But apparently you can impeach somebody after they leave office, and if that happens, there’s a second vote in the Senate, which only has to pass by a simple majority, that prevents that person from seeking office again. So he could not only be impeached, but also eliminated from the possibility of a comeback for this office. So it is significant.

In the end, McConnell protected Trump from punishment. It was not just the refusal to vote to convict. After a swift House impeachment, he pushed to delay the Senate trial. He opposed the Senate joining in a Congressional investigation of Jan 6. He endorsed Trump in 2024, although this matters little except to further diminish McConnell’s dignity, as it was clear by this point that the Republican Party was Trump’s and McConnell’s time of influence was at an end.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

What’s happening with Flo/the USMNT now is exactly what’s happened w/ politicians, universities, CEOs, & everyone else in 🇺🇸 in the face of corrupt authoritarianism. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s absurd/unfair, which of course it is. All that matters is that you get to choose complicity or not.

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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Now I'm just a simple country lawyer but this guy sounds like a criminal

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Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

After decades of screeching that universities are indoctrinating the youth, Republicans are proud to roll out the new course, Mandatory Youth Indoctrination 1001

kcrg.com

Courses will be required at University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom

University of Iowa Students will now be required to take classes from the new Center for Intellectual Freedom in order to graduate.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

You might think that the chancellors & presidents of the country’s leading R1 research universities, faced with such an existential crisis, would speak up, loudly & collectively against the authoritarian assault on their institutions. Alas, you would (still) be sadly wrong. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Mancur Olson, author of “The Logic of Collective Action,” with laser eyes

George Akerlof, author of “The Market for Lemons,” with laser eyes

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Yes, this sounds extreme, but either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution matters, or it doesn't. DOGE was the worst, most unprecedented looting/sacking of the US government by a private citizen ever, & Musk belongs in jail for the rest of his life, & his government-backed wealth confiscated.

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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

The New York Times confirms what appears to be a US attack on two Iranian #water systems with precision bombs. Intentional attacks on civilian water systems is a war crime under the 1977 Geneva Convention Protocols and related international laws. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/w...

nytimes.com

Analysis of Satellite Image and Videos Suggest Precision U.S. Strikes on Iranian Water Facility

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I get it--workloads suck, pay sucks, we all hate grading. But using genAI to give evaluation and feedback is a big 'fuck you' to both your students and the very enterprise of higher education.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/06/2026

sam alito in callais: it is just a coincidence that partisan gerrymandering looks like racial gerrymandering. it doesn’t mean anything tennessee republicans post-callais: yee haw boys we are gettin’ the negras outta government

nytimes.com

Opinion | A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans

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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 05/06/2026

"Wait… is that the actual curse here? That I… understand MAGA now? That I've been reduced to vociferously supporting a bad man because I see him as the only path forward to helping undo a greater evil? Did M. Night Shyamalan write my life?"

buff.ly

I Wished on a Monkey’s Paw for Susan Collins to Lose Her Senate Seat, and Now We’re Stuck with Graham Platner

“Wait… shit… is that the actual curse here? That I… understand MAGA now?”

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 03/06/2026

especially re: 2, one must ask, in what way is this court majority actually opposed to Plessy v. Ferguson?

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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

On OMB's proposal to make all grants political: "Speak up! Now’s the time! Standing by the side of the room, glancing around nervously and hoping that somebody else does something will lead us to disaster. These are not normal times, so stop acting as if they are." www.science.org/content/blog...

science.org

Action! Action Now.

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Brian PJ Cronin @brianpjcronin.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

"The triumph was stunning — unique in our era of democratic backsliding — and it holds clear lessons for the United States." M. Gessen, reporting from Hungary, gift link, it's possible I cried once or twice reading this:

nytimes.com

Opinion | This Is the Formula That Defeated Orban. It Would Defeat Trump, Too.

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Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

When you surrender your thinking, your ideas, what makes you you for an answer, a product, you trade away the most important aspect of yourself. And to do so at an institution charged with developing your critical thinking & helping you discover you. No. I will not be party to that.

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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Glad everyone is reading: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... It's fine, but the managerial class, which never cuts its own jobs, must go. We need renewed self-governance. We can't simply plod on without Senates. And frankly, we need a trade union that functions not imagines itself fomenting revolution.

lrb.co.uk

Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities

The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...

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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

You can’t meet fascists in the middle.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 29/05/2026

It’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Dean of the Faculty at Radboud University has resigned, citing disagreement over strategies that have been determined by external consultants. www.voxweb.nl/en/dean-of-t...

“The direction in which the university is moving is no longer determined by our own academics but by consultants,” the linguist writes in the message. “They establish KPIs that are primarily focused on the effective deployment of staff and finances, and the efficient training of students. For me, the strength of a university lies in the creativity and scientific curiosity of the people who make up the academic community.”

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

One of the most dangerous traps for people who study and advocate for higher education (which itself as a complex and sometimes problematic dynamic) is how to address real problems in the sector without conceding partial credit to bad faith critics.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

You’re not going to believe this — no one does — but I have never used AI to write. Not a query or to brainstorm or to outline or to draft. At most, I have struggled to turn off the “powered by AI” grammar suggestions in some app. But…this is extremely skewed thinking.

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

There is no strict Constitutional prohibition against looting the Treasury to give money to traitors, so it's hard to see what Democrats are upset about. by Jonathan Turley

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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 25/05/2026

"As befits the nation’s most expansive—and expensive—marketplace of ideas, we commit to putting substantial resources behind ideas that are presently viewed with skepticism by scientists and scholars."

buff.ly

We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More Crackpots

“For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underreprese...

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

It's not that anyone expects different outcomes in the face of the far right authoritarianism. It's the total lack of fighting.

youtube.com

Mr Holland Gets Let Go - Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

YouTube video by Casgo

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Again, along with the NSF/NIH/DOE budget cuts, these visa/immigration/foreign student policies are all-out existential assaults on American higher education. And the sum total of university chancellor/president public & collective opposition to them has been ~🦗🦗 (Olson 1965, Akerlof 1970) 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Mancur Olson, author of "The Logic of Collective Action" (1965), with laser eyes

George Akerlof, author of "The Market for Lemons" (1970) with laser eyes

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Robot legs are here and they aren’t going anywhere. [booing begins] Whether you like it or not we are going to cut off all of your legs and arms [booing intensifies] and heads and replace them all with robot legs and only robot legs [shouting over boos] well I can see you aren’t ready for the future

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Well that's a thorough summary. One of the best articulations of university governance for a public audience that I've seen in a while.

Screenshot of article which reads: This is how you end up with an elite university where the president can drive his car into a group of students and be lauded by the board. The president and the trustees are on the same team. The students are on the other team. The trustees know Kotlikoff will reliably enforce their agenda, including cracking down on protests that might be bad for cashflow. It almost doesn’t matter what he does; if there’s any conceivable defense, they’ll keep him in place. (If not, they’ll replace him with someone else who can talk about loving free speech while moving to crush it in practice.) Kotlikoff, after all, has already proved his worth: It was on his watch that Cornell agreed to pay $60 million to the U.S. government to get Trump to unfreeze its research grants.

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

This is the University of Central Florida. So many people really have no idea how much kids hate this shit.

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Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"We understand that in the dynamic landscape of higher education, efficiency and effectiveness are paramount. That’s why we offer a comprehensive suite of services designed to streamline processes, optimize resources, and drive strategic initiatives forward." 🥴

bdog.georgetown.edu

Home Page - Business Design & Optimization Group

Who We Are The Business Design & Optimization Group is Georgetown University’s internal management consulting team that supports the delivery of world-class education and research through business pro...

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 08/05/2026

Provost said - and this is an exact quote - "we are scholars, and we are driven by curiosity" and then proceeded to completely dismiss all forms of knowledge that don't bring in millions of dollars in grant money as useless if not burdensome.

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