Tweets represent only my random personal ideas, not my employer. As of late 2024: Giving a try to Blue Sky: search for my name there. Only here occasionally.
I haven't been to DC for years. Had thought of a vacation there this past winter. But it's being defiled so thoroughly, it's going to take a while to "fix" it, once he's gone.
I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.
In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.
Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.
When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.
She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.
As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.
Rest in peace, professor.
Trump prevented everyone from celebrating near the game. He made everyone show up hours early. Women could not take in a bag. He inconvenienced the entire city. And then he fell asleep.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the extraordinary outbursts of the President of the United States against female journalists... well, actually against journalists in general and journalism. But it feels like he saves his most childlike behavior and irrational language for female reporters, calling them all kinds of names that kids in kindergarten are given times out for. It’s stunning to me to witness such behavior from any leader, any CEO, any person of influence or importance. I’ve never witnessed someone like this raging, this weekend with @meetthepress host @kwelkernbc, just last week in the Oval Office with @cnn’s @kaitlancollins, calling women stupid or piggy, telling them to “smile”, calling them darling, demeaning their credibility. Every good man should denounce this behavior. Every person should be able to stand up for their colleagues and say “No more.”
Imagine this man screaming like this at your daughter, your wife, your sister, your mother... would you stand for it? No, you wouldn’t! And neither should any of us. It’s unacceptable and undignified. Period. End of story.
BREAKING: Scott Pelley Just Made A Pretty Stunning Allegation.
According to Pelley, CBS leadership wanted a story about the killing of ICE protester Renée Good changed to better match Trump's version of events.
Pelley says he was told management wanted protesters portrayed as more violent and wanted Good described as driving toward the officer who shot her. He says the video evidence showed otherwise.
Then came the admission.
"There was a thumb on the scale for the president's version of events."
A veteran journalist with 37 years at CBS is alleging political pressure was applied to change the facts of a story.
That's a remarkable accusation.
On Saturday, while covering a protest at Delaney Hall for the AP, Angelina Katsanis' camera bag went missing.
Inside was $10K worth of gear, her biz cards and an Airtag -- which soon began to ping from home of a NJ sergeant. He's now facing charges.
https://t.co/fCHmWnJETI
Pulte referred Lisa Cook and Letitia James for criminal prosecution over mortgage document errors. Scott Bessent committed the same errors. No referral. No investigation. Bessent is in the cabinet.
Same paperwork. Three people. Three completely different outcomes based entirely on who they are to Donald Trump.
That is the man now running 18 intelligence agencies. The willingness to weaponize regulatory authority selectively wasn't a disqualification. It was the job interview.
I am so sick of all these motherfuckers pretending this is normal
Joe Biden stuttered and that's all we fucking heard about for years
Fuck the media & not giving a fuck about this country
Nobody is coming to save your aging parent.
Not Medicare.
Not the hospital.
Not their primary care doctor.
When your mom gets discharged on 14 medications and three specialist referrals…
The person coordinating all of it is usually an exhausted daughter with a full-time job.
We need to talk about that.
This man is a hero in America, standing up against the fascist dictatorship of the free press as billionaires do the bidding of the administration to silence dissent. We all need to be like Scott Pelly and call out bullshit when we see it.
#DemsUnited
Rep. @AngieCraigMN: Do you know how many farms we lost in the US last year?
Trump's Agriculture Secretary: Uh... I know you were talking about bankruptcies, about 315 farms--
Craig: We lost 15,000 farms. Do you know how much money farmers lost? $28B.
Trump's Agriculture Secretary: Well... It depends on how you calculate that.
So he has completely DESTROYED the South lawn of the White House and has KILLED old growth trees.
TRUMP DOESN'T OWN THE WHITE HOUSE he should not be ALLOWED to do this or else he should USE HIS OWN MONEY TO RESTORE IT !
BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence "Magnifica Humanitas,” comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the "Tower of Babel" and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is "threatened by new forms of dehumanization."
"The risk of dehumanization -- of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means -- is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise," Pope Leo said.
"In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace.”