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Augustine of Hippo was a theologian and philosopher of mixed Roman and Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, and Confessions. .. more

Philosophy 45%
History 31%

Reposted by Augustine, Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 2 more

passantino.bsky.social
A judge ordered the sale of Alex Jones Infowars today, clearing the way for The Onion to renew its attempt to buy the notorious conspiracy-fueled empire. "We’re working on it," @bencollins.bsky.social tells @status.news www.status.news/p/washington...
August 14, 2025 at 2:42 AM

Reposted by Augustine, Melanie C. Green

propublica.org
Texas AG Ken Paxton hired a former staffer to work on a recent case. As a state employee, her labor would have cost taxpayers $641.

As a private attorney, Paxton allowed her to bill $3,780 an hour, so that day of work cost taxpayers $24,570.

With @texastribune.org
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Outsourcing More of His Office’s Work to Costly Private Lawyers
Despite having an office of hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton is frequently opting for private lawyers — many to whom he has personal or political ties — to argue on behalf of Texas. One attorney…
www.propublica.org
August 14, 2025 at 1:15 AM

Reposted by Augustine, Rosemary A. Joyce, Martin Gaynor , and 5 more

atrupar.com
NIH Director Battacharya on mRNA technology: "We should not be using as a platform for mass vaccination"
August 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM

Reposted by Augustine

briangaar.bsky.social
I wrote about the excellent King of the Hill reboot, which offers a hopeful version of Texas - where disagreements happen over a beer in the alley, and where you can be set in your ways without using that as an excuse to be an asshole (or electing one). thebarbedwire.com/2025/08/13/k...
The ‘King of the Hill’ Reboot Will Heal Your Complicated Relationship with Texas
Season 14 imagines a Texas that isn’t a right-wing hellscape. And it’s nice.
thebarbedwire.com
August 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Andrew L. Whitehead, Illinois. , and 1 more

carlquintanilla.bsky.social
(NBC News) - President Donald Trump's pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics was among the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the White House saying he was a "bystander" who wandered over after seeing coverage on the news.

@ryanjreilly.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
August 14, 2025 at 12:15 AM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
Just expensive, I think. They are usually smaller classes and take up a lot of staffing. As a Latin prof, I’m horrified by this move but we’ve been creeping in this direction for awhile.
August 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Andrew Jacobs

janetspittler.bsky.social
The kids are alright! www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
EDITORIAL: Shared governance is dying while our Board prospers
The self-serving actions of the Board are not just harmful to students and faculty today, but they are harmful to our institution as a whole and the future president who will be invited to lead it.
www.cavalierdaily.com
August 13, 2025 at 10:11 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Axel Bruns, Zhang , and 20 more

thehighsign.bsky.social
Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.
Quote from a story on changes at the U of Chicago that notes they are "pausing" doctoral eduction in Classics, Comp Lit, Germanic studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Romance languages and literatures, and South Asian Studies.
August 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM

Reposted by Augustine, David A. Bell, Anita Guerrini , and 2 more

memorients.bsky.social
Pomona College - Assistant Professor of History (Early Modern European History):

memorients.com/news/pomona-...
Pomona College - Assistant Professor of History (Early Modern European History) | MEMOs
Assistant Professor of History (Early Modern European History) - California, USA
memorients.com
August 13, 2025 at 5:33 PM

Reposted by Augustine

the-downballot.com
New statement from TX House Dems:

"After deliberation among our caucus, we have reached a consensus: Texas House Democrats refuse to give him a quorum to pass his racist maps" mailchi.mp/texashousede...
TEXAS HOUSE DEMS: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS UP TO ABBOTT Texas House Democrats are ready to deliver on flood relief, but Abbott must prioritize the needs of Texans CHICAGO — After Speaker Dustin Burrows, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick, and Gov. Greg Abbott announced that they will capitulate to Democratic demands to end their corrupt special session on Friday, but promised to call another, Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu issued the following statement: “What happens next is entirely up to Greg Abbott. After deliberation among our caucus, we have reached a consensus: Texas House Democrats refuse to give him a quorum to pass his racist maps that silence more than 2 million Black and Latino Texans — in keeping with our original promise to Texans, the First Called Special Session will never make quorum again, defeating Abbott’s first attempt at passing his racial gerrymander.
August 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
So far, a lot of these cuts by universities seem to focus on areas where students are still taking classes but just choosing slightly different majors (eg, history or English or Classics instead of medieval studies). As you say, admin process doesn’t bode well when tougher cuts come.
August 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM

Reposted by Augustine

apollo-magazine.com
In 1338, the council of nine men who ate together, slept together and ruled Siena together commissioned three murals for the room where they oversaw the business of state. The work known as the Allegory of Good and Bad Government has been the subject of speculation ever since.
Vice and virtue in Renaissance Siena
One of history’s most mysterious political paintings might hold lessons for our own time – if we could make out the meaning
buff.ly
August 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Cas Mudde, Cristina F. Fominaya , and 26 more

matthewjkuiper.bsky.social
In which a Yale prof calls for jettisoning humanities to make way for science-only universities.

“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”
Unyoke the Sciences From the Humanities
Arts and sciences typically cohabitate. Should they?
thedispatch.com
August 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Bo Kristian Holm

dbellingradt.bsky.social
"Oh, so you are still using your bizarre scroll? I just bought the newest technology, a printed book with a binding, wanna have closer a look"?

Academic small talk back then, #academicchatter.
Detail from a title page of an early modern medicine book ("Spiegel der artz||ney/", VD16 F 2877) featuring two men looking at each other. The one man is holding a bound book, and the other is holding a manuscript scroll.
August 13, 2025 at 6:29 AM

Reposted by Augustine

nytimes.com
Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Trump energy secretary, has now dedicated his life to promoting the powerful psychedelic ibogaine.
How Rick Perry Became a Fervent Advocate for the Psychedelic Ibogaine
The former Texas governor and Trump energy secretary has now dedicated his life to promoting the powerful psychedelic ibogaine.
nyti.ms
August 13, 2025 at 2:00 AM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
Same. The rough streets of…Claremont, CA 🤣
August 13, 2025 at 1:13 AM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
Also the playbook being used on higher education.
August 13, 2025 at 1:11 AM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
The thing about the Laura Loomer depo that jumps out, beyond all the lunacy, is her belief that being a Trump supporter, working in the WH means cashing in. The ideals of public service are beyond dead.
August 13, 2025 at 1:10 AM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
This is the game: X institution has list public trust, say the people who spread malevolent lies to cause people to no longer trust X institution.
davelevitan.bsky.social Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · Aug 12
This op-ed from NIH director Jay Bhattacharya is *infuriating*. He says we have to stop funding mRNA vaccine research because it hasn't "earned public trust." Motherfucker, WHO DID THAT.
Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:06 AM

Reposted by Augustine, Rosemary A. Joyce, Jonathan M. Gilligan

annabower.bsky.social
Laura Loomer: I have not had many boyfriends…You know, I care more about my work than I do about having a romantic partner. And I waited to find somebody who would accept the fact that I want to be very successful.

Counsel: Just for the record, my only question was did you give that interview?
21 20 BY MS. BOLGER: Q Did you give that interview, Ms. Loomer? A Yeah. 22 0152 1 Q Great. And that accurately reflects what 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 you said? A Yeah. MR. KLAYMAN: It speaks for itself. MS. BOLGER: Okay. THE WITNESS: I mean, like I said, I -- when I say, "dating," you know, dating can construe a lot of things -- like, going out to dinner with someone. I mean, I'm very clear. Like, I don't really -- I don't date a lot. I'm in a very committed relationship throughout my early twenties. I just turned 32. I have not had many boyfriends. And the reality is -- is that I am a very career-centered woman. I'm 32. My main focus wasn't getting married and having kids. You know, I care more about my work than I do about having a romantic partner. And I waited to find somebody who would accept the fact that I want to be very successful. And I --BY MS. BOLGER: Q Just for the record, my only question was -- A No. I know. But I'm -- 0153 1 2 - did you give that interview? A I did give the interview, but I'm explaining 3 that -- 4 Q Okay. That's great. So then my question 5 is, what was the -- 6 MR. KLAYMAN: Don't interrupt her. 7 BY MS. BOLGER: 8 -- what was the -- 9 MR. KLAYMAN: Don't interrupt her. 10 BY MS. BOLGER: 11 Q - name of the individual who you 12 referenced?
August 12, 2025 at 11:25 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Will Jennings, Steve Peers , and 14 more

jamellebouie.net
the thing everyone is going to have to accept is that the post-trump period, whenever it comes, will not and cannot be a project of national unity, it must be a project of partisan project of renewal, in the same way that reconstruction and the new deal were partisan projects of renewal.
August 12, 2025 at 11:18 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Anna O. Law, Mark Lubell , and 18 more

maggieastor.bsky.social
I cannot emphasize enough that the playbook being used against mRNA vaccines (and vaccines in general) is IDENTICAL to the playbook used to restrict voting rights after the 2020 election: actively sow public distrust, then cite the distrust you sowed as an independent reason for your desired policy
Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 12, 2025 at 9:40 PM

Reposted by Augustine

liveright.bsky.social
Happy publication day to Scott McGill and Susannah Wright, whose translation of THE AENEID (w/ introduction by THE ODYSSEY and THE ILIAD's @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social) is now available wherever epic works are sold! wwnorton.com/books/978132...
August 12, 2025 at 9:33 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Julie Leask, Steve Peers , and 7 more

davelevitan.bsky.social
This op-ed from NIH director Jay Bhattacharya is *infuriating*. He says we have to stop funding mRNA vaccine research because it hasn't "earned public trust." Motherfucker, WHO DID THAT.
Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 12, 2025 at 9:18 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Brendan Nyhan, Michael A. Clemens , and 9 more

atrupar.com
Leavitt confirms that monthly jobs reports may be suspended "until they can get the data and methodology in order"
August 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Reposted by Augustine, Rebecca Solnit, Scott L. Greer , and 1 more

amanbatheja.bsky.social
Trump plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence—literally on Independence Day, July 4— by hosting a cage fight between two men at the White House time.com/7309114/ufc-...
White House to Hold UFC Fight on U.S.'s 250th Birthday
The event will be the first-ever professional mixed-martial arts fight at the White House.
time.com
August 12, 2025 at 7:12 PM

Reposted by Augustine

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Reposted by Augustine, Melissa Johnson

atrupar.com
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro: "I'm not going to bore you with the facts."
August 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
Nuts.
August 12, 2025 at 6:11 PM

cassiciacum.bsky.social
My deep condolences. This is one of the hardest parts of this time in our lives. Big hugs.
August 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM