Ancient Seahorse
@ancientseahorse.bsky.social
Read lots, post little
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
a leader can’t ignore public opinion, but a leader can’t also be subservient to it
December 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
a leader can’t ignore public opinion, but a leader can’t also be subservient to it
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Higher education is on the front like of the new lost cause. Far right groups are using what they see as public concerns about the relevance and cost of higher education to wage a segregationist campaign to return the US to pre-civil rights conditions. Albeit with less freedom within universities.
December 10, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Higher education is on the front like of the new lost cause. Far right groups are using what they see as public concerns about the relevance and cost of higher education to wage a segregationist campaign to return the US to pre-civil rights conditions. Albeit with less freedom within universities.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
The "unaccountable" NIH and NSF just produced, over the last 80 years, the greatest innovation machine the world has ever known.
By the logic today, NIH and NSF are dead in the water too, replaced by presidential direction of grants to whomever he wants — his cronies.
By the logic today, NIH and NSF are dead in the water too, replaced by presidential direction of grants to whomever he wants — his cronies.
these "unaccountable" agencies were given authorities by both houses of Congress & signed into law by a president. Those branches can prevent "overreaching" without having to invent nebulous definitions of overreach based on the opinion of 5 or more lawyers about things in which they are not expert.
Kavanaugh: Broad delegations to unaccountable agencies are dangerous for individual liberty! We have used the major questions doctrine to prevent agencies from overreaching.
Sauer: MQD not a substitute for the removal power for the president
Sauer: MQD not a substitute for the removal power for the president
December 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
The "unaccountable" NIH and NSF just produced, over the last 80 years, the greatest innovation machine the world has ever known.
By the logic today, NIH and NSF are dead in the water too, replaced by presidential direction of grants to whomever he wants — his cronies.
By the logic today, NIH and NSF are dead in the water too, replaced by presidential direction of grants to whomever he wants — his cronies.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
not sure how to square ‘no one person can be reasonably expected to pay for every media subscription’ with ‘sorely underpaid writers need to make a living’ but my inclination is not to locate that problem with any of the broke ass people on either end of the complaint
December 8, 2025 at 5:21 PM
not sure how to square ‘no one person can be reasonably expected to pay for every media subscription’ with ‘sorely underpaid writers need to make a living’ but my inclination is not to locate that problem with any of the broke ass people on either end of the complaint
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Column worth reading, by former two-term GOP governor who discovers that Harvard is not the hellscape of intolerance and group-think that the MAGA and its media are constantly telling him about.
(Think of parallels in so many other realms.)
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
(Think of parallels in so many other realms.)
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | I was a red state governor. What I saw at Harvard surprised me.
The spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Column worth reading, by former two-term GOP governor who discovers that Harvard is not the hellscape of intolerance and group-think that the MAGA and its media are constantly telling him about.
(Think of parallels in so many other realms.)
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
(Think of parallels in so many other realms.)
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
But y'know what's priceless? Having a sense of personal style and not being swayed by trends.
December 7, 2025 at 2:43 PM
But y'know what's priceless? Having a sense of personal style and not being swayed by trends.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
BREAKING: Supreme Court GRANTS Texas request to restore redistricting maps
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda.
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
December 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda.
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
www.wgbh.org
December 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
I'm going to keep saying this in my effort to speak it into reality: Supreme Court should have at least 100 Justices with rotating panels (and maybe an en banc option). No single Justice should have so much power and they shouldn't be names everyone knows.
A court with a normal-ish conservative majority would have been tolerable. I'm not eager for court packing, impeaching justices, and other such options. But this court sticking around post-Trump is untenable. They've already torched their own legitimacy, the only question is what do we do about it.
Democrats need to lay the groundwork for reform by attacking the villains on the Supreme Court - loudly, angrily, personally, relentlessly. And they should start now.
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...
December 5, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I'm going to keep saying this in my effort to speak it into reality: Supreme Court should have at least 100 Justices with rotating panels (and maybe an en banc option). No single Justice should have so much power and they shouldn't be names everyone knows.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
I am a woman who joined the Let’s Rethink Chicks Having The Right To Vote Party and I am concerned they do not take me completely seriously, somebody please help me
A member of the House Republican caucus said this.
Oh. So things are BAD bad.
Oh. So things are BAD bad.
December 4, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I am a woman who joined the Let’s Rethink Chicks Having The Right To Vote Party and I am concerned they do not take me completely seriously, somebody please help me
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
To be very clear, Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the people who get it as children. lnk.thebulwark.com/3Xt957M
RFK’s Anti-Vax Team Readies Its Next Moves
“Their game is, let’s really destabilize trust in the vaccine, and make people really anxious about it.”
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM
To be very clear, Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the people who get it as children. lnk.thebulwark.com/3Xt957M
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 1:42 AM
After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
if you like something about a person, tell them
if you love something about a person, tell them
make it awkward if you have to 💗
if you love something about a person, tell them
make it awkward if you have to 💗
November 29, 2025 at 2:54 PM
if you like something about a person, tell them
if you love something about a person, tell them
make it awkward if you have to 💗
if you love something about a person, tell them
make it awkward if you have to 💗
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
there is no legitimate definition of the term "democracy" under which maps like these are "democratic." this level of stovepiping is banana republic shit. this is effectively no different from stuffing a ballot box
Indiana Republicans have unveiled their proposal to re-gerrymander the congressional map & expand their current 7-2 majority to 9-0.
The Dem-held 1st would flip to Trump+12 & the 7th to Trump+19. All 7 GOP seats would be at least Trump+18.
Interactive map:
davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap...
The Dem-held 1st would flip to Trump+12 & the 7th to Trump+19. All 7 GOP seats would be at least Trump+18.
Interactive map:
davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap...
December 1, 2025 at 8:50 PM
there is no legitimate definition of the term "democracy" under which maps like these are "democratic." this level of stovepiping is banana republic shit. this is effectively no different from stuffing a ballot box
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Correct. Do not memory-hole the fact that Marin County was the antivax capital of the country before Trump.
Clean up your own anti-science frauds instead of trying to force them on the rest of us. California has been a major problem in antivaccine denialism for decades, so maybe stop being smug when California antivaxxers caused a mumps out in the NHL by running around with their mumps-infected kids.
At least not in California
I encourage free thinkers of a certain sort to move to Florida, Texas, Kentucky, etc so that their bravery can be properly recognized (until the next time the political winds shift and they’re out on their asses)
I encourage free thinkers of a certain sort to move to Florida, Texas, Kentucky, etc so that their bravery can be properly recognized (until the next time the political winds shift and they’re out on their asses)
November 30, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Correct. Do not memory-hole the fact that Marin County was the antivax capital of the country before Trump.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.
November 30, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Please understand, if you are not in higher ed in the US, that this is a playbook that is so common that instructors brace for it (and you can see that in the feedback to the paper, which for sure took more time than the original submission did, & probably at least one meeting)
My favorite part of this is her contacting the fucking governor first, four hours after getting her essay feedback
November 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Please understand, if you are not in higher ed in the US, that this is a playbook that is so common that instructors brace for it (and you can see that in the feedback to the paper, which for sure took more time than the original submission did, & probably at least one meeting)
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
I don't recall where I found this, but I'd say this looks about right.
November 28, 2025 at 3:33 AM
I don't recall where I found this, but I'd say this looks about right.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Excellent question and it so happens that back in August our editors picked five books each to make a reading list: www.liberalcurrents.com/the-liberal-...
Now, at the time, we did that as a post for patrons only.
But you know what, let's make it public today. 🍾
Now, at the time, we did that as a post for patrons only.
But you know what, let's make it public today. 🍾
November 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Excellent question and it so happens that back in August our editors picked five books each to make a reading list: www.liberalcurrents.com/the-liberal-...
Now, at the time, we did that as a post for patrons only.
But you know what, let's make it public today. 🍾
Now, at the time, we did that as a post for patrons only.
But you know what, let's make it public today. 🍾
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
useful reflections in this thread
I had an interesting set of interactions w AI-generated content that I think is instructive. A very bright student made a claim in an essay that struck me as outlandish, so I searched the question on Google which turned up that phrasing the search a certain way makes the AI summary agree w the claim
November 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
useful reflections in this thread
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
Nope. Nope. When I actually need to know, a person I respect will tell me.
November 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Nope. Nope. When I actually need to know, a person I respect will tell me.
Reposted by Ancient Seahorse
So many men go through life like that. You can play poker because it's right-coded, you can't enjoy fruity alcoholic drinks because they're women-coded, you can't lick an ice cream cone because it's gay-coded. All day, every day, choosing and judging things based on coding for narrow norms.
November 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM
So many men go through life like that. You can play poker because it's right-coded, you can't enjoy fruity alcoholic drinks because they're women-coded, you can't lick an ice cream cone because it's gay-coded. All day, every day, choosing and judging things based on coding for narrow norms.