Brendan Cantwell
@cantb.bsky.social
Views and speech are mine alone. Periodically deletes.
People are down on capitalism, but
Cheez-It Sampling Bar, featuring 10 different flavors of Cheez-Its
December 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
People are down on capitalism, but
One thing to recommend the dog is that she will gladly take long walks with me in the blowing snow when the kids refuse.
December 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
One thing to recommend the dog is that she will gladly take long walks with me in the blowing snow when the kids refuse.
One of the things that I think are often lost in the debate about higher education in the US is that it was mostly segregated before it was neoliberal. There is a way in which rolling back neoliberalism is consistent with a segregationist white-national restorationist vision.
December 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM
One of the things that I think are often lost in the debate about higher education in the US is that it was mostly segregated before it was neoliberal. There is a way in which rolling back neoliberalism is consistent with a segregationist white-national restorationist vision.
I’m in the early stage of a project with @almaldo2.bsky.social comparing tie populist turn in higher ed policy in Mexico and the US.
We typically thing of populist attacks on higher ed as a right-wing phenomena (e.g. Turkey, Hungary and the US), but this piece is also good and showing how Amlo's left-wing populist government in Mexico operated in much the same manner. doi.org/10.1017/S153...
December 30, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I’m in the early stage of a project with @almaldo2.bsky.social comparing tie populist turn in higher ed policy in Mexico and the US.
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
working at a university
December 29, 2025 at 9:29 PM
working at a university
We are killing peple on the high seas over weed? A drug that so, so many Trump voters use legally in states that voted for him. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/w...
Grim Evidence of Trump’s Airstrikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:12 AM
We are killing peple on the high seas over weed? A drug that so, so many Trump voters use legally in states that voted for him. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/w...
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
I’m sensing some tensions between the “defending humanities” folks & “higher ed researchers”: imo it’s the difference between HE as a project & as an object of study
1/ This essay is catnip on here but I don't really like it. I am going to explain why, trying to be both self-reflective and analytical in explaining my objections. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
December 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I’m sensing some tensions between the “defending humanities” folks & “higher ed researchers”: imo it’s the difference between HE as a project & as an object of study
1/ This essay is catnip on here but I don't really like it. I am going to explain why, trying to be both self-reflective and analytical in explaining my objections. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:11 PM
1/ This essay is catnip on here but I don't really like it. I am going to explain why, trying to be both self-reflective and analytical in explaining my objections. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
How long till the New York Times buys “Clues by Sam”
December 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
How long till the New York Times buys “Clues by Sam”
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
University of Alabama suspended two publications citing DEI guidance. That's censorship. www.ms.now/opinion/univ...
Opinion | The University of Alabama censors students to appease Trump
Sara Beth Caddell: Our wrongly censored campus publications have crafted diverse, welcoming environments for everybody
www.ms.now
December 29, 2025 at 12:27 AM
University of Alabama suspended two publications citing DEI guidance. That's censorship. www.ms.now/opinion/univ...
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
New College is a DeSantis pet project, a Potemkin Campus that must be made real at any cost. While the NY Times notes it is the most expensive in the state, it does not tell readers what an extraordinary outlier it is. Freedom isn’t free, and a right-wing campus makeover is very expensive it seems.
December 28, 2025 at 10:12 PM
New College is a DeSantis pet project, a Potemkin Campus that must be made real at any cost. While the NY Times notes it is the most expensive in the state, it does not tell readers what an extraordinary outlier it is. Freedom isn’t free, and a right-wing campus makeover is very expensive it seems.
Do Steven Miller and JD Vance have fans like Trump and Musk do? Another a lot of people who agree with their racist views, but are their people who especially admire and follow them as individuals? I don’t see it.
December 29, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Do Steven Miller and JD Vance have fans like Trump and Musk do? Another a lot of people who agree with their racist views, but are their people who especially admire and follow them as individuals? I don’t see it.
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
"UATX—not to be confused with the University of Texas at Austin, which is actually accredited"
Who will teach the "Forbidden Courses" now?
Texas' 'anti-Harvard' university is losing its founders
Who will teach the "Forbidden Courses" now?
bit.ly
December 28, 2025 at 4:45 PM
"UATX—not to be confused with the University of Texas at Austin, which is actually accredited"
Anyway, I hope someone is writing a good book on the AI wars in education. I find many interesting and provocative and may poor and self-serving arguments, forgive me, “on both sides.”
Theory: attitudes about AI among academics and other professionals are conditioned on whether someone anticipates that the technology will advantage them personally relative to peers (or their field relative to other areas).
December 28, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Anyway, I hope someone is writing a good book on the AI wars in education. I find many interesting and provocative and may poor and self-serving arguments, forgive me, “on both sides.”
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
We actually can fairly easily continue to support a 65 year retirement age (67 really since the 83 amendments are phasing that in). Removing the FICA cap gets us most of the way there.
December 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
We actually can fairly easily continue to support a 65 year retirement age (67 really since the 83 amendments are phasing that in). Removing the FICA cap gets us most of the way there.
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
The Detroit Chamber polled MI in 2024. 58% of voters believe avg student debt is about $50K. Consequently, only 8% of voters thought that a BA/BS was the "minimum to be successful in MI" and only 27% said *any college* was important to getting a good job (1/X)
www.detroitchamber.com/survey-paren...
www.detroitchamber.com/survey-paren...
December 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The Detroit Chamber polled MI in 2024. 58% of voters believe avg student debt is about $50K. Consequently, only 8% of voters thought that a BA/BS was the "minimum to be successful in MI" and only 27% said *any college* was important to getting a good job (1/X)
www.detroitchamber.com/survey-paren...
www.detroitchamber.com/survey-paren...
Theory: attitudes about AI among academics and other professionals are conditioned on whether someone anticipates that the technology will advantage them personally relative to peers (or their field relative to other areas).
December 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Theory: attitudes about AI among academics and other professionals are conditioned on whether someone anticipates that the technology will advantage them personally relative to peers (or their field relative to other areas).
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
I think most researchers and policymakers underestimate how much people really do not understand the difference between college sticker and net price. And the way high prices at a select few influences feelings about all.
December 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I think most researchers and policymakers underestimate how much people really do not understand the difference between college sticker and net price. And the way high prices at a select few influences feelings about all.
Is it about culture or resources?
Yes.
Yes.
December 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Is it about culture or resources?
Yes.
Yes.
I think Trump is an authoritarian President who is motivated by corruption and white supremacy and I also think this New York Times rundown of his first year is fine. It’s not exactly how I’d write it probably, but I don’t think it’s anything close to a regime apology www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/u...
Trump Promised Radical Change in His Second Term. Here’s What He’s Done So Far.
www.nytimes.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I think Trump is an authoritarian President who is motivated by corruption and white supremacy and I also think this New York Times rundown of his first year is fine. It’s not exactly how I’d write it probably, but I don’t think it’s anything close to a regime apology www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/u...
Turns out Sir Mix-a-Lot was into neuro-spicy
December 27, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Turns out Sir Mix-a-Lot was into neuro-spicy
What’s the probability of drawing a net +8 sample in an honest poll using legitimate means? It’s obviously not 0 but it’s got to be pretty low.
December 27, 2025 at 11:37 PM
What’s the probability of drawing a net +8 sample in an honest poll using legitimate means? It’s obviously not 0 but it’s got to be pretty low.
The United States the corrupt and craven country that its worst critics say it is.
December 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
The United States the corrupt and craven country that its worst critics say it is.
Reposted by Brendan Cantwell
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Corruption so pungent, it wafts right off the page:
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:24 PM
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.