Jen
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cassiciacum.bsky.social
Jen
@cassiciacum.bsky.social
Making Texas higher education great again.
He’s bringing back the civics education TV of my youth. Much needed.
The City’s Budget is our future. And you deserve to know how it works.
January 30, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Jen
New: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released a list of priorities for Texas senators to consider before next year’s legislative session, including property taxes and “preventing Sharia law in Texas,” which comes amid a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions taking over GOP campaigns this election cycle.
Property taxes, Sharia law among Dan Patrick’s 2027 to-dos
Patrick’s initial five-item to-do list also included assessing risks posed by hostile foreign entities to the grid’s supply chain and preventing fraud in Texas’ health and human services.
www.texastribune.org
January 30, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Normally, C Rufo pisses me off. But I can’t stop laughing at his pathetic anti-Nordic racist explanation for why Minneapolis and Seattle are full of empathetic people who care about others.
January 30, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Never have I been so proud of my Nordic heritage (the same heritage that game me an effed up immune system, alas).
Chris Rufo is so upset about the Minneapolis protests that he is resorting to anti-Nordic racism christopherrufo.com/p/the-curse-...
January 30, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Jen
Roughly enough time for people who were old enough to remember the crisis to nearly completely die off, paving the way for another.
1776+84=1860
1860+84=1944
1944+84=2028

not tryna do numerology here but it does seem like there’s a rough periodicity component to our big crises
January 30, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Jen
A new heartland economy based on ICE warehouses and AI data farms.
January 30, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Jen
Waller: "...the labor market remains weak. ...last year's data will be revised downward soon to likely show that there was virtually no growth in payroll employment in 2025. Zero. Zip. Nada. Let this sink in for a moment..."
January 30, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Jen
I checked in on how "Melania" is selling in Texas. In big cities, people are passing. But in the suburbs of Houston, Dallas, and Austin, Melania-heads are out in full force: www.chron.com/culture/tv/a...
Want to watch 'Melania' with a crowd? Stick to these Texas suburbs.
Depending on where you live, you could go see "Melania" all by your lonesome.
www.chron.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Jen
If you missed Ann Blair’s @ransomcenter.bsky.social Pforzheimer Lecture last night, you can check it out on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/live/u16QHaI...

I think you’ll agree that it’s both sharp and a lot of fun.
Dr. Ann Blair - How Renaissance Scholars and Printers Decided on the Size of Books
YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center
www.youtube.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Jen
And some folks wonder why Gender Studies is useful.
January 30, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Jen
ICE’s job is immigration enforcement so why is it using facial recognition to surveil U.S. citizens?

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Jen
"Luchs speaks five languages: English, French, Italian, and some German and Russian. She approached grasping Gen Z parlance like she was learning another language.

...An Instagram commenter wrote: 'She’s so natural with it too like it’s not even cringe.'"
Alison Luchs, who has worked at the National Gallery of Art for 47 years, agreed to learn Gen Z slang and make videos because she wanted to raise interest in the museum’s art.

She never expected to slay. https://wapo.st/45BXc3S
January 30, 2026 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Jen
Letter: Trump is coming for Grand Staircase-Escalante, with the full support of Utah’s congressional delegation. We must bombard their offices with calls to stop this.
Letter: Trump is coming for Grand Staircase-Escalante. Keeping public lands public requires action — now.
Letter: Trump is coming for Grand Staircase-Escalante, with the full support of Utah’s congressional delegation. We must bombard their offices with calls to stop this.
www.sltrib.com
January 30, 2026 at 4:46 AM
💯💯
Becoming increasingly convinced that humanities academics need to clean up our own house before admins or students will listen to us about AI in the university.

LLM text in publication = automatic reject.
Using AI to grade or lesson plan = major ethical breach.

People should lose tenure for this.
January 30, 2026 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by Jen
I’m sorry but it’s funny every single time
January 30, 2026 at 12:28 AM
I am cat sitting this weekend. Friend isn’t sure how long she’ll be gone so we thought it good to bring the cats to my house. I am now doing that thing where I exist in their presence and pretend total disinterest until they decide I’m ok. But I’m getting very impatient! Need cuddles and bellies!
January 30, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Jen
Quite literally, there are about a dozen scandals under Trump II that are worse than the worst scandals in all of 🇺🇸 political history. Add in the ongoing familial/personal monetization of the presidency, the violation of our UN & NATO treaty obligations with 🇨🇦 & 🇬🇱/🇩🇰, & the murder on the high seas.
Of the biggest scandals in US history just this week, I think I’d rank them:

1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens

2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar

3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
January 29, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Truly never imagined myself in the “primary their asses” camp but here we are.
January 30, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Reposted by Jen
College money well spent and needed.

Rice students created an interactive map exposing ICE raids across the country as they're unfolding.

Soon it will be a map of ICE raids and ICE murders.

Keep reminding Schumer and Dems.
Rice students expose ICE raids with new interactive map
It's a nationwide digital spotlight on ICE arrests and detention centers.
www.chron.com
January 29, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Jen
Since @bbkogan.bsky.social solved my longstanding linguistic problem of how to describe when a funding measure expires last fall ("midnight as Saturday begins"), I can now focus all of my pedantic energy on the difference between a lapse in appropriations and a shutdown.
January 30, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Jen
DHS has a whole citizen detainment system set up in Minnesota. They snatch citizens off the street (often with proof they are citizens), detain them for a few hours, steal their phones, then release them into the cold.

It ain’t about deporting citizens; it’s about terrorizing a whole population.
‘Abolish ICE’ has become an increasingly popular position and people are being shot in the streets over it why the fuck would you dillweeds roll over like this. Especially given that citizenship is much more friable than people think it is this is not as protective as dems want it to look.
January 30, 2026 at 1:43 AM
Reposted by Jen
Don’t worry students, I’m demanding a ban on submitting assignments after the semester is already done.

No need to thank me for this daring, bold move
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said House Democrats will demand a ban on the deportation of American citizens as a condition of winning their support for legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Jeffries demands ban on deportation of US citizens as part of DHS reforms
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said House Democrats will demand a ban on the deportation of American citizens as a condition of winning their support for legislation fun…
www.kget.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Jen
For today's bonus issue of "One First," I wanted to follow up on a post from last August that looked at legal pedagogy and the dual state by reflecting on the relationship between legal *scholarship* and governmental lawlessness—with a particular focus on how I think about my own work:
Bonus 206: Legal Scholarship and the Dual State
A few thoughts on the responsibilities of legal academics in a time of increasing governmental lawlessness.
www.stevevladeck.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:43 PM