Big Data Kane
@cmwitko.bsky.social
Political Science and Public Policy
E pluribus unum🇺🇸
Most recent coauthored book:
https://www.russellsage.org/publications/hijacking-agenda
E pluribus unum🇺🇸
Most recent coauthored book:
https://www.russellsage.org/publications/hijacking-agenda
December 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Big Data Kane
Anyway. They spent the last decade telling us STEM degrees were the future and the Humanities were worthless then they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a glitchy Humanities robot.
December 26, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Anyway. They spent the last decade telling us STEM degrees were the future and the Humanities were worthless then they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a glitchy Humanities robot.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
I am so tired with the NYTs apparent obsession with taking down Harvard and all these fan fiction articles theyve been writing about Trumps efforts to do so
This is not a “duel,” which suggests both sides are equally culpable, but the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s ideological war on Harvard and higher education.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
In Private Letters, Harvard and Trump Administration Escalate Duel
www.nytimes.com
December 25, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I am so tired with the NYTs apparent obsession with taking down Harvard and all these fan fiction articles theyve been writing about Trumps efforts to do so
Reposted by Big Data Kane
This is not a “duel,” which suggests both sides are equally culpable, but the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s ideological war on Harvard and higher education.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
In Private Letters, Harvard and Trump Administration Escalate Duel
www.nytimes.com
December 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM
This is not a “duel,” which suggests both sides are equally culpable, but the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s ideological war on Harvard and higher education.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Reposted by Big Data Kane
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Marginal Returns to Public Universities,” by Jack Mountjoy: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Marginal Returns to Public Universities
Abstract. This paper studies the returns to enrolling in American public universities by comparing the long-term outcomes of barely admitted versus barely
doi.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Marginal Returns to Public Universities,” by Jack Mountjoy: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Performative exercising is so weird
December 23, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Performative exercising is so weird
Reposted by Big Data Kane
Bad things happen when you hire opinion hacks to run media outlets
Bad things happen when you hire non-academics to run universities
Bad things happen when you hire businessmen to run the government
Etc. Etc.
Experience & expertise matter. And actual relevant expertise.
Bad things happen when you hire non-academics to run universities
Bad things happen when you hire businessmen to run the government
Etc. Etc.
Experience & expertise matter. And actual relevant expertise.
really cannot be emphasized enough that bari weiss has literally never done journalism. i don’t mean that in the pejorative sense. i mean that in the “has never performed the job she was hired to do” sense
One explanation for Bari killing the story is that she did so as a public act of fealty to the administration. But another is that, as an inexperienced journalist, she doesn’t understand that a refusal to go on the record is a kind of comment in and of itself
December 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Bad things happen when you hire opinion hacks to run media outlets
Bad things happen when you hire non-academics to run universities
Bad things happen when you hire businessmen to run the government
Etc. Etc.
Experience & expertise matter. And actual relevant expertise.
Bad things happen when you hire non-academics to run universities
Bad things happen when you hire businessmen to run the government
Etc. Etc.
Experience & expertise matter. And actual relevant expertise.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
Um, doesn’t Vance welcoming bigots into his coalition constitute “picking a side”?
December 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Um, doesn’t Vance welcoming bigots into his coalition constitute “picking a side”?
Reposted by Big Data Kane
CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls 60 Minutes story
Weiss said investigation had to include comments from Trump administration
60M's Sharyn Alfonsi said multiple US agencies refused to comment - and this lets WH veto coverage
My NPR story
www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g...
Weiss said investigation had to include comments from Trump administration
60M's Sharyn Alfonsi said multiple US agencies refused to comment - and this lets WH veto coverage
My NPR story
www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g...
CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls '60 Minutes' story, sparking outcry
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment on allegations of abuses at an El Salvador detention center where the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.
www.npr.org
December 22, 2025 at 12:11 PM
CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls 60 Minutes story
Weiss said investigation had to include comments from Trump administration
60M's Sharyn Alfonsi said multiple US agencies refused to comment - and this lets WH veto coverage
My NPR story
www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g...
Weiss said investigation had to include comments from Trump administration
60M's Sharyn Alfonsi said multiple US agencies refused to comment - and this lets WH veto coverage
My NPR story
www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g...
He’s going for Ben Tillman lane in the primary I see.
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 8:56 PM
He’s going for Ben Tillman lane in the primary I see.
AI is overhyped AND also very useful for certain things. The world is complex.
December 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
AI is overhyped AND also very useful for certain things. The world is complex.
I’m notoriously bad at taking photos, but I like this one. This is from South of Carmel. California is an amazing state and I am happy to be back.
December 20, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I’m notoriously bad at taking photos, but I like this one. This is from South of Carmel. California is an amazing state and I am happy to be back.
Maybe the Fox News watchers were paying attention when they were saying for four years that the economy is terrible (it wasn’t)? The economy is actually softening now but this is obv overly pessimistic. Very interesting.
CNBC on new consumer sentiment numbers: "50.4 is a new all time low ... my database going back into the 1970s."
December 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Maybe the Fox News watchers were paying attention when they were saying for four years that the economy is terrible (it wasn’t)? The economy is actually softening now but this is obv overly pessimistic. Very interesting.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
NB: When I, a professor of law, profess that an act is unlawful, I am not doing it to inform the lawbreaker, but rather to inform you, the reader.
So the question “what, like you think he cares?” is inapposite. The question is whether *you* care. I think you should, which is why I bother.
So the question “what, like you think he cares?” is inapposite. The question is whether *you* care. I think you should, which is why I bother.
December 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
NB: When I, a professor of law, profess that an act is unlawful, I am not doing it to inform the lawbreaker, but rather to inform you, the reader.
So the question “what, like you think he cares?” is inapposite. The question is whether *you* care. I think you should, which is why I bother.
So the question “what, like you think he cares?” is inapposite. The question is whether *you* care. I think you should, which is why I bother.
Happy birthday to the legend, one half of the Glimmer Twins. My favorite Keef song is “You Got the Silver” off Beggars Banquet, though all of his songs are highlights on the albums, especially post Some Girls.
Happy Birthday, Keith Richards! 🎶
What's one of your favorite Rolling Stones songs? 🎶
Born in Dartford, England, on December 18, 1943, Richards, along with Brian Jones and Mick Jagger, formed the Rolling Stones in 1962. The Jagger-Richards songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in 👇
What's one of your favorite Rolling Stones songs? 🎶
Born in Dartford, England, on December 18, 1943, Richards, along with Brian Jones and Mick Jagger, formed the Rolling Stones in 1962. The Jagger-Richards songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in 👇
December 18, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Happy birthday to the legend, one half of the Glimmer Twins. My favorite Keef song is “You Got the Silver” off Beggars Banquet, though all of his songs are highlights on the albums, especially post Some Girls.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
"Changes to centers and institutes were initially projected to save $4.8 million."
Bill Belichick's annual salary is $10 million.
Bill Belichick's annual salary is $10 million.
America First, at America’s first public university.
UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026
As part of the University's plan to make $70 million in budget cuts across the institution, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman projected that cutting 14 centers and institutes in...
www.dailytarheel.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:51 AM
"Changes to centers and institutes were initially projected to save $4.8 million."
Bill Belichick's annual salary is $10 million.
Bill Belichick's annual salary is $10 million.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law"
Article 1, Section 9.
Article 1, Section 9.
December 18, 2025 at 1:28 AM
"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law"
Article 1, Section 9.
Article 1, Section 9.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
The world's leader in science is dismantling itself. For nothing.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 3:20 AM
The world's leader in science is dismantling itself. For nothing.
And the funny thing is almost every article that attempts to justify the attacks on higher ed gets the “fact” that costs are “out of control” in there as a reason people are mad at higher ed.
College costs are soaring! www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...
December 17, 2025 at 2:38 AM
And the funny thing is almost every article that attempts to justify the attacks on higher ed gets the “fact” that costs are “out of control” in there as a reason people are mad at higher ed.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
New paper in PNAS: Your homicide risk follows you around the country. If you’re born in the historically violent Wild West, Appalachian Highlands, or Deep South, a higher risk of violent death trails you wherever you go. 🧵1/14
December 8, 2025 at 5:19 PM
New paper in PNAS: Your homicide risk follows you around the country. If you’re born in the historically violent Wild West, Appalachian Highlands, or Deep South, a higher risk of violent death trails you wherever you go. 🧵1/14
Reposted by Big Data Kane
If the New York Times was waiting for a news hook to write a long-overdue story about how Trump is mentally unfit to be president, Trump has provided one today with his post saying Rob Reiner got murdered because he was mean to Trump.
Write it, NYT. End the normalization. @nytimes.com
Write it, NYT. End the normalization. @nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
If the New York Times was waiting for a news hook to write a long-overdue story about how Trump is mentally unfit to be president, Trump has provided one today with his post saying Rob Reiner got murdered because he was mean to Trump.
Write it, NYT. End the normalization. @nytimes.com
Write it, NYT. End the normalization. @nytimes.com
Reposted by Big Data Kane
this is one of the most psychotic things Trump has ever posted
December 15, 2025 at 2:52 PM
this is one of the most psychotic things Trump has ever posted
Reposted by Big Data Kane
god bless rob reiner for spinal tap
December 15, 2025 at 3:43 AM
god bless rob reiner for spinal tap
Some of my earliest memories are watching him argue with Archie Bunker. RIP.
Rob Reiner, who directed such beloved Hollywood classics as 'This Is Spinal Tap,' 'Stand by Me' and 'When Harry Met Sally' after starring in the trailblazing sitcom 'All in the Family,' died Sunday along with his wife, Michele, in their Brentwood home. bit.ly/48UWXSi
December 15, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Some of my earliest memories are watching him argue with Archie Bunker. RIP.
Reposted by Big Data Kane
"For the first time, a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71 percent believe there should be a wealth tax. A majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate."
Opinion | The Billionaires Have Gone Full Louis XV
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:39 AM
"For the first time, a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71 percent believe there should be a wealth tax. A majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate."