Gregory Convertito
@gregconvertito.bsky.social
Philosophy adjunct. Political philosophy, Marx, Latin America, and some other stuff. he/him
https://gregoryconvertito.wordpress.com/
Series editor of the APA Blog’s Teaching and Learning Video Series.
Not expressing the views of my employer.
https://gregoryconvertito.wordpress.com/
Series editor of the APA Blog’s Teaching and Learning Video Series.
Not expressing the views of my employer.
Pinned
It feels strange to share any sort of professional news right now, but I’ve recently become the editor of the APA Blog’s revitalized “Teaching and Learning Video Series.” Here is my post reintroducing the series. Please reach out if you’re interested in 1/ blog.apaonline.org/2025/03/19/c...
Collecting Nuts and Bolts: Reintroducing the Teaching and Learning Video Series
Whenever I teach an introductory-level philosophy course, I spend some time working through different reading strategies with my students, who are largely unfamiliar with how to approach philosophical...
blog.apaonline.org
All recent posts in the APA Blog's reanimated "Teaching and Learning Video Series" can be found here. This quoted post is my initial series reintroduction, and I will add posts to this thread as they are published. Please reach out if you are interested in contributing to the series.
When you’re *in* the philosophy department (kind of), but not *the* philosophy department.
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 PM
When you’re *in* the philosophy department (kind of), but not *the* philosophy department.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Jury trials remain a bastion against encroachment, too bad immigrants instead get fake judges and no juries
Jeanine Pirro tried to make an example of Sean Dunn.
She ended up delivering a hero to Washington, D.C.
www.huffpost.com/entry/dc-san...
She ended up delivering a hero to Washington, D.C.
www.huffpost.com/entry/dc-san...
DC ‘Sandwich Guy’ Found Not Guilty After Defense Successfully Highlights Absurdity Of It All
Jeanine Pirro tried to make an example of Sean Dunn. She ended up delivering a hero to Washington, D.C.
www.huffpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Jury trials remain a bastion against encroachment, too bad immigrants instead get fake judges and no juries
Part of the basic purpose of law is that it is action-guiding. It lets me know what is expected of me *right now,* who is authorized by the state *right now*, what is required of me *now, as I am making my decision*, etc. If this sort of thing flies, there is no longer the pretense of rule of law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi says she has retroactively appointed former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan as a "special attorney" for DOJ and has "ratified" all of her actions to date, including her presentations to the grand juries that indicted Trump's foes.
November 4, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Part of the basic purpose of law is that it is action-guiding. It lets me know what is expected of me *right now,* who is authorized by the state *right now*, what is required of me *now, as I am making my decision*, etc. If this sort of thing flies, there is no longer the pretense of rule of law.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
No there isn’t you Vichy bastards
There is a legal case for a third term—but it is strewn with obstacles
Trump 2028
There is a legal case for a third term—but it is strewn with obstacles
econ.st
October 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
No there isn’t you Vichy bastards
As a journalist quipped about the clamping down on reportage of major socio-political issues in the prelude to the Uruguayan coup of ‘73: “freedom of the press had been reduced to the freedom to buy a press.”
October 30, 2025 at 3:42 PM
As a journalist quipped about the clamping down on reportage of major socio-political issues in the prelude to the Uruguayan coup of ‘73: “freedom of the press had been reduced to the freedom to buy a press.”
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
I really appreciated these insights from an environmental historian regarding the use of AI in publishing.
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Move over for AI - DRB
Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...
drb.ie
October 30, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I really appreciated these insights from an environmental historian regarding the use of AI in publishing.
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Hi yes hello this is 1 facet of exactly why we told you not to use "generative AI" in the regulatory production pipeline: Eventually the bullshit it spits out— even its citations— will fail to agree w/ consensus reality, but they'll sure *look* like they do, & by then you'll have started trusting it
FDA’s artificial intelligence is supposed to revolutionize drug approvals. It’s making up nonexistent studies. | CNN Politics
Insiders tell CNN the FDA’s AI is “hallucinating” studies and can’t access key documents. Agency leaders insist the AI is getting better, and use is not mandatory.
www.cnn.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Hi yes hello this is 1 facet of exactly why we told you not to use "generative AI" in the regulatory production pipeline: Eventually the bullshit it spits out— even its citations— will fail to agree w/ consensus reality, but they'll sure *look* like they do, & by then you'll have started trusting it
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
What'd I say?
bsky.app/profile/emos...
bsky.app/profile/emos...
The 2020 BLM protests were the top driver of new labor organizing in the last 5 years. Today's anti-Trump protests could do the same - if we make it happen. www.laborpolitics.com/p/can-anti-r...
October 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
What'd I say?
bsky.app/profile/emos...
bsky.app/profile/emos...
Pandoc is magic.
October 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Pandoc is magic.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
In the late Roman Republic, troops were paid directly out of their general’s personal funds. My recollection is that did not end well.
New: The Pentagon confirms to CNN it will funnel $130M from an anonymous Trump “friend” toward military pay.
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics
The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...
www.cnn.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:47 PM
In the late Roman Republic, troops were paid directly out of their general’s personal funds. My recollection is that did not end well.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Reports of ICE on DePaul campus right now, stopping students, asking for papers. Be alert out there!
October 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reports of ICE on DePaul campus right now, stopping students, asking for papers. Be alert out there!
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Both the U.S. marshal and the immigrant were shot by federal officers. You’d never know that from this headline.
October 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Both the U.S. marshal and the immigrant were shot by federal officers. You’d never know that from this headline.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Researchers in France looked at more than 500,000 infants and found no connection between Covid vaccination in the first trimester and any of dozens of birth defects, adding to the body of evidence for the vaccines' safety during pregnancy.
Covid Vaccines in First Trimester Not Tied to Birth Defects, Study Finds
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Researchers in France looked at more than 500,000 infants and found no connection between Covid vaccination in the first trimester and any of dozens of birth defects, adding to the body of evidence for the vaccines' safety during pregnancy.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.
www.cbsnews.com
October 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Here’s an idea: you could just not accept the emergency petition and let the process play out as it ordinarily does. Ridiculous
Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."
October 12, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Here’s an idea: you could just not accept the emergency petition and let the process play out as it ordinarily does. Ridiculous
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
October 11, 2025 at 2:10 AM
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
I often find Arendt’s more pithy observations more relevant than her more well-known works.
October 2, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I often find Arendt’s more pithy observations more relevant than her more well-known works.
There’s an episode of Monk where a guy hides all the gold he stole by melting it into ink and writing it into a library full of journals. There was way more of a point to that.
no no the publishing industry is doing fine, why do you ask
October 2, 2025 at 4:39 PM
There’s an episode of Monk where a guy hides all the gold he stole by melting it into ink and writing it into a library full of journals. There was way more of a point to that.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion.
Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
October 2, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion.
Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
It turns out that many publishers (mine included) ignored contractual obligations to register copyrights. See: writerbeware.blog/2025/08/29/i...
I wonder if there’s anything to be done about that.
I wonder if there’s anything to be done about that.
October 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
It turns out that many publishers (mine included) ignored contractual obligations to register copyrights. See: writerbeware.blog/2025/08/29/i...
I wonder if there’s anything to be done about that.
I wonder if there’s anything to be done about that.
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Can I please delete AI from every aspect of my life?
October 1, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Can I please delete AI from every aspect of my life?
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
NEW CASE: We just sued DHS to stop the immigration raids on construction sites.
Our client, Leo García Venegas, has been arrested twice just for working in construction while Latino—despite being a US citizen with a Real ID.
Here’s a short video explaining the case:
youtu.be/rYSfX9Wxs3M
Our client, Leo García Venegas, has been arrested twice just for working in construction while Latino—despite being a US citizen with a Real ID.
Here’s a short video explaining the case:
youtu.be/rYSfX9Wxs3M
Innocent CITIZEN Arrested TWICE by ICE
YouTube video by Institute for Justice
youtu.be
September 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
NEW CASE: We just sued DHS to stop the immigration raids on construction sites.
Our client, Leo García Venegas, has been arrested twice just for working in construction while Latino—despite being a US citizen with a Real ID.
Here’s a short video explaining the case:
youtu.be/rYSfX9Wxs3M
Our client, Leo García Venegas, has been arrested twice just for working in construction while Latino—despite being a US citizen with a Real ID.
Here’s a short video explaining the case:
youtu.be/rYSfX9Wxs3M
Reposted by Gregory Convertito
Absolute all-timer sentence in today's @nytimes.com
September 30, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Absolute all-timer sentence in today's @nytimes.com