Abbie LeBlanc
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abbsleblanc.bsky.social
Abbie LeBlanc
@abbsleblanc.bsky.social
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Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
jamellebouie.net
conservatives basically want to implement the caricature of affirmative action for conservative students. acceptance without meeting qualifications, good grades and degrees without having to do the work.
kissphoria.bsky.social gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 2d
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
December 1, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
ryanlcooper.com
pretty much beyond question that Larry Summers led the charge against Claudine Gay because he is personally a vitriolic misogynist and racist www.thecrimson.com/article/2024...
88 Days: The Unraveling of Claudine Gay’s Harvard Presidency | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned on Jan. 2, ending her tenure as the University's 30th president after it was clear the Harvard Corporation lost confidence in Gay's ability to lead amid mountin...
www.thecrimson.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
I don’t think a long book is even primarily about plot, or character, or any of the patterned information on its pages. A long book is practicing over time a way of being in the world. Reading even a very good summary is not the same as giving over some portion of your own life to that practice.
October 13, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
davidprecht.bsky.social
Every ceasefire the IDF fire never ceases
aljazeera.com Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · Oct 9
BREAKING: Israeli war planes continue to launch raids on Gaza City as Palestinians celebrate the ceasefire announcement, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent on the ground.

🔴 LIVE update: aje.io/xqppys
October 9, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
@ryanenos.bsky.social and Steve Levitsky have been consistent voices against authoritarianism. Their latest: "American civil society has more than enough financial and organizational muscle to stop this authoritarian offensive. But it requires collective resolve."

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Must Take a Stand Against Trump’s Compact | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard, rather than quietly pursuing its own appeasement strategy, should lead the way to preserve academic freedom and democracy.
www.thecrimson.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
donmoyn.bsky.social
This is an absolutely terrific piece from @texastribune.org and reinforces my belief that the best coverage of right-wing cancelations occur at the local level, after years of the national media focusing on threats from the left.
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...
How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M
Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.
www.texastribune.org
September 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
breachmedia.ca
The Canadian government has finally recognized Palestinian statehood. But this symbolic gesture comes far too little and far too late.

As @desmondcole.bsky.social and El Jones discuss, Mark Carney and establishment media remain complicit in Israel’s genocide.
breachmedia.ca/canada-shift...
Canada shifts its tone on Gaza but not its complicity ⋆ The Breach
El Jones and Desmond Cole discuss why Mark Carney’s support for a Palestinian state rings hollow
breachmedia.ca
September 23, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
emmet.quiddity.ie
"Resolved: Debate is stupid"

by Aisling McCrea in The Outline from 2018

"Wow, that is correct and there is no counterargument. Debate is indeed very stupid".

theoutline.com/post/6709/de...
Real learning is hard. It's a slow, confusing process where you sometimes have to read long books with dreadful covers, and look at footnotes and shit. It requires us to recognize and then overcome our biases as best we can. It can take years to learn what we really think and why, and then if we get a lingering feeling we might be wrong, it can take years to un-learn and start all over. Debate, in contrast, offers an easy way out. Some dudes spouting their favorite buzzwords in each other's vicinity makes us feel smart and engaged, like we're in that fresco of the Greek men they put on all the philosophy textbooks. (Small aside — have you ever noticed how in this image, all the female figures look thoroughly sick of these guys?) However, the format of debate, which is supposed to represent the height of intellectual tradition, encourages us instead to applaud the candidate who is best at using simple rhetoric, looking suave, and machine-gunning irrelevant lines at their browbeaten interlocutor. These are all things that real intellectual inquiry is supposed to look beyond.
September 12, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
people pretend that debate signals and defends a commitment to high minded politics. what it elevates instead is performative dishonesty as a basic mode of politics

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
September 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
joelhs.bsky.social
No one has been able to invent a technological innovation that is better for learning than simply reading books and getting together in small groups to talk about them.
September 5, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
brooklynspoke.bsky.social
To paraphrase @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social, if we want to rebuild democracy and society we have to make this kind of shameless lying politically and socially unacceptable.
mollyploofkins.bsky.social Molly Ploofkins @mollyploofkins.bsky.social · Sep 5
Mike Johnson claims that Trump was an FBI informant who was trying to take down Jeffrey Epstein.
September 6, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
hypervisible.blacksky.app
Guy who doesn’t know anything thinks you shouldn’t either.

ht @danhon.com
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Aug 29
Technologist Victor Riparbelli sees a future where students interact with AI avatars rather than read and write. We ask teachers and kids what they think and how they're using AI right now.
Will AI avatars eventually teach our kids?
Technologist Victor Riparbelli sees a future where students interact with AI avatars rather than read and write. We ask teachers and kids what they think and how they're using AI right now.
n.pr
August 29, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
jeffjarvis.bsky.social
Excellent by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social in--irony aside--the organ of that elite panic. "Elite capture is a way for those with power to accommodate social progress through the performance of diversity while keeping their hold on political hegemony."
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...
Opinion | The Elite Panic at the Heart of Liberal Attacks on Mamdani
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
itsafronomics.bsky.social
Tenant unions are coming (VERY complimentary).
July 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
marisakabas.bsky.social
A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:
Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)
July 21, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
mims.bsky.social
Starting to feel like most humans aren’t equipped to deal with something that confidently lies and communicates those lies with a fluency almost no actual humans possess
cfiesler.bsky.social Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · Jul 16
This is fascinating: www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/s/I...

Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
From the OpenAI community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the OpenAI community
www.reddit.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
bassisjeremy.bsky.social
About 84% of students attend colleges that are considered “non selective”. If these dudes really wanted to improve access they would push to make public universities free. These dudes don't want more students attending public colleges. They want universities to keep certain people out.
chanda.blacksky.app Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jul 12
I'm a professor at the flagship university for the fourth whitest state in the US. Over 80% of our students are white.

The biggest barrier to access here is that due to lack of state funding, we have top 10 highest tuition per capita of public unis in the country.

We also have a food pantry.
jamellebouie.net jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Jul 12
oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. “the blacks and the browns are the reason white people can’t get ahead” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
July 12, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
again, *feeding an occupied population* is one of the most basic responsibilities imaginable under international law. not doing so is an actual war crime*, as is using starvation as a weapon.
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Jul 6
NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

By Anas Baba
Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza
NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.
n.pr
July 6, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
people come up with all kinds of fanciful math to justify billionaires' wealth but imo present political moment demonstrates conclusively that we need to tax billionaires at whatever rate will keep them focused on their own fucking business rather than our Medicaid and pediatric cancer research
July 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
lastpositivist.bsky.social
This is what we teach in the advanced political philosophy classes.
June 29, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
aaup.org
“Campus leaders need to understand that their capitulations and concessions only further empower the greatest threat to higher education since the Red Scare, if not earlier.”

(The AAUP contends that this moment is far worse.)

Act Now.

Never Cave.

#DefendHigherEd
June 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
sdebrouw.bsky.social
Anyone going to #APSA2025 and looking for affordable housing? Me and another grad student have two spots in a lovely 4-bed private dorm, 25-min walk to the Convention Centre. Just $350 for 4 nights! Feel free to DM or share
June 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
philjamesson.com
when do the checks and balances kick in
June 22, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
astrokatie.com
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Abbie LeBlanc
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
it cannot simultaneously be true that media outlets like the Times and the Post are the Fourth Estate, playing a vital Democratic function, and also that what occurs on its pages is harmless intellectual inquiry
miriam.blacksky.app Christmas Miriam 🎄 @miriam.blacksky.app · Jun 18
The NYT was cited in the Supreme Court ruling used to strip trans people of healthcare. This is EXACTLY WHY the “just asking questions” crowd of centrist edgelord journalists are dangerous. They launder transphobia through faux neutral “debate” and act like it’s intellectual curiosity
June 18, 2025 at 9:54 PM