Alex
alexforscience.bsky.social
Alex
@alexforscience.bsky.social
For science, democracy, justice and progress. Opinions my own.
Reposted by Alex
I’m sorry, this is just not correct. There were members that wanted to impeach Trump on Jan. 6.

Many people said if you waited, GOP outrage would fade. It did.

Pelosi spent days only cautiously committing to impeach, and fussing around with absurd stuff like 25th Amendment remedies.
McConnell adjourned the senate for two weeks the next day. There was no slow walk and this idea that republicans could have been tricked into being good but we just decided not to is giving them an out they don’t deserve.
December 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Alex
A Hampton Inn in Asheville just canceled my family's reservation because our address (incorrectly) showed Asheville—and the hotel bars locals within 50 miles.

When I asked why, they said, "because of our homeless population," adding that most hotels here have similar policies.

This is outrageous.
December 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Alex
Immigrant-hating Stephen Miller talks about Americans being "first to harness the atom." But the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was conducted by a team led by Italian immigrant Enrico Fermi, who didn't become a U.S. citizen until a year and a half later.
December 28, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Alex
“Woman Enjoying Career Literally Made Possible by Feminism Declares Feminism a Failure”
December 28, 2025 at 1:48 AM
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"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.
December 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Alex
Barely a blip in the news. 🦗from the New York Times editorial and opinion pages. Compare with days of Hunter Biden Hysteria about unprecedented abuse of the pardon power.
December 27, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Alex
Wait until the New York Times learns about the Electoral College.
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.

The passage of Proposition 50, which redrew California’s congressional map, means that all of the state’s conservative north is likely to be represented by Democrats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Alex
Iowa-based journalist Laura Belin compares Bari Weiss' adventures at CBS to Putin's makeover of supposedly independent Russian media, which she covered for RFE-RL twenty years ago. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/12/25/o...
On "fair" reporting and what happened at "60 Minutes"
Laura Belin: I was alarmed (though not surprised) when CBS News boss Bari Weiss intervened to stop “60 Minutes” from airing a segment.
www.bleedingheartland.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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U.S. measles cases hit a 30-year high, according to CDC data.
December 27, 2025 at 3:56 AM
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Speaks to something deeply wrong with capitalism that Lampert was allowed to annihilate the value of this company to less than nothing while still walking away with hundreds of millions in profits for himself from the saga.
Sears had more than 3,400 stores in 2005 -- then it was purchased by a hedge fund magnate.
Why Sears’s Last Great Hope Was a Promise That Never Materialized
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM
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I had missed this latest delirium by Adrian Vermeule on birthright citizenship

'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'

thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
December 26, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Alex
Some on the far right want to repeal the 19th amendment. Many more share a coercive, patriarchal view of women.

I wrote about this and how the far right sees subjugating women as key to building the sort of electorate they need to win. @liberalcurrents.com

www.liberalcurrents.com/women-should...
Women Should Make Babies, Not Vote: Why Some on the Far Right Want to Repeal the 19th Amendment
The far right takes losses at the ballot box as evidence that women do not deserve their rights.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Alex
Imagine watching Sinatra, son of Dolly & Antonini born in Genoa & Sicily, respectively, and Martin, son of Gaetano & Angela, born in Montesilvano, Italy & Ohio respectively, (Angela to parents born in Monasterolo, Italy), and crusading against the value of children of immigrants to the U.S.
December 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Alex
This is related to the idea that if white people don't have 100% of high-prestige jobs, awards, recognition etc it's evidence of discrimination against whiteness. It's where "great replacement" logic leads you. bsky.app/profile/donm...
I see this on the right - the idea that the existence of foreign academic staff and faculty are evidence of discrimination against natives. It's not discrimination, its selection: academia is a global marketplace, the US is the biggest center of that market. So yes, some foreign talent will win.
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.

She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.

Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
December 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Alex
I see this on the right - the idea that the existence of foreign academic staff and faculty are evidence of discrimination against natives. It's not discrimination, its selection: academia is a global marketplace, the US is the biggest center of that market. So yes, some foreign talent will win.
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.

She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.

Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
December 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Alex
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.

She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.

Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
December 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Alex
Our broken child care system can learn a lot from New Mexico - the state that is leading the way in guaranteeing free child care for all.

There is no better rate of return than investing in our children.

The rest of the country should follow New Mexico’s lead.
December 26, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Alex
271,000 people have lost their jobs and federal spending has ctually increased. So people get less services, while we added debt paying for private jets for Kristi Noem, bulletproof cars for Kash Patel. This is what the rust belt voters demanded.
December 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Alex
Can't wait for the loosened up, non-perfect, but quickly shipped AI-enhanced updates to hit my banking and insurance services next year.

Im sure there will be no issues there at all.
December 26, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Alex
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."

"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Alex
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."

"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Alex
this is demonic. sorry to say but if you do this you should be shipped to a desert island away from the rest of us who still have human souls
December 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Alex
"Donald Trump calls himself the “Peace President.” But this week, as he outlined his plans to capture Greenland and hijack Venezuelan oil, his real agenda became obvious. It’s not peace. It’s extortion, conquest, and theft."

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
The Politics of Plunder
His domestic and foreign policies have one consistent theme.
open.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Alex
Texas Universities are now like police departments who would prefer to pay out the inevitable lawsuits rather than stop breaking the law
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Alex
The Wisconsin component of the analysis here is revealing. Evidence is consistent with DOGE strategically delaying contract terminations in WI until after the 2025 state Supreme Court elections to mitigate electoral risk.
December 26, 2025 at 1:25 PM