Adam Pontius
@ampontius.bsky.social
Ph.D. Candidate @ceu IR, pol theory, and history. Research consultant, recovering campaign hack, and hockey fan.
Vienna/Belfast UK depending on the season.
https://dsps.ceu.edu/people/adam-pontius
Vienna/Belfast UK depending on the season.
https://dsps.ceu.edu/people/adam-pontius
Tonight I'm remembering Melissa Hortman. She devoted her life to bettering politics by serving her community through civic life. That she was killed for her service makes us uglier as a people and dims whatever light is left in our city on the hill.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
‘The Bravest Among Us’: HKS Peers and Instructors Remember Melissa Hortman, Slain Minnesota Representative | News | The Harvard Crimson
Minnesota state representative Melissa A. Hortman graduated from a Harvard Kennedy School program in 2018. Former instructors and classmates were left grieving when she was killed by an assassin’s bul...
www.thecrimson.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Tonight I'm remembering Melissa Hortman. She devoted her life to bettering politics by serving her community through civic life. That she was killed for her service makes us uglier as a people and dims whatever light is left in our city on the hill.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Adam Pontius
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
—Abraham Lincoln
—Abraham Lincoln
July 14, 2025 at 12:09 AM
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
—Abraham Lincoln
—Abraham Lincoln
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Laertes: [sobs] Claudius: what a NUISANCE
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
324 posts in and that's the end of Hamlet Act 4👀 Three RSC Gertrudes reconsidering their life choices as Laertes weeps and Claudius grumbles: Elizabeth Sellars (1961), Sian Thomas (2004), Penny Downie (2008)
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
324 posts in and that's the end of Hamlet Act 4👀 Three RSC Gertrudes reconsidering their life choices as Laertes weeps and Claudius grumbles: Elizabeth Sellars (1961), Sian Thomas (2004), Penny Downie (2008)
August 28, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Laertes: [sobs] Claudius: what a NUISANCE
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
324 posts in and that's the end of Hamlet Act 4👀 Three RSC Gertrudes reconsidering their life choices as Laertes weeps and Claudius grumbles: Elizabeth Sellars (1961), Sian Thomas (2004), Penny Downie (2008)
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
324 posts in and that's the end of Hamlet Act 4👀 Three RSC Gertrudes reconsidering their life choices as Laertes weeps and Claudius grumbles: Elizabeth Sellars (1961), Sian Thomas (2004), Penny Downie (2008)
1. The more I watch academic discourse over LLMs in the more humanistic side of the social sciences that I inhabit, the more concerned I become that our anger of LLMs is obscuring our ability to understand what is really going on with mental illness and AI.
August 28, 2025 at 7:52 AM
1. The more I watch academic discourse over LLMs in the more humanistic side of the social sciences that I inhabit, the more concerned I become that our anger of LLMs is obscuring our ability to understand what is really going on with mental illness and AI.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Admiring these early sketches & studies by Gustav Klimt ~ Study for Romeo in ‘Shakespeare’s Theatre’ + Head in Profile / Study of child / Study of a woman
August 24, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Admiring these early sketches & studies by Gustav Klimt ~ Study for Romeo in ‘Shakespeare’s Theatre’ + Head in Profile / Study of child / Study of a woman
When did it become ‘common sense’ in university governance that higher education ought to be revenue neutral?
I can’t think of anything in what university education had been historically that justifies this premise.
Too many of us allow it to stand in discourse unchallenged.
I can’t think of anything in what university education had been historically that justifies this premise.
Too many of us allow it to stand in discourse unchallenged.
August 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM
When did it become ‘common sense’ in university governance that higher education ought to be revenue neutral?
I can’t think of anything in what university education had been historically that justifies this premise.
Too many of us allow it to stand in discourse unchallenged.
I can’t think of anything in what university education had been historically that justifies this premise.
Too many of us allow it to stand in discourse unchallenged.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
If LLMs are widely being used to give legal, medical, and financial advice, why are they not being regulated accordingly
August 19, 2025 at 11:23 PM
If LLMs are widely being used to give legal, medical, and financial advice, why are they not being regulated accordingly
Your regular reminder that IQ is so useless as a standardized measurement that it’s been ‘reset’ multiple times because of an effect where successive generations score better and better on the tests.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_e...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_e...
August 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Your regular reminder that IQ is so useless as a standardized measurement that it’s been ‘reset’ multiple times because of an effect where successive generations score better and better on the tests.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_e...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_e...
The fact that the author of this piece apparently teaches professional ethics is appalling.
In which a Yale prof calls for jettisoning humanities to make way for science-only universities.
“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”
“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”
Unyoke the Sciences From the Humanities
Arts and sciences typically cohabitate. Should they?
thedispatch.com
August 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
The fact that the author of this piece apparently teaches professional ethics is appalling.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
I’m sorry, but that is yet again very bad framing by the @nytimes.com. To say that Lula is “defying Trump” when Trump’s ask is stopping Bolsonaro’s prosecution, that’s BS. Lula literally *cannot* do that. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/w...
No One Is Defying Trump Like Brazil’s President
www.nytimes.com
July 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I’m sorry, but that is yet again very bad framing by the @nytimes.com. To say that Lula is “defying Trump” when Trump’s ask is stopping Bolsonaro’s prosecution, that’s BS. Lula literally *cannot* do that. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/w...
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Inevitably, there is a demographic for cyclists who get involved in actual incidents, and indeed confrontations over near misses. Would you like to guess? If you said “young men who don’t wear helmets” you get a prize.
August 6, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Inevitably, there is a demographic for cyclists who get involved in actual incidents, and indeed confrontations over near misses. Would you like to guess? If you said “young men who don’t wear helmets” you get a prize.
I’d push this a step further and argue that continual re-interpretation of political history (and political theory) is integral to healthy politics.
Even within traditional areas, like political history, there’s a ton of new interpretation that can be done. An LLM can’t answer questions about what’s incomplete in current scholarship and how to begin filling the gaps (such as trying to recover why 19th century voters switched party allegiance).
July 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I’d push this a step further and argue that continual re-interpretation of political history (and political theory) is integral to healthy politics.
Were Dante to have journeyed in our time, he would undoubtedly find a circle of purgatory where every lawyer and web programmer who made small adjustments to license agreements would be required to read the contracts aloud for every human being who their pop-up interrupted while doing other things.
July 31, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Were Dante to have journeyed in our time, he would undoubtedly find a circle of purgatory where every lawyer and web programmer who made small adjustments to license agreements would be required to read the contracts aloud for every human being who their pop-up interrupted while doing other things.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
I've lived in D.C. for the better part of two decades. Nearly my whole adult life. Something folks aren't talking about--a giant elephant in the room--is the amount of "brand protection" going on right now.
I don't mean fear of Trump or political persecution, although those can overlap.
(thread)
I don't mean fear of Trump or political persecution, although those can overlap.
(thread)
July 30, 2025 at 7:36 AM
I've lived in D.C. for the better part of two decades. Nearly my whole adult life. Something folks aren't talking about--a giant elephant in the room--is the amount of "brand protection" going on right now.
I don't mean fear of Trump or political persecution, although those can overlap.
(thread)
I don't mean fear of Trump or political persecution, although those can overlap.
(thread)
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Norman Rockwell was actually a progressive and challenging artist and his reputation for nostalgic schlock was undeserved.
July 4, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Norman Rockwell was actually a progressive and challenging artist and his reputation for nostalgic schlock was undeserved.
If there is, it will be because liberals finally recognize that bipartisanship needs two functional and responsible parties committed to republican government.
You can’t ‘bipartisan’ while the other party is trying to cave your face in.
You can’t ‘bipartisan’ while the other party is trying to cave your face in.
If we survive this, there is going to be a real push from liberals for the next Democrat in the Oval to go scorched earth and simply nominate the most ardently ideological, brazenly partisan judges.
Not even offer up a fig leaf of bipartisanship. Just ram through whoever you want, at any cost.
Not even offer up a fig leaf of bipartisanship. Just ram through whoever you want, at any cost.
NEW: Republicans confirm former Trump lawyer Emil Bove to lifetime appeals court perch
The vote is 50-49.
He's confirmed with only GOP votes.
Democrats + Murkowski + Collins vote NO.
(Hagerty missed the vote.)
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
The vote is 50-49.
He's confirmed with only GOP votes.
Democrats + Murkowski + Collins vote NO.
(Hagerty missed the vote.)
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
July 30, 2025 at 9:17 AM
If there is, it will be because liberals finally recognize that bipartisanship needs two functional and responsible parties committed to republican government.
You can’t ‘bipartisan’ while the other party is trying to cave your face in.
You can’t ‘bipartisan’ while the other party is trying to cave your face in.
Well... this take didn't age well! 😂 From Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry's initial coining of 'liberal international order' in 1999.
July 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Well... this take didn't age well! 😂 From Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry's initial coining of 'liberal international order' in 1999.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
I feel as though meaning-making is breaking down, but meaning-seeking isn’t. The result is this sort of intractable, pervasive loneliness (far from confined to men), the slow flattening of artistic horizons, and the degradation of a lot of the skills associated with being human.
But also, QAnon.
But also, QAnon.
July 16, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I feel as though meaning-making is breaking down, but meaning-seeking isn’t. The result is this sort of intractable, pervasive loneliness (far from confined to men), the slow flattening of artistic horizons, and the degradation of a lot of the skills associated with being human.
But also, QAnon.
But also, QAnon.
On the bright side, if Rufo and his ilk have already gotten to “… and his SAT scores were AVERAGE” then the rest of the opposition research report on Mamdani must be really boring.
Speaking from the experience of having written those reports, they are quite long. Often in excess of 300 pages.
Speaking from the experience of having written those reports, they are quite long. Often in excess of 300 pages.
Chris Rufo and the NY Post have a new and shocking Mamdani BOMBSHELL:
His SAT scores were AVERAGE among admitted students!!!!!!!
This is definitely the sort of thing you report when a candidate has skeletons in the closet.
His SAT scores were AVERAGE among admitted students!!!!!!!
This is definitely the sort of thing you report when a candidate has skeletons in the closet.
July 8, 2025 at 8:59 AM
On the bright side, if Rufo and his ilk have already gotten to “… and his SAT scores were AVERAGE” then the rest of the opposition research report on Mamdani must be really boring.
Speaking from the experience of having written those reports, they are quite long. Often in excess of 300 pages.
Speaking from the experience of having written those reports, they are quite long. Often in excess of 300 pages.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Remarkable point from @simonwdc.bsky.social here: The sheer unbridled sadism and dehumanization that Trump is unleashing on countless Americans and immigrants alike has to be a major part of what Dems campaign against from here on out.
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
July 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Remarkable point from @simonwdc.bsky.social here: The sheer unbridled sadism and dehumanization that Trump is unleashing on countless Americans and immigrants alike has to be a major part of what Dems campaign against from here on out.
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Can’t help but think that both the over-intellectualized politics that insist on using oligarchy and fascism to understand politics is just as bad.
Trying to place our moment in a grand historical tradition gets in the way of describing what is happening right now in simple, human terms.
Trying to place our moment in a grand historical tradition gets in the way of describing what is happening right now in simple, human terms.
👇🎯 This is why the calls for Popularism & Abundance & not saying funny words like "oligarchy" & all the other "normal politics" strategies are category errors. The fascists are doing inhuman things to actual human beings. People who are our neighbors. It's destroying democracy & needs to stop now.
Remarkable point from @simonwdc.bsky.social here: The sheer unbridled sadism and dehumanization that Trump is unleashing on countless Americans and immigrants alike has to be a major part of what Dems campaign against from here on out.
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Our exchange on this:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
July 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Can’t help but think that both the over-intellectualized politics that insist on using oligarchy and fascism to understand politics is just as bad.
Trying to place our moment in a grand historical tradition gets in the way of describing what is happening right now in simple, human terms.
Trying to place our moment in a grand historical tradition gets in the way of describing what is happening right now in simple, human terms.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.
July 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.
Reposted by Adam Pontius
Cannot emphasize enough that, if you dislike doing the things academics do (reading, writing, developing and expressing opinions about things you've read) enough to try to make a chatbot do them for you, there are lots of actual humans who would be happy to take that unpleasant job off your hands
Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.
July 1, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Cannot emphasize enough that, if you dislike doing the things academics do (reading, writing, developing and expressing opinions about things you've read) enough to try to make a chatbot do them for you, there are lots of actual humans who would be happy to take that unpleasant job off your hands
A real winner, to be sure.
![Text from Wikipedia: “He is known for his staunch support for Donald Trump,[4] his statements which suggest misunderstanding of the US Constitution,[5] and sending Christmas cards featuring a photo of his family holding high-powered rifles.[6]”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:picb4xupp463xgg5uqhnjdfn/bafkreiesnj3hlloor4y5gbw4ht4jewjs6xbenvfrgopyafcqs4fdm2rxzq@jpeg)
June 26, 2025 at 9:07 PM
A real winner, to be sure.