Seth Kahn (he/him)
@badpacifist.bsky.social
Writing/rhetoric prof in PA. Write about higher ed organizing. Teach about demagoguery. Spurs/Union/Phillies/UGA fan. Read sci-fi, police procedurals, and horror fiction. No DMs with strangers.
My employer says I have to tell you I don't represent them.
My employer says I have to tell you I don't represent them.
Pinned
I've been harping on the idea of *preparing* for a general strike for months, so I decided it's time to do some thinking about what that actually entails for people who are riled up enough to go tomorrow but may not be thinking about how to protect yourselves and each other if we do this.
1/
1/
"Jay Clayton is one of the most...trusted prosecutors in the country. Er, was, until I named him in this Tweet. Now you all know he's a corrupt loser just like me! Sorry for ruining your career, buddy. See at the DOJ cafeteria soon?"
#fixed
#fixed
In normal times, it would be a major scandal for the President to direct his AG to criminally investigate his political opponents to deflect from his own involvement in a major scandal — and for the AG to immediately announce she is doing it. The Epstein scandal and cover up just got even bigger.
November 15, 2025 at 1:44 AM
"Jay Clayton is one of the most...trusted prosecutors in the country. Er, was, until I named him in this Tweet. Now you all know he's a corrupt loser just like me! Sorry for ruining your career, buddy. See at the DOJ cafeteria soon?"
#fixed
#fixed
Or less politely: if you don't need SNAP and bash SNAP users for any reason, you just get off on punching down (down in your own broken mind, that is). Try blaming the actual thieves who steal livelihoods by the millions.
If you’re more concerned with “scammers” on SNAP than you are with the billionaires who are scamming us out of millions… you’re part of the problem.
There’s very little fraud within SNAP because it’s hard to get.
I would rather someone eat who might not need it, then everyone go hungry
There’s very little fraud within SNAP because it’s hard to get.
I would rather someone eat who might not need it, then everyone go hungry
November 14, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Or less politely: if you don't need SNAP and bash SNAP users for any reason, you just get off on punching down (down in your own broken mind, that is). Try blaming the actual thieves who steal livelihoods by the millions.
People whose writing lessons cover _transitions_ are going to get hassled as a result of this, mark my words. We know this because it already happened to grants funded via NIH/NSF and others that got falsely flagged by "AI" and cut.
#OnlyHalfJoking #LOLsob
#OnlyHalfJoking #LOLsob
Message to all faculty: your expertise is no longer trusted or valued at this so-called “university.”
November 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
People whose writing lessons cover _transitions_ are going to get hassled as a result of this, mark my words. We know this because it already happened to grants funded via NIH/NSF and others that got falsely flagged by "AI" and cut.
#OnlyHalfJoking #LOLsob
#OnlyHalfJoking #LOLsob
If you've ever wondered, "What's the ideal music for drafting a proposed bylaws revision for your faculty union," I think I've found it.
[Don't worry, APSCUF siblings, it's nothing you wouldn't be expecting. :)]
[Don't worry, APSCUF siblings, it's nothing you wouldn't be expecting. :)]
Levitation Sessions II, by Osees
18 track album
ohsees.bandcamp.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:23 PM
If you've ever wondered, "What's the ideal music for drafting a proposed bylaws revision for your faculty union," I think I've found it.
[Don't worry, APSCUF siblings, it's nothing you wouldn't be expecting. :)]
[Don't worry, APSCUF siblings, it's nothing you wouldn't be expecting. :)]
Welcome to the family, new PSU grad student worker siblings!
November 14, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Welcome to the family, new PSU grad student worker siblings!
Remembering a dream I had about 20 years ago featuring a reality TV show called "Survivor: Fuck' Em." Take 16 world-historical shitheads, drop them on an island somewhere, and just leave. Whatever happens to them, who cares? The end!
November 14, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Remembering a dream I had about 20 years ago featuring a reality TV show called "Survivor: Fuck' Em." Take 16 world-historical shitheads, drop them on an island somewhere, and just leave. Whatever happens to them, who cares? The end!
Office pool: how many times did I walk into the kitchen this morning to do the exact same ONE thing and not do it?
November 14, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Office pool: how many times did I walk into the kitchen this morning to do the exact same ONE thing and not do it?
I don't subscribe to WaPo anymore, but is the author of the "I'm an academic who found religion" column THAT Charles Murray? Is there a bell curve for piety? Is he just making more excuses for being ostracized for his open embrace of white supremacy?
Ick.
Ick.
November 14, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I don't subscribe to WaPo anymore, but is the author of the "I'm an academic who found religion" column THAT Charles Murray? Is there a bell curve for piety? Is he just making more excuses for being ostracized for his open embrace of white supremacy?
Ick.
Ick.
We already know she's a self-dealing liar who just takes what she wants. ProPublica shows us the receipts for this particular dirty deal where she's shoveling tax-payer money at her friends.
Where's DOGE? Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse!
Where's DOGE? Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse!
NEW: We’ve uncovered the first known example of taxpayer money flowing from DHS to businesses controlled by Kristi Noem’s allies and friends.
It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.
It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.
November 14, 2025 at 1:08 PM
We already know she's a self-dealing liar who just takes what she wants. ProPublica shows us the receipts for this particular dirty deal where she's shoveling tax-payer money at her friends.
Where's DOGE? Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse!
Where's DOGE? Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse!
Re #1 (don't raise problems without solutions): Um, management's job is to maintain tenable working conditions for workers. If workers could already do that, who would need managers?
<cheshire cat grin>
<cheshire cat grin>
November 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Re #1 (don't raise problems without solutions): Um, management's job is to maintain tenable working conditions for workers. If workers could already do that, who would need managers?
<cheshire cat grin>
<cheshire cat grin>
Reposted by Seth Kahn (he/him)
Dear god
November 14, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Dear god
@lacey-wootton.bsky.social Great minds think alike, yeah?
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 14, 2025 at 12:57 AM
@lacey-wootton.bsky.social Great minds think alike, yeah?
"The immigrants are eating the houses," Vance said, momentarily conflating his two sets of bigoty bullshit.
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 14, 2025 at 12:52 AM
"The immigrants are eating the houses," Vance said, momentarily conflating his two sets of bigoty bullshit.
Reposted by Seth Kahn (he/him)
Can we timeskip ahead to the point where we all realize the race scientist eugenicists, the white birthrate obsessives, the silicon valley scamsters, and the Epstein circle are all just the same people?
November 12, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Can we timeskip ahead to the point where we all realize the race scientist eugenicists, the white birthrate obsessives, the silicon valley scamsters, and the Epstein circle are all just the same people?
Jeebus wept. A bunch of people who know nothing about anything get to decide what experts can and can't say.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Jeebus wept. A bunch of people who know nothing about anything get to decide what experts can and can't say.
I applied to PhD programs in '98 in another field. I got advised not to be specific about who I wanted to work with or what my project was; it could sound like I wouldn't be open to learning from coursework. Don't want to argue with the author, but I'm curious how out of touch my experience is!
Applying to graduate programs in anthropology
I've written so many emails and hosted so many meetings with students on this topic, I figured it might be worth just writing some of it down and directing folks here, so question and answer sessions ...
www.evolvedlab.net
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I applied to PhD programs in '98 in another field. I got advised not to be specific about who I wanted to work with or what my project was; it could sound like I wouldn't be open to learning from coursework. Don't want to argue with the author, but I'm curious how out of touch my experience is!
Reposted by Seth Kahn (he/him)
NEW — I spoke to DoorDash about the White House claiming the company's report shows "inflation has been tamed" and whether that's an interpretation one should make. An economist also weighed in, pointing out dictatorships use data obfuscation as a tool, and right now they're "grasping at straws."
WH claims 'inflation tamed,' per DoorDash stats. Company says that's not in its report.
It comes the same week we learned the WH would likely not release key economic reports for October.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 PM
NEW — I spoke to DoorDash about the White House claiming the company's report shows "inflation has been tamed" and whether that's an interpretation one should make. An economist also weighed in, pointing out dictatorships use data obfuscation as a tool, and right now they're "grasping at straws."
Trish Roberts-Miller, scholar of demagoguery, argues that claiming "Dems caved" helps Trump, and I think she's right about that. Plenty of ways to talk about what happened that don't misrepresent what actually happened.
Why people who oppose Trump should stop saying "the Dems caved" - Patricia Roberts-Miller
I had a busy day, and will be minimally (maybe not at all) on social media for the next few days. My taking the stance that people who oppose Trump should stop saying “the Dems caved” got enough disag...
www.patriciarobertsmiller.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Trish Roberts-Miller, scholar of demagoguery, argues that claiming "Dems caved" helps Trump, and I think she's right about that. Plenty of ways to talk about what happened that don't misrepresent what actually happened.
First BSKY post of the #SolidarityWall in my office. Send me something from your #laborunion so I can add it to the wall of union power! Newest addition: United Academics-University of New Mexico. Second shot is the long view for context.
November 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
First BSKY post of the #SolidarityWall in my office. Send me something from your #laborunion so I can add it to the wall of union power! Newest addition: United Academics-University of New Mexico. Second shot is the long view for context.
LInk to Starbucks Workers United strike fund. If you go there, consider giving the money you'd have spent their directly to striking workers instead.
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
November 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
LInk to Starbucks Workers United strike fund. If you go there, consider giving the money you'd have spent their directly to striking workers instead.
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
Holy hell! Yes, there's a difference, but legality isn't it!
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Holy hell! Yes, there's a difference, but legality isn't it!
I've been on a Starbucks boycott for many years so this is easy for me. Do.not.cross.their.picket.line.
Also, don't care if you like or hate their coffee. That has nothing to do with whether boycotting them is the right thing to do (hint: it is). Link in comments for more on this point.
Also, don't care if you like or hate their coffee. That has nothing to do with whether boycotting them is the right thing to do (hint: it is). Link in comments for more on this point.
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I've been on a Starbucks boycott for many years so this is easy for me. Do.not.cross.their.picket.line.
Also, don't care if you like or hate their coffee. That has nothing to do with whether boycotting them is the right thing to do (hint: it is). Link in comments for more on this point.
Also, don't care if you like or hate their coffee. That has nothing to do with whether boycotting them is the right thing to do (hint: it is). Link in comments for more on this point.
Also reinforces the point that "elite" institutions aren't great just by virtue of their prestige. And that such institutions aren't bastions of "radical leftism." And that maybe Trump went after Harvard early because it was even lower-hanging fruit than we could have imagined.
Grad Students: The Larry Summers news should shed any shred of imposter syndrome you've felt in academia. Clearly, academics* can be far from perfect (at everything from spelling to relationships to human decency) and still make it all the way to the top of ivory tower.
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Also reinforces the point that "elite" institutions aren't great just by virtue of their prestige. And that such institutions aren't bastions of "radical leftism." And that maybe Trump went after Harvard early because it was even lower-hanging fruit than we could have imagined.
I don't really follow America East Conference sports, but if this New Hampshire v Vermont men's soccer game is any indication of how fierce that rivalry is, I've been missing out. Crazy game, made crazier by wind and snow. It's very nearly out of control.
November 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
I don't really follow America East Conference sports, but if this New Hampshire v Vermont men's soccer game is any indication of how fierce that rivalry is, I've been missing out. Crazy game, made crazier by wind and snow. It's very nearly out of control.
Reposted by Seth Kahn (he/him)
Here it is, from @clairewillett.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Here it is, from @clairewillett.bsky.social