Chelsea Burns
@burnschelsea.bsky.social
accordionist, music theorist. Austin, TX. I like to ride my bicycle.
Pinned
I'm so pleased to finally have this book in my hot little hands! You, too, can have this feeling—for 30% off!—with code AUFLY30 at global.oup.com/academic. Want to try before you buy? You can read the Intro for free at this link (available until October 30): academic.oup.com/book/60725/c...
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Rereading this 2024 piece and wow it's bleak. Amazing how much of mainstream political reporting relies on "let's assume this is all in a vacuum and I can't put any context into it!"
Can’t think why it turned out how it did with the media reporting honestly.
www.npr.org/2024/08/25/g...
www.npr.org/2024/08/25/g...
12 misleading or lacking-in-context claims from Harris’ DNC speech
They range from characterizations of former President Trump’s stances on abortion rights and Social Security to her plans to address housing and grocery prices.
www.npr.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Rereading this 2024 piece and wow it's bleak. Amazing how much of mainstream political reporting relies on "let's assume this is all in a vacuum and I can't put any context into it!"
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
El Sol se ha ido oficialmente en Alaska, y no volverá a salir hasta el 22 de enero de 2026.
November 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM
El Sol se ha ido oficialmente en Alaska, y no volverá a salir hasta el 22 de enero de 2026.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
“never in modern U.S. history has the office intersected so broadly and deeply with the financial interests of the commerce secretary’s own family, according to interviews with ethics lawyers and historians.” Great reporting from a NYT team.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Family Affair: Commerce Secretary’s Sons Cash In on A.I. Frenzy
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:32 AM
“never in modern U.S. history has the office intersected so broadly and deeply with the financial interests of the commerce secretary’s own family, according to interviews with ethics lawyers and historians.” Great reporting from a NYT team.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) says someone showed up to her D.C. office today and made white supremacist threats. Capitol Police had to intervene.
This was hours after Trump said Democrats in Congress should be executed.
"When leaders promote hate, hate shows up."
This was hours after Trump said Democrats in Congress should be executed.
"When leaders promote hate, hate shows up."
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) says someone showed up to her D.C. office today and made white supremacist threats. Capitol Police had to intervene.
This was hours after Trump said Democrats in Congress should be executed.
"When leaders promote hate, hate shows up."
This was hours after Trump said Democrats in Congress should be executed.
"When leaders promote hate, hate shows up."
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Kash Patel's personal firing of the Pride flag-displaying employee was always absurd and unconstitutional, so I'm glad David Maltinsky is suing, but, wait.
It was a flag FLOWN BY THE FBI that was given to him BY THE FBI?! Come on.
Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
It was a flag FLOWN BY THE FBI that was given to him BY THE FBI?! Come on.
Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
![On October 1, 2025, after successfully completing 16 weeks of the FBI Academy's
19-week training program, Maltinsky was handed a letter terminating his employment with the
FBI. The letter was signed by Defendant Patel ("Patel"). In the letter, Patel wrote that he had
"determined that [Maltinsky] exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in [his] work area during [his] previous assignment at the Los Angeles Field Office." In short, Patel fired Maltinsky for displaying a pride flag at his workstation that had been flown by the FBI at the LAFO and then given by the FBI to Maltinsky.
The Defendants' discrimination against Maltinsky for engaging in protected speech
was a clear and brazen violation of federal law and the Constitution.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreid5rog4gjpv3qeneunmoyqxoesnuxac2srp3u6ppnjdxphfv7jcoe@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Kash Patel's personal firing of the Pride flag-displaying employee was always absurd and unconstitutional, so I'm glad David Maltinsky is suing, but, wait.
It was a flag FLOWN BY THE FBI that was given to him BY THE FBI?! Come on.
Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
It was a flag FLOWN BY THE FBI that was given to him BY THE FBI?! Come on.
Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
More decades-long studies like this, please! Science crammed into short grant cycles misses important patterns.
“After the first burn, the net productivity of those plots was really low and the controls looked a lot better,” said John Battles @natureatcal.bsky.social and @ucanr.edu. “But by the third burn, the patterns had switched.” ucanr.edu/blog/green-b...
Prescribed burning helps store forest carbon in big, fire-resistant trees | Green Blog
A two decade long experiment in the Sierra Nevada found that regular prescribed burns promote carbon sequestration in live trees and plants, maintaining forests’ long-term ability to store carbon whil...
ucanr.edu
November 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
More decades-long studies like this, please! Science crammed into short grant cycles misses important patterns.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
it should not need to be said that there are various laws regulating the backup and maintenance of such materials & they aren't simply "gone" as a result of a computer crash
ICE’s Detention Center outside Chicago was sued on October 30 for allegedly abusing detainees. One day later, a "system crash" lost all video footage that could have shown how detainees were being treated. trib.al/QwT3aqI
November 21, 2025 at 12:52 AM
it should not need to be said that there are various laws regulating the backup and maintenance of such materials & they aren't simply "gone" as a result of a computer crash
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
![II. Credibility
The Court next addresses the credibility of the parties’ evidence and witnesses. After reviewing all the evidence submitted to the Court and listening to the testimony elicited at the preliminary injunction hearing, during depositions, and in other court proceedings, the Court finds Defendants’ evidence simply not credible. [FN 6]
Plaintiffs submitted a mountain of evidence, providing the Court with over eighty declarations, numerous videos and articles, and other evidence. Defendants did not rebut anything that Plaintiffs set forth in their declarations or testimony, even with BWC footage.
[FN 6] In another case considering some of the same evidence presented to this Court, another court in this district also found that the perceptions of certain of Defendants’ declarants, such as Hott and Parra, were not reliable. See Illinois v. Trump, No. 25-cv-12174, 2025 WL 2886645, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 10, 2025) (noting a “troubling trend of Defendants’ declarants equating protests with riots and a lack of appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning, and criticizing their government, and those who are obstructing, assaulting, or doing violence”), motion to stay denied in part, 155 F.4th 929 (7th Cir. 2025).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreifpyry2il5toxbr3iejgrsxs6kmnwve75qwnhebfp44ieyjrfpsdu@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
😍😍
JUST IN: A tidal wave of 30,000 students hit the streets in Charlotte, walking out to confront ICE with sheer numbers and zero hesitation.
This is a generation refusing to be controlled.
This is a generation refusing to be controlled.
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
😍😍
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Perhaps the most acute example of the hot dog guy meme we have ever seen
November 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Perhaps the most acute example of the hot dog guy meme we have ever seen
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
You all know I've been after the Treasury Department's own Epstein file. It's a set of thousands of detailed bank records, a map of Epstein's financial network. Secretary Bessent is blocking its release – and he denies it's even something Treasury should be investigating.
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
You all know I've been after the Treasury Department's own Epstein file. It's a set of thousands of detailed bank records, a map of Epstein's financial network. Secretary Bessent is blocking its release – and he denies it's even something Treasury should be investigating.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:30 AM
#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
Not just this snippet, but Trump's entire "speech"—before the Saudi Investment Forum, mind you—is unhinged and utterly detached from reality.
Trump: "I met with two pollsters the day before I got the news about covid because we were starting to think about the next election. They said, 'Sir, if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead and they aligned, you'd be beating them by 25 points.'"
November 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Not just this snippet, but Trump's entire "speech"—before the Saudi Investment Forum, mind you—is unhinged and utterly detached from reality.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
A tech reporter on tiktok just tried the exact questions that Microsoft showed in its Copilot commercial, and given unlimited tries, it could not actually answer any of them. Not a single one
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 AM
A tech reporter on tiktok just tried the exact questions that Microsoft showed in its Copilot commercial, and given unlimited tries, it could not actually answer any of them. Not a single one
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:55 AM
When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Boy, the way she says "Actually, I can't answer that" is NOT an "I don't remember." It's more like a "legally, I'm not at liberty to answer that."
PSAKI: Do you think Donald Trump was aware of that arrangement at Mar-a-Lago?
EPSTEIN SURVIVOR SHARLENE ROCHARD: Umm. I don't know if he was aware. Um. Actually, I can't answer that.
EPSTEIN SURVIVOR SHARLENE ROCHARD: Umm. I don't know if he was aware. Um. Actually, I can't answer that.
November 19, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Boy, the way she says "Actually, I can't answer that" is NOT an "I don't remember." It's more like a "legally, I'm not at liberty to answer that."
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
![On official UC letterhead:
UNIVERSITY
OF
CALIFORNIA
James B. Milliken President
Office of the President
1111 Franklin Street Oakland, CA 94607
universityofcalifornia.edu
CAMPUSES Berkeley
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
Merced
Riverside San Diego San Francisco
Santa Barbara Santa Cruz
MEDICAL CENTERS
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
San Diego
San Francisco
NATIONAL LABORATORIES Lawrence Berkeley Lawrence Livermore Los Alamos
DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
November 18, 2025
Dear Chancellors:
I'm writing with regard to the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the program's associated faculty hiring incentive.
As you know, for more than 40 years, PPFP has provided postdoctoral research fellowships, professional development, and faculty mentoring to scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service advance the academic and research missions of the University of California.
Since 2003, UC campuses that hire current and former PPFP fellows into ladder-rank positions have been eligible for a hiring incentive funded by the University that provides support for newly hired fellows for five years. Since the creation of the incentive, more than $162 million has been invested by the University to support PPFP faculty hires. This commitment has enabled our campuses to successfully recruit and retain outstanding faculty across a range of disciplines.
Given the myriad challenges currently facing UC - including disruptions to billions of dollars in annual federal support, as well as uncertainty around the state budget- reasonable questions were raised in recent months about whether the University could maintain the commitment to current levels of incentive funding. After considering a recommendation to sunset the incentive program due to these significant fiscal constraints, I consulted with all of you as well as faculty and campus academic administrators and systemwide Academic Senate leadership.
[continued on next image]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rzn6yramffebefeitqifiqqz/bafkreigiwq5ongzwpj4wqmgjam3yfvhyjnv5e3dbq6cnrrbwblqvs624gq@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 10:34 PM
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
A big indicator of this fascist moment, for me, was exposing Hanania’s past as pseudonymous white supremacist blogger, him issuing a non-apology apology then writing gutter racist shit under real name, & nevertheless enjoying mainstream success
reminder of who he is www.huffpost.com/entry/richar...
reminder of who he is www.huffpost.com/entry/richar...
November 18, 2025 at 4:39 PM
A big indicator of this fascist moment, for me, was exposing Hanania’s past as pseudonymous white supremacist blogger, him issuing a non-apology apology then writing gutter racist shit under real name, & nevertheless enjoying mainstream success
reminder of who he is www.huffpost.com/entry/richar...
reminder of who he is www.huffpost.com/entry/richar...
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 11:31 AM
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:10 PM
mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
For 8 months, Abbott denied Houstonians representation in Congress by delaying a special election date after Sylvester Turner's passing.
His betrayal continues, now refusing to set a runoff date. Whether on rising healthcare premium costs or releasing the Epstein files, Texans deserve a voice.
His betrayal continues, now refusing to set a runoff date. Whether on rising healthcare premium costs or releasing the Epstein files, Texans deserve a voice.
Vacant Houston Congressional seat could play key role in Epstein vote
How fast Houston's vacant congressional seat gets filled could determine when the U.S. House votes on a bill to force the release of more files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
www.houstonchronicle.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:24 PM
For 8 months, Abbott denied Houstonians representation in Congress by delaying a special election date after Sylvester Turner's passing.
His betrayal continues, now refusing to set a runoff date. Whether on rising healthcare premium costs or releasing the Epstein files, Texans deserve a voice.
His betrayal continues, now refusing to set a runoff date. Whether on rising healthcare premium costs or releasing the Epstein files, Texans deserve a voice.
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
“When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'”
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 AM
“When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'”
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Reposted by Chelsea Burns
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 18, 2025 at 12:43 AM
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
May he get no students enrolled in his classes. The most basic ethics for faculty: students are not your dating pool.
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 4:40 AM
May he get no students enrolled in his classes. The most basic ethics for faculty: students are not your dating pool.