Kel Munger
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kelmunger.bsky.social
Kel Munger
@kelmunger.bsky.social
Former journalist and professor of journalism/mass media; political junkie; book lover; history buff, Iowan.
Reposted by Kel Munger
“Schrödinger’s Christian” is such a brilliant way to put it! 🧵👇🏻
The flattening of sin into a binary also helps ensure that every Christian is Schrodinger’s Christian. They can be claimed as is convenient because all humans are sinners—no harm is a dealbreaker—and disavowed without consequence because forgiveness is infinite. A perfectly flexible system.
July 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Check out the entire 🧵
Thread:The White House and the us government are posting what can only be seen as overt white power propaganda from official channels and this image by John Gast could not make it any more clear that Trump and the Republicans brand of fascism is deeply tied to the frontier myth and its white terror.
July 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Did Shapiro ever apologize for the anti-Muslim stuff he wrote when he was in college?
Absurdly biased and unserious article about Mamdani once again in New York Times, which appears to be only able to find and privilege voices criticizing him. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/u... It’s embarrassing how blatantly they are trying to smear him with one-sided coverage.
Shapiro Says Mamdani Fails to Condemn ‘Blatantly Antisemitic’ Rhetoric
www.nytimes.com
July 24, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
We're really gonna miss the rule of law when it's gone. Just like we're really gonna miss media outlets that employ fact checkers when they're all put out of business. And just like we're really going to miss reality-based civil servants, universities, libraries, public schools, food inspectors...
July 23, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Did Team MAHA have AI help write its report? Some citations don’t exist; others don’t say what the paper claims. No comment yet from Kennedy & co…

www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
www.notus.org
May 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Rich people can spend $1 million to buy their way out of prison? That's so cool, esp. for people with a spare $1 million.
After pleading guilty to tax crimes, Paul Walczak was set for prison and $4.4M in restitution.

Then his pardon application noted how much money his mother had raised for Trump. Then she attended a $1M-per-person dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

3 weeks later, a full pardon.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/u...
Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner
www.nytimes.com
May 29, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) admitted to his constituents that he wasn’t familiar with part of the massive tax-and-spending cut legislation - “aimed at preventing federal courts from blocking power grabs by the Trump administration” - he voted for last week.
Town Hall Erupts After GOP Congressman Admits To Not Knowing What He Voted For
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) said he’ll push senators to strip out the bill’s attack on federal courts.
www.huffpost.com
May 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Emil Bove cannot become a federal judge.

At Law Dork:
Emil Bove cannot become a federal judge
This is a line that cannot be crossed. Also: Monday was a holiday, but the Trump administration has already racked up a lot of losses in court this week.
www.lawdork.com
May 29, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
From @npr.org: Trump Admin canceled its #birdflu vaccine deal with #Moderna.

@jennifernuzzo.bsky.social expressed disappointment but shared it was "unsurprising given the politically-motivated, evidence-free rhetoric that tries to paint mRNA vaccines as being dangerous."

More here ⤵️
Trump administration cancels plans to develop a bird flu vaccine
The Department of Health and Human Services is ending a $766 million contract with the vaccine company Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for flu strains with pandemic potential, including bird flu.
www.npr.org
May 29, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
I’ve told the story many times. Now @katemasur.bsky.social and I have filed it in federal court: Free Black Americans were first to recognize BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP in the US. When denied it, they fought to secure it. They show us what the 14th Amendment meant and what it meant to live without it.
Historian @marthasjones.bsky.social & @katemasur.bsky.social, a member of the Historians Council on the Constitution, filed a brief against the birthright citizenship executive order. History contradicts the administration's claim that the 14th Amendment applies only to “newly freed slaves.”
www.brennancenter.org
May 29, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Just about every Republican/Trumpist complaint about public transportation is a poorly disguised version of “there are too many black people.”
Duffy: "If you're liberal, they want you to take public transportation ... the problem is that it's dirty. You have criminals. It's homeless shelters. It's insane asylums. It's a work ground for the criminal element of the city to prey upon the good people."
May 29, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Reposted by Kel Munger
When I started teaching, what shocked me wasn't the level of oversight—it was that there was none.

Universities hire experts and then leave them alone to do their jobs.

Administrators who are not experts in a given area usually (and wisely) recognize they are not qualified to evaluate.
the level of organization these people believe exist in higher ed is so funny to me. When I onboarded, it was clear the admin did not care what was in my syllabus and could not answer the q "what is the core promise the institution makes to students?" which I wanted to align my course objectives to
February 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
yes we know, that's the problem
Alina Habba: This is what we're about. We're running this county like President Trump runs the Trump Organization. Like Elon Musk running X. That's what we're doing.
February 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Folks, if you want to help protect science funding in this country, today is a really good day to call your US House Representative. A budget bill, likely filled with massive cuts, is going to the floor for a vote as soon as today.
February 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
So I guess it was literally possible to sleep all the way through the entire TikTok ban huh.
January 19, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
"The COVID-19 pandemic, as best as we can tell, took more than 20 million lives, cost $16 trillion, kept 1.6 billion children out of school, and pushed some 130 million people into poverty. And it’s not over"
www.science.org/content/arti...
COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting
Five years after SARS-CoV-2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat
www.science.org
January 14, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Kel Munger
Almost nobody alive today fully grasps just how deeply the business right hated the New Deal. One utility exec I study spent the rest of his life referring to Hoover as "the last President of the Republic" and FDR as "totalitarian". It completely rewired corp. conservatism
it has always been a long reaction to the New Deal. from then to now, capital had seen the New Deal as the sin that must be purged so that the rest of us understand our place as grist for their mills
“We are living under FDR’s personal monarchy.”

-Marc Andreessen, quoting Curtis Yarvin, yesterday
December 15, 2024 at 11:41 PM
🧵. This is why ProPublica is so important. This is how real journalism works. It’s not about clicks and engagement; it’s about getting the facts right.
1/ Here’s a story about how journalism works.

Spoiler Alert: This is how we decide *not* to publish.

We were recently looking at Pete Hegseth’s different statements over the years about West Point, where he has said he was admitted.

First stop: West Point.
December 11, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
As the person who sent this article to me said: WE GOT THE BASTARDS ON FILM www.sciencenews.org/article/some...
During an allergic response, some immune cells digest others
Mast cells lure and trap other immune cells during allergic reactions, using their compounds to increase inflammation in a process dubbed nexocytosis
www.sciencenews.org
December 11, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Kel Munger
I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)

projects.propublica.org/claimfile/
Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim
You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...
projects.propublica.org
March 22, 2024 at 1:25 PM
But he’s going to look out for the little guy, right? Right?
There are 14 BILLIONAIRES that are part of the second Trump administration
December 7, 2024 at 5:49 PM
Oh, really? Gosh, Mr. Representative, if that’s true of you, YOU NEED TO RESIGN.
Chip Roy dismisses the Pete Hegseth rape allegation: "We've all had some indiscretions in our past and things like that."
December 7, 2024 at 5:47 PM