Sam Cohen
@samcohen.bsky.social
Teaching, writing about books, music. Views mine, all mine, nobody else's, least of all my employer's. https://samuelscohen.com/
Pinned
Well it was nice while it lasted
Tucked into a spending bill that is part of the deal to end the government shutdown is a provision that would allow GOP senators to personally sue the federal government for as much as $500K over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s lawful search of their phone records.
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Shutdown Deal Lets GOP Senators Personally Sue Over Jack Smith Probe
$500K For Election Subversion Tucked into a spending bill that is part...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Well it was nice while it lasted
Reposted by Sam Cohen
Unlike you, I can read and that’s why I know what the constitution says.
Trump on Ilhan Omar: "I look at somebody who comes from Somalia...and she comes in and tells us how to run our country. 'The Constitution says this, the Constitution says that.' The whole thing is crazy."
November 11, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Unlike you, I can read and that’s why I know what the constitution says.
Reposted by Sam Cohen
No one will ever sum up Bari Weiss's career more succinctly than "what's the point of standards"
“Standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She asks ‘What’s the point of standards?’
November 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
No one will ever sum up Bari Weiss's career more succinctly than "what's the point of standards"
Reposted by Sam Cohen
The National AAUP urges the Texas A&M Board of Regents to reject the proposal & protect the reputation, integrity & ability of Texas A&M to …remain an institution dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge & committed to safeguarding students’ rights to learn. aaup-texas.org/blog/f/natio...
National AAUP Demands End to Texas A&M Censorship
JOIN: Join Texas AAUP and here are several reasons to join
aaup-texas.org
November 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The National AAUP urges the Texas A&M Board of Regents to reject the proposal & protect the reputation, integrity & ability of Texas A&M to …remain an institution dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge & committed to safeguarding students’ rights to learn. aaup-texas.org/blog/f/natio...
What a country
a new genre of photo in the last year is federal agents working for ICE pointing guns directly at photographers
November 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
What a country
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As expected, most schools receiving @GovBillLee’s private school voucher taxpayer handouts have shady testing & transparency, and “patchwork” curriculums “largely based in Christianity”
(Betsy Devos openly admitted “advancing God’s kingdom” is the goal) nashvillebanner.com/2025/11/10/t...
(Betsy Devos openly admitted “advancing God’s kingdom” is the goal) nashvillebanner.com/2025/11/10/t...
November 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Happy to see this again
"I consider writing an act of good citizenship."
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
November 11, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Happy to see this again
Listened to the 1954 Harold Brodkey story "State of Grace" while on my walk yesterday and holy cow
November 10, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Listened to the 1954 Harold Brodkey story "State of Grace" while on my walk yesterday and holy cow
Reposted by Sam Cohen
LLM AI “is everything that higher education should not be: exploitative, non-consensual, inaccurate, corrosive of cognitive growth and human relationships, destructive of people and the environment, and effectively unregulated.”
Hit the breaking point this morning with Michigan after hearing about their planned data center in Ypsi. Put all my in-progress posts on the back burner to write this (which I have also sent to UMGiving).
substack.com/@kconrad/not...
substack.com/@kconrad/not...
A letter to my alma mater
on their embrace of AI
substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM
LLM AI “is everything that higher education should not be: exploitative, non-consensual, inaccurate, corrosive of cognitive growth and human relationships, destructive of people and the environment, and effectively unregulated.”
Ended banned books class this morning by saying that neat endings to works of literature can imply that the world makes sense and Maus ends the way it does because it's implying that the world is a terrifying, horrifying place that doesn't make sense and then I sent them off into the world and oy
November 10, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Ended banned books class this morning by saying that neat endings to works of literature can imply that the world makes sense and Maus ends the way it does because it's implying that the world is a terrifying, horrifying place that doesn't make sense and then I sent them off into the world and oy
Reposted by Sam Cohen
These eight senators are pathetic
Democratic Senator Shaheen says "Hopefully the Republicans may hear us."
November 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
These eight senators are pathetic
🤷♂️
If Schumer is voting no, then who put this deal together?
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 AM
🤷♂️
Reposted by Sam Cohen
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
Reposted by Sam Cohen
At this point I’m convinced the only training these weekend warriors receive is viewing the first hour of Sicario.
Video on social media shows an immigration agent pulling a gun in Little Village and holding it to the side — which is not an appropriate or safe way to hold a gun. (Among other issues.)
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
At this point I’m convinced the only training these weekend warriors receive is viewing the first hour of Sicario.
Avoided the news this morning with this fun B noir with a publishing angle
November 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Avoided the news this morning with this fun B noir with a publishing angle
Reposted by Sam Cohen
This is Nuremberg Laws shit
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
This is Nuremberg Laws shit
Reposted by Sam Cohen
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...
Trump Administration Demands States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
🎯
An incredibly macabre irony that at the same moment mass language archives are being looted to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, our own public access to our preeminent form of archiving language is being slowly strangled to death.
Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
November 9, 2025 at 3:07 AM
🎯
Reposted by Sam Cohen
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
CPL is an absolute palace to the people and these proposed cuts are abominable. Artificial austerity. Chicago folks, read this, check the links to bug the mayor and your alders—this can be fought and won.
The People Want to Read: on the massive budget cuts proposed for Chicago Public Library. What's at stake and what you can do, whether or not you live in Chicago.
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
Reposted by Sam Cohen
Not ICE. Border Patrol. They’re wearing Border Patrol uniforms with clear Border Patrol patches on them.
There are many videos of ICE officers doing outrageous stuff but a lot of the absolute worst videos are of Border Patrol, who are basically Bovino and Miller’s most aggressive tool right now.
There are many videos of ICE officers doing outrageous stuff but a lot of the absolute worst videos are of Border Patrol, who are basically Bovino and Miller’s most aggressive tool right now.
ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant”
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
November 8, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Not ICE. Border Patrol. They’re wearing Border Patrol uniforms with clear Border Patrol patches on them.
There are many videos of ICE officers doing outrageous stuff but a lot of the absolute worst videos are of Border Patrol, who are basically Bovino and Miller’s most aggressive tool right now.
There are many videos of ICE officers doing outrageous stuff but a lot of the absolute worst videos are of Border Patrol, who are basically Bovino and Miller’s most aggressive tool right now.
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In the name of "fighting antisemitism," Indiana University appointed a Christian scholar to tell Jewish scholars what they can and cannot say - all while they invited Tucker Carlson to speak on campus. www.jta.org/2025/11/07/u...
In Indiana, a vaunted Jewish studies program is upended by red-state politics over Israel and speech - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A leadership shakeup, a defunded graduate student and political pressure from above have turned a storied program into a flashpoint for Trump-era campus politics.
www.jta.org
November 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
🤷♂️
Jesus Christ
Cornell agrees to include Bondi's anti-DEI/anti-trans memo as a "training resource to faculty and staff" (see: www.justice.gov/ag/media/140...)
November 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Jesus Christ
Now do gutting gun laws
Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies find #moleg #mogov
Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies find • Missouri Independent
Researchers and business leaders warn that discriminatory laws are pushing LGBTQ+ Missourians and employers to leave the state.
missouriindependent.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Now do gutting gun laws
Shameful
Cornell has reached an agreement with the federal government to restore our funding:
statements.cornell.edu/2025/2025110...
statements.cornell.edu/2025/2025110...
An agreement to restore Cornell’s federal research funding | University Statements | Cornell University
statements.cornell.edu
November 7, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Shameful