Frederick Douglass on John Brown, 1881
Prof at KU Law. Writes about sexual violence, criminal law, courts, judges, and empirical legal studies. He/Him/His.
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Frederick Douglass on John Brown, 1881
#BREAKING: Judge Breyer has held that the Trump admin. *violated* the Posse Comitatus Act in its military deployments in and around Los Angeles, and has enjoined further use of those troops for law enforcement tasks. The order is stayed through 12 PDT on 9/12: georgetown.app.box.com/file/1973361...
Trump will announce that JD has become the first VP to have relations with all the sofas in the White House.
“A respected network of hospitals and cancer centers is halting enrollment in clinical trials for children with brain cancer after the federal government said it would no longer provide funding to the group.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
Why use unethical, environmentally disastrous AI to do bad math when any cranky Gen Xer can tell you that 20 years ago was 1980--for free.
RIP Graham Greene. Every time he popped up on screen when I was a kid, my mom would excitedly point him out for being an actual Native on the screen. Able to be deadly serious and infinitely hilarious (even in smaller roles like Last of Us), he ate up the screen. Nʌki’wah brother.
Nate Silver started his political analysis career with incisive criticism of talking heads that relied on anecdotes and gut feelings instead of data. At some point he just said "fuck it" and became a perpetual bad take machine.
Ever since we gave him the vaccine my dog has been non-verbal
Post vaccine, my dog engaged in repetitive behavior (endless fetch) and became distressed about slight changes to their routine (delayed meal time).
"Blueskyism" helped the Mississippi Free Press overcome algorithmic suppression on other platforms (Facebook, Threads) and ride out plummeting engagement on Twitter following Musk's X takeover. Thank God we took our eggs out of the X basket when we did.
There were many of us screaming on social media about her incredible work. It finally broke through.
It's a great show and an absolutely amazing set of performances.
Results so stunningly clear they inspired this classic xkcd (xkcd.com/2400/):
🚨 Job! 🚨 Brown Sociology & the Watson School of International & Public Affairs are hiring a TT assistant professor whose research focuses on social policy (broadly conceived). Apply by 9/15: apply.interfolio.com/172655 Happy to chat about life at Brown, etc!
This is the strangest home run you're ever going to see and it could only happen at Fenway
Crime is literally lower than it has been in the entire life of every single non-senior-citizen American. If you are under age 65 you have never lived at a time with lower property crime rates, lower violent crime rates or lower homicide rates. Never.
MW's Words First Used In Print in your birth year is your personal We Didn't Start The Fire: acquaintance rape anti-choice bunker mentality DNR gulag immunocompromised pass-through entity rotavirus social conservatism STD string cheese trans fat ... I was born at a very dark time
Our 14yo doesn't want us to get a giant fathead on a stick of her face to display when we cheer her during volleyball games. Kids these days...
every pic of trump looks like this now
"I'm a real Catholic and the Pope is not."
There's a particular zealotry and arrogance about Catholicism among later life converts.
"Kafkaesque" is what conservatives say when they want to switch it up from "Orwellian," without understanding that neither term fits their usage.
But, also, they should actually read Kafka before describing something as "Kafkaesque."
senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, former chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) & director of budget and spending policy for Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign👇🏽
Candy corn and Peeps are awesome and, because I have fructose malabsorption, I can't eat either, which makes me sad.
JUST IN: Drew Ensign, on behalf of DOJ, reports that all of the migrant children have been returned to ORR custody.
One of the best things @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social could do with NYC's tax base is properly fund the CUNYs. Their history of helping low-income people escape poverty is unprecedented in higher education.
You guys see where this is going? Right?
I've been taking that approach, but I think there's a reasonable case, as others have suggested, for using the phrase "generative AI" (insofar as "AI" has long been used to describe any computer algorithm).
If you are, like me, generally opposed to how Large Language Models are being positioned and used (and not regulated currently) one very simple thing you could do is to stop using the term “AI” to describe them. When you do, you’re buying into the linguistic and conceptual framework of your enemies.
Wikipedia editors trying to fend off the onslaught of AI crap have crowdsourced some telltale signs of LLM-generated writing; it might be handy for editors and proofreaders generally. Thanks to @ellenrykers.com for pointing me to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...
Fifty-one of the 85 Federalist papers were written by a guy born in Nevis.
Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival
8 Relievers Out
Trump and Gabbard are certainly considered "assets" by Russia. But Gabbard genuinely seems to be an "agent" sometimes.
I honestly don't know. I assume lots of us at KU keep our bar memberships, but I've never talked to anyone about it. My only "practice" is amicus work and pro bono consulting, for which I don't need an active membership. But, I like to have the option.
I've kept my active bar status b/c 1) NY doesn't have inactive status; 2) my law school pays my dues; and 3) NY CLE obligations are easy to meet for law professors. I'm not sure how many others that applies to.
My entire scholarly agenda and he just tweets it out
Me, whenever I add a new argument to a draft. h/t @evanbernick.bsky.social
Thrilled that my article with @markpmckenna.bsky.social on "Amazon's Quiet Overhaul of the Trademark System" is now out in the California Law Review @califlrev.bsky.social
JUST IN: Judge Sooknanan ordered the government to file a status report by 4 pm to address whether the children have been deplaned. DOJ blew the deadline. Now she orders them to show cause why they didn’t file the report in time — and sets new 6:30 pm deadline.
New: I looked at 90 porn sites to test the new age-verification law rewriting the web. The ones following the rules, and scanning visitors' faces, are crumbling, while the lawbreakers are doubling or tripling their traffic. One of many unintended consequences for an experimental tech wapo.st/47QuttW
The difference between the "law on the books" and law in the real world takes on a different meaning when the President scribbles all over the law books.
It might seem like an abstract, academic issue. But law has a significant legitimizing effect. Trump's EOs have the trappings of law and are often treated as law, but frequently come from an illegal process.
Scholars have spent a lot of time discussing whether law exists when a statute, court opinion, ordinance, etc. is not enforced. But we didn't adequately consider whether law exists when people comply with wholly illegal orders from a mad king.
This is not pronunciation but a spelling that blew my head apart: I was over 50 when I learned restaurateur does not have an N in it. It's a person who restores you, not someone who restaurants you.
Congratulations!! That's awesome!
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
OU812?
After 1 half, I'm beginning to suspect that the issue isn't the QB at Iowa.
I will make your kids dumber for only $50k.
I can
Your dad was Mario Cuomo.
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
My wife and I watched it and enjoyed it. Our 14yo didn't want to join us. 🤷
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
Also, I have no idea I screwed up Packer's citation. Ugh. Fixing now.
Law review editors are probably going to ask for a citation for this callback. @orinkerr.bsky.social
Like John Brown, I'm fanatically anti-slavery. I consider that one of my better qualities.
Dismisses John Brown? Akhil Amar is dead to me.
Some JDs have been good university presidents. But, all of those started as academics.
Don't know if it's better or worse that I thought that was the shadow of his nipple.
Sorry, I only read one biography per person/document.
Chris Kattan's characters were so awful
Mr. Peepers' dream has finally come true
First question for every candidate: Do you play Calvinball?
Those 1920s - 1940s NYT headlines about Hitler is a sight to behold www.nytimes.com/search?dropm...
Also, if you haven't heard from KU yet, that doesn't mean anything. We still haven't contacted everyone who we decided to interview. Scheduling is ongoing even though we are interviewing some people today.
Doesn't the associate dean know that I need to (not) complete an article draft?!?!
I'm always excited to meet new scholars. But scheduling screening interviews on a Saturday of a holiday weekend was definitely a choice (and not mine).
Hello, I am furious www.liberalcurrents.com/let-it-burn-...
That's why maga go around in the hats, tshirts, flags on their houses, stickers on their trucks, etc. It's more like a sports team than politics. It's politics of grievance with sport team aesthetics
Cannot miss the (d)evolution of the MAGA plastic surgeries. Fascism by Instagram filter.
Importantly, you can't have policy debates against politics as aesthetics. This is why the Schumer plan was always doomed. As long as Trumpists believe they are purifying America, they will not waver.
The elevation of aesthetics explains why crackdowns on the homeless and immigrants are supported so vociferously by Trump's base without regard to the moral implications. Similarly, Trump and RFK Jr. can openly embrace eugenics without a significant backlash.
Some people think it trivializes politics and/or the threat of Trump to discuss the role of aesthetics. But those of us who have read Benjamin and scholarship about aesthetics and fascism were among the first to see the danger of Trump back in 2016. This is where aesthetics in politics always leads.
I'm on the committee this year. Going to have to add a Nobel section to our report.
Trump's politics, like all fascists, is aesthetic. It's why he is always saying things like "straight out of central casting" and attacks people at a superficial, not substantive, level. Even his racism manifests as aesthetics. Once you recognize this, Trump and his support are easy to comprehend.
Life is hard enough without people subskeeting me about my mortality.
Wrote about Comer/Mace attempting to doxx and intimidate Wikipedia editors in an effort to force their own viewpoint onto Wikipedia.
Seeing the lead strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign saying Democrats need to abolish ICE and nationalize SpaceX should be a wakeup call to Chuck Schumer. But it won't be.
How many nominations can we make? I feel like Elmo has to be my number 1 choice.
Ryan and Rob did well buying Wrexham instead of one of the teams that sounds like the setting of a crappy fairy tale.
I feel like @johnpfaff.bsky.social has just handed me a loaded gun.
NYT holiday bonuses must be tied to worst euphemisms used.
I don't think Trump is on his deathbed. But I also think this underestimates the sociopathy of Trumpists like Habba.
🎁link for terrific op-ed by @hbwhbwhbw.bsky.social Her point is such an important one: the Trump administration is destroying the government's data collecting capacities as part of its war on inconvenient facts. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/o...
It's not the greatest show, but Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is awesome as a fictional version of himself, who happens to be Angela's father on Bones. He is also an absolutely terrifying (prospective) father in law. He appears throughout the series.
You know the Criminal Law prof is going to be everyone's first suspect.
I'd buy this book.
This is also the first article where I committed to using Zotero. Maybe not being able to find articles and quotes during drafting was an important limiting constraint on me.
Maybe having article sections titled "Conventional Legal Analysis" and "Legal Systems" was a sign that I should narrow the scope.
I fear what my colleagues are going to think when I have a brown bag workshop in a few weeks.
I'm a bit concerned that I don't discuss my proposed framework until page 60.
Footnote count: 498. I'm approaching two milestones.
Oops. 97.
