The collateral arrest issue is one that hasn’t gotten as much focus in the media but is a big difference in ICE under Obama vs. now. The Obama administration stepped up deportations but when it had a specific order of removal it was executing (such as someone with a felony record) they went after that person. Now, ICE…

Biker crank in particular - definitely not Heisenberg's blue

I find myself at once glad he’s not letting Pompeo and Bolton run with their instinct to nuke something and see what happens but also reminded yet again that he is incapable of stringing together a coherent nuanced statement. The tweet made it seem like a “tough guy” response like his unauthorized Tomahawk strike…

Because apparently in the tumult of a post game celebration a police officer who has interposed himself in front of a large well dressed and frankly pretty well known black man has a right to retain an undefined amount of “personal space” and can shove anyone who makes the mistake of walking into it.

Not just dsolaying a lminated tag in a threatening manner but a large black body in the police officer’s personal space, which is both bizarre given the context of someone who stepped into the path of said man to ask him for ID and eerily like the precursor "and that was why I was in fear for my life and had to kill…

Just to add the Brits coined the term “concentration camp” at the turn of the 20th century to describe their strategy of rounding up the Boer civilian population and putting them under guard. It had nothing to do with killing then but the idea of isolating a population that was seen as untrustworthy/dangerous. There…

I know I never should but I wound up reading the Tweets.  What the hell is a “rigged” hearing?  Seriously if I had someone as publicly loudly stupid about the basic functions of government as he in a class I’m pretty sure I’d fail them for impeding everyone else’s ability to learn anything.

But since the horse is totally imaginary (perhaps a unicorn) can it ever really die?

A kid she moved with to Florida, after a divorce, to enroll at a high priced sports academy. Yeah, I could see where getting involved with a middle aged woman (and thereby jeopardizing his “bright future”) might just lead to a lecture or two.

Teaching is like heroin for the right personality. There’s really very little to compare to the thrill of connecting with a student on the stuff you really get excited about, whether it is in a lecture hall or office hours. Having a student tell you that you changed how they see the world, or seeing someone grow over…

I don’t know how widespread it was, but the actual response of multiple departments at my PhD institution to a strong union contract for the adjuncts (things like rights of refusal on classes for teachers with several years of service, any non-renewal has to go out 60 days before the end of the academic year,…

I can say that my current colleagues don’t seem to have that problem.  They know the market sucks.  Doesn’t mean students want to hear it, though - or even ask a lot of the time.

I teach a lot of intro classes that are cross listed in other departments, so I get the college kids who are acting like middle schoolers - and unlike when I was in college, because my schools all encouraged me to give a small piece of my grade for attendance and participation, they show up and think I don’t see them…

True simple majoritarian democracy is not about compromise but victory. The definition of a democracy most scholars use is just that there is are viable choices for people to make and at least one (many insist on two) peaceful transitions of power linked to elections. Some political scientists will say that…

Biden isn’t wrong that the Senate actually ran smoother in the 70s even though there were some incredibly racist assholes among the almost exclusively white and make club. The main focus was on how to divvy up domestic appropriations and everyone agreed getting some pork to take home was a good thing so deal making…

It is similar to Kant's categorical imperatives to treat all of humanity - yourself and everyone else -as a end in itself rather than a means to an end.  Or as my political theory Prof put it, when you get your haircut you don't chintz on the tip or throw the money on the floor.  Really not that hard. 

This sort of vague, anecdata driven complaint sounds a lot like what got the whole wellness/power of positive thinking movement jump started in America in the nineteenth century. Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided does a nice dive on the history of the middle class people who suffered from all sorts of “nervous…

Also sunk cost fallacy (which I say as someone who only drives his car once a week at most but can't bring myself to ditch it).

MLMs are such a beautiful metaphor for America right now - I hope they have a nice stand in for the Prince/DeVos clan and their leveraging of the aspirations of tens of thousands of people in their AmWay pyramid. Which in cassic MLM fashion built its first few layers by exploiting the close Western Michigan community…

Don’t forget dropping off the bribe money (and yes Cohen did emulate some of the best lawyers I know in precisely one way - being utterly compartmentalized between his job persona and his personal life. One of the many issues with the field as a whole is how it encourages people to think they can be, in fact should…