Rebecca Spang

Executive Committee Statement on Concerns Regarding IU’s Promotion and Deployment of Generative AI The uncritical adoption of generative artificial intelligence across higher education represents a fundamental threat to academic freedom, shared governance, and the educational mission of universi…

Excellent statement by local AAUP chapter on the folly (malice?) of the institution's allocation of resources to what is widely called "AI" iubaaup.org/2026/02/13/e...

Today’s moment of calm, is this commission that I’ve just finished this morning. A tiny icon/triptych of a mouse clutching a stitchwort garland. A gift for a very special person. I am now opening my commissions diary for the next few months should you be interested?

A very special cat has watched this little video a dozen times!

My friend and colleague Eladio Bobadilla will soon publish a new and timely book, *Dangerous Migrations: Mexican Labor and the Fight for Immigrant Rights* -- a labor history of migration and struggle from below. Pre-order with discount using the code below.

www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

Fascists only need to win one election to destroy democracy, whereas democrats have to win every election to preserve it. That’s why fascists cannot be allowed into politics, why a tolerant society must never tolerate fascism or it will lose its tolerance. It’s the Popper Paradox and we’re living it

FUN fact indeed! I feel I learned something.

As day draws to a close, landscape at sunset, 1522, by the extraordinary Albrecht Altdorfer of Regensburg. It’s been his day today.

NEW: We’re publishing a full list of the 373 federal judges who have ruled against ICE’s mass detention policy and the 28 who have endorsed it — as well as links to key rulings by each.

Trump appointees have split 44 against/ 20 for the policy.

www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.

The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Exclusive: Detention Center Captives Are Throwing Lotion Bottles Wrapped With Notes to Organizers Outside Otay Mesa Facility ~ L.A. TACO “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh," an Otay Mesa captive communicated through handwritten note. "We are all in one big room with no doors...

"Inside of the detention center Wong says, captives work for $1 a day– a single 15-minute phone call is $5, according to Wong."

lataco.com/captive-loti...

“a snide tone wholly devoid of empathy”, as one author writing in the notoriously leftist [checks notes] … USA Today….

easy slogan for the next democratic presidential candidate is “i will reform the corrupt supreme court and repeal citizens united”

House passes SAVE America Act, sending Trump-backed election bill to the Senate The legislation would overhaul federal election laws in all 50 states by imposing new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. But it faces a daunting path in the Senate.

Terrible. The bill now goes to the Senate. Make those calls. 202-224-3121
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

HELL NO, we’re not.

Really fascinating look at why there is a discernible gay accent but not a lesbian one (male-centric social conditions, probably).

Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.

Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers--career scientists--when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...

“Country no need laws, stock market good” is essentially a reasonable distillation of their midterms pitch tbh

Officials suspect bird flu to blame for hundreds of dead crows in Terre Haute The county has collected over 500 dead crows in the past week, with more bodies being called in.

Bird flu continues its ravages. (And when was the last we heard about it? But how could we without a functional USDA etc.) www.ipm.org/news/2026-02...

Opinion | How Much Can One Man Make From Being President? (Gift Article) The president took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he’s focused his second term on enriching himself and his family.

Un paywalled. (And, to be clear, I don't pay for the NYT, but I do sometimes access it from campus) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Rep. Raskin to Pam Bondi: You're siding with the perpetrators and ignoring the victims. That will be your legacy. You're running a massive Epstein coverup right out of the Department of Justice.

Back to the Future: What can we Learn about Future Thinking from Late Medieval and Early Modern Merchant Correspondences from the Low Countries

FRIDAY FEB 13: Jeroen Puttevils on “Back to the Future: What can we Learn about Future Thinking from Late Medieval and Early Modern Merchant Correspondences from the Low Countries.” 5:30 pm London time, IHR Wolfson Rm 2 and online. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

A friend of ours was able to be a test subject for an mRNA vaccine for an aggressive form of breast cancer. Completely worked. It is one of the greatest miracles of science and like 40% of the country turned it into The Jab because they are mushheaded simpletons.

* by, not my.

Past me established the habit of always advance-dating deadlines in my mind (it's due the 15th, I remember 10th). This once earned me a reputation for always getting things in early, and now means I generally manage to squeak it in my the deadline. [well, except for some book reviews] Count it a win

A family member is at a conference in Minneapolis right now and uses the words “surreal” and “war zone” to describe it

My students this semester have the most unpredictable reactions. It’s now occurring to me that that is exactly what you want when teaching the French Revolution and something I have genuinely never had before.

Before Dred Scott Cambridge Core - Early Republic and Antebellum History - Before Dred Scott

Some books on how Black people and white antislavery allies used writs of habeas corpus to challenge slavery:
Anne Twitty, Before Dred Scot

@marthasjones.bsky.social
Birthright Citizens

The Moderna flu vax is under review for licensure in Canada, Australia and the EU. It will be widely used in many countries, but not in the US.
Excellent summary by @melodyschreiber.com 👇