Michael Hendricks 🇨🇦

I'm happy with <10% of what Carney has done or has indicated he plans to do so far, but 1) "transformative" sounds wordsmithed to be something only an idiot would assume is a compliment, and 2) there is a lot more at stake in this diplomacy effort than either of these two mens' egos.

very cool that if you are working on behalf of right-wing culture warriors, you no longer need standing to have your claim adjudicated by the supreme court

"The work I was involved in had no obvious therapeutic benefit. It was purely of scientific interest. I hope the country will continue to support basic research even though it may have no obvious practical value."
- John Gurdon

That's more of a funny [derogatory] thing about Parisians.

LOL.

All I'm saying is that when you write "I am alive" on some paper and put it in a photocopier, judging by the output we don't know that there's *not* a very small man in there. And maybe he deserves rights

as a girl with a PhD in natural language processing and machine learning it's actually offensive to me when you say "we don't know how LLMs work so they might be conscious"

I didn't spend 10 years in mines of academia to be told ignorance is morally equal knowledge.

We know exactly how LLMs work.

Supreme Court poised to rule that religious beliefs allow for child abuse over the states interest in preventing child abuse.

We've found a new low in individualizing climate responsibility.

1) The Republic as we knew it is over. The fight now is whether the new one will be a fascistic, competitive authoritarian regime or a pluralist democracy that, we can hope, is better than what came before. 2) Even if you think restoration is possible, it’s a bad idea. The Constitution has failed. Or, more accurately, the Constitutional order built out of the New Deal, the Second Reconstruction, and the repudiation of the Nixon presidency has failed. This is not a prediction. It’s not a “if we continue on our current course.” The Constitution as designed by the founders, was supposed to prevent the current regime. Its original guardrails did not work. The ones added after the Civil War did not work. The de facto amendments created by the accretion of judicial decisions did not work. The post-Watergate reforms did not work.

He's commenting on an essay by Dan Nexon, pointing out that the existing Constitutional order has failed - and the main question is what comes after.

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/10/the-...

It is difficult to summarize how bad this administration is (it’s part of why I have the In Front of Our Nose series, because it is just so much). I suspect that if, for some reason, you are reading this but think Trump is a normal president, nothing I can say will disuade you, and if you agree with me that he is a clear threat to the constitutional order, I don’t need to make a list. I will just note the following. He is usurping congressional authority on spending and staffing, and therefore literally ignoring the law. He has empowered ICE to violate due process. He has ordered the military to commit murder in the Caribbean (and they have complied). He has publicly directed the Attorney General to go after his enemies because he, Trump, declares them to be guilty. He has pardoned/commuted the sentences of ~1500 people who tried to disrupt a constitutional process. All the while, he and his family have been enriching themselves because he is president. Oh, and the Supreme Court has said he is immune from prosecution for anything linked to his “official duties.” The fact that the above is my short version of the situation is more than a bit disturbing.

From Stephen L. Taylor: The Constitution Has Failed. outsidethebeltway.com/has-the-cons...

It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all

Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE

Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in

Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle

Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired

Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her

See also: people who say we must "restore trust in higher ed"

Big risk here is the extent to which university upper administrations welcome the restrictions on student and faculty speech and don't give a shit about the rest.

US universities must reject Trump’s ‘compact’. It is full of traps | Jan-Werner Müller The administration is trying to make nine universities an offer they seemingly cannot refuse

"Precisely because they have been losing court cases over free speech and visas for foreign students, Trumpists now seek to entrap universities in a deal that effectively removes the protections of federal law and gives the administration arbitrary power over them."

Did Perseverance see 3I/Atlas? Yes, maybe.

Is Avi Loeb using this as an opportunity to falsely impugn actual science in an effort to blow smoke up his own ass? Yes, undoubtedly.

Basically nothing Loeb has been in the news for in the last 5 years has proven correct. Stop falling for his grift.

Gosh the UST is putting us in a bit of a pickle.

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

From the Community | President Levin’s first order of business: abandoning academic freedom By standing with tenured faculty and powerful political operatives against contingent researchers and trainees at Stanford, President Jonathan Levin has already betrayed academic freedom, writes Mallo...

A year ago, I warned university leadership to not help Jay Bhattacharya fashion himself a champion of open debate while he actively worked to undermine academic freedom.

Now, as NIH Director, he's waging a campaign of censorship to advance a political agenda.

stanforddaily.com/2024/10/03/f...

This is interesting... the Cree Nation is bidding to redevelop the former Hudson's Bay building in Montreal into a museum and heritage space, hotel, and housing for Indigenous students, highlighting Cree history, culture, and Cree contributions to Quebec 👀

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This seems like a misstep to me. CA cannot replace all of the Federal funds. Simple math is going to win out here.

Is the math simple? The other side of the Headpiece of the Staff of Ra reminds us that Trump is going to defund universities whether they sign loyalty oaths or not.

I honestly think Trump is operating outside of normal politics right now. He is relying on propaganda and an unwavering floor of support. As long as the GOP in Congress remains loyal, I'm not sure traditional popular approval dynamics matter.

ATV catching big air, labelled "neuropeptides."

"The connectome is like a road map."

It's fascinating and revealing how many centrists think refusing to compromise on human rights to gain the support of bigots represents a "political purity test," yet also think that a bigot saying "I won't join you unless you accommodate my bigotry" does NOT represent a "political purity test."

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

That first part

Was an undergrad at UT Austin. Have an incredible fondness for the institution, its faculty, staff, students, and leadership—when I was there.

What was one of the best public universities in the U.S. becomes more and more unrecognizable in the face of the nonsense Republicans have subjected it to.

If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.