Lauren Bell

A Diminished Congress Weighs Whether to Reassert Its Power

This lede makes no sense: "Congress learned some hard lessons about the limits of its power during the first year of the second Trump administration..." They did not in fact learn any lessons about how powers they entirely declined to exercise might have worked.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...

Social media post from the Hanover County, VA animal control office describing a liquor store break-in, which was perpetrated by a raccoon, who proceeded to get very drunk.

A photo of one of the liquor store aisles. There are broken bottles and puddles of alcohol in the photo.

The drunk raccoon passed out next to the toilet in the store’s bathroom. According to the report, he slept off the effects of the alcohol at animal control and was released back into the wild.

Was not expecting to read today that on Black Friday, a raccoon broke in, got drunk, and passed out in the bathroom of the liquor store just off campus. And yet, it also seems like a very Ashland thing to happen.

The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston

I can

I can

Duffy to announce nuclear reactor on the moon This is the first major agency effort by the interim NASA administrator, who is also the Transportation secretary and a former Fox News host.

How about high-speed rail on earth?

Antwone Fisher

You’re right. Half my wardrobe is from WHBM. Though I am a bit envious that she has managed to stay off these retailers’ mailing lists because even though I never shop at J.Jill, they still send me their catalogs.

Senator Cory Booker got into some ‘good trouble’ and the consequences are still reverberating writes @lmcbell.bsky.social of Randolph-Macon College

blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

Snoop and Tom Brady: say no to hate

Kendrick: actually

🙋🏻‍♀️

Again, a decade from now "AI skills" will be a commodity, & the scarce resource in the labor market will (once again) be individuals who can think, write, analyze, & communicate, as it has been forever and always. And we'll still be fighting tired, age-old battles defending the liberal arts.

According to the Congressional Research Service, I think so. sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44...

Whole turkey, with crisp, golden brown skin.

Picture of a dining room table set for Thanksgiving.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a perfectly smoked turkey, thanks to @webergrills.bsky.social. 🦃🍗🍽

It’s Japanese. Everything they make is just ridiculously high quality.

You used to call me on my self-own

Bookmarking this for syllabus updates. As always, great work by @jdrackey.bsky.social and @lmcbell.bsky.social

Feel free to add me if there’s still room!

Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline.

These days I really wish I’d studied turf management in college instead of history and political science. I think I’d be a lot happier.

Trump is highly abnormal but this campaign outcome is standard poli sci:
-Incumbent parties perform poorly when the public is unhappy with the economy
-Most people don't pay very close attention or have consistent ideological views
-Election-specific variation often takes the form of a uniform swing

And as others have said, this piece assumes that “identity politics” can’t/doesn’t include whiteness or Christian nationalism.

Serious fucking cool Kamala Harris looking like Prince in 1984, Tim Walz sitting on a car in sunglasses just chilling like a not-creepy guy in a John Hughes movie.

Don’t know where this came from but I think it might be the poster from a John Hughes movie.

The Carl Albert Center is recruiting a graduate Fellow to earn a PhD in political science from OU Political Science. Our package includes 5 years of funding with year 1 as a TA for the intro class, 2-4 as a RA or TA for CAC faculty, and a 5th year dedicated to finishing your dissertation.

Hey Virginians--tomorrow, October 15, is the last day to register to vote before the Nov. 5th election. Verify or register TODAY!