Rick Brannan

Stroker is an amazing source with stuff you won't find elsewhere (and Coptic/Latin/Syriac/Greek/etc.!)

House Dems sue ICE for blocking access to detention centers ICE facilities have become a flashpoint between Democrats and the Trump administration.

Didn't know so many people were unaware that this was going on. Yes, Democrats are suing the Trump Administration for denying their constitutionally guaranteed right to inspect ICE facilities. www.axios.com/2025/07/30/i...

Don't get the books unless you're really going to use them. Appreciate the thought though.

Love this, and as always really appreciate your support!

"Never Eat Slimy Worms". Thanks, Mr. Brasch.

We've become so accustomed to lawbreaking that this probably won't ripple much, but it is important not to forget that firing the IRS Commissioner for refusing to break the law--if that's in fact what happened here--would and should prompt immediate articles of impeachment in any other presidency.

Perseus Digital Library is an incredible resource for accessing original Ancient Greek texts alongside parsing tools and lexical aids. Perfect for exploring classical literature in depth.
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
#AncientGreek #Classics

h/t @francoisegirard.bsky.social

A family's fishing trip ends with the dad at 'Alligator Alcatraz'. Here's their story Civil rights lawyers say many migrant detainees in Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" are being barred from meeting regularly with attorneys and are being held in dangerous conditions.

Civil rights lawyers say many migrant detainees in Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" are being barred from meeting regularly with attorneys and are being held in dangerous conditions.

American Nazis: The Aryan Freedom Network is riding high in Trump era With Donald Trump’s return to power, a neo-Nazi group buoyed by his rhetoric is expanding its reach and changing the face of white extremism in America. Its leaders: a Texas couple, both born to Ku Klux Klan leaders.

“[American Nazi leaders] point to Trump’s rhetoric…as driving a surge in interest and recruitment…Trump ‘awakened a lot of people to the issues we’ve been raising for years,’ Stout told Reuters. ‘He’s the best thing that’s happened to us.’”
www.reuters.com/investigatio...

A video arguing that women shouldn’t be able to vote was just shared by Trump’s Secretary of Defense, the guy in charge of our whole military.

And Democratic Party leaders still can’t stand up to this administration?! Our rights are on the line and all our party leaders offer us is silence.

Death of a publishing dream: how the Unbound revolution b... The literary disrupters enjoyed great success with their crowdfunding model, signing authors that other publishers overlooked. And then the money ran out…

Strong read this morning in the Observer on the collapse of Unbound, featuring @alexdecampi.bsky.social, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and myself.

observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Impeach Kristi Noem.

I keep saying this (along with @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social), but it is corrosive to a society when people in positions of authority (governmental or not) lie and bear false witness without consequences.

OK, I've run gpt-5-mini on a few different tasks I'd been using gpt-4.1-mini for.

YMMV, but my initial anecdotal thought is that gpt-5-mini is better. Like, better. And it's cheaper too (API usage).

the thing to take from Cuomo—a politician who was supposedly invulnerable and had control of every aspect of Albany—having a flailing campaign is that all of these assholes are really paper tigers who only thrive when their opponents are also cowards.

Boom.

This is wrong. This is flat-out discrimination.

Impeach Pete Hegseth.

Did RFK just take away your cancer treatment? mRNA promised to help turn cancer from a death sentence into a manageable condition.

"The case of the Covid vaccines proved proved that plenty of MAGA people are willing to actually risk death in order to make a political statement — and to avoid the loss of face that would come with admitting they were wrong.

"So it will be with cancer."

Sunk-cost fallacy and cheating students are the only things keeping AI in business at this point.

Just look at how usage of ChatGPT plummets as soon as the semester ends.

When talked to in English, or regardless of the language, I wonder?

There was this paper some time ago about rather limited generalization across languages. I wonder what would happen here.

Better Ways to Read the Bible Pastor Zach Lambert dismantles four common lenses for reading the Bible that almost always lead to harm, then offers four revolutionary lenses that promote healing and wholeness.

I just started reading @zachwlambert.bsky.social's new book "Better Ways to Read the Bible" and can already tell (20 pages in) it's going to be really helpful.

@brazospress.bsky.social is offering it for pre-order at a 40% discount. Tough to beat that.

bakerbookhouse.com/products/617...

Federal records contradict what FEMA leader told Congress about Texas flood response Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

Exclusive: Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

Liberty University’s Baby Business: Forced Birth + Coerced Adoption = White Christian Nationalism Earlier this summer, investigative journalist T.J. Raphael released a seven-episode podcast, Liberty Lost, which investigates the history of Liberty University’s Godparent Home. In this secretive mate...

the latest from RD by @eocieslik.bsky.social:

how Liberty University cashed in on de facto child trafficking

(but, you know: biblically)

religiondispatches.org/liberty-univ...

This man is a friend of a friend and what has happened to him is a disgrace. And he’s not alone.

We're hiring! We're now accepting applications for the W. Hodding Carter III Senior/Executive Editor, an endowed position focused on acquiring trade and scholarly books in US history & related fields.

Interested in helping us shape this new imprint? Learn more & apply here ⬇️

bit.ly/3US7Ihq

Federal judge rules cuts to humanities grants were 'unlawful' The ruling deems the government's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities "unlawful" and allows a lawsuit brought by humanities groups to move forward.

The ruling deems the government's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities "unlawful" and allows a lawsuit brought by humanities groups to move forward.

Yes, I would. Thank you!

Raskin: "What we have is the Trump Justice Department organizing itself not around the interests of the survivors -- the people who were victimized by Maxwell and Epstein -- but rather organizing itself around protecting the perpetrators."