Brian Stone

We Are Not Fascists, and If You Call Us Fascists, We Will Arrest You Our 10th most-read article of 2025. - - -President Trump had another successful week of what is already the greatest presidency of all time, and y...

"Calling us fascists is classic Antifa behavior, and we’ll need to keep you at a CIA black site until we can make sure you’re not plotting any attacks."

Revised Definitions of the Verb “To Google” 1. To look something up quickly and then spend twenty minutes fact-checking the AI summary, only to find out that it was absolutely wrong. 2. To se...

"To attempt to find useful information and instead take part in the solidification of the internet as an ad-delivery business, where you’re given no option but to be the product."

‘A mini Battle of Cable Street’: the English neighbourhoods still grappling with the meaning of the flags The controversy over flags has faded from the national agenda – but street by street, late at night and with ingenious new equipment, their raising and removal is the subject of a roiling dispute over...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...

Responding to the Current Political Moment in the United States - Association of University Presses AUPresses resolves to speak out - on behalf of our member presses and in concert with the wide scholarly community - about the very real threats to knowledge and scholarship posed by the current floo...

Association of University Presses: Responding to the Current Political Moment in the United States aupresses.org/news/respond...

Large Language Muddle | The Editors The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

"Stigmatization is a powerful force, and disgust and shame are among our greatest tools." Large Language Muddle: It's OK to be a Luddite! www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...

Editors in British Academic Book Publishing - Publishing Research Quarterly The commissioning (or acquisitions) editor is an important figure in academic book publishing, yet they have been largely overlooked by researchers in the publishing studies field. Existing studies depict editors as privileged gatekeepers or entrepreneurs, holding significant power over what does, or does not, make it into print. Drawing on qualitative interviews with seventeen commissioning editors from various commercial publishers and university presses in Britain, this article examines how contemporary editors perceive the nature of their work. It discusses topics such as editorial intervention, author relations, and the pervasiveness of managerial controls, and it suggests that the editor’s authority and autonomy is more ambiguous and contingent than previously thought.

Editors spend a lot of time thinking about and dealing with the constraints and incentives faced by academic authors. This is a nice, informed piece about the work of editors in academic book publishing that gets many things exactly right. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

David Renton · Short Cuts: What is the meaning of support? With the proscription of Palestine Action early in July, the question of what support for a terrorist group means has...

‘The problem with the interpretation of the verb “support” by the police and courts in Britain today is that the state accepts no limit to its meaning.’

David Renton on the Palestine Action ban: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

On the “Palestine exception” to academic freedom https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/22/harvard-educational-review-palestine-issue-cancelled

☀️I will be at ICON-S in Brasilia next week for Oxford Univ Press and happy to chat with prospective authors. Drop me a line to schedule! #iconsbrasília academic.oup.com/pages/contac...

Huw Lemmey · Short Cuts: Who’s afraid of Palestine Action? I believe there is a moral case for disarming the machinery of war that is killing innocent civilians in Gaza with the...

‘Like Trudi Warner, Rev. Parfitt has been arrested for holding a sign. Can that be understood by any but the most authoritarian of rubrics as an act of terrorism?’

Huw Lemmey on Palestine Action and freedom of conscience: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Oxford University Press @oxfordacademic.bsky.social is very lucky to have published this book in the Oxford Legal History series. Many congratulations to Allison Powers! global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Our University Is Replacing DEI with Vibes and Vaguely Diverse Stock Photos “President Trump signed a list of executive actions aimed at both higher education and K-12 schools. One of the actions takes aim at college and un...

"Rest assured, the laws and regulations that protect against discrimination are well-established, and we will continue to follow them exactly as interpreted by those currently gutting them. This is not hypocrisy—it’s agile compliance."

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) does not cooperate, collaborate, or coordinate with law enforcement at protests. Our members and communities are starkly aware of the enormous risks of engaging with the government in any way.

A Call To Defend Free Speech From Weaponized Allegations of Terrorism Ties When students, staff, or faculty are accused of being associated or "aligned" with terrorist organizations, universities may be pressed to take immediate and harsh action, if only to quell media…

As pro-Palestine students & faculty around the country are increasingly being tarred with accusations of terrorism, universities must protect their community members, as well as their missions, by refusing to operate on the basis of fear

lpeproject.org/blog/free-sp...

We rally together when the rule of law is under attack. And make no mistake, our courts and profession are under attack. This is our moment as a profession to speak loudly and clearly, reminding our communities why the rule of law and our justice system are vital to our democracy. Today is the day when the organized bar stands and speaks. We stand for the rule of law. We defend our judicial system against attacks that seek to intimidate and threaten our courts and judges. We reject the repeated efforts to impeach and remove judges because the government does not agree with the decision. We condemn attacks on lawyers and law firms for representing clients who have challenged a government policy. We defend law firms and organizations who are being attacked for their commitment to a judicial system and profession that are free of bias and for their policies and programs that enhance diversity. Shouldn't every person who appears in our courts be treated the same and consistent with due process as required by our Constitution? Finally we reject efforts that seek to punish those who have represented parties the government does not like. These attacks undermine our system of justice and the principles that define who we are and how democracy works. Let there be no doubt. The ABA and the profession will lead when we need it most. Now is that time. We stand with our courts and the legal profession as a bulwark against these threats. They must stop.

Attacks on the rule of law, our courts and our profession show no signs of abating. Many have wondered where the lawyers are and how they are responding. The ABA hears the call to action. We do not stand alone: ambar.org/akz90o52

James Butler | As the Met bruised in Last Thursday evening, more than twenty Metropolitan police officers – some armed with tasers – broke down the doors...

‘The old common law offence of public nuisance, once used to prosecute major polluters, has been transformed into a tool for the imprisonment of environmental defenders.’

James Butler (@piercepenniless.bsky.social) on anti-protest laws and last week's Met Police raid: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...

AHA–OAH Joint Statement on Federal Censorship of American History The American Historical Association (AHA) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH) have released a joint statement condemning federal censorship of American history.

The AHA and the OAH have released a joint statement condemning recent efforts to censor historical content on federal government websites, at many public museums, and across a wide swath of government resources that include essential data. To date, 23 organizations have signed on to the statement. 🗃️

Association of University Presses logo

We join with individual & institutional members of the scholarly communications community to sign the "Declaration To Defend Research Against US Government Censorship."

Researchers must be freely able to conduct, collaborate on, share, review & discuss their research. https://bit.ly/4193LI7
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