Matthew J (is) Tired

Just ordinary garden variety pride would seem to dictate that they’d want to at least appear to be legal professionals with independent thoughts and ideas, and not just a group of puny rubber-stamping yes-people. But alas…

Gee, by “agreeing to hear” the birthright citizenship case, I can’t possibly guess what this SC majority is going to do.

(Hint: there’s never any drama at all, the majority seems to have lost any real independent judgment, which is weird, since, judges and all)

This looks fantastic. Excited to see the results of this project

That's so great... and yes, it makes a big difference.

A student stayed after the last day to tell I’m the favorite prof they’ve had here so far 😊

(Like many profs, I *really* take criticism to heart, so these ocasional encouragements mean a lot)

Looks interesting. I wonder if the author engages with the idea that “jihadi-salafis” can be thought of as a sort of revival of Kharijism

This appears to be a highly promising and engaging contribution to a thorny field. I look forward to reading it, as it seems to offer a much-needed addition to the existing scholarship.

There we go. Sudan. Yemen. Somaliland. UAE's doing stuff all over right now.

Middle East Studies Association The Global Studies Department invites applications for a two-year position at the Visiting Assistant Professor rank in Global Studies with a focus on race and global inequality, broadly conceived.

The Global Studies Department at Colby College invites applications for a two-year position at the Visiting Assistant Professor rank in Global Studies with a focus on race and global inequality, broadly conceived.
mesana.org/resources-an...

Hopefully, I won some students over as far as helping them love the subject & see its relevance. But even if they came in disliking the subject & still dislike it, focusing on the course's own stated purposes relativizes their personal feelings &foregrounds a more objective standard of analysis.

I think this is useful because 1) it's accountability for me; to re-read the course description at the end if I haven't really done it would be embarrassing. 2) It helps students clarify the "job" of course evals. Did the course, *per its own purposes and paremeters*, do what we said it would do?

So: "Whatever its imperfections (please share!), did the course make a good faith effort to follow through on what it set out to do per the course description & goals? Did the assignments, sessions, and overall pedagogy contribute to this good faith effort?" Thoughts on this, fellow instructors?

...not the book you think or wish they had written. IOW, evaluate the author's effort in light of their stated purposes & paremeters. So too, here on the last day of class, we re-read the course description, goals, and requirements & I encouraged them to evaluate the course in terms of these...

For the first time today, when encouraging students to do the course eval, I used the analogy of writing book reviews. It gives them a window into another part of what I do, and serves as a good analogy(?). In a book review, one should review the book the author actually wrote & claimed to write...

What Syrians Want New survey data shows the promises and perils facing the country’s new government.

New Arab Barometer survey of Syria finds “the country’s people are hopeful, supportive of democracy, and open to foreign assistance…. They approve of and trust their current government. But our results also provide reasons for concern.”

www.foreignaffairs.com/syria/what-s...

Anyway, I have never/will never understand the “poor baby” entitled attitude of being so angered by having to wear a little piece of cloth over one’s mouth & nose —for one’s own & others’(!) well being. If you think that’s hardship or govt oppression, you don’t know what either of those things are.

Yeah, I think one of the only real differences is that red areas, in some cases, lifted restrictions a bit sooner than blue areas.

Everyone was in the same boat at the start. Sane GOP officials (rightly) did the same things as Dem officials. But instead of this becoming a moment of unity, the right spun off into conspiratorial insanity & we are now seeing the bitter fruit of this (vaccine denialism taking over the cdc, etc).

The idea that “blue” states/cities went into tight lockdowns & imposed “harsh” mask mandates, while “red”states/cities didn’t is a lie. I spent most of the Covid time in a deep red area where we were under the same (IMO, sane) restrictions as the more blue area I moved to near the “end” of Covid.

Sure, no argument about their potential usefulness. But it’s the often anti-consumer tradeoffs which give me pause.

I know (sigh)…my phone, computers, etc are ultimate examples of this. But in these cases I have to. In cases where I *don’t have to* (fridge, coffee maker, garage opener, car), why in the heck would I? Through “smart” devices, companies colonize your life (& you’re vulnerable to getting hacked)

Not only are smart appliances/devices able to spy on you, the companies behind them maintain ultimate control over your ability to use (aspects of) the device (for an extra fee!) and to repair them. Even though you bought and own it. Where possible, go analog

Why One Man Is Fighting for Our Right to Control Our Garage Door Openers

This article on “smart” garage door openers could have been about hundreds of other products.

Conclusion?“Always opt for the “dumb” devices — the refrigerators, dishwashers, exercise bikes and coffee makers that lack a Wi-Fi connection or screen.”

Gift article

Former pro athletes and other celebrities who appear in sports betting ads deserve zero respect. They’ve absolutely sold their souls.

tomorrow Regents gather to act on the Chancellor’s proposed devastating budget cuts

It is not too late to call or email to President Gold (402-472-8636 or president@nebraska.edu) and the Board of Regents (corpsec@nebraska.edu or 402-472-3906) to tell them to OPPOSE these cuts

It was more than 10 years before the breakup of the Soviet Union, 45 years ago

Under less pressing matters, how is the guy who called the miracle on ice still calling games with that same (if just ever so slightly diminished) voice?

Again,

Remember, these are the geniuses who have the resources of entire nations and are 100% confident they can spend their way into being correct and loved and cool.

You can spend billions on crap. It's still crap.

After the “uproar” over the “double tap” strike, this one is almost a taunt. “We don’t care and won’t stop.”