sellars.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

"They could have talked to us, for crying out loud, or worse—demanded that we do something."

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

Here is the Associated Press complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... And here is the motion for a preliminary injunction: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

What Are College Presidents Saying About Trump? Not Much. President Donald Trump is seeking to aggressively reshape higher education in ways that threaten programs and federal funding. College presidents are largely staying silent. #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/4kb3Y6b

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

More of this. The fuck are you doing promoting a book when the country is falling apart?

submitted 3 days ago • 419 comments

We at the Internet Society are deeply disappointed that Apple has had to stop offering end-to-end encryption in the UK. The following can be attributed to Dr. Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Distinguished Technologist at the Internet Society: 1/

submitted 3 days ago • 6 comments

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (Matador Records, 2000)

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

We urge university leaders to respond confidently, with law and moral principle on your side, and not to sacrifice essential and legally defensible DEI initiatives that help universities fulfill their most basic mission to pursue truth and knowledge for the common good. app.box.com/s/2me4mszr6p...

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

BALD SUPERVILLAIN: My plan Mr. Bond? It’s quite simple. To offer the people of the world reliable cloud computing and flash sales at rock bottom prices with next day delivery. BOND: (tied up and recently tortured) I have no meaningful objections to this.

submitted 4 days ago • 24 comments

A real 2025 moment: I breathed a sign of relief when I realized this story was about frozen water.

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Please for the love of God give your money to the @texasobserver.org so that they can give the money to me to keep investigating bad people. You can even say you'd like your donation to support my work specifically. texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/donate/

submitted 5 days ago • 24 comments

There’s an active fascist takeover going on. Let’s check in with the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee to see how they’re resisting it. Oh… oh I see. They’re trying to blow up Section 230 and open the floodgates for Trump to censor the Internet. Inspiring!

submitted 5 days ago • 72 comments

he's not trolling. he means what he says even when it makes no sense.

submitted 5 days ago • 27 comments

From @kanarinka.bsky.social in the MIT faculty newsletter: fnl.mit.edu/january-febr... I hope that all academics understand this threat for what it is. It is as existential as the federal research budget cuts, and also much deeper and more important than that.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

New from 404 Media: a Musk ally has demanded administrative access to Notify.gov, a system that lets the government text the public. The access would give them large swathes of the publics' personal data too. A worker has resigned in protest rather than give access www.404media.co/musk-ally-de...

submitted 6 days ago • 186 comments

Even if our institutions aren’t reading this analysis it feels valuable for us to do so. Thx to @raceip.bsky.social for sharing with me:

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

"Our nation’s core values are under attack, and standing up for what’s right takes bravery and courage. That’s why we, the Democrats, have decided to stay seated until we can figure out what to do."

submitted 8 days ago • 19 comments

We started, stopped, and started again, and are presently crawling from Pawtucket to Providence.

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

Hey, so, funny story. This is happening again. I’m on an Acela that’s been stuck just north of Providence for about four and a half hours.

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

We are excited to launch "A Woman's Place is in a Safe City," a data story on the use of #NirbhayaFunds for digital surveillance in India, in collaboration with @mitdusp.bsky.social Data+Feminism Lab, POV Mumbai @thesafecityapp.bsky.social & 3 anonymised Kolkata-based NGOs. bit.ly/3EvqV3R 🧵Read on:

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Scoop: The databases powering DOGE.gov are insecure, and people outside the government have already pushed their own updates to the site to prove it: www.404media.co/anyone-can-p...

submitted 10 days ago • 439 comments

I'm co-hosting a roundtable at @rightscon.bsky.social on Feb 26th at 3:45pm - 4:45pm EST! We're looking for advocates who work in GBV organizations, and/or tech/security professionals to provide feedback on the Tech Abuse Roster Project. Register here by Feb 17! www.rightscon.org/registration/

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

the public has a right to know what its government does with its tax dollars, what it does in its name. this is a grave violation of that democratic/human right, one that will echo across every aspect of federal governance.

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Trump DOE appears to be unlawfully terminating grants bc of some under-specified and animus-laden hostility to the integrationist values that animate DEI. Have you received one of these? Willing to share? Signal works: @JPYGold.90

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

The Massachusetts federal district court (where a bunch of suits challenging Trump policies are being filed) just changed its local rules to bar judge-shopping in Worcester or Springfield in suits seeking nationwide relief: www.mad.uscourts.gov/general/pdf/... This is how you do it, N.D. Tex.

submitted 12 days ago • 28 comments

Me quietly, in the background of the AI law chair throwing: I think the Thomson Reuters decision is wrong on the merger doctrine issue.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Noteworthy not just for how it responded to this request, but for how it will approach requests for cut-the-line stays in the many more cases this court is likely to see in the near future.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

BU strongly supports the lawsuit filed by the Association of American Universities (AAU) to halt the NIH's drastic funding cuts. These changes could severely impact our ability to conduct life-saving research and train the next generation of scientists. Details ⬇️

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: 22 states sue NIH over Trump administration's new 15% cap on overhead for federal research grants. Suit filed federal court in Boston contends lifesaving research 'will grind to a halt' under the policy. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 14 days ago • 65 comments

“Merit-based escalation attacks”

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Kendrick really proving that ridicule is praxis

submitted 14 days ago • 11 comments

Excellent 🧵 on this evening's NIH announcement of a dramatic reduction in indirect rates for research institutions, which amounts to a generational restructuring of the US research and development ecosystem. These cuts are effective immediately, not just for new grants but for existing ones.

submitted 16 days ago • 41 comments

New piece up on @lawfare.bsky.social about DOGE’s violations of foundational commitments in the Privacy Act. Sen. Ervin and Sen. Goldwater would be aghast. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/doge...

submitted 17 days ago • 3 comments

No one is above the even acted simply unethically.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

So, the National Endowment for the Arts announced today that they are reworking the guidelines for all 2026 grants and will be prioritizing projects that center the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It's now just a propaganda fund. www.arts.gov/news/press-r...

submitted 18 days ago • 36 comments

Today's profiles in courage: Charlie Baker, Harvard and UMass Boston www.universalhub.com/2025/todays-...

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

This page at Just Security is really helpful! A database of the lawsuits challenging the ongoing constitutional crisis. Hadn't seen it before... Kudos to @justsecurity.org

submitted 19 days ago • 3 comments

“A lot of journalists argue that their role isn’t to advocate—that that’s not their job. But if your job isn’t to inform people in a way that will help them, then I don’t really understand what your job is.” Read my chat with @columjournreview.bsky.social:

submitted 19 days ago • 79 comments

David Lynch gave us exactly the right rallying cry for this moment.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Been thinking a lot about the older unconstitutional conditions case Bullfrog Films v. Wick (9th Cir. 1988) and this language in particular. casetext.com/case/bullfro...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

This is absolutely--and I cannot stress this enough--not how it is supposed to work. An Executive without functioning internal checks is a constitutional crisis no matter what courts are doing. Courts are a last resort when the Executive is acting unlawfully, and an extremely limited one at that.

submitted 20 days ago • 91 comments

The number of #immigration related announcements, EOs & memos is dizzying. One thing that has gotten less attn are the policy memos being released by DOJ/EOIR (i.e. the immigration court). Here's a thread on one that encourages the use of the word "Al*en", & why it matters. 1/

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Are you talking to colleagues impacted by executive branch targeting? Here’s a thread 🧵 w/ simple tips about how to show support—what to say that is likely to help, rather than make things worse. (The tips are simple, but I try to explain the rationale behind them. So please follow to the end.) 1/

submitted 24 days ago • 4 comments

Any university that voluntarily shutters a DEI program, office or personnel “Because of Trumps Executive Order” is making a PR decision. Not a legal one. Trumps EO does not change anti discrimination law. If anything, the EO is unlawful. Universities should treat it that way.

submitted 24 days ago • 27 comments

Letter to My party

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

We can't say often enough or loudly enough how wrong this sort of cowardice and advance surrender is. Universities especially are supposed to embody and express the values of freedom of thought and inquiry. Freedom. But instead we get pathetic capitulation.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

@upturn.org is hiring a Director of Operations! This position is ideal for a senior leader with experience managing the full suite of functions necessary to support the operations and infrastructure of a nonprofit organization. Applications due 2/28/25. www.upturn.org/join/directo...

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Bomb Scare is now old enough to vote.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments