This is huge!! Congratulations & gratitude to everyone involved in this case and, of course, @aaup.org!
This is huge!! Congratulations & gratitude to everyone involved in this case and, of course, @aaup.org!
A weedy, but potentially important, question about federal pensions:
If you're a federal law enforcement officer, at what point
1. Can you retire w the biggest pension?
2. What percent of your pay is it?
And this is the KEY question:
3. How is that amount calculated?
Here's why (3) matters:
Beyond vital political stakes, it also looks like admin misread the narrative, too. They tried to pitch βMS-13 illegalβ and assumed story would end there.
Instead itβs become a daily, episodic, human-interest and court drama about a wrongfully deported loving husband, union-member and caregiver.
More immigration malevolence:
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons says we should treat detention and deportation "like a business."
He envisions putting vans on the street detaining people "like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.
Michigan's decision to roll back DEI has to be understood as part of a larger effort to force universities into ideological submission.
From @scottlgreer.bsky.social and I in the Detroit Free Press.
Relevant to UM's DEI moves
"[if we] preemptively change our language...or demonstrate to both Trumpβs agents and the public that we will fold under the slightest pressure, we will find ourselves, perhaps not so long from now, without any dignity left to protect."
www.chronicle.com/article/what...
1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world.
β¨I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
This is despicable, chilling, indefensible behavior. Universities are being threatened with funding cuts and surveillance tools are being used to target student activists for retaliation-apparently including deportation-on college campuses. This cruelty must be challenged. zeteo.com/p/breaking-d...
NEW: The Trump administration is exploiting a loophole to keep funding frozen at the NIH - a move that some legal scholars say is illegal.
Federal Register notices are blocked, so no grant-review sessions can be scheduled.
All the gritty details here, and a short π§΅:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"In the meantime, popular pressure... tells the actors involved what side the people are on. We are the ultimate source of legitimacy. Those in [power may not follow] βthe law.β Remind them of their obligation to the people.
Verdict: Self coup, in-progress, success still unknown"
shorturl.at/3Mysh
I took a shot at figuring out how much money each state stands to lose in a single year if the NIH fixes the indirect cost rate at 15%. π§΅
This post is a good explainer about how the recently announced change to federal research funding will limit research innovation, devastate University budgets, and harm local economies.
I ballparked estimates of a 15% cap on NIH indirects based on awards granted in 2024 (which is different from funded in 2024). My numbers are less than NIH's, but still pretty devastating, including $250 million loss for North Carolina institutions. nih-funding-direct.vercel.app
Absolutely devastating. π
The Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, a great org, asks individuals & orgs to sign their letter requesting Congress act to restore data that has been removed & ensure a similar purge does not reoccur.
#EconSky #PolicySky #sociology #PoliSky
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
"Here surely lies sociology's distinctively
public purpose: to represent humanity's interest in containing the unbridled tyranny of the market and
state." May others go forward in memory of Michael Burawoy. www.asanet.org/michael-bura...
Clear/frightening writing about Musk's payment system coup from @epopppp.bsky.social in @liberalcurrents.com
"Having a presidentβor, even more so, an unelected billionaireβhold direct, granular control of nearly seven trillion dollars is power beyond the Foundersβ wildest dreams."
Worth a read!
Thanks to @lpeblog.bsky.social for the invitation to write about what policy scholars should do if "policy" is permanently broken. There are lots of good answers, but we can't afford to ignore the question.
I am begging the national media to start taking this seriously.
Stop buying the claims that the framing of "temporary" or "pause."
They are altering the review processes of federally funded scientific research from merit-based peer review processes to political screening by ideologues.
New database alert! "A national data set of historical US sundown towns for quantitative analysis", based on work by @rigbydavid.bsky.social and many Landscapes Labs collaborators is now available! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Add me, please and thank you!