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As you enjoy college basketball this weekend, let me suggest this companion essay, “Accidentally Telling the Truth: Racial Capitalism on the College Sports Plantation,” written by yours truly, and just published in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies.

This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it. Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago. IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued. The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk. The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit. Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.”  Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million. The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out. This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president. Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues? nytimes.com/2026/05/19/adm…

this is just SHAMELESS 😭

Fran Lebowitz: “Trump has nothing but flaws. It’s not like he has some good sides. The motivating thing in Trump is not that he’s crazy, it’s that he’s stupid. You don’t know anyone this stupid. Before Reagan, there was no idea the president could be stupid”

Empty rooms and Fifa cancellations - US hotels fear World Cup washout bbc.in/3PhoBTP

@davidzmorris What up, man?! I’m just chillin in CO, apparently throwing shade on STEM scholars

@khan_abe This whole thing is actually even more insane than it appears. Also WHAT'S UP ABE x.com/davidzmorris/s…

What in god’s name is happening in academic STEM? I was told that all the $ goes there because they do the hard stuff, meanwhile, my critical humanities ass has been, like *reading and citing and making difficult arguments* and I’ve been a long-cutting sucker this whole time?!?!?

@dowellml I’m inclined to agree, but the AI policy convos, in my experience, are even worse.

Trying to think of something more miserable to talk to professors about than grade inflation. 13 minutes into the meeting, I would shove a sharp pencil theough my eye while commenting, “Finally, some relief.”

@JimDMiller @benryanwriter Bro, we all do that. It’s literally the job. You’re just outsourcing.

@benryanwriter Yes, but I'm teaching college students who have been doing a huge amount of writing.

Shouldn’t you first learn to write on your own before you start using an AI aide?

@benryanwriter Good question. Someone should ask Claude! 😂

The existence of one hallucinated reference doesn't just make the entire paper worthless, it also raises concerns regarding every single other work by the same author. It is evidence of serious disregard towards the very notions of academic and scientific integrity.

@drrjpeterson @jsgoyburu I’ll bite. What is a sponsor?

@khan_abe @jsgoyburu For the even more broad justification something like global warming or plastic pollution is nice background but is the why for the work not the what. We should be able to discuss the why but we dont need to be subject matter experts in it. This is probably sponsor driven

@drrjpeterson @jsgoyburu … no editor worth their salt would be insensitive to reasonable argument. And most of us know that there’s a point where it’s useless to argue with a recalcitrant editor and move our work elsewhere.

@drrjpeterson @jsgoyburu Well, this is the crux of it, is it not? I mean, when your name’s on it, then it’s on you to account for what you cite. If you can’t diplomatically push back, then that strikes me as a toxic research culture. The humanities aren’t perfect, but argument is currency, and…

@jsgoyburu @drrjpeterson Oh, damn. These poor scientists are Stockholm Syndromed.

@khan_abe @drrjpeterson By what I've been reading, it's "referee driven", and those referees are kinda assholes. We might just be blaming the victim...

@jsgoyburu @mKandlikar @IndiaExplained Why not just own up to the incentivization of 24 person research teams and the laziness it encourages and say “yeah, this sucks, we’ll do better.”

@jsgoyburu @mKandlikar @IndiaExplained Seriously. What’s the worst that’s gonna happen? Why the defensive panic. Is MIT or MIT or CalTech gonna be all like “oh damn, let’s redirect to creative nonfiction?” Is Stanford gonna be like “oh we didn’t realize how shitty AI is. Let’s fund comparative lit?”

@drrjpeterson @jsgoyburu So why y’all do this? I mean, you’re not exactly attempting to delight readers. In fact, I wonder about the extent to which readers even matter? Is your work audience driven, or method and conclusion driven?

@jsgoyburu @khan_abe Ok. That could make sense. In science it is a required part of the intro. 1st paragraph is very tangential full justifying the purpose of the research. 2nd paragraph narrows a bit. 3rd might be in the territory of reading every word of all of those papers.

💯 This, I think, is at the heart of the defensiveness. I can admit that some humanities scholars are envious of science’s funding, as long as they admit their shit is boring af, unfit for readers, and driven by the team research machine and metrics that drive the funding.

@CHGO_Bulls @TheSteinLine I feel a bit like George Costanza here. I don’t want any coach that wants to coach us.

REPORT: Jerry Stackhouse has emerged as a candidate to be the next Chicago Bulls head coach, per @TheSteinLine. Do you want Stack, Bulls Nation?

@Schultz_Report @ErikLambert1 Won’t make the team

Sources: The #Bears are signing former Dolphins and Colts RB Salvon Ahmed. Ahmed suffered a serious and gruesome ankle injury on a hip-drop tackle during practice last year and has worked hard to get back. He now gets this opportunity in Chicago.