#and they said it depends

[beardedmrbean]

Elise Stefanik’s viral line of questioning of an elite trio of university presidents last week over how to respond to calls for the genocide of Jews didn’t just spark bipartisan outrage and lead to a high-profile resignation. It settled a personal score the congresswoman had with her alma mater, which had all but disowned her in the wake of Jan. 6.

Back then, in 2021, the dean of Harvard University’s school of government said the New York congresswoman’s comments about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election had “no basis in evidence,” and the Harvard Institute of Politics removed Stefanik from its senior advisory committee. Stefanik at the time criticized what she described as “the ivory tower’s march toward a monoculture of like-minded, intolerant liberal views.”

Now, Stefanik’s high-profile turn assailing the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania is a real threat to those institutions. Penn president Liz Magill resigned in the wake of her testimony on Saturday, and Stefanik has made it clear she expects more: “One down. Two to go,” she posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

More than achieving vindication, Stefanik opened a new front in the culture wars — all while scrambling the Democratic Party’s traditional coalition of well-educated voters and their institutions of higher education.

Mitch Daniels, the retired former president of Purdue University and a former Republican governor of Indiana, called it “higher ed’s Bud Light moment” — referring to the beermaker’s divisive ad campaign featuring a transgender influencer — “when people who hang out with only people who adhere to what has become prevailing and dominant ideologies on campuses and suddenly discover there’s a world of people out there who disagrees.”

Republicans, of course, have been the loudest voices defending Stefanik. Daniels, who has also testified before hostile lawmakers on behalf of his university, mocked that the administrators Stefanik questioned retained the white-shoe law firm WilmerHale to prepare.

“Were they unprepared?” Daniels said in an interview. “Yes, they were unprepared by a lifetime of being cloistered in an ideological bubble and groupthink.”

Speaking at an event Monday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a graduate of Harvard Business School, told Bloomberg the contentious exchange on Capitol Hill marked a “cultural moment.” He added: “There is a tipping point, and we have to be clear on where that tipping point is. And extermination speech is clearly on the wrong side of that tipping point.”

But it is the movement against the university presidents from a chorus of Democrats that suggests a possible realignment of a traditional political alliance, one that could see bipartisan pushback against the elitism of the ivory tower.

“The president believes strongly that this is a moment to put your foot down and to ensure we have moral clarity,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said during a gaggle on Monday, as President Joe Biden headed to Pennsylvania for an unrelated event.

Josh Shapiro, the high-profile Jewish Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, called for Magill’s ouster.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat and an alum of both Harvard and MIT, said it’s “too soon to tell” whether the bipartisan backlash would become an issue in next year’s election. He attributed the larger cultural conflict to a “tension between individualism and identitarianism.”

“It’s fundamentally about hypocrisy,” said Auchincloss, whose great-grandparents fled the pogroms, emigrating to the U.S. around World War I. “And, at least for me, what I reacted to viscerally from the testimony was particularly Harvard, which has an abysmal track record on championing and incubating free and open speech — now, [they’re] into the First Amendment, when it’s about antisemitism? That was more striking to me.”

On the presidential campaign trail, the issue was finding new life.

“Finally, the veil has been lifted on the ugly underbelly of what’s going on in our culture, including in our universities and our educational institutions,” Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who authored “Woke, Inc.,” the 2021 book that railed against social justice, told POLITICO.

Prior to last week’s hearing, many candidates, including Ramaswamy, had largely relegated talk of wokeness to the back burner after finding it did not resonate with primary voters.

But that has changed for now, and Ramaswamy welcomed the new discourse. He called on universities to rewrite their speech codes to include antisemitism and said university presidents should be fired not just for their testimony, but for failing to “actually embrace free speech and open expression, embrace the true purpose of seeking knowledge as opposed to indoctrination.”

At least for now, Stefanik’s criticism has wrenched open whole lines of attack in the campaign.

“I’m gratified that I think people have opened their minds on both sides to the arguments that I was making back then,” Ramaswamy said.

#nunyas news #they were asked if antisemitism had a home on their campuses #and they said it depends

[originalaccountname]

My turn to be skk-posting

in my ideal vision, when they finally get in something resembling a relationship (as adults, they were Not There as teenagers), it's because they both want it, which means they unlock previously forbidden features with each other like sharing a bed instead of a couch (you all know about my weird obsession with skk and couches), but also freely touching.

Dazai is a rather tactile person; my guy is freed after 2 weeks in prison and the first thing he does is dance, poke at, lean/hug and play with the hair of the first non-evil person (a stranger) he meets. Being with Chuuya, he constantly finds himself in Chuuya's bubble, and indulges in ways he usually can't with others. That often means direct skin contact, not even with ulterior motives, but really just because he is allowed and he wants to.

Chuuya on the other hand has never done something gently ever: he is fierce, he cares and loves intensely, and he never lets go, but he barely knows the concept of a reassuring gesture (working on it). Dazai being in his bubble wouldn't bother him at all by that point, but the handsy part? it's awkward. needs some getting used to. It's a learning opportunity.

And when Chuuya gets used to it and finally makes a move to return the favour? it's Dazai who short-circuits.

#probably a mix of it being someone else initiating touch instead of him and said contact being (finally) gentle #we're getting off-subject but i'm convinced there's a difference for dazai between casual or violent touch and purposefully gentle touch #after all his way of showing affection is primarily by being a menace and being annoying to those closest to him. which tends to come with- #-threats of violence if not attempted/executed violence (kunikid.a repeatedly choking or drop-kicking him for his repeated offences) #AND a difference between being touched with and without bandages (it's like a second skin) where *with* bandages it's mostly whatever #this man flirts off-screen like his life depends on it he does not mind physical touch BUT (<- your cue to make some headcanons) #on a tangent do you think dazai's fingers would be cold asking for chuuya's sanity #bsd #skk #soukoku #apparently i talk sometimes

[fyloune-taylorsversion]

Things I love (by Remus lupin)

- my whiskey neat

- my coffee

- black, in my bed at 3

#someone on TikTok said this and it was too good to not make something abt it #this is so fucking fitting #btw it’s based on too sweet by hozier #it all depends on how you read the sentence #fanart #sirius black #wolfstar #marauders #remus lupin #marauders era #r/s #padfoot #moony #wolfstar fanart

[ahhrenata]

I’m having an ‘oh’ moment while you bandage my hand, man

MY THOUGHTS FOR THIS ONE ARE IN THE TAGS :)

#steddie #steddie fanart #eddie munson #steve harrington #its late.. or early depending how you look at it #neither of them have been sleeping much or spending time on their own #the nightmares you know #an especially brutal one has eddie a little out of it #his bandages (from injuries that could have been worse) have become loose or soiled from his restless night #so steve sits him down and helps fix them up #he can see eddies still shaken so he just.. talks #about anything really #and eddie slowly comes back to himself #and now he’s just looking at steve.. who’s huffing out a laugh at whatever he’s said.. smiling at the memory of it #eyes crinkling at the corners and thats when it kind of hits #the ‘oh’ #not an ‘oh shit’ this time but a simple ‘oh’ #a happy one for now too #because he is.. happy. he’s not alone.. he doesn’t have to be.. and Steve’s showing him that #through late night talks.. matching dark circles and grounding touches #with stories and music and late night drives #and thats enough.. more than really #he’s at the tipping point.. knows the fall will be coming in the next few weeks- maybe months #but he doesn’t care #not when steve finally looks up at him… wide eyed and cradling eddies hand between two of his.. soft smile on his face and asks ‘you ok?’ #and when eddie (who’s a little misty eyed) smiles back and replies ‘all good’ #right here.. in this moment- he really is #:) #THANKS FOR VOTING FOR IT

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

All I can think about recently is that there are three main career options for Grishaverse main characters:

A) Child soldier

B) Criminal

C) ✨Both✨

#and none of them are a choice #it’s very dependent on who your government is #shoutout to Nina and Matthias for really exploring all options available to them #my poor babies #inspired by convo with my sister where she said why is everyone a child soldier and I said some of them are criminals too(!) #as a side note it’s very unclear whether Grisha in Ravka get paid to be in the second army #I’m pretty sure they don’t #like at least if you’re a criminal you can make some cash #not that I’m endorsing criminal activity obvs #but at least there’s marginally more choice as a criminal #it would appear at least marginally more autonomy #crooked kingdom #shadow and bone #the grishaverse #six of crows #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #grisha trilogy #seige and storm #ruin and rising #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #Matthias helvar #alina starkov #mal oretsev #genya safin #zoya nazyelensky

[arkiwii]

may i perhaps introduce you to trans mulberry headcanon

#listen #listen to me #the pheasant on her E2 and first skin (elliot's pheasant) is a male #she has grey hair like the said pheasant's head #female elliot's pheasants are brown #nOW LISTEN #her #her files #the way she left her family in secret because she didn't want to live the life they wanted her to live #the fact her parents were against it #but then accepted her when they saw that she was happy this way #i love her #i shake this bird and scream #welcome to my headcanon “liberi have different feathers depending on if they're born male or female” #anyway im insane #arknights #stalkiwiart #mulberry

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

being full time wheelchair user terrifying because. you’re totally dependent on this thing. this thing that often you don’t have control over. something breaking can be put it and you out of commission for weeks at best & usually months. can’t use it “carefully” & “sparingly” because you depend on it to go essential places. to perform “basic” life functions. its maintainance & repair & production quality, totally out of your control. “if production bad quality go downhill, boycott & hurt company profit to show consumer voice.” don’t really apply here. because you. can’t exactly go without it. n companies know.

#exhausted #broke power assist again #wheelchair user #loaf screm #full time wheelchair user #though. can be said for a lot of disability aid you totally completely depend on

[mayasaura]

It's not missing Harrowhark that makes Kiriona the saddest girl in the world. Or at least, it's not just the lack of Harrow.

She fought all her life to escape the Ninth, fueled by the conviction that there was a better world waiting for her if she could just get out. As a kid, that was the fantasy of a super cool and important parent who could rescue her and punish the people who hurt her. Later, it was believing that as soon as she rescued herself, she would prove to everyone how awesome she was. She would make herself a hero, and she would be so valued and useful even Harrow would have to admit it.

Now she has every status symbol she ever yearned for, and none of it means anything. None of it feels good. She's escaped, and it turns out there was no better world waiting for her. Kindness is rare, and the people who show it die meaningless violent deaths. The rest of the universe has proved itself to be almost as cold and dark and isolating as the Ninth, filled with horrors she'd never imagined.

Kiriona Gaia is the saddest girl in the world because she's lost hope. She has everything she ever wanted, and it all sucks. So what is there left to want? What is there left to fight for? What is there left to live for?

#getting harrow back may help but it may... the opposite of help depending on how it happens #she said in front of the Tomb 'you could have LIVED for her ... but you didn't know how' #maybe if she can get Harrow back she can figure out how to live for her and it will be enough #or maybe Harrow is just the one thing left she knows she wants #and pinning all her hope on what she wants and can't have is all she knows how to do #harrow loves gideon but she's sharp and prickly and just one person #and what Gideon needs may be something she doesn't understand well enough to want it #the locked tomb #gideon nav #kiriona gaia #nona the ninth #ntn spoilers

[coquelicoq]

what i like especially about the pronouns in the goblin emperor is that this language doesn't just have the T-V distinction (aka informal vs. formal second-person pronouns, in this case 'thou' vs. 'you'), it also has informal and formal first-person pronouns. having BOTH of these distinctions in the same language lets you fine-tune your tone by mixing and matching. with only one axis of formality, when you use informal pronouns, are you being familiar in an intimate way, or in an insolent or dismissive way? when you use formal pronouns, are you being polite or standoffish? you can't tell just from the pronouns; there's ambiguity. but a language where you can use a formal first-person pronoun in the same sentence as an informal second-person pronoun allows you to distance yourself (via the formal first) while also being familiar (via the informal second), thereby achieving the conversational tenor known to linguists as Fuck Thee Specifically.

#just kidding i don't know what linguists call that tenor. or any tenors. i'm not totally positive what a tenor even is #but i can't let that stop me from writing a jokey post on tumblr dot com #register is a very interesting area of linguistics that i know very little about #so i'm probably revealing the depths of my vast ignorance here to all the sociolinguists who surely hang on my every word #but i've always thought of the formal/informal pronoun thing as being about two things: intimacy-distance & rudeness-politeness #and of course you can usually tell from context whether a formal pronoun is meant to indicate distance or politeness #(plus distance and politeness are related to each other (to various degrees depending on culture)) #but it seems like it would be cool to have a built-in alignment chart of sorts just for pronoun combos #instead of prep jock nerd goth...why not try intimate self-effacing polite superior? #the goblin emperor #pronouns #register #sociolinguistics #my posts #f #anyway i know i said i wasn't going to reread the goblin emperor...but guess what. lol #and i edited my tags on that earlier post but fyi the language DOES distinguish between plural and formal singular pronouns #i had said i thought it used the same pronouns for plural and formal but i just wasn't paying close enough attention #so anyway i just reread the part where maia is talking to setheris in formal first and informal second #and you can see setheris going ohhh shit. oh shit oh shit oh shit #i'm in biiiiiig trouble #you sure are dude. that's the Time to Grovel signal #it's interesting because at the very beginning of the book when i first saw the formal first used i just thought it was the royal we #because i knew the main character was supposed to be royalty #but then EVERYONE was doing it. so it's not the royal we it's just the formal we #however. this does make me realize that the way the royal we would function in a language that retains the t-v distinction #is the same way i'm describing here. it's just reserving that particular tone (i'm better than you and am displeased with you) #for royalty only. which makes sense given royalty's whole deal

[jeiyuuen]

Punk Hazard proposal redraw

#Law said fuck the marines and proposed to Luffy on the island where Aokiji and Akainu had their breakup #this island really witnessed a bunch of historical events huh #But most importantly the establishment of the pirate alliance the rocked the New World #don't mind purple Luff his colors change depends on my mood #trafalgar law #monkey d luffy #one piece #lawlu #lawlu fanart #jeiyu art #punk hazard #lulaw

[s-aint-elmo]

mahiru tsuyuzaki has a Type

(id in alt text)

bonus:

#revue starlight #tsuyuzaki mahiru #aijou karen #kagura hikari #minase suzu #mahiru tsuyuzaki #karen aijou #hikari kagura #suzu minase #doodles #mine #the mahikaren dynamic of “the girl with the dependency issues and inferiority complex holds the braincell” is so funny to me #she went from chasing her crush with a mace while swing blared from the cartoonishly drawn speakers to herding said crush and the object of #her jealousy around like a pair of unruly puppies #the switch flip for hikamahi always gets me. the moment mahiru was fine with her hikari instantly made her her mom #mahikaren #hikamahi #mahisuzu #I FORGOR THE SHIP TAGS

[nikysavi]

daughter's/father's found hope

#wiki said that lilies-of-the-valley symbolize hope and consolation so I imagined that #block sees clara as a person who can help him to end war and fight ptb; clara sees him in that way too #but they also could find an emotional support from each other as well? and a hope for a better future they can build together #but it's all very sad too... esp what goals they're trying to achieve. esp that block sees her as saint. #that clara was betrayed and the only adult she can somehow depend on is like that #so. think whatever as you wish. my thoughts are a bit fuzzy yeahh #pathologic #pathologic classic hd #pathologic 2 #мор утопия #alexander block #clara saburova #clara the changeling #александр блок #клара сабурова #клара самозванка #crtani

[perths]

CHASER GAME W EPISODE 05

#there is a fansubber translating this too and she's said that some of the gaga translations are a bit off so #i might remake this if there is more context depending on their translation idk #chaser game w #jdrama #jdramaedit #jdramasource #wlwsource #girlslovenet #wlwgif #gif

[bookwyrminspiration]

princess prettypants

#kotlc #kotlc fanart #biana vacker #quil's quill #you might need to turn up your brightness depending on what it's at #also remember how i said I acquired a loathing for mirrors? #this was why #wait i just realized. it IS the right side of her that's shredded right? i'm pretty sure it is #anyway #enjoy <3 #not gonna look at it anymore it's done i'm just gonna post it #OH! also. did this as part of a final project :)

[hamable]

OH OH OH OH OH

THE NECTAR

ITS A HONEY POT!!!!!!!

I keep wracking my brain as to what benefit would be gained by spiking a large group of people with the devil’s nectar. Its effect doesn’t make a person more persuadable, it makes them more persuasive. If it were a player character’s consumable, it’d provide an advantage to deception/persuasion or something.

What’s unique about this substance is that, if consumed excessively, the user can become so good at deception that they believe their own lies.

What sort of strategy would benefit from a large group of people believing their own lies? Campaigners with free samples.

Hey, we’re offering food truck food outside the school! Just say you’ll vote for KLCK and eat as much as you want!

Hey! Welcome to our Moonar Yulenear camp/festival! We’ve got all sort of amenities, please enjoy the winter blessed to us by Galachaea herself! Technically we’re here as a church thing, but we’re not stuffy about it and we take all kinds. Just go with it, praise Galachaea and all that, and enjoy the hot chocolate in our religious echo chamber!

It’s a honey pot. It’s a trap. They’re turning free samples against us.

#the core of this is that all the god stuff is dependent on belief and how people belief #and suddenly there’s a consumable that can make someone believe something if they say it enough #it has to be connected #dimension 20 #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #fantasy high spoilers #Ik Brennan said it’s highly concentrated and extremely sweet #but I feel like that’s an easy work around #I’m pretty sure you can prestidigitation the taste of something. they’d just need to do so in a wider scale #or make like really bitter pure cocoa hot chocolate and use the nectar as sweetener

[huitandahalf]

I know that we got plenty of options as to how everything with the Ender King is going to go down, but a thought that has not left my mind was the idea of the Ender King downing qPhil in some way and taking him away. Which means there would be a chat message for all to see :)

For example :)

#qsmp #qsmp philza #this could be better or worse depending on how many people qPhil tells about the whole mess (itll probably be 0 tbh) #cause if he tells no one #not even his kids #then it will be a gut punch #like pov you are chayanne and tallulah #you just lost your godfather in Tubbo #you may have just lost someone who really cares for you in Bad #and you gotta hold onto your dad right? if something was wrong he would have told you right? he promised to not keep secrets right? #and now hes gone without a word #was the Ender King that much of a threat that he could take your dad without any hint that it could happen? or were there just signs #that you missed. that you could have seen and stopped. you could have saved your dad but you didnt. why didnt you notice him change? #and to a lesser extent there is also the gut punch to fitmc #pov you are fitmc #phil promised to keep you updated on all the hallucination stuff and hasnt said anything to you about it in a long time #thats a good sign right? itd be bad if the Ender King was real and came to help phil anyway #he had some crying obsidian appear in his inventory? clearly the admins are messing with him it couldnt be anything #and now hes gone #and you find out that he was hiding things from you from his children #there were more messages more hallucinations #why didnt he tell you? #did he not trust you? hes right to do it but you thought he trusted you with this at the very least #and now #what do you do? #you dont even know where to start in looking for him #did he really trust you that little?