Interesting: Turning Point has removed Trump as confirmed guest to its inaugural eve ball to start at 8pm. Vance is highest profile confirmation. The “maga rally” at DC arena is at 3pm. Can’t imagine Trump will miss ball. ball.tpusa.com And after Inauguration is moved indoors, the price for a ticket to the ball has TRIPLED to $15,000.

Turning Point USA’s AmFest starts today. Trump and Charlie Kirk headline. This year #amfest is sponsored by a company linked to a man who a decade ago went to prison for heading one of the biggest synthetic marijuana operations in the US. That sponsor Kavasutra… 1/x … is a multi state “kava bar” business with locations in Arizona and Florida among others 2/x kavasutra.com/about

Let’s make a list of public/state schools with Gaza protests: 1/x

https://twitter.com/nilesgapol/status/1782890572744716375

At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, about 25 tents housed students calling for the university to divest from Israeli investments usatoday.com/story/news/nat…

@CaitlinPacific That the phrase “not what to think but how” has gotten to college tours shows how much conservative lies about higher education have changed it. What a shame Caitlin didn’t consider that. And on the subject of teaching in college… @CaitlinPacific Teaching in college isn’t teaching debate. It’s not done to pair sides, know your own and strength/weakness of opposition. That is debate. And that a Georgia Board of Regents and Caitlin want more of that tells me…

Tenure gutted. Diversity deleted. Academic freedom under attack. In stark terms hundreds of Georgia #highered @BORUSG faculty describe the impact on research, students, and hiring in the Fall 2023 Georgia @AAUP newsletter. A thread. 1/x aaupgeorgia.org/newsletters I’m having to watch my back and under
constant stress. This is not how I thought
the height of my academic career – I have
an international reputation in my discipline – would go.

I no longer feel that I can have frank
and open discussions on sensitive topics
with students. 2/x

🧵 Much has been said about the Christian Nationalism of new House Speaker Mike Johnson. Charlie Kirk lays out in a concise tweet this ideology he shares with Johnson. Follow along to see the future 1/x



First thing to notice: Kirk and Johnson justify their political ideology with Christian scripture. Kirk uses the doctrine of depravity to justify constitutional “decentralization” of power. This is not same as “separation of power” though linked. Former is a nod to… 2/x

Tomorrow Turning Point USA begins its third pastors summit. How deep is the organization into the Christian Nationalism and Seven Mountains Mandate that Charlie Kirk embraced in 2020? Let's look at the speakers and sponsors 1/x First, one of the current leaders of the 7M movement, Ché Ahn, is a speaker. He's part of the New Apostolic Reformation group and spoke at a rally on the eve of the Capitol insurrection 2/x rightwingwatch.org/post/sarah-pal…

An @aaup survey of faculty in 4 Southern states shows the wide impact on #HigherEd from political attacks & tenure gutting. This @chronicle story quotes a few individual responses. Here are some more striking voices from Georgia: #gapol 1/x chronicle.com/article/in-the… "An overall climate of fear of retaliation and mistrust is the worst I've seen in over 20 years in academia."

"Actively looking for industry, non-profit, and consulting roles just in case it gets worse." 2/x

Today @AAUP and partners release an extensive survey of faculty in the South. About 4,250 faculty in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, & Georgia are deeply dissatisfied with #highered due to impact of political interference and attacks on tenure. Key findings... 1/x More than 65 percent would not recommend their state as a desirable place to work for colleagues, while about a third are actively considering interviewing elsewhere in the coming year. 2/x

I’m about 10 days out from start of my First Year Writing course. Here is how I plan to address and use #chatgpt 1/x

https://twitter.com/academicswrite/status/1689061617495932933

I give a plagiarism warning on first day - “if you can find it online so can I.” I add to that a push for using their voice, their ideas. I’ll likely then ask if they have heard of the chat bot. I’m guessing < 50% will know of it and even less have used it. 2/x

Sponsor of Georgia’s “divisive concepts” bill (now law) uses fake MLK quote (W Bush actually used it first and a lot) to implicitly criticize “the left” for revisionist history. My head is spinning. 🤔🤷🏽‍♂️ #gapol

https://twitter.com/wade_state/status/1683698268247564291

And speaking of low expectations, legislating what students and teachers can learn about race and slavery and history cuz they might feel bad is actual low expectations.

In May a company run by a sex offender sponsored a Turning Point Faith pastors summit. A company sponsoring this weekend’s Turning Point Action conference is owned by a man sharing name and likeness of a man convicted for cocaine trafficking in 2007: 1/x rollingstone.com/politics/polit… Gerard White is the owner of Stand Up Now Apparel, which he started in response to “woke” Disney in 2022. Stand Up Now appeared at the 2022 TPUSA Student Action Summit and sponsors #ACTCON2023 . 2/x https://t.co/MIg9i4K64hstandupnowapparel.com/about-us/

With #SCOTUS #affirmativeaction ruling today opening a lane for more use for admissions essays, my book May 1970 notes that in 1960, the College Board began collecting a "writing sample" used by schools to decide on "borderline or marginal" applicants. 1/x manifold.as.uky.edu/read/may-1970/… Jump ahead after SCOTUS 2003 affirmative action ruling, South Carolina reinstates app essay to promote diversity: "tell us something that you have not already told us in this application that will help us to better understand your potential for academic success..." 2/x

This is what admissions essays have been doing for a while. Common App prompts for 23-24: 1) “background” that IDs you 2) Obstacles https://t.co/7hZcyhCxlMappsupport.commonapp.org/applicantsuppo…

https://twitter.com/jrubinblogger/status/1674423149050621956

Harvard 2023 essay: "unusual circumstances" in your life, "distinctive background" in a diverse society college.harvard.edu/sites/default/…

A mega-thread on all my articles, podcasts, media comments, and anything else on Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk. I start with the 2022 definitive history and turn to Christian Nationalism in @PRAEyesRight 1/x politicalresearch.org/2022/01/28/ten… I helped @RollingStone discover in May 2023 that the Turning Point Faith pastors summit was sponsored by a company run by a sex offender 2/x rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

Citing Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address, Charlie Kirk is radically altering an "end times" claim held by evangelicals for decades to match his political ideology of Christian Nationalism. Let me explain 1/x Think "Left Behind." Think Russia predicted in 80s as who invades Israel. Think the Anti-Christ "world leader that will come and dominate and deceive people but ultimately reveal his true colors." This has been evangelical positon FOREVER and NOW. 2/x harvest.org/resources/greg…

Our Georgia AAUP webpage has great @BORUSG university system salary data. Let’s see how many “teaching” positions we lose if the $66 million cut soon to passed by state lawmakers directly hits faculty 1/x #gapol
aaupgeorgia.org/salary-studies This table shows 2019 data of faculty titles, how many per title, and total salary. $66 million ends non-tenure jobs of last 4 categories: instructors, limited term, adjuncts, etc. That is roughly 15% of teaching staff 2/x

The story about the sexual abuse at Covenant Church in 2012 is here: buzzfeednews.com/article/andrew…

https://twitter.com/clearing_fog/status/1640471704647630849

The lawsuit by the former member who accused the church of a cover-up went to Tennessee state appeals court. Its 2014 ruling is here:

cases.justia.com/tennessee/cour…

Ron is correct. But the Satanic panic has changed. It’s not the “play the song backwards” era. It’s the “spiritual war” era. What Charlie Kirk wants is different than what previous panic-ers wanted.

https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1622558668892917762

Yes it’s always been for a long time seen as an “attack” on traditional morality. Shapiro’s thread on topic quotes Percy Shelley. But now we add the explicit war rhetoric.

It’s always funny to watch when professors defend Charlie Kirk. It undercuts his long-standing myth of college as indoctrination centers. And this invite has nothing to do with free speech.

https://twitter.com/McCormickProf/status/1621690934923608064

The center hosting this event is funded by a private foundation. And the government isn’t suppressing it. Kirk could and has spoken on many campuses without such an invite.

As a reminder Turning Point USA let Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro, speak to its 2022 summer event crowd. thebulwark.com/the-bullhorn-a… Charlie Kirk spread Brazil election conspiracies on his Nov 3, 2022 podcast: “Despite his party doing well and despite holding a lead early on election night, Brazil's conservative president Jair Bolsonaro just suffered a narrow defeat. Sound familiar?” omny.fm/shows/the-char…