Update. The petition to move this year’s International Congress of Mathematicians outside the US now has 2,300+ signatures.
https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/04/penn-international-congress-of-mathematicians-boycott-immigration-trump

#ICM #Mathematics #USPol #USPolitics

The International Congress of Mathematicians (#ICM) decided not to meet in #Russia in 2022, for a list of reasons including Russa's "war of aggression in #Ukraine and the potential dangers…in regards to freedom of political expression and the safety of #LGBTQ participants." Now some ICM members have launched a petition asking it not to meet in the US in 2026, for a list of reasons including US aggression in #Gaza, #Greenland, #Iran, and #Venezuela, and "serious concern that academics (or anyone) traveling to the US may be denied entry."
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHJhc8X83b8oL6rH2KDX0I730eraum5I8_IlWY23F82mHuag/viewform?fbzx=7063048079651794343

#Mathematics #USPol #USPolitics

"A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth."
https://theconversation.com/a-million-new-spacex-satellites-will-destroy-the-night-sky-for-everyone-on-earth-277938

PS: A deeply revolting idea. Apart from destroying Earth-based astronomy, boosting satellite collisions, and overpopulating orbital space needed for other purposes, this would be the largest enclosure of a commons in human history.

It would be like spray-painting graffiti on the walls of the grand canyon, but worse because not everyone can see the walls of the grand canyon. Or like carving Elon Musk's initials in every tree on Earth. Or like destroying silence with an omnipresent 60-cycle hum.

I'm sorry but when I post about the importance of making a rapid transition to electric vehicles and you comment that the real issue is eliminating cars completely, you're not helping.

Wow. "Virginia State terminates six professors without due process.
Campus security escorted the professors —five tenured and one tenure-track— to their cars and issued no-trespass warnings. They have received no written explanation for their dismissals."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2026/02/25/vsu-terminates-6-professors-without-due-process

#Academia #Universities

You are here.
We've breached 430 ppm CO2.
#climatechange

San Francisco Bay Area rapid response hotlines for reporting ICE activity and making sure a group of citizens is there to help.

Reposted from https://www.instagram.com/p/DUa8Ye1lK6h/ with permission

#California #SFBayArea

#Pluralistic writes for the #Guardian on the concrete opportunity provided by Trump's cancellation of the international trade agreements that have been propping up US IP monopolists at the cost of everyone else everywhere. In the UK in particular, this "one weird trick" would level the playing field.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-end-enshittification-make-tech-good-again

An interesting one from #RetractionWatch

https://retractionwatch.com/2026/01/07/revue-des-composites-materiaux-avances-iieta-editor-board-resignation/#more-133788

Also file under #enshittification.

I've said this before and I'll say it again.
It would only take a tiny handful of Republican Congress members or senators to stop the slide of America toward authoritarian fascism, but nope. They're all in.

Kudos to the @ACM:

"Beginning January 2026, all ACM publications and related artifacts in the ACM Digital Library will be made open access."
https://dl.acm.org/openaccess

#CS #ComputerScience #OpenAccess

This is explicitly a war crime under international laws of war. Hegseth and officers ordering these attacks should be charged and tried.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike/

Update. The headline says it all: "Rep. Dan Goldman [D-NY] Moves to Rename GOP Animal Cruelty Bill to the ‘Kristi Noem Canine Relief Act’."
https://goldman.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-dan-goldman-moves-rename-gop-animal-cruelty-bill-kristi-noem-canine-relief

PS: The bill is real. It's called the Bill to Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals Act or BOWOW Act, H.R.4638.
https://calvert.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-calvert-introduces-bowow-act

"60 per cent of UK university libraries are considering dropping their big deals with the five major academic publisher"
Many call for diamond open access. A new organisation with many partners, @ojcollective.bsky.social , is launching in January https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-views-of-the-uk-2025-november-chaos-is-coming-for-scholarly-publishing/

Koreatown:

"The city of Los Angeles doesn't keep us safe so we keep us safe."

https://la.streetsblog.org/2025/11/12/city-scrapes-grassroots-koreatown-crosswalks-plans-to-replace

https://crosswalksla.org

@heidilifeldman The balance of equities seems rather overwhelming here

Good link from #pluralistic today - the monopolization of the American economy (data)..
https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

The Python Software Foundation won a $1.5m grant from the US government National Science Foundation.
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI" https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/psf-withdrawn-proposal/ #integrity

Bill Gates saying that "Climate change is not going to wipe out humanity" and efforts to fight climate change should be shifted elsewhere is like saying nuclear war won't wipe out humanity, so we shouldn't invest efforts in arms control or diplomacy.

I know from personal experience that Gates has always misunderstood and minimized the threat of climate change. But this also reflects how insulated the truly rich are from the consequences the rest of the world is already experiencing.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/business/bill-gates-climate-change

Update. #WashingtonU has now rejected the Trump compact. Here's the public letter from Chancellor Andrew Martin (Oct 22).
https://wustl.app.box.com/s/f3wwjqkrq9x1ovyz28d3r3cxmo8kwlk9

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics