Stephanie Ahrens, PhD

(I know we’re all throwing all of the pasta at the wall and seeing if anything sticks.)

The above have helped a little more than I expected.

Have you tried going over the implications of this study about LLMs and cognitive debt? Or telling them that their work in your class is one of the few times as they get older that they’re able to work on thinking for themselves rather than for someone else’s profit?

FULLY FUNDED PHDs IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

I'm looking for *two* PhD students to join my ERC project on refugee-led approaches to displacement justice. The positions are funded for four years, and you get to join our lovely community in Bristol. Please share widely!

philjobs.org/job/show/30997

Watching this has been my grading treat today. Grade a few papers, watch a couple of pieces, repeat!

One could still go to Johns Hopkins since they only list “John Hopkins University.” Sheesh. What a list.

The Declaration of Independence and the Push for Racial Equality YouTube video by National Constitution Center

It was an honor to chat with Lucas Morel about the Declaration of Independence and the Push for Racial Equality. Grateful for the invitation from the National Constitution Center. Have a listen.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocwb...

I also haven’t been sick in a while, which I attribute to masking. I usually mask for the first week or two of class (all of that travel and people coming in for start of term classes even if they’re a little sick). I didn’t this term 😬

I recommend avoiding the flu. Even with the vaccination and a mild case, it was miserable. Real Sudafed and robitussin pulled me through.

I don't like to talk about stories before they are fully reported, but I am writing on ICE in a Minnesota town that isn't Minneapolis. However bad you think it is, it is worse. It is a campaign of pure terror whose only strategic goal is more terror. There is no strategy other than to break people.

What we found is bleak. Attorneys told us they’re struggling to get information in to or out of ICE and Customs and Border Protection facilities, which are holding nearly 69,000 people this month. And detainees often are forced to choose between remaining in crowded, squalid conditions or leaving the country immediately. Judges in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles have ordered the government to facilitate attorney-client communications at Homeland Security buildings. But attorneys say that doesn’t always happen. Even if detainees get the option, some worry they’ll be punished if they take it.

Lawyers can't reach clients in ICE detention. I've heard it anecdotally, but scale of issue is horrifying.

Bloomberg Law is a legal trade pub so many may miss this. Screenshot from their CA newsletter summarizes "bleak" situation for justice and rule of law.

news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/l...

“Bug” has been on my mind since I saw it a couple of weeks ago.

Also, some of our oldest (like academics of all ages) are excellent teachers, mentors, researchers, and colleagues. Why force them out? Why lose a colleague (and with them their experience and institutional knowledge) rather than demand that institutions make room for more of us?

The president unilaterally decided to attack a sovereign nation and kidnap its leader, and now he says he's just going to run that county himself for a while too.

Call your representatives now and demand they impeach him.

Some thoughts on what Trump has done in Venezuela and what it might mean for US national security. Caveat: not a Latin America scholar so this is focused on US policy. Clearly huge consequences for Venezuela that others can address.

First, despite the buildup, I didn't think Trump would do it.

1/

note to self: anger, anxiety, and depression are reasonable responses to this world. but keep doing the work anyway.

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.

Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

Live Updates: U.S. Captures Venezuelan Leader, Trump Says

A familiar routine during a T presidency: I wake up, read the news, and am immediately horrified. Gift link for NYT live coverage of what the US has done in Venezuela.

To give you a sense of how big a departure this year, the government doesn't do this for wanted criminals.

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

And it’s Monday and I’m still grading.

“Manhattan votes early” sticker

Past weekend projects: grading, voting, Frankenstein, and an oratorio

US ‘on a trajectory’ toward authoritarian rule, ex-officials warn A network of former intelligence and security officers says democratic decline is accelerating under Trump’s rule

Retired intelligence analysts confirm what the political scientists are telling us — and what the world outside is telling us — the goal of these people is the end of law, the end of democracy, and the end of a recognizable republic.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Protestors in NYC. A sign reads “Hey Trump, nobody paid us to be here. We all hate you for free!”

Protest sign has characters from K Pop Demon Hunters on it and reads “America without the lies this is what it sounds like”

People protesting in Times Square. Signs read “we have friends everywhere” “no kings” and “radicalized by basic decency”

Protestors in Times Square. Signs read “no kings” and “don’t bow to the lyin’ king”

A few signs from NYC. The start was tough as people didn’t realize or struggled to go down from a huge mass that needed to be funneled onto one street after Duffy Square. We eventually went around to move forward. A lot of people probably waited a while at that bottleneck.

🚨The Graduate Student Support Grant is now open 🚨 If you are a graduate student in political science with an urgent financial need-please apply today! Awards are given to applicants on a lottery basis. It doesn't hurt to apply. connect.apsanet.org/graduate/gra...

LA Times: "'It backfired,' said one senior administrator at UCLA, reflecting the sense of whiplash. .... 'Within hours of announcing our settlement, the DOJ was on our back.'

WHO COULD'VE SEEN THIS COMING

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0ypqo...

A stack of small moving boxes

22 boxes closer to NYC

Currently doing the I'm-about-to-switch-academic-institutions-mega-library-download shuffle. RIP my downloads folder and devonthink.

And I didn’t recognize the effects fully until I lived in Boston for a few years.

I cannot overstate how much growing up in TX colors my view of politics and the work I do on trust and democracy. My experience was repeatedly having my representatives lie to me and others, watching my state government act anti-constitutionally and consolidate power through gerrymandering.