Our university’s top administrator informed us, 20 minutes before close of business on Friday, that he will give himself and other admins raises while faculty members will get nothing because we need to be punished for unionizing. He didn’t use these precise words but the implication was clear. 

Then he had the discussion board sabotaged to prevent us from discussing this.

Of course, we will get our raise, this idiot will apologize, professors will write him crappy evaluations, and the Board of Trustees will put him out on his ass. I’ve been here long enough to know how this works. 

What’s sad, though, is the plummeting quality of our administrators. They don’t come to us from business but I almost wish they did. At least then if they did evil things, I could be angry. But it’s impossible to be angry with this bumbling fool who just talked himself out of a career for some mysterious reason. 

We used to have inspiring, strong administrators. And now we get these mediocre, boring people who can’t even plot against labor in a half-assedly competent way. What a comedown. 

It took me 20 minutes to figure out why the Russian blogosphere has erupted in such insane anti-Muslim hatred today. Finally, I discovered that what caused all the hate was something really beautiful. Muslims in Moscow defied the prohibition on unauthorized gatherings and came out to the Myanmar embassy to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya who are being exterminated for being Muslim. 

Here are the brave protesters:

And the Russians are so angry not only for the customary hateful reasons but also because they are envious. They envy the Muslims the courage to come out in protest. (It’s illegal in Russia to appear in public even in a very small group unless you have a written permit.)

I feel deeply for the Rohingya and I’m glad somebody else is willing to stand up for them, even at a great risk. 

FB tells me that in the Game of Thrones I’m somebody called Cercei Lannister. I tried all of my uploaded photos, and it’s always the same result. 

Is it a good character, at least?

And also, on the subject of adjunctification, I’m tired of the idea that I need to feel contrite and constantly self-castigate over an issue I in no way caused and that nobody is brave enough to even name. I have no idea whatsoever what can be done to solve the problem. As the MA inevitably becomes the new BA and then the new GED, it’s going to intensify. 

And I hope never to discuss this issue again until people quit pretending they are unaware of all I just said. 

This year for the first time our department has a non-tenure-track person with a PhD teaching language courses. I have no idea whatsoever how this could have been avoided and how even the most perfect economy imaginable could have changed the situation. 

This is why this kind of article bugs me.  It’s all empty, ridiculous blabber that doesn’t speak to the core issue faced by all the departments like mine who don’t see any other solution. What kind of an economy do we need to have to offer tenure to people who teach nothing but Spanish 101 or equivalent because there’s nothing else for them to teach and who do no research because they do not want to? 

The conversation around adjuncts as a phenomenon is dumb, fake and annoying because everybody knows (but nobody wants to say it aloud) that there is one easy and cheap way to end the adjunct problem in languages: cancel the language requirement. It’s either that or put up with a growing army of adjuncts. 

I’m so tired of the hypocrisy surrounding this issue. Everybody knows what’s happening but everybody pretends to be wide-eyed and ignorant about it.

Wearing a backpack makes me feel extremely young. Maybe I should wear it just for psychological effects. 

The last time I had a backpack I was 14. It was the envy of the whole school because it was very bright and had the colors of the US flag. I had brought it back from the UK. 

Today I wear one of those fake hippy backpacks because I use it as a diaper bag. 

The only photo I posted of Harvey turned out to be a fake. I apologise to everyone for posting a misleading image. One should never trust anybody to just report. There are too many freaks who are lying to advance an agenda. The fake photo I was dumb enough to believe was the product of some eco freaks’ fantasy. Which is very ironic. 

Russian militias in the US. The article doesn’t mention the Antifa but they are part of the same trend. 

It’s because of rants like these that I now try to run away whenever I hear the word “white.” Even at a clothing store I avoid white items because the word reminds me of these eager little fools who are self-pleasuring like crazy with it. 

I’m proud to be a Ukrainian-Canadian when I hear news like this! Canada’s Ukrainian-Canadian Minister of foreign affairs has been rescuing Chechnya’s gays and bringing them over to Canada. As of today, there are 38 gay Chechens whose lives have been saved this way. 

It kills me to see people throw around the word “Nazi” so casually. How can they not understand that it’s immoral and just wrong? 
Crazy in Australia.
Keeping up the monuments debate is a huge mistake because voters are not into it. One has got to be all kinds of silly to try to give symbolic victories to today’s voters. 

If you want to culturally appropriate Ukrainian culture, do not, and I repeat do not follow this silly kid’s advice. I’m tired as fuck of people trying to engage with me as a fount of Ukrainianness they are eager to drink from. God, where do these dumb ideas come from even?

Technology obsession + unlimited power in the hands of one stupid bureaucrat = massive ridiculousness.

What a dumb idea: “An Early College High School program allows high school students to take college classes for dual credit; if they pass everything on the first try, they can graduate with an Associate’s degree at the same time they graduate high school.” Hey, why stop there? Let’s give little darlings Nobel Prizes for existing.

 And the best post ever on why big business looooves governmental bureaucracy. 

The most meaningful thing I have read about the Harvey disaster.

For years, I wondered what “UPD” meant and why it appeared tagged on to posts and comments. For years. 

Googling it, of course, was not an option because come on.

And then, finally, by pure chance, I saw somebody posting it in Russian, and even though “АПД” means nothing whatsoever in Russian, I finally figured out what it means. 

It’s a nice feeling.

With the news that Robert Mueller has a copy of the original letter on James Comey’s firing written by Trump aide Stephen Miller and Trump himself, we need to return to the great mystery of that lost hour on the tarmac on Air Force One.

Every hour spent trying to figure out “the great mystery of that lost hour on the tarmac” or bitching about Melanka’s shoes in Texas is taken away from discussing strategies of dealing with liquid capital. Which are not discussed. 

Of course, if somebody tried doing both things at once, that would be ok. But nobody is even trying. The deeply neoliberal fascination with easy solutions has won the day. People have convinced themselves that removing Trump from office will somehow, for 3 easy payments of $19.99, make everything great again.