Eric English
@eeenglish.bsky.social
Political rhetoric and media critic. Morgenmuffel. INFP in an INTJ mask. I quit Twitter ten years before it was cool to. #teamrhetoric #academicsky
Those of you who have to deal with university bureaucrats on a regular basis: is there a way to do it without relying on primal screams and uncontrollable sobbing in the car to get through the day?
June 11, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Those of you who have to deal with university bureaucrats on a regular basis: is there a way to do it without relying on primal screams and uncontrollable sobbing in the car to get through the day?
How did it take me so long to realize that “let us know if there is anything we can do to help” is academic-speak for “go away and don’t bother us”? Was I the last person to figure this out?
June 8, 2026 at 4:56 AM
How did it take me so long to realize that “let us know if there is anything we can do to help” is academic-speak for “go away and don’t bother us”? Was I the last person to figure this out?
Dear @washingtonpost.com This is vital reporting. However, you messed up the headline. It should be about how DHS condemned a toddler to a completely unnecessary violent death, not about the mother’s visit afterward. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
DHS allows mother it deported without her toddler to return for his burial
Wendy Hernandez Reyes denies she “abandoned” her son, as ICE claimed. In an extraordinary act, she was allowed to come back to the U.S. for his burial.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 30, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Dear @washingtonpost.com This is vital reporting. However, you messed up the headline. It should be about how DHS condemned a toddler to a completely unnecessary violent death, not about the mother’s visit afterward. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
The DNC autopsy is nuts, and only confirms what a lot of us have suspected: that Ken Martin is a shill for corporate Dems and needs to go. Releasing this with the ubiquitous “No evidence provided for these claims” marginalia throughout was an unbelievably cowardly and unserious decision.
May 21, 2026 at 3:55 PM
The DNC autopsy is nuts, and only confirms what a lot of us have suspected: that Ken Martin is a shill for corporate Dems and needs to go. Releasing this with the ubiquitous “No evidence provided for these claims” marginalia throughout was an unbelievably cowardly and unserious decision.
There is one way forward. Progressives take over Dem Party. Dem trifecta in 2028. End filibuster. Add a bunch of blue states. Make Senate a permanent Dem outpost. Hold veto power over all SCOTUS and cabinet nominations for decades. Should have done this in 2021. But better late than never.
May 12, 2026 at 3:48 AM
There is one way forward. Progressives take over Dem Party. Dem trifecta in 2028. End filibuster. Add a bunch of blue states. Make Senate a permanent Dem outpost. Hold veto power over all SCOTUS and cabinet nominations for decades. Should have done this in 2021. But better late than never.
Reposted by Eric English
We've reached the point where one party has so obliterated the rule of law that everyone else continuing to abide by it will only hasten the end of our democracy.
That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.
That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.
May 8, 2026 at 2:56 PM
We've reached the point where one party has so obliterated the rule of law that everyone else continuing to abide by it will only hasten the end of our democracy.
That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.
That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.
Yet, even without specific context, it relies on a context clue. Otherwise, “he” would be a name, not a pronoun. That broad cultural context is what provides “he” with its referent. So it’s the invocation of a context clue, rather than the likelihood of knowing it, that makes an enthymeme. 🧵 4/4
May 5, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Yet, even without specific context, it relies on a context clue. Otherwise, “he” would be a name, not a pronoun. That broad cultural context is what provides “he” with its referent. So it’s the invocation of a context clue, rather than the likelihood of knowing it, that makes an enthymeme. 🧵 4/4
So is it really even an enthymeme at all? Or does it just literally say, fully and without requiring inference, what it means? 🧵 3/4
May 5, 2026 at 2:19 AM
So is it really even an enthymeme at all? Or does it just literally say, fully and without requiring inference, what it means? 🧵 3/4
999 out of 1000 people know who “Is he dead yet?” refers to. 🧵 2/4
May 5, 2026 at 2:17 AM
999 out of 1000 people know who “Is he dead yet?” refers to. 🧵 2/4
At what point is an enthymeme no longer an enthymeme? 🧵 1/4
May 5, 2026 at 2:16 AM
At what point is an enthymeme no longer an enthymeme? 🧵 1/4
Bluesky is where I come to scream into the void
May 5, 2026 at 2:15 AM
Bluesky is where I come to scream into the void
Reposted by Eric English
Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia—
AOC: Wah wah wah.
We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no.
What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
AOC: Wah wah wah.
We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no.
What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
April 22, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia—
AOC: Wah wah wah.
We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no.
What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
AOC: Wah wah wah.
We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no.
What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
Reposted by Eric English
Academia: where the only way to get any work done is to take a day off work.
April 14, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Academia: where the only way to get any work done is to take a day off work.
How many days before Swalwell has a podcast in which he bitches about “wokeness” and pitches sketchy bodybuilding supplements?
April 14, 2026 at 5:38 PM
How many days before Swalwell has a podcast in which he bitches about “wokeness” and pitches sketchy bodybuilding supplements?
Reposted by Eric English
BREAKING: Trump announces two week window for Congress to remove him from office
April 7, 2026 at 10:43 PM
BREAKING: Trump announces two week window for Congress to remove him from office
Reposted by Eric English
So uh, how the hell exactly do they plan to get the Strait of Hormuz open for business again?
March 2, 2026 at 1:32 AM
So uh, how the hell exactly do they plan to get the Strait of Hormuz open for business again?
Voting is simple. Vote for the best candidate in the primary. Not the most “electable” one. The one most capable of carrying out the most progressive change. Then vote for the least bad candidate in the general election. That’s it. Sometimes they’re the same person. Yay! Sometimes they’re not. Fine.
April 4, 2026 at 3:36 AM
Voting is simple. Vote for the best candidate in the primary. Not the most “electable” one. The one most capable of carrying out the most progressive change. Then vote for the least bad candidate in the general election. That’s it. Sometimes they’re the same person. Yay! Sometimes they’re not. Fine.
Reposted by Eric English
I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.
March 8, 2026 at 12:22 AM
I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.
Every once in a while something happens to remind me that Henry Cuellar is somehow still a member of the House. And every time, it’s because he did yet another incomprehensibly awful thing.
March 6, 2026 at 12:16 AM
Every once in a while something happens to remind me that Henry Cuellar is somehow still a member of the House. And every time, it’s because he did yet another incomprehensibly awful thing.
Somebody please explain why the US won’t have to reposition the Pacific Fleet near the Strait of Hormuz in order to reopen it, and/or why that repositioning won’t cause China to take Taiwan, and/or why a Chinese invasion of Taiwan doesn’t trigger WWIII.
March 2, 2026 at 5:42 AM
Somebody please explain why the US won’t have to reposition the Pacific Fleet near the Strait of Hormuz in order to reopen it, and/or why that repositioning won’t cause China to take Taiwan, and/or why a Chinese invasion of Taiwan doesn’t trigger WWIII.
So uh, how the hell exactly do they plan to get the Strait of Hormuz open for business again?
March 2, 2026 at 1:32 AM
So uh, how the hell exactly do they plan to get the Strait of Hormuz open for business again?
Reposted by Eric English
It’s insane this is legal. People around Trump are profiting off war and death. I’m introducing legislation ASAP to ban this.
March 1, 2026 at 2:09 AM
It’s insane this is legal. People around Trump are profiting off war and death. I’m introducing legislation ASAP to ban this.
Is it just me or does almost everything just seem like a giant load of fucking bullshit?
January 4, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Is it just me or does almost everything just seem like a giant load of fucking bullshit?
Reposted by Eric English
Everything that MAGA is saying right now about "retribution" for Kirk is basically a scam. It's all about creating justification for the full-scale targeting of *innocents* on the liberal-left. It's not payback or retribution in any real sense.
newrepublic.com/article/2004...
newrepublic.com/article/2004...
September 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Everything that MAGA is saying right now about "retribution" for Kirk is basically a scam. It's all about creating justification for the full-scale targeting of *innocents* on the liberal-left. It's not payback or retribution in any real sense.
newrepublic.com/article/2004...
newrepublic.com/article/2004...