Sam Crane
@uselesstree.bsky.social
I teach contemporary PRC politics and ancient Chinese philosophy at Williams College. Currently Director of Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford.
Pinned
If you’re in NYC in January, go see this. You’ll be glad you did.
If a graduate student is being hit with this, where is the responsible faculty member?
Senior faculty, especially tenured faculty, should step in and take the heat.
Senior faculty, especially tenured faculty, should step in and take the heat.
Agree that it's a debasement of academic standards, but a minor correction: the instructor who was put on administrative leave is a graduate student, not a professor.
In some ways this is worse. This one incident could derail their academic career before it even starts.
In some ways this is worse. This one incident could derail their academic career before it even starts.
November 30, 2025 at 10:20 PM
If a graduate student is being hit with this, where is the responsible faculty member?
Senior faculty, especially tenured faculty, should step in and take the heat.
Senior faculty, especially tenured faculty, should step in and take the heat.
This is what postliberalism gets you: unrestrained executive power and abandonment of rule of law begets killing for killing’s sake. No purpose, no meaning. Just the cruel whims of the autocrat.
November 30, 2025 at 5:48 PM
This is what postliberalism gets you: unrestrained executive power and abandonment of rule of law begets killing for killing’s sake. No purpose, no meaning. Just the cruel whims of the autocrat.
The 38th parallel in Korea was also originally intended to be temporary.
The Israeli military is digging in along the yellow line that now divides the Gaza Strip between eastern and western sectors—one controlled by Israel, the other by Hamas.
The Yellow Line in Gaza Is Supposed to Be Temporary. Israel Is Digging in.
Unless Hamas disarms, Israeli troops are unlikely to withdraw further.
foreignpolicy.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:55 PM
The 38th parallel in Korea was also originally intended to be temporary.
Wait. "Wang" is not a profanity; it's a surname.
@uselesstree.bsky.social has swears! They've used 22 profanities in their last 824 posts.
🥇 "wang" (6 times)
🥈 "fuck" (3 times)
🥉 "damn" (2 times)
🥇 "wang" (6 times)
🥈 "fuck" (3 times)
🥉 "damn" (2 times)
November 29, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Wait. "Wang" is not a profanity; it's a surname.
not completely sure how this works but perhaps @profanity.accountant will let me know how profane I am.
November 29, 2025 at 12:26 PM
not completely sure how this works but perhaps @profanity.accountant will let me know how profane I am.
Bobcat (in my back yard, Williamstown, MA)
Fisher Cat (backyard, MA)
Fox (backyard in US and in UK)
Moose (walking on my street, Williamstown)
Tiger (Ranthambore, India)
Fisher Cat (backyard, MA)
Fox (backyard in US and in UK)
Moose (walking on my street, Williamstown)
Tiger (Ranthambore, India)
Chinese Bamboo Partridge
Whip Scorpion
Sika Deer
Mikado Pheasant
Formosan Rock Macaque
Whip Scorpion
Sika Deer
Mikado Pheasant
Formosan Rock Macaque
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Magnificent frigatebird
Catalina Island fox
Formosan rock macaque
Bison
Alligator
All seen at U.S. national parks except the macaques, which I saw at Toroko National Park in Taiwan.
Magnificent frigatebird
Catalina Island fox
Formosan rock macaque
Bison
Alligator
All seen at U.S. national parks except the macaques, which I saw at Toroko National Park in Taiwan.
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Bobcat (in my back yard, Williamstown, MA)
Fisher Cat (backyard, MA)
Fox (backyard in US and in UK)
Moose (walking on my street, Williamstown)
Tiger (Ranthambore, India)
Fisher Cat (backyard, MA)
Fox (backyard in US and in UK)
Moose (walking on my street, Williamstown)
Tiger (Ranthambore, India)
Must shout out Jonathan Spence. So many great works. I'm thinking of:
God's Chinese Son
Treason by the Book
The Question of Hu
God's Chinese Son
Treason by the Book
The Question of Hu
A question for academics: what academic non-fiction book would you hold up as exceptionally written?
Content matters in this to an extent, but I'm particularly trying to identify style here, and setting trade titles written by academics into a different category.
Content matters in this to an extent, but I'm particularly trying to identify style here, and setting trade titles written by academics into a different category.
November 28, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Must shout out Jonathan Spence. So many great works. I'm thinking of:
God's Chinese Son
Treason by the Book
The Question of Hu
God's Chinese Son
Treason by the Book
The Question of Hu
Lennon wall
Hong Kongers express their solidarity with the victims of the Tai Po fire by writing words of encouragement and sympathy on Post-It notes. An act that disappeared since 2019 but apparently remain unforgotten since then.
November 28, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Lennon wall
I really like this word:
apotropaic
As a political science guy who has wandered into philosophy in recent years, I am on the lookout for whatever apotropaic beings or experiences I might find.
I'd like to believe the Mencian project is apotropaic but there are so many obstacles....
apotropaic
As a political science guy who has wandered into philosophy in recent years, I am on the lookout for whatever apotropaic beings or experiences I might find.
I'd like to believe the Mencian project is apotropaic but there are so many obstacles....
Medusa is often more of a protector than a monster within Roman culture—apotropaic. This is particularly true in domestic mosaics and on military cuirasses. I love this Antioch mosaic now at the Princeton Art Museum, which I photographed a few years ago.
![LATE 2D CENTURY A.D.
Head of Medusa
From "The House of the Red Pavement" [y1965-212]
FLOOR:
LATE 3D CENTURY A.D.
Apollo and Daphne
From "The House of Menander" [y1965-219]
FOUNTAIN:
LATE 3D CENTURY A.D.
Cupids Riding Dolphins, Surrounded by Marine Creatures From "The House of the Boat of Psyches"
[У1940-437]
Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch to Princeton University, 1939](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:byohyhodi6iknxngf3oypcge/bafkreicxfsial2qy4pecmyairothxi5kq6jxl6kzfv2zgqi3hxqcx3ypxq@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 10:13 PM
I really like this word:
apotropaic
As a political science guy who has wandered into philosophy in recent years, I am on the lookout for whatever apotropaic beings or experiences I might find.
I'd like to believe the Mencian project is apotropaic but there are so many obstacles....
apotropaic
As a political science guy who has wandered into philosophy in recent years, I am on the lookout for whatever apotropaic beings or experiences I might find.
I'd like to believe the Mencian project is apotropaic but there are so many obstacles....
Sachs is not interested in historical accuracy or insight. He is simply shilling for Xi.
November 28, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Sachs is not interested in historical accuracy or insight. He is simply shilling for Xi.
A lot of confusion here. More Trumpist bungling of complex foreign policy matters.
I wonder, with all the reporting contradictions, if Trump did not tell Japan to back off but his minions are now lying in a way to make Beijing think he told Japan to back off.
Hard to parse stupidity and ignorance.
I wonder, with all the reporting contradictions, if Trump did not tell Japan to back off but his minions are now lying in a way to make Beijing think he told Japan to back off.
Hard to parse stupidity and ignorance.
Japan denies report Trump urged Takaichi not to provoke China
00:03
A report saying that US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to avoid provoking China over Taiwan is not based on fact, a Japanese government official said yesterday.The official, who asked not […]
00:03
A report saying that US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to avoid provoking China over Taiwan is not based on fact, a Japanese government official said yesterday.The official, who asked not […]
Original post on pbs.idv.tw
pbs.idv.tw
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 PM
A lot of confusion here. More Trumpist bungling of complex foreign policy matters.
I wonder, with all the reporting contradictions, if Trump did not tell Japan to back off but his minions are now lying in a way to make Beijing think he told Japan to back off.
Hard to parse stupidity and ignorance.
I wonder, with all the reporting contradictions, if Trump did not tell Japan to back off but his minions are now lying in a way to make Beijing think he told Japan to back off.
Hard to parse stupidity and ignorance.
Completely consistent with Trumpist transactionalism.
“.. Japanese officials said the message was worrying: the president didn’t want friction over Taiwan to endanger a detente reached last month with Xi, which includes a promise to buy more agricultural products from American farmers ..”
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
November 27, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Completely consistent with Trumpist transactionalism.
Following Abraham Lincoln, we can celebrate Thanksgiving for victory in a war "to keep a cabal from taking control of the government and turning it into an oligarchy." A slave owning oligarchy, that is. That's something to be thankful for.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...
November 27, 2024
Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday…but not for the reasons we generally remember.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Following Abraham Lincoln, we can celebrate Thanksgiving for victory in a war "to keep a cabal from taking control of the government and turning it into an oligarchy." A slave owning oligarchy, that is. That's something to be thankful for.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...
Preserving energy - qi- has a vaguely Daoist connotation.
The thing about Trump stories is that they always have that extra layer of stupidity that you’re not expecting. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Preserving energy - qi- has a vaguely Daoist connotation.
You’ll be visited by three spirits
The three spirits
The three spirits
November 25, 2025 at 11:49 PM
You’ll be visited by three spirits
The three spirits
The three spirits
I have used it once, when it first came out, to see how my students might cheat on their papers. Really have no interest in engaging with the slop it produces.
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I have used it once, when it first came out, to see how my students might cheat on their papers. Really have no interest in engaging with the slop it produces.
“If the Communist party is digging up ancestor’s graves, go dig up Xi Jinping’s ancestral tombs first”.
Protests erupt in China’s Guizhou province over cremation mandate – The Guardian: ‘the latest in a string of rural demonstrations that have seen incidents of unrest increase by 70% compared with last year.’
Protests erupt in China’s Guizhou province over cremation mandate
Villagers demonstrate against drive for alternative funeral practices instead of burial to preserve land resources
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM
“If the Communist party is digging up ancestor’s graves, go dig up Xi Jinping’s ancestral tombs first”.
A perfectly defensible statement.
The BBC is backing away from serious analysis of Trumpist corruption and lawlessness.
The BBC is backing away from serious analysis of Trumpist corruption and lawlessness.
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 11:18 AM
A perfectly defensible statement.
The BBC is backing away from serious analysis of Trumpist corruption and lawlessness.
The BBC is backing away from serious analysis of Trumpist corruption and lawlessness.
So Xi lets Trump stew for a few weeks as the soybean problem grows and then puts Taiwan on the table.
How desperate is Trump to get economic “deals” done? What is he willing to give to Xi?
How desperate is Trump to get economic “deals” done? What is he willing to give to Xi?
It is intriguing that Xi and Trump talked in the midst of the rising tensions with Japan, supposedly the U.S. ally, with Taiwan as a subject of their talk. If I am Takaichi, I am worried.
asia.nikkei.com/politics/int...
asia.nikkei.com/politics/int...
China's Xi tells Trump Taiwan's 'return' key to postwar order: Xinhua
Two leaders discuss bilateral relations, war in Ukraine in phone call
asia.nikkei.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:18 PM
So Xi lets Trump stew for a few weeks as the soybean problem grows and then puts Taiwan on the table.
How desperate is Trump to get economic “deals” done? What is he willing to give to Xi?
How desperate is Trump to get economic “deals” done? What is he willing to give to Xi?
"China has not confirmed that pledge."
So, there never was a "deal."
So, there never was a "deal."
CNBC: My understanding is the White House said that China was gonna buy 12 million tons of soybeans from the US by January. That's approaching and they've only purchased 332,000. China has not confirmed that pledge.
BROOKE ROLLINS: Your point is salient. We've got a significant way to go
BROOKE ROLLINS: Your point is salient. We've got a significant way to go
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"China has not confirmed that pledge."
So, there never was a "deal."
So, there never was a "deal."
Saw Nuremberg yesterday. Good film. A bit overdone at points but the central story line was captivating.
November 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Saw Nuremberg yesterday. Good film. A bit overdone at points but the central story line was captivating.
A movie that takes place where you’re from
November 24, 2025 at 4:58 AM
A movie that takes place where you’re from
Reposted by Sam Crane
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
There is no press freedom in Hong Kong.
A story about press freedom in Hong Kong, as reported by Hong Kong's oldest student newspaper. "The exhibition... was set to feature historic photographs documenting key moments in Hong Kong since the late 1980s..." tyr-jour.hkbu.edu.hk/2025/11/22/e...
Exhibition by Hong Kong’s Press Photographers Association cancelled after host venue orders “emergency repairs”
Members of the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association dismantled their exhibit at 12:30am on Saturday at Hong Kong Baptist University, after the host venue cancelled it saying it had to conduct “em...
tyr-jour.hkbu.edu.hk
November 23, 2025 at 10:09 AM
There is no press freedom in Hong Kong.
The Useless Tree is back!
At least for now. I just posted a long piece on my experience last year at the Tenth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. Come for the politics of Confucian revival, stay for some jabs at Jeffrey Sachs. Good times!
uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/r...
At least for now. I just posted a long piece on my experience last year at the Tenth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. Come for the politics of Confucian revival, stay for some jabs at Jeffrey Sachs. Good times!
uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/r...
Reclaiming Confucius from Autocracy
The largest statue of Confucius in the world, in stolid brass, looms 236 feet above the neighboring sprawl of the Nishan Center for World Confucian Studies just outside of Qufu, Shandong Province. …
uselesstree.blog
November 22, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The Useless Tree is back!
At least for now. I just posted a long piece on my experience last year at the Tenth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. Come for the politics of Confucian revival, stay for some jabs at Jeffrey Sachs. Good times!
uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/r...
At least for now. I just posted a long piece on my experience last year at the Tenth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. Come for the politics of Confucian revival, stay for some jabs at Jeffrey Sachs. Good times!
uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/r...