Elinor Stillman
@elinorhs.bsky.social
Retired Lawyer (NLRB and DOJ). Was going to be an EngLit prof but wandered into law school. Fan of newspapers, print and digital. Owned by a cat. RIP his brother, Papaya, 2011-2025.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
We don’t talk enough about how silly the word “google” sounds, as an aside. Of *course* something called Google Bard is going to lie to you. It’s like relying on Legal McLawFace to check citations.
Whoever would have expected that noted legal mind Michael Cohen, famous for his meticulous legal research, would be fooled by [checks notes] Google Bard
www.nytimes.com/2023/12/29/n...
www.nytimes.com/2023/12/29/n...
Michael Cohen Used Artificial Intelligence to Feed Lawyer Bogus Cases
Donald Trump’s former fixer had sought an early end to court supervision after his 2018 campaign finance conviction. He enlisted the help of Google Bard.
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2023 at 5:47 PM
We don’t talk enough about how silly the word “google” sounds, as an aside. Of *course* something called Google Bard is going to lie to you. It’s like relying on Legal McLawFace to check citations.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
I don't know about y'all, but I do not support my country egging another on to commit an act of ethnic cleansing.
Trump: "I heard that number today -- half of Gaza would leave. I've always said it. I said if they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move. We're helping the people of Gaza a lot. So is Israel, by the way."
December 29, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I don't know about y'all, but I do not support my country egging another on to commit an act of ethnic cleansing.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
I'd always been pro-Aaron Rodgers, just because he was a UC Berkeley guy.
And then: Hero of citizen-owned Green Bay Packers!
Now: Hah hah hah.
And then: Hero of citizen-owned Green Bay Packers!
Now: Hah hah hah.
It is so cool that Aaron Rodgers became a super huge actual loser after he turned to the dark side. Ever since he wigged out about that Covid vaccine, made himself a martyr, and chose up sides with RFK Jr., he just can't stop losing and letting people down. Great lesson for the kids, thanks man.
December 28, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I'd always been pro-Aaron Rodgers, just because he was a UC Berkeley guy.
And then: Hero of citizen-owned Green Bay Packers!
Now: Hah hah hah.
And then: Hero of citizen-owned Green Bay Packers!
Now: Hah hah hah.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Oh the billionaire who doesn't live in New York and who has no expertise in emergency services thinks that Bonsignore, the FDNY's emergency services chief is unqualified?
My uncle says that Drake Maye is unqualified to be an NFL QB. You guys want to run a news flash on that story too?
My uncle says that Drake Maye is unqualified to be an NFL QB. You guys want to run a news flash on that story too?
Elon Musk warns ‘people will die’ after Mamdani taps Lillian Bonsignore as FDNY commissioner
Elon Musk warns ‘people will die’ after Mamdani taps Lillian Bonsignore as FDNY commissioner
Elon Musk threw cold water on Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s pick of Lillian Bonsignore as the city’s FDNY commissioner, warning it would have dire consequences because she lacks firefigh…
buff.ly
December 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Oh the billionaire who doesn't live in New York and who has no expertise in emergency services thinks that Bonsignore, the FDNY's emergency services chief is unqualified?
My uncle says that Drake Maye is unqualified to be an NFL QB. You guys want to run a news flash on that story too?
My uncle says that Drake Maye is unqualified to be an NFL QB. You guys want to run a news flash on that story too?
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
It's always a smart idea to check in with your boss after a strategy meeting
Trump says he's going to talk to Putin on the phone *again* after he meets with Zelenskyy
December 28, 2025 at 7:32 PM
It's always a smart idea to check in with your boss after a strategy meeting
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
When the White House press pool motorcade reporters used to wait inside Trump's country club in Sterling, VA in the first term we would get finger sandwiches & coffee. It wasn't free. Our news organizations were subsequently billed ~$70 per snack session.
Trump tells the press as he meets with Zelenskyy, "I think you could sit outside and have some food. Would you like to have food or do you consider that a bribe, and therefore you cannot write honestly? ... Margo, take them outside and tell the chef to serve them good lunch."
December 28, 2025 at 7:36 PM
When the White House press pool motorcade reporters used to wait inside Trump's country club in Sterling, VA in the first term we would get finger sandwiches & coffee. It wasn't free. Our news organizations were subsequently billed ~$70 per snack session.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Of course they didn't read the story.
They fed it into their buggy AI product and it spat out a completely wrong summary.
They fed it into their buggy AI product and it spat out a completely wrong summary.
Why is it that tech and AI boosters keep saying "you can't put the genie back in the bottle" when making arguments about AI's supposed inevitable dominance? Did they not read the story? The genie does, indeed, go back in the bottle. Maybe we should start there.
December 28, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Of course they didn't read the story.
They fed it into their buggy AI product and it spat out a completely wrong summary.
They fed it into their buggy AI product and it spat out a completely wrong summary.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Once again raising the question -- why is the president's son-in-law at this official event?
Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller with seats at the table at Mar-a-Lago meeting with Zelenskyy.
December 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Once again raising the question -- why is the president's son-in-law at this official event?
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
We are getting to the point where white collar criminals are thinking, "why take the plea deal my high-priced lawyer negotiated when I can just bribe the President and skip jail altogether?"
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
December 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
We are getting to the point where white collar criminals are thinking, "why take the plea deal my high-priced lawyer negotiated when I can just bribe the President and skip jail altogether?"
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
"no statistically or substantively significant bias against conservative students in efforts to establish politically-oriented registered student organizations (Study 1) or secure campus space for a guest speaker to lecture on political issues (Study 2)" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 26, 2025 at 6:06 PM
"no statistically or substantively significant bias against conservative students in efforts to establish politically-oriented registered student organizations (Study 1) or secure campus space for a guest speaker to lecture on political issues (Study 2)" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
2/2
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
December 26, 2025 at 6:10 PM
2/2
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
1/2
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
December 26, 2025 at 6:05 PM
1/2
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
I think this is right - but the state and U administrations are betting that 1) the prospect of being fired and then suing will be untenable for most faculty, so they'll conform their teaching instead; and 2) when fired faculty do sue, litigation will be protracted & the outcome will be uncertain
Texas Universities are now like police departments who would prefer to pay out the inevitable lawsuits rather than stop breaking the law
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
December 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I think this is right - but the state and U administrations are betting that 1) the prospect of being fired and then suing will be untenable for most faculty, so they'll conform their teaching instead; and 2) when fired faculty do sue, litigation will be protracted & the outcome will be uncertain
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Hope everyone had a merry Christmas
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
December 26, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Hope everyone had a merry Christmas
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
This is bad. Also, if he worried about Nigerian Christians being persecuted, why is he blocking asylum? Everything he does is bigoted and nonsensical.
Merry Christmas!
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
December 26, 2025 at 12:25 AM
This is bad. Also, if he worried about Nigerian Christians being persecuted, why is he blocking asylum? Everything he does is bigoted and nonsensical.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
The link between gluten & Celiac disease was established in the 1950s
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
December 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The link between gluten & Celiac disease was established in the 1950s
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Good thread
I'm going to tell my favorite story again about reflecting the certainty of beliefs back at people who don't expect it.
A friend was one of the few Jews on faculty at a North Dakota University. Every year, his colleague in religious studies would invite him to come to his religious studies class...
A friend was one of the few Jews on faculty at a North Dakota University. Every year, his colleague in religious studies would invite him to come to his religious studies class...
December 25, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Good thread
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
December 25, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Israeli police arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas party
Israeli police arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas party
Officers closed Christmas event in Haifa, confiscating equipment and also arresting a DJ and a street vendor
Israeli police arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus during a raid on a Christmas party in Haifa, a civil rights monitor has said.
Israeli officers closed an event celebrating Christmas on Sunday, confiscating equipment, and arresting the Palestinian Santa Claus, as well as a DJ and a street vendor. In a video, police can be seen pushing the men to the ground and handcuffing them as bystanders watched. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Israeli police arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas party
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
The road to autocracy is paved with false equivalences.
This is not a “duel,” which suggests both sides are equally culpable, but the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s ideological war on Harvard and higher education.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
In Private Letters, Harvard and Trump Administration Escalate Duel
www.nytimes.com
December 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
The road to autocracy is paved with false equivalences.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
The genocide will continue until morale improves.
"We’re monitoring what you do online. Disseminating, writing, or publishing inciting content online is considered a terrorist crime in every sense and may lead to arrest or imprisonment. We have warned you."
Israel warns Palestinians that posting about their suffering will be considered terrorism.
Israel warns Palestinians that posting about their suffering will be considered terrorism.
December 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The genocide will continue until morale improves.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?
December 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM
American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
Kavanaugh tries to put the "Kavanaugh Stops" genie back in the bottle
Kavanaugh goes out of his way to pen a footnote not having to deal with the case at hand.
He appears to be trying to narrow the forces he unleashed with his prior opinion allowing for race- and ethnicity-based #KavanaughStops
He appears to be trying to narrow the forces he unleashed with his prior opinion allowing for race- and ethnicity-based #KavanaughStops
December 23, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Kavanaugh tries to put the "Kavanaugh Stops" genie back in the bottle
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
No, you can’t do that, airhead. It’s not within your authority and it violates several laws.
Sean Duffy on blue states: "What I can do is I can pull their money. That's the leverage I do have ... I guarantee you that the federal taxpayer is not going to fund their roads and bridges and their systems when they are putting illegals on the roads."
December 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
No, you can’t do that, airhead. It’s not within your authority and it violates several laws.
Reposted by Elinor Stillman
From @parkermolloy.com at New Republic. newrepublic.com/article/2047...
I'd go a bit further. The system needs no conspiracy to function. It just needs everyone to understand the direction things are going in. Bari Weiss was put there not to protect a legacy, but to align its politics differently.
I'd go a bit further. The system needs no conspiracy to function. It just needs everyone to understand the direction things are going in. Bari Weiss was put there not to protect a legacy, but to align its politics differently.
December 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
From @parkermolloy.com at New Republic. newrepublic.com/article/2047...
I'd go a bit further. The system needs no conspiracy to function. It just needs everyone to understand the direction things are going in. Bari Weiss was put there not to protect a legacy, but to align its politics differently.
I'd go a bit further. The system needs no conspiracy to function. It just needs everyone to understand the direction things are going in. Bari Weiss was put there not to protect a legacy, but to align its politics differently.