h/t @revdrjohn.bsky.social

interesting to think that revolutionary era americans understood themselves as making a break with the “old world” and establishing a new civilization. and crucially, this new civilization rested on republican self-government, not “sovereignty.”

h/t @nwstgrrl.bsky.social

It really is amazing how much of political punditry, *especially* elite outfits in NYC and Washington, still embrace this bizarre idea that rural spaces represent the "Real America" while metropolitan areas, where most (presumably real) Americans actually live, should be held in contempt.

<rubs forehead>

Double digit run along a (for the time being) still frozen lake. I liked it better last week when it was 8°F and there were fewer people on the Peninsula. 😉 Also, the last picture is my reaction to the dozen people competing for first place in the Darwin Awards by walking out on the ice dunes...

Incredible www.instagram.com/reel/DUtTdIz...

Well, shit...

h/t @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Happy Feast of St. Valentine!

h/t @profmsinha.bsky.social

🤣🤣🤣 h/t @ladyhistorian.bsky.social

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h/t @loreandordure.com

This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”

We made it to another Friday (going to be a sunny one on the North Coast). The Infant and I wish everyone health, safety, warmth, and peace.

h/t @rebeccafachner.bsky.social

I would love to have a discussion with Jake Tapper about the history of the term "concentration camp" and its usage. It would do so much good if he would actually address this head on.

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it really can't be said enough that this is a person who has dined with the president of the united states

Just remember that DHS is building concentration camps, and, if you built it, they will get filled.

h/t @spqesq.bsky.social

Shooting a child’s party balloon seems like a pretty on-brand thing for DHS to do, if you ask me. They’d teargas kids to get the piñata candy.

h/t @kevinmkruse.bsky.social

h/t @apocalypticanow.bsky.social

in fact you do not have to show your ID when you board a train in the united states, you only need to show your ticket (which can be purchased without an ID)

Imagine closing down the airspace of Boston, Washington DC, or Denver for 10 days? All of these cities have around the same population

The spreadsheet on this clay tablet, which is almost 4,000 years old, is organised into columns for furrowed area, grain produced, land not sown, and the field’s name. The first field is called “Of the soldiers who stood in for their fathers”. It’s ancient Excel, but I find that incredibly moving

When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.

After all the invertebrates we've been seeing driving dem leadership, it's so heartening to see these public servants doing their jobs with appropriate fury.

I parsed through some of the emails in the Epstein files, and it’s very clear that Epstein was a eugenicist weirdo. Something he very much had in common with the billionaire class à la Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Donald Trump. New for @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

✨proofs day✨ for "Victim Blaming and Slut Shaming in the Exegesis on the Soul," coming out with Harvard Theological Review soon

There are two powerful American myths that are not acknowledged enough but govern how a lot of people function: 1. That we live in a free market economy 2. That a free market economy is the best way to deliver on people's basic needs for survival

Shaul interview HDS news www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2026/02...

It is amazing how so many AI companies follow this pattern: brag a lot about destroying jobs in public, then act genuinely shocked and surprised when a bunch of people get mad at them over it. www.theregister.com/2026/02/06/h...

h/t @ladyhistorian.bsky.social

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I woke up at 4:18 am and said, “we took all the friction out of the systems that poor people use to survive and gave rich people all the luxury of their frictionlessness.” I will make it make sense later.

The heads of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla all joined Trump at his inauguration. Since then, largely thanks to Trump's Big Ugly Bill, their companies have reaped $51B in federal tax breaks — paid for by huge cuts to our social safety net. This is what oligarchy looks like.

I will read anything with the Roman Philippi sundial on the front cover—but this also happens to be a fantastic book. 📕 www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

Just as a historical thought experiment, at what point would you have considered it morally defensible for subjects of the Third Reich to attempt to physically dismantle Nazi concentration camps? 1933? 1939? 1944?

Everyone loves Enoch!

h/t @snowhydro.bsky.social

This is laughably bad. How embarrassing!

h/t @drewjakeprof.bsky.social

I've been to some countries where people live under military rule or autocracy. And without fail, one of the questions I get when they ask about life in the U.S. is whether it's true that Americans just let homeless people die on the street.

1/ "Too many forget that the primary goal of US constitutional design wasn’t efficient governing. It was tyrant prevention ... Whether this firewall still works is the paramount political question of our age." This is an importantt, must-read essay by Dan Carlin. Free link: archive.ph/fvb5t

h/t @kateross.bsky.social

h/t @cybrarerin.bsky.social

“We cannot just abolish ICE!” Bestie, you are older than ICE.