"ICE is violence-prone because its main purpose has become theatrical. Under present leadership, ICE is less a law-enforcement agency than it is a content creator. from David Frum: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

On this day in history, Jan 12, 1915, the US House of Representatives rejected (by a vote of 204-174) a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. Five years later the 19th amendment was finally ratified by the states. Message? Don't stop fighting. 🗃️

Every time I have to Google, “what is the correct order of this book series “, an angel dies

Apropos of nothing, if you are a person who prays the Psalms and you are looking for a Psalm to pray against ICE, Psalm 70 does the trick "Oh let them turn back in confusion who delight in my harm. Let them turn because of their shame who jeer at me and mock"

Oh

I am here for all photographs with 70s fashion

Last night I found out that PBS Newshour Weekend has been cancelled because of federal funding cuts. And I realized that I could, in fact, be angrier

the DSA, the Federal Reserve, and the ladies who lunch have formed a popular front — it remains only to see if any elected Democrats will join them.

#otd in 1798, the Massachusetts State House was dedicated. From its earliest days, the building's dome was an attraction for visitors to Boston. Visitors who climbed to the dome for a birds eye view of Boston used guides like this 1851 booklet to identify buildings and landmarks.

There are debatable exceptions, but as a historical and theological matter, no, most likely would not. Some Founding Fathers were deists. Some were Quakers. Others were Presbyterians who wrote a lot about religious freedom. And some were, uh, Thomas Paine (here in a later edition of Common Sense):

Zac Kinney shared this photo from the second of two ICE deportation flights at MSP today - one of the 47 deportees was still in their Amazon uniform. (I counted 127 deportees on the first flight)

If you need inspiration to keep going right now, may I recommend the story of Robert Smalls, who stole a confederate steamboat and piloted his family and almost 20 others to freedom and went on to become one of the first Black people elected to Congress ✊🏽 www.usatoday.com/story/life/b...

This is Minneapolis: -drop the kids off for a day with their grandparents -go to brunch with your wife -get a text from neighbors who don’t have enough food & can’t leave home or they might be abducted by fed govt -get groceries as helicopters roar overhead -deliver food & this vehicle passes you

WSJ investigation: In the past 6 months ICE agents have fired at vehicles 13 times, leading to: * 8 people shot * 5 of which were U.S. citizens * 2 died * no victims drew a weapon The playbook: Agents box in a vehicle, block attempts to flee, then fire www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...

Decent crowd in Govt Center for anti-Ice protest organized by Luce @universalhub.com

Hundreds of people in Newton standing up for our neighbors and the rule of law. #ICEOUT #NOKINGS @universalhub.com @newtonindivisible.com @Onlyinboston.com

I saw the new film Nuremberg. It was based on the life of psychologist Douglas Kelly, who interviewed Nazi war criminals for five months before their trial. His book was not popular when he published it. Kelly's last chapter served as a warning from history, and this passage resonates with us now.

After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.

A bright spot

If only Greenland belonged to a nuclear armed mutual defense alliance.

In a recent Spanish class at Burns, students examined a 1680 volume documenting a famous Auto de Fé in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. Under the Spanish Inquisition, the Crown and the Church held Auto de Fés where they publicly tried and condemned individuals accused of crimes against the Catholicism. 🧵

if you need it on web: Settings > Content & Media > Autoplay media and GIFs (Off)

ICE Out of Massachusetts Protest. This Saturday, January 10. 2 pm. JFK Federal Building (next to Boston City Hall). www.lucemass.org #JusticeForReneeGood

If someone earned 50 shillings a week 100 years ago, was that... good or bad? Our handy guide 'What could you buy with a working class wage?', c.1900s-1920s, may be able to help! Explore examples of weekly budgets, ads for consumer goods and more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Not everyone believed me when I wrote that Trump wants Greenland becuase it would make him feel important, but that's what he told the NYT: When asked why he needed to possess the territory, he said: “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

I think a lot of Americans, including ones that think this is phenomenally stupid, have not priced in the odds of "Beslan School Siege but at a Cancun resort"

I applaud the Attorney General's action. We need more attention to this. Consumers have been lured into this trap by years of using grocery store (and other) apps that offer personalized deals and give businesses vast data. Now the game flips: that data can extract maximum profit from each consumer.

Governor I was not familiar with your game

They are desperate to frame a 37-year-old mother in a Honda Pilot as a well-trained “domestic terrorist.”

"I urge any who are involved in the administration of the current immigration enforcement regime at any level to seek the counsel of their clergy, given my urgent pastoral concern for the moral and spiritual injury that their participation is causing them." - Bp. Rob Price of Dallas, 1/1/2026

Better yet, disestablish all of DHS, and undo the nightmarish idiocies that we created in a panic 25 years ago. Reestablish the INS, get rid of ODNI, fix the damage from the Patriot Act, etc.

"Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” her mother said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

What I find particularly remarkable is how so much American debate seems oblivious to how much the foundations of US global power is dependent on access to infrastructure, bases and depots in Europe and Canada

It's as if America toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and then put Qusay in charge. "There is no sign that the United States’ demands include less repression. Instead the regime is taking the opportunity to crack down." www.economist.com/the-americas...

Mark Kelly: “Pete Hegseth is gonna prosecute me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for saying something that is in the Uniform Code of Military Justice — It’s nonsense — What I said in November is the exact same thing Pete Hegseth said in 2016. This is about stifling people’s speech”

Did you know that Burns Library holds a collection of photographs and albums belonging to Irish activist, printer, and camogie player Máire Gill? They live in our Loretta Clarke Murray Collection and we’ve just digitized them! https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/254/digitized

The pope knows Latin America

Behold, the guys who were on TV a few weeks ago asking 19-year-old lance corporals to defy their chain of command lmfaoo

Fascinating 1. Admin may not have informed Congress but has been talking regime change w US oil industry 2. Oil at $60, US firms not excited about major capex to get VZ heavy sour crude 3. Sounds like WH wants to prod oil firms to make their vision happen, more than WH doing US oil's bidding

Colombian President Petro commenting on the US; “A clan of pedophiles wants to destroy our democracy. To keep Epstein's list from coming out, they send warships to kill fishermen & threaten our neighbor with invasion for their oil."

"Trump thrives on the ineffectiveness of his opponents. The operation in Venezuela is a warning that Trump’s imperial ambitions are growing. An ineffective anti-Trump movement is an indulgence American democracy cannot afford or accept." - @davidfrum.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Look, she isn't wrong

Mark Kelly puts out a statement saying "The President of the United States just overthrew a foreign ruler and explained to the American people that this is about taking control of the oil reserves of a foreign nation." This is probably the strongest statement alongside Gallego's I've read.

uh holy SHIT?

Convenient how the CEO of SpaceX ordered the closure of NASA research labs, libraries, and projects. Privatization often leads to corruption and worse outcomes, including subpar services and products.

Happy Birthday to Isaac Asimov, who sent this letter to Father Francis Sweeney after Sweeney asked him to lecture at Boston College. Asimov never made it to Boston College, but he carried on a lively correspondence with Sweeney. HIs letters live here: findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

I always want to tell everyone JQA was sworn in on a law book

We at Burns Library will be reflecting on Temperance for the next few weeks "The Octopus of the Nation, Temperance", 1900 November-1904 May, M. H. Smith papers, MS-1986-102. findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

This is devastating