DHS ends the year on a high note by threatening ethnic cleansing of millions of American citizens.

"There is no condition in which the university is under attack that the whole of U.S. educational infrastructure, public and private, from pre-K up, is not under attack. And there is no condition in which education is under attack in which civil society can remain unimperiled."

New, from me: The NYT reporter who specializes in profiles of beleaguered right-wingers on campus went to New College...and found out that things were going ok! So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

A worthwhile read for anyone planning to attend the American Historical Association's annual conference.

A worthwhile read for anyone planning to attend the American Historical Association's annual conference.

Texas opens for-profit school in for-profit prison holding ICE detainees: Why not monetize everything??? dianeravitch.net/2025/12/19/t...

New @cato.org story argues that it's DHS policy to threaten/arrest illegally protestors--> in other words, the fed gvt is a threat to the rule of law.

I don’t understand why faculty at all Texas public universities have not walked out and brought their institutions to a standstill to defend academic freedom. I am shocked by how complacent and compliant faculty appear to be. Am I missing the resistance? Our faculty protesting and resisting?

UM, RIGHTS ARE NOT OPTIONAL IN A FREE SOCIETY: "They’re now seeing cases where ICE agents violate constitutional protections on a daily basis. She and other immigration attorneys advise clients about the rights they should have but warn about the areas where ICE agents have been violating them."

If you've ever been to a naturalization ceremony, you know they're filled with people whose palpable love of this country is twenty times stronger than the pinched "patriotism" of any native-born MAGA chud. Just unspeakable assholery.

Texas Tech has revived the office of censor. Faculty need pre-clearance to teach their courses. #academicfreedom @aaup.org

Texas Tech creates a censorship process. This image from a memo from the Chancellor is chilling- but its meaning is clear. #academicfreedom

Texas Tech creates a censorship process. This image from a memo from the Chancellor is chilling- but its meaning is clear. #academicfreedom

The latest History of Education Quarterly has an incredible forum addressing the dismantling of the US Department of Education. I'll post non-paywalled versions of all nine contributions here. Huge thanks to the amazing scholars who participated.

If you want to know why the largest, bloodiest battles of the American Revolution happened in India- & how ordinary people and ambitious leaders all over the world took up arms for their own purposes during the Revolution-- this is the book for you! A great read- congrats @rickbell.bsky.social

So today’s news was that the Justice Dept forced the ouster of a university president in Virginia over politics, and that Texas A&M took away academic freedom from profs who teach things they disagree with. And yet the same people demand intellectual diversity and “civil discourse” on campus?

NEWS: Federal agents crashed with woman’s car, pointed guns at her, dragged her out by legs, tossed her in a minivan, held her and (eventually) let her go without charges. This as Chicagoans say the immigration blitz is out of control. (DHS blames her.) www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...

When local police are assigned to protect people from fed agents, when schools keep kids inside bc of fed agents, and when cities urge people to be careful on Halloween bc of federal agents, that is a sign that the fed government is now the enemy of the American people.

When local police are assigned to protect people from fed agents, when schools keep kids inside bc of fed agents, and when cities urge people to be careful on Halloween bc of federal agents, that is a sign that the fed government is now the enemy of the American people.

Please take a moment to complete the quiz below to determine whether you have a president or an emperor.

In US, govt by consent of the governed has ended! Trump’s use of private money to fund his army echoes King Charles I’s effort to fund his govt by finding revenue independent of Parliament- one of the major issues leading to English civil wars- and why Americans fought for govt by consent in 1776.

A 14-word replacement for most op-eds, substacks, etc about this moment. The GOP could stop ALL of this, right now—if a handful of Sens or Reps could step outside the cult. It would take four in the Senate, four (maybe five) in the House, to change history. Until then, they're all to blame.

If you're in DC on Sunday, please stop by the teach-in on American history-- "In an authoritarian regime, one of the first things that is taken from the public is honest and credible information..."

New Quiz- please answer all questions: How to know if you have an emperor or a president. If you answer yes to a majority of the questions below, you have an emperor and are no longer living in a free country.

The last person to do this much damage to Washington was wearing a British uniform.

This #nokings day let's not let ourselves forget that we're on the side of the patriots-- we're the ones upholding the American experiment because we love our country. newrepublic.com/article/1983...

And me, who does not meet any of those criteria, but I’ll be there because I’m a patriot who loves America.

"Residents in Chicago and Portland are living in a police state where masked armed forces kidnap who they want to kidnap, where they have to listen to public officials routinely lie about what is happening in their neighborhoods." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

Several amicus filings from members of the @brennancenter.org Historians Council hit court dockets this week. Here's a quick recap of the latest... 🧵⬇️

1) Trump and Stephen Miller seek to criminalize legal political resistance to their illegal policies and actions.

👀A Rutgers professor who teaches an anti-fascism class was blocked from leaving the US hours > Trump’s “Antifa” roundtable w/ Jack Posobiec who has called Bray a “domestic terrorist professor.” TPUSA at Rutgers has called him an “antifa member,” a claim he denies. He’s received death threats. 1/

1) @talkingpointsmemo.com lists all the ways that the Trump Admin has made federal government data unreliable and untrustworthy.

We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it. But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan. Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.

Cities are being occupied by a rogue federal govt-- now is the time for us to figure out how to form a resistance that connects us across the country-- and not to retreat into our own private gardens and hope this all passes...

Joseph Fishkin: "This compact is a “reward” in exactly the same sense that it is “rewarding” to purchase protection from the Mafia." The Campus Compact is an illegal effort to take away universities' federal benefits if they don't obey in advance.

In my latest post I ask whether our focus on self-care is getting in the way of solidarity and resistance-- of taking the risks we need to take to protect those very places we value most.

This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States. America is on the brink of martial law. Do not be silent.

Again and again we see federal judges standing up for the rule of law, and again and again these positive moments are undermined by the suspicion that SCOTUS will undercut them.

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Some schools will be starved of resources. Other schools will be offered bribes. The end goal is the same. To make the universities an extension of the Trump administration. Shame on any of these institutions willing to take the bribes.

Here's a gift link so you can read this fantastic column by @pastpunditry.bsky.social: Dr. Hemmer nails it: "the modern right in America *emerged* as a censorious movement." So true--you can see the pattern everywhere--here are a couple more examples: 🧵

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

Two quotes demonstrate why Trump lacks the character to lead a free people: 1) "...the person or persons on whom the sovereignty is confer'd by the people, shall incessantly consult their good."- James Otis 1764; 2) "I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them." - Donald Trump 2025

Proud of my colleagues! 🗃 www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Let’s spell this out. Trump fired a qualified U.S. attorney who refused to do his bidding and installed his own personal lawyer to punish a perceived opponent. Justice needs to follow the law, not politics. This is an attack on the rule of law. Full stop.

May Mailman, the Trump administration’s point person in its crackdown on higher education, relies on culture war cliches in making her case rather than evidence or law. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...

1) I had a lovely conversation about the #USSC Mahmoud decision with @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social concerning parental rights and why I think the Supreme Court may use the 1st amendment-- against history and tradition-- to render public schools unconstitutional.