UPDATE: Today, DOJ filed an "emergency" motion in the Ninth Circuit seeking a stay of Judge Immergut's Nov. 7 ruling siding with Oregon (and others suing) in the case over Trump's effort to federalize and deploy National Guard troops in the state. Filing: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Bernard Bailyn speaking now from beyond the grave

When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein. Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.

A lot of historians, because he kinda sucks? Often does national hagiography more than actual history. For example, Civil War has a lot of Lost Cause, brother-against-brother slop therein. I recommend Eric Foner's essay "Ken Burns and the Romance of Reunion." Some excerpts below:

Foucault's Multiple Plans for his History of Sexuality progressivegeographies.com/2025/11/16/f... - building on earlier work, and discussing a couple of other bits of evidence about the changing nature of Foucault's plans for this series from the mid-1970s until his 1984 death

People getting mad here about anyone saying it's good that MTG and Trump are fighting. I teach democratization every semester. The first slide says 'elite fracture.' That's always where it starts. It's good when people with bad politics are fighting one another.

📣NEW POST📣 My latest article discusses Shropshire's bloodstained history, and the ghosts such conflict has left behind. Read about the armies of the dead, who span centuries but are unified by their experience below nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com/2024/07/armi... #Folklore #Shropshire

The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.

Morning! Here’s a pic I snapped yesterday of a very photogenic back street in S of France

Common law had no solution but equity did, how trusts solved a crusaders problem and gave lawyers work while bedevilling and at times protecting members of families with property. www.openuniversitylawsociety.co.uk/post/the-epi...

A huge district court victory for the University of California. District courts find facts. This one found "overwhelming evidence" that the Trump administration has pervasively violated the First Amendment in its efforts to coerce and intimidate the University of California. News story here—

Former UVA president accuses new BOV rector of engineering his ouster - Cville Right Now share.google/CJh86xgTfiKG...

WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.

DNA Sequencing Reveals Hitler Was Type Of Fern

So the current Rector and Vice Rector were (allegedly) very instrumental in the DOJ overreach at UVA. For no reason, I will now share the Code of Virginia § 23.1-1300 sections C and D.

citation for the class historyandmystery.org/interesting-...

BREAKING: The full DC Circuit will NOT rehear the appeal over the contempt proceedings before Judge Boasberg re: the March 15 flights. Three Democratic appointees write to say en banc review isn’t called for here b/c of the lack of “practical or presidential effect” of the panel opinion.

The ongoing search for the 10th President of UVA needs to be stopped until Spanberger is sworn in. On January 17, 2026, Spanberger needs to fire the Board for being illegally constituted. If not the entire board then at minimum those members named in Jim Ryan's letter to the Faculty Senate today.

JUST IN: DC Circuit appears to have split 8-3 in denying en banc review of circuit decision that blocked Judge Boasberg's planned contempt inquiry into whether Trump officials defied his orders in Alien Enemies Act deportation case. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

alright let’s get something more pleasant going. what two books would you leave out on your coffee table so a reporter can mention you have them. doesn’t matter if you’ve read them. for me it’s Pale Fire (which I did read) and Ulysses (got like 15% of the way in)

BREAKING: @janemanners.bsky.social, a legal historian and member of the Brennan Center’s Historians Council, filed a brief with the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter, a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s attempt to remove a commissioner of the FTC without cause: bit.ly/4nSvm9B

In a past life, Tom Homan was painted by Hans Holbein, who hated his guts.

Jim Ryan wrote a letter to UVA detailing his "resignation" and I'm gonna get some fresh tea before I read it because I feel pretty certain I'm gonna be filled with righteous anger by the end I'll do a thread but here's the full letter provided by the chronicle www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ. It's a surreal--and troubling--read. drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...

As always, nice reporting from the Crimson here While Summers has broken no laws, and he’s free to correspond with whom he chooses, there’s a lot here to support the idea that he should not be taken as an authoritative spokesman on so many important issues www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

So we have the final breakdown of the Virginia legislature: Democrats won 64 seats, a gain of 13. Republicans won 36. In historical perspective:

As expected, the Justice Department tonight has appealed the order from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings that aims to release hundreds of detainees who were arrested by ICE. The feds are also seeking a stay.

The SNAP fight at the Supreme Court is officially over. Trump's Department of Justice acknowledges that SNAP is now fully funded through the end of the fiscal year and thus withdraws its request for an additional stay. The end of the shutdown mooted the case before SCOTUS could touch the merits.

Westminster Abbey (and Houses of Parliament) are actually built on an island IN the Thames and then we just built roads over the bit of water and then buildings on top of that and now the whole thing looks solid but god forbid the Thames Barrier fails

Oh wow!!

I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke history is a fucking joke lmao

Now in the courtroom of District Judge Sara Ellis in Chicago for the start of a scheduled status hearing in the class action accusing federal immigration agents of abusing press, clergy and the public in the Chicago area. Ellis entered an injunction order limiting feds' use of force last week.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis just took the bench for this status hearing in the case dealing with use of force against protesters and journalists in Chicago.

This order from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings is in. Read it here: cst.brightspotcdn.com/48/44/b1b85a...

The Harvard Crimson keeps abreast of the story as Harvard as an institution ignores it. Apparently they're preoccupied with outbursts of nonexistent antisemitism that Summers wants them to pursue. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Good morning from the "free speech zone" in front of the ICE facility in Broadview, IL. A federal judge and a team of attorneys are set to visit the facility this morning, per a class action lawsuit alleging poor conditions and inhumane conditions inside.

Boris Groys examines how Alexandre Kojève made sense of the nothingness of human existence.

Those of us who have been singing along to that old song already knew ;) www.cbsnews.com/news/adolf-h...

A whole lot of people are asking "why are billionaires and demagogues like this?", and it's just possible we've been overthinking it.

The first chapter of my new short biography of Wittgenstein is free to read at Lit Hub: lithub.com/on-the-simpl...

Exclusive: Adolf Hitler’s DNA has been sequenced by scientists It has: - shown he had a disorder which impacted his sexual development - debunked rumours about his ancestry - shown a high likelihood that he had a neurodivergent condition and/or bipolar disorder www.thetimes.com/article/e728...

All of the times I’ve wondered what Putin had on Trump, and now we find out Jeffrey Epstein was talking to Putin’s ambassador about Trump.

A family has handed over a 13th century book to the National Library of Norway. Conservator Chiara Palandri says its pages were made of calfskin parchment and that the cover appears to be hairy sealskin. The strap to hold the book together is thought to have been made from reindeer hide.