My latest article, out in Slate!

***Job Opportunity*** Assistant or Associate Professor of Chinese History, 1911 - Present, George Washington University 23/ www.higheredjobs.com/search/detai...

***Attention Historians*** Tenure-track job postings in History and History-adjacent fields for October 2025. A thread. I will update the thread over the course of the month. 1/

We're excited to announce the winner of the third annual Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize: @syrussolojin.bsky.social at @nyu.edu with “‘Are You My Kimchi Mother?’ Race, Women, and the U.S. Military’s Study Abroad Training Program in the Early Cold War.”

2 takes: This admin's use of the military is less immediately important than the ways that federal law enforcement (ICE) is weaponized. & The long term impacts of politicization won't be felt with the current senior leadership, but with the men and women who are junior officers and cadets now.

Trump wraps up a speech to military leaders that represented a major escalation of his effort to weaponize the armed forces into a tool he can use to violently quash domestic dissent. Hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of dignity can keep serving after this, which of course is the point.

The irony of Hegseth, chief author of Signalgate, calling for the military to return to promotions based on merit.

It's like watching a bus crashing in slow motion

If Congress can time the shut down perfectly this morning. We might be able to strand every general and admiral in Quantico with no way of paying a flight back to their deployments.

Katrin Bennhold writes how the Trump admin inches closer to military intervention in Venezuela. Under an imperial, Western Hemisphere logic, the Trump admin may be thinking that invading Venezuela is not actually a "foreign war." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/w...

One interesting question: Did Homan report the $50k on his *STATE* income taxes? You have to report your income — even if it’s an illegal bribe. And if not: Could be an opportunity for state tax fraud charges in NY….

@connorechols.bsky.social , in a wild story, uncovers how an obscure staffer, David Milstein, in the State Department has blocked diplomatic cables, pushed for the firing of colleagues, and hunted for US diplomats he views as insufficiently pro-Israel. responsiblestatecraft.org/david-milste...

Have there been scholarly work on the gender politics of aircraft? The screenshot is worth laughing at, but there's also a hypermasculine, anti-innovation politics of the A-10 at work that's totally unrelated to its military capabilities. Like the aerial version of a Chevy pickup ad.

Noah Shachtman argues forcefully why corruption is everywhere these days, and seemingly goes unpunished. The answer? The Supreme Court. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

"Pete Hegseth’s campaign against the military’s traditional legal structure has been one of the most-significant but least-reported aspects of his tenure as defense secretary." The latest from David Ignatius:

Colombia announces that it will stop purchasing US arms, potentially looking to other partners like Sweden to supply its military. colombiaone.com/2025/09/18/c...

***Job Opportunity*** Assistant or Associate Professor – U.S. Naval History in the Pacific World Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin 70/ careers.historians.org/jobs/2167065...

No notes

"To speak of Kirk as a champion of reasoned discussion is also to ignore his frequent calls for the state suppression of his political opponents." Great piece by Jamelle Bouie. messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/rend...

This post was about an article I was writing about modern McCarthyism in academia and Hollywood. As soon as I sent it for review, Kirk was murdered and now, just a few days later, UC Berkeley hands over a list of subversives to the government. It's impossible and soul crushing to keep up.

“.. I can’t remember anyone ever telling me we can’t say anything critical about a civilian like this. He was not in our chain of command or anything,” the officer said. @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

As historians are well aware, it is often the *reaction* to an event--the subjectivities--which prove more revealing than the actual event itself. There is a well organized right wing cancel culture machine in operation, enforcing and policing speech. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/u...

The killer may turn out to be a confused, young, white man from a gun-friendly Republican home with no coherent set of political views or inspirations. But that’s not the weirdest possible scenario here. What follows is a 🧵 that considers a far more bizarre scenario…ready? 1/x

The Atlantic and NYT lost their minds if there was so much as a trigger warning in classes. Now, professors and Deans are being fired for a class that discussed the existence of trans people and those same publications are quiet. It was never about free speech. www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/t...

***Job Opportunity*** Assistant Professor of Korea and Diaspora Studies, Binghamton University - State University of New York 30/ networks.h-net.org/jobs/69061/b...

Air Force cutting advisory units, following Pete Hegseth's directive to funnel money away from "non-combat" areas and towards new weapons programs. www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-ad...

1/ I worked at DoD. I literally cannot imagine lawyers coming up with a legal basis for lethal strike of suspected Venezuelan drug boat. Hard to see how this would not be "murder" or war crime under international law that DoD considers applicable. Read expert analysis by @bcfinucane.bsky.social⤵️

***Attention Historians*** Tenure-track job postings in History and History-adjacent fields for September 2025. A thread. I will update the thread over the course of the month. 1/

Horrified while reading about applicants for ICE jobs. "I keep seeing these memes where Indians are bragging about taking our tech jobs. Well I'm going to work with these guys that are going to arrest you, slam your face on the pavement and send you home.'" www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Live view of the applications for the Notre Dame US political history professorship:

Nothing to see here, just apolitical military professionals providing apolitical military funeral honours edition.cnn.com/2025/08/28/p...

***Job Opportunity*** Assistant Professor, 20th/21st Century US and the World, Lehigh University 65/ apply.interfolio.com/172322?fbcli...

***Job Opportunity*** Assistant Professor - History of South Asia, Baruch College ( @baruchhistory.bsky.social ) 59/ cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/...

***Attention Historians*** Tenure-track job postings in History and History-adjacent fields for August 2025. A thread. I will update the thread over the course of the month. 1/

As if this week were not bizarre enough: Mount Pleasant residents tell me a group of federal agents gathered for a photo-op near a pro-immigrant banner, pictured below, then tore it down. In its place, they left a dildo. A neighbor's Ring camera captured the whole thing...

Imagine if they’d had sandwiches. 🥪

The second Trump administration has repeatedly linked its expansionist policies to restoring American prestige—something not without historical precedent, writes @syrussolojin.bsky.social.

For @foreignpolicy.com, I argue that what motivates the Trump administration's thirst of territorial acquisition is a desire for prestige--in a time when few other sources of prestige are available. Gift link: foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/08/t...

Trump wants to use the military to solve everything. Breaking: the new Battlefield game to feature a story campaign where active-duty service members patrol the southern border fence for 14 hours a day, interspersed with responding to 911 mental health calls. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

It's become clear that this administration is just a protracted war on anybody who's read a book without pictures in it. It's a miracle we're all still getting up and going to work every morning. The psychological drain is the point, and I'm increasingly grateful to the people who are still decent.

My "simple" FOIA request from 2022 came through!! ...While I'm in the middle of a move out of the DC area (!) ...Two months after I defended(!!) Our country's public servants really pull through at the most inconvenient times.

I was on the Metro bringing dinner back home (s/o to Crispy & Juicy!) when I saw this ad in the subway for a company called "OneBrief," clearly meant to be read by people who work in the Pentagon. Over a brief subway ride, this is what I found about this company:

In the course of my career, I may have unintentionally misstated the number of Medals of Honor and Nobel Prizes I have been awarded. I am sorry and I will work hard to regain your trust.

During my not quite 5 years of service I earned 57 bronze stars 6 navy crosses , 31 silver stars and 897 Purple Hearts.

Business news converging with sports coverage in tone. This is all getting a bit much. At this point, let's hold an "AI talent" draft. 200 picks across four rounds. Low performing companies get a higher draft pick.

Good piece by retired Green Beret Lt. Col. Mike Nelson. The opening about one of his team captains restraining an Afghan commando officer from finishing off a wounded Taliban machine gunner—and why building that impulse for restraint into US soldiers is absolutely worthwhile—is a powerful scene.