Great piece articulating why Trump demolishing the East Wing is so distressing. www.deseret.com/politics/202...

Listening to Kevin Brown’s talk in General Conference reminded me of @ccjones.bsky.social’s excellent article on early Latter-day Saint missionary efforts in Jamaica. Early missionary attitudes towards Jamaicans juxtaposed with Brown’s conviction of the gospel leave much to reflect upon.

An important advisory from AAUP. The advisory contains information for immediate support, tips for engaging with social media, and online digital tools. www.aaup.org/news/advisor...

Reading “The Chinese Must Go” for class one day and then hearing about 450 S. Koreans being detained in GA the next really hits home at how dystopian everything feels. And that’s before taking into account today’s SCOTUS decision lifting the stay against immigration raids in LA.

Spending my Labor Day preparing for class when I came across this in my readings. There’s some real Hunger Games vibes going on there, and reading this on a day set aside to celebrate labor unions and the working class makes it especially salient. “The Monied Metropolis” by Sven Beckert, pg. 255

I’m tired of children continuing to be placed on a sacrificial altar to appease the false god that is the NRA. I’m tired that we continue to offer nothing more than thoughts and prayers to a God that continually weeps because we refuse to do anything about it. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

Watching video today of ICE agents roaming the streets of American cities and reading about the anger and fear of Bostonians during the Fugitive Slave crisis is a reminder of why it is so important that the institutions charged with interpreting the past be allowed to do so without interference.

I don’t think anything better exemplifies the current historical landscape than the episode from King of the Hill’s new season where everyone ignores Hank’s efforts to share historical tidbits about George Bush because they are too busy listening to Dale’s wild conspiracy theories.

"flight manifests for 3 legally contested deportation flights from Texas to El Salvador contain dozens of additional, unaccounted for passengers than a previously published Department of Homeland Security (DHS) list of people deported from the United States on those flights, 404 Media has learned."

This reminds me of my LDS (Mormon) pioneer heritage. Except my ancestors fled to Utah to escape the US after their leader was murdered, and where the federal govnt spent the next 50 years persecuting them until they abandoned their religious practices. So what heritage are they referring to?

The UFW can confirm farm workers were critically injured yesterday during chaotic raids in Ventura County, CA. Other workers, including US citizens, remain unaccounted for. UFW staff is on the ground supporting impacted families. Our full statement below. ⬇️ 1/

Just awful, awful news. Kerrville was the first area I served in on my LDS mission to TX. Such an amazing area full of amazing people. I pray they find those that are missing and everyone else remains safe. www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...

Great piece by @marthasjones.bsky.social. It highlights why the recent SCOTUS decision is so problematic while also underscoring why originalism is such a terrible legal theory in both its reasoning and application. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

A law student at the University of Florida writes a paper for a class discussing originalism, arguing that “We the People” in the Constitution’s preamble only refers to white people, among other things. His paper earned him an award. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/u...

Utah deserves better than Mike Lee. His comments concerning the horrific shootings in MN were disgusting and unbecoming for both a senator and, most importantly, a Latter-day Saint. www.deseret.com/opinion/2025...

The only king that should be allowed to claim sovereignty in this country is Burger King.

Just wrapped up attending my first Mormon History Association Conference. The presentations were fantastic and all the scholars and historians I met were incredibly friendly and encouraging. Left with a renewed excitement to further engage with the field of Mormon history.

OPM, the federal government’s HR agency, sent out a memo setting forth a new “merit based” hiring policy. Yet the policy’s true aim seems to be to pack the federal workforce with white Christian Nationalists. The memo is linked in the article. www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

My historical op-ed comparing the SAVE Act to the history of married women's dependent citizenship & denaturalization came out today in Time Magazine. Shout out to Made by History! time.com/7280834/save...

Says the man holding a red lightsaber.

JFK had to assure Protestants that the Pope wouldn’t influence him if he was president, and Trump is here saying “why can’t I be both?” But I can’t tell if he is trolling liberals or Christian nationalists who are seeing this and thinking, “No, not like that!”

all right, let’s go through this nonsense. first of all, this is just a police state. that’s what he’s describing. I don’t have anything clever to say. he wants cops to control your life, and aggressively and with “high impact”.

I didn’t know that what I needed in life were scripted podcast stories featuring classic Batman comics. Their rendition of Batman: Year One has been phenomenal so far. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Saw Sinners last night. Absolutely phenomenal movie. So much social commentary regarding race, class, cultural appropriation, and music all wrapped up in a vampire movie. Very much looking forward to the (I hope) inevitable @herberthistory.bsky.social #HATM episode bc there’s so much to unpack.

I’ve been thinking about how the administration’s assault on immigration will impact international missionaries for the LDS Church serving in the US. Who’s to say they couldn’t get their visas revoked and then detained and deported by ICE? I’d be terrified to get called to serve in the US right now.

The Deseret String Band has some great renditions of 19th Century Western folk music, but this one has to be my absolute favorite for perfectly capturing how many non-Latter-day Saints must feel anytime they have to travel or move to Utah. www.youtube.com/watch?v=J05y...

BYU PhD student, father of 5, just had his student visa revoked and he and his family may have to return to Japan 1-year short of finishing his doctorate. 😡 kslnewsradio.com/utah/visa-re...

The SSA is going to move all official communications solely to X. Do they not realize how little elderly people use that platform? It is also insane to gut that many employees. It is going to leave a huge hole in knowledge and expertise. apple.news/ANfxiAxMGRM6...

Undocumented immigrants CANNOT get social security numbers. Removing social security numbers assigned to immigrants is targeting people who are here LEGALLY. It is not about going after illegal immigration. It never was. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...

You can’t argue that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes while trying to access IRS tax records in order to locate and deport them.

For a limited time you can read my book for free. Each one, teach one. www.book2look.com/book/SO9q2ZB...

The EO that included restoring monuments/memorials on federal property is a full-on embrace of Confederate ideology. Beginning Monday @uncpress.bsky.social will make my book No Common Ground available to read FOR FREE for the next two weeks. Educate yourself about what this embrace means. ✊

This is not restoring truth and sanity, but forcing institutions like the Smithsonian and national historic sites to be vessels of propaganda. Also quite ironic that the “party of Lincoln” wants us to restore monuments of the very men who wished him dead. www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

Maybe the true power behind DEI policies in our government was not that they elevated minorities, but that they protected us from incompetent white men.

This is something I see in my practice. Physicians who have no idea how the disability process works telling patients that they aren’t disabled when in fact, under SSA regulations, they are. Also a member of congress not knowing disabled adults are on medicare is really something.

I am experiencing this firsthand. My paralegal was not able to file applications or appeals online last week, hold times have been longe, and fees are taking longer to process. This whole thing is such an unnecessary disaster. apple.news/AW0DqitwQRgG...

The ones who will be screaming the loudest will not doing so because they are fraudsters, but because without their benefits they can’t afford their rent, food, treatment, or medications. They are treating people on SSDI, SSI, and Social Security like it’s Squid Games. apple.news/ASujxOmmERvi...

Nothing better exemplifies performative politics than politicians and pundits who mock and deride electric vehicles one year and beg you to buy a Tesla the next.

The complete disregard for both people - inmates or not - and active court orders from this administration is deeply concerning. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is the slippery slope that people fail to realize about legal immigration. People are only here legally until the government decides on a whim that they aren’t. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

A political party that shows up to a joint congressional speech with paddles to protest the current administration’s actions is not a serious party.

Last week, the Dept of Ed created a "parent portal" for parents to report teachers and schools that teach "critical theory, rogue sex education, and divisive ideologies." In other words, anything related to race, racism, or issues surrounding LGBTQ+. www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

Bluesky does not provide enough characters to allow me to properly convey how much this will devastate those who rely on Social Security, SSDI, and SSI to survive. At a time when staffing is at a 50-year low, this is beyond reckless. www.thinkadvisor.com/2025/02/26/s...

Trump posting a video promoting “Trump Gaza” using AI images that include him as a golden statue, lying on a beach with Netanyahu, etc. is so unhinged. Let alone the amounts of gov’nt resources it’ll take to displace an entire territory just to make a private resort. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

Do these people not realize how many federal workers vote Republican? Or how many are military veterans?

Will BYU be next? www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...

Parade in Maryland honoring Frederick Douglass is canceled because the National Guard declined not to attend, citing Trump’s executive order as a reason. www.wmar2news.com/local/maryla...

Trump signed an EO consolidating power over independent agencies, the WH posted a pic of Trump wearing a crown and the caption “Long Live the King!,” and Trump just joked about running a third term. We can’t defend such actions and still claim reverence for the Constitution or the Founding Fathers.