True Life: I Survived Updating My Phone’s iOS. (But it took forever and I don’t like it.)

Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities, Naples: 2026-2027 Research Residencies memorients.com/news/center-...

President Trump exempted a copper smelter in Arizona from air-quality rules. An EPA official provided guidance to the company, according to emails and documents reviewed by The New York Times. It’s one of many efforts by the Trump administration to weaken or waive environmental protections.

I have overindulged xox

Juan Bautista Maíno, Adoración de los pastores, 1612–14, @museodelprado.es

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business.” -Jacob Marley, A Christmas Carol

Mary Delany, Ilex Aquifolium - Holly with berries, 1775, British Museum #merrymerry

Merry Christmas to all those celebrating. Happy Thursday to all those who are not. And I hope this day passes bearably and swiftly for anyone struggling today. Dragon with Christmas Gift, Edward Gorey.

What a horror show. The golden statue of the eagle with the constitution. 😱 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It’s not “losing money” any more than air traffic controllers or public highways or street lights or fire departments are “losing money.” It is a government service. It’s not SUPPOSED to make money. It’s supposed to reliably deliver to anywhere in the US, even the unprofitable places.

NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Very funny to see Alito complain about the court skipping full briefing and oral arguments for a quick shadow docket decision when he has signed onto innumerable orders that pull the exact same tricks and rebuked colleagues who complain about it ... www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

It's still a "Kavanaugh stop."

Brett Kavanaugh (September 2025): The facts and how they relate to the law don’t matter. Assume ICE and other federal forces always act with integrity, always respect rights, and consistently impose minimal burden. Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?

Not now, haunted Victorian shoes

Steves purchased the property to prevent it from closing. Many homeless people had come to depend on the Lynnwood Hygiene Center, which had operated rent-free on the property since 2020. n.pr/3MKbmJH

My take away from this post: the Charles Schultz Museum has a souvenir penny machine and I now really want those pennies. (Why is California so far from Massachusetts??)

A hoard of 21 silver pennies, dating back to the mid-7th to 8th centuries, has been saved for Oxfordshire’s museums following a successful community fundraiser. Villagers from Stoke Row, together with local businesses, raised £1,300 to acquire the treasure. news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/stoke-row-co...

𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝟯𝟳 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱) More Info: bit.ly/4jbHrWU #Numismatics #Coinage #Medals #Archaeology #Coins #History

prolonged and exhausting

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan… * Vehicle traffic: -11% * Foot traffic: +3.4% * Storefront vacancy: -0.9% * Pollution: -22% * Revenue for mass transit: $548M So YES this has been a huge success.

The Oath Keepers built a massive stockpile of guns for Jan 6th and kept them in a hotel in Virginia because of D.C.'s strict gun laws.

Related, the kids are now calling both OU and Texas A&M “clown colleges,“ in case you’re wondering how this anti-intellectual BS is playing with the youths

Sigh www.news9.com/ou-essay-rem...

Looking for the truth about what it was like inside CECOT? Earlier this year, we spoke to the men the Trump administration deported to El Salvador. Hear about what they endured, in their own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8INs141xeQ

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

Seriously. Who's @theonion.com art historian? 💯

All this comes after three years of organizational turbulence that has left museum staff angry and bewildered.

BREAKING: Judge James Boasberg rules for those deported under the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 — certifying a class, finding the U.S. maintained constructive custody over them at CECOT, finding they were not given due process, and ordering return or that such process be given by Jan. 5, 2026.

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This is a great example of what we're trying to tell you about the breadth of information historians use to do our research.

Among the many issues with Weiss’s memo on the CECOT story, most of the additional info she’s demanding, about the administration’s legal rationales and the prisoners’ criminal histories, was actually covered in this piece that ran earlier this year on—wait for it—“60 Minutes”.

Goff’s unconventional work isn’t easily categorized, but he left his mark on the Chicago area with some unusual residences.

The CBS 60 Minutes correspondent who did the CECOT report, Sharyn Alfonsi, has worked there since 2015. Reports include coverage of fraud after Hurricane Sandy, the Parkland High School shooting, the first photos from inside Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell in 2020, and the Boeing whistleblowers.

It Wouldn't Surprise You If This Headline Was About 318 People Being Shot In 12 Different Public Places https://theonion.com/it-wouldnt-surprise-you-if-this-headline-was-about-318-1819574532/

Brilliant from @adamserwer.bsky.social: the Roberts Court's attack on the Reconstruction Amendments are "consistent with the Antebellum Constitution’s narrow definition of who “We the People” are." Here are some legal historians exploring the Antebellum Const. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

The best design and architecture of 2025

#DigiBodAdvent day 5 - the sumptuous Hours of Louis Quarré, MS. Douce 311. Savour the delicate colours of the Trinity or admire the trompe l'oeil effects of the pilgrim badge border (fol. 21v with bonus detail, not shown here, on the reverse, fol. 21r). digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/d23d... 📜

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You can watch the ProPublica/Frontline doc on CECOT here: www.propublica.org/atpropublica...

Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran CBS news reporter who led the story: “I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.” The reality is that she is much more likely to be fired than Weiss, and that should tell you all you need to know about CBS now.

Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.

Seriously?! Again?!?

Oh, look there: an editorial-interference canary.

With the aid of historians—

The contents of Frederic Leighton’s Holland Park house were sold after the artist’s death. Now Annemarie Kloosterhof has remade the most elusive of these in paper – and @willwiles.bsky.social finds her spectral creations well suited to the festive season

A burglary has occurred at Ferme du Caillou, Napoleon’s last headquarters before the Battle of Waterloo. Items stolen include a ring belonging to the Emperor as well as gold and silver coins. www.rtbf.be/article/braq...