After 2000 mile drive, used a Jiffy Lube voucher for a free oil change. They knocked the radiator hose loose, causing it to pop off and overheat the engine. After another substantial drive, the gasket blew on Christmas Day. Now I'm without my Jeep for a second week 🧵 1

The nice thing about Based on a True Story episodes is that when I get through the reality section, everything else is incredibly easy to edit, since the movie provides enough clips to narrate over. The most difficult part of video editing is finding worthwhile visuals

I wanted to release another episode this week, but because of my Jeep having a major malfunction, I'm going to postpone. I'm taking a hiatus throughout January to prepare for a likely move, so no more videos until February

Of all days, my Jeep decided to give out on the way back today. I'm stuck on the highway waiting for a tow

Merry Christmas

If labeling MAGA as fascists (accurately) caused violence upon them, shouldn't we expect worse upon more open fascists than Charlie Kirk, basically perpetual assault? No? Then antifa is correct. History is very clear on this. Want less political violence? Prevent fascism

Bending your institution to meet the prejudices of your dumbest, meanest students is a surefire way to destroy a university. Now any student can just scrawl “the Bible says this is wrong” on any test and skate to an A at the Oklahoma Football Outlet and Diploma Factory.

In Praise of Folly; activists of any sort are typically ridiculous. They have to be

I'm currently sitting next to the most grievance mongering Amerindian I've ever heard in real life. I halfway wanna record this bullshit as an example of "really people say this stupid of stuff." Straight up said Billy the Kid introduced STDs to Navajos

During President Garfield's affliction following his shooting, Washington DC cancelled all loud celebrations of Independence Day - which had never happened before. Was there ever a time afterward that DC did not celebrate that day? (yes I'm working on a review of the show)

Glad to see that there are at least six Supreme Court justices who still understand a modicum of what their job entails. That Thomas Alit, & Gorsuch do not is a disgrace upon the entire branch and anyone who pushed their nominations

Wanna know Bari Weiss censored from 60 Minutes about El Salvador's concentration camp "CECOT?" Well I've got it and gonna react live to it on twitch.tv/cynicalhisto... in 15 minutes. Join me to see what our buffoonish autocrats do not want you to

Want a thorough debunk of the nonsense about "woke indoctrination on college campuses" and the like, along with an exploration of the motivations of such conspiracism? Check out Vivian's book: amzn.to/4n8WqkJ

"Dogs and more"

Appears that I won't have a single episode pass 100k views this year, despite releasing three of my longest episodes and varying my schedule/content by a huge amount. This is the year that I lost track of what audiences want 💀

With every episode release, I discover a new kind of lunatic. This episode is about as uncontroversial as any historiographic discussion may be. Then again, maybe because of its relative tameness, it's the worst performer of the year. Check it out: youtu.be/fw8rzb11z2Q

Is there faction of the Republican Party that's not MAGA? Seems they've consumed the GOP. All that remains are divisions *within* MAGA, as in more or less sycophantic to Trump, culture warriors, tax breaks, isolationists, NatCs (national conservatives but with a Z too), etc.

New name for CBS News's chief: Buried Weiss

People say "Albuquerque is a great place to live" while the county pays for this public signage

Working on the next Mormon history episode and discovered that Wilford Woodruff always looks like he's about to attack the photographer/painter, as though he was just told that his feigned manifesto against polygamy would succeed a decade afterward

I've always found the phrase "vote against their own interests" entirely condescending. Who are you to decide what someone's interests are!? Some candidates are indeed worse for certain demographics, but that doesn't mean you get to decide how others should accordingly behave

Ever notice how we always pre/post-war for WWII and ante/postbellum for the American Civil War? Wonder how that standard emerged?

It's been over a year since I did a diatribe thinking about the deeper implications of writing history. This time I discuss what divides the historian profession into different methodological fields. Heady stuff, but it determines yours and my perspective. Check it out: youtu.be/fw8rzb11z2Q

"If Congress has been around when God said, 'Let there be light,' nothing would have happened." - Mark Twain

Brigham Young was complicit in the Mountain Meadows and Bear River massacres. He incited them as a basis of LDS theology and became an accessory afterward by knowingly sheltering and honoring perpetrators. Do NOT conflate Mormon denialism/apologism for acceptance of history

If YouTube notifies you that "someone liked your post" directly after replying to my response to you, rest assured that's likely me. I often forget to like stuff. Replies remind me to do so

Just in case anyone needs a quick reference to who is the most responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Most assume that any place named Lincoln beyond the East Coast would be in honor of the titular president, but there are many that simply have no connection. For instance Lincoln, California was named in 1859 for its proprietor Charles Lincoln Wilson, no relation to either POTUS

Question for my Mormon and ex-Mo subscribers: Are y'all ever taught and does the church ever mention the 1856 Reformation? So many LDS proclivities derive from that, yet seemingly most think everything originates with Joseph Smith

Google is pushing even more AI slop everywhere and it cannot even get the content of these folders correct. I know what my own dang files contain! This helps no one, wastes so much energy, and infringes on my copyrights

Remember when Trump demanded everyone respect Charlie Kirk and stop accurately labeling MAGA fascists? He's clearly fine with violence if it hurts those opposing his tyranny. The only people with TDS are those in his cult of personality, including himself

Going live at the top of the hour

Join me tomorrow at 3pm PST for one helluva livestream, where I will be covering the what history MAGA demands to be censored and label "woke," as well as the ways historians are fighting back. Gonna be interesting: youtube.com/live/mZQgZww...

Yesterday, I released another episode in the "Art of American Propaganda" series, this time, the best example and apotheosis of the genre; Why We Fight from WWII. Check it out:

We were playing extra long distance darts (menu being the market and to 10 pts - J is for Joe) and this was the game winning shot

Y'all ready for this?

ruh roh. requested a review, but it is currently demonetized

Here's to a helluva journey. Seems I'll return to the middle one permanently in just a few months

We are further from the creation of Zorro than it was to its depiction whether you count Mexican California or Salomón Pico (2025 - 1919 - 1830s/1851), yet the interwar years is more similar to now than Alta California was to the First Red Scare

I'm planning on doing a livestream this weekend where I explore what this administration has labeled "woke history." The thumbnail is gloriously stupid. On Thursday, I'll release the next propaganda episode, and that thumbnail is just plain glorious

I debunked this racist myth 8 years ago: youtu.be/R1FO9MqWugY But then again, we know what kind of bigot runs Twitter

James II throwing out gang signs. Bro was a Westside Boi

Having seen the abysmal essay and good feedback, anyone defending firing the GA over this is a blatant bigot. Not only is there open transphobia, but TPUSA has proven that their ideology cannot withstand a modicum of scholarly scrutiny. Reactionaries cannot "debate." They're ignoramuses

People ask historians whether the United States is doomed or if there's hope for the nation to correct itself. We're the wrong ones to ask. Talk to MAGA supporters. Until they leave Trump's cult of personality, the USA will continue its deranged descent into tyranny

Set some older episodes to approve every comment, because users are truly that horrible. I'm trying this new feature where people have to be subscribed for a day in order to comment on older episodes. Maybe that'll halt some of the constant bigotry I have to read

"I find this shallow and pedantic"

Overheard some fellow dunkards complaining about every creator becoming too political, clearly referring to me. To quote Howard Zinn, "You can't stay neutral on a moving train" (no fan of his, but I am of zinfandel, heh). Our politicization is merely professional self-defense

I am still stunned by how useless spellcheck has become in Google Docs. Both of these only need letters substituted, yet Google is somehow incapable of figuring that out. Instead they're hard at work making detrimental AI nonsense. #TrustBustGoogle

SCOTUS allowed racial gerrymandering yesterday. We've retvrned to 1883. Next they'll repeal Brown v Board. Republicans are one step closer to recreating the Solid South and Jim Crow (the actual thing they intend by "make America great again")