zeblarson - Network

He campaigned on tariffs. It is absolutely what these folks chose to vote for.I don't believe in collective punishment; people who...

He campaigned on tariffs. It is absolutely what these folks chose to vote for.

I don't believe in collective punishment; people who happen to live in a red state do not deserve misery, and Blue MAGA chuds who wish for hurricanes to hit Florida or for Medicaid cuts to really hurt Texans are ghouls.

But...I struggle to gin up a lot of sympathy for a group that did vote for Trump by very large margins and had all of the information in front of them. Farmers had it pretty good under Democrats, who to be clear provided them with a lot of material support and always have. By and large, they slapped that away because they wanted a guy who would be mean to immigrants and trans folks.

Perhaps this will be a useful object lesson.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/farmers-face-steep-losses-middle-trumps-trade-war-funding-cuts-rcna195967

Chuck Schumer reflected on the past nine years of dealing with Donald Trump and decided that the best thing to do was play softball.

Chuck Schumer reflected on the past nine years of dealing with Donald Trump and decided that the best thing to do was play softball.

My latest piece! There’s been a lot of attention to Musk and Thiel’s apartheid influences, but the reality is that American...

My latest piece! There’s been a lot of attention to Musk and Thiel’s apartheid influences, but the reality is that American conservatives were ALWAYS interested in apartheid. They saw in it a way to reframe racism on the one hand, and with the other to create an anti-democratic economic structure.

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/american-conservatisms-home-grown-defenses-of-apartheid/

Private foundations could probably fill in much of the work done by the NEH; its budget is only a couple of hundred million, not the...

Private foundations could probably fill in much of the work done by the NEH; its budget is only a couple of hundred million, not the billions commanded by the NIH or NSF. You could at least plug a lot of holes.

But here's the thing: in this political climate, I don't think they will. And the NEH is going to be targeted, it's just a question of when.

It's hard not to feel like the humanities are going to die in this country a pretty unnoticed and unmourned death. Some of that is because there are just so many crises right now, but also as a society we've been devaluing them for so long anyway.

Frustrated with the AHA or MLA? You're not alone! So am I. I'm frustrated by the deliberate inaction of scholarly orgs on so many...

Frustrated with the AHA or MLA? You're not alone! So am I. I'm frustrated by the deliberate inaction of scholarly orgs on so many issues, and their willful attempts to tamp down any action from the grassroots, so I wrote about it here. It's time to abandon them -- they're not useful anymore.

This is inside baseball if you're not an academic, but maybe a takeaway is this: civil society is failing us in the era of Trump. These academic associations are supposed to protect and disseminate knowledge, and they're doing a lousy job with it.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-irrelevance-of-the-disciplinary-association?sra=true

My latest for Dame Magazine! In it, I offer some history of anti-authoritarian resistance and what we can draw on.Based on the last few...

My latest for Dame Magazine! In it, I offer some history of anti-authoritarian resistance and what we can draw on.

Based on the last few days, I'm not feeling particularly sanguine about the path of electoral opposition: I think Dems as a party have no clue what exactly they want to do. Too many in the party want to pursue business as usual, and they're saving political capital for budget fights when Trump is trying to find ways to spend money without Congress at all. Others are really focused on decorum, which is absurd when faced with this administration.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/03/06/anti-fascist-movements-have-succeeded-in-the-past-can-they-work-in-the-u-s/

I sleep so much better when the sun sets early in the day, and now that my sleep schedule revolves around a small being whose own circadian...

I sleep so much better when the sun sets early in the day, and now that my sleep schedule revolves around a small being whose own circadian rhythm and sleep habits are A: fragile and B: perpetually shifting, I find that I'm *dreading* the prospect of all that goddamned daylight.

(Comforting in that it's frightening to be confronted by a nuclear power that is helmed by somebody this erratic and irrational)

(Comforting in that it's frightening to be confronted by a nuclear power that is helmed by somebody this erratic and irrational)

I don't know if yesterday was the most I've ever been embarrassed by an American leader; I'm still not letting W. off the hook...

I don't know if yesterday was the most I've ever been embarrassed by an American leader; I'm still not letting W. off the hook for destroying Iraq. Biden continuing to suck up to Netanyahu in the midst of a genocide when Netanyahu was clearly doing everything he could to motherfuck the Democrats and bring back Trump was pretty pitiful, especially when it continued AFTER the election.

But in terms of public conduct? He either deliberately ambushed Zelenskyy so he could look tough on TV and dramatically cancel U.S. aid, or he managed to blow up a deal (a terrible one for Ukraine) because he needed his ego to be massaged. And while #1 is tempting because looking for a "rational" explanation is comforting...he did cast himself as a great dealmaker who could end the war.

Yes, he repented, and yes, he embraced pacifism, but he was not a passive bystander and took a lot longer than he should have to apologize...

Yes, he repented, and yes, he embraced pacifism, but he was not a passive bystander and took a lot longer than he should have to apologize for his own virulent anti-Semitism.

And ironically, there's a lot we could learn from somebody like him -- but as a fairly willing participant who wound up getting crushed by the engine he lashed himself to.

That Martin Niemoller quote loses a lot of its power when you remember that Niemoller also kept volunteering to fight for the Nazis even...

That Martin Niemoller quote loses a lot of its power when you remember that Niemoller also kept volunteering to fight for the Nazis even after he'd been imprisoned in Dachau, and then forbade church members from participating in denazification after the war.

This went live over the weekend and I missed it! Posting it here now. Silver Falls is one of my favorite places in Oregon, but it also...

This went live over the weekend and I missed it! Posting it here now. Silver Falls is one of my favorite places in Oregon, but it also illuminates some of the weirdness around parks. Why are there so many state parks and so few national parks? In a word, politics.

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/why-oregon-waterfall-wonderland-not-national-park-20158600.php

The fun thing about writing this essay, apart from how fun the topic was, is that I had about five other essays I noodled with. Not all of...

The fun thing about writing this essay, apart from how fun the topic was, is that I had about five other essays I noodled with. Not all of them had the pictures I needed, but I was *this close* to doing one on the musical King Kong and South African jazz. Might ask them to let me do that one too.

https://picturingblackhistory.org/african-americans-against-apartheid/

This is a piece I'm really proud of: DAME is really engaged and doing amazing journalism, and they're making space for historians to...

This is a piece I'm really proud of: DAME is really engaged and doing amazing journalism, and they're making space for historians to come in and speak as well.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/02/05/were-living-in-a-new-age-of-robber-barons/

Ok, academic friends of Mastodon, I'm crowdsourcing something. n light of the AHA and MLA’s recent actions on Palestine, what are the...

Ok, academic friends of Mastodon, I'm crowdsourcing something. n light of the AHA and MLA’s recent actions on Palestine, what are the other scholarly orgs we see not rising to the demands of their members, whether on Palestine, climate change, Covid, labor, or anything else? Bonus points if it’s a STEM association.

My latest piece of writing for @damemagazine on the LA fires, our historical responses to natural disasters, and what we need to do...

My latest piece of writing for @damemagazine on the LA fires, our historical responses to natural disasters, and what we need to do differently.

#history
#journalism

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/01/23/disaster-preparedness-climate-crisis/

Aforementioned post did not “have the juice” (who gives a shit about higher ed?) and for all the OF spammers swarming it, it is not good...

Aforementioned post did not “have the juice” (who gives a shit about higher ed?) and for all the OF spammers swarming it, it is not good thirst trap material

Geez, you make one snarky Bluesky post about Google’s AI overview getting something wrong with adjunct salaries, and then about 250 bots...

Geez, you make one snarky Bluesky post about Google’s AI overview getting something wrong with adjunct salaries, and then about 250 bots follow you and start spamming you

I occasionally get people suggesting that I take up technical writing and it sounds like absolute hell. None of the problem-solving of...

I occasionally get people suggesting that I take up technical writing and it sounds like absolute hell. None of the problem-solving of development and none of the narrative or human dimensions of writing. I might as well have a bucket on my head.

And...the best album of the year is one that wasn't even released to Spotify: it's Cindy Lee's Diamond...

And...the best album of the year is one that wasn't even released to Spotify: it's Cindy Lee's Diamond Jubilee.

https://cindylee.bandcamp.com/album/diamond-jubilee