@xankarn.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof. of History at SLAC (NY, USA). Not representing employer. Interests: the politics of history, historical justice, historical dialogue, reconciliation. Commentary: Mother Jones, The Progressive, Salon, HuffPost. Resist Much, Obey Little.
Praha!
17.02.2026 00:22 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
I and millions of Americans believe exactly the same thing Kasparov does.
Too many troops, too many new prisons, too much money not under Congressional supervision.
We're not just witnessing a mass deportation scheme anymore.
This is something significantly bigger and scarier.
"The government cannot punish a person without first convincing grand jurors of something...In savage times, that permission is no mere formality. It is the line between a society that flirts with barbarism and a society that plunges into it" writes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org in The Situation.
11.02.2026 18:01 — 👍 109 🔁 33 💬 1 📌 1Invoking wealthy class solidarity to excuse sex crimes against children is sorta the Epstein Class in a nutshell
11.02.2026 16:48 — 👍 9163 🔁 2566 💬 206 📌 74
Trump so desperately wants his monolith. All Americans need to fight now more than ever for a complex, democratic past.
In the end, that may become the real meaning of Black History Month in our semiquincentennial year.
My first piece for @motherjones.com. I’d be honored if you read it and grateful if you shared it.
Trump wants to dictate the past, just like he wants total obedience in the present.
The fight for history encompasses the fights for truth and democracy.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Mano Negra - Casa Babylon (Full Album)
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
youtu.be/oEQd8uttRt8?...
Presidents have always instrumentalized the past to advance their political agendas. But Trump’s efforts to change the shape and meaning of Black History Month are something different.
"It's his determination to use the past for baldly illiberal purposes."
Black History Month and the Struggle for Memory
I have a piece in Mother Jones today (Feb. 9) on Black History Month in the Age of Trump, which I hope you'll read and share. Trump wants to dictate the past, just like he wants total obedience in the present. But we know--and Black and Indigenous…
My first piece for @motherjones.com. I’d be honored if you read it and grateful if you shared it.
Trump wants to dictate the past, just like he wants total obedience in the present.
The fight for history encompasses the fights for truth and democracy.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I enjoy the fact that he uses scare quotes for himself.
"THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES"
Thinking back to how people were "hysterical" for calling trump white supremacist and now he's doing nordic theory on the campaign trail
10.12.2025 15:32 — 👍 4675 🔁 890 💬 51 📌 43I actually don't keep up with the news.
What's that got to do with foisting my policy preferences on 350 million people anyway?
Why "critics?"
Any objective third party can rightly say, "This gives us no way to gauge the health of our economy. This leaves everyone in the dark. This is not the transparency that democracy requires."
“It is not so much that proponents of ‘patriotic education’ want to end any discussion of slavery because they don’t believe it happened, but more that they don’t want people to see how slavery continues to shape social inequality in America today.”
25.10.2025 15:46 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0He sees to the heart of the matter.
“The Trump administration’s attempt to reshape what is taught in museums and classrooms is fundamentally an attempt to obscure the relationship between the past and the present.”
Clint Smith @theatlantic.com is doing more than any popular writer to ensure that the right questions are asked about America’s past and how it is interpreted (and by whom).
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
For Secretary Noem.
31.10.2025 22:01 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Trump family posing for a photo in their luxury penthouse.
Folks are rationing heat and scrambling to eat with healthcare costs set to explode.
But this man wants $230 million for his pain and suffering.
I spoke to Laura Herges (U. Heidelberg) for the 1st ep of “Research Rabbit Holes.”
We talked about the upcoming US Semiquincentennial, authoritarian mobilizations of history, and what it means to have a MEMORY TROLL in the Oval Office.
#history #memory #democracy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIG5...
One great thing to see at the Cincinnati #NoKings rally was lots of people engaging with local organizations that had tables – there were political organizers, labor unions, charitable organizations, human rights groups. Looking for a next step? Reach out to your local organizations.
26.10.2025 16:48 — 👍 1893 🔁 404 💬 18 📌 8“It is not so much that proponents of ‘patriotic education’ want to end any discussion of slavery because they don’t believe it happened, but more that they don’t want people to see how slavery continues to shape social inequality in America today.”
25.10.2025 15:46 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0He sees to the heart of the matter.
“The Trump administration’s attempt to reshape what is taught in museums and classrooms is fundamentally an attempt to obscure the relationship between the past and the present.”
Clint Smith @theatlantic.com is doing more than any popular writer to ensure that the right questions are asked about America’s past and how it is interpreted (and by whom).
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
NBC News finds that:
-- ICE has shortened its training from 13 weeks to six.
-- Nearly half of recruits couldn’t pass an open-book written exam.
-- Recruits "are supposed to attest" they can pass the physical-fitness test, which requires them to run ... 6 mph.
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
If you want to make an authoritarian omelet...
22.10.2025 17:15 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0We should at least have airplanes pulling centenary banners.
22.10.2025 14:32 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
My take on the #NoKings achievements. It felt good because it was. Moral decontamination.
When you click the progressive media angels sing!
progressive.org/latest/what-...
New piece on the value of #NoKings
1) repudiating the moral ugliness of the regime;
2) revitalizing the rights/duties that democracy aims to instill;
3) locking arms with one another to build the country we want.
Hope you'll read and share.
#uspol #democracy
progressive.org/latest/what-...
I understand and appreciate your perspective.
Here's why I think No Kings is serious. It's a prefatory exercise. The beginning of a necessary moral decontamination.
progressive.org/latest/what-...
