The Provost / سيدة الفتنة

So disgusting

Oh for sure! Le Pen and Trump in particular built up a gross relationship over the last decade, ces putains de merde

My first Fulbright was to Morocco! You should ask her about Saadia Maski — who ran the grantee programs for like 20 years. I was terrified of her at first (lmfao), but she’s essentially my older sister now. ADORE HER!

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

Remember Fulbright in light of Trump's US-taxpayer funded MAGA, far-right think-tanks abroad.

The ramifications are bad, and the ripple effects devastating — far beyond (but especially for) the safety of unaffiliated US civilians, like scholars and journalists.

www.ft.com/content/f869...

4/4

I received both a Fulbright and a Fulbright Hayes, invaluable for my personal, ethical, professional, and political development — particularly because of the program’s non-partisan nature and independence from US domestic politics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulbrig...

3/4

Trump’s admin eviscerated the Fulbright (US State Dept) and Fulbright Hays (Dept of Education) programs: an initiative founded shortly after WWII in the interests of preventing another devastating war, founded on non-partisan, person-to-person cultural exchange and educational diplomacy.

2/4

screenshot of headline stating "Trump administration is funneling money to MAGA think tanks in Europe"

Trump's State Dept will now use US taxpayer money to fund far-right, MAGA think-tanks abroad.

This is FIVE ALARM news everyone should know.

Especially in the context of the other non-partisan international initiatives this admin's State Dept has decimated -- like the Fulbright program.

1/4

Just a quick update from the Twin Cities. (Please forgive the unsolicited message). THINGS ARE NOT BETTER IN MINNEAPOLIS. The media is mostly moving on, Trump is focused on other stuff, BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED ON THE GROUND. More than 2,000 DHS thugs continue to roam the streets, abducting people 24/7, assaulting legal observers with impunity, and routinely denying 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights. Drones and helicopters are overhead every day. Hundreds and hundreds of terrified families have not left their homes since mid-December ... relying on the community to bring them food and help with rent and other necessities. (Those people are NOT violent drug cartel sex offending murderers, as DHS would tell you. Most are legal residents or citizens.) If anything, things have just become more stressful and intractable (think trench warfare as a suitable metaphor): The resistance is better organized and numerous, but DHS has become more clever and better at disguise... and the county sheriff's office is increasingly supporting them . Do not let anyone tell you that Homans (the new person in charge of the occupation) is making anything better. Do not let anyone tell you that 700 ICE agents leaving the city has made much of a difference; the remaining force (again, ~2,000) is still larger than the entire city's police force (which is legally unable to do anything). Please call your congressional reps ... especially if there is any chance the administration might listen to them.

A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:

HEY LADY GLAD TO FIND YOU HERE TOO (although less so about the above tagged post that helped me)

Pair with this for real ART!

I guess on that point, I don't think chasing down those tapes would really reveal much more than we already know (however, I would LOVE to find them - just don't have the time to hunt them down myself) bsky.app/profile/msen...

How a Historian Uncovered Ronald Reagan’s Racist Remarks to Richard Nixon Tim Naftali published the text and audio of a taped call, from 1971, in which Reagan described the African delegates to the United Nations in luridly racist terms.

Maybe... but considering just Lee Atwater's 1981 public interview about the Southern Strategy, Nixon's racist audio recordings, as well as the recordings that include Reagan's racist remarks (and the current GOP), I don't think it would add too much, sadly. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

self-awareness oh wait

oooooh even geekier, I get this reference and totally agree

just ben wa ones

X post that asks “I don’t have a dog, any advice on what I’m supposed to do?” in response to a quoted account that says “keep licking your dog’s balls.”

brb dealing with an unexpected crisis

X post by Mercado Media (@MercadoMedia1), reading: NEW: HOMAN SAYS METRO SURGE COULD END WITHIN COUPLE WEEKS Federal border czar Tom Homan says Minnesota’s immigration “surge” could end within the next couple of weeks, claiming the operation is now shifting back to “standard enforcement.” He says he was sent by President Trump to reduce tensions and oversee the transition. Homan said the first group of about 700 agents has already begun leaving the state as part of a drawdown. He added that more agents could be pulled out if what he called “agitation and interference” continues to decline. At the same time, Homan claimed conditions at the Whipple Federal Building looked “fine” during a recent visit, despite reports of detainees sleeping on cold floors in crowded cells with limited medical care. Democratic lawmakers have disputed that assessment, calling the conditions inhumane.

“surge”
"operation now shifting"
"oversee the transition"
"part of a drawdown"

Congratulations to New American Fascism's parents,
militarized policing and imperial boomerangs.

What a bundle of joy!

me too until today, but it anew gave me great joy

LMAO remember when I told about the time I posted that photo on Facebook of you doing origami, and a friend at State I've known since I was 12 responded "I LOVE [REDACTED], THEY'RE SO COOL"

you remain a favorite human being

“Think Again, Turn Away”…from Lousy Public Diplomacy - MERIP CIA black sites. “Extraordinary rendition.” The PATRIOT Act. Massive NSA surveillance. The 2003 invasion of Iraq. Abu Ghraib. Torture. Religious and racial profiling. FBI entrapment. Drones, “kill lis...

Definitely true, but also have to note that TATA was pre-Trump, as was that utter shit show known as Charlotte Beers. www.merip.org/2015/10/thin...

I HATE that shit; it's not just arrogant and irresponsible, but actually dangerous.

Obviously I know @msentropy.bsky.social... have for almost a decade now at this point. She has talked to at least one of my former AWD clients who tends to stay anonymous. If she says she will keep you anonymous, she will.

As well as others that don't! But appreciate you (all of you guys) for talking with me, helping connect me to other resources, vouching for my credibility, and MOST OF ALL - putting your trust in me.

That's a sacred thing for me, and I will always protect it.

Personally, I think I was still way too nice.

FOR SHAME. You of all people know how brilliant their social media was. bsky.app/profile/msen...

My editor was so mad at me for this piece because I could not stop being insanely sarcastic, so it went through like 10 rounds for us to tone the contempt down enough into this mild-mannered prose.

Indeed you are correct: bsky.app/profile/msen...

FAKE NEWS. I actually wrote about one of the State Department's incredibly useful uses of Twitter back during the "Think Again, Turn Away" anti-ISIS campaign.

www.merip.org/2015/10/thin...

smdh, educate yourself

Europeans are obsessed with Klan imagry in general. I just posted a link a few days back about a party in Germany where people were dressed as KKK. And a friend was recently asking me about all the Confederate flags she sees in Netherlands.