Seth Cotlar

Couch to Trump Administration: “Get fucked.”

In this house, we heed the advice of Professor Cotlar.

While you're at it, read both of Leah's books as well. Like all of her work, they are deeply empathetic and historically informed deep dives into very strange and dangerous corners of America's religious and political culture that reveal a lot about who we are. www.leahsottile.com/project-cate...

The Bundys' Fight Against The Federal Government Has Only Just Begun Many people first heard of Cliven Bundy and his family in 2014, when armed militias showed up at his ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada. But that action was only part of a growing anti-government movement.

If you haven't listened to both seasons of Bundyville about the Malheur occupation of 2016 (also a joint project of Leah and Ryan Haas), then this is also a required piece of homework you have to catch up on. www.opb.org/news/article...

‘Hush’ Episode 1: Jesse In 1998, police in Salem, Oregon, discovered the body of Harriet Thompson inside her apartment. And within a week, they arrested Jesse Johnson for murder.

Leah is the journalist (along with Ryan Haas) behind the fantastic podcast Hush, about a falsely accused man who spent years on death row in Oregon. Her reporting uncovered the racism of the local police force that resulted in this miscarriage of justice. www.opb.org/article/2024...

EVENT SPONSORED BY the HIstoRY DEPARTMENT, HALLIE FORD CHAIR, WRITING CENTER, AND THE CAS FACULTY FUND TO ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING Oregon writer and journalist Leah Sottile in conversation with Professor Seth Cotlar on the history of conspiracy theories and the far right PAULUS LECTURE HALL AT THE WILLAMETTE LAW SCHOOL WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH 7:00 PM BLAZING EYE SEES ALL LOVE HAS WON, FALSE PROPHETS AND THE FEVER DREAM OF THE AMERICAN NEW AGE LEAH SOTTILE

If you happen to be in the Salem, OR area on the evening of February 4, come to this event where you can hear @leahsottile.bsky.social read from her most recent book and chat with me about the history of religion, the far right, and conspiracy theories in the Pacific Northwest!

Scrolling through the photos of Pam Bondi's "Minnesota rioters," it's just hero after hero. Every photo includes a cowardly DHS agent with their back to the camera.

Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.

"It is a very improbable supposition, that any people can long remain free, with a strong military power in the very heart of their country: Unless that military power is under the direction of the people, and even then it is dangerous.-- History, both ancient and modern, affords many instances of the overthrow of states and kingdoms by the power of soldiers, who were raised and maintained at first under the plausible pretense of defending those very liberties which they afterwards destroyed."

Noted anti-American communist Samuel Adams said this in 1768.

This is the BEST explanation I have seen so far.

Variety review: On the Amazons Melania “documentary”:

"If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out."

Broke: Woke Bill Kristol
Woke: Woke George Will

wake up babe the right is doing drapetomania for white women engaging in race treason bsky.app/profile/hann...

The Unhinged Rage of White Liberal Women, Explained Why are white liberal women lashing out against ICE? Is there an underlying rage that we fellas have missed?

I don't know, Heritage Foundation-tied publication, maybe white liberal women are mad because a federal immigration official shot and killed one of them. And then called her a "bitch"? You know, on camera? www.dailysignal.com/2026/01/27/w...

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen - Topic You're Missing

No one thought you could write a 9/11 album only a few months after the event, but Bruce did it brilliantly. youtu.be/V_1escDofdQ?...

This was not an easy thing to pull off, but, IMO, he did it.

Most Americans (I hope) live in a world where every person has rights that government (of, by, and for the people) are obligated to respect. Some of us however, live in a world in which we both revere and fear a powerful daddy we hope will protect and not hurt us. bsky.app/profile/seth...

A gift link to that excellent piece. bsky.app/profile/seth...

As M Gessen argued in the NYT the other day, Trump is trying to rule by terror, and that terror is aimed at *everyone* who doesn’t affirmatively assent to everything he’s doing, including his own supporters.

Screenshot of TruthSocial post by President Trump complaining that Mayor Frey won't enforce federal immigration law, and calling it a "very serious violation of the Law."

In Printz v. United States, #SCOTUS held that the Constitution bars the federal government from forcing or otherwise compelling local or state governments to enforce federal law.

The liberal squish who wrote the majority opinion in that case? Justice Antonin Scalia:

tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

“I don’t think about her” is hilarious. He mentions Ilhan Omar more often than he talks about all his children combined.

Not that I know of....but maybe?

YouTube video by oydave REM 1981-02-20 688 Atlanta GA

The earliest live video of R.E.M. with sound was resurfaced on YouTube a few days ago. Really great stuff. Love the superfans singing "Windout" as the song starts because they know what's coming. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMTG...

These two are fairly regular visitors at the White House and Mar-a-Lago. They attended a fundraiser at David Sacks house where they sat with Usha Vance. They are friends with Kristi Noem and Harmeet Dhillon. Her mom was a county GOP chair for 3 decades. These are not marginal figures in US politics.

She’s about to marry another Oregon MAGA activist whose unvaccinated wife (an M.D.) died of Covid in late 2021. He believes that she was targeted for assassination by the Chinese Communist Party using Covid as a bio weapon. But it’s the libs who have gone crazy lately.

Kerry McQuisten's Common Sense Sanctuary 5h・ ••. "The prefrontal cortex (PFC), specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dPFC), is the primary brain region responsible for understanding cause and effect, linking actions to outcomes, and executive decision-making. Located behind the forehead, this area processes consequences, enables planning, and allows for the adjustment of behavior based on previous results." Don't you think we're seeing some widening thinking issues lately? I'd like to see more studies done about how both COVID itself and the jab affect the prefrontal cortex. 214Q Q43 A 8

This Oregon MAGA activist thinks No Kings protesters were all paid, Boston mayor Michelle Wu is a CCP plant, and Democratic secret agents have infiltrated county-level GOP institutions across the country…but it’s the liberal sheeple who’ve had their brains broken recently because they got vaxxed.

it is beautiful how we are having another moment of Bluesky unity. everybody basking in the glow of how Ilhan Omar was very visibly gonna punch that dude in the mouth

For those unfamiliar with Niall Ferguson’s “game,” a 🧵 of receipts going back many years:

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

CNN: Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost assaulted at Sundance Film Festival event, police say By Aleena Fayaz Updated Jan 24, 2026

NBC News: Man lunges at Ilhan Omar during town hall and tries to spray her with unknown substance January 27, 2026

Two Democratic members of Congress attacked in three days. Maxwell Frost was assaulted on Saturday, Ilan Omar tonight.

Teddy Roosevelt in Milwaukee but cooler

In Huberman’s defense, phrenology was once a cutting edge science…in the 1830s granted, but still.