Maura Coughlin

I was born an underdog. 21 surgeries by the age of 12 for spina bifida. A kid wearing goodwill hand-me-downs. I knew nothing would come easy, but I never doubted my right to the American dream.

Now, I'm running for the U.S. Senate to make sure all Iowans have a shot at theirs.

seems especially relevant today...

maydaystrong.org

Dance with Death, by Hieronymus Hess, 1841, 📸 via Vatican Media Pool

The link will take you to the journal home page with titles and abstracts. If you don't have institutional access and would like to read these, let me know in the comments.

American Art | Vol 39, No 1

In the new issue of American Art, 5 short “Commentaries” on “Visualizing Resource Extraction, 1840-1910” that I edited with Emily Gephart. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/amart/cu...

Seems like Gilead is around the corner. Take action April 5: handsoff2025.com

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live Elon Musk Cold Open - SNL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUpO...

Starting at midnight tonight!

DOGE is hiring. The response did not disappoint. DOGE’s hiring site has become a focal point for outrage, underscoring the important role humor and rebellious defiance play in bleak times.

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/02/doge...

43% of social welfare recipients are White. 11 of the top 12 most dependent states are red states.

Alaska is the most dependent on federal aid while California (49) and New Jersey (50) are least dependent, contributing far more than they receive.

#RedStateMoochers

Listen to this great conversation between historian Heather Cox Richardson and Katie Paris, founder of Red Wine & Blue, a community of diverse suburban women working to defeat extremism, one friend at a time. Join Red Wine & Blue!
@jwomack68.bsky.social
@hcrichardson.bsky.social

Book cover for new text "Animal Modernities"

Coming soon from Leuven University Press. Animal Modernities is the result of a few years of collaborative scholarship and generosity. Katie Hornstein and Daniel Harkett brought this together. My essay on small Breton cows (pie noirs)is in it. #animalstudies; #nineteenthcenturyart; #ecocriticism

🚨 HAPPENING NOW: Trump's Education Secretary nominee, Linda McMahon is testifying in her Senate confirmation hearing.

Her top priority will be to dismantle the Department of Education to fund massive tax breaks for the wealthy

Tell your Senator: vote NO on McMahon.
win.newmode.net/sunrisemovem...

POLITICO Pro: Trump calls for national energy emergency as he launches his 'dominance' agenda Presidents have wide latitude to invoke executive powers through national emergency declarations.

Trump’s energy agenda is to attack American renewable energy jobs and raise power costs and increase economic chaos. American workers lose, people who pay electric bills lose, and only the Big Oil Barons win. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

‘Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.’ - Seamus Heaney, Poet & Nobel Laureate.

IKEA: The timber monster Part I: Fast furniture, over-consumption, fascism, cost cutting, and tax avoidance.

IKEA is the world's largest consumer of timber in the world.

Its demand is constantly expanding. As is its output of fast furniture.

Buy. Throw away. Buy again.

A recent documentary by Arte highlights the impact of IKEA's over-consumption on forests.

reddmonitor.substack.com/p/ikea-the-t...

Voting for the Mayor Who Promised to Blow Up the City Doesn’t Mean I Approve of the Mayor Blowing Up the City It’s so easy to label people these days. From the way folks have been talking, you’d think everyone falls into two buckets: those who voted against...

"It’s disgusting and, frankly, counterproductive to point out that I voted for this. To imply that I had personal free will and agency when I walked into a voting booth and picked Mayor Bomberman is insulting."

YouTube video by flommus DEGENERATE ART · david grubin 1993

‘If you don't think 47 is modeling Adolf, go read up on "degenerate art." The takeover of the Kennedy Center is fascism at its finest’
—@ngoldfarb1 on threads

#art
#arthistory
#modernart
#degenerateart
#germanexpressionism
#fascistart

@kennedycenter.bsky.social

CFP: Trade and Its Representations (Paris, 12-13 Jun 25)

https://arthist.net/archive/43898

Dionysus and Aphrodite in Ancient Greece and Beyond (Madrid, 16-20 Jun 25) arthist.net/archive/43740

" In the latest news, the National Endowment of the Arts announced that it’s doing away with grants for underserved communities and instead prioritizing projects that “celebrate and honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”" Hyperallergic

US Congress: Fire Elon Musk Elon Musk is executing a coup of the US government. In the past 48 hours he’s gained access to a vast range of sensitive information of millions of citizens, businesses, and foreign development projec

Elon Musk is executing a coup of the US government.

In recent days he’s gained access to a vast range of sensitive information of millions of citizens, businesses, and foreign development projects.

This is as serious as it gets. Over 70,000 people have already signed on. Join in:

FireElon.org

Textile Ecologies: right now

Let’s change what’s in the news! If you’re also tired of hearing about Blake Lively, POTUS, VP, the TikTok ban, Mark Zuckerberg and all the other garbage… share this video! Through it all, we’ll be there. ❤️#dogcontent

Gilead.

Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Full Access to Treasury’s Payments System Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.

It’s alarming that Elon Musk has access to government payment systems used to deliver Social Security and Medicare benefits. 
 
He also drove out the senior career official at Treasury responsible for preventing a potential default on U.S. debt.
 
Congress must investigate.

YouTube video by CBC News Trudeau: Canada will retaliate with 25% tariffs on $155B of U.S. goods

Here's the speech if you haven't heard it. 13 minutes of your time. Share it with your American friends and neighbours, because they won't see it otherwise. Circulate it in Mexico and Denmark, France and the UK, Panama and Germany, Poland and Estonia, and especially -- especially -- Ukraine.