meanwhile, the right is absolutely certain that the left has agency, indeed more agency than it has in its wildest dreams.

Catching up with Jennifer Schuessler's articles, find out that the part of the Benjamin Franklin Museum exhibit that drew on my work has also been flagged -- as I suspected when I saw a red post-it next to it when I visited in January (I asked, staff neither confirmed nor denied what it meant.)

When the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board praises your report, Yale, that should tell you how fully you've surrendered to the right wing's attack on the academy.
Yale Takes Itself to Reform School
www.wsj.com/opinion/yale...

Tomorrow at OAH in Philadelphia, commenting on papers about crowd action and the Revolutionary era by VanJessica Gladney, Grant Stanton and @bencarp.bsky.social -- & thinking and talking about Ed Countryman whose subtle, dialectical take on crowds and politics entranced me and sent me on my journey.

Jonathan Richman Corner Store YouTube video by tonyfivek

Today's trump antidote is Jonathan:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5lq_FIjbOo

I will ask my brother the (east coast) meteorologist if he has noticed this.

i did not know there was "weather midwest nice"

I'd protest, but it would sound jewish.

it's quite deliberate on the part of artist Kerry Marshall, i think, imagining her at the end of her life, worn out (according to a legend that has not much basis), but with her second book manuscript (which did exist). For more see my Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley, chapter 23!

I actually consulted on their accuracy & they sent me a batch including a first day cover which made me nostalgic for my grandfather who collected them. He sent them to himself at his business, at (you'll know why this is so meaningful to me) 45 W. 33rd st....

The New York Post, which, like Fox, is owned by Rupert Murdoch and often acts like an arm of the Trump White House communications team, was also puzzled.

I lIke the way the Guardian states obvious facts as facts instead of stepping around them as U.S. news outlets tend to do.

yes they so want to have it both ways that they will tie themselves in interpretive knots

Beverly has been a treasure since before grad school, when she was writing for the New Haven Advocate.

It's impolite to call Musk a genocidal white nationalist because "civility" in American discourse functions not as a neutral procedural norm but as an asymmetric weapon to shield the powerful from accurate moral characterization while policing the tone of those who object.

Benj DeMott bringing it: "There’s another current phrase, shit show, that’s stinks in my nose. It’s irritatingly irreal—as if mighty complainers who use it can’t imagine anything worse than a lame tv program. (Or anything better than a fun one.)"
www.firstofthemonth.org/cant-truss-i...

or were dissing the encampments and students.

omfg.

In which I cite the excellent research of Samantha Seeley, @katemasur.bsky.social Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan, Christopher James Bonner, & of course Don and @pamherd.bsky.social + many journalists to connect history to the present.

A second poll of US Jews finds the same result: Most oppose the war in Iran - Jewish Telegraphic Agency That's despite nearly wall-to-wall opposition for the Iranian regime, according to the poll commissioned by J Street.

www.jta.org/2026/03/30/u...

running the country or the university like a business turns out to mean lying all the time and rewarding a closed inner circle.

This is the maybe most Trumpian thing I have ever seen: the presumption that live TV always trumps actual legal process. Toss the papers!

Admiring, appreciating how @johnfea1.bsky.social and @johannneem.bsky.social read more right wing stuff than I so I can read less.

I’m asking my SUNY and CUNY followers on here—particularly those with more followers than me—to help spread the word about this effort to align state budget priorities of faculty, staff, and students from every campus and sector and to support system and union efforts.

hdl.handle.net/1951/88718

one maddening thing about all of this is the conservative idea that "election day" has always meant a single day until recently, which is nonsense. 19th century elections often took place over the course of an entire month, with results trickling out over time.

Today's @jamellebouie.net newsletter says the left must "rebuild the institution [Congress], enhance its esteem & transform the public’s expectations of the sources of political leadership."

Historians could help! Ban "presidential historians" & replace presidential rankings with Congress rankings

It’s time to get serious about Israel According to this latest NBC News poll, 67% of Democrats say that their sympathies lie with Palestinians over Israelis. This is an astonishing sea change in the opinion of a major part of the electora...

It's time to get serious about Israel — coreyrobin.com/2026/03/17/i...

"“We are being accused of being racist,” said Sean Wilentz, a Princeton University history professor who is leading the campaign against a new 238-unit apartment in his neighborhood. “It has really gotten crazy and shows you just how misleading and demagogic this all is.”"

"Democratic-linked academic historian who hates Trump and loves the Clintons, but who is upset that people call him racist for opposing the construction of affordable housing" is such a cliché.

Here is my big picture of the historiographical weeds, open access on Project Muse:

"The New Origins Debate: Looking Back at 1619 in 2020-21, and Beyond," Reviews in American History 54 (March 2026), 1-14.
muse.jhu.edu/issue/56594

here for all the shmate jokes you have, adam

Picture of DOGE guy Nate Cavanaugh

Screenshot of my DOGE letter “Dr. Joseph Rezek Dear NEH Grantee, This letter provides notice that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is terminating your federal grant (Grant Application No. FEL29509824) effective April 3, 2025, in accordance with the termination clause in your Grant Agreement. Your grant no longer effectuates the agency's needs and priorities and conditions of the Grant Agreement and is subject to termination due to several reasonable causes, as outlined in 2CFR§200.340. For instance, NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President's agenda. The President's February 19, 2025 executive order mandates that the NEH eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions. See Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, E.O. 14217 (Feb. 19, 2025). Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities. Any objections or appeals to this termination will be managed in strict accordance with the President's Executive Orders,

Last year, this guy (left) from DOGE used ChatGPT to find NEH grants that were too “DEI” for Trump, and canceled them, including mine, as shown by the letter I received last April (right). Huge new NYT article on the back story link below