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Posts by Melissa K Byrnes

Where is the lie?
But also, people like to think they are special, and what they are going through is special, and if there is anything historians can establish with tedious frequency it is that no, none of us are special and historical precedent echoes and coughs its way through the decades.

4 days ago 139 38 3 3
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Hungarian Americans say Orbán's defeat could provide roadmap for countering Trump Hungarian Americans say Viktor Orbán's defeat in Hungary provides a blueprint for countering President Trump's attempts to tilt the electoral playing field ahead of the midterms.

Last bit of initial commentary from our house.

5 days ago 1 0 0 0

"I didn't want to be right about this" is the perfect theme (and rallying cry) for the moment. I often tell students that Cassandra feels like the real muse of history.

6 days ago 27 6 0 1
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How Orban Defeated Himself Lessons from Hungary for pro-democracy movements worldwide.

More lessons from Hungary:

6 days ago 6 1 1 0

This is reassuring. I've been quite surprised at how negatively most of my students view AI these days.

1 week ago 15 5 0 0
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Trump’s Humiliation in Orbán Defeat Stunner Is Only Just Beginning For Viktor Orbán’s epic loss in Hungary to have real meaning in America, Democrats and liberals need to proclaim themselves part of the global anti-authoritarian movement.

The massive Orban defeat should prompt Dems to align themselves more firmly with anti-fascist and pro-democracy forces abroad. There's a powerful link to be drawn between the celebrations in Budapest and the confrontations with ICE in Minneapolis. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2090...

1 week ago 3199 929 63 67
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Lessons from the Hungarian Election How a united opposition toppled the architect of illiberal democracy.

Some good first thoughts from my favorite Hungarian scholar (I am absolutely biased): open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

1 week ago 3 0 0 0
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Hungary election live: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian election after 16 years in power Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead

Concession! Regimes do fall.
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

1 week ago 3 1 0 0
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Budapest Pride 2025: A Record Crowd Stands Up for Democracy This weekend in Hungary’s capital Budapest, Human Rights Watch staff witnessed the city transform—if only for one brilliant afternoon—into a beacon of resistance. Budapest Pride was more than a celebr...

As today's Hungarian election results continue to come in, it's worth remembering that one of the major moments in building this resistance was standing up for Pride. www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

1 week ago 7 1 0 0
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The humanities are absolutely vital to a functioning democratic society.

3 weeks ago 367 88 5 3

🧵It’s crucial that Americans closely watch the next two weeks in Hungarian politics.

Trump is really, really invested in making sure Orban wins the April 12 election.

So are Bibi, Milei, Wilders, and AfD head Alice Weidel. They’ve all shown up to campaign. Vance likely going next week.

🧵🧵🧵

3 weeks ago 609 249 28 22

Alma mater pride!

4 weeks ago 2 0 0 0
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ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’

When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.

1 month ago 10418 6211 217 415
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Lindsey’s diplomacy working wonders in UAE.

1 month ago 19741 6770 804 435

Right back at you! It was a good weekend for connecting with good people.

1 month ago 2 1 0 0

"If your vision of liberation comes only through the destruction of innocent lives, then it's not freedom you're after."

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“To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

Judgment of the international Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany.

1 month ago 607 294 2 17
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5. The US economy’s dependence on AI may have been overstated, experts say. In 2025: it became conventional wisdom that AI was a major driver of growth. But some prominent economists estimate that it contributed as little as 0% to economic status

5. The US economy’s dependence on AI may have been overstated, experts say. In 2025: it became conventional wisdom that AI was a major driver of growth. But some prominent economists estimate that it contributed as little as 0% to economic status

Aren’t we lucky that universities haven’t gotten carried away with the hype and taken a careful approach to AI?
Imagine if they had decided to push AI into our teaching and work life!
All praise to our leaders in higher ed for not falling for hype, hallelujah and praise the goddess

1 month ago 580 141 27 17
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UT Regents limit when 'controversial' topics can be discussed at college University of Texas Regents voted unanimously to limit when controversial topics can be discussed at college, but critics say the policy is too vague.

“The regents of Texas’s largest university system unanimously passed a policy Thursday setting “expectations of academic integrity and standards for teaching controversial topics” amid aggressive conservative pressure... The policy does not define “controversial.” Well, this policy is controversial.

2 months ago 28 15 2 1
Keep Minnesota Housed!
Much of the medía has left, but ICE is still in Minnesota and hundreds of families need help with rent in order to avoid eviction.
Visit keepMNhoused.com to adopt a rent or donate to rent funds!
#keepMNhoused

Keep Minnesota Housed! Much of the medía has left, but ICE is still in Minnesota and hundreds of families need help with rent in order to avoid eviction. Visit keepMNhoused.com to adopt a rent or donate to rent funds! #keepMNhoused

Today we are launching a new intitative of Stand With Minnesota—KeepMNHoused.com, a rent-relief campaign backed with a $1.5 matching fund from the Wilson Foundation.

Thousands of MN families are at risk of eviction because of the ICE occupation’s lasting impacts. We can keep them housed.

2 months ago 1631 1164 21 50
Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislatu…
Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislatu… YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Colbert posted the interview online. I do wonder if CBS and the FCC are aware of the Streisand effect? The interview has been up for 8 hours and has just over half a million views.

2 months ago 1173 439 34 58

Yep.

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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How to Film ICE Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact.

NEW: The @wired.com Security desk put together a comprehensive guide to filming ICE—with tips for reducing risk at the forefront. No paywall, but please consider subscribing to help find these kinds of resources. And stay safe out there. www.wired.com/story/how-to...

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

2 months ago 3678 2400 44 90

Child is supposed to dress up as someone who exhibits kindness tomorrow. He's wearing his Wemby jersey.

2 months ago 20 3 0 0
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News & Reviews Reviews Bakandamiya Review in Publisher's Weekly: "Dzukogi makes potent and capacious use of myth to distill past and present." Return of the King Review in Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "...an immersive, behind-the-scenes account of the 1970 Ali-Quarry fight in Atlanta, politician Leroy Johnson steps up as an unsung hero in his own right." Truman and the Bomb Review in Missouri Historical Review…

News & Reviews featuring @saddiqdzukogi.bsky.social @alicerudge.bsky.social @amykohout.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social @sherrieflick.bsky.social @profmkbyrnes.bsky.social and more!

2 months ago 5 2 0 1

Certainly appears moms with whistles won the Battle of Minneapolis.

2 months ago 20498 2317 402 97

Our country was founded on resistance to a tyrant.

2 months ago 6965 1773 109 34
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Solidarity with all the folks in MN putting themselves out there for the good of us all.

2 months ago 37 3 0 0
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Nomination and selection of Nobel Peace Prize laureates - NobelPrize.org A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria. A letter of invitation to submit is not required. The names of the nominees and other informati...

Some thoughts:

1. The deadline for nominating a person or group for the Nobel Peace Prize is Feb. 1.

2. History professors are qualified nominators.

3. The people of Minnesota have been awe-inspiringly peaceful in the face of state violence.

4. He would be so mad.

2 months ago 1844 683 40 84
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“A lot of things become possible when [the nation state] is not the only framework,” @profmkbyrnes.bsky.social reminds us in this deeply intimate local history of North African migrants in France.

Listen to her interview in @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social: bit.ly/49GIoC6

3 months ago 9 3 0 0