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.
Posts by Melissa K Byrnes
"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.
This is reassuring. I've been quite surprised at how negatively most of my students view AI these days.
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...
Some good first thoughts from my favorite Hungarian scholar (I am absolutely biased): open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
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...
The humanities are absolutely vital to a functioning democratic society.
🧵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.
🧵🧵🧵
Alma mater pride!
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.
Lindsey’s diplomacy working wonders in UAE.
Right back at you! It was a good weekend for connecting with good people.
"If your vision of liberation comes only through the destruction of innocent lives, then it's not freedom you're after."
“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.
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
“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.
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.
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.
Yep.
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...
Child is supposed to dress up as someone who exhibits kindness tomorrow. He's wearing his Wemby jersey.
News & Reviews featuring @saddiqdzukogi.bsky.social @alicerudge.bsky.social @amykohout.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social @sherrieflick.bsky.social @profmkbyrnes.bsky.social and more!
Certainly appears moms with whistles won the Battle of Minneapolis.
Our country was founded on resistance to a tyrant.
Solidarity with all the folks in MN putting themselves out there for the good of us all.
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.
“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