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irisab.bsky.social
Historian, wife, mother, citizen; I think facts matter, climate change is frightening, democracy is on the line and Russia should get out of Ukraine; interested in waste studies.
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The most honest and realistic description of where the US is at the moment. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoC...

Harvard's past international students include incubator of Moderna, co-founder of Facebook, at least 11 Nobel Prize winners, and 14 heads of state.

International students also pay full freight, subsidizing American students. If only someone in the administration knew the first thing about higher education economics.

The absurdity is mind boggling, only possible because too many people have been living in an alternative reality for too long to protest or even notice.

He has stayed remarkably true to himself. www.youtube.com/shorts/zNuB3...

Everyone should add their anecdotes of actually needed, productive, and beneficial programs that were cut.

So much of current crises is about mis- and disinformation. As historians, we teach that every account of reality has some bias and inbuilt subjectivity. I increasingly wonder how we do this without strengthening the "everything is just opinion" narrative and sheer propaganda. Any thoughts anybody?

Obama turned down a *book* to comply with ethics rules surrounding gifts. Trump is accepting a jet. That’s the difference.

We get numb in too many places.

Waking up to find a new war has begun. I can think of many things the world does not need. This is pretty high on the list.

"THE WAR BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN WOULD HAVE NEVER STARTED IF I HAD BEEN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES — I CAN END THIS WAR IN 24 HOURS!" — 🙂🙂🙂🙂 KAMALA HARRIS.

So true!

“Save Social Security. It’s our money!” ⬇️

I don't think I would ever say this, but Rand Paul gave a powerful speech. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOK2...

Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month.

Posting a picture of himself as pope must count as one of the Trump's weirdest posts, even by his standards. And these standards are sliding.

This is what happens with the Department of Education can no longer keep an eye on mathematics teaching.

Vance and Rubio come out in support of a party which the German equivalent of the FBI has, in a 1000 page report, certified as being extremist right wing and a threat to democracy. That tells you everything you need to know about where, ideologically, to position the present US administration.

A US citizen is warned not to leave the country for the time being. Things are getting so crazy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWuT...

As someone who experienced threats and harassment from armed extremists for over a decade, I have empathy for anyone who feels afraid of retaliation for free speech. But at the end of the day, we all must make a choice: back down or double down.

Holocaust survivor confronts Trump’s ICE Director. “History is NOT on your side!”

excellent piece! www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...

Harvard is incredibly important, and if only that now others, that cave in, can no longer say there was no alternative.

"the worst and dumbest people in the world gloating about how they solved the ‘grift’ of sending lifesaving medications to dying babies...” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/o...

If you wrote a story about a regime so comically evil that it literally snatches people from their citizenship interviews, you'd be accused of over-the-top imaginings.

There is no way the US can win a head-on trade war with China.

Europe needs to restructure: EU without Hungary (under Orban) but with Ukraine; NATO without the US but with Australia and Japan.

I don’t think a better headline could have been written about what happened yesterday. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I hope others (universities, lawfirms, citizens...) are watching and feeling inspired.

I think this should be mandatory watching for anybody interested in Trump tariffs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOx...

Great article on how so many intelligent, educated, analytical people totally overlooked what was out in the open, obvious for everyone to see who wanted to: that Trump wanted high tariffs, that he did not understand what they were, that he would tank the economy. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

I honestly believe that if the EU stays halfway united, they will be okay and might actually benefit in the mid term. The Heinrich Böll Foundation did a study that predicted net economic gains if trade networks are restructured focusing away from the US to other regions.

It all makes sense if you think about it.

precisely!

6 months ago

The consensus on Wall Street among savvy people paid millions to predict things was exactly what very low-information voters thought: "Trump can't mean what he says because that's ridiculous, what he'll really do is what I personally hope he does."