Carol
@cgrose.bsky.social
PhD History: 20th c. Gender/ Race/ Religion/ Imperialism I am researching the politics of women's religious networks between WWI and II and posting about history, politics, books, and theatre. Sometimes finance and tech (past life).
Here’s my op-ed on Chief Justice John Roberts whitewashed history of President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft. Roberts adoration of Taft’s “restraint” conveniently omits Taft’s racism, refusal to condemn lynching, and embrace of Lost Causism. That’s no accident. share.inquirer.com/IcPlmx
Will the real William Howard Taft please stand up?
Chief Justice John Roberts penned an incomplete, but revealing, tribute to former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft.
share.inquirer.com
This was the point I emphasised about Palantir when I wrote about tech soverignty - their model is to make bits of the state dependent on them and them jack up the price. samf.substack.com/p/sovereignt...
Sovereignty for sale
Tech monopolies and the future of the nation state
samf.substack.com
Amy Borrett@amyborrett.ft.com · 2d agoBritain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...
The Channel 4 exposé "will make it even harder for Reform to attract donors, legal or otherwise. And it has given the Labour government the best excuse it ever needed to take money out of British politics." New by me on @zeteo.com UK zeteo.uk/p/anti-forei...
Anti-Foreigner Reform UK’s Shocking Foreign-Funding Scandal Is a Wake-Up Call
‘We just don’t have British-resident donors,’ a top Nigel Farage ally told an undercover US reporter on camera. Isn’t now a good time to get big money out of UK politics?
zeteo.uk
📌 ICYMI: People keep on asking us if there is any connection between the persecuted Cambridge Professor Jason Arday, and the disgraced Reform UK policy head James Orr. There are many One of this month’s most-read stories.
The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday
The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network
bylinetimes.com
How could an associate professor in divinity at Cambridge be expected to know that lying is bad? thecritic.co.uk/mone...
Lina Khan served as chair of the FTC from June 2021 to January 2025. She teaches and writes about antitrust law, infrastructure industries law, the antimonopoly tradition, and law and political economy. She captures the complicated story of America’s first transcontinental railroad. #WeAreAmerica
The legwork, and the sting, which seems to have caught out James Orr, Nigel Farage and Reform-UK was carried out by Verbatim Investigations who have dropped their own take on the story.
Dirty Money: A Year Undercover in Reform UK
A yearlong investigation into Nigel Farage’s fundraising operation reveals a plot to break the law by bringing foreign money into British politics
verbatiminvestigations.com
"Surviving an autocracy means not only believing that the unfathomable is possible, but that it’s probably happening, so you better start planning for what comes next."
Sarah Kendzior@sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 6d agoThe Mitch McConnell shit is really weird, and I say this as the person the NYT assigned to write three separate obits of Uzbekistan's president as the state covered up his death: sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/ghost-senate
Cambridge's only response (which it said we couldn't publish) to our James Orr investigation: "Byline Times has sent a slew of unsubstantiated allegations, wilful mischaracterisations & falsehoods, which we strongly reject... we are unable to engage with the approach as a legitimate media enquiry"
Now James Orr has stepped down as Reform UK's Head of Policy after C4's report, questions remain for Cambridge – where he is Associate Professor. Byline Times revealed serious concerns about his activities there months ago. We all know there won't now be 200+ articles on him and his life don't we?
So it looks like Reform policy chief James Orr has straight up broken the law here. It's also exactly the same crime Farage has been accused of re: George Cottrell donating via his mother and which Parliament is currently investigating.
Channel 4 News@channel4news.bsky.social · 6d agoUndercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
American soprano Melissa Givens is an Associate Professor at Pomona College, a frequent recitalist and clinician and sings with Grammy winning Conspirare. Givens tells the story of Marian Anderson’s historic performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. #WeAreAmerica250
Ken Lincoln is president of the Thompson Ice House Preservation Corporation, which operates an onsite museum and sponsors an annual ice harvest. Lincoln chronicles America's forgotten ice trade, which revolutionized how the nation ate and drank before mechanical refrigeration. #WeAreAmerica250
If Obama, Biden or even George W. Bush had waited this long to go to Indiana, or lift a finger, to help, it would be a major story on every network newscast, every night, until the president Did Something. I'm glad outlets such as NYT are covering, but the silence from network TV is deafening
Siddhartha Mitter@siddharthamitter.bsky.social · 3w ago“Every day I’m crying,” Renita Theus, 41, said outside her darkened apartment, where her car remained trapped under a fallen tree. “It’s hot … I walked to the dollar store and they’re all out of candles and batteries.” "She lost her cleaning job in Chicago … because she was not able to travel."
"Larry Pendarvis, had written of his intention to create a space honoring the freedom to “traffic organs, the right to hold duels, and the God-given, underappreciated right to organize so-called bum fights.”.."
Dave (@6502_ftw from Tweets)@cursed.monster · 3w agoHe’s also one of the drivers behind this story, though I think he’s not mentioned in this excerpt newrepublic.com/article/1596...
Ulez has delivered remarkable public health gains in a short period. Sadiq deserves more credit than he’s had for defying Labour pressure to U-turn after Uxbridge. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Ulez led to better lung size and function among London children, study finds
Researchers find capacity stunted by pollution restored after introduction of ultra-low emission zone
theguardian.com
I want to think the experts on Bluesky who put together starter packs. Being able to follow a handful of experts in different fields has kept me well informed and broadened my understanding of science and culture, as well as well my own field. Just brilliant.
On July 31, Simon Baron-Cohen urged people to tone down the rhetoric on twitter re Jason Arday, and pointed to his own research on autism and suicide. Alexander Kustov responded with "Shame" Elon Musk with "Evil," and a wide variety of people came out jeering. The kind of cruelty on display here.
It's Clacton by-election day. Or, if you prefer, Farage-Commons-standards-inquiry-reopening-eve.
It will depress you! Sorry about that but it’s kind of my jam. I selected well-written books, some of them are even wryly funny at times — if you come from a culture with macabre humor. Still, the issue is big, complex, and scary. All the more reason for us to face it together.
John Robinson@jrobin.bsky.social · last mo.A reading list that I know will depress me, but one that also seems vital to understand (and fight this version of) the future. From the brilliant @tressiemcphd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...
Elizabeth R. Varon is an award-winning historian and the author of seven books on the Civil War era. Varon profiles Clara Barton, the Civil War "angel of the battlefield" who founded the American Red Cross and championed women's suffrage. #WeAreAmerica250
"Sometimes I read a print book because a print book can’t read me back." ( @sarahkendzior.bsky.social )
Quicksand
Gen X was right after all.
sarahkendzior.substack.com
Jay Kuo is a composer, lyricist, Tony-winning producer, appellate lawyer, CEO of The Social Edge, and the Chair-elect of the HRC. Kuo tells how Colorado governor Ralph Carr stood firm in defense of Japanese Americans during WWII internment, even as it cost him his political career. #WeAreAmerica250
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10
July 25, 2026 It turns out Trump has not abandoned his plan to paint the massive grey granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white. As Philip Kennicott reported in the Washington Post yesterday, more than two dozen experts have sued to stop the plan, saying paint could irreversibly damage….
July 25, 2026
It turns out Trump has not abandoned his plan to paint the massive grey granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Marlene Sallo is the Executive Director of @ndrnadvocates.bsky.social and former appointee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights under the Obama administration. Sallo explains how activists pushed for the ADA, which bars discrimination against people living with disabilities. #WeAreAmerica250
Jessica Knurick is a science communicator and nutrition scientist, specializing in chronic disease prevention. Here, Knurick details the inspiring life of Betty Carnes, an Arizona ornithologist who fought for smoking bans in public places after losing her friend to lung cancer. #WeAreAmerica250
BREAKING: Vance Boelter, the man who assassinated Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, just got sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years. He will die in prison.
Man Who Killed Dem Lawmaker and Her Husband Sentenced to Two Life Terms Plus 40 Years
A federal judge said it was the longest sentence he's ever handed down, for a man who posed as a police officer to gun down elected officials in their own homes.
meidasnews.com
Okay this is overly general. It’s not “administration policies,” generally, it’s THE MASS TERMINATION OF EXISTING WORK PERMITS due to TPS terminations. That’s the imminent labor shock here.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2mo agoSenior living facilities in the U.S. are in distress as immigrant caregivers are pushed out because of Trump administration policies.
