Heidi Backes
@heidibackes1.bsky.social
Prof of Spanish lit and cultural history / Gothic fiction / Fascism / Memory & Trauma Studies / Author of SPECTRAL SPAIN (U of Wales Press, 2024), FASCIST FEMALE GOTHIC (Jan. 2027, UWP)
The results of the Missouri election yesterday. Everyone in the country should be paying attention to this--and MAGA should be very concerned. Republicans lost their two amendments with 80% and 83% of the population voting against them, in a state that overwhelmingly supported Trump.
In the November elections, to be radical is to be pragmatic.
“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
All Pretentious Literature Boys are all of course the spiritual spawn of the original, archetypal Ur-Pretentious Literature Boy. No better example exists of an Annoying Guy who Singlehandedly Created an Entire New Genre of Annoying Guys
Hugh Kearney@myfisttoe.bsky.social · 2d agoI read "tiresome literature boy" and immediately thought of this.
💀 En 1831 el escritor Agustín Pérez Zaragoza comenzó a publicar la serie “Galería fúnebre de espectros y sombras ensangrentadas”: una colección de historias góticas llenas de crimen, terror y casquería. El verdadero "Penny dreadful" español 🧵👇
If you give me $2.4 million I will deliver a book with entirely human stylistic flaws.
Lincoln Michel@thelincoln.bsky.social · 6d ago👀 Fascinated by the "withdrawn by its agents" detail. So the AI use was so blatant that the agents due a huge payday preemptively withdrew the contract?
I don’t want to be too sensationalist about this but also I’m the least violent person in the world and I think if someone said this to my face I’d hit them
Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele@drdragases.bsky.social · last wk.No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.
A dozen Republican states led by Missouri asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order attacking mail voting go into effect before the midterm elections in November. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
GOP states join DOJ in asking Supreme Court to let Trump block some mail ballots
The states essentially contend that it’s too soon to block a very likely illegal order because we don’t yet, less than 100 days before the midterms, have any idea how the administration might attempt ...
democracydocket.com
tell me more about conservatives and small government. trump administration now demanding that hospitals hand over "personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms..." www.cnn.com/2026/07/27/h...
Trump administration demands hospitals share emergency room records | CNN
A tiny federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawn mowers and coffeemakers is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest health systems turn over detailed, personall...
cnn.com
The last time the US produced income & wealth inequality at these levels was during the Gilded Age/Roaring 20s. Historians & social scientists identify two commonalities between a century ago & now: the overlapping influences of Christian nationalism & capitalism. kettering.org/economic-ine...
Economic Inequality: How Christian Nationalism Weakens Democracy
KF Research Fellow Andrew L. Whitehead traces the connection between Christian nationalism and growing economic inequality in the US. The implications are more than economic—they can lead to democrati...
kettering.org
HCR's letter from yesterday dovetails perfectly with my forthcoming book, "Fascist Female Gothic." The use of the rhetoric of fear and monstrosity is fundamental to the project of fascism, and we must be able and willing to recognize it for what it is. History's lessons provide powerful truths.
Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 2w agoJuly 22, 2026
globalextremism.org/post/western...
State Department Plans $5 Million Push for ‘Western Civilizational Heritage’ in Europe
The Trump administration is launching a nearly $5 million State Department program to fund organizations across Europe that promote anti-immigrant narratives, Christian nationalist rhetoric, and the d...
globalextremism.org
The evidence is clear—Christian nationalism cannot abide a pluralistic democratic society. And this post from a fellow expert on CN helps position this topic and other findings in relation to recent claims that ”CN is just a label used to denigrate.”
Robert P. Jones@robertpjones.bsky.social · 2w agoMy latest. On white christian nationalists' love of ICE and concentration camps. open.substack.com/pub/robertpj...
I'm so excited to share the cover of my forthcoming book, "Fascist Female Gothic," which will be published in January with @uniwalespress.bsky.social. Read more about it below... 1/2
📚️ New Catalogue! 📚️ We are so excited to share our Autumn Winter 2026 catalogue! Follow the link below to browse our fascinating upcoming titles 📚️ www.uwp.co.uk/app/uploads/... Including titles by @rachelcordasco.bsky.social, @knick666.bsky.social, @bodhisattvac.bsky.social ... (1/2)
Just in: Spain's run to the title was a defensive masterclass, with wins over four of the world's top ten teams. They are the first World Cup champion to win the title while only conceding a single goal.
Spain is the 2026 World Cup champion, defeating Argentina for its 2nd title
Spain's run to the title was a defensive masterclass, with wins over four of the world's top ten teams. They are the first World Cup champion to win the title while only conceding a single goal.
n.pr
You had me at National Catholicism. Looking forward to this book.
Heidi Backes@heidibackes1.bsky.social · last yr.I'm excited to share that I have signed a contract with @uniwalespress.bsky.social for my next book, "Fascist Female Gothic: National Catholicism and the Politics of Fear in Spanish Fascist Women's Writing, 1937-1945," which will be published in their Gothic Literary Studies series.
This seems like a good time to also recommend "Opus" by @garethgore.bsky.social, which has a lot of insight into Leonard Leo and his involvement with American politics and Opus Dei.
Jenny Cohn@jennycohn.bsky.social · 3w ago“The Catholic Right’s Most Important Senate Race is in Maine *** Conservative Catholic Leonard Leo lives in Maine, owns a parish church, and helps bankroll Susan Collins. Her seat could decide whether he continues to pick America’s judges.” By Michael Fox, 7/16/26 h/t @thcarter123.bsky.social 1/
CFP 📢📢📢 *New Approaches to Teaching the Gothic*, co-edited by myself & @factorygothic.bsky.social Critical practice; pedaogical reflections; case studies; particularly in a relation to these times/spaces of crisis. VERY broad cfp. Qus welcome 👇👇👇 call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/07/...
cfp | call for papers
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu
"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life." - Hermann Hesse 🎨 Julia Tar
“Prebunking” has been found to be very effective in neutralizing disinformation
capitolhunters@capitolhunters.bsky.social · 3w agoJournalists: please, please get ready for this in ADVANCE. We know Trump's going to claim "new evidence shows the 2020 election was stolen". You've got 3 days to write a story that confronts that lie head-on before he says it - pre-write this like an obit. America is begging you: plan ahead. 1/
In Spain, turning the shower dial by 1 millimeter is the difference between freezing into a solid ice block or burning all the skin off your body.
Getting the boys together for this Austria-Spain matchup
The Society of St. Pius X was excommunicated by Pope Leo for ordaining bishops without his permission. Its issues with the church run far deeper.
What to know about the Society of St. Pius X, the schismatic group excommunicated by the Pope
The Society of St. Pius X was excommunicated by Pope Leo for ordaining bishops without his permission. Its issues with the church run far deeper.
n.pr
This is VERY MUCH worth reading. It’s even worse than many of us knew. All corruption. All the time.
John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · last mo.This is a succinct and damning report on the corruption of the Great American State Fair. It also has the cleanest explanation of the split between Freedom 250 and America250 that I've seen anywhere. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-gre...
🚨NEWS: Congressional probe alleges massive fraud in Trump-aligned Freedom 250, alleging Trump allies misled donors, hijacked America’s 250th, and sold access for millions
Democrats Allege Trump Allies 'Misled Donors' to Bankroll Freedom 250
New Democratic report alleges Trump allies misled donors, hijacked America's 250th, and sold access for millions.
meidasnews.com
We have Slaughter and Cook. By a 6–3 vote, SCOTUS overturns Humphrey's Executor and lets Trump fire heads of independent agencies. But by a 5–4 vote, it refuses to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
