Heidi Backes

Call for Papers for "Ninety Years Since the Spanish Civil War: Experiences, Memories, Concepts (1936–2026)" Conference, Swiss Social Archives, Zurich, 19–20 November 2026.

Call for Papers for "Ninety Years Since the Spanish Civil War: Experiences, Memories, Concepts (1936–2026)" Conference, Swiss Social Archives, Zurich, 19–20 November 2026. Page two, including key themes: Possible topics include but are not limited to: • Conceptual (re)considerations: “Spanish Civil War” versus “Guerre d’Espagne” • Conservative entanglements and networks of support or aid • The war as a training ground for fascist and anti-fascist forces prior to the Second World War • Politics, public debate, taboos, and commemoration in post-war Switzerland • Politics, public debate, taboos, and commemoration in post-war Europe and beyond • The war in the arts and popular culture

CfP from the Swiss Social Archives in Zurich for the 90th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War's outbreak - an especial focus on the conflict's legacy and memory, and its place within wider histories. Looks great!

If the government gets to decide if you have them, they're not human rights.

Oklahoma legislature advances bill that would remove tenure at OU, public universities The Oklahoma legislature advanced a bill Tuesday that would remove the possibility of tenure for OU faculty, limit contract agreements to five years and require each state institute for higher

Tenure protects faculty’s right to teach & students’ right to learn. It's integral to the pursuit of knowledge and research, and to free speech and expression. Scrapping tenure silences educators & stymies medical research. @AFT.org & @AAUP.org are fighting this www.oudaily.com/news/oklahom...

It’s looking increasingly likely that Kristi Noem and Lewandowski funneled almost 200 million in government money to a company that is run by her friend and that nobody can give an address for.

Oh, and it was 8 days old when it was awarded the contract.

the US right is completely dedicated to the proposition that children are chattel.

[TW: graphic fracture, sound of breaking bone]

Sen Tim Sheehy (R-Montana) badly breaking the arm of a Marine veteran protesting the war Iran.

NEW: the texas state Supreme Court just temporarily BLOCKED a lower court judges ruling extending polling hours in Dallas County. Any votes cast by people not in line by 7 PM will have their votes set aside pending the outcome of the litigation.

My research is on working class women and AI and the ONE consistency among all of the interviews we’ve done so far is concerns about data centers and environmental impact. We do not bring it up - they do. Every single one.

When we talk about Baby Boomers not getting off the stage: In 1997, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2007, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2017, the US president was born in 1946.

And next year in 2027? The US president will have been born in 1946.

Democratic voters in Texas scramble to find polling place amid precinct voting switch Early voting had been countywide and saw record Democratic turnout, but the switch to precinct-only locations left many voters showing up at the wrong spot and being turned away.

🚨BREAKING: Hundreds of Democratic voters in Dallas and Williamson Counties, Texas scrambled to find their polling places Tuesday after the local Republican parties refused to hold a joint primary — ending more than a decade of convenient countywide voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Disgusting.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Iran:

“Remember that one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime, as is the whole of Spanish society, and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law.”

I’m going to need to cut this line I like from a piece about the Iran War you’ll read tomorrow, so I post it here to tell my darling I will see it in the gardens of heaven:

“We will not get bored," Trump said on Monday, minutes before talking about how beautiful the White House drapes are.

for what it cost for our allies to shoot down three of our own planes by accident in a murderous illegal war we could have funded the NEH at 150% of its historic peak funding for a year

These guys were selling t-shirts until they needed a war to cover up the intentional damage they did to the economy and the president's involvement in a pedophilia scandal.

“The point is that both Hitler and Stalin held out promises of stability in order to hide their intention of creating a state of permanent instability.”

― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

It’s crazy that it’s basically just a combination of the single worst most disastrous parts of every administration in history

Then what happened?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Death toll in US-Israeli strike on girls' school in southern Iran rises to 40 killed, state-run IRNA news agency reports.

What "it's a distraction" people fundamentally need to understand about fascism is that fascism's entire mode of operation is diverting popular anger/anxiety/despair into channels of violence against the Other (both internal and external).

It's not flailing, it's the whole strategy.

A screenshot of Rachel Dratch from SNL. She's a white woman with short dark hair and blue eyes, and she's making an awkward expression that implies, "Sorry I have to tell you this and ruin your good time. But also I'm kind of not sorry about it." I've added a subtitle that reads, "That's AI."

an updated debbie downer sketch but it's friends showing her funny videos and she has to respond like this to every single one like this:

this is what they said it would be like under socialism

Paramount and Warner Bros' deal is about merging studios, and a whole lot more The nearly $111 billion marriage would unite Paramount and Warner film studios, streamers and television properties — including CNN — under the control of the wealthy Ellison family.

The nearly $111 billion marriage would unite Paramount and Warner film studios, streamers and television properties — including CNN — under the control of the wealthy Ellison family. n.pr/4rCH4YH

Welcome to the era of state-controlled media. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover

The richest man owns X.

The second and third richest men control Google.

The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.

And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.

See the problem here?

I keep reminding people that admins hate English departments because they are popular (read: inefficient), not because they aren’t. AI is in a long line of technologies that promise to solve that problem for them.

Years ago our admin did a red and black report. It took salaries & how much $ each instructor made in tuition $ for classes we taught-you were in the red or black. They released numbers once & shut it down bc humanities were producing huge $ for uni & engineers, business and scientists were losing $

UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges For the largest health insurer in the US, AI's error rate is like a feature, not a bug.

"why must you hate innovation so!" I boldly proclaim as my undercooked algorithm prematurely murders your grandma

And they just sit there

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

“The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.”
www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...