Carmen Celestini

How To Do Things With (Trump's) Words.

Obama: "We are living in a time where it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law ... but this man - Rev. Jesse Jackson - inspires us to take a harder path ... bc if we don't step up, nobody else will"

New York is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam AG Letitia James will head an "independent assessment" of what happened to the Blind Rohingya refugee who Border Patrol dumped in Buffalo.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who died in the cold streets of Buffalo days after Border Patrol dumped him without coordinating with his family or lawyers.

I'm giving a guest lecture on Monday at a Uni in BC. The talk is about Food, Populism, and Religion in the USA. The vast difference in approaches to spreading the Great Replacement conspiracy in urban and rural areas, is fascinating.
Pets, food, threats, and fears. I hope the students enjoy it.

I can't help feeling like the writers for this darkest timeline are just too predictable. When memes predict the outcomes weeks in advance we really need a new storyboard

As I read the articles about Russia and Chine helping Iran, I can't help but wonder if no one in the Trump admin has ever played Risk?

As ground troops are seemingly inevitable, are there no strategists? Or do they presume god is on their side? On the side of the Eternal for an unneeded war.

Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.

Trump’s best buddy Vladimir Putin is helping Iran in their efforts to target and kill American troops.

Let that sink in.

The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship The Iranian warship was taking part in an international exercise with many other countries—including the United States.

This is a chilling crime. A shame on our country. The Iranian ship was unarmed. The US knew this. The sailors were murdered by our navy, and the survivors were left to die at sea.
newrepublic.com/post/207429/...

MAGA Christians Are Pissed About Iran YouTube video by Straight White American Jesus Podcast

New video and podcast about the rift in the MAGA Christian coalition over Iran. On one side, Wallnau, Feucht etc who see it as part of the end times. On the other, America 1st nationalists and trad Catholics who see it as a betrayal of nationalist principles and a fool's errand

youtu.be/S_C07MzAMtM

And Childish Gambino has been playing in my mind for over a year.

Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right What do we make of former friends who fell down the rabbit hole of the Right?

Hi! Do you think Tucker Carlson “has a point”? Do think Platner platforming Holocaust deniers isn’t really a big deal? Do you think the “Epstein class” is short for “good w/ $$”? Well, my pal @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social and I wrote an article just for you! inthesetimes.com/article/form...

As a person who commutes 5 hours a day to campus on a bus i support this.

This is my pet peeve when you can't remove yourself. Being stuck on a bus with a cacophony of music, speaker calls, TV shows, and ig/tiktok makes me want to yell.

Bernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died. https://cnn.it/4l9weqG

Dot plot chart from the Pew Research Center titled "Women are more likely than men to say pornography is morally unacceptable." The chart shows the percentage of men and women in 22 countries who consider viewing pornography morally unacceptable, based on the Spring 2025 Global Attitudes Survey. In every country shown, women are more likely than men to hold this view. The gender gap ranges from +6 percentage points in Nigeria to +22 points in South Korea and Spain. Countries with the highest overall disapproval rates include Nigeria (82% men, 88% women), Indonesia (81% men, 90% women), and Mexico (53% men, 74% women). Countries with the lowest rates include Japan (13% men, 27% women), Germany (21% men, 36% women), and the Netherlands (20% men, 33% women). The U.S. shows 47% of men and 58% of women viewing pornography as morally wrong (the U.S. used the term "morally wrong" rather than "morally unacceptable"). Only statistically significant differences are shown. This question was not asked in India.

New survey from Pew Research seems to explain a hidden reason that Republicans have been attacking adult entertainment: It's their new women's outreach effort.

After school boards and trans sports have fizzled, they are trying to reach women by bashing porn. www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Welcome back

BREAKING

The U.S. State Department has suspended operations at the U.S. embassy in Kuwait due to ongoing safety concerns.

And Noem is out.

Manuals Of Destruction: Extremist How-To Manuals Teaching Kids How To Extort, Poison, And Kill Extremist networks are publishing and sharing graphic “how-to” guides that teach young people how to poison, extort, sexually exploit, and kill. Sparked by the case of a neo-Nazi leader who plotted to...

Extremist networks are sharing graphic “how-to” guides that teach young people to poison, extort, and kill. Sparked by a neo-Nazi plot to poison children in NYC, it details how networks like MKY, 764, and Terrorgram circulate these manuals, leaving digital blueprints for real-world violence.

A federal crime.

The president of the United States is accusing his DHS secretary of committing a federal crime.

This is not shocking and quite honestly expected.

No this information is not in my book. It was all gathered for something I wrote years ago but not for publication. I would suggest: Loveland, Anne C. “American Evangelicals and the US Military, 1942-1993”.
The work of Jeff Sharlet is wider in breadth but explains a lot.

Dehumanizing the other to validate authortarian policies, politically sanctioned violence, and removal of rights.

I have spent the last year deep in the trenches of white Christian Canadian men online. Their constructed victimhood, faith, hate, belief in conspiracy theories all link in this misogyny.

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

‘Nazi heaven’: Inside Miami campus Republicans’ racist group chat The chat is the subject of a Florida International University police investigation.

Weird how this keeps happening! www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Thank you :)

BREAKING on MS NOW:

The House Oversight Committee just voted to subpoena Pam Bondi as part of the panel's Epstein investigation.

The vote was 24-19. 5 Republicans voted in favor.

Ummm didn't Noem ask Hillary Clinton a pizzagate question during her testimony?

So, its ok when when Noem uses conspiracy theories, and bs but her alleged affair is beneath her?

Years ago when I chose to go back to get my degrees with the hope I could affect change, to slow the spread of hate, never did it occur to me what I would be battling would be American government sponsored harms and hate.

Well that was refreshing to watch.

Weird how if you research things you learn things.

My PhD supervisor was said "inform the activists" with your work. I try to do that, and policy makers too.

Makes sense why governments are dismantling humanities in higher ed.