Remote
Alexander Karn
@xankarn@mastodon.online
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Associate Professor of History at SLAC (NY, USA). Not representing employer.
Interests: power and the production of historical knowledge, public history, historical justice, historical dialogue, reconciliation, museum studies.
Commentary: Mother Jones, The Progressive, Salon, HuffPost.
Resist Much, Obey Little. #RMOL
2842 Followers
1732 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 06, 2022
Pixelfed:
Don't boo. Vote.
Don't rage. Do.
Don't whinge. Activate.
48 days 17 hours to the midterm elections.
Pick one thing.
It's your country.
No fucking kings.
#uspol #elections #democracy
MAGA's spiral into violent stupidity continues. No bottom for this clique.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/12/democrats-republican-midterm-convention
American capitalism has reached the “what’s the least we can offer to suppress/defuse your rage” stage.
Would a $300 stimulus check and a $1000 investment account for your kid be enough to persuade you to put down the pitchfork?
Two days on the newly completed Adirondack Rail Trail. 34 mile car free stretch from Lake Tupper to Lake Placid. We hit rain on the way back, but a quiet, misty ride through the lakes and pines was lovely, and we practically had the trail to ourselves. Packed cinder with a short paved sector west of Lake Saranac. #cycling #biketooter
Soviet style show trial being conducted in the U.S. Senate today. These calls for self-flagellation were also seen during China’s Cultural Revolution.
https://nypost.com/2026/07/29/us-news/bernie-moreno-goes-off-on-fauci-during-senate-covid-hearing/
“How much organized deceit can a democracy endure before it ceases to function?”
Replying to
It’s brings to mind this photo of Elizabeth Eckford (1957). Except that the politics and culture are somehow moving in reverse today. A democracy in retrograde.
RE: https://flipboard.com/@thenewsdesk/news-i8koidj5z/-/a-g72jaWdNT82DyrHcJIHCTA%3Aa%3A43591897-%2F0
Instead of “Is this fascism?” we should be asking “What stage of fascism is this?”
Replying to
This is, BTW, the same playbook that precedes all authoritarian assaults on freedom, civil liberties, individuality, human rights, human dignity, and human life.
Before a group can be physically attacked, they must be derided and despised.
The violence is always incremental. Unless, there is organized mass resistance, the violence is always inexorable.
MAGA is an unreality machine. Mainstream journalism aids and abets by soft-pedaling the lies and obfuscation.
“Unusual new accounting system.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/us/politics/pentagon-casualties-iran-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
RE: @DemocracyMattersALot@mstdn.social
“Drove his/her vehicle in the direction of an agent/officer” is the 21st C. version of “shot while attempting to escape.” That was a Nazi refrain in the lead-up to the dictatorship.
Weekend outing w younger spawn.
This is really important. Neuroscience starting to better understand the intellectual/cognitive costs of instantaneous answers and AI's erosion of the brain's curiosity state.
Impossible to embrace or take deep pride in a country where masked Nazis ride the Metro in the Capital.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/white-nationalists-march-in-washington-amid-250th-anniversary-celebrations.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Impossible to do collective problem solving without a clear, accurate picture of reality.
In a nation that’s misinformed and, therefore, impotent, only THE LEADER can “fix” it.
No facts. No truth. No democracy.
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/07/trump-administration-public-record-data-holes/687867/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Replying to
Centrists are just as capable of submarining the party as progressives, if they dig in and insist on their own worldviews and orthodoxies.
#uspol #democracy
Wind is starting to rip in Central NY. Halfway home on my 45 km #cycling route where I always make a pit stop.
Best to prepare for all possible outcomes.
They’re not accountable to you. You’re beneath them. You don’t deserve the truth because you don’t give them your slavish obedience.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/us/politics/troops-injured-jordan-iran-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
RE: https://mastodon.social/@randahl/116849161839776000
It takes no small amount of courage and sacrifice to live in truth.
Watch the speech (10 mins.) as we head into the Independence Day observance.
#JasonWatson #uspol #democracy #resistance
The MAGA/MAHA attack on science and vetted knowledge will have grave consequences long after Trump and Co. have exited the stage.
Replying to
Non-citizens are not voting in our elections, and voter rolls are regularly reviewed to ensure accuracy.
Replying to
He came to the office with all the wrong impulses and a track record of criminality and incompetence which should have been disqualifying.
He was unsuited for democratic leadership before he ever set foot in the WH.
He hasn’t gone off the rails or unraveled over the years. This isn’t a sign that he’s come unglued.
The slush fund and state capture are features, not bugs.
Replying to
Voter fraud is exceedingly rare and statistically insignificant.
Recent studies by the Brennan Justice Center and the Heritage Foundation directly refute what Trump has floated regarding illegal
immigrants voting and stuffed ballot boxes.
Guy who invited Russia to drop oppo on Hillary Clinton and begged Ukraine to smear Biden(s) now says he needs full control of election process to ensure secure outcomes.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-putin-no-relationship-226282
Very legal, very cool.
“The donation came at a sensitive time for Mr. Lutnick. Lawmakers have been scrutinizing his ties to Mr. Epstein since January, when the government released millions of pages of records related to Mr. Epstein. Mr. Lutnick lived next door to Mr. Epstein on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for more than a decade, and the commerce secretary’s name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files, a review by The New York Times found.”
Replying to
Every state has implemented stringent controls to safeguard against tampering and hacking.
Dispersed local control of elections makes it virtually impossible to “rig” the results of our national elections.
Rigorous audits show again and again that the integrity of our elections is not in doubt.
Coming down the escalator (2015).
Replying to
In any event, here’s the takeaway.
“There’s no judicial oversight. The slush fund is going to be conducted entirely at his own discretion, according to his own procedures with the people that he selects. And then, to top it all off, this same agreement grants him, his family, all the parties to this lawsuit, this sort of in perpetuity, or a version of a civil pardon.”
Replying to
-
It’s wrong, analytically, to call recent wins for the DSA “indulging the id.” They talk in ways that are far more engaging and compelling to young voters and blue collar voters than centrists can muster. Dems must draw votes from outside the donor class and must offer more than what lobbyists would have us live with.
-
The “pragmatic” avenue you’re describing is the one that fell short in 2024 and produced a not insignificant number of Obama-Trump voters.
Replying to
@askekammer@mastodon.online
That’s money in the bank. You’ll see dividends down the road. Nice work.
“Evil begins with the human capacity to talk oneself into. Nothing in the nature around us is evil. This needs to be repeated since one of the human ways of talking oneself into inhuman acts is to cite the supposed cruelty of nature. Cruelty is the result of talking oneself into the infliction of pain or into the conscious ignoring of pain already inflicted.
The wolf doesn't talk itself into anything.”
—John Berger (1989)
Inverse relationship between Trump’s policy accomplishments and his history/culture shenanigans. The more he fails in governance, the more he ratchets up his pathetic culture war.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/arts/design/white-house-smithsonian-american-history-museum.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Replying to
Putting the onus on social dems to “stop their unrealistic dreaming” isn’t going work. The two wings of the party will have to find some common ground. Hang together, or hang separately. #uspol #democracy
Democracy requires transparency in order to survive. There must be a free and honest exchange of information to facilitate collective decision-making.
Yet, Trump and his people flout laws regarding record keeping by tearing up and flushing memos, channeling information via Signal and its disappearing message, and sanctioning/expelling the journalists who dare to question the admin or report on events truthfully.
And, of course, the heaps and heaps of LIES. Poison in the water.
Replying to
Christian nationalism has gained some ground, but a clear majority of Americans still reject it.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) would prefer “the U.S. to be a nation made up of people belonging to a wide variety of religions,” compared with 34% who prefer “the U.S. to be a nation primarily made up of people who follow the Christian faith.”