banner
LightNews
briankellyrh.bsky.social
Brian Kelly
@briankellyrh.bsky.social
140 followers 440 following 40 posts

History, geography, and politics…but trying to create a little more distance from the latter in order to dream it all up again. Mets, Steelers, Tottenham. Cats, obviously. Poughkeepsie, New York.

Videos

Brian Kelly is an American historian and a lecturer in US history, teaching at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland. His work is concerned mainly with labor and race in the American South, although much of his most recent scholarship focuses on the formative struggles around slave emancipation during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed. .. more

Political science 27%
Sociology 23%
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
briankellyrh.bsky.social
Brian Kelly @briankellyrh.bsky.social · Nov 30
Profile pic: Ogallala, Nebraska.
Banner: Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia.
Trying to keep us all tied together.

Reposted by Brian Kelly, Melanie C. Green

darthbluesky.bsky.social
darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 10d
AI fans always seem puzzled why some people have a revulsion to AI and one issue is the people in charge of AI are repulsive
19 210 1.3K

Reposted by Mark D. White, Ian Hall, Gillian Rose , and 11 more

wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 10d
Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.
OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out
Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.
on.wsj.com
330 160 290

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Rosemary A. Joyce, Jon Green , and 1 more

razzball.bsky.social
Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 17d
A guy on tik tok onside kicks into random things
53 430 2.3K

Reposted by Brian Kelly

adamrothman.bsky.social
Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 18d
"The lack of affordable housing and available jobs is contributing to broader economic immobility."
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
5 13

Reposted by Gavin A. Schmidt, Michael A. Clemens, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 5 more

jacobtlevy.bsky.social
Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 19d
An absolute clown show.

Avoiding chaos like this is one of the many reasons a for *not* having EOs be the normal method of legislating or regulating. You really want more careful review than “Steve Miller doodled it on a napkin and Trump signed it with a sharpie.”

www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
Trump administration tries to tamp down panic for high-skill visa holders after last-minute overhaul
The president announced Friday that H-1B visas will now come with a $100,000 annual fee, but a U.S. official said it will only apply to new visa applicants.
www.politico.com
58 370 1.5K

Reposted by Richard Price, Elizabeth Stokoe, Melissa R. Michelson , and 4 more

teamcanadaforever.bsky.social
🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 @teamcanadaforever.bsky.social · 19d
Disney has lost nearly $4 Billion in three days from combined stock price collapse and cancelled subscriptions.
390 2.1K 7.4K

Reposted by Brian Kelly, Scott A. Imberman, Timothy D. McBride

gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 19d
As corrupt and appalling as the ouster of this career prosecutor for refusing to prosecute Trump's enemies truly is, I strongly encourage folks to also understand this as evidence that Trump's authoritarian designs are facing serious institutional resistance:
gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 20d
A disorienting moment: Trump is consolidating autocratic power in areas where there's an easy path to do so. But in other areas he's facing deep institutional resistance and people are refusing to abandon the rule of law. Here he's weak and failing.

Thoughts on that:
newrepublic.com/article/2006...
18 240 1.1K

Reposted by Jennifer A. Richeson, Steve Peers, Brian Kelly , and 7 more

sifill.bsky.social
Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 25d
This may explain why there’s an aggressive response to people who merely post Kirk’s own words. It threatens the existence of the alternate Kirk - the motivational speaker that had been marketed to young kids and white Christian groups through selective quotation & clips.
mlpoole.bsky.social
ML @mlpoole.bsky.social · 25d
730 7K 20K

Reposted by Brian Kelly

esqueer.net
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 29d
This is why you don't hire podcast hosts to lead the FBI. Complete amateur hour over there and it could lead to a murderer getting away.
37 140 1K

Reposted by David Rothschild, Brian Kelly, David R. Miller

jsweetli.bsky.social
Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 29d
This is unreal
170 230 1.9K

Reposted by Olga Oliker, Anna O. Law, Jonathan A. Eisen , and 12 more

strngwys.bsky.social
Roberto Baldwin @strngwys.bsky.social · Sep 5
Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.
210 5.3K 19K

Reposted by Brian Kelly

americanstudier.bsky.social
Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · Sep 1
So for my new @satevepost.bsky.social Considering History column, the relationship between the Big Easy & Motor City. From the Great Migration & the evolution of American music to challenges, crises, & resurgence, tracing our story from NOLA to Detroit! 🗃️

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/09/cons...
Considering History: Tracing the Story of America from New Orleans to Detroit | The Saturday Evening Post
The interconnection between two of our great but endangered historic cities also exemplifies a multilayered American story, one with a lot to tell us in 2025.
www.saturdayeveningpost.com
1 3 15

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Anna O. Law, Brian Kelly , and 1 more

garethw1.bsky.social
Gareth @garethw1.bsky.social · Aug 24
180 1.9K 9.6K

Reposted by Brian Kelly

thetattooedprof.bsky.social
Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · Aug 22
Major League Baseball: riding high with a range of compelling and recognizable stars, better pace of games, and increased viewership and interest
MLB ownership: lets do a new tv deal and shoot ourselves in the dick.
If my reading of this is correct, you'll have to pay $360 a year for ESPN's streaming service plus the same $149.99 a year for the baseball streaming product, which would represent a 239% increase in price over and above what people who pay for MLB.tv pay now. If, however, the ESPN streaming product is going to include the old MLB.tv out-of-market games, you'll still be paying $360 a year, which is more than double what you're paying now for MLB.tv. Though I suppose you could just subscribe to ESPN for the baseball season only and unsubscribe once it's over, so call it $180? Or, given that that the season starts in March now, $210? At present it's unclear, I guess. But it seems pretty obvious that there will be a price increase to watch what we can now watch on MLB.tv. Maybe a $30-60 one, maybe a much, much bigger one, which will no doubt cause a lot of people to simply give up watching games. Rob Manfred and the owners, meanwhile, will pocket a massive one-time payment from ESPN.
9 7 36

Reposted by Brian Kelly

the-downballot.com
The Downballot @the-downballot.com · Aug 19
Somehow, we're already celebrating The Downballot's first anniversary today! It's been *quite* the year, and our fiercely loyal readers have made it all possible.

We're also marking the occasion with a special 25% off sale! If you haven't upgraded yet, check out all the perks you'll unlock →→
Morning Digest: The Downballot rings in its first anniversary today!
We're celebrating with a special 25% off sale for our readers
www.the-downballot.com
3 15 28

Reposted by Brian Kelly, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller , and 5 more

oah.org
The Organization of American Historians @oah.org · Aug 14
📢 The OAH has issued a Statement on the White House Review of the Smithsonian. Read the statement: ow.ly/hgLR50WGhfQ
National Museum of American History
13 150 300

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Christopher Wright, Fabián Muniesa , and 7 more

garethwatkins.bsky.social
Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · Aug 10
Somebody on LinkedIn said what we're all thinking.
490 5.3K 25K

briankellyrh.bsky.social
Brian Kelly @briankellyrh.bsky.social · Aug 7
As someone who lives with an actual PhD - rather than one of Sam Altman’s robot pals - I do not believe or his legions of boosters are terribly familiar with what it feels like to talk to a PhD-level expert in any topic.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Peter Thorne, Christopher Wright , and 18 more

nbcnews.com
NBC News @nbcnews.com · Aug 7
OpenAI releases the newest version of the AI model that powers its popular ChatGPT chatbot, with CEO Sam Altman promoting it as like having a “team of Ph.D. level experts in your pocket.”
OpenAI releases GPT-5, calling it a ‘team of Ph.D. level experts in your pocket’
OpenAI says its latest version of the popular AI model is better at coding, more accurate and less deceptive than previous versions.
nbcnews.to
350 17 86

briankellyrh.bsky.social
Brian Kelly @briankellyrh.bsky.social · Aug 5
Ask your little AI friend how Labour's polling, you defeatist clanker-loving numpty.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Vu, Brian Kelly , and 1 more

biblioracle.bsky.social
John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Aug 5
The Appendix on an AI policy is actually quite bad. Having an AI deliver a summary before reading has major implications in terms of the experience of student learning. What we want students to do and how they do it is the question. The experience of reading is not the same as reading a summary.
11 33 180

Reposted by Brian Kelly

biblioracle.bsky.social
John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Aug 5
The assumption that generative AI could be a "valuable partner" is unevidenced and the example activity is critical thinking work that could better be done in the absence of AI. It's thinking of something you COULD do with AI. Rather than what students SHOULD do to learn.
6 39 180

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Kim L. Scheppele , and 18 more

adambonica.bsky.social
Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · Aug 3
The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand:

$678M raised through those spam tactics

$282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies.

$11M to actual campaigns (1.6%)

The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.
The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine
How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.
open.substack.com
400 3.1K 7.9K

Reposted by Brian Kelly

onestpress.onestnetwork.com
Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · Jul 30
The set of conditions to be met for Canada to recognize the state of Palestine is the most responsible suggestion I’ve seen by now
41 210 580

Reposted by Brian Kelly

americanstudier.bsky.social
Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · Jul 27
Here it is, my 235th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...
#ScholarSunday Thread 235
Published on July 27, 2025
americanstudier.substack.com
1 24 50

Reposted by Jacob Montgomery, Brian Kelly, Shelly Lundberg

chrislhayes.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Jun 15
This is serious, rigorous analysis and it should change the way the media has been covering these protests. These were, in the aggregate, *massive.*
gelliottmorris.com
G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · Jun 15
Based on crowd-sourced records of No Kings Day event turnout, and extrapolating for the cities where we don't have data yet, it looks like roughly 4-6 million people protested Trump across the U.S. yesterday. That's nearly 2% of the U.S. pop!

Mobilized anti-Trump resistance is exceeding 2017 levels
"No Kings Day" protests turn out millions
Our unofficial estimate is that around 4 million people attended a protest event yesterday. Anti-Trump resistance is outpacing 2017.
www.gelliottmorris.com
420 3.6K 14K

Reposted by Brian Kelly, Elaine Treharne, Amy W. Ando

theatlantic.com
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · Jul 24
“On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists.” @lilashroff.bsky.social reports on how the chatbot was easily prompted to offer instructions for murder, self-mutilation, and devil worship: https://theatln.tc/Up7Ycoli
86 210 590

Reposted by Brian Kelly

minakimes.bsky.social
Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · Jul 26
New installment in Lenny’s Book Club: AMERICAN KINGS: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE QUARTERBACK by @sethwickersham.bsky.social. Can’t wait to read this. Preorder now:

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/789617...
12 4 280

Reposted by Brian Kelly

robkendt.bsky.social
Rob Weinert-Kendt @robkendt.bsky.social · Jul 22
Alexandra Petri's writing has such punch to it, not only in terms of content but form. In her best stuff, you can *hear* her voice, and this is one of her best.
Are You Laughing Yet?
Everyone can say exactly what they want, free of the fear of censorship, except by the government.
www.theatlantic.com
26 82

Reposted by Brian Kelly

hadas.bsky.social
Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · Jul 22
“too many sociology majors” do you think your latte is gonna make itself
97 40 570