Ted McCormick
@tedmccormick.bsky.social
Historian of scientific, economic and colonial projects in early modern Britain, Ireland, and the Atlantic; books http://bit.ly/3HYwNiA & http://bit.ly/3rKdAvt; http://memoriousblog.com; views mine; he/him. Montrealer in Philly, except when I’m in Montreal
Pinned
re: putting QR codes on PowerPoint slides in lectures/presentations. PLEASE do not do this. I am a slow note taker already and drawing the whole code accurately takes forever and uses a ton of ink
The radio has been playing somebody’s strange, foolish, belligerent, ignorant, disconnected rambling for what feels like ten minutes and it just dawned on me that I’m hearing Trump give a major speech, aren’t I
January 21, 2026 at 2:00 PM
The radio has been playing somebody’s strange, foolish, belligerent, ignorant, disconnected rambling for what feels like ten minutes and it just dawned on me that I’m hearing Trump give a major speech, aren’t I
Reposted by Ted McCormick
I agree but also learning as such is not monetizable
“The humanities simply don’t fit a corporate model because they are just not monetizable in the same way the sciences or even the social sciences are. And the deeper reason they’re coming under attack is that free thought and rigorous, free inquiry is dangerous to executive power.”
January 20, 2026 at 11:37 PM
I agree but also learning as such is not monetizable
Reposted by Ted McCormick
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Ted McCormick
This is, in my opinion, not only the correct moral/ethical/legal position but also the correct political framing. Everyone can see the agency is out of control; everyone can see that it is constantly violating human rights. "Scrap it and start over" is the moderate position.
Mamdani: "I am in support of abolishing ICE. What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist. We're seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it's doing is terrorizing people."
January 20, 2026 at 5:30 PM
This is, in my opinion, not only the correct moral/ethical/legal position but also the correct political framing. Everyone can see the agency is out of control; everyone can see that it is constantly violating human rights. "Scrap it and start over" is the moderate position.
Reposted by Ted McCormick
“ICE isn’t the Gestapo. The Gestapo was…” (proceeds to describe qualities that apply to what ICE is currently doing)
January 20, 2026 at 5:45 PM
“ICE isn’t the Gestapo. The Gestapo was…” (proceeds to describe qualities that apply to what ICE is currently doing)
Elbows up, Intel inside
all these thought pieces about Canadians going all guerrilla fighter and such falls apart the moment you realize that our entire civic infrastructure and mental models about governance are dependent on digital infrastructure that are monopolized by US tech firms that don't care about "human rights"
Its deal with #Microsoft on #AI development is not consistent with Canadian gov't policy to preserve "digital sovereignty" since the US gov't would gain control over Cdn data if it wanted to, argues @bhaggart.bsky.social
theconversation.com/microsofts-a...
theconversation.com/microsofts-a...
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Elbows up, Intel inside
I might have to revise my views on American exceptionalism because it’s hard to imagine this anywhere else
There is no sight that more efficiently puts the lie to immigration “court” than the common sight of children “representing themselves.” Children too small to climb into the chair, children in pajamas who don’t know where they are, children not yet old enough to speak.
Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court
More than a dozen undocumented minors were forced to make their case in front of an immigration judge as the Trump administration ramps up removal proceedings.
coppercourier.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM
I might have to revise my views on American exceptionalism because it’s hard to imagine this anywhere else
Government of, by, and for Twitter trolls
DHS official govt account called American citizens imbecilic morons on social media. Violation of federal communications & ethics rules. Agencies cannot use government accounts to insult citizens or post inflammatory, partisan language.
The “imbecilic morons” were faith leaders, priests & clergy.
The “imbecilic morons” were faith leaders, priests & clergy.
January 20, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Government of, by, and for Twitter trolls
I put my rent in the freezer and now my landlord won’t touch it
imagine if you took all the city's meat and put it in a freezer
January 20, 2026 at 12:19 AM
I put my rent in the freezer and now my landlord won’t touch it
the people who must have been doing something right won and the results tell me we must have been doing something wrong
NEW: This week, Daily Show host Jon Stewart introduced his audience to Jenin Younes, describing her as a courageous civil rights attorney who had been canceled by both the right and left and therefore “must be doing something right.”
Really, she spent years undermining public health—and Democrats.
Really, she spent years undermining public health—and Democrats.
Jon Stewart Praises Attorney Behind Years of Anti-Vaccine and Anti-Lockdown Lawfare
“You’re a civil rights attorney who has been canceled by both the right and the left, which means you must be doing something right.”
www.importantcontext.news
January 19, 2026 at 11:35 PM
the people who must have been doing something right won and the results tell me we must have been doing something wrong
Reposted by Ted McCormick
It pains me to say it but it's time for FIFA to rescind its recent Peace Prize.
January 19, 2026 at 1:17 PM
It pains me to say it but it's time for FIFA to rescind its recent Peace Prize.
You do not, under any circumstances, have to show grace to a purportedly recovered former neo-Nazi
If the recovery is real the grace should be flowing the other way
If the recovery is real the grace should be flowing the other way
January 19, 2026 at 9:54 PM
You do not, under any circumstances, have to show grace to a purportedly recovered former neo-Nazi
If the recovery is real the grace should be flowing the other way
If the recovery is real the grace should be flowing the other way
Hatred of immigrants is being ginned up and weaponized by conservatives and right-wing parties across the West and self-styled sensible moderates have no solution but to weaponize it more tastefully, with more chin-stroking
imo the more fundamental problem is border enforcement is violent and generates racism. Both US parties are okay with that. They have some differences in how to operationalize that. The Dems like to use the heinousness of the Republicans to sanitize their own commitments and launder borders.
January 19, 2026 at 9:51 PM
Hatred of immigrants is being ginned up and weaponized by conservatives and right-wing parties across the West and self-styled sensible moderates have no solution but to weaponize it more tastefully, with more chin-stroking
Reposted by Ted McCormick
imo the more fundamental problem is border enforcement is violent and generates racism. Both US parties are okay with that. They have some differences in how to operationalize that. The Dems like to use the heinousness of the Republicans to sanitize their own commitments and launder borders.
January 19, 2026 at 9:47 PM
imo the more fundamental problem is border enforcement is violent and generates racism. Both US parties are okay with that. They have some differences in how to operationalize that. The Dems like to use the heinousness of the Republicans to sanitize their own commitments and launder borders.
Reposted by Ted McCormick
A third immigrant detainee at facility in El Paso has died, ICE says.
Third immigrant detainee at facility in El Paso has died, ICE says
Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss in El Paso is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country.
nbcnews.to
January 19, 2026 at 8:20 PM
A third immigrant detainee at facility in El Paso has died, ICE says.
Churchgoing car dealership owners paying child support and possessing two or more firearms — the most widely accepted definition of “working class” —
January 19, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Churchgoing car dealership owners paying child support and possessing two or more firearms — the most widely accepted definition of “working class” —
somewhere a centrist just got his wings
January 19, 2026 at 8:39 PM
somewhere a centrist just got his wings
just overheard someone diagnosing car trouble over the phone by quoting ChatGPT
January 19, 2026 at 8:10 PM
just overheard someone diagnosing car trouble over the phone by quoting ChatGPT
"You never hear about all the times ICE doesn't shoot people"
In an interview with @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social, Blas Nuñez-Neto wouldn't tell us his clients, but did say we should remember that ICE agents are people too. (Can't believe this quote below)
prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
![Nuñez-Neto recommended that protesters understand that ICE agents are people, too.
“I think it would help both sides to appreciate the fact that that’s a human being across from you who may or may not want to do the things they’ve been ordered to do. In my long history being in and out of the Department [of Homeland Security], it is very often what makes the news are the terrible things that happen but what doesn’t get reported are the … stories about agents bringing toys into the border patrol station,” he said.
“We’re all human beings, many of them have families, many of them don’t want to be doing what they’ve been directed to do … so it would help us all to lower the temperature a bit. I’m angry too.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nztbvvo2gl4227zuxjf7gog3/bafkreia3sqpgq4ufvy746ld4tuadfwuf7ul4so6u2wjhf5oggd6kzxibtm@jpeg)
January 19, 2026 at 6:18 PM
"You never hear about all the times ICE doesn't shoot people"
Reposted by Ted McCormick
The JHoK 2025 special issue "Knowledge and Power: Projecting the Modern World" is now out in full!
The issue is accompanied by the seven blog posts, where authors reflect on their articles and share a behind-the-scenes look at the research process.
📖 Happy reading!
1/8
The issue is accompanied by the seven blog posts, where authors reflect on their articles and share a behind-the-scenes look at the research process.
📖 Happy reading!
1/8
January 19, 2026 at 11:08 AM
The JHoK 2025 special issue "Knowledge and Power: Projecting the Modern World" is now out in full!
The issue is accompanied by the seven blog posts, where authors reflect on their articles and share a behind-the-scenes look at the research process.
📖 Happy reading!
1/8
The issue is accompanied by the seven blog posts, where authors reflect on their articles and share a behind-the-scenes look at the research process.
📖 Happy reading!
1/8
Army has a half-day
January 19, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Army has a half-day
Reposted by Ted McCormick
Excellent piece by Koskenniemi rebutting Perry Anderson on the weakness of international law by pointing to the legal infrastructure of global capitalism (from trade and investment to taxation and SEZs) rather than merely state-to-state public international law. newleftreview.org/issues/ii154...
Martti Koskenniemi, The Laws That Rule Us, NLR 154, July–August 2025
In an expansive response to Perry Anderson’s critique of international law in NLR 143, Martti Koskenniemi counterposes to headline rulings on crimes against humanity the opaque, pervasive network of t...
newleftreview.org
January 19, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Excellent piece by Koskenniemi rebutting Perry Anderson on the weakness of international law by pointing to the legal infrastructure of global capitalism (from trade and investment to taxation and SEZs) rather than merely state-to-state public international law. newleftreview.org/issues/ii154...
There really is no statistic more revealing of what people will go along with and even embrace than the number of people willing to vote for Trump a second time; all else is downstream
Yes, 30% of Republicans would approve illegally attacking a peaceful NATO ally to annex territory.
Source: www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-tru...
Source: www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-tru...
January 18, 2026 at 10:09 PM
There really is no statistic more revealing of what people will go along with and even embrace than the number of people willing to vote for Trump a second time; all else is downstream
Reposted by Ted McCormick
Two things a person must hold in their head at the same time to understand what’s happening in America today:
1) Repression with goons is now a regular feature of US politics.
2) The regime doesn’t have enough goons. Not even close.
1 is bad. 2, given 1, is good.
1) Repression with goons is now a regular feature of US politics.
2) The regime doesn’t have enough goons. Not even close.
1 is bad. 2, given 1, is good.
wrote about the occupation in minnesota with a closing note on how the white house has exactly one tactic — repression with goons — but no particular strategy for dealing with entrenched resistance. gift link.
Opinion | This Is the Only Card Trump Can Play
www.nytimes.com
January 17, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Two things a person must hold in their head at the same time to understand what’s happening in America today:
1) Repression with goons is now a regular feature of US politics.
2) The regime doesn’t have enough goons. Not even close.
1 is bad. 2, given 1, is good.
1) Repression with goons is now a regular feature of US politics.
2) The regime doesn’t have enough goons. Not even close.
1 is bad. 2, given 1, is good.