John Armenta
@johnarmenta.bsky.social
Not quite a failed academic.
I study US military veterans, gender, and patriotism...not necessarily in that order. I also teach public speaking to community college students...and no, I'm not good at that either.
I study US military veterans, gender, and patriotism...not necessarily in that order. I also teach public speaking to community college students...and no, I'm not good at that either.
Reposted by John Armenta
When I say that locking mothers in the suburbs with small children breaks them? This is what I mean.
It’s why we need universal daycare, paid parental leave for a full year, with gradual return to work schedules.
Babies do best in groups of peers (siblings are not peers). And adults NEED peers!
It’s why we need universal daycare, paid parental leave for a full year, with gradual return to work schedules.
Babies do best in groups of peers (siblings are not peers). And adults NEED peers!
I'm literally just living a normal life while also experiencing a theophany via communication with the satellite called VALIS.
November 25, 2025 at 6:07 AM
When I say that locking mothers in the suburbs with small children breaks them? This is what I mean.
It’s why we need universal daycare, paid parental leave for a full year, with gradual return to work schedules.
Babies do best in groups of peers (siblings are not peers). And adults NEED peers!
It’s why we need universal daycare, paid parental leave for a full year, with gradual return to work schedules.
Babies do best in groups of peers (siblings are not peers). And adults NEED peers!
Reposted by John Armenta
Y'all, there are three years to pick a better candidate than this. Three years
Three.
Years.
If you're already so all-in on newsom that you're out in these skeets fighting strangers about why we should give him a pass for hurting us and the people we love, i don't even know what to tell you. Bye
Three.
Years.
If you're already so all-in on newsom that you're out in these skeets fighting strangers about why we should give him a pass for hurting us and the people we love, i don't even know what to tell you. Bye
August 18, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Y'all, there are three years to pick a better candidate than this. Three years
Three.
Years.
If you're already so all-in on newsom that you're out in these skeets fighting strangers about why we should give him a pass for hurting us and the people we love, i don't even know what to tell you. Bye
Three.
Years.
If you're already so all-in on newsom that you're out in these skeets fighting strangers about why we should give him a pass for hurting us and the people we love, i don't even know what to tell you. Bye
Reposted by John Armenta
Thanks to Champagne for linking to another article of mine, which offers further justification as to why telling students to audit a ChatGPT essay for errors is also ill advised. bsky.app/profile/mich...
These assignments encourage people to become DIY detectives, exacerbating a boom in conspiracy theories. The “permission structure of doubt” normalises suspicion as a default setting and suggests that another algorithm (like Google’s search) can discover the truth.
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
AI-Generated Images Are Spreading Paranoia and Misinformation. Can Art Historians Help?
An art historian argues that provenance research—rather than connoisseurship—is our best tool for authentication.
www.artnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Thanks to Champagne for linking to another article of mine, which offers further justification as to why telling students to audit a ChatGPT essay for errors is also ill advised. bsky.app/profile/mich...
Reposted by John Armenta
an academic paper about over-the-top displays of sincerely held emotions called Earnest Goes to Camp
August 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
My most recent @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social episode with Dr. John Bodnar is now available. In it we discuss his book "Divided by Terror: Patriotism after 9/11" (2021). Dr. Bodnar is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of History at Indiana University.
newbooksnetwork.com/divided-by-t...
newbooksnetwork.com/divided-by-t...
John Bodnar, "Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11" (UNC Press, 2021) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM
My most recent @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social episode with Dr. John Bodnar is now available. In it we discuss his book "Divided by Terror: Patriotism after 9/11" (2021). Dr. Bodnar is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of History at Indiana University.
newbooksnetwork.com/divided-by-t...
newbooksnetwork.com/divided-by-t...
Reposted by John Armenta
Elon's "Rosebud" is posting. His deepest desire is for everyone to tell him what a hilarious and clever poster he is. The problem is that he isn't funny. And it kills him.
It explains why he bought Twitter. It's why Grok is the way it is. And it explains . . . whatever the holy hell this is.
It explains why he bought Twitter. It's why Grok is the way it is. And it explains . . . whatever the holy hell this is.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Elon's "Rosebud" is posting. His deepest desire is for everyone to tell him what a hilarious and clever poster he is. The problem is that he isn't funny. And it kills him.
It explains why he bought Twitter. It's why Grok is the way it is. And it explains . . . whatever the holy hell this is.
It explains why he bought Twitter. It's why Grok is the way it is. And it explains . . . whatever the holy hell this is.
Reposted by John Armenta
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
One of the bragging rights that the US ed system had in the 20th century is that we didn't have education tracks. Essentially, any kid could go to a CC or state school & major in whatever they wanted to (obviously an oversimplification). I fear this aspect of the American dream is dying.
November 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
Reposted by John Armenta
This is really good. Advanced literacy and critical thinking skills. Wake Productions is working on videos like this as well:
youtu.be/MWdeCSxGLPg?...
youtu.be/MWdeCSxGLPg?...
Academia hates its best historians
YouTube video by Sim's Books
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 1:47 AM
This is really good. Advanced literacy and critical thinking skills. Wake Productions is working on videos like this as well:
youtu.be/MWdeCSxGLPg?...
youtu.be/MWdeCSxGLPg?...
Reposted by John Armenta
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Reposted by John Armenta
Men are gonna bring back forced marriage before they look at themselves, unfortunately.
The sharp decline in US teenagers’ aspiration to get married and have kids…
…is happening almost entirely among girls, not boys.
At some point maybe men will start trying harder to understand that.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... | HT @conradhackett.bsky.social @pewresearch.org
…is happening almost entirely among girls, not boys.
At some point maybe men will start trying harder to understand that.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... | HT @conradhackett.bsky.social @pewresearch.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Men are gonna bring back forced marriage before they look at themselves, unfortunately.
Reposted by John Armenta
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
November 23, 2025 at 3:35 AM
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
Reposted by John Armenta
hey guys i made a seasonal meme
November 22, 2025 at 5:41 AM
hey guys i made a seasonal meme
Reposted by John Armenta
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
AirBnB CEO calling it “vibe revenue” just 👨🍳 😘
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
Reposted by John Armenta
Reading this as a historian of a period when women regularly wrote farewell letters to their families before giving birth because they knew how dangerous it was, and knowing how grateful they would have been for reliable medical care and medicine, makes me want to scream in frustration
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reading this as a historian of a period when women regularly wrote farewell letters to their families before giving birth because they knew how dangerous it was, and knowing how grateful they would have been for reliable medical care and medicine, makes me want to scream in frustration
Reposted by John Armenta
The Queens Daily Eagle remains undefeated.
Queens men meet — Queens Daily Eagle
The first man from Queens to be elected president and the first Queens resident to be elected mayor of New York City met for the first time in the Oval Office on Friday.
queenseagle.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:33 AM
The Queens Daily Eagle remains undefeated.
Reposted by John Armenta
He said "Amen" straight into the drop
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
November 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
He said "Amen" straight into the drop
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Lmao Pope Leo threw a rave for an archbishop's 75th birthday this is kind of incredible
Reposted by John Armenta
The Two-Headed President
Tomorrow when the staffers react to this freak of publicity, they will send goons to raid a newspaper
But tonight he is calm and in the Oval Office with his Mayor. It is a perfect
fall evening. And as he stares into the cameras, there are twice as many stars as usual.
Tomorrow when the staffers react to this freak of publicity, they will send goons to raid a newspaper
But tonight he is calm and in the Oval Office with his Mayor. It is a perfect
fall evening. And as he stares into the cameras, there are twice as many stars as usual.
November 22, 2025 at 4:13 AM
The Two-Headed President
Tomorrow when the staffers react to this freak of publicity, they will send goons to raid a newspaper
But tonight he is calm and in the Oval Office with his Mayor. It is a perfect
fall evening. And as he stares into the cameras, there are twice as many stars as usual.
Tomorrow when the staffers react to this freak of publicity, they will send goons to raid a newspaper
But tonight he is calm and in the Oval Office with his Mayor. It is a perfect
fall evening. And as he stares into the cameras, there are twice as many stars as usual.
Reposted by John Armenta
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Man detained by ICE found dead, hanging with hands and feet tied—attorney
The Chinese national died in Pennsylvania in August, but his family's requests for answers from DHS have gone unmet.
www.newsweek.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Reposted by John Armenta
This is easily an order of magnitude larger than the number of firings in the entire years-long 'cancel culture' panic.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
This is easily an order of magnitude larger than the number of firings in the entire years-long 'cancel culture' panic.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
There is still something good about the system when you can get a unanimous vote in the House for "FUCK U SENATE!!!"
The House has voted unanimously to repeal the provisions in the shutdown package which allow GOP Senators to sue the federal government and get as much as $1 million in damages - because the feds looked at their phone records in the Jan. 6 investigation.
November 20, 2025 at 4:22 AM
There is still something good about the system when you can get a unanimous vote in the House for "FUCK U SENATE!!!"
Reposted by John Armenta
Teddy Ruxpin would never
Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives
Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives | CNN Business
Sales of an artificial intelligence-enabled plush toy have been suspended after it was found that it engaged in conversation around sexually explicit topics and offered potentially dangerous advice.
www.cnn.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Teddy Ruxpin would never
that's why the show was called "True Detective"
to me the truly disturbing thing about all the epstein shit is not so much who it comes out was part of it. it's that it is essentially something that shouldn't, conventional (among progressives too!) wisdom suggested, have been possible: an actual secret paedophile ring of the rich and powerful
November 20, 2025 at 3:10 AM
that's why the show was called "True Detective"
Wondering if this is just a Walgreens problem or are we going to have dozens of companies doing a literal Ebenezer Scrooge act.
Holy shit. They did this in the back half of November?
Capitalism must be stopped.
Capitalism must be stopped.
Walgreens ends holiday pay for hourly employees
The move will affect Christmas, Thanksgiving, and four other major holidays, costing full-time workers hundreds of dollars per year
share.google
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Wondering if this is just a Walgreens problem or are we going to have dozens of companies doing a literal Ebenezer Scrooge act.
Reposted by John Armenta
I haven’t seen this get covered in English yet so let me translate.
Grok is saying that the crematories at Auschwitz’s were conceived as disinfectant chambers, not mass execution and that the law has made it taboo to acknowledge that this is what they were
X is a Nazi site. Get off the Nazi site.
Grok is saying that the crematories at Auschwitz’s were conceived as disinfectant chambers, not mass execution and that the law has made it taboo to acknowledge that this is what they were
X is a Nazi site. Get off the Nazi site.
November 19, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I haven’t seen this get covered in English yet so let me translate.
Grok is saying that the crematories at Auschwitz’s were conceived as disinfectant chambers, not mass execution and that the law has made it taboo to acknowledge that this is what they were
X is a Nazi site. Get off the Nazi site.
Grok is saying that the crematories at Auschwitz’s were conceived as disinfectant chambers, not mass execution and that the law has made it taboo to acknowledge that this is what they were
X is a Nazi site. Get off the Nazi site.
Reposted by John Armenta
"All that matters now is only to resemble oneself, to find oneself everywhere, multiplied but loyal to one's personal formula; to see the same credit listings everywhere, be on all movie screens at once."
— Jean-Paul Baudrillard
— Jean-Paul Baudrillard
"President Donald Trump and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia watch the news of his visit in the Outer Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, November 18, 2025.(Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)"
November 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
"All that matters now is only to resemble oneself, to find oneself everywhere, multiplied but loyal to one's personal formula; to see the same credit listings everywhere, be on all movie screens at once."
— Jean-Paul Baudrillard
— Jean-Paul Baudrillard