Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paul Cohen

@paulecohen.bsky.social

6.1K followers 790 following 7.3K posts

Historian of France, the Atlantic world, language, food. Squirrelly cyclist, slowfooted defenseman, working dad. Worried about the 21st century. https://utoronto.academia.edu/PaulCohen

utoronto.academia.edu

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · Feb 7

mood

a famous poster from the May 68 movement in France which represents a factory and smokestack with a fist above the smokestack, with the words "La lutte continue", which translates as "The struggle continues"

4 21 150

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 25m

JUST IN: The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska’s second biggest city, lost re-election last night to a Democrat.

Mayor David Pruhs is a conservative who fought protections for LGBTQ+ residents; he made comments this year drew condemnation this year from Alaska Natives. He lost to Mindy O'Neall.

12 220 870

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 13h

Incredible (via www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...)

A group of apparent armed agents assemble at the end of a street, as seen from the perspective of a person in inflatable frog costume, their frog’s eyes dominating the foreground. The Ice facility in downtown Portland on Monday. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP/Getty Images

50 880 4.2K

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 12h

this is the day that bothsideism jumped the shark

screenshot of the headline of a crazed piece of fascist apologetics for Pete Hegseth's recent deranged speech about driving women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people out of the armed services in the service of a deranged concept of 'lethality'. The headline reads "That Hegseth Speech Was Actually Pretty Good"

1 16

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 14h

Kristi Noem confronts enemy combatants in the Portland war zone today.

4.1K 6.7K 22K

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 18h

la une de Libé demain

la une de Libération : le titre - "Macron Nu"

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Isabelle Marie @isabellemarie.bsky.social · 21h

Les archives institutionnelles de la BnF accessibles dans Gallica.
histoirebnf.hypotheses.org/42789

Les archives institutionnelles de la BnF accessibles dans Gallica

À la suite de plusieurs campagnes de numérisation menées ces dernières années, la mission pour la Gestion de la production documentaire et des archives de la Bibliothèque nationale de France a mis en ...

histoirebnf.hypotheses.org

1 8 23

Reposted by Paul Cohen

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 22h

Hard to compete with this.

130 350 3.3K

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 18h

the story is the tip of the Zabar's iceberg -- there will be Ph.D. dissertations written on that store

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 19h

it's hard to underestimate how important a role Zabar's played in the history of food in America over the past half century

1 1

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 19h

this time is different folks

Techmeme @techmeme.com · 22h

JPMorgan Chase reports that $1.2T of debt is now tied to AI-related companies, making it the largest segment in the investment-grade market (Caleb Mutua/Bloomberg)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 19h

Saul Zabar and Murray Klein were totemic figures of my childhood

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 19h

4. From a long way off look like flies

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 20h

methinks many perjuries were committed today

1 1 9

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 20h

things have been falling apart at an alarming rate for some time, but it's hard watching Pam Bondi's testimony before Congress today not to feel that some new and important load-bearing pillar of the Republic just collapsed

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 20h

an UWS giant is no more

RIP

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/d...

Saul Zabar, Smoked Fish Czar of Upper West Side, Dies at 97

www.nytimes.com

2 1 13

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 1d

"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring."
-Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid and human rights activist

#BicycleBirthday
October 7 (1931 -2021)

Photo of a man wearing a tie standing astride a bicycle with one arm raised in the air.

3 55 210

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 21h

to paraphrase Tyrion, "we aren't challenging your integrity, Madam Attorney General, we are denying its existence"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."

2 15

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Audrey Truschke @audreytruschke.bsky.social · 21h

A Rutgers professor has been forced to flee the country for his safety, after targeting by a far-right student group that was *checks notes* claiming they felt unsafe.

I'm horrified.
I'm angry.

A short 🧵 #AcademicFreedom #Rutgers #violence #antifa

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

12 350 760

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 21h

every day brings some new and even darker nightmare

Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 22h

There it is. “Trump told reporters on Monday that he would consider utilizing the Insurrection Act…to sidestep any court rulings restricting his orders to send Guard troops into cities over the objections of local and state officials.” 10/7/25 … 1/ www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

3 5 28

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Green Mountain Bhoys @greenmountainbhoys.bsky.social · 1d

Up The Green!

Person in frog suit confronting DHS/ICE thugs

11 41 390

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 23h

I support this message

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 23h

the Inquisition, except charged with extirpating AI rather than heresy

1 7

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 23h

this may sound moralizing, or quixotic, or anti-modern, but it's my view that any historian who publishes AI-produced work has no place in the profession

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · Jul 31

I just read a clearly AI-fueled or AI-written book in my academic niche, and while I stumble to finish it, I predict that future historiography will have literature categories and markers like *published post 2024* or *published ante 2024*. Our days will be seen as the barrier between these worlds.

2 13 73

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Seth Rockman @sethrockman.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, this is so exciting! Thank you @lizcovart.bsky.social for the invitation. And while I'm here, pleased to announce that @uchicagopress.bsky.social is bringing out a paperback in Spring 2026!!!

Liz Covart @lizcovart.bsky.social · 1d

Today is @bfworld.bsky.social’s 11th Podversary. The first 4 episodes debuted 11 years ago.
So it’s fitting we have a great new episode to celebrate!

How did Northern manufacturers support Southern slavery?

Seth Rockman joins us to talk about “plantation goods” and slavery’s hidden supply chain.

Episode 422: Seth Rockman, Plantation Goods: How Northern Factories Fueled the Plantation Economy

Discover how hoes, shoes, and cloth linked New England factories to Southern slavery in early America with historian Seth Rockman.

benfranklinsworld.com

2 19 41

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Andrew McCabe @andrewahala.bsky.social · Jul 31

Pre and post '24 is going to be like world war II deep water shipwreck steel - the only source of non nuclear radiation contaminated steel for sensitive measuring equipment.

1 8 48