Susan Strasser
sustras.bsky.social
Susan Strasser
@sustras.bsky.social

Historian of American consumer culture. Hiker. Knitter. Redhead. Aunt.

Art 20%
Political science 20%
Merry Christian Nationalism Day
"The first written mention of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas Day comes from 1935, when, according to The New York Times, a man named Eng Shee Chuck brought chow mein and toys to a New Jersey Jewish orphanage." fortune.com/2025/12/24/w...
American Jews, Chinese food and Christmas: The first connection was a 1935 gift of chow mein to a New Jersey orphanage | Fortune
Elena Kagan was asked where she was on Christmas during her Supreme Court confirmation: “Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.”
fortune.com
Private property owners and leaseholders: You can post a notice saying you do not authorize certain immigration enforcement activities, such as staging for an operation. ➡️ Read more: www.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/city-federal-response/business-owners-common-questions

Reposted by Susan Strasser

For my last Buying Power of the year, I wrote about one way to think about the divergence in consumer sentiment (bad) and behavior (free-spending) this year: It’s the YOLO economy, typified by the expanding popularity of services like Klarna and Affirm. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The United States of Klarna
Want to understand the state of the economy? Just look to all the shoppers flocking to “buy now, pay later” services.
www.bloomberg.com
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com

Bartleby offers the right answer to so many things.

Reposted by Susan Strasser

Surveillance pricing is a term that sounds right out of some dystopia, but that’s exactly what instacart’s “smart rounding” is.

It’s more than inflation, imagine pretty soon having surge pricing for shopping at the grocery store
We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You.
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
youtu.be

Thank you, @lmacthompson1.bsky.social! I have the flu (despite vax) and confess that I was hoping I wouldn't have to rouse myself to write a letter. I so appreciate that you caught this and spread the word.

Haha. I haven't spent any energy missing WordPerfect for awhile, now, but now that you mention it...
Wayback Machine grabbed the original Epstein files dump before that photo of Trump got pulled.

You can't get to the individual PDF page for the missing image, but if you click "download all files" and download it locally you can find the now-deleted file in: IMAGES / 0001 / EFTA00000468.pdf
Data Set 1 Files
web.archive.org
It's Day 19 of the ICE occupation of MSP.

Today thousands of Minnesotans poured onto Lake Street to rally in support of our immigrant neighbors and against ICE.

Take a moment to look at this crowd of you and your neighbors rallying in below zero windchill.

📸 @roblevine82.bsky.social

I had to think hard about reposting this. Contribute to spreading it far and wide? I don't think so. But "DHS just shared" suggests that this is funded by our taxes, and we should know about it.
DHS just shared this video to X with the caption "This Christmas, our hearts grow as our illegal population shrinks."

The video is set to a version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and has text that reads "Christmas after mass deportations." The end reads "Mirthnuke."

Evil shit.

Reposted by Susan Strasser

Hey OAH members. There's a post on Facebook that requires us to object. I did. Screenshot of post below and screenshots of email I sent to OAH leadership following.

Reposted by Susan Strasser

DHS just shared this video to X with the caption "This Christmas, our hearts grow as our illegal population shrinks."

The video is set to a version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and has text that reads "Christmas after mass deportations." The end reads "Mirthnuke."

Evil shit.

Um, so was the East Wing.

Yes, we had different last names. But so many women don't change their names that it seems inexcusable, especially with 2 keys and my name on the account.

Oh, absolutely. And, given my state of mind at the time, pretty much immediately.

After my husband died, they wouldn’t let me into our safe deposit box, though I had 2 keys and my name was on the account. Eventually I got in, but grief is bad enough without stuff like that.
"Has feminism failed women brought to you by bank of america" is my MKULTRA sleeper agent activation phrase
The White House claims the vote to rename the Kennedy Center was “unanimous.” That is false. I was muted on the call and denied the opportunity to speak or register my opposition. That is not consensus. That is censorship.

Reposted by Susan Strasser

I spoke to people who are standing up to ICE - from a real estate appraiser chasing ICE on his bike to a fetish shop owner distributing whistles and an undocumented social worker putting money in detainees’ commissary accounts
Whistles, Signal and school patrols: how ordinary Americans are fighting back against ICE
As Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceries
www.theguardian.com
Students walked out of school at Burnsville High School in Minnesota to protest Trump’s ICE gestapo terrorizing their community….the kids are alright 💪!

"NO MORE ICE! NO MORE ICE!"

Reposted by Susan Strasser

"I am waiting the hour of my public murder with great composure of mind and cheerfulness, feeling the strong assurance that in no other possible way could I be used to so much advantage to the cause of good and of humanity..." John Brown to his family, Nov. 30, 1859
famous-trials.com/johnbrown/61...
If you ever wondered what GOP gerrymandering looks like in red states with blue cities, I present:
🔔 We’re honored to open a new round in the @susih.bsky.social -IU Community Scholars Program, which unlocks onsite + remote library access for 3 years for contingent scholars + historians working beyond the academy. Please apply + share! CFP due 2/1. Onward! 🗃️ s-usih.org/2025/12/cfp-...
CFP: USIH-IU Community Scholars Program | Society for US Intellectual History
In partnership with the Institute for American Thought at Indiana University, the Society for U.S. Intellectual History is pleased to announce the continuation of a new opportunity to support continge...
s-usih.org