Amy J. Rutenberg
@amyjay401.bsky.social
Historian of War, Gender, and the Modern U.S. Author of Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance. Working on a book on the effects of peace activism on the US military. Former high school teacher.
Something calming, because we all need it. Aurora borealis in Iowa.
November 12, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Something calming, because we all need it. Aurora borealis in Iowa.
And the firehouse of news that will be forgotten tomorrow continues.
A Department of Homeland Secirity document “also says individuals cannot decline to be photographed, and that photos are stored for 15 years, even if there is no match.”
www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
A Department of Homeland Secirity document “also says individuals cannot decline to be photographed, and that photos are stored for 15 years, even if there is no match.”
www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
Immigration agents have new technology to identify and track people
The Department of Homeland Security is adopting powerful new tools to monitor noncitizens. Privacy advocates are worried they erode privacy rights for immigrants and Americans alike.
www.npr.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
And the firehouse of news that will be forgotten tomorrow continues.
A Department of Homeland Secirity document “also says individuals cannot decline to be photographed, and that photos are stored for 15 years, even if there is no match.”
www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
A Department of Homeland Secirity document “also says individuals cannot decline to be photographed, and that photos are stored for 15 years, even if there is no match.”
www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
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If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Mapping Deportations – U.S. Immigration Control since 1790
Mapping deportations invites you to see the history of U.S. immigration enforcement not as a series of disconnected events, but as a pattern. For more than two centuries, U.S. immigration enforcement…
mappingdeportations.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
🗃️🗺️
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Mapping Deportations – U.S. Immigration Control since 1790
Mapping deportations invites you to see the history of U.S. immigration enforcement not as a series of disconnected events, but as a pattern. For more than two centuries, U.S. immigration enforcement…
mappingdeportations.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 AM
If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Or if you’d rather be of the twenty-first century, here’s the Insta link. Either way, historians at Iowa State have fun! www.instagram.com/reel/DQrx518...
November 6, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Or if you’d rather be of the twenty-first century, here’s the Insta link. Either way, historians at Iowa State have fun! www.instagram.com/reel/DQrx518...
The Department of History at Iowa State has a lot of amazing educators - and whatever else, we know how to have fun www.facebook.com/share/v/14PE...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:41 AM
The Department of History at Iowa State has a lot of amazing educators - and whatever else, we know how to have fun www.facebook.com/share/v/14PE...
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
One of the q's on the new citizenship test is incorrect. 1920 is not when "all women" got the right to vote. The 19th A prohibited sex-based disenfranchisement, but didn't guarantee voting. Many women, esp. women of color, remained disenfranchised. #WeTheMen
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...
October 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
One of the q's on the new citizenship test is incorrect. 1920 is not when "all women" got the right to vote. The 19th A prohibited sex-based disenfranchisement, but didn't guarantee voting. Many women, esp. women of color, remained disenfranchised. #WeTheMen
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...
Because there is not enough gross, weird, or funny on this app, here is what a two-pound gummy worm looks like - just in case anyone is interested 🤢
October 22, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Because there is not enough gross, weird, or funny on this app, here is what a two-pound gummy worm looks like - just in case anyone is interested 🤢
For those wondering what the law says about changing the design of the White House. Warning: History incoming. 🗃️
We’ve received a lot of questions about Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 PM
For those wondering what the law says about changing the design of the White House. Warning: History incoming. 🗃️
This should be required reading in every historical methods and social studies classroom. Something very important is being lost. 🗃️🗺️
Marian Wilson Kimber: It’s painful to realize the people in charge of Iowa’s history apparently have no idea how history works. If they did, they'd know there is no way to predict what parts of the collection will be of interest 5, 20, or 100 years from now. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/10/t...
The theft of history
Marian Wilson Kimber: I have wondered if the box of women’s club programs that changed my life will end up in the dumpster.
www.bleedingheartland.com
October 11, 2025 at 3:43 AM
This should be required reading in every historical methods and social studies classroom. Something very important is being lost. 🗃️🗺️
This is a really amazing opportunity for grad students and early career scholars. You do teach military history, even if it’s not your field #milhist #academicsky 🗃️
The Call for Applications for the 2026 Summer Seminar in Military History is now live! Application forms, a 2-page Letter of Interest, and CV/Resume are due December 12th.
www.smh-hq.org/summersemina...
www.smh-hq.org/summersemina...
Summer Seminar | The Society for Military History
www.smh-hq.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:30 AM
This is a really amazing opportunity for grad students and early career scholars. You do teach military history, even if it’s not your field #milhist #academicsky 🗃️
Haven’t listened to the referenced podcast, but yep, this 🧵 is spot on. Recruiting standards move because they have to, push and pull. And they cannot be extricated from social values. I wrote a whole book on it. #civmil #milhist a.co/d/ftzprwH
October 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Haven’t listened to the referenced podcast, but yep, this 🧵 is spot on. Recruiting standards move because they have to, push and pull. And they cannot be extricated from social values. I wrote a whole book on it. #civmil #milhist a.co/d/ftzprwH
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
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How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports
AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.
www.consumerreports.org
October 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
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Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
September 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter
And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
I can’t yet parse the details, but when my students student teach, they are fingerprinted and background checked. Dr. Robert’s certainly was, esp since Iowa issued him a superintendent’s license (a requirement of the job).
Updated post with more context. DSM school district says:
-"third-party comprehensive background check was conducted" when Roberts was hired
-Roberts "completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation" 1/
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/26/i...
-"third-party comprehensive background check was conducted" when Roberts was hired
-Roberts "completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation" 1/
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/26/i...
ICE detains Des Moines Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts
Iowa's largest school district had "no confirmed information" on why ICE detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent since 2023.
www.bleedingheartland.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:53 AM
I can’t yet parse the details, but when my students student teach, they are fingerprinted and background checked. Dr. Robert’s certainly was, esp since Iowa issued him a superintendent’s license (a requirement of the job).
Hegseth killed DACOWITS, a DOD institution since 1951. Since the 2010s, it’s focused on things like sexual assault prevention and women’s health. This move brings new meaning to the word “lethality,” unfortunately. #civmil www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...
Hegseth terminates women’s advisory group, slams ‘divisive agenda’
A Sept. 17 memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the “formal disestablishment” of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
www.militarytimes.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Hegseth killed DACOWITS, a DOD institution since 1951. Since the 2010s, it’s focused on things like sexual assault prevention and women’s health. This move brings new meaning to the word “lethality,” unfortunately. #civmil www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
The pres saying that women should avoid Tylenol feels like another way that men are diminishing women and their pain.
September 23, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The pres saying that women should avoid Tylenol feels like another way that men are diminishing women and their pain.
There is nothing about any of this that isn’t despicable - from Kirk’s murder, to how and why it happened, to celebration of political violence, to the utter hypocrisy of this response. Free speech be damned. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
After Charlie Kirk's death, teachers and professors nationwide fired or disciplined over social media posts
At least a dozen faculty and staff have faced fallout over insensitive comments online.
www.nbcnews.com
September 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
There is nothing about any of this that isn’t despicable - from Kirk’s murder, to how and why it happened, to celebration of political violence, to the utter hypocrisy of this response. Free speech be damned. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
We don't yet have any idea what the ideology of the Kirk shooter was.
But we do know that the Denver school shooter was a far-right white supremacist.
www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...
But we do know that the Denver school shooter was a far-right white supremacist.
www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...
‘Radicalized’ Evergreen High School shooter appeared to hold antisemitic, violent views in online accounts
Armed with a revolver, the 16-year-old shooter systematically reloaded and fired as he wandered the school, trying to find new targets, police say.
www.denverpost.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:34 AM
We don't yet have any idea what the ideology of the Kirk shooter was.
But we do know that the Denver school shooter was a far-right white supremacist.
www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...
But we do know that the Denver school shooter was a far-right white supremacist.
www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...
But if we use the exact same factors in things like hiring or college admissions decisions, It’s “woke DEI,” discriminatory, and illegal. 🤷🏻♀️
Breaking News: The Supreme Court lifted restrictions on ICE agents in Los Angeles, allowing them to make indiscriminate stops based on factors like ethnicity.
Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on L.A. Immigration Stops
A federal judge had ordered agents not to make indiscriminate stops relying on factors like a person’s ethnicity or that they speak Spanish.
nyti.ms
September 8, 2025 at 5:23 PM
But if we use the exact same factors in things like hiring or college admissions decisions, It’s “woke DEI,” discriminatory, and illegal. 🤷🏻♀️
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
Common theme of people I've interviewed recently. At universities, in research centers, in diplomacy, in the legal system, dealing with refugees or immigrants:
The reality inside is much worse than you would think from the outside.
The reality inside is much worse than you would think from the outside.
September 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Common theme of people I've interviewed recently. At universities, in research centers, in diplomacy, in the legal system, dealing with refugees or immigrants:
The reality inside is much worse than you would think from the outside.
The reality inside is much worse than you would think from the outside.
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
Shameless self-promotion and all of that, but it is genuinely unsettling to see how some of the most cartoonish ideas that I came across while writing the book have turned into actual policy.
The seeds that are currently bearing fruit in a Department of War focused on “maximum lethality” rather than “tepid legality” were planted in 1990s. Time for more folks to read David Fitzgerald’s excellent Uncertain Warriors #milhist #civmil www.cambridge.org/core/books/u...
Uncertain Warriors
Cambridge Core - Military History - Uncertain Warriors
www.cambridge.org
September 7, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Shameless self-promotion and all of that, but it is genuinely unsettling to see how some of the most cartoonish ideas that I came across while writing the book have turned into actual policy.
The seeds that are currently bearing fruit in a Department of War focused on “maximum lethality” rather than “tepid legality” were planted in 1990s. Time for more folks to read David Fitzgerald’s excellent Uncertain Warriors #milhist #civmil www.cambridge.org/core/books/u...
Uncertain Warriors
Cambridge Core - Military History - Uncertain Warriors
www.cambridge.org
September 7, 2025 at 2:54 AM
The seeds that are currently bearing fruit in a Department of War focused on “maximum lethality” rather than “tepid legality” were planted in 1990s. Time for more folks to read David Fitzgerald’s excellent Uncertain Warriors #milhist #civmil www.cambridge.org/core/books/u...