Katherine Arnold
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arnoldke.bsky.social
Katherine Arnold
@arnoldke.bsky.social
lecturer in environmental history @liverpooluni.bsky.social 🌿 || writing about #germans, #collecting, #plants & #empire in 19th c. southern #africa 🌵 || #nathist, #envhist, #collections, 🇬🇧-🇩🇪 || she/her || views my own ✨
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
This is the MAGA monoculture - anti-freedom.

Renee Nicole Good may not have fit their view of what an American should be so her life is worthless to them.

The American multiculture does value Good’s life, her freedom to use whatever pronouns she wanted and to love another woman.

Real Freedom.
Jesse Watters highlights that Renee Nicole Good, the woman killed by ICE, had "pronouns in her bio" and "leaves behind a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage"
January 8, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
The fact that four hostile drones tried to hit Zelenskyy’s plane & it’s barely a blip in the news cycle should terrify everyone. We’ve been dragged so deep into the chaos era that an attempted strike on a world leader doesn’t even break through. When this becomes normal, the world is in real danger.
December 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
This is the first History Reclaimed attack on @davidolusoga.bsky.social’s BBC Empire series, in The Spectator. The thread on its recycled Telegraph version shows how criticisms of the representation of Mike Mountain Horse and the invasion of Ijebu are based on untruths. But else do they argue?
December 3, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
This is truly awful. I have served in the university media board for 3 years and saw how brilliant and committed the student editors of these magazines were to quality and integrity. This is such a loss for the university community at large. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...
U. of Alabama Suspends Black and Female Student Magazines, Citing D.E.I. Guidance
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
🚨 Don't miss the next @collecol.bsky.social CHSTM seminar on Thursday 4 December at 11am EST/4pm GMT! ✨

This month, we'll hear from Thomas Biskup (University of Hull/Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel)

#envhist #histsci #histstm #envhums #collections #plants /1
December 2, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
This is not true. Musk is endorsing (again) a version of the white nationalist great replacement theory, as told by Stephen Miller.

It is a conspiracy theory and it was confined to the fringes of the Internet until 10 or so years ago.

If true, Harris would’ve easily won in 2024.
December 1, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
I am old enough to remember when the unis forced everyone to return to the classrooms during covid, refused to allow anyone to take a gap year, and endangered us all because they wanted the rent money. But I guess they have a new scam now. Won't even need students soon!
'The Russell Group institution, one of the UK’s largest, has announced plans to expand beyond its traditional fully campus-based model of higher education and increase its digital and global presence, as well as its flexible learning opportunities.' 1/2
Half of Manchester students to be learning online in 10 years
Russell Group institution announces major pivot into digital teaching as universities evolve further beyond traditional models
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
'The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what "works," but art opens up what is possible' - Pope Leo
November 17, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.

And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*

Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
Joyce Carol Oates: Demonstrating the Value of the Humanities through Public Ownership of the Richest Man on Earth
November 11, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
So many good points in this thread but jeez one's a big one: it is remarkable how the left-punchers never wring hands about how much right-wingers talk about climate
Finally, I would like to remind everyone that our opponents (Trump and the GOP) talk about climate change all 👏 the 👏 time👏—always using relentless disinformation to make Democrats look bad. You HAVE to have a plan for that or else you're going to lose.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/enviro...
Democrats are letting Trump’s climate lies take hold
When extreme storms hit the United States, the Maga disinformation machine went into overdrive. Kamala Harris failed to counter it
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
William John Burchell https://bionomia.net/Q1397207 collected the holotype FABACEAE: Lotononis pungens in South Africa https://gbif.org/occurrence/912345494 #TypeSpecimenToday
November 5, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
Happy Monday! 🌵 We're glad to say that this rescheduled Reading Club session is happening this week! Join us on 6 November to discuss Appadurai's article, a fantastically rich piece to raise questions connecting museums & collections, coloniality & the global/planetary, & the age of Anthropocene ✨
@collecol.bsky.social is back! 🪲

We've put together a great seminar series - we hope you'll come along!

On 2 Oct 11am EDT/4pm GMT we're doing a reading club - Appadurai's "The Museum, the Colony, and the Planet: Territories of the Imperial Imagination".

All info ⬇️ www.chstm.org/group/collec...
Collection Ecologies | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
www.chstm.org
November 3, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
#BOOKGIVEAWAY Follow @coldwarpod.bsky.social
then reshare & reply to this post to enter a chance to win a copy of this book.

T&C's & other ways to enter here coldwarconversations.com/giveaway/

#eastgermany #GDR #DDR #Berlinwall @DDROnline.bsky.social @GermanAtPompey.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
The higher-ups across American mainstream media are desperate to ingratiate themselves with Trump *and* many of them have also been itching to go full anti-"woke" since at least the summer of 2020.

The overall result is a pervasive rightward shift of the media and information landscape.
CBS News has reportedly disbanded its race and culture unit, which was formed in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020

NBC News eliminated its editorial teams for NBC Asian America, NBC BLK, NBC Latino and NBC OUT earlier this month
CBS News Cuts ‘Evening News,’ ‘Mornings’ Streaming Shows in Newsroom-Wide Layoffs
The newsroom downsizing comes as Paramount Skydance lays off 1,000 employees throughout the newly merged company
www.thewrap.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
I can't get into the psyche of people who would cut off the world's best researchers from teaching their students because they happened to be born farther away from you than you are comfortable with. www.chronicle.com/article/flor...
Florida’s Public Universities Should No Longer Hire Foreign Employees, DeSantis Says
The Republican governor’s directive on H-1B visas comes as President Trump has initiated his policy of charging employers a new $100,000 fee to hire people from outside the United States.
www.chronicle.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
DHS says our new piece is "dishonest, slanted, and fundamentally inaccurate" but won't say why. Here's the story where we show with evidence that DHS spliced together clips spanning years and multiple locations to create its own reality. Gift link wapo.st/4nuDGwf
October 30, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
After three days spent with AI researchers from around the world, one thing is very clear to me: we need the humanities and social sciences more than ever.

We need philosophers to ask about ethics and responsibility. We need sociologists to understand how technology reshapes relationships, 1/
October 30, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
Nobody in authority ever suggested that "Essay mills are just an inevitable part of modern life, you should change your teaching-methods to circumvent them". They fucking MADE THEM ILLEGAL.
It's useful to recognise that, just 3 years ago, the UK government made it a specific CRIMINAL OFFENCE to procure a live person to complete university coursework for a student, but that government, and all major institutions, are now saying the use of a machine to complete such work is inevitable.
October 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
In spite of the headline, there is the pesky legal matter that neither billionaires or anybody else can “give” money to “pay troops” or anything else. However, a great compromise would be for billionaires to pay more money into the general treasury through “taxes.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...
Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune
www.nytimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
I've launched an investigation into the contracting and approval process for the demolition of the White House—and whether the corporate donors funding Trump's ballroom are seeking favors with the Administration.

The American public deserves answers. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...
Trump demolishes the East Wing — and White House norms
The East Wing's rapid razing bypassed a detailed process for major federal renovation projects in Washington. Now, Senate Democrats are demanding answers.
www.msnbc.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Katherine Arnold
Wow.

It's comprehensive— tying together many of the incentives (grift) and implications of AI's infiltration in education— well-researched with plenty of links, and so well-written.

It goes from alarming to enraging to bleak and is way worse than I imagined. Glad it ends on a mildly hopeful note.
October 25, 2025 at 8:50 AM