Ben Johnson
@benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social
I study history in order to understand and help others understand the crazy world in which we live. Environment, climate, borders, violence and memory are key. Also @refusing2forget.bsky.social. My opinions are mine, sadly almost never my employer's.
The OAH is running a discussion about history and democracy tomorrow morning, with three distinguished international scholars of US history as panelists. You can register here
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
and find a brief description if you scroll down here: www.oah.org/2026/01/13/u...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
and find a brief description if you scroll down here: www.oah.org/2026/01/13/u...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Democracy in Crisis? International Perspectives. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
In recent years, the ideals and assumptions of democracy—as well as its inevitably imperfect institutions and practices—have come under attack. In light of recent developments and debates surrounding ...
us06web.zoom.us
February 16, 2026 at 6:19 PM
The OAH is running a discussion about history and democracy tomorrow morning, with three distinguished international scholars of US history as panelists. You can register here
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
and find a brief description if you scroll down here: www.oah.org/2026/01/13/u...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
and find a brief description if you scroll down here: www.oah.org/2026/01/13/u...
so much winning
In terms of what cures are being lost:
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
February 13, 2026 at 3:43 PM
so much winning
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Elizabeth is a Columbia Heights fourth-grader who loves volleyball, learning English and giggling in the halls with her friends. She's been held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for nearly a month, and she and her mom have both fallen ill. sahanjournal.com/education/co...
Sick fourth-grader among 4 Columbia Heights students held by ICE
Columbia Heights Public Schools says four students remain detained by ICE after Liam’s return, including 10-year-old Elizabeth, who has fallen ill.
sahanjournal.com
February 3, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Elizabeth is a Columbia Heights fourth-grader who loves volleyball, learning English and giggling in the halls with her friends. She's been held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for nearly a month, and she and her mom have both fallen ill. sahanjournal.com/education/co...
proud of Aggie students and faculty. @tamu-aaup.bsky.social As usual, @aaup.org plays a critical role.
www.texasstandard.org/stories/texa...
www.texasstandard.org/stories/texa...
Texas A&M faculty, students rally against policy they deem censorship
A professor says he’s speaking up for others “deathly afraid” of losing their jobs or being targeted by state leadership.
www.texasstandard.org
January 30, 2026 at 8:07 PM
proud of Aggie students and faculty. @tamu-aaup.bsky.social As usual, @aaup.org plays a critical role.
www.texasstandard.org/stories/texa...
www.texasstandard.org/stories/texa...
my colleague Tikia Hamilton: "erasure of African Americans’ experiences in history is thus itself a form of racial violence, which becomes reproduced in our inability to come to grips with our troubled American past.”
www.forbes.com/sites/marybe...
www.forbes.com/sites/marybe...
What Happens When Public History Disappears
In January 2026, the National Park Service removed the slavery exhibition at the President’s House site in Philadelphia, PA
www.forbes.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:57 PM
my colleague Tikia Hamilton: "erasure of African Americans’ experiences in history is thus itself a form of racial violence, which becomes reproduced in our inability to come to grips with our troubled American past.”
www.forbes.com/sites/marybe...
www.forbes.com/sites/marybe...
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Trump announced today that he was going to keep housing prices up, sued the US taxpayers for $10B, threatened Canada, made a few dozen posts about how he won in 2020, posted about prosecuting Obama for treason, then went to a movie about his wife that Bezos spent $75 million on.
January 30, 2026 at 3:07 AM
Trump announced today that he was going to keep housing prices up, sued the US taxpayers for $10B, threatened Canada, made a few dozen posts about how he won in 2020, posted about prosecuting Obama for treason, then went to a movie about his wife that Bezos spent $75 million on.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Today we remember the Porvenir massacre and the lives that were lost. Read more here: refusingtoforget.org/porvenir-mas...
January 28, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Today we remember the Porvenir massacre and the lives that were lost. Read more here: refusingtoforget.org/porvenir-mas...
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, as masked agents of the US government promised "total immunity" by our leaders execute people on the street and kill others in detention, here is a talk about the memory of the Holocaust and Texas history.
www.texasanamericanhistory.com/blog/holocau...
www.texasanamericanhistory.com/blog/holocau...
Holocaust Remembrance, a Houston Childhood, and Texas History — Texas: An American History
On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2026, I am reproducing a talk I gave last year at Holocaust Museum Houston , to open their hosting of the traveling version of the exhibit “Life and D...
www.texasanamericanhistory.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:25 AM
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, as masked agents of the US government promised "total immunity" by our leaders execute people on the street and kill others in detention, here is a talk about the memory of the Holocaust and Texas history.
www.texasanamericanhistory.com/blog/holocau...
www.texasanamericanhistory.com/blog/holocau...
Reposted by Ben Johnson
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced the Democrats have to push their hand immediately. The parallels with the delays and subsequent failures after January 6th are blaring warning signs about what will happen if they don’t go after the issues with ICE and CBP at the root RIGHT NOW.
January 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced the Democrats have to push their hand immediately. The parallels with the delays and subsequent failures after January 6th are blaring warning signs about what will happen if they don’t go after the issues with ICE and CBP at the root RIGHT NOW.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Dems should introduce legislation now defunding ICE and CBP operations in Minnesota, so they have to leave the state. One sentence bill. Demand an immediate vote. Maybe refuse to vote for cloture on any funding bills (or other bills) until a vote. Make the GOP Congress break w/ Trump or own it all.
January 25, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Dems should introduce legislation now defunding ICE and CBP operations in Minnesota, so they have to leave the state. One sentence bill. Demand an immediate vote. Maybe refuse to vote for cloture on any funding bills (or other bills) until a vote. Make the GOP Congress break w/ Trump or own it all.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
It’s time.
I want the see Steve Kerr’s Warriors and Minneapolis’ Timberwolves agree that they simply cannot play this game tonight.
A strike in solidarity with the besieged city and its murdered and abducted residents.
I want the see Steve Kerr’s Warriors and Minneapolis’ Timberwolves agree that they simply cannot play this game tonight.
A strike in solidarity with the besieged city and its murdered and abducted residents.
January 24, 2026 at 6:28 PM
It’s time.
I want the see Steve Kerr’s Warriors and Minneapolis’ Timberwolves agree that they simply cannot play this game tonight.
A strike in solidarity with the besieged city and its murdered and abducted residents.
I want the see Steve Kerr’s Warriors and Minneapolis’ Timberwolves agree that they simply cannot play this game tonight.
A strike in solidarity with the besieged city and its murdered and abducted residents.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."
January 24, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."
2/3 of Minneapolis murders this year perpetrated by ICE.
Masked federal agents in Minnesota just shot and killed another person.
We must put a stop to Trump’s ICE. Now.
Stop the funding, stop the occupations, stop the killings.
We must put a stop to Trump’s ICE. Now.
Stop the funding, stop the occupations, stop the killings.
Man shot by federal agents has died, police chief says
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
January 24, 2026 at 5:24 PM
2/3 of Minneapolis murders this year perpetrated by ICE.
from a somewhat centrist (and deeply principled) House Dem
I am doing my best to respond to this without a string of expletives. But let's be very clear. What just happened in Minnesota was cold blooded murder of a civilian by out of control federal agents, aided and abetted by the entire Trump administration and their fascist enablers.
January 24, 2026 at 5:16 PM
from a somewhat centrist (and deeply principled) House Dem
“Absolute immunity” as the death of democracy and rule of law. progressive.org/op-eds/its-a...
It’s a Police State in Minnesota
Minnesota is experiencing a state-wide police riot backed by the full authority of the federal government.
progressive.org
January 17, 2026 at 4:49 PM
“Absolute immunity” as the death of democracy and rule of law. progressive.org/op-eds/its-a...
historians writing as co-chair of the @oah.org academic freedom committee, trying to assemble a late-breaking session on academic freedom for convention 8:45 Friday April 17. Theme open, shouldn't conflict w session below, OK if you're already on program. Circulate, DM www.oah.org/conferences/...
www.oah.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:34 PM
historians writing as co-chair of the @oah.org academic freedom committee, trying to assemble a late-breaking session on academic freedom for convention 8:45 Friday April 17. Theme open, shouldn't conflict w session below, OK if you're already on program. Circulate, DM www.oah.org/conferences/...
Reposted by Ben Johnson
It pays to accurately call Trump a “pedophile protector.” More people should do it!!!
January 15, 2026 at 1:49 PM
It pays to accurately call Trump a “pedophile protector.” More people should do it!!!
holy shit. Watch this. And apparently ICE shot somebody else, on the North side of Minneapolis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd8M...
MN Gov. Walz addresses state amid ICE crackdown
YouTube video by FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 2:30 AM
holy shit. Watch this. And apparently ICE shot somebody else, on the North side of Minneapolis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd8M...
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Kidnapped for being Brown. That is the reality in Minneapolis today, Jan 13, as raids turn into targeted abductions.
January 13, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Kidnapped for being Brown. That is the reality in Minneapolis today, Jan 13, as raids turn into targeted abductions.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
January 13, 2026 at 6:06 PM
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
Reposted by Ben Johnson
This is a great way to support immigrant families and a local business in St. Paul. Purchase gift cards at El Burrito Mercado or donate directly to Neighborhood House—helping sustain a local business while providing families with the resources they need to put food on the table.
Immigrant Support Statement - Neighborhood House
Neighborhood House has supported immigrants on St. Paul’s West Side and throughout the Twin Cities for over 128 years. From our origins as a settlement house for Jewish refugees fleeing persecution, w...
neighborhoodhousemn.org
January 13, 2026 at 2:02 AM
This is a great way to support immigrant families and a local business in St. Paul. Purchase gift cards at El Burrito Mercado or donate directly to Neighborhood House—helping sustain a local business while providing families with the resources they need to put food on the table.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
Don't do crimes, then.
🚨Leaked docs about the ICE-led deployment to Minneapolis: www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigratio...
Immigration Agents Terrified by ICE Backlash
Leaked documents show Border Patrol needs volunteers for Minneapolis surge
www.kenklippenstein.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Don't do crimes, then.
Reposted by Ben Johnson
How much longer before they require us to quarter them in our homes?
This is literally what the 4th amendment was written to protect against. There are lots of things that are up for discussion and debate about how one interprets the 4th amendment. This isn't one of them.
January 12, 2026 at 1:05 AM
How much longer before they require us to quarter them in our homes?
Reposted by Ben Johnson
At last night’s candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire announced he had asked the clergy of the diocese to get their affairs in order and to make sure they have their wills written ...,
January 11, 2026 at 12:48 AM
At last night’s candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire announced he had asked the clergy of the diocese to get their affairs in order and to make sure they have their wills written ...,