E. Hochman
@erhochman.bsky.social
Historian of modern Germany/Austria, politics, nationalism. Views are my own.
Reposted by E. Hochman
My school, a top research university, gives us access to an institutional AI bot, HopGPT. As an experiment, I just asked it for the most important *academic* works on WWII. It gave me a list of 8 books. The first was Churchill, followed by David Irving, then Primo Levi. We are so, so screwed
February 14, 2026 at 7:51 PM
My school, a top research university, gives us access to an institutional AI bot, HopGPT. As an experiment, I just asked it for the most important *academic* works on WWII. It gave me a list of 8 books. The first was Churchill, followed by David Irving, then Primo Levi. We are so, so screwed
Reposted by E. Hochman
Here's what we're up against: This one tweet will be seen by more people than all the students who will ever take all the classes of every historian on this site, more than will read all of our books combined. 🗃️
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Here's what we're up against: This one tweet will be seen by more people than all the students who will ever take all the classes of every historian on this site, more than will read all of our books combined. 🗃️
Reposted by E. Hochman
Reposted by E. Hochman
NYT: Trump secretly deported 9 migrants despite court orders to not remove them to their home nations. So, he sent them to prison in Cameroon: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...
U.S. Deports Nine Migrants in Secret, Ignoring Legal Protections
www.nytimes.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:25 AM
NYT: Trump secretly deported 9 migrants despite court orders to not remove them to their home nations. So, he sent them to prison in Cameroon: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...
Reposted by E. Hochman
Between this and the story about the ice agents who ate at a Mexican restaurant and then arrested some of its workers when they were done, it's a reminder that these people reject even the most basic social agreements of hospitality and of helping others. They're sociopaths.
CCTV footage appears to show DHS agents posing as people having car trouble in order to lure a target out of his house before arresting them. The target comes out and starts helping them before 3 vehicles surround the scene. The car "experiencing" trouble then drives off with them.
February 15, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Between this and the story about the ice agents who ate at a Mexican restaurant and then arrested some of its workers when they were done, it's a reminder that these people reject even the most basic social agreements of hospitality and of helping others. They're sociopaths.
Reposted by E. Hochman
It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this
February 14, 2026 at 9:53 AM
It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this
Reposted by E. Hochman
"We can use robots to do ultrasounds on pregnant women"
these fucking weirdos
They hate every worker and every patient. They don't believe in skill or expertise or humanity. They fetishize automation because they care about controlling people, not helping people thrive.
these fucking weirdos
They hate every worker and every patient. They don't believe in skill or expertise or humanity. They fetishize automation because they care about controlling people, not helping people thrive.
February 14, 2026 at 7:23 PM
"We can use robots to do ultrasounds on pregnant women"
these fucking weirdos
They hate every worker and every patient. They don't believe in skill or expertise or humanity. They fetishize automation because they care about controlling people, not helping people thrive.
these fucking weirdos
They hate every worker and every patient. They don't believe in skill or expertise or humanity. They fetishize automation because they care about controlling people, not helping people thrive.
Reposted by E. Hochman
In 1854, after watching the federal government deploy 2000 federal troops and spend $40,000 sending Anthony Burns back into slavery, Boston's Amos Adams Lawrence said “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 5:07 PM
In 1854, after watching the federal government deploy 2000 federal troops and spend $40,000 sending Anthony Burns back into slavery, Boston's Amos Adams Lawrence said “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
Reposted by E. Hochman
having your city noticed by the president is now a natural disaster on par with a hurricane or major flood
February 11, 2026 at 2:12 PM
having your city noticed by the president is now a natural disaster on par with a hurricane or major flood
Reposted by E. Hochman
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.
The decisions amount to a huge legal rebuke, but the administration has continued jailing people indefinitely.
www.reuters.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Reposted by E. Hochman
“I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner,” a former federal prosecutor and federal judge said. “They said they were going after ‘the worst of the worst,’ then they became the problem.
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters
Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.
www.nbcnews.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:20 PM
“I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner,” a former federal prosecutor and federal judge said. “They said they were going after ‘the worst of the worst,’ then they became the problem.
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Reposted by E. Hochman
Reposted by E. Hochman
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Yep. The market problem writ large is exceptionally true in highered. But it won’t matter — and doesn’t matter — to those in charge right now because the point is to strip the institution.
Faculty have a role to play, but I'm convinced the most recent drive to automate education will fail, just as it has in every decade since the 1950s, because tuition-paying students hate it.
That said, each new iteration of this drive chips away at budgets, at public trust, at institutions, etc.
That said, each new iteration of this drive chips away at budgets, at public trust, at institutions, etc.
February 13, 2026 at 5:34 PM
thread. related, my impression is a lot of higher ed administrators are significantly oriented toward making a mark on an institution in the short term so they have a claimable on their CV to get their next admin job elsewhere. that incentivizes vandalizing institutions, whether by AI or otherwise
Reposted by E. Hochman
What a perfect example of how these people are not just incompetent, they’re lazy.
February 14, 2026 at 12:35 AM
What a perfect example of how these people are not just incompetent, they’re lazy.
Reposted by E. Hochman
Someone must be spiking the drinks of the CEOs in Silicon Valley because the level of openly hostile employee behavior is off the charts.
Asking your foreign workers to stand up at an all-hands then joking that ICE has come to pick them up is nuts.
Asking your foreign workers to stand up at an all-hands then joking that ICE has come to pick them up is nuts.
February 14, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Someone must be spiking the drinks of the CEOs in Silicon Valley because the level of openly hostile employee behavior is off the charts.
Asking your foreign workers to stand up at an all-hands then joking that ICE has come to pick them up is nuts.
Asking your foreign workers to stand up at an all-hands then joking that ICE has come to pick them up is nuts.
Reposted by E. Hochman
When organizations like CBP or ICE are equipped—and rhetorically encouraged—to behave like battlefield units, the discipline that restrains military forces is often absent, while the consequences of misuse are magnified.
The El Paso Balloon Incident Could Have Been a Disaster
Shooting experimental lasers next to a major airport without telling anyone—what could go wrong?
lnk.thebulwark.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:30 PM
When organizations like CBP or ICE are equipped—and rhetorically encouraged—to behave like battlefield units, the discipline that restrains military forces is often absent, while the consequences of misuse are magnified.
Reposted by E. Hochman
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
February 13, 2026 at 7:41 PM
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
Reposted by E. Hochman
See? More of this, please
ICYMI: I introduced my Trans Bill of Rights with @markey.senate.gov — legislation to defend trans people across this country as Republicans continue to push anti-trans rhetoric and bills.
To our beloved trans community: We see you, we love you, and we will always stand with you.
To our beloved trans community: We see you, we love you, and we will always stand with you.
February 13, 2026 at 8:22 PM
See? More of this, please
Reposted by E. Hochman
DHS rolled out a revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
SAVE tool keeps mistakenly flagging voters as noncitizens - The Texas Tribune
DHS rolled out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
www.texastribune.org
February 13, 2026 at 5:47 PM
DHS rolled out a revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
Reposted by E. Hochman
The extraordinary courage of people who are documenting ICE atrocities in places like Minneapolis, at great personal risk, are also achieving something else: They're changing the public's mind about immigration. We have a rare opportunity here. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
How the Democrats Can Play Offense on Immigration
Typically, Democrats run for the hills when immigration comes up. But as two blue-state governors are showing, the winning play is actually to confront ICE and MAGA xenophobia head on.
newrepublic.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:57 PM
The extraordinary courage of people who are documenting ICE atrocities in places like Minneapolis, at great personal risk, are also achieving something else: They're changing the public's mind about immigration. We have a rare opportunity here. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Reposted by E. Hochman
And yet more reporting showing the gravity of the problem when federal agencies terminate grants or return applications without review for reasons unknown. The absence of public accountability continues to have cascading impacts on science and scientists.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
February 13, 2026 at 2:15 PM
And yet more reporting showing the gravity of the problem when federal agencies terminate grants or return applications without review for reasons unknown. The absence of public accountability continues to have cascading impacts on science and scientists.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by E. Hochman
However low your opinion is of those running the country, it's not low enough. Completely unserious, self-absorbed sociopaths. (Read the whole thread)
The details of the Kristi Noem blanket incident are just fucking perfect
February 13, 2026 at 3:41 AM
However low your opinion is of those running the country, it's not low enough. Completely unserious, self-absorbed sociopaths. (Read the whole thread)
Reposted by E. Hochman
If you saw today's headline that Gallup will stop measuring presidential approval, they did the same thing in 2018. They do it whenever Trump is president.
February 11, 2026 at 7:27 PM
If you saw today's headline that Gallup will stop measuring presidential approval, they did the same thing in 2018. They do it whenever Trump is president.
Reposted by E. Hochman
Elon Musk genuinely has to be regarded as one of history’s pre-eminent mass murderers
HORRIFYING -
Dismantling USAID & cancelling >80% of aid caused ~750,000 deaths by mid-2025
🧸Most were children
⌛️ Many died within the first year
😰 Preventable deaths were mainly from:
- HIV, TB, malaria
- Maternal & fetal deaths
- Malnutrition
news.westernu.ca/2026/01/u-s-...
Dismantling USAID & cancelling >80% of aid caused ~750,000 deaths by mid-2025
🧸Most were children
⌛️ Many died within the first year
😰 Preventable deaths were mainly from:
- HIV, TB, malaria
- Maternal & fetal deaths
- Malnutrition
news.westernu.ca/2026/01/u-s-...
Expert insight: U.S. withdrawal from WHO could affect global health - Western News
History professor Mitchell L. Hammond explains how the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization could affect global health and disease threats.
news.westernu.ca
February 13, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Elon Musk genuinely has to be regarded as one of history’s pre-eminent mass murderers
Reposted by E. Hochman
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin