Michael P. Breen
@mpbreen21.bsky.social
Historian of early modern French law & society at Reed College. Prattles on about history, dogs, politics, soccer, & hoops. H-France Editor-in-Chief (www.h-france.net)
Pinned
The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.
YouTube video by John Schwartz
youtu.be
Every news story between now and Jan. 20, 2029 (assuming we make it that long)
youtu.be/N5jscR7Vz30?...
youtu.be/N5jscR7Vz30?...
Bannon cutting an ad for Democratic candidates is an unexpected plot twist
Steve Bannon: "If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included."
December 26, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Bannon cutting an ad for Democratic candidates is an unexpected plot twist
Make a Bond film academic:
On Her Majesty’s Research Excellence Framework Review
On Her Majesty’s Research Excellence Framework Review
Make a Bond film academic.
The Spy Who Plagiarized Me
The Spy Who Plagiarized Me
Make a Bond movie academic
Tenure is Forever
Tenure is Forever
December 26, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Make a Bond film academic:
On Her Majesty’s Research Excellence Framework Review
On Her Majesty’s Research Excellence Framework Review
Make a Bond movie casual:
Dr. Maybe
Dr. Maybe
make a Bond movie casual
Tomorrow never dies, or perhaps it does, dunno, whatevs
Tomorrow never dies, or perhaps it does, dunno, whatevs
make a Bond movie casual
Live and let sleeping dogs lie
Live and let sleeping dogs lie
December 26, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Make a Bond movie casual:
Dr. Maybe
Dr. Maybe
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
Dean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, son of Italian immigrant Gaetano Crocetti
Frank Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants Antonino Sinatra and Natalina Garavanta
Merry Christmas to everyone except Stephen Miller and his enablers and handlers
Frank Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants Antonino Sinatra and Natalina Garavanta
Merry Christmas to everyone except Stephen Miller and his enablers and handlers
December 26, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Dean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, son of Italian immigrant Gaetano Crocetti
Frank Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants Antonino Sinatra and Natalina Garavanta
Merry Christmas to everyone except Stephen Miller and his enablers and handlers
Frank Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants Antonino Sinatra and Natalina Garavanta
Merry Christmas to everyone except Stephen Miller and his enablers and handlers
Conservatives: There should be no “safe spaces” on college campuses. College is a place for studying difficult topics & debating controversial ideas! Only snowflakes censor ideas they disagree with!”
Also conservatives:
Also conservatives:
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Conservatives: There should be no “safe spaces” on college campuses. College is a place for studying difficult topics & debating controversial ideas! Only snowflakes censor ideas they disagree with!”
Also conservatives:
Also conservatives:
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
📌
Pressing play on the latest Peck joint, Orwell 2 + 2 = 5. 🔥
I had to play, which company is the least evil to rent it from, and I picked Apple over Amazon and Google. 🤷♀️
I had to play, which company is the least evil to rent it from, and I picked Apple over Amazon and Google. 🤷♀️
December 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
📌
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
I remember the phrase "they can't be allowed to melt back into society" re: the de-Baathification of Iraq after the war there. Like everything about that experience, the attempt was cynical, stupid, and botched. But there really should be a plan about what we do with guys like these in the future.
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
December 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I remember the phrase "they can't be allowed to melt back into society" re: the de-Baathification of Iraq after the war there. Like everything about that experience, the attempt was cynical, stupid, and botched. But there really should be a plan about what we do with guys like these in the future.
Because they like Trump & prefer having him in power
Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post published stories about Trump writing 200 unhinged posts on Christmas Day
You almost have to feel bad for an ugly old man with no family or friends to keep him company on Christmas Day that he makes 200 crazy posts ranting about everything under the sun.
Almost.
Almost.
December 26, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Because they like Trump & prefer having him in power
So they were against the War on Christmas before they were for it?
Indiana State Senator wishes you a Merry Christmas by… posting images of himself assaulting Santa Claus.
Are the fascists okay?
Are the fascists okay?
December 26, 2025 at 5:06 AM
So they were against the War on Christmas before they were for it?
Well, the alternative was an intelligent, highly-competent, experienced & capable woman of color & there was simply no way white Americans were going to have that…
I still can’t get over that we just have a guy who Is completely nuts with the ability to annihilate the globe with nukes. Seems bad.
December 26, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Well, the alternative was an intelligent, highly-competent, experienced & capable woman of color & there was simply no way white Americans were going to have that…
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
DON’T. PRINT. LIES. IN. THE. NEWSPAPERS.
Every damn day. It’s exhausting.
Every damn day. It’s exhausting.
NYT provides no evidence here, probably because the claim is flatly untrue. See eg recent Pew data, or many posts on the subject from @gelliottmorris.com this year
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
December 26, 2025 at 2:45 AM
DON’T. PRINT. LIES. IN. THE. NEWSPAPERS.
Every damn day. It’s exhausting.
Every damn day. It’s exhausting.
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
remember when the democrats decided to tactically stop pointing out that these people are weird freaks no one likes
Indiana State Senator wishes you a Merry Christmas by… posting images of himself assaulting Santa Claus.
Are the fascists okay?
Are the fascists okay?
December 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
remember when the democrats decided to tactically stop pointing out that these people are weird freaks no one likes
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
Just leaving this here for #earlymodern #skystorians
December 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Just leaving this here for #earlymodern #skystorians
It’s almost as if our elite national media has one standard for straight white men & another standard for everyone else…
Kind of wild how the take that some of Trump's supporters were "deplorable" was some huge scandal, but regularly screaming about "radical left scum" is just a thing he'll say with no media backlash.
December 25, 2025 at 10:43 PM
It’s almost as if our elite national media has one standard for straight white men & another standard for everyone else…
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
Merry Christmas! My state of the field essay on the history of sexuality in Modern France was published in open access yesterday by @frenchhistory.bsky.social. Check it out at academic.oup.com/fh/advance-a...
Review article: the history of sexuality in modern France
Sometimes, when I explain that my research expertise lies in the history of sexuality in modern France, the follow-up is some version of a question: ‘so I
academic.oup.com
December 25, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Merry Christmas! My state of the field essay on the history of sexuality in Modern France was published in open access yesterday by @frenchhistory.bsky.social. Check it out at academic.oup.com/fh/advance-a...
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
“ The daughter of a well known conservative operative , whose paper did not answer the topic at hand and had a carefully planned media campaign , had a trans instructor fired for grading a paper according to the agreed upon rubric”
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM
“ The daughter of a well known conservative operative , whose paper did not answer the topic at hand and had a carefully planned media campaign , had a trans instructor fired for grading a paper according to the agreed upon rubric”
Law and order!
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Law and order!
The link between gluten & Celiac disease was established in the 1950s
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
December 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The link between gluten & Celiac disease was established in the 1950s
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Renée Richards was playing women’s professional tennis in the 1970s
RAIN MAN won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1989
Willful ignorance of the past is the glue that binds modern conservativism together
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
"“Conservatives would never accept a left-wing government using regulatory favoritism to pressure conservative media,” @jonathanbchait.bsky.social argues. Now that this is occurring at CBS, they offer “pointillistic defenses” of Bari Weiss spiking a 60 Minutes story:
Stop Defending Bari Weiss
It is impossible to take her actions at face value given the context in which she is operating.
bit.ly
December 25, 2025 at 7:45 AM
"“Conservatives would never accept a left-wing government using regulatory favoritism to pressure conservative media,” @jonathanbchait.bsky.social argues. Now that this is occurring at CBS, they offer “pointillistic defenses” of Bari Weiss spiking a 60 Minutes story:
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
As someone who respects Gov. Kotek & wants to retain the governorship, this is an important take.
Demotivating your campaign's likeliest supporters by opposing a voter-approved initiative saving families $18k/yr in childcare expenses doesn't improve affordability or help your campaign.
Demotivating your campaign's likeliest supporters by opposing a voter-approved initiative saving families $18k/yr in childcare expenses doesn't improve affordability or help your campaign.
I would knock a million doors, fundraise, cartwheel down the middle of my street for a candidate who promised to tax the rich and fully fund schools. I am not even sure I can muster energy to fill in the bubble on my ballot for whatever this is.
Cutting property taxes for Oregonians affected by wildfires. Canceling planned freeway tolls. Pausing local new taxes in the Portland area. We have to keep going to make life more affordable for Oregonians.
December 25, 2025 at 1:07 AM
As someone who respects Gov. Kotek & wants to retain the governorship, this is an important take.
Demotivating your campaign's likeliest supporters by opposing a voter-approved initiative saving families $18k/yr in childcare expenses doesn't improve affordability or help your campaign.
Demotivating your campaign's likeliest supporters by opposing a voter-approved initiative saving families $18k/yr in childcare expenses doesn't improve affordability or help your campaign.
Lie? Pam Bondi’s DOJ?
December 25, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Lie? Pam Bondi’s DOJ?
No one has more contempt for the intelligence of Trump supporters than Trump & the members of his administration
Lutnick: "Donald Trump's economy grew 4.3%. That means that Americans overall, all of us, are going to earn 4.3% more money. We're making a raise, it's a simple way to do it."
December 25, 2025 at 12:11 AM
No one has more contempt for the intelligence of Trump supporters than Trump & the members of his administration
Reposted by Michael P. Breen
look at how little effort it takes for someone on the conservative grievance circuit to destroy a life
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
December 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
look at how little effort it takes for someone on the conservative grievance circuit to destroy a life
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
Hegseth’s gonna have him shot down & claim he was a narcoterrorist
Trump: We track Santa. We want to make sure that Santa is being good. We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election
December 24, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Hegseth’s gonna have him shot down & claim he was a narcoterrorist