Timothy Messer-Kruse
@profmk.bsky.social
Professor of Cultural Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Eclectic scholar of radicalism and culture. Currently writing a civics textbook from a critical perspective. https://blogs.bgsu.edu/tmesser/
Journalist Steven Melendez writes a terrific article in the Chicago's Newcity Magazine about the historic corruption in the Weights and Measures bureaucracy. Glad to see my old work on the "Honest Weight" progressive movement revived.
www.newcity.com/2025/11/05/t...
www.newcity.com/2025/11/05/t...
The "Millionaire Newsboy" and Sauerkraut Dealer Who Once Lorded Over Chicago's Loop
Joe Grein, sometimes called the unofficial "Mayor of Randolph Street," was in charge of testing scales in the city, certifying accurate devices by applying a seal.
www.newcity.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Journalist Steven Melendez writes a terrific article in the Chicago's Newcity Magazine about the historic corruption in the Weights and Measures bureaucracy. Glad to see my old work on the "Honest Weight" progressive movement revived.
www.newcity.com/2025/11/05/t...
www.newcity.com/2025/11/05/t...
When the billionaire class talks about “patriotic capitalism” and saying things like democracy was a mistake and “a select group of elites are exactly the right people to move the country forward” they are not a political faction, they are an aristocracy. tinyurl.com/3nvvsr4h
The secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now re-writing MAGA’s future
Chris Buskirk put tech elites in power in Trump’s Washington. His efforts are grounded in a controversial theory: An “aristocracy” is needed to move the country forward.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:51 PM
When the billionaire class talks about “patriotic capitalism” and saying things like democracy was a mistake and “a select group of elites are exactly the right people to move the country forward” they are not a political faction, they are an aristocracy. tinyurl.com/3nvvsr4h
Ohio's GOP just voted to twist my gerrymandered district into a hyper-gerrymandered one. Ohio will go from a two to one GOP advantage to four to one in a state that is 55 /45. The Patriots complained of Parliament's "rotten Burroughs" which were less extreme. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/10/31/o...
Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously passes congressional map furthering GOP advantage • Ohio Capital Journal
The Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously passed a congressional map in a Friday morning meeting, increasing Republican advantage in the state 12-3 and blocking a referendum effort.
ohiocapitaljournal.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Ohio's GOP just voted to twist my gerrymandered district into a hyper-gerrymandered one. Ohio will go from a two to one GOP advantage to four to one in a state that is 55 /45. The Patriots complained of Parliament's "rotten Burroughs" which were less extreme. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/10/31/o...
Well Musk's new Grokipedia is trash, but I must admit that its entry on the Haymarket Affair is quite good. (I may be biased as it references my work extensively...)
grokipedia.com/page/Haymark...
grokipedia.com/page/Haymark...
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a deadly bombing and riot that erupted on May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Square, Chicago, during a rally organized by anarchist labor activists to protest police violence against s...
grokipedia.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Well Musk's new Grokipedia is trash, but I must admit that its entry on the Haymarket Affair is quite good. (I may be biased as it references my work extensively...)
grokipedia.com/page/Haymark...
grokipedia.com/page/Haymark...
Can I just point out that Erika Kirk’s fundraising letter that repeatedly refers to “the evildoers that took Charlie’s life” and “they tried to silence [him]” is conspiracy mongering and reckless?
October 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Can I just point out that Erika Kirk’s fundraising letter that repeatedly refers to “the evildoers that took Charlie’s life” and “they tried to silence [him]” is conspiracy mongering and reckless?
Reposted by Timothy Messer-Kruse
Robert Gould Shaw, Glory, and the Problem of AI 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
Robert Gould Shaw, Glory, and the Problem of AI
I love the opening scene of the movie Glory. It’s really the only moment in the film that covers Robert Gould Shaw’s military career prior to accepting the colonelcy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment...
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Robert Gould Shaw, Glory, and the Problem of AI 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
What could go wrong? "...layoffs at health agencies were allowed to stand, including those of workers with top-secret clearance responsible for monitoring and protecting the United States from biological, chemical and nuclear threats, The Post reported."
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Shutdown layoffs target services for vulnerable students, homeless, seniors
The most at-risk Americans will suffer from the Trump administration’s latest layoffs, current and former federal officials warned.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:46 AM
What could go wrong? "...layoffs at health agencies were allowed to stand, including those of workers with top-secret clearance responsible for monitoring and protecting the United States from biological, chemical and nuclear threats, The Post reported."
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
The Dept of Ed legal definition of patriotic education is creepy. "Citizens must understand why our free-market economy is a highly evolved system of cooperation fostered by our constitutional republic, and how it functions to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans."
tinyurl.com/bdddfj7u
tinyurl.com/bdddfj7u
Proposed Priority and Definitions-Secretary's Supplemental Priority and Definitions on Promoting Patriotic Education
The Secretary proposes one additional priority and related definitions for use in currently authorized discretionary grant programs or programs that may be authorized in the future. The Secretary may ...
tinyurl.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:23 AM
The Dept of Ed legal definition of patriotic education is creepy. "Citizens must understand why our free-market economy is a highly evolved system of cooperation fostered by our constitutional republic, and how it functions to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans."
tinyurl.com/bdddfj7u
tinyurl.com/bdddfj7u
"Civics Institutes" are just affirmative action for conservatives. Want proof?
www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Lesson in Civics
The School of Civic Life and Leadership’s public fighting is part of a long-running rupture about the mission of civics schools around the country.
www.theassemblync.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:57 AM
"Civics Institutes" are just affirmative action for conservatives. Want proof?
www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
Civics grifters don't even check their most basic facts. Here is the newly released report on civics in Higher Ed hailed by civics boosters. It lists Ohio as having no civics requirements when in fact it passed the most detailed law in the country in March.
jamesgmartin.center/2025/10/50-s...
jamesgmartin.center/2025/10/50-s...
50-State Comparison: Civics Education — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
Colleges should do everything they can to ensure that college graduates—including future teachers—are equipped with an in-depth understanding of civics.
jamesgmartin.center
October 8, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Civics grifters don't even check their most basic facts. Here is the newly released report on civics in Higher Ed hailed by civics boosters. It lists Ohio as having no civics requirements when in fact it passed the most detailed law in the country in March.
jamesgmartin.center/2025/10/50-s...
jamesgmartin.center/2025/10/50-s...
Reposted by Timothy Messer-Kruse
The caucasity! And it gets wilder. Moynihan's (white, single, destitute) mother was quite literally ON WELFARE! This is the same guy who practically created the myth of the Black matriarch and the controlling image of the Black welfare queen! www.theguardian.com/news/2003/ma...
September 26, 2025 at 4:31 AM
The caucasity! And it gets wilder. Moynihan's (white, single, destitute) mother was quite literally ON WELFARE! This is the same guy who practically created the myth of the Black matriarch and the controlling image of the Black welfare queen! www.theguardian.com/news/2003/ma...
Ohio's GOP has opened the door to renewed socialist education by requiring every student in state university to take a course that includes study of "the American economic system and capitalism." There is no other description of what this requires. Thank you comrade State Senator Jerry Cirino!
September 24, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Ohio's GOP has opened the door to renewed socialist education by requiring every student in state university to take a course that includes study of "the American economic system and capitalism." There is no other description of what this requires. Thank you comrade State Senator Jerry Cirino!
Reposted by Timothy Messer-Kruse
The firehose of corruption is overwhelming, I know, but if this NYT investigation is true, these offenses are as impeachment-worthy as anything these corrupt kleptocrats have done across two administrations www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...
5 Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into 2 Giant Deals Involving Trump
www.nytimes.com
September 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The firehose of corruption is overwhelming, I know, but if this NYT investigation is true, these offenses are as impeachment-worthy as anything these corrupt kleptocrats have done across two administrations www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...
Trump's budget justified cutting funds to teacher training because: "taxpayer dollars being weaponized to indoctrinate new teachers" in "inappropriate and unnecessary topics" such as 'anti-racism'" Anti-racism is indoctrination now?
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov
September 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Trump's budget justified cutting funds to teacher training because: "taxpayer dollars being weaponized to indoctrinate new teachers" in "inappropriate and unnecessary topics" such as 'anti-racism'" Anti-racism is indoctrination now?
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Trump's Const. Day EO is all blood and soil with a dash of McCarthyism: its all "refortifying our storied national customs, culture, heritage, and values" and guarding "our constitutional way of life against those who seek to destroy it — from within or without."
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Constitution Week, 2025
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION This week our Nation proudly celebrates the 238th anniversary of the signing of the United
www.whitehouse.gov
September 20, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Trump's Const. Day EO is all blood and soil with a dash of McCarthyism: its all "refortifying our storied national customs, culture, heritage, and values" and guarding "our constitutional way of life against those who seek to destroy it — from within or without."
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
The next move to censor Higher Ed is announced in Newsweek of all places: "The Charlie Kirk Act ...must declare that American universities, funded by taxpayers, cannot be laboratories of Leninism, Fanonism, and Islamism...All of it must be...completely extinguished."
www.newsweek.com/honor-charli...
www.newsweek.com/honor-charli...
To Honor Charlie Kirk, We Must Continue His Fight | Opinion
The war for the universities is the war for the West. Charlie Kirk knew this. He broke through the walls with charm and courage.
www.newsweek.com
September 20, 2025 at 10:33 AM
The next move to censor Higher Ed is announced in Newsweek of all places: "The Charlie Kirk Act ...must declare that American universities, funded by taxpayers, cannot be laboratories of Leninism, Fanonism, and Islamism...All of it must be...completely extinguished."
www.newsweek.com/honor-charli...
www.newsweek.com/honor-charli...
BTW, I am speaking on Slavery's Fugitives and the Making of the U.S. Constitution at the BGSU Constitution Day Symposium Friday (9/19) at 4:15 in Rm 207 of the Union. In spite of the reluctance of the BGSU Marketing Dept. to mention my existence, they did relent and squeeze my name in at the bottom.
September 18, 2025 at 1:07 PM
BTW, I am speaking on Slavery's Fugitives and the Making of the U.S. Constitution at the BGSU Constitution Day Symposium Friday (9/19) at 4:15 in Rm 207 of the Union. In spite of the reluctance of the BGSU Marketing Dept. to mention my existence, they did relent and squeeze my name in at the bottom.
Conservatives want their history simple and consistent. They refuse complexity and the existence of different standpoints. In doing so they end up silencing and censoring rather than understanding the dynamics of the institutions they love. 1/3
www.city-journal.org/article/trum...
www.city-journal.org/article/trum...
Trump Is Right to Fight Wokeness at the Smithsonian
As mostly federally funded institutions, the museums owe Americans a faithful account of their history.
www.city-journal.org
September 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Conservatives want their history simple and consistent. They refuse complexity and the existence of different standpoints. In doing so they end up silencing and censoring rather than understanding the dynamics of the institutions they love. 1/3
www.city-journal.org/article/trum...
www.city-journal.org/article/trum...
Its time to change the name of the Dept of Education to the Dept of Indoctrination. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Education Dept. partners with conservative groups for civics programming
A coalition of 41 groups, including Turning Point USA and the Heritage Foundation, will create educational programming for the country’s 250th anniversary next year.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Its time to change the name of the Dept of Education to the Dept of Indoctrination. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Why do I suddenly have the dreadful suspicion that some people are following my posts just to report them to my bosses?
September 15, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Why do I suddenly have the dreadful suspicion that some people are following my posts just to report them to my bosses?
Worthwhile reposting this one from the days after Trump was shot. www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/15/t...
The Myth of the Magic Bullet
While much remains unknown about the motives of the would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, one thing is certain. The man who attempted to kill Donald Trump believed his bullet would change the cou...
www.counterpunch.org
September 10, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Worthwhile reposting this one from the days after Trump was shot. www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/15/t...
“Republicans were...the party of the rich and Democrats the party of the poor, the working class. That...has flipped. Today, Democrats are the party of rich coastal elites, and Republicans are a blue-collar party.” Ted Cruz is not wrong.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Column | The political ‘diploma divide’ now applies to members of Congress
A new study shows that over the past 50 years, fewer and fewer Republicans have attended elite colleges, while an increasing share of Democrats attend those schools.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 31, 2025 at 10:41 AM
“Republicans were...the party of the rich and Democrats the party of the poor, the working class. That...has flipped. Today, Democrats are the party of rich coastal elites, and Republicans are a blue-collar party.” Ted Cruz is not wrong.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
So I set ChatGBT a task and it’s been working on it for a week and this is the update I get: “Good morning, Tim. The Constitution Day media contact sheet isn’t finished yet — “ I was told that ver 5 was PhD level—correct, like the worst first year in seminar who didn’t do their readings.
August 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
So I set ChatGBT a task and it’s been working on it for a week and this is the update I get: “Good morning, Tim. The Constitution Day media contact sheet isn’t finished yet — “ I was told that ver 5 was PhD level—correct, like the worst first year in seminar who didn’t do their readings.
Cranky old college graduate says too many people go to college: "too many of them will study too little under the undemanding supervision of faculty who teach too little. Colleges illustrate the seepage of rigor from American life." Your future gig job awaits. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Too many college students
The “everyone must go to college” mindset has been a disservice to millions of young people.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 27, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Cranky old college graduate says too many people go to college: "too many of them will study too little under the undemanding supervision of faculty who teach too little. Colleges illustrate the seepage of rigor from American life." Your future gig job awaits. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...