Rebecca Spang
@rlspang.bsky.social
Professor of History, sometimes administrator at big public university in Midwest. Writes about money, French Revolution, restaurants. Friend to vert paleo.
ex UCL History; Yale SOM Visiting Fellow; Guggenheim and New America Fellow.
once/future Mainer
ex UCL History; Yale SOM Visiting Fellow; Guggenheim and New America Fellow.
once/future Mainer
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
You've probably been following the story about fraud in MN. I wrote about the people who provide services who are being driven into bankruptcy, thanks to the Walz' administration decision to hire Optum AI to screen all payments. It's a disaster.
Perry: Trusted providers are being unfairly swept up in Minnesota’s fraud crackdown
As the state's new anti-fraud screening system went into effect, the Holland Center expected to receive $212,000 in payments. It instead received $22,000, David M. Perry writes. If nothing changes soo...
www.startribune.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:53 AM
You've probably been following the story about fraud in MN. I wrote about the people who provide services who are being driven into bankruptcy, thanks to the Walz' administration decision to hire Optum AI to screen all payments. It's a disaster.
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
A nice take on Trump revisiting (and expanding) the Nixon playbook -- and even given its length, doesn't have space to get to impoundment, and war powers, and...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...
After Watergate, the Presidency Was Tamed. Trump Is Unleashing It.
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:25 PM
A nice take on Trump revisiting (and expanding) the Nixon playbook -- and even given its length, doesn't have space to get to impoundment, and war powers, and...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
And please, PLEASE let us not forget that time in 2023 when Karen Smith was elected President of the school board in Bucks County, Pa and swore her oath on a stack of banned books. The most gangsta oath ever! Just brilliant. www.edweek.org/leadership/t...
This School Board President Took Her Oath on a Stack of Contested Books. Here's Why
The school board for Central Bucks County, Pa., has been at the center of divisive political debates.
www.edweek.org
January 1, 2026 at 11:21 PM
And please, PLEASE let us not forget that time in 2023 when Karen Smith was elected President of the school board in Bucks County, Pa and swore her oath on a stack of banned books. The most gangsta oath ever! Just brilliant. www.edweek.org/leadership/t...
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
If you're wondering, "why this soup?"
Because enslaved people were made to cultivate the crops and prepare this soup for their enslavers while being banned from eating it. It's the ultimate fuck you.
Also, I a soup hater, think it is tasty.
Because enslaved people were made to cultivate the crops and prepare this soup for their enslavers while being banned from eating it. It's the ultimate fuck you.
Also, I a soup hater, think it is tasty.
Haiti's Beloved Soup Joumou Serves Up 'Freedom in Every Bowl'
Every year, Haitians around the globe eat the pumpkin dish on January 1 to commemorate the liberation of the world’s first free Black republic
www.smithsonianmag.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:39 AM
If you're wondering, "why this soup?"
Because enslaved people were made to cultivate the crops and prepare this soup for their enslavers while being banned from eating it. It's the ultimate fuck you.
Also, I a soup hater, think it is tasty.
Because enslaved people were made to cultivate the crops and prepare this soup for their enslavers while being banned from eating it. It's the ultimate fuck you.
Also, I a soup hater, think it is tasty.
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Danish PM defies Trump in New Year’s speech as US rehashes Greenland annexation plans
Danish PM defies Trump in New Year’s speech as US rehashes Greenland annexation plans
Danish PM defies Trump in New Year’s speech as US rehashes Greenland annexation plans
www.independent.co.uk
January 2, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Danish PM defies Trump in New Year’s speech as US rehashes Greenland annexation plans
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Thomas Paine began 1776 with _Common Sense_ and the call to reject monarchy, and ended with _The American Crisis_, warning that "these are the times that try men's souls."
Like many in my field, I've spent the last dozen years preparing for 2026, sure that the fullest histories serve us best. 1/
Like many in my field, I've spent the last dozen years preparing for 2026, sure that the fullest histories serve us best. 1/
January 1, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Thomas Paine began 1776 with _Common Sense_ and the call to reject monarchy, and ended with _The American Crisis_, warning that "these are the times that try men's souls."
Like many in my field, I've spent the last dozen years preparing for 2026, sure that the fullest histories serve us best. 1/
Like many in my field, I've spent the last dozen years preparing for 2026, sure that the fullest histories serve us best. 1/
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
I wrote this in a dark moment after Trump’s 2nd inauguration to signal hope. It aged well. Those rays are getting brighter. And I have an even better feeling about 2026.
Years of studying American politics taught me this: In times of political turmoil, focus on democracy's rays of hope. Do everything you can to keep them lit. They may soon shine like the sun—and sooner than we might expect.
January 1, 2026 at 10:42 PM
I wrote this in a dark moment after Trump’s 2nd inauguration to signal hope. It aged well. Those rays are getting brighter. And I have an even better feeling about 2026.
Ever since January 2017, I have assumed that the point of Trumpism is to strip the country and sell it for parts. I feel no satisfaction in finding my assumption was correct
‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center
‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center
Sheldon Whitehouse, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, remains undeterred and determined to press on with his investigation
www.theguardian.com
January 1, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Ever since January 2017, I have assumed that the point of Trumpism is to strip the country and sell it for parts. I feel no satisfaction in finding my assumption was correct
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center
‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center
Sheldon Whitehouse, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, remains undeterred and determined to press on with his investigation
www.theguardian.com
January 1, 2026 at 6:19 PM
‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Breakfast will be summonable by the press of a button
January 1, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Breakfast will be summonable by the press of a button
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Utrecht University abolishes its English language bachelor's program in economics and replaces it with a Dutch one.
They told staff (~30% international) the week before Christmas. Layoffs seem likely now. Unwarranted lobotomy is the only word I can find for it...
dub.uu.nl/en/news/econ...
They told staff (~30% international) the week before Christmas. Layoffs seem likely now. Unwarranted lobotomy is the only word I can find for it...
dub.uu.nl/en/news/econ...
Economics programme in shock after sudden cancellation of English-taught track
The Bachelor's programme in Economics & Business Economics will only be offered in Dutch from 2029 onwards, the Executive Board announced on Tuesday. The news came as a complete surprise to the econom...
dub.uu.nl
December 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Utrecht University abolishes its English language bachelor's program in economics and replaces it with a Dutch one.
They told staff (~30% international) the week before Christmas. Layoffs seem likely now. Unwarranted lobotomy is the only word I can find for it...
dub.uu.nl/en/news/econ...
They told staff (~30% international) the week before Christmas. Layoffs seem likely now. Unwarranted lobotomy is the only word I can find for it...
dub.uu.nl/en/news/econ...
Thanks @merriam-webster.com This one works for me!
January 1, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Thanks @merriam-webster.com This one works for me!
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Russia inherited 3 great power attributes from the USSR: a large nuclear arsenal, a permanent UNSC seat, and a position at the centre of a former empire that gave it (it thought) an automatic sphere of influence.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Russia inherited 3 great power attributes from the USSR: a large nuclear arsenal, a permanent UNSC seat, and a position at the centre of a former empire that gave it (it thought) an automatic sphere of influence.
Russia isn’t winning in Ukraine. 🧵
After four years – equivalent to all of the US Civil War or almost all of WW1 - it’s no closer to this goal than it was in 2022. There’s no reason to think that Russia, with a weaker economy, will do in 2026 or 2027 what it was unable to do in 2022-2025.
January 1, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Russia isn’t winning in Ukraine. 🧵
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
I'd add that Vance has repeatedly insisted that the GOP welcome Hitler-lovers like Nick Fuentes, who continually bashes Vance and his wife, into the party.
This has been reported almost exclusively as him expressing "unity" and trying to avoid infighting.
This has been reported almost exclusively as him expressing "unity" and trying to avoid infighting.
January 1, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I'd add that Vance has repeatedly insisted that the GOP welcome Hitler-lovers like Nick Fuentes, who continually bashes Vance and his wife, into the party.
This has been reported almost exclusively as him expressing "unity" and trying to avoid infighting.
This has been reported almost exclusively as him expressing "unity" and trying to avoid infighting.
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Congress should stop this.
Also, if Trump wants to enjoy an imitation of the Arc de Triomphe done in a style and at a place congenial to him, he can visit the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Also, if Trump wants to enjoy an imitation of the Arc de Triomphe done in a style and at a place congenial to him, he can visit the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Trump says construction of the ‘Triumphal Arch’ to begin in ‘2 months’
The monument would be a centerpiece of the White House’s plans for America’s 250th birthday.
www.politico.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Congress should stop this.
Also, if Trump wants to enjoy an imitation of the Arc de Triomphe done in a style and at a place congenial to him, he can visit the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Also, if Trump wants to enjoy an imitation of the Arc de Triomphe done in a style and at a place congenial to him, he can visit the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
December 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
I make this point all the time. As historians, we know nothing lasts forever. It’s a bit disorienting to live through the decline + fall of the American public research university (and it’s maddening that said decline has the causes it does) but history is about change—in all domains and directions
Every field of historical inquiry fades eventually. And it sucks to be the old guy in the room when it happens to yours. But if you take the longer view (and we are historians after all), concerns that seem dead do come back eventually. Or you can decide that everything is shit now. It's a choice.
December 31, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I make this point all the time. As historians, we know nothing lasts forever. It’s a bit disorienting to live through the decline + fall of the American public research university (and it’s maddening that said decline has the causes it does) but history is about change—in all domains and directions
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Trump and Stephen Miller are actually failing in crucial ways. Deportations are lagging behind their goals, courts are mostly functioning, and their fascist, ethnonationalist cruelties have unleashed a countermobilization of unexpected scope and power.
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2046...
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2046...
December 31, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Trump and Stephen Miller are actually failing in crucial ways. Deportations are lagging behind their goals, courts are mostly functioning, and their fascist, ethnonationalist cruelties have unleashed a countermobilization of unexpected scope and power.
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2046...
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2046...
“I opposed your candidacy, but I came around”—said to me by a senior professor on my very first day in a real teaching job
Forget insults, what’s the most unhinged *compliment* you’ve ever received?
December 31, 2025 at 4:12 AM
“I opposed your candidacy, but I came around”—said to me by a senior professor on my very first day in a real teaching job
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
This is the key. You can win some elections, but you can't force people to like or respect you; ironically, Trump's people want that respect from people they claim to care nothing about. They don't hate the "elites" - they envy that club, and they're mad because money and power can't buy them in.
Trumpers have a howling void of angry insecurity where a soul should be. Unchecked power tastes like ashes in their mouth because they thought when they got it everyone would be forced to like and admire them even though they’re irredeemable assholes. But people still treat them like assholes.
Trump crony has embarrassing meltdown after more Kennedy Center performers quit www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
December 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
This is the key. You can win some elections, but you can't force people to like or respect you; ironically, Trump's people want that respect from people they claim to care nothing about. They don't hate the "elites" - they envy that club, and they're mad because money and power can't buy them in.
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
Formally categorised as extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2025
🔴 Slender-billed curlew
🟡 Christmas Island shrew
🟠 3 Australian mammals
🟤 a species of ebony tree and Hawaiian lobelioid
⚫ a cone snail
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
🔴 Slender-billed curlew
🟡 Christmas Island shrew
🟠 3 Australian mammals
🟤 a species of ebony tree and Hawaiian lobelioid
⚫ a cone snail
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
Declared extinct in 2025: A look back at some of the species we lost
Some species officially bid us farewell this year. They may have long been gone, but following more recent assessments, they’re now formally categorized as extinct on the IUCN Red List, considered the...
news.mongabay.com
December 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Formally categorised as extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2025
🔴 Slender-billed curlew
🟡 Christmas Island shrew
🟠 3 Australian mammals
🟤 a species of ebony tree and Hawaiian lobelioid
⚫ a cone snail
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
🔴 Slender-billed curlew
🟡 Christmas Island shrew
🟠 3 Australian mammals
🟤 a species of ebony tree and Hawaiian lobelioid
⚫ a cone snail
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
The extent of "institutional vision" today: Be like the football team! www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | This playbook got Indiana to a Rose Bowl. It can improve college education.
What my fellow university presidents could learn from the Hoosiers’ football approach.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
The extent of "institutional vision" today: Be like the football team! www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Rebecca Spang
‘Netanyahu’s abiding fear is not that peace can never be achieved but that it might be.’
Jacqueline Rose on Netanyahu, the genocide in Gaza, and the crisis in Israel:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jacqueline Rose on Netanyahu, the genocide in Gaza, and the crisis in Israel:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jacqueline Rose · When the Messiah Comes: When I met Netanyahu
Netanyahu is trying to absolve himself of a guilt whose reality he denies. He wants to be declared innocent without...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 30, 2025 at 3:02 PM
‘Netanyahu’s abiding fear is not that peace can never be achieved but that it might be.’
Jacqueline Rose on Netanyahu, the genocide in Gaza, and the crisis in Israel:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jacqueline Rose on Netanyahu, the genocide in Gaza, and the crisis in Israel:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Flying to my brother’s, my ear stopped up and didn’t clear. It’s still ringing, throbbing and I have lost my voice. Am I right to think that even with decongestants, it would be unwise to get on a plane this afternoon?
December 30, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Flying to my brother’s, my ear stopped up and didn’t clear. It’s still ringing, throbbing and I have lost my voice. Am I right to think that even with decongestants, it would be unwise to get on a plane this afternoon?