Steven Nelson
@snelsonus.bsky.social
Former dean, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art; UCLA professor emeritus; and left-handed art historian who sees lots of shiny objects.
Merry Christmas!!
December 25, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Merry Christmas!!
Exactly.
December 22, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Exactly.
Witness the Barbra Streisand effect.
Bari Weiss is even more hamhanded than I imagined her to be.
Gift link:
Gift link:
‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Witness the Barbra Streisand effect.
Reposted by Steven Nelson
BREAKING: The Trump administration is suing D.C. over its ban on semi-automatic (AR-15) weapons.
DOJ's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon is seeking a court ruling that D.C.'s law "prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second Amendment."
DOJ's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon is seeking a court ruling that D.C.'s law "prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second Amendment."
December 22, 2025 at 8:05 PM
BREAKING: The Trump administration is suing D.C. over its ban on semi-automatic (AR-15) weapons.
DOJ's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon is seeking a court ruling that D.C.'s law "prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second Amendment."
DOJ's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon is seeking a court ruling that D.C.'s law "prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second Amendment."
Reposted by Steven Nelson
Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.
December 21, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.
Sounds about right.
So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.
December 22, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Sounds about right.
Reposted by Steven Nelson
Censoring a story about the outsourced regime gulag is not consistent with freedom of speech. But it is consistent with the belief that “free speech” is when conservatives can say what they want and when you can say what they want.
December 22, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Censoring a story about the outsourced regime gulag is not consistent with freedom of speech. But it is consistent with the belief that “free speech” is when conservatives can say what they want and when you can say what they want.
I’ll refer to the Kennedy Center using the name Trump as often as I refer to National Airport using the name Reagan.
That frequency is never.
That frequency is never.
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I’ll refer to the Kennedy Center using the name Trump as often as I refer to National Airport using the name Reagan.
That frequency is never.
That frequency is never.
Reposted by Steven Nelson
Dems about to learn of this phenomenon known as the Barbra Streisand effect.
BREAKING: The Democratic National Committee will NOT release its long-awaited autopsy on Trump's 2024 win. The report is completed but Dem leaders decided it could distract from their winning streak, so it will remain secret. Not good.
Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2045...
Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2045...
Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024
The Democratic National Committee has completed its long-awaited analysis on what went wrong in the 2024 campaign. But in a move that will attract intense criticism, it’s keeping the findings secret.
newrepublic.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Dems about to learn of this phenomenon known as the Barbra Streisand effect.
This is not making me mad. www.npr.org/2025/12/18/n...
Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' breaks an all-time chart record
With Carey's enduring Christmas hit, we may be looking at a record that borders on the untouchable.
www.npr.org
December 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
This is not making me mad. www.npr.org/2025/12/18/n...
So true.
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."
December 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM
So true.
Christopher Anderson's pictures for @vanityfair.com are a piercing study in power and corruption. Kudos to him and to the team that ensured they would be published. If I were teaching a class in representation and resistance, this work and its entry into the public sphere would be front and center.
December 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Christopher Anderson's pictures for @vanityfair.com are a piercing study in power and corruption. Kudos to him and to the team that ensured they would be published. If I were teaching a class in representation and resistance, this work and its entry into the public sphere would be front and center.
Bookshelf Residency: Feminist Press at ICA LA is a fantastic look at the venue’s 55 years of publishing. Some of the best known and most important feminist work in both fiction and non-fiction came out of this press. It’s great to learn more about its history.
December 14, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Bookshelf Residency: Feminist Press at ICA LA is a fantastic look at the venue’s 55 years of publishing. Some of the best known and most important feminist work in both fiction and non-fiction came out of this press. It’s great to learn more about its history.
Reposted by Steven Nelson
They're not even trying to appear nonpartisan anymore.
December 4, 2025 at 11:05 PM
They're not even trying to appear nonpartisan anymore.
A Virginia grand jury has refused to indict NY AG Letitia James. This is good. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Grand jury declines to indict N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, less than two weeks after the first case was dismissed
Federal officials failed to secure the new indictment against James, whom Trump has targeted, after a judge said the previous one was secured by an unlawfully appointed prosecutor.
www.nbcnews.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:49 PM
A Virginia grand jury has refused to indict NY AG Letitia James. This is good. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
If this person weren’t so wealthy we would call him a hoarder. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/t...
A Home That Proves You Can Never Have Too Many Books
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:55 PM
If this person weren’t so wealthy we would call him a hoarder. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/t...
Reposted by Steven Nelson
What does it say about this country that that the kind of open, rank bigotry Trump administration officials regularly express towards black immigrants apparently has no social cost because of the number of Americans who quietly agree or don't care.
December 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
What does it say about this country that that the kind of open, rank bigotry Trump administration officials regularly express towards black immigrants apparently has no social cost because of the number of Americans who quietly agree or don't care.
I am thrilled to see the premiere of Art &, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts’ new book series. Art & endeavors to better understand the role of art and artists in imagining a dynamic social fabric.
www.nga.gov/press/nation...
www.nga.gov/press/nation...
National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts Announces New Publication, Art & | National Gallery of Art
www.nga.gov
December 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I am thrilled to see the premiere of Art &, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts’ new book series. Art & endeavors to better understand the role of art and artists in imagining a dynamic social fabric.
www.nga.gov/press/nation...
www.nga.gov/press/nation...
Reposted by Steven Nelson
Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of workers who rely on food stamps.
McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.
Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.
See the problem?
McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.
Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.
See the problem?
November 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of workers who rely on food stamps.
McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.
Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.
See the problem?
McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.
Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.
See the problem?
Reposted by Steven Nelson
“Animikii is happy to announce the release of the #DataBack eBook, written for Indigenous-focused organizations and governments to transform data governance through advanced tools, principles, and practices.”
#DataBack | Recognize and Reclaim Indigenous Data Sovereignty
— Animikii Indigenous Technology
Data are essential for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples to inform policies, make better decisions, and ensure a better future for the next generations. So what does this look like in practice?
animikii.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
“Animikii is happy to announce the release of the #DataBack eBook, written for Indigenous-focused organizations and governments to transform data governance through advanced tools, principles, and practices.”
Reposted by Steven Nelson
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
This is awesome.
Boston's Mayor Wu playing with Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Hall
November 23, 2025 at 6:09 AM
This is awesome.
"An insatiable, avaricious desire to accumulate riches, cooperating with a spirit of luxury and injustice, seems to be the leading cause of this peculiarly degrading and ignominious practice."
- Othello, "Essay on Negro Slavery," Baltimore, 1788
- Othello, "Essay on Negro Slavery," Baltimore, 1788
November 21, 2025 at 6:22 PM
"An insatiable, avaricious desire to accumulate riches, cooperating with a spirit of luxury and injustice, seems to be the leading cause of this peculiarly degrading and ignominious practice."
- Othello, "Essay on Negro Slavery," Baltimore, 1788
- Othello, "Essay on Negro Slavery," Baltimore, 1788