Rebecca Scales
@rebeccapscales.bsky.social
Historian; Rutgers Ph.D.; thinking about radio, listening, & sound; empire; tech, medicine, & disability; writing about #polio in France. Baker & dog parent. Tired of sitting still.
You don't say ...
NEW: We filed an FEC complaint alleging Trump’s 2024 Madison Square Garden rally was illegally funded primarily by super PACs, including one almost entirely funded by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. This violates federal campaign finance law.
November 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
You don't say ...
taking bets at how many students will show for tomorrow's class at ... 3:30 p.m.
November 24, 2025 at 11:51 PM
taking bets at how many students will show for tomorrow's class at ... 3:30 p.m.
Such a great essay!
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...
November 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Such a great essay!
He looks very unwell. Which is maybe what happens when you sell your soul and conscience
The MAGA White House is scrambling to contain backlash to a plan critics say would amount to Ukraine’s surrender after nearly four years of brutal war.
Trump Admin Caught Passing Russia’s Homework Off as Its Own
The MAGA White House is scrambling to contain backlash to a plan critics say would amount to Ukraine’s surrender after nearly four years of brutal war.
trib.al
November 23, 2025 at 3:39 PM
He looks very unwell. Which is maybe what happens when you sell your soul and conscience
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
Academics who have advised a graduate student from China over the past years would be banned from federal funding. This would give the federal government one more lever to attack scientists. And how long before they expand the list of "hostile foreign" countries?
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Academics who have advised a graduate student from China over the past years would be banned from federal funding. This would give the federal government one more lever to attack scientists. And how long before they expand the list of "hostile foreign" countries?
This is such a scandal www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
Fired Scholars and Big Grants to Favored Projects: Inside Trump’s N.E.H.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is such a scandal www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
ICYMI: The Oxford University Press has begun a collective consultation process, which The Bookseller understands, if approved, would result in 113 redundancies 👇 #BookSky
Oxford University Press enters collective consultation 'proposing 113 redundancies'
ebx.sh
November 12, 2025 at 6:45 PM
ICYMI: The Oxford University Press has begun a collective consultation process, which The Bookseller understands, if approved, would result in 113 redundancies 👇 #BookSky
Today is the only day of the semester where I get to play both Johnny Hallyday and Jacques Tati in class!
a man with an umbrella stands in a waiting room
ALT: a man with an umbrella stands in a waiting room
media.tenor.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Today is the only day of the semester where I get to play both Johnny Hallyday and Jacques Tati in class!
so the democrats also agreed to this
Buried inside the deal to reopen government is a provision that would give Senators private right of action to sue for millions in damages over their phone records being analyzed by Jack Smith's team.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
Shutdown Deal Would Let Senators Sue Over Jack Smith Searches
Senators whose phone records were sought by Special Counsel Jack Smith would gain authority to sue for millions in damages under a provision buried in the Senate-advanced deal to reopen the government...
news.bloomberglaw.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:07 PM
so the democrats also agreed to this
As someone who has just finished her 3rd peer review for the same journal since May, it is clear that some people in the scholarly world are not pulling their weight. That is all.
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
As someone who has just finished her 3rd peer review for the same journal since May, it is clear that some people in the scholarly world are not pulling their weight. That is all.
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
The U.S. Air Force Academy's academic accreditation is under review following a formal complaint that the institution no longer has sufficient Ph.D.-level faculty as the federal government reduces its civilian workforce // Story by @thenoellephillips.bsky.social
Air Force Academy’s accreditation under review after cuts to civilian faculty
Concerned alumni and former faculty told The Denver Post they believe the academy is losing too many civilian Ph.D.-level instructors without the ability to replace them with qualified military mem…
www.denverpost.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
The U.S. Air Force Academy's academic accreditation is under review following a formal complaint that the institution no longer has sufficient Ph.D.-level faculty as the federal government reduces its civilian workforce // Story by @thenoellephillips.bsky.social
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
My Ukrainian-American dermatologist went to Yale and took a history class with Tim Snyder that he loves to discuss. He also reads Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter. Just in case you wondered whether historians are making a difference in the "real" world.
November 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
My Ukrainian-American dermatologist went to Yale and took a history class with Tim Snyder that he loves to discuss. He also reads Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter. Just in case you wondered whether historians are making a difference in the "real" world.
HOPE
November 5, 2025 at 3:03 AM
HOPE
Merde
November 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Merde
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
New awareness campaign
November 3, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New awareness campaign
Nobody show this to @laprofmme.bsky.social
sure, you might not be able to eat or go to the doctor, but check out how nice Trump's new marble shitter is
October 31, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Nobody show this to @laprofmme.bsky.social
It's not about $$ .... as anyone who is paying attention knows
Good morning, faculty colleagues of all ranks and types of employment. By show of hands, comments, puke emoji, etc., how many of of you are experiencing claims that your institution is in a “budget crisis,” that is going under- or unexplained, yet has resulted in austerity?
October 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
It's not about $$ .... as anyone who is paying attention knows
I want this!!
This book is titled “Disabling Intelligences” for many reasons. First, because so-called “AI” is built from historical commitments to the excision of disability from the classification of humanity.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…
October 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I want this!!
Everyone read JB's work -- it's important to understanding contemporary attitudes toward autism in France!
I was lucky to publish something with the amazing @nursingclio.bsky.social team. However, it’s not about positive developments.
This may be a bit late - big scary server thing took us offline! - but glad to publish this essay. Briggs considers the development of autism diagnoses & how it shaped autistic peoples' lives very differently in the US and France. #histmed #dishist @nursingclio.bsky.social 🗃️https://wp.me/p6hgwQ-9hG
October 26, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Everyone read JB's work -- it's important to understanding contemporary attitudes toward autism in France!
Reposted by Rebecca Scales
Wake up, babe, the least subtle visual metaphor in history just dropped
October 21, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Wake up, babe, the least subtle visual metaphor in history just dropped
Having three quarters of American universities reliant on Amazon cloud servers seems like a bad idea.
October 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Having three quarters of American universities reliant on Amazon cloud servers seems like a bad idea.
Wow, an actual job in European history
***Job Opportunity***
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Modern Europe: Urban History, Fordham University
76/
careers.historians.org/jobs/2173026...
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Modern Europe: Urban History, Fordham University
76/
careers.historians.org/jobs/2173026...
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Modern Europe: Urban History in New York, NY for Fordham University
Exciting opportunity in New York, NY for Fordham University as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor...
careers.historians.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Wow, an actual job in European history
Everyone thank Bezos for destroying one of America's iconic newspapers. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...
The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay
Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.
www.forbes.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Everyone thank Bezos for destroying one of America's iconic newspapers. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...