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Jonathan van Harmelen

@jonrvh88.bsky.social
265 followers 246 following 89 posts

Historian, journalist, occasional procrastinator, cinephile. Sometimes I drum. My website: jvanharmelen.com

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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Happy to announce the publication of my latest article on Dutch Indonesian grocery stores in Southern California for the Journal of Transnational American Studies. Read more about it here: escholarship.org/uc/item/9m13...
escholarship.org
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
This is the content I live for.
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oh no @ili.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
en esta economía??????
nyt cooking melissa clark seis leches cake january 21, 2020
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Happy to share my latest for @newrepublic.com on the important lawsuit between the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Trump Administration over building a new border wall that runs through the Nation's Land.
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Dan DeFreest @dandefreest.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Blanche was confirmed as AG. Just a reminder: The last time a president appointed an attorney he had personal ties to, was when Nixon appointed his law partner and campaign manager John Mitchell. Mitchell ended up disbarred and spent 2 yrs in prison for his role as AG protecting Nixon.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Happy to share my latest article for @seattletimes.com on why past attempts to overturn birthright citizenship have failed. I discuss Regan v. King, the failed 1942 test case to overturn birthright citizenship by removing Japanese Americans from SF voter rolls. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/birt...
seattletimes.com
Anti-Asian sentiment played a part in past citizenship challenges | Op-Ed
Over the decades since the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868, countless challenges to birthright citizenship have been brought and rejected.
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
In 2001, Walter Cronkite appeared on the David Letterman show and shared his thoughts.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
BREAKING: BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) - Homeland Security secretary said man killed by ICE in Maine was not the target of warrant, Maine Sen. Angus King says.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
And so marks the end of all the good, memeable teams in the World Cup. And sadly on Bastille Day no less.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Abolish ICE isn’t even a negotiable point. It’s a must for any Democratic candidate and anybody else wanting to ensure American democracy survives.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NEWS --> Three men who were in the van with the victim of the ICE shooting in Texas are potential witnesses, but they're now under pressure to self-deport, a rep for the families tells me. They remain in detention even as ICE's story falters. Details in this piece: newrepublic.com/article/2129...
newrepublic.com
Texas ICE Killing Darkens: Rep Says Witnesses Pressured to Self-Deport
There were three others in the van with the man shot by ICE in Houston this week. A represenative for the families tells TNR that the government is pressuring these potential witnesses to self-deport.
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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 14/01/2025
Misinformation isn't random - it's strategic. 🧵 In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians. We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties. with @julianachueri.bsky.social doi.org/10.1177/1940...
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Of the many batshit things in Alito's dissent in Trump v. Barbara, this stood out: "Instead, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country." Had Alito been on the bench in 1944, he would have joined the majority in Korematsu.
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Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) @repstansbury.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
On Birthright Citizenship: “The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery.” -Justice Ketanji Brown 💅💕
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
It is a bitter irony that before the court ruled to uphold Wong Kim Ark v. U.S., the Trump Administration announced the closing of NARA San Bruno, which holds the records of the case. Doing so would limit access to those records. This needs to be blocked. federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-c...
federalnewsnetwork.com
National Archives to transition out of three federal records centers | Federal News Network
The decision is expected to cut costs and reduce the agency’s real estate portfolio, but it’s not yet clear how the moves will impact NARA employees.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Birthright citizenship is upheld in Trump v. Barbara. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p....
supremecourt.gov
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Humphrey's Executor is dead and the president can fire anyone in the executive branch at will but NOT Federal Reserve governors is really a parody of the difference between the money power and everything else in America
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Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
the joke spray will continue until morale improves
a single panel comic that reads "Meanwhile..." at the top left, featuring a very large can labeled "JOKE SPRAY" pointing at and spraying spider-man. spider-man is labeled "AVERAGE BLUESKY USER" and is coughing while saying "This is *terrible*!"
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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Read my interview from yesterday with Darializa Avila Chevalier, the next congressperson from the 13th district of New York 😎 www.thenation.com/article/poli...
thenation.com
Darializa Avila Chevalier Wants “Babies, Not Bombs”
As a critical primary approaches, we talk to the organizer and congressional candidate about Palestine, New York City, and her experience of an unexpectedly vicious campaign.
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Los Angeles Times @latimes.com · 25/06/2026
Hiltzik: Puncturing the myth of Alan Greenspan, whose policies gave us the Great Recession
latimes.com
Commentary: Puncturing the myth of Alan Greenspan, whose policies gave us the Great Recession
Alan Greenspan was revered in the 1980s and 1990s for supporting the stock market, but retrospective views cloud his legacy.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
This. The current Supreme Court is in the running to become one of the most xenophobic in U.S. history, and Roberts’s legacy will be seen as defaulting to Trumpism.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Dems have to run on this hard. Do not let the RFK types try to spin what his own party just signed off on here. Actual Monsanto, the comic book villain of Adbusters days, was shielded from liability over poisoning Americans. I don't care if it's slopulism: this Supreme Court wants you dead.
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futuredadOfTwo🙋🏻‍♂️ @lacroixboi.dadguy.pro · 20/06/2026
werner herzog with a speech bubble over the quoted post
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
i think if you dress like this, you deserve to do a little corruption
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Along with my usual political writings, I contribute articles to @discovernikkei.bsky.social. Wonder how anime first made its way to the US? My article tells the story of three Japanese American businessmen who brought Toei's first full length anime film, The White Snake Enchantress, to the US.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Happy to share my latest with the good folks at @newrepublic.com, where I unpack the results of the recent California primary and offer some thoughts on Golden State politics. Check it out!
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 09/06/2026
From environmental disasters and unaffordability to AI anxiety, there are warning signs to those who’ve clung to the established order that they must start delivering solutions. At some point, something’s got to give—or else MAGA might convince voters to give them the reins. trib.al/7bJE0S2
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Always love a good typo once in a while to remind students (and myself) that even seasoned writers make mistakes
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Wrote a piece for @slate.com on how our theories of partisan polarization gave the SCOTUS majority more intellectual cover to kill the VRA slate.com/news-and-pol...
The ruling also rests on a methodological error that would earn a failing grade in a graduate statistics course. The court treats race and party as competing explanations, as if controlling for one neutralizes the other. But for millions of American voters, race explains party affiliation.
The vast majority of Black Americans did not randomly sort into the Democratic Party.
Already trending blue since the New Deal, they were pushed fully into the Democratic Party by Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act and Republicans' Southern Strategy over the decades since. To "control for partisanship" when assessing racial gerrymandering is to erase the very mechanism through which racism travels. Consider the analogy of a court ruling that a company didn't discriminate by gender in pay because, once you control for being a manager or executive-positions from which women were systematically excluded — the gap disappears. Or that if you exclude people with high blood pressure, then a high sodium diet appears to have no effect on your risk of stroke.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
If you haven't already, check out Ann Hermes's photography project on documenting local newsrooms. There's a great article covering her work in the AP today, but here is the link to the photographs themselves. www.annhermesphoto.com/newsrooms
annhermesphoto.com
Local Newsrooms — Ann Hermes Photo & Video
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
It’s as if a whole industry has a punchable face
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 21/04/2026
ICE’s tactics aren’t new. Years ago, sheriff Joe Arpaio turned Arizona into a testing ground for aggressive immigration enforcement including mass detentions, racial profiling and tent jails. Much of it was later ruled unconstitutional.
theconversation.com
ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio in the early 2000s
The Trump administration’s immigration detention policies appear to be, in part, inspired by the heavy-handed tactics of the former Arizona sheriff.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Here is my latest writing for @theconversation.com, where I talk about the legacy of Joe Arpaio, notably his building Tent City and the case of Melendres v. Arpaio, and the parallels to ICE and CBP's use of racial profiling and inhumane detention. theconversation.com/ices-heavy-h...
theconversation.com
ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio in the early 2000s
The Trump administration’s immigration detention policies appear to be, in part, inspired by the heavy-handed tactics of the former Arizona sheriff.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Excited to share my latest work for the amazing folks @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social. I wrote about Methodist priest and ACLU leader Rev. Aaron Allen Heist, who took on the anti-Japanese movement in Santa Maria, California during WWII. Check it out! www.zocalopublicsquare.org/preacher-imm...
zocalopublicsquare.org
Preacher, Immigrant Defender, World War II-Era Rebel | Essay
Santa Maria Ostracized Rev. Heist for Speaking Out for Japanese Americans. Today, His Courage Resonates Anew
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
An amazing read on labor politics in publishing. Not only does it give readers a rare glimpse into the workings of a major periodical, but also offers a striking account of the struggles that journalists are facing as workers at a time when cutbacks have sadly become a norm.
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RedruM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You  know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 29/03/2026
BREAKING: After ProPublica published letters written by children at the Dilley concentration camp, ICE officers raided the dormitories and confiscated the children's letters. I'm suing ICE to get them back. I'll explain it all in 45 minutes on @meidastouch.com here: www.youtube.com/live/H-D8SzR...
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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Newspaper covers from around U.S. on No Kings protests. Many papers did a good job of putting massive protests front & center. Others completely ignored on page 1. @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social. Strong coverage: NYT, LAT, WaPo, MN Star-Tribune, NYDN, Philly Inquirer, LA La Opinión, NY El Diario.
NYT, LAT, Washington Post and Minnesota Star Tribune all cover protests prominently NY Daily News, Philly Inquirer, La Opinión LA and El Diario NY all cover protests very prominently
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 25/03/2026
C-SPAN caller to Rep. Pete Sessions: "Your party has given the power of the presidency to an insane, pedophelic serial killer"
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Huell Howser’s show had many gems, but this one is hands down among the top 5
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Excuse me while I take my dog Boss Tweed to get his kibble from Tammany Hall
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Another banger of a piece
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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
"The people of the Twin Cities" are the winners of the prestigious 2026 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award www.huffpost.com/entry/latest...
huffpost.com
Prestigious Kennedy Award Goes To 'The People Of The Twin Cities'
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Happy to share my latest article for the good folks @newrepublic.com, where I tackle recent shakeups in American journalism and highlight my ongoing teaching on the history of American journalism and the rise of disinformation. newrepublic.com/article/2075...
newrepublic.com
The Decay of American Journalism in a Disinformation Age
The media industry is just one American institution that’s been badly shaken. Its revival may be crucial to putting the world back together.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The Allies
media.tenor.com
a basketball player wearing a lakers jersey is making a funny face
ALT: a basketball player wearing a lakers jersey is making a funny face
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Jason Linkins @dceiver.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
🤔
Axios tweet: "It's the terminally online news junkies who are detached from the actual reality.

We've been manipulated by algorithms and politicians amplifying the worst of humanity. Our feeds and screens spread a twisted, inaccurate view of America."the hot dog meme
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Whoops, said the unconstitutional part out loud.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Something I talk about a lot with my students regarding disinformation: an overreliance on social media that keeps you focused on a massive amount of content policed by one of the biggest monopolies in US history. And as Matt says, social media is not free; you lose your time.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
This is not the best part of the firing, but it’s in the Top 10.
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Jonathan van Harmelen @jonrvh88.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
As a reminder, Trump showed up to Puerto Rico - part of the U.S. - after Hurricane Maria in 2017, and his idea of emergency response was throwing paper towels to the crowd.
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