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Rachel Dobson

@rachelzd.bsky.social
379 followers 304 following 161 posts

Family history researcher + writer, artist, embroiderer, home librarian + archivist, #dougjonesforgovernor , Smithie, UofA, Alabama School of Fine Arts grad. I'm on Wikitree and LibraryThing. #NoKings #NoWar

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Reposted by Rachel Dobson
Jon Ossoff @ossoff.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We will vote to rebuke him so decisively no president will dare such abuses again for centuries.
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Yes, sing while you check your registration and GO VOTE!
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Live at 5 pm (CDT) Sep 3: John Archibald will talk about the 60s and 70s in Birmingham, Ala., with his h.s. friend the same age, who is Black: "underneath, we discovered, there is very much we never talked about or understood." johnarchibald.substack.com/p/growing-up...
johnarchibald.substack.com
Growing up Bombingham
‘63x63, live at 5 tonight
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Alabama Reflector @alabamareflector.com · 28/08/2026
Via Ralph Chapoco: A Morgan County judge Friday denied a new trial for a former Alabama death row inmate who cited evidence that his attorney at his first trial had ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
alabamareflector.com
Judge denies new trial for Alabama inmate who cited defense attorney's ties to KKK | Alabama Reflector
The judge says that Alabama law bars Myers from getting another chance at another trial after he already appealed his sentence once.
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Stacey Burns @wentrogue.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Jennifer Nelson’s entry to this year’s Minnesota State Fair crop art
A localized version of Guernica with a loon at the center and a person holding an ICE OUT sign 

“My piece was inspired by Picasso's Guernica, a work that was his response to the Nazi's bombing of the Basque town. I thought there was a fitting parallel between these incidents about the high price paid by ordinary people when aggressive regimes try out new tactics of war, as well as a fitting juxtaposition of the darkness of living such an experience and the light we shone through it in our own resistance and care for one another. The patterns near Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s mouths are actually their last words in Morse code: ‘I’m not mad at you,’ and ‘Are you okay?’” 

Jennifer Nelson
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Stars and Stripes @starsandstripes.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A civilian geography professor was fired from West Point for pushing back after department officials barred faculty from teaching that humans contribute to climate change.
stripes.com
West Point professor fired after pushing back on limitations to teaching climate change, lawsuit says
Adam Kalkstein pushed back after department officials barred faculty from teaching that humans contribute to climate change, the lawsuit says.
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Gayle @gskh1237.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
🇨🇦 I stand with Canada
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Note from my notebook (2016)
I know I buy far too many books but I like to think that lining the walls of my house with them wards off evil in some deeply important way.
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Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I’m an anxious-avoidant writer (paralytically terrified of starting), I justify procrastination as “percolating” etc. And yet! whenever I force myself to actually sit down and barf shit out, the thoughts that emerge are totally fresh, previously unknown to my conscious mind, and often pretty good!
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Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Heard on our walk yesterday: ✔️ crickets, wind in the long grass, a raven, buzzards, ❌ chinook helicopter, chainsaw, endless jet planes = no recording even though we optimistically carried the (heavy) Lento box the whole way.
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JeffTrnka @jefftrnka.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
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michnutrish.bsky.social @michnutrish.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
#VisibilityBrigade #southdakota #constitution #democracy #rights #epstein #immigrants #war #iran @visibilitybrigade.bsky.social @rosaliewong.bsky.social @thegodshow.com @emmatk.bsky.social @hcrichardson.bsky.social #midterms #vote #fascism #corruption #affordability #usa #medicare #medicaid
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
A FWIW: @andreadotweb.bsky.social did a granular study of this in Alabama back in May.
alabamareflector.com
Democratic voting turnout surges, Republican turnout falls during May 19 primary | Alabama Reflector
In 2022, Republican ballots made up nearly 78% of the total number of ballots cast. Last week, that number fell to 58%.
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
August 1, 2026
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
August 1, 2026
In a classic Friday night news dump, the Department of Justice last night moved to dismiss the criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S.
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Including Alabama!
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Y'all! Alabama Historical Assoc'n invites paper proposals for its 79th Annual Meeting in Montgomery, April 8-10, 2027. Open to scholars, educators, public & local historians, students & members of the public who share an interest in the history of Alabama. ​https://www.alabamahistory.net/meetings
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
It's darkly depressing that the entire GOP -- from the White House to Congress to the Supreme Court -- insists that the president and his aides cannot be held accountable for all the very clear crimes that they clearly committed, but they think Dr. Fauci should hang for alleged mishandling of COVID.
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/07/2026
Reminder that on his last day of his first term, Trump awarded a commendation to Dr Fauci "in recognition of his exceptional effort on Operation Warp Speed"
cap of White House page honoring Fauci
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Rand Paul--who doesn't believe in evolution--holding a hearing of Dr. Fauci--a retired, life-long public servant-- while we are *actively* in the midst of SEVERAL disease outbreaks due to unnecessary public health cuts and corporate lobbying shows exactly how unserious Republicans are.
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Rick McKee @rmckee.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I drew this August 23, 2022, and it’s coming to pass.
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Reversal of climate change.
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Thinking about why women might not want to use a product that has forced itself into every software interface to confidently shout things that are wrong
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Jillian @nogoodwyfe.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
the time is SO RIPE for an arts and crafts movement revival. William Morris wasn’t cursed enough to see the rise of AI but his words are so applicable it’s astonishing
In this brief survey of Morris's work, perhaps the last word on his ideas and ideals in the decorative arts should be left to Morris himself: 'We ought to get to understand the value of intelligent work, the work of men's hands guided by their brains, and to take that, though it may be rough, rather than the unintelligent work of machines or slaves, though it be delicate; to refuse altogether to use machine-made work unless where the nature of the thing made compels it, or where the machine does what mere human suffering would otherwise have to do; to have a high standard of excellence in wares and not to accept makeshifts for the real thing, but rather to go without; to have no ornament merely for fashion's sake, but only because we really think it beautiful ..
NORAH C. GILLOW,
KEEPER, WILLIAM MORRIS GALLERY, LONDON
NOVEMBER 1987
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 24/07/2026
Listen, i work in historic preservation and conservation and this headline is misleadingly skipping the key point: this specifically and pointedly destroys the protections for Native American sacred sites. built heritage matters but not as much as the rights of indigenous folk.
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
At the top of my page this morning as I work on Wikitree.com: "Please be patient if you are experiencing problems. We are dealing with extraordinarily abusive AI scraping." #abusiveAI #AIrobbery #AIthievery #corporatethievery
wikitree.com
WikiTree.com
A community of genealogists connecting the human family on one FREE and accurate tree using traditional genealogy and DNA testing.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
By far away and away my best charity shop find of recent times. £1.75.
A Dictionary Of Fairies by Katharine Briggs, with wonderful cover art courtesy of Tony Meeuwissen
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
it's a shame she gave an exclusive to Audible (owned by Amazon). I can't get it through my favorite (and less destructive) audio bookseller Libro FM
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Le Muppet d’Arthur
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 17/07/2026
At least 75 career federal officials who’d played important roles in elections have left, been fired or been reassigned. In their place are roughly two dozen people Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Ten of them actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote. (Published April)
propublica.org
Inside Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections
When Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held. But if faced with the same tests today, those barriers — and people who held the line — would l...
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
And a video version for those who may enjoy that. Finally got a tripod and a microphone.
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Court hearing is scheduled for this afternoon for David Hearn, the former Olympian accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool Hearn’s defense team includes Norm Eisen
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
important conversation about how much we need more reporters reporting, how the T***p admin and MagaReps don't want anyone to talk about Jan 6, and how that silencing is like the way the Civil War aftermath was handled (i.e., the Lost Cause), which we Southerners are very familiar with. LISTEN!!
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 07/07/2026
"Aussie boys are on a bender! Donald Trump is a sex offender!"
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The French History Podcast @fhp.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Hear me out...
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
You bot accounts with one name (Suzy, Tim, etc.), who "live, love, laugh" and assorted b.s.,with no real content, just stay away. I regularly mute and block. BLUESKY, DO A BETTER JOB AT SORTING THE REAL FROM THE FAKE!
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“This library is a shrine to books that have disappeared, to authors whose courage unmasks structures of power and control, and to readers who refuse to be told what book they are allowed.” Ron Charles visits a library in Portugal dedicated to banned books: roncharles.substack.com/p/inside-dua...
roncharles.substack.com
Inside Dua Lipa’s Library of Banned Books
A firsthand look at the new collection beneath one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.
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250 to 250 @250to250.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Senator Doug Jones is a prominent attorney and public servant who became the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in 25 years. Jones narrates the history of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that took place in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. #WeAreAmerica250
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
the fastest growing colony in North America was South Carolina, because of slavery...the wealthiest 2% owned two-thirds of the land in the 13 colonies...2 video clips from Ken Burns' American Revolution aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/eco...
aptv.pbslearningmedia.org
The Economies of the British Colonies | The American Revolution | Grades 6-8, 9-12 Social Studies Teaching and Lesson Resources
Examine how geography, natural resources, and labor systems shaped colonial economies. Students read about regional production, the role geography played in the industries of various colonial regions,...
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
"post-rapture-like"😍
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Katie Phang and Joyce Vance discuss SCOTUS "throwing out the trash" of Pres. Loser's ridiculous appeal and E.Jean Carroll's triumph joycevance.substack.com/p/live-with-...
joycevance.substack.com
Live with Katie Phang: E. Jean Wins & Other News
A recording of my conversation with Katie Phang from earlier today
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Rachel Dobson @rachelzd.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Was just reminded about Dennis Sampson's poetry and found this reading of his poem, "That Laugh" (given by poet Jennifer Horne) -- for anyone who has suddenly felt the presence of a parent in your speech, facial expressions, body movements, or your laugh. youtu.be/YZCiLYTtDzI?...
youtu.be
March 18, 2026 Dennis Sampson
YouTube video by Jennifer Horne
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
My column this week. Saturday will mark the nation’s 250th birthday. Thursday will be the 125th anniversary of a lynching in Elmore County, which led to an unprecedented attempt to prosecute the killers. If the bicentennial speaks to our ideals, the murder of Robin White shows our harsh reality.
alabamareflector.com
The murder of Robin White and the limits of American promise | Alabama Reflector
250 years ago, America was born. 125 years ago, a man was lynched in Elmore County. One event speaks to our ideals. The other shows our reality.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I interviewed Daisy Rockwell last fall about the DHS/ICE recruitment ads featuring Norman Rockwell's paintings (without permission), and the disgust the family felt about this hijacking of his legacy. www.thebulwark.com/p/norman-roc...
thebulwark.com
The MAGAfication of Norman Rockwell
Trump uses the artist’s work—like other cultural icons—to promote Gestapo tactics and nativist ideas.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 22/06/2026
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
June 22, 2026
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
June 22, 2026
It appears to be more and more clear that the Trump administration is mired in its own mistakes.
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Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 20/06/2026
😳
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Facts matter. Trump is trying to restrict mail in voting by taking control of who is eligible. That’s up to the states, but Trump has decided the states can’t mail ballots to anyone who isn’t on his list. Read here to understand the EO & lawsuits challenging it: open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
open.substack.com
The Executive Order To Restrict Vote By Mail
Trump is still trying to suppress your vote
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
June 20, 2026
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
June 20, 2026
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become a metaphor for the Trump presidency.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
My latest novel is published in paperback on July 2nd. If you pre-order from Blackwell's they'll send it with FREE international delivery & that will help the book get into shops blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro... Charles was on the edge of his seat, open-mouthed, all the way through (see alt text).
Our cat Professor Charles Cardigan reading Everything Will Swallow You and expressing shock about some scandalous allegations about cats in the opening chapter. Charles wanted to say to everyone that if you pre-order the book - which is published by a small publisher, with no marketing budget - it's more likely to get into shops. If you are in the UK, and have an independent bookshop nearby, you could also ask them to stock it. In fact, they might even already have it, since some early copies have made their way into indie shops already, especially for Independent Bookshop Week.
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