Elsbeth
@historecluse.bsky.social
Historian of epidemics, exhibitions, hospital medicine, the state, taxes, civilization and, currently, US economic thought.
Pinned
Elsbeth
@historecluse.bsky.social
· Jul 7
"Historical scholarship, pluralism, and the possibility of sharing wealth and power," by E.A. Heaman, part of @earlycanada.bsky.social's final series--speaking to our present political moment. earlycanadianhistory.ca/2025/07/07/h...
Historical scholarship, pluralism, and the possibility of sharing wealth and power
E.A. Heaman Editors’ note: This week marks the final series for Borealia after a decade of online public history and conversation. You can read our thank you remarks here, and will be able to…
earlycanadianhistory.ca
Shorter Heaman thesis.
Reposted by Elsbeth
My newest piece for Liberal Currents, and a paean to public health. It needs to be the tip of the spear against fascism and it’s a natural leader in the fight for a better world.
Thanks to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social for talking to me as I worked on this.
Thanks to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social for talking to me as I worked on this.
“Understanding the Covid-19 pandemic as a catalyst for right-wing backlash is misleading because it’s too passive” www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-r...
Propaganda, Rather than Pandemic Policies, Caused the War on Public Health
The backlash narrative ignores basic facts of the case.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 PM
My newest piece for Liberal Currents, and a paean to public health. It needs to be the tip of the spear against fascism and it’s a natural leader in the fight for a better world.
Thanks to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social for talking to me as I worked on this.
Thanks to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social for talking to me as I worked on this.
Reposted by Elsbeth
November 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Fabulous.
If you want a long form philosophical exploration of the current moment, Sam Moyn provides a good one here, despite my interventions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKHE...
Political Concepts Debate • Is the Present Historical Moment Unprecedented?
YouTube video by Cogut Institute for the Humanities
www.youtube.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Fabulous.
Reposted by Elsbeth
Nov. 23, 1925: Herbert Hoover is being called the “economic president of the United States” because of the power he wields over business affairs. The commerce secretary is in charge of radio regulation and has been called upon to tackle new shipping, trade and coal problems. 1/2
November 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Nov. 23, 1925: Herbert Hoover is being called the “economic president of the United States” because of the power he wields over business affairs. The commerce secretary is in charge of radio regulation and has been called upon to tackle new shipping, trade and coal problems. 1/2
Reposted by Elsbeth
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Reposted by Elsbeth
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
I was gutted to learn, a few months ago, that a young friend had been diagnosed with gioblastoma.
Six months later, after aggressive treatment, amazing to learn that the tumour is gone for good.
Shoutout to the dedicated professionals at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Six months later, after aggressive treatment, amazing to learn that the tumour is gone for good.
Shoutout to the dedicated professionals at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app
November 23, 2025 at 9:03 AM
I was gutted to learn, a few months ago, that a young friend had been diagnosed with gioblastoma.
Six months later, after aggressive treatment, amazing to learn that the tumour is gone for good.
Shoutout to the dedicated professionals at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Six months later, after aggressive treatment, amazing to learn that the tumour is gone for good.
Shoutout to the dedicated professionals at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Reposted by Elsbeth
Reposted by Elsbeth
Grizzly attack on 11 kids & teachers in BC.
“one teacher jumped in front of the bear to allow the children to get away…he jabbed the bear’s eyes with his fingers and that’s how he was able to… how the bear just left him.”
“That teacher was later airlifted from the scene.”
Teachers are heroes.
“one teacher jumped in front of the bear to allow the children to get away…he jabbed the bear’s eyes with his fingers and that’s how he was able to… how the bear just left him.”
“That teacher was later airlifted from the scene.”
Teachers are heroes.
Teachers fight off grizzly bear attacking schoolchildren
A grizzly bear attacked a group of elementary schoolchildren and their teachers on a walking trail Thursday in British Columbia, injuring 11 people,
mynorthwest.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Grizzly attack on 11 kids & teachers in BC.
“one teacher jumped in front of the bear to allow the children to get away…he jabbed the bear’s eyes with his fingers and that’s how he was able to… how the bear just left him.”
“That teacher was later airlifted from the scene.”
Teachers are heroes.
“one teacher jumped in front of the bear to allow the children to get away…he jabbed the bear’s eyes with his fingers and that’s how he was able to… how the bear just left him.”
“That teacher was later airlifted from the scene.”
Teachers are heroes.
Reposted by Elsbeth
This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace
Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM
This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Elsbeth
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Reposted by Elsbeth
5/6
As households see their purchasing power increase, they spend more on services, which replaces the jobs lost to productivity-enhancing technologies.
The problem China has today, as the US had in the 1930s, is that increasing wages is...
As households see their purchasing power increase, they spend more on services, which replaces the jobs lost to productivity-enhancing technologies.
The problem China has today, as the US had in the 1930s, is that increasing wages is...
November 22, 2025 at 6:45 AM
5/6
As households see their purchasing power increase, they spend more on services, which replaces the jobs lost to productivity-enhancing technologies.
The problem China has today, as the US had in the 1930s, is that increasing wages is...
As households see their purchasing power increase, they spend more on services, which replaces the jobs lost to productivity-enhancing technologies.
The problem China has today, as the US had in the 1930s, is that increasing wages is...
Reposted by Elsbeth
Terrifying, maddening and utterly heart-breaking. Truly incredible journalism to expose and document this.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Terrifying, maddening and utterly heart-breaking. Truly incredible journalism to expose and document this.
Reposted by Elsbeth
That was fast. A right-wing mayor elected last month, first cycle paths removed in favour of cat parking already. Boom.
Une piste cyclable éliminée pour tout l’hiver à Outremont
www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Une piste cyclable éliminée pour tout l’hiver à Outremont
www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Une piste cyclable éliminée pour tout l’hiver à Outremont
Cela ajoutera des cases de stationnement, plus rares à cause du déneigement, explique la mairesse de l’arrondissement.
www.ledevoir.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:17 PM
That was fast. A right-wing mayor elected last month, first cycle paths removed in favour of cat parking already. Boom.
Une piste cyclable éliminée pour tout l’hiver à Outremont
www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Une piste cyclable éliminée pour tout l’hiver à Outremont
www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Reposted by Elsbeth
Bought and sold
November 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Bought and sold
Reposted by Elsbeth
Canada and the real allies of democracy must do more to support Ukraine.
This is not a peace deal and it’s not asking anything of the Russians. It’s just the US on behalf of the Russians pressuring Ukraine to surrender www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
U.S. pushing Ukraine to sign peace deal by Thanksgiving or lose support
The U.S. is now sending “signals” that everything could be off the table if Kyiv does not quickly sign a proposal, which was drawn up by special envoy Witkoff.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Canada and the real allies of democracy must do more to support Ukraine.
Reposted by Elsbeth
I am very pleased and grateful to share this announcement of our recent award from the @wellcometrust.bsky.social for a project on history of smallpox and measles #histmed #histsci news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h... The project will be based @exeter.ac.uk @cceh-u24.bsky.social led by ... 1/2
Exeter scholars secure significant research funding to investigate the early history of Smallpox and Measles
The early histories of smallpox and measles – and the insight they might offer to contemporary health and medicine – will be under the microscope of a new research project. Pustules, Palaeogenetics an...
news.exeter.ac.uk
November 19, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I am very pleased and grateful to share this announcement of our recent award from the @wellcometrust.bsky.social for a project on history of smallpox and measles #histmed #histsci news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h... The project will be based @exeter.ac.uk @cceh-u24.bsky.social led by ... 1/2
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins on lessons from the twentieth century for the twenty-first.
wesleyanargus.com/2025/11/21/l...
wesleyanargus.com/2025/11/21/l...
Letters on Pragmatic Hope: Political Faith in an Age of Despair – The Wesleyan Argus
wesleyanargus.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins on lessons from the twentieth century for the twenty-first.
wesleyanargus.com/2025/11/21/l...
wesleyanargus.com/2025/11/21/l...
Reposted by Elsbeth
"In Anne of Green Gables, I found the kindred spirits and queer prophets I needed".
In Anne of Green Gables, I found the kindred spirits and queer prophets I needed | CBC Arts
In the latest edition of Emerging Queer Voices, writer Julia Smeaton considers the impact of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels on her own identity.
www.cbc.ca
November 21, 2025 at 11:25 AM
"In Anne of Green Gables, I found the kindred spirits and queer prophets I needed".
Reposted by Elsbeth
“Claudia Sahm, a former Fed economist who blasted Summers and others for sexism in a widely shared and highly critical 2020 blog post, sounded vindicated. “Okay, so maybe I wasn’t too mean to him…” she said on social media after the emails were made public last week.” www.wsj.com/us-news/larr...
How Larry Summers’s Power Delayed the Reckoning Over His Epstein Ties
The former Treasury Secretary and Harvard president’s enormous network and clout kept him immune from past Jeffrey Epstein revelations. But this time was just too much.
www.wsj.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:02 AM
“Claudia Sahm, a former Fed economist who blasted Summers and others for sexism in a widely shared and highly critical 2020 blog post, sounded vindicated. “Okay, so maybe I wasn’t too mean to him…” she said on social media after the emails were made public last week.” www.wsj.com/us-news/larr...
Reposted by Elsbeth
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
November 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
Reposted by Elsbeth
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
Reposted by Elsbeth
I asked grok who was the better role model for humanity, Jesus Christ or Elon Musk. GUESS WHAT.
November 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I asked grok who was the better role model for humanity, Jesus Christ or Elon Musk. GUESS WHAT.
Reposted by Elsbeth
Again -- DHS doing a well-worn template. Cf. this 1938 postage stamp from the German Reich with its simple, straightforward message ("The housing shortage is the Jews' fault")
November 20, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Again -- DHS doing a well-worn template. Cf. this 1938 postage stamp from the German Reich with its simple, straightforward message ("The housing shortage is the Jews' fault")
Reposted by Elsbeth
Let's see....
1. It's noticed that Trump's voice is markedly raspy.
2. Trump begins random calls out for executions.
Yes, it would seem that the U.S. has reached the Steiner Rant stage.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjPe...
1. It's noticed that Trump's voice is markedly raspy.
2. Trump begins random calls out for executions.
Yes, it would seem that the U.S. has reached the Steiner Rant stage.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjPe...
Downfall: Famous Bunker Scene (Actual Translation, Remastered, 1080p)
YouTube video by Gaming Tohru aka Shinoa Hiiragi
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Let's see....
1. It's noticed that Trump's voice is markedly raspy.
2. Trump begins random calls out for executions.
Yes, it would seem that the U.S. has reached the Steiner Rant stage.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjPe...
1. It's noticed that Trump's voice is markedly raspy.
2. Trump begins random calls out for executions.
Yes, it would seem that the U.S. has reached the Steiner Rant stage.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjPe...