Notices by kottke.org (kottke@mastodon.social)

As part of their Smithsonian purge, the Trump regime is dismantling and removing the Woolworth’s lunch counter (a key artifact of the Civil Rights Movement) from the NMAAHC and returning other artifacts to their owners. https://blackpressusa.com/the-smithsonian-purge-trump-team-removes-artifacts-of-black-resistance/

Trump ‘Alarmists’ Were Right. We Should Say So. “Put simply: It is that bad. Liberal democracy is in danger. Fascism is a reasonable term for what we’re fighting.” https://www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmists-were-right-we-should-say-so/

Columbia Canceled My Course on Race and Media. I’m Going to Teach It Anyway. “This is not a time for media literacy or historical knowledge to be held hostage by institutions bending the knee to authoritarianism and fear.” https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/columbia-canceled-my-course-on-race

Anxiety by Doechii (Official Video). “While I prefer the charming homemade quality of the original that she made in her small NYC apartment at age 21, this version is pretty great too.” https://kottke.org/25/04/anxiety-by-doechii-official-video

Seth Rogan Speaks Truth to Billionaires, Gets Censored. “It’s amazing that others…in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science.” Can’t give a science prize w/o science. 🤷♂️ https://kottke.org/25/04/seth-rogan-speaks-truth-to-billionaires-gets-censored-for-it

George Monbiot: Rightwing populists will keep winning until we grasp this truth about human nature. “Economic inequality breeds resentment and a desire to get even. That’s what fuels support for even incompetent regimes.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/13/trump-populists-human-nature-economic-growth

Mohsen Mahdawi was unlawfully detained by ICE in Vermont today as he arrived to take his US citizenship test. “He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech.” https://kottke.org/25/04/palestinian-protester-on-his-way-to-citizenship-test-arrested-by-ice-in-vt

Former Substack creators say they’re earning more on new platforms. “Paying someone $100,000 a year to host your blog. Come on buddy. I said I hate being a businessman, but even I know that’s fucking stupid.” https://digiday.com/media/former-substack-creators-say-theyre-earning-more-on-new-platforms-that-offer-larger-shares-of-subscription-revenue/

Travel maven Rick Steves made a great hour-long documentary about the history of fascism in Europe. “We’ll see the horrific consequences: genocide and total war.” https://kottke.org/20/09/rick-steves-the-story-of-fascism

Silence is Collaboration: Academics Must Speak Out Against Fascism. “We will call these arrests what they are: abductions by ICE cowards in plainclothes and facemasks.” https://lithub.com/silence-is-collaboration-academics-must-speak-out-against-fascism/

A recent study found that Black Lives Matter protests had a “significant and decisive impact” on the 2020 election. “This represents one of the most consequential impacts of a social movement on electoral politics in recent history.” https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/black-lives-matter-movement-had-a-significant-and-decisive-impact-on-us-politics-study-finds

Waldo Jaquith on why he works in the open (blogging, open sourcing software, etc.): “I’ve long worked in the open, overwhelmingly for one reason: it increases enormously the surface area for success.” https://waldo.jaquith.org/blog/2025/03/work-open/

This is great: a DIY 3D-printed stamp that turns Andrew Jacksons into Harriet Tubmans on US $20 bills https://kottke.org/18/09/the-harriet-tubman-20-stamp

“The Trumpian lie is different. It is the power lie or the bully lie. It is the lie of the bigger kid who took your hat and is wearing it while denying that he took it. There is no defense…because the point of the lie is to assert power…” https://kottke.org/25/03/the-bully-lie

A brave letter from a lawyer whose firm has declined to resist Trump. “[I wondered] what I would do in the moments…where my values were tested and demanded great sacrifice. I do not wonder anymore. I know who I am. I thought I knew who we all were.” https://kottke.org/25/03/it-is-now-or-it-is-never

What the hell? Saturn now has a total of 274 moons. That’s so many that they may have to relax the naming conventions because there aren’t enough Norse deities to cover them all. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/11/astronomers-discover-128-new-moons-orbiting-saturn

What is the opposite of fascism? Living freely, colorfully, openly. Humanizing. Connecting with others. Gathering. Hoping. Following your dreams. Communing. Nurturing. Refusing despair. Laughing loudly. https://the.ink/p/the-opposite-of-fascism

Beautiful Public Data posts about the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII using historical documents from the Library of Congress & National Archives, including photos by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange. https://www.beautifulpublicdata.com/wwii-japanese-mass-incarceration-collections/

Freedom of the Press Foundation: “[Wired] is going to stop paywalling articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.” https://freedom.press/issues/wired-is-dropping-paywalls-for-foia-based-reporting-others-should-follow/

The 100 Greatest TV Performances of the 21st Century (one per show & actor). Ian McShane (Deadwood), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Anna Sawai (Shōgun), Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey), Peter Dinklage (GoT). Who’s your #1? https://variety.com/lists/greatest-tv-performances/elisabeth-moss-as-peggy-olson-mad-men/