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Stephen Moran

@sjmoran.com

890 followers 310 following 1.9K posts

London Irish from Dublin. 1954-2101. Published poetry, fiction and blogs. Made a living from computer programming. Banner photo: Shankill Road, October 2012. Website: StephenMoransMuseumOfIllusions.WordPress.com

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 4d

I don't understand the logic that allows Russia to bombard every part of Ukraine with hypersonic missiles etc but prevents Ukraine from defending itself in the same way. It's cowardly by the western allies to behave this way, forcing Ukraine to suffer barbaric aggression by a murderous robber enemy.

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 12h

(I mean $7 is low.)

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 12h

That's good but bookshops also take a similar percentage, just like Amazon & not all presses will want to sell direct. Most bookstores will ask for a 40% discount, meaning they keep 40% of the cover price. 40% of cover price $27 would be $10.80. Amazon allows 40% but favours 50%, so $7? Am I wrong?

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 12h

He calls drug smugglers terrorists, and has them summarily killed. He calls Democrats terrorists...

Reposted by Stephen Moran

Morten Morland @mortenmorland.bsky.social · 1d

Tuesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk

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Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · 1d

We believe in welfare, not warfare. Do you? Join us at yourparty.uk

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

What on earth are they on? Is it LSD? "What the world needs now is more Trumps"? I have to turn it off, it's making me physically sick.

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

They had a couple of interviews, one with a Palestinian aid worker in Gaza and one with a Palestinian exile in Turkey. Also coverage of prisoners released arriving in Ramallah. I think they try their best.

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

The Israeli parliament seems to be a sort of Trumpworld theme park. They're congratulating themselves on committing genocide and mass destruction. Cheering those involved to the rafters.

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Amen

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 2d

“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”

apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

"We will defend democracy, the rule of law and the people of our state."

CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 2d

🚨🚨🚨WA Governor Bob Ferguson responds to a letter he received from AG Pam Bondi in which she threatened to place him in jail. 🧯He is on fire! 1/2

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 2d

Yes AI is having an effect on me. I’m getting closer to buying a fountain pen than I’ve been for decades.

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

The situation calls for that example of what a journalist is supposed to do if someone says it's raining. The journalist looks out the window and reports it is or is not. If Trump says it's raining chaos in Portland, the journalist doesn't have to say on side says yes, one no. Look, see, it is not.

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(((Tendar))) @tendar.bsky.social · 2d

The oil depot in Russian-occupied Feodosia in Crimea, Ukraine, has been hit once again. The Russian air defense is wildly firing around.

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

30 acres of 200-year-old broadleaf trees and 2km of hedgerows dating back to the first Irish ordnance survey map in the 1800s felled. Heavy machinery heavy machinery accessed the site through a national forest path, despite a request to Coillte for heavy machinery access that way having been denied.

Pádraic Fogarty @whittledaway.bsky.social · 2d

Another significant environmental crime

Investigation after more than 30 acres of native trees - some centuries old - felled in Co Cork

jrnl.ie/6805578

Investigation after more than 30 acres of native trees - some centuries old - felled in Co Cork

The Department of Agriculture has been formally alerted to the incident by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

jrnl.ie

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Chembu🌺🧶 @chembarathi.bsky.social · 3d

what a world it would be if nature compared

if flowers didn't flower because their neighbours were flowerier

you, my friend, must stop all that folly

no one can be more you you are youier.
- Donna Ashworth
#Poetry #LiteratureSky 💙📚👀

YOUIER

Imagine if the moon refused to shine because the sun was shinier

if streams ceased to flow because the rivers were flowier

if snow didn't dare to fall because rain was fallier

if planets did not glow because stars were glowier

what a world it would be if nature compared

if flowers didn't flower because their neighbours were flowerier

you, my friend, must stop all that folly

no one can be more you you are youier.

Donna Ashworth Wild Hopl

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Aaaand - she only goes and talks to Bronzo on the phone and flatters his mental age of 6 ego. Someone said on here earlier that she also appealed to Netanyahu for help in her cause. Huh? Anyway, she's for democracy and for free and fair elections, so that's good. Diplomacy with Trump? Waste of time.

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Hi M. Yes, things are a bit hectic. I'm tied up at home. Not literally! Glad to see you are getting recognition. More power to your elbow!

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Gov. Pritzker of Illinois gives some examples of shocking actions by Trump's masked Gestapo in Chicago. It's Trump, Miller, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem, Vought, Musk et al who should be arrested and put on trial, not ordinary people who, unlike them, are not breaking laws and makebelieve Stalins. #NoKings

Pritzker Plays Shocking Video At Press Briefing Decrying ICE Operations In Chicago

YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News

youtu.be

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Trump thinks he owns The White House, soon to be renamed Club Bronzo. Literally goes around saying "I pay for all of this." On the roof.

Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

Interview with this terrific and twice featured writer in Willesden Herald's Story of the Month

M.E. Proctor @meproctor.bsky.social · 2d

@junelorrainer.bsky.social reviews "Catch Me on a Blue Day" at Murder in Common ... have a look: murderincommon.com/2025/10/12/m...

Catch Me on a Blue Day: Unraveling the Murder of a War Correspondent

Arriving at his friend Carlton Marsh’s house, Declan Shaw finds a police inquiry. Marsh, a veteran war correspondent had committed suicide. Shaw had contracted to do research for Marsh’…

murderincommon.com

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Bluesky @bsky.app · 8d

we hit 2 billion posts today! 🥳

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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 3d

So here’s my question… What two or three existing books would give people the atmosphere of YOUR work in progress?

Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 3d

It was very pleasing, 🥰at my writers’ group today, to be told that my WIP is something like The Celestine Prophecy and something like The Da Vinci Code. #amwriting

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Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 3d

I was stunned to see several hummingbirds this morning ♥️

Hummingbirds may be tiny, but they’re incredibly strong with a high level of endurance. This makes them symbols of strength and adaptability.

Hummingbirds also can signify a visit from a departed loved one & the beginning of a new era.

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 2d

With the disclaimer that there's not much progress, I suppose the one I'm working on might be vaguely comparable with "The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold" (Evelyn Waugh). I have two other unfinished things, one is a bit like "Goodbye to the Hill" (Lee Dunne) meets "In Praise of Older Women" (Vizinczey).

Reposted by Stephen Moran

Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 3d

My lovely publisher at @fabulistmag.bsky.social recently boosted this story I wrote about an overwhelmed android, who can't stop composing her log notes. She is a career!

fabulistmagazine.com/in-our-heart...

#fabulistfiction #fabulism #flashfiction #shortstory

The Fabulist
Picture of Chinese calligraphy
Story title: In Our Hearts Risen

Like most androids of her generation, Annie-A was petite and sturdy-looking. She tried to make herself useful and cleaned off specks of dust from the couch in my office and fluffed the cushions. Her only complaint was tiredness: every week, Mondays, at seven p.m., she came in to tell me how tired she was.

The technicians could find nothing wrong with her build. Her hormone levels were normal, her core DNA encoded with the basic programming had shown no signs of deterioration, her neural pathways were robust and continued to develop at a normal rate.

They diagnosed her with a mild robotic depressive disorder and sent her to me.

I usually started by asking about her week, but Annie-A found the question difficult to approach. She worried the cushions, then leaned back and closed her eyes: she needed a little time to rest, she said.

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