Tacfarinas
@tacfarinas.bsky.social
580 followers 4.4K following 15 posts
Historian (mostly medieval and ancient history) of no particular importance.
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Reposted by Tacfarinas
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Whether it's young Democrats expressing their support for DEI or young Republicans saying "I love Hitler,' both sides have expressed controversial opinions.
Reposted by Tacfarinas
lizardry.bsky.social
"You call everyone you don't like a Nazi!"
chanda.blacksky.app
'“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” Joe Maligno...wrote'

'Many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.'
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
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mehdirhasan.bsky.social
“Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined”

If you ever had any doubt that the youth wing of the GOP is fully radicalized and proudly racist these days:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
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dieworkwear.bsky.social
This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵
Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu." 

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."
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pgourevitch.bsky.social
Yep when Trump says he loves coal miners he means the guys who own mines — as always the little guy was good for conning out of a vote and after that the mass grave.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/c...
Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump
www.nytimes.com
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ardenthistorian.bsky.social
Ich habe für @republik.ch über Kirk geschrieben, die posthume Verzerrung seines politischen Projekts und seine entstehende Hagiographie. Mit Einordnungen von @bildoperationen.bsky.social zur Bildsprache von KI-produziertem Märtyrer-Content, @antheabutler.bsky.social und @bradleyonishi.bsky.social.
Charlie Kirk: Der «Märtyrer», der die Rache befeuert
In den USA wird der christliche Nationalismus zu einem Kampf­mittel gegen die Opposition.
www.republik.ch
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lastpositivist.bsky.social
One thing I am glad this did (might not be accessible in the UK alas unless you have Means) is just absolutely go in on that nonsense "does it really count as starving children if the children are also sick for other reasons?" thing the Free Press did.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
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hurricanexyz.bsky.social
"We can table this argument until I see you in hell" is an all timer hater line
lastpositivist.bsky.social
One thing I am glad this did (might not be accessible in the UK alas unless you have Means) is just absolutely go in on that nonsense "does it really count as starving children if the children are also sick for other reasons?" thing the Free Press did.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
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atrupar.com
Obama: "When you see an administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection or a terrorist act, that is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy."
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himself.bsky.social
My version of this is that Vought, Yarvin etc represent a kind of braindead right-Gramscianism, which leaves out all the interesting subtleties and treats civil society _only_ as a realm of indoctrination, where one ideological master-narrative can readily be substituted for another.
jamellebouie.net
a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.
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thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:
We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly
Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy
steady.page
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jamellebouie.net
a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.
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jamellebouie.net
oh this guy is delusional delusional
sharonk.bsky.social
thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.
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explaintrade.com
This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.
Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.
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tessmachling.bsky.social
Yup. Yet another sign the world truly has gone mad.
slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social
GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.
thevoidencore.bsky.social
The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem
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slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social
GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.
thevoidencore.bsky.social
The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem
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amreibahr.bsky.social
Was diese Doku eindrücklich zeigt: Wie wir uns als Menschheit ohne Not in 1 Flut aus AI-Slop ertränken. Darin gehen nicht nur Qualitätsinhalte unter, weil sie aufgrund der Überfülle an Zeug nicht mehr auffindbar ist, sondern auch wir, durch falschen, blödsinnigen, teils gefährlichen Quatsch-Content.
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nataschastrobl.bsky.social
Wenn ihr jetzt ernsthaft Donald Trump und den Friedensnobelpreis diskutiert, dann ist eure Lernkurve in Sachen rechtsextremer Diskursvernebelung erstaunlich flach.
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bachynski.bsky.social
“Before RFK Jr. took office, measles cases were rare. Vaccination requirements kept our communities safe. I urge you: do not listen to anti-vaccine rhetoric. Do not gamble with your child’s health… Vaccinate them. Spare them — and yourself — a lifetime of pain, regret, and unanswered “what ifs.””
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janskudlarek.bsky.social
"Die gesamte grüne Bewegung zu diskreditieren, ist falsch", sagte Seehofer. "Das gehört zu den strategischen Fehlentscheidungen in den letzten sieben Jahren."

Dass ich mal dem Seehofer zustimmen würde... 🤯

www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
CSU: Horst Seehofer kritisiert Markus Söders Umgang mit den Grünen
Der frühere CSU-Chef wirft seinem Nachfolger "strategische Fehlentscheidungen" vor. Die gesamte grüne Bewegung zu diskreditieren, sei falsch.
www.zeit.de
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lauropea.bsky.social
tories have this duality where they will thunder about humanities degrees being rip-off waste of time but will tell starry-eyed how you Boris Johnson is a genius because he memorised the first six lines of the Iliad in Greek, which you can in fact do without even knowing Greek
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amreibahr.bsky.social
This. Hoffe sehr, dass angesichts dieser Einsicht auch öffentliche Resignationsbekundungen zu politischer Arbeit/Aktivismus im Modus „das bringt doch eh nichts!“ etwas abnehmen, die seit Monaten Timeline & DruKos fluten. Doch, es bringt was. Lasst uns auch in anderen Bereichen gemeinsam dranbleiben!
uedio.bsky.social
Ihr habt wahrgenommen, welchen Unterschied zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement in den letzten Tagen bei der Frage der Chatkontrolle gemacht hat?
Gut.
Lasst euch nicht einreden, Engagement nütze nichts.