David Rafferty
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davidrafferty.bsky.social
David Rafferty
@davidrafferty.bsky.social
Roman historian in South Australia. Current project: “How Republics Die: Rome’s democratic breakdown in the 1st century BCE”. Husband and father. I’m the one who set cats and dogs against each other.
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Can’t beat teen logic!

You can, actually. I still paid board. 😂

(Click to expand).
November 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
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The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.
November 16, 2025 at 7:04 AM
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‘Let’s choose which window’, that fun game well known to Australian children viewers of Playschool, and Russian officials not seen in public for a week or two
November 16, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Caveat: I haven’t seen last ep of S3.

The hero of The Diplomat is Nicol Trowbridge. Because he is one of only two characters (with Stuart) who has a moral centre. His actions come from his moral reaction to events.

Therefore none of the US characters understand him.
November 15, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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Part of this week’s newsletter was inspired by the post below. Was there a way to show the distance between normal Americans and the super wealthy?
1/8
www.howtoreadthisch.art/putting-the-...
November 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
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This week on the blog: Hoplites! We're taking a crack at explaining the long-running debate over the nature and significance of the ancient Greek heavy infantryman, the hoplite, and the phalanx in which he (mostly) fought.

acoup.blog/2025/11/14/c...
Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part I: The Othismos over Othismos
This week (and next) we’re looking at hoplites, the heavy infantry of the ancient Greek poleis in the (early? mid? late?) Archaic and Classical periods, into the Hellenistic. In particular, I…
acoup.blog
November 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
It fascinates me, the way that honour exists in our society and motivates people, and yet the way we talk about it…we have real trouble with it, with talking about it and understanding it.
Liz Cheney: “I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

Republicans, your dishonor will remain.
November 15, 2025 at 7:45 AM
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you're not gonna believe where they lead
November 15, 2025 at 7:27 AM
I’m afraid the Trump-Bill Clinton thing won’t take hold (despite being very funny), because no one can seriously imagine Trump *giving* anything to anyone, ever.
November 15, 2025 at 1:23 AM
95 percent of Nuzzi's reputation for being 'brilliant' or 'talented' was cultivating a mean girl image that the dumbest people in media are suckers for.
November 14, 2025 at 11:26 PM
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This asbestos metaphor is brilliant.
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 9:09 PM
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The original Half Man Half Biscuit.
November 14, 2025 at 9:12 PM
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rotating this footnote in my mind forever, what a treat
November 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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39
November 14, 2025 at 12:32 AM
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Further citation, since I was curious! (Seems like the researcher elaborated in press interviews) archive.org/details/chri...
November 13, 2025 at 11:27 PM
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Ah, the joys of unintentional punctuation. Either that, or the ice cream man REALLY doesn’t like little Johnnie.
November 14, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Without checking: it surely can’t be a common thing for there to be an England team without a single player from either Liverpool or Manchester United?
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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Another selection of the best dril's replies on Threads:

+
November 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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thank you to new supporters!! that gets me to 59

anyone want to make 60?
i'm giving myself an (ambitious) goal of 100 paid supporters by end of year

can you chip in for any amount to help me get there?

www.patreon.com/c/PoliticalP...
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November 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
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Here's a great article from acquisitions editors, in time for University Press Week:
Don't Go It Alone! And Other Tips on How To Get Your First Book Published with a University Press.
https://bit.ly/3XoKxfV
##UPWeek2025 #TeamUP #ReadUP @rcolesworthy.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
Don't Go It Alone! And Other Tips on How To Get Your First Book Published with a University Press
Publishing a book can be an isolated -- and isolating -- experience, but it doesn't have to be. Two university press editors share
bit.ly
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
This was a criticism of @adapalmer.bsky.social’s Terra Ignota books, but Madame’s entertainments seem positively bourgeois compared to Epstein.
Whats so unnerving, among many other aspects of the whole sordid Epstein miasma, is how incestuous the world of these elites are. Everyone knows everyone. The personal, social, and professional spheres all overlap.
November 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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jeffrey epstein won't see your jokes about how poorly written his emails were, but your barely literate friends also won't see them, because they can't read. fire away
November 13, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Very happy to see this arrive! liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
November 13, 2025 at 7:19 AM
November 13, 2025 at 5:59 AM
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TRUMP [to the Ghost]
Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
Something uncanny and weird about how Epstein's legal ghost, his estate, turns out to be some sort of avenging angel now.
November 13, 2025 at 4:36 AM