Mark Byrnes
@byrnesms.bsky.social
Professor of History at Wofford College.
Author, _Radio and the Great Debate over US Involvement in World War II_ (2022)
Author, _Radio and the Great Debate over US Involvement in World War II_ (2022)
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
Would like to thank whoever first tossed a scrap of food to a wolf. Really can’t imagine how I’d be getting by if you hadn’t taken that first step.
November 19, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Would like to thank whoever first tossed a scrap of food to a wolf. Really can’t imagine how I’d be getting by if you hadn’t taken that first step.
Hey NYT— The appropriate word is not “urging.” It is “order”— the fact that presidents are not supposed to issue orders to the Attorney General doesn’t mean that this one doesn’t do it on a regular basis. If you’re a news organization, call it what it is.
November 14, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Hey NYT— The appropriate word is not “urging.” It is “order”— the fact that presidents are not supposed to issue orders to the Attorney General doesn’t mean that this one doesn’t do it on a regular basis. If you’re a news organization, call it what it is.
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
This only strengthens my sense that Trump’s deal with the dictators (maybe informal, maybe not) is that Putin gets Europe, Xi gets Asia, and the US reverts to the 19th century version of the Monroe Doctrine.
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 AM
This only strengthens my sense that Trump’s deal with the dictators (maybe informal, maybe not) is that Putin gets Europe, Xi gets Asia, and the US reverts to the 19th century version of the Monroe Doctrine.
It seems clear to me now that the play here with the shutdown was to put on a big show of being fighters before the election in order to get the benefit from that at the polls. Having gotten the benefit that they were looking for, they shut the whole thing down.
“If Schumer really wanted to use his considerable influence and leverage to stop this, he could have done that,” a senior Democratic Senate aide tells Zeteo. “He didn’t.”
Furious Liberals Call for Schumer to Step Aside, Senate Dems Mostly Quiet
After their shutdown surrender, liberal lawmakers are begging their base to unite behind them anyway – as Trumpland celebrates that their opposition is a bunch of 'p*ssies.'
zeteo.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 AM
It seems clear to me now that the play here with the shutdown was to put on a big show of being fighters before the election in order to get the benefit from that at the polls. Having gotten the benefit that they were looking for, they shut the whole thing down.
I don’t have much good to say about Ingraham, but I’ll give her this: she does not hesitate here to let Trump know that she thinks what he just said is flat-out stupid. I wish journalists would do that. 
Trump says that HBCUs would be "all be out of business" if fewer Chinese students were allowed to go to American universities
November 11, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I don’t have much good to say about Ingraham, but I’ll give her this: she does not hesitate here to let Trump know that she thinks what he just said is flat-out stupid. I wish journalists would do that. 
Raise your hand if your life’s dream is to go out and negotiate your own insurance. He’s such an idiot.
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Raise your hand if your life’s dream is to go out and negotiate your own insurance. He’s such an idiot.
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
Not that he didn’t already know, but now Trump knows for sure he can roll the Dems every time and there’s no need to negotiate for anything
November 10, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Not that he didn’t already know, but now Trump knows for sure he can roll the Dems every time and there’s no need to negotiate for anything
@schumer.senate.gov You either approved of this capitulation or were powerless to stop it. Either way, you need to resign as Democratic leader. Coming less than a week after dramatic electoral victories, this is a pathetic surrender.
November 10, 2025 at 2:59 AM
@schumer.senate.gov You either approved of this capitulation or were powerless to stop it. Either way, you need to resign as Democratic leader. Coming less than a week after dramatic electoral victories, this is a pathetic surrender.
This seems so bleeding obvious that I’m amazed that anyone has to say it out loud to what are supposed to be professional politicians.
Chris Murphy: "There will be pretty substantial damage to a Dem brand that has been rehabilitated if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop... if we surrender without having gotten anything, I worry it'll be hard to get them back up off the mat"
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 AM
This seems so bleeding obvious that I’m amazed that anyone has to say it out loud to what are supposed to be professional politicians.
Ok, genius. And when they buy health insurance with the money given them, who gets that money?
The self-same money-sucking insurance companies.
He is so damn stupid.
The self-same money-sucking insurance companies.
He is so damn stupid.
November 9, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Ok, genius. And when they buy health insurance with the money given them, who gets that money?
The self-same money-sucking insurance companies.
He is so damn stupid.
The self-same money-sucking insurance companies.
He is so damn stupid.
So the game later today is Game 5, right?
October 28, 2025 at 6:31 AM
So the game later today is Game 5, right?
Maybe Scherzer should’ve yelled at Schneider again.
October 28, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Maybe Scherzer should’ve yelled at Schneider again.
So now we need a halftime show in the middle of World Series baseball games too? Good Lord. Stop this madness.
October 26, 2025 at 1:34 AM
So now we need a halftime show in the middle of World Series baseball games too? Good Lord. Stop this madness.
I’m in my 60s, and I can do this.
Lecturing active soldiers about being too fat while dropping standards so low for the ICE deportation force that a third of their recruits can't handle the easiest PT test I've ever heard of www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
October 21, 2025 at 1:13 AM
I’m in my 60s, and I can do this.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
“now you can outsource thinking itself.”
Labor-saving devices have been a great boon to humankind. But the one essential labor that cannot be outsourced without producing mental rot is personal thought. Outsource that, and we’re doomed.
“now you can outsource thinking itself.”
Labor-saving devices have been a great boon to humankind. But the one essential labor that cannot be outsourced without producing mental rot is personal thought. Outsource that, and we’re doomed.
Are we living in a golden age of stupidity?
From brain-rotting videos to AI creep, every technological advance seems to make it harder to work, remember, think and function independently …
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:28 PM
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
“now you can outsource thinking itself.”
Labor-saving devices have been a great boon to humankind. But the one essential labor that cannot be outsourced without producing mental rot is personal thought. Outsource that, and we’re doomed.
“now you can outsource thinking itself.”
Labor-saving devices have been a great boon to humankind. But the one essential labor that cannot be outsourced without producing mental rot is personal thought. Outsource that, and we’re doomed.
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
🔥 Spartanburg, South Carolina showed up strong — voices rising for freedom in the heart of the South. 💙 Peaceful, proud, and powerful, they proved that democracy’s fire burns bright everywhere. 👑❌🇺🇸
#NoKings @jabbott28.bsky.social
#NoKings @jabbott28.bsky.social
October 19, 2025 at 9:18 PM
🔥 Spartanburg, South Carolina showed up strong — voices rising for freedom in the heart of the South. 💙 Peaceful, proud, and powerful, they proved that democracy’s fire burns bright everywhere. 👑❌🇺🇸
#NoKings @jabbott28.bsky.social
#NoKings @jabbott28.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
There was a lot of good trouble in Columbia today:) Thank you to the Capitol police and everyone at the South Carolina Dept. of Public Safety for keeping the peace.
October 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
There was a lot of good trouble in Columbia today:) Thank you to the Capitol police and everyone at the South Carolina Dept. of Public Safety for keeping the peace.
No Kings, Columbia , SC
October 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM
No Kings, Columbia , SC
If only everyone who voted for Trump because they were mad about inflation had listened to those of us saying his tariffs would increase inflation.
We were actually getting somewhere, too. 😞
@sbmitche.bsky.social
www.library.hbs.edu/working-know...
@sbmitche.bsky.social
www.library.hbs.edu/working-know...
October 16, 2025 at 1:28 AM
If only everyone who voted for Trump because they were mad about inflation had listened to those of us saying his tariffs would increase inflation.
This is certainly worth a try, but I imagine it would only be truly effective if all 50 states did it, and they won’t. For well over 100 years, states have competed with each other to attract corporations. That’s why Delaware has so many. 
We’ve lived 15 years under Citizens United, watching billionaires and corporations shape democracy with their wallets. Reform once seemed impossible. But now, a group in Montana is asking a radical question: What if states simply stopped granting corporations the power to spend in politics?
Could We End Corporate Money In Politics?
Backers of a referendum before Montana voters next year believe they’ve found a vulnerability on Citizen United
thinkbigpicture.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
This is certainly worth a try, but I imagine it would only be truly effective if all 50 states did it, and they won’t. For well over 100 years, states have competed with each other to attract corporations. That’s why Delaware has so many. 
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, and one song you can't stand.
Lima beans
Eraserhead
Guns N' Roses’ egregious cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Lima beans
Eraserhead
Guns N' Roses’ egregious cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, and one song you can't stand
Canned tuna
Pearl Harbor
Love Shack
Canned tuna
Pearl Harbor
Love Shack
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, and one song you can't stand
Mayonnaise
Hoosiers
Gimme One Reason
Mayonnaise
Hoosiers
Gimme One Reason
October 14, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, and one song you can't stand.
Lima beans
Eraserhead
Guns N' Roses’ egregious cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Lima beans
Eraserhead
Guns N' Roses’ egregious cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Baseball’s bias in favor of lifting pictures has gotten completely out of control. Seattle’s Kirby is pitching a shut out, has only 60 some pictures in the sixth inning, and they yank him. He certainly could not have done worse than his replacement did.
October 11, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Baseball’s bias in favor of lifting pictures has gotten completely out of control. Seattle’s Kirby is pitching a shut out, has only 60 some pictures in the sixth inning, and they yank him. He certainly could not have done worse than his replacement did.
Reposted by Mark Byrnes
“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”
October 9, 2025 at 2:29 AM
“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”
Man, rough night for Philly sports.
October 10, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Man, rough night for Philly sports.