Oran Magal
@oranmagal.bsky.social
I teach philosophy for a living. Working on a novel. World-weary.
Reposted by Oran Magal
Wonder what's happening with MAGA Twitter? This sheet-pan bakarkhani will make you feel like you're in Bangladesh.
November 25, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Wonder what's happening with MAGA Twitter? This sheet-pan bakarkhani will make you feel like you're in Bangladesh.
Reposted by Oran Magal
Hello! One of Enron's incredibly junior investment bankers here. One thing we discussed a lot at the time is that we couldn't trace the business model of the company due to its Byzantine accounting structure. But Enron was so high flying on Wall Street, we assumed we were missing something.
it's happening dot gif
November 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Hello! One of Enron's incredibly junior investment bankers here. One thing we discussed a lot at the time is that we couldn't trace the business model of the company due to its Byzantine accounting structure. But Enron was so high flying on Wall Street, we assumed we were missing something.
Reposted by Oran Magal
Wrote another headline with @lopatto.bsky.social www.theverge.com/business/828...
November 24, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Wrote another headline with @lopatto.bsky.social www.theverge.com/business/828...
Reposted by Oran Magal
Better:
November 24, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Better:
Reposted by Oran Magal
Is it bad when half your economy is delusional speculation??
One explanation for economic populism in the US is the recurring cycle of bubbles and bailouts that happens without any democratic input
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Is it bad when half your economy is delusional speculation??
Reposted by Oran Magal
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
Who needs the people’s representatives in Congress to determine whether or not racism still needs remedies? The super-legislators in SCOTUS will decide as usual.
As the U.S. Supreme Court contemplates whether the VRA has outlived its usefulness, having heard oral arguments in October questioning the constitutionality of the landmark law’s most vital remaining provision, the question of racism’s grip on America remains. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/the...
The Voting Rights Act Is Still Working To Stop Racist Laws. The Supreme Court Might Not Care.
Read about the fight for democracy from activists, elected officials, legal experts and others.
www.democracydocket.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Who needs the people’s representatives in Congress to determine whether or not racism still needs remedies? The super-legislators in SCOTUS will decide as usual.
Reposted by Oran Magal
“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo…
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
November 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo…
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
Reposted by Oran Magal
I'm not sure what it's gonna take for people to realize that being subject to a sick burn in a judicial opinion is not something that will dissuade Trump or his cronies. They will push and push and try again and again until something sticks unless they are sanctioned and punished!
November 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I'm not sure what it's gonna take for people to realize that being subject to a sick burn in a judicial opinion is not something that will dissuade Trump or his cronies. They will push and push and try again and again until something sticks unless they are sanctioned and punished!
Reposted by Oran Magal
Computers were a skill. They were taught in classrooms as a skill. Skills give you power over your tools because you work them as an expert and that is leverage to multiply externally.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
November 14, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Computers were a skill. They were taught in classrooms as a skill. Skills give you power over your tools because you work them as an expert and that is leverage to multiply externally.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
Reposted by Oran Magal
I like how full text search of every book and human thought ever was a SOLVED PROBLEM in 2001, and now dicks at search engines and my own phone – a piece of silicon faster to respond than God was ever imagined in scripture – prevent it from working, _as a retroactive infantilizing design choice_.
November 14, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I like how full text search of every book and human thought ever was a SOLVED PROBLEM in 2001, and now dicks at search engines and my own phone – a piece of silicon faster to respond than God was ever imagined in scripture – prevent it from working, _as a retroactive infantilizing design choice_.
Reposted by Oran Magal
My kids have measles, I lost my job, and I'm going to die because RFK Jr. cancelled the clinical trials that might have cured my cancer. But at least I know there won't be any same-sex couples in the next Frozen movie.
November 24, 2025 at 6:06 PM
My kids have measles, I lost my job, and I'm going to die because RFK Jr. cancelled the clinical trials that might have cured my cancer. But at least I know there won't be any same-sex couples in the next Frozen movie.
Reposted by Oran Magal
The ongoing, behind-the-scenes evisceration of our apolitical public service will ultimately harm all Conservative and Liberal Americans. Institutions that defend all of us from extremists on the Left and Right, once shattered, do not return soon and may not return ever.
“The Justice Department purge has now eclipsed 5,000 employees since January, including resignations, firings and retirements.”
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-j...
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-j...
"Quite frankly I was pissed off!" Growing online page chronicles Trump Justice Dept. resignation letters
Amid a wave of departures from the Justice Department, some of its former officials are curating a public online display of the farewell messages of ousted employees.
www.cbsnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The ongoing, behind-the-scenes evisceration of our apolitical public service will ultimately harm all Conservative and Liberal Americans. Institutions that defend all of us from extremists on the Left and Right, once shattered, do not return soon and may not return ever.
Reposted by Oran Magal
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Reposted by Oran Magal
At this point X is like 1950s Vienna, a whole place made up entirely of spies, running ops against other spies, with no non-spy people. Or maybe like a 1971 Black Panthers convention where 3/4 of the attendees are conintelrpo.
November 24, 2025 at 3:50 AM
At this point X is like 1950s Vienna, a whole place made up entirely of spies, running ops against other spies, with no non-spy people. Or maybe like a 1971 Black Panthers convention where 3/4 of the attendees are conintelrpo.
Reposted by Oran Magal
JD Vance and Peter Thiel are running a sustained operation out of the White House designed to acquire Greenland, either voluntarily or by force. Thiel has laid out plans for what he intends to do with the island nation in past writings. It doesn't entail the consent of the Greenlanders for anything.
November 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
JD Vance and Peter Thiel are running a sustained operation out of the White House designed to acquire Greenland, either voluntarily or by force. Thiel has laid out plans for what he intends to do with the island nation in past writings. It doesn't entail the consent of the Greenlanders for anything.
Reposted by Oran Magal
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
Reposted by Oran Magal
Not only are X users marinating in a disinformation bubble, but viewing the posts of bots on X actively contributes American funds to overseas bot farms because of its financial reward system.
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Not only are X users marinating in a disinformation bubble, but viewing the posts of bots on X actively contributes American funds to overseas bot farms because of its financial reward system.
Reposted by Oran Magal
2/With the rapid disassembly of the Weberian bureaucratic state, foreign policy is driven by insider cliques.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System | International Organization | Cambridge Core
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System - Volume 79 Issue S1
www.cambridge.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:27 PM
2/With the rapid disassembly of the Weberian bureaucratic state, foreign policy is driven by insider cliques.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Oran Magal
1/Russia-Ukraine diplomatic freelancing underscores transformation of neo-royalist order. Courtiers can strike deals but also stir up confusion. Witcoff edition.
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:24 PM
1/Russia-Ukraine diplomatic freelancing underscores transformation of neo-royalist order. Courtiers can strike deals but also stir up confusion. Witcoff edition.
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Reposted by Oran Magal
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
Reposted by Oran Magal
Amazing how quickly American media went from lionizing Charlie Kirk, simply because he got shot in public, to completely ignoring the guy and hoping no one dwells on the actual person they demanded we celebrate
A woman reads quotes by the late Charlie Kirk to Republican congressmen, and they find it difficult to maintain eye contact.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Amazing how quickly American media went from lionizing Charlie Kirk, simply because he got shot in public, to completely ignoring the guy and hoping no one dwells on the actual person they demanded we celebrate
Reposted by Oran Magal
AI for the win again
November 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM
AI for the win again
Reposted by Oran Magal
Every regional public university should be blasting this message in every possible medium.
Trying to get us to advertise as: "No AI, small classes, people-first." Or something similar.
Who invests in critical thinking and who invests in an AI chatbot to help you think will be really telling.
November 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Every regional public university should be blasting this message in every possible medium.
Reposted by Oran Magal
How is it that college administrators get paid high salaries to come up with such dumb ideas, over & over again...? Is there someone who will pay me for dumb ideas? If you really want I can come up with plenty (and even some good ones as well) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/n...
November 23, 2025 at 7:54 PM
How is it that college administrators get paid high salaries to come up with such dumb ideas, over & over again...? Is there someone who will pay me for dumb ideas? If you really want I can come up with plenty (and even some good ones as well) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/n...