Michael Short
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torqanvil.bsky.social
Michael Short
@torqanvil.bsky.social
'How can we know the dancer from the dance?' - William Yeats / 'Are we human. Or are we dancer?' - The Killers
Pinned
Andor season 1, episode 5: "So much going wrong, so much to say, and all of it happening so quickly. The pace of repression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine. It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident."
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the last 24 hours on X, summed up:
November 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
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CASSIDY: I know it's titillating, but I think we need to move beyond the titillation

TAPPER: This isn't about titillation. This is about the fact that you are the chairman of the health committee and you voted to confirm somebody that by all accounts is actually making America less healthy
November 23, 2025 at 2:42 PM
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Google has started automatically opting you in to let it read your stuff to train AI. You need to turn this off in SEVERAL places in your settings (not just for Gmail), if you want to maintain privacy and confidentiality.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Gmail can read your emails and attachments to train its AI, unless you opt out
A new Gmail update may allow Google to use your private messages and attachments for AI training. Here's how to turn it off.
www.malwarebytes.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
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Trump feuding with Marjorie Taylor Greene but being in love with Zohran Mamdani was not on my November 2025 bingo card
November 21, 2025 at 9:59 PM
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November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
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“We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
www.washingtonpost.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:09 PM
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LEAVITT: “.. I think the president being frank and open and honest to your faces rather than hiding behind your backs is a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.”

@the-independent.com
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
November 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM
But don't call them Nazis

wapo.st/3Mbd9a6
🎁
November 20, 2025 at 8:14 PM
🫠
November 20, 2025 at 5:58 AM
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You see the thing about Republicans is they’re really passionate about states rights
November 19, 2025 at 11:55 PM
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Zohran Mamdani has a higher favorability rating than Donald Trump, JD Vance or Chuck Schumer. The most popular political figures in America are Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-d...
November 18, 2025 at 5:34 PM
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"things happen"
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 PM
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The President should not be making personal for-profit business deals with the foreign leaders while he's supposed to be conducting foreign policy on behalf of the country.

This should not be a remotely controversial statement.
Saudi officials used President Trump’s state visit in May to pique his interest in a major real estate development, the latest example of Trump blending governance and family business, particularly in Persian Gulf countries. nyti.ms/4r7mboU
November 16, 2025 at 12:20 AM
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See that Rolex clock and gold bar?

It looks like those Swiss gifts paid off.

Trump cut tariffs on Swiss goods — like luxury watches — from 39% to 15%.

While Trump’s tariffs increase prices for Americans, billionaire CEOs and foreign companies sucking up to Trump get relief.
November 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The most corrupt period of the American era
The Trump family is chasing another real estate deal in Saudi Arabia.

And the Saudis want a mutual defense agreement and access to U.S. nuclear technology.

Looks like Trump and the royal family will both win, with our national security for sale. The only losers? The American people.
November 16, 2025 at 12:25 AM
A DJ played this at an outdoor party one Thanksgiving weekend afternoon in Miami in 95 or 96, and hearing it always transports me back there ❤️ #AT40
November 15, 2025 at 6:17 PM
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Distractions volume 69
November 13, 2025 at 2:29 PM
November 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
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Russia presented its human-like AI robot. It fell down as it walked onto the stage.
November 11, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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On this day I always recommend reading The Guns of August, a superb book about how the events of August 1914 led to a global conflict that killed and wounded tens of millions. President John F. Kennedy was so impressed by it that he ordered the Pentagon to send a copy to every general.
November 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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So here's where we are, Sunday morning:

Trump is trying to starve hungry kids in order to bully Democrats into abandoning our fight against health care premium increases.

So Trump is starving kids in order to deny families health care.

Dystopian.
November 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM
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Tonight, Germany marks both the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht—the “Night of Broken Glass” (1938)—and the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989). Hatred versus joy. Separateness versus unity. Oppression versus freedom. Death versus life. All in the span of just 51 years.
November 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
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On his recent trip to Asia, Trump dined on gold-encrusted brownies.

But at home, he’s working overtime to starve working families and children.

Shameful and disgusting.
Trump Administration Live Updates: Officials Demand States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
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lol she got his ass and he knows it
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM