iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

What a relief that Todd Blanche has promised something under oath and in writing! After all, never has a Trump nominee said something like "Roe v. Wade is settled law" under oath and then later showed that statement to be an outright lie but suffered zero actual consequences for it!

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Yesterday Iran was out of the top-8 third placers until the 28th minute of Austria-Algeria, back out at 45’, back in at 55’, back out at 60’, back in at 93’, out for good at 96’. “Why do people like this game?” “It dispenses joy and misery at random. It mimics life that way.” (INDUSTRY, HBO)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Because most theocratic legislation ultimately backfires on fundies, I hope the Bible passages Texan students are now required to read makes them interested enough to read the whole thing, then go back to their homes and churches to tell the adults “you’re not following the spirit of this text.”

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

L'esprit déconnexion: That moment after you tell a rando online you're no longer engaging with them and you have to commit to that instead of going back and typing "look, you're an asshole, and I'm not required to spend any time with assholes except for the one that came with my own body."

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I spend so many minutes of my life quietly asking the question “oh my god, why are you like this?”

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

I swear that every time the words “RFK” and “road trip” pop up together it’s like a trailer for a new Rob Zombie film.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

I didn’t want to be right about this fear I’d had, but clearly it was well founded. Nothing Liverpool FC did in the summer transfer market was as consequential as letting Luis Diaz leave.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

And if you think this has been about you in particular, perhaps it is. You can either take a moment to reflect on that or you can do what the Artifact tells you to do and charge at me with red in your vision and fury in your throat. And if I choose not to engage, you can pretend it was a victory.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I'm writing this to get it out of my head, as I do with many things I write. If it's useful to you, great; if it means nothing to you, then so be it.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

And the second thing I recognize is that I've chosen my least active and visible social media platform to say any of this, because if this series of thoughts doesn't go very far beyond me that suits me just fine.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

(This is also akin, in my view, to why some people stockpile firearms.)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I do recognize that I'm using a social network to say any of this, and I'm trying to parse the idea that it's not so much the social media itself that's the Accursed Artifact as it is the social media's promise that you can feel powerful and exert some measure of control over a chaotic world.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

But it also whispers to you that your enemies will never be vanquished. That there is no true victory condition, because there will always be someone or something you need to destroy. But in exchange for that understanding you will always get to feel righteous and self-assured in your actions.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

It tells you that the damage you do is necessary and that once all your enemies are vanquished the world will be better, and that you will be hailed as the hero, now and forever for having done great and noble works.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

And the hold of the Accursed Artifact is that at first it tells you to ignore anyone who would suggest you put the Artifact down. Then, as time goes on, it tells you not to ignore, but to attack. Because the Artifact needs you to hunger as much as it does.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I've watched warriors for progress or social justice become berserkers instead, swinging their double-edged axe around them with abandon and reveling in every drop of blood it spills without stopping to consider if the violence is doing anything productive.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

The rush of power that takes hold of them as they dunk repeatedly on someone, whether or not they actually deserve it. The validation from others admiring your wit or your savagery, prompting further of same. The declarations of victory and pursuit of creative new ways to continue one's festivities.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I spend more time on social networks these days observing and listening than I do posting. Part of that is because I've watched too many people who are a delight to be around in real life become twisted, ugly versions of themselves when they take part in an online fray.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

The most famous example of these, of course, is the One Ring of Sauron, which provides immeasurable power and immortality while it consumes you from the inside. And the longer you possess it, the less you are capable of letting it go.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Consumers of fantasy media and role-playing games are familiar with the trope of the Accursed Artifact: a weapon, an item of clothing, a book that grants its bearer some kind of immense power in exchange for some part of their being.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Shortly afterwards I felt sick to my whole being, I logged out of that forum, and I never returned. I'd let the inherent anonymity and rage of the medium corrupt something about me and I hated myself for it. The moment still haunts me today.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Somewhere in the middle of that argument, in which I had grown especially heated on my end of the screen, I was challenged by my opponent about knowledge of the military. And in the midst of my anger, I implied in my next comment that I had served in the armed forces. I have never in fact done so.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Sometime in the early 2000s, I got into an argument online. Yes, I know, big deal, arguments are the second-most plentiful resource on the internet besides that which a Tony-winning musical once wrote an entire number about. But I'm going somewhere with this.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

And then, long after everyone who was alive at the same time has died, the movies will return, like rock versions of AMADEUS and IMMORTAL BELOVED.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

So either the US hit an elementary school with a Tomahawk missile, Iran managed to steal Tomahawk missiles from us or our allies or we sold Tomahawk missiles to Iran. All are GREAT SCENARIOS to contemplate.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

There is no phrase in modern media I am more annoyed with right now than “appears to contradict.” ICE is lying. DHS is lying. The Trump regime is lying. THEY HAVE BEEN CAUGHT IN LIES.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I have nothing but sympathy and hope for the Guthrie family as they plead for the safe return of their mother by whoever has abducted her. And we need to recognize that there are families our government has targeted whose pleas are identical and no less worthy of our support.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

At some point he's going to say "Listen for the last time I was not part of all that Epstein stuff. I wish I had been, though, it sounds like it was a great time!" It will be like when OJ Simpson announced the book IF I DID IT, except this time the media will treat it like another Trumpian lark.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

So ICE in Minnesota is detaining five year-olds and sending them to camps in Texas, where they might be killed by guards who claim it’s a suicide, and then found not guilty of inaction to save the child. This is the hellscape we are supposed to call a Great Nation.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

ICE: "Stop calling us Nazis." ALSO ICE: "Let's do our own version of the opening scene from INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS."

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

I wish my cynical mind could just enjoy THE ODYSSEY trailer for what it is without being prematurely exhausted about the forthcoming posts claiming "The Shocking Way that THE ODYSSEY (2026) Connects to TROY (2004)!"

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

And we’ve made him President, twice, because oh no what if a highly qualified woman, with several years of experience in governance and statecraft, were elected instead. (10/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

When the information could harm national security and put the lives of any other Americans at risk, Trump’s cabal will yawn, scratch their scalps, and be genuinely confused as to why it’s such a big deal. (9/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

When the information could embarrass him, Trump and his minions will manage to produce the tightest possible lid and evade all capture with the skills of a trained ninja. (8/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Despite an order of Congress and a month of time to prepare, the Dept of Justice has released a minute fraction of its files on dead, despised sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, featuring heavy redactions and in at least one case an unrelated image falsely manipulated to appear incriminating. (7/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Within the first year of his second term, his loyal lickspittle and self-styled Secretary of War had casually discussed war plans in the Middle East on a Signal chat that had accidentally included a professional journalist. (6/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

After leaving his first term of office he absconded with several boxes of classified documents that he kept in unsecured rooms at his Florida country club, claiming he was entitled to them and that he could show them to whomever he wished. (5/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Within five months of assuming his first term in office Donald Trump had shared information about a valuable source within the ISIS network with two Russian officials to whom he claimed not to owe any special allegiances. (4/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Two years of keeping a secret about the bombshell blonde with whom he was sleeping. Three weeks of hiding said mistress in another country using an alias and a disguise. (3/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

After the story broke, Maples spent three weeks in Guatemala hiding out under an assumed name and a red wig simply to avoid the press firestorm. (2/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

THREAD: In 1990, famed gossip columnist Liz Smith had been asking Donald Trump for two years to comment on the "other woman" in his life, only to be stonewalled each time about the identity of Marla Maples. (1/10)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

The famous portrait on the cover of “The Art of the Deal” was taken by Michele Singer Reiner. We are all of us living in the fever dreams of Aeschylus.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

On this day that FIFA honored a petty toddler as a scion of Peace, a soccer tournament my son was supposed to play in was canceled because too many families pulled out due to fears of ICE raids. I hope everything Gianni Infantino eats for the rest of his life tastes like old boot leather.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

It’s not even the tenth worst thing about it, but I utterly abhor that DHS is referencing a story of compassion and extraordinary friendship to a complete stranger when they name their latest ICE abduction campaign “Operation Charlotte Web.”

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

The first cold snap and snowfall of the season and Greg Bovino decides to end Midway Blitz. Chicago sells like a zillion hot dogs a day and we've still never seen a bigger bunch of weenies than ICE and CBP.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I guarantee you that nearly everyone who kept angrily declaring that "Old Town Road" and "Cowboy Carter" couldn't be considered real country music have no problem at all with this.

sfchronicle.com

AI country singer Breaking Rust tops Billboard with ‘Walk My Walk’

A country hit made by artificial intelligence has climbed to the top of a Billboard chart — a first for the genre.

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WALMART. (This is real. I took the screenshots.)

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Bilal Dardai @bilald.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

So if the policy is supposedly that we’re catching all the child rapists and sending them to countries they were never from, at what point do we start deporting these evangelical leaders, like former Trump advisor Robert Morris, to the Darien Gap?

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