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Mark Byrnes

@byrnesms.bsky.social
335 followers 230 following 444 posts

Professor of History at Wofford College. Author, _Radio and the Great Debate over US Involvement in World War II_ (2022)

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 32m
She lasted half a Scaramucci.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
@mlb needs to issue an order to every stadium that there should be no seats so close that they allow fans to ever reach into the field of play and interfere.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If he does and the Democrats control the Senate, they have to invoke the McConnell rule and refuse to even give a hearing to any nominee Trump sends up.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Gee, for some reason, it never occurred to him to include “send me to fight the Nazis” in this list. Can’t imagine why.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Every MAGA accusation is really a confession.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Aside from how staggeringly stupid all of this is, I am also struck with how incredibly unimaginative this idiot is. All he can think of when it comes to renaming is sticking the word “America” into place names.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It is that, but I think it also comes from the need to look tough when he’s feeling humiliated by Iran. He can’t solve that, so he does this—the international equivalent of the jerk who kicks his dog because he can’t hit his boss.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The author compares his students to baseball players using steroids. Does he think MLB reduced steroid use by changing players’ underlying motivations? I have been teaching at the college level since 1989. Today’s students are not less moral. AI has made cheating easier. We need to make it hard.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It is nowhere near close to the most important thing about the “Trump ditching the real Air Force One” story, but I really wish people understood the difference between a decoy and a human shield. Trump used the reporters as decoys, not human shields.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Cassidy joins Tillis and Cornyn as another Profile in Cowardice. The excuse—“Trump will only nominate someone worse”—is especially pathetic.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I’ve never had kids, and now I realize I’ve been subsidizing schools for 40 years that I never used and I’m OK with that because I live in a society and think education is a public good — and I’m not a selfish asshole.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The cost of the entire proposed slush fund would be a tiny percentage of what he’s grifted from the presidency over the last 18 months. Trump, as always, is cheap with his own money and generous with ours.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
It is so perfect that he LOVES AI slop. Of course he does.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Just a guess, but I suspect the answer has at least something to do with ever-rising income disparity. It is the huge (and growing) gap between themselves and the economic elite that leaves people feeling objectively worse about the economy. “Musk is a *trillionaire* and I can’t afford a house!?”
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
So, it looks like we are getting to the “all Mexico” portion of this war. The United States has “won” the war militarily, but cannot finish it diplomatically, and is just coming up with crazy ideas to try to get out of the impasse.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Some years ago, when I was involved in discussions about changing college faculty governance, I advocated successfully for new associate Provost positions to require that the people holding them teach one class a semester to guard against exactly this.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
2 things: if I had been at this beach, this would not have been the highlight of my day. And between this and Kegsbreath’s testosterone tests for soldiers, the fascists have clearly decided that “low-T” is a winner for them.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I’m guessing the person paid to write these instructions threw this in to see if anyone else would ever read them before approving them. Guess not.
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Reposted by Mark Byrnes
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Trump doesn’t force people to do bad things. All he did was show people they could get away with being horrible if they really wanted to, and a lot of powerful people decided they didn’t need to pretend anymore. Especially those in influential positions who could push back but did not.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Yup. America is now the world’s Cartman.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Those of us who have always done this are glad to see others catching up.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The difference between the enthusiasm for the Bicentennial 50 years ago and the distinct lack thereof for this year‘s 250th anniversary comes down, in my mind, to this: in 1976, it was possible to see recent events as a validation that the system worked. 1/2
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It really is extraordinary how often and how casually he will say the most dickish things— and with a look on his face that says he thinks it’s charming.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
As if it isn’t hard enough being a #Mets fan—having to listen to these announcers rather than Gary, Keith, and Ron is adding insult to injury.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Name a TV show you’re positive no one remembers but you.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
One thing that’s consistent about Trump: 17 whenever he sees someone come up with a new way to make money, he never asks “Is this legal? Is this good? Is this moral?” All he asks is “how can I get in on this?”
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I am guessing this faux macho clown spends a lot of time executing people in his mind.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Soto is a great player, but he does not run out routine ground balls. And he just cost the Mets a run in the 3rd against the Padres. For 3/4 of $1 billion, you can run out ground balls.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
"This indifference to the suffering of others is not a pleasant trait in the character of the Germans, who nevertheless are so slow to forget the injustices done to themselves."--Kurt von Stutterheim on the Nazi period. Also a pretty good description of MAGA.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I think it is worse than that. They won’t be satisfied until they’ve undone the New Deal and the Progressive era.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Trump is Emily Littella. No, that’s not fair to her. Trump is incapable of recognizing that he is wrong and saying “never mind.”
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Of course not. It’s a Golden Ass.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Public service announcement: I will haunt the hell out of anyone who ChatGPT’s my obit or eulogy.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Ok, who recently used this word in front of Trump? And who told him what it meant?
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
He is the most needy, pathetic, and petty would-be tyrant in history. Any self-respecting person with the slightest tinge of dignity would be embarrassed by this. He laps it up like the insecure little child he is.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
media.tenor.com
a group of men standing around a man in a wheelchair with the words " the room where it happened " above him
ALT: a group of men standing around a man in a wheelchair with the words " the room where it happened " above him
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
That Jeep grand Cherokee ad – “in 1776, we made a promise. In 1941, we showed we meant it”— is one of the most historically stupid lines in all of American advertising.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Historian of WWII approves.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
So when he has to settle with Iran for far less than he demanded, he’ll probably invade Cuba.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
“Mar-a-lago Mafia” is good. Everyone needs to start using it.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Trump is stunningly bad at giving a formal speech. The written version is always bland and boring, and he realizes that as he’s saying it, so then he starts riffing, which only makes it worse because he rambles and becomes incoherent.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
It’s a shame there are no cameras allowed. We won’t get to see him sleeping through the whole damn thing.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.”
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
It takes a fraud to catch a fraud.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Nice that opening day coincides with spring break – guilt-free afternoon TV watching! Let’s go Mets!
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Reposted by Mark Byrnes
Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Much of reactionary politics today is best understood as a Confederate restoration project.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
The usual complete lack of class or basic human decency we’ve come to expect from Trump. I want people to remember this when he finally meets the same fate. I don’t wanna hear one word from the decorum police about people celebrating Trump‘s death unless they first condemn this. Most of them won’t.
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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
You’re paying a Trump’s Stupid War Tax every time you fill up.
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