iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

She lasted half a Scaramucci.

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

Creating obstacles to cheating encourages the morally right behavior. Some will just develop the right habit, others will come to see the value in it and adopt it, others will never not cheat if they can. It’s imperfect, but it is the best instructors can do.

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

There are, of course, moral students like the ones in this article who contacted the author. But traditional age college students are rarely fully formed morally any more than intellectually. Instructors have to help them get there. Making it easy to cheat has always been an abdication of that.

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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 · 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?

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

THIS is using a human shield. I have no doubt Trump would do this in a heartbeat, but that’s not what happened with the planes.

Martin Sheen’s character uses a baby as a human shield from a would-be assassin in “The Dead Zone.”

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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

Translation: “We paid another team to take our best reliever who was under contract for next year when we obviously will not be trying to be competitive.”

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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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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I agree. Students are no less honest than they have ever been in my several decades of teaching. AI has simply lowered the bar and made it exceedingly difficult for instructors to disincentivize its use. There have always been paper writing services. They required time, planning, money. AI doesn’t.

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Let’s see—Calhoun, Clay, Webster, Douglas, Seward, Chase, Sumner, Lodge, Borah, (maybe) Wagner and Long in the ‘30s, Taft, McCarthy, Russell, Fulbright?

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Webster, Clay, and Calhoun. Sometimes called “the Great Triumvirate,” they were more influential than some presidents of the era. But I’m an American historian!

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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 · 13/07/2026

In addition, South Carolina has two senators at a time, and the Steelers only have one head coach at a time.

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Reasonable accommodations make sense and the story indicates they exist: "There will be some limited exceptions to this policy."

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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 · 09/07/2026

To be fair, Trump would probably love Franco Spain.

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Mark Byrnes @byrnesms.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The response needs to be the same as this year’s response to Trump’s demand for mid-decade redistricting: refuse to unilaterally surrender and do the same, while remaining committed to doing away with partisan gerrymandering for all and challenging GOP to agree. It must be both/and, not either/or.

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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 Vietnam war was over, and Nixon was forced to resign. Today, we are languishing in the midst of the worst presidential corruption and abuse power in our history with no clear end in sight, all of which calls into question the fundamental premises of the country. Hard to celebrate at such a time.

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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 · 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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