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Colby Townsend

@colbytownsend.bsky.social
1.1K followers 739 following 305 posts

Dual PhD student (English/religious studies) @ IU Bloomington studying religion and literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He/him

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Reposted by Colby Townsend
Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 2h
This is the funniest shit on earth except for all the war crimes.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 30/09/2026
I actually don't think the Republican Senator mixed up "Hawks" and "Hawkeyes." Going by his own statements, it appears his staff saw he went to a basketball game on that date and googled basketball games and found the only men's game that night in the whole country was in Atlanta.
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Historian here UT Austin has eliminated courses on slavery, civil rights, the Holocaust and women from its core curriculum. We know the kind of people who have censored history in the past. www.statesman.com/news/educati...
statesman.com
UT cuts all women and gender classes from core curriculum, drops race classes
The provost’s office also eliminated dozens of courses on race from counting toward the core curriculum.
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Michan Connor @michanconnor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It would be nice if we could be confident they’d face more consequences than a student who protested the bombing of children in Gaza
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I am on Mastodon purely for the University Press Sales Bot. Any one of the other 218 followers on here?
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
There was a bloom of stories maybe ten years ago about older professors creating problems for the job market by not retiring, and just checking in now to point out that they’ve since retired and almost none of their jobs continue to exist.
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
i strongly suspect the reason that they are hiding this is not because cops are moonlighting for ICE contractors off duty but because many of them are working for ICE contractors *while clocked in*
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Joe Cirincione @joecirin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We can just repeat this analysis from a year ago.
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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Economy tanking, fruitless war in Middle East, allies turning from us; and Trump is poring over construction pics to make sure he gets Corinthian columns and not too many women’s toilets. Peak fiddling while Rome burns 😳😳😳
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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm still promoting my new book, "HOW RUSSIA WON: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America." With Don Jr.'s wedding, new Russian disinfo attacks on the midterms & Kushner siding w/ Putin re the war in Ukraine, it's damn timely Check out: HowRussiaWon.com.
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randy r. potts @thephatic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
there really aren't that many countries where federal agents are just running around beating citizens within an inch of their life
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It's not a crackdown on the free press! It's a justified assault on the lügenpresse!
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“School choice” is pernicious inequality rebranded as a type of consumer-based freedom.
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Prof. Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/a...
nytimes.com
Two Centuries On, Smithsonian Connects Jefferson’s Hair to Hemings’s Children (Gift Article)
A new book describes how cutting-edge genomics techniques yielded “extraordinary proof” that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings.
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Seth Masket @smotus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My hot take: We are not arguing about SSRIs. Some of us are using them as prescribed by our doctors to treat mental health difficulties. This administration has decided that's a problem based on no actual research.
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 18/09/2026
This guy who assaulted a sitting member of Congress got 28 years and 10 months less jail time than a Texas resident who transported a box of zines that contained constitutionally protected content opposing ICE reason.com/2026/06/25/t...
reason.com
Texas man gets 30 years in prison for transporting 'anti-government' pamphlets
The case stems from a violent anti-ICE protest, but critics say the government's prosecution threatens First Amendment rights.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Elizabeth Warren, AOC, and other members of Congress have introduced a bill to ban private equity funds from owning or controlling medical practices. This is a big deal. Here’s what you need to know about the shady private equity industry and how it operates.
youtube.com
This One Thing Is Making Your Life More Expensive | Robert Reich
Private equity is shutting out millions of people from buying their own homes.In 2021, private equity investors bought n
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Canada reached a trade agreement with us, the President blew it up for no reason while threatening to annex them, and Congress didn't do squat about either. It sucks, it's objectively bad for America, but WaPo is outright lying that "spite" is driving Canada's policy. It's the only rational choice.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
All English departments should follow this lead.
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Jesus fucking Christ. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. Will Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants
Generation of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.
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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Listen to Prof. Wulf ⬇️⬇️⬇️
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Dr. Syntax @drsyntax.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Cute Cat Shana Tova: Good Year Greeting
ALT: Cute Cat Shana Tova: Good Year Greeting
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We're TIRED of being called RACIST for saying RACIST SHIT ALL THE TIME!
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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
What the FUCK!!
Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe Al could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 09/09/2026
Really rare to spot something like this in the wild, but The Wall Street Journal ran a "Supreme Court Expansion Is Secretly Unconstitutional Actually" column that directly refutes its thesis in the paragraph that immediately follows. Beautiful stuff. www.wsj.com/opinion/is-c...
Last week only one House Democrat, North Carolina’s Don Davis, voted for a measure to propose a constitutional amendment fixing the court’s size at nine. But it’s unclear that such an amendment is necessary. Democrats cite several precedents from the 19th century in which Congress voted to increase the number of justices. But there are no clear precedents that support a partisan court-packing plan and a strong argument that it would be an unconstitutional assault on judicial independence and the separation of powers.

Article III establishes “one Supreme Court,” and Article I mentions “the Chief Justice,” but otherwise the Constitution leaves to Congress the authority to establish the structure of the federal judiciary, including the number of justices. In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress created the Supreme Court with six justices.
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Bryan Waterman @waterman.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is absolute insanity. Batshit. Bullshit. Who will call him out? We’ve all heard his despicable 9/11 phone interview. He was nowhere near ground zero. He talked to “his people” at 40 Wall St. by phone & bragged abt having the new tallest bldg downtown.
youtu.be
Trump's 9/11: "I Now Have the Tallest Building In Lower Manhattan...tallest ...tallest ...tallest "
YouTube video by Parks Curtis
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RN Mayhem @mayhem1994.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We know, Giuliani is a ghoul who used a tragedy to further himself. I remember remember Jon Stewart having to plead to a republican-controlled congress to continue providing aid and benefits to 9/11 first responders that were largely dying of cancer
cnn.com
NYC Mayor Mamdani releases 9/11 records showing officials misled New Yorkers about air quality around Ground Zero | CNN
New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records about air quality following the September 11, 2001, attacks, showing city officials at the time knew conditions aro...
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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This never happened.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We woke up thinking about the long shadow of all the workers’ wins and even their losses. We made it free to watch the short documentary that dominated my life this year. Happy Labor Day. vimeo.com/1224659811/7...
vimeo.com
Power to the People, Y'all [Happy Labor Day]
Power to the People, Y’all is a character-driven documentary that explores aging, legacy, and resistance through interviews with five founding members of the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Black Panther...
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I’m pretty excited to jump into this brand new book.
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David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I wrote a couple threads here on Bluesky about this weekend's headlines, how they tie to corruption and what we must do to deal with the threat. I revisit and expand upon what I wrote here in my latest Substack. davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/its-the-co...
davidrothkopf.substack.com
It’s the Corruption, Stupid
Toward a Unified Theory of Political Division and Healing in America
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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
BREAKING: META settles a $17B lawsuit admitting that it harms kids intentionally for profit. New rules will limit use of apps during the day and halt notifications for kids overnight. My heart breaks for the generation of teenagers who endured Covid disruptions and endless social media.
The settlement will effectively force Meta to make major product changes for all U.S. users. The company agreed to interrupt endless scrolling and to impose two-hour daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook. To avoid addictive use and sleep interruptions, the company will limit usage between midnight and 6 a.m. and silence notifications between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
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Bethany Mannon @drbethany.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
But “defund the police” was bad messaging 🙄
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
universities are not run by leftist profs they are run by corporate profiteer board members siphoning public $$ to tech partnerships "An Inside Higher Ed analysis of SEC filings turned up dozens of presidents paid handsomely for sitting on corporate boards." www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
the 10 presidents in Inside Higher Ed’s analysis who earned the most from outside board service in 2025.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Sure, you might think your town is cool. But does it have a tram stop called Besses o’ th’ Barn? Didn’t think so.
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Michael E. Carter @deckofcarterhist.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Genocide was coined in the 20th century but it did not begin in nor is it limited to the 20th century. Or the modern era, for that matter. It's origin point is probably as old as human warfare. Additionally, it is more far complex yet has a lower threshold of requirements than you thank it does.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
At the Rylands Library in Manchester looking at a document labelled "Autobiography of a cavalryman in the Scots Greys" that they estimate a date for around 1825. Did not expect this memoir (the title on the first page reads "Memoirs for a Winter's Evening") to be such a banger. It's first paragraph:
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
We achieved a major milestone in the fight for free and fair elections this week. You wouldn't know it from reading the legacy media, but it may prove as important as anything else in preventing Donald Trump from subverting the midterm elections. newsletters.democracydocket.com/a-major-win-...
newsletters.democracydocket.com
A major win for voting rights you didn't hear about this week
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Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
the dark clouds are brewing. A lot of Germans don't seem to realize that fascism didn't work out so well for them the last time. www.dw.com/en/germany-f...
dw.com
Germany: Far-right AfD extends its lead in nationwide polls
In the latest Sunday poll, the AfD continues to pull ahead. And more and more people are against excluding the right-wing populists from decision-making, at least on a case-by-case basis.
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 01/08/2026
🚨 NEWS: In a new court filing, Capital One says Donald Trump’s accounts were closed in 2021 after months of analysis by its anti-money laundering (AML) professionals, not because of politics, as Trump has long claimed. 1/
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Absolutely a must watch. I had no idea this was coming but I’m so glad it’s here.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
It is genuinely bizarre that we’ve become acclimatized to right wingers throwing a tantrum every time a black person (particularly a black woman) is cast in something, but are also supposed to pretend that this is not racism but related to some other substantive concern.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Related to my last post, my entry for volume 25 of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception on "Bible in Print in Modern America" was just published. I am grateful to the editors of the encyclopedia for reaching out and inviting me to consider writing on
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Some publication news. I have five essays coming out in Dan McClellan's edited volume, Mormonism in Five Minutes (Equinox) that will be out in September. The paperback is affordable and it's a nice textbook for undergrads. I respond to questions about whether Joseph Smith copied other texts to
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The Wolfpack @wolfpack11720.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
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Bill @bill-of-lefts.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
the degree to which they want to destroy one of the jewels of the American republic—our exceptional research universities—is just gobsmacking
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