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Colby Townsend

@colbytownsend.bsky.social
1.1K followers 742 following 312 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
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 18h
‼️ Some of ICE’s election day plans are documented in a new Democracy Forward report, shared exclusively with Democracy Docket. DF says Americans are being left in the dark about what ICE plans to do as voters begin casting ballots. Here’s how they’re fighting back: demdock.com/4zhkjx0
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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This public execution is CRAZY! It’s disgusting, barbaric, soul-crushing!!!! It should bring everyone out of their homes into the streets, like everything else. Where is the outcry!? This regime disgusts me.
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Sam Altman said people are just gonna have to die in order to implement AI. In the very same week, Anthropic claimed it’s a human rights violation to be mean to the computer. These people need to be held accountable. They think lines of code are a person with rights but living people are debris.
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Laurence - highest score ever in the Neasden Cognitive Test!! @laurenceineu.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
"Needing the ICC" is hardly the point. First, no govt whose officials are accused of international crime "needs" it - it's the victims who need it. Second, the US has not just taken itself out of the ICC (it was never in) but it seeks to shut it down so the rest of us, who do need it, can't use it.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
So are these corporations just looking for ways to continue the Sony BMG rootkit scandal from two decades ago? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BM...
en.wikipedia.org
Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal - Wikipedia
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Dumbest administration in the history of administrations.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I think Tommy Wiseau still sends you a free pair of underwear from his underwear line if you buy a dvd of The Room.
static.klipy.com
Tommy Wiseau: That's the Idea
ALT: Tommy Wiseau: That's the Idea
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
Mike Nellis @mikenellis.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Just a reminder that multiple members of Donald Trump's family and administration helped bring the Tate brothers back to the United States after it was already clear they were human traffickers and sexual abusers. They should all be investigated by Congress immediately, including Barron Trump.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
[observes incendiary language in comment. Cuts out “hate”; throws it in the incinerator. Replaces with “love.” Hate now equals love]
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Also, this is 1984 and we are all Winston.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Next time this happens I expect to get coffee, chat about transatlantic late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and get lectured about paying attention to when the light turns green.
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Ashley Rattner @ashleyrattner.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"As a parent investing hard-earned money into tuition for your child, would you feel more or less confident if someone who knows nothing about curriculum design and has no training in a content area–say, engineering–begins to dictate what an intro engineering course must cover?"
al.com
Hey Montgomery: Let faculty do their job: op-ed
Elected leaders in Montgomery certainly do not possess the required expertise, nor do most appointed university trustees.
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"De-Trumpification" has to be one of the top agenda items if Dems win power. All the lawlessness and every last one of his efforts to turn DC into an imperial capital should be undone.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 05/10/2026
This is a very good story. Yet it's amazing to see the New York Times continually miss the forest for the trees.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
But how many epigrams does it have?
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is the funniest shit on earth except for all the war crimes.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hmm. Did he ever look good on tv, though?
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I feel like we need to revive the eternal words of Donny Darko in 2026 and scream “you’re such a fuckass” to all of these supposed university “leaders” and fake university police departments. youtu.be/J5hjxH3m1Ro?...
youtu.be
Donnie Darko fuckass
YouTube video by Bluebirdfalling
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse
ALT: Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I would watch this five times in theaters. IMAX even. Maybe even 3D.
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I can’t get back there soon enough.
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Perfect last name.
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Reposted by Colby Townsend
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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Her dad was J. J. Abrams?
static.klipy.com
Gracie Abrams Demon
ALT: Gracie Abrams Demon
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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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I need to watch this.
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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
Which is to say nowhere near Stephen’s example.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The downstairs neighbor in the film What We Do in the Shadows is an 8,000 year old parody of Nasferatu.
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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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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
No.
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Colby Townsend @colbytownsend.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Loki Series: Tom Hiddleston's 'Bit of Both'
ALT: Loki Series: Tom Hiddleston's 'Bit of Both'
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