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epictetus135.bsky.social

@epictetus135.bsky.social
181 followers 568 following 161 posts
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“Originalism is an incoherent doctrine. It allows you to prove anything. Thus what it amounts to is a ritual invocation of the Founders, gesturing at this or that piece of text, before delivering whatever conclusion was approved on Fox News the night before.” www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
liberalcurrents.com
We Have No Supreme Court
The philosophical incoherence of originalism prevents the Court from performing its core functions as a supreme court.
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Prof Frank McDonough @fxmc1957.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
2 October 1836. Charles Darwin returned to England on HMS Beagle after 5 years of researching his landmark book: the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, published on 24 November 1859. The voyage which began on 27 December 1831 took Darwin around the globe.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“The republic was dying well before Caesar, and the question for Americans is not whether Trump is our Caesar. Our bigger concern should be if this is more like our age of Marius and Sulla, who inflicted wounds on the republic that proved fatal in the long term.” open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The opening sequence to ‘Bad Moon Rising’ kinda sums up why I loved this show - dialogue, characters and acting in full zinging flow. THE WEST WING (2001) #OliverPlatt #MartinSheen #JohnSpencer #AaronSorkin
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Paul Kelly @pjthinker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I remember when self-ownership arguments were ubiquitous in political theory and beloved of libertarianism but have yet to see any take on self-data ownership - where individual private property gives way to tech companies taking the data of others to monetise. Surely an issue of property rights?
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WHAT A FUCKING RECORD @whatafuckingrecord.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
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THE CURE LOVESONG
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Carole King @carolekingofficial.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" Live at the Oakland Coliseum, 1972
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
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🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 @teamcanadaforever.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
France calls out the U.S. at a UN meeting: “The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia. Isolated. And the world no longer listens to it.” U.S. representatives stormed out of the meeting. Well said France! 👏🏼🇫🇷👏🏼
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Prof Frank McDonough @fxmc1957.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
PERSON OF THE DAY. 30 July 1958. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush was born in Bexleyheath, Kent. She was 1st woman to have a self-composed UK No 1 hit with Wuthering Heights. Bush was born on the 140th anniversary of the birth of the author who inspired her song, Emily Brontë.
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Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
drunk girl trying to tell her friends that she thinks they are “weekend at Bernie’s” with McConnell, but she has got completely the wrong movie and keeps calling it “doing a Fish Called Wanda” with him and I’m dying
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Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 24/07/2026
I’m sorry, but like, did they think that the enemy in a war would not actually try to kill them?
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Kettering Foundation @kettering.org · 17/07/2026
Read our statement on yesterday’s presidential address.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Well this is fascinating giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... From @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Needless to say, some of the greatest anti-Communists were Social Democrats. Trump wouldn’t know since he never was an anti-Communist—he wanted to cut business deals with the Soviet Union and admired the brutal repression of the Chinese regime.
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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
& they got one in extra time!?
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
In 1947 - aged 19 - STANLEY KUBRICK photographed ‘The Tale Of The Shoe Shine Boy’ for LOOK magazine; a total of 202 images following the story of 12yr old Mickey as he worked to support a family of 10 siblings in New York.
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The Fact of Other Minds Stan Account @csilverandgold.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This is just Malthusianism this isn’t socialism. Socialism is “homeless near a thousand homes I stood; and near a thousand tables, pined and wanted food.”
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epictetus135.bsky.social @epictetus135.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Great piece
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Theme of Trump's Iran deal: The overconfident second rate con man as sucker. If there weren't so much at stake, it would be amusing to watch Trump get conned by first rate con artists, the Iranian regime. The second rate con men are always the biggest suckers.
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LSE Department of Government @lsegovernment.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
What is post-liberalism and how is it shaping the current political discourse? @pjthinker.bsky.social talks about his latest book ‘Post-liberalism. Why ‘Family, Faith and Flag’ is a dead end for the left.’ 📖🤔
youtube.com
What is post-liberalism and how is it shaping the current political discourse?
YouTube video by LSE Government
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epictetus135.bsky.social @epictetus135.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Hear hear. I’ll drink to that. Damn the Wowsers. Reject the monkish virtues . Humans need to alter their mental states!
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
‘Ukraine is starting to regain more ground than it is losing for the first time since 2023, analysis from the Institute for the Study of War indicates.’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Ukraine using AI drones to strike vital Russian supply lines
BBC Verify has analysed videos of attacks in occupied Ukraine on Russian trucks carrying ammunition, fuel and food.
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RT @ryankturnbull.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Finally, a clear repudiation of the brain-dead “it’s just a tool” argument that gets floated cynically about every new technology:
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Rousseau said that the greatest trick ever played was that the rich managed to get the poor to use their strength against themselves. That was in 1762. You would have thought we would have seen through it by now.
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Zoe Washburne Rebel Scum @zoewashburne.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
What follows from a U.S. defeat? "An every-nation-for-itself world where order and predictability have broken down...The adjustment to a post-American world is accelerating. America’s once-dominant position in the Gulf is the first of many casualties." www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
theatlantic.com
Checkmate in Iran
Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war.
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Paul Crider @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com · 14/04/2026
The other thing is that this careless quotation is counterproductive to Kendi's project. Smith is presented as bolstering the Founding Fathers' case for economic freedom for whites via slavery of blacks. But he argued against slavery in no uncertain terms in both WN and TMS.
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David Marler @qldaah.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli surreptitiously takes Newman's axe out of the display cabinet. Murri Watch has been defunded. It provides hygiene, food & medical needs to children who are detained in police watch houses. #qldpol
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Trump, presumably stressed by his buddy Orban’s impending loss, announces that in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz he’s…ordering a blockade of the Strait.
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Edward Luce @edwardluce.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
People will be closely studying how Hungary's opposition pulled off their win in such a pro-incumbent system. Important to note that the theme was corruption. Democrats need to get much better at calling out Trump's corruption.
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Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
SPLASHDOWN!!! Three cheers for science, engineering, research, curiosity, cooperation. Look what the fuck we can do when we ask big questions, work together, and fund our scientists. Congratulations, NASA. Congratulations, humanity!
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epictetus135.bsky.social @epictetus135.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Growing military power in Indonesia . Soldiers attacking human rights activists
johnmenadue.com
Indonesia’s democracy faces a quiet return of military power
Signs of renewed military involvement in civilian life are raising concerns that Indonesia may be drifting back towards the authoritarian practices of its past.
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Jasmine 🌌🔭 @astrojaz.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
OH. MY. GOD. THIS IS THE EARTHSET PHOTO FROM ARTEMIS II. IM SPEECHLESS.
Earth appearing as a bright crescent behind the Moon’s surface
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
"Power plants and other critical civilian infrastructure are protected from attacks by the laws of war. Such an object can lose its protection only if used for military purposes and the 'direct military advantage anticipated' outweighs the civilian suffering." www.justsecurity.org/135797/war-c...
justsecurity.org
War Crimes Rhetoric to Battlefield Reality: Slippery Slope to Total War on Iran
Former JAGs warn that threats to strike Iran’s power plants would violate the law of war and endanger U.S. service members’ legal and moral obligations.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/04/2026
Artemis II lifts off
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
“‘They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness…’ One can’t help but wonder who’s going to be left to clean up the mess made by Trump and his enablers.” www.thebulwark.com/p/the-iran-h...
thebulwark.com
The Iran Hawks Are Losing Their Heads
If you’re not critical of Trump’s war in Iran, you probably haven’t been paying attention.
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Rhonda 🌊 @silverarticfox.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Immigrants were never the ones coming for your jobs — it’s the billionaires and their machines.
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Stephen Fry introduces one of the greatest TV series ever made. If you love to learn, enjoy history & want to expand your mind, do watch this landmark series. CIVILISATION (1969) All 13 episodes are free to watch on YouTube. #KennethClark
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Aya @melangell.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Isfahan is a city with over 2,500 years of continuous history. The US and Israel are bombing one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the region. Over 2 million people live there. I’ve only heard from my family once since the war began and this is their city, Isfahan, tonight. #Iran
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epictetus135.bsky.social @epictetus135.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
@peterbradshaw1.bsky.social this is a dreadful movie. Shakespeares great language disappears into a cacophony of irrelevant sound www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...
theguardian.com
William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet review – Baz Luhrmann’s joyful tragedy is still extravagantly full of life
The 1990s love tragedy starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes is a tonic and a delight
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The Onion @theonion.com · 24/03/2026
“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS AN ANGEL HAS VISITED ME IN MY SLEEP AND I HAVE HAD VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE SEX WITH IT,” read the lengthy, all-caps post
theonion.com
Markets Surge After Trump Claims He Had Sex With An Angel
NEW YORK—In what came as a welcome shock to investors amid recent dips in the global economy, markets reportedly surged Tuesday after President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post that he’d had ...
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Kenan Malik @kenanmalik.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
“The ghost that haunted his work – the question of how to bring about social transformation in an age with diminished collective agency – is one that today confronts us all.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
observer.co.uk
How do we transform society when we are more disconnected...
Jürgen Habermas’s philosphical writings incapsulated the paradoxes and contradictions of the postwar order
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
In today's Morning Shots: @eggerdc.bsky.social explains the significance of Joe Kent's interesting political gambit. And I'm struck by the irony of Trump invoking Churchill yesterday in the Oval Office--when Trump is the anti-Churchill in so many key ways. open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com
Joe Kent and the Fading MAGA Allure
Trump is the establishment now, and a MAGA counterculture is emerging.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18/03/2026
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: Dueling with two consenting adults is still there RAND PAUL: It's been illegal for 170 years! There's no precedent for legal dueling
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18/03/2026
Rand Paul: "The fact he can't bring himself to say that we shouldn't settle political questions with violence, I think that would be a terrible example for ICE and Border Patrol"
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
🧵 by @ilangoldenberg.bsky.social:
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Paul Kelly @pjthinker.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Happy S Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate - that’s everybody ☘️☘️☘️
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Protik Islam-Jakobsson @protik.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Living in Scandinavia, I find myself morbidly fascinated by American progressives' inability to understand—or acknowledge—that the secret to a healthy, functioning welfare state is broad middle-class buy-in. Everyone pays something—some more than others; everyone gets something—some more than others
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