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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 18h

Biblical archaeology is so funny these days. It mostly consists of Americans and Israelis angrily accusing each other of trusting the Bible too much (while implicitly agreeing that Europeans don't trust it enough).

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Interesting article on Jewish art history, with a surprisingly prominent role for Bugs Bunny. www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/article/o...

mohrsiebeck.com

Odd Couples: The Eagle and the Hare, the Lion and the Unicorn

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yes, the song primarily seems to exist to provide an excuse to name-check a bunch of placenames (mostly in Texas but also half-heartedly in Tennessee) in a way that makes no narrative sense at all.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm rarely in a position to claim real-Americanness relative to the Bluesky norm, so I suppose I should say that yes, I've heard that stupid "Missing Texas" song many many times (because I listen to the radio a lot). You're not missing much if you haven't.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Ah yes, the struggling masses of Deadhorse.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

YISBY (Yes In Schrödinger’s Backyard).

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Gotta come up with a take on Late Period Egyptian relations with the Levant so I can use the title "The Shoshenq Redemption."

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I think one lesson from how the LLM thing is going is that intelligence is embodied, and this isn't just a coincidental property of human intelligence but an inherent and essential attribute of the whole concept. You can't abstract away from the body and still get something meaningful.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Agreed. Lieutenant Governor in Alaska is an unusually powerful office because it also includes many responsibilities that most states vest in a Secretary of State. Most of them haven't bothered to do much with that power but Dahlstrom is using it very aggressively and testing the boundaries.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This is my 9/11 take. The Discourse over whether it was a time of "solidarity" or "division" (or whatever terms people prefer) is fundamentally a process of competitive mythmaking that we're seeing play out in real time.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Good piece. "Retainer sacrifice" also occurred to me as the best way to understand that convention speech.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The new Bluesky thread numbering thing is so great that I'm kind of baffled no social media app has done it before. It can't be very hard to code.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The world of Israeli biblical studies is fascinatingly opaque to me. Like I've read several of Nadav Na'aman's articles and I still don't have a clear sense of what his whole deal is. I am starting to get where Israel Finkelstein stands. But it's all very complicated.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Between this and Trump's bribery and voter fraud stuff it's clear that the theme of this fake convention thing is "We Love Crime." Which is pretty on brand for Trump!

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

First football game in the new house!

A dark room with a giant screen showing the Rams-Niners game.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

One aspect of this (very famous) concert that this footage really brings out is that it was basically on top of a random rowhouse in a dense urban area. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js0G...

youtube.com

The Beatles - Rooftop Concert (30/1/1969)

YouTube video by The Beatles Performances

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Based on recent Israeli political history deadlock seems most likely, but we'll see.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Oh yeah, they're desperate. This is absurd, even more so because it could actually happen (in distinction to Trump's insane ramblings).

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

As always, Jewish Americans collectively are among the most left-leaning Americans on basically every issue, very much including Israel.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This bot sure hits a lot, for a gimmick.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A further thought on this that occurred to me today: It's interesting that for all the concern among liberal Zionist American Jews about the increase of antizionism on the left, we are *not* seeing significant numbers of them emigrating to Israel, or even discussing the possibility.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I'm not even that tall (really about average height) but I do seem to sound like I know what I'm talking about and it's astonishing how influential that can be.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I just went to a very interesting event at the synagogue, essentially an open discussion on Israel and politics among Jewish Democrats. @chugachmtnblues.bsky.social was there (and it was actually the first time I've met him in person). The range of views was interesting.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I took this and got Maryland, which is close enough I guess but it isn't really calibrated for the lack of distinction within General American English for us settler-Americans.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Kind of thinking local governments in super-expensive areas should just be seizing billionaires' property through eminent domain and using it to build new housing. Don't bother with the courts; just cut a check for the assessed value and show up on the doorstep with a bunch of armed cops.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This Fake Dan thing is an incredible bit. Glad he's staying in for the general.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I am reminded of that story about Tom Holland going from the set of The Odyssey to Spider-Man Part Whatever and being like "Guys! Guys! Did you know it's possible to make *good* movies?!"

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This movie is like the ultimate expression of Trump-Era Vice Signaling.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

LAS MALVINAS SON ESTADOUNIDENSES

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

There’s a group of consultants in Alaska Democratic politics making some really bad strategic decisions for reasons that aren’t really clear.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Tom Begich just suspended his campaign. Huge bummer.

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J. Sam Drolet @jsamdrolet.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

This isn’t well known but it’s important context to understand, and very relevant to Milo. Liberals often interpret “First they came…” to mean we should speak out early about oppression of groups we don’t belong to (but find sympathetic). But that’s not what Niemöller meant at all.

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Reposted by J. Sam Drolet

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

seems like a good time to remind people that Niemöller (the author of the confession memorialized in the "First they came for the Communists" poem) was a Hitler supporter, and made that confession after spending time in the Dachau concentration camp

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