David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 28/05/2025He’s not leaning right because of Trump. He’s leaning right because he wants to win the 2028 Presidential election. 010
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 28/05/2025The entertaining part is that there’s no plausible ABM system that would defend the US without also defending Canada. I realize this is beside the point but I thought I’d mention it. 210
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 26/05/2025I subscribe to the Times and as part of that subscription I’d appreciate it if they didn’t punch themselves in the face quite so often. 010
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 15/05/2025If we’re making imaginary arguments can I do one with Superman jumping into the race and beating Trump? 120
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Heheheh. I appreciate the passive aggressive smack of Jeff Bezos. 020
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Wait, if I don’t have a Real ID, I’ll never be allowed to fly? 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025I think I can still make fun of the Post despite that. 0400
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Someone noted that Trump thinks it’s always 1979 & that’s the source of some of his weird ideas. When I heard about the Alcatraz thing, I joked to my lovely spouse that it was because Clint Eastwood's “Escape from Alcatraz” came out in 1979. Haha! Welp! www.yahoo.com/news/where-t...yahoo.comTrump Seems to Have Decided to Reopen Alcatraz Because of a MovieIs this how the president of the United States is making major decisions now? 020
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025When SCOTUS decides that children of non-US citizens born here aren't "subject to the jurisdiction" of the US and thus aren't citizens, will the circle look squarish to you? 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 04/05/2025What does “subject to the jurisdiction” mean? Inquiring for Sam Alito. 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 04/05/2025Sure. That means what the Supreme Court says it means. You confident on that part? 140
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Remind me of the number of elections Pritzker has won in a non-deep blue state? 010
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 28/04/2025The Times doesn't really know the history of town hall meetings in America, does it? "respectful town-hall conversation Americans venerate" Town hall meetings have often been raucous, loud, intemperate, and generally non-Norman Rockwellish. From www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/n...nytimes.comRough Night for Republican at Town Hall in N.Y. Swing DistrictRepresentative Mike Lawler faced shouts, groans and mockery at a high school auditorium in Rockland County. 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 12/04/2025Oh, noes! Is she trying to actually an election? Shocking that a Democrat might do that. 000
Reposted by David SilbeyMari Silbey @msilbey.bsky.social · 09/02/2025Everyone will recognize the musical theater tropes Shmigadoon gets right. I suspect fewer will hear all of the musical riffs on classic showtunes they manage to fit in. Having been in Carousel, Oklahoma, and Music Man (once upon a time), I definitely chuckled. 101
Reposted by David SilbeyJames Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 28/01/2025I like The Pitt fine, i would not oversell it, but this piece makes an interesting argument: better to do a mild innovation on a ‘90s TV formula than a formulaic variation on ‘00s TV innovations newrepublic.com/article/1882...newrepublic.comThe Pitt Is a Defiantly Different Hospital DramaWhile streaming shows often fall into bloated storytelling, HBO’s latest has the pace and drama of classic television. 7446
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 29/01/2025Did that work the 87 times previously the Democrats said it? People keep thinking if only the Ds enunciate more clearly the public will change their mind. Effective by what measure? 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 23/01/2025Uh, the owner, who stopped the editorial board from saying who they would endorse? 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 14/01/2025There go a whole wave of “higher ed death spiral” op-eds. www-chronicle-com.proxy.library.cor… 010
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 14/01/20251. Your students googling something you just said that you're only 98% sure of; 2. Plugging the laptop into the projector when you've forgotten to close your gradebook; 3. Turning the page of an ancient archival document and having it tear in half with a room-silencing noise. 010
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 13/01/2025Well, thanks, Rob. Maybe don’t wander into a military historian's area with such confidence? In case you were worried that I haven’t been consistently stupid, from 2012: edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2012/03… 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 13/01/2025No, it’s not. That you had to go back to Truman illustrates my point. There’s no LBJ, and they handwaved Carter with the attack submarine. Meanwhile, there’s a Ford, Reagan, and a Bush. Truman left office in 53. Bush left office in 93. 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 13/01/2025No, no, no. The Republicans and the Pentagon have been avoiding naming aircraft carriers after Democratic Presidents. There’s no aircraft carrier named after LBJ or Carter. This is a subterranean partisan fight. Don’t give in. 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 12/01/2025Follow up: Sir, can you name a country the US has not attacked? 010
Reposted by David SilbeyKatharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 12/01/2025What a wonderful story about @edgarmcgregor.bsky.sociallocalnewspasadena.comHow Two Words from a 24-Year-Old Pasadena Climate Specialist Saved Hundreds of Lives - Local News PasadenaEdgar McGregor’s timely Eaton Fire alert: ‘Get out!’ 30930262
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 10/01/2025The dream of every scholar. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/style/pa… 010
Reposted by David SilbeySMH Historians @smh-historians.bsky.social · 04/01/2025Richard Overy, who was to deliver the Marshall lecture this afternoon, has had his flight diverted by illness on board. @milhistlee.bsky.social will instead give a paper on The Cutting Off Way: Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500-1800 #AHA25 093
Reposted by David SilbeyBrad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Guys, C-SPAN is momentarily in a state of lawless anarchy. 374185423225
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025The difference is that adherents of Dawkins’ Law don’t troll physics articles for paragraphs they don’t understand. The Law isn't a useful idea, it's a failure to understand the challenges of any kind of inquiry. [gurwinder.blog/p/25-useful-ideas-for-2025](www.gurwinder.blog/p/25-useful-...)gurwinder.blog 000
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025It's the wrong conclusion. As a historian, I try to explain things clearly, to be only as complex as I have to be. If I’m talking about complicated things, that can be complex. Butler was talking about complicated things. Physics scholars talk about complicated things. 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025The Law, though, is not really about simplicity, it’s about asserting a judgment of importance and hierarchy. Who has the moral standing to use complex language? Hard disciplines are superior to easy ones; they have that right. The humanities don't, apparently. 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Butler is always the poster child for this, and the Law remains as silly as it was when Dawkins put it forward. Physics scholars often use impenetrable prose (see photo) and humanities scholars clear (any James McPherson book you like). “Intrinsically simpler” disciplines are nothing of the sort. 100
David Silbey @silbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025I read an end of year "useful ideas" list which included Dawkins' Law ("intrinsically simpler" disciplines use artificially dense jargon to hide their simplicity). Physics was celebrated for using "simple terms when possible," by contrast with Judith Butler in all her postmodern glory. 100
Reposted by David SilbeyMilitary Welfare History Network @milwelfhist.bsky.social · 20/12/2024Join us in April 2025 for the 1st of 3 events funded by @wellcometrust.bsky.social via @sshmedicine.bsky.social The first being hosted by the Uni of Birmingham (UK) and also supported by @fwwsoc.bsky.social A keynote by Brian K. Feltman of @mhptpodcast.bsky.social #milwelfhist #WW1 #FWW 13428
