emeritus @uchicago. The Measure of Man: Liberty, Virtue and Beauty in the Florentine Renaissance @rowman.com https://xitter.cf/t.co/RCfNqKoyz7 He/him.

Joined October 2008
It has not concluded. But, in order to overcome social media platform censorship, there is also a work-around. See announcement tomorrow, 10/26.
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Even being born in America doesn't make you an American, says a Trump supporter speaking next to the president as the crowd applauds.
Rally speaker: "Mike Rogers is an American. Abdul has a birth certificate. The birth certificate says he's a citizen of America. You know what? a birth certificate doesn't make you an American."
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Hammer this home to people.
“On Feb. 5, 2025, her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanded the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, dismantled the department’s unit pursuing Russian oligarchs’ assets, and narrowed enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. CISA paused its election security work, abandoned the information sharing center that connected it to state and local election officials, and by mid-2025 had lost more than a third of its workforce. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard gutted the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the State Department closed its office for countering foreign disinformation, and National Security Council working groups on Russian sabotage and disinformation stopped meeting. The next target was the people. In August 2025, Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former officials, among them a senior Russia analyst who helped produce the 2017 assessment, citing the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence.” Comey was indicted on Sept. 25, 2025, over his 2020 Senate testimony, five days after Trump publicly demanded his prosecution. A judge dismissed the case, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is currently hearing the department’s appeal. CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred former Director Brennan for prosecution for alleged perjury in his congressional testimony, and Brennan has been subpoenaed to appear at a Florida grand jury examining whether officials who investigated Trump conspired against him. The purge also reached below the senior level, and analysts who worked on the 2017 assessment also had their clearances stripped. The FBI forced out a veteran counterintelligence agent over his ties to an official in the original Russia investigation, and dozens of FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors were fired or demoted for work investigating Trump or Russia.”
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This Forbes investigation is a must-read. Donald Trump pulled in roughly $1.4 billion from crypto in 2025, plus more than $200 million from real estate, and faced a projected tax bill north of $500 million. So his company donated the "development rights" to his Jupiter, Florida golf course to a land trust, argued the course was a natural habitat worth protecting, and kept right on running the club. Forbes estimates the write-off could land around $825 million. He has done this at least five times since 2005. New York's attorney general alleged two of those appraisals were inflated. In Doral, he claimed a deduction of up to $323 million, more than double what he paid for the entire resort. A month after the Jupiter deal, he sued the IRS. The settlement his own Justice Department signed bars claims against him over matters that "could be pending," language that appears broad enough to cover this year's taxes. A federal judge found the case was brought to manipulate the judicial process. And the man now running the IRS, who took the job as this deal was being assembled, has a home backing onto those same Jupiter fairways. This is absolutely ridiculous. Nobody should be able to use the presidency to write his own tax bill. forbes.com/sites/danalexande…
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I don't know if this is true, but it would make a great premise for a movie.
Trevor Milton told investors his electric semi could drive on its own power. It couldn't. So they rolled it down a hill and filmed it like it was driving. A federal jury convicted him of fraud. Four years in prison. Then, less than a month before the 2024 election, Milton and his wife wrote more than $1.8 million in checks to Trump's campaign. In March 2025, Trump pardoned him. Nearly $700 million prosecutors wanted paid back to his victims. Gone. If you're a working American and you break the law, you face the consequences. If you're a big Trump donor, you get a pardon. This is far and away the most corrupt White House in American history.
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The GRU hacked into Jared Kushner's iPhone. Dutch military intelligence (MIVD) then recruited a GRU spy who gave them access to the hacked phone. What MIVD discovered was that Kushner had access to two bank accounts --one Azerbaijani, the other Israeli --where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati ruler Mohammed bin Zayed deposited money. It sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of "Slow Horses," but it's real. And it proves just how eye-poppingly corrupt this administration was and continues to be as its "special envoy" decides the fate of tens of millions in Europe in the Middle East. Simply incredible reporting by Matthew Cole, drawn from his new book on Kushner. vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…
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The great dealmaker has given Putin every reason not to negotiate.
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What is grab-'em-by-the-you-know-what dude imagining doing with that finger and Husted's behind?
Donald Trump’s “favorite rhetorical theme lately is an unexpected one: the official presidential dreamboat rankings,” @helenlewis writes. At the link, she explores what’s behind his musings about the relative hotness of male politicians, soldiers, and even protesters. theatln.tc/MNIpibYv 📸: Alex Wong / Getty
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Trump: "I alone could secure a prisoner release from Russia without giving anything in return" Trump literally ten minutes later: "Now you idiots know why I had to waive sanctions on Russia, no shot I got that prisoner release otherwise"
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who said it? i can’t tell from this post. was it perhaps the president ?
The term “Shylock” is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Trump used “Shylock” at a Kansas rally Oct. 19 defending Sen. Marshall. ADL’s post omits naming him, unlike its 2025 statement. forbes.com/sites/siladity… x.com/Acyn/status/21… x.com/ADL/status/194…
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Larry Rothfield @[email protected] retweeted
voters: I have to choose between food and getting to work Paxton: (slurring) talafreako wants to trans your kids Ramaswamy: amy acton was raped by her stepfather. can she be trusted to lead? Trump: ever stare at the small of a man’s back
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Don't believe the polls. Run scared. Call your friends. Figure out who might slough off voting. Offer to buy them lunch if they go to the polls with you.
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Trump says that if Republicans lose in North Carolina he will use the power of his office to deny US Marine Corps veterans’ claims for medical treatment for cancer and other life threatening diseases resulting from decades of water contamination by toxic chemicals at Camp Lejeune
Trump on Camp Lejeune water contamination claims: "If we win the House and Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible ... if we don't win, there's no money."
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Eric Pratt, the republican running for Angie Craig's open seat in MN-02, left the AI restating his prompt on his website. "The President is not popular, so all messaging should be focused on local politics and needs." lmfao
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Allegory of grad student seminar interventions.
ที่สวนสัตว์ซานดิเอโก ในระหว่างการบรรยายโดยผู้ดูแลสวนสัตว์นักท่องเที่ยวเริ่มมารวมตัวกันหน้ากระจกเพื่อชมตัวนากให้ชัดชึ้น ในตอนนั้นเอง แม่นาก ตัวหนึ่งเดินเตาะแตะเข้ามาและอวดลูกน้อยของมันอย่างภาคภูมิใจ ไม่กี่วินาทีต่อมา พ่อนากก็เข้ามาสมทบด้วย แต่เนื่องจากไม่ได้มีลูกน้อยให้อุ้ม มันจึงโชว์ก้อนหินก้อนเล็กแทนราวกับมันเป็นของมีค่าที่พิเศษมาก และนั่นก็ทำให้ผู้ชมต่างอมยิ้มในความน่าของพ่อนากไม่แพ้กัน ในขณะที่ผู้ดูแลได้อธิบายว่า ตัวนากในบางครั้งก็ผูกพันกับสิ่งของต่าง ๆ รอบตัวมัน อย่างเช่นก้อนหินมีค่าก้อนนี้ที่มันอยากโชว์ใหักับผู้คนได้เห็น
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
เรื่องนี้เป็นเนื้อหาไวรัลที่แพร่หลายไม่มีหลักฐานยืนยันจากสวนสัตว์ซานดิเอโกอย่างเป็นทางการ ภาพประกอบถูกระบุว่าเป็น AI generated ในหลายแหล่ง newsbreak.com/maxine-3456341… instagram.com/p/DYIgKdajPld/
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Frankly.
Trump: "Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much."
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When I'm in a performance review at work and they ask me where I see myself in ten years.
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Rat, sinking ship.
Representative Max Miller, one of President Trump’s closest allies in the House who has been besieged by allegations of domestic violence....came out against the war in Iran on Wednesday night during a meet-and-greet at a pub in Parma nytimes.com/2026/10/19/us/po…
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The truly grotesque thing about Musk spending $300 million on this election is that it is the equivalent for him of someone worth a million dollars spending $300.
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