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Andy Hall

@maritimetexas.bsky.social

2.5K followers 2.3K following 2.3K posts

Maritime, naval, and military history guy, occasional author. Texas Marine Archaeological Steward. Iconoclastic tendencies. Opinions mine, not my employer's.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · Feb 27

“America is great because it is good. If America ceases to be good, it will also cease to be great.”

— de Tocqueville

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 16h

I know. I’ve seen it several times, by people skipping over the Roman Catholic intermediate step. I doubt most of them have any notion of the underpinnings of Eastern Orthodox, they just like that it’s not “woke” or whatever. Like that odious Matthew Heimbach.

Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 17h

100% he would.

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Reposted by Andy Hall

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 21h

BREAKING: Some of the layoffs at CDC are being REVERSED.
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

More than 1,000 CDC staff receive layoff notices during government shutdown

Another round of mass layoffs has struck CDC. The agency had already been cut during a reorganization this year, and more employees are now being shed amid the government shutdown.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Andy Hall

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 20h

Seeing a lot of celebration of this as a win.

But at NIH we have seen this exact play before.

It looks like it is the Vought strategy -and to stop the lawless firings we have to see the bigger picture.
A 🧵:

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 21h

“Seems to” is doing some heavy lifting, as well.

Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 21h

Free Public Maritime History Program in Galveston, Texas
10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 8, 2025
McCullough Room, Rosenberg Library

"The CITY OF WACO Disaster"

Full description in ALT.

#MarititmeHistory

On a stormy evening in November 1875, the new, top-line Mallory Line steamer CITY OF WACO caught fire in the anchorage off the bar at the entrance to Galveston Bay. Despite the efforts of ships’ crews nearby, everyone on board CITY OF WACO – more than fifty men, women, and children – died in the flames or were lost in the cold, dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

And it was only after the disaster that a scandal was exposed that made the tragedy almost entirely preventable.

On the 150th anniversary of this horrific disaster, local historian and nautical archaeology steward Andy Hall will give a special presentation on the CITY OF WACO disaster, one of the most horrific on the Texas coast, but one that is also nearly forgotten today.

This event is free and open to the public.

Join us at 10:30 Saturday morning, November 8, in the McCullough Room on the main floor of Rosenberg Library in Galveston to learn more about this dramatic story.

This program is hosted by the Charles E Hawkins Squadron of the Texas Navy Association.

Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

That “kid” has been eligible for AARP membership for years.

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Alt Acadia National Park @altacadia.bsky.social · 1d

We 💯 support Amphifa! Give me ribbety, or give me death. 🐸

A poster for "Amphifa: amphibians against fascism" showing a black and green flag with a green frog

Three protestors dressed in inflatable frog costumes holding a sign that says "Portland frog brigade"

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

As I recall, when Warren Harding died his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, was in the wilderness up north in a cabin somewhere. They dragged him to a justice of the peace who administered the oath of office there on the spot.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

Walter Reed and Carlos Finlay weep.

Reposted by Andy Hall

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 1d

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

This is not true, unless you can verify it from somewhere else. These posts have been going around for a while on Facebook, the wording is almost always the same as is the $12.9 million. Only the name of the celebrity changes.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

I had a chance to get in on the ground floor of inflatable frog suit futures, and I didn’t. Damn.

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 1d

When I left my last job, I hinted rather strongly that I expected a going away party.

In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.

Photo of a beautiful bakery, prepared cake with the inscription, “you are dead to us.“

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

“If schools are serious about academic freedom. . . .”

Most aren’t. Academic freedom took a back seat (or maybe dispensed with altogether, except as empty rhetoric) long ago to what is referred to as the “academic enterprise,” with everything that term implies.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

“hire fewer profs overall and more Deans of ChatGPT Strategery”

That’s both hilarious and infuriating, because it’s true.

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Reposted by Andy Hall

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 2d

I am writing this because it has swiftly become crystal clear to me that many people have no idea what is happening or how this works. Here is a thread for non-academics to put into context what just happened to Dr. Mark Bray, a fellow historian.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

“He’s genuinely desperate to win the Nobel Peace Prize. . . because the essence of a narcissistic void is that the pseudo-person that inhabits it is utterly incapable of feeling any sense of internal validation or self-worth.

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/10/the-...

The little boy who never grew up - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Tom Friedman is writing Tom Friedman things this morning, about how if Donald Trump stays all focused and committed and immersed in the crucial details and the difficult diplomacy, and sees the curren...

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

The other two.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

This one is usually in front of the house to greet me when I come home. Today he didn’t feel like coming down off the porch.

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 2d

Welcoming committee.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 3d

So yesterday a reporter asked Donald Trump about the writ of habeas corpus, and he had no idea what it was.

"I don't know," he said. "I'd rather leave that to Kristi."

Well, It turns out Sen. Hassan asked Kristi Noem about it in May, and this was Noem's response:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20

HASSAN: What is habeas corpus?

NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country

HASSAN: That's incorrect

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Andy Hall @maritimetexas.bsky.social · 3d

"That bastard in the mezzanine is on his cell phone again!"

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