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Michael J. Taylor

@drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social

2.2K followers 250 following 520 posts

Associate Professor, University at Albany SUNY Greek and Roman History PhD UC Berkeley

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 10h

Pretty much how I feel about AI!

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 11h

I hope she runs for governor in four years.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Reposted by Michael J. Taylor

Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 4d

I’ve put together a quick overview of all naval rams and related artifacts on my personal website, along with some relevant publications. It’s meant to serve as a handy reference and a “current count” table. Will updated will more info later!

stephendecasien.com/naval-rams/

Naval Rams

Archaeologically Attested Three-Bladed Waterline Rams: Current Count: 33 Name:Publication: Acqualadroni RamBuccellato, C. A., & Tusa, S. 2013. The Acqualadroni Ram Recovered Near the Strait of …

stephendecasien.com

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Alan Richardson, Michael J. Taylor , and 1 more Brendan Nyhan, Alan Richardson, Michael J. Taylor, Mark Rice

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 4d

And the cult of SOF is a real problem given that, if we've seen one thing in Ukraine, it is that in a near-peer conflict, highly-trained, ultra-elite infantry cost a lot to form and field but get shredded by firepower at exactly the same rate, if not faster than, regular infantry.

Secretary of Defense Rock @sodrock.bsky.social · 4d

And this all starts right out of the academies or ROTC, are the top of the class going into arty or armor or logistics, no they’re all going to the 173rd airborne or ranger school, so you can see how the army has become so light infantry/SOF centric

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Michael J. Taylor

Secretary of Defense Rock @sodrock.bsky.social · 4d

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Reposted by Michael J. Taylor

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 4d

don't mind me, just military sociology posting

We could also consider it a variation of the “selection-destruction cycle”
advanced by the military sociologist Roger Beaumont in his seminal 1974
study of military elites.5
As Beaumont points out, one defining feature
of specialized elite forces (mountain troops, rangers, special forces, elite
light infantry, aircrew, submariners, and so on) is that they tend to select from the best available personnel—choosing fitter, more intelligent
recruits with better leadership skills, initiative, and endurance than ordinary units do.6
They may even (as in Australian, British, and American
special operations forces) recruit primarily from existing members of
high-readiness units who themselves are already highly trained and subject to rigorous selection. But as Beaumont shows in a comprehensive
study of twentieth-century elites, such forces also tend to have higher loss
rates—they operate at the upper end of the stress bell curve. They are
thrown into dangerous or demanding missions, experience higher than

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 4d

Presumably the logic is just not taking “no” for an answer at this point.

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 5d

But still illegal and hideous

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 5d

It was actually the 101st.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 6d

Just pure psychopathic lying.

Reposted by Eric Goldman, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson , and 4 more Eric Goldman, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, Michael J. Taylor, Mary L. Dudziak, Kate Starbird, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 6d

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that intelligence shows anything “without a doubt,” but even if the intelligence was water-tight, this strike was still murder. No law permits the deliberate, premeditated killing of civilians.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 8d

Basically, he flew the generals in to announce a policy to make it less pleasant for Black men to be in the military.

(again, I would note that these profiles are invariably temporary, usually days, not like you see Black men with civil war-style beards)

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 8d

The practical reason to be clean-shaven is so your gas-mask seals.

But, since Black soldiers are more likely to get shaving profiles (a medical excuse) for pseudofolliculitis barbae, a racist like Hegseth is obsessed with the small number of Black soldiers allowed to temporarily grow beards.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

Should be open…Let me tinker w/settings.

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

And I got the edition wrong, 3rd was print, this is the new online edition!

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

Very happy to announce that my article *armies, Roman, Republic Republic* has been published online as part of the Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd Edition.

doi.org/10.1093/acre...

doi.org

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

My bad! I lost track...this is the new online edition.

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

For those without access, DM me for a PDF.

And the OCD3 allows for expanded (although not infinite) bibliography, so the article gives a sense of the exciting work going on at the moment in Roman military history, which I feel very grateful to be allowed to synthesize here.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

Very happy to announce that my article *armies, Roman, Republic Republic* has been published online as part of the Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd Edition.

doi.org/10.1093/acre...

doi.org

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

The military *depends* on women and minorities to stay at above half-strength.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 9d

Generic ballot seems like a lagging indicator right now.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings, Robert Black , and 9 more Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings, Robert Black, David R. Miller, Michael J. Taylor, Michael D. McDonald, Jason Lyall, Sarah Roberts, Anna Grzymała-Busse, Henry Jones, Seth Masket, Christina Pagel

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Hegseth: "It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals."

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 10d

Arendt famously noted that mechanisms of internal oppression developed in a colonial context soon get directed at folks at home (concentration camps, etc.).

These slobs apply *the aesthetic* of the Iraq/Afgan occupations to unconstitutional oppression at home.

Instagram fascism.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 10d

Trump is soft on crime!

Reposted by Michael J. Taylor

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 11d

Building a "comrades massacre" vibe. That's the meeting in July 79 when Saddam Hussein announced his Baath party purge and had bewildered party officials led out of the auditorium and ... well. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Ba...

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 12d

MAGA's fiercest warrior is unquestionably the guy who writes the NYT headlines.

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 13d

Right before the government shuts down and strands them away from their commands!

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 13d

The entire "warrior ethos" is one of many toxic legacies left over from the Iraq debacle and needs to be nuked from orbit at the next possible opportunity.

Dan Lamothe @danlamothe.bsky.social · 13d

WAPO SCOOP: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to travel on short notice from around the world to hear him make a speech on military standards and the “warrior ethos,” multiple people familiar with the event told The Washington Post.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

New details emerge on Hegseth’s unusual mass gathering of top brass

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has summoned hundreds of generals for what is expected to be a short lecture on the “warrior ethos.” But top brass is bracing for possible firings or demotions.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Kori Schake, Brendan Nyhan, Daniel W. Drezner , and 7 more Kori Schake, Brendan Nyhan, Daniel W. Drezner, James Grimmelmann, Mirya R. Holman, Michael J. Taylor, Michael D. McDonald, Prokla Redaktion, Aviel Roshwald, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Dan Lamothe @danlamothe.bsky.social · 13d

New details emerge on Hegseth’s unusual mass gathering of top brass

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has summoned hundreds of generals for what is expected to be a short lecture on the “warrior ethos.” But top brass is bracing for possible firings or demotions.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · 13d

Amy Russell's The Politics of Public Space in Republican Rome is quite good.