Hal Duncan
@halduncan.com
Writer, editor, gardener--sometimes even in that order.
Queer. He/thon, but mainly just cause thon's a guid Scots pronoun fur aebdy, whitever thur gender.
Contact: hal AT halduncan DOT com
Queer. He/thon, but mainly just cause thon's a guid Scots pronoun fur aebdy, whitever thur gender.
Contact: hal AT halduncan DOT com
Pinned
Hal Duncan
@halduncan.com
· May 7
your intermittent reminder that the left/right axis is a spatial metaphor, not a reality, that the "centre" is not in fact a moderate middle ground but rather the *centre of power & privilege* protected by the vulgarly overt antisocialists operating on behalf of the polite paternalist antisocialists
Reposted by Hal Duncan
If this person who burned a synagogue had cited the Quran in defending their antisemitic attack, we'd be reading dozens of news stories about Islamic extremism. Since he cited the Book of Revelation, the media really needs to connect this to extremist forms of white Christianity.
The FBI says that a suspect in the arson fire at the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi, admitted to targeting the institution because of its “Jewish ties.”
Court documents say 19-year-old Stephen Spencer Pittman called the historic house of worship "a synagogue of Satan."
Court documents say 19-year-old Stephen Spencer Pittman called the historic house of worship "a synagogue of Satan."
Suspect in Beth Israel Burning Called It a ‘Synagogue of Satan’
A suspect in the arson fire at the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi, allegedly admitted to targeting it because of its “Jewish ties.”
www.mississippifreepress.org
January 12, 2026 at 11:33 PM
If this person who burned a synagogue had cited the Quran in defending their antisemitic attack, we'd be reading dozens of news stories about Islamic extremism. Since he cited the Book of Revelation, the media really needs to connect this to extremist forms of white Christianity.
Reposted by Hal Duncan
a reminder, again, that AltNPS is a grifter account run by people who have no affiliation with the National Park Service and indeed who never did have any affiliation with the National Park Service. They have no sources, they have no information, they are purely there to scam you.
"Receiving reports" my ass. AltNPS is not receiving reports of ICE raids in Saint Paul. They are seeing posts on social media like the rest of us.
I DO have loved ones in Saint Paul. ALL of my loved ones. They're terrified. Fuck you.
I DO have loved ones in Saint Paul. ALL of my loved ones. They're terrified. Fuck you.
January 12, 2026 at 3:30 AM
a reminder, again, that AltNPS is a grifter account run by people who have no affiliation with the National Park Service and indeed who never did have any affiliation with the National Park Service. They have no sources, they have no information, they are purely there to scam you.
Reposted by Hal Duncan
I think about the bathtub-filled-with-acid detail of this story way more than I would like to
Steve Bannon's porn and meth house: 'You have no idea what kind of evil stuff went on'
When award-winning underwater cinematographer Lawrence Curtis moved into the lush Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, he had no idea the house he was
americanjournalnews.com
December 12, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I think about the bathtub-filled-with-acid detail of this story way more than I would like to
Reposted by Hal Duncan
a "fun" addendum here, to paraphrase an @eliasisquith.blog observation: many (though not all) of these "anti-alarmist" types also cheered on the Iraq invasion
January 12, 2026 at 11:33 PM
a "fun" addendum here, to paraphrase an @eliasisquith.blog observation: many (though not all) of these "anti-alarmist" types also cheered on the Iraq invasion
Reposted by Hal Duncan
here's @polphilpod.bsky.social on the Cassandras: newrepublic.com/article/2042...
January 12, 2026 at 11:24 PM
here's @polphilpod.bsky.social on the Cassandras: newrepublic.com/article/2042...
It is a very very very bad episode. There are a lot of... choices. And I don't mean good ones.
January 12, 2026 at 6:51 PM
It is a very very very bad episode. There are a lot of... choices. And I don't mean good ones.
There's definitely a big overlap, but I can kinda make sense of how those born up to 1945 would be more prone to (re)radicalisation leftward now--that's my dad's story, really--while the worst traits Boomers and Gen X are typified by would be logical products of later formative periods.
January 12, 2026 at 6:37 PM
There's definitely a big overlap, but I can kinda make sense of how those born up to 1945 would be more prone to (re)radicalisation leftward now--that's my dad's story, really--while the worst traits Boomers and Gen X are typified by would be logical products of later formative periods.
I kinda think there's maybe a broad smooshable transition from the sort of beatniks who got into politics & folk music & wrote kitchen sink realism & *created* the counterculture of the 60s, civil rights & rock & roll included, & the sort of hippies who grew up more in the wake of that progress?
January 12, 2026 at 6:32 PM
I kinda think there's maybe a broad smooshable transition from the sort of beatniks who got into politics & folk music & wrote kitchen sink realism & *created* the counterculture of the 60s, civil rights & rock & roll included, & the sort of hippies who grew up more in the wake of that progress?
That's the Greatest Generation, I think? Silent Generation is those born after them up to 1945, so still kids in the 40s mostly, teens in the 50s/60s? My dad just slips in with a 1945 birth year and is just into his 80s. It's gonna be porous as I say though.
January 12, 2026 at 6:06 PM
That's the Greatest Generation, I think? Silent Generation is those born after them up to 1945, so still kids in the 40s mostly, teens in the 50s/60s? My dad just slips in with a 1945 birth year and is just into his 80s. It's gonna be porous as I say though.
Reposted by Hal Duncan
Hey Glasgow/central belt folks, please do come join us for this next week. Apparently there's tickets left & I can promise to rave about orcas, tell you ghost stories and dance*
*one of these might be a lie.
Tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...
*one of these might be a lie.
Tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...
January 12, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Hey Glasgow/central belt folks, please do come join us for this next week. Apparently there's tickets left & I can promise to rave about orcas, tell you ghost stories and dance*
*one of these might be a lie.
Tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...
*one of these might be a lie.
Tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...
Reposted by Hal Duncan
The Katie Hopkins “machine gun the migrants” stuff was in the Sun in 2015, lads. These are cartoons published in the Daily Mail the same year, or earlier.
January 12, 2026 at 5:24 PM
The Katie Hopkins “machine gun the migrants” stuff was in the Sun in 2015, lads. These are cartoons published in the Daily Mail the same year, or earlier.
Reposted by Hal Duncan
This is true but it’s also the Russian Facebook/Cambridge Analytica of the 2020s: a single thing taking blame for politics, institutions and media outlets being staffed by a mix of very nasty, very right wing crackpots - the only people allowed to advocate meaningful change - and dull time-servers.
January 12, 2026 at 5:09 PM
This is true but it’s also the Russian Facebook/Cambridge Analytica of the 2020s: a single thing taking blame for politics, institutions and media outlets being staffed by a mix of very nasty, very right wing crackpots - the only people allowed to advocate meaningful change - and dull time-servers.
also the generations are a made-up rough-hand rule-of-thumb anyway, the reality of shifts in mindset bound to be porous and overlapped, so whether it's Boomers or Silent Generation is mebbe kinda just quibbling on boundaries
January 12, 2026 at 5:38 PM
also the generations are a made-up rough-hand rule-of-thumb anyway, the reality of shifts in mindset bound to be porous and overlapped, so whether it's Boomers or Silent Generation is mebbe kinda just quibbling on boundaries
I'm guessing some of the moaning MAGA shitlords may be millennials with Boomer parents rather than Gen X, but as a Gen-Xer with Silent Generation parents I can very much see even less politically aware elders than my folks being radicalised now by the fascism, so that's my default assumption
January 12, 2026 at 5:34 PM
I'm guessing some of the moaning MAGA shitlords may be millennials with Boomer parents rather than Gen X, but as a Gen-Xer with Silent Generation parents I can very much see even less politically aware elders than my folks being radicalised now by the fascism, so that's my default assumption
*the Silent Generation has entered the chat*
(*and is not fuckin happy with their Gen X MAGA shitlord arrested adolescent kids*)
(*and is not fuckin happy with their Gen X MAGA shitlord arrested adolescent kids*)
Remarkable thread at the other place of MAGA/Cons lamenting at increased political pushback from their families.
January 12, 2026 at 5:30 PM
*the Silent Generation has entered the chat*
(*and is not fuckin happy with their Gen X MAGA shitlord arrested adolescent kids*)
(*and is not fuckin happy with their Gen X MAGA shitlord arrested adolescent kids*)
Reposted by Hal Duncan
Once again I am struck by how one of the most powerful transformations associated with the tech boom and "social media" isn't really technical at all but rather a sort of pervasive learned helplessness among governments across the anglophone world if a computer is somehow involved...
Malaysia and Indonesia become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.
Malaysia, Indonesia become first to block Musk’s Grok over AI deepfakes
Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok due to its misuse in generating explicit images.
bit.ly
January 12, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Once again I am struck by how one of the most powerful transformations associated with the tech boom and "social media" isn't really technical at all but rather a sort of pervasive learned helplessness among governments across the anglophone world if a computer is somehow involved...
Reposted by Hal Duncan
It would be better IMO if the fascist far right, British MPs of the three top parties and the national press did not relentlessly speak with one voice and collaborate on very obviously bullshitty stunts and shenanigans.
January 12, 2026 at 11:20 AM
It would be better IMO if the fascist far right, British MPs of the three top parties and the national press did not relentlessly speak with one voice and collaborate on very obviously bullshitty stunts and shenanigans.
Reposted by Hal Duncan
January 12, 2026 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Hal Duncan
we should be no kinder in our assessment of Schumer and Jeffries abject uselessness in this moment than history has been in its judgment of Neville Chamberlain (a figure so reviled that maga hasn’t even bothered trying to launder his rep and valorize his accommodation of nazism)
January 12, 2026 at 1:28 AM
we should be no kinder in our assessment of Schumer and Jeffries abject uselessness in this moment than history has been in its judgment of Neville Chamberlain (a figure so reviled that maga hasn’t even bothered trying to launder his rep and valorize his accommodation of nazism)
sometimes you wonder if "woke" is just how they think "WoC" is pronounced
This person analyzes american politics for a living
writing.yaschamounk.com/p/help-me-un...
writing.yaschamounk.com/p/help-me-un...
January 11, 2026 at 11:14 PM
sometimes you wonder if "woke" is just how they think "WoC" is pronounced
Reposted by Hal Duncan
In Dublin, on Fenian Street, there's a factory that makes child sex abuse material.
You can pay it money, as a subscription, and that's one of the services it offers. This doesn't happen by mistake or because you've tricked or hacked the system.
It’s a feature.
www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
You can pay it money, as a subscription, and that's one of the services it offers. This doesn't happen by mistake or because you've tricked or hacked the system.
It’s a feature.
www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
The Gist: The Abuse Factory
X, the child abuse imagery app, revealed our state has no red lines. This is the Gist.
www.thegist.ie
January 10, 2026 at 5:29 PM
In Dublin, on Fenian Street, there's a factory that makes child sex abuse material.
You can pay it money, as a subscription, and that's one of the services it offers. This doesn't happen by mistake or because you've tricked or hacked the system.
It’s a feature.
www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
You can pay it money, as a subscription, and that's one of the services it offers. This doesn't happen by mistake or because you've tricked or hacked the system.
It’s a feature.
www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
Reposted by Hal Duncan
white and republican women will fully invent a GIANT horde of snidely whiplashes in dresses (or a "GAY AF" tshirt!!!) waiting to abduct them in order to justify being homophobic and transphobic to every non straight non white person on earth. don't let them fool you for a second
January 11, 2026 at 8:58 PM
white and republican women will fully invent a GIANT horde of snidely whiplashes in dresses (or a "GAY AF" tshirt!!!) waiting to abduct them in order to justify being homophobic and transphobic to every non straight non white person on earth. don't let them fool you for a second
Reposted by Hal Duncan
your very existence is troubling, enraging, and distracting as hell for some of the shittiest people on earth so no, i’m afraid you may not kill yourself rn
January 11, 2026 at 5:27 PM
your very existence is troubling, enraging, and distracting as hell for some of the shittiest people on earth so no, i’m afraid you may not kill yourself rn
Reposted by Hal Duncan
also: while this is obviously a different context, “your mere presence is a threat to the safety of all women” is….a pretty striking parallel to TERF discourses that are used to defame and attack trans women. obviously gay men are not as threatened as trans women, but this stuff all mixes together
January 11, 2026 at 7:53 PM
also: while this is obviously a different context, “your mere presence is a threat to the safety of all women” is….a pretty striking parallel to TERF discourses that are used to defame and attack trans women. obviously gay men are not as threatened as trans women, but this stuff all mixes together
Reposted by Hal Duncan
oh my god this is terf brain poisoning... jesus christ.... a public bar is not a woman only 'safe' space. A dude existing in a group of women is not a threat.
‘A gay guy shouldn’t presume that he was welcome to attend a public screening of the gay hockey show at a bar because it was a HETEROSEXUAL BAR that caters to heterosexuals and the presence of women doesn’t mean he should expect to feel comfortable or be treated with kid gloves’ - actual opinion
January 11, 2026 at 6:34 PM
oh my god this is terf brain poisoning... jesus christ.... a public bar is not a woman only 'safe' space. A dude existing in a group of women is not a threat.