Mark Shore
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markshore.bsky.social
Mark Shore
@markshore.bsky.social
interests are politics, how states collapse, the media, and science, especially climate change, astronomy and geosciences

"A Republic, if you can keep it." Ben Franklin

photo: red sunset over the Pacific from the coast of Hawai'i
Reposted by Mark Shore
A dog’s paw print on a Roman clay tile 🐾 🐕 😍

About 2,000 years-ago, a dog made its mark for ‘pawsterity’ when it wandered across the wet tile laid out to dry before firing.

From Richborough Roman fort
📷 by me

#TilesonTuesday
#Archaeology
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
No surprise the Trump NIH director doesn’t understand how science works—doesn’t get NIH has been *the* world-historic leader in innovation.

After all, he’s never actually done any science.
Even before his rightwing pundit career 2020-25, he spent his time with economists, not scientists.
The NIH director told attendees the NIH doesn't do enough innovative research.

“What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. “All it does is advance the careers of the researchers that do it. It results in publications that don’t get used and aren’t replicable.”
November 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Donald Trump is moving too quickly to embrace Zohran Mamdani.

by Chuck Schumer
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
‘The US Army Secretary did not provide much detail to the Europeans about what this new iron curtain in Europe would look like, how it would be built, or who would protect it.

“But he was excited about how high-tech it would be”

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
A DMZ for Ukraine
Trump’s peace plan envisages a divide like the one that splits the Korean peninsula.
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Seals singing in a sea cave

#Orkney 🦭🎧
November 21, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
hahahahaha I knew it. "I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he's gonna surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people he won't surprise because they already like him."
Trump in a room with a very charismatic person results in like half a day of Trump agreeing with everything that person said, so this has the potential to be very, very funny.
Trump says he’s meeting with “communist” Mamdani at the White House on Friday
November 21, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Megyn Kelly claimed Epstein was into “the barely legal type,” referring to 15 year-olds.

So I wrote about how her comments highlight the ways both purity culture and rape culture sexualize young girls and make male desire their responsibility.

www.liberalcurrents.com/the-barely-l...
The Barely Legal Type: Purity Culture, Rape Culture, and America’s Lose-Lose Proposition for Girls
The very parts of American culture that claim to promote teen abstinence and sexual purity operate on a parallel logic to the rape culture that enables the darkest misogynistic violence against women.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
I am endlessly fascinated by the continual growth of the gap between civil society leadership eagerly embracing Trump and everyone else, by wide margins, doing the opposite. You couldn’t pick a better example of elite alienation from the rest of society in a textbook, it’s so stark.
November 20, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted.

If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.
November 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
#PPOD: A vast cavity on the Red Planet looks back at ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) with an icy stare. The crater is located in Utopia Planitia, the largest known impact basin in the Solar System, with a diameter of roughly 3,300 km, or twice the size of Earth’s Sahara Desert from north to south. 🧪
November 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Massive Study Debunks One of RFK Jr’s Biggest Claims about Fluoride in Tap Water www.scientificamerican.com/article/mass...
Massive Study Finds No Link Between Fluoride in Tap Water and Lower Child IQ
Researchers tracked thousands of Americans for decades, finding no links between ingesting recommended levels of fluoride and lower cognitive skills
www.scientificamerican.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
The real import of “Quiet, Piggy,” is it shows we have an entire rotten class of people at the top
"quiet piggy"
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Reposted by Mark Shore
You know about Trump and Zelesnkyy’s call, but have you heard about the call between Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince?

Watch my statement below. Mr. President, release the transcript.
November 19, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Mark Shore
The 9.5 metre tall “Seated Bear With Friends” by artist Dean Drever, overlooking the new park and playground at the Crosstown development in Toronto.
November 19, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
The destruction of US science will be felt worldwide for decades. Take it from @msier.bsky.social, who was the lead program director for the Biological Oceanography program at the US National Science Foundation.
I don’t think people understand how wrecked it is or how hard it will be to rebuild.
November 19, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
One day we’ll look back on this as one of the stupidest things we’ve done.
California farms applied millions of pounds of PFAS to key crops, study finds
‘Forever chemicals’ sprayed on almonds, grapes, tomatoes and other crops as activists warn of ‘obvious problem’
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
on the left: looks badass, but typically lives 6-8 years in the wild and many die even sooner

to the right: my family had one of those and she nearly made it to 20, sitting on her ass the entire time and figuring out exotic ways to sneak into the pantry to steal potato chips
November 17, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
The emergence of Nadine and her slightly assisted swimming lesson:
November 14, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
everyone who wants Democrats to focus on throwing immigrants and trans people under the bus needs to explain why this is not going to be the end result
13% after 16 months.

And his unpopularity has "no floor".
November 16, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Here’s a story for every national news outlet:

In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.

“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”

www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...
November 16, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Reposted by Mark Shore
British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Scientists find hidden antibiotic 100x stronger against deadly superbugs
A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Those claiming Dems should retreat on racial justice aren't hard-headed realists, they're pushing against the electoral tide rather than leaning into it. The story of Gen Z isn't about racist backlash or red-pilled young men. It's the most racially progressive generation in American history. 🧵
November 14, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
Imagine a cat going to town on this and just killing itself like it jumped into a corn silo of toilet paper
November 14, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
New in PN: Ed Martin's peculiar view of pardon power

"Since Martin neither knows what he’s doing or cares whether it’s legal, he’s perfectly willing to float the most unconstitutional trial balloons, such as 'Trump can pardon people for state crimes.'"
Ed Martin's peculiar view of pardon power
Trump's pardon attorney is very confused about how pardons work.
www.publicnotice.co
November 14, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Mark Shore
but for real i tried to capture what i felt going through these emails (on here & in the document hellscape). how it feels like a last nail in a coffin of some kind in terms of a rot in the heart of the elite. and proof that the truth is dumber than fiction
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
November 14, 2025 at 2:40 AM