Tal B. Lavin
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swordsjew.bsky.social
Tal B. Lavin
@swordsjew.bsky.social
journalist, author, reads too much. haggard and unblest. newsletter:
buttondown.email/theswordandthesandwich

buy my new book!! https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/talia-lavin/wild-faith/9780306829192/

contact: [email protected]
Pinned
time to unleash The Grilled Cheese Essay (which personally made padma lakshmi cry) on the newskies

buttondown.com/theswordandt...
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
the good that you do persists in this world
December 14, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
This is what happens when the FBI is run by two right-wing conspiracy theorist podcasters who spent the last 11 months purging almost anyone with institutional knowledge from the bureau. They're going to keep fucking this kind of thing up.
BREAKING: Authorities will release the person of interest in the Brown University shooting, officials said, as the investigation continues.
Live updates: Person of interest identified after 2 killed and 9 injured at Brown University
Live updates: 2 dead, 9 wounded in Brown University shooting; person of interest in custody
nbcnews.to
December 15, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
Man, that dude who looks like an electrocuted squirrel is not very good at this
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Authorities say they will release person of interest detained in Brown University shooting that killed 2 and wounded 9.
December 15, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
European antisemitism and its global, colonial descendants have hounded us for centuries and still we put the menorahs in our windows, sharing the miracle

This week will be no different
December 14, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
Part of the Chanukah tradition is to place the light menorah either outside or in a window where outsiders can see it. This is supposed to advertise the miracle of Chanukah. These days, it is also a way of saying, “This is a Jewish home.”

Every year I think about how it is also an act of bravery.
December 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
antisemitism has two settings, "shut up jews you're overreacting" and "mass murder"
December 15, 2025 at 2:54 AM
menorah check
December 14, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
mike's hard times create mike's strong men
December 14, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
i don't think this is even a real statistical anomaly anymore. it seems like there's someone in the crowd at every mass shooting who has been through it before. this doesn't have to be our shared cultural experience.
Two survivors of Brown University attack escaped other school shootings
Mia Tretta was shot in the abdomen in 2019 at a school near LA and Zoe Weissman witnessed a Florida shooting in 2018
www.theguardian.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
So there is already an ai-generated whitewashing campaign to bury the name of the Muslim man, Ahmed al Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi Beach shooters, and replace his identity with a white guy name and that’s why even a thimble of our potable water powering this tech is too fucking much.
December 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
yeah I'm involved in unethical non monogamy. no no, nobody's cheating on anyone else; me and my polycucle just operate a whaling ship.
December 14, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
if you like heated rivalry and want more hockey smut beyond rachel reid im putting on my gay romance sommelier hat (its a sticky hat) and looking into your eyes and telling you to read the Penalty Box series by @aribaranwrites.bsky.social because it's so good and i would go to war for these boys
December 14, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
these mfers love talking about God while radiating evil like an unshielded reactor core
December 13, 2025 at 4:31 AM
the attack against jews in australia celebrating chanukah on the beach is fucking terrible and scary
December 14, 2025 at 5:22 PM
i only want to be stuck in the ice on a ship if it's a) helmed by a young fritdjof nansen and b) i'm having a bunch of sex with him the whole time. the rest of the fram crew can join if they want though
i’ve only tangentially chatted with @swordsjew.bsky.social on here but running through the terror and frankenstein again we share a strong opinion and that is that i do not want to be stuck in the fucking ice on a ship.

i’m good dude.
December 14, 2025 at 4:47 AM
if you like heated rivalry and want more hockey smut beyond rachel reid im putting on my gay romance sommelier hat (its a sticky hat) and looking into your eyes and telling you to read the Penalty Box series by @aribaranwrites.bsky.social because it's so good and i would go to war for these boys
December 14, 2025 at 3:48 AM
it's completely opaque what constitutes "good sales" for a book across different genres/releases/reputations/advances and authors rarely talk about it and it can be kind of frustrating and unnerving tbh
December 13, 2025 at 9:04 PM
i would never lie to the public about something so important
The main takeaway I got from the internet about this show before I watched it was you saying it has the best butt you’ve ever seen. When I watched it and saw The Butt™️ I was thinking “….. yep, there it is, Tal was right”
December 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
truly the most unhinged possible song choice jacob tierney the man that you are
thank you heated rivalry for giving us what we didnt know we needed: the hottest guy in the world jerking off to an EDM remix of t.a.T.U.'s 2002 classic single "all the things she said"
December 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
December 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
thank you heated rivalry for giving us what we didnt know we needed: the hottest guy in the world jerking off to an EDM remix of t.a.T.U.'s 2002 classic single "all the things she said"
December 12, 2025 at 7:26 AM
heated rivalry media review:
thinking HBO might actually just be an acronym for 'Hockey Buttsluts Only' 👀
December 12, 2025 at 7:25 AM
yes i am absolutely staying up late to watch hbo's hockey butt sluts, aka heated rivalry, the finest of canadian imports
December 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
this article was so insane and mostly just mad that the hockey slut show has cooties bc it's based on a book a woman wrote
Yep it totally sounds like this show has been "desexed"
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
December 12, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Reposted by Tal B. Lavin
Pornhub has released the top most searched terms in the United States and every state searched “industrial crane lifting a dark and dripping shape from an unquiet sea” bc America is going through it,
December 11, 2025 at 12:22 AM