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Dan Silverman

@dmsilverman.bsky.social

2.6K followers 1.6K following 1.9K posts

Assistant Professor of Political Science at Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST) Ohio State PhD. International Security, Political Psychology, Middle East Politics Opinions my own, don’t reflect employer, etc.

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · Nov 22

🚨Publication day — my first book is out! “Seeing is Disbelieving: Why People Believe Misinformation in War, and When They Know Better” is a deep dive into factual misinformation in modern war and conflict, and why people do and don’t believe it. @cambridgeup.bsky.social

cambridge.org/9781009523585

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 24m

”From Paper Boy to Rat Czar: The Many Lives and Wives of Curtis Sliwa”

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 25m

I mean, the guy is just the strangest and most NYC human

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 25m

Openly admits to faking crimes to get attention for his Guardian Angels stuff

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 27m

Maybe New Yorkers all know this! But the rest of us don’t know there was an apparent mob hit against him, which he escaped by jumping out of a moving vehicle after being shot in the legs!

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 29m

I mean, his Wiki is just chock full of stuff like this — he was Newsboy of the Year after rescuing several people from a fire as a youth

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 32m

I think I would watch a whole 6-10 part documentary about the life and times of Curtis Sliwa

Preferably in which he played himself and reenacted his own life

Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 52m

Just popped over to Twitter to take a quick peek at Curtis Sliwa's account. A few highlights.

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 39m

Any way to check whether that has changed over time?

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1h

I’m old enough to remember when DOGE ran amok and may have killed millions abroad

Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 5h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Dan Silverman

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 2h

We (Democrats, reporters, society in general) should and should be able to make this into a big story.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2h

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Reposted by Dan Silverman

Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 13h

"So, Democrats have three words for this: no fucking way. It's literally life or death. We will not let Republicans blow up our health care system."

This is, hands down, the best comms work Chuck Schumer has done in YEARS. Surprisingly good.

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 14h

Nothing prepared but whataboutism and messenger attacking, the rhetorical core of authoritarian movements

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 17h

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 15h

Interesting…what’s the pitch/why Mormons

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 15h

So many examples of literal sadism in ICE now

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 16h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

Reposted by Dan Silverman

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 16h

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 16h

Ha no I mean I think there is that dynamic and a general party/drug scene (to be a bit careful of IMO), but it’s got many other sides as well

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

By the way, this is why Medellin was great -- go if you want somewhere different in the Western Hemisphere.

You can get excellent food and indulgence if you want it, with a fascinating and unique culture and history (art, coffee, recovery from drug wars), and striking natural surroundings.

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

Sigh. Saw a fair bit of this being marketed in Medellin, too, last year (a MUCH more fascinating place to visit btw)

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

A harsh claim would be that the "Gulf sheikdoms" lack much in the way of nature or (organic, deep) culture.

I visited Qatar a couple years ago and am glad I got to see it. But it's notable that the oldest restaurant I saw was a Turkish spot from ~1984

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

I guess it all fundamentally gets to the issue of why you travel.

If I'm traveling somewhere there are usually 1 of 3 reasons:
1) Friends and/or family
2) Nature
3) Culture

Don't get me wrong I like some pampering! But it's hard to do a whole trip of that, without at least 1 of those 3

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

I don't mean this to be mean, but: to do what? Shop?

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

For example, saw some Americans and Euros I think walking into this while I was there

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

Sigh. Saw a fair bit of this being marketed in Medellin, too, last year (a MUCH more fascinating place to visit btw)

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

Sigh. I guess a ton of Americans (and others) go to Vegas

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

I don't mean this to be mean, but: to do what? Shop?

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

Same. Maybe I’m just coping but my stance is now “you’re a bot unless you prove otherwise” if you are anon and post something really anti-social and weird

Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

I‘m not convinced these anonymous doomposters and defeatists are real people. I need proof

Mallory 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇵🇸🇬🇱🇵🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺 @sadboots.bsky.social · 1d

Account called “FIGHT BACK DAMMIT!” doing more to make the fascists seem invulnerable than Goebbels could ever have

FIGHT BACK DAMMIT! @notallme.b...
There won't be elections again.

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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

Good effort to step back and take stock of the war's many consequences, local regional and global.

What a horrible list it is

Dov Waxman @dovwaxman.bsky.social · 1d

On the second anniversary of the outbreak of the Gaza war that Hamas initiated with its horrific surprise attack in southern Israel, it’s worth taking stock of the war’s devastating toll. Here's a long thread, which is not exhaustive, of the toll:

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