Raphael
@raphael-pbl.bsky.social
Used to be raphaelptw on the birdsite. Guy with nerdy/geeky interests who's pretty bad at most of the usual nerd/geek stuff. Will probably use this more for following than posting.
he/him
(Avatar shows trees reflected in the water of a pond)
he/him
(Avatar shows trees reflected in the water of a pond)
Pinned
Raphael
@raphael-pbl.bsky.social
· Jun 5
Why are there people who allow influencers to influence them? It's as if Wormtongue had completely openly said what he was doing and Theoden had decided to keep him as his most trusted advisor anyway.
Reposted by Raphael
Generative A.I. is a product used almost entirely for fraud and porn, and they can't say that in the ads.
It's like we all have to pretend the crack pipes they sell at gas stations with the little fake flower in them aren't actually crack pipes because they're *propping up the entire stock market.*
It's like we all have to pretend the crack pipes they sell at gas stations with the little fake flower in them aren't actually crack pipes because they're *propping up the entire stock market.*
December 9, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Generative A.I. is a product used almost entirely for fraud and porn, and they can't say that in the ads.
It's like we all have to pretend the crack pipes they sell at gas stations with the little fake flower in them aren't actually crack pipes because they're *propping up the entire stock market.*
It's like we all have to pretend the crack pipes they sell at gas stations with the little fake flower in them aren't actually crack pipes because they're *propping up the entire stock market.*
Reposted by Raphael
Not only do I not want to use your new A.I. mode, I want you to stop telling me about your new A.I. mode, this is like the waiter trying to tell me the specials, but what makes them special is that the chef is blindfolded and we've started keeping roach poison in salt shakers
December 9, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Not only do I not want to use your new A.I. mode, I want you to stop telling me about your new A.I. mode, this is like the waiter trying to tell me the specials, but what makes them special is that the chef is blindfolded and we've started keeping roach poison in salt shakers
Reposted by Raphael
Reposted by Raphael
However many shells you think you have, I can tell you that if your country gets into a real large-scale 'big boy' war, the exact number of shells you have is "not enough."
December 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
However many shells you think you have, I can tell you that if your country gets into a real large-scale 'big boy' war, the exact number of shells you have is "not enough."
Reposted by Raphael
Why would men-who-nobody-wants-to-have-sex-with want to force women to get pregnant with the offspring of men-nobody-wants-to-have-sex-with? 🤔
Everything is old is new again. Back in the day, Theodore Roosevelt called white women going to college "race suicide."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The rise of pronatalism: why Musk, Vance and the right want women to have more babies
The movement unites ‘family values’ conservatives and tech bro rightwingers. Will this incoherent coalition hold?
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Why would men-who-nobody-wants-to-have-sex-with want to force women to get pregnant with the offspring of men-nobody-wants-to-have-sex-with? 🤔
Reposted by Raphael
I'm developing a kind of cosmopolitan-chauvinism, I guess you could call it anti-feudalism, as a through line in my politics. The peasant-brained and the local landed gentry are the enemy. Sort of funny that this could describe being either rabidly capitalist or communist.
December 8, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I'm developing a kind of cosmopolitan-chauvinism, I guess you could call it anti-feudalism, as a through line in my politics. The peasant-brained and the local landed gentry are the enemy. Sort of funny that this could describe being either rabidly capitalist or communist.
Reposted by Raphael
It wasn’t even a secret, Michael Wolff documented the whole sordid episode minus his own complicity in Too Famous.
🎯 @monacharen.bsky.social on Bannon’s cozy relationship with Epstein: “Where is TP USA, the White House, Speaker Johnson? MAGA faithful who claim to believe in a conspiracy among elites to abuse kids? Where’s Bannon’s acknowledgment of wrongdoing? his shame?” www.thebulwark.com/p/steve-bann...
December 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM
It wasn’t even a secret, Michael Wolff documented the whole sordid episode minus his own complicity in Too Famous.
Reposted by Raphael
It is important to note that no religion actually prohibits vaccination. People who say that do not actually know that religion’s doctrines.
The Supreme Court just set aside a 2nd Circuit decision upholding New York's requirement that all school students, public and private, obtain certain vaccinations, without any religious exemptions. It orders the 2nd Circuit to reconsider the ruling in light of SCOTUS' LGBTQ school books decision.
December 8, 2025 at 6:33 PM
It is important to note that no religion actually prohibits vaccination. People who say that do not actually know that religion’s doctrines.
Reposted by Raphael
BREAKING: Alina Habba is finally stepping down from her role as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey after the Third Circuit affirmed her disqualification
December 8, 2025 at 6:53 PM
BREAKING: Alina Habba is finally stepping down from her role as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey after the Third Circuit affirmed her disqualification
Reposted by Raphael
One thing I miss abt academia is opportunity to expose students to archives.
One thing I did in my history of media class, eg, was to show students UM's top archive of Robinson Crusoe editions, to show how "global" media is not a new thing.
One thing I did in my history of media class, eg, was to show students UM's top archive of Robinson Crusoe editions, to show how "global" media is not a new thing.
This semester in my Birds & Bees class, students had the chance to interact with archives & archivists 3 times. The first was in September when the archivists from the Drexel Legacy center came to visit and share photocopies of archival records from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
December 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
One thing I miss abt academia is opportunity to expose students to archives.
One thing I did in my history of media class, eg, was to show students UM's top archive of Robinson Crusoe editions, to show how "global" media is not a new thing.
One thing I did in my history of media class, eg, was to show students UM's top archive of Robinson Crusoe editions, to show how "global" media is not a new thing.
Reposted by Raphael
As article notes, they're saying explicitly that the President is on their side so the merger the companies want is doomed. The guy in the picture, Ellison's failson typifies the corrupt crony capitalism of the age.
Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix wins bidding war
Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for WBD after Netflix wins bidding war
Netflix won a bidding war for the Warner Bros. film studio and HBO Max streaming service, but it doesn't plan to buy WBD's TV networks.
www.cnbc.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
As article notes, they're saying explicitly that the President is on their side so the merger the companies want is doomed. The guy in the picture, Ellison's failson typifies the corrupt crony capitalism of the age.
Reposted by Raphael
get in loser we're doing tv timeouts for soccer
News: Every 2026 World Cup match will feature two "hydration breaks," no matter the weather.
Each half will pause for exactly three minutes midway through.
It's a player welfare measure. It also has sporting & commercial implications.
More @theathleticfc.bsky.social:
Each half will pause for exactly three minutes midway through.
It's a player welfare measure. It also has sporting & commercial implications.
More @theathleticfc.bsky.social:
2026 World Cup to feature three-minute hydration breaks in every half throughout tournament
Every game will pause for three minutes in the middle of each half, which will essentially split the match into quarters.
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:37 PM
get in loser we're doing tv timeouts for soccer
Reposted by Raphael
the U.S. press will...not cover this accurately or well
December 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
the U.S. press will...not cover this accurately or well
Reposted by Raphael
this pretty much guarantees months and months of performative bullshit by Trump and Ellison and right wing media about how Netflix ownership would be a woke antitrust nightmare, but letting Larry and his nepobaby son dominate U.S. media would be a delightful, populist spritzer
It’s a Bidding War: Paramount Attempts Hostile Offer for Warner Bros.
David Ellison calls Netflix's $82.7 billion deal value an "inferior proposal" and tells Warners shareholders that his coalition promises $18 billion more in cash.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
this pretty much guarantees months and months of performative bullshit by Trump and Ellison and right wing media about how Netflix ownership would be a woke antitrust nightmare, but letting Larry and his nepobaby son dominate U.S. media would be a delightful, populist spritzer
Reposted by Raphael
Since the right is full of fake free speech supporters, the left should step up and reclaim the mantle of free speech.
The latest from my newsletter:
The latest from my newsletter:
Free speech won't defend itself
Free speech needs an ally, and the left can fill that role.
madness.ghost.io
December 8, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Since the right is full of fake free speech supporters, the left should step up and reclaim the mantle of free speech.
The latest from my newsletter:
The latest from my newsletter:
Reposted by Raphael
and the first step to being a parent is recognizing that your children are their own people, not extensions of you
December 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
and the first step to being a parent is recognizing that your children are their own people, not extensions of you
Reposted by Raphael
too many people want to have kids but don't want to parent
some significant part of this is just catch-all fear for “this is not the child I ordered” I think
Oh, here's a big surprise. The transphobes don't believe in ADHD either.
December 8, 2025 at 1:59 PM
too many people want to have kids but don't want to parent
Reposted by Raphael
it really does crystallize now. they believe that there is one human behavioral template and anything that diverges from it is the creation of online activists, postmodernists, and other bogeymen
then, the transphobes , feeling victorious at how many people they have made unhappy and despairing in the previous week, move on to anything else that has a spectrum and the possibility of more colours than they can conceive - such hateful people - they cannot understand anything that is not THEM
December 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
it really does crystallize now. they believe that there is one human behavioral template and anything that diverges from it is the creation of online activists, postmodernists, and other bogeymen
Reposted by Raphael
Not read this. Only posting it to share the picture of a cat that’s just been told where its photo’s being used
Could Weight Loss Drugs Turn Fat Cats Into Svelte Ozempets?
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Not read this. Only posting it to share the picture of a cat that’s just been told where its photo’s being used
Reposted by Raphael
And, of course—
“Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year”
by @danalexander21.bsky.social (who you also should follow) for @forbes.com
“Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year”
by @danalexander21.bsky.social (who you also should follow) for @forbes.com
Trump Jumps 118 Spots On The Forbes 400 List Thanks To Presidency
Donald Trump lost money during his first term. Out of office, he found a formula for profiting off politics—now he’s piling up billions.
www.forbes.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
And, of course—
“Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year”
by @danalexander21.bsky.social (who you also should follow) for @forbes.com
“Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year”
by @danalexander21.bsky.social (who you also should follow) for @forbes.com
Reposted by Raphael
Also—
“How 19-Year-Old Barron Trump Is Worth $150 Million”
another one from @kylekhanmullins.bsky.social
“How 19-Year-Old Barron Trump Is Worth $150 Million”
another one from @kylekhanmullins.bsky.social
Here’s How Much Barron Trump Is Worth
Trump’s youngest son taught his dad a thing or two about crypto. Now the NYU sophomore is making a fortune before he even turns 20.
www.forbes.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Also—
“How 19-Year-Old Barron Trump Is Worth $150 Million”
another one from @kylekhanmullins.bsky.social
“How 19-Year-Old Barron Trump Is Worth $150 Million”
another one from @kylekhanmullins.bsky.social
Reposted by Raphael
Freudian slip from Tom Cotton: "I think President Bush has every power under the Constitution to strike boats in international waters"
December 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Freudian slip from Tom Cotton: "I think President Bush has every power under the Constitution to strike boats in international waters"
Reposted by Raphael
Reposted by Raphael
An incredibly chilling account of German Protestantism's role in the Nazi eugenics program from @gawattia.bsky.social www.liberalcurrents.com/the-devils-b...
![When Nazi officers started visiting faith-run institutions in the spring 1940, religious authorities at charities and hospitals across the country began petitioning state officials for the exclusive right to administer last rites to the patients in their care. At the killing center of Kaufbeuren, nuns were more concerned about observing norms of sexual propriety than saving lives. When female patients were placed in a male ward, the religious outcry over sex mixing led to a relocation of the female patients and the orderly administration of lethal injections.[7]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:r75unbj372lvbim6syioaueo/bafkreibg6dgd45zbuw3rlhgiklud7mgqpm2ieqs4sjpagv57soibwq5pci@jpeg)
December 8, 2025 at 12:17 AM
An incredibly chilling account of German Protestantism's role in the Nazi eugenics program from @gawattia.bsky.social www.liberalcurrents.com/the-devils-b...
Reposted by Raphael
I think I'm gonna become one of those guys with incredibly strong opinions about Robert Falcon Scott and the Terra Nova Expedition, but I haven't decided if I'm gonna be an apologist or not yet.
December 8, 2025 at 6:10 AM
I think I'm gonna become one of those guys with incredibly strong opinions about Robert Falcon Scott and the Terra Nova Expedition, but I haven't decided if I'm gonna be an apologist or not yet.