The second portion of this great convo is now available!

One of the few downsides of never buying anything is I can’t meaningfully participate in any boycotts

this actually reveals the gameplan with Grok a little bit anything that affects Conservatives is immediately dismissed as fake or a meme or edited, no matter what that event actually is

Bracing myself for whatever Trump is going to do this time to deflect from the latest Epstein release

Very pleased to appear in this stellar lineup!

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

There will be an all-out media & financial assault on Mamdani if he takes office. When Salvador Allende was president of Chile, Nixon said the US had to "make the economy scream." Something similar will happen to NY in a collaboration between Trump & Dems. bsky.app/profile/schw...

I don't think people understand how ferocious the opposition to Mamdani will be if he's mayor. Republican & Democratic power brokers will unite to crush him & punish NYers for voting for him. They cannot allow someone with his positions to be a success & inspiration.

Return

Local Political Parties Stand with Lancaster University Staff @ucu.org.uk lancasterucu.home.blog/2025/08/18/l...

MIT’s NANDA initiative found that 95% of generative AI deployments fail after interviewing 150 execs, surveying 350 workers, and analyzing 300 projects. The real “productivity gains” seem to come from layoffs and squeezing more work from fewer people not AI.

More data centres are coming to the UK, with British citizens being expected to foot the electricity and water bill. A textbook example of socialism for corporations, cutthroat capitalism for the public.

It appears that Canada's most computer-bound cranks are suddenly clamouring for the great outdoors

Hi new folks! I'm a historian of French Empire, Algeria, decolonization, warfare, and migration, and I've just published a book. Check it out here (and use the code 09BCARD for 30% off if you're thinking of ordering): www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Happy to see this thoughtful review of The Birth of Psywar in H-Diplo. Essentially: 'a good book, gratuitous use of Foucault' which I'll gladly accept! issforum.org/reviews/h-di...

Thanks AI, this historical timeline is incredibly useful and will really help my students...😑

Irony is that Grassley was a major Russiagate guy at the time it was happening, but then it was about suppressing BLM as ‘Russian disinfo’ so he was more than happy to go along with it

Do you like ketchup? Not only are you wrong, but you may be a fascist. Not really, but in my 🍅New Publication🍅 "Ketchup Is the Whitest Sauce", in International Political Sociology, I argue that memes about ketchup showcase Neo-Nazi solidarity. academic.oup.com/ips/article/...

I am delighted to share my latest (open access) publication, co-authored with the marvellous @carolineholmqvist.bsky.social for the Thesis Eleven special issue on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1/ journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Thought I'd make a thread of all of my publications, for easy access! First up is 'Army recruitment video advertisements in the US and UK since 2002: Challenging ideals of hegemonic military masculinity?' in Media, War and Conflict doi.org/10.1177/1750...

"We believe everyone can be the 1%" etc

Why would I read Proust when I can simply use the RememberTRON 3000?

People are rightfully saying that this is the weakest response imaginable, but can we also consider how insane this taco construction is? Why did they put all the meat and salsa on one and the cheese and lettuce on the other?

We did a thing. We analyse the ‘red pill’ discourse and its use of The Matrix to help produce and circulate popular anti-feminist manosphere conspiracy theories. Principally annoyed that they’ve messed with one of the greatest sci-fi texts ever.

Have the authors considered simply *writing* the fake books?

This is an exciting time for secrecy research and an important time to understand how central it is to our current crises. Do consider contributing a chapter to what we hope will be a new definitive volume.

Odo seems so happy in his bucket…wish I could join a collective like he can

The podcast I recorded with @drsusanliebell.bsky.social for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social is available. Have a listen as we explore the book and some current political reverberations. Also, the book is out in paperback in May with @edinburghup.bsky.social. newbooksnetwork.com/presidents-k...

Monday mornings are for emails

But doctor, pagliacci is my research subject

Don’t tell me that wasn’t a Nazi salute.

Nice revolutionary subjectivity you got there. Shame if someone interpellated it

This seems to be what all the cool kids are doing, so I started my own substack. It's called The Brush Contact. It will cover (mostly) intelligence and covert action related matters based on things I read, listen to, or watch. We start with plausible deniability. substack.com/@lucatrenta/...

“Colonial expansion is a Russian psyop new to American politics”. never has a career pivot to one-note audience pandering rotted a brain more

What are the dangers in relying on automated hate speech detection to tackle discrimination online? Eva Haifa Giraud, Elizabeth Poole, Ed de Quincey and @discodiscourse.bsky.social look at digital racism, Twitter/X and counter-narratives against Islamophobia. Out now #OpenAccess buff.ly/4a90uwi

My legal letter is raising questions already answered by my legal letter

New article out co-authored w. @alexyates2000.bsky.social in @bjpir.bsky.social ‘Get off your high horse and vote for us’: The anti-populist construction of the elite and the people or how anti-populism is really good old demophobia 🧵 1/ journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The other 26% had not been through the peer review process

Hi, Tesla expert here! This is not funny, Tesla’s only do this when they’re in extreme distress.

Since I’ve had some new followers lately, I’m reposting this link to my (open access) book from OUP on the history of psychological war, and it’s geopolitical imaginations.

This iconic Fabian Todorovic cartoon is still one of the best I’ve seen at illustrating the remarkable amount of space we surrender to cars, leaving little space left for everyone and everything else. The text added later makes the bonus point that many drivers still manage to complain about it.

It’s late 1934 and an American automobile magnate is supporting the German fascist party. It’s late 2024 and an ‘American’ ‘automobile’ magnate is supporting the German fascist party. www.politico.eu/article/elon...

Brilliant piece! The National Security State and the Tech City: Social Structures of Militarisation in Seattle's Long Cold War onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Elon becoming the worlds top FarmVille player to impress the gaming community

After almost a decade of thinking, researching and writing... this came in the post today. 🤓 🥂

British dumbass: Ok I’m going to give you the most softball interview of all time, I am only here to do propaganda for you, all you need to do is show a human side to billionaires Billionaire: *complete silence for 30 seconds, hisses, eyes turn jet black, speaks backwards in Sumerian*