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Glenn Mackin

@glennmackin

Political theorist at a music school, writing about politics and aesthetics; runner, cyclist, dog-lover, tea obsessive; will likely post about some or all of these. Or maybe something else!

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Latest posts by Glenn Mackin @glennmackin

Someone just posted about how they don't care if their students use AI as long as the text conveys the ideas the students meant to convey. The thing is, you don't know exactly what you think until you write it. And if some prefab thing pops up, you're liable to decide that was what you thought.

11.03.2026 20:40 πŸ‘ 779 πŸ” 207 πŸ’¬ 30 πŸ“Œ 11

The ride home from work is the best. Partly, that's because (for me), the ride home is slightly downhill. But mostly it's because it feels like every pedal dissolves one part of the idiocy from work

11.03.2026 22:43 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Definitely, though this has been an issue for a long time. Large percentages of my students, for instance, know nothing whatever of the Bible, which means that they can't get many of the references in, say, Hobbes, etc.

11.03.2026 14:41 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

What exactly would it take for Iran to reopen the Strait? Because ultimately reopening the Strait is either the IR's decision or the result of a much bigger conflict that forces the Strait open

And both of those options will probably take time

11.03.2026 12:49 πŸ‘ 61 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 1

Well, we certainly couldn't accuse him of not knowing how money works....

11.03.2026 13:04 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I feel some kind of way about people saying that we are docile cowards when we are being shot in the streets and teargassed on the regular and the response so many have is to figure out where they can go to add their bodies to the list of those willing to die to try to stop fascism from taking over.

11.03.2026 00:44 πŸ‘ 491 πŸ” 55 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1

1989. I'm 15 and in high school, though politically engaged and very lefty. For me, the most vivid memory of that year was not the fall of the Berlin Wall but the Tiananmen Square massacre. My excitement about the fall of the wall was real but always tempered.

10.03.2026 21:34 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Very much a grad student pathology. If they continue with this indefinitely, also leaves them almost completely incapable of writing a dissertation. The ability to read and critique a book is not the same as the ability to generate an original work of scholarship.

10.03.2026 15:31 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Every day of life under Trump is waking up to a headline like, β€œWyoming is missing”

10.03.2026 11:57 πŸ‘ 5251 πŸ” 973 πŸ’¬ 66 πŸ“Œ 25

I'm not happy.

10.03.2026 00:38 πŸ‘ 133 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1
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found some old drilosophers posts in my files. i've contributed something good to this world, i think

09.03.2026 23:58 πŸ‘ 219 πŸ” 62 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 3

The core principle of liberalism--a universalism in which everyone is supposed to count--was first expressed in the great metaphysical traditions, including (but not limited to) religious traditions. I'm not religious, but it's entirely possible to make common cause here

09.03.2026 23:11 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Precisely. I keep saying this: The war will continue until Iran decides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. They need to extract a cost from us to reestablish a deterrent. Keeping the Strait shut is a good way to do that (not predicting this, but people keep acting as if the US were the only agent here)

09.03.2026 23:08 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

These are times when I'm glad to be a political theorist. No one ever asks us anything about politics

09.03.2026 23:04 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"Dr. Farley, can you please explain the entire history of the conflicts in the Middle East for the last century?"

09.03.2026 22:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This analysis seems *modestly* more pessimistic than current reports suggest (e.g., Iran hasn't disabled all five THAADs) but the asymmetry is real. Iran can likely keep SoH closed with cheap drones for months, no matter what we do, and nothing could re-open it other than a collapse of the IRGC.

09.03.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 220 πŸ” 60 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 1
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68% of American Jews support the US-Israel war against Iran, survey finds - Jewish Telegraphic Agency The results suggest U.S. Jews are more supportive than Americans overall but less than Israeli Jews.

The @jta.org headline is simply wrong; please amend. JPPI itself acknowledges that it polls "connected" Jews, not Jews overall, meaning disproportionally more denominationally affiliated Jews and those who've lived in Israel, and less intermarried Jews. www.jta.org/2026/03/09/i...

09.03.2026 14:39 πŸ‘ 195 πŸ” 48 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 15

It’s too easy to go to war

08.03.2026 23:48 πŸ‘ 2950 πŸ” 281 πŸ’¬ 123 πŸ“Œ 23
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I’m just gonna say we’re getting to his pain point.

08.03.2026 22:26 πŸ‘ 1383 πŸ” 253 πŸ’¬ 96 πŸ“Œ 39

I'm pretty sure that's how Reagan won the Cold War, right? He just stood in Berlin, yelled "tear down this wall," and glowered, and then the USSR just couldn't match his manliness

09.03.2026 00:12 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's (d 1707) thirty- year fruitless quest to repress Maratha villages in the South followed by a dustbowl connected to non-anthropogenic climate change, weakening India for the British East India Co., might offer a parallel @audreytruschke.bsky.social

08.03.2026 22:01 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Striking signal for much above-normal temperatures across California, the Great Basin, northern Rockies and Desert Southwest from March 15-20. Temperatures will be more typical of summer than early spring (potentially 25 degrees above normal) in many areas and monthly records could be shattered.

08.03.2026 20:34 πŸ‘ 209 πŸ” 96 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 27

But also: Who in their right mind would think that people are going to "rise up" in the middle of a goddamned bombing campaign?

08.03.2026 20:33 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

one reset I'd personally appreciate: behind the insistence that we must offer the electorate a little bigotry is the idea that commoners are more bigoted than the richer and more educated, who can be appealed to with high minded policy. but then you Ctrl+F "phrenology" in the Epstein files

18.02.2026 13:19 πŸ‘ 3321 πŸ” 753 πŸ’¬ 42 πŸ“Œ 37
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Special Ops To Get The Uranium - Lawyers, Guns & Money There are folks out there dreaming about a daring raid by special ops forces to grab Iran’s stock of enriched uranium. Trumpies would like to grab the Ayatollahs’ goodies. People concerned about proli...

Special operations raids to secure Iran's uranium would be a lot more challenging than action movies make people think.

@cherylrofer.bsky.social explains how:

07.03.2026 22:45 πŸ‘ 108 πŸ” 33 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 3
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Invading Iran 'Is Not the Act of Sane Men' Ground war or bluff? Dr. Robert Farley breaks down the logistical "impossibility" of invading Iran and the high-risk Kurdish proxy strategy of 2026.

"Why would the United States want to invade Iran?

The short answer is that it doesn’t; invading Iran is not the act of sane men, or even of the senior national security leadership of the Trump administration." www.19fortyfive.com/2026/03/inva...

07.03.2026 22:28 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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21st century: β€œhe had a nice ass”

18th century:

07.03.2026 20:40 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

They've now killed four people -- three U.S. citizens and a Mexican national. They've shot several more.

They've lied about all of them. They haven't shaded the truth. They haven't "misled" us. They've brazenly, knowingly lied while in possession of the evidence disproving their lies.

07.03.2026 17:12 πŸ‘ 4763 πŸ” 1920 πŸ’¬ 69 πŸ“Œ 30
05.03.2026 21:35 πŸ‘ 2108 πŸ” 487 πŸ’¬ 31 πŸ“Œ 14
Raw puer in a sky colored ruyao gaiwan

Raw puer in a sky colored ruyao gaiwan

Raw Puer gongfu tea session

Raw Puer gongfu tea session

Steeped leaf

Steeped leaf

2026 Suzuca is a raw Puer blend that we sent to the Wuyi mountains in Fujian for skilled Yancha makers to charcoal roast by hand. We’ve been making unique productions like this for years and we’re not stoppin. love this hybrid style

07.03.2026 13:53 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1