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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7h

Been looking around some right wing web sites this morning (Fox, Newsmax) and every page I click on pops up an ad from OpenAI featuring Trump and Sam Altman touting the glory of the Stargate project

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

It's as though every PSA was like:

"I smoked a pack a day and got cancer. Remember, tobacco kills."

"Brought to you by the crisp, clean flavor of Marlboro cigarettes. Come to Marlboro country!"

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like I'm seeing this all the time now: A Reddit post, a YouTube video, etc. lamenting the dire effects of the proliferation of AI (in this case a teacher talking about their students being rendered unable to think and learn) followed directly by an ad for an AI product

Reddit post from a teacher lamenting that AI is making their students unable to learn, followed directly by an ad for Microsoft's AI product

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

Every time a new AI slop machine like Sora is released, know the next iteration will be better and worse, both in very bad ways.

It'll be "better" - more realistic, tougher to tell the real from the fake

It'll also be worse - more useful for scams, higher volume of slop, enshittifying the world

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine if health care was just something everyone had, and not a zero sum competition between "good" people and "bad" people

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks! Things are tough out there, but we're doing our best.

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Reposted by Paul Waldman

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 1d

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

Attention residents of Queens: If you're a genuine he-man with rippling muscles and a contempt for housework, Mrs. Sally Grabstein is totally dtf

Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 1d

1972

THE QUESTION
As women are becoming liberated, are men becoming less masculine?
WHERE ASKED
Sunnyside, Queens
THE ANSWERS
Mrs. Sally Grabstein, Sunnyside, Sales: "Yes. All you have to do is walk past a laundromat on Sunday. They are crowded with men doing the family wash. Any man who does this has become less masculine. Doing wash is woman's work and it must be embarrassing for them. I'm so embarrassed that I won't go to the laundromat on Sunday."
--Daily News, 8 Oct 1972

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

🧵on Bari Weiss at the Times written by one who knows

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d

John Mitchell does come to mind. And that ended with him in prison.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

Never before has the United States had an Attorney General and FBI Director who openly serve the president personally as he works to break laws rather than enforcing laws for the country, Constitution, and American people.

I don’t know if any previous one even said “the president’s agenda.” Ever.

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 2d

Democrats are finally showing some spine, and not a moment too soon. So who’s willing to do what is necessary to undo the horror of the Trump years? That’s what voters are going to demand, as they should:

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...

Democrats Need to Find Their Strength

They're beginning to get the picture, but this should be only the start.

paulwaldman.substack.com

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 2d

1. Clearly Homan kept the $50,000 (alleged) bribe money.

2. You think he declared it on his taxes? No way.

3. Democrats should say now that there will be a full investigation once they're back in power, and if Homan committed tax evasion he'll be going to prison.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

WATCH — @whitehouse.senate.gov : “What became of the $50,000 in cash in that Cava bag? Did the FBI get it back from Homan?”

AG PAM BONDI: *LASHES OUT aggressively, avoids answering entirely* 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 2d

I wonder how much of this is that these guys fancy themselves cool rebels who give the finger to power, and a year ago that meant supporting Trump but now that he's president that means not supporting him anymore. There's nothing cool and rebellious about shilling for the president.

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 3d

“I voted for none of this."

Prominent influencers, including Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Schulz, are starting to distance themselves from the president they helped propel to the White House.

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

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Reposted by Paul Waldman

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 3d

Just a reminder -- anyone who was paying attention could see all of this coming, from miles away

Re-posting what I wrote in MAY 2024, or 17 months ago

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 3d

"Voters want us to be bipartisan!"

"Really? Has any election ever demonstrated that to be true? Ever?"

"Well, no. But that's what they say in the focus groups!"

"But if literally every election proves that to be false..."

"THE FOCUS GROUPS!"

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Dec 18

pathetic abcnews.go.com/Politics/dem...

Democrats' playbook to beat Republicans in 2 years: work with them now

Democrats have a plan to take back power in Washington back from Republicans in two years: work with them now.

abcnews.go.com

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 5d

The NFL booked the second biggest pop star in the world for the Super Bowl halftime show, and the right wing is desperately trying to convince people that they should be mad about it.

Also, she ends with "We'll fix it." By...making singing in Spanish illegal? Nuking Puerto Rico? What?

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 5d

Kristi Noem’s message to the NFL for selecting Bad Bunny for the halftime show:

“The NFL sucks and we’ll win and God will bless us and we’ll stand and be proud of ourselves at the end of the day and they won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe…”

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 5d

Counting the one taking this video I count no fewer than FOUR videographers accompanying her on this "inspection" but I can't imagine Kristi Noem would ever stage something like this solely for the purpose of creating social media content

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 5d

Kristi Noem inspecting a building she wants to acquire in Chicago in order to expand ICE operations in the city

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Reposted by Paul Waldman

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 6d

America 2025:

The ideal man is a ruthless killing machine with a Jesus tattoo and rippling pectorals.

The ideal woman is a teen-coded AI heroine who is canonically a virgin.

bsky.app/profile/laur...

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 6d

I'm sorry: "if I wish to see a virgin on-screen"?

My Favorite Actress Is Not Human
Tilly Norwood doesn’t need a hairstylist, has no regrettable posts, and if you wish to see a virgin on-screen, this is one of your better chances. That’s because she’s AI.

A picture of some AI girl standing on an AI landscape with an AI monster behind her. I'm gonna be so real: she looks about 14

By Tyler Cowen

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7d

Who could have predicted that when you ally yourself with fascists who want to subjugate universities, use the law to punish critics of the regime, and deport people based on their ethnicity, it is not in fact Good For The Jews, how could we ever have known?

hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · 7d

Greenblatt learning the hard way that if you lie down with dogs (and force your whole organization to do the same), you're going to wake up with fleas.

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7d

Republicans are blanketing the airwaves in Virginia with loathsome trans panic advertising directed at Dem governor candidate Abigail Spanberger. I assume that when she wins the election, which she's all but certain to do, all the pundits will say this proves it's a losing strategy.

Right? Right?

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7d

It's nothing like a guarantee of victory for Democrats, but don't forget that Trump will always screw things up.

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trump-is-n...

Trump Is Not Very Good At This

He has a talent for saying the worst thing at the worst time.

paulwaldman.substack.com

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7d

Here we have the Treasury secretary saying explicitly that economic policy is being made based on who voted for Trump. So now all of us will be paying for a farm bailout caused by Trump's idiotic trade war. Congrats, America!

I wrote about this here: www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-farm...

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 7d

Can you even imagine the utter nuclear freakout that both Republicans and the news media would have erupted in if Joe Biden had used a shutdown to punish red states?

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Trump targets states that voted for Harris in shutdown fight

The Office of Management and Budget is withholding billions in energy and infrastructure money in more than a dozen states that voted against Trump.

www.politico.com

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 8d

Read about it in Hegseth's new book, "The Polygraphs Will Continue Until Morale Improves: Leadership Secrets of America's Eleventh-Best Weekend Morning Show Co-Host"

The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · 8d

The Pentagon wants officials in the building to undergo “random polygraph tests” to curb a slew of leaks that have embarrassed Hegseth.

‘Paranoid Pete’ Wants Surprise Polygraph Tests to Nail Pentagon Leakers

Multiple leaks from the Pentagon appear to have irked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

trib.al

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 8d

"Let's talk about health care instead" isn't the answer to every political question, but this is about to happen to millions of people and they are going to be justifiably pissed off.

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @warnock.senate.gov · 8d

I was sent this by a Georgian this morning. 2025 premiums vs 2026 premiums for someone making $65k a year.

Republicans in Washington did this.

This is what I'm fighting to stop. This is what’s at stake in this shutdown fight.

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