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Maurits van der Veen

@amauritsvdv.bsky.social
232 followers 210 following 543 posts

Political scientist. Teaching Government & Data science @ William & Mary. Eppur si muove. Opinions, reposts, etc. are my own, _not_ those of my employer.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Maurits van der Veen
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11h
a livestreamed execution is just a lynching
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 12h
I think people should listen to what the administration trying to bring back spectacle lynchings, race riots, and middle passage-esque deportation voyages are trying to tell you about themselves. bsky.app/profile/bren...
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Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Really hard to think of a term more antisemitic and genocidal than Yarvin’s.
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is even more insane than I remembered.
Did Biden call Trump supporters 'garbage? It comes down to an apostrophe.
Republicans have long strained for a new Hillary Clinton-"deplorables" moment, but Biden's defense is entirely plausible.
October 30, 2024
• Footage of Biden's disputed
'garbage' comment
President Joe Biden was on a call with Latino voters on Oct. 29 when he brought up a Trump rally speaker's recent insult of Puerto Rico.
October 28, 2024
• Harris responds to question about Biden's 'garbage' remark
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to reporters before boarding a flight on Oct. 30 about President Joe Biden's remark that some intrepreted as calling former president Donald Trump's supporters
"garbage." The White House said Biden was referring
"to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square
Garden rally as garbage."
October 29, 2024Harris seeks to distance herself from Biden's 'garbage' remark
Vice President Kamala Harris tells reporters she rejects criticism based on how someone votes. The White House says President Joe Biden was referring to racist rhetoric, not to Trump voters.
October 31, 2024
Biden visits Philly amid lingering furor over 'garbage' remark
The White House stenographer's office complained about how press office officials handled the transcript of Biden's comments.
November 5, 2024
or Trump and Rubio react to Biden's 'garbage' comments
At former president Donald Trump's rally on Oct. 29, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he hoped President Joe Biden would apologize for his "garbage" comments.
October 28, 2024Opinion
Take all this garbage out to the curb
Two comments have created a dumpster fire of partisan outrage this week.
October 30, 2024
White House, Trump campaign clash over whether Biden called Trump supporters garbage'
The disputed remark came in response to racist remarks about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally in New York City.
October 30, 2024
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Kamala Harris's Joe Biden problem
Kamala Harris stood on the Ellipse and delivered a clear and unifying message to a thundering crowd.
Moments earlier, in the White House illuminated behind her, Joe Biden had sat alone at a computer.
October 30, 2024
Opinion
The 10 worst things Biden did in 2024
Among the president's lows: pardoning Hunter Biden and calling Trump supporters "garbage."
January
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e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 07/10/2026
there's a lot going on right now, but the ability to buy elections in order to stay out of prison is on the ballot whether you realize it or not
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 07/10/2026
you don’t hold "AI" accountable; you hold AI developers, vendors, and corporations that profit off it accountable holding "AI accountable" is like holding a toaster accountable. it's an inanimate object. it doesn't have wishes, feelings, or desires
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Stella Rouse @stellarouse.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
One surprising thing from the Trump era is the level of cowardness and capitulation exhibited by institutions of power. Even in the face of evidence that pushback works and that the law is on their side, they continue to fall in line. It's a stain that will be hard to erase from history.
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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung 
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?”
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We used to have a federal agency devoted to investigating and prosecuting abuses by law enforcement, but Americans voted for the "let cops do crimes" candidate instead bsky.app/profile/kevi...
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HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 06/10/2026
#VanityFair
Vanity fair cover with Sam Altman stealing everything
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The amount of money the administration is promising in order to buy votes is significantly less than the amount of money it is taking away in programs and services. And it's OUR money!
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
as a journalist and editor who has worked at several large publications, this policy is insane.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
👇🎯
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Vicente Valentim @valentimvicente.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Harder to think of a clearer example of normalization of far-right discourse. The idea of remigration is now something that can be argued should be a priority of what might very well be the next Spanish government. elpais.com/espana/elecc... 1/2
elpais.com
Abascal pone condiciones a un futuro gobierno con el PP: “Prioridad nacional, desregulación y remigración”
El partido ultra, que aún no ha sufrido desgaste por volver a los gobiernos autonómicos, espera pescar en el electorado xenófobo de Aliança Catalana
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Geoffrey Hughes @geofffhughes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Me, doing my best impression of an American studies expert: "so you see, flying airplanes into skyscrapers and killing thousands of people is very insulting in American culture. And when the American Native feels his honor has been impinged upon, his mind turns to something called 'revenge'"...
Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece:

Revenge Is a Central Pillar of Iranian Foreign Policy
A diplomatic agreement can’t bring real peace with a regime that has a long history of terrorism.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Just a reminder that these Haitian immigrants in Springfield -- who came here legally, did everything they were asked to do and more -- became a target of federal crackdowns because the white nationalist vice president shamelessly spread racist lies about them.
rollingstone.com
J.D. Vance Defends False Claims Against Haitians: 'If I Have to Create Stories… That's What I'm Going to Do'
J.D. Vance defended his debunked claims that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 04/10/2026
It's worth asking yourself why every day of the week the New York Times and pretty much every major legacy media outlet runs pieces espousing increasingly incoherent arguments for investing more in AI.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
~Approximately no one in the general public knows because the leaders of the R1 research universities - whose budgets, programs, & personnel are entirely or significantly dependent on federal funding - have been totally absent from the public square in explaining & collectively protesting this.
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Maurits van der Veen @amauritsvdv.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
👇💯!
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 02/10/2026
The chart explains AI hype more than any chart that's ever been charted.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The techno-dystopia I actually fear is a future where most people think truth is whatever Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Grok say, and the very small number of people who control those systems use that to manipulate for their own ends, making our current epistemic crisis seem small in comparison.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
America today is a country where regulators won't allow private companies to air interviews of the opposition on TV, but declare that taxpayer funded propaganda is fine.
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The Capybaron @thecapybaron.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Again, much of Pete Hegseth’s deal is the only skill his job demanded for a long time was keeping a trim figure to be conventionally pretty for stay-at-home moms watching daytime tv. His job was “be pretty,” but he knows that’s a girl job, so he’s deeply insecure and is trying to make it a boy job.
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We don’t spend enough time talking about just how WEIRD all these people are. This is just an incredibly weird and insecure thing to say. Imagine any other SecDef ever being this weird and insecure?!
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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 30/09/2026
From 2023 to 2026, Google Earth's updated satellite imagery shows what's left of Gaza. The images reflect what Human Rights Watch has already found: Israel has caused deliberate, widespread destruction throughout Gaza ⤵️
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Drew McKevitt @drewmckevitt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's a bit of a bummer that the story today has been "look at this absolute doofus of a senator" and not "Jack Smith once again credibly accuses the president of many serious crimes"
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
this really is impeachable for any president, but really grotesque coming from a regime that cut life-saving development aid because they said it was not efficient
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 29/09/2026
In an era of sneering cynics, where being on the take and sucking up to power is often considered normal, be Jack Smith. Stand up for the republic and the Constitution, even at personal risk.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Democrats don't have any income" is an insane statement, but it's also an admission that he sees the money collected by the United States government as his personal piggy bank, to be raided as he sees fit.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Our country is staring into the abyss, and much of our national press corps lacks the fortitude that this moment demands www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/b...
nytimes.com
TV Networks to Resume Trump Coverage, Even as White House Excludes CNN (Gift Article)
The White House TV pool went dark this past week amid a standoff between CNN and the president. Network leaders, however, believe an indefinite suspension may be untenable.
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 24/09/2026
Look, we know for fucking sure that my dog is sapient and also unpredictable and it turns out of he mauls someone I’m liable and he can be put down.
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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“‘So what you’re saying is the 15,000 number has not been vetted?” asked C. Murphy Hebert, the chief deputy in the Nevada secretary of state’s office. “I probably wouldn’t use the sentence, ‘It hasn’t been vetted,’” replied Kimberley Vogt, an official w/Homeland Security.” DEEPLY UNSERIOUS PEOPLE
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Koen Sebregts @dorsalstop.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Instead of researchers being questioned about their companies’ habit of plagiarizing academics’ work or using customer data to train models without consent, the public’s imagination is redirected to fears about what the future might hold upon the arrival of fictional superintelligent machines."
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Who will they disappear next?
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Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Nikole Hannah-Jones w/ a sobering follow-up on her decision yrs ago to enroll her daughter in a poor, majority-Black public school rather than a wealthier, whiter private school. You leave heartbroken for the kids being failed by this grossly unequal system. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...
nytimes.com
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
this
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 20/09/2026
And Now for Something Completely Different: A perspective on AI swarms from someone who actually knows something about collective behavior.
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 19/09/2026
Everyone trying to sound reasonable like "I'm sure it's useful in *other* people's areas, just not in mine" just say it's not useful in your area and stop
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Barry Burden @bcburden.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A violation of free speech, the First Amendment, and good government
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 19/09/2026
Again: "Tilly Norwood" is not a person; it is a shoddy, and also pretty gross puppet. Stop referring to it as "she," and start asking whether there might be something a bit off about wanting to promote a sexualized but also childlike "actor" that can never tell its creators or users "no."
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Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
God I hate this 'people who create wealth' nonsense. Let's see how much wealth we have in a society without teachers, nurses etc......
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 19/09/2026
When we talk about the costs that LLMs impose on society we should not forget the fact that nothing works anymore because everyone is so scared of getting their shit scraped. I can't even use google scholar from my university or starlink because they send too much traffic.
Google	
Sorry...
We're sorry...

... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
See Google Help for more information.
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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 18/09/2026
This is the far more likely pathway for how AI will end us all, btw. Not via some superintelligent swarm of paperclip maximizers, but by a cascading sequence of dumb fuckups driven by human beings who have arranged things to be fast-moving and catastrophically fragile while also being really lazy.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Lot of issues here but one part that sticks out in light of the almost-attacked-a-Chinese-ship story today: people with very important jobs where lives are at stake have bought the hype and outsourced their whole brains to AI. We're going to see more and more of this. www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
In the past year, the Defense Department has rapidly made Maven a cornerstone of the US military apparatus. Several former senior US military officials now work for Palantir, including some with high-level security clearances in Centcom’s Tampa headquarters. Their role is to keep the software functioning inside secure military environments. Some Centcom personnel expected Maven to flag stale information or inconsistencies in the underlying intelligence assembled for potential targets, the officials said. It’s not clear why they had such expectations.
The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program.

The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said.

It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) — and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. CNN was not able to learn what the misidentified cargo was.
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Who will show more commitment to, and solidarity in support of, First Amendment values: members of the White House Correspondents Association, or opening acts for Ed Sheeran?
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 16/09/2026
The man who won't let you have paid sick leave or health care returns to Congress after getting free health care and 90 days paid sick leave
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 17/09/2026
We really can't let ourselves get accustomed to this. He's telling the people of NC that he's going to let them die if they don't vote how he wants.
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