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Benjamin Rahn

@brahn.bsky.social
486 followers 602 following 382 posts

Dad. Product engineer. Ex-Stripe. Co-founded ActBlue. Erstwhile physicist.

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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I always find this a heartening reminder that most people are willing to be helpful!
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hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“On October 6, representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland introduced a bill directing officials from the Smithsonian Institution to collect and preserve “artifacts related to the President’s narcissistic self-worship.” (from Artnet article quoted in LGM.)
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is excellent -- especially when confronted with well-intentioned folks who say "OK but Elon/DOGE had some good points, right?"
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Evergreen
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
To be clear, I think that's a potential explanation of the phenomenon. Not an excuse, not absolution.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'll take a swing -- perhaps these folks had really convinced themselves that only "the worst of the worst" were getting rounded up. The right-wing media ecosystem bombarded them with reinforcement, and all contrary evidence just couldn't compete. Only personal experience could break through.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I still regularly think of this 2009 profile in the New Yorker www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It's true, and not just for the reason you think
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Good opportunity to recommend Tuca and Bertie to everyone (from same folks who made Bojack Horseman — but T&C is much more upbeat!) m.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ4n...
m.youtube.com
The Nicest Doorknob | Tuca & Bertie | adult swim
YouTube video by Adult Swim
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
yup exactly :-)
screenshot of url linked in previous message https://drjulsgilliam.github.io/HTML-CSS-Visual-Playground/eyebrow-lab.html
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
My current favorite tell: relentless use of unnecessary “eyebrow text” in sans-serif caps
“Yo dawg I heard you like” meme that reads “yo dawg I heard you like headings…so I added eyebrow text so your headings could have headings”
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I think one reason Mamdani is using non-traditional media is because traditional media isn't covering substantive government stories The two reporters on this topic cover the Mamdani administration but mostly from the perspective of conflicts. Too much theater, not enough substance.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Catching up on _Silo_, and caught this line from the Algorithm (some sort of AI) in s03e03 : TWO IMPROBABLE POSSIBILITIES IN PURSUIT OF A RESULT EASILY ACHIEVED WITH ONE PROVEN ACT Sounds like Claude on a bad day!
"The Algorithm", from the TV show _Silo_Leonardo di Caprio "pointing in recognition" meme
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Off by a typographic Planck length
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I seem to recall these folks not being the good guys. avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Electri...
Still from "The Legend of Korra" of an antagonist wielding an electric shock glove.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Booooo this movie is so unrealistic
NYTimes headline: Trump Hid in Catering Container to Sneak out of Turkey Amid Threats
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Thx to spending time with some cognitive scientists last week, i was skeptical when today I heard about this sloth phenomenon — and it turns out that it isn’t true: medium.com/a-microbiome... Cc: @petersagal.bsky.social whom I’m sure will pointedly mock all us NPR nerds who write in about this.
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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 15/07/2026
"Restoration looks back at January 2025 and sets that as the ceiling. Reconstruction looks at what the demolition revealed, and rebuilds with that in mind." www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-rebui...
liberalcurrents.com
How to Rebuild a Civil Service
If we want to be the party of big government, we must become the party of good government.
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Daniel Abraham @abraham.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Its potential to become a better version of itself.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I'm not sure it is that hard. But I haven't been trying to act like everything with this presidency is normal, so I may not be in a position to speak for the author.
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
The right always knew what they would do with this kind of media ownership, and just assumed that the rest of society would do the same. They couldn’t imagine that others might genuinely value free expression and healthy communities over pursuit of raw power and self-interest.
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Christopher Whitaker @civicwhitaker.com · 19/06/2026
There’s a natural tension in civic tech to push against rules that slow progress - but the trick is to reduce friction *while still mitigating the risk the reg was designed to combat*
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Christopher Whitaker @civicwhitaker.com · 19/06/2026
If I ever get to teach public administration, I’m am pulling this out as an example of “We have rules for a reason no matter how annoying they are”
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Too many politicians have been come to believe that the smartest-sounding phrase in the English language is “well actually”
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Ben Wikler @benwikler.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Friends, a month from now, I’ll be releasing my book, THIS IS THE PLAN. Today, I’m delighted to announce something else: THIS IS WISCONSIN. 🧵
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Bravo!!!!!
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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
The Anthropic export ban is brought to you by the same people responsible for the TikTok import ban, the U.S. government Anthropic use ban, and dialing pre-release review of A.I. models from 60 days down to 30. There is no coherent underlying theory of AI regulation.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
See also “can we ever again count on sufficiently stable funding for basic scientific research such that anyone would want to build a career on it?”
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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Here’s the NBER study btw: www.nber.org/papers/w35129
nber.org
Labor Market Impacts of ICE Activity in Trump 2.0
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Green Bones Saga by Fonda Lee It practically pitches itself: the Godfather with super-powered martial arts like why has a check not appeared by the end of this sentence.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 05/06/2026
Are there any index funds that are going to offer a version of their funds minus SpaceX?
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
There's going to be a sequel to this post, right? 🍿
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Can’t believe the NYT won’t call out the obvious big M agenda here www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/c...
Screenshot highlighting “Mariannette Miller-Meeks”Screenshot highlighting “Mayes Middleton”
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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
An unapologetically angry post about what’s being done to US science:
science.org
The Current Crisis: What's Happening to Science in America
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026
Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/05/2026
impartial scientific research is the enemy of despotism and so naturally vought wants to destroy it
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Long Story Short (on Netflix) youtube.com/watch?v=wWzi...
m.youtube.com
Long Story Short | Official Trailer | Netflix
YouTube video by Netflix
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Absolutely nothing is stopping John Cornyn, Tillis, Murkowski, & Paul from caucusing immediately with Democrats & giving them control of the Senate. The same is true of Thomas Massie & any 2 retiring GOP Reps in the House. It is a choice to continue caucusing with the authoritarian personality cult.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
"For a mere $10 million gift, you can help us remake the intellectual landscape by endowing a prestigious chair in an underrepresented subfield, such as geocentric astronomy, high-energy phlogiston physics, or patriotic history." Well played, @mcsweeneys.net. Well played.
mcsweeneys.net
We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More Crackpots
“For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underreprese...
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The White House's goal here is so transparent: "Let's just make it harder for immigrants to legally build a life in the US because we like hurting people" 🤮
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Can one impeach over a prior failure to impeach? Asking for a friend
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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Worth noting that this is actually a meta-question-- it's not "what policy do you think is good?" It's "what policy do you think other, imaginary people would think is good?" This encourages the "Everyone Think Like a Pundit Rather Than as a Citizen" disease that plagues political commentary.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
What would you like readers to learn about organized labor from that plotline in Faith of Beasts?
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 18/05/2026
They are stealing from you.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: $1.8 Billion Fund to Pay ‘Victims of Lawfare and Weaponization’
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
A very small percentage of Americans today know that Republicans sold out the U.S. hostages in Iran – and actually worked to make their captivity longer. The lack of awareness of Republican treason like this is the reason their treason keeps happening. And it didn't start with Trump.
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Benjamin Rahn @brahn.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Pretty sure I've seen some poll results about social media that is similar "lots of people use it, most of them say it's bad for society"
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Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
this is the closest I've ever come to actually suggesting a "one neat trick" suggestion for anything, but I'm so serious here. the Virginia Constitution gives the legislature the power to set retirement ages for judges "REGARDLESS OF THE TERM TO WHICH ELECTED OR APPOINTED." make it 54 right now.
the-downballot.com
How Virginia Democrats can overturn the redistricting ruling: Retire the Supreme Court
The state Constitution gives lawmakers complete latitude to set the judicial retirement age. They should use it.
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