iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

BLIMP! JUICE! @blimpjuice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

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And we already learned this in 2008! www.powermapmag.com/p/if-we-had-...

So even if we take the potential AI safety crises the AI billionaires are drawing our attention to in total good faith, it still draws attention away from the actual crises they are already causing, through actions that also make them billions and billions of dollars. As Lina Kahn points out, there are already many laws against what the AI industry both is doing and is warning of doing, and there is no reason that them being “AI” related means they should no longer apply. After all, if someone builds a bomb in their garage and it explodes and kills people, they’d be held liable. Why isn’t Sam Altman? It’s not just because branding them as “AI” seems to make people think no human involved has any control, it’s also because they’re rich and elite enough to have joined the class of people in the US that never face consequences for anything.

From this to Epstein to Elon, it’s all the manifestation of the informal legal and political principle enshrined by the Bush era and made permanent by the Obama administration: the bigger the crime you commit, the less you can be held liable for it.

Once you start seeing this, you start seeing it everywhere, and it becomes clearer every day that we cannot defeat today’s fascism without overturning it. If instead of holding AI oligarchs (and Trump, and everyone else) accountable for the damage they’ve actually done, we put them in charge of a system designed mainly to address the hypothetical future issues they come up with, there is no way that system will ever protect us from their machinations, let alone punish them for those they’ve already carried out. If they think their product is so dangerous, they must a) stop making it and b) be held liable for its damages the way a normal person would be.

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BLIMP! JUICE! @blimpjuice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

First as farce, then as farce

But for all the talk of unprecedentedness around the current AI doom panic, much of the way it’s unfolding is precedented as hell. It’s the same logic of the threat of Weapons Of Mass Destruction in the leadup to the Iraq War:

Very powerful people have saturated the media with a PR campaign designed to warn us of a threat that could kill us all. Virtually all discussion of this threat is led by the same people demanding control of the response to it. Many of them also have long and publicly documented histories of calling for the policies they are now calling for since long before this threat was “imminent.” The likelihood of this threat happening is unclear, with some totally certain, and others saying the likelihood is 10%. The evidence, which is largely marshalled by these same sources, is convoluted and hard to understand, but rather than defuse the panic, that lack of understanding of specifics and probability is treated as even more of a reason to act urgently and at a massive scale.

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daniel? @danielgoulden.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I always love editing @blimpjuice.bsky.social, equal parts insightful and hilariouis. He was supposed to write a totally different essay, but instead came out with this banger. It's the start of a roadmap to getting us out of this stupid fucking situation we're all in.

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 29/09/2026

AI Panic, Hasan Freakout, Financial Bubble: the world is deeply stupid right now. Luckily, we learned how to deal with it 20 years ago, we just didn't...yet. www.powermapmag.com/p/if-we-had-...

powermapmag.com

If We Had Learned From The Iraq War Things Would Be Less Stupid Right Now

Hasan Panics, AI Threats, Financial Bubbles… We Already Did This!

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 29/09/2026

PSA: Power Map *will* do a glowing profile of Rahm Emaneul (or any professional ghoul) starting at $250,000.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

great piece would add that one big dange is The Powers That Be putting a system that *isn't* capable of running things in charge of it, and trusting what it does because it is The Machine God the "the supercompetent AI will kill us all!" doomsaying makes that more likely, because Machine God

Most crucially, the real problem with this narrative is that there are real reasons to be afraid. Not in a “Skynet superintelligent AI turning on humanity in a sci-fi judgment day scenario,” but in the incredibly banal “as soon as the powers that be find AI models sufficiently capable to be put in charge of defense, weapons development and guidance (including bioweapons), and information, they will do it.” Smiling serenely and saying (correctly) AI is not super intelligent or sentient will not stop it from being used as though it is.Therein lies the real existential threat: not Skynet, but Shitty Skynet.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"This reminds me of a critical mistake made in previous generations of socialists; the idea that before any political action happens, before it’s worth contesting power, the people need to be educated." A point I pushed past on the first read but worth staring at www.powermapmag.com/p/shitty-sky...

powermapmag.com

Shitty Skynet: How the Left Should Think About AI Doom.

Don’t Worry about Skynet. Worry about Shitty Skynet.

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BLIMP! JUICE! @blimpjuice.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Update: this is even worse than you thought! powermapmag.substack.com/p/why-does-j...

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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I've had students who are busboys, doormen, car mechanics, janitors, taxi drivers, line cooks, warehouse workers, home health aides, and one honest to god steelworker in a steel mill. And according to Jacobin none are working class once they get their degree. powermapmag.substack.com/p/why-does-j...

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 22/09/2026

We've gotten some criticism of our image here as the Terminator it depicts is from T2 and was sent back in time by John Conners to protect his mother and so is not part of Skynet. We apologize for this error and have fired the unpaid interns responsible.

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word bug @wordbug.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

really helpful essay, even tho i believe in a spectrum of variably shitty skynets we should be concerned about. when an untrustworthy industry is telling you it's destroying the world, don't let yourself become negatively polarized into assuming you're safe.

daniel? @danielgoulden.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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I really enjoyed editing @neoromantic.bsky.social's essay on AI. I think she does a fantastic job bridging the gap between the two factions on AI Doom and offers a sobering analysis of how AI could fuck things up for us, even if it doesn't kill us all.

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DSA Resident Demonologist @neoromantic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Read my latest in Power Map where I argue we need to cut through the noise of the AI Doomsday debate and build the largest coalition we can if we want to have any hope of regulating AI

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 21/09/2026

As AI Doom Mania sweeps the left Allison Keats, @neoromantic.bsky.social, writes for Power Map about, what we should really fear from AI, how we should approach AI fears and how we can use them to organize for comprehensive regulation. powermapmag.substack.com/p/shitty-sky...

Shitty Skynet: How the Left Should Think About AI Doom.

Don’t Worry about Skynet. Worry about Shitty Skynet.

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 20/09/2026

Monday's article will be delayed due to the diesel shortage. We can't afford to transport it from the take factory.

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

"The very thesis of the report, that there are 'dials' a candidate can turn to win an election, is fundamentally flawed." powermapmag.substack.com/p/why-does-j...

Power Map @powermapmag.com · 17/09/2026

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Earlier this week, Jacobin released a report detailing how we can win the working class. But their definition of working class is flawed and leads them to justify reactionary views on social issues. @danielgoulden.bsky.social reviews for Power Map. powermapmag.substack.com/p/why-does-j...

Power Map @powermapmag.com · 18/09/2026

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Exciting news, we fed all of our articles into a frontier AI intelligence and it told us something incredible: all of our opinions are 100% correct!

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Michael Sappir @m.sappir.net · 18/09/2026

“the authors acknowledge the role of storytelling in politics, but in developing the report, they have already chosen a narrative—America is broken because of cosmopolitan and educated elites. They are telling a story about the educated versus the uneducated. The polling helps refine it.” 🎯

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Milo Baynes and the Last Train to Backlashville @milobaynes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

tired: reductionism is a helluva drug wired: popularism is a helluva drug

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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In claiming the left needs to embrace economic issues and appeal to conservative values of patriotism and the family, the report does not embrace class politics over culture wars, it just embraces one side of the war over another

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Remain In Hell Without Despair @daphnelawless.com · 17/09/2026

The reason the radical Left is hitting a dead end is that it is full of people with a tertiary education who insist that their political subject, "the working class", is people without a tertiary education. Which leads to attempts to redefine "socialism" as patronizing, conservative populism

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rose @breadnrosie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

bsky.app/profile/powe... friend of mine wrote about this

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Dr. Holly Walters @manigarm.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"...chose to define the working class as low and middle income voters without a college degree." I'm a college professor with a PhD. I'm working class. As are nurses, teachers, social workers... We have long passed the era of "physical, no skill, low income jobs" defining what is working class.

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Matthew Haugen @mjhaugen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"What might best show the limits of this report is the fact that the authors group the climate crisis with cultural issues. The climate crisis has the potential to wipe out much of the material basis for human civilization; that it has been treated as a cultural issue is a grotesque failure..."

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BLIMP! JUICE! @blimpjuice.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yeah this is just ridiculous from anyone let alone something nominally "left"

The report has a list of preferred policies that they say poll the highest, that one could say are popular.

[a chart of the kind of centrist policies the left roasts them for]

Imagine a campaign where these policies were its centerpieces? This wouldn’t be a socialist campaign. Hell, it wouldn’t even be a progressive campaign. With the exception of guaranteeing the right to organize, moderate Democrats are already running on platforms that look exactly like this! This is the exact same approach that led to Starmerism.

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daniel? @danielgoulden.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I took a look at Jacobin's new report, which went viral on here for its strange definitions of working class, excluding anyone who went to college. In general, I think these kinds of polling-based reports miss the mark and obscure more than they enlighten. Read more below!

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 17/09/2026

Power Map @powermapmag.com · 11/09/2026

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We've gotten some pushback on the cover image for our latest article on the Fascist Mind Virus as Facehuggers don't infect the brain, but lay eggs in the GI tract. We hear those critiques and are listening and learning. powermapmag.substack.com/p/the-fascis...

The Fascist Mind Virus Will Destroy You

Fascism is ruining our culture and our brains.

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Michael Seemann @mspr0.de · 10/09/2026

weil wir ja wissen, dass jede anschuldigung von rechts ein geständnis ist, kann man das rechte vokabular für linke einfach übernehmen, um ihre phantasma-topographie aufzufalten, wie dieser text hier zeigt.

daniel? @danielgoulden.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

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I've been feeling absolutely insane since sometime in late 2024. It feels like no one talks about things that matter and we are consumed by bullshit. So I tried to suss out why for Power Map.

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BLIMP! JUICE! @blimpjuice.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This piece is an excellent breakdown of how the right is basically obsessed with meaningless cultural ephemera, people's identities, and social media in the exact brain rotting way they accuse the left of. Goes great with @jamellebouie.net's idea of commentary class' decadence and emptiness.

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 10/09/2026

A right wing fever dream has consumed our culture. None of us can escape it grasp. In Power Map, we look at how fascism is spreading through all of our minds and how we can keep our sanity. powermapmag.substack.com/p/the-fascis...

The Fascist Mind Virus will Destroy You

Fascism is ruining our culture and our brains.

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 08/09/2026

Does Macklemore understand US politics better than Matt Yglesias? Yes. powermapmag.substack.com/p/palestine-...

Palestine is a litmus test

by Daniel Goulden

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 03/09/2026

House Leadership announced they have no plans to punish rogue Democrats who keep voting with Republicans. That checks out. They have no plans to punish Democrats who engage in open racism either. powermapmag.substack.com/p/the-democr...

The Democratic Establishment Is Getting Really Racist

For Democratic leadership, spending millions in racist ads is fine if it’s against the left

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 03/09/2026

Here at Power Map we solemnly pledge to never post clickbait unless it gets us lots of clicks.

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Phasers On Fun @humanspareparts.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

you watched this happen real-time but the digest below puts all the data points together, and taken all together, it’s a dire situation

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Power Map @powermapmag.com · 02/09/2026

Who wants to write this for Power Map???

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KC Eric @kceric.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

*Republicans that ran as Democrats

rst.bsky.social @rst.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

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Vote Blue, no matter who. No, not like that.

Gaia_BentosZX5 @bento-bongos.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

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Time to vote them out, and ensure they never get back into politics ever again.

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🎈PennyDon’tPlayThat @pennydontplaythat.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

One more reason to vote them out.

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The centrist ecosystem of racism against the left is weirdly underdiscussed. Maybe because it shreds both of centrist's anti-left narratives? Regardless, I spent a very long time tracking it so you can learn how it evolved, what it means, and how to beat it: powermapmag.substack.com/p/the-democr...

The Democratic Establishment Is Getting Really Racist

For Democratic leadership, spending millions in racist ads is fine if it’s against the left

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And we need to start soon. Because if AOC runs in 2028, we're going to see more SuperPAC funding, and more out of control racism, than ever. We can beat it, but only if we're prepared.

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But with new players like AI, crypto, and gambling join the SuperPAC flood, these attacks will only get worse. Which means everyone from influencers to new DSA Congressmembers will need to use their megaphone to attack it. It's the only way the media will ever acknowledge what is happening at scale.

But Candidates Can’t Do It Alone

Still, even the best candidate’s own megaphone to decry attacks is limited. A story, especially this type, is generally not deemed coverage worthy until other voices the press considers legitimate make it one. Back in 2024, the press barely covered George Latimer’s racism until AOC called it out. As slow as coverage of the pro-Espaillat/anti-Haitian hatred was to come, it may not have happened at all without the mayor of NYC publicly weighing in. In Detroit, a mainstream newspaper actually debunking a highly funded SuperPac most likely helped El-Sayed. And in NYC, I experienced it firsthand as part of the DREAM campaign, where an array of political and cultural figures pushed overt attacks on Cuomo’s funders and racism into the mainstream in ways candidates weren’t able.

Just as Axelrod & Co used their credibility, connections, and press access to push “she’s crazy” into the press, the left is now a big enough force that our name figures have the power to push our criticisms in there too. With the added bonus of our criticisms actually being true.

So as the new set of DSA electeds prepare to serve in Congress, they will need to do this. This means potentially ruffling the feathers of their colleagues in some potentially incendiary ways. But as this money flood shows no signs of slowing down, they’re going to need to, because it’s going to be necessary to grow their numbers further. Don’t just play defense, go on offense with press cycles of our own demanding leadership condemns these racist attacks. Say, something like:

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Fortunately, this disgusting strategy has increasingly mixed results. Campaigns like those of Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed are showing how a combination of tactics based on addressing the spending head on can both counter the well-funded flood of racism, and even turn it back on its sources.

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