Reposted by BenjPaul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1hNot to be a party pooper but a Democratic Congress is absolutely not going to lower costs; it just won't be in their power no matter how much they'd like to. Hard to tell what the political consequences of being unable to follow through on their central campaign promise will be. 2611720
Reposted by BenjKevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1hYet another reason to run on oversight and accountability. Those are promises they can actually keep. 23593104
Reposted by BenjMeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 2hTrump White House misspells “United” on the official “super intelligence” document with AI executives. Instead of “President of the United States,” it reads: “President of the Unites States.” Nothing says “super intelligence” quite like misspelling the name of the country. 2242768799
Reposted by BenjMark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 2hStill laughable, especially in retrospect now given <gestures at everything>, at the 2023-24 numbers. Just wildly unserious media coverage of inflation, the totally nonexistent recession, & how much everyone was Suffering. 14512
Reposted by BenjAsha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 7hAlso, what was the alleged link between the Hawks game and Willis? Was she there?? Or was the allegation that he went to see a game in Atlanta so it must have been a secret meeting with Willis? I’m so confused on the evidentiary logic 1871197189
Reposted by BenjDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2hSchmitts case: Feb 2nd: Fani Willis admits to having an affair with prosecutor in way that generates national attention Feb 3rd: Jack Smith and Fani Willis decide to hang out, possibly at a Hawks game (but we have zero evidence of that). Who thought that was plausible? abc7ny.com/post/fani-wi...abc7ny.comFiling from DA in Trump case admits 'personal relationship' with prosecutor but denies wrongdoingThe filing includes a sworn affidavit from prosecutor Nathan Wade in which he says that in 2022 he and Willis "developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friends... 271548
Reposted by BenjDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 3hBut Schmitt clearly did not have *any additional evidence that Willis met with Smith* (separate issue as to why this would have been a big deal). Like this guy was Attorney General for Missouri and his whole case was Smith went to a basketball game in a city where another Trump enemy lived? WTF? 1428123
Reposted by BenjRon Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3hThere’s the false accusation from a former state AG who should know better accusing someone of committing a crime based on zero evidence. Then there’s the behavior before, during and after. All of it really shows America what we already knew - Schmitt is scum. 781737328
Reposted by BenjMartha Smith @jazziknits.bsky.social · 8hDo folks who need some detail on just how despicable Wric Schmidt is … bsky.app/profile/moth... 1186
Reposted by Benjcomradeposner.bsky.social @comradeposner.bsky.social · 5hDefinitely something that hurt Biden badly after COVID. If you want to see something even worse, look up how Subway, already the most prolific exploiter of franchisees in fast food, beat the trends while increasing corporate profits. 072
Reposted by BenjNicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 5hBuying fast food for my family, it’s over $50, which feels like a lot. Not unreasonable from the restaurant, but like going out to dinner, not grabbing something cheap. So I looked up fast food prices, and they’ve risen faster than inflation. Add that to the why people say stuff’s expensive list.crews.bankChart of the Day: Fast Food InflationToday’s Chart of the Day shows the inflation of fast-food prices over the last of 10 years vs. actual inflation of everything else. 1722471
Reposted by BenjRon Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 5hAgain, gas prices spiked in 2022-23 because Russia invaded Ukraine which caused a major disruption in global supply. Then they came down. Biden didn’t cause it. Gas prices rose in 2026 due solely to the stupidity of Trump who started a war in the Middle East. 1031868509
Reposted by BenjPhilip Bump @pbump.com · 7hman the republicans who hate language policing are going to be so mad about this 6151687
Reposted by BenjElizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 7hIt’s faded from the news but Hegseth is still working to strangle teaching and speech at the military academies. wapo.st/4hDFceJwapo.stHegseth bars military academies from hiring civilians as tenured professorsThe move marks the latest effort by the Trump administration to exert more control over faculty at service academies. 817673
Reposted by Benjelijahplovejoy.bsky.social @elijahplovejoy.bsky.social · 10hI think we should be a little concerned about the people Schmitt prosecuted. 19411
Reposted by BenjMark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 6hThere is nothing at all in the Constitution about how many Justices there must be, let alone that Congress must fund a building, clerks, etc. If the Wizards want to play Calvinball with the law & the words in the Constitution, then Congress can & should play hardball with all the stuff that isn’t. 18219
Reposted by BenjAdam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 11hm-e-r-i-t-o-c-r-a-c-y bsky.app/profile/medi... 1929027
Reposted by BenjDavid Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 11hJack Smith made it crystal clear that his investigation was sound and lawful, that the president had committed crimes and that the GOP attacks on him were the actual weaponization of our justice system. He showed courage and moral clarity and continues to be one of the heroes of this moment. 8151511230
Reposted by BenjMeredith Rose @mrose.ink · 12hSo where does Congress get its information about complex topics? From lobbyists. Some of them--the most aggressive and well-financed--are from industry. Others are from professional groups or single-issue orgs. Some are from public interest nonprofits. And everyone rocks up with different facts. 8/ 2577
Reposted by BenjMeredith Rose @mrose.ink · 12hWhat happens? Churn. And a lot of it. Many Congressional staffers, particularly in personal offices (and particularly, though not exclusively, on the House side), are fresh out of school. They're there for a year, maybe two, three if you're lucky, and then... they're gone. Lather, rinse, repeat. 6/ 1522
Reposted by BenjMeredith Rose @mrose.ink · 12hGingrich completely defunded OTA, shuttering the small agency and leaving offices to rely on committee and personal-office staff to research and explain new and evolving tech issues. Except those budgets got slashed too--and drastically. Offices had to drop staff, and pay remaining staff less. 5/ 1658
Reposted by BenjMeredith Rose @mrose.ink · 12h...and, importantly, eliminating the Office of Technology Assessment, or OTA. What was the OTA? It was a small office, housed entirely within Congress, whose entire job was understanding complex technology issues and writing reports to explain them to legislators. 3/ 18914
Reposted by BenjProfessa Murray @kalimurray.bsky.social · 11hIt was not just the Office of Technology Assessment: it was a whole structure that supported Congressional decision-making and Gingrich torched it (primarily because facts and expertise are apparently Democratic). It is time to double Congress’s budget and bulk up it staffing again. 0228
Reposted by BenjMark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 11hI will concede that the 2 stupidest Republican senators, Tommy Tuberville and Marsha Blackburn, probably don't know any better. The other 51, including Eric Schmitt, have made a conscious decision to blatantly lie to the American people to boost their careers. 1117340
Reposted by BenjMurshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 12hMore questions reporters should be asking about the developing #CollinsCorruption story in #MEPolitics. #MESen #MESenate ↘️ 1102
Reposted by BenjCollins Watch @collinswatch.bsky.social · 12hAbbott was paid by Susan Collins (over and over) in the last period for which disclosure was required. She's married to Collins longtime chief of staff and campaign manager Steve Abbott -- the guy who held the press conference last week saying no one on the campaign did anything wrong. #MEpolitics 0105
Reposted by BenjHelen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 11hI may need to go get my tinfoil hat, but I really think there was a big right wing campaign ready to go based on the assumption that Schmitt was going to pull a splashy gotcha moment. The Axios story and all of these right wingers immediately crowing that Smith got got. And then not following up. 2757255
Reposted by BenjAdam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13hBest part is when Schmitt gets angry that she points out he has the team wrong, as though he's the one who was wronged bsky.app/profile/atru... 1302506323
Reposted by BenjJay Willis @jaywillis.net · 14hIf you’d asked me to parody how silly and broken legal journalism is, I genuinely don’t think I could have come up with “so the best-known ‘nonpartisan’ Supreme Court outlet is now run by an ex-Trump DOJ flack who had her longtime personal friend Brett Kavanaugh officiate her wedding”ballsandstrikes.orgThe Conservative Takeover of SCOTUSblog Is Just What the Supreme Court NeededSCOTUSblog used to cover the Supreme Court. Now, it cheers for it. 7469132
Reposted by BenjSeth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 15hBack at the bad place during the first Trump administration, the biggest flurry of threatening replies and DMs (many of them antisemitic) I ever received was when this Kurt S jackalope quote tweeted me and sicced his army of flying MAGA monkeys on me. 47027
Reposted by BenjRon Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 14hTrump continues to steal your money to pay for political ads while media companies continue to be co-conspirators to a crime by accepting the stolen funds. 551071340
Reposted by BenjJudd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 16h1. How has MAGA Inc. raised an unprecedented amount of money? Let’s review: 13677382
Reposted by BenjRon Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 19hDonald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner think the way to negotiate with these barbarians is to offer them business deals. 17223861005
Reposted by BenjMother Jones @motherjones.com · 19hHow was a Nevada Republican with a 30-year mortgage on a $565,000 home able to loan his Congressional campaign $1.6 million? We don't know, because he has repeatedly failed to submit required financial disclosures that would illuminate his personal financial position.motherjones.comThe mysterious millions powering a Nevada Republican’s bid for CongressDavid Flippo, who has reported funneling nearly $2.5 million to his campaigns, has repeatedly failed to file financial disclosure forms since 2023. 820388
Reposted by BenjT. Greg Doucette @gregdoucette.bsky.social · 29/09/2026"A county jury found Powell guilty on nine counts of election fraud last week, including lying about her residence, unlawfully registering to vote and fraudulently voting." www.sfgate.com/politics/art...sfgate.comMAGA candidate in small Calif. town convicted on 9 counts of election fraudIt turns out this conservative candidate wasn't following election laws herself. 511742
Reposted by BenjNicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026A self-respecting China hawk who meant the things he said and had a smidgen of patriotism or intellectual integrity would’ve resigned many times by now. Authorizing AI chips sales to China. Kissing up to Xi in public. Using up munitions on a failing adventure in Iran. Offering to sell China arms. 1121857
Reposted by BenjPaul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026"Donald Trump increased the price of gas, and now he wants you to have to buy more of it." Doesn't seem like a difficult messaging challenge for Democrats. 18514165
Reposted by BenjJudd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 28/09/20261. Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker and a GOP candidate for Congress in Arizona, has made “protecting women’s sports” a centerpiece of his election campaign. So I reviewed years of Feely’s podcast appearances to see what he actually thinks about female athletes. 🧵 461535558
Reposted by BenjNicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Under Trump, the U.S. went “who cares that these relationships are mutually beneficial, you need us, pay us tribute.” And in response, most countries are going “no, what we need are mutually beneficial relationships with reliable partners, and there’s a whole world out there, we’ll go elsewhere.” 820364
Reposted by BenjJames Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Actual headline in today's WaPo. 1691421219
Reposted by BenjMark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 28/09/2026More proof that MAGA is a cult detached from reality: Only 28% of self-identified MAGA voters think daily expenses have gotten less affordable under Trump. 37% actually think things are more affordable! 2916554
Reposted by BenjT. Greg Doucette @gregdoucette.bsky.social · 27/09/2026This train is never late lmao 510113
Reposted by BenjDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Right before he his post mocking Tuberville, he had two posts criticizing Meta, the company that owns the social media platform that then incorrectly featured him a story about masturbation. 629162
Reposted by BenjDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The fact that this was *previously used as a campaign ad during the presidential campaign* removes any real defense as to its purpose. Its not a public service announcement. Its a campaign ad that has become state propaganda. 291083300
Reposted by BenjMax Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Anthropic's denials mean *nothing*, just like how OpenAI's denials over Navier–Stokes mean *nothing*. These companies have shown time and again they have no idea what their AI is doing. The LLM agents—given "/goal" persistence and few if any limits—surely reviewed all they could, including chats. 618642
Reposted by BenjMother Jones @motherjones.com · 27/09/2026“Most LLMs (including those from OpenAI) are built on millions of scraped webpages and other large text datasets, and almost none of this content has been obtained with its owners’ knowledge or consent.” This is how tech executives talk when no one thinks they’re listening.motherjones.comAI exec: We may have pulled off “the largest theft of labor in human history.”Documents from our lawsuit reveal how tech leaders talk when they think no one is listening. 7245116
Reposted by Benjmtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026it's not really "odd" it was totally predictable. Trump's chief of staff from his first term publicly condemned him and and warned that he was an unstable fascist in the run-up to the election but your newspaper ran the story about it on A14 749044