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Zeeshan Aleem

@zeeshanaleem.bsky.social
10K followers 887 following 1.8K posts

Political columnist and editor MS NOW. Say hello: zeeshan.aleem@versantmedia.com Sign up for my free politics newsletter: zeeshanaleem.substack.com/subscribe

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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Most interesting part of this story is DSA has only $4.7 mil in assets meaning that a large gift could do an incredibly outsized amount of good, as opposed to donating that money to Democrats. Surprising to me no rich Hollywood lefties are writing big checks to DSA. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/n...
nytimes.com
He Left Behind Millions. Who Would Get It — His Family, or the D.S.A.?
When a New York University professor died in 2024, it set off a legal dispute over a quietly accumulated fortune.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 17h
I think a big part of why Trump fixates on Omar is that he is offended that a female Somali-American has the ~audacity~ to be a strident dissident. He thinks immigrants from “shithole” countries should contort their bodies into a posture of permanent servility. www.ms.now/opinion/ilha...
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Chris Sommerfeldt @c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 17h
New: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin have reached a deal to abolish NYC's horse carriage industry — a critical breakthrough in a decadeslong, politically fraught effort to ban the tourist attraction. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
politico.com
Mamdani and City Council strike deal to ban NYC horse carriage industry
The deal marks a major breakthrough in a long-running effort to outlaw the industry. It is also likely to inflame Mamdani’s relationship with a powerful local union.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Since I hardly know anything about the Premier League at all, possibly dumb question -- do all the charges against Manchester City sully the *current* team? Like if they won the league *this* season would it also be considered less legitimate?
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
“If you don’t like public executions just don’t watch it” says the crowd trying to ban drag shows and books
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Not only is this stuff unfathomably dumb on its own terms, but Trump’s militant AI boosterism is at odds with the entire premise of the MAGA economic pitch -- that the modern economy leaves some people behind and we ought to turn back the clock. I wrote about it here: www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
That Vance has to just make things up that don’t even have some minor element of truth -- like most good disinformation does -- suggests a nervousness about the power of ascendant democratic socialism.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
at the very least it would include Miyazaki’s quote that using AI in creative work is “an insult to life itself.”
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
If I did a version of this, it would be considerably meaner lol
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I still think this thread is the best characterization of the game Trump is now continuing to play.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
genuinely likely
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Christopher Deutsch @drchrisdeutsch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is a really good point. For 11 years Trump has dominated political discourse with double entendres. In the moment, his crowd gets to revel in the spiteful meaning, and afterward he can claim victim when the mean interpretation is brought up.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
But he can retreat to the safer meaning in the face of criticism, which is what the WH is doing. (Trump is in decline but I think this is an example of him still having some skill w/ double meanings, which is one of his main communicative innovations as an aspiring autocrat in a democracy.)
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Trump uses tone and emphasis to play with a double meaning of "let them take out" LA/SD: he floats it as a hypothetical bad possibility and, the same, a desirable, spite-fueled possibility, which is why the audience cheers.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It appears I have an idiosyncratic reading of this statement making the rounds. Some people are saying this was a call for the cities to be taken out, and others are saying he’s being mischaracterized and was describing what could happen if he wasn’t waging the war. But it’s kind of both.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thx for reading!
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I watched “NAZA” and immediately understood why Benjamin Netayahu is so terrified of it www.ms.now/opinion/naza...
ms.now
Opinion | Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want you to see this movie. Here’s why you must.
“NAZA” has a unique ability to persuade those in denial of the horrors of Gaza.
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Parkrose Permaculture @parkroseperma.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Go see it.
ms.now
Opinion | Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want you to see this movie. Here’s why you must.
“NAZA” has a unique ability to persuade those in denial of the horrors of Gaza.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Every service member will carry holy water and a crucifix, the ideal foundation for modern warfare
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I think we could say they are distinct but sometimes overlapping populations.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s not only first and foremost completely unacceptable on principle, it’s also bad strategy -- antisemitism becomes a conduit to the populist right. Jimmy Dore types etc.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I also think probably more important than these guys themselves is *how others react to them*. It’s poisonous to allow their rhetoric to go unchallenged or for people to laugh about it. I even recall seeing some anti-Zionist Jewish commentators resignedly saying some would have to be tolerated. No!
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Jesus
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
oh yeah, I saw one that was insane by someone who seems to have a non-trivial following.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
what’s the OP referring to?
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Brandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Joke about non-consensual contact right out of the gate at the MAHA Summit's "Reform in CMS" panel from moderator Russell Brand, the comedian who has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of rape and sexual assault for which he will stand trial in London next month. Dr. Oz slaps his knee. MAHA!
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is JD Vance-level comedic timing. A true master of the craft.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There are world-ending scenarios involving AI that have nothing do with rogue superintelligence that exist right before us. My latest: www.ms.now/opinion/us-c...
ms.now
Opinion | A spooky near-confrontation with China shows the real danger of AI today
Anxiety about the rise of the machines is eclipsing the imminent problems.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It’s been getting bad for a while, but I’m astonished that Google search has genuinely become entire unusable for certain kinds of research tasks. Absolutely wild, I have to use chatbots by default for search for many things now.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“please, somebody, anybody, stop us from destroying society!”
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Today, a coalition of orgs including Palestinian Youth Movement, Peace Action, and DSA, announced a campaign to "Drop the Genocide 20." They identify "the top 20 officials most responsible for promoting, lying about, and covering up the Gaza genocide in the Biden White House." dropthegenocide20.org
Head shot photos of Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk, David Satterfield, John Finer, John Kirby, Matthew Miller, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Karine Jean-Pierre, Barbara Leaf, Dorothy Shea, Jack Lew, Lloyd Austin, Samantha Power, Stephanie Hallett, Mira Resnick, Julieta Valls Noyes, Michael Kurilla, Uzra Zeya, Deborah Lipstadt
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I think the dilemma for Hasan Piker is obvious. He wants to be a rich twitch streamer, and he wants to be a electoral progressive kingmaker. But they are ultimately mutually exclusive paths, and he needs to choose one.
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Jarvis DeBerry @jarvisdeberry.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Fun fact: We used the Norton Anthology of American Lit when I was in 11th grade, and our teacher wrote on the syllabus: "DO NOT READ 'A Horrible Case of Bestiality' by Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford." So, of course, like good dutiful teenagers, none of us did.
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Daniel José Older @djolder.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"The University of Chicago’s undergrad social-sciences division will go “analog” this fall, implementing a blanket policy banning technology in class and AI assistance on coursework across the division’s core courses." www.chronicle.com/article/u-of...
chronicle.com
U. of Chicago Bans Tech, AI in Social Sciences Core Courses
The new restrictions apply to students and faculty members.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
All good, in fact even had a sentence explicitly describing his right-wing nationalism as anchored in antisemitism earlier but I tweaked during edits and figured the Israel 9/11 thing hinted at it. But yeah I write so frequently that I’m typically not able to be comprehensive.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Oh yeah I’ve written about that extensively, and linked to one of those pieces here. I think the antisemitism and the right-wing nationalist isolationism mutually reinforce each other.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
go on...
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Carlson’s polarization against MAGA over Iran has now resulted in him effectively backing El-Sayed for senate. Brief analysis from me: www.ms.now/opinion/tuck...
ms.now
Opinion | Why Tucker Carlson has effectively endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for senate
The right-wing pundit’s antiwar position is pushing him from critic of MAGA to opponent of MAGA.
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Reposted by Zeeshan Aleem
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
New NYT poll finds Dems leading GOP on most major issues BUT NOT ON AI AND DATA CENTERS. As I argue in the piece and thread below, time to step it up here, Dems.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
miss rachel takes the gloves off
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A horrifying feature of our era is that I have to repeatedly say “macklemore is right” and “let macklemore tour”
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I found this very disturbing and powerful www.thecut.com/article/surv...
thecut.com
Surviving What I Can’t Forgive
I became a foster parent because I believed in second chances. Then the 17-year-old I took in attacked me.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
1) It makes sense that as as an obsessive over absolute power that Trump loves the idea of unregulated AI, it seems like the ring in the lord of the rings. 2) Trump is taking a more extreme position than the AI industry itself, which is now admitting that current regulations are useless.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I haven’t played video games in about 20 years, but the only video game I was ever very good at, Starcraft, is apparently becoming a shooter. Are real-time strategy games still being made at all? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/a...
nytimes.com
StarCraft Is Returning, but as an Open-World Shooter
The influential franchise is moving away from the real-time strategy genre with a game that’s directed by a veteran of the Far Cry series.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
At the Pentagon, Trump ties the legacy of 9/11 to his Iran war
President Donald Trump spoke at a solemn Pentagon ceremony marking the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and edged close to embracing policies he has long criticized.
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Trump, crumped and lethargic, croaks that we “don’t have a choice” but to fight in Iran because of 9/11. Can you imagine a more devastating portrait of a dying empire?
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
If only more Germans had shut up and done “the work” on themselves (reading).
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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I would describe this as a socialist hampered by dead end liberal identitarianism.
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