Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
@zolides.bsky.social
Associate Professor specializing in Digital Media Industries
I live in The Medium Place (Cincinnati, OH)
Everything I say is me saying it, not my employer… which should be obvious
(Profile art by Angel Trazo)
I live in The Medium Place (Cincinnati, OH)
Everything I say is me saying it, not my employer… which should be obvious
(Profile art by Angel Trazo)
Pinned
American politics makes a lot more sense when you view it like professional wrestling:
They go in front of the audience and beat each other up and hit each other with chairs… and then they go backstage, high five, and hang out.
Most politics isn’t sport - it’s sports entertainment.
They go in front of the audience and beat each other up and hit each other with chairs… and then they go backstage, high five, and hang out.
Most politics isn’t sport - it’s sports entertainment.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Republicans motivate their core voters to show up every cycle and they do. Democrats just assume their equivalent will do the same and spend the entire cycle pursuing swing voters, meanwhile depressing core turnout. Then they blame those core voters when they lose. The cycle must be broken.
What got us Trump was the GOP being a malevolent force for evil and the Democrats at every turn refusing to fire full blast at the right (including before Trump). It’s obviously not all on Harris but a cycle with Democrats assuming the left would just show up without any motivation is a big reason.
They have a point. “She didn’t earn my vote” got us Trump. Like I think it’s good to push against the party for better policy but when the alternative is Trump, it’s too much.
December 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Republicans motivate their core voters to show up every cycle and they do. Democrats just assume their equivalent will do the same and spend the entire cycle pursuing swing voters, meanwhile depressing core turnout. Then they blame those core voters when they lose. The cycle must be broken.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Where are the Pop Tarts? What kind of football is this?
December 27, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Where are the Pop Tarts? What kind of football is this?
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
271,000 people have lost their jobs and federal spending has ctually increased. So people get less services, while we added debt paying for private jets for Kristi Noem, bulletproof cars for Kash Patel. This is what the rust belt voters demanded.
December 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM
271,000 people have lost their jobs and federal spending has ctually increased. So people get less services, while we added debt paying for private jets for Kristi Noem, bulletproof cars for Kash Patel. This is what the rust belt voters demanded.
New dad achievement unlocked: building a toy the night before Christmas.
I hope my daughter is as excited for it as I am!
I hope my daughter is as excited for it as I am!
December 25, 2025 at 2:08 AM
New dad achievement unlocked: building a toy the night before Christmas.
I hope my daughter is as excited for it as I am!
I hope my daughter is as excited for it as I am!
Princeton University Press published explicit and obvious lies.
One such refutation appears in my paper under the heading “The FBI went beyond strategic information sharing and made direct moderation demands.” I spend several hundred words explaining that that didn’t happen.
![Receiving and acting on external reports is a core function of plattorm content moderation teams, and the essential nature of this work is an independent evaluation of reported content under the platform's own policies. The fact, cited in Missouri v. Biden, that platforms only acted on approximately half of reports from the FBI shows clearly that the standards platforms applied were not wholly, or even mostly, the government's.
Finally, it does not withstand factual scrutiny that platforms were so petrified of adverse consequences from the FBI that they uncritically accepted and acted on information sent to them by the government. The Twitter Files themselves document clearly at least two instances in which, presented with low-quality information or questionable demands, Twitter pushed back on the FBI's requests. In one case, the FBI passes on a request-seemingly from the NSA-that Twitter "revis[e] its terms of service" to allow an open-source intelligence vendor to collect data from the Twitter APIs to inform the NSA's activities. This request is arguably as close to jawboning as any interaction between Twitter and the FBI gets; yet, in response, I summarily dismissed not only the request for a meeting to discuss the topic, but the entire premise of the request, writing, "The best path for NSA, or any part of government, to request information about Twitter users or their content is in accordance with valid legal process." The question was not raised again.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ka6qwlgc2fec7gkz6cfuuxgx/bafkreibhs7piz367lbv4dfkgv3zw27p2wys2cqsuyn53oecxdnzusu5goq@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Princeton University Press published explicit and obvious lies.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
An enraging trend right now, from CBS to the CDC, of people actively undermining institutions, then taking the reins of those institutions and claiming they need to rebuild the trust they helped destroy. (Also, people already trusted 60 Minutes.) bsky.app/profile/just...
Bari Weiss just sent this Christmas Eve email to the CBS News staff about "building trust," which includes her tripling down on spiking the CECOT piece "to make sure it's comprehensive and fair."
One CBS staffer tells me: "She really has no idea how insulting she comes across."
One CBS staffer tells me: "She really has no idea how insulting she comes across."
December 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
An enraging trend right now, from CBS to the CDC, of people actively undermining institutions, then taking the reins of those institutions and claiming they need to rebuild the trust they helped destroy. (Also, people already trusted 60 Minutes.) bsky.app/profile/just...
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
WTAF??? FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that they will be hiring a "bias monitor" at CBS "who would report directly to the President." Literally will be State-run TV. smfh
Make sure everyone sees this.
Make sure everyone sees this.
December 24, 2025 at 1:18 AM
WTAF??? FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that they will be hiring a "bias monitor" at CBS "who would report directly to the President." Literally will be State-run TV. smfh
Make sure everyone sees this.
Make sure everyone sees this.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
You are painting a vision of a future in which teachers create lessons with "A.i.," students complete them with "A.i.," and teachers grade them with "A.i."
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
December 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
You are painting a vision of a future in which teachers create lessons with "A.i.," students complete them with "A.i.," and teachers grade them with "A.i."
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
December 23, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
This statement from Weiss is nuclear-grade bullshit.
Bari Weiss this morning on the 60 Minutes segment: "We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera."
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
December 22, 2025 at 3:34 PM
This statement from Weiss is nuclear-grade bullshit.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Kudos to Sharyn Alfonsi for exposing the truth
But Bari Weiss killing the 60 Minutes story about Trump sending innocent immigrants to CECOT is only part of the story
The bigger issue is MAGA trying to take over all our broadcast networks and social media to spread their hateful propaganda
But Bari Weiss killing the 60 Minutes story about Trump sending innocent immigrants to CECOT is only part of the story
The bigger issue is MAGA trying to take over all our broadcast networks and social media to spread their hateful propaganda
December 22, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Kudos to Sharyn Alfonsi for exposing the truth
But Bari Weiss killing the 60 Minutes story about Trump sending innocent immigrants to CECOT is only part of the story
The bigger issue is MAGA trying to take over all our broadcast networks and social media to spread their hateful propaganda
But Bari Weiss killing the 60 Minutes story about Trump sending innocent immigrants to CECOT is only part of the story
The bigger issue is MAGA trying to take over all our broadcast networks and social media to spread their hateful propaganda
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
CBS paid the president of the United States millions in bribe money and now they censor news reports so it does not annoy him. I don’t know how much plainer we can put this.
December 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
CBS paid the president of the United States millions in bribe money and now they censor news reports so it does not annoy him. I don’t know how much plainer we can put this.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
The CBS reporter who led the story calls pulling it a "political" decision.
"The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
"The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 3:10 AM
The CBS reporter who led the story calls pulling it a "political" decision.
"The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
"The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Why would you need to put a pause on a story that has been meticulously fact-checked and lawyered?
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
December 22, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Why would you need to put a pause on a story that has been meticulously fact-checked and lawyered?
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
There is almost no fully reliable mainstream media outlet right now to cover this administration. Act accordingly.
All of these links went to promotion of this story earlier today. All these links are dead now — that's how thoroughly they've scrubbed this.
December 21, 2025 at 11:01 PM
There is almost no fully reliable mainstream media outlet right now to cover this administration. Act accordingly.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
The actor Michael Sheen used all his money to start a fake debt collecting business, buy 900 people in Wales's debt, and excused it. If Musk bought ALL $194 billion in medical debt in the U.S. and excused it in the same way, he'd still be the world's riches man by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Michael Sheen spent his own money to write off $1.3 million of neighbors’ debts | CNN
Actor Michael Sheen has bought $1.3 million of his neighbors’ debts and written them off using $129,000 of his own money.
www.cnn.com
December 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The actor Michael Sheen used all his money to start a fake debt collecting business, buy 900 people in Wales's debt, and excused it. If Musk bought ALL $194 billion in medical debt in the U.S. and excused it in the same way, he'd still be the world's riches man by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
I find the idea that you need to know “how to use” AI tools really funny, as if it isn’t incredibly easy to type in prompts and the marketing these tools is that literally anyone can do it
December 21, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I find the idea that you need to know “how to use” AI tools really funny, as if it isn’t incredibly easy to type in prompts and the marketing these tools is that literally anyone can do it
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
The Trump administration’s release of the Epstein grand jury documents are entirely redacted.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
December 19, 2025 at 10:38 PM
The Trump administration’s release of the Epstein grand jury documents are entirely redacted.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
You only call it a “memorial” if the person/people being honored are dead. Soooooooo…..
December 19, 2025 at 8:52 PM
You only call it a “memorial” if the person/people being honored are dead. Soooooooo…..
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
From a focus group of Gen Z Republicans. (www.city-journal.org/article/manh...)
Tell me again about how Zohran Mamdani is the big threat to Jewish thriving in the US today.
Tell me again about how Zohran Mamdani is the big threat to Jewish thriving in the US today.
December 19, 2025 at 6:27 PM
From a focus group of Gen Z Republicans. (www.city-journal.org/article/manh...)
Tell me again about how Zohran Mamdani is the big threat to Jewish thriving in the US today.
Tell me again about how Zohran Mamdani is the big threat to Jewish thriving in the US today.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
"We don't want to be Luddites --" brother, Luddites were opposed to bosses concentrating wealth by using technology to make inferior product with warehouses fulls of starving exploited child labor. You don't have to wear the team jersey but respect the game.
December 18, 2025 at 5:04 PM
"We don't want to be Luddites --" brother, Luddites were opposed to bosses concentrating wealth by using technology to make inferior product with warehouses fulls of starving exploited child labor. You don't have to wear the team jersey but respect the game.
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."
December 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."
Reposted by Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
This is obscene. Why can't other politicians say that?
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
December 18, 2025 at 9:00 AM
This is obscene. Why can't other politicians say that?
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion.
Honestly this is the core of *everything* wrong with contemporary mainstream reporting. The idea that you can’t just present things unfiltered because it may be ‘unbalanced’ is absurd and privileges the worst actions (lying, hyperbole, personal attacks) in countless ways.
one of the best interviews of the year. this line really stands out.
"If presenting what I saw, unfiltered, is an attack, then what would you call it had I chosen to edit it and hide things about it, and make them look better than they look?"
www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...
"If presenting what I saw, unfiltered, is an attack, then what would you call it had I chosen to edit it and hide things about it, and make them look better than they look?"
www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...
The Vanity Fair photographer who disrupted Trumpworld’s polished image
Christopher Anderson, who photographed Trump’s team at the White House for Vanity Fair, defends his unvarnished — and extreme — close-ups.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Honestly this is the core of *everything* wrong with contemporary mainstream reporting. The idea that you can’t just present things unfiltered because it may be ‘unbalanced’ is absurd and privileges the worst actions (lying, hyperbole, personal attacks) in countless ways.
“When my blood stops, someone else's will not
When my head rolls off, someone else's will turn
And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth”
~ “Head Rolls Off” Frightened Rabbit
When my head rolls off, someone else's will turn
And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth”
~ “Head Rolls Off” Frightened Rabbit
Name your fav song lyric.
December 18, 2025 at 12:20 AM
“When my blood stops, someone else's will not
When my head rolls off, someone else's will turn
And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth”
~ “Head Rolls Off” Frightened Rabbit
When my head rolls off, someone else's will turn
And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth”
~ “Head Rolls Off” Frightened Rabbit