Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
@sethdmichaels.bsky.social
Bert of the Intellect, Ernie of the Will
Gene sun, Tina moon, Linda rising
DC based, comms at @ucs.org (all opinions mine), ambivalently Online, generally polite, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications
Gene sun, Tina moon, Linda rising
DC based, comms at @ucs.org (all opinions mine), ambivalently Online, generally polite, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
It's like with LLMs generally, they take advantage of our tendency to project our own sense of self and personhood, something that produces output that looks like human speech must have a human intellect, etc. It's a deliberate trick
November 11, 2025 at 10:24 PM
It's like with LLMs generally, they take advantage of our tendency to project our own sense of self and personhood, something that produces output that looks like human speech must have a human intellect, etc. It's a deliberate trick
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
I’m not a Business Expert or anything, but I feel like if I were a major shareholder in a company and the CEO of said company went off on an unhinged rant about the woke left in response to a very basic business question, I’d have some concerns about their performance!
November 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I’m not a Business Expert or anything, but I feel like if I were a major shareholder in a company and the CEO of said company went off on an unhinged rant about the woke left in response to a very basic business question, I’d have some concerns about their performance!
"The point is to make the private equity firm more profitable...In many cases, the best decision for the firm is the one that directly undermines the company it controls."
What a thrill to be part of @talkingpointsmemo.com's series about the past 25 years of digital media! I wrote about why private equity goons destroyed Deadspin and why it matters.
There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore Cause It’s More Fruitful to Drive Them Out of Business
I learned many surprising lessons from my 20 months as editor-in-chief of...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
"The point is to make the private equity firm more profitable...In many cases, the best decision for the firm is the one that directly undermines the company it controls."
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
New job alert! Today I started as the new managing editor of @votebeat.org, a nonprofit news site that covers election administration and voting rights issues.
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
New job alert! Today I started as the new managing editor of @votebeat.org, a nonprofit news site that covers election administration and voting rights issues.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
This is a huge victory that should be broadcast nationwide in all the major outlets. Big big big deal. I have been following this. Make them pay
Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, expresses regret. Editor says court cases against city continue #ksleg
Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, expresses regret • Kansas Reflector
A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.
kansasreflector.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:40 PM
This is a huge victory that should be broadcast nationwide in all the major outlets. Big big big deal. I have been following this. Make them pay
yes, let’s premise the entire economy and society on The Machine That Gaslights Kardashians
November 11, 2025 at 5:38 PM
yes, let’s premise the entire economy and society on The Machine That Gaslights Kardashians
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Their political philosophy hinges on a vision of white supremacy in which people who aren’t white are here at the privilege of white people, which they can revoke at any time, which they expect to be received with gratitude.
Trump on Ilhan Omar: "I look at somebody who comes from Somalia...and she comes in and tells us how to run our country. 'The Constitution says this, the Constitution says that.' The whole thing is crazy."
November 11, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Their political philosophy hinges on a vision of white supremacy in which people who aren’t white are here at the privilege of white people, which they can revoke at any time, which they expect to be received with gratitude.
“people are adopting pagan religious views, when what they should be doing is placing total faith in and submitting to an all-seeing system centered on an extra-human intelligence”
November 11, 2025 at 5:27 PM
“people are adopting pagan religious views, when what they should be doing is placing total faith in and submitting to an all-seeing system centered on an extra-human intelligence”
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
I'm beyond fired up to lecture about January 6 tomorrow, and eager to see what students' frame of reference for it might be.
Some big points I'm getting across:
1. January 6 isn't just January 6. It was the culmination of a campaign initiated by the President to overturn a free and fair election.
Some big points I'm getting across:
1. January 6 isn't just January 6. It was the culmination of a campaign initiated by the President to overturn a free and fair election.
November 11, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I'm beyond fired up to lecture about January 6 tomorrow, and eager to see what students' frame of reference for it might be.
Some big points I'm getting across:
1. January 6 isn't just January 6. It was the culmination of a campaign initiated by the President to overturn a free and fair election.
Some big points I'm getting across:
1. January 6 isn't just January 6. It was the culmination of a campaign initiated by the President to overturn a free and fair election.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
If AI companies were just selling software to protein biologists to develop drugs, I'd love that. But their vision for how to reshape the entire economy is authoritarian snake oil.
November 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
If AI companies were just selling software to protein biologists to develop drugs, I'd love that. But their vision for how to reshape the entire economy is authoritarian snake oil.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Has anybody put together a Trump Pardon watch, in which you can keep track of all the Republican donors, allies, friends, etc that "he" has pardoned?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Trump Pardons the Husband of a Republican Congressional Ally
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Has anybody put together a Trump Pardon watch, in which you can keep track of all the Republican donors, allies, friends, etc that "he" has pardoned?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
CVS is best thought of as a kind of interactive museum exhibit where you can experience everything that has gone badly wrong with American capitalism.
You almost have to respect how CVS keeps frantically changing their systems like every other month and each time it gets progressively worse
November 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
CVS is best thought of as a kind of interactive museum exhibit where you can experience everything that has gone badly wrong with American capitalism.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
But it’s striking that nominally smart people are out here always asserting that “men and women are inherently different” and no one, least of all any men, seem inclined to bother asking if that’s really true.
November 10, 2025 at 9:12 PM
But it’s striking that nominally smart people are out here always asserting that “men and women are inherently different” and no one, least of all any men, seem inclined to bother asking if that’s really true.
good piece thinking through why "the Democratic party" is doing so badly and "candidates with a D next to their name" are doing well by comparison: samdrzymala.substack.com/p/we-have-ev...
We have evolved beyond the strategist
What do this week's election results mean for the future of politics?
samdrzymala.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:51 PM
good piece thinking through why "the Democratic party" is doing so badly and "candidates with a D next to their name" are doing well by comparison: samdrzymala.substack.com/p/we-have-ev...
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
finally, the freedom to get a coupon and use it to comparison-shop for the cheapest emergency room right from your ambulance
I was at an event yesterday where Rand Paul spoke via video and talked about how great it was to send ACA money "directly to the people" so that they could work collectively to get better deals on health care.
November 10, 2025 at 8:50 PM
finally, the freedom to get a coupon and use it to comparison-shop for the cheapest emergency room right from your ambulance
can’t even remember what this was originally about but it’s more useful than it should be
think I’m kind of too mad to be Online today
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
can’t even remember what this was originally about but it’s more useful than it should be
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
being an in-group contrarian in small doses is healthy but i've never seen anyone that does it more than that who was happy
November 9, 2025 at 7:39 PM
being an in-group contrarian in small doses is healthy but i've never seen anyone that does it more than that who was happy
this is Trumpist “populism” in action: quality of life and access to good things are gated behind wealth, prominence, and friendliness to the regime
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
Dilbert creator taps Trump to get cancer drug. Others wish they could, too
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
n.pr
November 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
this is Trumpist “populism” in action: quality of life and access to good things are gated behind wealth, prominence, and friendliness to the regime
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
The “I don’t trust axios” at the top is bc: bsky.app/profile/nich...
Regular reminder that Axios stories saying Dems are about to cave are likely sourced from GOP staffers trying to make it happen.
Doesn't mean it definitely won't happen. But it's like those NYT stories that Harvard is considering caving (they haven't). The anonymous source was trying to manifest it.
Doesn't mean it definitely won't happen. But it's like those NYT stories that Harvard is considering caving (they haven't). The anonymous source was trying to manifest it.
November 9, 2025 at 7:18 PM
The “I don’t trust axios” at the top is bc: bsky.app/profile/nich...
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
the weirdest thing about this is Musk specifying "delights in being mean" as a bad thing, when he and his entire cult have only ever felt anything close to joy when they're bullying, mobbing and abusing people
November 9, 2025 at 7:04 PM
the weirdest thing about this is Musk specifying "delights in being mean" as a bad thing, when he and his entire cult have only ever felt anything close to joy when they're bullying, mobbing and abusing people
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
theres a whole category of newstertainment thats gotta go. and its "ask a really rich freak who is also evil and directly stealing from you what hes seen on the computer lately that has made him feel bad." the only -- ONLY -- story about this guy worth exploring is: he is getting rich spying on you
November 9, 2025 at 6:44 PM
theres a whole category of newstertainment thats gotta go. and its "ask a really rich freak who is also evil and directly stealing from you what hes seen on the computer lately that has made him feel bad." the only -- ONLY -- story about this guy worth exploring is: he is getting rich spying on you