Benjamin Lay
@benlay1682.bsky.social
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Get ready for Sinophobic stories about Chinese labs creating models with no guardrails that will take over the world and kill us all, interspersed with ads from a think tank funded by OAI/Anthropic pushing legislation to make Chinese-developed models illegal.
New correspondent Ross Douthat says "no story looms larger than the latest developments in artificial intelligence." The technology and its impacts will be a major focus of 60 Minutes reporting.
September 14, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Get ready for Sinophobic stories about Chinese labs creating models with no guardrails that will take over the world and kill us all, interspersed with ads from a think tank funded by OAI/Anthropic pushing legislation to make Chinese-developed models illegal.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
35% of this country would *vote* to bring back chattel slavery if they could.
September 14, 2026 at 12:41 AM
35% of this country would *vote* to bring back chattel slavery if they could.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
There's narcissistic personality disorder on top of his decrepit brain turning to mush, and DC is easier to abuse because of how much is federal, but also he wants to wreck stuff in DC because he only got 6% of the vote there and so punishing DC is the most lopsided place to punish Democrats.
September 14, 2026 at 2:16 AM
There's narcissistic personality disorder on top of his decrepit brain turning to mush, and DC is easier to abuse because of how much is federal, but also he wants to wreck stuff in DC because he only got 6% of the vote there and so punishing DC is the most lopsided place to punish Democrats.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
this guy is one of the architects of a war that might rank as one of the worst strategic missteps in american military history and here is on CBS getting a softball interview about his feelings
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells 60 Minutes that news of a U.S. fighter jet being shot down over Iran woke him in the middle of the night. His first thought: “S***.”
September 14, 2026 at 2:18 AM
this guy is one of the architects of a war that might rank as one of the worst strategic missteps in american military history and here is on CBS getting a softball interview about his feelings
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Authoritarian end stage violence is basically literally always when they’re at one of their weakest. dictators do not want to be machine gunning people in the street its bad for their (the dictator’s) health
both the depressive kind of centrist and the depressive kind of leftist see trump's aesthetic fixation on the desperate violence at the end of an authoritarian regime as constituting the authoritarian regime itself
The exact theory of what's happening varies but it tends to over assert the inevitably of authoritarian victory. That being authoritarian is in itself a winning characteristic once someone is in power. They also tend to draw to over apply famous historical comparisons.
September 14, 2026 at 2:15 AM
Authoritarian end stage violence is basically literally always when they’re at one of their weakest. dictators do not want to be machine gunning people in the street its bad for their (the dictator’s) health
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
[on my 6th consecutive hour of doomscrolling and arguing on the internet without even an eyestrain break, 1,200mg of caffeine in my system, no solid food consumed since yesterday afternoon]
why do i feel weird today?
why do i feel weird today?
September 13, 2026 at 11:40 PM
[on my 6th consecutive hour of doomscrolling and arguing on the internet without even an eyestrain break, 1,200mg of caffeine in my system, no solid food consumed since yesterday afternoon]
why do i feel weird today?
why do i feel weird today?
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
dunno if it can get more on the nose than "condemning racism makes you a cuckold"
September 13, 2026 at 11:45 PM
dunno if it can get more on the nose than "condemning racism makes you a cuckold"
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
And to put this in perspective--Posobiec, close Trump ally, is mocking Patterson, himself a hard right young conservative, author of a book banning bill. That's how committed fascism is to its pathetic eros of racism.
dunno if it can get more on the nose than "condemning racism makes you a cuckold"
September 14, 2026 at 12:01 AM
And to put this in perspective--Posobiec, close Trump ally, is mocking Patterson, himself a hard right young conservative, author of a book banning bill. That's how committed fascism is to its pathetic eros of racism.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Periodic reminder that "infighting" is underrated and "unity" is overrated.
September 13, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Periodic reminder that "infighting" is underrated and "unity" is overrated.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
The Dem consultant class has a lot of sway within the party, is wildly transphobic and is backed up by media like the NYT that are also pushing anti-trans bigotry hard, especially among liberal gentry.
September 13, 2026 at 10:24 PM
The Dem consultant class has a lot of sway within the party, is wildly transphobic and is backed up by media like the NYT that are also pushing anti-trans bigotry hard, especially among liberal gentry.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Trans folks, especially those of us who organize, it's worth being prepared for the following: if transphobic Dems lose, the consultant class will try to scapegoat us (again).
If they win (due to Republicans being wildly unpopular) they'll take it as a mandate and escalate to more anti-trans laws.
If they win (due to Republicans being wildly unpopular) they'll take it as a mandate and escalate to more anti-trans laws.
September 13, 2026 at 10:21 PM
Trans folks, especially those of us who organize, it's worth being prepared for the following: if transphobic Dems lose, the consultant class will try to scapegoat us (again).
If they win (due to Republicans being wildly unpopular) they'll take it as a mandate and escalate to more anti-trans laws.
If they win (due to Republicans being wildly unpopular) they'll take it as a mandate and escalate to more anti-trans laws.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
There's something extra exhausting about the expectation from cis people that trans people should be nice and acquiesce quietly, when a lot of us have lost friends in recent years, have been fleeing homes or are helping out friends fleeing or trying to keep them afloat after being ousted from work..
September 13, 2026 at 9:18 PM
There's something extra exhausting about the expectation from cis people that trans people should be nice and acquiesce quietly, when a lot of us have lost friends in recent years, have been fleeing homes or are helping out friends fleeing or trying to keep them afloat after being ousted from work..
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Like, you know there's an internal refugee crisis facing the US with trans people fleeing their home states, right? Can you understand why trans people might be more than a little on edge, stressed, angry because of the way we're treated? Perhaps extend a little understanding and empathy.
Transgender Americans are fleeing hostile red states. Seattle says it’s overwhelmed
Seattle officials say anti-trans laws in red states are driving a queer migration crisis in the Pacific Northwest.
www.advocate.com
September 13, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Like, you know there's an internal refugee crisis facing the US with trans people fleeing their home states, right? Can you understand why trans people might be more than a little on edge, stressed, angry because of the way we're treated? Perhaps extend a little understanding and empathy.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
The appeal of Schrödinger's jokes like this is that you can signal violent extremism to your ingroup while maintaining plausible deniability to your outgroup and that's exactly what's going on here. Really only works if the outgroup are a bunch of idiots, though.
September 13, 2026 at 9:11 PM
The appeal of Schrödinger's jokes like this is that you can signal violent extremism to your ingroup while maintaining plausible deniability to your outgroup and that's exactly what's going on here. Really only works if the outgroup are a bunch of idiots, though.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
i call this "neoteny of the oppressed" btw. because children are the archetypal objects of legitimate coercion (violence, authority, control, etc) any vulnerable group can have their autonomy stripped by first linking them to children & childlikeness. the comparison legitimizes any act of coercion
Transphobia and the oppression of children are linked to the point that trans adults are often treated like de facto children.
One way we see this is how we’re told continually that we don’t understand grown-up politics, as if our political concerns are childish and immature.
One way we see this is how we’re told continually that we don’t understand grown-up politics, as if our political concerns are childish and immature.
September 13, 2026 at 7:32 PM
i call this "neoteny of the oppressed" btw. because children are the archetypal objects of legitimate coercion (violence, authority, control, etc) any vulnerable group can have their autonomy stripped by first linking them to children & childlikeness. the comparison legitimizes any act of coercion
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
The "School Choice" movement is a direct descendant of segregationists. These are the people who created seg academies and want to again. They also want the rest of us to pay for this racist religious indoctrination as "schooling" for their kids.
the voucher program discussed in the article was created specifically for students with disabilities but before that? in the american context, private school vouchers became popular as a way of resisting school desegregation. that should always be part of the conversation about vouchers!!
Some of the nation’s first statewide voucher programs were created specifically for students with disabilities.
But most legislatures haven’t required private schools that take this public money to accept even a few kids with such needs.
But most legislatures haven’t required private schools that take this public money to accept even a few kids with such needs.
September 13, 2026 at 6:40 PM
The "School Choice" movement is a direct descendant of segregationists. These are the people who created seg academies and want to again. They also want the rest of us to pay for this racist religious indoctrination as "schooling" for their kids.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Having attended an elite private school is a very poor signal of your intellectual abilities, but it's an incredibly precise signal about your family's wealth.
“The Ivies produce as many mediocre people as intelligent people” is one of those truths that the US culture can’t handle. We have too many prominent alums, and too many desperate parents hoping those schools will make their kids lives easy. But the results are clear— all kinds of mid wits
if your threshold for success is getting in to an ivy you've kind of already fucked things up for your kid
September 13, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Having attended an elite private school is a very poor signal of your intellectual abilities, but it's an incredibly precise signal about your family's wealth.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Fetishization of Ivies and the like is just an oligarchy coping with being an oligarchy. It's unsettling if the top 10% of society governs every aspect of the other 90%'s lives, but it's OK if you pretend that top 10% is really smart and hardworking.
September 13, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Fetishization of Ivies and the like is just an oligarchy coping with being an oligarchy. It's unsettling if the top 10% of society governs every aspect of the other 90%'s lives, but it's OK if you pretend that top 10% is really smart and hardworking.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
Oh the only reason for tariffs at all is power/extortion/corruption.
Trump doesn’t give one shit about the United States or its economy. This is a power lever he controls like the mob. It’s the only reason they exist for him
Trump doesn’t give one shit about the United States or its economy. This is a power lever he controls like the mob. It’s the only reason they exist for him
I'm convinced that this is just a big a reason for the tariffs as any (misplaced) economic claims: Tariffs give Trump discretionary power, and he likes being the sort of guy who can use govt power on a whim to impress people (in this case), or in return for other favors.
Trump on his golf course announces he’s going to take tariffs off Irish whiskey. I guess our trade emergency is over!
September 13, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Oh the only reason for tariffs at all is power/extortion/corruption.
Trump doesn’t give one shit about the United States or its economy. This is a power lever he controls like the mob. It’s the only reason they exist for him
Trump doesn’t give one shit about the United States or its economy. This is a power lever he controls like the mob. It’s the only reason they exist for him
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
It sends a pretty strong message that liberals see LGBTQ+ rights as an inconvenience to winning elections rather than standing up for oppressed people being integral to defeating fascism
I advocate for withholding your vote from the leading anti-trans Dems, the ones calling us biological males and/or declaring they will be in favor of healthcare restrictions.
So of course Will, who I have never had beef with, compares our anger to a cult and drives extreme harassment my way.
So of course Will, who I have never had beef with, compares our anger to a cult and drives extreme harassment my way.
Nobody would be mad if you’d just said “Don’t take our votes for granted.”
What you actually wrote is that it would be better for Republicans to win than some Democrats. It’s a de facto endorsement of Republicans in those races.
Words have meanings.
What you actually wrote is that it would be better for Republicans to win than some Democrats. It’s a de facto endorsement of Republicans in those races.
Words have meanings.
September 13, 2026 at 5:36 PM
It sends a pretty strong message that liberals see LGBTQ+ rights as an inconvenience to winning elections rather than standing up for oppressed people being integral to defeating fascism
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
A lot of cops are incredibly lazy and have little work in their given precincts to justify the percentage of city budgets they eat up. This is one obvious way where everyone being allergic to data (like crime is at historic lows) has material problems
I actually always believed that the main reason police didn't want body cams was because they didn't want people to see how much they fart around. Sure it would also catch major misconduct but *most* cops have farting around time.
September 13, 2026 at 5:14 PM
A lot of cops are incredibly lazy and have little work in their given precincts to justify the percentage of city budgets they eat up. This is one obvious way where everyone being allergic to data (like crime is at historic lows) has material problems
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
The irony is that we could effectively control the climate crisis if we could get our collective acts together. And instead of doing that all these make-believe crisis are making it even harder to do that.
September 13, 2026 at 3:28 AM
The irony is that we could effectively control the climate crisis if we could get our collective acts together. And instead of doing that all these make-believe crisis are making it even harder to do that.
Reposted by Benjamin Lay
1000%
It’s all displaced anxiety about the made-up boogeyman you think you can control to avoid dealing with the absolutely real fucking tsunami barreling straight towards you that you cannot in any way control.
I have sympathy, but, like. Get your mind right, people
It’s all displaced anxiety about the made-up boogeyman you think you can control to avoid dealing with the absolutely real fucking tsunami barreling straight towards you that you cannot in any way control.
I have sympathy, but, like. Get your mind right, people
September 13, 2026 at 3:19 AM
1000%
It’s all displaced anxiety about the made-up boogeyman you think you can control to avoid dealing with the absolutely real fucking tsunami barreling straight towards you that you cannot in any way control.
I have sympathy, but, like. Get your mind right, people
It’s all displaced anxiety about the made-up boogeyman you think you can control to avoid dealing with the absolutely real fucking tsunami barreling straight towards you that you cannot in any way control.
I have sympathy, but, like. Get your mind right, people