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Paul Cohen

@paulecohen.bsky.social

6.1K followers 790 following 7.4K posts

Historian of France, the Atlantic world, language, food. Squirrelly cyclist, slowfooted defenseman, working dad. Worried about the 21st century. https://utoronto.academia.edu/PaulCohen

utoronto.academia.edu

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · Feb 7

mood

a famous poster from the May 68 movement in France which represents a factory and smokestack with a fist above the smokestack, with the words "La lutte continue", which translates as "The struggle continues"

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Reposted by Paul Cohen

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Q: Politico reported on a group chat of young Republicans. Does this just reflect some bad apples?

HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 8h

I couldn't agree more

it's the empirical bad faith and baseless claims on political economy that get me riled up

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 8h

what is it with these guys' (bad faith) obsession with fertility rates?

[yes, I have a pretty good idea of the answer ...]

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 8h

I'm not going to speak to Douthat's efforts at engaging the Pope in theological polemic

but I will point out that Germany's fertility rate in 2024 was 1.62, and France's fertility rate since 1945 has _never_ fallen below 1.66

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/o...

Screenshot of a quote in the linked op ed piece by Ross Douthat in the New York Times which reads:

"At the same time, even setting aside the more laissez-faire United States, rich nations like France and Italy and Germany are all struggling with the legacy costs of their existing systems of regulation and redistribution. What does a papal critique of financial speculation offer to these dilemmas?" How do we fund old-age programs with a fertility rate under 1.5?" is not a question that can be answered with an attack on market fundamentalism."

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 8h

Arthur Sze, "Library of Congress"

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

“Library of Congress”

“Here’s a book / on neutrinos captured in Antarctica, / here’s another on solar flares.”

www.newyorker.com

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 12h

I like to think their numbers are shrinking -- but I fear that there are still many

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 12h

thank heavens the party whose cadres joke in private about "loving Hitler," "hating the Jews," and sending their political opponents "to the gas chambers" has taken charge of the effort to purge our college campuses of antisemitism

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 12h

I think that means: "Legal cleared this, and we are 100% clean on potential liability"

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 12h

stunned to discover that the youth group of the party that sent a cabal of Third Reich fanboys to the White House is full of Nazis

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Zoe TunnHELL @zoewithasword.bsky.social · 13h

Would it surprise you that the owner of Scientific American's parent company, Stefan von Holtzbrinck, invested $37 million in Inkitt, an AI firm?

What a SHOCK

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 13h

Counterpoint:

Abolish the GOP

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Polly Pallister-Wilkins @pollypw.bsky.social · 13h

“The night is dark and full of errors”

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 13h

"Can there be any study of humanity, in 1946, without historians who are ambitious, conscious of their duties and of their immense powers?"
-- Fernand Braudel

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 13h

Winter is coming

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 13h

Jan Heine, of Bicycle Quarterly and Oregon Outback FKT fame, has the best job in the world surely

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 13h

Murder, Incorporated

Nick (derogatory) ✨ @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 13h

They blew up another boat. Gift link.

U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says

www.nytimes.com

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 14h

Argentina 1978 as tragedy, USA 2026 as farce

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

Trump on moving World Cup games from Boston: "We could take them away. Your mayor is not good."

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 14h

we clearly need to work harder bridging the gap

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 14h

what Trump is trying to teach us all here is that the self-examined life is not worth living

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

Trump: "I'm just a little busy. I'd love to go to Argentina. I'd like to be like Biden. I'd like to go to the beach. My legs are not quite as thin as his. My legs are slightly heavier, my arms are slightly larger. My body is a little bit larger than his. I'm not sure it would be appreciated."

Reposted by Paul Cohen

Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 18h

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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Reposted by Paul Cohen

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 15h

I recruited Janet Mills to run for Senate because, at 72, Susan Collins is too young for the job.

by Chuck Schumer

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 15h

no we don't

a photograph of former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, with dollar bills raining down on his head during a staged protest

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Reposted by Paul Cohen

Rebecca Scales @rebeccapscales.bsky.social · 16h

I sat in a meeting the other day where full profs & deans in some disciplines insisted there was nothing they could do if faculty wrote internal or external T&P letters with AI. The only people who objected to this were humanists.

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Reposted by Paul Cohen

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 22h

Senate is back in session today.

1/ So a quick 🧵on where things are at on the shutdown.

You get a lot of propaganda and spin thrown at you, so I want to give you the real, behind-the-scenes tea.

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Reposted by Paul Cohen

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 18h

After complaints about Timothy Dexter's A Pickle for the Knowing Ones (1797) being entirely devoid of punctuation, in future editions the eccentric businessman supplied a supplemental page so that people “may peper and solt as they please”: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dexter-pickle

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