Michael Markowitz
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markowitz.bsky.social
Michael Markowitz
@markowitz.bsky.social
The Turning Point USA show “wasn’t even a live trainwreck, it was a canned one. They had time to fix it and simply chose not to. And, hell, if that’s not symbolic of the state of American politics, I don’t know what is.”

www.pastemagazine.com/music/super-...
I wasted 30 minutes of my life watching the Turning Point USA halftime show so you don’t have to
It’s hard to mount a culture war when your big counteroffensive looks like a youth-group lock-in made up of kids who found God in a megachurch but lost their personality somewhere in suburban Atlanta....
www.pastemagazine.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:01 AM
I want to live in a neighborhood like the one in Bad Bunny’s halftime show, not one filled with Trump’s armed stormtroopers.
February 9, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Michael Markowitz
The Turning Point USA Half Time show broken down into two minutes - the highs, the lows, the poor audio production and overuse of pyrotechnics. A 55-year-old man dancing around in shorts. It was everything and nothing all at once.
February 9, 2026 at 6:45 AM
To Trump’s claim that “no one understands” Bad Bunny, the NFL wants the Super Bowl to be a global event, and there are far more native Spanish speakers in the world than native English speakers.
February 9, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Most churches don’t discuss Jesus as much as Morning Joe does. Enough already. @ms.now
February 9, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Ah, Super Bowl Sunday. When non-football-fans have no problem letting football fans enjoy hours and hours. And in two months, non-Oscars-fans will complain the Oscars are too long.
February 8, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Kids in school learn, at the very most, five things about each POTUS. Future kids will only know about a handful of Trump’s monstrous deeds, instead of the hundreds you or I could list from following this day to day. He’ll get off easy.
February 8, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Michael Markowitz
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:49 PM
We need a larger House of Representatives, combined with proportional representation
youtube.com/watch?v=KhQG...
The House of Representatives is too small. Here is one way to fix it.
YouTube video by Vox
youtube.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Michael Markowitz
RFK Jr now claims that we can cure schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with a simple keto diet. When will he be stopped?! This guy’s a danger to public health.
February 6, 2026 at 2:14 PM
The MAGA crowd could conceivably take pride that Bad Bunny, a 100% American, is the most streamed artist in the world… if they weren’t too stupid to realize Puerto Ricans are Americans.
February 6, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Every reporter who interviews Trump knows he’s going to brag about the cognitive test being really hard, but not one challenges him.
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Someone once asked me what the best things about America were and I said, in no order, the national parks, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, and the Lincoln Memorial. And now Trump is fucking and/or has fucked with them all. Heartbreaking.
February 3, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Michael Markowitz
Guys, just flunk them. We don't need a whole think piece about this.
The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films
The attention-span crisis goes to the movies.
www.theatlantic.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:45 PM
pastemagazine.bsky.social Re Grammys you say of Tyler, the Creator, “I was really hoping to see him stay there the whole night, forcing winners to awkwardly step over his motionless pseudo-corpse in order to accept the awards.” When Kimmel did that at the Emmys you said it was “in poor taste.” 🤷‍♂️
Paste Magazine (@pastemagazine.bsky.social)
Covering the best in music, movies, TV, comedy, games, books, food, drink, travel and tech since 2002.
pastemagazine.bsky.social
February 2, 2026 at 11:40 PM
We can’t stop everything Trump does. We apparently can’t stop him from destroying democracy, robbing freedoms, alienating allies, or breaking laws. But can we at least stop him from building this monstrosity? Can we please succeed in just this one thing?

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump wants to build a 250-foot-tall arch, dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial
The president is eyeing a plot of land near Memorial Bridge. The art critic who proposed the idea called for a smaller arch or for Trump to pick a new site.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 31, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Bovino Is Said to Have Mocked Prosecutor’s Jewish Faith on Call With Lawyers

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/u...
Bovino Is Said to Have Mocked Prosecutor’s Jewish Faith on Call With Lawyers
www.nytimes.com
January 31, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Happy Birthday to Scotch tape, introduced on this date in 1930. And if you’re thinking, “Who cares when Scotch tape’s birthday is?” then just think of all that Scotch tape does for you. Is it too much to ask you to pause every hundred or so years to say thanks, you selfish bastard?
January 31, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Michael Markowitz
At #Melania premiere, "One America News anchor Dan Ball would encourage [government officials] to skip the 'fake news' and come straight to him. At one point... he called the rest of the reporters on the carpet 'mongrels.'” variety.com/2026/film/ne...
Amazon Blocks Mainstream Press From Watching ‘Melania’ Documentary at Kennedy Center
After a red carpet attended by Donald and Melania Trump, mainstream media were banned from attending a screening of Amazon MGM's Melania documentary.
variety.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Everyone in that cabinet meeting knows Trump’s Macron “No no no, Donald!” never happened. He’s probably told them the story dozens of times. And they just sit there.
January 29, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Because no reporter ever challenged Trump’s laughable $1.99 gas price, he’s now down to $1.85. He also claims the White House used more than 100,000 eggs for Easter (more like 30,000). Can some reporter please challenge him on SOMETHING??
January 29, 2026 at 7:02 PM
How legacy media fell for Trump’s fake “pivot” in Minnesota

popular.info?utm_source=n...
Popular Information | Judd Legum | Substack
Independent accountability journalism. Click to read Popular Information, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
popular.info
January 28, 2026 at 8:06 PM
There were only 700 supporters at Trump’s rally in Iowa last night. You’d never know it from the angles cable news uses.

share.google/11BtXiJSN5SD...
Hundreds of Iowans hear Trump's call for midterm election support
Trump held a rally Tuesday in Iowa to kick off his support for Republican candidates in this fall's midterm elections; thousands protested outside the event in suburban Des Moines
share.google
January 28, 2026 at 6:54 PM
European leader spoke of shock at Trump’s state of mind after Mar-a-Lago meeting

“Fico used the word ‘dangerous.’”

www.politico.eu/article/dona...
European leader spoke of shock at Trump’s state of mind after Mar-a-Lago meeting
The Slovak PM, a Trump ally, told leaders at last week’s EU summit he was concerned about the way the U.S. president spoke to him, European diplomats said.
www.politico.eu
January 28, 2026 at 6:31 PM
If you want a nice, quiet place to be alone with your thoughts Friday night, head to a theater showing “Melania.”
January 28, 2026 at 6:14 PM