MBC
@matthewbriancohen.com
I wanted to be Tom Hall and Joe Meno, but I’m just me.
book of short stories at https://stupidwaytodie.com
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/authors/matthew-brian-cohen
book of short stories at https://stupidwaytodie.com
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/authors/matthew-brian-cohen
Reposted by MBC
Reposted by MBC
The screenwriter of Deadpool was blown away by the narrative structure of a tech demo where two guys punch each other and nothing else happens
It took only a 15-second clip of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt duking it out on a crumbling rooftop — made by A.I. with a two-sentence prompt and the click of a button — to draw swift outrage, and sizable fear, from Hollywood.
"It’s nothing short of terrifying," one scriptwriter said.
"It’s nothing short of terrifying," one scriptwriter said.
Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood
A 15-second clip created by an artificial intelligence tool owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance appears more cinematic than anything so far.
nyti.ms
February 16, 2026 at 9:27 PM
The screenwriter of Deadpool was blown away by the narrative structure of a tech demo where two guys punch each other and nothing else happens
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in 2017 a popular twitter game was to type a partial phrase then see what your phone auto-completes it with.
this proved so popular that it is now the only business model in the US.
this proved so popular that it is now the only business model in the US.
February 9, 2026 at 9:15 PM
in 2017 a popular twitter game was to type a partial phrase then see what your phone auto-completes it with.
this proved so popular that it is now the only business model in the US.
this proved so popular that it is now the only business model in the US.
The most impressive thing America has built in the last 30 years is the volunteer community defense network to protect people from ICE
February 16, 2026 at 2:49 PM
The most impressive thing America has built in the last 30 years is the volunteer community defense network to protect people from ICE
Sisyphus as an aspirational figure
Token Anxiety
i think i mostly echo this for myself. with so much that can be done, i often feel like i *should* be doing something, always
i think i mostly echo this for myself. with so much that can be done, i often feel like i *should* be doing something, always
February 16, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Sisyphus as an aspirational figure
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No. This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive.
February 14, 2026 at 4:37 AM
No. This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive.
Reposted by MBC
Just going to note again, because somehow we've all completely retconned this and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, that pound-for-pound Biden had one of the most draconian border security regimes of any U.S. president ever, second only to Trump, *many of whose policies he inherited and kept*
Not going to read them all because jesus fucking christ but this is nasty work from Friedersdorf
February 12, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Just going to note again, because somehow we've all completely retconned this and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, that pound-for-pound Biden had one of the most draconian border security regimes of any U.S. president ever, second only to Trump, *many of whose policies he inherited and kept*
Someone losing a tv show over this feels so quaint, like it’s 2012 again. It’s honestly shocking HGTV won’t double down and reband the show as some conservative renovating woke homes in blue cities
HGTV has canceled its home restoration series, Rehab Addict, after host Nicole Curtis was caught using a racial slur during filming.
‘Rehab Addict’ Canceled by HGTV After Host Nicole Curtis Uses Racial Slur During Filming
HGTV has canceled its home restoration series, Rehab Addict, after host Nicole Curtis was caught using a racial slur during filming.
bit.ly
February 12, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Someone losing a tv show over this feels so quaint, like it’s 2012 again. It’s honestly shocking HGTV won’t double down and reband the show as some conservative renovating woke homes in blue cities
You don’t have to do this shit if your product is good. Apple never had to pay influencers half a million dollars to talk about how good the iPhone is.
Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon paying influencers $400k-$600k to post months of AI hype content. Absolutely busted, failed industry, embarrassing era
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/g...
Google and Microsoft offer lucrative deals to promote AI, but even $500,000 won't sway some creators
Tech companies including Google and Microsoft are paying influencers hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote AI products.
www.cnbc.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:12 PM
You don’t have to do this shit if your product is good. Apple never had to pay influencers half a million dollars to talk about how good the iPhone is.
I think people on the left need to start thinking seriously about the possibility of the Tooth Fairy being real
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 5:26 PM
I think people on the left need to start thinking seriously about the possibility of the Tooth Fairy being real
I am very tired of all the so-called adults in the room insisting that all this depravity and death is somehow necessary.
“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”
There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.
There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.
www.aljazeera.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:56 PM
I am very tired of all the so-called adults in the room insisting that all this depravity and death is somehow necessary.
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Kind of wild that Americans voted to protect democracy in 2020 and even though We The People put a Dem Trifecta in power, we ended up in an even worse position in 2024 because our elected officials didn't so shit for 4 years and hoped we would save them again from their inability to lead.
The best insurance against dirty tricks is landslide margins of victory.
February 10, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Kind of wild that Americans voted to protect democracy in 2020 and even though We The People put a Dem Trifecta in power, we ended up in an even worse position in 2024 because our elected officials didn't so shit for 4 years and hoped we would save them again from their inability to lead.
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The U.S. currently has more prisoners and a more sophisticated system of concentration camps than Nazi Germany had on the eve of World War II in 1939
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:37 AM
The U.S. currently has more prisoners and a more sophisticated system of concentration camps than Nazi Germany had on the eve of World War II in 1939
A Dove ad celebrating female athletes + body positivity followed by an ad starring a Black woman? It’s Woke 2, baby. Trump is in jail by the third quarter
February 9, 2026 at 12:38 AM
A Dove ad celebrating female athletes + body positivity followed by an ad starring a Black woman? It’s Woke 2, baby. Trump is in jail by the third quarter
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Broken Social Contract
Was this very mid-2000s emo person press-ganged into ICE servitude?
February 6, 2026 at 5:09 AM
Broken Social Contract
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Yes. Yes! Thank you
February 5, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Yes. Yes! Thank you
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If study after study shows what actually ends homelessness, it's worth asking: whose interests are served by keeping that truth obscured?
February 4, 2026 at 2:45 PM
If study after study shows what actually ends homelessness, it's worth asking: whose interests are served by keeping that truth obscured?
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"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
Homeless Oregon youth got $1,000 a month for two years. Most found housing after • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon is the second of its kind in the nation to implement the direct cash transfer program after New York City.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:12 PM
"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
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I stand corrected. Four out of 5 Democrats want to abolish ICE.
Any elected Dem asking for less is outside the mainstream of their party.
Any elected Dem asking for less is outside the mainstream of their party.
Their new poll came out today. It's up to 79% support including 66% (!) strongly support.
d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/ec...
d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/ec...
February 3, 2026 at 10:44 PM
I stand corrected. Four out of 5 Democrats want to abolish ICE.
Any elected Dem asking for less is outside the mainstream of their party.
Any elected Dem asking for less is outside the mainstream of their party.
Reposted by MBC
contrast this with Walz in Minneapolis just narrating everything that’s happening
Philidelphia DA Larry Krasner warns ICE: If an agent commits crimes in Philly, I will charge you. You will be arrested. You will stand trial, and you will be convicted in state or federal court and you will do your time. Donald Trump can't pardon you for a state court conviction.
February 4, 2026 at 2:17 AM
contrast this with Walz in Minneapolis just narrating everything that’s happening
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If you have a billion dollars or more, you are evil. You don't start out as evil, so it's not like only evil people ever get a billion dollars; it's just that being a billionaire forced you to make a choice, be evil or change how you do things and stop being a billionaire. Billionaires choose evil.
You can look at the Epstein files and conclude that only bad people have billions of dollars, but I think it’s also possible that having billions of dollars cauterizes your humanity
February 3, 2026 at 8:23 PM
If you have a billion dollars or more, you are evil. You don't start out as evil, so it's not like only evil people ever get a billion dollars; it's just that being a billionaire forced you to make a choice, be evil or change how you do things and stop being a billionaire. Billionaires choose evil.
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Somehow I don’t buy that a bunch of ICE/CBP/DHS guys afraid to eat fajitas without masks are going to form the Masters of Evil
Even under a best case scenario — Dems take the WH in 2028, ICE and BP are abolished or rebuilt from scratch — we’re still going to have thousands of angry, unemployed, well-armed, MAGA loyalist former immigration cops who have been told for 3-4 years that they’re above the law.
February 2, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Somehow I don’t buy that a bunch of ICE/CBP/DHS guys afraid to eat fajitas without masks are going to form the Masters of Evil
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I'm not really confused, he thinks being critical of Israel is worse than kidnapping people off the street
February 1, 2026 at 6:21 PM
I'm not really confused, he thinks being critical of Israel is worse than kidnapping people off the street
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Confused as to how Josh Shapiro thinks it is appropriate to compare student protestors to the KKK but inappropriate to compare ICE to the Gestapo
February 1, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Confused as to how Josh Shapiro thinks it is appropriate to compare student protestors to the KKK but inappropriate to compare ICE to the Gestapo
And you are doing nothing to stop it!
They’re taking kids from Minnesota and sending them to detention camps. They’re shooting American citizens in the street and locking investigators out of the crime scenes. The world is watching what happens next.
Hundreds of people spelled out the distress signal "SOS" on Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis on Friday, Jan. 30.
📷️ Provided by Jeff Schad
📷️ Provided by Jeff Schad
February 1, 2026 at 2:14 AM
And you are doing nothing to stop it!