Seth Cotlar
@sethcotlar.bsky.social
Teaches US History at Willamette Univ. Working on a book about the long history of the US Right. https://rightlandia.ghost.io/
It perfectly encapsulates what Twitter has become that the main topic of conversation there this morning is this AI-written post by Matt Shumer, an AI hype man who’d been busted previously for lying about what his company’s product can do.
Surely, the author of the “AI is an existential threat to the economy and your wellbeing, and the only solution is to use more AI immediately, please” has no financial incentive in making people believe that. Now to take a big sip of my coffee and check out his bio…
February 11, 2026 at 3:52 PM
It perfectly encapsulates what Twitter has become that the main topic of conversation there this morning is this AI-written post by Matt Shumer, an AI hype man who’d been busted previously for lying about what his company’s product can do.
Sounds like a made up story behind a new concept album by The Modern Lovers.
‘Georgescu’s political programme is based on the need to heal Romania by creating a synthetic medieval country, agrarian, artisanal, patriarchal, self-sufficient in organic food, purged of chemicals, purged of modernity, purged of everything and everyone he dislikes.’
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Far-Right Wellness Product: Romania’s Far Right
Călin Georgescu’s entire political programme, in so far as he has one, is based on the need to heal Romania by...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Sounds like a made up story behind a new concept album by The Modern Lovers.
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years
February 11, 2026 at 3:43 AM
A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
“what we’re witnessing is…on the scale of the larger concentration camp systems in history—the Soviet Gulag, the Nazi concentration camps, & Chinese labor camps…The admin is actively aspiring to a system of that magnitude to reshape society to its racial, political & cultural prefs for generations”
When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.
Building the camps
The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:40 AM
“what we’re witnessing is…on the scale of the larger concentration camp systems in history—the Soviet Gulag, the Nazi concentration camps, & Chinese labor camps…The admin is actively aspiring to a system of that magnitude to reshape society to its racial, political & cultural prefs for generations”
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
This is the second time an ICE employee has been arrested in in a Bloomington, MN underage sex trafficking sting www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Police in Bloomington, MN just announced that one of the guys they arrested in an underage sex trafficking sting was a **background checker for ICE agents.**
He had a high security clearance in the Trump administration... and he was caught trying to abuse children. Sickening.
He had a high security clearance in the Trump administration... and he was caught trying to abuse children. Sickening.
February 10, 2026 at 9:26 PM
This is the second time an ICE employee has been arrested in in a Bloomington, MN underage sex trafficking sting www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
this may draw a lot of mockery On Here but it's true, the u.s. build a mount everest of soft power that it is now in the process of burning to ashes
people born in america probably don’t realize how cool america used to be. the death of US soft power is going to have long term consequences we are only beginning to see
February 10, 2026 at 3:26 PM
this may draw a lot of mockery On Here but it's true, the u.s. build a mount everest of soft power that it is now in the process of burning to ashes
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
in a text string after the shooting, a fellow agent told Exum he's a "legend"
"Beers on me"
"Beers on me"
February 10, 2026 at 11:46 PM
in a text string after the shooting, a fellow agent told Exum he's a "legend"
"Beers on me"
"Beers on me"
I don’t know who this guy is, but he makes a good point about how important the rule of law and due process are. Imagine if a government agency dramatically disrupted an innocent person’s life without following all of the proper procedures. This guy would be outraged I’m sure.
February 10, 2026 at 11:43 PM
I don’t know who this guy is, but he makes a good point about how important the rule of law and due process are. Imagine if a government agency dramatically disrupted an innocent person’s life without following all of the proper procedures. This guy would be outraged I’m sure.
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
Before Elon bought Twitter, this is the sort of pathetic shit American Nazis had to do to get noticed by the general public. Now they have hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter and lucrative Substack accounts.
February 10, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Before Elon bought Twitter, this is the sort of pathetic shit American Nazis had to do to get noticed by the general public. Now they have hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter and lucrative Substack accounts.
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
Hey, Bluesky history nerds! Who are your favorite pre-modern historians on here?
February 10, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Hey, Bluesky history nerds! Who are your favorite pre-modern historians on here?
Jesus has an opportunity to do the funniest thing, while also making a fucking killing on Polymarket.
February 10, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Jesus has an opportunity to do the funniest thing, while also making a fucking killing on Polymarket.
Well, I was feelin' sad & kinda blue
I didn't know what I was gonna do
Them communists was comin' around
They was in the air
They was on the ground
They was all over
So, I run down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
I went back home to the yard
I didn't know what I was gonna do
Them communists was comin' around
They was in the air
They was on the ground
They was all over
So, I run down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
I went back home to the yard
Rep Mark Alford (R-MO) says House Rs are "investigating" Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show & talking with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Alford says he didn't watch the whole thing & also doesn't know Spanish but suspects it might have been "much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction"
February 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Well, I was feelin' sad & kinda blue
I didn't know what I was gonna do
Them communists was comin' around
They was in the air
They was on the ground
They was all over
So, I run down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
I went back home to the yard
I didn't know what I was gonna do
Them communists was comin' around
They was in the air
They was on the ground
They was all over
So, I run down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
I went back home to the yard
The Christian Nationalist MAGA college run by Larry Arnn, a Founder of the Claremont Institute and longtime trustee of the Heritage Foundation, asks the question few are brave enough to ask, How has “the left” been able to make American politics so darn radical lately?
February 10, 2026 at 4:46 PM
The Christian Nationalist MAGA college run by Larry Arnn, a Founder of the Claremont Institute and longtime trustee of the Heritage Foundation, asks the question few are brave enough to ask, How has “the left” been able to make American politics so darn radical lately?
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.
www.404media.co
February 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
The latest from YouGov (n ~ 7k) gives me some methodological concerns. They allowed people to rate their pun making as "outstanding" but, statistically, most are sitting indoors at the time
today.yougov.com/topics/socie...
today.yougov.com/topics/socie...
February 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
The latest from YouGov (n ~ 7k) gives me some methodological concerns. They allowed people to rate their pun making as "outstanding" but, statistically, most are sitting indoors at the time
today.yougov.com/topics/socie...
today.yougov.com/topics/socie...
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that gambling was the second-highest service-sector industry for GDP growth between 2019 and 2024, behind only software publishing."
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Very annoyed at the people who decided to open the floodgates to online sports betting, it is absolutely a scourge. Great piece from Gabrielle Gurley on people spending hours a day on these predatory apps.
The Scourge of Online Sports Betting - The American Prospect
States and leagues must face up to the damage from app-based gambling for the next generation of bettors, most of them young men.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:55 PM
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that gambling was the second-highest service-sector industry for GDP growth between 2019 and 2024, behind only software publishing."
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Tucker and his JV knock offs (like this Rick Dancer guy, who is a right wing influencer in Montana/Oregon) have moved on to the "Pizzagate was real" talking point. It's 95% engagement rage bait and 5% inciting unwell people to contemplate violent retribution against "them."
February 9, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Tucker and his JV knock offs (like this Rick Dancer guy, who is a right wing influencer in Montana/Oregon) have moved on to the "Pizzagate was real" talking point. It's 95% engagement rage bait and 5% inciting unwell people to contemplate violent retribution against "them."
From this point forward, when Trump plays YMCA at one of his events we shall refer to it as "Panican at the Disco."
February 9, 2026 at 10:20 PM
From this point forward, when Trump plays YMCA at one of his events we shall refer to it as "Panican at the Disco."
Amazon prime, but for human beings.
February 9, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Amazon prime, but for human beings.
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
% of White evangelicals who are extremely/very confident that Donald Trump acts ethically in office 📉
55% in early 2025
40% in early 2026
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
55% in early 2025
40% in early 2026
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
February 9, 2026 at 8:52 PM
% of White evangelicals who are extremely/very confident that Donald Trump acts ethically in office 📉
55% in early 2025
40% in early 2026
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
55% in early 2025
40% in early 2026
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
I don't have a publicist, therefore I am the publicist. New website for my forthcoming book. Please especially check out the Author Q&A at the end of the page (Why did i write the book? Who's it for?. Journos, pod-casters, museums can find my contact info & how to obtain a bound review copy. 1/
Book - Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship — Anna O. Law
www.annaolaw.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:02 PM
I don't have a publicist, therefore I am the publicist. New website for my forthcoming book. Please especially check out the Author Q&A at the end of the page (Why did i write the book? Who's it for?. Journos, pod-casters, museums can find my contact info & how to obtain a bound review copy. 1/
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
This is easily the hardest thing I've ever had to write.
I Had a Dream Journalism Job. Here's Why I Quit.
The rot that hollowed out trust in corporate media finally reached OPB. I had to go.
westernedgemedia.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:58 PM
This is easily the hardest thing I've ever had to write.
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
They tried to warn us about Trump? Gosh, then I bet they all voted for Harris in 2024, right? right?
Huh. Well whadya know. Three out of 25 voted for Harris. Mangu-Ward didn’t vote at all.
reason.com/2024/10/17/h...
Huh. Well whadya know. Three out of 25 voted for Harris. Mangu-Ward didn’t vote at all.
reason.com/2024/10/17/h...
How are Reason staffers voting in 2024?
Who we vote for is a highly imperfect measure of our biases, but it's one we're happy to share every election cycle in the spirit of transparency.
reason.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:15 PM
They tried to warn us about Trump? Gosh, then I bet they all voted for Harris in 2024, right? right?
Huh. Well whadya know. Three out of 25 voted for Harris. Mangu-Ward didn’t vote at all.
reason.com/2024/10/17/h...
Huh. Well whadya know. Three out of 25 voted for Harris. Mangu-Ward didn’t vote at all.
reason.com/2024/10/17/h...
Reposted by Seth Cotlar
ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...