Brian Beutler

NEW: Transgender Texas Student Union has retained counsel in response to the Travis County filing related to the fake transgender mailers. It's Chris Hilton, who previously worked for Ken Paxton at the Texas Attorney General's office and left temporarily to defend Paxton in his impeachment trial.

For the fabulously wealthy, paying taxes is pretty much optional. They can borrow against their vast wealth, which is mostly an untaxed capital gain, without paying taxes. When they die, the capital gain goes to zero. And loopholes exist to bypass the estate tax too.

Here's the excerpt I think @kyledcheney.bsky.social meant to append:

“Republicans assert that they should be exempt from our laws as they collapse the American order; it generates immense public backlash; yet the people vying to harness the outrage for political ends say it’s a referendum on high prices” www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

I dont know if it's because they love republicans and want them to win but holy crap is this an embarrassment. the equivalent of reckless disregard in terms of journalism fuck ups. Just the simplest damn googling.

They appropriated Cheesecake-American identity all for nothing.

[me, if I were a Republican] how dare my opponent insult factory workers

RIDES! A huge amount RIDES on the story we tell about why elections turn out the way they do.

When Republicans assert that they'll be immune from accountability even in defeat, and Dems say it's a distraction from prices, it's like watching a computer play chess—maybe "right" on a scoring system. But fully drained of the moral force that drives politics. www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

Republicans simply asserted Trump won to make huge changes to the constitutional order. It was a ruse. Yet everybody acted as if it were true. Now voters are poised to repudiate self-dealing fascism. Do Dems really want to say it was about something more trivial? www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

It really is too bad that more high-profile Dems didn't come to Elissa Slotkin's defense last week. A huge amount rids on whether the narrative we propound about the election is 1) Dems won to hold Trump accountable or 2) Dems won because prices are too high. 🧵 www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the... absolutely — "affordability" in quotes and juxtaposed to a referendum on "king-like power and the unreviewable right to steer and pocket spoils; that he can take the country to war and antagonize trading partners without public support or legal authorization"

Republicans came at the king. They missed. They'll either be viewed as martyrs or traitors...or they'll just get away with all of their crimes against the Constitution. even in just how they talk about the election Dems have a huge say in which future awaits. www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

Yep. Every decision Democrats make about politics needs to at least factor this in. We’ve seen progress, but we also still see a lot of mind-numbing naïveté.

It's well-documented that the president maintained a years-long friendship with the world's most notorious child sex trafficker. It might strike you as odd there aren't direct allegations of Trump engaging in child sex trafficking.. except there are. There are SO MANY. They just never get reported!

@brianbeutler.bsky.social: "Successful elections aren’t only assemblages of talking points that poll well. They’re built on good storytelling; because through storytelling we can make better-than-educated guesses about how politics will change in the near future." /1

Read Greg’s piece first, but then read the letter he links from 172 Dems pushing back on the persecution of Omar. Read it carefully RE what it demands and doesn’t demand. jayapal.house.gov/wp-content/u...

@brianbeutler.bsky.social has been making this case for months. Too many Dem leaders still don’t get it. Say it loud: we’re going after the corruption. You won’t get away with abuse of laws and Constitution. Trump will not be king. Not saying it is a mistake. open.substack.com/pub/brianbeu...

Relatedly, such a critical point from @brianbeutler.bsky.social. Guess who DOESN'T want a D electoral victory to be interpreted as call for investigations/accountability for Trump's corruption/authoritarianism? Trump and Rs, that's who! Dems can't let that happen: www.offmessage.net/p/wheres-the...

“Ultimately what bugs me about Democratic Party politics—again, for years but acutely now, as they close—is that the counter-revolutionary fervor animating the public is muted in their story; the story they tell about why they’re seeking and being rewarded with power.” @brianbeutler.bsky.social

Brazil’s results tonight are a big endorsement for the idea that every country should have a second “are you you sure about that” election a couple weeks after the first one for the important stuff

In his acceptance speech, Lula says he will work to regulate digital platforms in Brazil. “Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” This comes after Meta directly interfered with the Brazilian elections, favouring Flávio Bolsonaro.

Liberal democracy remains a towering achievement of humanity and it is worth fighting for.

pretty clear evidence that republicans in the US losing any election going forward are going to always beg for a coup if they lose. lots of people will have to go to jail

One person does not want you to see this movie. But everyone else does.

This may shock you, but the far right Bolsonaro is a hypocritical piss-baby.

This is worth thinking about. Not everyone can be an AI expert. But everyone shouldn’t have to be. Decisions about what AI should do — and what it must not do — should be made democratically, not just by tech people with private financial interests to protect, argues @brianbeutler.bsky.social

The Ramaswamy campaign not only tried to capitalize on a child rape victim, they did it by using an old homeless woman who—while vile—is in no mental shape to adequately understand the stakes. And did they pay her? Either answer is bad.

One part that should be instructive: a BBC tech reporter didn't know what PHP is, so of course he didn't understand the how important this story was.

There was a global, five-alarm cybersecurity crisis this week triggered by A.I. MSM mostly ignored it. Political elites mostly ignored it. A.I. discourse continues to overindex on killer robots. This is a metaphor for the ludicrous concept of alignment. www.offmessage.net/p/artificial...

The question is: Why did Trump derail peace talks?

Susan Collins is falsely claiming she's won tariff exemptions, and media outlets are letting her get away with it. In fact, the admin is swapping some 50% tariffs for other 50% tariffs, as they did when they swapped out road salt. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

JUST POSTED: A Russian energy giant has secretly moved to acquire a position in a massive Alaska gas project. Its part of talks between Witkoff/Kushner & Putin. But CEO of US company resigns after learning of Russian money in the project. A wowzer of a story. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

The wrongful suspension of our account during the largest single-day early vote activation raises questions that cannot be answered simply by describing how an automated system operates.

The public concerns that prompted our original letter remain unresolved. Tens of millions of Americans rely on Meta's platforms to organize, communicate, receive election information, and talk to their friends and family.

This gets the risks we face correct and identifies how incompetent and misaligned political leadership is exposing us in all spheres.

Brian with my thoughts exactly on this week.

There was a global, five-alarm cybersecurity crisis this week triggered by A.I. MSM mostly ignored it. Political elites mostly ignored it. A.I. discourse continues to overindex on killer robots. This is a metaphor for the ludicrous concept of alignment. www.offmessage.net/p/artificial...

We Are The Alignment Problem A.I. is on the brink of triggering catastrophe and the people who should be most concerned with preventing it are distracted, or engaged in malign neglect. @brianbeutler.bsky.social #AI open.substack.com/pub/brianbeu...

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Six sept.