Ali Breland

Writing about the internet, politics, etc. @TheAtlantic. Encrypted chat:

[Ben Smith @semaforben]

I wrote about the new generation in Washington, DC https://t.co/QSV7DPWYNl

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

My personal favorite of the genre is this classic one from 2019 about F-35 pilots

[Jeffrey Goldberg @JeffreyGoldberg]

"In multiple rallies, Trump has gone on and on about the relative hotness of male politicians, soldiers, and even protesters. As a result, people on the internet have diagnosed him with a novel medical condition: gay dementia." From @helenlewis:
https://t.co/DpVlmRDbZa

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

@meridithmcgraw Not at all! I had hoped a $50 million roster would work better than this

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

Just got service for the first time today. This shit sucks so badly. How did he get a 20 QBR? Did he try to eat the ball of the middle of the game??

[dylan @narrenhut]

This is just like what that French guy Boulderyard talked about… Beauregard…. There’s a referent and uh another thing and they get all mixed up I believe. He talked about this in his book. Balltheguard

[Lauren Oyler @laurenoyler]

You guys need to stop engaging with that AI woman blogger who writes LinkedIn-style posts about literature in the tone of an amateur writing workshop teacher who visited Dimes Square during her big trip to New York City

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

This sucks

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

Easy. Didn't even need all nine spots

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

TV is bad, and you should almost never watch it

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

Snobbing out — television is mostly slop, go read a book!

https://t.co/FpGYeosu5q

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

"Everyone who does better than me is a humorless, gormless striver, and everyone who does worse is a dysgenic miscreant who deserves their lot in life."

Fwiw, this was also among the rationale used to discriminate against Jewish people in the U.S., especially before WWII

[wanye @xwanyex]

“You don’t study for the spelling bee” is a deep and important aspect of American culture. I was at a baseball game discussing some young players with a buddy one time and he said to me offhandedly, “hard work is fine, but nothing beats talent.”

Americans have this sort of sense that there’s something a little off about working really hard to get good at something that you’re not naturally good at. You’re never really going to be on the same level as the guy who has a natural talent. We have room in our hearts for scrappy little guys who work hard, but we are by default suspicious of grinders and strivers.

If you were really meant to do it, then you’d be naturally good at it. You sign your kids up for little league, but you don’t take it too seriously unless they show remarkable early talent.

Yes, this sounds sort of ridiculous if you take it too literally. No, nobody is saying that there’s any kind of practical test for this or that anybody should be excluded because we found out that they secretly studied too hard.

But this is a part of American culture. And if you can’t understand it, then that just marks you out as foreign to that culture to an even greater degree.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Trump: "I take an aspirin a day. I don't know if it works but psychologically I need it. It thins the hell out of your blood I guess. I don't know if it works or not but I've been doing it for a long time. And here I am making speeches. I like Bayer aspirin. And I take the big one. They want me to go down to the 80. I take the 386. I don't know what the hell it is. It's a monster. They said, 'Sir, you don't need that!' I said, do me a favor, I've been doing okay for 35 years. Leave me alone."

[Jeremy Gordon @jeremypgordon]

I wrote about the movie of the season, and the ongoing mystery of other people https://t.co/ia2JsnsRen

[Max Abelson @maxabelson]

NEW: The biggest trading firm is so secretive it has no CEO or board of directors. Jane Street’s dominance means its leaders matter across the world, so we spent months trying to figure out who’s who. Here’s a gift link. Please read and share it

https://t.co/nQoLAoYy6D

[Matt Viser @mviser]

NEW: John Fetterman has been working with GOP fundraising consultants to raise money. After losing his Democratic firm, the Pennsylvania senator found a new one with MAGA-world ties. An inside look w/@michaelscherer “It has been doing crazy numbers for us” https://t.co/pSgsQG3CXR

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

@cigarettetax A colleague has a pair. I want em but I fear my feet are too thicc and wide

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

funko pops >>>> louise bourgeois. don't @ me

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

Really good observation/characterization from @alexisohanian on @tbpn

[Eamon Whalen @EamonWhalen]

I wrote about Nick Shirley, the Trump administration’s most loyal foot soldier in the war on fraud, for @NYMag

https://t.co/KwpOzjs9d9

[Ken Bensinger @kenbensinger]

Content creators were paid $1.50/1,000 clicks to boost Ron DeSantis in a recent clipping campaign. The main rule was "can't make Ron look bad."

It one among a growing number of low-cost, high-volume social media plays that is changing the way political influence is wielded. 1/

[Ali Breland @alibreland]

Bronze Age Pervert also complains about this. Calls it "the longhouse."

[Nobody Knows Anything @NKAnythingPod]

.@PeterHamby asks if Democrats have a "girls and gays issue", where there are too few straight men "in the room."

HAMBY: "I just think you need a guy on staff who plays fantasy football."

[The Atlantic Communications @TheAtlanticPR]

Statement from The Atlantic: