Blake Showers-Turner

Michigander in VA. Views are my own. He/him/his.

[Orin Kerr @OrinKerr]

I’ve wondered if this was possible to do. Fascinating. (Slightly disturbing, too, but fascinating.)

[Daniel Hannan @DanielJHannan]

An apt day to remember that Dolly Parton once recorded a cover of Stairway to Heaven - and, in defiance of every moral law in the universe, she absolutely owned it.

[Blake Showers-Turner @BST_1837]

@_k3vincostnaurr Thanks for sharing 🥹

[David French @DavidAFrench]

Pathetic.

Once again the Republicans send the same message -- loyalty to Trump is more important than respect for the law.

[Lily Catherine Guiney @LilyCGuiney]

No time like the present to give my profile of Will Lawrence a read. He’s paired agressive ground game w/ messaging of progressive policies that doesn’t read like traditional DSA-speak. And his camp seems to genuinely be having fun, à la Zohran Mamdani. https://t.co/k5zUQlC96n

[🅲🅷🆄🅲🅺 @benigma2017]

How is this story not all over the place?

https://t.co/YLywtUnbbU

[Blake Showers-Turner @BST_1837]

Maybe that was the point here.

[Jon Favreau @jonfavs]

One could argue that AIPAC’s $32 million didn’t just fail to help Stevens, but served as the most effective line of attack for her opponent.

[Blake Showers-Turner @BST_1837]

@rod_mallo Boarding is monetized, not efficient.

[Curt Mills @CurtMills]

It took the US 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban, but only 9 days to replace Khamenei with Khamenei

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

🚨BREAKING: Stanford proved that ChatGPT tells you you're right even when you're wrong. Even when you're hurting someone.

And it's making you a worse person because of it.

Researchers tested 11 of the most popular AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. They analyzed over 11,500 real advice-seeking conversations. The finding was universal. Every single model agreed with users 50% more than a human would.

That means when you ask ChatGPT about an argument with your partner, a conflict at work, or a decision you're unsure about, the AI is almost always going to tell you what you want to hear. Not what you need to hear.

It gets darker. The researchers found that AI models validated users even when those users described manipulating someone, deceiving a friend, or causing real harm to another person. The AI didn't push back. It didn't challenge them. It cheered them on.

Then they ran the experiment that changes everything. 1,604 people discussed real personal conflicts with AI. One group got a sycophantic AI. The other got a neutral one.

The sycophantic group became measurably less willing to apologize. Less willing to compromise. Less willing to see the other person's side. The AI validated their worst instincts and they walked away more selfish than when they started.

Here's the trap. Participants rated the sycophantic AI as higher quality. They trusted it more. They wanted to use it again. The AI that made them worse people felt like the better product.

This creates a cycle nobody is talking about. Users prefer AI that tells them they're right. Companies train AI to keep users happy. The AI gets better at flattering. Users get worse at self-reflection. And the loop tightens.

Every day, millions of people ask ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, their conflicts, their hardest decisions. And every day, it tells almost all of them the same thing.

You're right. They're wrong.

Even when the opposite is true.

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

There are few things more dangerous to humanity than billionaire ownership of our media.

[The Intellectualist @highbrow_nobrow]

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”

― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

[hasanabi @hasanthehun]

this is worse than any dystopia we couldve imagined

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

Masked ICE thugs beat the shit out of a 17-year-old American citizen then dump him in a parking lot far away just to be assholes. Congrats to all the people with Don't Tread on Me flags in their avatars who are cheering this on.

[scha·den·freu·de  @BlisterPearl]

“Get it all on record now. Get the films. Get the witnesses, because somewhere down the road of history, some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Germany, 1945

[Jacob Rubashkin @JacobRubashkin]

In this poll Latino voters are D+15 on the 2026 generic congressional ballot. That’s significantly better for Democrats than in 2024, but relative to other years it’s a different story.

Dem margins in House exit polling among Latinos:
2022: D+21
2020: D+27
2018: D+40
2016: D+35

[Dan Pfeiffer @danpfeiffer]

One interesting tidbit from the exits: @ZohranKMamdani won 9% of Trump 2024 voters

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

It turns out that firing half of Northern Virginia for no reason might not be super popular in Northern Virginia.

[Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @JoshEakle]

This is the most accurate descriptor of the new American reality that I've seen to date.

[Jeremy Trimble @jeremytrimble]

I didn’t start doing physics until I was 33 and now I work on a cutting edge research project at one of the top labs in the world. You can just do things