“The litigation has revealed a clear pattern: Uber’s lawyers scour women’s private communications, medical records, therapy notes …They grill the women about those issues, their sex lives and their behavior on the night of the incident.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/b...

Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’

The ride-hailing giant promised to handle legal claims “in a way that is best for the survivor.” Its lawyers are pursuing a far more aggressive strategy.

nytimes.com

This is somehow being touted as a robust response to the many logistical, safety, environmental, and surveillance problems these robotaxis posed. It is NOT. Mullen's legislation basically just attempts to address emergency situations (of which there are many). www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

San Francisco mayor backs national robotaxi rules after Waymo meltdowns

July 4 traffic jams and power outage malfunctions have prompted public scrutiny of self-driving cars in the tech-industry town.

politico.com

“House Republican leaders must then decide whether to take up the Senate funding patch, which contains a significant rebuke of President Donald Trump — a temporary ban on finalizing the White House proposal to put political appointees in charge of approving grants.” www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul

Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.

politico.com

Rest in Power to Johanna Fernández, leading historian of NYC amsterdamnews.com/news/2026/08...

Johanna Fernández, Young Lords historian and prison abolitionist, makes her transition

Dr. Johanna Fernández, the Dominican American historian, prison abolitionist, and movement scholar, died on July 30.

amsterdamnews.com

Not clear what's behind this, but the Home Office did roll out two generative AI tools to the asylum system this year - despite an evaluation finding they produced serious errors in 1 in 10 cases: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Home Office used ‘AI hallucinated’ information to refuse asylum claim, judge suggests

Upper tribunal unable to find document cited in case and claims it is ‘analogous to relying on bogus evidence’

theguardian.com

“As a librarian, I think it’s important to see this as…helping people reclaim their autonomy over whether they want to use AI tools,” Bailey said. “It’s important, especially when it can be so difficult not to use them, and when the design seems to force adoption” Librarians to the rescue (again)

Librarians are hosting viral 'Avoiding AI' workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech | TechCrunch

At libraries around the country, "Avoiding AI" workshops have elicited unprecedented demand.

techcrunch.com

White House science policy captured headlines this week, with the announcement of awards for its flagship AI program, Congressional hearings, and a Vannevar Bush-esque report "Science: A New Golden Age." We fashioned the news into one big story—incl. key updates at NSF. Reported w/ Kaia Glickman:

White House rolls out AI funding — and signals a new era for US science

Chief US science adviser calls for a shakeup in funding while handing out grants to accelerate research with AI.

nature.com

"We found that at least 150 institutions of higher ed... are using Flock’s surveillance network.. many campus police departments have facilitated immigration related investigations, even when they are located in sanctuary states and are legally prohibited from doing so" by @torinmonahan.bsky.social

Flock on campus: university police as appendages of a national policing apparatus

Dangerous new forms of networked surveillance are gaining traction with police departments across the United States. One popular example is Flock Safety’s Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR)...

doi.org

Abbie Boggs with a super helpful thread on why the 4.5 year limit on student visas will be disastrous for PhD students, and the history of international students within federal immigration policy. (Abbie’s book Degrees of Empire is out this year! Preorder it now! fordhampress.com/degrees-of-e...)

Degrees of Empire - Abigail Boggs

A sweeping history of how noncitizen students shaped U.S. universitiesFrom colonial missionary schools to the globalized university of the twentieth century, U.S. higher education has long depended on...

fordhampress.com

Abbie Boggs@abbieboggs.bsky.social · 2w ago

On 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/

“Sooner or later, elite schools are going to realize that an analog education carries more prestige than an AI-assisted one & will retool their curricula..to reflect that prejudice. This has .. already happened with screens in elementary and secondary education” hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-f...

listening to @veenadubal.bsky.social talk to @alixdunn.com about "gamblification" of labour www.themaybe.org/podcast/the-...

The Gig is Up: How Uber Ruined Wage Labor with Veena Dubal

Veena Dubal shares with us her firsthand account of the Uberization of everything from the beginning to now.

themaybe.org

I am so happy that Netanyahu and Milei are mad and feeling like the losers they are.

On the streets of Salvador, I saw an iFood delivery courier who had been hit, bleeding to death on the ground. Today, may be his last day. This happens everyday, all over the world. And these companies want to disclaim all responsibility. Bless him and his family. May there be justice one day.

In 2013, taxi drivers began noticing something unusual: unmarked, black cars were cutting them off in taxi lines and picking up their passengers. Little did they know, those black cars were the start of Uber — and that it wasn’t just going to destroy the taxi industry, but wage labor as we knew it.

Take off your shoes and mosey on over to the stove, ladies…where we belong. 🙄

ACLU@aclu.org · 3w ago

The same Trump allies who fought to exclude trans girls from sports are now working to limit athletic opportunities for all women and girls. This isn't a coincidence.

A major legislative package that would put into law President Donald Trump’s push to greatly reduce the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Education advanced out of a U.S. House panel on Wednesday, reports Shauneen Miranda.

US House Republicans take ‘first step’ toward dismantling Department of Education • West Virginia Watch

A major legislative package that would greatly reduce the responsibilities of the Education Department advanced out of a U.S. House panel.

westvirginiawatch.com

Netanyahu says he supporting Argentina in the World Cup.

Fight like a professor! Or better yet, like professors fighting together for academic freedom, shared governance, free higher education, and against contingency. @aaup.org

I endorse all calls to not use AI. But I don’t think that’s the most effective pressure point. AI isn’t becoming ubiquitous because people suddenly prefer machine-generated text or images to human writing or art. It’s becoming ubiquitous because…

Springfield, OH hate crime. Haitian father shot driving his kids to church. "They said he was going to give someone a ride and 'they just shot him. I don’t know why.'" Consequences of hate from our gov't. www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/crime/... @gregsargent.bsky.social @jimswift.bsky.social

911 calls: Haitian father shot in head while driving children to church in Springfield

A man who was shot in the head in his car on the south side of Springfield Sunday, July 5, appeared to have been on his way to church with

springfieldnewssun.com

Instagram has decided that women in their 40s are a growth market for health anxiety. My feed is nonstop MAHA ads about belly fat, cortisol, inflammation, and “stimulating the vagus nerve.”

For Lord’s sake, can’t we have one joyful thing without him corrupting it, too.

100 years ago.

Rafael M Batista@rafmbatista.bsky.social · last mo.

Patriot front marching from Union Station right now. White supremacist and neo-fascist organization. Cowards.

Proud to announce our HARDSHIP FUND: uvw-cwa.org/hardship-fun... If you've been recently laid off and need support, we got you.

Area woman, a vocal critic of unbridled nationalism, feels unexpected surge of patriotism for Mexico, amidst the country’s World Cup wins. 🤷🏾‍♀️

“As Trump himself shrinks + melts, his attn has turned twd projects he can oversee by looking out his window… The work of governance means terraforming reality so that it more closely resembles its own incoherent fantasies—ghoulish AI regurgitations;… big white monuments and big white families…”

Immigration attorney put on watchlist, per this article. www.sfchronicle.com/us-world/art...

Exclusive: Immigration attorney stopped and searched at SFO, told by DHS he was on ‘watch list’

An advocate said the Oakland man may be the first immigration attorney to be detained for a non-random secondary screening at an airport since President Trump took office.

sfchronicle.com

Another Waymo robot drove either all the way through or very deeply into a road construction site, so it prob didn't know it had exited ODD and needed to stop immediately and call telop. OP: tiktok.shrimpdumpling67, prob LA area

This Waymo robot drove through the entire length of the fresh pavement, strongly implying it didn't know it had exited its ODD, which is the #1 requirement for any ADS. This is an ADAS quality system operating as ADS, IMO. "don't get in front of it" Wise advice. Also Arizona. OP: x.Cyber_Trailer

More Waymo robots driving into & around in pavement/construction sites, which are different errors that together are why Waymo had to pull their robots from freeways. This is the first drop off but fourth video of a Waymo robot driving into his fresh pavement by OP: tiktok.ronniemanes4, Arizona