James Ball

@jamesrball.com

Political editor @ The New World Opinion @ The i Paper Fellow @ Tech Policy Press Fellow @ Demos PhD researcher @ UCL Laws newsletter @ techtris Latest book: The Other Pandemic – How QAnon Contaminated The World. 🏳️‍🌈 https://www.jamesrball.com/

A gracious concession: “I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He is a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes Scholar, and a dedicated Michigander. I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election…

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A good thread on the slow rollout of GLP-1s to low-income Australians. It increasingly feels like one of the most effective health interventions of the 21st century is being slow-rolled because many people in public health across the world simply don't like its vibes.

Asher Wolf@asherwolf.bsky.social · 5h ago

Wegovy was recommended for listing on the PBS for people with prior serious adverse cardiovascular events over seven months ago. Now the landmark deal has stalled www.theaustralian.com.au/health/medic...

Israel's security – and perhaps its very survival – relies upon the closeness of its alliance with the USA. Over the last decade, Benjamin Netanyahu has made that alliance a partisan one with the Republican Party. The consequences of that may be about to bite.

Netanyahu’s to blame for his American nightmare – and it spells his doom

James Ball: The Israeli Prime Minister has played his hand well in Washington, but badly in the rest of America

inews.co.uk

"Netanyahu built his influence with Trump and his administration so assiduously that he helped lead the America First President into a new overseas war. The danger for him – and for Israel – is that he will now tumble, Icarus-like, into political irrelevance."

Netanyahu’s to blame for his American nightmare – and it spells his doom

James Ball: The Israeli Prime Minister has played his hand well in Washington, but badly in the rest of America

inews.co.uk

The opposite position would be more rational. If she really thinks this guy’s credentials are as exemplar of rehabilitation and can teach anti-extremism she should want him to have biggest platform. “It’s ok because he’d only be on potholes and bins” suggests less confidence in his conversion.

Ngl, I am a bit confused by open weight models being subject to *less* scrutiny than closed ones. Once an open weight model is out in the world, there's no pulling to back or tweaking it. That's not quite true of closed models. So…generally, you'd assume they'd get additional oversight.

Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 15h ago

"The White House told top tech companies Tuesday that it would exempt certain AI systems from its plans for government vetting of new AI models, giving free tools known as “open weight” models a pass and focusing scrutiny on the latest technology from leading US companies like OpenAI and Anthropic."

"The White House told top tech companies Tuesday that it would exempt certain AI systems from its plans for government vetting of new AI models, giving free tools known as “open weight” models a pass and focusing scrutiny on the latest technology from leading US companies like OpenAI and Anthropic."

White House will exempt ‘open’ AI systems from security review

Officials briefed tech companies Tuesday on a framework that would let officials vet cutting-edge systems for cybersecurity risks.

washingtonpost.com

The paperback of Invisible Rulers is out today! To celebrate I dropped audio of the Twitter Space where Mike Benz first groomed Matt Taibbi into believing there'd been "mass censorship" of "hundreds of millions of tweets"—something he'd then testify before Congress. open.substack.com/pub/agentsof...

When Matt Taibbi Met Mike Benz

How independent media turned an obscure political operative into a "whistleblower"—and his claims into government action.

open.substack.com

One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points: