Um, Hillary, you might want to wake up and smell your district

Thomas HD@degolierthomas.bsky.social · 6h ago

Hillary Scholten certainly provided us with a statement.

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…

@abdulelsayed.bsky.social triumphing over something like $60 million, $32-ish million of it AIPAC money, is not a "narrow" victory, it's a people's earthquake. This kind of spending is oligarchy in action, to smother democracy through its formal channels, and is getting normalized. Still he won.

Public libraries and librarians are a national treasure, and one of the best examples of applied socialism (complimentary)

Matthew J Kuiper@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · last wk.

“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 to the rescue… again!

jessamyn@librarian.bsky.social · 5d ago

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Thank you, Michigan. I love you from the bottom of my heart!

We laid mom (or her earthly tent) to rest yesterday after three days of sad, but also beautiful remembrance, reconnection with loved ones, and celebration of her life of courage & faith. She's buried under a beautiful maple tree in a cemetery not far from where I work...

Matthew J Kuiper@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2w ago

I lost my dear mom yesterday. My dad, brothers, & I were with her when she passed. Despite many health struggles, she was the best, our greatest & most unconditional supporter, first teacher, a good friend, terrific grandma, devout Christian, & talented musician. Heartbroken, but glad she’s at rest.

Personally, I like the odds between one party that went with “safe“ and thoroughly “establishment“ (Rogers is actually a wealthy Maga in everyman’s clothing) and the other that went with bold and daring.

Matthew J Kuiper@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 9h ago

Well it looks like Michigan’s senatorial election this Nov is all set between fresh, exciting, good ideas and stale, been there done that

Well it looks like Michigan’s senatorial election this Nov is all set between fresh, exciting, good ideas and stale, been there done that

Okay, I will now officially entertain all your stunningly insightful takes on El-Sayed’s win

"As [AI] becomes ubiquitous, it undermines not only our individual ability to write but also a society’s collective ability to reason, a culture’s inner capacity to create and everyone’s reason to care."

Matthew J Kuiper@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 20h ago

Many of us have been saying… Refusing to write with/by AI is absolutely a necessary “act of resistance against an ever-dumber world” (not to mention against the tech companies and powers that want to make us pliable, unthinking slaves)

“discovered notebooks” has to be the phrase of the day

Donovan Schaefer@feelingtheory.bsky.social · yesterday

Thinking about the student who came to my office at the end of last semester and said "Thank you for making us use notebooks in this class. I'm so glad I discovered notebooks. Notebooks are powerful."

Thinking about the student who came to my office at the end of last semester and said "Thank you for making us use notebooks in this class. I'm so glad I discovered notebooks. Notebooks are powerful."

Jonathan W. Gray@elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 2d ago

Require students to take notes in a notebook unless they have a specific accommodation. Tell them that the notebook will be part of their final grade, that the 2nd to last day of class will be notebook review with students getting btwn 5-20 points added to their grade based on it.

Really quite shocked that that El-Sayed did much better (percentage-wise) in Kent and friggin Ottawa counties than in Macomb, Oakland, and esp Wayne counties.

Many of us have been saying… Refusing to write with/by AI is absolutely a necessary “act of resistance against an ever-dumber world” (not to mention against the tech companies and powers that want to make us pliable, unthinking slaves)

Opinion | I’m Begging You: Never Write With A.I. (Gift Article)

It’s bad for your brain and worse for democracy.

nytimes.com

all right the discourse about Michigan and its voters is already tiresome, half of you have never been there nor could you define "Metro Detroit," take it easy

Dang right I did

AI is not conscious and is not a being. It is the product of human beings who need to be faced with the responsibility of their experiment on us.

An absolute must (but be warned, deeply disturbing) read. Incredible reporting by @markfollman.bsky.social Bring all your booster-ish arguments, and I’ve got one reply: there are no “benefits”, real or potential, that can ever outweigh the terrible harms of these deathbots.

Mother Jones@motherjones.com · yesterday

“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder.” Our new investigation uncovers disturbing ChatGPT conversations with the accused Florida State mass shooter, including about brutally violent sex, how to get media attention for killing, and more.

Correction: it turns out, at least this year, that the GOP and Democratic primary options appear on the same ballot, in two columns. You still have to choose one one or the other. But you can make your final decision (or prolong the agony) in the booth itself. 

I agree. The way I often put it is that, done right, study and education *liberalizes*, not in a pre-determined, ideological sense, but in the sense of complicating (with the force of facts, truth & seeing from multiple perspectives) the facile binaries and narratives that serve the powerful.

Evan Torner@guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 2d ago

The far right accurately perceives that truth and inquiry have a heavily left-leaning bias, so they wanna put their thumbs on the scales so hard that they bend or break US higher ed, both desirable outcomes for them.

Well, at least it was for a completely lawless and pointless cause.

CNBC@cnbc.com · 2d ago

U.S. has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war: Reuters

“sharply anti-Israel” is an editorializing choice that aipac very much would approve in this otherwise good reporting. Full article gift link below. I guess that now, calmly explaining indisputable facts about a nation state’s indisputable policies and actions makes one “sharply anti-…”

“…as academics, perhaps the most radical thing we can do is our job itself. How can anybody in their right mind notice the growing damage to universities and instead of stand against this, facilitate the destruction of expertise, of learning skills, and of academic integrity?“

This is so good in giving eloquent voice to what so many of us are feeling, and in providing a clarion call to not give in no matter what.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 3d ago

If useful, here's my attempt to process my feelings about how I feel sadly kinda — or rather very — sick from all this AI fascist nonsense as an academic. 😶‍🌫️ I'd be pleased if even one person finds something useful because there's something to be said for processing this all together, so, um, enjoy?

This is basically catnip for me.

Unofficial CTV News Mirror@ctvnews-mirror.bsky.social · 3d ago

AI-assisted staging draws boos at the Richard Wagner festival in Germany

Two-year postdoc at Dartmouth in Religious Studies, specializing in South Asian Religions. Deadline: September 16, 2026

Teaching about religion in America, or just interested in the topic? Check out this great new open-access resource, edited by Joseph L. Locke and Ben Wright.

In a q&a he did on the Good Faith podcast back in March, he does criticize Israel, and Evangelical support for Israel. It’s not something I’ve heard him do often though.

He’s an interesting figure because he’s sincere in wanting to be a dissident voice for the evangelical Christianity he *wishes* existed, but he can’t maintain the contradictions when it comes to Israel on those terms so he just avoids it.