Big new release of my LLM CLI tool and Python library for talking to hundreds of different LLMs - reasoning traces, OpenAI Responses support, server-side tools, smarter logging and a whole lot more simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/4/n...

New release of LLM adds support for reasoning traces, OpenAI Responses, server-side tools, and smarter logging

I released LLM 0.32 this morning, the most significant new version of LLM since the initial launch of the project. The new version includes support for visible reasoning traces, server-side …

simonwillison.net

It's almost as if students have their own minds!

Jonathan Ladd@jonathanmladd.com · yesterday

Study: Students get more liberal during college, but it has no detectable relationship to the subject they study or the partisanship of their professors. micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...

Robberies in Prince George's County, MD, are down nearly 50% compared to the same point in 2025, according to official police stats. That's pretty remarkable, if the figures are accurate. newsappsumd.github.io/pgcrime/

Not even sure how to interpret the hand-written notes here, tbh

OpenElections@openelections.bsky.social · 2d ago

Precinct results from the 2026 primary election in Sumter County, Alabama:

Some notes on contributing to the OpenElections project by @dwillis.bsky.social – I did a few rounds of contributions to MI & PA 2024 election data early last year and we’re about to have another national mid-term elections. How can we get ahead of the new PDFs? medium.com/@michalmigur...

Weeknotes, 2026W30: Feeding Elections Data To The Models

I fell off the wagon since last posting in April, working on (among other things) new stuff with the team at Cmpnd. DSPy just hits its…

medium.com

Maybe this is what my dad meant when he said the Army put English majors in the infantry?

Ian TB@iantb.bsky.social · 2d ago

Well, crowdsourcing a war plan is certainly a first: www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...

I'd like to see a retrospective version of this for the personal computer, the mainframe computer, and the telephone.

Nieman Lab@niemanlab.org · 2d ago

Eight Pulitzer Prize awardees — 5 winners and 3 finalists — acknowledged using AI in their reporting process this year. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/a-re...

> Some articles also cite unnamed sources that don’t look like they came from the AI agent. Usually this is an unnamed Republican Senate staffer, operative, or strategist, in multiple cases described as “close to Senate leadership.” 👀👀👀 www.modelrepublic.org/articles/the...

The reporters at this news site are AI bots. OpenAI’s super PAC appears to be funding it. - Model Republic

An interview request from a bot posing as a reporter revealed an AI-generated news site with articles attacking AI industry critics. For the second time this month, we found links to Targeted Victory,...

modelrepublic.org

Concert review: America is good because Weird Al is great.

I’m given very little time to practice www.pbump.com/projects/gol...

Trump Property & Golf Tracker — Philip Bump

An ongoing accounting of days President Trump has spent at his own golf clubs and hotels during his second term, and how often he's likely played golf.

pbump.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Trump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a 70, & am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, bc I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it”

The Monkey Cage with wisdom from the grave: www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-...

Putin wins at hockey! Mao swims the Yangtze! And other amazing feats of authoritarian prowess

Or, 5 things you need to know about authoritarian leaders' dubious sporting achievements.

washingtonpost.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Trump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a 70, & am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, bc I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it”

Dammit.

eileen chengyin chow@chowleen.bsky.social · 4d ago

"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week." -Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925)

If this is a real issue for congressional staffing, there should be some signals in House expenditure data, which you can get here: thescoop.org/house-expend...

Politico@politico.com · 4d ago

Republican Party veterans are concerned that the pipeline of young GOP talent is veering off course — and into terminally online extremism. “We have a generation of rabid, incompetent idiots,” one senior GOP congressional staffer said.

Everytime I run this analysis, I’m always blown away by how much Pete Buttigieg is spending on fundraising and list building right now. He’s the fifth largest spender on Facebook & Instagram ads linking to ActBlue right now and isn’t currently running for anything

Andrew Arenge@mrarenge.bsky.social · 4d ago

Top spenders on ActBlue linking Meta ads so far in 2026: James Talarico - $6.9M DNC/DCCC - $6.2M Jon Ossoff - $4.3M State + Local Election Alliance - $1.9M Pete Buttigieg - $1.7M Graham Platner - $1.2M Annie Andrews - $1.1M Alexander Vindman- $1.1M Mallory McMorrow - $1M Abdul El-Sayed - $1M

Went down a coal mine today, perhaps the best single argument for unions ever.

Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

Talarico is polling better vs. Paxton than Beto O'Rourke (D) ever did in his close 2018 defeat vs. Sen. Ted Cruz (R). #TXSen From April-July 2018, Cruz led every poll vs O'Rourke. But Paxton has only led 3 of 12 surveys in the same period of 2026. More: decisiondeskhq.substack.com/p/james-tala...

Congrats to @propublicaguild.org on their first contract: www.propublicaguild.org/updates/prop...

ProPublica Guild Ratifies First Contract — ProPublica Guild

Members of the ProPublica Guild, which represents more than 150 workers across the nonprofit investigative newsroom, overwhelmingly voted to ratify our first contract on Friday, exactly three years si...

propublicaguild.org

#evergreen

Zander Furnas@alexanderfurnas.com · 6d ago

its complicated!

When you copy the YouTube transcript into your [pause] fundraising email.

Inaccurate portrayals of congressional procedure in TV and movies.

Sanjay Srivastava@sanjaysrivastava.com · 6d ago

What is an extremely nerdy/obscure/specific thing you hate with a white-hot wrath?

A teaser of my next congressional data project: House CODELS!

Google added the ability to add images to Google Earth via an LLM. What could go wrong?

Peter Aldhous@peteraldhous.com · 6d ago

Well, this is F'd up www.digitaldigging.org/p/how-to-pla...

Something something most transparent administration in history

The Upshot@upshot.nytimes.com · 6d ago

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...

Congratulations to the LLCs that are being formed right now to spend 7-figures on GOTV operations.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 6d ago

Elon Musk is expected to spend $100 million to $120 million in at least eight states to help GOP candidates in November, according to people briefed on the plans.

"the ​image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that ⁠signals it was made with OpenAI tools" www.reuters.com/world/africa...

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

A U.S. government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at ‌a global conference taking place in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screen...

reuters.com

Join us for a special Virtual Office Hours on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. ET to help shape IRE's next strategic plan. Hear from IRE leadership, ask questions and share your ideas for the organization's future. Register: https://bit.ly/4vSIZcX Can't make it? Submit feedback by Aug. 25: https://bit.ly/3RoTjvj

"One expert said no longer posting files that were previously made available 'may not be technically illegal, but it’s certainly not a best practice.'" In addition, about 40% of the requests open as of April had gone beyond the two-week window by which the records should typically be produced.

The LAPD has quietly stopped putting many public records online

According to a UCLA professor, public records related to the police department began disappearing from a Los Angeles city website last April, turning the LAPD into a “black hole of information.”

latimes.com

I think it was @prisonculture.bsky.social who said we should teach classes on how to truly apologize and yes we should. It's hard and most people don't know how! I didn't really get until my 30s probably.