This is 💯 not true. It is never a choice between ‘taking big tech’s money and doing nothing’. A stronger moral imperative is NOT to take the money and the strings attached to it - particularly if you do not and cannot yet understand the implications

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

Despite the Seattle Times Editorial Board’s best effort to tank Prop 1, Seattleites actually want to fund public goods, especially libraries.

The Seattle Times@seattletimes.com · 18h ago

A property tax levy to fund the city's public library system over the next seven years is solidly ahead after the first release of vote totals Tuesday evening.

Changes to Ohio's budget mean the state's 251 libary systems will lose $25 million in FY26. Libraries will need to cut back, so patrons may see long wait times & reduced services. 10tv.com/article/news... #SupportYourLibrary #RightToReadOhio #SupportYourLibraries #LibraryFunding #RightToReadOhio

For millennia migration was just a standard thing for humans.

Melissa Gira Grant@melissagiragrant.com · yesterday

“Here’s a radical thought: what if migration is only a problem to those who want it to be? What if we started seeing the mass movement of people less as an existential threat and more as a simple inevitability of human existence?”

CLIR Receives $5 Million Grant to Launch Fifth Cycle of Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices www.clir.org/2026/08/clir... #libraries #funding #preservation #specialcollections @clirnews.bsky.social @mellon.org

CLIR Receives $5 Million Grant to Launch Fifth Cycle of Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices

August 4, 2026, Alexandria, VA – The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has received a $5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to launch the fifth cycle of its Digitizing Hidden C...

clir.org

Well, the FCC Commissioner has made the decision, first announced in an op-ed in Breitbart, stating that a regulatory body does not have to observe laws made by Congress if they don't feel like it. Every month is new and unprecedented territory. docs.fcc.gov/public/attac...

A 39-year-old El Salvadoran man, who was being held at Delaney Hall, has died, the man's family says. He's the father of a 12-year-old US citizen daughter and has lived in the country for nearly 20 years. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/08/03/s...

El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says

The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.

thecityreporter.nyc

ICE has killed another person.

El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says

The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.

thecityreporter.nyc

Heads up, NYC, there has been an increase in ICE activity. Keep your eyes open. Let's protect each other. hellgatenyc.com/nyc-sees-an-...

NYC Sees an 'Uptick' in ICE Activity

And a judge just blocked the mask ban for agents, plus more news for your Tuesday.

hellgatenyc.com

NYPL Archives Tips: "For the five boroughs, there really is no collection of historical 'police records' ...any smattering that was kept and saved resembles a hail of rocks launched from a Bowery window during the 1857 Dead Rabbits Riot across the records rooms and libraries of the Big Apple."

Join us for another collaborative edit‑a‑thon as we work together to update and expand the Oakland Wiki, a community-driven resource for all things local. This session will take a deeper look at analog research materials in the Magazines & Newspapers Department. Details ➡️ https://bit.ly/4vYa8ew

The DSA in Wilmingotn, N.C. has created a "crisis" by putting benches at city bus stops, after literal decades of the city promising and failing to do so.

Democratic Socialists’ bus benches remain, city mum on next steps | Port City Daily

WILMINGTON — The handmade bus benches installed by the Wilmington Democratic Socialists of America have highlighted a problem nearly everyone agrees exists: most Wave bus stops have nowhere for riders...

portcitydaily.com

Please stop saying “lockdowns.” There were never true lockdowns in the US, and it fuels far right narratives to repeat this inaccurate statement. You can say closures, you can say restrictions, or better, you can say public health measures which saved many lives.

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · 6d ago

People still complain about “lockdowns” but we had none in the US. We had stay-at-home orders, where although businesses were closed, you could still go outside whenever you wanted. Other countries had far stricter rules, and yet have been much more accepting of them as they saved many more lives.

I think a far higher risk to humanity than super intelligent AI is extremely dumb AI. The chance of a Matrix-type situation is way lower than the chance of, say, AI mistaking a flock of migrating birds for a nuclear missile. I am genuinely worried about an apocalypse brought on by dumb AI.

dame@dame.is · last wk.

real talk, how many of y’all are genuinely concerned about super intelligent AI ushering in the end of days?

Is your lane housing? Health care? Child care? Libraries? parks? Climate? Labor? Decrim? Disability? Trans lib? Whatever your lane, public budgets are key factors of the conditions under which we fight. Currently, budget politics are zero-sum games. How can we change them into win-win processes? 🧵

Money on the Left@moneyontheleft.bsky.social · 5d ago

✨ New Essay! ✨ Against Councilmember Robert Kettle’s recent call for budget austerity, @greenbackbetter.bsky.social shows how the Seattle Loop enlarges the city's fiscal capacity while reorganizing the relationships among public commitments, institutions, & constituencies. Please read & share! 👩‍💻 🙌

Will be open for the next YEAR?! Mr. Mullen, sir, you have my props for just having it open this weekend. gothamist.com/news/just-a-...

'Just a pure weird moment': Art project takes over Manhattan subway kiosk

Instead of newspapers or gum, the former newsstand is stocked with free zines, guides to several subway stations and a limited supply of rat tail keychains.

gothamist.com

The firestorm of age-verification laws have done almost nothing to prevent minors from accessing porn online. What they have done is give the state a powerful tool to harass speech they don't like by declaring it pornographic or "harmful to minors."

The Missouri Attorney General is threatening librarians with arrest over an LGBTQ+ story hour for kids, suggesting that a picture book about gay dinosaur dads is "pornography." The Secretary of State says he'll pull funding if the event happens, citing the state's new age verification law.

The magical #book trolley #Baltimore 📚💙 ✏️🖤

The county library system put out some feelers asking for feedback about moving to expanded, unspecified AI usage. The community reaction, largely instigated amd informed by workers, was so overwhelming that the library admin had to backpedal

What workplace victories have you seen or experienced regarding pushback against AI and automation? (This is relevant to a book I am working on.)

Announcing XFR Collective's FIRST EVER BENEFIT PARTY! Join us August 9th at Wonderville for clownery, live let's plays, and BASS! >$30 donations will receive a ~special~ USB of kino video art. RSVP: pools.events/event/XD2gnT...

“Until our nation confronts the racial wound at the root of its politics, laws, and memory, every other reform will be a house built on sand.” – James Forten (September 2, 1766 – March 4, 1842) was an American abolitionist, activist and businessman in Philadelphia

The Boy Who Heard the Promise

James Forten was nine years old when he first heard that all men are created equal. Two hundred fifty years later, our leaders pretend that Black people were never meant to hear it.

open.substack.com

In a recent interview, Dr. Johanna Fernández details her political genealogy. She notes that her mentor, Dr. Manning Marable, encouraged her to write a history of the Young Lords. Both Dr. Fernández and Dr. Marable gone too soon. bcrw.barnard.edu/political-or...

Political Origins: An Interview with Johanna Fernández | Barnard Center for Research on Women

At the end of May, BCRW hosted its first Feminist Freedom School on the subject of feminist abolition. The Freedom School was facilitated by Sarah Haley, Associate Professor of History at Columbia…

bcrw.barnard.edu

Hey, friends! I put my big face in a video like the kids do! Time to join the @aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social and tell @mayor.nyc.gov to enact a moratorium on "A.i." in the schools! Please share - and please tell the mayor you want a moratorium! www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

@librariesftp.bsky.social's Aug newsletter is out and it includes a terrific piece by my comrade & friend @dylanflesch.bsky.social summarizing what happened during this budget season in NYC re: public libraries. If you need to catch up, this is an excellent summary open.substack.com/pub/librarie...

For The People Newsletter Vol. XLII

For everyone working to strengthen and expand public libraries

open.substack.com

There's a remarkable *insurgent* contract campaign underway in DC 37 called "Serve NYC, Afford NYC." Goals: 1️⃣ $30/hr min wage 2️⃣ 6.5% annual raises for 5 yr 3️⃣ Telework + compressed schedules 4️⃣ Reduce outsourcing; restore NYC staffing 5️⃣ Reform civil-service system thechiefleader.com/stories/dc-3...

DC 37 members' next target: 6 percent raises & a $30 minimum wage - The Chief

Members of the largest union of municipal workers have a new fixation. Workers who successfully pushed their union to endorse Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary last year are once again se...

thechiefleader.com

Too much cool stuff is happening tomorrow, Aug 1. Lesbian Library Day at BPL's Central Branch (10AM-5PM) and... Benefit for ABC No Rio: #LiveMusic in Tompkins Square Park, 2-6PM, with Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Shellshag, Crush Fund, Cupid's Nemesis, Providers. www.instagram.com/p/DZfUTw5kU7I/ #NYC

BPL Inclusive Services@bklyninclusive.bsky.social · 2w ago

Join us for Lesbian Library Day at the Central branch at 10 Grand Army Plaza on August 1, 10 am-5 pm. There will be community resources, crafting, author talks, and giveaways! Find out more here: www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/les...

“If this property tax levy does not pass, The Seattle Public Library will be out one-third of its funding when it expires at the end of this year.”

@mlklabor.bsky.social · 6d ago

Library workers like Jacob Schear know how important it is to pass Prop 1 and invest in library programs, collections, and neighborhood branches. www.thestranger.com/guest-editor...

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