I hate the news that Bluesky's active users are going down - I like its design! A social media platform with no ads or algo is seriously soothing to the brain. If only more people were here.
Emily Belz
@emilybelz.bsky.social
Senior news editor | Christianity Today ebelz@christianitytoday.com 📍NYC fan of baseball, chess, McDonald’s apple pie. Opinions mine.
The anti-trafficking org Tim Ballard founded (from Sound of Freedom) is awarded $158m contract to represent migrant children. A $35m org run by a former ICE guy. www.npr.org/2026/08/12/n...
Controversial group wins $158M-contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children
Utah-based Our Rescue was founded by activist Tim Ballard. It was previously known as Operation Underground Railroad and it says it helps law enforcement perform sting operations and rescues human tra...
npr.org
"He has created a number of personalities for his synthetic journalists. City Hall beat reporter Bex Connolly, for example, is 'skeptical without being snide'" AI reporter ... Bex Connolly
Katie Drummond@katie-drummond.bsky.social · 4d agoLast week, an AI newsroom beat @wired.com and other outlets to break a major story by several hours. Here's @knibbs.bsky.social with the scoop on exactly how that happened, while I process the implications for the next 25 years of my chosen career:
Oh good, I got a notification on my phone and that was enough to stop my iphone recording of an interview. Perf
Love this story and most of all the guy unknowingly showing up to a baby friendly screening and texting his friend: “There’s hella babies”
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2w ago“The Odyssey” is selling out in all formats at all times of day — including baby-friendly matinees, which are packed with newborns and frazzled parents desperate for some normalcy.
Nothing to appreciate being a woman in 2026 like reading Team of Rivals where the wives are all dying in childbirth
Getting buzzed by a pigeon /inside/ Newark Airport is the perfect welcome home
Jeff Graham, the State Dept speaker, knows Africa well so this has to be some kind of trolling or something by a lower level staffer. 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
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is suing Minnesota over a first-in-the-nation law banning technology that allows users to create and post deepfakes www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Elon Musk’s company sues Minnesota over new law to bar manipulated images to fake nudity
Minnesota’s anti-nudification law is supposed to take effect on Saturday. It is being challenged in federal court by a company led by Elon Musk.
mprnews.org
Senate Republicans blocked an extension of Haitian TPS last week. Ohio Senator Jon Husted declined to comment on the bill.
Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 3w agoTPS for Haitians officially expires tomorrow. ICE is planning big operations, with Springfield, Ohio among the targets www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-hai...
Maybe this is telling on myself, but on any of the Meta product algorithms I get fed pop psychology vids and they are so bad and wrong and dumb. "people who hate traveling are avoidant attachment" or "narcissists love restaurants"
I visited a research center at a remote hospital in Zambia that has reduced malaria by *95 percent* for its area - which mainly benefits babies and kids. After US research cuts, it's working with a skeletal staff and not sure how long it can hold on www.christianitytoday.com/2026/07/mala...
What to Do with a Thousand Unemployed Mosquitos - Christianity Today
A premiere malaria research center at a mission hospital helped erase the disease in part of rural Zambia. Now it struggles after US cuts.
christianitytoday.com
Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...
Trump administration limits student visas to four years, changing longstanding policy - The Boston Globe
The new rule, which also restricts the international students’ ability to transfer schools or change majors without approval in their first year, will go into effect in mid-September.
bostonglobe.com
Let me save you a click with my own rec: Hibar. Small business. Great shampoo and conditioner (and no plastic waste). I use the volumizing one hellohibar.com
HiBAR Plastic Free Shampoo, Conditioner, Body & Face Wash, Deodorant
As a small business, HiBAR, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota is on a mission to help rid the world of plastic pollution. All of the items we sell on our site use plastic free packaging and shipping.
hellohibar.com
The New York Times@nytimes.com · last mo.Walking down the shampoo aisle can feel overwhelming. How do you know what your hair actually needs? A Wirecutter beauty writer explains how to choose a shampoo based on your hair type, scalp health, and biggest concerns. nyti.ms/4vsDlOs
The Justice Department appears to have included a fake AI-generated. citation in an ICE detainee's case. Judge Jarbou, a Trump appointee in Michigan, called it out: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
I am going to join the Women’s Christian Temperance Union bsky.app/profile/phil...
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last mo.Spotted while out and about
People have mentioned dark skies, birdsong & abundance of fish & other seafood. I'd go for old-growth forest covering the land.
Scott “Kostenki 11” Cave@hellabarnes.bsky.social · last mo.what is the reverse historical dorito? the thing from the past that would blow our minds in a positive way
But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. Psalm 9
Very grateful that @emilybelz.bsky.social came out to our hospital and others to see what effect the U.S. aid cuts had on people and how we've adapted: www.christianitytoday.com/2026/07/hiv-...
After US Aid Cuts, the Sick Wonder Who Will Visit Them - Christianity Today
One year after the US shuttered USAID and cut HIV funding, faith-based institutions struggle to stay in touch with rural patients who might fall through the cracks.
christianitytoday.com
Breaking News: Federal immigration agents who killed a man during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday had been searching for a different person, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman. nyti.ms/4pfTwgK
Mexican Man Fatally Shot by ICE Wasn’t the Intended Target
Officials say agents believed the driver resembled one suspect, but the encounter quickly escalated into a fatal shooting.
nyti.ms
It’s New Foods Day for the Minnesota State Fair and this, to me, is the promise of America www.mnstatefair.org/new/food
Players should not do this, no matter how it’s arranged. Absolutely not.
Bradford Pearson@bradfordpearson.bsky.social · last mo.I truly don’t see how this country can go on if we don’t ban online sports betting. This story is stomach-turning.
I spent a few weeks reporting at rural mission hospitals in Africa to see how they're doing after our big cuts to humanitarian aid. Rural health institutions are adapting, but they've lost a lot of staff and it's chaotic. more to come www.christianitytoday.com/2026/07/hiv-...
After US Aid Cuts, the Sick Wonder Who Will Visit Them - Christianity Today
One year after the US shuttered USAID and cut HIV funding, faith-based institutions struggle to stay in touch with rural patients who might fall through the cracks.
christianitytoday.com
I'm so disillusioned, I almost don't even care who gets the FIFA Peace Prize next year