Who could have possibly foreseen that a political faction based on shared values of hate, lies, and greed elevating a criminal malignant narcissist would result in concentration camps at home and disastrous wars of aggression abroad?

A great name for a publication about LLMs: Prompt Critical

Two great tastes that taste horrible together. 🤣

I know this was a rhetorical question, but I’m going to answer it anyway…. Yes, it’s bribery.

Elizabeth Warren@warren.senate.gov · last yr.

UPDATE: This just got worse. Donald Trump apparently cut a secret side deal for MILLIONS in pro-Trump ads. That would mean Paramount and its soon-to-be owner are shelling out $30 MILLION+ to support Trump—all while trying to get his approval on their merger. Is this bribery?

This speaks volumes: Yale professors, Timothy Snyder, a historian of totalitarianism and the author of "On Tyranny," and Jason Stanley, a philosopher and the author of "How Fascism Works", move to Canada. leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2025/03... munkschool.utoronto.ca/person/timot...

The only thing he's made more affordable so far are stocks.

New York should have joined as well. Their absence is notable.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com · last yr.

Major breaking trans news: The States of Washington, Minnesota, and Oregon have sued the Trump administration to block it from enforcing a national gender affirming care ban for those under 19 years of age. This is the second major lawsuit over Trump's trans ban EO. Docs to come.

LGBTQIA minors make up 40% of the endangered minor runaway population. They are 120% more likely to be unhoused. They are also uniquely at risk for exploitation and trafficking. This is breathtakingly evil.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last yr.

New — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was told this week by DOJ that they'd lose their funding if the org didn't remove any mentions of LGBTQIA+ issues from their public materials, I've learned. Staff were told they need to deadname trans kids in their reports to comply.

Think Tank Called ‘The Himmler Institute’ Assures Nation This All Legal theonion.com/think-t...

Well, the ISPs (NCTA) used to be paying him (per the disclaimer in his own 2005 paper). They probably stopped, their lobbying dollars (i.e. bribes) spent more efficiently elsewhere.

I'm thrilled to see all of Wicked's Oscar nominations! Not just for Best Picture and Cynthia Erivo's possible EGOT, but for Ariana Grande, production design, costume design... It's got to be a shoe-in for best score... those songs have been living in my head rent free since opening day.

Tonight’s view

Too little, too late, @nytimes.com. Those subscription dollars are now going to organizations more deserving (including @glaad.bsky.social and @propublica.org) and they're not coming back.

GLAAD@glaad.bsky.social · 2y ago

🧵 You may remember Pamela Paul for her “In defense of JK Rowling” essay, a piece supporting dangerous anti-transgender rhetoric, published one day after a coalition of 100+ orgs and leaders publicly called out @nytimes.com's pattern of inaccurate, biased coverage of trans people.

Exactly. For all of Biden's supposed qualifications and experience, for some of the most important aspects of the job it's like he didn't even understand the assignment. I don't doubt his intentions, but it's also true that sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸@gtconway.bsky.social · 2y ago

… a serious criminal investigation had been commenced *immediately* after Garland assumed office—as I urged in this piece published on January 22, 2021. (4/4)

"How Civil Wars Start" by Barbara F. Walter. Book. +2 Foresight, -2 Morale. Binds on pickup. Summary: Surprisingly likely in medium term, mechanisms and nature explained, many comparative examples given.

How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them

Civil wars are the biggest danger to world peace today …

goodreads.com

Ooh, a counter-example for Betteridge's law of headlines! Those are rare!

Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2y ago

“Orbán used law as a weapon against democracy. He consolidated power…giving orders directly to the bureaucracy, which he had reconstructed by changing civil service law…Orbán’s was accompanied by aggressive use of libel actions…He packed the courts with loyalists.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/o...

A SecDef who wants holy war against half the country… What could possibly go wrong? 🙄

Timothy Snyder@timothysnyder.bsky.social · 2y ago

11. Hegseth calls for a "holy war" and a "crusade" against Americans who think differently than he does because "God wills it." Trump is the pretext: Hegseth wants "to make crusade great again."

Whether or not Pixelfed is any good is irrelevant. A huge incumbent social media company blocking links its users post to a competing platform should be an actionable violation of antitrust laws.

Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2y ago

Meta is deleting links to Pixelfed, a decentralized, open source Instagram competitor that has had skyrocketing signups in recent days: www.404media.co/meta-is-bloc...

All this is true, but much is also beside the point. The opinion's reasoning is, frankly, ridiculous. No informed and reasonable person, blinded to the identities of the specific political and economic interests at stake, would see it as anything other than pretextual. (1/3)

Public Knowledge@publicknowledge.bsky.social · 2y ago

🚨 Today, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its decision in Ohio Telecom Association v. FCC, rejecting the FCC’s authority to classify broadband as a telecommunications service and enforce the #netneutrality rules enacted in its April 2024 Order. Read our statement from @punk.cool:

The Mump Oligarchy – A Glossary 1/10. Mump regime. Musk plus Trump. Mu...mp. The real centibillionaire and the fake rich person in the proper order.

I just did the BlueSky self-verification by setting my handle to my domain name. It's not perfect verification, but it's (1) accessible, (2) expensive to spoof at scale, and (3) a lot better than nothing! It's simple and quick; ask a friendly techie for help if you need it.

With all this growth and attention, it looks like bots have started to infiltrate Bluesky. A big jump in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" can't be too far behind. 🤞🏻 that Bluesky can eventually have a better defense against the dark arts than its predecessors.

Bluesky's user base taking off is that classic combination of preparation (including early adopters) meeting opportunity. A great example that, while network effects remain difficult to overcome, change is still possible.

Great work by ProPublica, who kept digging and kept finding corruption. Granted, it seems like a target-rich environment, but actually finding evidence is critical. You can't have real accountability without it.

ProPublica@propublica.org · 3y ago

New: Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court