www.thedailybeast.com/ice-detains-...

ICE Rounds Up Dozens of Relatives of U.S. Troops

The change reflects the ruthlessness of Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda in his second term.

thedailybeast.com

We serfs must serve and tithe to our Lords. All the MAGA cultists need to be tied to this anchor idea, and sunk. Let's hear some ideas to restore fair tax rates for the oligarchs, and to protect workers and renters from the oligarchs' oppression and overreach.

Mark Welch@markwelch.bsky.social · 11h ago

Per Mo. Gov. Kehoe, 80% rejection is a mere speed bump: Amendment 5 "did not earn the support it needed." A5 would NEVER help Missourians "keep more of what they earn." A5 was to shift ANY gov't costs away from rich employers and investors, to be paid by workers, renters, and retirees.

We serfs must serve and tithe to our Lords. All the MAGA cultists need to be tied to this anchor idea, and sunk. Let's hear some ideas to restore fair tax rates for the oligarchs, and to protect workers and renters from the oligarchs' oppression and overreach.

Mark Welch@markwelch.bsky.social · 11h ago

Per Mo. Gov. Kehoe, 80% rejection is a mere speed bump: Amendment 5 "did not earn the support it needed." A5 would NEVER help Missourians "keep more of what they earn." A5 was to shift ANY gov't costs away from rich employers and investors, to be paid by workers, renters, and retirees.

Per Mo. Gov. Kehoe, 80% rejection is a mere speed bump: Amendment 5 "did not earn the support it needed." A5 would NEVER help Missourians "keep more of what they earn." A5 was to shift ANY gov't costs away from rich employers and investors, to be paid by workers, renters, and retirees.

This barcode on a book confused me.

Millions of people rely on anonymous access to lawful online speech. This week, the Senate is looking at four bills that could vastly expand age verification and make anonymous internet use much harder. www.acteff.org/campaign/16...

Tell the Senate: Don't Turn the Internet Into an ID Checkpoint

Tell the Senate to Reject Bills That Expand Age Verification

acteff.org

My (cynical) working theory is that the White House knows that its "AI Framework" is basically a much worse version than the AI framework the Biden admin released, which caused the VC bros of Silicon Valley to go all MAGA. Keeping it private avoids the comparison.

Maria Curi@mccuri.bsky.social · 23h ago

NEW: White House plans to keep AI framework under wraps www.axios.com/2026/08/04/w...

This is probably my most important skeet of the year, TBH. We are in DANGER

Greg M. Epstein@gregmepstein.bsky.social · 20h ago

While we're focused on big-picture issues like creating AI Gods, banning social media, or regulating a many-trillion-$ industry, have we considered our whole society might lose its damn mind "saving time" emailing/texting about emotionally laden topics that should be CONVERSATIONS. Because it might.

Today's reading distraction: "Suicide Notes" (2008, rev.2019) by Michael Thomas Ford. amzn.to/45LRbRz In the first chapter, I see parallels to Fleischman's "Whirligig" and Voigt's "Izzy, Willy, Nilly" and more YA novels. "Whirligig" Heroic Journey Unit Plan, 2003: markwelch.com/whirligig/

In the wide world of dishonest polls, this one is bad. Justifying mass expansion in real-time, constant, and city-wide surveillance by saying it will just watch "hotspots" and "open-air drug markets"---people will point to this skewed nonsense to justify policy that could have wild consequences.

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Liberals Are Shaming Howard Zinn’s Memory Yet Again

Zinn saw firsthand what happened when liberals did more to fight the left than the right—they sabotaged their own power.

thenation.com

Today's reading distraction: "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (2019) by Shoshana Zuboff. amzn.to/4wE0Sxf I've had the Kindle ebook version (now just $2) since May 2019, when @Scott Mace strongly recommended it, but I never came near to finishing it. (I was very ill in 2021-22).

How many of these mega-datacenters are owned, operated, controlled and contracted entirely through Enron-style style LLC shell companies to default on environmental, power, water commitments, no liability from the FAANG companies that benefit? [Facebook Apple Amazon Nvidia Google Microsoft Oracle]

Mél Hogan / The Data Fix@melhogan.bsky.social · yesterday

working on a talk for late fall and wanted to share some *older* texts that anyone writing about data centers today should know about!

Missouri governor makes lots of hollow promises, but on Election Day, faced with an embarrassing loss, he flees the country.

State of St. Louis@stateofstlouis.bsky.social · yesterday

Statewide Amendment 5 to Financially Bankrupt Missouri with Income Tax Elimination is going down the toilet today. Naturally, Governor Kehoe, it's #1 biggest fan, is heading to Panama. Lol x a gillion 🤣

🧵 This Thomas Edsall column is extremely subpar. It is the case that "democratic socialist" is a slight liability, however, being endorsed by Trump or being MAGA is even more of a liability. Edsall does not mention that because it goes against his Clintonian conservative wishful thinking.

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · yesterday

The article is on democratic socialism and I wish he had explored a bit what the term means in practice today in our post-Cold War environment. What policies are associated with it? Are they popular? Do they mark a departure from New Deal liberal traditions? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/o...

www.lesswrong.com/posts/jGEXLK...

Dispatch from Anthropic v. Department of War Summary Judgment Motion Hearing — LessWrong

Dateline SAN FRANCISCO, 30 July 2026— A hearing was held on a motion for summary judgment in the case of Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War et a…

lesswrong.com

Okay... "Betrayed" delivers on its promise of "A Damage Assessment," but there is no action plan! @irashapiro.bsky.social @anne-s-kim.bsky.social @cscoalition.substack.com

Mark Welch@markwelch.bsky.social · yesterday

Today's reading distraction:"Betrayed: America Didn't Vote for This" (2026) edited by Ira Shapiro & Anne Kim, Common Sense Coalition. amzn.to/4yY6DYo @IraShapiro.bsky.social @Anne-S-Kim.bsky.social @CSCoalition.substack.com

Well that's infuriating. If I'm listening to an audiobook, it's because I want to read that book, not some papier-mâché of that book plus whatever else was in the training data.

@frumbly.bsky.social · yesterday

Google are stuffing AI bollocks in their Google Play Books app with "Book Insights". AI summaries - DON'T! WANT! If authors want to block this for their books, let Google know. Luckily, it hasn't turned up in my copy of "The AI Con" ... Yet? So @emilymbender.bsky.social can breathe easy for now.

New study finds people who perceived scientists' communication as more risk-focused felt more concerned about a disease outbreak, and this effect was significantly stronger than for news reporting. www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/about...

What Harvard has done with its writing center defies any kind of sense until you realize that students are rarely at the center of this kind of administrative action. It's an unfortunately common attitude at these sorts of institutions. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Harvard Administrators Don’t Care About Student Learning

I know, news flash, right?

insidehighered.com

This should be a U2 album on iPhones moment, but car companies are the last I'd expect to read the room.

852dude@852dude.bsky.social · yesterday

This sucks ass. When I start my car I want to be able to put my foot on the pedal and drive off. I dont want to watch an ad. A distracting ad. Right in the middle of my console. Again. This sucks ass.

Today's reading distraction:"Betrayed: America Didn't Vote for This" (2026) edited by Ira Shapiro & Anne Kim, Common Sense Coalition. amzn.to/4yY6DYo @IraShapiro.bsky.social @Anne-S-Kim.bsky.social @CSCoalition.substack.com

Today, CDT, EFF, EPIC, & Upturn submitted comments to the General Services Administration (GSA) in response to the request for comment regarding their updated draft AI Terms and Conditions for federal solicitations and contracts.

CDT, EFF, EPIC, and Upturn Submit Comments on GSA’s Updated Draft AI Terms and Conditions for Federal Contracts

Today, the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and Upturn submitted comments to the General Services Administration (GSA) in response to the request for comment regarding their updated draft AI Terms and Conditions for federal solicitations and contracts. In March, GSA released an initial draft […]

cdt.org

"Amazon and Walmart AI shopping assistants can often detect when "Made in USA" product labels are false, but the big retailers are not using that technology to crack down on the listings..." www.newstribune.com/news/2026/ju...

Not only did they absolutely beg for this, they made it so that “merit” was synonymous with being white so now you’re stuck with precisely the kind of moron who believes that. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Today's reading distraction: "This Is The Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy" (2026) by Ben Wikler. amzn.to/4pQJLG1

Ummm.

A London Startup Is Selling Permanent Stick-On Tattoos—and It Wants to Do Mail Order

Concerned parents of the world, unite.

gizmodo.com

Kevin Hassett needs to do an interview a day until November.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."

How our world works.

Los Angeles Times@latimes.com · 5d ago

LAPD officer who recorded colleagues' racist comments to be charged with felony eavesdropping