Tessera
Folgen

Matthew Sheffield

@matthew.flux.community

🟦 Analyst and writer focusing on cognition, politics, religion, technology, and media 🟦 Host, Theory of Change 🟦 Also a software developer and web admin Signal: matthewsheffield.01

6978 Posts12957 Follower1311 Folgt
Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · 14h ago

We just dropped a bombshell investigation into ChatGPT's role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. Incredible reporting from @markfollman.bsky.social that will have far-reaching effects...hopefully: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...

ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals

OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.

motherjones.com

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 10h ago

What an absolute disgrace that @mediaite.com has expanded its right-wing quota program to include some guy from Red State that just defended Trump's illegal censorship of CNN, Politico, and MS Now. A website about the media industry publishing opinion pieces in favor of censoring the media.

Are Courts Ignoring a SCOTUS Ruling Justifying a Press Ban?

With legal wrangling taking place over the White House press ban there is a question about how courts are overlooking a Supreme Court case addressing the issue.

mediaite.com

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 12h ago

Imaginary election fraud is one of those issues where reactionary ignorance and malice perfectly reinforce each other. Having worked among them, they really do believe that millions of people have voted fraudulently. It isn't only because they want to make it harder for Democrats to vote. 🙄

Ryan Goodman@rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 13h ago

From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle. "The state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen."

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · yesterday

I've been getting into Incus lately as a replacement for Proxmox and I have to say it is incredibly impressive. Super fast, super-low resources, has a mature OCI container support, and works on any major Linux distro. Very cool piece of software!

Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · yesterday

The immediate threat of the EO seems to have passed, but the greater attack on science by this administration is almost certainly not over. Some good thoughts on what we should be doing. I would add: get organized. Build connections and community. Many voices are louder than one.

Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · yesterday

If you missed it... My long-form thoughts on ongoing efforts by the administration to issue an executive order that would deliver veto power over grants to OMB Director Vought: "An Emperor of All Malice: On White House Efforts to Seize Control of NIH Funding"

Kettering Foundation@kettering.org · yesterday

“This is one of the largest projects that has ever been done on American democracy.” The newest data from the @kettering.org - @gallup.com #DemocracyForAll Project is now available.

Kettering Foundation@kettering.org · yesterday

Drawing on responses from more than 23,000 US adults, this report offers a unique look at how Americans are experiencing democracy across communities, generations, and backgrounds. Explore Frustration Rises, Commitment Endures: https://bit.ly/46ZWFZX

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · yesterday

I personally am in favor of every state having at least one Donald J. Trump Sewage Treatment Plant. That should be a campaign promise of every state-level Democrat running for office.

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 2d ago

FLAG MS NOW: Trump aides are now exploring attaching Trump's name to Ford's Theatre. The playhouse where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated has been mentioned by aides as one of the federal properties that could somehow carry Trump's name.

Flux@flux.community · yesterday

As Trump ramps up his attacks on America's founding principles and seeks to destroy our most treasured institutions, the conservative Democrat group Third Way thinks that not-even socialists are the bigger threat. This is a dangerous error, @jtccarroll.flux.community writes:

Third Way “war” on democratic socialism betrays a basic misreading of U.S. politics

An increasingly fascistic Republican Party, not ideas that lie within the continuum of pro-democracy policies, is the true threat to America

plus.flux.community

Andy 🌴🗿@andys311.bsky.social · yesterday

A lot of this I think stems from higher college attendance where you’re forced to examine your beliefs philosophically

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · yesterday

Christian reactionaries have many beliefs that are incompatible w/pluralist democracy & this is why many despise the modern US. They've become much more virulent in recent years because members of their own faith communities have been leaving in droves. Example: Mormons lose ~50% of young members.

A stacked bar chart showing the religious affiliation of people raised as Latter-day Saints in adulthood across three time periods: 2007, 2014, and 2023-24. Each bar is divided into four colored sections representing: Latter-day Saint (dark red, bottom), Protestant (bright red), Catholic (light red), and Religiously unaffiliated (gray, top). The Latter-day Saint retention rates decline from 70% in 2007 to 64% in 2014 to 54% in 2023-24, while religious unaffiliation increases from 14% to 21% to 28% over the same periods. A smaller gray section for "Another religion/No answer" appears only in the 2023-24 data at 4%. Source: Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults, July 17, 2023–March 4, 2024.
Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · yesterday

Christian reactionaries have many beliefs that are incompatible w/pluralist democracy & this is why many despise the modern US. They've become much more virulent in recent years because members of their own faith communities have been leaving in droves. Example: Mormons lose ~50% of young members.

A stacked bar chart showing the religious affiliation of people raised as Latter-day Saints in adulthood across three time periods: 2007, 2014, and 2023-24. Each bar is divided into four colored sections representing: Latter-day Saint (dark red, bottom), Protestant (bright red), Catholic (light red), and Religiously unaffiliated (gray, top). The Latter-day Saint retention rates decline from 70% in 2007 to 64% in 2014 to 54% in 2023-24, while religious unaffiliation increases from 14% to 21% to 28% over the same periods. A smaller gray section for "Another religion/No answer" appears only in the 2023-24 data at 4%. Source: Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults, July 17, 2023–March 4, 2024.
Katie Bergh@katiebergh.bsky.social · last wk.

Usually, we'd also be getting new data on the prevalence of food insecurity around this time. But the Trump administration abruptly terminated the government's 30-year annual food insecurity report shortly after the President signed the deepest SNAP cuts in history into law.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities@centeronbudget.bsky.social · last wk.

Tomorrow, the Census Bureau will release new data on income, poverty, and health insurance in 2025. Here’s what our experts will be watching for in the latest data: www.cbpp.org/research/pov...

Troy Jackson@troyjackson207.bsky.social · 3d ago

This is corruption of the highest order. Susan Collins delivered millions in taxpayer dollars for a corrupt donor bankrolling her campaign, and then Donald Trump helped her cover it up. No wonder she voted with him 96% of the time and has rubberstamped his agenda to hurt Maine.

ProPublica@propublica.org · 3d ago

NEW: In late 2024, FBI investigators had enough evidence to launch a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins. Then Trump was reelected and eviscerated the FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption probes.

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 2d ago

Reactionary Republicans for decades have wanted to destroy the post-WWII international order. Trump is doing it, and the changes nations are making in response to him are going to be very hard to undo. Moreover, why should countries trust that Americans wouldn't elect a raging lunatic again?

America’s Allies Are No Longer Waiting for Trump to Leave

They now figure isolationism and protectionism will be U.S. foreign policy for a long time to come.

theatlantic.com

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 3d ago

All of the tech executives who prostrated themselves before Trump are destroying their industry's public perception. Having this hated buffoon as your biggest booster is absolute poison. The US internationally has already seen this, and now perception of AI will go even lower.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Trump tells the UN he is officially changing the name of Artificial Intelligence to "Super Intelligence" and says all US government documents will now be changed to refer to "SI"

Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 3d ago

Incredibly great understanding here of theory of change by Mamdani. Despite wanting social change for centuries, since the Cold War, progressive policy advocates lost the ability to explain to normies or even the desire. This man gets it.

Corey Atad@coreyatad.com · 3d ago

“If you are staring at an example of social disorder or social inefficiency, and the left refuses to explain either why it has happened or how they will fix it, then the right gets to point at someone in the immediate area and say, ‘That’s who did it.’” crazy how much Mamdani speaks my language