Tessera

As is so often the case, India offers a warning from the future-present

Protest venue under a web of cameras and facial recognition systems

Delhi Police deploys advanced surveillance at Jantar Mantar protest, raising concerns over privacy and ethical use of facial recognition technology.

thehindu.com

Can anyone suggest reading on the felt experience of AI slop writing? Someone has surely explained why repeated encounters with a simulacrum of mind pasted over its absence, and the mise en abyme of newly familiar stylistic and rhetorical tics, produces the specific affective torque that it does?

I know it's a lot to ask, but if people had read a bit more Amartya Sen, they'd be a bit less surprised by stuff like this

With 2 Hires, Mamdani Blends Economic Development With Economic Justice (Gift Article)

Anthony E. Shorris, a former deputy mayor and a partner at McKinsey, and Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, will lead the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

nytimes.com

Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 3w ago

The standard narrative on Europe's farmer protests blames the costs of climate policy. This stunning piece of data reporting from @lighthousereports.com and @lemonde.fr looks at the French beef industry and finds a different cause of rural distress: near-monopsony control of slaughterhouses

Comment Bigard, qui a avalé Charal et ses concurrents, dicte les règles de l’abattage aux éleveurs bovins

Trajets toujours plus longs, coûts élevés et faible rémunération… « Le Monde » et Lighthouse Reports révèlent qu’une série d’acquisitions effectuées par le groupe Bigard et approuvées par les autorité...

lemonde.fr

You really do have to click through to encounter the full force of Vanceism manifested in a formal instrument of American foreign policy.

Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 3w ago

The State Department has just put out a tender, offering funding of up to $3 million to European organizations who want to fight against "Supra-national institutions" - presumably the EU - and governments who seek to regulate the internet and end Western Civilization. www.state.gov/drl-nofo-dev...

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last mo.

Cape Verde defeats Argentina via a 2-3 loss in extra time

Eric Helms @ericphelms.bsky.social · last mo.

Incredibly important statement from my colleague Sara Qudah given the recent misinformation directed around CPJ.

Committee to Protect Journalists@pressfreedom.bsky.social · last mo.

“I am writing to defend the very principle of documentation itself," writes CPJ MENA Regional Director Sara Qudah, in an op-ed for @thenewarab.bsky.social. Read more⤵️ www.newarab.com/opinion/sett...

X is serving as key opinion infrastructure for the organizers of anti-immigrant marches in South Africa right now, and big US handles are starting to get in on the action.

Eric Lipton NYT@ericlipton.nytimes.com · last mo.

American courts have defined corruption out of legal existence, but perhaps not political salience. Amazing work from the Times.

Since the start of President Trump’s second term, The New York Times has been documenting examples of moves by members of Mr. Trump’s family or the families of top aides to profit off of Trump administration policy actions. Today we take another look.

@ghoshworld @ghoshworld.bsky.social · 2mo ago

MTA got the South Africa memo this morning

New from me: There is no alternative universe in which Trump’s disastrous war could have gone differently. open.substack.com/pub/bobbygho...

The Farce of a Humiliation Foretold

There is no alternative universe in which Trump’s disastrous war could have gone differently.

open.substack.com

public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 2mo ago

appreciate @stephanienolen.bsky.social and @carlzimmer.com ending the article with this important history on ebola drug access

In 2019, during an Ebola outbreak in Congo, a trial funded largely by the U.S. National Institutes of Health tested four monoclonal antibodies treatments. Two of the drugs cut deaths in patients by as much as 50 percent. One of them was developed from the blood of a Congolese Ebola survivor.
And yet, despite the public funding and the local origin of the treatments, there was no guarantee that the promising drugs would be supplied in Congo. Two companies, Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, ended up holding the intellectual property. Neither registered either drug in any of the countries where Ebola outbreaks occur.
Instead, the U.S. government bought the entire supply of both drugs for its own national security stockpile.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com · 2mo ago

As the Bundibugyo outbreak continues to grow, researchers are scrambling to start clinical trials of antivirals and monoclonal antibodies to see if any work against the virus. Here's my story on the race, with @stephanienolen.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4eEZHqR

Rachel Holliday Smith @rachelholliday.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NY1 is gonna make me CRY Cheryl Wills in Knicks orange and DEAN MEMINGER — son of a Knick!!!!!! — are on set. LONG LIVE LOCAL NEWS

An Indian energy powerhouse was being battered by Donald Trump's tariffs; a Texas refinery startup was struggling. All that changed when the scions of two dynasties danced in Jamnagar. Stunning @propublica.org reporting

An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.

An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to the president’s son said it received at least $100 million from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major polic...

propublica.org

Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 2mo ago

80 something blocks from the secure perimeter, New York is having this night for itself, regardless.

Never been happier to be a transit reporter emeritus

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This map is wild

The secure zone starts at 4 p.m. and covers the area between 30th and 35th streets and Seventh and Eighth avenues. The Knicks also said that a strict no-bag policy will be in place for Monday night's game, and you can expect "TSA-level security" for entry.

Crowds spilling out of every bar into the warm air, fireworks greeting the buzzer. Just electric.

Apropos of nothing specific: In South Africa we were pretty depressed before the 2010 World Cup. The Great Recession had hit us hard, we had a corrupt, demagogic new President, and billions needed for other stuff had been spent on stadiums. FIFA was doing FIFA things. In the end, it was awesome.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

So why can I buy droëwors from a man in a two-tone shirt on Instagram?

under questioning from Rep. Meng, Rubio says the administration is rolling out the red carpet for Afrikaners because they "have a high likelihood of rapid assimilation." Meng points out that Afghanis in her district have already assimilated

A thing people need to understand is that in corrupt, personalist systems, intelligence functions and personnel penetrate all of government. There is no place outside the wilderness of mirrors.

Trump Administration Live Updates: Housing Official and Enforcer Named Top Intelligence Chief

nytimes.com

Sam Biddle@sambiddle.com · 2mo ago

The Global Engagement Center is dead, long live whatever this is.

NEW: I've uncovered an AI slop mill quietly backed by U.S. Special Operations to push military propaganda across Latin American and the Caribbean disguised as a lifestyle content brand. theintercept.com/2026/06/02/l...