Today's reminder that the current genAI boom is powered by GPUs manufactured with the mineral coltan (and other rare earths, and cobalt) mined through the labor of enslaved children in Congo, and the US and UAE fund the paramilitaries which protect those mines and keep those children enslaved.

has anyone unpacked christopher nolan casting a trans person to be the distraction sacrifice for a trojan horse to enter, and then destroy, civilization

my main concern is the harm rather than the output, so i don't really need to hear a product testimonial from someone who found it useful. because i don't care

Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 11mo ago

I keep seeing posts about ai models like "actually they're good at this thing now!" but once you understand that ai tools are being built by fascists in service of attacks on humanity, whether or not they can generate useable code or do basic searches kind of stops being the main question

i think the party of sick freaks who want to inspect kid's private parts should be branded as such

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

Neoliberalism in a nutshell. UEFA on FIFA's proposal: “The moment external investors acquire ownership interests ... football changes forever. Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. ... Every decision is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.”

I will keep self promoting on these stories until they make a tiny difference to how Rufo gets treated in organs like the NYT, so maybe until I die www.theguardian.com/world/2024/j...

Activist who led ouster of Harvard president linked to ‘scientific racism’ journal

Christopher Rufo recommends a newsletter to his readers that has published several supporters of discredited genetics theory

theguardian.com

Dan O’Sullivan@osullyville.bsky.social · last wk.

Had to scroll and scroll and scroll to find one (1) paragraph covering the only relevant details about the Manhattan Institute, a deeply creepy racist organ of plutocrats

Today's daily reminder that the UAE is currently engaged in a genocide in Sudan using weapons they receive from the US and money they receive from our tourism dollars, and every celebrity who lives or vacations in Dubai or Abu Dhabi is knowingly funding it.

inexcusable for ANY film crew, but feels especially cynical for a movie ostensibly about a guy feeling guilty over war crimes, and which is also supposedly a metaphor for the xenophobia & "breakdown of the liberal order" of the trump/brexit era

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

"Covering an area the size of Britain, Western Sahara is designated as a “non-self-governing territory” by the United Nations and remains on its official list of territories still awaiting decolonization." Eoghan Gilmartin for @africaisacountry1.bsky.social africasacountry.com/2026/07/odys...

“Artificial intelligence labs are in a new arms race to buy up millions of rare books, slicing them open, scanning the pages and pulping the remains — sparking concerns that the last remaining copies of out-of-print texts are being destroyed on an industrial scale.”

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · last wk.

This aught to be illegal ... "AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books" www.news.com.au/technology/o...

This has been a very rough month. I'm currently on $290 out of the $2200 I'm trying to raise for the next batch of translations, of which I really need to raise at least another $700 to cover urgent expenses. paypal.me/elisehendrick 💕💸 #HelpSky #MutualAid #HelpFolksLive #UrgentNeed

one of the most important things you need to do when developing a new product, especially in tech, is sit down and think about how it can be misused by bad actors and nowadays it sure seems like the bad actors are less “people to be guarded against” and more “the target customer base”

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · last wk.

FWIW, Meta was fully aware of how these glasses would primarily be used. The glasses were designed to erase consent, and that is why they exist. Anything that they do that suggests they want to ameliorate this use is an attempt to win the PR battle and manipulate public opinion.

Everyone should watch The Lives of Others, a 2006 German film by Florian Donnersmarck about ubiquitous Stasi surveillance in East Germany. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2w ago

Definitionally, these are not “friends.”

I think people who do not work in media have trouble grasping how genuinely terrifying it is watching organization after organization (even those ostensibly held by entities able to fund them!) continually get carved down into nothing. Lights going out all over

Asher Elbein@asherelbein.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Most of the affected employees were at National Geographic, both at the cable network as well as editorial and operations." 🫠

Xemu is an emulator that (as of now) lists 80% of the OG Xbox catalog as playable. It’s free, it’ll support all of the licensed games that Microsoft will skip in their “preservation” program, and you don’t have to put money in the pocket of a company assisting in genocide. xemu.app#compatibility

xemu: Original Xbox Emulator

A free and open-source application that emulates the original Microsoft Xbox game console, enabling people to play their original Xbox games on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

xemu.app

This is fucking wild. Dude fully just admits to getting basically 20+ years of research into autism completely wrong and trying to gather the prerequisite data to carry out a eugenics programme against autistic people until we told him "um, no, man, don't do that". Like, dude, just quit your job.

Pioneer of ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism now says phrase unhelpful

Exclusive: Prof Simon Baron-Cohen says his language was misunderstood and it is a myth that autistic people lack empathy

theguardian.com

Seen some talk of unethical fiction, so here’s my take

Von wegen: Es werden "nur Straftäter" abgeschoben, "vulnerable Gruppen" geschützt. Dieses Narrativ ist das Einfallstor zum Abbau der Rechte aller. Hessen entscheidet umfassende #Abschiebungen nach #Afghanistan. Menschenrechte sind nicht verhandelbar! Abschiebestopp jetzt! @fr-hessen.bsky.social 1/3

mass layoffs at Pixar despite Toy Story 5 about to cross $1 billion at the box office. there is simply no amount of money that will make corporations happy enough to not upend people’s lives.

Pixar Bears Brunt of Disney Studio Layoffs as Company Axes Several Hundred Staffers

Pixar Animation Studios, despite riding high on the success of summer blockbuster "Toy Story 5," was hit particularly hard in a wave of corporatewide layoffs at Disney.

variety.com

yeah, let's play.

US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds

US, top carbon emitter in history, has ‘a lot of responsibility’ for causing ‘substantial’ harm globally, scientist says

theguardian.com

Ah der Antichrist ist wieder am Werk

Krsto Lazarević@krstorevic.bsky.social · 3w ago

Der rechte Antidemokrat Peter Thiel erhält den Axel Springer Award 2026. Dass Döpfners Sohn für Thiel arbeitet und Thiel 50 Millionen Dollar in dessen Fonds Döpfner Capital gesteckt hat, wird natürlich nicht erwähnt.

Man würde meinen, dass die Strafanzeige von Anna Liedtke wegen mutmaßlicher Vergewaltigung durch Gefängniswärterinnen in Israel auch deutschen Mainstreammedien eine Meldung wert wäre...? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

‘They want to break our will’: Gaza flotilla activist tells of rape in Israeli detention

Anna Liedtke files criminal complaint in Israel over alleged attack by female guards and says abuse was intended to silence campaigners

theguardian.com

Merz, Spahn und Klingbeil wollen unser aller Recht auf Informationen zerstören. Ein Grund ist der angebliche Schutz von Mitarbeiter*innen. Jetzt hat der "Stern" alle Ministerien nach konkreten Fällen der Bedrohung von Mitarbeitern aufgrund des IFG gefragt: Kein einziges konnte einen Fall benennen.

Ministerien-Antworten bringen Regierungssprecher in Bedrängnis

Das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz ist für journalistische Recherchen fundamental wichtig. Die schwarz-rote Bundesregierung will es massiv einschränken. Sprecher Kornelius begründet den Schritt mit Siche...

n-tv.de

i am reminded also of how dunkirk saved a lot of money by using prison labour. i think of this every time nolan brags about how his films always come in under budget

this from the jacobin article on the topic is important context. this is not merely the background noise of imperialism and exploitation that defines all production under capitalism to some extent. this is an intentional and recent escalation of colonial norms driven by trump's pro-genocide policies

The whole internet loves The Meme Movie, a lovely low budget movie based on your favorite online content! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you that your favorite online content is property of Comcast Sony Walt Disney Corporation. you have 24 hrs to remove it from the internet or face litigation

jess m. 🌤️@jametc.bsky.social · 3w ago

A24 is issuing takedowns for all sorts of backrooms content on social media, as well as merch elsewhere right now, that have nothing to do with the movie. I feel like a lot of people were afraid this would happen. They just... own the backrooms concept now I guess. Frustrating

Ich frage mich, ob deutsche Behörden sich überhaupt Gedanken über Espionage durch Israel oder israelische Firmen machen, oder ob sie einfach damit einverstanden sind, weil ist halt Staatsräson.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3w ago

Moroccan intelligence insider reveals widespread use of Pegasus hacking software

shocking. who might have called this at every step of the way

Aleksandra Vaca@transiticsnews.com · 3w ago

1. After pushing anti-trans laws to ‘protect women’s sports’, Project 2025’s Heritage Foundation now wants women’s sports gone to ‘assist fertility.’ Turns out it was about women’s sports all along—if getting rid of women's sports counts, that is.