I love Doctorow's writing. (And I did need to look up "epistemic" to make sure I knew what I thought I knew. Which then felt like exactly the right response to this piece.)

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 5h ago

AI is alarming for many reasons: it's a dangerous financial bubble, an environmental catastrophe, and a tool for eroding wages and labor power. But in addition to all that, AI is an epistemic disaster. 1/

to paraphrase tony judt the antisemitism on the left might be dangerous, but in principle we can survive it the antisemitism on the right may be survivable, but in principle it is not

Whole segment is too long for Bluesky but the first three minutes is honestly a highlight reel of my work as an AI critic and it was absolutely incredible.

Ed Zitron@edzitron.com · 5h ago

Here’s my full segment on MSNOW about becoming “the leading expert voice on the bearish case against AI,” the end of hypergrowth, and how AI’s costs and losses are magnitudes higher than those that built Amazon Web Services, and even Amazon itself. One of my best. youtu.be/n32mhb2aUsE?...

Hi @marcelias.bsky.social, why did you send cease-and-desist letter to @nytimes.bsky.social to block this fine article by Adambonica.bsky.social about the Dem party’s panicked fundraising emails hooking seniors into donating limited retirement funds? data4democracy.substack.com/p/hook-and-s...

Hook and Squeeze

How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.

data4democracy.substack.com

@jayrosen.bsky.social @latimes.com @nytimes.com @jelanicobb.bsky.com All tech/legal writers and news orgs/J schools should ban the term “hallucination” to describe a lie by AI. It’s not an oopsie mistake. It’s a lie presented as fact. In court, it’s a fraud on the court. Don’t white wash it.

@apstylebook.com: The term “hallucinate” is an inaccurate, industry-friendly term that should be banned when reporting news about AI fabrications. It has been shown that AI lies and cheats to please its taskmaster. It’s not an accidental, innocent, ha-ha, drug-induced mistake.

@susanseager.bsky.social posted asking us to ban the term "hallucinate" for AI. She said in part, “The term 'hallucinate' is an inaccurate, industry-friendly term that should be banned when reporting news about AI fabrications.”

There’s so much happening right now, I thought I’d put together a running thread on the dismantling of #climate and research and knowledge infrastructure in the United States 🧵

Shocked (/sarcasm) to learn that the Trump Administration's order forcing NIPSCO, the utility that serves this area, to continue running coal plants slated for retirement, has not resulted in more reliable service for customers.

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis@kendrawrites.com · yesterday

Gary Indiana hasn't had power for almost two weeks

The man who doesn’t want “windmills” nearby for imaginary reasons wants data centers, which cause *real* harm to communities. Just keep talking’ that wildly unpopular talk, Donnie.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Trump: "If I were the mayor of a town or the governor or a state, and I had a chance to get a big data center, I would absolutely want it"

Notice that, besides the humiliating food cart joyride, most of these Harp anecdotes are months old. Journalists have largely been sitting on these Harp deets until Ossoff called the question.

With all the talk on the center-left about supposedly needing to commit to existing levels of repression by preserving existing police, prison, and surveillance budgets, everyone seems to be forgetting ICE's new detention budget is 60% greater than entire federal prison system.

We will protect this place.

The Texas grid failed in 2021, with devastating results. Solar power + batteries were key to making sure that didn’t happen again when the heat index reached 116ºF last month. Clean power made the grid more reliable and likely kept Texans alive. www.yahoo.com/news/science...

First thought is two things, one easier, one harder: Harder: identify an issue where republicans will freak out and Streisand affect themselves. Easier: drop it casually in such a way that people will have to go research it themselves and feel ownership over it that way.

Jen Mercieca@jenmercieca.bsky.social · 2d ago

The Natalie Harp/Ossoff newscycle is interesting because it shows that Dems can cause newscycles too. Dems can say stuff and it can have an effect on what dominates the framewars. Dems can set the agenda. Most issues Dems want to talk about don't do this (why?). This one did (again, why?)

Angie Nixon defeats Alexander Vindman! Let’s goooo!!!!

This makes no sense: “Mr. Vindman far out-raised Ms. Nixon and was the clear front-runner in the race. But there was no public polling ahead of the primary.” So how was he clear front runner and how is it a huge upset? Big money doesn’t necessarily = voter support. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/u...

Angie Nixon Scores Upset Win in Florida Senate Primary

Angie Nixon faces another difficult test this November against a Republican incumbent heavily favored to win.

nytimes.com

Just weighing in from vacation to note the obvious: Ossoff's use of "Natalie" in that address was a brilliant way to play the attention economy. It works *because* it drew controversy -- by drawing controversy, it drew eyeballs & ears to a story Trump doesn't want in the news.

Perfect example of voting against your best interests. #Pinks

Alright y’all Jared won & this is going to be a fight to hold this seat. Let’s get to work😤💪🏾

Meta Resistance@metaresistance.bsky.social · 2d ago

U.S. Representative Jared Moskowitz won the Democratic primary for Florida's newly redrawn 25th Congressional District on August 18, 2026, defeating progressive challenger Oliver Larkin

What this man did to his own grandson. Lord.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

Mike Caruso, a close ally of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has been arrested and charged with five felonies. trib.al/nfKt7TJ

Difficult truth with hilarious ramifications: because of cyclospora, food safety has become glonzo. Every single food recall is getting memed and blamed on RFK. And in the original sense of glonzonomics, this may be good: a wise Democrat would twist the knife on every single poison can of soup

If Dems go on offense against MAGA, you can capture the media news cycle and attention economy. Or, you can spend your time attacking the left.

What are your questions about the future of the Colorado River Basin? Ahead of our special, "Tipping Point: A River Reimagined," we want to hear from you. Submit your question here, and we may feature it in the special: https://bit.ly/4zhHlVk

Wasn’t John Eastman, along with others in Trump’s circle, the ones who claimed that Kamala Harris got to the top by giving sexual favors? These people can 🤬

Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · 3d ago

The pearls are being clutched so hard they're turning into dust.

oh look, dems can easily leverage messaging to hijack, create, or redirect entire newscycles by exploiting the infotainment media's obsession with scaled ad engagement, who could have possibly imagined such a thing

Who is Natalie Harp? Sen. Jon Ossoff puts Trump aide in spotlight

The former TV news anchor began working for Trump in 2022 and has become a close aide during his second term.

nbcnews.com

Fun game I've been playing. Replace <president> in just about any sentence regarding the current WH occupant with "Obama" and see how that goes.

Noah Berlatsky@nberlat.bsky.social · 3d ago

I have to say it does seem like, "the president and his wife are separated because of his very public adultery and now he's sleeping with an aid who is fifty years his junior" would be a bigger story in most admins.

This is REALLY important. “Over 50% of Americans say climate change is a serious threat; only 10% think their compatriots feel the same That perception gap on the issue is among the highest in the world, per a new Gallup poll.” They want you to think you’re alone. You’re not. #ClimateCrisis

Over 50% of Americans say climate change is a serious threat; only 10% think their compatriots feel the same

That perception gap on the issue is among the highest in the world, per a new Gallup poll....

sherwood.news

Trump is just a part of the same legacy as figures like Pinochet, Fujimori, Bolsonaro, Santa Anna, Porfirio Díaz, Noriega - we would all be politically wiser and healthier if we could find it in ourselves to accept that the United States is an American country in community first with other Americans

Paul Crider@paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com · 3d ago

What I would give for a longform DSA article that contextualizes Latin American strong-man dictatorships and democratic dysfunction in terms of both US imperialism *and* autochthonous Bolivarian ideology, while unambiguously condemning those dictatorships.

Every such article should trigger an automatic follow-up on the stated date, like the preregistration of a clinical trial

Dave Levitan@davelevitan.bsky.social · 3d ago

There are high-up editors at prestigious publications who wrote or greenlit like dozens of “Moon Base to Open Within Six Years” or “Space Hotel Slated for 2026” headlines. Nothing happened to them. They just get to keep doing it. Wild.

770,000 children in the United States will go hungry because Trump was elected. Harm reduction matters to these children.

ProPublica@propublica.org · 3d ago

Almost a year after Trump’s domestic policy bill passed, at least 770,000 children are no longer receiving SNAP benefits. In Arizona, the number of children receiving SNAP has dropped by more than 200,000 since July 2025 — a 55% decline. (Published June)