The Syrian transitional government is signing billions of dollars in reconstruction deals. But the plans lack a human rights framework, which could leave many Syrians with a raw deal. Our new report: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/27/syria-reconstruction-deals-lack-critical-rights-framework

My goodness, what an incredible moment. After Justin Verlander secured the final out of his career, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch came out of the dugout...to summon Verlander's daughter out to embrace her dad on the mound.

Spoke with a group of young men, late teens early twenties, classic "makers of cool" demo, standing near them on the MUNI in SF. Asked which social apps they're using. IG was their common channel, they've never heard of Bluesky.

Whatever you do, don't smoke an entire brisket at a job interview, it's a lot of equipment to bring in, it takes a really long time to do it right and those conference rooms have notoriously poor ventilation

Jeremiah Smith turns another DB inside out and catches his 4th TD, check the replay

Tsewang Dorji Jeshong (TPI) examines how border villages, dams, roads, railways, & airports across Tibet are strengthening Beijing’s strategic reach along the India–Tibet border. www.firstpost.com/opinion/chin... #borderization

"Key differences in the White House readout of the leaders’ summit outcomes and a Chinese Commerce Ministry fact sheet suggest both sides continue to struggle for consensus on key trade friction points" @oliward.bsky.social @arihawkins.bsky.social @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

US touts coal purchases, progress on trade vehicle, following Xi visit

The U.S. says China will buy more American coal and that the two sides made progress on future tariff carveouts, capping a Washington visit from President Xi Jinping that was thin on deliverables.

politico.com

This is a wonderful essay, and good crisis comms. As for social media, the problem is it famously strips context while serving three basic human needs at scale: 1) Construct stories around things 2) Be part of an in-group 3) Reinforce in-group values That’s as true here as it is anywhere else.

Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 18h ago

People say Bluesky is a bubble, but mostly it's because the entire rest of the internet is an absolute sewer

Why doesn't Trump want you to see his deals with Big Pharma? Maybe because it's a scam that's loaded with giveaways to drug companies—but no real savings for the American people.

Secret contracts reveal undisclosed terms in Trump’s drug-pricing deals

Agreements with Pfizer and Eli Lilly include tariff protections, overseas pricing inducements and broad confidentiality clauses.

washingtonpost.com

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

“The CEO of Mistral AI believes American tech giants are using [AI-apocalypse] rhetoric to control and close off the market to their advantage.” lol, I rest my case.

Arthur Mensch, CEO of French start-up Mistral AI: 'AI is software. It can be controlled'

Mistral AI's co-founder believes the sector's American giants are manipulating the discourse around the technology's risks. He also defended his strategy, as critics are accusing his company of fallin...

lemonde.fr

Anna Gifty@itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 2w ago

lol the vibe shift in AI hype feels like a ploy by U.S. tech bros to permanently keep out competitors. They are cosplaying concern so they can "regulate" their competitors out of existence. It's not about safety. It's about money.

It is first and foremost this and if you disagree you are the mark

Anna Gifty@itsafronomics.blacksky.app · yesterday

“The CEO of Mistral AI believes American tech giants are using [AI-apocalypse] rhetoric to control and close off the market to their advantage.” lol, I rest my case.

白宮發布「川習會」事實清單，談毒品、貿易、伊朗和AI，證實未提及台灣，中國一直釋放的單方面對台施壓訊息，美方並不買帳，以「事實清單」打臉中國釋放的訊息。 直指川普總統推進了美中關係，並將美國人民的利益放在首位，清單中並未提到台灣，但強調美軍在印太地區的重要性。 白宮發布「川習會」事實清單（Fact Sheets)包括：奧芬類（orphines）致命毒品列入管制，經貿採購，以及伊朗問題和AI 人工智慧方面，川、習同意使用「超級智慧（super intelligence，SI）」一詞來描述新興科技，美、中建立了「超級智慧對話」機制。

Roll on, you bears 🐻🐻🐻 #GoBears

So this story won't receive much attention, but... is kind of a big deal? It sure looks like the plaintiffs lawyers in the big copyright case against OpenAI/Microsoft did some seriously sketchy shit to manufacture evidence and sneak it into the case....

Techdirt@techdirt.com · 2d ago

OpenAI Accuses Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Of Paying For, Hiding, And Then Laundering Sketchy Key Evidence In AI Copyright Case A ton of attention... https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/25/openai-accuses-plaintiffs-lawyers-of-paying-for-hiding-and-then-laundering-sketchy-key-evidence-in-ai-copyright-case/

“The summit reinforced a familiar pattern — greater predictability at the top without resolution of the underlying commercial and strategic disputes" @ddesrochers.bsky.social @arihawkins.bsky.social @oliward.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

Trump’s do-no-harm summit with Xi

The president's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping maintained the status quo between the world's two largest economies. But it did little to change the economic picture heading into the midterms.

politico.com

This is a great strategy. The NYT publishes the top whatever of whenever and everyone spends a week arguing about it and it drives 50 billion page views and then they publish something like, "Pete Hegseth keeps hydrogen bomb in his garage" to crickets.

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

Here’s The New York Times 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I appreciate this big tech dependency assessment for journalists and newsrooms on a molecular level: journalismrelay.org/static/asses...

Big Tech Dependency Assessment — Journalism Relay Project

A web-based survey tool that evaluates journalism organizations' dependency on Big Tech platforms and services.

journalismrelay.org

A white knuckle moment for Taiwan post-Trump-Xi summit awaiting signals of possibly another White House shift on U.S.-Taiwan policy that favors Beijing www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

Trump’s Taiwan retreat tests his chief China hawk’s influence

Ivan Kanapathy, a longtime China hawk, is a top Asia adviser at the National Security Council at a time when the Trump administration has been particularly conciliatory with Beijing.

politico.com

I'm starting a homelab festival (you're invited): www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0p...

I'm starting a homelab festival (you're invited)

YouTube video by Jeff Geerling

youtube.com

中秋｜团圆，不应是一种奢望 在这个象征团圆的日子，我们记得仍身陷囹圄、与家人分离的人权捍卫者，也记得那些仍在等待亲人归来的家人。 释放所有被任意拘押的人权捍卫者。

“We don’t know if there’s some sort of inflammation in the brain that temporarily subsides and opens up a neural network, finally that wasn’t open before,” “Or a new pathway that’s found in the traffic jam of what’s going on in somebody’s brain, that gives you a fleeting moment.” wapo.st/4ryRKZp

Some dementia patients grow lucid near the end. Scientists hope it’s a clue.

Accounts raise tantalizing questions about what happens inside a brain afflicted by dementia and whether cognitive abilities could possibly be restored.

wapo.st

Glasses for dangerous perverts ... it's completing kind of an elegant circle from the heady Harvard days of likening women to animals and stealing their mugshots to impress college incels.

Anonymous@opdeatheaters.bsky.social · 3d ago

Meta glasses are being used for covert harassment and group stalking. Women and girls are being secretly filmed in streets, schools, restaurants and on dates, then uploaded for millions of strangers. Police inquiries now span worldwide. #OpDeathEaters

The first of our group charged in court and bailed out today: www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ma... The rest of us charged for being part of the photo-taking outside the State Courts will be charged on Monday morning.

Man charged with taking part in public assemblies near Changi Prison without a permit

S Suraendher Kumarr, 32, is also accused of taking part in a February 2025 public assembly at the State Courts, where such gatherings are prohibited.

channelnewsasia.com

Ok, but it's also objectively funny this anti-communism ad is landing on the same day Trump is feting Xi Jinping and talking about how healthy he looks, etc.

Adam Keiper@adamkeiper.com · 3d ago

What the actual fuck. Trump apparently used U.S. government money to air this gross propaganda ad on Fox News tonight. This version he posted on Truth Social a couple of weeks ago; when it aired on Fox News tonight it said "Paid for by the U.S. Government" underneath.

NEW: Megadonors have now pumped more than $1.7 billion into the midterms. The figure includes a newly disclosed $10M from the crypto billionaire Winklevoss twins, who gave MAGA Inc while crypto regulation was on the Hill. Meet all 50 of the top donors here: www.washingtonpost.com/elections/in...

“All the indicators point to another summit as a theatrical performance — a lot of spin, a lot of rhetoric, but paltry output" www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Trump-Xi summit more pomp than payoff

President Donald Trump's with China’s leader XI Jinping today may produce some flashy optics, but it’s unlikely to produce any breakthroughs on big-ticket issues like trade, tech and Taiwan.

politico.com

It's probably been said elsewhere, but it occurred to me just now, having watched a very mediocre TV show, that one of the hallmarks of the highest quality serial—or long form—audiovisual media is that the work is, almost always, in some way a commentary on the language of the visual form itself.

We’ve secretly replaced this country’s government with Folgers crystals. Let’s see if anyone notices

Avishay BSG (Ben-Sasson-Gordis)@avishaybsg.bsky.social · 2d ago

And this is at the same time that the administrative state was DOGEd and that SCOTUS killed Chevron. Americans are flying on the gas fumes of governance at this point

Two thing can be true. The WH kicking out media it doesn’t like is absolutely a First Amendment violation. And There is little journalism of value to be found in the highly controlled, substance-free halls of power—wall-to-wall navel-gazing about one’s access probably being of the least value.