If ever there was a better example that different people are taking very very different lessons from this political moment here you go

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8h ago

Max Miller on why he's staying in the race: "When we go back to 2015 and 2016, & people in the media looked at President Trump, & everyone came out with allegations. Dozens of women, dozens of crazy allegations, dozens of nasty criminal misconduct. And you know what he did? He stayed in the fight."

Notably that Mark Zuckerberg reportedly apologized to the government of India over CSAM ads running in that country. The ads @wired.com covered ran below in the US, UK, and several EU countries: www.scmp.com/news/asia/so...

Zuckerberg apologises to India over child sexual abuse content on Meta platforms

The Meta Platforms ⁠CEO also apologised for deepfake content and operational ‌lapses on the company’s platforms, according to a report.

scmp.com

Andrew Couts@couts.bsky.social · 6h ago

NEW: Dozens of ads containing video and other child sexual abuse material ran across Meta’s social media platforms, including some as recently as yesterday. @mattburgess1.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/meta-r...

I deeply identify with this. I never loved marking but in the last 1.5 years I have gone from 'net positive love of teaching with some serious caveats' to ... some new normal that is barely tolerable.

AI causing ‘moral injury’ to lecturers trying to police its use, Trent University research shows

Some in writing faculty are overwhelmed by task of spotting AI in students’ work, paper says

theglobeandmail.com

I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.

It’s really important to understand that the criminal legal system in the U.S. already produced the infrastructure to make ICE possible. If we ever rid ourselves of ICE the way to make it harder to revive it will be destroying and defunding the institutions it has borrowed so much from

The Marshall Project@themarshallproject.org · 9h ago

Adapting to public pushback, the Trump administration is pivoting to expand immigration detention bedspace nationwide.

I’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.

Julia Azari@juliaazari.bsky.social · 19h ago

One way to be safe is to never write an electability take

I’m sure it’s happened before but I can’t recall a candidate winning a statewide nomination while being outspent ~9:1

#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 16h ago

Unfathomable

Wow Michigan what a story

A 60 Minutes probe into Epstein's banking, with Wyden already interviewed, vanished right after Sharyn Alfonsi got pushed out under Bari Weiss. Same editor who stalled the CECOT migrant story until Stephen Miller got a say. CBS keeps calling it timing. Sure looks like a pattern.

60 Minutes Epstein Banking Story Vanished After CBS Ousted Sharyn Alfonsi, Dem Senator Reveals

Wyden revealed he was interviewed for the show in a Senate report alleging the country's largest banks turned “a blind eye” to Epstein's financial activity

mediaite.com

Millions of people in the U.S. are also living with long Covid, a chronic condition with wide-ranging symptoms – including fatigue, difficulty breathing, neurological and digestive issues – that can persist months or years after a Covid-19 infection. www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/h...

What we’ve learned about Covid-19 since the pandemic | CNN

Here’s what we’ve learned – and how our understanding has evolved – since the earliest cases of the novel coronavirus were first reported.

cnn.com

BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1

Republican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames with 18-25% of votes reported so far. Missouri's Amendment 4 aimed to make citizen-initiated constitutional amendments practically impossible. Kansas' Amendment 1 was designed to flip the state Supreme Court to ban abortion

One of the things I don’t think some get about the Wilson critiques of The Odyssey is that one of the only and best ways academics can make our work and expertise relevant and available to the public is to pick a hot topic or newsworthy story and use it as an entry point to that expertise/research

Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says

Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...

bloomberg.com

I wrote about the Trojan horse, and what we can learn from her mouth about different cultural attitudes towards deception and violence. As someone comments below, the phrase GIFT ARTICLE is pretty scary in this context.

Chris Suellentrop@suellentrop.bsky.social · yesterday

Turns out @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social knows a lot about ancient epics www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Danyel Smith has spent more than 20 years in prison for a crime that likely never occurred. Last month, a Georgia judge ordered a new trial in his case, ruling that the evidence used to convict him of shaking his son to death lacked a scientific basis. theappeal.org/danyel-smith...

After More Than 20 Years in Prison, Georgia Man Wins New Trial in “Shaken Baby” Case

A Georgia judge ordered a new trial for Danyel Smith, who was convicted of a crime that may have never occurred.

theappeal.org

Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties, the pro-authoritarian billionaires who collaborate with them, & the “journalists” they hire to lie on their behalf.

John Timmer@jtimmer.bsky.social · yesterday

In this piece, Ellison says that he believes news should be based on facts and truth. But if that's the case, you wouldn't hire Bari Weiss.

As a writer I try to remember that the fact that something annoys me personally does not necessarily make that thing important enough to write about

I tried so hard to pitch a piece about the mainstreaming of porn culture.

One sign of the rise of male supremacy and the decline in women’s status is the ubiquity of online porn lingo in casual speech.

Chris Hayes@chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d ago

It was this one, and, yes, I do believe that was an All In first.

Earlier tonight, @michellegoldberg.bsky.social read *another* quote from this weirdo that reflected the same general sentiment. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...

San Antonio-area congressional candidate calls children 'cum trophies' in latest controversy

Brandon Herrera (left) and former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz clasp hands at a San Antonio rally during Herrera's first failed House run. Brandon

sacurrent.com

The DHS statement quoted in this article is ghoulish stuff

H.D. Gregg@hdgregg.bsky.social · yesterday

ICE detains University of Maryland "teacher of the year" at Dallas airport www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/ne...

Even if involved in narcotrafficking, this would be illegal. Due process.

CNN@cnn.com · 2d ago

The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House, following “a careful review” of classified information he has seen so far.

“All of the speculation and hype around A.I. is hiding the fact that the technology isn’t just large language models or agents or data centers. It is the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation.”

Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

The Inherited Platform (Nepotus lecturus) HABITAT: Fourth-generation family-owned newspaper editorial board. CALL: “I once met [NAME OF A SCOTUS NOMINEE] at a fancy cocktail party, and he is perfectly lovely and rational. No need to be hysterical about your rights, ladies.”

A Field Guide to Legacy Media Pundits in the United States

The Family Values Pundit (Divorcio moralisticus) HABITAT: New York Times bestseller list and a weekly column. DISTINCTIVE CALL: “As a man with a deeply unhap...

buff.ly

Lolsob

The New Yorker@newyorker.com · yesterday

If all those spam texts were legit, I’d have dozens of packages shipped to me from USPSS, USP, and FidEx that only require my signature to obtain. www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts...

Weird for NY Times to give David Ellison space to lie about Paramount-Warner. News "requires independence" and must "answer to the facts...not any party or cause"? He's done the literal opposite with CBS. Nonpartisan with a mix of views? Larry Ellison spent over $45M helping elect Trump in 2024.

Oh hey Boston folks, @bostonglobe.com says my book event tomorrow @harvardbookstore.bsky.social will be one of the best of the week

The best local book events, Aug. 2-Aug. 8 - The Boston Globe

All events are free and in-person unless otherwise noted.

bostonglobe.com

Bluesky oldheads will remember that brief period of time when the conservative trolls tried to storm the place and were flummoxed by the idea they would have to organically grow an audience and that someone who didn't want to talk to them could nuke every interaction they ever had from orbit