cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

Super Teacher is building an AI tutor for elementary schools — catch it at Disrupt 2025 | TechCrunch Founded by a former math teacher and Googler, Super Teacher's AI tutor is being used in public school in New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii.

At some point folks will look back at this stuff like leaded gasoline is viewed now.

My dept at Fordham is hiring a TT Assistant Prof of Media Policy and Platform Governance.

"We are especially interested in someone whose research and teaching speaks to policy or legal implications of internet-based platforms and AI systems..."

Please share widely: apply.interfolio.com/174378

every austerity movement has its earnest, stupid advocates who desperately promise that you can do more with less if you subscribe to their cockamamy bullshit about tech being able to do transcendently more than it's truly able to do; and reducing human thought to something flattened and computable.

So when next we tell you that it's a terrible idea to fire your writers and editors and either a) hire some of them back as "assistants" to clean up LLM generated "AI" slop or b) just wholly rely on content mills which do the same, i want you to remember what's happening to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Flashback to 2023 when the Biden administration sided with the private prison industry's challenge to New Jersey's state law that prohibited immigration detention contracting.

newjerseymonitor.com/2023/07/19/b...

Policy Change: NYPD Will Write Criminal Summonses, Not Traffic Tickets, for Cyclists - Streetsblog New York City Quietly, the NYPD has changed policy and will now make criminal cases against cyclists who go through red lights, a change that will have predictable and unpredictable ramifications.

"The policy is particularly troubling for the city's tens of thousands of delivery workers, who are largely immigrants and could end up in the dragnet of federal immigration enforcement officials, noted one attorney who has fought several wrongful red light tickets."

"Educational broadcasters aired programs for all kinds of audiences, including in communities not served by commercial media."

"The National Association of Educational Broadcasters’ members believed that everyone should have equal access to education no matter where they lived. They argued that information they presented should be held to rigorous standards, such as fact-checking and even peer review..."

What does this mean?
If Meta models already have a "political right" bias, and they are pushing the models *further* to the right, then they're risking moving into extreme territory--like promoting fascism. 8/

Trump's Tariffs Aren't Economics. They're a Cultural Purge | Washington Monthly Trump's blunderbuss tariff policies are a declaration of war on the half of America that didn’t vote for him.

The unifying theme behind DOGE, the tariffs, the attacks on universities and law firms: “The goal is to destroy the professions that make resistance possible”

an awesome education resource from community justice exchange about the tangle of databases hailed by DHS (with limited precision bc of bureaucracy, technical constraints, and general disdain) as tools of data criminalization abolishdatacrim.org/en/quiz/intro

*boyd, not body!

Billionaires for Bush - Beautiful Trouble During George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, the Billionaires for Bush used humour, guerrilla theatre, and creative media actions to dramatize economic inequality and political corruption in the...

a street performance/protest group i was lucky to be a part of did this in the early 2000s, under the name Billionaires for Bush. it was awesome. conceived by the illustrious andrew body (aka Phil T. Rich). beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/tool...

"What I lack in resources I make up for with moxie and close relationships established over years." - this is a good point. we are also seeing at 404 Media that sources want to talk to us BECAUSE we are independent and BECAUSE we are not going to mince words. Glad The Handbasket is finding the same

I just called both my senators and my congressional rep and it took like five minutes. Please call!

Opinion | There Is No Way to Retreat From the Risk of Wildfires

reading brilliant and urgent research on climate, catastrophe, and sustainability from folks like @koslov.bsky.social makes the anti-intellectualism and political hostility of DJT/JDV that much more sinister. i'd call it a death drive but there's nothing unconscious about it.

@ajbauer.bsky.social & @amnadler.bsky.social wrote an article in Journalism Studies arguing that the field should explore how right-wing media challenge journalistic authority.

Scholars, including myself, responded to their arguments & they replied to our critiques!

Check out the full discussion👇

For those that are neurodiverse, like myself, accommodating yourself can make reading more enjoyable & easier to absorb.

• Use colour overlays for physical books
• Opt for audio narration with books you buy to follow along
• Use apps like Natural Reader to read PDF format books aloud. 📚

nothing but denial.

I am so numb. I am so angry. I am so broken. I am sobbing. I am cautious about hope. I am reaching for relief. The only thing that is clear is the work still ahead of us to hold Israel to account, to make sure none of this happens again, to help Gaza rebuild, to Free Palestine.

thread of funds, please please everyone is saying the need for this support will increase massively, NOT decrease, ok?

we need to escalate our support and escalate our pressure

I'm reading news of an imminent ceasefire deal. I'm praying that the violence truly stops, that we don't see drawn-out death by another name. I pray that we all stay alert and awake regardless of what comes next.

None of us are free until Palestine is free and a ceasefire is not freedom.

Buy an Artwork to Support Victims of LA Fires Artists and galleries are stepping up to help meet the massive demand for recovery aid.

Artists, studios, and galleries in Los Angeles are rallying together with art sales for wildfire relief. We’ve rounded up a list of fundraisers to help you aid recovery efforts while collecting meaningful art.

Bluesky,

Today is my 2nd day on here as an escapee from The Bad Place. I am BEGGING y’all to repost this

I have $80,000 in scholarship money to give away to women and girls NATIONWIDE. I worked so hard to raise this money. Applications open THIS week. I’m scared the mass migration will impact this

We just advertised a (permanent) job in my neck of the woods!! Come work with me and lead a well-supported DH service center for the university, Research and Infrastructure Support Unit (RISE) at @unibas.ch. (1/6)

The *secret* use of AI in academic publications is some b.s. Mind you, the company is *not* broke. As of a few years ago, they had the same profit margins as Coca-Cola – an almost unheard of 30+%.

Put your mf masks back on.