Greetings all. I'm looking for a podcast producer to help do a (much) more regular BLOOD IN THE MACHINE show. I thought I'd start by reaching out here, and to the broader BITM community. If this sounds like it's up your alley, details are in the link below:
Mayor Mamdani speaks at a Union Now rally.
Crowd members hold signs and cheer at a Union Now rally.
Mayor Mamdani greets crowd members at a Union Now rally.
Decades of coordinated corporate attacks on unions have put our country in an inequality crisis & a political system that answers to wealth over the will of the people.
Yesterday, I was proud to stand with workers & rally with @unionnow.org to rebuild the power of working people from the ground up.
My one-hour special “Rick Steves Iran: Yesterday and Today,” which helps humanize 90 million Iranian people, is streaming free and ad-free at www.ricksteves.com/watch-iran.
You know how in a library no one’s trying to sell you anything?
That’s how the internet was.
While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
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
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
Among the batch of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein: Epstein telling Peter Thiel he would “gladly share…expenses for the Gawker suit.”
This was sent the day after @rmac.bsky.social and @mattdrange.bsky.social reported in Forbes that Thiel was behind the lawsuit that would bankrupt Gawker
Rest in peace to one of the great bloggers and the de facto mayor of Philadelphia. It was my honor and pleasure to work with him. defector.com/dan-mcquade-...
Worth noting that one reason you’re benefitting so fully from the Star-Tribune’s timely, extensive coverage of unfolding events is that it’s a metro newspaper that hasn’t been systematically starved to further enrich shareholders and executives.
How the Gawker Trial Was the Gateway to Trump. The Journalism 2050 podcast returns with guests @mariabustillos.com, @marinedoux.bsky.social, and @swajcmanearle.bsky.social, hosted by @emilybell.bsky.social. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
If the United States Constitution doesn’t protect you from a federal agent shooting you in the face for the “crime” of turning your car around, it doesn’t exist. ICE has become a paramilitary force with zero oversight and a Secretary in Kristi Noem who encourages the chaos. ENOUGH.
screenshot of a subscription appeal email from defector: Too often these days I find myself “choosing” between Bad and Worse. This week’s indignity: Should I want Larry Ellison’s poreless son or a gluttonous, $400 billion company to secure the right to enrich the vile David Zaslav? For all the complaints about how “we don’t make things in America anymore,” the country produces plenty of opportunities to debase yourself by rooting for the merely Bad. Immiserated by a steady stream of these false choices, it’s easy to forget that Something Else is possible. Defector is Something Else. From our blogs and podcasts to the company’s cooperative structure, everything we do reflects the sensibilities shared by our staff and subscribers. We have no access to preserve, no investors to please, and no gambling partner to feed. This lets us see things clearly, say things straightforwardly, and offer refuge from this inhumane moment. We chose Something Else. You can, too:
loath to be too precious about this stuff but I want one lesson of defector to be "you can choose to not do stuff that sucks" even if "doing stuff that sucks" is the default
yessir. www.jimcookeart.com/uterus-middl...
A thing that I think is good is when a human creates a piece of art
Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC on Tuesday night, the Walt Disney Co. said.
The move follows conversations to figure out how to defuse the situation that began with Kimmel’s comments in the aftermath of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Freelance illustration gigs drying up. Ad agencies using Midjourney instead of hiring human artists. Costume design turned over to AI wholesale. Good work vanishing.
These are the stories of working visual artists, who describe losing jobs, wages, and hope as their clients and bosses embrace AI.
This isn't a list of jobs that A.I. can easily replace.
It's a list of jobs that techno fascists don't think are worthwhile or meaningful and that they want to eliminate.
They don't want humans to try to make sense of the world, they want us to believe whatever we're told.
Hulk Hogan and the Lawsuit That Changed Journalism and America talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/hulk-...
The bill the Senate is voting on right now would reduce US power generation through 2035 by 300GW, raise wholesale & retail power prices, increase household energy costs, reduce national GDP, & kill 100s of 1000s of jobs.
I mean, this isn't "public grocery store" bad, but it's pretty bad!
Telling me "the subway is so dangerous now" is my immediate sign that you need your TV taken away and your news algorithm adjusted www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-subway...?
When Josefina and her husband discussed whether he should quit his job amid the ICE raids, they hadn’t meant for the kids to overhear. They wanted to shield them. But soon enough, the whole family joined the hard conversation, one similar to many unfolding across L.A. www.latimes.com/california/s...
I've basically been writing this in my head since I was 10, but now it's finally time to unleash it on the world. My book about the golden age of The Simpsons comes out on June 10. Preorder STUPID TV, BE MORE FUNNY here. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...
To be in public office right now is to constantly ask yourself: How do I make sure I'm standing on the right side of history?
There's a simple answer.
The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid - the right side of history will always expect you to be brave.
