Philosopher by training; cranky by nature. Professional in science and technology policy. Also photography, combatting antisemitism, politics, and ethics.
“What if the most important resource for open source intelligence became a garbage fire of AI images?”
Joseph CoxNew from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...
The lawsuits from this should bankrupt SpaceX. There should also be criminal liability for Musk. Give these families all of his money.
HypervisibleThe fact that it’s poisoning Black people is not seen as a negative to these folks.
Dumbest motherfuckers.
Scott MacFarlaneFLASH: Justice Dept seeks to dismiss Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn Trump Admin acknowledges: "Damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor"
None of this is true. Data centers create very few jobs; they do not attract high income residents or businesses. In fact, they have demonstrably damaged property values (not to mention health, but easier to see and sue for).
Aaron RuparHassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."
Yeah. One of the things that real outlets are failing to do is give straightforward, plain text reading of the law.
Mark CopelovitchAre you aware of all the other tariffs that are not IEEPA, & how the SCOTUS ruling didn’t stop those? What is journalism, anyway? Don’t print lies in the newspapers, etc.
Moreno can only go on Fox because he knows any other news network will ask him about Max Miller. This is an increasing problem for Republicans. So many of them are so scandalous that they can’t make media appearances anymore.
Aaron RuparSen. Moreno claims Fauci "killed seniors" and calls him a "smug SOB"
This was one possible hypothesis discussed among strategists re: the election. Many Black voting rights groups responded to the disenfranchisement in court, but also ran less visible efforts to ensure their voters were ready and mobile. The voting rights groups’ infrastructure is real and strong.
Phil Lewis"A new analysis of Black voters in the South indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left."
You know how you can tell that the Stevens campaign knows this is a racist strategy? Because they’re posting like this on X/Twitter (where racism is applauded) and not here (where she knows it would go viral while being called racism). It’s a strategic choice.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌Came over here to make sure everyone saw Haley Stevens use Jews as a weapon to be an anti-Arab piece of shit bsky.app/profile/thej...
Haley Stevens is running arguably the most racist Democratic Primary campaign in recent memory, which is impressive since Andrew Cuomo’s campaign against Mamdani is still in recent memory.
Walker BragmanI am increasingly worried about the subtle—and maybe not so subtle—Islamophobic undertones of Stevens’ campaign. From this “local candidate” thing she’s trying to do to Clyburn leaning into the Bible at this rally and telling the crowd to pray for Stevens.
Some loose thoughts: 1.) AI detection tools are not very good, and so their deployment is worrying on a technical level. 2.) Substack isn’t stopping people from US AI; it’s just checking and disclosing. Opposing disclosure is actually bad. 3.) I hope this will decrease Substack letter volume.
Joseph CoxSubstack introduced a feature that detects AI writing. Well, because a ton of people on Substack use AI to write their newsletters, they're now calling the feature a "witch hunt" “I’m not going to apologize for using AI in the creation process.” www.404media.co/substackers-...
One of the major differences between Trump I and II is that no one in control of Trump II has any political acumen or inclination to listen to people who have such acumen. They’re trying to bully Thune over this and Thune has absolutely no control here. It’s all Cornyn and Tillis.
Aaron RuparTrump makes clear that he still supports the taxpayer-funded J6 slush fund: "I will always feel that these victims of govt abuse should be paid back ... Millions agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate."
Fact. I have spent more time explaining people’s misuse of “social construct” than any other philosophical concept. And it’s not close. I have a project in process and have probably 20 pages or so (not all together; spread throughout) on this issue.
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwòthere are a lot of philosophical concepts that get egregiously misused out of the seminar room (and in the seminar room, to be fair). but in terms of sheer pernicious misuse "social construct" has gotta be top 5 somewhere and it's not number 5
So, one point I’ll make to people on the political left is this: If you want to turn Altman’s view here, theres a straightforward argument to the effect that: “essential utilities and services cannot justly be distributed based on income, therefore nationalize it.”
Dylan Roth“We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.” - Sam Altman. I will never stop thinking about how nakedly evil this is, and it has framed every single AI headline I’ve read since.
The reporting from Nikkei Asia is pretty damning, especially with a company like Meta, which is facing massive, serious civil liability re: the social media suits in NorCal. In general, these accounting practices should be (and may be) illegal, and we need SEC and CFPB enforcement here.
Timnit Gebru"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...
David Barton's The Jefferson Lies was so bad Jay Richards (then at the Discovery Institute, now at the DeVos Center at the Heritage Foundation) came out to oppose Barton's work. Judd isn't exaggerating. Barton's hackery cannot be exaggerated. web.archive.org/web/20120905...
The David Barton controversy | WORLDReligion | Christian critics challenge WallBuilders president on America's foundersweb.archive.orgJudd LegumDavid Barton is a fake historian who wrote a book on Thomas Jefferson that was so inaccurate his publisher was forced to pull it from the shelves. Now Barton, and his son Tim, are advising Trump on his anti-Smithsonian crusade.
I agree with all of this, but I actually think that the problem with Silver's transformation (which underlies horserace journalism): He sees everything as gambling and games, but he doesn't see the stakes. That's why the USAID cuts, public health, civil rights violations, don't register.
Brad DeLong...< braddelong.substack.com/p/josh-marsh... > 2026-07-29 4/END
"Greatest government scandal" is a big deal for Johnson, who also believes 9/11 was an inside job. www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
Senate Republican wants to hold hearings on a 9/11 conspiracy theorySen. Ron Johnson could use his gavel of a far-reaching committee to probe the 2001 attacks.www.politico.comAaron Rupar"These injections cause death" -- Ron Johnson claims the covid vaccine is "the great government scandal of my lifetime"
New Fender CEO Bud Cole is quickly making a name for himself by threatening to sue competing manufacturers based on a trademark the company doesn't have and now... praising AI and comparing it to cover bands. guitar.com/news/industr...
Fender CEO compares cover bands to AI in music: “Cover music has been sort of analogue AI for a long time”“I believe that AI is actually going to help create a whole new world of guitar players... it will help musicians be more productive.”guitar.comThis is what's striking about the new polling. As lots of folks have noted, it seemed like Trump was going to be stuck at ~35 as a floor, because of GOP support. There's just not much more D/I support to lose. But if the GOP support decreases (and/or party ID shrinks further), there is no floor.
Aaron RuparCNN's new polling has Trump's standing among Republicans at its all time low
Remembering Glen Hansard. youtu.be/qgu4vyXLApY?...
Glen Hansard - Bird Of SorrowYouTube video by Hinnak123youtu.be