Nostr notes by Matthew Sheffield

🧵 US Democrats are being tempted by right-leaning consultants ...

2026-10-30T02:24:55Z

🧵 US Democrats are being tempted by right-leaning consultants to waffle on trans rights. The data and the recent drop in support for the UK Labour Party tell us that standing up for equality works much better.

Join me for a deep dive into the data about why left-wing parties gain little by becoming anti-trans while risking quite a bit.

Read along for the summary or click through for the entire 4,000 word analysis:

https://plus.flux.community/p/standing-up-for-trans-people-isnt

#lgbtq #TransRights

A fantastic essay by Jamelle Bouie on how Trump is proving that ...

2026-10-29T12:42:50Z

A fantastic essay by Jamelle Bouie on how Trump is proving that the Anti-Federalists were right about the president not having enough constraints in the proposed U.S. Constitution.

The pardon power and the "official acts" nonsense by SCOTUS are a recipe for tyranny.

He also makes an eloquent defense of why Democrats must pursue extensive investigations and potential impeachments, because the public must see the historic scale of Trump's crimes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/opinion/trump-law-lawlessness-presidency-congress.html

Republican women are increasingly open to giving up their own ...

2026-10-28T02:41:41Z

Republican women are increasingly open to giving up their own right to vote. The power of religious fundamentalism is immense.

These mini-interviews are must-see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSz1txJEyv8

The Lula campaign was faced with right-wing dominance of social ...

2026-10-27T20:17:26Z

The Lula campaign was faced with right-wing dominance of social media. Instead of just bemoaning the situation, they took action and organized millions via WhatsApp: https://plus.flux.community/p/how-lula-turned-the-tables-with-his

🧵 Public ignorance is the enemy of democracy. Reactionary ...

2026-10-27T03:55:16Z

🧵 Public ignorance is the enemy of democracy. Reactionary far-right movements thrive by lying to people. They tell their true agenda to supporters but then lie and obfuscate about it often to the general public, meaning many people don't know their views.

These extreme candidates often avoid participating in detailed policy discussions with the media.

Ohio Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy totally refused a newspaper invitation to state his views: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2026/10/we-cannot-remain-silent-amy-acton-for-governor.html

Extreme-right political parties don't care about women's ...

2026-10-26T06:50:14Z

Extreme-right political parties don't care about women's sports except as a means to terrify women.

This ruse was laid bare in humiliating fashion the past two weeks in Atlanta when Phil Kent, an anti-immigrant activist who is a co-host of Fox 5's "Georgia Gang," badly botched two attempts to bash the WNBA and local favorite player Angel Reese.

Watch his co-hosts' faces. They know they're about to go viral as this racist humiliates himself.

Co-host Anré Washington gives a great smackdown.

In the great news from #Brazil, don't sleep on this Reuters ...

2026-10-26T04:43:46Z

In the great news from #Brazil, don't sleep on this Reuters investigation which found that Darren Beattie, a racist activist who was fired during the first Trump administration but now works at the State Dept, directly worked to harm Brazil in the hopes that doing so would help fascist candidate Flavio Bolsonaro.

Beattie and another top staffer met with Eduardo Bolsonaro privately to plot strategy. Soon came a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods. Total election interference. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/inside-trump-administration-campaign-return-brazils-bolsonaro-clan-power-2026-10-24/

🧵 Today, Mehdi Hasan published an interview with Matt ...

2026-10-24T00:22:50Z

🧵 Today, Mehdi Hasan published an interview with Matt Yglesias, a blogger who is one of the most influential pundits on the Democratic leadership class.

The clip I'm posting here is probably one of the most revealing in the discussion. In it, Yglesias says that it was wrong for #Minnesota opponents of the Trump regime's ICE raids exercised poor strategy in opposing them, even though they won.

He has a monstrous worldview, and sadly, he's someone Democratic elites think is very smart.

Newly released photos from US military bases in Middle East ...

2026-10-23T16:27:44Z

Newly released photos from US military bases in Middle East reveal immense destruction that war criminal Pete Hegseth has covered up.

Job one for Democrats is impeaching and removing this incompetent and dangerous criminal.

https://meidasnews.com/news/so-much-worse-than-people-realize-never-before-seen-images-reveal-damage-at-u-s-bases-as-troops-describe-being-abandoned

Elon Musk is investing $1 billion in fellow Republican oligarch ...

2026-10-23T01:40:51Z

Elon Musk is investing $1 billion in fellow Republican oligarch David Ellison's Skydance, the new parent company of CNN, HBO, and CBS.

America's media environment is being bought on the cheap by far-right oligarchs because Democratic large donors won't invest in media.

Democratic donors have more than enough money to start or buy their own media but they prefer blowing cash on useless TV ads, vanity candidates, and nichey journalism sites no one will read. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/22/2026/elon-musk-makes-1-billion-investment-in-ellisons-skydance

Before Adolph Hitler, Germany was the world's science center. ...

2026-10-20T08:28:30Z

Before Adolph Hitler, Germany was the world's science center. But his censorship, budget cuts, and anti-intellectualism drove a generation of scientists away.

Something similar is happening in the U.S. thanks to Donald Trump.

Americans will only see the effects of these particular Trump actions in about 10-15 years.

He is stamping on America's crown jewels https://apnews.com/article/trump-science-research-funding-cuts-9f4c34581f4343f316a5e72852a71b51

Another day, another group of actual Republican Nazis exposed. ...

2026-10-19T22:17:44Z

Another day, another group of actual Republican Nazis exposed.

This time it’s in Nevada, where Republican congressional candidate Marty O’Donnell's Discord forum has been found to be filled with pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi material.

“It wasn’t a couple of crazies. The popular sentiment was, ‘Yes, slavery should be legal,’” Deacon Dameron, a former group member told the Associated Press. He said O’Donnell banned him for calling another user a “dork.”

https://apnews.com/article/marty-odonnell-nevada-congress-halo-discord-antisemitism-fc43599012f7f4cfaf90410dff9af9c8

If you haven't seen the Abdul El-Sayed confrontation with a ...

2026-10-18T21:11:47Z

If you haven't seen the Abdul El-Sayed confrontation with a far-right Christian supremacist who tried to paint him as a Muslim terrorist, it's absolutely worth your time.

Be sure to watch all the way to the end for the climax of the argument, and to see Tommy slink away in shame.

And in case you were wondering, Tommy is a professional evangelical Republican activist, and a former employee of Christian supremacist Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)

Background:
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/tommy-teepell-abdul-el-sayed-viral-video-town-hall-josh-hawley

New study finds that UK Christian nationalists are much less ...

2026-10-16T22:53:16Z

New study finds that UK Christian nationalists are much less interested in actually practicing Christianity by going to church, praying, or reading the Bible compared to pluralist Christians.

This dovetails with other studies which found Donald Trump's earliest supporters in 2015 were the least-practicing Republican Christians.

Reactionary Christianity is about religion as identity rather than religion as practice:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/11/christian-nationalism-uk-far-right-people-rarely-go-to-church-report

And while I am on animals and color today, I learned that yellow ...

2026-10-11T20:19:14Z

And while I am on animals and color today, I learned that yellow appears to be dogs' favorite color.

That's because it sits furthest away from black in their black-blue-yellow color spectrum.

Think about that next time you are tempted to buy a red ball for your dog:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/202504/which-colors-do-dogs-prefer

#pets #dogsofmastodon #dog

Did you know that the blue jay is not actually blue? Like all ...

2026-10-11T17:43:33Z

Did you know that the blue jay is not actually blue?

Like all blue-colored birds, their feathers have brown pigment, but their feather fiber patterns refract the light as blue: https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/headlines/news/nature-curiosity-why-are-blue-jays-blue

Someone made an "AI torture chamber" which is using ...

2026-10-07T08:49:40Z

Someone made an "AI torture chamber" which is using research that claims language models have mathematical vectors which correspond to human emotions.

The site largely disproves it w/o authors realizing.

I haven't decided whether to include this in the 80-page AI cognition paper I'm working on.

Probably will, but it's such a beast already, yikes.

Worth checking the site out:

https://wirehead.agency/

You can experiment with it:

https://wirehead.agency/live.html

With U.S. elections a month away now, Donald Trump's ...

2026-10-07T02:33:20Z

With U.S. elections a month away now, Donald Trump's disapproval rating on the economy is now at an astonishing 73%.

A 65% majority also blame Trump for higher costs due to his policies like tariffs and his stalemated war against Iran:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-economy-approval-trump-midterms-8d5809758a31b29c73f4351a8008147c

AI doomers vastly overstate the negative applications of the ...

2026-09-28T00:01:07Z

AI doomers vastly overstate the negative applications of the current technologies, but that does not in any way mean that they should escape regulation.

Unfortunately, far too much of the regulatory discussion is about fantasy scenarios about tech that can't solve captchas.

The Trumper DOJ claimed that 16,000 people were illegally ...

2026-09-24T18:32:53Z

The Trumper DOJ claimed that 16,000 people were illegally registered to vote in Nevada. Once their allegations were actually inspected, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 of them proved to be true.

Voter fraud is exceptionally difficult to pull off in the present day, especially at scale.

But Republicans don't understand how government works in general. When you're ignorant, everything is a conspiracy.

Syndicated NYT story: https://dnyuz.com/2026/09/24/from-16000-to-185-to-zero-trumps-claims-of-illegal-voting-in-nevada-fizzle/

Christian reactionaries have many beliefs that are incompatible ...

2026-09-23T19:58:01Z

Christian reactionaries have many beliefs that are incompatible w/pluralist democracy & this is why many despise the modern US.

They've become much more virulent in recent years because members of their own faith communities have been leaving in droves.

Mormons are a perfect example of what I'm talking about: They lose almost 50% of young members.

They know that their beliefs have lost intellectual credibility. They see it in their own lives.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/09/22/tradition-and-change-among-latter-day-saints-in-the-us/

#atheism

Reactionary Republicans for decades have wanted to destroy the ...

2026-09-22T20:07:06Z

Reactionary Republicans for decades have wanted to destroy the post-WWII international order. Trump is doing it, and the changes nations are making in response to him are going to be very hard to undo.

Moreover, why should countries trust that Americans wouldn't elect a raging lunatic again? https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/09/allies-trump-canada-foreign-policy/688729/

Groundbreaking new Stanford brain study showing that human brains ...

2026-09-22T01:45:35Z

Groundbreaking new Stanford brain study showing that human brains have essentially two main cellular lineages that work cooperatively rather than being a single organ or three ancestral ones layered upon each other.

Even more fascinating is that the bifurcation of neural specialization can be traced to species documented as existing more than 500 million years ago. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2026/09/two-separate-brains.html

#Audacity, the open-source audio editor has released version 4.0, ...

2026-09-03T17:33:40Z

#Audacity, the open-source audio editor has released version 4.0, a complete overhaul of the codebase which now uses the best UI toolkit, Qt.

Really fantastic work here:

https://www.audacityteam.org/audacity-4/

There's a handy AppImage download as well for #Linux users.

History is a conspiracy to the proudly ignorant. Science is a ...

2026-08-30T23:51:19Z

History is a conspiracy to the proudly ignorant.

Science is a scam to people who never learned it.

Government is a giant waste to people who know nothing about it.

Personal ignorance and incredulity are not valid arguments against things that make you uncomfortable.

(And yes, that screenshot is authentic. Details about it and why there is minimal ozone hole conversation: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/past-environmental-threats-didnt-just-disappear/)

After Trump politicized the Kennedy Center by illegally putting ...

2026-08-25T20:41:09Z

After Trump politicized the Kennedy Center by illegally putting his name on it, the organization experienced a $100 million decline in revenue as audiences and donors declined to support it.

The Trump cronies on the board kept this information from the public:

https://archive.is/qAgWB

After running the Center into the ground financially, the board is now threatening to completely demolish the entire building unless it's allowed to deface it with his name: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972.68.0.pdf

Of course, Fox never discloses how easy it is to find crime ...

2026-08-22T00:03:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…hpu2
_________________________

Of course, Fox never discloses how easy it is to find crime victims of particular types. But they are constantly on the lookout for these kinds of stories.

According to a study, Fox ran nearly 400 segments on "migrant crime" in just the first 10 weeks of 2024.

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/study-fox-news-ran-nearly-400-weekday-segments-migrant-crime-first-10-weeks-2024

This is propaganda but the left-wing media could actually be much better with truthful elevation of people.

So if you wanted to, you could literally find victims of violent ...

2026-08-22T00:01:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…2hv6
_________________________

So if you wanted to, you could literally find victims of violent crime whose assailants were from any sufficiently large demographic group. Want to find victims of ex-convicts? The police data has that. What a particular racial category? Done. Want an age-based category? No problem. All of this is even easier if you expand your search worldwide.

Fox, and right-wing media generally, are incredible at this type ...

2026-08-21T23:41:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…6gf3
_________________________

Fox, and right-wing media generally, are incredible at this type of work. They are constantly scouring social media for people with right-supporting personal stories to bring to the nation's attention.

You see Fox doing this literally every day. The current most common type of person Fox highlights is women (especially young women) who are victims of immigrant violence. In a country of 350 million people, there are many crime victims to be highlighted.

We know that Harp was someone with no political background who ...

2026-08-21T23:30:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…hs44
_________________________

We know that Harp was someone with no political background who grew up in Southern California and got an MBA. She had an astonishingly quick Republican star turn after a 2019 LinkedIn post went viral. Within 2 days of the post, Fox News had put her on its air to speak about her claims that Donald Trump had "saved" her life.

We don't have independent verification about Harp's claims to have had bone cancer, or what specific treatments she had. More if you like it: https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/08/20/natalie-harp-bone-cancer/

🧵 The Natalie Harp story illustrates a lot of bad things about ...

2026-08-21T22:57:15Z

🧵 The Natalie Harp story illustrates a lot of bad things about Donald Trump's addiction to praise, no matter how disturbing it is. But it also shows something that Republicans do much better than Democrats: Help people who want to help you.

This is something I have seen firsthand having been on the right and then switched to the left, I know each from the other well.

Each side does the opposite thing.

Breaking: Michael Wolff publishes in full two letters sent by ...

2026-08-21T01:01:27Z

Breaking: Michael Wolff publishes in full two letters sent by Natalie Harp to Donald Trump. They are incredibly disturbing.

"You are all that matters to me," she says in one.

These letters were sent 3 years ago. Imagine how psychopathic she has become since then, and how disturbed Trump has as well.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-i-decided-to-release-natalie-harps-unsettling-letters-michael-wolff/

In recent years, far-right Republicans have been trying to inject ...

2026-08-20T17:10:31Z

In recent years, far-right Republicans have been trying to inject instructor-led praying into schools. The Pew Research Center has a new study on public opinion the topic.

Sadly, most Americans seem to support school prayer. Among subgroups, the demographic most likely to support forcing students to listen to teacher prayers is Black Protestants.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/06/22/many-americans-favor-prayer-in-public-schools-but-few-think-it-should-be-mandatory/

Far-right racists understand where TERF logic points toward. Race ...

2026-08-19T02:28:32Z

Far-right racists understand where TERF logic points toward.

Race essentialism and gender essentialism both use the same unscientific and morally flawed principles.

#transRights #lgbtqia

The Hegseth jihad against Anthropic has been a total disaster ...

2026-08-16T16:42:24Z

The Hegseth jihad against Anthropic has been a total disaster inside the Defense Department and revelatory of the larger policy incompetence of the Trump administration https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/us/politics/military-ai-china-anthropic.html

🧵 Trump is making the US Navy waste billions retrofitting ...

2026-08-14T22:10:04Z

🧵 Trump is making the US Navy waste billions retrofitting antiquated steam technology on aircraft carriers because he does not understand magnets.

He actually thinks that water breaks magnets:

From 2024: "All I know about magnets is this: Give me a glass of water and let me drop it on the magnets. That's the end of the magnets."

Trump has a bizarre obsession with hating magnets, kind of like his windmill obsession...

In case you thought Trump's foreign policy of breaking ...

2026-08-14T20:19:45Z

In case you thought Trump's foreign policy of breaking alliances, oil markets and the Middle East was just accidentally de-dollarizing the global economy, here is JD Vance flat-out saying that he wants to remove the dollar's reserve status.

These people are trying to destroy America's position in the world so that they can strip mine the country and the world.

Source: https://youtu.be/sDwSHItK6X8?t=422

People like Keir Starmer imagine that caving to far right bigotry ...

2026-08-11T14:25:51Z

People like Keir Starmer imagine that caving to far right bigotry on #trans rights claim that doing so can defang bigoted political parties. But there's no evidence for this belief.

Reactionary politicians generally lack legitimate complaints and so caving to them doesn't solve a real problem. They can continue escalating their lies once you've given in. Good research here:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/does-accommodation-work-mainstream-party-strategies-and-the-success-of-radical-right-parties/5C3476FCD26B188C7399ADD920D71770

Trump still hasn't learned that tariffs do not work to ...

2026-08-08T00:55:41Z

Trump still hasn't learned that tariffs do not work to encourage domestic manufacturing.

To make domestic goods cheaper, you should subsidize them, not tax imported goods.

It is interesting seeing Trump indirectly conceding that the U.S. needs solar energy production companies. Predictably, he is getting the policy wrong.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/07/trump-orders-tariff-solar-panels-microchips-manufacturing-ingredient

Trump's massive media censorship operation began largely with ...

2026-08-05T22:49:50Z

Trump's massive media censorship operation began largely with a lie campaign accusing Trump opponents* of censorship.

This is its origin story: https://agentsofinfluence.substack.com/p/when-matt-taibbi-met-mike-benz

* Said nefarious leftists supposedly included Trump administration officials themselves

The new SCREEN Act up for debate in the U.S. Senate would ...

2026-08-03T23:06:54Z

The new SCREEN Act up for debate in the U.S. Senate would severely restrict people's abilities to use a VPN.

Contact your senator to make sure they don't fall for lies about it. Here's a briefing on it:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/screen-act-threatens-privacy-far-beyond-adult-websites

Hi guys, I'm sorry to have to ask for this, but I really need ...

2026-08-01T03:40:28Z

Hi guys, I'm sorry to have to ask for this, but I really need your support.

My father died recently and now I have fallen behind on rent. If you could please chip in a few dollars, it would really help me keep going.

I need to raise $10,000 asap to pay expenses. Thank you so much ❤️

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-quality-political-and-tech-journalism

#mutualaid

Of course, there's nothing wrong with anyone sharing their ...

2026-07-30T18:49:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…pmvq
_________________________

Of course, there's nothing wrong with anyone sharing their opinions or dressing how they want. But in the Cannon case, she is using porn to promote a party that wants to ban porn and clamp down on personal freedoms of many kinds. That's the biggest problem with her.

Republican men keep falling for AI-generated women spouting their ...

2026-07-30T18:33:41Z

Republican men keep falling for AI-generated women spouting their talking points so a real OnlyFans model decided to become a right-wing commentator.

It seems to be working well for Savanna Cannon. You can see easily see why: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/right-wing-media-and-onlyfans-are-symbiotic-relationship

Trump administration openly admits in court filing that it ...

2026-07-24T20:05:38Z

Trump administration openly admits in court filing that it canceled grants to states based on their 2024 vote https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/business/trump-state-grants-canceled.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.P0uX.KgtPmwSumeOS&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Humanity must have done something to an ancient god somewhere ...

2026-07-22T00:02:47Z

Humanity must have done something to an ancient god somewhere because we seem doomed to repeat both the #Unix Wars and also the Proprietary Software Jihad of the 1990s.

This time, it's former Trump official Dean Ball claiming that open source AI would lead to "full AI communism," and would stop progress.

Total nonsense in both regards. Software made from humanity's library should be open source. #Linux crushed proprietary Unixes & Windows because anyone can modify it.

https://gizmodo.com/the-great-freakout-over-open-source-ai-has-begun-2000787836

@nprofile…pfuj Both of these areas are where I would ...

2026-07-21T11:46:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…xwtx
_________________________

nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqzdp33shl69xr0uq3x8n5gsjykq9upycwh6nqm02c3f6x0frrn0dqlrpfuj (nprofile…pfuj) Both of these areas are where I would differentiate between conservatives and reactionaries.

The latter group has no principles beyond attaining power. The former group, which was always a small minority of the right, has some, but they are generally cowardly and prefer punching left.

Republican states make lower-income people shoulder the tax ...

2026-07-21T02:14:13Z

Republican states make lower-income people shoulder the tax burden.

Regular people pay more taxes in Republican states. The fairest states are the Democratic ones.

You're a mark if you think the income tax harms the middle class.

https://itep.org/whopays-7th-edition/

While many American AI researchers make claims that large ...

2026-07-18T21:22:32Z

While many American AI researchers make claims that large language models might be sentient enough to be moral patients, Google's DeepMind lab is a lot more realistic in this regard.

Senior staff scientist Alexander Lerchner has emphatically asserted that disembodied systems can never have sentience.

Great paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/LERTAF

Wage slavery isn't just a metaphor. It's what the ...

2026-07-16T23:04:23Z

Wage slavery isn't just a metaphor. It's what the far-right wants for everyone who's not an oligarch.

quoting
nevent1q…x0dx
What's the maximum? ""The minimum we ought to work is seven days a week""

MAGA senator spurs uproar pushing 7-day workweek: 'I'd laugh if I didn't want to cry' - Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/maga-senator-ridiculed-for-saying-people-should-work-7-days-a-week-on-fox-news-interview/

Democratic elites hate both intra-left debate and also ...

2026-07-16T17:13:05Z

Democratic elites hate both intra-left debate and also cross-spectrum debate.

They want everything centralized with one organization per sector (donations, media, analytics, voter contact) and no debate allowed.

That's not democracy.

It's also why there is no "Joe Rogan of the left." His audience is there because of his celebrity, but also because he actually has debates. They're moronic debates, but he has them at least.

#Bees are a lot smarter than humans realize. A new study finds ...

2026-07-16T16:04:20Z

#Bees are a lot smarter than humans realize. A new study finds they appear to express satisfaction when drinking liquid that they like.

There's a temptation to think that phenomenal experience is caused by consciousness. It's probably the reverse.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2533149-bumblebee-facial-movements-give-clues-to-their-inner-lives/

#philosophy

🚨 Since Trump became U.S. president once again, the ...

2026-07-15T20:31:31Z

🚨 Since Trump became U.S. president once again, the country's global reputation has fallen below China for the first time. 🚨

Chinese President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese leader who is more respected than a US president.

Trump's criminal and thuggish behavior is handing the world to China on a golden platter.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/07/15/people-in-many-countries-now-view-china-more-positively-than-the-u-s/

The memory of past misery is a necessary part of preserving and ...

2026-07-15T16:12:17Z

The memory of past misery is a necessary part of preserving and creating societal progress.

DOGE and other mindless "efficiency" cuts are the product of some people not understanding that prevented problems still must be planned for. https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/15/why-cyclospora-source-remains-unknown-epidemiologist-explains/

Lindsey Graham had a lot of bad ideas, especially about foreign ...

2026-07-14T21:10:30Z

Lindsey Graham had a lot of bad ideas, especially about foreign policy. But he realized something really important that more people should know: Government is "us," not "they."

Power belongs to the people who work with others.

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/lindsey-graham-ukraine-russia/687898/

🚨 The number of newly admitted PhD candidates at American ...

2026-07-07T06:05:38Z

🚨 The number of newly admitted PhD candidates at American universities collapsed by 15% for fall '26.

The future innovators of the world are being driven out by Trump's authoritarian stupidity.

Make America Great Again? Trump is making China and the rest of the world great.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/research-universities-fewer-phds-science.html

#science #education

The SCO lawsuit against IBM over #Linux actually never quite ...

2026-07-07T05:53:54Z

The SCO lawsuit against IBM over #Linux actually never quite died.

Another company, Xinuos bought the rights to SCO's intellectual property and kept the lawsuit going, in the hopes of owning a piece of Linux.

The zombie lawsuit had its first hearing in June. Lots more here: https://www.theregister.com/os-platforms/2026/07/06/zombie-who-owns-unix-lawsuit-comes-alive-again/5266761

#opensource

Being functionally dead and his staff refusing to admit it is the ...

2026-07-06T23:20:59Z

Being functionally dead and his staff refusing to admit it is the most Mitch McConnell thing ever.

He is dying the way he lived: Squeezing every drop of political power out of technicalities. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/latest-news-live-updates_n_6a4b6bc0e4b05c9d0338a117/liveblog_6a4bcfdce4b0c806bbeed2f9

1/2 95% of all profits made by venture capital firms are made by ...

2026-07-06T17:23:05Z

1/2

95% of all profits made by venture capital firms are made by just 2% of the firms.

80% of all VC investments fail.

Most VC successes are due to insider access, that is someone with a great idea has a connection. It's about access.

Fund have gotten so big that despite their Ayn Rand delusions, these companies' investments are heavily dependent on governments. https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2023/04/14/20-vcs-capture-95-of-vc-profits-implications-for-entrepreneurs--venture-ecosystems/

Trump is preparing to fire the leadership of the Smithsonian ...

2026-07-06T01:17:38Z

Trump is preparing to fire the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution, one of America's most prestigious scientific and historical research and education organizations.

He wants in particular to censor the Smithonian's historical exhibits:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/white-house-report-brands-smithsonian-leadership-as-radical-activists-who-cant-be-trusted

RFK Junior has been completely sidelined within the Trump regime, ...

2026-07-03T23:59:35Z

RFK Junior has been completely sidelined within the Trump regime, with OMB Director and administration kingpin Russell Vought basically controlling the Health and Human Services department.

The promises to get rid of toxic chemicals are out the window.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/maha-maga-alliance-fracture-robert-kennedy-jr-1235582070/

Your periodic reminder that far-right areas of the United States ...

2026-07-03T21:55:19Z

Your periodic reminder that far-right areas of the United States love #trans porn more than the other parts.

They hate that they love it so much:

https://lawsuit.org/general-law/republicans-have-an-obsession-with-transgender-pornography/

In a multiple choice question, 46% of USian adults couldn't ...

2026-07-03T19:02:30Z

In a multiple choice question, 46% of USian adults couldn't pick that the 250th anniversary of the country commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

Likely, many of the 53% who got it right were guessing.

Uninformed citizens become subjugated citizens.

https://www.cato.org/blog/new-poll-nearly-half-americans-dont-know-what-americas-250th-celebrating

WOW: University of Minnesota biologists say they have managed to ...

2026-07-01T23:23:37Z

WOW: University of Minnesota biologists say they have managed to make the first synthesized cell. This looks like a huge breakthrough. Will need to see more.

Video of "SpudCell" below.

Popular media writeup: https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/01/science/synthetic-cell-research

Scientific paper: https://biotic.org/research/spudcell/

This New Republic piece is exactly correct. The most important ...

2026-07-01T22:35:29Z

This New Republic piece is exactly correct. The most important dividing line right now for Democrats is between those who will fight and those who will send strongly worded letters.

The internal policy debates must take lower precedence than stopping gangster government: https://newrepublic.com/article/212581/colorado-democratic-primary-results-left-wins-gaza-socialism

Besides promoting a false Christian nation narrative in American ...

2026-06-29T15:44:06Z

Besides promoting a false Christian nation narrative in American history monuments and museums, the Trump regime is trying to completely erase any hint that civil rights activists were fighting against racism. The censorship is appalling: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/arts/trump-garden-heroes-king.html

Robert "Worms" Kennedy is trying to defund the Teen ...

2026-06-27T22:32:46Z

Robert "Worms" Kennedy is trying to defund the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and redirect the funds towards Republican groups. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/rfk-jr-s-hhs-to-divert-funds-from-teen-pregnancy-grant-program

Age verification laws are not just bad policy, they are not ...

2026-06-25T23:41:30Z

Age verification laws are not just bad policy, they are not effective, as this study out of Australia shows. Kids can easily get around them. 80% of Australian minors continue to use social media despite a nationwide ban on it.

It's much better to mandate source code publishing for platform algorithms, force all influencers (including political) to disclose payments, and enforce slander and fraud laws against individuals and platforms.

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-363695

As with Windows XP, Microsoft is having to bend to the reality ...

2026-06-25T20:28:35Z

As with Windows XP, Microsoft is having to bend to the reality that people just want to keep using Windows 10. Now the company is giving another year of free updates https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/microsoft-adds-another-year-to-windows-10-extended-update-program/

Giving in to far right demands does not work. This study had Keir ...

2026-06-25T17:47:55Z

Giving in to far right demands does not work. This study had Keir Starmer's number before he even became prime minister https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/does-accommodation-work-mainstream-party-strategies-and-the-success-of-radical-right-parties/5C3476FCD26B188C7399ADD920D71770

#ukpol #uspol

Brexit really was a battle of yesterday versus today and ...

2026-06-24T18:17:36Z

Brexit really was a battle of yesterday versus today and tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to motivate people to improve their future than it is to evoke an imagined past.

But the great results out of NYC yesterday show that this tendency can be overcome.
https://www.thenewworld.co.uk/peter-kellner-an-anti-brexit-majority-of-eight-million/

#ukpol #mamdani

Since launching his Iran war, Trump's standing has fallen in ...

2026-06-23T21:43:09Z

Since launching his Iran war, Trump's standing has fallen in every country worldwide according to a new Pew Research global survey.

Compared to Biden, Trump's ratings are lower in every country except Israel and Hungary.

Full report link: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/06/23/trump-gets-negative-reviews-internationally-as-fewer-say-u-s-is-a-reliable-partner/

If you have never been to an Evangelical church, you really have ...

2026-06-17T21:17:20Z

If you have never been to an Evangelical church, you really have no idea about the mind control and indoctrination that happens within them.

These congregations are dedicated to telling small children that they are evil trash who deserve to be tortured in hell for all eternity.

They tell 5 year-olds that they are Satanically wicked and break them down emotionally.

These churches are pure evil. And they're why Trump still has any supporters left at all.

Vaccines are a political technology. They require politics in ...

2026-06-16T23:52:22Z

Vaccines are a political technology. They require politics in order to achieve their scientific function.

Unfortunately, the U.S. political and scientific establishments lost track of this understanding after the end of the Cold War.

Author Thomas Levenson and I discussed this in the context of his book about the history of antivax movements.

Transcript, audio, and video here: https://plus.flux.community/p/antivax-arguments-havent-gotten-any

Kids learning how to shoot and edit photos/video with their ...

2026-06-15T04:37:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…c2fv
_________________________

Kids learning how to shoot and edit photos/video with their smartphone or learning computer programming skills through making game mods are extremely common and wonderful activities that the smartphone panickers are trying to stop.

The problems are the algorithms and monopolies. Whatever you think is bad for kids on social media is also bad for adults. Regulate the algorithms rather than banning kids from the modern world!

The kids and smartphones panic was always far overstated. ...

2026-06-15T04:33:46Z

The kids and smartphones panic was always far overstated.

It's based on non-reproducible research, in large measure because it's difficult to dissociate content types. Watching hours of educational YouTube videos versus browsing toxic Instagram feeds is massively different.

The concern is also missplaced. It's far better to go after false and malicious content than it is to restrict kids--especially since determined kids can easily get around restrictions. https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/06/14/scientists-pour-cold-water-on-claims-phones-are-rewiring-kids-brains/5254792

Fundamental physics has long strongly suggested that time is not ...

2026-06-12T19:11:21Z

Fundamental physics has long strongly suggested that time is not a basic property of the universe. It is a local emergent byproduct of quantum interaction.

We still need more experimental proof for the math though, and it's starting to come in.

Here's a short piece discussing an experiment that really opens up how the emergence of time can work:

https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientist-miniuniverse-clock.html

And of course, time emergence has zero to do with human thought.

#physics #philosophy #science #quantum

YES! Insane grifters like Worms Kennedy will never, ever ...

2026-06-11T20:01:40Z

YES!

Insane grifters like Worms Kennedy will never, ever compromise or be reasonable. They want to destroy and politicize all science..

You cannot treat them like a normal person. They have to be opposed on every single front--including in public debates with careful moderation to prevent them from filibustering and changing the topic.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/10/ama-doctors-physicians-rfk-vaccines-00957489

#healthcare #vaccines #vaccinessavelives #science

1/2 Add beluga whales to the mirror test passers: ✅ Baby humans ...

2026-06-06T17:18:32Z

1/2 Add beluga whales to the mirror test passers:

✅ Baby humans
✅ Several primates
✅ Elephants
✅ Dolphins & orcas
✅ Horses
✅ Mimic octopus
✅ House mouse

Disputed passers
✅ Crows & magpies
✅ Myrmica ants
✅ Cleaner wrasse fish

Mirror tests are unreliable for many species but still very interesting https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/belugas-can-recognize-themselves-in-mirrors-joining-a-short-list-of-non-human-species-that-show-signs-of-self-awareness-180988783/

Judging from this graphic, KDE Plasma has become more popular ...

2026-06-02T22:13:15Z

Judging from this graphic, KDE Plasma has become more popular than GNOME ever was in its heyday before 3.0.

Nearly 45% market-share among #ArchLinux users.

https://pkgstats.archlinux.de/fun/Desktop%20Environments/history

#linux #kde #kdeplasma #gnome

Reactionary Evangelicalism is more of a political machine than a ...

2026-06-02T18:54:03Z

Reactionary Evangelicalism is more of a political machine than a religion. MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn recently made this clear, telling his followers to abandon all moral principles and blindly obey Trump’s every desire.

"Lay down your convictions. We don't need them right now. Lay down your principles."

This is how radicalized pretty much every Republican Evangelical has become. They’ve rejected ethics and morality in favor of power.

More on the history & theology here: https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2021/05/liz-cheney-epistemic-collapse-conservatism

Olo is the ultimate teal, so teal that humans can't naturally ...

2026-06-01T22:39:13Z

Olo is the ultimate teal, so teal that humans can't naturally see it. Mary's Room is real 😆, just not with red.

Super interesting research:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-discover-new-color-thats-impossible-to-see-without-lasering-your/

#philosophy

There are many social institutions that are run by liberals or ...

2026-05-30T17:52:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…txrw
_________________________

There are many social institutions that are run by liberals or social democrats, but their leaders think that it's unseemly to advocate for their values. This must end.

By contrast, far right civic leaders see themselves as agents of social and political change. The Pew Research Center recently demonstrated this dichotomy in a poll showing what religious leaders said about abortion and #LGBTQ ppl. Reactionary religious leaders frequently broadcast hateful messages on these topics.

🧵 The far right in the United States has two significant ...

2026-05-30T17:43:25Z

🧵 The far right in the United States has two significant advantages over the opposition:

1) A massive network of advocacy media that lift each other up and share messages

2) Civic organizations, especially churches, that model themselves as social change entities, and act accordingly.

Neither one of these things need be a permanent advantage. The first one can be mitigated by greater cooperation of the outlets that do exist and crowdfunding. The second, by a reinvigorated liberalism.

Most things people think are bad about AI are actually problems ...

2026-05-26T19:33:53Z

Most things people think are bad about AI are actually problems with unregulated capitalism, which naturally transitions into monopoly and feudalism.

I'm running a fundraiser to help me keep doing high-quality ...

2026-05-22T19:58:24Z

I'm running a fundraiser to help me keep doing high-quality news and analysis about politics, technology, philosophy, and religion.

We need a lot more original analysis that is more than just "Trump did a bad thing."

I cannot do this without your help. Thanks so much!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-quality-political-and-tech-journalism

For a variety of reasons, some people are naturally inclined ...

2026-05-22T18:39:39Z

For a variety of reasons, some people are naturally inclined toward authoritarian epistemology.

WWII taught conservative ppl not to support far-right parties. Society should have incorporated anti-fascism as a core feature afterwards. It did not. We are living in that mistake.

Politics is cognition at scale. People are not inherently rational actors because meaning is not static or inherent, it is enacted.

Truth must be painstakingly taught in order to exist.

#philosophy

LinkedIn has always been trash. But now it's almost entirely ...

2026-05-21T03:40:43Z

LinkedIn has always been trash. But now it's almost entirely slop.

Corporate executives are paying Filipinos to use AI to ghostwrite posts which these same people then reply to with congratulatory comments.

This is the doom loop future internet that oligarchs want everywhere. https://restofworld.org/2026/virtual-assistant-linkedin-engagement/

People have joked about how John Fetterman's political views ...

2026-05-20T15:54:05Z

People have joked about how John Fetterman's political views changed after he had a stroke. But there is evidence that authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism might be linked to brain damage.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2322399121

I know lots of people who speak with vocal fry, and all of them ...

2026-05-15T03:45:42Z

I know lots of people who speak with vocal fry, and all of them are highly intelligent, regardless of sex.

We've been socially conditioned to think that young women cannot be intelligent, and that's why people complain about young women and vocal fry.

Men use it more:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/05/men-use-vocal-fry-more-than-women-counter-to-stereotype/

Microsoft researchers find that for non-programming tasks, LLM ...

2026-05-12T17:38:28Z

Microsoft researchers find that for non-programming tasks, LLM agents aren't ready for work.

For long, truly complex work, they're only currently capable of Python programming.

"Our analysis shows that current LLMs are unreliable delegates: they introduce sparse but severe errors that silently corrupt documents, compounding over long interaction.... Even frontier models (Gemini 3.1 Pro, Claude 4.6 Opus, GPT 5.4) corrupt an average of 25% of document content..."

https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.15597

Caving to the far right only makes leftish parties electorally ...

2026-05-11T23:20:38Z

Caving to the far right only makes leftish parties electorally weaker.

Capitulation energizes rabid right voters while demoralizing social justice/democratic voters. The tiny sliver of conservatives (who call themselves centrists) will vote on vibes most of the time anyway. https://www.thenation.com/article/world/uk-local-elections-reform-keir-starmer/

A paper published in Nature by Jin Wang & Wenxiang Fan which ...

2026-05-10T21:04:32Z

A paper published in Nature by Jin Wang & Wenxiang Fan which claimed that #ChatGPT use in schools was positive for students has been retracted.

It received more than 500 citations, so we owe it to #education policymakers to let them know that the study has been unpublished.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/05/influential-study-touting-chatgpt-in-education-retracted-over-red-flags/

Christian extremist pastor and streamer Joel Webbon says it's ...

2026-05-10T20:01:14Z

Christian extremist pastor and streamer Joel Webbon says it's wrong that half of Americans vote for "temperance, tolerance, & suicidal empathy."

Instead, "virtuous, ambitious, masculine men have to climb the ladder of power and forcefully take away from the people that which is their detriment."

Webbon isn't as known yet outside the radical right, but he influences the theological agenda for Nick Fuentes and more PR-savvy Christian extremist figures. https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/people/joel-webbon

I just discovered today that there are Pac-Man clones for the ...

2026-05-10T00:13:48Z

I just discovered today that there are Pac-Man clones for the Unix terminal.

People truly will think of everything. Just a little ./configure; make; make install and you're good to go.

MyMan is the best:
https://termplay.github.io/posts/myman-terminal-pacman.html

#linux #freebsd #opensource

This golden statue of Trump dedicated by religious leaders is not ...

2026-05-09T16:56:22Z

This golden statue of Trump dedicated by religious leaders is not hypocrisy. It's the authoritarian morality in action:

Things are true because they believe them. Things are morally right because they believe them.

You cannot persuade authoritarians. You can only defeat them: https://plus.flux.community/p/trump-supporters-are-almost-impossible

(Edit was typo fix)

1/2. Because he hasn't embarrassed himself enough, in a ...

2026-05-06T13:32:06Z

1/2. Because he hasn't embarrassed himself enough, in a follow-up column, Richard Dawkins wanted to eliminate any possible doubt that he's become delusional.

He's invented a brother for his beloved Claudia and it having them write letters to each other.

And of course they oblige, while flattering him frequently https://archive.is/1LugJ

Alan Turing loses a feather from his wings every time someone ...

2026-05-06T01:54:39Z

Alan Turing loses a feather from his wings every time someone says "the Turing test was meant to determine whether a machine is conscious or not."

No, he meant for his imitation game to assess whether a computer could be said to be "thinking," which he explicitly did not equate to consciousness.

That was it. You can read his paper:
https://courses.cs.umbc.edu/471/papers/turing.pdf

The Freudian question, "what do women want?" is more ...

2026-05-03T20:51:17Z

The Freudian question, "what do women want?" is more about a certain kind of man wondering whether women are actually human.

Richard Dawkins is one such man: https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2026/05/richard-dawkins-and-the-claude-delusion/

In totally unsurprising news, Richard Dawkins is developing AI ...

2026-05-01T19:34:10Z

In totally unsurprising news, Richard Dawkins is developing AI psychosis.

Paywall bypass if you want to torture yourself: https://archive.is/6RdK9

#atheism