Katherine D. Johnston

To be clear on what they're proposing: human beings using water for drinking, washing, and growing crops will be rationed.

The AI datacenters will have all the water they can contaminate.

ICE memo outlines plan to deport migrants to countries where they are not citizens The dramatic shift in policy could result in thousands of immigrants being deported to places where they lack family ties or even a common language.

Breaking news: Federal immigration officers may deport immigrants with as little as six hours’ notice to countries other than their own, even without assurances that the arrivals will be safe from persecution or torture, a top official said.

I'm not going to repost any of the insane antisemitic conspiracy bullshit that grok is spewing today, but it highlights how absolutely essentially is that we not let LLMs become a form of epistemic grounding for our society.

This story about technophile overconfidence, disciplining labor with software, predictive analytics, privatization of public services, & aggressive litigation of known victims is the story of our times.

It’s been years since I had to face reality, but I still am not over the fact that there is no group of anybody anywhere, no A team actually protecting this country from bat shit crazy leadership.

A crowded magic the gathering event

Trump'a poorly attended birthday party

Magic The Gathering event vs. Trump's Birthday Party

A pokemon convention

Donald Trump'a poorly attended rally

Pikachu's birthday party vs. Donald Trump's birthday party

the story today is of a profoundly low energy military parade being met with millions of americans in nationwide protests denouncing the dictatorial pretensions of the president

Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators Workers at contractor in Accra say they have suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of their work

Meta must prioritise human rights, and recent cases show what needs to change.

Ghana, like Kenya, sued Meta for the distress content moderators endure.

It follows Nigeria upholding a fine against the tech giant for violating consumer & data protection laws.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

One way to read stories based on leaked docs: look at time from being circulated to docs getting published — bc that’s the amount of time it took to a) get someone pissed enough to agree to leak and b) get enough also-pissed people to confirm.

These are slides dated April 29-30, published May 1.

Trump sends real estate mogul alone to deal with Putin | CNN Politics CNN’s Erin Burnett shows how Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s envoy sent to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was greeted for the talks.

this is well put and really worth watching:

www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/p...

Silicon Valley ideologues agitating for an autocoup.

Supreme Court, if you're listening . . .

SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: "Has the Trump administration made any efforts to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to the United States?"

US EMBASSY IN EL SALVADOR: "No."

DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

EXCLUSIVE: DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

CNN put together a collection of clips of various Trump officials who were on the signal chat criticizing Hillary Clinton’s email server

I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier today, the president attempted to illegally fire me. This is corruption, plain and simple. I will see the president in court. My full statement:

Nothing outrageous here, just the vice president of the United States promoting Nazi white supremacist ideology.

BREAKING | Protesters in Los Angeles shut down traffic, joining the nationwide movement demanding the release of detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil.

all of this has to be understood in context of collective unwillingness to say emperor is mad

Trump: "These newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative. And it has to stop. It has to be illegal ... it just cannot be legal."

Not good. Thank you to @wired.com for documenting and to the researchers for speaking up.

Walz: I think they hate public education because it’s easier to run an authoritarian government if you don’t have a population that knows.

Chilling. Columbia is making it clear that they will not protect their students, faculty, & staff from these trumped up charges.

Start drafting op-Eds for your local press, & identify faculty staff student and community experts on relevant topics. Legal issues, higher ed finance, role of HE in feeding innovation to industry, labor history, Middle East politics, etc. (11?/)

You Are Probably Wildly Underestimating How Many Americans Support DEI, New Study Shows How popular is diversity and inclusion in Trump’s America, really? A new study suggests whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably wrong.

A new study found that 82% of respondents favored DEI policies. "While the vast majority of respondents were positive about DEI themselves, they estimated just 55 percent of Americans held pro-diversity views."

DEI is more popular than we assume!
www.inc.com/jessica-stil...

Guess it's time to work on irresponsible and unsafe AI

So good. Just run this on loop @democrats.org.

"'Women' is a banned word": Trump uses trans panic to strip rights from all women Under the guise of "protecting women," the military, schools, and labs are forced to take women's safety away

It's easy for cis people to stand back and assume this fight isn't about us. That's not true, as I wrote about here. But I think it's also crucial to consider how it can be easier sometimes for people with privilege to stand up for those who are marginalized.

www.salon.com/2025/02/10/w...

🎯

CNN poll:

56% of adults disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. That number is higher than at any point during his first term per CNN polling.
 
61% disapprove of Trump's handling of tariffs.
 
57% say Trump has not paid enough attention to the country's most important problems.