Sarah Ravits

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Elon Musk's Idiot Chatbot Turns Into An Explicit Nazi | Defector When last we checked in on Grok, Twitter’s supremely grating and corny embedded chatbot, it had spent an otherwise ordinary weekday in May attempting to impress upon Twitter users the seriousness of…

Elon Musk's idiot chatbot turns into an explicit Nazi: defector.com/elon-musks-i...

Instead of “Alligator Alcatraz” or “Alligator Auschwitz”, let me suggest that we call it simply the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp.

Hang the name on Florida. Make them own this disgraceful moment in U.S. history. Make our grandchildren lobby to change the name of Dade County out of shame.

Thousands of New Orleanians participate in national ‘No Kings’ protest Thousands of New Orleanians rally against President Donald Trump as part of the nationwide 'No Kings' movement June 14

Just covered the New Orleans installment of the No Kings protest, which was peaceful and celebratory ahead of the scheduled Pride parade, and with minimal police presence

www.nola.com/gambit/news/...

New Orleans’ Sheriff may not know how many keys to the jail exist

www.nola.com/gambit/news/...

A guy on a Zoom call holding a paper up to the camera that says, no innovation until everything works.

New slogan for tech just dropped.

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

NYT headline: A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse

AI is Getting Worse, but It's Getting Worse

Top CDC covid vaccine adviser quits after RFK Jr. ended recommendations Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos said she could no longer help vulnerable people after officials removed recommendations to immunize children and pregnant women.

A top coronavirus vaccine adviser at the CDC has resigned, citing concerns that she could no longer help vulnerable people after officials rescinded recommendations to immunize children and pregnant women.

There is one place, however, where Musk, with the help of his minions, achieved his goals. He did indeed shred U.S.A.I.D. Though a rump operation is now operating inside the State Department, the administration says that it has terminated more than 80 percent of U.S.A.I.D. grants. Brooke Nichols, an associate professor of global health at Boston University, has estimated that these cuts have already resulted in about 300,000 deaths, most of them of children, and will most likely lead to significantly more by the end of the year. That is what Musk’s foray into politics accomplished.

Musk should be asked about this in every interview he does now and forever. To ignore it is a dereliction of duty.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Louisiana House committee kills anti-fluoride drinking water bill The Louisiana House Health and Welfare Committee May 28 rejected a bill by Sen. Mike Fesi, a Houma Republican, that would have banned fluoride from public water systems.

Louisiana House committee kills anti-fluoride bill 🦷 www.nola.com/gambit/news/...

'The Light Switch,' Episode 7: A smatter of ethics • Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana government's dubious history serves as the backdrop for a very significant proposed rewrite of Louisiana’s ethics laws, with Gov. Jeff Landry behind the pen.

Here’s something you don’t hear much:

“Boy, Louisiana is just TOO ethical.”

Our latest episode dives into Gov. Jeff Landry's proposed rewriting of state ethics laws.

lailluminator.com/2025/05/23/l...

The cost of Grok: "I can't breathe at home, it smells like gas outside. How come I can't breathe at home and y'all get to breathe at home?"

Can't be overstated how fucked up it is that Black folk came up with a word to express people being aware of the oppression of other people and it's now targeted by far right governments globally as something evil that must be destroyed

Trump v 60 Minutes is a stunning battle for the soul of US media The US president’s tensions with the CBS show barely scratch the surface of his crusade against the media

“In addition to all the principled reasons to not cave to Trump, there’s also the practical one that it doesn’t work,” @seth-stern.bsky.social tells @theguardian.com. “He will be right back at your door with his hands out the next day.”

This has been more widely circulated than any edited comments on television in quite some time

Perhaps it should be circulated further still ?

Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit Col Susannah Meyers removed amid reports she distanced base from Vance’s criticism of Denmark’s oversight of territory • Europe live – latest updates The head of the US military base in Greenland, a Danish territory coveted by Donald Trump, has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the island. Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from JD Vance’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory during the US vice-president’s visit to the base two weeks ago. Continue reading...

Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit

Amendment 2 failed by a margin of 186k votes. There are only 59K public school teachers in this state. So I don't think they were the difference between the amendment passing or failing. #lalege

I had mixed feelings about the White Lotus finale but it was smart to time it to the economic collapse

Excellent recap

Louisiana voters reject 4 constitutional amendments, handing Landry major defeat • Louisiana Illuminator In a stunning rejection of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, Louisiana voters turned down all four of his constitutional amendments Saturday.

Why Gov. Landry had a stunning defeat in Saturday's election:

1. He put a juvenile justice plan on the ballot that brought $$ for organized opposition

2. No one sold the tax plan well - and rank and file conservatives were skeptical

3. Anger at Trump #lalege

lailluminator.com/2025/03/29/l...

Landry blaming "far left liberals" for why amendments failed IN LOUISIANA is funny.

Amendment 2 went down 65-35 statewide. Without Orleans it went down 61-39. Without Orleans and Baton Rouge it went down 59-41.

Hegseth, Waltz, Gabbard: Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online Donald Trump's most important security advisers used Signal to discuss an imminent military strike. Now, reporting by DER SPIEGEL has found that the contact data of some of those officials, including ...

achtung, baby

www.spiegel.de/internationa...

Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning. Diplomats in Vietnam warned Washington that halting USAID’s efforts to clean up the massive deposit of postwar pesticides would be a catastrophe for public health and relations with a key strategic…

With Vietnam on the verge of its rainy season, when torrential downpours are common, officials warned the State Department that the toxic substance could flood into nearby communities, poisoning their food supplies.

By @annamaria.bsky.social, Brett Murphy, and Le Van

Cassidy says he'll submit legislation to help Trump close Education Department 'as soon as possible' • Louisiana Illuminator Cassidy said on social media he agrees with Trump “that the Department of Education has failed its mission.”

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy says he’ll submit legislation to help Trump close Education Department ‘as soon as possible,’ @statesnewsroom.com reports: lailluminator.com/2025/03/21/r...

Chemical company considers action against Louisiana over potential misuse of products in execution Airgas, a nitrogen and oxygen supplier, is considering action against Louisiana over potential misuse of its products during Jessie Hoffman's execution

Chemical company Airgas is considering action against Louisiana over potential misuse of its products in Jessie Hoffman’s execution — the company is adamantly opposed to states using their supplies to carry out the death penalty

www.nola.com/gambit/news/...

Explaining Jessie Hoffman | The Lens People still say, ‘That’s not the Jessie I knew.’ But most didn’t know what he endured at home – and that’s likely what drove him on that day, psychiatrists say.

The state of Louisiana killed Jessie Hoffman today. The first execution in 15 years, using a controversial method — asphyxiation by nitrogen gas.

He did not profess to be innocent. A matter entirely separate from the death penalty.

This piece captures a lot.

thelensnola.org/2025/03/18/e...

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow As the administration does its best to hide public records from the public, Wired magazine is stepping up to help stem the secrecy

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.