Short and insightful conversation. Another quote: "There’s a big crowd of people who really, really want AI success stories. And then there’s an equal and opposite crowd of people who want to dismiss all AI progress. And what we have is a very complicated and nuanced story in between."
26.02.2026 07:26 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Scarlet Globe Mallow.
Prairie Smoke.
Cone Flower.
Liatris.
"You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free"
—Tom Petty
Summer wildflower memories on a snowy evening 🌿
This 53 year old man who lived in my neighborhood w/no criminal record & who had been in the US for 30 years, was detained and thrown into a cold cell for days, caught pneumonia and COVID there and deported.
He finally died.
I am so angry.
www.kptv.com/2026/02/21/n...
The headline does not convey how completely batshit this story is. The Archive Today (archive.ph etc) admin weaponized the site's captcha to attack a blogger who wrote about them and *altered archived screenshots* as part of the attack.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Let's try this again 👋
Hi Bluesky - I'm Massachusetts' Attorney General. You might know me from suing President Trump nearly 50 times, beating Uber and Lyft in court, or being the first woman of color elected to statewide office in MA.
I officially left X today - help me find my MA people?
“They threw my dad out like an animal, and now I have no dad.”
Paulino Martin San Pedro was an Oregonian. He was a beloved community member. This administration murdered him.
His family has a gofundme here: www.gofundme.com/f/keep-pauli...
words projected on the front of the USIP building that say “Trump destroyed this Institution, imposing his name on the building, a narcissistic attempt to associate himself with peacemaking.”
New — This was projected on the US Institute of Peace building this evening ahead of the first meeting tomorrow of Trump’s farcically-named “Board of Peace.”
Photo taken by person who was over there tonight. Unclear who’s behind the projection.
When a democracy is restored after an interlude of criminal looting like this, it is perfectly justified in seizing back the proceeds and prosecuting the looters, regardless of what they have done to make it “legal” on paper.
19.02.2026 02:03 — 👍 25 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 1
Article: The political effects of X’s feed algorithm Abstract: Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk’s platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users’ feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X’s algorithm has persistent effects on users’ current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.
Figure 2. ITT estimates of feed-setting changes on engagement and political attitudes. ITT effect estimates of switching the algorithm on and off (in s.d.). Left, effect of moving from the chronological to the algorithmic feed for users initially on the chronological feed. Right, effect of moving in the opposite direction for users initially on the algorithmic feed. For each outcome, the results of two specifications are reported. Blue, unconditional estimates with robust s.e., controlling only for the initial feed setting and, where applicable, pre-treatment outcome levels. Orange: conditional estimates, controlling for pre-treatment covariates using GRFs; 90% and 95% CIs are reported. Numerical effect sizes and P values correspond to the conditional estimates (all tests are two-sided). The unit of observation is respondent. From top to bottom, sample sizes are n = 4,965, n = 3,337, n = 4,965, n = 4,965, n = 4,596, n = 4,596 and n = 4,850. Tests are described in Methods. Supplementary Information Table 2.16 reports the exact numerical point estimates, s.e., CIs and sample sizes for every specification. All outcomes are standardized. Additional results are presented in Supplementary Information section 2. PCA, first principal component from principal component analysis.
X's algorithm is in fact doing what you think it's doing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
18.02.2026 17:24 — 👍 1881 🔁 728 💬 30 📌 87My guess is that the goal here is not only to punish the children for turning more people against ICE/DHS, but also to make news outlets think twice about reporting on kids' suffering at the hands of ICE/DHS, out of concern that doing so might lead to retaliation against the kids.
18.02.2026 13:17 — 👍 1965 🔁 855 💬 35 📌 30(tl;dr: not only are frontier models an essential resource that should be dedicated to the commons, they allow us to _expand_ the set of tools and resources permanently available for free, through commons-based production. )
18.02.2026 03:51 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I am a leftie, and have been saying this for a while now.
permacommons.org/posts/2025-0...
The government denied these detainees access to counsel and tried to whisk them out-of-state as quickly as possible to make it more difficult for their lawyers to assist them. As this court explains, ICE effectively suspended the Fifth Amendment in Minneapolis. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...
17.02.2026 20:23 — 👍 554 🔁 177 💬 9 📌 1
J.J.B. is 20 years old, and a refugee. (J.J.B. Decl. ¶ 1.) On January 13, 2026, J.J.B. parked outside of his home and was immediately surrounded by 20 ICE agents. (Id. ¶ 4.) Officers did not allow J.J.B. to tell his mother that he was being detained. (Id. ¶ 5.) J.J.B. asked agents about his case, and explained that he had refugee status, but agents said that officers would look into it in Texas. (Id. ¶ 11.) Without access to a lawyer, J.J.B. did not know how to exercise his rights. (Id. ¶ 17.) Even if he had known how to ask a court to order his release, it was impossible to send mail or email, so he could not have done so. (Id.) J.J.B.’s holding cell at Whipple “could not hold more than 20 people”—yet it was packed with 100. (Id. ¶ 12.) The room had a dirty toilet with excrement overflowing. (Id.) J.J.B. had to ask for toilet paper, but was sometimes denied. (Id.) There were no beds, blankets, or trashcans, and trash was all over the ground. (Id. ¶ 13.) People slept in handcuffs and standing up because there was not enough room. (Id.) One person in J.J.B.’s cell had epilepsy and begged for medication; no one answered. (Id.)
A different 20-year-old refugee in Minneapolis got abducted by ICE then jailed in a cell 5x over capacity with an overflowing toilet and no beds or blankets. Fellow detainees were denied life-saving medication and forced to sleep standing in excrement. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...
17.02.2026 20:10 — 👍 704 🔁 323 💬 10 📌 6
On January 10, 2026, while driving back to work after getting lunch with his father and cousin, a car quickly passed O., sped up, then stopped in front of him. (Id. ¶ 3.) A few men in civilian clothes stepped out of the car and asked for his identification. (Id.) The men threatened O.—if he did not get out of the car, they would force him out. (Id.) O. exited the car and was told he was under arrest. (Id.) The men handcuffed him and did not allow him to bring his phone. (Id.) O. felt like he was being kidnapped. (Id.) The men detained O., his father, and his cousin, taking them all to Whipple. (Id. ¶ 4.) At Whipple, there was “food scattered on the floor, the floor was sticky with mud, and everything stuck to your shoes.” (Id. ¶ 5.) The space was so cramped that sometimes there was no space to sit on the floor. (Id.)
The horror stories rolling in from Minnesota are just the tip of the iceberg. This 20-year-old, who's lawfully present in the country, was arrested for being Latino, then jailed in a filthy cell where he couldn't even sit down. 18 days of illegal detention. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...
17.02.2026 20:06 — 👍 5640 🔁 2808 💬 100 📌 111
People who immigrate to the U.S. come here to find safety and opportunity and contribute to our communities.
We should be welcomed with dignity, not demonized.
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.
His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.
Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.
Yes, AI re-generation of a chart someone else previously made by hand. 🤦♂️
17.02.2026 01:35 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Quote from the article: No representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would tell me what they make of this second Mormon Moment. Whether the church pays influencers directly was the subject of a recent online controversy after an ex-Mormon influencer claimed a third-party marketing firm solicited her to film pro-LDS videos. One LDS influencer, Jasmin Rappleye, a Happy Valley mom who posts educational content about the faith, tells me she is funded by ads and LDS nonprofits. The church leadership is at least supportive of influencers’ efforts, if not bankrolling them outright: Last year, a group of influencers attended an official LDS event and posted about it on Instagram. “Elder Stevenson said that ‘influencers’ can be SUNBEAMS for HIM!!” one wrote. The church recently announced a new group of leaders had been appointed to be advisers for young men; four were YouTubers.
Excerpt from article, "Beyond that .." portion highlighted in screenshot: The contradicting visions of Mormonism right now are perfectly suited to a country in the middle of an identity crisis. Its sister saints can be feminists or tradwives. They are moving us forward and taking us back. We can be sure that the church will benefit regardless. The Latter-day Saints have canny investments, starting with a direct stake in the success of its flock: Members in good standing are expected to tithe 10 percent of their annual income to the Church. That’s potentially 10 percent of Ballerina Farm’s empire of sourdough starter and colostrum protein powder and of the brand deals of the faithful Mormon Wives (even if they go to Pride). Beyond that, some of the companies owned by the oldest and most powerful Mormon families are invested in the products influencers are selling: Swig, the dirty-soda brand, is now owned by the Larry H. Miller Company, which belongs to one of the wealthiest Mormon dynasties in the state. A primary investor in Cozy Earth, a bedding company frequently posted about by the Wives, is a venture-capital firm founded by members of the Mormon Huntsman family, who are also invested in hair extensions.
It discusses the LDS support, though not deeply.
15.02.2026 19:56 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Researchers celebrate early results of a drug that may become the first treatment for a serious complication of pregnancy called preeclampsia. It's got the potential to save many lives.
14.02.2026 23:42 — 👍 1127 🔁 296 💬 25 📌 39
“I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner,” a former federal prosecutor and federal judge said. “They said they were going after ‘the worst of the worst,’ then they became the problem.
Read this by @jonschuppe.bsky.social & @natashakorecki.bsky.social
Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!
"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social
14.02.2026 02:37 — 👍 23632 🔁 8266 💬 603 📌 1358
> In no way does the avatar for the meme undermine the message, I don't think.
it does tho
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) "Change my mind" template with the text "Steven Crowder does not deserve a meme format, change my mind".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_...
13.02.2026 19:10 — 👍 71 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0LIED. He lied. And a lot of people said he was lying. Then there was another hearing. Where he lied.
13.02.2026 18:48 — 👍 93 🔁 28 💬 1 📌 2
My impression is that right now we have:
- public dataset benchmarks that absolutely can be maxxed (e.g., SWEBench Verified)
- private dataset benchmarks that are harder to maxx, but that can't keep up with model releases (e.g., SWEBench Pro Private, which doesn't have a single Chinese model)
and session checkpoint/save/resume management, mcp, skills, remote task orchestration, sub-agents/agent teams, context compression, deterministic triggers, ...
12.02.2026 23:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Reporter Georgia Fort, who was arrested and charged by the Trump DOJ for just doing her job as a reporter, speaks out in the NYTime about the administration's callous disregard for press freedom and the ominous signal it sends.
Reporter Georgia Fort, who was arrested along with Don Lemon for doing her job as a reporter (covering an ICE protest at a MN church) speaks out about the experience in the @nytimes.com.
Endorsing every single thing she says here.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/o...
