Chris Dwan (he/him)

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

Deep below the fold, past the mad king’s latest war of choice, past the ever unrolling lurid details of our abusive pedophile oligarchs and their rape parties, past even the ravings of the techno utopian greedheads …

… I see that the birds are dying.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c...

Overtime is a stupid way to accomplish these goals, especially in a cash crunch.

bsky.app/profile/some...

bsky.app/profile/some...

It's a federally funded system that we will pay for with upfront money. That creates a risk of being stiffed if we don't comply.

As with the grant for police overtime to harass cyclists, I think you are far too credulous when the police tell you what you need to hear in order to give them money.

Sounds like a hell of a gate, in addition to a pretty wild operational security problem. If it's as you describe, I'm pretty shocked that they're waiting for federal money to solve the problem.

Me, traveling in 2024: "Hmm, I'll be near an international border on this trip, maybe I should take a passport in case I want to hop across and do some tourism."

Me, traveling in 2026: "Shit, almost forgot my passport and copy of the constitution that I carry everywhere in case the feds grab me."

I'll stop. I'm ranting. But ... I really never expected to be one of those constitution carrying loonies.

Life comes at you fast.

14/14

It is broadly known that presidential pardons are now pay for play, and that you can either pay in a campaign donation or just use his name-branded crypto.

Trump literally takes bribes.

C'mon congress! Do your job!

13/?

Trump aide Homan accepted $50,000 in bribery sting operation, sources say In the alleged scheme, Tom Homan promised immigration-related government contracts when he joined the Trump administration in exchange for the money.

So, just in the very smallest example, Tom Homan took a literal envelope filled with cash to look the other way on some stuff that a restaurant chain was doing.

C'mon congress! Do your job!

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

12/?

While I'm reading, the constitution is actually very specific about bribery:

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

11/?

"No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

Did congress approve the jet?

DID CONGRESS APPROVE THE JET?

10/?

Then there are the powers -denied-:

"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

You know how we're just snatching people and deporting them? The founders knew ALL ABOUT that shit.

9/?

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;"

This whole thing about Trump having emergency powers because there is either an insurrection or an invasion. That's all on congress!

8/?

"To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;"

All that summary shit that Trump and Hegseth did to establish our military as a testosterone poisoned, transphobic, racist, sexist abomination ... all literally congress's job to regulate.

7/?

"To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;"

Trump's -literal- declaration of war yesterday is wildly unconstitutional.

6/?

"To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;"

That's the question of us shooting boats off Venezuela, supporting Israel's genocide, and attacking Iran.

All congress's job to regulate.

5/?

"To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"

That's the idea of moving the US to some kind of cursed crypto standard or put Trump's ugly mug on a coin.

Literally not the president's job.

5/?

"To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;"

That's oversight on the citizenship process, and should be the final word on the question of birthright citizenship.

4/?

"To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"

That's -also- tariffs, in case they were unclear above.

3/?

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"

That's authority over tariffs.

2/?

As previously mentioned, I am become one of that class of people I formerly counted as loons - a person who carries a copy of the US constitution around with him, occasioning bringing it forth to make some point or other about the gub'mint.

Today I find myself thinking on Section 8.

1/?

Protest Surveillance Shortly after ICE agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, I went downtown to take part in protests at the State House and at…

I baked that thread about surveillance into a blog post.

medium.com/@fdmts/prote...

I did not authorize either this snow or this cold.

This is not approved by me.

This is so insulting to journalists - as though it was the typing that was rate limiting rather than their ability to go places, see things, and talk to people.

And like, sure, AI is awesome for sifting through a huge dump of documents … but how many of those stories do you do per month?

X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israeli Attack on Iran WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

Important to remember that the Saudis fronted Musk billions of dollars to purchase Twitter specifically to destroy the real time information sharing and coordination capabilities that were one of the key enablers of the Arab Spring.

Mission accomplished, I suppose.

www.wired.com/story/x-is-d...

The people who did this are heroes, and I am in awe.

Well done, folks.

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world YouTube

Here's video (obtained via a public records request) from the State Police helicopter that was over the protests at City Hall Plaza on January 10.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs21...

The AAAS does their portion of the sidewalk, but not an inch more.

The multiple rounds of deglazing is a labor intensive process, but so, so worth it.

Thanks. Unfortunately, my work with neural nets predated a couple of really important innovations that happened in the early 2000's - so nothing worked right and I eventually jumped ship for biology.

If I wanted, I could say that I've been doing AI for 30 years ... but it would be disingenuous.