David Futrelle

Garbage In, Carnage Out The harrowing lessons of the Pentagon's recently dissolved partnership with Anthropic

I'm in The Nation, talking about Anthropic and the politics of killbots.

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Texas AG Paxton Declares Therapists Affirming Trans Youth To Be Illegal And Child Abuse The declaration echoes his 2022 efforts to target parents of trans youth with child abuse, and may force conversion therapy on trans youth in the state.

1. This morning, Texas AG Ken Paxton just released a chilling new declaration:

Mental health therapists, counselors, and psychologists must cease affirming trans youth - using their name and pronouns - or potentially face child abuse charges and loss of licensure.

Its a horrifying escalation.

The Trump Administration is Testing Conversion Therapy By Medically Experimenting on Trans People in Prisons The Bureau of Prisons is subjecting trans people to conversion therapy and denying them care with the goal of helping them "recover." It's trying to prove dangerous conversion practices can work.

Under a new policy released Thursday, the Trump Administration will test conversion therapy on trans people in prisons. It explicitly states that it aims to help trans people “recover,” all the while forcibly detransitioning them both medically and socially.

transitics.substack.com/p/the-trump-...

Trump: "Finally, we honor one more American soldier, a fallen warria of world. Of wars. And really, terra.”

The President, folks, as Americans are being killed for his useless war.

“It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead.”

Sam Altman @sama · 21h I'd like to answer questions about our work with the DoW and our thinking over the past few days. Please AMA. melissa “cancelled student debt” byrne @mcbyrne · 20h Will you turn off the tool if they violate the rules? Sam Altman @sama Yes, we will turn it off in that very unlikely event, but we believe the U.S. government is an institution that does its best to follow law and policy. What we won't do is turn it off because we disagree with a particular (legal military) decision. We trust their authority

"we believe the U.S. government is an institution that does its best to follow law" not a history buff I take it

lyft © 5h if you live in kansas and need a new way to get around, use code TRANSJOY for 50% off a ride this week 1/2 11.1K • 2337 G 1.5K 281 lyft + lyft 0 5h (valid through 3/9/26, up to $10 total discount. supplies are limited.) ( 2/2 205 8 G6 2

“sorry about the fascism you’re dealing with; here’s a $10 coupon that expires next week.” via @marisakabas.bsky.social

Iranian intelligence has a huge advantage since they can just check polymarket to see what the US will do next.

Demonstrators have begun marching through downtown Chicago, the front of the column flanked by bike police.

The latest from YouGov (n ~ 1.6k adults):

Approval of Iran strikes: -10
Approval of Trump's handling of Iran: -15
Should Congress approve wars first: Yes +31
Will intervention make Iran better/worse off: Worse off +20

yougov.com/en-us/search...

WSJ confirms the U.S. is involved in the attack on Iran: “The U.S. participated in the attack and was also carrying out strikes, a U.S. official said.”

Hey! I'm in The Nation and on The Left Hook podcast, talking about Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein So, as you may have gathered from the headline here, I have a piece in The Nation on Brotopian philosopher-king Peter Thiel and his weird (or maybe not-so-weird) bromance with Jeffrey Epstein. [W]hat...

So I went on Wajahat Ali’s The Left Hook podcast earlier this week to talk about my Nation article on Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel. And also killer robots. You can find links to both in this post!

www.brotopians.com/hey-im-in-th...

the "just asking questions" to "legitimate questions about fairness in sports" to "the state doesn't have to consider us as real people" pipeline working exactly as designed.

“Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm.”

Whitey on the Moon: Elon Musk Edition Elon Musk has always been the most ambitious of all the Brotopians. While his colleagues may dream about building largely unregulated and tax-free cities in Honduras or Venezuela or Nigeria, Musk has ...

Elon Musk's plans for a city on the moon are at least as stupid as his plans for a city on Mars, and maybe more so.

www.brotopians.com/whitey-on-th...

What Peter Thiel Saw in Jeffrey Epstein In the extensive correspondence between the Silicon Valley venture capitalist and the late pedophile, both men expressed a deep aversion to democracy.

I'm in The Nation, talking about the weird bromance between Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel.

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

I think the last few years have really proved that you can’t trust someone who really enjoys emailing other people

ahh, matt forney, wonder what he's been up to.

not that i'm going to try to figure that out. i've read enough matt forney for one lifetime

Fall Eras in Order of Greatness According to Me

The Brix Era (1984-1989)
The Post-Brix Era That Also Includes Brix Briefly (1990-2000)
The Pre-Brix Era (1979-1983)
The Still Hanging In There Era (2003-2010)
Preview of Suck (2001-2002)
The Suck Era (2011-2017)

Dr. Replika will see you now

Crypto-bro Knife Fight Extravaganza If you’ve ever wanted to stab a crypto-bro biohacker in the face with a knife, now’s your chance!  All you have to do is to get yourself down to the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras by the ...

If you're looking for a little winter vacation in the Caribbean that incudes longevity hacking, electric knife fights, and possibly sloths, have I got a package for you!

www.brotopians.com/crypto-bro-k...

An ICE agent covered head-to-toe in body cams, just thousands of tiny cameras, beating the shit out of an old woman. That's the bipartisan dream

Apparently, "1939’s Germany" is not the correct answer when a job application asks where you see yourself in 5 years.

I just want one opportunity in this life to march offstage as triumphantly as Van Morrison in The Last Waltz.

MAGA military geniuses are talking about Minnesota protestors like they are the Iraqi insurgency, the Taliban, and the Viet Cong all rolled into one.

A major newspaper publishing guide to help people identify the munitions their government is using against them is a real "Late Republic America" timepeice that future historians will comment on.

Ask Not for Whom The Line Tolls It turns out that this whole conjuring-a-whole-city-out-of-thin-air thing is a bit harder than you might think. Not quite ten years ago some dudes with something like $200 million in techbro dollars ...

New Brotopians post: Ask Not for Whom The Line Tolls

www.brotopians.com/ask-not-for-...