Mark Loundy

Something Big Is Happening A personal note for non-tech friends and family on what AI is starting to change.

The AI anti-hype hypsters should read this. History is accelerating. I’ve been through three major technological revolutions. Never have I experienced one where I wake up nearly every morning to a major development.

shumer.dev/something-bi...

Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

🧵

What's Next at Bluesky - Bluesky As we head into 2026, we're entering a new phase for the Bluesky app. Last year was about scaling through rapid growth and getting the fundamentals in place. This year is about leaning into what's wor...

2026 is the year Bluesky and the Atmosphere really come alive

here's what's next

bsky.social/about/blog/0...

May he have a happy life going forward. None of this undoes the damage that he’s done.

Eric Thurber (@thurber_shots) on Threads Bay Area standing against ICE and with Minnesota after the senseless murder of Alex Pretti.

Eric Thurber's video that US TikTok had under review for days, and isn't getting views.

(Threads link, which doesn't require sign-in to watch. Their Instagram reel has 372,000 likes and millions of views)
www.threads.com/@thurber_sho...

Eric Thurber (@thurber_shots) on Threads Update in my protest post on TikTok, after 24 hours in “review” it was released today and has 1 view, which means they’ve killed the reach of it. For the record, the exact same post is currently sitti...

I'm seeing multiple complaints that the new US TikTok is killing the reach of peaceful protest related videos. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise.

Either something is broken because they are retraining the algorithm, or it's intentional. Both are bad.

www.threads.com/@thurber_sho...

The only way that nomenclature would work is, if the people in control of the various algorithms were completely disconnected from current social media practices. That is to say, they adjusted for those words long ago.

Now that TikTok has changed ownership in the U.S., it's as good a time as ever to again say how much I truly hate algospeak euphemisms like "unalived" and whatnot. I wish people would knock that off.

Agree with all of this.

For 99.9% of people right now, and that includes almost all people actively working to fight this regime, Signal is the best choice.

This is a good day to remember that Donald Trump is still hiding 99% of the Epstein files.

Illegally.

Criminally.

Corporations just want money. If people are being shoved through a meat grinder, it's just not their problem. Target used to have big lgbtq pride displays. It wasn't out of sympathy. It was out of pursuit of profit. Nothing more.

How can a company that employs so many supersmart people make such terrible strategic decisions? The Facebook phone. The metaverse. Virtual reality glasses. The wearables market imploded, before it even started, decades ago.

The essay has only proven to be more accurate with time: “Simply put, Trump’s ingrained and extreme behavioral characteristics make it impossible for him to carry out the duties of the presidency in the way the Constitution requires.” This should be the lede of every story.

SOUTH BAY Free America Walkout One year into Trump’s second regime, we face an escalating fascist threat: raids on our communities, troops occupying our cities, attacks on immigrants, families torn apart, mass surveillance, and ter...

Join me at SOUTH BAY Free America Walkout action.womensmarch.com/events/south...

Gov. Bill Lee declines to secure millions in federal funds to feed Tennessee kids during summer  • Tennessee Lookout Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to secure millions of dollars in federal funding to provide food to low-income kids by the Jan. 1 deadline.

Meanwhile here in Tennessee, @GovBillLee is letting kids go hungry😳

“Despite the urging of county mayors, child advocates, clergy & educators, Gov. Lee has declined to secure millions of dollars in federal funding to provide food to low-income kids”

FOLKS NEED TO REALIZE HOW HUGE THIS IS

For the first time in modern Texas history, Dems have candidates running in every state and federal race on the 2026 ballot.

That includes all congressional seats, every state House and state Senate race, plus statewide judicial and State Board of Education.

Media is starting to report the Grok child porn story but way too many are centering the bot's "apologies" and "admissions" without explaining that these are being generated in response to user requests and are not in anyway authentic or meaningful.

Screenshot of a post claiming the Wall Street Journal published an article alleging Donald Trump profited from selling pardons. Below the headline text is an image of Trump seated at a desk in the Oval Office, signing documents. Overlaid text on the image reads, “if you have been paying any attention whatsoever about anything.” An inset image on the right shows a document with U.S. and foreign flag imagery.

In any other White House, this WSJ article would be immediate cause for impeachment. With Trump just add it to the pile.

NYT - Holdings from the library at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which includes unique documents from the early 20th century to the Soviet space race, will be warehoused or thrown out. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/cl...

A remarkable trend that will come as a shock to you if your only info about NYC is from this Fox News.

Homicides in NYC...
1990: 2,262
1993: 1,927
1998: 629
2001: 649
2013: 335
2019: 320
2021: 488
2024: 382
2025 (as of 12/28): 302

Y’all have probably seen this image many times. I realized that something was missing. 

Enough already with the memes about Home Depot supporting Trump. Founder Bernie Marcus, the founder, most associated with supporting Trump, died in 2024. His holdings were less than 5% of Home Depot’s outstanding shares. Another founder, Arthur Blank, is a longtime Democratic supporter.

New WSJ Contract | Rob Haggart | 10 comments New WSJ Contract By now, many of you have received the new Freelance Photographer Contributor Agreement from Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal. While the effective date is 2026, they are asking for signa...

This is a war that freelance photographers lost a couple of decades ago by allowing clients to dictate how to run their businesses. The next time you need to hire a plumber, hand them your own contract and rate schedule. See how far that gets you.
www.linkedin.com/posts/robhag...

(hashtag)TOSAChat

I’m still hung up on the pointlessness of the end of the last show. Even if Carol detonates a nuclear weapon, it will only kill a handful of people at most, including Carol. Then the aliens will simply go on with their plans.

👇👇

Let’s talk about something not many people are chatting about and what’s actually happening right now.

You might wonder why Imran Ahmed and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) suddenly became targets of the U.S. government. The honest answer is that their research hit where it hurt.

I just discovered that old t.co links have started working again. Twitter killed them when Musk took over. But, for some reason, they’re back.