Chris Kaiser

It’s one thing to know Gemini is capable of more complex tasks. It’s another to know how to slot that into your life. Which is why I asked the team behind Gemini on the wrist to give me pointers. “It’s really easy to use Gemini as your second brain to offload whatever you need to remember,” says Jean Lee, senior product manager on Gemini. “The beauty is it has context. It can access your chat history, but it also knows what you’ve told Gemini about yourself in the past.” At that moment, Lee spoke into her wrist and asked Gemini what she should pack for the day. After a few seconds, it spat out that there would be scattered thunderstorms, a high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit with a real feel of 104 degrees, so Lee ought to pack pilates gear for a class later that day, a small packable umbrella, breathable and comfy clothing and shoes, and to avoid leather or suede materials.

“Second brain,” “super powers,” —they are really trying to convince everyone that this is augmentation not abdication.

Lawmakers sue ICE to protect right to visit detention centers unannounced 12 Democratic members of Congress say a new DHS rule requiring advance notice for detention center visits undermines congressional oversight.

"Nothing in this section [Sec. 527 of the relevant appropriations bill] may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility [used to detain or otherwise house aliens]." Members say DHS simply blew off that language to demand 7 days' notice. /1

If you think manipulating official statistics is a four-alarm fire, may I suggest you take a look at what’s happening with the 2030 census (and my book on how efforts to sabotage the 2020 census were largely stopped in their tracks).

congress was contemplating something like pre-clearance in the 1880s! the VRA survived every challenge it faced essentially until a guy with a vendetta against law became chief justice

unscientific mid-year report - i’ve watched 102 movies so far in 2025.

several that i loved, excluding rewatches, in no particular order:

- morvern callar
- the piano teacher
- always for pleasure
- toni erdmann
- the wolf house
- nickel boys
- the elephant man
- suddenly, last summer
- eephus

few better feelings in the world than the first late summer run with a hint of chill in the air. 🍃💫

For no particular reason, here's a chart of Louisiana's congressional delegation, by race, for every Congress since the Civil War. Top red line = end of Reconstruction; bottom red line = Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Supreme Court knocked down one of the two pillars of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 in the Shelby County case. It has now gone out of its way to consider whether it should knock down the other, by rescheduling arguments in a case it could have resolved in June under existing precedent.

Supreme Court appears have significantly raised the stakes in a Louisiana racial redistricting case that it was supposed to decide in June but didn't. It now asks for briefing on whether the state's attempt to comply with Voting Rights Act means it violated 14th Amendment.

ONLINE ID CHECKS WILL RUIN THE INTERNET

We @fightforthefuture.org have a good action page on this that explains why "age verification" laws are actually "papers please" laws that will force everyone to upload their government ID or submit to an invasive face scan to access information online www.stoponlineidchecks.org

A popular VPN is seeing a 1,400% spike in signups as the UK's age verification law takes effect Like clockwork.

Every time VPN installations surge in response to new laws, it deepens digital divides because the privileged who can afford VPNs get a better Internet than the less privileged who can't mashable.com/article/prot...

My paper against age authentication laws: ssrn.com/abstract=520...

YouTube video by SHOWTIME Make it interesting. #TheFabelmans #DavidLynch

hell yeah youtube.com/shorts/iHg6w...

The next administration has a massive break with path dependency if they want to seize it and more important if they have the votes to do it

if i were a pro-trump financial type i might view the destruction of reliable government data with the kind of anger and apprehension that might lead me to reevaluate my politics, but then if i’m a financial guy throwing my weight behind strongman rule, i’m already too stupid to breathe

I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today

While Giuffre's family was giving this statement, Trump was in the White House briefing room with former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, arrested in 2010 for raping a 16-year-old

These higher education concessions aren't even reasonable acts of self-preservation because the demands won't end, and their institutions will continue to be targets. Each concession will lead to more demands, and what they try to save will eventually meet the same fate of that which they conceded.

NEW FROM @reuters.com: Top U.S. law firms have sharply scaled back their efforts to challenge the federal government in court, especially on behalf of pro bono clients, in the face of threats from President Trump.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

It's time for academics to seriously consider collectively organizing a boycott of institutions that cave to the Trump Administration and surrender their academic freedom while imperiling everyone else's.

No visits. No publications. No tenure letters. No lectures.

Judge Bars Trump Administration From Punishing 2 Law Professors for I.C.C. Work

The President doesn’t get to decide which human rights advocacy is permissible. An important First Amendment victory in the SDNY. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/u...

The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.

Read it for yourself here:

www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out.

"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."

“Let me be clear. Our enduring commitment to fairness does not blind us to reality. In this moment steps must be taken to respond to the authoritarian measures being considered in certain states and now so brazenly taken in Texas. “We must preserve our democracy now in order to ultimately heal it. “It is for this reason that we do not oppose — on a temporary basis — responsible responsive actions to ensure that the foundations of our democracy are not permanently eroded. Once this time has passed, measures at the federal and state levels must be put in place to outlaw the actions that have precipitated this crisis. Those who for partisan gain would subvert the precepts of our democracy must never be allowed again to threaten that which makes this nation exceptional. “We will continue our work for fairness and justice in our electoral process.”

NEW: To respond to GOP push to gerrymander Texas' congressional map before 2026 midterms, @democraticredistricting.com does "not oppose — on a temporary basis — responsible responsive actions to ensure that the foundations of our democracy are not permanently eroded," @ericholder.bsky.social ‬says

Democrats struggle against Trump-waged redistricting battle The president’s party wants to add five safe seats in a red state, and his opponents are still at odds over whether to bring a proverbial knife to the gunfight.

My colleague @burgessev.bsky.social and I talked to Dems about the TX gerrymander mess. Some are warning that Trump could lock in an Orban-style dictatorship if they don't respond in kind... some queasy that they'd lose both the map war and the moral high ground. www.semafor.com/article/07/3...

This @today.yougov.com poll is why I'm going to become the Joker.

The US murder rate in 2024 was likely down nearly 30 percent relative to 2020 and down nearly 50 percent relative to 1990.

Just to reiterate: What this administration is doing right now is orders of magnitude more dangerous for academic freedom and free speech than anything the right has spent the last 30 years complaining about.

Multiple credible claims that Bove urged DOJ employees to break the law and ignore the judiciary. And the GOP Senate decided this is not disqualifying because nothing is disqualifying.

Bove himself is a literal criminal. A man whose short time in the public eye is defined by his open contempt for the law and those responsible for enforcing it. And the only reason he was nominated is because of his slavish devotion to the president’s most lawless impulses.

I think one thing polling shows is that rank and file boomer libs weren't fooled by attempts to paint pro palestine protesters as violent terrorsuts and instead were inspired by the memory of vietnam/civil rights era protests they had participated in (or wished they had)

Trump-CBS deal is even worse than you thought | Will Bunch Newsletter Plus, Josh Shapiro’s muddled message on antisemtism.

It wasn't just the canning of Stephen Colbert. We now know the CBS-Trump capitulation is even worse than we thought, with a "bias monitor" to slant the news and the growing likelihood the new owners may also take over TikTok

A bleak media landscape is my new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...