The folks who manage our building put a flyer in the elevator every week. Along with the weekly weather and notes about building rules being broken, they often add a quote. This is one I snapshotted a few weeks ago:

1/ While everyone is focused on Comey, Trump did this today. How many more of us will be targeted? How many rounded up? How many designated terrorists and prosecuted before those who remain on the sidelines finally open their eyes to what’s happening? www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Seems like this has been in the works for awhile and the fascists were just waiting for an event to help justify it. (Whoops, did I say fascist?)

Uhhh, folks? This is real bad. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Literally the authoritarian playbook: 1. Call your opponents terrorists. 2. Deploy state power against them. There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.

"Cascading acts of cowardice from people best positioned to resist Trump’s authoritarian power grabs have made him seem exponentially more powerful than he actually is, sapping strength from others who might have discovered courage" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... by @adamserwer.bsky.social

The New York Times piece today about US science is terrible and wrong—in many ways. I could write a whole article about this, but as one example: “To close observers, the original crisis began well before any of this…” No. I’m a close observer of science, and this is incorrect.

“Fascism” isn’t a slur for politics we don’t like. It’s a precise word with precise meaning. And in the face of what’s happening right now in America, it’s the most honest one we have. I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵

UCLA’s funds reinstated after yesterday’s court order! Thanks to the brave researchers and their amazing counsel, including Dean Chemerinsky, who brought suit. This is just another turn in the ongoing fight, but a great result for now.

As a child of the Reagan years, the fact that the *Republican Party* is expropriating shares in companies and shaking companies down while saying stuff like this is wild

Let’s be clear: What Donald Trump said in public, in plain view, on his own social media feed is more corrupt and dangerous than anything Richard Nixon was caught on tape saying in the White House tapes. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/rid-me-of-...

For Seattle folks… I’m giving a talk tonight at Obec Brewery (6:30) about science funding, the history of human computer interaction, and the future of AI. I’m off the clock, so I may get a little spicier than usual. If you’re around, please come!

WSJ - Federal economists and researchers responsible for measuring hunger in America are placed on indefinite paid leave. www.wsj.com/politics/policy/u...

Jimmy Kimmel isn't returning to the airwaves because of "thoughtful conversations" with Disney executives. He's back because consumers sent Disney a clear message: selling out our fundamental rights is not an acceptable cost of doing business.

Levy, describing how so many tech leaders have bent the knee: “But here’s something that took me by surprise: how quickly and decisively the visionaries I chronicled aligned themselves with Trump, a man whose values violently clashed with the egalitarian impulses of the digital revolution.”

One stark marker of how much our society has devolved in just a few years is Bob Iger personally got on a call to convince us to let Disney/HULU make the 1619 Project. That America no longer exists.

The way the “censorship industrial complex” propagandists bent time & space to blame things that happened during the first Trump administration on Biden has always been one of their more impressive achievements. I’ve seen a lot of folks who should know better repeat some of that bullshit.

Trump had his accounts suspended on January 7, 8, and 9th 2020. WHEN HE WAS STILL PRESIDENT. It was not Joe Biden because Biden was not President.

As the Trump administration continues to drastically defund and dismantle basic science in America, the United States is presenting other countries with opportunities to take the lead in seeing farther ahead--Holden Thorpe www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Since 2020, quite clearly you've seen a media ecosystem that exists to reinforce and to mobilize the base around ideas that they consider to be advantageous for their political movement," says @noupside.bsky.social. TBH, these folks have been "high on their own supply" for a lot longer than that.

The past week has shown us something scary — the concrete and specific outlines of a durable authoritarian state in America. Here's what this state would look like, and the precise policy levers Trump is pulling to get there from here. www.vox.com/politics/462...

I’m giving a free/public talk this Tues in Seattle about how US government investment in science laid the foundations for the field of human-computer interaction and how that field (and investment) connects to so many of the innovations that we take for granted, as well as the future of AI.

I’m giving a free/public talk this Tues in Seattle about how US government investment in science laid the foundations for the field of human-computer interaction and how that field (and investment) connects to so many of the innovations that we take for granted, as well as the future of AI.

If you’re in Seattle, go to this event. @katestarbird.bsky.social is brilliant and does wonderful presentations.

Universities. Rural hospitals. Tech companies. Several sectors are going to be profoundly hurt by this. Not to mention the chaos of the moment as current H1-B owners scramble to get back to the U.S., cancel travel, etc. due to the uncertainty. An absolute mess. As intended.

This is a really serious situation for people holding a H-1B visa.

i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation. i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.

Holy moly. The current WNBA salaries are (accounting for inflation) still below the salaries of the ABL, a player-centric WBB league that preceded and, for a moment, competed with the WNBA.

I say this with my whole entire chest, as the mom of a toddler: THIS IS BULLSHIT. This will make lifesaving vaccines less available, confuse ppl, decrease vaccine uptake, and KILL CHILDREN. Everyone who supposed this has the blood of children on their hands. SEND SKEET.

“What we’re seeing is an unprecedented attempt to silence disfavored speech by the government,” said Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. “Donald Trump is trying to dictate what Americans can say.” https://to.pbs.org/46AYg7U

These WNBA games tonight…

Full credit to Golden State and those Valkyries fans. Very rare that teams manage to take their atmosphere to the backup arena, never mind that packed-house raucous atmosphere GSV have. Also, of course, just an incredible season. Expansion teams don't do this. Outstanding debut year. #WNBA

These first round, game two WNBA playoff games have been GOOOOD.

Though the aftermath of shootings and other manmade crisis events is often filled w/ uncertainty (as facts of the matter surface & crystallize), the online dynamics — esp. efforts to determine who the perpetrator(s) were & what motivated them — are fairly predictable. bsky.app/profile/kate...

Librarian friends, if you have not yet watched this talk by @katestarbird.bsky.social , it is an excellent summary of her team's research on rumors and disinformation.

We are witnessing a swift and sweeping consolidation of media (traditional and social) into the hands of a small number of billionaires who are actively aligned/aligning (both via free will and coercion) with Trump and his right wing political party. This is (I’ll say it) a fascist project.

Chiney Ogwumike full on crashing out while watching big sister, Nneka play against the Aces tonight.

American media has been manufacturing parasocial reactionaries for decades. Limbaugh, Beck, Shapiro, Jones, Carlson, Hannity, etc. The importance of these figures is not ideological purity, consistency, inventiveness, etc. It’s that they keep you company in your cab, your cubicle, on your commute.

Hot today in Seattle. And windy. First time I felt that wind this afternoon, I said to myself, “this is fire weather.” Sure enough, the fire over in the Olympic National Park looks (from my window across Elliott Bay) like it’s kicking up. A lot.

New work about how perceptions of social consensus shape belief. My sense is that the design of social media, w/ signals of engagement on top of massive attention flows, shapes social consensus… a key factor (IMO ) of information disorder.

That this thread was posted by a sitting U.S. Senator is... notable. This isn't speculation. Miller is being clear about his (and the Trump regime's) intention to use the tragedy in Utah to delegitimize, demoralize, and further disempower the opposition party. The hypocrisy re: free speech is acute.

My second best girl, taking a quick break from another magical performance on the field this morning. She was 30 for 30 on her catches and retrievals. And 100% cute. Also managed to restrain herself from running away to greet other dogs. I couldn’t be more proud.

Our ability to comprehend daily events has been corrupted by a toxic info environment where political & attentional dynamics distort & manipulate our “collective sensemaking” processes. Our “official” sources are now products of that same environment. Reality fractures, along with the social fabric.

"Simple research shows 34 countries or territories have some mail-in voting and—in an amazing coincidence—that list largely mirrors those countries that are freest, wealthiest and most democratic." [Steven Greenhut, @reason.com]

You’re think *you’re* depressed? Try being at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association right now with 5,000 political scientists presenting their work on the state of democracy, public opinion, and media. They are also drinking heavily.

said it yesterday but the people who commit this violence increasingly show us that they deeply understand how our information ecosystems process it. It appears to be part of the appeal for them. And yet the response doesn't really change. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

If I don't see multiple ~media reporters~ columns about the extraordinarily irresponsible Wall Street Journal report from yesterday morning — and their extensive promotion of that inflammatory report — you all should just pack up and go home.

John Solomon’s Informing America set out to create an echo chamber to shape public opinion. It’s working.

Citing concerns about DEI, the Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advocate asked. “How can you do this to children?” By @jodiscohen.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

My take: During the early period of acute uncertainty after the shooting, if you just searched for the most recent info, there were a lot of problematic posts celebrating the violence. But for most of us, our self- (Following) and algorithmically-curated (Discover) feeds looked very different.