Among the top 25 Senate recipients of campaign cash from arms companies, only 1 voted against the $901 billion military bill. Among the bottom 25 recipients, 11 voted against the bill. Full data/interactive table: www.stephensemler.com/p/senate-vot...

I posted this👇 to a claim that genAI is better than Ctl+F to search historical docs. @tristanpalmgren.bsky.social replied with a genAI summary of my document and @bookllyfr.bsky.social asked if it was accurate. It turns out that it did exactly what genAI does: made stuff up & got stuff wrong.🧵

#APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Andromeda and Sprites over Australia By JJ Rao naturebyjj.com apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25121... Check out JJ's video on how this red sprite, a rare, luminous electrical discharge high above thunderstorms near the edge of space, was captured: youtu.be/XJWQhewM0C8 🧪🔭

Remarquable enquête, à lire absolument. www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

Torture is a feature of life in thousands of US jails and prisons. It’s often blamed on “guards,” but someone had to design this contraption, build it, plan its use, and run it up the chain of command. Judges and lawyers had to create a legal regime where this stuff pervades for decades.

Repost this everywhere you’re active on social media. Send to your friends and family who aren’t.

“You can’t define a woman?” Party becomes “What is a child?” Party

my lecture in Barcelona on whether we should trust science. if you are a true believer in science, be ready for your blood to boil...

Proposal: instead of pouring resources into AI, tech companies first figure out a way for people to be able to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another without the formatting getting all fucked up

Impressive success at creating an inebriated robot (10/10): we need more of those!

Until we confront this we cannot hope to build a healthy democracy.

NEW: Inside the Biden administration debates in late 2024 that could have changed the course of the Gaza war -top intel official sought to cut support for Israel but Brett McGurk pushed back -talk of "very likely" US liability -Blinken spoke of "ethnic cleansing" www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...

Looking forward to learning all about how the right should move left to win elections tomorrow. They should maybe dye their hair pink, learn to love pronouns.

Halloween from Down Under I love Kangaroos Just had to share (sound up) 🎃🤣

it’s kind of funny that the New York Times, which is probably at least 50% Ivy League on the editorial side, is one of the primary drivers of contemporary anti-intellectualism, but not really funny in a good way

My gosh. This should be leading every news outlet in America today — a top official gives first-hand proof that the US took Israel's side after its soldiers killed our Palestinian-American press colleague, Shireen Abu-Akleh:

Lots of truth in 2 minutes 52 seconds.

This is something, a 2026 Montana ballot measure would prevent state-chartered corporations from campaign spending, and would force out-of-state corporations doing business in Montana to abide by the restrictions. Harold Meyerson explains Montana's anti-corporate history & the potential of this law:

Colonial inversions and parliamentary takeovers: the strange, surreal photos of Michael Cook – in pictures

‘Gaza is covered with an estimated 61 million tons of rubble, much of which contains asbestos, unexploded munitions, and unburied human remains. “The environmental situation in Gaza before October 7 was a disaster,” said Tareq Abuhamed, who leads the Arava Institute and is Palestinian.‘

Join me in signing the #JewsDemandAction petition calling on governments around the world to impose meaningful consequences on the Israeli government, including appropriate sanctions, enforcement of ICJ and ICC rulings and warrants, and withholding of arms. jewsdemandaction.org jewsdemandaction.org

This is the best political news I’ve seen in a very long time — so please pass it on👇 Each state can limit Citizens United in their own state & they don’t have to wait for other states to do it. Our new @rollingstone.com piece based on our new book MASTER PLAN. Get the book at LeverNews.com/book

Are we using Concur?

Abhorrent.

Interlude

It’s increasingly hard to see how anybody can be fooled into thinking that this is thinking, unless they already badly want to believe it

as an author of a book on reparations I am intimately familiar with the move people make from "the thing you want isn't politically viable right now" to "you shouldn't want it, talk about wanting it, or even think about it" but it never stops being weird to me

Such a frustrating category error. “Doing politics” is not about persuasion. It’s about MOVING THE LEVERS OF POWER. Sometimes you persuade the opposition, sometimes you make deals and sometimes you just recruit those who already agree with you into more action. We don’t do enough of the last bit.

I’m sorry Dollarama, but wut

One more time

"Sorry that I was late, hon, the javelina got stuck in traffic again"

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

"His empire was built on videos promising sexualized humiliation of liberal women — really, girls — for MAGA men. "Reasoned discourse had nothing to do with it." www.salon.com/2025/09/24/d...

Democrats should become the anti-corruption party. 72% of voters think a member of Congress would likely accept a bribe if offered one. 80% say donors run DC. The solution isn’t left vs right, it’s clean vs corrupt. But first, Democrats must reform themselves and reject big money.

Why recognize the State of Palestine? Isn't it pointless? Mere symbolism? Isn't the two-state solution an illusion? Or even a trap? Whatever your view, take a minute to read this speech by Palestine's Deputy Ambassador to the UN from June 30. digitallibrary.un.org/record/40861...

perfect encapsulation of a strategy that *Harry Truman* thought was stupid -- make immigration and right wing ideas a more important and salient issue, get more people to support it, then watch as they defect to the party that's better at it.

Pretty much

On What's the Plan today, we got into scam PACs, Mothership, and the corrosive effect of unethical digital fundraising practices. Someone sent me over this recent eye-opening piece by @adambonica.bsky.social. It really is time to clean house. data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-mother...

En pleine guerre à Gaza, la plus grande entreprise d’armement israélienne conclut un accord commercial historique en Europe

With the start of the academic year imminent, it's time to once again share the single best video I've ever come across about academic writing and how to improve yours. My key take-away: think about what the audience will find valuable, not what you've done, and write accordingly.

A great read on UChicago, arguing we’re seeing the result of decades of mismanagement: “The university’s trustees and leaders view it preeminently as a tax-free technology incubator, and its debt load is so great that it is abandoning ideals it once held dear in order to sustain that goal.”

generating examples for my fall undergrad Perception students on why they should not use LLMs as study aides...

Discussion on here last week of how U.S. culture is scam culture. In 2018, Sen. Warren and House progressives introduced the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, which sought to end corporate capture of rule making and close the revolving door. It was never given a hearing by Dem leadership.

« On voit des amputations, des plaies béantes infectées, des os brisés et des artères déchirées, qui nécessitent chirurgie et soins intensifs. Mais rien de tout ça n'est fonctionnel dans les hôpitaux restants de #Gaza » Dr. Abu Abed Moughaisib, coordinateur médical #MSF.

A recent graduate reflects on what she will remember of her time at Columbia www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...

This is it. Freeze it in amber. Hang it in a museum. The ultimate expression of the NYT and the elite class behind it. The utter moral failure of ceding power to Trump? Acceptable ... if it is done in a clever, savvy way!

“So to the Biden and Trump administrations, to Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to the US media, I say this: history will judge you. For non-stop complicity in a genocide; aiding and abetting the crime of crimes.” My latest op-ed for the Guardian:

A lot of the "he's a uniquely gifted candidate" and "New York City isn't replicable elsewhere" takes—both of which have merit—neglect the extent to which Mamdani is uniquely suited TO THIS HISTORICAL MOMENT. And the lessons of that ARE replicable elsewhere.

Do Palestinians deserve a State only if they are Genocided?