In other news from Portland...

According to the Portland police, federal cops are are currently attempting to 'instigate' confrontations with protesters outside the ICE building.

Is this going to be the pretense for literal AI-powered witch hunts?

This might be the single best thing that has been written to date about the technologies marketed as AI.

There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.

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love that marshall allen is entering a new far-out experimental phase at age 101. long jams inside dreamy/almost-dubby atmospheres on "the onniverse orki" with the ade ilu ensemble & the arkestra's dm hotep (pairing well with the recent ghost horizons collection) hightwo.bandcamp.com/album/the-om...

Grading student papers and I keep getting startled by the uncanny quality of "AI"-assisted prose. The difference between a paragraph written by a human and a paragraph written by an LLM is like the difference between a photo of a human face and a photo of a latex Halloween mask of that face.

🗿🌋 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼 𝗟𝗮𝘃𝗮 - 𝙐𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙞 - reviewed in the new issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social by @emilypothast.bsky.social 🥳 Consider subscribing to the greatest music magazine in the world. We love our digi subcription and all the rare Aphex photos we can pull up. 𝙐𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙞 comes out next Thursday!

After some 8 years of contributing to the magazine, my household finally has a physical subscription of The Wire. In this one, I reviewed the new Pharaoh Overlord.

Excited to read this!

Wake up honey new Sumerian underworld myth just dropped, translated by the Assyriologist Jana Matuszak!

As the dominant narratives around Gaza shift, please don't forget that the Israeli historian Raz Segal called it "A Textbook Case of Genocide" less than one week after Oct. 7, 2023. We knew what was happening. We just lacked the political will to stop it. jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-c...

When the couple buying you drinks at the Coldplay concert gives you that look 😏

This is genuinely the news every day

Excited to read this book!

In the past week I watched The Shrouds, Superman, and finished Andor. What struck me about all three is how the realities of actual surveillance fascism have effectively surpassed the ability of screenwriters to imagine dystopian uses of technology in the service of domination and control.

cnn editor: u got that story on ice? cnn reporter: sure did boss, real fuckin hypernormalized, just like u asked cnn editor: first of all, i love it

Republicans just took away your healthcare so they can fund their secret police: newrepublic.com/post/197612/...

But the day and hour when the Venga Bus shall come, no man knows - neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but My Father only.

If you're a member of the Democratic gerontocracy, the chances of you catching a primary challenger just went up 1000%.

happy zohran day to all who celebrate

A reminder that the apocalypse is what alot of people in Trump’s orbit want. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

During his lifetime, most Americans disparaged MLK's protests as violent. Whether we agree on today's methods is immaterial. Even if these protests were 100% peaceful, media orgs would find a way to blame the protesters for violence brought against them. emilypothast.substack.com/p/the-differ...

It is important for all Americans to understand how the same right-wing think tank responsible for Project 2025 is behind the plan that has been used to crush the movement for Palestinian rights. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u...

The ICC’s chief prosecutor has lost access to his email, and his bank accounts have been frozen. American staffers at the court have been told that if they travel to the U.S. they risk arrest. NGOs have stopped working with the ICC, the leader of one won’t even reply to ICC emails.

Today, our client Rümeysa Öztürk was released on bail from ICE detention in Louisiana, and she will return to New England to continue her studies. 📸 Giancarlo D’Agostaro

I interviewed the wonderful Quinton Barnes for the new issue of The Wire.

This is the single best article-length synthesis I've read of what is going on politically in the US currently, in the larger context of Silicon Valley's tech apocalypticism. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

The MAGA pro-natalist movement is doing everything in its power to make having white babies as embarrassing as owning a Tesla.

Honored to be contributing to this event tonight at The Crown Oakland. Chingiz Kam will conduct a powerful Tuvan ritual using drums and chanting, joined by the incomparable @arringtond.bsky.social, with closing sounds by Hair and Space Museum (@davigoli.bsky.social and myself).

As the masks continue to fall from billionaire-owned media outlets, I remain grateful that The Wire is independently worker-owned. Please consider subscribing if you appreciate the magazine!

Free Speech and Freedom of Assembly are the cornerstones of the Bill of Rights. If you are worried about a slide into fascism, arresting and threatening to deport a legal US permanent resident for exercising his First Amendment rights is it.

Stoked to read this. That’s our friend Raven on the cover. He’s already got a Pulitzer and a MacArthur. Brilliant artist and great dude

The other night I saw No Other Land at The Roxie in SF. Filmed over several years, it documents the ongoing destruction of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. I hope everyone in the world sees it. It's currently playing at The Roxie and @nwfilmforum.bsky.social plus it's streaming online.

When I was about 20 I read all of Tom Robbins's novels. To this day, whenever I do something else besides watching the Super Bowl, I think of the Dance of the Seven Veils in Skinny Legs and All. Pretty incredibly timed demise!

I interviewed Masma Dream World for. The Wire ✨ @masmadreamworld.bsky.social @thewiremagazine.bsky.social

I'm late to the discourse but obviously the richest man alive knew what that gesture means, just like the previous Trump admin knew what the 14 words are when they echoed them on the Dept. of Homeland Security page. Plausible deniability is their media strategy. We have to get smarter about this.

Wishing David Lynch smooth sailing through the bardo ✨

How do you have your record collections organized? While I hesitate to enforce arbitrary categories, the alphabet is unintuitive when you're looking for a *vibe* but can't remember what all you have that might fit that vibe.

Imagine if Bret Stephens wrote an op-ed about how every teacher killed in a school shooting was a working-class hero.

Excited to announce that we are reprising our ambient overnighter SOFT LANDING on the solstice at the Alembic in Berkeley. Featuring live music by Hair and Space Museum and friends, along with DJ sets + live spatialized sound sculpting & visuals. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-ear-pr...

As my friend @emilypothast.bsky.social observed, in 2024 posting your Spotify Wrapped is less like showing off a flashy Cybertruck and more like listing every McDonald's airport meal you ate (I get why you did it but why are you telling me?)

Year end issue is here! I contributed a "critics reflection" on the power of both recorded media and journalism to preserve traces of the no-longer-living, plus a Noise, Industrial & Beyond "top ten" list.

If you happen to be in San Diego for #SBLAAR24, I'm presenting two papers today and one tomorrow.

In March 2023 I visited the areas of the world labeled "Israel," "the West Bank" and "Golan Heights" on maps. I've been struggling to write this ever since. emilypothast.substack.com/p/what-i-wit...