wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

The man who doesn’t read and can’t handle a briefing furloughed the people guarding America’s most dangerous weapons.

He’s a terrible candidate who was not properly vetted. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

To be clear, humans are no where near AGI and ASI is even further away. Never forget: stoking fear of AGI / ASI is part of the AI industry marketing plan. They want folks to believe it's inevitable and close in order to secure the next several hundred billion $ to keep the bubble from popping yet.

Global use of coal hit record high in 2024

‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oc...

Reporters call us because we have devoted our lives to studying something and are experts in that area. If this is not an issue where there are legitimate sides having a legitimate debate, you can say that. If someone is clearly in the wrong, your PhD does not make you their unpaid intern.

It really bums me out when academics beat around the bush when talking to the media. Trump is not "going a long way toward making Congress irrelevant," he is violating the plain text of the Constitution and illegally usurping powers he does not have.

It could be ‘the first of many’ but it doesn’t have to be — because you can say “fuck no, not in my state!” The same way antivax nutjobs organize — you can, too. Belligerent normalcy wins people over: “Not in my school! Keep your freedom measles away from my kid.” You just have to do it.

In case you needed another reason.

Graber: “[T]oday's decision is not merely absurd. It erodes core constitutional principles, including sovereign States' control over their States' militias and the people's First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government's policies and actions. I strenuously dissent.”

He's basically describing Alaska's universal basic income without knowing he is. Alaskans see their oil wealth as common wealth. 25% goes to their permanent fund which pays everyone every year. Natural resources SHOULD be seen as common wealth and SHOULD result in universal basic income.

OPINION: "When states funnel public money into private schooling, inequality grows while outcomes stagnate," Louise Smith writes.

Edinburgh castle failing to render, likely thanks to the AWS outage

Ugh, this is so bad.

This story is extraordinary even by 2025 standards. Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, made a deal with Bukele and agreed to renege on informant agreements in a years-long DOJ investigation into MS-13, totally undercutting credibility of such agreements. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Histories of anti-authoritarian struggle are an indispensable storehouse of knowledge for the days and weeks after the protest is over.

For my newsletter, I wrote about how I was affected by the No Kings protest in my town. (I am no longer thinking about fleeing the country) www.burnsnotice.com/no-kings-cha...

Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability. www.wheresyoured.at/costs/

An OpenAI executive said GPT-5 found solutions to 10 "previously unsolved" math problems when in reality all it did was find online references to places where people had already solved them techcrunch.com/2025/10/19/o...

Power Lines Drawing #119 (Detroit, W Jefferson) Prints of this drawing are for sale by me here | $40 marcusmerritt.bigcartel.com/product/powe...

How much did this little promo cost?

Trump just told this “I ended 8 wars” lie 🤥 again, so here’s the truth in case anyone cares 👇🏽

Rage, rage against the copying of a prompt referring to the dying of the light.

we are in a self-awareness crisis

Dozens of reporters returned their badges and walked out Wednesday in response to the Pentagon’s new press restrictions. FPF’s Advocacy Director @seth-stern.bsky.social describes the premise that unauthorized reporting is a risk to national security as “absurd and baseless.” Watch him explain why.

My first job was in international human rights in the 80s. This is how death squads operate:

Maybe it's the fact that I'm a United States Marine who's taken a solemn oath to the Constitution on multiple occasions, but it seems to me that the U.S. Government taking Americans hostage is just the thing the “don't tread on me” crowd would be up in arms about. Oh, well. I guess not!

It’s just incredible this isn’t the way everyone talks about him

Great speech, worth a few minutes to read it.

Wildly illegal trade policy violating both US and international law, on top of wildly illegal murder of civilians in international & foreign waters, violating both US and international law.

You really can’t make this shit up. Live ammunition detonates over I-5 and damages CHP vehicle being used for Vance security at Pendleton. This, after the VP mocked Newsom’s safety concerns about live rounds being shot across the nation’s busiest highway. Haven’t seen a WH reply since.

A nationwide backlash to AI data centers is brewing. And for good reason: while AI enriches Big Tech CEOs and props up the stock market, data centers are sucking up communities’ water and power. When the AI bubble bursts, the rest of us will be stuck holding the bag. Be warned.

The people who build their heaven on your land are telling you that yours is in the sky. - Nina Simone Pic of the day #photography

1000%.

We're calling him Diarrhea Don. He's owning the libs so hard with this, it's brilliant. Everyone talking about the president's uncontrollable bowels, how manly and cool his uncontrollably explosive shits are.

☎️ PHONE BANK WITH US Got 10 minutes? That's all it takes to help us flip TN-07. Every call made brings us closer to flipping this seat and sending Aftyn Behn to Congress! Scan the QR code, or tap the link in bio to get started. #FlipTN07 #TeamAftyn #Aftyn4Congress

Kevin Necessary @knecessary.bsky.social reminding us that beloved cartoonist Clay Jones has had a stroke & cannot work. Please give a little, if you can, to help pay for his medical bills. www.gofundme.com/f/clayjones

Pritzker: Throughout history we've learned that tyranny doesn't arrive with dramatic proclamations. Most times it comes quietly wrapped in the language of law and order, with fingers pointed at someone who doesn't look like you, promising safety while demanding that we sacrifice our neighbors.

There is reporting that Trump tried to intimidate Zelenskyy into accepting Putin’s terms, and here is Zelenskyy’s response. The Ukrainian people are so incredibly brave. Slava Ukraini

I like the @chrislhayes.bsky.social essay on attention as the currency of modern politics, but one thought I kept having in response is that the media--more broadly, the US elite establishment--*does not respond symmetrically to attempts to grab attention*. Ds & Rs are not on the same playing field.

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED

Pens down. We have the Pulitzer.

As a reminder to everyone, a key part of the Bari Weiss origin story is her livetweeting editorial meetings. In the institutions she critiques she treats leakers (including herself) as principled dissenters. In the institutions she controls, she expects loyal silence.

A heinous crime.

Petro objected to the US bombing a Columbian fishing vessel that had the emergency beacon on because they were broken down, that we subsequently bombed. One Columbian fisherman survived the attack. This is the official US response to Petro's comments.

This is Idaho 💙

Oh hey look it’s exactly what I’ve been saying - Microsoft doesn’t believe it’s physically possible for them or for anyone to build the data centers OpenAI wants. The Era of Smiles approaches

Same - here's my footage from New Mexico

The Seattle Monorail is a mile long. bsky.app/profile/angr...