Sign in

AW Ohlheiser

@abbyohlheiser.bsky.social
248 followers 345 following 67 posts

Doom beat journalist who writes goth blogs for a bunch of places. they/them💛🤍💜🖤 linktr.ee/abbyohlheiser | awohlheiser@proton.me

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
brian feldmab @peeingandpoop.ing · 16/09/2026
wrote about one of the increasingly few who did it for the love of the game www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/why-cat-fraz...
oaklandreviewofbooks.org
Why Cat Frazier matters
The late designer and Animated Text creator made the word go 'round.
02813
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
joe a wilkins @joeonhere.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
NEW: I wrote about a disturbing pattern of Islamophobia taking off on Facebook, a wave of human and AI-generated content calling for a violent "crusade" against Muslim Americans in Dearborn, Michigan.
futurism.com
Facebook Is Drowning In Islamophobic AI Slop Calling for Violence Against Muslim Americans
A viral phenomenon is sweeping Facebook, with AI-generated content boosting calls for Islamophobic violence in Dearborn, Michigan.
912557
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 23/07/2026
I have so many thoughts.
2313
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
bro is Thomas's entire concurring opinion just him noting that the court's opinion should have been more vicious towards trans people
010
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
30 years for moving some zines www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
451996902
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The biohackers subreddit banned all posts about peptides and HRT because peptide companies were spamming + manipulating the sub in order to manipulate Google AI and ChatGPT answers. Very insidious industry that is drastically changing the internet www.404media.co/companies-ar...
404media.co
Companies Are Using Reddit to Manipulate ChatGPT and Google AI Search
Peptide companies have been doing AI-engine optimization by spamming the biohackers subreddit to manipulate ChatGPT and Google.
402662942
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Lisa Song @lisalsong.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
1/ Tear gas was created to incapacitate grown men. So when I started seeing reports of kids hurt by tear gas deployed by federal immigration agents, I wondered how often it was happening. My colleagues and I started to count:
7343642089
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
In the spirit of that, read my FULL story! www.theverge.com/report/92000...
theverge.com
Your feed is overrun with clips — this is the cutthroat community of “clippers” behind it
In the age of clips, what’s the value of the full-length work?
412117
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Cecilia D'Anastasio @cecianasta.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
New: Manosphere influencer Clavicular is everywhere, and that’s not an accident. A paid marketing campaign is spreading video clips of his controversial antics across social media. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
The Video Clipping Machine Behind Clavicular’s Viral Fame
Videos of the influencer Clavicular are inescapable online. Social media is awash with clips of his sharp-featured face and muscular body — the result of a “looksmaxxing” regimen that can include test...
2415352
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
After a breaking news event, unverified speculation and bs seeks out your attention because it moves faster than the process of verifying facts. It tells you what you want to hear. This is no different. I am once again asking people not to pollute online.
010
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I probably worked harder while a student at Hampshire than I have at any point in my life, and yet, this college was often a place of healing and recovery for me. I figured out what I wanted to do with my life there. I'm sad to see it go.
040
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Pete Hegseth believes that Jesus guides Tomahawk missiles, even when they hit elementary schools. I wrote about the roots of his militant faith - from the Crusades to the confederacy - and what they mean for the US and Iran today.
theguardian.com
Pete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran
The bible-thumping US defense secretary is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is this a war or a crusade?
611366538
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Conservative parents’ advocacy groups are using commercially available artificial intelligence tools to help them flag more books they’ve deemed pornographic to be removed from public schools and libraries (the books aren't actually pornographic) www.404media.co/blockade-the...
404media.co
‘BLOCKADE’: The Right Is Using AI Content Scanners to Try to Supercharge Book Banning
Groups that challenge books have begun using Gemini, ChatGPT, xAI, and other AI tools to try to get books banned.
9218104
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 21/01/2026
Good morning, Baltimore (and beyond)! Proud to roll out our data exploration tool. This interactive visualizer lets you see how—and where—DHS is spending its $190B+ budget.
substack.com
Introducing the DHS Contract Visualizer
A new tool to explore how DHS is spending its budget under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
0136
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Btw the PWHL (women's hockey)'s season starts up again on Thursday and if you're in the US at least you can stream their games on Youtube for free www.usatoday.com/story/sports...
020
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
NH state house passes "CHARLIE Act," which bans teaching, I kid you not, "critical consciousness" & "prohibited world-views," such as that queer people exist, or that slavery involved race, or, implicitly, that the Nazis murdered Jews based on identity. newhampshirebulletin.com/2026/02/19/h...
newhampshirebulletin.com
House passes bill banning ‘leftist indoctrination’ and LGBTQ+ teaching in public schools • New Hampshire Bulletin
New Hampshire House Republicans are moving forward with a new attempt to regulate teaching on race, history, and LGTBQ+ issues in public schools. On Thursday, the chamber passed a bill that would ban ...
22120691116
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19/02/2026
“Beyond laundering bigotry as news, digital blackface exposes Black users to a level of personalized abuse and harassment that harkens to a minstrelsy heyday when racists were fully empowered to express their bigotry unbidden.”
theguardian.com
Digital blackface flourishes under Trump and AI: ‘The state is bending reality’
From TikTok deepfakes to smears put out by the White House, fake videos modeled on Black archetypes are running rampant - putting Black users at risk
416580
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Ben Goertzel, popularizer of the term AGI and creator of the Sophia robot, congratulating Jeffrey Epstein the day after Epstein was released from prison. Goertzel is mentioned in the files nearly 800 times, including well after the Miami Herald investigation in 2018.
Email from Epstein to Goertzel: "free and home"

Goertzel replies: ";-))) Congratulations!!!! Actually, I was just about to send you an email summarizing my recent progress, current situation, and future hypothetical plans...I'll probably do so tomorrow. I'm sure you're super-swamped, but it would be great to get together when you have the chance... ben"

Goertzel continues: "p.s. Also, the Singularity Summit (futurist conference, but with some good scientific speakers this year) will be in NY this year, Oct 3-4...and Oct 5-6, afterwards, there will be a brainstorming workshop I think you might enjoy (where, basically, the ~20 speakers from the Summit will get together and try to make conceptual progress on various future-science issues). I'll remind you again when the date gets closer!"
9736283
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 13/02/2026
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast. The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me. But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.”

A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees.

The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.
856108075500
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 12/02/2026
Looks like The Baltimore Banner is going to fill the gap left by the Post's end of sports coverage.
0167
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
nytimes.com
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years
915450
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I've got a "Democracy Dies in Darkness" t-shirt and a Washington Post mug with a "#freepress" hashtag printed on it from my time working there. Both have faded to the point of being basically unreadable over time, just astronomical levels of prescience emanating from them.
020
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 04/02/2026
Former executive editor @postbaron.bsky.social says the Post is "a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction." www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
The owner, in a note to readers, wrote that he aimed to boost trust in The Post. The effect was something else entirely: Subscribers lost trust in his stewardship and, notwithstanding the newsroom’s stellar journalism, The Post overall. Similarly, many leading journalists at The Post lost confidence in Bezos, and jumped to other news organizations. They also, in effect, were driven away. Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.
18480106
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 04/02/2026
The auteur lens of the creator economy too-often makes invisible the infrastructure necessary to do most work well. That is exponentially more true for work like journalism & scholarship that needs institutional memory, costly databases, EDITORS, fact-checking, & when really vital/risky, LAWYERS.
27018
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Steven Rich @datab.ae · 04/02/2026
gofundme.com
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
01210
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
WaPo laid off: -- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism -- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter -- the race and ethnicity beat reporter -- ... the Amazon beat reporter In addition to so many others
093
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Furious for the friends and journalists I admire still working at WaPo, this is such a sad and extremely avoidable situation
000
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Anyway here's something I wrote a couple years ago on how Huberman plays the role of an illusionist in the MAHA landscape www.vox.com/technology/2...
vox.com
The misleading information in one of America’s most popular podcasts
The Huberman Lab has credentials and millions of fans, but it sometimes oversteps medical fact.
000
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
stevegrove.bsky.social @stevegrove.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
"Believe your eyes" - great piece from @cwarzel.bsky.social @theatlantic.com on people risking their lives to document ICE. Includes an interview with @startribune.com photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Believe Your Eyes
People are risking their lives to document agents in Minneapolis.
03715
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
I guess one good thing to say about being online this week is that we learned that the war guy also has terrible form on kettlebell swings
000
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
mprnews.org
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
31951022936
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 11/12/2025
“It’s a story about volume, value, and what journalism becomes when “content” grows functionally infinite.” - @davey.bsky.social www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
1105
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard. I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced* www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
theverge.com
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
5514142
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
443565628
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Vittoria Elliott @telliotter.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
SCOOP from me + @makenakelly.bsky.social: despite recent reports, DOGE isn’t dead—it’s actually everywhere. @wired.com www.wired.com/story/what-i...
wired.com
DOGE Isn’t Dead. Here’s What Its Operatives Are Doing Now
Contrary to popular reports, DOGE has “burrowed into the agencies like ticks,” government sources tell WIRED.
1193129
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I really wanna know nuzzi's salary at vanity fair esp given recent layoffs maybe the NYT could have tracked down info like that instead of taking beach pics i dunno
010
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 06/11/2025
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
42892165980
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org
nobelprize.org
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...
291196448
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
soleil ho @soleilho.com · 03/10/2025
if the state of journalism and its capture by the right wing also has you in despair, a real, tangible thing you can do to push back is support/subscribe to worker-owned indie news media!! @coyotemedia.org (bay area) @51st.news (dc) @racketmn.com (mn) @autonomynews.co @505omatic.bsky.social (nm)
9230103
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Mr. Dan Zak @mrdanzak.com · 01/10/2025
“The injections Suza needed had traveled thousands of miles to the Central African nation, USAID and other records show, only to be stranded in a regional distribution warehouse in the same city where she was gasping for air.” wapo.st/489jGvd
wapo.st
Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.
USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...
042
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
404media.co
ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day
Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.
9522241420
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 24/09/2025
Response from @karenattiah.bsky.social counsel, @normeisen.bsky.social et al, at @democracydefendersfund.org: "She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
315946
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
404 Media @404media.co · 23/09/2025
YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment. The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new AI video generator tool. 🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...
404media.co
AI-Generated YouTube Channel Uploaded Nothing But Videos of Women Being Shot
YouTube removed a channel that posted nothing but graphic Veo-generated videos of women being shot after 404 Media reached out for comment.
731952745
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Philip Bump @pbump.com · 20/09/2025
If someone goes from a media outlet to a government agency and then implements a policy attempting to prevent the media from reporting on the agency, what does that tell you about their media outlet?
471462380
AW Ohlheiser @abbyohlheiser.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
If you use Facebook and are seeing surprising recommendations in your suggested groups when they come up in the News Feed, could you do me a favor and 1) screenshot them 2) click through to see if those groups show up on your full list of suggested groups and 3) DM me? I'm curious about something.
120
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Nicole Clark @nicoleclark.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
it feels so good to write again, to play games again, after the worst year of my life. i picked a ridiculous game (that i love!) to relearn controller skills with, but taking my time makes it possible aftermath.site/silksong-hol...
aftermath.site
A Condition Took Away The Use Of My Hands. Silksong Helped Me Rehab Them - Aftermath
Last year I woke up with the hands of an alien. Every item I grasped fell to the floor like so many grains of sand; every doorknob became a lock I couldn’t open. It didn’t hurt, but hundreds of dollar...
9479115
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Freelance illustration gigs drying up. Ad agencies using Midjourney instead of hiring human artists. Costume design turned over to AI wholesale. Good work vanishing. These are the stories of working visual artists, who describe losing jobs, wages, and hope as their clients and bosses embrace AI.
bloodinthemachine.com
Artists are losing work, wages, and hope as bosses and clients embrace AI
Visual artists, illustrators and graphic designers share their stories about how AI is being used to lower wages, degrade work and even replace it altogether, in this installment of AI Killed My Job.
8745002470
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Philip Bump @pbump.com · 12/09/2025
This is a book everyone should read, ASAP.
amazon.com
Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics [Reeve, Elle] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
1018530
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
David Mack @davidmackau.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
internet culture desks aren't just for cute meme trend stories. ever since gamergate, understanding how and why info moves online is critical to seeing how we got *here*
142853744
Reposted by AW Ohlheiser
Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
I wrote about Charlie Kirk and the viral content machine that sprang to life in the wake of his shooting — and how this time, even people running the country are partaking in the churn. www.theverge.com/analysis/776...
theverge.com
How Charlie Kirk’s death fed the content machine
Moments after the news broke, the content started
521839