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Ben Wheeler

@benjiwheeler.bsky.social
340 followers 1.4K following 828 posts

politics, creative technology, good faith debate, justice. Imagine a friend said it. techno-social.com . councilorwheeler.bsky.social is my account for Somerville policy/politics.

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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 20h
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 4h
Skydance -- like that soaring playful airborne lad of legend, Icarus!!
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An Average Joe @kokomojoe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sturgeon's Law - Ninety percent of everything is crap Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Shore Leave and Amok Time.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 01/10/2026
If I went to Switzerland and won a Swiss watch precision contest, I would literally never talk about anything else
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Amazing visualization of the many lighthouses of MA and RI, shown at the real speeds that they rotate, and the real length of their visible beams. Made with AI. mapped.earth/lighthouses/...
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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My god, everything this administration does is stupid.
"Today, the passport arrives in an envelope that can look like any other letter," Rubio said. "We wanted to turn receiving a passport into an experience that people will remember and keep."
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Just a reminder that people don’t always realize they were raped in the immediate aftermath. It can take hours, days, months, and even years to realize you were raped, and it doesn’t make it any less true. There are many kinds of responses, including fawning and trying to appease your rapist
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is a common pattern in so many fields -- people doing the same work just don't talk to each other. Years ago a friend was a middle school principal in Brooklyn, and admitted that he had never contacted the administration of the middle school literally four blocks away
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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In an age when the Peter Thiels of the world are smiling and saying evil does good because it is competent, we are entering a time when we will need to be aggressively "pro-human." Or at the very least, Pro-Good. And we have to build power, unapologetically.
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Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We should let people dream of something besides labor
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
My 9 games #My9Games my9games.net/en/share/d0c...
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This @nytimes.com piece on former Alaska congress rep Mary Peltola really brings home how hard it is to assemble a portrait of a working environment from scattered moments www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/u...
nytimes.com
Mary Peltola’s Campaign in Alaska Senate Race Is Rocked by Tumult, With Angry Outbursts and Slurs
Democrats hope that Mary Peltola can flip a Republican Senate seat in Alaska. Former aides describe a campaign and congressional office marked by chaos.
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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
Congressman Greg Casar @repcasar.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened. We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The reporters and the press association should all do the logical things in response to Trump's ban on Politico, CNN, MSNOW. Everyone else's response should be to laugh at Trump for being a little bitch. CNN is too much for him? 🤣 A president crying out No Mas, No Mas. Low Energy. Sad.
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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is a really important story. You know how over reliance on AI makes you lazy and stupid? This shows how that’s happening within the military — a military, it cannot be pointed out often enough, that’s growing ever more reliant on AI. The children of Shajarah Tayyebah Elementary paid the price
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The Onion @theonion.com · 18/09/2026
Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming theonion.com/trans-teen-hatches-nef…
Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Once again, I plead with all humans to consider just telling the truth. It's not so bad! "I don't want to touch this topic, because so many people have so much pain around it" -- he could just say this. You really don't need to make up a lie
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Of all the grifts to use to make a buck, conning worried parents into leaving their kids unprotected so their kids die (and their family kills other kids) might be the most horrific one
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Good writing in my view - while some commentary on here has framed Sheeran's justification as a demonstration of the hollowness of "neutrality", as a professional moral philosopher it is also what we in the business refer to as a "lie" and it may be helpful to refer to it as such
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If you wrote a screenplay in 2014 w/a GOP president starting a war he doesn't understand and has no idea how to win, spiking inflation and this was his response, people would call you incredibly biased against Republicans because you'd be making the president so preposterously stupid and ridiculous
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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
rip annie dillard
One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Perfect example of how very smart people can also be very stupid. Clearly Feldman's desire to curry favor in relationships is acting like a blow to the head
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face" would be a great title for a book summarizing the Trump years and their impact on America and the world
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Whistleblower and dozens of immigration lawyers confirm there is a secret GOP plan being carried out to hide documents, erase them and pretend they don't exist in order to treat legal immigrants as if they were illegal. Just awful, Soviet levels of bureaucratic evil www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/u...
nytimes.com
Immigrants’ Lawyers Say U.S. Is Redacting Documents Proving Legal Status
Many noncitizens need immigration records the government has to prove their legal stay and resist deportation. The government is redacting and withholding those documents, lawyers say.
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
LinkedIn: we have the best job search, we have all this DATA, we can use AI to be even smarter Me: LinkedIn, show me part time jobs LinkedIn: here are full time jobs
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Reposted by Ben Wheeler
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14/09/2026
Extraordinary reporting: "Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family."
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Management lesson: the first person who brings up a problem might seem like a weirdo because no one else has brought up the problem. But if you scold them that "you're the only one with this problem", then hmm... why do you think other people have been reluctant to tell you they have a problem!?
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I'm obv not the first to say it but a politician who ran on a thorough and convincing plan to rein in scam texts/calls/emails would win in a landslide pretty much anywhere. I don't know what that plan *is*, of course, but still.
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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.
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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
So the GOP is celebrating a guy who created a darknet marketplace for heroin and meth, and put out multiple muder-for-hire contacts to conceal his crimes.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 09/09/2026
NEW: Our analysis found that from 2020 to 2025, the rate of deaths involving ectopic pregnancies nearly doubled compared with the previous six-year period. The uptick was steeper in states with abortion bans.
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A person like Donald Trump wouldn't be able to ruin our country without help from a lot of people like Ted Cruz.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 09/09/2026
I shouldn’t be this emotional about a city deciding hey maybe kids shouldn’t starve all day Like how low is the bar. Anyway, thankful to the people who fought for this.
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Fantastic media criticism -- there is so much to learn from here, by both @emptywheel.bsky.social and @donmoyn.bsky.social
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The problem with the way so many people are sneering at uses of AI in education, government, etc. is that there is no clear line between "the internet" and "AI". If you aren't proposing banning internet research, you aren't proposing banning AI.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My colleague @jeffsharlet.bsky.social has been asking his students to tell him about their AI usage anonymously. www.chronicle.com/article/my-s...
chronicle.com
Opinion | My Students Hate AI. But They Can’t Stop Using It.
Big Tech has gotten them addicted to cheating, and they’ve internalized the blame.
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Whether or not this specific prediction will happen soon, there are 1000s of different patterns that lead to self-replication/federated goal seeking that cd be hard to detect and stamp out; & the current plan is just keep risking it until some replication gets out of control. x.com/mattyglesias...
x.com
Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) on X
Please watch this clip
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Mainstream media, here's the headline you should run: SECRET TRUMP PLAN WILL DELETE THOUSANDS OF LEGAL VOTES IF EVEN ONE VOTER CHANGED THEIR NAME, WHISTLEBLOWER REVEALS
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,
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Boris @bmann.ca · 01/09/2026
Also induction stoves with batteries. These are actually assembled in a small production line in Brooklyn electra.com
electra.com
Electra | 120V Induction Stove
Powered by a 5kWh battery, Electra delivers full-power induction and a true convection oven from a 120V outlet. No rewiring, no hassle. Just better cooking.
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jenn schiffer 😎 @jennschiffer.com · 01/09/2026
warmed by people finding me at events to talk about how they loved glitch and expressing that nothing has fully replaced it - but at least for the “having a good time getting an app built and online (and remixable) without needing an aws account“ part, though, @val.town is still so great
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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
“What if going to church meant risking your family being torn apart? That's the reality for Haitian families in Springfield right now … neighbors are being detained and shackled, and last Sunday, agents stood outside at least two churches. This week, two beloved pastors were taken …”
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In the name of all that's holy, Democrats, show some backbone and tell people what we AFFIRMATIVELY STAND FOR in terms they can remember
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A Christian with a convert's zeal who used to condemn bigotry but then realized he could gain power by joining in the bigotry, using biblical terms to condemn a religious minority??? Very much NOT what makes me feel comfortable
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
A country's people shouldn't have to suffer for the awfulness of their government. And we shouldn't single out Israel for more condemnation than others doing similar things. AND this is truly horrific, genocidal rhetoric coming from a powerful place. Refusing to support this is a human right.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Death by intentional neglect is the characteristic method of murder in concentration camps
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Possibly the best response I've ever gotten on this phone application 😂😂😂
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Some posts by me 🧵🪡🧶
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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
It's tempting to sneer at the leopard-face-eating of Milo Yiannapoulos's arrest by ICE, but really it's just a disturbing reminder of the cost of all this cruelty and othering. What drives someone to gleefully wish government men with guns to throw people in cells? apnews.com/article/milo...
apnews.com
Far-right British provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos arrested by US immigration enforcement
Immigration officials have arrested British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos in New Orleans. The Department of Homeland Security says he was detained at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Internationa...
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