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Chris Dehghanpoor

@ckd.sh
16K followers 1.3K following 97 posts

OSINT reporter, Washington Post investigations • @chrisd9r on twitter • ckd.sh

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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 17/05/2025
New: We talked to the anonymous memecoin millionaires who bought access to Trump. "Ice," part of a Singaporean crypto collective, hopes the dinner will be Big Macs. "Ogle" says he'll only unmask when the gala doors close. “The most corrupt thing a president has ever done" wapo.st/4kgR4mg
wapo.st
Meet ‘Ice,’ ‘Ogle’ and other crypto millionaires who bought a night with Trump
Most of the crypto investors who bought Trump’s meme coin for a chance at dinner with the president remain anonymous. Some are publicly celebrating their invitation.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 15/05/2025
The comment section of old jazz performances on youtube may be the last wholesome place left on the internet www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEJf...
youtube.com
Freddie Hubbard sets the Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Big Band on fire with Moanin'
YouTube video by Jazz Video Guy
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
If you're a journalist using AI to write, then yeah, we agree, and I've already said the same thing. bsky.app/profile/ckd....
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
FWIW: I *did not* use Gemini to write this thread, but it definitely sounds like I did. I've not found a single LLM that can write "in my voice" in a way that isn't 1) really cringey and 2) immediately obvious that it was written by an LLM. I'll do another thread with how I've found it useful..
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
Other notes: * The Canvas feature works intermittently at best * It will not warn you when you exceed the context window. It will just lose its mind and start saying gibberish * It's annoying/expensive, but it's often worth bouncing between multiple LLMs and comparing the answers.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
These 3 things taken together put Gemini ahead of Claude and ChatGPT for me (for now). IMPORTANT REMINDERS: * Don't share sensitive information * Fact check everything it tells you * Don't take the answers at face value * Don't have it do your work or write for you * Remember: you're still smarter
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
If you ask Gemini to poke holes in your thinking, it will oblige. If it feels like it's correct and you're wrong, it will stand its ground. You can wear it down if you want, but then you're using LLMs wrong IMO. It's not perfect, but it's better than the rest (for now)
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
Most importantly: Gemini 2.5 Pro is (anecdotally, sample size = me) less sycophantic than Claude or ChatGPT. It hasn't called me stupid to my face, but there have been a few times where it felt close. And that's a good thing, actually, especially for journalists!
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
Chain-of-thought by default means it always does a multi-step reasoning process before replying. This takes a little bit longer, but leads to higher quality answers. You can also review the reasoning that lead to the response. This isn't unique to Gemini but Gemini does it really really well.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
Larger context window means you can upload more documents, transcripts, notes, etc and the LLM can retain the full content of those documents in it's "memory" during your conversation. This means you'll get more detailed and accurate answers, and it's great at providing specific citations.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 08/05/2025
Gonna be that annoying AI bro stereotype for a minute, but fellow journalists: do yourself a favor and pay for Gemini 2.5 Pro. Gemini was really bad for a long time, but guess what, it's good now! Why? Larger context window, chain-of-thought by default, and it doesn't always agree with you!
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 03/04/2025
Not sure of the knowledge cutoff but it has real time web search. I did have to fib and say I was only paper trading, because it refuses to cooperate otherwise (reasonably so). (2nd screenshot is from the thinking)
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 21/03/2025
Vibe coded* an app to help sift through changes in the JFK docs. It loads two PDFs side-by-side, then uses OpenCV to visually compare every page - no OCR - to highlight differences like newly unredacted text. *I hate that I said vibe coded as much as you do
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 26/02/2025
I'll also echo my colleagues in saying that I'll leave the instant it feels like our mission is compromised. Until then, we will continue investigating and reporting stories like only the Post can - even if that means reporting on ourselves.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 26/02/2025
Here's what I know after 2 years at WaPo: despite shooting ourselves in the foot every 2.5 months by announcing weird changes to Post Opinions, the newsroom has remained laser focused on holding power to account. I haven't seen or heard anything that makes me think that's going to change. 1/2
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Hannah Natanson @hannahnatanson.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
I obtained documents revealing DOGE’s private plans to soon eliminate at least hundreds of government workers and offices they somehow tag as related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Help us keep doing this kind of reporting: message me on Signal at (202) 580-5477. wapo.st/4jVWqEd
wapo.st
Records show how DOGE planned Trump’s DEI purge — and who gets fired next
A DOGE team plans to fire federal workers who are not in DEI roles and employees in offices that protect equal rights, internal documents show.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 15/02/2025
The Washington Post obtained documents laying out step-by-step how DOGE plans to dramatically expand its purge of "DEI-related" initiatives and employees across the federal government in the coming months. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/... by @hannahnatanson.bsky.social & @chrisd9r.bsky.social
washingtonpost.com
Records show how DOGE planned Trump’s DEI purge — and who gets fired next
A DOGE team plans to fire federal workers who are not in DEI roles and employees in offices that protect equal rights, internal documents show.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
My colleagues @hannahnatanson.bsky.social & @chrisd9r.bsky.social obtained documents showing how DOGE staffers developed plans to purge diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (and employees who implement them) from the federal government. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
Records show how DOGE planned Trump’s DEI purge — and who gets fired next
A DOGE team plans to fire federal workers who are not in DEI roles and employees in offices that protect equal rights, internal documents show.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 05/02/2025
dei.gov was registered yesterday. Why? who.is/whois/dei.gov
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Gene Park @gene.meme · 29/01/2025
and @drewharwell.com wrote a much more comprehensive and reported piece! www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
washingtonpost.com
Does Elon Musk cheat at video games? An investigation.
The world’s richest man has paid to boost his online warriors into global leaderboards, raising questions about his prowess — and his need for digital praise.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
C.A. Pinkham @eyepatchguy.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Anyone who knows anything about our elections apparatus knows how absolutely and utterly impossible this would be from a logistics perspective. No voting machines created in the past several decades have online capability. You can't "hack" the election.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 24/01/2025
Somehow just now noticing Maltego Community Edition updated their license last August to allow commercial use. docs.maltego.com/en/support/s...
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 21/01/2025
We don't know what Elon Musk meant with that hand gesture but we do know he's reinstated Hitler apologists on X, praised an extreme far-right German political party and endorsed the claim that Jews push "hatred against whites" www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
washingtonpost.com
Antisemitism was rising online. Then Elon Musk’s X supercharged it.
Antisemitism has long festered on the internet, but the Israel-Gaza war and the loosening of content moderation on X have propelled it to unprecedented levels.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 21/01/2025
Going to watch the son of former secretary of labor Robert Reich do improv @samreich.bsky.social
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
2) This is a clever bit of viral marketing for Eliza and AI16Z. Honestly, in 2025, it could be either, or it could be both. Nothing else in the substack is technically substantive, or backed up with evidence. If the post author sees this thread - I would love to speak with you! Please reach out.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
The easily disprovable github claims make me think that either: 1) The author is not technical and did not understand how simple it would be to disprove that: * Eliza was released 10/24 * that they had special access via Andreessen prior to release * and that they authored Eliza documentation OR
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
What's this all mean? Well, I'm extremely skeptical about the claims outlined in the Substack post. Anyone with insight into AI driven platform manipulation on X would probably also understand how github works and that AI16Z is not the same as A16Z.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
What about the "breadcrumbs" supposedly left in Eliza's docs? On 11/1/2024, the document had 0 mentions of Trump: github.com/elizaOS/eliz... The Trump "breadcrumb" mentioned on Substack was added 11/14/24 by Github user madjin, who has continued to contribute to Eliza: github.com/elizaOS/eliz...
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
Andreessen caught wind of AI16z in Oct '24 when it launched, and seemed to find it amusing, engaging in a back and forth with the funds creators. Outside of interacting with the account on social media, Andreessen does not appear to have any involvement with AI16Z.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
So where's Andreessen come in? Well, it's 2025, so of course there's a crypto angle. Lalalune, Eliza's creator, trollishly launched an AI led crypto hedgefund called AI16Z - a riff on Andreessens own A16Z fund - complete with a fake Andreessen twitter account (@pmAIrca, instead of @pmarca)
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
It was created by github user lalalune, who worked on the project mostly solo until it reached a milestone in Oct '24 and gained fresh attention. *It was publicly accessible* between Feb '24 - Oct '24 while it was worked on. Andreessen did not need to provide access to a public project.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
ElizaOS is on github. That means every single little change is tracked, and anyone can view those changes as well as who made them. Eliza initially appeared on Github in Feb '24 as a Discord AI bot. Look at how the README changed between 2/24 and 10/24. github.com/elizaOS/eliz...
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
They claimed their manipulation of X was enabled by "advanced AI systems called Grok and Eliza". Grok is X's LLM. They say Eliza was built for election interference, and that they had access prior to its release in Oct. '24 thanks to Marc Andreessen. But Andreessen is not affiliated with Eliza.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 17/01/2025
This Substack is making the rounds purporting to be from an "X Whistleblower" that claims X knowingly planted fake news stories and used bots to influence discourse. Unfortunately they don't provide much evidence - and some of what they do share, is wrong. For starters-
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 16/01/2025
Auspicious osprey sounds like an Ubuntu release name
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 13/01/2025
Important deep dive into cops' "outrageously dystopian" use of facial recognition by @douglasmac.bsky.social @davidovalle.bsky.social @aaronschaffer.com. A wrongfully arrested father of four was jailed for *16 months* before his charges were dropped: www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...
washingtonpost.com
Arrested by AI: Police ignore standards after facial recognition matches
Confident in unproven facial recognition technology, sometimes investigators skip steps; at least eight Americans have been wrongfully arrested.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
We had to evacuate Los Angeles. Most people I know there have also had to leave. We are safe in San Diego and our apartment is unlikely to burn down. We are very lucky. But alongside the visceral horror of the wildfires there is also the mundanity of dystopia www.404media.co/were-fine-lo...
404media.co
‘We’re Fine’: Lying to Ourselves About a Climate Disaster
The dystopia of Los Angeles' fires are horrifying, mundane, and everything in between.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
i think after this particular disaster the “misinformation is rampant” stories about X are going to start feeling a bit redundant. it’s just the baseline. like rain in the pacific northwest.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
I’m on site at the Sunset Fire in Runyon Canyon. Water drops are happening. Im not sure it’ll be enough to stop the spread of these fires into the neighborhood south of the canyon.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 09/01/2025
A lot of LA residents have vehicles. That neighborhood south of Hollywood and east of Laurel Canyon is an exception - it’s incredibly walkable and very easy to get away without owning a car.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 09/01/2025
This Hollywood hills fire is a nightmare. Evacuation area covers an incredibly dense area. Thousands (tens of thousands) of residences (a lot of the buildings on hollywood are apartment buildings built in around the 1950s). Also includes the Hollywood Bowl, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 08/01/2025
Here's our full story on the Meta news today, which goes far beyond an end to fact-checking and heralds a wider pullback from content moderation as Zuckerberg repositions the company for the Trump era. Gift link: wapo.st/4h223hP
wapo.st
Meta ends fact-checking, drawing praise from Trump
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ended fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in favor of community notes, calling the recent election a “cultural tipping point” on free speech.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 07/01/2025
I feel this one in my bones. I have no idea why I struggle with texting in 2025 - I was *constantly* on AIM (lol & RIP) in my teens and 20’s, and modern texting is basically the same…so why am I so bad at it? apple.news/ABsJRkG9XSFC...
apple.news
The Agony of Texting With Men — The Atlantic
Many guys are bad at messaging their friends back—and it might be making them more lonely. January 06, 2025 My friend’s boyfriend, Joe Mullen, is a warm and sweet guy, a considerate person who loves d...
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 31/12/2024
Probably weird for me to answer since I'm not at all the person you tagged, but this popped up on my TL and I'm also interested their answer! My 2c: you'll want to find a way to break the data up into smaller, related chunks. The biggest limit you'll hit is the llm's context window
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 30/12/2024
What else is in it?! I could see that being a good replacement for olive brine in a dirty martini
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Reposted by Chris Dehghanpoor
Andrew Ba Tran @abtran.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
More than 3,100 students died at Indian boarding schools between 1828 and 1970. @washingtonpost.com found 3x times as many deaths and nearly 2x as many graves sites as the Interior Department after scouring hundreds of thousands of documents and speaking to dozens of sources.
wapo.st
More than 3,100 students died at schools built to crush Native American cultures
The Post’s year-long investigation found that three times as many Native American students had died at boarding schools between 1828 and 1970 as the U.S. government had previously reported.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 20/12/2024
When Greg Kinnear says computers are the "end of western civilization as we know it" in the beginning of You've Got Mail.... ...he may have been right.
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Chris Dehghanpoor @ckd.sh · 16/12/2024
Every time I try to leave, it pulls me back in.
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