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jennifer kates

@jenniferkates.bsky.social
725 followers 264 following 108 posts

public interest law/policy/advocacy always. opinions and idealism all mine. 🔗 www.opensocietyfoundations.org/gran…

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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 12h
Excuse me
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This invocation from Walter Benjamin ❤️‍🔥 @astra.bsky.social @naomiaklein.bsky.social
Few have thought more deeply about these temporal themes than Walter Benjamin. When he looked to the past, he saw piles of historical wreckage, yes, but that was not all he saw. He also identified a potential for repair, alongside a kinetic kind of energy. "The tradition of the oppressed" through time, he wrote, emerged in those moments when masses of working people rose up to resist subjugation, suddenly aware of their collective strength and determined to change the world. Sometimes they won their battles, and often they lost, but Benjamin……became convinced that the efforts never disappeared, and that their latent power could be summoned in what he referred to as Jetztzeit, often translated as "now time." Now time, he wrote, could break through into the present like a match igniting a long fuse stretching backward through previous eras, bursting, in Benjamin's formulation, like "a tiger's leap into the past."END TIMES FASCISM
AND THE FIGHT FOR THE LIVING WORLD
NAOMI KLEIN
ASTRA TAYLOR
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
New from @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me: "It is high time for us to regulate usage of systems sold as “AI”, not because they are magical machines, but because they are error-prone products that shouldn’t be used in high stakes scenarios." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Forget ‘superintelligence’: error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month | Timnit Gebru and Emily M Bender
The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
May I see - and help bring about - the day when this city better values learning, discovery, and its history
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This thread = current vibes
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Great piece from @pemalevy.bsky.social and @ariberman.bsky.social on the Redemption-Era evils the Roberts Court has resurrected www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Jim Crow was on the ash heap of history. Then came the Roberts court.
The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our past.
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Atrios @eschatonblog.com · 24/09/2026
Oh no we told the computer to do a hack and it did it is it god
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”
APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
*Additional amenities: possible hyperscale data center next door
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damniel spookradski @self.agency · 23/09/2026
it's not enough that they stole all the web's content, they're also stealing all the web's traffic so that they can serve ads on what they stole and profit from it
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Imagine if your city fixed broken sidewalks
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Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg @danua.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
It is, in fact, pathetic.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My husband. “I think it’s pathetic,” said Daniel Urevick Ackelsburg. “We need institutions to stand up for core American values, and unfortunately this is just another example of one failing to do so.” www.pennlive.com/news/2026/09...
pennlive.com
UPMC settles fight with Trump Administration over gender care for minors
The hospital system had already suspended most gender care services for patients under 19; today's announcement ends the administration's legal pursuit.
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Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 17/09/2026
80% of AI news at this point consists of a company announcing “we wrote a computer virus” then there’s something about the apocalypse or regulation, then the next news story is like “we wrote another computer virus.”
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
How many falling apart schools could we have modernized?
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
They want to pave the way for mass data center expansion, and big tech dominance over our lives But the future is not inevitable - join us today.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Public opinion is dynamic. It exists to BE SHAPED. And it is ONLY a resource. It does nothing on its own.
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Citations Needed @citationspod.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
In Ep 241, "The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 1: Data Centers and LLM as 'The Future'," we breakdown the "inevitability" line AI companies use to bulldoze over democracy and how "inevitability" arguments have been used to sell everything from Manifest Destiny to "free trade deals".
soundcloud.com
Ep 241: The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 1: Data Centers and LLM as 'The Future'
In this episode we breakdown the popular "inevitability" argument "AI" companies are using to bulldoze over democracy and how the "inevitability" line has been used to sell everything from Manifest De
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It’s our air, our lives, and our city — we should decide 🦅 Two potential data center sites have already been identified in Philly—but the city has no rules to protect communities. We're rallying on 9/14 to demand City Council press PAUSE on data center development. Join us at philly.my/sep14rally
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
How is ICE making record arrests? I found the answer in Pa. coal country, where cops lured by a promise of federal $$$ have embraced ICE's 287(g) and are throwing up checkpoints, raiding job sites, arresting 100s, and terrorizing their communities My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/penn...
inquirer.com
In Pa. coal country, local police join with ICE to bring arrests, fear | Will Bunch
Pa.'s Schuylkill County is the new face of Trump's mass deportation, as local cops lured by federal cash bust scores of migrants.
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Robyn Swirling @rswirling.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Don’t people work hard enough and suffer too much not to deserve, in their short lives, to encounter beautiful and well made things?”
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Carly Goodman @carlygoodman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
the erosion of formal rights, boldly but never solely targeting noncitizens, has been 30 years in the making
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The show that makes you feel sane
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P is for Pirate 🌈✨️⚔️ @p4pirate.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This essay is beautiful and worthwhile. I'm glad I took time out of my morning to read it.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 04/09/2026
Technology being everywhere doesn’t mean it belongs everywhere. The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We don't see it that way. This week, we announced a moratorium on generative AI for public school students in 2-K to 8th grade.
We’re eliminating AI use for students in 2-K through 8th grade for the upcoming school year.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
🌘
youtu.be
Harvest Moon
YouTube video by Cassandra Wilson - Topic
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
For years, people have asked @tanuja.bsky.social and me how we built and sustained Understory, our spiritual and emotional support group for activists. So we made a toolkit to help others build spaces of their own.
organizingmythoughts.org
The Understory Toolkit
Creating spaces of reflection, belonging, and collective care
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
cc Philly www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/n...
nytimes.com
A.I. Is to Be Banned in N.Y.C. Elementary and Middle Schools (Gift Article)
A new policy to be announced by the Department of Education bars younger students from using A.I., but stops short of a moratorium.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Appreciating this so far podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
podcasts.apple.com
Dolly Parton's America
Music History Podcast · Series · In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton—but why? That simple question leads to a deeply personal, hist...
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 01/09/2026
I joined @chrislhayes.bsky.social on "Why Is This Happening?" for a conversation about the strange roots of tech fascism. My book, "The Nerd Reich," tells the bizarre but true story of how these ideas migrated from the internet fringe to the Trump White House. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
’The Nerd Reich’ with Gil Durán
Podcast Episode · Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast · September 1 · 53m
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A Wendell Berry piece that seared itself into me and opened up my thinking. harpers.org/archive/2008...
harpers.org
Faustian Economics, by Wendell Berry
Hell hath no limits
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Mark Andrew Price @pricelaborecon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Did the billionaires circulate a memo over the weekend about beatings to continue unless moral improves on AI?
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Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 30/08/2026
“Anti-fascism and anti-capitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for humanity.”
crimethinc.com
US Government Designates Host of NoBlogs.org a "Global Terrorist"
The US government has classified the Italian collective Autistici/Inventati as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," citing the collective's "far-left" politics.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Would you like to be more informed about so-called "AI"? Got an icky feeling about it, but not quite sure why? Curious for more in-depth history, delivered with some sly humor? This movie is for you!
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Ashley @ashleysays.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Chefs kiss
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MediaJustice @mediajustice.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Meet the special guests who will be speaking at #FightingTechnoFascism in Chicago on 9/19 💥 @naomiaklein.bsky.social 💥 @astra.bsky.social 💥 @safiyanoble.bsky.social 💥 @gilduran.com 💥 Delia Ramirez 💥 Caren Tepp Register to join them & 100s of organizers in Chicago: bit.ly/fighttechnofascism
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Boston Review @bostonreview.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Obama-era White House put Puerto Rico's finances under the authority of a federally appointed board of technocrats. By 2025, it had already run up a bill of over $2 billion, including vast fees paid out to consulting firm like McKinsey. Yarimar Bonilla on Puerto Rico’s water crisis:
bostonreview.net
Carrying Water
As enormous sums flow to creditors and investors in Puerto Rico, the state continues to recede.
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This gallery of ICE crop/seed art at this year's Minnesota State Fair is incredible, especially the one based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica by Jennifer Nelson, which features the last words of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Morse code: www.cropart.com/Resist.pdf
A seed art entry in the 2026 Minnesota State Fair based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica. It features a loon, the words "Ice Out" and two representations of Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s. Notably, the mouths of Good and Pretty include their last words in Morse code:
‘I’m not mad at you,’ and ‘Are you okay?’” The artist is Jennifer Nelson.
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Bradford Pearson @bradfordpearson.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
It’s pretty telling that the one person who unites all of us isn’t being lauded for the number of records they sold or how good they were at business, but for their acceptance of all, generosity of heart, and joy of spirit.
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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are.
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Joel @itsjoels.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is the letter kids got at the end of Dolly’s Imagination Library. I defy you to read this and not cry.
Sorry, I can’t type that.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Sometimes (often?) it seems like the Prospect is the only one really trying to explain anything
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Aram Zucker-Scharff @chronotope.aramzs.xyz · 21/08/2026
The thing about big tech attaching everything to AI is that now AI is associated with everything anyone hates.
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
We're being told that if we sacrifice the rights of some people, then the rest of us get to keep our rights. We all know that's some BS.
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
nytimes.com
How Big Tech Captured American Schools (Gift Article)
Companies like Google and Microsoft have used their money, their might and their massive reach to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It's here w/ extended footnote: "From long before the time of Homer until the recent past—and in the present in some traditional societies—turning an amorphous mass of wool into thread via spinning and then weaving that into fabric was both an important skill and a source of powerful metaphor...."
lithub.com
Rebecca Solnit: Penelope Weaves Her Destiny
“The Liquid Birds” Pēnelopē (Πηνελόπη) is usually understood to combine the Greek word pēnē (πήνη), “weft,” and ōps (ὤψ), “face,” which is considered the most appropriate fo…
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jennifer kates @jenniferkates.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Reader, I ordered Tillie’s book. Looks epic. bookshop.org/p/books/char...
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Rebecca Williams @rebeccawilliams.info · 12/08/2026
I started writing about the Summer of Ludd and ended up writing about all the ways tech has grabbed power and all the ways we can take it back. (The secret is: politics). There's a good chance I cited your work in this piece – there are links for days. rebeccawilliams.info/unwinding-th...
rebeccawilliams.info
Unwinding the Great Tech Power Grab
Movements to reclaim power over technology are springing up, from Neo-Luddism to Permacomputing to Rewilding the Internet. Alongside these approaches, we must discuss how tech has atrophied the exact ...
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Theodore Grunewald @tedgrunewald.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
From Kate Wagner's (@katewagner.wehwalt.net) powerful critique of Chicago's new Obama Center via The Nation. (@thenation.com). www.thenation.com/article/cult...
As is the case with the rest of the museum, the present—the here and now, the political world we currently inhabit—simply doesn’t exist. The nostalgia for the moment before the disaster and the refusal to reckon with what has actually happened since then is so palpable that at times it borders on delusion. At the Obama Center, one walks into 2008 and never leaves. “Hope and change” doesn’t disappoint, and as such it becomes little more than a brand or, perhaps worse, just something one can say without meaning it. Hope has a permanent home, as Jarrett put it. It is a tomb. —Kate Wagner, The Nation, August 12, 2026 https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/obama-presidential-center/
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