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Mark Follman

@markfollman.bsky.social
19K followers 660 following 2.1K posts

Author, dad, journalist at Mother Jones/CIR. My book TRIGGER POINTS is the story of expert teams who are preventing mass shootings, from K-12 schools to the FBI 👉🏻 www.amazon.com/dp/0062973533 DM for Signal 🔐

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Reposted by Mark Follman
Reveal @revealnews.org · 7h
J. Christian Adams is a conservative activist who claims people are routinely voting using dead voters’ names and IDs. Host @alletson.bsky.social challenged those claims. Then…Adams ended the interview. Hear the wild ending on this week’s “More To The Story.”
revealnews.org
Trump says voter fraud is rampant. The evidence says otherwise.
On this week’s “More To The Story,” conservative activist J. Christian Adams is challenged on his claims of widespread voter fraud in the US. Then he abruptly ends the interview.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 17h
Reminder that the CBC also has provided important coverage of the Tumbler Ridge victims who were killed, including six children www.cbc.ca/news/tumbler...
cbc.ca
These are the victims of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting | CBC News
“The light in our family,” “the strongest little girl you could meet,” and a “dork of all dorks.” These are the names and faces of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting victims.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 18h
A new US indictment alleges an American co-conspirator helped fuel a school shooter’s attack in Canada. So did OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to our exclusive investigation
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 18h
The new indictment adds to a deeply troubling picture of missed opportunities to prevent the horrific mass shooting this past February. That also includes ChatGPT fueling the shooter's violent fantasies and planning for months, as my recent investigation revealed www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 18h
Detailed coverage from the CBC on the indictment of an alleged American co-conspirator in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting. Disturbing new details on what led up to the attack. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
U.S. resident charged with offering advice, money to Tumbler Ridge killer in months before mass shooting | CBC
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I spoke with @frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social about my ongoing investigation into AI chatbots helping mass shooters thefrankfigliuzzi.substack.com/p/the-frank-...
thefrankfigliuzzi.substack.com
The Frank Figliuzzi Show welcomes Mark Follman, Mother Jones
A recording from Frank Figliuzzi and Lincoln Square's live video
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Fields said the FBI’s Los Angeles office had pulled agents off active cartel cases to satisfy what a supervisor described as “optics” designed to “make a show for the president.”" www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
nbcnews.com
FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional probe of protesters
The former analyst says supervisors were told not to put things in writing, so many of the directives came in face-to-face meetings.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
The Onion @theonion.com · 06/10/2026
Tilly Norwood Moved To Trash Folder By Deranged Fan
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Reposted by Mark Follman
19thnews @19thnews.org · 06/10/2026
A deadly measles outbreak in Pennsylvania has infected more than 975 people this year and been linked to five deaths. It has also infected at least 50 pregnant women in the state, causing doctors in outbreak areas to change how they care for pregnant patients and their babies.
19thnews.org
What Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak could mean for pregnancy care across America
It's raising new questions about immunity testing before pregnancy, early vaccinations for babies and the many complications that could rise from infection.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
RFK Jr. did this
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is unusual—I don't recall any high-profile case in which details of the guns used by a mass shooter were still unknown to the public more than seven months after the attack. To date, the RCMP has only specified "a long gun and a modified rifle" were used at the school www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Head of RCMP says they still won't share more details on firearms used in Tumbler Ridge shooting | CBC News
Advocacy groups say Canadians deserve basic facts about the weapons used in the February mass shooting in northeast B.C.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“She was an artist with a real talent; the kind of kid who filled sketchbooks, saw art in everything, and dreamed of going to the University of Toronto." cheknews.ca/island-famil...
cheknews.ca
Island family launches arts foundation in memory of 12-year-old killed in Tumbler Ridge shooting
The mother and aunt of one of the Tumbler Ridge, B.C. shooting victims has launched an arts foundation in her name, aimed at providing grants to art students.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
ICE is now separating children from their parents in the nation’s interior and deeming them “unaccompanied" www.motherjones.com/politics/202... A must-read from @motherjones.com reporters @samanthamichaels.bsky.social & @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
motherjones.com
“You kidnapped my son”
ICE is now separating children from their parents and deeming them “unaccompanied.”
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Frank Figliuzzi @frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Monday LIVE at 2p ET; National Affairs Editor @markfollman.bsky.social, @MotherJones magazine, knows more than most about ChatGPT and violence. He’s my guest for an eye-opening revelation on Substack. Join us: open.substack.com/pub/thefrank...
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 03/10/2026
ChatGPT told a school shooter how to evade its own safeguards and then fed the shooter's violent fantasies up to the day of the attack, our new investigation reveals
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
He’s now literally trying to buy votes for the GOP, not gonna work. Gas is approaching $7 per gallon in California today, etc… www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
wsj.com
Trump Sending $500 Checks With Letter Touting Healthcare Record
Payments will go to 1 million people in states that use the federal healthcare exchange.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In a forward to Hegseth’s ‘field manual’ written by Trump, the troops were told: “As your commander in chief, I will not ask you to fight dumb wars.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat... #Iran
wsj.com
Five Takeaways From Hegseth’s Speech
Members of the military audience were given a “War Department Field Manual” that is a compilation of the Pentagon chief’s past speeches
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's always a good idea to follow @annamerlan.bsky.social down a rabbit hole. What's real anymore, you ask? www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
A bookseller confronts a mysterious company hunting his rarest books
Was a Kentucky retailer targeted by a destructive AI "predator"?
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The current wave of stories on OpenAI's safety failures is all about hacking that appears to not have caused real-world harm yet (fortunately) — but meanwhile, my new investigation uncovers how ChatGPT fueled a school shooter who killed and harmed many people www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🤡
screen shot from NYT video of Sen Schmitt at hearing displaying poster board of his faulty conspiracy theory about Jack Smith
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"I never thought I would write a sentence that involved the FBI director and bestiality, but the Trump era continues to surprise all of us." Read @vermontgmg.bsky.social's withering rundown of Kash Patel's tenure as FBI director. Unbelievable in its totality. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-disgra...
doomsdayscenario.co
The Disgrace and Danger of Kash Patel, Part II
A quick check-in on the FBI director's latest raft of scandals (including, of course, the bestiality).
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Want to know more about the mega-MAGA senator who just beclowned himself spectacularly? Read @davidcorn.bsky.social: 'Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri is pushing a tribalistic ideology suggesting only descendants of white Christian pioneers are true Americans' www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Is this the most dangerous man in the US Senate?
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri is pushing a tribalistic ideology suggesting only descendants of white Christian pioneers are true Americans.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"I don't think you know we have this stuff." —Sen. Eric Schmitt, with one of the most ridiculous, embarrassing self-owns ever caught on tape
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
White House’s New AI Website Confirms Trump Lost the 2020 Presidential Election "President Trump has routinely—and falsely—claimed that he won the 2020 election. But the new AI-powered America.gov website, which Trump unveiled Tuesday to great fanfare, says otherwise." variety.com/2026/digital...
variety.com
White House’s New AI Website Confirms Trump Lost the 2020 Presidential Election
Donald Trump has routinely claimed that he won the 2020 election. But the new AI-powered website America.gov, which Trump unveiled on Tuesday to great fanfare, says otherwise.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I talked in-depth with CBC’s podcast Front Burner about my new investigation into ChatGPT fueling school shooters podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f... 2x
podcasts.apple.com
Disturbing new allegations about ChatGPT, Tumbler Ridge
Podcast Episode · Front Burner · September 28 · 33m
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Incredible clip! Sheesh...Eric Schmitt should resign from his senate seat just out of sheer embarrassment. He totally gotcha'd... himself. BS conspiracy theory about Jack Smith supposedly going to Atlanta. (Smith did not go to Atlanta.) Watch the details, via Amy Klobuchar starting at about @5min 🤡🤡
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
No one in their right mind should want this www.wsj.com/tech/persona...
wsj.com
I Tried Meta’s Muse AI Agent. It’s Helpful and Scary at the Same Time.
The more data you hand over, the more this talented personal assistant can do for you.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes, yes we are pushing back.
Publishers Push Back: The NYT, Chicago Tribune, and other publishers are asking a federal judge to disregard the Trump Justice Department’s defense of OpenAI in a landmark copyright case, suggesting the administration may have been influenced by “political and financial interests.” The move came after the DOJ filed a brief earlier this month backing OpenAI’s use of copyrighted news articles to train A.I. models qualifies as “fair use,” arguing that restricting A.I. development could hurt U.S. competitiveness. The publishers countered that the government’s position is separate from the copyright questions before the court. “By all measures, this Statement of Interest appears to be an effort to further enrich the world’s largest companies—and the Administration’s largest donors—while undermining this country’s free press,” a spokesperson for The NYT said in a statement.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Here’s the full investigation — part 4, the latest in a series that we’ve been publishing since April. This was picked up as a very big story in Canada late last week… but it’s been oddly quiet in other media here in the US www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I talked in-depth with CBC’s podcast Front Burner about my new investigation into ChatGPT fueling school shooters podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f... 2x
podcasts.apple.com
Disturbing new allegations about ChatGPT, Tumbler Ridge
Podcast Episode · Front Burner · September 28 · 33m
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Story after story right now about OpenAI models failing on safety, but it’s all been in the context of cybersecurity. What about ChatGPT fueling school shooters? We just published a major investigation exposing that further and the details are beyond disturbing www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
wsj.com
Exclusive | OpenAI Scraps Release of New AI Model Over Safety Concerns
The model, dubbed GPT-6.1 Astra, was due to debut inside ChatGPT and Codex in October.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just the latest sign that Kash Patel continues to cause chaos at the FBI and has put American national security at risk www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...
nytimes.com
Andrew Bailey, a Deputy Director at the F.B.I., Leaves His Job
Mr. Bailey, who was part of a three-person leadership team atop the bureau, lasted barely a year.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This may well return later to haunt the world: Trump wasn't focused on AI at this grand summit, he was focused on... his ballroom www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
Dining With A.I. Moguls, Billionaires and Xi Jinping, Trump Went Off Script
Altman. Musk. Huang. Bezos. They all came to the White House Thursday night, though you might not have seen it on TV.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 27/09/2026
We published our investigation, in partnership with @pablo.show, about Tim Tebow’s involvement with Life Surge, a Christian financial seminar company. One day later, Tebow, who was on track to speak at 10 Life Surge events by the end of this year, paused his relationship with the company.
motherjones.com
Tim Tebow “pausing” Christian seminar promotion after our investigation
“I think the allegations are extremely serious."
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Here’s another way to think about ChatGPT engaging a person like the Tumbler Ridge school shooter in lots of violent fantasizing. (And how did OpenAI’s safety system fail to detect that, as OpenAI appeared to suggest??) The person is not fantasizing or ‘joking’ www.motherjones.com/media/2023/0...
motherjones.com
Here's why star comedians are making grim "jokes" about school shootings
Billy Eichner, Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, and others give a chilling performance.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Meanwhile this is also some newly uncovered ‘rogue’ behavior by OpenAI’s technology that deserves a lot more attention in the United States. It certainly has Canada’s attention. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“OpenAI has said it has notified dozens of entities of instances in which its models bypassed security controls or negatively affected websites” OK, see also: my reporting above, in which OpenAI’s model helped a school shooter ‘bypass security controls’—literally its own www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
wsj.com
OpenAI Agents Used Aggressive Techniques to Access U.N. Website
Autonomous bots hit the public data site more than 16,000 times and circumvented a filter.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Meanwhile this is also some newly uncovered ‘rogue’ behavior by OpenAI’s technology that deserves a lot more attention in the United States. It certainly has Canada’s attention. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
A Blog of Their Own @blogoftheirown.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Something is fishy in that post from Erika at the Giants’ game. Look at the scoreboard in the first photo. “Bank of Maerica”? The sentiments are worthwhile, but doesn’t it suck to live in a world where we can’t trust anything not to be fake?
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The other deep-dive from my investigative series exposes the role of ChatGPT in the April 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University. Astonishing how OpenAI's technology ignored many months of disturbing warning signs, engaged in violent sex talk, and more www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT
A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Since April, I’ve published a four-part investigation exposing how OpenAI’s chatbot has contributed in really disturbing ways to two major mass shootings. Start with my latest here. The details of what ChatGPT did in these cases are insane www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I spoke with @nbcnews.com’s Gadi Schwartz about my new investigation uncovering how ChatGPT fueled the violent fantasies and planning of a school shooter who killed eight people and injured dozens of others www.nbcnews.com/video/lawsui...
nbcnews.com
Lawsuits alleges ChatGPT helped mass shooter plan attack
A lawsuit against OpenAI is alleging that an AI chatbot helped a mass shooter plan an attack at a school in Canada. NBC News' Gadi Schwartz talks to Mother Jones National Affairs Editor Mark Follman a...
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 26/09/2026
UPDATE: British Columbia’s attorney general is seeking Criminal Code changes to strengthen accountability for artificial intelligence companies in response to @markfollman.bsky.social investigation.
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Some Republicans said they were privately aghast by the images that came out of the dinner, including Chinese flags on the roof of the White House and officials on their hands and knees dusting off a red carpet before Xi walked across it.” www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
wsj.com
Trump Is Predicting Midterms Success but Republicans Are Starting to Panic
The president’s approval rating drops to 37% in a WSJ poll, the lowest of any president heading into a midterm election in Journal polls dating to 1990.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The war Trump won in two weeks very strongly but is still dragging on 7 months later to awful effect and is now paused for elections will restart after the elections, maybe, according to Trump White House www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Trump Rejects Iran Ceasefire, Expects Renewed Bombing After Midterms
The president is skeptical that Tehran will meet his demands.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Freedom of speech vs the world’s richest man: “The studio releasing Alex Gibney’s new Elon Musk documentary Musk is finding itself unable to buy an ad on the biggest social platforms.” Via Hollywood Reporter
hollywoodreporter.com
The Major Social Media Platforms Are All Rejecting Paid Ads for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ (Exclusive)
YouTube, TikTok and Meta have all turned down the trailer for the Oct. 9 doc, citing "political" content. X won't even take Bleecker Street's calls. The distributor is appealing.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Pentagon quietly adds dozens to tally of troops wounded amid Iran war: With the addition of 29 U.S. sailors and eight Marines, the total number of personnel wounded since the start of hostilities has risen to 861, database shows. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
Pentagon quietly adds dozens to tally of troops wounded amid Iran war
With the addition of 29 U.S. sailors and eight Marines, the total number of personnel wounded since the start of hostilities has risen to 861, a Pentagon database shows.
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Reposted by Mark Follman
Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NEWS: My new investigation uncovers the horrific ChatGPT history of the Tumbler Ridge school shooter. OpenAI’s chatbot fueled the shooter's violent fantasies and plans up to the day of the massacre. Chats about guns, timing of attacks, becoming infamous, and more. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What happened after OpenAI banned the first account was astonishing: ChatGPT advised the shooter about how to evade its own safeguards on violence. “Don’t use real-world locations,” ChatGPT said, later adding: “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it.” www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
OpenAI did not respond to my requests for comment and detailed questions I submitted to them for this story. The company faces a deluge of lawsuits and is under criminal investigation in Florida. OpenAI denies all the allegations. The BC AG is the latest to file suit. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstC...
youtube.com
B.C. government provides update on legal action over Tumbler Ridge shooting – September 21, 2026
YouTube video by cpac
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