iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 7h

Part (but far from all) of what's horrific here is: a woman weighing the consequences of speaking up about being sexually assaulted, because speaking up imposes burdens and costs (and so does not speaking up).

phoenixnewtimes.com

Congressional candidate is raped while repairing her campaign signs

Embarrassed, she initially didn’t want to report attack. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's investigation is ongoing. A Phoenix New Times exclusive.

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 07/10/2026

Troy Jackson after Collins takes credit for rural healthcare cuts in big beautiful bill not being as bad as they could've been even though she voted to advance the bill: "Sen. Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out"

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I don’t know if we could ever be lucky enough to have a President this special. But a boy can dream @aoc.bsky.social youtu.be/TovJ144hwv0?...

youtu.be

AOC Visits Southside Community Center in Ithaca

YouTube video by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Robinson’s essay is Exhibit A of why I think we need to start by slowing Big Tech down using smart approaches like @alondra.bsky.social recommended and end w frontier model builders as publicly owned utilities. Big Tech has a trillion dollar incentive to sabotage any attempt to rein them in

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Angie Nixon @angieforfl.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I don't wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent. But this is my home. /1

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

What’s most significant about the study is not that frontier AI can handle “well defined accounting tasks” more accurately than junior accountants, but that it only took 18 months for them to get that good.

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For all that it's been barely reported in the UK press, it's still hard to understate the importance of the stance @labourunionsuk.bsky.social has taken on trans and non-binary rights this week. Every single trade union affiliated to the party of government has stood up and said we will not comply.

Joint statement from National TULO

Solidarity with the trans and non-binary community

Labour's 11 affiliated trade unions stand in total solidarity with the trans and non-binary community.

Trans rights are human rights, and trans rights are workers' rights.

We in the trade union movement will do all we can to stand up for our trans members and all our trans siblings, to protect them from persecution, harassment and attack.

The government must act now to protect all trans people, to make sure their rights are protected, expanded and upheld in our workplaces and communities.

Labour Unions

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Solar + Batteries: Save the Planet, Save Your Fridge’s Groceries

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Personally I find this more than a little unnerving. Trying to figure out how to stop AIs from operating from bad intent is no small task, but it seems a lot simpler than stopping AIs that are trying to be “helpful.“

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A little piece of good news about the conversation around AI safety — Nelson is one of the smartest people around when it comes to complex, nuanced science & tech issues

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Mamdani is The Man, Part 642 My favorite bit: Norway’s PM explaining that he walked to the school, then Mamdani plus the virtues of walking in a city

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.

nytimes.com

F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins

The inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor’s account, according to current and former officials.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Most of the time social media drives me crazy. But every once in a while we get something like this: a fascinating list by @chantalahailey.bsky.social on how black parents navigate the hard, often painful choices about choosing schools in a deeply racist education system

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Didn’t think that one big question in 2026 would be, will Trump do more damage to us in the next 2 years with his staggering stupidity around AI or Iran?

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.

apnews.com

AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

if you’re starting to ask, how do we put some brakes on AI, this 2022 report is a really good place to begin. Then take a look at what they’ve said since then. I don’t know what agree with them, but they are hands-down some of the smartest, most nuanced people writing about AI

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/09/2026

one thing that is worth remember apropos this useful piece is that novel technologies do not necessarily require novel political solutions. americans have had to deal with fast-moving, disruptive technological change in the past, and they did so through collective, democratic action.

nytimes.com

Opinion | Bernie Sanders, Steve Case and Others on What Washington Should Do Now on A.I.

How can the government reel in the technology? Here are six ideas.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Media elites finally fighting back. Just a bit. But still an encouraging sign (because yes, by 2026 my standards have dropped this far)

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Making good decisions is hard. But I think the much harder part is building enough grassroots power to make D politicians more afraid of us than Big Tech — esp given that Trump’s president for the next few years . For that, panic, fury etc can be very helpful.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Centrist Ds: doing what they can to help Socialists win more seats

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

“The [AI] threat is already here. Panic won’t fix it. Politics will.” Why does our side do this to ourselves? How often does “don’t panic” win in politics? The fight isn’t panic vs “sober” politics. It’s what we should panic about and what we _do_ w our panic www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | A.I. Is a Threat, but Not in the Way You Think

The threats from A.I. are real — and they’re ones we know how to deal with.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It feels like we might finally be turning the corner on treating AI like a product, not a utopian unicorn AI is a product. And we don’t allow companies to build products they think may kill us all. youtu.be/6oo0ZrojX-I?...

youtu.be

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn't kill everyone???? | Decoder

YouTube video by Decoder with Nilay Patel

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Welcome to 2026, where The Resistance includes a former central banker (Carney) and a NYC socialist mayor (Mamdani), both of whom have sky high voter approval ratings

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Also, you should really really read this article. This is really messed up, and we need to start freaking out and doing something about it now.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I don’t understand why very smart folks on our side keep insisting, we shouldn’t waste our time focusing on the future, just focus on now. In no other part of our lives do we say, even worse sh*t may happen tomorrow, but we can only choose to focus on the future or now. /1

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Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

@aoc.bsky.social just put out a great statement on AI. Refreshing to see a major politician on the left nail this. "Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity. But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves." 🎯

Charles,

Last weekend, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the largest Al companies in the world, publicly asked his industry to slow down Al development.

Shortly after, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAl, followed suit. Then Elon Musk.

This all came days after an Anthropic researcher quit, citing his belief that this technology could wipe out humanity and that Al companies are "gambling with our lives."

For years, people have warned that generative Al could slip out of our direct control.

Those safety concerns must be taken seriously.

And this is why I have advocated for strict safety standards on how Al is built and deployed, public oversight over this technology, and using existing laws to hold these companies accountable when they cause harm.

But I want to draw your attention to another reality: Right now, the U.S. economy and our financial futures are riding on Silicon Valley's bet that Al will soon be immensely profitable and pay off. And that bet isn't looking good.

The formula for a profitable business isn't complicated: make more money than you spend. But the biggest Al companies aren't doing that. They are spending hundreds of billions per year on data centers, chips, and other costs while their ability to make revenues that exceed their already-immense sunk costs are unclear. Experts estimate that these Al companies will require another $600 billion of debt just to finance

themselves in 2026 alone. That is more than the entire budgets of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, & Education combined.
Meanwhile, despite almost every single one of these companies not turning a profit & having sunk billions of investor dollars in development of data centers & other infrastructure, Al companies are also on a spending spree of hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying & dark money in our elections.
It would be one thing if we were discussing a few private companies with a poor business model. But last year, virtually all stock market gains - 80% - rested entirely on just a handful of Al companies.
That tells us two things:
1. Nearly the entire U.S. economy outside the Al industry is relatively stagnating and faring poorly & the gains from these few companies are disguising it; &
2. Millions of people's retirements - including their pensions, 401ks, & investments - are potentially exposed to this risk.
That's why these Al companies' dubious financial positions matter to working people.
These companies argue that debt is necessary. They'll tell you that building transformative technologies requires upfront capital, & that massive borrowing today will pay off in generating unprecedented prosperity tomorrow.
But this is not the typical debt that startups take on while they build out a company. We are talking about billions going on trillions of dollars leveraged with no indication that these companies will be able to recoup these funds profitably. And they are increasingly looking to the government as their source of cash.
In an effort to hide their debt, tech companies have been relying on "circular financing" where tech giants like Google, Amazon, & Microsoft give billions to Al startups like OpenAl & Anthropic, only for those startups to hand that money right back to buy Al processing power.
In other words, these Al companies are luring in new investors by making it look like their financials are healthier than they really are.

What's even worse is that retirement & pension funds are key to supporting this illusion.
When the Al companies issue bonds to raise more money, your pension funds & retirement accounts are some of the biggest buyers. When Musk's Al business went public, it became part of index funds where millions of Americans invest our savings. Many Americans don't even know that their retirement investments are tied up in these companies at all.
From Big Tech's perspective, that's a feature, not a bug. By tying our futures to their reckless gambling, Al billionaires are trying to make themselves too big to fail. They think they can take such dangerous risks because we will bail them out if things go wrong.
Sound familiar? This scene is dangerously reminiscent of the rampant speculation, corruption, & broken incentives leading up to the 2008 financial crisis that plunged millions of working class Americans into financial chaos that we never fully recovered from.
It is no accident that these warnings from Altman & Amodei come months-if not weeks-before these companies were meant to go public.
When companies go public, they have to be more transparent about how they are doing financially. And after a waiting period, they typically have to let private investors-like their own employees-sell their shares.
The New York Times recently confirmed that OpenAl has postponed going public for this very reason. They are in no rush for the truth about their finances to come out.
But the moment these oligarchs began to seek our public tax dollars & public contracts while exposing their companies to public pension funds & investments, they opened themselves to public accountability & scrutiny.
Silicon Valley billionaires have rigged the game & are attempting to shift their financial risk to working people: If they're right about Al's potential, they reap the profits. If they're wrong & the bubble bursts, they are setting up the American people to pick up the tab.
Heads, they win; tails, we lose.

We can stop this, and we shouldn't play their game. Together we can address both the economic and safety threats of unrestricted Al development and prevent financial chaos and stabilize market risk.

We must make it clear now that should the Al bubble pop, Congress should not bail out Big Tech.

And across our federal agencies, we have the authorities and tools to hold Al companies and their leaders accountable for releasing dangerous, unvetted, and defective products. We must not wait.

Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity.

But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves.

It's time we hold them accountable.

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Alexandria

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Waffle 🧇 @wafflecut.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

MLK would never tell people to vote for a less than perfect candidate in the name of progress and defeating the party running on open bigotry, he would… uh… what’s this

nytimes.com

DR. KING PLEDGES AID FOR JOHNSON; Says Negro Effort to Defeat Goldwater Will Be ‘All‐Out’ (Published 1964)

Rev Dr King says Negro regis in South has nearly doubled since '60; puts it at 2 million

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Fascinating @volts.wtf interview w Verrus, a data center firm trying to fo it right. As somebody who's pro data center revolt but very open to data centers done right: Verrus is as unsophisticated about people -- especially about what it takes to rebuild trust -- as they are smart about tech

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This is insane: AI is massively unpopular, and D leadership is dropping the ball so badly on it that AI is the ONE area where voters think Rs are doing a better job. Not crime. Not immigration. AI. But hey, let’s argue about Hassan..

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

More in my lane is how anti-semitism is now basically unregulated on social media, how any 14 year old can now find "Jewish question" content that was walled off 10 years ago... and all the energy is in banning Israel boycotts. I assure you, that's making this worse!

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“If OpenAI wants to build a data center in Anytown, USA, then it’s up to Sam Altman to make it such a great deal that the citizens of Anytown welcome him with open arms. And if Altman can’t do that, then tough noogies.” www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

thebulwark.com

Democrats Should Demagogue AI. Seriously.

The politics of data centers, Flock cameras, and runaway tech could hardly be clearer.

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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Google is killing journalism: "At Truthout, we anticipate a loss of roughly $500,000 in online revenue as a result of this massive traffic plunge in the next year alone."

truthout.org

We’re Already Living Through Journalism’s Dystopian Future

AI is devouring our industry and undermining access to factual information. We all have a duty to fight back.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This is why govt is the only way to reign in Big Tech: I think some of them are genuinely worried, but not enough to cost them $$$. Any plans that don’t put security experts front and center are a smoke screen

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Nathan Newman @nathansnewman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Trump is -61 PERCENT WITH INDEPENDENTS on his handling of AI issues. Why aren't national Dem leaders attacking Trump EVERY DAY, EVERY MINUTE for his collusion with the tech oligarchs? Offense is the best defense against all the anti-trans, anti-DSA ads by MAGA www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XAL...

youtube.com

Americans 'despise' Trump's AI handling. Trump: 'Whoever wins AI wins'

YouTube video by CNN

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is why having ex-Rs on our side is so useful: they are much much better at tactically smart bare knuckle brawling than we are

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If the law stated REAL DAMN CLEAR that a frontier lab is found liable for punitive damages if its model escapes its sandbox and hacks shit, and if that law was robustly enforced, then the frontier labs would figure out how to build better sandboxes. This really isn't rocket science.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Wheee! Well, if you were going to advocate for globally nationalizing your company, the time to do it would be before the IPO rather than after :)

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 13/09/2026

This has got to be the move. You've got to start calling it out, explicitly, every time it happens. Make them embarrassed to do it.

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

First data centers, now Math: 25 Fields Medal Winners: “the push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics, and to the mathematical community” (Fields is an award for next gen of mathematicians who’ve made major contributions)

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

As a lefty, my biggest problem with the D establishment isn’t that there are a bunch of corporate shills. It’s that they’re so afraid of their donors that they won’t stand for anything. Here’s a moderate political veteran explaining how D leaders are blowing it youtube.com/watch?v=U53S...

youtube.com

What Democrats Keep Getting Wrong

YouTube video by Nobody Knows Anything

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Here’s what the D leadership ought to put into a bill; “Abolish ICE, cut a check” Reuters says $5k for each USn is ~ $1.35 trillion So abolish ICE, cut a check for $5,000 for each American, and that still gets you a whopping $650 million to spend on a just immigration system

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Anders Schneiderman @raschneiderman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Remembering the Fallen today — and the price so many people and their families paid in the years after

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The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Police officers in Ireland are reportedly threatening to refuse to report for work when Trump visits the country.

thedailybeast.com

Cops Threaten Not to Show Up for Trump Visit

The officer walkouts could upend the president’s entire international trip.

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Reposted by Anders Schneiderman

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I think the political left should be the loudest voice calling for an AI model development pause, frontier pacing, and mandatory third party audits right now. Put aside the doomer stuff (though I think it’s plausible), we just found out that OpenAI’s agents committed a pretty major felony!

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