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TracingVRL

@tracingvrl.bsky.social
228 followers 189 following 1.3K posts

By programmer-journalist A.J. Fish. The software-journalism project TracingCOVID/TracingVRL. TracingVRL.substack.com

PostsRepliesMedia
TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
1/ The Annals of *Left Hand not talking to the Right Hand* (eye-popping story about #housing developers in California) 🆓: calmatters.org/politics/202... "YIMBY Action now supports fewer restrictions on short-term rentals, despite concerns that rentals further strain California’s housing stock."
calmatters.org
How Airbnb is fighting for its place on California's coast
Residents of cities like Pacifica want to limit the presence of visitors and corporations. Companies like Airbnb want to keep their lucrative coastal listings. That tension has led to increased attemp...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
San Francisco is holding parallel elections right now. The campaign coffers are so unequal, ads *opposing* measures D, E, F and A are *hand-written sticky notes* posted at MUNI stop shelters. Not making that up. missionlocal.org/2026/09/san-... #SanFrancisco @missionlocal.org
missionlocal.org
San Francisco's wealthiest have unprecedented control of city politics
Our city fathers (if you like them) or oligarchs (if you don’t) have never been richer, more brazen or faced weaker opposition
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Interesting #CNN is the remaining outlet left out of the #WhiteHousePressPool. An Aug 04 2026 Dana Bash interview with one man President Trump can neither control nor survive without, #RFKJr, was pivotal. A week after this, POTUS penned an #antivaxx executive order. www.newsweek.com/rfk-jr-measl...
newsweek.com
Which vaccines has Robert F. Kennedy Jr. changed his mind on?
Kennedy has spent decades questioning vaccine safety and helping lead the modern anti-vaccine movement.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#Flock running #SanFrancisco : missionlocal.org/2026/09/san-... "Two of the committee’s current members — Lily Ho and Trevor Chandler — work for Flock." The S.F Standard "reported that a prior version of Mar’s resolution was removed from the party’s agenda by a subcommittee chaired by Ho."
missionlocal.org
S.F. Democratic Party stands behind Flock surveillance cameras in sweeping vote
Two Democratic committee members work for Flock, but were allowed to vote regardless
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
That's no lie.
Tracing and transcending the antivaxx infodemic.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Perfect timing given our current #literacy crisis: Gavin #Newsom is deeply dyslexic. He'd *memorize* policy books. I was a #SanFrancisco daily reporter one year of his mayorship. He didn't mix it up with various reporters b4 or after a speech the way Willie Brown did. It affects how a person thinks.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"the family headed by billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and RedBird Capital Partners will collectively hold the largest ​equity stake in the ​combined company and ⁠100% of the voting shares, with no other equity participant having any governance rights." #Paramount #corporateGovernance
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I messaged parasocial relationships including Marc Maron in recent years my woes that Silicon Valley leaders were increasingly against democracy ("if only the U.S. could be more like China" our CEO told me in 2007) . Now MM recommends @gilduran.com 's Nerd Reich book www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2J...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🧵 U of Hawaii professor confesses he's been working for Exxon by announcing his resignation from the fossil fuel oil giant, warning about the imminent climate crisis, describing the company culture in denial. #climate
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Oh please. You talked grievances. I worked months to extend my decade-long privacy research into today's massacre of gov't *bureaucracy & introduced **petitioning**. I tagged you mult times in the 17-post thread introducing my essay. "Some newsletter jogged my memory" is too much attr 2 ask from you
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Sep. 05 2026 Tracing Brief: Antivaxx ‘Far-Right’ Party AfD Wins German State Election tracingvrl.substack.com/p/tracing-br... Wherein I resurface #historical news showing the locale with the sharpest change from pro- to #antivaxx sentiment. And it's where the far-right #AfD handily won today:
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
[ExtremeUnderstatement] the mistreatment of #Haitians by the #antivaxx faction and our Vice President and President their loyalists et al ... makes me angry. [/EndExtremeUnderstatement] tracingvrl.substack.com/p/why-is-eng...
tracingvrl.substack.com
Why is England’s Antivaxx News Outlet Amplifying Ohio Anti-immigrant Narratives?
#84 Also: How a president’s character could affect respiratory transmission of mpox
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Empowering #Zuckerberg more now is a pending #SEC #rulechange to #silence shareholder resolutions at the federal level, pushing it to states. Texas would charge $1 million to include resolution in a corporation's annual statement up from $2k. #FirstAmendment www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The HHS directed by Secretary #RFKJr sits atop the FDA, over the Center for Medicaid & Medicare, has firing authority over the #CDC. And now those agencies aren't talking to the press. ***TRIVIA: The first cabinet secretary impeached by Congress was William Belknap, in 1876. ***
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
1/ August 20th Newsletter: The 'Right to Petition' and the Magna Carta Americans diverted petitions to the U.S. bureaucracies in the 1940s. A June 2026 SCOTUS decision demands we talk NOW about petitioning & The Road from Runnymede Historian @jbf1755.bsky.social has talked abt "Grievances" past...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The name of the Warner Bros-Discovery CEO who would get a big payout is: ... Mr. David "Shows like 'Sopranos' are **too expensive to produce** I bring you Honey Boo-Boo and Sara Palin reality content" Zazlov www.newyorker.com/news/annals-... #ParamountMerger
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
#privacy for me, not for thee? --- Is that legal 🧐🧐 ---- @daniel-solove.bsky.social may have a good framework for talking about this type of _privacy asymmetry_
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Ned @thewesterhazys.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Sorry but a far more interesting headline would be, “Just *two* AI companies have accounted for more than half of California’s venture-capital gold rush this year.”
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Aug 20 2026 Newsletter: The 'Right to Petition' and the Magna Carta tracingvrl.substack.com/p/the-right-... "Americans diverted petitions to the U.S. bureaucracies in the 1940s. A June 2026 SCOTUS decision demands we talk NOW about petitioning & The Road from Runnymede" #1A #MagnaCarta #Constitution
tracingvrl.substack.com
The 'Right to Petition' and the Magna Carta
Americans diverted petitions to the U.S. bureaucracies in the 1940s. A June 2026 SCOTUS decision demands we talk NOW about petitioning & The Road from Runnymede
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Liberals are naive about immigrants. Fragmented media = no assimilation on values. The narcissism depicted in this story is striking. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/u... #immigration #assimilation
nytimes.com
Years of Trump Support Came Undone in 15 Minutes in an Airport.
The case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive: arrests at airports of people who have active immigration cases and no criminal history.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
While I'm against too much short-form video, and I don't use my phone in public spaces, I hope people see this. This guy's soliloquy at a city council meeting about the #AI -issued red-light citation is well-researched well-written & well-delivered. #orality www.youtube.com/shorts/l764V...
youtube.com
Jacob Rockwell was fined by an AI red light camera in a different state
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I've traced media artifacts since 2021. This @nydailynews.com editorial urges Congress to impeach #RFKJr after President Trump penned an antivaxx executive order on the #measles vaccine: www.nydailynews.com/2026/08/12/r...
nydailynews.com
RFK’s anti-vax crusade is cause for his removal
Donald Trump and his dangerous health secretary Bobby Kennedy Jr. struck another blow against public health by issuing an executive order intending to space out childhood vaccinations and to separate ...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I don't use the smartPhone in public. On BART, the bus, especially around students, I have a book, magazine or newspaper with me. Too much small-screen use, gorging empty mind calories, disembodies one from reality. He's just 17 #chatGPT #AI www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Massachusetts teen accused of killing mother and brother used ChatGPT
District attorney says Arjun Aravind, 17, used internet and AI to search for fantasy stories regarding killing of his family
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Well maybe we don't need to know the health of the Arctic 🫠 It's a "climate ostrich doctrine" coming into view that just fascinates #climate #rulemaking #agencies #NOAA
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The TracingVRL glossary tab shows how I distinguish people who are privately "antivaccine" from public antivaxxers. tracingvrl.substack.com/p/glossary POTUS and #RFKJr recently swapped positions, with RFKJr recommending an mRNA vaccine and POTUS penning an EO against #measles innoculation.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
See 🧵 to evaluate the #FCC 's recent illegal vote to consolidate media ownership caps. King George abused his power through appointments, the founders said. After the revolution, some state legislatures erected and staffed all agencies, but that also was a problem. So what did the framers do? ⤵️
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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Living through one of those stretches of adulthood when everything is logistics and nobody tells you about these things when you’re younger and listen don’t give my children AI literacy garbage give them lessons on keeping 284 metaphorical balls in the air ok?
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The senator who broke the deadlock resulting in #RFKJr running our Health and Human Services department, which said senator -- a medical doctor!? -- publicly regretted, is breaking another deadlock. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/07/u... #ToddBlanche
nytimes.com
Bill Cassidy Will Back Todd Blanche as Attorney General, Salvaging His Confirmation
The Louisiana senator said that, despite reservations, he would back President Trump’s pick for attorney general, giving Republicans enough votes for a majority.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This dialog featuring @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is what I call "low-stakes" content, that doesn't spike to the top of the algorithm or make for an obvious Pulitzer, but is uber-timely public service journalism. ... (Curious to know how this was pitched) www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Have We Turned Personality Into Diagnosis?
Why we keep searching for new ways to explain ourselves.
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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Because I'm in too deep, it's easy for me to forget how insane this all is. An anonymous Facebook account claiming to represent rogue members of the National Park Service has posted fake spy-like "code messages," and amassed millions of followers for doing so.
Alt National Park Service: Two hUndred tWenty-sEven. Please disregard this, as our group is fighting battles on multiple fronts.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A long, worthy read, by Peter Beinart. We're in historic times. The post-WWII alliance between American Jews and African American groups like NAACP is gone *or* in need of repair, especially since Oct 7 inspired American Jewish orgs to focus so strictly on Israel. jewishcurrents.org/the-shame-of...
jewishcurrents.org
The Shame of the American Jewish Establishment
In its quest to defend Israel, establishment Jewry has abandoned liberal democracy in the US.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Talk of the #AI "bubble" popping any minute has so far omitted the role certain venture capital cliques have played in its postponement. Pauline Borsook edges toward it @13:38 here www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcme... "entrepreneurs I know ... can't get any money unless it's for AI"
youtube.com
Why “Cyberselfish,” Written 25 Years Ago, Is Suddenly Relevant Again | Amanpour and Company
YouTube video by Amanpour and Company
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Jim Aldrich🌱 @jimaldrich.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Paulina Borsook is back!
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Talk of the #AI "bubble" popping any minute has so far omitted the role certain venture capital cliques have played in its postponement. Pauline Borsook edges toward it @13:38 here www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcme... "entrepreneurs I know ... can't get any money unless it's for AI"
youtube.com
Why “Cyberselfish,” Written 25 Years Ago, Is Suddenly Relevant Again | Amanpour and Company
YouTube video by Amanpour and Company
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
theonion.com/congress-int... #CovidOrigin #lableak
theonion.com
Congress Interrogates Fauci Over Origins Of Pie Brought To Cookout
WASHINGTON—Accusing the physician of not being straight with the American people, an often hostile Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this week interrogated Anthony Fauci over the or...
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
When England's antivaxx news outlet The Daily Sceptic amplifed Ohio anti-immigrant narratives, I dedicated a TracingCOVID/TracingVRL newsletter to the topic. ... And up turned Elon Musk among multiple anti-immigrant media artifact tracings #Haitians #TPS tracingvrl.substack.com/p/why-is-eng...
tracingvrl.substack.com
Why is England’s Antivaxx News Outlet Amplifying Ohio Anti-immigrant Narratives?
#84 Also: How a president’s character could affect respiratory transmission of mpox
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
When England's antivaxx news outlet The Daily Sceptic amplifed Ohio anti-immigrant narratives, I dedicated a TracingCOVID/TracingVRL newsletter to the topic. ... And up turned Elon Musk among multiple anti-immigrant media artifact tracings #Haitians #TPS tracingvrl.substack.com/p/why-is-eng...
tracingvrl.substack.com
Why is England’s Antivaxx News Outlet Amplifying Ohio Anti-immigrant Narratives?
#84 Also: How a president’s character could affect respiratory transmission of mpox
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Albeit indirectly, the administration just lowered some food costs: www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaur... #cyclosporiasis #FDA
sfchronicle.com
Taco Bell offers $1 lettuce-free menu item as it tries to win back customers
Taco Bell offered $1 lettuce-free Enchiritos on Wednesday, as the chain works to reassure customers following a cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce served at some of its restaurants.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
kffhealthnews.org/insurance/tr... "Sixty-five insurance companies will be required to routinely send OPM detailed data — including names, addresses, doctor information, diagnoses, prescriptions filled, and payment details — on health care services" #privacy #HIPAA
kffhealthnews.org
Trump’s Personnel Agency Says It Will Remove Some Identifying Info as It Sweeps Up Medical Records - KFF Health News
The Office of Personnel Management said it will “pseudonymize” medical records it collects on more than 8 million people — federal workers and retirees, and their family members. Democrats and employe...
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Aaron Greenspan @aarongreenspan.com · 23/07/2026
Once again, the entirety of the media has reported on a major lawsuit as having been filed when it was not filed. Some lawyer just sent around the *unfiled* complaint with no court stamp and said "yep, it's a new lawsuit" and the credulous morons who make up most of the media went "yip yip yip"...
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Just got back from the theater. Loved it, if for no other reason than __The Odyssey is NOT microtargeted content__ . Hardly the only reason. This 🧵 almost makes me want to pay $16 for another matinee ticket. #monoculture
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
It's sad, but because encountering #genAI music and film leaves the effect off me distrusting my senses and exacerbating ADD, I'd block this series "The American Experiment" assuming the actors were fake. Hearing it used "AI" #Hollywood is kiss of death to many viewers fortune.com/2026/07/16/n...
fortune.com
Netflix used AI to make 17 minutes of a documentary 'twice as fast and at half the cost'—as streaming competition drives up content spending to $20 billion | Fortune
The streaming company touted the efficiencies of AI in its Q2 earnings, while stressing that movies will still be 'made by people who make movies.'
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Kelsey Hightower @kelseyhightower.com · 21/07/2026
Damn
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Linotype Pilgrim @symbo1ics.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
"Just fact check and verify what the 'ai' puts out, you'll be fine." (libraries gone; textbooks gone; web search gone; personal libraries logistically impossible; no time in newly abbreviated deadlines for verification) "OK. How?"
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I'm slipping, when my willpower is less than 100%, and reading the #Google #AIOverview instead of the source links beneath them. Machine Learning "AI" summaries scramble the provenance of their claims. I consider them pollution. This may help me quit #Google searches in favor of #DuckDuckGo .
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
🧐
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TracingVRL @tracingvrl.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Their cartoonish harassment of Canadian governing officials continues to bite California winemakers. They're harassing California by proxy. #Wildfire #Canada #California www.cbc.ca/radio/asitha...
cbc.ca
California lawmakers are begging Quebec's premier to put U.S. booze back on the shelves. She won't budge | CBC Radio
California lawmakers, from both sides of the aisle, have signed a letter to Quebec Premier Christine Frechette, urging her to put U.S. wines and spirits back on the shelves, despite Canada's ongoing t...
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A few weeks ago I shared my view that prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket should be made illegal. Today it was announced that Kalshi is now taking bets on FDA drug approvals and clinical trial outcomes. These markets are metastasizing and nothing good can come of it.
reuters.com
Kalshi to allow bets on clinical trials, FDA decisions
Prediction market platform Kalshi will start taking bets on the outcomes of clinical trials and FDA regulatory reviews, it said on ​Thursday, making drug-development odds public for the first time.
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