Sign in

turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social

@turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
75 followers 238 following 0 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
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 financethemselves 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
221562597
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
the attention to Flock has exploded in recent weeks in April, bolts published an article on the length that a Wisconsin town went through to get Flock to take down its cameras — including covering them in trash bags. what the mayor told us:
"“The fact that they didn’t take the cameras down shows that we are the product,” Diaz said. “They were never really selling to us in the first place. What they are doing is selling to much bigger agencies the ability to spy on a ton of people.”"
3527166
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 06/08/2026
Now *your* bubble tea can be ruined by private equity too!
7477
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Local plumbers two steps ahead of every university administrator in america 👏
58153743627
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Living well @thebestrevenge.info · 05/07/2026
Kind of a cool thing to see the day after the 4th
Zoe Leonard, “I Want a President”:

“I want a dyke for president. I want a person with aids for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn't have a choice about getting leukemia. I want a president that had an abortion at sixteen and I want a candidate who isn't the lesser of. two evils and I want a president who lost their last lover to aids, who still sees that in their eyes every time they lay down torest, who held their lover in their arms and knew they were dying. I want a president with no airconditioning, a president who has stood on line at the clinic, at the dm, at the welfare office and has been unemployed and layed off and
sexually harrassed and gaybashed and deported.
I want someone who has spent the night in the tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and survived rape. I want someone who has.
been in
love and been hurt, who respects sex,
who has
made mistakes and learned from them. I want a Black woman for president. I want someone with bad teeth [next 3 words crossed out] and an attitude, someone who has eaten [next 2 words crossed out] that nasty hospital food, someone who crossdresses and has done drugs and,
been in
therapy. I want someone who has committed civil disobedience. And I want to know why this isn't possible. I want to know why we started learning somewhere down the line that a president is always å clownt always a john and never a hooker. Always a boss and never a worker, always a liar, always a thief and never caught.”Framed work on paper
0239
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I don’t even speak Portuguese and I keep rewatching this video where a Brazilian journalist thinks he’s just interviewing a random Cape Verde fan at the stadium and it turns out it’s Vozinha’s dad.
652579
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I know the list is endless but I genuinely think trashing the legitimate congressionally chartered org for celebrating the 250th to instead hijack our national assets and taxpayer funds for his personality cult grifter crap should, in and of itself, be fully sufficient to merit removal from office.
linuscatt · 1d ago
I worked at Smithsonian, specifically raising money for 250th. What I want people to know is we secured millions of private philanthropy to host a month long Folklife Festival on the mall, "The Festival of Festivals". Was going to feature well known festivals, think Burning Man, Farm Aid, Grand Ole Oprey etc. as well as smaller local and regional festivals from across the U.S. and territories. Goal was to feature truly the best and most beautiful creative expression in music, dance, arts and craft traditions, food, community etc. Can't name names but plan was to have headliners every night for free concerts.... Think the types of names who might be affiliated with the aforementioned large festivals. Stars were willing to perform because was under banner of Smithsonian. It had to all be scrapped bc the administration would not release permits to host on the mall. The money went elsewhere, but our nation was robbed of what would have been a once in a generation cultural moment.
16091632654
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
When these data centers become debt traps in a few years at most, the next Dem president should offer to wipe out those debts if they're sold for a dollar back to cities for community centers, mutual aid hubs, YMCA-style temporary housing services. Try to salvage anything out of this mess.
34792261536
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Ceinwen Langley @ceinwenlangley.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I know Calvin’s dad is already having a moment, but every terrible “outsource precious and fleeting moments with your children to tech so that you can spend more time on your work” pitch makes me think of that one strip I never really cared about as a kid, but care a lot about as an adult.
The Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin asks his dad to come play in the snow with him. His dad initially says no, because he has to work. Then, angry at himself, his Dad goes out to build a snowman with Calvin. As the Dad works into the night to make up for it, we see Calvin’s mum lifting him up to give one of the few, if only, kisses he ever gives his dad in the Calvin and Hobbes run. His dad is content. It’s a textless comic, and it’s lovely.
117122343896
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Maya Kaufman @mayakaufman.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
INVESTIGATION: 🚨 A Polymarket exec used a personal PayPal account to pay major political influencers like Riley Gaines and Brian Krassenstein, who then hyped how "accurate" Polymarket is at predicting outcomes. We uncovered $350,000+ flowing to influencers this way www.politico.com/news/2026/06...
politico.com
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds
The company’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, used a personal PayPal account to send money to content creators, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
10334841437
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Melissa Stewart @lissajostewart.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
This is actually the secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord
544569862
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
David Rothschild @davmicrot.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Musk functionally ran the US government for 6 months last year and managed to: increase spending, slash services, kill 100,000s, and help nurture both Ebola & Screwworms. Yet somehow no one mentions this when they talk about the company he is going to take public this week.
7661152597
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
"“It’s possible that we’re starting to see the consequences of severe and sudden cuts to global health programs that have eroded surveillance and allowed deadly viruses to spread undetected...” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/w...
nytimes.com
Large Ebola Outbreak Is Declared in Congo
39685483645
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.blacksky.app · 14/05/2026
There are so many Black self-liberation stories like this - just the coolest shit anyone’s done & I truly believe that if America liked stories of revolutionaries or rebels defeating elites as much as we used to act like we do we would have mined these types of stories more for film & television.
452110576
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
happy 9th anniversary to the day we watched Zendaya fall madly in love with Tom Holland in real-time
163127064090
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Bolts @boltsmag.org · 29/04/2026
Callais will affect not just congressional maps, but also political districts that have been drawn in cities, counties, and states. An expert told Bolts about Callais: “It could be like a one-two punch to racial representation at the local level."
boltsmag.org
Black Residents in West Tennessee Just Won Fairer Districts. Now Comes SCOTUS. - Bolts
The Supreme Court may further erode the Voting Rights Act in an upcoming decision. Beyond affecting Congress, that would reverberate across local governments nationwide.
06023
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
The Voting Rights Act is essentially dead and it’s quite possible that we will, like when a similar SCOTUS gutted civil rights at the fall of Reconstruction, see a disappearance of much of the Black congressional representation, especially in the most heavily Black states, which are in the South.
340122955045
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Voters in a small Missouri town, unhappy with the city council’s approval of a $6B data center, ousted all four incumbent council members running for reelection
politico.com
Missouri town fires half its city council over data center deal
Residents of a St. Louis suburb turned out in droves to unseat four incumbents just days after the council approved a development agreement for a $6 billion data center.
15990862266
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
👀casey👀 @caseyfoureyes.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Javert realized that being a good person was incompatible with being a cop and immediately threw himself off a bridge, an inspiration to law enforcement everywhere
222865
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
𝙽𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝙸𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙸𝚝 @nashishereforit.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
This is Alex Pretti.
20394753101
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
hate the player, and hate the game.
218153
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
so, so good. run it as a political ad.
171702401
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
🕸️ Cobweb Curtains For Zoosha 🦇 @brianvan.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
132173464476
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
The Ghost Of Cohost. CoGhost. Gohosohssosost @ceresultra.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Nature is healing
0288
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 05/11/2025
We're all going to write pieces about what you can learn from tonight but it's actually pretty simple: The frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
8972141374
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
[Narrator: they lost 13 seats]
6779101348
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
DrAnnD @drannd.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
*chefskiss* I'm not even a New Yorker and this hits perfectly.
It is easy to imagine the Journal, the Times, and the Post as three nervous suburbanites on a day trip to New York City: purses clutched tight to their sides, their hands grasping pepper spray as they descend into the threatening depths of the Times Square subway station, vigilant to the possibility of an attack from a homeless person. These types of visitors, their view of the city shaped by too many urban crime dramas, are common. We welcome them. We do our best to soothe their fears. We even try to gently persuade them to go to Jackson Heights and try some Indian food. But we do not let them tell us how to run our city. That would be ridiculous.
012033
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
How Are You? — Yutaka Murakami watercolor
Painting of the Calico cat standing up arching its back a little it's got its butt facing toward us head twisting around looking a little bit behind it and it's tail arches up like a cloud of smoke
161427226
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
I saw another interview w Lavinglia and what emerged clearly is how drunk software engineers are on efficiency & optimization that they imagine them to be transferable concepts that can easily be ported into labor, service, and knowledge sectors in which they have no experience.
213725
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
4989373399
Reposted by @turkeyapplebrie.bsky.social
Joyce Chaplin @joycechaplin.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Please enjoy this shot of Elvis getting a polio shot backstage at the Ed Sullivan show as part of a pro-vaccination campaign in 1956, posted here today for no reason whatsoever
9891612591