Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
@devilstower.bsky.social
Author, journalist, old guy.
Science, climate, space, transportation, energy, and how human selection drives the evolution of all of the above.
www.unchartedblue.com
Science, climate, space, transportation, energy, and how human selection drives the evolution of all of the above.
www.unchartedblue.com
Pinned
The biggest problem, in both government and business, is that too many people can’t tell the difference between cruelty and leadership.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
November 27, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
November 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Evangelicals have a long history of falling in line when presented with charlatans and manipulative, vainglorious narcissists masquerading as saviors.
Why evangelicals couldn't care less about Trump's Epstein scandal
They have a long history of falling for narcissists posing as Saviors.
www.motherjones.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Evangelicals have a long history of falling in line when presented with charlatans and manipulative, vainglorious narcissists masquerading as saviors.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Dude who took health insurance and food stamps from more Americans than any Speaker in US history wants you to know how tough he's got it.
Mike Johnson: “I haven’t had a vacation day in two years. I haven’t been off in two years, literally.”
November 27, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Dude who took health insurance and food stamps from more Americans than any Speaker in US history wants you to know how tough he's got it.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This article by Masha Gessen has been my most revisited text over the last nine years. The lessons they taught in 2016 still apply.
Autocracy: Rules for Survival | Masha Gessen
In the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is n...
www.nybooks.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
This article by Masha Gessen has been my most revisited text over the last nine years. The lessons they taught in 2016 still apply.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Personally, I think it's a bad thing when people in the government post AI images without disclosing that they're AI.
Image on the left is something RFK Jr. posted today. Image on the right is a photo from 2024.
Image on the left is something RFK Jr. posted today. Image on the right is a photo from 2024.
November 27, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Personally, I think it's a bad thing when people in the government post AI images without disclosing that they're AI.
Image on the left is something RFK Jr. posted today. Image on the right is a photo from 2024.
Image on the left is something RFK Jr. posted today. Image on the right is a photo from 2024.
“Peter Thiel is not just a technofascist seeking to build an AI-fueled authoritarian surveillance state. He's also an absolutely bonkers pseudo-religious nutcase who views everyone who stands in his way as an agent of ... Satan. And that includes the Pope.”
Vampire Billionaire Attacks Pope
He's not just a technofascist seeking to build an AI-fueled authoritarian surveillance state. He's also an absolutely bonkers pseudo-religious nutcase who views everyone who stands in his way as an ag...
www.unchartedblue.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:19 PM
“Peter Thiel is not just a technofascist seeking to build an AI-fueled authoritarian surveillance state. He's also an absolutely bonkers pseudo-religious nutcase who views everyone who stands in his way as an agent of ... Satan. And that includes the Pope.”
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
‘Northern Exposure’ actor gave ICE agents in Redmond her tribal ID. They called it ‘fake,’ she says
Indigenous actor Elaine Miles of "Northern Exposure" was detained by ICE at a Redmond bus stop. When she showed them her Tribal ID, they told her it was fake.
www.seattletimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:35 PM
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
The casual cruelty of the Trump regime is arguably the most damning and sickening element of its police state tactics. The shooting of 2 Nat’l Guardsmen will no doubt worsen matters as Trump calls immigration the nation’s worst nat’l security problem. Nope, he is. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
ICE detains Texas father as son’s health declines: ‘Don’t forget about me’
Maher Tarabishi was arrested at a routine visit despite decades in the US, leaving his son with Pompe disease
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
The casual cruelty of the Trump regime is arguably the most damning and sickening element of its police state tactics. The shooting of 2 Nat’l Guardsmen will no doubt worsen matters as Trump calls immigration the nation’s worst nat’l security problem. Nope, he is. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
With AI, we’re creating a “first contact” situation. One where we are the unsuspecting islanders watching a warship steam into our harbor.
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
With AI, we’re creating a “first contact” situation. One where we are the unsuspecting islanders watching a warship steam into our harbor.
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
November 25, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Countries that have abortion access, DEI policies or protection for LGBTQ+ people will be considered “human rights violators“ by the Trump regime
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
Abortion And DEI Policies Now Considered Violations Of Human Rights, U.S. Says
The Trump administration has overhauled how the State Department conducts its annual Human Rights Report.
www.forbes.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Countries that have abortion access, DEI policies or protection for LGBTQ+ people will be considered “human rights violators“ by the Trump regime
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
The word 'Orwellian' is overused, but calling countries with active human rights protections 'human rights violators' is pure doublespeak.
Countries that have abortion access, DEI policies or protection for LGBTQ+ people will be considered “human rights violators“ by the Trump regime
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
We’re in the upside down.
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
Abortion And DEI Policies Now Considered Violations Of Human Rights, U.S. Says
The Trump administration has overhauled how the State Department conducts its annual Human Rights Report.
www.forbes.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The word 'Orwellian' is overused, but calling countries with active human rights protections 'human rights violators' is pure doublespeak.
Seventeen years later, and the Republican healthcare plan is still “Let it all fall apart, then we’ll think of something. Eventually.”
Trump was going to roll out a health care plan. Then Republicans weighed in.
Lawmakers just have a few weeks left to reach a deal to avoid a massive premium spike for ACA enrollees.
www.politico.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Seventeen years later, and the Republican healthcare plan is still “Let it all fall apart, then we’ll think of something. Eventually.”
Wall Street Journal comes about one inch from saying Meta is engaged in a $27 billion fraud.
“… a marvel of financial engineering: Meta Platforms is building a $27 billion data center in Louisiana, financed with debt, and neither the data center nor the debt will be on its own balance sheet.”
“… a marvel of financial engineering: Meta Platforms is building a $27 billion data center in Louisiana, financed with debt, and neither the data center nor the debt will be on its own balance sheet.”
AI Meets Aggressive Accounting at Meta’s Gigantic New Data Center
Favorable treatment off the balance sheet hinges on some convenient assumptions.
www.wsj.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Wall Street Journal comes about one inch from saying Meta is engaged in a $27 billion fraud.
“… a marvel of financial engineering: Meta Platforms is building a $27 billion data center in Louisiana, financed with debt, and neither the data center nor the debt will be on its own balance sheet.”
“… a marvel of financial engineering: Meta Platforms is building a $27 billion data center in Louisiana, financed with debt, and neither the data center nor the debt will be on its own balance sheet.”
The message from the six lawmakers says only that service personnel are not required to follow illegal orders—that’s also in the uniform code of military conduct. It doesn’t mention Trump or Hegseth.
But the fact this message has them so infuriated should tell you something.
But the fact this message has them so infuriated should tell you something.
November 24, 2025 at 9:17 PM
The message from the six lawmakers says only that service personnel are not required to follow illegal orders—that’s also in the uniform code of military conduct. It doesn’t mention Trump or Hegseth.
But the fact this message has them so infuriated should tell you something.
But the fact this message has them so infuriated should tell you something.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
This is likely unlawful command influence
November 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This is likely unlawful command influence
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
November 24, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
I’ve been saying this for over 20 years, but it seems like it still needs to be repeated: If your campaign ever sends me an email, text, or letter that is from James Carville or cites James Carville, I will block you, never give you a penny, and work for your primary opponent.
November 24, 2025 at 8:48 PM
I’ve been saying this for over 20 years, but it seems like it still needs to be repeated: If your campaign ever sends me an email, text, or letter that is from James Carville or cites James Carville, I will block you, never give you a penny, and work for your primary opponent.
When British people are asked which TV shows deserve another season, they mention some shows that I’ve never heard of, some UK shows that were Transatlantic hits, and — Firefly.
Did Egg get a Michelin star? Did Super Hans make it to Macedonia? The TV shows that most need a comeback
From a newer, greener Top Gear to the greatest comedy of all time, here are the series Guardian readers most want back on our screens
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:49 PM
When British people are asked which TV shows deserve another season, they mention some shows that I’ve never heard of, some UK shows that were Transatlantic hits, and — Firefly.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Most accounts on Twitter turn out to be Russian MAGA bots. Here’s why Bluesky has an intellectual diversity problem
November 23, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Most accounts on Twitter turn out to be Russian MAGA bots. Here’s why Bluesky has an intellectual diversity problem
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
A depraved and decadent Trump WH dinner for MBS was a stunning low for an American ruling class that's stopped pretending to carry a moral compass
It was really a celebration of death - of democracy, of an overheating planet, and ultimately themselves. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ceos...
It was really a celebration of death - of democracy, of an overheating planet, and ultimately themselves. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ceos...
The night America’s doomed ruling class gorged on lamb, blood, and oil
For America’s deeply corrupt billionaires, time heals all wounds — even from a murderous Saudi prince’s bone saw.
www.inquirer.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
A depraved and decadent Trump WH dinner for MBS was a stunning low for an American ruling class that's stopped pretending to carry a moral compass
It was really a celebration of death - of democracy, of an overheating planet, and ultimately themselves. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ceos...
It was really a celebration of death - of democracy, of an overheating planet, and ultimately themselves. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ceos...