Sam Plattner
@frekulex.bsky.social
Sound designer/insect photographer in Oakland, CA
The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, Carrier, Bad Vibes, Hit Job
IG: @frekulex
The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, Carrier, Bad Vibes, Hit Job
IG: @frekulex
Reposted by Sam Plattner
10 months later, right on cue: "Trump confirms $12bn in assistance for American farmers amid concerns over trade and high prices" www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
December 9, 2025 at 2:11 AM
10 months later, right on cue: "Trump confirms $12bn in assistance for American farmers amid concerns over trade and high prices" www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Here are the standards this administration wants to stop enforcing, a thread that will continue for a while
December 5, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Here are the standards this administration wants to stop enforcing, a thread that will continue for a while
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Newsom is saying “we don’t want to alienate billionaires” like they are normal people with normal values and desires, this guy is trying to say that billionaires deserve to be heard just as much as YOU DO
December 5, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Newsom is saying “we don’t want to alienate billionaires” like they are normal people with normal values and desires, this guy is trying to say that billionaires deserve to be heard just as much as YOU DO
Reposted by Sam Plattner
This is insane.
NEW: In dealing with the Trump admin, Columbia is paying a $21 million settlement to Jewish or Israeli staff for claims of harassment/discrimination.
Unclear if non-Zionist affiliates who have faced harassment can file a claim, though terms say Trump admin has "sole discretion."
Unclear if non-Zionist affiliates who have faced harassment can file a claim, though terms say Trump admin has "sole discretion."
December 4, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This is insane.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Democratic leadership handpicked him to fill this exact role, and he's doing it well!
Jeffries: "The border is secure. That's a good thing. It happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it, of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration, there's a lot that's left to be desired."
December 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Democratic leadership handpicked him to fill this exact role, and he's doing it well!
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Thread!
Numerical weather prediction is a key part of validation for climate process models. Groups like the UK Met Office use the same dynamical core for both. Climate has basically one observation: a data matrix with one row that's many petabytes long. Funders are aiming at climate. (🧵)
Fascinating stuff (and yeah, obligatory note that AI is a stupid label, this isn't an LLM etc)
But once again, this is also about substituting mere prediction for explanation. Understanding is overhead to capital, predictions are all it cares about. Capital is trying to get rid of science
But once again, this is also about substituting mere prediction for explanation. Understanding is overhead to capital, predictions are all it cares about. Capital is trying to get rid of science
December 1, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Thread!
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Not a single major news outlet has covered this story. There is such a blatant, obvious attempt to suppress any and all news that deals with the actual facts about transgender life and experience. As the government rolls back our rights on an unprecedented scale, we have been left out to dry.
"[G]ender-affirming care saves lives."
"Suicidality scores among the [study's] patients who provided responses dropped by over 67 percent."
"[O]f the hundreds of patients who started hormone therapy, only seven discontinued their treatment."
#USA #Healthcare #Suicide
"Suicidality scores among the [study's] patients who provided responses dropped by over 67 percent."
"[O]f the hundreds of patients who started hormone therapy, only seven discontinued their treatment."
#USA #Healthcare #Suicide
New Study: Gender-Affirming Care Dramatically Lowers Suicide Risk for Trans Kids
Twenty-seven states in the US ban gender-affirming treatments for trans youth, including hormone therapy.
truthout.org
November 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Not a single major news outlet has covered this story. There is such a blatant, obvious attempt to suppress any and all news that deals with the actual facts about transgender life and experience. As the government rolls back our rights on an unprecedented scale, we have been left out to dry.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
i agree with this
People are calling this “lazy” which I think is kind of missing what’s going on here. Increasingly convinced that the comparable technology, in how it interacts with the human nervous system, is the slot machine.
November 26, 2025 at 9:25 PM
i agree with this
Reposted by Sam Plattner
There is so much violence in their rhetoric, generally; the explicit non-consensual ‘gAI is here, you need to use it whether you want to or not,’ and then this kind of abusers’ logic ‘you have to use our tech but we aren’t responsible for anything that our tech does to you’
"Actually, you harmed us by using our chatbot in a way that made us look bad" is straight out of the abuser's handbook
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
OpenAI responds to lawsuit claiming its chatbot encouraged California teenager to kill himself
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:51 PM
There is so much violence in their rhetoric, generally; the explicit non-consensual ‘gAI is here, you need to use it whether you want to or not,’ and then this kind of abusers’ logic ‘you have to use our tech but we aren’t responsible for anything that our tech does to you’
Reposted by Sam Plattner
MGT has seen her networth jump from $700k to $25 million since joining Congress in 2021. And she served juuust long enough to get a lifetime tax payer-funded pension.
She got the joke.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
She got the joke.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Marjorie Taylor Greene Came So Close to Getting the Joke
What the Georgia representative learned in Washington
www.theatlantic.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:29 PM
MGT has seen her networth jump from $700k to $25 million since joining Congress in 2021. And she served juuust long enough to get a lifetime tax payer-funded pension.
She got the joke.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
She got the joke.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Sam Plattner
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
I keep saying, this ruling class has nothing at all to offer us. They have no vision, no ideas, no sense of responsibility, nothing. We need to take away these people's power to rule and structure the world
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM
I keep saying, this ruling class has nothing at all to offer us. They have no vision, no ideas, no sense of responsibility, nothing. We need to take away these people's power to rule and structure the world
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism
November 21, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism
Reposted by Sam Plattner
if we want to use tobacco & opioid firms as examples, the real mistake was that we did not draw enough blood. we have to come away with some scalps this time, not More Transparency. they will simply manufacture doubt just like tobacco & opioid firms did.
AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chief
AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chief
Artificial intelligence will become smarter than ‘most or all humans in most or all ways’, says Dario Amodei
*
Business live – latest updates
Artificial intelligence companies must be transparent about the risks posed by their products or risk repeating the mistakes of tobacco and opioid companies, according to the chief executive of the AI startup Anthropic.
Dario Amodei, who runs the US company behind the Claude chatbot, said he believed AI will become smarter than “most or all humans in most or all ways” and urged his peers to “call it as you see it”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:56 PM
if we want to use tobacco & opioid firms as examples, the real mistake was that we did not draw enough blood. we have to come away with some scalps this time, not More Transparency. they will simply manufacture doubt just like tobacco & opioid firms did.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
This is why I write so critically and frequently about Ezra Klein (and Matt Yglesias). Democrats are led by the centrist blogosphere, yet for the last year they’ve claimed progressives control the DNC to excuse their failure. Klein, Yglesias, Chait, etc ushered in GOP fascism and refuse…
1/4
1/4
New York Times columnist Ezra Klein isn't content with opining about the Democratic Party — he's positioned himself as a powerbroker inside of it.
How Ezra Klein's power play is guiding Democrats
The New York Times columnist, podcaster and author has helped shape the party's strategies and policies in President Trump's second term.
www.axios.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:57 AM
This is why I write so critically and frequently about Ezra Klein (and Matt Yglesias). Democrats are led by the centrist blogosphere, yet for the last year they’ve claimed progressives control the DNC to excuse their failure. Klein, Yglesias, Chait, etc ushered in GOP fascism and refuse…
1/4
1/4
Reposted by Sam Plattner
matt yglesias' primary claim about politics is that to win elections, democrats should adopt the strategy which has given starmer a 13% approval rating in the UK
November 16, 2025 at 8:26 PM
matt yglesias' primary claim about politics is that to win elections, democrats should adopt the strategy which has given starmer a 13% approval rating in the UK
Reposted by Sam Plattner
I don't want to hear shit about how Newsom is standing up to Trump. A judge has issued a stay preventing the feds from yanking the CDLs of legal immigrants but @governor.ca.gov is going forward with it anyway. Just like he's persecuting trans people anyway.
If the Teamsters were worth a shit, weren't labor aristocracy and weren't aholes that shit on indy and immigrant truckers, the whole country could be shut down over this.
www.kqed.org/news/1206398...
www.kqed.org/news/1206398...
California Is Revoking Licenses of 17,000 Immigrant Truckers Amid Federal Pressure | KQED
The commercial licenses expire in 60 days, but labor groups contend that the courts have temporarily frozen the federal rules restricting which foreigners can drive trucks.
www.kqed.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I don't want to hear shit about how Newsom is standing up to Trump. A judge has issued a stay preventing the feds from yanking the CDLs of legal immigrants but @governor.ca.gov is going forward with it anyway. Just like he's persecuting trans people anyway.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Reposted by Sam Plattner
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!
November 9, 2025 at 12:10 AM
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!
Reposted by Sam Plattner
This is actually a pretty standard and unremarkable move, as evidenced by Justice Jackson issuing it.
But most people won't believe that for several good reasons.
/1
But most people won't believe that for several good reasons.
/1
#BREAKING: Justice Jackson has issued an "administrative" stay, temporarily pausing a district court order that would've required the USDA to continue using contingency funds to pay SNAP benefits.
The stay expires 48 hours after the First Circuit rules on USDA's request for a stay pending appeal.
The stay expires 48 hours after the First Circuit rules on USDA's request for a stay pending appeal.
November 8, 2025 at 2:40 AM
This is actually a pretty standard and unremarkable move, as evidenced by Justice Jackson issuing it.
But most people won't believe that for several good reasons.
/1
But most people won't believe that for several good reasons.
/1
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Rampant criminalization, DAs stacking tons of charges on people, explosion of digital evidence submissions demanding time to review.... PD system (and us) taking the hit.
The cop-prison machine groaning under it's own weight
The cop-prison machine groaning under it's own weight
"The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office warned that the city’s public defense system is collapsing under excessive workloads, forcing it to declare itself unavailable for new cases on certain days"
davisvanguard.org/2025/11/publ...
davisvanguard.org/2025/11/publ...
San Francisco Public Defenders Warn Caseload Crisis Is Forcing Unavailability Declarations - Davis Vanguard
The San Francisco Public Defender's Office is facing an overload of cases due to increased complexity of laws and digital evidence, leading to potential release of incarcerated people due to lack of d...
davisvanguard.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Rampant criminalization, DAs stacking tons of charges on people, explosion of digital evidence submissions demanding time to review.... PD system (and us) taking the hit.
The cop-prison machine groaning under it's own weight
The cop-prison machine groaning under it's own weight
Reposted by Sam Plattner
The factional grifters will hate this, but the Mamdani-Spanberger-Sherrill axis actually suggests the outlines of a broad, emerging Dem coalition organized around both anti-Trump *and* affordability politics, not a party bitterly divided against itself.
These big wins will embolden Dems to take on Trump's lawbreaking and show there's a price for GOP enabling of him. Folks hate to hear this, but normal patterns are asserting themselves: Liberalism isn't dead, Rs are likely to lose in 2026, and Trump is really unpopular, not a magical exception.
November 5, 2025 at 2:48 AM
The factional grifters will hate this, but the Mamdani-Spanberger-Sherrill axis actually suggests the outlines of a broad, emerging Dem coalition organized around both anti-Trump *and* affordability politics, not a party bitterly divided against itself.
Reposted by Sam Plattner
Teen Vogue did some great journalism around immigration detention and enforcement. Sounds like corporate has now killed that off.
The media landscape shrinks even further.
The media landscape shrinks even further.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Teen Vogue did some great journalism around immigration detention and enforcement. Sounds like corporate has now killed that off.
The media landscape shrinks even further.
The media landscape shrinks even further.