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Reposted by Sandra Newman

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Feb 28

anyway, zelensky is a more popular figure than either trump or vance, putin is brutally unpopular, and the public still supports ukraine aid. better than even chance that none of these facts will show up in coverage of the incident.

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Feb 28

In China even poor have egg, in America only rich because trump take egg

Bobson Dugnutt @foolishmortal.bsky.social · Feb 28

I once stayed in a stone cottage in Jiangxi without glass in the windows and the landlady asked me if I wanted eggs. When I said I did she yelled, "Are there eggs?" and her neighbor went to check the coop and yelled, "There are!". Very cold, no mattress, good eggs, five stars.

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · Feb 28

Here I react to the shameful encounter between American leaders and media and the Ukrainian president. No doubt there were more, but I saw five failures on our side: of hospitality, decency, democracy, strategy, and independence. Please watch and share.
snyder.substack.com/p/five-failu...

Five Failures in the Oval Office (video)

America hurt itself badly today.

snyder.substack.com

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Isabella Cueto @isabellacueto.bsky.social · Feb 28

Breaking: RFK Jr. moves to quietly eliminate public comment from HHS's decision making: www.statnews.com/2025/02/28/r...

RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment in HHS decisions

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to rescind the longtime practice of giving the public a chance to comment on the health agency’s plans.

www.statnews.com

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 27

Musk knowingly facilitates and profits from large-scale slavery, which would end without his help. He just personally defunded the U.S. initiatives that help people escape these compounds. www.wired.com/story/starli...

Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Keeping Modern Slavery Compounds Online

A WIRED investigation reveals that criminals who make billions from scam compounds in Myanmar—where tens of thousands of people are enslaved—are using Starlink to get online.

www.wired.com

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Paul Gowder @gowder.io · Feb 27

It just hit me that across every dimension Trump is destroying a full century of human progress. Free trade, the norm against aggression, vaccines and public health, desegregation, victory against fascism and ethno-nationalism. All onto the bonfire. One of the greatest criminals in history.

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Rude Law Dog @esghound.com · Feb 27

This sort of comic book corruption is quite literally illegal in every single country in the world that has written laws. I don't even know what else you say about this, it's amazing

The agency was scheduled to make a final decision on whether to start paying Verizon for the contract next month, said one of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Instead, Musk’s team determined the job should go to Starlink, the person said. But the process for unwinding a contract and awarding it to another company is lengthy and has not been followed in this case so far, the person said.

Several senior FAA officials have refused to sign paperwork authorizing the switch, according to the person, who has been briefed on the internal deliberations and resulting fallout, so Musk’s team is now seeking help from the acting administrator of the agency, Trump appointee Chris Rocheleau, and Duffy.

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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · Feb 27

NEW: Elon Musk’s Starlink is being used at scam compounds that have fleeced billions from people around the world, a @WIRED investigation shows

Between November 2024 and Feb, hundreds of phones at eight scam compounds in Myanmar logged 40,000 uses of Starlink, mobile data shows

Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Keeping Modern Slavery Compounds Online

A WIRED investigation reveals that criminals who make billions from scam compounds in Myanmar—where tens of thousands of people are enslaved—are using Starlink to get online.

www.wired.com

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Steve Kenson ❌👑 @stevekenson.com · Feb 27

The corruption could not be more blatant if they were handing Elon Musk bulging sacks with dollar signs on them on the steps of the Treasury building.

FAA May Transfer $2.4B Verizon Contract To Starlink - Joe.My.God.

The Washington Post reports: The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract to overhaul a communications system that serves as the backbone of the nation’s air traff...

www.joemygod.com

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Mariah Fredericks @mariahfredericks.bsky.social · Feb 27

The creator of one of the most predatory monopolies of our time believes in free markets? News to me.

Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · Feb 26

SCOOP: WaPo Opinion editor David Shipley is out. Jeff Bezos emails staff about a change to Post Opinions: "We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets."

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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · Feb 27

Scientists: We may have finally found a cure for one of the cruelest human diseases!

The United States:

Multiple states pushing to ban or restrict mRNA vaccines

From a NewsNation segment: “FIRST 100 DAYS:
MAHA PANEL TAKES CLOSER LOOK AT VACCINES”

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 26

dras.in/soldiers-for...

The group and its associated operations serve as a major foreign policy tool for the Russian state with the aim of creating African dependencies on Moscow’s security apparatus to access African resources. They operate through a web of shell companies, carrying out a broad spectrum of Kremlin-backed operations across the Middle East and Africa. In return for COIN and security operations, Russia seeks payments in the form of concessions for natural resources, substantial commercial contracts, or access to strategic locations, such as airbases or ports. For instance, Wagner deployed its operatives in Sudan to quell local uprisings against Omar al-Bashir’s government. As payment, a company by the name Meroe Gold was granted exclusive mining rights for gold in Sudan, which is a subsidiary of M-Invest, which itself is a subsidiary of M-Finance, founded by Prigozhin. Bashir was also in talks with Moscow to set up a naval base on the eastern coast of Sudan in 2019, a proposal still being considered by Khartoum (Fasanotti, 2022).

In 2015, the group started operating in Syria, alongside the pro-government forces in direct combat as well as defensive operations to secure oilfields. In Libya, the group has been operating since 2016, in support of forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar. Apart from active combat services, the Wagner Group is also involved in securing mining operations of precious minerals like gold, diamonds, and uranium. The group was invited to the Central African Republic and Sudan to guard diamond and gold mines, respectively. The US treasury department has also alleged that the presence of the group in Africa is a cover to provide protection to Prigozhin’s mining companies, such as M Invest and Lobaye Invest.

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 26

Contrary to a lot of the reporting, there is a very long precedent for this sort of thing. Trading mineral rights for defense work is how the shadier mercenary companies operate in Africa. Notably, Russia's Wagner group worked this way. (Link to follow) www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/w...

www.nytimes.com

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Gerry Doyle @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · Feb 26

I think any smart analysis of the situation in europe needs to step back and consider what russia has actually accomplished in ukraine in the last 3 years:

-taken some territory
-suffered so many losses it has instituted conscription and dusted off armor/vehicles from '60s
-lost its own territory

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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · Feb 25

The current proposals that AI companies should be uniquely excluded from paying for other people’s IP and creative labour is effectively a state subsidy worth trillions of dollars, paid for by content creators and copyright holders.

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AOP @adamoprice.bsky.social · Feb 25

Hey dummies, guess who else were "an oppositional culture" that, after victory, never stopped acting like it was in the opposition?

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · Feb 25

Think I’ll pass on the piece in which a racist creep explains why a major party embracing the Nazi salute really isn’t a big deal.

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 25

Nobody gives university teachers any guidance, and no one checks on you. You could teach kids to drink their own urine and love Satan, and no one would find out unless a student complained. As it happens, my students loved drinking pee and worshipping the Prince of Lies, so my evals were great.

Phillip Maciak @pjmaciak.bsky.social · Feb 25

I know it's a right-wing, anti-DEI talking point, but do regular people think this? That DEI offices were auditing faculty syllabi and ordering them what to teach? Maybe I'm naive, but that level of detailed attention and oversight sounds far-fetched to me from any higher ed admin unit.

so, in the last four years:

1. a wise critique of DEI on campus was that a novel bureaucracy had been created within the college system, which represented neither the faculty nor the students, and it was starting to act like many faculty members' direct supervisor and telling them how and what to teach.

2. one thing that tech right strongly criticized about social media in the early 2020s was that their algorithms clearly had their finger on the scale to produce biased outcomes

and now, in the last four weeks:

1. we've got DOGE, essentially a little anti-bureaucracy bureaucracy, which is insisting on acting like every federal employee's boss (despite the objections of their senate-confirmed supervisors); and

2. there's mounting evidence that Musk has fixed Grok to avoid criticisms of him and the president

if you're on the right, and you don't quite consider this hypocrisy, then ok. but consider this: what's happening in govt/elonland right now could easily generate the exact same flavor of backlash that just brought you to power

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 25

Maybe a Rottweiler wrote this

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Paul Rhodes @parhodes.bsky.social · Feb 25

This one was at the weekend but now it won't answer the question

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Delbert Grady Seasons @delbertgseasons.bsky.social · Feb 25

I don’t know if Google can top this, their finest work to date

Google
is tripe kosher
All
Images
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Shopping
Forums
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Al Overview
Learn more :
Whether tripe is kosher depends on the religion of the cow. Kosher meat can be ordered online, including kosher beef tripe. ~
Generative Al is experimental.

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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · Feb 7

Anyone pledging that government digital services should be as good as the private sector should know that I've spent less than 5 mins successfully ordering a new driving licence and so far about 15 trying and failing to update my travel insurance policy

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Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · Feb 25

Wow.

Reuben Binns @rdbinns.bsky.social · Feb 25

Every major UK newspaper - left, right, broadsheet, tabloid - is running a front page campaign against copyright carveouts for AI training.

I can't remember the last time any political cause had such broad support, let alone one so anti-big tech and so economically consequential.

Newspaper stand with newspapers all carrying the front page Campaign 'make it fAIr'

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 25

Oh, thank you!!!

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Bradford Pearson @bradfordpearson.bsky.social · Feb 24

Quick plug for @tmcallister.bsky.social’s new book, which I read in less than a day and punched me in the gut multiple times (complimentary). Out May 13!

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Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · Feb 24

and sign it "Spartacus"

Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · Feb 23

Apparently this is the real way the secret service higher ups told people to respond to the Musk email.

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