swayingwires
@swayingwires.bsky.social
formerly @amonitrate on twitter
Reposted by swayingwires
This chart. Wow. reportearth.substack.com/p/the-washin... via @chriscmooney.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 5:10 PM
This chart. Wow. reportearth.substack.com/p/the-washin... via @chriscmooney.bsky.social
Reposted by swayingwires
There should be Congressional hearings over this
Former Washington Post journalists have launched a GoFundMe to help repatriate fired staff members who are effectively stranded in foreign countries.
One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.
Abolish the billionaire class:
One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.
Abolish the billionaire class:
Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee
Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees
www.gofundme.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:10 PM
There should be Congressional hearings over this
Reposted by swayingwires
Consider all the drivers, hotel staff, and restaurant staff that these people have exposed while taking their annual victory lap around ending the right to an abortion
February 8, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Consider all the drivers, hotel staff, and restaurant staff that these people have exposed while taking their annual victory lap around ending the right to an abortion
Reposted by swayingwires
Slop purveyor: my machine lets me produce 6,000 gallons of hot dogshit per day. How do you think you can possibly compete with that?
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
February 8, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Slop purveyor: my machine lets me produce 6,000 gallons of hot dogshit per day. How do you think you can possibly compete with that?
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
The experience of using ChatGPT is so repellent that it really boggles the mind that other people are so credulous about it tbqh. I can sort of get why it happens but man. Every chat transcript published in these horrible cases is just viscerally repellent to me on a deep level.
February 8, 2026 at 4:59 PM
The experience of using ChatGPT is so repellent that it really boggles the mind that other people are so credulous about it tbqh. I can sort of get why it happens but man. Every chat transcript published in these horrible cases is just viscerally repellent to me on a deep level.
So much of this is why I hate this bullshit machine with every fiber of my being
It's crazy to churn out 200 books a year with A.I. Why should anyone want to read a book that you couldn't even be bothered to write?
There are so many great books that were lovingly written and rewritten and then rewritten again by people and so little time to read them all. Just ... why do this?
There are so many great books that were lovingly written and rewritten and then rewritten again by people and so little time to read them all. Just ... why do this?
I don't see how self-publishing world survives GenAI. It's going to be an absurd increase in slop books with no reason to expect any increase in paying readers.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
February 8, 2026 at 4:57 PM
So much of this is why I hate this bullshit machine with every fiber of my being
Reposted by swayingwires
They obey basically zero rules of the road. They speed, they go the wrong way on one way streets, they run lights & stop signs.
Even if you aren't someone they try to intimidate, arrest, or abduct they're putting lives at serious risk.
Slowing them down may save lives for multiple reasons.
Even if you aren't someone they try to intimidate, arrest, or abduct they're putting lives at serious risk.
Slowing them down may save lives for multiple reasons.
February 8, 2026 at 10:14 AM
They obey basically zero rules of the road. They speed, they go the wrong way on one way streets, they run lights & stop signs.
Even if you aren't someone they try to intimidate, arrest, or abduct they're putting lives at serious risk.
Slowing them down may save lives for multiple reasons.
Even if you aren't someone they try to intimidate, arrest, or abduct they're putting lives at serious risk.
Slowing them down may save lives for multiple reasons.
Reposted by swayingwires
There are so very many things that are fucked up about how things are in Minnesota right now and it is hard to tell what the outside world knows about.
The street blockades may seem odd . . . if you haven't seen the way ICE & CBP drive.
The street blockades may seem odd . . . if you haven't seen the way ICE & CBP drive.
February 8, 2026 at 4:45 AM
There are so very many things that are fucked up about how things are in Minnesota right now and it is hard to tell what the outside world knows about.
The street blockades may seem odd . . . if you haven't seen the way ICE & CBP drive.
The street blockades may seem odd . . . if you haven't seen the way ICE & CBP drive.
Reposted by swayingwires
This is so Bezos.
This is how disposable people are to the oligarchs
This is how disposable people are to the oligarchs
Former Washington Post journalists have launched a GoFundMe to help repatriate fired staff members who are effectively stranded in foreign countries.
One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.
Abolish the billionaire class:
One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.
Abolish the billionaire class:
Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee
Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees
www.gofundme.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:57 PM
This is so Bezos.
This is how disposable people are to the oligarchs
This is how disposable people are to the oligarchs
Reposted by swayingwires
"It is almost insulting to call it prompt engineering, because engineering is about making things controllable, about being precise, about measurably reducing the chance of errors and material damage."
AI in Week #6 (English link), by @felienne.bsky.social.
This week she talks about:
- Moltbook
- Prompt engineering
- AI in education
And more!
www.felienne.nl/2026-06/#eng...
This week she talks about:
- Moltbook
- Prompt engineering
- AI in education
And more!
www.felienne.nl/2026-06/#eng...
AI in week 6
Moltbook, prompt engineering, AI in het onderwijs; hoe kijk je ernaar?
www.felienne.nl
February 8, 2026 at 12:02 PM
"It is almost insulting to call it prompt engineering, because engineering is about making things controllable, about being precise, about measurably reducing the chance of errors and material damage."
Thread
*None of it* needed to be that way, even with how brain-pickled most regular non-media grifters on the right were at that point. The situation even then was not unsalvageable
The anti-masking narrative was *done to us*, it did not simply arise along with the virus
The anti-masking narrative was *done to us*, it did not simply arise along with the virus
February 8, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Thread
Reposted by swayingwires
I appreciate how this is framed too. As a former migrant worker, it infuriates me when ‘supportive’ people say things like ‘oh let them do the work nobody else wants to.’ Entire food groups wouldn’t be eaten by people in US if not for exploitation of immigrant labor. Support these workers!
The US food system is highly dependent on the exploitation of immigrant labor from farms to processing plants - the trump administration is ratcheting up unjust policies that have been developed through decades. These workers are showing amazing courage under terrible circumstances.
The largely immigrant workforce at JBS's flagship U.S. plant, in Greeley, Colorado, is refusing to back down after accusing the company of poor working conditions. Reporting by Ted Genoways for FERN and Mother Jones. Photography by Maryanne Andrei.
thefern.org/2026/02/thes...
thefern.org/2026/02/thes...
February 8, 2026 at 3:58 PM
I appreciate how this is framed too. As a former migrant worker, it infuriates me when ‘supportive’ people say things like ‘oh let them do the work nobody else wants to.’ Entire food groups wouldn’t be eaten by people in US if not for exploitation of immigrant labor. Support these workers!
Reposted by swayingwires
This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.
February 8, 2026 at 2:28 PM
This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.
Reposted by swayingwires
the tech titans of Gilded Age 2.0 have admitted as much. see: Andreesen, “the deal” and the betrayal these men feel when they find themselves subjected to the barest hint of regulation or civic responsibility and people don’t kiss their feet for saving the world with code or whatever
Opinion | How Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trump’s Arms (Published 2025)
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:24 PM
the tech titans of Gilded Age 2.0 have admitted as much. see: Andreesen, “the deal” and the betrayal these men feel when they find themselves subjected to the barest hint of regulation or civic responsibility and people don’t kiss their feet for saving the world with code or whatever
Reposted by swayingwires
and that’s where this billionaire-led cascade is leading. hence you see WSJ attacking the Mellon Foundation and the legacy of Gilded Age 1.0 in the hopes of eradicating and discrediting the work it funds
Opinion | The Mellon Foundation’s Idea of ‘Social Justice’
America’s biggest funder of the humanities subsidizes ‘Ecowomanism,’ ‘Black Trans Studies’ and the like.
www.wsj.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:20 PM
and that’s where this billionaire-led cascade is leading. hence you see WSJ attacking the Mellon Foundation and the legacy of Gilded Age 1.0 in the hopes of eradicating and discrediting the work it funds
Reposted by swayingwires
these men—and let’s be clear, it’s basically men—are not interested in investing in public spaces for mass good. why would they, when they can create their own bunkers and network states, without having to consider the needs or wants of anyone but themselves?
they are fundamentally antidemocratic
they are fundamentally antidemocratic
Real-Estate Shopping for the Apocalypse
Thirty-nine per cent of Americans believe that we’re living in end times, and the market for underground hideouts is heating up.
www.newyorker.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:14 PM
these men—and let’s be clear, it’s basically men—are not interested in investing in public spaces for mass good. why would they, when they can create their own bunkers and network states, without having to consider the needs or wants of anyone but themselves?
they are fundamentally antidemocratic
they are fundamentally antidemocratic
Reposted by swayingwires
I hope folks grasp the fascistic resentment underpinning this shit, and the fact that there is nothing these AI robber barons would like more than to automate human creativity because they resent it and wish to devalue, own, and control it and us.
The whole article is repulsive but this passage is at the core of it. She has no interest in writing books, she wants to win some kind of competition that nobody entered
February 8, 2026 at 4:06 PM
I hope folks grasp the fascistic resentment underpinning this shit, and the fact that there is nothing these AI robber barons would like more than to automate human creativity because they resent it and wish to devalue, own, and control it and us.
Reposted by swayingwires
The current regime took a week to abolish USAID, which is three times as old and was not in the news every day for brutalizing children
“We cannot just abolish ICE!”
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
February 8, 2026 at 3:59 PM
The current regime took a week to abolish USAID, which is three times as old and was not in the news every day for brutalizing children
Reposted by swayingwires
crickets from the free speech crowd, of course
FAMU can't use the word Black on anything posted around campus related to Black History Month, to stay in compliance with Florida state laws against DEI. Black students can't use the word Black at their Historically Black College during Black History Month.
February 8, 2026 at 3:35 PM
crickets from the free speech crowd, of course
Reposted by swayingwires
According to the current state of IP law at best she doesn’t own those books - at worst she will be infringing on other works - so she is taking advantage of a tiny window to make some cash but it’s basically a grift.
February 8, 2026 at 4:08 PM
According to the current state of IP law at best she doesn’t own those books - at worst she will be infringing on other works - so she is taking advantage of a tiny window to make some cash but it’s basically a grift.
Reposted by swayingwires
AI can summarize.
February 8, 2026 at 4:31 PM
AI can summarize.
Reposted by swayingwires
Okay, but who is going to bother to read all these books that nobody bothered to write?
February 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Okay, but who is going to bother to read all these books that nobody bothered to write?
Reposted by swayingwires
This is straight up manufacturing consent now
“If I can generate a book in a day, and you need six months to write a book, who’s going to win the race?” God this is bleak
The New Fabio Is Claude
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:26 PM
This is straight up manufacturing consent now
Reposted by swayingwires
I’m just seeing what’s happening to Britain and the US, and I’m like, do Britain and the US even fucking have govts anymore? Or do we have a conglomeration of representatives from other countries fighting over who gets our tax money?
Epstein was in and out of Russia every few months according to his travel documents, but Mandelson was partying in nightclubs in St Petersburg and regularly in Moscow.
How did our intelligence services fail to pick this up? Or were their reports and investigations suppressed?
How did our intelligence services fail to pick this up? Or were their reports and investigations suppressed?
February 8, 2026 at 1:57 PM
I’m just seeing what’s happening to Britain and the US, and I’m like, do Britain and the US even fucking have govts anymore? Or do we have a conglomeration of representatives from other countries fighting over who gets our tax money?
Reposted by swayingwires
I am so tired of rich people refusing to build anything new and just burning everything that exists as a public good to the ground instead. They have decimated journalism this way. Remember when they used to be scared enough to build public libraries and parks?
February 8, 2026 at 4:22 AM
I am so tired of rich people refusing to build anything new and just burning everything that exists as a public good to the ground instead. They have decimated journalism this way. Remember when they used to be scared enough to build public libraries and parks?