Ted Fickes
@tedfickes.bsky.social
620 followers 420 following 990 posts
I run Bright+3 which provides content, community and fundraising strategy to nonprofit leaders. I also run the Future Community newsletter and jobs list. All that and more at https://brightplus3.com
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Reposted by Ted Fickes
unraveledpress.com
This is real. Chicago today.
donmoyn.bsky.social
Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby
Reposted by Ted Fickes
Reposted by Ted Fickes
Reposted by Ted Fickes
govpritzker.illinois.gov
Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem, and DHS need to answer for their unchecked attacks on Chicago residents.

ICE is an out-of-control danger to our peaceful communities.

The images from the Sun-Times today speak for themselves.
An ICE agent throws a tear gas canister at protesters at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times Federal immigration enforcement agents detain a protester during a skirmish at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent points a crowd control weapon at a protester Tuesday at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times A Chicago Police Department officer washes his face after being exposed to tear gas during a protest at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
tedfickes.bsky.social
The only naked thing that's threatening are Johnson's lies and cowardice.
Reposted by Ted Fickes
mattbh.com
Subtle resistance, non-cooperation, quiet bravery, acting based on trust & principle, not self-interest - all of this feels essential in this moment.
Reposted by Ted Fickes
buddyspell.bsky.social
Fort Worth, Texas.

#WeAreEverywhere
Reposted by Ted Fickes
dceiver.bsky.social
this is the way
grahamformaine.bsky.social
We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.
tedfickes.bsky.social
Northwestern continues to raise the college football coach unemployment rate.
redditcfb.com
Holy cow... those mad lads from Northwestern got them to do it!
tedfickes.bsky.social
Of course what one puts in a chat is or will be completely unprotected and accessible to law enforcement, gov agencies, insurance companies, creditors, etc.

What won’t exist is any kind of context. Opportunity for misuse abounds.
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“Whereas criminal suspects in this past may have been incriminated by a Google query on, say, how to clean up bloodstains, a more comprehensive, detailed back-and-forth with a tool like ChatGPT gives investigators far more opportunities to prove intent and mindset…”
What You Tell an AI Chatbot Could One Day Be Evidence in a Criminal Trial
User exchanges with ChatGPT and other AI tools are a valuable new form of evidence for law enforcement in criminal investigations and prosecutions.
www.rollingstone.com
tedfickes.bsky.social
An actual sentence written in the year 2025.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has privately hosted a series of sold-out lectures in San Francisco warning that “the antichrist” may already be present, tying the idea to global governance, environmentalism, and technology regulation, and suggesting figures like Greta Thunberg and Bill Gates embody “anti-science” or authoritarian traits hastening Armageddon, according to recordings obtained by The Guardian.
tedfickes.bsky.social
And, to be less opaque...Sucking almost empty west texas aquifers dry to make disinfo videos more broadly accessible doesn't seem "good."
tedfickes.bsky.social
I'm not disagreeing with the points of the essay about the environmental impacts of AI, Sora, etc. Worth reading.

Just taking issue with the unquestioning use and abuse of the "Gen AI is obviously good" narrative in places where good/bad is not the point.

theconversation.com/openais-newl...
OpenAI’s newly launched Sora 2 makes AI’s environmental impact impossible to ignore
As AI shifts from text to video, its appetite for power and water soars, presenting a climate-policy issue.
theconversation.com
tedfickes.bsky.social
Grr... lines like this towards the end of the piece...

"Generative AI can help unlock extraordinary creativity and provide real utility."

...are plopped all over the world as obvious shared facts. To question GenAI utility is to be an unworthy heretic.

Plus, it's not even relevant to the essay.
Reposted by Ted Fickes
maris.bsky.social
this feels… like it’s not gonna age well
Front page of the New York Times 
How Jared Kushner, a Self-Described 'Deal Guy, Helped Broker a Gaza Breakthrough
Trained in New York City real estate, the president's son-in-law had a singular goal: Get to a yes first, and hash out the details later.
7 MIN READ
tedfickes.bsky.social
There's a venn diagram showing the the size and location of the space where autocracy, kleptocracy, and idiocracy intersect. Just so happens to be a room in the White House.
tedfickes.bsky.social
Nothing more than what I read here.
tedfickes.bsky.social
If you've ever been to Nederland, CO, you've probably been in this building and its shops. No doubt you would have had to drive right by it. Not a big town. This is terrible news for all involved. More links below.

coloradosun.com/2025/10/09/n...
Reposted by Ted Fickes
autonomynews.co
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However, DAFs aren’t always a force for good. 
In fact, they have become a favorite vehicle for far-right billionaires, who have shifted their giving from foundations to DAFs, because DAFs are less transparent.
tedfickes.bsky.social
ha ha...Pete Sessions...they're trotting out the true "idea folks" for this one.

Maybe he has an outside shot at bronze in the "i once thought about something" olympics.
tedfickes.bsky.social
Talked to my stepfather last night. 88 years old. Mormon. Grew up in Whitefish, MT. Worked in oil biz his whole life. Not liberal.

Anywhoo...our 60 seconds of politics talk was basically him asking me "Why are we letting a clearly mentally incompetent person destroy the country?"

Valid question.
atrupar.com
Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."