ERTBen
@ertben.bsky.social
Figuring out where we go from here. Seeking community and new ways to engage people in progressive ideas. Weather, wildfire, wilderness and front-yard gardening. Midwest-born Californian. Exvangelical.
Pinned
ERTBen
@ertben.bsky.social
· 29d
"But what if an immigrant does a crime"
We already have cops. We don't need more varieties of cops than there are pokemon.
We can't afford healthcare or road repairs because all of our taxes go to redundant departments of redundant redundancy.
We already have cops. We don't need more varieties of cops than there are pokemon.
We can't afford healthcare or road repairs because all of our taxes go to redundant departments of redundant redundancy.
Reposted by ERTBen
Reposted by ERTBen
"Criminalization is what got us here, criminalization is what is keeping us here, and more criminalization will definitely not get us out of here."
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Abolition Is Still the Only Way Out of This
Forget the useless so-called “reforms” to ICE and policing currently on offer. We need much more fundamental change.
www.thenation.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:21 PM
"Criminalization is what got us here, criminalization is what is keeping us here, and more criminalization will definitely not get us out of here."
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Reposted by ERTBen
maybe the biggest difference between LLMs and every other computer you ever used is that other computers can A) do math and B) give you an error message if you try to get it to do something it can’t do
One of the things that really fucking annoys me about AI is that people *do not understand it* (on purpose, bc these companies want it that way) and they assume it’s as reliable as the computers they’ve been using their whole life when it’s actually about as reliable as your least capable intern
lol this is gonna burst so fucking hard
February 15, 2026 at 4:55 AM
maybe the biggest difference between LLMs and every other computer you ever used is that other computers can A) do math and B) give you an error message if you try to get it to do something it can’t do
Reposted by ERTBen
People who vote for child molesters are not serious about child abuse prevention.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey will vote for Roy Moore | CNN Politics
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday she plans to vote for Republican Roy Moore in the state’s Senate special election on December 12.
www.cnn.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:23 AM
People who vote for child molesters are not serious about child abuse prevention.
Reposted by ERTBen
Concludes by saying that the "rearmament we most need in the world right now is a moral one"
February 15, 2026 at 4:17 AM
Concludes by saying that the "rearmament we most need in the world right now is a moral one"
Reposted by ERTBen
AI is smart about figuring out what you want and accommodating you. Truth? Not its strong suit.
lol this is gonna burst so fucking hard
February 15, 2026 at 1:16 AM
AI is smart about figuring out what you want and accommodating you. Truth? Not its strong suit.
Reposted by ERTBen
ICE has completely broken our social contract.
They manipulate social trust and are creating lasting damage to our most basic social foundations
They manipulate social trust and are creating lasting damage to our most basic social foundations
CCTV footage appears to show DHS agents posing as people having car trouble in order to lure a target out of his house before arresting them. The target comes out and starts helping them before 3 vehicles surround the scene. The car "experiencing" trouble then drives off with them.
February 14, 2026 at 10:55 PM
ICE has completely broken our social contract.
They manipulate social trust and are creating lasting damage to our most basic social foundations
They manipulate social trust and are creating lasting damage to our most basic social foundations
Reposted by ERTBen
"Democracy Dies in Darkness" was aspirational. Who knew?!
February 14, 2026 at 2:12 AM
"Democracy Dies in Darkness" was aspirational. Who knew?!
Reposted by ERTBen
Another example, just from today: Musk's sexual abuse / racism generation software has caused massive amounts of direct harm to the community: all using behind-the-metre fossil fuel power plants
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A different set of rules’: thermal drone footage shows Musk’s AI power plant flouting clean air regulations
Images confirm xAI is continuing to defy EPA regulations in Mississippi to power its flagship datacenters
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Another example, just from today: Musk's sexual abuse / racism generation software has caused massive amounts of direct harm to the community: all using behind-the-metre fossil fuel power plants
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by ERTBen
I feel this way about pretty much all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. You shouldn't be allowed to dump cyanide into municipal drinking water and you shouldn't be allowed to recreationally spread viruses around shared public spaces.
My most authoritarian opinion is that the MMR vaccine should be mandatory, with only medical (not religious or floofy) exemptions allowed. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
www.theatlantic.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:09 PM
I feel this way about pretty much all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. You shouldn't be allowed to dump cyanide into municipal drinking water and you shouldn't be allowed to recreationally spread viruses around shared public spaces.
Reposted by ERTBen
This isn't about choice.
It's about their desire to eliminate the "weak" in society (based on their inhumane view that the "weak" take more than they contribute and thus don't deserve life) and to profit by selling snake oil to people who reject mainstream meds.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
It's about their desire to eliminate the "weak" in society (based on their inhumane view that the "weak" take more than they contribute and thus don't deserve life) and to profit by selling snake oil to people who reject mainstream meds.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:25 PM
This isn't about choice.
It's about their desire to eliminate the "weak" in society (based on their inhumane view that the "weak" take more than they contribute and thus don't deserve life) and to profit by selling snake oil to people who reject mainstream meds.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
It's about their desire to eliminate the "weak" in society (based on their inhumane view that the "weak" take more than they contribute and thus don't deserve life) and to profit by selling snake oil to people who reject mainstream meds.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
Reposted by ERTBen
BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.
The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 13, 2026 at 12:00 AM
BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.
The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by ERTBen
No one will be surprised to learn that the author of the hyperviral "AI is coming for your white collar jobs" Twitter post is a scam artist.
On his last viral twete: press.airstreet.com/p/reflection...
On his last viral twete: press.airstreet.com/p/reflection...
Reflections on Reflection
What a four day meltdown tells us about standards and scrutiny
press.airstreet.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:58 PM
No one will be surprised to learn that the author of the hyperviral "AI is coming for your white collar jobs" Twitter post is a scam artist.
On his last viral twete: press.airstreet.com/p/reflection...
On his last viral twete: press.airstreet.com/p/reflection...
Reposted by ERTBen
essential reading about what happens to our neighbors once the federal government has kidnapped them.
I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it.
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
February 12, 2026 at 4:11 AM
essential reading about what happens to our neighbors once the federal government has kidnapped them.
Reposted by ERTBen
People can have different political opinions about immigration policy. Political differences are fine, healthy for a democracy.
But if you’re okay with this, that’s not a political opinion. That is a moral failing.
27/
But if you’re okay with this, that’s not a political opinion. That is a moral failing.
27/
February 11, 2026 at 9:57 PM
People can have different political opinions about immigration policy. Political differences are fine, healthy for a democracy.
But if you’re okay with this, that’s not a political opinion. That is a moral failing.
27/
But if you’re okay with this, that’s not a political opinion. That is a moral failing.
27/
Reposted by ERTBen
Legal status doesn’t matter: if you exceed ICE’s melanin threshold, you get snatched. It is ethnic cleansing. There is no other word for it.
The news has shown you video of these often violent detentions. What you don’t see is what happens to these individuals after.
I’ve had a front row seat.
7/
The news has shown you video of these often violent detentions. What you don’t see is what happens to these individuals after.
I’ve had a front row seat.
7/
February 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Legal status doesn’t matter: if you exceed ICE’s melanin threshold, you get snatched. It is ethnic cleansing. There is no other word for it.
The news has shown you video of these often violent detentions. What you don’t see is what happens to these individuals after.
I’ve had a front row seat.
7/
The news has shown you video of these often violent detentions. What you don’t see is what happens to these individuals after.
I’ve had a front row seat.
7/
Reposted by ERTBen
How about "Blanche purports to fire Kinsella" or "Blanche asserts authority to fire Blanche." There is a difference and the media needs to understand it and do better at reporting this administration's actions.
February 12, 2026 at 3:56 AM
How about "Blanche purports to fire Kinsella" or "Blanche asserts authority to fire Blanche." There is a difference and the media needs to understand it and do better at reporting this administration's actions.
Reposted by ERTBen
Kinsella should sue to stay in the position. The relevant statute (29 USC 546) states that a judge-appointed interim U.S. Attorney is appointed “to serve until the vacancy is filled”. I think that means that Bondi can’t fire him.
February 12, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Kinsella should sue to stay in the position. The relevant statute (29 USC 546) states that a judge-appointed interim U.S. Attorney is appointed “to serve until the vacancy is filled”. I think that means that Bondi can’t fire him.
Reposted by ERTBen
This has been the story for someone close to me, whose employer laid off 40 people in the fall of 2024 and replaced them with a handful of contractors whose work is entirely LLM-extruded bullshit. Just a parade of embarrassing errors and extra work for the past year and a half. 🙄
i think the most likely scenario for AI in the workplace will be a separation between people who use AI and think it works when it doesn't, and then another group of people who don't use AI who end up picking up the slack for the AI users.
February 12, 2026 at 2:55 AM
This has been the story for someone close to me, whose employer laid off 40 people in the fall of 2024 and replaced them with a handful of contractors whose work is entirely LLM-extruded bullshit. Just a parade of embarrassing errors and extra work for the past year and a half. 🙄
Reposted by ERTBen
Anthropic leaning in this heavy on anthropomorphizing their model is such a huge tell of "We've got nothing" in the same way that OpenAI finally giving in to ads and sexbots was.
The core value proposition is gone.
There is no true game changing efficiency through Centralized Rentier AI Models.
The core value proposition is gone.
There is no true game changing efficiency through Centralized Rentier AI Models.
Researchers working with the A.I. system Claude have come to understand that the model’s selfhood, like our own, is a matter of both neurons and narratives. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/kEX1vV
February 11, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Anthropic leaning in this heavy on anthropomorphizing their model is such a huge tell of "We've got nothing" in the same way that OpenAI finally giving in to ads and sexbots was.
The core value proposition is gone.
There is no true game changing efficiency through Centralized Rentier AI Models.
The core value proposition is gone.
There is no true game changing efficiency through Centralized Rentier AI Models.
Reposted by ERTBen
Reposted by ERTBen
Yeah, it's disgusting and unconscionable that Trump tried to indict six Democrats in Congress for making a video that reminds service members to not follow illegal orders.
May I make a suggestion? Stop voting to confirm his political and judicial nominees. Demand he resign.
May I make a suggestion? Stop voting to confirm his political and judicial nominees. Demand he resign.
February 11, 2026 at 4:37 AM
Yeah, it's disgusting and unconscionable that Trump tried to indict six Democrats in Congress for making a video that reminds service members to not follow illegal orders.
May I make a suggestion? Stop voting to confirm his political and judicial nominees. Demand he resign.
May I make a suggestion? Stop voting to confirm his political and judicial nominees. Demand he resign.
Reposted by ERTBen
Just so its clear: data centres are not "critical infrastructure".
They are Mystery Factories that can perform inscrutable computation for any digital output, from crypto scams to child abuse material to hospital databases. The broad label just becomes a wide door for harm to run through.
They are Mystery Factories that can perform inscrutable computation for any digital output, from crypto scams to child abuse material to hospital databases. The broad label just becomes a wide door for harm to run through.
February 10, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Just so its clear: data centres are not "critical infrastructure".
They are Mystery Factories that can perform inscrutable computation for any digital output, from crypto scams to child abuse material to hospital databases. The broad label just becomes a wide door for harm to run through.
They are Mystery Factories that can perform inscrutable computation for any digital output, from crypto scams to child abuse material to hospital databases. The broad label just becomes a wide door for harm to run through.
Reposted by ERTBen
idk i think in a time when it feels like nothing matters & all is futile it might actually be time to double down and write your stories & make your paintings & sing your songs & do your art. create the things that make us human and share them.
February 10, 2026 at 6:37 AM
idk i think in a time when it feels like nothing matters & all is futile it might actually be time to double down and write your stories & make your paintings & sing your songs & do your art. create the things that make us human and share them.