curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Brian Klaas:
The Hidden Cost of AI “Effort Collapse”
From the dawn of time until sometime around 2025, we used effort as a crude but reliable proxy for value.
If someone was willing to spend a lot of time doing something, it must mean it’s worthwhile—at least to that person. Even those who loathe art might find a way to appreciate that Michelangelo spent nine years of his existence painting the Sistine Chapel.
Many human sorting systems therefore rely on a simple mechanism to reduce the volume of applicants or complainants. They consume someone’s most precious finite resource: time. People who are worthy, or who really want something, will signal that through the costly expenditure of their limited time alive.
In the past, people sifting through job applications could be reasonably sure that the person applying was at least somewhat serious about the job. After all, they had gone to the trouble of filling out an application form that might take even the swiftest writer several hours to complete.
Today, Claude can apply for dozens of different jobs in a matter of seconds. Spray and pray.
This dynamic is a new dystopian feature of the AI age that I call effort collapse. …
… humans are only hurting themselves when they take ideas they love to contemplate and convert them, through AI, into completed tasks and ticked off outputs. Nobody dies with a smile, clutching a freshly completed checklist.
…
This ethos, that creative effort is bad because it’s hard, would lead to the slopification of everything that’s worth doing. Oh, it takes some effort? …
Michael Thomas:
Data Center Developers Have Announced More Than 100 GW of Their Own Power Plants
Samantha Cole @ 404 Media:
The Chestnut Grove Caught in the Middle of A Years-Long Data Center Fight
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Steve Balestrieri @ National Security Journal:
The Pentagon Just Got Handed a Helium WarningThe Iran war has cut off roughly a third of the world’s helium supply, and spot prices have tripled since the fighting began, an industry consultant says. Labs and chipmakers are already being rationed, and a supplier who briefed the Pentagon warns that “you can’t make modern warfare without helium.”
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Heather Cox Richardson:
Letters from an American – October 21, 2026Everything feels out of whack in the United States.
First of all, the president’s behavior is becoming more and more erratic. …
In the news, Trump’s abandonment of the traditional allies of the United States to embrace Vladimir Putin and Russia remains front and center. Today, videos circulated of Trump’s special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, praising Putin as a “humanitarian” even as the Russian military continues to bombard Ukrainian civilians, this week killing a baby in a stroller at a public park.
Today, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton told Kara Swisher: “I continue to believe that Putin has things on Trump. I continue to believe that he is holding photos, videos, whatever it might be.” Clinton reiterated that Trump “is a willing Putin puppet to help Putin. Putin’s not going to stop with Ukraine…. I guess Trump has this idea that he wants to divide the world,” Clinton said. “He gets the Western Hemisphere, Putin gets Russia and Europe, and Xi Jinping gets the rest of the world.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Marcy Wheeler:
US ordered the release of someone far more valuable to both Putin and Trump: Mikhail Zvinchuk
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Broad Daylight News:
Trump Appointees Wanted Voting Machine Vulnerabilities Kept From the Manufacturer. Why?A ProPublica investigation says DHS appointees asked the federal cybersecurity agency to hack a voting machine and keep any flaws from the maker. Nobody has explained why.
(Broad Daylight News more…)
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Tamara Khandaker @ Al Jazeera:
US accuses Canada of election interference ahead of midtermsThe United States has accused Canadian politicians of trying to influence its midterm elections, pointing to Canada’s efforts to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign.
In a fact sheet released on Wednesday, the US embassy accused Canada of being dismissive of its allegations of election interference.
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Tom Latchem, Will Neal:
Trump DOJ’s Desperate Judge Purge ExposedThe extraordinary demand could disrupt dozens of active cases involving the administration’s deadly immigration crackdown.
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Campbell Robertson, Bayliss Wagner @ NY Times:
Vance Defends Ramaswamy’s Ad as Backlash Threatens Ohio CampaignThe vice president backed an advertisement featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s mother, who has been estranged from Dr. Acton since her stepfather was charged with child rape.
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Ruth Graham @ NY Times:
Christianity Today, a Voice of Centrist Evangelicalism, Is in TurmoilFormer employees of the publication say new leadership has been pushing back on independent journalism. About half of its staff members have left or been laid off over 14 months.
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Marvin Olasky:
Homelessness: Working the problem face to face
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Dani Blum @ NY Times:
How Bad Is Another Case of Covid?Anna Chodos, MD @ Your Local Epidemiologist:
Forget living to 150: What actually helps you age well
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Keira Havens @ Current Affairs:
No Kings. No Demands. What Happened?Behind the scenes, the organization leading America’s largest anti-Trump protests has declined to endorse impeachment—and pressured local organizers who demand it.
The January 6Memory Project
ICE Detention Expansion Tracker
A field guide to claims
Last Days in Two Nations
Climate.us
formerly Climate.gov
Climate Solutions Explorer
Have I Been Flocked?
Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting
resources tracking the “Andes” hantavirus outbreak
Apocalypse Early Warning System
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
Mourning Those Who Have Died in ICE Custody
Mike Ludwig @ truthout: ICE Says 51 People Died in Custody Under Trump. Experts Say That’s an Undercount.
ICE Accountability Project
Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Ximena Bustillo, Jasmine Garsd @ NPR: Deaths of migrants in ICE custody hit record high under Trump
- October 17: Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias
- September 18: Carlos Josue Marchena Marchena
- August 31: Pierre Damas Bel
- August 1: Edwin Lopez-Cornejo
- July 19: Jose Chajon-Raxon
- July 14: Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran
- July 13: Joan Sebastian Guerrero
- July 7: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
- June 4: Mamuka Artmeladze
- April 16: Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt
- March 25: Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano
- March 16: Royer Perez-Jimenez
- March 14: Naseer Paktiawil
- February 25: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
April 1 – Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz @ AP: Death of a refugee left at a Buffalo doughnut shop by Border Patrol is ruled a homicide - January 24: Alex Pretti
- January 14: Heber Sanchaz Dominguez
- January 14: Victor Manuel Diaz
- January 9: Parady La
- January 7: Renée Good
- January 6: Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
- January 5: Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
- January 3: Geraldo Lunas Campos
- December 31, 2025: Keith Porter
Suffering Under President Obama
NACDL Criminal Case Tracker
Texas Tribune: A Walk for Peace: photos of Fort Worth monks’ journey to Washington
Walk for Peace – Dhammacetiya – The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas
Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience
NPR: January 6, 2021: A visual archive
Accountability Initiative ICE List
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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