curated news excerpts & citations
Brian Merchant: A brief history of techno-negativity
From the techne pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer firebombers of the Information Age, here’s a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.
With the backlash against AI escalating dramatically, I can’t imagine a better time to consider the history of what the scholar Thomas Dekeyser terms the “techno-negative.” Dekeyser has just published a new book on the subject, titled, fittingly, Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine, with the University of Minnesota Press. It’s an academic work, but it’s sharply and compellingly written, already garnering great reviews from mainstream outlets.
Rebecca Solnit: Everything Is Changing Fast: A Brisk Tour Through Shifting Views
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 19, 2026
On the evening of April 18, 1775, the people who lived in the British colony of Massachusetts had gone to bed with the sun, as usual. By the evening of April 19, everything had changed. In the past twenty-four hours, soldiers from their own government had opened fire on them, killing their own people. And Massachusetts men had fired back.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Natalie Shapira et al: Agents of Chaos
… Over a two-week period, twenty AI researchers interacted with the agents under benign and adversarial conditions. Focusing on failures … we document eleven representative case studies. Observed behaviors include unauthorized compliance with non-owners, disclosure of sensitive information, execution of destructive system-level actions, denial-of-service conditions, uncontrolled resource consumption, identity spoofing vulnerabilities, cross-agent propagation of unsafe practices, and partial system takeover. In several cases, agents reported task completion while the underlying system state contradicted those reports. …
(Natalie Shapira et al more…)
[Agents of Chaos interactive]
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Michael Thomas: The World’s Largest Planned Data Center Is Running Into Trouble
Last summer, Fermi America raised $746 million to build the world’s largest data center. Satellite images show the project is at least a year behind the schedule projected in its IPO filing.
(Michael Thomas more…)
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Jason Paladino and Tobias Burns @ zeteo: Documents Reveal US Contractor’s Modifications of Spy Plane Just Before Flights Over Gaza
A US defense contractor flew spy planes over Gaza. FAA docs show Sierra Nevada Corporation installed a military air traffic control device and surveillance equipment before the plane’s deployment.
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“The British and American governments would be on notice that intelligence they provided for targeting would likely be aiding and abetting war crimes, and to aid and abet a war crime is the same as to commit a war crime. That’s the potential criminal liability at stake here,” former director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth told Zeteo.
(Jason Paladino and Tobias Burns @ zeteo more…)
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Ruth Ann Crystal MD: Dr. Ruth Report, 4/19/26
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Mary Papenfuss @ Daily Beast: Marjorie Taylor Greene Stokes Trump Assassination Plot Rumors
ET TU, MTG?
Greene believes that the president “should be leading the charge” to determine all the facts around the 2024 attempt on his life.
…“Extremely important post worth the read and consideration,” Greene wrote. “Corey Comperatore’s family deserves to know the truth about Matthew Crooks and what happened in Butler on July 13, 2024.”
(Mary Papenfuss @ Daily Beast more …)
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE Accountability Project
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.
- 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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