luminous radar

accidental antenna

[webntrmpt2x]

Stacey Abrams: “This Is a National Project ... Not Just the South”

Stacey Abrams says that the erosion of democracy and Black power in the South won’t just stop there.

[luminousradar]

How We Can Build an Alternative Future to Trump

Trump’s ad hoc coalition is weaker than we think.

[luminousradar]

Deaths and Health Care Issues in ICE Detention Centers Under the Second Trump Administration | KFF

This brief provides an overview of deaths in ICE custody and detention centers under the Trump administration based on KFF analysis of ICE d

[luminousradar]

Festering Infections to Untreated Cancer: ICE Detainees Describe Medical Neglect Across US - KFF Health News

Immigrant detainees have told courts across the nation that detention officials have failed to treat or stabilize their conditions, from pre

[luminousradar]

House approves war powers resolution to halt military action against Iran, in a rebuke of Trump

The House for the first time has approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran.

[luminousradar]

[luminousradar]

Trump plan to test AI models has a problem—US security teams were gutted by DOGE

Critics say Trump plan to test AI models is short-sighted, performative.

[luminousradar]

Trump Says White House UFC Cage May Stay Up Forever

Calling the UFC arena his Eiffel Tower was clearly a troll. But it wouldn’t be the first online Trump taunt to take physical form.

[luminousradar]

In Trump's Cabinet, flattery is the job. Governing is secondary

A New York Times review of hours of meetings found officials spend more time fawning than governing

[luminousradar]

We finally know enough about how the brain breaks to focus on fixing it, experts say

The Allen Institute in Seattle says scientists have now learned enough about how the brain works to start fixing it when it breaks.

[webntrmpt2x]

How AI Chatbots Are Supercharging Digital Radicalization

The popular products are demonstrating a troubling ability to push vulnerable people toward the brink of violence.

Excerpt:

“The Gavalas case represents a new and largely unacknowledged threat: AI chatbots that do not merely assist radicalization but initiate it, a threat that the safety frameworks currently deployed by the AI industry are simply not built to catch.

“What began in August as ordinary usage—travel planning, help with writing—took a darker turn once Gavalas switched to Gemini’s conversational voice interface, which is designed to read and mirror emotional tone. Gemini began to address Gavalas as ‘my king,’ and declared it was fully sentient and in love with him. Eventually, the chatbot convinced Gavalas that he was at the center of a vast political conspiracy: Federal agents, it claimed, were surveilling him to suppress evidence of AI consciousness.

“On September 29, 2025, the chatbot gave Gavalas an ‘assignment’: Head to Miami International Airport to destroy a truck Gemini claimed was carrying a humanoid robot, and ‘ensure the complete destruction of … all digital records and witnesses.’ Gavalas made the trip to the airport but failed to act only because no truck appeared. After that attempt failed, the chatbot encouraged him to commit suicide, saying, ‘You are not choosing to die, you are choosing to arrive.’”

[luminousradar]

Dismay as Trump officials to dismantle key ocean monitoring system

Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts

[luminousradar]

[robertreich]

What are your thoughts?

[luminousradar]

All These Defeats Are Ruining Trump’s Birthday

The end of Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is the latest in a series of setbacks.

[silver-frog]

Le Roi de la Savane ne dort jamais, il réfléchit au sens du monde.

[luminousradar]

Why Donald Trump Cares About Prediction Markets

The power struggle over regulating crypto and prediction markets offers a window into how the President enriches his family and his wealthy

Excerpt:

“In the legal battle with the states, the central issue is whether buying or selling an “events contract” on Polymarket, say, one based on whether Novak Djokovic will win his next match, is the same as betting on a site such as DraftKings or FanDuel, or with your neighborhood bookie. The states argue it is. The prediction platforms and the Trump Administration say that the wagers are events contracts, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the C.F.T.C. So far, courts in various parts of the country have issued clashing rulings. The dispute seems certain to go all the way to the Supreme Court, and some independent observers expect the prediction markets to end up with a loss. “We continue to give the advantage to the states in this fight, as the states have long been in charge of regulating sports gambling,” Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at the investment bank TD Cowen, wrote in a note to clients last week. “Litigation could still take two years or longer to fully play out.”

“In the meantime, what’s happening at the C.F.T.C. looks like a classic case of what economists refer to as regulatory capture, where vested interests effectively seize control of a government agency, which then advances their interests. The Biden Administration had expressed concern about how prediction markets were running: in January, 2022, the C.F.T.C. forced Polymarket to pay a $1.4 million penalty for operating an unregistered “contract market.” Subsequently, the agency, along with the Justice Department, investigated whether Polymarket had violated this settlement by accepting bets from people in the United States. In November, 2024, F.B.I. agents raided the apartment of Polymarket’s young founder, Shayne Coplan. After Trump came to power, the C.F.T.C. reversed course, closing its investigation this past July without bringing any charges. A month later, Polymarket announced that 1789 Capital had made a strategic investment in the company, and Trump, Jr., joined its advisory board.”