February/March Reading

Hundreds gathered for a ‘Free Luigi’ protest.

What comes after democratic breakdown.

The Trump administration’s attacks on DEI are aimed at reversing the civil-rights movement.

From ‘cancelling out’ your husband’s vote to avoiding politics at the dinner table, as the political divide widens, so does the dating pool

I knew with a cold certainty I’ve never experience before or since that if I chose to quit, if I closed my eyes right then I would slip back into the cold, comfortable darkness. I wouldn’t feel a thing ever again.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday posted a video on his Truth Social account, which appears to have been created with generative AI, promoting the transformation of Gaza into a Gulf state-like resort featuring a golden statue of himself, a hummus-eating Elon Musk, and shirtless American and Israeli leaders lounging on a beach.

Rep. Tricia Byrnes told The Star she sent the series of texts to the hotline last week while she pursues legislation to change how the system responds to people in

America’s descent into mass delusion isn’t happenstance. The demise of courageous journalism isn’t a happy accident. Its replacement with engagement-chasing infotainment and propaganda isn’t an error. It’s a global assault on reason and informed consensus, and corporations and authoritarian bullies like Donald Trump are both architects and benefactors. For decades, academics warned anybody who’d listen

WIRED tested the popular AI video generator from OpenAI and found that it amplifies sexist stereotypes and ableist tropes, perpetuating the same biases already present in AI image tools.

ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.

U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

Welcome to Margin of Error, a politics column from Tom Scocca, editor of the Indignity newsletter, examining the apocalyptic politics, coverage, and consequences of Campaign 2024. Should Democrats attend Donald Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress Tuesday night? The party can’t decide what to do. Some Democratic senators and representatives want to boycott the event, […]

The Washington Post profiled a woman who lost her job to Project 2025 after voting for Trump because he promised free fertility treatments. The real failure here belongs to the press.

I once believed university was a shared intellectual pursuit. That faith has been obliterated

Donald Trump’s second victory in the United States is a warning sign to democracies everywhere of the centrality of emotions – and their manipulation – in the new politics of gross inequality and psychic rebellion fuelled by tech-driven alternative realities, writes Hardeep Matharu

Artificial intelligence is up to the challenge of reducing human suffering, Harvard Medical School experts say. Are we?

An AI bubble threatens Silicon Valley, and all of us.

It’s embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.

Claude’s faulty “known entity” neurons sometimes override its “don’t answer” circuitry.

Apple has been getting hammered in tech and financial media for its uncharacteristically messy foray into artificial intelligence. After a June event heralding a new AI-powered Siri, the company has delayed its release indefinitely. The AI features Apple has rolled out, including text message summaries, are comically unhelpful.

The push to end sexual violence has sparked a revenge campaign setting fire to women’s rights and pushing young men to the right. But organizers can learn from the movement’s losses