Min Jiang

Communication Prof, New America Nonresident Fellow, China/Global South tech policy, Digital Sovereignty in BRICS (Cambridge Univ Press)

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Ocean heat records broken as hottest July temperature recorded https://t.co/p727ZGblVd

[CNN @CNN]

The first two months of summer in western Europe have been the hottest on record, the European Union's climate monitor said Monday, as the continent grapples with devastating wildfires and braces for yet another heatwave. July was also the hottest month ever logged for the world's non-polar oceans, the Copernicus climate change service said, putting sea life and coastal communities at risk. https://t.co/PqUea4qjIX

[Min Jiang @mindyjiang]

@AirbnbHelp @airbnbhelp after you contacted @airbnb support, team called guest who damaged property, but guest does nothing. Good faith doesn’t work when guest refuses to pay for damage. What to do, @airbnb? You should offer to cover $250 under AirCover. What’s the excuse not to?

[Min Jiang @mindyjiang]

@Airbnb and @AirbnbHelp Guests caused damage ($250) to my property, promised me to pay, then disappeared. AirCover is toothless by offering me $100 to settle which lets the offenders off the hook and asks owners to swallow majority of damage. Owners, AirCover is a big illusion.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: Trump Media has officially launched its new paid data service, providing faster access to Truth Social posts from President Trump.

The new service is called "Truth API" which gives firms "a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths," the company's CEO said in a press release.

The service reportedly costs as much as $100,000/month.

[Reuters @Reuters]

Exclusive: China has begun mass producing domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet lithography machines, a technology crucial to advanced chipmaking, marking a key step forward in Beijing's drive to reduce its reliance on foreign technologies https://t.co/jFIWhQvLXE

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

There you have it. Anthropic's CEO said it: The murder of more than 100 schoolgirls in Minab targeted by Anthropic's CLAUDE "is a use case that doesn't even violate our red lines." Time to rise up against these technofeudal war criminals.

[Utkarsh Sharma @techxutkarsh]

If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this.

Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how.

Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas

[Shadow of Ezra @ShadowofEzra]

The CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, admits that the trillions of dollars being used to build data centers and power grids will come from ordinary people’s savings accounts and pension funds, and says it is mandatory.

He says America needs trillions in AI infrastructure spending, and that people will be forced to “invest” in it.

“Much of this will come from savings accounts and pension accounts.”

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

This is an official government account in a democracy.

This is what Orbanism looks like. The president bragging, via AI video, that he forced a comedian who mocked him off the air and ‘into the trash’.

[Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren]

Elon Musk spent $290 million to elect Trump.

Musk got $512 billion richer since Trump was elected & is now worth $815 billion.

He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare by $500-$700 billion a year.

You’re not angry enough.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

If you paid $1 in federal income taxes this year, you paid more than:

Walt Disney
Citigroup
CVS
Kohl's
Ticketmaster
Tesla
United Airlines
GoDaddy
Paypal
Palantir
Roku
HP
3M
PG&E
Halliburton

That’s absurd. We need real and progressive tax reform.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death. Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol (Ps 115:4–8), to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life. #Peace

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Ok, Jamie: Let me clear things up for you.

If my 5% wealth tax on billionaires was enacted you’d owe $135 million more in taxes & a family of 4 making $150,000 or less would receive a $12,000 payment.

Oh, and you’d still be worth more than $2.5 billion. Seems pretty fair to me.

[Andrew Grevas @AndrewGrevas]

My kid left yesterday for Iran. Before we hung up, he wanted to discuss his life insurance policy. He’s 19. It gutted me. War isn’t a joke. It’s not something C rate celebs should be making controversial statements about for attention. Shame on you @EW for running this drivel.

[Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins]

Sen. Bernie Sanders: "I think all over the country, people are saying, 'Wait a minute, we can't afford housing. We can't afford health care. We can't afford childcare. We can't afford food at the grocery store.' And this war now, which will cost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, why? Why the bomb buildings in Tehran? Why force a million people in Lebanon from their homes? So it's not just progressives and Democrats...I think the polling suggests that whether you're Republicans or Democrats, this is not a war that the American people want."

[The Figen @TheFigen_]

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada spoke about the contradictions of human nature:

“Some people dream of having a swimming pool at home, while those who have one hardly ever use it. Those who have lost a loved one feel a profound sense of loss, while others often complain about their living relatives. Those without a partner long for one, while those who have one often don't appreciate it. The hungry would give anything for a meal, while the satiated complain about the taste of their food. Those without a car dream of owning one, while those who have a car are always looking for a better one.”

The key to happiness is gratitude: truly seeing and appreciating what we already have, and understanding that somewhere, someone would give anything for what we take for granted.

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

BOMBSHELL: Iran offered to give away ALL of its enriched uranium during peace talks in Geneva. The British thought it was a credible offer. Hours later, Trump started bombing Iran anyway. The US didn't want peace, they wanted war.