Daphne Virlar

Another Science Nerd on the bird app. Data science, conservation, and spatial analysis, oh my! My dog thinks I'm cool.

[PBS News @NewsHour]

The State Department said ​it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted.

An analysis by Reuters found a watermark in the map image that suggests it was made with OpenAI.

[Leah Goodridge @leahfrombklyn]

I respect WIRED so much.

Tech companies are FUMING because they thought it would be positive PR for their products.

Instead WIRED is publishing articles which expose the downsides of AI and tech surveillance. And now they’re getting sued for it. Support them!

[Ramin Nasibov @RaminNasibov]

My first AI assistants.

[Wasting Away in Margameataville🍹 @meatsical]

Lindsay graham dead

[✯ Luxe ✯ @luxeprogressive]

How I found out Lindsey Graham died live on air

[Zaza Waybright @Le_Unorthodox]

Me liking every single post about the Lindsey Graham news on the TL

[Danny Manus @DannyManus]

Mitch McConnell is actually the best Metaphor for, and representation of, America and our political system. He spent almost a century making the world a better place for only himself and his friends, married an immigrant while working tirelessly against other immigrants, manipulated the system to increase his power only to be usurped & made impotent by someone even more unethical, unscrupulous and power hungry. Then when the system is finally done with him, they keep his dead body on life support just to use him for one more power move until finally allowing him sweet sweet death while his wife flees the country and his children go into hiding. And when it's all said and done, he'll be best remembered for a meme that made him into a turtle. America.

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

A lot of people are asking “why hide McConnell’s state? Not like a Dem would win the special election?”

If McConnell vacated before August 3rd cut off it’d be a special election and any one can register as an independent…

Including Massie.

Which would split the Republican vote, giving him or maybe even the Dem the chance at the plurality.

But, if McConnell’s seat is not vacated before the 3rd by legally stepping down or a signed death certificate, then it’s too close to the next election and rules prevent a special election which bars any new registrations at this point.

With McConnell’s wife having travelled to China AFTER he was hospitalized, the next of kin isn’t available to sign off and so the bar for ending life support is extremely high (would require full brain stem death, which is not present in some patients who are never coming back)

So all they have to do is drag their feet until August 3rd, then tell you that he didn’t make it.

And in turn block Massie from disrupting an otherwise safe Republican seat.

Just like that fucking old turtle would have wanted.

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

There are at least two reason they might not want to update us on McConnell’s condition:

-In Kentucky, a special election to replace a Senator will NOT be called if it’s closer than 3 months till the next election.

-That date is August 3rd.

1) If McConnell’s condition is clearly unfit for office, they’d hide that to avoid being forced to submit a resignation letter until after that date.

2) If McConnell has not regained consciousness or has the chance of oxygen induced brain death and is on artificial life support, they would try and

-In Kentucky “brain death” is legally considered death under Kentucky Revised Statute § 446.400

-Any two independent physicians may declare the patient dead for the purposes of the seat being vacated IF the patient is only “alive” due to a ventilator and artificial life support systems.

But, his next of kin (Chao) would need to be involved in the process of treatment and testing and final decisions to end support for that path to be viable…

She left to China 3 days after his hospitalization.

So is McConnell alive and well? Is he awake and functional? Is he a vegetable?

Either way I think they are trying to make sure we don’t have the answer to that until August 3rd.

[Alejandro🌹🇵🇸 @AlexDemSoc_161]

No one will miss Mitch McConnell when he passes away. He is directly responsible for the destruction of the U.S. judicial system, which includes stripping millions of women of their reproductive rights and undermining voting rights that millions of people had to fight to secure.

A miserable human being, basically. It sounds harsh, but that's the truth.

On top of that, he ended up being repudiated by his own side. So, yeah—karma.

[Fuck You I Quit @fuckyouiquit]

Not a single rational person believes this is a good thing. They really are the fuck-you-die administration.

[vitalik.eth @VitalikButerin]

"Pokemon" is short for "pocket monsters".
"Digimon" is short for "digital monsters".

Therefore, "salmon" is short for "saltwater monsters".

(You might object: salmon spend a big part of their life in freshwater. But pokemon spend a big part of their life outside pockets too!)

[DSA @DemSocialists]

Non-exhaustive, but a good list to start.

[Nostos @NostosLit]

- Franz Kafka, The Diaries of Franz Kafka

[Acyn @Acyn]

AOC: I think young people overall feel a tremendous amount of betrayal about the world that we’ve been left with.

[FactPost @factpostnews]

Zohran Mamdani: Americans are exhausted by the daily struggle to make ends meet. We can't just oppose the Trump administration. We need to lay out a policy agenda that actively fights for working people.