Laura Loomer’s racist attacks on Angie Nixon and other prominent Black women draw backlash

Wes Moore calls out Laura Loomer for ‘peddling racism’ in attack on Black women

Wes Moore condemned Laura Loomer over racist attacks against Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon, the state’s first potential Black senator.

Data Feminism for AI

Attacks on women and trans people are not happening in a vacuum. Communications scholars W. Lance Bennett and Marianne Kneuer recently argued that we are witnessing the intensification of "illiberal public spheres" around the world (Bennett and Kneuer, 2023). These are characterized by a set of anti-democratic communications tactics that include the denigration and exclusion of minoritized people, targeted attacks on the press and political institutions, and transgression of norms of civil discourse. Such tactics are enabled and amplified by the social media platforms owned by Big Tech, whose business model elevates attention above all other metrics, such that they profit richly off extremism, threats, spectacle, and lies. The success of this corporate partnership with right-wing extremism is evident in the proliferation of book bans (Magnusson, 2024), the demonization of DEI and critical race theory (Crenshaw, 2022), and mob tactics to doxx, intimidate, misrepresent, and otherwise silence people that study misinformation, speak out against racial and gender violence, or rule against insurrectionists (Edmonds, 2024). At the same time, we have seen the continued work of feminists, including Latin American, Indigenous, and abolitionist feminists in the US and globally, doing the work of imagining alternate worlds (Cullors, 2021; Davis, 2022; Ricaurte, 2019; Simpson, 2017). This paper represents our own first attempt to imagine a more equitable, sustainable, feminist world for AI research.

Senator Scott Wiener (@scottwiener.bsky.social)

The normalization of anti-Muslim rhetoric is reaching new levels. Yes, Loomer is nuts, but her extremist views at times become mainstream GOP thinking. Muslims are part of our nation’s fabric, just as Christians & Jews are. We’re all American. This bigotry needs to stop. https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-loomer/laura-loomer-pitches-banning-muslims-running-office-members-congress

Smart glasses: 'I was secretly filmed and trolled online'

Footage of Oonagh was posted on social media where it attracted hundreds of sexual and derogatory comments.

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday

The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network

How Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric Fuels Violence

Hate speech from the far right is increasing the risk of violence against LGBTQ+ people such as the Club Q shooting

Ukraine Symposium – Terrorizing Civilians and the Law of Armed Conflict - Lieber Institute West Point

Attacking civilians is a clear LOAC violation, but intentionally spreading terror amongst the civilian population is a more nuanced violation.

'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry

In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directed from the very top and the damage this legitimization of bigotry has done

Well-intentioned obscenity

An LLM lied about me at the office and I'm cranky about it. That interaction makes me think a lot about how LLMs are becoming normalized, though, and what we're looking at in terms of their role in human-to-human interactions in the future.

Editor's Notes: Entering the Circular Firing Squad

Today, we published the second Alan Elrod article in a week on the toxic politics surrounding the Democratic candidate for Maine's Senate seat, Graham Platner. What's more, yesterday we published Katherine Alejandra Cross in a similar vein. Why the focus on Platner, when so much is at stake

I am a 15-year-old girl. Let me show you the vile misogyny that confronts me on social media every day | Anonymous

Objectification, hate, rape threats: the politicians debating online abuse mean well, but to truly understand, they need to see what I see

The Faux Free Speech Warriors Attacking Free Speech

There’s a particularly insidious and cynical form of censorship gaining prominence in America: the weaponization of “free speech” rhetoric, combined with abuses of the judicial sy…

Wired women : gender and new realities in cyberspace

Come in, CQ: the body on the wire / Ellen Ullman -- The memoirs of a token: an aging Berkeley feminist examines Wired / Paulina Borsook -- How hard can it be? / Karen Coyle -- Closure was never a goal in this piece / Judy Malloy and Cathy Marshall -- Estrogen brigades and "big tits" threads: media fandom online and off / Susan Clerc -- Elites, lamers, narcs and whores: exploring the computer underground / Netta "grayarea" Gilboa -- We are geeks, and we are not guys: the systers mailing list / L. Jean Camp -- Not for the faint of heart: contemplations on Usenet / Judy Anderson "yduJ" -- The price of admission: harassment and free speech in the wild, wild West / Stephanie Brail -- Sex, fear and condescension on campus: cybercensorship at Carnegie Mellon / Donna M. Riley -- Cocktails and thumbtacks in the old West: what would Emily Post say? / Laurel A. Sutton -- "So please stop, thank you": girls online / Michele Evard -- MUDder? I hardly know 'er: adventures of a feminist MUDder / Lori Kendall -- Like magic, only real / Tari Lin Fanderclai -- Coming apart at the seams: sex, text and the virtual body / Shannon McRae; Includes bibliographical references; Ellen Ullman shares an email courtship - Paulina Borsook exposes gender attitudes at the digerati's magazine of record - Karen Coyle on overcoming macho stereotypes - Judy Malloy and Cathy Marshall reflect on their art/research collaboration - Susan Clerc and the zeal of media fandom - Netta Gilboa explores hackers' attitudes toward women - Jean Camp on the Internet's safe havens - Judy Anderson's advice on dodging Usenet flames - Stephanie Brail seeks the line between free speech and harassment - Donna Riley reveals the story of the Clitoral Hoods - Laurel Sutton and the nuances of netiquette - Michele Evard takes news-groups to the fifth grade - Lori Kendall wonders if gender is meaningless online - Tari Lin Fanderclai on MUDs as a powerful teaching tool - Shannon McRae takes a look at "virtual sex"

The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State by Emmaia Gelman - Hardcover

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.