Sandhya Dirks
@audiosand.bsky.social
Journalist, audio documentarian, writer person. Assistant professor of English at Dartmouth. Previously: NPR race and identity correspondent, “alarmingly divisive"
signal: sandhya_.96
Podcasts: On Our Watch, American Suburb.
signal: sandhya_.96
Podcasts: On Our Watch, American Suburb.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Compare this to Biden leaving Afghanistan & think about what the incentives are for every American politician
everyone on the tv wants you to know that this is good actually
January 4, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Compare this to Biden leaving Afghanistan & think about what the incentives are for every American politician
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
ha - NYT has now changed this sentence, managing only to amplify the absurdity and offense of the original: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro describe themselves as socialists, though the policies Mr. Maduro presided over in Venezuela differ starkly from those Mr. Mamdani has vowed to pursue."
NYT gonna NYT: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro identify as socialists, though they have no relationship.” — would be funny if they did this every time you write about two capitalists.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...
Mamdani Called Trump to Criticize Venezuela Strikes
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:44 AM
ha - NYT has now changed this sentence, managing only to amplify the absurdity and offense of the original: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro describe themselves as socialists, though the policies Mr. Maduro presided over in Venezuela differ starkly from those Mr. Mamdani has vowed to pursue."
The actual comparison, politically, socially, factually is that Maduro and Trump both identify as dictatorial repressive authoritarians. This is so biased and weak and misinfo.
NYT gonna NYT: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro identify as socialists, though they have no relationship.” — would be funny if they did this every time you write about two capitalists.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...
Mamdani Called Trump to Criticize Venezuela Strikes
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:23 PM
The actual comparison, politically, socially, factually is that Maduro and Trump both identify as dictatorial repressive authoritarians. This is so biased and weak and misinfo.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
If the Republican Party was an institution suited to hold power in a religiously and culturally pluralistic democracy, it would not allow (let alone encourage) its rising youth to gleefully Hitler post.
FWIW, they have now deleted that post with no apology or explanation.
FWIW, they have now deleted that post with no apology or explanation.
January 4, 2026 at 2:40 PM
If the Republican Party was an institution suited to hold power in a religiously and culturally pluralistic democracy, it would not allow (let alone encourage) its rising youth to gleefully Hitler post.
FWIW, they have now deleted that post with no apology or explanation.
FWIW, they have now deleted that post with no apology or explanation.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Why Fascists Always Come for the Socialists First
Fascists strive impotently for a bigness the shrunken aspirations of their soul can never reach. Fascism is the banal dream of tiny men & deserves its place in the sewage of history.
@mattpolprof.bsky.social
www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-fas...
Fascists strive impotently for a bigness the shrunken aspirations of their soul can never reach. Fascism is the banal dream of tiny men & deserves its place in the sewage of history.
@mattpolprof.bsky.social
www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-fas...
Why Fascists Always Come for the Socialists First
Contrary to right-wing myths that the "Nazis were socialist," fascists despise socialism and want to destroy it. Here's why the left poses such a threat to them.
www.currentaffairs.org
January 4, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Why Fascists Always Come for the Socialists First
Fascists strive impotently for a bigness the shrunken aspirations of their soul can never reach. Fascism is the banal dream of tiny men & deserves its place in the sewage of history.
@mattpolprof.bsky.social
www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-fas...
Fascists strive impotently for a bigness the shrunken aspirations of their soul can never reach. Fascism is the banal dream of tiny men & deserves its place in the sewage of history.
@mattpolprof.bsky.social
www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-fas...
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Looks like the Trump administration is going to force the oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure so they can seize the country's reserves, which the companies neither want nor need.
Let's hear it for free enterprise!
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Let's hear it for free enterprise!
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Trump admin sends tough private message to oil companies on Venezuela
The White House has told companies they must rebuild Venezuela's crude-pumping infrastructure if they want compensation for assets seized by Caracas.
www.politico.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:25 AM
Looks like the Trump administration is going to force the oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure so they can seize the country's reserves, which the companies neither want nor need.
Let's hear it for free enterprise!
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Let's hear it for free enterprise!
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Every time I see a news article about ChatGPT pushing vulnerable people to harm themselves and others, I want to know how the universities who have eagerly proclaimed their partnerships with this company intend to account for the increasing evidence of the harms of this tech
He put his complete trust in a chat bot that turned him into a savage murderer.
Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges
A lawsuit against OpenAI reveals the chilling ChatGPT messages that drove a middle aged man to kill his 83-year-old mother.
trib.al
January 4, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Every time I see a news article about ChatGPT pushing vulnerable people to harm themselves and others, I want to know how the universities who have eagerly proclaimed their partnerships with this company intend to account for the increasing evidence of the harms of this tech
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
For all that the media has spent years freaking out about what social media does to our brains, I don’t understand why there appears to be little effort to grapple with the fact that these chatbots are, for some not insignificant portion of the population, literally psychosis machines
He put his complete trust in a chat bot that turned him into a savage murderer.
Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges
A lawsuit against OpenAI reveals the chilling ChatGPT messages that drove a middle aged man to kill his 83-year-old mother.
trib.al
January 4, 2026 at 1:32 PM
For all that the media has spent years freaking out about what social media does to our brains, I don’t understand why there appears to be little effort to grapple with the fact that these chatbots are, for some not insignificant portion of the population, literally psychosis machines
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
OpenAI is now facing a total of 8 wrongful death lawsuits from grieving families....who claim that ChatGPT, in particular, the GPT-4o version, drove their loved ones to suicide. Soelberg’s complaint also alleges that company executives knew the chatbot was defective before it pushed it to the public
He put his complete trust in a chat bot that turned him into a savage murderer.
Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges
A lawsuit against OpenAI reveals the chilling ChatGPT messages that drove a middle aged man to kill his 83-year-old mother.
trib.al
January 4, 2026 at 2:06 PM
OpenAI is now facing a total of 8 wrongful death lawsuits from grieving families....who claim that ChatGPT, in particular, the GPT-4o version, drove their loved ones to suicide. Soelberg’s complaint also alleges that company executives knew the chatbot was defective before it pushed it to the public
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
New euphemism for "bottomless corruption and naked abuses of power" just dropped
January 4, 2026 at 11:35 AM
New euphemism for "bottomless corruption and naked abuses of power" just dropped
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
January 3, 2026 at 9:42 PM
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
NEW: Plans for secret U.S. raid to capture Maduro leaked to the Washington Post and New York Times before it happened, but both decided not to publish to protect U.S. troops - Semafor
January 4, 2026 at 2:04 AM
NEW: Plans for secret U.S. raid to capture Maduro leaked to the Washington Post and New York Times before it happened, but both decided not to publish to protect U.S. troops - Semafor
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
The most junior copy editor at the nation’s worst college paper could find a way to squeeze “which killed an estimated 40 people” somewhere into these top 6 grafs of the NYTimes story.
It was a conscious decision to bury it in the bottom half.
It was a conscious decision to bury it in the bottom half.
January 4, 2026 at 5:20 AM
The most junior copy editor at the nation’s worst college paper could find a way to squeeze “which killed an estimated 40 people” somewhere into these top 6 grafs of the NYTimes story.
It was a conscious decision to bury it in the bottom half.
It was a conscious decision to bury it in the bottom half.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Now, every day is another lesson in how powerless we are. There is no popular sovereignty. We are represented by no one. It’s not just that the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping and rendition of its head of state is illegal; it’s that it doesn’t matter how illegal it is.
January 4, 2026 at 3:42 AM
Now, every day is another lesson in how powerless we are. There is no popular sovereignty. We are represented by no one. It’s not just that the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping and rendition of its head of state is illegal; it’s that it doesn’t matter how illegal it is.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
when CBS News said they would no longer interview experts or elites and would only talk to regular people the regular people they meant they were going to talk to were all Pete Hegseth.
Nightmarish. CBS News is now running straight state propaganda. They handed Hegseth all three segments and are now tweeting flattering sound bites.
January 4, 2026 at 3:50 AM
when CBS News said they would no longer interview experts or elites and would only talk to regular people the regular people they meant they were going to talk to were all Pete Hegseth.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
GOP Rep. Pat Harrigan: "There are members of Congress that they just cannot trust. And I understand that. We have folks that are Somali first and not America first."
January 3, 2026 at 9:24 PM
GOP Rep. Pat Harrigan: "There are members of Congress that they just cannot trust. And I understand that. We have folks that are Somali first and not America first."
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Michael Gibson (Thiel Fellowship and 1517 Fund) just posted: “Someone should pitch Rubio on a charter city in Venezuela and Cuba.” As if he only just thought of this now. 1/ x.com/william_blak...
January 4, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Michael Gibson (Thiel Fellowship and 1517 Fund) just posted: “Someone should pitch Rubio on a charter city in Venezuela and Cuba.” As if he only just thought of this now. 1/ x.com/william_blak...
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Reminder that almost a quarter century ago, Schumer voted for the Hague Invasion Act, declaring that the US would militarily invade the Hague were it ever to be prosecuted by ICC for war crimes.
Biden did too, it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement to be unaccountable to international law.
Biden did too, it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement to be unaccountable to international law.
Look at how many names on this list are *still in power*, still kicking around. They weren't exactly young then, but now a lot of them are much much richer.
January 3, 2026 at 10:11 PM
Reminder that almost a quarter century ago, Schumer voted for the Hague Invasion Act, declaring that the US would militarily invade the Hague were it ever to be prosecuted by ICC for war crimes.
Biden did too, it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement to be unaccountable to international law.
Biden did too, it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement to be unaccountable to international law.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Look at how many names on this list are *still in power*, still kicking around. They weren't exactly young then, but now a lot of them are much much richer.
October 12, 2023 at 11:44 PM
Look at how many names on this list are *still in power*, still kicking around. They weren't exactly young then, but now a lot of them are much much richer.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
It’s sobering to look back on the run-up to the Iraq war—a period of unceasing chattering-class debate, elaborate official lies, media complicity, unavailing global protest, in the end a giant stitch-up—and have it seem like some sort of paradise of public deliberation compared to these gangsters.
January 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
It’s sobering to look back on the run-up to the Iraq war—a period of unceasing chattering-class debate, elaborate official lies, media complicity, unavailing global protest, in the end a giant stitch-up—and have it seem like some sort of paradise of public deliberation compared to these gangsters.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
The casualties already coming in. Grandmothers in their apartments….
January 3, 2026 at 7:21 PM
The casualties already coming in. Grandmothers in their apartments….
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things
January 3, 2026 at 8:03 PM
What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things
Preventing a country from having self determination is not keeping the “peace”
Trump just dismissed Nobel Prize winner Maria Muchado being considered as interim president of Venezuela. He said “She’s a nice woman” but can’t run the country. What happens when the people of Venezuela decide they want self-determination? American boots on the ground will be needed to keep peace.
January 3, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Preventing a country from having self determination is not keeping the “peace”
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
Blows my mind that some of the same journalists who see Trump as a want-to-be dictator at home are earnestly discussing the "challenges" for this same man to "bring democracy" to a country it just illegal invaded. Please grow up.
January 3, 2026 at 6:16 PM
Blows my mind that some of the same journalists who see Trump as a want-to-be dictator at home are earnestly discussing the "challenges" for this same man to "bring democracy" to a country it just illegal invaded. Please grow up.
Reposted by Sandhya Dirks
none of this is legal. none of this is normal. feel free to tell anyone who says otherwise to fuck off.
January 3, 2026 at 4:02 PM
none of this is legal. none of this is normal. feel free to tell anyone who says otherwise to fuck off.