Rani Molla
@rani.bsky.social
Senior correspondent @sherwood.news. Tech and charts. https://sherwood.news/author/rani-molla/
Pinned
Rani Molla
@rani.bsky.social
· Dec 9
The revenge of the company town: Elon Musk, the new Baron of Bastrop
The billionaire is using the sheer force of his will and wealth to reshape an area in the Lone Star State — whether the locals like it or not....
sherwood.news
I hung out in Elon Musk’s company town. Its playground is always broken. The school is accepting just a fraction of the students it was supposed to because they didn’t build a big enough well. And you can buy any canned beverage imaginable but can’t recycle them. sherwood.news/power/the-re...
Reposted by Rani Molla
This story will make you want to cry, vomit, throw your phone against the wall, or some combination of all three ... www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
She bounced a $25 check in 2014. ICE tried to deport her.
A Missouri grandma and lawful resident spent months in detention for a decade-old misdemeanor, underscoring the massive scope of the administration’s deportation efforts.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:24 PM
This story will make you want to cry, vomit, throw your phone against the wall, or some combination of all three ... www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
OpenAI fires female executive who opposed “adult mode” for sexual discrimination. Got it. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
Exclusive | OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination
Ryan Beiermeister, who served as the vice president leading OpenAI’s product policy team, had raised concerns about the upcoming launch of erotic content.
www.wsj.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:10 PM
OpenAI fires female executive who opposed “adult mode” for sexual discrimination. Got it. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
Reposted by Rani Molla
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
big MAHA energy www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Exclusive | Trump to Repeal Landmark Climate Finding in Huge Regulatory Rollback
The move would reverse a legal determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health.
www.wsj.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 PM
big MAHA energy www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Rani Molla
Glad everyone isn’t using AI for medical advice... www.reuters.com/business/hea...
AI no better than other methods for patients seeking medical advice, study shows
Asking AI about medical symptoms does not help patients make better decisions about their health than other methods, such as a standard internet search, according to a new study published in Nature Me...
www.reuters.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Glad everyone isn’t using AI for medical advice... www.reuters.com/business/hea...
Guess they realized having to ask Siri to ask ChatGPT stuff in order to get a reasonable answer wasn’t a good experience www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Apple Plans to Allow Outside Voice-Controlled AI Chatbots in CarPlay
Apple Inc. is preparing to allow voice-controlled artificial intelligence apps from other companies in CarPlay, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that will let users query AI chatbo...
www.bloomberg.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Guess they realized having to ask Siri to ask ChatGPT stuff in order to get a reasonable answer wasn’t a good experience www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Sitting out the conversation on spending ungodly sums on data centers is lone Big Tech company Apple, whose capex actually *declined* last quarter sherwood.news/tech/apple-i...
February 6, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Sitting out the conversation on spending ungodly sums on data centers is lone Big Tech company Apple, whose capex actually *declined* last quarter sherwood.news/tech/apple-i...
Reposted by Rani Molla
I would never attempt to call a top but there are many reasons -- some straightforwardly arithmetical -- that this trend can't go on for much longer
Big Tech companies spent a record amount on capex last quarter. This year they say it’s going to go up 50% more. sherwood.news/tech/big-tec...
Big Tech capital expenditure soared in 2025. It’s going up another 50% in 2026.
Tech companies are sparing no expense building out their giant AI visions....
sherwood.news
February 6, 2026 at 12:49 PM
I would never attempt to call a top but there are many reasons -- some straightforwardly arithmetical -- that this trend can't go on for much longer
I’m not an economist but
@rani.bsky.social here's one for the ages: ELON MUSK: “We are 1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country, and fail as a country, without AI and robots. Nothing else will solve the national debt.”
February 6, 2026 at 12:26 PM
I’m not an economist but
Big Tech companies spent a record amount on capex last quarter. This year they say it’s going to go up 50% more. sherwood.news/tech/big-tec...
Big Tech capital expenditure soared in 2025. It’s going up another 50% in 2026.
Tech companies are sparing no expense building out their giant AI visions....
sherwood.news
February 6, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Big Tech companies spent a record amount on capex last quarter. This year they say it’s going to go up 50% more. sherwood.news/tech/big-tec...
2025: Tech companies are spending so much on capex!
2026: They’re gonna double it
2026: They’re gonna double it
February 4, 2026 at 9:53 PM
2025: Tech companies are spending so much on capex!
2026: They’re gonna double it
2026: They’re gonna double it
Reposted by Rani Molla
current front page in the onion newstand
February 2, 2026 at 11:02 PM
current front page in the onion newstand
Reposted by Rani Molla
"Melania: Devourer of Men, a parodic erotic thriller depicting the First Lady as a monster, became the number one bestseller in the Conspiracy Thrillers category on Amazon."
Weekly Review, by Harper’s Magazine
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Milan to demand that the ICE agents sent to support security operations at the Winter Olympics leave the country; and Italy’s foreign minister claimed that the incom...
harpers.org
February 3, 2026 at 8:49 PM
"Melania: Devourer of Men, a parodic erotic thriller depicting the First Lady as a monster, became the number one bestseller in the Conspiracy Thrillers category on Amazon."
French cybercrime unit has summoned Musk to discuss fraudulent data extraction and algorithm abuse on 4/20. Good luck! www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit searches X office, Musk summoned
French police raided the offices of Elon Musk's social media network X and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in April related to a widening investigation into the platform, th...
www.reuters.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:56 PM
French cybercrime unit has summoned Musk to discuss fraudulent data extraction and algorithm abuse on 4/20. Good luck! www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Reposted by Rani Molla
I interviewed an expert on what's happening with connectivity in Iran:
The longest blackout in Iran's history. Thousands dead. Documentation of war crimes dependent on Starlink. A regime that uses AI's ubiquity to undermine the credibility of evidence. www.theverge.com/policy/87184...
The longest blackout in Iran's history. Thousands dead. Documentation of war crimes dependent on Starlink. A regime that uses AI's ubiquity to undermine the credibility of evidence. www.theverge.com/policy/87184...
Shedding light on Iran’s longest internet blackout
A staggering death toll.
www.theverge.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
I interviewed an expert on what's happening with connectivity in Iran:
The longest blackout in Iran's history. Thousands dead. Documentation of war crimes dependent on Starlink. A regime that uses AI's ubiquity to undermine the credibility of evidence. www.theverge.com/policy/87184...
The longest blackout in Iran's history. Thousands dead. Documentation of war crimes dependent on Starlink. A regime that uses AI's ubiquity to undermine the credibility of evidence. www.theverge.com/policy/87184...
Reposted by Rani Molla
got a contact high from reading this elon spacex/xai merger press release: “SpaceX and xAI's mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!” www.spacex.com/updates#xai-...
SpaceX
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.
www.spacex.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:10 PM
got a contact high from reading this elon spacex/xai merger press release: “SpaceX and xAI's mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!” www.spacex.com/updates#xai-...
Cars accounted 73% of Tesla’s revenue last year but hey whatever
February 2, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Cars accounted 73% of Tesla’s revenue last year but hey whatever
Reposted by Rani Molla
for those keeping track, we're at "Long Island fireman polarized against Trump" levels of thermostatic popular opinion
ICE was stealing equipment from the Islip Long Island fire department and a Islip Forward member documented it. ICE tried to arrest the community member but the firemen said “I don’t think so” www.islipforward.org
February 2, 2026 at 6:42 PM
for those keeping track, we're at "Long Island fireman polarized against Trump" levels of thermostatic popular opinion
In case you’re wondering what’s happening on the other site, Elon is saying that Kamala — not him! — will suffer from Epstein list
February 2, 2026 at 5:21 PM
In case you’re wondering what’s happening on the other site, Elon is saying that Kamala — not him! — will suffer from Epstein list
very woke: X updated Grok to ban sexual deepfakes of women, but tests show Grok still undresses men www.theverge.com/report/87206...
Elon Musk’s Grok is still undressing men
Elon Musk insists xAI’s chatbot doesn’t break the law, but it’s still churning out nearly naked, sexualized images of men.
www.theverge.com
February 2, 2026 at 3:26 PM
very woke: X updated Grok to ban sexual deepfakes of women, but tests show Grok still undresses men www.theverge.com/report/87206...
Reposted by Rani Molla
In the last 48 hours, Musk's reactions to the Epstein release show exactly why he bought Twitter.
He's used the platform to call coverage of his emails with Epstein as "lies," elevated his fans who have defended him, and gotten positive reinforcement from his AI chatbot.
He's used the platform to call coverage of his emails with Epstein as "lies," elevated his fans who have defended him, and gotten positive reinforcement from his AI chatbot.
February 2, 2026 at 1:31 AM
In the last 48 hours, Musk's reactions to the Epstein release show exactly why he bought Twitter.
He's used the platform to call coverage of his emails with Epstein as "lies," elevated his fans who have defended him, and gotten positive reinforcement from his AI chatbot.
He's used the platform to call coverage of his emails with Epstein as "lies," elevated his fans who have defended him, and gotten positive reinforcement from his AI chatbot.
Reposted by Rani Molla
multiple trump-created crises converging with deadly results.
BREAKING: ICE has halted "all movement" at a Texas detention facility due to measles infections, DHS confirms.
ICE halts "all movement" at Texas detention facility due to measles infections
The measles cases at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center were detected Friday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News.
cbsn.ws
February 2, 2026 at 1:27 AM
multiple trump-created crises converging with deadly results.
Reposted by Rani Molla
the arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.
January 30, 2026 at 4:40 PM
the arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.