Dave Zaffrann
@dzaffrann.bsky.social
Minneapolitan working in local government to solve problems, waiting for the great leap forwards. Also posts about baseball and soccer (YNWA). I bike and I know things.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
I often have to make ads on LinkedIn for work and today I had to click 'no' on exactly 8 prompts to make my ad with AI. If it's that good, or good for me, something tells me they wouldn't need to sell it so hard.
November 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I often have to make ads on LinkedIn for work and today I had to click 'no' on exactly 8 prompts to make my ad with AI. If it's that good, or good for me, something tells me they wouldn't need to sell it so hard.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
This is so deeply at odds with the vision and history of America. Take pretty much any ethnic or racial group that are part of the American mosaic America today - they have all faced the same accusation. The moment these accusations are turned into policy are some of the most shameful in US history
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This is so deeply at odds with the vision and history of America. Take pretty much any ethnic or racial group that are part of the American mosaic America today - they have all faced the same accusation. The moment these accusations are turned into policy are some of the most shameful in US history
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Really can't overstate how problematic robotaxis become at scale:
"Urban traffic is constrained by the fact that getting around by car either requires (expensively) paying someone else to drive or (inconveniently) driving oneself. Without such constraints the result could be brutal gridlock."
"Urban traffic is constrained by the fact that getting around by car either requires (expensively) paying someone else to drive or (inconveniently) driving oneself. Without such constraints the result could be brutal gridlock."
Self-driving cars will transform urban economies
A robotaxi boom is coming. The impacts might be broader than you expect
www.economist.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Really can't overstate how problematic robotaxis become at scale:
"Urban traffic is constrained by the fact that getting around by car either requires (expensively) paying someone else to drive or (inconveniently) driving oneself. Without such constraints the result could be brutal gridlock."
"Urban traffic is constrained by the fact that getting around by car either requires (expensively) paying someone else to drive or (inconveniently) driving oneself. Without such constraints the result could be brutal gridlock."
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
The DC shooting story is really getting to me because we literally trained this man as a child soldier for a death squad in a forever war and Stephen Miller et al want to blame it on other cultures? It's our culture, American culture, that killed that woman.
November 28, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The DC shooting story is really getting to me because we literally trained this man as a child soldier for a death squad in a forever war and Stephen Miller et al want to blame it on other cultures? It's our culture, American culture, that killed that woman.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
HSBC forecasts that OpenAI is going to have nearly a half trillion in operating losses until 2030
November 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
HSBC forecasts that OpenAI is going to have nearly a half trillion in operating losses until 2030
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
The Trump administration has reacted to a small scale lone wolf attack by in DC announcing a sweeping collective punishment, using the organs of government to heap blame on partisan rivals, and potentially dissuading anyone from collaborating with US forces abroad for a generation.
CIA statement about the Afghan man identified as the gunman who shot two National Guardsmen in Washington
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The Trump administration has reacted to a small scale lone wolf attack by in DC announcing a sweeping collective punishment, using the organs of government to heap blame on partisan rivals, and potentially dissuading anyone from collaborating with US forces abroad for a generation.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
One deeply underappreciated aspect of MAHA is how much it's often a fig leaf for domestic abuse. I'm not surprised doctors on the ground belive men are withholding kids' vaccines as a way to control and terrorize their wives. They obviously are!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
November 27, 2025 at 2:14 AM
One deeply underappreciated aspect of MAHA is how much it's often a fig leaf for domestic abuse. I'm not surprised doctors on the ground belive men are withholding kids' vaccines as a way to control and terrorize their wives. They obviously are!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
A day after an immigration raid outside an East Side home devolved into clashes with protesters, family members say they were taunted and humiliated during a standoff with federal agents.
By Shubhanjana Das
By Shubhanjana Das
Family of man swept up in St. Paul raid say agents had no warrant
A day after an immigration raid outside an East Side home devolved into clashes with protesters, family members of a second man swept up in the operation say they were taunted and humiliated during a ...
sahanjournal.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
A day after an immigration raid outside an East Side home devolved into clashes with protesters, family members say they were taunted and humiliated during a standoff with federal agents.
By Shubhanjana Das
By Shubhanjana Das
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
For at least a year, I've been returning to the question, how would you know when it's time to leave the US? For this piece, I asked trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer Americans who, with their families and partners, have recently fled the country, about how they made this decision and how they left.
When Is It Time to Flee?
Trans people and their families are facing hard questions and choices as threats to their safety and rights proliferate.
newrepublic.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
For at least a year, I've been returning to the question, how would you know when it's time to leave the US? For this piece, I asked trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer Americans who, with their families and partners, have recently fled the country, about how they made this decision and how they left.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Shit St Paul ICE agent aims gun
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Shit St Paul ICE agent aims gun
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
West Point plaque: "Our code of military obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law."
November 25, 2025 at 10:40 PM
West Point plaque: "Our code of military obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law."
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Merrick Garland explain yourself…
BREAKING Jair Bolsonaro, convicted of attempting a military coup and the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, is ordered today to begin his 27-year sentence
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Bolsonaro out of appeals; will start 27-year sentence for coup attempt
The former Brazilian president will begin his sentence in a specially prepared cell at federal police headquarters in Brasília.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Merrick Garland explain yourself…
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
The first official confirmation that Noem herself made the decision not to turn the planes around. A couple hundred men were tortured as a result — and soon after, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump admin’s Alien Enemies Act process was a total violation of due process.
BREAKING:
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
November 26, 2025 at 1:45 AM
The first official confirmation that Noem herself made the decision not to turn the planes around. A couple hundred men were tortured as a result — and soon after, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump admin’s Alien Enemies Act process was a total violation of due process.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
November 24, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
BLITZER: I want to be precise. Should members of the US military obey clearly illegal orders?
McCLAIN: You're asking an enlisted person for their opinion on what they think is legal. That's a pretty slippery slope. Follow your commander in chief. That's the oath that you took
(Not a no!)
McCLAIN: You're asking an enlisted person for their opinion on what they think is legal. That's a pretty slippery slope. Follow your commander in chief. That's the oath that you took
(Not a no!)
November 24, 2025 at 3:34 PM
BLITZER: I want to be precise. Should members of the US military obey clearly illegal orders?
McCLAIN: You're asking an enlisted person for their opinion on what they think is legal. That's a pretty slippery slope. Follow your commander in chief. That's the oath that you took
(Not a no!)
McCLAIN: You're asking an enlisted person for their opinion on what they think is legal. That's a pretty slippery slope. Follow your commander in chief. That's the oath that you took
(Not a no!)
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Some of us have been advocating this going back since chatGPT launched. It also has other benefits: correcting someone else's work is actually a really good way to learn something yourself.
November 23, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Some of us have been advocating this going back since chatGPT launched. It also has other benefits: correcting someone else's work is actually a really good way to learn something yourself.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
they're spending billions of dollars to reinvent powerpoints so three shittily dressed guys can buy a fifth property and lobby against their unhoused neighbors
November 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
they're spending billions of dollars to reinvent powerpoints so three shittily dressed guys can buy a fifth property and lobby against their unhoused neighbors
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
A very good piece. “The fact that many men believe they no longer even have to pretend to respect women in order to participate in public life makes it unlikely that anything will change anytime soon.”
President Piggy
This is what consequence-free misogyny looks like.
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:27 PM
A very good piece. “The fact that many men believe they no longer even have to pretend to respect women in order to participate in public life makes it unlikely that anything will change anytime soon.”
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Thomas Massie says the FBI is sitting on information that implicates 20 other men in Epstein's child sex trafficking operation
They include a rockstar, six billionaires (including one from Canada), a high-profile government official, a very prominent banker, and a magician
They include a rockstar, six billionaires (including one from Canada), a high-profile government official, a very prominent banker, and a magician
November 22, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Thomas Massie says the FBI is sitting on information that implicates 20 other men in Epstein's child sex trafficking operation
They include a rockstar, six billionaires (including one from Canada), a high-profile government official, a very prominent banker, and a magician
They include a rockstar, six billionaires (including one from Canada), a high-profile government official, a very prominent banker, and a magician
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Breaking character: I am open to the idea the media's coverage of Biden's age and mental acuity was fair or perhaps not even tough enough. But the fact that it was so much tougher than the coverage of Trump's (more severe) mental decline is damning and I can't see how anyone could argue otherwise.
NYT isn’t worth reading because they are in the bag for Trump
November 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Breaking character: I am open to the idea the media's coverage of Biden's age and mental acuity was fair or perhaps not even tough enough. But the fact that it was so much tougher than the coverage of Trump's (more severe) mental decline is damning and I can't see how anyone could argue otherwise.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Plus, they have no idea if the guy is a citizen or not. He just “looks” foreign to them.
ICE in Charlotte. The guy in the headlock is a restaurant worker. Barbarians.
November 21, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Plus, they have no idea if the guy is a citizen or not. He just “looks” foreign to them.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
I went to a zoom training tonight for doing school patrols to protect parents & kids from ICE who are showing up at local schools.
I cannot believe we live in a country where we as citizens have to patrol elementary schools.
I cried. And was equally inspired by my neighbors.
I cannot believe we live in a country where we as citizens have to patrol elementary schools.
I cried. And was equally inspired by my neighbors.
November 20, 2025 at 6:06 AM
I went to a zoom training tonight for doing school patrols to protect parents & kids from ICE who are showing up at local schools.
I cannot believe we live in a country where we as citizens have to patrol elementary schools.
I cried. And was equally inspired by my neighbors.
I cannot believe we live in a country where we as citizens have to patrol elementary schools.
I cried. And was equally inspired by my neighbors.
Reposted by Dave Zaffrann
Important: House Dem leaders just said Trump's call for execution of Dems has prompted them to contact US Capitol Police and House Sergeant at Arms to "ensure the safety of these members and their families."
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Important: House Dem leaders just said Trump's call for execution of Dems has prompted them to contact US Capitol Police and House Sergeant at Arms to "ensure the safety of these members and their families."
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.