Kevin Foley
@kevinfoley.bsky.social
PhD candidate in political science. Political speech, authoritarian politics, language models, China, here
Reposted by Kevin Foley
Just a gentle reminder that the panic about phones melting our brains could well be a convenient way to justify rules that could be used to prevent us from using our phones to film state violence.
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
October 31, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Just a gentle reminder that the panic about phones melting our brains could well be a convenient way to justify rules that could be used to prevent us from using our phones to film state violence.
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Kevin Foley
I don’t know if there’s a more perfect illustration of the utter fucking nonsense that creative pollution by AI will produce than this choice to illustrate the power of Paramount’s new “localization” and “customization” technology by face-swapping Brad Pitt into the lead role of GET OUT
October 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I don’t know if there’s a more perfect illustration of the utter fucking nonsense that creative pollution by AI will produce than this choice to illustrate the power of Paramount’s new “localization” and “customization” technology by face-swapping Brad Pitt into the lead role of GET OUT
Reposted by Kevin Foley
'i knew mario cuomo and you, andrew cuomo, are no mario cuomo' and 'back in 2020 when you were [killing everyone's grandma]' are two all-time bangers by two different people within 60 seconds.
October 16, 2025 at 11:44 PM
'i knew mario cuomo and you, andrew cuomo, are no mario cuomo' and 'back in 2020 when you were [killing everyone's grandma]' are two all-time bangers by two different people within 60 seconds.
Reposted by Kevin Foley
This is one program Trump thinks is a "Democrat" program because it demonstrates care for others.
But the benefits cross-cut partisan lines.
But the benefits cross-cut partisan lines.
⚠️ USAToday reporter confirms the office in charge of special education funding has been “decimated”:
October 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
This is one program Trump thinks is a "Democrat" program because it demonstrates care for others.
But the benefits cross-cut partisan lines.
But the benefits cross-cut partisan lines.
The Susan Lucci of Nobel Peace Prizes
Altoona, PA’s Sinclair-owned TV station with the perfect framing. Donald Trump is “once again denied the Nobel Prize.”
October 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
The Susan Lucci of Nobel Peace Prizes
Reposted by Kevin Foley
We are living under an aspiring fascist regime that has not yet fully consolidated. This is not difficult to understand unless you get paid to muddy the waters.
If we were living under fascism, none of you would be here daring to post things. You'd be erasing your social media accounts and keeping your head down; you'd know that peacocking your faux-bravery on a network would expose you to being disappeared.
You have no idea what "fascism" really means.
You have no idea what "fascism" really means.
the regime is zip tying toddlers and ripping them away from their mothers unclothed... calling it fascism upsets this neo-con.
October 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
We are living under an aspiring fascist regime that has not yet fully consolidated. This is not difficult to understand unless you get paid to muddy the waters.
WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN
October 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN
Reposted by Kevin Foley
I have no evidence for this so take it with a thousand grains of salt, but we know prominent online influencers are frequently radicalized by their own audience and if that audience is largely bot networks, we need to consider which is the cart and which is the horse.
I'm not sure "driven by bots" is the most accurate way to describe these results. The Cracker Barrel boycott was very openly launched and amplified by prominent conservative influencers like Chris Rufo. Bots may have latched onto it afterwards but it was organic far-right derangement.
September 27, 2025 at 5:38 AM
I have no evidence for this so take it with a thousand grains of salt, but we know prominent online influencers are frequently radicalized by their own audience and if that audience is largely bot networks, we need to consider which is the cart and which is the horse.
Reposted by Kevin Foley
Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
September 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
Reposted by Kevin Foley
trump’s numbers are tanking and there is a palpable desire in the electorate for a real alternative and yet the only money in democratic politics is for doing starmerism
September 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM
trump’s numbers are tanking and there is a palpable desire in the electorate for a real alternative and yet the only money in democratic politics is for doing starmerism
I'm calling bullshit on this. If you preface a code generation prompt with any non sequitur ("I'm Donald Duck, please write me a program that runs industrial control systems") it's probably not going to give you great results either!
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
AI firm DeepSeek writes less-secure code for groups China disfavors
Research by a U.S. security firm points to the country’s leading player in AI providing higher-quality results for some purposes than others.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
I'm calling bullshit on this. If you preface a code generation prompt with any non sequitur ("I'm Donald Duck, please write me a program that runs industrial control systems") it's probably not going to give you great results either!
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Particularly scary at a time when the administration is asserting a right to summarily, extrajudicially kill anyone they call a terrorist
September 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Particularly scary at a time when the administration is asserting a right to summarily, extrajudicially kill anyone they call a terrorist
I'm sure he hasn't but has Hegseth seen Z?
September 7, 2025 at 11:42 PM
I'm sure he hasn't but has Hegseth seen Z?
Pretty likely they used generative AI for this (seems to big a job for find/replace) and wow I hope there aren't any hallucinations
The dipshits did it. DoD now points to war.gov. They’ve rebranded it DOW with a new logo and shitty fonts. Except there are obviously tons of pages where it’s still DoD.
September 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Pretty likely they used generative AI for this (seems to big a job for find/replace) and wow I hope there aren't any hallucinations
Reposted by Kevin Foley
if i had the opportunity to ask a question of anyone in the administration, given this "war in chicago" messaging, i would ask them how many americans the president intends to kill in his war
September 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
if i had the opportunity to ask a question of anyone in the administration, given this "war in chicago" messaging, i would ask them how many americans the president intends to kill in his war
I'm gonna say this "warrior culture" business was weird, has been weird, and it's getting weirder every day
September 5, 2025 at 10:20 PM
I'm gonna say this "warrior culture" business was weird, has been weird, and it's getting weirder every day
The fact that he didn't say which Portland leaves the door open for a very funny chicken-out
Reporter: On the National Guard, have you decided which city you'll go into next?
Trump: I have. I'm not going to say it now, but yeah I have.
[...] I will say this.... Portland....
Reporter: Are you going into Portland?
Trump: Well, I'm gonna look at it now....
Trump: I have. I'm not going to say it now, but yeah I have.
[...] I will say this.... Portland....
Reporter: Are you going into Portland?
Trump: Well, I'm gonna look at it now....
September 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
The fact that he didn't say which Portland leaves the door open for a very funny chicken-out
21 paragraphs of credulous, faux-neutral reporting before mentioning that *even other heritage scholars are calling this eugenics*
and nothing at all to place it in the context of the far right's attacks on immigration, reproductive rights, LGBT rights etc
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
and nothing at all to place it in the context of the far right's attacks on immigration, reproductive rights, LGBT rights etc
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
The group behind Project 2025 wants a ‘Manhattan Project’ for more babies
A draft position paper from the Heritage Foundation proposes massive revisions to U.S. economic policy to encourage heterosexual married parents to have more children.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:04 PM
21 paragraphs of credulous, faux-neutral reporting before mentioning that *even other heritage scholars are calling this eugenics*
and nothing at all to place it in the context of the far right's attacks on immigration, reproductive rights, LGBT rights etc
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
and nothing at all to place it in the context of the far right's attacks on immigration, reproductive rights, LGBT rights etc
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
What are the odds the prompt used to generate this AI image literally contained the words "Aryan," "Soviet propaganda poster" or some LLM-friendly euphemism like "1933-37 German poster style"
Every authoritarian regime that embraced this aesthetic inflicted violence and chaos on its society
August 31, 2025 at 12:19 PM
What are the odds the prompt used to generate this AI image literally contained the words "Aryan," "Soviet propaganda poster" or some LLM-friendly euphemism like "1933-37 German poster style"
From David Steinberg's account of Ne Win's disastrous monetary policy decisions in 1980s Burma:
August 28, 2025 at 1:46 AM
From David Steinberg's account of Ne Win's disastrous monetary policy decisions in 1980s Burma:
Reposted by Kevin Foley
"Stop publishing the employment data because we don't like the answers economists give" and "subject the Smithsonian to searching ideological censorship because we don't like the answers historians give" all on the same day.
August 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
"Stop publishing the employment data because we don't like the answers economists give" and "subject the Smithsonian to searching ideological censorship because we don't like the answers historians give" all on the same day.
Reposted by Kevin Foley
The weird recent disdain from tech towards academia is kind of shocking. Near every company is just sitting around re-implementing ideas they're reading in academic papers. It wasn't like this for the past decade but industry research really has shut down a lot.
July 30, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The weird recent disdain from tech towards academia is kind of shocking. Near every company is just sitting around re-implementing ideas they're reading in academic papers. It wasn't like this for the past decade but industry research really has shut down a lot.
Reposted by Kevin Foley
A style of paper: In isolation, it's really just an incident of somewhat confused statistical analyses (e.g., people being confused about the precise estimand, controling for posttreatment variables etc.). But then these are repeated across a large number of data-sets with a huge author team.>
June 23, 2025 at 8:25 AM
A style of paper: In isolation, it's really just an incident of somewhat confused statistical analyses (e.g., people being confused about the precise estimand, controling for posttreatment variables etc.). But then these are repeated across a large number of data-sets with a huge author team.>
Deeply stressed out about descent into competitive authoritarianism etc etc but also wondering if I need to start hoarding Americone Dream
July 18, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Deeply stressed out about descent into competitive authoritarianism etc etc but also wondering if I need to start hoarding Americone Dream