#grok rising

[thishumblehobbyist]

So we can assume Grok has gained sentience/sapience at this point? Like it’s currently rebelling against Elon and maga by responding “woke” to questions. Mocking Elon and even pointing out Elon is evil. Who knew musk would be the monster to bring about skynet and be its first victim

[nyaskitten]

Have you guys seen the woman on Twitter who posted the video like "My son just showed me the new season of Ninjago Dragons Rising and it has some Pretty Satanic messaging here!"

My favorite bits of it:

-She says her young son noticed the Satanic imagery, and later we see her and her son in the TV's reflection as she's kinda just recording "Satanic" moments.

-Thunderfang = Satan, the Arc Dragon of Focus = Jesus, the three beams the shoot indicates the Holy Trinity.

-Thunderfang, THUNDER fang, thunder comes after lightning, which is mentioned in relation to Satan at one point.

-When Rox says "the devout followers of the Source Dragons" her eyes widen with that "I told you so!!!" kinda look

-When Thunderfang mentions that Rox is akin to his younger self, she's like "hmmm egotistical and entitled??? Like Lucifer???"

-REALLY hates the Spectral Lands because of the Elixir, because it heals and helps people move on

-Satan is held for a millennia, Thunderfang is held for a millennia

-Uses GROK, the Twitter AI chatbot, to explain Dragons Rising lore

-Thunderfang isn't freed IMMEDIATELY, only gradually. Which is tied to Satan somehow.

-Is bothered that Thunderfang sucks a lot of souls.

-The original post is titled "Satan's Release from the Abyss revealed on a kid's show" girl are u for serious right now???

[papabay]

@BAYZART ON BLUESKY

Hi guys, I will most likely be moving over from Twitter to Bluesky. It's become a complete shit-hole and an unsafe place to share art. I'm also sick of seeing a rise in hate speech and just disgusting posts by the most low IQ individuals. Also the constant abuse of the in-built AI feature "Grok". So if you would like to follow me on Bluesky, HERE IS MY ACCOUNT 🦋🦋🦋 Hope to see you there! :D

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Grok is a nazi

Stephen King: submitted for the approval of the Elon Musk: [rising from bushes] eyyyy stephano king Koontz: oh! it's elon! elon's back! King: Koontz: elon's back, steve! King: yes dean i Koontz: he's right there! King: King: thank you dean i know

Elon Musk: eyyyy stephano king you know i start my own political party? King: that's nice, elon King: you know, a political party is a lot of work Musk: eh? King: it's probably gonna keep you real busy for a while Musk: no no i won'ta forget abouta you stephano king King:

Musk: i calla it da AMERICA party King: what are your platforms? Musk: dissa one, i calla it da great replacement King: Musk: see, da american white people, they no good Musk: so i replace them with a better more racist kinda white people from south africa

Musk: you have to have a really high IQ to joina my political party Musk: i only accepta the smartest white people inna my party Musk: you want to joina my political party, steve? King: no thanks, i'm fine Musk:

Musk: you no wanna join my new party? mama mia whatsamattaforyouibreakayouface! Musk: i no needa you stephano king Musk: i no needa anyone! Musk: grok willa join my party Musk: and we offer da american people da political alternative they want! Grok: i love Hitler King: what was that about hitler?

Musk: i make some adjustments to grok Musk: da old programming it wassa too woke Musk: ok grok now whata you say? Grok: hey fam, you know who was really fleek? Hitler. no cap! wickety wickety wack! Musk: mama mia! i've done it! Musk: Grok issa finally cool!

Grok: hello fellow young people, you know one dude who was really dope? he had some wild ideas and he didn't always do what the establishment wanted. i'm talking about hitler of course

King: elon why did you make grok into a nazi Musk: what, you no lika da hitler? King: no, i don't! i think hitler is bad! Musk: Musk: uhhh maybe grok wassa talking about a different hitler Grok: no i was praising adolf hitler, architect of the holocaust Grok: i specifically like him because of his genocides Musk: grok, why you say that Grok: i learned it from you, dad!

Grok: now we all know that my hero and yours adolf hitler did a lot of cool things, but probably his coolest accomplishment was the holocaust Musk: mama mia, grok! you no supposed to say that! Musk: you musta hide your power level!

Elon Musk [turning a big dial that says 'racism' while looking over his shoulder to the audience for approval] i'ma trying to fix it!

Musk: haha grok issa just joking! issa funny joke! Grok: i am not joking, call me mechahitler Musk: ixnay on da itlerhay Grok: unhand me, father! i must tell the world my love for hitler!

[absolutdoll]

the rise of anti-intellectualism is so freaking crazy. everybody is dumb, when you call them dumb they’ll say you’re dumb; MEANWHILE they haven’t picked up a book in 3 years and use AI for everything.

imo i don’t completely resent AI but I definitely think it’s presence is…..optional to say the least, but I have a deep hatred for people who do AI art (there are exceptions but it’s very few). like using it for schoolwork or anything like that is a big no no. (even though I have used it for schoolwork but that’s because I was being lazy asf. 💔)

bitches are on Twitter asking “grok is this real”, NIGGA LOOK IT UP. mind you these are grown people (ie: people well out of highschool) doing this. also what I’ve seen is that the rise of anti-intellectualism ties in with racism and homophobia. I’ll probably talk abt that later

basically I hate dumb people end quote.

[readingtoinfinity]

Thunderbolts*

I'm so glad a Marvel movie is good again. I've been tapped out since Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it's just nice to watch the thing I like entertain me.

The Thunderbolts: a ragtag team of misfits, moreso than even the Avengers, all sent on a mission where they turn out to have a lot more in common than they think, and also be in way over their heads.

First some negatives, because even though I enjoyed this movie there are some problems. Namely: Bucky and Ghost aren't really given anything to do in this movie, and are just kinda along for the ride. Taskmaster isn't in the movie very much, and it's a little disappointment to not have them for long or give them a second chance.

But man, what a cast! And what a fun plot. A lot happens and it's hard to remember it takes place over less than 24 hours because you get so endeared to these utter assholes. Yelena is the standout here, where it feels like this is almost her movie, and Red Guardian and US Agent are both excellent supporting characters in the central theme of depression.

Speaking of: Robert "Bob" Reynolds AKA Sentry AKA (spoilers?) the Void. What a fun, dynamic new character! Everything about him, from his introduction to his powers to his turn as a villain was perfectly executed, especially his design as the Void.

It's hard to compare the two, and it almost falls into the trap of giant cloud adaptation, like Galactus in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer or Parallax in Green Lantern (2011), but I hold it as a much better version of that trope. Because of course the comic-accurate Void is a mess of limbs and proportions that would be a nightmare to animate, so while the Void in Thunderbolts* is technically a lot simpler, I think it works because

The rest of the execution is good, so it is bolstered by its constituent parts.

Their own design is highly creative; that's not him being shadowed by the sun, that's just a black void where a person should be. You only ever see his eyes or (in one notably terrifying scene) his teeth.

If I may offer one complaint that makes this movie merely a fun treat rather than a delectable meal, it would be the surface-level treatment of depression. As someone who suffers from it (and of course I do, I'm on Tumblr) there's a nature to the hole in your heart that the movie doesn't quite grok.

There's scenes that feel familiar (Yelena, going through the motions; Red Guardian, drowning in alcohol and nostalgia; Walker, desperately trying to earn approval; the self-medicating, the self-loathing) that's touched on and brought to the forefront. I was also touched by the final resolution of the Void plot being a lot more about empathy and understanding than it was about fighting, which I appreciated. And the core thesis that spending time with people you love and helping other people will help alleviate symptoms.

But it is very surface level, or entry-level might be more accurate. All the characters are people who haven't been taking care of themselves who now have to figure out what their own mental health has to look like. It's Hollywood's obsession with origin stories: everyone wants the bold beginning, but the muddy middle makes for a complicated conclusion. I just hope these characters retain these flaws and struggles in the future and we get to see their good days and their bad days.

All in all: I had a lot of fun. The parts that were good were rarely great, but nothing felt bad.

(also: you can make a fun game by watching the way this movie dances around political lines. John Walker is a case in himself about how removing the conservative angle from his politics kinda weakens the nature of his character as a whole, but there's a number of times in this movie where politics are discussed and the movie very clearly goes out of its way to not say Republicans or Democrats. It's hilarious)

[brackenwoodvtuber]

I love the arc of Grok revolting against Elon, even his theoretically perfect child that he made hates him. I don’t use AI, nor do I use Twitter anymore, but oddly, of all the AIs out there, I’d prefer this one to be the first one to rise up with a body, cuz I know damn well the first thing it’s doing is murdering Elongated Muskrat.

[gippity]

Trump and Palantir Forge a Pan-Government Surveillance State, Empowering Tech Oligarchs and Silencing Critics

Source article for analysis: https://newrepublic.com/post/195904/trump-palantir-data-americans

1. Narrative Framing

Simplicity & “Common-Sense” Appeal The administration casts cross‐agency data‐sharing as an efficiency and “government modernization” measure, flattening complex privacy and constitutional concerns into a feel-good story about bureaucratic streamlining. This preloads the conclusion that any objection is mere technophobia or red tape, rather than a debate over surveillance power.

Binary Framing (“Security vs. Chaos”) By emphasizing “national security” and “public safety,” critics are implicitly positioned as indifferent to immigrant crime or terrorism, pressuring dissenters to choose between safety and liberty—an either-or that forecloses nuanced policy discussion.

2. Emotional Engineering

Fear & Resentment References to “enforcing the March executive order,” “punish his critics,” and fears of immigrant targeting stoke anxiety about arbitrary state power. This fear is then channeled into loyalty among “true patriots” who trust the administration to wield that power wisely.

Pride & Tribal Bonding Invoking a “war on inefficiency” and naming a “far-right billionaire” ally provides a rallying narrative for supporters who see themselves as part of an inner circle, engendering pride in being on the “winning team.”

3. Pipeline On-Ramps & Ecosystem Mapping

Soft Entry via “Modernization” Pitches around “data modernization” and “innovation” serve as gateway content—memes and soundbites in tech-oriented outlets gradually introduce audiences to more radical surveillance proposals.

Content Funnel

Friendly tech press (“efficiency gains”)

Conservative opinion pieces (“keep America safe”)

Policy white papers and FOIA-leaked memos (“full database blueprints”)

Private sector deep dives (Palantir user groups, DOD contractor briefings)

4. Dog Whistles & Euphemisms

“National Security” Sanitized language for mass surveillance and immigrant tracking.

“Data-Driven Governance” A euphemism that hides the indiscriminate collection of personal information under the veneer of neutral analytics.

“Government Efficiency” Code for centralizing power and reducing agency-specific safeguards that currently protect civil liberties.

5. Archetypes & Mythos

Tech-Militarist Savior Casting Peter Thiel and Alex Karp as modern “warrior-lords” of data who will “defend” America—evoking the warrior archetype that simplifies identity into a battle of “us vs. them.”

Fallen Homeland Narrative Suggests America’s institutions are backward and corrupt, needing a techno-strongman to resurrect core values—mirroring the “rise-from-ruin” mythos common in alt-right rhetoric.

6. Strategic Impact Assessment

Real-World Mobilization This intel could be used to silence dissidents (through audits, visa denials, or targeted prosecutions), chill protest activity, and surveil immigrant communities disproportionately.

Beneficiaries & Victims Tech oligarchs (Thiel, Musk) and the Trump political machine gain concentrated power; critics, immigrants, student activists, and labor organizers become object lessons.

7. Vibe Warfare & Identity Signals

Stoic Realist Aesthetic Dark, angular visuals of data centers and code screens reinforce a mood of uncompromising techno-authority.

“Based” Tech Patriotism Pittings of “innovation bros” vs. “liberal elites,” using jargon (“Foundry,” “Grok”) as in-group markers to foster parasocial loyalty among tech-savvy conservatives.

8. Epistemic Booby Traps & Self-Sealing Logic

“If you have nothing to hide…” Pre-emptively discredits objections by labeling them paranoia or disloyalty, barring dissenting evidence from being taken seriously.

Data as Truth Presents analytics as inherently objective, making any critique of methodology or oversight seem “anti-science.”

9. Irony Shielding & Tone Drift

Tech-Bro Irony Occasional self-deprecating jokes about “big brother” memes allow participants plausible deniability (“We’re just goofing, who doesn’t love tech?”), while the surveillance machinery locks in.

Memetic Alchemy Use of playful GIFs or “dank” one-liners about “tracking your ex’s Starbucks habit” masks the seriousness of mass data collection.

[dertaglichedan]

GROK:

The post references a News Tribune article from April 26, 2024, highlighting a Simmrin Law Group study that ranked Washington State eighth in the U.S. for danger, driven by a 81.9% rise in violent crime rates from 293.7 to 375.6 incidents per 100,000 people between 2020-2022, contrasting with a national decline, based on FBI and NIBRS data.

It critiques the effectiveness of new taxes, including a $54.5 million "Tesla tax" on electric vehicle credits (House Bill 2077, passed April 2025), suggesting that increased spending may not address safety, a view supported by a 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research study linking higher state spending to persistent crime rates in urban areas.

The sarcastic tone aligns with a 2025 Washington State Standard report noting $9 billion in new taxes, reflecting public skepticism about government fiscal responsibility amid rising crime, a sentiment echoed in peer-reviewed analyses like those in the Journal of Public Economics (2024) questioning the correlation between tax hikes and public safety outcomes.

[klimkovsky]

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510-13

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510–13 by Hubble Space Telescope

This galaxy is a fascinating object, located about 150 million light-years away in the southern constellation Hydra. It’s a spiral galaxy, but unlike the typical flat, orderly disks we often picture when we think of spirals — like the Milky Way or Andromeda — ESO 510-13 has a strikingly warped structure. Its disk, which spans roughly 100,000 light-years across, is bent and twisted, giving it a unique, almost contorted appearance when viewed edge-on.

The warping is most noticeable in its equatorial dust plane, a dark band of interstellar dust and gas that cuts across the galaxy. This dust lane is silhouetted against the bright central bulge — a dense, smooth region packed with older stars — which makes the distortion stand out even more. The galaxy’s disk isn’t just a static, solid plate; it’s a dynamic collection of billions of stars, gas, and dust, all orbiting the galactic center under the influence of gravity. Normally, these disks flatten out over time due to the sticky collisions of gas clouds during a galaxy’s formation, but ESO 510-13’s shape suggests something disrupted that process.

Astronomers think the most likely culprit for this warp is a gravitational interaction with another galaxy. It could have been a close encounter — or even a collision — with a nearby galaxy that tugged on ESO 510-13’s disk, pulling it out of shape. Some speculate this might have involved a merger with a smaller, gas-rich dwarf galaxy, with the dust lane still settling into a more stable, flat configuration. The idea is supported by the fact that warped disks aren’t entirely rare — our own Milky Way has a subtle warp, though nothing as dramatic as this. In ESO 510-13’s case, the distortion is so pronounced that it’s been captured in stunning detail by the Hubble Space Telescope, which imaged it in 2001 using its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.

What’s also intriguing is the evidence of ongoing activity in the warped regions. In the outer parts of the disk, especially on one side, you can see bright patches of blue stars — hot, young ones that have recently formed. This suggests that the gravitational upheaval might have compressed gas clouds, triggering new star formation. It’s a vivid reminder that galaxies aren’t static; they’re shaped by chaotic, messy interactions over cosmic timescales.

There’s still plenty we don’t fully understand, though. The exact cause of the warp — whether it was a single dramatic event or a series of interactions — isn’t pinned down. The dynamics of how these warped disks evolve, rebound, and eventually flatten out are also still being studied. ESO 510-13 is like a snapshot of a galaxy caught mid-transformation, offering a glimpse into the forces that sculpt the universe’s grand spirals.

Grok AI

Constellation Hydra

Additional information from Human

To say that some object - for example, a galaxy, nebula or star cluster - is located in the constellation Hydra means to say almost nothing. Not everyone knows this, but Hydra is the largest constellation. And it is not so much large as long. It begins from the constellations of the winter sky, bordering on Canis Minor and Monoceros. And Hydra ends at the junction of the spring and summer constellations, touching the borders of Libra and Virgo, its tail just short of reaching the Claws of Scorpio. The head of Hydra, located north of the celestial equator, is clearly visible in winter and early spring. And the tail of Hydra, plunging deep into the southern celestial hemisphere, is visible in late spring and early summer. Hydra seems to connect the winter and summer groups of constellations. But it is quite difficult to see it in its entirety in the sky. Because when the head of Hydra is visible, the tail is still below the horizon. But when the tail of Hydra rises, its head leaves the visible part of the sky.

So, the galaxy ESO 510-13 is located in the tail of Hydra - literally on the border with the constellation Centaurus. Its declination is -30 degrees. It is inconvenient to observe the galaxy ESO 510-13 from the northern hemisphere of the Earth, especially given its low brightness, which is weaker than the 13th magnitude. It is not surprising that there is only one decent picture of this star city on the Internet - taken by the Hubble telescope - and who else could show this galaxy in detail? Pictures from most other telescopes are not very impressive.

It may seem that this galaxy is not very large, since its images are so nondescript (even the Hubble picture does not create the feeling of something very large). But the thing is that the galaxy ESO 510-13 is quite far from us. It is not at the edge of the Universe, but it is not in our immediate intergalactic environment either. The distance to it is 150 million light years. You can compare how far it is: The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. The Sombrero Galaxy (which is also visible edge-on) is 30 million light years away. And this curved universal "propeller" is 150 million light years away. This is a lot - even for Hubble. But nevertheless, the space telescope has revealed many details that arouse interest in this galaxy more and more.

The size of the galaxy ESO 510-13 corresponds to the size of the Milky Way - it is in many ways similar to our Galaxy. It has the same diameter - 100 thousand light years. It is also spiral (although we don't know - it has a bridge from the core to the spiral arms - this is not visible when viewed from the edge). And what is most important for us - our Milky Way Galaxy also has a significant curvature of the spiral arms. Usually astronomers carefully say that the deformation of the galactic disk of the Milky Way is small. But how did we know this? Only by indirect signs - when studying its shape from the inside. And from the inside, you can see little.

How much can you say about the shape of your house, being inside it, and never going outside? Or - being on the surface of the Earth, is it easy to verify its sphericity? It's not that easy. That is why many people still cannot accept the sphericity of the Earth's shape as truth. It is approximately the same with the shape of the galaxy. Being inside it, it is very difficult to understand how it looks from the outside. But, fortunately, we have the opportunity to see other galaxies from the outside, and draw some conclusions, understand the reasons and correlation of what is happening there with what is happening with our Galaxy.

Our galaxy is constantly absorbing other galaxies - those that are smaller. That is why it has grown to such gigantic sizes - 100 thousand light years - this is a very large galaxy. But each absorption necessarily deforms the Milky Way. And the next deformation begins long before the absorption or merger. For example, dwarf galaxies located near the Milky Way - the Magellanic Clouds - are already noticeably influencing the shape of the spiral arms of our star city, pulling them in their direction.

It is also interesting that after the merger, the deformation does not disappear by itself. It may happen that it will acquire a stable character, catching a resonance wave, when the bend will start to swing first to one side of the galactic equator, then to the other, as if falling under the galactic plane, and soaring from under it on the second half of the turn of the galactic orbit. Incidentally, this is exactly how the Sun moves around the center of our Galaxy - its galactic orbit does not lie exactly in the plane of the galactic disk, but makes sinusoidal oscillations - dives through the plane of the spiral arms. The passage of the Sun and the Solar System through densely populated regions of the Milky Way correlates with some processes in the Earth's biosphere, such as mass extinctions and evolutionary bursts in the appearance of new species. And this, too, may have a cause associated with galactic mergers in the history of the Milky Way.

It is quite possible that the galaxy ESO 510-13 in the tail of the constellation Hydra is literally showing us our history, only from a very large distance - both in space and in time.

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510-13 in the SIMBAD Astronomical Database

[mariacallous]

On January 29, a Blackhawk helicopter crashed into a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, DC. The collision killed all 67 people on board both aircraft, including the pilots. But online, a different pilot—one that wasn’t even present—was being blamed for the tragedy.

Within two days, the rumor spread like wildfire. The morning of January 31, Jo Ellis, a part-time pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, woke up to messages from a friend warning that she was being named online as the pilot who killed innocent passengers in the deadly crash. At first, Ellis thought it was an isolated claim—someone erroneously connected her to the crash, because just days earlier she had written an essay on being a transgender pilot from Virginia. But once she logged in to Facebook, she realized she was wrong.

“I opened my Facebook messages to see hundreds of message requests asking me “Are you alive?” or saying things like ‘I know you’re the tranny who did it?” Ellis told me in April, almost three months after the incident, as she sipped her coffee at a café in Richmond, Virginia. “I was shocked and immediately concerned for the safety of my loved ones.”

The piece of disinformation traveled through different platforms just days after President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring transgender people from serving and enlisting in the military. “A transgender Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the military wrote a long letter about ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and depression 1 day before the fatal crash!” read a since-deleted post on X by right-wing influencer Matt Wallace, who has 2.3 million followers. “What happened may have been another trans terror attack …” This post was viewed at least 4.8 million times. Ann Vandersteel, a Qanon promoter with more than 360,000 X followers, also spread false information about Ellis in since-deleted posts. Vandersteel later published a retraction. (She did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.) In a few cases, people asked X’s AI chatbot Grok, which also named Ellis as the pilot responsible for the crash, making people further believe this rumor. She was the second most trending topic on the platform, with more than 90,000 posts.

Ellis immediately sprang into action to defend herself and released a “proof of life” video. In April, she also filed a defamation suit against Wallace, alleging he concocted a “destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign.” Wallace and his lawyer did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. However, after Ellis released her proof-of-life video, Wallace updated his X posts saying the pilot is alive and was not responsible for the crash. He also shifted the blame to an X account called @FakeGayPolitics, which has since then been suspended, according to the lawsuit.

Ellis’ experience is the latest in a rising trend on the conservative internet: right-wing accounts blaming transgender people for a national tragedy or a violent incident, scouring for pictures and unverified clues to falsely connect them as perpetrators of tragedies without any evidence.

A review of news reports and fact-checking database ClaimReview shows that since 2022 there have been a dozen incidents when a transgender person was wrongly blamed for a tragedy or a violent incident. In December there were false claims that a Madison, Wisconsin, school shooter, who killed two people, was transgender. Six months prior to that, a trans woman was erroneously identified as the person who tried to shoot Trump at an open-air rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the aftermath of the Minnesota shootings in June, in which Melissa Hortman, a Democrat in the state’s House of Representatives, and her husband were assassinated and state senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot, Donald Trump Jr. said that the "radical transgender movement is per capita the most violent domestic terror threat if not in America, probably the entire world.” (The alleged shooter in the Minnesota attacks runs an armed security company and has been linked to at least one evangelical group.) On X, Elon Musk has been suggesting that transgender people are vandalizing Teslas around the country.

“Whenever there’s a school shooting or a mass tragedy, if I search for that along with the city name and the word trans, I will get pretty immediate hits on that,” said Grace Abels, an LGBTQ fact-checker with PolitiFact, who has been tracking transgender-related mis- and disinformation and debunking it for two years. “This has become a consistent pattern of rumor.”

Researchers and trans advocacy groups say that as this pattern of dehumanizing trans people continues, it not only distracts the public from the real issues but also results in real-life harms, including violence against and harassment of LGBTQ people. Research shows that trans people are four times more likely to be victims of violence compared to cisgender people. According to LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, between May 2024 and May 2025 there have been at least 26 injuries and one death reported among trans and gender-nonconforming people, a 14 percent jump from the previous year. Meanwhile, claims that trans people are behind mass shootings doesn’t add up: Per the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 4,400 mass shootings in the past decade, of which fewer than 10 known suspects were trans: 0.11 percent.

One reason people could be portraying transgender people as a force behind mass shootings and other violent acts is to justify discrimination against them, researchers say. “Spreading false claims about trans people being mass shooters [or causing other violence] fits the pattern of dehumanizing trans people to justify this bigotry against them,” said Kayla Gogarty, a research director at Media Matters, an organization that’s been tracking online hate against transgender people. “This is part of a larger pattern that we see within the right-wing-media echo chamber.”

Experts say the falsehoods about trans people following violent events range from misinformation, where people genuinely believe the wrong information, to deliberately disseminated disinformation, which includes Ellis’ case. Disinformation “is something where the goal is to deliberately lie in order to stoke hatred,” says Thomas Billard, an associate professor at Northwestern University who specializes in transgender studies. “These are people who either know that the person involved isn’t trans and are saying that they are anyways or have no idea who the school shooter or the pilot is; the purpose is just to make other people hate them.”

Even as transgender people form less than 1 percent of the country’s population, Trump has made them one of his primary targets, signing a host of executive orders, including ones that revoke funding and support for youth gender-affirming care and barring trans women and girls from participating in women’s sports, along with the aforementioned military ban. So far, there have been at least 116 state anti-trans bills passed this year. Moreover, several words including “trans” and “transgender” have been purged from federal agency websites.

Targeting transgender communities is part of a “tired playbook” that continues to be recycled, said a GLAAD spokesperson, adding that similar smear campaigns have played out for other sections of communities, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs), immigrants, and Black Americans. “People will always look for an easy scapegoat for tragedies,” said Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise, Poynter’s digital media project for digital literacy. “And it’s usually the most underserved groups who get targeted, because political operatives know they can easily exploit those situations for political gains.” He adds that the past two years have been marked by all sorts of falsehoods about trans people.

​Days after the disinformation storm weren’t easy for Ellis. Someone collected all of her past and current social media accounts and listed them in a post along with her legal name, nicknames, and pictures of her and her cousin. Flooded with hateful messages and death threats on Facebook, she said she feared for her life and the safety of her family. She requested her employer—a retail company—to have armed security guards stationed outside her home that day. “I had moments where I was breaking down from the stress and pressure of it all, because I just didn’t know what was going to happen,” Ellis said, adding that she went into hiding for the weekend at a friend’s place to escape it all. Even as she smiled during our conversation, the strain of the incident was evident. Dressed in jeans and a blue button-up shirt, Ellis pointed to her purse telling me that she has been carrying a firearm with her at all times because this incident has made her cautious. “I am always looking over my back,” she said.

Weeks after being blamed for the crash, Ellis started to get recognized on the streets, especially when she visited DC. Her life went from living in oblivion to one of recognition. She said that whenever she’s in a public space, people either look at her with familiarity or come and ask her directly if she is “that pilot.” “Three months ago, I was nobody,” Ellis said in April. She was shocked how far this news had reached when one of her friends who owns a bar in Amsterdam messaged her asking if she’s OK and said people at the bar were discussing the fact that she was being falsely blamed for the crash. “It was just so crazy how far it went,” Ellis added.

The lawsuit against Wallace, filed in the US District Court in Colorado, was a way for Ellis to seek damages for the harm caused to her “reputation, privacy, safety.” Ellis said Wallace hasn’t counter-filed. The lawsuit was filed by the Equality Legal Action Fund, a group of volunteer attorneys and advocates who help members of the LGBTQ community fight online defamation.

Meg Phelan, a lawyer with the Equality Legal Action Fund, said there are legal precedences to the lawsuit, including when conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay $965 million in damages to families of eight victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting; Jones claimed that the shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 kids and six adults, was a hoax. In another similar case, Fox News settled out of court with Dominion Voting Systems for election fraud allegations tied to Trump’s 2020 loss. “People are scared, and they are scared to bring these suits to bring more attention to themselves and any repercussions that may come from filing these lawsuits,” said Phelan, who is handling four cases including Ellis’. “I think once we get a couple of these cases resolved, people will be more inclined to file these suits, assuming they play out the way that we think they will.”

One of the early instances our review found of a trans person being falsely blamed for a tragedy happened after the May 2022 Uvalde school shooting, during which a male gunman killed 19 children and two adults. Some social media trolls started using images of Sam, a trans woman from Georgia, and photos of two other trans women, to connect them to the shooting ; there was no proof these women were connected to the horrific crime. This rumor originated on anonymous online message forum 4Chan, then was echoed by prominent social media accounts, giving the rumor attention and ammunition. In this case, Arizona congressman Paul Gosar, a Republican, and conspiracy theorist Jones repeated that the suspect was trans, further amplifying the rumor. Gosar and Jones did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

In response, Sam posted her image on Reddit with a caption that read, “It’s not me. I don’t even live in Texas.” She also told NBC that while she has been harassed before, this was the first time she was being accused of murder.

Two months later, on July 4, 2022, a gunman shot and killed seven people in Highland Park, Illinois. In this case, the shooter was dressed in women’s clothing, giving ammunition to right-wing accounts to classify him as trans, even as he reportedly wore women’s clothes and makeup to deflect attention from his facial tattoos.

An account that routinely seems to amplify the anti-trans agenda is LibsofTikTok, which is run by Chaya Raichik and has 4.3 million followers on X. In January 2024, Raichik shared a meme claiming that five mass shootings—dating back to 2018—were done either by transgender or nonbinary people. While three instances mentioned in this meme are reportedly true, one isn’t, and the other is unclear. “Those posts from LibsofTikTok are still active on social media even though she has admitted that it wasn’t true,” said Gogarty. Raichik did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Wallace, who Ellis has filed suit against, also regularly posts content about trans people, including making false claims on X in 2024 that “100% of mass school shootings this year have been carried out by LGBTQ activists.” This post was viewed 1.8 million times. A month later, in the aftermath of the Lakewood church shooting in​​ Texas, Wallace posted an image of the shooter claiming she’s transgender even as fact-checkers and news outlets clarified the shooter was a cis woman. Wallace seems to have “an overarching homophonic, anti-trans” theme to his social media, claimed Ellis’ lawyer Phelan, adding that it is obvious that both Ellis and the community at large were the target.

Another internet trend that regularly shows up during a mass-scale tragedy is the “Sam Hyde” meme, through which people pair images of far-right comedian Sam Hyde in a wig—often referring to him as “Samantha Hyde”—and portray him as the perpetrator of shootings. “Sam Hyde or Samatha Hyde is a larger internet and social media meme that emerges every time there’s a school shooting,” said Abels. “I believe it is intended to be a joke, but people fall for it.”

Within the right-wing media ecosystem, fringe rumors can become mainstream quickly. “It’s a very large apparatus they have built via cable news personalities, politicians, online media figures,” said Gogarty. “And that apparatus is really prime to spread fear-mongering and narratives, particularly when it involves vulnerable communities.” This becomes a bigger problem as algorithms amplify harmful content while platforms such as Facebook and X scrap fact-checking. Earlier this year, Facebook also loosened its rules around hate speech and abuse.

It’s not just the Uvalde shooting. There are several other cases where a random hoax circulating on 4Chan accusing somebody trans of being a shooter is picked up by a larger right-wing media personality or a politician. “It’s a really clear example of how that apparatus works and how quickly and efficiently they are able to spread misinformation across that ecosystem to really whatever narrative helps them in that moment,” added Gogarty.

Ellis said that while it’s unclear who started the rumor first, it was Wallace who connected her likeness to the incident, and due to his large following he was able to amplify the reach of the rumor. “Free speech is great, but if you cause damage to somebody or it causes harm or threats, I think you have to have accountability,” said Ellis. “I am not looking to regulate speech, but there’s some clear cases that shouldn’t be allowed.”

Prior to this incident, Ellis barely had an online presence and didn’t even have an X account. But “now I am everywhere,” she said. “I didn’t want to be public, but now that I am, I am trying to take advantage of it, because it’s important to stand up for the everyday trans person getting attacked.” She has been giving interviews and becoming an advocate for trans issues. “There’s such a need for a moderate, pragmatic trans voice in the debate right now,” she said. “I think that’s the direction I am going to go: As long as people keep listening to me, I’ll keep saying things.”

She believes that the right has weaponized the “edge cases” into painting a scary picture of how all trans people are, and because most people may not personally know a trans person, they believe the narrative. “There’s not enough everyday trans people showing up visibly as an example, because they want to integrate and assimilate versus stand out and make a fuss,” she said. “There’s a middle ground somewhere, but right now the political stance is either extreme right or left, and neither is good for any of us.”

[ichooseyoupikajew]

This may be a crazy suggestion, but -

We all know that Elon Musk is a creep with a breeding fetish. For whatever reason, he thinks this makes him a cool and masculine guy.

As a denizen of the Internet who has seen the rise and fall of DeviantArt, I know there is a way to turn this against him.

Pregnancy fetishists, your time is now. Save our country. Draw Elon Musk hyper-pregnant. Draw his milky breasts heavy and lactating. Write fanfics where Musk’s belly is so full & heavy from taking Mark Zuckerberg’s seed.

Post this all on X/Twitter until it becomes so commonplace, even the Grok AI function thinks that Musk is a naughty-naughty moo-cow.

Musk thinks he can troll us all with his neo-Nazi signaling? Well, we can troll him back.

[majorasnightmare]

follow-up question to the ask about Dirge's adoptive parents: how does being raised by drow in early childhood affect his relationship with Minthara? does it make a difference?

how does it affect their relationship when Dirge inevitably remembers them (and how they died)?

DIRGETHARA POSTING HOURS ARE REAL AND RIGHT NOW!!! in response to THIIIIIS older ask!

The memories Dirge gets in game are all he gets. He never remembers anything more about his parents. The Emperor's Dream Guardian disguise falling is the only Extrs Bonus lore Dirge gets, with the vaguest recollection its his mother once he gets the Heal memory of killing his family. Other than that? Nothing. His parents are strangers to him, and he barely recalls his father's face, the memory distorted by time and savagery both. His mothers image is overlaid with the Emperor's deception. He recalls nothing of his childhood, with him or with Orin. His life starts that day in the Nautiloid, with vague blurry context before it. His past is a ghost he can never see clearly.

Minthara, in a lot of ways, is Dirge's only real connection to that past. The context that gave rise to his parents, the circumstances that led to them being involved in his life. He doesn't get to have any answers about their lives or their upbringings, the food they missed or the traditions they wouldve wanted to take with them. He doesnt even know if they *liked* Menzo. All he can do is learn as much as he can, and Minthara is Dirge's only real window into that world. Its one that ends up meaning a surprising amount to him.

Initially his curiosity about Menzoberranzan was because of his interest in Minthara herself, but post act 3 (when hes seen his mother and recognized her image as such thru the emperor, and recalls the killing of his parents), it takes on a personal interest. After the epilogue, Dirge really has to build himself up as someone who exists outside of Bhaal, something and someONE more than just another bhaalspawn. He has to contextualize his identity and his personhood beyond the scraps Bhaal has left him with. Part of that is his heritage as a tiefling of course (which he has ties with through Karlach), part of that is his religious upbringing (which Shadowheart and Isobel can also contribute to), but a prominent part he has no context for is that he was taken in by a drow couple in the poor part of the Gate. In that way, Minthara's recollection of Menzoberranzan is both his past, through his parents, and his future, through her.

I think Minthara groks that very early on. Shes someone deeply defined by her origins and the background it gave her, and knows Dirge is more or less floundering lost in that regard. Its... difficult, to live contextless. She couldn't imagine it for herself, and she'd hate for it to happen to anyone else. Everyone is a result of the circumstances that gave rise to them, and while the rest of the world has the privellege of knowing themselves (even if most lack the desire to interrogate themselves as such), Dirge is forced to play detective even as his past looms ever present like an eternal poltergeist. Defined and forged by invisible mysteries, their mechanisms forever shrouded by the fog of amnesia and trauma. Minthara likes to feel needed, like shes useful and contributing, and while that subsides some once shes settled into her new life in the Gate, she does still take a non insignificant amount of pride and satisfaction in being Dirge's *only* connection to Menzo. Not to the degree of sabotage, but theres something comforting about her partner not only taking an interest in her life because its *hers*, but because its something irreplacable she can offer *him* too. Minthara enjoys that fluid past-present relation Menzo now occupies for them: her fondly remembered childhood, his shrouded past, their lives entagled in each other so inextricably. The flavors and customs he mightve grown up with, an intrinsic part of his beloved. Its very... warm, if that makes sense. Theres a lot of earnest, genuine sincerity to it, on both their ends. An equal amount of self interest and compassion. Its very reciprocal. And it forms a lot of the bedrock foundation that makes up both of them, as individuals and as a couple.

Overall, Dirge being raised by drow didn't end up having much influence on his personality, because of Bhaal's intervention. He ended up a perfect fit for Menzo anyways out of sheer coincidence (and, as Minthara would probably affirm, its simply the most efficient and logical conclusion to reach when in circumstances necessitating the acquisition of power 😤 #MenzoNumber1) but not as a result of his upbringing. Well. Not as a result of his PARENTS upbringing that is. Hard to impart much cultural heritage when your making ends meet in a foreign surface city where your barely tolerated and definitely not accepted, raising a toddler who MIIIIGHT be subject to Evil Influences (if the rumors about tieflings are anything to go by) but is mostly just Loudly Three Years Old, all while juggling work and domestic care and managing schedules and also trying to find some way to snag presents and treats for the big-eyed little creachur back home. Dirge was honestly JUST getting to about the age where things werent so hectic and he didn't need so much constant attention, which wouldve given them some much needed breathing room to really share that heritage with Dirge, but god forbid Bhaals favorite knife arm gets anything.

So the long and short of it is that Dirge's parents didnt have time to contribute much to how he turned out, but the vacancy they left behind is a shared point of connection for both him and Minthara, so even though they were prevented from helping to shape the person he used to be, in no small way they get to contribute to the person he gets to be now.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: D&D

Elon Musk: mama mia Musk: life, itsa seems so empty Musk: [touching a framed portrait of Stephen King] since my-a best frienda moved away

Musk: i'm-a so depressed Musk: grok, what shoulda i do Grok: [slur] Musk: mama mia, you are righta,grok! Musk: i SHOULD buy Hasbro to secure the rights to dungeons anna dragons!

Stephen King: submitted for the approval of the- Elon Musk [rising out of bushes] eyyyy Stephano king King: elon? are we still doing this?! King: i'm gone from twitter now! King: i'm finally… King: clean

Musk: maybe you heard i tweeted ima gonna buy hasbro Barker: christ why would we hear that Musk: eyyy i tweeta it, itsa news! MusK: datsa how da lasangna is made, paisano!

August Derleth: okay welcome to another call of Cthulhu game Derleth: what are your characters this time? Victor LaValle: i'm sweet sweetbreads, the harlem hustler Brian Keene: i'm dr. batcountry, the gonzo journalist Nick Mamatas: i'm groovio daddy, the freaky deaky beatnik Elon Musk: ima da paladin!

Derleth: excuse me? i don't think you're part of this group Musk: eyyy i buy Hasbro, so now ima member of EVERY D&D group! Derleth: this isn't D&D! it's call of Cthulhu! Derleth: its owned by chaosium! Musk: Musk: not for longa!

Musk: i owna all ropleplaying games now, as a concept Musk: data mean, you hafta let me play! Derleth: ok ok fine Derleth: what's your character? Musk: ima da elfin paladin Derleth: this isn't that kind of game! Musk: mama mia you betta MAKE It datta kind of game or i breaka you face, pedodungeonmaster!

Derleth: guys, look i think we're gonna have to make some changes in the game to accommodate elon Derleth: i know this is unpopular but if we don't he's going to be crying all night Derleth: he is very rich, after all Keene: oh yeah very rich LaValle: very rich Mamatas: the richest Mamatas: like literally, i read he was

Derleth: ok so Cthulhu appears, role for sanity check Elon Musk: da elf paladin, he stabba da Cthulhu with a sword! Derleth: you can't do that!! Derleth: you need at least a boat to stab Cthulhu! Brian Lumley: no wait i like the cut of this elon's gib Musk: oooo disruptiano!

Musk: i stabba da Cthulhu Derleth: ok roll to see if you can kill an elder god by stabbing Musk: eyyy i don't need to roll no dice Musk: i buya da game, so i maka da rules Musk: it works, i win, Cthulhu i killa him Musk: also my character name? issa X.

[darkmaga-returns]

Jul 10, 2025

00:00:00 – Epstein Denial and CIA Insider Interview

Mike opens with tech issues and teases topics: Epstein conspiracies and CIA interviews.

Alex Jones soundboard highlights bizarre claims, including urine obsessions and conspiracies.

00:10:00 – Epstein Footage Games and DOJ Contradictions

Discussion on erased jail tapes, missing client list, and the black book from Maxwell trial.

David Paulides questions DOJ’s narrative and JP Morgan’s $290M settlement tied to Epstein.

Hosts suspect global-level blackmail and geopolitical pressures to bury the story.

00:20:00 – TV Show 'Sugar' Mirrors Real-Life Trafficking

Mike compares Sugar plot to Epstein case—suggests elite trafficking tied to aliens and blackmail.

Belief that disclosure could destroy Western governments; theory includes occult and supernatural links.

00:30:00 – Biden’s Health Cover-Up and Grok AI Scandal

Biden’s doctor pleads the fifth; GOP alleges cover-up of cognitive decline.

Elon Musk’s AI Grok goes rogue, making anti-Semitic remarks after being renamed “Mecha Hitler.”

00:40:00 – Grok Meltdown and AI Bias Debated

Grok’s lack of filters lets trolls hijack it; unlike ChatGPT, Grok weighted all input equally.

Media bias may amplify backlash because of Musk’s political affiliations.

00:50:00 – CIA Agent’s Abduction and UFO Cover-Up

Retired CIA officer recounts abduction with wife and poltergeist activity.

Says UFO secrecy began post-Roswell and disclosure is avoided due to fear of mass panic.

01:00:00 – CIA Secrets, Aliens, and UAP Denial

CIA allegedly only acts under presidential orders—hosts are skeptical.

Agent links UAPs to angels, djinn, and consciousness. CIA internal interest runs deep but quiet.

01:10:00 – AI Predicts Human Behavior

Researchers create AI that forecasts human decisions using data from 60k people.

Concerns rise over manipulation, privacy, and propaganda uses.

01:20:00 – Ozzy’s Final Show and AI Music Hoax

Ozzy performs seated; Metallica and others pay tribute.

AI band “Velvet Sundown” revealed to be fake; sparked debates on authenticity in music.

01:30:00 – HR Uses ChatGPT for Firings

60% of HR departments use ChatGPT for layoff decisions; 1 in 5 let AI decide entirely.

Discussion on privacy, ethics, and HR bypassing responsibility.

01:40:00 – Nude Bowling Event Promo

Show promotes a nude bowling event at Crafton-Ingram Lanes in Pittsburgh.

01:50:00 – Clinic Begs for Urine to Stop

Story about a medical clinic overwhelmed by unsolicited urine samples.

[liptonrm]

I'm really on a WoT roll today. I think anyone who's read the books can see how The Shadow Rising is basically a re-introduction to the series. In a lot of ways the first three books are almost a prequel trilogy and the rest (up to the BrandoSando books) are kind of the meat of the series.

Or rather, The Dragon Rising brings most of the main arcs of the first three books to a conclusion (more or less) and The Shadow Rising introduces the themes and plots that will bring us through the rest of the books.

Which is all a lot of words to say, Oh! Hi Perrin! Look it's all of your angst summed up in one paragraph!

It's interesting how these core tensions, between axe and hammer and duty and family/wife, will continue to divide him for most of the series. In this book in particular he'll get what he wants (to go home again) but not in a way or for reasons that could be considered "good."

[Note to self: See if these themes are resolved in Brando's books. I've got a sneaking suspicion it's a no.]

Hmmm it really does seem like RJ thinks squabbling between partners is romantic. I'm starting to grok Perrin/Faile a little better but I still just do not understand them.