ai "influencers" at coachella
ALSO: an indie rock psy op, Trump engages some idolatry, matcha helps with allergies (!!), and more
Happy Tuesday, April 14th!
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics – and I’ll share some notes and tips on what I’m keeping my eye on.
And don’t forget to head to the bottom of the newsletter for the GCC JOBS CORNER! Today, we’ve got James Talarico for Texas, Elias Law Group, Small Business and Entrepreneurship – Democrats (under Sen. Ed Markey), and Committee to Protect Healthcare.
I’M ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS FOR OPEN TABS :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), or buy me a matcha, that would be so appreciated 🙏
QUICK NOTE: if you’re going to be doing the happy hour circuit in DC on Monday or Tuesday of next week (for America Votes!) and want to chat all things digital media x politics x culture, please say hey! Conversely, my first final is on Friday, so if you see me out of the house after Tuesday night… please shame me into going home lol.
Swalwell scandal threatens cascade of House expulsion votes
The scandal surrounding Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is rapidly ballooning and could jolt a surge of expulsion votes for at least three of his House colleagues as soon as the chamber returns from recess next week. Multiple members in the 119th Congress accused of grave misbehavior have so far survived every push to oust them. The bill may finally be coming due. (Axios, 4/12)
Lucy’s note: It’s been exactly 20 years since Tarana Burke coined Me Too and 9 years since it took off on Twitter – which begs the question, is another wave coming? (since it’s not like things have really changed…)
Judge refuses to block sending abortion pill by mail for now, but says FDA must finish review
U.S. District Judge David Joseph, who sits in Lafayette, Louisiana, ruled against Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who asked that U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules that allow mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail be paused while a challenge to those 2023 regulations moves through the courts. He granted the government’s request to put the case on hold for now, though he warned that the pause would not be indefinite — and that he could side with Louisiana later. (AP, 4/7)
Trump post appearing to depict himself as Jesus sparks backlash from religious right
Unlike the post criticizing Leo, whom Trump later said he didn’t like and is too “liberal,” the image evoking Jesus drew swift criticism from some evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics who have otherwise expressed near constant support for Trump’s decisions. (WaPo, 4/13 – free version)
Lucy’s note: Trump’s excuse is that it was supposed to be him as a doctor, not Jesus… man, he’s not even really trying with the lies anymore, is he
AI influencers are ‘everywhere’ at Coachella
Ammarathegoat is most likely one such AI influencer trying to sell a false reality to its over 170,000 Instagram followers. Images posted by the account, which has no AI disclosure in the bio, show what looks like an AI-generated avatar posing for pictures with members of the Kardashian/Jenner family and real human content creators like Bretman Rock and James Charles, all with recognizable scenes of Coachella structures in the background. (The Verge, 4/13 – free version)
How the Internet Broke Everyone’s Bullshit Detectors
Automated traffic now commands an estimated 51 percent of internet activity, scaling eight times faster than human traffic according to the 2026 State of AI Traffic & Cyberthreat Benchmark Report. These systems don’t just distribute content, they prioritize low-quality virality, ensuring the synthetic record travels while verification is still catching up. Open source investigators are still holding the line, but they are fighting a volume war. (WIRED, 4/11 – free version)
Apple AI Glasses Will Rival Meta’s With Several Styles, Oval Cameras
The glasses are part of a broader, three-pronged AI wearables strategy that also includes new AirPods and a camera-equipped pendant. Each device is designed to leverage computer vision to interpret the user’s surroundings and feed contextual awareness into Siri and Apple Intelligence. (Bloomberg, 4/12 – free version)
Gig Workers Have Seconds to Take a Job. Gas Prices Complicate the Decision.
The AI-driven algorithm that Uber uses to set fares has already been resulting in lower per-ride pay for drivers, according to drivers and ride-hailing associations. Rising gas prices have made profit margins tighter. Martinez said her weekly take-home earnings of $1,200 began going down a year ago because of lower fares and have continued to drop to $700 because of high gas prices. (WSJ gift link, 4/11)
The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop
Now Chaotic Good cofounder Adam Tarsia confirms to WIRED that his company engineered campaigns for both Geese and Cameron Winter. “We helped distribute clips of them performing and doing some interviews on TikTok,” Tarsia says via email, speaking on behalf of Chaotic Good. “I understand that ‘industry plant’ discourse is inevitable, but we’ve had the pleasure of being Geese fans since their 2021 project Projector,” which, he notes, was released four full years before his agency launched. (WIRED, 4/14 – free version)
Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy
“Wit” means “we two” in Old English, a Germanic language spoken in England until about the 12th Century, which evolved into the English we speak today. Now completely lost, “wit” was part of an extinct group of pronouns used for exactly two people: the dual form, which also includes “uncer” or “unker” (”our” for two people) and “git” (”you two”). (BBC, 4/9)
The Universe is expanding too fast and scientists still can’t explain it
In theory, both methods should produce the same answer. In reality, they do not. Observations of the local Universe consistently point to a faster expansion rate of about 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec. Meanwhile, calculations based on the early Universe suggest a slower rate of roughly 67 or 68. The gap between these values is small in absolute terms, but far too large to dismiss as a statistical fluke. (Science Daily, 4/12)
Tired of Sneezing? This Everyday Drink Might Offer Some Relief, According to New Research
The study, published in the journal NPJ Science of Food, examined the impact of matcha on mice engineered to develop seasonal allergy-like symptoms. Some of the mice were given matcha extract three times a week for five weeks, along with an extra matcha exposure 30 minutes before they were exposed to an allergen that would typically spark their hay fever symptoms. (Food & Wine, 4/12)
Extra Credit 🤓
Some newsletters I thought were excellent recently:
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