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This time next week, the U.S. will have voted. Anyone else feel sick?! This is our regular thread, which highlights the newsrooms and reporters who have an active presence in the fediverse. Inevitably, we have political stories and politics-adjacent stories, along with some lighter fare, and some that straddle the two (@TexasObserver’s story on a new Greg Abbott musical fits perfectly into that category). Please check out the stories, follow the publications, click on the stories, subscribe, donate and otherwise support if you can. See you on the other side.

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Yes, Texas’s abortion laws are killing women. @ProPublica reports on another case — 18-year-old Neveah Crain, who was diagnosed with sepsis but sent home because her six-month fetus had a heartbeat, and on a subsequent visit, had delayed care because the obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to “confirm fetal demise.” She died hours later. She and her mother, Candace Fails, are both devout anti-abortion Christians, but supported it in the event of life-threatening illness. “I know it sounds selfish, and God knows I would rather have both of them, but if I had to choose,” Fails said, “I would have chosen my daughter.”

propublica.org/article/nevaeh-

ProPublicaA Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms
More from ProPublica

AI-generated slop is all over Facebook, and it looks like that will be continuing. In a quarterly earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said he is excited for the “opportunity for AI to help people create content that just makes people’s feed experiences better.” What might that look like? “I think we’re going to add a whole new category of content, which is AI generated or AI summarized content or kind of existing content pulled together by AI in some way,” he explained. @404mediaco has more.

404media.co/zuckerberg-the-ai-

404 Media · Zuckerberg: The AI Slop Will Continue Until Morale Improves"I think we’re going to add a whole new category of content, which is AI generated."

“We’re drowning in a sea of misinformation, much of it spread on a social network controlled by the world’s richest man. This isn’t a new problem, of course, but it’s reaching new levels of absurdity and concern,” writes our managing editor @csullivan in a new blogpost. He breaks down America’s truth crisis, and how Flipboard is maintaining a fact-first approach through it all.

about.flipboard.com/inside-fli

About Flipboard · America’s Truth Crisis: Using AI to Combat Misinformation
More from About Flipboard

Last year, New Mexico adopted House Bill 4, which establishes that those convicted of a felony can still vote, providing they are not incarcerated. A crew of people set to work registering newly eligible voters and in doing so discovered thousands of people who had been wrongfully denied their voting rights, for many years before. They’ve successfully sued the state so that those affected will be able to vote next Tuesday. It’s a victory, but some voters still feel mistrustful of the government. @bolts explains more.

boltsmag.org/voting-rights-res

Bolts · “A Year of Frustration”: How New Mexico Kept Denying People Voting Rights Despite Reform - BoltsNew Mexico restored the voting rights of thousands last year. But in reaching out to voters, organizers discovered a trail of wrongful denials by the state, some dating back decades.

Eritrean journalist Akberet Beyene was placed under house arrest in her home country as part of a crackdown on the media, and eventually fled the country dressed in her mother’s clothes and carrying her sister’s passport. It was just the first step in her journey to Canada as an asylum seeker. She tells her story in a new book, Geographies of the Heart,
which is excerpted in @thetyee.

thetyee.ca/Culture/2024/10/31/

@bookstodon

According to a story in Popular Science that our @ScienceDesk shared, humans just love to physically attack robots — but not if they appear to be in emotional distress, for example, crying out or widening their eyes. Here’s a look at our history of hurting robots, and what that might mean if they become more integrated into our lives in the future.

popsci.com/technology/people-h

Popular Science · Researchers tortured robots to test the limits of human empathyA brief history of people bullying robots.

How best to tell the story of Texas’s frustration with Gov. Greg Abbott? Through the medium of song. “Young Greg Abbott: A FuQusical” had its first two full performances on Oct. 18 in Austin. @oconnell reviewed the show for @TexasObserver. The team behind it now want to take it on the road. “We really don’t want him to have a national profile, and, if he thinks of having one, we want to be in his ear as this very annoying little pesky punk show following him around,” co-creator Brently Heilbron says.

texasobserver.org/young-greg-a

The Texas Observer · ‘Fuck You Greg Abbott’—the MusicalA satirical show about the Texas governor in his youth offers a giant Ann Richards puppet, dancing Matthew McConaughey heads, and a moment of catharsis.

Just when you thought Halloween was done, @KnowableMag hit us with this true-life horror story of a parasitic fungus, Entomophthora muscae, which translates to “destroyer of insects.” “After the fungus infects the fly, it doesn’t go straight to the vital organs but starts consuming fats and other nutrients first, gradually starving the fly but keeping it alive,” writes Rohini Subrahmanyam. “Only when it runs out of non-vital organs to chomp on does it start to control the fly’s behavior, thus ensuring its continuity: By forcing the fly to seek some height and get stuck there, it ensures wide distribution of its spores.”

knowablemagazine.org/content/a

Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsNight of the zombie insectsA parasitic fungus takes over the brains of flies and controls them for its own sinister ends. Here’s the science behind the horror.

The fast-growing, supremely dangerous sport of base-jumping is the subject of @thecontinent’s latest photo essay, which shows the nascent scene in South Africa.

continent.substack.com/p/photo

The Continent · Photo Essay: Go jumpBy The Continent

AI regulation and privacy laws in Spanish-speaking Latin America are either dated or non-existent, which means that Meta users there can’t prohibit the company from using their content for training. “Artists are particularly vulnerable, as many promote their creative work on Meta’s platforms,” writes Lucila Pinto for @restofworld. She talked to creatives about what they plan to do.

restofworld.org/2024/meta-is-t

A collage illustration showing various rectangles and square images of Meta app logos, illustrated artworks with text in Spanish, a prompt generator with a heavy blue tint.
Rest of World · Meta is training its AI with public Instagram posts. Artists in Latin America can’t opt outLatin America lacks robust data protection laws that would allow Meta users in the region to prohibit the company from using their content.

“In some cases, it was women who were fiercest in the fight” was the headline that grabbed us in the final story in this thread, which was shared by our @ArtPhotosDesk. The Haitian Revolution was the only known uprising of enslaved people that led to the founding of a slavery-free state. Many women fought alongside men, but few are remembered. An upcoming exhibition in London seeks to redress the balance with portraits of some of the female revolutionary fighters. @BBCNews’s Emi Eleode writes about the women, and the show.

bbc.com/culture/article/202408

@histodons @blackmastodon

Portrait of Sanité Bélair by Francois Cauvin (Credit: Courtesy of the artist)
BBC · 'In some cases, it was the women who were fiercest in the fight': The female freedom fighters of the Haitian RevolutionBy Emi Eleode