Cheryl Rofer
@cherylrofer.bsky.social
Retired nuclear scientist. Worked in Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Los Alamos on environmental cleanup, nuclear nonproliferation, and the nuclear fuel cycle.
She/her.
Blogs at Nuclear Diner and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Photo: Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site
She/her.
Blogs at Nuclear Diner and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Photo: Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site
Pinned
Cheryl Rofer
@cherylrofer.bsky.social
· Jan 16
Solidarity, people!
Not recriminations
Not "I told you so."
Solidarity.
Not recriminations
Not "I told you so."
Solidarity.
Every time a big person like Huerta dies, I think
Now it is up to us.
May we have the strength and wit to follow her.
Now it is up to us.
May we have the strength and wit to follow her.
OPEIU honors the life and legacy of Dolores Huerta (1930-2026). Throughout her long life, Huerta bridged movements while fighting tirelessly for farmworkers and their families. Until the very end, Huerta displayed courage, resilience and solidarity to the highest degree.
October 28, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Every time a big person like Huerta dies, I think
Now it is up to us.
May we have the strength and wit to follow her.
Now it is up to us.
May we have the strength and wit to follow her.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
The United Farm Workers union mourns the passing and celebrates the life of UFW cofounder Dolores Huerta.
The greatest possible tribute to her life is for her work of organizing to continue. 1/
The greatest possible tribute to her life is for her work of organizing to continue. 1/
October 28, 2026 at 5:10 PM
The United Farm Workers union mourns the passing and celebrates the life of UFW cofounder Dolores Huerta.
The greatest possible tribute to her life is for her work of organizing to continue. 1/
The greatest possible tribute to her life is for her work of organizing to continue. 1/
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
This is so fuckign completely outrageous it’s an absolutely epic, historical scandal.
That our political system shrugs and moves on from it, is a travesty. That we MIGHT overturn the Congress that sanctions it is a start, but it’s not enough.
That our political system shrugs and moves on from it, is a travesty. That we MIGHT overturn the Congress that sanctions it is a start, but it’s not enough.
In case you missed it:
The Trump administration is buying a stake in a private oil firm, and investors in the company could receive enormous wealth from the arrangement.
The role of the Venezuelan government and the potential benefits to its people are largely absent from the text of the deal.
The Trump administration is buying a stake in a private oil firm, and investors in the company could receive enormous wealth from the arrangement.
The role of the Venezuelan government and the potential benefits to its people are largely absent from the text of the deal.
The Secret Terms of Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Deal
The Trump administration committed the U.S. to taking a large stake in a Venezuelan company, some of whose owners and investors are shielded from public view. The exact details of the agreement over o...
www.propublica.org
October 28, 2026 at 4:21 PM
This is so fuckign completely outrageous it’s an absolutely epic, historical scandal.
That our political system shrugs and moves on from it, is a travesty. That we MIGHT overturn the Congress that sanctions it is a start, but it’s not enough.
That our political system shrugs and moves on from it, is a travesty. That we MIGHT overturn the Congress that sanctions it is a start, but it’s not enough.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
rest in peace, Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta, Who Founded United Farm Workers With Cesar Chavez, Dies (Gift Article)
She founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. In early 2026, she told The Times that she had been raped by him decades earlier. She was 96.
www.nytimes.com
October 28, 2026 at 3:37 PM
rest in peace, Dolores Huerta
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
The Trump administration will continue to shut down science they don't like, and lie about it to Congress and the public.
October 28, 2026 at 3:30 PM
The Trump administration will continue to shut down science they don't like, and lie about it to Congress and the public.
PSA: Please add text to screenshots.
It's not hard! Just copy the text into the alt box and click "save"!
It's not hard! Just copy the text into the alt box and click "save"!
October 28, 2026 at 3:28 PM
PSA: Please add text to screenshots.
It's not hard! Just copy the text into the alt box and click "save"!
It's not hard! Just copy the text into the alt box and click "save"!
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
Don't depend on chatbots for election information.
Can you trust a chatbot to make you a voter guide? We put them to the test.
Analyzing AI-generated voter guides for addresses in every county in the U.S. showed that the chatbots often made errors.
wapo.st
October 28, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Don't depend on chatbots for election information.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
"It's harder to steal a wave election" may sound like a truism, but I promise you it does matter
A big night for the Democrats in the midterm elections could stymie any of Trump's efforts to interfere with the results, @qjurecic.bsky.social argues.
The Limits of Trump’s Midterm Trickery
A big night for the Democrats could stymie any efforts to interfere with the election.
bit.ly
October 28, 2026 at 2:36 PM
"It's harder to steal a wave election" may sound like a truism, but I promise you it does matter
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
The fact that neither President of Finland or PM of Norway were able to see how Jaroslav the Wise's protection of the Pechenegs is the root of why Ukraine attacked itself just indicates the depth of their Russophobia.
October 28, 2026 at 2:44 PM
The fact that neither President of Finland or PM of Norway were able to see how Jaroslav the Wise's protection of the Pechenegs is the root of why Ukraine attacked itself just indicates the depth of their Russophobia.
A reminder that Nixon's aides went to prison, and Nixon would have been impeached and removed from office if he hadn't resigned.
Opinion | The ‘Deep State’ Didn’t Take Nixon Down. Nixon Did. (Gift Article)
We investigated Watergate. The former president and his henchmen got what they deserved.
www.nytimes.com
October 28, 2026 at 2:30 PM
A reminder that Nixon's aides went to prison, and Nixon would have been impeached and removed from office if he hadn't resigned.
Google wears a MAGA hat.
But only in the US.
But only in the US.
FRIEND (IN CANADA): What's the Gulf called, what's the lake called, who won in the US in 2020?
GOOGLE: Mexico, Ontario, Biden.
ME (IN AMERICA): What's the Gulf called, what's the lake called, who won in the US in 2020?
GOOGLE: America, America, I am not at liberty to disclose.
GOOGLE: Mexico, Ontario, Biden.
ME (IN AMERICA): What's the Gulf called, what's the lake called, who won in the US in 2020?
GOOGLE: America, America, I am not at liberty to disclose.
October 28, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Google wears a MAGA hat.
But only in the US.
But only in the US.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
How boring.
You got to keep bringing *new* plotlines out or your audience is never going to stick around.
Even Musk knows that.
You got to keep bringing *new* plotlines out or your audience is never going to stick around.
Even Musk knows that.
October 28, 2026 at 1:45 PM
How boring.
You got to keep bringing *new* plotlines out or your audience is never going to stick around.
Even Musk knows that.
You got to keep bringing *new* plotlines out or your audience is never going to stick around.
Even Musk knows that.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
After Trump is gone, Dems should rededicate the Statue of Liberty & make it a big fucking deal--a daylong event with short speeches peppered across a rich diversity of music from as many immigrant communities as possible in one day.
President Grover Cleveland presided over a ceremony officially dedicating the Statue of Liberty on this day 140 years ago: Oct. 28, 1886.
Image: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” by Edward Moran. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York.
Image: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” by Edward Moran. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York.
October 28, 2026 at 1:50 PM
After Trump is gone, Dems should rededicate the Statue of Liberty & make it a big fucking deal--a daylong event with short speeches peppered across a rich diversity of music from as many immigrant communities as possible in one day.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
"Jorge" has 25 years of experience operating tractors and working in ag. "I am preparing the soil where different vegetables will soon be planted. Once the land is ready, the irrigation crews come in to install the pipes and set up the irrigation system." #WeFeedYou
October 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM
"Jorge" has 25 years of experience operating tractors and working in ag. "I am preparing the soil where different vegetables will soon be planted. Once the land is ready, the irrigation crews come in to install the pipes and set up the irrigation system." #WeFeedYou
Good morning team!
Clearly put.
Clearly put.
Anthropic as an organization is a bunch of millenarian fanatics chasing the dream of building Digital God. Anthropic as a potentially megaprofit-earning company is quite another beast. Its executives and engineers have to pretend to be the second to do the first. (1/4)
My Guesses with Respect to the True State of Anthropic: WEDNESDAY WEALTH
In the aftermath of Anthropic’s Draft S-1 pre-IPO filing, I still have lots of questions, but there are at least a few hints at answers.
braddelong.substack.com
October 28, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Good morning team!
Clearly put.
Clearly put.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
This whole story is infurating, but this first quote from someone at OpenAI is really making me see red. "The newer version won't do this": a) why the fuck should we believe you and b) even if so, that has fuck-all to do with OpenAI's culpability here.
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/w...
October 27, 2026 at 7:21 PM
This whole story is infurating, but this first quote from someone at OpenAI is really making me see red. "The newer version won't do this": a) why the fuck should we believe you and b) even if so, that has fuck-all to do with OpenAI's culpability here.
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/w...
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
At some point, you're gonna have to make a choice: pluralist democracy or ethnoauthoritarianism. That's all I'm saying.
October 28, 2026 at 3:31 AM
At some point, you're gonna have to make a choice: pluralist democracy or ethnoauthoritarianism. That's all I'm saying.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
It’s almost like there were reasons for all the controls we put in place to have *some* assurance of a fair and qualified acquisitions process.
Almost.
Almost.
The Army awarded an artillery shell project to General Dynamics in a rushed process without the typical vetting.
The result: a fiasco in a Texas factory with robots in flames and half a billion dollars in taxpayer funds that yielded no usable shells.
(Published August)
The result: a fiasco in a Texas factory with robots in flames and half a billion dollars in taxpayer funds that yielded no usable shells.
(Published August)
The Costly Blunders in the Army’s $533 Million Fiasco
ProPublica revealed how a rushed effort to arm Ukraine with artillery shells wasted half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding. Here are the biggest takeaways from that reporting.
www.propublica.org
October 28, 2026 at 2:07 AM
It’s almost like there were reasons for all the controls we put in place to have *some* assurance of a fair and qualified acquisitions process.
Almost.
Almost.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
45 yrs ago today, Soviet Whiskey-class coastal patrol diesel-electric submarine S-363 hit an underwater rock and ran aground about 6.2 miles from the large Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. This international incident—which wags dubbed “Whiskey on the Rocks”—occurred during a Swedish naval exercise.
October 27, 2026 at 1:55 PM
45 yrs ago today, Soviet Whiskey-class coastal patrol diesel-electric submarine S-363 hit an underwater rock and ran aground about 6.2 miles from the large Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. This international incident—which wags dubbed “Whiskey on the Rocks”—occurred during a Swedish naval exercise.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
An embattled data center campus project in Utah could emit “dangerous quantities” of air pollution linked to premature deaths, illness like asthma and heart attacks, and health-related economic damage, a new report from the firm EmPower Analytics Group says.
Report: Stratos Project’s emissions could cause up to 45 premature deaths, illnesses each year
An embattled data center campus project in Utah could emit “dangerous quantities” of air pollution linked to premature deaths, illness like asthma and heart attacks, and health-related economic damage, a new report from the firm EmPower Analytics Group says.
bit.ly
October 28, 2026 at 1:00 AM
An embattled data center campus project in Utah could emit “dangerous quantities” of air pollution linked to premature deaths, illness like asthma and heart attacks, and health-related economic damage, a new report from the firm EmPower Analytics Group says.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
Alternate phrasing:
SECRET GOVERNMENT DIRECTORIES THEY DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE ARE NOW RELEASED!
SECRET GOVERNMENT DIRECTORIES THEY DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE ARE NOW RELEASED!
💥FOIA RELEASE💥
Free & public post on Sandia nuke lab directories released to me via #FOIA (for 1951, 1986, 1991, 1996).
I examine value & utility of records then contextualize & analyze.
Enable my work:
patreon.com/nuclearanthro
paypal.me/nuclearanthro
#PhDLife
#DissertationWriting
Free & public post on Sandia nuke lab directories released to me via #FOIA (for 1951, 1986, 1991, 1996).
I examine value & utility of records then contextualize & analyze.
Enable my work:
patreon.com/nuclearanthro
paypal.me/nuclearanthro
#PhDLife
#DissertationWriting
FOIA RELEASE!: Sandia Directories | Martin Pfeiffer
Greetings and Introduction Greetings Wonderful Patrons, I hope that you are comfortably temperatured and being kind to yourselves (and other
www.patreon.com
October 28, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Alternate phrasing:
SECRET GOVERNMENT DIRECTORIES THEY DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE ARE NOW RELEASED!
SECRET GOVERNMENT DIRECTORIES THEY DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE ARE NOW RELEASED!
there is a dire shortage of cats on the feed. do your civic duty and post a cat
October 28, 2026 at 12:38 AM
there is a dire shortage of cats on the feed. do your civic duty and post a cat
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
Example after example now of Meta putting its finger on the scale for authoritarianism and against democracy.
October 27, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Example after example now of Meta putting its finger on the scale for authoritarianism and against democracy.
Reposted by Cheryl Rofer
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of Los Angeles warned the Trump DOJ: "This court believe that it would be wise that any threats to state and county election employees cease immediately."
Just In: Judge Warns Trump DOJ to Stop Threatening Election Workers
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of Los Angeles just concluded a...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 28, 2026 at 12:11 AM
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of Los Angeles warned the Trump DOJ: "This court believe that it would be wise that any threats to state and county election employees cease immediately."