2022 archive
Know Them by the Company They Keep 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini points out that Arizona’s Governor does not shy away from shysters.
Vaccine Nation 0
Warning: Short commercial at the end.
It’s All about the Algorithm, Forensic Science Fiction Dept. 0
The EFF questions the justice of trial by algorithm. Here’s a bit from the introduction to the article (emphasis added):
The software vendors claim both that the software contains valuable secrets that must not be disclosed and that their methods are so well-vetted that there’s no point letting a defendant question them. Obviously, both can’t be true, and in fact it’s likely that neither is true.
Remember, those magical “forensic” results you see on television shows like the CSI’s and NCIS are fiction. Based on actual forensics, yes, but carried to extremes. For a dose of reality, watch Forensic Files.
Aside:
I do like NCIS (the original, that is), but one thing I find really annoying is the flying windows on the computer screen when McGee is hacking into a computer. Real hacking is not like that (I know–I’ve studied it in legal–and safe–tutorials). Real hacking is almost all tedious command line activity. And the last thing any hacker wants to do is use so much of the target computer’s computing power that it attracts notice. All those flying windows would put the target computer’s cooling fans into high gear . . . .
Grumble grumble grumble.
Debunking De Bunk 0
In a long, detailed article, the AP’s David Klepper tears apart what his story identifies as “the five top falsehoods” about the January 6 insurrection, which are spreading in right-wing and “social” media. Here’s a bit of debunking; follow the link for the rest of de bunk.
CLAIM: THE RIOTERS WEREN’T VIOLENT
Dozens of police officers were severely injured. One Capitol Police officer who was attacked and assaulted with bear spray suffered a stroke and died a day later of natural causes.
Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, said he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” The assault stopped only when he said he had children. He later learned he had suffered a heart attack. Fanone resigned from the department in December 2021.
Rioters broke into the Senate chamber minutes after senators had fled under armed protection. They rifled through desks and looked for lawmakers, yelling, “Where are they?” In House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, staffers hid under desks while rioters called out the name of the California Democrat.
That’s not how some Republican politicians have described the insurrection.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Don’t let politeness take a back seat.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid,
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you, brother,
You won’t find one without the other.
Facebook Frolics, Stolen Grief Dept. 0
Snopes goes down the rabbit hole to find to find the origin of a Facebook fake.
Once you think humanity has plumbed the depths, the Zuckerborg opens new depths to plumb.
Geographically Challenged 0
Aside:
I used to live in northern Delaware (indeed, that’s where I was living when I started this blog). When I had to go to my company’s headquarters in D. C., I occasionally would see Joe Biden and Bill Roth, Delaware’s Senators at the time, on the early Metroliner to Washington. (And, no, I never disturbed them.)
Why? Because they lived in Delaware and commuted to D. C. every day. They stayed over in D. C. only when pressing business forced them to.
Frankly, I think that’s one reason that both of them were pretty good Senators–they remained grounded in their home state (though, sadly, Roth got a little ditzy towards the end of his career).
But I suspect that the smears Farron refers to will resonate with many Republican supporters. What with smartphones and all, reading maps seems to be a lost art.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Apparently, law professor Amy Wax wants to bring back the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Afterthought:
The United States’s immigration restrictions are a history of racism writ in law.
“Those Who Forget Ignore History . . . .”
0
At the Bangor Daily News, professor Ian Mette argues forcefully that America needs to take its blinders off and teach the history it has rather than the history it wishes it had. A nugget (emphasis added):
We continue to see attacks on people who give voice to the historically marginalized, including groups based on identities such as racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and sexual identity/orientation, just to name a few. And we often fail to acknowledge that our country’s economy was founded on the enslavement of people to propel itself into a global powerhouse in just a few short generations . . . .
Vaccine Nation 0
With friends like these . . . .
“Somebody decided that testing positive for COVID is something they can hide,” Lauren said. “The only way we found out is that the person owned up after Nana got sick.”
Lauren says she doesn’t want to reveal her grandmother’s friend’s identity out of respect for their privacy. But she wants you to know what happened as you make decisions.
Though her grandma was vaccinated, as a blood cancer survivor, her immune system was weak. She caught COVID-19, was hospitalized, ventilated, and died on Dec. 21, right before Christmas.
We are a society of selfish.
“What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt Us” 0
Will Bunch explores Republicans’ war on public education. A snippet:
Follow the link for his reasoning.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
I think I have noted before that I regularly turn off “autoplay” in Youtube because I don’t want Youtube’s algorithm making choices for me, and Youtube turns it back on when I’m not looking.
And around and around we go.