News You Can Lose 0
David explains why he has given up on cable news.
Me, I’ve gone him one better.
I gave up on broadcast news years ago, when I realized that
-
1) broadcasters were choosing to sacrifice accuracy to entertainment and eyeballs and
-
2) I can read more in ten minutes than some talking head on the telly vision or the radio can spout at me in an hour.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Grung_e_Gene tries to figure out why one of the two major political parties in a country that has boasted of itself as a “nation of immigrants” is so all-fired frightened of immigrants.
Methinks he makes some points worth consideration.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Field tries to understand Nikki Haley’s attempt white-wash history in ignoring the uncomfortable fact of America’s Original Sin.
Here’s a bit of his article (emphasis in the original); follow the link for the entire post.
(Broken link fixed.)
QOTD 0
Mitzi Kapture, as Sgt. Rita Lee Lance, and Dennis Paladino, as shady underworld-adjacent figure Donnie “Dogs” DiBarto:
Rita: I didn’t know you played golf, Donnie. I wouldn’t think that would be your game.
Donnie: Of course, kid. I was born for it. You get made, swing the club, put it in a hole, and lie about it afterwards.
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy is optimistic.
The Lake Effect 0
An Arizona Judge has ruled that Kari Lake can be held responsible for her lies, or, to put it another way, that the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech does not convey immunity for defaming someone with falsehoods.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Mark Bertin reminds us that
Follow the link for some suggestions as to how to escape the seductive lure of the algorithm.
“An Exercise of Market Power,” This New Gilded Age Dept. 0
Sam and the crew talk with David Dayen about a recent antitrust jury trial in which Google was found guilty.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” didn’t know the gun was loaded when he sent a bullet into a neighbor’s house.
Hauman told officers that he didn’t think the gun was loaded.
“Manipulate.”
Methinks another “M” word would be more appropri–oh, never mind.
Boebert Is the New Gohmert 0
At The Colorado Sun, Mike Littwin looks back on a year of Boebert. A nugget:
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Noah Feldman, Bloomberg columnist and (I did now that he is a) Harvard law professor, takes a look at the New York Times’s suit against Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement. I can’t say that it’s an exciting read, but, given the who-shot-john and over-the-top hype about “AI,” I think it’s a worthwhile one.
Here’s a bit:
Most of these points are plausible legal arguments. But OpenAI and Microsoft will be prepared for them. They’ll likely respond by saying that their LLM doesn’t copy; rather, it learns and makes statistical predictions to produce new answers.
The Privatization Scam 0
Sam and the crew dissect the deception behind the duplicity behind the double-talk.
The Dog Whistler 0
At the Kansas City Star, Melinda Henneberger decodes de code. Here’s a bit:
The somewhat surging Republican presidential candidate’ supposed “blunder” was her response to a man who asked her . . . what had caused the Civil War. Only she answered the question pretty much as she has before, with some blah blah about the role of government. Missing from her answer, once again, was this word: Slavery.
A blunder is a stupid or careless mistake. Nad Haley’s answer was not careless, but calculated.
(snip)
Instead, they were the broadest possible wink to MAGA nation that she sees them, as she always has, and is with them, still.
The Authoritarian Appeal 0
Bernard Golden, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores the psychology behind the appeal of authoritarianism.
I shan’t attempt to excerpt or summarize his piece. In the light of dis coarse discourse, I commend it to your attention as deserving to be read in its entirety.