ABrockwell @aebrockwell@qoto.org

One of the best journalists anywhere is the New Yorker's Jane Mayer. Her report on Hegseth shows him to be even more disgusting as a person -- and professionally incompetent -- than I thought possible.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history

For Trump and the Republican cult, these aren't disqualifying issues. They're sterling qualifications for high public office.

It's about time that all journalists acknowledge the new political context.

So fucking tired of this expectation that the democrats are supposed to always take the high-road for the dignity of the office.

Trump would have pardoned his own son for straight up murdering someone, and told anyone who challenged him about it that if they don't shut up he'll let his other son murder them and pardon him.

I want some democrats that will play dirty, enough with this shit. Stop playing fair, stop worrying so much about hypocrisy. The other side doesn't care.

'Enshittification': What does Australian dictionary's Word Of The Year mean?
https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/11/26/enshittification-what-does-australian-dictionarys-word-of-the-year-mean
Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary has selected its word of the year, and it encompasses a widespread feeling that things have been getting worse when it comes to all things digital. And more...

@pluralistic take a bow!

A new rule for journalists.

End the interview on the first egregious lie.

Turn the lights out, switch off the recorder, get up and leave.

And your report should state clearly that this is why the interview was terminated.

It never should have been tolerated in the first place.

#Trump

I never "radicalized." I'm simply a Canadian whose idea of the social contract remained unchanged while America dragged the Overton Window to the right.

When the Overton Window moves, it doesn't stretch. Thus, while previously unthinkable ideas become acceptable to explore, others shift to become "radical."

If you feel the same way, don't ever forget that we aren't radical, it's literally the collapse of American democracy and the looting of its economy that's radical.

No thanks to generative AI - by Brian Merchant https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/no-thanks-to-generative-ai

'I can’t really imagine this company will succeed—for one thing, the product appears to be utter garbage. The price is pretty steep considering it’s all done by AI, and that it’s easy enough to self-publish on Amazon or whatever. But it’s the animating spirit of what drives the enterprise, precisely what AI enables here, that kills me.

This desire to try to gut a field that’s been struggling for years; this aim to enshittify books; this race to the bottom mentality embraced by vultures who see a chance to wring a few bucks out of a low margin industry a lot of people nonetheless still consider pretty vital. This wanton effort to squeeze artists, workers, and independent publishers.'

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #books #publishing #reading #grift #BrianMerchant

From the archives, by former Editor @gabrielarana: Each year, one publication after another pushes some version of a piece doling out advice for avoiding conflict with one’s problematic relatives at the dinner table. This isn't one of those guides. https://www.texasobserver.org/this-thanksgiving-call-your-racist-uncle-a-racist/

#politics #USpol #news #culture #family #Thanksgiving #racism #Trump

"The year is 2024 and I have yet to see a major story or report commissioned by a cable news show, newspaper, or magazine that demands that Trump voters go to urban diners and talk to Democratic voters. I have yet to see any finger-wagging paternalism from these establishment leaders asking Trump voters why Donald Trump has yet to crack 50% support from the voting population."

~ Wajahat Ali

#Trump #media #BothSidesism #FalseEquivalence #Thanksgiving
/1

https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/when-will-trump-voters-be-asked-to

American voters voted for the mob boss, and to no one's surprise the mob boss is now trying to ruin the lives of everyone who tried to hold him accountable for his crimes.

This is no longer Washington D. C. — this is Gotham city.

https://youtu.be/WurdsVqSGTc?si=0LCyErASrjhBiIsS

Congratulations, Cory Doctrow - @pluralistic

Australian dictionary names 'enshittification' word of the year.

Someone tell the spellcheckers.

https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2024/

#enshittification

It's kind of wild just how *more* fucked the internet has gotten in just the last five years.

Headline in WaPo:
"Trump is coming for the executive branch. He seems motivated by retribution rather than efficiency."

Gee, thanks for the head's up there, WaPo. Of course, it would've been nice if you bothered to report things like this months ago when it abundantly clear with every deranged Trump rally, but I guess you guys were too busy sane-washing Trump to help him get elected.

Oh, and one last thing, WaPo...GFY.

"Underscores a shift." What the hell does that anodyne journospeak mean, #BrokenPost? Finish the sentence. A shift to lawless, misogynistic authoritarianism, perhaps?

I live in a world that just told me a convicted white nazi rapist with several failed businesses and marriages is better than an experienced Black woman.

Better yet, people are outside walking around freely like they didn’t vote in a nazi. Talking about football and sports like the world isn’t about to end.

This shit is actual insanity.

An important thing about Elon Musk that’s widely known in tech circles but perhaps not in the wider world: he’s an ignoramus.

His technical knowledge is shallow and careless, full of parroting and fantasizing.

People who’ve worked on the small amount of code he actually wrote long ago describe his work as an unskilled mess.

At every company he runs, there are teams of people devoted to keeping him away from the engineers, who largely succeed to the extent that he forgets they exist.

1/3

"As The New Republic editor Michael Tomasky wrote, 'It wasn’t the economy. It wasn’t inflation, or anything else. It was how people perceive those things, which points to one overpowering answer.' The right-wing media now controls the agenda.

For those of us who grew up on a steady diet of truth-telling, it’s gut-wrenching to see this mega misinformation machine grow into a multi-headed monster."

~ Dan Rather

#Trump #economy #eggs #PriceofEggs #media
/4

https://steady.substack.com/p/a-big-win-for-propaganda

No, ChatGPT won't help in the classroom, won't save teachers time, and doesn't represent a set of skills students need to learn.

On OpenAI's latest nonsense:

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/chatgpt-has-no-place-in-the-classroom/

#resist #resistance #Politics

The use of deep learning #AI in licensed (regulated) professions like #medicine, #law, and #engineering troubles me—deeply. It is not that I fear AI taking jobs away, but that I am concerned about AI robbing licensed professionals of their competency, judgement, and professional responsibility.

Doctors, lawyers, and engineers work with "lives", hence the licensure and regulation of their professions. But #software, even deterministic ones, are littered with latent bugs. Once non-determinism is added to software, the potential for errors increase exponentially. So, it is impossible to regulate software: "responsibility" for errors cannot be allocated to individuals in a practical, reliable, consistent, and fair manner.

AI is non-deterministic software; no person can explain in a legally satisfactory way how the 20-billion parameters are making life-critical decisions. Taking actions based on AI's decisions one does not fully understand is, at best, "professionally irresponsible" and, at worst, "criminally reckless". Therefore, licensed professionals relying on AI to perform their jobs (diagnosing diseases, drafting legal opinions, designing bridges, etc.) is a dangerous trend.

A similar reasoning suggests that programmers should seriously reconsider why they have relinquished control of their code to AI.