Brian Beach has moved @bwbeach@qoto.org

I’m reading and watching so many people trying to figure out how to grapple with an economic system that produces outcomes that threaten to eat us all alive.

And I think, as humans, we want there to be an evil cabal somewhere that is plotting against us, that has actual power and control.

And I suspect that’s actually not true. Sure there are people with power and for sure some of them are plotting against us, project 2025 is a literal example of that, but it is also an example of them not having control. If they did, they would just do it, they would have no need for all this mess in public.

Here I think maybe Dan Davies in The Unaccountability Machine is right: the system, which is our societies and economies on a local and global scale, this system has evolved over centuries, and has emergent and adaptive behaviors. Behaviors that aren’t fully in anyone’s control.

And I think maybe this instinctive reach for an enemy to fight is distracting us from more analytically understanding this system.

And I think understanding the system, at least more than we do now, is critical to changing it.

And without that level headed analysis no amount of revolution will avoid it falling back into its base outcomes.

To quote Kamala’s mother: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you”

It can be lonely to make decisions (for yourself, your family, for communities and organizations you hold responsibility in) on the basis of where we are in the polycrisis when...

ALWAYS BET ON WORKERS

After minimum-wage hike, California has more fast food workers than ever

https://www.salon.com/2024/08/26/proving-them-wrong-after-raising-minimum-wage-california-has-more-fast-jobs-than-ever/

Okay, I finally got too annoyed about idiot MAGA zealots incorrectly using the words “coup” and “Marxist” while insisting that “America is a republic, NOT a democracy” and wrote about why such abuse of the English language is both stupid and dangerous. https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/maga-corruptions-of-the-english-language

Allowing police officers to submit LLM-written reports reveals a remarkable misunderstanding of what LLMs do, a profound indifference to the notion of integrity in the communications of law enforcement with the justice system, or both.

Given how readily subject to suggestion human witnesses—including police officers—are known to be, this is a disaster.

Yes, police reports aren't always the most accurate, but introducing an additional layer of non-accountability is bad.

https://apnews.com/article/ai-writes-police-reports-axon-body-cameras-chatgpt-a24d1502b53faae4be0dac069243f418

#USPol #PSA which I am going to repeat periodically until election day (boosts appreciated for reach)...
If you care about a functioning democracy and don't want to be an asshole, please do not write in joke candidates on your ballot.
No one ever sees those votes except a couple people at city hall and the clerk who has to count all the write-ins, forcing all the tired election workers at the poll to stay later.
Please, vote for a real candidate or leave it blank.
Thank you.
#voting #BeKind

Worth a read.

Gift link.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/opinion/trump-second-term-2025.html?unlocked_article_code=1.E04.xXOd.JwLDA8QJwwLM&smid=url-share

Pedestrian deaths have risen alongside the height of vehicle hoods.

Dems will support this leg., but will reckless, FF-loving Rs vote for any changes to the oversized vehicles?

Oversized trucks & SUVs "create danger for everybody else on the street bc of their mass & of their height, whether you're walking or biking or inside a smaller car."

Lawmakers are expected to introduce a bill that'd require fed standards for hood height & visibility to protect pedestrians-.

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/23/nx-s1-5084276/pedestrian-protection-bill-bigger-cars-trucks

The #plastics industry has heralded a type of #chemical #recycling it claims could replace new shopping bags and candy wrappers with recycled ones — but not much is being recycled at all, and this method won’t curb the #plastic crisis.

#News #Video #Environment #EPA #Business #Oil #Chemicals #Government

https://youtu.be/06wOoPngOwM?feature=shared

As I told Axios, Governor Walz and Second Gentleman Emhoff represent "tonic masculinity, the antidote to toxic masculinity."
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/24/walz-trump-emhoff-masculinity-fatherhood

Spotted in #ottawa

Just sayin'.

Read this passage from ex-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger at the #DNC:

"Some have questioned why I've taken the stand I have. The answer is simple: We must put country first. And tonight, as a Republican speaking before you, I'm putting our country first. Because the fact is—I do belong here. I know Kamala #Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy. And she is dedicated to upholding all three in service to our country. 1/

@jeffjarvis The threat has never been runaway AI “taking over” and deciding to kill humans; the danger has always been humans using automation to accelerate their own sociopathy and launder inhumane decisions…

Your regular reminder that you shouldn't just check your registration

https://vote.gov/

Email your loved ones and tell them to email everyone they know to check their registration.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/110442757

Michelle Obama is our mom giving us fierce upstander talk, getting us out of the damn bed, and telling us we know what we need to do.

Damn

I didn't really get why Walz and Harris were in Milwaukee tonight, but they were in the same convention center used for the RNC

DNC = RNC * 2

Frankly, very smart. Even if all ya'll can stay focused and we win this, there will still be grumbling about numbers.

This is an obvious demonstration of how they will dominate the popular vote. Now if only they can overcome the college.