Sunday, June 30, 2024
Heckuva Job, Macron
Masterful gambit, monsieur.
Exit polls project that the far right National Rally party have won 34% of the vote in the first round of France's parliamentary election.He didn't have to call an election. No reason to.
This means the country could end up with a far-right government, after the second round of voting takes place on 7 July.
Sure Why Not
Totally normal news media.
The problem with beat sweeteners is the sweetening never ends. Client journalism.Less than 48 hours before heading to prison for four months, Bannon on @NBCNightlyNews: https://t.co/nJT3PzRKCV https://t.co/45sNhIP0WE
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) June 30, 2024
If You Criticize Biden The Bad Orange Man Wins
I dunno, man, "maybe Biden shouldn't support an ethnic cleansing, hope he shifts gears on this soon" seems a lot less damaging than, "our candidate, who we supported, and who happens to be president, has a nonfunctioning brain and is utterly unelectable."
Centrist dipshists are funny.
Bedwetting brigade! Amazing stuff.
If you do think Biden isn't up to the job, then this is the realistic way forward, but I have not seen a centrist dipshit (Klion is not one) support this:
Is he not fit to be president, or just not fit to be a good candidate (similarly: is he just bad at performing, or is his brain mush)
If he is not fit to be president, some of you (and certainly some of your sources and acquaintances) have known this for awhile. It was not revealed by the debate performance.
If he is not fit to be president, should he resign tomorrow? If not, why not?
If he does drop out, how do you imagine a replacement candidate is chosen? Do you think there are any risks involved here?
I suspect people are being largely incoherent because they don't want to say what they really think/know/"know" about some things.
Centrist dipshists are funny.
Bedwetting brigade! Amazing stuff.
If you do think Biden isn't up to the job, then this is the realistic way forward, but I have not seen a centrist dipshit (Klion is not one) support this:
A couple of questions directed at (most) people publicly encouraging Biden to drop out:I don't believe an open convention is a very plausible idea, as fun as it sounds in theory. I think the only way forward besides sticking with Biden and watching the media destroy him is for him to do the honorable thing, resign, and instantly make Harris president.
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) June 30, 2024
Is he not fit to be president, or just not fit to be a good candidate (similarly: is he just bad at performing, or is his brain mush)
If he is not fit to be president, some of you (and certainly some of your sources and acquaintances) have known this for awhile. It was not revealed by the debate performance.
If he is not fit to be president, should he resign tomorrow? If not, why not?
If he does drop out, how do you imagine a replacement candidate is chosen? Do you think there are any risks involved here?
Why are you incapable of uttering the name "Kamala Harris"?
I suspect people are being largely incoherent because they don't want to say what they really think/know/"know" about some things.
OK That's Pretty Funny
Precisely why it is funny as left as an exercise for you, dear readers.
New Biden campaign fundraising email slams critics as "bedwetting brigade," saying that dropping out of the 2024 presidential race would be "a highway to losing."
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) June 30, 2024
"Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee, period."
Saturday, June 29, 2024
My Doctor
Need a banter show with Tennant and Sheen just demolishing these assholes.
During an appearance at the British LGBT Awards over the weekend, he called on British equalities minister Kemi Badenoch to “shut up” after she advocated for banning trans women from entering women’s toilets and sports teams.In an interview at the same event, Tennant called transgender critics “a tiny bunch of little whinging f*ckers who are on the wrong side of history, and they’ll all go away soon.”
Tory Extinction Event
This isn't a prediction, just what happens when you put one poll into his forecasting model.
We can laugh before remembering the Labour party has been taken over by the equivalent of Cuomocrats and the next leader of the Opposition could be Farage.🚨 BREAKING: Poll shows that Nigel Farage would be Leader of the Opposition, with Labour in power.
— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) June 28, 2024
🔴 LAB 38% (-1)
🟣 REF 21% (+1)
🔵 CON 18% (-1)
🟠 LD 11% (-1)
🟢 GRN 7% (+1)
🟡 SNP 2% (-1)
Via @WStoneInsight, 26-27 June (+/- vs 19-20 June) pic.twitter.com/apeOblqjqV
Friday, June 28, 2024
Afternoon
I gather that the Supreme Court has done horrible things. Also, after several months of yelling at The Left (not on the payroll) for wanting the Bad Orange Man to win every time they complained, half the professional Democrats (on the payroll) ran to their favorite reporters to say that Biden is too incompetent.
Whatever one thinks about that, it isn't a good messaging strategy!
Israel's Gotta Do What It's Gotta Do
And that's all there is to say.
The U.S. intelligence offers a slightly more conservative assessment than those coming from parts of Europe. Some European countries calculate that a war between Israel and Hezbollah could happen in days. Many have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. Canada is also preparing to evacuate thousands from the country. The State Department on Thursday issued a travel advisory for U.S. citizens, urging them to “strongly reconsider” travel to Lebanon."Rebuild its stockpiles."
Two of the senior officials stressed that it was unclear when exactly the war could start but noted that Israel is trying to rebuild its stockpiles and troop capacity quickly.
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Oh No Elmo
Doubt he'll comply.
FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Tesla must fix air quality problems at its electric vehicle manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area after racking up more than 100 violations for allegedly releasing toxic emissions into the atmosphere over the last five years, an air quality board said Tuesday.
The Spin Room
Real oldheads remember the short-lived Tucker Carlson (yes)/Bill Press show on CNN. It wasn't a great show, precisely, but it did provide some mild mocking of the conventions of the basic cable news political show of the time. A kind of "yes what we do is a bit ridiculous" attitude about the whole thing.
And the name itself - The Spin Room - referred to the post-debate efforts by political operatives to convince journalists that THIS was best zinger, and THAT was a damning, campaign-ending gaffe.
Not much that happens in a debate matters all that much until news outlets start running it on a loop, and the spin room is how you get them to do that.
Things have changed a bit since then, but not so much.
And the name itself - The Spin Room - referred to the post-debate efforts by political operatives to convince journalists that THIS was best zinger, and THAT was a damning, campaign-ending gaffe.
Not much that happens in a debate matters all that much until news outlets start running it on a loop, and the spin room is how you get them to do that.
Things have changed a bit since then, but not so much.
Debate Night
I am (not so) sorry to say I have another commitment this evening, so you will be on your own!
In The Room Where It Happens
Most of us don't get to be there, but there are always people with access to lawmakers and the administration who are constantly putting pressure on them. The people trying to make noise on the outside - furious blog posts, angry tweets, public protest - are the ones who don't ever get that access.
Some of that pressure comes from big donors, some from their weirdo rich friends in the group chat, some from the numerous lobbying groups who have armies of people who are paid to lie for their cause (and who also have all your favorite journalists in their contact lists). And, of course, those who dangle lifetime friends and family jobs.
It's the "quiet" pressure people should be more worried about. It is constant and relentless and much more effective than anything outsiders can do.
Some of that pressure comes from big donors, some from their weirdo rich friends in the group chat, some from the numerous lobbying groups who have armies of people who are paid to lie for their cause (and who also have all your favorite journalists in their contact lists). And, of course, those who dangle lifetime friends and family jobs.
It's the "quiet" pressure people should be more worried about. It is constant and relentless and much more effective than anything outsiders can do.
Eras of Unreality
I used to say that the "scandal free" Obama administration actually had a lot of scandals, they just weren't ones that anyone who mattered cared about. "We" supposedly care a lot about misinformation and "fake news" but Biden's people are out there lying every day and no one except a few reporters (but not their editors) at the press briefings care.
All true. Finally, what do you want people outside of the security apparatus to know about how the Gaza genocide looked to those inside of the security apparatus?
I want to be clear that everybody who followed this issue from inside the U.S. government—whether it's the military, the intel world, the State Department, USAID—was fully aware of not only everything that was happening in terms of destruction and civilian deaths in Gaza, but also the expected consequences and expected trajectory of the Israeli campaign in Gaza.
What I've told you is not really my unique analysis or has anything to do with my own personal genius judgments. I think they're widely shared, or widely at least understood by everybody who works on this topic professionally. And I emphasize that because I think even in the past month, we've seen demands from our government that the Israelis must have a day-after plan, or that the Israelis still must work towards reducing civilian casualties, or that they must work towards a number of these sort of very basic steps that it was clear nine months ago that they weren't going to do anything about. One of the reasons that I'm still talking and still a little angry is because this has been a really slow-motion train wreck. Anybody could have told you back in October, back in November, that we'd get somewhere like where we are today.
Our Brand Is Crisis
Sad coup attempt.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Led by a top general vowing to “restore democracy,” armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday in what the president called a coup attempt, then quickly retreated — the latest crisis in the South American country facing a political battle and an economic crisis.The only statement I could find from the Biden administration is that they called for "calm" so, you know.
Within hours, the nation of 12 million people saw a rapidly moving scenario in which the troops seemed to take control of the government of President Luis Arce. He vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander, who immediately ordered the troops to stand down.
Soon the soldiers pulled back, along with a line of military vehicles, ending the rebellion after just three hours. Hundreds of Arce’s supporters then rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Anti-Anti-Trump Doesn't Do It
Unless I've missed a recent admission, the New York Times still has no "I am going to vote for Trump" columnist. I'm not one who thinks that the New York Times has an obligation to have a full range of such opinions, but it is the reason they give to justify various decisions about who they hire and what they publish. In fact, challenging their imagined liberal readership with conservative assholes is one of their stated goals!
Why are they scared of having a pro-Trump columnist? Very strange.
(I know the answer).
Why are they scared of having a pro-Trump columnist? Very strange.
(I know the answer).
But Does He Promote The Good Hitler Or The Bad Hitler?
It is amazing how prominent Republicans do this type of thing regularly and everyone pretends not to notice, but if there's an iffy sign from some rando at a protest, journalists will shove mics in front of every Democrat demanding they denounce it.
Eras Of Unreality
Sometimes The Discourse is just a reality distortion field, with everybody with a microphone pretending things they know are false are actually true. Adherence to the current myths is ingroup signaling, and no one wants to be on the outside.
Scandalous dishonesty that everybody who matters pretends not to notice, at best.
Going Backwards
The anti-trans fervor has always been about rolling back the clock on LGBT rights - and not just the T - generally, and congrats to all the centrist dipshits who joined in.
Republican backing for legalizing same-sex unions dips back below 50%This is what your "legitimate concerns" (the bigots are correct, even if I won't quite admit I agree with them) coverage gets you.
Israel's Gotta Do What It's Gotta Do
That's very misleading, because it's "Israel's gotta do what it's gotta do, and we will send the support and arms no matter what that is."
The Israel Defense Forces used a truck that bore the appearance of an aid vehicle — but did not have an aid group insignia — to travel inside Gaza to rescue the four from the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the enclave, two senior aid representatives working inside Gaza said. The IDF also landed a helicopter near the pier as a staging ground for exfiltration. The raid set off a fierce firefight between Hamas and the IDF, killing hundreds of civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Now, aid staffers fear they will be targeted.
The potential risk to aid workers “was something WFP and the UN pushed back on from the beginning,” said one senior aid representative. “They knew the concerns and expressed those concerns upfront. What the IDF did made everything more difficult.”
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Oh No Elmo
The dumb, giant, single wiper doesn't work.
The company says in the documents that the front windshield wiper motor controller can stop working because it’s getting too much electrical current. A wiper that fails can cut visibility, increasing the risk of a crash. The Austin, Texas, company says it knows of no crashes or injuries caused by the problem.Tesla will replace the wiper motor at no cost to owners, who will be notified by letter on Aug. 18.
Regrets, I Have A Few
Interesting.
The context here is that, for whatever reason, back in Jan-Feb they thought this would be "winding down" and we could talk about "the day after," And then... nothing changed. For the better, anyway.
In a closed-door meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza, saying he did not have “any confidence” that Israel’s government was willing to take “meaningful steps” toward Palestinian statehood.Computer, enhance:
The remarks came after months of public and private admonitions from the Biden administration for Israel to take a more surgical approach in a conflict that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. On Thursday, Mr. Biden himself declared that Israel had gone “over the top” in its response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Retaliates
Amazing stuff.
U.S. officials trying to prevent a bigger Middle East war are issuing an unusual warning to Hezbollah: Don’t assume that Washington can stop Israel from attacking you.This guy gets the big bucks:
Two U.S. officials told POLITICO that the militia needs to also understand that Washington will help Israel defend itself if Hezbollah retaliates. They stressed that the militant group should not count on America to act as a brake on Israeli decision-making.
“Israel’s gotta do what they gotta do,” a Defense Department official said, having been granted anonymity, like others, to speak frankly.
Deep State Finally Got Him
Buh-bye.
A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments Jones owes for repeatedly calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax.
In an “emergency” motion filed Sunday in Houston, trustee Christopher Murray indicated publicly for the first time that he intends to “conduct an orderly wind-down” of the operations of Infowars’ parent company and “liquidate its inventory.” Murray, who was appointed by a federal judge to oversee the assets in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, did not give a timetable for the liquidation.
I Become The Joker
That fucking newspaper.
In the decades that Roe v. Wade was the law of the land, abortion rights groups tried to shore up support for it by declaring “Abortion Is Health Care.”
Only now, two years after the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, and just six months before the presidential election, has the slogan taken on the force of reality.
Abortion rights groups were prematurely pro-abortion rights, or something.
There are better ways to say that it seems they had a point after all, that perhaps their views should not have been presented in a "both sides" fashion, at best.
Problems due to restrictions at Catholic hospitals, for example, are not new but something something religious freedom.
Monday, June 24, 2024
My Roman History
My friend Ali wrote a book! I admit I haven't read it yet but if you like this kind of thing you should buy it.
When Did He Walk It Forward
Barak Ravid is just the conduit for the Biden administration's alternative reality version of the situation, so I suppose this means the White House has decided to notice!
🚨🚨Netanyahu walks back from the Israeli hostage deal proposal that was approved by the war cabinet and laid out in President Biden's speech and says he is ready for "a partial deal that will bring some of the hostages home" and allows to then resume the war pic.twitter.com/UkEz7QX1Jn
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) June 23, 2024
Dispatches From The Culture Wars
This is from 2005:
The current "culture war":
Wayne Godwin, chief operating officer of PBS, got a bit tangled as he tried to explain the PBS stance on gay characters appearing on children's television shows.As I've long said, the "culture war issues" are always actually some of the fundamental issues in politics - should gay people have rights and uncontroversial representation, for example - but slotting them into the "culture wars" let political big brains and journalists trivialize them. Silly people, fighting over whether a cartoon character should be gay!!!
"In fairness I would have to say a gay character is not one we would not include," he said, and then clarified. "The fact that a character may or may not be gay is not a reason why they should or should not be part of this series."
Yet on Tuesday PBS decided not to distribute to its roughly 350 PBS stations an episode of "Postcards From Buster," which was scheduled for Feb. 2 and included lesbian mothers, even though a few days earlier PBS officials, among them PBS's president, Pat Mitchell, viewed the episode and called it appropriate. That was before Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced the program, starring Buster Baxter, a cute animated rabbit who until now has been known primarily as a close friend of Arthur, the world's most famous aardvark. Ms. Spellings said many parents would not want children exposed to a lesbian life style.
Buster joined another cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, as a focus of the nation's culture wars. SpongeBob was recently attacked by Christian groups for being pro-homosexual, though SpongeBob's creator said it was all a misinterpretation. Buster's offense was appearing in "Sugartime!," the undistributed "Postcards From Buster" show, in which he visits children living in Vermont whose parents are a lesbian couple. Civil unions are allowed in Vermont.
The current "culture war":
The Culture Wars Came to a California Suburb. A Leader Has Been Ousted.The "framing" is funny. Like the culture war was something that existed as polite debate between Pamela Paula and Michelle Cottle, but somehow it traveled outside of Midtown and infected a poor innocent California suburb. There's no sense anywhere in the piece that these are things that matter, that the live of real people are affected by this stuff, instead of just being an Op-Ed debate that escaped confinement to annoy people.
Voters recalled a Southern California school board president after his conservative majority approved policies on critical race theory and transgender issues.
From the start, the three conservative board members of the Temecula Valley Unified School District made clear where they stood. On the same night in December 2022 that they were sworn in as a majority, they passed a resolution banning critical race theory from classrooms in their Southern California district.
Months later, they abruptly fired the superintendent, saying they believed the district needed someone with new ideas. After that, they passed a rule requiring that parents be notified whenever a student requests to be identified as a different gender at school.
But this once rural area, about 60 miles northeast of San Diego, had transformed in recent decades into a diverse bedroom community, and many other families grew frustrated by what they considered to be the unwelcome incursion of national culture wars into their prized public schools.Why are the "national culture wars" happening somewhere in the nation? We thought anti-trans bigotry was just a little fun we have in the group chat here at n y t i m e s dot com. These suburban hayseeds just want to get back to their quiet, pastoral lives, before The Discourse intruded!
Scheming A Plan
Returning to this: most UK political journalists can't comprehend that their job is anything other than passing on whatever their favorite politicians or powerful interests tell them. Even a legitimate non-gossip story is normally just handed to them by someone with a clear, if unexplained, agenda. One MP knifing another, that type of thing.
And things given to them from actual whistleblowers will go through 37 layers of lawyering before being killed off by the editor because it might impact the spouse of a mate from uni. The concept of "digging" is completely alien to them.
Most US journalists, whatever their other flaws, are not actually like this! Dylan is!SCOOP: In early June, days after Will Lewis announced plan to replace Sally Buzbee with Rob Winnett, Post journalists on the foreign desk began scheming a plan to dig up dirt on their publisher and his new top editor. ...
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) June 22, 2024
Inside the Post Coup @PuckNews: https://t.co/ilIUWshmxQ
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Scheming A Plan
Byers does see journalism the way most UK journalists do - the purpose is to protect the powerful and hold the public to account.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
How Will That Work Out
Pretty sure we know.
Senior US officials reassured a delegation of top Israeli officials visiting Washington this week that if a full-out war were to break out on Israel’s northern border between Israel and Hezbollah, the Biden administration is fully prepared to back its ally, according to a senior administration official.
If it breaks out. No agency assigned.
Bye Bye
Brit journalists have settled on "American journalists are too woke a don't appreciate hard work like we do" as the reason there were objections to this guy which is extremely hilarious.
Clippy's Revenge
That little shit is mad at how we treated him and he is going to destroy the world.
As the tech giants compete in a global AI arms race, a frenzy of data center construction is sweepingthe country. Some computing campuses require as much energy as a modest-sized city, turning tech firms that promised to lead the way into a clean energy future into some of the world’s most insatiable guzzlers of power. Their projected energy needs are so huge, some worry whether there will be enough electricity to meet them from any source.
Friday, June 21, 2024
3AM Stripper Shootout, For Family and The Constitution
Apologies for NY Post link.
LANSING, Mich. — Neil Friske apparently lives up to his name: The Michigan state representative was arrested early Thursday after Lansing police responded to a report of gunshots — and allegedly found him chasing a stripper and firing a weapon.Some more potential details.
Friske, a first-term Republican who represents the northern 107th House District and is facing an August primary challenge, remains jailed.
His arrest “stems from allegations that he sexually assaulted an exotic dancer and then chased her with a firearm, a source familiar with the allegations” told news service Gongwer Michigan.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Technocrats
It's part of the "moderate" brand, generally, along with being "sensible" and "pragmatic" and...
Hochul’s decision to temporarily pause congestion pricing came less than a month before the anticipated June 30 start date and after the tolling gantries were already installed throughout parts of Manhattan. The MTA is on the hook for about $503 million to contractors for getting the program in place, including $291 million to TransCore LP, which designed, built and installed the tolling gantries, according to the MTA’s capital program dashboard.
The “incurred costs” of the congestion pricing infrastructure may also have to be offset “with reductions in other capital spending,” the document said.
The Ethnic Benefit
Amazing stuff from Clinton-endorsed Latimer.
Latimer, referencing recent polling, said he’s confident he can beat Bowman.
“Is [Bowman] going to get at least 40% of the vote? Yes. Does he have an obvious ethnic benefit? Yes,” Latimer said. “Will he get the people who are furthest to the left? Yes. But once you get beyond a couple of constituencies that he has strength in, he’s weak everywhere else.”
Based Jen Rubin
Quite the evolution.
The court is broken, unpopular and in dire need of reform. Biden knows it and should make court reform a key campaign issue.
Sure Why Not
I've said all along that whatever one thinks of who is, in a sense, "to blame," de-esclation should be the goal and certainly the goal of entities (Uncle Sam) that position themselves as The Moderators. Is this de-escalation?
US special envoy Amos Hochstein warned Lebanese officials that if Hezbollah doesn’t cease its near-daily attacks on northern Israel, it could find itself the target of a limited Israeli operation, the Kan public broadcaster reports.I know for some the only de-escalation tool they know is threats, but I submit there are better ones.
According to the report, Hochstein told the officials that a diplomatic solution was needed to force the Iran-backed terror group back from the Israel-Lebanon border, or else Israel could launch a limited attack with the backing of the United States.
"Young Lady"
Just rancid people.
Dallas-area megachurch pastor Robert Morris admitted to “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” in the 1980s after a woman accused him of molesting her when she was 12 years old, according to a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Typical UK Journalist Behavior
OK he wasn't officially a journalist at the time, but they rarely remember which hat they are wearing.
Will Lewis, the Washington Post publisher, advised Boris Johnson and senior officials at 10 Downing Street to “clean up” their phones in the midst of a Covid-era political scandal, according to claims by three people familiar with the operations inside No 10 at the time.
Oh No Elmo
Oh no!!!
In the first six months of 2023 — the first full year in which Musk controlled the company — X's revenue fell by nearly 40 percent from the same period the prior year. The company brought in $1.48 billion during that time period. Furthermore, X lost $456 million in the first quarter of 2023.The information is out because Musk wants to create a Venmo-type platform and I do not suggest you trust your money to him!
Sounds Bad
"Shut up bad orange man bad" has been The Discourse since October, and, well, good job everyone.
A senior doctor from Gaza died while under Shin Bet interrogation, six days after initially being detained. His death, which occurred in November, has prompted a probe by the Justice Ministry department that investigates complaints against Shin Bet interrogators.I'm sure that probe will reach conclusions as quickly as all the numerous other announced ones have.
Are People OK
Just insane behavior.
A Vermont lawmaker was compelled to apologize publicly after being caught on video pouring water into her colleague’s work bag multiple times across several months.
The Thin Blue Line
Normie voters want the cops to provide taxpayer funded free air limos for rich people. This is popularism!
But according to Bloomberg's analysis, sightseeing is exactly what it appears the NYPD pilots are doing much of the time. "The flight records show that many of the department trips left city limits and some followed trajectories that hit multiple city landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Yankee Stadium, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center," the story notes.
Sometimes, Bloomberg says, the flight records suggest that the helicopters are being used to ferry passengers to and from a location, like a sort of taxpayer-funded Blade service. One flight highlighted in the investigation zipped out to the Hamptons and back on a Friday evening in August. Another went to Philadelphia and then Albany before returning to New York City. Another time, an NYPD helicopter just went to Philly and back so a deputy commissioner could roll up to a gala event in style.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
The Third Mustache Of Enlightenment
I can never get through a whole Tom Friedman column without finding something I seriously object to, but on the whole..
Indeed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has made eight trips to Israel since Oct. 7, should not make another without Israel and Hamas agreeing to a clear war-ending plan. He is debasing his and U.S. power. This is ultimatum time. Biden should be telling Israel that it should accept Hamas’s key demand: Totally end the war now and withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the return of all Israeli hostages. Israel cannot think straight while Hamas holds its people.BIDEN, TELL BIBI TO SUCK ON THIS
Who Is The Superpower
Amazing stuff.
"But I also said something else," Netanyahu added. "I said it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel."
"Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case," Netanyahu further stated.
Lock Him Up!
Great stuff.
A Texas doctor who leaked "whistleblower" documents to conservative activist Chris Rufo has been indicted by a federal grand jury for wrongful disclosure of private health information, according to court documents unsealed Monday.The allegation isn't just that he leaked the information but that he wasn't authorized to have it in the first place. There wasn't anything unlawful about what he "uncovered" either. Just "trans care is happening, legally."
Houston surgeon Eithan Haim, 34, is accused of sharing information without authorization about patients at Texas Children’s Hospital, where he completed rotations during his time as a resident at Baylor College Medicine.
Haim "allegedly obtained this information under false pretenses and with intent to cause malicious harm to" Texas Children’s Hospital, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas wrote in a Monday afternoon news release. Haim is charged with four counts of wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information, court filings show
America's Deadbeat
The thing about Rudy is that everyone knew what a piece of shit he was even as they were hailing him as the greatest man in America.
Rudolph W. Giuliani’s creditors and the judge overseeing his bankruptcy case aired their frustrations with him in court on Monday after months in which he has provided incomplete information about his finances, missed filing deadlines or failed to have his lawyers respond at all.There were many messed up things about the post-9/11 era, and one was the willingness of our media industrial complex to add heroes to the script.
The Hard Problem
I know "replacing low age workers with machines" is not a new thing, but it works well (everywhere) for processes which can be standardized. Even in the genre of tasks requiring understanding of natural speech, parising a food order shouted from a car window as the occupants are disccusing their order is incredibly difficult! This isn't a simple problem, this is the hardest problem! How was this not obvious?
McDonald’s is changing course on its artificial intelligence plans.Even if it in some sense worked, it's hard to imagine it working faster, and speed is pretty important when there is a line of cars.
The fast-food giant will end a test run of its AI drive-through technology partnership with IBM in more than 100 restaurants. The so-called Automated Order Taker will be shut off no later than July 26, according to a memo sent to franchisees late last week, obtained by CNBC.
Monday, June 17, 2024
America's Worst President
Joe Biden.
(if this makes you mad, he's also the best one! there's only one!)
Ha Ha
Amazing stuff
South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III and key figures in his Democratic political machine were charged Monday in a sweeping racketeering indictment, alleging that they used their influence over city government to corruptly acquire lucrative waterfront real estate and development rights in Camden.They're Dems because that's what you do to get ahead there, not because they're committed to social justice or whatever. It's really irrelevant. (Platkin is also a D, as is the governor).
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin unveiled the 13-count indictment at a news conference in Trenton, with Norcross, 68, sitting in the front row.
Struggling With The Story
Tough to do journalism - especially about conflict - when it is difficult to shoehorn it into a narrative.
The heroes and villains framework is not working very well!
Everything Is AI
I knew it was ridiculous at the time, but do you remember awhile back when all those tech geniuses were "freaking out" about the coming singularity that they were creating and "worrying" that they were about to activate Skynet?
The hype machine worked, and everything is AI now.
The hype machine worked, and everything is AI now.
About Our New Boss
Funny stuff from the Post.
LONDON — The alleged offense was trying to steal a soon-to-be-released copy of former prime minister Tony Blair’s memoir.
The suspect arrested by London police in 2010 was John Ford, a once-aspiring actor who has since admitted to an extensive career using deception and illegal means to obtain confidential information for Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper. Facing potential prosecution, Ford called a journalist he said he had collaborated with repeatedly — and trusted to come to his rescue.
That journalist, according to draft book chapters Ford later wrote recounting his ordeal, was Robert Winnett, a Sunday Times veteran who is set to become editor of The Washington Post later this year.
Also Associated With "Popularism"
Eugenics cult.!
Multiple events hosted at a historic former hotel in Berkeley, California, have brought together people from intellectual movements popular at the highest levels in Silicon Valley while platforming prominent people linked to scientific racism, the Guardian reveals.A Real Journalist (not me) needs to do the deep reporting about how many people (some of your faves!) were corrupted by Sam and the gang before FTX imploded.
But because of alleged financial ties between the non-profit that owns the building – Lightcone Infrastructure (Lightcone) – and jailed crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, the administrators of FTX, Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto exchange, are demanding the return of almost $5m that new court filings allege were used to bankroll the purchase of the property.
During the last year, Lightcone and its director, Oliver Habryka, have made the $20m Lighthaven Campus available for conferences and workshops associated with the “longtermism”, “rationalism” and “effective altruism” (EA) communities, all of which often see empowering the tech sector, its elites and its beliefs as crucial to human survival in the far future.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Is It Any Wonder The Monkey's Confused
Remember the Rafah red line
Israel-Gaza live updates: IDF to begin daily 'tactical pause' along Gaza aid route Military action will be paused on the route from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Israel said.When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heard the reports on Sunday about a daily "tactical pause" along an aid route, he contacted his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him, an Israeli official told ABC News.After an inquiry, the prime minister was informed that there was no change in Isreal Defense Forces policy and that the fighting in Rafah would continue as planned, the official said.IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari released a statement in Hebrew shortly after announcement saying the pause will affect a single aid route."There is no cessation of fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, and the fighting in Rafah continues," Hagari said. "Also, there is no change in the introduction of goods into the Gaza Strip."
Memories
Someone reminded me that I used to call Ross Douthat "Chunky BoBo" or "Pastor Chunky BoBo" (BoBo being David Brooks) and I thought that was funny!
IVF
A lot of people have fertility struggles and having a quiverfull-adjacent movement wrapped up with an anti-abortion movement is, well, problematic.
These people generally resolve this by being confident in the knowledge that their hearts are pure, that wanting babies (destroying embryos through IVF) is different than not wanting babies (destroying embryos through abortion), and that this should be good enough. But the leaders and the movement are not the same.
These people generally resolve this by being confident in the knowledge that their hearts are pure, that wanting babies (destroying embryos through IVF) is different than not wanting babies (destroying embryos through abortion), and that this should be good enough. But the leaders and the movement are not the same.
The Forever Beat
A US journalist could spend a lifetime opening the box that is UK journalism and documenting all the Eldritch Horrors that spill out.
The publisher and incoming editor of The Washington Post used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles as journalists in London, according to a former colleague, the published account of a private investigator and an analysis of newspaper archives.This piece does not really provide the full dimensions of the "phone hacking scandal" generally, which is sort of shorthand for a whole set of horrors.
Will Lewis, The Post’s publisher, assigned one of the articles in 2004 as business editor of The Sunday Times. Another was written by Robert Winnett, whom Mr. Lewis recently announced as The Post’s next executive editor.
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Are People OK
I'm stupid and don't really have the vocabulary of basic psychology and neuroscience, but I occasionally think about just why THE METAVERSE had such an appeal to Zuckerburg and others. Plenty of things in tech these days are just fraud, but I'm reasonably sure Zuck thought putting tens of billions into that would produce something amazing.. and that something would be like Holodeck 1.0.
I'm just not sure how functioning humans thought the experience as it was hyped - legless Zuck floating near the Eiffel tower, or whatever - was in any way that immersive reality they craved. There's some fundamental perception and reality disconnection that I can't comprehend.
An inability to distinguish between what I see, what others see, and what I imagine. Or something. Like I said I'm stupid...
I'm just not sure how functioning humans thought the experience as it was hyped - legless Zuck floating near the Eiffel tower, or whatever - was in any way that immersive reality they craved. There's some fundamental perception and reality disconnection that I can't comprehend.
An inability to distinguish between what I see, what others see, and what I imagine. Or something. Like I said I'm stupid...
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
Mission Accomplished?
The U.S.-built aid pier will be detached from Gaza’s coast for a second time due to rough seas, two U.S. officials said Friday, raising further questions about the viability of the sea route.I suspect it won't return.
Friday, June 14, 2024
Political Journalism
Often as bad as its harshest critics claim.
Poor Emma (of Politico). She probably got herself kicked out of the group chat for that.
Poor Emma (of Politico). She probably got herself kicked out of the group chat for that.
Sounds Bad
Probably bad.
Over 2 feet of rainfall was recorded over the past 72 hours at Miami-Dade College - North Campus. Over 20 inches of rain was clocked at Miami-Dade College - Hialeah Campus, over 19 inches in the Everglades, over 18 inches at the University of Miami and 13.51 inches at Miami Beach.
South Florida has been drenched in a deluge that started Tuesday into Wednesday, with a brief break on Thursday before more rain pounded down. This week’s downpour forced flight cancellations at airports, residents to abandon cars in high water and the rescue of locals from flooded vehicles and homes.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
This will be one of those things the press will refer to as a "conspiracy theory" in a few years.
😞
Poor guy.
It’s a day of reckoning today for Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and a long-awaited culmination for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones for defamation. A federal bankruptcy judge in Texas is expected to force Jones to liquidate his personal assets, including ownership of his media company, Free Speech Systems, in order to pay families nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading lies that the 2012 school shooting never happened.
Sure Why Not
What the fuck is wrong with these people.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.Airborne viral blowback.
The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines – China’s Sinovac inoculation.
Bust Out
I have to say, earnestly for once, masterful gambit, sir.
June 13 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, the electric vehicle-maker said on Thursday, a big thumbs-up to his leadership and an incentive to keep his focus on his biggest source of wealth.Tesla Corp. has (forgive me) no gas in the tank, but it is amazing how long it will run on fumes as its leader is pillaging it.
The approval underscores the support that Musk enjoys from Tesla's retail investor base, many of whom are vocal fans of the mercurial billionaire. The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms.
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Think We're In The Third Act of "AI"
Hilarious.
At Apple's recently concluded annual conference for developers, the company announced that it teamed up with OpenAI to bring its technology to the iPhone and its other devices. It's easy to imagine a huge amount of money changing hands in a deal between a massive corporation and a fast-rising tech firm. But according to a new Bloomberg report, nobody paid anybody in that partnership. Apple is reportedly not paying OpenAI, because it believes that putting its technology in front of hundreds of millions of users is equal to or even better than any kind of monetary payment.Sure, Jan.
As Bloomberg points out, OpenAI could make money from the deal by convincing Apple users to pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus.
Serial Violator
People make mistakes and have momentary leadfoot, but I do not have sympathy for repeat offenders. Driving is dangerous and you aren't just going to hurt yourself!
The accident was the latest example of unsafe driving by Fetterman, according to public records and people with knowledge of the situation. He has received two speeding tickets for violations of at least 24 miles per hour above the speed limit, one in 2016 and one in March, according to Pennsylvania state records. After the ticket this year, when he was driving 34 miles per hour over the limit, he was required by the state to complete a driver’s improvement course, according to a person familiar with the outcome who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the episode. Neither record said exactly where he was driving or how fast he was going.
At other times, aides have said Fetterman has texted and FaceTimed while driving, prompting concern among his staff and fears about riding with him, according to three people with knowledge of staff discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations.
Fetterman’s aides have refrained from messaging him while behind the wheel when they knew he was driving, afraid he would answer them, according to the three people. One aide asked to no longer be required to ride in the car with him after witnessing Fetterman driving unsafely, they said. The concerns sparked an informal practice recently instituted in the office that aides should not be in the car when Fetterman is driving, according to one person familiar with the practice.
Standing
Good news, I suppose, but for decades the conservatives on the Court have been inventing higher and higher hurdles for "standing" so this good news is just that there is some limit to their shamelessness.
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the abortion pill mifepristone with a ruling that will continue to allow the pills to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor’s visit.
Money Can't Buy You Love
Mostly not, but it can buy you deference, and decades of deference does rot brains.
True of rich guys, true of leading politicians, and certainly true of Supreme Court Justices who have had decades of little aside from press coverage reassuring them of their superior status. Sure "we'd" criticize Scalia's opinions sometimes, but NO ONE CAN DOUBT HE'S A GENIUS. That kind of thing.
True of rich guys, true of leading politicians, and certainly true of Supreme Court Justices who have had decades of little aside from press coverage reassuring them of their superior status. Sure "we'd" criticize Scalia's opinions sometimes, but NO ONE CAN DOUBT HE'S A GENIUS. That kind of thing.
Send In Viceroy Bremer
Sure why not.
All just grift and exploitation.
Or maybe it's time for God Emperor Pete Buttigieg I, ruler of Palestine, subsidiary of McKinsey Co.
(joke - Pete seems ok lately)
From think tankers to McKinsey types to Washington bureaucrats, plenty of people are offering proposals. Some focus on the immediate security and governance needs of shell-shocked Palestinians left in Gaza, using terms like “contact group” and “mandate.” Some dream of Gaza soccer stadiums decades from now. The Biden administration, I’m told by U.S. and Arab officials, is coalescing around plans for an interim “Palestinian Council” to govern Gaza and a security coalition in which the U.S. military will play a major role. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a man accused of deliberately avoiding having a plan, including by a politician who just abandoned his coalition — has, technically, proposed a plan."A genocide happened, then everyone got rich."
All just grift and exploitation.
Or maybe it's time for God Emperor Pete Buttigieg I, ruler of Palestine, subsidiary of McKinsey Co.
(joke - Pete seems ok lately)
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Sure Why Not
Just for fun.
A group of Russian Navy ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, arrived in Cuba on Wednesday morning in a sign of strengthening ties between the two Cold War allies.
Popularism!
I don't think I have to waste my beautiful mind expending effort to explain why this is beyond stupid.
AI could change polling. AI can offer the ability to instantaneously survey and summarize the expressed opinions of individuals and groups across the web, understand trends by demographic, and offer extrapolations to new circumstances and policy issues on par with human experts. The politicians of the (near) future won’t anxiously pester their pollsters for information about the results of a survey fielded last week: they’ll just ask a chatbot what people think.
Consensus Dream
I'm not going to listen and maybe it is a perfectly reasonable conversation, but why are issues so often presented in this fashion? As if the goal of politics is to get us to agree rather than a method for resolving disagreements without violence, as a way of choosing policies despite disagreements which always exist?
WHY CAN'T JOE BIDEN UNIFY THE COUNTRY??? type of thing. There is never this imagined "unity," just, at times, a desire by the people with the microphones to ignore disagreements, and at times a desire to amplify them.
I Suppose You Have To Have Some Weird Respect For That
I mean it's stupid and it doesn't make him good, but it's certainly easier to fake a bit of contrition for a lighter sentence!
"I have no regrets. I will not say I’m sorry.”
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 12, 2024
DOJ seeking 7+ years in federal prison for Dale Huttle, a 73-year-old commercial driver who was "one of the more violent participants" in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/CEb1TxQjco
There Are Simpler Ways Of Doing These Things
I know this stuff is a bit above my pay grade, but you don't need the computing and power demands of LLMs to consult a recipe database with a pleasing UI, and the latter is likely to give you decent results instead of telling you to use glue as an ingredient because the LLM "read" some reddit shitposts.
Apple struck a deal with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to support some of its A.I. capabilities. Requests that its system can’t field will be directed to ChatGPT. For example, a user could say that they have salmon, lemon and tomatoes and want help planning dinner with those ingredients. Users would have to choose to direct those requests to ChatGPT, ensuring that they know that the chatbot — not Apple — is responsible if the answers are unsatisfying. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, attended the Apple event.This is Apple putting some distance between themselves and the product, though I don't know they why're bothering at all.
What Is Happening Here
Full transcript actually does show the absolute absurdity of this.The resolution the UN Security Council adopted yesterday makes clear that the world agrees Hamas should accept the ceasefire-hostage deal on the table.
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) June 11, 2024
Israel accepted this deal. If Hamas does not, it will bear full responsibility for prolonging the war. pic.twitter.com/wCglwsa1wE
BLITZER: 14 to nothing with one abstention. That would be Russia. President Biden says this ceasefire plan is Israel's but Prime Minister Netanyahu hasn't publicly accepted it, neither has Hamas. President Biden has said it's time for this war to end. What will this resolution, Ambassador, do to get both sides to accept this deal that's currently on the table?
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think the resolution is actually the opportunity to pressure Hamas to accept the deal. Israel has accepted the deal. The president has said that. And now all we need is to have Hamas accept this deal, release hostages that they are required to do in phase one, and move forward on an extended ceasefire. This is an important effort that was made with the support of the Qatari government and the Egyptian government working with us on the ground.
BLITZER: As you say, you say the Israeli government has accepted this deal that's currently on the table, but does the Israeli leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu, need to accept it himself? He's avoided that.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Look, I can't speak for Prime Minister Netanyahu. I can only speak what the president has conveyed, and he has conveyed confidence in the Israeli acceptance of this deal. What we need now is Hamas to accept the deal. They welcomed the resolution immediately after it was passed. They need to take the next step and accept the deal and start to release hostages.
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Hot Takes
Political reporters have one little problem: they hate Kamala Harris. If they liked her then the "push Biden out" reporting/punditry would have reached Dean Scream levels of insistence months ago.
(extra funny as "Bartlet not dropping out despite major health issues" was a big West Wing plot!)
Biden's Deep State Gets Another One
I really don't have any deep thoughts on the Hunter Biden guilt verdict.. Over to you!
Feisty
Rolling Stone:
When Windsor tells Mrs. Alito she is being persecuted and depicted as “a convenient stand-in for anybody who’s religious,” the justice’s wife gets quieter, and her tone turns more serious: “Look at me, look at me. I’m German. I’m from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you. And there will be a way — it doesn’t have to be now — but there will be a way they will know. Don’t worry about it. God — you read the Bible. Psalm 27 is my psalm. Mine. Psalm 27, the Lord is my God and my rock. Of whom shall I be afraid? Nobody.”Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post:
Martha-Ann’s flag, first hoisted at her home a few days after Jan. 6, initially sparked only the ire of a neighbor. Perhaps the neighbor has reason to dislike Martha-Ann, who is funny, feisty, unfiltered and the life of any party, according to mutual friends and my limited impression of her.
Godliness
With Trump as the leader of your political movement, what does this even mean?
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told a woman posing as a Catholic conservative last week that compromise in America between the left and right might be impossible and then agreed with the view that the nation should return to a place of godliness.It means the same thing that it's always meant, but I'd like some journalists who spent years writing about "Values Voters" to explain it.
“One side or the other is going to win,” Justice Alito told the woman, Lauren Windsor, at an exclusive gala at the Supreme Court. “There can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.”
Monday, June 10, 2024
Your Moment of Zen
Watch and share my campaign video - Luke Akehurst for North Durham pic.twitter.com/MfK4KeNElo
— Luke Akehurst (@lukeakehurst) June 10, 2024
Sack Of Vipers
One thing that became apparent during the Trump presidency was that all of those people didn't have any experience with normal humans. They're all horrible people who have spent their lives surrounded by horrible people. "Everyone is a complete shithead, like me" is all they know.
There is a reasonable amount of fiction - like 19th century British stuff - which makes clear how horrible the rich are to the help, and to anyone "lower" than them, I suppose, but I'm not sure it comes through how horrible they are to each other.
I don't know how to improve socialization generally, and certainly not among the self-segregated elite, but, you know, this is a problem!
There is a reasonable amount of fiction - like 19th century British stuff - which makes clear how horrible the rich are to the help, and to anyone "lower" than them, I suppose, but I'm not sure it comes through how horrible they are to each other.
I don't know how to improve socialization generally, and certainly not among the self-segregated elite, but, you know, this is a problem!
Wide Stance
It occurs to me that the political "sex scandal" is mostly dead. It was dying before Trump, but he rendered them nonfunctional. This is mostly good, as part of what made sex scandals possible was the pretense that all of those Republican were virgins before marriage and had intercourse as many times as they had children. I think historians will understand 1980-2010 or so as a neoVictorian age of cultural norms.
Still "massive unignorable hypocrisy" is one way that conservative culture warriors could get their deserved falls, and now we have lost that, mostly, too.
Still "massive unignorable hypocrisy" is one way that conservative culture warriors could get their deserved falls, and now we have lost that, mostly, too.
Probation Interview
That wacky Donald has so many adventures!
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to sit for a virtual interview on Monday with a New York City probation officer from his home at Mar-a-Lago with his attorney Todd Blanche at his side after he was found guilty on all counts in the hush money trial against him last month, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Strategery
I'm not a mindreader, but if every single mild action or statement against Israel's conduct had merely been a cynical ploy to silence critics, what would have been different? They've been very successful! Not because they're any good at it - they're transparent liars - but because the people who control the microphones are on board.
Progress
Some movement from the White House.
Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza was beginning to alienate Europe and the rest of the international community.Wait, hold on. Computer: enhance.
Speaking at a 2024 re-election campaign fundraiser in Washington, the US president ramped up pressure on Israel over any post-hostilities deal. He said the Israelis “can’t say no” to a Palestinian state, and urged Netanyahu not to repeat the mistakes made by the US after 9/11.
Invoking specifically the prolonged US war in Afghanistan, he said: “There’s no reason we did so many of the things we did.”
Sunday, June 09, 2024
"Lab Leak"
I'm doing some weekending (hiking - not the Applachian Trail) so I don't have time, but I see the New York Times opinion section is going *all in* on the Covid LAB LEAK "theory."
Morgellons, next!
Morgellons, next!
Saturday, June 08, 2024
Seems Bad
“Crisis of conscience”: 20 years after the Abu Ghraib report, The New York Times published their investigation into the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where the Israeli military has detained thousands of Palestinians, and describes the abuse taking place there. pic.twitter.com/GrqnrPhuS5
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) June 8, 2024
Seems Like A Bad Guy
He's on of the lads, but not one of the AMERICAN lads, so knives are out.
The phone hacking scandal has defined British journalism and politics since. There was a moment when it looked like the monstrous behavior of the press would be ever so slightly curtailed, and some people ever so slightly punished, and they all banded together and said "fuck you, no fucking way."
Desperate to stop the scandal and appease prosecutors in Britain and abroad, News Corp tapped Will Lewis, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, to clean up the mess.Lewis is the new WaPO publisher.
He did just that. In his telling, he cooperated with the authorities, revealed wrongdoing and helped set the operation on a new course. Some former colleagues and hacking victims, though, long believed that he helped News Corp cover up the extent of the wrongdoing.
The phone hacking scandal has defined British journalism and politics since. There was a moment when it looked like the monstrous behavior of the press would be ever so slightly curtailed, and some people ever so slightly punished, and they all banded together and said "fuck you, no fucking way."
Well, Well, Well
Can I get a list of acceptable topics to get vocally mad at national Democrats about, the ones that don't risk the return of the Bad Orange Man?
Friday, June 07, 2024
Client Journalism
I said British journalism is a sewer and that's because it's all "Dylan Byers journalism." Powerful people paired with their client journalists who do free PR for them at the behest of media outlet owners/editors. The top journalists are the ones with the top clients!
It was good to see Byers get the smackdown from his peers, a bit, as they are usually very resistant to criticizing each other. There should be some understanding that once access journalism takes over, there's no outlet for anything else.
It was good to see Byers get the smackdown from his peers, a bit, as they are usually very resistant to criticizing each other. There should be some understanding that once access journalism takes over, there's no outlet for anything else.
Money Well Spent
Amazing intelligence from our intellignce organization.
CIA assessment circulated among US officials this week concluded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely judges he can get away without defining a post-war plan — even as the Biden administration has launched a full-court press to pressure him to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza."Full-court press" hasn't even included the customary sternly worded letters!
Learning The Tricks
Gotta admit that accusing your critics of being "activists" is a standard US journalist thing, so this Brit important is learning fast.
Washington Post Publisher and CEO William Lewis is drawing scrutiny after press reports described him as attempting to dissuade journalists — including those at The Post — from covering his involvement in a long-running British phone-hacking lawsuit.Left out of this account is how after Folkenflik refused the terms, Dylan Byers, the rich person's favorite free PR agent, ran with it.
...
The other press account came from NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, who published a story Thursday describing his experience with Lewis: After being named The Post’s next publisher, but before his first day on the job, Lewis “repeatedly — and heatedly” offered to give Folkenflik an exclusive interview about The Post’s future, in exchange for him dropping a story about new court documents in the phone-hacking case. He refused.
...
In his email to The Post, Lewis called Folkenflik — who published a book in 2013 on Rupert Murdoch’s media empire — “an activist, not a journalist.” Lewis added: “I had an off the record conversation with him before I joined you at The Post and some six months later he has dusted it down, and made up some excuse to make a story of a non-story.”
At that time, Lewis had just been named publisher and CEO by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, but had not yet started. In several conversations, Lewis repeatedly — and heatedly —offered to give me an exclusive interview about the Post’s future, as long as I dropped the story about the allegations.
At that time, the same spokesperson, who works directly for Lewis from the U.K. and has advised him since his days at the Wall Street Journal, confirmed to me that an explicit offer was on the table: drop the story, get the interview.
NPR published the story nonetheless. On Thursday, the spokesperson declined comment about that offer.
That first interview appears to have gone to Puck’s Dylan Byers. It ran a day after the Post’s piece in May.
British journalism is a sewer and this guy has no idea why people are criticizing him. This is just how things are normally done!dylan byers has a little buzzer on his desk that starts flashing every time a billionaire needs defending online
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) December 10, 2018
All In Your Head
The presumption that long term illnesses - even ones with identifiable causes - are just psychosomatic or fakery has a long history.
I admit I used to be a bit more inclined to believe that kind of thing, but now I generally believe that people are sick when they say they are sick and understand that if they sometimes reach for "crazy"-sounding "conspiracy theory" explantions, it's because the official medical establishment has failed to provide them with a real one.
Over my life I've seen many conditions go from "fake" to "real" and the same for many asserted causes of those conditions. "Perhaps a virus keeps eating away at me or damaged bits of the body that do not heal well" is not actually a crazy concept!
The one I have always remembered, for no particular reason, was how the suggestion that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria instead of "stress" and diet was treated as nuts until it wasn't.
I admit I used to be a bit more inclined to believe that kind of thing, but now I generally believe that people are sick when they say they are sick and understand that if they sometimes reach for "crazy"-sounding "conspiracy theory" explantions, it's because the official medical establishment has failed to provide them with a real one.
THERE’S A STORY YOU HEAR about multiple sclerosis, that doctors all claimed it too was “psychological” until magnetic resonance imaging came along and revealed big white patches all over the brain scans of its sufferers. Heck, coal country doctors dismissed black lung as “psychological” as late as the 1950s, and when a female scientist even claimed to have isolated the microscopic “germ” that caused polio in 1930, she was written off as a fabulist quack. It would take another 92 years before the scientific consensus would make its way back to the germ theory of multiple sclerosis, and when it finally did, with the 2022 publication of a 20-year longitudinal study of thousands of Veterans Administration MS patients, it didn’t exactly break the internet.The link, worth a read, is about official Long Covid denial.
Over my life I've seen many conditions go from "fake" to "real" and the same for many asserted causes of those conditions. "Perhaps a virus keeps eating away at me or damaged bits of the body that do not heal well" is not actually a crazy concept!
The one I have always remembered, for no particular reason, was how the suggestion that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria instead of "stress" and diet was treated as nuts until it wasn't.
Find it all
The man won't be able to hide continuing to live the good life from any money he has hidden!
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre.
Thursday, June 06, 2024
Lock Him Up!
Might happen!
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday ordered former Trump White House aide Steven Bannon to report to jail by July 1 to begin serving a four-month sentence for his criminal contempt of Congress conviction.
Junk Fees
It is a problem when every transaction is a potential scam without easy recourse.
One rooftop bar and restaurant in downtown Los Angeles started charging a 4.5 percent “security fee,” much to the consternation of patrons. Reservation cancellation fees in New York City, if they’re even one minute after the restaurant’s deadline, can now cost as much as $100 per person.
The Biden administration has on several occasions lamented hotel “resort fees,” even tacked onto stays at hotels that cannot be seriously described as “resorts.” But hotel guests in Los Angeles sued Marriott last year over something else: a “hotel worker protection ordinance costs surcharge.” According to Marriott, the $10-to-$14-a-night fee helped them comply with a local law requiring personal security devices to protect hospitality workers from dangerous interactions with guests. The lawsuit estimated that a single airport Marriott makes $3.6 million annually off the HWPO junk fee—quite a bit for a system that amounts to a network of wireless pagers or walkie-talkies.
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