Mark Zuckerberg defends political ads after Twitter bans them – Insider
mmmm
Category: Media and Culture,
For 23 years, he’s delivered crosses after massacres. This was his hardest week yet
Since 1996, when he found his father-in-law murdered, Zanis has built 26,680 crosses, he said on the drive. He would add nine names to his orange notebook after Dayton, he said.
He estimates 21,000 are shooting victims. He’s also taken his white crosses to the aftermath of tornadoes and wildfires, bus and boat crashes, and to Martha’s Vineyard after JFK Jr. and his relatives died in a plane crash. He took five in February to the Henry Pratt Company after a shooting unfolded in his hometown.
Asked how he staves off sadness, he said he doesn’t.
…The victims’ religions, however, don’t matter to Zanis. He scans their obituaries to determine whether he should bring crosses, Stars of David or crescent moons. He’s memorialized Buddhists and atheists, as well.
For 23 years, he’s delivered crosses after massacres. This was his hardest week yet – CNN.com
hmmm
Robots aren’t taking warehouse employees’ jobs, they’re making their work harder
The report shows how technologies are modifying the day-to-day work of people who organize, store, and package physical goods in warehouses. It found that technology and automation can help workers by reducing the “monotonous and physically strenuous activities” of, say, lifting heavy packages. But it also could affect workers’ health, safety, and morale, and accelerate the rate at which employees are replaced. That’s because tools like self-driving shelving carts, body sensors, and AI-powered management systems are putting pressure on workers to work harder, faster, and under more scrutiny. This is helping boost productivity but could be bad for workers, the report argues.
…“Technology has led to workers being pushed harder and also their privacy getting violated.”
…Even though some new technologies “promise to alleviate the most arduous activities” for workers, they can also contribute to an overall greater workload and more intense supervision.
…The report says technology can intensify warehouse work in two main ways. The first is by limiting the amount of human interaction, including in cases where employees can help each other. The second is by allowing the “micromanagement of work tasks at an unprecedented scale.”
That’s because many of these new machines are dissecting workers’ every move — like sensors that measure the time it takes a worker to reach a location where they can pick up an item, scan a label, select a product, and place it in a bin.
…“The assumption that streamlining processes leads in a linear fashion to greater efficiencies, and thus cost reductions, may be fundamentally flawed,” the report states. “Gains could be counteracted by new health and safety hazards as well as increased employee turnover due to overwork and burnout.”
There are also questions about data privacy and whether workers have a right to know how the data being collected on them on the job is being used — including if it’s being used to feed the AI behind new autonomous warehouse machines. If that’s happening, it would mean that workers may unwittingly train their own replacements.
Robots aren’t taking warehouse employees’ jobs, they’re making their work harder – Vox
hmmm
‘We’re building a wall in Colorado,’ Trump claims
“We’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall – a big one that really works, that you can’t get over, you can’t get under.”
…“And we’re building a wall in Texas. And we’re not building a wall in Kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls that we just mentioned,” Trump added.
It was not immediately clear what the president was talking about. [emphasis: peanut gallery]
‘We’re building a wall in Colorado,’ Trump claims at energy summit in Pennsylvania
n/t
Kamala Harris 2020 Campaign: Not Dead Yet, But Lacking Clear Rationale
The problem for Harris to this point has been that she’s run a cautious, calculating campaign, as if she were the front-runner, when she really needed to run as if she were an insurgent, and her missteps — her failure to land on a clear, consistent message, her transparent efforts to appeal to all sides of burning policy questions such as Medicare for All, her gimmicky debate attacks — have led voters to see her as inauthentic. She may get another look from persuadable Democrats during the homestretch, but she’s going to need to give them the clear rationale for her candidacy that she has so far failed to deliver.
Kamala Harris 2020 Campaign: Not Dead Yet, But Lacking Clear Rationale | National Review
The rest of the article is snarky fluff the closing paragraph (above) is on point.
PG&E Paid Out Stock Dividends Instead of Trimming Trees
At a probation hearing related to the utility’s deadly 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Judge William Alsup said the embattled utility hasn’t done enough to prevent wildfires through tree trimming and other maintenance work — even while its shareholders made millions.
“PG&E pumped out $4.5 billion in dividends and let the tree budget wither,” Alsup said.
But the judge declined to impose more sweeping changes that he’d earlier floated, including requiring PG&E to inspect its entire electrical grid.
…State fire investigators also blamed PG&E for 18 of the more than 170 wildfires that swept Northern California in October 2017. And the utility has acknowledged that its equipment likely started the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, which destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.
…On Tuesday, the judge also directed a federal monitor to conduct random inspections of the tree-trimming program.
Judge: PG&E Paid Out Stock Dividends Instead of Trimming Trees | The California Report | KQED News
hmmmm
The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library
Librarians have an advantage in making themselves heard through the noise and confusion: Along with nurses and firefighters, they’re among the few groups and institutions Americans still trust, according to Lee Rainie, director of
Internet and technology research at the Pew Research Center.
From 2011 until 2016, Pew did a number of deep-dive studies of public libraries, work funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In those surveys, researchers found that trust in librarians remained high because of their proven ability to curate and share reliable knowledge. “That’s become one of the more precious skills in a world where gaming the information ecosystem is an everyday reality,” Rainie says.
The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library | National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
hmmm
No refugees will be resettled in the US in October, leaving hundreds in limbo around the world
No excuses for Democrats who doubled down on the same position in 2016.
#IseeyouMaggieHassan
What Barack Obama gets exactly right about our toxic ‘cancel’ culture
The rise of “cancel” culture — particularly on the left and particularly on social media — is one of the defining hallmarks of our culture in the post-Obama presidency. Say something wrong, tweet something people disagree with, express an opinion that is surprising or contradicts the established view people have of you, and the demands for you to be fired, de-friended or otherwise driven from the realms of men quickly follow.
The goal of many of these cancel culture acolytes appears to be simply to move from outrage to outrage — pointing fingers and yelling “here is the bad person. RIGHT HERE.” Left unsaid — but without question present in the underpinnings of this worldview — is that there are only good people (aka people who agree with me on all things) and bad people (those who don’t agree with me on everything.) There is no gray area. It’s black or it’s white.
…What Obama is advocating for isn’t that people change their beliefs. Instead, he is reminding us all of our common humanity, that we have much more in common than politicians and partisans would like us to believe. Seeing people as less like cardboard cutouts and more like, well, people, would do us (and our politics) a world of good.
What Barack Obama gets exactly right about our toxic ‘cancel’ culture – CNNPolitics
Demonizing potential allies is stupid way to attempt to get things done. Prioritizing purity over progress is what gave us Trump and people who engage it are nothing more than brain-dead sheeple.
Barack Obama calls out cancel culture: ‘That’s not activism, that’s not bringing about change’
“This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly,” he said.
“The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”
Obama stated that the danger of being too “judgemental” of people on social media is something he sees “particularly on college campuses”, and has been “accelerated by social media.”
….“Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. ‘Cause, ‘Man, you see how woke I was? I called you out’.”
…“That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change,” he said.
“If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far.”
If you think attacking people is going to change their mind, you’re a moron.
Their is nothing more ineffective and masturbatory than smugly broadcasting how much better you think your point of view is than other people who have similar views to your own.
Rep. Maxine Waters Deletes All of Facebook with One Look at Mark Zuckerberg
Rep. Maxine Waters is known for her extraordinary way with words, her ability to deliver mellifluous strings of terse takedowns with the precision of a preacher and acidity of an assistant principal who is not here for your nonsense today, Ferris. And sometimes those words come in the form of an expression that stops times completely.
Rep. Maxine Waters Deletes All of Facebook with One Look at Mark Zuckerberg
heh
Tally of children split at border tops 5,400 in new count
Tally of children split at border tops 5,400 in new count | PBS NewsHour
Until this stop every single American resident and citizen is culpable in these kidnappings.
Pfizer CEO gets 61% pay raise—to $27.9 million—as drug prices continue to climb
As drug giant Pfizer Inc. hiked the price of dozens of drugs in 2017, it also jacked up the compensation of CEO Ian Read by 61 percent, putting his total compensation at $27.9 million.
…The 61 percent raise comes after a string of separate reports noting drug price increases by Pfizer. In January, FiercePharma reported an analysis finding that Pfizer implemented 116 price hikes just between …December 15 [2017] and January 3 [2018.]
…Additionally, Pfizer had increased the prices of 91 drugs by an average of 20 percent in just the first half of 2017.
…In June of 2016, Pfizer raised the list prices of its medicines by an average of 8.8 percent. That followed an average 10.4 percent raise in list prices in January of that year.
Pfizer CEO gets 61% pay raise—to $27.9 million—as drug prices continue to climb | Ars Technica
hmmm
The fundamentally un-American attacks on Alexander Vindman
Theirs is, in the abstract, the quintessential American story. Migrants who arrived from the former Soviet Union at age 3 who’ve since dedicated their lives to serving their new country.
…In the estimation of the Trump administration, though, that famous poem has often been waved away — sometimes literally. In August, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, was …[asked] “Would you also agree that Emma Lazarus’s words etched on the Statue of Liberty, ‘Give me your tired, give me your poor,’ are also a part of the American ethos?”
…“They certainly are,” he replied: “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.”
…When news of Vindman’s expected testimony broke on Monday night, the reaction from Trump’s normal defenders was remarkably uniform: Vindman was suspect because he came from what is now Ukraine.
…“Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interests”
…“I find that astounding,” said John Yoo, who worked in the George W. Bush administration. “And some people might call that espionage.”
Yoo, [who is an evil, heartless, draconian, unamerican piece of shit] who wrote post-9/11 legal opinions for Bush that were used to justify torturing terrorism suspects, is an immigrant from South Korea.
…Sean P. Duffy (R-Wis.) [in apparent defiance of the objective fact that defending Ukraine IS United States policy said of Vindman] “…It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense,” Duffy said. “I don’t know that he’s concerned about American policy, but his main mission was to make sure that Ukraine got those weapons.”
(Of course, Ukraine’s defense is still U.S. policy.)
…“We all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from,” Duffy continued. “Like me, I’m sure that Vindman has the same affinity … to our homeland where we came from. …He has an affinity, I think, for the Ukraine. He speaks Ukrainian. He came from the country and he wants to make sure they’re safe.”
…The reaction to Vindman, though, reveals a fundamental hypocrisy in the Trumpian approach to immigrants. What Trump prioritizes in migrants who come to the United States is self-sufficiency and assimilation. He prefers migrants from Europe over Africa or the Middle East. What he wants is Alexander Vindmans — until Alexander Vindman points out where the loyalties of Trump himself might be questionable.
The fundamentally un-American attacks on Alexander Vindman – The Washington Post
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ICE withdraws big fines for immigrants taking sanctuary in churches
“We knew that these exorbitant fines were illegal and were nothing more than a tool to scare our clients and retaliate against them for fighting back and standing up to this administration,” attorney Lizbeth Mateo, who represents a Mexican woman living at an Ohio church.”
…Immigrants who are free on bond but ordered to leave the country are typically given a date to report to immigration authorities for removal. Others are ordered to check in with authorities, which, under former President Barack Obama-era policies, generally didn’t result in deportation unless the person was convicted of a serious crime in the United States.
Trump lifted those restrictions almost immediately, causing people to get deported when they reported to ICE offices as instructed and discouraging others from coming.
ICE withdraws big fines for immigrants taking sanctuary in churches
hmmm
A high school athlete ran her personal best but was disqualified for her hijab
A high school athlete ran her personal best but was disqualified for her hijab – CNN
Disqualifications for religious dress should be illegal with severe [monetary!!! because that’s the only language people listen to] penalties for the school systems and sports organizations involved. Period.
Study Finds a Medical Algorithm Favors White Patients Over Sicker Black Patients
The use of algorithms as a technological diagnostic tool was meant to help lower the nation’s healthcare costs by helping medical providers keep people well.
However, as the Post notes, if a system is already historically biased, it’s easy for a new technological tool to inherit those biases.
“I am struck by how many people still think that racism always has to be intentional and fueled by malice,” Ruha Benjamin, an associate professor of African American studies at Princeton University, told the Post. “They don’t want to admit the racist effects of technology unless they can pinpoint the bigoted boogeyman behind the screen.”
Study Finds a Medical Algorithm Favors White Patients Over Sicker Black Patients
Attention well-meaning Presidential candidates… [hack, cough, ahem, cough, Cory Booker] Technology is not necessarily going to improve things or make it more efficient. The human component is necessary to implement fairness and justice.
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