Politics

“To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system,” Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote. Today, as AI threatens to flood our information ecosystem with synthetic content, this warning resonates with new urgency. The question isn’t whether AI will replace journalism – it’s whether we’ll passively accept the degradation of our shared truth-seeking institutions. Let’s be clear: the fundamental role of journalism in democracy cannot be automated away. When Jürgen Habermas described the public sphere, he wasn’t envisioning a network of language models – he was describing the very human process of collective sense-making. This is why journalism, real journalism, will persist regardless of AI’s capabilities. ...

Nancy Pelosi addressed the American public to announce an official inquiry into the impeaching of America‘s worst president. 6 different house committees are already working to document the ever-growing list of impeachable offenses the second highest vote winner of the 2016 election. There are other sites that can list the numerous impeachable offenses of the Trump administration. There are also many sites documenting Trump’s own criminal enterprises and corrupt way of life prior to being president. ...

I have recently read Jaron Lanier’s newest book: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (2018). It makes some great arguments for those who are in a position to do so to remove themselves from social media platforms. As a result I am exporting my data off of Facebook and Google, Instagram, and moving everything to my own blog. I highly recommend the book and would love to encourage and help others to move to a platform that gives them full control of the content they publish and the content that they consume. ...

My Europeans friends often wonder how so many Americans can be so effing stupid. Trump is a result of decades of media distortion. Radio is the leading media consumption source and talk radio (in a commuter country) is skewed far far further to the right than even #FauxNews. #Propaganda works, folks! ...

#jaronlanier is right! #tenargumentsfordeletingyoursocialmediaaccountsrightnow #facebook #instagram #whatsapp #twitter

June 28 & 30 - In Washington D.C. and across Europe, take part in demos with @womensmarch @FamiliesBelong & @DemsAbroad to protest the ongoing human rights violationscreated by @realdonaldtrump racist policies and staff. RSVP: https://t.co/16LjUXKxWR — Dems Abroad Austria (@DemsAustria) June 27, 2018

So don’t be a sucker. Blog entry reposted from Trump’s first attempt at misleading America. “Don’t Be a Sucker” was designed to warn pre-internet moviegoers about the dangers of being taken in by a populist demagogue. It’s seventy five years old, so it barely predates Don the Con. It also perfectly encapsulates a what he is, and always has been, a dyed-in-the-wool conman. ...

“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good about this country.” Considering the content of this book, the investigation into Trump and his obstruction of justice, and the rumored pardoning of Scooter Libby who was himself convicted for obstruction, perjury and lying to investigators, any supporter or member of the GOP has got to ask themselves just exactly what level of criminality they are comfortable with. You don’t get a pass for merely liking GOP policies, because civic duty now requires collective action to support our system of government and the rule of law. The RNC has made its decision already. They are going to the mats against the Department of Justice. ...

Washington Post: Órban wins Third Term Fidesz makes bogeymen out of people fleeing war, famine, poverty and hopelessness making it’s citizens fear for their Christianity, itself a dying religion. As a result they cede their own liberty, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and rights to petition the courts for a redress of grievances. This strategy, to wage a campaign based on self-generated fantasies, pushed into the minds of citizens in an environment of limited news resources is the surest way to degrade a democracy. Hungary as a Democracy is at its lowest point since the fall of Communism. But don’t worry! The “Viktator” has a lovely view of it all from his home overlooking his football stadium. Life is grand at the top, that it sits atop a wobbley mountain of corruption is of no importance. ...

Just was informed by my dad about this: “In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The EAC was created after the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. (Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.) The Committee also voted to eliminate the public-financing system for presidential elections dating back to the 1970s. This cannot be tolerated, especially at a time when our voting systems are still under attack. Its criminal. ...