dangillmor

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

The publisher of the NY Times (the guy who really runs the place) has pious and mostly fair thoughts about the state of journalism and its role in a democracy.

What a shame that he is completely blind to the damage his organization is doing to both journalism and democracy, courtesy of its staggeringly bad political coverage. (I'm probably giving him more credit than deserved, because how can that awful work not be deliberate?)

https://www.cjr.org/special_report/ag-sulzberger-new-york-times-journalisms-essential-value-objectivity-independence.php

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

The state of Florida put this family through sadistic torture to force the birth of an infant with no chance of survival.

Will the state pay the medical bills that their "insurance" rejected? Yeah, right.

Cruelty on top of cruelty.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/florida-abortion-law-deborah-dorbert/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

The Republicans' propaganda campaign to convince Americans that paying bills we've already incurred should depend on cutting social programs has worked. https://apnews.com/article/debt-ceiling-deficit-biden-taxes-mccarthy-poll-5411d1772c8e1c26acc187850999cb8e

One reason is the totally incompetent job the Democrats, led by the Biden administration, have done in explaining what the Republicans' campaign is nothing but extortion and economic sabotage.

Another reason, as usual, is crappy journalism that uncritically amplifies the Republican BS.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Scammy AI-written crap is overwhelming magazine submission editors. They're looking for ways to fight back. http://neil-clarke.com/it-continues/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

The Supreme Court doesn't just rule on whether laws are constitutional or not. Increasingly, as today's spate of decisions shows, the court is writing the law.

Two reasons: 1) Congress can't be bothered anymore, and, more importantly, 2) the goal is to create and enforce a hard-right-wing agenda.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Florida's war on Disney just cost the state a billion-dollar office-park development plus 2,000 jobs. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/disney-scraps-lake-nona-florida-campus.html

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

So Sen. Feinstein's medical condition is worse than she's disclosed, and the newly disclosed issue is one affecting cognition and memory.

This is incredibly sad for her and her family, and they deserve sympathy.

But she should have retired years ago, and absolutely should step down now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/18/sen-feinsteins-health-complications-shingles-more-severe-than-disclosed/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

As @joshtpm points out, there was plenty to investigate about Trump's Russia connections. And there still is: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/newsletter/vol-2-no-2-lets-get-back-to-reality-on-trump-and-russia/sharetoken/mvmqmLB5AmXG

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

What could Google have been thinking when it started selling dot-zip top-level domain names. This is such a terrible idea that you have to wonder whether something beyond stupid is involved..

In any case, you should NEVER, EVER click on a URL that ends in .zip.

https://medium.com/@bobbyrsec/the-dangers-of-googles-zip-tld-5e1e675e59a5

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

"Open"AI CEO tells Congress that his industry needs to be regulated. It does, no question.

But you can absolutely sure that what he and the other big players want is a system of regulatory capture (by them) in which they become a cartel that can't be challenged by upstarts.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-chief-goes-before-us-congress-propose-licenses-building-ai-2023-05-16/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

It is astonishing how Musk's Tesla is persistently allowed to break laws and lie about it. Latest: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/teslas-full-self-driving-sees-pedestrian-chooses-not-to-slow-down/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Google search is still somewhat useful, but only because I use an ad-blocker that relentlessly tries to remove all the garbage that otherwise pollutes the results. Google, of course, works hard to re-pollute.

Besides DuckDuckGo, what do people here prefer for quality search?

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Journalists who would never, ever consider working for Fox "News" continue to give their work -- free -- to Twitter.

They surely know that they're supporting a business controlled -- and manipulated in ugly ways -- by someone at least as malign as Rupert Murdoch. They're giving aid and comfort to someone who hates journalism and amplifies anti-democracy memes.

They could, instead, use the fediverse and control their own destinies.

How can they be helped to grasp this?

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Feinstein's decline would be merely sad if it wasn't for the consequences to our democracy: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/dianne-feinstein-health-crisis-senate-resign-1234734590/

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Erdogan regime tells Twitter to censor election opponents. Musk says "Hell yes!"

This comports with Twitter's new policy (since Musk took over) to say "Hell yes" to all censorship request from governments.

Mr. "Free Speech" indeed...

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

CNN brass is furious that one of its employees, who writes a newsletter about media happenings, told the truth about the channel's PR-for-Trump event. https://www.mediaite.com/news/cnns-oliver-darcy-reportedly-scolded-by-boss-chris-licht-over-emotional-trump-town-hall-coverage-they-put-the-fear-of-god-into-him/

The newsletter is called "Reliable Sources," and its former reporter was also punished by the channel for daring to tell the truth.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Please, journalists, get this one right:

Musk didn't hire an actual CEO. He hired a new employee.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

Hope to see this news article:

The new "CEO" of Twitter is not in charge. Musk is.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

To those who have been paying closer attention than most people have time to do, Andreessen Horowitz' relentless investment (generally other people's money) in and promotion of cryptocurrencies has smelled to high heaven.

You truly should read this detailed deconstruction of the VC firm's "report" on the speculation marketplace by @molly0xfff.

https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/andreessen-horowitzs-state-of-crypto

My question, after reading it, is whether regulators are looking at this, too.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

When I was posting over at Saudi-government-funded Twitter, I routinely included outbound links to things I thought other people should see, and got minimal engagement. It turned out that Twitter was actively demoting my efforts to share my sources.

Here, I add links and regularly get dozens to (less often) hundreds of boosts. Because the fediverse is not about deciding things for you (and me). It's about us deciding for ourselves. Which is as it should be.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

CNN's Licht justifies giving the most dangerous politician in America its platform once again, by touting it as an event that "made news" -- but Trump's relentless lying had absolutely nothing new in it.

What CNN created was a prime-time entertainment show. Its effect, if not purpose, was to spray gasoline on the fires that threaten to consume our democracy.

I used to ask why a self-respecting journalist would work for Fox "News" -- and now I have to ask the same thing about CNN.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

At what point does Musk's fundamental incompetence at Twitter -- the latest is deeply (deliberately?) broken messaging encryption -- cause even a slight questioning among his fan base?

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

CNN seems to think its self-induced disgrace is a profile in courage. What contempt the channel has for the public, and for democracy -- and, by extension if we lose our democracy, for freedom of the press.

dangillmor, 1 year ago to random

A streaming service I'd forgotten I subscribed to signed me up for a year for $20. Without any recent notice or warning that I can find (yes, it was in the fine print at the beginning), they renewed it for four times that amount.

The best thing to do with these services is to cancel immediately when you subscribe. Force yourself to manually renew, or you'll find yourself paying a lot more than you planned.