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2024-07-04

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  • Building the Bell System - by Brian Potter

    Most of these technology-based advances in prosperity were the emergent result of dozens or hundreds of companies and organizations. No one company was responsible for the spread of cars, electricity, or indoor plumbing; Ford’s car market share peaked at just over 55% and steadily declined after that, and even at its height it wasn’t responsible for building roads, drilling for oil, or refining it into gasoline. The telephone is notable not only for its high sustained rate of progress, but because in the U.S. this progress was almost entirely due to the efforts of AT&T alone. AT&T designed and built the phones, laid the wire to connect them, operated the phone service, and continuously developed technology to improve the system and make it universally available. And it was enormously successful at this goal. Between 1925 and 1981, phones per 100 population in the U.S. rose from 14 to 84, and over the same period, the real cost of a 3-minute coast-to-coast phone call fell by roughly 98%. Tracing the causes behind many cases of progress is difficult, but with telephones in the U.S., we can trace it to the relentless efforts of one single company.

    • I can't help but wonder what pace of advance might have resulted from a market where AT&T was not the only option available. When their protection ran out the "circuit switched vs packet switched" wars weren't very long at all, and brought us the modern communications landscape with astonishing speed.

Horseshit

Electric / Self Driving cars

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

  • A Bugatti car, a first lady and the fake stories aimed at Americans

    A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation that is increasingly targeting the US election, a BBC investigation can reveal. A former Florida police officer who relocated to Moscow is one of the key figures behind it.

  • Opinion | The NetChoice Decision Shows the First Amendment Is Out of Control - The New York Times

    Monday’s Supreme Court decision in the two NetChoice cases greatly adds to the problem. The cases concern two state laws, one in Florida and one in Texas, that limit the ability of social media platforms to remove or moderate content. (Both laws were enacted in response to the perceived censorship of political conservatives.) While the Supreme Court remanded both cases to lower courts for further factual development, the court nonetheless went out of its way to state that the millions of algorithmic decisions made every day by social media platforms are protected by the First Amendment. It did so by blithely assuming that those algorithmic decisions are equivalent to the expressive decisions made by human editors at newspapers.

    Even if one has concerns about the wisdom and questionable constitutionality of the Florida and Texas laws (as I do), the breadth of the court’s reasoning should serve as a wake-up call. The judiciary needs to realize that the First Amendment is spinning out of control. It is beginning to threaten many of the essential jobs of the state, such as protecting national security and the safety and privacy of its citizens.

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

  • Ask HN: Are the recent Supreme Court rulings affecting your work? | Hacker News

    shielding former president Trump from any consequences of Jan 6th, storing top secret information in his bathroom, or other election meddling is putting the US on course to becoming far more authoritarian and not the place I grew up in or the free and fair place that my immigrant parents flocked to for a better life. I worry about Trump retribution and the implications it will have. I worry about project 2025’s desires to move many more federal officials into such a way that they become yes-men and yes-women to the president-king. Coupled with the SC’s decision to kill chevron deference such that agencies can’t rely on experts and scientists to fill in the details of vaugeries in the law — what will that do for clean water or airline safety or anything else we expect government to do in holding big business accountable and keeping us safe?

  • Opinion | How to Get Voters the Facts They Need Without a Trump Jan. 6 Trial - The New York Times

    A full trial before the general election in November is surely off the table, but Judge Tanya Chutkan of U.S. District Court in Washington is now authorized to hold, in short order, an evidentiary hearing, replete with important witness testimony. That hearing would not replace a full trial and verdict — but at this point it is the best and last means to make public crucial evidence for voters to hear before Election Day. With the stay lifted by the Supreme Court, Judge Chutkan can hold a prompt hearing on the key issues left open by the ruling: what allegations in the indictment are core official functions entitled to absolute immunity and which are not. In its decision, the Supreme Court concluded that Mr. Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department are absolutely immune. But it left to the trial court the factual question as to how to categorize Mr. Trump’s interactions with Vice President Mike Pence (particularly in the latter’s role on Jan. 6 as president of the Senate, which is not an executive branch function) and with state officials, leaving to the district judge to determine if a presumption of immunity might apply here or not after analyzing the full context of the allegations.

    The benefit of an evidentiary hearing would be enormous, giving the public at least some information it needs before going to the polls in November. The hearing would permit the airing, in an adversarial proceeding with full due process for Mr. Trump, evidence that goes to the heart of the most profound indictment in this nation’s history.

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

  • How many young people deny the Holocaust?

  • NixOS commits a "purge" of "Nazi" contributors, forces abdication of founder

    Eelco Dolstra, the founder of Nix, had an abdication letter written for him and was pressured into signing it. One of the drafters made a note to the Nix Founder that he must add himself as a signatory of the letter "for it to appear amicable".

  • Research into trans medicine has been manipulated

    an email in October 2020 from WPATH figures, including its incoming president at the time, Walter Bouman, to the working group on guidelines, made clear what sort of science WPATH did (and did not) want published. Research must be “thoroughly scrutinised and reviewed to ensure that publication does not negatively affect the provision of transgender health care in the broadest sense,” it stated. Mr Bouman and one other coauthor of that email have been named to a World Health Organisation advisory board tasked with developing best practices for transgender medicine. Another document recently unsealed shows that Rachel Levine, a transwoman who is assistant secretary for health, succeeded in pressing wpath to remove minimum ages for the treatment of children from its 2022 standards of care. Dr Levine’s office has not commented. Questions remain unanswered, but none of this helps WPATH’s claim to be an organisation that bases its recommendations on science.

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

TechSuck / Geek Bait

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

Crypto con games

Economicon / Business / Finance

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

  • New federal rule could offer protection from extreme heat to workers

  • SCOTUS agrees to review Texas law that caused Pornhub to leave the state

  • Biden rushes to avert labor shortage with CHIPS Act funding for workers

  • To Raise Revenue, Tax the Nonprofits

  • The Media has Taken Note of Biden Infirmities, and Lo! the River of Horseshit floods forth in full froth.

  • Jake Tapper Blows Whistle on Private Meeting Democrat Governors Held About Joe Biden – PJ Media

    Jake Tapper reported on X that Democratic governors recently held a private call expressing concerns about President Biden's handling of current issues. The call, which Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) organized, included only Democratic governors without any staff or representatives from the Biden campaign or the White House present. During this real-life Council of Elrond, the governors discussed their surprise at not hearing directly from Biden and expressed a desire for communication from him or his administration. They are seeking a meeting with Biden either at the White House or via Zoom, though nothing has been scheduled yet. The governors emphasized their need to hear directly from Biden amid growing concerns.

  • Secret Democrat plot to replace Biden revealed: How Clinton, Obama, Pelosi and Schumer would topple the aging President… and when they'd do it | Daily Mail Online

  • Biden Cannot be Replaced on Ballot in Three Swing States, Except for Death or 25th Amendment

    The Heritage Oversight Project has identified three swing states – Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin – where they believe removing Biden from the Democratic ticket would prevent anyone else from replacing him. Wisconsin does not allow withdrawal from the ballot for any reason besides death, while in Nevada, no changes can be made to the ballotafter 5 p.m. on the fourth Friday in June of an election year unless ‘a nominee dies or is adjudicated insane or mentally incompetent.’ In Georgia, if Biden were to withdraw less than 60 days before the election, his name would remain on the ballot but no votes would be counted.

  • Videos: Press Repeatedly Demands To Know If Biden Has Dementia During Briefing - modernity

    Jean Pierre became visibly agitated as the reporters from The Independent, Fox News, CBS, CNN, ABC, Reuters, AP, Bloomberg, Newsmax, and NBC one by one asked the same question. Andrew Feinberg from the Independent asked why Biden can’t speak directly to reporters and why he never says anything that isn’t on an auto cue or scripted. KJP dodged the question, claiming Biden has done hundreds of unscripted interviews.

  • Biden blames jet lag and travel for poor debate performance

    President Joe Biden has blamed his poor debate performance last week on jet lag, telling reporters that he "wasn't very smart" for "travelling around the world a couple of times" before the debate. "I didn’t listen to my staff... and then I nearly fell asleep on stage,” he said. Mr Biden, 81, last returned from travel on 15 June, nearly two weeks ahead of the 27 June debate. The president's remarks come amid intra-party panic ahead of November's election over his mental fitness, and after a congressman from Texas became the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to call for him to step aside following the debate.

  • It Was Already Bad That a Clintonite Was Going to Interview Biden. It's Even Worse Now.

    White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that Joe Biden will sit down for an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. A Democrat president being asked questions by a former Clinton operative is why organizations like the Media Research Center exist; it’s also unsurprising to the nth degree. What’s also unsurprising is that this won’t even air live

  • Democrats hope Gavin Newsom can replace Biden - but do they know about the sleazy California Governor's infidelities, addiction, TEENAGE lover... and why allies say he 'doesn't have real friends'? | Daily Mail Online

  • Mixed Signals Special: Blame the media? | Semafor

    It’s the biggest question for American journalism right now: How could we have allowed our audience to be surprised about the basic condition of the number one reporting target in the country, the president?

    So, could The Times have gone harder on Biden? Certainly. Did we do as much (or more) than most? I’d argue yes. And we’re still getting blowback. So did the media fail? Or was it Twitter? I’m not putting Twitter on the same footing as a news organization. What I’m saying is Twitter, et al., allowed media blindness to form, or at the very least a bizarre sense of legitimacy in belief over knowledge. "I don’t think this is the case," or "I don’t believe it," became, in the age of Twitter, "you’re wrong, this is false, this is a conspiracy". The MAGA faithful just got there before the left did. If there’s media failure, it was in losing its influence. Even when The Times gets it right, we’re somehow still wrong.

  • Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether to Continue in the Race - The New York Times

    President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week. The president, who the ally emphasized is still deeply in the fight for re-election, understands that his next few appearances heading into the holiday weekend — including an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — must go well. “He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place” by the end of the weekend, said the ally, referring to Mr. Biden’s halting and unfocused performance in the debate. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.

    The conversation is the first indication to become public that the president is seriously considering whether he can recover after a devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta on Thursday. Concerns are mounting about his viability as a candidate and whether he could serve as president for another four years. A top adviser to Mr. Biden, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation, said the president was “well aware of the political challenge he faces.”

  • Joe Biden To Sit Down With ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos For First Post-Debate TV Interview.

  • Hunter Biden has joined White House meetings as he stays close to the president post-debate

    Hunter Biden has joined meetings with President Joe Biden and his top aides since his father returned to the White House from Camp David, Maryland, on Monday evening, according to four people familiar with the matter. The president’s son has also been talking to senior White House staff members, these people said. While he is regularly at the White House residence and events, it is unusual for Hunter Biden to be in and around meetings his father is having with his team, these people said. They said the president’s aides were struck by his presence during their discussions. One of the people familiar with the matter said Hunter Biden has been closely advising his father since the family gathered over the weekend at Camp David after Thursday’s debate. This person said Hunter Biden has "popped into" a couple of meetings and phone calls the president has had with some of his advisers.

  • Biden faces mutiny as 25 Democrats prepare to call for ailing president, 81, to step aside after disastrous debate against Trump - as one warns 'the dam has broken' | Daily Mail Online

    At least 25 Democrat members of Congress are set to call on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race in the coming days, while a pair of Senators have distanced themselves from the ailing president. The Democratic revolt in the House was expected to take place if Biden 'seems shaky in coming days' as one Democrat aide warned: 'the dam is broken.' In the Senate, it was revealed that centrist Joe Manchin needed to be pulled back from the brink as he prepared to become the first Biden ally to call for him to quit on one of the Sunday news shows. 'Nobody wants to be the first one to knife Julius Caesar,' a party insider said about Manchin's predicament. Tammy Baldwin, a Senator who faces re-election in Wisconsin, announced Tuesday morning she will not be joining Biden on stage when he campaigns in her hometown of Madison on Friday. The Democratic disses came on a whirlwind day in DC as three House members shocked the party by either telling Biden to drop out or stating he's already lost the election to Donald Trump.

  • Biden’s mental fitness could have been better covered leading up to the debate, some White House reporters acknowledge | CNN Business

    After Biden’s lackluster performance last week, some are questioning whether the White House press corps dropped the ball on fully covering Biden’s limitations. Biden’s age issue is not secret or new. Nearly every media outlet has reported on growing concerns about Biden’s age well before the debate. The White House in the past has complained that the coverage is disproportionate, and that the media is spending more time covering Biden’s age than his accomplishments as president versus former President Donald Trump’s lies. The media has faced accusations that it has not covered Biden’s mental fitness more aggressively because it wants to prop up the campaign in some way – an accusation the White House reporters CNN spoke to denied. Several White House reporters told CNN that the coverage of Biden’s age and his mental stamina should have pushed harder. They cited several difficulties in doing so before the debate – from the obvious political motivations of sources who either want to protect Biden’s image or project a certain image, to the blowback from pursuing such reports, especially from the White House and Democrats.

    Like all past presidents, Biden has good days and bad days. It can be tricky to report on something as difficult to define as a person aging, when his opponent is a convicted felon, who regularly lies and has threatened to use the government to go after his political opponents. Biden’s age was also a right-wing talking point for years, something the White House was quick to point out to reporters, which may have inadvertently turned off any serious investigation.

  • What Democrats should do next - by Nate Silver

    The first step in this plan, to be clear, is Biden getting out of the way. But the piece argues that voters have been pretty smart so far. They correctly detected that Biden’s age was a huge concern, a sentiment shared by relatively few pundits until recently — although there were some exceptions, as newsletter readers will know. And voters are making a crystal-clear distinction between Biden and other Democrats. In polls of states that are highly competitive in both the presidential race and the Senate, there literally hasn’t been a single poll showing the Democratic Senate candidate losing since March — whereas almost none of the exact same polls show Biden winning.

    On top of all this, there is a lot of momentum building for Harris, as should be obvious if you’ve been checking Twitter lately (or checking the prediction markets). As I wrote in the NYT, that’s not my preferred solution — I very much think Harris deserves a chance, but I’d rather see open auditions for the nomination, which she’d compete in and might win anyway.

  • Opinion | Doing Nothing About Biden Is the Riskiest Plan of All - The New York Times

    To overcome the obvious problem — the Democratic primary is over — here’s an idea. It’s not ideal, but I want a Democrat who can give the party a fighting chance. Even if the replacement candidate’s chances are below 50 percent, what matters is that he or she probably can poll better than Mr. Biden. The party could hold an open audition for the nomination process. Candidates who raised their hands would hold two or three debates against one another. They could give speeches and hold rallies. And Democrats could vote in straw polls sponsored by donors in a combination of virtual locations and physical ones that reflected the demographic breadth of the Democratic Party — say, in Atlanta, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and one or two more rural locations. Voters would also express their opinions in regular opinion polls. Delegates could take this information into account at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and make a more informed decision. This plan would require Mr. Biden to declare his intention to exit the race sooner rather than later.

  • Calls for Biden’s Withdrawal Are a Sign of a Healthy Democratic Party - The Atlantic

    Republican fealty to Donald Trump—no matter his crimes, no matter his moral transgressions—is the hallmark of authoritarian devotion to a man, regardless of policies or ideas. It’s the telltale sign of a broken political party—one that long ago abandoned principles and values, falling back instead on an amoral, unwavering allegiance, by which Trump can do no wrong.

    By contrast, the Democratic freak-out over Joe Biden is a sign of a healthy political party. Individual leaders—no matter how effective, decent, or well-intentioned—are not sacred cows, to be valued above the national interest. Democrats view Biden the way that normal political parties view their leaders: as a vessel to achieve policy goals that will improve the lives of citizens. Nothing more, nothing less. This is why you don’t see Priuses adorned with Biden flags or bumper stickers depicting him riding a giant eagle. It’s embarrassing in a rational political party to fuse your identity with a man rather than his message. Republicans long ago jettisoned that shame.

    Consider this basic, damning fact: Trump lied constantly throughout the debate and refused to say that he would accept the outcome of the upcoming election. Not a single Republican in Congress condemned his lies, nor did they call on him to drop out of the race. A functioning political party would feature some dissent, with party leaders asking whether making a convicted felon the party’s political standard-bearer is really the best idea. But among the Republicans, crickets—because everyone knows that questioning the leader is political suicide. Get on the Trump train and ride it until the very end, or wind up in the political graveyard alongside Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.

  • Paul Graham has Bayesian reasons for predicting a rebellion

    hose in a position to know what's going on have gone silent, which means they've been sworn to secrecy, which means a rebellion is happening. that in turn means Biden is unlikely to be the nominee. If a sitting president decides to run, "party discipline" (with the Republicans just as much as the Democrats) means everyone has to support him. But once there is open rebellion, it can't be turned back off.

  • ‘That’s Inappropriate’: KJP, WHCA President Simultaneously Scold Reporter Who Takes Swipe At Biden’s Cognitive State | The Daily Caller

  • Williamson throws hat into ring for 2024 Democratic nomination

  • Grappling with uncertainty in forecasting the 2024 U.S. presidential election

  • President Biden at 81: Sharp and focused but sometimes confused and forgetful | AP News

    President Joe Biden’s conduct behind closed doors, in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and in meetings around the world is described in the same dual way by those who regularly see him in action. He is often sharp and focused. But he also has moments, particularly later in the evening, when his thoughts seem jumbled and he trails off mid-sentence or seems confused. Sometimes he doesn’t grasp the finer points of details. He occasionally forgets people’s names, stares blankly and moves slowly around the room.

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

World

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

China

Health / Medicine

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

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