tardigrada @ tardigrada @beehaw.org

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3 yr. ago

We are about to watch the collapse of journalism in real time.

I respectfully disagree.

Conventional media may collapse, but we see very good media outlets doing a great job - ProPublica, 404media, Bellingcat, OCCRP, many local andvregional outlets, ... It could turn out to be a good sign if and when the media industry gains a more decentralized structure (the Fediverse is of great support here).

So don't subscribe to the large media papers and periodicals, support some independent smaller outlets that you like to read.

You need to read this in context. They want the office to help Trump "steamroll the kind of internal opposition he faced in his first term."

This office is not to make the president's moves 'legally sound' but rather to the opposite. They want to defund the agencies (it isn't "legally sound" to "traumatize" EPA and other officials), to erase any reference to climate change so that "our energy companies" can work, and many other things.

Just read Project 2025: https://www.25and.me

Ian Bassin, a democracy expert, calls these moves “anticipatory obedience”: fear by owners that if Trump wins he could take vengeance on companies that cross him. They noted that the leadership at CNN and the Post changed after the Trump administration tried to block the takeover of CNN’s parent company and tried to deny a cloud computing contract for Amazon, Bezos’s company.

That's very telling and a stark reminder why decentralization in media and the entire economy is important.

Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan stepped down in the meantime. As Semafor reports on the newspaper's recent editorial meeting:

[...] But there may be more: “people are shocked, furious, surprised,” said an editorial board member [referring to Jeff Bezos' non-endorsement decision], citing internal discussions around resignation. “If you don’t have the balls to own a newspaper, don’t.”

Addition:

Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein Blast Washington Post's 'Surprising' Decision Not To Endorse

"Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”

Just read a new report:

'Climate crunch time is here,’ new UN report warns

Annual greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high, and urgent action must be taken to prevent catastrophic spikes in temperature and avoid the worst impact of climate change, according to a new report released on Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Border and immigration: How mass deportations would devastate Texas

Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised, if elected, to implement the “largest deportation in the history of our country.” If such an operation were carried out, a second Trump regime could target around 11 million undocumented people in the United States. Trump’s running mate, vice presidential candidate JD Vance, has suggested starting with 1 million deportations a year—a figure that dwarfs the total reached in any year of Trump’s presidency or that of Barack Obama. The proposal has become a rallying cry for Trump’s base, with supporters brandishing matching signs at rallies reading “Mass Deportations Now.”

[...] Immigrants exist across our economic spectrum. They’re everywhere. They’re us. When we talk about eliminating them from our society, it’s like not just talking about cutting off a finger. We’re talking about cutting off entire legs from the thigh down.”

Microsoft/Crowdstrike last summer.

It seems so.

From the article in my previous post above (here again):

At a polling station for residents of the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria - which is economically, politically and militarily supported by Russia - the BBC stumbled upon evidence of vote-buying.

A BBC producer heard a woman who had just dropped her ballot in the transparent box ask an election monitor where she would get paid.

Outside, we asked directly whether she had been offered cash to vote and she admitted it without qualms. She was angry that a man who had sent her to the polling station was no longer answering her calls. “He tricked me!” she said.

She would not reply when asked who she had voted for.

UPDATE: Latest news say Moldova says 'Yes' to pro-EU constitutional changes by tiny margin and despite unprecedented Russian interference.

Still 'too close to call' with 98% of votes counted. And 'foreign influence' plays a major role in this democratic referendum, reports say.

Official data put Yes on 50.08% and No on 49.92% on Monday morning, with over 98% of votes counted.

[Maia Sandu, the incumbent pro-EU president who topped the presidential election first round but by 41% of the vote and will now face a second round] accused "criminal groups" of working together with "foreign forces" of using money, lies, and propaganda to sway the vote.

Sandu also said her government had "clear evidence" that 300,000 votes were bought, which she called "a fraud of unprecedented scale".

I guess what is meant here is the 2024 presidential election The focus shifts away from the initial "Harris vs Trump" topic to local/state issues.

@desktop_user

If I say, "Candidate A is a liar [although they are not]", then this is unlawful and must be punished. Every journalist and media house can be held accountable for what they are publishing, and this is for good reason.

And private actors like Elon Musk or states like China and Russia are not exactly famous defenders of free speech as we know. This seems a bit hypocritical to say the least.

For those interested: A report by the Voting Rights Lab (April 2024) has tracked new laws across the U.S. containing election interference provisions that have been enacted in 29 states since 2021. Key takeaways:

• As a new area of election law, election manipulation legislation is constantly changing.
• 79 new U.S. election interference laws will be put to the test for the first time in a presidential election this November.
• Georgia and North Carolina – two of the states likely to determine the results of the presidential election this November – have been at the forefront of new election manipulation laws.

U.S. cybersecurity chief says election systems have 'never been more secure'

State and local election officials across the country have made big improvements to strengthen both physical and cyber security at polling and voting locations to preserve election integrity, said Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

After Russia's attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in 2016, CISA was created to work with state and local officials to make sure voting machines aren’t vulnerable to hacks.

[...] Her confidence in election integrity comes as intelligence officials warn that foreign adversaries — mainly Russia, Iran and China — are stepping up efforts to undermine voter trust in the democratic process, sway voters and inflame partisan divisions.

It's a safe bet that South Africa has nothing to do with it I would say.

I guess many from the .ml communities have alt accounts here and just parrot the propaganda. But it's certainly true that it's much better at Beehaw than there.

There is also a very good read on Dr. Acemoglu's approach to solve climate change:

The Latest Nobel Winner Has a Different Approach to Solving Climate Change - Daron Acemoglu and William Nordhaus have some disagreements.

The agreement was signed by the UK and China (in 1947 if I'm not mistaken). As @hddsx already said, it is China that doesn't hold up to the deal.

That aside, there is no reason to violate the universal human rights, no matter what the initial agreement says.

[Edit typo.]

There's no conclusive evidence that "social media" is bad for kids, much less TikTok specifically or only.

This is blatant misinformation and inconsistent with scientific evidence.

Even Tiktok's own investigation says there's strong harm caused by its own platform, let alone the strong body of research on Tiktok and other platforms. Just read tbe article.

Recent research by Nasa:

NASA Analysis Shows Irreversible Sea Level Rise for Pacific Islands

In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 6 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA’s sea level change science team. This amount of rise will occur regardless of whether greenhouse gas emissions change in the coming years.

“Sea level will continue to rise for centuries, causing more frequent flooding,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs ocean physics programs for NASA’s Earth Science Division."

The article links to several reports about that.

You're right. One banner read:

“We want food not Covid testing; we want freedom not lockdowns; we want dignity not lies. We want reform not the Cultural Revolution; we want to vote not a leader; we are citizens not slaves.”

And another read:

“Go on strike, depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping.” The police immediately took him away and he has not been seen since.

You could write such banners in the U.S. and any Western democracy, and nothing would happen. In China, you disapear.