kegill

kegill, 1 month ago to random

“Prosecutors at the outset sought to emphasize the gravity of the case, the first of four criminal prosecutions against Trump to reach trial, by framing it as about election interference.”

CAN YOU SEE THE SKEPTICISM HERE?

GAG
“The opening statements also served as an introduction to the colorful cast of characters that comprise the tawdry saga…”

Do better, @AP

sundogplanets, 1 month ago to random

I'm reading Astrotopia by Mary-Jane Rubenstein and it's just amazing. I don't usually make it through books that are on depressing topics like the destruction of orbit, but this book is fascinating and real while also being completely hilarious. Like, I have laughed out loud multiple times while reading it and I'm only halfway through.

It's all about how the "NewSpace" tech bro billionaires are using the language of manifest destiny and see themselves as end-of-the-world prophets. Wowee.

kegill, 1 month ago to random

They could all be brothers, couldn’t they? The “younger” ones. WS buzzards, GOP candidates/electeds.

David McCormick, hedge fund leach & son of a college president, PA candidate for US Senate (2nd run, no experience just $$$$$$)

The latest origin story myth from (SHOCK!) the NYT. However, the caption writer repeats the myth in the first photo. So, yeah. On brand.

#GiftLink
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/politics/dave-mccormick-farm-pennsylvania.html?unlocked_article_code=1.l00.lfht.do3cIjuKeWjB&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Composite Nunes, Johnson, Moreno

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Landslide!

By a vote of 2,628 to 985, VW employees in Tennessee voted to join the United Auto Workers!

This is the first successful UAW vote in the South.

The next vote: May 17 at a Mercedes plant in Alabama. 🤞

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2024/apr/19/uaw-wins-at-volkswagen-chattanooga-tfp/

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Why have you not identified the hospitals, @AP?

How many are Catholic owned or affiliated?

https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-emergency-care-abortion-supreme-court-roe-9ce6c87c8fc653c840654de1ae5f7a1c

kegill, 1 month ago to random

“Trump’s covid response was even worse than you remember
In a sane country, it would disqualify him from ever again holding office.”

Yes. Amen. 💯

Trump “wasn’t a passive bystander. He actively worsened the situation.”

Trump “gutted the infectious disease defense infrastructure through … starting in 2018 … “recklessly pushed for the economy to reopen and used his disastrous White House covid press conferences to tout unproven and potentially dangerous “treatments.”

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-covid-response-revisited

Trump then spent most of February 2020 minimizing covid’s threat. He called the coronavirus Democrats’ “new hoax” at a campaign rally in South Carolina. By April, when everything was going to hell, he lamented that the pandemic was “something that nobody expected.” However, former President George W. Bush had warned in 2005 that “if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare.”
Biden tweet warning - Oct 2019

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Louisiana state Rep. Roger Wilder (R, natch) owns “Smoothie King franchises across the Deep South.”

He sponsored a bill (HB156) that removes the mandate that minors* get a lunch break.

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/legislature/la-lawmakers-vote-to-remove-lunch-breaks-for-child-workers/article_ef234692-fd9e-11ee-99f5-771c7366107a.html

It’s a national “conservative” campaign
#GiftLink https://wapo.st/4aFyIaf

All state laws:
https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/lunch-break-laws-by-state/

• non-exempt employees under age 18 who work 5 consecutive hours

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Sixteen states* and Washington, D.C., are pledged to deliver their combined 209 electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact needs at least 270 votes to go into effect.

AP says it’s now on pause for the year, without sourcing the claim.

• CA CO CT HI IL MA MD ME MN NJ NM NY OR RI VT WA

https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status

stroughtonsmith, 1 month ago to random

Here’s your AI astonishment/nightmare fuel for today:

"TL;DR: single portrait photo + speech audio = hyper-realistic talking face video with precise lip-audio sync, lifelike facial behavior, and naturalistic head movements, generated in real time.”

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/vasa-1/

video/mp4

sundogplanets, 1 month ago to random

One of my classes has their final projects due at 11:59pm tonight and the ramp-up of more and more frantic student emails is really depressing.

They had to choose topics in February and turn in drafts in March, and yet it seems that most of them didn't actually start until today...not that I was any better as an undergrad, but man it hurts to watch!

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Trump's first felony indictment in 2023 is the first to trial in 2024. Election interference is a serious crime, despite media framing as a 'hush money' case.

Because keeping Daniels quiet was important for the campaign, this expense was a “campaign donation” that should have been declared. It was not.

Cooking the books is a crime.

Election interference (failing to note campaign contributions, for example) is a crime, at both state and federal levels.

https://themoderatevoice.com/trumps-election-interference-trial-the-oldest-felony-charge-reaches-a-jury-first/

kegill, 1 month ago to random

News organizations continue to cherry pick quotes from Donald Trump’s speeches, and they paraphrase to make sense from nonsensical.

https://themoderatevoice.com/news-media-ignore-or-whitewash-trump-speeches-pennsylvania-event-on-saturday-followed-standard-procedure/

kegill, 1 month ago to random

WHO dubbed AG Bragg’s
ELECTION INTERFERENCE case
against Trump
the “hush money” case?

Why?

And why do the news media continue to undermine the seriousness of these charges?

Finally, can we stop with the legal strategy opinions in “straight news”?

#JournalisticMalpractice

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Ya think?

Understatement succinctly summarizes what the GOP stands for.

https://apple.news/Ash0QlurXS4OuDDjabCsa0Q

kegill, 1 month ago to random

In case you missed it, major corporations are major contributors to inflation, because they can raise prices with impunity.

Our rejection of anti-trust law has led directly to record profits (just because we can, say CEOs). Can we rekindle the spark?

With h/t to @pluralistic and @GhostOnTheHalfShell

https://themoderatevoice.com/are-we-on-the-verge-of-a-new-age-of-anti-monopolists/

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Although CNN has dubbed it "meddling" (poor choice), Russian bribery of European leaders is a criminal act.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee: “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”

When will the US DOJ conduct an investigation like those in the Czech Repubic and Belgium?

https://themoderatevoice.com/russia-is-winning-the-propaganda-war/

kegill, 1 month ago to random

Are we on the verge of a new age of anti-monopolist philosophy?

I’ve read more commentary on monopolists in the past year than in the 20 years after my post-grad studies.

From @pluralistic today (12 April), scathing takedown
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/12/give-me-convenience/#or-give-me-death

Also, @rbreich from 10 April: “Just four companies now control processing of 80 percent of beef, nearly 70 percent of pork, and almost 60 percent of poultry.”
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-are-we-still-suffering-inflation

In 2023, PepsiCo’s chief financial officer said that even though inflation was dropping, its prices would not be. Pepsi hiked its prices by double digits and announced plans to keep them high in 2024. If Pepsi were challenged by tougher competition, consumers would just buy something cheaper. But PepsiCo’s only major soda competitor is Coca-Cola, which — surprise, surprise — announced similar price hikes at about the same time as Pepsi and has also kept its prices high. The CEO of Coca-Cola claimed that the company had “earned the right” to push price hikes because its sodas are popular.
Two Robert Reich linked tweets about monopolization in food. https://x.com/rbreich/status/1778800491465773144 https://x.com/rbreich/status/1778818030371246443

kegill, 1 month ago to random

FYI, @setiinstitute
I’m leading my book club discussion next week …

Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Sarah Scoles
https://a.co/2C4h1FB

Book cover Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Sarah Scoles

kegill, 1 month ago to random

WTH, @pluralistic !

Didn’t you write Beezle early(ish) in the pandemic? You saw the enshittification that is the SPAC even then?

Oh. Right. Trump’s SPAC adventures started publicly in October 2021. Damn. (I’ll read what he’s reading.)

The Bezzle: A Martin Hench Novel (The Martin Hench Novels) by Cory Doctorow
https://a.co/9tUNC8J

misc, 1 month ago to random

I had to re-add a dormant Twitter account to my app to rt something as a favor to a friend, and suddenly I'm getting push notifications of Elon tweets and other right wing garbage.

Is this new, or has it been ongoing and I'd just disabled it?