wellingtonrock

wellingtonrock, 1 year ago to random

Why AI really is dangerous to Society...
'what we are witnessing is the wealthiest companies in history... unilaterally seizing the sum total of human knowledge that exists in digital, scrapable form and walling it off inside propriety products, many of which will take direct aim at the humans whose lifetime of labor trained the machines without giving permission or consent.'

AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are | Naomi Klein | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/08/ai-machines-hallucinating-naomi-klein

wellingtonrock, 8 days ago to random

The irony is off the scale...

Thanks to Kenneth John Bardsley

wellingtonrock, 6 months ago to random

'Let the history books show that when a genocide was taking place, our leaders did not try to stop the genocide, instead they tried to stop everyone from speaking out against the genocide. They were accomplices.'

Labour and Tory MPs punished for calling for peace https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/labour-and-tory-mps-punished-for?publication_id=1336368&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=diqr

wellingtonrock, 10 months ago to random

'According to the U.K.’s Office for Budget and Responsibility, leaving the E.U. has shaved 4 percent off Britain’s gross domestic product. The damage to Britain’s economy, the O.B.R.’s chairman has said, is of the same “magnitude” as that from the Covid pandemic.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/opinion/brexit-disaster.html

wellingtonrock, 1 month ago to random

'In 2021, Debenhams closed its doors after 242 years, with the loss of 12,000 jobs. It was destroyed by private equity which increased debt from £128m to £1.6bn, and paid itself dividends of £1.3bn. The company was strangled by debt which left no wiggle room for investment and collapsed owing £616m to its suppliers.'

Private equity is predatory capitalism with a long trail of destruction - Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/private-equity-is-predatory-capitalism-with-a-long-trail-of-destruction/

wellingtonrock, 6 months ago to random

'Every thinking person understands this is wrong. It’s time we started speaking the truth that Israel is a settler-colonial project, built on the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 civilians, that needs to suppress the native population and maintain apartheid to continue its land grabbing.

We get told it’s racist to point this out. Well, colonialism is racism. Occupation is racism. Apartheid is racism...

There is no ambiguity when it comes to bombing refugee camps https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/there-is-no-ambiguity-when-it-comes?publication_id=1336368&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=diqr

wellingtonrock, 4 months ago to random

'... no amount of money can ever undo the immense damage that Russia’s war of aggression has inflicted on Ukraine’s economy and its people. But the frozen Russian assets can be viewed as a down payment on the reparations that the Kremlin should eventually be compelled to pay.'

Russia must be held accountable over Ukraine – we should seize its assets | Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Kosenko | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/08/russia-ukraine-seize-assets-us-eu

wellingtonrock, 8 months ago to random

wellingtonrock, 8 months ago to random

wellingtonrock, 5 months ago to random

'So, all of us should get ready, for we now have a Trump-supporting, holy-rolling congress critter who actually believes he’s been chosen by God to part the perilous waters and take us from a diverse democracy to his theocratic Christian wonderland.

God help us – and please hurry!'

Mike Says That God Says He’s Our New Moses https://jimhightower.substack.com/p/mike-says-that-god-says-hes-our-new?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email

wellingtonrock, 2 months ago to random

'He railed against people who loathe the “pluralist, modern country we are”, without once acknowledging that his former home secretary Suella Braverman is precisely one of those people. It was all the more sickening to hear the prime minister utter faint words of praise for immigrants in a speech that actively threatened their democratic right to protest, ... '

I’m still reeling from Rishi Sunak’s shameless, dangerous speech | Caroline Lucas | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/03/sunak-speech-protest-tories-friday-no-10-caroline-lucas

wellingtonrock, 2 months ago to random

'... they didn’t anticipate Mitch McConnell, a man willing to get elected to the Senate to destroy it and set up judicial tyranny ten times worse than that of King George III.'

Cooper on TAP: Mitch McConnell, Senate Arsonist https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=3f998e713a6e02287c374fd26835d87e.2592&s=5f86e1d7dd9d79f7990909cd2151c02f

wellingtonrock, 3 months ago to random

27. Andrea Leadsom, a waxwork Thatcher that has been left leaning against a radiator overnight, said we would “adapt” to the rising costs, which were “the price of sovereignty”

28. Funny how rich people can never be asked to “adapt” to higher taxes

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1755618879374569784.html

wellingtonrock, 4 months ago to random

'Corporations that cut corners to increase profit, putting lives at risk, must be held to the same standards as anyone who harms another. Violators like Boeing need to be prosecuted, to show without a doubt that corporate crime doesn’t pay.'

The Nuts and Bolts of Boeing’s Corporate Crime | Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/11/the_nuts_and_bolts_of_boeings

wellingtonrock, 9 months ago to random

'The Republicans on stage last night have abandoned democracy, and in that they accurately represent their party. It is no accident that in addition to the Georgia party chair indicted for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Wisconsin Republican Party chair Brian Schimming was also mentioned in the Georgia indictment as part of the conspiracy for his role in the scheme to use false electors... '

August 24, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-24-2023?utm_medium=email

wellingtonrock, 4 months ago to random

'Musk is living proof for why huge concentrations of wealth are dangerous to democracy.

Trump may be the clearest present threat to American democracy, but Musk comes a close second.'

Citizen Musk - Robert Reich https://robertreich.substack.com/p/citizen-musk?publication_id=365422&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=diqr

wellingtonrock, 4 months ago to random

'Starmer's economics ignorance is damning because he listens to Rachel Reeves who is a committed neoliberal and may believe that neoliberalism is economic science when it is nothing more than an ideology which supports untrammelled capitalism, which, unless it is overthrown, will make planet earth uninhabitable.'

Labour has almost nothing to do with socialism, and its religion is mediocrity https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/06/labour-has-almost-nothing-to-do-with-socialism-and-its-religion-is-mediocrity/

wellingtonrock, 6 months ago to random

'... the actions of the State of Israel are being committed in the name of our preservation worldwide. It is incumbent on those of us who are Jewish to clearly and openly call for a halt to Israel’s assault on Gaza. If we do not succeed in stopping the bombing, our children and grandchildren are at risk of inheriting a double identity: not just as targets of mass killings of civilians, but also as those who stood by when mass killings were committed in their names.'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/11/my-life-has-been-defined-by-genocide-of-jewish-people-i-look-on-gaza-with-concern

wellingtonrock, 9 months ago to random

'The problem the UK has is that some in it have a deeply held belief on the virtues of inequality.'

Britian is not bust: it is just grossly unfair https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/08/13/britian-is-not-bust-it-is-just-grossly-unfair/

wellingtonrock, 6 months ago to random

American Friends...
'More than a year after the election a consortium of newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today did their own recount of the vote in Florida — manually counting every vote in a process that took almost a year — and concluded that Al Gore did indeed win the presidency in 2000.'

Why Has America Tolerated Six Illegitimate GOP Presidents? https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/22/2200353/-Why-Has-America-Tolerated-Six-Illegitimate-GOP-Presidents

wellingtonrock, 2 months ago to random

'The people who block aid for Ukraine today wish our own democracy ill. In the last few days and weeks we have witnessed, again and again, the overlap between Russian influence in American politics, opposition to aid to Ukraine, and hostility toward the American constitutional system. Putin knows that his only route to Kyiv passes through Washington, D.C., and he has acted accordingly.'

The apocalypse we choose - by Timothy Snyder https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-apocalypse-we-choose?publication_id=310897&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=diqr&utm_medium=email

wellingtonrock, 10 months ago to random

'For the record, price rises are driving inflation and it is profiteering and the increasing cost of borrowing that are driving them up, which the Sun fails to mention.'

Our Chancellor really does not understand inflation – but nor does the Sun https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/07/11/our-chancellor-really-does-not-understand-inflation-but-nor-does-the-sun/

wellingtonrock, 3 months ago to random

'And as Trump swings ever further right, it makes sense that people who believe he will solve their problems will follow blindly.'

https://newrepublic.com/post/174950/christianity-today-editor-evangelicals-call-jesus-liberal-weak?fbclid=IwAR1iKgFdeWN-0555eTf5ISkPBLOBngcW-c6UfE8eUoQoF4ZVSnjvY6rdKww

wellingtonrock, 4 months ago to random

Er. Mah. Gerd...
'The economics of even thinking about tax cuts whilst promising no tax rises on the wealthy and balanced budgets is not 'bomb-proof' economic thinking. It is straight from the economic madhouse, otherwise known as Tufton Street. Frankly, Liz Truss was no worse than this. That is how bad things are if this is what Labour is proposing.'

Labour is apparently planning tax cuts that can only mean the end for public services as we have known them https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/03/labour-is-apparently-planning-tax-cuts-that-can-only-mean-the-end-for-public-services-as-we-have-known-them/

wellingtonrock, 8 months ago to random