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Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 09:03

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Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 09:00
The latest Russian defenestration The defenders of the Putin regime seem to think these are all totally coincidental and nothing to be alarmed about. Right: A Russian military official in charge of financial provisions for the military district blamed for the Kremlin’s worst losses in Ukraine has been found dead after a nasty fall from a St. Petersburg high-rise. Marina Yankina, head of the department of financial provisions for the Western Military District, was found dead on a sidewalk on Wednesday morning, according to multiple local reports. She is just the latest in a growing list of Russian military officials, defense industry figures, war critics, and gas and oil execs to die suddenly and mysteriously since the start of the full-scale invasion last year. The 58-year-old’s belongings and documents were found on a balcony on the 16th floor of the building, Mash reports. Russia’s Investigative Committee is looking into the circumstances of the deadly plunge, with their preliminary conclusion being suicide, according to Fontanka.
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 07:30
I’m just going to leave this NY Times article about the new AI Bing search engine here. It may be one of the most disturbing articles I’ve read in years. I have no idea where we are going with this stuff but I have to wonder if it’s not going to come back to bite us in the ass: Last week, after testing the new, A.I.-powered Bing search engine from Microsoft, I wrote that, much to my shock, it had replaced Google as my favorite search engine. But a week later, I’ve changed my mind. I’m still fascinated and impressed by the new Bing, and the artificial intelligence technology (created by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT) that powers it. But I’m also deeply unsettled, even frightened, by this A.I.’s emergent abilities. It’s now clear to me that in its current form, the A.I. that has been built into Bing — which I’m now calling Sydney, for reasons I’ll explain shortly — is not ready for human contact. Or maybe we humans are not ready for it. This realization came to me on Tuesday night, when I spent a bewildering and enthralling two hours talking to Bing’s A.I.
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 06:50
by Merve Sancak* Skills have been shown as an answer to ongoing socio-economic problems such as unemployment, economic inequality, or lack of economic growth both in the Global North and Global South. The issue has been particularly prominent in the debates about the ‘lack of’ economic development in the Global South countries. It has been […]
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 05:30
Neal Katyal on the special counsel rules he wrote and which John Durham is bastardizing: The recent revelations about the special counsel John H. Durham’s investigation of the origins of Robert Mueller’s Russia inquiry paint a bleak picture — one that’s thoroughly at odds with governing law. Those rules, called the special counsel regulations, contemplate someone independent of the attorney general who can reassure the public that justice is being done. I drafted those guidelines as a young Justice Department official, and there is zero chance that anyone involved in the process, as it was reported on by The New York Times, would think that former Attorney General William Barr or Mr. Durham acted appropriately. According to the report, Mr. Barr granted Mr. Durham special counsel status to dig into a theory that the Russia investigation likely emerged from a conspiracy by intelligence or law enforcement agencies. That investigation has taken almost four years (longer than Mr. Mueller’s inquiry) and appears to be ending soon without any hint of a deep state plot against former President Donald Trump.
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 05:01
Scandalously little challenge from BBC to bigotry of Labour right – but at least presenter asked the question Right-wing horror Ruth Smeeth exposed the reality of the arrogance and bigotry of her faction when she boasted today on BBC News that left-wing Jews, who support the human rights of Palestinians and do not support Israeli […]
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:59
In the latest escalation in Australia’s increasingly forceful campaign to manufacture consent for war with China, the Murdoch-owned Sky News Australia has aired a jaw-droppingly propagandistic hour-long special which advocates a dramatic increase in the nation’s military spending. Australians are uniquely vulnerable to propaganda because our nation has the most concentrated media ownership in the western world, the lion’s share of it Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:56
Despite countless Western bossy-boots beavering away in the media and beyond, generating worst-case projections as they strain to create a collective storyboard for “China: The Disaster Movie”, China, exasperatingly, keeps successfully pressing on towards its own clearly considered, affirmative future. The American Plan A for reforming China was firmly in place by the 1990s. The Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:55
We know little of the views of Teals on foreign and strategic issues. There are some big issues coming, on which they will need to focus. At the 2022 elections for the Australian parliament a new phenomenon was evident. A group of female candidates stood in conservative electorates with core concerns about climate change and Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:54
It’s no surprise that Jim Chalmers’ gentle challenge to neoliberal economics has generated an often rabid and intensely hostile response from the Murdoch media. To be hoped for is a more reasoned, informed national debate which focusses on, as Chalmers points to, fundamental changes to our economic environment. Some digging is needed to extract from Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:53
The name of Will Lee Steffen will stand tall as a pioneer earth systems and climate change scientist at our critical time when the life support systems of our planet are increasingly threatened. Along with other pioneer climate scientists over the last ~40 years or so, such as Wallace Broecker, James Hansen, Ralph Keeling, Paul Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:51
The release of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report has re-ignited discussions about reform of Australia’s primary healthcare system. The report and options for reform were discussed on the 8 February at the National Press Club in Canberra where health economist Dr Stephen Duckett appeared on a panel with Dr Kerrie Aust GP AMA President ACT and Dr Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:50
Pakistan’s rulers face an emboldened and resilient personality in the form of ex-prime minister Imran Khan. With such challenges now cascading upon the country, the greatest threat might yet be a further political crisis as the people abandon the government in the search for stability. Pakistan’s rulers — the army, intelligence services, and that segment Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 17/02/2023 - 04:30
I think we know, don’t we? The latest from the famous “moderate” Kari Lake supporter Glenn Youngkin: The Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, appears to have thwarted an attempt to stop law enforcement obtaining menstrual histories of women in the state. A bill passed in the Democratic-led state senate, and supported by half the chamber’s Republicans, would have banned search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices. Advocates feared private health information could be used in prosecutions for abortion law violations, after a US supreme court ruling last summer overturned federal protections for the procedure. But Youngkin, who has pushed for a 15-week abortion ban to mirror similar measures in several Republican-controlled states, essentially killed the bill through a procedural move in a subcommittee of the Republican-controlled House.