Climate killers head to trial, an oasis forms in an abortion desert, students score another payday, and the Golden State gets golden laws.
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With the Supreme Court approving the TikTok ban, the U.S. is embracing the type of internet authoritarianism it long opposed.
The post Washington’s TikTok Ban Hypocrisy: Internet Censorship Is Good, Now appeared first on The Intercept.
As three men challenge their commutations, others brace for imminent prison transfers and the finality of a life sentence with no chance of release.
The post Biden Commuted Their Death Sentences. Now What? appeared first on The Intercept.
The justification for the TikTok ban is that it supposedly collects a ton of data.
TikTok’s data collection practices are insane. The app gather data that other apps normally consider off limits, including the content of users’ private messages, and the full contents of a user’s device contacts.
I agree, this is insane. But it isn’t unusual, and it isn’t even the worst in class.
That’s a lot of data – but it’s worth noting that TikTok does not seem to collect more data than other social media companies. A privacy researcher working with the Washington Post found that TikTok gathers less data than Facebook in some cases.
I am just heartsick over the plight of the animals lost in the LA fires. People have lost their pets and many others have nowhere to live so are having to house them at shelters. And then there is the wildlife that live in the neighborhoods and foothills that were ravaged by the firestorm. There are many groups rushing in to help, some even having to evacuate shelters in the path of the fire. 🔗 Lost and found pets: Cleo&Hooman’s lost/found spreadsheet and @eatonfirefoundlostpets are helping reunite pets with their owners. BFAS has set up a volunteer interest survey for those interested in helping. Pasadena Humane / @pasadenahumane Due to overwhelming support, Pasadena Humane has no more capacity for material donations or fosters, and has put a pause on volunteer applications, but is in need of monetary donations. L.A. Animal Services / @laanimalservices You can sign up to foster or adopt for from one of 13 city and county shelters. This will open up space for new animals.
Fossil fuel operatives are pushing Trump and state governments to buy billions of a volatile cryptocurrency, jeopardizing taxpayer dollars and the environment alike.
The worst of the worst rising to the top: Mr. Miller was influential in Mr. Trump’s first term but stands to be exponentially more so this time. He holds the positions of deputy chief of staff, with oversight of domestic policy, and homeland security adviser, which gives him range to coordinate among cabinet agencies. He will be a key legislative strategist and is expected to play an important role in crafting Mr. Trump’s speeches, as he has done since he joined the first Trump campaign in 2016. Most significantly, Mr. Miller will be in charge of Mr. Trump’s signature issue and the one that Mr. Miller has been fixated on since childhood: immigration. And he has been working, in secrecy, to oversee the team drafting the dozens of executive orders that Mr. Trump will sign after he takes office on Jan. 20. “I call Stephen ‘Trump’s brain,’” said Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker who credited Mr. Miller — a private citizen at the time — with helping to rally Republican lawmakers to insert a sweeping border crackdown into a spending bill in 2023. In the four years since Mr. Trump has been out of office, Mr.
Cling to reality, folks. It’s all we’ve got. And the reality is that Trump is no popular, he’s an idiot and so are most of the people around him. Not that he can’t do damage, of course. But he is no colossus.
What rove beetles can tell us about the predictability of life
The post The Evolution of a Mimic appeared first on Nautilus.
“MUST FIND THE LEAKER!” Trump posted, decrying the damage to Israel when its Iran attack plans were made public.
The post CIA Leaker of Israel Intel Pleads Guilty Days Before Trump Takes Office appeared first on The Intercept.
Here we are again, at the beginning of yet another year. Let’s hope it is an improvement on the last. The highlights of this past year have been two events …
The post The Gower Intitiative for Modern Money Studies newsletter – January 2025 appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.
American Primeval, Netflix’s flashy (and quite gory) new series depicts the clash between zealous Mormons,...
Refute your friends and family, never be satisfied. Philosopher Agnes Callard on life lessons from Socrates.
The post Argue Your Way to a Fuller Life appeared first on Nautilus.
They’ve moved the inauguration ceremony inside die to the cold weather. I’m sure he doesn’t want his pet oligarchs to be uncomfortable. I guess he doesn’t want to be the William Henry Harrison of our time? I’d guess both. He’s old and he’s terrified of a small crowd size.
1. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But by all means, keep moving.”
2. “Why would Kim Jong Un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat’? Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend — and maybe someday that will happen!”
3. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
4. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.”
5. “When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.”
6. “The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware, and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.”
Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and Continue reading »
Australia needs to try and persuade the Trump Administration that no country can expect to dominate our region and the benefits of cooperation. But if, as is likely, Trump refuses to accept a multipolar region then Australia must be prepared to act on its own and seek its security within Asia. Australia’s strategic dilemma For Continue reading »
Palestinians and Israelis are breathing sighs of relief that after fifteen months of killing, famine, torture and destruction across Gaza, the Israeli Netanyahu government and representatives of Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire. US negotiators from the Biden and prospective Trump administrations are claiming credit for this pause in fighting, an achievement fuelled partly by Continue reading »