NC peeps…

https://actionnetwork.org/events/moral-monday-stop-the-legislative-coup-coverup?source=direct_link&

«Different programs have their own exotica—JAXA has candidates fold a thousand origami cranes over the course of a week to show they can maintain high standards while doing monotonous tasks. Russian candidates are dropped out of an airplane and made to solve puzzles tied to their wrists before the parachute opens.»

*A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?* by Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith

😳

https://theconnector.substack.com/p/news-the-post-24-democratic-tech

«If the voter who gets phonebanked or has their door knocked on today has no way to ever reach that person again and have a conversation, that is not organizing, it’s telemarketing.»

«”We’re over-reliant on analytics and not on the emotional or narrative elements of politics.”»

I guess I’ll believe it when I see it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/khamenei-iran-syria/680920/

«It is a persistent folly of progressive thought to believe that wars do not achieve meaningful political consequences.»

Oh, Eliot Cohen, arrogant Counselor of the United States Department of State under George W. Bush, not all of us have forgotten you. I see you have not changed your spots.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article296762099.html

«In the ongoing hand-to-eye recounts, election officials physically examine a sample of ballots, rather than running them through a tabulating machine like they did in the first recount.»

A *sample*???

😬

https://apnews.com/article/ghana-bawumia-mahama-election-e2d8fafcb85af36fb625480b24ea9535

«Mahama’s win is viewed as following the latest trend of elections around the world, favoring opposition parties against incumbents, from the United States to European countries — such as Britain and France — as well as South Africa.»

Yet another good site to add to your feed reader or subscribe to its newsletter:

https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-december-7-8-2024/

«No American journalism organization has done more to expose the predatory indifference of the health insurance industry than ProPublica. Its “Claim File Helper” (published last year) is a smart and, as far as I know, unique addition to healthcare reporting: an excellent tool for regular folks whose insurers have denied claims. Keep the link handy. I hope you’ll never need it, but until our politicians decide to fix the gaping holes in our nation’s healthcare system, you might find it valuable someday.»

Events in Korea continue to unfold.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korean-persecutors-question-ex-defence-minister-over-botched-martial-law-2024-12-07/

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/the-musk-rat

😳

Musk is undetectable poison, vegetable alkaloid, death cap mushroom, and he knows *exactly* what he is doing.

Expect the Russian and Chinese governments to adopt these techniques.

We have absolutely got to get a handle on social media and our friends, neighbors, and relatives who are stupid enough to fall for this stuff.

Bad actors trying to game democracy and democracy saying, “No,” straight-up. Now we’re starting to get down to it.

«Barely a month ago, Georgescu was almost unheard of inside his own country, with no party backing and a low profile in traditional media.

But all that changed in the final two weeks before the Nov. 24 first round of the presidential election. Some 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts burst into action, in what Romanian analysts say was a coordinated attempt to sway the election in his favor.»

https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-politics-election-calin-georgescu-elena-lasconi-what-the-hell-is-going-on/

I hope laws on social media will be passed. Data should be preserved and made available for analytics on a timely basis. Misleading posts should be quickly and accurately labeled as such and put behind an extra click or two (at minimum). (I remain convinced it’s possible, between human intelligence, algorithms, and machine learning.)