Notices by ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊 (dalfen@mstdn.social)

Staffers at the #Wikimedia Foundation "voted 158-14 to join the Communications Workers of America labor union. The US National Labor Relations Board..."

Wikimedia employees say "they will now have a mechanism to challenge management as the organization faces growing competition from AI chatbots and a drop in volunteer editors."

"Concerns about pay and benefits were not major motivators for the #union drive..."

#OrganizedLabor #unionization #LaborUnion #Wikipedia
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https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-workers-vote-on-whether-to-unionize/

Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more ~

Health data appears to be most affected by administration’s attempt to wipe findings that don’t align with its priorities, tracker shows

#USA #USpol #USgovernment #trump #TrumpAdmin #data #datasets #health #PublicHealth #education #environment #labor #police #veterans #immigration
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/18/trump-federal-data-deleted-altered

Trump said on social media that he ~"will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported into the #USA w/ lower #tariffs over the next 90 days."

And get this — he will ORDER those imports to be sold at a 25% discount of market prices (undercutting the US market).

So... do you think that made American catttle ranchers mad?

Of course it did!

#Trump did not say where the beef would come from, where it would be sold or how it would be discounted...
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/business/economy/trump-beef-prices.html

I was just thinking about the US government's incentive to prop up companies it takes stakes in.

(Under #trump, the government has done so almost as standard operating procedure, not just when the company or industry is faltering)

#USA #USeconomy #USgovernment #business
#MyThoughts

The #TrumpAdmin is ending a subsidy that helps lower the cost of #Medicare prescription drug plans. It will now end at the end of 2026, a year earlier than originally planned.

The move is expected to raise monthly premiums for millions of Medicare Part D beneficiaries in 2027, though how much is yet to be seen. #MedicareD is not ending and broader Medicare prescription drug reforms like annual out-of-pocket caps and lower insulin costs will remain.

#USA #healthcare
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/a-medicare-part-d-subsidy-program-is-ending-millions-of-americans-could-see-higher-monthly-premiums-102239941.html

Trump Quixote has taken a loss in his battle against windmills.

"A (federal district) court rules that a hold on all #wind projects clearly violates the law."

#USA #US #USpol #environment #energy #WindPower
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/trump-is-losing-his-war-on-wind-power/

Boycott #Uber.

In court filings, Uber's lawyers blamed sexual assault victims, suggesting that such things as what they were wearing, how much they drank, whether they had been unfaithful in relationships or whether they had childhood trauma were to blame for them being assaulted!

Uber faces over 4,000 lawsuits ~"from passengers accusing the company of failing to protect them from sexual violence they said they suffered during rides."

1/3🧵
#BoycottUber
#MyThoughts
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/business/uber-sexual-assault-lawsuits.html

Yesterday: #Iran says it's not negotiating w/ #US; only w/ #Oman on opening a temporary safe route through #StraitOfHormuz

Oil ⬆️ DOW ⬇️

Today: US Treasury Secretary Bessent says on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that #USA is talking w/ Iran & "There is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the Strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict.” / #IranWar

Oil ⬇️ DOW ⬆️
~~~

#MyThoughts –
There is a chance I may see a giraffe fly today or tomorrow.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/04/oil-rises-after-selloff-as-talks-to-end-us-iran-war-remain-uncertain.html

How did a top law firm go from historically litigating for social justice causes to bending the knee to Donald Trump?

Because, having broken into the world of private equity, it focused on making as much money as possible.

1/2 🧵
select screenshots follow

#USA #US #USpol #trump #law #Weiss #Karp
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/us/politics/paul-weiss-trump.html

RE: https://mstdn.social/@dalfen/117009519796741795

So encouraging to know that the US government is blindly relying on the brilliance of AI 😳

#USA gov't map of #Africa mislabels every country at global conference ‼️

The map contained an #AI watermark imdicating it was made w/ OpenAI tools. 👀

It had:
• Nigeria (where #US currently has several hundred troops deployed) as landlocked in the Sahara Desert
• Mozambique, which is in southeastern Africa, relocated to the Horn of Africa
• Ivory Coast in West Africa was placed on the other side of the continent

The State Dept blamed a staffer.

#trump #TrumpAdmin
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https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-government-map-africa-mislabels-every-country-global-conference-2026-07-30/

Apple's iOS 27 update will allow #AI to write texts for users as well as summarize texts for them. AI will also be able to write and send emails through the text chain, as well as a number of other things.

According to #Apple's website:

In Messages (text) and Mail (email), "Siri AI can match your writing style, punctuation, and tone — so you sound like you."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2026/07/24/ios-27-iphone-messages-updates/91036017007/
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https://www.apple.com/os/ios/

#MyThoughts –
I already sound like me and I don't want AI sounding like me.* That's creepy.

This is all bad enough in the workplace. Imagine friends or family having no idea if their loved one wrote something or if AI did... yeah, no thank you.

Our society went from hand-writing cards and letters to somehow being unable to write text messages for ourselves...

#progress

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* Also: How strange is it that we want AI to be our substitutes

/2
#MyThoughts

#Trump referenced "clean beautiful coal" and then speaking about objections to AI data centers, trump said, ~"So they put a big, beautiful data center up, BIG DEAL!" and talked about how he has secured a number of pledges from power companies not to raise rates (such as in #Georgia). He made no reference to #water usage.

/1 of 2
#USA #USpol #AI #DataCenters

Trump also said the only ones that object to AI data centers are "Dumb-o-crats" (who he called "socialists," and then corrected himself and said, "I call them communists"). He said, "They're losers," and emphasized how "we can't have communist" (ideology) in the USA.

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* c/o semi live C-Span2 feed of #trump speaking at a conference about AI, data centers, and utility costs

/2 of 2
#USA #US #USpol #AI #DataCenters

A friend just told me that they had to consent for AI to dictate their doctor's notes, and when they refused, the office staff at the doctor's office seemed annoyed.

Well, too bad. They'll have to do some work.

And if they don't push back, AI will take over more of their work.

And AI doesn't receive pay and benefits.

#random thoughts

So then I took my kid to the doctor for a check up, and guess what happened?

Yep, they asked me for consent for AI dictation/translation of doctor's notes and I said:

No.

/2

#random thoughts
#healthcare #AI

@colo_lee That's cool that she explained it to you 🙂

My kid's doc was really nice too.

One of my biggest issues with it is privacy. I have no idea what 3rd-party AI company they are using or what they do with data (that is agreed upon between the doctor's office and the third-party company, which happens all the time already bc the offices all use third-party companies for their charting, reminder calls, etc.).

We have been victims of identity theft through 3rd-party server hacks.

/1 of 2

The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives ~

1 of 5🧵
(screenshots follow – it's quite an article)

#AI #tech #jobs #employment #society #consumers #ConsumerConcerns

Acting AG Todd Blanche has been talking at the congressional hearing about all the "fraudsters" that have been prosecuted under the #trump admin with their "all out government approach to combat fraud."*
Fraudsters that have "collected money right off the backs of taxpayers."

This is coming from the TRUMP admin.
Elephant, meet room.
Also... project much?

#USA #USpol #MyThoughts
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*c/o semi-live NBC News Now video feed