Notices by Warner Crocker (warnercrocker@mastodon.social), page 8

@dana Well put.

@yacc143 @steter There are going to be so many lapdogs running around DC on short leashes they will need the military to clean up all the poop.

@GottaLaff I'm with you on all counts. Threads feels like a void. Bluesky makes communication possible. Mastodon still has both beat hands down.

When the incoming administration says it is outsourcing background checks on cabinet and other appointments they are leaving out one detail.

The Kremlin is doing the background checks.
#politics

I don’t think they need “measures.” Just quit ignoring the ones everyone knows already exist.

Economists need new indicators of economic misery
#economy
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/11/14/economists-need-new-indicators-of-economic-misery

I understand the reaction to Twitter's move to train content for its AI. Justifiable.

Just going to say this, given that all the LLM training so far seems to be feeding on itself and degenerating with each meal, this move can only accelerate with the garbage diet Twitter posts were long before Elon took over. #AI #Twitter #X

Your (now twice) weekly reminder that we’re still in a Civil War.

@pgreer @SueDiOh I won't disagree with your list. I'd add a preamble. What we're living through is a plan hatched when Newt Gringrich was Speaker and controlled the GOP. It's been slowly inching forward over the years. Trump allowed the pace to accelerate rapidly. And here we are.

We thought this thing was dead. But it’s back from the dead. (Also a number of Dems support this bill)

House GOP Moves to Ram Through Bill That Gives Trump Unilateral Power to Kill Nonprofits
#politics
https://theintercept.com/2024/11/15/nonprofits-trump-bill-gop-republicans/

@pgreer @SueDiOh Valid point. But isn't that always baked in from both a media and legal representation perspective? The alleged always proclaims innocence loudly.

As for the media covering things correctly? Well, that's an entirely different kettle of fish.

@talia_christine Pretty much

@pgreer @SueDiOh Absolutely the blame goes there as well. But DOJ had the chance, and the GOP invitation, to work to correct that political travesty.

@pgreer @SueDiOh Granted. But this, to my mind, was a case that needed to be made publicly sooner. The same was true with Congress. I get the rules, traditions and norms, etc... We're on the verge of none of those existing anymore anyway. So here we are.

@Jennifer Sorry. And there are only 1000 or so ways around it.

As creative a species that we are, we are also unimaginative when it comes to something new, always comparing it to what came before and pitching it as "it's like..."

Sure,"new" can be frightening, but we always hobble it with comparisons to the past.

It's also true that there is very little that's "new."

@GottaLaff Exactly.

@pgreer @SueDiOh That may well be. Smith wasn't appointed until 2022.

Worth your time.

“Magyar, a scholar of autocracy, isn’t interested in calling Donald Trump a fascist. He sees the president-elect’s appeal in terms of something more primal: “Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.””

Opinion | This Is the Dark, Unspoken Promise of Trump’s Return https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/opinion/donald-trump-orban-putin.html

City Council Votes Unanimously to Reject Mayor’s $300M Property Tax Hike Proposal
#Chicago
https://news.wttw.com/2024/11/14/city-council-votes-unanimously-reject-mayor-s-300m-property-tax-hike-proposal

One of the benefits of having this election over is I'm finding time again to listen to a number of podcasts I let lapse in the run up. Refreshing.