Notices by Joanna Bryson, blathering (j2bryson@mastodon.social)

RE: https://mastodon.coffee/@vacapinta/116091219793674502

Quoting to make a thread.

#giftArticle

Why do republicans quit the house so much younger than democrats? Unclean living?
https://wapo.st/4c4oWCh

“But Democrats have made little headway in persuading Americans that they have better ideas or policies to offer.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/22/trump-disapproval-post-poll/?no_nav=true&utm_campaign=tt_2510:a;rct_2406:2&utm_source=webview&utm_medium=referral_home

Politics tinged Friday’s ceremony when Vice President JD Vance received a round of boos at San Siro Stadium after being shown on a big screen. Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that he was booed again on Saturday while leaving a women’s hockey match between the U.S. and Finland, as jeers erupted from a part of the arena mainly filled with American fans.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters shouting slogans and holding signs including “ICE out” and “Defend Minneapolis” gathered at Milan’s Piazzale Medaglie D’Oro for a march that was intended to end in the vicinity of the main Olympic Village.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2026/02/07/protests-winter-olympics-italy/

Germany news: Majority see Trump as threat to nation

A new poll finds more than 60% of Germans see the US president as a major threat. It comes as the president's actions and rhetoric have alienated US allies. Follow DW here for the latest.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-majority-see-trump-as-threat-to-nation/live-75639462

Everyone should read Canada's PM Carney's speech at Davos, but there's way too many things everyone should read, so here's a precise:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn🇱🇮activity:7419668428354924544/

The German engineering trade group, whose members include vital tool machine exporters, urged the EU to face Trump down. “If the EU gives in here, it will only encourage the US president to make the next ludicrous demand and threaten further tariffs,” said Bertram Kawlath, the president of the German engineering association VDMA.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/19/european-industry-donald-trump-greenland-eu-us-tariffs?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Denmark fumes over new US envoy to Greenland

US President Donald Trump's newly named envoy has said he hopes to help "make Greenland part of the US." Denmark, which controls the autonomous island, is "deeply angered" according to its foreign minister.
https://www.dw.com/en/denmark-fumes-over-new-us-envoy-to-greenland/a-75267414

This is the trap many Democrats are currently in – they produce pie charts to show that the majority of immigrants snatched off the streets are not criminals, but they do not say that to detain 65,000 people is an authoritarian act. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/29/chicago-ice-oppression-us-community-immigration-raid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

India's drought robs girls of their chance at an education

In many regions of India, water shortages mean girls have to walk miles to a water source instead of attending school. Drought and dried-up wells force families to make tough decisions.
https://www.dw.com/en/indias-drought-robs-girls-of-their-chance-at-an-education/g-74792336

In our paper, "Is there an AI Cold War", @helenamalikova and I showed that the EU was absolutely building AI, on par with China as measured through WIPO patents and the market cap of companies that hold those patents. That was 2020, but it's still true, here is the unpublished updated data:
https://online.ucpress.edu/gp/article/2/1/24803/117647/Is-There-an-AI-Cold-War

#digitalsovereignty

There's certainly a problem with the US domiciling & failing to regulate a few transnational utilities, but AI is much more than those few companies.

Roland Lescure
French Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty, is much better! Claims to be aligned with Wildberger, but talks about the need to enforce and support DSA & DMA.

next
Henna Virkkunen
exec vp for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, EC
says DMA & AIA being enforced.
#digitalSovereignty

Ironically, the wifi sucks here. #digitalSovereignty

First speaker: Karsten Wildberger
DE Fed Minister for Digital Transformation & Government Modernisation

Absolutely horrified to hear BS about "EU only buying" and "too much ex ante legislation." The EU digital governance has been built over decades on observed harms, and the EU is passing China on both WIPO AI IP and the market capitalisation of the companies that hold it.

Here we go #digitalsovereignty

#digitalsovereignty interestingly, the wifi is OK now, as long as you don't go to a new website. I think they must be really carefully checking any new site being accessed, e.g. my publications page...

#digitalSovereignty
Anne Le Hénanff, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, France – we are being too slowed down by standards writing. But for some reason she wants to slow down the #AIA rather than recognising regulatory capture by the standards process (I warned about that in 2022: https://data-en-maatschappij.ai/en/publications/paper-belgian-and-flemish-policy-makers-guide-to-ai-regulation )

Wildberger talks about how exciting it was to watch Trump destroy regulatory capacity and herd non-White Americans into private prisons. No, he says it was thrilling to watch Trump sign the US AI action plan and how the US loves and embraces risk and technology, and the EU should do the same. Does he know that the rest of the US market has been in decline, only five heavily hyped companies keep the US looking OK for several years- this isn't just Trump #digitalSovereignty https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tkbweudpy6tvzjqdiza4z3p5/post/3lijaiasdrk22

old: industry 4.o new: "physical ai"

"put your blinkers on and cross the river feeling the stones.

Cristina Caffarra, Expert in Digital Markets / Euro Stack Initiative
stack is only chips, we need to regain contol on this.
we did a complete wrong term when we thought regulation would give us an industry [no, we thought it would give us a large, solid, sustainable, secure market, and we were right. Last I knew she took a lot of money from Apple and Microsoft?]

#digitalsovereignty

Timotheus Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom

we used to have global values chains now: tech nationalism
we had physical ownership, now we have digital access, who owns?

we used to have proprietary systems, now everything is about openness and interoperability, setting the standards defines the access and quality; is this us?

old: digitalisation; new: superinteilligence he gives EU zero for this. "Ai is able to reason, ai is able to create, it's creating autonomous systems"

#digitalsovereignty