| Time |
Event |
| 12:32a |
Florida school pulls anti-racism film Ruby Bridges after parent complaint
The vagueness of DeMentis's censorship of course discussions of racism
is causing disputes about showing students
anything about the subject.
Given any presentation about racism, people can contrive a way to
conceive of it as teaching something bad. For instance, Ruby Bridges
is about a black child who needed guards to protect her from racists
in her school, back in the 1960s. That is meant to teach students the
same age today what racism was like; but how can you prove it isn't
teaching that all whites are evil?
|
| 12:32a |
'Huge Blow to the Rule of Law,' Donziger Says of Supreme Court Decision on Chevron Case
The Supreme Court refused to hear Stephen Donziger's appeal
of the highly irregular procedure by which
Chevron procured
his conviction.
Surprisingly, the only two justices who wanted to hear the case were
Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. All the others were willing to let Chevron get
away with railroading Donziger.
|
| 12:32a |
Students’ role in French protests shows depth of anger towards Macron
French students have joined the protests against Macron's increase in
the retirement age, and especially about his bypassing the
National
Assembly to do it.
|
| 12:32a |
To Crush Unions, Starbucks Targets Employee Communications
The US government sued Starbucks for union busting. Starbucks is
using that lawsuit to subpoena communications between employees, so
it can find out which ones support the
union — and punish them.
|
| 12:32a |
Putin prepares Russia for ‘forever war’ with west as Ukraine invasion stalls
Putin's propaganda, together with cutting off Russians from outside
news and thought, is successfully convincing them to
identify with the
war.
I read elsewhere that the families whose youths were conscripted and
then died in the war have mostly convinced themselves that this had to
be somehow laudable, because they can't bear to think the thought that
it was pointless destruction.
This is good news for fascist rulers around the world, and bad news for
human freedom.
|
| 12:47a |
Israel's judicial overhaul delayed after mass protests and strikes
Netanyahu says he has backed down on ending the
independence of the
judiciary.
He is slippery, though, so he might bring it back in another form.
This is not the only odious right-wing policy change he has agreed to.
Others include big expansions of the colonization of Palestinian
territory.
|
| 12:47a |
*Twitter Widens Its Censorship of Modi's Critics.*
*Twitter Widens Its Censorship of
Modi's Critics.*
|
| 12:47a |
Corbyn gives strong hint he will stand against Labour as independent
Starmer has finalized the rejection of Corbyn as a Labour
candidate for
Parliament.
|
| 12:47a |
Greenland Ice Sheet Very Close to Melting Point of No Return, Scientists Say
*Greenland Ice Sheet Very Close to Melting Point of
No Return, Scientists Say.*
|
| 12:47a |
Inequality starts before birth – so child benefits should too
Extra aid during the late stages of pregnancy improves the baby's
health at birth, and
that leads to a better life.
|
| 1:02a |
ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle faces trial after immunity defense fails
An Australian who worked for the tax authority informed the public about
how that agency was using harsh measures to collect unpaid taxes.
Now he faces trial for this, despite
Australia's law meant to protect
whistleblowers.
|
| 1:02a |
Landlords to get power to evict antisocial tenants with two weeks’ notice
The UK plans to evict tenants
who use recreational drugs.
Nominally the law will require all rental agreements to permit the landlord
to do so — but this would not make sense on its own. I suspect there will
be a system to punish landlords who don't evict. This way, the state can
punish people and hide behind the landlord.
|
| 1:02a |
Biden Urged to Crack Down on 'Terrifying' Use of AI by Medicare Advantage Insurers
Medicare Advantage insurance companies are using secret algorithms to choose
a time to refuse to keep paying for a treatment. Patients and their lawyers
are not given the supposed reasons for the decision so they have
no
easy way to challenge it.
The article calls these algorithms "AI". What that means is not clear
— I expect it is mere machine learning, but it might perhaps be a
system that draws confusions for reasons. Either way, the details of
how the algorithm operates are not important. The crucial point is
that they are secret.
Some countries have considered laws to forbid the use of secret
algorithms to make decisions about how a person will be treated — and
not only in medicine. I think the US should adopt such a law.
|
| 1:02a |
As the Met reclassifies Russian art as Ukrainian, not everyone is convinced
It is misguided to rush to relabel art from the Russian Empire or the
Soviet Union as "Ukrainian".
Given the information in the article, it would be more accurate to
describe that Degas painting as showing a dancer in Ukrainian dress;
but if Degas gave it a title, or (as it seems) said somewhere what
he thought he had depicted, we should respect that. Being French, he
may not have been aware of the difference, and it is anachronistic to
make it seem that he did.
|
| 1:02a |
Exxon in the classroom: how big oil money influences US universities
*How Big Oil money influences
US universities.*
Universities even sometimes let Big Oil employees teach the university's classes.
|