onfocus

The metaphor of Trump crushing a portion of the White House as he aims bulldozers at democracy itself is almost too obvious to note. But it’s not just a symbolic parallel: both are rooted in the same indifference to what these American institutions mean to Americans and to America. Both are rooted in Trump wanting to treat those things as his own and now feeling empowered to do precisely that.

Seeing the White House demolition has been surprisingly painful.

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.”

But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced.

Kavanaugh ignored the entire history of law enforcement as it exists in reality.

The dress-up “dismantles their narrative a little bit,” Jack Dickinson, also known as the “Portland Chicken,” told Willamette Week. “It becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.”

Tactical frivolity.

We don’t need to cherry-pick the remarks of a college group chat, which is essentially what this is, given that most attendees received a college degree within the last two decades.

The hateful, racist, antisemitic “young” Republicans are not having persistent youthful indiscretions. This is the Republican party. And this is a not-very-funny satirical article that packs a punch.

Jury nullification, also known as jury equity or as a perverse verdict, is a decision by the jury in a criminal trial resulting in a verdict of not guilty even though they think a defendant has broken the law.

hmm, interesting idea to read up on.

Reid, in a statement through her attorneys, said the verdict shows “that this administration and their peons are not able to invoke fear in all citizens.”

“I feel sorry for the prosecutors really, who must be burdened by Trump’s irrational and unfounded hatred for his fellow man,” she said. “Knowing that I can stand in front of 12 of my fellow citizens and be found not guilty for standing up for basic human rights makes me feel like, despite the scary times we live in, we have hope for the future.”

DC jury is not having the BS.

I have been on many projects and teams where I have been immensely frustrated by the people I am collaborating with, and wished that I had the power to just tell them to do the thing I want them to do. The friction that the political project of AI promises to remove is, by and large, the same friction that authoritarianism promises to remove: other people.

This is an excellent description of the unspoken promise of AI and why we should all be leaning harder into life’s friction.

The way out of our present age of political violence is not scolding "we have to live here with one another," at those who are not threatening anyone's life, at those whose very existence supremacists refuse to accept. Rather the way out is standing between supremacists and their targets and telling them "no, you have to live with them, just like we live with you, and if you can't do that, then you have a problem with us, too."

This is the way.

Benioff’s offending remarks came in a phone call from his private jet on Thursday, when the billionaire told the Times he would welcome federal troops in SF and said the city should have 1,000 more police officers than it currently does.

Man in private jet perhaps not in best position to judge how much authoritarianism is too much for the little people.

She also wrote that President Trump’s own words hurt his case, as his hyperbolic descriptions of Portland as war-ravaged and burning showed that his “determination was simply untethered to the facts.”

The truth still matters in some courts.

This is a list of writing and formatting conventions typical of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, with real examples taken from Wikipedia articles and drafts. It is meant to act as a field guide to help detect undisclosed AI-generated content on Wikipedia. This list is descriptive, not prescriptive; it consists of observations, not rules.

Makes sense that Wikipedia is on the leading edge of AI cleanup and sharing what they've learned. Very interesting read.

You just have to think for yourself. Know what tradition you’re aligned with, whether it’s a philosophical one, a religious one, or one that rises out of a particular past oppression—or all of the above. There might even be a group or a school of thought you’re reacting against. If you haven’t thought about these things before, read less daily news and try to find an approach that reflects what matters to you.

I've been thinking about this essay quite a bit since I read it. I've been disappointed with Ezra Klein and this gets at some of the reason why. But I think Coates' reminder that knowing you're part of a tradition or school of thought that will continue after you're gone is a powerful idea. It's easy to lose sight of that in the daily news chaos and this essay was a good reminder that humanist ideas might not be very old in the grand scheme but they are powerful. Also thinking about this:

You treat people humanely—everyone.

People can come in the tent without agreeing on every policy. But you have to make the demand that all people will be treated humanely. That belief guides what you yourself will do. You don’t buy into the MAGA lies to get supporters. You give them a vision of what you support, and you call them to it.

That's a bright line that I can get behind. I appreciate hearing this.