onfocus

But even as that was happening, the Vice President didn’t stoop to a contest of two truths, a contest over which truth voters might pick. She instead made it clear that the basis of the “truth” Trump offers, is a base of weakness and fear. She didn’t refute individual aspects of Trump’s truth. She instead kicked at its foundations, and showed how flimsy it is.

Interesting analysis of Harris' debate strategy. Rather than responding point by point to misinformation, she stayed on the task of dismantling maga mythology.

It is not the case that “AI gathers data from the Web and learns from it.” The reality is that AI companies gather data and then optimize models to reproduce representations of that data for profit. It’s worth preserving distinctions between the process behind building software systems and the social investments that aim to cultivate the human mind.

...

The learning myth downplays the role of data in developing these systems, perpetuating a related myth that data is abundant, cheap, and labor-free. These myths drive down the value of data while hiding the work of those who shape, define, and label that data.

I want to quote this entire essay. So many great points about how generative AI is sold to the public to consider.

To put their own minds at ease, the researchers also calculated the likelihood that one of these tiny black holes would strike Earth and found it would only happen roughly once in a billion years.

With our luck, we’re due.

Tennessee state Sen. Jon Lundberg, who co-sponsored both punitive Tennessee laws, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press this week, “The legislature is constantly looking at, What else can we do?”

Quick suggestion: ban assault rifles.

…one of the big reasons the race is close is that a whole lot of people look at Donald Trump's promises to menace and harm and kill literally millions of already marginalized people and they really like it; it makes them feel really good, it makes them feel like they're great again—so great that they're willing to overlook the fact that Trump is a profoundly ignorant grotesque dilettantish bully possessing not a single redeeming quality. And this group calls itself "conservative," a word they use to mean "the good people."

Please vote for people who care about other people.

Public schools and municipal buildings were closed for a second day in Springfield, Ohio, following bomb threats on Friday due to false claims about the city’s growing Haitian population.

This was caused by the Republican campaign for President. It’s a preview of what a second Trump Presidency would look like.

Within a few minutes Trump was visibly angry and not in a way that empowered him but in a way that made him lose focus, go down rabbit holes and generally go off onto damaging tangents.

It was like Harris was able to put Trump into some sort of state where he could only string keywords together randomly. Terrifying prospect that he could be in the demanding job of President again.

The central problem is this: You—the expert who possesses real knowledge of the topics that are up for debate—are bound by a world that has rules. Your opponent, the lying propagandist and fabulist, is not.

Elie Mystal with a great description of why the TV debate format favors the unhinged.

A reality-based article comparing the candidates’ “housing plans” would have gone something like: Harris, who talks about housing all the time on the stump, has a real and reasonably detailed plan that economists say has some good points and bad points; Trump shows no sign of having given even 10 seconds of thought to the housing crisis (on Trump’s 20-point platform, the word isn’t mentioned), and by the way, he spent four years as president, during which time he amassed a thoroughly rotten record on housing and never once showed any interest in ameliorating the affordable housing crisis; how about that?

The media reports "mass deportations" are a housing plan with a straight face without describing the chaos and agony of that "plan". As if inflicting mass violence is just another viable option for you to consider.

The father of Apalachee High School mass shooting suspect Colt Gray told investigators this week he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Gun culture is a plague in our country. Hold the parents accountable. Hold the gun manufacturers accountable. Hold the gun sellers accountable. Hold the gun culture influencers accountable. Hold politicians who refuse to take action accountable. Ban guns. Enough.

They pursue the appearance of fairness and balance by treating the true and the false, the normal and the outrageous, as equally valid and by normalizing Republicans, especially Donald Trump, whose gibberish gets translated into English and whose past crimes and present-day lies and threats get glossed over.

Continual normalization across all media is the problem. How can we have an informed electorate if the information isn’t accurate?

During an event billed as a speech about the economy, Donald Trump was addled and confused, rambled incoherently, and launched into strange non sequiturs. Yet The New York Times’s initial news story made the event sound far more normal than it was. Is the press doing an adequate job of analyzing Trump’s deteriorating mental state?

Great episode of The Daily Blast discussing the failure of media to accurately discuss Trump. Greg talks with journalist Meredith Shiner.