December 2, 2024

Stuttering Lede, Dec. 1st, 2024

Holidays Edition

"We must fight for our freedom before it's too late." Quote from a slogan at Georgia’s protest

My apologies in the delay in posting. My family was on a much needed vacation that was incredibly exciting and entirely too short. Without further ado, here’s today’s links to news and stories worth your attention.

Today in History

On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, beginning the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the beginning of the end of legal segregation in America.

"The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

On December 1st, 1973, Hilly Kristal opened the Country, Bluegrass and Blues bar known as CBGB, which later became a springboard for countless punk and rock bands.

Resistance Frequencies

Complete “living breathing document” to help us all.

This week’s updates:

• People don't get that Trump's DOJ can harass critics without indicting them. Launching a mere investigation would drain them of resources.

• This is insane. Yet here we are. If you are considering this step, consider the potential impact after January 20th.

In the news

US

• When asked if Jesus “will return to Earth someday,” more than half of all U.S. adults (55%), including three-quarters of Christians, say this will happen.

• Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law banning transgender students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that match up with their gender identity in K-12 schools and on college campuses.

• “Antifascism is something that everyone can do. Whether it’s ripping down a sticker or confronting a rally, we all owe it to each other to do these things."

• "I don't want to be influenced: I want to be informed."

• The clearest, most convincing, analysis what's behind Trump's contemptuously destructive nominations: warping reality to demonstrate that The Presidency is Dead. Long Live the King!

• Young men swung to the right for Trump after a campaign dominated by fascist appeals.

• California swung right by one of the largest margins nationwide. That’s mainly because Democratic turnout collapsed.

• Vaccine exemption rates for kindergarteners increased in 41 of 50 jurisdictions with data last year - mostly non medical. In Idaho, **14.3%** of kindergarten students had exemptions (!). 9% of incoming kindergartners in AZ have vaccine exemptions - ranging from 3% to 22% (!!) depending on the county. Most of them are non-medical-exemptions.

• Democrats Need to Learn How to Take Credit and How to Blame.

• The largely unorganized social rejection of liberal politics has led us to this moment when the reactionary forces of Trumpism have recaptured the state. To change course, we can begin with a leap of faith, a fidelity in the primacy of class action.

• We've Always Lived Under Authoritarianism.

Subscribe now

• Meet the Ideologue of the “Post-Constitutional” Right

  Russell Vought, one of the architects behind Project 2025, believes there is nothing left to conserve. He desires revolution – and to burn down the system.

• A briefing room ‘where Maggie Haberman sits next to Joe Rogan.’

• Rivian said it has received conditional approval for a loan of up to $6.6 billion from the US Department of Energy to build the electric vehicle maker's production facility in Georgia.

• So Much for Noble Steed.

Europe

• “Just three companies, News Corp (Murdoch family), Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT, Viscount Rothermere) and Reach plc, control over 80% of daily newspaper circulation… The hyper-rich continue to invest huge sums in acquiring control of media.”

• Elon Musk is attacking Britain.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off the country’s new budget, which includes record spending on military needs amid Moscow’s ongoing assault against Ukraine.

• How Did Russia’s Oligarchs Get Rich From the Fall of the Soviet Union?

• French PM Michel Barnier faced an ultimatum from Marine Le Pen to make more budget concessions or risk a no-confidence motion. This could collapse the entire EU!!

• A new Belgium law gives sex workers contracts, benefits and safety protection. This is the first law of its kind in the world.

• France in 2025.

• UK politics infiltrated by ‘dark money’.

  Cash from dictatorships, shell companies, companies that never made profit, unincorporated associations with secret funders.

  Rewards for corruption - govt contracts, lax laws, favours.

• Iceland’s Social Democrats are on track to win the country’s snap election.

• Ireland’s elections were by far the biggest defeat of the far right in this year’s election cycle.

• President Salome Zourabichvili states - No inauguration of the new President is legitimate and she REMAINS President until there are free and fair elections in the country.

Middle East

• "The conflicts of Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon all come together and overlap in Aleppo.”

Mental Health

• Your clothes and your emotions.

Tech

• “Once you’ve trained your large language model on the entire written output of humanity, where do you go?” Down. Vast amounts of capital have been burned on AI - possibly the greatest commercial hoax of all time. US stock market is headed for one hell of a correction.

• Why I regret using 23andMe.

• Yikes. No surprise. Still, yikes! Online influencers need ‘urgent’ fact-checking training, warns Unesco.

• Elon Musk Admits X Is Making It Harder for People to Read News.

• From an fellatio joke to a global Ponzi scheme in under 6mos.

• "So, to recap: we have a millionaire autonomous AI agent on Twitter leveraging meme coins on social media and a collaboratively owned, virtual AI influencer with a $100 million plus in market cap".

• International ‘race science’ network secretly funded by US tech boss.

• Something exciting coming out of Australia.

• Social media has dissolved the mortar of our society and made America stupid, Jonathan Haidt argued in 2022. It’s not just a phase.

Women Rights

• Gender pay gap is about to get bigger again: They call hesitant attitudes toward AI "risk averse" & "fearful"; others might call them "thoughtful" & "careful." They call enthusiasm for it "appetite" & "willingness"; others might call it "susceptibility to marketing" & "disregard for costs & consequences."

• A List of Things People Blamed on Short Skirts.

• Republicans don't care if women die from abortion bans — but they don't want you to know about it.

• Study of trans athletes concludes blanket sports bans are a mistake. The lead researcher of a landmark IOC-funded study looking at strength, power & aerobic capacity of trans athletes says “sports federations should consider its findings carefully.”

Climate Change

• Overpopulation Is A Racist Trope.

• Starting in 2015, a massive cyberespionage campaign targeted some of America's most prominent environmentalists.

Gun Violence

• “A 2-year-old is dead after a shooting in Jackson… Police said they found 5 people suffering from multiple gunshot wounds inside an SUV — 4 adults and a 2-year-old child… A person of interest is currently in custody…”

Education

• University to close chemistry department. Student numbers, yet again. It’s almost as if no university has a Plan B.

• Chris Rufo, architect of the conservative takeover at New College Florida, will present President-elect Trump with a plan to strip colleges of federal funding if they do not pull back campus diversity initiatives.

Misc.

• The COVID vaccine probably saved around 15 million lives but nearly a third of American voters think it's the "deadliest vaccine ever made."

• Surviving on a diet of toothpaste and toilet paper, South Africa's notorious "zama-zama" illegal miners continue a weeks-long standoff with police in the darkness of a disused gold mine.

Leave a comment

• Richard Linklater: ‘I’ve always had that French new wave notion – that a film should be an extension of your life.’

• Two ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years ago.

• Banksy’s Well Hung Lover to be sold with Bristol building it is painted on.

• The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami review – a labour of love.

Humor