onfocus

First, you have Elon Musk, the belief that AI can and will essentially replace research scientists and the related belief that AI-backed tech has essentially achieved a kind of escape velocity from government-supported science. So AI will soon replace research scientists. I, Elon (or tech generally) own the AI. So there’s no big harm shutting down this research apparatus. And since I own the AI, not only will we cure all the diseases but I’ll own all the cures! What’s not to like?

Good analysis of why they're trying to destroy research. These tech guys are so high on their own hype supply and they don't understand how anything works. Everyone is going to lose because of it.

I see something recognizable in this rage from what I’ve seen studying climate change denial. Science is saying: This is the best way to save lives. But this is not the best way to run the business. And this is actively threatening my bottom line. This is part of the wholesale attack on research and public health.

CEO thinking: if a civil democracy says I need to close down my business for a few weeks while a pandemic is killing millions of people then it’s time for that democracy to end.

“It’s not being done with any thought about human life, it was just ‘this seems so woke so let’s get rid of it,’” Bennett said. “People think water is free and comes out of your tap whenever you want, but it’s not that simple.”

Good lord. It’s just new pieces of critical infrastructure dismantled every day. Everything must seem like waste when you don’t understand how anything works.

Sure, the buck stops here. Trump is all powerful. But he — the President — is not making the decisions, did not make the AEA invocation based on lies. “The lawyers” did that. And they don’t want him to pick up that phone and facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.

Complying with the Supreme Court is out of his hands, really. Someone else makes those decisions. They probably can't be held accountable either so no use finding out. Just... the lawyers.

The 52-46 vote delivers a key victory to major companies and trade groups in the fossil fuel and petrochemical sectors that had lobbied against the regulation. It also marks the first time in the Clean Air Act’s 55-year history that Congress has scaled back protections under the landmark environmental law.

Not content to let Trump make all of the decisions that harm Americans, the Senate votes in favor of cancer, brain damage, and other serious health effects to show they too are evil.

The nation’s forecasting agency is in tatters as what could be a destructive hurricane season nears. Several current and former agency meteorologists told CNN they are concerned forecasts and life-saving warnings are not going to be issued in time.

Not great.

Only a hundred days in, and there’s so much going on at once that it’s basically impossible to keep up.

It's a parade of horribles but I enjoyed this episode basically summarizing recent Verge articles about the administration. Nilay Patel and Verge editor Adi Robertson have a great conversation about where we're at. I appreciate the optimism about people rediscovering the benefits of government, but man oh man, feels like a pipe dream at the moment.

In many cases it’s still unclear what exactly DOGE engineers have done or intend to do with that data. Despite Elon Musk’s protestations to the contrary, DOGE is as opaque as Vantablack. But recent reporting from WIRED and elsewhere begins to fill in the picture: For DOGE, data is a tool. It’s also a weapon.

Sounds like blackmail everyone all the time is the strategy.

If a ludicrous idea started building momentum, the ringleader and their affiliates would get pushed out of an organization, then another one, and another one, before being deemed so poisonous that society in general would exile them to some tract of rural land to farm beets and / or start a cult. If they were still interested in spreading their ideas, their options were limited to the physical media they could afford to purchase — a monthly pamphlet sent through the mail, a ham radio, or a sign on the side of the road. Barricaded from the tightly controlled mass communication networks of print distribution and broadcast signals that informed the nation and the leaders they chose, they were forever stuck on the fringes.

That was where “crazy” used to die.

We also got wikipedia so maybe we can start shunning weirdos again and keep the good parts of the Internet.

The FDA this month also suspended existing and developing programs that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in milk and cheese and pathogens like the parasite Cyclospora in other food products.

Seems like a bad time to cut back on testing. But maybe they're trying to thin out the population? Maybe we just all do our own food safety testing individually?

Sarahi says what followed her arrest "felt like a kidnapping." She told NPR that her family was placed in a windowless office space near the bridge. For close to six days, she said they were given no access to a lawyer, told to sleep on cots without proper accommodations for the children (no diapers or appropriate food). She says a few days in, her children began to get sick, and there was no first aid available.

Who are these Americans keeping families with sick kids in a windowless room for a week because they took a wrong turn?

The White House kept hinting that the Chinese were beginning to negotiate, seeking a way to end the tariffs. In fact, the strategy that Beijing appeared to be following was to wait for Mr. Trump to feel the pain of his own actions. The expected phone call from President Xi Jinping never came. And Mr. Trump didn’t want to be the first to call, either — a sign of desperation.

The maga tough-guy shtick is not working vs. reality. Cult leaders can create a convincing reality for their followers but they can't coerce everyone in the world to go along with it.