mastodon
4.5.7
Cargo bike dad, software developer
https://newrepublic.com/post/207693/palantir-ceo-karp-disrupting-democratic-power
“Palantir CEO Alex Karp thinks his AI technology will lessen the power of ‘highly educated, often female voters, who vote mostly Democrat’ while increasing the power of working-class men.”
This is getting attention as an AI story but it’s far worse than that:
Abducted based solely on face recognition software.
Held for 6 months without even validating that shred of evidence.
Finally released in the snow a thousand miles from home. https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/ai-error-jails-innocent-grandmother-for-months-in-fargo-case
“The Times analysis found that 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated more than $3 billion — 19 percent of all contributions — in federal elections in 2024, either directly or through political action committees.
Five presidential elections ago, before the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that lifted many remaining campaign finance restrictions, the share of billionaire spending was almost zero — 0.3 percent, to be precise.“
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/billionaires-federal-election-campaign-contributions.html
“At one point he said he overheard a security guard talking about bets made among the staff over which detainee would be next to die by suicide. The guard said he had paid $500 into a pool, with the total pot riding on the outcome. The talk was particularly jarring, he said, because he had contemplated suicide himself.”
https://apnews.com/article/suicide-ice-detention-centers-b2d1cb0e4b579e0d89caabd00aa04e34
“A diabetic Norwegian woman who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has told Newsweek that she feared she might die in detention as her requests for insulin were repeatedly ignored.”
https://www.newsweek.com/diabetic-woman-arrested-by-ice-almost-died-after-being-refused-insulin-11611498
“The DOGE employees did not appear to question ChatGPT’s judgments, and continued hunting for unacceptable projects. Two weeks later, they sent a master list of 1,477 problematic awards — nearly every active grant made during the Biden administration — to Michael McDonald, the endowment’s acting chairman.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/arts/humanities-endowment-doge-trump.html
“this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution” #CarsRuinCities
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microplastics-nanoplastics-urban-air-abrasion.html
“Is Noem the worst DHS secretary in history? As with Pam Bondi’s historically bad run as [AG], it feels like an inapt point. They are ciphers, meant to fill a TV role cast by Trump and to respond to his every whim and impulse, not run giant organizations or make independent decisions. Donald Trump is the worst DHS secretary in history, and …
There is a tendency in news coverage to reward Trump by covering the action — a firing — rather than his failure on every level”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/donald-trump-is-the-worst-dhs-secretary-in-history
“US cities could be making $5.2 billion more a year in property tax revenue and benefitting from more than $500 billion in development potential on about 66,000 acres of land used for highways across 142 cities”
https://link.theoverheadwire.com/t84nu
Not to go all #bancars but it’s kind of sobering to watch the Paralympics and realize how many of the athletes suffered car collisions.
“The people representing the Trump administration knew they were entering a privately-owned building, and the DC MPD allowed them to enter despite that fact.”
“when Rapier is asked by an MPD officer if the USIP building is a federal building, she also confirms it is not. ‘No, it’s privately-owned by USIP.’”
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/body-cam-footage-usip-doge-raid-mpd-lawsuit
“The Fort Bliss facility was built and has been operated by Acquisition Logistics, a small government contractor out of Richmond, Virginia, that won the $1.2 billion ICE contract in July. The firm’s largest previous federal contract was for $16 million.
…
Its CEO is a 77-year-old man named Kenneth Wagner who appears to run the business out of his private home. Previous attempts to reach Wagner have been unsuccessful.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-camp-east-montana-detention-facility-fort-bliss-future-rcna261891
“the costly campaign offers rare visibility into the lucrative pardon industry that has emerged around Mr. Trump.
It is based in part on the proposition that paying the right person to deliver a message tailored to Mr. Trump’s politics or grievances is more important than demonstrating remorse or a low likelihood of recidivism.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/us/politics/schwartz-trump-pardon-industry.html
“That was one of the most insulting things I have ever heard”
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/03/pete-hegseth-american-soldiers-iran-media/686240/
“Fertilizer is among the most immediate concerns. Producing nitrogen fertilizer is an energy-intensive process that relies heavily on petroleum. The Middle East supplies an estimated 40% to 50% of internationally traded nitrogen fertilizer, and analysts say urea — a key crop nutrient — has already risen roughly $70 per ton in some U.S. markets since tensions escalated.”
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/georgia-farmers-brace-for-price-spike-as-iran-war-rattles-fertilizer-markets/93-9f41de8a-5449-403b-8edc-f38512da9b75
Young Republicans: “At one point in the group chats last fall, various members debated how to describe a woman, with Gonzalez, the former recruitment chair, using terms like ‘half breed’ and ‘mongrel,’ to which Valdes, the Turning Point chapter president, responded, ‘If this chat gets leaked we’re so cooked lmao.’
‘This isnt even my worst one,’ Gonzalez responded.
Valdes said: ‘I’m in a few on telegram that are definitely worse.’”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article314928484.html
“A GOP lobbyist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said at times corporate America thinks things will move in a straight line.
‘They’re slowly learning that sometimes you can’t bet on that because [Trump] wants to take a piece of it,’ the person said. ‘He wants to be the one that raises the trophy. In a transaction, what’s in it for him, what’s in it for the administration, what can he take credit for?’”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/02/netflixs-wake-up-in-trumps-washington-00807853?utm_content=politico/magazine/Politics&utm_source=flipboard
“Emmanuel Damas, 56, died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after struggling to receive timely medical care for a worsening toothache, Chandler City Councilwoman Christine Ellis told the Arizona Daily Star Tuesday afternoon.”
https://tucson.com/news/local/border/article_a5053df1-4ade-4424-972f-e9f5270829bb.html
“The Telegraph has been reprimanded by a press standards watchdog after it published an entirely fabricated story about a wealthy banker complaining of the impact of school fee increases.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/03/telegraph-censured-fabricated-story-banker-struggle-pay-school-fees
“By refusing to cut off surveillance companies and sleazy data brokers, Big Tech companies are effectively collaborating with ICE’s lawless campaign of violence and terror. As a result, every internet ad on a website or app could be collecting location data that ICE will use for its next operation,” Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement.
https://www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-into-the-online-advertising-ecosystem-to-track-peoples-movements/
The Lancet: “The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm. Calls for his resignation now number in the thousands. Congress must exercise its duty of oversight and hold Kennedy accountable for his record, or else accept responsibility for endorsing President Trump's decision to let him ‘run wild on health’.”
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00414-9/fulltext
Barry Goldwater half a century ago: “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. The government won't work without it. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”
https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for
“It is a stark reminder of the firms, beginning with Paul Weiss, who capitulated to Trump and the Trump administration’s threats. Skadden Arps followed, with others — as tracked by Demand Justice here — following those two BigLaw firms. Their agreements were appalling to start, indefensible once the wins started piling up from those who did challenge Trump, and outright embarrassing if the Trump administration drops these appeals as the WSJ has reported is expected.”
This is a good visualization:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/02/iran-strait-of-hormuz-oil-gas-visualized
“But it’s not like I have nothing on the line here. You may be giving up your children, but by advocating for war, I’m risking my reputation. If I get this whole war thing wrong (again), and your children die accomplishing nothing save for radicalizing a brand new generation of terrorist organizations (again), it will take an entire news cycle for everyone to forgive me.”
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-case-for-war-by-someone-whose-kids-wont-die-fighting-in-it
“So how does a sophisticated data intelligence company respond to well-sourced investigative journalism based on official government documents?
By suing the journalists, of course.
But here’s the thing that makes this even more absurd: Palantir isn’t even claiming the articles are false.”
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/27/palantir-sues-swiss-magazine-for-accurately-reporting-that-the-swiss-government-didnt-want-palantir/
“We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately and here I am headed out the door. It’s too soon, even after 46 years,” Mary Walsh wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Guardian. “But maybe it’s for the best. We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/27/cbs-news-political-bias-paramount-warner-bros
“When staffers at the air district reached out to a small sample of people to verify their comments, at least three said they had not written to the agency and were not aware of any such messages, records show.”
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-southern-california-air-board-pollution.html
RE: @newsguyusa@flipboard.social
This is the warning shot to tech oligarchs:
Score one for the oligarchy, to America’s loss:
https://apnews.com/article/warner-paramount-netflix-5ddba4049473903b35b65e62e37d66bf
That bridge story makes more sense with this detail:
“The nearby Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings on the continent, has been privately owned for decades by a Detroit trucking industry billionaire and his family, the Morouns. The family had previously called on Mr. Trump to halt the construction of the Gordie Howe bridge — which would, once opened, compete for the more than $300 million in daily cross-border trade over the Ambassador Bridge.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/us/politics/trump-gordie-howe-bridge-canada.html
