The Conversation -- December 18, 2023
Marie: We're having something of a mini-hurricane here in the North Country, and my lights are flickering, so I'm not sure how much I'll be doing this morning. Update: The storm continues, and I've been without power most of the day; still am.
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: In a 3-0 decision, "a federal appeals court has denied Mark Meadows' bid to move his Georgia-based criminal charges into federal court, rejecting a procedural gambit that could have derailed the state's election-related charges against not only Meadows but also Donald Trump. In an unsparing opinion written by a stalwart conservative judge [-- William Pryor --] the court ruled that Meadows, who served as Trump's White House chief of staff, must fight the charges against him in state court in Atlanta. Meadows had aimed to transfer the charges before a federal judge in hopes of having them quickly tossed out.... The panel ruled that a law permitting federal officials to transfer state-level charges into federal court applies only to current government officials, not former ones like Meadows. And the panel of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit concluded that, even if Meadows were still in office, his argument would still fail because the state's charges against Meadows are about an alleged criminal agreement to join a conspiracy, not about any actions Meadows took as Trump's chief of staff." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. The ruling, via Politico, is here.
Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Attorneys for former President Trump on Monday formally asked a judge to toss Trump's Georgia 2020 election criminal racketeering case on First Amendment grounds.... On Monday, [Trump's Georgia attorney Steve] Sadow filed court papers insisting that the allegations involved "core political speech,' telling the judge the indictment must be dismissed ahead of trial."
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked the full federal appeals court in Washington on Monday to consider whether a gag order in the criminal case in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election should be further narrowed or thrown out. The request for a hearing in front of the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was Mr. Trump's latest attempt to challenge the order, which was imposed on him in October by the trial judge handling the case in Federal District Court in Washington."
Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have come to the defense of a one time social media influencer who has been convicted of election interference and has a well-known history of pushing deeply racist, antisemitic, anti-Muslim and homophobic content online. In a video posted by his campaign in early December..., Trump blasted President Joe Biden and 'his henchmen' for allegedly trampling on the First Amendment rights of Douglass Mackey, a longtime supporter of the former president who ran an anonymous, notorious Twitter account in 2016.... Trump Jr. lauded the content featured on Mackey's Twitter feed. He praised Mackey on his December 7 podcast as 'maybe my favorite Twitter account of all time.'... Mackey, however, was under federal investigation for conspiracy to suppress votes in the 2016 presidential election during Trump's administration. Mackey was charged seven days after Biden took office and convicted earlier this year. He was sentenced to seven months in prison but is currently out pending an appeal of his case."
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "Two former Georgia election workers who successfully sued Rudolph W. Giuliani for spreading baseless lies about them after the 2020 presidential election sued him again on Monday, seeking to bar him from continuing to repeat those falsehoods. Lawyers for the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, also asked the Federal District Court in Washington on Monday to force Mr. Giuliani to pay the $148 million in damages he owes the women immediately because of his financial troubles. Typically, there is a 30-day delay before a defendant can be forced to pay.... During the weeklong trial to determine the amount of compensation and in the days after, Mr. Giuliani, speaking in interviews and to reporters outside the courthouse, reasserted his debunked claims that the women sought to deprive ... Donald J. Trump of victory as they counted votes in Fulton County, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020." CNN's story is here.
** Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "The group that organized the pro-Donald Trump rally in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, knowingly misled government officials about plans for attendees to march on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new investigation from the Interior Department's internal watchdog. The report, published Monday by Interior's Official of Inspector General, includes text messages from Kylie Kremer ― the rally's organizer, and a representative of the group Women for America First ― and one potential event speaker. The Interior report does not name the individuals, but the exchange between Kremer and Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and Trump ally, was previously made public by the House Jan. 6 select committee. 'This stays only between us, we are having a second stage at the Supreme Court again after the ellipse. POTUS is going to have us march there/the Capitol,' Kremer wrote to Lindell on Jan. 4. 'It cannot get out about the second stage because people will try and set up another and Sabotage it. It can also not get out about the march because I will be in trouble with the national park service and all the agencies but the POTUS is going to just call for it "unexpectedly."'" The New York Times report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The report includes statements from National Park Service officials who said Kremer repeatedly said there were no plans for a march on the Capitol. Seems to me Kremer broke some federal law, and I'd be happy if DOJ prosecuted her for it.
Justin Elliott, et al., of ProPublica: "Interviews and newly unearthed documents reveal that [Supreme Court Justice Clarence] Thomas, facing financial strain [in 2000], privately pushed for a higher salary and to allow Supreme Court justices to take speaking fees.... [Thomas told Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns (R) that] Congress should give Supreme Court justices a pay raise.... If lawmakers didn't act, 'one or more justices will leave soon' -- maybe in the next year.... Congress never lifted the ban on speaking fees or gave the justices a major raise. But in the years that followed..., Thomas accepted a stream of gifts from friends and acquaintances that appears to be unparalleled in the modern history of the Supreme Court.... Ralph Mecham, then the judiciary's top administrative official, fired off the memo describing Thomas' complaints to [then-Chief Justice William] Rehnquist, his boss.... Several months later, Rehnquist focused his annual year-end report on what he called 'the most pressing issue facing the Judiciary: the need to increase judicial salaries.'"
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Zach Montague & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden was interrupted while speaking with reporters in downtown Wilmington, Del., on Sunday when a sedan slammed into a Secret Service vehicle protecting the president's motorcade, as he was leaving his re-election campaign offices. Mr. Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, were not injured, according to the White House. They had been attending an event at their campaign headquarters and having dinner with members of the campaign staff.... In a statement, the Secret Service said 'there was no protective interest associated with this event,' meaning the crash was accidental and the driver did not know Mr. Biden was at the event.... David Karas, a spokesman for the Wilmington Police Department, said nobody was injured in the collision. 'Investigators are also working to determine if impairment was a factor,' Mr. Karas said. The authorities outside responded to the collision, surrounding the car and aiming weapons at the driver before the driver surrendered, according to reporters in the White House press pool." The CBS News story is here.
Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Speaking in Phoenix as part of 'Amfest, [Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene lambasted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for saying the House GOP has nothing on President Joe Biden after they voted to launch an impeachment inquiry. Sunday morning, Graham appeared on 'Meet the Press,' where he said, among other things, that he hasn't seen a smoking gun yet, and Republicans have been searching for five years.... Greene said, 'It's absolutely provably true that they are the most corrupt criminals to ever serve or hold office in Washington.... Lindsey Graham, today, on "Meet the Press" said that there is not a "smoking gun...". Even though, let me tell you something people. We had produced checks written to Joe Biden. Is that not a smoking gun?'"
Presidential Race 2024
Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "The Biden campaign late Saturday sharply criticized former President Trump for invoking rhetoric it referred to as 'parroting Adolf Hitler' in the wake of remarks in which Trump said immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country.' At a campaign rally in Durham, N.H., Trump offered praise for authoritarian world leaders. He quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack President Biden while once again offering praise for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, calling him 'very nice.'"
Marianne Levine & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Sunday accused undocumented immigrants of waging an 'invasion' of the United States, in a speech that highlighted his frequent use of dehumanizing language and exaggerated terms to describe many foreigners seeking to enter the country. During a campaign event in Reno, Nev...., [Trump] blamed President Biden for what he portrayed as a dangerous incursion on the homeland -- although many migrants detained at the southern border are parents and children seeking protection, and studies show that undocumented immigrants are less likely than U.S. citizens to commit crimes. 'This is an invasion. This is like a military invasion,' Trump said. 'Drugs, criminals, gang members and terrorists are pouring into our country at record levels. We've never seen anything like it. They're taking over our cities.'... During his speech on Sunday, Trump reiterated that in a second term he would have the 'largest deportation operation in American history.' He falsely portrayed immigrants as coming from 'mental institutions and insane asylums.'..." ~~~
~~~ Zachary Wolf of CNN: "Donald Trump's rhetoric dropped to a spine-tingling new low this weekend.... Whipping up thousands of supporters at a New Hampshire hockey rink on Saturday, the former president again drew comparisons to the language of Nazi Germany with the comments about migrants from mostly Africa, Asia and South America 'poisoning the blood of our country.'... The former president -- who leads Biden in some swing-state polling of a hypothetical rematch -- has a long history with language that plays on racial prejudice and excites the right wing. His recently repeated claim that he wants to be 'dictator' for one day to build his border wall and stop immigration could be laughed off as a joke if he didn't keep saying it. On Sunday night, at rally in Reno, Nevada..., he wondered, again without evidence, if Chinese migrants crossing the border are meant to be part of an invading army. Trump promised to reorient the US government to purge migrants. Claiming the US is now a 'haven for bloodthirsty criminals,' he said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law, to remove migrants from the country."
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Rudy Giuliani made the stunning claim that lawyers in the defamation case he just lost were actually working for President Joe Biden, and trying to get him to 'rat' on ... Donald Trump.... [Giuliani said,] 'Stalking action for Biden and also to shut up the guy that's the most damage to him. Remember when he came into the campaign, he sent out a letter to the press to keep Giuliani off the media. He succeeded in doing that eventually with the hard drive.'" MB: I have no idea what Rudy was talking about here, but then I'm confident that Rudy doesn't know what he's talking about either. I guess by "the hard drive," he means that right before the 2020 election, MSM outlets would not publish unverified stories Giuliani was telling about Hunter Biden's lost laptop. Or something else, I don't know.
Christopher Rowland, et al., of the Washington Post: "Patients with Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive problems walk away from assisted-living facilities just about every day in America, a pattern of neglect by an industry that charges families an average of $6,000 a month for the explicit promise of safeguarding their loved ones, a Washington Post investigation has found. Since 2018, more than 2,000 people have wandered away from assisted-living and dementia-care units or been left unattended outside, according to The Post's exhaustive search of inspection results, incident reports and media accounts nationwide. Nearly 100 people died -- though the exact number is unknowable because no one is counting.... In cases where a cause of death could be determined, The Post found that 61 percent died after exposure to extreme heat or cold. Others died after wandering into ditches, drowning in nearby bodies of water or being hit by cars.... The federal government does not regulate the nation's roughly 30,000 assisted-care facilities, as it does nursing homes. Instead, regulation falls to individual states, few of which have adopted strong staffing and training requirements...."
Pranshu Verma of the Washington Post: "Artificial intelligence is automating the creation of fake news, spurring an explosion of web content mimicking factual articles that instead disseminates false information about elections, wars and natural disasters. Since May, websites hosting AI-created false articles have increased by more than 1,000 percent, ballooning from 49 sites to more than 600, according to NewsGuard, an organization that tracks misinformation. Historically, propaganda operations have relied on armies of low-paid workers or highly coordinated intelligence organizations to build sites that appear to be legitimate. But AI is making it easy for nearly anyone -- whether they are part of a spy agency or just a teenager in their basement -- to create these outlets, producing content that is at times hard to differentiate from real news.... Regulation ... is largely nonexistent. It may be difficult for governments to clamp down on fake news content, for fear of running afoul of free-speech protections. That leaves it to social media companies, which haven't done a good job so far." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What? You mean Elon Musk's "system" of labeling sites "verified" if they pay for the designation is, like, useless?
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Florida. Eric Adelson & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "The embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida was censured and stripped of his duties and salary on Sunday, decisions that all but ousted him from the party's top post as he faces a criminal investigation into an accusation that he sexually assaulted a woman. In an emergency meeting in Orlando, Fla., the party's executive committee stopped short of immediately forcing out Christian Ziegler, the chairman. But the votes to declare him unfit for office, remove almost all of his authority and reduce his salary to $1 were seen among many party members as the final steps before his potential removal from office.... The woman told the police that she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Ziegler and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, more than a year ago, but that she declined to have sex with Mr. Ziegler on Oct. 2 after realizing that his wife would not be joining them. Mr. Ziegler then went to the woman's apartment uninvited and sexually assaulted her, she told the police." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It must be the threesome thing that so irritated Florida Republicans; after all, most of them are just thrilled to have a court-declared rapist as their presidential candidate.
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Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The World Health Organization is 'appalled by the effective destruction' of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media, adding that it was a 'severe blow' to the enclave's already struggling health system. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, told troops to 'use your head' while fighting in Gaza amid mounting criticism over the mistaken killing of three hostages by Israeli forces.... The war has turned the Gaza Strip into a fertile ground for disease, The Washington Post reported, with the WHO raising particular concern about the spread of bloody diarrhea, jaundice and respiratory infections.... Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to meet Israeli officials during his tour of the region, which began with stops in Kuwait and Bahrain. He intends to discuss how Israel plans to mitigate civilian harm and what the next phase of the war will look like, the Defense Department said." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here. CNN's live updates are here: "At least 110 people have been killed and dozens more injured following Israeli attacks on Jabalya in northern Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Monday.... A British minister urged Israel to abide by humanitarian law after an Israeli military sniper allegedly shot and killed a mother and daughter at a Gaza church in an incident also condemned by Pope Francis. Aid trucks on Sunday entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel for the first time since it was closed on October 7, Israeli officials said. The volume of aid reaching Gaza is less than half of pre-war levels, according to the UN."
Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin brought a more blunt message on his second trip to Israel since the Hamas attack of October 7: "Israel, Mr. Austin recently predicted, could face strategic defeat' that would leave the country less secure if it does not do more to protect civilians. The warning is one that Mr. Austin is well equipped to deliver. The retired four-star general brings a wealth of military experience in combat, including urban warfare.... Critics of Israel's bombing campaign say the message is long overdue, as the death toll in Gaza nears 20,000, according to health officials there.... During his earlier trip to Israel, six days after the Hamas attack, Mr. Austin warned his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and the country's military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, that the large number of troops they had assembled at the border of Gaza, combined with the air campaign, was excessive. Israel needed to establish humanitarian corridors and a defined set of rules to protect Palestinian civilians, he told them. The Israel Defense Forces, he said, should carry out a targeted precision air campaign...."
Vatican. Anthony Faiola & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "On Saturday, [Cardinal Giovanni] Becciu -- the first cardinal to be tried by the Vatican's little-known criminal court -- was found guilty of three counts of embezzlement and sentenced to five years and six months in a verdict read out in a converted quarter of the museum that houses the Sistine Chapel. He was acquitted of charges of money laundering, abuse of office and influencing a witness.... Becciu was barred from holding any Vatican office and fined 8,000 euros (around $8,700). The trial, a hodgepodge of charges heard over a marathon of 86 courtroom hearings, offered an unusual glimpse into the murky world of Vatican finances and Pope Francis's campaign for accountability -- even, critics argued, at the cost of due process." MB: I was wondering where Becciu would do his time, and the answer is in "one of Vatican City's handful of jail cells."
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Marie,
That hurricane you’re experiencing is no doubt the result of Orange Hitler’s recent blowhard visit. Does the wind smell like sulfur? Yep. That’s from ol’ 666 Donald. And the flickering lights? That’s him too. Mr. Low Power Piggy.
Much of the Pretender's recent rhetoric is ar from funny, but this headline has gotta be worth a laugh:
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-bemoans-record-stock-market-014448274.html
ProPublica
"A “Delicate Matter”: Clarence Thomas’ Private Complaints About Money Sparked Fears He Would Resign
Interviews and newly unearthed documents reveal that Thomas, facing financial strain, privately pushed for a higher salary and to allow Supreme Court justices to take speaking fees."
Bridget Ziegler called out by a Florida student she attacked for being terrible at her job.
ChatGQP
Old McElon had a farm Ai, Ai, Oh…shit!
The Mad Musk-ovite (because old fashioned Sov style propagandists would surely have loved this guy) is at it again. As pointed out in John Oliver’s pointed piece plopping pies at the preternatural preening prick that is Elon, Musk makes billions off technology created by others.
The same can be said about his foray into the tendentious world of generative Ai. But rather than taking existing technology and making it more efficient (sometimes), Musk’s Ai thingy makes it much, much worse. And it’s not as if he’s putting the thing into reverse, he’s driving his Ai creature down the Highway to Hell.
And if you’re wondering how Elon knows the directions to hell, then you ain’t been payin’ attention. He has the contract to pave the fucking road. Like Trump, Bannon, Alito, Thomas, Stephen Miller, TuKKKer KKKarlson, and many of the most prominent advocates of hellish ideologies, he’s a member of the Adopt-the-Highway to Hell program. You can see signs with his name all along the roadside. Of COURSE he knows the way.
And speaking of stealing ideas, Musk has christened his brand of Ai “Grok”. Last week we had a mini colloquy here on RC about sci-fi pioneer Robert Heinlein. The word grok was his invention, appearing in his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”. Used as a verb, it meant, roughly, to think, to connect intuitively, to “get” or even meld with, other people. “I grok you” was a short-lived expression in the 60’s among certain hipper-than-thou counter culture types.
But here’s where Heinlein’s definition and Musk’s usage become scary.
First, generative Ai, or Large Language Models like ChatGPT, work by scanning many millions of written documents, articles, books, etc. and then using what it “learns” to spit out requested data. You want your monthly business report to sound like a Shakespeare sonnet? Yeah, it can do that. “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I scorn to go public…”
Okay, so that’s the very basic idea. But it can only operate with what it already knows.
Garbage in, garbage out, right? So what’s your source? Where does your Ai thingy go to school?
Musk’s Grok learns from tweets. That’s right. His algorithm scans the millions of tweets produced daily to spit out answers to your questions.
How scary is that? So, in addition to tweets posted by media types and Taylor Swift fans, you’ve got the planet-sized batch of tweets produced by the usual bottom feeders, Trumpbots, Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists, child rapers, and Qanon nuts.
THAT’s your database. And that’s what I mean when I say that Grok, as envisioned by Heinlein and regenerated by Musk, as a way of melding with others, is a scary transmogrification of the mountains of hate data (hate-a data?) out there in the X world. “I grok you, Adolf” could be the new evil hipster shibboleth.
But now consider this, cuz this is where it gets interesting.
Tech writer and blogger Ed Zitron, has written a fabulous piece of Muskology that is very much worth a few minutes of your time. He charges through the Elon Gate and brings back tidings of great joy (perhaps). The short version: Musk’s excursion down the highway to hell is likely a one-way trip. First, this:
“Grok is apparently trained on billions of posts and allegedly has real-time access to X’s data, a form of digital inbreeding that will continually train its model on the data of a website that, other than being a deeply-unreliable source of information, is beset with spam, both from the numerous bots on the site and Twitter Blue users desperate to juice its creator program. While it’s possible that those working at xAi have found ways to mitigate this lack of quality, it is, from what I can tell, the only real-time data that Grok has access to.”
It’s described better as a kind of Hapsburg Ai, inbreeding, with all the nasty outcomes that implies.
But there’s a silver lining. As we’ve all seen, Musk has a marvelous habit of making—and losing—billions. His chatbot thingy balance sheet is, at this point, all on the losing side.
“And yet the biggest danger that Musk faces with Grok is that Large Language Models are incredibly expensive to build and maintain. Musk apparently purchased 10,000 ‘data-center grade’ GPUs back in April of this year, with said chips costing somewhere in the region of $10,000 a piece, and the program likely being run out of one of Twitter’s two data-center sites in Atlanta and Oregon. ChatGPT allegedly costs around $700,000 a day according to analyst Dylan Patel, and that’s likely with a team of DevOps professionals doing all they can to optimize the performance, versus the skeleton crew left behind to try and make Twitter a usable product…If Grok costs even a quarter of what ChatGPT does a day, that’s still $175,000 a day from a company that said a year ago it was losing $4 million a day, and that’s before they lost such a remarkable amount of advertising revenue.”
And as queries from users go up, so does the cost. Almost $200,000 a day? $300,000? $500,000? The idea is to make more money than you spend,
Zitron’s conclusion is that…”This is Elon Musk’s death spiral, the beginning of the end of a man so wealthy that he hasn’t experienced a real problem in decades, who has become so neurotic and reactionary that he can only make things worse. His future will be riddled with humiliation and destruction, and I can only hope the collateral damage isn’t severe.”
He goes into other reasons for the massive fail that is Musk’s Twitter Adventure. Well worth reading. But until then, we’re all going to have to deal with this new ChatGQP and how it can poison the atmosphere of the elections to come. Mask up, kids.
AK,
More evil AI SciFi trivia: one icon of the genre was HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey. The HAL 9000 logo beneath it's all seeing eye was nearly identical to the logo of what major computer company of the day? Hint: what letters of the alphabet follow the letters H, A, and L?
@D in MD: Good thing you didn't spell out IBM because they will
get a copy of my reply to evaluate. Is it a positive statement or a
negative statement? So I must say that I really respect IBM.
Can't explain how I know this because I don't want to get anyone,
past or present employee, in trouble.
We have been watched for years and years.
Forrest,
As we used to say in the sixties: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.