Tootfinder

Alex Vindman is not a man to hold a grudge.
Ask him about the bullying, intimidation and retribution meted out by Donald Trump and Maga acolytes following his appearance as a key witness in the first of the president’s two first-term impeachments, and he almost shrugs it off.
“I’m an optimist by nature. I’m more focused on the future than the past, and this idea of vindictiveness or grievance is completely opposite of my personality.
-- Now, accountability is essential …”

Turkey's parliament passes a bill requiring social media and online game companies to restrict access for children under 15, following a school shooting (Andrew Wilks/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/turkey-social-medi…

Turkish lawmakers pass bill to restrict social media for children under 15
State-run media says Turkish lawmakers have passed a bill that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage late Wednesday comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator in a bid to uncover his motivation for…

The signature of the Treaty of Paris, 18 April 1951 reconciled France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It created a solidarity of fact and common democratic management of the strategic materials of war, steel and energy, then primarily coal.
All five of the European institutions in operation today were born that day in Paris.
Over the following decades the peace process expanded.
The UK, Ireland and Denmark, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland a…

Why is Brussels ignoring EU’s 75-year anniversary?

I’m not *feeling* special…
I’m feeling fucking cold. I am gaining an understanding of how people are driven to dangerous stupidity by the lack of heat.

Imagine:
You are these parent of an adorable 4-year-old kid. They have made a toy airplane out of spare cardboard. Sadly, during play the wing has fallen off. You, a wise parent, produce a piece of duct tape and tape it back on. Your kid asks: "but what if the tape breaks, or the other wing falls off?" Dutifully, and with a completely serious manner, you duct tape the other wing, and then with a sharpie you write "Please DO NOT fall off!" on each wing. "There," you say, now the wings will not fall off. "
Your child happily returns to their play.
Imagine:
You are boarding a Boeing airplane for an intercontinental flight. Just the other day you were reading news about the emergency exit door falling off a Boeing airplane during flight. Thankfully nobody was injured in that incident, but a passenger could have been sucked out the gap and killed. As you walk down the aisle towards your seat at the back, you notice that around the emergency exit door of this plane, there are some scratch marks. It looks like it might not be 100% seated in place. You see several rolls worth of duct tape slapped onto the gaps between the door and the frame. In sharpie, someone has written "Please DO NOT fall off!" on the duct tape.
This is a post about #Agentic #AI.
To clarify: there are a host of reasons why using Claude Code is unethical in the first place, besides the fact that its a danger to its users. These make it unethical to use it even for a child's-toy-like application. But the source code we've just witnessed in the recent leak is *exactly* this level of "engineering." If you see an app that claims to be "programmed with AI" and it has any possibility of failing in a way that could harm you (for example, if it connects to the internet, meaning that poor programming could allow hackers to take over the device you run it on), my advice is: "Do not use it and warn your friends and family."
P.S. yes, this advice does apply to Microsoft Widows at this point, although that can be a tougher bullet to bite.

Quick course correction needed to avoid 'hothouse Earth' scenario, scientists say #climate

Quick course correction needed to avoid 'hothouse Earth' scenario, scientists say
Scientists say that multiple Earth system components appear closer to destabilization than previously believed, putting the planet in increased danger of following a "hothouse" path driven by feedback loops that can amplify the consequences of global warming.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of
covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe.
Millions of pages remain unreleased.
As many prominent U.S. figures evade accountability following mentions in the Epstein files,
a number of European figures have resigned for their relationships with Epstein.
“The most extraordinary and worrying …

Protecting Pedophile Predators: Carole Cadwalladr on Jeffrey Epstein & the Elite’s Veil of Silence
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe. Millions of pages remain unreleased. As many prominent U.S. figures evade accountability following mentions in the Epstein files, a number of European figures have resigned for their relationships with Epstein. “The most extraordinary and worrying thing of what is going on in the United …

Opponents of VA Redistricting Amendment Send Out Mailer/Text Falsely
-- and Offensively!
Claiming That Fighting Trump’s Assault on Our Democracy Is
“Just Like Jim Crow”
Note that many of the most prominent supporters of this amendment
- Barack Obama, Louise Lucas, Don Scott, etc.
- are African American

Opponents of VA Redistricting Amendment Send Out Mailer/Text Falsely (and Offensively!) Claiming That Fighting Trump's Assault on Our Democracy Is "Just Like Jim Crow" - Blue Virginia
See below for what’s hitting Virginia’s mailboxes and smartphones (via text) today; a group called “Democracy and Justice PAC” – nothing popping up in Google about it, but the mailing address is listed as 123 Bulifants Blvd in Williamsburg, VA (same address as “Campaign Compliance Center“) – sent out the following. The problems with these […]

Following the fatal shootings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis last month,
Democrats have refused to support long-term funding for the Department of Homland Security unless Republicans agree to reforms on the tactics of federal agents carrying out Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“The American people rightfully expect their elected representatives to take action to rein in ICE and ensure no more lives are lost,” Senate minorit…

The conflation of Jews and Israel is dangerous antisemitism.
And yet it’s harder to fight back as the mainstream Jewish establishment insists that Zionism is nearly as integral to Jewish identity as circumcision.
Increasingly, though, many Jews are searching for another point of view:
Feelings about Israel are wobbling within the community
— and disapproval is rising among the young;
pro-Palestinian Jewish groups are growing, and more and more Jews view “Zionis…

Book Review: ‘Here Where We Live Is Our Country,’ by Molly Crabapple
In “Here Where We Live Is Our Country,” Molly Crabapple tells the story of a Jewish labor movement that fought antisemitism and nationalism with equal fervor.