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Month: January 2019

The age of surveillance capitalism

The age of surveillance capitalism

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John Naughton writes: We’re living through the most profound transformation in our information environment since Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing in circa 1439. And the problem with living through a revolution is that it’s impossible to take the long view of what’s happening. Hindsight is the only exact science in this business, and in that long run we’re all dead. Printing shaped and transformed societies over the next four centuries, but nobody in Mainz (Gutenberg’s home town) in, say, 1495…

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The plot against George Soros

The plot against George Soros

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Hannes Grassegger writes: The glass tower that houses George Soros’s office in Manhattan is overflowing with numbers on screens, tracking and predicting the directions of markets around the world. But there’s one that’s particularly hard to figure out — a basic orange chart on a screen analyzing sentiment on social media. The data, updated regularly since 2017, projects the reactions on the internet to the name George Soros. He gets tens of thousands of mentions per week — almost always…

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Time to break the silence on Palestine

Time to break the silence on Palestine

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Michelle Alexander writes: On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped up to the lectern at the Riverside Church in Manhattan. The United States had been in active combat in Vietnam for two years and tens of thousands of people had been killed, including some 10,000 American troops. The political establishment — from left to right — backed the war, and more than 400,000 American service members were in Vietnam,…

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Mueller’s leak-proof investigation

Mueller’s leak-proof investigation

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On Friday, Peter Carr, spokesman for the Mueller investigation, released a brief statement challenging the accuracy of “specific statements” in BuzzFeed‘s blockbuster 1500-word report on Donald Trump instructing Michael Cohen to lie to Congress: BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate. The Washington Post then reported: Inside the Justice Department, the statement was viewed as a huge step, and…

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The evidence that Donald Trump never expected or wanted to become president

The evidence that Donald Trump never expected or wanted to become president

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Frank Bruni writes: I’m struck in particular by how the indisputable parts of the BuzzFeed article underscore what many Trump observers have long believed, an insight that explains so much about his eccentric campaign and unethical governance: He never really expected to be president. More than that, he never really hoped to be. That’s why he didn’t put business matters on hold or disentangle himself from glaring conflicts of interest. That’s why he refused to yoke himself to the sorts…

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Sixfold increase in ice loss from Antarctica since 1970s, new research finds

Sixfold increase in ice loss from Antarctica since 1970s, new research finds

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The Washington Post reports: Antarctic glaciers have been melting at an accelerating pace over the past four decades thanks to an influx of warm ocean water — a startling new finding that researchers say could mean sea levels are poised to rise more quickly than predicted in coming decades. The Antarctic lost 40 billion tons of melting ice to the ocean each year from 1979 to 1989. That figure rose to 252 billion tons lost per year beginning in 2009,…

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How the Assad regime has exploited ‘evacuation deals’ to redirect ISIS against the rebels

How the Assad regime has exploited ‘evacuation deals’ to redirect ISIS against the rebels

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Omar Sabbour writes: On September 2018, when the Assad regime was preparing to launch its (now on-hold) offensive against rebel-held Idlib in northern Syria, a rather surprising report emerged in TheTimes. The report alleged that the regime had transported 400 Isis fighters from the province of Deir Al-Zor, where the group has been under siege by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the regime, to the vicinity of Idlib. Idlib had been Isis-free since 2014, when opposition fighters managed to…

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Why do people fall for fake news?

Why do people fall for fake news?

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Gordon Pennycook and David Rand write: What makes people susceptible to fake news and other forms of strategic misinformation? And what, if anything, can be done about it? These questions have become more urgent in recent years, not least because of revelations about the Russian campaign to influence the 2016 United States presidential election by disseminating propaganda through social media platforms. In general, our political culture seems to be increasingly populated by people who espouse outlandish or demonstrably false claims…

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Why Trump’s directing Cohen, others to lie would be far worse than Watergate

Why Trump’s directing Cohen, others to lie would be far worse than Watergate

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The first article of impeachment against Nixon was just this: obstruction by directing others to lie. This is not hysteria or hyperventilating. It’s history. — Jon Meacham (@jmeacham) January 18, 2019 Ryan Goodman writes: If the President of the United States directed his personal attorney and fixer to help sabotage the Russia investigation by lying to Congress, there is no turning back for the nation. Given the independent corroborating evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly has to show that’s…

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‘This shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy’

‘This shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy’

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First House Floor speech from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC): “The truth of this shutdown is that it's actually not about a wall…The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms." pic.twitter.com/r8tmsGSNtT — CSPAN (@cspan) January 17, 2019  

Trump’s favorite polls were the ones he thought he could rig

Trump’s favorite polls were the ones he thought he could rig

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The Washington Post reports: A new report this morning makes one thing abundantly clear about Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign: Trump was right that many things were “rigged” . . . in ways that benefited him or his associates. And in some cases, Trump’s campaign was the one doing the rigging. The Wall Street Journal reports: In January 2014, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Gauger to help Mr. Trump score well in a CNBC online poll to identify the country’s top business leaders…

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Insect collapse: ‘We are destroying our life support systems’

Insect collapse: ‘We are destroying our life support systems’

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The Guardian reports: “We knew that something was amiss in the first couple days,” said Brad Lister. “We were driving into the forest and at the same time both Andres and I said: ‘Where are all the birds?’ There was nothing.” His return to the Luquillo rainforest in Puerto Rico after 35 years was to reveal an appalling discovery. The insect population that once provided plentiful food for birds throughout the mountainous national park had collapsed. On the ground, 98%…

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Hotter oceans mean we are in the emergency phase of climate change

Hotter oceans mean we are in the emergency phase of climate change

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Eric Holthaus writes: The Earth’s surface is 70 percent water, but even that underestimates how vital ocean health is to our planet’s ability to maintain life. Recent results from scientists around the world only further confirm that our waterworld is in serious danger. Last week, a bombshell study confirmed that the oceans are warming 40 percent faster than many scientists had previously estimated. The finding partially resolved a long-running debate between climate modelers and oceanographers. By measuring the oceans more…

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As international cooperation tackling climate change becomes more urgent, global divisions widen

As international cooperation tackling climate change becomes more urgent, global divisions widen

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The Guardian reports: Growing tension between the world’s major powers is the most urgent global risk and makes it harder to mobilise collective action to tackle climate change, according to a report prepared for next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The WEF’s annual global risks report found that a year of extreme weather-related events meant environmental issues topped the list of concerns in a survey of around 1,000 experts and decision-makers. But with Donald Trump announcing protectionist measures…

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