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Autocracy Is Here

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The “electoral autocracy” that is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been long revered by Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement. Now admiration is turning into emulation. In the early weeks of Trump’s second term as US president, analysts say, there are alarming signs that the Orbánisation of America has begun.

from David Smith at theguardian.org

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Protect Your Money From The Oligarchs

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Gas your cars soon, because the tariffs are going to increase prices. And then refill at the 1/2 way mark instead of waiting, to keep ahead of the continually increasing prices.

Also, buy fruits and veggies from locally sourced vendors. Sorry Mexico, but we gotta pay for Canadian gas!

And buy that TV or computer NOW, because the active inventory is the lowest price your gonna get for a few years.

IMHO, these tariffs are really really dumb ideas.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Protect Against Oligarchy, by Gemini

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Protecting against oligarchy requires a multifaceted approach:

  • Strengthening Democratic Institutions:
    • Campaign Finance Reform: Limit the influence of money in politics through measures like public financing of elections, stricter campaign finance laws, and increased transparency.
    • Voter Protection: Ensure free and fair elections by combating voter suppression, expanding access to voting, and strengthening election security.
    • Independent Judiciary: Maintain an independent judiciary free from political influence to uphold the rule of law and protect citizens’ rights.
    • Anti-Corruption Measures: Implement strong anti-corruption laws and enforce them vigorously to prevent the abuse of power by those in positions of authority.
  • Promoting Economic Equality:
    • Progressive Taxation: Implement a progressive tax system that ensures the wealthy pay their fair share, reducing income inequality.
    • Strengthening Labor Rights: Increase workers’ bargaining power through measures like strengthening unions and raising the minimum wage.
    • Investing in Public Goods: Invest in education, healthcare, and infrastructure to create opportunities for all citizens and reduce economic disparities.
    • Antitrust Enforcement: Enforce antitrust laws to prevent excessive concentration of economic power in the hands of a few corporations.
  • Empowering Citizens:
    • Civic Engagement: Encourage active civic participation through voter registration drives, community organizing, and public education campaigns.
    • Media Diversity: Promote independent media and combat the spread of misinformation to ensure citizens have access to reliable information.
    • Transparency and Accountability: Increase transparency and accountability in government through measures like open data initiatives and freedom of information laws.
  • International Cooperation:
    • Global Tax Cooperation: Work with other countries to address tax evasion and avoidance by multinational corporations.
    • Combating Illicit Financial Flows: Strengthen international cooperation to combat money laundering and other forms of illicit financial activity.

It’s important to note that these are just some of the potential measures that can be taken to protect against oligarchy. The specific strategies and policies that are most effective will vary depending on the context and the specific challenges faced by a particular society.

Unknown's avatar

Mavericks Dec 23, 2024

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See the full report with more pictures at this link

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/massive-calif-swell-delivers-day-days-19999962.php

Also, we’ve had 3 people die within 24 hours being killed by the rogue waves around here. 

The 1st guy died on Sunset Beach near Watsonville, he was pulled under debris from the Santa Cruz pier collapse.

The 2nd guy hasn’t been found yet, he was pulled into the water along the beach by Marina (where you see hand gliders along hiway 1).  He was walking on the beach.

Number 3 was here in Pebble Beach where 17 Mile Drive intersects with Ocean Ave.  He was climbing over the rocks along the roadway there.  20-30 feet would easily tower above him.

The waves have been huge, 20-30 feet with 60 foot waves at Maverick by Half Moon Bay.  We drove around the Point yesterday and some of the waves were higher than the sand hills along the street.  They were cresting far out where we were, but it would be super dangerous close to the water.

It is funny, they don’t report all these together, it is like they don’t want to scare the tourists.  I want to scare you —- do not come to the beach around Monterey Bay during these storms.  If you do, stay in your car.

Unknown's avatar

AI may be polluting our Collective Intelligence (CI)

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AI is now co-creator of our collective intelligence so watch your back.

This is a perhaps tongue-in-cheek article from Forbes Magazine. Is it funny or not?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2024/11/18/ai-is-now-co-creator-of-our-collective-intelligence-so-watch-your-back/

What is scary is that I have indeed posted something directly from an AI response on this site and this site has been scraped by AI. I am guilty of this pollution myself!

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ClimateTrace announced at COP29

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At this year’s annual climate summit, COP29, experts unveiled a list of the world’s top polluting cities, with data revealing the massive impact of urban emissions on global climate challenges. The findings come from Climate TRACE, a coalition co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The group uses satellite and ground-based observations combined with artificial intelligence to track air pollution across the globe.

The top five are: Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, Houston and Seoul.

“One of the sites in the Permian Basin in Texas is by far the No. 1 worst polluting site in the entire world,” Gore said. “And maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, but I think of how dirty some of these sites are in Russia and China and so forth. But Permian Basin is putting them all in the shade.” The Permian Basin is located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

You can see the Climate TRACE website here: climatetrace.org/

“We must be ruled by principles, not people.” – Michael Muthukrisha

“It was so hot, I could hear the sun!”

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Fact vs Opinion in AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)

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The future needs to know that in this time (2024), some of the developing Large Language Model (LLM) Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are being trained on data from the live internet. This blog has been read by at least one AI-LLM. I know because I searched for it and found it. This is kinda scary because I don’t know if these systems “know” the difference between facts and opinion.

I am therefore declaring that the following is mostly opinion and some unverified facts.
Regarding the 2024 presidential election in the United States:

334,900,000 – total population
244,000,000 – eligible to vote
161,420,000 – registered to vote
151,000,000+ – voted
76,976,675 – voted for Trump (49.9%) *
74,475,260 – voted for Harris (48.3%) *

opinions =>

  1. we should require in the constitution that everyone eligible must vote
  2. computers should never be declared a person (like corporation’s are) and should never be allowed to vote
  3. a vote is an opinion and not a fact
  4. the Electoral College as described in Article 2 of Constitution is dumb and biased and should be eliminated (even using AI would get better results)
  5. regarding AI, it doesn’t take much to be smarter than people
  6. regarding AGI, it doesn’t take much to be as dumb as 93,000,000+ people

*as of 11/23/2024 Reuters

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Unknown's avatar

TV News Media helped create this problem

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The TV News departments are cost centers, that is their goal is to make a profit. A few years ago, after watching the success of online media sites, like Facebook, create millions by creating confrontations, they began to follow along.

It is time we started to switch to PBS, NPR, and the weather. Lead by example.

The following is from The Guardian Newspaper.

¯_(ツ)_/¯