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[guido]

Science Under Attack: How Trump Is Sidelining Researchers and Their Work - The New York Times

[Matthew Strongin]

Lies, Newsweek and Control of the Media Narrative: First-Hand Account | Tareq Haddad

Amazing. Everyone needs to read this.

I tried. Well, I mostly succeeded as I made it about 3/4ths of the way through. Honestly, it reads to me more like a diatribe of an employee frustrated with a mismatch between his personal beliefs of how his company/organization should operate and the realities of the company he works for. I've seen the same thing multiple times throughout my career when someone has a significant misalignment between their perceived contribution or skills and the way management perceives their work. Or, as may be the case here, when someone thinks the organization's goal is one thing, but in reality it's something else.

If the main intent of the piece is to expose that Newsweek fails to meet a journalistic standard, I can't see anyone arguing with that. As I was reading it, I kept thinking, "but it's Newsweek...what would he expect." So that got me Googling to see if I could find out where Newsweek sits in any assessments of journalistic integrity or media bias. That led me to this: Dropshipping journalism - Columbia Journalism Review. There were other articles and blog posts and the like, the gist of which is that Newsweek isn't a serious news organization and Tareq Haddad may have found himself and his pursuits better supported at an organization who cared about something other than Google News Feed rankings.

In the course of my Newsweek Googling, I also stumbled upon this study from the Pew Research Center on the role of political identity and partisan dynamics in trust of the news. I think it pretty well highlights the effect of Trump's attack on the media and how his strong supporters indicate significantly less faith in news than others, regardless of party affiliation.

Trust in News Media During the Trump Presidency | Pew Research Center

The TL;DR is that, while Rs are less trusting of news than Ds, the gap between those who strongly feel Trump is doing a good job and the next least trusting group (those who only somewhat think he's doing a good job) is much larger than any other gap between Rs or Ds.

[mzilliox]

Amazing. Everyone needs to read this.

For a lesson in unedited and poor journalism? "All be it" instead of "albiet"? could you actually follow it? i found it very difficult to read, so I stopped reading it, because it was bad to read. but it sounded like a disgruntled employee of any company.com being mad because people didnt want his story. no wonder, even his letters to his bosses dont seem like that of a writer. and whoa, some news places reject some news sometimes? real important news? but then the reporters can go elsewhere to publish the story on another outlet? so whats wrong? just perception and belief right? we still have to look and be diligent as individuals and use our own reason yeah? there's nothing here about mouthpieces retelling known lies knowingly, only about supression. I am much more worried about people who use their platform to spread what they know to be false, this is more dangerous. and its being done by our administration currently, they are pedalling bad news, giving bad info they know is bad, to form a flase narrative... We angry about that? I am, its insulting to me as a citizen.
what were other people's takeaways, because ive obviously missed something...
edit, just saw Matt's response, looks like we both had similar takeaways

[vertical_doug]

For a lesson in unedited and poor journalism? "All be it" instead of "albiet"? could you actually follow it? i found it very difficult to read, so I stopped reading it, because it was bad to read. but it sounded like a disgruntled employee of any company.com being mad because people didnt want his story. no wonder, even his letters to his bosses dont seem like that of a writer. and whoa, some news places reject some news sometimes? real important news? but then the reporters can go elsewhere to publish the story on another outlet? so whats wrong? just perception and belief right? we still have to look and be diligent as individuals and use our own reason yeah? there's nothing here about mouthpieces retelling known lies knowingly, only about supression. I am much more worried about people who use their platform to spread what they know to be false, this is more dangerous. and its being done by our administration currently, they are pedalling bad news, giving bad info they know is bad, to form a flase narrative... We angry about that? I am, its insulting to me as a citizen.
what were other people's takeaways, because ive obviously missed something...
edit, just saw Matt's response, looks like we both had similar takeaways

I'll add to this. His first gripe is about writing an article about Jersey and the Off-shore financial industry. All of this is extremely well known and covered in depth by papers such as the FT and Guardian. ICIJ has dedicated websites and databases from the leaked Paradise and Panama Papers. It is hard to bring anything really new into this mix.

As for the Omar story, I think the real story is how a GOP candidate is aping Trump and demanding someone be hanged for treason. The Daily Caller which leans pretty right, even wrote an article stating the allegations about being a QATAR assets seemed totally bogus. The part he forgets is the same Canadian Businessman also accused Jared Kushner of being a QATAR asset. Again, the real story seems to be the shady people making the allegations not the actual allegations.

I think this is just a disgruntled employee in the conspiracy rabbit hole.

I'll now go back to binging Mandalorian and baby Yoda.

[mzilliox]

Science Under Attack: How Trump Is Sidelining Researchers and Their Work - The New York Times

fun, in a time where climate makes farming harder than ever, Trump Admin has removed the types of funding that would help American Farmers solve or adapt to these problems more quickly.
In a time when our resources and environment are being put under stress, Trump rolls back regulations intended to keep resources either in the ground, or harvested more cleanly, and he removes protections for public lands
In a time when workers and middle class Americans are fighting for relevancy and a voice, Trump decides the government would rather roll back safety regs to protect small profit margins rather than worker's safety, health and well being.

[mzilliox]

this is why folks are passionate when they speak against the Trump... because nobody has activated the loonies quite so well before. what kind of American wants a Civil War against their fellow Americans? its not left/right dichotemy, its right/wrong.
‘Nothing Less Than a Civil War’: These White Voters on the Far Right See Doom Without Trump - The New York Times

They see themselves in his fear-based identity politics, bolstered by conspiratorial rhetoric about caravans of immigrants and Democratic “coups.”

and these are the words of an American apprently, but not a terrorist? irony
“Nothing less than a civil war would happen,” Mr. Villalta said, his right hand reaching for a holstered handgun. “I don’t believe in violence, but I’ll do what I got to do.”

When this is what has become of a certain portion of our population, it should be easy to see why some fight against this ignorance in an effort to make the country better for everyone.

[guido]

Trump’s tariffs have backfired, according to a new government study - Vox

[guido]

Evangelicals love Trump’s immigration policies - Vox

[caleb]

There's been a bit written about "ghost kitchens" over the past year, mostly thinking about them as a business model and their potential impact on conventional takeout businesses.

This week there's a moderately interesting piece in the Times that hints at what the delivery of everything could mean for urban areas (the meaning is the interesting bit): Farm to Table? More Like Ghost Kitchen to Sofa - The New York Times.

“While New York is a convenient city to get around in, it isn’t always necessarily a pleasant city to get around in,” said Jim Collins, the chief executive of Kitchen United, a company in Pasadena, Calif., that plans to open 11 ghost kitchens in Manhattan in the next few years.

That’s why, Mr. Collins said, delivery caught on in New York, so consumers would not have to “go brave the streets themselves.”

“The mom-and-pops, the bricks-and-mortars, may not be able to stand up to these cloud kitchens,” said Mireya Loza, a professor of food studies at New York University. “My question is where are people who actually come from different backgrounds, where will they have to interact?”

I think there's a decent chance that a major story of the next 3-5 years is that the top half of urban society starts consuming just about everything via delivery. We're already on our way.

But what does that mean for the city, the beauty and allure of which has long been frequent, casual moments of serendipity? If we no longer go out to do much of anything, the infrastructure that was supposed to bring us together instead facilitates the deliveries that keep us apart. The city starts to look like density without interaction, an urban geography of distance devoted to the hyper consumption of safety and comfort.

[vertical_doug]

There's been a bit written about "ghost kitchens" over the past year, mostly thinking about them as a business model and their potential impact on conventional takeout businesses.

This week there's a moderately interesting piece in the Times that hints at what the delivery of everything could mean for urban areas (the meaning is the interesting bit): Farm to Table? More Like Ghost Kitchen to Sofa - The New York Times.





I think there's a decent chance that a major story of the next 3-5 years is that the top half of urban society starts consuming just about everything via delivery. We're already on our way.

But what does that mean for the city, the beauty and allure of which has long been frequent, casual moments of serendipity? If we no longer go out to do much of anything, the infrastructure that was supposed to bring us together instead facilitates the deliveries that keep us apart. The city starts to look like density without interaction, an urban geography of distance devoted to the hyper consumption of safety and comfort.

In London, the ghost kitchen 'dark kitchen' is a bit of a scam to avoid the food regulations. The BBC had a documentary showing how some were being set up in containers and delivering 'name brand food' made in these kitchens. Of course, Travis K is behind some of containers in London. It seems his business model is about scamming rules and exploiting loopholes.

[caleb]

In London, the ghost kitchen 'dark kitchen' is a bit of a scam to avoid the food regulations. The BBC had a documentary showing how some were being set up in containers and delivering 'name brand food' made in these kitchens. Of course, Travis K is behind some of containers in London. It seems his business model is about scamming rules and exploiting loopholes.

I wasn't aware of the food regulation scam, but it doesn't surprise me.

The general approach of sharing platforms seems to be to use software to skirt regulations while quickly getting a service up and running, with the hope that by the time regulators react customers will like the new service enough to convince regulators to back off. Jumping in a car with an unvetted stranger at midnight or sleeping on their couch seem like convenient and cheap alternatives to conventional regulated services until they inevitably go wrong and we realize once again that there was some wisdom to screening taxi drivers or inspecting hotels and restaurants.

To take Uber as the prime example, they managed to disrupt an entire industry, screw up lots of livelihoods, not make a dime doing it, and if they ever do manage to be profitable their rates are going to need to be similar to what taxis cost before. So all of this moving fast and breaking things got us back where we started, with a bunch of broken stuff, plus an app. I guess this is what passes for progress now.

[mzilliox]

this one sums up the behavior we see pretty often, the constant need to be mad about how he's been wronged. And how this plays to his base, and perhaps your base instincts.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-whiner-chief/

and this one goes right along with it, because who doesn't just cry themselves to sleep every night at the plight of the billionare? those no good non billionares just keep on pointing out rising inequality
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...onaire-victim/

[mzilliox]

I wasn't aware of the food regulation scam, but it doesn't surprise me.

The general approach of sharing platforms seems to be to use software to skirt regulations while quickly getting a service up and running, with the hope that by the time regulators react customers will like the new service enough to convince regulators to back off. Jumping in a car with an unvetted stranger at midnight or sleeping on their couch seem like convenient and cheap alternatives to conventional regulated services until they inevitably go wrong and we realize once again that there was some wisdom to screening taxi drivers or inspecting hotels and restaurants.

To take Uber as the prime example, they managed to disrupt an entire industry, screw up lots of livelihoods, not make a dime doing it, and if they ever do manage to be profitable their rates are going to need to be similar to what taxis cost before. So all of this moving fast and breaking things got us back where we started, with a bunch of broken stuff, plus an app. I guess this is what passes for progress now.

its got electrolytes, its got what plants need...

[Drew]

its got electrolytes, its got what plants need...

I know where you can get some water bottles with Brawndo!!!

[vertical_doug]

I wasn't aware of the food regulation scam, but it doesn't surprise me.

The general approach of sharing platforms seems to be to use software to skirt regulations while quickly getting a service up and running, with the hope that by the time regulators react customers will like the new service enough to convince regulators to back off. Jumping in a car with an unvetted stranger at midnight or sleeping on their couch seem like convenient and cheap alternatives to conventional regulated services until they inevitably go wrong and we realize once again that there was some wisdom to screening taxi drivers or inspecting hotels and restaurants.

To take Uber as the prime example, they managed to disrupt an entire industry, screw up lots of livelihoods, not make a dime doing it, and if they ever do manage to be profitable their rates are going to need to be similar to what taxis cost before. So all of this moving fast and breaking things got us back where we started, with a bunch of broken stuff, plus an app. I guess this is what passes for progress now.

How Deliveroo's 'dark kitchens' are catering from car parks | Business | The Guardian

You are seeing Gresham's Law at work.

[caleb]

I know where you can get some water bottles with Brawndo!!!

[Dallas Tex]

To take Uber as the prime example, they managed to disrupt an entire industry, screw up lots of livelihoods, not make a dime doing it, and if they ever do manage to be profitable their rates are going to need to be similar to what taxis cost before. So all of this moving fast and breaking things got us back where we started, with a bunch of broken stuff, plus an app. I guess this is what passes for progress now.

Except for the lives saved because folks now have a quick, convenient, pleasant option after having drinks. While you note the 'disrupted' lives of taxi drivers, no mention of the good folks making ends meet with an uber side hustle. Comparing uber to taxi cabs in dallas is ridiculous. In Dallas taxi cabs took forever to arrive, if they ever arrived at all. At certain times, taxi cabs simply were not available ever, no matter how long you were willing to wait. Uber normally arrives within 5-10 minutes, and in my experience drivers are chipper & happy.

Help me understand your dislike of uber. Is it just a preference for more government control in your daily life?

[Matthew Strongin]

So all of this moving fast and breaking things got us back where we started, with a bunch of broken stuff, plus an app. I guess this is what passes for progress now.

Abso-effing-lutely. I work in the web dev/software/app world and it's my greatest disappointment with my profession. The idea that disruption is the path to progress without recognition of all the other factors at play.

[Matthew Strongin]

Except for the lives saved because folks now have a quick, convenient, pleasant option after having drinks. While you note the 'disrupted' lives of taxi drivers, no mention of the good folks making ends meet with an uber side hustle. Comparing uber to taxi cabs in dallas is ridiculous. In Dallas taxi cabs took forever to arrive, if they ever arrived at all. At certain times, taxi cabs simply were not available ever, no matter how long you were willing to wait. Uber normally arrives within 5-10 minutes, and in my experience drivers are chipper & happy.

Help me understand your dislike of uber. Is it just a preference for more government control in your daily life?

My experience with Uber has ranged from "this car smells better than a cab" to "why the eff are we going the wrong direction on the highway." My last Uber ride was after a kid free night out with some friends and a few drinks at a restaurant/bar about 4 miles from my house. Due to Uber's amazing in-app navigation that the driver wouldn't deviate from and his generally terrible driving skills, it took about 50 minutes and an extra 30 miles of wrong turns on highways with no quick and easy exits. But at least Uber made it impossible to speak with a customer service rep about the incident so I had the pleasure of paying for the 50 minute ride, since that's what the app recorded, rather than the 8 minute ride it should have been. So, yeah...much better than cabs.

[Drew]

My experience with Uber has ranged from "this car smells better than a cab" to "why the eff are we going the wrong direction on the highway." My last Uber ride was after a kid free night out with some friends and a few drinks at a restaurant/bar about 4 miles from my house. Due to Uber's amazing in-app navigation that the driver wouldn't deviate from and his generally terrible driving skills, it took about 50 minutes and an extra 30 miles of wrong turns on highways with no quick and easy exits. But at least Uber made it impossible to speak with a customer service rep about the incident so I had the pleasure of paying for the 50 minute ride, since that's what the app recorded, rather than the 8 minute ride it should have been. So, yeah...much better than cabs.

You should have walked!