lettruthout

Archived version: https://archive.ph/XeqEM (But this source is really worth subscribing to if you're in the Southland.)

Many factors explain why people across Western democracies vote for politicians like former President Trump, including economic concerns, rural resentment and racial animosity. Although Trump supporters have been characterized as “left behind,” “stigmatized” or even “marginalized,” these ascriptions are dangerously off base.

For one, they fuel the self-victimization narratives common among radical right movements, driving conspiracies and support for this ideology. Moreover, they neglect that historically powerful groups such as white people, men and Christians are overrepresented among Trump supporters. Even today, these groups remain privileged politically, economically and culturally. By objective measures, most Trump supporters are not left behind, stigmatized or marginalized.

...will it take three tries to get their coffin in the ground?

(Not exactly climate related but might explain some of how we got into our current climate mess.)

Also from goodreads... "When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members."

Also a book excerpt from netinterest... "What do bad decision-making organizations have in common? Quite a few things, but one of the clearest signs is something you might call an “accountability sink”. This is something that might be familiar to anyone who has been bumped from an overbooked flight. There is no point getting angry at the gate attendant; they are just implementing a corporate policy which they have no power to change. But nor can you complain to the person who made the decision – that is also forbidden by the policy. The airline has created an arrangement whereby the gate attendant speaks to you with the voice of an amorphous algorithm, but you have to speak back as if to a human being like yourself. The communication between the decision-maker and the decided-upon has been broken – they have created a handy sink into which negative feedback can be poured without any danger of it affecting anything."

"The Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust—the name refers to a Dodge logo— combines various chambers underneath the Charger's body with some woofers and mid-range speakers, all driven by a dedicated 600 W amplifier. The system is also designed to transmit vibrations into the chassis through elastomeric bushings, mimicking an internal combustion engine and its motor mounts."

"July had the two hottest days recorded but fell 0.04° Celsius short of last year."

The SayHi translation app (from Amazon) has been discontinued as of 8/5/24. My existing install no longer works, and the app is not available on the stores. The app main page just has the discontinuation notice, but no explanation.

I still have DeepL to fall back on, but had found SayHi to be a good alternative. I miss it.

Does anyone know why this was discontinued? Any idea if Amazon is expected to release a replacement?

Any suggestions for a replacement? What has worked for you?

https://apnews.com/article/a625eb01979bc9cf5570d03242f198b1

“An AP analysis of vote tally sheets released Friday by Venezuela’s main opposition indicates that their candidate won significantly more votes in Sunday’s election than the government has claimed, casting serious doubt on the official declaration that President Nicolás Maduro won.”

“According to the calculations, the opposition’s Edmundo González received 6.89 million votes, nearly half a million more than the government says Maduro won with. The tabulations also show Maduro received 3.13 million votes from the tally sheets released.

By comparison, updated results from the governmental National Electoral Council made public Friday said that based on 96.87% of tally sheets, Maduro had 6.4 million votes and Gonzalez 5.3 million. National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso attributed the delay in updating results to “massive attacks” on the “technological infrastructure.”