The Death of the Mind

Enlarge / Empty vials of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are seen at a first-come, first-serve drive-thru vaccination site operated by the Lake County Health Department on January 28, 2021 in Groveland, Florida. Seniors 65 and older waited in line for hours to be vaccinated. (credit: Getty | NurPhoto)
Some experts speculate that the pandemic coronavirus will one day cause nothing more than a common cold, mostly in children, where it will be an indistinguishable drip in the steady stream of snotty kid germs. Such is the reality for four other coronaviruses that have long stalked school yards and commonly circulate among us every cold and flu season, to little noticeable effect.
But that sanguine—if not slightly slimier—future is…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1748537

Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema was once a Green Party member and a committed antiwar activist. Now she’s best known for a viral thumbs-down on a $15 minimum wage vote. It’s the timeless story of an earnest do-gooder turned Washington monster and what happens when we don’t hold politicians accountable.
Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) gives an enthusiastic thumbs down after voting with Republicans against a $15 minimum wage. One of the most enduring parables in American culture is about “going Washington” — it is a tale of the earnest do-gooder deciding to run for office on a pledge to be a voice for the voiceless, then getting to the Beltway and quickly becoming…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/03/kyrsten-sinema-thumbs-down-minimum-wage/

While the federal CDC has criticized Texas for ending all COVID-19 restrictions, the Biden administration policy of reopening all schools will have the same effect of spreading the pandemic.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/04/pers-m04.html

“Crypto art” is literally just “numbered prints, but each time I sign my name I also promise to burn down a local park.”In case you are fortunate enough to have not heard about this latest con:Someone has convinced a bunch of innumerate artists that Dunning-Krugerrands are not a planet-incinerating Ponzi scheme. I’ve had to start blocking them on the Twits to avoid hearing about it, even the artists whose work I used to enjoy. They think that making a buck trumps setting the world on fire. “Proof of useless work” is a global suicide pact.bombsfall:If anyone wants to pay me crypto art prices to make them a gif or a png we can skip the middle…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/03/crypto-fart/

Pretextual stops are legal. The courts have said repeatedly that it’s ok for cops to stop people for one thing to facilitate mini-investigations about other things. As long as the pretext holds up — and reasonable suspicion about other things develops quickly enough — cops can turn a failure to yield into a drug bust or a lucrative seizure.

This is only one form of lying blessed by the courts. Cops can also lie to people they’re questioning to drag confessions out of them. That some of these confessions are false or completely tainted by the cops’ lying doesn’t seem to matter much. Overturned convictions and wrongful arrest lawsuits haven’t changed the criminal “justice” matrix much over…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210213/12002346240/oregon-court-stop-so-pretexual-cops-forgot-about-pretext-is-rights-violation.shtml

CHICAGO—Following a report Friday that Joe Biden’s first military action as president had killed at least 22 people at sites used by Iranian-backed fighters, local registered Democrat Tim Randall was overheard reassuring a friend that this was one of the good Syrian airstrikes. “No, no, don’t worry—these are the…

Read more…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://local.theonion.com/democrat-reassures-friend-this-one-of-the-good-syrian-a-1846366749

So, here’s where we’re at in the Fifth Circuit: cops can literally set a person on fire and walk away from it.

Judge Don Willett’s incendiary comments opposing qualified immunity notwithstanding, civil rights litigation still remains a sucker bet in the Fifth Circuit, where cops are granted judicial forgiveness more frequently than they are in any other judicial circuit.

Here’s the latest depressing read from the Appeals Court, which can’t talk itself into removing this shield from officers who tased a suicidal man after he covered himself in gasoline, turning a potential suicide into an actual homicide.

Some cops seem to feel suicide threats should be converted into self-fulfilling prophecies. The cops involved here — all Arlington, Texas police…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210218/13113046272/fifth-circuit-says-tasing-person-soaked-gasoline-setting-them-fire-isnt-unreasonable-use-force.shtml

There are many complicated debates happening right now around Twitter
and its role in public discourse. These discussions are important, but
we also shouldn’t forget a very basic and clear principle — whatever
its policies are about who can and can’t post or how, it’s of
fundamental importance that Twitter should not require users to run
nonfree software in order to use the site.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/new-changes-to-twitter-make-it-even-worse-for-free-software-users

jermfool reporting in from Vegas:

There is no safe way to have indoor dining without massive vaccine deployment, no matter how much you want someone pandering to you.

There is no safe way to have in-person classrooms without massive vaccine deployment, no matter how much you want a babysitter.

This is not rocket surgery.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/02/thank-you-management/

Google’s AI team has announced “Lyra” as a very low bit-rate codec for speech compression designed for use-cses like WebRTC and other video chats… With a bit rate so low that when combined with the likes of the AV1 video codec could potentially allow video chats over 56kbps Internet connections…

External feed Read More at the Source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Google-Lyra