MLL

@llmary.bsky.social

1434 Followers 1199 Following

Working to support democracy while creating & nurturing beautiful (to me) things. Ally 🏳️‍🌈. Proud mother. Animal and nature lover. Say something kind each day to a stranger; to your family; to yourself. Spread love. Support others.

Matteo Wong, The Atlantic: “The creed of today’s AI industry is scale: The more data and energy that go into training a bot, in theory, the smarter it will be; the more users that bot reaches, the more money there is to eventually rake in. Nearly four years after the launch of ChatGPT, that creed is starting to look like an original sin. AI models and their voracious appetite for memory and computing chips are driving up the prices of just about anything remotely electronic: laptops, cloud storage, new cars. The issue, as my colleague Alex Reisner argued this week, is that, in fact, generative AI does not scale—at least not in practical and business terms. Typically, software and devices become cheaper to develop and distribute as more people use them. But AI “must be made bigger at a faster rate just to sustain steady progress,” Alex wrote. “By economic and engineering measures, generative AI might be the worst technology ever deployed.””
Since last year, the Trump administration has been dramatically reducing the amount of federal data available to the public. Gaps in the public record could limit our understanding of what’s happening in the country, and the world.
Quote from post by Heather Cox Richardson: "Shannon Pettypiece and Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News reported on July 1, there was a “seismic shift” at the heart of the new law: it extended about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to corporations and wealthy Americans over ten years while cutting about $1.1 trillion from healthcare and food assistance programs that serve poor and working-class Americans. It also adds about $4.7 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years."
“Before adding a new stock, market indices require a seasoning period for new companies, usually a year, to make sure they are profitable. The Dow Jones refused to lift this rule for SpaceX, but the Nasdaq agreed to Musk’s demand. Just 15 days after the IPO, SpaceX will join the Nasdaq. This is why, even if you don’t want to spend $178 to buy a share of SpaceX, you may well become an investor. Your 401(k), pension fund, or mutual fund invests in index stocks, which hold all or a representative sample of stocks in an exchange. The Nasdaq is the second-largest stock exchange in the world. The New York Stock Exchange is the largest. Employees and pre-IPO investors are typically barred from selling shares for 180 days, but Musk didn’t like the rule, so SpaceX wrote a new policy bypassing it, making the stock even more appealing. Once a company goes public it almost always has increased oversight, transparency, and an independent board of directors. Not so with SpaceX. Musk has retained near total control with 85.1% voting power. And he can’t be fired.”
Photo courtesy of Joyce Vance, #CivilDiscourse. Three bracelets read V-O-T-E in white, with red, white and blue beaded bands
Eating disorders do not care about your tax bracket. Body obsession does not care how famous you are. The impossible task of being a woman in public transcends class because the demand is the same at every level: take up less space, but don’t disappear; be beautiful, but don’t look like you’re trying; remain desirable, but make it effortless.
With five months until the 2026 midterms, I am again sounding the alarm. The administration is deploying various tools to disrupt elections — disinformation, federal officials at polling locations, and rewards for rogue election officials. But the crown jewel of this effort is the creation of a federal, nationwide list of eligible voters. Once such a list exists, it would be used to block anyone not on it from obtaining a ballot or casting a vote. States would be told not to allow anyone not on the list to vote. The Postal Service would be instructed not to process any election mail from persons not on the list. The Department of Justice would criminally investigate anyone who tries to vote without appearing on the list, as well as any organization or election worker deemed to be aiding or abetting their efforts.
The agency’s pivot is another example of how the Trump administration has bent a previously independent regulatory agency to its will, similar to the changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both commissions now embrace the president’s view that regulators have been too punitive toward industry. “I’ve been through an almost equal number of Republican and Democratic administrations, and there was always a belief you had to have strong enforcement,” said Gretchen Lowe, a 30-year agency veteran who retired last year from a top enforcement job. “This is really the first time that politics have affected the C.F.T.C. in such a dramatic way.”
Quote from Heather Cox Richardson about the settlement agreement money DOJ is giving Trump. "In essence then, the settlement gives Trump full control over almost $2 billion of taxpayer money to spend however he wants, without oversight. The Department of Justice document establishing the fund declares that “[o]nce the funds are deposited into the Designated Account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds.”"
Quote from former US Attorney for AL Joyce Vance, regarding the recent DOJ "settlement" w/Trump "It’s a pardon on steroids for Trump, Trump’s family, and Trump businesses. The government agrees in this document, signed by Blanche, that it will never prosecute or pursue any civil claims against any of the Trumps, “whether presently known or unknown” that could have been brought as of the date of the settlement agreement. That date is yesterday. The IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” of Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” and related trusts and businesses. Any proceeding over “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the settlement is now off limits. Any crimes committed before Monday, whether prosecutors were aware of them or not, are off the table. It’s a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card, and also a get-out-of-debt one."
Blurb titled "President Withdraws $10 Billion Suit Against I.R.S"
A large white billboard in a city reads “If you want religion in schools, I want the IRS in churches.”