- Fake Think Tanks Fuel Fake News—And the President’s Tweets (Wired) "'Fake think tanks use a mix of selected truths, half-truths, and downright fabricated stuff in order to manipulate people,' says Massimo Pigliucci, a philosopher at the City College of New York and author of Nonsense on Stilts: How To Tell Science from Bunk. 'We don’t live in the age of post-truth. We live in the age of internet-enabled bullshit.' 'For the lay person who reads about these topics for 10 minutes a week, I don’t think there is an easy way to see who’s full of it,' says Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute. Most of these organizations are just hate groups with a dozen employees sitting in a tax loophole. But that doesn’t mean their reach is limited—it’s quite the opposite. 'Their disinformation has been weaponized through search algorithms,' says Beirich. 'Think-tanky white supremacist organizations have generated enough material that a search topic like ‘black on white crime’ is dominated by their propaganda. That’s what happened to Dylann Roof, and how Trump ended up tweeting those false statistics.' According to Abelson, think tanks aligning themselves with an ascendant political figure is their boat to the mainstream. That’s what Heritage did with Ronald Reagan, and what these groups are doing with Donald Trump—so far, successfully. 'Look, people connected to these groups are going to be in the White House. Kris Kobach is deciding on immigration policy and he’s spent the last ten years deep in the heart of FAIR,' Beirich says. 'That’s the ultimate reach.' And with no regulatory agency, and a consistent campaign to delegitimize mainstream media, few mechanisms exist to keep these groups in check."
- The Right Is Building A New Media "Upside Down" To Tell Trump’s Story (BuzzFeed) "The New Media Upside Down looks a lot like the media it’s trying to undermine and replace, but it’s darker in vision — and raw. Unlike the patently false news coming out of political content farms in places like Macedonia, the New Media Upside Down’s work is based, to some extent, on actual reporting, despite its shaky sourcing and questionable, often misleading framing. Most stories percolating inside the New Media Upside Down exist in a gray area, deftly walking the line between salacious framing/innuendo and falsehoods, but rarely stepping into the dangerous territory of fake news. All signs suggest the ecosystem will only grow murkier."
- Why Trump's Staff Is Lying (Bloomberg) "First and most obviously, the leader wishes to mislead the public, and wants to have subordinates doing so, in part because many citizens won’t pursue fact-checking. That makes those individuals grow more dependent on the leader and less likely to mount independent rebellions against the structure of command. Another reason for promoting lying is what economists sometimes call loyalty filters. If you want to ascertain if someone is truly loyal to you, ask them to do something outrageous or stupid. So the overall picture is this: The Trump administration trusts neither its own appointees nor its own supporters, and is creating a situation where that lack of trust is reciprocal. That is of all things a strategy for getting things done, and these first one hundred days are going to be a doozy."
- How statistics lost their power – and why we should fear what comes next (The Guardian) "Shortly before the November presidential election, a study in the U.S. discovered that 68% of Trump supporters distrusted the economic data published by the federal government. Antipathy to statistics has become one of the hallmarks of the populist right, with statisticians and economists chief among the various 'experts' that were ostensibly rejected by voters in 2016. From one perspective, grounding politics in statistics is elitist, undemocratic and oblivious to people’s emotional investments in their community and nation. It is just one more way that privileged people in London, Washington DC or Brussels seek to impose their worldview on everybody else. The alternative to quantitative expertise is less likely to be democracy than an unleashing of tabloid editors and demagogues to provide their own 'truth' of what is going on across society. Figures close to Donald Trump, such as his chief strategist Steve Bannon and the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, are closely acquainted with cutting-edge data analytics techniques, via companies such as Cambridge Analytica, on whose board Bannon sits. During the presidential election campaign, Cambridge Analytica drew on various data sources to develop psychological profiles of millions of Americans, which it then used to help Trump target voters with tailored messaging. This ability to develop and refine psychological insights across large populations is one of the most innovative and controversial features of the new data analysis. As techniques of 'sentiment analysis', which detect the mood of large numbers of people by tracking indicators such as word usage on social media, become incorporated into political campaigns, the emotional allure of figures such as Trump will become amenable to scientific scrutiny. In a world where the political feelings of the general public are becoming this traceable, who needs pollsters?"
ART/ENTERTAINMENT:
ART/ENTERTAINMENT:
- Art Market Mines Gold on Instagram (NYT)
BUSINESS:
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Crisis Signals Problems at Korea Inc. (NYT) "How could such a technologically advanced titan allow the problems to happen to begin with? Samsung, like South Korea as a whole, fosters a top-down, hidebound culture that stifles innovation and buries festering problems, they say. Samsung engineers and midlevel managers are seldom allowed to second-guess management goals set by top bosses, former employees say."
- Asteroid Mining Sounds Hard, Right? You Don’t Know the Half of It (Wired) "But traveling the road to space-based industry will require giant leaps. Like picking the most lucrative asteroids—the ones with lots of water and precious metals—from far afield. What if a company chose a target asteroid based on predictions, only to find, upon arrival, that it holds much less water and platinum than checkbooks and customers hoped? Too bad, so sad."
BUSINESS:
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Crisis Signals Problems at Korea Inc. (NYT) "How could such a technologically advanced titan allow the problems to happen to begin with? Samsung, like South Korea as a whole, fosters a top-down, hidebound culture that stifles innovation and buries festering problems, they say. Samsung engineers and midlevel managers are seldom allowed to second-guess management goals set by top bosses, former employees say."
- Asteroid Mining Sounds Hard, Right? You Don’t Know the Half of It (Wired) "But traveling the road to space-based industry will require giant leaps. Like picking the most lucrative asteroids—the ones with lots of water and precious metals—from far afield. What if a company chose a target asteroid based on predictions, only to find, upon arrival, that it holds much less water and platinum than checkbooks and customers hoped? Too bad, so sad."
- Alibaba’s Profile Is Global, but Its Fate Is Tied to China (NYT)
NEWS:
- What the Death of the T.P.P. Means for America (New Yorker) "Both proponents and detractors exaggerated the effects of the T.P.P., the impact of which was always going to be modest in measurable economic terms. Why did the Obama Administration fight so hard for T.P.P.? The trade agreement was central to long-term U.S. interests around the world. As the dominant party in the pact, the U.S. would have controlled future access to that zone. The zone would have all but surrounded China, which was not part of the pact, and would have served to pressure that country to change its own practices. President Trump, like many others, is right to be concerned about people losing factory jobs, particularly in the Rust Belt, which delivered his victory. The T.P.P. probably would have killed some jobs there, and it surely would have created some others. Estimates suggest that it would have been a wash." and Withdrawal from Trans-Pacific Partnership shifts U.S. role in world economy (WaPo) "Trump’s executive order formally ending the United States’ participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a largely symbolic move intended to signal that his tough talk on trade during the campaign will carry over to his new administration. The action came as China and other emerging economies are seeking to increase their leverage in global affairs, seizing on America’s turn inward. Pulling out of the deal 'raises fundamental questions about American reliability,' said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. 'It leaves our allies and trading partners in the lurch. It does create strategic opportunities for China.' Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed those concerns Monday, calling Trump’s withdrawal from the T.P.P. a 'serious mistake' that will give China greater authority to dictate the terms of international trade. Ending America’s involvement in the T.P.P. was also a top priority for Democrats." and Donald Trump just forfeited in his first fight with China (WaPo) "That's because the T.P.P. wasn't really about reducing tariffs. It was more about making other countries follow our rules for patents and intellectual property, raising prices for Asian consumers and profits for American companies. That'd be better for our shareholders, but not necessarily for our workers. In all likelihood, it wouldn't change our jobs picture very much for good or ill. No, the real reason to support the T.P.P. wasn't economics so much as geopolitics. It was about keeping an economic foot firmly planted in China's backyard, and writing the trade rules so they couldn't." and Trump kills T.P.P., giving China its first big win (WaPo)
- The first days inside Trump’s White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot (WaPo) "Trump has been resentful, even furious, at what he views as the media’s failure to reflect the magnitude of his achievements, and he feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment."
- USDA science researchers ordered to stop publishing news releases, other documents (WaPo) "The 'public-facing documents' memo Monday, which was first reported by BuzzFeed, raised fears that the new Trump administration was attempting to filter articles about ongoing scientific research being conducted by ARS. USDA and ARS have issued media guidance in the past. Under the Obama administration, guidance published in 2013 stipulated that USDA employees should clear any 'media inquiries on topics that are sensitive' with public affairs staffers."
- Senate Democrats unveil a Trump-size infrastructure plan (WaPo) "Eager to drive a wedge between the new president and congressional Republicans, Democrats see talk of infrastructure projects as a way to piggyback on Trump’s frequent vows to repair the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges and persuade him to adopt ideas that would put him at odds with GOP leaders, who have done little to embrace what would amount to a major new government spending program." and Is Trump really ‘pro-worker,’ or is it a scam? Here’s how Democrats will call his bluff. (WaPo) "They are unveiling their own massive infrastructure spending plan, and are asking Trump to join them in supporting it. Their 10-year blueprint included $75 billion for schools, $210 billion for roads and bridges, $10 billion for VA hospitals, and $20 billion for broadband installations. For every billion dollars in spending, 13,000 jobs lasting at least a year would be created, they said, citing a Federal Highway Administration estimate."
- President Trump’s Big-Money Establishment (NYT)
- Defense Secretary Mattis emphasizes NATO commitment on first day (USA Today)
SCIENCE:
- Sorry, But Speed Reading Won’t Help You Read More (Wired) "The serious way to improve reading—how well we comprehend a text and, yes, speed and efficiency—is this: Read. As much as possible. Mostly new stuff."
SPORTS:
- Baseball Teams More Likely To Have A Bad Game Due To Jet Lag When Flying East (Consumerist) "'Home-team eastward travel, but not westward travel, significantly reduced doubles, triples, and stolen bases, and increased double plays.'"
TECHNOLOGY:
- Tesla’s New Version of Autopilot is Just the Start of a Critical Reboot (Wired) "Eventually, Tesla’s aim is to make its cars fully autonomous, and Musk is promising a demonstration drive coast to coast, with no human interaction, by the end of this year. And then, things will look a whole lot cooler."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The Plan to Test Cities’ Sewage for Drugs Is a New Form of Mass Surveillance (Motherboard) "Across the globe, researchers at wastewater treatment plants are testing for psychoactive substances passed by drug users through their feces and urine. The data can be incredibly valuable, letting scientists and law enforcement quickly track drug use trends and identify new substances on the market. It can also measure the impact of drug policy strategies, even highlight which days of the week drug use spikes."
- Massachusetts mattress conceals $20m in cash (BBC) "The cash is believed to be linked to a $1 billion pyramid scheme involving TelexFree, a company that claimed to provide internet phone services."
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
NEWS:
- What the Death of the T.P.P. Means for America (New Yorker) "Both proponents and detractors exaggerated the effects of the T.P.P., the impact of which was always going to be modest in measurable economic terms. Why did the Obama Administration fight so hard for T.P.P.? The trade agreement was central to long-term U.S. interests around the world. As the dominant party in the pact, the U.S. would have controlled future access to that zone. The zone would have all but surrounded China, which was not part of the pact, and would have served to pressure that country to change its own practices. President Trump, like many others, is right to be concerned about people losing factory jobs, particularly in the Rust Belt, which delivered his victory. The T.P.P. probably would have killed some jobs there, and it surely would have created some others. Estimates suggest that it would have been a wash." and Withdrawal from Trans-Pacific Partnership shifts U.S. role in world economy (WaPo) "Trump’s executive order formally ending the United States’ participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a largely symbolic move intended to signal that his tough talk on trade during the campaign will carry over to his new administration. The action came as China and other emerging economies are seeking to increase their leverage in global affairs, seizing on America’s turn inward. Pulling out of the deal 'raises fundamental questions about American reliability,' said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. 'It leaves our allies and trading partners in the lurch. It does create strategic opportunities for China.' Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed those concerns Monday, calling Trump’s withdrawal from the T.P.P. a 'serious mistake' that will give China greater authority to dictate the terms of international trade. Ending America’s involvement in the T.P.P. was also a top priority for Democrats." and Donald Trump just forfeited in his first fight with China (WaPo) "That's because the T.P.P. wasn't really about reducing tariffs. It was more about making other countries follow our rules for patents and intellectual property, raising prices for Asian consumers and profits for American companies. That'd be better for our shareholders, but not necessarily for our workers. In all likelihood, it wouldn't change our jobs picture very much for good or ill. No, the real reason to support the T.P.P. wasn't economics so much as geopolitics. It was about keeping an economic foot firmly planted in China's backyard, and writing the trade rules so they couldn't." and Trump kills T.P.P., giving China its first big win (WaPo)
- The first days inside Trump’s White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot (WaPo) "Trump has been resentful, even furious, at what he views as the media’s failure to reflect the magnitude of his achievements, and he feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment."
- USDA science researchers ordered to stop publishing news releases, other documents (WaPo) "The 'public-facing documents' memo Monday, which was first reported by BuzzFeed, raised fears that the new Trump administration was attempting to filter articles about ongoing scientific research being conducted by ARS. USDA and ARS have issued media guidance in the past. Under the Obama administration, guidance published in 2013 stipulated that USDA employees should clear any 'media inquiries on topics that are sensitive' with public affairs staffers."
- Senate Democrats unveil a Trump-size infrastructure plan (WaPo) "Eager to drive a wedge between the new president and congressional Republicans, Democrats see talk of infrastructure projects as a way to piggyback on Trump’s frequent vows to repair the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges and persuade him to adopt ideas that would put him at odds with GOP leaders, who have done little to embrace what would amount to a major new government spending program." and Is Trump really ‘pro-worker,’ or is it a scam? Here’s how Democrats will call his bluff. (WaPo) "They are unveiling their own massive infrastructure spending plan, and are asking Trump to join them in supporting it. Their 10-year blueprint included $75 billion for schools, $210 billion for roads and bridges, $10 billion for VA hospitals, and $20 billion for broadband installations. For every billion dollars in spending, 13,000 jobs lasting at least a year would be created, they said, citing a Federal Highway Administration estimate."
- President Trump’s Big-Money Establishment (NYT)
- Defense Secretary Mattis emphasizes NATO commitment on first day (USA Today)
SCIENCE:
- Sorry, But Speed Reading Won’t Help You Read More (Wired) "The serious way to improve reading—how well we comprehend a text and, yes, speed and efficiency—is this: Read. As much as possible. Mostly new stuff."
SPORTS:
- Baseball Teams More Likely To Have A Bad Game Due To Jet Lag When Flying East (Consumerist) "'Home-team eastward travel, but not westward travel, significantly reduced doubles, triples, and stolen bases, and increased double plays.'"
TECHNOLOGY:
- Tesla’s New Version of Autopilot is Just the Start of a Critical Reboot (Wired) "Eventually, Tesla’s aim is to make its cars fully autonomous, and Musk is promising a demonstration drive coast to coast, with no human interaction, by the end of this year. And then, things will look a whole lot cooler."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The Plan to Test Cities’ Sewage for Drugs Is a New Form of Mass Surveillance (Motherboard) "Across the globe, researchers at wastewater treatment plants are testing for psychoactive substances passed by drug users through their feces and urine. The data can be incredibly valuable, letting scientists and law enforcement quickly track drug use trends and identify new substances on the market. It can also measure the impact of drug policy strategies, even highlight which days of the week drug use spikes."
- Massachusetts mattress conceals $20m in cash (BBC) "The cash is believed to be linked to a $1 billion pyramid scheme involving TelexFree, a company that claimed to provide internet phone services."
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
No comments:
Post a Comment