“Ultraprocessed Foods Have a Terrible Reputation. They Don’t Deserve It.”
“An AI app for creating nonconsensual nude images of anyone is getting the vast majority of its traffic directly from Meta platforms, where the app is buying thousands of explicit ads featuring nonconsensual nudity of celebrities and influencers. The blatant and repeated violation of Meta’s policies over the course of months is making a mockery of the company’s ability or willingness to moderate a known bad actor that at the moment appears to get the majority of its users by paying Meta directly for ads.”
“Trump’s Next Attacks on Abortion Rights Will Be More Insidious Than a Ban”.
“Now, L.A faces a new set of challenges brought by the historic blazes that, if left unabated, may further chip away at its share of filming. Near the top of that list: the possibility that the blazes accelerate a mini migration of the entertainment industry’s workforce away from California.”
“Because this is cryptocurrency and isn’t regulated by the SEC, everything is private by design and it’s hard to suss out what’s really going on. In other words, it’s a perfect vehicle for essentially bribing Trump without anyone ever being able to know it. It’s no wonder Trump did a U-turn and became a big fan of cryptocurrency last year. Someone must have explained the personal wealth possibilities to him.”
RIP, Jeff Torborg, former MLB coach, manager, broadcaster, and player, who caught Sandy Koufax’s perfect game and one of Nolan Ryan’s no-hitters.
“With everything that happens, try to triage your responses based on the likelihood and irreparability of the damage. Actions that harm real people in cruel ways matter more than bluster. Deploying the military to conduct immigration raids and rounding people into mass camps is a major threat. An unspecified announcement (likely via Truth Social post) suggesting future plans to bully folks — as scary as that sounds — may not be.”
“On Monday, moments before Donald Trump’s inauguration, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in prison for nearly 50 years, from two life sentences to home confinement.”
“We watch TV for enjoyment, for emotional realism, for whatever personal preferences we have. I think dogs watch TV because they’re checking if it is real.”
“Not a single person alive has ever had an ambivalent opinion of Amanda Palmer. The singer has long prided herself on her provocations and carefully manicured image as a shambolic cabaret princess who took no prisoners and kept no secrets. You either thought she was an incredible and honest artist or an aggravating phony. Starting any kind of conversation about her inevitably leads to heated rhetoric and discourse that would encourage Palmer to write more songs inspired by her notoriety. Her brand now lies in ruins, the eviscerated remnants of her former self now in the dirt as the world learned all about her ex-husband and the cruelties she may have been complicit in.”
RIP, Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, author, playwright, screenwriter.
“We desperately need a better anti-antisemitism group than [the ADL]”.
“This is a blueprint for a lawless administration that knows it will not be held accountable for criminal acts. That would include, of course, crimes committed to interfere with the next presidential election to allow the party, if not Trump himself, to stay in power. Trump’s team came very close to overturning the 2020 election. No doubt they have learned some lessons and will not repeat the same mistakes.”
“‘The White Lotus’ Renewed for Season 4 at HBO”. That’s before the premier of Season 3, so.
RIP, John Sykes, guitarist for Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy.
RIP, Garth Hudson, keyboardist and the last surviving member of The Band.
“The aviation security committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue to exist but it won’t have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Before Tuesday, the group included representatives of all the key groups in the industry — including the airlines and major unions — as well as members of a group associated with the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing. The vast majority of the group’s recommendations were adopted over the years.”
How alligators made it through this week’s freeze.
RIP, Nancy Leftenant-Colon, African American commissioned into the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after it was desegregated in the 1940s. One of her brothers was a Tuskegee Airman who was killed in a midair collision in 1945.
“Trump’s attack on EVs is just theater — so far”.