News bits: Too late to nail Trump; The science of consciousness

Trump is probably going to get away with everything: The Guardian writes:

This book by a former federal prosecutor is subtitled “How Powerful People Get Away With It” but its overwhelming focus is Donald Trump and Merrick Garland, the most famous unindicted miscreant of modern times and the attorney general most responsible for the failure, so far, to prosecute any of his offences.

Honig thinks the district attorney of Fulton county, Georgia, is still “the most likely to indict Trump” for his efforts to tamper with election results. But Honig makes a powerful case that “the prime opportunities to hold Trump criminally accountable for his actions have passed”, as federal and state prosecutors, especially Garland, “have fumbled away their best chances and inexcusably allowed years to lapse without meaningful action”.  

“The problem,” Honig writes, “is in seeking to … restore political independence [for the justice department], Garland has gone too far ...

“It’s one thing to do the job without regard to politics. But it’s another to contort ordinary prosecutorial judgement to avoid doing anything that might even be perceived as political or controversial.”

As a prior post here commented, the statute of limitations has run out for 9 out of the 56 crimes Trump is credibly accused of committing while in office. He can never be prosecuted for any of those crimes. This is why one can reasonably argue that the rule of law for the rich and powerful is more mirage than real. With Trump, it's a total farce.

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The state of consciousness science: Studying consciousness is a complex thing, fraught with ways that science can get things wrong. Unconscious biases are a plague and so is our limited capacity for metacognition or self-awareness. An article by Vox touches on the state of the science:

For something as intimate to our lives as perception — how we experience ourselves and the world — we know remarkably little about all the ways it can differ from person to person. Some people, for instance, have aphantasia, which means they experience no mental imagery, while others have no inner monologue in their heads, just silence. Studying what scientists now call “perceptual diversity” is part of an increasingly mainstream effort to learn more about consciousness itself.

Anil Seth, co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science .... popularized the idea of consciousness as a “controlled hallucination,” which suggests that our perceptions are less like looking through a transparent window on the outside world and more like watching an internally constructed movie. When sensory data from the outside world contradicts our brain’s movie, it updates the film.

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Child labor laws under attack by you know who: The Guardian writes:

Child labor in the good old days

‘It’s just crazy’: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise

As child labor law violations have been on the rise in the US, some state legislators are pushing for changes at state and federal levels to roll back protections in what some see as a threat to return child labor to the country.

The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers.

Child labor law violations have increased in the US, with a 37% increase in fiscal year 2022, including 688 children working in hazardous conditions, with the number likely much higher as the recorded violations stem from what was found during labor inspections.

Several high-profile investigations involving child labor have been exposed over the past year, including the use of child labor in Hyundai and Kia supply chains in Alabama, at JBS meatpacking plants in Nebraska and Minnesota, and at fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and Chipotle.

Republicans apparently see this as a matter of personal freedom and want work restrictions loosened. Maybe that's the predominant thinking, but it is striking that nearly all the freedom-enhancing measures that Republicans are pushing for benefit businesses. Businesses get shielded from liability and more cheap labor. Children get the freedom to work and some income. It's a win-win!

Or, is that the wrong way to look at it, e.g., is it a win-lose? 

Modern child labor