News bits: China's digital tyranny update; Etc.

China appears to be the model for the human condition if democracies fall to various kinds of tyrannies, including plutocracies, theocracies and kleptocracies. That's why I keep an eye on developments in tyranny technology there. The government there is trying to build a tyranny that will last forever. The effort is heavily grounded in an aggressive, intelligent array of digital technologies. At this point, China has built and now works to perfect a system that looks to me to be almost completely impervious to forces in favor of democracy, civil liberties and reasonably distributed power and wealth. 

The NYT writes about what is now routine tyranny practice in China, namely exerting full control over all sources of media: 

China Says Chatbots Must Toe the Party Line  

The Communist Party outlined draft rules that would set guardrails on the rapidly growing industry of services like ChatGPT 

According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules, just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China’s leaders or rehashes forbidden history. The content of A.I. systems will need to reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information that undermines “state power” or national unity.”  

Experts are divided on how difficult it will be to train A.I. systems to be consistently factual. Some doubt that companies can account for the gamut of Chinese censorship rules, which are often sweeping, are ever-changing and even require censorship of specific words and dates like June 4, 1989, the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Others believe that over time, and with enough work, the machines can be aligned with truth and specific values systems, even political ones.

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The WaPo writes about Biden's announcement today: Biden announces he is running for reelection in 2024 President formalizes his intent to seek another term, setting the stage for a tumultuous election.

Maybe this could be the final beginning of the end of secular democracy and civil liberties. The rule of law has already fallen under Biden and Merrick Garland. The outcome of the 2024 elections will be very interesting indeed.

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From the Well Duh! Files: Inexplicably, the WaPo Editorial Board asserts something about the US response to COVID that was obvious years ago, while the pandemic was still raging. The Editorial Board writes:

Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, many setbacks and mistakes are well-known. But a closer examination by a team of seasoned experts has brought to the surface a profoundly unsettling conclusion. The United States, once the paragon of can-do pragmatism, of successful moon shots and biomedical breakthroughs, fell down on the job in confronting the crisis. The pandemic, the experts say, revealed “a collective national incompetence in government.”

It took a team of seasoned experts to come to that beyond blatantly obvious conclusion? We’re in deep doo-doo. 

A note to the WaPo Editorial Board

Honestly, Editorial Board, what freaking planet have you been living on? It sure ain’t Earth. What do you ignorant fools think the ruthless capitalist, Christofascist Republican Party has been doing to the federal government for decades? Supporting it in good will? 

Hey idiots, here’s something you don’t know: The GOP has been attacking, subverting and destroying the federal government for decades, and it has been a significantly successful effort so far. Wake up you morons. You fools. Or, have you just been subverted and co-opted?

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From the Judicial Rot Files: It seems that another Supreme Court justice, the radical Christian nationalist, brass knuckles capitalist Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has also been hiding dirty secrets. Politico writes:

For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo.

Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals.

He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system. Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms.

Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank.

Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket.

This is just business as usual for fascist Republican elites.