News bits: The always present matter of false equivalence; Etc.

A Talking Points Memo article brings up the common false equivalence fallacy that the authoritarian radical right constantly raises in defense of its endless stream of indefensible lies, corruption, crackpottery and irrational emotional. TMP writes:

The False Equivalence Between The ‘Far Right’ And The ‘Hard Left’

Throughout the debt-ceiling crisis, news reports have wrongly suggested that each party's activist wings balance one another out

Here’s how, in its lead story Thursday, the New York Times described the House’s vote to resolve Republicans’ self-imposed debt-ceiling crisis:

“With both far-right and hard-left lawmakers in revolt over the deal, it fell to a bipartisan coalition powered by Democrats to push the bill over the finish line, throwing their support behind the compromise in an effort to break the fiscal stalemate that had gripped Washington for weeks.”

It’s not just the Times. This false equivalence between the two parties’ activist wings has been on display in press coverage throughout the debt-ceiling votes. Politico Playbook on Sunday described Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal’s mixed reaction to the debt-ceiling compromise as indicating that the bill may have “a chance to win votes from some on the far left.” A Washington Post sub-headline that same day noted that “far-left and far-right corners of the House have criticized the compromise.”

This idea is, of course, farcical — both in terms of the vote on the debt-ceiling bill and our politics more generally. Yet whenever Congress is debating a high-profile piece of legislation, the media returns to the easy description of pressures exerted by the far-right and far-left, as if these are similar forces.

It is not the far or moderate left that supports and passes laws to support anti-democracy policies. The GOP is in full support of policies that (i) limit civil liberties, (ii) openly attack non-heterosexuals by law, (iii) protect tax cheats, (iv) subvert elections, (v) normalize and justify political violence, (vi) teach Christian nationalist lies to innocent home schooled children to be bigots and hate secular education, and (vii) attack pro-democracy institutions and norms. That is what America's authoritarian radical right Republican Party and its Christian nationalist radicalism routinely does. What corresponding evil is the far and/or center left advocating? Collecting taxes owed from tax cheats? Supporting abortion rights? Accepting actual facts, e.g., climate change, for what they are?

The MSM still fails to understand what it is dealing with, is silently complicit or subverted and/or is unacceptably incompetent. 

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Culture wars -- bible banning: The BBC writes:

A school district in the US state of Utah has removed the Bible from elementary and middle schools for containing "vulgarity and violence".

The move follows a complaint from a parent that the King James Bible has material unsuitable for children.

Utah's Republican government passed a law in 2022 banning "pornographic or indecent" books from schools.

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Culture wars 2 -- defending gender crackpottery: ars Technica writes:

Twitter VP of Product Trust and Safety Ella Irwin resigned from the company yesterday, she confirmed to Reuters and other news outlets. Irwin's departure came on the same day that Twitter owner Elon Musk criticized his staff for restricting What Is a Woman?, a Daily Wire documentary on transgender issues.

Irwin took over as head of Twitter's trust and safety team after the November 2022 resignation of Yoel Roth. Twitter has massively reduced its staff under Musk's leadership and is facing scrutiny from regulators, particularly in the European Union, over its content moderation practices. Twitter executive A.J. Brown, the head of brand safety and ad quality, also left this week.

Twitter recently pulled out of the EU's voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation but must comply with the mandatory Digital Services Act rules taking effect on August 25. As European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted, "obligations remain. You can run but you can't hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be [a] legal obligation under DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement."

Musk supports lies, slanders and disinformation. That's why his Twitter toy is a hellscape. The Daily Wire is a radical right propaganda site. It doesn't produce serious documentaries. It produces serious radical right propaganda, like the stuff that spin dictators like to spew on their people and the world. 

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A clean energy advance: Beaming solar power from space to Earth has a useful advantage. Power can be beamed 24 hours/day. Gizmodo writes:

Scientists Successfully Transmit Space-Based Solar Power 

to Earth for the First Time

The California Institute of Technology has big news for space-based power. Researchers at the university have reportedly beamed solar power from space to Earth without a single wire—and they say it’s a first.

The researchers conducted the power transfer experiment using the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment, or MAPLE, which is a small prototype aboard the in-orbit Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) that launched this past January.

The researchers say that, in a first, MAPLE’s array of transmitters successfully beamed solar power collected in space using microwaves to a receiver on the rooftop of Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering on Caltech’s campus in Pasadena.  

The ability to wirelessly transmit solar power from space has huge implications for renewable energy, so much so that Japan plans to start using it by the mid-2030's. A Japanese research team is looking to pilot the technology in 2025 with a public-private partnership.

As humanity’s growing need for energy continues, a powerful solution like space-based solar power collection and transmission could be a huge step in the right direction.

The inside of the space-based Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit 

Experiment (MAPLE) which emits collected energy across empty space

Microwave radiation beamed to Earth of a satellite penetrates through clouds. The energy collected from sunlight is converted to microwaves that the satellite transmits down to Earth. The open questions are how much can this be scaled up and at what cost? Apparently it can be economically scaled enough to lead Japan to at least try to develop it for use by the mid 2030s. Time will tell how this plays out.