Semantics & So On

Democrats and the Ruthless Aggression Era

“Do not help Republicans. Not in any way. On any issue. Republicans can’t pass a budget, or raise the debt ceiling? Tough luck. Do not provide them any bailout votes on any issue. Period, the end.”

Jonathan V. Last argues that with Republicans taking control of government, the role of Democrats is not to partner with them, but be a true opposition party and make sure that Republicans are seen to own the painful outcome of every bad decision they make. I hope they’ll take heed of it, but I fear that too many Democrats are still bound by outdated norms of comity and collaboration. The truth is that Republicans want to tear down everything that makes America strong. Democrats ought not play nice about it.

Southern Poverty Law Center workers vote to remove CEO after ‘inhumane’ layoffs

“They talk about working with people in the communities, the deep south, and they just dismantled a program that was helping individuals in the deep south,” said Redding. “They did not even have the sense or the notion to even notify the people in our community.”

This is an old article that I missed until this week. As a longtime donor to the SPLC until my layoff at the end of 2023, I was dismayed to see that its leadership is just as prone to union-busting activity as any large employer. It’s doubly troubling that the tactics used are going to hurt the people SPLC is supposed to be helping at a time when they’ll need all the help they can get.

Democracy Dies As Awful Man No Longer Able To Freely Drive 18 Blocks In Manhattan

“That coverage teases What You Need To Know across weeks and months like a threat, but is fundamentally not in the business of answering that sort of question so much as it is in the business of rephrasing it in progressively more ominous ways; all someone consuming this media would leave with is the urgent sense that there are some things that they need to know, and a suspicion that they do not know them.”

On the surface, this Defector article is about how coverage of New York City’s new congestion pricing toll system has made it hard to get the truth about what it is and what it does. But it’s also a good look at how conservative media in general poisons the ability of people to actually know what’s going on–or even believe that they can know what’s going on. This is how the corporate media sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

“All Our Future Money Is Gone”: The Impossible Task of Providing Child Care in Rural Illinois

“Part of the challenge is that the Illinois offices that oversee child care centers are severely short staffed, with a roughly 20% vacancy rate. On average, each state licensing representative is responsible for about 120 facilities, while the National Association for the Education of Young Children recommends a caseload of 50.”

The couple who supplied the title quote of this article wanted to solve a problem in their community: a dearth of child care opportunities that meant some people were making 100-mile drives to get their children proper care so they could work, go to school, or both. But the lack of support they’ve encountered exposes the sad reality that “pro-family” rhetoric is as empty as a drum. The conservative mania for dismantling government funding and structures will make problems like this one significantly worse.

Home Microsoft 365 plans use Copilot AI features as pretext for a price hike

“Subscribers on the Personal and Family plans can’t use Copilot indiscriminately; they get 60 AI credits per month to use across all the Office apps.”

This one hit close to home. I read it last night and this morning, got the notification that Copilot was now part of my subscription. I immediately went into Word’s settings and turned it off.

Started Word to work on my novel and got a colorful screen cheerfully informing me that Copilot was now a part of my subscription. Immediately turned it off and set my subscription to not renew. Don’t know yet what I’ll use in its place, but I do NOT want generative AI anywhere near my writing.

— Sam (he/him) (@goodsam.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 8:44 AM

https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js

For those who do want to use Copilot, the article goes on to say that the feature comes with a very short lease. Anyone who wants to use it extensively will have to purchase a Copilot subscription for an additional $20 a month.