"A Georgia grand jury has indicted Donald Trump and 18 attorneys and allies for an alleged scheme to overturn the state's 2020 election results, implicating the former president as the head of a sweeping conspiracy."
"Kunzru was irked enough to add his own voice to the rising Prosecraft protest. He wasn’t mad about the analysis itself. But he strongly suspected that the founder, Benji Smith, had obtained his catalog without paying for it. 'It seemed very clear to me that he couldn’t have assembled this database in any legal way,' he says." I wouldn't say this was specifically "against AI." It's more of a reassertion of the rights of the IP holders. It's just that it appears that AI (and the tech industry in general) are serial content pirates and plagiarizers. Or as they say in the article, "But it appears to share something crucial with most of the AI projects making headlines these days: It trained on a massive set of data scraped from the internet without regard to possible copyright infringement issues." And, of course, he still doesn't get it. He asks if "Would people be less angry with me if I bought a copy of each of these books?" The author of the article says, "Yes", but the answer is "No." You need to buy the rights to use the novels as part of a new work, and that will be much more than the cover-price of a physical or digital book.
"Human-driven climate change pushed global temperatures to never-before-seen heights in July, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. The month is now officially the hottest July on record since record-taking began in the 1800s… And it wasn't even close: the month was a whopping 0.4 °F warmer than the previous record set in 2019, and well over 2.1 °F hotter than the 20th century average."
"This summer has been among the hottest and hardest in memory. Austin broke an all-time heat index record in June when the 'feels like' temperature topped off at 118 degrees. Then, we had our hottest July ever recorded… This week, only halfway through August, it looks like we’ll surpass 40 days straight of triple-digit heat. This could end up being our hottest summer ever."
"Scientists are wondering if global warming and El Nino have an accomplice in fueling this summer’s record-shattering heat."
"Juneau’s glacial outburst floods have happened every year since 2011, but this year was the worst by far. The Mendenhall River eroded the bank in a matter of hours, undermining some homes and sending at least one into the river."
"A devastating wildfire that tore though parts of Maui and destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina has killed at least 89, officials said Saturday afternoon, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century."
"Hawaii wildfires: Photos show the destruction and devastation."
"The U.S. government will settle a lawsuit with conservation groups and commit to releasing more endangered red wolves into the wilds of North Carolina, where nearly three dozen of the canine species are believed to still run free."
"California wildlife officials say they've confirmed a new gray wolf pack in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains… The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday the pack was found in Tulare County — the farthest south a pack of wolves has been detected in the state in more than a century."
"Baltimore's harm reduction vans have long been a place for people to exchange used needles for clean needles. In recent months, more people have been coming to Baltimore's two mobile harm intervention vans in need of serious wound care due to a drug called xylazine. Among users, it is commonly referred to as Tranq."
"Five people were found dead after a house explosion in western Pennsylvania that destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others, authorities said Sunday."
"59-year-old Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was a former investigative journalist who was outspoken against what he saw to be clear, increasing government corruption in his country… Villavicencio was fatally shot on Wednesday, moments after exiting a campaign rally in Quito, the nation's capital."
"The Texas attorney general's office has filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court, effectively blocking a judge's hours-old order that temporarily lifted a ban on emergency abortions."
"Ashley was discharged from the hospital only hours ago, but there are no baby presents or toys in the room, no visible diapers or ointments or bottles. Almost nobody knows that Peanut exists, because almost nobody knew that Ashley was pregnant. She is 13 years old. Soon she’ll start seventh grade."
"Ohio voters have defeated Issue 1, according to a race call by the Associated Press on Tuesday night. The no vote rejects a proposed constitutional change that would have made it harder to pass future amendments to the Ohio Constitution." Than you, my fellow Ohioans. Although ti was much closer than it had a right to be.
"It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — 'turn the other cheek' — [and] to have someone come up after to say, 'Where did you get those liberal talking points?' And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, 'I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ," the response would not be, 'I apologize.' The response would be, 'Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak.' And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis."
"Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he won’t sign a pledge to support the Republican nominee if he loses the GOP presidential primary, flouting a requirement for appearing in the first debate later this month."
Hey, remember when Democrats called out Republicans for their violent imagery and the use of "targets" and "scope" graphics in their political advertising, and the conservatives were all, "this is just rhetoric, nothing real to be worried about." "For extremism researchers, the shooting death this week of a Utah man who was alleged to have made violent threats against President Biden and other public officials highlights a concerning trend. For years, they have watched a steady escalation in violent political rhetoric that appears to be fueling acts of real-life violence."
"An armed Utah man accused of making violent threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president landed in the state Wednesday, authorities said."
"Here's the thing: The real threats to democracy aren't at the ballot box and never were… The real threat comes from those like Trump who would ignore democracy and the will of the people altogether and who daily attempt to replace democracy with disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, intimidation, dark money, and when all that fails: seize power with violence and insurrection."
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