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[martinuzz]

That's worrisome.
Fuck Google.  Keep your stinking fingers off news media.

[Rolan7]

HOLY FUCK


Big, if true.

Maybe I'm being a smartass but this didn't surprise me at all.  It certainly doesn't redeem McConnell in any way.  The smart play has been to ditch Trump for a while now, I'm only surprised that it took them this long.  They really like to play things safe.

They certainly never *liked* him.

[Rolan7]

That's worrisome.
Fuck Google.  Keep your stinking fingers off news media.

Google literally exists by monetizing our personal information.  That's the trade-off for it providing numerous valuable services for "free".

There is no such thing as a free lunch under capitalism.  I'm not scared of Google blocking "the media", but they already "curate" search results for people.  That's not inherently bad, but it's bad that people aren't aware of it.  And it's bad that people take Google's services for granted and don't realize they're being monetized.

[MorleyDev]

The Google thing I'm guessing was someone was asked to evaluate how much they're impacted by Australian news sites, so they decided to gather real data via an A/B test. Not malice, more just not thinking about things from anything but a 'solve problem tasked with' pov. Which is always the risk with businesses, solution X is most cost-effective therefore solution X. People's fear of 'oooh scary elites manipulating the people' usually require competence beyond reality and a level of direct control over the actors in their business that the leaders typically don't really have. When its cock-up or conspiracy, all else being equal, it's a safe bet it's a cock-up.

While they have helped him out a lot, they also clearly wanted him as a puppet instead of what he actually turned out to be.

Gee, Americans installing a puppet leader only for them to turn out to be a dictator that causes problems for the USA. Where have I heard that one before?

[Starver]

Re: Google and media in Australia, remember that there was that thing about their media asking for legislation there for 'fair' spidering of news-sites, so there might be some connection in choosing the area to experiment with. Though it is known they tweak things all the time (whatever the purity of motive), and you could easily point to the tweaks that point any which way as indicating corporate 'interference' when they probably are comparing against slight nudges in the alternate directions. The experiments are not a problem, the possibility that it becomes a globally directed policy may be (if it doesn't support your needs, or if it does support your biases).


I remember back to that case where, I think, one Orkney Islands newspaper site allegedly populated itself with news directly (but unclearly) scraped from another. Google doesn't do that. Partially curating what to sample is no more than what other bubbles of information do anyway, even given Google's scale. Google knows I reference the BBC news site more than average[1], I think, so may already skew me there - and if I remember a story on there from last year or sometimes yesterday it's easier to find via a Google search (without ever asking for a particular source) than via the Beeb's own search field. But it is also giving me very disperate sources that match, so it's far less of a bubble than without. And I can be critical about the technological/algorithmical limitations too, I think.


((Ah, I've been multiple-ninjaed on this, it looks like.))



[1] You may argue this is a bias of my own choice or circumstance.

[MrRoboto75]

Congress changed when you weren't allowed to beat your fellow congresscritter with a cane.

[Dostoevsky]

While I'm normally not a fan of Axios's reporting style, their terseness/bluntness seems appropriate for the impeachment proceedings:

The big picture: Sources tell Axios Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be more likely than not to vote to convict Trump — a green light for other Republican senators to follow.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy would love a Trumpless world, but doesn't want to knife him with fingerprints. This school of thought wants to let Trump do himself in, without a big party fight over his sins and sentence.

The fade-away caucus sees a danger that the impeachment-conviction route is, as a prominent conservative put it, "making him Jesus. ... Truly stupid."

But an effort by McCarthy to push a lighter punishment for Trump censure has crumbled.

. . . .

Trump pushback ... Trump senior adviser Jason Miller, citing a poll of battleground-state voters by John McLaughlin, said: "if you’re a Republican who votes for impeachment, you’re likely serving your last term."

The bottom line ... The way one well-wired Republican put it: "People have been waiting for Trump to do himself in since the escalator ride. If we want him gone, Republicans are going to have to take him down."

If McConnell goes for it, I honestly could see a path for full-on winning that vote. Still, hard to believe.

Liz Cheney, #3 in the House and not at all a moderate on most topics, is already being targeted for removal from her leadership position for daring to oppose the president.

[LordBaal]

It is only 3 more days to go rigth? That energy could certanly to more pressing issues?

[Rolan7]

It is only 3 more days to go rigth? That energy could certanly to more pressing issues?

7 days but true, the main purpose isn't to remove him a little sooner (though that could actually matter, given his behavior).  An impeachment + conviction would prevent him from running again, and it's also important to hold presidents responsible for their crimes in general. We still prosecute people who are dying.

That's probably one of the main reasons Republicans are considering this: Their guy is on the way out, so suddenly it's in their interests to have any limitations whatsoever on the presidency. The same maroons who defended Trump's freedom from indictment (including hypothetical cold blooded murder) are gearing up to obstruct Biden just as they did Obama... literally as much as possible.

Trump's getting the most out of these final days, by the way. His Supreme Court just validated his decree that forces people to pick up morning-after pills in person. Because he's a petulant manchild who doesn't care about women or covid. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/13/956279232/supreme-court-oks-white-house-request-to-limit-abortion-pill-access-during-pande

And in case you think he cares about babies, he also declared it legal to refuse adoption candidates specifically for being LGBT. (He runs the HHS so he can do this, even though it's surely temporary. Petty as hell.) www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1253959

[Vector]

And in case you think he cares about babies, he also declared it legal to refuse adoption candidates specifically for being LGBT. (He runs the HHS so he can do this, even though it's surely temporary. Petty as hell.) www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1253959

My mom's going to love that one.

[MorleyDev]

Clearly "Wanting police offers to stop murdering people" and "Attempting to overthrow democracy" are equivalent stances.

[Vector]

"radical left's appetite for division"

no one:

me: 1001/13 = 77

*rubs hands together, cackling madly*

[MorleyDev]

It's hilarious to watch Republicans try and balance "The liberal left's economic policies don't work and hurt businesses and they are in control of the most successful businesses on the planet!" without exploding from the contradictions.

Then again according to Republicans, "Tolerate different races. No tolerate racism." is hypocrisy...

[nenjin]

and reach across the aisle to reject the impeachment

Yeah because there's so many Democrats against impeachment.....what? This is truly empty bipartisan rhetoric bullshit. It's like they have a phrase generator that doesn't actually pay attention to context.

[Dostoevsky]

this one-minute closing statement is like twelve minutes long jesus steny come on

edit: word is majority whip has unlimited time, so I guess this isn't out of order

Known as the "magic minute," yeah. It's officially just a minute but nobody's going to stop them.

Edit: Also, House just finished their vote - 10 Rs for impeachment, kind of an odd assortment to be honest. Some I would have guessed, others not so.

Hoyer said earlier today the House will transmit it to the Senate immediately, but on the flipside the Senate is out of session until the 19th (and McConnell is not willing to change that).