Non-theist Christian and elder in Community of Christ. I have Mormon roots and aspirations to do better with justice and peacemaking—especially in the digital sphere but also in Lexington, Kentucky, the U.S., and the world more broadly.
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🔗 linkblog: Présidentielle 2022 : le ralliement d'Eric Zemmour gêne la stratégie de camouflage de Marine Le Pen'
Faut pas oublier ces liens quand-même.
🔗 linkblog: House G.O.P. Kills Bid to Honor Pioneering Black Judge - The New York Times'
Litmus tests like this are making me even more worried about the future.
🔗 linkblog: KY libraries worried by bill giving politicians control over them | Lexington Herald Leader'
Wish that I’d been paying better attention to this legislation. Libraries are pillars of our communities and ought to retain partisan independence.
🔗 linkblog: Des crimes de guerre auraient aussi été commis par des soldats ukrainiens - rts.ch - Monde'
Faut pas transformer l’Ukraine un héros irréprochable.
🔗 linkblog: GOP Social Media Experiments Fail (In Part) Because They Break The Troll/Amplification Cycle | Techdirt'
Insightful piece on trolling and feeding trolls.
🔗 linkblog: Roger Stone Claims He’s Being ‘Censored’ on Trump’s Truth Social'
All platforms moderate content, most content moderation isn’t censorship.
🔗 linkblog: Why You Should Buy the Dumbest TV You Can Find'
If I can help it, I will never buy a smart TV. I appreciate the suggestion to consider a monitor as a dumb TV.
🔗 linkblog: Cops Tried Playing Disney Music to Censor a Video'
Weaponization of copyright filters is awful, and it’s not even the worst thing about this story.
🔗 linkblog: Extremist Republicans like Ammon Bundy face opposition from moderates : NPR'
Keeping an eye on France’s elections in April and then Idaho’s in May, I guess.
🔗 linkblog: How You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet - The New York Times'
Frustrating to see steps that feel like progress seem to shore up the tech giants I hoped were being kept in check.
📚 bookblog: The Era of Restoration (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I have been meaning to read this for quite some time, as it is the first volume in the most recent official history of Community of Christ. I’m also looking forward to the next two volumes, since they cover history that I am not familiar with, but it was especially interesting to read a Community of Christ perspective on the 1830-1844 era.
I appreciated the frankness and openness of the volume—it’s impossible to imagine an LDS version of this book taking the same approach.
🔗 linkblog: LGBTQ biases led to uproar after board message, KY teacher says | Lexington Herald Leader'
Worries about this picking up. General Assembly took steps in a bad direction this session, but they could go further next time.
🔗 linkblog: Marjorie Taylor Greene: If You Vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson, You Must Like Pedophiles'
GOP needs to do more about MTG.
🔗 linkblog: Russia’s Bucha “Facts” Versus the Evidence - bellingcat'
Not that I was inclined to believe Russian cries of fake news anyway, but I still appreciate Bellingcat on the case.
🔗 linkblog: The U.S. Has Its Own Agenda Against Russia'
This kind of article is why I read The Intercept—to give me fresh perspectives on important issues.
🔗 linkblog: Google Docs will start nudging some users to write less dumbly - The Verge'
Nooooo thank you. Don’t like this about Grammarly, don’t like this about Word, won’t like this about Google Docs. I am very skeptical of giving algorithms authority over style.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook-Hired PR Firm Coordinated Anti-TikTok Campaign To Spread Bogus Moral Panics | Techdirt'
TikTok should not be protected from criticism, but it should not be subjected to this garbage either.
🔗 linkblog: Houston area student wins $90,000 settlement after being bullied by teacher for not standing for Pledge of Allegiance'
Indefensible for a student to be treated this way. The settlement is good news, but I still worry about the larger issue. Thinking about how to teach my kid about the Pledge and the right not to participate.
🔗 linkblog: LGBTQ advocates raise alarm against trans attacks in Ky. legislature – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville'
I have spent a few hours this week reading violently anti-trans posts as part of a research project. My patience for queerphobic dog whistles disguised as feigned concerns about girls’ sports is at zero. So disappointed in the Kentucky legislature.
🔗 linkblog: Why Moderating Content Actually Does More To Support The Principles Of Free Speech | Techdirt'
Really appreciate Masnick’s perspective here—especially the point that EVERYONE believes in content moderation even if there are disagreements on how to do it. It’s irresponsible for so many (on the right) to describe moderation as censorship.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter user sentenced to 150 hours of community service in UK for posting ‘offensive’ tweet - The Verge'
Very uncomfortable with this. Tweet wasn’t great, but not sure if it’s criminal. I’m sympathetic to the idea that we underpolice social media, but this is a fantastic example of why so many (including me) are worried about attempts to police it more.
🔗 linkblog: Nokia Busted Helping Russia’s FSB Spy On Citizens, Activists, Journalists | Techdirt'
Do not be fooled by the headline, the article’s best contribution is its indictment of U.S. politicians and companies for their complicity in this sort of thing.
🔗 linkblog: Women are splitting off from Reddit’s preppers sub.'
This is a fascinating article on prepper communities on reddit. Great example of the importance of a gender lens.
🔗 linkblog: Google Ordered Translators to Replace References to Ukraine “War”'
Speaking of the non-neutrality of platforms… Granted, Google has a difficult line to walk here, but this is still disappointing.
🔗 linkblog: Rumble, the Right’s Go-To Video Site, Has Much Bigger Ambitions - The New York Times'
Glad to see reporting on Rumble, but disappointed to see uncritical repeating of claims about “free speech,” “neutrality,” and “censorship.” There are no neutral platforms, and content moderation is the real key idea here.
🔗 linkblog: Stop Invasive Remote Proctoring: Pass California’s Student Test Taker Privacy Protection Act | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Seems to me that not using proctoring software is the best response to these concerns, but glad to see the EFF sponsoring efforts to regulate its inevitable use.
🔗 linkblog: Pride flag displayed at Lexington KY man’s house gets burned | Lexington Herald Leader'
I bike past this house and its flags every day; seeing them is always a boost. How upsetting that people would want to burn one.
🔗 linkblog: The ‘Culture Of Free Speech’ Includes Criticism Of Others’ Speech; Get Over It | Techdirt'
I have been waiting for days to see what Techdirt would have to say on this, and it doesn’t disappoint.
🔗 linkblog: So how do Russian cosmonauts feel about Russia’s war on Ukraine? | Ars Technica'
This article is the most helpful thing I’ve seen on the cosmonauts’ uniform choice so far.
🔗 linkblog: To Make Social Media Work Better, Make It Fail Better | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
This idea increasingly resonates with me.
📚 bookblog: Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present (❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤)
I’m generally a fan of Doctorow’s writing—his recent collection of novellas (“Radicalized”) is one of my favorites and I also own his entire “Little Brother” trilogy. This collection of stories just didn’t land for me, though, and there are other stories/books of his that felt the same.
I wonder if his weirder, more optimistic stories don’t work for me in the same way his bleak ones do. This collection dates to 2007, and while Doctorow has long been a critic of certain uses of technology, there are some stories in here that seem like they have more faith in the future of tech than I think is warranted in a post-Snowden, post-Cambridge Analytica world.
📚 bookblog: The Giant Joshua (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This was a bit of a slog sometimes—one of the reasons why it took me so long to read and why it didn’t get a full five hearts—but it’s one of the most interesting things I’ve read recently.
This is supposedly one of the great classics of Mormon fiction, though I hadn’t heard of it before BCC Press released a free ebook of it a few weeks ago. It is a frank but respectful tale of Mormon pioneers “settling” St.
🔗 linkblog: Hacked News Channel and Deepfake of Zelenskyy Surrendering Is Causing Chaos Online'
Oh good, our fears about deepfakes are coming true.
🔗 linkblog: Now That White Musicians Are Getting Sued For Copyright, Lawyers Say Copyright Needs To Change | Techdirt'
Intellectual property is a social justice issue.