Interesting News, Articles & Stuff

[CANtalk]

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Olympic officials try to crush U.S. probes of China doping, threaten Salt Lake Games​

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/24/nx-s1-5050528/olympic-threaten-salt-lake-2034-winter-games-doping

Wada move after Chinese doping case could threaten LA 2028 Olympics

Wada will take take the US anti-doping agency to an independent committee in a move that could jeopardise the US hosting the 2028 and 2034 Games

www.theguardian.com

American Olympic officials' shameful behavior ignores doping truth, athletes' concerns​

American Olympic officials' shameful behavior ignores doping truth, athletes' concerns

American leaders vowed to fight on behalf of the IOC and WADA by agreeing to work to try to shut down the FBI investigation into Chinese doping.

www.usatoday.com

Why the Supreme Court loves to reward the rich and powerful​

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4789421-why-the-supreme-court-loves-to-reward-the-rich-and-powerful/

The Supreme Court Fools Itself

The Roberts Court has made the current crisis of American democracy perpetual.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[florduh]

This John Oliver segment is great. It covers one of the central issues concerning voters: the Migrant Crime Panic. This panic is almost totally imaginary. Made up. Bullshit.

A summary:

All crime across America is down significantly.

Undocumented immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than citizens. If you're undocumented, you want to avoid run ins with law enforcement.

Practically none of the fentanyl in this country is being brought in by migrants. What a stupid lie. Why would drug lords give their product to people who are nearly certain to be searched by authorities? Utter stupidity. Documented American Citizens are the ones bringing fentanyl through the border.

Democrats are extremely stupid for giving into Right Wing framing on this issue.

It's incredibly depressing that, after the economy, the second biggest issue Americans are worried about is totally imaginary. There are very real issues facing this country.

 

[Varden]

All crime across America is down significantly.

Undocumented immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than citizens. If you're undocumented, you want to avoid run ins with law enforcement.

Crime is not down, a bunch of big cities have stopped reporting crime. Which is the biggest bullshit ever and should not be accepted by anyone.

And since statistics are cooked any conclusion you base on them, same.

 

[florduh]

Crime is not down, a bunch of big cities have stopped reporting crime.

Do you mean to the FBI? I don't know if that's true or not, but even their own local statistics show crime is down in all of our big cities.

I think cops are lazy too, but they still have to fill out some paperwork if someone's loved one is murdered. They can't just ignore that.

US homicides and violent crime overall are down significantly, according to FBI data

FBI data reveals a decline in US murder rates in 2024, with Northeastern's James Alan Fox highlighting a three-decade downward trend.

news.northeastern.edu

It's also pretty wild there hasn't been a big mass shooting in 2024.

I agree cops have been lazy for a long time when it comes to most property crimes (at least when a non-rich person is the victim). But the current complaints about the police are that they refuse to solve crimes. They still fill out a report, then shrug their shoulders. This is required because victims often want to fill out an insurance claim.

Also...if there were truly no valid crime reporting statistics, how is anyone claiming there's some unusual major crime wave? People just FEEL like it's happening?

It's also pretty weird that the oldest people are the most likely to buy into this. Because crime in America today is absolutely much lower than it was in the 60's, 70's, 80's, or 90's.

 

[cybrguy]

I think we really need a second laughing icon so we can show whether or not we're laughing at the poster or with the poster...

 

[Varden]

Here is the quick graphical version:

x.com

x.com

And here is a longer explanation:

Many Large U.S. Police Agencies Are Missing from FBI Crime Data

Here are four reasons to worry about the missing national crime data.

www.themarshallproject.org

Tldr: crime is not down, reporting is lacking.

 

[Grass Yes]

And here is a longer explanation:

Many Large U.S. Police Agencies Are Missing from FBI Crime Data

Here are four reasons to worry about the missing national crime data.

www.themarshallproject.org

Tldr: crime is not down, reporting is lacking.

Reading that Marshall project article to say crime is up is a wildly incorrect take. Linked from the same article:

Crime Rates and the 2024 Election: What You Need to Know

As crime data again becomes a flashpoint in the presidential campaign, experts push for better national statistics.

www.themarshallproject.org

In all of these data collection efforts, the violent crime trend is the same, with fewer murders and shootings each year since 2022.

When the FBI’s crime statistics started to show a decrease in violent crime in 2023 and 2024, Trump and his supporters cast doubt on the finding, going as far as claiming that the FBI is manufacturing the crime statistics in favor of Biden.

Several criminologists told us this claim is completely unfounded.

On the contrary, because so many police agencies already publish weekly — if not daily — crime data, and because so many non-government organizations are tracking crime statistics on their own, these sources provide another layer of verification for the FBI’s crime data.

Not to mention that we can see crime is way down in recent decades even with the pandemic spike. To say otherwise is fear mongering.

 

[florduh]

Like I said, even if they're not reporting to the FBI, each of the individual big cities have reported big drops in crime recently.

Violent crime in Los Angeles decreased in 2023. But officials worry the city is perceived as unsafe

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Violent crime overall in Los Angeles decreased more than 3% in 2023, officials said Wednesday, despite a perception that the nation's second-largest city is unsafe.

apnews.com

As NYC grapples with crime concerns, police commissioner says safety is 'perception versus reality'

"We have one bad incident, it’s magnified all over social media, and it sets us all back," Commissioner Edward Caban said as city stats indicate overall crime fell last month.

www.nbcnews.com

https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/chicago-homicides-at-lowest-level-in-at-least-six-years-police-say/

 

[Varden]

Reading that Marshall project article to say crime is up is a wildly incorrect take. Linked from the same article:

Saying that crime is down is also incorrect.

@florduh there is also shenerigans in how the cities are counting crime, as in they have changed what needs to be logged as crime.

 

[Grass Yes]

Saying that crime is down is also incorrect.

I realize it's a waste to point this out but the article you linked literally says crime is down but that reporting to the FBI is lacking.

 

[Varden]

I realize it's a waste to point this out but the article you linked literally says crime is down but that reporting to the FBI is lacking.

The article says that due to lacking data it is impossible to know.

When the FBI released its 2021 national crime data last fall, it couldn’t say if crime went up, went down, or stayed the same. The FBI concluded that all three scenarios could be possible because of the gaps in the data collection.

 

[florduh]

@florduh there is also shenerigans in how the cities are counting crime, as in they have changed what needs to be logged as crime.

Murder is still logged as a crime in every city in America.

 

[Octavia]

Saying that crime is down is also incorrect.

What is your definition of crime then? All crime, violent crime or something else? Are you going off raw numbers, a per capita measure, or vibes?

My city has seen a spike in all crime, but particularly property crime with the pandemic, but violent crime has returned to pre pandemic levels while property crime (eg car and mail theft) is dropping but still above pre pandemic rates.

 

[Grass Yes]

The article says that due to lacking data it is impossible to know.

Ignoring this part at the top of a year old article feels intentional:

For the 2024 election season, we've updated this reporting to cover the latest changes — and debates — around crime stats.

 

[Octavia]

Ignoring this part at the top of a year old article feels intentional:

I almost never click through on these news articles, but the 2024 writeup was quite interesting! I’ll have to add this site to the news sites I frequent.

 

[florduh]

The John Oliver video was specifically about Migrant Crime. A major politician said "hundreds of thousands" of Americans are being murdered by migrants every year.

This is absurd. Being charitable, maybe he was talking about fentanyl. But migrants aren't the ones bringing fentanyl over the border. To the extent that Fentanyl comes over the border, it's almost entirely carried by US Citizens.

Which reminded me of this story from last year:

Bay Area police union leader allegedly smuggled fentanyl into US to sell in bulk

The head of a police union in the Bay Area faces federal charges for allegedly smuggling thousands of synthetic opioids into the U.S. with the intent to distribute them.

abcnews.go.com

Maybe some politician should start calling for pogroms against cops instead of brown people

I almost never click through on these news articles, but the 2024 writeup was quite interesting! I’ll have to add this site to the news sites I frequent.

I was a little skeptical since the site was shared by an account called "End Wokeness" but the Marshall Project seems pretty legit.

Has Texas Busing Migrants Led to More Crime in Destination Cities?

The influx has sparked fears of rising crime in some cities. The Marshall Project looked at policing data to see if the anxiety reflects reality.

www.themarshallproject.org

I wonder why half the country believes there are roving gangs of Brown Migrants doing crimes when there is literally no data to support this delusion?

 

[florduh]

Ol' Gruesome Gavin is sure taking advantage of the recent Supreme Court rulings!

Newsom orders California state agencies to start clearing homeless encampments

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on state land Thursday.

apnews.com

You know, you'd think Gruesome Gavin would be taking a long hard look in the mirror right now. Literally no one is breathing his name as a potential VP pick. Because he's the head of what most people think of as the Homelessness State. He's political cancer until he solves this problem.

Finland solved this problem. California's GDP is more than 10 times theirs. This guy's a schmuck.

A Paradigm Shift in Social Policy: How Finland Conquered Homelessness

For years, the number of homeless people has been rising in Europe. But not in Finland. The country's Housing First program aims to eliminate the problem by 2027. But how?

www.spiegel.de

 

[Knewt]

Ol' Gruesome Gavin is sure taking advantage of the recent Supreme Court rulings!

Newsom orders California state agencies to start clearing homeless encampments

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on state land Thursday.

apnews.com

You know, you'd think Gruesome Gavin would be taking a long hard look in the mirror right now. Literally no one is breathing his name as a potential VP pick. Because he's the head of what most people think of as the Homelessness State. He's political cancer until he solves this problem.

Finland solved this problem. California's GDP is more than 10 times theirs. This guy's a schmuck.

A Paradigm Shift in Social Policy: How Finland Conquered Homelessness

For years, the number of homeless people has been rising in Europe. But not in Finland. The country's Housing First program aims to eliminate the problem by 2027. But how?

www.spiegel.de

I saw a news article that said because of the constitution (US Constitution maybe?), California residents couldn’t vote for both Harris and Newsome at the same time, so the Democrats would automatically lose the electoral votes from California. There are lots of bizarre interpretations of legal wording, so I have no idea if there is any truth to the statement.

 

[florduh]

I saw a news article that said because of the constitution (US Constitution maybe?), California residents couldn’t vote for both Harris and Newsome at the same time, so the Democrats would automatically lose the electoral votes from California. There are lots of bizarre interpretations of legal wording, so I have no idea if there is any truth to the statement.

That might be true. I'm not sure. Generally, VP candidates are from a different State than the Presidential candidate.

I still think Newsom has no political future outside of Cali until the homelessness issue is taken care of. And having cops beat the shit out of the unhoused won't magically make them able to afford the insane rent prices in Cali.

The options are, put them in housing. Or put them in prisons. One of those options is much more expensive.

 

[cybrguy]

Very good New York Times interview of Pete Buttigieg.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/27/magazine/pete-buttigieg-interview-election-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-U0.leSP.glNpGjPqUKU3&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

Mostly about Kamala but also more...

 

[florduh]

Very good New York Times interview of Pete Buttigieg.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/27/magazine/pete-buttigieg-interview-election-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-U0.leSP.glNpGjPqUKU3&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

Mostly about Kamala but also more...

I'm not so sure that the "fever is about to break". I remember Obama saying those exact words 10 years ago. The fever has only gotten exponentially worse.

If Trump loses, the Republican Party has no mechanism to stop him from being the nominee in 2028, 2032. Pretty sure his dad lived until he was like 95.

 

[cybrguy]

The fever will break the first day of Donald Trump's imprisonment. Once he's in prison, people will stop paying attention to him, like they stopped listening to Rod Blagojevich. His political career, such as it is, will end.

 

[macbill]

Killer Whales Sink Yacht in Med: ‘Knew What they Were Doing’

The pod of orcas “are boat sinkers,” says the Bonhomme William’s owner.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[florduh]

Investors Are Suddenly Getting Very Concerned That AI Isn't Making Any Serious Money

An increasing number of Silicon Valley investors and Wall Street analysts are starting to ring the alarm bells over the money spent on AI.

futurism.com

 

[florduh]

Mob storms IDF base in Israel, echoing January 6 Capitol attack amid controversy - comment

On July 29, 2024, a mob stormed an IDF base in Israel, mirroring the January 6 US Capitol attack, amid intense controversy.

www.jpost.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1817911250669412795

Whistleblowers allege widespread torture and rape is occurring at this prison camp.

‘More horrific than Abu Ghraib’: Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center

At Sde Teiman, Khaled Mahajneh found a detained journalist unrecognizable as he described the facility’s violent and inhumane conditions.

www.972mag.com

Things got pretty nuts in the US after 9/11. But I don't remember American Hogs doing a January 6th to demand we execute the prisoners we were torturing at Abu Ghraib.