Public Enemy

(The following is a rant.)

Just in case anyone needed more evidence of the obvious, Donald J. Trump has confirmed he was guilty of inciting violence on Jan. 6th by inciting violence again — this time against the officials investigating him.

Among his followers are some misguided and foolish enough to do what he says; thus the New York D.A. Alvin Bragg is already getting death threats.

It truly amazes me that Trump so utterly lacks any semblance of a human conscience that he can brazenly threaten those he perceives as his enemies with what he knows are incendiary messages to his acolytes willing to carry out his orders.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s already blood on Trump’s hands for those who died as a result of the Capitol riot. When will whatever is left of a legitimate Republican Party denounce and expel this guy from their ranks?

He was always fond of labeling others as the “enemy of the people.” In fact, that was a classic case of projecting, as he was actually talking about himself.

Donald J. Trump is truly the enemy of the American people. Case closed.

LINKS:

• ‘Reckless’ Trump rhetoric could get someone killed, top Democrat warns (Guardian)

• Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg gets death threat with powder after Trump warns of probe-related violence (CNBC)

• Unearthed footage from 2018 shows Trump's current lawyer saying the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment could be a 'real problem' for Trump (Business Insider)

• District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, zeroing in on former President Donald Trump for a $130,000 hush money payoff of porn actor Stormy Daniels, strongly rejected a demand for information from Trump-supporting House Republicans. [HuffPost]

• Trump calls for removal of every top official investigating him (The Hill)

• Trump warns of ‘potential death & destruction’ if he is charged in hush-money case (WP)

• US Capitol rioter who barged into Pelosi’s offices sentenced to three years in prison (CNN)

• House passes GOP 'Parents Bill of Rights' measure opposed by Biden (NBC)

• Utah's new social media law means children will need approval from parents (NPR)

• An Idaho bill meant to provide students with free feminine hygiene products in schools failed after Republicans slammed it as too “woke.” “This bill is a very liberal policy, and it’s really turning Idaho into a bigger nanny state than ever,” state Rep. Heather Scott (R) said. [HuffPost]

• Graham admonished by Senate Ethics (Politico)

• A Florida principal was forced to resign after parents complained their sixth-grade children were shown images of Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture. One parent reportedly called the famed artwork "pornographic." [HuffPost]

• America’s online privacy problems are much bigger than TikTok (WP)

• Lawmakers Blast TikTok’s C.E.O. for App’s Ties to China, Escalating Tensions (NYT)

• TikTok faces uncertain future after 5-hour congressional thrashing (WP)

• Florida Republicans are working to make it a lot easier to sue reporters for defamation, outraging many First Amendment advocates and publishers around the state. If they become law, a pair of bills would lower the bar for defamation cases, restrict protections for the use of anonymous sources and limit circumstances where media outlets can win attorneys fees if they countersue. [HuffPost]

• Shares of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's Block fell 4% in premarket trading, a day after the payments firm's Cash App business became the latest target of US short seller Hindenburg Research. (Reuters)

• Banking fears spread to German giant Deusche Bank (CBS)

• Layoffs in California Stall Employment Growth: San Francisco and Silicon Valley Hardest Hit (Wolf Street)

• What Really Broke the Banks — The Fed, among others, is blameworthy. But the ultimate culprit is COVID-19. (Atlantic)

• Why advertisers aren’t coming back to Twitter — Elon Musk is still the problem.  (Vox)

• Laid-off workers are calling out their former employers on social media–and the death of non-disparagement clauses could make it the norm (Fortune)

• ‘Zoom Towns’ Exploded in the Work-From-Home Era. Now New Residents Are Facing Layoffs (Bloomberg)

• OpenAI turns ChatGPT into a platform overnight with addition of plugins (Venture Beat)

• ChatGPT Can Now Browse the Web, Help Book Flights and More (CNET)

• AI chatbots compared: Bard vs. Bing vs. ChatGPT (The Verge)

• A 16-Month-Old Chatbot Startup With No Revenue Is Now a $1 Billion Unicorn (WSJ)

• Why we need to be wary of anthropomorphising chatbots (New Scientist)

• Maybe A.I. Will Be a Threat—To Governments (Reason)

• “Is AI Turning Me Into an Obsolete Machine?” (New York)

• Beyond ChatGPT: what chatbots mean for the future (Economist)

• Fake images of Trump arrest show ‘giant step’ for AI’s disruptive power (WP)

• Keep Talking to the Taliban — Shaming and shunning won’t make life better for Afghans. (Foreign Policy)

• The Taliban in government: A grim new reality is settling in — Taliban decision-making over the past 20 months reveals where Afghanistan is headed – towards an impoverished autocracy. (Al Jazeera)

• Life Is Worse for Older People Now — A generation of Americans still can’t escape the threat of COVID. (Atlantic)

• NASA Is Tracking a Huge, Growing Anomaly in Earth's Magnetic Field (ScienceAlert)

• Utah Passes Social Media Law Stating That Teens May Only Be Groomed In Person By Religious Leaders (The Onion)