ecowen
@ecowen.bsky.social
just a guy trying to stay informed of current events while keeping existential dread to a manageable level. Have opinions on handing the reins of power to unaccountable billionaires, misinformation, the environment and equality.
Reposted by ecowen
The spyware that is now in ICE's hands has been (by another government) against journalists and activists in Italy, as well as a top CEO, and a political consultant. Matteo Renzi, Italy's former prime minister, calls it the Italian Watergate. Now it's landed here: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Tech giants vow to defend users in US as spyware companies make inroads with Trump administration
Apple and WhatsApp say they will keep warning users if their phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
The spyware that is now in ICE's hands has been (by another government) against journalists and activists in Italy, as well as a top CEO, and a political consultant. Matteo Renzi, Italy's former prime minister, calls it the Italian Watergate. Now it's landed here: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by ecowen
I’ve been saying this for the past couple of years.
Talked about the prospect of another pipeline and Carney's recent comments on my Monday political panel.
As I said, the biggest impediment isn't regulations or even Indigenous opposition but the lack of a viable business case.
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/23/o...
As I said, the biggest impediment isn't regulations or even Indigenous opposition but the lack of a viable business case.
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/23/o...
Danielle Smith’s pipeline still doesn’t have a business case
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of another pipeline to the West Coast isn't the tanker ban or federal climate policies. It's oil prices and the nature of the businesses that rely on them for ...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I’ve been saying this for the past couple of years.
Reposted by ecowen
No proof will ever be enough for the denialists but here’s yet another example of the thing they say isn’t happening - children’s remains being returned to their families. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
After 8 decades, Alma Beaulieu, who died at an N.W.T. residential school, is home | CBC News
For generations, the family of five-year-old Alma Beaulieu didn’t know what happened when she died at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Fort Resolution, N.W.T. More than 80 years later, Alma's sister...
www.cbc.ca
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
No proof will ever be enough for the denialists but here’s yet another example of the thing they say isn’t happening - children’s remains being returned to their families. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by ecowen
Legal experts and politicians criticise process used to ban Palestine Action
Legal experts and politicians criticise process used to ban Palestine Action
Independent commission says definition of terrorism relied on by ministers is too broad and more parliamentary oversight is needed
Legal experts, former government ministers and an ex-MI6 director have criticised the process used to ban Palestine Action.
The members of an independent commission set up by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law said the definition of terrorism was too broad and better parliamentary oversight and judicial scrutiny was needed. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Legal experts and politicians criticise process used to ban Palestine Action
No viable third party to punish the two payola parties means working class Americans get screwed once again. Decades of being played by Washington & pundits wonder why democracy is in peril? The rich win every time.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/p...
Senate advances deal to reopen government after centrist Democrats strike major deal to end shutdown | CNN Politics
A critical bloc of eight Senate Democratic centrists on Sunday helped advance a funding deal to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care subsidies, put...
www.cnn.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 AM
No viable third party to punish the two payola parties means working class Americans get screwed once again. Decades of being played by Washington & pundits wonder why democracy is in peril? The rich win every time.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/p...
Reposted by ecowen
Every major policy that makes life in Canada great: healthcare, pensions, paid time off - the Cons fought against it.
They’ve never been on the side of progress, only the side of power. And if given the chance, they’d take it all back. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, healthcare, all of it.
They’ve never been on the side of progress, only the side of power. And if given the chance, they’d take it all back. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, healthcare, all of it.
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Every major policy that makes life in Canada great: healthcare, pensions, paid time off - the Cons fought against it.
They’ve never been on the side of progress, only the side of power. And if given the chance, they’d take it all back. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, healthcare, all of it.
They’ve never been on the side of progress, only the side of power. And if given the chance, they’d take it all back. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, healthcare, all of it.
Reposted by ecowen
'I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
‘Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive'
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
‘Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive'
At the Cenotaph, by Siegfried Sassoon
I saw the Prince of Darkness, wit…
Standing bare-headed by the Cenot…
Unostentatious and respectful, the…
He stood, and offered up the follo…
‘Make them forget, O Lord, what t…
www.poeticous.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:54 PM
'I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
‘Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive'
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
‘Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive'
Reposted by ecowen
The deprivation of food is done with the specific intent to cause death, or with "malice aforethought" (extreme recklessness or "depraved heart" that shows a reckless indifference to human life), the charge can be first or second-degree murder.
November 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The deprivation of food is done with the specific intent to cause death, or with "malice aforethought" (extreme recklessness or "depraved heart" that shows a reckless indifference to human life), the charge can be first or second-degree murder.
Reposted by ecowen
Yep. Has NYT devoted even *one* stand alone news analysis to the collapse of the MAGA coalition?
After a week in which Dems exceeded expectations in elections, Trump's popularity continues to tank, the GOP largely abandoned the task of governing (just as Thanksgiving travel approaches), I'm a bit surprised to see many more stories highlighting weakness in the Dem than in the GOP coalition.
This NYT framing is ludicrously overstated. Sure, there are primaries. But if anything, the results showed a lot of Dems that there's a way to unify the factions around anti-Trump and affordability politics (as I try to argue in the piece/thread below).
November 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Yep. Has NYT devoted even *one* stand alone news analysis to the collapse of the MAGA coalition?
Reposted by ecowen
"Plans for Australia's new $7 billion Redback infantry fighting vehicles have been stolen and posted online by Iran-backed hackers following a spate of attacks on Israeli arms companies." 👁️ www.skynews.com.au/australia-ne... "Cyber Toufan, a hacking group believed to have ties to the Iranian state"
Iran-backed hackers steal plans for new Australian fighting vehicles
Plans for Australia's new $7 billion Redback infantry fighting vehicles have been stolen and posted online by Iran-backed hackers following a spate of attacks on Israeli arms companies.
www.skynews.com.au
November 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM
"Plans for Australia's new $7 billion Redback infantry fighting vehicles have been stolen and posted online by Iran-backed hackers following a spate of attacks on Israeli arms companies." 👁️ www.skynews.com.au/australia-ne... "Cyber Toufan, a hacking group believed to have ties to the Iranian state"
Reposted by ecowen
Possibly the saddest exchange I've seen on social media, transformed into a living nightmare because
1 - Oates' target is arbitrarily responsible for 100,000s of deaths
2 - We don't yet have the social tools, at scale, to address either the tragedy of the exchange, or the immense tragedy of the act
1 - Oates' target is arbitrarily responsible for 100,000s of deaths
2 - We don't yet have the social tools, at scale, to address either the tragedy of the exchange, or the immense tragedy of the act
November 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Possibly the saddest exchange I've seen on social media, transformed into a living nightmare because
1 - Oates' target is arbitrarily responsible for 100,000s of deaths
2 - We don't yet have the social tools, at scale, to address either the tragedy of the exchange, or the immense tragedy of the act
1 - Oates' target is arbitrarily responsible for 100,000s of deaths
2 - We don't yet have the social tools, at scale, to address either the tragedy of the exchange, or the immense tragedy of the act
Reposted by ecowen
"An article published by The Times suggested that Iran was making donations to Palestine Action "via proxies"
It turned out that the story was allegedly planted in the British press by a PR firm working for an Israeli weapons company. Read the full report from Joshua Carroll: novara.media/4hLyeUx "
It turned out that the story was allegedly planted in the British press by a PR firm working for an Israeli weapons company. Read the full report from Joshua Carroll: novara.media/4hLyeUx "
November 9, 2025 at 10:08 AM
"An article published by The Times suggested that Iran was making donations to Palestine Action "via proxies"
It turned out that the story was allegedly planted in the British press by a PR firm working for an Israeli weapons company. Read the full report from Joshua Carroll: novara.media/4hLyeUx "
It turned out that the story was allegedly planted in the British press by a PR firm working for an Israeli weapons company. Read the full report from Joshua Carroll: novara.media/4hLyeUx "
Reposted by ecowen
I never expected to write about my time rigging card games. Then I watched him get elected in 2016. I hinted at it with a post. When Kavanaugh was sworn in, I’d had enough. The book is set in the world of crooked poker, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about what’s happening to all of us now.
October 26, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I never expected to write about my time rigging card games. Then I watched him get elected in 2016. I hinted at it with a post. When Kavanaugh was sworn in, I’d had enough. The book is set in the world of crooked poker, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about what’s happening to all of us now.
Reposted by ecowen
But, this month is Scouting for Food, and Troop and Pack 98 responded knowing just how dire the situations were.
Car after car after car came in, wagons arriving on foot, bag after bag coming out of the cars.
Those scouts filled those shelves. And the back room. And the hallway.
Car after car after car came in, wagons arriving on foot, bag after bag coming out of the cars.
Those scouts filled those shelves. And the back room. And the hallway.
November 8, 2025 at 8:03 PM
But, this month is Scouting for Food, and Troop and Pack 98 responded knowing just how dire the situations were.
Car after car after car came in, wagons arriving on foot, bag after bag coming out of the cars.
Those scouts filled those shelves. And the back room. And the hallway.
Car after car after car came in, wagons arriving on foot, bag after bag coming out of the cars.
Those scouts filled those shelves. And the back room. And the hallway.
Reposted by ecowen
“When Sora finished generating those videos it sent us notifications like ‘Your choke scene just went live, brace for chaos,’ and ‘Yikes, intense choke scene, watch responsibly.’”
OpenAI’s Sora 2 Floods Social Media With Videos of Women Being Strangled
X and TikTok accounts are dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being strangled.
www.404media.co
November 8, 2025 at 8:53 AM
“When Sora finished generating those videos it sent us notifications like ‘Your choke scene just went live, brace for chaos,’ and ‘Yikes, intense choke scene, watch responsibly.’”
Reposted by ecowen
When deception’s more profitable than honesty, users lose.
Internal documents suggest that Meta earns $3.5B(!) every 6 mo. from scam ads, revealing a deeper systemic problem: the economic incentive to tolerate “higher legal risk” content still outweighs any penalty. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Internal documents suggest that Meta earns $3.5B(!) every 6 mo. from scam ads, revealing a deeper systemic problem: the economic incentive to tolerate “higher legal risk” content still outweighs any penalty. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:14 AM
When deception’s more profitable than honesty, users lose.
Internal documents suggest that Meta earns $3.5B(!) every 6 mo. from scam ads, revealing a deeper systemic problem: the economic incentive to tolerate “higher legal risk” content still outweighs any penalty. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Internal documents suggest that Meta earns $3.5B(!) every 6 mo. from scam ads, revealing a deeper systemic problem: the economic incentive to tolerate “higher legal risk” content still outweighs any penalty. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by ecowen
The boyfriend of a friend of my son's has spent several weeks in a psych ward due to Chat GPT induced psychosis. He isn't suicidal but AI encouraged him down a toxic and paranoid wormhole until he became completely delusional. Evil stuff.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 6:10 AM
The boyfriend of a friend of my son's has spent several weeks in a psych ward due to Chat GPT induced psychosis. He isn't suicidal but AI encouraged him down a toxic and paranoid wormhole until he became completely delusional. Evil stuff.
Reposted by ecowen
"I am seeing a tool that’s going to be used for censorship... It’s going to be used to remove books from that are about queerness or sexuality or race or history. But institutions are going to buy this product because they have a mandate from state legislatures to do this”
Librarians told 404 Media they're being inundated with new pitches for AI library tech and catalogs are being flooded with AI slop books.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 9:03 PM
"I am seeing a tool that’s going to be used for censorship... It’s going to be used to remove books from that are about queerness or sexuality or race or history. But institutions are going to buy this product because they have a mandate from state legislatures to do this”
Reposted by ecowen
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond
Reposted by ecowen
"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 1:33 AM
"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk
Reposted by ecowen
Children want a world where their rights are respected and fulfilled.
This #WorldChildrensDay, join us to listen to children and learn about their rights.
Even the smallest actions can add up to make a better world #ForEveryChild.
This #WorldChildrensDay, join us to listen to children and learn about their rights.
Even the smallest actions can add up to make a better world #ForEveryChild.
November 6, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Children want a world where their rights are respected and fulfilled.
This #WorldChildrensDay, join us to listen to children and learn about their rights.
Even the smallest actions can add up to make a better world #ForEveryChild.
This #WorldChildrensDay, join us to listen to children and learn about their rights.
Even the smallest actions can add up to make a better world #ForEveryChild.
Reposted by ecowen
Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson: “I think this is a terrible budget (...) The things that we see in this budget are supports for big corporations and there is very little for people.”
”She added that she does not see a path in which she would be willing to abstain.”
#Canada #CDNPoli #Budget2025
”She added that she does not see a path in which she would be willing to abstain.”
#Canada #CDNPoli #Budget2025
NDP leadership candidates express concern with federal budget
Heather McPherson is the only elected MP of the candidates and therefore will be the only one to actually cast a vote
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson: “I think this is a terrible budget (...) The things that we see in this budget are supports for big corporations and there is very little for people.”
”She added that she does not see a path in which she would be willing to abstain.”
#Canada #CDNPoli #Budget2025
”She added that she does not see a path in which she would be willing to abstain.”
#Canada #CDNPoli #Budget2025
Reposted by ecowen
lol
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 AM
lol
Reposted by ecowen
Hey Bill Gates : Are you familiar with the logical fallacy known as "false dilemma"?
November 6, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Hey Bill Gates : Are you familiar with the logical fallacy known as "false dilemma"?
Reposted by ecowen
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.