Mastodawn

Pete Hegseth meets with Anthropic CEO over disagreements about AI guardrails for military use | CNN Business

https://sh.itjust.works/post/55854726

Pete Hegseth meets with Anthropic CEO over disagreements about AI guardrails for military use | CNN Business - sh.itjust.works

> Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today, as the Pentagon threatens the AI company with what could amount to a government blacklist. > > At issue is the guardrails Anthropic placed on its AI models. The Pentagon, which has a $200 million contract with Anthropic, wants the company to lift its restrictions for the military to be able to use the model for “all lawful use,” according to a source familiar with the discussions. > > But Anthropic has concerns over two issues that it isn’t willing to drop, the source said: AI-controlled weapons and mass domestic surveillance of American citizens. According to a source familiar, Anthropic believes AI is not reliable enough to operate weapons and no laws or regulations yet that cover how AI could be used in mass surveillance.

ravenaspiring Feb 7

U.S. births dropped last year, suggesting the 2024 uptick was short-lived

https://sh.itjust.works/post/54896464

U.S. births dropped last year, suggesting the 2024 uptick was short-lived - sh.itjust.works

> Slightly over 3.6 million births have been reported through birth certificates, or about 24,000 fewer than in 2024. The decline seems to confirm predictions by some experts, who doubted a slight increase in births in 2024 marked the start of an upward trend. So just as a reminder of the immigration context, which is probably preaching to the choir. It is just infuriating to have such ignorance govern us. A stable population has to have a total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.1 per women to remain stable. The TFR in 2024 [https://apnews.com/article/fertility-rate-us-low-cdc-replacement-532c4f43f420f29b32212db9cfa0e0af] is 1.599, meaning we are losing population. Also the US population growth (which is tied to the US economic growth in the long term) has slowed to it’s lowest rate [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/us/politics/census-2025-estimates-population-immigration.html] since 2021. So the Republicans are shooting us further in the foot, by reducing our immigrants, who tend to be more innovative, have more national pride, and cost less to the government (as they tend to come pre k12 educated) so are a net economic positive [https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/explainer-immigrants-and-us-economy]. And also tend to fill labor gaps. Not saying we should not change our economic model and be more sustainable, but the national debt isn’t going to pay itself off if we listen to idiots.

ravenaspiring Dec 30

America Needs Economic Warriors

https://sh.itjust.works/post/52513038

America Needs Economic Warriors - sh.itjust.works

> Washington’s mixed track record reflects more than simply individual policies gone awry. It reflects a competition between one rival that struggles to play the long game and another that has mastered it. The United States has deployed existing tools to new challenges, often without fully anticipating the consequences. It has yet to demonstrate its ability to systematically connect dots across policy domains, develop economic war-games, and devise strategies as part of a comprehensive and effective approach to economic security. > The United States, in other words, has improvised piecemeal policies and hoped for the best, while China has fused strategic vision with institutional coordination and dedicated resources to developing the human capital needed to pull off such an approach. Washington needs to raise its economic security game. To do so, it needs to nurture a new class of economic warriors adept in the new tools of national power, resilience, and global influence. … > What many in Washington often overlook is that China’s competitive success is a function not simply of party diktats but of the resourcefulness of its trained personnel, as well. China’s 2023–2027 National Cadre Training Plan calls for officials to master global economics, supply chain resilience, dual-use technology, and financial risk via mandatory training programs using online self-study and in-person “collective training” sessions. At the Central Party School, cadres study international political economy, the Belt and Road Initiative, and China’s framework for assessing national strength. Elite universities extend the pipeline: the Seven Sons of National Defense, a grouping of public universities affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, trains technologists for strategic industries. Tsinghua University and Wuhan University offer research, advisory, and training activities related to BRI. The China University of Labor Relations trains foreign trade union leaders on Chinese economic and labor theory and practice to build solidarity among BRI partners. > This institutional architecture embodies what Dan Wang, currently a research fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford, has called China’s “engineering state”—a system that channels technical talent toward national economic objectives, forming an ecosystem designed to produce officials who can “win wars without fighting” by mastering markets, logistics, and technology. Chinese decision-makers have long understood that winning the geoeconomic long game requires cultivating a pipeline of top talent with breadth and depth across technology, economics, and investment.

ravenaspiring Dec 29

Future NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made bold promises. Can he keep them?

https://sh.itjust.works/post/52472543

Future NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made bold promises. Can he keep them? - sh.itjust.works

> Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, already faces intense scrutiny, even before taking office in one of the country’s most scrutinized political jobs. Republicans have cast him as a liberal boogeyman. Some of his fellow Democrats have deemed him too far left. Progressives are closely watching for any signs of him shifting toward the center. > On Jan. 1, he will assume control of America’s biggest city under that harsh spotlight, with the country watching to see if he can pull off the big promises that vaulted him to office and handle the everyday duties of the job. All while skeptics call out his every stumble. > For Mamdani, starting off strong is key, said George Arzt, a veteran Democratic political consultant in New York who worked for former Mayor Ed Koch. > “He’s got to use the first 100 days of the administration to show people he can govern,” he said. “You’ve got to set a mindset for people that’s like, ‘Hey, this guy’s serious.’” > That push should begin with Mamdani’s speech on the day of his inauguration, where Arzt said it will be important for the new mayor to establish a clear blueprint of his agenda and tell New Yorkers what he plans to do and how he plans to do it.

ravenaspiring Oct 30

U.S. Senate votes 50-46 to nullify Trump tariffs on Canada, with four Republicans crossing aisle

https://sh.itjust.works/post/48888626

U.S. Senate votes 50-46 to nullify Trump tariffs on Canada, with four Republicans crossing aisle - sh.itjust.works

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/48882721 [https://sh.itjust.works/post/48882721] > The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would nullify U.S. tariffs on Canada, just as U.S. President Donald Trump is engaged in trade talks in Asia as well as an increasingly bitter trade spat with U.S.’s northern neighbour that is one of its largest economic partners. > > The 50-46 tally was the latest in a series of votes this week to terminate the national emergencies that Trump has used to impose tariffs. While the resolutions won’t ultimately take effect, they have proven to be an effective way for Democrats to expose cracks between the president’s trade policy and Republican senators who have traditionally supported free trade arguments.

ravenaspiring Jul 25, 2025

'South Park' co-creator jokes he's 'terribly sorry' about premiere that angered White House

https://sh.itjust.works/post/42801077

'South Park' co-creator jokes he's 'terribly sorry' about premiere that angered White House - sh.itjust.works

> South Park” co-creator Trey Parker had the briefest of responses Thursday to anger from the White House over the season premiere of the animated institution, which showed a naked President Donald Trump in bed with Satan. > “We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said, followed by a long, deadpan-comic stare. …

ravenaspiring May 1, 2025

An Attack on America’s Universities Is an Attack on American Power

https://sh.itjust.works/post/37097477

An Attack on America’s Universities Is an Attack on American Power - sh.itjust.works

> President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to sever the link between academia and government by freezing billions of dollars in federal grants to top research institutions. This act may score political points among those accustomed to understanding academia as a left-leaning “ivory tower” insulated from ordinary Americans and private enterprise. But it reflects a dangerous misunderstanding of how the United States became militarily and commercially dominant in the first place. Research universities have long undergirded, in particular, the country’s national security through defense research, and they continue to train the pipeline of talent that powers both government and industry. Practically speaking, cutting their support does not represent a principled political stance—it is a friendly-fire assault on U.S. national security. … > Universities, for their part, converted U.S. taxpayers’ dollars into innovations that made the country prosper. Nowhere was this more evident than at Stanford, where federal defense contracts and research funding supported a culture of innovation that helped create Silicon Valley. Faculty members such as Frederick Terman, who aggressively expanded the university’s statistics and engineering departments to win more Defense Department grants, encouraged students to commercialize their research, enabling the founding of companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Fairchild Semiconductor that would become cornerstones of the computing revolution. > While many other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, continued to direct government funding for scientific research mainly toward government labs, the United States built a decentralized research system anchored in its universities. This decentralized system not only accelerated technological progress but also helped defense-related innovations flow into private commerce, giving U.S. industry a clear edge that the Soviet Union struggled to match, despite its extensive investments in technical education. By the end of the twentieth century, this system of federally funded university research had become the backbone of the United States’ global leadership.

ravenaspiring Apr 28, 2025

Spain, Portugal and parts of France hit by massive power outage

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36916329

Spain, Portugal and parts of France hit by massive power outage - sh.itjust.works

## A nationwide power outage hit Spain and Portugal on Monday, leaving millions without electricity. Reports indicate issues with the European electric grid.