Abused Dogs and Cats Now Have a (Human) Voice in Connecticut Courts NYT
Business as Usual: The Long History of Corporate Personhood Boston Review
Uber’s New CEO May Get at Least $200 Million to Exit Expedia Bloomberg and New Uber CEO Khosrowshahi Faces Daunting Fix-It List Bloomberg. Like a business model that can’t ever show a profit.
Hedge funds see a gold rush in data mining FT
The age of AI surveillance is here Quartz
Boffins bust AI with corrupted training data The Register
Showing the Algorithms Behind New York City Services NYT
Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won’t Tell Me How Gizmodo
Facebook’s Fight Against Fake News Hits Pages and Business Listings Fortune. “The company recently partnered with third-party groups like Snopes, the Associated Press, and ABC News to identify stories proven to be fake.” First, it’s amazing to me that Fortune can mention AP and ABC in the same breath with a tiny firm whose owners are at odds, and keep a straight face. More centrally, would Facebook have been able to detect that Judy Miller’s WMD stories were fake? And if so, what action, if any, would Facebook have taken? Finally, it should be amusing to see the arms race between Facebook’s algos and Macedonian teenagers (or the Silicon Valley companies that are the real problem). This entire projects reeks of bad faith.
‘Economic censorship’: YouTube bans advertisers from Ron Paul videos RT
The great digital media culling of 2017 The Week
The Mayweather-McGregor Fight Shows It’s Impossible to Stop Social Media Streaming of Big Events Motherboard (Re Silc).
At Whole Foods, Amazon Takes Rare Lead in Cutting Prices WSJ. For 100 items? The average supermarket carries 39,500. And read the comments, if you can. They’re scathing.
Deficit Spending Should Be Counter-Cyclical (Not Pro-Cyclical) Barry Ritholtz (Re Silc).
Pensions May Yank Up to $1 Trillion From Stocks to Trim Risk Bloomberg
North Korea
North Korea fires missile over Japan for first time since 2009, escalating crisis South China Morning Post
Kim Jong Un’s theory of nuclear victory Australian Financial Review
South Korea’s show of force over missile The Australian
India and China are ending a months-long border standoff Business Insider
In defense of Japan’s misunderstood young generation Nikkei Asian Review
Brexit
Brexit: Michel Barnier calls on UK to start ‘negotiating seriously’ ABC Australia. It’s not even clear the UK has the capacity to do that, let alone the will.
Would Remain win a second referendum? mainly macro
Theresa May has become a human shield for compromise FT. “She must sense a nation glancing at its watch and muttering about an early start tomorrow.”
Notting Hill carnival begins with ceremony to remember Grenfell victims Guardian
Syraqistan
Why Russia Wants the US to Stay in Afghanistan The Diplomat (Re Silc). Re Silc: “To suck Uncle Sam dry.” Turnabout is fair play…
Shia Insurrection in Saudi Arabia; The Battle for Awamiya Counterpunch
Hurricane Harvey
Harvey Moves Back Over Water; Historic Rainfall Will Continue Weather Underground
Harvey’s rains shut in more U.S. refineries, sending fuel prices higher Reuters
As Catastrophic Flooding Hits Houston, Fears Grow of Pollution from Oil Refineries & Superfund Sites Democracy Now
Is Harvey Also a Threat to the Air We Breathe? Houston Press
Hurricane Harvey: Why Is It So Extreme? Scientific America
In Houston, Anxiety and Frantic Rescues as Floodwaters Rise NYT
Climate Activist: Harvey Could Prompt GOP Push For More Fossil Fuel Drilling Business Insider
Boomtown, Flood Town Pro Publica. What’s “natural” about natural disasters?
New Cold War
Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected’ NYT. Hard to see how anyone who matters in Russia would do business with Sater, since he’s a felon who ratted out. Even Russian crooks would avoid him.
Lurid Trump allegations made by Louise Mensch and co-writer came from hoaxer Guardian
Soviet girl draws her Soviet Childhood English Russia. Lovely images. Seriously, Dmitri told me that if I didn’t put this in, no rent for the dacha.
Trump Transition
Trump Cybersecurity Advisors Resign, Citing His ‘Insufficient Attention’ to Threats Fortune
Tillerson to ditch most special envoys, including on climate, Guantanamo Japan Times
Trump’s cascade of crises Axios
Top Trump ally says he can’t get a meeting with the president Axios. John Bolton, which speaks well of John Kelly.
Don’t count on ‘Trump’s generals’ to save us Matt Bai, Yahoo News
Roger Stone: Politicians voting for Trump’s impeachment ‘endangering their own lives’ The Hill
Police State Watch
Soul Snatchers: How the NYPD’s 42nd Precinct, the Bronx DA’s Office, and the City of New York Conspired to Destroy Black and Brown Lives (Part 1) Shaun King, Medium. Rather like Chicago’s Homan Square, which also happened under a Democrat mayor.
Trump rescinds Obama limits on transfer of military gear to police Reuters
Police Access to Military Equipment Needs More Oversight, Not Less Project on Government Oversight
Chicago cops get more Tasers, but red flags remain Chicago Tribune
Boyfriend’s betrayal: ABQ woman jailed after ATF informant lured her into drug deals New Mexico In Depth
A Federal Judge Put Hundreds of Immigrants Behind Bars While Her Husband Invested in Private Prisons Mother Jones
Democrats in Disarray
Bernie Sanders Is the Most Popular Politician in America, Poll Says Vice
Imperial Collapse Watch
No, USS McCain Probably Wasn’t Hacked. But What If It Was? Defense One
The Long Shadow of Sir John A. MacDonald Cable
Class Warfare
She eats out of dumpsters so she can afford long-term care for her husband Miami Herald. Because America is already great, and Medicare for All will “never, ever” come to pass.
St. Louis’ minimum wage is dropping today MarketPlace (Re Silc).
The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial Ribbon Farm (Re Silc). Better than the headline — they just had to get “Millennial” in there — and includes a handy diagram of the American class system, c. 2017.
Why Not Pay Women to Stay Home, Raise Children? The American Conservative
California Looks to Outlaw Sexual Harassment by VCs Bloomberg
Why Men Don’t Believe the Data on Gender Bias in Science WIRED
Definition of happiness in Japan remains a mystery Japan Times
So you didn’t win Powerball. Don’t worry, you can still be happy Boston Globe
Antidote du jour (via):
Alligator in Houston, seeking higher ground.
Bonus antidote:
Mesmerizing drone and aerial video shows sharks swimming through massive schools of fish https://t.co/iaiqQcZluJ pic.twitter.com/BrK7mDkPAC
— CNN (@CNN) August 27, 2017
I probably should have put this up with the Uber stories…
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
