The Full Belmonte, 2/21/2023
Turkey earthquake: Deadly new tremor traps people under rubble
Antakya, Turkey.Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
“Rescuers are once again searching for people trapped under rubble in Turkey after another earthquake hit the country, killing at least six people.
A 6.4 magnitude tremor struck near the city of Antakya near the border with Syria, where massive quakes devastated both countries on 6 February.
The earlier quakes killed 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria with tens of thousands more left homeless.
Buildings weakened by those tremors collapsed in both countries on Monday.
Turkey's disaster and emergency agency says the 6.4 earthquake occurred at 20:04 local time (17:04 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).
This was followed by a 5.8 aftershock three minutes later and 31 subsequent aftershocks that were not as severe….” Read more at BBC
SCOTUS
“The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments this week in two cases that could have a major impact on the internet's future. The outcome of the arguments, scheduled for today and Wednesday, could determine whether tech platforms and social media companies can be sued for recommending content to their users or for supporting acts of international terrorism by hosting terrorist content. At the heart of the legal battle is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a nearly 30-year-old federal law that courts have repeatedly said provides broad protections to tech platforms. However, the law has since come under scrutiny alongside growing criticism of Big Tech's content moderation decisions. As a result, websites may soon try to manage their legal risk for hosting or promoting content -- which means possible sweeping changes on their sites, including Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube, to name a few.” [CNN]
Biden thanks Poland for "unwavering" support in Ukraine
“US President Joe Biden thanked Polish President Andrzej Duda for his country’s commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine calling the relationship between the two nations ‘critical, critical, critical.’
Biden said he believes Ukraine is in a ‘better position than we’ve ever been’ and called on NATO countries to ‘keep our head and our focus.’
‘I made it clear that the commitment of the United States is real and that a year later I would argue NATO is stronger than it’s ever been,’ Biden said.
‘I can proudly say that our support for Ukraine remains unwavering.’
Biden called Poland’s support for Ukraine ‘truly extraordinary’ and thanked the country for welcoming over one million Ukrainians….” Read more at CNN
Three days. 10 mass shootings. More than 50 victims. US sees worst weekend of 2023.
“Nine children were shot at a Georgia gas station. Six people were killed in a Mississippi town. Eleven people were shot in Memphis. Five people were shot near a parade in New Orleans. Six people were shot on a Chicago expressway. That's just half of the reported mass shooting violence over the weekend. There were 10 mass shootings from Feb. 17 through Feb. 19 – the most of any weekend so far this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. That’s considering all shootings from Friday to Sunday in which four or more people were shot, not including the shooter or shooters.” Read more at USA Today
Police work the scene of a shooting at the Krewe of Bacchus parade on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. Five people were shot, including a young girl, during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, police said, and a suspect was in custody.
DAVID GRUNFELD, AP
Ohio toxic train
“EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the nation's top environmental official, will visit East Palestine, Ohio, today amid mounting reports of rashes, headaches, nausea and other symptoms that residents fear could be related to the February 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals. "Our throats are sore, we're coughing a lot now," said Desiree Walker, a resident living 900 feet from the site of the wreck. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters on Monday that he also plans to visit the community "when the time is right" and announced new efforts by his agency to improve rail safety. Meanwhile, residents are criticizing the federal and state response to the wreck, saying more needs to be done to assure residents that the air and water in the town are safe. Crews have checked hundreds of homes and have not detected any dangerous levels of contaminants, the EPA said.” [CNN]
NOAA/ Screenshot by NPR
“Temperatures across the country will hit record highs and lows as a huge winter storm sweeps across much of the country. In D.C., temps will reach nearly 80 degrees before plummeting to below freezing. The National Weather Service says the storm will be ‘disruptive to travel, infrastructure, livestock, and recreation in affected areas.’”
‘Rust’ Prosecutors Downgrade Alec Baldwin’s Manslaughter Charges
The actor’s lawyers had argued that a firearm law included by the prosecutors was not in effect at the time of the fatal shooting. It would have carried a mandatory five-year sentence.
“Prosecutors have downgraded the involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin, significantly reducing the possible prison time for the actor, who was holding the gun that discharged on the “Rust” movie set, killing the film’s cinematographer.
Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers argued this month that the Santa Fe County district attorney had incorrectly charged the actor under a version of a New Mexico firearm law that was passed months after the fatal shooting in October 2021.
If convicted under that law, called a firearm enhancement, Mr. Baldwin would have received a minimum prison sentence of five years. Instead, he now faces a maximum of 18 months in prison….” Read more at New York Times
James O’Keefe Leaves His Post as the Leader of Project Veritas
Mr. O’Keefe had been the face of the group of conservative provocateurs since he founded Project Veritas in his father’s garage in suburban New York in 2010.
“James O’Keefe, who as the leader of the conservative group Project Veritas used theatrical stunts, undercover stings and other deceptive tactics in efforts to inflict embarrassment and charges of hypocrisy and wrongdoing on perceived liberal enemies in politics and the media, has left his post, Mr. O’Keefe disclosed on Monday.
His departure came amid an uproar among the group’s staff about his leadership style, his treatment of subordinates and his use of the group’s funds for high-priced expenses like flights on a private plane.
It also came in the midst of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into how Project Veritas acquired a diary kept by Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, before the 2020 election. Mr. O’Keefe’s home was searched by F.B.I. agents with a warrant in the fall of 2021 as part of the investigation…..” Read more at New York Times
Students, faculty return to Michigan State after shooting
Michigan State international students Dheeraj Thota, left, and Chirag Bhansari, both freshman studying computer science, found a single rose on their walk to class as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State University is set to return to classes Monday, with officials saying they hope a return to familiarity may help the community heal. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
“EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations, one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.
The 50,000-student university’s campus remained relatively quiet on the first day back, with many professors allowing students to attend class virtually. Many students skipped class to attend an afternoon protest at the state Capitol in Lansing to call for gun control legislation.
All students at the university this semester will be given a credit/no credit option, which allows students to receive credit for all classes without it impacting their overall grade point average. University officials also asked teachers in an email Friday to ‘extend as much grace and flexibility as you are able with individual students, now and in the coming weeks.’….” Read more at AP News
Putin ups tensions over Ukraine, suspending START nuke pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he gives his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the U.S., announcing the move Tuesday in a bitter speech where he made clear he would not change his strategy in the war in Ukraine.
In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast his country — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said it was Russia, not Ukraine, fighting for its very existence.
‘We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,’ Putin said in a speech days before the war’s first anniversary on Friday. ‘The Ukrainian people have become hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.’
The speech reiterated a litany of grievances that the Russian leader has frequently offered as justification for the widely condemned military campaign while vowing no military let-up in a conflict that has reawakened fears of a new Cold War.
On top of that, Putin sharply upped the ante by declaring that Moscow would suspend its participation in the so-called New START Treaty. The pact, signed in 2010 by the U.S. and Russia, caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads the two sides can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons…..” Read more at AP News
Spanish transport secretary resigns after new trains too big for tunnels
Head of state rail company, Renfe, also quits as anger rises over fact trains built in £227.5m contract are too wide
“Spain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned amid continuing public and political anger after it emerged that dozens of new trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.
Three years ago, the state rail operator, Renfe, announced plans to modernise the rolling stock on narrow-gauge commuter trains and medium-distance trains in Asturias and Cantabria.
But it was revealed last month that the trains being built under the €258m (£227.5m) contract would be too wide to pass through some of the tunnels in the two regions….” Read more at The Guardian
“Cyclone cost climbs in New Zealand. A week after Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand, thousands remain missing and 11 people are confirmed dead. Chris Hipkins, New Zealand’s prime minister, called the storm, which hit the country’s north, this century’s greatest natural disaster. Hipkins has told the press that more fatalities are sadly still possible, saying, ‘The true extent of the devastation and loss become clearer with every passing day.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Bangladesh shuts major opposition newspaper. Bangladesh’s main opposition party’s only publication has been shut down after a government suspension was upheld. The decision marks the end of Bengali-language broadsheet Dainik Dinkal’s three decade run. Dhaka district authorities ordered it to stop publishing in late December. A court has now upheld that decision. Unions and journalists protested the shutdown.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Chatbot misinfo nightmare
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
New generative AI tools — including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's BingGPT and Google's Bard — are capable of releasing a tsunami of misinformation, Axios' Ashley Gold and Sara Fischer write for our "AI Revolution" series.
Why it matters: Regulators and Big Tech were slow to face the dangers of misinformation on social media — and are still playing catch-up with imperfect and incomplete policy and product solutions.
Now, experts are sounding the alarm faster as real-life examples of inaccurate or erratic responses from generative AI bots proliferate.
"It's getting worse — and getting worse fast," Gary Marcus, a professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University and AI skeptic, told Axios.
Here's a quick catch-up on the threat — and early uses and abuses:
Generative AI programs like ChatGPT don't have a clear sense of the boundary between fact and fiction. They're also prone to making things up as they try to satisfy human users' inquiries.
For now, experts say the biggest generative AI misinformation threat is bad actors spreading false narratives quickly and at scale.
Misinformation can also flow into AI models. That means at least some generative AI will be subject to "injection attacks," where malicious users teach lies to the programs, which then spread them.
Behind the scenes: Tech firms are trying to get ahead of regulatory action by developing their own tools to detect falsehoods — and are using feedback to train the algorithms in real time.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, released a free web-based tooldesigned to help educators figure out if a particular chunk of text was written by a human or a machine. (Go deeper.)
Google last week warned web publishers it'll use extra caution when elevating health, civic or financial information in search results.
How it works: Microsoft says user feedback a key way to make ChatGPT behave.
Microsoft's Responsible AI team said the bot will rely heavily on footnotes for fact-checking.
Don Lemon to return to 'CNN This Morning' after training
“Anchor Don Lemon will return to work tomorrow after he receives formal training for his comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on ‘CNN This Morning,’ network CEO Chris Licht said. Lemon has not been on the air since Thursday, when during a discussion about the ages of politicians he said that Haley, 51, was not ‘in her prime’ and added: ‘Don’t shoot the messenger.’ Lemon has since apologized. ‘I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation,’ Licht wrote in a memo. ‘He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continuing to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously,’ CNN Business reported.” Read more at USA Today
Don Lemon attends the Michael Kors fashion show during New York Fashion Week on February 15, 2023 in New York City.
Gotham, WireImage
Roald Dahl’s Books Are Rewritten to Cut Potentially Offensive Language
New editions of the best-selling author’s children’s classics, including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ have been altered to eliminate words deemed inappropriate. A backlash ensued.
Roald Dahl in 1971. His children’s books have sold millions of copies.Credit...Ronald Dumont/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“LONDON — New editions of the works of Roald Dahl — the best-selling British novelist whose children’s classics include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “James and the Giant Peach” — have been rewritten in an effort to make them less offensive and more inclusive, according to a representative from the author’s estate.
The changes have prompted widespread criticism from prominent literary figures and others, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain. The books’ publisher, Puffin Books, and the author’s estate did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of the changes. However, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, earlier reported that hundreds of words, including descriptions of characters’ appearances, races and genders, had been changed or removed in at least 10 of the author’s 19 children’s books.
Dahl died in 1990. A review of the author’s works began in 2020, before Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages the author’s copyrights and trademarks, Rick Behari, a company spokesman, said in a statement on Monday…..” Read more at New York Times