McFilter

Interesting Things on the Internet: December 30th 2024 Edition

• You Can't Rebrand a Class War. This is about America, but the Labour Party seem intent on telling everyone the system has failed over the past decades that it's not possible for it to improve, and will then be shocked when the populist fascists get more votes for their lies that they will improve things; just as happened with Brexit.

  When the current situation is broken and one party is determined to break it further, the answer is not to be the party of “We Want Things to Be Broken Somewhat Less.” The answer is to be the party that wants to fucking fix it.

• To Hell With Good Intentions, Silicon Valley Edition. Excellent take on the "use AI for good" approach. Now I need to go read the original Ivan Illich speech that it's referencing.
• The Failure, Fear, And Frenzy around Luigi Mangione. Excellent stand-up routine by Josh Johnson about, well, lots of things, but ostensibly the recent CEO murder.
• Edward Henry KC's closing statement in the Horizon Post Office inquiry. When are the high-profile prosecutions going to happen, pour encourager les autres?
• Meaning and origin of ‘pour encourager les autres’. And in double-checking that I'd got the phrase in the last point correct, I found that it's just proof that the arse-covering has been going on for centuries: "After the trial, public clamour rose high against the ministers, who had not supplied Byng with a properly manned fleet, but who, in order to save themselves, had thrown a great part of the blame upon Byng."