Several times in the recent past I have told you about emails I have received from mothers who are SR readers, and who wrote to tell me their daughters, one 15, the other 16 had been the victims of AI-generated porn using their faces widely circulated by boys who hit on them and that they had rejected. I have a daughter and could well imagine the effect, but I confess I had no idea how large this evil trend has become. According to an analysis by independent researcher Genevieve Oh that was shared with The Associated Press, more than 143,000 new deepfake videos were posted online this year, which surpasses every other year combined. What is particularly appaling is that, as this story describes this isn’t just adult men, it is also middle school boys — that is 12, 13, 14 years of age doing this about girls in their middle school. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, what kind of country have we become? And what is our Congress doing? Nothing.
Beverly Vista Middle School, Beverly Hills, California
Nude images of middle school students created by classmates using artificial intelligence are roiling the Beverly Hills school district, the latest in an emerging trend that’s prompting calls for legislation.
Officials in California’s Beverly Hills Unified School District are working with the Beverly Hills Police Department to identify both the victims and perpetrators of an undisclosed number of nude images reported by students at Beverly Vista Middle School last week.
“On Wednesday, the BVMS Administration received reports from students about the creation and dissemination by other students of Artificial Intelligence generated images that superimposed the faces of our students onto AI-generated nude bodies,” district officials wrote to parents in an email cited by Fox 11. “As the investigation is progressing … more victims are being identified. We are taking every measure to support those affected and to prevent any further incidents.”
Jackie Kruger, mother of an eighth grader at the middle school, described the situation to KCAL as “frightening and terrible.”
“I can imagine how devastating that would be,” Kruger said.
America as a national society does not value or care about its children. Oh sure, individual families love their kids, but as a society we are a humiliating disaster. Am I exaggerating? What are the facts? Try this. The main cause of death for children is a bullet in their bodies, and the Republican cult and right-wing Democrats consistently block decent child care and child family support, as this article describes. We desperately need to completely restructure our policies and culture to make wellbeing the culture’s top priority. Right now it is not.
A sign in St. Paul, Minnesota advertising for bus drivers and bring your child to work with you. Credit: Michael Siluk / UCG / Universal Images Group / Getty
“If we can afford to spend over $1 trillion on tax breaks for the top 1% and large corporations making record-breaking profits, we can afford to provide working class families with the childcare they desperately need.”
A survey of early childhood educators and caregivers released Sunday shows the post-pandemic collapse of federal funding is fueling a national crisis for young children and their families as centers suffer and out-of-pocket costs soar.
The findings of the survey—titled “We Are NOT OK” and put out by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)—resulted from questions posed to over 10,000 professionals in the early childhood education sector.
Of those polled, more than 50% reported staffing shortages in the various kinds of centers they own or operate, including faith-based programs, family child care homes, Head Start facilities, and childcare centers. Those shortages, according to respondents, stem […]
Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate, Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and Columnist - The New York Times
Stephan:
As usual, Paul Krugman has done an essay on a trend that is getting almost no attention from corporate media, electronic or print. If you watch or listen to interviews with White rural men and women, particularly middle-aged or older, but young as well, you hear the points Krugman is making. Rural America is coming unglued and is resentful, angry, and feeling victimized. Krugman says he has no suggestions as to how to solve the rural crisis. I do. Create public governance at every level that makes fostering wellbeing its first priority. Other countries have done it, why can’t we? Because we are a culture of greed.
Credit: Gregory Halpern. / Magnum Photos
Will technological progress lead to mass unemployment? People have been asking that question for two centuries, and the actual answer has always ended up being no. Technology eliminates some jobs, but it has always generated enough new jobs to offset these losses, and there’s every reason to believe that it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
But progress isn’t painless. Business types and some economists may talk glowingly about the virtues of creative destruction, but the process can be devastating economically and socially for those who find themselves on the destruction side of the equation. This is especially true when technological change undermines not just individual workers but whole communities.
This isn’t a hypothetical proposition. It’s a big part of what has happened to rural America.
Here is some good news about Europe. While the Republican cult in the American Congress blocks laws and regulations that might reduce the profits of the carbon industries that rent them. Europe is leaving the carbon era behind, while Republicans are protecting its continuance and trying to dismantle our democracy.
Herrenhausen Power Plant, a gas-fired power station in Hanover, Germany. Credit: Christian A. Schroder
In the two years since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, European demand for natural gas has dropped by 20 percent.
European gas demand is now at its lowest point in a decade, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, as Germany, Italy, and other countries ramp up renewable power and cut energy use to cope with a shrinking supply of Russian gas. Last year, pipeline imports from Russia dropped in half, as Europe, for the first time, drew more power from wind than from natural gas.
To help disentangle itself from Russia, Europe has also begun building new terminals to import liquefied natural gas from overseas, though falling demand may render much of this new infrastructure unnecessary, analysts say. Eight import terminals have come online since Russia invaded Ukraine, and another 13 are expected to enter into service by 2030, but demand for liquefied natural gas is set to peak next year.
“In the last two years, Europe has transformed its energy system,” said Ana […]
Here is some good news about the U.S. In spite of what the Republican cult is doing to protect the carbon industries, private citizens see the business opportunities are pushing a conversion. We are making progress despite our politics.
Solar panel installation at the Gemini solar project in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 23, 2023. Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
According to a recent analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), solar and battery storage is expected to dominate new electricity generation capacity for this year.
In 2024, there are currently plans to add 62.8 gigawatts of utility-scale electric generating capacity, about 55% higher than the 40.4 gigawatts of capacity added last year.
New solar electric generating capacity is predicted to make up most of the share of new capacity added in 2024 at around 58%, and battery storage is expected to make up about 23%, according to EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.
Solar growth could nearly double last year’s numbers, reaching an added 36.4 gigawatts of new utility-scale electric generating capacity in 2024 compared to the 18.4 gigawatts of solar electric generating capacity added in 2023. Initially, there were 29.1 gigawatts of planned solar development for 2023. Solar had been on the rise from 2010 to 2021, but then […]
