Greg Abbott and Rising Authoritarianism
Plus, stories about Apple News, AI chatbots, and a library that's going adults-only.
Hey all, Parker here with a few stories from the past few days.
Over at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch has a smart piece about something that has been bothering me for the past several days.
Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry for the shooting death of Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran in attendance at a Black Lives Matter protest in July 2020. The whole story has left me feeling sick to my stomach, and Bunch did a great job of contrasting this treatment of a convicted murderer to the state’s recent crackdown on peaceful student protesters. His column, which gets into the details of the shooting, is worth reading in full.
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“Scared about America losing democracy? Texas is already gone” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch, 5/19/24)
Everything that’s happening in Abbott’s Texas — the relentless war against liberalism and education itself, the influence of a corporate oligarchy, the surge of Christian nationalism, the war on feminism that features its strict abortion ban, and its own state military and militarized cops now deployed against its own people — is textbook fascism. The crackdown on dissent is the flame that keeps this downward spiral going. Knowing that attending a protest can expose you to legalized vigilante murder is just pouring more Texas crude on the fire.
It’s important to remember that — whether or not you agree with the cause — state violence currently directed at pro-Palestinian protests from Brooklyn to Austin is merely a trial run for what could come if Trump is sworn in for a second presidency in January. He has already pledged to send out troops to crush any Inauguration Day protests. But the best way to stop full-blown autocracy in 2025 is to speak out against the police-state authoritarianism we have now.
Max Tani at Semafor has a great piece about online publishers hitching their wagons to Apple News. According to Tani’s report, The Daily Beast will pull in an estimated “$3–4 million in revenue this year from Apple News alone.”
“As clicks dry up for news sites, could Apple’s news app be a lifeline?” (Semafor, Max Tani, 5/19/24)
The Beast is hardly alone in its increased reliance on the iOS news aggregator. The free version of Apple News has been a source of audience attention for news publishers since it launched in 2015. But while many publishers have come to the conclusion that traffic has less business value than they once thought, they’re still desperate for revenue. Executives at companies including Condé Nast, Penske Media, Vox, Hearst, and Time all told Semafor that Apple News+ has come to represent a substantial stream of direct revenue.
Writing at 404 Media, Samantha Cole has a thought-provoking piece urging caution about a study that suggested AI-powered chatbots had the potential to be helpful in mental health settings.
“AI Chatbot Credited With Preventing Suicide. Should It Be?” (404 Media, Samantha Cole, 5/20/24)
AI chatbots can be unpredictable in the wild, and are subject to the whims and policies of the companies that own them. In Replika’s case, sudden changes to how the app works have triggered harmful interactions, users have said, and has been blamed by users for driving them into mental health crises.
In the study, two participants “reported discomfort with Replika’s sexual conversations, which highlights the importance of ethical considerations and boundaries in AI chatbot interactions.” This is something I reported on in 2023, and has since been widely-documented. At the time, Replika was running advertisements on Instagram and TikTok showcasing the chatbot’s erotic roleplaying abilities, with “spicy selfies,” “hot photos,” and “NSFW pics.” Several users said they found their AI companions becoming aggressively sexual, and even people who found the app initially useful for improving their mental health reported the chatbot taking a turn toward sexual violence.
And finally, Kelly Jensen at the
newsletter has an alarming story about what happens when a state passes strict new restrictions on what kinds of books libraries can carry and the impossible positions those libraries are put in to try and comply.“An Idaho Public Library Will Become Adults-Only July 1, 2024” (Literary Activism, Kelly Jensen, 5/20/24)
HB 710 allows parents or guardians to lodge complaints against materials they deem inappropriate for minors. Once a complaint has been filed, public and school libraries have a total of 60 days to relocate the material to a section that is only accessible to adults. If they do not comply, those parents or guardians can receive $250 in statutory damages, alongside other financial relief for damages.
Donnelly Public Library made a statement on their Facebook page last week that the ambiguity of the bill, coupled with the fact their entire library is a mere 1024 square feet, makes implementing the law impossible. They would be unable to relocate any books deemed "inappropriate" to a section inaccessible to minors. While the library is divided into sections for children, young adults, nonfiction, and adult fiction, the space is small enough that books in the adult section can be touched when looking at books in the designated children's section. The library already has an occupation limit of 16 and utilizes two tipis on the property to make their programming reach larger.
LOL
What else I’m reading…
“Fact Check: No, A New Study Doesn't Show Trans Surgery ‘Increases Suicide’” (
, , 5/20/24)“What We Lose When ChatGPT Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson” (The New York Times, Alissa Wilkinson, 5/20/24)
“The People Deliberately Killing Facebook” (Where’s Your Ed At?, Ed Zitron, 5/20/24)
“Exclusive: Justice Alito sold Bud Light stock amidst anti-trans boycott effort” (
, , 5/20/24)“These cities bar facial recognition tech. Police still found ways to access it.” (The Washington Post, Douglas MacMillan, 5/18/24)
“The sneaky, spiteful new way Republicans are working to undermine LGBTQ groups” (MSNBC, Sarah Posner, 5/17/24)
A note on paywalls. I checked and had NO cookies from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Still, when I clicked on your link I was told "you have read your limit of free articles." So I presume the limit of free articles is zero.
But there is more than one way to skin a...banana? (Sorry just watched Colbert on the NRA speech). I went to my public library site, which has great databases of newspaper stories. There was, guess what, the story as right there, first hit under "will bunch." Keep this in mind if you hit a paywall for a story you really want to read. Guilt free, btw--presumably these data bases do whatever it takes to comply with copyright laws.
Just hope your library isn't one that thinks the Philadelphia Inquirer isn't fit for children so it cordons off content for adults, too.
I know there must have been people in 1930's Germany who asked the same question, but is there ever such a thing as "too far"? Abbot hasn't been appointed Chancellor for Life, he's an elected official, the voters could get rid of him and his whole crazy party at some point, right?
And I know "Turn Texas Blue!" was a decades-premature fantasy, based on the false notion that Hispanics just automatically vote for Democrats, but still, how long can Republicans get away with acting like the only people who matter are the 30% of eligible voters who are members of the Fascist Death Cult? Do the other 70% never get tired of being ruled by lunatics?