Saturday Afternoon

 Enjoy

Seems Bad

For awhile, Europe was especially strict with their data protection laws, with companies genuinely scared of crossing them, and now - lol, whatever.

Google is indexing conversations with ChatGPT that users have sent to friends, families, or colleagues—turning private exchanges intended for small groups into search results visible to millions.

A basic Google site search using part of the link created when someone proactively clicks “Share” on ChatGPT can uncover conversations where people reveal deeply personal details, including struggles with addiction, experiences of physical abuse, or serious mental health issues—sometimes even fears that AI models are spying on them. While the users’ identities aren’t shown by ChatGPT, some potentially identify themselves by sharing highly specific personal information during the chats.

In case it isn't 100% clear here, "share" doesn't mean share with the public, it means "text a link to a friend, or even yourself."  Or so people think. 

The Rot At The Top

With Trump firing the BLS commisioner (is that "legal"? I have no idea), I am reminded of the time in 2020, when the stats were a bit weird due to Covid, and almost every economist, represented here by Wolfers, reacted in horror at the idea that the BLS could ever be corrupted.

Krugman was mostly kidding here, he was defending the BLS while acknowledging that Trump is Trump, and the reaction was, basically, that the BLS was INCORRUPTIBLE and that it was grossly irresponsible to suggest any other possibility.

I was amused by this at the time, because it fits in with the general view of many economists that all people are corruptible - they all respond to INCENTIVES - except economists, who never bend their work in favor of those lucrative expert witness (or other) gigs.

If I were working at the BLS right now, I'd be very corruptible.  I'd say,  "fuck it, I'm going to keep my job and retirement plan."  Sure, boss, +1 million jobs this month, every month, there are now more jobs than people.  Whatever you say, boss.

I'd look at all the institutions that were caving - law firms, universities - and understand that no one was going to have my back, that all of those people - law school partners, university presidents, people much richer than me - were going to do just fine.  

I'd understand that no one was going to reward me for a noble stance, and in fact those universities would probably blacklist me if I tried to move from BLS to an academic job.  The University of Pennsylvania would not risk their Trump Treats to hire me.

That's how corruption works!

To be clear, I didn't think the stats were being cooked then, and neither did Paul! I just think that it is more important to warn about the fallibility of sainted institutions than to assert their infallibility.  Wolfers thought the greater danger was even suggesting the possibility, not that there was a possibility.

Institutionalists believe that the people must have faith in institutions whether or not that faith is earned.  Perhaps especially if that faith is not earned.

A light breeze knocked over half the country in  6 months.  Our institutions are not strong and it is wrong to expect more from the workers than the leaders!

Sure Why Not

President Deals is displaying his keen nuclear diplomacy skills.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Friday Night

Choose your own video.

Happy Hour

Get happy

America's Worst University

Columbia University. But, Atrios, how can there be TWO worst American universities?

Sure Why Not

Putting this "conspiracy theory" to rest.

Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved from a detention facility in Florida to a lower-security prison in Texas, her attorney David Oscar Markus said Friday.

Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges, had been serving her 20-year sentence at a low security prison in Tallahassee. She has been transferred to a prison in Bryan, Texas, her attorney said. That facility has a minimum level of security and is known as federal prison camp.

Everything Is Trump

Every single blacked out name.

While reviewing the Epstein files, FBI personnel identified numerous references to Trump in the documents, the people familiar with the matter told me. Dozens of other high-profile public figures also appeared, the people said. (The appearance of Trump’s name or others in the Epstein files is not evidence of a crime or even a suggestion of wrongdoing.)

In preparation for potential public release, the documents then went to a unit of FOIA officers who applied redactions in accordance with the nine exemptions. The people familiar with the matter said that Trump’s name, along with other high-profile individuals, was blacked out because he was a private citizen when the federal investigation of Epstein was launched in 2006.

Lunch

eat

America's Worst University

Brown University.

It's Tariff Week, Again

To the extent that there is any long term strategy other than "Fox News junkie gets mad at something and uses power he believes he has over other countries," it's to settle on high long term tariff rates.

We're past the "panic the market" phase of tariff posturing, for whatever reason, and now we'll see if actual real economy dangers can get them to do anything other than blame Powell.

I do stand by my earlier assertion that that tariffs themselves wouldn't be economy-destroying, but the tariffs+surrounding uncertainty (new policy every day!)+plenty of other things they've done (ICE - workers and tourism, student loans, ACA premiums about to skyrocket, federal job cuts, ...)...

The tariffs matter, the ongoing uncertainty - which will never stop under President Deals - matters more. You might invest in a factory if there's a 20% tariff, you won't if that tariff might be 50, or your competitors in other countries might suddenly get a better deal, or...

Jerbs

Not looking good.good.

Job growth totaled 73,000 for the month, above the June total of 14,000 but below even the meager Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 100,000. June and May totals were revised sharply lower, down by a combined 258,000 from previously announced levels.

Morning

Fancy Friday.

Happy Hour

Get happy

Good Advice

Something escaping most people for, some reason.

Premier Doug Ford is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to stand his ground against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff assault on Canada.

“I told the prime minister, do not roll over. Hit that guy back as hard as we possibly can. And that’s what we need to do — and we can do it,” Ford told reporters Thursday in Thunder Bay.

...

“Prime Minister Carney is trying his best, but this guy (Trump) will say something one day, and he’ll wake up — and the cheese slips off the cracker — and then all of a sudden he goes the other way,” said Ford.

“And you’re thinking, ‘How do you deal with a guy like this?’”

 Of course Ford can put a big tax on electricity sales, or worse, himself...

Ms. Rachel

I know we are all set to hate the Bezos Post (happy to!), but this is a surprisingly positive profile of someone who has been on the receiving end of a huge amount of shit for having the controversial view that Palestinians are humans.

“I think it’ll be really beautiful,” Accurso says of the forthcoming episode, which is expected to air on YouTube this fall, but she’s also braced for those who will feel differently. On Instagram and her other adult-focused social media channels, Accurso has been increasingly outspoken in her advocacy for the children experiencing trauma and starvation in Gaza. Though Accurso keeps her commentary fixed on the humanity of all children — “Children deserving access to water, food, education and medical care is not controversial,” she wrote in one post — it has drawn a fervent outcry from some supporters of Israel. Accurso has seen hateful comments accumulate below her posts; she’s been the subject of derision from Fox News commentators; she’s received threatening messages. In April, the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism published an open letter calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Accurso was acting as a “foreign agent” who was being paid to “disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.” This claim, Accurso says, is “false, hurtful and absurd.”

The criticism and controversy has weighed heavily on her at times, she says. But she keeps a screenshot of Mister Rogers and Officer Clemmons on her phone as a reminder of what it must have been like for Rogers to make that statement through his show. “I know it didn’t feel easy to do that,” she says. The scene was so simple, and also so radical, even if it doesn’t seem so now. She reminds herself of this, too: “I think, in time, what I’m doing won’t seem as controversial.”

Officer Clemmons and Mister Rogers share a pool on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in 1969. (Fred Rogers Productions) The escalating criticisms and the threat of an investigation made her worry, at first, that she wouldn’t be able to spend time with Rahaf or film the new episode of the show. But she did not intend to be silenced. “Speaking out for kids in this situation is more important than my career,” she says.

And so, on a bright May morning, Accurso sits at a child-size table in front of a green screen in a Midtown Manhattan film studio. Rahaf sits next to her, wearing a new red dress, pink sneakers on her prosthetic feet, and an ecstatic grin. They are drinking tea, which is actually water, and eating cookies, which are real, and singing a song as they stir with tiny spoons. Accurso looks at the child beside her, and then she looks into the camera, at all the children who will eventually be looking back. She smiles.

“Rahaf is my friend,” she says.

Lunch

 eat

For Your Consideration

Yes it's Politico, and also these things are called "trial balloons."

Senate Democrats have a chance to show their voters they can effectively stymie President Donald Trump as Republicans work to advance spending bills and a flurry of nominations.

But publicly and behind closed doors, the Democratic Party is grappling with whether to resist or — in Minority Whip Dick Durbin’s words — seek a “quid pro quo.”

Nothing like making deals with President Deals, a man who respects people he makes deals with and also sticks to them.

Deals with their Senate collegaues, in theory, but it is the same thing.