Integrate Expectations

Brown v Board at 70, Prez Debates

It's been seventy years since (a very different) Supreme Court ruled separating children in schools by race was unconstitutional. Seven decades should be enough time to undo our segregated education past. But it hasn't happened. In fact, for some of those decades, "American schools have been re-segregating. The country is more diverse than it ever has been, with students more exposed to classmates from different backgrounds. Still, around 4 out of 10 Black and Hispanic students attend schools where almost every one of their classmates is another student of color." AP: 70 years ago, school integration was a dream many believed could actually happen. It hasn’t. "'School integration exists as little more than an idea in America right now, a little more than a memory,' said Derek Black, a law professor at the University of Southern California. 'It’s actually an idea that a pretty good majority of Americans think is a good idea. But that’s all.'" (What a pretty good majority of Americans think seems to matter less and less these days.)

2

Roe Information Voters

"DeLana Marsh, 30, of Holly Springs, Ga., supports abortion rights and opposes a new Georgia law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy: 'I don’t think a group of men should be able to decide that for us.' But she said she was under the impression that Mr. Biden was responsible because it happened during his presidency, and she believed his age prevented him from closely tracking such events." Here's a poll that will break your brain from NYT Upshot (Gift Article): Nearly one in five voters in battleground states says that President Biden is responsible for ending the constitutional right to abortion. Note that this isn't one of the many cases of voters falling for Trump's lies. He regularly takes credit for ending Roe. Are polls hopelessly broken or are we?

3

There's No Place Like Noem

While most recent Kristi Noem headlines have been about her book in which she recounts the killing of her dog. But back home in South Dakota, there's another big story that is a lot more connected to national politics. Gov Noem is currently barred from entering a huge portion of her state because most of South Dakota's tribes have banned her from their land. The controversy stems from Noem's assertion that the tribes are working with drug cartels. The broader assertion is one that has national election implications, and is captured in a line we're hearing more these days. "The sheer number of illegal migrants coming into the country has made it so that every state is now a border state."

4

Asked and Answered

"A year ago, Google said that it believed AI was the future of search. That future is apparently here: Google is starting to roll out 'AI Overviews,' previously known as the Search Generative Experience, or SGE, to users in the US and soon around the world. Pretty soon, billions of Google users will see an AI-generated summary at the top of many of their search results. And that’s only the beginning of how AI is changing search." The Verge: Google is redesigning its search engine — and it’s AI all the way down. All the way down is a good way to describe how traffic to many websites will trend as this product rolls out. It's impossible to overstate how dramatically this will alter search and the way we interact with the internet. Actually, it's impossible for me. One of the chatbots can probably explain it.

+ Wired: It’s the End of Google Search As We Know It.

+ WaPo (Gift Article): Web publishers brace for carnage as Google adds AI answers. Is there is solution for small, indie web publishers? Search me.

5

Extra, Extra

Disembark Collar: "The crew, made up of 20 Indians and a Sri Lankan national, has been unable to disembark because of visa restrictions, a lack of required shore passes and parallel ongoing investigations ... [they've] been left largely without communication with the outside world for 'a couple of weeks' after their mobile phones were confiscated by the FBI as part of the investigation." It's been seven weeks since a container ship ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The crew is still stuck on board. Meanwhile, a barge hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill.

+ Up For Debate: "Having spent months avoiding direct engagement on when and where to debate, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden seemed to agree on a time and place in a matter of minutes on Wednesday, setting up high-stakes showdowns in late June and mid September." The build-up to these debates should be pretty chill.

+ (Food) Chain Gang: "They argue that the government officials colluded to keep Black people imprisoned and available as cheap labor and that the companies conspired to profit from the coerced work. The suit, filed right before Christmas, says it seeks 'to abolish a modern-day form of slavery.'" Bloomberg (Gift Article): Cheap Prison Labor Is Keeping People Locked Up Longer, Suit Alleges. "Ptomey, who’s been incarcerated for robbery and burglary since George W. Bush was president, did a stint a few years ago cooking chicken at a KFC, where fellow inmates worked the cash register." And from The New Yorker: "Hundreds of counties around the country have ended in-person jail visits, replacing them with video calls and earning a cut of the profits." Do Children Have a “Right to Hug” Their Parents?

+ Young at Heart: "'Your soldiers, your citizens–particularly in the northeast, in Kharkiv–are suffering tremendously. But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too,' Blinken said, according to Reuters, before he grabbed a red guitar and performed a rendition of Neil Young’s 'Rockin’ in the Free World' at the local basement bar, called Barman Diktat." Antony Blinken Rocks Out During Surprise Performance at Kyiv Basement Bar. The venue and song choice raised a few eyebrows, but the bigger question is whether or not the military aid got there in time. Ukrainian troops pull out of some areas and Zelenskyy postpones foreign trips amid Russian offensive.

+ Fico Shot: "Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot multiple times and gravely wounded Wednesday while greeting supporters at an event in an attempted assassination that shocked the small country and reverberated across Europe weeks before an election." Here's the latest.

+ Magic the Gathering Accusations: "Carla says she feels she was 'groomed' by Copperfield for more than two years. She describes how he sent her notes and gifts, including a teddy bear and Valentine’s day balloon when she was 16. A note attached to one – a photo of which was seen by the Guardian – reads: 'In 2 years I will be back.'" Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

+ Hut, Hut, (Price) Hike: Netflix just scored the rights to a couple of Christmas Day NFL games. So for Christmas, you might want to ask for enough app subscriptions to watch every game during the season.

6

Bottom of the News

"Reid’s growing stardom goes beyond tattoos. When he rises from the bench to check into a Timberwolves game, he receives louder applause than the starters. One of the team’s hottest giveaways this season was a Naz Reid beach towel. A local pizza shop’s 'HONK IF YOU LOVE NAZ REID' sign has turned the block into a cacophony of car horns. Around Minneapolis, his name has become a new lingua franca. 'Naz Reid?' one fan can ask another, walking down the street. 'Naz Reid!' comes the reply." WSJ (Gift Article): Why 156 People Got the Name of an NBA Backup Tattooed on Their Bodies.

+ 'The installations allow New Yorkers and people in Dublin to see and connect with each other in real time through a livestream video feed." But that feature turns out to be a bug. The Portal art installation connecting NYC to Dublin, Ireland has been shut down.