Writer, Editor (Selective Echo TBA), Critic, Arts/Culture Journalist. Contributor (The Utah Review), Immigration Reform Advocate. #BlackLivesMatter #BearsEars

Salt Lake City
Joined May 2008
selectiveecho retweeted
There are about six people who appear to be city staffers loafing at the entrance to the playground, helping the security guard make sure that no kids go in until the photo-op.
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It’s like a parks and rec episode
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Salt Lake City has a security guard at the Liberty Park playground that’s been closed for over a year making sure that no kid uses it until the mayor can have a photo-op this evening.
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Early this year, I visited Ingram, a TX town of ~1,900, to check out a tip. The area was starting to recover from its worst flood in a century. But as Latino workers drove to jobsites to help rebuild, the tipster said, a cop in a black Dodge Charger kept stopping them ... 🧵
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Football is essentially a simple game - block, tackle, run, throw. When you're 1 yd from the endzone it's really simple. Get the yard, score. Run twice up the middle, impose your will. You don't run the other way. Jason Beck can't help himself. He makes things way too hard #GoBlue 〽️
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This is wild: The Iran war has driven the cost of chartering an oil tanker from the US to China upwards of $79.6 million. This voyage averaged under $8 million before the war. For comparison's sake, launching a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit costs $74 million!
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I'm seeing the Overton window shift this month. More & more of my sources are starting to say out loud: Hey Anthropic/OpenAI, you could just stop unilaterally! That'd be good! You're not playing 11-dimensional chess or a classic prisoner's dilemma, you're playing Russian Roulette
I think we should stop AI progress now, first unilaterally by key AI companies and then scaling up to more US companies and then China via international agreements. The reason for now is not that current AI models are the ones that could kill everyone, but because the coordinate steps take time. Immediate action means we have more time for the second steps. When I tell this story to AI company folk, the typical response is "Yes pausing is good, but we should wait until the last minute when the very next model will be dangerous, and stop then." What I realized recently is that this is being implicitly way more optimistic about government speed than I am (and I joined the UK government and was happy there for 2.5 years). They are imagining a world where, the moment the danger is imminent, a bunch of international coordination can happen on a dime. Which is entirely inconsistent with their actual views about government! I'm the one that is more optimistic about government; why am I the one advocating for more time cushion to let the government story play out?
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selectiveecho retweeted
I think we should stop AI progress now, first unilaterally by key AI companies and then scaling up to more US companies and then China via international agreements. The reason for now is not that current AI models are the ones that could kill everyone, but because the coordinate steps take time. Immediate action means we have more time for the second steps. When I tell this story to AI company folk, the typical response is "Yes pausing is good, but we should wait until the last minute when the very next model will be dangerous, and stop then." What I realized recently is that this is being implicitly way more optimistic about government speed than I am (and I joined the UK government and was happy there for 2.5 years). They are imagining a world where, the moment the danger is imminent, a bunch of international coordination can happen on a dime. Which is entirely inconsistent with their actual views about government! I'm the one that is more optimistic about government; why am I the one advocating for more time cushion to let the government story play out?
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Jason Kint
@jason_kintOct 21
This is exactly why we have a free and independent press: to question the most powerful role in the free world. Retaliatory attacks on journalists don’t project strength. They belittle the office.
Fox News
@FoxNewsOct 21
NOW: "You're a stupid person. And by the way, your network is the worst of all." President Trump goes after an ABC News reporter questioning whether easing sanctions on Russia to secure an American prisoner's release amounts to giving Moscow something in return. The tense back-and-forth comes after Trump insisted the U.S. "gave nothing" for Hubbard's release. Download the FOX News app for the latest details: foxnews.onelink.me/xLDS/z2jy…
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The Hormuz Letter
@HormuzLetterOct 22
BREAKING: Iran announces it will now attack US bases in the region if any more commercial vessels continue to transit the US-backed southern Omani corridor of the Strait of Hormuz. "This is a serious warning," the statement adds.
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Whole lotta bullshit below
My best effort to solve for duck: Amendment B is straightforward: citizen initiatives that increase taxes relative to current law should need 60% support instead of a bare majority. The sponsors (including Sen. Fillmore) have been consistent about this purpose. Clause (D) exists specifically to stop an initiative from freezing or otherwise preventing the automatic rate reduction that occurs under Truth-in-Taxation when property values rise; i.e., from locking in higher revenue than current law would produce. That is a tax increase, and it properly triggers the higher threshold. There is no “poison pill” that blocks actual tax reductions. Any initiative that lowers total revenue collected still passes with a simple majority. Rate-cap or revenue-limit proposals that do not increase collections relative to the certified-rate glide path are likewise unaffected. The homestead exemption is already constitutionally capped at 45% and cannot be raised by citizen initiative in any case; even if it could, shifting more of the burden onto businesses (who pass the cost through in higher prices) reduces transparency rather than solving the problem. Claims that this is a developer-lobbyist conspiracy lack supporting evidence. No campaign finance filings or lobbying disclosures show homebuilder or developer interests as the primary drivers. Groups such as the Utah Taxpayers Association and fiscal conservatives concerned about tax increases are the ones publicly backing it. The Legislature has also passed multiple taxpayer-protection measures in recent sessions, so the assertion that relief bills fail “nearly every single time” is incomplete. Legislators remain accountable to voters and can still cut, reform, or restructure property taxes by simple majority at any time. Voters who disagree with that record can replace them at the next election. Voters themselves face no equivalent accountability for the long-term effects of an initiative. Utah already applies a higher threshold (two-thirds) to certain wildlife initiatives without controversy; a 60% bar for statewide tax increases is a reasonable parallel, even if some of us would have preferred two-thirds. Comparisons to Prop 13, TABOR, and similar measures in other states do not show that Amendment B uniquely blocks needed reform. California-style constitutional changes must first clear a legislative supermajority before reaching voters. Colorado-style revenue limits would not be treated as tax increases under this amendment and could still pass at 50%. Several of the states Pierce cites adopted their limits under Republican control and are now under Democratic majorities; it is an open question whether the same measures would pass there today. The official ballot title accurately describes the measure: citizen-proposed laws that increase taxes compared to existing law need 60%. The technical reading that turns every structural adjustment into a forbidden “poison pill” is not what the text or the title says. Tax increases should require broader support than 50.1%. The Legislature retains full ability to cut or reform taxes. Clause (D) simply prevents initiatives from locking in higher revenue than current law would produce. That is the point, not a conspiracy.
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The law breaking will continue until there are actual consequences. I cannot emphasize this enough — people need to go to jail.
Eric Katz@EricM_KatzOct 22
SCOOP: The State Dept has started asking career diplomats up for promotion if they voted for Trump in 16, 20, 24. Federal law prohibits politically based hiring for career staff. State tells @washingtonsun it's screening for "fidelity" and execution of the president's vision👇
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Ryan Grim
@ryangrimOct 22
This is an insanely important development: Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are preparing to restructure the company so that Zuckerberg can pay the 5% one-time wealth tax he would owe if the billionaire tax passes in November. He has said he would leave the state. He obviously was bluffing. That's $10 billion to California's education and health system. Just from him. Jensen Huang has also said he'd stay, that's another roughly $10 billion. To be sure, some small number of billionaires will leave California, but most won't. What this also shows if that it is done on a national level, billionaires will fight it, but will ultimately fall in line.
Replying to @gabriel_zucman
Second — and that’s where things get extremely interesting. Proposition 40 — the proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on California billionaires — is mentioned no fewer than 25 times in the SEC document. @Meta explicitly states that one purpose of its new stock issuance is to allow Mark Zuckerberg to pay the billionaire wealth tax. “… so that he may pay his potential tax liability under California Proposition 40, if enacted into law.” Here’s how it will work.
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Ryan Grim
@ryangrimOct 22
Explosive story many years in the making, now out in Vanity Fair by Matthew Cole (who will be on Breaking Points next week, and publishing soon in @DropSiteNews): Saudi Arabia and the UAE set up multi-billion slush funds for Jared Kushner to use. Iran-Contra 2 here (except with Iran-Contra, at least the US got some hostages released. Not clear what we got out of this one.)
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“This is Netanyahu’s last chance to do so. And he’s not going to leave until he turns every stone to be able to achieve it. Particularly knowing that either his career is going to end or the United States is going to go in a direction in which this no longer will be an option,” said Trita Parsi, a leading Iran expert and the executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute. “Trump, I suspect, has already made a decision that he’s going to go to war,” he added. “The Israelis have been very successful playing to his psychology, which is that he’s willing to take massive risks as long as he has the belief that it can get him a victory so that he avoids accepting defeat, which is so crucial for him. But it is a massive miscalculation that will make the situation 100 times worse.” dropsitenews.com/p/iran-war-…
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If AI targets our banking systems, society breaks down WAY faster than most people expect.
SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios. The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios. Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said. Several bank executives told Axios they're struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior. Read my latest for Axios here: axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agen…
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From Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried to Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, there seem to be no lessons learned.
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It is hard to overstate the significance of this development. Historically, AIPAC sustained an aura of invincibility that ensured it won most battles by walkover - if you are perceived as invincible, the other side doesn't even bother to fight you. Rather than invincibility, AIPAC's name now carries such toxicity that the group doesn't want its own name on its political donations.
SCOOP: AIPAC will no longer endorse congressional candidates or earmark donations to congressional campaigns. The group's super PAC, United Democracy Project, will continue to operate and it will urge members to donate directly to pro-Israel candidates. jewishinsider.com/2026/10/ai…
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🚨 Many have not realized it yet, but there is a new 'cybersecurity game' going on, and it's AI vs. AI. Meanwhile, we humans, and our imperfect institutions, systems, platforms, and governance frameworks, remain exposed in the middle of the AI crossfire, trying to catch up with the speed of the AI cyber fight. Today, malicious actors can already rely on AI to find and exploit online vulnerabilities at scale, which would enable them to hack into, access, and control protected databases, documents, personal data, networks, grids, and more. Unless cyber defense capabilities improve at scale and at a pace similar to that of cyberattack capabilities, there could soon be a situation in which users, website owners, governments, and institutions, including schools, hospitals, power grids, and other systems relying on internet connectivity, will be left scrambling to find solutions while people suffer the direct consequences of the hacks and unauthorized access. As I write this edition of the newsletter, another cyber incident has been reported, as @MadisonMills22 reported below: U.S. banks have discovered unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts. Some are attempting actions that appear independent of user instructions. This situation was, of course, predictable. Every report on AI risk has warned that we might reach a point where AI fuels cyberattacks and makes them much harder to control. We have no choice but to address it and plan for the future. The most important lessons from the PHP incident, and from cyber incidents we will likely experience in the coming weeks, go far beyond cybersecurity, and professionals across fields and industries should be aware of them: (...CONTINUES...) 👉 CONTINUE reading my article (and join my newsletter's 102,700+ subscribers) below.
SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios. The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios. Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said. Several bank executives told Axios they're struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior. Read my latest for Axios here: axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agen…
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Things are moving so fast that everyone seems to have completely missed how insane it is that AI companies have been allowed to unleash agentic AI products with no regulatory guidelines.
SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios. The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios. Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said. Several bank executives told Axios they're struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior. Read my latest for Axios here: axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agen…
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