The Journalism Jam. The Problem they Created

Since 2016 the hot button topic throughout news and social media is how the Russians affected the last Presidential Race in favor of the dishonest Donald Trump over the dishonest Hillary Clinton, through their use of BOTS and other algorithms to generate news stories. While that is true (in fact we have ourselves have been involved in many countries elections, trying to sway them into a more favorable outcome. Just during the Obama Administration the United States was deeply involved in the Israeli Election against Netanyahu and the Brexit Vote which we tried to vote down. Both failed.), Russian bots completely infiltrated FACEBOOK as well as TWITTER (reports out earlier this week suggest INSTAGRAM has Russian meddling), we have to ask why and how have BOTS become about.

Sadly we don’t have to far from our own media sources.

WIRED magazine ran a four part series on NEWS WRITING BOTS last February [2017].

In 2013, Amazon Billionaire, Jeff Bezos bought the floundering Washington Post. At the time Bezos had zero journalism experience (and some say still doesn't. But how many owners of companies today really know the businesses they own?) and immediately set out to overhaul the Post. And to be fair has done just that. In three years The Post has exploded and has become more susceptible for the digital age. However here inlies the [beginnings of] the problem.

THE RISE OF BOTS.

Back in 2013 AI-Journalism was in infancy with only a handful of companies actually generating automated content. Producing bare-bones data more useful in the sporting world and for stock analysts. Bezos’s strategists, though, saw something more. Seeing potential for AI systems to begin data mining story ideas in effort to provide a more seamless interaction between humans and computers. And in 2014 started evolving stories in a short period of time.

ENTER HELIOGRAF

Debuting during the RIO OLYMPICS Heliograf began auto-publishing stories that had a stronger editorial voice than some of their writers on staff. Heliograf works like this: Editors create templates for stories using key phrases, which then the AI would generate narratives for whatever potential outcome. This way news outlets could have stories ready to go at a moments notice and be first to publish. Because in today’s age of journalism, it’s not about the accuracy but who’s first with the story that counts. With AI Bots, the potential of constant reversals and gaffs would almost be eliminated. Not only that, news services could tailor their on-line and print media to a larger market by developing stories in every market rather than just a few and not having to employ thousands of journalists to do it. And in the cash strapped world of media this was a win-win.   

As the 2016 Presidential Election came rolling around it was a no brainer for the media to let loose their newest creation for fast stories. And in 2016 the Washington Post was not alone in the AI News game. With the likes of Systems called WIZZBIT, NEWSTRACER, and most noteworthy BUZZBOT. Just to name a few.

In theory, as well [at times] in practice, AI algorithmic prediction tools help journalists gauge the integrity of say a tweet. The technology then scores emerging stories on the basis of “credibility” and “newsworthiness” by evaluating who’s tweeting about it, how it’s spreading across the network, and if nearby users have taken to Twitter to confirm or deny breaking developments, collect any information from on-the-ground sources at news events. The AI then can create short videos, condense news articles into a script, string together a selection of images or video footage, and even add narration with a synthesized newscaster voice.

So it’s no wonder that hackers from the Russia and/or China or North Korea would take great pains in infiltrating this. With AI data mining what people are looking at, a staff of hackers the size of less than a small business office could create thousands of false stories via tweets and social media posts that then the story writing algorithms would generate and post stories.

In the 2012 election it took twenty-five hours for human journalists to compose a small fraction of election results whereas in 2016 AI posted more five hundred articles in the same amount of time. Most of it hit the web with little to no human supervision.

When the news media lives on HOW MANY CLICKS A POST CAN GENERATE and how easy it is for a group of hackers can infiltrate systems (The Democratic Committee and the SONY hack to just name two) no one stopped to say “wait a minute?”

AI is a good tool for writers in media. It can find relevant data far faster than a person can. But replacing PEOPLE with BOTS is both ridiculous and stupid. And until the media and we ourselves figure that out we are store of more and more of this.

In the end, what we [America] called that most needed thing, an unbiased media will, and some says already, be destroyed and burnt to ash.  

Barack Obama 2004 Interview; How the Worm has Turned Since in Office

I came across an old 2004 interview of, at the time, then, Illinois State Senator Barack Obama on Public Access-TV conducted by attorney and activist Frank Avila. The interview was for when Obama threw his hat in the ring for State Senator to represent the state of Illinois in Washington DC.

Most of the interview is pretty soft ball, with questions like "Who is Barack Obama?" Which has Obama answering jokingly about how his name is mispronounced. How people like to say: Yo-Mamma or Alabama. Then he goes on to say that his name means "One who's blessed" in Swahili.

Obama then goes on to talk about his father and mother and where they met and how he grew up in Hawaii and then onto his education. It's definitely an interview where most people have no idea who the hell he is and he knows it. Which is rather funny since he is --at the time-- a State Senator. Not only that but teaches constitutional law at the University of Chicago. The Democrats, however, did make Obama a household name after making him the keynote speaker at the Presidential Convention.

What I found most fascinating about the interview is when they ask Obama about the use of up holding, then President Bush's, political nominations --a thing that the Democratic Party complains about the GOP today and has for the last 5 years. One of the things he [Obama] was for in the way of tactics was using the filibuster. He [Obama] believed that the use of the filibuster was fine to use if he believed if the nomination was someone that would do harm to the nation or if the person --in Obama's words: Wasn't up to snuff. One of these nominations was one of President Bush's judicial nominations to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, Miguel Estrada. Obama believed that Estrada was a good person to use the tactic on because a) he was young and Estrada would technically be on the bench for 30-40 years. And b) Estrada wasn't a good nomination and he didn't know much of what he stood for. Obama was also worried that Estrada would give wide access to Executive Branch, mostly in the form of Attorney General John Ashcroft, for spying on regular people and that Law enforcement wouldn't need a warrant to read people's e-mails.Which is funny because Obama has allowed the NSA just that. 

(The Democrats did achieve victory against Miguel Estrada, successfully blocking his nomination on the grounds that he was unqualified and extreme.) 


Obama also goes on to talk abut education, and how that most people's complaints about the education system are in the form of how bad the Chicago Schools are. Oddly enough that concern didn't stop him from placing Arnie Duncan, then the head of the Chicago School District, the head of the nations school system.


Give the video a go, see how then Barack Obama idealism faces up with today's version on the man. See how the worm has turned from then to now.

Time is Tick… Tick… Ticking Away for Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Freedom

One day after Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District overwhelmingly elected themselves the dumbest humans on the planet Earth with their re-election of Jesse Jackson Jr., a man who has not been heard from, really, since June of the this year (along with not showing up on the House floor, and has missed 225 votes) as he… well we’ll get into that.

Hours after President Obama stood in front of Chicago, the country, and the world giving his exception speech rumors began to swirl around Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and a possible plea deal with the Feds about his misuse of campaign funds (Sneed, Chicago SunTimes). The Feds are looking into allegations that Jackson went on a spending spree that included [Jackson] re-decorating his Washington D.C. home (reportedly worth 2.5 million) and the purchase of a $40,000 Rolex watch for a female “friend”.

Allegations of the misused campaign funds are actually added on top of allegations (and investigations by both the FBI and the House Ethics Committee) that Jackson had tried to purchase the Senate seat that Barrack Obama gave up when he was elected the Grand PooBah of the nation from NOW jailed Illinois Governor Blagojevich  back in 2008. Jackson has called these allegations false and that he has no knowledge of anything illegal. However, that remains to be seen because since Blagojevich has been imprisoned, Jackson has been seeking treatment at the MAYO Clinic for “bi-polar” disorder along with “gastrointestinal” problems.

But all this should be nothing new for Illinois’ Congressional 2nd District nor the people of Illinois itself.

If Jackson is found guilty of any of these charges he will be the second congressman in a row from that district (US-Il 2nd) to be convicted of a crime. Jackson moved into his seat when then Mel Reynolds was convicted of sexual misconduct, child pornography, and obstruction of justice when he was found to be having an affair with an underage campaign worker and bank fraud in 1995, with Reynolds as well misusing campaign funds for personal use. On top of that sad and funny truth is that Reynolds ousted the congressman before him (Savage) who was a target -as well- for the House Ethics Committee for allegations that he made improper sexual advances towards a woman on a trip to Zaire. (It is do to note that Savage was never charged with a crime.)

To add to the ever growing legal problems Jackson has, it appears that the Democrats are beginning to look at people who will replace him [Jackson] in Congress. If and when Jackson either pleads guilty or is found guilty it looks likely that the there will be a special election on the horizon, possibly sometime in March causing a no-hold-barred attack for the seat. Among some of the names being thrown around as possibles are Jackson’s wife and brother. Sandi Jackson is a 7th Ward Alderman in Chicago; Jackson’s brother, Jonathon, is the national spokesman for RAINBOW/PUSH (headed by father Jesse Jackson). Other viable candidates are: 9th Ward Alderman, Anthony Beale; State Senator Napoleon Harris, and Barrack Obama’s replacement Senator Kwame Raoul.

Jesse Jackson Jr.’s legal problems are just another notch in an ever growing list of defunct politicians in Illinois. The prior two Governors of the state (Ryan and Blagojevich) are currently behind bars.  

Other cited sources include, Chicago Sun-Times, WGN News, New York Times, Washington Times, Southtown Star    

How About a Little Jack There to Sanitize Those Hands

Leave it to the California teens to think of this: Distilling hand sanitizer to get the alcohol out of the gel.

Turns out the stuff we use to sanitize our hands from the filth that seems to be coated on everything we touch (never mind all that shit builds up our immune system) contains enough alcohol as a bottle of top shelf booze. 120 proof actually.

But teens being teens, while taking a cue from the science class that is “Breaking Bad” (or M*A*S*H, depending on your age), while smart enough to figure out how to take the gel and just leave the alcohol, don’t have the common sense to NOT over indulge. Associated Press is reporting that at least six teens have shown up in San Fernando Valley area ER’s in the past couple of months due to alcohol poisoning from drinking distilled hand sanitizer.

You know what this means, right? This means, since we live in the age of “save the children”, we are more than likely going to see hand sanitizer yanked from the shelves and either we are going to have to show an ID (like with spray paint) and they [the government] will want to it put behind the counter ie: the pharmacy.

Like cough syrup or bath salts, hand sanitizer looks to become the next cheap high for our teens. Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department, states that: “All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager. There is no question that it is dangerous.”

But can we blame them looking for cheap ways to get wasted with the way we restrict every form of life lately? Heavens Forbid we actually let kids be kids and not sit on them every set of the way; telling them what to eat to watch to wear all the time, restricting growth and learning. No, lets not do any of that. Even though we all lived through it.

Whatever happen to the good-old-days of having to hang out in front of the liquor store asking people, in the hopes, of buying six or twelve packs?

That, and how long until networks like the Discovery Channel (with “MOONSHINERS” ) or A&E (“INTERVENTION”) pick up on this and glorifies it all for the bed dead society we are rapidly becoming.

Boba Fett Plays for the New Orleans Saints?

Bounty Hunting. Those two words conjure up images of tough men on a mission the likes of which of Boba Fett and a man who calls himself Dog, but the NFL? Now, unless you have had your head shoved so far up your ass that sound is muffled you have had to hear about the BOUNTY scandal that has plagued football for the last few weeks.



The NFL (National Football League) has actually dealt with this problem pretty swiftly and hasn’t taken a backseat when it has come to handing down fines and suspensions. Hell, they suspended two time Super Bowl winning coach of the New Orleans Saint, Sean Peyton, for all of next season and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the alleged apparent mastermind of the program, an indefinite one. And those in charge of the League say that they are not done. If and when they find more players and, or, coaches, they will meet the same fate. Bully for them. It is not very often that you hear about a sports league saying that they don’t care who the person is, what they do, or how popular they are that they are not safe from prosecution. That’s why it boggles my mind that now DA’s (District Attorneys) want to pursue criminal charges against any found to have taken part in the Bounty Program. I mean, really? One, it is going to be hard to prove, unless there is an actual transaction noting that the player in question actually received money for intentionally hurting another. Hell, even with their name is on the check and the check states that’s what it is for I still think they’re going to have a hard time getting thing other than more fines.



Not only that but now it appears that Senator (DEM-Il) Dick Durbin wants to convene a hearing in Congress on the recent National Football League scandal involving bounties for brutal contacts and is arranging a Judiciary Committee to examine whether or not a federal law had been broken in offering bribes and awards to harm players. Durbin declared in a speech from the floor of the Senate, "This disclosure involving the New Orleans Saints goes to an outrageous level that none of us ever anticipated. And I think it's time, whether we're talking about hockey, football, baseball, basketball or any collegiate team contest, that we have clear rules that what happened with the New Orleans saints never, ever happens again.” Durbin, who claims to be a sports fan like many so in Congress, in the past has successfully pressed to keep chewing tobacco out of sight in Major League Baseball.




What the fuck? I think someone should remind good-old-Dick that the NFL is a PRIVATE organization and not a public one. And that maybe he should concern himself more on the welfare of the country and how we are still in a recession that is being hurt daily by high gas prices because he and the other cronies that work in DC have zero ideas when it comes to anything looking like an Energy Bill or have any ideas when it comes to really fixing the Economy and creating REAL jobs.

But never mind that.

No. He has to stick his nose into matters that DO NOT and SHOULD NOT concern the American Government. I know he just loves to get on his soap box and say how these people (sports stars) are ROLE MODELS for the young, but there in lies the problem. Sports Stars should not be elevated to that standard. And maybe good-old-Dick should concern hiself -if he must- in matters where they are not looked upon as role models. I mean, it is JUST A GAME no matter how you put it. And the unfortunate part of the game and the players involved now is that most of the people in it are not there for the love of it. Rather for the large cash rewards that are given to the talented that play them.

So why should we (especially good-old-Dick) be surprised that teams pay players to put an extra hit and hurt on the best player of their opponents? If the nature of the game is winning and being paid large amounts of cash to win then we as an audience shouldn’t be surprised at all. It is now part of the game. Same as steroids are part of the game for Baseball. Another no-brainier when it comes to what happens off screen, off field, and in the locker rooms. If adults want to destroy their bodies with that shit fine. It is their life. But on the other hand don’t come back and blame the game you are part of for making you do anything. You knew the risks when you got into it and no one held you down and forced you to do anything. That is what free will is all about.

And on another note, to say that placing bounty’s on players is new and strictly a Saints problem couldn’t be further from the truth. Truth is that bounties have been around a long time in the NFL. Back in the 1980’s, former Green Bay Safety (1986-90), Tiger Greene, was a rookie for the Atlanta Falcons and the Falcons players had what they referred to as a “RATING SYSTEM” where each player chipped in about $300 before a given game and the pot would be distributed via ratings on the hits they gave out. If someone had to be carted off the field or had been knocked unconscious that player would take the entire pot of cash. And when you are a rookie and not making as much as the others, well, that could be a pretty big extra add on to your paycheck. And in 2007 the Packers we sighted for violations to the bounty rule stating that defensive linemen were getting $500 from teammates for holding running back Adrian Peterson to fewer than 100 yards. When brought to the attention of Mike McCarthy, coach of the Pack, he addressed the situation swiftly and it didn't linger .

And I’m thinking that they aren’t the only ones that had and, or, have programs up and running. Only they just haven’t been caught. It is not unlike the Spying scandal from a few years ago involving the Patriots. As with that problem, the NFL won’t be to tarnished by this and in a few months will quietly disappear as well.

Funny and Appropriate

Made this, this morning... fun with photoshop... lol... but I find it funny and appropriate