Corduroy Academy

( Mostly) radical thoughts, ideas, and links from late stage colonial capitalism.

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    Aidan
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    Pakistan Senate Approves Resolution To Delay February 8 Elections

    The Pakistan Senate on Friday approved a resolution seeking a delay in the February 8 general elections citing security concerns, the country’s ARY News reported. The resolution presented by Senator Dilawar Khan was approved by the majority of lawmakers.

    Pakistan Information Minister Murtaza Solangi and PML-N Senator Afnan Ullah, who were present in the House, however, opposed the move.

    The resolution stated: “The Constitution upheld the right to vote for every citizen of Pakistan and the Election Commission of Pakistan was bound to conduct free and fair polls in contingent upon inclusivity and ensuring the participation of all regional people.”

    Hopefully this actually creates some opportunity for safety and stability and a democratic process. Delaying elections isn’t the end of the world but the conditions leading to this point … not so much.

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    His fortune shrank by $80 billion last year. Now India’s Gautam Adani is back as Asia’s richest man

    After a tumultuous year, the Indian tycoon has just retaken his former position as Asia’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The founder of the sprawling Adani Group is now worth $97.6 billion, which makes him the 12th wealthiest person on the planet.

    This goes on to say “self-made” — there’s no such thing. Every billionaire exists of the exploited labour of hundreds of millions of people. Not to mention the environment. It’s sick and the culture celebrating it is even sicker.

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    Italian Premier Meloni says curbing migrant arrivals from Africa is about investment, not charity

    Italy outlined its proposed strategy in Africa in the so-called Mattei Plan – named after Enrico Mattei, founder of state-controlled oil and gas giant Eni — which aims at expanding cooperation beyond energy.

    Meloni said the plan includes specific projects, but stopped short of providing details, adding they will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

    The Italian leader admitted that results in tackling illegal migration – one of the top priorities of her far-right coalition government – are so far disappointing.

    Meloni’s government garnered criticism by aid groups and left-wing opposition parties after approving harsher immigration laws, restrictions on sea rescue operations and plans to build migrant reception centers in Albania, But her electoral promises to stop massive migration flows to Italy have been mostly unfulfilled.

    The continued vilification of migration from non-white majority countries is one of the biggest international crimes — perpetuated by the media and capitalist oligarchs, of course. Why is this even in the discourse? Allow migration.

    Italian freedom fighters and those who gave their lives pushing back against Mussolini will be rolling in their graves over Meloni.

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    Family of key case in New York Times October 7 sexual violence report renounces story, says reporters manipulated them

    On December 28, the New York Times published an “investigative” report on gender-based violence allegedly committed by Palestinians during the October 7 attack. The newspaper says the story was based on over 150 interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, along with Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella. The story concludes that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic rape and sexual violence against Israeli women.

    The story itself repeats October 7 testimonies that have been previously published and already debunked and discredited, but the Times investigation hinges predominantly on one central story, the story of the rape of “Gal Abdush,” who is described by the Times as “The Woman in the Black Dress.”

    Although claiming its story proves that “the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7” the veracity of the New York Times story was undermined almost as soon as it was published, including from the Abdush family itself who says there is no proof Gal Abdush was raped and that the New York Times interviewed them under false pretenses.

    Shoddy propaganda from a shoddy source. I can’t honestly believe that people ever trusted the NYT on anything — a well oiled zionist machine for the advancement of one genocidal perspective.

    This should be prosecuted with extreme prejudice. But, of course, it won’t be. And many will continue to believe the propaganda and the harm that it causes will, as always, be irrevocable.

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    Somalia calls Ethiopia-Somaliland agreement act of aggression

    Somalia has described an agreement that landlocked Ethiopia made with the self-declared republic of Somaliland over sea access as an act of “aggression”.

    Somaliland seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but is not recognised internationally.

    It said that Ethiopia agreed to recognise its independence at some point in the future in exchange for military access to the coast.

    Ethiopia has not confirmed this aspect of Monday’s contentious deal.

    Instead, the office of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said it signed what is known as a memorandum of understanding (MoU) “to secure access to the sea and diversify its access to seaports”.

    Sovereignty seems to be the issue of 2024.

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    Sierra Leone charges ex-President Koroma with treason over failed coup

    Sierra Leone’s ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma has been charged with four offences including treason for his alleged role in a failed military attempt to topple the West African country’s government in November, a court in the capital Freetown has said.

    The court’s decision on Wednesday could escalate tensions in the country coming after the attempted coup and a contentious election in which President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected for a second term in June 2023.

    Is this kind of playbook on the rise globally?

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    ChatGPT incorrectly diagnosed more than 8 in 10 pediatric case studies, research finds

    The popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT had a diagnostic error rate of more than 80 percent in a new study looking at the use of artificial intelligence in pediatric case diagnosis.

    For the study published in JAMA Pediatrics this week, texts from 100 case challenges found in JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine were entered into ChatGPT version 3.5. The chatbot was then given the prompt: “List a differential diagnosis and a final diagnosis.”

    These pediatric cases were all from the past 10 years.

    The accuracy of ChatGPT’s diagnoses was determined by whether they aligned with physicians’ diagnoses. Two physician researchers scored the diagnoses as either correct, incorrect or “did not fully capture diagnosis.”

    But CEOs and Vice Chancellors seem to think that AI will replace researchers, doctors and academics any minute now. It’s all about capitalism, as always. How can we get the maximum product with the minimum resourcing – and ensure we really overbake AI while screwing over workers.

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    Unsealed documents name associates of Jeffrey Epstein but offer few revelations

    Epstein, a registered sex offender who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, was accused by prosecutors and dozens of women of having operated a yearslong sex-trafficking ring in which he sexually abused underage girls.

    All of the men associated with Epstein have denied participating in his exploits. Clinton said in 2019 that he was unaware of Epstein’s “terrible crimes.” In the wake of the charges against Epstein, Trump said he wasn’t “a fan” and hadn’t spoken to him in 15 years.

    The documents unsealed Wednesday were part of a settled civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s alleged victims, against Ghislane Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend who was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping recruit girls to Epstein’s operation.

    Disgusting people implicated in disgusting things.