Minerva Canto

Separate research on California mayoral races found that when newsrooms shrink, elections grow less competitive: fewer candidates run, margins widen, and more incumbents go unopposed. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

At high stakes Pentagon meeting today Sec Hegseth gave Anthropic head Dario Amodei ultimatum to allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s AI model for mass domestic surveillance and kinetic autonomous operations without human oversight or face censure and be labeled “supply chain threat.” According to a source familiar: The meeting was cordial, not a dressing down, not a screaming match, all business. Hegseth praised the Anthropic product but then said if by Friday Anthropic does not agree to the Pentagon’s use of the model without restrictions, then Hegseth would terminate the contract and use the Defense Production Act to force Anthropic to comply AND/OR designate Anthropic a supply chain threat and national security risk. (EDIT: Both are mutually exclusive. You can’t be a supply chain risk but also invoke the DPA to say that the country needs this product so much for national security that it will override any restrictions put in place by the company that limits govt access to the product. Both cannot be true.) At issue is Anthropic’s two stipulations that its advanced AI model currently used in the Pentagon’s classified systems is NOT used for autonomous kinetic operations (Anthropic currently requires human oversight of autonomous operations when used to kill things for safety reasons because they don’t know how the autonomous system will react and could even endanger soldiers using the model; soldiers and others could lose control of the model and automatically start killing large groups without humans in the “kill chain.”) Second Anthropic bars its models from being used for mass domestic surveillance. Hegseth wants these restrictions lifted. According to a source familiar with the talks, Anthropic has never objected to the use of its models for “legitimate military operations.” It also told the Hegseth it never complained to the Pentagon or Palantir about the use of its models in the Maduro raid.

How the United States Arms the Mexican Cartels In an excerpt from "Exit Wounds," author Ieva Jusionyte traces the deadly pipeline of assault weapons into the hands of organized crime. rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…

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Sánchez really leaning into his image now as Europe’s anti-Trump — always ready to rile the administration. Here he is exchanging book gifts with Gavin Newsom: Sánchez offers Don Quixote and talks of “standing against giants.” Newsom offers a copy of the Handmaid’s Tale.

A new petition signed by more than 800 Googlers urges the co to at least acknowledge recent events and any work it may be doing with immigration authorities. It was organized by Google & Amazon workers who oppose what they call tech militarism wired.com/story/hundreds… via @peard33

UT Southwestern Prof & infectious disease expert Dr. Krutika Kuppalli publishes letter titled "Measles in an ICE facility is a public health failure." "This outbreak should not be framed as an anomaly or a breakdown in operations. It is the foreseeable result of policy choices that confine people, including children, in high-risk environments without the basic protections required to safeguard health and life."

Gutting international desks is troubling for another reason : deeply reported coverage helps shape foreign policy, and affects thousands of lives abroad. Washington Post journalists have done tremendous work documenting the horrors of US wars, and shifting national convo.

JUST IN: Judge Simon bars ICE from using aggressive tactics against protesters and journalists, beginning his opinion with this preamble: "Our nation is now at a crossroads. In helping our nation find its constitutional compass, an impartial and independent judiciary operating under the rule of law has a responsibility that it may not shirk." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

@capitalandmain Congratulations @LAJourno and team for this award recognizing your investigative reporting and work on an important topic. The stories detailed disturbing findings. Glad to see increased enforcement action following publication.

Robert J. Lopez, Barbara Davidson and Lorena Iñiguez Elebee have won the December Sidney Award for an investigation that found California is failing to protect underage farmworkers. capitalandmain.com/capital-main-l…

For those of you who may have wondered what I have been up to during my post-L.A. Times year, it's this 👇 Please check it out at golden-state.org and let me know what you think

"They intentionally wanted to harass us for reporting the news, and you’re not supposed to do that in a democracy,” said Eric Meyer, the editor and publisher.

DHS takes credit for crime being down in Chicago. Data shows that was happening before they arrived. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d…

The Trump administration may be preparing to kick reporters out of the Pentagon for refusing to sign a press policy that is widely seen as violating First Amendment rights. This would be bad for the public and for reporters of course, but I'd also note that it would hurt the Trump administration. Government officials do not give reporters access because they like us or worship transparency, but because they think it's better (to paraphrase an annoyed LBJ) to have us inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in. Barring reporters is something authoritarian governments do all the time -- China and Russia are experts at it -- and the controls are generally counterproductive. Reporters will still cover the Pentagon without press passes, just as we cover China without journalist visas, and it won't be just relaying press releases. I doubt the SecDef will find the resulting coverage more adoring any more than Xi Jinping does. Our job as journalist is to get the stories, including those that Xi and Hegseth don't want reported, and we'll keep doing that.

"Those most at risk for heat-related illness include children — who now face at least twice as much extreme heat during childhood than previous generations because of climate change."

An AP investigation finds that Silicon Valley companies sold surveillance technology to Chinese police and security contractors, ignoring warnings that the tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious sects and target minorities. apnews.com/article/chines…

Delta dumped jet fuel on Cudahy schoolkids, agrees to $79-million settlement ✍️ ⁦@campadrenews⁩ latimes.com/california/sto…

Facing deep financial troubles, 23 news operations in five states were shut down last week. The closures are just the latest in a trend contributing to news deserts in rural America. to.pbs.org/418Gp6g

From clean water to air pollution, local journalism connects people to the issues that shape their lives. @YCabreraOC and Fredrick @Mugira reflect on the importance of local journalism and covering local issues like pollution and public health. More at: @SciCommExcellence" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@SciCommExcell…