AI Effect on Voting Intentions Three Times Greater in Canada Than in US: Study

Conversations between humans and AI chatbots can significantly influence voters’ decisions, with the impact in Canada potentially three times greater than in the United States, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Dec. 4.

The study, conducted by researchers from MIT and other universities in Canada, Poland, and the United States, analyzed how conversations with AI chatbots could persuade people to change their voting intentions more effectively than traditional political advertisements.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, WTF?

Trust issues: ‘Islamic State’ supporters in the Syrian army?

The attack on US troops by a Syrian security forces member who was a supporter of the extremist “Islamic State” group in mid-December has consequences well beyond the four deaths that resulted.

One question continues to arise after the recent killing of two US soldiers and a civilian translator in central Syria by a follower of the extremist “Islamic State” group.

The killer had infiltrated the Syrian security forces. How many others in the Syrian security forces might hold similarly extreme opinions?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Syria, USA

Brown shooting suspect: gruelling academic climate may have taken mental toll, say ex-classmates

As investigators in Massachusetts work to piece together a motive for the murders of two Brown University students and an MIT physics professor, former classmates of the suspected gunman and one of the victims have been asking if the roots of the tragedy lie in their shared experience at a top university in Portugal.

The suspected gunman, Cláudio Valente, and one of those killed, Nuno FG Loureiro, studied at the prestigious and notoriously challenging University of Lisbon engineering and technology school, known locally as Técnico, both graduating in 2000.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

One year into Trump 2.0: Here’s how much America has radically changed on his watch

U.S. President Donald Trump has been a disruptive force since he burst onto the political scene a decade ago — but the pace of change in the first year of his second presidency is unlike just about anything seen before in the nearly 250-year history of the American republic.

Since his inauguration in January, Trump has upended the global trade order with a sweeping new tariffs scheme, radically curtailed immigration while deploying enforcement agents to round up migrants en masse and issued pink slips to federal public servants at a scale unmatched in the modern era.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Zelensky appears to wish for Putin’s death in Christmas Eve speech

President Putin wished President Trump a merry Christmas on Thursday, the Kremlin has said, hours after President Zelensky appeared to wish death upon the Russian leader in his Christmas Eve address.

Putin sent Trump a congratulatory message, according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but the leaders are not expected to speak on Christmas Day.

On Christmas Eve, Zelensky said: “Today we all share one dream. And we make one wish — for all of us: ‘May he perish.’” It is widely understood to be a reference to Putin. Beforehand, Zelensky hinted at a plan for demilitarised zones in eastern Ukraine.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"

Jimmy Kimmel says ‘tyranny is booming’ as he renews attacks on Trump in UK Christmas address

Jimmy Kimmel unleashed fresh attacks on President Trump and declared “tyranny is booming” in the United States during a Christmas Day address in Britain — escalating his feud with the White House months after ABC briefly pulled his show over his comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

The late-night host used Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message to say that “from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” delivering one of his most pointed political monologues yet — on a UK network, not American television.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCelebrity Idiots, Trump Derangement Syndrome

76,475 Canadians have died by MAID. Is that too many?

It was presented to Canadians as an exceptional option to an already approaching natural death. How did doctor-assisted dying become so popular?

Nearly a decade after the Criminal Code was amended to permit doctors to end, under certain conditions, a consenting person’s life, one in 20 deaths in Canada now involve medical assistance in dying (MAID).

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMAiD Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

When Christmas in hospital meant ‘alcohol galore’

While Christmas in hospital would not be on many people’s festive wish list, for retired nurse Miriam Harvey, it was one of the happiest days of the year.

“We would close one of the operating theatres and eat our Christmas lunch on the operating table,” the former theatre sister remembers.

“We always kept one operating theatre vacant so we could have our dinner on it.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inChristmas

A Visit With Occam’s Razor

Rumble Link

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inOur World