Weekend Reads 1/19/19

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Donald Trump, and Stupidity

In our current political climate, stupidity ranges across the spectrum from the most obsessed Trumpster to the most avid Berniebot. Whether in support of or in opposition to any particular agenda or political figure, stupidity always dehumanizes, replacing thought and deliberation with soundbites and memes. Bonhoeffer’s diagnosis seventy-five years ago could have been written this morning.

The green movement has a diversity problem. And it is getting worse

The disparity highlighted in the report is most pronounced when it comes to senior staff positions at foundations: from 2017 to 2018, the number of people of color in this group fell from 33 percent to just 4 percent.

Facebook Algorithms and Personal Data

When directed to the “ad preferences” page, the large majority of Facebook users (88%) found that the site had generated some material for them. A majority of users (59%) say these categories reflect their real-life interests, while 27% say they are not very or not at all accurate in describing them. And once shown how the platform classifies their interests, roughly half of Facebook users (51%) say they are not comfortable that the company created such a list.

House floor erupts after lawmaker shouts ‘Go back to Puerto Rico’

It was unclear whether the comment was directed at Cárdenas or Democrats more broadly. Roughly 30 House and Senate Democrats flew to Puerto Rico last weekend to inspect the Hurricane Maria recovery effort and highlight the ongoing work there to address the damage caused by the 2017 storm.