Coal Limits, Arrest Warrants, & AI’s On The Job Hunt
April 30, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Tuesday! Today, we’re talking about good news for the environment, Japan’s leadership problems, a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest (maybe), a resignation in Scotland, Hunter Biden suing Fox News, Title IX, and AI causing problems for the job market.
Here’s some good news: a Utah couple’s cat, Galena, went missing for about a week. She was discovered in an Amazon warehouse in California, having been shipped out with an Amazon return on accident, and she’s safe back home with her parents (can we say paw-rents? No? Okay never mind) now. Also, Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven said he has secured a commitment from the National Park Service to keep the wild horses in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” – Marian Wright Edelman
A Green Light For Green Policies
We’re starting the week off with some good news this time – or at least, the promise of some good news that will hopefully occur this decade. Ministers from the Group of Seven nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.) have reportedly agreed to shut down all their coal plants by 2035, a decision that might push the rest of the world to follow suit.
Historically, agreements to end the use of coal-fired power plants have been hotly contested at global climate talks. Japan, according to climate think tank Ember, produced 32% of its electricity from coal in 2023 – so, it’s clear why such an agreement might be so hard to pin down.
In other good news, countries outside the G7 are considering a global restriction on plastic production which would significantly reduce one of Earth’s most prominent and long-lasting pollutants. At U.N. talks Rwanda and Peru put forth a proposal to reduce the production of primary plastic polymers by 40% in 2040, compared to a baseline level decided in 2025. According to analysis by one research group, the U.S. plastics industry is expected to create more climate change than America’s coal industry by 2030, so this is great news for the environment.
The LDP Loses, Liberally
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has controlled the country for much of its post-World War II history, is slipping. In parliamentary by-elections held over the weekend, the LDP lost all three parliamentary seats up for grabs due to a massive (for Japan) slush funds scandal that made headlines last year – LDP politicians stashed unreported money raised by selling tickets for party fundraising events.
LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi promised to “do our utmost to regain the trust from the public as we continue our effort to reform and tackle the challenges.” Akiko Kamei, a candidate from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan who won a seat from the LDP, said, “I believe the voters’ anger over LDP’s slush funds problem and the lack of improvement in daily lives in the prefecture became support for me.”
While experts predict that the LDP is unlikely to lose power due to political differences in the opposition, the scandal might spell the end for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is seeking re-election this fall.
I-C-C This Ending Poorly
- According to Israeli officials, the government of Israel is concerned that the International Criminal Court (ICC) might soon issue warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli military officials. The warrants would be part of the ICC’s investigation into possible war crimes committed by both Israel and Palestinian militants dating back to 2014 – the investigation would likely lead to warrants against leaders from both the IDF and Hamas.
- The U.S. and Israel both refuse to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, meaning that a warrant being issued against Netanyahu wouldn’t exactly lead to a group of international troops airdropping into Jerusalem and dragging away the prime minister in handcuffs. Instead, the move would simply embarrass Netanyahu on the international stage – the only other head of state that the ICC has issued a warrant against is Russian President Vladimir Putin. A warrant would also mean that Netanyahu or other officials might be arrested if they visit Europe or another place that does recognize the ICC’s rulings.
A Resignation Proclamation
- On Monday, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announced that he would be resigning from his position, triggering a leadership contest within the governing Scottish National Party (SNP). His one-year time at the head of the Scottish government was tainted due to a campaign finance scandal and culture wars over transgender rights, which pushed some members of the ruling coalition government to say they would vote against Yousaf in two votes scheduled for later this week.
- “I’ve concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,” said Yousaf in his announcement. The two main candidates to become his replacement are former deputy first minister John Swinney and Kate Forbes, who lost to Yousef in the SNP’s last leadership contests in March 2023. The most important criteria for his successor would be their ability to attract the support of a single Scottish political party – the SNP (which holds 63 seats in the Scottish government) is just one vote off of a majority in the 128-seat legislature.
More Mixed Nuts
- Dozens killed in Kenya as weeks of heavy rain devastate region (CNN)
- Ukraine’s allies say slow arms deliveries have benefited Russia on the battlefield (ABC)
- Solomon Islands pro-Beijing prime minister won’t keep his job following elections (AP)
- An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India (WaPo, $)
- UK will not accept return of asylum seekers from Ireland, Rishi Sunak says (Guardian)
Fox Hunter-ing
- According to a letter sent to Fox News on April 23 (released by NBC yesterday), lawyers for Hunter Biden are planning to sue the right-wing network. The letter accuses the network of “conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame Mr. Biden and paint him in a false light, the unlicensed commercial exploitation of his image, name, and likeness, and the unlawful publication of hacked intimate images of him.”
- About a year ago, Fox was forced to shell out about $800 million after Dominion Voting Systems accused the network of defamation due to its coverage of alleged “election fraud,” which never existed. Fox is also currently facing a similar $2.7 billion lawsuit brought by Smartmatic for defamation. The lesson to be learned is not to defame people, but we won’t get our hopes up about Fox taking the feedback into account in the future.
TX Takes On Title IX
- The Biden administration recently issued an update to Title IX, which would limit discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit yesterday, arguing the Department of Education overstepped its authority when it expanded the protections of the 1972 law.
- The case is sure to be assigned to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative judge with a propensity for issuing injunctions against federal policies. “Texas educational institutions rely on federal funding and will be irreparably harmed if they lose their funding because of their reliance on 50 years of Title IX practice and legal precedent interpreting ‘on the basis of sex’ to mean biological sex, not ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity,’” the filing states.
More Nuts In America
- A train derailment shuts down the historic bridge in Portland, Oregon (CNN)
- First seven of 70 defendants in alleged $250m Covid relief funds scam go to trial (Guardian)
- Peter Navarro’s get-out-of-jail request is again rejected by the Supreme Court (CNN)
- Why was Green Party candidate Jill Stein arrested? (USA Today)
- ‘Should have been done yesterday’: Rural, older Americans could get hurt as affordable internet program runs out of cash (CNN)
Never Send A Robot To Do A Human’s Job
- AI might take your job, or it might hire you for it. As the tech world tightens up with a recent spike in layoffs following the pandemic hiring bubble, workers and recruiters are having to contend with an increasingly competitive job market. To make users’ lives easier (and to hop aboard the AI hype-train), job-hunting platforms like Linkedin and Indeed have rolled out new AI tools for both employers and job-seekers.
- Those tools help recruiters reach out to promising candidates using AI-generated messages and search optimizations, but the platforms have provided job-seekers with their own weapons, allowing them to bulk-apply to positions, show applicants how compatible they are with certain jobs, and even dictate how users should tailor their resumes for a given position. Some tech job-seekers have even turned to using generative AI to help them answer technical interview questions.
- According to various recruiters across the industry, this mini-AI-arms-race has degraded employers’ ability to select competent candidates. One industry expert described AI hiring tools as a “black box” for both sides of the hiring process, as neither recruiters nor applicants know exactly what the algorithms are selecting for. Others have warned of the possibility of biases within AI, while others have said that the ease of applying to jobs has left them overwhelmed, with single positions garnering thousands of (often fabricated) applications. Of course, companies promise that AI will get better over time, but for now, we’ll remain skeptical.
More Loose Nuts
- Police and public capture runaway zebras in Washington state, but one is still missing (NBC)
- Goldman Environmental Prize: This saltwater lagoon is legally a person. Here’s why that could help it survive (CNN)
- Roman object that baffled experts to go on show at Lincoln Museum (BBC)
- Austria calls for rapid regulation as it hosts meeting on ‘killer robots’ (Reuters)
- Canny as a crocodile but dumber than a baboon — new research ponders T. rex’s brain power (LAT, $)