EARLY EDITION: Five Fast News Stories For The Water Cooler (Thurs. Mar 16)

TODAY’S STORIES: China pulls out $; No-ethics Microsoft; body-positivity movement harms; multi-Billion-dollar bailout; Terrorist Cartels; Space suit

1. China pulling money out of US treasury markets

Here’s a story that should play a role in any debate over the Federal debt ceiling. America can’t spend money we don’t have. Even when we try, we can only spend money that other people are willing to loan us.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Yes

No

Submit Vote

There’s an inherent danger in being indebted to anyone. It gives them leverage over you. Power. That’s why we should pay attention to this South China Morning Post headline, in light of our current domestic fiscal policy disputes.

2. Microsoft slashes ethics jobs in AI push

(You can cue the Skynet memes in 3… 2… 1…) But in all seriousness, this could have some important ramifications.

Microsoft is part of the race for pole position in the AI revolution. But they seem to be cutting corners. As our readers will remember, Microsoft was one of the Big Tech giants that recently laid off tens of thousands of workers. Among the people who took that hit was their Ethics Department.

Elon Musk shared an Ars Technica story highlighting this issue with this ominous caption: “Microsoft fired their AI safety team?” From that story:

3. Study shows body positivity movement causes HARM

This is one of those stories where body positivity activists and ‘trust the science’ people will come out swinging at each other. A study published in Computers and Human behavior has raised some red flags about the so-called body positivity movement which was first proposed as the negative effects of women suffering from body image issues that come from living in a media-saturated world. Unrealistic expectations were only magnified in the age of social media, cosmetic surgery, and Photoshop.

But does the ‘all bodies are beautiful’ body positivity movement achieve the ultimate desired goal of having women more comfortable in the skin they are in? According to the data — no. In fact, it made women more open to the idea of cosmetic surgery.

Results showed that viewing sexualized body positivity images was associated with higher levels of body surveillance, a preoccupation with monitoring one’s own physical appearance. Additionally, viewing this sexualized content was associated with lower body satisfaction, which is the opposite of the intent of the body positivity movement.
[…]
“The findings underpin that when body-positive content conveys a sexualized female representation,” it may lead to “detrimental consequences not limited to treating own body as an object but extended to a very worrying threat to women’s well-being: the intention to undergo cosmetic surgery procedures to gain social rewards,” the researchers concluded. –PsyPost

4. Credit Suisse receives big bailout

With economic factors being what they are, major banks are finding themselves in a liquidity crisis, scrambling to find a path forward so they don’t collapse the way SVB and Signature Bank already have. Credit Suisse shares plummeted by 30% on Wednesday, despite assurances we had all been given by a certain POTUS about NOT being in the midst of a financial crisis.

Some sample headlines from yesterday: “Global sell-off resumes after Credit Suisse renews worries; gold rallies” …. “SNAPSHOT Wall St opens lower as Credit Suisse renews bank worries” … “Credit Suisse bonds lead rout in bank, financial company debt”.

Their solution? Borrow big money from the government — $54 billion from Swiss National Bank, to be exact.

In a statement, Credit Suisse said the additional liquidity would support its “core businesses and clients as Credit Suisse takes the necessary steps to create a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs.”
Along with the loan from Swiss National Bank, Credit Suisse said it had bought back a large amount of its debt to manage liabilities and expenses better.

5. Poll: most Americans want Mexican cartels designated as Terrorists

While Red and Blue fight over how to handle a very real crisis on the border, ordinary Americans have a more unified view of the problem.

Voters overwhelmingly believe America is threatened by Mexican drug cartels, and support proposals to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations.

The poll also asked if the federal government should label Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations and a 69% majority said it should. Again, there was bipartisan agreement on this point, with 80% of Republicans, 65% of Democrats, and 63% of independents saying the government should label the drug cartels terrorists. –NewsMax

Of course, once we make that designation, the obvious follow-up question would center on the thousands of dollars in illicit profit those same cartels have made for every man, woman, and child they smuggle across our undefended border. A related question is whether the election of Joe Biden and the implementation of his border policy is truly, as Ted Cruz likes to describe it, ‘the best thing that ever happened to the Mexican drug cartels’. (Washington Examiner)

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

REVEALED: New space suits for Artemis moon missions

Ok, maybe not a ‘weird’ story exactly, but as someone too young to have witnessed the last trip to the moon, but who grew up watching Shuttle launches with absolute fascination, and horror in real time as two shuttles met tragic fates, the thought of another trip to the moon (and beyond) sparks some latent sense of wonder, even if it’s been done before.

But just like none of us still wears the fashions of the 60s and 70s, neither will our astronauts. They will be sporting new, lightweight suits with better range of movement, in sizes that would accomodate some 90% of US citizens, male and female.

There is another version of the suit, made for missions to the more intense heat and light of a visit to the Moon’s Southern Pole where a white suit will help manage the extreme temperatures more effectively.

Sources Cited:
PsyPost
The dark side of #bodypositivity: The relationships between sexualized body-positive selfies on Instagram and acceptance of cosmetic surgery among women
Entrepreneur
NewsMax
WashingtonExaminer