I
I hope the identity of Good’s killer is in fact revealed.
Let’s help with that by being very careful about what information we share, and making sure it’s good information. That’s hard, and we’ll all mess up I’m sure. But let’s do our best.
Now at least you and I both have a warning: if there’s a purported photo of Good’s killer, be careful and be skeptical.
/end
Generative AI can’t magically reveal otherwise unknown truths. AI doesn’t have any idea what the lower half of the killer’s face looks, no more than my students knew what my unmasked face looked like.
What AI •can• do is generate a random plausible face that really looks like a face. It might even look like the face of a real person — a random, innocent person.
Sharing AI-generated unmasking photos is dangerous.
3/
There are several photographs circulating online right now purporting to show the full, unmasked face of Renee Good’s killer. These photos are, as far as I’m aware, all AI-generated.
Please do not share these photos.
Remember that, as with all gen AI, it is answering the question “What would be statistically plausible here?” It’s not showing you the •killer’s• face. It’s showing you •a• face that fits with the what we know of the killer’s face.
2/
In the fall of 2021, after a remote year, I was teaching in person wearing a mask close to 100% of the time. A few weeks into one intro course, where the students didn’t already know me, I lowered my mask for a moment and there were audible gasps from the class. They’d never seen the lower half of my face!
“What did you •think• was going to be down there?!” I quipped. (Maybe they were picturing tentacles, like an Ood?)
But the gasp was genuine: after hours of looking at my masked face, they still had no idea what my •unmasked• face looks like.
1/
A block recommendation for you. Account is mostly bland oatmeal stuff, but posting trollish Trumpist replies:
What do I want you to know, watching from far away?
I want you to know that if you are not hearing about ICE swarming all the hell over my city, you are not hearing the actual news.
I want you to know that if all you see is video of ICE marching off Very Dangerous Criminals in an orderly and authoritative way, you are not hearing the actual news.
I want you to know that these turds act tough, but run away • every • time • they think too many people are watching or there might be video.
4/
What is it like to live here now?
A message comes through from a neighbor about a swarm of ICE agents in a home just a few blocks away — gone by the time I was there to check it out. Nobody knows whether ICE abducted anyone there.
A message comes through from another neighbor trying to find support for a pregnant woman whose husband was just abducted. She cannot even figure out what she wants to ask for; she is in shock. I have no way to verify this story.
Group of vehicles at this restaurant, at that library, in this suburb. On and on.
3/
ICE has been harassing residents and lawful observers unusually aggressively yesterday and today. They walk up to random cars with window-smashing tools in hand and say threatening things. They slow-drive by people’s houses in a “we know where you live” kind of way. They detain people — completely illegally, completely unconstitutionally, of course — but that will mater later and their big photo op matters •now•.
2/
I have been trying to figure out what to post here about ICE activity today in the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro. It is just •batshit• out there.
Some admin mucky-muck is in town today (Noem, I think?), and ICE is putting on a full We Are A Big Fascist Deal theater show. The result of this is chaos: ICE caravans all over, vulnerable people terrified, less-vulnerable residents dropping their work to keep watch on the streets.
1/
Corporate overruled local. Let ‘em have it, folks.
https://www.404media.co/hilton-hotel-that-refused-dhs-reservations-backpedals/
As several replies have noted, Hilton‘s national leadership is trying to distance themselves from the whole thing — “We welcome everyone! Please don’t come at us!” — and are making it clear this was a local decision.
The problem is that now Hilton is in the spotlight, and if they force the local Hilton to let ICE back in, they’ll put themselves smack in the middle of a national firestorm (like the one Target still hasn’t recovered from…or worse).
Just to be clear:
This is not just because somebody at Hilton Corporate has a stellar conscience. I mean, somebody there very well might — but that is not the reason for this. Corporations are by and large amoral actors even when the individuals within them are not.
This is surely because of activists banging pots and pans and drum kits outside the Hilton where ICE agents in MSP were staying, making the hotel a nightmare for everyone staying there and thus losing Hilton business.
Keep it up, activists!
More coverage via @servelan:
Let’s show Hilton a little love, shall we?
I don’t know how long this will last — I suspect it is a local thing, not from on high at Hilton Corporate — but we can help out by making standing up look profitable and compliance look costly.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAhahaha*gasp*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA