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As Democrats got to the mat with Republicans on the debt ceiling, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is insisting that his members unanimously get behind a vote to lift it. Only by maximizing the pressure on such legislation, Jeffries contends, will the measure get through before the June 1 date of default.
On Wednesday, the Democrats introduced a discharge petition, a procedural resolution, with the hope of forcing a vote on a debt limit hike no matter the Republicans’ objections.
“I am hopeful that a real pathway exists to find an acceptable, bipartisan resolution that prevents a default,” Jeffries stated in a letter to caucus members. “However, given the impending June 1
deadline and urgency of the moment, it is important that all legislative options be pursued in the event that no agreement is reached.”
It is still questionable where the caucus members stand on the petition, and Jeffries is calling on all 213 members to endorse it. Getting all aboard would include a number of moderate-budget hawks who have expressed opposition.
Another stumbling block, even with unanimity from the Democrats, is the need for at least five Republicans to join them on the petition. Time is running out and the Democrats hope that
market forces will assist them in getting the vote before the deadline, though at the moment such an outcome looks unlikely.
Given the urgency of the situation, President Biden has postponed his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, apparently caving into criticism about leaving at a time like this. Biden said he is hopeful that he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy can broker a deal by the end of the week. Then the Speaker will have to convince that coterie of Republicans to put him in charge by on the historic 15 ballots.
After a discussion between Biden and congressional leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer said it was “a good and productive meeting. There were honest, real discussions about the differences that we have on a whole variety of issues, but it was respectful.”
Microsoft, in its latest “Work Trend Index” report, promises that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) at work is the technology that’s going to make all of our jobs easier.
The company says it has found that the constant inflow of data, emails, meetings, and
notifications workers must deal with daily has placed us all in a “digital debt.” Since humans can not physically and mentally keep up with such onslaughts of information, AI technology is at the ready to assist.
“Across the Microsoft 365 apps,” the report states, “the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (in meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations). The heaviest email users (top 25%) spend 8.8 hours a week on email, and the heaviest meeting users (top 25%) spend 7.5 hours a week in meetings.”
Microsoft proposes an “AI-employee alliance” which would provide workers more time to focus on important tasks and give them real opportunities to enhance their creativity.
The company says it believes the impact of AI will be evident by the year 2030. “When asked what changes they value most, people imagined producing high-quality work in half the time (33%), being able to understand the most valuable ways to spend their time (26%) and energy (25%), and never having to mentally absorb unnecessary or irrelevant information again (23%).”
But contrary to Microsoft’s rosy outlook on the promises of AI, many workers have been concerned about AI’s ability to imitate human-like intelligence. If the future means we will see AI-programmed robots who are capable of doing human jobs, workers are wondering where they will fit in.
During a May 16 hearing by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, OpenAI’s CEO Samuel Altman for the most part agreed that elements of AI will need to be regulated. Altman said, “regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models.” The OpenAI CEO even suggested the U.S. government should create a new regulatory agency to monitor AI and its licensing and testing requirements. He said, “If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. We want to be vocal about that. We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening.”
“The basic question we face is whether or not this issue of AI is a quantitative change in technology or a qualitative change. The suggestions that I’ve heard from experts in the field suggest it’s qualitative,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said during the hearing. “I’ve heard of the positive potential of AI, and it is enormous. You can go through lists of the deployment of technology that would say that an idea you sketch for a website on a napkin could create functioning code. Pharmaceutical companies could use the technology to identify new candidates to treat disease. The list goes on. And then, of course, the danger, and it’s profound as well.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) advised that “Perhaps the biggest nightmare is the looming new industrial revolution, the displacement of millions of workers, the loss of huge numbers of jobs.”
Yet, just a month prior to the senate hearing, Jessica O. Matthews, founder and CEO of the software company, Uncharted, told attendees at an AfroTech Executive event in Seattle, Wa that AI is nothing to be afraid of.
“You should not be afraid of AI, you should be afraid of the people who are building it,” Matthews declared. “AI, artificial intelligence, .. it’s kind of like a child; it’s like a robot baby. ChatGPT is at best a sassy 7-year-old, and we all know that 7-year-old … [who] recently grew up with all the social media platforms and be out here talking to you like they grown. And you’re like, well damn girl, you grown. No, they’re just online.
“Do not like have this 7-year-old do your taxes. It might go well sometimes––until it does not.”
Matthews said the problem with AI is that it needs to be demystified. It’s basically a code that has the ability to learn. It’s often explained as an algorithm, which can sound scary, but algorithms are basically processes, she clarified. “If you have a process for anything, that’s an algorithm … And all it actually comes down to is how are you teaching that [process] to an artificial intelligence? How are you teaching that to this robot baby so that it can start to do that for you?”
If the only people with access to teaching AI robot babies have intentional or unintentional biases, they are “framing the way that this child should observe and respond to the world,” Matthews said, and that is what we should fear.
Two years ago when Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed plans to cut library funding, there was a massive outcry. That scream is once again echoing across the city and we are still not sure where Mayor Eric Adams is on this issue: did he walk back his plan to cut more than $36 million from the budget?
Mr. Mayor, we need to discuss where we are on this matter because it is of grave importance in all 50 districts and their libraries, particularly as it pertains to staffing, hours of operation, and book acquisitions.
On the related matter of books and reading, we are equally interested in your plans to improve reading among our grade-school children where it was reported that half of the children in grades three to eight are not proficient in reading. And that Black, Latino, and low-income children are faring even worse.
It’s good to hear that Schools Chancellor David Banks is on the case with a plan to remedy a condition that handicaps children in their educational learning.
There is an obvious connection between libraries, books, and reading and to cut opportunities to acquire one while limiting the other is a blatant contradiction.
Keeping our libraries open and increasing the literary skills of our young people, Mayor Adams, should be uppermost on your agenda—and your budget.
The postmortem on the Knicks began immediately after they were eliminated by the Miami Heat 4-2 last Friday at the Kaseya Center in South Florida in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series, losing Game 6 by 96-92. They are in full evaluation mode and readying for key decisions that could have them ascending to title contender status or failing to build on a promising 2022-23 campaign.
Blame abounds for who was responsible for the the Knicks’ mildly surprising exit from the postseason at the hands of the No. 8 seed Heat, which lost their opening Play-in Tournament game 116-105 to the Atlanta Hawks and had to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in a second Play-in game just to get into the playoffs.
Julius Randle has been the most vilified Knick by the team’s emotionally charged fans and a large segment of the media that have misguidedly appointed him a role normally ascribed to valid franchise players, of which there are relatively few in the entire NBA. After averaging 25.1 points and 10 rebounds in 77 regular season games, Randle’s numbers shrunk to 16.6 and 8.3 in 10 postseason outings.
After being named All-NBA Third Team on May 10, his second All-NBA selection since signing with the Knicks as a free-agent in August of 2019, two days later, the 28-year-old Randle labored in shooting 3-14 and 1-7 on 3-point attempts for 15 points in an inadequate performance that has left a bitter impression on unforgiving Knick supporters. Many have similar feelings regarding RJ Barrett.
The 22-year-old forward’s season ending night was even more distressing than Randle’s. Raising his level of play after sub-par Games 1 and 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Knicks 4-1 opening round series victory, Barrett, who posted 19.3 points per game in 11 contests, was an abysmal 1-10 in Game 6 versus the Heat for 11 points.
“I played terrible,” Barrett said afterwards. “I’m very disappointed in how I played today. It’s a lot right now. You fight for something, you want something so bad. I don’t feel like I played my best, so it hurts, but it’s good to have experiences like these, you can learn from them. They are a very good team, very experienced, very poised, so we can learn from that.”
What everyone who follows the Knicks and the NBA learned is that Jalen Brunson is now unequivocally an elite player. He exhausted every unit of his capacity trying to will the Knicks to a Game 7, scoring 41 points in Game 6 and proving to be a force multiplier. Lacking an abundance of fast twitch fiber, Brunson’s craftiness with the ball, ballet-like footwork, intelligence quotient (IQ), and mental and physical toughness are as immense as any of his peers.
“It’s tough,” said Brunson of the defeat. “I think for me we did a lot of great things this season. We obviously wanted to keep playing and have the opportunity. It stings a little bit…if you don’t win you lose.”
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was reluctant to reach deep into his bench in the series, particularly to play the team’s best 3-point shooter, Evan Founier, despite his squad registering a horrific 29.2% from behind the 3-point arc. Conversely, Thibodeau’s counterpart, Heat coach Eric Spoelstra masterfully maximized his reserves, going 10 strong to great effect. It has further shaped Thibodeau’s reputation as being stubborn and rotation rigid.
The off-season for the Knicks commenced in Miami last Friday evening. Team president Leon Rose and his staff of experienced voices, including general manager Scott Perry and executive vice president William Wesley, will have to creatively and boldly reconfigure the roster to address obvious needs, the most pressing significantly better perimeter shooting and athletic two-way wing player that is an adept defender and three-level scorer.
The Knicks were hopeful that the top-10 protected draft pick that was part of the January 2019 deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks would fortuitously drop below the 10th spot in Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery and by the terms of the trade become their possession. But when the league’s Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum revealed the pick came up at No. 10, the Knicks, for the moment, are left without a first round pick in this June’s draft.
However, they have a treasure trove of first rounders, 10 in total, between next year’s draft and 2029 that can be used to improve their roster. A popular wish among Randle’s detractors is that he is moved for another All-Star – the Minnesota Timberwolves’ forward Karl-Anthony Towns has been frequently referenced as a plausible option.
The summer should be a compelling and active one for the Knicks.
