Chris Griffith

History offers a sobering precedent—Queensland, Australia’s gerrymander lasted 40 years. For Democrats, this is an existential fight that will set the tone of American politics for possibly a generation or more. The question is: are they up to that fight?

Trump's base hasn't been remaking the U.S. in its image just to have it evaporate after two or four years. It's out to lock in those changes permanently and make future Democratic victories nearly impossible. ctd.

Expect a political fight to the death: Republicans gerrymandering, Democrats attempting to “anti-gerrymander.” But with Trump’s proposed changes, the 2026 midterms may be engineered beyond recognition, well before Americans get to vote. ctd.

This comes 2 days after Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems US$67 million for defamation, following false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election. Fox News settled in 2023 for US$787.5 million. No, 2020 wasn't rigged but the next elections probably will be seriously so. ctd.

According to today’s New York Times, President Trump is urging other Republican-led states to redraw electoral boundaries before the 2026 midterms. He says he's drafting executive orders to eliminate mail-in voting—favoured by Democrats—and to ban voting machines altogether. ctd.

Have We Already Witnessed the Last Reasonably Fair U.S. Election—for Now?
It’s looking increasingly likely. The Republican gerrymander in Texas could yield up to 5 additional seats. Meanwhile, California is pushing to reverse gerrymander by the same margin—but that hinges on a state referendum. ctd.

Has Copilot been trained in the ancient Chinese art of kowtowing? I’m beginning to think so.

YouTube video by Chris Griffith Record, ride virtually and share your favourite real-world cycling adventures

If you are into virtual cycling, there's some great news. Rouvy is letting users video their realworld cycling adventures, and convert them to virtual cycling experiences that they can ride at home on a smart trainer. youtu.be/gGz4txsx7bQ #cycling

The European Union’s competition commissioner is staring down Donald Trump on the issue of big tech regulation. Just who will blink first? Link: tinyurl.com/mu3ydxfe
#tariffs #trump #europeanunion

"The reversal of the years-old policy is a stark sign of how the company is repositioning itself for the Trump era," it says. The move is also likely to please foreign governments such as Russia which has a massive propaganda ecosystem that targets the west. ctd.

The report says that, instead, Meta will rely on users to add notes or corrections to posts. Can we really rely on the public to fact check the more than billion posts published each day? "It is likely to please the Trump administration", says the NYT story. ctd.

YouTube video by Chris Griffith I go back 48 years to interview my younger self!

Yesterday I went back in time 48 years and, with the aid of artificial intelligence and time travel, gave my younger self advice about life. You can see the result below. We are both avatars here.
Video link: youtu.be/C422loI7j1Y
chrisgriffith.com #technology #innovation #artificialintelligence

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Fortunately, my digital twin (AI avatar) can speak 170 or more languages, so here is its greeting in French, English and Ukrainian (over 3 posts). Have a great 2025!

HERE IS THE ENGLISH VERSION!

#newyear #happynewyear

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Fortunately, my digital twin (AI avatar) can speak 170 or more languages, so here is its greeting in French, English and Ukrainian (over 3 posts). Have a great 2025!

HERE IS THE FRENCH VERSION!

#newyear #happynewyear

Meta (Fbook, Insta, Threads) has great problems monitoring for content that breaches community standards. There's mountains of posts full of #racism & #misinformation that #Meta never gets too. But it has managed to suspend my account twice, only to unlock it with a letter of apology.

Can Meta get anything right? People are complaining about being suspended on Instagram and Threads for no reason they can remotely understand. Good to be with Bluesky :)

Aren’t we lucky!

I interviewed Australian Government Services Minister Bill Shorten on the rollout of Digital ID across the nation. The new Act takes force on December 1. The interview was on the sidelines of the National Tech Summit Enjoy. tinyurl.com/na5j5unn #technology

You might fool an online age verification system with a VPN but there's now VPN detection tools, Netflix & others detect you're spoofing your region/location. The arms race builds. I believe it will become too complex to fool age checks for many, but a fair portion will. Is a win on points enough?

The tech for Australia's social media ban for <16s is not new. Age verification is in several US states, Facebook already checks users are >13 or 18+ for Dating. You submit ID or take a selfie using Yoti AI age estimates. But there are accuracy issues, VPN workarounds, geo-spoofing to trick it ctd.

So this dispute should have been resolved with the govt playing a role weeks ago. In fairness to Healthscope, a US company, Gold Coast Private Hospital provided exemplary service during my recent surgery there. The staff was excellent, as was the medical care and available resources. ctd.

Healthscope had big billboards up in hospitals warning of this extra fee for weeks, along with Bupa & AHSA members' refusals to pay it, and other funds' agreement to pay it. But this issue only hit the headlines recently. I saw the billboards at Gold Coast Private Hospital in September. ctd.

Musk is on a mission to deregulate tech in the US, including countering any move for government to vet misinformation. It’s not fanciful that he will use his new found reach to derail efforts by other regulators against US firms across the globe.That could prove a diplomatic nightmare for Australia.

Elon Musk, soon to be arguably America’s second most powerful person, in his advocacy of “free speech” on X, has already branded Australia’s government as “fascists” & has crossed swords legally with Australia’s eSafety commissioner. This could prove a major headache for Australia’s regulators Ctd.

The arrest of Australia’ once most powerful radio host Alan Jones, 83, on 26 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault brings to a close the total dominance of certain radio hosts in our political system here. But just as one era ends, another looms large.

After a difficult few months and irresistible persuasion I’m at the Walkleys (Australian journalism awards) in Sydney and enjoying the wonderful camaraderie of fellow journalists @walkleys #walkleys

Is Gen AI ready for Christmas? I used Msoft Copilot to create this Santa image for an Xmas party invitation. The reindeers look like toy dogs; Santa isn't connected to the reins & is floating in mid-air, there are lots of "reindeers" floating in the sky. Somehow it's what I expect from algorithms.

Ha ha, I joined up waiting at an airport too.

So what will my core use of Bluesky be, seeing I'm used to life without Twitter & use other social networks? Bluesky will be where I will say how I really feel about issues, stuff I may not share with family, old buddies and even colleagues on other networks. Hopefully great discussions. 🗣️🗣️