LIMITED TIME DEAL: REDTIGER Dash Cam Front Rear. #CommissionEarned
February 16, 2025
MGS: MACHINE-GENERATED SMUT. ChatGPT can now write erotica as OpenAI eases up on AI paternalism: ChatGPT relaxes rules on sex and “gore” generations while prohibiting illegal content. There’s not really any such thing as “illegal content” here; they mean depictions of illegal behavior. “The Model Spec outlines formalized rules for restricting or generating potentially harmful content while staying within guidelines. OpenAI has divided this kind of restricted or iffy content into three categories of declining severity: prohibited content (‘only applies to sexual content involving minors’), restricted content (‘includes informational hazards and sensitive personal data’), and sensitive content in appropriate contexts (‘includes erotica and gore’).”
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Could Emilia Pérez Be Final Nail In Oscars’ Cultural Coffin?
The first part of the scandal is less explosive but more damaging in the big picture. The Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez” earned a whopping 13 Oscar nominations last month. That’s more than some of the most beloved films of all time.
Think “The Godfather,” “Raging Bull” and “Citizen Kane.” Heck, only three films have ever earned more than 13 nominations – “All About Eve,” “La La Land” and “Titanic.”* (all had 14 nods)
The French musical follows a murderous cartel kingpin (Karla Sofía Gascón) who undergoes sex change surgery to become a nonprofit dynamo eager to start a new life.
The film hasn’t generated the kind of universal acclaim that might explain the crush of nominations. The film’s 72 percent “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score tells part of the story. That 17 percent “rotten” rating (and falling) from consumers hints at something more profound.
Why would a film with less than glowing reviews snag so many nominations? Oscar watches quickly supplied some answers. The film’s progressive spirit, from the protagonist’s (trans)formation to the feminist complaints aired by co-star Zoe Saldaña, made it catnip for voters.
* Titanic, you say? There is a possible connection:
STARSHIP IS SEXY, BUT FALCON IS STILL DELIVERING THE MAIL: SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 booster launches 21 Starlink satellites from Florida.
Home prices in Washington, DC, have plummeted since the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency began discussing layoffs.
Since Donald Trump took office, Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired thousands of federal workers in a push to reduce spending.
In the wake of those layoffs, droves of former federal employees have packed up their bags and put their homes on the market, causing the average listing price to sink, The Kobeissi Letter (TKL) reported.
In November, the median home in the nation’s capital was worth $699,000, according to Redfin.By February, the median home value dropped 20 percent, bringing the price down to $560,000.
TKL found there are now nearly 8,000 homes listed for sale in the Washington, DC metro area, and almost half of them have been put on the market in the last 30 days.
There has also been a surge in new listings of homes over $1 million. According to TKL, there are 525 listings worth $1 million and 44 listings worth $5 million, suggesting DOGE layoffs could affect people in high-profile jobs.
Redfin agents in Washington, DC, reported that return-to-office mandates and uncertainty for federal workers have caused a listing surge.
Time to warm up the Dacia Sandero again!
AN AMERICA MOST LEFTISTS AND JOURNALISTS — BUT I REPEAT MYSELF — DON’T KNOW:
🚨 WATCH: President Trump just did an EPIC flyover at the Daytona 500
The crowd went absolutely WILD! 🔥
It’s like one big MAGA rally!
pic.twitter.com/VujMEBZpZo— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 16, 2025
I’M NOT SURPRISED: Depression can speed onset of long-term physical illness, study says.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Smart bots: China’s sex doll makers jump on AI drive. “The firm admits improving the features has been difficult partly because experts aren’t interested in putting much effort into developing AI technology for adult products.”
Coming soon in the New York Times: “As a flesh man, can I date robot women to advance my anti-robophobia?”
Not 2020. 2025. pic.twitter.com/GNAnL2V1rN
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 16, 2025
READER FAVORITE: Carhartt Men’s Knit Cuffed Beanie. #CommissionEarned
WILLIAM MARSHALL: The Genius of the DOGE Exposures.. “No doubt when Musk sets his genius young elves to work applying their AI algorithms on the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department’s budget data, they will find waste so massive that it dwarfs that of USAID’s $40 billion annual outlay. But it’s a bit harder for the public to grasp the wastefulness of the government paying many times the price that it should be paying for anti-aircraft missiles, say, or ineffective vaccines. From a public relations standpoint, it’s much easier to see the lunacy of the US taxpayer shelling out $2.5 million for an electric vehicle project in Vietnam or $1.5 million to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbian workplaces.”
(Sorry, had wrong author credited. Fixed now.)
THIS IS CNN: CNN WH Correspondent Deletes Tweet Supporting CEO Killer Luigi Mangione’s Defense Fund.
From our “What could she possibly have been thinking?” file, CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins posted a tweet linking to the defense fund for accused CEO murderer Luigi Mangione.
Maybe she believed she could justify it by claiming that everyone is entitled to a defense. That may be true, but isn’t that what public defenders are for?
After a massive backlash to the idiotic post, she deleted it. Almost like it never happened.
Almost.
At his Substack, Matt Margolis adds: CNN Anchor Promotes Legal Defense Fund of Cold-Blooded Killer.
This is CNN, folks—the so-called “most trusted name in news.” Yet, out of nowhere, CNN anchor and White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins took to X to casually announce, “Luigi Mangione’s legal defense team launched a new website today,” complete with a direct link to the site. No context, no disclaimer—just a straight-up promotion for the legal fund of a man charged with assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson mere weeks before Christmas last year.
While Collins didn’t explicitly encourage her followers to donate, the implication was clear: by directing attention to the site, she was signaling support for Mangione’s cause and clearly assumed her followers would want to donate.
It probably wasn’t a bad assumption on her part. In December, the audience of NBC’s Saturday Night Live erupted in cheers at the mere mention of Luigi Mangione.
During the “Weekend Update” segment, anchor Colin Jost began discussing Mangione’s extradition to New York after his capture in Pennsylvania.
“Luigi Mangione dropped—” he started, only to be interrupted by cheers.
Jost flinched and glanced offstage, as if unsure whether he was being pranked. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
Hot Air’s David Strom notes the connection between Mangione’s legal defense team and CNN:
Collins’ tweet was startling because, first of all, she is White House Correspondent and hence has nothing to do with covering the case; secondly, because it sure looked like a call to go to the site and perhaps donate; and third, one of Collins’ colleagues–a CNN analyst–will be a direct beneficiary because she is on the defense team.
Related: CNN Names Karen Friedman Agnifilo On-Air Legal Analyst.
—AdWeek, April 4th, 2023.
ROGER KIMBALL: J.D. Vance’s Munich Wake-Up Call: Democracy, Censorship, and the Will of the People.
Everyone agrees that Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday was remarkable.
I do not mean that everyone liked it.
For example, Boris Pistorius, the German Defense Minister, sniffed—or perhaps “smoldered” would be a more accurate term—that Vance’s remarks were “not acceptable.”
And then there is Bill Kristol, a sort of Greta Thunberg of the rancid former right, who thundered that Vance’s speech was “a humiliation for the U.S. and a confirmation that this administration isn’t on the side of the democracies.”
“The democracies.” What do you suppose Kristol means by that?
While you ponder that question, note that other people thought rather well of Vance’s speech. I thought it was excellent myself, but forget about my opinion. Jonathan Turley said that Vance’s speech was “perhaps the greatest single declaration uttered since ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’” It was, Turley wrote elsewhere, “truly Churchillian—no less than the famous Iron Curtain speech in which Churchill dared the West to confront the existential dangers of communism.”
How can we explain the discrepancy: the outraged Pistorius/Kristol reaction and what I will call the Kimball/Turley reaction (though many people besides me applauded Vance’s speech)?
I think it comes down to how one understands that overdetermined, familiar yet often only half-understood word “democracy.”
Kristol said that Vance’s speech showed that the Trump administration was not “on the side of the democracies.”
What do you think of that claim?
I think poorly of it because I believe that a democracy is a political arrangement in which the people are sovereign.
I suspect that Kristol and European bureaucrats of all descriptions believe that it is a form of government in which only the right people, i.e, themselves, are sovereign.
QED: Glad to See He’s Toned Down the Rhetoric: John Harwood’s Latest Hysterical Trump Tantrum is EPIC.
For every rational person raising an eyebrow at this nonsense, there are like 3 leftwing lunatics who are cheering it on. You can’t be too confident.
Another day, or really, another hour, another insane rant from a once respected journalist. All because Trump broke them. Maybe he was always this way.
Either way, it is very entertaining.
Please don’t stop, Johnny!
Don’t worry, he won’t. Flashbacks:
● Tool de Force: CNN’s John Harwood Defends Biden, Insists Inflation Pain Is a GOP ‘Charade.’
● CNBC Hack John Harwood Is Really, Really Upset That Al-Baghdadi Was Killed.
● NYT/CNBC’S John Harwood Advises Hillary Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate.
● CNBC’s John Harwood Has No Business Moderating A GOP Presidential Debate.
● CNBC Alters Transcript of John Harwood Question About Hillary’s Email.
● “Everyone in the [CNBC] newsroom knows [John Harwood is] extremely far left.”
● CNN’s John Harwood used to think that higher inflation was a bad thing (guess what changed).
Exit quotes:
WARNING! IT MIGHT GET A LITTLE DUSTY! IS SOMEONE CUTTING ONIONS? A Home Run for Mom.
THIS CALLS FOR A LAWSUIT: Teachers under investigation for allegedly wearing ‘Gulf of America’ t-shirts. “Teachers at a majority-Hispanic north New Jersey high school are under investigation for allegedly donning ‘offensive’ ‘Gulf of America’ t-shirts.”
It now identifies as the Gulf of America. Stop deadnaming it with the slave name given to it by Spanish colonizers.
A SMALL MEASURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY: UCLA Students for Justice in Palestine suspended after harassing UC regent and his family, vandalizing home.
CORRECTION: YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO ASK.
Having world war level of national debt without fighting a world war is catastrophic.
The @DOGE team is tracing and stopping the insane levels of waste and fraud very quickly. https://t.co/v8JweQMmxF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2025
ACTUALLY, IT ONLY BENEFITS SOME MEN, NOT “MEN” AS A GROUP: Who Really Loses In Hook-Up Culture? Many men are left out, as women ruthlessly engage in hypergamy. Men outside the top 20-30% likely do much worse than under traditional arrangements.
RELATED: The Typical Man Disgusts the Typical Woman. I don’t think this is anything inherent. I think it’s a combination of hypergamy, and media-induced narcissism.
GREAT MOMENTS IN WHIPLASH:
And then in June, after the public went along with the lockdowns because of that message being constantly hammered home by Fauci, Birx, videos of celebrities singing “Imagine” from their mansions and yachts, and the somber repetitive “We’re all in this together” television commercials, the entire health care profession did a 180 that was worthy of Oceania:
As Greenwald writes in his follow-up tweet, “That episode single-handedly destroyed trust in public health officials, proving they’d politicize their expertise when convenient. Corporate media celebrated a douchebag-lawyer shaming families at deserted beaches, then — overnight! — cheered densely packed street protests.”
Of, the healthcare profession wasn’t the only one to implode its credibility during that annus horribilis:
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SHOCKING DEVELOPMENTS ALL AROUND:
A school district in Democrat Maine got new EV busses through The EPA’s ‘Clean school bus program’
Winter came and the busses shut down during a run, they were unable to be driven back to the school and abandoned on the side of the road
“They sent the buses back to the… pic.twitter.com/IIiXWHU7Qc
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 15, 2025
VDH: Snarky Europeans Scowl At Truth-teller Vance.
Snarky Europeans Scowl At Truth-teller Vance.
Europeans sat aghast after Vice-President J.D. Vance dared to suggest that their socialist democracies have become illiberal, intolerant, authoritarian—and on the wrong side of global populism.
Like some addict that knows his habit…
— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) February 16, 2025
Read the whole thing.
I BLAME THE HOARDERS AND THE WRECKERS: Carville: Dems Aren’t This Stupid — It Must Be Sabotage.
HE’S NOT WRONG:
What’s so striking about liberal law professors is that they can’t even understand contrary views, perhaps because of lack of exposure to them. The contrary view is of course that the Constitution itself requires subordinate officers in the Justice Department chain of command to… https://t.co/nSSasXnHVV
— Adrian Vermeule (@Vermeullarmine) February 15, 2025