Archive for 2023
April 25, 2023
DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Biden Bemoans Banning Of Pornographic Children’s Books.
PROTECT YOUR NECK: Osteo Cervical Pillow for Neck Pain Relief. #CommissionEarned
COLONIALISM, STRAIGHT UP: Oxford ‘Cancels’ England’s Patron Saint George to Appease Islam.
SCIENCE, UNSETTLED: Gastrointestinal anatomy varies widely among people, study shows.
DON SURBER: Fox is the Ray Epps of News. “Fox fired Tucker Carlson on Monday morning. I was not surprised. Murdoch took a dive on the Dominion defamation suit because the loss gave him a chance to clean house.”
ALEX BYRNE: Philosophy’s No-Go Zone. “An MIT professor describes the outraged reaction from fellow philosophers when he argued that a woman is an adult human female.”
Kafka could have written this piece as fiction.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Aaron Rodgers Retires From Professional Football To Play With The Jets. “At publishing time, Aaron Rodgers had asked if anyone had some psychedelics because he just sobered up enough to realize he had actually signed with the New York Jets.”
LET’S GO BRANDON! At one Michigan school district, students weren’t allowed to wear Let’s Go Brandon gear to school–but gay pride stuff was OK. Now FIRE is suing to protect all students’ First Amendment rights, in its first-ever K-12 lawsuit.
FOUR MORE YEARS? Not If We Can Help It.
YES: On Arms Delays, Learn From Ukraine or Lose to China.
The war in Ukraine has exposed a deep vulnerability: from missiles to tanks, the West at present cannot produce needed weapons at speed and scale. This has meant a desperate struggle for Ukraine, but it also portends a potential crisis for the U.S. in the seas and air should an unanticipated prolonged conflict occur in the future such as is the possible case with Taiwan.
Particularly in the INDO-PACOM, where China’s military strength has reached unprecedented levels, American defense leaders looking to deter war, the time is now to surge production of proven assets that can best position the U.S. to win a fight in the Indo-Pacific. The F-35 should top their list. Though the defense industrial base is positioned to deliver such an increase, multiple obstacles remain on the government side of the equation. These must be overcome if America is to field enough of the highly capable fighters in time to make a difference.
As I’ve written before, it’s better to learn of these deficiencies during somebody else’s shooting war than during your own. The question is whether we’ll actually do anything about it, and one Beijing will watch closely to learn the answer.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How Are Drag Queens Any Different From Scary Clowns?
NEITHER LIVE NOR MEMOREX: Grimes invites AI artists to use her voice, promising 50 percent royalty split.
Canadian synth-pop artist Grimes says AI artists can use her voice without worrying about copyright or legal enforcement. “I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with,” she tweeted on Sunday. “Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.”
The musician’s declaration comes in the wake of streaming platforms removing an AI-generated song using simulated voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents both artists, called for the purge after “Heart on My Sleeve” garnered over 15 million listens on TikTok and 600,000 on Spotify. UMG argued that publishing a song trained on its artists’ voices was “a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.”
Grimes takes a considerably more open approach, adding that she has no label or legal bindings. “I think it’s cool to be fused [with] a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright,” she added.
So much music — since the widespread adoption of AutoTune — is computer-generated or -enhanced, anyway, I’m not sure AI will make things any worse or more mundane sounding.
HAS AOC EVER READ THE FIRST AMENDMENT? Evidently not, given her recent comment to Jen Psaki on MSNBC in which AOC declared federal laws justify censorship of Fox News and other conservative media types.
SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER (CONT’D): Georgetown U announces separate graduation ceremonies for ‘students of color.’
UKRAINE WAR [VIP]: So Where Is That Counteroffensive We Were All Promised?
SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER: Bucknell student leaders back segregated housing for black students.
EVERYONE KNOWS HE ISN’T UP TO THE JOB: Whopping 70 Percent Think Biden Shouldn’t Run Again, Days Before He’s Set to Announce Reelection Bid.
MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: The COVID lockdown scolds killed people — but they still have no shame.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Fox News Has Been Hitting the Bud Light a Little Hard. “It appeared that Carlson had been taken to the Fox News woodshed regarding [Jan 6] coverage. Worse yet, it appeared that Rupert Murdoch and the higher-ups at FNC were caving to the screeching coming from the Democrats about the footage.”
THE MORE THAT CONSPIRACIES ARE REVEALED, THE MORE THAT CONSPIRACY THEORIES BECOME PERSUASIVE:
There are two obvious reasons why conspiracies, as they are called, are so pervasive.
1. The collapse of institutional trust, hence in official explanations;
2. The sudden and frequent emergence of strange events that were rarely encountered before.— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) April 25, 2023
Things are so weird that for the first time in memory, the media is out of facile explanations. The Narrative is temporarily stunned. The fact checkers are working ChatGPT to figure something out.
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) April 25, 2023