SHARE AN OBVIOUS PARODY AS EVIDENCE OF WHAT A DEEPFAKE CAN DO TODAY, AND YOU GET THIS: Elon Musk Shares Edited Version of Kamala Harris Campaign Ad.

Elon Musk, a master of the memes, is planting his flag in deepfake territory—and risking backlash at a fraught political moment.

Musk, Tesla’s billionaire chief executive, on Friday shared on X an edited version of a campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris purporting to be a parody. By doing so, he potentially breached his own social-media platform’s policy against sharing synthetic and manipulated media.

The edited ad mimics Harris’s voice to have her say she became the new Democratic candidate for the November presidential election after President Biden “exposed his senility.” In the video, Harris’s altered voice also says she is the “ultimate diversity hire,” and says her work addressing the root causes of the border crisis was “catastrophic.” . . .

By reposting what appeared to be an AI-generated deepfake, Musk might run afoul of an X policy instituted after he took over the platform. The policy, instituted in April 2023, forbids sharing synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that might deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.

Among the criteria listed by X to determine whether content should be labeled or removed are whether the media is significantly and deceptively altered; whether it is shared in a deceptive manner or with false context; and whether the content is likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues.

The policy allows memes or satires, provided they don’t cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media. Musk in resharing the video called it “amazing,” but didn’t say it was purporting to be a parody.

It was self-evidently a parody to anyone who isn’t brain-dead, which is to say to anyone who isn’t a “journalist” or a Democratic political operative. But I repeat myself.

OPEN THREAD: This is one of those, joints that never close.

GREAT MOMENTS IN KENNEDY-ESQUE CENTRISM: Kamala Harris campaign creating ‘space’ for ‘white dudes’ to ‘be honest’ about role in history.

YEP:

Sounds familiar https://t.co/tfHGzX5m7m

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) July 29, 2024

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Sierra Space conducts second full-scale burst test of inflatable module.

I WOULD EXPAND THAT TO PRETTY MUCH ANY NYT COLUMNIST, ACTUALLY:

In the entirety of human history nobody has ever asked David French’s opinion on how to be a man. https://t.co/G3NpfeDa2F

— Larry Correia (@monsterhunter45) July 28, 2024

UPDATE: To people in the comments asking, yes, that is a real article by David French. Here it is. “Within the Kamala Harris coalition, there are men who can show a better way.”

Judging by this column, French doesn’t even understand what he calls “Trumpist masculinity.”

UPDATE: From the NYT comments to French’s column:

Dyed-in-the-wool Democrats are resorting to irrelevant arguments because the facts are against them.

First, let’s dismiss the entire premise of the article. Hulk Hogan is a cartoonish entertainer. No one aspires to be him. They appreciate his entertainment.

Harris made an appearance on Ru Paul’s Drag Race. But, Republicans are honest enough not to claim that Democrats think Ru Paul is the only way to be a man.

Now the issues. Why don’t you talk about Afghanistan, the dead in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel Russia, inflation, the needless Biden Admin deficits, Biden admin’s poor performance relative to Trump as it pertains to real-stock-price-changes, Wage changes? Or why not talk about the record number of border crossings, medicine shortages? The strategic Petro reserve? Interest Rates?

Perhaps it is time to drop our “dyed-in-the-wool” way of thinking and realize that Democrats aren’t the only way to be a voter.

Plus:

Agree with your headline but the problem is the democrat party answer to it ie wokeness ie male generational shame, discrimination, cancellation female privilege, promotion, preference (instead of equality) is not the answer.

Which came first, Trump or wokeness?

Related: How David Brooks Created Donald Trump.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From the InstaPundit comments below: “Of course Hulk Hogan isn’t the only way. There’s also the Sean Connery way, the Clint Eastwood way, the Chuck Norris way, the Donald Trump way… There is no David French way.”

And: “Frenchie would also write this article about Teddy Roosevelt.”

DAVE FOSTER ON ARTHUR KOESTLER ON OUR CIVILIZATION.

JUXTAPOSITIONS, GRAUNIAD-STYLE: “I mean, how bad could it be?”

Really bad. Click over and see.

WHEN REALITY INTRUDES ON AUTOMAKERS’ EV-FANTASIES: Carmakers Tripped Up by Choppy Present as They Chase an EV Future.

One particular concern among auto investors has grown louder: The strong pricing power that carmakers have enjoyed in the pandemic era is slowly fading. Several auto executives warned that in the second half of the year, they expect the average price paid by customers will edge lower.

“The results of our competitors are not demonstrating that price pressure is going to vanish,” said Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, which also makes Ram vehicles.

Car companies for years have made the case that they are ready to become technology companies, with plans to transform cars into battery-powered smartphones on wheels. Those ambitions, coupled with an unprecedented run of profitability fueled by stout pricing, lifted stocks.

Wall Street’s enthusiasm for that vision has faded, as U.S. electric-vehicle demand hasn’t taken off as expected. Now, with signs that pricing is losing steam as the American car buyer grapples with high interest rates, investors are looking for reasons to stick around.

“The overarching feeling for the auto industry is that the good times can’t last,” said Martin French, managing director at auto consulting firm Berylls Strategy Advisors.

* * * * * * * *

One reason why enthusiasm for electric cars has faded? The election in November: Trump vows to axe Biden’s electric car mandate on ‘day one.’

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN IS ON THE OLYMPIC “LAST SUPPER” DEBACLE: “But its biggest sin was not blasphemy. It was that it stunk on ice, as most such efforts do. . . . And – and this is the most important part – it was designed to stink. Lousy culture like this is a power statement (‘look what we can get away with!’).”

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON: Media’s Soviet-Style Airbrushing of Kamala Harris’ Problematic History.

As many of you know, I studied in the Soviet Union during college. I traveled extensively throughout the country and I became very friendly with dissident and refusenik families who were being persecuted. So I knew Soviet history very well.

And there’s a joke that I saw on Twitter today, which was that in the Soviet Union, the future was always written, but it’s the past that kept changing. And what they were talking about is Stalin and other Soviet leaders had a habit of changing history. And they would do it in many ways. And one of the ways they would do it as featured in this image.

Stalin was notorious for having a group of Photoshop, before there was Photoshop, of photo editors who could take people out of photos, could airbrush people who were now politically not acceptable. But they also did it by replacing pages in encyclopedias. Beria, the former secret police chief, had his pages replaced in the Soviet encyclopedias so that future generations literally would not know he existed because all they had then was the encyclopedia.

And I felt a little bit of that vibe, a lot of bit of that vibe today when there were stories about how Axios was going back and essentially rewriting its history. As we know for Kamala Harris, one of her big problems is that she was responsible for the border. And we all remember she was called the Border Czar. And you know what? Axios wrote an article today saying that’s not true. She was never called the Border Czar. And then people found from 2021 articles in Axios calling her the Border Czar because she doesn’t want to now take responsibility for the border problems.

So Axios just reinvented it, wrote an addition saying, oh, we were wrong back then. We used it improperly.

And that’s after Biden was ushered out like a late-period Soviet party chairman – which was just last week, astonishingly enough.

But will any voters on the lefthand side of aisle care? Democrats have portrayed Trump as the second coming of Hitler since about 2015 or so, and more recently, along with repeated choruses that “Democracy is on the line in November.” Such superheated rhetoric may be more than enough to overcome the Democrats’ Soviet-style tactics in the eyes of the proverbial low information voters.

UPDATE: And speaking of late-period Soviet vibes:

Pete Buttigieg confirms they were "ALL AWARE" of Biden's obvious cognitive impairment — including Kamala Harris — but lied to the American people anyway.

Kamala led the coverup of the century. pic.twitter.com/EumxSMJoyh

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 28, 2024

“Ho-hum; of course we all knew. But more importantly, we didn’t think it was necessary for you to know.”

IT’S ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS: Chris Wray’s attempt to cast doubt on Trump assassination attempt is all politics.

I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT DIET SODAS ARE PROBABLY NO BETTER FOR YOU THAN THE REAL THING: Here’s What ‘Diet’ Soft Drink Could Be Doing to Your Health in The Long Term.

AT AMAZON, Barkeeper’s Friend. A magic cleaner.

Also: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE: The Thick Ice of Europa: A Barrier or a Gateway to Alien Life?

MEMORY HOLING THE TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT:

This is what happens when a monopolist dominates search and controls Americans’ access to information https://t.co/6k708cVFZ0 pic.twitter.com/Sb4DO1MKrZ

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 28, 2024

Woke AI lies about history. pic.twitter.com/zFOAZgYbLT

— James Lindsay, anti-Communist (@ConceptualJames) July 28, 2024

INTERESTING: Orchestra experiment shows older people can identify and remember musical themes as well as younger people.

Flashback: “A while back I realized that I could remember the guitar solo note-for-note from a song I hadn’t heard in 20 years. Why waste brain cells remembering that? My colleague Ben Barton suggested that in the old days, prehistoric people without writing often used songs to pass along useful knowledge. If you had the gene that let you remember the song about famine foods, you were a lot more likely to survive the famine than if you didn’t.”

ZOOM: American Supercar: Your First Look at the 1,064-HP 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.

A NICE INTERVIEW WITH INSTAPUNDIT BLOG DESIGNER STACY TABB.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Another Unconstitutional Biden Ban Overturned.

Plus: Second Amendment Foundation Scores Court Victory in PA’s Banning of Firearms in a Vehicle. “District Judge Christopher C. Conner with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued an order granting summary judgment to SAF and its partners, finding the state’s law banning carry of a firearm in a vehicle without a license unconstitutional. He further declared that a ban on firearms possession without a license during a state of emergency is facially unconstitutional, and enjoined Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris from enforcing those provisions.”

BE PREPARED: Resqme GBO-RQM The Rescue Tool Keyring. #CommissionEarned

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Sodom And Gomorrah Set To Host 2028 Olympics.

ONE OF MY REGRETS IS THAT I NEVER BECAME A HAM: The rich history of ham radio culture.

LEARN THIS TERM: ‘Whole of Society.’

To make sense of today’s form of American politics, it is necessary to understand a key term. It is not found in standard U.S. civics textbooks, but it is central to the new playbook of power: “whole of society.”

The term was popularized roughly a decade ago by the Obama administration, which liked that its bland, technocratic appearance could be used as cover to erect a mechanism for the government to control public life that can, at best, be called “Soviet-style.” Here’s the simplest definition: “Individuals, civil society and companies shape interactions in society, and their actions can harm or foster integrity in their communities. A whole-of-society approach asserts that as these actors interact with public officials and play a critical role in setting the public agenda and influencing public decisions, they also have a responsibility to promote public integrity.”

In other words, the government enacts policies and then “enlists” corporations, NGOs and even individual citizens to enforce them—creating a 360-degree police force made up of the companies you do business with, the civic organizations that you think make up your communal safety net, even your neighbors. What this looks like in practice is a small group of powerful people using public-private partnerships to silence the Constitution, censor ideas they don’t like, deny their opponents access to banking, credit, the internet, and other public accommodations in a process of continuous surveillance, constantly threatened cancellation, and social control.

You may not be interested in the Gleichschaltung, but the Gleichschaltung is interested in you.

HMM: Stunning Implications of Tesla Real World AI.