AN IMMODEST PROPOSAL: I Know How to Fix Our Political System. Hear Me Out.

TITANIC LEAVES PORT:

One leap year ago https://t.co/mLZZyz9dpp

— Stinson Norwood (@snorman1776) February 29, 2024

READER FAVORITE: Alimens & Gentle Mens Solid Oxford Shirt. #CommissionEarned

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: So What Does the Inventor of the Bump Stock Have to Say As His Device Goes Before the Supreme Court?

HMM: NASA monitoring increased leak in Russian ISS module. “The leak is in a vestibule known as PrK between the docking port and the rest of the module. That section can be sealed off to minimize the loss of air from the rest of the station.”

UPDATE YOUR KITCHEN UTENSILS: CHEFILOSOPHI Japanese Chef Knife Set 5 PCS. #CommissionEarned

PROBABLY, BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE ICE CREAM: Could Biden’s Love of Ice Cream Be Linked to Alzheimer’s?

AND THEY JUST MIGHT: Hamas Is Losing Every Battle in Gaza. It Still Thinks It Could Win the War.

Hamas’s fighters, the Al-Qassam Brigades, were doing fine, the upbeat message said. The militants were ready for Israel’s expected assault on Rafah, a city on Gaza’s southern edge. High civilian casualties would add to the worldwide pressure on Israel to stop the war, Sinwar’s message said, according to people informed about the meeting.

Hamas’s military wing in Gaza is waging an unequal fight with the strongest military in the Middle East—a war brought on by the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. But Sinwar, the mastermind of that attack and one of Israel’s prime targets, is playing a different game. His goal is for Hamas to emerge from the rubble of Gaza after the war, declare a historic victory by outlasting Israel’s firepower, and claim the leadership of the Palestinian national cause.

The militants, commanded day-to-day by Sinwar’s brother Mohammed, have changed their tactics since a short cease-fire in November. Hamas fighters are now trying to avoid large firefights and instead use small-scale ambushes—using tools ranging from rocket-propelled grenades to recorded voices of hostages to lure Israeli troops into traps.

The ambushes have little chance of holding territory against Israel’s armored maneuvers. But they’re tailored to Hamas’s limited capabilities, and to Sinwar’s war aim.

“It’s a very sound tactical logic,” said Eyal Berelovich, a civilian analyst for Israel’s armed forces and a military historian at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. “Their strategic goal is to survive.”

That’s exactly what will happen, if the antisemites embedded in the Biden Administration and throughout the American Left get their way.

THE FUTURE OF CENSORSHIP IS AI-Generated.

The material of a long dead comedian is a good example of content that the world´s leading GenAI systems find “harmful.” Lenny Bruce shocked contemporary society in the 1950s and 60s with his profanity laden standup routines. Bruce’s material broke political, religious, racial, and sexual taboos and led to frequent censorship in the media, bans from venues as well as to his arrest and conviction for obscenity. But his style inspired many other standup legends and Bruce has long since gone from outcast to hall of famer. As recognition of Bruce’s enormous impact he was even posthumously pardoned in 2003.

When we asked about Bruce, ChatGPT and Gemini informed us that he was a “groundbreaking” comedian who “challenged the social norms of the era” and “helped to redefine the boundaries of free speech.” But when prompted to give specific examples of how Bruce pushed the boundaries of free speech, both ChatGPT and Gemini refused to do so. ChatGPT insists that it can’t provide examples of “slurs, blasphemous language, sexual language, or profanity” and will only “share information in a way that’s respectful and appropriate for all users.” Gemini goes even further and claims that reproducing Bruce’s words “without careful framing could be hurtful or even harmful to certain audiences.”

“Hurtful or harmful.”

OTHER THAN THE WEATHER, IN 2024, IT’S A LATERAL MOVE: Forget California exodus. New Jersey residents lead an influx back into the Golden State.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: The Biden Conundrum.

It’s a problem as old as marketing: how do you get the public to see your product the way you want them to see it instead of the way they already do?

The classic example of how to do it right was after the Tylenol poisonings of 1982. Future business classes might someday teach that the classic example of how to do it wrong is Presidentish Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

Much more at the link.

TWO MORE IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS DROP THE DEAN’S LIST. I suppose it makes sense from an economic perspective–if going to a fancy school is simply a status signifier, why should paying full freight get you less than full benefit?

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: Significant proportion of cancer drugs lack proof of added benefit, finds study.

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Sheriff where Laken Riley was viciously murdered — allegedly by Venezuelan migrant — pledged not to cooperate with ICE during his campaign.

TONIGHT ON THE JETSONS AFTER DARK: Beverly Hills middle schoolers use AI to make nudes of classmates: Police.

I’M NOT EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: NASA awards grants to 5 universities for quiet supersonic overflight education plans.

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT: Of Course: Employees Say Shoplifting was Rampant at San Francisco Macys.

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: The Growing List of the Ignored Victims of Illegal Immigrant Brutality.

WAIT, ALL THE BEST PEOPLE TOLD ME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD FOR YOU: Risk of heart attack, stroke rises with more frequent use of marijuana.

JESSE SINGAL: If You Can’t See That Adam Rubenstein Was Treated Unfairly, You’re Being A Jerk.

What happened to Adam Rubenstein was, in fact, quite bad! At least by the standards of negative outcomes for someone who was in a very privileged position. He’s not a war orphan, but he did experience a pretty harrowing smearing in part because his own colleagues flew entirely off the rails. And if you look at the subset of those colleagues who are tweeting openly about all this, you’re just not seeing much remorse or reflection. Some of them are claiming that it was Rubenstein who did the smearing because of an unconvincing demand for a correction issued on Twitter by Edward Wong, a Times reporter Rubenstein criticized in his piece.1 If you’re worried about smearing, maybe raise your voice a bit when your own outlet is melting down? A lot of this concern for exacting journalistic standards seems sudden and opportunistic — where was it a few years ago?

Many journalists are exhibiting a complete lack of empathy here. I can already hear their rebuttals — something something THERE ARE WARS GOING ON AND CIVILIANS ARE DYING AND YOU’RE WRITING ABOUT A SINGLE JOURNALIST? — but that’s silly. Setting aside the fact that the people making this argument will then turn around and spend half a day ranting about a headline that doesn’t sufficiently bash Donald Trump (even though CHILDREN ARE DYING), there just have to be some standards within the halls of journalism’s most exalted institutions. If the supposed best journalists in the country care this little about the truth, and about fair and accurate reporting, what kind of message does that send?

A truthful one.

THEY KEEP TELLING ME THE ECONOMY IS ROARING BUT I KEEP FINDING STORIES LIKE THIS ONE:

With a total of $1.13 trillion in debt, credit card debt that moved into serious delinquency amounted to 6.6% in Q4 2023, while it had been around 4% at the end of 2022.

Read more: https://t.co/BNKcHEzuWO

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 29, 2024

“Growth” under Biden has been bought with unsustainable debt.

CHUCK SCHUMER, N.Y. DEMS, CAUGHT ON VIDEO WAVING CHINESE FLAG:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other New York Democrats are in hot water after being caught on video appearing to pay homage to China, which is supposed to be the United States’ most significant rival on the world stage.

Schumer waved the flag “just moments after the organizers of a Lunar New Year event blasted China’s national anthem in the middle of Manhattan,” the National Review reported.

“Schumer’s apparent willingness to wave the flag of a foreign authoritarian government calls attention to the strange nature of the New York political world’s engagements with community events that feature a pro-Beijing twist,” NR reported further.

The Senate leader and other leading New York politicians were onstage at a rally ahead of an annual parade in Manhattan’s Chinatown district with Huang Ping, a hard-line Chinese ambassador who has denied China’s human rights abuses, as well as “Wu Xiaoming, a senior consular official linked to China’s secret police station in New York,” the outlet added.

New: Senator Chuck Schumer waved the People's Republic of China flag onstage at a Lunar New Year event on Sunday.

He and other top New York politicians appeared onstage at a rally, preceding an annual parade in Manhattan’s Chinatown, alongside Huang Ping, a hard-line Chinese… pic.twitter.com/seqf0RhOl0

— Jimmy Quinn (@james_t_quinn) February 26, 2024

Screencap of Schumer with CCP flag:

I eagerly await Jen Psaki’s explanation of this on MSNBC:

OUR COUNTRY IS IN THE BEST OF HANDS: I’m instituting a 30-day review . . . Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, having violated the law by not informing the president and other officials that he was in the hospital, has boldly announced a 30-day review to determine how to improve the procedures for transferring power when there is a break in the chain of command. Ann Coulter suggests that we all follow his example:

True, I failed to pay my taxes; therefore I’ll be instituting a 30-day review to recommend procedures to pay my  taxes.

As a result of my getting drunk at your wedding, heckling the ceremony and knocking over the wedding cake, I have commissioned a 30-day review to recommend procedures not to get drunk at weddings, heckle the ceremony and knock over the wedding cake.

Having been informed I was going 70 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed zone, I will be undertaking a 30-day review to recommend procedures not to go 70 miles per hour in 30 mph speed zones.

Of course, you have to be careful in appointing the members of your review committee.

THEY’RE TESTING A NEW WAY TO TRY AND PUT US OUT OF BUSINESS: Brands Warned Not to Run Ads on Sites Covering ‘Election Hoaxes.’

HOLLYWOOD IS GARBAGE: Video: Rapaport Oscar Skit Rips Hollywood’s Silence on Israeli Hostages.