FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Is That a Maserati Or Are You Just Happy to Rob Me? It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news and this week we have the most Florida bank robbery ever, a by-the-book would-be assassin, and nudists taking on a pirate-hippie on the streets of San Francisco.
Archive for 2024
July 12, 2024
AREN’T “UNREALISTIC” STANDARDS THE WHOLE POINT OF AI-GENERATED IMAGERY? First “Miss AI” contest sparks ire for pushing unrealistic beauty standards: Influencer platform’s controversial contest awarded prizes to three nonexistent people.
HMM: Avengers Assemble! Heavyweight New Plan to Try to Force Biden Out.
“The super friends are assembling,” a House Democrat told Politico. “There’s a group of people who are going to go make their case to whomever they can get to at the White House that he needs to step aside and we’re going to get our asses kicked if he doesn’t.”
The plan would see a group of Biden’s oldest and most senior Democratic colleagues come together to make a definitive statement on behalf of the party that it would be damaging if the president were to continue. It is hoped that team would include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC).
The alleged showdown would end the perception that Democratic leaders are divided about whether Biden, 81, can serve as president for another four years.
Related: Dem Donors Hold $90 Million Hostage Unless Biden Exits the Race.
My initial impression of Biden’s press conference last night is that it was bad enough to keep the pressure on for him to leave but was good enough (graded on the generous Biden Curve) for him and Jill to keep their heels dug in.
That would be an ideal result, with a wounded Biden shuffling slowly along the road to election defeat.
But clearly the drama isn’t done playing out yet.
JONATHAN TOBIN: Candace Owens is a cautionary tale about platforming ignorance.
Owens’s latest bid for publicity involves her embrace of Holocaust denial in which she uses her popular videos and X posts to speak as if the horrors of Auschwitz, including the bestial medical experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele, is mere “propaganda.” On top of that, she has the chutzpah to speak of the Germans as if they were the true victims of World War II and that the Allies who defeated Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime were the true axis of evil.
We can hope that this latest entry in an increasingly long list of antisemitic rants is the one that finally leads to a situation where she will, like some other hatemongers before her, sink into well-deserved obscurity where her mad utterances will draw no further notice from the general public.
Still, I think it’s important to note her journey from populist conservative talker to conspiracy theorist to full-blown lunatic Jew-hater. This story deserves to be understood not just because what she says is terrible—though it certainly is—but because Owens is a cautionary tale of how articulate, yet also utterly ignorant and completely unprincipled people can be platformed by serious outlets without them having a full understanding of the sort of person they’re employing. It’s also a commentary on how once you start buying into conspiracy theories, the rabbit hole of antisemitism can become an irresistible temptation.
Owens is currently exploring multiple rabbit holes of bizarre topics:
Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Kanye West Starting To Think Candace Owens Might Be A Little Crazy.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA to strengthen ties with Japan, South Korea during week of meetings.
SONNY BUNCH: Why Hollywood Turned on Biden First.
“Hollywood hates nothing more than weakness. Unless there’s a montage of getting strong and winning. They know there’s no montage of Biden getting strong and winning, so time for a quick offscreen death and a recast,” he said. Even if he manages to turn in an impressive campaign stop or press conference here and there, everyone’s simply waiting for Biden to stumble again. And he will. He’s not getting any younger.
Even in an age of aging heroes—one in which the biggest box office draws are Tom Cruise (62) and Denzel Washington (69) and Will Smith (55) and Keanu Reeves (59)—what’s being sold is not that they’re old but that they’re effective, that they’ve got verve, that they can outperform men and women half their age. It’s why Biden embraced the Onion’s vision of him as the aging bro washing his Trans Am, it’s why he goes everywhere he can in Top Gun-style aviators. It’s why the Dark Brandon meme took off in certain quarters of the Democratic party: He’s not nearing death, he’s old and wily and still vibrant enough to crush his enemies.
Call it shallow, call it whatever you want: politics is the art of persuasion and perception, and people are less likely to be persuaded by someone they perceive to be incapable of doing the job. People are also less likely to be persuaded by folks who lie to their face and tell them everything is just fine with Biden, that he’s clearly together enough to get the job done. For what it’s worth, I am incredibly ambivalent about the effort to replace Biden: the unknown unknowns that come with either a mini-primary at the convention or simply replacing Biden with Harris atop the ticket are vast and, potentially, destabilizing. And maybe Biden rights the ship with a series of command performances in front of the press and population alike. Maybe it was a one-off thing and his standing will improve in the polls.
But pretending there isn’t a conversation to be had at all is foolish and self-defeating. The voters have seen what they have seen. Again: politics is perception. And right now, the perception is bad.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Clooney on Wednesday added himself to the growing list of prominent Democrats who said he had concerns over Biden’s at-times frail condition, well before it spilled into public view at the debate.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F—ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” he wrote.
Campaign officials sought to intervene to prevent the piece from publishing, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Combine that with reports that “Obama Knew Clooney Was Going to Call for Biden to Drop Out. He Didn’t Try to Stop Him,” which means that the in-fighting in the various factions of the White House and the DNC must be spectacular right now.
Sonny Bunch wrote above that “politics is perception. And right now, the perception is bad.” But just think — up until a month ago, that perception was 180 degrees opposite. Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: In New ‘Ocean’s 14’, George Clooney Pulls Off $30 Million Heist By Tricking People Into Giving Money To Politician Before Revealing He’s Demented.
THE BOY IN THE WHITE HOUSE BUBBLE: Rachel Maddow Appears to Panic After Biden’s ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference.
IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY TO BRING THEM TOGETHER: Survey shows more than 1 in 5 people experience loneliness.
CHANGE? CNN quietly disbands its Race and Equality team. “A CNN spokesperson pushed back against the notion that the team was “disbanded,” explaining that the reporters will now be integrated ‘fully and completely’ across the network’s platforms. Instead of the team existing within an ‘organizational silo,’ the reporters’ expertise will be utilized more collaboratively, they said.”
YOUR DOG WANTS STEAK: What’s In A Dog Bark? Scientists Look To Use Artificial Intelligence To Help Figure It Out. “Using Artificial Intelligence and algorithms, researchers say that they could potentially not only learn more about what a dog is saying, but why they are saying it as well. Ultimately, they believe this could help humans understand and communicate with their dogs better. We’re not quite like the dog from Pixar’s ‘Up’ film yet – but it appears that’s where we may be heading!”
(Classical reference in headline.)
REPORT: ‘Dozens’ Of Congressional Democrats Allegedly Preparing To Publicly Call On Joe Biden To Drop Out.
CBS News reports that potentially ‘dozens’ of Democratic lawmakers will issue statements calling on Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential election.
The outlet states it may transpire within the next 48 hours.
UNITED STATES: CBS News reports that four Democratic sources say they 'expect dozens of Democratic lawmakers over the next 48 hours to issue statements calling for President Biden to step out of the race'
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 12, 2024
Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey adds: Breaking from NYT: The $90 Million Shoe Just Dropped on Biden.
If the money’s disappearing, then Biden will have to get by on just small-donor contributions and the current $240 million cash-on-hand his campaign has. That would be enough to compete, but not enough to win even for a candidate with full compos mentis. This may be the biggest signal yet to Biden that he simply can’t stay on the ticket, but … will it matter to the Bidens at this point? Stay tuned.
In the meantime, Biden-Trump, err, -Harris are still plugging away, looking for individual contributions:
Yet another Biden email saying he's still in it and begging for money pic.twitter.com/AWGV0pZaiy
— Sunny (@sunnyright) July 12, 2024
UPDATE: You’re gonna need a bigger blog: Here are all the Democrats who have called on Joe Biden to quit.
I AGREE:
post industrial society is a lie https://t.co/1xYF9YFeFE
— Aaron Slodov (@aphysicist) July 12, 2024
But finance is easier and less messy than manufacturing, or at least it seems to be.
JIM TREACHER: At Least Biden Won’t Remember What Happened This Week.
Later he tried to explain what happened, which was even more baffling:
I’ll do my best to transcribe this gibberish:
“And the moo, the Putin piece, I was talking about Putin, and I said, ‘And now,’ at the very end, I said, ‘Here,’ I mean ‘Putin,’ I said, ‘Uh, no, I’m sorry, Zelenskyy.’ [DISCONCERTINGLY LONG PAUSE] And then I added five other names. Look, guys. The idea, anybody suggests that, that… we haven’t had an incredibly successful conference. How many times did you hear in that conference, I don’t, it sounds too self-serving, but other leaders, heads of state, in thanking me, saying, ‘The reason we’re together is because of Biden. Because Biden did the following.’ Look, folks. This is, uh… Well. Anyway.”
Well anyway indeed. Actually, that would be a great campaign slogan:
BIDEN 2024: WELL ANYWAY
Now, if you’re an older person or you know one, this behavior may be familiar. Sometimes a person’s mental filing system gets mixed up as he ages. All the information is still up there in the ol’ noggin, but things get misfiled. Jumbled. Mostly nouns. People, places, things. He knows what he wants to say, but he picks up the wrong name and attaches it to the wrong thing. It happens.
This can be understandable and even endearing in a loved one. It’s not very reassuring to a world that’s waiting to see how many marbles the president of the United States has left.
How well did this week go for Biden? It was a cornucopia of soundbites* for the opposition, from both Biden’s gaffes, and what his own party is now saying about him:
Truly amazing to realize there’s going to be a GOP ad this fall that does nothing but quote Dem Congressmen, Senators and George Clooney on the unfitness of their presidential candidate.
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) July 12, 2024
* And videos of reaction shots as well: Here’s Blinken, Austin and Sullivan Reacting to Biden Praising ‘Vice President Trump’ During Presser.
.@NATO leaders react to President Biden mistakenly introducing President Zelenskiy as "President Putin". pic.twitter.com/V8rNfpY3Sj
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) July 11, 2024
Here's Secretaries Blinken, Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan when President Biden said, "Vice President Trump." pic.twitter.com/chvT7eRqvY
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) July 12, 2024
ONE IS ALREADY RUNNING THE COUNTRY AND THE OTHER MIGHT SOON BE: Jill Biden’s grudge against Kamala Harris REVEALED: Power-hungry first lady’s grudge is so deep that the only thing worse than Joe stepping down is the VP replacing him.
The relationship between the two women – that began badly enough during that contentious battle for the presidential nomination – has only gone downhill from there.
Now, political insiders have told DailyMail.com that Democratic advisors are struggling to push past the powerful role that Jill Biden’s loathing of Harris, 59, is playing in Joe’s resistance to pass the mantle to his VP as pressure ratchets up for him to step down as presidential candidate and allow another Democrat tackle Donald Trump.
According to one former Democrat operative in Jill’s circle, the women’s long-seated animosity is ‘one hundred per cent’ part of Jill’s resistance to having her 81-year-old husband step aside.
Because the truth, according to a source who knows the First Couple well, is that Jill’s is now the only voice to which the 46th president listens.
Well, hers and Hunter’s — the country is in the very best of hands.
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CUE THE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Lefty Media Throws Itself a Pity Party Because Mean Old Biden Deceived Them.
ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S LEFT AFTER EDITS DEMANDED BY THE WHITE HOUSE: Another Scandal Drops: Milwaukee Radio Station That ‘Interviewed’ Biden Makes a Rather Damning Admission.
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: “Gay Furry Hackers” Feud With Heritage Foundation Exec.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Democrats Have Never Really Loved Joe Biden Enough to Spare Him This Humiliation. “Now, all the Dem faithful who are asking him to step aside are telling us what a great guy he is for hanging around Washington all these years. It’s crap.”
WELL, YES — BUT TO TODAY’S DEMOCRATS, THAT MAKES HIM AN EXTREME RIGHT-WINGER: The truth about Trump? He’s a moderate.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Biden Digs In and MSM Reaches for the Kid Gloves Again. “Celebrities and elected officials can continue to call for Biden to yield to another candidate, but the flying monkeys in the mainstream media will eventually have to get back to covering for the work of fiction which they created in 2020.”
WHOA! More than two-thirds of Hill staffers, including Democrats and Republicans, responding to survey say President Joe Biden should end his campaign for a second term. And here’s another shocker: 68 percent of staffers under the age of 30 say Biden should quit.
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