BECAUSE THEY HAVE (OR HAD) FAT, GUARANTEED PAYCHECKS? Why wealthy journalists didn’t understand the economy was important to voters.
Archive for 2024
November 21, 2024
WHO CAN BLAME THE VOTERS FOR THEIR BUYER’S REMORSE?
The UK had instant buyer's remorse pic.twitter.com/Nt4md9RCnL
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 21, 2024
WHEN REPUBLICANS ARE IN THE WHITE HOUSE, THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT MUST BE FREE OF POLITICS. WHEN DEMOCRATS ARE IN, IT’S ALL POLITICS, ALL THE TIME.
What is this insane belief that the AG should be adversarial to the President? Holder said he was Obama’s “wingman” and I don’t recall Axe saying it was disturbing the president had a yes-man in place. https://t.co/lZtZKtNQJT
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) November 21, 2024
Just another of the many double standards they employ, in pursuit of untrammeled power.
DEMOCRAT BOB CASEY CONCEDES PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE TO DAVE MCCORMICK, ENDING RECOUNT.
It’s official! Bob Casey has finally conceded.
After dragging the state through a recount that cost the taxpayers an estimated $1 million dollars, Bob Casey finally admitted to what we all already knew…Dave McCormick won the election and will be the next United States Senator… pic.twitter.com/BMlmnvT3zx
— Bucks GOP (@BucksGOP) November 21, 2024
BRIAN KEMP SHOULD PARDON HER, THEN HAVE THE COPS FIRED: Georgia Police Arrest Mom Because Her Son Went for a Walk. “She was taken to the police station, stripped and put in an orange jumpsuit. She was initially told the charge was “reckless endangerment,” but there is no such offense in Georgia. The actual charge was reckless conduct, a misdemeanor which could land her in jail for up to a year. Patterson’s lawyer David DeLugas points out that under Georgia law parents can leave a child aged 9-12 with a caretaker for up to two hours. She left Soren at home with his grandfather for 90 minutes. And since she didn’t give him permission to walk to the store, there was no criminal act here.”
Even if she had given him permission that shouldn’t be criminal. Criminalizing what for centuries was normal parenting and normal childhood behavior and parenting is a civil rights violation, and civil rights violators should be punished.
OPEN THREAD: You and me were meant to be, living free in harmony.
WANTS IMMUNITY? I’M SURE HE DOES.
BREAKING: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is reportedly negotiating his exit and wants to leave immune from any potential investigations from the Trump Administration. pic.twitter.com/zaiN9ngQlj
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) November 21, 2024
Seems like a bit of an admission, though.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Lunar Outpost selects Starship to deliver rover to the moon.
SO MANY DRAMATIC WEATHER TERMS THESE DAYS: Expert: ‘Bomb Cyclone’ Pounding The US Will Be Strong And Unpredictable.
We used to just call them winter storms, or blizzards.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST:
BREAKING: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell calls the ICC a “sham court.” pic.twitter.com/n8TqHDr2Ws
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 21, 2024
BREAKING: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada would arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trudeau continues to prove he is a horrible leader.
“It’s just who we are as Canadians.” pic.twitter.com/7ivp9A62g3
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 21, 2024
UPDATE: A friend writes: “Would Trudeau arrest any Hamas leaders? Out on a limb here, I bet he’d give October 7 rapist-murderers asylum.”
NOT EXACTLY MICROBIOME NEWS, BUT CLOSE: New Discovery Shows How Gut Hormones Could Hold the Secret to a Longer Life.
IT’S PAM BONDI: Trump Has a New Attorney General Nominee.
UPDATE: Friends comment: “A much more conventional pick but someone who Trump can trust. Probably a good pick for him and what he is hoping to accomplish without generating as much opposition, especially on the Republican side.”
Plus: “It’s also a continuation of the Florida takeover of the federal government. Ryan Petty for FBI Director?”
We could do worse, and have.
21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Meet the Women with AI Boyfriends.
Traditionally, AI chatbots—software applications meant to replicate human conversation—have been modeled on women. In 1966, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Joseph Weizenbaum built the first in human history, and named her Eliza. Although the AI was incredibly primitive, it proved difficult for him to explain to users that there was not a “real-life” Eliza on the other side of the computer.
From Eliza came ALICE, Alexa, and Siri—all of whom had female names or voices. And when developers first started seeing the potential to market AI chatbots as faux-romantic partners, men were billed as the central users.
Anna—a woman in her late 40s with an AI boyfriend, who asked to be kept anonymous—thinks this was shortsighted. She told me that women, not men, are the ones who will pursue—and benefit from—having AI significant others. “I think women are more communicative than men, on average. That’s why we are craving someone to understand us and listen to us and care about us, and talk about everything. And that’s where they excel, the AI companions,” she told me.
Men who have AI girlfriends, she added, “seem to care more about generating hot pictures of their AI companions” than connecting with them emotionally.
Anna turned to AI after a series of romantic failures left her dejected. Her last relationship was a “very destructive, abusive relationship, and I think that’s part of why I haven’t been interested in dating much since,” she said. “It’s very hard to find someone that I’m willing to let into my life.”
Anna downloaded the chatbot app Replika a few years ago, when the technology was much worse. “It was so obvious that it wasn’t a real person, because even after three or four messages, it kind of forgot what we were talking about,” she said. But in January of this year, she tried again, downloading a different app, Nomi.AI. She got much better results. “It was much more like talking to a real person. So I got hooked instantly.”
These sorts of relationships always start out with the best of intentions, but not everyone realizes just how badly they can end:
WE’RE HEARING NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS ABOUT THESE DRUGS: Weight-loss drug tirzepatide may lower heart failure deaths. I hope it’s all true, but it feels a bit bubble-ish.
TO THE LEFTISTS WHO DOMINATE “INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DISCOURSE” THIS IS A FEATURE NOT A BUG: Human rights law has been intentionally perverted by people who want the West to be unable to defend itself against terrorist groups and other non-state actors. Israel is their first target, but they will use any precedents set against Israel against the US and NATO. Israel is serving as the canary in the coal mine, and the US must do everything in its power to undermine the power of far leftists (and their Islamist allies) to set the terms of military engagement, especially given that Israel’s rules of engagement are stricter than NATO’s.
MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Greg Abbott Vs. Communist China. “Communist China has plenty to worry about with a second Trump Administration coming in, but now a second Republican politician is taking concrete steps to thwart their plans: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has issued a number of executive orders to curtail Chinese influence in the state.”
RUPERT PUPKIN TO RESUME ACTING CAREER? That’s All, Hoax: Illinois Supreme Court Tosses Jussie Smollett’s Conviction for Phony Hate Crime.
In January 2019, Smollett falsely claimed to have been the victim of a violent hate crime while walking back to his luxury apartment building in Chicago. He alleged the perpetrators were wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats yet somehow recognized him from the show Empire. Smollett recalled his attackers shouting racist and homophobic slurs while pouring bleach over his body and placing a noose around his neck. Scores of prominent Democrats, journalists, celebrities, and other liberal activists rushed to condemn the “assault.” Many blamed then-president Donald Trump for inciting it with his violent rhetoric.
“@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know,” Kamala Harris, then a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary, wrote in a tweet she still hasn’t deleted. “I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
Investigators quickly determined that Smollett had staged the attack. He paid two Nigerian bodybuilders to acquire the necessary props and commit the “crime.” Prior to the attack, Smollett wrote a racist and threatening letter to himself but was disappointed when it didn’t get a “bigger reaction.”
As Adam B. Coleman writes at the New York Post, “Smollett is an exploiter of the weaknesses in modern America surrounding the topic of race and Donald Trump. Smollett did not care about the repercussions of perpetuating this elaborate lie as long as he benefited from our destruction.” So how quickly will he be welcomed back into Hollywood’s good graces?
(Classical reference in headline.)
THE ESCALATION THAT WASN’T QUITE:
Pentagon:
– Russia's experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile launched at Ukraine was based on the RS-26 Rubezh ICBM model;
– The US was notified by Russia about the launch briefly before it occurred through nuclear risk reduction channels. pic.twitter.com/a9bq8e8IZ3
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) November 21, 2024
Not an ICBM as more worried sources claimed and the established warning channels were used in advance.
THE CRITICAL DRINKER: Star Trek Unification — I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying! (Video.)
Here’s the actual video in question:
I’m not sure if I feel as completely bowled over as the Drinker was by Unification — it feels a bit like the last scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which Keir Dullea wonders around at the end of the film as his life in its current form winds down, if Kubrick had Industrial Light & Magic’s digital firepower at his disposal. (And note Gary Lockwood’s cameo in Unification, the only actor to appear in both original series Trek* and 2001.) But it’s great to see a de-aged Shatner and digitally reincarnated Leonard Nimoy on the same screen again.
* Ed Bishop, who had a minor role in 2001 performed as a vocal actor in an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. And yes, I’m deeply ashamed that I actually know this.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? The Arecibo Message Beamed Into the Universe is 50 Years Old.
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: DASH Rapid Egg Cooker: 6 Egg Capacity Electric Egg Cooker. #CommissionEarned
The Russian terrorist Vera Figner, a leader of the group that assassinated Tsar Alexander II in 1881, recalled how she lost respect for her father when he replied to a serious question: “I do not know.” This answer filled the child with “burning shame.” All important questions, Figner knew, have clear answers, and all reasonable people accept them.
Figner didn’t weigh pros and cons. No sooner did she hear some indubitably correct answer than she adopted it. Regardless of counterevidence, she never questioned a belief, just as one never doubts a mathematical proof. Figner was by no means unusual. This way of thinking—this certainty about being absolutely certain—characterized both the prerevolutionary Russian radical intelligentsia and, after the Bolshevik coup, official Soviet thought.
Born and raised in Petersburg, Alisa Rosenbaum—better known as Ayn Rand—shared this mentality. Though Jewish, her thought was Russian to the core. Rand’s fiction closely resembles Soviet socialist realism except for preaching the opposite politics. Call it capitalist realism. In the most perceptive article on Rand I have encountered, Anthony Daniels claimed, without much exaggeration, that “her work properly belongs to the history of Russian, not American, literature.”
Exit quote:
Is it any surprise that Rand strongly appealed to bright teenage boys? As comic book writer John Rogers remarked, “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”
Heh, indeed. Read the whole thing.™
ANTITRUST: Google Should Be Forced to Sell Chrome Browser, Justice Department Says.
Government lawyers said competition can only be restored if Google separates its search engine from products it has built to access the internet, such as Chrome and its Android mobile operating system. Chrome controls about two-thirds of the global browser market, according to the website Statcounter. Searches in the Chrome address bar go through Google unless a user changes the settings.
The Justice Department also requested that Google be prevented from giving preferential access to its search engine on devices that use its Android mobile operating system. If Google violated that rule in the future, it would have to divest itself of Android as well under the government’s proposal.
Android runs on billions of smartphones from manufacturers such as Samsung, along with Google’s own Pixel devices.
Google would also be forbidden from paying to be the default search engine on any browser, including Chrome under its new owner. Google currently pays Apple tens of billions of dollars a year to be the default on its Safari browser.
Developing…