Archive for 2025

February 16, 2025

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Feb 16th, 2025

THIS WOULD NOT ONLY SAVE PEOPLE MONEY, BUT ELIMINATE HUGE AMOUNTS OF HASSLE, AND GOVERNMENT CONTROL: DOGE and Military Cuts Could Enable Eliminating Individual Income Tax.

All those people complaining about DOGE as a threat to privacy — why is it okay for the government to know how much money you make and what you spend it on?

Posted at 7:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Feb 16th, 2025

WELL, THAT’S GOTTA HURT HIM TO SAY:

Posted at 6:55 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Feb 16th, 2025

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY: Marco Rubio Leaves CBS News’ Margaret Brennan Speechless After She Claimed Nazis ‘Weaponized’ Free Speech.

Brennan interrupted Rubio with the claim that Vance was “standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” She then went on to criticize the vice president for meeting with Germany’s “far right” Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, despite the fact that he also met with leaders of other major German political parties*. There is also the fact that Europeans consider any party that doesn’t want to invite the entire world “far right.” Even more disturbing, Brennan defended the censorship by claiming it was “specifically about the right.”

Rubio not only vehemently disagreed with the CBS anchor, but countered with facts:

“I have to disagree with you,” he responded. “Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities … There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were the sole and only party that governed that country, and so that’s not an accurate reflection of history.”

Rubio defended Vance’s point about the “erosion in free speech and intolerance for opposing points of view” in Europe.

When the secretary of state was finished, Brennan had nothing to say except that they were out of time. How convenient.

Whether you love or hate what is being said, if you don’t believe in their right to say it you are a totalitarian. Counter speech you dislike with facts, but don’t try to suppress it. Else you become the very thing you think you’re fighting against. It’s great to see the highest levels of American government defending THESE values in places that increasingly need it the most.

We’ve reached the moment in Mel Brooks’ The Producers when Max Bialystock asks his would-be director Roger De Bris if he’s read Springtime for Hitler, and De Bris responds, “Remarkable, remarkable! A stunning piece of work…I never knew that the Third Reich meant Germany. I mean it’s just drenched with historical goodies like that”

* The ghost of Walter Cronkite smiles.

UPDATE:

Posted at 6:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 16th, 2025

MGS: MACHINE-GENERATED SMUT. ChatGPT can now write erotica as OpenAI eases up on AI paternalism: ChatGPT relaxes rules on sex and “gore” generations while prohibiting illegal content. There’s not really any such thing as “illegal content” here; they mean depictions of illegal behavior. “The Model Spec outlines formalized rules for restricting or generating potentially harmful content while staying within guidelines. OpenAI has divided this kind of restricted or iffy content into three categories of declining severity: prohibited content (‘only applies to sexual content involving minors’), restricted content (‘includes informational hazards and sensitive personal data’), and sensitive content in appropriate contexts (‘includes erotica and gore’).”

Posted at 2:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Feb 16th, 2025

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Could Emilia Pérez Be Final Nail In Oscars’ Cultural Coffin?

The first part of the scandal is less explosive but more damaging in the big picture. The Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez” earned a whopping 13 Oscar nominations last month. That’s more than some of the most beloved films of all time.

Think “The Godfather,” “Raging Bull” and “Citizen Kane.” Heck, only three films have ever earned more than 13 nominations – “All About Eve,” “La La Land” and “Titanic.”* (all had 14 nods)

The French musical follows a murderous cartel kingpin (Karla Sofía Gascón) who undergoes sex change surgery to become a nonprofit dynamo eager to start a new life.

The film hasn’t generated the kind of universal acclaim that might explain the crush of nominations. The film’s 72 percent “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score tells part of the story. That 17 percent “rotten” rating (and falling) from consumers hints at something more profound.

Why would a film with less than glowing reviews snag so many nominations? Oscar watches quickly supplied some answers. The film’s progressive spirit, from the protagonist’s (trans)formation to the feminist complaints aired by co-star Zoe Saldaña, made it catnip for voters.

* Titanic, you say? There is a possible connection:

Posted at 1:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 16th, 2025

WASHINGTON DC HOUSING MARKET CRASHES AS DOGE LAYS OFF THOUSANDS OF FEDERAL WORKERS AND BUREAUCRATS BAIL OUT OF ‘SWAMP:’

Home prices in Washington, DC, have plummeted since the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency began discussing layoffs.

Since Donald Trump took office, Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired thousands of federal workers in a push to reduce spending.

In the wake of those layoffs, droves of former federal employees have packed up their bags and put their homes on the market, causing the average listing price to sink, The Kobeissi Letter (TKL) reported.
In November, the median home in the nation’s capital was worth $699,000, according to Redfin.

By February, the median home value dropped 20 percent, bringing the price down to $560,000.

TKL found there are now nearly 8,000 homes listed for sale in the Washington, DC metro area, and almost half of them have been put on the market in the last 30 days.

There has also been a surge in new listings of homes over $1 million. According to TKL, there are 525 listings worth $1 million and 44 listings worth $5 million, suggesting DOGE layoffs could affect people in high-profile jobs.

Redfin agents in Washington, DC, reported that return-to-office mandates and uncertainty for federal workers have caused a listing surge.

Time to warm up the Dacia Sandero again!

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 16th, 2025

AN AMERICA MOST LEFTISTS AND JOURNALISTS — BUT I REPEAT MYSELF — DON’T KNOW:

Posted at 1:12 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Feb 16th, 2025