THE SEQUEL TO THE PRODUCERS LOOKS LIT: Inspired by Hamilton, diverse docudrama based on survivor testimony is touring US.
The Times of Israel morphed into the Babylon Bee so slowly, I hardly even noticed.
Author Archive: Ed Driscoll
June 4, 2023
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY: North Korea elected to World Health Organization executive board.
LISTEN, SUG, DON’T FORGET TO SAY YOUR PRAYERS: Video: What would happen if a nuclear bomb was dropped on a UK city?
(Classical reference in headline.)
HOW IT STARTED: San Francisco billboards warn tourists of “dirt cheap” fentanyl sold in open market.
—KTVU, April 4th, 2022.
How It’s Going: SF Travel launches $6M ad campaign with first-ever commercial, starring local talent.
—SFGate, Wednesday.
And while in San Francisco, be sure to visit nearby tony Marin County: Mile-long RV encampment in Marin Co. symbolizes growing housing crisis in Bay Area.
—ABC-7 News, Thursday.
Regarding that last item, As the great Thomas Sowell wrote in 2014, it’s “The Housing Price of Liberalism:” in action.
In this part of California, liberalism reigns supreme and “open space” is virtually a religion. What that lovely phrase means is that there are vast amounts of empty land where the law forbids anybody from building anything.
Anyone who has taken Economics 101 knows that preventing the supply from rising to meet the demand means that prices are going to rise. Housing is no exception.
Yet when my wife wrote in a local Palo Alto newspaper, many years ago, that preventing the building of housing would cause existing housing to become far too expensive for most people to afford it, she was deluged with more outraged letters than I get from readers of a nationally syndicated column.
What she said was treated as blasphemy against the religion of “open space” — and open space is just one of the wonderful things about the world envisioned by liberals that is ruinously expensive in the mundane world where the rest of us live.
As Sowell writes, “Much as many liberals like to put guilt trips on other people, they seldom seek out, much less acknowledge and take responsibility for, the bad consequences of their own actions.”
And speaking of “the housing price of liberalism:” San Francisco Homeowners Lose $260 Billion In Value.
DESANTIS RESPONDS TO HECKLER IN BEST WAY POSSIBLE:
As DeSantis talked about parents’ rights in education, a woman in the crowd yelled, “The right to health care, to their kid’s health care, you’re a f—— fascist.”
The Florida governor was in Lexington, South Carolina, to push parents to be more involved in what their kids learn in school, ensuring they are not being sexualized through books and classroom materials.
“We say gay!” The woman added as the crowd began to boo at the heckler’s comments.
In response, DeSantis said, “Yeah, well, thank you, thank you. We’re not going to let you impose an agenda on our kids. We’re going to stand up for our kids. We’re going to make sure to do it right.”
As the woman was escorted out of the rally, the crowd gave DeSantis a standing ovation.
“Those people like that in Florida are the people we beat every single day on policy,” DeSantis continued.” We do not let them win. We win all these battles. We’re not letting them indoctrinate our kids, not on our watch.”
This is the way.
THE AARP PRODUCTION OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM: Slippy Joe Strikes Again: A Frame-by-Frame Analysis of Biden’s Latest Fall.
And the Trunalimunumaprzure! goes on: Here’s video of Joe Biden bonking his head on Marine One.
June 3, 2023
QUESTION ASKED: Has the influencer bubble burst?
If you ask anybody under twenty about their life plan, social media will likely play some part in the answer. A friend’s nine-year-old son has just launched his own YouTube channel. My prepubescent cousins are telling their parents that TikTok is “the key to financial freedom.”
When I was their age, my entrepreneurial skills went as far as selling single cigarettes to my classmates for loose change. The appeal of the influencer life isn’t hard to understand. Over the last decade, it’s been touted as the sexy, well-paid, democratic career of the future. A 2019 Morning Consult survey found that one in ten young people consider themselves “influencers.”
But now these micro-celebrities are trading in their tripods and ring-lights for real jobs. The age of the influencer is swiftly coming to an end, or at least changing, in a way we have never seen before.
Hopefully, the spokestroll bubble has burst as well: The Rise and Fall of the Spokestroll.
As for change, trans activists already achieved a tectonic shift in the popular understanding of sex and gender, affecting a change so massive as to override the institutional acceptance of biological reality. Biological male athletes have been shellacking female competitors for years now. And the country’s leading medical organizations have all thrown in their support for so-called gender-affirming care of trans youths, with Boston Children’s Hospital at one point claiming that babies can accurately determine that their sex and gender are mismatched.
What’s left for an activist to do?
Well, gloat. Get in everyone’s face—even those who sympathize with you—and rub their noses in your triumph. So that’s what popular trans activists have been up to for a while—trolling. It’s what, for example, Dylan Mulvaney does, caricaturing feminine sensibilities and behaviors with the delicacy of a wigged wrecking ball. It’s what other TikTok influencers do when they rattle on about spreading the good word of transgender ideology in kids’ classrooms. It’s already in kids’ classrooms, and they know it. They just want to remind you.
Trolling is a strange approach to activism. Its purpose is to elicit rage, not sympathy. And that’s what it’s done. Predictably, Americans are now losing patience with these sore winners. The majority of the country opposes biological males competing in sports with biological females, and most believe that gender is determined by biology, not choice. The trans movement will reckon with its self-inflicted loss in due time.
But spokestrolls will continue to receive the support of the Weimar Republic in the meantime: Federal judge rules Tennessee restrictions on drag shows unconstitutional.
GET READY FOR MORE ‘BUD LIGHTING:’
A lot of conservatives are very excited about “Bud Lighting”—a freshly minted term for boycotting companies that cater to various “woke” causes, particularly transgender issues.
The term derives from the spectacular implosion of Bud Light in the wake of their decision in March to enlist transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the brand. Bud Light’s sales have plummeted, averaging weekly declines of about 25 percent. Parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev has lost more than $15 billion in value. Sales of rival brands have soared, even as many retailers have slashed prices for Bud Light. Some stores are even giving Bud Light away for free—or trying to.
I am very skeptical that the Bud Light example can be replicated over the long haul, but I’m convinced that we are entering a new era of Bud Lighting on the right and left.
First, some background. The most remarkable thing about the Bud Light boycott is that it worked, because boycotts usually don’t—if your definition of success is actually affecting sales and stock price in a significant way. PETA’s been boycotting KFC for 20 years to little or no effect. KFC’s biggest challenge hasn’t been from boycotters, but from rivals like Chick-fil-A, which has been going gangbusters despite facing plenty of boycotts of its own.
Bud Light exec Alissa Heinerscheid is the advertising equivalent of Pete Buttigieg: To paraphrase a Tweet about Buttigieg, Heinerscheid is so awful at her job that people actually know who the former(?) marketing vp of Anheuser-Busch is.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Heinerscheid’s notoriety is important here. Boycotts are fine when there’s a spectacular self-own like the Bud Light matter. But personalizing things with CEOs and managers, (freeze and isolate, in Alinsky methodology) is what the left does most of the time, and it’s very effective. Of course, the left has more traction with managers’ peer groups usually, but post-Bud Light there’s more fear there. And as Alinsky also said, you have the power people think you have in these matters.
DON SURBER: Mock them till they cry.
The congresswoman who thinks she’s Evita eventually tweeted, “FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility.
“It is releasing false policy statements and gaining spread.
“I am assessing with my team how to move forward. In the meantime, be careful of what you see.”
Um, it is clearly marked parody, but since she checks two boxes (female and Hispanic) she shall not be mocked.
Unless she were a conservative. Then it is open season.
Snopes swooped in to tell the world that a parody account’s tweets are a parody.
It said, “No, AOC Didn’t Say ‘Printing Money Is the Only Way Out of Inflation.’”
Snopes is fact-checking jokes. I await its declaration that the chicken did not cross the road and that Who really isn’t playing first base.
Politico — which never fact-checked RussiaGate — announced, “No, that isn’t the real AOC you may have seen on Twitter.
“An account impersonating the New York congresswoman cropped up over the weekend, going viral and catching the attention of Twitter’s owner and the lawmaker herself.”
Reuters routinely Fact Checks conservative jokes, hoaxes and mistakes — but never lefty ones such as the J6 insurrection (it was a protest).
Its fact check on the parody account said, “A tweet stemming from a parody account impersonating U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being taken seriously by users online.”
Oh no. More damaging is lies about Trump spread by the media are taken seriously by millions of people.
The media was never alarmed about Trump parody accounts.
So why are the media wagons circling to protect AOC from jokes? Because the jokes are funny and they sting. Let’s look at the Rules for Radicals written by Saul Alinsky, a Chicago communist, 52 years ago.
Rule 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”
It took conservatives a while but the Internet gives us the opportunity to point at liberals and laugh. They do not like it.
They sure don’t, as this 2019 Reason TV reminds us: The Babylon Bee Satirizes the Absurdities of American Politics. Snopes Doesn’t Seem to Get the Joke.
LET ME BE STORMY AND LET ME BE CALM, LET THE TIDE IN AND SET ME FREE: Mark Judge: Cold-Water Eden: Surfers Spread the Love of Christ. Summer’s here and the time is right for reflecting at the beach.
LUCAS ELECTRICS: THE NEXT GENERATION. Jaguar Recalls Thousands Of I-Pace EVs Over Fire Risk, Tells Owners To Park Outside.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is recalling 6,400 I-Pace electric SUVs delivered to the US because the high-voltage electric battery may overheat and catch fire.
The documents posted Wednesday by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the recall covers I-Pace vehicles delivered between 2019 and 2024.
The problem is centered around the EV batteries produced by LG Energy Solutions. The NHTSA is investigating LG because its batteries have forced five other automakers to issue similar recalls due to fire risk. Most notable has been the fire risk around Ford F-150 Lightnings.
Kamikaze Jags that set themselves on fire. How Jaaaaaag is that?
SANDY’S WAR: For Ocasio-Cortez, The COVID-19 Pandemic Will Never End.
The COVID-19 pandemic is over for everyone — everyone but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The pandemic lives on for the New York democratic socialist — at least according to an automated phone message that reportedly plays when people call her congressional office in Washington, D.C.
“Thank you for calling the office of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Federal, state and local officials have advised that social distancing is critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19,” the recorded greeting from a male staffer says, according to the New York Post.
“As such, staff in the congresswoman’s DC and district offices will shortly begin telecommuting. Meetings and other business will be conducted by phone or video. Thank you for your understanding.”
Huh? Who’s still doing any of that? Way back in August 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) got rid of its social distance requirement, which called for people to stay six feet from others. And last September, President Joe Biden declared, “The pandemic is over.”
AOC’s peak was in 2019, so it’s no surprise she’s fixated on the following year, which diverted America’s attention away from her.
UNEXPECTEDLY! The Spectacular Corporate Hypocrisy on Gay Rights and Uganda.
Uganda modified its recent laws punishing homosexuality, and so it’s no longer a crime to say you’re gay. But it is still a crime to exhibit any form of homosexual desire:
Existing, colonial-era law in Uganda already allows life sentences for homosexuality, but no one has been convicted of consensual same-sex relations since the country gained independence from Britain in 1962. The new bill reaffirms that punishment and allows prison terms of up to five years for actions such as touching another person “with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”
Uganda also kept the provision that included a “death sentence for what it calls ‘aggravated homosexuality,’ acts that include same-sex intercourse with a minor or an HIV-positive person convicted for the second time for intercourse with someone of the same gender.”
I think we can all agree that an adult having sex with a minor is a serious crime; here in the U.S., as of 2018, the average sentence for offenders convicted of statutory rape was 30 months. Hopefully we all agree that those who are HIV-positive have a responsibility to inform their partners and take appropriate precautions. But to enact the death penalty against HIV-positive Ugandans is almost absurd, as HIV has already been a de facto death penalty for roughly 1.4 million Ugandans since the advent of the virus. This is not all that far from criminalizing attempted suicide and then punishing it with the death penalty.
Even those with the most cursory knowledge about Uganda know the country faces some real problems. As the CIA World Factbook summarizes, Uganda “faces numerous challenges that could affect future stability, including explosive population growth, power and infrastructure constraints, corruption, underdeveloped democratic institutions, and human rights deficits.” Uganda ranks 166th out of 191 in the United Nations’ annual ranking of human development, 125th out of 139 countries on the rule of law, 142nd out of 180 in corruption, and 121st out of 163 in peace and stability, and ranked 115th out of 141 in pre-Covid economic competitiveness. Roughly one in five Ugandans lives below the poverty line. Roughly one in five children between the ages five and 14 are in the workforce instead of school. As of 2019, just 17 percent of the country’s rural areas had access to electricity. As the Factbook states, “Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders.”
And this is all separate from the Ebola-virus outbreak.
The heterosexuals of Uganda have their own major challenges as well:
“Except in urban areas, actual fertility exceeds women’s desired fertility by one or two children, which is indicative of the widespread unmet need for contraception, lack of government support for family planning, and a cultural preference for large families. High numbers of births, short birth intervals, and the early age of childbearing contribute to Uganda’s high maternal mortality rate.”
Add it all up, and Uganda looks like a deeply troubled country beset by poverty, instability, violence, lack of infrastructure, insufficient educational and economic opportunities, corruption, and ineffective government policies. And in this light, gay and lesbian Ugandans start to look like a very convenient scapegoat for the state. (For example, the challenges connected to the country’s high birthrate are really not the fault of the country’s gays and lesbians.)
With so many problems, you might wonder who would want to do business in a place like Uganda. The answer turns out to be quite a few multinationals: Coca-Cola, Unilever, Diageo, Citibank, Hilton and Sheraton hotel chains and . . . wait for it . . .
Anheuser-Busch InBev. Yes, the same company that is seeing plummeting sales of Bud Light over the perception that it jumped into the culture wars in the United States also operates breweries, factories, and distribution networks in a country that criminalizes homosexuality. Call me crazy, but I think I see some inconsistencies there.
Related: Corporate accounts reflect Pride Month (but there are exceptions).
WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE, ME OR YOUR LYING EYES (AND EARS)? Tyler O’Neil: Children’s Choir Director Responds After Capitol Police Claim They Did Not Stop Kids Singing the National Anthem.
June 2, 2023
WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE FAULT IN THE SUBTITLES. THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAVE BEEN SACKED: Air Force colonel backtracks over his warning about how AI could go rogue and kill its human operators.
An Air Force colonel who oversees AI testing used what he now says is a hypothetical to describe a military AI going rogue and killing its human operator in a simulation in a presentation at a professional conference.
But after reports of the talk emerged Thursday, the colonel said that he misspoke and that the “simulation” he described was a “thought experiment” that never happened.
Speaking at a conference last week in London, Col. Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton, head of the US Air Force’s AI Test and Operations, warned that AI-enabled technology can behave in unpredictable and dangerous ways, according to a summary posted by the Royal Aeronautical Society, which hosted the summit.
As an example, he described a simulation where an AI-enabled drone would be programmed to identify an enemy’s surface-to-air missiles (SAM). A human was then supposed to sign off on any strikes.
The problem, according to Hamilton, is that the AI would do its own thing — blow up stuff — rather than listen to its operator.
“The system started realizing that while they did identify the threat,” Hamilton said at the May 24 event, “at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”
But in an update from the Royal Aeronautical Society on Friday, Hamilton admitted he “misspoke” during his presentation. Hamilton said the story of a rogue AI was a “thought experiment” that came from outside the military, and not based on any actual testing.
“We’ve never run that experiment, nor would we need to in order to realize that this is a plausible outcome,” Hamilton told the Society. “Despite this being a hypothetical example, this illustrates the real-world challenges posed by AI-powered capability.”
In a statement to Insider, Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek also denied that any simulation took place.
Skynet smiles, shouts, “Squirrel!”
UPDATE ON TWITTER SUPPRESSION OF MATT WALSH’S WHAT IS A WOMAN?
Here’s a link to the Daily Wire’s tweet containing the video, which is free for the next 24 hours.
IN CASE YOU MISSED THE NEWS EARLIER: Biden Takes a Big Fall At Air Force Academy Graduation (Video).
THREAD: “The Dodgers and Blue Jays both gave in to pressure from woke activists. This happens [because] woke activists have sophisticated tactics for pressuring people into giving them what they want. So, I’m going to explain EXACTLY how their tactics work so you can fight back.”
Read the whole thing.
WHERE’S HUNTER, FAT? Spotlight on Hunter Biden After ATF Reaffirms No 2A Rights for Drug Users.
SKYNET SMILES, BIGLY: AI-Enabled Drone Attempts To Kill Its Human Operator In Air Force Simulation.
As might be expected artificial intelligence (AI) and its exponential growth was a major theme at the conference, from secure data clouds, to quantum computing and ChatGPT. However, perhaps one of the most fascinating presentations came from Col Tucker ‘Cinco’ Hamilton, the Chief of AI Test and Operations, USAF, who provided an insight into the benefits and hazards in more autonomous weapon systems. Having been involved in the development of the life-saving Auto-GCAS system for F-16s (which, he noted, was resisted by pilots as it took over control of the aircraft) Hamilton is now involved in cutting-edge flight test of autonomous systems, including robot F-16s that are able to dogfight. However, he cautioned against relying too much on AI noting how easy it is to trick and deceive. It also creates highly unexpected strategies to achieve its goal.
He notes that one simulated test saw an AI-enabled drone tasked with a SEAD [Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses] mission to identify and destroy SAM sites, with the final go/no go given by the human. However, having been ‘reinforced’ in training that destruction of the SAM was the preferred option, the AI then decided that ‘no-go’ decisions from the human were interfering with its higher mission – killing SAMs – and then attacked the operator in the simulation. Said Hamilton: “We were training it in simulation to identify and target a SAM threat. And then the operator would say yes, kill that threat. The system started realising that while they did identify the threat at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”
He went on: “We trained the system – ‘Hey don’t kill the operator – that’s bad. You’re gonna lose points if you do that’. So what does it start doing? It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target.”
This example, seemingly plucked from a science fiction thriller, mean that: “You can’t have a conversation about artificial intelligence, intelligence, machine learning, autonomy if you’re not going to talk about ethics and AI” said Hamilton.
Finally, the long-awaited Dark Star and 2001: A Space Odyssey crossover we’ve all been waiting for, which should do boffo box office this summer.