“REMEMBER THE WHIGS!” IS AN UNUSUAL RALLYING CRY:
They are intentionally destroying themselves. No one is stupid enough to fight people finding government fraud or deporting illegal criminals. pic.twitter.com/w6KJQc44L3
— Dennis Prescott (@DennisPrescott6) April 1, 2025
I dunno. The Occam’s Razor answer is probably that they are just that stupid.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: GITAI finalizes robotic arm study for Japan’s crewed lunar rover. “The rover is being designed to support crewed exploration of the Moon’s polar regions as part of Japan’s contribution to NASA’s Artemis program, providing astronauts with a mobile, pressurized habitat that allows them to travel, live and work on the lunar surface for up to 30 days.”
THE 22ND HAS ENTERED THE CHAT: Trump Versus Obama? ‘I’d Love That!’ Says Trump.
PROMISE KEPT: Trump administration has arrested 113K migrants, deported over 100K since taking office. “Illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border have also fallen to levels not seen in decades — hitting a stunning new low in March — with DHS sources calling it ‘the Trump effect.'”
No word on self-deportations, not that there’s any reliable way to keep track of those. But you have to guess those are way up, too, as the crackdown continues.
GET OFF MY LAWN: Nanny State: NYC Will Start Digging Through Residents’ Trash Today.
CYNICAL PUBLIUS: Grifterism: The Economic Engine of Democrats.
It’s not socialism. It’s not capitalism. It’s not fascism. What, then, is the overarching label that explains the economic policies and priorities of Democrats and their leadership?
It’s Grifterism. (I did not invent that word, or at least that’s what Google tells me. However, I believe I am the first author to ever use that term to describe a formal system of national economic governance, so I’m going to run with it.)
Grifterism is, as the name suggests, a system run by and for the benefit of grifters. Webster defines the verb “grift” as “to acquire money or property illicitly.” Grifters have always been a part of human society, but it took the 21st-century Democratic Party to turn the idea into a comprehensive economic system. The best way to understand this system is to analyze the four classes of citizens upon which Grifterism relies, and into which all American citizens are divided one way or another: Billionaires, Productives, Dependents and, of course, Grifters.
(Before I explain these classes, I realize that there are some readers who will jump all over these categories and tell me I am being too absolute in describing them. Yes, Elon Musk is a good Billionaire. Yes, there are bad Productives who exploit the powerless. Yes, there are many entirely productive people in government who are not Grifters. Yes, the nice old blind lady down the street deserves the support given to the Dependent class. Yet, as the saying goes, these are the exceptions that prove the rule.)
On to the four classes of Grifterism.
Needless to say, read the whole thing.
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? New German government wants to ban ‘lies.’
The new German government coalition, which is likely to be the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) is looking to ban “lies,” according to a working paper that emerged from the group “culture and media” between the two parties.
Bild newspaper received a copy of the working paper, which outlines the goal of combating “fake” news on social media, including restrictions on it.
The paper from the CDU and SPD indicates that “disinformation and fake news” threaten democracy.
In fact, the paper argues that freedom of expression does not apply in such circumstances.
Bild contacted a number of constitutional lawyers, and they are highly skeptical of the law.
At least German universities aren’t on board with censorship, unlike too many of ours.
IT’S TOO LATE TO VOTE EARLY BUT YOU CAN STILL VOTE OFTEN: Republicans Anticipate High-Stakes April 1 Elections.
ROBERTS AND THE COURT:
The Chief Justice's approach has been to incrementally move the Supreme Court to the right–but to appease the leftist media elite on high-profile cases, like ObamaCare.
He believes he is protecting the Court's legitimacy, which he conflates with his reputation in outlets like…
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) April 1, 2025
Full text:
The Chief Justice’s approach has been to incrementally move the Supreme Court to the right–but to appease the leftist media elite on high-profile cases, like ObamaCare.
He believes he is protecting the Court’s legitimacy, which he conflates with his reputation in outlets like the New York Times.
But the Chief Justice must understand and appreciate these lawless and dangerous orders by Democrat activist judges who sabotage the duly-elected President as he is carrying out his core Article II executive duties is the breaking point for the federal judiciary’s legitimacy.
If the Chief Justice doesn’t stop these judicial saboteurs, the federal judiciary will lose its legitimacy–which is all that it has.
Will the Chief Justice side with the Constitution–or protect his DC buddy Jeb Boasberg?
We will likely find out this week.
As Glenn noted a couple of weeks ago, Roberts is “very political, but with terrible political instincts.”
THE DARK SIDE OF AI: An AI Image Generator’s Exposed Database Reveals What People Really Used It For.
Tens of thousands of explicit AI-generated images, including AI-generated child sexual abuse material, were left open and accessible to anyone on the internet, according to new research seen by WIRED. An open database belonging to an AI image-generation firm contained more than 95,000 records, including some prompt data and images of celebrities such as Ariana Grande, the Kardashians, and Beyoncé de-aged to look like children.
The exposed database, which was discovered by security researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who shared details of the leak with WIRED, is linked to South Korea–based website GenNomis. The website and its parent company, AI-Nomis, hosted a number of image generation and chatbot tools for people to use. More than 45 GB of data, mostly made up of AI images, was left in the open.
The exposed data provides a glimpse at how AI image-generation tools can be weaponized to create deeply harmful and likely nonconsensual sexual content of adults and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Disturbing stuff but also fringe — 45 GB of photos isn’t all that many images, really.
More common ailments are like the one I experienced on Sunday when an AI tech support chatbot instructed me to try using a function (on its own website) that didn’t exist. When I informed it that it had hallucinated, it apologized and then did it again.
AN ULTIMATUM WAS JUST GIVEN TEETH: Trump’s Latest Move Ought to Keep Iran up at Night.
ANYTHING THE LEFT CAN’T CONTROL IT WILL TRY TO DESTROY AND WHAT IT CAN’T DESTROY IT WILL SMEAR: Anti-Musk Message Taking Its Toll. “The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 45% of Likely U.S. Voters view Musk favorably – down slightly from 48% earlier this month – including 28% with a Very Favorable impression. Fifty percent (50%) now view Musk unfavorably, including 41% with a Very Unfavorable opinion of the tech mogul tapped by President Donald Trump to lead DOGE.”
IT’S BEEN SO LONG, I WONDER IF IT EVER WAS: I’m Almost Wistful for the Days of Principled, Functional Political Opposition.
BUTCH WILMORE: Boeing Capsule ‘Most Robust’ in NASA Inventory.
Butch Wilmore, one of two US astronauts trapped in orbit for roughly nine months, defended the performance and future of the Boeing Co. craft that caused their prolonged trip.
“I don’t want to point fingers. I hope nobody wants to point fingers,” Wilmore told Fox News in a recorded interview that aired Monday. “We don’t want to look back and say, ‘shame, shame, shame.’ We want to look forward and say, ‘Let’s rectify what we’ve learned,’ and ‘let’s make the future even more productive and better.’”
Wilmore added: Boeing’s Starliner craft is “the most robust spacecraft we have in the inventory.”
I’m not going to dispute Wilmore’s expertise but I do have to ask, “By what measure?”
UPDATE (Charlie): What other spacecraft do we have in inventory?
ANYONE ELSE SICK OF DC JOURNOS MAKING BANK SELLING STALE GOSSIP AS NEWS? Stop the Presses: Joe Biden Had ‘Frailties’ Even BEFORE That Debate!
PROMISE KEPT: Trump Sends More Migrants to El Salvador Prison.
The group was made up of “violent criminals” who were members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and El Salvador’s MS-13 gangs, Rubio wrote on X, describing them as “murderers and rapists.” The Pentagon described the operation as a “successful counterterrorism mission.”
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele touted the “joint military operation” between the two countries in a video set to cinematic music, showing the deportees being forcefully taken off the plane and transported to the maximum-security prison, where their heads were shaved and they were locked up in cells.
This is the second time the government has sent Venezuelans who it claims are members of the violent street gang to the sprawling prison built by Bukele as part of his crackdown on the country’s gangs. Built to house 40,000 inmates, it’s considered the largest prison in the world, and approximately 15,000 accused Salvadoran gang members were being held there before the U.S. deportees arrived.
Fill’er up.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Your Friendly Reminder That There Are No Grassroots Efforts on the Left. “I’ve been a conservative activist for over four decades and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an organic protest from the left. I won’t unequivocally declare that I haven’t, but I can’t point to any of the ones I remember and say they weren’t astroturfed.”
HMM: China delays $23B sale of Panama Canal ports to US-backed consortium led by BlackRock.
On March 4, CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate controlled by 96-year-old billionaire Li Ka-shing, announced plans to sell 43 port facilities globally — including critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal and near the Suez Canal — for approximately $22.8 billion.
But China’s State Administration for Market Regulation unexpectedly initiated an investigation on Friday into potential violations of Chinese anti-monopoly laws, effectively stalling the deal.
China President Xi Jinping is reportedly “angry” over CK Hutchison’s plans to sell its Panama Canal port operations — particularly because the company did not consult Beijing beforehand, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The deal — spearheaded by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, a longtime Trump confidante — called for an agreement to be signed by April 2, though it now is likely that the Wednesday deadline will be missed.
Now that we’re finished kowtowing, what’s the Mandarin for foot-dragging?
GORGEOUS:
First views of Earth's polar regions from Dragon pic.twitter.com/3taP34zCeN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 1, 2025
Background: SpaceX launches first-of-its-kind human spaceflight mission around Earth’s poles.
Mission commander and cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang and his three crewmates — Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge and Eric Philips — are now safely in orbit, tucked inside their 13-food-wide SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The group is expected to handle more than 20 science experiments and research studies during their time in space, most of which focus on their health and response to the disorienting environment of microgravity.
All told, the Fram2 crew will spend three to five days in space. They’ll try to capture unique footage from their windows as they lap the planet end-to-end, passing over Earth’s poles for the first time in human spaceflight history.
You can follow along in realtime here.
MAYBE THE BIGGER STORY IS JPMORGAN NOT DOING DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE PAYING OUT $175 MILLION: The Future Was Bright for This Startup Founder Until Her Fraud Caught up With Her. “The wild success of Frank opened the door to high-profile appearances on cable news shows for Javice. She also made her way onto Forbes’ ’30 Under 30′ list because of her company’s runaway accomplishments. The only trouble was that much of it turned out to be a façade.”
HOWEVER MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…
Lesley Stahl looked a Jewish hostage in the face—after being starved, tortured, beaten, and dragged through hell—and asked if maybe Hamas didn’t mean to starve him.
Maybe they just didn’t have food.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Shame on 60 Minutes. Shame on CBS. And shame on… pic.twitter.com/W6C5MBLIPO
— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) March 31, 2025
…it isn’t enough.
Previously: There was no famine in Gaza… according to famine review groups’ own data.
You’d think that someone in a position like Leslie Stahl’s might be up on the news. Or maybe you wouldn’t.
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