Home » Open thread 5/31/24

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Open thread 5/31/24 — 39 Comments

  1. Cute (but what if that Rube Goldberg contraption goes haywire once you’re all tucked in?)…
    – – – – – – – – – –
    In related—haywire—news: the reign in Spain (by Alberto M. Fernandez):
    “Anti-Spain Is In Power In Madrid”—
    https://www.memri.org/reports/anti-spain-power-madrid
    H/T Powerline blog.
    Key graf (RTWT):

    …Spain has the most left-wing government in Europe, the only one with actual hardcore communists in it. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would not be in power today without the vote of his communist allies (the rival far-left Sumar and Podemos parties), along with the approval of Catalan and Basque separatists, most of whom also lean left. While much ink has been spent in the Anglophone media about the supposed dangers of right-wingers in countries like Hungary, Poland or Italy, the leftist, corrupt and increasingly authoritarian regime in Madrid has flown under the radar. This is probably because the EU bureaucracy itself leans left. And the EU’s foreign policy chief since 2019, Josep Borrell, is a Spanish Catalan Socialist. His old comrades in Madrid are open allies of Venezuela and Cuba, and their views on Israel are closer to the hardcore Latin American left than they are of even social democratic parties in Western Europe….

  2. I saw this video the other day and thought some people have too much time on their hands. Saw a woman on tv walking on wine bottles en pointe. Why would anyone spend the time to develop the skill to do that.

  3. I tend to remain optimistic about the future. Huxley recently shared some nice quotes from Ann Herbert on focusing on what’s truly important in life.

    I often meet truly good young people; people in their 30s, 20s, even teen-agers, who are thoughtful, considerate, kind. Despite political and cultural trends I can usually convince myself that the future is in good hands. Like my generation did; they’ll figure it out. Carter’s “malaise,” Ehrlich’s population bomb, a cold war ignited nuclear winter and Soylent Green dystopias fueled my nightmares as a child. And then the Reagan Revolution happened and all those baby boomers that hated America suddenly became patriotic Capitalists.

    And it was fun!

    As the philosopher James Brown said in Rocky IV, “Superhighways, coast to coast; easy to get anywhere. On the transcontinental overload just slide behind the wheel. How does it feel when there’s no destination that’s too far? And somewhere on the way you might find out who you are. Living in America!”

    I remember sitting in a car at a drive-in theater in L.A. in 1985 watching, “Back to the Future.” Something had noticeably changed in America and one could feel it in the air. Timbuk 3 were singing, “The future’s so bright, I’ve got’ta wear shades.” And we all put our shades on and ventured fearlessly, boldly into that future.

    I felt that coming back during Trump’s Presidency. Again, one could feel it in the air. The innovation of Americans was being released. There are always imaginative, creative, hard-working inspirational, entrepreneurial people in any population, but sometimes conditions are ripe for encouraging their behaviors, and sometimes they are not. A culture either offers soil for such people to thrive in, to try and dare and risk, or it does not. Surely there was a Walt Disney born somewhere in the Soviet Union in the 20th century. An Amelia Earhart in Africa. If people live in circumstances where their basic needs are met without too much trouble and they are free to create and build, they will. In 2017, 2018, 2019 people had jobs, the cost of living was relatively low and the government was typically staying out of their way. Just as the baby boomers had changed when prosperity was an option I felt the Woke’sters too could change. Would change.

    Despite the past 3 years I still believe change is possible. That Americans will be Americans again, if given the chance.

    But one thing gives me pause; There are so many single adults in our nation. And I think that trend will accelerate. Single, childless (and grandchildless) people are very self-focused. It’s human nature. And they’re not too focused on the future, beyond their own lives. As another great, American philosopher, Grouch Marx, said, “Why should I do anything for posterity? What has posterity ever done for me?”

    You can see it in our entertainment and advertising. It’s obvious there is a large pool of single Americans with disposable income and they are being marketed to, businesses are adapting to cater to their wants and needs. And they vote. Politicians and political parties are adjusting their messaging to address the concerns and desires of single, childless adults. Cities are redesigning their infrastructures.

    This trend happened in Western Europe about 30 years ago. People stopped marrying, simply lived together; stopped having kids, or had one child late in life. Voters lobbied for shorter work days and weeks, earlier retirement ages, greater benefits.

    I try to be optimistic, huxley, I really do! But it seems like we are where France, Germany and England were 30 years ago, and we’re starting the process of importing a foreign, unassimilated population, just as they did. Morlocks to support Eloi lives.

  4. “…to discuss ethics reform…”

    “Chief Justice Roberts declines to meet Senate Democrats amid calls for Alito recusal”—
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court/3022833/chief-justice-roberts-declines-meet-senate-democrats-calls-alito-recusal/
    H/T Instapundit.

    Gotta watch yer back when the Democrats insist they need to talk about “ethics”.
    Can’t imagine they want to “reform” it for any reason other than ensuring it disappears entirely.

  5. Over at Powerline blog, John Hinderaker has a new one, after Scott Johnson weighed in.

    Here is most of John’s fresh dilation:

    “If Joe Biden is re-elected following this outrage, he will be an illegitimate president. What does that mean? It means, I think, that no one should be obliged to follow his executive orders. All such orders will be illegitimate and should be disregarded, as appropriate. Likewise, residents of the sane states, and their public officials, should be free to disregard rules and orders that come out of the Biden administration’s agencies–the Biden EPA, and so on. And rulings of Biden-appointed judges, or of panels on which one or more Biden judges were part of the majority, should not be given any precedential effect.

    “More fundamentally, the Democratic Party is now illegitimate. We should stop treating it as a normal political organization. We conservatives have played by the rules, trying to hold our country together in the face of increasingly radical and irrational conduct from our political foes. Those days should be gone. The Democratic Party is now exposed as the enemy of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and should be treated accordingly.

    “Yesterday was one of the worst days in our country’s history, the worst, I think, since 1861. I do not know whether we can survive the lawless regime….”

  6. Why is it worse? Bill T chides John citing Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

    Yet these were foreign hostilities, not treasonous and frim within.

    I replied that 9/11 took as scant 10-20 years for people to forget.

    By contrast, The Civil War I took 60-100 years for the bonds of brotherhood and union to take root again as normal.

    The Left goes drunk with destruction. And now we have all reasons to reply with Weaponized Lawfare.

  7. Three years of the FJB junta and what has become mainstreamed in the Democrat mind? Kill the Jews. Trans the kids. Murder the unborn. Abolish the nation. Kangaroo courts for any and all.

    A few things might be ignored but I expect the nation has noticed this behavior and has had enough.

    Courage.

  8. On the subject of children. There is a sub set of conservatives that have numerous children. I have a cousin who has at least a dozen kids. I have lost track. He and his wife are blue collar, religious type people who work as Christian missionaries to Native Americans. I haven’t seen them in person in years.
    If it were not for open borders, conservative whites would be replacing liberal white votes just thru birth rates.

  9. sdferr, that’s a great idea. Move the Palestinian radicals (which is all of them, basically) to Spain. It’s the re-reconquista!

  10. Sen. Joe Manchin declares himself no longer a Democrat, but an ‘Independent” of no party affiliation. The article I saw did not specify how he will caucus or vote in his remaining time in the Senate, so potentially no change there will be seen.

  11. @T J:It means, I think, that no one should be obliged to follow his executive orders. All such orders will be illegitimate and should be disregarded, as appropriate. Likewise, residents of the sane states, and their public officials, should be free to disregard rules and orders that come out of the Biden administration’s agencies–the Biden EPA, and so on. And rulings of Biden-appointed judges, or of panels on which one or more Biden judges were part of the majority, should not be given any precedential effect.

    What a joke from Hinderaker. I would pay $50 to see him do that: as a lawyer, disregard laws and regulations he doesn’t like, advise his clients to do the same, and when they’re hauled into court his defense is that those laws and regulations are not legitimate. If he still works as a lawyer, he’d be living in a box under a bridge with that strategy. He would never in a million years actually do any of this he’s yapping about.

    He’s like the Internet Tough Guys of yore who would always say they’re going to hack your account, find out where you live, and come to your house to kick your ass. Except lamer.

    Who are these courts and judges that are going to see things his way? Who are these lawyers at white-shoe firms who are going to advise their VIP clients that they can just ignore laws and judges and executive orders, and when they’re sued say, “I don’t recognize them as legitimate”? This is on the level of Steve Martin’s “how make a million dollars tax free” but not funny. Not intentionally so.

    It’s far more likely that this will be put into practice but targeting anything done by or any judges from the Trump Administration.

    What a revolting display from a blogger who should know better.

  12. Hardly the first bed-making contraption. The old silent films had plenty of gadgets that did the same as well as others like setting the breakfast table for two.

  13. @Nonapod:The Trump campaign has brought in $39 million in less than 24 hours.

    That might make you feel good, but what is going to actually do? The government could invent some more charges to take it away, media could refuse to let him buy anything, marketers and lawyers can refuse his business…

    And do you think $39 million is a lot of money for Presidential campaign? Or an unusual amount to raise in a short time? Trump has done $50 M in a single event before.

    I’m just saying don’t try to build up false hopes, or imagine this is all going to backfire in some mysterious way, and be wary of right-wing media trying to create narratives. The potential of a comeback is there to draw your eyeballs, but it may not be based in reality. The people saying it may not believe it themselves, look all the trash Hinderaker is talking today about doing stuff he would never ever do.

  14. Niketas Choniates:

    The fact that Hinderaker has never done it before doesn’t mean he would “never ever” do it now. I’m not sure you understand the concept of radicalization. It does happen to people.

    I don’t know what Hinderaker or others will do, nor do I know what is possible to do. But I would not dismiss the idea that someone will do it. It may not be Hinderaker and it may not even be his field of legal expertise. But he is advocating things he never advocated before – and by that I am mainly referring to the lawfare part of his suggestions.

    Is your point simply to say, “all is lost, abandon hope”?

  15. Regarding Hinderaker. If I lived in Minnesota and lived through the erosion of Minnesota culture, I might overreact to the Trump verdict as well. From a distance Minnesota appears to be as blue as the left coast/Socialist States of America.

    I’ll chalk it up to venting.

    What he’s suggesting would require a credible plan/base of operations after some cataclysmic political event. He’s getting the cart before the horse.

  16. ”Is your point simply to say, ‘all is lost, abandon hope’?”

    We’ve had a few of these types pass through here lately. I can’t tell if they’re conservatives really bad at making their case or progressives really good at it.

  17. “By contrast, The Civil War I took 60-100 years for the bonds of brotherhood and union to take root again as normal.“

    They never did. Now Lee gets melted down for some crap art.

  18. Re: Hinderaker

    I took that post as un cri de coeur — a cry of the heart — not legal advice.

    We have passed a Rubicon. We are now, no fooling, dealing with a revolutionary entity intending to take control of America by any means necessary with no concern for the rule of the law.

    Sure, it was getting more and more difficult to deal with Democrats as parties who disagree but are otherwise of good conscience. But yesterday tore a big hole in that.

    I think Hinderaker is saying we need to recalibrate our expectations and strategies.

    I know I am.

  19. @neo:Is your point simply to say, “all is lost, abandon hope”?

    Absolutely the opposite of my point.

    My point is, the things that have a chance of working are not the things a lot of us think they are. I would like us to focus on what (I think) will work, and see things as (I think) they really are so we can fight back effectively. I say “as I think” because I’m not omniscient. All will be lost if we count on the the things we counted on for 50 years, I’m pretty sure, and don’t do different things.

    As for Hinderaker, I don’t object to his “lawfare” stuff. I was advocating that very same thing here, for what it’s worth, for quite some time, and I believe it would work–if it were tried.

    It’s the other things he said that T J quoted, which (as huxley said) at best can be excused as something written with great heat under a lot of emotion, but which Hinderaker knows for a fact is something that would never work and that he himself would never attempt.

  20. That might make you feel good

    I actually didn’t say it made me feel anything. But I suppose you can infer whatever you like.

  21. huxley — you dear online consigliaro. You get it

    Yes you get Hinderaker, too.

    And neo mentioned radicalization? As a New York cop once said many decades ago, “Welcome the party, pal!”

    But he was fighting thieves masquerading as terrorists. And saw through ’em.

    We face what’s worse and more sinister: Nihilist’s that appear to hate everything valuable from the past in lived experience, and therefore eager to destroy us.

    They are thieves, too. But just thieves would be kinder and more risk adverse.
    Neither of which they are.

  22. Can’t recall the year, probably between 1952-1954, but some of the Texas relatives we visited had outhouses. One Texas cousin proudly showed me her septic tank on the new home her parents had just built. It was open for some reason, and she said not to get to close to it.

    Commercial Radio: November 2, 1920Under the call sign KDKA, Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company transmitted the first scheduled broadcast..

    Television setMechanical televisions were commercially sold from 1928 to 1934 in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

    Home InternetThe first commercial Internet Service Providers in the United States sprang up in 1989.

    I purchased my first computer in 1992. A Dell that was over $4,000 – DX4 processor (I think?), 4MBs ram, and don’t recall the HDD size. Last year (2023) I built a power house computer for $1674.68 – computer’s name is Apevia.

    We’ve come a long way in a short time, and 35 years of a still fast growing Home Internet has possibly advanced humans more than any other human invention or discovery.

    First time I came out of prison, after a little over 3 years, I found the change/s amazing—just after a few years in prison.

    The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. TrumpThe indictment, the first of a former U.S. president, was approved by a Manhattan grand jury on March 30, 2023. On May 30, 2024 Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts..

    We American humans—on both sides—are doing pretty good, IMHO, after absorbing who knows how many hours of the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump news & whatever other data was involved…Jeez!?! 😛

  23. Whoever controls the Rule of Law gets to decide who the criminals will be. It should be a Capital Crime for humans to create laws…

    International Criminal Court runs wild, threatening Israel and anyone who criticizes it

    The prosecutor´s office replied to the senators in part, “When individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or Court personnel … such threats, even when not acted upon, may also constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Art. 70 of the Rome Statute.”

    Starting to look like the Beloved Rule of Law has become a religion…

  24. It should be a Capital Crime for humans to create laws…

    Karmi:

    Are you channeling a Heinlein story I’ve forgotten?

  25. huxley:

    Are you channeling a Heinlein story I’ve forgotten?

    Not sure what you mean – am great at administering Choke Holds (10 secs or less results), but am terrible at administering that Heinlein Maneuver and/or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation…(?)

  26. President Joe Biden begs Hamas

    US President Joe Biden urged Hamas to agree to the latest Israeli ceasefire and hostage-release proposal on May 31. Ceasefire talks have been largely stalled since Egypt unilaterally altered an Israeli proposal without notifying international mediators and then sent the altered text to Hamas in early May 2024 .. Hamas stated on May 30 that it refused to return to indirect negotiations until there is an end to the war. Biden said he has urged Israeli leaders “to stand behind this deal despite any political pressure,” emphasizing that Israel’s pursuit of “an unidentified notion of total victory will. . . only bog down Israel in Gaza.” Biden also appealed to the Israeli people, saying that Hamas “no longer is capable” of conducting another attack like the one on October 7, 2023.

    Yeah, right Joe…

  27. @Karmi:It should be a Capital Crime for humans to create laws…

    In ancient times the Locrian Greeks made it a capital offense to propose a new law that was not adopted:

    Demosthenes, who to persuade the Athenians not to change any law upon small and frivolous pretences, gives the example of these Locrians, with whom, says he, it’s a law, that a man who shall propose to make any new law shall do it with a rope about his neck, which he shall be strangled in, if he do not carry his point: which has been such a guard and defence to the laws, that there has been but one new one made in MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED YEARS.

    However, since no human society has made it a capital crime to create a law, if you yourself do so, you will deserve capital punishment. Reminds me a bit of the “who shaves the barber” paradox.

  28. @ huxley > Heinlein was a full-bore libertarian, so he may have said something similar sometime. Sounds like it could be a Jubal Harshaw quote, if it belongs to anyone at all.

    Here’s a post for you on the topic of All Things AI:
    After going through some of the recent episodes of bone-headed productions of the various AI apps, the author notes a very serious problem.
    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/30/why-artificial-intelligence-keeps-getting-dumber/

    Another problem is now coming into view. The AI is making an already bad job worse, by generating bogus information, which then pollutes the rest of the web. ‘Google learns whatever junk it sees on the internet and nothing generates junk better than AI’, as one X user put it.

    Last year, the leading AI companies acknowledged that, having run out of content to scrape from the web, they were beginning to use synthetic training data – that is, data generated by generative AI itself. A year ago, OpenAI’s Sam Altman said he was ‘pretty confident that soon all data will be synthetic data’, made up by other AIs.

    This is a huge problem. It essentially causes the models to ‘collapse’ and to stop giving useful results. ‘Model collapse is when generative AI becomes unstable, unreliable or stops functioning. It can occur when generative AI models are trained on content generated by AI rather than humans’, Professor Nigel Shadbolt of the Open Data Institute warned last December. One researcher, Jathan Sadowski, has called this phenomenon ‘Habsburg AI’, after the Spanish Habsburg dynasty, which died out in 1700 as a result of illnesses caused by in-breeding.

    You can argue that something like this already happens without the assistance of AI, such as when a bogus fact is inserted on to Wikipedia, cited in the media and then the media citations become the justification for its continued inclusion on Wikipedia.

    AI simply automates and speeds up this process of generating falsehoods. This week, the Telegraph gave the following example: ‘When Google claimed there was no African country beginning with the letter K, its answer appeared to have been based on a web discussion of ChatGPT getting the same question wrong. In other words, AI is now using other AI fabrications as gospel.’

    The most apt description of this phenomenon comes from some American researchers, who last year coined the phrase ‘Model Autophagy Disorder’, or MAD. They wanted to evoke the practice of introducing bovine prions into the cattle food supply, a practice which caused bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. ‘Our primary conclusion across all scenarios is that without enough fresh real data in each generation of an autophagous loop, future generative models are doomed to have their quality (precision) or diversity (recall) progressively decrease’, they wrote.

    Very few people warned of the downsides of generative AI when OpenAI opened its ChatGPT tool in November 2022. Now, ChatGPT has polluted the web and has poisoned itself and other AI tools. Cleaning this up will be a huge challenge. While the promised gains of AI remain elusive, the costs are clearly starting to mount.

    However, to a confirmed conspiracy theorist (I have the complete tinfoil hat ensemble), the pollution of the internet may well be the goal of the Lizard Overpeople (or your Conspiracists of Choice).

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-15-at-8.09.45%E2%80%AFPM.png

    https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/tinfoilhat.png

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