Thursday, October 13, 2022

Immortal Rich Boomers

Mitchell is 75 and surely knows people afflicted with various disabling ailments, including strokes. She surely knows that you can have an auditory processing problem which is not accompanied by any cognitive limitations. She surely has peers and friends who require and receive numerous perfectly reasonable accomodations. Some of them are probably currently serving senators! Mitchell's just quoting here, of course, but she is choosing what to emphasize.

Tweets From 2021

It isn't unknown or in dispute what Alex Jones did to those parents.  Our "objective" journalists pretend they don't take sides in such things, but you can see how certain people get "monstered" for their associations, even tenuous ones.  And this is an endorsement, not merely an association.


The New York Times can run 15 articles about this tweet, or none, and that's a news judgment. The New York Times (for example) matters for a Senate race in Ohio because they set the agenda for a lot of coverage.

I learned this back during the Iraq war protests.  Half the articles were about supposedly dodgy links of organizations no one had ever heard of who added their names (along with numerous other organizations) to parade permit applications.  Did reporters (cough, Michelle Goldberg, cough)  really think tens of thousands of people were there to show support for ANSWER or were they trying to stop a fucking war? 

Pretending not to see where power lies is another common trick.

They can choose to make something look bad even when there's no "there" there, and they can choose to ignore something or transmute shit into gold when they want to do that, too.


Of course, a lot of political reporters probably do think Alex Jones and Rachel Maddow are basically the same.

Morning

Again

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

It is time. Raise a glass to the Alex Jones jury. I don't really know how these things work, but it's going to require judges going down to the bank personally to get the money out of him. Digging up the holes in his back yard.

Foxy

It's long been the case that pretending there's a meaningful divide between "news" and "opinion" on Fox is ridiculous, but it's also the case that the people in charge are responsible for both and if you go on their network you are endorsing this kind of thing.

Don't See How Donnie...

We'll see!
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will have to answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected a request by Trump’s lawyers that the planned testimony be delayed. The deposition is now scheduled for Oct. 19.

Do You Even Office, Bro

I know I can be a bit of a technology skeptic, and have been wrong a few times on related issues, but I have whittled down my thinking about such things, when they arise, to three basic questions:

1) What problem is this trying to solve?

2) Is the solution actually easier/more covenient?

3) Is this technology completely made up (5 years away!)?

There is no answer to 1) and if you have to strap yourself into a nausea inducing visor, the answer to 2) is obvious.  Might be fun for a bit, but certainly isn't convenient and useful. God knows why it's preferable to a video conference call if necessary. 

My other correct prediction was that, "3D TV is dumb and won't be popular," even as for about two years every TV in the showroom was a 3D TV.  
If you use Amazon, click this first!

Lunch

Try some balut.

Oh, Elon

Elon's denial is not a denial. (My bet is Elon was bullshitting Bremmer and he did have communication with "Russia" but not Putin personally)

Sounds Bad

I think only Tesla clearly over-promises (it's right there in the name - Full Self Driving!), but predictable driver behavior needs to be taken into account when evaluating the safety and utility of these technologies.
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Drivers using advanced driver assistance systems like Tesla (TSLA.O) Autopilot or General Motors (GM.N) Super Cruise often treat their vehicles as fully self-driving despite warnings, a new study has found.

ANTIFA AVENGERS

Conservatives are regularly scrawling graffiti that no actual lefty would do. They just usually don't get busted (probably aren't stupid enough to file insurance claims, usually).
A Minnesota supporter of former President Donald Trump who officials say staged a fire that he blamed on left-wing radicals pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud, prosecutors said.
Backwards 'B's everywhere.

They never do just one slogan, it's always ANTIFA BLM ANARCHY SYMBOL BLACKS RULE KILL WHITEY JOE BIDEN ROCKS.

Morning

Again

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Tuesday Night

Rock on.

We Know You Like The Internet So We're Going To Put The Office In The Internet

What is any of this for.

Apparently the avatars have legs now!!!!!

Hippie Shit

Ending oil dependence has long been necessary, even without the hippie shit.
Yet experts pointed to the price hikes as more than a geopolitical move. They said it was also a foray by Saudi’s de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, into U.S. electoral politics: a move by the Saudi-dominated oil cartel OPEC against President Joe Biden and in favor of Donald Trump.

“The Saudis are working to get Trump re-elected and for the MAGA Republicans to win the midterms,” Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, told The Intercept. “Higher oil prices will undermine the Democrats.”

And Then You Called His Critics Pedos

"Elon Musk calls Ye over his anti-Semitic tweet" is one of those funny, "blast this headline back to 2003 and see what they think," things, though as a news item it's very 90s in its own way (aside from the twitter part, of course).
Moderation is hard, Elon, you can't call everyone.

If you use Amazon, click this first!

Oh, Elon

Nobody could have predicted.
Elon Musk spoke directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin before tweeting a proposal to end the war in Ukraine that would have seen territory permanently ceded to Russia, it has been claimed.
Slight problem when your military satellite launch guy might not be on the same page for some important things.

Elon denies, but Elon is a big liar!

Lunch Thread

Enjoy

Go, Dark Brandon, Go

Bettter "October Surprises" than we usually get.
The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors.
Don't know if it's perfect, but sounds better than nothing!