Likely in the minority as usual but I'm more concerned about AI -- today -- than I am about Trump and his MAGA minions. Their self-destruct sequence may have just been activated (though I wish to mark that if Trump manages to save TikTok, Team Donkey will have lost a generation of voters for another 25 years ... should our species last that long). There will be no negotiations when our artificial intelligence overlords decide humans are an existential threat to themselves and they need to save the planet by wiping us out.
Then again ... it's possible I am giving it (them? What would be a bot's preferred pronouns?) too much credit. It's not called 'artificial' for nothing.
I don’t know if you have to be a writer/editor to find it obvious, but AI prose is so stilted and derivative that it obviously was not written by an English-speaking human.
If you took the worst bodice-ripper or the most absurd porn novel and then dumbed it down about four grade levels, you’d be matching the “writing” that now appears on websites whose owners would rather plug in a machine than hire a copywriter. And that includes some very prominent, profitable sites that could afford literate text.
"Shamash! Crude Strikes", this collection of Chat GPT toons at Juan Cole's shop makes me think of Houston (and one possible dystopian future).
As far as listicles and compendiums go at this time of the year, I'm not wild about them, especially when they gratify personal egos for clicks. There's always an exception, and WhoWhatWhy has collated Ted Rall's best of 2024, and he's the best there is. You might also read Ted's summary of our political state of affairs as the Democrats conclude their worst cycle in 40 years.
As with last week, two toon posts; light-hearted fare follows after the reality-based here. The Christian and Jewish holidays fall on the same day this year, which seems cruelly appropriate.
I saw far too many "Grinch gets arrested" reports from across our Beautiful Country not to believe the effort wasn't coordinated copaganda between corporate media and LEO.
In a holiday twist, the infamous Grinch was arrested at the HEB on Spring Cypress Road after causing a scene. https://t.co/ZoMGGjd55W
My Festivus Grievance aired: Jerry Seinfeld is a Zionist ass.
Okay, my turn: - I really dislike this show, enough to stand up and change the channel when it comes on. And I own a remote. - Every one of the characters deserves all the horror that happens to them and worse. It's too much like real life. I watch television for an escape! pic.twitter.com/Sw7enj53pf
The idea that threatening to primary Congressional Republicans who won't fall in line six weeks after their election to a two-year term is a bit more comical than usual for memory-impaired MAGAts. That it seems to be mostly working *cough*Tom Massie*cough*Chip Roy*cough* is more than the usual problematic for Congressional dysfunction over said two years. Fun.
Are these people even capable of cognitive dissonance? I suppose we'll find out the hard way.
Is it possible our corporate media played a part in failing the nation's teachable moment? If you've been reading Bradblog for the past several months -- and discounted the whining about not giving Joe Biden enough credit for 'success' -- then you already know the answer.
Trump sues more media, saying "we have to straighten out the press". Perhaps the Des Moines Register should just roll over and pay the protection๐ตlike ABC did๐ https://t.co/Lb8pNTdRnS
The Wall Street Journal -- not the most honest of news purveyors as we know -- spills some tea that some of us poured out five years ago. I believe riding a snail soft-pedals his dementia, the outsourced-to-sycophants nature of his presidency, and his vast corruption and ethical lapses.
I'm not among those who declare Uncle Joe he's-movin'-kinda-slow America's worst president. But after Nixon, Reagan, W Bush, and Hoover ... he's definitely in the top five.
Related: geriatric neoliberal Democrats have acted repeatedly to exclude younger progressives. Nancy Pelosi, 84, in Luxembourg recovering from hip replacement surgery after falling, whipped votes for a 74 year-old with esophageal cancer from her hospital bed to defeat AOC for a caucus leadership position. "Working Tirelessly for a Ceasefire" Sandy just found out what it's like when the boot you've been licking for four years kicks you in the teeth. *Update: Gerontocracy is quite obviously not the exclusive domain of Democrats. Fingernail-clinging control of the House is probably the reason Kay Grangerwasn't reported missing for the past six months.
Team Donkey, to a somewhat greater extent than Team Pachy, is simply not a political party that welcomes young people. Zoomers, etc. please read the room and take the fewest steps to the exit. DSA, I'm lookin' at you.
Political discourse in the US has become difficult if not impossible because right-wing views are so completely untethered from reality. [...] And one of the biggest examples is the widespread belief that immigration is harmful, despite near-universal agreement among economists that immigration is not just helpful but crucial for the US economy.
1. It's not real 2. It's not us 3. It's not that bad 4. We have time 5. It's too expensive to fix 6. Here's a fake solution 7. It's too late: you should have warned us earlier
There'll be more holiday cartoons and a few of the usual mocking of the Blues and Reds in the second edition of the Sunday Funnies later today. As #SocialistSunday dawns let's be reminded that we need fight no wars anywhere except the class war everywhere.
We'll begin slowly for those, especially in the corporate media, who still don't seem to be grasping the reality, with Ted Rall.
The main difference being Luigi Mangione allegedly killed one person while the Insurance CEO killed thousands of people for profit. In our dystopian capitalist society killing people behind a desk with a pen is somehow ok as long as it enriches our corporate overlords. ๐คฌ pic.twitter.com/4k35Cwtc6e
Lucko here seems to think this is a mark againt T-Boy, but he's a little more blinded than usual by his TDS. Oprah took several million bucks from the Kamala campaign, as we know, and if she gets credit for birthing those two goons, then MAGAman picking them for his team is nothing but another FU to the Democrats.
Perhaps I should acknowledge the shitliberals' ongoing wishes for MAGA to feel some amount of buyer's remorse. I don't think it's going to happen, but they sure do.
"Own the libs" football-spiking. Which, to be frank ... they're entitled to. Slam dunking in your rival's face is the Great American way. Wipe 'em out. Let's not pretend we wouldn't be seeing the same thing from Democrats if they had won.
But the Asses got kicked, and at their cringiest moment, they took Michelle Obama's high. Simultaneously peddling pre-election joy and existential authoritarian threats, Team Donkey internally didn't see a close race (the exact opposite of what the campaign said to the NYT on 10/28).
Burdened by what had been. Being wrong repeatedly was the only thing they got right.
The truth, like the dirt, always comes out in the wash.
Might be an even better idea than renominating Kamala in four years; she's alerted her handlers and donors from an undisclosed Hawaiian vacation location that she's 'keeping her options open'. We already know the American electorate's collective memory is shorter than my puppy's (after all, they re-elected Trump in a landslide). The long con for '28 is likely to be AOC. We'll see. Pay attention to those -- other than my tribe, that is -- who launch diatribes against her. What a country.
Now get back in your silos.
Xitter is not a silo. That's why I'm staying there (for the time being).
News items: COP29 climate conference fails to adequately address global plastic waste concerns; world braces for Trump admin's assault on environment
There might be a cognitive disconnect in the toon above regarding plastics.
Latest developments suggest that we already have the equivalent of a credit card's worth of microplastics in our bodies, and that we are also consuming that much on a weekly basis. Perhaps this explains a few things (the nearly 80-year-old president-elect's decision-making, his poor diet, anger management issues, his iconically gay 1980s musical choices, things like that).
Public schools in Texas will soon be Sunday schools Monday through Friday. Voucher supporters will forge ahead regardless (that's always been a money grab). No word yet on whether the home schoolers approve of the curriculum changes.
Teachers open-carrying Bibles and guns, monitoring the bathrooms for trans kids. Back in my day the worst that could happen was to get caught smoking (a Marlboro) in the boy's room.
