A Questioning of Priorities 0
At the Tampa Bay Times, Daniel Ruth has a few choice words for those who have the gall to take issue with the priorities of the current President of the United States.
No selection of summary can do his article justice. Just go read it.
War and Mongers of War 0
David debunks Karoline Leavitt’s bunk about Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)
Aside:
Karoline Leavitt uses the term “experts at the White House.”
Given the actions antics of the Trump maladministration, methinks that term an oxymoron.
Republican Thought Police 0
Now it seems that they are going after the Pope for having the unmitigated gall to criticize the actions of the Trump maladministration.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” feels compelled to expose his portable phallus to a fellow driver.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much? 0
A wolf in geek’s clothing? At the Psychology Today website, Faisal Hoque argues that “AI is eroding human capacities – effort, attention, judgment, agency – often in ways we mistake for progress.”
Methinks he makes some excellent points.
War and Mongers of War 0
Sam and the crew talk with Heather “Digby” Parton about why Trump decided to go to war with Iran.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
In an article about two recent civil court cases, in which “social” media companies wer found liable for the damage they did to youngsters, John Bennett writes of the implications of those rulings. The following observations caught my eye (emphasis added):
(snip)
Whistleblowers and internal documents unearthed during trial revealed the full extent to which Big Tech knew what it was doing to young people, and kept doing it anyway.
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
“The Art of the Deal” 0
In a much longer post in which he wonders what can of worms Donald Trump will open next, Steve M. parses the pattern of the scammer-in-chief:
I commend his whole piece to your attention.
And Now for a Musical Interlude 0
Aside:
A strong case can be made that Helen Kane was the inspiration for the classic cartoon character, Betty Boop.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
And it’s been a lot of years, indeed, over a millennium and counting.
Via The Japan Times, UGa. professor Stephen Mihm offers a brief history of the chattel slavery of African people. He notes that
Methinks it a timely and worthwhile read, as the myth of racial superiority created to justify it continues to poison the polity.
Mongers of Hate, Reprise 0
At the Psychology Today website, John Tsilimparis argues that “(t)he recent social media outburst from the highest levels of leadership is a result of narcissistic rage.” He then goes on to explore how such outbursts and the type of you-can’t-really-call-it thinking behind them helps poison dis coarse discourse.
His article is well worth the few minutes it will take to read it.
Mongers of Hate 0
Thom discusses how today’s Republican Party has weaponized hate and faction over the last four decades.
Aside:
I think that Thom is quite correct about the legacy of Ronald Reagan, but I think he should also have included as a contributing factor Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy, which has turned the party of Lincoln into the party of Jefferson Davis.
Honest to Pete, if Ev Dirksen or Nelson Rockefeller came back from their graves, they would be ashamed of what their party has become.