April, 2025 archive
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
At the Las Vegas Sun, Haajrah Gilani writes that Americans of Japanese descent see Donald Trump’s treatment of immigrants and hear rhymes of the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Here’s a bit from his article:
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*Mark Twain.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Capable of making stuff up out of thin air? You betcha!
QOTD 0
Keram Malicki-Sánchez, in the voice of Lyn Moncrief:
There’s a great deal to be learned from the mistakes of others.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
If you have a dispute with your neighbors, be sure to settle it with politeness.
A Notion of Immigrants, Catch-22 Dept. 0
He went for a walk, got lost, got arrested by ICE, was incarcerated for over a week, and nearly got deported exiled.
ICE claimed that he did not have “proper immigration documents.”
Not being an immigrant, of course he didn’t.
Catch-22.
It’s the best catch there is.
You can read the full news report here.
(Broken link fixed.)
DOGE Bull 0
See the news report Farron discusses.
Afterthought:
I’ve decoded de code.
DOGE does not stand for “Department of Government Efficiency.”
It stands for “Destroy Our Government Elon.”
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Telling you what you want to hear? Just maybe.
At Psychology Today Blogs, John Nosta argues that AI bots are being engineered to tell us what they their algorithms “think” we want to hear. A snippet:
A Tune for the Times 0
From the Youtube page:
What do you have when you lose the rule of law, due process, and justice, and almost half the population thinks that’s okay? They also think having an oligarchic authoritarian in charge is a good thing). You have USA – 2025
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Laura Loomer complains that “uppity blacks” don’t know their place.
Yup, she actually said, “Uppity.”
They’ve taken off their hoods.
They’re not even trying to hide their racism in these Trumpled times.
(Slightly edited for style.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
When you attend the ceremony, be sure to say farewell to the dearly departed by displaying your politeness.
(snip)
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards believes the shooting started after two funeral attendees got into an argument before the casket was in the ground. He says it’s something he’s never seen before.
We are a broken society.
Bare Naked Ladies 0
Every time I think this country can’t get stupider, by heavens! it goes and proves me wrong. (Additional stupid at the link.)
Words fail me.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Emily Wax-Thibodeaux tells of several persons who fled to the United States to escape tyranny and oppression. Unfortunatel, they are now hearing in the U. S. rhymes of the lands they left behind. Here’s a tiny bit:
“Khomeini felt that Iranian universities had turned into a breeding ground for Western and communist influences,” he said. The higher education ministry was told to end suspect activity on college campuses, which soon after were shut down. Textbooks were rewritten “to remove all mentions of what was considered un-Islamic.”
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*Mark Twain.
The Choice 0
PoliticalProf lays it out.