From Pine View Farm

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” performs a random act of politeness, leaving his friend with a bullet fragment lodged behind his eye in such a way that removal may not be possible.

The incident occurred Saturday as 25-year-old Bryan Trujillo was serving food at a birthday party that also featured a horse parade.

According to Trujillo, a man pulled out a gun and began shooting toward the ground near a horse.

These overgrown boys need to stop treating instruments of death as if they were toys.

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Defiles in Courage 0

Title:  House GOP takes action on Hegseth impeachment.  Image:  GOP Congresspersons fleeing to evacuate Washington.

Via Job’s Anger.

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“Show Us Your Papers Please” 0

Thom talks with Greg Palast about strategies Republicans may be intending to use to gut out the vote.

(There seemed to be some audio gliches when I watched the video, so I recommend turning on the closed captions.)

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Big Brother Tech Is Watching You 0

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Big Tech often doesn’t think things through. AI may be the most extreme example so far, but the recklessness (fecklessness?) is hardly unprecedented. From the Portland Oregonian:

A Medford woman is suing Apple Inc., alleging her ex-boyfriend stalked her by surreptitiously taping an Apple AirTag under her car.

The woman’s former boyfriend, the suit says, used the tracker to monitor her daily movements without her knowledge. Medford police have charged him with stalking using a GPS device, according to the suit. He is also not named in the suit.

(snip)

According to the Medford woman’s lawsuit, Apple’s internal data showed the company received more than 40,000 stalking reports from 2021 to 2024 involving its tracking device but failed to adopt adequate safeguards to protect victims.

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If the Truth Hurts, Hurt the Truth 0

The Trump maladministration once again exercises its freedom of repress.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he was banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavorable coverage, and threatened that more such media prohibitions could be coming — offering his administration’s latest test of constitutional First Amendment protections guaranteeing the freedom of the press.

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QOTD 0

David Ferguson:

Jesus never said, “Be cruel to people who are different from you.”

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A Tune for the Times 0

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“It’s Been a Gas” 0

Florida man.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Via the Miami Herald, Mireille Rebeiz hears a rhyme in Donald Trump’s obsession with marking his territory like my old dog Beau spreading his taint renaming stuff.

Here’s a quatrain from the sonnet:

Trump, who is obsessed with his appearance, seeks to cultivate the image of a powerful man and a powerful country: Trump is America and America is Trump. His goal in these renamings is to glorify himself and project his vision of national identity,

Sadly, history is rife with examples of dictators and fascists renaming things to glorify themselves, with dangerous consequences.

Follow the link for the–er–rather disturbing but quite a propos examples.

____________________

*Mark Twain.

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A Legend in His Own Mind 0

Title:  Opera Buffa Presents Cosi fan Trumpy--the Tragicomedy that's bringing down the house at the Kennedy Center.  Image:  Donald Trump dressed as a Valkyrie sings,

Click for the original image.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

A competent medical advisor? At the Psychology Today website, Nick Tiller says it’s heading for a quack up.

Here’s a snippet from his article:

On the one hand, OpenAI qualifies the rollout by saying it’s not for diagnosis or treatment and is “not designed to replace the care and judgment of qualified medical professionals.” On the other hand, that’s exactly what the public will use it for, and OpenAI knows it.

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Emoluments 0

It appears that Donald Trump may be presidenting for profit.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Enforcer frolics.

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QOTD 0

Arthur Schopenhauer:

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another “responsible gun owner” exposes his portable phallus to a child.

The incident happened on Monday at about 2:25 p.m. in the 3500-block of South Wallace Street outside Minnie Miñoso Academy.

Chicago police said Dixon left a bag unattended on a school bus with a gun inside.

A 12-year-old boy then found the gun and fired it. The shot left behind a bullet hole through the bus window.

Musical NotesGuns and stupid, guns and stupid,
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you, brother,
You won’t find one without the other.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Baiting and switching? El Reg reports:

There’s a new kind of agent coming to ChatGPT ads, and this one wants your money. OpenAI has begun testing Sponsored Agents, advertiser-backed bots that try to sell you things as part of a custom conversation.

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American Stasi 0

AL.com’s John Archibald tells another family’s story. An excerpt:

Last week Roberto and Lola – Roberto Avalos Magallon and Dolores Mendoza Cerda – were detained by ICE at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport while returning from a family reunion in California. The married couple from Mexico had no criminal history, never entered the U.S. illegally and were working through the system to remain in America’s good graces, according to their attorneys. Still they were whisked away to detention in Pickens County, then to separate ICE facilities in Louisiana.

Leaving those grandchildren, scarred by heartache, to wonder again what would become of them, and the people they love.

Again we are reminded that mean for the sake of mean is a Republican family value.

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Who’s Macklemore? 0

Inquiring minds want to know. Emma explains it to Sam.

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“Barefoot and Pregnant” 0

At the Des Moines Register, Rehka Basu looks at recent remarks by J. D. Vance about the role of women in families and decodes de code.

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