From Pine View Farm

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Your BFF? At the Psychology Today website, F. Diane Barth reminds us that “(t)here is no capacity in AI bots for conflict or self-awareness.”

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The Sycophancier 0

Steve M. offers a theory as to Donald Trump’s fascination with Natalie Harp:

But Trump has always rejected information that contradicted his upbeat viewpoint. He’s always wallowed in happy talk. If Harp weren’t the one telling him what he wants to hear, it would be someone else.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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The Welcome Zap 0

Caption:  Minority Outreach.  Image:  ICE agent wearing vest labeled

Click for the original image.

Somehow, I don’t think this is what Emma Lazurus had in mind when she wrote

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Afterthought:

Metninks that the crucial item that our “news” media fears to address is this:

The core value that unites Trump with the Trumpeetes is racism.

Without that, they have nothing.

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The Crypto Con 0

Thom follows Donald Trump’s funny phoney money.

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Responsible Fiscals . . . 0

, , , seem incapable of remembering what they are responsible for.

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The Me Veneration 0

Writing at the Kansas City Star, Terry Albright offers an unlikely theory as to the origins of Donald Trump’s desire to slap his taint on everything.

I say “unlikely,” because I suspect Trump has no clue as the the precedent Allbright posits. See what you think.

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QOTD 0

Albert Camus:

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Q. E. D.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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The Enablers 0

Title:  The Real Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Image:  Donald Trump dressed as Napoleon screaming out crazy things as the GOP Congress follows along saying,

Click for the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another “responsible gun owner” demonstrates politeness on the pavement.

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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Plastics People, You’re Such a Drag* 0

I find this worrying.

Microplastics were detected inside a third of insects across six streams within the Schuylkill River watershed, according to a new study by the Stroud Water Research Center.

Researchers at the nonprofit analyzed aquatic insects like mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies that were collected between 1998 and 2019. . . .

They’re everywhere, even inside our brains.

I doubt that’s healthy.

_______________________

*With apologies to Frank Zappa.

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The Disinformation Superhighway 0

B. C. character Thor reading the

Click for the original image.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Methinks one sign that we are in a New Gilded Age is government’s privatizing the common weal so as to line the pockets of the already wealthy.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Going rogue? Security maven Bruce Schneier argues that the genie may have escaped from the bottle.

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QOTD 0

John Wood, in the voice of Patrick Tyneman:

Time’s a thief, Jean. Don’t waste any of the little that you have.

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The Brain Trust 0

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The Rule of Lawless 0

Mona Charen is less than sanguine at the prospect of Todd Blanche holding the post of Attorney-General. A snippet:

This is the Trumpian way. They don’t just break the rules behind closed doors; they shatter the rules in broad daylight. It’s not enough, for example, that the Trump Justice Department is denying resources to the team that investigates and prosecutes foreign corrupt practices; Trump issued an executive order pausing all such prosecutions. So it’s not news that Trump’s new attorney general will fail to seek impartial justice, but the refusal to even feign regard for impartial justice is new.

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

Thom hears some rhymes.

_________________

*Mark Twain.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

As if we needed a reminder . . . .

Police say Tyler Swan, 27, of Georgia, and Michael Richard, 39, of Essex Junction, were target shooting near the home of Geraldine Doran, 84. Investigators say a round from the target shooting went into Doran’s Ceres Circle home, and she was seriously injured.

. . . “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron.

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Devolution 0

Sportswriter extraordinaire Bob Molinaro in my local rag:

We may have reached the depths of gambling degeneracy when unregulated offshore bookmakers are taking bets on the Little League World Series.

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