“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Guns 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.
Chaos Agents,. Reprise 0
Speaking of chaos agents, Above the Law reports the Fulton County D. A. Fani Willis called one out (emphasis added):
“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes. A more troubling explanation is that you are abusing your authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to attempt to obstruct and interfere with a Georgia criminal prosecution,” she wrote, adding, “While you may enjoy immunity under the United States Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, that does not make your behavior any less offensive to the rule of law.”
Follow the link for context.
The Crypto Con 0
Just in case you wondered what “Effective Altruism” means . . . .
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Another lawyer gets caught with his briefs down, and Above the Law’s Joe Patrice says it sure looks like ChatGPT to him.
QOTD 0
Susan Hampshire, in the voice of Molly MacDonald, and Lloyd Owen, in the voice of Paul Bowman:
Molly: You know what they say in the beginning of wisdom.
Paul: Yeah, a good kick up the backside.
Chaos Agents 0
Robert Reich, not one given to wild ravings, fears that there is method in the madness. Here’s how he opens his article; follow the link for his reasoning.
Reagan is still revered, especially by Republicans, but his negative view of government has morphed into an authoritarian fervor within the Republican Party.
And that fervor has become the basis of a strategy — led by Trump — for seeking to persuade the rest of America that the nation is ungovernable as a democracy and therefore in need of an authoritarian strongman.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Those friends served to you by the algorithm, well, remember, there may not be much there there.
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
You don’t use it.
It uses you.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Atrios makes a pretty good case that, if history is not precisely repeating itself, it is certainly echoing loudly.
The Climates They Are a-Changing 0
It’s October and I’m running the blankety-blank air condtioning for Pete’s sake.
Vaccine Nation 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier comments on Florida Man’s losing a suit about propagating mis- and disinformation about the severity of the COVID pandemic in Florida. Here’s a couple of snippets; follow the link for the details.
The new method made it appear the virus was instead declining just as DeSantis was running for a second term for governor and keeping no secrets about his White House ambitions.
(snip)
All of this could be sloughed off as common Floridian slapstickery if it weren’t for, you know, all the dying.