Bob Schneider isn’t just using AI to generate videos, he’s leaning into the weird distortions of the Uncanny Valley.
Bob Schneider video for ‘Cheesecake Factory Bar’ from the album The Human Torch
Directed by Bob Schneider
Song Produced and engineered by Max Frost
Song Mixed and mastered by Dave McNair
re: #134 Nerdy Fish
That’s unfortunate. I was thinking about watching that. I haven’t seen it all the way through.
Finally saw that movie [Die Hard] the whole way through for the first time. *Gasp!*
From downstairs.
re: #139 nines09
My mom had a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass. My dad has been on the lookout for another one to get her for nostalgia’s sake, but they appear to be rarer than hen’s teeth.
I have seen Die Hard the whole way through. It’s just been a while and I wanted to watch it again.
re: #1 TedStriker
Heh… I initially read the thread title as “Weird Al”.
[Embedded content]
You’re not the only one.
re: #4 Eclectic Cyborg
From downstairs:
moviestowatch.tv
re: #2 BlueSpotinAL ✅
Finally saw that movie [Die Hard] the whole way through for the first time. *Gasp!*
I just checked and it looks like a lot of AMC Loew’s theatres are having at least one showing a day of Die Hard. It is a Christmas re-release. Cinemark is also. The one closest to me is. So you can see it with a real theater experience.
re: #8 immigrant
From downstairs:
moviestowatch.tv
Umm, that just took me to a mess of scuzzy pop-ups and other BS.
EDIT: Got it to work. Still not ideal though, but thanks.
re: #10 Eclectic Cyborg
Umm, that just took me to a mess of scuzzy pop-ups and other BS.
Sorry about that. It works just fine for me. (Brave browser)
re: #3 Nerdy Fish
My one cousin upstate, his mom had a Buick Wildcat. Not sure of the year, but that puppy could walk. He would mark with stones exactly where it was parked so he could put it back unnoticed.
We took it on back roads and once again, we escaped killing ourselves.
There was a very hilly road called “Tickle Belly Road” and we had that car airborne more than once.
As long as the engine cooled, they never knew.
I think I was 12. He was 14. We were crazy.
re: #12 nines09
My one cousin upstate, his mom had a Buick Wildcat. Not sure of the year, but that puppy could walk. He would mark with stones exactly where it was parked so he could put it back unnoticed.
We took it on back roads and once again, we escaped killing ourselves.
There was a very hilly road called “Tickle Belly Road” and we had that car airborne more than once.
As long as the engine cooled, they never knew.
I think I was 12. He was 14. We were crazy.
I had a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix. That car was so sweet! Just a whisper on the pedal and she would take off like a 747 pounding down the runway.
My kids used to take her out and see how fast she would go (up past 100 they told me, many years later).
From Downstairs:
re: #111 sagehen
The Mustang was for people with enhanced aesthetic sense (also, it hugged the highway nicely on curves.
The 1966 Mustang convertible is the sexiest car ever to come out of Detroit.
[Embedded content]
Eh, I can’t go that far. Best to come out of Ford? Arguably. But I can think of several others I preferred from other Detroit makers, some long before and some since.
It was probably the closest Detroit came to the perfection of the motor car that was the English sports car from Triumph, Morris, Austin or much less Lotus.
re: #13 Vicious Babushka
My first car was actually a truck. I got my dad’s well-used but well-cared-for 1991 Chevrolet 4-wheel-drive pickup. He bought it new off the lot; when my mom’s dad’s late 1970’s piece of junk Ford broke down on him on the way to a wedding, he got a lift to the dealer and bought the first truck on the lot that had all the options he wanted. It was this truck that I was driving on the day I was nearly killed 18 years ago.
Trump: We had the best job numbers in history. The real job numbers, not the fake job numbers they get. pic.twitter.com/Qe1yvnRWPs
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 17, 2023
re: #7 Vicious Babushka
[Embedded content]
One of the basic points here is most people do not understand their own physiology
If someone stepped in and offered to buy Twitter from Musk for cents on the dollar and he took it, is it too late now to “rescue” it as a dominant platform? Or is the brand too poisoned by Musk’s performative bigotry?
re: #13 Vicious Babushka
They never mentioned “burying the speedometer”?
Like your speedo goes to 120 but it’s past that and down into the bottom where you can’t see it?
I bet they did that.
“Well, past, uh, 100……maybe 135?”
re: #14 William Lewis
From Downstairs:
re: #111 sagehenThe Mustang was for people with enhanced aesthetic sense (also, it hugged the highway nicely on curves.
The 1966 Mustang convertible is the sexiest car ever to come out of Detroit.
[Embedded content]
Eh, I can’t go that far. Best to come out of Ford? Arguably. But I can think of several others I preferred from other Detroit makers, some long before and some since.
It was probably the closest Detroit came to the perfection of the motor car that was the English sports car from Triumph, Morris, Austin or much less Lotus.
You left out Jaguar XKE.
re: #20 Charles Johnson
If someone stepped in and offered to buy Twitter from Musk for cents on the dollar and he took it, is it too late now to “rescue” it as a dominant platform? Or is the brand too poisoned by Musk’s performative bigotry?
If they got it back on track I think it could recover. The name’s not really tainted. Everyone know whose fault it is.
I take Tylenol without a second thought
re: #20 Charles Johnson
It would have to be completely rebranded and a new team of talented people brought in to rebuild what has been ruined.
Not impossible, but very time consuming and EXTREMELY expensive.
Someone would have to be willing to put up a lot dough to take a crack at it. And it would be risky as fuck.
re: #21 Charles Johnson
I would agree, they’ve passed the tipping point and have essentially killed the brand. When you consider the time spent in reputation damage control versus the time spent on restoring functionality and unfucking the intentional damage done; it would be like double the effort needed to simply build it over… unless their basic structure is intact enough to proceed with… but it would require a huge reputation restoration, plus the brain drain. Those that are left, do you even bother to retain them?
re: #14 William Lewis
From Downstairs:
re: #111 sagehen.It was probably the closest Detroit came to the perfection of the motor car that was the English sports car from Triumph, Morris, Austin or much less Lotus.
The tr-6 is the rockin-est car ever
One of the big reasons why I remain HIGHLY skeptical about Threads is the fact that they let that vicious, violence-inciting bigot LibsOfTikTok have an account, after initially blocking her. That horrible woman should be radioactive on social media, but she’s cultivated an audience of knuckle-dragging goons and Facebook wants some of that.
I have a Threads account because I had an Instagram account I hardly used, but I don’t anticipate using it much.
I have to laugh at the media talking heads flocking to it, apparently with a severe case of amnesia about Mark Zuckerberg’s history of royally screwing them over.
re: #20 Charles Johnson
If someone stepped in and offered to buy Twitter from Musk for cents on the dollar and he took it, is it too late now to “rescue” it as a dominant platform? Or is the brand too poisoned by Musk’s performative bigotry?
Mary Shelley once wrote a novel that depicted what happens when someone attempted to re-animate dead tissue.
It didn’t turn out well.
re: #22 nines09
They never mentioned “burying the speedometer”?
Like your speedo goes to 120 but it’s past that and down into the bottom where you can’t see it?
I bet they did that.
“Well, past, uh, 100……maybe 135?”
RPM, gear ratio, & tire diameter.
7000 rpm in one car was 135 MPH.
re: #26 piratedan
I would agree, they’ve passed the tipping point and have essentially killed the brand.
I think the brand could be salvageable because everyone still calls it Twitter
yes it’s all about restoring functionality and cleaning out the sewage
re: #23 BeenHereAwhile
Triumphs had Weber carbs. Total pain in the ass. Always needed adjustments. Had a friend who had one. Loved the ride, hated the maintenance.
And you always must buy 2 Jaguars so when one breaks down, you cam still get to work.
Land Rover has a horrible track record.
Gotstagoes.
nite all
re: #28 Charles Johnson
One of the big reasons why I remain HIGHLY skeptical about Threads is the fact that they let that vicious, violence-inciting bigot LibsOfTikTok have an account, after initially blocking her. That horrible woman should be radioactive on social media, but she’s cultivated an audience of knuckle-dragging goons and Facebook wants some of that.
I have a Threads account because I had an Instagram account I hardly used, but I don’t anticipate using it much.
I have to laugh at the media talking heads flocking to it, apparently with a severe case of amnesia about Mark Zuckerberg’s history of royally screwing them over.
Threads is joining the Fediverse. I have threads.net blocked on Mastodon.
re: #9 silverdolphin
I just checked and it looks like a lot of AMC Loew’s theatres are having at least one showing a day of Die Hard. It is a Christmas re-release. Cinemark is also. The one closest to me is. So you can see it with a real theater experience.
Well, Die Hard is a Christmas movie…
re: #23 BeenHereAwhile
You left out Jaguar XKE.
Jag is more like Ferrari - sport touring when not flat out racing. Different than small sports cars like the difference between American Pony cars and Muscle cars.
re: #33 nines09
Triumphs had Weber carbs. Total pain in the ass. Always needed adjustments. Had a friend who had one. Loved the ride, hated the maintenance.
And you always must buy 2 Jaguars so when one breaks down, you cam still get to work.
Land Rover has a horrible track record.Gotstagoes.
nite all
It’s not a proper old British car/truck/motorbike if there’s not oil leaks, electrical gremlins, and frames/panels made of compressed rust trying to return to their natural state, is it now?
///
re: #33 nines09
Triumphs had Weber carbs. Total pain in the ass. Always needed adjustments. Had a friend who had one. Loved the ride, hated the maintenance.
And you always must buy 2 Jaguars so when one breaks down, you cam still get to work.
Land Rover has a horrible track record.Gotstagoes.
nite all
My 74 TR had Stromberg carbs. Yes balancing wa a constant pain. Often I thought I was kidding myself that I was doing anything
re: #34 Vicious Babushka
Threads is joining the Fediverse. I have threads.net blocked on Mastodon.
On Mastodon my read is only those I follow (e.g.VB), & their reposts.
re: #33 nines09
….
And you always must buy 2 Jaguars so when one breaks down, you cam still get to work.
Land Rover has a horrible track record.Gotstagoes.
nite all
Buy 2 jags *and* adopt a mechanic
re: #2 BlueSpotinAL ✅
Finally saw that movie [Die Hard] the whole way through for the first time. *Gasp!*
It should be available at this time of year — after all, isn’t it categorized as a Christmas movie?
re: #37 TedStriker
It’s not a proper old British car/truck/motorbike if there’s not oil leaks and electrical gremlins, is it now?
///
You’ve invoked the Lucas.
Alas we are now all ground faulted
re: #37 TedStriker
It’s not a proper old British car/truck/motorbike if there’s not oil leaks and electrical gremlins, is it now?
///
Lucas, the Prince of Darkness….
Why do the Brits drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators.
Twitter could be resuscitated if someone came on board and made a VERY public display of reversing the damage Elon has done, especially by banning Elon for antisemitism and hate speech. Then re-ban all the Nazis, scrap Twitter Blue, restore the algorithm to stop preferring bots over followers, hire a massive moderation team to start cracking down on hate and bullying, and then MAYBE it’d be worth going back to. Mastodon already has this, though. I never see Nazis there. I never see Elon there. Trump isn’t there. Alex Jones isn’t there. It’s fine.
By the way, this website is an example of how social media could work just fine. A large group of strangers, bound mostly by mutual respect and manners, managing to disagree and discuss extremely contentious topics without shouting (mostly)
It can be done.
If suddenly on Jan 1, a SM website appeared, called Twitter, with the same functionality and security measures of 10 yrs ago, would you join?
re: #44 Unabogie
Twitter could be resuscitated if someone came on board and made a VERY public display of reversing the damage Elon has done, especially by banning Elon for antisemitism and hate speech. Then re-ban all the Nazis, scrap Twitter Blue, restore the algorithm to stop preferring bots over followers, hire a massive moderation team to start cracking down on hate and bullying, and then MAYBE it’d be worth going back to. Mastodon already has this, though. I never see Nazis there. I never see Elon there. Trump isn’t there. Alex Jones isn’t there. It’s fine.
They’re absolutely no way it couldn’t be done without jettisoning the Musketeers that have survived his job cuts, in which case it’s going to be like starting completely over again. When you’re doing that, bypass the baggage and really start all over.
re: #25 Eclectic Cyborg
It would have to be completely rebranded and a new team of talented people brought in to rebuild what has been ruined.
Not impossible, but very time consuming and EXTREMELY expensive.
Someone would have to be willing to put up a lot dough to take a crack at it. And it would be risky as fuck.
The Bluesky people could take it over and restore it, including back to its original name.
re: #35 TedStriker
Well, Die Hard is a Christmas movie…
[Embedded content]
You can even get the t-shirt
Shudder. The reason John Bloor’s modern Triumph is a success is that the exorcism of Lucas was a success and the Prince of Darkness no longer walks the Earth…
(only a little joking. I once owned a ‘77 Bonneville that never worked right. )
I have found a small community on a Mastodon instance but I have been at LGF for 20 years and I want to stay here.
re: #44 Unabogie
Imagine the apocalyptic uproar from right wing media if somebody actually tried to do that.
Just imagining it made me smile. But I don’t think it will happen in this timeline.
re: #45 Unabogie
By the way, this website is an example of how social media could work just fine. A large group of strangers, bound mostly by mutual respect and manners, managing to disagree and discuss extremely contentious topics without shouting (mostly)
It can be done.
I’ve always thought so.
re: #47 TedStriker
They’re absolutely no way it couldn’t be done without jettisoning the Musketeers that have survived his job cuts, in which case it’s going to be like starting completely over again. When you’re doing that, bypass the baggage and really start all over.
Absolutely. That’s what I mean by public display. You can’t just say it’s “better now,” you need to have some high-profile hate accounts get the axe.
re: #48 Hecuba’s daughter
Possibly, but the company was losing money BEFORE Musk took over, so a new owner would not only have to restore it to how it was in September 2022, but improve upon it to reach a point of profitability.
And that’s a REALLY tall fucking order.
re: #51 jeffreyw
A plague on both in our house.
[Embedded content]
Yikes. Get that Paxlovid and take care.
re: #24 Dangerman
If they got it back on track I think it could recover. The name’s not really tainted. Everyone know whose fault it is.
I take Tylenol without a second thought
Johnson & Johnson didn’t sell the Tylenol brand to the poisoner.
re: #52 Vicious Babushka
I have found a small community on a Mastodon instance but I have been at LGF for 20 years and I want to stay here.
The real problem is that there is only so much time one can spend on these sites and the more that interest you, the less time you can devote to each one.
The real problem is that any social media network that wants to be a welcoming space is going to need to be pretty strict about getting rid of bad actors. And that directly conflicts with the need to be profitable, because there are a fuck of a lot of bad actors on the internet and they know how to game the system.
re: #20 Charles Johnson
If someone stepped in and offered to buy Twitter from Musk for cents on the dollar and he took it, is it too late now to “rescue” it as a dominant platform? Or is the brand too poisoned by Musk’s performative bigotry?
The main thing is he had terrible motivations for buying it so the only way he’d sell it is to someone even worse. But even if we assume he somehow gets tricked into selling it to a literal angel it’s a mortally wounded beast, because all of the good will has been incinerated. People want a platform to be stable and trustworthy and the illusion of that is just gone.
re: #60 Charles Johnson
THIS
LGF works because you have an extremely low tolerance for bullshit, scammers and assholes.
re: #62 Eclectic Cyborg
THIS
LGF works because you have an extremely low tolerance for bullshit, scammers and assholes.
Extremely.
re: #38 Dangerman
My 74 TR had Stromberg carbs. Yes balancing wa a constant pain. Often I thought I was kidding myself that I was doing anything
Did you use a Unisyn?
re: #50 William Lewis
Shudder. The reason John Bloor’s modern Triumph is a success is that the exorcism of Lucas was a success and the Prince of Darkness no longer walks the Earth…
(only a little joking. I once owned a ‘77 Bonneville that never worked right. )
The Lucas electrics in my Series III LandRover have been going bad since 1973.
Ain’t that a shame…
Florida GOP Meeting Leaves Ziegler With $1 Salary—and No Power
The committee passed multiple resolutions against Ziegler, effectively making him a lame-duck chair.
The executive board of the Republican Party of Florida voted to appoint a special committee to investigate its chairperson after a weeks-long saga involving accusations of sexual assault, polyamory, and the chair’s refusal to surrender his post.
The investigation into Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler was approved during an emergency executive board meeting. The special committee’s findings will be presented to the board at a meeting next month, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
During the meeting, which took place at Orlando’s Rosen Centre Hotel, Ziegler attempted to defend himself to the committee, according to Lee County GOP chairman Michael Thompson. His speech was followed by motions to reduce his salary to $1; strip him of his authority and powers; no longer approve expense reimbursements; and censure him, arguing Ziegler had lost the party’s confidence. All of the motions passed, and the chairperson’s powers were delegated to Vice Chair Evan Power and Treasurer Mike Moberley.
“Christian Ziegler has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office of Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and leader of the Florida GOP,” the censure motion read, according to a photo of the motion Thompson posted on X. The motion also said Ziegler “has not been forthright and honest with the members of the Republican Party of Florida.”
The decision came more than two weeks after a bombshell report by the Florida Center for Government Accountability that stated a woman filed a police report accusing Ziegler of sexual battery. The woman told police that she, Ziegler, and his wife—Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler—had engaged in threesomes before, but when timing did not work out for one in October, Ziegler forced his way into her home and raped her.
Ziegler told police he viewed the encounter as consensual and said through his attorney he expects to be “completely exonerated,” but the charges have rattled the state’s GOP. Scores of lawmakers on the state and federal level, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have called for Ziegler to step down, though he has refused such requests. Reports emerged last week that Ziegler demanded a payout from party leaders in exchange for his resignation, though he has also denied those claims.
re: #59 Hecuba’s daughter
The real problem is that there is only so much time one can spend on these sites and the more that interest you, the less time you can devote to each one.
I spend 0 time on Twitter, so there’s that.
Also I don’t know the fine details on his financing deal with the Saudis et al but I’m guessing they’d need to sign off on any sale and they won’t be accepting pennies on the dollar. They’d rather Twitter be dead and buried than outside their control and they don’t need the money. Musk has largely just been a useful idiot / human stalking horse for their real interest, which is making sure another Arab Spring never happens again.
Please, don’t tell me how difficult it is to moderate social media while Threads allows LibsOfTikTok to have an account.
That decision is not difficult at all. The correct action is obvious. The profit motive is what stands in the way.
re: #60 Charles Johnson
The real problem is that any social media network that wants to be a welcoming space is going to need to be pretty strict about getting rid of bad actors. And that directly conflicts with the need to be profitable, because there are a fuck of a lot of bad actors on the internet and they know how to game the system.
Would you want to make an LGF instance on Mastodon? I don’t see the point in it. I mean, we are all here?
re: #40 Dangerman
Buy 2 jags *and* adopt a mechanic
The 1960s Jags were pretty reliable.
After 1970 - 72, labor unrest created reliability problems, and Jag owners became known as gluttons [for punishment]. Still pretty cars tho, a common cure was to replace the straight six with a small block chevy V8.
re: #65 BeenHereAwhile
Did you use a Unisyn?
[Embedded content]
If someone needs one, I’ve still got the one I used on the SUs on the MG Midget.
re: #62 Eclectic Cyborg
THIS
LGF works because you have an extremely low tolerance for bullshit, scammers and assholes.
Though it is far more difficult to manage a site with 100+ million users, especially if many don’t use English, than a site with a few thousand users communicating in one language. It’s not the same process at all.
Facebook has 3 billion users. It once told me a post of mine was unacceptable — that only I would be able to see it — and all the post had was a link to a math variant of wordle. Algorithms running rampant because you cannot have enough individuals employed to look at all posts— and really, when a post is circulated only to friends, how many strangers do you want to view it?
re: #72 Vicious Babushka
Would you want to make an LGF instance on Mastodon? I don’t see the point in it. I mean, we are all here?
I looked into it, but hosting an active Mastodon instance can get really expensive. ActivityPub was not really designed with scaling in mind, Mastodon even less so.
re: #70 goddamnedfrank
Also I don’t know the fine details on his financing deal with the Saudis et al but I’m guessing they’d need to sign off on any sale and they won’t be accepting pennies on the dollar. They’d rather Twitter be dead and buried than outside their control and they don’t need the money. Musk has largely just been a useful idiot / human stalking horse for their real interest, which is making sure another Arab Spring never happens again.
THIS!!!!!
re: #77 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Black musicians, white audience - classic 1950’s.
What I like about that recording is that there is a full band, with upright bass and woodwinds.
So much pop music was reduced to minimalism, just a guitar or two.
Contemporary pop includes so much processing that I can’t connect with it.
re: #70 goddamnedfrank
Also I don’t know the fine details on his financing deal with the Saudis et al but I’m guessing they’d need to sign off on any sale and they won’t be accepting pennies on the dollar. They’d rather Twitter be dead and buried than outside their control and they don’t need the money. Musk has largely just been a useful idiot / human stalking horse for their real interest, which is making sure another Arab Spring never happens again.
Musk may have to pay an arm and a leg.
re: #70 goddamnedfrank
Also I don’t know the fine details on his financing deal with the Saudis et al but I’m guessing they’d need to sign off on any sale and they won’t be accepting pennies on the dollar. They’d rather Twitter be dead and buried than outside their control and they don’t need the money. Musk has largely just been a useful idiot / human stalking horse for their real interest, which is making sure another Arab Spring never happens again.
The Saudis really used a bone saw on Twitter.
Now I am not a car person, but my brother and I were talking about muscle cars when I mentioned that the Camaro (not a muscle car) was going out of production. My brother got on to talking about his TransAm (he still misses the TransAm). Then he cast back to the 1970s and one of our neighbors (not a teenager, an adult) who had a Pontiac GTO with the tachometer on the hood. I just remember the thing being noisy. You knew when that guy was getting home from work.
re: #16 darthstar
Ban the pill.
That’s ultimately what they’re after, since they consider birth control pills to be abortion.
My GOD, we are getting really close to my nightmare of people having to go to drug dealers to get birth control pills. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
re: #83 mmmirele
That’s ultimately what they’re after, since they consider birth control pills to be abortion.
My GOD, we are getting really close to my nightmare of people having to go to drug dealers to get birth control pills. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Mistletoe Tea, anyone?
re: #77 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
[Embedded content]
..
Domino at his best.
Mid 60s. Fats and his band played at Pittsburgh’s Holiday House and they did a live set on TV. I remember it went for a full 30 minutes with no commercials.
re: #83 mmmirele
That’s ultimately what they’re after, since they consider birth control pills to be abortion.
My GOD, we are getting really close to my nightmare of people having to go to drug dealers to get birth control pills. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
and I got a feeling LA Gangs would love to get in on that business since legal weed took a big money stream from them.
re: #82 mmmirele
Now I am not a car person,
Same here. The US obsession with ultra-powerful cars used 99% of the time for commuting and shopping trips reminds me of an old Ron Cobb cartoon — the billboard shows the FireStorm Mach 8 sportscar ripping up the road with the strapline “Are you man enough for it?”. Underneath the billboard is a traffic jam with a FireStorm Mach 8 driven by a housewife with a bag of groceries in the passenger seat, doing two miles an hour on average.
Got our passport photos taken today as we need to renew. Wore my new tie dye and snuck in a little smile.
re: #86 Joe Bacon ✅
and I got a feeling LA Gangs would love to get in on that business since legal weed took a big money stream from them.
Of course, anyone with money would avoid such sources because you couldn’t count on the quality of the medication.
re: #89 Hecuba’s daughter
It will be more of a cottage industry with people picking up RU-486 in Mexico and Canada for people they know.
re: #89 Hecuba’s daughter
Of course, anyone with money would avoid such sources because you couldn’t count on the quality of the medication.
Wish that was so but I’ve lost count of the number of disability cases I’ve handled from athletes who are stupid enough to get steroids from shady sources…
These are the nutjobs we’re up against. This was an assassination attempt, plain and simple.
re: #68 Joe Bacon ✅
O_O
So there is a lower limit to what the GQP will tolerate. Would it be different if Trump or DeSantis got caught doing the same?
Yeah, rhetorical question.
re: #92 Nerdy Fish
I hope they’ve quadruple checked the backgrounds of the SS agents guarding Biden.
I fear one of them letting a nut get away with it.
National polls still show Trump running away with the GOP nomination. His numbers are going up, the others are going down.
Come Super Tuesday, the fat lady will sing.
If there is any justice in this world, Trump will be convicted before the GOP convention.
re: #92 Nerdy Fish
These are the nutjobs we’re up against. This was an assassination attempt, plain and simple.
[Embedded content]
What do we know about the driver?
re: #97 darthstar
What do we know about the driver?
Admittedly, I’m speculating. I assume it just happened, so there’s probably not a lot of information.
re: #96 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
If there is any justice in this world, Trump will be convicted before the GOP convention.
This is what I want to see. A GOP convention in mid July where they have to pick a new candidate and deal with the outrage of his base.
re: #100 darthstar
This is what I want to see. A GOP convention in mid July where they have to pick a new candidate and deal with the outrage of his base.
Pick a new candidate? Are you kidding? Him being convicted will only strengthen him with these braindead fucks.
re: #101 Ace Rothstein
Pick a new candidate? Are you kidding? Him being convicted will only strengthen him with these braindead fucks.
That’s another good reason to throw Trump in prison if he’s convicted. Republicans won’t care, of course, but a fraction of the mushy middle won’t vote for a literal jailbird.
re: #92 Nerdy Fish
A sedan hit a U.S. Secret Service vehicle that was being used to close off intersections near the headquarters for the president’s departure. The sedan then tried to continue into a closed-off intersection, before Secret Service personnel surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn and instructed the driver to put his hands up.
JFC.
Relatedly https://t.co/vQgjEwKeJa https://t.co/7bgrOWt0XM pic.twitter.com/fUkWuAKEYV
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 18, 2023
For a lawyer
If a lawsuit you file gets dismissed, that’s embarrassing
Being sanctioned is humiliating
And being ordered to pay $1 million is unfathomable
Yet here is Alina Habba
BRAGGING about the unquestionably worst moment of her legal career https://t.co/8JL3FXA4hN— Adam Cohen Lawyers for Good Government #DemCast (@axidentaliberal) December 18, 2023
Kari Lake tonight says she accomplished a lot over the past year because she proved to the whole world that her election was stolen even though she lost every court case. pic.twitter.com/L3Yw45pT7d
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 18, 2023
re: #33 nines09
Triumphs had Weber carbs. Total pain in the ass. Always needed adjustments. Had a friend who had one. Loved the ride, hated the maintenance.
And you always must buy 2 Jaguars so when one breaks down, you cam still get to work.
Land Rover has a horrible track record.Gotstagoes.
nite all
The biggest problem with English cars was the dependence on the Lucas Electric grounding strap system.
It was disastrous.
Here’s a lovely essay:
re: #68 Joe Bacon ✅
Ain’t that a shame…
Florida GOP Meeting Leaves Ziegler With $1 Salary—and No Power
The committee passed multiple resolutions against Ziegler, effectively making him a lame-duck chair.
The executive board of the Republican Party of Florida voted to appoint a special committee to investigate its chairperson after a weeks-long saga involving accusations of sexual assault, polyamory, and the chair’s refusal to surrender his post.
The investigation into Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler was approved during an emergency executive board meeting. The special committee’s findings will be presented to the board at a meeting next month, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
During the meeting, which took place at Orlando’s Rosen Centre Hotel, Ziegler attempted to defend himself to the committee, according to Lee County GOP chairman Michael Thompson. His speech was followed by motions to reduce his salary to $1; strip him of his authority and powers; no longer approve expense reimbursements; and censure him, arguing Ziegler had lost the party’s confidence. All of the motions passed, and the chairperson’s powers were delegated to Vice Chair Evan Power and Treasurer Mike Moberley.
“Christian Ziegler has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office of Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and leader of the Florida GOP,” the censure motion read, according to a photo of the motion Thompson posted on X. The motion also said Ziegler “has not been forthright and honest with the members of the Republican Party of Florida.”
The decision came more than two weeks after a bombshell report by the Florida Center for Government Accountability that stated a woman filed a police report accusing Ziegler of sexual battery. The woman told police that she, Ziegler, and his wife—Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler—had engaged in threesomes before, but when timing did not work out for one in October, Ziegler forced his way into her home and raped her.
Ziegler told police he viewed the encounter as consensual and said through his attorney he expects to be “completely exonerated,” but the charges have rattled the state’s GOP. Scores of lawmakers on the state and federal level, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have called for Ziegler to step down, though he has refused such requests. Reports emerged last week that Ziegler demanded a payout from party leaders in exchange for his resignation, though he has also denied those claims.
Dude ain’t getting jack shit.
re: #93 Romantic Heretic
O_O
So there is a lower limit to what the GQP will tolerate. Would it be different if Trump or DeSantis got caught doing the same?
Yeah, rhetorical question.
Trump would escape. But DeSantis? Not sure about that. He doesn’t inspire the same cult devotion.
re: #111 Hecuba’s daughter
Trump would escape. But DeSantis? Not sure about that. He doesn’t inspire the same cult devotion.
There is no lower limit. That’s a bullshit statement.
re: #98 Nerdy Fish
Admittedly, I’m speculating. I assume it just happened, so there’s probably not a lot of information.
Knowing how people drive — it’s also possible it was just a distracted driver, arguing on the cellphone or otherwise not paying attention.
On Tuesday I’m showing up to the bottom of Gondola One in Vail to ski with children on the telemark ski team at Vail Mountain School, a private school that works closely with the Vail Ski & Snowboard Club, which produces some of the best skiers in the world. I would know, I was a member my junior and senior year in high school.
I’m nervous as fuck.
I’ve crafted *the first question* I’m going to ask the athletes. All your friends are alpine skiing or snowboarding, what made you free your heel?
My father was a coach for decades. I wish I had his help now but my life dictates that I’m on my own with this endeavor.
re: #114 teleskiguy
Your dad is still with you, man.
Maybe not in the way you want, but I promise you he’s still there.
re: #104 Joe Bacon ✅
All of them, Alice.
re: #114 teleskiguy
MmJDWHhROW10ZDdyOG5NbzZyU2dNUTJWWHRBNktFalhBYTBUdHMvZmdLR0ozOUNabGk1NUlERUZ3RlEvdXlWNWQwV0tVYTM3NElwdmRXOFl6Mm1GUEQxSDFxS2tsQlcvdGYxcmJOaHl1RTFsY1VMVHRXMEt0R2k0Zmd5SVZTVm0xUGNTR2ZXU3FWcStBTVFaTW5nL1dBNmwxK3R1Ull1UHIxWjJ0YXE1bVBSQncxeEtOMC8zYVJQVU90eDN3TVl1MGxFTWhpdWYzTEpuSjhYSkM1aFh1WmdjOU5XVVZtenZFMEovVTdCS1BZND06On/sdxqhlHULRTf6EPUAlDw=
re: #114 teleskiguy
On Tuesday I’m showing up to the bottom of Gondola One in Vail to ski with children on the telemark ski team at Vail Mountain School, a private school that works closely with the Vail Ski & Snowboard Club, which produces some of the best skiers in the world. I would know, I was a member my junior and senior year in high school.
I’m nervous as fuck.
I’ve crafted *the first question* I’m going to ask the athletes. All your friends are alpine skiing or snowboarding, what made you free your heel?
My father was a coach for decades. I wish I had his help now but my life dictates that I’m on my own with this endeavor.
You teach what you know by being who you are. You’ll see it.
Best GIF I could find of the skiing that I do.
re: #113 Hecuba’s daughter
Knowing how people drive — it’s also possible it was just a distracted driver, arguing on the cellphone or otherwise not paying attention.
It was Trump.
/not. But it would explain the Secret Service not saying anything yet…
Your next Wordle has “par” written all over it.
Wordle 912 4/6
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SibData: 4,4,4,4,4
And just three yellows between the five of us.
Oh my God. A student just called out a Moms for Liberty founder and school board member after it was revealed she had a threesome while slandering LGBTQ people for “sexual immorality.” pic.twitter.com/VWsgvYLDuG
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) December 17, 2023
So rudy cant discharge the verdict in bankruptcy
‘intentional tort,’ meaning he knew what he was doing
If he dies, they could still collect from his estate. Outstanding!!
And theres another Civil case or two going on still right?
plus georgia
This verdict bodes bad for all of them.
No one’s buying the bullshit
So I’m not saying it’s wet in Virginia Beach this evening, I’m saying Noah pulled the Ark up to my window and asked if I needed a ride.
re: #93 Romantic Heretic
Blood in the water. They have the same lower ethical and moral limits as piranha.
re: #105 Vicious Babushka
[Embedded content]
As we’ve already seen in several instances, the next step is broadening the definition of “abortion” to include any behavior that a doctor will sit on the stand and say was a “willful” attempt to terminate a pregnancy. As with all such moves, they’ll start small and go after those who are seen as “immoral” such as persons suffering through addictions or ones that engaged in “risky” behavior. But eventually every woman who suffers a miscarriage will find herself immediately under suspicion and possibly subject to prosecution if the state thinks they can make a case that what happened was an “abortion.”
Willie Nelson’s 90th b-day celebration’s on CBS right now. Billy Strings opened. Nora Jones is doing Seven Spanish Angels now. Tune in and enjoy.
re: #129 darthstar
Willie Nelson’s 90th b-day celebration’s on CBS right now. Billy Strings opened. Nora Jones is doing Seven Spanish Angels now. Tune in and enjoy.
re: #130 Targetpractice
Keith and Willie are going to play together…looking forward to that.
re: #135 Hecuba’s daughter
If that was an innocent accident, there is a driver who won’t stop shaking for ten days.
re: #135 Hecuba’s daughter
Per CNN — it was an accident. cnn.com
Apparently it had been raining heavily so maybe that was a contributing factor.
Yeah, I’ve seen so many videos on YT of arrests involving drivers trying to flee after causing an accident that I’m willing to believe it. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were crammed into cuffs while screaming “THEY PULLED OUT IN FRONT OF ME!”
re: #133 wrenchwench
This wasn’t funny when I first saw it this morning. Now it’s funny.
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It’s been a long day.
That’s funny
re: #140 goddamnedfrank
ROFL
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The flip-side to AI is the same as any other computer program: It’s only as good as the people who programmed it.
re: #143 Targetpractice
The flip-side to AI is the same as any other computer program: It’s only as good as the people who programmed it.
Apple has an interesting AI that just seems to work.
Today I learned my iPhone has this cool AI feature that proves its smarts.
Want to experiment with this feature for yourself? Follow the steps below:
Open the Magnifier app (I found it hiding in my “Utilities” folder alongside Calculator and Voice Memos).
Tap on the “brackets” icon.
Tap on the text bubble icon.
Point your iPhone at any object and watch it recognize almost everything with impressive accuracy
I tried this and it was pretty fun. It is really fast and pretty accurate. The phone will start heating up a bit if you use this a lot. It could tell the difference between a real person and those on a TV.
Of course, Apple calls it Machine Learning.
An article about one of the women in the lawsuit against Texas: abcnews.go.com
She had to go into sepsis before they would perform the procedure; however, another article states that she doesn’t want to overturn the law— just to clarify the process so that doctors won’t wait until the woman’s life is in danger before performing the procedure. There was a reddit discussion that provides more details about her situation:
Comment 1:
It’s interesting to me that this outlet would ignore the statements she and her husband made about the abortion law.
She said she’s not wanting to overrun the law and her husband couched his position as being sad that they viewed their case as one of “those kinds of abortions”.
Her declaration: “We’re not trying to overturn the law,” she says.
Husband’s remark: “It made me angry,” Stephen said. “It’s like how are you not able to help? And then to be thrown in this category of abortion that’s not close to what we ever wanted.”
Comment 2:
Yes. It’s abhorrent that is is happening to her, and it should never, ever happen to anyone, but based on some of their comments, it seems a bit like a leopard eating face moment.
Comment 3:
And even after they need it, it’s still not the same to them. The brainwashed cretins pushing this forced birth nonsense, along with the useful idiots who believe it (see: this couple), will never grasp the simple fact that trying to make specific exemptions or carve-outs for abortion is next to impossible because literally any criteria will leave people who require necessary care to be roadblocked because their case doesn’t quite fit right.
Of course, this is the religious right’s goal. Appear to be decent humans by crafting “exemptions” but leave cracks and then simply use ambiguity or lack of comprehensive accuracy to make those cracks as wide as possible.
They think their situation is different — it’s only when they are affected that they care and they care only about their particular circumstances. They aren’t the terrible people who think women should have choice; they are the “innocent” people who need the procedure (which they don’t want to characterize as an abortion) to save their lives or their health.
re: #146 Targetpractice
It’s been a quiet (if wet) night, no issues with guests, no work left for me other than a few dishes to wash up, surely the rest of the night will go smoo…
Roach:
[Embedded content]
*sigh*
Yeah, quiet night here too. I got here, guy before me complaining it was a dead night, nothing to do. Of course, the garbage wasn’t emptied, the pool towels weren’t stocked & the dirty ones are overflowing their bin & the meeting room is a mess that he didn’t bother to break down. But nothing to do… < spit >
re: #145 Hecuba’s daughter
Look at that. Another rerun of “the only moral abortion is my abortion”.
re: #143 Targetpractice
The flip-side to AI is the same as any other computer program: It’s only as good as the people who programmed it.
In the case of AI, it’s only as good as the training data, and in the case of large language models, it’s also a case of the instructions you give it and the guard rails around it. This is pretty funny, but it could have been prevented with a system message telling the language model to only recommend chevy cars.
Can you label all the states?
I think very few people will be able to finish this. I know I had a very hard time.
I forgot some of them like Central North Dakota and South North Carolina.
re: #145 Hecuba’s daughter
An article about one of the women in the lawsuit against Texas: abcnews.go.com
She had to go into sepsis before they would perform the procedure; however, another article states that she doesn’t want to overturn the law— just to clarify the process so that doctors won’t wait until the woman’s life is in danger before performing the procedure. There was a reddit discussion that provides more details about her situation:
Comment 1:
Comment 2:
Comment 3:
They think their situation is different — it’s only when they are affected that they care and they care only about their particular circumstances. They aren’t the terrible people who think women should have choice; they are the “innocent” people who need the procedure (which they don’t want to characterize as an abortion) to save their lives or their health.
The vagaries are the point because the laws are written by the sort of men who would seriously question a doctor about whether an ectopic pregnancy can be “reimplanted” in the uterine wall or think that a pregnant corpse should be kept on life support because there was a case one time in another state/country that led to a live birth. The kind that wave around long-debunked “studies” about abortions leading to depression or cancer and bring in paid “witnesses” to read from scripts about how they had an abortion at 16 and have spent years living with guilt. This truly is a “leopard eating face moment,” the people who voted for a ban because “those people” deserved to be punished for their “immoral” behavior now wondering why they’re being punished for not reading the fine print.
re: #149 JC1
In the case of AI, it’s only as good as the training data, and in the case of large language models, it’s also a case of the instructions you give it and the guard rails around it. This is pretty funny, but it could have been prevented with a system message telling the language model to only recommend chevy cars.
In this case, the concept of operations of these chat AI systems is not what people generally think it is. The system is designed to provide an answer that approximates the answers delivered by humans to specific queries. It does not necessarily have a model for how the world operates, or any weighting to the truth of its answer based on a world model. People think it does.
This, in system engineering terms, is the difference between verification (the system does what you asked for) and validation (the system does what you want or think).
A lot of the actual valuable use of AI in research is giving the system a very specific set of rules (such as how proteins fold) and a specific set of success criteria (the protein folds in a certain useful way) and letting it analyze a huge problem space far faster and more completely that people can, without people’s explicit or implicit biases.
re: #150 silverdolphin
Can tag all 50 - but I’ve done way too many electoral college simulations in my life.
Got the par. But had quite a few possibilities going through my head after guess 3.
Hopefully setting up for a fun week at the office with lots of holiday activities. Today, my department does its outing and lunch. And on Tuesday, I will once again appear as the Grinch to host our holiday-themed Jeopardy tournament. Wednesday is the cornhole competition, followed by our lunch and Dirty Santa on Thursday. All the best to everyone!
Wordle 912 4/6*
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re: #22 nines09
They never mentioned “burying the speedometer”?
Like your speedo goes to 120 but it’s past that and down into the bottom where you can’t see it?
I bet they did that.
“Well, past, uh, 100……maybe 135?”
When the speedometer needle starts going Tick!Tick!Tick! from bouncing off the end peg at 120 then it’s time to pull out the stop watch and watch for mileposts to calculate your speed.
Then you have to do the math;. e.g. a 27 second mile = ~ 133 mph.
re: #45 Unabogie
By the way, this website is an example of how social media could work just fine. A large group of strangers, bound mostly by mutual respect and manners, managing to disagree and discuss extremely contentious topics without shouting (mostly)
It can be done.
This website is an example of what happens when people who are competent get together with other competent people. A certain general level of trust that your peers aren’t fucking morons goes a long way.
ZOMG! Black people dancing in the whitehouse! RW Freakout…
Here’s the what:
re: #157 steve_davis
Prerzactly. And the ban hammer, don’t forget we have a Stinky who is willing to use the ban game.
Had the right concept at the second line, just failed to execute it well.
Wordle 912 5/6
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re: #2 BlueSpotinAL ✅
Finally saw that movie [Die Hard] the whole way through for the first time. *Gasp!*
Also have not seen it yet.
A new bill headed to the New York State Assembly would require restaurants to open seven days a week at rest stop locations along the thruway. It specifically mentions Chick-Fil-A, which is closed on Sundays according to corporate policy.
re: #98 Nerdy Fish
Admittedly, I’m speculating. I assume it just happened, so there’s probably not a lot of information.
But it would be irresponsible not to speculate that it was a BLM/Antifa false flag
re: #167 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
But it would be irresponsible not to speculate that it was a BLM/Antifa false flag
Of course, as it turns out, it seems my initial supposition was incorrect. However, unlike the chuds to whom you are alluding, I, at least, have the courage and grace to eat my crow and admit I was wrong.
For car enthusiasts, the recent sightings of Tesla’s Cybertruck vehicle across National Forest Lands in California is exciting. However, with the increasing number of incidents involving the immediately recognizable vehicle, Forest Managers are eager for the opportunity to partner with Tesla Motor Corporation on an education campaign regarding off-road vehicle use on public lands.“We are always thrilled when new opportunities to explore our public lands become available,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken. “But feel there may be work to be done in educating users about our Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUM).”
Kuiken was responding to a recent incident on the Stanislaus National Forest involving a Tesla Cybertruck that apparently lost traction and slid down an embankment on a well-known Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) area on the Forest’s Calaveras Ranger District while harvesting a Christmas tree in an moment that has since gone viral on social media.
re: #2 BlueSpotinAL ✅
Finally saw that movie [Die Hard] the whole way through for the first time. *Gasp!*
I watch it every year. I don’t bother with any of the sequels, but the original? Now that’s just plain fun 😎
Someone tell the GOP that walls do not work.
“The entryway to the tunnel is just a few hundred meters from the heavily fortified Erez crossing and a nearby Israeli military base.
The military said that it stretches for more than four kilometers (2½ miles), links up with a sprawling tunnel network across Gaza and is wide enough for cars to pass through. The army said Sunday that the tunnel facilitated the transit of vehicles, militants and supplies in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack.”
“That day, militants used a rocket-propelled grenade to break past the portion of wall close to the Erez crossing and stormed the base, killing at least three soldiers and kidnapping some back to Gaza, the army said. It was one of several places along the border wall where militants easily blew past Israel’s security defenses, entered Israeli territory and killed around 1,200 people and took about 240 others hostage.”
re: #166 Shropshire Slasher
No way this SCOTUS will uphold that law.
A 28-year-old driver was busted last week after border officers in Southern California discovered over $10 million worth of narcotics hidden inside a shipment of jalapeño paste, authorities said.Border officers at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility encountered the driver hauling vats of jalapeño paste in a commercial tractor-trailer just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.
re: #45 Unabogie
By the way, this website is an example of how social media could work just fine. A large group of strangers, bound mostly by mutual respect and manners, managing to disagree and discuss extremely contentious topics without shouting (mostly)
It can be done.
re: #157 steve_davis
This website is an example of what happens when people who are competent get together with other competent people. A certain general level of trust that your peers aren’t fucking morons goes a long way.
sure, it’s all beer and skittles until someone mentions ‘pineapple’
seriously, though. +1 to both
Did Thomas’s pleas kick off a billionaire go fund me for the Supreme Court Justice?
propublica.org
re: #135 Hecuba’s daughter
Per CNN — it was an accident. cnn.com
Apparently it had been raining heavily so maybe that was a contributing factor.
I was in an accident where a truck hit a bunch of cars (about 12 involved vehicles, mine was hit by the resulting chain reaction). The truck drove about 3 blocks farther at around the same speed (maybe 30 mph) and hit some more cars creating a new chain reaction.
It was a rental truck (think UHaul) and the guy driving it had some kind of medical incident. Cops were taking witness statements and accident reports for hours. My car had very limited damage (unlike the ones that got hit directly, those were severely damaged) and I got $1300.00.
At first everyone was really pissed. Once we discovered the man had a heart attack or seizure or something like that and, what’s it called, momentum (?) took over, we all felt bad for him.
Everyone remained pissed that we had to spend hours waiting for and talking to the police.
re: #178 Yeah Sure WhatEVs
I had the exact inverse scenario occur. The man driving the truck that caused the chain reaction (4 vehicles involved total - it was a rural state highway during a relatively low-traffic period) got a citation because he admitted he was adjusting his radio and wasn’t paying sufficient attention to see the line of vehicles stopped waiting for the family at the front to turn left across traffic.
re: #180 darthstar
Same here.
weather.gov
Thank you Kim Jong Un…there’s a good reason he has a huge arsenal pointed at the DMZ but never uses it…
re: #182 darthstar
Thank you Kim Jong Un…there’s a good reason he has a huge arsenal pointed at the DMZ but never uses it…
PutinUn
re: #21 Charles Johnson
I tend toward the latter view.
Brands can be resuscitated. There are those who think there’s still goodwill in the name, including maintaining its presence in countless website social media linking APIs. Sure, they’re still using the birdie, and not the idiotic X. Other brands have gone away and are later resuscitated, because there was someone who thought there to be value in the name/brand/copyright/IP.
Twitter would be no different IMO. Restore sanity to the platform and enable news outfits to deliver timely information while blocking the fucking Nazis and conspiracy theorists from running roughshod over the site, and you might get a renewed influx of people to the platform.
re: #180 darthstar
Oh, but the other coast is toast - flooding rains and high winds causing power outages, road closures, and very damp basements in the NYC metro area.
re: #186 lawhawk
Yes. I know.
weather.gov
Unfu… nope. Totally fucking believable.
NYT - Hostage deaths are fueling Israelis’ doubts about Bibi. Way to catch up on the fucking news since he took fucking office.
Israelis have had all kinds of doubts about Bibi and his intentions ever since he was able to return to power because the left was fractured and Bibi cobbled together a coalition government with the worst of the worst right wingers and fascists in Israeli politics. It’s only gotten worse since he got back into power, with his intent to neuter the judiciary and that fractured the Israeli military’s force cohesion, which led to Hamas taking advantage of the situation on 10/7. In fact, Bibi’s intent on empowering the settlers in the West Bank while ignoring Gaza only made it worse, and he’s still making it worse.
Bibi should be gone and jailed pending trial on any number of crimes against both Israeli law and international law. His top advisers too. The unity government is giving him way too much cover in all this when most of the failures are directly attributable to Bibi and his cadre of extremists.
re: #186 lawhawk
Oh, but the other coast is toast - flooding rains and high winds causing power outages, road closures, and very damp basements in the NYC metro area.
This is our first pineapple express this year. If it locks in like this over the next month, we could see the seasonal flood waters we had last year. I do worry about that now.
re: #186 lawhawk
Oh, but the other coast is toast - flooding rains and high winds causing power outages, road closures, and very damp basements in the NYC metro area.
We’re under an areal flood watch here, I live at the top of a hill, but the local creek is a ‘torrent. And it will get worse as the Potomac river continues to dump water from western Maryland.
re: #122 Grunthos the Flatulent 🇳🇿
Your next Wordle has “par” written all over it.
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Not me, took me to 5/6
Wordle 912 5/6
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Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X :
⚠️ Suspected breach of obligations to counter #IllegalContent and #Disinformation
⚠️ Suspected breach of #Transparency obligations
⚠️ Suspected #DeceptiveDesign of user interface#DSA pic.twitter.com/NxKIif603k— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) December 18, 2023
The elongated stans are out in force in the thread, reader discretion is strongly advised…
re: #192 Colère Tueur de Lapin ✅
The Mrs had all kinds of detours and road closures trying to get the li’l man to day care. We’ve got lots of branches down and the Passaic River is gonna be on a rip roaring rampage over the next few days.
re: #195 lawhawk
And that will flow down to the Greater Philadelphia Area. :(
re: #194 Teukka
[Embedded content]
The elongated stans are out in force in the thread, reader discretion is strongly advised…
I will comment that I am not a big fan of the EU’s anti-speech laws. While the US First Amendment has its share of problems - dealing with things like Holocaust denial being one of them - it also avoids the problem of the majority being able to stomp all over speech they don’t like just by labeling it the right way. See, for example, Republican attempts to use “freeze peach” to slam anti-gay, anti-trans legislation down our throats.
re: #199 lawhawk
Yes. If the air temps and ocean water temps were lower Philly would have been snowed in.
I guess they didn’t listen… https://t.co/bKRXMqpzQC pic.twitter.com/65xu3FKCd7
— TRAFON(s Backup Account) (@RiseFallNickBck) December 17, 2023
re: #197 Nerdy Fish
I will comment that I am not a big fan of the EU’s anti-speech laws. While the US First Amendment has its share of problems - dealing with things like Holocaust denial being one of them - it also avoids the problem of the majority being able to stomp all over speech they don’t like just by labeling it the right way. See, for example, Republican attempts to use “freeze peach” to slam anti-gay, anti-trans legislation down our throats.
That “illegal content” thing likely refers to CSAM, which would be illegal in the US as well. As to disinformation, I think that it formally goes under the EU constitution equivalents of articles 29 subsection 2 and article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…
Meet one Ben Swann, Pizzagate promoter who funnels Russian propaganda into the US.
When Ben Swann delivers a news report, he looks and sounds like any other TV anchor: conventionally attractive, slick hair, clad in an unremarkable but well-tailored suit.
But unlike thousands of TV reporters around the country, Swann is a registered Russian agent. While taking millions of dollars to produce branded content for Russian state broadcaster RT over the past year, Swann has sought to build a media platform that aims to serve as a means of broadcasting January 6 conspiracy theories, RFK Jr., Alex Jones, RT’s stable of hosts, and the producers of Plandemic.
The network hosts programming from influential faded stars like former CBS reporter Lara Logan and ex-CNN anchor Rick Sanchez. Logan is currently publishing a multi-part docuseries attempting to rewrite the history of January 6, casting it as a “fed-surrection” and featuring gauzy interviews with GatewayPundit founder Jim Hoft to rehash the Ray Epps conspiracy theory. Swann is touting an upcoming series on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — set to come out next year.
Swann’s project is one of many right-wing efforts to supplant YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and the mainstream media with a network insulated from attempts to verify that the content has a basis in reality. But unlike the others, Swann has informed the Department of Justice that he is taking millions of dollars from the Russian government.
One of Swann’s companies, Rebel Media Productions, told the DOJ in a FARA filing last year that it is working on behalf of a Russian state-backed entity, while two other media firms which Swann controls are listed as doing business at a Florida address located in a strip mall alongside an RV repair shop and a storefront offering businesses tools to help them with “swag management.” One source familiar told TPM that Swann has built a TV studio at the South Florida address to produce content for his network.
Per the FARA disclosures, Swann took in $4.5 million from a Russian government-backed firm between March 2023 and August 2023 alone to produce content for shows branded for RT. Per the FARA filings, the shows are not targeted at American audiences, but rather at countries across the global south. They will, the filings state, address topics like “the United States and NATO continuing to spread war around the world,” “the economic warfare waged by the United States and its allies” and “transgender issues in the United States.”
First thing I noticed in that still picture for the DigiAI announcement video was the obvious - the sweater unbuttoned to show cleavage. The second is that the button and button hole placements don’t make sense. AI fail.
If you were to request “Talk dirty to me” it would probably respond “Do your laundry”
re: #196 PhillyPretzel ✅
And that will flow down to the Greater Philadelphia Area. :(
Again disproving that states are independent of each other. If it’s not clear, I’m referring to environmental laws.
re: #206 Colère Tueur de Lapin ✅
Again disproving that states are independent of each other. If it’s not clear, I’m referring to environmental laws.
Everyone is downstream from someone.
The Talking Asshole praises Al Capone…
Trump Moans He’s Been Indicted More Than the ‘Great’ Al Capone
Donald Trump on Sunday compared his legal troubles to those of “the great” Al Capone, complaining that he’s been indicted more times than the notorious mobster. “Did anybody ever hear of the great Alphonse Capone, Al Capone? Great, great head of the mafia,” Trump said at a rally in Reno, Nevada. “Scarface. He got a scar that went from here to here,” the former president said, pointing at his temple and chin. “I heard he was indicted once—a couple of people told me a few times more—but I was indicted four times,” Trump went on. “If he had dinner with you and he didn’t like the way you smiled at him at dinner he would kill you, you’d be dead by the time you walked out of the nice restaurant.” To cheers, Trump added: “He got indicted once—I got indicted four times over bullshit, I gotta tell you. Bullshit.”
re: #194 Teukka, #197 Nerdy Fish, #202 Teukka:
France24 did a decent TL;DR…
EU launches ‘illegal content’ probe into Elon Musk’s X
Brussels (AFP) - The EU announced “formal infringement proceedings” against Elon Musk’s X platform on Monday, under a law cracking down on illegal online content, after identifying disinformation related to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel.
The action against the company formerly known as Twitter is the first against a major online platform since Brussels implemented the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping piece of European Union legislation that strengthens online companies’ responsibility for content moderation.
“Today’s opening of formal proceedings against X makes it clear that, with the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ has come to an end,” said the bloc’s digital enforcer, EU commissioner Thierry Breton.
“We will now start an in-depth investigation of X’s compliance with the DSA obligations concerning countering the dissemination and amplification of illegal content and disinformation in the EU, transparency of the platforms and design of the user interface.”
The European Commission said a preliminary information-gathering investigation it launched against X in October, which included looking at “the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel”, led to Monday’s probe.
On the basis of that information, “the Commission has decided to open formal infringement proceedings against X under the Digital Services Act”, it said.
The formal probe will examine four areas: the dissemination of illegal content; the effectiveness of X’s efforts to combat disinformation; suspected restrictions on giving researchers access to its data; and suspected deceptive practices — known as “dark patterns” — related to its Blue Tick subscription product.
In the event of proven infringements, the DSA carries penalties that can include fines going up to six percent of an online company’s global revenues.
Disinformation
For serious and repeated violations, the EU can ban a platform operating in the 27-nation bloc.
The commission said that, under the formal probe against X, it would now “continue to gather evidence, for example by sending additional requests for information, conducting interviews or inspections”.
It noted that the proceedings gave it powers to order X to undertake interim or remedial steps, pending the conclusion of the probe.
There is no deadline for the proceedings to wrap up.
Weeks after starting its initial information-gathering exercise against X, the commission also launched preliminary investigations along the same lines against TikTok, YouTube and Facebook owner Meta.
Musk gutted X’s content moderation staff and endorsed a tweet espousing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory
Those investigations also looked at how the platforms handled disinformation and illegal content related to the Hamas attack.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and took an estimated 240 people hostage, according to updated Israeli figures.
Israel retaliated with an intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.
More than 18,800 Palestinians — around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents — have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments since October 7, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry, and much of the besieged territory has been reduced to rubble.
Extremists and conspiracy theorists
Brussels back in September raised concerns over X’s disinfo-fighting capacities after noting its bad score in that regard in a pilot study of several platforms.
Since buying Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, Musk has gutted its content moderation staff, and reinstated accounts of banned extremists and conspiracy theorists.
He has got rid of the platform’s system for verifying high-profile users, replacing it with a subscription blue tick offer open to any willing to pay.
Musk rebranded the company X, with ambitions of turning it into a multi-service platform to include identity verification and payment transactions in the mould of China’s WeChat.
Last month, he grossly insulted advertisers who have abandoned his platform and declared a tweet espousing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory to be the “absolute truth”.
According to information provided to AFP by market data analysis company SensorTower, as many as half the top 100 US advertisers the company had in October 2022 have already stopped spending altogether on X.
Musk’s company is now worth less than half of what he paid for it — around $19 billion, according to internal documents sent to staff and reported by tech publication The Verge.
© 2023 AFP
Roseanne flips out at the Turning Pointless clambake…or should we say…KKKlanbake?
Roseanne Barr delivered an incomprehensible rant at a hard-right conference over the weekend that was apparently too much even for her politically sympathetic audience, who largely sat in silence as she roared.
Speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, the outspoken comedian said she was “all in for President Trump” to cheers, before launching into a bizarre and difficult to watch tirade that seemed to be about a conspiracy of communist Nazis replacing Christian democracies with a Muslim caliphate.
“If we don’t stop these horrible communist—do you hear me?” Barr said. “I’m asking you to hear me.” She then started shouting: “Stalinist! Communists! With a huge helping of Nazi fascists thrown in! Plus one caliphate!”
After an agonizing, seconds-long pause to silence in the room, Barr continued: “To replace every Christian democracy on Earth now occupied. Do you know that?” Again, deafening silence.
“I just want the truth,” Barr added. “We deserve to hear the truth—that’s what we want. We want the truth. We don’t care which party it’s from, we know they’re both nothing but crap. They’re both on the take! They’re both stealing us blind!”
she’s nucking futs!
re: #211 Joe Bacon ✅
Roseanne flips out at the Turning Pointless clambake…or should we say…KKKlanbake?
Gone are the golden days when you could just spew out a convoluted chain of buzz word and shoehorn them into disjointed talking points and whip the audience up to a mouth-frothing frenzy.
re: #209 Joe Bacon ✅
The Talking Asshole praises Al Capone…
Trump Moans He’s Been Indicted More Than the ‘Great’ Al Capone
Don’t get him started praising the great John Gotti or we’ll never hear the end of it.
re: #213 sizzzzlerz
Does the fucker realize that Capone and Gotti ended up in prison? Capone died suffering from syphilitic paresis and a subsequent stroke (does this sound familiar?).
Gotti died in prison.
Yeah, great comparisons from Trump. I think we’d be fine with Trump dying in prison, and recognizing that he suffers from degenerative mental health on top of being a seditious treasonweasel felon.
Gosh, and he seems like such a nice person…
re: #214 lawhawk
Does the fucker realize that Capone and Gotti ended up in prison? Capone died suffering from syphilitic paresis and a subsequent stroke (does this sound familiar?).
Gotti died in prison.
Since we are rewriting US history from the ground up, Capone and Gotti were just honest but highly successful businessmen who made people jealous with their successes and became victims of a Deep State witch hunt
re: #211 Joe Bacon ✅
“I just want the truth,” Barr added. “We deserve to hear the truth—that’s what we want. We want the truth. We don’t care which party it’s from, we know they’re both nothing but crap. They’re both on the take! They’re both stealing us blind!”
The moment she realized she sounds like a crazy person even to crazy people. A couple of brain cells aligned and she called both parties crap. Her MAGA thong must be loose.
re: #157 steve_davis
This website is an example of what happens when people who are competent get together with other competent people. A certain general level of trust that your peers aren’t fucking morons goes a long way.
This website wouldn’t scale to a thousand users, much less 5 million.
re: #214 lawhawk
Does the fucker realize that Capone and Gotti ended up in prison? Capone died suffering from syphilitic paresis and a subsequent stroke (does this sound familiar?).
Gotti died in prison.
Yeah, great comparisons from Trump. I think we’d be fine with Trump dying in prison, and recognizing that he suffers from degenerative mental health on top of being a seditious treasonweasel felon.
Mr. w and I were in Las Vegas one time, on Fremont, and saw Gotti’s car being used as bait for some attraction. Mr. w said to the attendant, ‘At least he served his full sentence.’ The attendant said, ‘He died in prison!’ Mr. w said, ‘Yep.’
re: #215 darthstar
Gosh, and he seems like such a nice person…
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But I’m thinking it’s the child sexual abuse material that’s going to bring the big hammer down on Melon Husk, at least in the EU…
re: #220 mmmirele
But I’m thinking it’s the child sexual abuse material that’s going to bring the big hammer down on Melon Husk, at least in the EU…
It was probably inevitable once he decided to turn Twitter into 4Chan. He’s trying to mainstream cesspools.
@scottlinnen.bsky.social
Sorry I mistook your inflatable nativity scene for a bouncy house.
Never been so glad to have a bogie. With it, I matched my maximum streak of 161. When I missed on #4, I started having bad feelings about this. There were a number of possibles remaining but I got the right one. Whew!
Wordle 912 5/6
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re: #189 lawhawk
A lot of elections just prove that most people running are driven by ego. Think of how Le Page won in Maine. That why why all of the Democrats dropping out in 2020 to clear a path for Biden to beat Sanders was such a shocker.
re: #224 Belafon
A lot of elections just prove that most people running are driven by ego. Think of how Le Page won in Maine. That why why all of the Democrats dropping out in 2020 to clear a path for Biden to beat Sanders was such a shocker.
Country over party. It was the right thing to do.
Clarence Thomas falling under fresh scrutiny this morning - and I’m all for it.
re: #226 darthstar
Slappy T has made it clear. He’s the best justice that money can buy…with Alito running a close second…
re: #226 darthstar
Evergreen.
Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social
*
1h
It’s not bribery unless it comes from the Bribe region of France, otherwise it’s just sparkling payoffs
re: #227 Joe Bacon ✅
Slappy T has made it clear. He’s the best justice that money can buy…with Alito running a close second…
I don’t understand the Slappy T nickname.
Pulled the par out of nowhere.
dGt2NC9FZWFLMVlReHlhNnR0RFA2MWEzNmxlU1ZDM2d1K3RNN0poSHI1TGEwa3EvUkVIVm1Gb1BKaEp3eUNjUXdVVDRPUzJiNHNoUGJQTFBndXQzSFZOUFpHZFJMSzQ1dWhBVXdUMGJaaktPZG5iZ0hEd3RDbXlmekNPZm5qcHJna24xb0NGbHRGZzhwOGxTZ0NjWUFnPT06OiFiW1zytPeS5cHovUlv5V0=
re: #229 Belafon
I don’t understand the Slappy T nickname.
Overtones of Slappy White or a minstrel character.
en.wikipedia.org
re: #154 TarHellion
Got the par. But had quite a few possibilities going through my head after guess 3.
Hopefully setting up for a fun week at the office with lots of holiday activities. Today, my department does its outing and lunch. And on Tuesday, I will once again appear as the Grinch to host our holiday-themed Jeopardy tournament. Wednesday is the cornhole competition, followed by our lunch and Dirty Santa on Thursday. All the best to everyone!
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Bogie for me — made one bad decision and then guessed wrong on the 50-50.
Wordle 912 5/6
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Group: 3,4,5,5,
re: #225 darthstar
Country over party. It was the right thing to do.
“Only one person can beat Trump. Two or more people running against him will lose.”
re: #231 A hollow voice says: Abort SCOTUS
That is beautiful.
Alexa could possibly be doing statistical psychographics. It just asked me if I “would like to start the day with a positive affirmation?”
Sick sick freak.
Feds bust leader of neo-Nazi cult who used Discord and Telegram to groom and exploit children
The leader of a racist pedophile cult was arrested late last week following a seven-month-long investigation by the FBI into a network of Telegram and Discord servers dedicated to spreading neo-Nazi ideology and exploiting children, according to court documents reviewed by Business Insider.
The initial complaint, which the court unsealed on December 15, indicates Kalana Limkin of Hawaii has been the subject of a criminal investigation since May and, upon his arrest, admitted to law enforcement that he is the creator of “Cultist,” a splinter group of the satanic anarchist organization known as “764,” that targets children and uses child sexual abuse material and videos of animal cruelty, self-harm, and other extreme acts of violence to “accelerate chaos in society.”
“The group functions together as a coordinated unit by using Discord and Telegram as vessels to desensitize vulnerable populations through sharing extreme gore and child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”), with the purpose of breaking down societal norms and normalizing explicit material to corrupt minors and groom them towards future violence,” according to a motion to detain Limkin without bail while he awaits trial.
Representatives for Discord and Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Lock. Him. Up.
re: #236 Decatur Deb
Alexa could possibly be doing statistical psychographics. It just asked me if I “would like to start the day with a positive affirmation?”
Before I trashed my Alexa last summer (because I couldn’t get it to STOP the alarms I was setting and there seemed to be no solution), it was asking me that. My answer: NO. Positive affirmations might make me scoff.
And now this clown flips out…at the Turning Pointless KKKlanbake…
Vivek Ramaswamy Tells CNN’s Van Jones to ‘Shut the F*ck Up’
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used a speech Sunday to tell CNN’s Van Jones to “just shut the fuck up” after Jones accused him of being a demagogue.
The foul-mouthed comment came in response to Jones’ take following the fourth GOP primary debate earlier this month, in which Ramaswamy said the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot appeared to be “an inside job” and claimed the Great Replacement Theory is “not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”
Afterward, Jones said on CNN that Ramaswamy is “dangerous.” Noting that Ramaswamy will likely “outlive Trump by about 50 years,” Jones said that he felt he was “watching the rise of an American demagogue that is a very, very despicable person.” “Literally, I was shaking listening to him talk because a lot of people don’t know that is one step away from Nazi propaganda coming out of his mouth,” Jones added.
On Sunday, while speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Ramaswamy laughed off the response from elements of the mainstream media to his debate comments.
“You got this character Van Jones on CNN afterward saying: ‘This is the rise of an American demagogue who’s gonna live 50 years longer than Trump, this is dangerous, I am shaking,’” Ramaswamy said. Pausing to shake his head and laugh with apparent incredulity, Ramaswamy then said: “Just shut the fuck up.”
As cheering audience members rose to their feet to show their approval, he added: “At a certain point, just shut the fuck up.”
re: #211 Joe Bacon ✅
Roseanne flips out at the Turning Pointless clambake…or should we say…KKKlanbake?
Roseanne Barr delivered an incomprehensible rant at a hard-right conference over the weekend that was apparently too much even for her politically sympathetic audience, who largely sat in silence as she roared.
Speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, the outspoken comedian said she was “all in for President Trump” to cheers, before launching into a bizarre and difficult to watch tirade that seemed to be about a conspiracy of communist Nazis replacing Christian democracies with a Muslim caliphate.
“If we don’t stop these horrible communist—do you hear me?” Barr said. “I’m asking you to hear me.” She then started shouting: “Stalinist! Communists! With a huge helping of Nazi fascists thrown in! Plus one caliphate!”
After an agonizing, seconds-long pause to silence in the room, Barr continued: “To replace every Christian democracy on Earth now occupied. Do you know that?” Again, deafening silence.
“I just want the truth,” Barr added. “We deserve to hear the truth—that’s what we want. We want the truth. We don’t care which party it’s from, we know they’re both nothing but crap. They’re both on the take! They’re both stealing us blind!”
she’s nucking futs!
Wait a sec:… I thought Roseanne had gone in for blaming (((TEH JOOOS!!))) for everything? She seems to have forgotten, which is too bad since a doubly-symmetrical Batshit Theory (“Communist Nazis! Islamist Jews!”) would read better than the three-way she “articulated” at the Toilet Paper shindig…
re: #233 Hecuba’s daughter
Bogie for me — made one bad decision and then guessed wrong on the 50-50.
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Same here. Looks like we might have tried the same word.
re: #236 Decatur Deb
Alexa could possibly be doing statistical psychographics. It just asked me if I “would like to start the day with a positive affirmation?”
re: #238 mmmirele
Before I trashed my Alexa last summer (because I couldn’t get it to STOP the alarms I was setting and there seemed to be no solution), it was asking me that. My answer: NO. Positive affirmations might make me scoff.
Scoff too hard and you could break a rib.
(How are you feeling?)
re: #238 mmmirele
Before I trashed my Alexa last summer (because I couldn’t get it to STOP the alarms I was setting and there seemed to be no solution), it was asking me that. My answer: NO. Positive affirmations might make me scoff.
Just as long as it doesn’t keep asking me if I want to share my feelings
re: #244 sizzzzlerz
Just as long as it doesn’t keep asking me if I want to share my feelings
and feeling alienated if I don’t…
Dogen is an American living in Japan and he does funny videos, in addition to selling a Japanese pitch accent course. This video dropped today. It’s in Japanese but it has subtitles (don’t have to turn it on). It’s called “Are Japanese people religious?” You can imagine it taking place while two guys are waiting in line…
Right wing Catholics are melting down over this…
Pope declares same-sex unions can be blessed by the Church in ‘radical change’
Pope Francis has declared Catholic Church priests may now formally bless same-sex unions, saying “exhaustive moral analysis” should not bar them from God’s love and mercy, while stressing the blessing may not be confused with or even made at the same time as a same-sex marriage or civil union
Unlike previous pronouncements the Pope has made that were favorable to LGBTQ people, only to have the Church walk them back, this “radical change,” as the Associated Press calls it Monday, comes as a policy change through the Vatican’s doctrine office.
“Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,” the document said, according to the AP. “The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live.”
The Vatican document states both that requests for blessings from same-sex couples should not be denied, and a priest blessing a same-sex union cannot be confused with support for same-sex marriage or civil unions. It also, the AP notes, “stresses that blessings should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.”
re: #234 Belafon
“Only one person can beat Trump. Two or more people running against him will lose.”
ANY one person can beat Trump. Therein lies the secret to his demise.
re: #250 darthstar
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Mommy, why does Santa laugh when I say I want Hookers and Blow for christmas?
re: #249 Joe Bacon ✅
Perhaps His Holiness is realizing, late in his life, that hating people just for existing is literally the antithesis of the Christianity for which he is considered the face by billions of people.
re: #227 Joe Bacon ✅
Studying the Clarence Thomas evolution from very early Malcom X fan then pivoting quickly to darling of the surging hard-right Republican political class of the 70’s it is clear the only real constants in his life are adherence to hard right wing Catholicism combined with nihilism featuring an unrelenting desire for social advancement/approval and associated wealth.
In his bio, there is no historical concern towards democracy itself as an institution. There is no historical biases against corruption or associating with corrupt political entities. On the contrary, his bio is a continuity of self-advancement no matter what the cost.
Funny thing happened the other night…we were picking up my mother in law for an after-Hanukkah Hanukkah dinner at a friend’s house. She wanted to contribute so she offered to make chopped chicken livers (she has these beautiful curved blades that her husband had in his family). So of course I had to bring a wooden bowl to her place and help chop the liver and egg because it’s just faster if I do it…Well, my wife waited out front in the drive in her car (passenger side, I drove) and while she waited for us (took about 10 minutes), a well dressed resident of the retirement community walked up and rapped her knuckle on the window.
My wife rolled down the window, and the woman says, “If you pull your car up another 10 feet people will be able to get around you.” (I had already moved it to a spot to allow that). She smiled at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to drive this car.”
Still chuckle when I think about that.
re: #257 🐈 Crush White Nationalism 🐈
There’s usually an additional column to the right - QA, underneath which would be - fix what you broke.
re: #252 sizzzzlerz
Mommy, why does Santa laugh when I say I want Hookers and Blow for christmas?
I would have loved it if my parents read me stories about Hookers and Blow before bed when I was a child.
re: #256 Florida Panhandler
Studying the Clarence Thomas evolution from very early Malcom X fan then pivoting quickly to darling of the surging hard-right Republican political class of the 70’s it is clear the only real constants in his life are adherence to hard right wing Catholicism combined with nihilism featuring an unrelenting desire for social advancement/approval and associated wealth.
In his bio, there is no historical concern towards democracy itself as an institution. There is no historical biases against corruption or associating with corrupt political entities. On the contrary, his bio is a continuity of self-advancement no matter what the cost.
Benefiting from the career of Thurgood Marshall without following any of the tenets and ethics that Marshall endorsed.
re: #258 A Cranky One
I could not have said it better myself. Go Arnold.
Trying to start the video at 6:26 for the crazy two-point conversion in the 2nd overtime that gave MT Griz the win. Forward the highlights to there if I messed up.
This was a great game and extremely entertaining game (though my Bison, the Thundering Herd, ended up on the losing end). This contest would never have happened if the FCS side of NCAA Div 1 football did post-season like the FBS side with it’s silly bowls and limited playoffs (going to 12 team playoff next year will be a little better). NDSU was not seeded and worked their way through the 24-team bracket to play the #2 ranked Montana Grizzlies to double overtime in a great fan-filled stadium outdoors nestled next to a mountain.
re: #265 sizzzzlerz
Absolutely genius design for steps and a ramp by Canadian architect Cornelia Oberlander
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It’s elegant, but is it safe? There are no rails on the ramp with drop offs onto the steps.
‘I was honored’: Marjorie Taylor Greene gushes after photo op with QAnon Shaman
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) celebrated meeting Jacob Chansley, a convicted felon who participated in the Jan. 6 attacks and is better known as the QAnon Shaman.
On Monday, Greene shared a photo of her meeting with Chansley at (You guessed it gang!) Sunday’s Turning Point Action conference.
“I was honored to meet Jake Chansley this weekend, and I want to explain why I say honored,” Greene began, claiming the media “slandered him all over the world.”
“The Biden regime’s DOJ wrongfully prosecuted him for innocently and nonviolently walking through the Capital, and he was then treated horrifically in prisons even being held in solitary confinement for over 10 months just like many other J6’ers,” she continued. “Yet when I spoke with Jake, he is remarkably positive, happy, forgiving, and determined.”
Greene said she was frustrated with Republicans who “refuse to do anything to help the J6’ers, while the federal government continues to tyrannically destroy their lives.”
She painted Jan. 6 rioters as “nonviolent.”
Now I got a feeling that those 160+ Capitol policemen who dealt with them have a dissenting opinion on that…
Fiver. Wordle 912 5/6*
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With a whiff. I knew when I saw all those Flatulent fours that I would get a five.
Good looking stats:
200
Played
99
Win %
9
Current Streak
90
Max Streak
re: #143 Targetpractice
The good thing about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad thing about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. - Ted Nelson
re: #275 A Cranky One
Yeah…those folks in Hamilton actually sang a bunch of tunes revived by The Andrews Sisters…Especially when Alex, Aaron and Tom sing The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B
re: #276 Romantic Heretic
The good thing about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad thing about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. - Ted Nelson
If the underlying code is wrong, then it’s not doing what you intended but rather how the original coder set up the system.
re: #275 A Cranky One
How would he know? He wasn’t in the room where it happened.
re: #278 Vicious Babushka
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it is a constant battle of swiping, swatting, Xing, deleting to move the nonsense out of the way to get to what you want to see
then re-swiping, swatting, xing, deleting when they pop up again
and again
some websites are so ludicrous that literally 3/4 of the screen is covered in embedded and pop up ads, leaving maybe 1/4 of the screen for actual, you know, content
re: #282 A Cranky One
No, not X. But I don’t know if an option exists for posting to Mastodon, especially with alt-text.
re: #283 Dangerman
it is a constant battle of swiping, swatting, Xing, deleting to move the nonsense out of the way to get to what you want to see
then re-swiping, swatting, xing, deleting when they pop up again
and againsome websites are so ludicrous that literally 3/4 of the screen is covered in embedded and pop up ads, leaving maybe 1/4 of the screen for actual, you know, content
Often that is true only for those who aren’t paying subscribers.
re: #283 Dangerman
…
some websites are so ludicrous that literally 3/4 of the screen is covered in embedded and pop up ads, leaving maybe 1/4 of the screen for actual, you know, content
Almost enough to drive ya to non-sedentary activity.
Are You Dreaming of a White Christmas?
Pretty unlikely in my neck of the woods here in my Twin Cities MN suburb. In fact, I wouldn’t walk on the pond in the back yard yet. No Christmas bandy this year. We do have a chance of rain over Christmas weekend and maybe a bit of snow and ice falling a couple of days after Christmas.
re: #285 Hecuba’s daughter
Often that is true for those who aren’t paying subscribers.
true
though i still maintain 3/4 of a screen is a bit egregious
and then there’s the many ‘free’ sites
four lines of text
ad
four lines of text
ad ad ad
six lines of text
etc as you scroll
re: #287 dat_said
Are You Dreaming of a White Christmas?
Pretty unlikely in my neck of the woods here in my Twin Cities MN suburb. In fact, I wouldn’t walk on the pond in the back yard yet. No Christmas bandy this year. We do have a chance of rain over Christmas weekend and maybe a bit of snow and ice falling a couple of days after Christmas.
They’re saying it will be a wet Christmas here in the DFW area.
If I need a white Christmas, I’ll attend the tree lighting at the Alabama statehouse.
re: #283 Dangerman
it is a constant battle of swiping, swatting, Xing, deleting to move the nonsense out of the way to get to what you want to see
then re-swiping, swatting, xing, deleting when they pop up again
and againsome websites are so ludicrous that literally 3/4 of the screen is covered in embedded and pop up ads, leaving maybe 1/4 of the screen for actual, you know, content
This happened with Z’s Fire tablet. It got worse and worse until it finally bricked itself. A little search online showed that many, many customers experienced this & Amazon offered up “fixes” that did nothing.
re: #291 Vicious Babushka
This happened with Z’s Fire tablet. It got worse and worse until it finally bricked itself. A little search online showed that many, many customers experienced this & Amazon offered up “fixes” that did nothing.
Yeah, junior fishspawn’s Fire tablet was doing the same thing. It got to the point where she threw it and the screen cracked, so we got a replacement under extended warranty. Next time, not getting a Fire tablet; it’s been far more trouble than it’s worth.
Flipboard has joined the Fediverse. I don’t know what Flipboard is just that some very spammy toots have shown up on my timeline. Muted.
re: #285 Hecuba’s daughter
Often that is true only for those who aren’t paying subscribers.
What was that saying? If you’re not paying for the product you’re the product?
Oh, hi everyone!
James McCaffrey, an actor who provided the voice of Max Payne in the popular video game series and most recently voiced Alex Casey in “Alan Wake 2,” died Sunday after a battle with cancer, Variety has confirmed with his manager. He was 65.McCaffrey was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, according to TMZ, which first reported the news.
Before his career in video game voice acting, McCaffrey was a film and TV actor for more than 30 years. His first roles dated back to the late ’80s and early ’90s, with his breakout project being Fox’s police drama “New York Undercover.” He played the recurring role of Captain Arthur O’Byrne in Season 3. He then starred in the NBC action series “Viper,” when it originally ran for one season in 1994, and he returned for Season 4 when it was revived a few years later.
McCaffrey’s biggest role came on FX’s “Rescue Me” in 2004. He played firefighter James Xavier “Jimmy” Keefe, who died on Sept. 11 and was best friends and a cousin of Denis Leary’s main character Tommy Gavin. He appeared as a main character in the first three seasons and was a recurring player in the final four seasons. McCaffrey also appeared on shows like “Sex and the City,” “As the World Turns,” “Beautiful People,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Jessica Jones” and films like “The Orphan Killer,” “Camp Hope,” “Excuse Me for Living” and many more.
James McCaffrey, ‘Max Payne’ and ‘Alan Wake 2’ Voice Actor, Dies at 65 (Variety)
Notice it’s not glowing red at the beginning:
Santa Claus and his rocket sleigh.
Robert Maddox builds engines with an astonishing 1000 pounds of thrust, making them the largest (and most insane) pulsejet engines in the world.
No reindeer required for this jet-powered beauty.pic.twitter.com/lDECKSTXUj— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 11, 2023
I’m starting to hear a bit of pounding. I expect to lose power soon. Downstairs in the lobby there’s a new hole cut in the wall, and a large cord running out of it to the box on the back of the building with a lot of electrical stuff in it. It’s been like that all weekend. I saw it in detail when I did laundry yesterday and walked through that lobby a few times. Looked out of code, but who ya gonna call?
re: #299 Belafon
Notice it’s not glowing red at the beginning:
[Embedded content]
1000 lbf thrust pulsejet engines? This guy is certifiably insane.
ilDuce shoots his mouth off again.
DeSantis says Trump not a danger to democracy and should have gone further while president
yeah, ilDuce. He deserved a third impeachment!
Ron DeSantis, performing poorly in the polls, on Monday insisted his main opponent for the GOP presidential nomination, Donald Trump, is not a danger to democracy despite the ex-president’s fascistic remarks over the weekend.
“No,” DeSantis told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski when the “Morning Joe” co-host asked “Do you think Donald Trump is a threat to democracy?”
“Look,” said the governor, defending the Republican frontrunner he is currently trailing by an average of more than 50 points in the latest polls, “I think Donald Trump, when he was president, I think that he really didn’t take some of the action that he could have constitutionally taken.
“And so I understand there’s a narrative saying he’s going to be much different this next term, but I look back, you know, what didn’t he do?”
Telegraphing that had he been president, or if he becomes president, he would embrace far-right extremist policies even more than Donald Trump did, DeSantis listed what he suggested were some of Trump’s misses while in the Oval Office.
“You know, he didn’t move forcefully to build the border wall that languished for years,” criticized the Florida governor. DeSantis has spent large amounts of taxpayer money flying migrants north, which has been under federal investigation.
“He didn’t fire people like Anthony Fauci from the COVID task force when many conservatives, including me in Florida, were saying they needed to go a different direction, even gave Fauci an award his last day in office, a lot of the people who he appointed he sent trashed after leaving office, but he could have fired them.”
“He didn’t really take any action to reform the bureaucracy or to curb the administrative state. So I think what is being said would be him acting in ways that actually were not how he acted before he deferred a lot of his presidency to some of these people that he now criticizes.”
re: #302 Backwoods Sleuth
snowing now in TheBackwoods
We expect it up here in an hour or two, so says the weather channel site.
#Today in 1979, the LEGO character—known simply as a “toy figure”—was patented.
Complete with movable arms and legs, it suddenly introduced an entirely new dimension to the franchise.
Faceless and following a basic human form at first, the toy figures soon acquired identities… pic.twitter.com/yZBxSqUwrD— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 18, 2023
#Today in 1987, the first Final Fantasy adventure game in a long series was released.
The franchise has since branched into other video game genres, as well as branching into other media, including films, anime, manga, and novels.pic.twitter.com/q23ANVH6Yg— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 18, 2023
re: #303 Joe Bacon ✅
ilDuce shoots his mouth off again.
DeSantis says Trump not a danger to democracy and should have gone further while president
yeah, ilDuce. He deserved a third impeachment!
Ron DeSantis, performing poorly in the polls, on Monday insisted his main opponent for the GOP presidential nomination, Donald Trump, is not a danger to democracy despite the ex-president’s fascistic remarks over the weekend.
“No,” DeSantis told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski when the “Morning Joe” co-host asked “Do you think Donald Trump is a threat to democracy?”
“Look,” said the governor, defending the Republican frontrunner he is currently trailing by an average of more than 50 points in the latest polls, “I think Donald Trump, when he was president, I think that he really didn’t take some of the action that he could have constitutionally taken.
“And so I understand there’s a narrative saying he’s going to be much different this next term, but I look back, you know, what didn’t he do?”
Telegraphing that had he been president, or if he becomes president, he would embrace far-right extremist policies even more than Donald Trump did, DeSantis listed what he suggested were some of Trump’s misses while in the Oval Office.
“You know, he didn’t move forcefully to build the border wall that languished for years,” criticized the Florida governor. DeSantis has spent large amounts of taxpayer money flying migrants north, which has been under federal investigation.
“He didn’t fire people like Anthony Fauci from the COVID task force when many conservatives, including me in Florida, were saying they needed to go a different direction, even gave Fauci an award his last day in office, a lot of the people who he appointed he sent trashed after leaving office, but he could have fired them.”
“He didn’t really take any action to reform the bureaucracy or to curb the administrative state. So I think what is being said would be him acting in ways that actually were not how he acted before he deferred a lot of his presidency to some of these people that he now criticizes.”
Unsaid by D.. Trump alone is not a threat to democracy, it’s the whole Republican Party. Trump can’t end democracy unless the republican party helps him by doing what they are doing.
re: #301 Nerdy Fish
1000 lbf thrust pulsejet engines? This guy is certifiably insane.
I’ve been pinned under a motorcycle with the weight of the bike pushing a tailpipe against my leg. On that, I would have lost the leg.
re: #296 Vicious Babushka
Flipboard has joined the Fediverse. I don’t know what Flipboard is just that some very spammy toots have shown up on my timeline. Muted.
I think it’s a news-ish aggregator like Raw Story done up in a glossy magazine style format. I steer clear, YMMV
What…The…F?????
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has unleashed an avalanche of shock, derision and black humor after telling a local TV host that one of the attributes of the city he represents is the chance of witnessing a plane crashing into a building.
In an interview with PIX11 host Dan Mannarino, the mayor was asked to sum up the “totality of the year” in just one word — and he chose to answer with two: “New York.”
Not content with that, he elaborated, “This is a place where everyday you wake up you could experience everything from a plane crashing into our Trade Center to a person who is celebrating a new business opening. And that’s why it’s the greatest city on the globe.”
After a clip of the video was shared on X, one commenter was quick to point out, “How does anyone have that thought let alone express it in public as mayor of New York? Also New York is two words.”
re: #291 Vicious Babushka
This happened with Z’s Fire tablet. It got worse and worse until it finally bricked itself. A little search online showed that many, many customers experienced this & Amazon offered up “fixes” that did nothing.
i havent had those issues
after i swipe away the power on ad screen i’m left alone
when i first got it i side loaded google play, chrome, gmail, drive, docs, etc
i rarely use the kindle app. mostly Aldiko
and i dont stream on it
and a handful of others from the google play store that all work fine
i will say they have the absolute worst autocorrect/spellcheck/predictor i have ever used.
it’s ridiculously stupid.
re: #312 jeffreyw
You hit the nail on the head.
re: #303 Joe Bacon ✅
So Morning Joe is continuing with his practice of giving fascist presidential candidates a platform to spew nonsense? Good to know.
re: #310 Joe Bacon ✅
Adams is a colossal cockup. NY needs to do better, and elect someone qualified and with good character and judgment. Adams lacks all of it. They had a chance to do better, but wouldn’t you know that misogyny and bigotry got in the way of stopping either Wiley or Garcia from becoming the first woman mayor of NYC.
re: #311 Dangerman
i havent had those issues
after i swipe away the power on ad screen i’m left alonewhen i first got it i side loaded google play, chrome, gmail, drive, docs, etc
i rarely use the kindle app. mostly Aldiko
and i dont stream on it
and a handful of others from the google play store that all work finei will say they have the absolute worst autocorrect/spellcheck/predictor i have ever used.
it’s ridiculously stupid.
Is it the cause of all those lower-case “i”s?
Great. My ward leader came through so I do not have to pay the $300 fine for “debris” in my back driveway.
re: #314 Patricia Kayden
So Morning Joe is continuing with his practice of giving fascist presidential candidates a platform to spew nonsense? Good to know.
Same as it ever was.
When he says he’s “concerned” it’s only about his beloved Republican party.
Not you or me or all the others the GOP wants to eff.
Joe is a blowhard jackoff.
Same as it ever was.
re: #317 PhillyPretzel ✅
Great. My ward leader came through so I do not have to pay the $300 fine for “debris” in my back driveway.
How much was the bribe?
re: #319 🐈 Crush White Nationalism 🐈
I have no idea all I know is that I do not have to put out $300.
re: #317 PhillyPretzel ✅
Great. My ward leader came through so I do not have to pay the $300 fine for “debris” in my back driveway.
Misspell healer? ///
re: #289 Belafon
They’re saying it will be a wet Christmas here in the DFW area.
We’re not even going to get that here in the Big Apple: the forecast is for moderate temps (mid-40sF), and no precip til next Tuesday, when it will be low 50s and rainy.
I read a winter forecast somewhere online, and it said (at least AFA the East Coast is concerned), the season’s precipitation, whether rain or snow, will depend on how far west or east the storm lines track. So far, they seem to have been trending on the westerly side, as the winter is shaping up to be warmer than the “norm” (i.e., long-term historical readings: “normal” is rapidly becoming a less-relevant term when discussing weather and climate). At least a potential drought seems to be unlikely….
re: #318 nines09
Same as it ever was.
When he says he’s “concerned” it’s only about his beloved Republican party.
Not you or me or all the others the GOP wants to eff.
Joe is a blowhard jackoff.
Same as it ever was.
Once in a lifetime….
…just thought I’d let you in on the echo in my head
re: #318 nines09
Same as it ever was.
When he says he’s “concerned” it’s only about his beloved Republican party.
Not you or me or all the others the GOP wants to eff.
Joe is a blowhard jackoff.
Same as it ever was.
re: #323 wrenchwench
Once in a lifetime….
…just thought I’d let you in on the echo in my head
re: #283 Dangerman
it is a constant battle of swiping, swatting, Xing, deleting to move the nonsense out of the way to get to what you want to see
then re-swiping, swatting, xing, deleting when they pop up again
and againsome websites are so ludicrous that literally 3/4 of the screen is covered in embedded and pop up ads, leaving maybe 1/4 of the screen for actual, you know, content
And I only visit those once. I have a pretty low tolerance for how much ad BS I will put up with for content. And new pop-ups quickly decrease that tolerance, especially top banner ads that push the content I am trying to read around.
re: #289 Belafon
They’re saying it will be a wet Christmas here in the DFW area.
That’s the tradition. Everyone dreams of a wet Christmas.
/I may have gotten that wrong.
re: #328 Backwoods Sleuth
Finally someone got it right. Thanks to our neighbors to the north.
re: #326 goddamnedfrank
We really need to deal with how video sharing sites and the larger attention economy have given the absolute worst, most manipulative monsters among us a method by which they can simultaneously monetize and cover up their abuse.
[Embedded content]
Would it help to start a rumor that the outrageous anti abortion laws are intended to catch more rapists by making it more difficult to conceal incest because all those pregnancies are going to show up now?
re: #265 sizzzzlerz
Absolutely genius design for steps and a ramp by Canadian architect Cornelia Oberlander
[Embedded content]
“Stramps” are actually terrible design — although they look great from a distance, and Oberlander and Erickson’s hearts were in the right place when they came up with the concept, it fails to work as a wheelchair ramp (no edges, huge fall risk) AND fails to work as stairs, especially for visually-impaired or otherwise disabled people who don’t use wheels.
re: #292 Nerdy Fish
Yeah, junior fishspawn’s Fire tablet was doing the same thing. It got to the point where she threw it and the screen cracked, so we got a replacement under extended warranty. Next time, not getting a Fire tablet; it’s been far more trouble than it’s worth.
I bought mine without special offers (i.e. ads). Cost about $30 more. You can also pay the tariff to “remove special offers” at any time.
re: #333 A hollow voice says: Abort SCOTUS
I bought mine without special offers (i.e. ads). Cost about $30 more. You can also pay the tariff to “remove special offers” at any time.
I bought it without special offers. That apparently didn’t make it immune; I don’t know if it’s a bug in Fire OS or what, but my daughter started complaining of ads popping up at random times, and her tablet became increasingly unusable.
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory Just Captured Ominous Signals About the Planet’s Health Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory just captured an ominous sign about the pace of global warming. Atmospheric levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide aren’t just on their way to yet another record high this year - they’re rising faster than ever, ...
Cheechako
The Good Liars at the Schnecksville Trump Rally [VIDEO] New theories, great tunes and SHOCKING breaking news. SUPPORT US: http://Herohero.co/thegoodliars SEE THE GOOD LIARS LIVE!WASHINGTON D.C. MAY 23RD: https://www.unionstage.com/shows/good-liars-fix-america/NASHVILLE, TN JUNE 6TH: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/42992972/the-good-liars-nashville-the-lab-at-zaniesSAN FRANCISCO, CA JUNE 25TH: https://www.livenation.com/event/G5vYZbavGvggG/the-good-liars SUBSCRIBE TO OUR AUDIO PODCAST:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-liars-tell-the-truth/id1731178442Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgfiwzr32907N4y68eFOCJoin this channel ...
teleskiguy
Trump’s “Stolen Election” Lie Based on Evidence From Pervy Bathroom Cam-Spy OK, this really takes the cake. If you have relatives that still cling to the “election was stolen, dadgum, I jes’ KNOW IT … This should be a slight remedy to the stubborn madness Thanks to online anonymity, the ...
Khal Wimpo (free internal organs upon request!)
Best of April 2024 Nothing new here but these are a look back at the a few good images from the past month. Despite the weather, I was quite pleased with several of them. These were taken with older lenses (made from the ...
William Lewis
Gateway Pundit, Sued by Election Workers, Declares BankruptcyA onetime favorite, now just pathetic figure around these parts, Jim Hoft aka SMOTI ("Stupidest Man On The Internet"), has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to the defamation lawsuits filed against him to the same election workers that ... Khal Wimpo (free internal organs upon request!)
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ... Cheechako
A Water War Is Brewing Between the U.S. And Mexico. Here’s Why A water dispute between the United States and Mexico that goes back decades is turning increasingly urgent in Texas communities that rely on the Rio Grande. Their leaders are now demanding the Mexican government either share water or face ... Cheechako
Harper’s Magazine: Slippery Slope - How Private Equity Shapes a Ski Town …Big Sky stands apart for other reasons. The obvious distinction is the Yellowstone Club, a private resort hidden in the mountains above the community that Justin Farrell, a professor of sociology at Yale and the author of Billionaire Wilderness, ... teleskiguy
