InstaPunk Returns

Take a minute to look at the opener here. We all know this is pretty much how things are nowadays. Everything chaotic, backwards and upside down, as if some law of nature had been violated. Which it has.  Early in this this century, wishful thinkers believed in a mirage called Hope and Change that turned out to be shallow, insincere, and small-minded. We survived that, sort of, but the ones who felt most betrayed, about 30 percent of the nation, believed they deserved more than the eight years of delusion which had been their sacrifice given in exchange for the real prize. In compensation, they wanted to elect a very bad woman to the Presidency of the United States. They were denied that wrongheaded but deeply felt desire. Since that bitter disappointment they have become obsessed with becoming as mean and hateful and ruthless as it took to wreak their revenge on the man who defeated them and the people who helped him do it. The bad woman led the legions of those smashing everythin...

  Predicted the last three economic meltdowns, from each of which he made a  fortune. He’s been predicting the biggest one yet for a couple of months. There’s reason to take him seriously. He believes the President will invoke the Insurrection before the midterm elections. His argument is at the link. I advise you to watch his initial spiel, but not all of it until you’ve read I have to say. A delay recommended only because his video uses the ‘Infomercial’ tactic of going on and on and on until you’ve invested so much time it feels like commitment. I do not agree that Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act before the midterms but after if and only if he loses his majorities in Congress. Trump is still determined to win despite the many attempts that will be made to steal votes across the nation. That’s who he is. Here’s Rickards’s   pitch . Here’s what I have to say, beginning from his Exhibit A on the Insurrection Act. That doesn’t mean it won’t be opposed tooth and cla...

    I won’t kid you. I’m exactly where Nancy Mace is on this case. Even Cluck and Buck were better at providing an appropriate legal context for the farce just played out in Massachusetts than the rest of the media. Drug and alcohol intoxication are not legal defenses in murder trials. Combat veterans suffering from documented hallucinogenic episodes of PTSD have also been convicted of murder and given harsh punishments. The PTSD diagnosis does not suffice for an insanity defense. It is sometimes admitted after the verdict as a possible mitigating factor in sentencing. In legal terms sanity is knowing the difference between right and wrong. Lindsey Clancy has no basis for claiming that she forgot it is wrong to murder three helpless children in your care.  The cultural debate has been focused on the supposed uniqueness of female “feelings.” Which men cannot understand. Which is a crock. I understand the why’s wherefore’s of people wanting a Get Out of Jail Free card just ...

  AI is independently objective? Not politically biased?  Not a powerful hidden censor? Guess again. This post isn’t about AI. But AI is now part of an increasingly ominous context in which the fate of western civilization is being played as both low comedy and high tragedy. I use an AI app as a satirical tool. It enables you to make still photos of faces say things from a long list of snappy quotes and music clips. A lot of the quotes are themselves satirical, with voices altered from the original speaker or singer, to make them funny in some other mouth. But they don’t like it when you use their little app to make certain sacred cows look stupid or dishonest. Any Every time the name Trump appears in a headline over a photo featuring one of his thousands of enemies, the Revive app is certain to flag your work in process as NSFW, as in not safe for work in the politically correct Progressive media environment. You’re not allowed. If you try to appease by moderating headlines o...

Did the District Attorney of Philadelphia propose blowing up Trump’s White House Ballroom and auctioning off pieces of the rubble to cut the deficit? The Answer Provided by Google’s AI Assistant:   Yes . Our topic today is Larry Krasner and his record as the District Attorney of Philadelphia and apparent higher political aspirations. Our purpose, though, is not purely political. It is to provide a demonstration of how Artificial Intelligence applications can be used in personal research that goes deeper than the media ever do. It is also to show the pitfalls of relying on such applications without a dogged determination to be thorough. The programmers behind the computer “intelligence” are always there, and they are just as human and political as, well, the elitist geeks who write the code. There are always two big questions to answer before undertaking what will be a long and complicated post on a complicated topic. First, Can I do it? And second, Do I really want to do it? This t...