Seems Like A Big Deal

That they think it's true and that they went very public in this way (and that it is likely true!).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said on Monday that “agents of the government of India” had carried out the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June, an explosive allegation that is likely to further sour relations between the two nations.

No deep thoughts otherwise as it is above my pay grade.

Morning

Donut time.

Monday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy.

How Things Change

The Kids won't remember, but back in the day, "we" (the political press) pretended that unmarried conservatives were all virgins and certainly no out of wedlock heavy petting happened. The Boebert "scandal" would have been scandalous simply for that reason.

That the political press long participated in a scam on behalf of the Family Values party reminds us nothing much has changed there, at least.

Your Liberal Media

Above my pay grade, but the man seems to have a point here. 

Hunter Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, saying that investigators for the agency violated his privacy rights by disclosing details to Congress and the public about his taxes and the investigation into his conduct.

What isn't above my pay grade is knowing that if this had been Beavis or Butthead Trump, it would have taken about 5 minutes for conservative media to turn the entire thing into a story about abuses that Hunter is claiming, with the rest of the media dutifully following along. 

Decades And Decades Of Books

This will be a bit meandering because I don't think I have a clear point, but in response to my niece asking for some books for her 21st birthday (she seems to read just about anything), I have been contemplating decades of books being released in my lifetime.

I'm old enough that those "new" books I read when I was 21 are not very new at all now. Quite old in fact! Giving her a book released in 1993 is equivalent to giving me a book (then) written in 1963.

Agatha Christie was still publishing. Kurt Vonnegut released Cat's Cradle. Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves.

And then I started to think about books and authors that were a Big Deal but probably she's never even heard of. Or maybe! How would I know?

Anyway, no real point here, and these are hardly novel observations, just contemplating how culture appears and fades and how the The Kids Today can't be aware of most of it.  I imagine some of those great books were more timely than timeless, likely not landing particularly well today. 1993? Trainspotting. The Shipping News. The Night Manager. 

Anyway, the request was books not "old books," but so many new-to-me-then books are, now, "old books"

Lunch

Eat

If You're A Star They Let You Do It

You can't really "cancel" a billionaire, but prominent people should not be standing on stage with him (literally or metaphorically).

I used to think anti-Semitism was the one bigotry respectable elites wouldn't tolerate, though now I understand most of them never cared about that, either.

"AI"

Calling those programs "AI" is only slightly less stupid than thinking a link to an ape .jpg is worth millions.

I think it's losing - by giving it too much credibility - to get into arguments about why it isn't in any sense "artificial intelligence." But it isn't! Everyone knows it isn't!

The computer from Star Trek: The Original Series was really fucking cool, but I don't remember anyone calling it "artificial intelligence." Had to get to Commander Data for that!

Peter Baker For The Defense

He's the one you call to represent and defend the worst of journalism, while swatting away critics by lighting piles of straw on fire.

PETER BAKER:

Well, this is a huge challenge for American journalism, of course, right? It cannot be that a person can run for president of the United States, be a front-runner of his party, and possibly win without ever being challenged by a tough, independent interview. And that's, I think, an important part of our system. Now, it's obviously a challenge for us because he is just going to spout out one thing after another, and fact-checking him in real time is a real hard thing. But what we've done here is edit it and make sure people understand he’s – what's real and what's not.

Neat trick there, replacing "letting Trump spew what he wants" with "challenged by a tough, independent interview."

I did actually read the transcript (the things I do for you) and evidence of "being challenged" is pretty thin! Take the abortion section:

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

So you have Roe v. Wade, for 52 years, people including Democrats wanted it to go back to states so the states could make the right. Roe v. Wade – I did something that nobody thought was possible, and Roe v. Wade was terminated, was put back to the states. Now, people, pro-lifers, have the right to negotiate for the first time. They had no rights at all, because the radical people on this are really the Democrats that say, after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth you're allowed to terminate the baby –

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mr. President, Democrats aren't saying that. I just have to, Democrats are not saying that. Does it bother you though that women say their lives are being put at risk? Do you feel you bear any responsibility, because as you say, you are responsible for having Roe v. Wade overturned.

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

What's going to happen, this is an issue that's been going on for a long time. And it's a very polarizing issue. Because of what's been done, and because of the fact we brought it back to the states, we're going to have people come together on this issue. They're going to determine the time, because nobody wants to see five, six, seven, eight, nine months. Nobody wants to see abortions when you have a baby in the womb. I said, with Hillary Clinton when we had the debate, I made a statement, "Rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, you're allowed to do that, and you shouldn't be allowed to do that."

KRISTEN WELKER:

Again, no one is arguing for that –

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Again, listen, look –

KRISTEN WELKER:

That's not a part of anyone's argument, Mr. President.

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look, the Democrats are able to kill the baby after birth.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me talk to you –

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Nobody wants that.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Democrats don't want that either.

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

So we're going to come together –

KRISTEN WELKER:

But let’s – I want to – I want to know what you want. I want to know what you're going to do if you’re –

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We are going to come together –

KRISTEN WELKER:

Would you sign federal legislation that would ban abortion at 15 weeks?

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no. Let me just tell you what I'd do. I'm going to come together with all groups, and we're going to have something that's acceptable. Right now, to my way of thinking, the Democrats are the radicals, because after four and five and six months. But you have to say this, after birth. You have New York State and other places that passed legislation where you're allowed to kill the baby after birth.

Four times he says Democrats support (and there are laws to the effect) that you can "kill the baby after birth."

Amusingly (especially if you read the rest), he sounds like decades of centrist dipshists talking about their Grand Compromise on abortion.

We’re going to agree – no – we're going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it. And both sides are going to come together and both sides – both sides, and this is a big statement, both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you'll have an issue that we can put behind us.

Putting boring lady parts issues behind us, the dream of the centrist dipshit! 

Morning

Feels like Monday.

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Sure Why Not

Meese is 91.

JUST IN: Former Attorney General Ed Meese submits court declaration calling prosecution of Trump and ex-DOJ official Jeff Clark 'a major affront to
federal supremacy never before seen in the history of our country.' Doc: https://t.co/y4X1CimxTW

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) September 17, 2023

Journalism

I didn’t watch but as described... leaving aside the specifics of Trump, what is the point of letting any politician do this? And if it is only Trump, why?

This is a joke, right?

You pre-recorded an interview with multiple lies, then -- instead of not airing them or at least fact-checking in a real time -- ran that interview for millions on national TV, followed by a online fact check to be read by 1/100th of that? https://t.co/BcYRY3LyCM

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) September 17, 2023

Full Employment For Friends And Family

This isn’t in response to anything in particular, but one thing I failed to understand when I was younger was just how much a long political career is a a way to set up your extended network for life.  

This is especially true if you manage to hitch yourself to the right presidential candidate (this doesn't require being elected, and is even an opportunity for journalists), but also true for every single member of Congress.

It isn't quite corruption, necessarily, but it is hardly the purity of the noble calling of public service.  It is also helpful to see choices and alliances as less about ideology (sometimes) than strategic positioning.

Scaling

Never occurs to our very stable genius that this is a problem for everyone, and therefore the concept.

 

The scoop comes from Walter Isaacson's new biography of the tech magnate, simply titled "Elon Musk." Per its chapter on the launch of the driver assistance tech, Musk would learn firsthand that a curve on Interstate 405 caused Autopilot, thrown off by the road's faded lane lines, to steer into and "almost hit" oncoming traffic. 

 Whenever this happened, Musk would "furiously" storm into the Tesla office and proceed to chew out his engineers.

"Do something to program this right," he repeatedly demanded, as quoted in the biography.

Paid to have all the lanes repainted. Amazing stuff.

Clearly, nothing was getting through to Musk. It was only his chief of staff Sam Teller that was able to appease his CEO's complaints. He came up with a simple solution: getting the lane lines repainted on that pesky curve — which of course, didn't actually address the underlying problem. 

Morning

Sunday funday.

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Perfect Timing

I'm still laughing at the timing of the drop of Politico's Boebert beat sweetener.