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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 11:44:40 GMT -8
A book hit me on the head. I only have my shelf to blame.
Feeble. It's Not Like He Had a Lot to Lose.
Trump triggered by Lincoln Project ad calling him 'weak' — and claims videos are fake AI
The anti-Trump political operatives at the Lincoln Project got former President Donald Trump to melt down at their latest ad, as Trump even went so far as to accuse them of using artificial intelligence videos to make him look bad.
The video in question showed Trump making a number of verbal and physical gaffes over the years, all while insinuating that the former president is in steep mental decline.
Trump, after apparently seeing the ad on Fox News, lashed out on his Truth Social platform.
"The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do," he wrote on Monday evening. "Fox News shouldn’t run these ads, just as low ratings CNN & MSDNC will not, under any circumstances, run negative ads on Biden or the Democrats."
In fact, none of the footage used in the ad was generated by AI and was all archived news video.
The Lincoln Project itself fired back at Trump on Tuesday morning and argued that his response confirmed their ad's insinuation that he's going senile.
"Donald Trump, are you in such mental decline you can't tell the difference between reality and AI?" they wrote on Twitter. "You're losing it. We know it, your people know it, and now you do too. At least you remembered to name us this time."
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 11:47:05 GMT -8
The Media Can't Live Without Him
As soon as Trump left office, readers and viewers disappeared—within a month, The Washington Post lost a quarter of its unique visitors, and CNN lost 45 percent of its prime-time audience. From exile, Trump summoned one reporter after another to Mar-a-Lago and gave interviews for books that both sides knew would attack his presidency and become best sellers. When he returned as a presidential candidate and criminal defendant, cable-news-network ratings climbed again.
It’s impossible not to feel that Trump has gotten the better of this codependent clench. His endless stream of grievance and invective eroded his supporters’ trust in the news media to the point where 58 percent of Republicans now say they have none. If half the country believes most of what the mainstream media report and the other half thinks it’s mostly lies, this isn’t a partial win for journalists, whose purpose isn’t to strengthen the opposition but to give the public information it needs to exercise democratic power. Trump’s purpose is to destroy the very notion of objective truth. The match was rigged in his favor, and being compelled to fight it has not been good for journalism.
Though reporters did excellent work covering Trump’s presidency, his effect was to make the American media a little more like him: solipsistic (foreign reporting nearly disappeared), divisive, and self-righteous. Trump corrupts everyone who gets near him—spouses, children, followers, accomplices, flunkies. He corrupts the press by obsessing it; by flooding it with so much shit that news becomes almost indistinguishable from fluff and lies; by baiting it into abandoning independence for activism; by demoralizing it with the recognition that much of the public doesn’t care.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 12:00:40 GMT -8
Somebody Knew What Was Coming in Israel
Short-selling Israeli shares – betting that they will fall – spiked in the days before October 7, far exceeding the short selling during “numerous other periods of crisis,” Robert J. Jackson, Jr., Joshua Mitts and colleagues wrote in a paper titled “Trading on Terror?”published Sunday on SSRN.
While the source of the putative information leading to the short selling isn’t known, it plausibly originated in Hamas circles: “Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events,” they wrote.
To examine how unusual the gamble against Israel was, the researchers checked the volume of short transactions in EIS units from 2009 to 2023, during which Israel experienced plenty of crises. There were 3,570 trading days throughout that period. The volume of shorts on EIS on October 2 was in the top 99 percent percentile. The “short ratio” for EIS was also extraordinary on October 2: “It is extremely unlikely that the volume of short selling on October 2 occurred by random chance,” they wrote.
“Moreover, it indicates that the short selling that day far exceeded the short selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis, including the recession following the [2008] financial crisis, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” they added.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 12:03:30 GMT -8
Comer Commits More Fraud
Comer mischaracterizes Hunter Biden car payment reimbursement to his dad.”
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer dropped what was supposed to be a big bombshell on Monday. As he put it, “Hunter Biden's business entity, Owasco PC, made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden.” The response he was looking for was: “Direct monthly payments! Wow, sounds like evidence of corruption to me!” The response he got was: “Uh, that was car payments Hunter was making after his father got him a vehicle at a time when his credit was in the toilet. And it was three monthly payments of $1,380. And Joe Biden was not in office at the time.”
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 12:05:20 GMT -8
Tommy PotatoTown Gives Up (Almost)
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced Tuesday he will lift his hold on most military nominations, a breakthrough in his monthslong blockade of promotions over the Pentagon's abortion policies.
The Alabama lawmaker told reporters he will lift his hold on all nominations except for four-star generals, clearing the way for hundreds of stalled military appointments to be confirmed en bloc as soon as today.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2023 12:10:59 GMT -8
MAGA Takes Over Another University
Youngstown State University alum Ed O’Neill (Married with Children, Modern Family) announcing that he will be returning his honorary doctorate and requesting that his name be removed from all University materials. The owner of a local fireworks company made similar name requests and would be modifying terms of a previous five-million-dollar pledge. The cause for these and many other intense reactions was the selection of MAGA Congressman and election denier Bill Johnson of Ohio’s gerrymandered 6th District as Youngstown State’s next President. All Courtesy of Republican Governor Mike Dewine’s appointed trustees 8-1 vote after an opaque search process. Three of those trustees have made sizeable contributions to the Congressman’s campaigns. He will be resigning in the Spring to take the position. He will be paid over $410,000 yearly and provided a campus mansion among other typical perks.
Mr. Johnson has acted in ways that should make him ineligible to lead an institution of higher learning. He is welcome to his opinions, but bringing a source of increased division to a campus is never desirable.
Voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Joined a Texas lawsuit to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in 4 other states.
Voted against federal recognition of same sex marriage.
Has endorsed Donald Trump for President.
Has specifically complained about indoctrination on college campuses.
His answer to the controversy has been essentially – I’ve got my contract -
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