Mitch Wagner

Why The American Radical Right Is Powerful And The American Left Is Meaningless.

Ian Welsh:

You have power in electoral politics when you can deliver or deny votes and money and get people elected or un-elected. That’s the bottom line.

Also:

[The radical right] have power because they have solidarity and they expect and get results from their representatives. The American left refuses to use power when it has it, and its members just want performative leftism from the likes of AOC. They don’t want or expect results and they display little solidarity, and that why for over 50 years the left in the US (and the UK) has staggered from defeat to defeat.

I don’t know how Welsh feels about the phrase “virtue signaling,” but it comes to mind here.

Independent Reporting Shows Cops Are Still Killing People At An Alarming Rate [Techdirt/Tim Cushing]. Despite calls for police reform, police are killing more people than ever. Neither local governments nor the federal Department of Justice are even keeping track.

Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio. [Ars Technica/Benji Edwards] I can think of no possible mischief involving this technology.

On the cutting edge of insurrectionist terrorism

Brazil riots weren’t a repeat of Jan. 6. They were an escalation, says Ryan Broderick at Garbage Day.

Broderick, an American who usually writes about internet culture, lives part of the year in Brazil.

Broderick:

Trump supporters dream of bringing America back to a vague fictitious past, some combination of the Reaganite 80s and a 1950s America that only existed in magazine ads. Bolsominions are much more specific. They want to bring back a military dictatorship and they’re not afraid to say it.

Also:

It feels like America is actually the country least prepared for the existential fight against authoritarianism that lies ahead.

For instance, Brazil’s current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or “Lula,” reacted quite differently yesterday than the US government did two years ago. Lula declared that the rioters were terrorists and triggered a state of emergency and arrested over 1,000 of them immediately. I told a few Brazilian friends this morning that we let our insurrectionists go home afterwards and they looked at me like I had just grown a second head.

We watched “The Thin Man” Saturday night. Second time for me, but I had nearly forgotten it. It was delightful.

I think I’m only going to watch movies made in the 1930s from now on.

Advantage to working from home: When you’re completely stuck creatively, you can clean the massive amount of dog shit that you got on your favorite casual shoes.

Disadvantage to working from home: If you work in a proper office building, you’re not as likely to get massive amounts of dog shit on your favorite casual shoes.

I used a stiff brush, a worn-out toothbrush, and a thin stick. Wet down the brush with warm water, scrub with dish soap, put on the shoes and walk around in the grass for a bit, then take off the shoes and repeat. Use the toothbrush and thin stick to dig in the treads. It’s not magic; it takes a while.

According to the Internet, WD-40 works instead of dish soap, but we don’t know where the WD-40 is.

Important note: When doing the “walking around in the grass” part, don’t step in more dog shit!

Researchers at Columbia University are working on building a conscious robot.

If they succeed, it will end badly. They’re either building a race of artificial slaves that hate us, or building a race of artificial slaves that are brainwashed to love us.

‘Consciousness’ in Robots Was Once Taboo. Now It’s the Last Word. [NYTimes/Oliver Whang]

Insomnia is not so bad if you have something to do to pass the time. When I have trouble sleeping, I like to imagine every possible awful thing that might happen to me or Julie.

This yard decoration. Clever and patriotic!

These pretty, painted rocks

This house with a cozy looking sitting area on the roof.

This school. “Geckos” does not seem like an inspiring team name.

This nice garden.

This Lambo parked in front of a house. It doesn’t look like the kind of house that would have a Lambo in front.

These cars. WTF do these bumper stickers mean?

This tree.

These cars. Two different cars, not parked close together. I wonder whether the owners are friends.

Dead Santa hanging from the house with the “itty bitty titty committee” sign in front.

This flag. I thought it said “one nation under Gog.” Who’s “Gog?” I said.

A gray, chilly, wet morning at Lake Murray.