Lauren Weinstein

https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren

< Tech Systems & Policy Analysis: Internet, Privacy, plus his other sundry topics >
Los Angeles - lauren.vortex.com

Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com

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Last Notes

2024-11-09 02:23:10

OK, this looks more or less ready for an audio live stream with chat experiment. "Which Star Trek series was best?" I know it's utterly uncontroversial, but still worth discussing. I'll bring it up later this evening if possible. If nobody cares ... I won't bother. Simple.

2024-10-27 21:58:01

If he wins, Trump advisors want security clearances issued without FBI vetting
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/27/us/politics/trump-security-clearances-fbi.html
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/381/620/922/659/955/original/b182752bfd74f9c4.png

2024-10-27 21:54:52

At Trump NYC rally, Tucker Carlson calls Harris "a Samoan-Malaysian low IQ".

2024-10-25 17:49:21

In a 2024-focused reimagining of "All the President's Men" (1976), "The Washington Post" would be the bad guy helping the fascist to get elected as president, not the hero helping to stop an evil president.

2024-10-25 17:39:41

Does the U.S. need billionaires?

2024-10-24 15:39:54

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I don't think I ever wrote a really comprehensive single missive on that precise topic, so my discussions on this are probably splattered all over the Net by now over many years.

2024-10-23 13:32:23

14 year old obsessed with AI chatbot commits suicide
I don't see ANY positive aspects to this tech. None. We don't need a world of children (or adults) building relationships with AI large language models to the benefit of Big Tech companies that will disclaim responsibility when people are hurt. To hell with this tech. -L
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/technology/characterai-lawsuit-teen-suicide.html
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/356/983/033/687/494/original/7c45f4556e17a688.png

2024-10-21 03:30:26

Trump loves to rant about deporting 12 million people. Among the enormous list of legal, ethical, and logistical issues involved with such a plan, there is one aspect that almost never is talked about.
What if the countries he wants to send them to REFUSE TO TAKE THEM?
Hmm?

2024-10-14 16:32:28

I'll take a cat over #Google AI Overviews anytime.

2024-10-02 20:20:06

Bizarrely, the Supreme Court, by setting in motion the sequence of events that has led to this public release of evidence against Trump in the Jan. 6 case, may have done democracy an enormous favor, even though that was unlikely to have been the intention of the conservatives on the court who pushed through the immunity decision.

2024-10-02 20:05:43

BREAKING: PDF of 165 page redacted motion detailing previously unseen evidence against Trump in Jan 6 case, just released.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148.252.0.pdf

2024-10-01 18:41:17

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The jokes write themselves.

2024-10-01 18:40:28

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So happy for you having the money to pay those exorbitant public charging rates that are present at most public chargers.

2024-10-01 18:33:22

EVs are basically a toy for well-off people who can charge at home. For everyone else, there's no logical reason to buy one, unless you're a confirmed masochist.

2024-10-01 18:30:00

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CNN is a large enterprise owned by a much larger enterprise. There are numerous ways to pay for coverage, which to date on cable, satellite, and the Web has been ad-sponsored (to say the least -- deep and heavy ad runs, mostly from Big Pharma on the U.S. linear channel).
Given the vast range of free misinformation sources, throttling people looking for accurate information is not only self-defeating, but damaging to society as the trend permeates more of the industry.
This should be obvious to all observers.

2024-09-11 16:12:02

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Yesterday at this time (9:10 AM) it was already approaching 90F. Right now it's only 69. I could rarely get the room I'm in under 80F under any conditions during these days. Right now it's 74.

2024-09-11 14:04:32

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Luckily, almost nobody can play it anymore.

2024-09-11 13:56:35

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Yeah, humidity like that sucks.

2024-09-11 13:55:56

Rogue WHOIS server gives researcher superpowers no one should ever have
A bit of ARPANET history in this piece as well. -L
https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/rogue-whois-server-gives-researcher-superpowers-no-one-should-ever-have/
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/119/259/551/840/276/original/ae1fa399bf3841d2.png

2024-09-11 13:35:42

Trump says he won last night's debate, is less inclined to do more, and that ABC's "broadcast license" should be revoked for treating him unfairly. He's a laugh riot.

2024-09-11 13:29:40

Currently 49F (~9C) in my corner of L.A. at 6:30 AM. Lowest temp I've seen here at any time in the 24 hour cycle in months. Finally.

2024-09-11 04:00:11

BREAKING: Missouri Supreme Court rules that measure to restore abortion rights to women in Missouri WILL be on the ballot, after attempts to remove it.

2024-09-11 03:50:22

One of the appropriate idioms for tonight's debate would be that Harris played Trump like a violin. Though in Trump's case, playing him like a bass fiddle might be more idiomatically accurate.

2024-09-11 03:48:34

BREAKING: In a lengthy , thoughtful post, Taylor Swift endorses Harris, identifying herself as a "childless cat lady."

2024-09-09 16:23:43

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And no coders required! Big Tech's dream machine.

2024-09-08 14:43:50

These days, we're all pretty much sliding down the razor blade of Big Tech. (To sort of paraphrase the great Tom Lehrer.) #Google

2024-09-08 14:38:07

Mozilla has joined the "AI BY DEFAULT!" bandwagon. Have fun kids.

2024-09-08 14:35:29

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I frequently call back to uber-classic films like "Lawrence of Arabia" (arguably, best film of all time, fantastic optical and audio quality), and quality TV production from the 70s or so (e.g., from Universal). Take a series like early "Columbo". No need for cuts every quarter second. Dialogue clear as crystal because underscoring is used very sparingly and rarely under dialogue at all. And so on.

2024-09-08 13:43:43

Irony: Creators spend a fortune buying equipment to produce videos in beautiful color graded HDR 4K and 8K, while the majority of their viewers watch those videos on their tiny phone screens that have an effective viewing resolution similar to that of a mid-1960s console TV.

2024-09-07 19:54:34

Apparently this horrible L.A. area heat wave is supposed to finally have a rather abrupt end by Tuesday. Unfortunately, there may be little left but molten slag by that time. Stay tuned.

2024-08-30 23:43:36

Vance asked about Trump reporting disgusting, obscene meme attacking Harris. Vance replies that Trump likes having fun.

2024-08-28 15:37:34

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As you may have noticed, there is no PAUSE button on the seats in theaters.

2024-08-28 15:36:21

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Name the LLM, please.

2024-08-28 03:42:09

The lost art of feature film intermissions notwithstanding, the foundational length of a theatrically released film is limited by the capacity of the human bladder.

2024-08-25 21:45:59

A couple more test prints with the Bambu A1 Combo. One in honor of Leela, the other a practical bolt sizer. Still 100% success on all prints so far.
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/024/849/510/419/083/original/59639b78f609e186.png

2024-08-22 22:02:26

Chrome dumped support for Ubuntu 18.04 – but it'll be back
Excellent article in The Register:
https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/22/chrome_dropped_support_for_ubuntu/
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/007/927/616/830/505/original/4c72413d98ccccf3.jpg

2024-08-22 16:43:32

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Your insistence on continuing to make excuses for Google for this situation involving a crucial information page maintained by Google is ... baffling. Note that Google maintained updates for Chrome for Windows 7, LONG EOL, for many years until quite recently. So OS EOL is NOT RELEVANT to this situation.

2024-08-22 15:56:42

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What ARE you talking about? The #Google support page clearly says that 18.04+ is supported. There is nothing indicating an EOL for that support yesterday or a year from now. That's what matters. Google is responsible for that information and whether they just forgot about updating that or accidentally broke Chrome in 128 without realizing the impact on 18.04 DOES NOT MATTER. That page is what matters, and it's GOOGLE'S responsibility to keep that crucial page regarding Chrome accurate. Q.E.D.

2024-08-22 15:33:25

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Acceptable to cut off support WITHOUT WARNING and significant lead time notice? You must be kidding. That's awful.

2024-08-22 00:10:51

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It's definitely not something to do ad hoc. I'm also starting to suspect (but can't immediately confirm) that some later Ubuntu LTS systems (perhaps 20.04) may also be affected. But 18.04LTS for sure.

2024-08-21 23:48:02

***** Without warning, #Google appears to have broken #Chrome for still supported Linux systems *****
I'm receiving reports -- and have confirmed locally -- that Google appears to have broken support for the Chrome browser for Ubuntu Linux 18.04 systems, without any warning that I'm aware of.
While 18.04 is an older system, many are running with extended support from Canonical that runs through 2028. Many of these systems are in crucial applications where upgrading to later Ubuntu versions is not currently practical.
The problem appears to be that while Chrome Stable 127 is fine on these systems, Chrome Stable 128 now being rolled will not upgrade via apt, due apparently to the system libgcc-s1 library not being >= 4.2.
While there may be manual workarounds for this situation, they cannot be considered generally applicable since tampering with system libraries can easily render a system unbootable.
If Google intended to obsolete Chrome on these systems, there should have been plenty of warning -- but apparently there was none. Not being able to update Chrome invokes a variety of serious security concerns.
The current situation is unacceptable. -L

2024-08-20 16:03:49

Disney has apparently dropped their demand that a wrongful death lawsuit go to arbitration due to a Disney+ streaming subscription TOS. Uh, yeah, wise move there after all the blowback.

2024-08-19 18:11:31

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Here we go again. How many times do I have to say this. Such workarounds are selfish and in the end, useless. Most people will never know about them and never use them. Google could terminate those workarounds at any time, and probably will after they start running ads on the overviews. Using these workarounds gives Google an excuse not to provide real controls that work for everyone. STOP WITH THE DAMNED WORKAROUNDS and pressure Google and/or lawmakers to make these firms give users control over how generative AI crap is being stuffed down their throats.

2024-08-19 18:03:59

Search Engines should be required by law to provide a mechanism for users to turn off (and keep off, until such a time as they desire them back) the misinformation pollution that is generative AI content such as #Google AI Overviews. Enough is enough of this garbage.

2024-08-18 15:27:09

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Also, you can be maimed for life if you step on one facing upward with a bare foot. The only reason those fuses are in there is because post-WWII a suboptimal system was used to electrify homes. Now the UK is stuck with those plugs.

2024-08-18 13:35:22

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If they could figure out how to do it, maybe.

2024-08-18 13:34:53

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They usually run the theatrical versions irrespective of stuff like that.

2024-08-18 13:32:43

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Yep.

2024-08-18 13:27:54

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I've been saying the Apple privacy stance is really a self-serving profit center for ages. Too many Apple fanboys haven't figured it out yet.
I know the internals of Google vastly better than Apple, since I have worked inside Google and know/knew many great people there. I emphasize "knew" because the flow of Googlers I know who left the company is increasing rapidly, as the best people see the writing on the walls or have just gotten fed up with Sundar's vision.
My real Google hero is Matt Cutts. He's a great guy and it was always fun to have an opportunity to sit and chat with him. He got out of Google years ago. I haven't talked to him lately but I can imagine what he'd think of today's Google.

2024-08-18 03:08:06

When you pretty much finish a fairly long post and look at it and say to yourself "oh to hell with it" and delete it rather than post it.

2024-08-18 02:51:12

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The point is that (for example), it will happily provide Mel Brooks' date of birth. But not Harris. It is very specifically redlining.

2024-08-18 02:47:39

The Founding Fathers of the United States (at a time when women of course could not even vote) assumed that presidents would be gentlemen. They did not anticipate Trump.

2024-08-18 02:11:50

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Not so much knowingly. But there are common situations where it can get used accidentally (either real data, or ghost data).

2024-08-18 01:55:41

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The carrier data statistics are what matter of course. They tend to be REALLY good about collecting it, even if sometimes a bit delayed. If iOS is showing a much larger value than the carrier stats, this suggests "ghost" usage that didn't involve the carrier at all, assuming no massive failure of the carrier's data accounting systems.

2024-08-18 01:33:46

Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania today. He addressed the attendees as "North Carolina". They appeared justifiably confused. Almost as much as he obviously was.

2024-08-18 00:59:06

The 1983 film "Trading Places" has surfaced on #YouTube Movies & TV. Oddly though, it is labeled as "TV Version". This is extremely unusual for feature films that cycle into that YT channel.

2024-08-18 00:35:36

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But perhaps Sundar feels being discredited is worth it in the long run for his plans. Certainly he has shown little concern for Google's more positive traditional sensibilities.

2024-08-18 00:33:37

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Uh, it won't even answer fact questions about these persons. Like WHEN THEY WERE BORN. So it's not a matter of QA, it's TOTAL block lists on those names. Disgraceful.

2024-08-18 00:29:21

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You keep equating with "stupidity". They are far more complex that that, and from certain standpoints, they could be considered intelligent positions. It's just that those are pretty horrific standpoints in terms of user and community well being.

2024-08-18 00:25:51

I find it impossible to view #Google's refusal to permit their Gemini AI to even provide simple biographical information about persons such as Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, or even Donald Trump, to be nothing short of abject cowardice. Disgraceful.

2024-08-18 00:04:01

Meanwhile, #Google AI continues to expend their efforts at appearing as spineless as possible.
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/980/094/895/709/839/original/3f8103522b5d5dfd.png

2024-08-16 23:43:37

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I may have just coined the term "Limbo-speak". Or maybe not.

2024-08-16 23:42:59

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The vibe I get from Googlers still there these days is "Just a job. Just a paycheck." And hoping not to get laid off at an inopportune time. The joy is gone.

2024-08-16 23:39:59

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If you really want to expand this out ... there are of course a variety of endeavors along the continuum. Sports (and I'll admit, I have never had any particular interest in sports) is an obvious one, with the Olympics being a focal point in this regard. In some countries, a single test in school will determine the rest of your life to a significant extent. Young musicians practice their art and craft endlessly though few will ever be able to make a profession at it.
This is not to say that these endeavors aren't valuable in their own rights, but my point is that putting your whole life in one basket is problematic to my way of thinking at least.

2024-08-16 23:35:58

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Yes. And there's a simpler term that applies: "C-suite panic."

2024-08-16 23:34:54

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Lights on and off is one of my primary uses. A Clapper might be more reliable though these days. The interconnects between Assistant and the 3rd party services involved in these devices seem to be crumbling much of the time.

2024-08-16 23:33:00

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Oh definitely.

2024-08-16 23:29:55

Apparently JD Vance is now less popular than Sarah Palin was. That's quite an achievement. Or in Limbo-speak: How low ... can he go?

2024-08-16 23:27:11

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Yup. It's hard enough to staff legacy services appropriately since they're generally not considered career ladder enhancing. But now it seems to be orders of magnitude worse.

2024-08-16 23:22:11

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The context of the thread is the Olympics. Please stay in context. Thank you.

2024-08-15 20:19:26

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You'd have to ask him. Good luck.

2024-08-15 20:16:36

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Yes.

2024-08-15 20:14:50

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"The ends justify the means" is one of the most dangerous maxims of all time, triggering enormous suffering over the centuries.

2024-08-15 20:13:35

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It has been used, for example, to try justify damaging medical experiments on unknowing victims, in the name of "progress". The Nazis used this reasoning too for their medical atrocities.

2024-08-15 20:09:42

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That kind of reasoning has been used by big firms and governments to trample the lives of ordinary people for generations. It is ethically corrupt and is not an excuse for evil actions.

2024-08-15 19:36:08

Eric Schmidt has attempted to recant the most controversial statements in the interview video that Stanford is now suppressing. But he said what he said. Among the more controversial statements (not exactly his words, but a summary):
He opined that #Google had fallen behind in AI and had to rush to catch up because the firm cared too much about its employees' work/life balance, rather than just working them as hard as possible and going for the AI jugular early on.
He discussed how AI firms can just grab whatever content they want and then use lawyers after the fact to try clean up the mess.
As I said earlier, he made quite a few very insightful comments, but the awful ones are indeed pretty awful.

2024-08-15 19:27:15

Stanford keeps pulling down embarrassing Eric Schmidt video, new copies keep popping up on YouTube.
I can see why Eric wanted it deep-sixed. He says a lot of insightful things, and a number of quite horrid things.

2024-08-15 19:20:31

Peter Marshall, longtime host of TV game show series "The Hollywood Squares", dies at 98. Peace.

2024-08-15 17:31:33

Hidden-camera video shows Project 2025 co-author discussing his secret work preparing for a second Trump term and Trump's support
Also calls for U.S. to be officially a "Christian Nation" with
mass deportations. -L
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/15/politics/russ-vought-project-2025-trump-secret-recording-invs/index.html
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/967/226/550/341/984/original/9c8b40fe522e7b30.png

2024-08-14 17:34:17

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99.99% of people have ZERO interest in third party OS stuff. It's not even on the map.

2024-08-13 02:50:46

So would the average 10-year-old know that if water levels are rising you get less and less land left? Because Trump still gets this backwards. Scary as Hell.

2024-08-13 02:11:30

In his discussion with Musk, Trump again claims that rising ocean levels are great because "they'll create more beachfront property." The depth of Trump's stupidity is impossible to fathom (no pun intended). Apparently he never even saw the episode of "Gilligan's Island" when they thought the water level was rising around them and the island would be completely submerged (bad measurement data, Gilligan's fault of course).

2024-08-13 00:40:47

Musk interview of Trump on X suffers tech problems, Musk claims due to massive DDoS attack. 🎻

2024-08-11 23:43:29

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I should add that true BAUDOT is five bits, but I've seen variations with what amounts to a parity bit, sort of.

2024-08-11 23:39:22

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This is the same reason that RUBOUT/DEL in ASCII is all bits set -- so you wipe out all the bits.

2024-08-11 23:38:45

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Probably BAUDOT.

2024-08-11 23:16:01

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^Very Cool\.$

2024-08-11 23:11:17

All you really need to know about today's GOP is that they consider feeding children to be "Hell on Earth" socialism. But yeah, the more you know about them, the more you understand their fervent embrace of Hell.

2024-07-31 16:34:49

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Apparently all that was needed was "simple" stress testing of those files locally before sending them out globally, and they would have caught that bug when their own test systems crashed. Hard to see any valid excuse for not doing that.

2024-07-31 16:30:46

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$10 Uber Eats coupon code went out to some involved, apparently. WOW!

2024-07-31 16:28:18

Report: Delta says the CrowdStrike outage cost them $500 million, and that neither CrowdStrike nor Microsoft have offered them any compensation. And they sound pretty upset about it.

2024-07-31 15:03:26

If there's one word that Vance shouldn't be using in speeches, it's "couch". Just sayin'.

2024-07-27 18:33:47

Trump: "I want to be a dictator on Day One."
Trump (last night): "Vote for me in this election, and you'll never have to vote again."
We should appreciate such plain talk.

2024-07-18 14:50:13

As many observers have suspected, the rally shooter apparently had no political motives, he apparently "simply" wanted to conduct a violent act that would put him the history books. His phone showed searches for both the RNC and DNC, and both Trump and Biden. The Trump rally just happened to come first and be nearby. Days earlier, on a Steam board, he apparently posted, "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds."

2024-07-10 16:22:45

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Are you suggesting that Clooney is wrong?

2024-07-08 20:10:52

At a contentious press conference today, White House continued to assert that Biden does not have Parkinson's, but refused to discuss the presence in White House logs of eight visits by a Parkinson expert over eight months, refusing to name him even though his name is already known publicly from the logs. The White House needs to be 100% transparent or this controversy will continue to grow and suck the oxygen out of all other issues.

2024-07-07 16:13:16

It's annoying to see computer hardware in computer museums and realizing that not only at one time did I routinely use the same model devices, but in some cases the actual same physical piece of equipment now in the museum.

2024-07-07 16:07:40

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Exactly. What would happen if a presumed nominee -- or even the FORMAL nominee after a convention -- no longer can proceed. You can be sure that contingency plans have always existed for this eventuality -- but it's not something politicians want to talk about.
People keep asking "what about Trump? what about Trump?" I think I can finally crystallize this. No attempt is ever made to HIDE what Trump is. His failings are on full display, he'll rant and rave to anyone anywhere at extreme length, it's all out there. His supporters love it.
But there is a sense -- increasingly confirmed it appears -- that Biden's situation has been tightly managed to avoid much public display in uncontrolled situations. And this isn't new, I believe he's had fewer press conferences than any president going back for a very, very long time. I think this dichotomy is key to understanding the different reactions.

2024-07-07 15:20:55

The chorus of people trying to blame the messenger -- the media -- for calls for Biden to bow out of the race cannot dispel what we all can see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears when Biden is in any public situation without a teleprompter now. And many of us have seen the same situation, heartbreakingly so, among older members of our own families, who have lived stellar lives and keep insisting that -- for example -- they can still drive just fine, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

2024-07-07 01:37:51

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These comparisons are completely missing the issues. Trump's rants and mistakes are completely acceptable to his voters. Biden voters are justifiably concerned that Biden won't be able to fill out another term, and about what kind of shape he'll be in by the election. Anyone who has dealt with geriatric patients sees the horrific situation. If Biden really wants to help put this behind him, he can take a public competency test from a reputable clinic and make the results public. And release full physical data. It doesn't matter if Trump won't do the same. Biden is a vastly better human being than Trump, but right now he looks and sounds 20 years older, not 3. This is scaring the hell out of every Biden supporter I know personally.