October 1, 2026

STEALING PEOPLE’S WORK IS UNACCEPTABLE, WHETHER YOU USE AI TO ALTER IT, OR YOU ALTER IT YOURSELF:  Untouchable but real.

No, not all uses of AI are theft, anymore than your learning from published works, then writing your own is theft. BUT this case clearly is, and yes, it’s wrong. I have problems with the copyright law in the US because frankly my kids can make their own money and my grandkids, if and when, ditto. But knowing how long it takes for a career in the arts to pay at all I have to endorse some copyright so the creator (and his/her long suffering spouse) get some compensation for the years of nothing in the dark. Stealing people’s IP outright is wrong. Just wrong. Even when you don’t falsify that person’s pov.

Posted at 3:33 am by Sarah Hoyt

YEAH. NO PAUSES:  Now let’s talk about “the pause” Trust me bro we don’t want to squelch AI forever bro it would just be a couple years bro while we get alignment right bro. Wait, where have I heard this song before? Oh yeah. “Two weeks to flatten the curve.” The “pause” rhetoric is meant to create the institutional machinery for permanent suppression and shift the Overton window towards public acceptance of same. It’s a dishonest move from people pretending they’re willing to accept a future return to pre-“pause” liberty when that is exactly the opposite of what they intend. When s camel tries to get its nose into your tent, the right thing to do is kick it In the snoot. Hard.

Posted at 3:00 am by Sarah Hoyt

THE LEFT IS NOT EVEN HIDING THEY’RE IN THE PAY OF WEST TAIWAN, ANYMORE:  Enemy Actions.

Posted at 2:24 am by Sarah Hoyt

EVEN I — AND I’M AWARE OF IT — SOMETIMES FALL IN THE TRAP OF EXPECTING REALITY TO BE FASTER AND MORE DRAMATIC THAN REALITY EVER WAS:  Cinematic.

Posted at 2:00 am by Sarah Hoyt

September 30, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

VARIETY: Paramount Deal and U.S. Film Incentive Reflect Hollywood’s Deepening Ties to Government.

Hollywood has historically been wary of government involvement, whether in the form of censorship or via anti-monopolization efforts. But unions and studio chiefs celebrated last week’s developments.

“In almost every instance, Hollywood by and large resisted and was scared of interference,” Galloway says. “The contrast is that these two moves are by and large welcomed by Hollywood.”

Democrats often decry “corporate welfare,” but have long made an exception for Hollywood studios, which provide union jobs. Now Republicans are coming around too. Last year, Texas increased its state incentive and offered bonuses for “faith-based” projects and films that promote Texas heritage.

“The cultural aspects were used to get more traditional fiscal conservatives on board with something that could be seen as a Hollywood handout,” says Pete Johnson, a media industry researcher and visiting assistant professor at New York University, who sees Texas as a precursor to President Trump’s backing of a federal film incentive.

From the left’s point of view, what’s the problem? I’m so old, I can remember 12 years ago, when Salon wanted to nationalize both the film and the TV news industries.

As Charles Cooke asked the left in 2016, “Herewith, an under-asked question for our friends on the progressive left: ‘Has Donald Trump’s remarkable rise done anything to change your mind as to the ideal strength of the State?’”

 

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

JIM TREACHER: Green Lantern’s Superpower: Microaggressions.

“We were talking a lot about just the idea of replacement. When do you bow out gracefully? How long do you hold on? Right as we were having the conversation, we had already started talking about it and breaking it. The Democratic National Convention was coming up, and that’s when we were trying to figure out who is going to be the front-runner here. Is it going to be Kamala, or is it going to be Biden?”

Hal Jordan is Joe Biden, and John Stewart is Kamala Harris. I like those actors too much to saddle them with that comparison, but I’m not one of the writers of the show.

So, it all has to do with racism. This woman’s racial obsessions, and her privilege as a woman of color. And she is the one with privilege there.

I just think it’s really soured the show. It’s a weird mishmash. There are glimmers of something better, a better show, a better story. But then it goes right back to “white people are racist, whether they realize it or not.”

It’s a weird blend of detective stories, science fiction, superheroes, and racial grievance politics. It’s just a mess.

What’s wrong with just having a guy with crazy powers fighting crime? Why does it have to be a struggle session? Why do I need to interrogate my whiteness just to watch a show about guys in costumes blasting each other with space rays?

The Critical Drinker dubs Lanterns “A Superhero Show That Hates Superheroes,” but it seems as if all modern showrunners (with the exception of Andor’s Tony Gilroy) want to kill the TV series they’ve been assigned to:

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

ALICE COOPER: ‘Crack cocaine almost killed me.’

Cooper has been completely sober for the past 43 years.

“If you’re in a touring band, nobody gets high, nobody ever drinks, because now it’s a big business and you can’t afford to have a guy that’s doing that. In the Seventies, you didn’t hire the guy unless he got high, so everybody was on the same level,” he laughs.

When did that change?

“You know, I think that’s in the last 15 years. Now, almost everybody’s a health freak. Mick Jagger’s, what, 82? [The Stones frontman turned 83 in July.] He does a half an hour on the treadmill before a three-hour show. Come on! He’s everybody’s blueprint for lead singers. Nobody gets better than that.

“And Keith Richards, my wife has the best line about Keith Richards. She says, ‘With all the wars and all the disease and all that death going around, what kind of a world are we gonna leave Keith Richards?’”

He is 78, with a sinewy build, black hair curling towards his shoulders; his face is marked by deep creases on his cheeks, accentuated this morning by the black lines running down his face and the black circles on his eyes applied earlier by his make-up artist. He is dressed, of course, totally in black.

Nowadays, Cooper usually plays golf each day – the perfect example, he acknowledges, of replacing one addiction with another – but touring in Europe, he is only able to play once a week. The show itself, he says, “is an aerobic exercise”.

Cooper peers through the window. Outside, the rain is sluicing the city’s grey buildings from the slate-grey sky.

He was a long-distance runner in school, he says. “And I’ve always maintained that body. There was a survey about your lifestyle, which tells you what your physical age is – it said I was 41. I’m 78, but I don’t drink, I don’t smoke – my dad smoked, all my uncles smoked, but I didn’t get what anybody was getting out of it. I just thought it was a nuisance. I get constant exercise, happily married, da-da-da, da-do-do, and all that adds up.

Regarding smoking, former Nirvana bassist Pat Smear discovers the one unacceptable habit on the left: Nirvana member faces backlash for smoking during VMAs acceptance speech.

Nirvana, the iconic Seattle outfit that shaped the sound of ’90s alternative rock music, was honored with the Video Vanguard Award. Yet, the touching moment was overshadowed when one band member lit up during the heartfelt tribute, sparking criticism across social media.

The MTV Video Music Awards took place at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Throughout the CBS telecast of the pop culture awards show, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D gave a moving tribute to the legendary grunge act, particularly remembering the late Kurt Cobain. In a rare occurrence, the surviving members came together onstage to receive their accolade.

As Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic stepped up to accept the honor, Pat Smear was apparently puffing on a cigarette.

Rick Beato has some thoughts on the sea change that has occurred regarding smoking, in both the American population at large, and particularly among musicians, over the last 60 years or so:

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

ABSOLUTE HEROES: Passengers Share Riveting Stories of What Unfolded on FlyDubai Flight.

The Israel Foreign Ministry X account wrote:

This man is a hero.

Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.

Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door – allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save all the passengers.

Together, their extraordinary courage saved 174 lives.

Indian. Israeli. Emirati.

Different nationalities. One extraordinary act of courage.

The Israel War Room Shared this, which included video of passenger Yaniv Hayoun, who Netanyahu described as a “lion,” recounting what he says he encountered and how he responded. He actually apologized to Netanyahu for having to meet him in the bloody T-shirt and shoes he still wore:

Israeli hero aboard nearly-hijacked FlyDubai flight FZ 1073: Yaniv Hayoun

Hayoun has no background in security. But when he realized there was an attempted hijacking, he knew he had to do something.

He ran to the cockpit and physically fought with the co-pilot, who had stabbed the pilot and was attempting to crash the plane. Hayoun put the co-pilot in a chokehold and dragged. him out of the cockpit. Others came over to help restrain him.

Hayoun then went back into the cockpit and pulled back on the yoke to pull the plane out of its nosedive. The plane had dropped 17,000+ feet in under two minutes.

An off-duty pilot then entered the cockpit and took over the controls, and Haroun went back out to help guard the co-pilot.

Undoubtedly, we’ll be hearing more stories in the days and weeks to come as the authorities conduct their investigation.

The attacker, who has been identified only as an Omani national, is in custody. Machchhar’s condition, as of this writing, is not known.

Meanwhile, at America’s Newspaper of Record:

 

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

HEH:

Posted at 6:10 pm by Stephen Green

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Rockefeller Brothers Fund Sent Nearly $32 Million to China-Based Nonprofits, Watchdog Finds. “While political spending by far-left billionaires and networks has attracted attention, the role of nonprofit organizations such as the Rockefeller network has been less extensively scrutinized, even though it is influential. If people think of Rockefeller charity at all, they might recall John D. Rockefeller Sr.’s role in founding the University of Chicago, where the Rockefeller Chapel is a campus landmark, or Abby Aldrich Rockefeller’s role in founding New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, where the central sculpture garden is named after her. Today’s Rockefeller charities have taken a dramatic turn in a different direction, the new report says.”

Posted at 5:54 pm by Stephen Green