August 5, 2025

SURE, WITH SOME QUIBBLES:  Tax the Hollywood Hypocrites. Virtue signalling commies should get a taste of their medicine.

The quibbles being: cut small writers/businessmen some slack. Most of the pulp writers plain forgot to renew copyrights, because they were writing 10 books a year, raising families and trying to make the rent. A lot of us live like that. Don’t hit us because you want to hit Hollywood. (Colorado has tax code thing to “catch” doctors and lawyers that unfortunately means taxing all self employed hard.)
Second: while my kids can make their own money, and don’t get me started on my putative, hypothetical grandkids, (trust funds destroy people. Not that I make money worthy of that, anyway) let me say that yeah, I could be gone tomorrow, but given family longevity 40 years isn’t out of the question. I know all writers slow with age. I’d just hate to hit 80 or 90 and not be entitled to anything from the long tail, because the copyright has expired.

Posted at 1:31 am by Sarah Hoyt

YES, “HOSTAGE PUPPIES” DO SUFFER UNWARRANTED JEOPARDY:  Hostage Puppy vs Hostage.  Some critical differences.

But they need to kick the Stockholm syndrome and find other ways to survive. No one is obligated to finance evil just to fund your just cause.

Posted at 12:32 am by Sarah Hoyt

August 4, 2025

THE 21st CENTURY ISN’T TURNING OUT THE WAY I HAD HOPED: Jim Acosta ‘Interviews’ AI-Generated Avatar of Deceased Teen Promoting Gun Control.

Former CNN host Jim Acosta “interviewed” an AI-animated avatar of deceased Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver on Monday to promote a gun control message.

“I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence,” Acosta asked the avatar, for an interview on his Substack.

“Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support, and community engagement. We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making sure everyone feels seen and heard,” Oliver’s avatar said. “It’s about building a culture of kindness and understanding. What do you think of that?”

“I think that’s a great idea, Joaquin,” Acosta responded.

This isn’t creepy at all:

It’s not playing well with Acosta’s fellow leftists on BlueSky:

As Glenn rhetorically asks, “Can we add some intelligence to Jim Acosta?”

UPDATE: Ryan Saavedra tweets that Acosta received “3,000+ responses…on Bluesky in response to his ‘interview’ with a deepfake AI chat bot of a kid who was killed in a school shooting Surprisingly, this seems to have even crossed the line for everyone on that platform.”

Posted at 11:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER LAUGHTER? The Critical Drinker on The Naked Gun: Are We Allowed To Laugh Again?

Christian Toto concurs with the Drinker’s assessment: The Naked Gun Shovels More Dirt on Woke Comedy’s Grave. “Perhaps the best part of ‘The Naked Gun’ is its running time – 86 tight minutes. That’s what a comedy should aim for – a not-so-hidden message to the team behind ‘Happy Gilmore 2: We Needed Two Hours to Include All the Gratuitious Cameos.’  Get in. Get out. Leave us laughing. ‘The Naked Gun’ clears that low bar. Hopefully, it’s a sign of very funny things to come. HiT or Miss: ‘The Naked Gun’ apes the comic chaos created by David Zucker in the ’80s. The results, while imperfect, are undeniably funny.”

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

Shot: How did the men who bombed Hiroshima live with themselves?

Eighty years on, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima continues to provoke fierce debate, reflection, and deep moral inquiry. How did the thirteen men aboard the Enola Gay – the US aircraft that delivered the bomb that killed at least 150,000 people – live with the knowledge of what they had done?

The morning of August 6, 1945 began like any other on the Pacific island of Tinian. That was, until the Boeing B-29 Superfortress lifted into the sky. Its destination: Japan. Its payload: “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare. Piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jnr. and manned by a crew of twelve, the mission forever altered the course of history. The explosion over Hiroshima ushered in the atomic age, marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War, and created a moral legacy that haunted and defined the lives of those aboard.

—Spectator World, today.

Chaser: 75 Years Later, Purple Hearts Made for an Invasion of Japan are Still Being Awarded.

The decoration, which goes to troops wounded in battle and the families of those killed in action, had been only one of countless thousands of supplies produced for the planned 1945 invasion of Japan, which military leaders believed could last into 1947.

Fortunately, the invasion never took place. All the other implements of that war — tanks and LSTs, bullets and K-rations — have long since been sold, scrapped or used up, but these medals struck for their great grandfathers’ generation are still being pinned on the chests of young soldiers.

In all, approximately 1,531,000 Purple Hearts were produced for the war effort, with production reaching its peak as the Armed Services geared up for the invasion of Japan.

—History News Network, August 9th, 2020.

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

FASTER, PLEASE: Israel to Complete Occupation of Gaza? “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a decision for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip, including operations in areas where hostages are held, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The Prime Minister’s Office conveyed the message to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir: If this does not suit you, then you should resign.”

Posted at 8:22 pm by Ed Driscoll