Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro and Thaddeus Russell take a look at Zionism and its relationship to Judaism in a conversation that flies in the face of US corporate and political propaganda.
Is Zionism Antisemitic?
Can’t Be Canceled
Tucker Carlson interviewed Alex Jones this week.
Jones has been blocked from every social media platform and refuses to go away.
Listen to the interview and find out why the corporate media has conspired to silence him.
“I Hope You Win”
I took this message from Tucker Carlson personally. I’m not through his conversation with Theo Von, but I was inspired by this positivity to return to blogging.
I listen to a lot of podcasts and I’m trying to read more. I’m going to work to share the resources I value. The effort to silence dissident voices (even those as vanilla as Carlson) is a threat to individual thought and I hope to combat it with some “radical” conversations.
GatGPT
Facebook will not be friendly to GatGPT. Google will not be friendly to GatGPT. DuckDuckGo won’t put it at the top of a search.
This is the independence answer to the corporate Large Language Models.
The founders have a record of fighting government regulation and winning those fights. This is the latest battleground in government control.
I kicked in $5 to join the waitlist and recommend you do the same.
…
The Digital Second Amendment
CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman before Congress, May 16th, 2023: “Government intervention will be critical.” Please regulate us!
CEO of Anthropic Amodei before Senate Judiciary Committee, July 25th, 2023: Presentation “Oversight of AI: Principles for Regulation.” Please prevent the public from making weapons with AI!
Sept. 13th, 2023 Chuck Schumer holds an off the record, closed to the public meeting with the heads of the large US AI firms. Elon Musk, caught afterward by the press, says Schumer did a “great service to humanity”. All present raised their hands in support of AI regulation.
This is an open conspiracy against the public. But it is too late.
Our federal government operates in a partnership with large, private firms to anticipate and informally execute the regulation of the American people, regardless of official action. It launders its agenda. We have all learned of the alliance between the tech oligarchs and the national security establishment. Their union has produced a “counter-disinformation” complex whose goal is the total control of the Internet and public speech.
AI journalism is uniformly produced in assistance of the narrative that the public requires regulation in advance of a national security event or, as is more fashionable, because the public cannot be trusted to live online with its own information interests. American journalism is here an extension of our government’s civil service.
Defense Distributed, in releasing GatGPT, declares a Digital Second Amendment. Americans must have access to compute, databases, and AI models, the newest weapons of the digital age, not just to defend ourselves against corporate and government depredations, but to defend our civic identity and humanity.
Ours is not a Magna Carta for Cyberspace. We know well the disastrous history and direction of Internet regulation. The Communications Decency Act passed in response to moral panic, and only accidentally yielded the protections of Section 230. The story repeats itself with public and private attempts to regulate the People’s cryptography, printable gun files, and Bitcoin.
AI regulation is an open and official provocation against the Liberty and Sovereignty of American citizens. All who advocate for it are domestic enemies of the Constitution and must be absolutely opposed. The right of the people to keep and deploy models shall not be infringed.
Signal Boosting
I often turn to Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying for sober, curious, and fearless analysis.
In this recent episode, I learned that they have been demonetized by Youtube. This is happening to too many in the podcast sphere. Rumble has dedicated itself to free speech and I am trying to use it as my preferred app for media consumption.
Delaware Fun-A-Day Prep
I haven’t been taking time to play with Lego and it shows.
For the month of October, I’ll be working with my sons and other homeschoolers to build 31 distinct sculptures.
This will be our third time participating in Delaware Fun-A-Day and I’m excited to see what we come up with.
Taco-Flavored Kisses Tuesday
Things got weird at Bourbon & Beyond.
Dad, You’re Such a Boomer!
-Embarrassed Children
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, with no additional cost to you.
I love meeting new people and finding connections, but moreover, I LOVE embarrassing my kids. They hate it when I hand out random information or try to help strangers find their way. Earlier in the day, I ran across a parking lot to compliment a gentleman on his Lego t-shirt in the style of Van Gogh’s self portrait.
While relaxing on the field between sets at Bourbon & Beyond, I noticed the guy behind us wearing an Offspring Smash t-shirt.
I leaned back and said, “That’s really cool, my first concert was when they toured on that album in ’94.” He replied, “Ha, I saw them in 2018.”
“Oh my God, you’re such a boomer!”
I think it was Kristen’s daughter’s words, but my boys agreed with exasperated teen noises.
I live for these moments. I’m close to three decades worth of concerts under my belt and I still get the rush of emotion to my skin when magic hits the stage. I still dance like I want to and holler like a fool when a band breaks out a surprising cover or solo.
Soon, these kids will be going to shows without me. I’m thrilled for their growing freedom, but I’m going to take advatage of every chance I get to make them red-faced before that happens!
Bourbon & Beyond: Not Enough Pictures
Day three was my most relaxed. There weren’t any “must see” acts on anyone’s list and we were all pleased that Saturday seemed less populated than Friday.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, with no additional cost to you.
Old Crow Medicine Show was the highlight of the day. Mary and I saw them maybe 15 years ago and they have more energy now! On top of being world class bluegrass musicians, their personal chemistry was reminiscent of a Rat Pack performance. One-liners, inuendos, down home dad jokes, and physical comedy filled the stage. I love George Jones’ “White Lightning,” but I have never seen it played live. It’s a crack up of a song and Old Crow delivered on all the beats. J.P. Richardsaon, aka The Big Bopper, wrote the song and died six days before its release in 1959.
We also got to enjoy First Aid Kit, Lindsay Lou, The Black Crowes, The Avett Brothers, The Black Keys, and Spoon.
Lindsay Lou was loads of fun and we might check her out again on day four.
Bourbon & Beyond: Mom Shows Up
“Dad, did Mom like this singer?”
Music is the constant and everlasting reminder of the mother and wife we lost.
The emotional swell of a song can lead me to the narrow, indefinite space between peak joy and cavernous sadness.
I had to think about Westen’s question. I didn’t know Brittany Howard‘s name before I started researching the Bourbon & Beyond lineup. I was, however, familiar with her previous band, Alabama Shakes. Mary was too. They grabbed our attention in 2012 with a Daytrotter Session. Daytrotter was our only source for new music as we navigated the first years of parenthood.
They were on our list to go see, a list that only grew as we took little time away from the boys for other passions.
I get to keep working on that list. I get to introduce them to the bands and music Mary loved. I get to show them the camping and concert tricks Mary taught me. I get to weave her into their lives in conscious and subconcious ways.
This introduction was unintentional. Howard’s solo work is different than her earlier work with the Shakes and I didn’t expect the music Mary knew to be played. Even so, Mary visited Westen and put that question in his head. She likes the new material, she approves of Howard preaching Love from Him above. There isn’t a lot of that at these events. It moved Mary to show up and…I don’t know exactly. Maybe to let me know she wasn’t missing out on anything. That’s what makes me most sad about her passing. Even as my current life is entirely incompatible with the life I had with her, it is dreadfully sad to watch her boys grow up without her.
So she shows up and reminds us that they are not without her.
I wonder if she is there in that octopus’s eyes.