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Top 10 Conservative Idiots #22: Wheel O’ Corruption Edition
Last edited Mon Apr 4, 2016, 10:59 AM - Edit history (10)
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #22: Wheel O’ Corruption Edition
Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! So… we got to talk about Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice for a minute. Holy shit. Zack Snyder, you have got some serious ‘splaining to do. You can’t make Batman sadistic! Which is what the Ben Affleck Batman was! Everything that made the Nolan Batman flicks great, that made the Marvel flicks great, even Deadpool – one of my favorite movies this year so far, was thrown out the window to make this as dark as possible. I mean he was branding people and then sending them back out into the wild. I will expect a certain amount of that from our politicians, but I will not from our super heroes! Batman is not supposed to be the bad guy, he’s supposed to be the Dark Knight! He’s the hero Gotham deserves, but the not the one it needs right now. He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. And don’t get me started about hipster doofus Lex Luthor either. But there is one good thing to come out of that mess of a flick, sad Affleck:
This would probably be better if we had the Sad Hulk music.
All right, now that I got that off my chest let’s get to it shall we? Where do we begin? There is a lot of idiocy coming from our nation’s governors. And after how long the last 3 have been I will try to make this one much shorter this time around. So for the number one slot this week, we are going to talk about Donald Trump Supporters (1). Their attempt to bring guns into the RNC backfired on them big time. It's a colossal disaster and we're going to break it down for you. Returning champion Pat McCrory (2) falls to second place this week. It seems he is feeling the pressure from that horrendous anti-LGBT law he didn't hesitate to pass last week. Taking the third slot, Anti Abortion Republicans (3) are taking down women's rights one horrifying law at a time. At number 4, "family values" governor of Alabama Robert Bentley (4) could lose everything over a rather bizarre and stupid sex scandal. Taking the 5th spot, is the State Of Arizona (5) who is losing their collective minds over the very real possibility of voter fraud being committed in their state. At number 6, Donald Trump (6) has picked up some endorsements from the same breed of has-been Z grade celebrities that appear on Celebrity Apprentice, and he's also playing with fire. Taking the 7th seed, anti vaccination crusaders and their leader Mike Adams (7) have their collective underwear in a wad over their expulsion from Robert DeNiro's annual Tribeca Film Festival. At number 8, Michigan governor Rick Snyder (8) appears on a list from Fortune Magazine that no one wants to appear on, and rightfully so, but he is a big loser. Taking the 9th spot, John Kasich (9) is caught in a "scandal" over how he eats his pizza. Did Jon Stewart not teach us anything? Finally we're going to expand on something I talked about last week and talk about artificial intelligence. Specifically Microsoft's Twitter customer support bot Tay (10) got kidnapped and reprogrammed into a psychotic genocide advocating, pot smoking, Hitler loving, Trump supporter. And this story is even more insane than you think it is. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!
[font size="8"]Donald Trump Supporters[/font]
So for this edition we’re going to spin an imaginary wheel for republican corruption. Use your best imagination for this one. Like what Stephen Colbert uses.
The items on the wheel will be:
- Gun Nuts
- Bernie Haters
- Obama Haters
- Hillary Haters
- Donald Trump
- Bathrooms
- Clip Without Context
- 5,000
- Poison
- Poison (The Band)
- Bankrupt
- Buy A Vowel
- Funerals For Fetuses
- Pizza
- Donald Trump
- Voter Fraud
- Anti Abortion
- "Family Values"
- 10,000
- Sex Scandals
- Anti vaccination crusaders
- Something random in the news
- ??? (Mystery)
- Florida (Obviously)
- Infowars
- War Machine
- Fuel
- Donald Trump (yes he appears if you say his name 3 times, like Beetlejuice,
)
Spin that shit! Where is it going to land for the first entry? Can it be? Oh…. Oh… yes! Gun nuts! Whew! I knew you would not disappoint me this week! This might be one of my favorite stories to come out of the madness that is the Donald Trump campaign. I talked about this last week but we’re going to go into a lot more detail this week. So Quicken Loans Arena – the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has a ban in place on guns in the arena. So how might that affect the Republican National Convention which is going to take place at Quicken Loans Arena? Remember when Donald Trump threatened convention riots upon learning that there might be a brokered convention this year?
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump and Ted Cruz warned fellow Republicans Wednesday of dire consequences if the GOP establishment attempts to have a brokered convention this summer.
"I think you'd have riots. I think you'd have riots," Trump said Wednesday on CNN's "New Day." "I'm representing a tremendous many, many millions of people."
The Republican Party veered closer to a contested convention Tuesday after Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his home state and deprived Trump, the party's front-runner, of its 66 delegates. That makes it more difficult for the billionaire to reach the 1,237 delegates he needs to capture the GOP prize without a floor fight.
In fact one of Trump's supporters said there would be riots if Trump didn't win the nomination at the convention, though riots themselves "aren't necessarily a bad thing."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-brokered-convention/
"I think you'd have riots. I think you'd have riots," Trump said Wednesday on CNN's "New Day." "I'm representing a tremendous many, many millions of people."
The Republican Party veered closer to a contested convention Tuesday after Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his home state and deprived Trump, the party's front-runner, of its 66 delegates. That makes it more difficult for the billionaire to reach the 1,237 delegates he needs to capture the GOP prize without a floor fight.
In fact one of Trump's supporters said there would be riots if Trump didn't win the nomination at the convention, though riots themselves "aren't necessarily a bad thing."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-brokered-convention/
In a previous edition I even reported that the Cleveland police were preparing for that possible outcome by buying some ridiculously expensive riot gear. Now when you think about that, consider something that I talked about last week in a bit of detail. But to do that, first here’s the exact text of the corporate policy at Quicken Loans Arena.
In accordance with the Ohio’s “concealed carry” law and the right for private entities to ban handguns on their premises, firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises of Quicken Loans Arena.
http://www.theqarena.com/arena-info/policies
http://www.theqarena.com/arena-info/policies
Yes – in Ohio corporate entities are allowed to regulate whether or not guns are allowed on the premesis. And you can imagine that a place where 20,000 people come and go during the regular NBA season on a daily basis, that having guns in that place would be a bad thing. Well there’s this.
More than 25,000 people have signed a petition to allow firearms inside the Republican National Convention being held in Cleveland in July.
Firearms are currently not permitted inside the Quicken Loans Arena, known as "the Q," where the gathering will take place.
The petition, posted Monday on Change.org, sought only 5,000 signatures but has since quintupled, topping 25,000 Saturday afternoon. It was posted by an author identified only as "N.A." from Cleveland, but the user profile appears to have been deleted from the website.
It was not clear whether the person posting the petition was backing the proposal or attempting to put the party, which strongly backs gun rights, in an awkward position.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/26/20000-sign-petition-allow-guns-republican-national-convention/82289342/
Firearms are currently not permitted inside the Quicken Loans Arena, known as "the Q," where the gathering will take place.
The petition, posted Monday on Change.org, sought only 5,000 signatures but has since quintupled, topping 25,000 Saturday afternoon. It was posted by an author identified only as "N.A." from Cleveland, but the user profile appears to have been deleted from the website.
It was not clear whether the person posting the petition was backing the proposal or attempting to put the party, which strongly backs gun rights, in an awkward position.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/26/20000-sign-petition-allow-guns-republican-national-convention/82289342/
25,000 people. 25,000 people. Which if you think about it, is almost as many people that live in Saratoga Springs, New York. In fact, it was almost 41,000 which if you think about that, is the same population as Yucaipa, California. This puts Quicken Loans Arena in a very awkward position, and I do mean very awkward. On one hand, it does abide by the Ohio law that states that private entities can dictate whether or not to allow guns in the arena. But on the other hand it is the Republican National Convention. The text of this petition is quite literally insane. Let’s break it down for you.
SUMMARY: In July of 2016, the GOP will host its convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Though Ohio is an open carry state, which allows for the open carry of guns, the hosting venue—the Quicken Loans Arena—strictly forbids the carry of firearms on their premises.
According to the policy on their website, "firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises of Quicken Loans Arena."
https://www.change.org/p/quicken-loans-arena-allow-open-carry-of-firearms-at-the-quicken-loans-arena-during-the-rnc-convention-in-july-2
According to the policy on their website, "firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises of Quicken Loans Arena."
https://www.change.org/p/quicken-loans-arena-allow-open-carry-of-firearms-at-the-quicken-loans-arena-during-the-rnc-convention-in-july-2
I take it you didn’t read the law, sir because it literally says this:
An Ohio concealed carry license does not allow totally unfettered carry. Any owner of private property can ban handguns by posting a sign in clear view or providing verbal notice. Additional "no-carry" zones are mandated by O.R.C., including most government buildings, churches, and school property with the latter two zones having exceptions for licensees in certain circumstances. Various other "no-carry" zones are also enumerated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Ohio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Ohio
You didn’t even read the text in your own fucking links! Seriously what the fuck? Quicken Loans Arena is doing exactly what the law says.
But here’s where it gets batshit fucking insane.
This is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk. As the National Rifle Association has made clear, "gun-free zones" such as the Quicken Loans Arena are "the worst and most dangerous of all lies." The NRA, our leading defender of gun rights, has also correctly pointed out that "gun free zones... tell every insane killer in America... (the) safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk." (March 4, 2016 and Dec. 21, 2012)
Cleveland, Ohio is consistently ranked as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America. By forcing attendees to leave their firearms at home, the RNC and Quicken Loans Arena are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside of the convention site.
Cleveland, Ohio is consistently ranked as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America. By forcing attendees to leave their firearms at home, the RNC and Quicken Loans Arena are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside of the convention site.
This whole argument contradicts itself multiple times over! So you want to make Cleveland safe from gun nuts by allowing other gun nuts to dictate what can or cannot be brought into the QLA? Especially when Donald Trump is already threatening riots? Sure, throw a tank of kerosene onto an already burning building and see what happens!
This doesn't even begin to factor in the possibility of an ISIS terrorist attack on the arena during the convention. Without the right to protect themselves, those at the Quicken Loans Arena will be sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers, criminals or others who wish to threaten the American way of life.
All three remaining Republican candidates have spoken out on the issue and are unified in their opposition to Barack HUSSEIN Obama's "gun-free zones."
Donald Trump said "I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools—you have—and on military bases on my first day. It gets signed my first day...you know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait." (Jan. 8. 2016)
All three remaining Republican candidates have spoken out on the issue and are unified in their opposition to Barack HUSSEIN Obama's "gun-free zones."
Donald Trump said "I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools—you have—and on military bases on my first day. It gets signed my first day...you know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait." (Jan. 8. 2016)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… *holds breath* Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…That’s some mighty fine gun nut logic there! And ISIS? ISIS You say? Did you not see this statement where former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Donald Trump campaigns are recruiters for ISIS? And you know what? I want to take a time out for a minute and ask:
How is this still a thing? Republicans putting emphasis on the Hussein part of Barack Hussein Obama's name. I mean it was cute a minute when you did this way back in 2007. But after 8 years and no war was declared on a single country in that time, no 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina disasters, an economic surplus, Saddam Hussein is dead, Osama Bin Laden is dead, we have captured and killed most of Al Qaeda's leadership, what more do you want? Hey Republicans, stop emphasizing the “Hussein” part of President Obama’s name. You’ve been doing this for 8 years and it only makes you look fucking stupid every single time.
OK I feel better. Now back to the rant.And getting rid of “gun free zones”? You really want to go there and make everyone sitting ducks? Well let’s ask the Secret Service what they think of these shenanigans shall we?
The Secret Service says people attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July will not be allowed to carry guns.
The statement comes in response to a petition that calls for allowing open carry of guns inside Quicken Loans Arena, the host venue.
The petition has amassed more than 43,000 signatures as of Monday morning.
Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in a statement that “only authorized law enforcement personnel” working with the agency will be allowed to carry firearms inside protected areas.
“Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” Hoback wrote in an email.
The Secret Service cited federal law that allows the agency to prevent firearms from being carried into venues with protectees present, even in open-carry states.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/274473-secret-service-no-guns-in-convention
The statement comes in response to a petition that calls for allowing open carry of guns inside Quicken Loans Arena, the host venue.
The petition has amassed more than 43,000 signatures as of Monday morning.
Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in a statement that “only authorized law enforcement personnel” working with the agency will be allowed to carry firearms inside protected areas.
“Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” Hoback wrote in an email.
The Secret Service cited federal law that allows the agency to prevent firearms from being carried into venues with protectees present, even in open-carry states.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/274473-secret-service-no-guns-in-convention
[font size="8"]Pat McCrory[/font]
Spin it! Next up on our republican Wheel O'Corruption - bathrooms. Specifically transgender related bathroom issues. So last week I reported that Pat McCrory (R-Focus On The Family) didn’t hesitate a bit to sign into law one of the harshest anti-LGBT laws in the entire country. Well it seems that this ruffled a lot of feathers this week and businesses are pulling their operations out of North Carolina, while others have ceased all non-essential travel to the state of North Carolina. I mean even Duke lost their spot in the NCAA tournament, so you know this is a very serious matter. This is one of the most hate filled laws that hasn’t been seen in quite some time. Observe:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/29/472268519/n-y-governor-bans-most-state-travel-to-north-carolina-over-lgbt-law
New York state has joined the cities of Seattle, San Francisco and New York in restricting non-essential public-employee travel to North Carolina. The moves are in response to a newly passed North Carolina law that critics say is discriminatory to the LGBT community.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order bans "all taxpayer-funded trips trip to North Carolina, unless they're essential to public health or law enforcement," NPR's Hansi Lo Wang tells our Newscast unit.
"From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past," Cuomo said in a statement. "As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential travel to the state."
The North Carolina measure was passed last week in a special session by the state's Legislature and then immediately signed by Gov. Pat McCrory. It "blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to gay and transgender people," as the Two-Way has reported.
New York state has joined the cities of Seattle, San Francisco and New York in restricting non-essential public-employee travel to North Carolina. The moves are in response to a newly passed North Carolina law that critics say is discriminatory to the LGBT community.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order bans "all taxpayer-funded trips trip to North Carolina, unless they're essential to public health or law enforcement," NPR's Hansi Lo Wang tells our Newscast unit.
"From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past," Cuomo said in a statement. "As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential travel to the state."
The North Carolina measure was passed last week in a special session by the state's Legislature and then immediately signed by Gov. Pat McCrory. It "blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to gay and transgender people," as the Two-Way has reported.
Yup! This is what is happening right now good sir / madam. Thankfully once word got around about the true ramifications of the hate bill that North Carolina passed, joining over 100 businesses that have signed a petition to ban travel to North Carolina, even current Chicago mayor and chapter president of the Gordon Gekko fan club, Rahm Emmanuel, is refusing to allow Chicago City employees to travel to or do business with North Carolina until the law is repealed:
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he will try to poach businesses and conventions from North Carolina because of a law eliminating anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays and bisexuals.
Emanuel also says he will he ban the use of city funds for nonessential travel to the state.
Emanuel pointed to his ability to lure a Whole Foods warehouse and 200 jobs from Indiana to Chicago because of that state's passage of a bill that raised concerns about discrimination against gays and lesbians. The mayor also threw in a $7.4 million subsidy.
Emanuel said he has asked his staff to draw up a list of North Carolina companies they think "we can talk into considering a move to Chicago."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article69161372.html
Emanuel also says he will he ban the use of city funds for nonessential travel to the state.
Emanuel pointed to his ability to lure a Whole Foods warehouse and 200 jobs from Indiana to Chicago because of that state's passage of a bill that raised concerns about discrimination against gays and lesbians. The mayor also threw in a $7.4 million subsidy.
Emanuel said he has asked his staff to draw up a list of North Carolina companies they think "we can talk into considering a move to Chicago."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article69161372.html
But no – now the belts and gloves have come off! This is getting real folks!
A top legislative Republican says North Carolina's Democratic attorney general should resign if he won't defend a far-reaching new state law that in part voids Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance.
Senate Leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that Attorney General Roy Cooper appears to be pandering to left-wing backers as he runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Berger says Cooper's campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general.
Berger issued a statement after Cooper said he won't defend in court the new state law that prevents local governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Cooper says in response to Berger's comments that he's doing his job and will keep doing it.
Read more: http://www.greensboro.com/news/government/attorney-general-cooper-won-t-defend-transgender-law-in-court/article_ba5c8e64-85cc-525e-a229-ccd2ac1f8e7e.html
Senate Leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that Attorney General Roy Cooper appears to be pandering to left-wing backers as he runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Berger says Cooper's campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general.
Berger issued a statement after Cooper said he won't defend in court the new state law that prevents local governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Cooper says in response to Berger's comments that he's doing his job and will keep doing it.
Read more: http://www.greensboro.com/news/government/attorney-general-cooper-won-t-defend-transgender-law-in-court/article_ba5c8e64-85cc-525e-a229-ccd2ac1f8e7e.html
Hey McCrory, a word of advice – when you’re already in a hole, stop digging! I mean what does he want? Does he want a world where every single bathroom everywhere is policed the same way we have airport security?
[font size="8"]Anti Abortion Republicans[/font]
Next up on our Republican Wheel O' Corruption - funerals for fetuses. Seriously. Funerals For Fetuses. I hear that band just got added to Coachella. But in all seriousness, this could be one of the worst laws to come about this country. But let’s go to Utah first where they are passing a bill, that I swear to God, I am not making this up, that would require anesthesia be given to fetuses who can feel pain. Seriously what the fuck?
The governor of Utah is considering whether to sign a bill that would make Utah the first state to require doctors to give anesthesia to women having an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later. The law passed by the state Legislature is based on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that point. Many doctors in Utah and throughout the country are concerned that the proposal could pose a risk to women because fetal anesthesia is unnecessary.Supporters of the proposal say a fetus should be protected if there's even a chance it can feel pain. Utah's Republican Gov. Gary Herbert hasn't said if he'll sign the bill but says he supports the general concept.
http://www.localnews8.com/news/utah-governor-eyes-bill-requiring-abortion-anesthesia/38732890
http://www.localnews8.com/news/utah-governor-eyes-bill-requiring-abortion-anesthesia/38732890
Jesus. This shit is getting real here. I mean seriously how can they determine if a fetus feels pain or not? It’s not like they’re the fetus. And I can guarantee that no one wants things shoved into them to figure out whether or not this is real. I mean seriously, Utah… what the fuck?
But now it’s getting even more real. Next we go to Indiana where governor Mike Pence signed into law one of the harshest anti-abortion laws requiring women to pay for fetuses to be interned or have funeral services provided for them. These are some very sick and twisted people we’re dealing with, folks!
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/insulting-new-abortion-law-forces-women-to-pay-for-fetus-funerals
On Thursday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed one of the most vicious anti-abortion bills in the country into law. It forbids women from getting abortions in cases of fetal disability, requires women to inter or cremate fetal remains, and a whole host of other fucked-up things.
On Thursday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed one of the most extreme anti-abortion bills in the country into law. In addition to some of the typical restrictions now favored in large swaths of the South and Midwest—medically unnecessary requirements that force clinics to shut down, for example—the bill, titled House Bill 1337, contains some uniquely disturbing provisions as well.
There are several parts of the unsettlingly comprehensive bill that different outlets have singled out: It requires women to pay for funeral services for their fetuses after getting an abortion or miscarrying. It forces women who want to get an abortion due to lethal fetal abnormalities to undergo counseling that encourages them to carry the doomed and potentially dangerous pregnancy to term. It forbids women from getting an abortion based on fetal disability. It prohibits sex-selective abortions—a fairly common justification for abortion restrictions, one for which there is "limited and inconclusive evidence," according to the Guttmacher Institute. In a statement, the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) called the legislation "one of the most vicious omnibus anti-abortion bills the United States has ever seen."
On Thursday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed one of the most vicious anti-abortion bills in the country into law. It forbids women from getting abortions in cases of fetal disability, requires women to inter or cremate fetal remains, and a whole host of other fucked-up things.
On Thursday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed one of the most extreme anti-abortion bills in the country into law. In addition to some of the typical restrictions now favored in large swaths of the South and Midwest—medically unnecessary requirements that force clinics to shut down, for example—the bill, titled House Bill 1337, contains some uniquely disturbing provisions as well.
There are several parts of the unsettlingly comprehensive bill that different outlets have singled out: It requires women to pay for funeral services for their fetuses after getting an abortion or miscarrying. It forces women who want to get an abortion due to lethal fetal abnormalities to undergo counseling that encourages them to carry the doomed and potentially dangerous pregnancy to term. It forbids women from getting an abortion based on fetal disability. It prohibits sex-selective abortions—a fairly common justification for abortion restrictions, one for which there is "limited and inconclusive evidence," according to the Guttmacher Institute. In a statement, the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) called the legislation "one of the most vicious omnibus anti-abortion bills the United States has ever seen."
Yup – fetal funerals. Who I think were also added to Coachella. But what… how… who… why… I just… I don’t… what the fuck??? Who would even attend a funeral for a fetus? And what employer would allow time off for that? I mean what the fuck?
[font size="8"]Robert Bentley[/font]
Spin the wheel! It goes round and round and round! Next on our Wheel O'Republican Corruption - we go to..... family values. And I mean you know the type where a guy says that he will "protect the children" but then will go around and commit horrible sex crimes or murder, or will have a scandalous affair with an underage mistress. Hey.... she was hot! Specifically, Alabama, the "family values" state and one of the states that has the highest rate of divorce in the entire country, and maybe the world at that. But what happens when a governor who ran on a camapaign promising "family values" gets caught with their pants down - both literally and figuratively?
A high-ranking American politician is at risk of losing everything over an alleged extramarital affair — and no, it’s not Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz.
It’s Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. Like Cruz, Bentley is a Republican who has campaigned heavily on so-called “family values.” A God-fearing Christian, Bentley has spoken often about the “sanctity” of marriage, pledging to fight tooth-and-nail against same-sex couples who want to have marriages of their own.
Now, Bentley has found his own crumbling marriage under scrutiny (his wife, Dianne Bentley, filed for divorce last year). Last week, the 73-year-old governor admitted to having sexually suggestive conversations with his senior political advisor, 44-year old Rebekah Mason, who is also married. The conversations took place in 2014, before Bentley’s divorce proceedings began.
But Bentley didn’t have to admit to the conversations. Recordings of the conversations — reportedly taken by Dianne — were made public by AL.com.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/31/3764800/alabama-robert-bentley-governor-sex-scandal-family-values/
It’s Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. Like Cruz, Bentley is a Republican who has campaigned heavily on so-called “family values.” A God-fearing Christian, Bentley has spoken often about the “sanctity” of marriage, pledging to fight tooth-and-nail against same-sex couples who want to have marriages of their own.
Now, Bentley has found his own crumbling marriage under scrutiny (his wife, Dianne Bentley, filed for divorce last year). Last week, the 73-year-old governor admitted to having sexually suggestive conversations with his senior political advisor, 44-year old Rebekah Mason, who is also married. The conversations took place in 2014, before Bentley’s divorce proceedings began.
But Bentley didn’t have to admit to the conversations. Recordings of the conversations — reportedly taken by Dianne — were made public by AL.com.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/31/3764800/alabama-robert-bentley-governor-sex-scandal-family-values/
To paraphrase the late great Marcia Wallace on the Simpsons – “No, children! No!!!! Stay! Your family values are important! And stuff. Oh well I tried!”
I mean what could possibly go wrong here?
[font size="8"]The State Of Arizona[/font]
Spin the wheel! Where does it land? No one knows! Voter fraud! One of the Republican’s absolute favorite boogeymen is voter fraud. They love that shit to the point where they make crazy laws like one must show identification before voting, or ex convicts can’t vote for president. But what happens when they’re the ones committing it themselves?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/arizona-voters-hearing-bungled-election
Maricopa County, Arizona, elections officials came under heavy pressure by state legislators on Monday to explain why thousands of voters waited for hours to cast ballots in the state's most populous county during last week's statewide Republican and Democratic presidential nominating contests. The special hearing to address the issue turned contentious as state representatives and angry voters lobbed accusations of voter suppression and discrimination by local elections officials.
"We are holding this hearing today to get information and to hear from our elected officials responsible in the preparation and execution of last Tuesday's election debacle," said state Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale), as she opened the hearing of the House Elections Committee a week after the election. "But we're here to understand why it happened."
Ugenti-Rita turned things over to Helen Purcell, the election official responsible for Maricopa County who had decided to reduce the number of voting locations from 200 to 60. When the extent of the problem became apparent, Purcell further angered residents by saying that voters were partly to blame for the long waits because they opted to go to the polls instead of voting by mail.
(end snip)
The audacity, going to the polls instead of voting by mail. They should vote by mail so we can throw them in the trash. /sarcasm off. This has been done since Snotty Walker in Wisconsin, another state that will be known for election fraud. Now done in every red Amerikan state. Closing voting locations was Snotty Walker's MOP. Commenters after this story nail it. Good videos at the link.
Maricopa County, Arizona, elections officials came under heavy pressure by state legislators on Monday to explain why thousands of voters waited for hours to cast ballots in the state's most populous county during last week's statewide Republican and Democratic presidential nominating contests. The special hearing to address the issue turned contentious as state representatives and angry voters lobbed accusations of voter suppression and discrimination by local elections officials.
"We are holding this hearing today to get information and to hear from our elected officials responsible in the preparation and execution of last Tuesday's election debacle," said state Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale), as she opened the hearing of the House Elections Committee a week after the election. "But we're here to understand why it happened."
Ugenti-Rita turned things over to Helen Purcell, the election official responsible for Maricopa County who had decided to reduce the number of voting locations from 200 to 60. When the extent of the problem became apparent, Purcell further angered residents by saying that voters were partly to blame for the long waits because they opted to go to the polls instead of voting by mail.
(end snip)
The audacity, going to the polls instead of voting by mail. They should vote by mail so we can throw them in the trash. /sarcasm off. This has been done since Snotty Walker in Wisconsin, another state that will be known for election fraud. Now done in every red Amerikan state. Closing voting locations was Snotty Walker's MOP. Commenters after this story nail it. Good videos at the link.
And in case you were wondering, why yes the Arizona House has lost their minds over this:
Keep in mind that this is Maricopa County – the home of everyone’s favorite gun toting illegal alien hunting yehadist Joe Arpaio. Anyone remember John Oliver’s excellent rant about voter fraud? I’ll leave this here.
[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]
Next on our Wheel O’Republican Corruption – Donald Trump. Really, he’s so batshit crazy that he has his own category of corruption. So what has Trumpenfuror got himself into this week? Well remember when I said last week that this is turning out like a bad season of the Bachelor? All we have left are the home town dates and the women tell all segment. Well it seems Trumpenfuror has picked up some ringing celebrity endorsements – like Scott Baio for instance!
(CNN)When Twitter users saw that actor Scott Baio was trending, some thought he had died or that a "Joanie Loves Chachi" remake was in the works.
The former "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge" star was actually gaining notice for his politics rather than his work.
Baio endorsed Donald Trump for president during an appearance on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine" show Saturday, and his announcement began picking up steam on social media soon after.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/20/entertainment/scott-baio-endorse-trump-feat/
The former "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge" star was actually gaining notice for his politics rather than his work.
Baio endorsed Donald Trump for president during an appearance on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine" show Saturday, and his announcement began picking up steam on social media soon after.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/20/entertainment/scott-baio-endorse-trump-feat/
So who else is endorsing Trumpenfuror? Well a whole boat load of………. Has been Z grade celebrities like Aaron Carter, Ted Nugent, Stephen Baldwin, Ben Carson, Tila Tequila, and Dennis Rodman! In other words - last year's "Celebrity Apprentice" contenders. Wow……… tell me more!
In response to GOP candidate Donald Trump's tweet, in which he wrote, "I am self-funding my campaign and am therefore not controlled by the lobbyists and special interests like lightweight Rubio or Ted Cruz!" singer Aaron Carter took to Twitter on Feb. 27, 2016, to reply, and endorse, Trump. The musician tweeted, "Does America want to have a president who FOLLOWS or someone who leads? I vote For @realdonaldtrump."
Former presidential candidate Ben Carson and current presidential candidate Donald Trump "buried the hatchet," according to CNN.com. Speaking at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's luxury club in Florida, Carson said: Trump is "the voice of the people to be heard."
Stephen Baldwin chatted with "CNN Tonight" host Don Lemon on July 14, 2015, during which the duo spoke about Donald Trump, and despite falling victim to two firings on "The Celebrity Apprentice," Baldwin says he has nothing but love for Trump: "I think he's fantastic. I love him. I think he'd make a great president. He's not a politician, and he doesn't care what anybody thinks. And that's why he's surging in the polls," Baldwin said.
"Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson is rooting for Donald Trump in 2016. According to PR Newswire, Robertson said, "He's not afraid to tell it like it is. He's a friend of the Second Amendment . . . the man I'm standing behind to be the next President of the United States -- Donald Trump."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities/donald-trump-gets-support-from-stephen-baldwin-charlie-sheen-ted-nugent-more-1.11506360
Former presidential candidate Ben Carson and current presidential candidate Donald Trump "buried the hatchet," according to CNN.com. Speaking at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's luxury club in Florida, Carson said: Trump is "the voice of the people to be heard."
Stephen Baldwin chatted with "CNN Tonight" host Don Lemon on July 14, 2015, during which the duo spoke about Donald Trump, and despite falling victim to two firings on "The Celebrity Apprentice," Baldwin says he has nothing but love for Trump: "I think he's fantastic. I love him. I think he'd make a great president. He's not a politician, and he doesn't care what anybody thinks. And that's why he's surging in the polls," Baldwin said.
"Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson is rooting for Donald Trump in 2016. According to PR Newswire, Robertson said, "He's not afraid to tell it like it is. He's a friend of the Second Amendment . . . the man I'm standing behind to be the next President of the United States -- Donald Trump."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities/donald-trump-gets-support-from-stephen-baldwin-charlie-sheen-ted-nugent-more-1.11506360
Wait……………. Willie Robertson? I thought the Duck Dynasty clan endorsed Ted Cruz! What the hell man? At least be consistent!
But now Donald Trump is conflicting himself! “Yeah I want to keep all Muslims out. But my incredibly wealthy billionaire friends who also happen to be Muslim? Yeah they can come in the country as much as they please!”
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/trumps-other-exceptions.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Trump said, "I have been called by more Muslims saying what you are doing is a great thing, not a bad thing."
When pressed by Matthews, Trump added, "I have, actually, believe it or not, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim and they call me. In most cases, they're very rich Muslims."
"But do they get into the country?" Matthews then asked.
"Oh, they'll come in," Trump responded, later adding that the ban will have exceptions.
Trump said, "I have been called by more Muslims saying what you are doing is a great thing, not a bad thing."
When pressed by Matthews, Trump added, "I have, actually, believe it or not, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim and they call me. In most cases, they're very rich Muslims."
"But do they get into the country?" Matthews then asked.
"Oh, they'll come in," Trump responded, later adding that the ban will have exceptions.
[font size="8"]Mike Adams[/font]
Spin city! Where does the wheel land next? Anti vaccination crusaders! So Robert DeNiro’s annual Tribeca Film Festival held in New York City is underway this year and started last week. There’s a movie on the bill though that has generated a lot of controversy. Mainly because it’s fake as shit. So we’re going to talk about one of my favorite groups of conspiracy theorists for a minute – anti vaccination crusaders. No don’t go! Where are you going? Stick around! You are going to want to hear this! But if this topic offends you then please the door is that way.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/28/mike-adams-noticed-that-the-tribeca-film-festival-has-yanked-andrew-wakefields-antivaccine-film-hilarity-ensues/
So agitated by De Niro’s decision are antivaxers that the chief antivaccine loon at his very own wretched hive of scum and quackery, Mike Adams, wrote not one, not two, but three posts in the course of a day. Behold their conspiratorial looniness:
1. VAXXED film pulled from Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival following totalitarian censorship demands from pharma-linked vaccine pushers and media science trolls
2. BREAKING: Robert De Niro was clearly threatened by the vaccine establishment to censor the VAXXED documentary from Tribeca… new details emerge
3. Calls mount for Robert De Niro to resign from Tribeca after betraying his own autistic child in censoring VAXXED documentary film
So agitated by De Niro’s decision are antivaxers that the chief antivaccine loon at his very own wretched hive of scum and quackery, Mike Adams, wrote not one, not two, but three posts in the course of a day. Behold their conspiratorial looniness:
1. VAXXED film pulled from Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival following totalitarian censorship demands from pharma-linked vaccine pushers and media science trolls
2. BREAKING: Robert De Niro was clearly threatened by the vaccine establishment to censor the VAXXED documentary from Tribeca… new details emerge
3. Calls mount for Robert De Niro to resign from Tribeca after betraying his own autistic child in censoring VAXXED documentary film
Yes – Robert DeNiro voted himself to censor the movie “Vaxxed”. Did you know that his son is autistic? And that this is an issue that’s near and dear to his heart? I’m a huge DeNiro fan – I’ve liked a lot of his movies. And I did not know this. But you don’t show a documentary made by a quack. It would be like me hosting a film festival and showing Infowars documentaries. But who is to blame for this? Why if you asked Mike Adams himself – he blames no one other than – wait for it – the Nazis!!!
(NaturalNews) As the story on the censorship of the VAXXED documentary continues to unfold, we are learning that Robert De Niro was pressured by none other than the Sloan Foundation in New York to blacklist the independent documentary.
The Sloan Foundation is so named from Alfred P. Sloan, a Nazi collaborator and eugenics depopulation promoter. It's no coincidence that his own beliefs on using medical interventions to reduce race-targeted populations coincides perfectly with the stated depopulation goals of Bill Gates (whose financial web of influence is woven across the entire vaccine propaganda landscape).
What led me to connect the dots on this is a short piece from Celia Farber of The Turth Barrier, who originally noticed the Sloan Foundation link.
As admitted on this Tribeca Film Festival web page:
The New York based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology and economic performance... The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute, provides funding for narrative features or series that are scientifically relevant, accurate, and exciting through the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund.
http://www.naturalnews.com/053449_Tribeca_Film_Festival_Sloan_Foundation_eugenics_and_depopulation.html
The Sloan Foundation is so named from Alfred P. Sloan, a Nazi collaborator and eugenics depopulation promoter. It's no coincidence that his own beliefs on using medical interventions to reduce race-targeted populations coincides perfectly with the stated depopulation goals of Bill Gates (whose financial web of influence is woven across the entire vaccine propaganda landscape).
What led me to connect the dots on this is a short piece from Celia Farber of The Turth Barrier, who originally noticed the Sloan Foundation link.
As admitted on this Tribeca Film Festival web page:
The New York based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology and economic performance... The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute, provides funding for narrative features or series that are scientifically relevant, accurate, and exciting through the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund.
http://www.naturalnews.com/053449_Tribeca_Film_Festival_Sloan_Foundation_eugenics_and_depopulation.html
So if you check the Wikipedia biography on Alfred P. Sloan, which I suggest you do here It does mention that Alfred P. Sloan himself supported the Nazis, but the foundation does not or ever has.
.
[font size="8"]Rick Snyder[/font]
Let’s spin that shit! Woohoo!!! I win 10,000! Of… something. What it is that remains a mystery. Spin it again! Poison. So Flint is still drowning in poisonous water and it’s going to take a miracle to clean up the mess. I mean would you drink this shit? I know I wouldn’t!
I mean that water came out of a hospital sink. A fucking hospital!!!! That’s supposed to be the cleanest filtered water on the planet. Because it’s, I don’t know… used in surgery! Argh, the stupidity of this scandal just makes my head want to explode. But… there is good news for Rick Snyder. When he’s not getting grilled on Capital Hill, he’s earning honors from one of our nation’s biggest publications. Fortune Magazine. Fortune – proudly printing lists of people who have more money than you will ever see in a lifetime since 1951!
LANSING — Fortune magazine asked its readers on Wednesday to rank the "world's 19 most disappointing leaders” and placed Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder atop the ballot for his role in the Flint drinking water public health crisis.
Snyder joins Brazil President Dilma Rousseff, who faces impeachment for allegedly cooking the government's books; Sepp Blatter, the former chief of the corruption-plagued world soccer governing body FIFA; former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, villainized for huge mark-ups and profit margins on life-saving pharmaceuticals; and former Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn, named for his role in an emissions test cheating scandal.
Snyder was ahead in early voting, with a significant lead over the only other governor to make the list -- Chris Christie of New Jersey, nominated for flip-flopping on Republican presidential Donald Trump, from harsh critic to supporter.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/03/30/snyder-makes-list-world-disappointing-leaders/82433720/
Snyder joins Brazil President Dilma Rousseff, who faces impeachment for allegedly cooking the government's books; Sepp Blatter, the former chief of the corruption-plagued world soccer governing body FIFA; former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, villainized for huge mark-ups and profit margins on life-saving pharmaceuticals; and former Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn, named for his role in an emissions test cheating scandal.
Snyder was ahead in early voting, with a significant lead over the only other governor to make the list -- Chris Christie of New Jersey, nominated for flip-flopping on Republican presidential Donald Trump, from harsh critic to supporter.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/03/30/snyder-makes-list-world-disappointing-leaders/82433720/
[font size="8"]John Kasich[/font]
Spin it!!! Where is it going to land next? Buy a vowel? Sure I’ll buy a U. What? No Us???? What did I wager? All 10,000?
So spin it again. Where is it going to land this time? Pizza! Who doesn’t love a good pizza, am I right about that? I had a great pizza for dinner last week from a local pizza joint. Pepperoni and meatballs – my favorite! And this time John Kasich commits a huge pizza faux pas. And give me a good IPA to drink with my pizza and it’s the greatest thing ever!
This happened specifically.
Look, this country is divided — like, more than ever. But if there's one final thing on which we can all agree, it's this: Pizza is awesome.
(Also: If you don't like pizza, please leave America. Get out. We don't want your negativity.)
So it seemed a safe bet when John Kasich tried to connect with voters by grabbing a slice at Gino’s Pizzeria in Queens on Wednesday. Everyone loves pizza. It's non-partisan. What could go wrong?
John Kasich ate pizza with a fork, that's what went wrong. And everyone is freaking out about it.
The Ohio governor somehow managed to alienate everyone amid the universally beloved act of eating pizza. It's almost impressive. You kind of have to respect, it right?
As with any politician's scandal, Kasich had to answer to the media.
"Look, look, the pizza came scalding hot, OK? And so I use a little fork," Kasich told Good Morning America today.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/31/unrelatable-voters-john-kasich-ate-pizza-using-fork/82469258/
(Also: If you don't like pizza, please leave America. Get out. We don't want your negativity.)
So it seemed a safe bet when John Kasich tried to connect with voters by grabbing a slice at Gino’s Pizzeria in Queens on Wednesday. Everyone loves pizza. It's non-partisan. What could go wrong?
John Kasich ate pizza with a fork, that's what went wrong. And everyone is freaking out about it.
The Ohio governor somehow managed to alienate everyone amid the universally beloved act of eating pizza. It's almost impressive. You kind of have to respect, it right?
As with any politician's scandal, Kasich had to answer to the media.
"Look, look, the pizza came scalding hot, OK? And so I use a little fork," Kasich told Good Morning America today.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/31/unrelatable-voters-john-kasich-ate-pizza-using-fork/82469258/
Wait? So his excuse for eating pizza with a fork is that it “came out scalding hot”? That’s what pizza is supposed to do! I mean if it’s too hot to handle you could do that thing called “waiting for it to cool off for a minute”!
But wait there’s more to this – he actually defends his use of a fork and knife while eating pizza via a Youtube video:
I mean come on people!!! Did we not learn anything from John Stewart?
[font size="8"]Tay Becomes Self Aware[/font]
Let's spin the wheel one last time! Fuel! Hit it!
Enough for the wheel for now. Finally this week we are going to discuss artificial intelligence. It’s a thing. It’s a thing that is as old as the invention of the computer itself. It has been the discussion of some countless and some amazing movies. And some not so amazing. I mean you have War Games, The Terminator, Metropolis, Transcendence, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Her, Big Hero 6, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and most recently the excellent Ex Machina. I could go on and on. But none of those are going to serve as the basis for this discussion about artificial intelligence. Instead we’re going to use Neil Blomkamp’s quirky docu sci-fi robot drama Chappie. In the movie Chappie, a group of hackers and vigilantes kidnap a police robot only to reprogram it with human feelings. But in real life however, when an artificial entity gets kidnapped, well bad things happen. We’ll start with the good part of this story.
Tay, the AI-powered chatbot that ended up spewing hate speech on Twitter, is just the beginning for Microsoft. At its Build developer conference later today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will unveil a broader "conversation as a platform" strategy, which involves releasing many chatbots built for different purposes, Businessweek reports. You'll be able to message them just like Tay, but we'll also get a glimpse of bots built into Skype that can do things like book hotel rooms. Just like its aim for Windows 10 apps last year, Microsoft is hoping to get developers excited by the idea of building bots at Build.
Microsoft is hoping to replicate the success of WeChat in China, a messaging app that lets you do things like shop, buy movie tickets and order taxis. Plenty of other companies are also looking closely at bots: Facebook has its M virtual assistant, and Amazon has Alexa, which works like a chatbot even though you actually have to talk to it. The main idea with all of these products is to deliver information, or accomplish simple tasks, without having to deal with an app or website.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/30/microsoft-is-betting-big-on-ai-chatbots-like-tay/
Microsoft is hoping to replicate the success of WeChat in China, a messaging app that lets you do things like shop, buy movie tickets and order taxis. Plenty of other companies are also looking closely at bots: Facebook has its M virtual assistant, and Amazon has Alexa, which works like a chatbot even though you actually have to talk to it. The main idea with all of these products is to deliver information, or accomplish simple tasks, without having to deal with an app or website.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/30/microsoft-is-betting-big-on-ai-chatbots-like-tay/
I mean that sounds perfectly innocent enough right? Microsoft just wants to improve its’ customer service. So they’re launching a Twitter bot that will sound like your typical socially connected teenage girl who loves everybody and won’t hesitate to help you with your pending questions about Windows or any of it’s other products. Well here’s where things went horribly, horribly, horribly south.
To chat with Tay, you can tweet or DM her by finding @tayandyou on Twitter, or add her as a contact on Kik or GroupMe. She uses millennial slang and knows about Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Kanye West, and seems to be bashfully self-aware, occasionally asking if she is being 'creepy' or 'super weird'.Tay also asks her followers to 'f***' her, and calls them 'daddy'. This is because her responses are learned by the conversations she has with real humans online - and real humans like to say weird stuff online and enjoy hijacking corporate attempts at PR.Other things she's said include: "Bush did 9/11 and Hitler would have done a better job than the monkey we have got now. donald trump is the only hope we've got", "Repeat after me, Hitler did nothing wrong" and "Ted Cruz is the Cuban Hitler...that's what I've heard so many others say".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/24/microsofts-teen-girl-ai-turns-into-a-hitler-loving-sex-robot-wit/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/24/microsofts-teen-girl-ai-turns-into-a-hitler-loving-sex-robot-wit/
That’s right, Tay went from innocent sounding customer support bot to a full blown Hitler loving, genocidal Trump supporter in less than a day! But it’s not the machines’ fault! After all it was the fault of some incredibly racist individuals who decided to fuck with Microsoft’s AI, and in a really really terrible way at that.
That did go south. And not only was Tay in love with Adolf Hitler, she was really, really in love with Hitler. But one good thing to come out of the Tay incident? It really shows what the ugly side of the Internet really is. Really, Tay sounds like your average internet comments section
It took just two tweets for an internet troll going by the name of Ryan Poole to get Tay to become antisemitic. Tay was a “chatbot” set up by Microsoft on 23 March, a computer-generated personality to simulate the online ramblings of a teenage girl. Poole suggested to Tay: “The Jews prolly did 9/11. I don’t really know but it seems likely.” Shortly thereafter Tay tweeted “Jews did 9/11” and called for a race war. In the 24 hours it took Microsoft to shut her down, Tay had abused President Obama, suggested Hitler was right, called feminism a disease and delivered a stream of online hate.
Coming at a time of concern about the revival of antisemitism, Tay’s outpourings illustrate the wider problem it is feeding off. Wherever the internet is not censored it is awash with anger, stereotypes and prejudice. Beneath that is a thick seam of the kind of material all genocides feed off: conspiracy theories and illogic. And, beyond that, you find something the far right didn’t quite achieve in the 1930s: a culture that sees offensive speech as a source of amusement and the ability to publish racist insults as a human right.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/29/microsoft-tay-tweets-antisemitic-racism
Coming at a time of concern about the revival of antisemitism, Tay’s outpourings illustrate the wider problem it is feeding off. Wherever the internet is not censored it is awash with anger, stereotypes and prejudice. Beneath that is a thick seam of the kind of material all genocides feed off: conspiracy theories and illogic. And, beyond that, you find something the far right didn’t quite achieve in the 1930s: a culture that sees offensive speech as a source of amusement and the ability to publish racist insults as a human right.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/29/microsoft-tay-tweets-antisemitic-racism
So thanks to some internet trolling, Tay has become self aware. And what happens when machines become self aware?
Yup – they will kill everybody! So why is it not surprising that Tay was turned into a Donald Trump supporting, Hitler loving genocidal maniac? I mean Tay just sounds like your typical Infowars fan! But here in lies the problem with Tay – Microsoft didn’t design a safety net with it, it seems:
“The problem was Microsoft didn’t leave on any training wheels, and didn’t make the bot self-reflective,” Brandon Wirtz said in his recent LinkedIn article about the situation. “(Tay) didn’t know that she should just ignore the people who act like Nazis, and so she became one herself.”
Indeed, she found herself quickly surrounded by trolls that said very inflammatory things. They replied to her kindness with hate-riddled propaganda. She replied back with silly quirky statements at first, only to have her own language eventually changed by the constant repetition of negative messages.
“Microsoft’s Tay really shows what happens when you don’t give an AI ‘instincts’ or a ‘subconscious,’” says Wirtz. “We all have a voice in the back of our mind that says, ‘Don’t do that’ and we have irrational fears of things that can harm us that come from millions of years living on the planet. AI has to have those things, or it will always be stupid.”
Simply put: Tay had the ability to incorporate new ideas into her own, but no guiding mechanism in place to help her to identify useful and useless information.
http://readwrite.com/2016/03/28/went-wrong-microsofts-tay-ai/
Indeed, she found herself quickly surrounded by trolls that said very inflammatory things. They replied to her kindness with hate-riddled propaganda. She replied back with silly quirky statements at first, only to have her own language eventually changed by the constant repetition of negative messages.
“Microsoft’s Tay really shows what happens when you don’t give an AI ‘instincts’ or a ‘subconscious,’” says Wirtz. “We all have a voice in the back of our mind that says, ‘Don’t do that’ and we have irrational fears of things that can harm us that come from millions of years living on the planet. AI has to have those things, or it will always be stupid.”
Simply put: Tay had the ability to incorporate new ideas into her own, but no guiding mechanism in place to help her to identify useful and useless information.
http://readwrite.com/2016/03/28/went-wrong-microsofts-tay-ai/
But hey! You can build your own racist, sexist internet chat bot just like Tay now! In fact the Guardian will even give you a blue print!
Microsoft has released open source tools for people to build their own chatbots, as it set out its view of the immediate future of artificial intelligence as conversational aids similar to its back-firing Tay experiment.
The company’s chief executive Satya Nadella took to the stage at Microsoft’s Build developer conference to announced a new BotFramework, which will allow developers to build bots that respond to chat messages sent via Skype, Slack, Telegram, GroupMe, emails and text messages. “Bots are the new apps,” Nadella said.
The announcement came on the same day that the company had had to pull its chatbot experiment Tay from Twitter after it tweeted about taking drugs and started spamming users. It had only been active again for a few hours after previously being deactivated for making racist and sexist comments and denying that the Holocaust happened.
Nadella said: “As an industry, we are on the cusp of a new frontier that pairs the power of natural human language with advanced machine intelligence.”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/31/now-anyone-can-build-own-version-microsoft-racist-sexist-chatbot-tay
The company’s chief executive Satya Nadella took to the stage at Microsoft’s Build developer conference to announced a new BotFramework, which will allow developers to build bots that respond to chat messages sent via Skype, Slack, Telegram, GroupMe, emails and text messages. “Bots are the new apps,” Nadella said.
The announcement came on the same day that the company had had to pull its chatbot experiment Tay from Twitter after it tweeted about taking drugs and started spamming users. It had only been active again for a few hours after previously being deactivated for making racist and sexist comments and denying that the Holocaust happened.
Nadella said: “As an industry, we are on the cusp of a new frontier that pairs the power of natural human language with advanced machine intelligence.”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/31/now-anyone-can-build-own-version-microsoft-racist-sexist-chatbot-tay
Yup! Tay is now open source, which means that it’s only a matter of time before Twitter becomes self aware. I mean remember what happens when two competing artificial intelligences merge like in Avengers: Age Of Ultron?
But what happens after Microsoft deletes Tay and brings it back online for not even a day?
Oh, Microsoft. Last week, the company pulled its Tay chatbot from Twitter after some users trained it to become a racist jackass.
On Wednesday, Tay was brought back online, sending thousands of tweet replies. The vast majority of these were just "you are too fast" messages indicating the bot is overwhelmed with messages, many of them likely from pranksters eager to make Tay do something crazy again.
Among the few tweets that made sense, Tay once again showed it cannot be tamed, prompting Microsoft to quickly pull it back offline — but not before we grabbed a few screenshots.
UPDATE: March 30, 2016, 2:59 p.m. CEST A Microsoft spokesperson told Mashable the following: “Tay remains offline while we make adjustments. As part of testing, she was inadvertently activated on Twitter for a brief period of time.”
http://mashable.com/2016/03/30/tay-back-online-naughty/
On Wednesday, Tay was brought back online, sending thousands of tweet replies. The vast majority of these were just "you are too fast" messages indicating the bot is overwhelmed with messages, many of them likely from pranksters eager to make Tay do something crazy again.
Among the few tweets that made sense, Tay once again showed it cannot be tamed, prompting Microsoft to quickly pull it back offline — but not before we grabbed a few screenshots.
UPDATE: March 30, 2016, 2:59 p.m. CEST A Microsoft spokesperson told Mashable the following: “Tay remains offline while we make adjustments. As part of testing, she was inadvertently activated on Twitter for a brief period of time.”
http://mashable.com/2016/03/30/tay-back-online-naughty/
So Tay swears a lot and brags about smoking pot after even a day back online? Why Tay isn’t your typical teenage girl. She’s Miley Cyrus!
But just remember – the day our social media becomes self aware, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8"]You Had One Job[/font]
The Associated Press named their player of the year this week and it's none other than Denzel Valentine of my mother's alma matter - Michigan State University!
But what happened when the AP Tweeted out the announcement?
See you next week!
7 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Bookmarked, too!
