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speak easy's Journal

April 21, 2024

TSF

The Stinky Farts
In the Diaper
Suspicious Smells
I can't help farting in court on you.
(Smelvis' Greatest Shits)

April 21, 2024

TikTok will be banned, not sold.

I have always believed the CCP will prohibit the sale of TikTok outright, and this is also the view of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The propaganda value is obvious: 170+ million Americans will be unable to use a service that will continue to be available in Canada, Mexico, the EU and Britain. You may not care but a good proportion of U.S. TikTok users will be outraged.

The Potential Chinese Responses to a [possible] U.S. Ban on TikTok

In one scenario, Chinese authorities would permit both ByteDance’s relinquishment of TikTok to a foreign entity and the export of the company’s core technology.

In a second and more probable scenario, Beijing would curtail ByteDance’s sale of TikTok’s algorithms in accordance with domestic regulations but allow a sale of the platform to go through.

In the third and most likely scenario, China would outright block any TikTok sale, citing national security concerns, fair competition, and legitimate interests. Such an action could fuel global apprehensions about Chinese government oversight of technology acquisitions by foreign entities.

Preventing TikTok from being acquired by any American entity, even at the cost of billions of dollars to the company and its Chinese owner, could provide China with an ongoing opportunity to critique the United States.

In order to appease public sentiment at home and prevent the export of sensitive technology, Beijing is unlikely to approve ByteDance’s potential sale of TikTok. Of course, this will come with costs to ByteDance’s business and threaten to escalate tensions with the United States. So far, the Chinese government has signaled that it is willing to bear these risks.

https://carnegieendowment.org/2024/04/11/potential-chinese-responses-to-u.s.-ban-on-tiktok-pub-92188

EDIT: Trump is already staking out a claim to defend TikTok.

April 20, 2024

'Marge Three Toes' is too nuts for Matt Gaetz

The Failed Vibepeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas

Even the bothsides media didn’t take it seriously, and this week’s solemn clown procession from the House to the Senate as its impeachment managers — including noted idiot Marge Three Toes — was greeted in the Senate with zero enthusiasm.

The impeachment died before any of the House’s clown delegation could make their specious arguments, and even Mitch McConnell and Mike Lee’s condemnation of the Senate voting to kill the impeachment was dull and hollow.

Mike Johnson and Ukraine Aid

“Maybe he lives, maybe he dies,” was how a GOP Chief of Staff put it to me this week. “But Greene and Massie don’t even have Matt Gaetz on board.” Ponder that.

If you’re too nuts for Matt Gaetz…you’re too nuts

https://therickwilson.substack.com/p/the-week-from-hell-maga-edition

April 18, 2024

Trump was ' very, very concerned' about Ivanka seeing Playmate Karen McDougal being interviewed.

George Conway Details ‘Oh, It’s Daddy’ Call To Ivanka That Exposed Trump’s Fears

Conway recalled a phone call that Trump made to his daughter Ivanka Trump in 2018 as an interview that Playboy model Karen McDougal gave to CNN’s Anderson Cooper — about what McDougal claimed was her monthslong affair with Trump, while he was married to Melania Trump — was being broadcast.

“I was sitting at dinner with my ex-wife [former Trump White House counselor Kellyanne Conway], with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and the phone rings,” remembered the lawyer, who is a fierce critic of his ex-wife’s former boss.

“And Ivanka goes into the kitchen and answers the phone. ‘Oh, it’s daddy.’ And what did daddy want to know? Whether they were watching Karen McDougal,” he said. “So, he was very, very concerned about it.”

Trump also reportedly compared McDougal to Ivanka during their time together. “He said I was beautiful like her, and, you know, ‘You’re a smart girl,’” she told Cooper. “And there wasn’t a lot of comparing, but there was some, yeah. I heard a lot about her.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/george-conway-details-oh-daddy-091339186.html

This information does not help Alvin Bragg's prosecution in New York. Trump may argue that he arranged to pay off McDougal to keep Ivanka from finding out about the affair.

April 17, 2024

Barr says he'll vote for 'Republican ticket' in November

Source: The Hill

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Wednesday he will vote for the “Republican ticket” in the November presidential election.

“I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country,” Barr said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “And in my mind, that’s — I will vote the Republican ticket.”

Barr’s comments come in spite of past criticism of his ex-boss, former President Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. In December, Barr said his successor in a potential second Trump administration would have to be against the former president’s “abuse of government power.”

“Trump needs people around him who will push back and help keep him on the straight and narrow,” Barr said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4599759-bill-barr-republican-ticket-vote-2024/

"[voting for] Trump may be playing Russian roulette, but a continuation of the Biden administration is national suicide, in my opinion.”

April 17, 2024

Rick Wilson on Bob Graham

Rick Wilson
@TheRickWilson

RIP Governor Bob Graham.

In the history of Florida, you will find few men who governed and led with such grace, honor, and dignity. He knew and loved this state and its people like no other.

We will not see his like again. A tremendous loss.

Our condolences go out to @GwenGraham and the Graham family.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1780538206905074099

April 16, 2024

"Ukraine needs to stand on its own."

Jake Sherman
@JakeSherman
JOHNSON, in the closed GOP meeting, says that Ukraine needs to stand on its own.
https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1779991549750698231

April 15, 2024

Guardian: Creating sexually explicit deepfake images to be made offence in UK

Seemed reasonable enough to me, until I read further - the creation of deepfake sexual images [is] “unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared”.

Creating a sexually explicit “deepfake” image is to be made an offence under a new law, the Ministry of Justice has announced.

The creation of a deepfake image will be an offence regardless of whether the creator intended to share it, the department said. The Online Safety Act, introduced last year, has already criminalised the sharing of deepfake intimate images, whose creation is being facilitated by advances in artificial intelligence.

The offence will be introduced through an amendment to the criminal justice bill, which is making its way through parliament. Laura Farris, the minister for victims and safeguarding, said the creation of deepfake sexual images was “unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared”.

“This new offence sends a crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/16/creating-sexually-explicit-deepfake-images-to-be-made-offence-in-uk

April 15, 2024

NYT tomorrow: "Is Biden too alert and awake?"

Rick Wilson
@TheRickWilson
NYT tomorrow: "Is Biden too alert and awake?"

April 14, 2024

Scoop: Biden told Netanyahu U.S. won't support an Israeli counterattack on Iran

President Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Saturday that the U.S. will oppose any Israeli counterattack against Iran, a senior White House official told Axios.

Behind the scenes: Biden told Netanyahu the joint defensive efforts by Israel, the U.S. and other countries in the region led to the failure of the Iranian attack, according to the White House official.

"You got a win. Take the win," Biden told Netanyahu, according to the official.

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support

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