Highlanders

A small piece of a bit more than seven minutes. The first song is "Atholl Highlanders."



UPDATE: Dueling Highlanders.



If you're about Franklin, NC, they are holding a "Taste of Scotland" Festival from 14-17 June. I'll be out that way.

Ted Cruz on Hamas



Apparently he's not too impressed with the media's treatment of the latest invasion peaceful protest.

Henry Kissinger: How the Enlightenment Ends

In a thoughtful exploration of philosophy and technology, Kissinger argues that AI developers should start thinking through the philosophical questions raised by AI and that the government should start seriously thinking about AI and its possible dangers. It's difficult to excerpt because he uses the entire article to make his point, but here is his hook:

As I listened to the speaker celebrate this technical progress, my experience as a historian and occasional practicing statesman gave me pause. What would be the impact on history of self-learning machines—machines that acquired knowledge by processes particular to themselves, and applied that knowledge to ends for which there may be no category of human understanding? Would these machines learn to communicate with one another? How would choices be made among emerging options? Was it possible that human history might go the way of the Incas, faced with a Spanish culture incomprehensible and even awe-inspiring to them? Were we at the edge of a new phase of human history?

"A Terrorist Organization"

Hamas, which claims 50 of the dead from yesterday's protests in Israel, is a named Foreign Terrorist Organization -- but all the coverage I've read is treating the deaths as if they were innocent "protesters."

The NRA, on the other hand....

WSJ: NRA vs. Authoritarianism

In New York, a telling exercise of power.

War and Natural Law

Soon I’ll have the ability to engage pieces like this again. I’m looking forward to it. For now, I’ll just forward it to your attention.

Felony relo

A Seattle councilwoman wants felony charges brought against Amazon for threatening to leave town if the city taxes workers to make a dent in the affordable housing crisis.

Socialists really need to find a solution to this problem of the golden goose walking off.  Has anybody thought of putting up guard towers at the borders?

"Property can’t leave, so seize it."

Illinois flirts with the Caracas solution, a/k/a the Cuban (etc.) solution.

Speaking of Caracas, what amazes me if that buyers are still making cash offers on real estate, and even more, that sellers are still holding out for a better price.  Let's hope they get one before cholera and cannibalism set in.

Happy Nabka Day

Seventy years after Israel had the effrontery to become a nation, seventy-three years after the Allies liberated the few remaining survivors at the concentration camps, a diseased culture still can't get over its antisemitism and do anything productive about refugees from long-lost wars.