CSotD: Examples of Artificial Intelligence
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A little rough, but rough times call for rough cartoons, and it’s reasonable to ask whether Dear Leader is a clever, conniving genius or, well, what Sheneman has him call himself.
Though after 10 years of wondering whether he is a deliberate liar or believes the non-factual things he says, the rational conclusion is “What difference would it make?” The practical solution is to deal with what is and stop trying to figure out why it is that way.
It’s okay to be angry about it, and Espinoza doesn’t try to hide his feelings about the latest bit of political manipulation. But there are also Republicans furious that Dear Leader, having scheduled a signing ceremony to show off the bipartisan housing bill, canceled it and left several GOP legislators standing around looking stupid in front of the assembled press.
This was to be a major win to boost Republican incumbents in the midterm elections, a landmark legislative act in which both parties showed their willingness to work together and pass important safeguards for average people by remarkable margins of 358-to-32 in the House and 85 to 5 in the Senate.
But there is no victory so overwhelming that it can’t be turned into at least farce, if not utter defeat.
Trump wants the Save America Act passed, and Stein explains that it’s geared towards making voting more burdensome at the polls and moreso remotely by severely limiting mail-in ballots, which are a convenience for many voters and crucial in deeply isolated, rural areas.
The act is being promoted as a safeguard against noncitizen voting, a “problem” so farcically rare as to be utterly insignificant.
However, as Stein suggests, the net effect of the legislation would fall more heavily on blue voters than red voters, and given the corner into which Dear Leader has backed his political party, their major hope in November would be a low turnout by blue voters.
Telnaes — who does her best work when she’s furious — is less analytical than Stein and joins Espinoza in cutting through the baloney and calling out the motivation for both the Save Act and Trump’s desperate attempt to pump it up by extorting Congress by withholding his approval of the housing legislation.
Juxtaposition of the Day
The story of Sisyphus is an overworked theme in political cartooning, but it’s certainly appropriate here, as housing costs are a major burden and crisis for household budgets, particularly for younger families who are either paying rent or trying to obtain an affordable mortgage. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act contains provisions that would greatly assist families in easing that burden.
Meanwhile, as de Adder has Trump point out, the SAVES act falls particularly hard on women, because any woman who changed her name in marriage would have to document that so that her birth certificate aligns with her current identification, and, while some younger women are retaining their last names after marriage, the vast majority who are, or have ever been, married would have to scramble for papers.
And, practically speaking, if they’ve left the state where they were born or where they were married and/or divorced, the bureaucratic scramble could prove ridiculously difficult.
Matson is more specific in dwelling on the cost-of-living aspects as well as the underhanded manipulation that the president is applying, which is directed at Congress but places a burden on families.
The smart move for Republican legislators might be to stand up to a grandstanding president with a 30% approval rating and two years left to serve. If he loses his majority, he loses his ability to exact revenge on them.
Another Trumpian conundrum: Is he putting them in that position out of foolish pride or in a pragmatic, self-sacrificing strategy? And what difference would it make?
Davies makes the point that AI is a far greater threat to jobs than immigration, though, boy howdy, won’t native-born Americans be flocking to farms, sweatshops and meat-packing plants now that we’re going to send all those asylum-seekers back to countries where they will be jailed and murdered. We’re also making sure few others get a chance to come snatch up all those grueling, low-paying jobs.
Sutton, however, points out a case in which the villain is clearly AI: KBCO-FM in Denver has fired Bret Saunders, who had been their morning drive-time DJ for 28 years. Nor is Sutton the only person to make a fuss over it, because a Google News search indicates widespread coverage and disapproval of the move, which is part of iHeart Radio’s massive layoffs in preparation to replace personalities with AI bots.
If you’ve somehow never experienced Corporate Hot Air, the Hollywood Reporter includes the memo iHeart employees were sent. At the newspaper, we used to read corporate memos and laugh while we waited for the Bobs to come by and hand us our cardboard boxes.
Radio seems determined to put itself out of business, but this is only the matador’s death stroke. I was present when the picadores began teasing and spearing the bull.
In the early 80s, when I was in talk radio, we were live and human and local on the AM band, but our FM was headquarters for one of the first satellite networks, in which a DJ broadcast to stations all around the country.
It took training: You had to learn to only give the minutes, not the hour, in your timechecks, to never use words like “morning” or “afternoon” and to never comment on the weather.
You had no idea what time it was or whether it was raining, snowing or sunny where your listeners were. Meanwhile, when they called in a request, you’d say you’d try to get it on the air, but they had as much chance of hearing their song as they did of winning the lottery.
This, ya gotta admit, is a job that an AI bot could handle.
Saunders, however, is a throwback to the person who was part of the community, who connected with people, who listeners tuned in to because he mattered, because he was one of the family.
But you’ve got to pay people, and AI bots are virtually free.
End of the line, pal.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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