March 7, 2025

OPEN THREAD: Ring in the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds 639

VETTING:

UPDATE: A friend writes:

Shoot them. That’s the normal thing to do. But that way they can’t be traded next time the Democrats are in power. And issue an advisory against Americans going to China, lest they get nabbed on trumped up charges like Putin does. A bit of a shot across the Chinese bow.

Any of these other spies we can shoot? Shoot as many as possible.

Actually, spies traditionally are hanged. Hang them. On TikTok.

Sort of a 21st century gibbeting. So that everyone else gets the message.

if they got these three, there must be a shit-ton of others, and probably not that hard to root out.

Hang them, too.

As a Uighur woman replied, when I said they must think we’re stupid, “They do.”
Not sure most people get, there’s a war going on. And we’re not fighting it.

I think we’re starting too. And good point about prisoners. Even The Simpsons has warned about the dangers of the Democrats getting back in power:

Posted at 7:16 pm by Glenn Reynolds 179

LOL, THAT WOULD REQUIRE SOME SORT OF ACTUAL PRINCIPLES:

Posted at 7:03 pm by Glenn Reynolds 88

MAKE APPLE GREAT AGAIN: Apple Delays Siri Upgrade Indefinitely as AI Concerns Escalate.

Apple Inc.’s turmoil in its AI division reached new heights on Friday, with the company delaying promised updates to the Siri digital assistant for the foreseeable future.

Apple said that features introduced last June, including Siri’s ability to tap into a user’s personal information to answer queries and have more precise control over apps, will now be released sometime in “the coming year.” The iPhone maker hadn’t previously set a public deadline for the capabilities, but they were initially planned for the iOS 18.4 software update this April.

Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 14 that Apple was struggling to finish developing the features and the enhancements would be postponed until at least May — when iOS 18.5 is due to arrive. Since then, Apple engineers have been racing to fix a rash of bugs in the project. The work has been unsuccessful, according to people involved in the efforts, and they now believe the features won’t be released until next year at the earliest.

In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn’t work properly — or as advertised — in their personal testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

As a result: Apple Likely Targeting iOS 19 for Delayed Siri Features. “Further, both Reuters and CNBC interpreted Apple’s statement as a delay of the ‌Siri‌ features until 2026, and wrote headlines stating as much. If Apple was only counting on a delay of a couple of months, it’s likely the company would correct the 2026 assumption, but Apple has offered no further clarification nor has it asked for those sites to change their wording. We’ll get the first ‌iOS 19‌ update in September 2025 alongside new iPhones, so if 2026 ends up being accurate, the ‌Siri‌ features might not even come in the ‌iOS 19‌ release. They’ll instead be slated for a future ‌iOS 19‌ update, perhaps iOS 19.2 or iOS 19.3.”

Posted at 5:44 pm by Ed Driscoll 47

THIS IS WHAT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SURGERY DEPT IS UP TO INSTEAD OF, YOU KNOW, TEACHING SURGERY: These tweets are all in the last two weeks… And, not joking, I initially thought the first tweet on the surgery Grand Rounds on voting rights was satire from the Babylon Bee or something.

UPDATE: It turns out that the UVA Board of Visitors just announced the dismantlement of the DEI infrastructure at the university. Maybe in time to save a few lives.

Posted at 4:53 pm by David Bernstein 138

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE NOW:

Posted at 4:35 pm by Glenn Reynolds 97

PALLYWOOD: THE MOTION PICTURE.

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 17

WINNING:

Posted at 3:52 pm by Stephen Green 120

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: World’s Dumbest Criminal NOT From Florida? YOU Make the Call! “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week we have a jewelry heist that’s hard to swallow, what not to play with in the backseat of your Lyft, and Georgia Woman’s Whataburger caper might have taken away Florida Man’s Crown of Shame forever.”

Posted at 3:21 pm by Stephen Green 2

AND IT’S JUST THE OPENING SALVO: Trump Administration Cancels $400 Million in Grants to Columbia University.

Literally all Columbia had to do to avoid all this was to enforce its preexisting rules about campus behavior, and the law, and not give special treatment to Hamasnik students, faculty, and outside agitators. And also cooperate with Congressional investigators looking into Title VI violations, rather than stonewalling hoping that things would blow over after the 2024 elections. That’s really it.

As a former research fellow at Columbia Law School (1994-95) I hate to say it, but not only am I not going to go the ramparts to defend Columbia, I’d be happy to dance on its grave. Let it go bankrupt, and have Yeshiva University buy up its assets.

Posted at 3:14 pm by David Bernstein 149