Bag of Grab

-- Ted Gioia notes that the commercial promise of artificial intelligence (AI) hasn't measured up to the hype surrounding the release. As with any number of internet advances, it has proven of most use in shady schemes to steal money from people.

-- My two favored presidential candidates right now are Tim Scott and Nikki Haley. Depending on which reaction story you may read, Scott did OK or poorly. I still like his optimistic vision for a presidency that suggests we have problems to solve, not existential crises to use as bludgeons against those with whom we disagree. I already liked Haley after her two years as ambassador to the UN, but I would like her even without that after opening up Vivek Ramaswamy's goofy, insubstantial marketing campaign and showing the box was empty.

At 37, Mr. Ramaswamy is the first millennial to campaign for a presidential nomination and his debate appearance ticked all the boxes of the stereotypes held of that generation. One of the primary and, for me, most fatal problems is the idea in this quote:  "If you have a broken down car you don't turn over the keys to the people who broke it again, you hand it over to a new generation to actually fix the problem,"  First of all, "again" should appear before "turn" or after "keys." Second of all, it's hard to see the most prosperous nation on earth as a "broken down car." It's got plenty of issues, but it still seems to be running. And third of all, Mr. Ramaswamy has done zip-a-dee-doo-dah to suggest he knows how to fix a car, let alone a nation. In fact, his appearance full of snappy put-downs and radio show call-in policy positions suggest he is part of the problem and would make it worse.

-- In surrendering to the charges brought against him in Georgia, former president Donald Trump decided his mug shot should be a ferocious scowl. It looks ridiculous. It looks like the kind of overdone response by a comedian playing a dad on a TV show when confronting his erring children, giving him the change to use his catchphrase as a non sequitur punchline. 

Dad: "Just what is the meaning of this, you two?"

Daughter: "Well I'm rebelling because you waited almost a year after knocking up my mom to marry her and then you left when I was four."

Son: "And I'm rebelling because you were sleeping with her mom before I was in kindergarten!"

Dad: "Oh, you two! I was just trying to Make America Great Again!"

(Cue laugh track for audience. Add rifle-ratchet noise if audience not loud enough)