It remains to be seen if this is just a show or if it’s for real.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Scheinbaum called this guy’s boss and asked for permission to offer him up as tribute to Trump.  Perhaps she just said “You gotta give me someone.  Who do you want to replace?” And El Ricky was the answer.

On the other hand, it’s possible that Trump explained the new rules to her and she got the message.

Either way, I expect repercussions here in the U.S.  The cartels are not going to go quietly into the night.  I think I’m going to have to reread Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger.  Buckle up.  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

I believe Trump and Trudeau spoke yesterday or this morning, and they’re going to speak again at 3:00 this afternoon.  I think Trump explained the new rules to Trudeau and is waiting for his answer, too.

OK… for all my lib friends and Never Trumper friends, here’s my first “call out” of President Trump.  But I want to be clear… this is one of the things I knew about him before I voted for him, and I don’t regret having done so because I think it would have been just as bad, if not worse, if Harris had won.  It's less a Republican vs. Democrat thing than it is a human thing.

So what am I calling him out on?  He’s high on AI.  But with regard to this issue, he’s just in line with what’s been a problem in society for decades:  we never seem to take the time to ask the questions “Yes, we can do this, but ought we?  And if so, what are the risks and foreseeable unintended consequences?  What restrictions should we put on this?  Is it even possible to restrict?  What can we put in place to protect against it being misused?

I think I’m more concerned about where this technology will take us than almost any other issue, despite the obviously good things it can bring.  Humans do not have a very good record of refraining from using powerful tools for evil, even if their record is better on using them for good.

This is something that should concern everyone, regardless of your politics.

Oh, yeah... there's this prediction from Larry Ellison, one of the technocrats Trump fêted in his announcement yesterday of a $500 Billion (with a 'B') investment into developing AI.

All that being said, Trump is right in his belief that we can't let other nations get "there" before us.  Wherever "there" is, is what scares me.

I had a great time today.  My wife, Rose, and I visited the Mary Cassatt exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Cassatt has become one of my favorite artists, largely through Rose's influence.  The image to the left here shows a batik Rose did many years ago. The color is a bit off because of the lighting when I took the photo, but it is my favorite one of all the batiks she has done over the years.  The crinkling in Rose's version is an intentional effect of the process she uses when creating a batik.  The image to the right is the original print on which Rose's batik is based.  Today I saw the original Cassatt at the museum.  It was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be.  But I have to say, I like Rose's reinterpretation of it just as much.

One of the things Rose and I both appreciate about Cassatt is that she was every bit a woman of her time, but at the same time, she was forward thinking about the role of women and their influence on society.  Yet she didn't let that interfere with her appreciation of the role women play in the family and in the lives of children.  Her art, while in some ways very progressive, always celebrated woman's femininity and unique role in the family.