Immigration tops gun control in November voting

I know immigration reform is an issue that must be addressed, but currently more lives are at stake in the matter of getting guns off the street. Especially since much of the targeting has been children in respect to mass shootings. I was more than a little surprised to see a recent poll by Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business and Economics Polling name immigration as the number one issue this fall. Now this is Florida voters in the state where the most recent gun violence massacre occurred, Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. You have to wonder if this is because Florida has such loose gun laws with the NRA's leading lobbyist, Marion Hammer, in residence, or is this predicting the familiar trend after major gun violence...back to public apathy.

Have democrats lost their edge? Not surprised!

A new CNN poll shows that the earlier held 18-point spread the Dems held for November is down to just 3. But then the results are qualified with the fact that the results follow closely with Trump's favorability, and the new average for Democrats is seven, not three on a generic ballot.

"The generic ballot is a poll question that asks voters whether they’ll vote for Democrats or Republicans for Congress, and historically it’s been a decent predictor of the House popular vote."     The NY Times

About 45% of the voting public feel enthusiastic about voting in November' the general turnout in midterm elections is 40%. The earlier figure is around the same for both Democrats and Republicans. A big consideration right now is Donald Trump's meeting with Kim Jong un. If it goes well--and we have to hope it does regardless---then we can expect T-rump's favorability to rise even more. To say the least, November will be interesting.

Parkland students think Oliver North perfect for NRA

Charlton Heston

Oliver North's sleezy background with Iran-Contra qualifies him as the devious type to be a leader for the National Rifle Assn. He'll obviously get more training from NRA head Wayne LaPierre, the leader in deviousness. Apparently, activists splashed fake blood at the house of Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist and leading purveyor of the organization's enormous trove of propaganda. This prompted North to call it "civil terrorism" adding, the NRA was the target of a “cyberwar.” I won't even begin to count the number of gun violence deaths just in 2018, but it takes 18 pages to cover all of them. I don't know who's worse, North or Charlton Heston, but I think most of us agree, the NRA has to go!

Why are young people dumping religion?

Pope Francis with lamb

Some of this can be attributed to Donald Trump's claims of being so Christian, when in fact he does nothing but un-Christian things. Like ceaseless lying and adultery. But E.J. Dionne thinks faith has taken its worse hit from the "Republican Party's alliance with the religious right." You're talking about 26% of the voting population, who recently witnessed Speaker Paul Ryan try to oust the House chaplain, a move that was typically Republican. I have an opinion that many folks out there now look up to Pope Francis as the kind of religious leader worth listening to, like Billy Graham was. However, most aren't willing to make the switch to Catholicism so they admire him like I do. There aren't too many like that left.

Monkey see Trump do, Monkey do like Trump

Kelly Sadler_Mouth open once too often

Special assistant Kelly Sadler, a Trump aide, showed she can demonstrate complete lack of class as much as her boss, Donald T-rump. When John McCain voiced opposition to Gina Haspel, as new CIA Director, Sadler commented, “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” McCain has been diagnosed with brain cancer with an unknown future. It's hard to get any lower.

Internet will never be the same

The FTC has overturned 2015 rules governing net neutrality. Democrats think they have the votes to reverse the Republican move. Stay tuned to Nasty Jack for how new measure affects your Internet experience, starting June 11.

AI is scary but fun

HAL of Space Odyssey

I worked with AI, Artificial Intelligence, for several years in the junk mail business when I was creating computer models that would determine just where to find a catalog company's best and most profitable customers. Yes, it's been around for several years but wasn't really known outside that limited community of analysts and statisticians until recently. It worked. I purchased a computer program, all-told cost me $25,000, that literally did all my thinking in relation to telling my clients where to mail their catalogs. Output was very expensive, which limited those able to pay the price.

I tell you this to illustrate the fact that you can program a machine (most computers) to think like a human, draw conclusions and make valid predictions. In the same vein, it is possible for these same machines to perform normal household tasks, including what is in the Google AI article, making a call that sounds like a human being. Robots replaced human beings long ago on auto assembly lines, as well as other automated businesses. Remember HAL from Space Odyssey? Started out a team player but turns on his makers and controllers. This was 2001. We're way beyond this today.