Posted on 17 Oct 2026, items from Friday, 2 Oct: items about misunderstanding Daylight Saving Time, RFK Jr. and AI vs the “tyranny” of medical facts, Krugman on Trump vs the data, Trump’s anger re the media vs propaganda.
They’re still on about changing the clocks. But they’re thinking about it wrong, of course.
JMG, today: Demented Man Rages About “Changing The Clocks”
The very name of their bill betrays their misunderstanding of how this all works. And the evidence he cites is backwards.
“Republicans in the Senate have to get moving on what I call the ‘No More Changing of Clocks Act,’ officially known as The Sunshine Protection Act, a ridiculous Clock changing process that takes place twice a year, costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine.
…because everyone will be enjoying an EXTRA HOUR OF DAYLIGHT.
But you lose it in the morning. Get it? No of course not.
\\\
They’re deluded about this too.
Ars Technica, Beth Mole, 30 Sep 2026: RFK Jr. thinks AI will free us from the “tyranny” of medical facts, expertise, subtitled “AI is far from a perfect resource. But it seems to hallucinate less than Kennedy.”
RFK Jr. and Vance, chatting.
Kennedy boasted that the Trump administration is “making it easy for every American to use AI,” which he claimed would free us from the “medical tyranny” of doctors and health experts. He suggested Americans should start using AI to get second opinions about medical recommendations, saying AI is “better informed than any doctor in the country.” He also suggested that the technology would confirm his misinformation about vaccines and contrarian views on public health guidance.
Doesn’t he understand where AI gets its information? By gleaning the web, and libraries, and medical journals. At best it is/will be a distillation of medical expertise, not a contraindication of it. He think AI will validate his contrary views? He’s delusional.
The writer provides examples, asking about masks and vaccines, asking both ChatGPT and Gemini.
Anyway, AI is not at its best. It still has a record of ‘hallucinating’ sources and manufacturing data. It is almost certainly still more reliable than RFK Jr. and Vance.
\\\
Yet MAGA loyalists live in a world of delusion, believing everything and anything Trump tells them.
Paul Krugman, today: A “Who You Gonna Believe?” Election, subtitled “If you’re arguing, you’re losing. Trump is arguing.”
(IIRC it was Reagan who said, if you’re arguing, you’re losing.)
Krugman begins by displaying a graphic from current Trump press released that proclaims “Welcome to the Golden Age!”
They’re still doing it! Click on any White House press release and the image above pops up. The tone-deafness is almost surreal. Even if you’re a Trump loyalist who really believes that things are going great in America, surely you have to be aware that this isn’t how most voters see it.
In contrast to actual data, as in the chart shown above.
Voters famously blame whoever is in the White House when fuel prices are high, even though presidents normally have very little influence on these prices. In this case Trump, with his disastrous war of choice in Iran, really does bear full responsibility for high energy prices — and voters know it.
With more charts!
\\
Trump wants to be able to say anything, no matter how at odds with reality, and have the press repeat it, and have his followers believe it.
Media Matters, Matt Gertz, 28 Sep 2026: Trump’s press grievances are based in their refusal to do propaganda
The Justice Department sought last week to justify President Donald Trump’s decision to ban three news outlets from the White House by arguing that their reporters had jeopardized national security. But Trump’s own statements show what he actually wants from the press: servile propaganda that parrots what he and his political allies say about his administration.
“‘The United States has the BEST Employment Numbers in HISTORY,’” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform in the 7 a.m. hour Monday morning. Trump attributed the quote to “FoxNews,” then added: “The Fake News Media REFUSES to report this rather significant development, however!!!”
\\\
The Loonies.
- JMG, today: MAGA Prophet Prays For Jesus To “Bind The Steal, Drown Perverted Demonic Satanic Liberal Agenda”
- My first reaction: these people are insane. My second reaction: but his reaction has to be taken into account in any honest recognition of human nature, which is about tribalism and fantasy and not about understanding reality.
- JMG, 28 Sep: GOP Nominee Called For Publicly Executing Obama
- In what universe is he operating in?
