Just Like Any New Invention...

Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok posted on Friday that lapses in safeguards had led it to generate “images depicting minors in minimal clothing” on social media platform X.

...I mean, has there ever been an invention of visual arts in the entire history of the world that wasn't used for porn by someone eventually? When Ug first got out the ground ochre and charcoal to paint mammoths on the cave walls, it won't have been too long before one of his chums was planning to paint Mrs Ug in a compromising position with a cave bear.

  The chatbot, a product of Musk’s company xAI, has been generating a wave of sexualized images throughout the week in response to user prompts.

User prompts. The users of the software. Not the creators of it. So why is Musk getting all the opprobium from the EU and the progressives in the states? As if I didn't know... 

In a reply to a user on X on Thursday, Grok said most cases could be prevented through advanced filters and monitoring although it said “no system is 100% foolproof”, adding that xAI was prioritising improvements and reviewing details shared by users.

If lawmakers and politicians have a beef, it should be with the users who are doing this, not with the creators of the tool that gives them an outlet to do it. 

Now I’ve Heard Everything…

Defence lawyer chancing their arm in defending this Liverpool chav with a vicious mutt:

"Unfortunately, she has suffered significantly over the past five years. Her ex-partner had kicked her door in recently. She is a domestic violence victim. This has led to significant issues in her life for a long period, and led to her child being taken away. 

She's the victim here, you callous brutes! Not the poor bloody workman whose face was shredded by her hellhound!  

That may explain some of the way the dog behaved on that occasion.

 What? Seriously? How?

"Certainly, Ms Fitzpatrick is assessed as being a very low risk of reoffending. She has responded well to previous supervision. There are no breaches on her file."

Well done for admitting to the court she's a typical Liverpool recidivist. 

Fitzpatrick has no previous convictions of a similar nature, but was handed a six-week imprisonment suspended for 12 months in April last year for two counts of assaulting an emergency services worker.

They do grow to look like their 'pets', don't they? 

Ms Fitzpatrick is taking steps herself to better understand what she should do with a dog if Capone is returned to her, as well as being committed to attending behavioural management classes to ensure that Capone is suitably behaved.

Well, that won't be needed, the mutt won't be doing it again, as the magistrates sensibly imposed a destruction order. The owner?

'fined £120 and told to pay £300 in compensation, court costs of £85 and a £48 victim surcharge.'

None of that coming anywhere near the true costs, of course. If the court ever sees a single penny... 

The Wackademics Are At It Again...

Exams and essay writing should be ditched because they unfairly favour white students, according to a report from an elite university. Birmingham University says the traditional methods of assessment are measures of ‘smartness based on white privilege’, adding that it is harder for students from ethnic minorities to do well.

It's harder for white men to play basketball, there was even a film about it, but I didn't see any universitoes worrying about that.. 

And in a commentary released with the report, Prof Sally Everett, from another renowned university – King’s College London – waxed lyrical about the ‘unearned advantages of being white’ and ‘the privileges of whiteness’ and advocated ‘decolonising assessment’. She claimed that traditional assessment methods ‘perpetuate systemic inequalities’ and suggested ‘low-stakes assessments’ such as ‘writing reflective journals’ should replace them.

The report concluded that assessment practices, such as in-person, timed exams or graded essays, should go because they are potentially ‘tools of exclusion’. It said these ‘marginalise knowledge’ and devalue skills from ‘non-Western traditions’.

Unfortunatly, those lead to skills like performing under pressure and timekeeping that Western businesses prize in their employees, so where are you expecting yout alumni to get jobs? Or doesn't that matter to you?  

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said he was ‘saddened to see academic integrity being brought into disrepute in this way’.

Bit late to the party aren't you, Chris? The devaluing started long, long ago and has reached critical mass now, as David Thompson has repeatedly pointed out. 

A University of Birmingham spokesman defended the project as ‘a product of academically rigorous research and discussions with academics within and outside of Birmingham Business School’. 

‘This report from colleagues in the business school suggests a range of actions that may help students understand and explore those different perspectives.’ 

‘Birmingham Business School is a global business school educating students who come from all over the world. Understanding the world from multiple perspectives is a critical skill that we teach our future business leaders.’

Which rather explaines why the quality of world business leaders has been going downhill for years, doersn't it?  

Labour Prioritising Its Imported Voting Bloc Again...

Young children from struggling families in some parts of England will be offered vaccinations at home to protect them from preventable diseases, the health secretary has said.

Really?  

The pilot scheme, announced on Thursday as part of a drive to increase vaccine uptake, will see health visitors trained to spend more time with small numbers of families who could fall through the cracks of the NHS. Wes Streeting told the BBC that children's healthcare had not been given the priority it deserved.

What's the makeup of these families who 'fall through the cracks' then?  

The pilot scheme was part of that aim, he said, targeting families who are not signed up to a GP surgery or face language barriers, travel costs or childcare issues which stop them getting to a doctor.

Ah, I see. Labour's imported voter base. Given house calls by GPs are now almost entirely unknown, does the NHS really have the staff for this? 

Streeting said there had been a decline in the number of health visitors and community nursing over a number of years, and that government was developing a workforce plan to address recruitment.

Of course, it would be folly to ask why they didn't recruit them before making this announcement, wouldn't it, Reader? 

Given The NHS Claims To See Nothing Inherently Wrong With Them Fucking Their Cousins...

..this new revelation shouldn't really come as a surprise:

Britain's leading abortion charity has been criticised for encouraging 'sex-selective' terminations - amid fears these are on the rise among the country's Indian women. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which carries out 110,000 terminations a year, suggests that aborting a baby on the basis of sex is not illegal - despite Government advice explicitly stating it is against the law.

Well, there's a charity that needs stripping of its charitable status then!  

Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, a campaigner against forced marriages, said:'Health professionals need to stop turning a blind eye because of cultural sensitivities or the fear of being accused of racism.'

You don't say... 

DHSC said in a statement: 'This Government's position is unequivocal: sex-selective abortion isillegal in England and Wales and will not be tolerated 

'Sex is not a lawful ground for termination of pregnancy, and it is a criminal offence for any practitioner to carry out an abortion for that reason alone. 

'Anyone with evidence that this illegal practice is occurring must report it to the police immediately.'

Who are as captured as the charity and will be only too happy to turn a blind eye to anthing ACPO may deen a 'cultural issue we shouldn't meddle in'.... 

Seems They Will Be Avoiding The Really Hard Questions...

The owners of the Swiss nightclub which erupted into an inferno killing at least 47 people and injuring 115 others are a husband and wife French couple who are known as powerful figures in the Swiss hospitality industry, we can reveal. The blast occurred at around 1.30am local time (12.30am GMT) in the basement of 'Le Constellation', a popular venue located in the centre of the Alpine town of Crans-Montana. Flames quickly spread across the club, consuming it in a raging fire that killed dozens.

...fire investigators probing the cause of the tragedy are now said to be investigating whether the basement which had just one relatively-narrow staircase was effectively 'a disaster waiting to happen'.

They will be asking all the right questions, but leaving out some: 

Investigators will also be looking at whether the wooden furnishings inside the basement, the wooden panelling on some of the walls, and the reported foam-style insulation material on the ceiling contributed to the spread of the fire.

Questions will inevitably be asked about how appropriate it was for the venue to use sparklers as props to make a theatrical show of serving drinks.

How about asking who signed off on the building's fire safety certificate, and why they did this?  Or why all the regulations the EU boasts about proved worthless in this case?

From The People Who Brought You...

 ...legislation requiring warnings to click to receive emails and offers on the internet, and opt-in messages on any kind of finance deal, not to mention warnings about gambling excessively, this:

And given the fuss they've made about past remarks of others, there's no getting away with excusing this chaps' Tweets with 'It was all in the past when he was young and he's different now!' 

Not for nothing are they referred to as 'LibDumbs' - stupidity and arrogance is a deadly combination.

Well, It’s Not Like He Has A Coherent Plan For Anything Else, Is It?

Keir Starmer has no coherent strategy to tackle entrenched inequalities harming the life chances of millions of people, the government’s social mobility commissioner has said.

Didn't really need the last 12 words, there, did they?  

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC), a government advisory body, said big cities such as Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol were starting to thrive but that opportunities were “overconcentrated”. In a Guardian interview, the commission’s chair, Alun Francis, urged Starmer to outline a bold vision to tackle “the defining social mobility challenge of our generation”.

Starmer has never been 'bold' in hie entire wretched life, and I suspect has never had any sort of vision eitther. 

Francis praised government policies on devolution and housing, but said welfare reform and other proposals had been “stop-start”. “We’ve got other policies like growth, educational improvement where we’re just not sure where we’re going,” he said.

Down the Tubes, with this wretched mob in charge.  

He also warned that without a “universal view” of what social mobility means, it risked being subsumed by diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies – an agenda that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has characterised as “woke” and promised to dismantle. “To some degree it’s dropped into being a part of DEI because it does have some of those aspects,” he said. “But [social mobility] isn’t really a DEI policy. It’s more about an economic and social policy that’s about bringing the benefits to everybody.”

The #progressives will never give up DEI.  

That Tune's Familiar: Parody Songs

Well, time for another 12 month musical series..albeit with a bit of a difference this time. Switching to the firtst Sunday in the month, because these have a comedy asppect (and because I often forget to Tweet them when they are on a weekday... ☺)

I have a great fondness for well-done parody songs. And first up is one that's featured here before, and seems appropriate for January, when we're anticipating imminent SNOWMAGEDDON...

Look Ahead (And Laugh)

 As Matt is stil on holiday mode, let's start the New Year Sunday humour spot off with an actually funny one from the 'Guardian'. Yeah, when they avoid politics, they can produce some...