Lunacy down on the farm… The FBI has arrested Brad Kenneth Spafford following a raid at his 20-acre Isle of Wight County farm and charged him with possessing an unregistered short-barrel rifle. Law enforcement overreach? Well, FBI agents discovered more than 150 pipe bombs and other explosive devices, reports The Virginian-Pilot. They also found a backpack upon which Spafford, who is White, had printed the hashtag #NOLIVESMATTER. A neighbor said he used Joe Biden’s picture for target practice and, after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, told the neighbor he hoped the shooter “doesn’t miss Kamala.” Spafford also espoused the bizarre conspiracy theory that “missing children in the news had been taken by the federal government to be trained as school shooters.”
And in a desperate attempt to salvage reality… I disagree with Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, about many things, but I think I’m with him on his latest concern. The use is spreading of AI-generated voices and images in campaign ads to create fake celebrity endorsements and other deceptive content. According to WUSA, Surovell wouldn’t ban the use of AI, but he would make campaign ads run conspicuous disclaimers. “AI generated material is extremely dangerous in a political environment and by the time anybody realizes it’s AI, it’s too late,” he told the broadcaster. Humans are predisposed to conspiratorial thinking as it is — the feds are kidnaping our children (see above), the moon landing was faked, Obama was born in Kenya, 9/11 was an inside job, Trump colluded with Putin to steal the election. AI will pour jet fuel on fake news and conspiracy mongering. We need to give serious thought on how to rein it in while protecting free speech.
Teach kids to read by hiring teachers who can’t read. AI disclaimers can’t save us from pure stupid, however. A law has gone into effect in New Jersey that purports to address the Garden State’s teacher shortage by removing a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification. Here in Virginia teachers seeking initial licensure must pass the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment (VCLA), which creates a barrier to the hiring of a historically marginalized group commonly known as incompetents. (How long until the i word is banned?) Here’s hoping that the General Assembly’s so-called “progressives,” who have done everything in their power to make Virginia more like New Jersey, don’t get any ideas.
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