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GUT PUNCH VIRAL STORY

For several months, Punch the Monkey has captivated social media. It is an evolving story about nature, family, parenting and empathy.

A baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his mother went viral. Punch, a Japanese macaque, was born last July at the Ichikawa Zoo. He has drawn international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his mother. Without maternal guidance to help him integrate, Punch has turned to the toy for comfort.

He has been filmed multiple times being dragged and chased by older Japanese macaques inside the enclosure. Early clips showed him wandering alone with the toy after being pushed away by other monkeys, and clutching it tightly while being harassed by other members of his troop. In any society structure, there is a pecking order. Without maternal support, Punch had no protector and classification within the group. Zookeepers believe Punch was ostracized for several reasons.

In Punch's case, his mother was a first-time mother, indicating inexperience. Zookeepers also suggest Punch was born during a heatwave, which would be a high stress environment. In environments where survival is threatened from outside stress, mothers may prioritize their own health and future reproduction rather than continue to care for an infant whose health may be compromised by those environmental conditions. Zookeepers took in Punch and raised him from birth.

He was put back into the habitat but was immediately bullied, hit, and harassed by older monkeys. In order to cope, zookeepers gave him an orange plush orangutan doll as a comfort item. “Baby Japanese macaques immediately cling on to their mother's body after birth to build muscle strength. They also get a sense of security through holding on to something. However, because he had been abandoned, Punch had nothing to grip on to,” zookeeper Kosuke Shikano said in a Guardian (UK) article. “We thought that (the toy) looking like a monkey might help Punch integrate back into the troop later on.”

Referring to the stuffed orangutan, zoo officials said: “The toy Punch has may be serving as an attachment figure, especially given they are six months old so likely still need to be nursed,” the zookeeper explained. She also said the other monkeys actions towards Punch are not bullying or any abnormal behavior, but regular social interaction. Japanese macaques have strict matrilineal hierarchies, where higher-ranking families assert dominance over lower-ranking ones. Even with his mother, Punch would probably still face this aggression, she said. Through the eyes of non-expert humans, it was a story similar to their own experiences.

In a world of negative news and war, Punch's story garnered great empathy from viewers. Punch, the world's sweetest, saddest little monkey. In his new world where all he wants is love. And acceptance. And a family bond or two. Just like humans do in their own worlds. Watching Punch navigate his world is a gut punch to many as he seems frail in comparison to his peers and disregarded, hit and bullied by elders.

In the past month or so, he has been hugged by a few of his clan, but most of the time he is alone. He tries to get close to older monkeys, in order to groom and be groomed, with little success. But he continues to try, which is uplifting. But when the zookeepers make their daily feeding rounds (throwing food items from buckets across the habitat), Punch frequently avoids competing with bigger members for food chunks. Instead, he often climbs on a zookeeper instead of eating food. But his zookeepers say that he is well fed and continues to grow.

Punch has captivated many by his small, cuteness and his underdog story. It takes a lot more than cuteness to create a viral animal sensation, though that is a key component. If you see something adorable, “within a seventh of a second, you get activity in the (pleasure-processing) orbitofrontal cortex,” Morten Kringelbach, a neuroscientist from Oxford University, tells the Economist. This taps into a primal part of our psyche that makes us want to protect our species littlest ones. Kringelbach said, Punch “looks so like a baby, walking around with that soft toy.”

There are lessons to be learned in this story. Life has placed obstacles in Punch's path. He is much smaller than his foes. But Punch is resilient and determined to make it in macaque society. When others knock him down, he gets back up. People are cheering for him to succeed. This story is a microcosm of many people's own lives; the trials, pitfalls, small victories and finding your own comfortable place in your life. In the last month, he has been seen more sitting with older monkeys. This is a form of acceptance. If he climbs on an elder, he may push him off. This is a form of correction: Punch can learn what is proper behavior in the clan. Many people see Punch being tackled, pinned or pulled, but most of that interaction is play. What some viewers miss is that is a society's integration of a new member into its troop. As a level of normalcy comes to pass in Punch's life, AI fake videos highlighting early images of loneliness are trying to bury the good story lines. Too bad. The real story is more compelling.

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HOW AI MAY FAIL THESIS

Rick Beato is a music instructor and producer who has a successful YouTube channel. He recently thought how AI may fail.

He used an analogy he was very familiar with: digital music. He said before digital music production technology, musicians had to rely upon labels and recording studios to make their singles and LPs. To create a recording studio, it cost millions of dollars and debt. Bands would have to pay high daily costs in order to record their music.

But digital recording technology began making traditional, large-format analog recording studios obsolete throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, driven by the rise of affordable Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) like Pro Tools. While digital technology appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the shift to home-based, computer-driven production that decentralized the industry.

Beato thinks this same home-production model will also kill off consumer AI. He says AI giants are spending billions of dollars on large data centers for the capacity to run more advanced LLM, just as music production studios spent millions on recording studios. But in a day, Beato downloaded an independent AI LLM to his home computer. He could use the same prompts and questions, and his own home computer would spit out chatGPT results.

This interface does not use the internet or large AI corporate data processing. He downloaded one of hundreds of self-contained models to run his private searches. He said the advantage is that he is no longer giving strangers his personal information or interests. The entire AI process is contained in his home.

How the fall may occur: once more people realize that they can also do this without paying monthly fees for the service, the big AI companies will find they overbuilt debt-ladened facilities that the average person (and the largest customer base) will not need or use. The AI giants will collapse under the weight of their own debt, falling stock prices and lack of paying customers, who they also data mine.

Whether this doomsday scenario will come true is unknown. But if market forces make it easy for home use as it was for home digital music production, the AI hype will begin to fade. AI industry probably does not see this as a real threat as they fight off various copyright infringement and personal injury or product liability damage suits that involve “real” money judgments.

iToons

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ANOTHER BLACK EYE COMMENTARY

In March, CBS News announced that it will end its nearly 100-year-old radio news service and cut more jobs as part of a broader restructuring led by Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, according to internal memos sent to staff and reviewed by POLITICO.

Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski told staff the network will shutter its radio news service and eliminate all positions tied to it. “Today, we informed our CBS News Radio team and approximately 700 affiliated stations that we will end the service on May 22, 2026, ” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote.“Unfortunately, this decision means that all positions within the CBS News Radio team are being eliminated.”The executives cited changes in the media landscape and financial pressures as driving the move. A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service,, the executives said.

CBS News Radio dates back to 1927 and produced the nation's longest-running newscast “World News Roundup.” CBS News has been navigating major structural changes since billionaire David Ellison took control. His media company, Skydance, acquired Paramount last year, and Weiss became the chief executive after Paramount then acquired her publication, The Free Press. Weiss quickly made changes to kick-start her vision for the network. She restructured “CBS Evening News” by replacing its co-anchors, Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson, with Tony Dokoupil from “CBS Mornings.” The move caused a sharp drop in viewership. The organization continues to drop high-profile journalists such as Anderson Cooper and Scott MacFarlane.

Weiss came under fire after abruptly pulling a “60 Minutes” segment on El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison, a facility known for its human rights violations that held immigrants deported by President Donald Trump. The segment later aired with few changes. Some critics believe Weiss' heavy handed cuts and interference is a thank-you note for Trump's administration approving this merger.

Media consolidation is killing news organizations. Investment vultures have bought up newspapers and chains to strip them bare and barely functioning. Government approved media consolidation over serious objections has silenced independent voices. Another deal would augment Nexstar, already the biggest TV station group in the U.S., with Tegna's stations ---resulting in a company with 259 full-power stations (after divesting six), affiliated with networks including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The deal will give the combined company reach across 80 percent of US TV households which would violate the FCC's ownership cap on any single company owning stations that reach more than 39 percent of the US, but the FCC has granted a waiver of that rule.

The Justice Department also approved the Nexstar-Tegna deal. However, States will press their own anti-trust actions. “This transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve,” Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said in a statement. Journalists call that corporate BS. Trump signaled his approval of all the current mega media mergers, like WBD and Paramount and Nexstar because of their conservative bent. He has learned that he can pressure institutions like media companies because he controls the regulators. He can create his own media oligarchy. As part of a potential merger, new CNN executives are firing more CNN staffers to concentrate on more profitable areas. A spiral of smaller independent journalists covering national issues is an information problem that can destroy American principles, values and morals.

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FOUND BUT NOT LOST ON THE INTERNET

Partisan politics by Party members stating where they place themselves on the spectrum. No surprise independents are in the middle with a slight lean conservative, the GOP thinks they are more radical conservatives. Likewise, Republicans think Democrats are radical left while Dems themselves think they are just somewhat liberal. What this really shows is that the farthest left and right pundits have the loudest voices.

Source: facebook

Jessica Foster is in military soldier fatigues standing in front of a fighter jet as a proud MAGA follower. Except, she does not exist. She is AI. The post does not disclose that this person that people are fawning over does not exist. Instead, she/it has garnered millions of followers. We guess it makes sense that MAGA zealots cannot tell the difference between fake and reality images, as they have been trained into AI fakes by the Trump White House.

Source:MSN

Smooch! Social media is being flooded with young woman making provocative posts and suggestions in order to get followers and likes. It is hard to tell if they are real or AI girlfriends as very few author's admit to AI use. The trend is clear: more people are using digital world in order to have interactive relationships. Pucker up for more confusion.

Source: Instagram

First Robot Arrest in China! Yes it was only a matter of time when robots are put out into the wild Real World. The humanoid robot has been arrested by police after terrifying an elderly woman in China. According to local authorities, a 70-year-old woman was startled by the robot when she suddenly noticed it standing behind her. Footage then shows two police officers escorting the Unitree G1 down the road, with one leading the robot by its shoulder. Police told reporters that the woman had stopped to check her phone when the robot halted behind her, waiting for her to clear the path. The elderly pedestrian was then “frightened” to discover that the robot was silently following her down the road. Is robot stalking a crime?

Source: Daily Mail (UK)

Meanwhile, in California, a robot dancer went berserk at a restaurant, sending food flying while staff try to drag it away. Customers at the Haidilao hotpot restaurant in San Jose were enjoying their meals when a humanoid started showing off some dance moves. While performing a dance routine, involving waving its arms and shaking its hips, the robot suddenly slams its hands down on a table. This sends chopsticks and bright yellow sauce flying into the air. Staff members race over to try and turn it off but the humanoid continues to dance throughout the altercation. Who ordered mayhem from the menu?

Source: Daily Mail (UK)

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QUICK BYTES CYBERCULTURE

THE BUZZ IS GONE . Reuters reports BuzzFeed has been flagged with going concern doubts and the company said it will not provide a forecast for 2026 as it evaluates strategic options, sending the digital media company's shares down 7.3 percent after the bell on March 12, 2026.

BuzzFeed has been grappling with a cash crunch as digital advertisers increasingly favor social media platforms such as TikTok and Meta's Instagram. Founded by Jonah Peretti and John Johnson in 2006, BuzzFeed built its audience through listicles before expanding into a newsroom to challenge stalwarts like the New York Times. It went public via a blank-check merger in 2021 with an enterprise value of $1.5 billion. The stock has lost 98 percent of its value since then.

“The current market value of the company does not reflect the strength of our individual brands,” CEO Peretti said on a post-earnings call. “In other words, we believe the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole.” BuzzFeed, with a market capitalization of $28.3 million, said it may lack sufficient cash to meet its financial obligations over the next 12 months. It ended 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $8.5 million. Though BuzzFeed was one of the defining brands of the social-media-driven digital publishing era, its “situation could be a sign that being well-known and getting a lot of clicks isn't enough anymore,” said Emarketer analyst Grace Harmon.

INSOLVENT SAM. The Federal Reserve's underreported fiscal year 2026 report shows the United States is broke, insolvent, bust, bankrupt. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025.

Importantly, the $47.78 trillion in reported liabilities does not include the unfunded obligations of social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare. as those are disclosed separately in the off-balance-sheet Statement of Social Insurance (SOSI). The government's consolidated balance sheet position, excluding the SOSI, deteriorated by nearly $2.07 trillion between FY 2024 and FY 2025, reaching a staggering negative $41.72 trillion. Total liabilities are now nearly eight times the value of reported assets.

The largest drivers were a $2 trillion increase in federal debt and interest payable (now $30.33 trillion) and a $438.8 billion increase in federal employee and veteran benefits payable (now $15.47 trillion.) The off-balance-sheet picture is even more alarming. The 75-year unfunded social insurance obligation surged by$10.1 trillion in a single year, rising from $78.3 trillion in FY 2024 to $88.4 trillion in FY 2025 was driven primarily by a $6.9 trillion jump in projected Medicare Part B shortfalls and a $2.5 trillion increase for Social Security. If the $88.4 trillion in 75-year off-balance-sheet obligations were added to the $47.8 trillion in official balance sheet liabilities, total federal obligations would now exceed $136.2 trillion, roughly five times US annual GDP.

FUNNY MONEY. Half a billion dollars worth of bets on the oil market were placed 15 minutes before Donald Trump said the US had held “productive talks” with Iran and announced a ceasefire on energy strikes. Some 6,200 oil futures contracts changed hands between 6:49 am and 6:50 am EST on that day, a quarter of an hour before the US president's announcement. The value of those contracts amounted to $580 million, the Financial Times reported. There are calls about possible insider trading, but the Trump administration has not been bothered by the story. Trump has already pardoned a host of insider traders and convicted fraudsters. He just does not believe making money is a crime, no matter the means.

Also in the funny money world, Arizona's attorney general filed criminal charges against prediction market Kalshi, accusing it of operating a gambling business without a license and offering illegal wagers on elections. “Kalshi may brand itself as a prediction market, but what it's actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law.” attorney-general Kris Mayes said in a statement. While Arizona' case is the first time criminal charges have been brought against the company, several other US states have alleged that Kalshi's markets constitute illegal and unregulated sports betting, according to ArsTechnica.

HACKETTE JOB. Hachette Publishing pulled the book SHY GIRL from the UK market and canceled plans to bring it to the US. The move came after a New York Times investigation suggested that AI had been used in significant parts of the work. SHY GIRL was self-published in 2025 by Mia Ballard, and quickly found an audience on social media. The novel follows a depressed, OCD woman named Gia who, down on her luck, encounters a “sugar daddy” who pays off her debts. In return,all she has to do is live as his literal pet. Eventually, of course, living like an animal makes her into an animal, and things apparently get nasty. In January 2026, someone claiming to be a long-time book editor posted a long Reddit thread claiming the book had all the hallmarks of AI lit. “If so, I find it repulsive that it has been picked up and published by the second largest publishing company, at least in the UK,” said the Reddit post.“If it isn't AI, she's a terrible writer. Her writing is truly indistinguishable from an LLM.”

WHAT READERS WANT TO SEE. The Chicago Sun-Times polled its readers to find out what kinds of museums they would like to have in Chicago. The results were: Music, ordinary Chicagoans, department stores and journalism. Chicago does have a Museum of Broadcast Communications but it is not well known. Chicago used to be the catalog king of retailing with many department stores, such as Sears and Montgomery Ward, leading the way (the printed Amazon of its time.) The most popular PBS series in Chicago is one exploring the history of Chicago and its suburbs. There must be a sentimental wave of nostalgia in the Windy City.

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THE WHETHER REPORT

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STATUS

Question: Whether Israel and Saudi leaders pushing Trump to commit more assets including troops into the Iran War is a move to cripple the regime while seizing more power for themselves?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

Question: Whether the fractured, multi-channel, multiple streaming of various sports games will lose viewers who are tired of trying to track down live sports contests?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

Question: Whether mega-events like FIFA and the Olympics have worn out their welcome?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

OUR STORE IS STILL UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION.

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER.

APOLOGIES.