Thursday, September 04, 2025
Priorities
They don't believe in what were the primary functions of the FBI, so why not.
WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's surge of federal law enforcement into Washington, D.C., is exposing the FBI's fleet of unmarked cars, potentially risking its ability to do its most sensitive national security and surveillance work, nine current and former employees of the bureau warned.
Tom's Two Laws Of Robotics
The Moustache Of Understanding:
So what I was trying to do is basically say, given this onrushing train of A.I. and its vast implications, there’s only one way to manage this, and that is if the two A.I. superpowers — China and the United States — collaborate together on a system for controlling A.I. and ensuring that every A.I. device that either of them makes or sells to the other has embedded in it a set of ethical normative controls to ensure that their A.I.s can only be used for the advancement of human well-being, and not for any nefarious purposes.Sometime I feel the need to explain why things are dumb, but I think pointing laughing is good enough for this one.
The Liberal Bubble
A regular trope presented by our reactionary centrists (shy right wingers) is that liberals/lefties live in some sort of cloistered "bubble," unaware of the concerns and thoughts of right wingers, despite having them blasted at us from every media outlet constantly.
Needless to say, they never write this piece for right wingers who have no idea that The Left thinks about anything (reactionary centrists don't either).
As for the bubble, it is somewhat amusing that the MAGA Right has spent years constructing elaborate conspiracy theories centered on Jeffrey Epstein, while somehow missing that Donald Trump and Mar-A-Lago are at the center of Epstein Cinematic Universe.
We could've told them that.
Needless to say, they never write this piece for right wingers who have no idea that The Left thinks about anything (reactionary centrists don't either).
As for the bubble, it is somewhat amusing that the MAGA Right has spent years constructing elaborate conspiracy theories centered on Jeffrey Epstein, while somehow missing that Donald Trump and Mar-A-Lago are at the center of Epstein Cinematic Universe.
We could've told them that.
Sure Why Not
They shouldn't do it, but it would be a little bit funny, at least.
Driving the news: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Wednesday called Trump's Operation Warp Speed — the 2020 American effort to develop COVID vaccines — "a profound public health achievement."
"Such an accomplishment would typically be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, given its significant impact," Bourla said in a statement.
He also provided a link to "numerous published studies and updates" that validate the Pfizer vaccine's "safety and effectiveness."
Chemtrails
The dangers of indulging the fantasies of the crazies.
Since the state law went into effect, the Floridians who backed it have grown increasingly angry by seeing the skies just as marked by white trails as they were prior to the state law.While not precisely the same, there is a lesson here about trying to give anti-immigration zealots something you can't give them. They don't want cuts to illegal immigration or even legal immigration.
Here’s a smattering of irate posts on X in the two months since the state law went into effect:
— “Yes, the spraying has taken place every single day since the Ban was put in place!”
— “The invasion continues. Florida skies are under constant attack.”
— “DeSantis, why do you lie? Why do you say that you signed a Florida Bill getting rid of these hideous chemtrails, and it is all a fat big LIE?”
— “Welcome to Florida, the chemtrails state. Now we are being sprayed from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m., so by 10 a.m. the skies are cleared but you are breathing heavy metals. Thank you DeSantis.”
— “See how the chemicals are spreading out. Trees are dying, crops are barely growing. Why is our government doing this to us?”
By humoring Florida’s free-dumb coalition on chemtrails, state lawmakers have unleashed a tornado of disappointment upon themselves.
They want you to send them all back again, and if you can't provide that, they won't be happy. They will vote for the people who they think might.
Stop negotiating with the imaginary Reasonable Republican in your head, imagining that surely this compromise will appeal to them, because it's very sensible. Reasonable Republicans don't exist, and they haven't agreed to your compromise.
At Least They Fake Banned Tik Tok
I wonder if any country was too stupid to have data sniffers (I have no idea if this is a good technical term) around the White House when they were sending everything through Starlink.
China has hacked into American power grids and companies for decades, stealing sensitive files and intellectual property such as chip designs as it seeks to gain an edge over the United States.I suspect a decent chunk of powerful people are regularly being blackmailed by foreign powers, but we've hit the "what can you do" point of that.
But a sweeping cyberattack by a group known as Salt Typhoon is China’s most ambitious yet, experts and officials have concluded after a year of investigating it. It targeted more than 80 countries and may have stolen information from nearly every American, officials said. They see it as evidence that China’s capabilities rival those of the United States and its allies.
Wednesday, September 03, 2025
Sure Why Not
It isn't going to take too much more for other countries to move towards requiring vaccination proof.
Florida is set to end all state vaccine mandates, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a news conference Wednesday.Of course, other states won't be able to do similar, as people bring their measles back from Plague Park, Orlando.
Recessions
It just occurred to me that the last two downturns - Great and Covid - were quite acute and sudden. The former had a slow recovery time - thanks, Obama - and the latter a quick one, but in both cases the onsets were quick.
I think "we" sort of expect them to be like that, now, but neither of them were "normal."
I'm not predicting one. I'm just saying that it generally takes awhile for things like tariff increases to percolate through the economy.
Saved
The author used to yell at me when I would post this, arguing that the piece was nuanced and critical and blahblahblah, but, well..
Why Don't You Make Them One Million Percent Then
Bernie Sanders can be like, "maybe we should raise the minimum wage," and a thousand economists and Briefcase Centrists will descend upon his house with pitchforks to explain why he doesn't understand economics, and now we have this...
Assassinations
I don't expect The Democrats to point out that assassinating alleged drug smugglers - not even a capital crime - is, maybe, bad, but they should consider the broader consequeneces of these taboos continuing to fall.
Extrajudicial killing is bad, yo.
Judicial, too.
You gotta stand on principle or you'll find there aren't any left.
No I don't think The Democrats have magic powers to stop these things.
Extrajudicial killing is bad, yo.
Judicial, too.
You gotta stand on principle or you'll find there aren't any left.
No I don't think The Democrats have magic powers to stop these things.
Tuesday, September 02, 2025
You Can't Trust Freedom When It's Not In Your Hands
Pritzker has his own Guard.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said Tuesday President Donald Trump is preparing to deploy National Guard troops in the state over the governor’s repeated objections. Pritzker also warned Trump will soon launch large-scale immigration raids in Chicago.
Pritzker said the Trump administration has begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois. He added that Illinois law enforcement agents were informed by Trump administration officials that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies will soon begin immigration operations across Chicago.
“In the coming days, we expect to see what has played out in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to happen here in Chicago,” Pritzker said, referring to Trump’s aggressive deployment of the military in Los Angeles earlier this year and his recent deployment in D.C.
Work Is Hard
I bet most of these guys are barely-shows.
As the article points out, man-against-working-from-home can't use it as an excuse.
As the article points out, man-against-working-from-home can't use it as an excuse.
Do The Robot
I know Elon's robots are 100% bullshit, but for anyone who thinks they're 90% bullshit:
Automation and robots are nothing new. We have been very good at producing highly efficient machines for specific tasks. The point of a general purpose humanoid robot is that it would be able to do a wide variety of tasks without additional programming and with a great degree of flexibility.
What would they be useful for? My test is the "clean my table, load the dishwasher, and put the clean dishes away" test. That would be the home consumer test.
A commercial test would be "clean hotel rooms."
Try to imagine these creations doing those things. You can't do it, my friends.
Automation and robots are nothing new. We have been very good at producing highly efficient machines for specific tasks. The point of a general purpose humanoid robot is that it would be able to do a wide variety of tasks without additional programming and with a great degree of flexibility.
What would they be useful for? My test is the "clean my table, load the dishwasher, and put the clean dishes away" test. That would be the home consumer test.
A commercial test would be "clean hotel rooms."
Try to imagine these creations doing those things. You can't do it, my friends.
Elon Musk is deemphasizing Tesla Inc.’s car business like never before in favor of humanoid robots that are still in development and a ways off from generating revenue.He is just going to abandon the car business. And somehow the stock price will stay afloat.
Tesla’s chief executive officer said Monday the company will derive about 80% of its value from Optimus, the robot initiative he first touted four years ago. Musk made the prediction shortly after Tesla published its latest “master plan,” an oft updated corporate manifesto that mentioned robots for the first time.
Nadler
My longtime theory about congressional non-retirements - confirmed by a few people - has been that even the rich ones can't easily replace the loyal staffers that provide the equivalent of elder care.* Good for Nadler not taking that route. I always liked him.
In a recent interview in his downtown Manhattan office, Mr. Nadler, 78, said he hesitated to step aside when he believes that President Trump is threatening the foundations of democracy. But he said he had been persuaded it was time for a changing of the guard.“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” Mr. Nadler said, adding that a younger successor “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.”
I don't really know why the "genocide" word is too much for people - its application to various events in the 90s didn't have this level controversy. It isn't "holocaust" or "Shoah." But I don't really care what people call it as long as they don't think arguing about the word is more important than what is happening. Still coming from Nadler this is something:
“I don’t know what to say at this point,” he said. “I can’t defend what Israel is doing.”Mr. Nadler has been sharply critical of Hamas, still believes in a two-state solution for the region and does not agree with those who say Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza. But he said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel was committing mass murder and war crimes in Gaza “without question.”
*Many people don't get that "elder care" largely isn't medical or similar, more just handling the complexities of life which become harder to handle. More like you are dealing with a child, but they own a house and otherwise have the complications of adult life, like dealing with two factor authorization.
This One's For All The Haters And The Losers
I suspect the 2pm announcement from Trump is not "I am dead."
I predict that Donald the Dove is going to start calling it the War Department.
...ah looks like it's the LOCATION OF SPACE COMMAND. Could be both.Trump will make “an exciting announcement related to the Department of Defense,” per Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. https://t.co/mnxMEKLdbh
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) September 2, 2025
Monday, September 01, 2025
Seems Bad
The relaxation of the assassination taboo has not been especially wise.
A plane carrying the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was targeted by GPS navigation jamming while trying to land in Bulgaria on Sunday, a spokesperson for the commission told CNN.
The West
I don't really know who "The West" is in this framework. Or what "aligned" means. I don't think whoever wrote it does either.
It was a scene in eastern China almost certainly intended for an audience on the other side of the world: The leaders of China, Russia and India, the three largest powers not aligned with the West, smiling and laughing like good friends as they greeted each other at a summit on Monday.
Legitimate Concerns
This is mostly about the UK - with lessons from the US - but the same applies to all The Democrats (and I know many of you don't like to believe me, but this is the animating belief of House Democrats right now) who think they can put on their tough guy racist pants and "win" on immigration.
That is because the question at the heart of immigration crises isn’t “how many is too many”, but “how few is few enough”. The answer is “fewer than zero”. And because that is not a scenario that is possible, no matter what ever-escalating pledges, solutions or policies are offered, nothing will ever be enough. And each time that one decisive solution is executed – whether that be Brexit, increasing deportations, mobilising the navy – a chorus of voices will tell us that these are necessary placatory measures, and then promptly forget when the next one is demanded, and sign up to that as well.