Dear Everybody:
The big news today is AI:
–Remember how a couple of days ago, when Trump was asked whether he was worried about AI or not, he said, “It’s going to be fine. We’ll always have something to stop them. We’ll have a little gear–boom–‘I really don’t like that robot.’”
–Well, maybe not. Today everybody finally seemed to realize the danger that generative AI poses, the “everybody” including the CEOs of Open AI, Anthropic, and SpaceX (Yes, even Elon Musk.) And they’re all warning that they need to slow down and put some guardrails on AI before it kills us all. Two Anthropic researchers warned that “rapid industry progress risks extinction of the human race.”
–Part of the reason that this is all coming to a head is that Jacob Coxon, a tech guy at Anthropic resigned and turned whistleblower to warn everyone that the AI developers are racing straight to self-improving super-intelligences and gambling with our lives…people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
–It’s also coming to a head because in July there was a break in cybersecurity at Open
AI, and its AI hacked into another company on its own in “an unprecedented cyber incident.”
–On Twitter, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei outlined a three-step framework intended to pace development and create more time to manage its risks. The three steps include embedded independent evaluators to verify safety practices, coordination among frontier AI firms to set safety standards and limit unchecked AI development, and international cooperation to manage AI risks.
–Amodei outlined how several actors had used its Claude AI models for activities ranging from surveillance and fraud to cyberoperations and weapons development (including bioweapons.)
–The CEO of Open AI (ChatGPT) says his company will wait till next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street. He said they need to buy extra time before the models reach critical levels of capability. He said they also need to advance alignment among companies and work on regulations and guardrails together “to do what’s right for the world and greatly reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong.”
–The CEO of Future of Life Institute, Anthony Aguirre, called for a 6-month pause in development. “It’s pretty much become clear to the world and even the AI companies that they’re not really prepared to control the AI system that they’re racing to create. They’ve kind of realized, everyone has realized that they’re building Skynet, and in winning the race to Skynet, nobody wins. Really, nobody.”
–UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk urged countries to “put cast-iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI before it’s too late.”
–President Obama warned that AI could be “dangerous” if not properly managed and urged Democrats to frame policy and governance agendas to tackle the issue.
Many are suggesting the regulations come from the government:
–Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: “My view here is that it has always been very strange that this technology is being built by a private company–I think the government and the people need to have a stake. And that’s why we’re supporting regulation.”
–But good luck with that. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: “Congress is obviously less qualified than the people who are pushing the frontier to know the ins and outs of it.’”
–Pete Buttigieg: “I was shocked to hear Speaker Johnson just now saying, ‘We shouldn’t be rushing, shouldn’t be moving too quickly on this.’ You know what is moving quickly? AI. For Congress to sit on its hands is deeply dangerous to the American people…what have they been doing this entire time?”
Meanwhile, over in Ireland:
–Things aren’t going any better for Trump on his second day there than on the first. The Irish president, Catherine Connally told Trump off to his face. She told him the Trump administration’s foreign policy is at odds with the wishes of the Irish people. She also said, “I conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalization of war and genocide can never be accepted.”
–she gave Trump a collection of poems which included Michael Langley’s “Ceasefire,” about forgiveness and reconciliation.
–Trump came out of the meeting looking subdued and chagrined (if that’s possible for Trump. Journalists compared it to the way he looked after coming out of his secret meeting with Putin.)
–When asked why Trump wanted reunification for Ireland and Northern Ireland, he said, “I’m someone who owns fantastic property here…it would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is to put them together.” (Of course. I knew it had to be about deals–and money.)
–Peter Fitzsimmons: “Bravo!”
–Max Deshu: “She read him out!”
In other Ireland/Trump news:
–Trump was asked by a female reporter, “Did you see any footage of the protests against your visit here in Dublin and what do you make of that opposition?” Trump: “You know, you remind me a of somebody…a great Irish singer who passed away recently. Do you know who that is? Sinead! You look like Sinead O’Connor! And that’s a compliment! She sang beautifully.”
–(Note: Sinead O’Connor, who died in 2023, called Trump “a devil.”)
–Joe Cajou: “Another day, another embarrassment.”
–Bluestocking: “In the words of Bugs Bunny…what a maroon!”
–Aaron Rupar noted that Natalie Harp had traveled with Trump to Ireland and was right by his side, and the White House snapped back, “President Trump does in fact travel with staff. Aaron, on the other hand, is a sick, deluded 40-something freak who sits behind a keyboard and posts creepy things like this.”
–Constantine: “She (Natalie) definitely wrote that herself.” (Maybe, but I think it’s more likely to be Stephen Cheung. It sounds just like him, though usually there are swear words and sexual insults, so maybe Constantine is right.)
–Aaron wasn’t having any of it. He posted: “The taxpayer-funded White House incitement account is now attacking me for (checks notes) being in my forties.”
–4mjc: “Hahaha…getting under their skin! Keep it up, Aaron!”
–Sanho Tree: “Travel with Natalie is the new Streisand Effect.”
–bigred: “Call me crazy but it seems like a little excessive for taxpayers to cover the cost for Trump to fly 24 vehicles, 19 motorcycles, and 1 Natalie Harp to Ireland for a 48-hour visit so he can attend a golf tournament, while voters are unable to afford health-care, food, gas, utilities, and rent.” (Note: You forgot Trump’s armored golf cart, though I don’t quite see how you can armor an open-sided vehicle.)
–Best Irish protest sign of the day: “Donald Trump, you flew all the way to Ireland just to find we don’t fucking like you here either. Now fuck off home!”
–JudyLovesCAtsDogs: “Way to go, Ireland!” (Note: When Biden visited, he was greeted by cheering crowds everywhere he went. So was Obama, who the Irish dubbed “O’Bama.”)
In Pentagon news:
–At least it’s a relief to know that Pete Hegseth is focused on the war and other dangers to US security.
–Hegseth insisted that both the airmen who were rescued when their plane went down in Iraq take part in an interview on Sixty Minutes and when they objected because they were afraid that national security might be compromised if details of their mission and/or the rescue effort became public, he personally pressured them, insisting they sit for the interview anyway.
–One refused and the other agreed. The interview will be the opening episode of Sixty Minutes’ fall season. (A Sixty Minutes whose reputation has been severely compromised, I might add, since the takeover of CBS by Bari Weiss and the Ellisons.)
–Hegseth is denying the entire story, claiming it’s completely made-up. “The entire story is a complete lie. The decision to participate in the interview was each pilot’s alone.”
–CNN noted that the major news outlets, including CNN, were eager to interview the pilots earlier this year, but Bari Weiss personally lobbied to give the interview to CBS. (Which has now become MUCH more favorable to Trump.)
In Reflecting Pool news:
–The full story about how Trump’s hand-picked contractors botched the Reflecting Pool renovation is coming out, and it just gets worse (and more expensive.)
–The New York Times is reporting that the contractors, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, has sent the Trump administration multiple reports on how they messed up the job.
–According to them, they rushed the job to get it ready for the July 4th celebrations, which was “an impractical timeline,” they didn’t spray on enough primer to make the layers of the liner stick together, and “the repair plan laid out in the contract called for the layers of liner to include two chemicals that turned out to be incompatible.” When one of the chemicals was laid on top of the other, the heat of the second caused the layer to blister and then to peel off.” The contractor said it had not expected that outcome because it was very uncommon to mix the two products in that way.
–Since August, workers from Atlantic have been tearing up and removing the layers of the pool liner, first power-washing it and then resorting to using razor blades, hammers, and crowbars to it to get up the pieces that are still stuck to the concrete so they can start putting down a new coating. (Which would seem to put the lie to the fact that Hearn and others could have damaged the pool just by reaching in and touching it.)
–And now they have a new problem–apparently workers sweating on the pool are leaving droplets of sweat on the coating, which are then trapped when new layers were sprayed on top and keep the layers of liner from adhering.
–Jezebel: “After months of work, their main triumph to this point is that they’ve described in greater detail exactly HOW they screwed up the pool the first time they did the work. And the second time they did the work. And maybe the third time? It’s not immediately clear what attempt we’re actually ON at this point, given that it feels a bit like the repeated afterlives and purgatories that blend seamlessly together and loop back around in THE GOOD PLACE.”
–In spite of all this, Trump still continues to blame “vandals,” and particularly Olympian David Hearn, for the damage, claiming Hearn ripped “violently” at the peeling lining–while at the same time describing the lining that he had said would “last a lifetime” and be “impervious” to damage as “somewhat delicate.”
–Trump posted yesterday: “On the 25th anniversary of 9-11, the New York Times spent time and resources analyzing the Reflecting Pool. They continue to avoid doing any real reporting on all the vandalism.”
–Lazy Circles Esq: “Trump fucked up the reflecting pool by paying exorbitantly for shoddy work. Can’t wait to see the ballroom.”
–Jezebel: “We’ve apparently got a pool company out here, working off bad instructions, and advice, attempting to mix together random chemicals that no pool worker has ever apparently thought to combine until this moment. Should we feel lucky that the pool didn’t somehow BURN DOWN?”
–The pool is still drained after months of messing with it, with no end in sight.
In Charlie Kirk news:
–One of the days of Trump’s Trumpapalooza was the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death, and the Republicans used the occasion to memorialize him. Don, Jr. and JD Vance spoke, still trying to turn Kirk into some sort of martyr.
–It didn’t go well. They had major tech problems, with the video glitching and even going black at times, and the whole thing sort of fizzled.
–His organization, Turning Point USA, isn’t going well either. Amanda Marcotte; “One year after Charlie Kirk’s death, the organization is a joke, even on the right.”
–One of the big problems is that his widow Erika Kirk is leading it and has made some major missteps, like having fireworks at his memorial service, wearing black leather “mourning pants,” and embracing JD Vance on stage in what looked more like a torrid embrace than a comforting hug.
–Amanda Marcotte: “From the moment she walked onto the stage of his public memorial in Arizona to fireworks more suited for a World Series Championship, Erika Kirk has alienated people, even drawing accusations of faking her sorrow.”
–Her behavior has also led to charges from right-wing bloggers Candace Owens and Andrew Wilson, that she was somehow involved in murdering her husband.
–The bigger problem, though, is that in their world-view, the wife is supposed to “submit” and obey her husband. Erika herself described the husband as a “cathedral” and the wife as the stained glass windows in it, saying, “If you remove the frame of the cathedral, those stained glass windows shatter, they’re useless.” And instead of collapsing like a good trad-wife, she’s running the business.
–Daily Kos: “Kind of reassuring to see how some cult organizations fall apart after the death of their leader.”
In Not Everybody’s a Jerk news:
–In October of 1949, actor Boris Karloff (most famous as Frankenstein’s monster and other scary creatures) received a letter from an eleven-year-old in an iron lung. The boy asked him to come read him a story before he died. Karloff read him THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS for three hours. He came back four more times. The boy died in December of 1949, still holding the book.
–After Karloff died in 1969, his daughter found his calendars. He had visited 576 sick children over 48 years.
In Not Everybody’s a Jerk news, historical edition:
–Today in 1940, Buckingham Palace was hit by a German high-explosive bomb. The royal family had taken refuge in a hallway, so they weren’t hit, but it was a near thing. The windows had all blown inward in the room they’d just been occupying.
–The Queen, who always knew the right thing to say, brushed the dust and glass splinters from her dress and said, “I’m glad the Palace was hit. Now I can hold my head up without shame among East Enders.”
–Even more famously, she later said, when asked whether she and her two young daughters (one of whom would become Queen Elizabeth II) were going to go to Canada for the duration of the war like many other royal families at the time, “The children won’t go without me. I won’t leave the King. And the king will never leave,” and endeared herself to the British people for all time.
In other news:
–Unidas US, the League of United Latino American Citizens, Common Cause, and the city of Denver have joined together to sue to keep federal agents from being sent to the polls, citing a Civil War-era law barring troops and armed men from polling places.
–The head of ICE, Markwayne Mullin, says ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places. (Which is different from saying they won’t send armed ICE agents to the polling places.)
–GOP candidate John Husted’s political director was caught posing with Nazi SS imagery and following Waffen-SS reenactment accounts online. He’s been fired.
–GOP Rep chuck Edwards was censured by Congress for sexually harassing two young female staff members in a vote of 413 to 2. (He did not, however, resign, like Dem Eric Swalwell did when accused of the same offense.)
In good news:
–During Trump’s Trumpapalooza, Dem candidate for Senate James Talarico collected and distributed 20,000 pounds of groceries to the needy of Dallas.
–Not only has the Supreme Court blocked the Republican-gerrymandered map in Missouri, forcing them to use the old map for this election, but now there’s a report that all the gerrymandering red states did was based on Trump having the Hispanic vote. His support among Hispanics has collapsed because of ICE and the economy, and now some of these cleverly gerrymandered districts could go blue.
–In really good news, on the generic ballot, Democrats are leading by 11 points!
Best sign of the day: Ontario’s conservative premier put up a giant sign that reads, “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
Best comment of the day, from Tom Wienna: “This nation is not supposed to be governed by the whims of a single madman. That was actually the whole fucking point.”
And, because it’s been an exhausting week, an assortment of cheering comments on various subjects for you:
–From Fiona Tribe: “Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter,” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.”
–From The Whimsical Muse: “If books and pastries aren’t the answer, then are we really asking the right questions?”
–From Rick Wilson: “Oh, I know, dear readers, you were ahead of the curve. You hated Trump before it was cool. Now, the rest of America is catching up and the hell of a Donald Trump’ with fewer supporters, less power, less adoration, a portfolio of raging failures, a MAGA movement shattered by his incompetence and greed, and real accountability is about to get very very hot…The hatred of Donald Trump isn’t curdling into fatigue. it is just now reaching the people who used to shrug, and they aren’t going to hate him the way you did, as a matter of principle. They’re going to hate him the way you hate the guy who wrecked your car and then billed you for the tow.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
