Dear Everybody:
So, yesterday the CEOs of AI companies sounded a warning that AI could rapidly get out of control unless regulations and restrictions are put on it FAST, and that if they’re not, it could be the end of mankind. And today, Trump jumped in with both feet–on the wrong side, of course:
–Trump went on a posting spree, with each post getting wilder and more unhinged.
–Trump: “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT and the USA has that, in spades! The Trump Administration has stopped AI people from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!) who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little agent’ and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over their companies.”
–Also Trump: “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!”
–When Trump was asked what his message was to Americans concerned about data centers, he said, “My message is that if you want to be poor, have no jobs, and watch other countries do great, or other states do great. You don’t want to kill the golden goose because that’s what you would be doing.”
–Jay Lionel: “The people who brought back measles and polio, record cases of salmonella and explosive diarrhea, want you to believe they can stop AI doing bad things. THEY CANNOT EVEN FIX A REFLECTING POOL!”
–Also Trump: “Concerning AI, when, in the History of Business did anyone see the Leaders of an industry call for Regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy. AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity and all other things bad is a HOAX no different from RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, and all of the other HOAXES and SCAMS that America was forced to endure through the Destructionists’ and Deviants’ Foul Play and illegal conduct!”
–Also Trump: “AI and Data Centers will not be stopped by brilliantly run Destructive Forces during the term of President DONALD J. TRUMP!”
–Huffington Post: “Trump is losing his mind over calls to regulate AI.”
–Mike Masnick: “So, uh, yeah. This is bad.”
–ultratrain: “Trump isn’t about to do anything to control AI with all of the industry’s billionaires throwing money at him.”
–Trump’s toadies are trotting right after him, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum saying, “There’s foreign psy ops campaigns going on trying to get the US to stop building data centers.”
–JD Vance: “I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. it feels a little bit to me like a little bit of a Trojan horse.” (In WHAT way? Do you even know what a Trojan horse is?)
–At My Wits’ End: “No, it’s not a Trojan horse, you idiot Vance. The reason why they’re all coming asking for government control is that they KNOW where all this is heading towards, but individually each company cannot stop the combined progress of the whole.”
–wvmitchell: “In a way, it’s like the scientists that created the atomic bomb. When they realized what they had created, they understood its potential to utterly destroy humanity.”
–Meanwhile, AI stocks are tumbling worldwide.
–Trump’s aides and cabinet are reportedly trying to get him to reverse course on AI and make a prime-time address, but he’s refusing to listen.
–Sam: “We are so fucked. Our only hope is a bipartisan veto-proof majority passing an AI regulatory bill.”
In Trump and the USPS Trying to Hijack the Election news:
–On Sunday night a second federal judge ordered a preliminary injunction blocking the USPS from enforcing Trump’s new mail-in ballot rule.
–The judge said in the ruling, “Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming election. The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen.”
–Norm Eisen: “Trump’s mail ballot interference rule is blocked in FULL. A federal judge ruled the USPS never had the power to rewrite how America votes, weeks out from the midterms.”
–Ballots have already been sent out in at least three states–Alabama, North Carolina, and Wisconsin–with more states sending theirs out this week.
–Meanwhile, Trump is at the Supreme Court asking to let USPS rules take effect. The Democratic Defenders Fund, the Campaign Legal Center, and LULAC have filed briefs trying to stop the rule from taking effect.
–According to Raw Story, nearly 40 current and former election officials from ten states, many of them Republicans are urging the Supreme Court to block Trump’s new mail-ballot rule before it derails the November midterms, warning the system simply can’t be built in time without wrecking the election itself. Many of the election officials are Republicans.
–One of the things the rule mandates is that outbound ballots be scanned and verified piece by piece before mailing. The officials say that last requirement alone is a logistical impossibility for larger counties. The brief states, “Maricopa County, Arizona, expects to mail 2.6 million ballot packets on the first day of early voting. At that rate, verifying that single mailing would take roughly 4.9 years.”
–The Supreme Court has always (till now) upheld the Purcell doctrine which says you can’t have last-minute rule changes right before an election because they breed confusion and erode public trust in the results. The doctrine sets a 90-day limit, which would have required action back in early August.
In Iran War news:
–The Houthis now have complete control of the Red Sea coast and Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As one person knowledgeable of the area said, “You can literally sit on this coast and fire at passing ships.” They took 3000 square kilometers of western Yemen in 24 hours.
–A second pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline has been destroyed in a drone attack.
–Before the Iranian attack that killed three troops in July, they acquired high-res satellite images of the base in Jordan from China. When Trump was asked about this, he brushed it off.
–The New York Times: “Saudi Arabia faces ‘Worst Case Scenario’ after being rebuffed by Trump.”
–And Trump and his people are in full denial about what’s happening with the war. JD Vance on the Houthis seizing Permi Island: “We actually feel like we are on top of the situation.” (How, HOW are you on top of the situation?)
–Trump: “Oil is flowing through the Hormuz Strait. The Countries of the World, which have been no help to us whatsoever, should and will, reimburse the US when this SCAM Confligration is all over.” (And yes, that’s how he spelled ‘conflagration.’)
–Trump: “I’ve just received a report that the US is producing more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History.”
–Philip Bump: “Can you explain how the military categorizes ‘exquisite’ and ‘non-exquisite? Thanks in advance.”
In Trump’s Ireland trip news:
–Trump says the Ireland trip was a great success and the Irish love him. Trump: “They do like me. I mean, I have polls that show I’m very popular. You have a lot of fake polls, but they like me.” (Note: They don’t like him. Ten thousand people turned out to protest him in profane terms and there were protests everywhere he went, at the gates of the golf club and at his hotel.
–The big story, though, was Natalie Harp’s accompanying him everywhere in Ireland and the part she played there. She has previously acted as his assistant, carrying bags and her portable printer and handing him sheets of paper with positive news on them. But this time was different.
–She was at Trump’s side, boarding Marine One, arriving in Ireland wearing a very First-Lady-like dress instead of what assistants wear, walking with the Presidential entourage, and standing in the receiving line to greet the Irish president.
–Dank Media: “First Lady Natalie Harp arrives in Ireland with a big smile.”
–It’s Not Satire: “Someone else on that trip appeared to be standing in the same place Melania would be standing–namely, in an official diplomatic greeting line, serving in the role of charmer and small-talker in chief. Someone was standing exactly where the First Lady would stand–a role you could call Companion in Chief…She’s moved from around the circle to inside it.”
–Trump made it worse by saying to reporters, “My wife is here…” and then hastily changing it to “my wife is here in spirit.” He said Melania didn’t want to come because of the long flight, even though she had friends in Ireland, but then when she found out the flight would be seven hours, she said, “Maybe I’m not that friendly.”
–When Aaron Rupar talked about this issue, the White House completely lost it, screaming at him that he was a 40-something loser and how dare he talk about Natalie.
–Really American: “You can measure how nervous they are about this issue by what sets them off.”
In The Grift Goes On news:
–Bombshell news today that Don Jr.’s wedding to Bettina Anderson was secretly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch close to Putin. His name is Umar Kremlev, he’s close friends with Putin, and he has a criminal record for battery and extortion.
–The wedding was an elaborate three-day affair on two private islands in the Bahamas, with everyone flown in on helicopters, a fancy reception, fireworks, beer pong contests, scantily-clad dancers in sailor caps and stilettos, DJs on the beach, a 5-tier funfetti cake airlifted in from Florida, etc. There were fifty guests who Don, Jr. said were “close friends,” except that most of them were executives of Junior’s World Liberty Fund, and his venture capital firm, 1789 Crystal. Plus a large group of Russians. (Note: When Don, Jr. released photos of the wedding, none of the Russians were in the pictures.)
–Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the rental of the two private islands, the fireworks, and the planning of the wedding.
–According to people close to Don, Jr., they only met recently.
–Don, Jr.’s new bride, Bettina Trump, lashed out at the press for publishing the story, calling it “fake news” and then admitting Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses. She said the wedding was just “an extra generous wedding gift from a friend,” and that “it’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from.”
–Meidas Touch: “So not a denial. In fact, confirmation.”
–KaBoink: “When any Trump says, ‘fake news’, it just serves as confirmation that the report is 100% accurate.”
–Retired FBI agent Frank Montoya, Jr.: “If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something. This should be unthinkable for the son of the President. End of story.”
–Ron Filipkowski: “What a surprise to learn that a Russian oligarch close to Putin paid for Junior’s lavish wedding. Who could have suspected?”
–Matthew Gertz: “Naked graft, selling out the country?”
–Griff: “The remaining Gambino Family Members must be shaking their heads in disbelief when comparing their piddling crooked profits with what the Trump organization is pulling in.”
–Professor John O’Brennan: “Every Trump scandal leads back to Russia.”
–You might recall Eric Trump saying on a previous occasion, “We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”
–Writer Alex Parker–“Jaw-dropping corruption.”
–Vonn Jones: “It will take decades to unravel the layers of corruption we’re witnessing in the Trump administration.”
In Where’s Mitch? news:
–GOP leaders said McConnell would return when the Senate returned, which was today, to vote on important issues like the farm bill.
–As of this posting, there’s still been no sight of him.
In historical news:
–Today in 1741, Frederick Handel finished one of the greatest pieces of music ever written–THE MESSIAH. He had been working for 23 days straight nonstop in a sort of manic frenzy to finish it, with his servants bringing him food and new paper and quills and ink so he didn’t have to leave the piano. He slept slumped over it for a few hours at a time.
–His servants reported that his face was wet with tears as he frantically scribbled down the music of “The Hallelujah Chorus, which he could hear ringing in his head.
–He slept for days afterwards, but it was worth it. It’s a glorious piece of music, both for people to perform and to listen to, and it’s been performed almost nonstop ever since.
In other news:
–ICE held prisoners in a wire cage that was only 18 foot square at Alligator Alcatraz in Florida. The cage was in the blazing sun, and prisoners were put there for up to 2 hours for “noncompliance.”
–Exxon’s massive Joliet, Illinois refinery suffered a total outage, with an emergency shutdown of every unit. They’re not saying what’s going on, but there’s smoke visible for miles. And BP’s Whiting refinery in Indiana is partially shut down for maintenance.
–Trump’s Trumpapalooza was a complete ratings bomb. Fox (the only network that carried it in full, had only 2.5 million viewers. A typical NFL game, by contrast, has 20-30 million.
in good news:
–When the FCC wouldn’t let ABC air Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, Kimmel put it up on youTube. It had 8 million views in 72 hours. (Go watch it.)
–The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected ICE’s effort to lock up and torture millions of people without due process. The judge compared it to the “historical stain of Japanese internment.”
–A federal judge approved the Bank of America’s $72 million dollar settlement with a group of Epstein survivors.
Finally, I have a movie to tell you about. I don’t usually do movie reviews here, but this one is a must see:
–It’s called COYOTE VS. ACME, and it’s the story of how Wile E. Coyote gets fed up with all those malfunctioning Acme products and decides to get a lawyer (an ambulance chaser, of course) and sue the company, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Paramount and the Ellisons, or Amazon, or any of a number of billionaires/government entities. And it’s the timeless story of the underdog against the establishment.
–The movie is unbelievably clever, with all the Looney Tunes cartoons characters making cameo appearances and clever inside jokes and all your favorite cartoon gags (one reviewer called it the best Looney Tunes cartoon ever made), plus references to ERIN BROCKOVICH and SPOTLIGHT and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. But it’s not just jokes and mayhem. At heart it’s a very serious movie about our times and our situation. It’s all about trying and failing and trying and failing against impossible odds until you are absolutely exhausted and just want to give up (Sound familiar?) and why you should keep on trying anyway. And it’s a very touching movie, too.
–And a profound one. When Wile E. Coyote (who, if you’ll remember is only able to communicate by holding up signs), holds up one that says, “It’s a limited number of signs,” I thought, “That may be the best summation of the human condition and our communication abilities that I’ve ever seen.”
–But there’s also another reason to see the movie, and that’s because the off-screen story of the movie is almost identical to that of the movie. COYOTE VS ACME almost didn’t see the light of day. Warner Brothers made the movie and then shelved it, intending never to show it, no direct to video or direct to streaming or anything. They were just going to put it in the vault and take the tax loss. They didn’t do that because it was bad–it tested well with test audiences and there was lots of anticipation about its release. They did it because of what the movie was about and what it said.
–But the fans weren’t having it. They picketed, wrote letters to Warner Brothers, and rallied online and off to demand the film be released. A guy in a Wile E. Coyote outfit and holding up a sign (naturally) picketed the studio for days and film makers left angry messages. Online advertising labeled it “The Movie Acme doesn’t want you to see.”
–Warner Brothers finally gave in to the pressure and sold the distribution rights to Ketchup Entertainment, who released it last week. It came in 2nd and 3rd in attendance for its first two weekends, and Ketchup has already earned back its investment.)
–The dedication at the end of the closing credits reads, “Dedicated to everyone who posted, shared, held up signs, and spoke out when it counted. This film made it to the big screen because of you.” Which, given the current situation at Warner Brothers and Paramount, is a reason to see it all by itself. But as I said, it’s also a terrific movie.
Best comment of the day, from COYOTE VS. ACME: “These companies think they can do whatever they want. We’re sick of it.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
