Sad-Ass Sat.

When America was great, damit!! Nostalgic re-runs, if any of these have been run before, from the hard-drive.

Note the church steeple dominating the town.

And transgenderism is socialist, as droning idiot J.D. Vance just told us. Bonus track:

Y2K Back?

Same scenario, different yr. But now it's an "inevitable" catastrophic AI event.

Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event.
Why it matters: These officials anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water.

• The first example of significant real-world harm caused by unsafe AI would turn an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as well as President Trump for his reluctance to regulate it.

Threat level: While scenario planning is common within many companies and national security settings — the Pentagon has been running war games for decades — the difference is that many top AI researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable.

• "OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios," a company spokesperson said. "These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances."
• Anthropic declined to comment.

Zoom in: The blame game will start whether a rogue-agent swarm breaks containment from an internal testing environment or a bad actor finds unexpected ways to use available models.

• A recent campaign targeting South Korean financial organizations — including reported breaches at two banks — shows the damage one person can do.
• A hacker from China allegedly used AI tools from China-developed models, including DeepSeek, to steal data from tens of thousands of bank customers. The attacker used Claude Code to ask for help finding places to sell the stolen data, according to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Top AI planners assume Democrats, ascendant after the midterms, will move fast to shut down AI but will face significant challenges.

• An aging Congress, out of touch with the AI revolution, could find itself out of its depth.
• The global economy is now heavily intertwined with an AI infrastructure buildout. Slowing it down could hit an already fragile economy hard.
• Too many open-weight models can already be freely downloaded and used to cause harm, a problem most cybersecurity pros see as solvable only by using AI to fight rogue AI.

Between the lines: The planning involves red-teaming for worst-case scenarios. It focuses mainly on racing to educate members of Congress.

• Company executives know regulation has no chance of passing right now, but still want to shape the legislation and policies U.S. leaders will turn to after a first catastrophic event.

What we're watching: Many AI industry insiders told Axios they believe a major event will occur in the next six to 12 months.

• Even with Democrats in control of the House and Senate, the companies see fractured politics as the norm, including within the Democratic Party.
• Some of the most heavy-handed Democratic proposals include banning superintelligence or pausing advanced AI development.
• Others have bipartisan support and even some industry buy-in, including a required kill switch on advanced AI. But experts have questioned the viability of trying to turn off all AI systems.

The bottom line: In a real crisis, Washington can set partisan differences aside. One Democratic aide pointed to during COVID and the 2008 financial crisis.

Yeah, sure. How long did all that "coöperation" last? It's all Biden's & Obama's fault now. Note also how Axios refers to Democratic proposals as "heavy-handed". And the Republican proposals? Apparently non-existent. 

Bring. It. On, I say. Destroy it all, hackers & "superintelligence". The current system is unsustainable, & Nihilism Time is here!

Friday Finger

In my identity as the "Chasmanian Devil".

I have so many of these & I despise everything so damn much, I should post two a wk., but some wks. I can't be arsed to do one.

Friday Freak Out

And tab-clearing.

Jeff Simmons, a Real Mother.People I know:

Inscrutable, dense, manic, bizarre, intense, aloof, schizophrenic,” once wrote Option Magazine. The Wild Stares, formed in Boston in 1979 by Justin Burrill and Steve Gregororpoulos, joined by Fran Miller Campbell toured Europe and the U.S. several times, releasing many recordings along the way and relocated to L.A in 1988 adding drummer Kyle C. Kyle before morphing into W.A.C.O. in 1993.

Accurate description.

There will always be an England: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Moment Of Truth

Will It Or Won't It?

It will. Whew!

Too long for Blogger, forced to load it to YouTube.77 bones used (+ s&h) clean, all details accounted for & well broken in. Crawls & runs just fine. An Atlas Classic, Chinese-made, not Austrian, this livery & road number were released in Sep't. 2008, MSRP $139.95, up $35 from March 2007, & up 40 simoleons from April 2003 - May 2005. March '26: $209.95 or $329.95. Why I buy used. The sticker on the box, from MTHC (Mark Twain Hobby Center?) reads "Used As Is $48.15". The parts list claims the lights (currently not working) are LEDs, & that there's a light board, which should make DCC installation relatively easy.

Glamour Shot

I have more boxcars than I need & not enough reefers, stock cars, tank cars yada. There's also a possibility I really don't need more than five zebra-striped locomotives for a 9'x7' layout. STOP ME BEOFRE I PURCHASE AGAIN!!

Now I must wait until Tues. for the turnouts I ordered from Yankee Dabbler two damn wks. from next Tues. the 13th! Had to call them & read them the Riot Act, got some double-talk about what's in their warehouse & what's w/ their distributor, & the incompetent buffoon did notify me he'd send the turnouts immediately. After they fucked me earlier this yr. I resolved not to do business w/ them again, but it was the only place that had three of the turnouts I needed. When will I learn never to trust anyone, anywhere, about anything? P.S.: When you're delaying me & not infoming me why, don't get allpissyoif I use some salty language. Unless I specicfically ask Gawd to damn your useless ass to hell, saying "goddam" about some bullshit you're perpetuating is not a "curse", you illiterate dipstick!

The Never-Ending Riots

People are angry everywhere. Are Yanks angry enough to light something on fire yet, or are these United Snakes still a nation of sheep?

Remember poor little outcast/hellhole Albania from the '60s? (If not.) Apparently they've been protesting Kushner & his cronies daily for months.

Sometimes, tens of thousands of people take to the streets – in a country with only 2.5 million people. What began as a mobilization against environmental degradation has become a questioning of the system. The Albanian national flag and KLA symbols fluttered in the wind alongside American flags and flamingos. What we are talking about here is nature, corruption, capitalism.

Murder Most Foul!

Damn All The Slumlords To Hell!

Why didn't you fucking Yankee pig sheep people respond like this when I was evicted & thrown on the streets? Shitheels, all of you! Is it any wonder I'm still bitter & angry?

Thursday Tab-Clearing

Advertising Analysis W/ Connie Clausen

This commercial is in my "Non-Sequitor" bookmarks, so I was amused to see this:

Analyzing the Persuasive Elements of a 1961 Coca-Cola Commercial

Ms. Clausen, by the way, had better things to do than be a "low-level actress".

Slumlord Killed 87-Yr. Old Woman

Renters unite! Are there no laws?Are Americans ready to protest anything yet? What exactly will it take?

Booze & Women Wednesday

Remember?

I've vague recollections, but it's been a while.

A draft from 2024 we never got around to publishing.

"Fracture From Within"

This may be overstated by contrarians at the C.I.A. hoping to apper clever, but it's fun.

CIA Report Warns Israel Could Head Toward Civil War, Total Collapse

U.S. intelligence raises fears of civil unrest and state breakdown in Israel ahead of October 27 elections.

CIA experts pointed to a volatile mix of pressures converging ahead of Israel’s elections on October 27: economic crisis and soaring military spending; heavily armed veterans returning from prolonged combat, many carrying serious psychological trauma; growing fury over ultra-Orthodox men who are exempt from military service; escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank; and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fighting to hold onto power and igniting a constitutional crisis.

The CIA’s “red teams” are tasked with developing analysis and ideas that challenge prevailing assumptions and expose groupthink or blind spots that can take hold within the intelligence apparatus. “The writers of this are Israel experts,” a source in the intelligence community noted, “this isn’t a fantastical what if—with the upcoming election and the fissures in Israel we should take seriously their conclusion that Israel is one spark away from real internal conflict.”

C'mon Iran

Los Angeles & San Diego Love You Too,
You Fat Piece Of Dog Shit

Republican/Xian Naionalist/fascist sense of humor: They're cheering, not laughing. And every damn Republican will laugh it off w/ "Oh that Trump's quite the jokester, isn't he? Lighten up", if they admit to hearing it at all.

Los Angeles Times:
Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally  California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the president ‘deranged and dangerous.’  — The crowd in Grand Island, Neb., cheered the remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego.
Juan Cole / Informed Comment:   No, Mr. Trump, Iran can't “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego

Matthew Rozsa / Alternet.org:   Trump jokes about Iran destroying Los Angeles and San Diego

Brett Meiselas / MeidasTouch:
Trump Says to Let Iran ‘Take Out’ Los Angeles, San Diego in Nebraska Speech

Tom Wait / CBS News:   Trump suggests allowing Iran to “take out” L.A. and San Diego during campaign rally

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:   Rally-Goers Cheer as Trump Says, ‘Let Them Take Out Los Angeles’ or ‘San Diego’z

Siladitya Ray / Forbes:   Trump Draws Backlash For ‘Let Them Take Out Los Angeles’ Or ‘San Diego’ Iran War Remarks

Alyssa Ray / The Wrap:   Gavin Newsom, Jim Acosta and More Torch Trump After He Dares Iran to ‘Take Out’ Los Angeles or San Diego in Rally Speech

Paul Campos / Lawyers, Guns & Money: More thoughts from the mental acuity and youthful vigor candidate

Carter Schroppe / Washington Examiner:   Trump was ‘well aware’ of energy price risks before Iran decision, energy secretary says

And fuck the cheering Grand Island rally-goers. I'm sick of these hicks. Now can we have that war between the states?

Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même

Dry heat.

Remember, this is inside the bunker. However, I have yet to perspire.

Good Deal On Reefers!

Ha ha. Not that kind of reefers, ninnies.

Must admit I've not had a bad experience w/ ebay yet.

Certainly detailed enough for my purposes, which are quantity over quality.

(Now I've screwed myself. Next time won't work out.) Not that I spend big money or buy anything that isn't 20-40 yrs. old. Note the revision date on this; 03-06.

When Athern wasn't a corporate entity in Illinois.

The price tag on one box was dated 4/5/2008.

Monday Memorial: Brother Brick

At Jeff B.'s birthday, 2 August 2009.

Phyllis Beane-Wahl, Brick, some guy I remember but not his name, a pathetic woman-hating alkie,
a Mexican apartment dog, several unknowns.

At The York, 16 January 2012.

Brick, a horrible person who abandoned me to homelessness whose name I will not print,
Phyllis Beane-Wahl, & that guy again. Must've known Brick.

All Aboard For The Future!

Socialism's Positive Rating Tops 40% for First Time

• 43% of Americans view socialism positively
• Positive views of big business down to 35%; capitalism steady at 55%
• Small business, free enterprise remain most popular economic concepts

They may be wising up, but support for such amorphous concepts as "free enterprise" & "capitalism" is a good indication of how ignorant fools are turned out every graduation by America's bullshit educational system.

And "small business" is a knife that cuts both ways. Sometimes a small business is family exploiting family, or just greedy, small-minded pigs. And sometimes they are good businesses that do help local communities & economies.

Mission Accompished!

Iran's mission, that is.

“The U.S. removed all its B-1 bombers from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford air base, a decision made due to security concerns over suspected terror plots against the facility, American officials said Sunday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The decision represents a shift for the U.S. which has used the military base northwest of London as a hub for launching bomber strikes in Iran. Until their recent departure, a dozen B-1s had been stationed at the base.”

New York Times: U.S. rushes to withdraw bombers from U.K. air base after new threats.

All you have to say is "BOO!" & Hegseth's "warriors" run like the sissies they are.

An item from digby that links to Bloody Bill Kristol quoting Eco's "Ur-Fascism", which applies both to Whiskey Pete & our previous two items:

And it’s no accident, Eco further points out, that “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

"B-1 bombers in the ground ..."42 yrs. of increasing dread.

Sunday Message

Y'know, that Jesus Christ feller was a (((Joo))) too.

From The "No, Really?" File

Dep't. Of Derp

PseudoIntelligence-generted telebision for viewers w/ "lower scores on a vocabulary test commonly used to measure cognitive ability".And for the literate:

“One of the most consistent predictors that Americans adhere to Christian nationalism is that they have lower education,” Perry told PsyPost. “But there have also been a number of studies that find that persons who subscribe to Christian nationalist views (even after accounting for level of education) exhibit significant knowledge gaps across a variety of different domains.”

For example, people who strongly endorse the ideology tend to score poorly on tests about “American history or scientific knowledge,” Perry noted. “They are also more likely to hold factually incorrect beliefs about vaccines,” he said, referencing a 2021 study he co-authored, which was covered by PsyPost. “And related to that last point, they are also more likely to affirm ridiculous conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, January 6th, or QAnon.”

“The dominant explanations for these substantial knowledge deficits and the apparent credulity of Christian nationalist adults have been motivated reasoning and siloed information sources,” Perry explained. “Both of those theories are no doubt true. But we have yet to consider whether there may be evidence of a gap in cognitive resources, one that can’t be explained solely by educational background or other relevant factors.”

Common sense tells us these "people" are cretinous morons. Sg't. Schulz Syndrome: "Zey Know Nozzing!". This reporter is quite certain most of them have psychological or psychiatric problems as well, like delusions & hallucinations.

Via Ten Bears invaluable daily "As The Planet Burns" aggregation.