To the moon, Alice

 

That whole thing was either thrown together in a rush, or they've been planning something behind our backs.  There was hardly any media coverage about it, and then all of a sudden, it happened.  Prelude to disclosure?  Getting their marching orders from the lizard people?  No, they're underground.  Who's on the moon?  I forget.  Hopefully someone to give our earthly leaders an ultimatum.

UPDATE 04/03/2026:  They weren't planning behind our backs.  Media just had other, salacious things to tell us about.

As I've read about it, they're not going to land on the moon.  This is a beginning overture to get to that point.  I questioned whether we didn't already have the technology, why are we reinventing the rocket launch wheel?  I was informed that they claim the plans and blueprints from the earlier moon landing were all destroyed some decades back in a possible data accident.  WTF?  That seems highly unlikely to me, but, whatever.

Journalist checklist/guide in this authoritarian regime

 

In case you were wondering...

President Donald Trump said Monday that he authorized Nvidia to sell its powerful H200 artificial-intelligence chip in China in exchange for taking 25 percent of the revenue — a major win for the U.S. chipmaker that caps weeks of internal deliberations.

[...]

Clearing the H200 for sale in China gives Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, a major boost after Huang visited Capitol Hill and personally met with Trump.

A spokesperson for Nvidia confirmed the deal in a statement, calling it “a thoughtful balance that is great for America.”

[...]

Lawmakers have raised concerns that lifting curbs on the export of the chips will give Beijing a technological edge at U.S. expense.

[...]

The move also provoked unease among Washington technology and defense policy experts, who warned it may jeopardize America’s lead in the emerging area.

  Politico

 

Trump may have been too stupid to understand.  Or simply doesn't care.  Or more likely, is making some profit for himself off the deal.

Poor blacks are expendable in America

 

Missing the point

 

"Nobody told us that!"  The man is so effing ignorant. 

Pretty sure the government has that information, along with the knowledge of "who these foreign students are."  They do have to apply for student visas through the government, after all.

And what happened to "Thank you for your attention to this matter"?

Foreign college students generally pay their own tuition.  So I looked up Harvard's practice...

Undergraduate Financial Aid: Harvard College operates on a need-blind admission policy and provides need-based financial aid to all admitted students, including international students.

[...]

Financial aid for graduate students varies by program and may include scholarships, fellowships, assistantships, and loans. Prospective students should check with their specific graduate school for detailed information on available financial aid options.

[...]

Attending Harvard University as an international student involves significant financial investment. Understanding the various costs associated with tuition, living expenses, health insurance, and additional fees is essential for effective financial planning. While the costs may seem daunting, Harvard’s robust financial aid programs and opportunities for part-time work can help make this prestigious education accessible to students from diverse economic backgrounds.

  

One more thing: Trump's own best friend countries are not friendly to us.

Furthermore...

According to NAFSA data, international students at Harvard contribute approximately $383.6 million annually to the area economy, supporting around 3,910 jobs.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, Harvard’s international students made up 54.5 percent of the total spending by foreign students studying in Massachusetts’s 5th Congressional District.

The state sees almost $4 billion a year in foreign students’ spending, with Harvard making up around 10 percent of that.

[...]

Harvard students are top innovators in the country, with foreign-born alumni leading dozens of successful startups.

Besides their business contributions, international students more broadly make up a sizeable portion of spending in their areas, throwing almost $44 billion into the U.S. economy.

“We turn global talent away at our own expense. Losing international students’ contributions will negatively impact domestic students’ understanding of the world and have dire consequences for the country’s economic strength, security, and global competitiveness,” said Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of the Association of International Educators, or NAFSA, in a statement.

[...]

Around two-dozen billion-dollar U.S. startups were founded by foreign students who studied at Harvard, according to an analysis from Axios.

[...]

For every three international students, one job was created in the U.S., according to NAFSA. In total, foreign students supported or created almost 380,000 jobs.

[...]

And the effects could soon ripple out. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made clear in her announcement of the Harvard ban that other colleges that displease the Trump administration could follow suit, calling it “a warning to every other university to get your act together.”

[...]

Along with saying new international talent cannot come to Harvard, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week demanded that current foreign students leave the school for other colleges.

A judge on Friday temporarily blocked the move and scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider a longer pause.

  The Hill

Our love affair with AI is speeding up our destruction

 

Which will we reach first:  the singularity or extinction?

Also, this is just bizarre...

The judge should never have allowed that in court.  Someone else is putting words in the mouth of the victim.

"To [...] the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have been friends. [...] I believe in forgiveness and a god who forgives.  I always have, and I still do."

This wasn't introduced in the trial.  It was only an impact statement for sentencing, but still, it's a terrible step in courtroom evidence.

 

Big Brother is here

LG is getting a little too personal.

Grok lies

 

(unsourced)

Vulnerabilities is their goal

DOGE employees, who are effectively led by White House adviser and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, appeared to have their sights set on accessing the NLRB's internal systems. They've said their unit's overall mission is to review agency data for compliance with the new administration's policies and to cut costs and maximize efficiency.

But according to an official whistleblower disclosure shared with Congress and other federal overseers that was obtained by NPR, subsequent interviews with the whistleblower and records of internal communications, technical staff members were alarmed about what DOGE engineers did when they were granted access, particularly when those staffers noticed a spike in data leaving the agency. It's possible that the data included sensitive information on unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets — data that four labor law experts tell NPR should almost never leave the NLRB and that has nothing to do with making the government more efficient or cutting spending.

[...]

The new revelations about DOGE's activities at the labor agency come from a whistleblower in the IT department of the NLRB, who disclosed his concerns to Congress and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in a detailed report that was then provided to NPR. Meanwhile, his attempts to raise concerns internally within the NLRB preceded someone "physically taping a threatening note" to his door that included sensitive personal information and overhead photos of him walking his dog that appeared to be taken with a drone.

[...]

The whistleblower's account is corroborated by internal documentation and was reviewed by 11 technical experts across other government agencies and the private sector.

[...]

Meanwhile, according to the disclosure and records of internal communications, members of the DOGE team asked that their activities not be logged on the system and then appeared to try to cover their tracks behind them, turning off monitoring tools and manually deleting records of their access — evasive behavior that several cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR compared to

what criminal or state-sponsored hackers might do.

The employees grew concerned that the NLRB's confidential data could be exposed, particularly after they started detecting suspicious log-in attempts from an IP address in Russia.

  NPR

Russia.

"I can't attest to what their end goal was or what they're doing with the data," said the whistleblower [...] in an interview with NPR. "But I can tell you that the bits of the puzzle that I can quantify are scary. ... This is a very bad picture we're looking at."

Under pressure from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, nearly all the staff of the Defense Digital Service — the Pentagon’s fast-track tech development arm — are resigning over the coming month.

[...]

The Defense Digital Service was created in 2015 to help the Pentagon adopt fast tech fixes during national security crises and push Silicon Valley-style innovation inside the Pentagon.

[...]

The resignations will effectively shut down the decade-old program after the end of April.

  Politico

The U.S. government funding needed for non-profit research giant MITRE to develop, operate and maintain its flagship Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program will expire Wednesday, the company confirmed to Nextgov/FCW.

[...]

The CVE Program provides a standardized system for identifying and cataloging publicly known cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

[...]

Used extensively across sectors — from private industry to national intelligence agencies — the CVE Program provides a standardized framework for identifying vulnerabilities and plays a central role in vulnerability management practices. It was first launched in 1999.

Funding for related programs run by the organization — such as the Common Weakness Enumeration program — will also expire tomorrow, Yosry Barsoum, who directs MITRE’s Center for Securing the Homeland, said in a statement.

  NextGov.com

UPDATE 04/18/2025:

It's just one big clown show

 Evil clowns, though.

Which techbro grovelled? 

Yeah, Nutlick under the bus.  Just like all the other Trump remorras.

Mark Twain would have his answer

 Mark Twain once wrote: Sometimes I wonder if we're being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who really mean it.

Wonder no more.

Trump’s massive 104% tariffs on China are set to go into effect at midnight tonight [April 8], a move that will have a major impact on Apple and its supply chain. Ahead of that, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said today that Trump firmly believes that Apple can move iPhone manufacturing to the United States.

[...]

In response to a question from Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, Leavitt said]:

“[Trump] believes we have the labor, we have the workforce, we have the resources to do it. As you know, Apple has invested $500 billion here in the United States. So, if Apple didn’t think the United States could do it, they probably wouldn’t have put up that big chunk of change.”

Leavitt is referencing Apple’s announcement from February, when it said it would “spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.” Apple’s commitment, however, made zero reference to iPhone assembly in the United States. The press release focused on R&D in the U.S., chip production in Arizona, AI server manufacturing in Houston, Apple TV+ production, and an academy in Michigan.

[...]

As reported yesterday, Apple has been stockpiling iPhone inventory in the United States ahead of Trump’s tariffs. This will help the company stave off the impact of the tariffs and avoid price increases for now.

  9to5Mac

We don't have the factories, the specifically skilled workers, or the materials to build iPhones here. So there's that.

By the way, US tariffs on China are now 104%, and Chinese tariffs on the US are at 84%. Nice work, Trump.

And, the rest of the world is moving on without us.

President [of the European Commission Ursula] von der Leyen held today a phone call with Premier Li Qiang to discuss the state of EU-China relations, as 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

[...]

The President underscored the vital importance of stability and predictability for the global economy. In response to the widespread disruption caused by the US tariffs, President von der Leyen stressed the responsibility of Europe and China, as two of world's largest markets, to support a strong reformed trading system, free, fair and founded on a level playing field.

[...]

President von der Leyen emphasised China's critical role in addressing possible trade diversion caused by tariffs, especially in sectors already affected by global overcapacity. The leaders discussed setting up a mechanism for tracking possible trade diversion and ensuring any developments are duly addressed.

[...]

The conversation also covered EU-China cooperation on the international climate agenda and the clean industrial transition.

Finally, President von der Leyen reaffirmed the EU's steadfast support for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, emphasising that any conditions for peace must be determined by Ukraine. She invited China to intensify its efforts to contribute meaningfully to the peace process.

  official EU website

Sure, hon.  Tell me again, how much of what we're buying at the grocery is produced in this country?

In a nutshell...

Yeah, we saw China kissing your ass.  

Trump 2.0 - Undo Biden's work

 About those chips...

Alexa - inviting a spy into your home

 

"And you can't opt out."

A closer look at the tech genius inventor mythology

 

The purge continues

 It is hurting all Americans.

[A]ll employees at 18F – a group that the Trump Administration GSA Technology Transformation Services Director called "the gold standard" of civic tech – were terminated today at midnight ET.

[...]

Just yesterday we were working on important projects, including improving access to weather data with NOAA, making it easier and faster to get a passport with the Department of State, supporting free tax filing with the IRS, and other critical projects with organizations at the federal and state levels.

All of that work has now abruptly come to a halt. Since the entire staff was also placed on administrative leave, we have been locked out of our computers, and have no chance to assist in an orderly transition in our work. We don’t even have access to our personal employment data. We’re supposed to return our equipment, but can’t use our email to find out how or where.

[...]

We’re still absorbing what has happened. We’re wrestling with what it will mean for ourselves and our families, as well as the impact on our partners and the American people.

But we came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet.

More to come.

  18f

Waiting for the FTC to be shut down

Trump has support from several Big Tech leaders — Elon Musk chief among them. But the president's new FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, is an outspoken Big Tech critic on X and is signaling the panel won't be stacked with pro-industry quislings.

The FTC is still moving forward with cases against Amazon and Meta, and it's investigating Microsoft.

"Big Tech and anyone else who seeks to engage in anticompetitive or illegal behavior have been put on notice," a commission source told Axios in announcing the new hires.

  Axios

Missing the point

I keep seeing this type of article and posting on social media:  Hahahaha, DeepSeek results in less than democratic responses.

Are they missing the point on purpose?

The fucking point is DeepSeek showed that working AI can be achieved for a fraction of a fraction of what the US techbros have been spending.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 01:07 pm:

How about that?  We CAN do it for less money.  Whaddya know.

Why Greenland?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Techbro crybabies

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.