Snark of the Day

Siri, What Killed the Most S.S. Soldiers in the Final Year of World War 1?

Graphic Firing Table noting that SecDef Pete Kegsbreath will no longer be requiring that US soldiers get flu shots.

For the historically challenged, the biggest killer of US soldiers for the entire war was Spanish Influenza.

I think that the joke might have been a bit funnier invoking one of the AI programs out there, but it is still funny as hell. 

Asking for this dumbf%$#:

Mind you, this fits with this overpromoted dumbass' worldview, where pushups always trump logistics (yswidt) and military learning.

His abysmal ignorance of why the US military has been aggressive about things like preventive medicine, field sanitation and hygiene since 1941 explains a lot (tho this jackass is on record boasting that he doesn't wash his hands after dumping a load, so YMMV...).

I wrote a whole series on "The Imperial Japanese Army in WW2: What Went Wrong", and one of the single biggest failures that hammered the 大日本帝國陸軍, Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun was the whole manly-man/bushido cult of warriorness that neglected beans and bullets for swords and spirit.

The notion that somehow a poorly-supplied, under-resourced and -armed fighting force would beat more logistically and tactically competent enemies because of some sort of mystical whatever-the-Japanese-is for "cult of the badass"?

The stoopid, it burns.

 

America's Finest News Source

When someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's house, The Onion led with, "Man Who Threw Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman’s Home Claims He Was Following ChatGPT Recipe For Risotto."

This sounds completely credible. If I were on the jury, I'd vote for acquittal. 

Following reports that a 20-year-old man had been arrested for throwing a Moltov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home, the suspect stated Monday that he only initiated the attack because he was following a ChatGPT recipe for risotto. “I’ve been using ChatGPT to help with cooking for a while now, so I didn’t think too much of it when the ingredients list included a bottle filled with gasoline and a cloth wick,” said the alleged attacker, who added that he naturally assumed making the rice dish involved driving several hours to the OpenAI CEO’s residence, especially after the AI chatbot had given him a “pretty decent” sesame chicken recipe the week before. “I have to admit I felt a little weird as I prepared to toss this flaming incendiary device through [Altman’s] front window, but the recipe explicitly stated that this was an essential step to get that creamy, velvety risotto texture. I guess I didn’t know any better. I mean, I’ve never made risotto before.” The suspect went on to tell reporters that he still had “a whole fridge full” of Molotov cocktails at home, having attempted to prep enough risotto to last the week.

To be fair, making a good Risotto is very difficult. 

Snark of the Day

According to a new puff profile in Politico, the senator has “main character energy.” Of course, so did Gilligan and Mr. Ed.

—The Indispensable Charlie Pierce in Esquire about the soft ball piece from Tiger Beat on the Potomac.

Oh, Wilbur! 

A Plan So Cunning You Could Put a Tail on It and Call It Weasel

Get in. We're messing up Melania's Amazon search results
byu/mulcahey inesist

The Pitch

The Cover Art

The blurb.

Over on Reddit, someone has made a wonderful suggestion, that we all go to Amazon, and that we all, "Amplify the paranormal erotic thriller novel Melania: Devourer of Men so it ranks higher than her movie," on Amazon.

The eBook is free on kindle, so you can download it, and boost the algorithm, so that when someone searches for, Melania the documentary, they get this book instead.

This act is generally called, "Google Bombing," though in this case, it would be Amazon bombing.

Classic examples of Google bombing, are sucessful efforts to make the search for "Miserable failure," giving the result of George W. Bush, and the word, "Santorum," giving the result, "The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." 

Surely we can do the same to Melania. 

Snark of the Day

Finally, someone has an ICE reeducation program that might work.

As my reader(s) are aware, I'm generally not in favor of training to change organizational culture, but this suggestion seems to be to be eminently reasonable while also having a good chance of success.

………

I propose a sort of long-term residential program for everyone who remains with ICE and CBP after this week, along with more or less everyone hired since the start of the second Trump administration. This would have to be a mandatory program, reflecting the seriousness with which we ought to take proper law enforcement training in this country.

Obviously, ICE agents will not be able to continue working while they are undergoing this rigorous new training program. And in order for retraining to be effective, it will take a long time—perhaps even years. Because we can’t accept one-size-fits-all solutions, we should expect this mandatory residential retraining program to be somewhat open-ended. I would recommend we place these agents on an indefinite leave of absence from their jobs while they are retraining, and have their essential duties taken over by other agencies, preferably outside the Department of Homeland Security (which will have a lot of its agents undergoing this long-term residential training).

This will not be a cheap program, admittedly. Fortunately the immigration enforcement agencies are currently funded at extremely high levels, and Democrats have already shown a reluctance to clawing back that money, out of fear of being labeled soft on crime. But what could be more pro-law enforcement than additional training? And as the Trump administration has decisively shown, using appropriated money for its official purpose is more of a “suggestion” than a requirement of our constitutional system, so a future administration can repurpose that funding for this new mandatory long-term residential training program.

(emphasis mine)

I think that this recommendation is is worthy of comparison to the proposals of Jonathan Swift back in the day.

H/t Atrios 

Snark of the Day

Also, in This Universe, Elon Musk Found His Highest Personal Calling as Dinner for a Family of Hogs Some 20 Years Ago

—Defector, describing a non-broken universe in which Elon Musk's child pr0n creation machine did not exist.

This made me laugh out loud. 

Twitter, also called X, the social media network owned and constantly used by the world's richest man as well as virtually every powerful person in the American tech industry, and on which the vast preponderance of national political figures also maintain active accounts, has a sexual harassment and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) problem.

I disagree a bit.  I do not think that this is a problem, I think that this was a deliberate choice.

This has been true more or less since Elon Musk took it over, but this problem's latest and most repellent efflorescence is the result of one of Musk's signature additions as owner. Grok, the network's embedded AI chatbot, will—or would, as recently as yesterday, and certainly did many, many times—generate graphically sexualized images of real people, including minors and non-consenting third parties, in response to any user's request. Another Twitter feature bearing Elon Musk's fingerprints is that the site filled with the kind of people who, when a photograph of a 14-year-old TV actress appears on their timeline, will ask Grok to generate an image of her without clothes on. As a result, for much of this week Twitter has been rife with AI-generated revenge porn, deepfake celebrity porn, and CSAM.

And then they go in for the kill:

………

Surely, however, to the extent that many laws prohibit the creation and proliferation of CSAM and revenge porn, someone is responsible for Twitter's embedded chatbot having spent much of the past week visibly and flagrantly breaking those laws. Yes? If a cineplex spends a week showing CSAM in one of its theaters, a posted apology purportedly in the voice of the screen seems unlikely to get that cineplex's owners and operators off the hook, legally speaking. If the owner of a roadside billboard lets strangers use the thing, and one of them tacks a huge sexualized image of a child—or an unconsenting celebrity, or an ex-girlfriend he's mad at for dumping him—on there, no one would accept a legal consequence which stopped at the assurance that the billboard's fucking support stanchions sincerely feel real bad about it.

So. Who's standing trial for this one? Who's going to jail?

I think it's important for a person to hold an imaginary sane and just society in their mind, against which to measure the actual society that exists instead. In a sane and just society ... well, Grok probably doesn't exist in the first place in a society like that. (Also, in this universe, Elon Musk found his highest personal calling as dinner for a family of hogs some 20 years ago.) But somewhere along the wide spectrum of social operability in between that sane and just place and the shambling, clattering junk heap where I wrote this blog and you're reading it, there is a theoretical place in which OK, yes, Grok exists, but maybe not absolutely everything has yet been motherfucked all the way out of function.

(emphasis mine)

I would note that the response of Ecch/Twitter/Grok has been to GEO FENCE the feature, not shut it down, which means that people in countries where fake revenge porn is legal, and those with sufficiently sophisticated VPNs, can continue to generate this slash-fic bullshit.

This shows us something:  This came from Elon.

If Musk were not actively supporting this, no one would suggest this to him, because of fear that they would be perceived as setting him up for an Epstein style take-down.

The creation of this feature, and its continued availability in limited areas had to come from the top. 

The Swedes Are Not Known for Their Senses of Humor

But they should be.

Even Ingmar Bergman, who is better known for his brooding films directed a very good comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night  which I rather liked, even with subtitles.

The humor definitely has been effected by the dark cold winters of Scandanavia, but unlike, for example, Russian humor, which tends to be dark, Swedish humor is more wry and playful. 

This Swedish pilot's walk around of the Saab Gripen is very funny.

Snark of the Day

OH NO! Larry Summers and Bill Clinton might be hurt by the Epstein files? Threaten me with a good time already.

—Pharyngula

The inestimable PZ Meyers reflects my feelings on this matter, though I would like Tony Blair to be a part of this as well.

The Democrats have been releasing damning emails from the Epstein files, which is a good start. There’s nothing too surprising in them, though. We already knew Trump and Epstein were pals, we’ve always known that Trump was a nasty little sleazebag with a thing for underaged girls, and the right-wing side of the electorate has been able to ignore that all along, so I expect nothing to change. Also, the Republicans are playing the victim card and howling about it was all innocent banter and Trump didn’t do nothin’, anyhow.

Except that conservatives are hypocritically complaining about emails that expose the president for what he is, and simultaneously fishing through the emails that make Democrats look bad. I’m all for it! Expose all the dirtbags, no matter what side of the aisle they sit on.

I would actually argue that folks like Larry Summers, who are looking the other way in pursuit of money and power, are actually more corrosive to society than the pedophile collaborators with Epstein.

People like the former Harvard president are why people like Epstein could thrive. 

Quote of the Day

I Wish Andrew Cuomo Only the Best in Private Life. But Let Tonight Be the Final Time I Utter His Name.

—Zohran Mamdani during his victory speech after winning election as Mayor of New York

Here's hoping that the rest of us never have to hear his name uttered ever again. 

Headline of the Day

Libertarianism, 13, Dies in Argentina Chainsaw Accident

—The Nerd Reich

Yes, I know, this hed is from a few weeks ago, but it's new to me.

It is, of course, about Argentine President Javier Milei asking, and getting, a bailout from Donald Trump/ 

Perspective is Important, Skeet of the Day Edition

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— all2human (@all2human61.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM

Seriously, pay attention to priorities,

Skeet of the Day

Hello, police? I'd like to report a murder on Bluesky:

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— SwiftOnSecurity (@swiftonsecurity.com) August 20, 2025 at 7:12 PM

Their Incel bodies have been burned to a crisp.

Headline of the Day

Bitter Fight over 2020 Microsoft Quantum Paper Both Resolved and Unresolved

— The Register

Short version is that the editors split the baby.  The longer version is available at the link and is incredibly boring, but the hed is marvelous. 

I Love This

I do not where this came from, but whoever did this is s f%$#ing genius.

Snark of the Day

Wow so you’re telling me everyone who cheered on the Iraq war is on board with this now too? And so are the people who opposed the Iran nuclear deal and killed it? You’re kidding.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM

I so want AOC to run for President in 2028.

This Will Leave a Mark

It's a Liberal Party campaign ad, and it is, at least according to our stereotypes of Canada, very in your face.

I know what you are all thinking, "When did Mike Myers go gray?" 

Well it happens to a lot of us, and at least he still has hair.

Loved the bit of Canadian Trivial Pursuit in the middle.

Snark of the Day

Jasmine Crockett Scorching governor Abbott.

"You know, we got Governor hot wheels down there. Come on now. And, and the only thing hot about him is that he is hot ass mess, honey.

I'm gonna move on. I'm gonna move on because I got other people to diss."

🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ccWKMR6tSL

— Winter’s Politics 🖤 (@WintersPolitics) March 25, 2025

Texas Reichsstatthalte Governor Greg Abbott is a truly horrible excuse for a human being.

In a way, this is actually good.  It shows that the disabled, Abbot is wheelchair bound, can be as much of an affront to human cedently as the temporarily able bodied. 

To the degree that Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) causes anguish for the Texas Governor and his Evil Minions™, this is a good thing.

For all of the MAGAts who have a problem with this, it must suck to be such delicate snowflakes.

Skeet of the Day

One of our supporters shared this with us—people are getting creative tonight!

[image or embed]

— Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM

I believe that this is actual irony

I'm sick of living in a motherf%$#ing dystopia, and it has only been just over 3 weeks.

(Update)

It appears that after making this public service announcement, Smokey the bear completely lost his sh%$, pulling out a shot gun and killing the FTD guy while he was making Valentines Day deliveries.

He was dragged off stage by US Park Service Personnel screaming, "Only You Can Prevent Florist Flyers!!!"

So very sad.

Headline of the Day

Yeah, this is a good one:

Musk's Junta Establishes Him as Head of Government

—Former Politico editor Garrett Graff, describing how this would be covered by the US press if this were happening in a foreign land.

I’ve long believed that the American media would be more clear-eyed about the rise and return of Donald Trump if it was happening overseas in a foreign country, where we’re used to foreign correspondents writing with more incisive authority. Having watched with growing alarm the developments of the last 24 and 36 hours in Washington, I thought I’d take a stab at just such a dispatch. Here’s a story that should be written this weekend:

Musk Junta Seizes Key Governmental Offices
February 1, 2025
By William Boot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — What started Thursday as a political purge of the internal security services accelerated Friday into a full-blown coup, as elite technical units aligned with media oligarch Elon Musk moved to seize key systems at the national treasury, block outside access to federal personnel records, and take offline governmental communication networks.

With rapidity that has stunned even longtime political observers, forces loyal to Musk’s junta have established him as the all-but undisputed unelected head of government in just a matter of days, unwinding the longtime democracy’s constitutional system and its proud nearly 250-year-old tradition of the rule of law. Having secured themselves in key ministries and in a building adjacent to the presidential office complex, Musk’s forces have begun issuing directives to civil service workers and forcing the resignation of officials deemed insufficiently loyal, like the head of the country’s aviation authority.

The G-7 country’s newly installed president, a mid-level oligarch named Donald Trump, appeared amid Musk’s moves to be increasingly merely a figurehead head of state. Trump is a convicted felon with a long record of family corruption and returned in power in late January after a four-year interlude promising retribution and retaliation against foreign opponents and a domestic “Deep State.” He had been charged with attempting to overthrow the peaceful transition of power that had previously removed him from office in 2021, but loyalist elements in the judiciary successfully blocked his prosecution and incarceration, easing his return to power. 

I would add one modifier here, the US press would only cover such developments in such a way if the government was deemed hostile to US interests.

Read the whole thing.  It's wonderful snark.

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day

BREAKING: Sources have confirmed that Juan Guaidó has declared himself Interim Prime Minister of Canada. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/vkToo8Kd9C

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) January 7, 2025

This is funny as hell.