Panda-monium - Trump Thread #170

[Spandauer]

Mid-terms looming, approval falling, prices rising, wars ongoing - Ping Ping and Fu Shuang must be wondering what heinous crime they committed to be banished chosen as envoys of friendship between China and USA. 🐼🐼

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5572772-it-costs-a-lot-of-money-to-be-this-cheap-trump-thread-169

Trump’s Final Term Ends in: - Countdown Timer

Not quite sure what in history support such optimism ?

I'm not sure this is an aberration. I think the past 2 centuries have been the aberration, where ordinary folk had influence far beyond what the founding fathers intended.

Now, finally, the rich and elite are reclaiming their place in power for themselves.

Looks like I could be through to the knockout stages of Cynic2026 ....

Well, I'm polishing my tap shoes nevertheless.

Let's see, between Scrotus & Vance, so far we have;

Abdul El-Sayed 'is a jihadist' and 'is evil'
Ilhan Omar 'shouldn't be here' and 'is an evil person'
James Talarico is 'too gay for TX' and 'is a (vegan) freak show'
Democratic Party 'is evil' and 'hates America'

And yet the GOP poll numbers keep on dropping as the CoL keeps rising.

I'm not saying we're going to see a Blue Wave. I'm not saying we're going to flip either the House or the Senate. Polls don't = votes. I'm just saying it's interesting. Diehard MAGAts will keep on "cheering stupid things I say and still love me" (Scrotus' own words) but it could be that some GOPers are either starting to wake up or really feeling the pain in the pocketbook.

My ballot will be dropped at the elections office today and I have signed up for CA's ballot tracking system. Roll on 3 Nov. I will probably still be up watching the returns when y'all in the UK are rising, shining, and having your first cup of morning tea (or coffee).

To my citizen pals here in the US; Take those ballots in early rather than mail them. And sign up for any tracking systems. Delays by the USPO could invalidate your ballot if it's not received and/or postmarked by election day.

To my non-resident citizen pals; mail your ballots in as early as you can and sign up for tracking, too.

My China visa expert got back to me, said legit Katie Zacharia working in BJ then. The 2 year experience rule came in later. The 2 two years experience at that time only applied to teachers.Not other professions.

But going by the news, are we about to see the time period known as the Scaramucci replaced by the Zacharia ?

It says a lot really, that it appears there was not even a trial or anything, because loyalty is more important than ability or skill.

I've already seen a countdown of Katie vs a lettuce a la Liz Truss.

This is interesting

https://www.theregister.com/paas-and-iaas/2026/10/14/us-tech-giants-warn-europe-that-ditching-us-tech-giants-could-cost-115b/5303031

I wonder if some people will see this and think "golly, that's a lot less than I would have expected, Especially if a few countries put in * *€5 billion each ....

Remind me how long a Scarramucci is?

I know (Thanks to NSTAAF this week) that "nano century", said slowly takes a nano century to say.

For your delectation. And Scaramucci gives the answer himself.

Does for me, amazingly.

those are very close quarters on that helicopter 😬

Is he manspreading or mansplaining? I suppose the two are not mutually exclusive, but we're talking about the manic cheeto here.

I'm sure he can multitask - especially with the sycophantic groupies hanging on his every word. Not sure who the red pants and LV purse belong to - no heels, so maybe Suzy?
I'm trying to imagine another such powerful organization where priorities are blind loyalty, plastic surgery/hair dye and designer wear.

11 days = 1 Scaramucci.

Being that close to 🍊💩 can be a bit stinky if the rumours are to be believed.

I just downloaded a new podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/anthony-scaramucci-my-biggest-failure-working-for-donald/id1407451189?i=1000796163367

Hang on.

"The report argues that restrictions favoring European cloud providers would leave governments and businesses facing hefty bills to migrate workloads and rewrite software. It puts direct public-sector costs at €33.3 billion, with a further €80 billion potentially falling on private companies in sectors including banking, healthcare, energy, and transport."

I am confused here. Likely because I am supping an ale. Because the cloud companies make money ? Or do they do it as a public service ?

AWS is 'booming,' but Amazon's free cash flow turns negative on record AI spending – GeekWire

Article dated July 2026.

"Overall, the tech giant reported $200.6 billion in revenue for the second quarter, up 20%, with operating income of $27.5 billion, up 43%. That beat Wall Street’s expectations of about $196.4 billion in revenue, and topped the high end of Amazon’s own guidance."

Wow. I know that is global, but what an investment. Spend 80 billion and get a chunk of that... lets see... "Profits were $62.6 billion,".

Yes please. And that's just Amazon.

A lot of that is wooden dollars.

Or as DB would say, fluffybucks.

What's the handbag ?

Is that a Louis Vuitton ?

More like Louis XIV ....

AI is a huge money pit. The way they work isn't particularly efficient so it wouldn't be feasible for the AI companies to charge what it actually costs. When they try that people just stop using it/using it as much because actually while being able to write code with Claude feels great it feels less great when being charged a realistic price per token.

Cloud services generally charge enough to cover their costs and keep them in profit. Most EU data is held within the EU anyway so that alone shouldn't cost more/less than before. It's the migration that is a big headache because it really isn't a simple as pushing a button and all the data moves from one system to another with zero headaches or quality checking needed. However once it's done it's done and it also means once new systems are being used and e.g. alternative email providers found there isn't much chance of it all being moved back onto the American company's systems. Once thos customers are gone they are gone.

"AI" is just clever pattern matching at the speed of light.

We can get into a philosophical discussion about whether an indistinguishable simulacrum of intelligence is intelligence. But that's not for here or now.

Much more useful is to step backwards and realise that we don't really have a useful definition of intelligence that isn't at some point circular, or that could be applied to clearly bogus cases.

Same as "life" really. We "know" what it is, right up until we try to define it when we are looking for it.

And if we do declare "AI" intelligent, what then ? Some countries have laws against animal cruelty on the basis that animals exhibit some basic qualities. Why not Claude ?

How AI plans on getting rid of humans

https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/14/researchers-cig-nal-their-faith-in-ai-by-taking-up-smoking/5303118

Airplane. It's a bad day to give up smoking.

Switzerland will be interesting.

Owning one pet goldfish is illegal in Switzerland - and the reason might make you feel guilty - The Mirror

So if AI, ( SI to Trumpsters), gets to goldfish level (several notches above Trump), you won't be allowed to have just one. Worth a ponder.

And yes, I know it is not specifically written in Swiss law that solo goldfish are illegal, but,"their animal welfare laws strongly discourage it and require owners to ensure the goldfish’s social needs are met, effectively making it illegal to keep a single goldfish in conditions deemed isolating and inhumane."

I won't link the source for the italicized quote. Suffice to say I am into fishkeeping.

So, the Robin Williams film "Bicentennial Man" is probably a bit different for the Swiss. "Bicentennial Goldfish".

Hell, even Trump qualifies as a Sentient Being under Swiss law. AI (or SI), will ACE their cognitive test.

And amphetamines,and glue
And Leon's getting fatter ♥️