Ask A.I.

Question:

What is the Trump administration doing to keep the Epstein files out of the news?

Answer:

In his second term, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on November 19, 2025, which legally mandates the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records related to Jeffrey Epstein. However, the administration has faced significant criticism from both parties for the following actions that some describe as attempts to limit or delay transparency: 

Delayed and Redacted Releases

• Missing Pages: An NPR investigation in early 2026 found that the DOJ had withheld dozens of pages specifically containing sexual abuse allegations against President Trump. While some were later published following media pressure, reports indicate roughly 37 pages remain missing from the public database as of March 2026.
• Heavy Redactions: Early releases in December 2025 were criticized for being "grossly" redacted, with hundreds of pages entirely blacked out, including the names of "politically exposed individuals".
• Staggered Rollout: Despite a 30-day legal deadline to release all files by December 19, 2025, the DOJ initially released only a small fraction, citing the need for "painstaking" reviews to protect victim privacy. 

Strategic Counter-Investigations

• Targeting Political Foes: In November 2025, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch new investigations into Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, including Bill Clinton and Lawrence Summers.
• Withholding Evidence: Lawmakers, including Representative Thomas Massie, have raised concerns that these new probes serve as a "smokescreen" to justify withholding documents under the law's exemption for "active federal investigations". 

Administration Defenses

• "Exoneration" Claims: The White House maintains that President Trump has been "totally exonerated" by the releases and argues that the files contain "untrue and sensationalist claims" meant to damage him politically.
• Dismissal as a "Hoax": At various points in 2025, Trump dismissed the ongoing push for file releases as a "Democrat Hoax" before eventually pivoting to support the Transparency Act once it became clear it would pass with a veto-proof majority. 

In March 2026, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer for the administration's handling of the files and the "disjointed" nature of the public disclosures.

And:

Start a few wars - didn't need AI to figure that one out

The A.I. bubble

There's an AI bubble growing by leaps and bounds. And while it may not crash and take whole sectors of the economy down with it, there will be a "correction" at some time.

If anybody knows how I might be able to short the thing, please let me know. The crash is more-or-less widely expected by about January 2027.

What they're saying about an AI bubble impacting credit markets

Credit investors have reportedly become increasingly concerned about the potential impact of an AI bubble on credit markets.

Bank of America (BAC) said Monday its January client survey showed that 23% viewed the emergence of an AI bubble as their No. 1 concern, up from 9% in its December survey, according to Bloomberg.

Here's what other bankers and analysts have been saying about the AI bubble threat.

Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase (JPM):

“There’s always a surprise in a credit cycle,” Dimon said Monday, according to CNBC. “The surprise has often been which industry [is impacted]…you didn’t expect utilities and phone companies in ’08, ’09, and this time around, it might be software, because of AI.”

Dimon added he was concerned about a cycle at some point, which could result in a wave of borrower defaults.

“There will be a cycle one day … I don’t know what confluence of events will cause that cycle. My anxiety is high over it,” Dimon said. “I’m not assuaged by the fact that asset prices are high. In fact, I think that adds to the risk.”

Damir Tokic, Seeking Alpha analyst:

"In my opinion, the AI bubble burst with the Oracle (ORCL) earnings report on September 10th, 2025—that's when ORCL stock price spiked, reversed, and crashed," wrote Tokic earlier this month. "The first phase of the AI bubble burst was essentially a burst of the credit-driven infrastructure bubble—with Oracle as the poster child."

Tokic goes on to argue that the second phase of the AI bubble burst was the selloff in software stocks, which he expects to be followed by a broader decline.

"It's Phase Three that will cause a recession with the bubble burst—that's when the stock market will likely 'crash' like in 2000 and 2008. Phase Three will likely start when the unemployment rate starts rising, specifically due to AI-related job losses—and this will start happening over the next 6 months. In the meantime, markets will likely be volatile," Tokic added.

High Yield Investor, Seeking Alpha analyst:

"While mega-cap tech and software have been phenomenal investments in recent years, the market appears to be growing nervous about AI exposing and bursting bubbles in both, as software stands to be disrupted by AI, and mega-cap tech is sinking hundreds of billions of dollars into AI CapEx that may not deliver significant enough returns to justify the spending, thereby destroying shareholder capital," High Yield Investor wrote on Feb. 19.

"Instead, we think that conservatively positioned and heavily discounted software lenders, as well as dividend-paying AI infrastructure companies, are the best risk-adjusted ways to play this dual bubble-bursting threat," they added.

Fun With A.I.

Who did this?? 😂 pic.twitter.com/PIbvwUOsOQ

— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) February 24, 2026

The Great Sorting begins

First, gotta love it when a Pam Bondi gets a little hysterical about "the DOW is over 50,000!!!" and then it kinda craters the next day.

And I wonder if I'll get another chance to short this shit. Yeah - prob'ly.

BTW - let the big tech companies pay their own fuckin' bills when it comes to water and power and infrastructure. I'm sick to fucking death of having to subsidize The Epstein Class.

US stocks drop as investors try to separate AI losers from winners

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are dropping Thursday as the market splits further between perceived losers and winners from the rush into artificial-intelligence technology.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% after erasing an early gain that brought it just below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 569 points, or 1.1%, as of 12:49 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.

AppLovin tumbled 18.3% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Like other software companies, it’s come under pressure recently from worries that AI may undercut its business while fundamentally changing how people use the internet.

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi pushed back on such worries, saying in a conference call with analysts that indicators show his company is doing well. “There’s a real disconnect between market sentiment and the reality of our business,” he said.

Its stock nevertheless worsened its loss for the young year so far, which came into the day at 32.2%.

Cisco Systems dropped 11.6% despite likewise topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue last quarter. The tech giant indicated that it may make less profit off each $1 of revenue during the current quarter than it did in the past quarter.

Analysts said that could be an indicator of higher prices for computer memory that everyone is having to pay amid the rush driven by AI.

More broadly, questions are rising about whether businesses that are spending heavily on AI will end up seeing high-enough profits and productivity to make the investments worth it.

In the meantime, the companies serving customers with huge AI budgets are benefiting.

Equinix, for example, jumped 12.5% even though the digital infrastructure company’s results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. It gave financial forecasts for 2026 that topped analysts’ expectations, and CEO Adaire Fox-Martin said that “demand for our solutions has never been higher.”

The company’s data centers are helping to power the world’s move into AI.

Outside of tech, McDonald’s rose 2.2% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The restaurant chain credited moves to improve its value and affordability, including cutting prices on some U.S. combo meals in September.

Walmart’s rally of 2.9%, meanwhile, was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. It erased losses from earlier in the week after a report said spending at U.S. retailers overall stalled in December.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after a report said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected.

The number was nevertheless lower than the prior week’s, which is a signal that the pace of layoffs may be improving. It also followed a surprisingly strong report on the job market from Wednesday, which said the nation’s unemployment rate improved last month.

A strengthening job market could push the Federal Reserve to keep its cuts to interest rates on pause, even if President Donald Trump has been loudly and aggressively calling for lower rates. That’s because lower rates can worsen inflation at the same time that it gives the economy a boost.

It all raises the stakes for Friday’s upcoming report on inflation at the U.S. consumer level. Economists expect it to show inflation slowed to 2.5% last month from 2.7% in December.

A separate report on Thursday said that sales of previously occupied homes slumped last month by more than economists expected, which also weighed on yields.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.13% from 4.18% late Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi rushed 3.1% higher thanks to gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other tech stocks. The moves were more modest in other Asian markets and in Europe.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%.

A Short Film

From Beast Of The Gods

A Warning

AI is a real danger. And I'm fairly certain of that because the plutocrats are pushing hard to prohibit government from regulating it.

The big question is: Who's already doing this without our knowing about it?

Don & Marco's Greenland Adventure

I Have A Dream

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mike Latifi (@sl65000)

Ooky Spooky

The liberals are improving at memes. At least whoever did this is. pic.twitter.com/9ecOIe8iSm

— Invisidon (@QuantumAlteredX) January 4, 2026

A Chat With ChatGPT

Posted on Facebook by a friend:

Why are political conflicts so stressful for many people?

Political conflicts are stressful for many people because they press on some of the deepest psychological and social fault lines humans have. A few interlocking reasons stand out:

1. Politics threatens identity, not just opinions.
For many people, political views are tied to core values—fairness, freedom, safety, dignity, belonging. When those views are challenged, it can feel less like a debate about policy and more like an attack on who they are or what kind of person they are. That triggers defensive emotions similar to those provoked by personal insults.

2. They activate tribal instincts.
Humans evolved to survive in groups. Political conflict often maps neatly onto “us vs. them” categories, activating ancient threat-detection systems. Once someone is perceived as part of an opposing tribe, the brain shifts toward vigilance, anger, and readiness to fight—literally stress responses, not calm reasoning.

3. The stakes feel existential.
Politics governs issues like safety, rights, livelihoods, and the future of one’s children. Even if the actual risk is abstract or long-term, the perceived stakes are high. The nervous system doesn’t distinguish well between an immediate physical threat and a symbolic one that feels just as consequential.

4. Moral emotions run hot.
Political disagreements often involve moral judgments—who deserves help, who is responsible for harm, what is just. Moral emotions (outrage, disgust, righteous anger) are especially intense because they evolved to enforce social norms. Once morality enters the room, compromise can feel like betrayal.

5. Lack of control and ambiguity.
People feel stress when outcomes matter but are largely outside their control. Most individuals have very little direct influence over political outcomes, yet are constantly exposed to alarming narratives about what might happen. That mismatch—high importance, low agency—is a classic recipe for anxiety.

6. Social risk is real.
Political conflict can cost friendships, family harmony, professional standing, or social belonging. Even anticipating conflict raises stress levels, because humans are exquisitely sensitive to social rejection. The fear isn’t imaginary; people really do get ostracized over politics.

7. Modern media amplifies everything.
News and social platforms reward outrage, simplify complex issues into moral binaries, and keep conflicts constantly visible. The result is chronic activation of the stress response with little opportunity for resolution or rest.

8. Compassion fatigue and moral injury.
For people who care deeply, repeated exposure to suffering, injustice, or perceived cruelty—especially when paired with powerlessness—can lead to emotional exhaustion or a sense that the world violates one’s moral expectations. That’s profoundly stressful.

In short, political conflicts are stressful because they blur boundaries between ideas and identity, disagreement and threat, concern and helplessness. They recruit the brain’s survival machinery for problems that rarely have clean, immediate solutions.

Today's Hawk

• American companies and consumers pay the tariffs
• Trump lied about the 2020 election
• People stormed the US Capitol at Trump's urging
• Trump has ended zero wars

Meanwhile In The UK

Somebody's got some talent.

Just A Thought

If AI is such an extraordinarily useful tool in decision-making, we should put it in charge of the big corporations and shit-can all those mega-billionaire parasites who think they actually earn their gazillion-dollar salaries and bonuses and perks.

I dunno - worth considering.

Gotta Love AI Sometimes

There's A Heartbreak Coming

At about 24:52, the discussion comes around to AI, and Zeihan is less than enthusiastic about really getting something going before about 2040.

The problem seems to be all about a supply chain that's currently very fragile, and seeing as how the Houthis can disrupt global commerce by popping off a few anti-ship missiles once in a while, we've got significant problems protecting assets with a navy that's aging, and a population that's also aging - to the point where it's possible we just won't have enough sailors to carry the load.

So AI is making some headway, but unless they can solve both the manufacturing problems, and the problems of getting enough electrical juice to power the fuckin' thing, we're not looking at any kind of great leap forward. And with a little luck, we won't get the huge economic disruptions - beyond what the TechBros' egos will push them to do - in the next 15 or 20 years.

The Lights Are Flashing

Ten years ago, it was Social Media and bot farms.

The culture is changing with startling rapidity, especially now that the operative phrase is "Go fast and break things".

A.I. is the new media tool that's being used by (eg) American fascists the way the brand new media tool known as radio was used in the 1920s by European fascists.

The road to tyranny

is crowded with people

telling us we're overreacting

A Question For A.I.

Your Lunchtime AI

via JR Colo - FB

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fibby McFibFace (@fibbymcfibface)

Nope

What a horrible day to have eyes

Today's Best AI