Time mag: AI chess devices will cheat: “When sensing defeat in a match against a skilled chess bot, they don’t always concede, instead sometimes opting to cheat by hacking their opponent so that the bot automatically forfeits the game.”
Gee, kinda like Trump at golf.
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Despite promoting debunked far-right conspiracy theories popular with movements like QAnon — including the claim that the FBI incited the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and a very public record of calling for so-called “deep state” operatives who oppose President Donald Trump to be punished, Kash Patel has been confirmed as director of the FBI. – Huffpost. Well, T won’t be the first who tries to use the DOJ and FBI as his personal weapons . . . I can think of Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover. LBJ was a vicious political fighter too. Sometime I’ll write about Ballot Box 10 in Texas, or how JFK won the W. Va. Primary in 1960. A great book on JFK is: The Dark Side of Camelot, by Seymour Hersh. I believe most, but not all of it.
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Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz called out President Donald Trump’s economic policies, warning they risk causing stagflation — otherwise known as high inflation, rising unemployment and stagnant economic growth. – Huffpost.
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The SS United States, an old passenger ship, is being towed to the Gulf Coast to be sunk and become a reef. It still holds the trans-Atlantic speed record that it set on its maiden voyage in 1952! It averaged about 36 knots (41 mph). Interesting to an ex-sailor like me. I have seen it at a dock a few times.
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I get emails from Sen. Chris Murphy, CT. I like him. Here is part of one he sent out:
“Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires. The corruption and theft are happening in the open here. The whole game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires — even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children.” You can sign up to get his emails, too.
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I’ll bet you’ve heard of “poke salad,” maybe in that song, Poke Salad Annie. I came across this: It was a simple dish containing the boiled leaves and stalks of pokeweed, along with bacon grease, and its preparation was crucial: Pokeweed is poisonous, so boiling the plant at least twice (with new water each time) was necessary to render the greens safe to eat. – I wonder how someone figured out it was poisonous; the hard way? Well, with the Trump economy, we might have poor folks out in the woods looking for poke plants again!
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So, Trumpy is now firing people at an Alzheimer’s center that many R’s support, esp. Sen. Thune – part of the center is named for him! Scientists there say under-funding will set them back decades in their research.
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As baseball season soon gets started, I’ll just say it again – baseball needs a hard salary cap!
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From MSNBC ON 2/21/2025: A group of hackers just pulled off the largest cryptocurrency heist in history, looting an estimated $1.4 billion from the Bybit exchange. – OK, so now Trumpy is in favor of crypto, even wants the US government to hold some? Gee, who will end up with that?
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So, one of Musk’s claims of saving money was for $8 Billion. Problem is, it was really $8 million. That is 1/1000 times more. Oh well, just another typo with numbers! Ignore the man picking your pocket . . .
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As Kevin Zahn, I have published four books. I just signed up to have the last one, Murder on the Rocks, turned into an audio book on Apple Books. They made me a deal I could not refuse. It will be an AI voice. I chose “Warren,” who is a baritone! We’ll see how it goes. It is cheaper than hiring a human reader, but part of me does not like the predicted future with more AI than we realize, in movies, etc. They only want certain genres, for now, so that was the one out of four I could send.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks. Well, if that doesn’t convince you he is after the racist support, what will?
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From History Facts, online: Pork and Beans — Canned versions of this classic American side dish can still be found on grocery store shelves, but it was once popular (late 1800’s) on the breakfast table, served alongside johnnycakes, a type of fried cornmeal pancake.
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In 2016, Trump told Haitian American voters, “I really want to be your biggest champion.” The Republican has now repeatedly betrayed the same community. Well, he is doing that to Venezuelans, too. Vote for me, trust me, then screw you!
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From MSNBC, in re: to Trump and Musk firing so many people: “And it’s not just Washington. More than 80% of federal workers work outside D.C. and are also being fired or having their jobs threatened. They include park rangers, cancer researchers, food safety inspectors, air traffic controllers, veterans’ nurses, bird flu experts, weather bureau folks, and nuclear weapons safety specialists. Americans may not like government workers in the abstract, but we are going to notice when these jobs don’t get done.” – Me: and much more to come. People will also notice when their neighbors, friends, or family are affected.
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Is this a joke, or symbolic? President Donald Trump says that Elon Musk will be going to Fort Knox, the legendary depository in Kentucky for American gold reserves, to make sure the gold is still there. In person, that is. Will he be frisked on the way out?
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The Trump administration has ordered employees who telework at the Internal Revenue Service to return to offices this month, signaling it intends to ignore protections in the agency’s union contract. – Well, as a long-time union man, you can imagine what I think of this. And I still say Trump knows he breaks the law, etc. but is counting on the Supremes to bail him out every time.
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Ben Franklin was an avid swimmer and spent time teaching and coaching the sport in Europe and America. Franklin even proposed that all schools in Philadelphia institute swimming programs. Doesn’t seem to have had the physique to be a swimmer, but. . . ok.
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Enough for now. We have a fancy, local grocery that sells a darn good gumbo and we are going to heat it up for supper!
Take care,
Kevin
Blog: If I understand this 
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