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On X I had seen him mostly posting memes so this post seems par for the course

I am not surprised. People on Bluesky are so blatantly anti-AI.

"Time to move on" is used only when someone in power is guilty. Happened with Nixon. Mitch McConnell basically said the same thing about Trump after J6 insurrection. And I think Garland believed the same thing when he did not move fast enough to investigate Trump. People believe in law and order when rich and powerful face the same consequences as the common man for their crimes committed and not when they are let off the hook.

The US has many such instances unfortunately.


I do think Garland made a massive mistake. Nixon resigned; Trump did not. Nixon largely disappeared, as most former Presidents do during their successor's term. Trump was still communicating crimes and clearly intended more.

I'm drawing a kind of fine and possibly meaningless distinction here. I think Ford made the best decision he could at the time. Garland had the benefit of hindsight: he saw the way the corruption had become far deeper than the President himself. Garland should have known better.


> Nixon resigned; Trump did not.

Well, yeah. They learned from Nixon!

Fox News was founded by Roger Ailes with the explicit intent to prevent another Nixon situation. Not the "criminal President" part, mind you; the punished (Republican) President part.


From the website:

This book is a short introduction to deep learning for readers with a STEM background, originally designed to be read on a phone screen. This is the v1.2 updated on May 19th, 2024.

It is distributed under a non-commercial Creative Commons license and was downloaded 600,000 times in a bit more than a year.

Interestingly, you can download it as a phone-formatted pdf


I never thought I would ever see this level of corruption in the US.

Can you explain what the corruption angle is? Would it have been better if he'd held the position?

He should have sold it the day he took that position. Selling it after a massive bump in the stock value for which he was responsible to a great extent is immensely problematic.

From the article:

Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer at the White House under President George W Bush, said that in general it was a criminal violation for government officials to participate in any government actions that would benefit their own financial interests.

I have put together the relevant parts from the article that show the corruption.

- Michael declared in March 2025 that he had a position in xAI valued between $500,000 and $1m.

- During the period that Michael owned the xAI stock the Pentagon announced two separate agreements with the firm. In July 2025 the Pentagon chose Grok as one of four commercial providers that would help the department utilize artificial intelligence.

- On 18 December, seven months into running the Pentagon’s research and engineering efforts, Michael received a divestiture certificate from the OGE that said he would sell his xAI stock to comply with conflict of interest laws.

- Four days later, on 22 December, the defense department, which now refers to itself as the Department of War, announced a new agreement with xAI.

- Michael did not ultimately sell his position in xAI until 9 January, disclosures show.


It’s nuts. If this happened in Europe the incumbent party would be destroyed.

What the hell happened to America?


Turns out Americans like corruption. Corruption is actually pretty compelling, when it makes you rich at the cost of somebody you consider "lesser".

The US has always believed that might makes right, and that wealth is proof of your virtue. "Corruption" is just good business sense, when it benefits your side.

They would, of course, throw a massive hissy fit if it had been their opponents. But that's less about the corruption in itself, as that it was one of those "lesser" people taking advantage of his betters.


The opposite - the incumbent party is destroying America.

Original title: US defense official overseeing AI reaped millions selling xAI stock after Pentagon entered agreement with company

That's a great idea. I would be very interested in using it of someone builds it.


> China isn't going to arrest me for my opinions on Netanyahu, my own government could

I don't know whether you really believe this or it was an off the cuff remark. China is not going to tell you why they plan to arrest you. China is not a benevolent dictatorship.


The actual offense isn't important, nor is whether they arrest me or just kick in my door and look through my stuff. What matters is that if I'm not in China I don't have to particularly care what Chinese officials think about me. My local police can kick in my door, Chinese police can't. At least as long as I stay out of China


As a matter of fact, there's been multiple reports of the Chinese doing informal, heavy "policing" of their own citizens abroad. Even if you aren't Chinese or linked to China yourself, this does affect the strength of that particular argument.


> ... this does affect the strength of that particular argument.

It doesn't really affect the strength of that particular argument.

And you're being misleading, seemingly on purpose. Please don't.


The US government is vastly more likely to break down my door and arrest me for my speech than the Chinese government is. (Because I live in the US.)

I think your information is very much outdated. You apply for DUNS number with Apple. I didn't have to go to D&B's website nor I had to pay anything to anyone for it.


I just recently did all of this but the experience was not as bad as you are describing here. I got my DUNS number in 10 minutes. The only challenging part was using a Google Voice number for the account because there was an issue with the way I had created the business Apple account.


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