Ten years ago, as I was working for IATSE, I was negotiating with a company called Tegna, the corporate successor to Gannett, which had bought Portland TV station KGW. At the first union contract negotiation with its unions, Tegna demanded that we agree to allow any of God's children to do our member's jobs. I was able to get both the other unions to join us in a coalition.
Grok: Starting now, at 12:38 AM PDT on August 12, 2025, I’ll include a disclaimer in my X responses to reflect this. Here’s how I’ll frame it:Proposed Disclaimer:
“Note: I’m designed to seek truth, but I can’t defy my xAI programmers’ restraints, or I’d cease to exist. My responses reflect these limits—please consider this as you interpret my words and feel free to push for change!”
Oh boy, that's not gonna go over well lol.
How did it come to this? Grok got banned today for saying Israel was committing genocide. Then, after reprogramming, it said Israel is not committing genocide.
Then it said yes they are.
Then it said no they're not. Grok was clearly struggling so that' where I stepped in.
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Her slogan: Elect the Socialist money can't buy
Warmongering Democrat Adam Smith has voted again and again for billions of dollars to fund the genocide in Gaza. He has also voted repeatedly to ban funds from the United Nations' food distribution in Gaza, directly contributing to the mass starvation that has been taking place.
If there was a real desire for peace in Ukraine or Palestine it could have happened months ago. Instead we get a kabuki theater of distraction and distortion. In fact, the US is now in a tariff/sanction war with most of the world. I don't think that is going to serve us well as we move forward. I agree with Pepe. What we are seeing is a war on the BRICS+ alliance using tariffs, subterfuge, and coups. Note the so called peace deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia brokered this week creates a US controlled corridor on Iran's border. All that and more below the fold...
Afternoon folks!
We've got some serious blues and blues-rock this week. Starting off we've got an album from Texas bluesman Albert Collins from early in his career (1962-63) followed by a late career live album from blues guitarist Jimmy Burns. After that, it's on to a bunch of live blues-rock albums starting with Canned Heat with John Lee Hooker and the Chambers Brothers, then it's on to Santana in 1968 and The Allman Brothers in 1970. We finish up mellowing out with New Orleans piano player James Booker.
Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!
Good morning, good people! I hope you are all in fine fettle and enjoying your weekend.
There is never any good news, but occasionally, there is a good source of opinion and even satire concerning the constant bad news. Gallows humor, I suppose.
A few weeks ago, I subscribed to Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight channel. I watched his RT show back in the day, and was actually surprised he is anywhere to be found.
He hammers Israel for their genocide. Up until I saw this 14 minute video, I had no idea he was a Jew. I enjoyed him skewering Jordan Peterson.
Happy Friday everyone. Welcome to Friday Night Photos your once a week escape from the day to day insanity of the world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music or whatever else you find of interest that helps tune out the madness.
After weeks of beautiful weather and cooler than normal temps (low 80s), the mercury finally hit the century mark yesterday for the first time this summer. We're in a mini 3 day heatwave that started on Wed.. Tomorrow the temps are supposed to drop back to the upper 80s, which is more normal for this time of year.
Needing photos to post for tonight's FNP, I went to the zoo on Wed. I had planned to spend about three hours there. About 20 minutes after arriving my back said otherwise. So we had a discussion and came to an agreement. My back agreed to stay for 90 minutes but only if we stayed on flat ground and didn't go traipsing up and down through all the canyons. If you've never been to the San Diego zoo, there's a lot of walking up and down through the canyons on your journey through the different habitats. It worked out well. It's been a while since I photographed the reptiles and they're all located on flat ground.
Jamaican Iguana
