Rebane's Ruminations
February 2025
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[No one knows how to price their AI-enhanced productivity tools like the MS Copilot.  One of the problems is that it’s hard to tell how much benefit a desk worker gets out such a tool for the various prices charged.  I tried it about a week ago to help write a post (here), and it produced what was obviously low-grade ore.  Now China enters with its DeepSeek at markedly lower costs but nobody still knows how to rate the benefits.  Meanwhile we’re concerned about DeepSeek vacuuming up Americans’ information and thereby compromising our national security. gjr]

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206 responses to “Sandbox – 1feb25”

  1. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “Betcha didn’t know the Federal Government has been destroyed. Yessir!”
    With the (finally!) pushback from normal people, AKA ‘Nazis’, it seems to me you can expect a certain doubling down by the Left.
    Team Blue has had people leave the fold, witness the vote if nothing else, and those remaining have to both justify their belief systems but probably suffer from those mental illnesses that modern people are prone to. AOC becomes more prominent, David Hogg rides a shooting-adjacent story to political fame, Senator Karen gets plenty of time at the mic. Iron Rice Bowl Americans march. God knows what the men-in-dresses will be up to as they are left high and dry.
    It’s a crying shame what the mass internet and cell phones have done to people, particularly women in the case of cell phones, but there’s nothing to be done. Hopefully we can technology our way out of the mess that it got us into.

    Like

  2. Scott O Avatar

    “It’s a crying shame what the mass internet and cell phones have done to people…”
    The major newspapers used to happily inflame the passions of the country – Remember The Maine!!
    Mencken would certainly recognize the symptoms.
    I guess modern tech just kinda speeds things up?
    And allows even those of modest means and intelligence to hold the Talking Stick. That’s part of Our Democracy – everybody gets the Talking Stick all the time.
    The drunk on the bar stool doesn’t just annoy the guy next to him – he annoys the world.

    Like

  3. fish Avatar
    fish

    The Bad Orange Man….

    Not Kidding: Michigan State Rep Says She Sterilized Herself To Protest Trump

    …there’s truly nothing he can’t do!
    https://freebeacon.com/democrats/not-kidding-michigan-state-rep-says-she-sterilized-herself-to-protest-trump/

    Like

  4. showmekid Avatar
    showmekid

    When you take a look at her, I don’t think she will have any problem avoiding pregnancy.

    Like

  5. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Sorry global warming acolytes, not sorry –
    NJ lawsuit claiming oil companies cause climate change dealt massive blow in court
    In 2022, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed a lawsuit against the country’s largest oil companies, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Shell, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, claiming that the fossil fuel industry was worsening the effects of climate change, and therefore, causing damage to the state.
    However, the case was tossed out on Wednesday by New Jersey Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd, who ruled that lawful oil companies could not be held liable for worldwide emissions. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened.
    “Plaintiffs seek to regulate the nationwide—and even worldwide—marketing and distribution of lawful products on which billions of people outside of New Jersey rely to heat their homes, power their hospitals and schools, produce and transport their food, and manufacture countless items essential to the safety, wellbeing, and advancement of modern society,” said Hurd, who issued the ruling.
    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/nj-lawsuit-claiming-oil-companies-220335911.html
    😉

    Like

  6. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    That shit is dead and the country is united on the issue –
    Democrats Give Trump Huge Media Win on Transgender Dispute
    “So, transgender athletes in women’s sports: only 18 percent of the country says that they should be, in fact, allowed to participate in women’s sports. Compare this to the opposition, I mean, my goodness — 79 percent,” Enten said.
    “You rarely get 79 percent of the country to agree on anything,” the CNN reporter noted. “But they do, in fact, agree on the idea of opposing transgender female athletes in women’s sports.”
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/06/democrats-give-trump-huge-media-win-on-transgender-dispute/
    😉

    Like

  7. Scott O Avatar

    Bill Kristol Feb 2nd:
    “The deep state is far preferable to the Trump state.”
    That didn’t age well.
    The Dirty Truth Behind Bill Kristol’s ‘Private’ Funding
    https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/02/03/the-dirty-truth-behind-bill-kristols-money-n4936617
    Yes, Virginia – there is a Blob and Trump is defunding it. You can expect the Blob to try to cause as much damage as they can on the way out.

    Like

  8. fish Avatar
    fish

    Oowwww…..my face hurts….

    Huge BLS Benchmark Revisions Remove 610,000 Jobs From 2024

    …..from making “shocked face”!
    Joe Biden ……Maestro of the Economy! I understand why Paul Raymond Emery is such a fan!
    https://mishtalk.com/economics/huge-bls-benchmark-revisions-remove-610000-jobs-from-2024/

    Like

  9. fish Avatar
    fish

    Noooo…..more shocked face…..make it stop!!!

    Bishop who criticized Trump during an inaugural prayer – her org. pocketed $53M in Taxpayer money


    …..”Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
    future consumers of tax wealth, pullers of levers Democrat,
    and deliverers of largesse to the faithful to the tune of millions!
    I lift my lamp like a religious whore!” (1883)


    Muted apologies to Lazarus.
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/unveiled-hypocrisy-bishop-who-chastised-trumps-immigration-policies/

    Like

  10. fish Avatar
    fish

    Wonder what Mr. Denninger is thinking…..

    It Is Coming……
    …. DOGE is in the house.
    CMS, to be precise.
    This is step 1, incidentally, but one that Congress can neither interfere with or prevent. In fact it is the Executives job to pay only valid invoices at valid amounts to valid vendors for valid acts.
    Note all those uses of the word valid.
    That a voucher was submitted does not make the voucher valid to be paid.
    CMS is likely a very fruitful place to find fraud simply because of its size. Roughly $2 trillion a year is currently passing through there so if even 10% of that is bogus that’s $200 billion each and every year without touching any of what is supposed to be done and paid for there.
    If you just look at the overhead rate for CMS you’d be quite impressed; as entities go they pay for a lot with not a lot of overhead. But this presumes that they’re not being ripped off.
    Step 2 is found in the proposal that I’ve put forward for a very long time which goes at cost directly, not at whether someone is robbing the system at the current structure of cost. Those are two different thins but not to be ignored.
    Step 2 requires Congressional action for most of it — but not all. None of the enforcement provisions require Congressional action; indeed, to the contrary the Trump Administration (now that it has a functional DOJ with an actual confirmed director) can go after the 15 USC issues directly and not only does Congress not need to be involved they can’t stop it.
    Indeed, were Trump and Pam Bondi to start indicting insurance and hospital executives, along with the entire boards of both sets of firms for facial violations of 15 USC Chapter 1 (which are trivially-documented every single day) the only way to keep it all from collapsing immediately would be to implement something very similar to my proposal where everyone pays the same price. 80% of the cost would come out of the entire system in a literal weekend.
    But to the point of this discovery and documentation of widespread fraud, if it is found and proved up would provide not only political cover but a direct mandate from the people to Congress to stay out of it and in fact put a real medical reform package in place lest a bunch of Congresspeople lose their jobs in a couple of years as the scope of said scam is about $1.5 trillion in the Federal Government alone per year, every year.
    I’m not sold — yet — on Trump actually going after the meat of the problem — which from a budgetary perspective resides almost-entirely in the medical realm.
    But perhaps — just perhaps — this time he means it and is headed there.
    We’ll see.

    Yes we will!
    Karl’s premise is that the thing that will eventually cause the system to buckle…..and I’m paraphrasing…are medical costs and specifically fraudulent medical costs! To quote Paul Raymond….check it out!
    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=252782

    Like

  11. fish Avatar
    fish

    Hey….and just like that the other post I left earlier but Typepad ate is made real…..

    BREAKING: Musk Says His DOGE Team Uncovered $100 BILLION in Medicare and Medicaid Waste After Gaining Access to the System

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/breaking-musk-exposes-shocking-100-billion-waste-medicare/

    Like

  12. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    This last is a small thing, but it made me laugh:
    “In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract worth $182 million. These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses – none touched any healthcare programs. This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.”
    – DOGE @ X
    In the meantime:
    “There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings. He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents. The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from “poor memory” and, even in his “prime,” could not be trusted with sensitive information. I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
    – Donald J Trump @ Truth Social
    Unprecedented winning.

    Like

  13. George Rebane Avatar

    fish 446pm – found it and posted it.

    Like

  14. fish Avatar
    fish

    Thank you George!

    Like

  15. The Estonian Fox Avatar
    The Estonian Fox

    These fraudulent finds are probably ones with easily identifiable titles (e.g.”Anthony Fauci Exhibit”). Takes longer to find the ones titled “GOF and Asia lab research”. Maybe AI will help with finding the odd-men-out.

    Like

  16. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    re: EF@5:53PM
    I expect that the default answer will be to kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out.
    Zero based budgeting for entire swathes. Gotta rejustify the expenditure.
    A not bad run-down for the day. I did like the new tenants of the USAID building.
    “Okay buckle up for your Friday win report. It started out a little slow and then snowballed downhill into a glorious big ball of win. ”
    https://x.com/k_ovfefe2/status/1888030764593193455

    Like

  17. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    They are so stupid they are helping cement the disgust citizens have for them. –
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/woman-takes-down-us-flag-replaces-mexican-flag-california-park-this-mexican-land
    😉

    Like

  18. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    I would say another black eye but they only have black eyes –
    NY Post editorial board says CBS needs to ‘clear out the partisan rot’ by booting top producer
    The New York Post’s editorial board declared that CBS News could start to fix it’s “lefty-propaganda problem” by cutting ties with “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens.
    Earlier this week, Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr knocked CBS News’ conduct following the release of the network’s unedited transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
    It showed that CBS News had aired only the first half of her response to “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker’s question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not “listening” to the Biden administration in a preview clip that aired on “Face the Nation,” but aired only the second half of her response during the primetime special.
    In October, President Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS News alleging election interference over its handling of the “60 Minutes” interview, accusing the network of aiding his Democratic rival through deceptive editing just days before the election.
    “Like all too many legacy media operations, it needs to clear out the partisan rot. It can start by booting ‘60 Minutes’ head producer Bill Owens, who has made all too many bad calls,” the Post’s editorial board wrote.
    “Most obviously, to slice-and-dice the Harris interview, cutting down one word-salad answer after another into seemingly coherent responses,” the editorial board continued. “Owens told his staff that the interview editing was ‘perfectly fine’ and that ‘the company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done.’”
    The Post editorial board said “hiding the true (incoherent!) nature of a favored presidential candidate” is “deception,” not journalism.
    “And viewers likely never would’ve never known about the deception if CBS hadn’t released her full response to one question in a promo,” the board added.
    “Owens also oversaw a badly biased ‘60 Minutes’ report on the Gaza war that not only advanced the lie that Israel was blocking aid, but withheld the extremist affiliations of the advocates it showed claiming Washington was ‘complicit,’ in helping the Jewish state (supposedly) violate international law,” the editorial board wrote.
    The group said “60 Minutes” played “directly into the hands of the enemies of the West who aim to show that support for Israel is not in the United States’ best interest.”
    “This segment, the latest example of major news outlets recklessly reporting on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, was shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information,
    Between the Harris interview and the Israel-Hamas segment, The New York Post has seen enough.
    “Axing Bill Owens won’t magically restore CBS News’ reputation; Americans’ trust in mainstream media is at an all-time low for a lot of reasons. But ousting the shameless partisans from power is a necessary start,” the editorial board wrote.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/ny-post-editorial-board-says-cbs-needs-to-clear-out-the-partisan-rot-by-booting-top-producer/ar-AA1yBGtz?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=40633198ee30447ba9b475bb0d501fa5&ei=67
    😉

    Like

  19. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    I’ve been blissfully ignorant of toilet technology having purchased and installed two thrones 30 years ago.
    Just purchased and installed a 1.28 gpf (that’s gallons per flush) device. It works! And is quiet. Instead of a flap valve on the bottom of the tank, a larger diameter tube rises to mid tank, with a lid that’s lifted by the chain for a flush. When flushed, the first water falls freely for the length of the tube… the magic is in the kinetic energy of the 1.3 gallons water used.
    Amazing!

    Like

  20. Scott O Avatar

    Gregory – Is it a Toto or a Kohler or ?

    Like

  21. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Mexican-Standard… umm, American-Standard, now hecho en Mexico. Champion Two-Piece 1.28 GPF Single Flush Elongated Chair Height Toilet with Slow-Close Seat in White

    Like

  22. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    The voters have their number –
    Media
    Voters defend Trump and Musk’s spending cuts, challenge Democrats to show they have nothing to hide
    Democrats don’t want anyone to know ‘where this money is going,’ a voter says
    https://www.foxnews.com/media/voters-defend-trump-musks-spending-cuts-challenge-democrats-show-nothing-hide
    😉

    Like

  23. Scott O Avatar

    Take it for what it’s worth – I’ve heard many different theories on who actually was running things but here is a person who was in position to have some real-time knowledge. There could be others who were pulling the strings of the ones pulling the strings that she’s not aware of, but she does name folks and what they did and also names a power player I didn’t expect.
    Read the article and watch the vid. Fascinating stuff.
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/02/who-ran-the-white-house.php

    Like

  24. Scott O Avatar

    Oh yeah, and BTW – to paraphrase Mad-Maxine:
    “nobody elected their ass”

    Like

  25. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    scotto@11:27PM
    “Li alleges that, following Biden’s disastrous debate drubbing, Hunter essentially took over White House operations. Speaking with podcaster Shawn Ryan, she painted a picture of dysfunction at the highest levels of government: “After the [CNN] debate, Hunter basically commandeered the White House. He sat in on all of the White House top-level meetings. We had a former cocaine addict sitting in on the most sensitive meetings of the most consequential and most important government in world history. Does that sit right with you?””
    That is absolutely hilarious.
    Honestly I think Hunter is the perfect President for all the local elder-libs. The can have a quick mocha matcha latte down at the coffee shop and tappity tap up some missive about Orange Hitler for immediate release to Der Union while imagining a giant Teletubby Hunter Biden sun beaming down on all of us.

    Like

  26. The Estonian Fox Avatar
    The Estonian Fox

    I decided to try to resurrect my French from high school. So I’ve been practicing a bit. I nailed this one – “Trump l’oeil”. Think it means “fool the liberals”. Does that sound right?

    Like

  27. The Estonian Fox Avatar
    The Estonian Fox

    Continuing my foreign language sojourn:
    Google translates “winning” to “potitus” in Latin. Close enough to POTUS for me.
    Also translates the word “biden” in Latin, to “bidet” in English. Again, close enough.

    Like

  28. Scott O Avatar

    “‘Our Democracy Is Under Siege’ Former Treasury Secretaries Write Scathing NY Times Op-Ed Warning Against DOGE’s ‘Threat to America’”
    “The letter, published in The New York Times, unites Robert E. Rubin, Lawrence H. Summers, Timothy F. Geithner, Jacob J. Lew, and Janet L. Yellen—all veterans of Democratic administrations—in condemning what they describe as “arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments.””
    I guess the 51 intelligence experts were busy, so they rounded up some other Dem hacks to put out a scary lie about Trump’s cutting of waste and fraud.
    Janet Yellen? Really? That incompetent fool was a proven useless tool during the Biden admin.
    The sun rises and sets, the mail is delivered, the IRS is humming along…
    https://www.mediaite.com/news/our-democracy-is-under-siege-former-treasury-secretaries-write-scathing-ny-times-op-ed-warning-against-doges-threat-to-america/

    Like

  29. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    scotto@7:52AM
    It just proves to me that they’re over the target.

    Like

  30. Scott O Avatar

    scenes 8:15 – Oh, exactly. And it’s not going to stop.
    The Dems are openly calling for street violence.
    Expect another Summer Of Luv.
    “Money is the mother’s milk of politics”.
    Big Daddy Unruh
    And Trump is going after the Dem’s forced tax-payer funding source.

    Like

  31. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    As the scammery falls apart, at least a little bit, I had to laugh at how even the Russians are picking up on our problems.
    Of course, they’ve got files a’plenty on this sort of thing.
    “Unlocking USAID chief’s treasure chest: How did Samantha Power get her MILLIONS?
    Elon Musk has questions for USAID’s ex-boss on how she “accumulate[d] wealth…100 times her after tax salary” amid reports that her worth soared from $6.7M to $30M+ during her tenure”
    https://x.com/SputnikInt/status/1888977527793656014

    Like

  32. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    Pretty sure it means suckered voters for MAGA, Estonian Rebane

    Like

  33. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    No equivalence to Jan 6 Scotto.
    Jan 6 was based on a Lie by Trump, Rudy, et al.
    BLM riots were based on long standing grievances.

    Like

  34. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    Vance said Trump is a Hitlerian figure.
    Now Vance is a wannabe Mussolini trying to convince us that El Presidente Trumps the Supreme Court.

    Like

  35. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “BLM riots were based on long standing grievances.”

    The lack of 100% off sales will get to a person after a while.

    I have to admit that X can be awfully funny.
    Ol’ Pete Buttigieg, a person who has fallen upwards for years, makes some post with the typical DNC boilerplate.
    “HOW COME THESE EGGS SO EXPENSIVE? DIDN’T TRUMP SAY EGGS NOT SO EXPENSIVE”. What follows is about 2k people riffing on about chestfeeding and buggery.
    What…a…minute. CHESTFEEDING AND BUGGERY. That would be a helluva slogan for Team Blue next go around. I think even Resurrected Hillbilly could buy into that.

    Like

  36. fish Avatar
    fish

    No wonder Bob Riopel is in such a tizzy…..

    LEFT, OCT 2024: As the election neared, KJP assured Americans that no FEMA funds were being diverted to Illegals.
    RIGHT, TODAY: Elon exposes that FEMA still sending taxpayer dollars to illegals — just LAST WEEK having sent $59M to illegals for luxury hotels.
    More lies.

    https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/1888980641586332152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1888980641586332152%7Ctwgr%5E31dca89bed523eb21f18d459ab2b37e6f3011355%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finstapundit.com%2F701662%2F

    Like

  37. Scott O Avatar

    “Jan 6 was based on a Lie by Trump, Rudy, et al.”
    The proven illegal activities of the fed govt leading up to the election as well as govt pushed censorship of the truth about Biden and family as well the millions of manufactured votes out of a Xerox machine were not a lie. I can say for myself that I was appalled by the govt’s activities and the censorship of the truth about Biden’s crimes without hearing anything Rudy or Trump said about it. 99% of the illegal activity by the protestors was trespassing.
    Trump never called for violence – in fact he told the listeners to “go in peace”.
    The Dems have and are calling for violence.

    Like

  38. Scott O Avatar

    “Now Vance is a wannabe Mussolini trying to convince us that El Presidente Trumps the Supreme Court.”
    You fool – that was Biden himself that said he didn’t care what the Supremes said – he was going to go ahead and do what he wanted anyway.

    Like

  39. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Desiccated Bully 1048a
    Got your bottom surgery yet?

    Like

  40. Scott O Avatar

    BTW – Regurgitated Hillbilly:
    “Vance said Trump is a Hitlerian figure.”
    Well – no he didn’t, but making up BS about people you don’t like is about all we can expect from a ranting lefty like Hillbilly.
    Vance did make a private comment BEFORE Trump’s first term wondering if he would be like Nixon or be more like Adolf.
    Then after Trump had been in office for a while, he realized he was wrong and changed his mind.
    This isn’t DK here, Hillbilly – you post BS and you get called out for it.

    Like

  41. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Scott
    What happened? Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine in one day and it’s still going on. Is this another fake promise like Mexico building the wall.
    Quote:
    ““They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” “

    Like

  42. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “As the Trump administration works to shutter the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), current and former U.S. officials who worked closely with the embattled aid group say they watched for years as it funneled millions of dollars to anti-Israel advocacy groups and entities linked to terrorism.
    That funding caused internal friction across multiple administrations, according to those who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon. In some cases, USAID fought to conceal how taxpayer funds were spent. And when it came to Israel, officials recalled battling USAID over funding for groups that worked to undermine the Jewish state or maintained ties to terror organizations.”
    https://freebeacon.com/israel/at-usaid-funding-for-terror-tied-groups-and-internal-hostility-toward-israel-goes-back-years/

    Like

  43. Scott O Avatar

    Hilarious:
    “Scott
    What happened? Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine in one day and it’s still going on.”
    Looks like he didn’t get it done.
    I didn’t think he would, so I’m not disappointed.
    He is getting at the fraud and waste in our govt.
    Why can’t you support that, Paul?

    Like

  44. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Scott
    So did Trump lie to the American people when he made that statement?
    Also what proof do you offer to support you’re statement that Trump is “He is getting at the fraud and waste in our govt.”

    Like

  45. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    sp “your statement”

    Like