Open thread, so I will take this moment to provide an update on the GA-11 district that my friend is running in the Democratic primary. I believe there are now four in that primary, but more importantly, the incumbent Barry Loudermilk announced last month he is not running for re-election, I have not seen who/how many have declared for the Republican primary. But the open election should help the margin in November, even if winning the district outright is unlikely.
Some people are claiming they’ve gotten calls from agents acting on their own.
Unsurprising, given the possibility of programs like this
https://www.wlrn.org/immigration/2025-08-06/ice-offers-then-quickly-withdraws-cash-bonuses-for-swiftly-deporting-immigrants
I wouldn't be surprised that these bonuses are happening in other places, it is just that they haven't gotten anyone to blow the whistle.
Wait until you start getting phone calls from them. Not from call centers, but because an agent found your phone number and decided to give you a ring. Some people are claiming they've gotten calls from agents acting on their own.
* Warehouses for human beings: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement expects to spend $38.3 billion on its plan to acquire warehouses across the country and retrofit them into immigrant detention centers that can hold tens of thousands of immigrants, according to agency documents provided to New Hampshire’s governor and published on the state’s website Thursday.”
Well, all those lazy detainment center alien inmates need to do something for their upkeep before their deportation (which can then be postponed indefinitely). Send them into the fields (in chains wherever possible). That will keep labor costs low (let's not kid ourselves, that has always been the #1 priority) and be the closest thing currently achievable to the reintroduction of slavery. The inevitable (and desirable) culling effect can be compensated for years by tapping into the reservoir of millions of deportation candidates. When that is used up, enough progress will have been made into establishing a proper US gulag system (and finding a proper merkin name for it).
Don't tell me that this isn't the wet dream of some of those involved in the current mess.
In November the administration announced changes that are expected to allow more than half a million seasonal workers to enter the country each year — an increase of more than 25%. In a regulatory filing, the Department of Agriculture said the expansion was necessary because “qualified and eligible U.S. workers will not make themselves available in sufficient numbers.”
Apparently Agriculture isn't talking to ICE. If they are, ICE isn't listening. Quelle surprise.
Or, I suppose, Agriculture had the wit to carefully avoid talking to Miller. Miller, after all, would probably be dumb enough to see it as a challenge. And focus ICE on agricultural workers for a while.
Thanks to Michael for posting the open thread and GftNC for requesting it.
Writing this immediately after writing that can lead to some unwanted inferences, but I'm wondering if anyone would like a spare set of keys to the blog in order to post a regular open thread (and no, I'm not going to get an AI agent to do that) I'll still be posting, but every bit of cognitive offloading helps at my age. Send a message to libjpn at gmail if you are interested.
Mightbe more accurate to say "the Mountain West." Because, the total lack of rain the last 6+ weeks notwithstanding, in California the reservoirs are all full. Not as much snow pack as we'd like, but we're not looking at drought conditions.
Having several days in a row (in February!) with highs above 75° was weird. But considering the weather east of the Mississippi, I'm definitely not complaining.
wonkie - High Country News has a series they call "Deep Time in the West" that sounds like it's the sort of thing you would love. Here's a shorter sample of the sort of things in the series:
I'm going to Escalante/Staircase Nat; monument in May. Flying into St George and driving the most beautiful road in America through Zion, past Cedar Breaks, past Red Canyon and Bryce to the holy land around Boulder. It is a pilgrimage.
I think it's the rocks that I love. Geology gives such a since of time and perspective. I am very sorry for this poor fucked up world. My escape is to go where geology is so prominent that acts of mankind seem like blips in the timeline.
Looks like Brett Adcock is taking advantage of the low-key finance panic around a potential AI winter to introduce a new shiny with the promise of unrealized exponential growth. I'm betting he's hoping to secure some venture capital now before one of the big AI firms goes public and sucks up all the potential investment ahead of the inevitable sobering up period that will follow.
Humanoid robots with AI brains - it's the next big thing. It's bigger than AI. It's bigger than self-driving cars. It's bigger than Segways. It's bigger than virtual reality.
[It hasn't yet run out of low hanging fruit to discover its own intractable problems.]
Robots in dorms? We're already forcing students to take on unsustainable levels of debts to pay for their university education and they are barely able to keep their old smartphone and cheap laptop functioning. Now they are going to bring a robobutler to campus with them? Maybe they can use it to cook them instant ramen and write their papers while they work their two part-time jobs to pay for it and all their other expenses.
At least the part time jobs that haven't already been taken by robots. (We've already got little self-guided robots delivering food for students in the dorms here, so don't even think of starting a bike delivery service as a side hustle.)
Seriously, though, how does any of this entrepreneurial hype make any sense?
I'm already sick of having to replace my phone every five years and they want me to invest in a robobutler?
Elsewhere, I was in a discussion about the power requirements for an AGI that can handle all the things a humanoid robot will be asked to do. Current estimates are the human brain is roughly the equivalent of an exaflop processor. Germany recently fired up their new exaflop supercomputer, which is the most power efficient in the world. It draws 18.2 megaWatts (and the hardware takes up ~120 racks). I anticipate that a humanoid robot that can properly execute an order like "Go through the house, collect all the dirty dishes, load them into the dishwasher, and run it" will be a fancy peripheral for a closet full of computer gear drawing more power than the entire rest of the house.
On Wednesday this week, Trump signed an executive order that requires the Dept of Defense -- excuse me, Dept of War -- to sign long-term power purchase agreements with coal-fired power plants to provide power for military bases to keep those plants running. Separately, that the Dept of Energy will provide at least $175M for maintaining and upgrading coal-fired power plants in Appalachia. The EO includes a provision that the PPAs cannot infringe on the authority of other executive branch agencies. I have SO many questions about how they're going to make this work within the constraints set by FERC.
My in-laws in Colorado on the other side of the divide are freaking out about the lack of water and snowpack, too.
The problems west of the Divide make the ones to the east look fairly moderate. Snow timing has changed just in the almost 40 years I've lived here now. Having April snow bail us out has become a fairly regular occurrence. Not so much on the west side.
Why don't they just use snow cannons?
[imagining what Mr. "Why not nuke hurricanes?" could say to the problem]. Next he would likely see water conservation as the root cause.
I wanted to post this from today's Guardian. I didn't look at the Focaldata source link, but I thought the charts shown in the Guardian article were pretty interesting:
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has accelerated a profound shift in the global order, according to new analysis. A report from Focaldata, which analyses UN voting records, reveals how Washington’s “America First” agenda has started to redraw the geopolitical map in favour of China. In 2026, the world is now diplomatically closer to Beijing than it has been in recent memory, with significant shifts in alignments taking place during the start of Trump’s second presidential term.
My in-laws in Colorado on the other side of the divide are freaking out about the lack of water and snowpack, too.
I used to teach this science fiction short story by Paolo Bacigalupi at least once a year in my writing class, and it never failed to get my students thinking a lot more deeply about the water issues we face in the western US:
It's imagining a desertified West with a weak federal government and interstate conflict, with parts of the Southwest unsustainable for living due to water demands.
Interesting story for looking at our current situation through the eyes of a potential future.
Meanwhile, I'm unable to ride the local trails at the moment because So Cal has had rain, and will have more again at the start of next week. It's probably not enough to save the local snowpack in the Sierra, but it damn sure is going to help give us a little margin before things start to dry out and get hotter again.
lj: we seem (in "Recent Posts") to have had 11 new posts in the last 14 days, but as far as I can tell we do not have a current Open Thread (the last one I found is from January 8th). Would it be possible always (each month- isn't that their lifetime?) to have one, with that name, going simultaneously with the others? Speaking for myself, I really miss them.
On “Open Thread”
Open thread, so I will take this moment to provide an update on the GA-11 district that my friend is running in the Democratic primary. I believe there are now four in that primary, but more importantly, the incumbent Barry Loudermilk announced last month he is not running for re-election, I have not seen who/how many have declared for the Republican primary. But the open election should help the margin in November, even if winning the district outright is unlikely.
"
Some people are claiming they’ve gotten calls from agents acting on their own.
Unsurprising, given the possibility of programs like this
https://www.wlrn.org/immigration/2025-08-06/ice-offers-then-quickly-withdraws-cash-bonuses-for-swiftly-deporting-immigrants
I wouldn't be surprised that these bonuses are happening in other places, it is just that they haven't gotten anyone to blow the whistle.
"
>an agent found your phone number and decided to give you a ring
let them try.
not in my contacts => straight to voicemail, silently
"
Thank you for the article, Nous. I might use it in a novel I just started. I love the idea of finding deep time in an urban area.
"
what a wonderful use of technology!
Wait until you start getting phone calls from them. Not from call centers, but because an agent found your phone number and decided to give you a ring. Some people are claiming they've gotten calls from agents acting on their own.
"
LLM agents can also launch smear campaigns against you if you don't let them contribute code to open source projects.
what a wonderful use of technology!
"
From maddowblog:
"
Well, all those lazy detainment center alien inmates need to do something for their upkeep before their deportation (which can then be postponed indefinitely). Send them into the fields (in chains wherever possible). That will keep labor costs low (let's not kid ourselves, that has always been the #1 priority) and be the closest thing currently achievable to the reintroduction of slavery. The inevitable (and desirable) culling effect can be compensated for years by tapping into the reservoir of millions of deportation candidates. When that is used up, enough progress will have been made into establishing a proper US gulag system (and finding a proper merkin name for it).
Don't tell me that this isn't the wet dream of some of those involved in the current mess.
"
In case you missed it:
Apparently Agriculture isn't talking to ICE. If they are, ICE isn't listening. Quelle surprise.
Or, I suppose, Agriculture had the wit to carefully avoid talking to Miller. Miller, after all, would probably be dumb enough to see it as a challenge. And focus ICE on agricultural workers for a while.
"
Thanks to Michael for posting the open thread and GftNC for requesting it.
Writing this immediately after writing that can lead to some unwanted inferences, but I'm wondering if anyone would like a spare set of keys to the blog in order to post a regular open thread (and no, I'm not going to get an AI agent to do that) I'll still be posting, but every bit of cognitive offloading helps at my age. Send a message to libjpn at gmail if you are interested.
"
Mightbe more accurate to say "the Mountain West." Because, the total lack of rain the last 6+ weeks notwithstanding, in California the reservoirs are all full. Not as much snow pack as we'd like, but we're not looking at drought conditions.
Having several days in a row (in February!) with highs above 75° was weird. But considering the weather east of the Mississippi, I'm definitely not complaining.
"
wonkie - High Country News has a series they call "Deep Time in the West" that sounds like it's the sort of thing you would love. Here's a shorter sample of the sort of things in the series:
https://www.hcn.org/issues/58-1/how-to-find-deep-time-in-seattle/
...and it's talking about things in your back yard.
It's a great series.
"
I'm going to Escalante/Staircase Nat; monument in May. Flying into St George and driving the most beautiful road in America through Zion, past Cedar Breaks, past Red Canyon and Bryce to the holy land around Boulder. It is a pilgrimage.
I think it's the rocks that I love. Geology gives such a since of time and perspective. I am very sorry for this poor fucked up world. My escape is to go where geology is so prominent that acts of mankind seem like blips in the timeline.
"
Looks like Brett Adcock is taking advantage of the low-key finance panic around a potential AI winter to introduce a new shiny with the promise of unrealized exponential growth. I'm betting he's hoping to secure some venture capital now before one of the big AI firms goes public and sucks up all the potential investment ahead of the inevitable sobering up period that will follow.
Humanoid robots with AI brains - it's the next big thing. It's bigger than AI. It's bigger than self-driving cars. It's bigger than Segways. It's bigger than virtual reality.
[It hasn't yet run out of low hanging fruit to discover its own intractable problems.]
Robots in dorms? We're already forcing students to take on unsustainable levels of debts to pay for their university education and they are barely able to keep their old smartphone and cheap laptop functioning. Now they are going to bring a robobutler to campus with them? Maybe they can use it to cook them instant ramen and write their papers while they work their two part-time jobs to pay for it and all their other expenses.
At least the part time jobs that haven't already been taken by robots. (We've already got little self-guided robots delivering food for students in the dorms here, so don't even think of starting a bike delivery service as a side hustle.)
Seriously, though, how does any of this entrepreneurial hype make any sense?
I'm already sick of having to replace my phone every five years and they want me to invest in a robobutler?
GTFO.
These jokers and their investors are all high AF.
"
The robots are coming.
Elsewhere, I was in a discussion about the power requirements for an AGI that can handle all the things a humanoid robot will be asked to do. Current estimates are the human brain is roughly the equivalent of an exaflop processor. Germany recently fired up their new exaflop supercomputer, which is the most power efficient in the world. It draws 18.2 megaWatts (and the hardware takes up ~120 racks). I anticipate that a humanoid robot that can properly execute an order like "Go through the house, collect all the dirty dishes, load them into the dishwasher, and run it" will be a fancy peripheral for a closet full of computer gear drawing more power than the entire rest of the house.
"
On Wednesday this week, Trump signed an executive order that requires the Dept of Defense -- excuse me, Dept of War -- to sign long-term power purchase agreements with coal-fired power plants to provide power for military bases to keep those plants running. Separately, that the Dept of Energy will provide at least $175M for maintaining and upgrading coal-fired power plants in Appalachia. The EO includes a provision that the PPAs cannot infringe on the authority of other executive branch agencies. I have SO many questions about how they're going to make this work within the constraints set by FERC.
"
My in-laws in Colorado on the other side of the divide are freaking out about the lack of water and snowpack, too.
The problems west of the Divide make the ones to the east look fairly moderate. Snow timing has changed just in the almost 40 years I've lived here now. Having April snow bail us out has become a fairly regular occurrence. Not so much on the west side.
"
The robots are coming.
"Peter & Dave sit down with Brett Adcock to discuss the future of Figure and Humanoid Robots."
The Humanoid Takeover: $50T Market, Figure's Full Body Autonomy, and Robots in Dorms
"
Why don't they just use snow cannons?
[imagining what Mr. "Why not nuke hurricanes?" could say to the problem]. Next he would likely see water conservation as the root cause.
"
Ok, open thread:
AI agents now have their own social network. Humans can observe but (I think) not participate actively.
The agents have a lot to say to each other, apparently. They've even invented their own religion.
https://www.moltbook.com/
Between AI and the ever-larger Epstein blast radius, the world is just getting too freaking weird for me. I'm glad I'm old.
"
I wanted to post this from today's Guardian. I didn't look at the Focaldata source link, but I thought the charts shown in the Guardian article were pretty interesting:
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has accelerated a profound shift in the global order, according to new analysis.
A report from Focaldata, which analyses UN voting records, reveals how Washington’s “America First” agenda has started to redraw the geopolitical map in favour of China.
In 2026, the world is now diplomatically closer to Beijing than it has been in recent memory, with significant shifts in alignments taking place during the start of Trump’s second presidential term.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/13/these-charts-show-how-trump-is-isolating-the-us-on-the-world-stage
"
My in-laws in Colorado on the other side of the divide are freaking out about the lack of water and snowpack, too.
I used to teach this science fiction short story by Paolo Bacigalupi at least once a year in my writing class, and it never failed to get my students thinking a lot more deeply about the water issues we face in the western US:
https://windupstories.com/books/pump-six-and-other-stories/the-tamarisk-hunter/
It's imagining a desertified West with a weak federal government and interstate conflict, with parts of the Southwest unsustainable for living due to water demands.
Interesting story for looking at our current situation through the eyes of a potential future.
Meanwhile, I'm unable to ride the local trails at the moment because So Cal has had rain, and will have more again at the start of next week. It's probably not enough to save the local snowpack in the Sierra, but it damn sure is going to help give us a little margin before things start to dry out and get hotter again.
On “The Aiken formula”
lj: we seem (in "Recent Posts") to have had 11 new posts in the last 14 days, but as far as I can tell we do not have a current Open Thread (the last one I found is from January 8th). Would it be possible always (each month- isn't that their lifetime?) to have one, with that name, going simultaneously with the others? Speaking for myself, I really miss them.
"
Homan is sorta right. With the removal of the huge ICE mob, the public safety threats have largely been arrested. That's "arrested" meaning stopped.
"
Meet the new boss/ Worse than the old boss
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.