Friday, December 19, 2025
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Chips Ahoy: Chat GPT Fights Back Against China’s Deep Seek with New Version for US Govt

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Everyone’s going crazy over AI, and Deep Seek, the Chinese version of ChatGPT that turned the markets upside down yesterday.

Just now, Kevin Weil, CPO of Chat GPT, announced big news.

He wrote on Twitter: “Today we’re announcing ChatGPT Gov, a version of ChatGPT that government agencies can deploy in their own MS Azure commercial or government cloud environment.

Enabling the public sector, especially the U.S. Federal government, to leverage ChatGPT is critical to maintaining America’s global leadership in AI. We see enormous potential for these tools to support the public sector in tackling complex challenges—from improving public health and infrastructure to strengthening national security.”

This is a counter attack against yesterday’s move by China’s Deep Seek to overtake ChatGPT, owned by AI’s Sam Altman. All of a sudden, everyone wants the Chinese version because it uses fewer chips. That sent NVIDIA spiraling downward yesterday.

What does this really mean? These companies want to destroy me, and all other media or content generators. Now Goliaths are fighting over how to do it. Actual people who write stuff on the internet should be alarmed because these people want our extinction.

Anyway, this is the whole ChatGPT story today.

All of this must be cooked overnight since Altman posted last night to Twitter and didn’t mention this at all.

Another great day (being facetious) for all of us! The government will now give answers from robots.

Bob Dylan Post a Remembrance of The Late Garth Hudson: “The real driving force behind The Band”

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Bob Dylan — I’ve never written so much about him in my life! Suddenly he’s everywhere!

Now Dylan has posted a nice remembrance of Garth Hudson, calling him “the driving forced behind The Band.” Robbie and Levon may be surprised to hear that!

Dylan made a lot of music with The Band, so he knows. And now he’s outlived all of them.

Dylan, meantime, has just announced more tour dates. He’s starting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of the Bob Dylan Center, where all his archives are stored.

Bob says to listen to The Weight, which you can below:

Alec Baldwin Family Reality TV Series Accused of Trading on “Rust” Tragedy in Trailer

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Alec Baldwin is being accused already of trading on the “Rust” tragedy in the trailer for his reality series.

“The Baldwins” is coming to TLC soon, and the trailer dropped today. Viewers have noticed a couple of things. One, Hilaria’s Spanish accent is not in evidence. After all, she’s not Spanish, but the accent grew over time. Hilaria– real name Hilary — is back to a flat American drawl and it sounds fine.

But what really stands out about “The Baldwins” trailer is Hilaria talking about the tragedy in which Alec pulled the trigger on a prop gun that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins died leaving a small child and a husband.

Hilaria says in the trailer, in a narration over an aerial shot of the “Rust” set: “A son lost his mom in the most unthinkable tragedy … and we’re trying to parent through it.”

In appropriate? Baldwin was exonerated in the tragedy, but they won’t let go of it. “Rust” was eventually finished and may yet be released. So maybe they think this is promotion for the movie. It’s a bad idea.

One commenter on YouTube wrote: “Somehow, they make it about themselves…”
Another wrote:
“Pretty shameful to use a death for show publicity…especially when he pulled the trigger. Not buying the “whoa is me. I’m going to lament in my mansion with a manicured lawn and pool.” Cue the sad music…

HBO Pitting Return of”The White Lotus” Against “SNL 50” 3 Hour Special: “Go big or go home…in a goddamn body bag” (Trailer)

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HBO is betting that fans of “The White Lotus” really want to see the third season premiere.

So they’re pitting the February 16th return against NBC’s “SNL 50” three hour special.

“White Lotus” will start at 9pm, the middle hour of the “SNL” extravaganza. So expect Lorne Michaels to put hot stuff in that hour. Will it work? Will TVs explode? We’ll find out.

Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, and Natasha Rothwell lead the cast of Mike White’s action packed season set in Thailand. Wait for that last line of the trailer: “Go big or go home…in a goddamn body bag.”

Lady Gaga Set to Make “Mayhem” With New Album on March 7th Including Bruno Mars Hit Duet

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Maybe Lady Gaga is the “special guest” at the Grammys on Sunday.

This morning billboards popped up all over the place announcing the release of her new album.

It’s called “Mayhem,” and will include both her smash hit, “Die with a Smile,” with Bruno Mars, and an earlier single called “Disease.”

Gaga will most likely hit the Grammy stage to promote the album. That will be followed by an intense marketing campaign and probably a Mayhem tour.

The title: is it Gaga causing Mayhem? Or is the Mayhem in our lives because of Trump. I guess we’ll find out.

Beyonce, Taylor Swift Join Next Sunday’s Grammy Awards — And A “Very Special Guest”

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Beyonce and Taylor Swift have joined the Grammys broadcast next Sunday.

The news was revealed during a commercial in the KC Chiefs-Buffalo Bills game this evening. Taylor Swift, who was at the game, surely saw the promo.

Both of them are nominated for multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year. Swift has won that several times. The betting is on Beyonce going home with the award for “Cowboy Carter.” Any other result would be a huge disappointment.

There’s already a long list of A list performers promised to perform at the Grammys including Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and so on.

The ad also promised “A very special guest.” You can only imagine who this might be: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr? The Beatles’ “Now and Then” is nominated for Best Song and Record.

Is Lady Gaga a very special guest? She and Bruno Mars could perform their hit, “Die with a Smile.”

How about Bob Dylan and or Timothee Chalamet? After “SNL,” that might be too much.

So the guessing game is on.

Trump Valentine’s Day Massacre, Imposes Huge Tariffs on Colombian Cut Flowers, Plus Coffee, Crude Oil, Cement, More

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Donald Trump may wreck Valentine’s Day.

As of tomorrow, he’s imposing a 25% tariff on all imported goods from Colombia. They include cut flowers, crude oil, and coffee.

If Colombia continues to reject deportation planes full of their people coming from the US, Trump says he’ll raise the tariff to 50%.

He thinks he’s hurting Colombia, but they will pass the tariff on to US customers immediately.

According to Google AI, in 2021, of the $13.2 billion in U.S. imports from Colombia, the top commodity sectors were Oils and Minerals, Lime, and Cement (41.3%), Agricultural Goods (26.2%), and Stone, Glass, Metals, and Pearls (14.4%). Flowers amounted to $3.3 billion.

Columbia is one of the top producers of premium roses, the ones we see in bodegas and in florist shops and bought via 1-800-Florists, etc. according to flowerpowerdaily.com. All the other desired Valentine’s flowers are affected as well.

A 50% tariff on crude oil means gas prices will soar. Coffee? Starbucks main coffee source is Colombia and Latin America.

Trump — who doesn’t drink coffee or send flowers (he has no one to send them to) — wrote on social media: “I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:..Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.”

In the week since Trump took the oath of office, prices have only gone up on everything including eggs. His campaign promise was to immediately bring prices down. Remember?

All of this is in addition to the mass deportation raids, the cancellation of all DEI Programs, including revoking 60 year old Civil Rights laws and much more.

Latinos who voted for Trump, and Blacks as well, should find all this illuminating. Trump told them this is what he would do. They refused to listen.

UPDATE: Timothee Chalamet Sends 62 Year Old Bob Dylan Song into The Top 30 After “SNL” Performance

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MONDAY UPDATE: “Tomorrow is a Long Time” rose to number 29 on iTunes this morning.

Bob Dylan and Sony Music Publishing must be in shock today.

“Tomorrow is a Long Time,” written and first recorded by Dylan in 1963, hit the iTunes top 100 chart today. It was never a single, or even a well known deep cut.

Last night Timothee Chalamet performed the 62 year old song on “Saturday Night Live.” It was his second performance of the night, and part of his guest host/musical guest stint in his Oscar campaign for “A Complete Unknown.”

It’s hard to imagine that Chalamet won’t get the Oscar now. His two songs — the other was a wild version of “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels” — were brilliantly produced. His comedy sketches weren’t bad, either.

“A Complete Unknown” is quietly taking the inside track for the Oscars, with three acting nominations (Chalamet, Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro) as well as Best Picture and Best Director (James Mangold). With $62 million banked domestically, the Dylan movie has made much more than all of its direct competitors including “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Real Pain,” and “Conclave.”

Ironically, Chalamet lampooned his own Oscar aspirations last night during his monologue, playing clips of him losing at various awards shows in the past. It’s funny that at 28 he’s found that “Tomorrow is a Long Time.” It’s been incredibly short, intense run for this young actor.

PS “Tomorrow Never Knows” doesn’t appear in the movie or on the 31 song best selling soundtrack. How do you like that?

Box Office: Mel Gibson’s Panned Flight Risk” Fails to Launch with $12 Mil, Number 1 Anyway

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“Hollywood Ambassador” Mel Gibson can claim a fake victory today.

His severely panned film, “Flight Risk,” opened at number 1. This was because there’s nothing new out, all the holiday films are still in theaters.

But “Flight Risk” has meager numbers, coming in at $12 million over four days. How will they pay Gibson and Mark Wahlberg, not to mention actual actors Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace?

Not my problem.

“Flight Risk” has a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Cinemascore of C from the audience. If you were bored this weekend and had seen everything else, then “Flight Risk” was your movie. But they can expect a 50% drop next week at least. And maybe some Razzies next year.

As I wrote yesterday, Lionsgate has kept Gibson’s name hidden on the movie’s posters lest anyone figure out the antisemitic, misogynist conspiracy theorist is the star and director.

I’ve haven’t heard yet but Ivermectin may be available at the snacks counter.

CBS Sunday Morning Leaves Out Most Important Part of Sundance Story: They’re Leaving

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CBS Sunday Mornings can be pretty good sometimes.

But when it’s not, it’s really bad.

Case in point: this morning’s weak tea story about the Sundance Film Festival.

It boggles the mind that this puff piece omitted the actual real story at Sundance right now. They’re trying to leave Park City, Utah, where Robert Redford founded the festival 45 years ago.

Yes, that’s right. In a short time, Sundance will announce if it’s relocating to either Boulder or Cincinnati, two charmless places. The other choice is to stay in Park City but also have parts of the festival in restrictive, ultra conservative Salt Lake City, a 45 minute ride away from the ski village.

Park City is criticized for a lot of things. The traffic is terrible during Sundance. It’s impossible to get around. Now they’ve closed off Main Street to cars, which must make it a lot worse. Plus, prices are high. There’s nowhere to stay, and restaurants cost a fortune.

Still, in all, it’s a village, and a festival in a confined area. Redford chose it for that reason.

But CBS Sunday Morning just blissfully ignored what’s going on. This is typical of the show which can be great for profiles of contemporary stars, and still shows video of sunsets. But when it comes time to report a story — the actual nut of a story — not so much.

It would have been great to have interviews with Park City officials and business owners, not to mention get comments from Salt Lake City, Boulder and Cincinnati officials. (How would SLC work? So conservative, with lots of laws and restrictions. The Sundance population is a happy free for all.)

But someone else will have to do that report, if there is anyone else. Meanwhile, JD Vance bloviated to Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” with no pushback on his ridiculous theories and beliefs.