Dose of Paranoia - 2025-08-16
It gets worse before it gets worse...
It’s the weekend, so you know what that means - time for paranoia (with a dash of anger to spice things up). The Golden Age of America keeps on giving - this week, I take it as a win that Trump didn’t end up giving Alaska back to Russia in exchange for a large golden samovar for his hideous NJ wedding hall addition to the White House. Gotta take what you can get. Although, the DC gang that could not shoot straight continued to show just how inept they can be when it comes to minor issues such as national security.
But first, I want to express my extreme relief that the brave, definitely not fascist supporting dirtbag federal agents in Washington DC were not injured in the dastardly sandwich incident of last week and that, thankfully, by the grace of God, no one was killed in this terrorist act that (obviously) made the January 6th riots look like an ice cream social. I mean - that looked like a $5 foot long (definite felony) - and what if the agent was gluten intolerant? Or had an allergy to (definitely non election interfering) Russian Dressing? How many innocents could have been maimed or killed? And they only needed 20 officers to arrest him - true heroism. A moment of silence please. But let’s remember that sandwiches don’t kill people, people kill people. And high powered assault weapons in the hands of nut jobs. And the many cuts to important programs in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. And our support for Israel in Gaza.
Important Stuff
There is some news coverage indicating that Covid is currently on the upswing in the US with a peak in cases predicted for mid September. This is based on information from a few independent scientists and health professionals tracking the stats, since the Trump Regime doesn’t care about public health. Might be time to mask up on public transportation and in crowded spaces, especially if you or a family member have a chronic medical condition. More coverage here.
On the other hand, (some) local and state governments do care about health - and NJ is tracking measles cases - if you were at Newark Airport Terminal C between 5:30 and 9:30 PM on July 29 or Terminal A between 1:30 and 7:00 PM on July 30, you may have not only bought a $12 can of Coke, but also encountered the measles virus, as an infected individual was there at those times - and measles is REALLY contagious. All the more reason to consider reupping your MMR vaccine if you were born after 1957 and vaccinated before 1968, since the vaccines in use at that time were not as good as later versions.
Infosec/Scam Stuff
While the rest of us have been on Summer vacation, the bad guys have been hard at work coming up with new ways to separate you from your monies:
Texts which seem to be from Amazon offering a refund which are actually phishing attempts
Android “anti virus apps” which are actually malware in disguise
Fake law firms which target people who have previously been victimized by cryptocurrency scammers, offering their “help” to recover lost funds
Phishing campaigns targeting Facebook accounts
On the bright side, WhatsApp has rolled out some new features to help users recognize and avoid scams.
Senior Scams - At least some people in DC are still committed to protecting consumers - this bulletin put out by the Federal Trade Commission highlights some of the scams that target older Americans by using fear. Scammers hook people by telling victims that someone is using their bank accounts, that their personal information is being used to commit crimes, or that their computer is infected with a virus. Once the bad guys have got the victim in a heightened state of fear, they go in for the (financial) kill. The AARP has great resources that clearly explain various scams and frauds with a focus on seniors as well as a plethora of online webinars and videos addressing the topic. Share this info with the seniors in your life before they become victims.
Romancing the scam - Romance scams are one of the worst types of online victimization, leaving people both financially and emotionally devastated. Yet many, many people of varying ages and backgrounds fall for these every day. The UK telecom regulator has put together an educational game which helps players learn to recognize the tell tale signs of romance scams. Check it out and share it with the people in your life who may be looking for love online.
Thank You Noo Yawk! - In another example of our state and local governments working to protect us when the criminals in DC have switched sides, New York is suing the company behind Zelle for not doing more to prevent its money transfer service from being used to facilitate frauds and scams.
Tech Stuff
It seems like all of the big recent tech news is related to Artificial Intelligence these days:
OpenAI launched ChatGPT-5 and some people were NOT happy with the new model, while in other tests it seems like a marginal improvement over its stochastic parrot predecessor. One interesting theory as to why the new model seems worse to consumers is that OpenAI’s aim was to save money on the spiraling costs of computing resources needed to tell us that there are three letter bs in the word blueberry. Others think that GPT-5 is not really meant to be a consumer product, but is targeted at corporate users (software developers), a market where other firms are outpacing OpenAI.
We are also seeing more coverage of “AI gone bad” stories. When developers give AIs full access to their code and systems, bad things happen. People simply don’t understand that this whole AI thing is one giant beta test (which the AI firms have tricked us into paying through the nose for). Sort of like how Tesla is using US roads (and your safety) as a giant beta test for self driving cars which don’t work - according to the courts (this is a 22 min video but worth watching).
Apparently you can now tell Google what your favorite information sources for search are. I am not sure if this is a good thing - I like finding new sources during my searches and it seems like this could further lock people into the information echo chambers that are doing such a great job of making us stupider and more divided.
Fun Stuff
Soviets in Space! - I spent a very fun and educational hour today watching a 1959 Soviet Sci Fi film called “The Sky Beckons” which is available on YouTube - highly recommended, especially if you. like me are a child of the Cold War. This one has it all - stupid, reckless Americans, selfless, smart Soviets, rockets to Mars, space stations, and, of course, the courageous, selfless, peaceful Soviets saving the butts of the cartoonishly stupid and cowardly sniveling Americanskis. I am picturing Soviet audiences watching this in 1959, sitting in the theatre munching on potatoes and beets and drinking kvass while at the same time American audiences were watching films about the dastardly commies. We weren’t so different after all - and we both would have been better off if we were half as good as we were in our respective movies. (There is a rather extensive playlist of Soviet Sci Fi available on YouTube for your comradely viewing pleasure.)
Closer to home, this video really feels like what it is like to drive in New York….
And finally, if you have finally had it with hackers, forget VPNs - let the VPA protect your data! (Yeah this week’s edition is feeling sorta commie… time to bring it to a close)