Thursday Morning Tab Clearing

AI may be good for some comedy:

Meanwhile, it is being alleged that the companies involved in AI are hiding huge amounts of debt in the same way that Enron did.

It’s an extremely costly undertaking built on seemingly bottomless hype — and a mountain of debt. As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. That’s even more than the $1.35 trillion in debt the five companies officially reported in their financial data for the most recent quarter.

Meta alone has amassed around $420 billion in off-balance-sheet debt, according to Nikkei, highlighting how precarious the AI industry’s steep investment in AI has become, and inspiring comparisons to energy company Enron, which collapsed in spectacular fashion in 2001 because of similar debts hidden behind shell companies. Like Enron, they’re using special purpose vehicles, or off-balance sheet arrangements such as legally distinct subsidiaries, as a way to make their financial reporting look healthier than it actually is — often a glaring sign that something is deeply amiss behind the scenes.

We'll see if our largely corporate-owned media covers this. It's probably a good bet that you won't see a mention of it on CBS or in the WaPo. When the AI bubble bursts, it could be bad.

Elsewhere, Julie DiCarlo, a reporter, posted this:

It's funny how many men come into my mentions to "protect women's sports" but have zero other posts talking about women's sports, or even women, in any kind of meaningful or supportive way.

— Julie DiCaro (@juliedicaro.bsky.social) July 29, 2026 at 8:58 PM

She is exactly right. Trump and the rest of his ilk have done nothing to support women's sports, other than requiring genital checks. They've been ramming through anti-abortion laws that have essentially required doctors to let women having problem pregancies die. And they haven't scrapped Blanche's nomination because of his active role in hiding All Things Epstein.

Pi Day

Heh.

Heh, ICEstapo Ed.

ICE recruitment video.

Tricky Dick's Letter to the Orange Piggy

From Andy Borowitz's FB page.

Donny Boy:

Congratulations: I’m adding you to my enemies list.

It’s not because you’re evil. I usually put evil people on my friends list. Every Thursday, I play bridge with Mao, Stalin, and Kissinger. Mao and Stalin had a moral objection when I brought Henry into the game, but I begged them to give him a chance.

No, it’s not because you’re evil. It’s because you’re so fucking unoriginal.

Hmm, let’s see: a paranoid president commits a shitload of crimes, then abuses his power trying to cover them up. Why does this ring a bell?

You’re lucky I’m dead, asshole, or I’d sue you for plagiarism.

Your sad little Epstein cover-up isn’t an homage to my Watergate cover-up—it’s a fucking reboot. And I don’t appreciate a bloated asswipe like you stealing my IP.

I mean, you ripped off my playbook down to the tiniest details—including your choice of a crooked Attorney General. Do you honestly think if Pam Bondi winds up in jail, that will be a fresh plot twist? Wrong, moron! My boy John Mitchell already did that. (John’s still a good friend, by the way—just last week we went skinny-dipping in Satan’s lake of fire.) Now, don’t get me wrong—I don’t blame you for wanting to keep the Epstein files under wraps. Beelzebub has a copy of them in his lending library and I read them last night. I’m not easily shocked, but let me say this: you are one sick fuck. There’s stuff in there that would curl Matt Gaetz’s toes.

When this shit gets out, you’re going straight to prison—and not the Canyon Ranch resort where Ghislaine is getting her daily mani-pedis.

Since you’re stealing all my best ideas, I know how you’ll try to save your ass: you’ll whip out your trusty Sharpie and scribble over every word of the Epstein files until they look like something Jackson Pollack did on a bender. But that won’t work, fuckface. Because whenever there’s a document this spicy, there are bound to be bootlegged copies out there, just waiting to be leaked to some Jew in the media. Remember the Pentagon Papers? Of course not—you can’t even remember your wife’s name.

Let me put it this way: if you think the DOJ has all the copies of the Epstein files in existence, then Pete Hegseth isn’t the only one who’s been drinking on the job. That genius Pam left them sitting on her desk, for fuck’s sake. I’ve seen documents stored more securely in Mar-a-Lago’s public crapper.

So, once the unredacted Epstein files come out—and they will—how do you plan to save your drooping jowly ass? Well, I see you’ve already dipped into my playbook yet again: you picked a vice president so fucking loathsome that he’s impeachment insurance.

That’s what I thought I was doing when I chose Spiro. But then, what do you know, that lowlife scumbag went and got busted accepting paper bags full of cash in the White House basement. The moment he got the boot, I knew I was fucked. I don’t know what skeletons JD has in his closet. Maybe there’s a video of him in a three-way with a couch and an ottoman. But you’ve got to do everything in your power to make sure that nothing, I repeat, nothing happens to him. Bubble-wrap that fucker. One last thing, jerkwad: I ran into Epstein the other day at a barbecue. (Satan was mesquite grilling him in a lime cilantro marinade.) In between anguished shrieks, he told me to thank you for that perverted birthday card you gave him. I told him to thank you in person. It won’t be long.

Fuck you,

Dick Nixon

For Your Listening Pleasure

Randy Rainbow.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Donald J. Trump reportedly “exploded with rage” on Tuesday after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Peace Prize to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
...
Though the committee did not bestow its prize on Trump, it did recognize him with a laser printed “certificate of participation.”

We're Just Having Fun, Beardo

Since JD Vance thinks that posting degrading memes is "just having fun", Stephen Colbert obliged him.

Carr Can't Shut This Guy Down

Because he's in Holland.

The satirical Disney commercial is well worth your time.

Old Soviet Joke

A guy keeps going to the newsagent: he scans the headlines and then leaves.

The newsagent sees him do this a few days in a row and finds it to be strange behavior, so one day he asks him:

“Comrade, what are you doing? Can I help you?”

“Thank you, comrade, but I’m only interested in the obituaries.”

“But comrade, the obituaries are at the back!”

“Not the ones I am looking for.”

Meanwhile, Jake Tapper has been asleep at the switch, if you know what I mean.

A Tune For This Morning

"It Ain't Going to Go Away"

The Onion Nails It, Again

Facing mounting backlash from his MAGA base over his perceived ties to the Jeffrey Epstein case, President Donald Trump reportedly encouraged his supporters Monday to simply move on from society’s widespread disdain for pedophilia.

The world is in a place where sarcasm is almost indistinguishable from reality.

Exhibit 1: The Trumpers in the House are blocking release of the Epstein files.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Crushing a Tesla for fun.

Good Snark to Start the Day

Stuck with a Tesla?

Think people are smart enough to see through a disquise?

Have it boosted.

AI Has Its Advantages

Eveing These Down, Here

Regifting These Down, Here

Schnorring These Down, Here

Mooching These Down, Here