“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
You will recall that one of the most important functions of this site is that we be able to tell the White Hats (presuming that such people exist, which seems increasingly likely) what we really think about things. We need to do this in a timely fashion, too.
We are now entering one of the most dangerous phases of the Trump administration, where things get real – and therefore really dangerous. Honest, frank talk is needed. Free speech is needed. We need to be able to say what we really think. ALL OF US.
Trump is entering (openly, since we’ve always been “involved”) as a third party into a conflict where both sides, to some extent, hate free speech, hate certain truths, and rely on censorship as a tool of war.
This AMERICAN site, which treasures free speech and the truth, will not be a casualty of that conflict, nor of the tactics of the two sides.
A significant strategy of those who are either opposed to Trump and MAGA – or for whom Trump and MAGA are secondary considerations and expendable – has been to slowly drive people from the public square – including this very site – using a variety of tools and tactics. Some divisions are normal, but others are not. The recent divisions over Epstein and Gaza are not, in my opinion, organic, despite using important, organic issues.
One way to avoid division is to declare topics “off limits” – including in (most ironically) the “open threads”. That will not happen. Nor will a negotiated “code of silence” which accomplishes the same thing. The detente of non-discussion is not an acceptable term of peace. And yet, the fighting over specific issues is calculated to drive people away, ultimately. If we don’t speak, the enemies of free and true speech win. If we leave, the enemies of free and true speech win.
Therefore, I am going to create some capability for people to screen whose comments they see or don’t see, and what subjects they see or don’t see. In this way, people will not be forced to wade through content that makes their time here feel like a burden.
I think we have enough healthy exposure to opposing viewpoints here already.
I am already determining how exactly I am going to be able to let people control their feed. I will have to use a programming language I hate, and integrate my work with code that is (how do I say this kindly?) “less than optimal”. But it can be done. I have tested the basic concepts, and what I am thinking is possible, actually works.
Sadly, that programming will not be easy. It will take weeks.
Therefore, I am going to stop doing anything but placeholders on Mondays and Thursdays. After next week, you will only see placeholders on those days.
I ask for your patience during this time. Once I have the new code in place, I will let you know. I may or may not deploy interim versions – we’ll see. Please don’t complain if you see non-functional gizmos along the way!
You have my best wishes during this time. Please hang tough. If you can make it a few more weeks, that is all I need.
God bless all of you, you personally, Free Speech, President Trump, and America!
And if we can ask it most humbly and undeservingly, may God choose to bless this site as well.
Gail Combs can’t get into the WordPiss editor – it’s some kind of browser/WordPiss compatibility problem. Doesn’t matter – we shall overcome. I am able to get past the problem, thankfully. Thus, this PLACE HOLDER UNDER ARREST post, which is a tweaked copy of a post I made on 20240403, which included the notorious PLACE HOLDER UNDER ARREST-ORAMA image and Word Of The Week.
So here we go. Start thinking about Trump’s inauguration.
Who here is going? Any plans being made? Time to start thinking about it!
So now we return to this lightly updated “vintage” post. Enjoy!
W
Joe Biden didn’t win, and neither did Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris. This is our Real President:
U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to board Marine One with first lady Melania Trump en route to his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida following the release of the Mueller report at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria – RC1F20A769B0
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
MINOR CHANGE NUMBER 1 – RETRACTED!
No reasons for you not to joke about Team Harpies On Pedestals, now that the nation has voted overwhelmingly for FREE SPEECH. Just remember that I really avoid deleting posts, so if you say something stupid, and you regret it later, you will need to add a clarification comment, as opposed to deleting it.
OK? Them’s the rules.
OTHER THAN THAT…….
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
Bottom line – respect other people’s FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.
Our only additional requirement is that you do so NICELY. Or at least try to make some effort in that direction.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections.
You may also pray for our nation, our world, and even our enemies.
Musical Interlude
In honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
Here are three “placeholder” videos, selected from old Wheatie posts.
Yeah, good luck with that. Just read from here down to the TL;DR if you need to get out of here fast.
There are two main ways that people try to infiltrate this site.
One is by hacking into existing accounts by attempted logins using guesswork on credentials. We have a nice solution to that problem which I will not get into.
The second is by making comments, as either new commenters, or spoofed existing commenters, which comments have to be approved. This second form of infiltration, by comments seeking approval, is what we will discuss today.
So what is happening there?
TL;DR
Somebody just stepped up the level of phony commenting, by using AI to generate a “spam” comment which is substantially more convincing than our normal phony poster spam. It’s probably Ukrainians backed by the CIA, but we’ll never know for sure. The bottom line is that the latest AI allows non-English speakers to generate much better phony messaging, as you will see. I expect that intelligent, targeted, AI comments and “solutions” to the problem will be part of the other side’s big attack before the election.
Background
Since my recent whistle-blow about Boeing, we’ve had some obvious CIA probes, which I have mentioned obliquely in my own comments, and this incoming AI comment may actually be part of that campaign.
For those who are unfamiliar with “spam comments on blogs and websites”, I am presenting some background which others can skip over. Either way, the following sections present some history on my having to deal with spam comments. This provides context to what I just noticed.
Spam and Anti-Spam as a Pincer Move
Comments on this site are one of the primary vectors used by people trying to get into here to undermine things. By far the biggest portion of these comments are spam – people simply trying to post ads, links, and junk.
But things get worse. Beyond spam as a problem, there are fake solutions to the spam problem, and those are also very insidious. The combination of “spam and anti-spam” can be used to censor and control.
I strongly suspect that anti-AI-spam software, with a strong, designed, and desired side-effect of censorship, will be part of future problems, too.
It’s a lot like control by virus and vaccine, if you know what I mean!
Anyway, let’s dig into spam-vs-anti-spam, because it explains a lot about spam comments.
Anti-Spam as a Trojan Horse for Censorship
We have a very nice spam filter, which actually WORKS, because it’s not the phony spam filter called Akismet, which is supplied for “free” by WordPressDotCom. WordPress.com pretends that Akismet is a different company, but it’s just a dodge. Akismet is WordPress.
I spent years dealing with “bugs” in the Akismet and JetPack plug-ins, before I realized that those bugs are actually features for the other side. Akismet, for example, doesn’t like certain wonderful ladies and gentlemen on this site, such as Duchess01, scott467, GA/FL, Linda, and other commenters, both past and present. Akismet would basically hide these people’s comments as “spam”, trying to annoy them and get them to leave the site.
Imagine if Duchess wasn’t here. We would be half-naked, spiritually. And that’s not any way to be, in the middle of a spiritual war. Armor up, baby! I am SO GLAD that I fought the good fight against Akismet, and managed to keep Duchess on the site. Listening to the Lord with my heart is ALWAYS one of the smartest things I can do.
Fake anti-spam software is an amazing form of censorship. WordPressDotCom has some other ways of doing that, too, through “defects” in the JetPack plugin’s features. Those “defects” prevent people from posting. I was very fortunate that Linda’s husband knew which feature to turn off to get out of one of these “bugs”, and that was the beginning of my road to freedom from WordPressDotCom shenanigans.
Hiding weaponized software as carefully fed and watered “bugs” was a sharp gig, but it was too obvious to a developer, coder, builder, tester and debugger like me. Once I figured out that it was THEM and not us, I pressured Akismet in various ways to “fix things” for the particular people who were being locked out, despite the fact that Akismet makes this hard as hell. They slow-walked me through various processes, but each time I would up the ante of public disclosure quickly and exponentially, until they would very rapidly BTFO.
All of this was later solved by getting off WordPressDotCom and having our own, pure, WordPress DOT ORG site.
Here are three prior posts where I called out Automattic – the company behind WP.com. I got INSTANT BTFO on their censorship with these posts.
On our new site – this one – I was able to ditch Akismet for a far better spam solution, which I will not name. The spam filter isn’t perfect, but it’s close. VERY little spam gets past it.
Amazing what one can do, when one HONESTLY tries to stop spam.
But HERE is the kicker.
What spam does get past, is always VERY interesting.
Sometimes, it’s not actually spam, but something even more insidious – a targeted attempt to get a registered commenter on the site.
Let’s talk about that.
Site Infiltration Through Fake Spam
There is a level of website comment spam that is just straightforward and obvious links to websites, companies, crazy people, and malware. Stuff like VIAGRA, ONLINE GAMBLING, and CHURCH OF BABYLON FIVE REVELATION. Let’s call that “level zero“.
We’re not talking about that. Almost any anti-spam software eliminates that stuff immediately, or lets just a wee bit of it through for approval or rejection on lighter settings, to let the administrator know that the software is “on the job”.
At levels of spam intelligence beyond that, comment spam is designed to look – barely – like a legitimate NEW poster, hoping to get on the site. Most caught spam that I see (level one) looks like that. It’s often obsequious, cringeworthy, and eye-rolling. The most likely purpose is simply to get a stupid link on a website, by getting a comment approved. The main targets are self-deluded blog owners who either want comments on their site, no matter how degrading, or “want to believe” the fawning praise or mild constructive criticism offered by the phony commenters.
Here is some “normal” level one spam.
Keep up the amazing work! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next.
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your magnificent post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my social networks!
Every time I read one of your posts, I come away with something new and interesting to think about. Thanks for consistently putting out such great content!
The “skilled blogger” stuff just makes me laugh out loud.
OH, NOES, DON’T FLATTER ME SOES!!!
That’s the normal spam. There is typically a web link to some sketchy client business that goes with it. Real rubes may fall for it, but most will not. If a moderator approves it, some stupid link gets posted on the internet, some spammer gets paid, and that’s that.
Sometimes we get dozens of spam comments that are absolutely identical, except for the link. Doesn’t matter – our filter finds them all and stops them.
However, it’s the spam comments that are not really spam comments that are more interesting. These are comments that – if you look a bit more closely – seem with some certainty to be the product of a real human intelligence posting. Those are “level two” and above.
These comments may even seem to be responding to individual commenters on our site – but are worded carefully, so that they are still likely to be dismissed as spam. Targeted infiltration does not want to stir up new, active, and knowing defenses on the target site.
We periodically get these out of Pakistan, but they’re probably coming from somebody else, because false attribution and spoofing are so common. Some of the phony comments are pretty ingenious, because they try to spoof (pretend to be) actual commenters on our site, like scott467 or DePat. Clearly those attackers have STUDIED this site. Thankfully, there are other “tells” that can be used to dismiss such comments.
The people behind these attacks are especially active when people are fighting and arguing here, because that is when it’s more likely that the moderator (ME!) will make a rash decision to approve a post, for various reasons. The psychology behind some of their moves seems quite intelligent.
Then there is “level three” infiltration, which has to be solved by Wolf’s Extreme Vetting. You may remember that term, which was more of a thing when there were lots of people clamoring to get on the site. We’ve had actual FBI agents and known CIA assets try to get on the site. NOPE. Ain’t gonna happen.
But let’s drop back to level two.
AI-Assisted Fake Spam
Yesterday, we got something quite interesting. We had a piece of “uncaught spam” in the “level two” bin, which had the following characteristics:
probable origin – Eastern Ukraine – Nazi area not too far from the front lines
spam alibi – shilling for an online casino gambling site out of India
AI tactic – made its pitch by discussing the site tagline from Oppenheimer
Check out the spam pitch.
This is a great quote from Oppenheimer that highlights the importance of transparency and critical thinking. Freedom of inquiry and open criticism are indeed necessary to prevent errors and move towards truth. How can I help you further?[LINK TO SPAM SITE]
I hate to say this, but that sounds much more like a real person to me, than all this other crap I’m getting. It was certainly a WAY better grade of level two spam than we normally get, and it got right past our excellent spam filters. Based on my own reaction, it was also way more effective than most infiltration attempts, which tend to get more and more instant side-eye. This spam actually based its pitch on the site itself – not just the “skilled blogger” bullshit.
It actually had me going for a fraction of a second!
And – in my opinion – the analysis of the site goes beyond just the tagline.
Who does the commenter sound like?
Quite frankly, to me, that wording sounds a lot like either Wolf Moon, or TheseTruths.
Of course, AI has no trouble “sounding like” specific, actual people. It can read this entire site in seconds.
Now THAT is targeting! By somebody who QUICKLY knew how to sound to get the “moderator” to approve the post.
This is what a slick bullshitter does. He tries to appeal to the mark by sounding like either the mark or a trusted person. If you’ve ever known criminals, they come on very quickly in that way.
The last little bit, which is much more stupid (“How can I help you further?”) throws it back into the spam category, and IMO that tag-on sentence is very intentional, so that if I the recipient’s spidey senses are being triggered, those suspicions will be relieved by the thought that “it’s just spam.” The recipient will flush it, rather than doing what I’m doing now, which is to take note, to realize what is actually going on, and to dig in, looking at future risks.
But imagine how deceptive that comment could have been, if the authors had not added the “spam” dodge at the end!
The comment is designed for me to not read it too closely. They were hoping that I would either just approve it, or dismiss it as spam.
The thing is, to me, this comment is CLEARLY the result of AI.
It sounds VERY much like many of the AIs I’ve dealt with.
And if it were me programming it, I would have done exactly what I think they did, which is to have it read the site and construct a comment to try to get an account on the site, but not raise any awareness of the attack, so that they could “try again” if it failed.
My theory?
Somebody, somewhere, such as Langley, is helping the Ukrainians use AI in cyberwar, and giving them lists of people to target. Very likely the CIA and their “friends”. You know – the people who are assassinating, or attempting to assassinate, honest politicians like Abe, Fico, Bolsonaro, and others.
I suspect that the evil powers will milk this form of attack for a while, letting it get more and more sophisticated and pernicious, until the “problem” is pumped up by the media, and is ripe to be “solved”. Probably using woke AI that the BLOB controls.
SO – we get screwed – both as the problem builds – AND when they offer solutions at the expense of truth and freedom.
Yeah. Anyway, I now expect an increasing load of hard-to-handle AI comments to hit before the election. Along with calls by the commies to “do something” – that being something that harms freedom.
Get ready. This is your distant early warning, patriots. Trouble is coming, as winter approaches, and it stinks of government-abused AI.
To get a blue check on Gab, one needs to merely prove that one is, in fact, the same Gab user, by publishing that fact (Gab identity) under the other “verified” identity.
This is the information I provided to Gab – my WordPress identity.
Here is that bio information in plain text:
Currently @wolfmoon1776 on WordPress.com sites and theqtree.com Formerly @WOLFM00N on Twitter, and still awaiting reinstatement of my account. Currently @WOLFM00N on Gab (YAY, GAB!), Gettr, Parler, Keybase, and others. Still @wolf_moon on Disqus. Still waiting for an account on Truth Social.
But hey – now that I’m a BIG SHOT, I’ll still remember where I came from. *ROLLS EYES*
It’s time for some frank discussion of the future of this site.
My primary mission remains unchanged – to get important thoughts and ideas out where they can be seen – whether those ideas are mine or somebody else’s (AND generally a mixture of the two, anyway).
Secondary missions (haven for the Qrious, MAGA rally site, free speech site, etc.) are also unchanged.
The attrition of commenting on the site is only moderately concerning to me, outside of impeding the primary mission, which is to GET THE WORD OUT. But the truth is, the primary mission IS being impeded. THAT cannot be allowed.
Lately, I’ve had SEVERAL very important articles missing either writing, editing, or publication – both ON TIME and AT ALL. I can’t do that any more. Some of what was missed may be life-or-death for the Republic.
Thus, I’m taking some actions to shore things up.
POINT 1
In order to focus my limited time on important political, scientific, and spiritual/religious articles, which I have been SKIPPING in order to do the Monday and Friday dailies, I am going to change the nature of those dailies to more suit getting substantial messages out quickly as single articles. Thus, I’m planning to drop the honorific elaborations of “Wheatietoo” style” and “Grandmaintexas format” – that is, unless somebody else steps up to take those dailies. It would then be their choice to either DROP or continue those styles. Those authors could even do placeholder posts just like me – I’m not picky.
Yes, I loved those Wheatie and Grandma styles. However, I’m a poor substitute for the real thing, and it takes me a LOT of time to emulate them. Something has to give, and THAT is it.
If somebody wants to keep up those dailies in something resembling their current format, or would like to try something different, great. Please volunteer as an author.
Otherwise, I will be shortening all of my daily threads, now and in the future, to placeholders like on CTH.
Authorship isn’t difficult, if you want to make the dailies “more interesting placeholders” with fresh header images, a brief message, or something of the sort. Authors are free to do whatever they want. We do have a suggested guideline HERE:
[NOTE: Everything after this in square brackets is me as the IMPETUOUS EDITOR. Don’t put any of the square bracket [] stuff in a post. It’s just us talking – MKAY?] [RE the TITLE: Dear KMAG, Dear MAGA, Dear KAG, or Dear KAG! is required, followed by a colon, a space, the date in YYYYMMDD …
The last “honorific” daily on my part will be tomorrow’s post, for Pi Day, 20220314. Enjoy!
Point 2
In the same vein, I no longer have time to EDIT any articles by authors. If you want to publish it, you have to carry the ball the whole 100 yards, and PUBLISH or SCHEDULE. I will release articles that get stuck by the failure of the scheduler, but that’s it.
Point 3
Otherwise, the future of the site is very solid. We are now on good hosting, free of censorship concerns for the moment. I am investing appropriately and substantially, as planned, and the “church budget” is good. This site is NOT going away.
Point 4
If you have any concerns, ideas, suggestions, or contributions, this is an appropriate place to make them known. However, I will not be changing my plans regarding Points 1 and 2 unless YOU YOURSELF ARE VOLUNTEERING to do the heavy lifting of your own suggestion(s).
Suggestions for OTHER PEOPLE to carry out YOUR IDEAS will have to pass muster with my assistant.
Compared to Morris the Finicky Cat, this guy isn’t just picky – he’s downright suspicious!
Just got this in my notifications. I *KNEW* this was coming.
SPONSORED POSTS
WordPress.com has started testing Native Sponsored Posts. This is an extension of our advertising program and will have the same controls and restrictions as our standard ad placements.You may see these Sponsored Posts running on your sites as we expand testing. They may be promoting WordPress.com content, marketing initiatives, or brands.
Longer term, we hope to offer Sponsored Posts to our users as a way to help drive traffic and promote content discovery. For any questions or issues, see our Native Sponsored Posts FAQ.
Whatever they’re up to, it’s not for our good. Please keep your eyes on it.
The most likely sites to be affected are the old WQTH, The U Tree, or our new “backup” Q Tree.
However, even this site might be affected, if the fine print of JetPack usage involves this form of editorial takeover.
Like I said – keep your eyes out for it, and let me know if you see it.
Due to some kind of attack – possibly DDOS – possibly something worse – we are having to abandon the main site at theqtree.com and conduct discussion at our new temporary home:
Please go there and join us. We will be posting there until further notice.
Note that if you have not posted there before, or recently, your first comment will go into the mod bin – don’t worry – once I OK it (could be a few hours to half a day later, if you’re a regular commenter), you’ll be able to comment. If you’re new, it may be a while (“Wolf’s extreme vetting”).
I will be blocking commenting here, to encourage the move.