Coffee Talk with Tiff

July 9, 2025 1:00 pm EDT Tiff Editorial (Open Thread) Comments Off on Coffee Talk with Tiff
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Wednesday…

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

Wednesday, July 9 2025
9:00 AM
In-Town Pool Call Time
The White House In-Town Pool
12:05 PM
The President participates in a multilateral lunch with African Leaders
State Dining Room White House
Press Pool

For now, there are no new ‘tariff letters’ letting other countries know that, yet again, Americans will be the ones paying more—for reasons we’re all too tired to pretend make sense anymore.

This ride’s already late, my motivation’s in witness protection, and I’m clinging to the ‘struggling to give a shit’ struggle bus by a thread of caffeine and obligation—powered mostly by sarcasm and poor life choices.

Breaking Twitter news: your timeline’s about to get a whole lot more dramatic

Grok’s grand strategy: full Nazi mode. Because what’s AI without a little ethical bankruptcy?

To curb the Nazi vibes, Twitter wisely pulled Grok’s text replies… and in a stroke of genius, handed it a paintbrush to draw antisemitic masterpieces instead.

Twitter CEO resigned this morning post-Grok Nazi fiasco—proof that the best way to handle a crisis is to vanish

Text Tweet:

When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.  I’m incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.  We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai . X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world.  I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.  As always, I’ll see you on 𝕏.

It’s posted in the article, just above this quote. 07/09/2025.

In the ongoing saga of ‘How Bad Can Cabinet Members Get,’ the latest chapter is live and unfiltered…

Former Fox Entertainment weekend show host, proudly cosplaying as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, once again proves it’s great at drama but terrible at basic briefing—because apparently the White House didn’t get the memo about the Ukraine weapons pause

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week, according to five sources familiar with the matter, setting off a scramble inside the administration to understand why the halt was implemented and explain it to Congress and the Ukrainian government.

CNN. 07/08/2025.

On Tuesday’s episode of Cabinet Cult, President I-Know-Nothing turns the weapons-to-Ukraine pause question into a game of hot potato: ‘I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?’ Drama and denial guaranteed.

Playing the role of Attorney General, Pam Bondi made a dramatic appearance on Cabinet Cult, where she was, of course, asked about that pesky DOJ announcement—the one claiming the Epstein client list she definitely had on her desk somehow never existed. Enter President What the Hell Is Happening, who tried to shut it down by summoning his go-to move: loud, empty righteous indignation. Oscar-worthy stuff.

With full dramatic flair, he declares—hand to heart, camera zoomed in—“I can’t believe you’re asking a question about Epstein at a time like this.” This, of course, being Tuesday—two days after the DOJ announced there was no client list and, plot twist, Epstein wasn’t murdered but killed himself. So yes, truly baffling how anyone might have a follow-up question. The audacity

Narrator voice, rich with scandal and disbelief:
President “I Can’t Believe You’re Asking About Epstein at a Time Like This” derails Cabinet Cult in spectacular fashion—swerving from legal scandal straight into a monologue on interior design. With all the solemnity of a man burdened by real hardship, he laments, “They’ve never found a paint that looks like gold.” And just like that, the conversation—and reality—slip quietly out the back door.

Narrator voice, equal parts intrigue and exhaustion:
Cabinet Cult’s lead actor—who also insists on showing up in every subplot—Marco Rubio, wasn’t spared the scandal spotlight this week. No, this time it wasn’t a policy blunder or a suspiciously timed tweet. It was AI. That’s right—some rogue artificial intelligence decided to pretend to be him. And while most of us would take that as a wake-up call, Marco took it as… well, Tuesday

Washington Post (gift link):

An impostor pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style using artificial intelligence-powered software, according to a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable obtained by The Washington Post.

U.S. authorities do not know who is behind the string of impersonation attempts but they believe the culprit was probably attempting to manipulate powerful government officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” according to a cable sent by Rubio’s office to State Department employees.

Using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal, which the Trump administration uses extensively, the impostor “contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress,” said the cable, dated July 3.

The impersonation campaign began in mid-June when the impostor created a Signal account using the display name “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” to contact unsuspecting foreign and domestic diplomats and politicians, said the cable.The display name is not his real email address.

“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” said the cable. It also noted that other State Department personnel were impersonated using email.

When asked about the cable, the State Department responded that it would “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.” Officials declined to discuss the contents of the messages or the names of the diplomats and officials who were targeted.

Washington Post (gift link)

Maybe it’s just me, but after Cabinet Cult’s Signal App scandal, using it to send messages is basically signing up for prime-time exposure. Because nothing says “secure communication” like starring in your own data breach drama…

About an hour ago, the new tariff letters dropped—because nothing says ‘economic progress’ like paying more for the stuff we buy. Way to go, America.

The letter reads the same as the first letters that got dropped via “Lies Social”.

This is an open thread

PS.

I will update my spreadsheet with the “new” tariffs for tomorrow’s post.

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About Tiff 3297 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.