Links 1/31/2025

Swiss court to rule on landmark Trafigura corruption case Reuters

Hedge fund Elliott warns White House is inflating crypto bubble that ‘could wreak havoc’ FT

Tennessee GOP passes immigration law to criminalize elected officials’ votes The Tennessean

DC Airport Collision

The Near Misses at Airports Have Been Telling Us Something The Atlantic

Pilots have long worried about DC’s complex airspace contributing to a catastrophe AP

* * *

Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said (transcripts) AP

What the data says about Trump’s DEI air crash claims Axios

The FAA’s Hiring Scandal: A Quick Overview Tracing Woodgrains (albrt).

* * *

Ex-Acting FAA administrator: Trump made ‘excellent choice’ with Christopher Rocheleau The Hill

Climate

Catastrophic tipping point in Greenland reached as crystal blue lakes turn brown, belch out carbon dioxide LiveScience

Researchers make disturbing discovery while studying organic waste: ‘This raises concerns about the long-term impact’ The Cooldown

Water

Ogallala Aquifer drops by more than a foot in parts of western Kansas KSN

Syndemics

Uh oh:

How to protect HHS, FDA, NIH, and other health agencies from political interference STAT

China?

Interview with Deepseek Founder: We’re Done Following. It’s Time to Lead The China Academy

AI race heats up as Alibaba announces new model it says surpasses DeepSeek CGTN

China builds huge wartime military command centre in Beijing FT

Could this new stress-tolerant rice from China boost crop yields? South China Morning Post

Myanmar

Myanmar Junta Extends Emergency by Another 6 Months The Irrawaddy

New report details Singapore firm’s role in supplying fuel to Myanmar military Myanmar Now

India

Death, Stampede and the Pitfalls of VIP Culture at the Kumbh: A First-Person Account The Wire

Reports of second stampede in Mahakumbh emerge; Mela authorities deny New Indian Express

Africa

Tough Decisions Must be Taken by Zimbabwe, World Bank Says Bloomberg

Syraqistan

Trump says ‘will make determination’ on US troops in Syria Anadolu Agency

Israeli military to hold on to Syrian territory indefinitely FT

Qatar’s Calculated Plan for Gaza Will Crush Far Right Israeli Dreams of War and Displacement Haaretz. The deck: “Israeli officials believe Qatar seeks a Middle East foothold via Trump ties, aiming to make Gaza a Mediterranean outpost. Its role in the hostage talks highlights a strategic vision, contrasting far-right Smotrich’s messianic territorial imaginations.”

Private US Company Is Reportedly Hiring US Veterans to Run Gaza Checkpoint Truthout

This Religious Ritual Is Creeping Into Schools in Central Israel, With Boys Being Bullied to Take Part Haaretz

Israel and the delusions of Germany’s ‘memory culture’ Guardian

Challenging misconceptions that hinder Muslim response to child abuse Al Jazeera

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia Seizes Another Ukrainian Town in Push to Take All of Donetsk NYT. The deck: “Moscow’s troops used the same pincer tactic on Velyka Novosilka that has enabled their recent capture of town after town in eastern Ukraine.”

* * *

Both sides pay terrible price in war, both must give in, US secretary of state says Ukrainska Pravda

Zelensky Demands an American Garrison The American Conservative. The deck: “President Trump should respond: Hell no!”

EU debates return to Russian gas as part of Ukraine peace deal FT

Kremlin signals efforts to sway Trump towards accepting Putin’s demands – ISW Ukrainska Pravda

* * *

SITREP 1/29/25: Ukraine’s Mass Drone Heave Conceals Spreading Foundation Cracks Simplicius, Simplicius the Thinker

Trump Administration

4 of the biggest clashes between Patel, Senate Dems at his confirmation hearing FOX

Why the intel community needs Tulsi (but is too blind to know it) Responsible Statecraft

Key takeaways from Tulsi’s US Senate confirmation hearing Al Jazeera

* * *

Trump rescinded a half-century of environmental rules. Here’s what that could mean Vox

EPA dismisses science advisers The Hill

Scientists scramble to understand Trump administration actions NPR

Spook Country

Matt Taibbi: All the Top Secret Information Trump Is Releasing & What He Should Declassify Next (video) TNC

Senior FBI officials forced to resign amid leadership shakeup: Report Anadolu Agency

The National Security Establishment Needs Working-Class Americans Foreign Policy

Digital Watch

DARPA To Launch Pre-Crime AML Program The Rage. AML = Anti-Money Laundering

Drones

NJ residents in disbelief over White House answer on drones The Hill

The Final Frontier

Researchers confirm the existence of an exoplanet in the habitable zone (press release) Oxford University

Greenland

Greenland is the New Congo of the 21st Century The Wire

Does Greenland fear US invasion? Not exactly Euronews

Imperial Collapse Watch

“For those within the Empire’s inner core, the full, seismic implications of Trump’s “aid” suspension may not be fully obvious” Kit Klarenberg, ThreadReader.app

US aid was long a lifeline for Eastern Europe. Trump cuts are sending shockwaves through the region AP. Commentary:

Halt Of USAID Exposes Malign Foreign Influence Moon of Alabama

Class Warfare

Subprime Mortgages Destroyed Them. Who Paid the Price? NYT

The Case for Kicking the Stone Los Angeles Review of Books

Antidote du jour. Via Innocent Massawe:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

161 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “NJ residents in disbelief over White House answer on drones”

    As long as Trump is declassifying a whole bunch of files, maybe he could also do the ones connected with all those drones flying over New Jersey last year. Maybe too White House files to find out why a spokesperson did not give a press briefing to explain all about those drones and tell people to relax.

    Reply
    1. jefemt

      I’d like to know how his ear that got shot looks so perfectly unmarred. Before and after… the surgeon outta move to Hollywood!

      Reply
  2. Anti-Fake-Semite

    RE: Israel and the delusions of Germany’s ‘memory culture’ Guardian

    I lived in Germany for seven years. I’m not sure how to explain them as a society. There is a definite massive collective failing to have dealt with WWII adequately. They had a perfunctory show trial and moved on. Barely anyone was punished. What followed was a great silence. The relationship with Israel is certainly sick. Two psychologically sick entities in a sick relationship.

    I believe Germans think they were wrong to make war on the Jews as they could have, in hindsight, realised their ambitions for Weltmeisterschaft with them as allies. Zionism and Nazism are almost the same ideology. The Jews are a very psychologically damaged people with high incidences of mental illness and neurosis. The Germans are also highly neurotic. Genocide is baked into both their collective histories. The Jews laud it in their holy books. The Germans wielded it as a tool of empire without qualm in the name of progress.

    It is my firm believe that after WWII Germany should have been broken up into its constituent parts and never ever be allowed to form as one nation. They are incapable of normalcy. I don’t mean that insultingly, but whatever it is about their genius leads them to collective insanity. ‘Wahnsinn’ they call it. An intelligent German with a few drinks in him will tell you that it is ‘the German Sickness’.

    Reply
    1. pjay

      At the risk of being accused of US-centrism, I think much of this reflects the central role of Germany in the Cold War immediately after WWII – which involved rapid rehabilitation of many “former” Nazis by the US in order to combat the perceived Soviet threat. The mea culpa for a fascist past had to be attenuated in a particular way.

      Quite a tour de force by Pankaj Mishra, especially given that it was published in the Guardian. I love his closing quote from Gunter Grass:

      “History, or, to be more precise, the history we Germans have repeatedly mucked up, is a clogged toilet. We flush and flush, but the shit keeps rising.”

      For me this is an excellent description of postwar US history as well.

      Reply
    2. The Rev Kev

      ‘It is my firm believe that after WWII Germany should have been broken up into its constituent parts and never ever be allowed to form as one nation.’

      How many parts? I believe that it was about 70 at one stage and about 300 further back. You forget that a lot of Germany’s problems can be laid down to the fact that, unlike the UK and France, they were not a unified State until about 1871 which put a big spanner in their development. History may have taken a different path if they had been able to unify in the 16th or 17th century. Breaking it apart is as bad as the idea to make Germany into a pastoral society in the 20th century at the end of the war.

      Reply
    3. Carolinian

      This is quite the outside the usual box comment. Zionism critics have said that at first members of the Zionism movement in Germany welcomed Hitler on the idea that his bigotry and persecution would drive more European Jews to Palestine–their main goal. And Hitler also favored their goal of “clearing the land” with its ironic present day echoes in Gaza. Of course they doubtless didn’t realize that war and mass murder were on the horizon and many of them did themselves go to Israel and became militant Zionists. Uri Avnery was one of them and used to talk about this.

      Meanwhile it seems the US Deep State–already cranked up in 1945 under Truman–most certainly wanted to use a revived Germany as a tool against their communist enemies. Perhaps they thought Germany was off the reservation with all that trade with Russia and that’s the real reason for the Ukraine conflict.

      Reply
      1. Michaelmas

        Carolinian: the US Deep State–already cranked up in 1945 under Truman–most certainly wanted to use a revived Germany as a tool against their communist enemies.

        And did. This can’t be stressed enough. To read a biography of, for instance, James Jesus Angleton, a prime mover in the OSS, the WWII-era predecessor of CIA, then in CIA itself —

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jesus_Angleton

        –is to learn that the first couple of decades of Angleton’s career consisted pretty much entirely of going around Europe even before WWII was done and rounding up as many, many thousands of the most verminous erstwhile Nazis and Fascists as he could and putting them on the U.S. payroll, then inserting them where they could do the most damage

        Reply
    4. Roland

      1. I think you’re a bigot, AFS. You’re saying there is something intrinsic about being German that makes them unfit to have a national state. Then you claim, like so many bigots do, that you respect their intrinsic genius, as if you’re fit to be the one that can define that. Then you also claim, as so many bigots do, that a German, in candour, would agree with you.

      I can’t count the number of such conversations I have had with other such bigots.

      If you want to hate the Germans, AFS, then I think you should become more honest with yourself. You know that bigotry is bad, which is why you employ some common tactics to deflect that charge. Why not, instead, just perform a simple deduction? Bigotry is bad. You are a bigot. Therefore, you are bad.

      2. Even your username, “Anti-Fake-Semite,” shows the same tendency. What makes you think you’re fit to judge the “fake” Semites from the “real” ones? It seems to me that you want to hate a lot of people, but you try to kid yourself, and others, that because you only hate the “fake” ones, that somehow your hatred isn’t real.

      3. Anyone who thinks that Germans were not, collectively, punished severely enough for the evils of Nazism has allowed himself to forget what things looked like in Germany in 1945. There was no need to further punish the German people after the Second World War. Rather, what they needed was help, in a time of their great want and suffering.

      And what the world needed was an end to the war. Peace, by definition, is necessarily sparing of one’s foes. Therefore I would praise, not fault, the relative forebearance of the victorious powers towards Germany and Japan after the war.

      Reply
      1. Yves Smith

        Your tone is out of line. I am nevertheless letting this through because I think the substance, although somewhat counter-productive in its harshness, has merit. That includes your comment on the “Fake Anti-Semite” handle. I’ve hated it and have been tempted to ban the commenter based on that alone. It’s intended to offend.

        Reply
      2. Munchausen

        You need to write “bigot” few more times, in order to prove that you are right (and also not a bigot, and not bad).

        BTW, I think that Germans were not punished severely enough, because they are doing similar things again expecting different results. Purpose of punishment is stopping repeating offense. I do know very well what things looked like in Germany in 1945, and in Eastern Europe too, and who got it worse, and whose fault it is.

        German people after WWII got it as best at they realistically could, and they blew it. The moment they got reunited, the march eastwards started again (as a part of the strongest alliance it the World, as per tradition). First the destruction of Yugoslavia (at 50 year anniversary of initial one), and economical colonization of Eastern Europe, and then Panzers in Kursk (as per tradition). They say that once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern, and we have WWIII on our hands.

        Maybe, just maybe, Germans should be balkanized in order to prevent them balkanizing others. Facts on the ground say that splitting Germany in two did provide Europe with a very long period of peace and prosperity, that looked like it would never end (it surely did to me). Or maybe, Germans are innocent, and everything is somebody else’s fault (Russians, Chinese, Aliens). All the master races blame others for their wrongdoings (and use namecalling as a proof that they are right, and better than others).

        P.S. Peace, by definition, is necessarily sparing of one’s foes.
        Yea, it’s that, or extreminating the untermenschen. Or, enslaving and colonizing them. It’s one of those.

        Reply
        1. Roland

          Can’t you tell the difference between a full-blown invasion, and political meddling? I think it’s a bit absurd to equate 1991 with 1941.

          Reply
          1. Munchausen

            Balkanization is political meddling now? How about wars in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, etc? Do they count as minor inconvenience on the road to democracy and freedom? That kind of low effort verbal gymnastics sounds like something Pierce Morgan would say to Tucker Carlson. BTW, “full-blown invasion” and “political meddling” are terms that no one even used until MSM started shoving them into everyone’s head in order to show how Russians are the bad guys now (unlike the freedom & love spreading USA, EU, and NATO, aka the 4th reich).

            For illustrative purposes, here’s a snippet of political meddling, from highly trusted USA approved source (so it must be true).
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Air_Force
            The Luftwaffe experienced combat action for the first time since World War II during September 1995 in the course of Operation Deliberate Force, when six IDS Tornado fighter-bombers, equipped with forward looking infrared devices, and escorted by eight ECR Tornados, supported NATO’s artillery missions on positions of the Bosnian Serbs around Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

            I wonder what would Gavrilo Princip have to say about that. From 30,000-foot perspective, his non political meddling at the same place seems like low caliber stuff blown out of proportions. One does not need AI in order to recognize a pattern in the Balkans. Churchill is credited with saying that The Balkans produce more history than they can consume.

            WWI did not start because of a teenager with a handgun, but because of imperial ambitions of Germans (Austrians being southern Germans). WWII also started because of imperial ambitions of Germans (conveniently led by an Austrian WWI veteran). The nature of those imperial ambitions have changed with times (as things do), but they are still alive and kicking. Hate towards Russians (and Serbs) never went anywhere (not to mention the love for Nazi Slavs).

            The first blood of this WWIII thing we got going on have been spilt in the Balkans. Now, you might argue that the Germans are not the main culprit this time around, because the bigger dog have taken the control of the pack (and neutered them), but you can not say that they are not barking and biting as much as they can.

            If you want me to feel even a bit sorry for the Germans, they would first need to stop biting Slavs and turn to their enemy that is westwards. Slavic and Germanic people are natural allies, and Otto von Bismarck figured out long time ago how dumb going against Russians is. His successors threw all that wisdom down the drain, and tried to recreate USA in Europe, repeatedly. They have only themselves to blame, and the more they repeat the excersise the worse it will get for them. The really sad thing is that they took countless lives in the proccess, most of them non German, and they don’t even have the basic decency to say sorry but keep on blaming the victims (USA style).

            Reply
  3. Zagonostra

    >4 of the biggest clashes between Patel, Senate Dems at his confirmation hearing FOX

    Someone should compile a “Top Ten” clips of hearing. For Patel confirmation, my pick is Schiff asking Patel to turn around and look at Capitol Police. Patel does not comply and responds “I’m looking at you.”

    A little over 3min at clip below.

    https://youtu.be/VHNIVlep30M?si=KHqDWHQQsF_fmNVM

    Reply
    1. lambert strether

      In honor of Corbyn quoting Shelley:

      Rise like Lions after slumber
      In unvanquishable number–
      Shake your chains to earth like dew
      Which in sleep had fallen on you
      Ye are many–they are few.

      Reply
  4. Steve H.

    > Catastrophic tipping point in Greenland reached as crystal blue lakes turn brown, belch out carbon dioxide LiveScience

    Hunter S. Thompson > There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It’s a strange world.

    (Hat tip, J St. Clair)

    Reply
      1. Steve H.

        Forgive me, not the intent to imply that he went to Greenland.

        Through the poesy, my hydrology and toxicology priors recognize a lake turnover event. I do not suggest searching up the Lake Nyos event.

        Reply
  5. Zagonostra

    >Interview with Deepseek Founder: We’re Done Following. It’s Time to Lead The China Academy

    The current pricing allows for a modest profit margin above our costs…

    What’s your core philosophy when it comes to competition?…whether something elevates societal efficiency and whether we can find our strength in the industry value chain.

    Making money isn’t as easy as it used to be—not even driving a taxi is a viable option anymore. Within just one generation, things have shifted.

    Fascinating interview. I’m a bit weary on that “societal efficeiency.”

    The other day I received a “server busy” message when using DeepSeek. Now I know why. If they can’t compete head to head, then there is always the “by hook or crook” method.

    @CarlZha
    “Over 83 hrs, Deepseek server cluster was subjected to over 230 million DDoS malicious requests per second, with the total attack volume equivalent to the total internet traffic of Europe for three days”

    I wonder who has the capability to carry out attack on such scale?🤔

    Relentlessly hostile actions from the US only serve to awaken the Dragon, there’s no putting it back into a box. US will reap what it sowed thorough the coming decades

    Reply
    1. The Rev Kev

      Did you hear that Meloni’s Italy has become the first country to ban DeepSeek ‘citing concerns over its handling of personal data.’ You know, just like they did with Tik Tok. Sounds like Ireland and South Korea might be thinking of doing the same. So if you can’t compete with Chinese-based software, you just ban your citizens from using it. Frankly I think that my data might be safer in China rather than on one of Mark Zuckerberg’s servers-

      https://www.rt.com/news/611961-italy-blocks-deepseek/

      Reply
      1. ChrisFromGA

        How does that work when you can download the entire thing and run it locally?

        There is no platform to ban. If they try to restrict Chinese IP addresses, hello VPN.

        It’ll be like trying to fight Napster, circa 1999.

        Good luck with that, Meloni.

        Reply
      2. DJG, Reality Czar

        Rev Kev and Chris from GA:

        The block came from the Italian privacy protection agency, which also blocked ChatGPT a year ago for similar reasons — not observing the rules protecting individual data, which are stricter in Italy. As a result of the privacy protection, it is a tad easier to protect oneself in Italy than in, say, the U S of A.

        https://www.wired.it/article/deepseek-italia-app-non-disponibile/

        It seems to be a problem with the app. The privacy agency hasn’t blocked on-line access:

        Il servizio web è accessibile finora da qualsiasi browser installato su pc ma anche sugli smartphone e il funzionamento è garantito anche per chi aveva già installato l’app nei giorni scorsi, tuttavia vedremo che impatti avrà la mossa del Garante.

        The Garante, which is presided over by a magistrate / judge, isn’t exactly as sign of creeping fascistization:

        https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/10097450

        https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garante_per_la_protezione_dei_dati_personali

        The first president was Stefano Rodotà, who was hardly an advocate of repression.

        Reply
  6. Zagonostra

    >Key takeaways from Tulsi’s US Senate confirmation hearing Al Jazeera

    “The American people elected Donald Trump as their president, not once, but twice,” she said

    Some, including Putin, would say three times.

    My takeaway is that certain well known and key Democrat Senators will never recover from these hearings. The viral clips of Senator Warren and Bernie Sanders being ridiculed on Twitter/X, with the former dressed up as Pocahontas and the latter being dressing down by the likes of Jimmy Dore for defending big Pharma will remain in memory long after nominees are confirmed. The Democrats, individually and as a Party are moribund.

    Reply
    1. The Rev Kev

      It was strange seeing Senator Warren and Bernie Sanders sitting side by side when it was not that long ago she accused him of sexually harassing her. What if Bernie tries to play footsies with Warren under that table? But Bernie was making himself a parody of himself. He flipped out when RFK jr pointed out to him that he was the biggest receiver of funds from Big Pharma and totally lost it over a company that RFK jr used to own selling ‘onsies’ with political logos on them-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGn33L9JFHo (9:53 mins)

      Reply
        1. Wukchumni

          Bernie hasn’t been the same since the Donkey Show short bus ran over him in North Carolina, and then he requested said vehicle to put it in reverse and do it again, leaving tread marks all over his $800 parka.

          Reply
          1. Carolinian

            It was South Carolina. We Carolinians demand a retraction.

            I saw Bernie when he came to a black church in my town in 2000. Clyburn’s tentacles were already closing around his SC primary effort and he received a lukewarm reception–seemingly–from the crowd.

            Reply
      1. t

        He was just wrong, tho. In the US, you have to list your employer when make such contributions. The sum of USD 2k or less from thousands of employees is not the same as support from an industry.

        Reply
      2. JustTheFacts

        I have lost a lot of respect for Bennet, Warren and Bernie while watching some of these “confirmations”. Given that these people seem bought and paid for, I wonder why we even have confirmations — they certainly aren’t representing the interests of the people by straw-manning the candidates’ positions.

        Reply
      3. lyman alpha blob

        Unfortunately that clip is making the rounds. They were replaying it on the sports radio this morning. I listen to that channel for sports, and to avoid politics for a while, so it’s very annoying when they start talking politics as it is not their bailiwick and they are not good at it.

        They were commenting how RFK had really nailed Bernie, but they were wrong. I haven’t checked all of Bernie’s financial records, but I do believe he was correct when he said he never took money directly from big pharma, and only took donations from some individual employees of some pharma companies. That is completely normal and not an indictment of Bernie at all, in fact quite the opposite. But that didn’t stop the radio jocks from crowing about RFK’s ‘gotcha’ and one thought it was compoletely unrealistic that any pharma employee would donate to Bernie in the first place. I don’t find that unrealistic at all, but the radio jock had likely also been convinced that Sanders was a commie anyway – that’s normally about the depth of their understanding.

        And all this nonsense was listened to by tens of thousands of people on their way to work this morning. Bernie could have been much better in recent years, but this was a false accusation by RFK and he likely knows it.

        Reply
        1. lyman alpha blob

          And I was referring more to your comment about the financial stuff, Rev. I hadn’t seen the clip about the onesies until just now. Yes, Sanders was absolutely ridiculous with that criticism and he should have known better. But we live in clown world now.

          Reply
          1. anahuna

            And, unfortunately, the onesies graphic is much more memorable than Bernie’s unsuccessful attempt to get an answer to his fundamental question: Do you believe that health care is a human right?

            Reply
            1. lyman alpha blob

              Yes, and I thought RFKs waffling about maybe it being OK to not treat smokers who get cancer was absolutely terrible.

              Hard to get a straight answer about anything, and on the rare occasion one is given (Bernie’s defense of pharma donations), someone else gish gallops all over it trying to discredit what was said.

              Everyone talking past each other and stupid everywhere you look. Becoming a hermit gets more appealing by the day.

              Reply
        2. marym

          Thank you. I posted a comment about this late in a recent thread. I’ve also checked the $1.4M number, which is also from 2020 (second link below). Open Secrets reports are based on FEC data which requires employer and occupation for contributions over $200, which one can see on any candidate’s donate page.

          https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/01/200pm-water-cooler-1-29-2025.html#comment-4168490
          https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips?Mem=Y&cycle=2020&ind=H04++&recipdetail=S&sortorder=U

          Reply
          1. lyman alpha blob

            Thanks marym. I couldn’t find the breakdown between corporate donations and those from private citizens on your open secrets link, but I have seen it before there. I remember having to click through a little to find it.

            I’ve also seen others use these numbers disingenuously against otherwise halfway decent politicians in the past, not mentioning that donations were small ones from individuals who just happened to work in a certain industry, but not made on behalf of the industry. It really irks me when people do that. There are plenty of reasons to criticize your average politician without resorting to making things up.

            Reply
            1. marym

              Well, thank you again but this time ironically. I realized I have no idea how corporate contributions are made and tracked, and spent a little depressing time digging around for info about money in “our democracy.”

              Open Secrets does have a page that has a subtotal for small donors <$200. The first link filtered for 2020 Sanders shows $21.5M raised, $15.1M or 76.26% from small donors.

              My extensive research (30 minutes?) seems to tell me corporations can’t give to candidates. It’s more something like: they can establish PACs and raise money from their employees or members; or donate to Super PACs, but there’s probably more to the picture.

              “Unlike conventional PACs, super PACs and other outside groups can receive direct contributions from corporate treasuries.” There’s a list of corporations that have made direct contributions of $5,000 or more to an outside group for a selected election cycle (second link). You can click through for a list of PACs.

              https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/large-vs-small-donations?cycle=2020&type=A&t0-search=sanders
              https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/corporate-contributions

              Reply
              1. lyman alpha blob

                Yes, I believe that is correct – corporate donations go through PACs (or other shady vehicles). And of course there are the “bundlers” – I may be wrong, but my understanding there is that a company bigshot might hit up a bunch of people (family, friends, employees) to make the maximum personal contribution, and then report back to the candidate how much they raised for them altogether. Technically legal I guess, but pretty crooked. This was a big practice during the W Bush years, but for some reason, we don’t hear much about it these days. I do not think Bernie was engaged in any bundling though either. If he were suckling at the corporate teat, the rest of the party would never have hated him so much.

                Reply
        1. CA

          Correcting:

          “It was strange seeing Senator Warren and Bernie Sanders sitting side by side when it was not that long ago she accused him of sexually harassing her…”

          I can find no mention of such an accusation on the Internet.

          Reply
            1. CA

              “She accused Sanders of sexism…”

              Thank you for explaining. This name-calling is evidently the way in which Warren goes about intimidating.

              Reply
    2. pjay

      The Dimocrats are irritating as hell, but they are irrelevant to Gabbard’s confirmation. What is crucial is the degree of support and public (and private) pressure Trump brings to bear on Senate Republicans. Is he bringing it? It is not clear that he is.

      Regarding the Responsible Statecraft article, ‘Why the intel community needs Tulsi (but is too blind to know it)’: The author makes several good points, but as usual there is an assumption of incompetence or myopia that is reflected in the title. On the contrary; the “intel community” and its lackeys on the Senate “Intelligence” Committee know exactly what Gabbard represents – which is exactly why they vehemently oppose her nomination.

      Reply
    3. jefemt

      First thing I did after Kennedy mentioned Sanders level of donations by big pharma was to look it up. Kennedy was right. Oh No No No No No. I wonder if that is a proscribed subject?
      I wish Kennedy would have started with something along the lines of, ” HHS actions and need seem to be a direct result of policies written by industry and backed by bought Congress…” ?
      I guess the hearing would have been much shorter?
      We need full length feature DC Kabuki, with an intermission, and LOTS of Popcorn.

      Reply
      1. nippersmom

        Contributions from people who work for a company are not the same as contributions from that company. If Joe works as a janitor at Boeing and contributes $50 to John’s campaign, that is not a contribution from the “aeronautics industry”, despite Joe having to list Boeing as his employer. RFK is either ignorant of campaign finance or was being deliberately misleading. As a former presidential candidate himself, he certainly ought to be more knowledgeable than that about how campaign contributions are listed, so I am inclined to think it’s the latter.

        Reply
        1. Brian Beijer

          Perhaps I’m being ignorant, but my first thought after reading your comment was, ” Wouldn’t Bernie have corrected RFK Jr. if this was the case?” I mean shouldn’t Bernie, of all people, know exactly how much pharmaceutical companies donated to his campaign? Wouldn’t he tell his staff to make sure contributions from these companies must be lower than x dollars? After all, large contributions from such companies would tarnish the image he’s spent decades creating. It’s strange to me that Bernie didn’t/ couldn’t put RFK in his place when he brought this up. I don’t follow Bernie personally. Does anyone know if he came out with a staemtent afterward detailing why RFK was wrong?
          I dunno. Maybe Bernie was just being a nice guy…

          Reply
          1. marym

            I didn’t watch it, but according to the news reports Sanders said twice that he got the contributions from the workers. Not sure how many time someone has to answer a lie with a fact before it’s enough.

            Reply
  7. Wukchumni

    Life imitates art dept:

    Having 2 air traffic controllers in Humordor doing the job of 4 air traffic controllers strikes me as similar to Breaking Bad when an air traffic controller in Albuquerque distraught over his daughter’s overdose on heroin and inattentive, allows 2 planes to collide in midair.

    Reply
    1. ilsm

      Reflection.

      I spent a lot of “trips” in and out of Reagan National, and before that National airport!

      Always enjoyed coming in on a clear day, did a lot of sight seeing on approach.

      Always awed by the scenery and the amount of traffic. Several encounters of the political elite. A few “run ins” with former associates.

      As my mother would say: “But for the grace of God”…..

      I have an aversion to strapping in to one of those huge aluminum cylinders.

      Reply
      1. Wukchumni

        I probably flew a million miles around the world in the 80’s and 90’s, but have only flown 4 times domestically since 9/11.

        I’d rather drive and check out the lay of the land, stop along the way at restaurants where they serve me the equivalent of what you’d eat in first class (with genuine naugahyde booths no less) and trust me with cutlery, even serrated steak knives.

        Reply
      2. scott s.

        Only once that I can remember late flight back to LAX and B-1 Bob Dornan was a couple rows in front. That was BITD when Congress critters had some nice parking right in front of what was TWA terminal. Remember one trip where our pilot must have P-Oed a ground controller and we got put in the “penalty box” down at the end of 01/19 where long term parking was for an hour. Did PAX into Rwy 33 a few times on turbo-prop (thinking Dash-3) coming back from Norfolk. We always came direct in from Md, never did the circle thing.

        Also enjoy sight-seeing. Would gauge things by looking at the USA Today tower in Roslyn when we did the River visual into Rwy 19. Once coming back late on a Northwest DC-9 saw we were much higher at that tower than typical. Yup. After banking into the turn to 19 I saw the terminal below and we went missed. Took almost an hour it seemed as we vectored way around and came back over Dulles for another try. At that time National closed at IIRC 2300 and there was pressure to get ‘er down.

        Guess National is like the old Kai Tak in Hong Kong was as far as interesting final approaches.

        Reply
    2. Steve H.

      Wuk, I’m pretty sure you can’t answer this, but I have questions:

      x.com/rawsalerts/status/1884827088437264387

      I’d read elsewhere [micaT, yesterday’s links] the helicopters are supposed to maintain 200 feet. Let me be corrected if I’m wrong, that the copter starts at 300, drops to 200, then jumps back to 300 before the crash.

      Tower can’t do nuthin’ ’bout that.

      Reply
      1. MicaT

        Clarification:
        The helicopter can be at no more than 200’.

        It started at 200’, then went up.

        Also if you look at its flight path, in the video, it wasn’t on the approved route for a few miles.

        Also legally when the tower asks the helicopter to maintain visual separation and the helicopter acknowledges it, the helicopter is now legally required to do that. It’s no longer on the tower.

        Again all spelled out in the video.

        Reply
        1. Carolinian

          Nevertheless the tower was down two controllers. There are dark rumors on the web that this may have been a deliberate accident. Doubtless rightwing noise. That said, Trump dei remarks are based on a real ongoing lawsuit described up in Links (FAA hiring scandal)..

          Reply
          1. First Officer

            Link goes to the softened-down polite version.

            Here’s the original:

            https://simpleflying.com/faa-air-traffic-controller-applicants-lawsuit/

            “In contrast, criteria that would disadvantage African Americans, such as holding a pilot’s license, were worth only two points. An air traffic controller with a pilot’s license understands what happens on the other end of the radio, which is a major advantage. Even more blatant is the omission of any points for actual experience as an air traffic controller in the military.”

            Reply
          2. Es s Ce Tera

            What people, including Trump, don’t seem to get is that DEI programs don’t lower hiring standards, instead they aim to reduce bias in hiring practices. For example, removing names, address and gender from resumes and applications so these can’t factor into who gets interviewed, training managers to be conscious of typical biases to they don’t base decisions on them – such as not hiring women because they might get pregnant, not hiring people who have children because they’ll probably have a higher illness or absentee rate, etc. In other words, DEI is all about precisely focusing on merit. This is the reason corporations like DEI, why it has gained so much momentum.

            The anti-bias training incidentally, just by increased awareness alone, reduces racism, sexism and ableism in the workplace, a bonus, because that’s a reduction in HR incidents and lawsuits.

            To prove what Trump wants to prove he would need to cite an instance of some specific less qualified person(s) who were hired by the FAA over and against more qualified persons, and on the basis of a bias in the process favoring people with disability, ethnicity or gender. But if a DEI initiative is trying to remove disability, race and gender as a factor in hiring decisions, then they weren’t hired *because* they were disabled, a particular ethnicity, or a particular gender. The FAA side of the lawsuit kinda pointed that out, if I’m reading this correctly. But I don’t think that’s the conclusion the author wants to draw.

            Reply
            1. lyman alpha blob

              I think the best way to remove bias is to do what you said in your 2nd sentence. It needs to start with HR.

              The problem I have is with the “training” for everybody else. I do not believe it works at all, and nobody subjected to it enjoys it. It appears to be an attempt to pass off what HR should be doing on to the rest of the company.

              Reply
              1. Es s Ce Tera

                If you want a workplace with zero tolerance for sexual harassment or racist discrimination, how else do you do it than training employees? Just as if you want a construction site with zero safety incidents, you need to train on safety. Education or it doesn’t happen.

                I don’t see any negatives to this kind of training and whether they enjoy it is not relevant, it’s the skillset the employer wants them to have as a condition of being employed. People are racist, people are sexist, people are ableist, they don’t even realize it, training helps them learn, it’s preventive maintenance for a corporation.

                Bonus, those who object to this training leave of their own accord, and these are the types of people who would grab asses or make racist remarks, or cause safety incidents.

                Also, HR departments have conducted their own internal studies and found training to be effective, who are we to disagree? I believe it was Google’s HR department which started the whole DEI training trend with internal studies assessing effectiveness of different approaches, corporations everywhere have since been doing the same, doing their own due diligence, like they tend to do.

                Reply
            2. Adam

              Wasn’t IMDoc just yesterday was posting about some of the ways DEI (or adjacent thinking) have lowered standards in the medical field?

              In fact, due how I understand the “E” in DEI, by definition cannot be focused on merit. Taken from GWU:

              “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”

              You can’t have merit if you are trying to reach equal outcomes instead of equal chance of opportunity. Removing bias is great, but equity isn’t about removing bias, it’s about redirecting it.

              Reply
              1. Es s Ce Tera

                Jordan Peterson popularized that argument which I suspected he lifted from Friedrich Hayek. The simple answer is, nobody is wanting equal outcomes, that’s a straw man. That’s like saying everybody on every MLB baseball team should be like Shohei Ohtani and aiming to achieve such. The world doesn’t work that way, nor does anyone want it to, least of all DEI advocates.

                I’ll go look for IMDoc’s post, thank you. I’m not saying DEI is perfection, I’m sure there are zealous folks who are misunderstanding it, getting it completely wrong and applying it in very discriminatory but fundamentally incorrect ways. That’s a given.

                Reply
                1. juno mas

                  There is no DEI in competitive (pro) sports. The best players make the team. (Unless, of course, your father is LeBron James.) His son is not an NBA talent, but there he is.

                  Reply
                  1. griffen

                    That’s called the luck of the fastest swimmer…during young James conception….\Sarc

                    The younger James is nowhere near ready. When one looks back to an MLB parallel, Ken Griffey Jr was definitely ready to ascend when he joined the Seattle team.

                    Reply
                  2. Es s Ce Tera

                    There is DEI in competitive sports, you’ll know it by a different name, handicaps. And another name, sportsmanship. And, also, if you look at the history of sports, it’s a history of inclusion of marginalized groups. Lots of firsts, for example baseball really moved the dial in embracing black players, deaf players, etc., it’s a history of cherishing skill and ability over the demographics of the player, which is the essence of DEI. This inclusion has often had a larger secondary impact in shifting beliefs in society.

                    Reply
    3. The Rev Kev

      Nearest major airport near us would be Brisbane airport. But I’m pretty sure that our air force out of RAAF Amberley Base does not run training mission in their take-off and descent corridors, especially at night. That would be considered nuts.

      Reply
      1. Socal Rhino

        I gather our military practices evacuation of key persons from DC as would be done in event of war. The location is central to the mission. Australia may do something similar in your capital.

        Reply
        1. juno mas

          There is a video (no link) on Utoob that has a former Army helicopter pilot (female) who surmises that the helicopter crew needed a fourth pilot to get a full scan of the airspace. She believes the helicopter pilot gave visual contact assurance to Tower when, in fact, they were looking at some other aircraft. Night time only compounded the errors.

          Reply
          1. The Rev Kev

            Both pilots were wearing night vision scopes that work like crap over heavily lighted landscapes – like Washington DC at night. There was a third guy aboard that Blackhawk. It might be wise to have a third guy by procedure scanning the skies ahead using the Mark 1 eyeball on nighttime missions, including training missions.

            Reply
  8. DJG, Reality Czar

    Context:
    A couple of smidgens that I gleaned from the Wikipedia entry on US Agency for International Development (USAID):

    It should have been plain as day, and in a sense, it is worse than it seems:

    USAID is headed by an administrator. Under the Biden administration, the administrator became a regular attendee of the National Security Council.
    USAID/Washington[29] helps define overall federal civilian foreign assistance policy and budgets, working with the State Department, Congress, and other U.S. government agencies.

    The administrator under Biden was Samantha Power, the Kaja Kallas of U.S. politics.

    Regular attendee of the National Security Council. How altruistic can an agency get?

    And then some history: “In the exceptional circumstances of Vietnam in the 1960s and Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s, the government of the United States had USAID integrate selected staff with U.S. military units for “counterinsurgency” (COIN) operations.[48] The integrated institutions were “CORDS” in Vietnam (“Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support”) and “PRTs” in Afghanistan and Iraq (“Provincial Reconstruction Teams”).”

    Exceptional? Don’t count on it.

    So we see an agency that was set up ostensibly to do good but that has been degraded by empire, neoliberalism, and colonialism into a Graduate Seminar on Coups in Deserving Uppity Countries.

    Reply
    1. Chris Cosmos

      USAID is tightly connected to CIA and always has been. Usually, CIA officers in embassies had the cover of being USAID officers.

      Reply
      1. Aurelien

        That’s interesting, because I hadn’t heard or seen that.Traditionally, intelligence officers work in the Political Section, because that gives them access to the kind of potential sources they might try to cultivate. And working in a USAID office that might be outside the Embassy would be problematic for operating a Station, since Aid organisations employ lots of local personnel and contractors, among whom there will inevitably be those who report to local intelligence services. So I wondered which Embassies you were thinking of, and widely how the affiliation of the individuals there was known: quite widely, I presume if you had heard of it.

        Reply
        1. mrsyk

          It’s been awhile since I read it, but if IIRC, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins describes first hand the un-holy incestuous relationship between USAID and the CIA.

          Reply
          1. JMH

            See Mike Benz with Joe Rogan in a recent interview if that is what you call it. Mostly Benz talked and Rogan listened. Benz was matter of fact about the USAID’s roll in regime change operations and its CIA connection.

            Reply
        2. pjay

          The use of USAID as cover for covert CIA activities or assets has been an open secret for decades. I remember this being debated when I was an undergrad in the 1970s – which was a brief period of public exposure in the post-Watergate period when Congressional hearings on such activities were taking place (that window was quickly closed). This didn’t mean that there weren’t legitimate development programs or sincere USAID workers in these programs. But their clandestine political function was pretty widely known by the end of the 1970s.

          I actually think this function is carried out much more openly today, with its activities often linked to those of the National Endowment for Democracy and various “NGOs”. They all make claims about promotion of democracy, economic development, education, and other public goods. They all include employees who sincerely believe in these goals. But as I say, their role in US hybrid warfare, including regime support or regime change, is an open secret here.

          Reply
          1. Aurelien

            Fair enough, but I was asking for specific examples of CC’s rather sweeping statement, since in principle Aid organisations are not good covers for intelligence activities. You’re talking about links with “CIA activities” and a “clandestine political function,” which is something different, and that being an “open secret,” which I’m prepared to believe. Rather, Aid organisations are part of government and they naturally reflect government objectives and priorities in different areas. This is obvious, and we don’t need to invoke “hybrid warfare,” or even clandestinity, because no-one would expect, for example, that an Aid agency from the US would send people to train as journalists in Russia, any more than the Russians would do the reverse. Aid is a form of international competition for power and influence and always has been. But that is a long way from the assertion that some (?most) USAID officials are actually from the CIA, using their notional jobs as a cover for spying activities. I repeat that if anyone has specific examples from specific countries, which I assume the original commenter must have had, I’d be interested to hear them.

            Reply
            1. Lupita

              September 2023. AMLO accused the US embassy in Mexico of financing his political opposition. The embassy admitted that it had been doing so through USAID and would stop.

              Reply
        3. Yves Smith

          There are a lot of assets that are not officers.

          And those are often plenty remote from government agencies.

          AIG in all its overseas ops and ITT in South America, both back in the day, were known even by people like me, super remote from anything spooky, as places happy to give them offices and plausible covers. An ITT exec became famous in the industry for standing up to Geneen and saying he wasn’t having any more of it, too many dirty deeds on his nominal payroll, and he amazingly lived even with others telling his tale.

          Reply
          1. Michael Fiorillo

            We mustn’t leave out the Ford Foundation, which has a long history of CIA-adjacent work and funding, especially in the cultural sphere.

            As for Aurelian latching strictly onto “spying,” while ignoring the soft (and sometimes not-so-soft) power overlap between agencies like USAID (and its local NGO fundees) and the CIA, that feels a little disingenuous.

            Reply
            1. Aurelien

              Well, spies spy, in my experience That’s their job in real life although I accept it’s different in Hollywood.

              Reply
              1. Red Snapper

                They don’t do regime change, murders, and all other covert operation stuff (that Jack Devine types love so much). Just spying.

                Reply
      2. ambrit

        Back in the 1960s when my Dad worked in South America for a USAID sub-contractor he remarked that the organization was a front for the “spooks.” Their history as “useful idiots” and worse for the American Intelligence agencies goes back to the beginning.

        Reply
        1. ciroc

          As a consultant to Uruguay’s military dictatorship, USAID contractor Dan Mitrione taught Uruguayan police how to torture dissidents. He was later kidnapped and executed by leftist guerrillas. Costa Gavras’ “State of Siege” is a film based on this story.

          Reply
          1. ambrit

            While living in Miami we got to know a young couple who fled Chile after the coup. They said that the film “Missing” was close to, but a somewhat watered down version of the events.

            Reply
      3. Mikel

        A friend of mine had a husband that was working under USAID in Central America. She wondered one day if it was “CIA” .
        I said, “Well…it’s CIA adjacent?”

        Reply
      1. The Rev Kev

        ‘Balázs Orbán
        @BalazsOrban_HU
        Jan 29
        One of the largest Hungarian opposition media outlets is upset by Trump’s executive order halting U.S. foreign aid for 90 days, as Hungary’s “independent” press stands to lose millions of forints in funding. Makes you wonder how independent one can be when relying on another government’s funding…’

        You wonder about other countries – like Georgia, Romania, Slovakia, etc. Asia too. How much of the “independent media” is just US funded propaganda.

        Reply
  9. Aurelien

    Marianne Faithfull, muse of the Rolling Stones and sixties pop star (“As Tears Go By”) died in Paris this week, where she had lived for some years. In her later career she sang a lot of Brecht/Weil compositions, including this one “The Ballad of the Soldiers Wife” which is horribly relevant to our current situation. Make sure you listen to the end.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL3AJaTajoc

    Reply
    1. IMOR

      Had not heard. Also enjoyed her as Ophelia in Tony Richardson’s 1969 film production of ‘Hamlet’ when I saw it a few years back.
      RIP

      Reply
    2. Jokerstein

      I remember seeing her in London (at The Barbican?) in the late ’90s. She was doing a lot of the Brecht/Weill stuff. At one point she said something like “I really like playing London: there are always snickers running round the auditorium!”

      Some wag shouted “It wasn’t snickers, it was a Mars Bar!”

      I was that wag…

      Reply
  10. The Rev Kev

    ‘assistant inspector
    @housetrotter
    there are dead geese and swans everywhere on the charles’

    The other day it was mentioned by someone that 300 million birds had already died. I guess that this is what it looks like out in the wilds. Ugly. Real ugly.

    Reply
  11. mrsyk

    Re Ogallala aquifer in Kansas, “Kalbas presented a graph showing farmers and other water users on one part of the aquifer needed to reduce pumping by 17.5% to stabilize the supply.” That seems doable. Will steps be taken before it gets out of hand? Doubt it. Gotta have Growth.

    Reply
    1. earthling

      Kabuki theater, pretending they carefully watching, not mining out the aquifer. What was that Meryl Streep line about the oncoming asteroid? “The plan is to sit tight and assess”?

      ps measuring wells is not difficult or strenuous, which calls into question what else is being lied about.

      Reply
      1. mrsyk

        I disagree with both points. The theater entertainment is reserved for the part where lawmakers sincerely pledge their virtue and tireless work towards greater good while complaining their hands are tied etc. Declaring the collection, professional assessment, and delivery to the law making bodies of scientific research for consideration in the stewardship of the state is off the mark.
        As for “difficult and strenuous” it’s probably best to walk a mile in them shoes before making judgement.

        Reply
    2. flora

      Kansas has for a very, very long time now realized and included in Kansas’s Congressional work, regarded the ground water issue, as very important to the state’s welfare and economic well-being. I think it was California that once noted Kansas’s groundwater management work as a model of a good state management of a state resource of importance.

      Reply
      1. flora

        And adding: groundwater levels are not like surface lake levels where draw down is alike across an entire lake surface’s plane. No, it is not like that at all. The best comparison I can make is that groundwater is like a sponge, where a draw down in one area may be very different in draw down levels in another area, where the “sponge” levels of groundwater could be different.

        Reply
        1. chris

          Except that a sponge can elastically recover volume and once you pump out an aquifer and it collapses, that capacity for volume is gone.

          Reply
  12. heh

    DARPA To Launch Pre-Crime AML Program The Rage. AML = Anti-Money Laundering

    There must be a Philip K. Dick joke in here, but my pre-joke abilities are not reporting properly today.

    Reply
    1. tegnost

      I think it’s “a duck walks into a bar”, but I can’t see how one can foresee whats coming next unless one has already heard the joke…

      Reply
  13. eg

    Regarding “The Case for Kicking the Stone” I’m surprised there’s no mention of Marshall McLuhan, someone (along with his critics) I can’t help thinking about whenever the subject of humanity and its communications technology arises. Those who are interested in this subject might enjoy his Understanding Media which is almost as old as I am.

    Reply
    1. NotThePilot

      I thought the same thing; how did the McLuhanism go? Something like “content is a juicy steak that the medium, like a burglar, uses to quiet the watchdog of the mind.”

      At the same time, I thought it was a really good article and always refreshing when someone stops blaming the technology (which you can always choose to abstain from) for human nature.

      Reply
      1. Carolinian

        Woody Allen in Annie Hall: “as it happens I have Marshall McLuhan right here.”

        Actually I only know his slogans but it does seem these ideas have been floating around for awhile and some of us have suggested that the pearl clutching re the web ignores the vast wasteland of television which is what McLuhan was talking about. The LRB above mirrors a link I offered in the Cooler yesterday and both are saying that social media have become deliberate mind manipulation by some political actors and that may be why they are so obsessed with controlling it.

        Personally I think the masses are smarter than the elites assume and know when they are being played even if they can’t do anything about it. It’s he PMC who seem to be completely obsessed with social media and tribal television.

        Reply
  14. The Rev Kev

    “This Religious Ritual Is Creeping Into Schools in Central Israel, With Boys Being Bullied to Take Part”

    This is why I never joined an organized religion. Most of them want you to do stupid stuff. I know about Shoeonhead but putting a box on your head? Seriously?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

    I’m reading between the lines here and I can see that secular Israelis are going to be the new Palestinians. There is too large a gap between the secular and religious in Israel and with this article you can see that the religious are determined to occupy and settle secular grounds. It may end up having huge numbers of secular Israelis leaving Israel with their families eventually which the religious will not care about but they should. This will be the brains of Israel leaving that country taking their skills, training and experience. You can see here how they accuse Israelis not doing some religious rite as not being Jews and I suspect that there will be consequences down the track for those who refuse. It’s a bad brew a brewin’.

    Reply
    1. jefemt

      Is it just my spidey sense bristling aversion to Faith, esp “christian” that seems to be happening in the US of A, too?

      Reply
      1. JBird4049

        There has always been something of a messianic streak in the American nation going back to the Pilgrims. The metaphorical goal of the Shining City on the Hill is one example. However, it often pops up in reformist movements and in the Great Awakening, not in totalitarianism although it is a near bedrock part of American fascism and has been for over a century. In its most insidious form it is the counterpart to whatever messed up the Germans before World War II, but it is also a major part of the Abolitionist Movement as well as the Civil Rights Movement, and can be found in some of the other reform movements.

        Restated, it is not Christianity or religious faith that is a problem for America, but that for nation it is Janus-faced being responsible for great things both good and bad. Maybe you can think of it as the engine that drives us whenever we decide to do something, but not necessarily the trigger.

        Reply
          1. JBird4049

            A recursion, yes, but so far, it has not quite been used as a weapon against the American nation itself aside from the John Birchian “Godless Communism” and anti liberalism and anti leftism crusades of the 20th century.

            The more extreme (and business friendly) American conservative elements have been hampered in their use of an Americanized Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church) – too extreme even for many conservatives, too business friendly, too government friendly, and the end of the Cold War followed by the collapsing American economy, which includes the massive systemic corruption in everything including business. Then there is the American tradition of free speech, which tends to at least slow down at least a little efforts at censorship including movements that advocate for it.

            The question is how the destruction of the economy, of effective government, and most of the civic organizations that use to exist in reality instead of their façades will help the ever present Christian Nationalists that are always preparing for the opportunity to takeover the whole country. It doesn’t mean a military coup or a dictatorship, but likely a version of inverted totalitarianism that has the full support of as much of the government – federal, state, and municipal – as possible. Think of how the American oligarchy imposed neoliberalism on the United States. Actually, neoliberalism, which discounts anything besides money and is anti human, has weakened for a time the cultural conservatism that is a part of the Christian Nationalism, which weakens the whole movement. We are a messianic society that depends on that fanaticism to get us going.

            Unfortunately, I think that too many people will mistake the vibrant, functional society of the past with its many parts for the greater conservatism of that time. Or rather a flawed understanding of what conservatism essentially is especially of the past and use the flawed and simplistic template of “conservative” Christian Nationalism much like how the current regime friendly, overly simplistic, very flawed, and crippled version of both American Liberalism and Leftism.

            The American Left, Liberals, and Conservatives all serve different and very necessary functions in our society, which are needed to keep the nation together and functional. Change and stasis or moderation. Think of the left side as the sight seeing driver driver with a lead foot on the gas pedal and the right side as the fearful passenger trying to hit the brakes and yank on the steering wheel to stop a car crash. Classical Liberalism is what binds the system together as American political philosophy is a classically liberal creation. Natural rights including free speech, democracy, and equality under the law. We need it all.

            The idiots in charge are trying to blow up different bits to increase their power and money. This is likely to help the more fascistic American nationalists gain power or at least influence.

            Reply
  15. Wukchumni

    Breakin’ economics by a large sum
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I didn’t need crypto money ’cause I had none
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won

    I didn’t buy Bitcoin when it was a tenner and it feels so bad
    Guess my race is run
    It could have been the best investment I ever had
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won

    Robbin’ people with a modem
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I lost my chance @ mucho funds
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won

    It wan’t my cup of tea and it feels so bad
    Guess my race is run
    It could have been the best investment I ever had
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won

    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won
    I fought John Law and John Law won for now

    I Fought the Law, performed by the Clash

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4c-2ZMifRA

    Reply
    1. Mark Gisleson

      Interesting. I’m guessing there might be more than one John Law out there. When I fought John Law he was executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, I ended up having to bring a big box of bakery to party headquarters one morning as an apology for some nearly truthful things I’d said in the county newsletter.

      I learned my lesson: never fight John Law. Bribe his staff with baked goods.

      Reply
    2. ChrisFromGA

      A sage quote from Minyanville (anyone else remember that site? ) comes to mind:

      “Lost opportunities in the market are always much easier to make up than loss of capital.”

      -Todd Harrison (where is he now? That was a fun stock market site, back in the day.)

      Reply
      1. alb

        I think of Todd and Minyanville almost every Fed day. He used to say “the first move is the wrong move.” Unfortunately the timescales are too short now for that to be useful.

        Reply
  16. Wukchumni

    Speaking in the immediate aftermath as he worked to put out spot fires in the smoldering rubble where a neighborhood once stood, Ruano described how he and another man on his crew together saved at least five homes during the treacherous firefight. If there had been more of them and the budget constraints had been addressed sooner, perhaps, he said, more homes could have been saved.

    “We would have had more employees – we would have had more resources,” Ruano said.

    In 2021, Joe Biden instituted a temporary pay bump and ensured wages couldn’t dip lower than $15 an hour. With funds from the bipartisan infrastructure act, federal firefighters were given a bonus of either $20,000 or a 50% rise in their base pay, whichever was less.

    The boost was intended only as a salve to stem a mass exodus, help with recruiting and buy legislators time to codify a fix. Those funds have expired and long-term solutions have languished in Congress as bills proposed to support federal wildland firefighters have stalled for years.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/us-firefighters-pay-congress
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    My nephew makes $23 an hour @ Taco Bell down in San Diego, never worries about being burned up or inhaling who knows what in the kitchen, and doesn’t have to wear 20 pounds of protective clothing in the heat of the battle.

    Reply
  17. timbers

    New Not So Cold War – Ukrainska Pravda …. Various inter-tube’s are saying the cut off of foreign aid funds has revealed Ukraine Media gets 80-90% of its funding from US State Department. Holy Cow, Batman. But now that it is close to Mission Accomplished in Ukraine, these journalists at Ukrainska Pravda better start looking for jobs. The State Department might serve as a job portal for positions here in the US. Wonder what % of US media is funded by State Department and other government agencies? Wonder if any nations are taking note of this showing how the US of A operates? In their country maybe?

    Reply
    1. Munchausen

      Other nations already know how US operates, but don’t have power to stop it. Georgia is trying. Hungary and Slovakia too.

      Reply
  18. Wukchumni

    Public safety in the National Park System could be jeopardized if a significant number of key National Park Service personnel decide to take the deferred resignation offer being dangled by the Trump administration as a way to reduce the federal workforce.

    While search-and-rescue efforts could be compromised by a loss of qualified rangers, other areas that involve public safey involve everything from law enforcement to wastewater treatment plants.

    Phil Francis, who spent four decades with the Park Service, including years as superintendent of both Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, said the latest moves by the Trump administration — including the deferred resignation offer and the withdrawal of seasonal job offers — are hammering down the morale of Park Service employees, who already have about the lowest morale among federal government agencies.

    Beyond morale, Francis, who heads the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said a significant move by employees to accept the resignation offer — if it’s deemed legal — could lead to “fewer people to serve visitors and respond to incidents that may occur, vandalism could increase, facilities may not be able to open as normal.”

    Filling holes in the ranks of law enforcement (LE) rangers could be especially problematic, according to one former superintendent, who said “it’s become almost impossible to fill LE jobs, even before the change in administration.”

    “The central hiring process they instituted the last few years to get new LEs through [Federal Law Enforcement Training Center]” hasn’t improved the process, he said. “FLETC has so few training slots for NPS that parks are being held up. It’s a fiasco. The old system was awful, too, but the solution did not fix the problem.”

    Many key jobs are out of public sight but have great impacts on public safety. Positions such as the plumbers, electricians, truck operators who collect garbage and plow roads, and elevator repair operators who keep the elevators at the Washington Monument, Wind Cave National Park, Gateway Arch National Park and other parks that move visitors by elevator.

    “If [Commerical Drivers License] operators left in sufficient numbers, or plumbers or electricians, who will plow roads or repair utility systems?” the retiree asked. “That’s even more of an issue with certified water and/or wastewater systems operators.”

    Too, there are wildland firefighters on the NPS payroll, emergency medical staff, public safety dispatchers, and structural firefighters.

    Staff at the Interior Department and National Park Service did not respond Thursday when asked whether public safety could be impacted by the deferred resignation offer. A lack of guidance could put Park Service employees in an untenable position.

    “Unless the courts intervene quickly, employees will have to make these life-altering decisions before they know if the deferred resignation scheme is even legal,” the retired superintendent said. “What if they take the offer it and later it’s determined to be illegal? The damage will have been done to the national parks, and good luck to those employees who were looking for full pay and benefits for not working.”

    At the National Parks Conservation Association, President and CEO Theresa Pierno said the Trump administration’s flurry of executive orders directed at federal employees have left “[P]ark staff across the country … rightfully afraid about their future and the future of our parks.”

    “When taken together, the cumulative impact of these actions and orders on our national parks and park staff could be devastating and long-lasting,” said Pierno. “Our parks already have thousands fewer staff than they did a decade ago, and these actions risk further straining an already overwhelmed Park Service and impacting millions of visitors and local communities.

    “In the near term, the hiring freeze means our national parks will struggle with insufficient staffing as parks across the country need to begin hiring critical seasonal staff for spring break and summer,” she added. “Ranger-led programs, resource protection, maintenance, trash pickup and visitor needs could be compromised. In the long term, buyouts could lead to a devastating loss of expertise and experience. And when national parks struggle, gateway communities and economies feel the effects too.”

    https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/01/safety-concerns-raised-over-loss-nps-employees-deferred-resignation

    Reply
    1. mrsyk

      In my world working for the parks would be the best and most sought after jobs. Why are we so good at screwing things up?

      Reply
      1. Wukchumni

        Morale here in Sequoia NP among the employees is about as low as a dachshund is high, esprit d’corps just isn’t there and a number of longtime NPS employees have fled to other NP’s.

        I only know about this NP in particular, but judging from the overall morale of NPS employees in Federal jobs, its the same everywhere.

        This is how we treat our crown jewels and those in charge of preserving them.

        Reply
      1. Wukchumni

        Fast food eateries have heretofore not been able to push their fare share in NP’s, a food court near the Sherman Tree would bring much needed nourishment closer to where everybody eventually ends up at some point on their visit.

        Reply
  19. Wukchumni

    In the midst of our winter of missed content (the southern Sierra snowpack is presently @ 46% of average) the Army Corps of Engineers got an order to release the kraken, er water from Lake Kaweah now sitting @ 22% of full or 78% of empty, if you’d prefer.

    This is batshit crazy for a number of reasons, in that farmers rely on that water in the summer-not the winter, and although storms are forecast next week, no way-no how could the reservoir be in any danger of getting too much of a good thing.

    You’d have to guess that the order came on high from the Trump administration, flexing its power by opening the valves.

    Nice country once upon a time, what became of it?

    Reply
  20. GramSci

    Re: Tennessee immigration law

    Kill ne now dept:

    «At one point in our state, we had statesmen like Sen. Fred Thompson.”»

    Reply
  21. Pat

    Just saw that Chuck Todd is going to leave NBC after 18 years.

    It isn’t just that time flies, but how mediocrity and mendacity can grow apace. Just look, over time the spread of yellow journalism and Chicago School of Business MBA culture running press outlets have managed to make one of the biggest tools and idiots on network news pale in comparison to those that followed and look not so bad by comparison.

    Chuck leaving is barely a good start.

    Reply
  22. mrsyk

    Hedge fund Elliott warns White House is inflating crypto bubble that ‘could wreak havoc’ FT
    How about “Trump plans to subvert the treasury with crypto policy” if you want my two cents. As we watch our institutions burn to the ground, why not the UST I ask you. There’s more than a whiff of start from scratch in the air. Maybe “Democracy” is on the list.

    Reply
    1. nyleta

      Reminiscent of Mr Whitlam here in Australia trying to finance the gov. from Arab countries when the House wouldn’t give him supply. Perhaps a simple tax farming scheme ? They want access to the rivers of gold, that $ 6 trillion a year spigot, some percentage to the big guy ?

      This is a flow economy, not stock so they need to get that Bitcoin flowing on a permanent basis. Of course the odds are that it is simply another pump and dump scheme but there are some deep thinkers in the background of the new order.

      Reply
    2. jsn

      Just can’t express how excited I am to have Musk’s IT guys and the Crypto Bros rummaging around Treasury at the same time!

      What could possibly go right?

      Reply
  23. Bsn

    Regarding the airplane crash, perhaps Trump could re-call Bootygetch since he was seemingly doing “A heck of a job” running the transportation department.

    Reply

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