Gen Z increasingly listens to peers over doctors for health advice Axios
Radical approach to shrink particle colliders gains momentum 3 Quarks Daily
Against the Tyranny of Opinionated Ignorance Quillette
In the resort town of Les 2 Alpes, in the northern French Alps there is a bike race which starts at a 3,400m-high glacier. 1/2pic.twitter.com/wVFHEdieRw
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) August 14, 2022
COVID-19/Pandemics
Pete Hegseth reveals future for 8,700 troops fired by Biden Daily mail
How Close Is H5N1 to Reaching the Goal? Infectious Disease Special Edition
Aid cuts as disruptive as Covid pandemic for childhood vaccinations The Telegraph
Climate/Environment
Three ways to cool Earth by pulling carbon from the sky 3 Quarks Daily
Scientists say they can now calculate the trillions in climate damage caused by fossil fuel giants Euro News
‘We don’t have a moment to lose,’ UN chief says in urgent call for climate action Andolu Agency
China?
China launches Shenzhou 20 astronauts to Tiangong space station (video) Space.com
China’s wealthy are hoarding cash amid an uncertain economy, survey finds
China says no tariff negotiations underway, contradicting Trump The Hill
— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) April 24, 2025
China invites global cooperation on 2028 Mars sample-return mission Andolu AgencyTianjin Port in north China is one of the country’s busiest, handling container shipments worldwide daily. Now, it’s accelerating intelligent port development. #TechChina pic.twitter.com/2V55jE4EeS
— Chinese Mission to UN (@Chinamission2un) February 20, 2025
India/Pakistan
India and Pakistan ramp up tit-for-tat spat as tensions mount over Kashmir attack AP
FACTBOX – What is the Indus Waters Treaty that India suspended with Pakistan? Andolu Agency
Protests erupt in cities across India after at least 26 killed in Kashmir shooting Euro News
South of the Border
EPA head calls on Mexico to stop Tijuana sewage flow to California The Hill
Panama accepted asylum-seekers the US didn’t want. Then its troubles began. Christian Science Monitor
‘Morally repugnant’: Brazilian workers sue coffee supplier to Starbucks over ‘slavery-like conditions’ The Guardian
European Disunion
Which countries will be pivotal for the success of EU defence funding instruments? Bruegel
The European Union has wealth and people. Why isn’t it more competitive? Christian Science Monitor
EU Commission’s Migration Fines on Hungary Exceed €500M Hungarian Conservative
Old Blighty
UK prime minister backtracks on ‘trans women are women’ claim after court rules they legally aren’t Fox News
The problem of scale-up in the UK Chemistry World
📽️ 🇬🇧 Restored footage of London, England, United Kingdom (1943)
Life in the heart of London as the brutal Second World War waged on. pic.twitter.com/z2qfb2vkxi
— History Uncensored (@PastUncensored) April 17, 2025
Israel v. The Resistance
They are having serious debates on Israeli TV as to whether newborn babies in Gaza are innocent or whether they should be killed.
Seldom is the question asked in the West how other Middle Eastern societies can live safely next to this Israeli society. pic.twitter.com/VFqCdVxXol
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) April 24, 2025
Gaza death toll nears 51,400 as Israeli attacks kill 50 more Palestinians Andolu Agency
Ben-Gvir: US Republicans support bombing Gaza ‘food and aid depots’ Al Jazeera
Israel ends mention of humanitarian zones as Gaza war grinds on The Guardian
New Not-So-Cold War
Kremlin claims sending peacekeepers to Ukraine will lead to World War III Ukrainska Pravda
Moscow calls Japanese loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets ‘theft’ Reuters
Rubio denies report lifting sanctions on Russia under consideration The Hill
Russia launches huge attack on Kyiv while Trump squeezes Zelenskyy Politico
UK intel behind Ukraine’s disastrous Krynky invasion, leaked documents reveal The Grayzone
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
RIP, Google Privacy Sandbox The Register
Anger as Meta AI chatbot added to WhatsApp, raising privacy fears 9 to 5 Mac
RFK Jr.’s autism registry plan faces backlash over privacy and consent concerns Iowa’s News Now
Imperial Collapse Watch
Fentanyl Exposures in Children Up 10-Fold in 8 Years: Daily Dose Patient Care
These Are the Cities Hit Hardest by Poverty in Every U.S. State 24/7 Wall St.
Opinion: The United States has a literacy problem Washington Square News
Trump 2.0
Scoop: Iran raised possible interim nuclear deal with U.S., sources say Axios
Trump asks Supreme Court to allow ban on transgender members of the military to take effect, for now AP
Trump knocks China for refusing to accept Boeing jets amid trade war The hill
Trump approval drops below 45% ahead of 100-day mark Andolu Agency
Trump administration to fast-track fossil fuels and mining on public lands The Hill
DOGE
Key FDA drug data goes missing amid DOGE cuts Axios
Federal workers are ready to trash those ‘5 bullets’ emails after Musk said he’s exiting DOGE Business Insider
Democrat Death Watch
Resistance Democrats embrace combative, profanity-laced ‘dark woke’ rebrand to combat Trump Fox News
Pete Buttigieg makes his first foray into the podcast manosphere The Verge
Fellow Democrats, we’re losing our common sense and voters with radicalism | Opinion Courier Journal
Immigration
Two federal judges may hold Trump in contempt as he defies courts in immigration crackdown Fox News
Homeland Security Announces DOGE Overhaul of Immigration Database The Epoch Times
Lawyers warn clients of increased arrest risk at immigration check-ins NPR
Immigration Crackdowns Disrupt the Caregiving Industry. Families Pay the Price. POZ
Our No Longer Free Press
Local News Is Disappearing. Lawmakers Need to Ask the Right Questions Free Press
As Trump Attacks CBS, Maria Ressa Warns He Is Following Philippine Model to Crack Down on Free Press Democracy Now
Mr. Market Is Moody
Will Trump’s trade war usher in the end of dollar dominance? The Hill
Bonds Away! Scheer Post
AI
Science sleuths flag hundreds of papers that use AI without disclosing it Nature
Microsoft’s design chief on human creation in the AI era The Verge
Experts: AI tools to reshape translation industry, global cultural exchange CGTN
AI Revives Classic Art: Stunning Animations
[Keith Lissner] pic.twitter.com/hXmKJi6flC
— Doolly Noted ✏️ (@doollynoted) April 19, 2025
The Bezzle
PGI Global Founder Hit With Fraud Charges in Alleged $200M Crypto Ponzi Scheme Coindesk
FBI: US Ransomware Attacks Up 9%, Crypto Fraud up 66% PYMNTS
Scams 2.0: How Technology Is Powering the Next Generation of Fraud Fortra
Guillotine Watch
Antidote du jour (via)
Everything Is Goin’ To Hell
(melody borrowed from the rock n’ roll classic You Never Can Tell written and performed by Chuck Berry back in 1964.)
I hear that DOGE keeps shredding as they fire more personnel
They will never play fair, they cut your job without a word of farewell
In all the flyin’ fur I gather Elon wants his Show n’ Tell
Guarantees are just bad jokes
As everything is goin’ to Hell
They’re wreckin’ every department with their cost cut fairy tale
Investigators be damned as rank beginners grade pass or fail
But Elon’s handiwork has made the judges on the High Court yell
Guarantees are just bad jokes
As everything is goin’ to Hell
The database is No-Go so the DOGE boys made it crash
A bunch of incel wreckers they’ll end up in Alcatraz
They’re codin’ workarounds and lettin’ Elon steal the best intel
Guarantees are just bad jokes
As everything is goin’ to Hell
They claim they’re codin’ genies with the go ahead to run free
Wearin’ T-shirts and jeans but they’re here to do some surgery
They’re on a tear to get there and if they break things that is just as well
Guarantees are just bad jokes
As everything is goin’ to Hell
(musical interlude)
And the results they’re gettin’ couldn’t fill a small clam shell
In the publicity glare their flimflam it just ain’t gonna sell
These boys are saboteurs who’ll be pardoned if they serve Trump well
Guarantees are just bad jokes
As everything is goin’ to Hell
Loved what appeared to be 572 Keystone Kops on la piste de la resistance in France…
By the way, my French expat friends who have been living in the states for 15 years, have decided to go back on a permanent basis, a number of factors playing a part in their decision-they’re genuinely terrified of what Trump might do, and they can go home again, our options are a lot less possible in that regard.
“Moscow calls Japanese loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets ‘theft'”
So what happens when the EU is forced to give back Russia’s money? There is a vote coming up in a coupla months and if Hungary or Slovakia don’t go along with it, then all that money has to be returned to the Russian Federation. Unless of course (glances around) that the EU has swiped that money and spent it. So Tokyo will be on the hook for that $3.3 billion which they will have to pay themselves. Have the Japanese not heard of the sunk cost fallacy?
Rev Kev,
Congrats to the Aussies who today captured the 4 kg runaway dachshund Valerie on Kangaroo Island – Kangala Wildlife Rescue. She was lost and fending for herself for 529 days after being frightened away from her family on a camping trip. She avoided venomous snakes, eagles, and people and managed to keep herself going on roadkill and stream water. They caught her using a remote controled trap meant for wild pigs packed with familiar items from her home, her bed, her toys, and clothing from her mom and dad. They worked for weeks to get her to come to the rescue site, eat food that they put out for her, film her visit with cameras, keep other wildlife away, and set up the trap. All in wilderness conditions. Success!
Thanks for that, Ann. I had not heard about that story as the election news is pushing everything else off the TV news. How a dog like that survived in the wild I have no idea-
https://www.9news.com.au/national/missing-sausage-dog-valerie-found-after-529-days/e955dddc-d13d-4d86-a798-27e027a5a8dc
But I’m glad that it did.
This would not surprise any dachshund owner, like me. They were bred for hunting badgers and they hunt alone, never in packs. Valerie is a mini-dachshund and they were bred to hunt rabbits. Valerie was only a year old when she went missing and her genes must have kicked in big time.
Mine is a standard size and she kills marmots, ground squirels, rats, and mice here on our acreage. The mice she eats. The others she carries around until they start to rot and I have to take the bodies away from her. Last summer I had to pull her out of a badger hole by her hind legs; she was snarling and snapping at the resident badger who was snarling and snapping right back. Twenty-five pound dog against a 35 pound carnivore.
Dachshunds are very independent and very very stubborn. If you get a dachshund, you’ll have to forget everything you thought you knew about dogs and learn all over again but don’t worry, they’ll teach you how to behave.
The article “The problem of scale-up in the UK” in Chemistry World appears to be gone and replaced with “The hole in the UK chemical industry”:
Empty container glut could cause congestion, but BNSF and UP say they’ve got capacity Trains magazine
In 2021 “UP had 25 trains parked headed towards the city of Chicago — 25 trains, every one of those trains close to 2 miles long. So we had 50 miles of locomotives and trains parked. It will not happen under [UP CEO] Jim Vena’s watch.” Quite an impressive supply chain disruption it was, indeed.
Dont go away! Stay tuned kids! More cartoons to follow!
Thank you, Haig.
With regard to the Grayzone article about the UK organising Ukrainian attacks, readers should note that, since 2014, 100k Ukrainians have settled in the UK. They are not to be confused with the 200k given refugee status since February 2022.
That 100k have a different status and are the loved ones of professional soldiers and new volunteers trained for an eventual attack on Crimea and the Donbas. These soldiers get longer and more intense training than the conscripts who get a few weeks squeezed at best at Catterick.
As a cadet in the 1980s, I went to Otterburn.
Thanks, Colonel.
I wonder how many of these loved ones are now grieving. The UK is so all in for this war that I think the denouement will cause unprecedented political upheaval there. That could be a Reform government, in perhaps a mildly bad scenario. Or something much stranger…?
Thank you, Bugs.
I’m sure many are grieving.
They are very well looked after, if that is any consolation.
I have a feeling that the UK needs to make itself useful / relevant / loved by the US and keep the pot boiling, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere, to keep the EU amused.
A colleague was an Honourable Artillery Company TA and had stories to tell about the frigid wastes of Otterburn…. :-)
He was a nice guy but quite a throwback. He was lean and rode polo ponies in the Argentine like a pre-WW2 English rake. His family were all government and military types and the more recent ones were mercenaries. After a couple of years of Otterburn weekends, he threw it all in to be a (rather good) stand-up comedian and after-dinner speaker. :-)
Thank you.
I work near the HAC ground in the City and will be there next Thursday for rugger. How different that is from Northumberland.
In case that you read comments later, this may be of interest: https://carlitashaw.substack.com/p/blackrocks-influence-on-keir-starmer.
Gates’ Cascade Investment owns farmland in the US, Argentina, Ukraine and Romania* and covets English and Dutch* farmland. *Farms that receive EU subsidies.
Racing bikes down glaciers, no thanks! That video seems like a metaphor for something.
No real problem here. Just wait a few more years and there will no longer be any ice glaciers left to hold these sort of events. So how about a nice British cheese rolling competition instead?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvuktushEhY (3:27 mins)
Thank you, Rev.
The Gloucestershire event may soon be nominated as living heritage under UNESCO’s auspices:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-heritage-hogmanay-cheese-rolling-notting-hill-carnival-b2731739.html#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20traditions%20that%20could%20be%20recognised,heathen%20festival%20to%20celebrate%20the%20return%20of%20spring.
Whatever happened to dwarf tossing? Another Australian heritage event?
You have to be a tosser to enjoy that event but hey, what is Peter Dinklage doing these days?
Thank you, both.
I thought dwarf throwing was a Wall Street speciality, pre-2008. There was talk of a return a bit before covid.
“China’s wealthy are hoarding cash amid an uncertain economy, survey finds”.
Our media have been running variations of this counterfactual headline since 1950.
Despite our embargoes, bombings and bioattacks, Mao grew GDP 6.5% annually for 25 years and, when we lifted some of the restrictions, his successors grew it even faster – for 50 years.
China’s Q1 2025 growth is on track to add another $1.8 trillion to GDP whereas we will add nothing, even after we borrow another $3 trillion. And it’s certain that we will.
What has the American elites scared s**tless about China is that they’re demonstrating what a country’s government can accomplish when it prioritizes the general welfare of all the people.
You mean TINA doesn’t really work if there is an obvious alternative?
But at what cost? /s
Alternatively, they have a high savings rate and when a good investment opportunity comes along they have the cash ready to take advantage without the burden of interest payments.
“UK intel behind Ukraine’s disastrous Krynky invasion, leaked documents reveal”
And so the Krynky debacle gets added to the list of hare brained amphibious adventures planned by the British military, the ultimate price for which is paid by the soldiers of their gullible allies, taking its place in the shameful pantheon of disastrous failures along with Gallipoli and Dieppe …
Was disgusted myself in reading that article. Krynky was a butcher’s yard but the British were insisting that the Ukrainians send wave after wave of their soldiers for months before finally quitting. Those soldiers could never be supplied and they found themselves in a kill box with no way out and there was no real purpose even having them there. In a way, it became a foretaste of the Kursk incursion – which the British were heavily involved with too.
And the media was praising the whole thing while it was going on. A Monty Python sketch, with real blood.
History rhymes dept.
Shades of the WWI Brit campaign in Turkey, courtesy of Churchill. Send in the expendable colonials, Australians and New Zealanders. And if they get slaughtered, well, no harm done, what’s a few more men.
There might even be a future commemorative day in Ukraine, with a holiday and parades and speeches, where Ukrainians celebrate the heroism of the Krynky soldiers. Acknowledged as the time when Ukraine came of age.
Perhaps the Ukrainians need to do a fact finding mission to the antipodes to investigate how to set up such a day. They could observe the festivities (solemn) on ANZAC Day.
Maybe there will be a Ukrainian version of “Waltzing Matilda” to match …
I was going to joke that you should be very careful when taking advice on amphibious operations from the British.
To be fair, I suppose being a traditional sea power would make them undertake more amphibious operations – and therefore have more amphibious disasters – than most, but they do also have a pattern of unreasonable optimism about those things. Gallipoli was also meant to offer an alternative to positional warfare…
A debacle that also shows how the war has been playing under the strategic thinking of Western luminaries who don’t give a damn on Ukraine’s own strategic needs. The proxy war thing, not defending Ukraine but only wanting a war against Russia, being Ukraine the mere provider of flesh and blood in exchange of some money for Ukraine’s PMCs. Some day the Ukrainians will wake up to the realization of facts. (This is probably badly written. I am thinking in other language and translating literally those thinkings)
My understanding is that the Ukranazi minority in command totally supports all of this and the Ukranormal majority under control supports and obeys it. Probably out of fear of what the Ukranazis will do to the Ukranormals if groups of Ukranormals try to rebel here and there, now and then.
If somebody-or-other could co-ordinate all the Ukranormals to revolt, fight-and-defeat, then round up and exterminate in physical detail every single member or supporter of the Azov formations and every single member and/or supporter of the various Banderite, Svoboda, Pravy Sektor, etc. Ukranazi communities and organizations, then the Ukranormals might stop themselves from being sent into yet more “Krinky invasions”. But who would lead such a political-demographicultural decontamination and disinfection of Ukraine? Not I, that’s for damn sure.
Umm, removing the UkroNazi’s is the goal of the RU SMO. It’s not like the Ukronormals are alone in this endeavor.
Is it , though?
If Russia permits a Ukronazi ” Lesser Galiciastan” to keep on surviving to inconvenience EUrope with its Ukronazi bitterness over not having been supported enough, then we will see that “de-Nazifying Ukraine” was a pretext for re-conquering all the most economically valuable parts of Ukraine.
If they get all of Ukraine, including all of Galicia, totally de-Nazified, then they will show that it really was their purpose to de-Nazify Ukraine.
I mean . . . it could be true. We never know. I will watch and learn.
We really need to look on the bright side and recognise that the UK’s top brass far outdo US general officers in incompetence and lack of foresight – and surely that is something we can be proud of? I always thought that the US military far outclassed us in the mediocrity stakes but the UK’s adventures in the Ukraine have proved me wrong once again.
And to think that we use to mock British WW1 generals who sent men into battle in wave after wave to their slaughter and think that we would never see that again. The spirit of “butcher” Haig lives on.
I read somewhere that Haig said after the war that,” he thought of it as one big long battle that he won”,
https://x.com/tanvi_ratna/status/1915292385279398350/photo/1
finally someone making sense of tariff regime:
Tanvi Ratna
@tanvi_ratna
The U.S. has not remained the world’s dominant economy by being a fool. People say they “haven’t heard a strategy from the admin,” or that I’m stretching for patterns. I’m not. It was laid out in plain sight months ago.
Stop looking for signal in headlines or X chatter. Start reading the economists and strategists actually shaping the plan.
For proof, start with the 41-page document from the president’s top economic advisor—it openly outlines the blueprint to restructure global trade.
It was written in November 2024—the month of the election victory.
The admin is tight-lipped because negotiations are live and political pressure is peaking. But the strategy? It’s not hidden—it was laid out nearly a year ago.
There’s a lot more going on than you’re being told. Look deeper.
Since you must have read the document, would you please point out the specific page where the tariff on/tariff off strategy is laid out?
Yeah, this was linked to a while back, here’s from page 21:
Emphasis is mine – I’m glad we’re getting the minimally disruptive version since a full on trade war with China would be bad. /sarc
Obviously there’s no suggestion to daily on/off this policy, but somebodies been making some bucks with all that kerfuffle.
It’s interesting, might have worked twenty years ago, and been a better plan instead of endless wars in the ME. But American elites had actually decided profit overrode all other considerations (including maintaining national sovereignty and security by maintaining an industrial base, and an educated middle class to make it work). Plus it needs some industrial policy as was the historical model going all the way back to the American system from the early 1800’s:
American System (economic plan) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_System_(economic_plan)
And further refined in the New Deal:
New Deal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
I mean, it’s not a big secret that China has used policy and plans that has been used successfully in the past by America. As others have pointed out, that’s why it’s called “The American System”.
And at the time it was called “The American System” to highlight its opposition to ” The British System”.
https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/economy/phys_econ/2014/larouche_40_year_record_files/Henry_Carey-American_System_vs_British.pdf
https://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/carey95.htm
Tony Wikrent ( whose Sunday Weekend Roundup Blog-Feature is co-run at Ian Welsh every Sunday) was the second person I ever read in print to mention the mere existence and mere name of Henry Carey. And who was the first I ever read in print to mention the mere existence and mere name of Henry Carey? Charles Walters Jr. of Acres USA, both in editorial after editorial and article after article in his newspaper, and then also in his book
Unforgiven. Link here.
https://bookstore.acresusa.com/products/unforgiven
( I wonder if Tony Wikrent has ever heard of Acres USA or Charles Walters Jr. or this book
Unforgiven? I hope that he has. It seems to have fore-run in pre-parallel to some of Tony Wikrent’s own thought and work.)
Antony Wikrent has posted here from time to time. He will most likely be reading this.
No, there really isn’t. No facts have been provided that indicate this is anything more than Trump throwing a temper tantrum because China didn’t immediately bend the knee to the US.
For further proof of this, look no father than Trump’s lie that the US and China are talking. This is not part of any great plan, but merely an attempt to back China into a corner. Problem is, China has made it very clear they see this an existential issue, and won’t be backing down. If there was really some grand plan in play, the response would be different. Instead, it is more of the same.
Re Trita Parsi tweet, who are these people? It can’t be long before Israelis start cannibalizing each other raw in the streets of Jerusalem.
You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins
Dylan
Masters of War
Trump also squeezed Putin, by writing “STOP it bro!” on Twitter. :)
‘Trita Parsi
@tparsi
They are having serious debates on Israeli TV as to whether newborn babies in Gaza are innocent or whether they should be killed. Seldom is the question asked in the West how other Middle Eastern societies can live safely next to this Israeli society.’
Nice to know that the Medieval concept of Infant Damnation is alive and well in the Bronze-age culture of Israel.
And to think Herod supposedly only had baby boys killed. Clearly a hold my beer moment for Israelis today determined to prove they are not sexist by killing all Palestinian girl babies and children too.
Dont’t insult Bronze Age peoples.
The Trojan War involved a 10 years siege of Troj, which wouldn’t have lasted 10 years if food weren’t allowed in the city. But it obviously was. That was the time of heros, when face to face fight was prized. And it took them 10 years to say, oh, fuck it, and devised the scheme with the horse.
The Israelis are beyond pale in everything and the tragedy is that they are dragging others down this road to perdition, i.e. the militarization of police everywhere. We will all become Gazans at some time in the future….
A country that small can’t drag anyone else who doesn’t want to be dragged. ( I suspect that America’s Christianazi TheoFascists appreciate Israel being a testbed for how to treat opponents or mere targets of the Gilead Republic they plant to create here.)
Remember the Police Riot at the Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968? Were those police Israeli-trained? Maybe so, but I don’t remember hearing about it. So ” the Israel made us do it” excuse may be used, but will it be believed?
We grew up with quite an array of pets, a guinea pig named Harvey amongst the menagerie. Truth be said it was a pretty boring pet, all it did was sit there and poop perfectly formed pellets.
My sisters and friends went to a restaurant in Cusco yesterday, dead set on eating one, and their claim was it tastes like chicken, but I’ll never know.
I taught many students from Ecuador, where eating cuy is common, and they would bring it to our annual multicultural food fests.
For lack of a better term, you could sort of say it tasted like chicken, but much gamier.
In other contexts there would be grim humour or satisfaction seeing the Guardian et al slowly coming round to the obvious truth that a genocide is in fact a genocide, but none here. [Family-blog] the lot of them. Widespread complicity in crystal clear genocide has been a crossing of the moral Rubicon for whatever society or culture I was born into. We have descended into depravity once more.
All norms look spurious now. There’s no going back.
Moral persons think this way. The issue becomes – What Do We Do About IT Right Now To Stop IT Before All The Children Are Dead?
The genocide of the Jews no longer carries much, if any, moral weight for Israel, and that was, has been and is Israel’s only justification for existence. It has become just another rogue state killing whoever and whatever it pleases in the cruellest, most systematic and most filmed form of genocide the world has ever witnessed, and when it finally goes the way of all the other vanished kingdoms, which it will, very few people will give even the most half-hearted f**k, and most will give thanks to a good God even though He took His Eye of the ball for a little longer than He should.
Wherever Elon goes, the DOGE goons are taking data with them, aren’t they?
Yes. Yes they are. They are doing it so they can be the New Government after they get the current government dismantled and abolished.
Does Trump support that particular end-goal of the DOGE program? I don’t know. But Musk does and DOGE does.
Good thing Musk is running point then.
Everything he is involved with turns to family blog. So as long as he’s heading it up, failure is assured.
Hope is not a policy. Or a response. We need to think about whether there are ways that we mere citizens can somehow reach out and destroy Musk and destroy DOGE.
My wife took a Delta flight yesterday to meet some old friends. They taxied to the runway. Then the pilot came on the speaker and said they needed to go back to the terminal ‘to unload a piece of equipment.’ Once back, she noticed they were filling the plane with fuel! Not confidence building!
Pretty sure that a fuel check is part of the pre-flight checklist (eye-roll). So how did they miss that one to the point that it had departed the terminal and was getting ready to take off.
Covid/ stress brain. It’s evident everywhere. Not a great time to be an ardent bicyclist or pedestrian.
Add in a distraction gizmo or a few billion— what could possibly go right?
F*ck-ups— its not just for pilots and politicians any more.
– ‘Against the Tyranny of Opinionated Ignorance’ – Quillette
Here’s my summary for those who have not read this article: The masses are asses. And anyone like Joe Rogan who gives a platform to these asses is a tyranny-enabler.
Whose opinion should you value on the subject of, say, the current doings in Gaza: the well-traveled and well-informed “journalist” Douglas Murray, or the ignorant “comedian” Dave Smith. The latter has *no* academic expertise in the region and – can you believe it – has *never even been there*! How could he possibly know what he’s talking about when compared to someone like Murray?
I have not seen this episode of Rogan. And in fact Rogan does sometimes provide a platform for those whose views I consider ill-informed. But I am SO f***ing sick of these types of dishonest arguments for censorship that pretend to be appeals to reason. They use “expertise” or “experience” or “credentials” to silence those of the ignorant “masses” who ask legitimate questions.
The author gives her game away at the beginning of this piece by invoking Gasset. I remember reading Revolt of the Masses as a sophomore first-generation college student, just as I was discovering how “ignorant” and “uninformed” the beliefs were back in my small midwestern hometown and among my relatively uneducated family. Gasset was right; the masses *were* asses I realized as I was liberating my mind from their influence. Fortunately, I quickly grew out of this overtly elitist phase of my academic indoctrination. But it took me much longer to start listening seriously again to the questions and concerns of those I had left behind. I learned that there was a way to converse with the “uninformed” that allows for actual communication and learning. And I definitely learned that one’s level of education or experience does not prevent ignorance or bias.
Thank you, pjay, for taking the time to expose the pretensions of the Quillette writer in detail. Such an appeal to erudition put to what ends? Covering up the fact that the real aim was to disqualify any critic of the Gaza genocide, that’s what.
The exquisite dishonesty on display set my teeth on edge.
pjay: The masses are asses. Anyone like Joe Rogan who gives a platform to these asses….
That’s pretty funny, actually. Here’s an interview with Roger Penrose, maybe the greatest living mathematical physicist, which Rogan did a few years ago —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEw0ePZUMHA&t=4044s
Joe Rogan Experience #1216 – Sir Roger Penrose
Arguably, it’s one of the best interviews I’ve seen of a great scientist explaining his ideas to a popular audience. Certainly recently, though maybe the BBC could have done something like it in the 1960s-1980s period. All the same —
[1] Part of what makes it good is that it clocks in at 1 hour, 37 minutes. Penrose gets the time to explain himself and, it turns out, has a von Neumann-like capability to simulate being a normal human and articulate his ideas in ways we can semi-understand (mostly). The BBC at its prime would only have given him an hour ….
[2] And that’s because Rogan owns his show and so, likewise, can dock his ego and let Penrose answer in a way that a MSM interviewer never could without interjecting themselves every 30 seconds. Slightly surprisingly, too, out of two dozen-odd questions Rogan asks only a couple of embarassingly dumb woo-woo questions and the rest are intelligently directed enough for Penrose to answer. Certainly, better questions than a MSM interviewer would be likely to ask.
Citizens Assembleys, OR Jurors are randomly selected from the roster of eligible citizens.
These are the only truly democratic elements that we can speak of nowadays. And they also dispel the idea that masses are asses.
Except that thing with If the glove doesn’t fit…
That was a disgusting article on so many levels. As if you have to be an expert to know killing 10s of thousands of children is bad.
No mention that Murray isn’t an expert on anything (he only has a undergraduate degree) and there was a viral video going around of him contradicting his own position on having to travel to know anything, but the big blind spot in the whole argument is money.
Some experts are paid to lie, that is why some rando on X might have a better take than an “expert”. You have to take motivation into account.
Personally I’m not worried about skewed citizens juries.
https://bsky.app/profile/terryflynn.bsky.social/post/3lnna576nuk2m
We’re in the endgame
A Quillette article before the NC Commentariat is like a piece of raw meat thrown to a pack of wolves.
My view is that you don’t really know unless you can answer the “stupid” questions–and, often, having all the answers (or, worse, thinking that you do) is not a good thing–that means you know what you need to learn and that’s a good thing.
The trouble with the alleged experts shutting down, essentially, the “stupid questions” is that it’s making everyone really stupid, as in not knowing the linits of your knowledge (and ignorance.)
One problem I see these days, though, that’s grown increasingly more acute, though, is that people think that they have the right to be right (or, at least, treated as if you are right. Self esteem movement has done wonders.)
“China invites global cooperation on 2028 Mars sample-return mission”
The US will probably not be part of that group. Back in 2011 the Wolf Amendment was passed which was part of an attempt to keep the Chinese out of space. It forbids NASA from cooperating with China and to get a look at those samples, they would first have to get the FBI to say that it would not be a threat to national security and they have to get the approval of Congress as well. Last year when a Chinese Lunar mission to the far side of the Moon brought back samples, I do not think that US scientists were allowed to get a look at the because of this Amendment-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Amendment
Maybe Trump can ask Musk to go get the US samples from Mars which I’m sure that he would be more than willing to sell to the US.
Rev Kev: Last year when a Chinese Lunar mission to the far side of the Moon brought back samples, I do not think that US scientists were allowed to get a look at the because of (the Wolf) Amendment
If so, the parallels between today’s US and Qing dynasty China — which also took measures to embargo the flow of science and technologies to preserve their preferred social order and maintain control — keep accumulating.
Could be. But it wouldn’t be all US based scientists, maybe just those at NASA or other government agencies. I ran into the same issue regarding the study of meteorites. Meteorites found by poor people in the deserts of Africa (lots of visibility, easier to find their than in a forest here) are smuggled out because a few hundred dollars for them is a huge boon and how hard is it to smuggle a small rock? Since these were not officially exported and those governments tried to control them then certain US scientists at public institutions couldn’t analyze these because of treaty obligations. I’m sure I’m partly wrong but that is the gist of it.
If you go on eBay and search for meteorites you get thousands of hits, mostly small slices and chips. These mostly have the designation NWA####. NWA standing for NorthWest Africa.
“Underwater restaurant in the Maldives”
Not always a good idea-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKmWhtzYHU (2:42 mins)
I do wonder though if the people that visit that restaurant actually care about the view at all or whether it is just one more way of displaying their net worth.
You always have the classic clips.
Re: literacy in the U.S.
Even prior to the current administration, 54% of us adults aged 16-74 read below a 6th grade level. That figure for Canada stands at 48% (measured instead by “adequate literacy”). 44% for Australia.
These rates are generally higher among the European countries. So the real question might be what happened to the main settler colonial states of the British regarding literacy?
Interestingly, when the British Empire were kicked out of India, the literacy rate there was 13%.
The author Robert Heinlein talked about having his father’s school books and seeing what they taught. And he noted that the kids in a rural schoolhouse in late 19th century Missouri were taking subjects that in the 1970s were only offered to advanced college classes. That class in that rural school building had kids from all ages with only one teacher and the older kids helped the younger ones so that they became literate but fast.
My Grandfather worked for Cathedral Books – the catholic version of primary readers from the 30s through the 50s. They were easier than the McGuffey readers he had used early in his teaching career but still a solid set of escalating skills and vocabulary. An interesting take on the home school use of older readers here:
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/identitieswhat-are-they-good-for/articles/the-strange-afterlife-of-william-mcguffey-and-his-readers
One thing is that “the main settler colonial states of the British” speak, read and write in English. Compared to a lot of, at least European, languages, English is a brute.
“Aye sea that wee must go two the see too due that”.
I sometimes wonder if written English is getting closer to ideograms.
Well you do have the increasing use of emojis.
“Pete Hegseth reveals future for 8,700 troops fired by Biden”
That sounds all very fine and just but how will it work out for those soldiers that decide to return to duty? They have missed out on five years of military service so will be behind their contemporaries by that amount who have had more assignments, taken more classes, gained newer experience, gained more promotions, etc. They will always be behind the eight ball and it may be that their new commanders may look down on them as trouble makers because they refused mandatory vaccinations. And will they even get back pay for all the years that they missed? Will those missing years have an effect on their eventual pensions?
Do we think that the current trends against trans people will stop at these definition rulings and military bans, or will they go further? maybe it’s paranoia, but coupled with the recent trampling of the rights of acceptable victims, it makes me worried. Especially when it’s cheered on.
Lots of federal workers have already stopped sending bullet-point emails; there does not seem to be any system in place to monitor if they have sent them. They pepper them full of term-of-art administrative acronyms, making them incomprehensible to anyone not read-in to local agency functions.
My contacts in land management agencies report that lists of jobs administering logging, mining, and energy projects on public land are being shopped around to replace people that took the buyout, were laid off during the probationary dump, took early retirement, or have been riffed. They want existing employees to transfer in to the positions, but the list only shows the regions where the jobs are, not the towns where the jobs are based, so nobody is showing any interest.
My contacts affirm that fire season is going to find us very, very short of firefighting capability. We are on a path to lose forests, towns, and firefighters this summer.
It might be a good time to ask the question, “Why is God still unhappy with America?,” in the right circles. The Mandate of Heaven American-style holds a lot of sway with an important component of MAGA. Of course, if local factors make it an abomination to YHWH, e.g. California, that exempts Trump.
Madrid’s Biggest Landlord? U.S. Investment Firms (NY Times via archive.ph)
But of course!
FBI arrests Wisconsin Judge Dugan on obstruction charge, escalates Trump immigration enforcement effort, cnbc.
Federal agents arrested Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan on obstruction charges, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Patel made the announcement in an X post, which was quickly deleted.
Dugan is accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, according to Patel.
I’m also seeing that Santos was sentenced to seven years and change for fraud charges in NY. Plea deal, I guess he’s hoping for a pardon.
You’d think that for illegal immigrants charged with state/local crimes, there would be criteria for deciding who to federally arrest/deport as opposed to letting state/local justice take its course. Would the feds seize someone charged with (say) 1st degree murder? It would be like a huge get out of jail free card.
Climate/Environment as a Category has been well illustrated on NC this Earth Day 55 week—imo
Although today’s first selection: https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2025/04/three-ways-to-cool-earth-by-pulling-carbon-from-the-sky.html (worn out hopium)
is big BS, the last link gets the bottom line right:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/we-dont-have-a-moment-to-lose-un-chief-says-in-urgent-call-for-climate-action/3546682
And, yeah, the perpetrators owe everyone big buck$, btw.
Because that’s what Capitalism is about. For awhile longer…
From Earth Days Links
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/21/climate-change-kills-capitalism/
Has anyone seen the sources of the details Mercouris is discussing here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GosPXDKQfuY
For me, assuming these are substantively true, I’m amazed that the Ukrainians (and their British and French lackeys) apparently think that they can dictate to United States what we should do with our military assets (and our security), or that, apparently, Bidenistas (whether while they were still in office or after they were booted out) thought it fit to submit to those dictates. For that alone, I honestly think we should consider Ukraine, France, and Britain de facto enemies of United States…
I think this is what you’re looking for.
It seems odd tho me that so many accelerationists expect to make it through the coming chaos unaffected, and that the smartest people in the whole wide World expect that they can destroy the Federal Government and US Society and then build a paradise on Earth on what remains.
They appear to assume that there will be the necessary infrastructure left to build on, things like water and waste systems, electric power and agriculture…you know, food.
How many CAFO operations can survive 90 days without power? Or the other necessary inputs?
And where are the skilled workers going to come from?
Now there are two types of accelerationists, and I’m Type B. I think this is all headed down before long, but the longer it takes, and the more the elites party like it’s 1999, the worse it’s going to be for those who follow. So I say, lets get it over with.
The other kind, the kind you’re talking about, I fritterered away my time today listening to arch Accelerationist Type A Peter Thiel and another favorite of mine, Jordan Peterson. I came away thinking Thiel’s mind was a jumble, not capable of thinking in practical terms outside of his money world. The water is supposed to come on when you turn on the faucet. It’s a rule of physics.
At some points, it seemed like Peterson was providing Thiel therapy, the blind leading the blind for sure.
Regardless of labels the drama with all the magical creative destruction types is Productive/Social Capital destroyed is 10X harder, expensive, longer to get back – if – it comes back at all. As noted with the Mfg dramas of up to 10 yrs just to start, needs all the prerequisites starting with Ed and then experaince.
Even here on NC way back just post GFC you had the same libertarian and adjacent types banging on about destruction so a new virtuous cycle would magically pop up. More so how the advent of digital devices and meta data would allow control over consumers[tm]. Actually lol here on NC that no one could stop them. Then some are confused how Friedman said Democracy needed dialing down less the unwashed voters just vote more money for themselves … complexly oblivious or seemingly so … whilst Capital/C-Suite did just that …
Now Trump and DOGE team are blindly ripping the guts out of everything like some religious zealots after taking over the church HQ, purifying it. Funny thing is not unlike here in Oz, awhile back, some ninny’s decided to unceremoniously ban live goat/greyhound racing for virtue signaling style points. BOOM – the economic and social fall out was huge.
The flow of funds that moved throughout the entire economic back drop, decades in the making, and how many families were effected was significant. There was zero consideration on how all these people would or could offset these losses and how that would blow back on the larger economy at the time, let alone the political. Yet here we have Trump/DOGE doing just that, and for what, more tax giveaways to the so called job creators and ascended wealthy sorts … otherwise reality just goes poof thingy …
Best of all is China/Russia can just say no too everything from these people – in their face and in global media. All whilst Trump plays blanket tariffs war on anyone not bending the knee, blames China for offering others a better deal, and then doubles down. Can’t wait for it to wash through out the US economy, months, year, and then see how this mob rolls …
re: Germany BSW post-election
BERLINER ZEITUNG
Exclusive: Were hundreds of thousands of people abroad unable to vote because documents were sent with minimum postage?
Before the federal election, there were warnings that documents for Germans living abroad might arrive too late. Marcel Luthe’s election complaint, which the Berliner Zeitung has obtained, is also based on this.
https://archive.is/Aoh7w
“(…)
Luthe’s main target: Germans living abroad, many of whom reportedly received their mailing documents too late or not at all. Even before the election, there were widespread reports about the difficulties Germans living abroad have in voting. After all, this affects up to three million people. The crux of the matter: They must register to participate in a federal election. But only about 200,000 Germans living abroad did so this year. Voter turnout is thus much lower than that of Germans living in Germany, of whom a whopping 80 percent cast their ballots. This leads Luthe to believe that the election was marred by significant procedural errors.
(…)
His election complaint therefore cites numerous case studies of Germans living abroad who, despite applying for registration, were not given voting documents. Luthe writes that “the active right to vote is being denied by the authorities’ simple inaction.” He estimates the number of those affected at around 100,000. If Luthe’s estimates and evidence are correct, voter turnout among Germans living abroad could have been considerably higher if the authorities had fulfilled their duties.
(…)
the complainant writes that many municipalities and cities sent voting documents to Germans living abroad very late and with low postage. The city of Munich, for example, only sent the documents worldwide at the beginning of February, with the minimum postage of €0.88. The same applies to the city of Hamburg – which is why a person living in Portugal only received his documents on March 14, about three weeks after the federal election. The Berlin district office in Mitte also sent voting documents for a German living abroad to France just five days before the election date, which is why the person concerned was unable to participate in the election.
The complaint details a large number of such cases.
(…)”
The Courier Journal “Fellow Democrats” opinion piece seems quite deranged to me. Democrats now are blighting their brand with extremist positions in favor of the usual woke stuff and democratic socialism. Wow, I’ve totally missed any Democrat this century arguing for the latter (Bernie Sanders is an Independent). And democratic socialism is bad because of tyranny in Cuba and the USSR where it was implemented…wait, what? Since when was democratic socialism the same as Communism? Maybe it’s bad because it was so easily gamed by the old aristocracy in the many European countries that adopted some of its features. But that just argues for being more savvy in the implementation. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago (before the EU decided to force members to abandon social welfare for more armaments spending) when most Democrats spoke positively of the socialistic benefits enjoyed by citizens of our European allies. It’s hard to believe the author of this op-ed is making this sort of case in good faith.
It’s easy to believe he is not.
He is an example of the Clintonite-Obamazoid filth which would have to be purged and burned out of the DemParty if it is to be made into a legitimate party again.
re: Germany legal problems vs. sanctions on RU
FINANCIAL TIMES
Rusal threatens to sue Germany over ‘unlawful expropriation’
Dispute relates to fallout from hedging deal with Russia’s VTB upended by Ukraine invasion
https://archive.is/Qq1KJ
Sounds like CNN talked directly to the Chinese Embassy and confirmed that China will not negotiate with America until it abolishes all unilateral tariffs, and no talks are going on:
‘US should stop creating confusion’; Chinese embassy denies any ongoing negotiation on tariffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKHKNRCz52Y
Bummer…
RE: Homeland Security Announces DOGE Overhaul of Immigration Database The Epoch Times
The question I have is why link to an Epoch Times story. I read the report and though it sounded like a reasonable news report (even listing Reuters as a source), it is not a news organization I would chose first on this story. Epoch Times has often platformed conspiracy theories. The CFO has been indicted by the Justice Dept, accused of taking part in a multi-year scheme to launder tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and other funds, according to an indictment. Kind of hurts the crediblity of the organization. I would recommend trying the AP in the future.
https://apnews.com/article/epoch-times-cfo-indictment-money-laundering-caad358778bb6b73e32e9f989f3b9665