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Links 5/1/2025

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Happy May Day!

Valerie the dachshund found ‘fit and well’ after 529 days on Kangaroo Island Australian Broadcasting Corporation

FDA issues urgent nationwide recall of bread sold in US found with ‘glass fragments’ Fox Business

Climate/Environment

A New Type of Rock Is Forming — and It’s Made of Our Trash ZME Science

Pandemics

Scientists urge countries to take urgent steps to mitigate H5N1 bird flu menace Down to Earth

EU Commission Paves Way For More H5N1 Vaccine Purchases Avian Flu Diary

May Day

Workers Defy the Billionaire Takeover on May Day In These Times

Mass arrests ahead of May Day demonstrations in Turkey WSWS

Italy Shows How Amazon Can Be Forced to Bargain: Shut Down Its Distribution Truthout

India-Pakistan

India should tread warily on battlefield Indian Punchline

China?

US recently reached out to China for tariff talks – report Forex Live

China, US have not held tariff talks in past 24 hours, FM responds to question on whether negotiations took place Global Times

CHINA APPEARS READY FOR TRADE TALKS WITH U.S. Pekingnology

China’s April manufacturing PMI falls back into contraction amid trade war ING

China waives tariffs on US ethane imports, sources say Reuters

China draws up list of U.S.-made goods exempt from 125% tariffs, sources say Reuters

Old Blighty

Government transparency hits new record low – again Democracy for Sale

Homelessness hit new record highs in England in 2024: ‘The system is at breaking point’ Big Issue

Syraqistan

US tells ICJ that law allows Israel to attack UN agencies that aren’t ‘impartial’ Middle East Eye

Mass evacuations ordered as wildfires engulf Israeli occupation Al Mayadeen

***

US targets Iran with fresh sanctions ahead of next nuclear talks The New Arab

Iranian port blast could be ‘planned attack, not an accident,’ IDF Gen. says – interview Jerusalem Post

Did Houthi missiles threaten to sink the carrier USS Truman? Asia Times

European Disunion

16 countries to ask EU for fiscal leeway to spend big on defense Politico

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine, US sign minerals deal, tying Trump to Kyiv Channel News Asia

UKRAINE AND THE UNITED STATES SIGN ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT AND ESTABLISH THE RECONSTRUCTION INVESTMENT FUND Ukraine Ministry of Economy

Trump drops demand for Zelensky to hold elections The Telegraph

US Partially Lifts Military Aid Pause for Ukraine, as Peace Talks Slow Kyiv Post

Another Shocker: WSJ Reveals Russia Arming Massive New Rear Reserve Force Simplicius

WHAT DEAL WILL PRESIDENT PUTIN MAKE WITH THE MAN WHO RULES THE WORLD BUT NOT THE BATTLEFIELD Dances with Bears

Kremlin says peace deal must be reached with Ukraine, not US Anadolu Agency

Trump Ally Lindsey Graham Pushes Russia Crackdown WSJ

The Caucasus

“Liberation Day”

The bottom line:

Waiting for the Supply Shock David Dayen, The American Prospect. “It’s coming, and we know approximately when.”

Commerce Secretary Lutnick says one trade deal is done, but waiting on approval from unnamed country’s leaders CNBC

Trump 2.0

Eric Trump travels to Dubai to sell property and crypto Semafor

A cash bonus for having a baby? Trump is considering it. Vox. Commentary:

MAHA

Kennedy Advises New Parents to ‘Do Your Own Research’ on Vaccines New York Times

DOGE

White House pushed job cuts at agency that’s clashed with Musk Bloomberg

DOGE Put a College Student in Charge of Using AI to Rewrite Regulations Wired

Democrats en Déshabillé

Jeffries Wants Dems to Put an End to the El Salvador Trips The Bulwark

Tennessee Man Has Been Stranded in Guatemala Since 2022 Over Tattoo Drop Site. “…a Biden-era case that helped lay the groundwork for Trump’s tattoo-based deportation regime.”

Police State Watch

Activist Mohsen Mahdawi Freed From Prison After Judge Orders His Release Truthout

Arresting a Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, Consortium News

USPS law enforcement assists Trump ‘mass deportation’ effort, sources and records show WaPo

‘We’re citizens!’: Family traumatized after ICE raids home, but they weren’t suspects KFOR Oklahoma City

Kash Patel Scrambles to Lock Down Leaks, Sending FBI Into Chaos The New Republic

DEA sources confirm 17 military members were at underground Colorado Springs nightclub raided early Sunday Denver7

AI

Here’s How To Share AI’s Future Wealth Noema

Global elites are rotting their brains in group chats Read Max

Healthcare?

AI won’t replace doctors — it will upgrade them The Hill

Doctors didn’t catch AI’s mistakes. What does that mean for human-in-the-loop? STAT

The Supremes

Supreme Court may allow church-run, publicly funded charter schools across the nation ABC News

Our Famously Free Press

Vote on Antisemitism Awareness Act delayed after fiery Senate hearing Jewish News Syndicate

Imperial Collapse Watch

Do You Believe In Magic? Aurelien, Trying to Understand the World

Screening Room

What Netflix’s patents reveal about the future of watching movies Stephen Follows

The Bezzle

Sam Altman’s eye-scanning project launches cryptocurrency in the US The Verge

When Genius Failed…..Again Racket News

Antitrust

Judge Rules Apple Executive Lied Under Oath, Makes Criminal Contempt Referral BIG by Matt Stoller

Class Warfare

How Shareholder Payouts Fuel Corporate Profiteering The Lever

Remote Work Empowers Workers. Conservatives are using Pandemic Culture Wars to Target it The Gauntlet

Mayor Adams’ administration proposes rent hike for people with NYC housing vouchers Gothamist

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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139 comments

  1. Antifa

    We Wait
    (melody borrowed from The Weight written by Jaime Robbie Robertson, and released on the album Big Pink by The Band, in 1968)

    My child drew her final breath; she died ’cause she was not fed
    Death’s commonplace—if only we had some bread!
    Her aching empty belly, and her huge eyes in her head
    She just couldn’t understand why this world wants her dead

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    With our pirate flag, and the IDF by our side
    We pay to see old Gaza leveled—shocking genocide
    We’ve done every farm in—there is no food around
    One more lawn to be mowed as we blow the whole place down

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    Who can oppose us? We’re shipping bombs every day
    Who can refuse? Abuse is just the way we like to play
    The bombs we send to drive Gazans in the sea
    And once this bloody favor’s done, then Donald Trump can sell him some realty

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    Gaza’s our colony, and we wear the face of Gog
    Gazans live in tents and shacks, and starve in their gulag
    We are Israel’s investor, we provide them all we can
    We ship, and they destroy every woman, child, and man

    Yeah, we’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    1. caucus99percenter

      If this were 1969, some pop music act could have performed this parody on prime time TV via The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. That is, up until the moment the CEO of CBS cancelled the country’s top-rated show because network executives didn’t like the way Tom and Dick Smothers were giving counterculture views a chance to be aired.

      Five stars out of five, Master Antifa.

      1. Martin Oline

        Sometimes you wonder just how they ever get permission.

        That Yahoo collared me and he’s put me in a fix.
        He said. “you support my war and I’ll hide Epstein’s pics.”
        I said “Wait a minute Bibi, you know that’s a dirty trick.”
        He said. “You don’t want me to show the world that you like _.”

  2. Antifa

    We Wait
    (melody borrowed from The Weight written by Jaime Robbie Robertson, and released on the album Big Pink by The Band, in 1968)

    My child drew her final breath; she died ’cause she was not fed
    Death’s commonplace—if only we had some bread!
    Her aching empty belly, and her huge eyes in her head
    She just couldn’t understand why this world wants her dead

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    With our pirate flag, and the IDF by our side
    We pay to see old Gaza leveled—shocking genocide
    We’ve done every farm in—there is no food around
    One more lawn to be mowed as we blow the whole place down

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    Who can oppose us? We’re shipping bombs every day
    Who can refuse? Abuse is just the way we like to play
    The bombs we send to drive Gazans in the sea
    And once this bloody favor’s done, then Donald Trump can sell him some realty

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    Gaza’s our colony, and we wear the face of Gog
    Gazans live in tents and shacks, and starve in their gulag
    We are Israel’s investor, we provide them all we can
    We ship, and they destroy every woman, child, and man

    Yeah, we’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    We’re their wherewithal, we’re the money behind their crime
    They’ve banned UNESCO, now the food trucks wait in line
    With Trump back in Miami, and he’s golfing in the sun
    While we all live in fear that he’ll finish what he’s done

    We’re behind this famine
    We ship bombs for free
    We send shells and cannons
    And (and, and) we own it all you and me (we own it all you and me)

    1. mrsyk

      Thank you. I like how your poem fits the song.
      Now I don’t mind chopping wood
      And I don’t care if my money’s no good…,

      1. Alex Cox

        The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is a Confederate anthem (by Canadians!).
        The Weight is a different song by the same Band.

  3. Terry Flynn

    Re glass in bread. Someone misunderstood the memo re transparency in production.

    1. The Rev Kev

      I believe that in old India that that was a way for wives to get rid of their husbands. To add ground up glass in their food over time. Things is, we were reading the other day of lead and arsenic in toothpaste and now glass on bread. Unfortunately the Trump regime is not one to tighten up on food standards but is more likely to fire food inspectors. US corporations would sell people chocolate-covered cotton if they could get away with it.

      1. ciroc

        Laissez-faire economics and a lack of regulation led to a boom in food counterfeiting in the 19th century.

        The Industrial Revolution created an entirely new level of food fraud. With more and more people living farther from their food supply, it became easier for traders of all manner of foods to grow their profits by debasing even relatively cheap ingredients. It became routine for flour to be extended with chalk or gypsum dust, and for milk to be watered down to the point that chalk was used to re-color it white. Lead compounds, which are naturally sweet, were used as sweeteners instead of expensive sugar, and tea and coffee, both expensive imports, were frequently mixed with visually similar plants to reduce traders’ costs and increase their profits. Fraudulent olive oil became so widespread that to this day it serves as a major source of funding for organized crime. It was at this time that sausages and other processed meats acquired their reputation as “mystery meats” whose true contents could only be guessed. More recent scandals in the same vein include horse meat being used as a cheap substitute for beef.

        https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/food/a-history-of-food-fraud/

        1. skippy

          Today we have enhanced[tm] food … Folic Acid Food Fortification …

          After all Heinz did to ensure food safty = don’t kill customers = we now have all kinds of gastrointestinal disorders on the rise.

      1. Kontrary Kansan

        Another reason not to eat store-bought bread. Without the glass it’s mostly equal parts flour and water plus a bicycle pump.

        1. Birch

          Closer to 2 parts flour to 1 part water. Higher hydration (more water) is another way of debasing bread without making it less healthy. Don’t forget salt and leaven (bicycle pumps don’t actually work for this).

          If most bread was made with only these ingredients, we would be much healthier as a population. I doubt glass is the most harmful ingredient in a lot of bread on supermarket shelves.

          1. scott s.

            Once read the secret of commercial bread-making was getting water to stand up.

    3. timbers

      Maybe the powers in power when faced with public protests, should spray shredded glass shards all over the grounds. To promote transparency.

  4. The Rev Kev

    ‘White House considers giving $5,000 to every mother after giving birth’

    In other news, the American Hospital Association considers charging mothers a minimum of $5,000 for every childbirth in an American hospital.

    1. Stephen V

      Rev, it sounds like you’ve been observing our lovely Student Loan situation…

          1. CanCyn

            Mine was free in 1961. Giving birth in hospital still is free in Canada. Although I wonder for how much longer

            2. mrsyk

              Both our boys born at home. Our midwife accepted less than five hundred for each birth.

              1. Terry Flynn

                I was born at home….in a slum……midwife was desperately getting my dad to unwrap umbilical cord which was wrapped around my neck….. all very chaotic.

                Unfortunately recent stats show that 66% of kids in that area are born into poverty so nothing changed.

                And Starmer wonders why nobody here likes him? It’s because you are SCUM.

          2. Terry Flynn

            Dunno what I spent in the Bristol club late 90s when I came out. Twas fun though.

      2. The Rev Kev

        Our kids were born free but if we had to pay $19,000 for the exit fee, we probably would have sold them back to the hospital for use in medical experiments.

        1. Kurtismayfield

          That is an amazing rate of pay for the labor. We need to figure out how much per hour the mother made the hospital.

          1. Kouros

            It is topsy turvy. The woman does all the labour and the hospitals get to be paied. Sweet deal, eh?!

      3. ArcadiaMommy

        I can attest to this. My first was breach and 8 pounds three weeks early. They tried to flip him over but he was 21 inches long. The anesthesiologist was out of network of course though I had no choice in the matter. I had bills from six different groups. Same thing with second.

        There were so many specialty nurses for premature/ICU babies that I can’t believe there was room for them.

        C section with the baby flipping procedure is the worst.

        And they were perfectly fine. Big strong student athletes.

    3. Dr. John Carpenter

      For perspective, a quick internet search pegs the cost of childbirth in the US as just shy of $19k. $5000 is 1000 short of my annual insurance deductible. What a joke!

  5. ChrisFromGA

    Great work in the links today, although most are so depressing that I might have to take an electric toaster bath.

    The de minimis loophole being hand-waved away at the behest of oligarchs is particularly sickening. I can only conclude than that this whole tariff thing is a performative joke. As is the illusory “minerals deal for non-existent minerals in a country losing territory.” We’re back in the Kabuki Theater, pass the popcorn.

    I’m off to read Aurelien’s latest work, perhaps it will cheer me up.

    1. jefemt

      I did not realize the performative Kabuki theater had an exit, and that we walked out a few minutes into the unpalatable farce?

    2. converger

      Re: Ukraine

      It gets better. I’m confident that Trump doesn’t care which nominal country or protectorate claims territorial control of any resources that the US is looting, as long as they don’t have to stop looting. If Putin is OK with the idea of getting to eliminate Ukraine in exchange for 50% of stripping the country to dirt going to the New Ukraine paying for its own reconstruction, expect the US to just back off until the dust settles.

  6. The Rev Kev

    ‘Aaron Rupar
    @atrupar
    Trump on China: “They made a trillion dollars with Biden selling us stuff. Much of it we don’t need. Somebody said, ‘oh, the shelves are gonna be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.”‘

    Yeah, I don’t think that Trump has thought this all the way through. But does he ever? How about I put a twist on that tweet to show what else is happening-

    ‘Aaron Rupar
    @atrupar
    Trump on China: “They made a trillion dollars with Biden selling us stuff. Much of it we don’t need. Somebody said, ‘oh, there won’t be so such refined Chinese rare earths coming in.’ Well, maybe the USAF will have two fighters instead of 30 fighters, and maybe the two fighters will cost a couple million bucks more.”‘

    And you can apply that idea right across the board of everything that China sells the US.

    1. alrhundi

      The implication that affordability will be under 7% of current is interesting indeed.

  7. Randall Flagg

    The Aaron Rupar Tweet/X with Lutnick, reads like Lutnick is giving us a new version of ,”Learn to Code”.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      Indeed. He sounds like he’s channeling our local school superintendent from about ten years ago, who, after claiming that the new 1,2,3,4 grading system was totally different than the old A,B,C,D,F one, said the schools would now be training children for the jobs of 20 years in the future, even though, lacking a crystal ball, he had no idea what those jobs might be. That set my bulls**t detector on tilt, just like today’s twixt.

  8. The Rev Kev

    “US recently reached out to China for tariff talks – report”

    Well that was quick. It was only two days ago that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was saying on CNBC that it’s up to China to de-escalate trade tensions-

    https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/28/treasury-secretary-bessent-says-its-up-to-china-to-de-escalate-trade-tensions.html

    Trump right now is blaming Biden for the present failing economic conditions but since China isn’t backing down, realized that that would not explain empty shelves in most stores in the next month or two. Time to reverse course. Maybe to show Scott Bessent that there are no hard feelings, China could send him a bottle of Old Crow.

    1. ChrisFromGA

      I’m starting to doubt how empty the shelves are going to be.

      See the story in the links about Trump just waiving customs process and whacking tariffs by fiat.

      What’s to stop him from just backing down and saying, “never mind?”

      The King can do no wrong.

      1. Wukchumni

        A kink-sized problem!

        I’ve talked to a myriad of foreigners here, and a good many ask what is going on with my country, and I just shrug my head and look bewildered, no words are necessary-they get it.

    2. Terry Flynn

      It’s too late. The Chinese holding of ships at their ports is baked in.

      Empty shelves are practically guaranteed next month. Add in people with guns…….oucharama

      1. dougie

        Anecdata. I live in a blue collar neighborhood in North Carolina. My next door neighbor is a long haul trucker who is often away from home 6 weeks at a time. He just got sent home for 2 weeks due to lack of cargo to haul. At least it is a company truck sitting, and not one he is making payments on.

        1. Carolinian

          https://www.theamericanconservative.com/whats-behind-truckings-rush-to-automation/

          Written by a truck driver. So automation too is a threat to truckers.

          Plus there have been reports about barely trained, low salaried and often English language unequipped truck drivers being used to undercut the longtime drivers. One of these caused an incident that blocked our nearby I-85 for hours a few months ago.

          Amazon has a rep for using undertrained drivers and I’ve personally experienced this while on the road out West. I learned to stay clear of Amazon semis.

  10. The Rev Kev

    ‘Really American ????
    @ReallyAmerican1
    BREAKING: In a bizarre moment, Attorney General Pam Bondi impersonates extreme North Korean praise for Dear Leader, saying “President, you first 100 days has far exceeded that of ANY other presidency in this country. Ever. Ever.” Unreal.’

    When the camera zooms into AG Pam Bondi, is that a streak of brown at the side of her nose or a shadow?

    1. jefemt

      When I saw and heard Bondi say that on the noose, I thought, “well, that’s true”.

      I’m not sure if she heard it and said and intended it the way I heard it, but who knows?

      Exceeded… indeed, wretched excess!

  11. Terry Flynn

    Re AI and doctors. I do think it has the power to “join the dots” more effectively. However these days the distribution of people is much less likely to be the old bell curve and is multimodal.

    If AI can spot this and ask for human inspiration then great. My fear is that it won’t ask. My career in patient/consumer preferences was all about finding the distinct segments. I fear AI can’t do this.

    1. t

      From why I, an untrained moron, can tell, if the AI tool is given all the relevant information, and that information is complete and correct, there’s a very good chance the AI output will be good.

      Kind of a low bar.

      If you know all the questions on the test, easy to study for the test.

      1. Terry Flynn

        Sorry. Yatchew and Grillices in mid 1980s showed why discrete choice are very very suspect, needing human interpretation.

        Here’s the equation for those who don’t get it.
        Xy=8. Solve for x

    1. tegnost

      ok, you got me…
      Those genetically modified cats,… maybe not such a good idea…

  13. The Rev Kev

    “Mass evacuations ordered as wildfires engulf Israeli occupation”

    Been thinking of that quote from the film “Dark Knight” which says ‘Some men just want to watch Israel burn.’ No, no. Wait! That should be the world burn. The world. Sorry. Don’t know what I was thinking.

    But I would not be surprised to hear that Settlers saying will set the entire country on fire if they are forced into the army.

  14. ilsm

    DOGE has been kept from entering the pentagon!

    Imagine a 20 something Musk geek asking for [design] test reports on F-35, that were not done! The ones that would be passed before buying any.

    A week might uncover (think turning over rocks) why no passed audits.

      1. hk

        How many real (as opposed to theoretical) divisions does US military have now? (/s, probably, but you never know given the personnel shortages nowadays.)

  15. Wukchumni

    Loved the guise and dolls speech by Benedict Donald…

    Unintentional humor is the best kind!

  16. Carolinian

    Re Aurelian on magical thinking or what Bush Sr. once called Voodoo Economics–I think its increasingly obvious that Trump’s real model is not the McKinley era, about which he likely knows very little, but rather Reagan who was another show biz personality turned politician. And so MAGA is “morning in America,” the off the wall tariffs recall Reagan’s supply side excuse, lower taxes are an obsession, the environment and social costs of business are pooh poohed, there’s another demand for return of the Panama Canal, instead of “Star Wars” there’s Golden Dome, etc. Reagan was also supremely dumb and believed a fantasy version of the world and his own history–as lampooned by Garry Trudeau–and we have that too. The big difference is that Reagan sold all this with a seemingly sunny disposition whereas Trump’s mouth needs a bar of soap and his naked egotism is an increasingly nasty version of camp.

    Reagan did somewhat recharge the left and perhaps Trump will do so as well if the dreadful Dems can be sidelined. But IMO the larger problem is our exceptionalist culture itself that clings to Empire and isn’t too particular about who gets to be emperor.

    1. pjay

      I was thinking along similar lines as I read Aurelian’s essay. He used Britain and Thatcher as a prime example. I always argue that Carter was our first neoliberal President, but as you say Reagan was crucial in selling the dismantling of the New Deal State with sunshine and lollipops rather than “malaise.” Trump better be careful in warning about having to suffer a “two dolls rather than 30” period of adjustment. In the US we have learned the lessons of our neoliberal “leaders” very well. Long-term strategic planning? Hah! We have the patience and attention span of gnats, just like we have been taught. Aurelian rightly points out that the Anglo-Saxon nations have always leaned more in this direction than other Europeans. But I am still amazed at the extent to which they have followed our path, rather than vice versa.

      You left out one other similarity between Reagan and Trump. Both the B-movie star Reagan and the “reality” TV and WWE character Trump survived assassination attempts, proving that God was indeed looking out for them! Makes you wonder what God’s own long-term strategy might be.

    2. Pat

      There was more of an opposition mind set for a significant portion of the media during the Reagan years. Media consolidation worked. Similar to how it is far too easy to miss what Israel has become and is doing, the media is very good at keeping the real depth of Democratic uselessness buried. And even then the left was pretty ineffective. So a whole other hurdle exists for rebellion from that flank. while I do believe that the Dem perfidy has become obvious to many left and FDR leaning Democratic people, too many still haven’t had the scales ripped from their eyes yet. And that is only the start. I wish I thought it would be the left that burns it down, I don’t. They’ll try clicking like before they do anything else. It is realize, useless opposition tactics (pink hats anyone), more and better Democrats, before they even start accepting that they have to throw our bums out and destroy them.
      Above there was a discussion of the problem of empty shelves and if backtracking would head that off. My baseless opinion is that even if there is headway between the current idiots and China, there will be a delay opening the gates again. Mostly because of people like that trucker above and the rest of workers dependent on Chinese goods, and the folks that need prescriptions, and those struggling to feed and cloth their family. Because if you look at those polls out there, the groups that threw the usual Republicans out still hold out hope regarding Trump. But unlike the left and supposed left, they will get to “burn the bums down” much faster. And yes I do think the Chinese are smart enough to realize that there is where Trump and these idiots are most vulnerable.
      Sad as it is for this old school hippie/New Deal Democrat to say that.

      1. Lefty Godot

        The right wing media ecosystem was still embryonic during Reagan’s presidency. Rush Limbaugh had just gotten started and Fox News didn’t exist yet. So there was much more general media opposition to his policies. New Deal Democrats were still to be found in Congress, although in diminishing numbers as the DLC types took over (being “business-friendly” was a big self-description of Democrats after the mid-1980s, including some politicians now cast as flaming liberals like Michael Dukakis). The opposition has no voice now. I’m afraid things will have to get much worse (shortages, unemployment, electrical blackouts, etc.) before people start to wake up from the alternative right wing bipartisan narratives.

    3. Bazarov

      The problem with the left in America–any left movement at all–is that the American people benefit hugely from the imperialism’s ill-gotten gains. The super-exploitation of the imperial periphery yields super profits that the elite ownership-class uses to fund bribes to maintain passivity in the imperial core.

      So many Americans work unproductive “service” jobs in return for which they’re given an inflated standard of living. It’s as if Americans are working as servants in a giant mansion built and provisioned by those in the down-downstairs so that the those in the merely downstairs can have the privilege of waiting on their upstairs master in return for a crumb from their master’s horde.

      This schema somewhat accounts for America’s extreme rightward bent. Household servants often sympathize with their master and look down on unfortunates “lower” than them–such as those in the down-downstairs. Any left wing movement would have to overcome this tendency, somehow convince the servants to renounce their standard of living as an unfair and undeserved byproduct of an imperialism that must, as part of any genuinely left-wing project, be dismantled.

      It’s a tall order, likely putting the cart before the horse. Probably American imperialism will have to shake apart from its own contradictions, forcibly lowering America’s standard of living, before the servants–in effect thrown out of the mansion and denied their crumbs–will veer to the left from sheer necessity.

      1. Mikel

        The USA’s and the Western imperialism has always depended on the cooperation of elites in other countries.

  17. The Rev Kev

    “Ukraine, US sign minerals deal, tying Trump to Kyiv”

    And with that Trump has bolted the Ukraine to the US for at least the next decade. He has no intention of walking away if he ever did. The Ukrainians called his bluff and he folded and he dumped a lot of the conditions that he made on them. And he also talked about troops on the ground to protect those mines to ‘keep a lot of bad actors’ out. That could mean US troops or US paid-for mercs. Doesn’t matter as for the Ukrainians it represents a golden opportunity for a false flag attack on them so that they can blame the Russians. Thing is, do the Ukrainians have the facilities to refine any rare earths. I think that the answer is no. And the majority of Ukrainian industry lay in the Donbass which they have lost for good. So what happens if the Russians advance and it is over an areas with valuable mines? Will Trump phone Putin and tell him ‘Vladimir, stop!’ And baked into this nasty piece of pie is where Trump will have to go to Congress and demand tens of billions of dollars to go to the Ukraine to develop those mines. Or for Zelensky to buy new homes with. It is one or the other.

    1. Mike

      As to false flag events, we all know the PR is for us da people, and this country swallows agit-prop better than any other. All the professional Russia-haters exult! The fact that Ukraine will be left with no rare earths recoverable at a market price shows the ridiculous nature of Trumps overture to the Russians, which was always to buy time and dupe Putin. We’ll see how that works.

      Now we’ll definitely give all weapons necessary to Ukraine, and the war will go on for a few years more – until a trigger point is reached, where bigger weapons are on call… the EU is in the crosshairs, with its future economic operability in deep question, its colony status in no doubt.

  18. upstater

    The U.S. Can’t Handle a War NYT archive

    When I read the headline, I thought this isn’t a problem at all. But these 2 AEI think-tankers tell us differently and have a solution- spend more!

    There is no magic number of dollars that the United States should be spending on defense, but the resources we have now are not enough to meet the simultaneous challenges posed by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and terror groups across the globe.
    …
    we’ve approximated Beijing’s military budget to be more than triple what it claims publicly. Similarly, Moscow is channeling large investments into new drone, tank and missile production, enabling Russia to outproduce the United States and Europe.

    1. Kurtismayfield

      At this point, who is fighting for this country? What would I be fighting for?

      1. t

        If you mean the US, regular meals might be looking like a good deal to a lot of young people.

        Guessing joining the US military is no longer a path to naturalization, but haven’t checked.

        1. Kurtismayfield

          Fighting for food in a conscript army already didn’t work out historically compared to professional soldiers. I am not sure that is the direction the US army wants to take.

        1. tegnost

          The world is well on it’s way to the first trillionaire, and it would be unpatriotic to not want that person to be an American

  19. flora

    re: the Blackout. From Daniel Lacalle.

    The Spanish Power Outage. A Catastrophe Created By Political Design and a Warning To The World

    https://www.dlacalle.com/en/the-spanish-power-outage-a-catastrophe-created-by-political-design-and-a-warning-to-the-world/

    Red Eléctrica reported that the cause was a “strong oscillation in the electrical grid” that “forced the Iberian Peninsula to disconnect from the European system”. The collapse was immediate and long-lasting. It was the longest power outage in the history of Spain. The recovery efforts were in vain as they attempted to restore frequency control and stability with a system dependent on volatile and intermittent renewables.

    A system without physical inertia, provided by baseload energies that operate all the time—nuclear and hydroelectric—makes it impossible to stabilise the grid in the face of supply disruptions.

    When the collapse occurred, the Spanish electrical grid had almost 80% renewable generation, 11% nuclear, and only 3% natural gas. There was practically no base generation or physical inertia to absorb the shock that was generated.

    1. Oh

      The writer of this piece doesn’t have an engineering degree and seems to be affiliated with CNBC and other right wing organizations. He doesn’t give any cogent arguments in his write up. I think his write up is without any merit.

    2. ambrit

      This comment from GrumpyEngineer yesterday explained some of the “problems.”
      See: Grumpy Engineer
      April 29, 2025 at 11:20 am
      “Due to extreme temperature variations in the interior of Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines, a phenomenon known as ‘induced atmospheric vibration’. These oscillations caused synchronization failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network.”

      I’ve worked in the power generation sector for almost 30 years, and this sounds like utter baloney. What do mechanical vibrations in power lines (which can indeed be induced by certain atmospheric conditions) have to do with the electrical concern of grid synchronization? Unless the vibration was so severe that it caused disparate lines to come into physical contact (which should never happen under even tornado or hurricane conditions) or to physically fracture, this wasn’t the culprit.

      I’ve read separately that they were experiencing grid frequency oscillations, which sounds much more credible, especially since they were running predominantly on inverter-based wind and solar power that lacks the rotational inertia of conventional spinning generations.

      If this proves to be the case, they can make the system more robust by adding synchronous condensers, which are basically generators where the “prime mover” (like a gas or steam turbine) has been replaced with a big flywheel. This would permit grid operators to implement PSS (power system stabilization) technology per IEEE 421.5, which would definitely help damp out frequency oscillations. They’re not cheap to set up, but they do work.

      1. micaT

        California has been running for minutes up to 10 hrs a day on 100% renewables. It can and is being done.
        All over the world, battery/inverter grid stabilization is happening. It’s faster than pure inertia, because it can react faster.
        Land base wind machines have many motor options, many use some versions of an synchronus or induction motor without any inverter. A 3.5 MW wind machine has a massive inertia in the raw mass of the motor, and blades but even more so in the centrifigul force/inerta in the blades.
        Most of the inverters installed since about 2015 have many grid support features. they can support HZ, volts, PF, etc, in real time. So as one or more changes out of the desired parameters, they can push things in the correct direction.
        We don’t yet know what happened. Well we know, but what we don’t know is the exact timing of the failure sequence.

        As to the atmospheric discussion. I listened to an electrical engineer and it is a real thing. If the wind is blowing the right speed, and the right angle to the power lines, and the power lines are at the right droop due to temperature and power, they can have two different things happen. They can sway back and forth, which means they can come in close contact to the wires on the opposite side of the tower. And 2 they can “gallop”, which means they actually form a moving wave because the wind sets up the exact frequencies needed to create what really is like an ocean wave along the line. this actually can change the electrical properties in the line. I”m not saying this happened, I’m just saying this is a real thing.

      2. flora

        Thanks, ambrit. The power oscillations in GE’s comment matches up with this info from a France24 report.

        About three hours before the outage, power quality sensors in homes in the Madrid area showed warning signs of an unstable grid – there were small fluctuations in voltage around 9:30am local time, Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall said Tuesday. The Maryland-based software developer has a couple of dozen sensors in homes in and around Madrid, testing the technology for use in Europe for home fire prevention and grid monitoring.

        Instead of normal, steady voltage, Marshall said the data shows there were oscillations whose frequency and magnitude increased over the next three hours until the grid failed. He does not know what caused the instability.

        Around noon, there was a big jump in the magnitude of the fluctuations, with the voltage measured going up and down by about 15 volts every 1.5 seconds, Marshall said.

        https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250430-what-we-know-so-far-about-the-massive-blackout-that-hit-spain-and-portugal

    3. bertl

      I blame Putin for cutting of the flow of natural gas!!! And he even convinced God to turn off the wind!!! What a bastard!!!

      1. hk

        Well, God is on Russia’s side, or Russia is on God’s side, one might say. Is it any wonder? (Not sure if I’m being sarcastic or not…
        )

  20. hunkerdown

    I’m very pleased to see Lori and Matt’s work against the de minimis exemption ruined, and I hope their careers and their lives follow suit. May they and their fellow-travelers be enslaved in a Chinese recycling factory until they’ve paid back every penny they’ve ever been paid.

  21. The Rev Kev

    “US tells ICJ Israel legally permitted to curtail work of ‘impartial’ UN agencies”

    Translation- Israel gets to decide to kill aid workers. The US also told the World Court that ‘Tel Aviv is within its rights to deprive Palestinians of food, medicine, and other aid.’

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-tells-world-court-israel-has-right-to-starve-gaza/

    The World Court might have told that American official that both of those are war crimes by definition but I am sure that the American official would have replied that ‘It’s OK when Israel does it.’

    1. Aurelien

      It’s not the World Court (there is none) it’s the ICJ, which rules on disputes between states.
      If you read the linked story, and also the link you supply, you’ll see that the US representative didn’t say that. He made the highly technical argument that under Art 59 of GC IV, governments are required to agree to relief schemes to help the population of occupied territories, but not to any particular organisation doing it. According to the treaty the organisation doing it should be “impartial,” and Israel is arguing (with US support) that UNWRA is not impartial because it has possibly been infiltrated by Hamas. Whilst that is indeed possible, “impartial” here obviously refers to a neutral status in the conflict, not to what the combatants feel and think. UNWRA is a UN organisation and the UN is by definition impartial. It’s a typical, somewhat desperate, lawyer’s argument. That said, nowhere is the US suggesting that UNWRA workers are legitimate targets.

      1. Kouros

        Article 59 – Relief I. Collective relief
        If the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal.

        Such schemes, which may be undertaken either by States or by impartial humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, shall consist, in particular, of the provision of consignments of foodstuffs, medical supplies and clothing.

        All Contracting Parties shall permit the free passage of these consignments and shall guarantee their protection.

        A Power granting free passage to consignments on their way to territory occupied by an adverse Party to the conflict shall, however, have the right to search the consignments, to regulate their passage according to prescribed times and routes, and to be reasonably satisfied through the Protecting Power that these consignments are to be used for the relief of the needy population and are not to be used for the benefit of the Occupying Power.

        I read somewhere some years ago that the establishment of UNRWA was at the beheast of Israel which didn’t want UN refugee division to mix the Jewish “refugees” coming to Israel with the Palestinians kicked out by Israel.

        I also read somewhere that Hamas was fully backed by Israel until Oct 7, 2023…

        1. hk

          I don’t think Hamas was ever “fully bscked” by Israel, but I think people have uncovered momey trails where Israel was funding Hamas’ activities until Oct 7, 2023 clandestinely.

  22. Carolinian

    The many billionaires behind the Trump admin seeming obsession with suppressing pro Palestinian speech.

    https://scheerpost.com/2025/05/01/meet-the-think-tanks-behind-magas-new-free-speech-crackdown/

    To them add “free speech absolutist” Turley who apparently never met a pro Palestine speaker that he likes.The newly dead David Horowitz ran the “Freedom Center” that so favored censoship. Never eat at a place called Mom’s or trust your freedom to an outfit called Freedom Center.

  23. Santo de la Sera

    @Valerie
    “Valerie’s owner says she’s thrilled the dachshund will be home soon.”
    Doesn’t sound like the dachshund is very thrilled though. After actively evading humans for a year and a half, Valerie is in doggy internment, because it sounds like Valerie is so p—– off about being caught that they’re afraid to release her to the owners.

      1. Ann

        Dachshunds never forget. There is a story about that in one of the “All Creatures Great And Small” series of books by James Herriot. I can’t remember which book.

    2. Ann

      She was only a year old when she went missing, and was gone for a year and a half, so she has now been feral for longer than she was domestic. It took her only a half hour to relax her hyper-vigilance and respond to the rescuers, seeming to be relieved that she didn’t have to hunt for her own food anymore.

      The locals on the island are glad she’s gone. They complained about her eating the wildlife in the national park. She did manage to avoid the venomous snakes, spiders and the eagles that routinely carry off baby lambs. At 4kg, she didn’t eat much. That is one tough wiener.

      They’re not afraid to release her to her owners, the problem is that they live a thousand miles away and have to make plans to travel that far to pick her up. In the meantime, the rescuers are working with experts in “lost dog syndrome” in which dogs “lock away” the memories of being domesticated and have to be coaxed back to concious memory. This takes a while.

  24. Carolinian

    As we were saying–if the US wants to play hardball on trade then the IP basis of much American wealth is super vulnerable.

    https://www.ft.com/content/b882f3a7-f8c9-4247-9662-3494eb37c30b

    Anticircumvention laws prohibit tampering with or bypassing software locks that control access to copyrighted works. The first of these laws was Section 1201 of America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which Bill Clinton signed in 1998. Under DMCA 1201, it’s a felony (punishable by a five-year sentence or a $500,000 fine) to provide someone with a tool or information to get around a digital lock, even if no copyrights are violated.

    Anticircumvention laws are the reason no one can sell you a “jailbreaking” tool so your printer is able to recognise and use cheaper, generic ink cartridges. It’s why farmers couldn’t repair their own John Deere tractors until recently and why people who use powered wheelchairs can’t fix their vehicles, even down to minor adjustments like customising the steering handling.

    These laws were made in the US but they are among America’s most successful exports. The US trade representative has lobbied — overtly in treaty negotiations; covertly as foreign legislatures debated their IP laws — for America’s trading partners to enact their own versions.

    The quid pro quo: countries that passed such laws got tariff-free access to American markets. Canada enacted its anticircumvention law, Bill C-11, in 2012, after the ministers responsible dismissed 6,138 opposing comments on the grounds that they were the “babyish” views of “radical extremists”. Mexico enacted its version in the summer of 2020 in order to fulfil its obligations under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It made such a hash of it that the Supreme Court triggered a review.

    If Trump wants to make his own rules on trade then why shouldn’t other countries do the same? Of course the Darknet has been thumbing its nose at anticircumvention for some time and even the use of archive.com might be seen as an example. But it could be that by going digital Big Brother is selling the rope to, well, you know…..

    1. flora

      From the longer article a bullet point list of the NYTimes past reporting:

      2005: Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau are criticized for disclosing a warrantless eavesdropping program approved by George W. Bush, one that included mining “vast troves of Internet and telephone communications.” It later comes out, via Times public editor Byron Calame (they still had one then) that the Times held the piece until after the results of the 2004 election;

      2013: Charlie Savage writes “Facial Scanning is Making Gains in Surveillance,” about testing of the Biometric Optical Surveillance System, or BOSS. Though it “alarms privacy advocates,” there had been “stabs for over a decade at building a system that would help match faces in a crowd with names on a watch list”;

      2014: Times publishes features on surveillance of Occupy Protests, noting the use of data from 78 “fusion centers” funded by hundreds of millions of DHS dollars. It describes the production of Homeland Intelligence Reports (HIRs), which make use of nontraditional information like local law enforcement records;

      2021: Times reports that the government buys “commercially available databases” containing geolocation and other data from apps like Muslim Pro, a private service showing the direction of Mecca at prayer time;

      2021: Times releases McKenzie Funk exposé revealing that ICE “sucks up terabytes of information from hundreds of disparate computer systems, from state and local governments, from private data brokers and from social networks” and “piggybacks on software and sharing agreements originally meant for criminal and counterterrorism investigators.”

      1. AG

        Much appreciated.

        It is indeed unsettling and pretty shocking that truth about the post-9/11 surveillance state – applicable to not only the US of course – for a few years now has been almost entirely forgotten by media/public.

        It´s like it never existed. Considering the big splash of Assange´s stardom followed by Snowden in a by then much more sinister atmosphere quite remarkable. All kinds of media initatives were set up by TV, papers, blogs, NGOs. Surveillance as a danger was a huge topic. To this day Guy Fawkes masks are visible online as symbols. But nobody seems to remember where those originated. (The movie “V for Vendetta” 2005/6).

        And I cannot really pinpoint what the reasons are: Control of media owners over content? Bad journalism training? Social media eclipsing awareness of the issue among the young? I have no clue. On the other hand most editors who know the “old” world are still in the business.

        So what the hell happened? In Germany some like to say “Covid”, others claim NATO´s PR campaign since 2012 and its IHub https://innovationhub-act.org/
        But I don´t buy that. That is not enough to explain the behaviour of, lets say well over half a billion people (US+EU).

  26. Bsn

    Uh Oh! Kennedy is suggesting “Do your own research” again. Our friends at the NYT are warning us not to do so. That paper would make a great used car salesman. Don’t kick the tires or check compression, just buy this car. Who subscribes to this rot?

    1. t

      Do your own research and be sure to read the sus comments from Makary and other MAGA morons at the FDA -Covid, flu, and other vaccines are “new” and need to be tested. Stock up on cod liver oil and if you’ve already poisoned your family with toxins, buy a vaccine reversal kit from Kash Patel.

      The generous (delusional) take would be that RFK is trying to find work for all the medical researchers who are on the streets. They can all be freelance vaccine researchers!

      1. Clwydshire

        I think it’s interesting that the FDA is trying to force Novavax to do prohibitively costly testing of the only traditional protein based Covid vaccine as if the vaccine were “new.” Mentioned here a few days ago, but see the AP’s story at : https://apnews.com/article/vaccine-novavax-fda-trump-covid-study-4b4465ad77cfb0554b27b7d59c40ae32

        Is this just part of the Trump administrations attack on anything traditional that works, or is it corruption driven by panic about the death figures cited for the Pfizer vaccine? More likely it’s both, open corruption and the war on tradition seem to be running hand-in-hand, naked, across the American landscape, gaily scattering feces everywhere they go. Maybe that’s the Trump formula. Sick and orgiastic at the same time.

    2. Jason Boxman

      As Yves Smith pointed out yesterday, IM Doc had said in 2020 that given the deaths in the vaccine group for the Pfizer study, in prior decades, the study would have been shutdown. It’s been so many years, I’d forgotten that.

      And then we had the uniform media narrative that the modified RNA shots are “safe and effective”, complete with demonization of anyone that mentioned any experienced side effects, the debacle of VAERS reports, and the outright lies that the shot is sterilizing.

      Talk about fanning the anti-vaccine flames! So now Biden has nuked public health for a generation or more. And we’ve got Kennedy telling people nonsense and to do their research, and to an extent he’s actually not wrong! But he’s got a hard-on for proven safe vaccines we’ve been using for decades.

      This is a stupid timeline.

      And Trump’s idiocy is literally engineering a recession. I don’t think anyone seriously voted for that. Mind bending.

        1. Jason Boxman

          Well, in the aftermath of the 1918 Flu Pandemic, miasma theory led to better ventilation in public and private buildings, and was a better outcome than we’ve gotten today where we supposedly actually understand that disease can be caused by pathogens, rather than bad air.

          This timeline is stupid.

      2. IM Doc

        The lunacy will just not end.

        I guess the perspective as a primary care doctor of talking to patients about vaccines every day is a whole new world. Interestingly, not one person refusing a vaccine for themselves or their kids, not one, has uttered the name RFK. Yet another media lie that flies in the face of actual facts on the ground. No, they talk about Fauci, they talk about the mandates, they talk about Pfizer hiding data for 75 years, they talk about so-and-so relative that died a day after their vaccine. But they say not a word about RFK.

        You are correct about the trial data. Small amounts of data, very incomplete, were begrudgingly released several months after the close of the trial – that in the initial study prior to Pfizer being allowed to vaccinate the control group, that actually the all cause mortality in the vaccinated group was higher than the unvaccinated. In more sane and compassionate times, that would have had every IRB in the country demanding that the study be turned off and only allowed to resume once a thorough discussion of every death in the entire study was performed by Pfizer. But we no longer live in sane times. Indeed, about a month later, this medical treatment with the above all cause mortality record in its one and only trial was forced on almost everyone in the country. It is the biggest medical ethics breach I have certainly seen in my lifetime – and likely dating back to Dr. Mengele. As I have stated before, it is no mystery to me why the Dems lost. After one diatribe after the other from patients and family members alike who lost their jobs – most of them Dems – screaming they would never vote for them again – I kind of knew what was coming.

        The fact they knew the vaccine was non-sterilizing at the very time this mandate was done just makes it all the more amazingly imbecile.

        To top it all off, at this very moment, we have a physician fighting for her career in Texas. Her crime? – giving ivermectin to a terminal COVID patient whose family had just obtained a court order to allow that patient to be given ivermectin. Oh my God. I just cannot believe what is happening to my profession. Ask any internist in this country about the care of terminal patients. All kinds of things that we KNOW are ineffective are done – not so much to help the patient – but for the family to be able to live in peace. And here we are – witnessing this disaster for this physician because she administered a dose of one of the safest drugs in medical history to a dying patient. And she did so, apparently, with a court order. And just look at the rap sheet of corrupt, unethical, immoral behavior on so many members of the Texas Medical Board. We are well and truly lost. I am not sure why anyone with a brain would have an iota of trust for anything coming from the “medical or public health establishment”. This is especially and acutely true of that establishment during the Biden years. The corruption will be fodder for medical ethics lectures for years to come.

  27. t

    Flip side is captured feral dogs that will barely go outside for a pee.

    Article mentions the locals were upset about Valerie being a threat to local wildlife. Doesn’t mention if anyone was throwing rocks or harassing her.

    You never get to know what a dog went through (if they have a bullet in their thorax, that’s a clue but even then it’s possible that a domestic abuser did that to the dog to punish a partner.)

    1. Ann

      The owners looked for her for the remainder of their vacation, five days in the rain. For the first year, no one saw her and she was presumed dead. After a year, she was sighted on some wildlife cams and the rescue organization resumed the search. She vanished if she saw a person or a vehicle, so they had to do everything remotely. After being caught, she looks like this:

      https://www.tiktok.com/@kangala_rescue/video/7499326329628757249?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7499474881945191991

      Commenters kept demanding that they “just go out there and grab her, for heaven’s sake!” Ha Ha, have you ever tried to *catch* a doxie?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9briE–mqg “Ha Ha you got beat by a dog with 4 inch legs!”

      There are “Wiener Dog Races” all over the U.S. (Buda, Texas is a big one) like Canterbury Park, Emerald Downs, Los Alamitos, all culminating at the “Wiener Nationals”.

      Here’s one at Canterbury Park:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbYLJ0W6OD0

      The best heat is the last one at mark 16:42 where a dog named “Mercury” sets a new track record.

  28. Jason Boxman

    But Kennedy is right in part about the FDA. From the FDA itself:

    About 55 percent, or $3.2 billion, of FDA’s budget
    is provided by federal budget authorization. The
    remaining 45 percent, or $2.7 billion, is paid for
    by industry user fees.

    Of course this has pernicious effects.

    It’s a shame that he’s nuts on vaccines. Biden already nuked public health from orbit, so here we are.

    It’s endlessly amusing that liberal Democrats were actually correct for once, about the threat of another Trump presidency, and yet they’re incapable of providing any kind of counterweight at all, besides stern letters, performative Senate filibusters, and the the AOC and Sanders sheepdog show.

  29. Mark K

    Re: When Genius Failed…..Again

    While the way this article tells the story of the demise of Stenn Technologies is hilarious — and it IS hilarious — the underlying truth it reveals is tragic. The only reason fraud on this scale is possible is that money that rightfully belongs in the pockets of garment workers in Mexico and landscaping crewmembers in Missouri and millions of others has been wilfully diverted by self-interested politicians into the coffers of those who have more money than they know what to do with.

  30. Jason Boxman

    From Trying to Understand the World

    So this is somewhat tangential in a way, but

    The same, ultimately, goes for local governments, private companies, voluntary groups and campaigning organisation. We know, for example, that most of the effort that goes into recycling is wasted. Often, this is because the work is left to private companies, who have no incentives beyond profit and so employ the cheapest workforces they can find. (Governments have effectively destroyed their own ability to implement any genuinely ambitious recycling schemes.) Yet on the basis that anything is better than nothing, I do sort rubbish into categories, put organic waste in special bags, and refuse plastic bags in shops. Collectively, millions of people doing that adds up to a lot. But the problem is that the total size of the problem is immeasurably larger than the sum total of the initiatives that individuals can take to deal with it. This, as I shall discuss in a moment, is why scale is such an important issue.

    Locally, at least, people can’t even remotely get recycling right. At a minimum, every time I go, the recycling dumpsters are filled with plastic bags filled with oft times somewhat recyclable stuff. People will throw almost any random item into the recycling dumpster, even plastic rotting meat packaging, old hoses, whatever.

    I only bother anymore because it’s convenient to have trash that rots separated from my trash that doesn’t rot. But I have no illusions that my labors are otherwise rewarded with anything but the entire dumpster load being incinerated in some poor neighborhood for electricity somewhere in America or simply buried in a landfill.

    Single-stream recycling was the stupidest decision, ever.

    Although in a sense, “wishcycling” aligns with the essay.

    1. Glen

      All true, and there’s a financial incentive too. You have to pay for your “trash” so if it looks halfway recyclable, guess where it goes. Mostly it’s down to if you see a “recycling” symbol, in it goes even if the details of the symbol means it cannot be re-used:

      Resin identification code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code

      My wife is big on composting so anything that we can safely compost never goes to the dump, and we do try to recycle as much as possible (we end up recycling just about as much as goes to trash.)

      1. Jason Boxman

        Here, and the few places I’ve lived in the US, there’s no extra cost for extra trash. So you don’t have any particular financial incentive to avoid adding to your trash heap.

        All of which ought to be paid for by the disposable food companies and oil companies. What a sick negative externality, dumped upon the whole world: disposable plastic. That’s toxic when it breaks down and there’s bio-uptake.

        If it wasn’t Climate, it would be chemical pollution that does in humanity and life on Earth.

  31. tagio

    Re: the tweet: “Lutnick: “It’s time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future. This is the new model where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life and your kids work here and your grandkids work here.”

    I doubt this “vision” is a real goal, I suspect that Lutnick is saying it because he thinks it will appeal to the worker bees who, in this new version of the re-tooled “American Dream,” will be happy that their kids and grandkids can work the same grind that they did. So motivating! What is more interesting is that this proffered fantasy expresses the “elites'” apparent heart-felt and never ending, never forgotten desire that the serfs be tied to the land, like back in the good old days.

    1. CanCyn

      Malarkey if I ever heard it. Those jobs for life of the past were well paid and came with a pension. I don’t think that’s what Lutnik has in mind. My husband retired from steel working at 50 because he’d been well paid and had a good pension. My nephew who, for various reasons, has been under employed most of his life just got on at a steel plant, he’s almost 40. He earns less than my husband did 20 yrs ago and there is no longer a pension plan. Guy can barely afford his rent.

  32. lyman alpha blob

    RE: Andreessen’s AI comments

    If AI isn’t smart enough to replicate Adreessen’s self-proclaimed 20% success rate of VCs (and I’ve heard 10% estimates in the past), perhaps a chimpanzee sitting in a wheelbarrow of cash flinging bills at passersby would be an improvement. Go long on simian temp agencies.

  33. Mikel

    “They really think that they are the only essential human agents and the rest of us are disposable. A stunning and virulent delusion. The enemies of society now rule it.” https://t.co/Wtg6M8LbFZ

    Reminded me of a related automation story yesterday.
    It appears that Starbucks has a new plan to hire more human baristas and ease back on the automation to win back customers.
    Are they saying : “We serve coffee, not Kool-Aide.”

  34. Tom Stone

    I have been trying to think of another Government in the last few centuries that has explicitly repudiated the “Rule of Law”.
    Trump’s administration has defied the Supreme Court, arrested a Judge , shut down Law firms, fired all the Inspectors General, gutted the CFPB, NLRB and every other enforcement arm or agency that protected the public.
    Gone.
    The outcomes are predictable, looting on an unprecedented scale, vigilantism ( Which always goes bad) a violent crackdown on the general populace and since there is no Law and no certainty business investment comes to a halt.
    The Police are there to Protect ( The Status Quo) and Serve ( The Powerful), they will do that, whatever it takes.
    If you are among the powerful and you want a policy changed you can call Elon, call the Donald’s gatekeeper or you can call Erik Prince.
    Because once you do away with the Law, all that is left is violence.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      The US has been using the Constitution as toilet paper for decades now, often explicitly. Was torture suddenly legal just because John Yoo was a lawyer and said it was OK? I could go on.

      Don’t mistake brazenness for being unprecedented.

  35. Revenant

    Re “Record homelessness in England”

    I have just spent four days in London, staying in a hotel at the major railway station. I worked in the same area for ten years but I haven’t visited regularly for at least a year. I was shocked by the homelessness. It has reach American levels.

    It is a major tourist area and was thronged this week. Hotel was full and there are five major hotels within a 200m circle, including a Hilton Doubletree, Park Plaza and Citizen M, and a major 5* hotel another couple hundred metres away).

    There were homeless people in tents everywhere around the hotel. There’s a lot of building going on and the homeless have found little niches between hoardings to put their tents or in the doorways of empty commercial real estate or on no man’s lands of fire access etc. They have also put their tents in the various small parks.

    It was never like this before, in ten years. Where have they all come from and where have the services to help them gone?

    I feel sorry for them (but somewhat less sorry for the army of supplementary beggars joining them each morning for the tourist rush). The weather this week has been sunny and unseasonably hot (27degC, delightful for eating on a terrace, less so for living on the streets).

    Is this another sign that the UK is falling apart?

    1. neutrino23

      This is the result of “individualism” and “self sufficiency.” You are responsible for managing your own life but it is like gambling in the casino. The house has infinite money but you don’t. If you ever fall over the edge into bankruptcy you rarely can come back.

      I carry cash just to give to the homeless I see. I don’t just give them money, I talk to them and ask them their stories. Most had jobs and lives then bad things happened; divorce, job loss, health problems. After that they had no resources to restart a life and wound up on the streets. This is a recipe for disaster.

      1. Revenant

        All good points but where specifically has the safety net gone in the last five years?

        We housed every homeless person in the UK during the pandemic!

    1. AG

      Truly touching events and almost totally ignored where I live, which makes these stories the real thing because then you know they really matter.

      Federal judge orders release of Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi from ICE detention

      A federal judge in Vermont ordered Mohsen Mahdawi be released from detention and compared the administration’s crackdown on dissent to the Red Scare. Upon his release, Mahdawi declared, “To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”

      https://therealnews.com/federal-judge-orders-release-of-palestinian-student-mohsen-mahdawi-from-ice-detention

  38. Wukchumni

    What a glorious day at Machu Picchu, clouds in the distance for contrast, and a beautiful rainbow as we were on the way out…

        1. ambrit

          I thought that Lamas were in Tibet. /s
          The Andes in ’71. After the establishment of the Fourth Reich and before the Shining Path.
          Stay safe as we descend into madness.

          1. AG

            The Llama scene from “THE AVIATOR” (2004), dir. M. Scorsese

            6 min.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM0G1wfXoM

            It´s an excerpt from the Howard Hughes biopic.
            There Scorsese built an entire scheme on the fact that Llamas are in Peru.

            It´s first established here that Sen. Brewster an ally of PanAm flew to Peru for free with PanAm where he saw Llamas. Later Hughes in the film´s finale uses this very info to outmaneuver the Senator during the Senate Committee Hearings which are intended to stop Hughes from rivalry with PanAm but backfire – among other things due to the info provided to Hughes in the meeting about those Llamas.

            The Aviator 2004 – Brewster Senate Hearings scenes
            8 min.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MXSAwkVU3U

      2. Wukchumni

        Saw a few llamas there today ..

        We had a bit of a rough trip on the Inca Trail, at one point walking through miles of 5 inch deep mud, and when we got to the Sun Gate, Machu Picchu was clouded over, but today was a different story, amazing!

    2. Carla

      Hi, Wuk — I was there in 2009, so your travelogue is bringing back a lot of memories of the wonderful 3 weeks I spent in Cuzco, Ollantaytambo and Machu Pichu. Thanks so much!

  39. amfortas the hippie

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDylD8dV7U

    heavy rain, and maybe garbanzo sized hail.
    loud as hell out here at the bar.
    even the ducks came under my wing, huddled amongst the bar cats.
    almost over, now.
    keen eye on radar.
    so ,millet i planted the last few days across road will likely come on strong.
    millet and cowpeas i tossed into mom’s 3 acre outer yard are already doing their thing.
    feast or famine.
    and i pay for every drop with my skeleton.

    1. amfortas the hippie

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DP0mn-fUqA
      flooding in town, right next to where my eldest and future dottrinlaw live.
      “Old Barrio” is right there, and while theyve done a lotta drainage work, that whole little neighborhood floods all the time.
      i got between 1/4 and 1/2″ with this storm.
      more on the way.
      geese got loose, somehow…because they know where the puddles form…so i opened all their gates so they can get back to bivouac under lights.
      we need it, of course.
      i just wish i didnt hafta pay for it so.

  40. ChrisRUEcon

    Been busy IRL, with sadly not much time for comments. Just wanted to say, great work #teamNC … as always.

    Alternate category for Nikhil Pal Singh tweet: #GuillotineWatch

    Those family-blogging, mutha-family-bloggers …

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