Recent Items

Links 5/19/2025

Posted on by

Decades-long mystery of ginger cats revealed BBC

Climate/Environment

Chicago experiences first dust storm since the Dust Bowl 91 years ago Chicago Sun Times

How Herbicide Drift from Farms Is Harming Trees in Midwest Yale Environment 360

El Paso Is Having Its Dustiest Year Since the Actual Dust Bowl Gizmodo

***

The decline of key Atlantic currents is underway, and it’s been flooding parts of the US for 20 years Live Science

28 dead, half a million without power as deadly storms, tornadoes sweep across central, eastern US Accuweather

Pandemics

Long-term clinical outcome and exercise capacity in SARS-CoV-2-positive elite athletes German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research

Long COVID Brain Fog “Very Well Explained” By Altered Levels Of 2 Key Biomarkers IFL Science

Unum Beats Appeal of Hospital Worker’s Covid Disability Suit Bloomberg

China?

Global supply chains threatened by lack of Chinese rare earths FT

Nvidia Plans To Expand Presence in China With Shanghai R&D Center, Report Says Investopedia

The US–China AI race is forcing countries to reconsider who owns their digital infrastructure Chatham House

The Middle East Swings to American AI Kevin Xu, Interconnected

China-US Trade Truce Prompts Nations to Consider Tougher Tactics Bloomberg

****

China’s retail sales disappoint as stimulus fails to spur demand; industrial output defies tariffs CNBC

China’s humanoid robots will not replace human workers: Official Channel News Asia

Terrifying attraction lets tourists sleep while suspended over 320-foot cliff New York Post. Something more to this trend than just getting the social media photos?

Syraqistan

Israel announces ‘extensive’ ground invasion of Gaza amid high stakes ceasefire talks The New Arab

Leaked map shows Israeli proposal to force Gazans into strips of land The Times

Only Military Action Against Israel Can Save The Palestinians Do Not Panic

Destroying Gaza ‘With Love’: Israel’s New YogiNazis Haaretz

Netanyahu Announces Israel Will Allow a ‘Basic’ Amount of Food To Enter Gaza Antiwar

Private US-backed foundation to start Gaza aid deliveries despite UN warnings France 24

***

Nuclear deal with US possible if intimidation tactics stop: Pezeshkian Al Mayadeen

Witkoff says US ‘red line’ in Iran talks is any ability for Tehran to enrich uranium Times of Israel

***

The New Dark Age Chris Hedges

European Disunion

Pro-EU moderate Nicușor Dan wins Romanian presidential election stunner Politico. I’d say the real stunner was when Romania, with support from the EU, nullified the previous election and then removed the winning candidate from the ballot, but that’s just me.

Reactions:

The liberal favourite stumbles in Poland’s presidential election The Economist

Ruling party tops Portugal polls marked by far-right surge AFP

Italy’s Meloni hosts Vance, EU chief for trade talks, hails ‘new’ era Straits Times

Old Blighty

WHY WE NEED A STRONG LEFT Stumbling and Mumbling

Starmer’s post-Brexit deal under threat from EU fishing demands The Times

Starmer’s Big Tech lobbying problem Democracy for Sale

New Not-So-Cold War

EU, UK leaders speak with Trump before his Putin call as Ukraine hit Al Jazeera

Rubio warns of new US sanctions if Russia stalls Ukraine ceasefire talks Ukrainska Pravda

Putin heads into Trump call confident Russia has upper hand against Ukraine Bloomberg

Brief frontline summary – May 18, 2025 Marat Khairullin Substack

TRUMP, THE EUROPEANS AND ZELENSKY DON’T KNOW THE LESSON OF THE ARROGANT KING AND THE BURNING OF THE ORACLES John Helmer

Baltic Provocations Heat Up: Estonia Again Plays with Fire, This Time Gets Burned Simplicius

Estonian PM Vows To Keep Up Checks On Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ Reuters

Ukrainian neo-Nazis to sign deal with Russian separatists RT

Another Look at Root Causes of the War in Ukraine Larry Johnson

Spook Country

CIA to name veteran Middle East case officer as head of covert operations FT

FDD Uncovers Likely Chinese Intelligence Operation Targeting Recently Laid-Off U.S. Government Employees Foundation for Defense of Democracies. From a neocon outfit always aiming to drum up support for confrontation with China, but worth noting.

Biden

Former President Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive form of prostate cancer NBC News. The tributes are already pouring in from Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Hillary, Kamala, etc. Here are some other reactions:

“Liberation Day”

Bessent warns tariffs will return to ‘Liberation Day’ rates if negotiations aren’t in good faith The Hill

Scott Bessent says tariff uncertainty is a tactic — otherwise countries ‘would play us in the negotiations’ Fortune

The secretive US factory that lays bare the contradiction in Trump’s America First plan BBC

Trump 2.0

Behind Trump and DOGE’s Reckless Destruction Is a Determination to Crush Workers Truthout 

Vucic Says No Halt To Kushner’s Trump Hotel Project In Belgrade Despite Forged Document RFE/RL

Trump Drops Southwest Airlines $2.1 Million Lawsuit Over Flight Delays Aviation A2Z

GOP Funhouse

Republicans advance Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ in unusual late-night vote The Hill

Concerns rise over medical coverage losses from ‘big, beautiful bill’ The Hill

How Biden set the stage for GOP budget cuts Stephen Semler. From February, still germane.

Police State Watch

The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement New York Times

TRUMP IS BUILDING A GLOBAL GULAG FOR IMMIGRANTS CAPTURED BY ICE The Intercept

AI

Worst Interview Ever Slate

Healthcare?

What makes a hospital room ‘intelligent’? Becker’s Health IT. Clean air?

More hospitals will get dangerously overcrowded, researchers project Association of Healthcare Journalists

Abortion

Women who suffer stillbirths could face police searches The Telegraph

Suspect identified in ‘intentional act of terrorism’ near Palm Springs fertility clinic LAist

Sports Desk

Paralympic gold medal-winning judoka Shahana Hajiyeva handed life ban for faking blindness, claims report First Post

Class Warfare

A World on Fire Los Angeles Review of Books

Font activations Internal exile

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
45 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין
    @MairavZ
    Haaretz is reporting that due to a shortage of reservists who will show up for duty, the IDF is calling up soldiers suffering PTSD, two have already commits suicide’

    I can well believe that this is true but to bring up a point that I have mentioned before – how are they going to put together a viable occupation army. Do they have the troops necessary anymore to be able to do this with enough slack so that exhausted troops can go home on rotation. After all this time they are still not really drafting ultra-orthodox candidates because they are too busy praying or something which means that all this is falling on those still in the ranks – apart from those that refuse to be called back or those that jumped aboard a jet to some other country. And on top of this they need more troops for occupation duty in parts of Lebanon and also Syria. Something’s gotta give.

    Reply ↓
    1. JohnA

      I suspect that the IOF and Bibi are aiming to empty the Gaza strip of all Palestinians still alive. As such, they wont need an occupation force, only a security force to prevent any refugees from re-entering.

      Reply ↓
    2. Afro

      Are they going to occupy Gaza or are they just going to move in after there are zero Palestinians left?

      Perhaps the plan is to send maybe 3,000 Palestinians to Libya, and then tell the world they sent 1.9 million Palestinians to Libya, and not care about who notices a difference and who doesn’t.

      In Lebanon and Syria they can rely on their ally, Al-Jolani.

      Reply ↓
      1. mrsyk

        It’s got to be “zero Palestinians left”. Gaza is a real estate deal, and is to be completely bulldozed.
        This is IMO of course, but how is one to draw any other conclusion based on action to date?

        Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          Of course it should be pointed out that Gaza will be contaminated with all sorts of chemicals and materials for decades to come. Forever chemicals anybody? And then there is all that unexploded ordinance that will have to be found and destroyed in place. Finally there is the hazard of thousands of buried bodies that will have to be dealt with. Maybe the Israelis can set up ovens to deal with them or something. As the Israelis will be loath to pay the tens of billions of dollars for any of that themselves, are they going to hit up the Don, aka the US, for a “loan” or will they float Gaza Reconstruction Bonds on the international market?

          Reply ↓
          1. mrsyk

            I’d hazard a “yes” on those reconstruction bonds, dollar denominated of course. As for the toxicity, no more so than your average golf course, lol.

            Reply ↓
            1. The Rev Kev

              At least most golf courses don’t have unexploded 155mm shells just below the surfaces of those greens. Hit your club too deep and that will ruin your golf score for the rest of the day. :)

              Reply ↓
              1. Wukchumni

                An established 18 hole golf course in the USA closes for good every 4 days, as interest dies back and is more valuable being just regular old real estate.

                A course in Fresno that had been around since 1952 is in the process of closing.

                I never really associate golfing with Israelis, it’d be similar to Mexican fighter pilots, they may exist.

                Reply ↓
          2. vao

            There will be no reconstruction.

            Too expensive. Too long. Soil heavily contaminated. Underground water irremediably polluted. Too much rubble to vacate.

            A part of Gaza at the end of the Netzarim corridor will be cleared, a small harbour will be built, a gas terminal installed, some prefabricated housing put in place — all to service the gas fields offshore Gaza. The rest of the devastated territory will be fenced in and left as is. Nobody will inhabit the place after the Palestinians have been exterminated or expelled. Settlers will move to Syria instead.

            Reply ↓
              1. The Rev Kev

                ‘They are the only people on earth to covet wealth and poverty with equal craving. They plunder, they butcher, they ravish, and call it by the lying name of ’empire’. They make a desert and call it ‘peace'” ‘ – Calgacus

                Reply ↓
  2. Henry Moon Pie

    Chicago dust storm–

    What’s old is new again. I have remembered the dust storm scene from the 1970s Woody Guthrie biopic, “Bound for Glory,” since I first saw it nearly 50 years ago. It was especially powerful when the parents are desperately trying to cover their children’s faces to keep the dirt out of their kids’ lungs in the family living room.

    Woody wrote a song about a particularly bad storm called “Great Dust Storm Disaster.”

    Some lyrics:

    Our relatives were huddled into their oil boom shacks,
    And the children they was cryin’ as it whistled through the cracks.
    And the family it was crowded into their little room,
    They thought the world had ended, and they thought it was their doom.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      My mom related tales of dust storms that hit the farm where she grew up 20 miles south of Calgary in the 1930’s, in one vicious instance there were about a dozen First Nations Indians on horse that asked her dad if they could sleep in the barn, and he allowed them to do so. It left quite an impression on her, being around 10 years old at the time.

      Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      If all that dust was picked up on farms in central Illinois, wouldn’t they be contaminated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides? Might be a good idea to wear a N95 mask while all that dust is blowing about.

      Reply ↓
      1. Henry Moon Pie

        Good point, Rev. And I neglected to note in my original comment that Gabe Brown, whom we all know about through Lambert, must be weeping. Hey there, Illinois farmers turn those plowshares into planters or metal sculptures.

        Reply ↓
  3. DJG, Reality Czar

    Private US-backed foundation to start Gaza aid deliveries despite UN warnings France 24

    Damn, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is whiffy, to be polite.

    The bare-bones board and the understaffed staff guarantee that this project won’t work.

    So who benefits?

    Who benefits from privatizing aid all of a sudden to 2 million people? It is easy to claim Israel does, but what seems more important is the public acknowledgment that the U S of A is firmly in control of the genocide, down to the fake feeding of meals at 1.30 USD apiece.

    Such specificity about starvation. It’s the U.S. business class engulfing itself in the banality of its own evil.

    And where is the money coming from?

    Note this board. Four people, with a big mistake, one of many in the incompetently written prospectus.

    • Nate Mook – Former CEO of World Central Kitchen, Special Advisor on Ukraine to the Howard G Buffett Foundation
    ● Raisa Sheynberg – Vice President, Government Affairs and Policy at Mastercard.
    >> ● Former U.S. National Security Council Director for International Trade & Investment. Also worked as senior advisor at the Department of Treasury, Office of Terrorist Financing. [This turns out to be more of Sheynberg’s distinguished résumé. So, a major typo in a prospectus. Confidence building! DJG]
    ● Jonathan Foster – Founder and Managing Director of Current Capital. Has been on the
    Board of over 50 companies and has been chair of two Fortune 500 Audit committees.
    ● Loik Henderson – Lawyer with decades of experience to include Fortune 500 companies specializing in business structuring and governance.

    https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/picserver6/wcm_upload_files/2025/05/08/BJbxp4cgel/Gaza_Humanitarian_Foundation_Overview__1_.pdf

    And the Swiss branch makes no sense to me. Money laundering? To quote, “The Swiss GHF has a verbal commitment from Goldman Sachs to establish a bank account for this affiliate which should be completed shortly.”

    From up top in the prospectus: “GHF was established to restore that vital lifeline through an independent, rigorously-audited model that gets assistance directly— and only— to those in need.”

    Ahhh, whenever USonians start talking about “only to those in need,” watch out. It means that no one will benefit. Ask black Americans how this “only to those in need” standard has worked out.

    Finally, and pettily, but then I have been an editor for many a year, the logo is just damn ugly. It’s what a former colleague of mine used to call Clowns in a Blender.

    Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “Estonian PM Vows To Keep Up Checks On Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’’

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes…

    ‘Russia detained a Greek-owned oil tanker on Sunday after it left an Estonian Baltic Sea port, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said, adding it had alerted NATO allies to the incident. The Liberia-flagged ship Green Admire was leaving Sillamae port using a designated navigation channel that crosses Russian territorial waters, the ministry said in a statement.’

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/estonia-says-russia-detained-tanker-baltic-sea-2025-05-18/

    I was reading elsewhere that that ‘designated navigation channel’ was established in a deal between Russia, Estonia and Finland. Since the later decided to play funny buggers and tried to hijack a ship in international waters – also known as piracy – that agreement is now dead and void.

    Reply ↓
    1. .Tom

      Simplicius mentioned this tit-for-tat too. He wrote that heavy ships use this deeper channel through Russian waters, according to that prior agreement, but also that Estonian officials said that from now on, since this incident, ships will avoid it and the Russian waters and pass through more dangerous shallower channels entirely in Estonian waters.

      So Estonia chose, presumably at the political level, to endanger oil tankers using Estonian ports rather than stop escalating with Russia. I wonder how crews, owners and insurers feel about that.

      Reply ↓
  5. Wukchumni

    Terrifying attraction lets tourists sleep while suspended over 320-foot cliff New York Post.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Saw this from the road in the Sacred Valley in Peru, and it must have been 1,000 foot almost sheer drop from the really spendy digs, which costs $1500 a night, ouch!

    Big wall climbers do this all the time, with what is called a portaledge. I’m content to be in a hammock instead between a couple of trees, with my rear echelon perhaps a foot above the ground.

    https://naturavive.com/web/skylodge-adventure-suites/

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      There was a spot we liked to camp at a place called Cebolla Mesa that sat at the edge of the Rio Grande Gorge at the Red River confluence. We hung our hammock off a couple of pinon trees right at the edge for a great view. The photos we took of either of us in the hammock look as if we were suspended over that 800 feet deep gorge.

      One of the coolest things about that place was watching the moon rise and its light creep down the opposite side of the gorge.

      Twenty years ago, a movie called “Off the Map” was filmed at or near our favorite camping spot, and they had a hammock shot that I cannot find on Youtube.

      Reply ↓
    2. Bugs

      That’s in Peruvian soles, Wuk. About $400 a night. I don’t understand the attraction. I started suffering from vertigo at about 35 years old (after having loved climbing) and I’ve been trying to get past it by white knuckling height challenges ever since but even looking at those things makes my palms moist.

      Reply ↓
  6. .Tom

    Keith Woods tweeted that “Portugal has been dominated by two centre-left parties for half a decade, but today, the nationalist CHEGA party has broken that and finished second in a national election.” 5 years isn’t especially long for a political duopoly to dominate. Maybe he means half a decade, i.e. since the revolution.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I wonder if Trump will bail out farmers again like he was forced to do during his first term. You would think that he would but this time around I am not so sure.

      Reply ↓
  8. Henry Moon Pie

    I surfed through just a minute of Morning Joe and happened to catch Zeke Emmanuel talking about Joe’s prostate cancer. Like mine, his Gleason score is a whopping 9 with presumably a PET scan showing metastatic spots on two vertebrae (I had one.). Zeke speculated about the course of treatment that included the chemical castration treatment I’ve been getting for a year now and radiation for the spots like I received a few weeks ago. He didn’t mention the radiation on the prostate itself that I received a year and a half ago.

    What will be impossible to explain is how Joe’s cancer has managed to grow and spread while he was President of the United States without us hearing anything about it. I hadn’t seen a doctor for 20 years when my son’s urging brought me to a doctor for worsening rectal cancer after which a PSA revealed the prostate cancer as well. So we have yet another health coverup re: Biden. Ds are the worst.

    Since I brought it up, here’s an update on my situation. In the last month, I’ve had a CT scan, a PSA, a broader cancer antigen test, a normetanephrine test (for the pheochromopcytoma) and a blood test the uses genetic signatures to test for cancer cells in the blood stream. The CT is clear except for the prostate itself. The PSA is undetectable. The broader cancer antigen is normal, as is the normetanephrine test. The Signatura test is clear. So there’s no cancer showing up anywhere except the prostate, and it’s under control for the time being.

    From this point on, my treatment consists of a tri-monthly injection and a daily pill for the prostate that will continue for another year. There will be a CT scan and these same blood tests every 3 months as well.

    That’s the surprisingly good news. The bad news is that treatment has left my body a bit of a wreck. I’m still struggling to recover from the last surgery in October when I was gutted like a fish and sewn back up. My surgeon tells me the unhealed spot is down to less than a centimeter, but the ongoing treatments are quite painful while I’m getting them and for a couple of days after. The 4th and 5th fingers on my left hand have been useless since that surgery as well which may have something to do with being on the table for 9 hours. It makes typing quite slow. And the chemo left me with legs that feel like blocks of wood below the knees. And I almost died two or three times during the course of treatment.

    The trade-off has been the additional time with family, especially the granddaughters, one of whom I see almost daily, and the other two at least once a week. This past week, I went in for another torture session kneeling with my butt in the air while my surgeon cauterizes and applies burning silver nitrate as blood streams down my legs. Before I assumed the position, I told my rectal surgeon the story about my granddaughter and I dancing to Wilson Pickett while waiting in line at a drive-in and thanked her and all the doctors and nurses at UH who had dealt with one challenge after another with surprising success. She had to choke back a few tears, and she’s a pretty tough cookie.

    I’ve also managed to reach two milestones this spring: 50th anniversaries of graduation from college and marriage.

    So the road ahead for old Joe isn’t that bad. The most painful of the prostate treatment process, the biopsy, is behind him (temporally as well as physically). Now it’s just pills and injections, maybe some radiation whose side effects have been pretty minimal for me. It could be at his age that something will kill him first before the prostate cancer. It’s tough to feel much compassion for Genocide Joe, especially since he and those around him were so determined to keep us in the dark about multiple serious health conditions.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      My what a rough road you’ve been through. I’m sorry to hear about it. God bless you and may your recovery be a full one, with many years left.

      I know you’re a Chiefs fan so enjoy another season with Reid/Mahomes. Reid is the best coach in the NFL, IMO.

      Reply ↓
    2. Unironic Pangloss

      Apologies for shoving advice in your face….read up (or ask around) about intermittent fasting and cancer treatments. (or at least cut down on sugar)

      From my unscientific sample size of 1 in the extended family, it works for stage 4 cancer.

      People can beat cancer, even stage 4

      Reply ↓
    3. Bugs

      Hang in there friend, it sounds like you’re over the hump for a while. Before you know it, the Royals will be in the playoffs and football season will be upon us. Enjoy your time with the grandkids. Some of us will never have that opportunity.

      I’m going to go see my parents, who are not well, in a couple weeks and check in on life in Wisconsin. I’ll go to the Pride Parade and take the temperature of the counterculture that still shows up there. It should be less corporate this year, I expect. Last year my BFF had to pull me off the sidewalk for screaming at the FBI that they didn’t belong there, lol.

      Reply ↓
    4. outside observer

      From my own experience your grandchildren will cherish the time you’ve spent together for the rest of their lives.

      Reply ↓
    1. Neutrino

      Palliative care, hospice or that beach in Delaware?
      Timing of announcement reeks of more Biden lies, or from his handlers.
      Nobody suffering from prostate cancer, or having had any diagnoses or treatments, believes the timeline.

      Reply ↓
  11. CanCyn

    Re hospital over crowding – they are a problem here in Ontario too. I have a friend who, last February, spent 4 days being treated for sepsis (after a poorly treated Strep infection) on a gurney in ER because there were no rooms available. My sister-in-law is currently in a different hospital, different community, recovering from a perforated bowel (she almost died, 3 emergency surgeries, sepsis, 8 days in medically induced coma, 4 weeks in ICU). Once moved to a regular ward she was in a room intended for 2 that has 3 beds in it, 2 women and 1 man. The room is over crowded with equipment such that it is difficult to visit and also difficult for nurses to move around the bed, to change bedding, give sponge baths, medication, check vitals, etc. There is equipment and soiled laundry bins in the hallways such it makes it difficult to move a stretcher or wheelchair or walker through around.
    Staff are clearly overworked and unenthusiastic about their jobs. While in ICU, where you generally have 1 dedicated nurse, my SIL asked a nurse for some water, she hadn’t seen her own nurse for awhile, he told her that her nurse was ‘on break’ and she would have to wait. At one point there was a problem with her colostomy bag and 3 different nurses, one of whom was a manager, yelled at her and accused her of deliberately tampering with it.
    Visiting both hospitals was like being transported to a third world country. My own efforts at self-care and staying fit are greatly motivated- the old cliché that a hospital is no place for a sick person seems totally true.
    And really none of this is new. My mother-in-law died from COPD complications in 2016 and even back then her doctor tried very hard to keep her out of the hospital because of risks like infection, etc. I know someone whose father who had dementia – he fell and broke his hip. He spent 3 days in ER laying on his back – he got pneumonia and died – yes this happened in an Ontario hospital and it was a number of years ago. These problems are not new and, like the risks of COVID, everyone just seems to accept that the problems are insurmountable and that we just have to learn to accept it all – TINA

    Reply ↓
  12. The Rev Kev

    ‘Michael Tracey
    @mtracey
    As the apocalyptic end-game Israeli offensive in Gaza gets underway, Witkoff says: “I don’t think there is any daylight between President Trump’s position and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position.” With Netanyahu’s position being the final “conquest” of Gaza. So there you have it’

    And it just came out that Witkoff personally promised Hamas on behalf of the Trump regime to make Israel lift the blockade to allow humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians in exchange for that Israeli-American hostage. But as soon as he was freed, Witkoff reneged on the deal-

    https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/witkoff-hamas-trump-deal-edan-alexander-lift-blockade-israel

    Reply ↓
  13. TomDority

    The New Dark Age – Chris Hedges
    Thumbs -up
    let the realist theorists of international politics take notes

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      While the general tenor of the article is good, I have some reservations.

      “The fall of the Roman Empire led to immiseration and repression throughout Europe during the Dark Ages, roughly from the sixth through the 13th century.”

      This looks like the commonplace descriptions that used to be provided in the past (and possibly still are) in MSM and history books for schools.

      The fact is that the Roman Empire itself was one of vast immiseration and ruthless repression: bread and circuses, slavery, compulsory inheritance of professions and duties, protests drowned in blood or crucifixon, etc. The Pax Romana was one of constant wars, coups d’état, riots, and insurrections. Apparently, in quite a number of cases populations welcomed the “barbarians” who got them rid of Roman tax collectors, slave-owning latifundists, prosecutors, and garrisons.

      “The Belgian monarch King Leopold in the late 19th century occupied the Congo in the name of Western civilization and anti-slavery, but plundered the country, resulting in the death — by disease, starvation and murder — of some 10 million Congolese.”

      This is the prime example of colonialist horror, but this large tree hides the forest: overall, during the “scramble for Africa”, the continent lost a third of its population. This is the overall figure, and there were variations: Algeria under the French lost 30%, Congo under the Belgians 50%. This gives the scale of the massacre essentially during the last quarter of the 19th century.

      “We cannot, having provided billions of dollars in weapons and persecuted those who decry the genocide, make moral claims anymore that will be taken seriously.”

      The West will of course make such claims, and they will be taken seriously, as a justification, a cover, a precedent — by other governments that wish to inflict a similar treatment to their foe of predilection.

      Reply ↓
  14. IM Doc

    So Sorry guys, I am getting old – I put this on the thread from yesterday when I meant to do this right now this AM……

    _________________________

    A few thoughts about prostate cancer from someone in the medical profession for 35 years. I feel much more qualified to discuss this than all the armchair MDs online right now. I probably do 3-5 prostate exams every day and I have I would guess 150 or so men who have either had prostate cancer or dealing with it right now.

    If and when I do get around to writing a book about being a PCP, the chapter on prostate exams will be right there among it all. It is when the patient and I get around to doing the exam that I often really learn their personalities. It is very awkward for many men and almost becomes an irreplaceable bonding experience between men and their PCPs. As such, I have literally heard every possible joke, deflection, or gallows humor right before the deed is done. They have been a lifetime of laughs – I have written these down my whole life – and often read over them for a laugh on bad days. For example, the district criminal judge, who right before the finger went in announced – “There are about 600 young men out in the world who would give it all to be in your position right now. I hope you enjoy every second.”

    Prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, and to some degree breast cancer are the three cancers that due to their usual course, make us think that cancer should be a verb. Men, you are “cancering” right now. There are all kinds of moments in your life when you have an active prostate cancer and your immune system just takes care of it. On multiple occasions in my life, I have had postmortem autopsies on men as young as 30 with prostate cancer found on their autopsy. It is very likely that many cases of prostate cancer arise when the immune system can no longer do surveillance correctly.

    In recent years, the federal agencies have decided that regular prostate exams and PSAs ( the tumor marker for them) are not indicated and should be stopped. The data here is quite flimsy and it flies in the face of the 5 or 6 50-70 year olds I find every year that do indeed have an active prostate cancer. They should at least be observed carefully, if not taken care of medically. It must be said that the federal agencies have also declared the entire physical exam to be largely useless thereby facilitating an entire generation of doctors who never actually touch patients – they play on keyboards the whole time they are in the room.

    About half the time, I feel something on their exam – the other half – we detect rising PSA levels. As internists, we look for patterns. I simply cannot recall a single instance in my life when a well-followed man waited until 82 to have a Gleason 9 prostate cancer with bone mets. It just really does not happen that way. What I DO SEE are men who do not get regular physicals, or haphazard ones, or are street people, or do not take care of themselves show up at that age with widely metastatic prostate cancer. But not men who have taken care of themselves. I have no data to confirm, but one would assume the POTUS would be well examined and frequently. There are certainly men who are found to have highly aggressive prostate cancer – those men are younger – in their 50s and 60s – and in my experience are almost always African American. So, this story is just not consistent with a lifetime of giving medical care. But weird things in medicine can ALWAYS happen.

    I have seen all kinds of coverage of the “terminal” nature of this problem of Biden. Well, maybe, maybe not. Prostate cancer is not like all the others – pancreas, lung, etc. When the others are widely metastatic it really is quite terminal. Not so with prostate cancer. I have many men who live for years and years with this same diagnosis of Biden – and live those years fairly free of problems. The hormone therapy like Lupron and Casodex really help here. He may be gone in 2 weeks – but so may I. The doom and gloom being amped up right now about this issue is not based on medical experience or science.

    Again, this entire presentation really beggars belief based on my experience as a PCP. But unusual things happen in medicine all the time.

    Reply ↓
    2. Unironic Pangloss

      to be cynical, having blood work for the cancer markers is more revenue extraction than the old-fashioned digital exam.

      i was surprised that the prostate blood work showed up in my annual battery of blood tests in my 40s, but relieved that I didn’t get the poke, lol.

      Thanks Quest Diagostics!

      Reply ↓
  15. The Rev Kev

    “Women who suffer stillbirths could face police searches”

    More than that. Have a stillbirth in Salvador and you can find yourself sentenced to thirty years in prison-

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/salvadoran-women-jailed-decades-miscarriages-stillbirths-warn-us-abort-rcna33035

    And it has come to the US as well-

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59214544

    You can bet that there are over eager DAs and prosecutors wanting to get themselves some headlines by throwing some young woman into prison on some dodgy charges.

    Reply ↓
  16. upstater

    A pound for the guns, a penny for the poor
    A slam poem about Starmer’s policy of war over welfare
    Ian Proud May 19, 2025

    They call it Labour, but who do they labour for?
    Not the hands that build, not the mouths that plead,
    Not the hearts that break under the weight of greed.
    Keir’s banner waves, red painted bold,
    But where’s the justice for the hungry and cold?
    Four billion pounds, they say, to keep borders tight,
    To fuel a war, to fund the fight.
    While homes crumble, while dreams decay,
    They hand the poor a pittance, then snatch it away.
    Overseas aid slashed, the lifeline torn—
    For defence spending, our compassion’s worn.
    What price for the rockets, the tanks, the steel?
    What cost for the souls that they choose to conceal?
    Policies tailored like suits on Savile Row,
    Fitting the wealthy while the poor stay low.
    Promises hollow, like an echoing shell—
    A promise for peace, but it’s war they sell.
    Angry voices rise, yet who hears their roar?
    When the coffers are drained to fund foreign war.
    And those at home, their backs bent double,
    Are told, “Sacrifice more, your hardship’s our rubble.”
    Labour’s banner? A mask for the pain—
    It’s red, but stained by the poor’s disdain.
    Keir Starmer, your policies cut like a knife,
    Taking bread from the table, stealing hope from life.
    A pound for the guns, a penny for the weak,
    Do you hear the cries, or the truths they speak?
    This isn’t justice—this is war by stealth—
    Bleeding the poor to bolster the wealth.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *