Flying squirrel-inspired drone with foldable wings demonstrates high maneuverability TechXplore
Big investors borrow against private equity holdings amid cash crunch FT
Climate/Environment
Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability Nature
Oil Spill in Mississippi Delta Marshland Continues Maritime Executive
Oil spill response languishes as Louisiana reorganizes its oversight agencies Louisiana Illuminator. From April 10, still germane.
Climate change narrowing gap between fire seasons in eastern Australia and western North America Down to Earth
The New Jersey fire signals a new era for the Northeast Grist
New Residents Are Flocking to These Tourist Destinations—Despite the Risk of Wildfires Realtor
Water
Iraq facing worst drought in history as water resources dwindle and climate crisis intensifies Bne Intellinews
Pandemics
China suggests Covid-19 originated in US in response to Trump allegation The Independent. Here’s the full text of China’s white paper on Covid-19 prevention, control and origins tracing.
Director of National Intelligence Gabbard:
“We are working with Jay Bhattacharya, the new NIH Director, as well as Secretary Kennedy…looking at the gain-of-function research…in…the Wuhan lab that…was US funded…and…resulted in…a pandemic”https://t.co/mQ0A8JwGVQ
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) May 1, 2025
***
U.S. maternal deaths doubled during COVID-19 pandemic, among other findings in new study Brown University
***
Tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest disease, could be America’s next outbreak The Hill
Active tuberculosis case confirmed in student at Dillard High School South Florida Sun Sentinel
***
Air filters in classrooms reduce sick days by more than 10 per cent New Scientist
Denial of Airborne Infection: A Review Psychology Today
China?
‘For a better life’: CIA releases videos to lure disgruntled CCP officials to spy on China The Guardian
Bipartisan SHIPS Act Aims to Counter China’s Maritime Dominance with 250-Ship Fleet Expansion gCaptain
COSCO and Seaspan Place Large Orders Despite Threat of U.S. Port Fees Maritime Executive
How Trump’s tariff chaos is bringing China’s ‘trade circle of friends’ closer South China Morning Post
Huawei the Hydra Kyle Chan, Phenomenal World
Trump threatens massive new China sanctions over Iranian oil Axios
China backs off peak Iranian crude buys, but a steep drop looks unlikely Kpler
European Disunion
Europe pushing delusional US-style rearmament plan Responsible Statecraft
Irish journalist and RT correspondent Chay Bowes reportedly arrested in Romania The Journal
O Canada
There are 3 steps Carney must take to get a truce from Trump CBC
Trimming F-35 order could antagonize Trump as security and trade talks get under way: analysts The Globe and Mail
DND set to consider only U.S.-supplied night-vision binoculars Ottawa Citizen
Old Blighty
This is a message to the fly-tippers blighting our towns and villages:
For too long, your actions have gone unpunished. That ends now.
We’ll use drones and new tech to identify your vehicle. Then we’ll crush it.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 30, 2025
Syraqistan
Gaza humanitarian aid ship bombed by drones in waters off Malta The Guardian
Israel prison authorities deliberately move sick detainees around to spread diseases in prisons, rights group says Middle East Monitor
The unbearable task of reporting on Gaza while my colleagues get killed around me Mohammed R Mhawish
***
Fourth round of US–Iran nuclear talks postponed for ‘logistical reasons’ The Cradle
Is Donald Trump Only Trying to Derail Negotiations with Iran? Larry Johnson
***
Pentagon May Have Drawn on Anonymous Social Media Accounts in Planning Deadly Yemen Attack Drop Site
Civilians Casualties Reach 500 in Trump Bombing Campaign Yemen Data Project
***
Israel bombs Syria hours after controversial Israeli Druze leader appeals for ‘action’ Middle East Eye
The UK Private Security Boom in Syria under Al Qaeda Regime – Part 1 Vanessa Beeley, UK Column
New Not-So-Cold War
US-Ukraine “Resources Deal”, Negotiations Tanked, Will Trump Return to Biden Policies on Ukraine Conflict? Russia Preparing for War with NATO.The Real Politick with Mark Sleboda
Vladimir Putin the Blessed News Forensics
F-16s Pulled From U.S. Boneyard Are Being Delivered To Ukraine For Spare Parts The War Zone
Exploding Cargo. Hacked GPS Devices. Spoofed Coordinates. Inside New Security Threats in the Skies. Vanity Fair. Wild stuff. Implies that Russia is to blame for January 29 collision of American Airlines jet with Army Black Hawk helicopter over DC.
Spook Country
National Endowment for Democracy Is Now Erasing Disclosure Data Jack Poulson and Lee Fang
“Liberation Day”
SPOOKED BY TRADE WARS, TRUMP OFFICIALS HOARD SUPPLIES: ‘IT WOULD BE STUPID NOT TO!’ Rolling Stone
Hospitals begin to grapple with tariff fallout Axios
Tariffs are Already Stalling the Economy Apricitas Economics
General Motors to deploy ‘Covid playbook’ to offset $5bn tariff hit FT
Trump 2.0
Trump’s national security adviser sent to UN amid ideological tensions Semafor
‘It’s like hanging on to a freaking bullet train’ Diplomatic, by Laura Rozen
***
Trump vs. America’s National Parks Can We Still Govern?
The Trump administration’s push to privatize US public lands Grist
Dozens of homeless people living in national forest evicted by US Forest Service AP
***
Before Trump Broke Democracy, the System Weakened It Americas Undoing.
For example:
COVID-19-related institutional betrayal associated with trauma symptoms among undergraduate students PLOS One
MAHA
RFK Jr Says Vaccine Contains ‘Aborted Fetus Debris’ Newsweek
RFK Jr. Bets $500 Million on Universal Vaccines in Shift From Covid-19 Funding WSJ
NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths STAT
DOGE
‘There’s Never Been a More Blatant Corporate Incursion Into the Public Sector Than DOGE’ FAIR
Tesla board is reportedly floating replacing Elon Musk as CEO Elektrek
Democrats en déshabillé
lol the Zombiecrats are polling even lower than Trump, their “playing dead” strategy working as brilliantly as one would expect. Even funnier is the idea that their shit polling would be a “wakeup call”–you can’t wake up the dead, even the walking dead!https://t.co/1XmeApl7vN
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) May 1, 2025
Immigration
Corporations Exploiting Migrant Labor Left Unscathed by Trump Crackdown Lee Fang. As we wrote about here.
ICE Can’t Erase What Lelo Juarez Built Labor Notes
Police State Watch
Last night the police at UCLA charged into students with batons in hand, arresting several, for attempting a public screening of “The Encampments” documentary on the one-year anniversary of the UCLA encampment.
“On behalf of BreakThrough News, we condemn this grotesque… pic.twitter.com/dbWdiMMwe0
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) May 1, 2025
The Friendly Skies
Trump wants ‘one great big beautiful contractor’ for FAA modernization work The Air Current
AI
Zuckerberg explaining how Meta is creating personalized AI friends to supplement your real ones: “The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15.” pic.twitter.com/Y9ClAqsbOA
— Roman Helmet Guy (@romanhelmetguy) April 30, 2025
Healthcare?
The Medicaid You Don’t Know You’re On: How Rebranding Hides Threats to Your Care HEALTH CARE un-covered
Utah Farmers Signed Up for Federally Funded Therapy. Then the Money Stopped. ProPublica
Guillotine Watch
Rise of the rentiers: Inheritance flows in % of national output have increased strongly in advanced economies, with a particularly massive increase in Italy. Inheritance is very important for wealth accumulation.
Source: Economist via @pat_kaczmarczyk pic.twitter.com/Tg4xFSzCa5
— Philipp Heimberger (@heimbergecon) April 30, 2025
Our Famously Free Press
The drip-drip of slanted Gaza reporting erodes our sense of right and wrong Jonathan Cook
Antitrust
Settling price-fixing lawsuits is simply the cost of doing business for corporate giants. While McDonald’s gets a payout, @Reuters reported that cattle producers who sold directly to the meatpackers lost billions from this scheme. They get the short end of the stick as always. https://t.co/qx4BrGJi3W
— Farm Action (@FarmActionUS) May 1, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
Faltering California High-Speed Rail Pushes Private Funding To Fill Massive $7-$11 Billion Funding Gap California Globe
The Bezzle
The View from Here Air Mail. “Donald and Melania Trump’s foray into crypto may be the biggest financial scandal in presidential history—and it’s happening in plain sight.”
Class Warfare
The Trump Tariffs and the U.S. Labor Movement MR Online
1st unionized Whole Foods workers accuse grocer of wrongful terminations Supermarket News
To Posterity SAAG
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Donnie ‘Two Dolls’
(Donald Trump—”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.”)
We call him Donnie ‘Two Dolls’ and he has these tiny hands
He’s obsessed with counting money, and our southern borderlands
He will head out when it’s sunny to play golf with tiny balls
When it’s late, and he feels funny his tweets bounce off all four walls
He has got no grasp of tariffs so he’s wrecked all global trades
He hires people with no merits who will sing his accolades
He has wars he can’t fix instantly, in Kiev and Tel Aviv
He issues dark threats constantly which no one can believe
He shuns our Constitution, signing Orders every day
He swears by his solutions and his minions all obey
He has said he rules this country, he has said he rules this world
He mounts his desk rotundly, with his tiny fingers curled
In the realms of wealth and power no one rises to the heights
There’s no entry to that tower of elites and troglodytes
If you don’t project the confidence that lets you tell the crowd
That you alone have any sense, that you will make them proud
For humans will take confidence in place of expertise
People will see opulence and sink down to their knees
What wise men will do instantly a fool will do at last
Disasters caused consistently leave all the world aghast
If you knew Donnie ‘Two Dolls’ as a neighbor or a friend
You’d laugh at all his pratfalls and avoid him in the end
But MAGA made him President until he screws the pooch
You might be living in a tent before we lose this mooch
The coming months of empty shelves while children lack for food
While trade disputes resolve themselves and Donald Trump gets sued
Will see this silly narcissist descend into a state
That will require a rubber room, but that will come too late
That caught my attention too, Antifa. Who knew Trump was a DeGrowther? But instead of going after little kids who get their toys from Walmart, let’s consider bigger fish:
1) Who really needs more than one house? Confiscate multiples and re-outfit them for the unhoused.
2) Who really needs a walk-in closet full of clothes for one person? Empty them out and give them to the poor.
3) Who really needs an entire freezer full of upscale ice cream? Take the freezer and the ice cream and give it to a public school in a poor area.
4) Who really needs even one private jet? Ground them and make everybody fly commercial.
And that’s not even talking about lawyers and doctors who drive around in giant pick-ups like they were John Dutton or the billionaires with yachts too big to make it from the shipyard to the sea or fools with gold-plated plumbing.
Yes, Donald, we Americans have too much stuff, but let’s start with those living in absurd luxury before we chide little kids for having too many Walmart dolls.
If we really do get the “Summer of Unobtainium” it might be the best thing for the environment since the COVID lock-downs in April 2020.
Would Americans discover thrift stores, and the joys of hand-made creations over plastic-mold injected junk?
Trump’s plan is working–the toy whittling industry at the General Store has gone into high production mode.
>Would Americans discover thrift stores, and the joys of hand-made creations over plastic-mold injected junk?
Based on my observations thrift stores in this part of New England and the Upper Valley region of VT/Nh are booming.
Whodathunk Trump and Project 2025 are all about Deep Ecology? Not Me!
My Tundra is not that big!
Though it’s a fun question as to “how much is enough?” I recall a wonderful editorial in the Korea Times complaining about the existence of “grey taxis,” which were smaller, cheaper, transportation, and how they should be banned because it meant that ANYONE could take a taxi and those (the far-more-comfy and expensive “black taxis”) should be reserved for the well-to-do. The groundlings needed to stick to pubtrans*, the way God intended.
*which, to be fair, was not all that bad. Often crowded, but otherwise acceptable. I lost a perfectly good hat on the Red Line out of Seoul….
Hullo, apologies for posting this beneath Antifa’s work but I have a site functioning question. The “post comment” box below a post is no longer working and says “subscribe to post comments”. I can only comment in reply to another comment. When I click on subscribe in the same box, it takes me to a page of malformed HTML.
I could have sworn that, on the rare occasions I am the first to comment in a topic in links and I start a new comment thread, the comment button was open all.
Did I miss an important memo and it has been like this for some time or forever? :-)
Posting from a mobile running forks of Android 14 and Cromite.
No, that is how it appears on a mobile at the top of the comments section. On a desktop the box is wider so that stoopid and misleading “Subscribe to post comments” (which is an exhortation to subscribe to the RSS feed for comments) is not as prominent.
I wanted to have that label fixed and must remind my tech person to get that done.
Ah, OK, thank you for the explanation. It definitely wasn’t an assignment but I am glad I asked if it helps you get it fixed!
This hits even funnier if you break every line in half and sing it to the tune of the theme song from Gilligan’s Island – the meter matches!
Thank you, Conor.
You may have forgotten the good news emerging at breakfast, London time, from the benighted kingdom. Reform, a company (sic) owned by Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf (sic), is on course to win or be the largest party at the next general election: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05/02/a-six-does-it/.
We need to find out who Nigel’s financial backers are, pronto. (We just want what’s best for him.)
Here, it seems, is one of them.
https://www.ft.com/content/89775e2e-19b2-48b8-8fd9-ea4d8d2b31a1
Suggestions he might be fronting for others are purely speculative.
Article sans paywall: https://archive.ph/rGd3z
Christopher Harborne. Here is an archived version to the above FT article.
The lede; Christopher Harborne wanted to avoid perception that party only had one big supporter, according to messages
Thank you, Colonel. Maybe Labour and the Tories can bring in a few Romanian consultants to fix this problem for them about what to do about Reform.
What makes you think that the “know how” is original from Romania? Have you seen the latest developments in Germany with AfD?
Had a crazy idea while listening to Novari Media’s reporting on the amazing realignment.
Watching the Populist Right parties rise so rapidly in the UK and Germany is quite impressive. Here in the U. S. we have the “benefit” of going through our Populist Right stage first along with poor Argentina. Is it possible that a Populist Left party that began getting on ballots for local and state offices ASAP could score wins in 2 years in the U.S. when people will have had more than their fill of yet another failure to tackle America’s growing problems, this time a colossal screw-up by the Populist Right? I had totally given up on electoral solutions, but if a hateful party with fake solutions can challenge the center Duopoly so successfully in the UK, could a Populist Left party–anti-war; anti-racist; anti-Capitalist; pro- future for our kids and grandkids–emulate Reform’s success here in our warmongering, racist, market-crazed, Earth-destroying country?
And why would any real Leftist waste time on the corrupt and ruthless Democrat Party when popular anger across the West is giving rise to successful new parties, though so far only on the Right.
Could see this Reform victory here in centre of the red wall coming a mile off.
This is county of Nottingham not the city (which is red and will get its chance to be trounced some other time) so was previously pretty Conservative. Reform’s victories were at expense of less posh Conservatives but particularly in former mining Labour areas who national Labour have ignored.
The two Labour councillors for our district (and were heavily associated with our dreadful “Islington type” recently elected Labour MP) both lost to Reform. The only 4 Labour victories were locals with good name recognition or in districts that were traditionally rich pro-European Conservative wets.
Whilst mid term county Council elections are always bad for the ruling party, Labour are heading for an extinction level event. In neighboring Derbyshire these results suggest Labour have fallen below the critical level of support to get anywhere under First-Past-The-Post.
You need to add the counts for the two Labour parties which is merely a silly labelling issue from a bygone age but their vote is clearly now too small and uniformly spread: fatal under FPTP. Even the tories (with similar vote percentage) managed to concentrate those votes in certain districts.
What’s a “fly-tipper”? Is that common knowledge?
Leaving garbage where it shouldn’t be
In the U.K. a fly tipper is someone who dumps their rubbish/trash at the side of the road, in the woods etc. Anywhere but at an official facility where they will have to pay.
In other words, a Neoliberal Disposal Service.
You got it!
Especially so, as it is often done by people who have been paid to safely dispose of said rubbish.
Alice’s Restaurant
I guess Starmer’s drone cameras are a modern day equivalent of Arlo’s “8 by 10 coloured glossy photographs…
An excuse for the government to use population surveillance drones anywhere and everywhere.
Usually significant amount of garbage, as in sprinter-vans-full, at a moderate speed.
Perverse reaction to fees, unintended consequences of Mister Market, paying ones own way, tragedy of the commons, bad citizenship.
Just was out working in south central Montanny… the amount of garbage and trash seems to be palpably increasing. Its probably a function of more people on earth, but it almost seems the be a new Nihilism, a who-gives-a crap attitude in end times. Conservation, saving for the future, future generations?
The prospects are grim and grimmer, so why bother?
At least landfills consolidate the detritus of our wretched excess, in theory managed by science and regulation.
Between bottles and bud light cans in the borrow-pits, no need for road-side reflectors !
‘Keir Starmer
@Keir_Starmer
This is a message to the fly-tippers blighting our towns and villages:
For too long, your actions have gone unpunished. That ends now.
We’ll use drones and new tech to identify your vehicle. Then we’ll crush it.’
Had to look up what ‘fly-tippers’ are. It’s just people dumping rubbish in out of the way places. If he is threatening to crush vehicles, does that include trucks from corporations also dumping rubbish?
Official waste disposal sites that are free to householders usually have height barriers to prevent builders trucks and large vans etc., from disposing of building waste etc. They are supposed to go to a commercial entrance where they have to pay fees.
To avoid fees, unscrupulous individuals dump waste in isolated locations out of sight of CCTV or similar surveillance. Basically, they need to be caught in the act and filmed or otherwise leave behind waste containing incriminating evidence, such as labels with name and address on or similar.
They are a blight on the countryside but as ever Starmer is bluffing. Not sure how many drones you need to patrol sufficient areas and particularly at night in poorly if at all lit areas. In the meantime, terrorism charges are levied against anyone tweeting anything negative and people arrested for marching about genocide in Gaza. The man is a total empty suit, albeit a very expensive suit paid for by a millionaire keen to gain influence with him.
Thank you, John.
The millionaire still has a Downing Street pass and oversight of appointments.
His rise to prominence began when he worked for the Maxwell group and became friends with Ghislaine Maxwell and Piers Morgan.
Dickhead or thickhead? Threatening to crush vans and cars is not the brightest stunt to pull before election day.
Fly tippers–
“We’ll use drones and new tech to identify your vehicle. Then we’ll crush it.”
Keir Starmer
Dear Keir,
Make sure that Officer Obie doesn’t forget the twenty-seven 8 by 10 glossy photos.
Love,
Arlo
Proud member of Group W here.
My Thanksgiving tradition is listening to all 17 minutes……
I will remember Starmer next Nov.
But will there be the necessary blind justice? Angry mobs with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction?
Edit: See? This comment posted right up. But two above here (I’m on a roll today) are “awaiting moderation.” Maybe our host is a fan of Thanksgiving dinners that can’t be beat?
Re: New Jersey fires
Grist says. «for the last half-century, state and federal agencies stifled traditional fire patterns, creating a landscape all but destined to burn» and advocates «prescribed burns and make setting them safer and easier, even for people with less fire experience.»
But the ‘supporting’ link says: «This study shows that repeated prescribed burns in an open New England woodland have lasting structural and compositional effects capable of restoring pre-settlement, pyrogenic vegetation patterns.»
Burn, rinse, repeat.
The NJ Pine Barrens are supposed to burn:
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/conservation-and-climate/fire-in-the-forest-the-science-and-history-of-prescribed-burns-in-the-new-jersey-pine-barrens/
And it would have been worse if it wasn’t for past prescribed burns. It’s just that this season, southern NJ has been under drought conditions since October of last year. So the prescribed burns that the state forest service wanted to perform did not happen.
From the Antidote Files:
“Hey Rocky. Watch me pull a healthy economy out of my hat!”
“Again?”
“Gosh. Need another hat.”
big fan of Bullwinkle and Rocket J. Squirrel and the rest of the crew on that show – have a Rocky & Bullwinkle T-shirt that gets compliments from older crowd peers – you gave me a chuckle on that one ambrit, thanks – the subversive humor on that and other cartoons is sorely missing for kids today – carry on……. – off to my safe place in the orchard with Roscoe –
I was fond of Beany and Cecil sailing to No Bikini Atoll……
Are you sure the word you’re looking for is “hat” or a different 3 letter one?
Fundamentally, this is a family show, so, it must remain inferred.
I visualize Bullwinkle pulling a roaring bear out of the hat.
Gosh, wrong hat / ;)
Rocky and Bullwinkle. utube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx3sOqW5zj4
OMG thank you flora – a smile on a smile for that one and that’s the very T-shirt i proudly wear!
“Is Donald Trump Only Trying to Derail Negotiations with Iran?”
China had better be careful importing oil from Iran. Trump may end up sanctioning them for doing so. Oh wait..I forgot. I wonder if Trump is thinking of doing some side deals with Iran and China. He might tell Iran that he will lift sanctions from them if they stop shipping oil to China while he tells China that he will bring down sanctions to them if they stop buying oil from Iran. I just hope that he is not stupid enough not to have the US Navy hijack oil tankers on their way to China. It would sound all he-man to Trump and his Cabinet but there would be all sorts of blowback that they might not calculate on. For example, the Chinese might station a squad of Chinese marines on each oil tanker – all fully armed.
I recently compared Trump to Reagan but Reagan had handlers including his wife. If you read the Johnson cited social media post Trump certainly seems insane with the threats and all caps shouting. At what point does the World Wrestling shtick turn into the real thing and are we well past that point? It may be time to wonder whether his many failures so far and those to come are tipping him over the edge.
Doesn’t help when he says and does things like this-
‘The US president has renamed two WWII and WWI-related holidays to “start celebrating our victories”
Traditionally, May 8 is observed as Victory in Europe Day, with Russia celebrating on May 9.
”Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
“Nobody was close” to the US “in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance,” Trump claimed. “We won both Wars,” he wrote, adding that “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!” ‘
https://www.rt.com/news/616664-us-won-world-wars-trump/
delusion on such a grand scale and an insult to the over 25 million Russians that sacrificed lives – without those loses on the eastern front the full force of the nahsees would have turned to the west with perhaps a different outcome – didn’t the Russians roll into Berlin first?
Burt Lancaster narrated a great documentary of 20 episodes called “The Unknown War” in 1978
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_War_(TV_series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuuthpJmAig&list=PLjuPVDwVE7Vm5LwgLsxoUeouLaYnUMkyg
Also available without having to sign in to google/youtube at https://archive.org/details/TheUnknownWar
Thank you for that link!
And to Jabura Basadi above, well said!
>delusion on such a grand scale and an insult to the over 25 million Russians that sacrificed lives – without those loses on the eastern front the full force of the nahsees would have turned to the west with perhaps a different outcome – didn’t the Russians roll into Berlin first?
The Russians must pull a Lambert ( bang head on desk), when they hear the Americans brag about all the US did and the sacrifices made to win WE2. It really is an insult of galactic proportions. And then they must say to themselves,” we have to negotiate with these mother fornicators?”
Maybe Donnie will now expect countries to thank America for winning both WW1 and WW2 as part of sanctions relief. Same way he was demanding that Zelensky thank him for all that he is doing to, err, for the Ukraine.
Sam Altman’s latest scam – creepy eye scanners meant to verify that you’re a real human. It seems though that the demo didn’t go so well:
https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/01/this-is-like-black-mirror-sam-altmans-creepy-eye-scanner-project-launches-in-sf/
Pimping AI
(Melody borrowed from “Draggin’ the Line” by Tommy James and the Shondells)
Makin’ a livin’ the old hard way
Takin’ and givin’ my day by day
Use cases are lame and wrapped in lies
Pimpin’ AI (Pimpin’ AI)
Shake-down Sam’s got iris scanners
The product launch, well it threw a spanner
Use cases are lame and wrapped in total lies
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
I feel fine, I’m selling it to commit crimes
I’m gonna take my time
I’m getting the dollar signs
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Lovin’ the hype and animal spirits
Watching the masses never fear it
Use cases are lame and wrapped in total lies
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
I feel fine, I’m selling it to commit crimes
I’m gonna take my time
I’m getting the dollar signs
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI)
Pimpin’ AI (pimpin’ AI) [repeat]
La-la-la-la la-la-la-la
That’s why many of us refer to him as ‘Scam’ Altman.
“Scam and the AI Pimps” would make a great band name.
I feel “punked” already! Meet me down in the Musk Pit! We’ll go Cloud surfing! (All exclamation points all the time!!!!!)
When “they” tell you that this is the ‘best of times,’ don’t you believe “them.”
“Trump vs. America’s National Parks”
‘It’s especially jarring if you consider that the budget for Zion was $9 million in 2023, but its estimated economic impact on the community is almost $1 billion in terms of related visitor spending and jobs generated.’
That’s one helluva return on investment that. You would think that as a supposed businessman, that Trump would understand this. But apparently ideology rules over business sense in the White House. It’s all about cutting government worker numbers no matter the cost to the nation. Maybe the only way to get through to Trump is to tell him that Utah’s Zion National Park is to be renamed Zionist National Park. Then he would fund it in an instant.
I will be in the Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands starting in Sunday. I am probably more concerned about the National Forests than the National Parks but I will let you know what I see. The National Forests do not get the credit they deserve and are often the first to suffer from cut back because there is less publicity.
By the way, all the parks now use a private contractor (Booz Allen Hamilton, see “Booz Allen, the World’s Most Profitable Spy Organization“) to make reservations now (recreation.gov) and they charge $8 when you make a reservation, which is insane. A two night stay in the park cost me $10, so that fee nearly doubles the cost. I am sure Trump will ok that fee to increase when they ask.
A new travel book about the Nat. Parks offers attendance figures for each and Zion, with its proximity to Vegas, is one of the biggies with over 4 million per year. But our nearby Great Smoky Mtns gets over 13 million per year which triples even the Grand Canyon.
So yes the parks are America’s tourism crown jewels and somebody should alert Donald when he isn’t obsessing about a new Air Force One and his other imperial perks. But then Trump doesn’t seem like much of a nature guy other than golf courses, aka “a good walk spoiled.”
Locally they are spending quite a bit of money fixing up our parks and trails after Helene. Some business Republicans do seem to “get it.”
Well, the Book of Mormon kind of claims some affinity to the 12 Tribes of Israel, so there’s that.
The way I heard it, Sasquatch is one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Shlomo Sand claims that the Palestinians are the lost tribes in his 2020 book, The Invention of the Jewish People:
https://www.amazon.com/Invention-Jewish-People-Shlomo-Sand/dp/1788736613?crid=FWLFJCL89L47&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MnEHwO41NKyk6NDOcKmTxtdfz5ep8BHExphmmuOy39fRd9gfu757QMF57Rku9oYCyWfcguksofzFeeQpbh_02jumiXDxKvzmEv036x0LQGc_f1m_TCVgQDIPfOTna_JrHRTZzTZOcQSF_88wjZAbktKOtuCyoH_ynvwltQMUECGxLc0gOVPg-ixWOewUQhuf1mE6qmTbblC5aolxvwJmL1Vnc654nniUnWdNQeFb2Fk.WtE_A7UcEvuAK3HY172gEVQDa82Oc9mfrG0hR2McGz8&dib_tag=se&keywords=Shlomo+Sand&qid=1746208684&sprefix=shlomo+s%2Caps%2C1220&sr=8-1
Sand, a Jew living in Israel, says that genetic studies have confirmed that the Palestinians are Jews who converted to Islam to avoid losing their land. This book was a best seller in Israel at the time.
Is this why DNA testing is banned in Israel?
The National Parks article pretty much hits on all cylinders, things are gonna be weird this summer with so many understaffed and overworked NPS employees being counted on to fill in.
The ‘X’ question is why did Trump donate his entire first quarterly paycheck of $78k in 2017 to the NPS?
The only outdoor thing he ever does is whack off repeatedly on manicured greens.
In the past if you went missing or got hurt in a NP, they really spared no expense in your time of need, but who knows now?
New sign to be posted on NP territories:
“By entering the park, you assume the risk of death, dismemberment, or being eaten by a hungry Grizzly Bear. Thank you, the Management!”
Which is only as it should be. How else will we get a continuous stream of Darwin Awards?
Of course, I’m a big believer in the truth and rightness of Edward Abbey’s works, so maybe my viewpoint is a bit skewed.
We’re on the same wavelength … do stupid things, win stupid prizes.
And no government bailouts via helicopters, law enforcement resources being wasted trying to find you, etc.
Exception for children under 18.
Maybe the idea is that in future, a private corporation would set up a rescue service and would charge people to be rescued. The Swiss do that already and the cost of a helicopter rescue flight alone is about 3,500 Swiss Francs which is about US$4,245. So I suppose that in future, that you will only be able to enter a National Park if you can show that you have insurance coverage in case you need rescuing.
The hospitals already have this scam up and running. They call it “Lifeflight,” “Air Evac” and other catchy names. Especially prevalent in rural areas, where, coincidentally, the ‘average’ person cannot afford the service.
I never thought that I would live to see the return of Charles Dickens style conditions in “modern” society, but I have.
I broke my scapula when an ice bridge collapsed on me 20 miles deep in the back of beyond in Sequoia NP in 1998, and an NPS helicopter airlifted me out to the helipad just inside the NP.
I was never charged anything for the ride, but it was hell getting my insurance company to pay for the ambulance to the hospital in Visalia.
Oh yes. Ye Goode Olde Dayes. At least with the rescue dogs in the mountains, you got ‘free’ brandy.
Nice to read your Star Dust Memories. Glad to hear that you didn’t have to broadcast “stendec.”
New Hampshire Fish and Game has a pretty good deal for people enjoying the NH outdoors IMHO. Could save you a bunch of money if you need to be rescued should something unfortunate happen and you are deemed negligent.
https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/get-outside/hiking-safety
Whacking off on Manicured greens. That needs a coffee warning!
Shouldn’t greens be capitalized, a Proper Noun?
I didn’t realize he was he in Bozeman? Or was it Sun Valley? Aspen?
As the aide asked the Politico: “Is that a tariff in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” (This goes along with the Chief Economist’s “Banana” warning, no doubt.)
I’m beginning to see your point with DJT. He’s truly a maroon.
Anecdotally I know someone who works for Interior, formerly for the Forest Service. So far she’s keeping her job but had to pick up the work of a different region where all the employees took the buyout.
Just got an update from a friend familiar with goings on in my neck of the woods, and the gutting of science work in Sequoia NP is quite something, I was told.
Re: Yates on Trump and US Labor
I’m in sympathy with much of Yate’s critique of the US Labor ‘movement’, but after trashing labor’s leadership, his prescriptions for ‘organizing’ seem misdirected and inappropriate for the coming banana. (Like Alfred Kahn, I don’t want to get side-tracked into a debate over whether the USA is headed for Recession or Depression.)
Yates seems to have done a respectable job of educating labor, but it will be hard to recruit union members and organize strikes during a banana. I think Yates would better use the coming banana to get his his labor student organizers to organize political opposition to both Republicans and Democrats for upcoming local and House races.
re: There are 3 steps Carney must take to get a truce from Trump CBC
But why? I don’t want a truce. Please, let’s not. Carney, if you’re reading this, prioritize deals with anyone and everyone else, or at the very least wait until Trump comes groveling since we’re at a considerable trade advantage.
I agree.
d’accord
A conflicting story on the status of the “de minimus” tariff loophole:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-tariffs-online-chinese-goods-00322654
Conflicts in terms of yesterday’s links, that features a tweet stating that Trump had quietly waived the new rule to close the loophole.
Now, I don’t completely trust Politico, and it is not outside of the realm of possibility that they got sloppy with their journalism. But CNN and other sources (USA today) are now reporting the same, based on a time-boxed google search.
So it appears they really may have gone into effect today.
I read the same story from two different sources earlier today so yeah, they have gone into effect for small packages as well. I wonder if mobs like Temu will list separately the cost of the tariffs on the receipts accompanying each package. Bezos folded on that point instantly but would mobs like Temu care?
Lori Wallach, in tweets yesterday, said that Trump “whacked tariff collection & import inspection w/ a waiver of Customs rules.”
If I understand correctly, her argument is that even though Trump is ending de minimis tariff waiver for China he is gutting enforcement and collection. So a new loophole to replace the closed loophole?
Here’s Wallach’s thread for review: https://x.com/WallachLori/status/1917597214941040665
It’s possible, although I would expect Politico to have noted that little detail in their story. As much as I have despised their neo-con biases, I think they still do quality journalistic work. And not calling out Trump for being a wimp would be a missed opportunity to fly the “Orangemanbad!” flag.
Leaving that part out also would be essentially misleading their readers. Yeah, I would expect lower quality outlets like USA Today to do that sort of “McJournalism” but not Politico.
Tariffs struck Outer Pentagonia yesterday: no grapes in Costco.
This is Pentagonia friend. Get ready for new and improved Costco Plus pricing.
Grapes of Wrath, the sequel.
The Summer of Unobtainium has the potential for lots of viral entertainment, like iPhone videos of rage-shoppers, all fighting for that last bunch of grapes in the Raccoon City Costco, or the last roll of toilet paper.
(We could always hire Kamala to rebrand as the Summer of Spoiled Brats!)
“The Rage Shoppers” sounds like yet another new Punk band.
I’m seeing the potential for a big resurgence of Punk in the culture. The anger and angst are there.
I’m a bit too old to stick a safety pin through my nose, but I do relate to the idea.
Punk always meant thinking for yourself and not following the crowd, and a rebellion against overproduced commercial rock, not to mention the authorities. Now marry punk angst with anti-AI rage, and you’re cookin’ with gas!
Kneecap!
I will have you all listening to them in the end….
At least watch their film. Friends of Israel just forced American Airlines to take it off their inflight options but you can still stream it on Netflix.
I wonder if the proles get desperate and try and buy the empty shelves?
Ripping them off the walls and running out without paying seems more likely.
Too much potential liability. Better to lease the shelves and write it off as a “living expense.”
Hmmm…. Empty shelves, a new version of “busted flats?”
So, it’s like the Black Friday brawls but everyday?
“‘For a better life’: CIA releases videos to lure disgruntled CCP officials to spy on China”
And all they need to do is to trust the CIA. Seriously? I’d trust them like a hole in the head and in China that is exactly what you would get for committing treason. The CIA did this type of video for Russians so the Russians returned the compliment with their own video for Americans. But getting back to the point of trusting the CIA. Not that many years ago the CIA had a spy-ring in Iran until one day some careless spook sent them an email. But instead of doing it as a Blind Copy, did it as a Carbon Copy so when the Iranians busted one account with that email, they had the email addresses of all the other Iranian sell-outs and they simply rolled up the entire ring.
There was a story a decade or more ago about all the CIA spies in China getting caught and executed.
Doesn’t look like a particularly safe occupation.
Re: Gaza humanitarian aid ship bombed by drones in waters off Malta
I was thinking about how drones will be very anonymous killers. In a future where various actors (state and private) have drone capabilities, who could tell where a given killer originated from?
Another layer of distance between victim and operator. As for the operators, I keep thinking of the book “Ender’s Game”.
“Tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest disease, could be America’s next outbreak”
Maybe New York for one should think about reopening Triboro Hospital again which specialized in TB. When it was opened-
‘During the various ceremonies, Mayor La Guardia expressed regret for the conditions that ultimately led to the high prevalence of tuberculosis within New York City, making Triboro Hospital necessary. La Guardia attributed the high rates of the disease to a lack of high-quality housing, and the city not keeping up with modern medicine. During the cornerstone ceremony, he referred to the hospital as “the Hospital of Mistakes of the Past.” La Guardia claimed that slum clearance and improved housing programs would eliminate the disease and the need for institutions like Triboro Hospital.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboro_Hospital_for_Tuberculosis
And that speech was from 1941 by the way. Patients spent years in that hospital neither getting better or worse and would undertake risky surgeries to get cured. People there often topped themselves as well. So yeah, everything old is new again.
Interview with author of Everything is Tuberculosis mentioned in article, John Green, on Science Friday (17 minute audio)
Just started that book. It’s rather slim and, not incidentally, one of the best quality hardbacks I’ve found in a while.
For many years I frankly thought TB is dead.
First time I learned I was wrong was in Romania around 2005 when a friend´s young colleague came back from a trip in Germany with TB. I was shocked then.
Oh, joy … I predicted that this would happen:
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/google-injecting-ads-into-chatbots-7277314/
Customer: “Hello, customer service, please. My flight just got canceled and I need to rebook, pronto.”
Chatbot: Hello, dear customer. I understand you need rebooking?”
Customer: yes, can you help?
Chatbot: Of course, first you’ll need to hear this short message from our sponsor, the Umbrella corporation … (60 second ad)
Oh my. Greed triumphant, for a while at least.
I’m waiting for examples of “students” turning in Chat churned “papers” at school, only for the teacher to fail them when ads are found embedded in the text.
re: CIA deputy´s son killed fighting for RU Army
I don´t know if it was spread by anyone else besides Martyanov even though the story originated with the DAILY MAIL. In Last week´s Larry Johnson´s interview with Martyanov Johnson, the CIA guy, apparently did not know…
Shocking photos show CIA deputy director’s son fighting for Russia in Ukraine war before death
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/shocking-photos-show-cia-deputy-directors-son-fighting-for-russia-in-ukraine-war-before-death/ar-AA1DFNSE
Of course they are trying to bury the story. And when they do report, the young man was naturally mentally unstable. Imagine this had been the story about the son of a Sergei Korolev of FSB getting killed for the other side. It would have been all over the place.
I can’t help but think of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, where the fascist-loving Miss Brodie cheered as one of her girl-students went off to fight in the Spanish Civil War, only to be horrified that she died fighting for the Republicans instead of the Francoists.
The first thing I was thinking of when Martyanov mentioned it on his own show was turning it into a movie, deranged as I am, knowing full well in our era that would never happen.
Thanks for bringing up the Maggie Smith classic.
p.s. Director Ronald Neame had an interesting career not that unusual for the past era: Academy nominations for best screenplay AND best special effects and had started out as a cameraman and directed films as different as “Miss Brodie”, “The Poseidon Adventure” or “The Man Who Never Was” which was poorly remade just recently.
“Bipartisan SHIPS Act Aims to Counter China’s Maritime Dominance with 250-Ship Fleet Expansion”
‘Currently, the U.S. maintains just 80 flagged vessels in international commerce, while China operates 5,500 ships.’
So by my count, after the US builds those 250 ships, they will need to build another 5,250 ships to catch up to China. And because of lack of capacity and limited numbers of ship-builders, nothing gets built for the US Navy for the next decade or two. And are those ships really going to be US-flagged? Wouldn’t that be up to the ship owners? And American-crewed? Would that be Americans from Samoa and Puerto Rico where the wages are cheaper? I’m calling shenanigans on this whole idea.
‘Roman Helmet Guy
@romanhelmetguy
Apr 30
Zuckerberg explaining how Meta is creating personalized AI friends to supplement your real ones: “The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15.” ‘
So will Facebook become like those dating sites where most of the girls are just chatbots? They are going from mass bogus user accounts to bogus users now.
Having worked in a large urban inner city hospital for most of my life, I would say that TB is an old friend that I know very well.
A few things to consider – TB has the well-earned moniker of “The White Death”. The patients are often emaciated and often have a very whitish pallor. Interestingly, this is even true of patients from ethnic backgrounds with darker skin.
Over the decades, it has become clear to me that more and more patients are coming in with multi drug resistance. There are 4 basic drugs and combinations of drugs to treat this problem – isoniazid or INH, rifampin, PZA and ethambutal. Every one of which is very unpleasant to take for various reasons and I have often heard compared to “chemotherapy-lite”. They have to be taken for months – as in 6-12 months. The TB organism is particularly prone to mutation with regard to antibiotic resistance. And this can happen in as little as having a few weeks between doses. Therefore, it is very common to employ what is known as DOT – or direct observational therapy. The person has to be witnessed taking and swallowing pills by public health or law enforcement. Unlike the COVID vaccines, these drugs have been studied extensively, and in the the hands of a trained clinician are able to be employed safely. In other words, they are not experimental. The problem is in our world today, the incidence of multi drug resistant TB is very high. And as with most other antibiotics – Big Pharma has done absolutely nothing to produce newer agents for 4-5 decades. Why should they bother with a pill that will be given for a limited time when they can charge 300 dollars a month for something that will be taken for a lifetime? – Unfortunately, it is that simple. Before our agencies life NIH and FDA were taken over by Big Pharma – there was a push there for the government to fund these types of drugs. However, once they made the NIH scientists shareholders in all the patents – and all the lucre flowing in, they too have the same warped incentive structure.
Nothing could have prepared me for the past 2-3 years however. While we were having the COVID pandemic, there was another problem lurking under the table. Huge numbers of third world patients with multi-drug resistant TB being allowed into the country with literally ZERO screening. The zero screening part was brand new – I have been doing this for decades and have never ever seen anything like this. I have seen now 13 immigrants with multi-drug resistant TB. I work in a very small town. My colleagues in the big cities are just mortified at what is happening. What is different in our world today is the sheer number of patients out there who are on all kinds of immunosuppressing drugs like Humira and Enbrel. They are particularly liable to be infected. And now at the same time we have a gigantic increase in multi drug resistant TB – and these groups of people are walking around the same Wal-Marts and McDonalds.
I have never contemplated such gross incompetence in my life as what was demonstrated by the immigration policies of the past 4 years. The fact that they do not seem to even fathom what they have done is just amazing to me. And then we have articles like this…….describing the next outbreak. This is truly the very definition of a self-inflicted wound.
Thank you IM doc…I have a question you may or may not know the answer to. My mother, an RN in the early 50’s contracted TB from her patients,….She was pregnant with twins. I’m one of them and we both, my brother and I, got BCG shots after birth. Are those shots still effective after 73 years? …
My mother was quarantined at a Sanitorium for 18 months and is where we were born. Both wisked away immediately.
I appreciate your comments on the immigration policies particularly.
The BCG vaccine is effective – but certainly not 100%. It is pretty much life long durability. There is not evidence that getting a second one does a thing. So I would tell you to hold off on that. You should always discuss this with your own physician however – there may be multiple other issues involved.
What I am about to say is very very important to anyone who has ever had BCG – whether for TB or things like bladder cancer. It causes a life long very aggressive immune response to its antigen. So, whatever you do, do not let anyone near you with a PPD test – which is the TB test in which a small subcutaneous injection is made in the forearm. And then the patient and physician observe for any skin reaction. If you have had the BCG this will literally explode in some patients into a big gigantic ulcer-like lesion. This can lead to literally weeks of discomfort. If you have had the BCG in the past, your go-to test for any TB testing for the rest of your life should be a blood test that is called quantiferon-gold.
Oh thank you so much!….yes, my mother was so adamant that when tine testing was done at school that I NOT allow it for me……I think that is accurate name?….no I see now the PPD test is different. Whatever, I have never allowed anyone in all my life to test me for TB and now I know not to be near anyone with that PPD test as well.
Anecdotally, there was discussion that those that had a BCG vaccine were somewhat immune to Covid. I never followed up on that. But, I have never had Covid that I know of, nor a cold in over 14 years. I did speak at the time to my husbands oncologist at the Minneapolis VA about it and he too was interested and sited some studies. Unfortunately, my husband did die of service connected asbestos exposure lung cancer during covid. He served on the oldest ship at the time where he serviced the boilers on a submarine tender.
Wish they had followed up on that.
Wilipedia of BCG vax
My BCG is about 40 years old so I’m glad you asked.
Canada is doing extensive screening of TB for immigrants. And the CDCs here study the problem closely. Canada immigration shares their data so that linkages can be made. Even in this very tight environment, there is an increase in cases.
Huawei article very interesting.
re: planned movie on oil 1970s
Filmmaker Peter Landesman (he wrote the biopic about Gary Webb “Kill the Messenger”) appears to be preparing a biopic about Marc Rich, “The King of Oil”:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5079448/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
“The story of Marc Rich, a financier and commodity trader who became a billionaire in the 1970s by using the spot market for oil.”
Allegedly with a Matt Damon starring.
Landesman did start out as NYT staff but I have tried to not judge he from that angle.
After all with the Webb piece he was as critical of legacy media as he could be I assume.
No clue why he left the Times or what he thinks about state of things today…but judging from the little I know about him he appears to be not as stupid as many of his former peers.
So, Trumps plan for the FAA is whoever comes up with the biggest bribe gets the contract, and can subcontract everything, including coordinating to whomever ever cutting all possible costs?
Can you imagine if they handed over the FAA to Boeing to work on?
I though they did that already years ago?
Craig Murray’ X-Cancel twts about the UK elections.
https://xcancel.com/CraigMurrayOrg
If you missed Pam Bondi’s superb demonstration of how to suck a grapefruit through a garden hose in yesterday’s links I recommend you watch it.
“The greatest first 100 days of ANY president EVER”.
My first thought was “If someone pulled this shit in front of Putin or Xi they would be getting a psch eval right quick”.
My second thought was that the way Trump Sucked it in and the others in the room nodded their heads demonstrated how sick these people are.
As long as Bondi is part of his Administration Trump will have no need of toilet paper.
And the third thought was that Bondi’s performance demonstrated profound contempt for Trump, which he is entirely unaware of.
Re increasing flow of inheritance as % national output.
This is a very interesting graph. In growing economies, inheritance flows should grow at the rate of the economy. They will only grow slower if (I) inheritances are taxed away and the definition disregards these as a flow or (2) increasing lifespan slows the rate of inheritance in any fixed unit time but this is a one-off effect and the inheritance flow will eventually revert to growing at the rate of the economy or (3) the popular preference shifts from bequeathing capital to dissipating it in one’s life or giving it away inter vivos (which may not be captured in the flow) or (4) capital is being moved into immortal entities (companies, trusts, foundations) etc.
The long decline in the 20th century may be to increased life expectancy in the context of growing economies.
The inflections in the 21st century may have multiple causes. For example, Italy’s increase in inheritance flows as a percentage of output, which has been stagnant, may well be because it abolished inheritance tax in this period. The UK’s flat inheritance flow is what you would expect – but it is curiously too flat. A straight line! The same for Germany and France, albeit it at higher levels. What is going on? Some kind of loss of integrity in the data series?
What the graph doesn’t tell us, contrary to the implication in the tweet, is anything about concentration of wealth. Whether it is owned by one person or everybody equally, the nation’s wealth will show up as an inheritance flow eventually (unless it is being moved to indefinite life entities and/or these data are after tax and thus distorted by threshold effects).
Julian Assange and Stella Moris came to Roma for the funeral of Pope Francis. This was widely reported in Italy. Stefania Maurizi, a distinguished journalist who has been among Assange’s advocates for years, reported in Fatto Quotidiano that Papa Francesco met with Moris and the two kids while Assange was in captivity, gave a letter for Julian Assange, who received it at Belmarsh, and tried to intervene with freedom-lovin’ Joe Biden.
I am not finding much coverage at all in the U.S. press. I am finding some articles in the U.K. press.
Manifesto, the reformist communist periodical, founded by, among others, the timeless Rossana Rossanda, also covered the appearance of the Assanges in Roma:
https://ilmanifesto.it/un-angelo-caduto-in-volo-assange-ai-funerali-del-papa
Good thing that Italian communists went to the funeral.
Funny how news doesn’t get through…
re: Israel
Just as Finkelstein had predicted:
Netanyahu Says Freeing Hostages Is Not His Priority
The Israeli leader said his ‘supreme objective is victory over enemies’
https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/01/netanyahu-says-freeing-hostages-is-not-his-priority/
Fetterman NYT archive Maybe Dr. Oz was a better choice? I though so when he was draped in the Israeli flag.
Does that description remind you all of somebody else?
The Guardian report on the evictions of people living in the Deschutes National Forest outside Bend Oregon emphasized the Trump federal policy initiatives that brought about the final act in the long train of evil events, but that is not the whole story.
Bend is an ex-mill-town-cum-resort-town that gentrified during the new century. Affordable rentals disappeared (and rentals that remained are superintended by property management firms that like to steal deposits), short-term rentals exploded, home values shot up. The city cracked down on people living in their cars on city streets a few years ago. While a ski and resort town needs service personnel, there is nowhere for them to live. The working class had to move out. I’ve been through the area of the current eviction at all times of the year, and you could see that most of the people living out there were working. That’s not to say that there weren’t some destitute people with drug and mental health problems. There was also a lot of trash left in the area — parts of it close to town looked pretty beat.
Homeowners that lived on the southeast edge of Bend, up against the Forest, were scared that unattended fires might spread through the widely spaced pines and brushy ground cover and take out their homes; they organized to have the homeless people arrested and removed. The State Police and Sheriff — who might normally be pressured –couldn’t act because the area is a National Forest. The Forest Service had jurisdiction, but there weren’t any laws that applied that could give them authority to remove people. Contacts of mine have told me over the last couple years that the leadership of the Forest had no interest whatever in evicting people, who they considered to be members of the public with a right to use their Forest.
Things changed after the homeowners went to their congresscritter, and then came the Trump election, and the pressure from above induced the Forest to use their ability to temporarily close areas that are being actively logged, to throw people out. I doubt there will be any logging at all — there aren’t that many trees in the area, which is quite arid. Consider how much the aggrieved Bend homeowners would like to have a clearcut right next door, to say nothing of the fire hazard that might attend logging.
Bend likes to style itself as a green, outdoorsy, athletic liberal paradise in the pines, but the opposition between the precariat and the propertied (sometimes the even the same people) has led to some pretty vile attacks in the media on the people living in the woods and the Christian groups who have been their main defenders and service providers. So along with your relaxation and play when you’re in Bend, leave room for a nice big bitter helping of class struggle.
What’s lit is conservative economists always saying no poor in America you have cheap Chinese goods. Well. Oopsie.
Somehow there’s never a DOGE around when they might do some good:
How the restoration of Philly’s historic 30th St. Station became a corruption bonanza
Max Blumenthal in 2010 — fifteen years ago, but once again germane in the context of wildfires in Israel:
The Carmel wildfire is burning all illusions in Israel