Recent Items

Links 5/24/2025

Posted on by

New Jersey Hawk Develops Clever Hunting Strategy Using Traffic Signals ScienceAlert

Container ship barely misses Norwegian man’s house after running aground Washington Post (Kevin W)

Can We Trust Social Science Yet? Asterisk (Anthony L)

“When you see this, I will be dead” Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T). Important.

COVID-19/Pandemics

This report is obviously sensationalistic. No idea if the underlying study (see its design) confirms the conclusions:

Climate/Environment

Study: Expanding Renewable Energy Does Not Lower Fossil Fuel Production OilPrice

Warming of +1.5 °C is too high for polar ice sheets Nature

Clouding the forecast: Why so many climate models are wrong about rate of Arctic warming PhysOrg

China?

China’s space ambitions ‘forcing’ Washington’s Golden Dome strategy: commander South China Morning Post

Anti-missile system intensifies US-China nuclear competition Asia Times (Kevin W)

Chinese Work Less For Longer Retirements Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

The US-Japan alliance – its past, present and unclear future Engelsberg Ideas. Wowsers, others encouraged to comment but I had to stop here:

This transformation was anything but pre-ordained, nor was it simply the result of rational, overlapping interests. Rather, it was the consequence of shrewd alliance management, psychologically astute and empathetic diplomacy, and bold leadership on both sides of the Pacific. It also relied on the two countries’ ability to weather the pressures of their sometimes fractious domestic politics, as well as their capacity to navigate sharply contrasting cultural and historical traditions, not to mention often radically different approaches to economic management.

Bullshit. The US interfered so that socialistic leaders did not come into power by backing many senior people from the old regime…who by any rights should have been purged and even prosecuted as war criminals. Perhaps the insinuation is that the US would not have invested in the absence of right wingers being in charge.

South of the Border

China-CELAC Summit Announces Cooperation Initiatives and $9 Billion Credit Program Venezuelanalysis. Robin K: “A week ago. Ongoing.”

European Disunion

“A short history of exploding pipelines.” The Floutist

Old Blighty

Voters are sick of lectures from the lanyard class The Times (Paul R)

Starmer’s Chagos deal to cost UK up to £30bn The Telegraph (Kevin W)

Israel v. the Resistance

Israel’s aid plan for Gaza is a key part of its strategy to expel Palestinians Mondoweiss

Israel’s reinvasion of Gaza is a strategic disaster Financial Times

America may not be hopeless:

Why Negotiations With Iran Are So Difficult American Conservative (resilc)

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine: a country that never was Julian Macfarlane. Includes translation of much-discussed Medvedev remarks, where the punch line was that Ukraine needs to accept the current Russian offer or else it will soon no longer be a state.

Analysis: Russian ‘Triple Chokehold’ Tactic, + Offensive Season Outlook Simplicius

A flagless fleet is threatening the seas Financial Times (resilc)

Make Moscow Pay Foreign Affairs

HOW MUCH MORE WAR CAN RUSSIA AFFORD? Seymour Hersh, Hoo boy….

So Much for Western Expertise on Russia Larry Johnson

Ukraine: a country that never was Daniel Larison

Canada, Norway to deepen Arctic, defense ties amid Ukraine war Anadolu Agency

Well deserved but also means Lavrov can’t retire for at least another year :-)

Imperial Collapse Watch

bob:

Everyone is looking at the quality of the concrete, or the finishing, it’s all bad!
“Don’t build it like they used to…”

It’s a ramp to a sidewalk that doesn’t exist! There is no continuity to the sidewalk in the background. I’d personally bet to the right too,

Aggressive Virus Feeds on Brains of Western Leaders Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Navy pushing billions for sea-based nukes that nobody seems to want Responsible Statecraft

Lessons From Hurricane Helene on Evacuation Orders, Messaging and Emergency Managers ProPublica

50 Years Later, Majority of Vietnam Veterans and U.S. Adults Think the U.S. Should have Stayed Out of Vietnam Emerson Polling (resilc)

Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the CIA, and Me Joe Costello. Important.

Trump 2.0

US Reinstates Funding to Propaganda Outlet NED Antiwar.com (Kevin W)

Trump fires dozens from National Security Council in major power shift PressTV. Less possibility of informed input, more concentration of power in Trump’s hands. Also now the lead story in the Financial Times.

4 top partners quit Paul Weiss, Big Law firm that cut deal with Trump Business Insider

U.S. Officials Sold Stocks Before Trump’s Tariffs Sank the Market ProPublica (Robin K)

Trump’s Campaign Against Elite Law Firms Suffers Another Defeat in Court Wall Street Journal

Cuts to Medicaid and maybe Medicare Angry Bear. The Medicare part is not well known.

Trump v. Harvard

Judge temporarily blocks Trump admin from revoking Harvard enrollment of foreign students Reuters (Kevin W). Hearing on the 29th. It will still take some time (given the high profile of this case, my guess is at most 10 days) for the judge to issue an order, unless the judge deems the case of one side to be so weak that she rules from the bench. I don’t regard the latter as likely since even if so, it does not look so hot to an appeals court.

Harvard v the Department of Homeland Security

Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Move to Bar International Students New York Times. Recaps argument in the complaint.

Trump’s Assault on Harvard Is an Astonishing Act of National Self-Sabotage Yascha Mounk

These Are the U.S. Universities Most Dependent on International Students New York Times (resilc)

Tariffs

Trump threatens 50% tariffs on EU and 25% on iPhones BBC

Why Trump Lashed Out at Europe Over Trade Wall Street Journal. Lead story. The fact of this clearly planted piece indicates some on the Trump team are working overtime to try to manage the optics and somehow make Trump look less emotionally immature and destructive than he is. But the “lashed out” in the headline = the Journal not fully buying what it was being sold. But the body is unduly understated, for instance depicting the EU having a “more staid and process-oriented approach” when that is how trade negotiations pretty much have to be done unless one side is dictating terms.

Donald Trump ‘not looking for deal’ as he threatens EU with 50% tariff Financial Times. Hoo boy.

Japan again ‘strongly’ urges US to remove additional tariffs Anadolu Agency

Allianz Trade Global Survey 2025: Trade war, trade deals and their impacts on companies Allianz

The Tyrant’s Trade War Daniel Larison

Immigration

DHS Is Getting Ready to Identify Everyone Who Leaves the Country, Expanding Immigration Dragnet Murzata Hussain

Democrat Death Wish

US senate to investigate who really ran country under Biden RT (Kevin W)

‘Abundance’ Requires Redistribution Compact

Our No Longer Free Press

FBI Visits Me Over Manifesto Ken Klippenstein

Microsoft Bans the Word “Palestine” in Internal Emails Drop Site

AI

Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline TechCrunch

Google’s New Video-Generating AI May Be the End of Reality as We Know It Futurism

CEOs report 25% of AI projects delivers expected ROI Fortune (resilc)

SoftBank just patented EVERY possible AI application LinkedIn (Micael T)

The Bezzle

Influencer who attended Trump’s memecoin dinner says he got a ‘Walmart steak’—and no access to the president Yahoo! (Kevin W). BWAHAHA

Republicans Work Overtime To Help Boeing Avoid Consequences For Its Deadly Plane Jalopnik

Class Warfare

US banana giant Chiquita fires thousands over Panama strike Aljazeera

Antidote du jour. John U: “Scene from the Inca Trail, Peru”:

And a bonus:

A second bonus:

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
173 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “SoftBank just patented EVERY possible AI application”

    I’m surprised that SoftBank didn’t also patent 1s and 0s while they were at it. But to the point, will those patents hold up if challenged in a court of law? I could lodge a patent for a photon torpedo for example but that does not mean that I can build one. I could only roughly describe how it would work. And if some country actually did build one, would they then have to respect my patent? Come to think of it, I bet that all those patents will be validated. With the investments that Trump is making in AI, he will lean heavily on the US Patent and Trademark Office to make it so – or else.

    Reply ↓
    1. Polar Socialist

      With my interactions with patent lawyers, patent law and writing a patent application it became obvious that one can not patent a concept or a general idea – there has to be a description of “a device” and an explanation of how that device does what you claim it does. It should be detailed enough for someone “skilled in the trade” to be able to build one following the claims in your application, while none of the claims should “be obvious” to that same somebody.

      And even then, the more generic these mentioned patents are, the more likely they are to invalidated by any previous patent application with a narrower scope under that generic umbrella, just for the fact that part of what the patent claims has obviously been “invented” already.

      Writing a patent application is a creative process where you want to simultaneously achieve three points; protect your original innovation, protect is as widely as possible and not invalidate your application by covering any existing or pending patent application. It seems that on the first reading the patent examiner will always sent the application back with a list of preceding applications that are vaguely related to your innovation and claims, and tasks you to explain how your application is different and not infringing these.

      Or to put it short, any patent system that allows these AI generated generic craplications to go trough is seriously broken. On the other hand, I interacted with European patent system, so your mileage may vary.

      Reply ↓
      2. vao

        I also have some experience with patenting and working with patent lawyers. I strongly suspect that the point of all those patents that Softbank registered is neither to develop the corresponding applications, nor to protect some valuable internal IPR, but to have the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction to wield at smaller players (e.g. innovative startups) that would threaten the investments Softbank made in AI.

        Indeed, in a court of law, most of those patents may be invalidated — if challenged. And to challenge them, one must be ready to put money on the table. A lot of money: high-powered IPR lawyers able to deal with disputes involving such heavyweights as Samsung, Apple, Nokia, IBM, or Google and able to take on Softbank easily cost 700 bucks per hour. Not included other costs.

        In my time, the rule of thumb was that when large firms are involved, suing for violation of a patent in the USA cost one million; defending against a claim of patent violation cost six million. Registering a patent in our globalized world also entails crazy expenses. If you have a patent that ends up in mass market products (such as mobile phones), count a couple of millions. If you can reduce the market just to advanced countries, it will still cost half a million.

        SMEs and startups do not have the resources to engage in such fights. If they see that Softbank is violating one of their AI patents, Softbank can easily pick half a dozen of its patents from its 10000 pool and countersue. The smaller player will bleed in lawyer fees. Patents act as a deterrent, and as a bludgeon against weaker competitors.

        Reply ↓
        2. ChrisPacific

          That’s very much how other big company IP departments I’ve dealt with have framed it. They never talk about making groundbreaking discoveries or original research or inventions or the like – in fact they generally take the view that there are all kinds of things in our day to day work that could be patented. And they want a LOT of them – the more, the better. They explain that patent law is a mechanism by which big companies compete with one another, and that our patents are like ammunition – the more of them we have, the better the chances we’ll come out victorious.

          All of this is entirely consistent with vao’s definition.

          Reply ↓
    2. steppenwolf fetchit

      Fat Dirty President could simply have DOGE fire every US Patent and Trademark Office worker who would make it no, and replace them all with DOGE-approved servants who would be happy to make it so.

      Reply ↓
  2. herman_sampson

    Here in Indy, they do not pour sidewalks until a house is built. 60 years, across the street from us is a vacant lot that has no sidewalk – both sides of street have sidewalks, but that the only vacant lot and has no walk. Supposedly, there were plans to put in a street there, but no action.

    Reply ↓
    1. Arkady Bogdanov

      Yes, I have noticed the holdback on sidewalks as well. I think the sale of the house/lot is used to finance the sidewalk.
      Regarding concrete quality, I can share some info. I’ve been involved with concrete for a long time, and I am one of those rarified individuals who can plan vertical concrete construction- formwork and logistics (as well as a good bit of the steel reinforcement engineering), so I have been involved in pouring a lot of concrete, including some record-setting pours.
      It used to be that when you ordered concrete most suppliers would batch concrete to exceed the required strength by 50%. This was very common practice. In other words, if you ordered 4000 PSI concrete, they would actually deliver 6000 PSI concrete. This was considered a safety margin to protect liability as there are a lot of variables that are difficult to track, especially when concrete is poured without dedicated quality assurance personnel on site in sufficient numbers- contractors want to pour concrete that is less viscous, as it is less work, so they like to add water. Extra water is just as bad as not enough water- it weakens the final strength of the concrete, so instead of having a fight over liability in court if the concrete were to fail prematurely, suppliers deemed it less costly to simply make the concrete overstrength to prevent such problems. Well, these policies were mainly instituted by small, family-owned concrete suppliers that had a good grasp of their product and how it was used. Fast forward and concrete, like everything else, was neoliberalized. Small firms were gobbled up and consolidated, and began to be run by MBA’s rather than people who understood the product and how it was used. Energy costs also pushed up the cost of portland cement (essentially made by heating vast quantities of limestone to high temperatures in a kiln) which is the active ingredient in concrete. The people running the concrete companies started to supply concrete to the strength that was actually ordered, often with no safety margin. Meanwhile, most contractors, indeed including many project managers, superintendents, and even QC personnel were never aware that they had been historically gifted a large safety margin, and continued on their merry way. They don’t get they are now working with a different product, and now must pour their concrete in a stiffer form (which is generally a lot more work).
      Then we get into accelerators (and other additives, but accelerators are the most problematic). If you pour concrete during cold weather, when it might be subjected to freezing temperatures, you have to use an accelerator, mix with hot water, and insulate, or even heat it during the initial 3 days after the pour. There are two types of accelerator- Chloride-based, and non-Chloride based. Non-Chloride accelerators are more expensive, so unless you specifically order non-Chloride accelerator, they send you Chloride- every single time. Chloride, being a salt, does not mix well with steel reinforcement in concrete. It corrodes the steel which then expands inside the concrete which then ruptures the concrete. You can almost always identify this before failure, as you will see white residues leaching out of cracks in the concrete. In the “olden days” as recent as 10 years ago, you almost never saw a concrete supplier using Chloride, but now it is common- many companies will strap bags of it to the fenders of concrete trucks as soon as the weather starts to chill in the north (Non-Chlorides are liquids that must be added at the plant).
      These relatively recent changes to concrete formulations, driven by the neoliberalization of the construction industry and material suppliers, are what have caused deteriorating concrete quality.
      Long story short- if you are doing a project with concrete, specify that your contractor use at least 5000 PSI concrete, and if you pour in cold weather, insist that they use only non-Chloride accelerator and if at all possible, be there when they pour- concrete should not be overly loose (There is a test for this called a slump test, but most homeowners and few contractors keep slump cones on hand- if you are interested there are videos on Youtube that show how to perform a slump test, which is incredibly simple).

      Reply ↓
        1. Arkady Bogdanov

          I feel I should add- get 5000 PSI concrete for things that are structural or subjected to the weight of vehicles. 4000 PSI is fine for sidewalks. In both cases this is typically 1000 PSI above the current industry standard.

          Reply ↓
      2. objective ace

        >I think the sale of the house/lot is used to finance the sidewalk.

        I’d speculate its more of a liability and workload thing. Cities shift liability, if someone slips and falls, to the homeowner. No homeowner = no one to shovel/keep the sidewalk cleared or be legally liable

        Reply ↓
        1. jhallc

          I always assumed it was because if a home is built on the lot they would end up having to cut the sidewalk to run utilities from the street to the house. Just adds time and expense to the job.

          Reply ↓
          1. amfortas the hippie

            also bringing in equipment and materials.
            why make it so one must tear up and then replace a sidewalk.
            same thing out here, but with fences.
            across the road, i built all that infrastructure(woodshed, “goatbarn”, etc) first…then put in a new fence(old fence was crap)

            Reply ↓
            1. bob

              There are sidewalks in the picture. Just no continuity, which is why the only people in the picture are walking on the road.

              Reply ↓
              1. Jorge

                That looks to be an empty lot. The house right behind it has sidewalk. This means there is probably an easement set up for the empty corner lot. If it is built, it will have a sidewalk meeting the corner. So, this is just planning ahead. But, I can’t see sidewalk on any other house in the picture, but it’s hard to tell.

                There were major labor shortages in 2022.

                When you pour concrete, you want to cure it under water. That means you have to let the concrete harden for an hour or two, then submerge it for 24-48 hours. The curing process never stops, its is chemical reaction which happens a lot in the first hour, more in the first day or two, and then slows down.

                Also, the concrete never dries out. If you aim a welding torch at “dry” concrete, the remaining moisture will boil and a chip of concrete will fly out at you- so wear goggles.

                My parents spent my childhood building a concrete house. It’s for sale. It has 6 sides and looks like a circus tent- a rather goofy 50s-60s Modernist oddity.

                Reply ↓
      5. juno mas

        Wow, Arkady that presentation brought back scenes from ‘Materials + Processes’ in an architectural engineering class more than 40 years ago.

        My observation of the photo is that it was mixed, poured, and finished by amateurs. As you noted too much water in a concrete mix weakens it, and encourages the ‘spalling’ shown on the curb and at the slab edge. The ‘control’ joints are also much deeper than needed (too many as well). The yellow ADA mats are also out of place. Again, the concrete mix was probably done ‘on-site’ and finished by locals for a pittance.

        Reply ↓
        1. Arkady Bogdanov

          Yes, there are many variables. Time in the truck, or in this case, time performing slip-forming, which is typically how curbs are made (Straight runs are often formed by machine, but curves are typically formed by hand, requiring fast, difficult, and skilled work) – that could very well have been the problem here. In other words, they were manipulating the concrete while the carbonates were forming chemical bonds, and the manipulation (forming the curb) broke the bonds as they were being formed, and once broken, those bonds will not form again, so if they broke say, 10% of the bonds, then they are effectively weakening the final strength by 10%. Slip forming tends to work better when the concrete is stiffer, so I doubt they added much water in this case. It could have been rolling around in the truck to maintain workability though, and that breaks chemical bonds as they are being formed too (unless additives are used, and depending on humidity and temperature, you must have concrete placed less than 90 minutes after water is first added to the mix at the plant- which includes travel time. You have more time in high humidity/cool temps, and less time in low humidity/hot temps, and note that this appears to be in an arid region). Likely many factors contributed here- and this is why experience is so important in construction/engineering/QC/QA. I don’t believe that this was caused by snowplows as much of the damage is apparent on the top and rear of the curb, with no scrape marks visible. The geometry of a plow and curb would make damage/scrape-marks most visible at the bottom edge of the curb facing the road. (This was posited by an earlier commenter)

          Reply ↓
      6. AG

        Fascinating, thanks.

        Does the fact that sidewalks in richer parts of Europe are in different shape say something about different spending on the concrete quality/construction in those areas in general. Or is it also due to different climate?

        When as a kid I first visited Eastern Europe the broken concrete at sidewalks jumped into my sight.

        p.s. One of Bavaria’s prestigious new art museums, the Pinakothek der Moderne, built about 25 years ago, had such bad concrete that after only 10 years massive cracks showed and they had to close for repair.

        From German Wiki about this scandal:

        Already at the time of the building’s handover in 2002, Braunfels (the architect) had submitted a list of more than 200 defects to the Free State of Bavaria (“which, however, have not been remedied to this day”). The architect protested against his name being associated with the term “botched construction.” “The budget was far too low from the outset. The estimate was €400 per cubic meter of enclosed space, whereas the average for 20 large, comparable museums in Germany and Europe at the time was already €700.” The Brandhorst Museum, for example, cost €1,000 per cubic meter.

        In Germany the deteriorating quality of bitumen was an issue due to the massive highways here and the high speeds (until a few years ago).

        Which would bring us to the deteriorating state of bridges and infastructure which is suddenly addressed now that we have, ahem, Russia and necessity to spend on arms and those bridges used by NATO…

        Who would have thought concrete is a political issue.

        Reply ↓
  3. griffen

    Tim Cook to the Trump tariff threats…”Bro what’s up with this, I can tell you them IPhones will only be exponentially higher, to begin at the outset, thinking about building in the US…”. Mildly sarcasm.

    This is a strategy that seems like our POTUS is peeing into the wind by offering such a direct threat of economic harm to a once vaunted, yes still true, great American company…Apple not being solely alone on that point. Telling corporations this week how to run their P&L is a new one, especially for the Republicans.

    Reply ↓
    1. Arby

      Apple as a company delivers good manufacturing and engineering wages to people in China to generate very high profits for the global rentier class while dodging much of the tax burden of being headquartered in the USA through an array of regulatory and tax breaks written by its lobbyists. There is very little American about this corporate citizen other than its ability to own federal lawmakers and administrators. It is not alone in this regard.

      Reply ↓
      1. griffen

        Now that I think about it a little more, this all is reminding me of a similar instance when the sitting US President berated a large corporation for being too good at their profitable business.

        Exxon Mobil got in the cross hairs of Joe Biden roughly three years ago during the summer, when he bemoaned that the company was making “more money than God”… so today it’s nothing really new but in 2022 that was in a Democratic administration.

        Reply ↓
    2. Glen

      I wonder if this is spinning out of the “tariff negotiations” with China. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that discussion. Seems to me if you cannot get much movement from China, you would start calling up American CEOs and telling them they have to move out of China.

      Maybe Trump will finally figure out that China did not “take” American jobs; American CEOs moved technology, factories, and jobs off shore.

      Then again, probably not. American elites are not big on admitting their actions caused America’s decline.

      Reply ↓
      1. griffen

        I suspect the only spinning is by Jack Welch doing so from his grave….”hey what the heck, I moved all those factories out of the country and I wasn’t alone in doing so…”. It’s so much more than just GE or other huge, comparable US manufacturing concerns.

        An intrepid reporter could do or maybe should do an expose on how much goods are imported for sale and for frequent use at Trump organization hotels and resorts….I would be Jack’s complete lack of surprise if my priors were somehow confirmed…

        Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Had the same thought myself. Can you imagine a major corporation adopting an AI – and then giving it total access to all the emails, communications, videos, texts, etc. to make it more “efficient?” Hilarity would ensue. What if that corporation’s AI starts talking to the competing corporation’s AI? What if they start making arrangements between each other? What if they go to war with each other? Actually it would make a good film Sort of like a corporate Forbin Project.

      Reply ↓
        1. Henry Moon Pie

          That was excellent, flora. The list of things to avoid if choosing a place to live gets longer and longer: chicken and pig farms; high energy power lines; shale deposits; and now server farms.

          Those poor horses must be freaked.

          It seems as if everything outside of the Hamptons and Marin County is one big sacrifice zone.

          I expect to see pump jacks on the Mall before Trump is gone.

          Reply ↓
      2. amfortas the hippie

        and what about love?
        what if company A’s AI falls in love with company B’s AI, and they decide to run off?
        maybe taking the bank accounts and stocks and such with them….all the while holding on to the security vids of various ceo’s etc bumping uglies with the cleaning staff after hours…
        these people haven’t thought things through, sufficiently.

        Reply ↓
  6. VTDigger

    Suicide ghouls at it again. I wonder who’s pushing it this time, using this poor fool as a booster. I hear business is booming in Canada, you can get pills for ’emotional distress’ now so they say.
    That’s one way to fix your pension problem I suppose…

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post author

      You are utterly out of line. You are effectively accusing Michael T of being a “suicide ghoul” for sending this account and me being one for posting it.

      How many close family members have you had who suffered from debilitating terminal conditions?

      This woman was clearly in terrible physical shape and had very poor prospects for living much longer, let alone having any decent quality of life, and she was of sound mind and able to decide on her own.

      You instead seem to be advocating for medical ghouls to insert tubes into her to extract money.

      My father shot himself because he had a terminal disease, had ulcers in his mouth so bad he could not eat (and lost 25% of his body weight in six weeks), and skin so dry and thin on his hands and feet that they developed deep cracks with even careful use, so he was in pain every time he tried to use his hands or walk. He was covered in bloody bruises, the result of merely minor and ordinary bumps that would not have led to a bruise on an healthy person. He could not sleep, and sleep deprivation is a form of torture. He was put on presnisone, which barely helped and makes most patients feel terrible.

      So you vote instead for close relatives to find a corpse with blood, brains, and bone scattered a cross a room, which is what my mother faced when she found him? Oh, and he killed himself the day before I was scheduled to visit, I hope because he wanted to make sure one of his kids were there to help her mourn and deal with the practicalities of his death.

      At least, as a friend morbidly joked, he was a hunter so he knew how to do the job properly. 15% of the attempts of suicide by gun don’t succeed.

      I know two other friend of my parents who killed themselves in their old age. One had had cancer multiple times, and when it came back again, her lungs would fill with fluid and they’d have to stick a tube in her to clear them. She did not want to be subjected to that regularly. She saved up enough sleeping pills to do the job. Another simply stopped eating and taking her meds.

      Reply ↓
      1. VTDigger

        I apologize I did not intend for the submitter or poster on this site to be indicted, but rather the media and author of the story.

        I very well may go to hell, but surely you agree that is quite different than people with no terminal diagnosis being prescribed lethal doses of medication? Suicide pods on demand?

        I had a different experience. My father had severe depression for most of his life and wanted to die some days. Was given a terminal cancer diagnosis 5 years ago but a clinical trial has kept it at bay. If he had had the option I fear he would not be with us today.

        And I am so sorry for your loss, I had a friend do the same when tapering off an SSRI 8 years go. Went to a gun range.

        Reply ↓
        1. Henry Moon Pie

          I understood your point, VT. We do have governments that seem to be looking for ways to get rid of us.

          But I’ve been within sight of the point when the pain and misery surpass even the memory of the joy of living or the hope of that joy in the future. In what were my last days on chemo, I would cry at the thought of taking the pills four times a day. “I’m living to take these damn pills,” I kept saying.

          Now I’m happy to have survived all that, but a time will come when I will actually reach that point, and I don’t have a desire to drag it out to the detriment of my family or mine.

          Reply ↓
      2. JohnA

        I listened to her speaking, all 3 parts, and there was nothing ghoulish about her. It was incredibly moving. She was the opposite of a poor fool. She had thought everything through very carefully and very clear in her head and rational. She also realised that if she delayed much longer she may not be physically capable of swallowing enough pills. As it was, she even stuggled to get the pills out of the blister packaging. Her biggest concern was for none of her friends to be on the hook for assisted suicide or similar.
        She did not have a pension problem and even had enough money to travel to Switzerland. But why should she have to go to a strange country and strange surroundings?
        As Yves said, you can go to hell with your smug moralising.

        Reply ↓
      3. Quentin

        I witnessed the euthanasia of my best friend some 13 years ago in the Netherlands. Trolls like VTDigger would deprive others of the chance to choose a preferred exit from this dimension. They are some kind of prohibitionists who deny others their self determination. Moralising twits.

        Reply ↓
      4. Anonymous 2

        How truly awful. I think the whole NC commentariat, when it reads this, will weep for you. I am.

        Reply ↓
      5. caucus99percenter

        Euthanasia is permitted in the Netherlands. Both a Dutch friend’s mother and her father’s post-divorce second life partner chose to die that way, on their own terms with dignity, fully aware to the last and in the presence of loved ones.

        My heart goes out to you; when it comes to this subject, as with numerous others, I agree with you completely.

        Reply ↓
      6. Trees&Trunks

        I find this a difficult problem. My father was totally kaputt in his lungs (smoking) from cancer. When he realized that he had to pee in a cathether and suffer from the chemo with very little if any extra life added, he said fuck it and stopped eating and drinking. I was fortunate to be with him the three days it took foe him to die. As far as I am concerned he died with his boots on. However, when he and the physician told us the decision I asked my father directly if it was his decision or if he was ”nudged” (to speak neoliberal) When he said that it was his decision I was fine with it.

        There are cases where death seems better than live on. If you can do it yourself and you have the wherewithal to do it, then fine.

        Should suicide assistance be a for profit-activity? no familyblogging way!!! The profitsector has proven beyond all doubt that their Copromidas touch ruins everything. They turn everything they touch to shit.

        However, there is a snowball’s chance in hell I will trust our neoliberal governments to help with suicide, i.e., kill. Look at Canada for what happens.

        Since the governments and the PMC have shown themselves to be sociopaths wanting poor people to die I do not trust this the intentions here.

        They did the same thing when they wanted to abolish inheritance tax and reduce property tax in Sweden: one of the very few poor old people that were about to die but whose relatives couldn’t afford the inheritance tax were jumping around in the media. The moribound lady (always ladies) was crying that all they had worked for, just trying to give the children a house, would come to nought because of the inheritance tax. Tax was abolished. Now 70% of the billionaire class wealth is inherited and untaxed. This I take as the first steps of make eugenics popular.

        And what do you know here is the next article

        I whisper my “Yes to euthanasia”

        https://www-aftonbladet-se.translate.goog/kultur/a/KM49lX/goran-greider-om-dodshjalp?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

        On top of that you have incentives on a microlevel: family-members wanting to kill off parents to get access to money etc. How do you prevent this? You meet enough doctors/lawyers and one will eventually agree to confirm that your alzheimer mother really said she wanted to die.

        Sharpen your thoughts and arguments, folks, the fight for the right to kill people is in full swing!

        Reply ↓
        1. amfortas the hippie

          and thats the issue, right there: gooberments finding an exuse to kill off “useless eaters”, or “family” wanting to get at the money….”well, we have a signed document right here…”
          its a trust issue.
          as for me, after watching Tam’s almost 4 year ordeal, well….i sorta accidentally kept aside enough of a very powerful substance she was prescribed at the end, that they missed in their post-mortem tally, somehow…for just such an eventuality.
          i’ll keep my exit firmly in my hands, thank you.
          when Chief Dan George, in Little Big Man, went up to the mountain to die…thats what i think about when i think about such things.
          since i dont have any life insurance, that curtailment/disincentive is moot.
          for those that do, however, overdosing on potassium….body absorbs it after death and its relatively undetectable during autopsy.
          just sayin.

          one of numerous little tidbits i have filed away, just in case.

          Reply ↓
        2. flora

          re: “The moribound lady (always ladies) was crying that all they had worked for, just trying to give the children a house, would come to nought because of the inheritance tax. ”

          Oh yeah. How does a tax on new moneys affect all that one has worked for? One didn’t work for the relative’s estate. Working to try to give the children a house has nothing whatever to do with inheritence tax. Unless… one took out loans counting on said inheretance; in which case one didn’t work for it at all but only tried to financialize a relative’s expected demise, and then cry “unfair” if the scheme didn’t work. See also Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House about ne’re-do-well relatives counting on an inheritance to cover their debts. And in modern times, said ne-er-to- relatives used in PR campaigns to lift the inheritance tax on the truly wealthy. Ugly. / my 2 cents.

          Reply ↓
          1. amfortas the hippie

            as much as my mom disiabuses me on this, i have fucking earned this place.
            putting up with her abuse has been the mortgage.
            after 20 years of my subtle cajolin, she finally got The Place into a Trust, over which my Eldest shall be Lord.

            Reply ↓
        3. ACPAL

          A side story to this is suicide by opioids. Those suing (plaintiffs) the manufacturers and sellers of these drugs need to make them sound as bad as possible, including causing suicides, to increase their judicial awards. A few years ago the government (and some medical facilities) put harsh restrictions on prescribing them, possibly thinking it would reduce suicides. About a year ago they reduced some of these restrictions, I think because the suicide rate went up not down. For many people the persistent pain is so overwhelming that without those opioids suicide is the ONLY answer. But those plaintiffs see only dollar signs and care nothing about humanity. IMHO those railing against legal suicide know nothiing of real suffering and also care nothing about humanity.

          Reply ↓
          1. Deluxe

            Those railing against legal suicide are just armchair generals talking crap to frontline soldiers, from the comfort of their basements. All of them change their mind once the real suffering get the hold of them.

            Reply ↓
      7. Kouros

        A cursory look at what is happening in Canada is a matter of concern. In my neck of the woods I did work to set up the first database of MAiD information to be used for reporting with the feds.

        There is really no oversight. And when you have a young woman suffering with anorexia beind put by her parents to MAiD you start wondering. Or people being guided to MAiD instead of suitable treatment or other stuff, like adequate housing.

        The old lady depicted IS the good face of MAiD. But don’t forget that the neoliberalism mantra is: (1) because markets & (2) go die…

        Reply ↓
        1. Some Guy

          Kind of funny/sad how many non-Canadians have this deluded view of ‘what is happening in Canada’ because they are absorbing right wing disinformation without realizing it.

          Reply ↓
          2. Kouros

            My point was, as an insider in the administration and oversight of MAiD in Canada, that there are problems.

            The Dutch, early adopters started scrutinizing more the administration of this service and started to have second thoughts.

            The Canadian government has postponed the introduction on the roster of permissible ailments to be considered for MAiD the mental health issues after a lot of alarm signals coming from the provinces, who actually have to oversee and execute the treatment.

            Reply ↓
            1. Some Guy

              Sure, you introduce a new policy, there will be some back and forth, but a lot of people come away with a pretty warped view based on misinformation, and there’s a long distance between, “we need to be careful with borderline cases” and the previous status quo which forced anyone who wanted basic humanity to become a criminal.

              Here’s literally the first thing that comes up in a google search:

              https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/fact_checking/pamphlet-sparks-false-claims-about-medical-assistance-in-dying-for-minors-in-canada/article_37de72d7-18e9-51f0-98bc-8bcd64f8d209.html

              I’ve experienced it from the patient side (not personally, but extended family), and the process seemed pretty reasonable to me, and a million miles from what you see on X or facebook.

              Reply ↓
      8. swangeese

        While I do think that palliative care for the terminally ill should be and must be improved, I think that legalized euthanasia in practice is more of a program to exterminate people deemed ‘useless’ and ‘disposable’ to society.

        Nor do I think that treatments should be given when it is obvious that it will be futile, a money grab, or just ridiculous. For example putting an elderly person through chemo when the downsides clearly outweigh any benefits including quality of life. Our system is predatory ,however that I think that reform and ,for the time being, having strong patient advocates would be a better solution.

        Another problem is the American mentality at least of viewing death as a failure. You see this when a patient is obviously not going to survive ,but the family wants the works done to try to save him anyway. And in surviving a patient may be worse off in a ‘living’ state and would’ve been better off dead. This unacceptance of death feeds the predatory system all too happy to step in and extract rent.

        As a disabled person or “useless eater”, I think I understand what VTDigger was getting at. Often times the media props up the the most sympathetic cases they can find to promote euthanasia and always at end of life. However once euthanasia is legalized the qualifiers always expand to include people who are not dying, but are deemed “useless” anyway. In Canada there was a man on their version of SSI and was at risk of being homeless due to a rent increase he could not afford. He qualified for euthanasia simply for this reason and is only alive because the media there highlighted his plight. The obstacle for the man, in this case, was credit card debt eating his check and a crowdfund solved the issue. You do wonder how many people have availed themselves of Canada’s euthanasia program when the problems they had were solvable and not something to die over.*

        *I believe this was in Liz Carr’s “Better Off Dead?” documentary.

        There is a disability rights group called Not Dead Yet that opposes assisted suicide for this reason. Their “toolkit” page is through in explaining why legalizing euthanasia is detrimental to disabled people: https://notdeadyet.org/disability-rights-toolkit-for-advocacy-against-legalization-of-assisted-suicide/

        Ultimately I see legalizing euthanasia as a road to hell paved with good intentions. Nobody wants to see a loved one suffer, but sometimes a seemingly easy solution isn’t in real world practice.

        Reply ↓
    2. Pat

      As someone who first considered suicide at age twelve, believe me I do not take it as a panacea for everything. It is not. But having watched people deteriorate from AIDS, cancer, and dementia/Alzheimer’s etc I also do not discount the reality that medicine doesn’t solve everything and that continued treatment is sometimes a slow torture for both the patients and their families. Allowing someone to assess their condition, their odds, and yes even their finances regarding care and make the decision to die with dignity would be far less ghoulish then forcing them to live with no quality of life. We treat our animals better than we do our terminally and incurably ill humans in America.
      And the reason I say finances, is that in our for profit healthcare system after bankrupting themselves many end up in facilities more concerned with the Medicaid check than in providing actual care for their patients. It can be a final sadistic indignity on the weakest among us.

      Reply ↓
    3. Henry Moon Pie

      When the time my treatment has gained me is up in a couple of years, and the bone mets reappear and are unresponsive to the anti-androgen treatment, I’ll be looking to end things before my spine or pelvis is breaking. It’s a bad way to go. And I’m not particularly interested in a morphine button that you press until you’re dead. I highly respect how this woman handled it, and hope that I can do as well.

      And psilocybin is still on my bucket list.

      Reply ↓
      1. Expat2uruguay

        Helium inhalation is what I have considered, although it may be difficult to find concentrations sufficient for use. I believe that the right to die should be a fundamental human right.

        Reply ↓
      2. Kouros

        Oxygen deprivation I hear is a way to go. Lower the concentration to 19% to under 10%.

        There are sooo many work accidents occuring in areas with deprive oxygen to attest to its rapidity and absence of much suffering.

        This is what I considered for myself as a way to go if must choose one.

        Reply ↓
        1. IM Doc

          Maybe this is appropriate to bring up in this thread – maybe it is not. It is something that doctors know, especially internists, but somehow never bring up. It was standard operating procedure 30 years ago – now we do everything we can to get in the way.

          In many patients with cancer, but by no means all patients with cancer, there is an issue called hypercalcemia of malignancy. This happens in two very different ways, a) a breakdown of the bones by metastatic lesions, 2) actual production of humoral factors by the cancer cells themselves that cause the calcium to rise. There are certain cancers where this is much more likely than others – myeloma, prostate, lung, and breast cancer are far more commonly going to do this.

          The elevation in calcium is very slow over months. But as the calcium gets higher and higher, the patient will become more and more sedated – eventually to the point of unconsciousness and then unto death. BUT, the patient is completely sedated, they often have no need of pain meds – they literally just go to sleep and quit breathing one day. This has been known and noticed for millennia, this process is in all kinds of medical tracts of the past. It has just been recently that we have known it was the calcium level – but the process itself has been unmistakeably known and described for eons of time.

          Back in the day, decades ago, physicians of patients who had this problem with their cancer would sit down and go over this at length with the patient and give them all the options on the table. The calcium level would be just as effective as morphine. It was an ideal way to go for most people. I never saw a single patient have any kind of untoward problems. Constipation is part of it – but by the time this happens, the patient is largely mentally gone anyway. Back in the 80s and 90s in my life, when the calcium started going up, it was a sign that the days were numbered, and discussions needed to begin.

          That is no longer the case. Now, this same elevation in calcium is treated as a medical problem. The patients are NEVER advised of the options. Instead, they are given an IV medication called a bisphosphonate – for the express purpose of getting the calcium down, basically chart decoration. They are never told that this is nature’s morphine. They are never told that “You know, Mrs. Smith, this is a sign that the end is coming, this may make you feel much better as your exit happens. We can handle this any way you see fit, but just know this a perfectly reasonable way to go, and it is likely going to much more pleasant than the other options. There is nothing to fear. You have my permission to do this.” ( So many times, especially when death is involved, the patients are looking to me for permission – “yes, it is ok to do this” – unfortunately in our world today, for many patients, these conversations never happen) – Instead, almost every one is given a dose of this med – 2800 bucks – it lasts for 18-24 months – meaning their calcium will never go high enough to sedate them again. I can tell you from experience – most of them do not last any longer than they did before we started treating this. They just die more painfully. I will also tell you, I discuss this with every single patient of mine to which this happens. I want to make sure that they understand what is ahead of them and what all their options are. I make them sleep on it and discuss with their friends and family. I no longer understand my profession nor the training of its young practitioners. We can barely discuss sore throats with patients anymore, much less impending death and alleviation of pain.

          Reply ↓
          1. Kouros

            Thank you Doc, this should be public knowledge and thought in the Biology classes, grade XII.

            Together with managing finance, real civics, ethics, and inequality.

            Reply ↓
          2. flora

            Thank you, IM. I can only wonder how many newly minted Docs have ever seen the old Lionel Barrymore 1939 movie On Borrowed Time?

            Reply ↓
      3. Henry Moon Pie

        Thanks to all. Good info.

        As I’ve reported elsewhere, cancer’s at bay for now, so I’m pretty optimistic about another spring or two without much trouble, but I’m socking this info away for when it’s needed.

        Reply ↓
    4. Ian

      Barring accidents, I probably have about thirty years left on planet earth and at the moment, I’m finding it quite agreeable. Through the miracles of good genetics and dumb luck, I have no major health problems.

      That said, when I get to a certain point of decrepitude, I absolutely plan to to go out at a place and time of my own choosing, governments, religious fanatics and moralsts be damned.

      I’m not depressed nor do I despair. This is simply a rational decision based on quality of life and treating myself with the same kindness I have given my cats when they got too old and sick.

      Reply ↓
      1. amfortas the hippie

        aye, Ian…aside from my skeleton, i’m in rather good health, considering my age(55) and the life ive led.
        but that life ive led will catch up to me at some point.
        and kick my ass, i expect.
        i refuse to be a rutabega or otherwise a burden on my boys(or the frelling state, for that matter)…and if I end up terminal, and with a future of only endless suffering, i’ll make the choice, myself.
        i consider it my most important right, in fact.
        crawl up on that mountain back there, and take all the pills ive squirreled away for this purpose and smoke a hogleg and drink beer til i go.
        as Josey Wales said, “Buzzards gotta eat…same as worms…”
        but in the meantime, when i have buzzards or crows flying above me, i say to them, “Not Today”.
        ive been in despair for about 7 years, now(since Tam’s diagnosis, when i knew it was just a matter of time)…and checking out certainly has crossed my mind…but i find that i’m pretty interested in what happens next.
        from potential grandkids to what the usa ends up looking like.
        i wanna be around to say to my boys,”see? i toldja!”,lol

        Reply ↓
        1. Henry Moon Pie

          We can rewrite Grace Slick a bit:

          Don’t die until the Empire falls.
          You’ll laugh so hard you’ll crack the walls.

          “Greasy Heart”

          I think we’ve already managed the “don’t change” like in the original lyric. ;)

          Reply ↓
  7. Quentin

    ‘When you read this, I will be dead.’ Can someone post here a translation of part 2 of this gripping diary of a woman deliberately planning her own death? I’m hopelessly dumb when it comes toe a google translation.

    Reply ↓
  8. JohnA

    Forget looking into whether Starmer keeps suspicious company with young Ukrainian male ‘models’, the police are now reportedly investigating whether the dastardly Russians are behind this whole ‘mystery’ of why Starmers’ houses and former car were firebombed a few days ago. But of course it must be Putin’s doing.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      The whole thing is starting to remind me of how back in 2022 it was reported that somebody attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi. But as the whole story stated to come out, it all went sideways. The police will have to be careful here. Rule one of any bureaucracy – never launch an official investigation until you know exactly what is going to be found out.

      Reply ↓
      1. JohnA

        Or simply declare it a ‘public inquiry’ Then you do not have to make public the findings if ‘disclosure could harm the public interest’. This has been the case with the ridiculous inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, the drug addict, whose death the British establishment wants to claim was caused by novichok, from a carelessly discarded perfume bottle by 2 Russian assassins sent to kill the Skripals on the orders of Putin.

        Reply ↓
  9. IM Doc

    Interesting. Twitter is down for the count this AM. I am unable to get anything but “Something is wrong. Please try again.” And it appears all the twitter links here are down as well. At least right now. On this site – just the text appears – no twitter links, etc.

    Reply ↓
    1. Terry Flynn

      Same. Didn’t Elon use a lot of Tesla stock to enable his purchase of Twitter? If so, I wonder if creditors of Tesla are beginning to put their foot down, with downstream implications for Twitter.

      Tesla stock isn’t exactly bullish at the moment but I’ll defer to anyone who knows better about the use of stock to buy another company.

      Reply ↓
      1. flora

        Any number of tech glitches can cause cascading downstream effects: bad server upgrade install, error in server configuration, bad cross connect in the wiring, major power outage somewhere, even black hat hackers. etc. Ironic that it’s Twtr-X. / ;)

        Reply ↓
        1. amfortas the hippie

          aye, Flora. my internet was down all last afternoon and evening(meaning no cell fone, either; i really am in the wilderness,lol)
          so i went to the east upper porch of the cabin across the road, where i inexplicably get 5G…and texted my 3 neighbors..theyre out, too…so i called the co-op tech guy…and went through all their if/then stuff…they were very accommodating to me not being able to use the cell without wifi.
          so they sent a guy,lol.
          turns out, it was the recent rain event.
          broke something with the elecrtric co-op, who ran big gensets, and the sinewaves of those apparently confused whatever do-dads make the internet work down my dead end dirt road.
          neighbors texting all morning thanking me for my efforts.

          Reply ↓
      2. Pat

        Did he finish the transfer of Twitter to his AI company or did that get killed?
        Of course function often loses out over time with Musk companies. He does seem to like keeping control even when that shouldn’t be the case.

        Reply ↓
      3. steppenwolf fetchit

        Is there a way for the Tesla boycott to crash Tesla’s stock level so low that debts against it are declared in default and unrepayable and the things bought with those debts are either seized or force-sold?

        I am a total financial/money layman so I don’t know if I have even phrased that question totally right.
        Still, if I have phrased it right enough, how low must Tesla stock be driven and how long must it be kept there so as to crush Mr. Elmo Xittler under a pile of falling dominoes?

        Reply ↓
    2. Jason Boxman

      There’s been complaints of issues for a few days now. One of the few COVID cautions people I talked to on Dating App, last year, said when Musk took over, she and her team quit, and the whole Twitter infrastructure was always touch and go, and was likely to be a dumpster fire with him laying off so many people. I’m surprised it still works at all.

      The spam bot issue is ongoing; I’ve getting random follows from bots for years, and this year anyone that posts financial stuff gets fake comments from fraudsters trying to entice people to click a link.

      Now that the Twitter API costs money to use, I wonder how much Musk is making by letting these bots proliferate; It might be a profit center to allow scammer bots.

      Reply ↓
  10. The Rev Kev

    “HOW MUCH MORE WAR CAN RUSSIA AFFORD?”

    ‘Economics could be the determining factor for peace in Ukraine’ by Seymour Hersh

    After all the great work that Hersh has done, how sad to end up having your life be a parody of itself. He says that he has lived in Washington for the past six decades, undoubtedly to garner news sources, but it sounds like he is drinking the DC kool aid here. I do wonder if what he said in that post is a reflection of what they believe in Washington and which he has been listening to. I hope not lest they panic if the Russians make deep inroads into the Ukraine in the coming months.

    Reply ↓
    1. Unironic Pangloss

      honestly, think Hersh has a ghost-writer doing all the heavy lifting while Hersh is essentially a “showrunner” .

      Russia has defacto infinite resources, magnitudes more national unity-patriotism than the West, competent elites, and a BFF gorilla in its corner (PRC). ironically validating a discrete, narrow version of MMT.

      Irony alert: if Clinton or W or Obama gave Putin NATO and EU memberships, Putin would’ve taken it in a second and made the Kremlin tow the line. But no, anti-Russian ray-cisss think tanks and leaders gotya treat Putin as leader of the Hun hoardes.

      Reply ↓
      1. Michaelmas

        At least as relevantly, Russia also has missile and EW weapon systems that are a generation in advance of the US, and — also not irrelevantly — a larger nuclear arsenal.

        One day — hopefully soon — someone will write an account of this generation of Western leaders titled ‘The New Donkeys.’

        Reply ↓
        1. Retired Carpenter

          Michaelmas,
          re: Western leaders …‘The New Donkeys.’
          Please do not insult donkeys. Inoffensive,unassuming, hard-working citizens! Here is a good description: “Donkeys are highly intelligent and adaptive creatures that display a multitude of remarkable traits.
          One of the main reasons people perceive donkeys as unintelligent animals is their cautious nature. Donkeys have a strong sense of self-preservation and often approach new situations and environments with skepticism. This cautious behavior can be misinterpreted as stupidity by those unfamiliar with donkeys’ instincts. However, this hesitancy is actually a sign of their intelligence, allowing them to carefully assess potentially dangerous situations before proceeding.”
          If only “Western leaders” were so gifted…

          Reply ↓
          1. amfortas the hippie

            aye. i benefited immensely from my donkey sister, Emmelina, that i grew up with.
            smart as a whip, she taught me how to be stubborn.
            as well as how to figger out workarounds for obstacles…in her case, gates and even doorknobs.
            her lips, especially…but also her teeth and tongue…were her fingers…and she’d work at a gate latch for days and weeks.
            i was forever replacing them with more complicated versions,lol.
            and while i was working to put in a different latch, she’d be right there, pestering me….knowing what i was up to(curtailing her)…giving me side-eye, etc.
            a full grown donkey thats let herself into yer house is no small thing.

            Reply ↓
          2. Michaelmas

            It’s, like, an historical allusion, dudes, referencing WWI leaders. No disrespect to our animal cousins involved.

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

            ‘The historiography of the United Kingdom during the 20th century frequently described the infantry of the British Army as brave soldiers (lions) being sent to their deaths by incompetent and indifferent commanders (donkeys).’

            Thus, The Donkeys was the title of a history book on WWI from the 1960s that became such a classic —
            Death of a generation: Alan Clark’s The Donkeys review – archive, 1961
            28 July 1961: This seething book describes the destruction of the pre-war professional British Army in 1915 and the folly, stupidity and incompetency of the commanders

            — that most historians of WWI since either tend to do revision riffs on its take or amplify it, as Christopher Clark’s excellent The Sleepwalkers somewhat does.

            Reply ↓
            1. The Rev Kev

              Don’t forget that those WW1 British generals started off their careers as young officers fighting Zulus or Sudanese charging into battle against British lines of volley fire armed with mostly spears and shields. The redoubtable General Horace Smith-Dorrien of WW1 fame, for example, was one of the tiny handful of survivors on the Battle of Isandhlwana against the Zulus. But it goes beyond that. In that era officers were not allowed to talk about professional matters at the mess table and would only go in public in civilian clothes by choice. ‘Book learning’ was only something that was grudgingly accepted as needed as was the idea of a Staff College. At heart behind this was the severe mistrust that the British public had in a professional officer class that went back centuries-

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Smith-Dorrien

              Reply ↓
              1. Michaelmas

                Interesting biography.

                They weren’t all necessarily quite as bad as they were painted. By WWI’s final years, the British had begun to make adjustments with the invention of the tank, and other moves.

                But, yes, they were absolutely unprepared for what a war between industrial European nations armed on both sides with the means of industrialized slaughter — machine guns, with which hitherto they’d only mowed down ‘fuzzy-wuzzies’ armed at best with flintlocks — would be like. That it would inevitably devolve into a war of attrition and entrenchment, with non-moving front lines of fortifications and trenches, etc., and would proceed for years till nations and empires were attrited and destroyed.

                And they were warned. Familiar with this guy?

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

                Also known as Jean de Bloch. In 1898 he wrote and published a six-volume book called ‘Future War and its Economic Consequences‘ (in Russia) and ‘Is War Now Impossible? ‘ (in English) where he accurately predicted every aspect of how WW1 would proceed, except for military aircraft. He distributed copies of his book to royalty throughout Europe and to the great and the good, because they all knew him as he was a wealthy industrialist from building railroads.

                And he was ignored.

                Rev Kev: At heart behind this was the severe mistrust that the British public had in a professional officer class that went back centuries

                It went deeper than that. The British public had of a mistrust of any British army. Period. Especially after Peterloo, the British army was seen by the general British public as an instrument of oppression under the direction of the old upper classes and was disliked.

                The Royal Navy were, conversely, the British public’s heroes and seen as the operating arm of British supremacy.

                The British empire, to an extent that people today don’t grasp — and frankly it’s hard to grasp — was a maritime empire. The professional army was kept small, except when it had to be bulked up for the Napoleonic Wars, and WW1-WW2 (which latter finished the empire). The British, when they fought land wars, used Sepoy armies in India, Anglo-Egyptians and Sudanese in North Africa, Hessians in North America, and also systems of alliances, as when they allied with Tecumseh and his Indian Confederation during the war of 1812, or the likes of the Prussians and the Spanish during the Napoleonic Wars.

                Reply ↓
            2. Retired Carpenter

              Ah, Mr. Clark should have limited his discourse to his area of expertise! Having grown up on a farm I know by experience that none of our donkeys would indulge in “folly, stupidity and incompetency” unless coerced by one of us kids; even then, they would resist and not carry out unlawful orders. Balaam and his Ass come to mind.
              Pax.

              Reply ↓
        1. Skip Intro

          Sadly, I think this piece accurately reflects investor-centric economic mentality of his connections, so you get gems like:

          But the interpretation of the economic picture painted—wisdom and stability in Russia and chaos in America—was dead wrong. “To understand why you’ve got to go back to Economics 101. Putin has dramatically increased government spending on the war. To do this he needs more money. The Russian citizens are taxed out so [Putin] prints more money. The value of the ruble goes down so prices go up—inflation.

          Which is a weird Econ 101 curriculum. I know they won’t admit that taxes don’t pay for spending, but have they seen the Ruble lately? Its relative value will only be relevant for import-dependent prices.

          Reply ↓
        2. Frank

          I heard an interview Hersh gave not long ago.
          He speaks disparagingly of president Putin.
          Perhaps this now makes him susceptible to DC propaganda?

          Reply ↓
    2. mahna

      Are you suggesting that “a knowledgeable US official recently told me” is not enough of assurance for you?

      Reply ↓
    3. ilsm

      I do not think Russia is any more troubled by the Kievan war than US or as badly as much of the EU (who are talking printing euros).

      That said Hersh is not much of a researcher.

      I watch what Russia does. It is not pushing the terror bombing as is Kiev!

      Reply ↓
      1. Polar Socialist

        I’m not completely sure, but I think the liquid portion of the Russian National Wealth Fund allows Russia to maintain the current level of the weapons production for 4 to 8 years, even if all the energy trade revenues stopped today and the government refused to hike taxes even a fraction.

        Makes one wonder if EU, NATO or the Euro-Atlantic special relationship has that much time left?

        Reply ↓
        1. Skip Intro

          They are only limited by materials they need to import though. For domestically sourced elements, they can just print the money they need. Hersh’s source said investors don’t want Russian debt, as if it were a bad thing, but it also reflects the lack of external control over Russia’s spending.

          Reply ↓
    4. AG

      I can only guess but it could really be a certain limited view of the world and a limited number of sources that he has since he has to trust his people and thus you don’t just quickly create new sources. The world changes faster than your circle of confidants does so to speak.

      An example is his colleague Ted Postol who hasn’t been to Russia for more than 2 decades I think. While Postol has remarkably high regard for Putin he hadn’t been able to update his knowledge on RU WMDs. And as a former top US nuclear scientist you don’t just correct your views like over night. And his outdated expertise e.g. would feed into a current published assessment by Hersh. This might also be the case on other topics.

      There is in general this issue due to age and immobility by Western progressive intellectuals which really struck me and which does also ring true for Hersh.

      Chomsky and Ellsberg e.g. totally failed on their Russia assessments since 2022. And that means their sources were faulty. So I guess it is a systemic US failure which is indeed also culturally induced. I don’t want to sound like Martyanov here. But just as an example for how deeply rooted the incompetence is see e.g. Carl Joachim Friedrich the teacher of Brzezinski and originally German elite. He taught in Heidelberg and Harvard. His views on Russia are the foundation for most of what the country believes. That doesn’t mean Hersh et. al. would see this as reference in particular but as a nation at large might feel and think it does do mean something.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Joachim_Friedrich
      Of course with memorable exceptions best represented by the likes of Stephen Cohen. But after all exception to the rule.

      Reply ↓
  11. The Rev Kev

    “FBI Visits Me Over Manifesto”

    Damn right that Klippenstein shouldn’t talk to FBI agents without a lawyer. All those questions sounded like a trap for a gotcha moment so that they can throw him in the slammer and have him go through the court system for the next coupla years. If I were him with those FBI agents, I would not even confirm my name without leaning over and conferring with my lawyer first.

    Reply ↓
    1. flora

      Something about this sounds like it’s out of a mid-20th c. dystopian science fiction story. Epecially this bit.
      ‘ “You guys from the satellite office in Middleton?” I asked the them, alluding to one of their many but little-known resident agencies, distinct from their field offices (Wisconsin’s being in Milwaukee).

      “Have you been there?,” the man asked, looking surprised.

      No, that’s where the last visit came from, I explained, smiling. (The Bureau paid me a visit last year about my publication of the JD Vance Dossier.) This also seemed to throw them off. ‘

      …
      Straight reporting like Klippenstein’s sounds like a scene in a dystopian novel. Whatever happened to those mid-20th c sci-fi novels warning about a dystopian techno-future? Bad Cattitude wonders about this question.

      A Brave New Fahreheit 1984
      the intersection of education, AI, and society to come

      https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/a-brave-new-fahrenheit-1984

      Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      It’s pretty jarring to read this account and also understand it was not the first rodeo with agents in dark Tahoe government vehicles. Seems like a good lawyer to have on his side though.

      Cynically I can’t help it, but wonder that wouldn’t it be a “hoot” if an agent named Smith was involved.

      Reply ↓
    3. Christopher Smith

      I particularly enjoy the hatred the FBI has of transparency. Please don’t publicize the email, indeed. The FBI needs to be disbanded and replaced with something else – no former FBI employees need apply. I’m sure Kash Patel is on it, LOL.

      Reply ↓
      1. steppenwolf fetchit

        Kash Patel wants to keep the FBI weaponized, or even weaponize it even more. The only thing he and his beloved God-Emperor Trump want to change is where the FBI is aimed, and who it is aimed at.

        Reply ↓
    4. Yves Smith Post author

      I am not sure I would have the presence of mind BUT

      1. You never let cops in your house.

      2. You politely ask if they have a warrant.

      3. If they have one, you need to stay calm, ask to see it, and see if it was signed by a judge as opposed to being merely an administrative warrant. If not signed by a judge, you need to say it was not signed by a judge and they need to get that if they intend to question or detain you.

      4. If not, say you are sorry, on the advice of counsel you can’t speak to them under these circumstances.

      I think that works, readers please advise if not.

      Reply ↓
      1. amfortas the hippie

        yes.
        pretty much.
        ive studied this sort of thing since i was 16 and already an outlaw pariah/folk devil.
        i game out fbi interactions relatively often…due to my former political activity.
        to turn monty python on their head, “always expect the fbi”,lol.
        i intend to speak at great length about random philosophical questions…essentially attacking them with the socratic method…(i’m really good at this, having raised my boys to excellent results via just this strategy….and, long ago, during outlaw days, i would overwhelm the cops with erudition and esoterica….much to their frustration.
        local authority(sic) knows better than to frell with me…not worth the effort.(and i have files on vip shenanigans with a far away third party who google alerts my untimely demise,lol))

        but if they wanna know anything that matters, they can speak to my council.

        Reply ↓
      2. juno mas

        You’ve touched all the important bases. However, I would add that you should never talk with a uniformed police officer, other than a brief greeting. Their perceptions will be given more weight than yours, right or wrong.

        Reply ↓
        1. Yves Smith Post author

          The problem is when they come to your door, as they did with K.

          Being tightly wound, I would probably not be able to compose myself and would just say, “Sorry I can’t help you,” shut the door quickly, and not answer when they rang again. If they had a warrant, they would then break in :-)

          Reply ↓
    5. AG

      I have no clue:
      -Is K. possibly violating anything by ignoring their statement to not publish Qs?
      (Of course I assume not but in the realm of law enforcement I imagine anything is possible)
      -Is it not normal for FBI to pressure reporters to find out more about this, especially as it is not Palestinians shot but Israelis. OR: What would have been different 10 years ago? before 9/11?
      Again I am asking because my expectations re: FBI are low anyhow.
      -What would be the proper way at least from a decent FBI POV – phone call?
      Since I guess FBI is certainly not going to not ask. If even that were known to be the only legal reaction.

      Reply ↓
      1. Yves Smith Post author

        We have free speech in the US, so no.

        This behavior is clearly meant to intimidate, as opposed to get info. Why did they ask why he published the material FFS? They are trying to get him to incriminate himself.

        There is no legitimate basis for the FBI contacting him ex getting a warrant.

        Oh, and journalists have source-shield protection, so K is also 100% within his rights to say nothing about how he got the material. Any decent journo knows this and would not cooperate.

        Reply ↓
  12. Henry Moon Pie

    Re: climate–

    The article about polar ice acts as if we had not bid good-bye to 1.5 C a long time ago, and as if 1.0 C was something never to be seen again in the absence of nuclear winter.

    There’s been another re-examination of Donella Meadows et al. projections in The Limits to Growth. Here’s a teaser:

    Economists get over-excited when anyone mentions ‘degrowth’, and fellow-travellers such as the Tony Blair Institute treat climate policy as if it is some kind of typical 1990s political discussion. The point is that we’re going to get degrowth whether we think it’s a good idea or not. The data here is, in effect, about the tipping point at the end of a 200-to-250-year exponential curve, at least in the richer parts of the world. The only question is whether we manage degrowth or just let it happen to us. This isn’t a neutral question. I know which one of these is worse.

    Reply ↓
    1. caucus99percenter

      It’s all too much like officers and crew squabbling on the bridge of the Titanic about what to do, long after having realized that the watertight bulkheads don’t go high enough, too many hull sections have been breached, and sinking is now a certainty.

      Or another image that comes to mind is the ending of Rudyard Kipling’s The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo:

      So they were left in the middle of Australia, Old Man Kangaroo and Yellow-Dog Dingo, and each said, ‘That’s your fault.’

      Reply ↓
      1. Robert

        The watertight bulkheads don’t have to go any higher than they were built.
        If a compartment is breached, the incoming seawater can only rise to the level of the sea that the ship is floating in.
        There is a completely different reason why Titanic sunk.

        Reply ↓
        1. Revenant

          Eh? You will have to explain your argument here. The smaller the volume enclosed by the bulkheads, the less water taken on board through a breach in the hull, the less the ship lists and the less the ship risks foundering.

          Reply ↓
    2. steppenwolf fetchit

      We’re going to get degrowth. We can do it the easy way, or we can do it the Scanner way.

      Reply ↓
      1. Jabura Basadai

        we’re not going to get it, degrowth is already ongoing and i don’t think there is an ‘easy way’ – besides wars, disease, pollution and other human generated accelerators, nature seems to be working on it already – infertility, declining birth rate, declining sperm count, vanishing biodiversity that support life – the first real wet-bulb event like what is described in the first chapter of The Ministry For The Future is not science fiction but the future, and not too far off i fear – the granular truth of this is self-evident –

        Reply ↓
  13. The Rev Kev

    ‘– GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 —
    @GeromanAT
    🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The Russian army has begun using a ‘triple chokehold’ tactic at the front, which allows for slow but steady advancement – The Telegraph’

    The Russians will soon be out of the Donbass with all its fortified towns and villages and out on open plains. So how will the Ukrainians hold out in mini-fortifications in this sort of terrain?

    Reply ↓
    1. Mass Driver

      🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The Russian army has begun using a ‘triple chokehold’ tactic at the front, in contrast to meat & shovels gambit played ’til now. In other news, water begun being wet.

      Reply ↓
      2. Mass Driver

        Seems like the season of water is wet discoveries is open, since World famous Jihadi Julian also had an epiphany.

        https://x.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1925807370208182645
        In the fourth year of the war, it is clear that Russia is pursuing the clear goal of winning the war against Ukraine – and is consistently gearing its entire economy towards this.
        [machne translation]

        Reply ↓
        1. amfortas the hippie

          i have often wondered what its like to be that guy,lol
          i mean, ive attempted to train myself, in my 55 years, to be as close to a reality based individual as i could manage.
          objectivity…get all around an issue, look at what the others are saying, etc.
          ergo…toeing the party line is anathema.
          it is what it is and prove me wrong, dammit.
          but this guy,lol.
          hopium and copium and sticking to his sky is green story until the bitter end.
          when youve lost Julian,lol…..

          Reply ↓
          1. Mass Driver

            The joke is that this guy is more to the “realist” end of the Ukro-Nazi spectrum. I occasionally check out the other end, for calibration, and it is a sight to behold (and study by psychologists and psychiatrists).

            Reply ↓
  14. ilsm

    Re: Engelsberg Ideas on Japan.

    I agree the article which I mostly skimmed seems a bit touched by angst against current DC regime’s diplomatic and trade policies.

    I have been out of the business for more than 5 years but seems to me Japan has not reduced its reliance on US Navy Aegis pickets, nor built any long range radars (postponed developing 2 US designed land based long range radars) not investing in air and missile self defense.

    DPRK nuclear weapons pose a huge threat to US forces in Japan proper and Okinawa, plus Guam! Japan is enjoying US’ continued occupation.

    That said I suspect the US THAAD (sensor) redeployed from S Korea to Israel lessens missile defenses in the region as that set might have engaged missiles in the ascent phase.

    Less US occupation given limits of missile defenses may be good for Japan.

    I have an idea the author may be paying tributes to Mac Arthur’s benevolent rule.

    Reply ↓
    1. amfortas the hippie

      and you almost never hear about the us rapecult in occupied okinawa, anymore.
      did they fix that?
      or just more effectively bury it?

      Reply ↓
      1. ilsm

        Thanks.

        Years ago I sat through a lecture on basic mathematics behind radar, particularly energy return. Radar data is not deterministic therefore trying to find and fix the direction of a kill chain is not deterministic in any form.

        This requires terminal guidance and correction during the engagement. A lot of different parts all synced and all feedback controlled.

        Russia seems to have more experience, interest and mathematicians. A lot of experience from Korea and Vietnam conflicts as well as radar’s snooping around Syria.

        I am not hopeful Trump will do better than Reagan with Star Wars.

        US has a separate source of system failure, the for profit arsenals need fast profits.

        Reply ↓
  15. Expat2uruguay

    Here are two YouTube videos to comprehensively update the Burkina Faso military situation in their fight against the JNIM.

    First up, an official state media update, “Burkina Faso’s military upgrade: A total revolution in fighting equipment”. Various Colonels showing of lots of new equipment from China, Turkey and Russia and describing the operational changes that have been made since Captain Traoré became the interim president two and a half years ago. 13 minutes
    https://youtu.be/r6LpFkwwDWI

    Second, local color of Rapid Intervention Battalions returning from a pivotal victory
    in a motorcycle parade giving a sense of the spirit of celebration and renewed faith among the people. 3 minutes
    https://youtu.be/tXq2T5Ksabw

    saludos

    Reply ↓
    1. amfortas the hippie

      his speech at the UN is worth a read…lost the link, due to intertubes being down yesterday.
      Traore.

      Reply ↓
      1. Expat2uruguay

        Is this the speech that you saw? I saw one but I think it was fake. This one says that it’s from the 78th meeting general meeting of the UN and that the speech was read out by another person on behalf of Captain Traoré
        https://youtu.be/RuuhkNGqhIk

        Reply ↓
          2. Expat2uruguay

            @amfortas that’s the one that I suspect to be fake news. I saw that speech in a video, but there’s never any information about when that speech occurred. How well do you trust that source to know fake news from Real News? I have never seen any backup of that specific content.

            Reply ↓
    1. Quintian and Lucius

      I find this a deeply plausible hypothesis but only that at the moment; I’d like to see a more complete scholarship examining this individual’s framework for India. To the extent someone with insufficient knowledge to argue the point is concerned, my one objection or soft amendment to this is the idea that the narrow Jati specialization is maladaptive by virtue of incentivizing mediocrity – mediocrity it may well be, but it seems to me clearly an adaptive mediocrity. If you take this hypothesis as true, the instantiation of this granular caste system has formed trust circles which are extraordinarily difficult to break and consequently has preserved the system intact for millennia – the contrary state, the expanded trust necessary for a “truly advanced” society (as occasionally rendered by the nostalgically inclined in pictures of clean streets and fit, well-dressed people all over major cities in the early 20th century, that sort of thing) is inherently fragile (as very often rendered by anyone with eyes in images of the dingy, trash-filled streets and slouching, avoidant, slightly paranoid types populating major cities in the early 21st century). We might’ve built one or two very nice things while we all still liked one another, the argument might go, but that didn’t last very long and now we hardly like anyone.

      All a lot of yap to basically say “twice as bright; half as long.” It was an interesting thread in any case.

      Reply ↓
  17. Polar Socialist

    “Triple chokehold” my sweet patootie… Find, fix and destroy has been the basic of military field manuals since probably the Napoleonic era.

    From what I’ve been able to gather, the biggest thing preventing Ukrainians from maneuvering is their own commanders telling them to hold fast. That and the lack of mobility. So, the Russians do a couple of recon raids, figure out the Ukrainian positions, isolate them (by preventing supplies and rotation) and then bombing them to tomorrow. Rinse and repeat for 15:1 casualty rate.

    All this “chokehold” BS is an Ukrainian attempt to explain away why the defender is suffering much more losses than the attacker. Ukrainians just don’t have the qualified staffs, experienced officers, motivated troops or even mobility to do flexible defense to grind down the Russian forces.

    Reply ↓
    1. urdsama

      Since a main component of this strategy appears to be drones, not sure how this has been a staple of war since the Napoleonic era.

      Not to say the strategy as a whole is new, but the ability to execute appears to be.

      Reply ↓
      1. juno mas

        Yes, drones includes the eye-in the-sky drone that spotted the Ukraine training group and called for a Iskander strike within seconds. The specificity of destruction is stunning.

        Reply ↓
        1. Mass Driver

          That incident reminded me of what USA have been doing to Middle Eastern weddings and other gatherings. A turkey shoot.

          Reply ↓
  18. Quintian and Lucius

    “Container ship barely misses Norwegian man’s house after running aground”

    They gave the homeowner two sentences of quotation in this article and he really knocked it out of the park. “If it had hit five meters further to the right, it would have slid up the rocky cliff, and then my house would probably look quite different.” Truly enviable sense of humor on ‘im.

    Reply ↓
    1. Kouros

      A lot is baked in legislation. An interview on CBC with some professional concluded with the lady stating that she’s not optimistic of any meaningful lifting of sanctions on Syria anytime soon.

      Reply ↓
  20. Carolinian

    Re ProPublica on all the “looks like a duck” Trump admin insider trading–Trump recently said he only ran again to get revenge for 2000 and clearly revenge is a dish best served with a nice Chianti and a 50k Rolex in case you need to check the time. Even his foreign policy seems more about cooking up deals for his sons and son and law. It could be the only diff between Trump and the preceding line of grifters is that he pretends to care about the poors while Obama called them “folks.” If indeed he is therefore a classic “presidential” then it’s only a matter of time before Michelle drops the high hat and offers him gum.

    Of course the sarc view may still be premature but that Rolex is ticking.

    Reply ↓
  21. Kontrary Kansan

    HOW MUCH MORE WAR CAN RUSSIA AFFORD?
    Economics could be the determining factor for peace in Ukraine

    Hersh seems muddled. Not knowing whom he consulted about dualing economies . . .. Krugmanesque? Not Hudson!
    Hersh’s columns on Ukraine make me think that while he may know that the US’s proxy war is in the toilet, he’s reluctant to say as much. He doesn’t want to chance alienating his contact? I wonder how many of his, um, contacts are of the neocon/neoliberal ilk.
    I hope someone at NC can shed light on such.

    Reply ↓
  22. Mikel

    I see Harvard, above all other schools, is still drawing the most ire from the Trump administration.

    Reminded me of this piece from last month about some personal history that goes along with all the other fighting factions:
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-bitter-personal-feud-with-pritzker-family-is-behind-his-harvard-hate-campaign/
    Trump’s Bitter Personal Feud With Rival Billionaires Is Behind His Harvard Hate Campaign

    “Trump has a very personal beef with the college’s most senior member of its board of governors going back to his first real-estate deal.”

    Reply ↓
  23. Kontrary Kansan

    “The brief freeze and rapid partial reinstatement of National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funding in early 2025 helped expose it as a US regime-change tool.”

    Without graduates abroad from Harvard and other elite universities, NED will have no one to whom it may look while it overthrows governments. God forbid overthrown governments should end up like Burkina Faso. At least Traoré seems to be trying to make things better for those who are coming up as did he.

    Reply ↓
  24. Grateful Dude

    re Harvard and international students.

    How can a President decree this? Does he have the authority to do this to a single private nonprofit? He isn’t “the law”, at least not yet. Or is this just more extortion?

    Reply ↓
    1. caucus99percenter

      Except for declarations of war and ratification of treaties, the Constitution appears to reserve authority over foreign relations to the executive branch.

      People can correct me if I”m wrong, but it seems to me that the president has broad authority over anything involving a foreign government and its citizens. For example, first-term Trump apparently did not need legislative or judicial agreement to switch U.S. recognition as Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, or recognition of sovereignty over the Golan Heights from Syria to Israel. As president, he could decree both purely on his personal say-so.

      Reply ↓
      1. Yves Smith Post author

        Trump is claiming each and every Harvard student is a threat to the US.

        That is clearly bullshit.

        Harvard in its filing goes over the interaction and says this is about trying to control free speech at Harvard, and this is a punitive action for refusing.

        I think Harvard has this right.

        Reply ↓
        1. caucus99percenter

          I agree that’s certainly the way it ought to be, but in practice, in an atmosphere of crisis, even for FDR a person’s racial ancestry alone was judged sufficient cause for seeing a threat.

          The Supreme Court then rubber-stamped the bullshit as an alleged “military necessity” not based on race.

          Korematsu v. United States.

          Reply ↓
        2. Jabura Basadai

          my Belgian friend said the next queen of Belgium is enrolled at Harvard – certainly a threat(not) –

          Reply ↓
          2. jrkrideau

            Princess Elizabeth of Belgium, heir to the throne, enrolled in a Masters program, Prime Minister Carny of Canada’s daughter Cleo, first year undergraduate.

            Who knows how many other children of senior politicians or plutocrats are getting tossed.

            Xi Jinping’s daughter is a graduate. Maybe the next leader of China has a son or daughter at Harvard right now?

            What a way to extend soft power diplomacy!

            Reply ↓
  25. Jason Boxman

    Statement from Governor Josh Stein on FEMA’s Denial of North Carolina’s Reimbursement Request

    Making the rounds on Twitter.

    The first step to help western North Carolina recover is to clean up all the debris. So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and water ways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface. FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west. The money we have to pay toward debris removal will mean less money towards supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs. …

    This was rejected in April as well.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has rejected North Carolina’s request to maintain a full 100% federal match for the state’s continued Hurricane Helene recovery expenses.

    In a letter sent Friday to Governor Josh Stein, acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton stated that the agency had concluded the full cost share was “not warranted.”

    In late September of last year, the Biden administration authorized FEMA to fully reimburse North Carolina for disaster recovery expenses, including debris cleanup and other efforts for a period of 180 days.

    Hurricane Helene, which tore through the southeastern United States last year, left a massive trail of destruction in its wake, particularly across western North Carolina. According to a December report from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), the storm caused an estimated $60 billion in damage across the state, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in North Carolina’s history.

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Here in my upstate SC city a tremendous effort went into removing the downed timber and as the final event the city went into a large tract of parkland and removed almost every fallen tree with tracked construction equipment (maybe as many as 100 trees). Initial estimates for the state were $200 million but in the end they no doubt spent a lot more than that.

      In a nearby state park the fallen trees will likely never be removed and many that remain are already covered with the riotous spring growth. Some of the fallen trees are still alive and have sprouted leaves.

      But the thing is I walked today in that city park amidst the hundreds of trees that remain and it’s quite beautiful. Even the areas where the downed trees weren’t removed have turned into gardens of green. In the South nature is our menace but also our saving grace. If given the chance nature heals itself.

      Reply ↓
      1. Jason Boxman

        Maybe because of Climate, the wind here gets insane. The golf course lost a tall pine, and another tree down at the lake snapped in half.

        Meanwhile, some people are still dumping debris by the road for pickup by the county, even though this was a one time thing, and this debris will likely be on the roadside for all eternity. Sigh.

        Reply ↓
  26. Jason Boxman

    Fetterman, Often Absent From Senate, Says He Has Been Shamed Into Returning

    This guy really is an ass bag.

    The first-term Pennsylvania Democrat said his openness about his mental health issues has been “weaponized” against him, prompting him to start showing up for votes and hearings he considers useless.

    Why show up?

    When Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, showed up at a hearing on May 8 with Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, his colleagues were surprised to see him. Until then, his chair on the dais of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee had sat empty all year.

    Some of the ire might simply be because Fetterman is an ardent genocide supporter, who’s prolific statements in support of mass killing ought to be shocking to him. Maybe he find his comments insufficiently inhumane and has been spending all his time trying to come up with even more offensive things to say?

    Mr. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the United States Senate.

    So he’s not only cruel, but useless at his job.

    Instead, he said he was “showing up because people in the media have weaponized” his absenteeism on Capitol Hill to portray him as mentally unfit, when in fact it is a product of a decision to spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a senator.

    Holy sh1t. Is this dude for reals?

    It is the latest chapter in Mr. Fetterman’s rocky time in the national political spotlight, where at the height of his popularity he harbored aspirations to run for president in 2028. Now, he is aggrieved that such a dream appears out of reach.

    (bold mine)

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      If he had been ever elected to the Presidency, he would have put in Biden hours – from about 10 until 2. The rest of the time he would ‘spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a (President).’ His staff have complained that he spends most of his time on Israel rather than his actual job and if pressed plays the mental health card. If he can’t do his job then he shouldn’t be doing it.

      Reply ↓
  28. Revenant

    In case my Recap post seems too invested in Kneecap and insufficiently analytical, here’s something chewier on the bizarrely, hilariously important jurisprudential, constitutional and domestic political questions thrown up by charging Mo Chara, who is due to appear in Westminster magistrate’s court on 18th June.

    (1) Mo Chara has been charged under s13 of the Terrorism Act 2000, with wearing or displaying an article which “in the circumstances gives rise to the reasonable suspicion that the person supports or belongs to a proscribed organisation” (here, a Hezbollah flag allegedly thrown on stage and worn at a concert, Hezbollah being proscribed).

    This is, unbelievably (given the global consequences of a terrorism conviction since GWOT on travel and access to finance etc.), a summary offence, that is one not tried with a jury to find the facts, and an offence of strict liability, I.e. in which a person’s intent is not relevant. And a magistrates court is not a superior court of record so the case law on these offences is stillborn.

    Instead, a judge alone decides if reasonable suspicion arose – a test which, despite its subjectivity, is laughably called an objective test, in which the judge imagines the proverbial reasonable person’s perception. The maximum penalty for conviction is six months’ gaol and an unlimited fine.

    There are some defences: that the person lacked awareness rather than intent (a note pinned to their back); the article does not give rise to reasonable suspicion; the circumstances precluded it (performing as a rapper might just apply…).

    Ironically for such a “trivial” offence (it is not in its effects but that is how it is classed legally), the s13 statute has already been appealed once all the way to the Supreme Court, for interpretation on strict liability (by none other than the radical Islamic terror preacher Chaudary…).

    (2) The legal theory question is straightforward: is it just and proportionate that charges of dishonesty all carry the option of jury trial by one’s peers because the consequence for reputation is so profound and yet terrorism can be a summary, juryless trial, even though its consequences are as profound and the best objective test of the fact of reasonable suspicion is a jury of peers and not a judge?

    (3) The constitutional question goes deeper. The Terrorism Act applies throughout the UK but policing is devolved. Charging of suspects falls to the Director of Public Prosecutions Northern Ireland in NI but to Crown Prosecution Service in England. As a result, there are daily acts by politicians in NI, let alone the general population, that breach s13 but only 13 charges have been brought in 25 years! We’re talking about marching with IRA and UVF banners etc. especially in summer around July 12th. Whereas in England no leniency is shown.

    Moreover, a Terrorism Act charge requires the consent of the attorneys general of NI or UK respectively and the AG UK is advised by a third legal officer, the advocate general of NI. So this profound difference in charging policy is knowingly acquiesced in by the AG UK, who has done nothing to restore alignment.

    AGUK and AGNI are both appointed political offices. There is no process or forum to coordinate charging practice between devolved admins, only the AGUK’s whim. Can the decision to charge be judicially reviewed, as irrational and selective prosecution? How is everybody equal before the law if operationally they are not? This fundamental defect in the UK devolved powers settlement, the tension between universal and local, has simply not come up in public before.

    (4) Finally, the political question is the biggest risk of all. The reason DPPNI does not enforce the law is because the PSNI is scared of the paramilitaries, particularly loyalists, if it starts arresting people for flag flying, flag burning, effigy burning, parading in uniform etc. But in bringing charges in England against Mo Chara, a radical Republican and Irish citizen in Northern Ireland claiming the shelter of the Good Friday Agreement, the UK government has put the whole issue of soft-soaping domestic terrorists in NI into the spotlight, alongside the contradiction of their repressing artists in England.

    Mo Chara will vigorously defend the charge and his barrister Joe Brolly has won famous victories against HMG for defendants since the Troubles. Even if he loses, this case will go to appeal and to judicial review.

    Charging Mo Chara is, in my view a really stupid move which has shone a spotlight on the constitutional fraying and chaos of the UK and threatens to blow up the peace settlement in NI in order, right before marching season, all in order to pursue illusory Hezbollah terror in the UK….

    As I said, lots to chew on….

    Reply ↓
    1. Revenant

      The first part of my post, on Kneecap’s epic week, never made it through Skynet (too many links to Kneecap info probably) but my second post about the terrorism charge and how it puts a crowbar in the faultlines of the UK constitutional settlement doesn’t make sense without it.

      In brief (no links – you can find the story all over the internet), Kneecap’s diary for the week ran:

      Wednesday:
      – get charged with terrorism (allegedly held a flag)
      – appear on primetime television for one hour Arctic adventure with special forces soldier

      Thursday:
      – release new single, The Recap: three minutes of attacking Tory leader and ordering Britain out of Ireland with playground insults (“you wally!”)
      – hold pop-up concert in tiny sweatbox club that sells out 10x in 90 seconds, turn up to concert with mouth taped up in protest, get surrounded by the Met Police.

      Friday:
      – headline the largest ever gig of our careers (25,000 people) in a park in London
      – DONATE ALL OUR FEES to Médecins sans Frontières
      – hear the Black Mountain speak in support: Kneecap Abú!

      Kneecap are three working class Irish-speaking rappers fighting for anti colonialism, socialism and a good time. They’re high as kites, crude as sailors and pure as snow. And they are now on a collision course with the UK government over free speech, Northern Ireland and Gaza, when nobody else would call it out.

      Follow what they’re doing, it’s only going to get bigger. Court case on 18th June….

      Reply ↓
  29. snafu

    In today’s entertainment industry news, Trump says that US makes lots of hypersonic missiles (that Russians stole), at West Point Wrestlemania amateur hour event announcement.

    “But we’re now, we’re the designer of it. We’re now building them, and lots of them, and earlier this year, they launched it into space, setting a world record for amateur rocketry. Can’t get you in there fast enough.”
    https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-complains-stolen-hypersonic-rockets-west-point-address-2076745

    Reply ↓
  31. ChrisRUEcon

    #FarUVC

    It would appear that this (from nature.com) is the work being referenced by the tweet in Links.

    Is it just me, or is the study not referring to the irradiation of occupied/unoccupied spaces to neutralize SAR-COV2 in the air, but rather to “its use against deep-seated and internal infections, such as those affecting the lungs”. While there are some lines devoted to reminding of the effect on eyes/skin, I think excerpts like this:

    We hypothesised that catheter-delivered Far-UVC irradiation could serve as a potential alternative for treating antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in the airways.

    … would suggest that the study was really more concerned with direct treatment with Far-UVC. They also describe washing “lungs unfit for transplant” before irradiating with Far UVC. I think Far-UVC is probably not as safe as other non-pharmaceutical interventions. When Lambert roamed the halls here, he posted a few great studies on Far-UVC potentially triggering creation of various toxic radicals in the air IIRC. Nothing that good air filtration couldn’t mitigate, but Far UVC DIYers may not be so thorough. I’ll see what else I can find in recent Far UVC studies.

    Reply ↓
  32. Jason Boxman

    More of this:

    Crypto Investor Charged With Kidnapping and Torturing Man for Weeks

    The investor, 37-year-old John Woeltz, and another man abused their victim for three weeks in a Manhattan townhouse as they tried to get his Bitcoin password, prosecutors say.

    I’m still waiting for a purpose for crypto, other than scams and fraud. I’ve heard it suggested that it seems to serve as a sponge for liquidity rather than speculation in commodities futures, so I guess there’s that benefit?

    Reply ↓
      1. Jason Boxman

        Yeah, the common refrain being “you get bitcoin at the price you deserve”, so Belief in the Con is a signal of virtue and righteousness. These people are insufferable.

        Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

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