Links 5/27/2025

Patrolman helps baboons cross Simon’s Town road East Coast Radio

Traffic Fatalities Are a Choice Asterisk Mag

Street smarts: Cooper’s hawk uses pedestrian crossing signal to ambush urban prey Phys.org

Dolly Parton Runs a Train Busier Than 27 States The Transit Guy

Climate/Environment

The True Cost of Pretending Climate Change Doesn’t Exist Inside Climate News

Pandemics

WHO TAG-VE Risk Assessment On COVID VUM (Variant Under Monitoring) NB.1.8.1 Avian Flu Diary

China?

US’ 500 military personnel in Taiwan an ‘open test’ of Beijing’s red lines South China Morning Post

Peak repayment: China’s global lending Lowy Institute. “Moving from being a net provider of financing – where it lent more than it received in repayments – to a net drain, with repayments now exceeding loan disbursements.”

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding orders plunge due to US port fees Seatrade Maritime News

Iran, China launch new commercial railway bypassing US sanctions The Cradle

How the Philippines’ Domestic Drama Impacts China-US Competition The Diplomat

Syraqistan

Hamas and U.S. Reach Gaza Ceasefire “Understanding”—Israel Rejects It, U.S. Envoy Publicly Blames Hamas Drop Site

Israeli settlers storm occupied al-Quds in provocative ‘Flag March’ Al Mayadeen

Israel’s claim that ‘Hamas is stealing aid’ is patently a lie. Here’s why Jonathan Cook

Families massacred in their sleep as Israel bombs Gaza school-turned-shelter The New Arab

Video Shows Girl Trying to Escape Inferno as Gaza Family ‘Burned Alive’ in Israeli Massacre Common Dreams

“Despite disgusting descriptions of the IDF, the world still wants Israeli tech”: Lux’s Josh Wolfe on global demand for defense innovation CTech

***

No Wheat, Milk, Rice, Medicines: How the U.S. and Israel Are Starving Yemen In These Times

European Disunion

EXCLUSIVE: EU countries to slam Hungary over Pride clampdown Euractiv

Old Blighty

Car rams into Liverpool fans celebrating Premier League title in city center Anadolu Agency

Are social media posts investigated more than physical crimes? The Times

New Not-So-Cold War

A Week Long Drone Fight Which Russia Is Winning Moon of Alabama

How Russia Quietly Revolutionised Warfare Kit Klarenberg

Did the Kiev Regime/West Attempt to Assassinate Putin in a Drone Swarm in Kursk? And Russia’s “Hellfire” Retribution The Real Politick with Mark Sleboda (Video)

EU allies drop all restrictions on types of weapons available to Ukraine. Intellinews. Key segment: ‘Merz said the decision had been approved “also by the USA” but so far the Trump administration has made no major commitments to supplying Ukraine with more weapons. The US involvement is important even if it does not send fresh supplies of weapons, as the European missiles rely on US satellite systems to find their targets and need active participation by the US for their use.’

Trump Condemns Putin’s Killings in Ukraine, But Doesn’t Make Him Pay a Price New York Times

Kremlin says Trump’s reaction to latest Russian strikes on Ukraine ‘emotional overload’ Anadolu Agency

Kiev urgently seeks more Patriot missiles; US resists supply Al Mayadeen

Vice Chancellor walks back Chancellor Merz’s statements:

Expanded Production Facilitates Russia’s Massive New Missile and Drone Strikes: Output Exceeds Use Rate Despite Intensified Attacks Military Watch

***

Finland Reports Russia Has Begun Naval Escorts for Shadow Fleet Tankers Maritime Executive

Residents of the Suwalki corridor are moving out in fear of a Russian invasion — Bild Eurasia Daily

South of the Border

Venezuela: Pro-Government Alliance Wins Big in Legislative and Regional Elections Venezeulanalysis

Spook Country

The CIA Secretly Ran a Star Wars Fan Site 404 Media

U.S. SPY AGENCIES ARE GETTING A ONE-STOP SHOP TO BUY YOUR MOST SENSITIVE PERSONAL DATA The Intercept

Trump 2.0

Trump media group plans to raise $3bn to spend on cryptocurrencies FT

Trump announces full pardon for Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery The Hill

DOGE

THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDS THAT ALL GOVERNANCE IS DATA GOVERNANCE LPE Project

DOGE Has Achieved Its Final Form Wired

MAHA

Republicans’ New Vaccine Restrictions Codify a False Healthy/Unhealthy Dichotomy The Gauntlet

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Why a new anti-revenge porn law has free speech experts alarmed  Tech Crunch

Democrats en Déshabillé

Rahm Emanuel, Teasing a White House Bid, Says Democratic Brand Is Weak WSJ

Police State Watch

Beyond the Ivy League, International Students at Rural Colleges Are Being Detained by ICE Barn Raiser

ICE agents assault and detain US citizen in Alabama WSWS

AI

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry The Verge

Inside Google’s plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday Los Angeles Times

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Newark airport crisis is about to become everyone’s problem The Verge

The End Of America As The Essential Consumer Nation Ian Welsh

Destined for failure – Turning Back the Clock Isn’t a Strategy Warwick Powell’s Substack

“The Quiet American” Has Never Been More Relevant Matt Taibbi, Racket News

Guillotine Watch

Obscene Wealth ZZ’s Blog

Class Warfare

Millions of Americans hit with bad credit after missed student loan payments WaPo

At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work New York Times

Short Staffing  Dollars & Sense. “Deliberately hiring too few people—always one of employers’ favorite methods of work intensification—is reaching new extremes.”

Remembering John Young, co-founder of web archive Cryptome The Register

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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76 comments

  1. Colonel Smithers

    Thank you, Conor.

    Further to the Ukraine links, a couple of observations from yesterday and today:

    Yesterday lunchtime and evening BBC Radio 4’s World At One and PM interviewed the Sunday Times’ Tony Lloyd and the Economist’s Shashank Joshi, the latter ex Royal United Services Institute. Both were desperate to big up Ukraine’s efforts, but eventually conceded that Russia has the upper hand, including in in production and force generation and rotation, and could overwhelm the overstretched and exhausted Ukrainian forces, but did not give a timescale. The former also conceded, for the first time, that Ukraine has emptied its prisons, except for multiple murderers. Lloyd added that “Ukrainian officers like having convicted killers as they are fearless”.

    Overnight the BBC World Service and this morning’s breakfast news had nothing about Ukraine.

    Funny guy that Joshi. He used to talk tough and get off on tide turning wonder weapons. My relatives who fought for God, King / Queen and Country are / were not like that. Mmm.

    Reply
  2. The Rev Kev

    “Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry”

    Sounds like a plan to me. What else should you do with an industry whose business plan is to steal everybody’s work, while ignoring the copyright laws, so that they can churn out their own AI-generated slosh to put all those musicians, writers, designers, and journalists out of work. That is the definition of not only a pirate but a parasite as well.

    Reply
    1. vao

      The traditionsl definition of a firm is an organization that combines capital, labor, and consumable resources efficiently to produce goods and services that it can sell on the market leaving a profit after paying for all the inputs.

      Apparently, AI cannot be profitable when paying for the resources it consumes, i.e. all the images, text, videos, sounds for training models. It is therefore a sector that makes no economic sense as a private endeavour according to that definition.

      More generally, AI illustrates how a decades-long trend is now reaching insane extremes. After all, retail does not pay a living wage to its workforce (Walmart employees having to resort to food stamps to make ends meet); outfits like Lyft and Uber demonstrably do not pay enough for the drivers to have a living wage and cover the depreciation of their cars (and even then, they make enormous losses); industrial firms increasingly do not set up a new factory unless they get a free plot, free water, discounted electricity, and a tax holiday; and the cases where people get to work without a wage (instead getting “exposure”) or even have first to pay in order to work (I remember that at Ryanair, pilots had to pay just to postulate for a job).

      Let us not even talk about externalities such as pollution or untrammeled exploitation of natural resources.

      If all those for-profit firms can only survive by not paying the inputs they use (labour, capital, and others), then what does it tell us about their economic justification — and about the relevance of a growing part of the current private economic system?

      Reply
      1. Stephen V

        Vao, what you describe also comes under the heading of the monopolization of the US economy. Such firms would not exist except for 40 years of lack of anti-trust enforcement. See Matt Stoller. I cannot put my hands on a concise link.
        With “shareholder value ” replacing true profit, we now have personality cuts buoyed by nothing more than hot air. Witness Elon Mush.

        Reply
        1. Stillfeelinthebern

          1000% agree with both of you. Additionally, AI needs an insane amount of energy for their data centers. No questioning/policy discussion of how that is bad for our environment or monitoring to ensure that residential customers do not end us paying for these commercial customers.

          Reply
          1. John Steinbach

            Actually, to the contrary about residential customers footing the bill for Data Center energy gluttons, the legislation governing who pays for electricity goes back to the Great depression and the REA. The idea was that it made no economic sense to extend electricity to isolated rural communities because of cost/benefit calculations. The deal reached was that everyone would share higher electricity costs so that electricity access would become nearly universal.

            Today, the Data Center industry has turned the intent of these laws on their head to force residential electricity users to foot the bill for infrastructure costs of DC specific electricity needs. This is especially true in Northern Virginia where I live. Dominion Power has announced a 37% hike in residential rates over the next 5 years primarily due the DC infrastructure needs,

            Reply
    2. Adam1

      And definitely a parasitic relationship because so called AI is dependent on outside non-AI generated information to grow its capabilities. Training AI on AI sources is known to cause degradation in it ability to accurately generate results.

      Reply
    3. lyman alpha blob

      Copyright laws seem to be similar to ticket scalping. If you make a little money “borrowing” some intellectual property or reselling a ticket for profit outside a stadium, you risk fines or jail. If you scrape up all the IP or buy up all the tix to resell online, and you stand to make billions, well then your not a thief but an “entrepreneur” and a USian hero.

      Reply
      1. lyman alpha blob

        Adding, by Clegg’s logic, apparently I no longer need to ask permission before driving off with his presumably expensive automobile and reselling it for my own personal profit. Used car sales has been an industry far longer than AI. Maybe he has some Cambridge pals who would also like to donate to my cause.

        Reply
      2. jsn

        Loot locally and you’re a pirate or a thief.

        Loot globally and you’re an emperor.

        In the space between (Whitey Bulger, Operation Gladio, universal surveillance), to the extent you serve the emperor, you’re okay if you survive the risks you take personally. This is the gray zone where the Mob and Silicon Valley serve imperial interests and mint fortunes and has been integral to the Anglo American Imperial Project since Elizabeth I.

        Reply
      3. Jason Boxman

        If you harm enough people, it’s just capitalism, no worries. Lesson, if you’re going to commit a crime, go big!

        Reply
  3. The Rev Kev

    “Hamas and U.S. Reach Gaza Ceasefire “Understanding”—Israel Rejects It, U.S. Envoy Publicly Blames Hamas”

    Rule # 1 – It is always the fault of Hamas.

    Rule # 2 – If in doubt, see Rule # 1.

    Shouldn’t be surprised. Hamas is trying to negotiate with both the US and Israel who are both agreement-incapable. And Witkoff comes off as a back-stabbing scum bag who says one thing to your face but will renege on any agreement in public. He has been doing the same with Iran too and is not to be trusted. It’s too bad that China or Russia cannot be brought in to do the negotiations but when you get down to it, neither of those countries are supplying Israel with all those bombs for their genocide.

    Reply
    1. Kouros

      Somebody should secretly record/film Witkoff when makes this promises and release them to the world.

      Reply
  4. The Rev Kev

    ‘Will Schryver
    @imetatronink
    🔥 Patriot Death Spasm
    This is from the Russian attack on Kiev that Trump is whining about.
    At first, several individual Patriot PAC-3 missiles are fired into the sky — with no discernible effect.
    Then one of the launchers blows its entire wad, and moments later is blasted.’

    They baited them. I think that the Russians baited them. They provided enough targets for those Patriot batteries to shoot off their missiles like crazy. And probably there were drones out of range identifying where they were and feeding the coordinates to incoming missiles. It looks like they hit them hard enough to take out the launchers, the control station and the radar systems. One billion dollars later.

    Reply
    1. Unironic Pangloss

      no hope for the human race as people can’t comprehend recording events in widescreen. lol

      flip those phones 90 degrees people, if you are a witness to spectacle…eapecially if that spectacle takes place across your entire field of vision

      Reply
    2. Socal Rhino

      Martyanov’s take: An incoming Iskander is still hypersonic as it approaches the target. The Patriot operators detect a very fast incoming object, attempt to intercept it, and then launch everything in desperation before being hit.

      In his view, US air defenses are at least two generations behind the curve and offer effectively no defense to modern weapons. They can not defend themselves.

      Reply
    3. JohnnySacks

      Long overdue the realization that the Patriot defense system is nothing more than an RTX taxpayer welfare queen money stream that produces nothing more than paper umbrellas. I guess it’s somewhat better than nothing, but that’s not saying much when facing the reality of the bombs that make it through.

      Reply
    4. raspberry jam

      the patriot volleys are so slow compared to the iskanders, how can anyone who sees that think they are anything but outdated tech

      Reply
    5. skippy

      Always a good plan to shoot – all – your ammo [full auto/empty clip] then be completely defenseless e.g. 1B in equip and trained operators are sitting ducks.

      I think the thing missing here is the lack of acknowledgement about a much more important aspect than a few weapons deployed. Shades of the noise over the Pak/India experience, planes/missiles and kill ratios.

      The huge implication is who Mfg/supplied/trained everything that supports the ***Kill Chain*** its the thing some in the West don’t want to publicly talk about. Its the Kill Chain that is the monster under the bed as it questions the Western PR/Marketing about military dominance.

      Reply
  5. Wukchumni

    You never give me your money
    You only give me your funny crypto coins
    And in the middle of tariff negotiations
    You break down

    I never give you much consideration
    I only wonder about the situation
    And in the middle of investigation
    Things break down

    Out of college, loans spent
    See no future, pay high rent
    All the money’s gone, nowhere to go
    Any Federal employee got the sack
    Monday morning quarterback
    Job market slow, nowhere to go
    But oh, that tragic feeling, nowhere to go
    Oh, that tragic feeling
    Nowhere to go

    Our sweet DOGE dream
    Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
    Soon we’ll be away from here
    Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
    One sweet dream came true today
    Came true today
    Came true today (yes it did)

    One two three four five six seven eight
    Nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen
    All good Elon children go to Heaven

    Ahhhh
    Here comes the Sum King
    Here comes the Sum King
    Everybody’s laughing
    Everybody’s happy
    Here come the Sum King
    Quando para mucho moolah mi amore de felice corazon
    Mundo paparazzi mi amore chica ferdi parasol
    Questo obrigado tanta mucho que can eat it carousel

    Mean Mister Musk works in the dark
    Shaves jobs in the National Parks trying to save paper
    Sleeps in a Cybertruck off the road
    Saving up to have some more kids
    Keeps the economy on the skids
    Such a mean old man
    Such a mean old man

    Attorney General Pam works in the Trump shop
    She never stops, she’s a go-getter
    Takes him out to look at the Qatari plane op
    Only gift horse in the mouth that has ever been
    Always shouts out something obscene
    Such a dirty old man
    Dirty old man

    Well, you should see AG Pam
    She’s so good-looking but she looks like a bottle blonde hag
    Well, you should see her in a fake tan, that’s her bag
    Yes, you should see AG Pam
    Yeah, yeah, yeah

    Get a dose of her in crucifix and silk
    She’s killer-diller when she took plastic surgery to the hilt
    She’s the kind of a girl that makes the “News of the World”
    Yes, you could say she was attractively built
    Yeah, yeah, yeah

    She came in through the administration window
    Protected by a silver spoon
    But now she sucks her thumb and wonders
    By the banks of her own lagoon

    Didn’t anybody tell her?
    Didn’t anybody see?
    Rubio’s on the road to ruin
    Floridians on the make to me

    She said she’d always been an attorney
    She worked on his first impeachment trial back in the day
    And though she thought she knew the answer
    Well, I knew what she could not say

    And so after Gaetz quit the politics department
    And got himself a steady job
    And though she tried her best to help him
    He could steal kisses, but he could not rob

    Didn’t anybody tell her?
    Didn’t anybody see?
    Donald’s on the phone to Stephen Miller
    Kristi is on the phone too you see, oh yeah

    Once, there was a way
    To get back homeward
    Once, there was a way
    To get back home
    Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
    And I will sing a lullaby

    Golden bumblers fill your eyes
    Smiles lie to you, to get a rise
    Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
    And I will sing a lullaby

    Once, there was a way
    To get back homeward
    Once, there was a way
    To get back home
    Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
    And I will sing a lullaby

    Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight,
    Carry that weight a long time
    Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight
    Carry that weight a long time

    I never give you much consideration
    I only send you my lyrical vocation
    And in the middle of mock celebration
    I break down

    Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight
    Carry that weight a long time
    Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight
    Carry that weight a long time

    Oh yeah, all right
    Are you going to be in my nightmares
    Tonight?

    And in the end
    The power you take
    Is equal to the loss
    You make

    ICE Barbie is a pretty nice girl
    But she doesn’t have a lot to say
    ICE Barbie is a pretty nice girl
    But she changes wardrobes throughout the day

    I wanna tell her that I loathe her a lot
    But I gotta get a belly full of whine
    ICE Barbie is a pretty nice girl
    Someday she’s gonna make it as a mime, oh yeah
    Someday she’s gonna make it as a mime

    Medley from Abbey Road, by the Beatles

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

    Reply
    1. Old Jake

      Nice. Makes me want to review the original, looking for snark I might have missed due to youthful ignorance.

      Reply
  6. Carolinian

    Thanks for putting up so many links today. Had already seen the Kit Klarenberg which is definitely worth a look.

    Reply
  7. PlutoniumKun

    Peak repayment: China’s global lending Lowy Institute. “Moving from being a net provider of financing – where it lent more than it received in repayments – to a net drain, with repayments now exceeding loan disbursements.”

    Hard to overstate how important this is. Chinese loans have been very important for many developing countries over the past 2 decades. There seems to be a deliberate policy in Beijing to reduce external loans in favour of focusing on domestic investment. It couldn’t happen at a worse time for many of those countries. We can expect to see a lot of defaults – a very large proportion of those investments are almost certainly not generating sufficient returns. This is where we find out what was in the fine print of those loans.

    Reply
    1. ex-PFC Chuck

      Perhaps China is beginning to play a long game here. If a global South country faces default on loans from western banks, Beijing could offer its support If the borrower refuses to accept the IMF’s terms for resolution, and instead repudiates the repayment obligation. Two or three countries doing this could start a movement that spreads like wildfire, leading to havoc in western financial institutions.

      Reply
      1. Polar Socialist

        China is playing the long game here. According to the World Bank (not some Sinophobic think tank) about 60% of Chinese loans to foreign countries are already People’s Bank of China’s bilateral credit swaps for countries having difficulties serving their loans, a.k.a. “rescue lending”.

        For some years now China has been more involved in saving Global South nations than investing in new projects. Even if some of the loans are zero-interest, the all-mighty dollar has wrecked many a national economies lately. So, China has had to change strategy to keep these countries a) from defaulting and b) in bilateral dollar-free trade.

        Reply
      2. PlutoniumKun

        The primary creditor is now China, not Western countries or banks. It’s Chinese loans that are at greatest risk of default.

        Reply
        1. skippy

          Yet unlike the West after the WW China has no dramas with memory holing debt that cannot be payed – administered Jubilee. Second its not a equity market driven economy, see India/US/UK.

          Reply
  8. The Rev Kev

    “EXCLUSIVE: EU countries to slam Hungary over Pride clampdown”

    From what I can tell from the story, they are not cracking down on the country’s LGBTQ community but only on them having Pride parades which is not the same. But this over-reaction may be related more with Hungary not buckling down to demands that they give Zelensky money and weapons. In addition, Hungary has indicated that they will not vote later this year on the continued holding of Russia’s $300 billion but to let it go. As so many different “loans” have been made based on the interest from that money as acting as collateral, all those EU countries would then be on the hook for that money. This may be Hungary’s way to tell the EU to back off and to give them the money owed to then and to cut out the continuous fines for not allowing masses of refugees into their country. Then they may vote yes instead.

    Reply
    1. Lazar

      It’s related to cracking down on NGOs and foreign meddling in internal matters of the country, which does fall into ‘Hungary’s “serious” breaches of EU values’.

      Reply
    2. Bazarov

      Not being allowed to freely gather is oppression and an abridgment of democratic rights, made all the more obvious when a particular group is singled out. It’d be absurd to say: “They are not cracking down on the Christians, only forbidding them to gather at church” or “They are not cracking down on the communists, only not allowing them to march against the government.”

      Very clearly, Hungary–like Putin’s administration in Russia–is running a red-state-style reactionary strategy to increase social tensions and benefit from the wedge. Russia’s also regressing toward the creaky old orthodox church to brand Russia as some mystical-spiritual-woo-woo civilization, this despite the fact that regular church-goership in Russia is not very high last I checked (the region’s real mystical civilization is Romania). Having moved on from gays and lesbians, the same strategy of tension in the cultural sphere is being dusted off for trans issues in the United States.

      Eventually–like with gays and lesbians–trans people in the United States will become such a locus of capital accumulation that this strengthening bourgeois faction, wishing to expand their lucrative market, will successfully break the bourgeois consensus around this strategy of tension. Suddenly Americans will scratch their heads when you bring up the trans controversy as they strain to remember what all the fuss was about.

      At least, for trans-people’s sake, that’s what I hope will happen, here and for LGBTQ people in Russia and Hungary. The other course is toward increasing repression, in othering so intense as to widen the social basis for barbaric persecution.

      Reply
      1. Bugs

        Thank you for saying this. One can hate the imperialist Western proxy war on Russia and at the same time be very much opposed to the antihumanist politics of the European far right and United Russia.

        Reply
  9. Carolinian

    Re Dollywood and those Dollywood trains–have never been but NC has an even older steam train attraction and I believe the steam train from Durango, Colorado to Silverton still runs.

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

    The NC mtns had a tradition of narrow gauge railroads to haul away the trees so not an entirely sunny tradition. Evemtually this was stopped in the large tract that became Great Smoky Mtns National Park. Perhaps in part because of Dollywood this is now the country’s most visited Nat. Park. The trees survived but these days the tourists can seem almost as numerous.

    Reply
    1. The Rev Kev

      I found the question that he posed to be significant-

      “What does it say about the state of our country’s infrastructure when the most ridden train in a $432.2B economy is DollyWood’s heritage steam train?”

      But damn, after reading that article I want to ride it myself.

      Reply
      1. Carolinian

        I’ve seen but not ridden the one in Durango. Impressive. Apparently it takes a huge effort to keep these things running. There used to be one to take tourists up to the Grand Canyon but they’ve now switched to diesel.

        Reply
        1. Wukchumni

          p.s.

          It’s all going according to Bizarro World USSR/USA collapse plan, ,rades.

          When the Soviet Union collapsed, they had excellent public transport and little in the way of personal cars, we did it the other way around.

          Reply
          1. PlutoniumKun

            When there were political battles in France in the early 1970’s over a new payroll tax funding the Paris Metro, the Socialists were the strongest advocates for public transport, the Communists the most vociferous advocates for not adopting the new tax, and instead spending on highways around and through Paris. De Gaulle sided with the socialists on this.

            Reply
    2. CanCyn

      Agree about the posed question in the article but I have another question…where does the coal come from? I can’t find an article but it is my understanding that Dollywood pays a decent wage and that Dolly herself feels some ethical concern for the workforce. Does that extend to coal extraction and shipping? Not assigning anyone work here – just wondering aloud. I did a quick search and didn’t find anything useful about where the coal comes from or how it gets there.

      Reply
      1. PlutoniumKun

        Most likely the engine burns anthracite, as anything else would leave the passengers with a nice layer of dirt and grime. So far as i’m aware, the only remaining anthracite mines in the US are in the Pennsylvania northeast.

        Reply
        1. dave

          I rode that train last summer at Dollywood.

          It is grimy and everyone ends up with a sprinkling of coal dust and tiny pebbles of coal all over them.

          Reply
        2. amfortas the hippie

          yeah, thats where my good blacksmithing coal came from.
          but usually, i can only get the dirty texas bitumenous, from somewhere the other side of austin.
          pita to coke.
          anthracite came already coked.
          …and thats the extent of my coal knowledge,lol.

          last few heats we did(not often since beginning of cancertime), we used hickory charcoal to decent effect…but it took a lot more forced air…and it was small knives we were messing with.

          Reply
    3. upstater

      IMHO, the West Virginia Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is the best heritage railroad of them all. It is a restored logging railroad with geared steam locomotives, a “company town” and beautiful scenery. It is NOT theme park. Cumbres and Toltec in NM & CO is another outstanding heritage operation.

      Having said all that passenger rail (long distance, intercity and commuter) and public transit seem to be in terminal decline in the US. Massive capital spending and operating subsidies from governments are not forthcoming. Automobiles facilitate sprawl, big box retail and fuel the FIRE sector; it wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

      Reply
    4. griffen

      All this time I had thought the Dollywood location there had come into fruition after the former amusement park had closed in the middle 80s. The park had been Silver Dollar City. Meh not that it really matters all that much in retrospect.

      Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg, welcome to tourist trap hell in these summer months…\sarc

      Reply
  10. lyman alpha blob

    RE: Traffic Fatalities Are a Choice

    I agree with the premise, but I find it very hard to believe that US traffic fatalities are double what they are in Greece. I’ve spent most of my time in Greece on Crete though, where they operate a little differently than the rest of the country. Mainland Greeks seem to consider Cretans a little on the wild side, and friends on Crete have told me all those yellow and white lines on the road are merely suggestions. There are also an abundance of makeshift roadside shrines, indicating those suggestions should have been followed a little more closely.

    Reply
    1. Unironic Pangloss

      Problem is density (lack thereof) and speed.

      relatively uncrowded roads = higher pre-crash velocities = much, much higher kinetic energy. then throw in alcohol use, distracted driving, huge disparity between semis and passenger vehicles and large passenger vehicles (body on frame SUV) and small passenger cars as the gravy.

      If I lived in rural, exurban roads…I too would surround myself with as much steel as I could afford as well (preferably with a modestly higher center of gravity)

      Reply
      1. amfortas the hippie

        yeah. if you drive at night around here, a grillguard is a must.
        deer are the number one road hazard in this county…followed closely by asleep/drunk drivers in one car rollovers.

        Reply
  11. The Rev Kev

    “Inside Google’s plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday”

    If Google rally believed in AI, then why don’t they fire actors like Michael Keaton and just have an AI generate the whole thing from start to finish. The actors, the voices, the sets – everything. It is after all the final aim of AI isn’t it? To just “create” content upon demand. Nothing to worry about, right?

    Reply
  12. Wukchumni

    My buddy who runs sightseeing tours in Sequoia NP related that he has had 18 black bear sightings in the past month, which is a ton and he’s been doing tours for 25 years now, so has a great baseline to work from, and this is a big number, including a few repeats, i’m sure.

    Last year was my weakest ever for bear encounters which typically come on the road, a grand total of 2.

    My friend’s numbers weren’t great either, in the low 20’s for the summer and fall in 2024, and being on the Generals Highway 5 days a week for a 5 hour tour-a 5 hour tour, he’s got vastly more opportunities.

    Reply
    1. vao

      Does it mean that the bears are particularly hungry this year and are more conspicuous because they are taking more risks to try to find food?

      Or has the last brood been very numerous, and therefore many more bears are roaming around trying to find a territory?

      Reply
      1. Wukchumni

        2022-23 was the winter of record in the Southern Sierra for the past 125 years, passing the previous holder of 1968-69.

        I was out on a backpack trip on the High Sierra Trail in the summer of 2023 and Mother Nature was exploding in front of my very eyes, with 4 to 5 foot tall Elderberry bush-trees that sprang up all of the sudden and wildflowers up the wazoo!

        You’d think such as everything else, the bruins would be in their dens with Barry White playing as they were getting it on, after all they’d got the signal that abundance was upon them once again…

        Reply
  13. Carolinian

    Re the Google/H’wood AI PR push–next they can do self driving cars. They could call it Cars but that’s been taken.

    Reply
  14. Glen

    Re: Finland Reports Russia Has Begun Naval Escorts for Shadow Fleet Tankers

    Hmm, at some point, just for clarity, can the MSM start saying “Russian Tankers”? So that we all have a clear understanding that we’re harassing or attacking ships of a nuclear armed foreign nation?

    Because judging by the photo in the article, it’s being escorted by a Russian guided missile corvette:

    Steregushchiy-class corvette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steregushchiy-class_corvette

    And I think by that point the MSM can figure out whose ship it is, and more accurately report just what and who is being threatened, and what the possible outcome will be.

    Reply
    1. The Rev Kev

      ‘Finland Reports Russia Has Begun Naval Escorts for Shadow Fleet Tankers’

      Finland: ‘Wait, can they do that?’

      Reply
    2. duckies

      Finnish Navy reports that the Baltic Sea water is wet, while Finnish scientists added that Newton must have been onto something when he wrote about action and reaction.

      Reply
    3. Polar Socialist

      Usually these are not Russian tankers, but Liberian, Bahamian or Panamian tankers that are insured in Russia, China or India. Not doing anything illegal, just avoiding Lloyd’s due to the G7 anti-market shenanigans.

      Reply
    1. ilpalazzo

      Star Wars turned out to be the quintessential metaphor of the US in that the Rebels – the Alliance and the Evil Empire are actually the same guys.

      Reply
    2. hk

      Well, they were put in power by a color revolution against an authoritarian theocracy basicallt run by unelected clerics (Jedi, they were called, I think), right?

      Reply
  15. Tom Stone

    The behavior of both the USA and The EU toward Russia is objectively insane.
    It ignores reality and it harms the “Citizens” of these Countries while only providing a benefit to a tiny slice of their populations at the risk of WW3 and the end of all life on earth.

    Reply
    1. Unironic Pangloss

      a reasonable hypothesis, based in good documentation, is that the US acquired its rabid insitutional hatred of Russia/USSR following the OSS-CIA assimilation of ex-NatSoc German intel operations in Occupied Germany, see the Gehlen Organization.

      16 min. video essay, summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXu1b_mUs-A

      Reply
      1. Jabura Basadai

        the US animosity toward Russia goes back to even before the revolution – in “The Imperial Cruise” by James Bradley, when Teddy Roosevelt was secretly creating treaties and alliances without Congress, he assigned as ‘Honorary Aryans’ the Japanese people and had this to say about Russians -“Roosevelt loathed the Slav: “No human beings,” he declared, black, yellow or white could be quite as untruthful, as insincere, as arrogant–in short, as untrustworthy in every way–as the Russians.” – through the use of the press echoing the sentiment and in clandestinely instigating the Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt succeeded in cleverly suggesting and silently supporting a ‘Japanese Monroe Doctrine’ for reasons mentioned in the book – which would all come back to haunt and lay the groundwork for WWII in the Pacific – the loss to Japan by the Russians was one of instigating components that provided fertile ground for the revolution in Russia that overthrew the Czar –

        Reply
  16. Anonted

    “… Israel and Ukraine are deeply and inextricably linked with each other. Ukraine is the source of the Zionist beliefs that drive Israeli imperialism. In many ways, they are a united ideological, political, theological, and militaristic force, with connections of blood and ambition going back centuries.” Ukraine and Israel — A United Force? – ukcolumn.org

    Very interesting, and seemingly informed historical discussion that attempts to explain why many influential Jews appear to get along with Nazis; a phenomenon which, of course, reinforces the idea there are no Nazis. Ever the contrarian, I had once assumed Zelensky was Christian, but was perplexed to discover his heritage. This discussion illuminates that paradox in some interesting ways, and exposes these imperial conflicts as sister wars, in foundation and substance. I’d observed the relationships in passing, with breadcrumbs from Links over the years, but never seen it expressed in such a concise and coherent thesis. Enjoy.

    Reply
  17. heresey101

    Acts of King Trump to eliminate the costs of climate change costs described in The True Cost of Pretending Climate Change Doesn’t Exist, are detailed in:
    https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/27/epa-administrator-wants-to-destroy-climate-change-religion/

    “Here is a list of the wondrous things the EPA has in mind:
    Reconsideration of regulations on power plants
    Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry
    Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants
    Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply
    Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources
    Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for oil and gas development to help unleash American energy
    Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Administration Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe

    Here is the list of items the EPA says will lower cost of living for Americans:

    Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate
    Reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and regulations and actions that rely on that Finding
    Reconsideration of technology transition rule that forces companies to use certain technologies that increased costs on food at grocery stores and semiconductor manufacturing
    Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses
    Reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for American energy and manufacturing sectors
    Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families
    Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission to relieve the economy of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that drive up costs for American consumers
    Terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and DEI arms of the agency”

    Reply
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      As a way of follow-up, here’s a recent study done by the UK’s University of Exeter and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries that found that:

      [O]n its current trajectory, the planet is ‘highly likely’ to experience temperature increases of 2°C by 2050, with a possible 25% loss of global GDP and over 1 billion people needing humanitarian aid.

      The team predicted a 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090 without immediate policy action in their recently published Planetary Solvency report.

      Link to Appendix of report showing range of outcomes

      Degrowth is coming with enormous challenges that cannot be met without drastic changes in governing, political economy and cultural values. Will we try to meet these challenges, or will we let the Oligarchs drive us all the way over the cliff?

      Reply
  18. Alice X

    DN today, this may have been noted previously but let us not forget:

    Israel Bombs Home of Gaza Pediatrician, Killing 9 of Her 10 Kids, in Latest Attack on Health Workers

    Pediatric physician Dr. Alaa al-Najjar had just begun work in the emergency room at Nasser Medical Complex when she was suddenly called to return to her home in Khan Younis. When she arrived, emergency workers were pulling the charred bodies of her children from piles of rubble. An Israeli airstrike had destroyed her home, killing nine of al-Najjar’s 10 children and seriously wounding her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, and their only surviving child, Adam. Adam’s arm was amputated, and his father is currently in intensive care with severe brain damage. Democracy Now! reached Graeme Groom, a volunteer doctor from the U.K. who treated Adam al-Najjar after the attack. Dr. Groom also speaks about his Palestinian medical colleagues who have been abducted or killed by the Israeli military.…

    The Zionist Entity cannot cease to persist/exist too soon.

    Reply
  19. Jason Boxman

    From Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

    As policy makers in the UK weigh how to regulate the AI industry, Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister and former Meta executive, claimed a push for artist consent would “basically kill” the AI industry.

    Speaking at an event promoting his new book, Clegg said the creative community should have the right to opt out of having their work used to train AI models. But he claimed it wasn’t feasible to ask for consent before ingesting their work first.

    Once again illustrates our multi-tier system of justice. Not so long ago, the RIAA was trying to put grandmas in jail for using Napster and its successors. Ruining people financially, for downloading music in violation of copyrights, for individual use!

    And these past 3 years, we’ve had criminal tech CEOs and their charges hoover up the entire Internet, for commercial use, and not only is no one in jail, but we aren’t even hearing about jail time or prosecution. And there’s ample documentation of this in their own words! This isn’t the case of a whdonit, we know who the perpetrators are!

    America is not a serious country.

    Reply

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