Links 5/5/2025

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21 comments

1. Antifa May 5, 2025 at 7:00 am

   Trump Pursues His Grudge
   (melody borrowed from Sometimes When We Touch written by Dan Hill and Barry Mann in 1977)

   Our tariffs push and shove you for he set them way too high
   Your country is our colony, and a source of raw supplies
   America will mug you, you’ll forever pay us dues
   Just as long as Trump is winning, that will have to do

   Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
   We grow weary of his lies and pride
   Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
   His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die

   We will bomb your country, laying sanctions from all sides
   Insult you categorically, kill your children, and your wives
   We’re a worldwide fire lighter, we are fierce, and we’re uncouth
   We are stabbers, we are biters, and we make up our own truth

   Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
   We grow weary of his lies and pride
   Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
   His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die

   For the nation heaven gave you goes to us or the Chinese
   That’s limiting our world view, we’re possessed by jealousy
   There’s no promise we can grant you that will not be falsified
   If our threats do not enchant you, if you wonder why we lied
   Know that we are led by grifters stealing till the bitter end
   We will shout and we will whisper, and blow the pipelines of our friends

   Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
   We grow weary of his lies and pride
   Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
   His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die

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2. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 7:19 am

   “How Houthi missile pierced US-Israeli defenses and hit Tel Aviv airport, expert explains”

   Not really surprising that that missile got through. When Iran launched their retaliatory missile attack on Israel last year, most of the actual missiles got through in spite of Israel having advanced warning and the help of countries like the US, UK, Jordan, etc. People said at the time that Israel did not have so much an Iron Dome as an Iron Colander. And now most major airlines are suspending flights to Israel as it being too risky so Yemen got in a big hit here.

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3. Terry Flynn May 5, 2025 at 7:39 am

   I’d posted this re Alcatraz and who to send there pretty much as the new links went up so I think a hive mind is in action! Plus Squid Game 3 would be entirely US produced so two birds with one stone! /snark

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4. JohnA May 5, 2025 at 7:50 am

   Apropos war with Iran getting closer, British right wing media made a huge splash this morning with claims that British intelligence had foiled a terror plot by Iran against the country. Details were sketchy to say the least, but reminiscent of the hysteria about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction that could be deployed against Europe within 45 minutes.
   It seems we are being softened up to accept Iran must be destroyed a la Carthage all those years ago.
   Summer 2014 vibes continue.

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5. Patrick Donnelly May 5, 2025 at 7:54 am

   LA TIMES finds poisoned soil.

   While this is ostensibly an exposee of FEMA, the practical effect of it is to make buying up land for the Olympics, much cheaper!!!

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6. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 7:58 am

   ‘Suppressed News.
   @SuppressedNws
   Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, has been awarded the 2025 Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism
   This actually captures perfectly mainstream media and its “journalist”.’

   Never even heard of this award but when I saw a list of who had won it, was not surprised that they gave a gong to Clarissa Ward. A previous winner is Bernard-Henri Lévy and so was Bari Weiss. Liars the lot of them-

   https://lapressclub.org/socal/daniel_pearl_award/

   It’s the sort of award that if you found yourself nominated for it, then you should go home and start seriously reconsidering your life choices.

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   1. Milton May 5, 2025 at 8:16 am

      Seems like the award, if it was an authentic acclaim, should be bestowed upon the scores of journalists slaughtered by the Israelis in and around Gaza.

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7. flora May 5, 2025 at 8:17 am

   Bad Cattitude has some thoughts about the first world.

   the second world
   a tour of “you don’t wanna go there”
   – by el gato malo

   https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-second-world

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8. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 8:21 am

   “Trump wants to make Alcatraz Alcatraz again”

   Trump shooting his mouth off without putting his brain into gear first. There are reasons that Alcatraz became a tourist spot and is not still a prison. Looked up Wikipedia to confirm what I read years ago and confirmed it-

   ‘A 1959 report indicated that the facility was over three times more expensive to run than the average American prison; $10 per prisoner per day compared to $3 in most other prisons. The problem was made worse by the buildings’ structural deterioration from exposure to salt spray, which would require $5 million to fix. Major repairs began in 1958, but by 1961 engineers considered the prison a lost cause.’

   That report was from 65 years ago so you can imagine the present costs. And those old building would not be up to code and there would have to extensive work done on the plumbing, electricals, etc. and maybe the whole thing would have to be mostly rebuilt. An extra 65 years of salt spray would have not really helped things either. So now you are talking billions in present day costs. Still, it will be a good buzz for the prison industrial complex-

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

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   1. vao May 5, 2025 at 8:32 am

      “those old building would not be up to code and there would have to extensive work done on the plumbing, electricals, etc. and maybe the whole thing would have to be mostly rebuilt. An extra 65 years of salt spray would have not really helped things either. So now you are talking billions in present day costs.”

      I suspect that this is exactly how bureaucratic infighters will play the game if Trump seriously orders a renovation project for Alcatraz and does not just forget about the whole issue after causing some media hype.

      Make a perfectly thorough study (plenty of architects and consultants will be paid, a nice side-effect), then come up with a mind-boggling billion-magnitude detailed cost estimate for a construction requiring many years (perhaps after a complete demolition and a complex set up for the foundations, with additional special harbour facilities in San Francisco) — and see the whole affair being cancelled right away with everybody breathing a sigh of relief.

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   2. Red Snapper May 5, 2025 at 8:56 am

      Yea, but the brand recognition. Trump is all about the brand recognition.

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   3. Nikkikat May 5, 2025 at 9:00 am

      Since I doubt Trump plans to fix anything, I imagine he dreams about how this fits his tough man persona. All my right wing relatives would see this as a big win. Send welfare recipients out there and all the minorities they hate and you’ve got yourself a winner! FOX news has made this propaganda for years.

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9. Alice X May 5, 2025 at 8:32 am

   >Female Bonobos Assert Their Dominance Over Males by Banding Together, New Study Suggests

   Inspiring…

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10. Zephyrum May 5, 2025 at 8:37 am

    I read with interest the ChinaTalk article “America’s R&D Reckoning”, but found it unsatisfying. My older relatives were active of the golden era of American R&D, but by the time I made it out of university the shine was already diminishing.

    Living in the Silicon Valley I had a front-row seat (and occasionally some small parts on stage) as the VC ecosystem became fully financialized through the first Internet bubble and beyond. Startups transitioned from being creativity vehicles with prospects for business success, into financial vehicles with prospects for being a unicorn. Meanwhile the universities have become less tolerant of open ended research, preferring to back trendy startups with a chance of big money. Or failing that, at least things they can brag about to “improve their reputation.” It feels to me that everything that made us an R&D success historically has been left behind. All the wrong priorities; all the wrong heroes.

    The ChinaTalk article starts out with the golden era, but then jumps to the last 100 days, or perhaps the last year, to talk about what has gone wrong. I honestly don’t think our problems are new. They have been growing for a long time, to the point where much of our R&D ecosystem is really just rotten logs waiting to fall apart. Once it became all about appearances the thread was lost.

    There is more to it of course. The US was once the place that everyone wanted to live, and we got most of the best creatives from around the world to come here. Now people can’t get here, or can’t stay, even if they wanted to. And more and more realize that elsewhere may be a better bet.

    In theory all of this can be fixed, but in practice it will not be. Because you cannot achieve what you do not want. And America increasingly prefers looks over substance.

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    1. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 9:03 am

       Personally I am one of these people that believe that money spent on research always pays off in one form or another. So if somebody wanted a million dollars to find out where your lap goes to when you stand up, I would say go for it. In researching it you just might find stuff applicable to humanoid robotics for example.

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11. DJG, Reality Czar May 5, 2025 at 8:41 am

    Mary, the Mother of God, Feminists Reclaim (What Was Already There).

    Heck, with a name like Conor Gallagher, now would you be posing the question at all of the divinity of Mary, the Mother of God?

    First, I will start with the love-life stuff mentioned in the article by Emma Cieslik at Sapiens: Anybody who has been to any / many art galleries or churches in Italy has seen plenty of images of a hunky Saint Joseph. So that “eternal virgin” business seems tenuous. Looking at church history, it also seems like an add-on.

    Second, the “patriarchy” stuff gets a tad strained, too: Look at the Capitoline Trinity in Roman religion. Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Hmmm, how did those powerful women get there?

    As to the divinity of Mary, the Mother of God (and Joseph, Father of God), the Undisclosed Region, with its ancient Celtic substrate, is teeming with goddesses. Who naturally joined up. So I happen to live near the Chiesa di Gran Madre di Dio (and the rumor is that the Holy Grail is buried under the basilica). The lovely / popular basilica of the Consolata is nearby, with its many ex votos, left by people helped by Mary. And then there is the basilica of Maria Ausiliatrice — the great help — a testament to compassion.

    And when the French invaded in 1706 or so (and you can see why I am against Euro Rearm), the king made a vow to Herself if she would help out the Piedmontese — and the Chocolate City itself, then being bombarded and besieged. Italian Wiki covers the vow with some nice turns of phrase. >>

    Lo storico Felice Pastore afferma che in quella circostanza, durante una celebrazione eucaristica, il Duca e il Principe si accostarono ai sacramenti; poi venne cantata solennemente l’Ave Maris Stella. Giunti al versetto «monstra Te esse Matrem» (mostra di essere madre) Vittorio Amedeo II si prostrò ai piedi della statua (quella venerata tutt’oggi nella cappella detta del voto) e fece voto che se la Vergine Maria gli avesse fatto ottenere la vittoria, avrebbe fatto costruire, in quel luogo posto sulla cima del colle di Superga, un magnifico tempio a Lei dedicato. (Spoiler alert: Natch, Mary helped out the Undisclosed Region !!!)

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12. JMH May 5, 2025 at 9:01 am

    Where. does one look for any measure of coherence? The Don took the US, disarmed, into a so-called tariff war. I see no strategy. I see pipe dreams and bravado and bluster in ample quantity. China called his bet, he raised, China raised again. Now what? The Don wants to settle the war in Ukraine on his terms as presented by Kellogg, who it appears has learned nothing and forgotten nothing in the manner of the once upon a time Bourbons of France. Are they deaf? Has not Russia stated its position, its desires, its demands clearly and succinctly time and again? If I can hear them, surely The Don and General Kellogg and the bitter-ended neocons can do so. That is, if they choose to do so. The Don is going to meet with Mr. Putin in ten days. Let’s see what happens. The Don is restating Bibi’s maximalist position that Iran disarm and prostrate itself before Israel and the US. Of course, he is. He is carrying Israel’s water by his futile bombing of hills and valleys and cites in Yemen. But the missiles keep flying. He did fire Waltz who was either coordinating with or taking orders from Israel, or so it appears. What on earth did he think he was doing? Isn’t the job of the National Security Council the security of the United States? the national interest of the United States? Why does it seem as if the national interest of Israel is the first priority?

    To sum up, the so-called tariff war is incoherent. (It is also economic nonsense, but that is another discussion.) You cannot simply say end the war in Ukraine on your terms because you want it that way and expect it to be so. Oh, and pretending that you actually care what the government in Kiev wants does not pass the laugh test. And finally, sorrowfully, I must conclude that your policy in the Levant is Israel first despite you, The Don, being president of the United States.

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13. vao May 5, 2025 at 9:08 am

    Regarding World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says, it made me think that there are numerous countries (especially tropical ones) that make it a requirement to have specific vaccinations, duly recorded in a vaccination booklet (e.g. WHO-type), before entering the country.

    Are we going to see this practice being revived on a larger scale because the USA are incapable of putting their public health in order?

    “- I’m sorry sir, I see here you have not been vaccinated against measles and diphteria.”
    “- But, but…”
    “- Please follow me to the quarantaine area where you will wait for the next flight back to the USA”.

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14. ambrit May 5, 2025 at 9:15 am

    The fact that “The Democrats(TM)” are floating a trial balloon about running Chamelia Harris for President again in 2028 is all you need to know to conclude that this political party is well past it’s use by date.
    My money is on a True MAGA Party replacing the present iteration of The MAGA Party next cycle and for The Democrat Party to fall into third place after being crushed in 2028. Who else will arise to fill the power vacuum, I know not; maybe a revivified Know Nothing Party.
    Either way, the actual body politic in America is fast entering Third World status.
    I’ll note that the proposed return to Aristocrats and Peasants in America is not fit to run and maintain any sort of industrial civilization. It finally looks like The Confederacy rises again. A Plantocracy is the most probable outcome of the socio-economic trends in evidence in our system today.
    Now for the bad news…..

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    1. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 9:29 am

       That last bit reminded me of the old Marty Feldman weather skit-

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICE6l-5qTYE ( 41 secs)

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15. The Rev Kev May 5, 2025 at 9:22 am

    “No New Abrams Tanks For Ukraine: U.S. Blocking Australian Delivery as Performance Raises Questions”

    That article had a snippet of the truth. If those 50-odd tanks were sent to the Ukraine the Russians would turn them to ash before long under present conditions. But if the Trump regime had the idea of getting an unconditional conflict freeze, then those tanks could become the nucleus of a bigger, better equipped, more modern Ukrainian military to threaten the Russian with before too long. That’s why the US keeps on sending military equipment and intelligence still rather than halt the war for real. The US and the NATO countries are still fighting Russia to try to stop them winning and Trump has signed up for it. No longer Biden’s war but Trump’s war now.

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