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Links 5/6/2025

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Legendary Female Free-Divers Reveal Evolution in Action on South Korean Island ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

Best Westerns Of All Time Letterboxd (Bob H)

Geographic and age variations in mutational processes in colorectal cancer Nature. Paywalled, but you can read the abstract. DLG:

I read an article this morning in Fatto Quotidiano by a scientist who writes for the newspaper regularly. She’s a virologist, and normally, the news is not great. She thinks, though, that the study may be start of a major breakthrough. If it can be ascertained and replicated.

The rise of colibactin seems to have been in the last twenty or so years. Maria Rita Gismondo attributes it to a mutation in Escherichia coli, which is normal intestinal flora. Is this another disaster related to poor nutrition, climate change, excess use of antibiotics in the supply chain, and pesticides?

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Are US Doctors Ready if Measles Becomes Endemic Again? Medscape

Climate/Environment

L.A. Officials Test Residents for Lead After Fires New York Times

Southeast Asia’s climate-driven pest invasion threatens China’s food security, study finds South China Morning Post

Massive hail storm shuts down metros in Paris 9News

China?

China risks a spiral into deeper deflation as it diverts U.S.-bound exports to domestic market. CNBC. We may see real bifurcation: deflation in China, deflationary pressures in neighboring markets that greatly benefit from China’s investment funds and tourism, and will also be targets for product that would formerly have gone to the US, versus marked inflation in the US.

China Services Activity Slips, Adding Risk of Rapid Slowdown Bloomberg

Why China is in no rush to seek U.S. trade deal MarketWatch

US House passes China bills on issues from economic espionage to human rights South China Morning Post

US, China have started to speak more diplomatically of each other Asia Times (Kevin W)

India-Pakistan Row

UNSC holds closed-door talks on Indo-Pak tensions, urges restraint Business Standard

India halts Chenab River water flow to Pakistan via Baglihar Dam GeoTV

Major airlines are avoiding Pakistan’s airspace as tensions with India simmer following tourist massacre CNN

South of the Border

Noboa Victorious New Left Review (Robin K)

Africa

Explosions, huge fire in Sudanese city of Port Sudan Aljazeera

Attempted coup thwarted in Burkina Faso after nationalization of Gold industry International Affairs. Michael T: “Because the people are never allowed to own anything?”

European Disunion

Friedrich Merz fails in initial vote to become Germany’s chancellor Financial Times. Hoo boy.

Germany is dangerously close to banning the AfD Spectator

The death of the centre-right Wolfgang Munchau, Unherd

A nationalist bucks pro-EU status quo, wins big in Romania Responsible Statecraft

Change of power in Germany does not bode well Vyzglad via machine translation (Micael T)

Old Blighty

‘The worst poverty we’ve seen’: How child, two, was hospitalised with malnutrition iPaper (Kevin W)

Israel v. the Resistance

Israel plans to occupy and flatten all of Gaza if no deal by Trump’s trip Defend Democracy

Hamas says ‘no point’ to talks as Israel plans expanded Gaza offensive BBC

Israel calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand war on Gaza Aljazeera

Chuck L: “Let’s take bets on how long it will take the Zionist entity to blow it up!”

Yemen – They Defeated The Saudis, Then Biden, Now Trump Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Yemen bans US crude oil exports through Red Sea Mehr News

Turkish Jets Interfere With Israeli Warplanes Attacking Syria Antiwar.com (Kevin W)

New Not-So-Cold War

Portrait of the Joker as a young man: Zelensky 1978-1998 Events in Ukraine

NATO Struggles to Keep Up as Drone Warfare Gets Gamified Simplicius

UK reportedly starts to secretly prepare for Russia’s attack and updates its defence plan Ukrainska Pravda

War In Ukraine – The Mineral Deal Pulls Trump Back In Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). From the weekend, but confirms our thesis about the agreement.

Trump’s Delusional Deal with Ukraine, Nuclear Talks with Iran Back on the Agenda Larry Johnson

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Keep It Private Comment (Robin K)

Imperial Collapse Watch

No Revolution without Counter-Revolution Peter Turchin (albrt)

Newark air traffic controllers briefly lost contact with planes, union says BBC (Kevin W)

Widespread delays at US airport caused by air traffic controllers taking leave for trauma Anadolu Agency

Trump 2.0

Donald Jr. and Eric Trump Pursue New Deals That Would Enrich President Trump New York Times. resilc: “USA USA is a stupid country run by the criminal class.”

Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed Guardian (Kevin W)

No Feedback Brian Romanchuk. Important.

Bessent to Milken conference: Trump will make America ‘more appealing for investors like you’ CNBC (Kevin W)

Hegseth orders Pentagon to slash top ranks of military Politico (Kevin W)

Alastair Crooke: Trump Can’t Seem to Make a Deal. Judge Napolitano, YouTube. Except the grifting sort, per above.

Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland Guardian

The Absurd Greenland Obsession Won’t Die Daniel Larison

“A Fool’s Errand’: The Fatal Flaw Behind a U.S. Manufacturing Revival SupplyChainBrain. Chuck L: “You would think that someone from the Cato Institute would be doing all they could to plaster the maquillage on our porcine president. But no.”

Trump Administration Asks Court to Dismiss Abortion Pill Case New York Times. Subhead: “The request echoes the position the Biden administration took in the case in January, surprising some observers.”

Tariffs

Recall yesterday per Conor’s links that Japan said that the US had to drop tariffs before there are negotiations, which is China’s position. Now this:

Global Factories Struggle to Overcome Trump Tariffs, Uncertainty Bloomberg

US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada’s Furious Boycott Bloomberg. resilc: “Vermont hurting too.”

LA’s bustling ports hit by Trump tariffs: ‘Everyone in the US will feel this’ Guardian (Kevin W)

Republicans grow antsy after Trump comments on tariffs, recession The Hill

DOGE

A DOGE Recruiter Is Staffing a Project to Deploy AI Agents Across the US Government Wired (Robin K)

Three-quarters of Americans oppose Medicaid cuts, poll shows Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)

Republicans eye ‘per capita caps’ in Medicaid savings search The Hill

Immigration

Trump admin live updates: DHS to pay immigrants in US illegally $1K to self deport ABC

Democrat Death Wish

Kamala Harris hit with backlash as she attends $75,000-a-ticket Met Gala… and skips red carpet to try to avoid attention Daily Mail (Li)

Police State Watch

How community activists, police and residents drove down shootings in East Harlem Gothamist

Our No Longer Free Press

Growing authoritarianism in Europe is destroying media freedom Vijesti

Brendan Carr Is Turning the FCC Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine Wired (Robin K)

Bill that would punish Americans boycotting Israel pulled from US Congress Middle East Eye. For background, see Should Sharing Information About Israeli Businesses Get You 20 Years in Prison? Reason (Kevin W)

BadBanki: Censorship through Frozen Assets in Iceland UKColumn (Chuck L)

AI

A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse New York Times (Jason Boxman)

Guillotine Watch

Bayer is pushing to revive Iowa bill limiting failure-to-warn claims Des Moines Register (Robin K)

Class Warfare

New tax cuts mostly favor the rich across states this year Kansas Reflector (Robin K)

Antidote du jour. From a reader who has just become an expat in Paris, showing off his new life (preceded by pictures of cafes and boulevards):

And a bonus (Robin K):

A second bonus:

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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169 comments

  1. Antifa

    My World
    (melody borrowed from My Girl written by Ronald White and William Robinson Jr. in 1965, and performed by The Temptations)

    (Donald Trump has suffered from narcissistic personality disorder since he was a boy in his parent’s house. In his mind, the whole world must come to him, obey him, worship him or be subject to his vengeance. He has told us plainly, “I rule this country, and I rule this world.”)

    There’s no red line  I won’t bend or break
    When you’re terrified  I’ll drive in the stake
    My deal’s opaque  you must give or I will take
    My World, My World, (My World)
    Lockin’ down My World
    (My World)

    Gimme folding money  and regularly
    I’m sayin’ right or wrong  I will collect my fees
    Well, tough shit, you pay  or you’ll have a real bad day
    My World, My World, (My World)
    Lockin’ down My World
    (My World)

    Ooh hoo
    Hey hey hey
    Hey hey hey
    ooh yeah

    I’ve got Elon’s money  and that Vegas dame
    I’ve got MAGA bitches, baby  and they’re insane
    Well, tough shit, you pay  or you’ll have a real bad day
    My World, My World, (My World)
    Lockin’ down My World
    (My World)

    (Lockin’ down My World)
    There’s no red line I won’t bend or break (My World)
    I’m here to grab what I can take (My World)
    Lockin’ down, lockin’ down, lockin’ down My World . . .

  2. The Rev Kev

    ‘Chuck L: “Let’s take bets on how long it will take the Zionist entity to blow it up!”’

    Hah! Had the same exact thought, Chuck L. It is their nature

    1. ciroc

      The Pope had outsmarted the Zionists. He found the best way to have the Israelis themselves prove to the 1.4 billion Catholics that Israel is a totally insane country.

    2. Lefty Godot

      Every day I pause to think, “What would ______ do about ______ if it was Israel?” Like, if the ummah were Israel, wouldn’t big red targets be painted on the backs of Abbas, Abdullah, and al-Sisi? With rapid further consequences for those three? But in reality no other entity acts with the same impunity, destructiveness, and complete lack of honor. Although I will admit the US tries really hard.

  3. SocalJimObjects

    Surprised that the following did not make the cut, but US oil output has peaked according to shale giant Diamondback.

    “Today, geologic headwinds outweigh the tailwinds provided by improvements in technology and operational efficiency,” said Stice, who will step down as CEO at the company’s annual shareholder meeting later this month.

    Modernity will soon embark on a long slide down to something much simpler. Goodbye AI + Cryptocurrencies, we’ve never known you?

    1. PlutoniumKun

      Conventional oil production in the US has been in steady decline since the 1970’s, but shale (tight) oil of course reversed things very rapidly.

      The big problem with assessing shale impacts is that due to commercial secrecy, its very hard to know when the peak will arrive. Going back a decade or more plenty of knowledgeable observers were convinced the peak was very soon, but the fracking industry has been highly efficient at increasing its ability to squeeze out every last drop from even quite unpromising shales, which has both increased output and significantly decreased the break even price point. But this process can’t go on forever – eventually the physical limits are reached. Add to this what looks like an unpromising future for oil prices (unless there is another war somewhere with lots of crude) and its unsurprising that the industry is getting increasingly pessimistic. If there is a widespread perception that the limits are reached, the drop off in production could potentially be very rapid as shale plays require a constant input of capital and energy to keep pumping. If physical limits hit a low oil price, the drop in production could be very rapid, far faster than with conventional oil plays.

      If this happens, then you will see US output effectively dropping in half in quite a short time period. There is probably sufficient slack in the world supply to make up the gap (around 5 million barrels a day), but given that along with food, oil products are the US’s biggest export, then that could have potentially profound impacts on world trade, even allowing for its impact on prices.

      Just another little economic headwind to consider, to add to all the others.

      1. Adam1

        “…the fracking industry has been highly efficient at increasing its ability to squeeze out every last drop from even quite unpromising shales…”

        This is actually a pretty scary point if you are Trump and expecting more oil production. Historically convention oil wells start to decline when they hit the peak at the halfway point to depletion. However, there are ways to flatten out that peak for sometime and this is what the frackers have done very well. The downside is that there is still a finite amount of oil extractable at every well and if you are good at forestalling the decline in production… when you do get to that point of decline it becomes a cliff and you fall fast. It usually occurs when you’re around the 80% depleted point. I can’t recall which tight oil play it is, but last I read a month or so ago one of them is getting close to their estimated 80% produced (depletion).

        1. Darthbobber

          Recently, part of that “extracting the last drop” has come from bottom feeders who specialize in buying up the rights for non_producing wells, doing short term energy contracts largely with the AI boys, reactivating them for awhile and then abandoning them uncapped and unattended.

          Pennsy Dept of Environmental Protection is presently trying to get a couple of these firms to do the capping and cleanup but they’re stubbornly pretending that the abandonment hasn’t happened

          Next step will be formal bankruptcy for those firms after the principals have transferred the money to themselves, and leaving the citizenry with the health risks and the cost of cleanup.

          Gosh, who could have predicted?

          1. Randall Flagg

            Probably a stupid question, but could there be ( had been), a posting of a bond to guarantee the proper capping of a well?

    2. Ian

      Fracking and directional horizontal drilling were never going to be more than a stopgap. Oil production will inevitably start to decline in the USA and soon.

      1. Wukchumni

        The claim is there are oodles of oil left under LA-if new drilling technology was used, but there’s the pesky problem of million Dollar shacks sitting on top of it.

          1. Wukchumni

            LA has never really had a sizable earthquake, they padded the small amount of deaths in the 1994 temblor by including those that had heart attacks.

  4. vao

    Regarding the second bonus: it was a training session, as identified by the “K-9 training” indication in the twit, and by the fact that the attacker wore one of those special arms protection specifically for training with dogs.

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Oh, duh, found it at the last minute before go live time and didn’t read carefully. I should have realized something was up given that the “attacker” had a wrap for his free hand and forearm, as in was expecting a dog tussle.

      1. Old Jake

        That it was training was obvious but rather irrelevant to me. Fascinating. And the child’s affection for the dog guardian was heart warming. Which is the purpose of the antidote, no?

  5. The Rev Kev

    ‘Arnaud Bertrand
    @RnaudBertrand
    This is quite consequential.
    China, Japan, South Korea and the countries of ASEAN just issued a joint statement (asean.org/joint-statement-of…) in which they take a unified stance against “escalating trade protectionism”, a clear reference to Trump’s tariffs.’

    China, Japan & South Korea working together? Didn’t have that on my 2025 bingo card. Such a thing would have been unimaginable last year and certainly you had South Korea bumping heads with Japan not long ago for example. And now these three countries are working together against a common enemy – Trumpism. Who knew that MAGA now actually stands for Make Asia Great Again? Not me.

    1. Terry Flynn

      The car tweet caught my eye. I’d commented to Yves yesterday in favour of her view that the Japanese don’t want to offload their US Treasuries. I mentioned that sources of mine (surprisingly to anyone knowing WW2 history) said Japan+China were launching an EV car which MIGHT be a game changer.

      I’m not a car person – although due to age I was first to get driving licence in my school year in my UK school I never felt need for a car til year 2 in Sydney when I was almost 40! – so I’m not the person to evaluate the tweet here. If and only if a car fanatic can easily judge the merits of this without homework then great. My sources claim it’s fantastic but could be wrong.

      As you say, there are lots of things like this not on our bingo card.

  6. bassmule

    I cannot read any more about Gaza. It is making me physically ill.
    Speaking of unspeakable violence, how can a list of great Westerns not include The Wild Bunch?

    1. .human

      Solace

      I can’t get back to sleep
      having been awakened by a passing storm.

      I wonder what damage it caused
      in my leaking barn and the few hardys
      I have already planted in the herb garden.

      I feel my thankfulness of these minor worries
      in light of those who experience end-of-days daily
      in places known to me only as colored areas on maps.

      How gut-wrenching it is to not be able to offer solace and safety
      to those who deserve both and receive neither.

      1. alfred venison

        Nicely put, really, reads like a poem. Thank you for expressing so eloquently what I feel too but can’t find words for. -regards, a.v.

    3. Carolinian

      It does include The Wild Bunch. In fact it includes movies that aren’t really Westerns except that they take place in the West and movies, the Spaghetti Westerns, that were almost all filmed in Spain.

      Personally I’d say Western means a movie that includes America’s great Western scenery as one of the characters. In story terms lots of things could be called Westerns including Japanese Samurai films since Kurosawa was inspired by American films while inspiring in turn.

      In the spirit of the Link here’s the latest Sight and Sound best films of all time list. Scroll down to the bottom for the top ten.

      https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

      1. Wukchumni

        Saw The Wild Bunch and Deliverance as a double feature at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood once upon a time, and you could make the argument that the latter is in the top 100 of Westerns, even though its set in the east.

        1. Carolinian

          Deliverance was filmed not far from here and the gorge who’s wall Jon Voight climbs is in North Georgia. Charley Boorman, son of director John Boorman, was on set and recalled holding baby Angelina Jolie (Voight’s daughter) in his arms. Later she would become a director herself.

          The movie’s sinister seeming vegetative riot is very much in evidence here this spring. Must be all the CO2. But lacking the film’s perspective, I think all that greenery is beautiful. If you live in the South green becomes your favorite color.

          1. ChrisFromGA

            Today might be the most beautiful day of the year here in N. Georgia. A rare late season cold front blasted through here on Saturday, and we fell into the upper 40’s the past few nights.

            This morning driving to run an errand I left the windows open driving. The air is cool and fresh in a way that it won’t be again, probably until October. Spring kind of ends here right around now, and any days in May without the heat and humidity are a bonus.

    4. tegnost

      same here…I’d ask how much longer this can go on but I’m afraid I don’t want to know the answer

    5. B Flat

      Same. And I find myself wishing they would surrender unconditionally, save themselves, their children…

        1. B Flat

          So… you’d rather fight to the last dead Palestinian to prove Israel/USA bad? Would you prefer they all be killed than risk surrender and surviving?

    6. Bugs

      I was surprised that there were not more John Waynes. My father calls them that – “there’s a John Wayne on, come watch”.

      My favorite is probably High Plains Drifter. It’s really out there and surrealistic, while preserving the genre motifs. Then I guess it’s True Grit for Wayne at his pinnacle and for pure entertainment, there’s none better than For a Few Dollars More, which has the coolest villain, with Gian Maria Volonté as Indio and, Lee Van Cleef as Mortimer, holding a lifelong thirst for vengeance that must be quenched.

      The Morricone soundtrack in For a Few Dollars More is unequaled in the history of the Western. “When the chimes end, pick up your gun” https://youtu.be/0JPnR7C8mZQ?t=36

      1. GF

        There are four John Wayne movies on TCM tonight: The Big Trail, Stagecoach, Red River and How the West was Won.

  7. Roland Chrisjohn

    Where’s “The Magnificent Seven?” Yes, it’s a remake of “Seven Samurai,” but it has its own virtues.

    1. Bsn

      Actually, where’s the Seven Samarai? I have a feeling it’s just a list that the company has on its site – essentially an ad.

    2. Cat Burglar

      The list doesn’t have The Lusty Men, the great film about rodeo cowboys in the early 50s.

      Rodeo cowboys have told me it gets the period exactly right. On our ranch, we had rodeo cowboys gather the cows during the spring and fall, which left them with cash and free time for the summer rodeo circuit. This gets their world pretty well.

    3. lyman alpha blob

      Also missing is the inimitable musical, Paint Your Wagon – who knew that Clint was such a crooner?

      The list was pretty good though. For my money, Once Upon a Time in the West has the best opening scene of any western, and Unforgiven has the best final sequence (like many others, ripped off from the Odyssey).

      Here’s hoping Blood Meridian makes the cut when it’s eventually released. If you want to know why war will always be with us, read the book. Hopefully they don’t screw up the movie.

    4. Stephanie

      Interesting article comparing the chambara and western genres. It lists a number of westerns inspired by Japanese films but also includes an acknowledgement by Kurosawa of how he admired and was in turn inspired by John Ford: https://metrograph.com/samurais-and-cowboys/

      For a different take on Westerns, check out The Shooting starring Jack Nicholson and Millie Perkins. Nicholson plays very much to what I think was becoming his type but Perkins is the farthest thing imaginable from Anne Frank.

  8. Revenant

    I was convinced the cat opening the door was going to be a Bengal but it had white socks (trader cat, not investment banking cat…). Is it a moggie or a specific breed.

    1. The Rev Kev

      A cat like that could start many an argument in that household-

      ‘Honey. You left the door unlocked and open again.’

      Mandrake the Magician has got nothing on that cat.

    2. Terry Flynn

      I’ve gained new appreciation for moggies. Our cat is long hair tuxedo moggie rescue cat. Vet recently confirmed she’s incredibly intelligent with a strong streak of ragdoll in her – why do a DNA test? But that’s another story. (Personally I think there’s some siamese too…… very clever cat and will watch TV with me as well as “talk”).

      Has a remarkable vocabulary……. of course being a cat that doesn’t mean she’ll actually LISTEN/DO what we want…!

    3. Quintian and Lucius

      I had a tabby (meaning, probably, American muttcat who happened to be striped) as a child who on my life could do exactly this but without the support of the nearby counter. She’d just jump up repeatedly to perform each discrete action until the door was unlocked. We didn’t all have cameras in our pockets in those days. Every cat I’ve owned since has been about as bright as svalbard in midwinter.

      1. ChrisPacific

        Our cat from when I was growing up could do this too. Not the lock (our internal doors didn’t have them) but she could jump up and pull on the end of a handle so that the door swung open. She eventually got so good at it that she could do it in seconds.

        She was a tabby as well. Very sweet-natured cat who loved affection and would always want to curl up in your lap.

    4. Cat Burglar

      Around our house, we wonder, “What would it be like if they had thumbs?”

      Sometimes we have come back home to find every cupboard open.

  9. Patrick Donnelly

    3rd World Shitholes eventually end up with military dictatorships.

    That won’t happen to MAGA, as the military are grateful for the wise leadership of Mr Donald J Trump, Pope in waiting.

    He may be about to meet the real Deep State.

    1. steppenwolf fetchit

      Whom does the Deep State represent and work for? How much pain and fear would the Deep State’s specific patrons and master have to feel in order to give their “Deep State” the order to “rid us of this turbulent President”?

      Could 50-80 million anti-Trump mere citizens with no power except their meager-per-individual consuming power somehow target their individually-meager comsumption power in the same direction of economically torturing the Deep State’s patrons and masters into ordering their Deep State to “make it so”?

    2. Stephanie

      Who is Hegseth keeping at the Pentagon and who is getting the boot? Does that tell us anything?

  10. Unironic Pangloss

    >>>The rise of colibactin seems to have been in the last twenty or so years

    A parallel hypothesis is that industrialized ‘soy protein isolate” is a, part or substantial, contributing factor.

    Industrialized “health food” is pretty much as bad as eating factory food 1.0

    1. vao

      I had no clue what “soy protein isolates” are used for, so looked up in Wikipedia:

      “Soy protein is used in various foods, such as salad dressings, soups, meat analogues, beverage powders, cheeses, nondairy creamer, frozen desserts, whipped topping, infant formulas, breads, breakfast cereals, pastas, and pet foods.”

      Cheese? Bread? Pasta? I am lucky that where I live I never encountered such a heresy as using soy protein as an ingredient for those basic foodstuffs. True enough, I can still afford to avoid ultra low-quality, super-cheap products.

      1. Neutrino

        When soy appears, I am reminded of phytoestrogens and related chemicals. My approach is to steer clear of all, even the edamame.

  11. Colonel Smithers

    Thank you, Yves.

    Further to the link about malnutrition in the UK, readers, especially those located in the benighted kingdom, will be relieved to hear that many, but not all, in / of the ruling red Tories* believe in say almost as much that they believe in the deserving poor and undeserving poor.

    The chancellor, who may soon be scapegoated if the FT is any guide, believes in that and has long said so. Rachel from customer complaints, not accounts as is widely joked, is a piece of work. When I asked, somewhat rhetorically, how anyone could be so lacking in empathy, on a par with George Osborne, a chaotic childhood resulting in misanthropy was suggested.

    As my parents and I watched some soldiers from the Azov brigade parade in London yesterday, mum explained that the budget for Ukrainian refugees, even the ones driving high end cars, is ring fenced, kept as a single pot and protected from cuts and inflation. She compared that with the budget for the royal family which is spread around Whitehall, so that the extent is hidden and muckrakers discouraged.

    1. The Rev Kev

      ’the budget for Ukrainian refugees’’…is ring fenced, kept as a single pot and protected from cuts and inflation.’

      A slush fund. You’re talking about a slush fund that is probably not scrutinized so there is no knowing if bits of it get directed to worthier causes and people. I would not be surprised to learn that Boris Johnson has his fat fingers in that pot for example.

      Surprised, not surprised that they had the Nazi brigade on parade. They are there probably looking for donations and volunteers as well but jeez, do they have to make it so obvious that the UK government supports Nazis? It was bad enough when the Canadian Parliament was giving standing ovations to a Nazi SS war criminal.

      1. Polar Socialist

        Nah, the 11 Ukrainians were selected from a bunch that are training in UK at the moment. Maybe the rest of them refused to remove the wolfsangels and swastikas from their kit. Or Ukraine could find only 11 they could trust not to go AWOL on arrival…

        1. The Rev Kev

          How do we know (looks suspiciously left and right) that they weren’t actually British soldiers in Ukrainian uniforms?

          1. Polar Socialist

            British have this funny way of marching where they lift their hand straight forward and are in step. They could be civilians, though, with half an hour preparation from a US sarge…

        2. Colonel Smithers

          Thank you.

          It was said that Ukrainian soldiers “are trained for some weeks”, not longer. I did not catch if these were trainees.

          A Ukrainian naval officer was also present. I could not see his rank from the lower arm.

      2. ambrit

        More to the point, that Azov detachment was probably scouting bolt holes for when the ‘Evil Russkies'(TM) finish overrunning the Ukraine.
        Look at the bright side. In the Azovs, the Reactionary Cliques have ready-made Brown Shirts with which to impose “Law and Order” upon the unwashed masses of His Majestie’s Realm.
        Oswald Mosley must be spinning in his grave over this latest brainstorm by the Micro Britain crowd.
        “Why didn’t I think of this? Today I’d be remembered as the Protector who saved Britain from the threat of Socialism! Blast!”

    2. Terry Flynn

      Rings bells.

      Rachel from customer complaints, not accounts as is widely joked, is a piece of work. When I asked, somewhat rhetorically, how anyone could be so lacking in empathy, on a par with George Osborne, a chaotic childhood resulting in misanthropy was suggested.

      I get such comments but “how can a homo like Terry hate our MP so much?” Maybe it’s because he HATES POOR PEOPLE, uses his twitter to show lovely pics of his marriage to his b/f, something I’ll never experience because I spent years and years at 11pm exhausting myself doing teleconferences from UK so that ny collaborators in west coast North America and Sydney would both be awake, which he NEVER did? And, well, the fact that even someone gay-loving like my mum is itching to scream you “c word” across the suburb if he comes near? He’s a fraud and EVERYBODY here senses it. We’re not stupid. Well not ENTIRELY stupid…….we’re about to give REFORM free reign but that says more about how awful we think the status quo is…….!

      In the single year I was member of the Labour Party (starting under Corbyn) I heard the local party lead use words about Corbyn that make HRC’s “deplorable” comment sound positively quaint. I decided there and then that you are disgusting people. You use alphabet stuff as a weapon and I’m not being part of that. Most of them lost their seats on 1st May but there are 4 left we need to give P45s to, I want the Labour Party to fit in a taxicab like the Libs around 1950. You are NASTY small minded vindictive gits who want to reward your mates. Which actually is what you accuse REFORM of.

    3. Kouros

      The alliance between ruling oligarchy/aristocracy and monarchy is exceptionally strong in the UK. I think they hold the record for this over 300 year pact they have now ongoing…

      Only WWII broke it for just a blip, its effects now being mopped away…

    4. bertl

      I just see this carnival of the grotesque dancing and spitting on the graves of my father and my uncles and their pals in arms. They didn’t fight for our people to incur debts to support the Azov obscenities in the Ukraine, they went out to kill the German variety. And they certainly did not fight so their children and their children’s children could have a British government support a genocide by Zionazis in Palestine while children in Britain die of malnutrition.

  12. DJG, Reality Czar

    The multicolored dyed thing in the bike basket. And so it has come to this.

    I recall when a dog was a dog, with its own kind of existence, rather than a fashion accessory or emotional support animal or substitute for a child.

    One drawback of the Chocolate City is that French bulldogs and related stunted canids are currently fashionable. I keep thinking that people just want a veterinary case that dies off young.

    So the photo strikes me as a symptom of something: too much money, urban loneliness, inattention to animals and their own needs….

    2. vao

      Oddly enough, I quickly looked at the photo and immediately thought “Ah, another AI-generated image” — for who in his/her right mind would actually want to have such an outrageously variegated dog, spend the effort to do it, and manage to bring the daubing to an end without being bitten? Things are even worse than I can fathom.

    3. Bugs

      It’s OK, DJG, people have been giving their dogs hairdos for the longest time. In Japan, I saw a lady with the cutest chihuahua in a stroller, fully dressed with a hat and little booties. Everyone came up and said, Ka-wai!

      The doggy seemed happy. That’s a good thing. Dogs love good humans who love them back.

    4. ambrit

      Poor little LGBTK9. The influence of the “New and Improved” Dr. Who is evident.

  13. Daniil Adamov

    I quite liked “Portrait of the Joker as a young man”. Not really familiar with that substack and the (admittedly light) editorialising seems largely unnecessary, but the basic biographic facts and quotes are very illuminating. I wouldn’t have thought that KVN, the late Soviet/post-Soviet comedy competition, was a viable path to power, but I guess it’s no worse than American reality TV.

  14. Patrick Donnelly

    The best thing for China is to show their weakness as the trade war slowly throttles them.

    DJT will increase the pressure ….

    1. The Rev Kev

      Meanwhile all those soon to be empty shelves in places like Walmart can now be rented out to former Walmart workers as sleeping bunks.

      1. Wukchumni

        I’m thinking that shelving would make for perfect albeit slim sandwich boards with something snappy written on them such as:

        ‘Will work for consumer goods’

      2. ambrit

        Sorry Rev. Those shelves will not hold a full sized Terran human. I have had to shift them up and down when I worked retail towards the end of my variegated career. Just a couple of thin metal hook assemblies hold them up. Then you have to deal with the end loading since the shelves are really cantilevers in disguise.
        Our Beneficent Overlords are “engineering” us to be physically smaller and lighter, for many ‘good’ reasons.
        In the spirit of “Rugged Individualism(TM),” stores will maintain piles of empty cardboard boxes ‘out back’ for impecunious workers to utilize as “Guest Worker Accommodations.”
        Stay safe. Contribute all you can, and then some more, to achieve the “Best Future Money Can Buy.”

  15. eg

    “US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada’s Furious Boycott”

    This squares with anecdotal reports from my Toronto friends just down the road, all of whom are cancelling any non-essential (ie. work or family required) travel to the US and all of whom are ostentatiously eschewing the purchase of US products. My own 87 year old mother whom I take grocery shopping once a week has become extra vigilant that nothing from south of the border ends up in her basket.

    I haven’t been across the border myself since 2019, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon either …

    1. The Rev Kev

      That article mentioned that a lot of people there had both Canadian and US citizenship. I wonder how it would effect those that lived on one side of the border but daily commuted to the other for their regular job. But even if Trump choked on a cheeseburger tomorrow, it might take decades to repair the damage done with US-Canadian relationships – if ever. That’s a lot of trust that needlessly got burned down to the ground in only a few short months.

      1. Revenant

        The Commonwealth is the dog that hsn’t barked. It’s a multinational structure embracing half of BRICS and half of the West.

        If Starmer had an vision, he would floating a Commonwealth free trade pact and student visa zone etc, maybe even a defence treaty, not bilateral deals. All the Commonwealth members right now need leverage with the US, EU, Russia, China etc….

        He could create new options in several spheres.

    2. Randall Flagg

      My daughter mentioned this past weekend that during the summer Farmer’s Market they sell at located in the Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, in the past they sold a decent amount to Canadians vacationing there or heading over to New Hampshire’s White Mountains. She is a little anxious to how much sales may decline to Canadians staying home this year. Interesting times.

    3. Keith Newman

      @eg at 9:13 am
      I live in Gatineau, Quebec, beside Ottawa. I shop in both places. The big chain stores are marking the shelves with Canadian-origin products with bright red maple leaves. And there are tons of them. It’s quite amazing looking down an aisle with all the maple leaves. Last week US fresh strawberries were marked down to 1.99 CAD and obviously weren’t selling. The Canadian hothouse ones at 5.00 CAD a package were selling out. Other US produce is clearly not selling well. The stores have replaced most US stuff with Mexican which is selling normally. People here were really insulted by Trump’s repeated condescending comments.

      1. eg

        No doubt, Keith — I suspect it’s being replicated right across the country.

        (By the way you are right across the bridge from my daughter who is working in the Ottawa Market)

        1. Ann

          Nope. Some comes from my garden, and it’s all over the farmer’s market in the fall.

    4. Will

      The Toronto Blue Jays, the only MLB baseball team located in Canada, are playing their yearly series against the Mariners in Seattle this weekend. For fans of the team in Vancouver, and more generally Western Canada, these yearly matchups are their only “affordable” chance to see the Blue Jays live. In recent years, it’s been a very raucous affair with the very large number of travelling Canadians making it seem like a home series for the visiting Blue Jays.

      There’s been a lot of speculation online since Trump’s 51st state comments etc about how things will go this year. People book flights and hotels well in advance in addition to buying tickets to the games because of the influx, so there will be costs to cancelling and following up on threats to boycott the US.

      1. Henry Moon Pie

        The Jays have historically had a lot of supporters when they play in Cleveland, rivaling the Pirates and Tigers.

  16. Grateful Dude

    “Donald Jr. and Eric Trump Pursue New Deals That Would Enrich President Trump”

    It seems plain to me that the DT administration is a vast criminal conspiracy: the looting, the naked and in-your-face emoluments, suborning of the DoJ, DoD, even the spooks + vengeance prosecutions, the threats – extortion of colleges e.g., DOGE!!!, contempt of court, etc.

    That’s the big picture here. The ghost of Roy Cohn …

  17. Wukchumni

    Start spreading the news, you’re not leaving today
    I want no part of it, Newark, Newark
    No TSA inspected shoes, they’ll stay on today
    And step away from it, Newark, Newark

    I wanted to wake up in a different city for a sleep
    And find an aisle seat, put my bag up steep
    Your small town airport blues, find another way
    I’m going to give up on it, in old Newark

    You always fake it there, you can’t make it anywhere
    Greyhound is an alternative for you, Newark, Newark

    In Newark, Newark

    I want to wake up in another city on the cheap
    And find I’m liking the thrill, on the no fly list
    A number one, King of Amtrak

    These airport blues, they have all melted away
    And I’m going to make a brand new start at it
    Nowhere near old Newark
    You better believe it folks
    You can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere
    Come on, you’re through, Newark, Newark

    1. ambrit

      I had to look it up, but the group that had to wear the yellow stars in the old Third Reich were the Zhids. So, having the wearing of coloured stars as identification symbols is quite fraught. Even if said stars are only on your driver’s licenses.
      “Identification please! You will show your papers, now! Get in line!”
      “But who are those men with guns?”
      “They are there to protect you from subversives. Subversive thoughts, subversive literature, subversive actions, subversive people. The Good Citizen has nothing to fear! Get in line, get in line!”
      “I feel safer already with this display of Good Thinking Good Action.”

  18. The Rev Kev

    “NATO Struggles to Keep Up as Drone Warfare Gets Gamified”

    Reading this article, I wonder if some countries will opt to resurrect actual cavalry horses once more. Well maybe not so much cavalry as mounted infantry which even Hannibal used. Fast, mostly self-sustainable, trainable and maneuver they may be an option for some places. In the initial invasion of Afghanistan, US special forces used horses to advance to good effect. Back them up with the firepower of a ‘technical’ and you might have a viable solution to advance on an enemy force.

      2. Polar Socialist

        Basically motorized infantry, nowadays. Anyway, I’d vouch for electric off-road bicycles. Fully charged battery good for 5-10 km, so bike would be light to carry/peddle and “easy and fast” to recharge.

        I wonder when will we see the first exoskeleton powered storming of enemy positions?

    2. vao

      Russians have been using motorbike-mounted infantry in Ukraine for something like 18 months. There is a fair number of videos showing them dashing in a scattered swarm towards the front line while eschewing shots, disembarking, and finally storming trenches.

      Horse-mounted troops have been actually kept in a very tenuous and intermittent existence ever since WWII.

      In Sudan, the janjaweed did rely for quite a long time on horses, and have been infamous for their role in the various civil wars, especially in Darfur.

      During the colonial war, the Portuguese did use horse-mounted troops (I believe in Mozambique) to patrol those regions where the terrain and lack of roads did not allow motorized transport. The advantages were first that those troops could remain longer than, say, airborne commandos (which required helicopters being refilled and undergo technical maintenance), and second that the independentists fighting the Portuguese moved on foot in those same regions.

      I do not see cavalry coming back in Western countries anyway. First, one would need quite a number of them and of the right breed — because those competing in derbies are probably unsuitable for the kind of service expected in the military. Second, you would need to staff the military with blacksmiths, grooms, and veterinarians — in addition to troops knowing how to ride horses. Third, you would have to set up the whole logistical train for those animals — stables, fodder, etc. It is a challenging endeavour, and see just how things are going with, say, the production of basic artillery ammunition…

      Up until the first half of the 1950s, this would have been fairly easy in Europe, which was still reyling massively on horses in civilian life. After that, with the Marshall Plan having enticed farmers to ditch their horses for tractors, this became impossible; nowadays horses are only kept in reduced numbers for ceremonial guards and the like.

        1. Kouros

          In my service time as mountain ranger (mountain hunter) corp, we had our stables with pack horses. Each morning and evening we had to go to clean our designated stable and brush the horses. Mine was a black mare called Blackie.

          In a military exercise that involved an over 25 Km march, she came in handy, me being able to unload (not sanctioned) most of my equipment, including the group’s machine gun that I carried (https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPK)…

      2. cfraenkel

        You left out the most important reason – there’s no profits on offer to design and manufacture Horse Mk IV. They have the awkward property of reproducing for free, minus the hard work of caring & feeding, and who wants to divert so much resources to manual labor?

    3. nyleta

      The new Russian jet powered drone being used to attack the Odessa military industrial complex. Izdeliye S top speed 750 km/hr, range 150 km, manouvers at 250 km/hr, can turn 90 degrees for the final run in. Wonder what the Russian skunkworks have for next year.

      Drones are going to be used more for the attack than defence on the front when the control and command is fully operational. Just another weapon, the game remains the same.

  19. The Rev Kev

    “Israel calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand war on Gaza”

    Lots of Israelis will refuse to be called up because of what they have had to do and the sacrifices that they have made with family and businesses. But the ones that do – since Bibi has said that Israel is going to militarily occupy Gaza, then that would mean a huge occupation force to be stationed there at all time living in what is mostly rubble. So those reservist that answer the call may be in Gaza for a very, very long time. I wonder if they have thought of that.

  20. Skip Kaltenheuser

    Re: Bill that would punish Americans boycotting Israel pulled from US Congress

    “Liberal Democratic” Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) got that accursed ball rolling. In 2017 he tried to pass fines up to a million dollars and prison sentences up to twenty years for advocating Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Attempting to crush Americans exercising their First Amendment, at the behest of a foreign power, is a stark betrayal. Censure? Expulsion? Senator Chuck Schumer made Cardin chair of Foreign Relations when Senator Bob Menendez, his Israeli lobby largess second only to Biden’s, flamed out.

    Since then, Cardin’s effort has been a template for spin-off penalties at state and local levels. Though this latest assault to our rights of free expression was pulled, it still percolates in Congress.

    This is the ultimate corruption, degradation. I’ve tried to avoid single issue litmus tests, but here’s one I’ll go for. America will never have a chance until we dump those clearly in the pocket of a malevolent foreign power, traitors who cover up and enable Israel’s breathtaking depravity, regardless of their party.

    If we don’t do it, we embrace our pariah status.

    1. ChrisFromGA

      The accursed bill is prima facie unconstitutional.

      Should it pass, however, it would probably go into effect for a short period until someone gets arrested for boycotting Israel and has standing to assert their first amendment rights. Making some folks lives miserable.

      Our Congress is a failed institution.

      1. Polar Socialist

        There are systems where the laws are checked for complying with constitution before they are voted on. I believe it’s rather common in civil law countries (pun intented).

        1. IMOR

          In Congress it’s the job of both the Legislative Counsel’s office and both Judiciary Committees’ staffs to identify and suggest reparative language for such flaws.
          Where the sole and entire purpose if a bill is blatantly unconstitutional, members are expected to uphold their oath.

    2. Tom Stone

      What’s happening in Gaza is the most moral Genocide ever.
      It is God Swill.
      And while the Human population may be losing weight the dogs are very well fed, there’s no animal cruelty being committed by the Israeli’s or we’d be hearing from the SPCA and PETA.

    3. Buzz Meeks

      Another fifth columnist with fellow tribe member Chuck the Schmuck Schumer. Amazing how this group of people have been behind the destruction and criminalization of freedom of speech in the US (As long as you don’t try to use it) Apologies to The Clash for the misquote.

    4. Keith Howard

      Anti-BDS laws have been passed in various states, including Colorado. Plainly unConstitutional, but the craven politicians think/say/hope that SCOTUS will overturn them, so it’s OK to vote in favor. (grr) I’ve been watching for progress, but the lawsuits that are in the mill seem not to be moving. If there is a single thing I wish the Supremes would have to face, this is it.

  21. antidlc

    https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5267612/trump-gain-of-function-research-funding
    Trump restricts funding for ‘gain-of-function’ research — calling it dangerous

    President Trump issued an executive order Monday restricting federal funding for research that involves a controversial field of scientific study known as “gain-of-function” research.

    The research, which is also known as “dual-use” research, involves experimenting with viruses and other pathogens that have the potential to trigger a pandemic. Those studies could discover how infectious agents might become more transmissible or make people sicker.

    1. Bsn

      Ha, classic NPR/BS. Read carefully: “experimenting with viruses “. Well, yes, gene editing and creating virus’ that are non existent in nature could be considered “experimenting”, I consider “Gain of Function” as nt experimenting but creating.
      Also, “have the potential to trigger a pandemic.” Better reported would have been “have caused a pandemic”.
      Shame on NPR for thinking they have dumbed down Americans this far and that we can’t read.

      1. Darthbobber

        Interestingly, the research involved is the same they would be involved if the end view were to develop new bioweapons. The branching between those possibilities doesn’t happen until AFTER the gain of function has been achieved and its implications for people of varying genetic makeups evaluated.

  22. Carolinian

    Re the A Fool’s Errand article–this makes the point that has been made around here that to bring back manufacturing to America you would also have to bring back unions which is the last thing the Trumpies want. Of course his 1890s America did have lots of nonunion factories but also lots of immigrants and he doesn’t want them either.

    Whereas the heyday of the “arsenal of democracy” was heavily unionized because you need to keep workers happy if the job is the not exactly life fulfilling work of an assembly line.

    The truth is that Trump has always been selling a bill of goods and what he really wants is to make America’s ruling class great again. MARCA–doesn’t really have a ring.

    1. The Rev Kev

      You would also have to offer good wages to those workers as well but that would be intolerable to modern day employers. They would want the Amazon model where the workers are on an absolute minimal wage and have to rely on food stamps to make their job work. But the Republicans want to chop those food stamps and you can’t employ illegals as you would have ICE go right through those factories. And who would pay to train those workers? Or enable public transport to get those workers from where they live to where they work? Through their radical belief systems, conservatives have absolutely boxed themselves in here. Soooo, maybe dark factories with no workers?

      1. Mikel

        “maybe dark factories with no workers?”

        China has been experimenting with those. With all the fanfare from some economists, not much contemplation about the what the long-term plan would be for such a high population country.
        Just much magical thinking about what will come of the people affected. Remember, “they can learn to code”?

        And I think of the economists and officials with plenty to say about the effects of tariffs who were largely dismissive of negative effects of hyper-financialized economies. And they were always so reluctant to admit recessions. Despite the diminishing returns after each financial crisis, it’s always full steam ahead.

      2. lyman alpha blob

        The large number of homeless people living in squalor in most USian cities of any size is quite the incentive to work for less than one deserves.

    1. OIFVet

      Congratulations for BlackRock are in order for having its first-ever prime minister! Let freedom to grift and privatize ring!

    2. hk

      I was honestly surprised that the first vote happened at all: pols are usually very careful to cut deals, get assurances, and count the votes multiple times to make sure stuff like that don’t happen in the open. That they made Fred and Ethel chancellorship officially happen does not mean that their coalition is viable even in the medium term.

    3. lyman alpha blob

      How long before he starts being referred to as (Sh)merz? Shortly after the first Russian missile hits Berlin?

      1. AG

        That´s not gonna happen. It´s a big show-off to scare people into submission while Friedrich is robbing the bank.

        Slowly it starts to dawn on German outlets what military truth is. I have tried to call alternative outlets´ attention since the war started.

        I don´t know if any of that was acknowledged or if people like Martyanov or Wilkerson or Jacques Baud have come through with their warnings.

        But first altern. media sources have started to address the issue. Which is a sign. Where Russian forces were mocked now the tune is entirely different.

        This is not certain MSM of course. But it will catch up with them too some way or the other.

        Just today Wilkerson with Martyanov at “Dialogue Works” explained that in some official or semi-official form he and others looked into the numbers of army gear in the West, how good or bad it is, the performance as of late and at what Europe would have to provide to at least reach a certain level by today´s standard and they came to the conclusion of 4% of GDP annually for 20 years. And that´s just the toys. No theoretical expertise, no strategic planning included in that.

        If you add that to many other similar verdicts coming from the US, including last year´s comment by a NATO representative, that genuine hypersonics will take 20-30 years – some of this will end up in the assessments that inform German SoD.

        Merz will never admit that in public. But just as no EU-army will materialize for a “peace force” in Ukraine nor will Berlin be able to ignore the military facts. All the intel from 24/7 surveillance of the Ukrainian battlefield by the US is going somewhere.

        And as Joe Lauria put it deftly past winter, notwithstanding what Zelensky is lying in public his “President´s Office” is getting in the casualty numbers every single day. So those people know the truth.

        Same with Merz. It just takes more time for the chicken to come home…

        p.s. Wehrmacht suspected already by 1942 that their war on USSR wouldn´t work as planned. In today´s world extrapolation of data for decision-making is a different universe than Germany back then. Not to speak of the population. People today don´t want to go to war. As simple as that. And no Merz is going to change that. And without people you have no army.

        1. Trees&Trunks

          If it wasn‘t for the total psychological and spatial disconnect between the political and business elite and the people I would think that sanity prevails in the end. Now the elite has only learnt that they get richer when they torment and kill the population. I m concinced that they think they can start a war where only poor neighbourhoods are bombed and only poor people are sent to the front.

          Also, NATO practice shooting anti-war protesters in their exercises. The pressgangs in Ukraiine will be the case in EU too. War ain‘t a democratic process so the will of the population counts for only some.

  24. The Rev Kev

    “Attempted coup thwarted in Burkina Faso after nationalization of Gold industry”

    Macron wants those virtually free resources back again. Maybe the French economy can’t work without them.

    1. Wukchumni

      FDR ordered all of the gold mines closed down after Pearl Harbor, as 22k Sherman tanks and B-17’s weren’t needed.

      About 25 years ago a friend invited a gaggle of us to a gold mine he’d bought near Columbia in the Gold Country of Cali, and it had been a productive hard rock affair named the Mountain Lily Mine, and once you stop mining these holes in the ground, they flood pretty bad, and said mine was no exception.

      It had a 10 stamp mill and a creek nearby, and I think he paid $150k for it, and I know nothing about mining, but figured it needed a few million at a minimum to get it going again, and the weekend turned out to be an endless appeal from us to be investors-at one point my wife and I went into Columbia to get beer, and she said ‘you’re not gonna put any money in this, I hope!’ and I told her ‘not 1 thin Dime!’

      2. Aurelien

        Traoré has been cracking down on political opposition since 2022, and has also been undertaking sweeping purges in the Army. The obligatory claims of mysterious outside forces are always made. Reportedly, he now doesn’t even trust his own presidential bodyguard, and has asked neighbouring Chad to supply some of its own troops for his personal security. This suggests things are pretty far gone, and he may not last much longer. There’s huge dissatisfaction in the Army and in the country with his handling of the jihadist threat since the French left, and this is what seems to be behind the latest purge. If there’s any truth in the gold story, it will be interesting to see who is named to run the industry: probably his brother-in-law. It’s always easier to loot when you control the assets directly rather than indirectly. The poor Burkinabé have done nothing to deserve this.

        1. Trees&Trunks

          Thanks for the comment, Aurelien. Maybe he has learnt some European values? Here‘s a snapshot of another nepotistic corrupt country:

          – The Minister of Education has been on the board of a for-profit school group.
          – The Prime Minister’s wife sits on the board of a private school group.
          – One of the prime minister’s best friends has been on the board of a private school group.
          – The Prime Minister’s other best friend has been on the board of a for-profit school group.
          – The leader of the Centre Party has been the CEO of a for-profit school group.
          – The two architects behind the independent school reform each own a school group.”

          No, it is not Burkina-Faso, it is Sweden.

          1. Polar Socialist

            Here’s video (youtube) on how Africans see the situation. At least some do; this seems to be a business* channel from Nigeria.

            * as in: Africans should invest in Africa, and they give reasons why

  26. Tom Stone

    It has become increasingly clear to me that “Western Elites” are insane, and I do mean that literally.
    And it is not confined to them, I access the internet at the Library which is a 3.5 mile drive from my home.
    Driving here this morning I witnessed three different people run red lights.
    I don’t drive much, to the Library, to health care providers and once a week to Sebastopol and it has become a rare trip when I don’t see someone run a red light or do something equally risky.
    Look at today’s links, how many of them describe behavior that is objectively insane?

    1. Unironic Pangloss

      “ask for forgiveness, not permission” has infected all facets of life…..and like most trends, it manifested top-down….and a manifesation of the decay of ethics and virtue.

      Confucius (and others in the West) wrote a lot about this…

      looks like the West is on course to reinvent the wheel

    2. Darthbobber

      Well, the system based on ever-expanding exchange value, exponential growth, and extraction of surplus value through the constant recreation of the capital-labor relationship controlled by capital is increasingly pressing up against it’s absolute rather than merely relative limits.

      And the multifaceted results of that are generating the inevitable multifaceted problems and crises.

      If replacing that system is unthinkable, all efforts to keep going down that path lead to insanity, regardless of the differing claimed ideologies of those with some agency.

  27. Mikel

    Chuck L: “Let’s take bets on how long it will take the Zionist entity to blow it up!”

    Israel may rebrand but it’s not going anywhere unless its global allies turn their backs. It’s controlling more territory than it ever has in its history and has allies – some more silent than others – that would bail it out like a too-big-to-fail bank.
    And things like food and medicine, in large enough quantities, are still not getting to Palestinians.

  28. ISL

    Truck lines at the Port of LA were miles long yesterday, and there was great activity at the Port of LB; however, on Saturday, the Port of LB was deserted. Shipping to LA has been a roller coaster ride as shippers rushed to beat the traffic, and now they are holding offshore to see what happens next (about a dozen container ships were visible from the port offshore) without locking shipments into customs.

    It seems that the first adaptation is shorter work weeks.

    That said, I am suspicious about the supposed increase in shipping next week* – and these are the toys for the upcoming holiday season, which is followed by a collapse the following week.

    See the “Whats going on with shipping?” podcast

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43VMteILGOI.
    2:55 mark

    which also makes a really good point – ports are not designed to operate erratically. There are many moving parts, and bumpy operations leads to problems (and then shortages).

  29. John Beech

    I fly a Bonanza out of KSFB and am friendly with several controllers. Regarding the mental trauma, they couldn’t suppress a knowing smirk. Leads me to suspect grifting happens at all levels. They might do well to recall what Reagan did when the traffic controllers got too big for their britches.

    1. Pat

      And others might do well to remember the aftermath of Reagan playing big man on campus. Most don’t remember that the major sticking points weren’t about pay, it was increased staffing and needed safety improvements. As it turned out they were scrambling for controllers and it merely took a couple of years for the replacements to be screaming for the same things. And if we have learned nothing from recent failures it is that inadequate staffing and disregard for not just the controllers but the public safety is still the norm.

      1. John Beech

        Pat,
        You’re absolutely right, or as Santayana put it, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

        That said, the FAA is chock full of bureaucrats whose life revolves around creating more and more regulations and red tape. For example, as a private pilot, I am expected to be conversant and knowledgeable with regard to regulations within the FAR/AIM manual which in the 6×9 paperback version, runs to 1120 pages! I know because I buy it each year and I only wish I were kidding. Honestly, it’s beyond ridiculous.

        It’s like this; these bureaucrats differentiate between aircraft built by homebuilders and defunct factories from 50 years ago, where the aircraft carry the exact same number of souls, with the same engine, and are within spitting distance of the same size (because physics don’t change), and are used to carry the same amount of fuel, and go just as far as each other, at the same altitudes, to thereby force Garmin (merely using them as one example, which is repeated industry wide) to produce two separate part numbers of the same product. For example, a gauge will be $1500 for one, and $2500 for the other. Same gauge, the FAA holy water being sprinkled on one accounting for the difference in price.

        This, as you might expect, subsequently leads owners to either taking shortcuts to save money, or doing without. Another example, the autopilot in my aircraft is 60 years old. For one class I can replace it for <$10,000 but for the classification in which they fit the aircraft, the same autopilot costs about $30,000. Same darned autopilot, one showing the added cost of the FAA regulations!

        So I keep repairing it instead of replacing it, like I wish I could. And this is a) money not flowing into Garmin's pocket, nor b) into the USA-economy in the form of added GDP. I offer this as just one direct – concrete example – of the government in the form of the FAA holding down the free market.

  30. John Beech

    My business involves manufacturing a widget for which we import the motor from Japan and gears from Taiwan. We make the rest with the exceptions of o-rings and bolts, which we buy from a US supplier (but with no clue regarding country of origin and my bet would be China). Added to which, we also purchase an insert to hold the product and a display box for packaging, which we buy out of China.

    Meanwhile, a motor winding machine is over two million five, and we don’t have the expertise for setup and operation although the Japanese manufacturer has expressed a willingness to train us up. Problems include, a) the machine will make in a couple weeks, more motors than we can use in a year, and b) the magnets are rare earth type neodynium and those magnets are coming from China no matter what, and c) getting the machine built for us, delivered, installed, and people trained up is an 18 month proposition at best from the moment we sign the contract.

    Added to which, as the sole producer of our type of product in the USA, there’s nobody else to whom we can sell motors. By this meaning the machine would sit idle 50 weeks of the year! Bottom line is our motors not only would cost more to produce but sourcing magnets isn’t trivial, designing the motor can be done by reverse engineering, but between that and paying for the machine, the whole thing would be cost prohibitive. Saying the numbers don’t pencil out no matter how badly we wish they would.

    As for the gears, while I own three machine shops, we don’t have the expertise or tooling to hob micro gears. And there’s nobody in the USA who does. Sure, gears for the transmission of a car or differential are made the exact same way – but – on a macro scale where tolerances aren’t as tight. Believe me when I say there’s a world of difference and no domestic expertise, so it involves H1-B visas and hiring someone to come teach us. And however much time that involves. Not like flipping a switch.

    Moreover, and once again, there are no competing products made in USA to help make it economical for someone to set up to hob these gears for us because they’d have others to whom they could sell them. Added to which, and in all honesty, hobbing gears is an art, and hobbing micro gears is a black art. Or put another way, there’s no hope in my lifetime (late 60s and presently fielding offers to sell the business) of producing our producing the gears ourselves – nor – for someone domestic to do it for us. Believe me when I say, it ain’t happening!

    Anyway, right now, when DHL or UPS present the brokerage bill with the new tariffs added, we pay because we have no choice. Means product cost is going up and the only ting we can do is pass these along as higher prices to the customer. Question is, will they? We’r discovering this now but it will take months to play out. So far, so good but we are getting people bellyaching about it, too.

    Finally, we’re actually hoping we’ll benefit from all this because arbitrage between tariffs with Japan and Taiwan means those selling competing products produced in China will be hit worse due to higher tariffs. Until someone changes their mind.

    What’s killing us is the uncertainty. So in the meantime, guess what? Yup, we’ve pulled in our horns. The expansion we’d planned for this year is now on hold.

  34. Jason Boxman

    Trump Says Truce Reached With Houthis After They Promise to Stop Targeting Ships

    President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. had reached a truce with the Houthis in Yemen and would suspend its airstrikes there, claiming that the militants would no longer target ships navigating Middle Eastern waters.

    “I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that.”

    But

    Both U.S. and Houthi officials suggested that the truce didn’t pertain to Houthi attacks on Israel, which have prompted Israel to retaliate.

    So a US sign of weakness.

    The statement left unanswered whether the Houthis were stopping their attacks on all international shipping, including ships heading to Israel, or just on U.S. vessels.

    If so, a complete capitulation by Trump.

    1. nyleta

      The Admirals probably told Mr Trump that the stockpiles of missiles are getting dangerously low and they would have to cut back deliveries to Israel, that would get his attention.

      2. tegnost

        the stockpiles of missiles are getting dangerously low

        well the stockpile of measles is growing, so theres that…

    2. The Rev Kev

      Trump has a history of making up things other leaders say to pressure them or to get pressure off of him. That is why world leaders hate being with him in a room full of reporters – because he will say that they agreed on something when it never happened at all. Unless Yemen confirms it, then it is just Trump bs.

    3. ChrisFromGA

      It’s also just words. Verbal agreements sometimes hold up, but more often than not, they do not. A real truce would need to be in writing. Sort of analogous to the US contract law statute of frauds (any agreement for goods over a certain amount, sale or transfer of land, contracts that can’t be performed in under one year must be in writing.)

      So, Trump being Trump. “Statue of Frauds” = Trump’s Mt. Rushmore stone carving.

    4. Victor Sciamarelli

      The narrative is certainly different when not discussing Israel’s actions. Not much said about the Houthis have a right to defend themselves against Israeli terrorists nor that the IDF likely had tunnels below Ben Gurion airport that they used to stockpile weapons, as well as, using airport passengers as human shields to protect themselves.

  35. Tom Stone

    I have been following Ed Zitron’s coverage of OpenAI for some time and its insatiable need for MORE $ !!!
    Supposedly Sofbank is going to pour many more billions of borrowed dollars down that black hole starting this fall.
    I don’t think they can do it because it looks like a liquidity crunch has already begun and OpenAI has no apparent path to profitability.
    Uber was bad, but by breaking laws, stiffing drivers, achieving local monopolies and playing games with finances they could look profitable.
    OpenAI has no profitable use cases that are not based on the fantasy of AGI.
    You can’t get there from here which means the only question is when, not if, that bubble will pop.
    Stay safe and keep your humor dry.

    1. SocalJimObjects

      Softbank pouring more money into OpenAI is contingent on the later converting into a for profit company. However according to this, it seems like OpenAI will retain its current status as a non profit company.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        This could get very interesting. I believe a non-profit corporation owes no fiduciary duty to shareholders (I can hear Yves warming up to correct me, though.)

        Far outside my “circle of competence” but it seems like massive conflicts of interest are brewing with OpenAI, Microsoft, and the private investors who now may not be able to cash out at levels they’d hoped.

        1. ChrisFromGA

          Channelling Jean Kirkpatrick – wouldn’t it be nice if OpenAI and Softbank/private investors ate each other? Leaving nothing but ruined fortunes.

  36. Jason Boxman

    One of Lambert’s worst person of the day award winners gets a new position in the Trump administration:

    If you didn’t realize by now, things can always get a lot worse. There’s no bottom.

    Vinay Prasad.

    https://x.com/acrossthemersey/status/1919800725942518103

    Vinay Prasad tapped to run FDA center that regulates vaccines, gene therapies

    This is terrible. Prasad is a leading denier of Covid precautions and long Covid, and heavily mocked masking and harassed people suffering with aftereffects, early into the pandemic, when the public messaging was still advising precautions. He’s a nutjob.

    https://x.com/lauralew105/status/1919802405983498655

    When I said this year is gonna be lit, I wasn’t kidding. And it’s only May!

    Granted, he’s taking over from Peter Marks, not exactly a friend to Novavax approval, so things are worse by degrees. The Biden administration was absolutely horrendous on public health and Pandemic denialism and minimization.

    1. ChrisFromGA

      I nominate Sam Altman for worst person of the day, for the rest of 2025, or AI collapses like the metaverse did, whichever comes last.

  37. Dalepues

    I expected to see The Big Country in the Best Westerns list. Maybe I missed it. This wonderful movie stars Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives (who won an Oscar for his role), and Chuck Connors (in a very out of character role.).

    1. ambrit

      I like “The Virginian” and the Budd Boetticher westerns, many with Randolph Scott.
      See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Boetticher
      If offbeat is your kink, “Little Big Man” with Dustin Hoffman is a hoot. Faye Dunaway as the lascivious wife of the preacher is classic.
      Not much mention of the other west, Mexico. “Viva Zapata,” “Duck You sucker,” “The Professionals,” “Two Mules for Sister Sara,” “They Came to Cordura,” etc. There is also a sub-genre of films set in the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, called Zapata Westerns.
      Then you can go far afield to foreign climes and their takes on the Western theme.
      Who doesn’t love a good horse opera?

  38. Jason Boxman

    LOL we’ve come full circle. Thanks Obama!

    Trump Administration Plans to Send Migrants to Libya on a Military Flight (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Human rights groups have called conditions in the country’s network of migrant detention centers “horrific” and “deplorable.”

    Why, yes. That’s Obama and Clinton’s legacy, “duty to protect”. That’s some protection!

    A major transit point for Europe-bound migrants, Libya operates numerous detention facilities for refugees and migrants. Amnesty International branded those sites “horrific” and “a hellscape” in a 2021 report, which found evidence of “sexual violence, against men, women and children.” The Global Detention Project says detained migrants in Libya endure “physical mistreatment and torture,” forced labor and even slavery.

    With liberal Democrats, history doesn’t exist; Not a single word on how the current state of Libya came to pass.

  39. amfortas the hippie

    5-5-2025

    3 years ago today is the last time she was home with me, at our house.
    And 3 years ago today at sunset is when she was trundled off to her last hospital…the one in north austin.
    4 days from now is when I carried her home for hospice….to mom’s front room…where she died right in front of me a lil less than 5 weeks later.
    Mind you, I have always been rather timeless…would miss my own birthday if someone didnt remind me, never know what day it is, etc.
    but these dates, I remember.
    So shes been all over my mind this weekend, and now, today.
    Waiting on the rain that ive already been paying for…but grew weary of laying around watchin tv.
    …and at a certain point on weatherpain days, it begins to hurt to lay in he damned bed.
    So im on my barstump, where I can reach the keyboard…to try and unload all this pain and despair and lonesomeness…
    but ive said it all before…many times.
    What I need is a human female, right here, to talk to…and maybe even to give me a hug.
    But I can see no way to obtain one of those,lol.
    2 years ago it was that apparently nigerian dude from a dating site…6+ months of pretending to be a us army mdic in iraq….fixin to come home and retire. Wanted to meet me, and even to move on in.

    last year it was Boss…and all that total craziness and confusion.
    Also around 7 months.
    Both were text only…so I wont be doing that again.

    Since then, ive been to the bars a couple of times…and it was a disaster.
    I was drinking cheap draft beer, and only brought $25…but the cute bartendress kept chatting me up, and giving me shots, of all things.

    So no more bars for me,lol.

    But how does one meet women out here otherwise?
    Accost them in the produce aisle?

    So here I am, out here in the middle of nowhere, all alone.
    Talking to a ghost/jelly jar of ashes.

    5-6-2025
    so today is the day I learned, in the hallway, outside her room, that it was essentially over…nothing more they could do..and it would be hospice and a managed death.
    I went in to tell her, but I was already in tears…so she knew….
    only time I ever cried in front of her during this whole ordeal.
    And I cried all over her.
    Wept like Mary at the Cross.
    And after an hour or so of this…with her reassuring me that she’d made peace with it…
    whatever the hell that means,lol…’
    I went out for several cigs and to get on the phone and prepare everybody.
    Informed all our doctors, etc.
    I carried her home, or at least to my mom’s front room, 3 years ago this friday.

    1. Peter Steckel

      This is just to let you know that I heard your love for your wife ring out, a memory and grief and clarion call for what dreams may come, and was moved. If you truly love, you must also grieve. That’s the deal, the pact, and there is no escape from it. Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable.

      It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe. Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist; ghosts and spirits and dream visitations, and everything else that we, in our anguish, will into existence. These are precious gifts that are as valid and as real as we need them to be. They are the spirit guides that lead us out of the darkness.

      Create your spirits. Call to them. Will them alive. Speak to them. It is their impossible and ghostly hands that draw us back to the world from which you were jettisoned; better now and unimaginably changed. These spirits are ideas, essentially. They are your stunned imaginations reawakening after the calamity. Like ideas, these spirits speak of possibility. Follow your ideas, because on the other side of the idea is change and growth and redemption.

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