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Links 6/29/2025

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When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color? Quanta Magazine

Your Review: Alpha School Astral Codex Ten

Star-Shredding Spectacle: NASA Reveals Brightest Black Hole Blasts Since the Big Bang SciTech Daily

COVID-19/Pandemics

COVID-19 origin still ‘inconclusive’ after years-long WHO study Al Jazeera

How does Marburg virus spread between species? Young Ugandan scientist’s photos give important clues The Conversation

Climate/Environment

In a Sinking Venice, Jeff Bezos’ Wedding Draws Private Jets and Protestors Atmos

Heat dome passes, but climate-fueled waves aren’t going anywhere The Hill

Arctic Sea Ice reaches a Historic Low for late June, with Winter Impacts expected if the Weather Pattern persists Severe Weather Europe

China?

China to pivot $50 billion chip fund to fighting U.S. squeeze as trade war escalates — country to back local companies and projects to overcome export controls Tom’s Hardware

China’s rare earths are flowing again, but not freely Reuters

China Abruptly Dumps $8,200,000,000 in US Treasuries As Dollar Extends Massive Losses The Daily HODL. Note Wolf Richter, in detail, has debunked the “massive losses” story. The dollar has corrected from serious overvaluation to being in a “normal” range by historical standards. That does not mean the dollar won’t fall further, but commentators need to get a grip about where we are now.

South of the Border

Milei’s Argentina: A tale of two pockets Buenos Aires Times

Africa

Six months on, US aid cuts push refugees in East Africa to starvation Andolu Agency

‘We are privileged’: liberal Afrikaners reject Trump’s ‘white genocide’ claims The Guardian

DR Congo, Rwanda sign US-brokered peace deal DW

European Disunion

Climate, conflict and energy security – our research shows how the EU’s industrial policy must change to face this polycrisis The Conversation

Southern Europe roasts as first heatwave of the summer scorches continent Al Jazeera

Did Trump just dump the Ukraine War into the Europeans’ lap? Responsible Statecraft

 

Old Blighty

The UK has published a ten-year industrial strategy to boost key sectors of the economy – here’s what the experts think The Conversation

Tories swipe at ‘chaos and confusion’ in local councils after Reform UK’s takeover of town halls sees a slew of resignations, flag rows, flooding fears and a bitter dispute with firefighters Daily Mail

Israel v. Gaza/Lebanon/Syria/Yemen/Iran

‘Suffering beside the innocent is the last honest thing a man can do.’ Vanessa Beeley substack

US did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran’s nuclear sites, top general tells lawmakers, citing depth of the target CNN

Battle Damage Assessments Meaning in History

“Midnight Hammer” – a Fordow’s Bunker Buster or just Busted [i] Black Mountain Analysis substack

How Islam is Governing Iran’s Response to Israel and the United States Larry Johnson

New Not-So-Cold War

Vladimir Putin’s war threats are why aliens haven’t made first contact, expert claims The Daily Star

Nato has just surrendered Ukraine to Putin The Telegraph

Unjammable fiber-optic drones are taking over and turning Ukrainian forests into spiderwebs of wires, video shows Business Insider

Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web destroyed more than aircraft – it tore apart the old idea that bases far behind the front lines are safe The Conversation

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

New Orleans City Council Considers Ordinance To Adopt Real-Time Facial Recognition Technology Reason

ChatGPT and Privacy: Everything You Need to Know in 2025 Private Internet Access

Facebook’s New AI Tool Asks to Upload Your Photos for Story Ideas, Sparking Privacy Concerns The Hacker New

Imperial Collapse Watch

Toms River tells homeless to move their belongings out of municipal parking garage Asbury Park Press

Decorated Marine Corps veteran, homeless for more than a decade, braces for change Central Oregon Daily News

Trump 2.0

Trump Goes Haywire on AI Regulation After China Agrees to Major Trade Deal Futurism

With Iran, President Trump faces his neocon moment The Hill

Americans reveal which top Trump adviser they trust the most and the shocking stat that unites his Cabinet Daily Mail

What the “12-day war” teaches us about Trump’s foreign policy Vox.com

Musk Matters

Why is Mexico threatening to sue Elon Musk over SpaceX debris? Al Jazeera

Elon Musk finds his Tesla ‘scapegoat’ after billionaire’s White House antics were blamed for cratering EV sales Daily Mail

Elon Musk rips into ‘utterly insane’ Trump-backed megabill CNBC

Democrat Death Watch

Mamdani’s primary win exposes Democrat divide as top leaders withhold endorsements Fox News

They Don’t Hate Mamdani Because he’s a Muslim Radical. They Hate him Because he’s a Muslim Normal The Mizrahi Perspective substack

Top Texas Democrats ponder the state’s future at forum amid questions about what’s next for their party The Texas Tribune

Immigration

How DHS Facial Recognition Tech Spread to ICE Enforcement Reason

Deportation nation: Trump 2.0 is gunning for new records in immigration prosecutions The Hill

Our No Longer Free Press

Press-Freedom Groups File Brief in Defense of Reporter Timothy Burke’s Right to Gather Newsworthy Content Online FreePress.net

LAPD Arrest of Journalist at ICE Raid Fuels Press Freedom Fears

Mr. Market Is Moody

Hedging America: Appetite For The Dollar Is Waning Fast Axios

US goods trade deficit widens in May as exports fall Reuters

Analyst sends alarming message after S&P 500 hits all-time high The Street

AI

Federal Judge Recognizes the Right To Train AI on Copyrighted Works Reason

Modern love: Gen Z turning to AI to do their dating dirty work — breakup texts and apologies NY Post

The AI Backlash Keeps Growing Stronger Wired

The Bezzle

Slavery, torture, human trafficking discovered at 53 Cambodian online scamming compounds Cyberscoop

Lost Pet? Beware of New Scam Involving Fake Pet-Finding Services Greenwich Free Press

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (via)

A bonus (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here

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131 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Suppressed News.
    @SuppressedNws
    An Israeli woman shared a screenshot from an Israeli man’s dating profile saying: “Weirdest gift I’ve given or received: a dog brought me someone’s leg in Gaza.”
    She captioned it: “Stuff you only find on dating apps in Israel.”
    Another Israeli replied: “Delete this, it could go viral and give us a bad reputation.”
    She responded: “Oy, I didn’t think about it. But it’s a terrorist’s leg.”
    The tweet was later deleted.’

    The Internet never forgets.

    Reply ↓
    1. John k

      Black mirror series too dark for me, but maybe they could do a new season on israel. Lot of material there.

      Reply ↓
  2. DJG, Reality Czar

    Although I am leery indeed of the site, a so-called East Asia Rise that doesn’t list contact info and seems to have a name cobbled together by a committee of people in China who missed a few of their English classes, I do recommend this video of Yanis Varoufakis to you:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMjLaTiY0vA&t=731s

    Varoufakis is a clear thinker who marshals the facts and lines them up in a way that helps to make sense of the current economic swamp and the collapse of moral authority. (Note how he points out that Western liberals aren’t truly asking for anything anymore.)

    I wonder if East Asia Rise is a bootlegger — I see all kinds of spurious music channels that somehow grab classical-music performances and repost them, some guy from Hanoi or elsewhere who “happens” to have several Ravel masterpieces. Oh.

    But Varoufakis is worth a listen

    Reply ↓
    1. .Tom

      I haven’t watched this video yet but I’ve been keeping up with what Varoufakis has been talking about this year and last and sharing his work with friends. His speech to the left bloc in the the EU Parliament recently was very good and comprehensive.

      He’s been talking recently of what he calls military Keynesianism. It’s an interesting and provocative name that neatly describes the American bipartisan policy that he insists Europe should not now adopt. That’s all quite right but I worry about this kind of term. Military Keynesianism reminds me of the Military Industrial Complex in that it seem like a term designed to make liberals feel better. The story of the MIC suggests that the problem is one of rot in the administration and democratic oversight of government departments and all we need is reform. This story conceals the true purpose of the Western system, that of absolute domination at any cost. Western supremacy is first of all about power. Money, which has central place in the military Keynesianism and MIC stories, is one of the dimensions in which power operates but is itself subordinate to power. The power is the end in itself. From this perspective the corruption of the MIC actually makes the brutal exercise of Western supremacy less efficient.

      I don’t mind that Varoufakis uses a liberal sop like that to help build a coalition. Politics is like that. I just want to avoid deceiving myself.

      Reply ↓
      1. Michael Fiorillo

        All due respect to Varoufakis, who is updating the idea, but the term Military Keynesianism was being used by Columbia Professor Seymour Melman in the early eighties, if not before.

        Reply ↓
  3. flora

    A databank potentially very useful in the research for answers to long covid is being shut down. / wth

    ‘Globally significant’ Covid vaccine study biobank to be destroyed
    The Queensland Government says there is “no longer a scientific and public health need” for this valuable biobank and linked data

    The collection of biosamples and data from this comparison set was all the more significant in light of the fact that the Covid vaccine manufacturers unblinded the placebo arms in their randomised controlled trials (RCTs) within months of the trials beginning, preventing the collection of medium-to-long-term trial data on vaccine effects.

    Professor Kerryn Phelps AM, a GP and former president of the Australian Medical Association, said that the QoVAX biobank and dataset was “extremely valuable” to research which is needed to inform diagnostic and treatment protocols for Covid vaccine injuries and long Covid.
    ,,,
    While the overlap between Covid vaccine injury and long Covid has been highlighted in several key studies, doctors and patient advocacy groups say there is still a dearth of research to identify the underlying mechanisms of these conditions.

    https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/globally-significant-covid-vaccine

    Where is the benefit in destroying this database? Who benefits?

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      “Who benefits?”
      The Jackpoteers.
      This is plain old-fashioned Eugenics at work. The Social Darwinists never went away. They just bided their time.

      Reply ↓
    2. marku52

      People who make vaccines that might be proven to cause harm. and the governments who mandated them on the population

      Reply ↓
      1. Lee

        It would of interest to know which vaccines you refer to. The current vaccine regimen for infants and children, some of which are mandated for entry into public schools, seem to be keeping more people alive and healthy than would otherwise be the case.

        Reply ↓
  4. DJG, Reality Czar

    Fox News exposes Democratic Party (class / entrenched barnacle) divide:

    Moderate New York Democrats, including Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and Reps. Ritchie Torres, Adriano Espaillat and Pat Ryan, are also yet to endorse Mamdani. Those congressional Democrats, as well as Suozzi, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital inquiry about whether they planned to endorse Mamdani.

    I don’t know about you, but watching the antics of a certain junior senatrix from New York these last few weeks, I suspect that somebody owes Al Franken an apology.

    The wrong person was bounced out of the U.S. Senate.

    Reply ↓
  5. vao

    Vladimir Putin’s war threats are why aliens haven’t made first contact, expert claims

    The Onion can no longer compete…

    Reply ↓
    1. Dan S

      Note that Nick Pope is ex MoD. The Brits are so Russophobic that it even infects the UAP/UFO crowd. I for one welcome our new alien overlords. How could they do any worse than we have? If they were smart, they’d follow the outline from Tiptree’s “The Screwfly Solution”.

      Reply ↓
    2. Alice X

      From the piece:

      “And if they knew their Earth history, they’d know never to write off trust the Brits (or the US).”

      Well, except for my correction.

      Reply ↓
    1. Norton

      Collect the links and make a short course intro to economic history, mid-century modern edition. Have incoming freshmen, and grad students, and anybody, benefit from edification.

      Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    “Star-Shredding Spectacle: NASA Reveals Brightest Black Hole Blasts Since the Big Bang”

    ‘Black holes are usually invisible, hiding silently in space unless something gives them away. Some constantly consume gas and dust, glowing brightly as they feed. Others stay completely quiet for years, only revealing themselves when a star wanders too close and gets torn apart.’

    So of course the question asks itself if we would know if our sun was going too close to a black hole. And if we did, how much warning would we have. Years? Months? Hours?

    Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        That bit I knew. But those black holes out there in space sound just like interstellar mines. Get too close to one and Whoommmp! Game over, man. Game over!

        Reply ↓
    3. urdsama

      I’d worry more about the lack of light and heat. The Sun turning into a black hole would have no real impact from a gravity perspective.

      Reply ↓
    4. cfraenkel

      The new Rubin observatory linked here a few days ago should be able to see a nearby black hole, at least if it was in view of the southern hemisphere. Not the black hole itself, but what’s behind it that will shift positions as our relative positions change.

      Reply ↓
      1. Samuel Conner

        I suspect that the angular resolution may not be good enough for the fine measurements required to detect displacements in the apparent positions of background objects. The Rubin observatory is designed to maximize a combination of camera field of view and light collecting power. I think the FoV objective means it can’t optimize the camera pixel resolution for high precision astrometry.

        There is also a characteristic pattern of change in the apparent brightness of the background object as the foreground deflector passes by. Rubin observatory may be able to detect some of those, since it periodically revisits every part of the above-horizon sky.

        Reply ↓
  8. Nikkikat

    I certainly hope we take a rest from the internet take over of Bezos and his stupid wedding.i don’t know why or who would care about this jerk and his trashy looking wife. These ridiculous celebrities and the kardasians. I’m sick to death of having to scroll through pages of these trashy looking people and their so called fashion. We don’t care! Enough already.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      What are our chances then of having a GoFundMe for a Russian Oreshnik? I’m sure that all those Amazon workers would gladly chip in. I mean, those people are all gathered together in one small area. Would anybody even get upset if this happened? Just sayin’.

      Reply ↓
    2. Wukchumni

      We sent our regrets for not being able to attend in the RSVP, and I hope Jeff doesn’t take this as a sleight vis a vis our absence on the happiest day of his life, but I had to weed-whack.

      Reply ↓
    3. griffen

      It is encouraging in a sense, just how much can be spent on a lavish overseas wedding with only the best and brightest of this world on the invite list!?! \sarc

      Jeff and Lauren
      Sitting in a yacht
      Jeff started Amazon
      Competition he squashed
      State taxes aren’t his deal
      Small bookstores he crushed with glee
      Same day delivery far and wide
      And a prenup initialed by the bride

      “We” dearly love the wealthy athletes, actors and celebrities but for what exactly, it’s difficult to tell why any longer. I mean I did ( okay always will ) worship, say Michael Jordan as a younger man but realize he just isn’t above reproach.

      Reply ↓
    4. Steve H.

      Nikkikat, Venice was just the Gaza of elite warfare. The grotesqueries are immensely costly signalling devices, in which we outside the modern Versailles hall of mirrors can see, reflected and diffracted through the bullet-proof glass, the flexian positive assortment of who’s-in-whom’s-not, in which rent-a-towns, yachts, implants, even the protests themselves, are the induced selection process amongst larval trillionaire tribes. Those bombastic boobs are the burning babies. Bezos owns the Washington Post and uses it as a flagship to launch his broadsides. Reddit is skewed against the spectacle. Reddit is owned by Conde Nast, which owns the New Yorker, and you can even see how this contest is consolidating regionally.

      > Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. – Eleanor Roosevelt

      Reply ↓
        1. Steve H.

          I had missed that. Still, play with me a moment:

          Owners:

          Advance Publications (30%)
          Tencent (11%)
          Sam Altman (9%)

          Majority owner Advance also owns Conde Nast.

          A tickle to watch out for. Altman feud w Zuck over AI project; Tencent owns WeChat, which is having executive-level difficulty penetrating western market, which could be solved by a western buyer.

          Also, Bezos just lost his AI boss to another company, as yet unnamed.

          The principle being, don’t co-own with rivals. Unless you want to steal their secrets.

          Reply ↓
          1. Young

            This is not new. Some years back, an Indian (m?b)illionaire had a wedding in Antalya, Türkiye.
            He brought all his family, guests, cooks, servants for the celebration that lasted three days. He booked an entire five-star hotel.

            Reply ↓
    5. The Rev Kev

      I thought that Jeff may be a bit of a cheapskate here. I mean, the guy is supposed to have a net worth of some $237 billion and he only spent $60 million for this wedding? For him, that’s pocket lint and he probably earns that much while he is having his dinner.

      Reply ↓
  9. ChrisFromGA

    Let’s get ready to rrrrr-ug pull!

    One of those senators, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said they won a promise of an amendment vote related to the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Their proposal would end the 90 percent federal cost-share for new enrollees under that arrangement, Johnson said — gutting a key feature of the law known as Obamacare.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/28/senate-megabill-vote-debate-00431389

    If your state voted to expand Medicaid, expect a Mike Tyson uppercut to hit your budget square in the face sometime in the not-so-distant future.

    Reply ↓
    1. chris

      Fellow Chris, it is always amazing to see Lambert’s rule #2 in action (Go Die!). I recall that this exact thing was discussed as a huge problem with the ACA from the very beginning, and a reason why many states decided to not initially expand Medicaid. I’m not sure what it will take to get our country to accept that US Healthcare is an enormous example of a market failure and that we need single payer and other reforms to make it work. But we just went through a terrible pandemic shock and are still coping with the now endemic virus… and you don’t hear a peep about single payer from people anymore. So I guess there really isn’t anything to be done. We will never get it. The people in power refuse to even allow it to be considered.

      Reply ↓
  10. Terry Flynn

    Reform was always just a protest movement led by a guy who likes to snipe and get money from his many jobs.

    Governing isn’t what they’re about. I am a little surprised the Mail did this hit piece but I sense they’re not yet sure which right wing party to back. They should have mentioned what I *think* was the first Reform councillor to resign (here in Notts before a week elapsed and we still don’t know why).

    Here in Notts the previously ruling Conservative Party and now official opposition are following the maxim of “never interrupt the enemy when he’s making a mistake” and just watching from the sidelines as I strongly suspect Reform will start losing by-elections rapidly. Meanwhile, cutting funding for flood defences in the East? That’s their CORE territory! When realpolitik kicks in I don’t think other parts of the UK will be willing to accept Lincolnshire refugees from sea level rises when we can’t even house our own most deserving cases. Basketcase party!

    Reply ↓
  11. jefemt

    Q: What is Capitalism (X/Twit tape- 5 minutes). Anyone know who the interviewee is?

    While he did not answer the question, his diatribe was spot on and quite interesting. It will be shared. Tnx!

    Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      I believe that is Scott Galloway, a professor at the NYU business school after I ran a few different efforts at sleuthing around. He looked familiar but I couldn’t readily place him. He’s given some qualitatively quite rational interviews* on CNN Smerconish weekly show, both leading up to last year’s election and also after the election was completed.

      *those interviews centered around the supposed, broad state of affairs and the outlook for the American youth, particularly for young American men. As to the above video linked today,well it goes back to the now maybe classic adage from Warren Buffett, and his views on a class war.

      Reply ↓
    3. rob

      Considering whose show he was on; I would guess he is ” another guy”….. they won’t have back on.
      My guess

      Reply ↓
    4. JP

      It was good. No new news but a concise synopsis. It dovetails nicely with today’s take down of Milton Friedman.

      I have often said that if I could go back in time and assassinate any historical figure, it would not be Hitler or John W Booth, it would be Milton Friedman.

      Reply ↓
      1. Michaelmas

        I doubt that terminating Milton Friedman from the timeline would actually provide much of a jonbar point.

        Friedman was only a popularizer who knew how to dumb down neoliberal thought sufficiently to make it broadly understandable to Americans and sell it in the US. If not him, Charles Koch and his group would have picked others for the job.

        Reply ↓
        1. JP

          Milton Friedman was the economic cover for promoting corporate greed. Before Friedman corporations were expected to have some social responsibility. His dictum that corporations only had obligations to shareholders and further were cheating shareholders with any consideration other then profit was eagerly embraced by congress shills. This did more to advance social inequality than any one other thing I can think of. It provided cover for the flawed Citizens United decision.

          Dumb Americans didn’t know who Friedman was. It was government and corporations that bought the koolaid. Neither was it neoliberal thought. It was pure libertarian.

          Reply ↓
        2. JP

          Jonbar hinge, that’s obscure. Milton’s long career is not analogous to picking up one of two objects. Alan Greenspan was an accolade of Friedman. They both kept a copy of Atlas Shrugged within reach. Greenspan was a primary engineer of the 2008 financial crisis.

          Reply ↓
    7. Glen

      Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher have had a vlog called Pivot for about a year now:

      Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
      https://www.youtube.com/@pivot/featured

      I think it popped up in my YT feed when when Musk and DOGE was in the news since she has interviewed almost all of the Silly Con Valley tech oligarchs including Musk.

      Reply ↓
  12. Carolinian

    Re Mizrahi

    As an Arab Jew with artistic and intellectual tendencies who grew up under white Jewish Ashkenazi supremacism, I cannot help but chuckle when I see the Zionist reaction to Mamdani.

    Or, in other words, if antisemitism is a bad thing then surely philosemitism is also bad since both are based on racial stereotypes. If tribalism is bad then all tribalism is bad regardless of who is doing it. Of course this entirely reasonable assertion–the equivalent of MLK’s quest for “colorblind” (religion blind?)–bumps up against the realities of power, the quest for which is also seemingly universal.

    But there’s certainly a case to be made that “DEI” is merely a smoke screen for a class war that wants to pick it’s villains and paint itself as virtuous. By that view Mamdami’s real sin is the threat to money and power with NYC being USA money/power ground zero. MLK got this too. Then they shot him.

    Reply ↓
  13. griffen

    Breaking up with a lover or significant other is so very hard. So you need, wait for it, an assist from AI to hone or enhance those skills? If it doesn’t destroy the human race it’s definitely going to dumb things down several ways from Sunday. Goodness. ” Get off my lawn ” moment for my Sunday morning, possibly and yes I am older but not that old….

    FFS. Maybe just maybe, stream of find some sappy 70s or 80s love song…How about a few offers by a Fleetwood Mac track, to sample. You can go your own way….Go your own way…

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      I have had moments when Harry Nillson’s “avant-garde” ditty “You’ve Broken My Heart” would fit perfectly.
      NSFW!!
      “You’re breakin’ my heart
      You’re tearing it apart
      So f— you”

      Reply ↓
  14. pjay

    – ‘With Iran, President Trump faces his neocon moment’ – The Hill

    LOL! When I saw this headline I naively assumed it would be a warning for Trump to resist neocon pressure. Instead, it is a call for him to fully embrace his inner neocon and finish the job in Iran to complete their project for a New Middle East!

    The author’s bio is interesting, though not exactly in the way of most neocon warmongers publishing in The Hill. A half-term Republican Congressman who apparently switched parties in opposition to Trump (and after losing multiple elections in overwhelmingly Democratic Hawaii) and was rewarded by the Biden administration for supporting Biden in 2020.

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

    Reply ↓
  15. Carolinian

    The AI versus copyright ruling.

    Alsup states that authors “cannot rightly exclude anyone from using their works for training and learning as such.” While it’s perfectly reasonable to expect people to pay for access to copyrighted material once, making everyone pay “for the use of a book each time they read it, each time they recall it from memory, [and] each time they later draw upon it when writing new things in new ways” would be “unthinkable,” ruled Alsup. Likewise, it is fair use for AI companies to use legally acquired copyrighted works to train LLMs “to generate new text [that is] quintessentially transformative.”

    Of course the notion that you can own a thought–intellectual property–is itself an entirely constructed thing like AI and didn’t exist before the industrial revolution where the new laws fostering this were meant to encourage innovation. The real question is whether AI is indeed “transformative” or just another tech bubble.

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      I’ll go out on a limb here and assert that AI really is ‘transformative.’ It will transform our gold into lead.

      Reply ↓
        1. Jabura Basadai

          if you want some real magic bananas listen to Robert Edward Grant’s LLM creation on ChatGPT he calls Architect – it will take you back to Atlantis or Lemuria and explain your past lives – of course Grant is the Chosen One according to his creation – friend sent the interview on Think Tank and started to worry about my friend after trying to listen to it for an hour of time i wished i could get back – won’t even burden y’all with the link –

          Reply ↓
      2. Terry Flynn

        Thanks. I have more or less said before but will clarify that AI won’t ever in its current form help people to run the discrete choice experiments that were main tool of my career.

        95% of the time I worked within a multidisciplinary group (which for health stuff had a highly specialised clinician and I had to rapidly learn their lingo to converse! ). Thus the “imaginary but realistic” scenarios respondents had to chose between were informed by input from variety of sources, judgement drawing upon (for instance) what a clinician of the calibre of IM_Doc or KLG considered “not available right now but given research likely to be available soon”. To use economics parlance, we “moved northeast of the production possibilities frontier” which by its nature isn’t out there to be scraped by AI.

        Certain people like Steve Jobs could do a fair amount of this stuff due to innate intelligence and “gut feel” for the market but that’s v v rare. An AI is far more likely to just make stuff up.

        Reply ↓
          1. Terry Flynn

            Unfortunately, yes, you are correct. I closed my business after 4 years post-academia: not because I was making losses. It was because I could see which way the wind was blowing. Politicos didn’t want “bit more expensive and correct” when they could buy “cheap and giving them the answer they wanted, which their pets at the Guardian/Daily Mail/NYT etc would lap up”. *sigh*

            Reply ↓
            1. ambrit

              Sorry about that. It makes one pine for the days of feral journalists.
              I wish for the return of the “Addison and Steele Dossier.”

              Reply ↓
    2. scott s.

      Of course copyright isn’t about “owning a thought”, it’s about granting a monopoly to publish a thought in a tangible means of expression.

      The extension to “public performance” seems to me a bit far. Likewise, the monopoly was to be for a “limited time”.

      Reply ↓
    3. chris

      Key point being legally acquired works. I don’t think much of what they’ve used in training data so far was legally acquired.

      Reply ↓
  16. The Rev Kev

    “Did Trump just dump the Ukraine War into the Europeans’ lap?”

    That was always the plan. Militarize Europe to tie down the Russians. Force them to spend 5% of their GDP on militarization so that they end up buying a lot of US weaponry meaning they become even more dependent on the US. Encourage Europe to turn themselves into a fortress of some sort, no matter what the costs are for ordinary Europeans. Cut pensions, cut heaklthcare, cut infrastructure but keep on spending money on the military. And if a big chunk of that money ends up in the bank accounts of their leaders, who cares?

    With this being done the US can turn their attention to the Pacific to militarize the entire region against China. Already there are demands by the Trump regime for all the nations in this massive region to spend 5% of their GDP on their military forces and trade demands that they stop trading with China. Make the whole region a series of missile sponges so that it will be easier for the US to threaten China. So maybe Taiwan can be the next Ukraine. Fun times ahead.

    Reply ↓
    1. Kouros

      There is no willing ear in Asia except the Australians, who always ask “How high?” The rest of the lot is quite pissed. Japan and South Korea refused to go to this last NATO gathering, which was the epitome of sycophancy, that cannot be endured by said countries, who have a quite high bar, due to their excessive politness and defference to hierarchy.

      The word was, after the meeting in which Hegseth demanded increase in defense in front of ASEAN, that the guy is nuts. Nobody wants war with China, or contain China. So likely, fun times ahead. We might see some dirty laundry washed in front of the public.

      And likely the US wants to recall the new South Korean president, given his peaceful moves towards NK (the removal of megaphones, etc.).

      Reply ↓
  17. Carolinian

    Think this may have been linked here yesterday but this article is chock full of information.

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/27/iran-us-israel-strikes-dia-bomb-facilities/

    The main takeaway is that, assuming Iran did remove the nuclear material, they no longer need Fordow and have other locations available to enrich to bomb grade. That still means testing to prove it works but allegedly Israel itself only did one test off of South Africa and nuke knowledge a lot more established than it was in 1945.

    So Iran could easily take on a stance of “nuclear ambiguity” to match that of Israel. Strangely none of TPTB seem to object to the latter.

    Jaw jaw better than war war. Somebody tell the egomaniacs in Israel and the one in the White House.

    Reply ↓
  19. Ignacio

    Thank you for this link Haig

    Climate, conflict and energy security – our research shows how the EU’s industrial policy must change to face this polycrisis The Conversation.

    The paper linked within by Hickel et al, which is the basis of the article, is proof that alternatives to neoliberal thinking are achieving maturity and there is the possibility that these might be integrated in new or existing political platforms. Most likely new because the traditional parties are so sunken in neoliberal tradition. Though this paper explores the contradictions within EU industrial policies its implications go well beyond. It should be complemented with a new financial framework not focused on debt creation, wealth extraction and ever increasing asset inflation. These guys, the post-growth economists, have a few interesting things to say that need to be translated into new political frameworks. Does anybody know about any existing ‘post-growth’ political platform in any country?

    Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    “China’s rare earths are flowing again, but not freely”

    I’m reckoning that China will only issue licenses for refined rare earths on a very strict basis. That they will issue only enough for American car manufacturers and the like. The production level of cars, for example, will tell them that they are being used there and only there. But if they see that those materials has been diverted into weapons manufacture, then when the six months is up they will yank all licenses on the grounds that the Trump government has been lying and cheating. So long as they keep this big spanner inserted into US weapons manufacturing, they know that it will buy them years to make their own preparations as the US will not be able to manufacture the weapons to threaten China with.

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      If there is shortage of rare earths there will be price hikes. Re-armament efforts could drive spikes in the cost of cars (specially electric ones), wind turbines and all kinds of “smart” things in all the CW but particularly in the EU.

      I have read somewhere that rare earth production is so energy intensive that the mere use of these rare earths in renewables results in increasing GHG emissions. (This assertion might be challenged i am not sure if the calculi made in that paper are correct).

      Reply ↓
    2. ChrisFromGA

      They (China) will need to dole out the licenses so sparingly that any diversion away from the auto makers to military industrial companies like Raytheon will result in those automakers’ profits crashing as production lines are shut down.

      So yes, China should be able to tell whether monkey business is happening by watching production levels of autos and reading SEC-mandated financial reports on the automakers’ business.

      If the Big 3 try to fool China by going back to 1980s style of manufacturing and putting AM/FM radios and hand-cranked windows as the only options, that ought to be obvious as well. Corporate espionage is another route to detect monkey business.

      Reply ↓
    3. scott s.

      From doing some reading, I’ve come to a conclusion that simply referring to “rare earths” isn’t useful; there are specific elements within the grouping of “rare earths” that are in higher demand than others.

      I don’t see good data on all the industrial uses. It seems like most the attention is on magnets and it isn’t clear to me if it is the constituent elements that are the sole issue but also the finished magnets themselves. That is, is there much difficulty in fashioning magnets given that you have the elements? And in what form must the elements be? More than simply processed ore that has concentrated the element? Is purity an issue?

      It seems like it isn’t economically feasible to simply mine the ore and transport it or export it in bulk, but is this correct?

      Reply ↓
  21. Mikel

    Re: How China is revolutionizing hospitals!

    A quick glance at the freeze frame where the video starts had me hoping for a high tech air filter and ventiliation system.

    Reply ↓
  22. The Rev Kev

    “What the “12-day war” teaches us about Trump’s foreign policy”

    Maybe not the lessons suggested in this article. People will learn that Trump is now totally aligned with the Neocons at the cost of his America First supporters. That he will take pride in helping arrange attacks in the middle of advanced negotiations – like the Japanese did in 1941 – with him calling them ‘head fakes.’ That he is agreement incapable. That he will always side with Israel to the point of protecting them from themselves. That he put’s Bibi’s welfare above Israeli justice. That you cannot trust any agreements with him as he will break them if he sees an advantage.

    And not only did Iran see this but the whole world saw this and all those other countries will act accordingly.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      It’d be one thing if Benedict Donald was in the process of destroying yet another business deal gone awry, do and say anything to keep the project alive, initiate lawsuits and obfuscate, always pumping yourself up in the process.

      But the fact is, he’s the USA as far as other countries are concerned, and Germany & Italy requesting a quarter trillion worth of their ‘rare earths’ back from us, is an indication of how they feel.

      It’s only been in our custody since WW2

      Reply ↓
    2. Kouros

      Trump foreign policy or the US foreign policy? I would like to see some examples with the US keeping their agreed promise.

      Reply ↓
    3. Victor Sciamarelli

      It’s not enough to say, “People will learn that Trump is now totally aligned with the Neocons” because the Neocons are totally aligned with the Israel Lobby and both are committed to policies that Israel wants to pursue. IOW, Trump is a disgrace.

      Reply ↓
      1. Victor Sciamarelli

        Furthermore, Trump is not merely POTUS he is an international brand. His name is synonymous with hotels, golf courses, apartment buildings, luxury condos, crypto currency, and other deals and investments. For any corporation, protecting the integrity of the brand is crucial—think Boeing if they have another accident.
        Trump and his family are wealthy and he expects that once he leaves office he and his family will be even better off. The Neocons and the Israel Lobby can spread rumors, plant stories in the press, lies attached to emails—just ask Chas Freeman—and without attacking Trump directly they can severely damage the Trump brand so that investors or buyers will back away from all things Trump in the future. Trump is vulnerable.

        Reply ↓
    4. mahna

      People will learn that it does not matter who the president is. Just kidding, of course they won’t. They would buy the lies of the next one all the same.

      Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    {calls for fair catch @ the 30 yard line}

    If the US Military was an NFL team that played mostly away contests and had a 0-5 record since the turn of the century with games in the Ukraine & the Holy Land still in progress, wouldn’t we drop the generals at some point and hire new ones?

    Reply ↓
    1. John Wright

      There is another pro team that encapsulates the losing nature of Washington D.C. foreign policy and its well funded military.

      The team is expected to lose by the fans, and it usually does.

      This team is the foil to the Harlem Globetrotters and is the “Washington Generals”.

      And to consider that the Harlem Globetrotters opponent’s name may have helped condition the USA to see consistent losing as something Generals do, especially those based in D.C.

      Reply ↓
    3. ilsm

      US has a fox news host and a national guard retiree reading the propaganda in the top empire security posts

      Reply ↓
  25. AG

    I had to split due to length

    1/3
    re: Germany vs. freedom of the press

    As part of next week´s panel in Berlin on July 3rd JUNGE WELT daily featured this piece with one of the 3 sanctioned German reporters, Hüseyin Doğru who will be present.

    Archive.is did not work so I post the entire English machine-translation.

    I believe it is important enough due to some of the legal details mentioned which make this so dangerous especially as almost nobody beyond small and online media talks about it.

    In Doğru´s case EU has apparently been using the reporter´s work about Gaza to implement against him sanctions against Russia simply with the argument – hold your breath – that his reporting about Gaza would incite hatred etc. in Germany and thereof be supportive of Russian hybrid warfare against Germany and the EU.

    So one conflict is connected to the other without any logically and factual basis, legally here described as a non sequitur. But that doesn´t matter the least.

    He received no letter, no call, no info whatsoever. No basis for the verdict.
    No court, no judge, no jury. I believe he still is waiting to actually see the evidence.

    Pure, sorry, Kafka.

    Oh and btw EU had called him Turkish citizen which he is not. So they didn´t even get that right…

    This is hair-raising. And the worst about this is its almost complete absence from major public discussion:
    1) People do not know
    2) They most likely would agree with sanctions
    3) Other journalists are happy or do not care

    There goes your democracy and not by hysterical fascism talk when it just suits the state-media.

    Reply ↓
  26. Victor Sciamarelli

    Rüya on X — “Children in Gaza pick up flour from the ground… This is a shame for the whole world!”
    I don’t think this is a shame for the whole world but, rather, for the US and Israel which have become an immoral, vicious, malignant, pair of countries and which until they’re stopped pose a danger to the world.

    Reply ↓
  27. AG

    2/3
    re: Germany vs. freedom of the press

    The article
    6/28/25

    “(…)

    Russia sanctions
    The enemy within
    The EU is defending its “fundamental values” with sanctions against journalist Hüseyin Doğru. He is accused of being close to Russia because he reports on Palestine.

    By Max Grigutsch

    When asked how it could happen that the EU sanctioned a German journalist, Hüseyin Doğru answered in an interview with junge Welt on Tuesday :

    »Information plays a very important role when it comes to wars and geopolitics. We saw that in the Iraq war, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the UN with alleged evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (the aforementioned UN Security Council meeting on February 5, 2003, is considered the prelude to the war against Iraq that began a few weeks later, jW ). He later admitted: That was a lie, the information had been manipulated by US intelligence services. Whoever has a monopoly on this information wins wars. What has happened especially since the war in Ukraine: information has been legally militarized within the EU.

    In 2022, the EU enacted the Digital Services Act, which lays the foundation for a crisis mechanism. If the EU declares a crisis situation, it can de facto censor media and journalists who do not report in line with its principles. This logic had already given rise to the term ‘disinformation’: Anyone who does not report in line with my principles is spreading disinformation. This paved the way, but it was not enough. In October 2024, the EU escalated its approach – officially placing ‘disinformation’ on the list of ‘hybrid threats’ to European security. In doing so, it expanded its sanctions regime and enshrined an extralegal mechanism, outside the control of legal and judicial authorities, with which journalism can be sanctioned, punished – and effectively silenced.

    That’s why I say this is a precedent. It’s now being tested on me. The EU kicked down my door for the Federal Republic of Germany because the legal hurdles here are too high. But once the foundation has been laid, the Federal Republic of Germany itself will kick down the doors of journalists in its own country.”
    (…)

    Reply ↓
  28. AG

    3/3
    re: Germany vs. freedom of the press

    (…)
    With his reporting on Palestine, he is sowing “ethnic, political, and religious discord” and thus aiding Russia’s “destabilizing activities.” What might seem like a non sequitur (“it doesn’t follow”) to a logical mind is the official accusation against Hüseyin Doğru. He is one of three German journalists affected by “restrictive measures” under the European Union’s 17th package of sanctions against Russia .

    How one finds out that one is being sanctioned, Doğru explained to junge Welt on Tuesday : “I was not notified at all.” Doğru is the founder of the left-wing project Red Media , which is currently in liquidation , and has been on the sanctions list since May 20. An official notification was not sent to a company address in Turkey until May 22. It arrived there about a week later. The media worker, who lives in Berlin, noticed the restrictions in his everyday life: “The bank cards no longer work, and then you are left without cash.” His pregnant wife tried to buy medication at the pharmacy, “and suddenly her card didn’t work either,” says Doğru. “My wife is neither on the sanctions list nor does she have anything to do with it.” When asked about this, the German Central Bank, which is responsible for implementing financial sanctions, described the blocking as a mistake – but as of Friday, the account had not yet been released.

    The corresponding implementing regulation of the Council of the EU is intended to take action against the Russian Federation, which it has dubbed the main enemy of “European freedom.” Moscow is increasingly pursuing “hybrid activities,” including “foreign information manipulation and influence, disinformation, and malicious cyber activities,” according to a resolution from early October 2024. Russia has “intensified its campaign of this kind on European soil.” Sanctions were imposed on “persons, organizations, or bodies (…) responsible for, implementing, or supporting actions or policies of the Government of the Russian Federation that undermine or threaten the fundamental values of the Union and its security, independence, and integrity (…).” Accordingly, anyone who “directly or indirectly” participates in, supports, or “otherwise facilitates” violent demonstrations can be listed. The same applies to participation, support, or facilitation of “coordinated information manipulation and influence.”

    The fact that journalists report on protest movements and critically assess issues should come as no surprise to defenders of the “fundamental values of the Union.” According to Doğru, he has not been convicted of a crime, but he is being sanctioned nonetheless. The reason given is that Red “systematically spreads false information about politically controversial topics.” For example, during the “violent occupation” of a German university, the media outlet colluded with the “anti-Israeli rioters” to spread “images of vandalism.”
    Journalism for Russia

    The non sequitur remains problematic: What does this even have to do with Russia? Nothing in terms of content, as the EU’s statement makes clear. However, Doğru’s AFA Medya, the company operating Red , which is also on the sanctions list, is said to have “close financial and organizational ties” to Moscow, according to the main accusation. According to the journalist, this is not true. Doğru explained to jW that he previously worked for the left-wing media outlet Redfish . The media outlet was financed by the news agency Ruptly , which is part of the Russian foreign broadcaster RT . That is in the past, but “if you have the label ‘Russian’ in Germany, you can’t get rid of it,” said Doğru.

    The EU’s level of knowledge doesn’t seem to be particularly comprehensive; after all, Brussels considers the journalist a citizen of Turkey—even though he is a German citizen only. None of the press offices contacted by jW could answer whether police or intelligence information about the journalist’s possible connections to Russia exists, or which authority initiated Doğru’s sanction. The Federal Criminal Police Office refused to provide information for data protection reasons. Press spokespeople for the state of Berlin initially referred to each other and ultimately to the federal government. Regarding the latter, the Federal Foreign Office informed jW on Monday that “in compiling evidence packages that form the basis for a list of individuals and companies, (…) publicly available sources are used” and also referred to the next authority, the EU.

    Finally, Anitta Hipper, senior spokesperson for the EU Commission on foreign and security policy, offers a more detailed account. “Proposals for inclusion on the list can be submitted either by the High Representative” – the Estonian Kaja Kallas – “or by one or more member states,” Hipper said on Wednesday. Because discussions on new sanctions are confidential, she “cannot disclose information about who submitted the proposal.” Furthermore, the publicly available justification for the sanctions is “supported by evidence” that “will only be forwarded to the listed person or their legal representative.” Contrary to the information provided by the Federal Foreign Office, Hipper confirmed that “both publicly available and secret evidence” can be used, but that she is not permitted to disclose information about these.

    Doğru and his lawyers were granted access to the non-public evidence on Tuesday – about a month after his inclusion on the sanctions list. The conclusion: No secret evidence, Doğru said on Friday. Before further consultation with his lawyers, he could only say that he still doesn’t know which German authority is responsible for his sanction. But is all this enough to make the journalist an agent of Russian influence?
    What doesn’t fit…

    …is made to fit. Ruth Firmenich, a member of the European Parliament, declined to speculate on whether the justification for the sanctions constitutes an impermissible conflation of alleged Russian activities with solidarity with Palestine. “It is, however, clear that political protest is being subjected to increasing restrictions and attempts at criminalization against the backdrop of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza,” the BSW politician explained on Tuesday in response to a query from jW . Opinions that deviate from the government’s course are increasingly suspected of being illegal. The EU prides itself on its commitment to press freedom, but the “sanctions list is now also being used to criminalize critical reporting.”

    The more opaque the list’s creation, the more tangible its consequences. Those sanctioned are prohibited from entering EU countries without authorization. All assets are frozen, meaning they are made inaccessible to their owners. A minimum subsistence level must be guaranteed, but this requires approval from the Bundesbank, as the Bundesbank confirmed last week when asked. “This could take up to two weeks,” Doğru added. Through these measures, the EU is “destroying the lives and professional existence of those affected” and hopes for a “deterrent effect for other journalists,” Firmenich commented.

    Doğru is also barred from gainful employment as a journalist, for example, at the daily newspaper junge Welt . Sven Sattler, head of the Sanctions Enforcement Division at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, offered a similar assessment in response to a query from jW . Even though his ministry is not permitted to provide legal advice, Sattler explained that the so-called provision ban applies in the case of individual financial sanctions. This essentially means that the sanctioned person “may no longer receive any economic benefits” – not even in exchange for paid work. And: “An intentional violation of the provision ban constitutes a criminal offense.” A spokesperson for the General Customs Directorate also confirmed the ban and the criminal liability for violations to jW .

    Meanwhile, Doğru is preparing for legal action. Alexander Gorski, one of his lawyers, spoke clearly to jW on Friday: “The sanctions demonstrate how far the EU is willing to go to silence critical reporting on Palestine. The fact that a journalist is being sanctioned for his work is a constitutional scandal.”
    (…)”

    Reply ↓
    1. Daniil Adamov

      The logic is a familiar and simple one. “Russia wants to destabilise the European Union, critical reporting theoretically destabilises the European Union by stirring unrest, therefore critical reporting=Russian misinformation campaign”. I remember this thinking from a lot of American reporting from 2016 onwards. I doubt whether there’s much to it than this and the past connection to RT. Pretty weak stuff, but when you want to silence someone and most people don’t mind, it will do.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        sorry if this reads “upset” –

        The issue here is not Russiagate, or RT. Let alone the fact none of that bears even the slightest substance (Russiagate had nothing to do with Russia, RT is no more state controlled than any major European broadcaster.)

        I see it as unwise to even grant the EU here the slightest of argumentative space. Because nothing of this, I repeat nothing, is legal (in a serious sense), or legitimitate, or in fact true and eventually of any real relevance to our societies. The reporter should receive a medal if anything at all.

        What we observe here is the replication of the US strategy: Abusing the Gaza issue as a battering ram into the entirety of information space and First Amendment rights at large.

        Unlike in the US, however in Europe we have no viable free speech tradition which could oppose such moves.

        If they say democracy dies in silence this is the very moment and the very means to enable that death.

        By now I have nobody except around half a dozen people who I can talk to about these things without either starting a yelling match, or explaining things starting with 1917 to raised eye-brows.

        It might not matter to other places but freedom of speech, the culture of open discussion where it does matter is breaking down in Europe/Germany now. And just like NATO striking back with all its might, this decay will not happen over night.

        But fast forward 20 years from now and we will not recognize this continent again.

        Noam Chomsky warned 30 years ago just because we were able to gain certain fundamental rights there is no law of nature that would guarantee us that they will remain in place.

        And this is the moment where it starts.

        Reply ↓
        1. Daniil Adamov

          It’s absolutely not legitimate. As for it being legal, I don’t know the laws in question, but it certainly seems dodgy. The trouble is that it really doesn’t seem like most people would object to it, and therefore they seem likely to get away with it. A lot of people who support free speech in theory don’t seem to mind it when the wrong kind of free speech is punished.

          Ironically that was how it went in Russia in the 90s and later – the liberals were happy to undermine the expansive free speech environment that emerged under Gorbachev to hit (actual, but largely harmless) anti-Semites, nationalists and communists, then wailed when the government turned on them and their pet causes (anti-clericalism, gay rights), with hardly any reflection about how it happened. And now it does look like the West is proceeding in more or less the same direction, but in the name of opposing us!

          Reply ↓
          1. AG

            Of course it is legal. But legality is completely meaningless if it´s defined by the elite´s exclusive interests. On the same basis you could render it illegal.

            And even if there is an angle that offers a chance to go to the Constitutional Court which of course can turn down cases instead of ruling it eventually will decide against you as has happened in every single normative case since the serious attacks on First Amendment rights in Germany have started with the SMO.

            Because of course when it comes to powers to be the court and the law are political and taking definite sides. Which I have never understood. If a court is supposed to look over the Constitution that must include the liberty to stop new confinements made to constitutional rights by the state upon the individual. Yet, that almost never happens. In Germany the government is almost always right by design. The German Constitutional Court is seriously the most ridiculous institution you can imagine. With media virtually ineffective what is left to do? Either arm yourself and rise or go into inner immigration like I do. Former won´t happen. So that is that. Sic transit gloria mundi.

            Very interesting point on Russia though that you make. So this desperation at least has the benefit that I learn a few things…

            Reply ↓
          2. hk

            I was in process of writing something snarky about destroying democracy to protect democracy is legitimate (sarc), then realized this is in fact what many people seriously believe.

            What is “democracy,” really? That just means, in the end, that the government is chosen based on votes cast by citizens and counted within requirements of readonable principles. What is free speech? Again, thr only real definition is mechanical one: no restraint imposed by the state on people speaking their mind, within a reasonable definition of speaking. Within these definitions, or for that matter, many other notions spoken of hagiographically, there really is no “moral” content–and there shouldn’t be, because, if there is, that would mean that the state is empowered to decide what is moral.

            But many, or even most, people are not motivated by abstract principles. They are motivated by what they consider moral and “democracy,” “free speech,” or whatever are just tools to advance their sense of “morality.” Now, are people like UvdL really interested in “morality”? Probably not. But, to paraphrase the old saying, morality is the last refuge of the scoundrel…

            Reply ↓
            1. Revenant

              The concept of Gaza being the battering ram to assault free speech is very interesting.

              The Establishment in the UK has, as I have repeatedly posted, been turning the screws on Kneecap for speaking out very loudly about genocide in Gaza. This weekend was Glastonbury festival, over 200,000 people in some fields watching bands. Kneecap’s set was controversial: the Prime Minister took time out from supporting Israeli genocide in Gaza and crimes of aggression against Iran to lobby against Kneecap playing but the owner of Glastonbury, Emily Eavis, spoke in defence of its political tradition.

              Well, Kneecap played (5* reviews all round) but they were not broadcast live and, even after editing, they were controversial. But the preceding act, “Bob Vylan”, was broadcast live and gratifyingly said everything live that Kneecap went on to say, with chants of Free Palestine and Fuck Keir Starmer. Lol :-)

              In fact, they said rather more. They led the crowd in chants of “Death to the IDF!”. Definitely aggressive. But the UK press and political class has lost its tiny mind and denounced them; Emily Davis has been clearly threatened into writing a letter deploring this and the local police are investigating Bob Vylan and Kneecap.

              So now, apparently, it is wrong to wish death to the Israeli army. Well, what are they there for, otherwise, if not to deal death to Israel’s enemies. Why do they get a free pass in return? How is Palestine to exercise its right of resistance? By tickling the oppressors into submission? Zionists are the worst snowflakes, dealing out death and destruction, shooting children and firing on aid recipients but crying to mummy that people who object to this should wish harm on them!

              But the mainstream media climate in the UK is that the hurt feelings of Israel matter more than the right to resist or to speak of resistance or to denounce genocide. And you can see an escalation: with every new outrage, more outlandish subjugation is demanded. Emily Davis defended Kneecap last week and today she is grovelling about the IDF. I don’t blame, she has obviously had her festival threatened. But the brazenness of the Israeli / Ukraine / Westoid lobby, that they think we believe she didn’t write the letter at metaphorical gunpoint (or just don’t care that we believe à la 1984 as long as we submit) is breathtaking.

              They are coming for higher and higher profile targets as they will not be satisfied until nobody can criticise them. And UK politicians and journalists are enabling them, the former by proscribing and denouncing organisations and protests and the latter for portraying this as perfectly reasonable.

              Gaza would appear to be a line in the sand for Western civilisation….

              Reply ↓
    1. Terry Flynn

      Thanks for pointing this out. I’m utterly sick of pay walls, particularly for academic stuff. 99% of my academic work was publicly funded and should be free for the public to read.

      Sadly, the articles that perhaps “provide the most comprehensive account of the philosophy and mathematics” and thus should be open to scrutiny, are protected by the usual suspects.

      Fortunately I have several articles which, whilst not written for the lay person, are certainly far more approachable to (say) certain NC readers who might get a much better idea of where people like me and our field are coming from. I’ve noticed one of these open access ones grow in citations according to Google scholar at a remarkable rate. Empirical evidence that open access gets more interest and debate.

      Reply ↓
    2. John Wright

      I’ll suggest it would be a societal good to have pay walls that lowered as time passed.

      Those who were willing to pay for the complete article would get the information first while others would be able to read the entire article in a few weeks.

      This could be a good marketing scheme for the writers as their, now stale, articles reach a wider audience, some of whom might convert to paid when they read the complete article and want complete, fresh, information in the future.

      Reply ↓
      1. Terry Flynn

        No. I did public research that should be available to the public immediately.

        One AI, when I looked up my field (Best Worst Scaling) might have been written by a 3 letter organisation. I honestly found it funny that the main link was to a 2024 review article by a guy who took 4 paragraphs to get to the key reference (our definitive textbook, as publicly stated by top people in health, academic marketing, math psych etc). Instead it was a puff piece stating how many BWS studies he’d done. Quantity is different from quality and his fundamental misunderstanding of what BWS can do in theory (and displayed by me in practice) was on show.

        I didn’t get angry. I laughed. Then felt sorry for him……I wonder if he has “other issues”. His unit may get targeted by Trump. He shouldn’t come knocking on my door for recommendations. Nor anyone else outside USA. Lie down with dogs, rise with fleas. Grandma’s favourite saying.

        Reply ↓
        1. Sub-Boreal

          As far as I can tell, Krugman still has a salaried full-time academic position (https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/paul-krugman); he’s not listed as emeritus. And he’s at a public institution (CUNY).

          Seeing a tenured academic at a public university with a paying side-gig that directly taps into his professional expertise always rubs me the wrong way. That’s definitely a cultural difference between norms in the US and many other countries. I’m most familiar with practices in Canada where this kind of thing is not common, because of explicit policy and/or peer pressure. Occasionally we’d be aware of colleagues doing paid consulting on the side, but it was usually folk in Biz schools.

          I guess my view – call me idealistic and old-fashioned – was that if you were working full-time on the taxpayers’ dime, your production was fully subscribed and should be disseminated with as few barriers as possible. If that salary wasn’t enough, you should quit and earn a living another way. Of course, I realize that there are grey areas, for example, a lit prof who also writes novels or short stories that taken up by commercial publishers. But an economics prof at a public uni who charges for his economics commentary and analyses is clearly over the line.

          Reply ↓
  30. Jeremy Grimm

    “Your Review: Alpha School”
    I am not sure what to make of the essay in this link. I did not have to read very far before becoming afflicted with visions of the described ‘AI’ programs teaching in grade school as a bizarre re-imagining of a kind of computer based Skinner Box for kids. It soon became impossible for me to evaluate the arguments and data presented to decide what I thought of the idea. I was too strongly, too viscerally repulsed by the idea.

    Reply ↓
    1. Burritonomics

      I had a similar reaction. I read most of it. The elite truly do not live in the same reality. Seems like a tech wrapper over giving kids focused attention and feedback in their studies (with an exorbitant price tag).

      Reply ↓
  32. OIFVet

    Zionist propaganda accounts on Twitter are stating that Kamenei has issued a fatwa on Trump’s life. No evidence is provided. Congress critters like Ted Cruz are swallowing it hook, line and sinker, because of course they are. All in all, Zionists’ descent into dangerous madness proceeds apace.

    Reply ↓
    1. Samuel Conner

      Perhaps it’s projection.

      Alexander Mercouris, in today’s commentary, mentions a recent (post-cease-fire) interview in which Defense Minister Katz advises Khamenei to stay protected in his bunker.

      Reply ↓
    2. Samuel Conner

      A point which I have not seen noticed anywhere (though I have not been looking very hard) is that the “cease-fire” is a suspension of hostilities, but the undeclared state of war would seem to still exist between Israel and Iran (sort of analogous to what would exist were Putin to agree to Zelensky’s demand for an unconditional cease-fire).

      Another (temporarily) frozen conflict.

      Reply ↓
  33. Jason Boxman

    The MANNA FoodBank describes the devastation to be wrought by SNAP cuts:

    Nine months after Hurricane Helene washed out roads, farms, and homes, Western North Carolina is still piecing life back together. In April, more than 189,000 people turned to MANNA for help —the highest monthly need we have ever seen. Now, just as our region continues to fight rising food insecurity, the U.S. Senate is racing toward a vote on a budget package that would carve $211 billion from SNAP, raise states’ administrative costs, and cut up to $1 trillion from federal spending, with Medicaid taking the biggest hit.

    Why does that matter here at home? SNAP is already the first line of defense for about 90,000 people in our 11th District and 1.4 million across North Carolina—children, seniors, working families, veterans, and neighbors living with disabilities. When Helene hit, the state processed 169,000 new SNAP applications in a single month. Enrollment in our hardest-hit counties climbed to nearly 240,000 this spring. No charity can scale that fast. For every meal MANNA provides, SNAP supplies nine.

    (bold mine)

    Democrats claim the latest revisions are still destructive to human beings:

    Senate referee greenlights GOP’s updated SNAP proposal in ‘big, beautiful bill’

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      These bastards have had to resort to so much subterfuge, lies, crooked accounting that would make Ken Lay blush, and breaking their own parliamentary procedure that the Senate should just be covered in yellow tape and declared an active crime scene.

      Reply ↓
  35. Ann

    Maybe this comment will be seen by someone before it gets removed, but on Ian Welsh’s site today, commenter KT Chong posted two comments, the first one contains this:

    “Jiang Xueqin, a Beijing-based historian, has recently gained viral attention for his remarkably accurate predictions regarding major geopolitical events. I’ll let his videos and his own words speak for himself.

    All these videos were uploaded over a year ago, but people have only recently discovered them:

    • How Empire is Destroying America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_blj8zKdKgA

    “In this class in this semester, I am making three big predictions. First is that Trump will win in November. Second is that United States will go to war with Iran. And the third big prediction is that…”

    • America’s Imperial Hubris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JieFC4Yww4o

    “… in [Trump’s] second term, there will be a very strong likelihood that the United States will go to war with Iran… I want to make the argument today that the military will go along with the war…”

    • The Second American Civil War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go1bMQKnJBQ ”

    There is much more, and another comment. This historian teaches high school students and his predictions are impressive. Go to Ian’s site and see the comments, or go to the professor’s YouTube channel “Predictive History” and peruse the titles yourself:

    https://www.youtube.com/@PredictiveHistory/videos

    Reply ↓
  36. ChrisRUEcon

    Scott Galloway getting on MSNBC to tell the brutal truth about America’s billionaire oligarchy is another moment that will ultimately go unheeded. Once again, we’ve been here before after Bernie’s #shitLib-brain-melting Nevada win in 2020. After that event, Anand Giridharadas called out the media and the political establishment (via commondreams.org). They didn’t listen then, and they will not listen now. Galloway said the only three self corrections possible are war, famine and revolution. My bet’s on the third one.

    Reply ↓

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