Links 6/23/2025

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1. Antifa June 23, 2025 at 7:00 am

   Askin’ Folks I Meet In Public
   (melody borrowed from Battle Hymn Of The Republic written during the American Civil War by Julia Ward Howe, here performed by the incomparable Odetta)

   Mine ears have heard these stories from the mighty MAGA horde
   They are heaping filthy language on the man they once adored
   Donald used to be their Captain, now they’ve thrown him overboard
   They can’t keep keepin’ on!

   ‘I got snookered, what’s it to ya?’
   ‘Trump was always gonna screw ya!’
   ‘He’s just in it for the moolah!’
   ‘And now he bombs Iran!’

   ‘Trump is stashing lotsa money in the biggest Wall Street banks’
   ‘Sending orders ‘cross the country to buy missiles, bombs, and tanks’
   ‘He still says it’s for the workers waiting hungry in the ranks’
   ‘It all sounds like a con!’

   ‘I got snookered, what’s it to ya?’
   ‘Trump was always gonna screw ya!’
   ‘He’s just in it for the moolah!’
   ‘And now he bombs Iran!’

   ‘Trump is schmoozing with his owners in his Oval Office suite’
   ‘With his mouth and tiny fingers on the Deep State’s swollen teat’
   ‘While I’m workin’ two jobs just to buy my kids a slice of meat’
   ‘Impeachment? Bring it on!’

   ‘I got snookered, what’s it to ya?’
   ‘Trump was always gonna screw ya!’
   ‘He’s just in it for the moolah!’
   ‘And now he bombs Iran!’

   ‘Trump ignores the daily grind that is our grim reality’
   ‘He has got us in a new war ’bout the river to the sea’
   ‘Then he wants a war with China that will start up World War Three’
   ‘Who cares about Taiwan?’

   ‘I got snookered, what’s it to ya?’
   ‘Trump was always gonna screw ya!’
   ‘He’s just in it for the moolah!’
   ‘And now he bombs Iran!’

   ‘Trump thinks China pays the tariffs that get laid on you and me’
   ‘I can’t buy a freakin’ omelette ’cause my medicine ain’t free’
   ‘He belongs inside a prison, they can throw away the key’
   ‘And now he bombs Iran!’

   ‘I got snookered, what’s it to ya?’
   ‘Trump was always gonna screw ya!’

   Mine ears have heard these stories from the mighty MAGA horde
   They are heaping filthy language on the man they once adored
   Donald used to be their Captain, now they’ve thrown him overboard
   They can’t keep keepin’ on!

   Reply ↓
2. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 7:15 am

   ‘Barak Ravid
   @BarakRavid
   Netanyahu: “We won’t get dragged into a war of attrition with Iran. When we achieve our objectives, the fighting will stop”‘

   Newsflash, Bibi. You’re already in a war of attrition. You’re running out of missiles and your cities are being slowly razed. But since your objective is regime change in Iran and for the whole country to be broken up, it does not sound like you want to quit anytime soon. I guess you have to keep this war going as else you have that prison cell awaiting you. Guess normalizing the sodomy of prisoners was not such a good idea after all, sweet cheeks.

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3. Wukchumni June 23, 2025 at 7:24 am

   Oh, the political agenda is frightful
   But the Trump ire is so inciteful
   And since we’ve no place to go
   Let it snowball! Let it snowball! Let it snowball!

   Man, it doesn’t show signs of stopping
   And I brought me some corn for popping
   Peace expectations are turned way down low
   Let it snowball! Let it snowball! Let it snowball!

   When we finally kiss Hormuz goodbye
   How I hate going around the horn
   But if you’ll really put up a fight
   All the way home it’ll be the new norm

   And the 2nd Trump term is slowly dying
   And, my dear, he’s still lying
   But as long as you love Israel so
   Let it snowball! Let it snowball! Let it snowball!

   How I hate going around the horn
   (But if oil gets real tight)
   Well, all the way home it’ll be the new norm

   And the 2nd Trump term is slowly dying
   And, my dear, he’s still lying
   But as long as you love Israel so
   Let it snowball! Let it snowball! Let it snowball!

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4. Kurtismayfield June 23, 2025 at 7:36 am

   RE homelessness.

   Everyone knows that more housing is needed, but can we please think of the housing values? What will happen to the prices of homes if we build more and artifical scarcity disappears? Can someone think of the investors?

   No seriously if every community built out like Austin TX has, there would be no need to discuss housing costs. If you build housing, the artifical scarcity disappears.

   Reply ↓
   1. Christopher Smith June 23, 2025 at 8:18 am

      On the other hand, Austin built-out over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. This means that the aquifer is not recharging as fast while at the same time all that development is draining the water faster and faster. Housing capacity should not shoot past carrying capacity, which Austin has done. Of course by the time the Aquifer is empty and the river is dry, the developers will be long gone with the money.

      Reply ↓
5. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 8:04 am

   “US urges China to dissuade Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz”

   The gall of these people. They tried to wreck China recently and now they are asking China for a solid? Seriously? Maybe the Chinese should talk to the Iranians and then come back to Rubio-

   China: ‘Hey Rubio. We have some good news for you and some bad news for you.’

   Rubio: ‘Well? Well? What did they say?’

   China: ‘Good news is that they will keep the Strait of Hormuz open.’

   Rubio: ‘That’s great news that. But what’s the bad news?’

   China: ‘Yeah, that only applies to oil tankers heading to China. Anything else is toast.’

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6. griffen June 23, 2025 at 8:10 am

   Since some things like, oh directly involving US armed forces and this weekend developments in foreign entanglements on various fronts now, yet again, this all has a feel of circa 2002 and the global war on terror redoubt. Anyone feeling like a good old reminder from the “OG” Secretary at DHS….Tom Ridge and his Code Orange or Whichever color shade was being used for high alert instances ? And to add…Somewhere in a bunker likely based in Wyoming, I can reliably guess that perhaps now, Dick Cheney approves of this Trump administration.

   I can admit that I don’t necessarily miss those days much. Here I’d thought we might get peace of some sort and flavor, alas so it goes. Make War Great Again ? \sarc

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7. Wukchumni June 23, 2025 at 8:15 am

   Dispatches from the War On Cash®

   SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. (FOX26) — Starting May 21, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will switch to a fully cashless fee system for park entry.

   Visitors will need to use mobile payments, credit cards, or debit cards to pay entrance fees.

   It has been a month since war was locally declared on greenbacks, almighty bucks, dead presidents, long green, Benjamins, semollians, fins and double sawbucks @ Sequoia National Park, with skirmishes from the other side including somebody who attempted to pay their $35 entrance fee in Lincoln Cents and was detained on his own recognizance just outside the park entrance.

   Credit cards are good for possibly getting into a locked motel room, but make for awful ad hoc mortar shells compared to a Kennedy half $, is the opposition thinking.

   Reply ↓
   1. Randall Flagg June 23, 2025 at 9:30 am

      >Visitors will need to use mobile payments, credit cards, or debit cards to pay entrance fees.

      Gotta keep those swipe fees and 3% +/- credit card fees rolling in…

      Reply ↓
   2. griffen June 23, 2025 at 9:50 am

      Blazing Saddles….when the marauders and loyal adherents to Hedley Lamar encounter the latest tollway booth…”we’re gonna need a sh*tload of dimes! What will that A*hole think of next…”

      Firsthand knowledge, though, that cash is the undisputed king when electronic systems go dark however and power goes out for several days. So I’ll keep clinging to my habits and visit locations that advise you upfront accordingly, “dear customer, should you choose to pay this establishment via your preferred card of choice, that activity incurs a fee for me so it then turns into a fee for thee…”. It’s really a card and merchant fee duopoly and yes it’s “Everywhere you want to be…”

      Reply ↓
8. eg June 23, 2025 at 8:30 am

   “Western democracies are actually pretty good at war”

   It’s an admittedly guilty pleasure, but watching Noah Smith embarrass himself with his rambling, ahistorical, category error ridden justifications of the status quo never gets old.

   Reply ↓
   1. mega June 23, 2025 at 9:00 am

      Western democracies are actually pretty good at war Noah Smith, Asia Times

      They sure are better at war than at democracy.

      Reply ↓
   2. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 9:16 am

      You wonder how can he be so bad at facts. Oh, that’s right. He graduated from Stanford and is into economics-

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Smith_(writer)

      Reply ↓
      1. John Wright June 23, 2025 at 9:35 am

         Smith is a very rare individual.

         It has been asserted that some economists have “physics envy” of the deterministic nature of physics compared to economics.

         Smith got a physics undergrad degree THEN he went the economics route.

         Perhaps he is a rare case of a physicist with “economics envy”.

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         1. Wukchumni June 23, 2025 at 9:36 am

            Seen one dismal scientologist, seen ’em all.

            Reply ↓
9. Antifa June 23, 2025 at 8:32 am

   For those not familiar with the region, India’s refusal to keep to the Indus River treaty means no less than the death of Pakistan as a nation. We can hope that this refusal is intended to force a complete renegotiation of that Treaty, but then ANY reduction of water flowing into Pakistan from India means Pakistan goes without crops. They cannot go without food and survive as a nation state.

   Pakistan has no ‘no first use’ policy for its 180 atom bombs. If India starts building dams to restrict water, Pakistan can remove them. This region is by far the most likely place to see nuclear war in the future.

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10. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 8:34 am

    “The Graves on the Hillsides Still Speak: What Kaja Kallas Gets Wrong About Irish History”

    ‘Addressing a debate on NATO and security, she turned her gaze west and declared that while her native Estonia had endured “atrocities, mass deportations, and cultural suppression” behind the Iron Curtain, Ireland had simply “built up its prosperity.” The implication was plain: the Irish don’t understand what real suffering looks like.’

    And with that my jaw literally dropped. Kaja Kallas isn’t wrong about Irish history. She is profoundly ignorant about it. She is just a child – a 48 year-old child. Bad news for the EU is that they have already realized that she is incompetent in her job as the EU’s chief diplomat but they are stuck with her for years to come creating all sorts of messes in her job. Can you see her meeting Putin face to face? She better not put in an appearance in Ireland any time soon as her reception will be frostier than Estonia in wintertime.

    Reply ↓
    1. JMH June 23, 2025 at 10:35 am

       Perhaps stop with Kaja Kallas is profoundly ignorant, which seems to be a badge of office these days.

       Reply ↓
       1. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 10:39 am

          You mean like with Ursula von der Leyen as well who continuously failed her way up?

          Reply ↓
11. doug June 23, 2025 at 8:35 am

    The article on ostrich feathers was a fine distraction and much appreciated. Then the picture! More appreciation….

    Reply ↓
12. MicaT June 23, 2025 at 8:45 am

    I havent seen this talked about. China held a massive African trade agreement and also one for Central Asia.

    Here is a discussion about it.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KU6zfyoSlLo&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

    Reply ↓
13. Munchausen June 23, 2025 at 8:53 am

    Belarus opposition leader Tikhanovsky freed after US-brokered pardon Intellinews

    … his wife, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya …

    … their children, each one an opposition leader.

    Other prominent opposition leaders remain in prison

    Other opposition leaders included in the release …

    In Belarus, everyone gets to be an opposition leader.

    Reply ↓
14. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 8:58 am

    “Oh look! A ‘think tank’ manufacturing consent to bomb Iran with tactical nukes”

    Saw an example of this on the TV news earlier today. I was passing by the TV when this presenter brought on some muppet from a local think tank. The guy proceeded to say that Iran was near a nuclear threshold so something had to be done. But of course the TV presenter never asked him how is it that the IAEA found zip as did all the US intel agencies. However that was not her job. Her job was to deliberately misinform and manufacture consent. WMD 2.0.

    Reply ↓
15. t June 23, 2025 at 9:01 am

    Its algorithim looks to identify and infer ‘hostile intent’ from indirect indicators — metadata, behavioral patterns, signal traffic — not from confirmed evidence. In other words, it postulates what suspects may be thinking, or planning.

    As we all know, the key to making an algo work is understanding how to set up queries. (And managing data sets.)

    Wonder how many runs were required to get Palantir’s desired outcome.

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16. Xquacy June 23, 2025 at 9:06 am

    Re Tracy tweet:

    MAGA will snap back to full warmongering and cheering for all of United States’ foreign adventures, because their opposition to war is not based on moral principles.

    Reply ↓
    1. Michael Fiorillo June 23, 2025 at 10:36 am

       Their enduring moral principle is, while being force-fed excrement, and to ask for more.

       Reply ↓
17. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 9:23 am

    “You were told battery swapping failed. China proved everyone wrong.”

    I saw and linked to a video showing this about a year or two ago. Pretty neat how they do it. However. Anybody else get the impression that the Chinese are living in the future – and we are going backwards?

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni June 23, 2025 at 9:28 am

       As a card carrying member of the Pyrite Billion, I must admit to being fooled by capable countries.

       Reply ↓
18. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 9:41 am

    “US Willing To Negotiate On Iran Nuclear Energy: Rubio”

    I got an idea. How about if Iran offers the US an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. I’m sure that Israel would honour it – just like the one for Lebanon. Sucks to get into a shooting war with someone that can shoot back – and has more bullets than you.

    Reply ↓
19. Carolinian June 23, 2025 at 9:56 am

    Very interesting article on Chinese EV battery swapping. You buy the car cheaply and then lease the battery. Even though Trump is trying to roll America back to the 1950s, electric cars make a lot of sense if the battery problem can be solved. ICE cars with their many pollution and mileage controls are super conplex but also a very mature and, thanks to computers, reliable technology (maybe less so in soggy or wintry climates). The article says swapping in China is especially popular for taxis and commercial vehicles that need to be used continuously.

    How many other technologies will pass us by as our business elite focus on green pieces of paper?

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20. Martin Oline June 23, 2025 at 9:57 am

    This war is John McCain’s fondest dream come true. It’s too bad he up and died before seeing it. I thought there needs to be a tribute to all his years of hard work so I twisted up the old song Cocaine Blues in his memory. I call it McCain Blues:

    Early one mornin’ after phoning the bank
    Took a shot of horse and a line of crank
    Went right home and into the bed I fall
    I stuck that pic of Johnny up upon my wall

    Got up next mornin’ and I grabbed that pic
    Took a shot of cocaine and I run real quick
    Made a good run, but ran too slow
    They got me in Isreali town of Jericho

    Stayed in that hotel doin’ what I please
    Getting my pleasure on my hands and knees
    In walked the sheriff from the ICC
    Said “You’re the southern belle that started World War III.”

    Said, “Yes, sir, yes, my name is Lindsey
    If you’ve got a warrant, just read it to me
    Started that war ‘cause it pays real good
    It pays a whole lot better than brotherhood”

    When I was arrested, I was called a hack
    They put me on a plane and it took me back
    Money did me no good ‘cause there weren’t no bail
    They slapped my dried up carcass in that Belgium jail

    Got up every mornin’ kissed ny picture of John
    Heard the newspapers called me Devils’ spawn
    The marshall swore and points his finger at me
    Said, “Come on you dirty hop into the ICC”

    Into the courtroom, my trial began
    Where I was handled by 12 wigged men
    Wearing black robes they sat up so high
    I felt that John McCain was standing by my side

    In about five minutes they decided my fate
    Hearing that verdict was a terrible weight
    The verdict read in the first degree
    I hollered, “Lordy, Johnny, have mercy on me”

    The judge he smiled as he picked up his pen
    99 years in the Tehran pen’
    99 years will drive me insane
    I never should have listened to that John McCain
    Come on you pols and listen unto me
    Lay off those kick backs and let that cocaine be

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21. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 10:06 am

    ‘Michael Tracey
    @mtracey
    MAGA influencer pivot
    – Trump was not involved with Israel bombing Iran!
    – He was involved, but that’s good!
    – He’s pursuing diplomacy and peace!
    – The diplomacy was fake, but that’s good!
    – He’s bombing Iran, but no Regime Change!
    – He’s doing Regime Change, but that’s good!’

    There was a bit of humour here. After the bombing, you had Vance and Hegseth and I think even Rubio giving interviews saying how this attack was not about regime change. But then Trump went on Truthsocial and said that it was totally about regime change and Make Iran Great Again thus leaving Vance, Hegseth & Rubio twisting in the wind.

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22. upstater June 23, 2025 at 10:14 am

    New York is looking to get on the bleeding edge of new nukes. Hochul thinks new nukes will give us “affordability’. I think bankruptcy is more likely.

    New York to Build One of First U.S. Nuclear-Power Plants in Generation wsj archive

    Gov. Hochul directs state’s public electric utility to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear-power production

    “I’m going to lean into making sure that every company that wants to come to New York and everyone who wants to live here will never have to worry about reliability and affordability when it comes to their utility costs,” she said.

    Uh… New York State doesn’t have the politcal, managerial, engineering or skilled trades that built our huge public power infrastructure 60 years ago. Or China and Russia today.

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23. Wukchumni June 23, 2025 at 10:19 am

    … We walk a lonely avenue
    I never thought I’d meet an adversary like you
    Meet an adversary like you
    With orange hair and liars eyes
    The kind of eyes that hypnotize a country through
    Hypnotize us through

    … And Iran, Iran so far away
    He just rants, Iran all night and day
    I couldn’t get away

    … A dark cloud appears above his head
    A beam of more lies comes shining down on you
    Shining down on you
    The dark cloud is moving nearer still
    World War 3 comes in view
    World War 3 comes in view

    … And Iran, Iran so far away
    He just rants, Iran all night and day
    I couldn’t get away

    … Reached out to determine your fate
    You’re slowly disappearing from my view
    ‘Pearing from my view
    Reached out to play a bad hand again
    I’m floating in a bad light with you
    A bad light with you

    … And Iran, Iran so far away
    He just rants, Iran all night and day
    And Iran, Iran so far away
    He just rants, I couldn’t get away

    I Ran (So Far Away), by Flock of Seagulls

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpfWORQWhU

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24. Acacia June 23, 2025 at 10:39 am

    Giant Pro-Palestine demo happening in Berlin:

    https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/1936526829482869158

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    1. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 10:49 am

       The German establishment must be freaking out. How dare they.

       Reply ↓
25. Colonel Smithers June 23, 2025 at 10:46 am

    Thank you, Conor.

    Last week, Revenant and I exchanged comments about the new head of MI6.

    Yesterday, new details emerged in Russia about the chief spook’s grandfather, a Red Army captain called Metreveli turned collaborator after capture by the Wehrmacht. Last week, the name used was Dobrovolski.

    Yesterday evening, I again chatted to dad who recalls the chief spook’s father guest lecturing in KSA. Dad’s colleagues recall the father being employed as a radiologist under a different name, Borkovski, not the name he used when guest lecturing, Metreveli. As an employee, dad added the father would have to provide a birth and even marriage certificates. These can be faked as a British doctor did when moving in with a partner, soon employed as a vet by the KSA royals.

    It seems the chief spook and her dad have something to hide. Her appointment appears to have upset some more senior colleagues and due to foreign influence on the selection.

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    1. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 11:05 am

       Thank you, Colonel. I don’t suppose that that spook’s father also goes by the name Joseph Mifsud as well, does he?

       Reply ↓
26. JMH June 23, 2025 at 10:47 am

    Serious attack or performance? I vote for performance and blather, strong points in the DC Bubble and Echo Chamber.

    Bibi wants out of the war of attrition that he started? Isn’t that special. Looks like he had his answer with the latest missile barrage.

    Kaja Kallas??? I already posted about her.

    Congressional Vote-orama? What’s a vote-orama? Is that when you cobble together every thing you can think of, tuck in your master’s dearest and most destructive wish, may a few bucks for yourself, waft an osculation toward Donny’s posterior and call it a BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL? Something like that. Maybe they can get their collective thumbs out, but I doubt it.

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27. The Rev Kev June 23, 2025 at 10:59 am

    “Scoop: Trump launches MAGA PAC in effort to oust Rep. Massie from Congress”

    I sometimes think that Trump wants to turn the Republican party into his own personal cult that must demonstrate total loyalty to him and him alone. I wonder what the good people of Kentucky will do. Vote for the Trumpist who will put Israel’s interests first or vote for Massie. There seems to be a fight about this in the Republican party. I heard that at the last big Republican party convention, that they had a huge Israeli flag hung up with the words ‘Israel First’ below it. Some guy tried to rouse the rabble to back this whole idea but since most people there wanted to put America first, it did not do so well. I don’t think that most of those same people would be happy with Trump trying to push America into a bloody war with Iran for the sake of Israel either. Below is a link to another take on the Massie fight-

    https://news.antiwar.com/2025/06/22/trump-attacks-rep-massie-for-opposing-his-illegal-bombing-of-iran/

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