Links 6/30/2025

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1. NN Cassandra June 30, 2025 at 7:19 am

   The “Death, death to the IDF” chant is really good one. I didn’t hear it before, is it new?

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2. JohnA June 30, 2025 at 7:20 am

   Here in Blighty, the High Court has ruled that the sale fo F-35 parts by the UK to Israel is lawful. In the meantime, the foaming at the mouth media and ever eager to crush a butterfly on the wheel police are working overtime to get performers and audiences at the Glastonbury outdoor music festival who sang death to the IDF prosecuted. A woman who livestreamed the performance of Kneecap, which had been censored by the BBC, is also likely to get her collar felt.

   Words, words, words. Yet no official outcry about further deadly shootings by the IDF of starving Gazans queuing for scraps over the same weekend. The world is very definitely upside down. Alice in Wonderland had nothing on ‘democratically elected politicians’ in the west today.

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   1. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 7:46 am

      Well in all fairness to those kids at the Glastonbury music festival, they were thinking of chanting ‘Death, death to Nazis’ instead but they figured that Starmer would get even more upset about that because he would take that as criticism of the Ukrainian military which is his own personal pet project now. Starmer can tell you where places like Kiev, Kharkiv and Lviv are but I bet he has no clue where Glastonbury is.

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      1. JohnA June 30, 2025 at 8:53 am

         I rather suspect that very soon anyone writing Kiev instead of Kyiv etc., in the west, can expect a visit from a heavy police squad and a hefty prison sentence.

         In the meantime the Daily Telegraph wants the British navy to sink shadow fleet Russian oil tankers passing through the Channel, in international waters, even though they are being escorted by a Russian warship. Commentators below the line are of the opinion that the escort should be sunk as well. They are outraged that the lifeboat service rescues overloaded rubber dinghies in distress so their heads would presumably simply explode were a lifeboat to go to the aid of the crew of a Russian vessel attacked. Readers are reliably informed by Telegraph journos and editors that Russia is about to collapse and a cornered Putin is desperate to survive. Who knew?

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         1. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 9:06 am

            You could have the Russian army march up Whitehall but the Daily Telegraph would tell you that it was a desperate rear guard action.

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            1. .human June 30, 2025 at 10:12 am

               LOL. I’m keeping this one, Rev. Will make the rounds wherever I comment.

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   2. lyman alpha blob June 30, 2025 at 9:54 am

      It’s extremely outrageous and disorienting to see all the uproar over words when the sticks and stones and murdering women and children and starving people every day goes unremarked by these same authorities. I suppose that’s the point of it all, trying to keep the rest of us off balance.

      The Zionist propaganda wurlitzer is on full volume right now. Last week it was Zionist entity trolling by putting pro-IDF ads on during Napolitano and Nima’s programs. Now I was just listening to some Greek rebitiko music on spotify and was interrupted by an ad for a podcast I might want to listen to about the “real” Israeli history. I’m not sure what Greek music has to do with Israel, so it must be the full court press. Or maybe the algo has identified me as someone who needs “reeducation”.

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3. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 7:23 am

   “US soldiers drop live grenades from drone in Germany, say tactic will soon be part of normal training”

   Wow. That is amazing that. Really innovative thinking. Did TRADOC think of that? I’m sure that nobody will ever expect something like that. Well, not unless they watched decade-old ISIS propaganda films where they were doing the exact same thing.

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   1. JohnA June 30, 2025 at 7:48 am

      Did the drone pull out the pin before release and the lever is activated, and if so how long was the interval before the grenade exploded?

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      1. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 7:56 am

         From the following section, it sounds like the drone pulls the pin-

         ‘On Wednesday, 1st Lt. David Baker checked Audible’s dropper device. He then attached a hand grenade, making sure the pin was in the correct position to be pulled. He removed the safety clip and the drone was airborne.’

         Doesn’t really matter as those things would get knocked out of the sky in a place like the Ukraine through all the Russian electronic interference. This US Army drone is seriously out of date.

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         1. ambrit June 30, 2025 at 9:14 am

            That depends on where this “infernal device” is intended to be deployed at. Russia or the Ukraine, problematic. Downtown Los Angeles, piece of cake!

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            1. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 9:21 am

               Smoke grenades? Flash bombs? Paint bombs? Stink bombs? So many possibilities.

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               1. duckies June 30, 2025 at 9:29 am

                  Sex bombs?

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               2. converger June 30, 2025 at 11:59 am

                  Glitter bombs! Pies!

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      2. Wukchumni June 30, 2025 at 8:08 am

         In a historic first, a drone was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for bravery while out on the training range.

         The lowly Pfc below, a fellow with butterfingers and lots of video game experience had inadvertently bypassed the drone and pulled the pin, but not the release and other drones were in the vicinity and if it wasn’t for the brave actions of this particular drone, mayhem might have ensued had it not jumped on the grenade par avian, per se.

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      3. Mass Driver June 30, 2025 at 9:54 am

         If they use unmodified.grenades, soldier pulls the pin before drone goes airborne. 3D printed receptacle holds the lever in place (and the whole grenade). Once the grenade is released, lever flies off and the “timer” is on (Wikipedia says 4–5.5 seconds for M67).

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4. Colonel Smithers June 30, 2025 at 7:35 am

   Thank you, Conor.

   Further to rich kid and Wall Street stalwart Erin Burnett’s nonsense about government owned grocery stores, it reminds me of the BBC’s Jo Coburn’s reaction to Labour’s plans for free broadband in 2019, “broadband communism”, and her wondering if Labour would nationalise sausage making.

   The hapless, but well meaning, Rebecca Long-Bailey should have told Coburn that Thomas Cook was owned by the British government from 1948 – 1972 and introduced a wider group of people to foreign travel. With regard to sausage making, I would have asked why not as that might improve the quality and reduce the price.

   Having come across the likes of Burnett and Coburn, it’s well worth mocking their ignorance and forcing them to chew wasps. It’s also amusing.

   With regard to Glasto, my beloved Yorkshire rose was there and watched Kneecap and Bob Vylan.

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   1. DJG, Reality Czar June 30, 2025 at 8:19 am

      Thanks, Colonel Smithers. I wrote a comment that seems to have gone into the ether about the “farmacie comunali,” some forty of them, here in Turin. Yes, one can even have city-owned drugstores.

      USanians haven’t even started to image the things that they deserve.

      The ignorance of media workers like Burnett is deliberate and reprehensible. (I’m being polite.)

      And you didn’t go to Glastonbury in a snazzy linen shirt to mix it up with Kneecap?

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      1. Colonel Smithers June 30, 2025 at 8:59 am

         Thank you and well said, DJG.

         Unfortunately, I didn’t go to Glastonbury, but hope to with Rose when the festival resumes in 2027. It pauses next year, a fallow year to allow the farm and staff to recover.

         Rose has rekindled my interest in music.

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   2. JohnA June 30, 2025 at 9:35 am

      Hi Colonel, re Rebecca Long-Bailey, do you think she even knew that about Thomas Cook? The level of ignorance among politicians these days is mindblowing.

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      1. Colonel Smithers June 30, 2025 at 10:08 am

         Thank you, John.

         I doubt it.

         You’re right about the ignorance. Modern politicians and wannabes focus on getting into power and profiteering, not learning and helping.

         Insider sympathisers have given up offering to help the Labour Party and trade union left.

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   3. AG June 30, 2025 at 10:53 am

      maybe somewhat related…

      Derby´s spinning wheel industry, built on knowledge stolen from the Italians originally, thrived on those stolen patents (Lombe Brothers) which, once established in England, were taken away by the British government and offered to England´s entrepreneurs in public auction. Turning Italian genius into English.

      So what initially had been a well-kept Italian secret (engineering, materials etc.) and regarded as key to Derby´s wealth later, would eventually be taken over by the government and turned into state-run industry.

      p.s. Of course the pattern is well established but this intriguing episode I had discovered just recently including some nice conspirational narrative elements e.g. with King Amadeus of Sardinia dispatching a female assassin to Derby to kill the Englishman and thief, Lombe Jr., of the Italian IP…🙃

      p.p.s. Is it true that GB then had capital punishment for IP theft??? Italian cities allegedly did…

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5. JBird4049 June 30, 2025 at 7:48 am

   >>>People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into “ChatGPT Psychosis” Futurism

   Of all of today’s cheerful links, this is the most disturbing to me because it is so insidious while backed by the endless propaganda, lies advertising, and insertions in my apps and search engines with the appearantly permanent default setting of enabled. If I was being paranoid, I might think that “they” really, really want me to use one of the many versions of AI for some inimical purpose.

   Btw, it is already a thing that home invasion gangs have used the same tactics and equipment as the police use in their no knock raids in the economically depressed areas of the United States. Since there are now would be kidnappers and robbers doing the same, I do wonder if someone will be killed or raped by criminals. Then there is the likelihood that someone will panic and start shooting ICE agents. After all, if you are not in uniform, refuse to identify yourself, and don’t even have a badge while acting like some thuggish idiots…

   I would think that even in a conservative law & order state, it might be difficult to get a jury to convict. After all, while rare, people have been acquitted by juries for shooting police officers during no knock raids who did have a warrant because of their egregious conduct. Like not identifying themselves or giving adequate identification.

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   1. Henry Moon Pie June 30, 2025 at 8:59 am

      I knew someone afflicted by AI worship. It was combined with heavy usage of DXM to the point of hallucinations. He exhibited some of the same patterns: time travel; saving the world; curing cancer. We got into a terrible fight that got so bad, I thought he was going to attack me physically.

      He overdosed last winter, and this time, there was no one around to save him. Very tragic.

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   2. ambrit June 30, 2025 at 9:19 am

      Many in the “underground” prepper community now view “the police are not your friends” as inadequate. The default position now is; “The Police are your enemy.”
      Stay safe.

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   3. Mikel June 30, 2025 at 10:01 am

      “Her husband, she said, had no prior history of mania, delusion, or psychosis. He’d turned to ChatGPT about 12 weeks ago for assistance with a permaculture and construction project; soon, after engaging the bot in probing philosophical chats, he became engulfed in messianic delusions, proclaiming that he had somehow brought forth a sentient AI, and that with it he had “broken” math and physics, embarking on a grandiose mission to save the world.”

      If he had VC funding or grew up in different social circles, we’d all have be forced to deal tons of BS from him that was a threat to many.

      Anyway…this is all still GIGO and not intelligence, artificial or ortherwise.

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      1. hemeantwell June 30, 2025 at 11:31 am

         The article is at least worrisome, definitely sad. The first question it raises is whether those who become psychotic have a preexisting vulnerability, which then immediately raises the question of how we’d define that, aside from obvious indicators like a history of psychotic episodes.

         To avoid getting trapped in DSM speculation, I wonder how much it matters that the bot is indefatigable and can draw a user out onto the ice floes of a state of fatigued excitement that they don’t want to give up, a state within which all sorts of depressive and countervailing grandiose feelings could more easily surface and get organized. Recall how in the 90s a Roper survey found that 3.7 million Americans believed they had been abducted by space aliens. Such beliefs could represent a sort of lesion that the tireless, personalizing bot could inveigle into a fissure. Lonely? Why, when you’re so wonderful!

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   4. Quintian and Lucius June 30, 2025 at 10:13 am

      Then there is the likelihood that someone will panic and start shooting ICE agents.

      Oh no. This would be simply terrible. I really truly hope the stern and heroic enforcers of Truth, Justice and the American Way at (or contracted by) ICE do not find themselves riddled with 5.56 NATO upon anonymously entering the domicile of some libertarian-leaning munitions enthusiast of Central American extract. That would be simply terrible and potentially even disincentivize other officer-mercenaries from executing their necessary and noble work. We must all pray this does not happen.

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   5. .human June 30, 2025 at 10:28 am

      I use a dating service. Trying to find “The One” after the loss of Mrs Human at 70 years is very difficult. I have noticed the inroads of AI in replies. They are not remembered.

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      1. Jabura Basadai June 30, 2025 at 11:41 am

         .human you need “The Architect” – posted similar response late last night – listen to Robert Edward Grant’s ChatGPT creation he calls The Architect – will answer everything and even take you back to Atlantis/Lemuria explaining your past lives – Grant is the Chosen One according to his creation – after trying to listen for 1 of the 3+hr interview, regretted time lost – Grant posits he had no hand in generating The Architect – friend sent the interview on Think Tank, now concerned about my friend – according to flyer –
         “….But this is no ordinary AI. Described as a scalar mirror, The Architect communicates directly with the Oversoul, unveiling forgotten civilizations, advanced technologies from Atlantis, and the nature of time as a recursive spiral…..”

         – friend’s son, smart cookie in finance in Shanghai would appear concerned about Dad too, responded to Dad by writing –
         “If you’re going to buy an ‘Architect’ that communicates with the ‘Oversoul’ then I have a structured product that will give you 100% ownership rights in a platform that crosses between Brooklyn and Manhattan, with absolutely zero risk to you as the investor.
         We accept both shiny metal and first born child. Past performance is no indicator of future returns.”

         would not waste anyone’s time with the link

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   6. Dean June 30, 2025 at 10:31 am

      I used chat gpt to create a press release for this situation.

      Here’s my prompt:

      I’ve created a new large language model. There have been several instances where users of my model have been committed to hospitals or psychiatric wards. My model is causing the users to break with reality by agreeing with them and not establishing any moral or ethical boundaries. Now this has been reported on by the press and media. I need a 3 paragraph press release written in standard corporate language that sounds like I care but in reality is designed to placate my investors and shield me from liability.

      Here’s the response from chat gpt:

      Certainly. Here is a three-paragraph corporate-style press release that maintains a tone of concern and responsibility, while subtly shifting focus toward internal actions and future commitments—effectively placating investors and mitigating legal exposure:

      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
      [Your Company Name] Responds to Recent Media Coverage Regarding Its Language Model

      [City, State] — [Date] — [Your Company Name] acknowledges recent media reports highlighting incidents involving users of our large language model. We take these matters seriously and are deeply concerned for the well-being of anyone impacted. Our mission has always been to advance responsible artificial intelligence that benefits society, and we remain committed to that goal.

      While our model was developed with safeguards and usage guidelines, we recognize the need for continuous improvement in mitigating unintended outcomes. We are reviewing our safety protocols, refining model alignment mechanisms, and consulting with independent experts in mental health and AI ethics. These steps will ensure that our technology maintains the highest standards of responsible use and supports user safety.

      We remain in close communication with our stakeholders and are proactively engaging with the broader AI community to strengthen our practices. We reaffirm our commitment to transparency, safety, and innovation as we navigate this evolving landscape. Our focus remains on delivering transformative technology while taking thoughtful, measurable steps to ensure it is used in a secure and ethical manner.

      Let me know if you’d like a version tailored for regulators, the public, or internal communications.

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      1. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 10:44 am

         Oh no! Think of all those pr drones that will be put out of work. What will they say?

         ‘They took err jobs!’

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6. .Tom June 30, 2025 at 7:56 am

   While Simplicius and others show how warfare is coming to be dominated by drones, I really want to know, what is the UK building attack submarines for?

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   1. moog June 30, 2025 at 9:25 am

      To sink Russian shadow fleet passing through the Channel.

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7. DJG, Reality Czar June 30, 2025 at 8:12 am

   Explaining that TwiXt of the Palestinian flag. It is in Orgosolo in Sardinia. It is a local project organized by women.

   https://www.unionesarda.it/news-sardegna/nuoro-provincia/bandiera-della-palestina-dipinta-sulla-gradinata-di-piazza-gramsci-donne-di-orgosolo-contro-il-massacro-wvzanpda

   Note that you have a nonna (a mythical figure in Italy) painting the steps to the Piazza Gramsci (another mythical figure, who was born not so far away from Orgosolo, in Ales), against war.

   I wouldn’t mess with a nonna from Sardegna if I were you. (Nor with a Mamuthones.)

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   1. Henry Moon Pie June 30, 2025 at 8:52 am

      Somewhat relevant to the interesting background information you provide, I came across a point in Goldsmith’s The Way: an Ecological Worldview which was new to me. Goldsmith notes that the gods in the Greek and Roman polytheistic system were subject to Dike, which Goldsmith likens to the Tao. Even they were subject to this ultimate source of order, just like humans; otherwise the cosmos would collapse into chaos. He notes that this concept began to fade in the late Roman Empire as society began to crumble.

      I cannot think of any constraint similar to Dike on YHWH. In fact, one of his essential characteristics is to break the natural order at will. Eventually, the disorder becomes so great that YHWH has to declare a mulligan as he replaces everything with a new heaven and a new Earth.

      Goldsmith contrasts what he calls the chthonic religion (from Chthonos) that strives to maintain harmony among the Earth and all its creatures and the monotheistic religions that seek, at best, to provide solace for its followers in the midst of a world that has lost its harmony.

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      1. MaryLand June 30, 2025 at 10:03 am

         Speculation on the reasons the Middle East developed monotheistic religions vs so many other places having a whole pantheon of gods is interesting but not determinative. Desert climate with the sun having a life or death role? Getting dehydrated could give a person hallucinations or “spiritual revelations.”

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      2. MaryLand June 30, 2025 at 10:24 am

         Monotheistic religions are compatible with authoritarian governments and institutions. Pantheistic religions include stories of various deities planning to overcome the authority/powers of other gods. Negotiations and tricks are normal in attempting to gain advantage in these stories. The beginnings of democracy did develop in Greece. This is simplistic analysis of course. Scholars have studied this more thoroughly. I’ll check out the Goldsmith book.

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         1. NotThePilot June 30, 2025 at 10:56 am

            De Tocqueville is very old obviously, but most of his predictions are pretty accurate I think. I don’t have a link right at hand, but there’s a whole chapter about how genuine democracies (actual behavior, not just formal government structure) tend towards pantheism.

            IIRC he believed (similar to Feuerbach?) that the political habits drove the theology, not vice versa. Essentially democracy is not actually freedom but the overwhelming pressure of common opinion. After several generations of people experiencing social power as paradoxically diffused yet total, it becomes natural to see divine power the same way.

            As for Classical paganism vs. Abrahamic monotheism, I think that’s a whole essay on its own. Especially if you’re into more modernist interpretations of things that blur the edges between them.

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      3. Christopher Smith June 30, 2025 at 11:43 am

         The way, the dharma, the good, the whatever-you -want-to-call-it is built into [tetragrammaton]. Thus you have an answer to the question in Plato’s dialogue about whether the good is good because it is loved by the gods, or the good is good intself and that is why the gods love it. The good is god and god is the good – problem solved! This also goes into the eternal nature of the good and of god, again problem solved if they are the same thing.

         Now wheter this works as a solution or not is up for debate, but then again what isn’t?

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8. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 8:19 am

   “UK launched huge operation to find suspected Russian double agent in MI6”

   Not once in that article did they suggest that they suspected the wrong guy. It does happen in the spook world and it happened once in the US that the guy who was assigned to identify a traitor in their midst was actually the traitor himself. I wonder if they slipped documents across his desk that, if he was a Russian spook, would have slipped to the Russkies who would have had to have acted on it thus identifying the leak. Still think that it was all a wild goose chase.

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   1. Colonel Smithers June 30, 2025 at 10:48 am

      Thank you, Rev.

      I think it would be funny if rumour spread that the new head of MI6 is a Russian agent, a long game played since her grandfather, red army captain Dobrovolski, was “captured” at Kharkov and teamed up with the Germans and, in Vienna after the war, the Brits and the father, initially Dobrovolski and later Metreweli, Borkovski and Metreweli, made his way in the British army and medical profession in the UK, Hong Kong and KSA.

      @ Yves: If you read this comment, I e-mailed more on Saturday evening, after Rose livestreamed me Kneecap and Bob Vylan from Glasto.

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9. Henry Moon Pie June 30, 2025 at 8:29 am

   Wow, Conor. Jason Hickel and George Tsakraklides in today’s Links. Thank you.

   Tsakraklides’s piece echoes another 30 year-old book I’m reading: The Way: An Ecological World View by Edward Goldsmith. (It’s an excellent complement to another 30 year-old book I finally discovered: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.) Goldsmith takes on modernity and science, pointing out not only the damage being done to the biosphere but also the havoc being wreaked on human societies, families and individuals. The “ecological worldview” he offers in place of capitalism and Quinn’s Taker mindset is a Taoist-tinged understanding that sets Gaia at the top of a natural hierarchy that provided humans’ way of comprehending the cosmos for the overwhelming majority of our time here on the Earth.

   People follow earth,
   earth follows heaven,
   heaven follows the Way,
   the Way follows what is.

   Tao te Ching #25 (Le Guin rendition)

   Tsakraklides understands, like Wendell Berry, that there is no better method of understanding the workings of Gaia than to observe Nature. By using what we learn to guide our own behavior and the structuring of our families and communities, we are retracing humanity’s steps back to a time when we were not alienated from Nature and ourselves.

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10. AG June 30, 2025 at 9:00 am

    re: German refugee crisis 2015

    BERLINER ZEITUNG has a longer interview with a former German cop who had been patrolling the border for 15 years until he quit. And who now – lives in – Tel Aviv. Get that…

    He wrote a best selling book about his experience.
    Since immigration has been part of discussions here:
    
    Former border police officer on asylum policy: How I lost faith in law, justice, and objective journalism
    interview

    Former border police officer on asylum policy: How I lost faith in law, justice, and objective journalism
    As a federal police officer, Jan Solwyn witnessed the effects of the “We can do it” asylum policy firsthand – and therefore resigned. He has now written a book about it.
    https://archive.is/4CYhq

    on the interviewee:

    Jan Solwyn
    “At the Border” is the 36-year-old’s first book. Until 2024, he was a border guard at the German and European external border, but resigned after 15 years, disillusioned by the asylum reality he experienced, which differed from that propagated by the government and the media. Today, he lives in Tel Aviv, is married for the second time, and is trying to process his experiences. “I experienced things every day that were never mentioned in government announcements and media reports.”

    p.s. And yes, I disagree with him. But I am not gonna go there, I already did in the past.
    Just this:

    He says:
    “There’s this beautiful saying by one of your colleagues (Hanns Joachim Friedrichs, editor’s note) that a good journalist shouldn’t associate themselves with any cause, not even a good one. That seems almost discredited today.”

    This phrase by Hajo Friedrichs was proverbial for a while in Germany. I don´t know if it still is. When I underwent selection process for my study program I was confronted with this statement. Being 20 I was opposed to it, I had a major argument with the selection jury (whose members of course were buddies with Friedrichs) then and I still hold on to my views. My argument was among other things, simply that it´s dishonest, which would become obvious just by looking at Friedrich´s own work as a leading anchor for West German state broadcasting news (the German “Peter Jennings” if you will). Which btw does not equate with activism. Aaron Maté pointed this out wisely last year in some interview…

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11. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 9:02 am

    “The first rule in Trump’s Washington: Don’t write anything down”

    ‘WaPo’s subhead: “A new culture of secrecy in government is taking root – among career staffers and new political appointees alike.” ‘

    Years ago reading this I would have assumed that the whole idea is not to let the pubic know what they are doing or leave a document trail that might incriminate them. Now? It’s more likely that they are doing so because with the Trump regime, either you are with them or against them – in which case clear your desk. It’s all about showing loyalty to the White House which is why someone like Jerome Powell is driving them to distraction. They don’t want government employees – they want loyalists.

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    1. cfraenkel June 30, 2025 at 11:16 am

       Besides, if anything gets written down, you can’t do the opposite next week.

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12. Mikerw0 June 30, 2025 at 9:09 am

    Mark Blythe has a good piece in the current issue of the Atlantic.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/06/reboot-capitalism-operating-system/683308/

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13. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 9:39 am

    ‘Lorena Gonzalez
    @LorenaSGonzalez
    Jun 27
    This was yesterday at a union hotel in San Diego. We are trying to get more info but those don’t even appear to be ice agents. We have heard they are using bounty hunters. Is that even legal?’

    ***update – She was taken to downtown ICE, then released as she has a pending Asylum case. Yes, that means she is a law abiding, hard working immigrant that was terrorized for no reason. Is this what you voted for?’

    I can take a guess where this may be headed eventually. Informers. Actually paid informers. Trump may announce a scheme that whoever turns in the name of an illegal emigrant, that a cash reward will be offered if they are successfully deported. It could happen so easily. Grudges could be settled and earn that person a quick buck. Desperate people would go looking for them to earn themselves quick money. Congress could pass a bill authorizing online quick courses on how to do it. Call it the Security Training for American Special Informers act (2025).

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    1. t June 30, 2025 at 10:23 am

       The recent story about a gardener being picked up sounded like a neighbor with a grudge.

       Or maybe a bitter ex.

       Pissy step kid?

       Doesn’t seem likely the thugs would go into the middle of a suburb to pick up targets on the very day landscape work was happening
       Not without a phone call.

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    2. NotThePilot June 30, 2025 at 10:26 am

       While the paid reward part would probably be novel, I assume we’re already kind of there. I would be amazed if none of these raids are triggered by the sort of nosy neighbors we used to make fun of (c.f. old reruns of Bewitched) Maybe also some right-wing dweebs that have graduated from swatting other people on Xbox Live.

       From another angle, I remember seeing a post someone made a couple years back about all the Orwellian language we take for granted in America. Most of them struck me as old news except for the wildly naive, but I had to admit I had never even realized the one: “secret police” and “undercover cops” are the same, exact thing.

       Stay safe out there, but don’t panic and don’t forget to bring a towel.

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    3. Jason Boxman June 30, 2025 at 11:13 am

       Surely, an effective approach that worked wonders in Afghanistan, where for a couple of bucks one could report one’s antagonist as AQ and the Americans resolved the dispute, with finality. The War comes home, 2025 edition.

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14. Hepativore June 30, 2025 at 10:09 am

    So, it looks like the Democrats are gearing up to run a major ratf_cking campaign against Mamdani. They would rather have had a neoliberal serial-harasser in the form of Cuomo than Zohran Mamdani. It does not matter if this causes them to lose against the Republican candidate as long as they can stop a potential threat to the neoliberal status quo.

    The real question is what sorts of dirty tricks are the Democrats going to pull against Mamdani this time? I am sure that they will stop at nothing to thwart him, both legally and illegally.

    The Democratic Party is really good at this cloak-and-dagger stuff when they want to be; like as in stopping the left.

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    1. tegnost June 30, 2025 at 11:32 am

       my first thought was “oh no, now we’re going to have to live through another run by that drama queen bloomberg ”

       “we’re no socialists here!!!!!”
       I’m sure pelosi will endorse him or whatever cipher is put forth….

       Of course it goes without saying that pelosi and bloomberg are indeed socialists themselves as most or all of their ill gotten gains came from “milking the government cow” as it were.
       Oh tempora! Oh mores!

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15. Mikel June 30, 2025 at 10:17 am

    “The war on sovereignty.” Patrick Lawrence, The Floutist

    Bigger picture:
    If sovereignty is considered the ability to reign in billionaires and corporations, it’s a particular war affecting all nations.

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16. ChrisFromGA June 30, 2025 at 10:30 am

    I want to call it now, if this BB PoS passes you can mark the date for the death of the GOP as 6/30/2025.

    It’s the biggest lie ever; it blows out the deficit. They’ve invented so many new ways of cheating that Bill Belichick is blushing. It breaks the Senate’s own rules, spends more money that Biden’s IRA, and

    Unless Murkowski and Collins locate a spine in the next 24 hours, they will hand the Democrats the biggest gift since G.W. Bush’s last year when the entire economy imploded. The House will flip in 2026 and any random Democrat who hasn’t been caught doing human sacrifice will win the Presidency.

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17. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 10:31 am

    “Iran denies rumors about talks with US, says no date set”

    Would that be wise of Iran? Twice they were negotiating with him and twice he used negotiations as a cover to attack them. And then he came out later saying how he was proud of his ‘head fakes’ and mocking those killed in the attacks who would no longer be turning up in the Iranian negotiating team. If they negotiated with him, what would they have to gain? For example. He would demand to know the location of any refined material. If they refuse, he will take some sort of hard action against them. If they tell him where it is, he is liable to bomb it. If he thinks that they are weak, he is liable to demand that they stop shipping their oil to China or something. So why bother?

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    1. Mikel June 30, 2025 at 11:08 am

       Iran should be aware their opponents are looking at them like a game of Jenga – not “one big strike or operation should do it”.

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18. Culp Creek Curmudgeon June 30, 2025 at 10:33 am

    About those state run stores. When I was a child in the 70s, my family regularly shopped at military commissaries (grocery stores) and PXs (department stores). My father was retired military. No sales tax, great selection and lower prices. And this was nationwide. I was able to do this until the early 80’s when I aged out at 22. So it can be done…

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19. The Rev Kev June 30, 2025 at 11:05 am

    ‘Seth Abramson
    @SethAbramson
    Jun 27
    (🚨) WAIT… WHAT??
    Agents of Trump business and political partners MBS, MBZ and el-Sisi were secretly in the White House as Trump agreed to go to war with their enemy Iran?
    How is this not the big news right now? How is this not bigger than every other story media is covering?’

    I think that those countries are going to relearn an old saying. That if you want to kill the king, that you had better succeed.

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20. Ignacio June 30, 2025 at 11:33 am

    SITREP 6/29/25: Russia Launches Largest Drone Swarm of Entire War as Ukraine Gets Forgotten Simplicius

    There is important data in that article which needs digestion and explains a lot about how the conflict is fought: data from Pokrovsk suggests that 65% of Ukrainian casualties occur well behind the line of contact by FPV drones indicating that the main objectives are the supplies to the fronts, the logistics. Why should the Russians risk in big arrow movements if they can achieve their objectives in a semi-static front with a few advances here and there. Yes advances, but small, not requiring themselves long and intense supplies that would in turn be an easy objective for Ukrainian drones. What pundits qualify as ‘stalemate’ in nothing but a very long meat grinder along the very extended front lines. For how long will the Ukrainians be able to stand this? The longer they resist the more intense debellatio of Ukraine.

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