Links 6/6/2025

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1. Antifa June 6, 2025 at 7:02 am

   Karoline Leavitt
   (melody borrowed from Ring My Bell written by Frederick Douglas Knight in 1979, as performed by Anita Ward.)

   Her bleached blonde dome
   The truths she’s always twisting
   The facts get hid as she recites each lie
   (recites each lie, recites each lie)
   ‘Tariffs are not a tax’ says this puffy faced Missus
   (puffy faced Missus)
   O, can’t you see she is TACO’s Belle?

   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle

   Her forked tongue must be a GOP disease
   She tells lies and walks away Scot free
   Why not the truth? (why not the truth?)
   She squawks like a raven
   While claiming what she says is true

   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingalingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingalingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingalingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingalingaling)

   (musical interlude)

   She is TACO’s Belle, she is TACO’s Belle
   (Dingaling, ah ah, sing it)
   She is TACO’s Belle, any lie, she don’t care
   (Sing it, Sing it, Sing it, Sing it, oww!)
   She is TACO’s Belle, she is TACO’s Belle
   (Dingaling, ah ah, sing it)
   She is TACO’s Belle, any lie, she don’t care
   (Sing it, Sing it, Sing it, Sing it, ah)

   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, such a dingalingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, dingaling)
   She is TACO’s Belle, TACO’s Belle (TACO’s Belle, such a dingaling)
   1. truly June 6, 2025 at 2:20 pm

      The TACO meme seems odd to me. The people who claim Trump acts too boldly and recklessly then eggs him on by accusing him of being a chicken? What? They actually want him to act more boldly and recklessly?
      I think the TACO label more suits the party I refer to as the Origami party, the party whose specialty is folding under pressure. Projection sure is in vogue these days.

      No disrespect to the incredible lyric writing skills and generally spot on takes on the issues of the day.
2. Wukchumni June 6, 2025 at 7:04 am

   Gonna be on my way tomorrow
   Gonna give away my secrets
   I’d take you along with me
   But you would not go so far

   See what they do not want you to see
   You get to hear what I can’t say
   Won’t be what Donald wan to be
   I continue in my way

   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’
   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’
   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’ to
   I want revenge

   Every day I see the mornin’ murder
   Come on in the same old way
   I tell myself tomorrow brings me
   Things I would not dream today

   Gonna be on my way tomorrow
   Gonna give away my secrets
   I’d take you along with me
   But you would not go so far

   See what they do not want you to see
   You get to hear what I can’t say
   Won’t be what Donald wan to be
   I continue in my way

   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’
   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’
   Don’t you see, see, see where I’m goin’ to
   I want revenge

   A Song For Jeffrey, by Jethro Tull

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=din0-BRBBpg
3. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 7:22 am

   “Scoop: Trump admired Ukraine’s “badass” attack, but worries what’s next”

   Trump loves himself some big showy spectacles, the bigger the more beautiful. That us, until a military attache explained to him what a nuclear triad is and how all the consequences of this attack are falling on his shoulders now. And if he stuffs it up, everybody will blame him for choosing poorly.
   1. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 8:13 am

      Trump is a stupid liar and a cad who falls for any lie, no matter how big. Apparently, no one dared tell him that the number of planes that were really hit could be counted on one hand, and some were decoys.

      Conmen are sometimes the easiest to con.
      1. ilsm June 6, 2025 at 8:28 am

         He claimed he told Putin ‘US did not know in advance….. ‘

         Liar and puppet?
         1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 8:33 am

            He had two choices here. He could say that he did not know – which makes him look stupid and incompetent – or he could say that he did know which meant that he was complicit in an attack on Russia’s nuclear triad. So he TACOed his way to Door Number One.
      2. snafu June 6, 2025 at 9:11 am

         No one dares tell him that the number of planes that were really hit could be counted on one hand, because he is sensitive about his small hands. :)
      3. Nikkikat June 6, 2025 at 10:44 am

         You are correct as usual Chris, Trump is an idiot. He falls for every stupid lie he is told. Because lying liars are all he knows. He lied about everything and then fell into Elon the liars trap. Now he has to figure a way out and he is too stupid to admit just how stupid he was. Elon has been conning President after President into writing him huge checks and taxpayer subsidies for years.
         Obama, Biden and now Trump himself, bought off by wearing a maga hat…….what a stupid SOB he is!
         1. John Wright June 6, 2025 at 11:19 am

            But consider the option the Democrats presented, Kamala.

            Not exactly a bright light shining into the current darkness.

            The USA, with Israel’s help, has exposed that the democracy the USA “promotes” around the world doesn’t function well even on its home court.
         2. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 8:09 pm

            I’m not sure what’s worse – that we have another stupid liar and a con-man in the WH, or that the “markets” cheer our decline into late-stage Roman empire territory.

            Markets shrugged off a dementia patient, and Trump 1.0, so they may simply reflect a ‘what me worry’ sort of Alfred E. Neumann mentality.
            1. Munchausen June 7, 2025 at 7:21 am

               “Markets” cheer profit, and the decline alows for quick bucks. In the 1990s Eastern Europe many factories were bought for peanuts, and some got rich in the process. The robbery was sold to the people as a necessity, and dubbed transition.
   2. snafu June 6, 2025 at 9:07 am

      Ukraine’s “badass“ attack, not to be cofused with “a can of whoopass” that it opens.
4. AG June 6, 2025 at 7:24 am

   re: Israel

   CHRIS HEDGES

   In case I haven´t already recommended:

   The Shared Mythological History of Israel and the US (w/ Joan Scott) | The Chris Hedges Report
   51 min.
   https://scheerpost.com/2025/05/28/the-shared-mythological-history-of-israel-and-the-us-w-joan-scott-the-chris-hedges-report/
   1. Carolinian June 6, 2025 at 10:34 am

      I had already seen the Hedges which is indeed good. Interesting how the immense popularity of the movie Exodus is said to have shaped US public opinion in favor of the entity. Pat Lang used to talk about how H’wood producer Arnon Milchan (still around) even helped with the Israeli atomic program.

      And after all the bad publicity following the early 80s invasion of Lebanon Scott, says Hollywood once again came to the rescue with a new focus on movies about the Holocaust.

      A friend used to pass along a jokey anecdote about Exodus: Mort Sahl was said to have stood up during the lengthy Preminger epic and exclaimed “Otto, let my people go!” It’s not a good movie.
      1. Craig H. June 6, 2025 at 1:36 pm

         On my DVD of Exodus they have an introduction which was filmed at an Exodus screening and a studio executive stands up in front of the screen and explicitly tells the audience the movie about Moses and current day Israel’s story are virtually identical.
         1. Craig H. June 6, 2025 at 3:18 pm

            Oops excuse me.

            I meant Ten Commandments; not Exodus.
      2. Vandemonian June 6, 2025 at 3:07 pm

         Not just the movie – the Leon Uris book as well. I read it in my teens, and it coloured my thinking about the Eastern Mediterranean for years (quelle embarrass).

         During a workplace morning tea break (remember those?) I was confidently sharing my new-found expertise regarding the ancient and more recent history of Israel (with no other source of knowledge than that one book). I had got to the bit where I was holding forth about how the brave founders of plucky little Israel had dealt with those devious Arabs who had got in their way.

         A workmate told me in no uncertain terms that those Arabs (Palestinians) were the victims of Jewish aggression, and deserved wholehearted support from the rest of the world. I abandoned my lecturette, but it took me a while to come to a more measured view of that history.

         Sorry, Maureen, you were right and I was wrong.
5. AG June 6, 2025 at 7:34 am

   re: NATO expansion lie

   Blair & Major Reassured Russia About NATO
   Two British prime ministers recognised Moscow’s fears over NATO expanding in eastern Europe — a major cause of the Ukraine war — files show, Mark Curtis reports.
   https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/05/blair-major-reassured-russia-about-nato/

   “(…)Declassified British files shed further light on the controversial question as to what assurances were made to Russia by U.K. officials about the expansion of NATO into eastern Europe.

   The documents show then Prime Minister John Major telling Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov in February 1997 that “if he were Russian he too would be concerned by the possibility that NATO might move up to Russia’s borders.”

   But Major added that “NATO has no intention of doing this” and was “not seeking to box in Russia.”(…)”
6. Clock Strikes 13 June 6, 2025 at 7:40 am

   German Chancellor: “May I remind you that we are having June 6 tomorrow. This is the D-Day anniversary.”

   Trump: “Not a pleasant day for you. That was not a great day.”

   German Chancellor: “This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.”

   😂😂😂

   Donald, you brought tears to my eyes with this one! This “we were liberated from dictatorship” meme is part of German denial and failure to be properly denazified. They were just poor little innocent victims of the bad painter man from Austria, those poor liddle-widdle dears! Those poor little German victims of fascism were murdering prisoners in the last days of the Third Reich and had to be fought to the Reichstag.

   Of course, if Germany had been properly denazified we probably would never have heard of Merz, Leyen and Baerbock whose families escaped any punishment for their evil deeds. History now shows us that re-unifying Germany was an awful mistake. The German sickness seems incurable.
   1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 8:04 am

      This may be a mistake just blaming Germany. You name me any country and I bet that I could go in and recruit more than enough people to run a network of extermination camps. Maybe some more than others (cough*Israel*cough). I think that the post-WW2 effort to blame the Germans alone for the Nazis was a huge mistake as it made other nations feel righteous by comparison. You saw this effort in media as well in such films as “Judgement at Nuremberg.” But doing so led to countries being able to hide the fact that large segments of their population volunteered for service with the Wehrmacht and the SS. And not all camp guards were German but many were from other countries. It’s not a German sickness but a human sickness. Most people just want to live their lives in peace but there is always ten or so percent of the population considering their chances if they start something up-

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht_foreign_volunteers_and_conscripts
      1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 8:13 am

         And I forgot to link the Waffen-SS foreign volunteers & conscripts while I was at it-

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS_foreign_volunteers_and_conscripts
      2. ilsm June 6, 2025 at 8:33 am

         I am a repenting cold warrior.

         I have come to believe that anyone who contributes to the US’ or anyones’ ability to kill millions by nukes is no different in moral outlook than an Auschwitz employee.

         My time in defensive units may not have been as sinful as my work in SAC.
         1. Milton June 6, 2025 at 12:01 pm

            So correct. I don’t care if it’s the only way to make a living. It is akin to making a living skinning puppies. No one who has a moral head would consider such an occupation.
      3. flora June 6, 2025 at 8:42 am

         Hmm. I seem to remember plenty of people in the US as other Western countries were more than happy to get behind the idea of sending fellow citizens to “the camps” unless they complied, unless they obeyed orders not all that long ago. Even Noam Chomsky went there, which was shocking to me. But, ya know, that can’t happen here. What was it Ahnold said, something about “to heck with your rights” ?

         The EU and UK are locking up people for tweets. For . tweets. To heck with your freedom of speech.
         1. Xquacy June 6, 2025 at 10:14 am

            This “Chomsky wanted to put people in camps” is a farcical lie that needs to die. Chomsky expresses all his opinions in video and print for the world to see. Point to a single example where he says it.
            1. flora June 6, 2025 at 11:42 am

               Jimmy Dore, 3 years ago, utube. ~37+ minutes.

               How The Left Lost Its Mind Over COVID & Became Authoritarians

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afwVB0ghcKg

               You are correct Chomsky did not call for camps. He called for the unvacc’ed to remove themselves from society and be allowed to go hungry if they refuse to submit.
               1. Fritz June 6, 2025 at 9:18 pm

                  When I became aware of that I ceased being a Chomsky fan.
            2. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 7:11 pm

               I damn well saw it too. And may I also remind you that Chomsky also told people that they had to vote for Biden to ‘save the environment.’ Chomsky for all his great work in the past is past his use by date now.
               1. mahna June 7, 2025 at 7:25 am

                  Save the environment, vote for a vegetable.
         2. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:47 am

            Thry did send fellow citizens to camps even as they complied: Japanese Americans in camps were subject to conscription–camp or not, they were still citizens with duties, you see. And, remarkably, that didn’t cause that much problems–although George Takei’s memoirs, of all books, notes that there were a lot more tension than the official histories acknowledge.
      4. Munchausen June 6, 2025 at 9:21 am

         I don’t think he is just blaming Germany. It always was, and still is, a collective effort. German Shephard is no longer the leader of the pack, but is right there behind the top dog and the Chihuahuas.
      5. ex-PFC Chuck June 6, 2025 at 9:23 am

         “I think that the post-WW2 effort to blame the Germans alone for the Nazis . . “

         And yet while this was going on Allen Dulles et al were recruiting many of those Nazis for the Red Scare psyop that was distracting the Western world’s attention from the restoration of colonialism in the stealthy economic form first exposed by Michael Hudson.
      6. Quentin June 6, 2025 at 9:28 am

         How embarrassing for this hardline BlackRocker to maybe be forced to admit that the Soviet Red Army did more to achieve the ‘liberation of his country from dictatorship’ than the forces of June 6, 1944 that landed in Normandy (not to dismiss their sacrifice and success).
      7. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:42 am

         AJP Taylor wrote about it in the intro to his book, Origins of the Second World War, that people deliberately avoid thinking about the long term causes of the conflict by just blaming Hitler’s evil. But Hitler did not cause demographics of what would become Czechoslovskia or the Polish Corridor, nor did he draw their borders, or set up the government of Poland, etc. There were many problems that existed independent of Hitler and the British and French leaders took well-meaning actions that exacerbated the problems post Versailles. The Weimar gov’t, at least in rhetoric, was far more hostile to Poland, in particular, than Hitler ever became until the actual eve of the war.
         1. LifelongLib June 6, 2025 at 6:19 pm

            That book is on my waiting-to-be-read stack. FWIW I bought it at the Imperial War Museum in London.
      8. Clock Strikes 13 June 6, 2025 at 11:38 am

         I never just blamed Germany. I am asserting that due to a host of intersecting sociological, political and cultural factors which result in a uniquely German form of apprehending reality, Germany has failed to deal with the underlying factors that lead to it being involved in its THIRD genocide in its short history.

         We can argue about whether in fact the Holocaust/Lebensraum project was a unique event in world history that could only have occurred in the Third Reich or not. The German sickness is that after already committing TWO genocides in their short history, and vowing NEVER AGAIN, they now feel that the appropriate way to atone to one subset of their victims (Israel acting as a stand-in for the Jews as a whole) is to help them genocide another people. To assert that this is a particular German pathology is tautologically true by fact that only Germany has done such a monstrous thing.

         TL;DR: due to its history, Germany has a special responsibility to not partake in genocide
         1. vao June 6, 2025 at 3:07 pm

            By two historical genocides, you certainly mean the one against the Namas and Hereros (1904-1909) and the one during WWII.

            There are good reasons to view the war against the Maji Maji (1905-1908, in what is nowadays Tanzania) as another genocide by the Germans: they destroyed everything (houses, fields, cattle), slaughtered and starved hundreds of thousands of people (a third of the population), expelled the survivors, and turned their country into a wasteland (half a century later, it was noted that the region had not yet recovered from the German onslaught).

            That would make three. I know too little about another of those German operations in Cameroon, against the Makaa (1906-1910) to classify it definitely as a genocide. However, the length of the war (rebellions by natives were usually put down in a couple of years at most) and the fact that the methods used by the colonial troops led to one of the multiple “colonial scandals” of the era (mutilating fallen enemies, killing the population of entire villages, giving women taken prisoners as gifts to loyal native tribes; look up Major Hans Dominik) makes me think we have there yet another candidate.

            As for being “involved”, since Germany is supporting — diplomatically, politically, and militarily — Israel, then we should perhaps add to the list the genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans against the Armenians. Germany was an ally, and was supporting the Ottomans — including militarily with troops and warships on Ottoman territory — and was well-informed of what was happening.

            Needless to say, Germany was always extremely reluctant to recognize the genocide in Southwestern Africa, and refuses to atone for its role in its other colonial or imperial endeavours.
            1. Clock Strikes 13 June 6, 2025 at 4:45 pm

               Thank you for that additional information.
      9. KD June 6, 2025 at 1:45 pm

         I don’t think nations need a whole lot of help feeling righteous. I think the efforts of Germany to make amends for its historical actions is commendable, and likely helpful to Germany’s diplomatic efforts going forward. You can compare it with Japan, which never apologized and regularly has its PM venerating dead war criminals. The neighbors are happy to take Japanese money, but they are never going to forget, and its not just China.

         Unfortunately, I think historical actions like the Holocaust go beyond even the fact that probably 15 percent of the general population is antisocial. Demos always leaves out a clear signifier of who the demos is, and combined with a total war for supremacy, and human religiosity which seeks a blood sacrifice to combat inauspicious portents, and you get everything from the Salem witch trials (related to in-migration and an Indian uprising) to the Holocaust. I think there are sociological structures that emerge in times of existential conflict which lead to great evils.
   2. Quentin June 6, 2025 at 8:07 am

      A thought experiment for our times: Imagine Nazism without Germany and Germany without Nazism. This Merz creep is a long-awaited blast of fresh air from the past.
      1. ilsm June 6, 2025 at 8:35 am

         Merz’ motives for permanent war against Russia to grab its wealth, are pure!

         A better nationalist aka nazi?
      2. Socal Rhino June 6, 2025 at 12:52 pm

         I don’t have to imagine, unfortunately.
      3. eg June 7, 2025 at 4:01 am

         I would have said “a blast of fetid air”
   3. You're soaking in it! June 6, 2025 at 8:34 am

      Man, I am so excited to see when Merz goes to Moscow and thanks Putin for Stalin’s aid in liberating Germany from Nazi dictatorship!

      Thank you, I’ll be here all week, try the fish.
   4. Mo June 6, 2025 at 9:06 am

      I laughed and laughed as well! So funny.

      If I was forced to pick a favorite genocide supporter from AOC or Bernie to DJT, the easy choice would be DJT, because of his unexpected truth bombs

      Though AOC should get some recognition as the only open genocide supporter. She is the only one who admits it is a genocide but nevertheless supports the genocidal state
   5. converger June 6, 2025 at 10:31 am

      “German” sickness? Hitler cribbed his best moves from Jim Crow.

      I can’t wait for the US demagafication to begin.
      1. KD June 6, 2025 at 1:51 pm

         Let the US demigafication begin. No America First!
7. ChrisRUEcon June 6, 2025 at 7:53 am

   > “Let’s be clear: Russia is not winning. This is an important point not only to our allies but also to our adversaries. China, Iran, North Korea – they’re all watching what’s happening in Ukraine.”

   The utter family-blogging delusion …

   So here, to make up for my promotion of viral click-bait late last week, is emerging information on Russian strikes today:

   Ukraine reports major Russian strikes overnight (VIDEOS) (via RT)

   War Reality Show: Russian Air Force Strikes Live on YouTube — Kyiv Furious (pravda.ru)

   Three killed, 49 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine (Reuters)

   In response to Kyiv’s terrorist attacks, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike on military targets at night (tass.ru)
   1. snafu June 6, 2025 at 8:32 am

      ‘Russia Is Not Winning’: Key US Senator Urges ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Putin Kyiv Post

      Take a guess at who is the “Key US Senator’. My first thought was Lindsey, but nope.
      1. Milton June 6, 2025 at 12:11 pm

         Why are almost all the Western hyper-militarists now from the liberal parties? Are they just trying to get in the front of the line for when positions with defense contractors are available? Does their stock portfolio require their continuous Sabre rattling? I’ll never understand how any voter can pull the lever for these social miscreants.
   2. Aurelien June 6, 2025 at 8:41 am

      As I pointed out in my last essay, “winning” and “losing” have no objective meaning outside specific contexts and outside the objectives of each side. It’s not like a football match, or even a chess match, and there is no umpire. All such arguments amount essentially to saying “I will consider a Russian victory to be the rapid takeover of the whole of Ukraine with very few casualties. This has not happened, therefore the Russians have lost. I will consider a Ukrainian victory to be the control of the great majority of its territory after three years of war, irrespective of casualties. This has happened so the Ukrainians have won.”
      Of course it doesn’t matter what other people think, only what the actual objectives of the two sides are.
      1. NN Cassandra June 6, 2025 at 8:53 am

         One can certainly think whatever he wants, still reality has habit of imposing some limits on such solipsism. The obvious followup question is why, if Ukraine have already won, we are supposed to spend more money in the name of war that no longer exists?
      2. Socal Rhino June 6, 2025 at 9:51 am

         The idea that parties including governments paint events in ways that favor them (“spin”) is hardly newsworthy and the “Russia is not winning” declaration is hardly worth commenting on at this point, except perhaps in signaling future western intentions after the recent attacks on civilian and strategic targets in the RF.

         Rather than talking about winning or losing, some questions that are still open at this time:

         – Will Ukraine continue to exist as a sovereign nation, and with what territorial boundaries?
         – Will Zelensky remain in Ukraine, accept exile, or be eliminated?
         – If Ukraine survives in some form, will it join NATO?
         – Will NATO survive the conflict?
         – Will NATO join the conflict?
         – Will the conflict lead to one or more nuclear strikes on the continent of Europe?
         – Will the costs of the conflict lead to a leadership change in the RF?

         However the conflict concludes, recent history suggests that the US will declare victory as it disengages.
      3. tet vet June 6, 2025 at 10:00 am

         So, you are saying it depends on what the definition of is is.
      4. vao June 6, 2025 at 3:17 pm

         Well, I seem to remember that von Clausewitz did state what a military victory means:

         1) destruction of the enemy forces;
         2) vanishment of the enemy’s will to fight;
         3) control of the disputed territory.

         Of course, since war is the continuation of politics by other means, this does not say anything about the political aspects of a victory.
   3. DJG, Reality Czar June 6, 2025 at 9:06 am

      ChrisRUEcon: You’re referring to the KyivPost article?

      With this deck?

      Senator Jeanne Shaheen says sanctions on Russia “are not the only way to maintain Ukrainian independence. NATO membership is one, continued US assistance to Kyiv is another.”

      The bloodlust and nihilism of August American Ladies is breathtaking. We’re talking about mass hysteria (and I don’t care if anyone thinks that hysteria is a “sexist” word).

      Tammy Duckworth, who had two feet blown off in the Middle East, is a co-sponsor. She’s like an dull version of John McCain — a miles gloriosus who didn’t learn a damn thing about war.

      These people ought to be in prison — and nowhere near even the most minimal ways of exercising power. They aren’t even suitable for a condo board.
      1. Nikkikat June 6, 2025 at 11:04 am

         Well, I’ll bet you, Shaheen takes a lot of defense money and probably has some sort of military base in her district. They are too stupid to know anything, but what they are paid to believe.
         1. ChrisRUEcon June 6, 2025 at 11:46 am

            > They are too stupid to know anything, but what they are paid to believe.

            Concur. Hence the delusion.
         2. Randall Flagg June 6, 2025 at 12:30 pm

            I checked because I wondered that too but Actually the money she receives from defense is not in her top five. She must be angling for more from them though.

            https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/jeanne-shaheen/summary?cid=N00024790

            I just consider her views on Russia and Ukraine to just wanting to be with the cool kids
         3. Fritz June 6, 2025 at 9:45 pm

            Jean Shaheen born as Cynthia Jeanne Bowers was raised in a military family, so no surprise she’s an advocate for “national security” & she’s on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, here’s its official email address: https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/contact/contact-jeanne
      2. ChrisRUEcon June 6, 2025 at 12:14 pm

         DJG, Reality Czar:

         > ChrisRUEcon: You’re referring to the KyivPost article?

         Yes, sorry I did not preface the quote.

         > We’re talking about mass hysteria

         Massive that. Massive consent manufacturing. Massive “inception”. Massive ongoing cold war mythology. As more minds experience an awakening from this nonsense, I’m sad to report that I still see people in my non-NC social circles still lapping it all up. So thankful for you all.

         > miles gloriosus

         #TIL :) Hahahaha!

         > These people ought to be in prison

         Yes, they should … but at the very least, they should lose their access to power via the ballot box.
   4. pjay June 6, 2025 at 9:59 am

      Last night NBC News regurgitated the story that Russia had “reportedly” suffered a million casualties, while Ukraine had suffered 400,000. Clearly, the few voices in the military and intelligence communities who have been trying to force a more realistic picture over the last several months are facing major pushback by the entrenched Forces of Evil and their useful idiot lapdogs like this Senator. Any tiny bit of optimism I had that sanity might finally break through on Ukraine is being quickly extinguished. I don’t think Trump knows what the hell is going on, and the “realists” seem to be losing the battle behind the scenes. Putin is in an impossible position; he has to send a Tet-type message without triggering WWIII. Given the psychopaths and idiots in charge of the West, that is a tough tight-rope.
      1. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:57 am

         The original Tet wasn’t really about sending a message and, militarily, it did fail miserably with huge casualties (most communist cadres in the South were wiped out and had to be replaced by people from the North who were unfamiliar with local conditions and couldn’t blend in so easily–wrong accents, etc.) Giap was marginalized from military planning after this. That it turned out to have a huge PR effect was an unexpected boon for the Vietnamese.
         1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 11:06 am

            There is a line of thought that Giap did this on purpose. He knew that Vietnam would win the war eventually but then you would have two power groups in Vietnam – one in the north and one in the south. By letting the cadres in the south wipe themselves out, that would leave the north in an overwhelming political position after the war.
         2. vao June 6, 2025 at 3:21 pm

            From my few readings, I remember it completely differently. Giap knew very well what a large-scale offensive against a modern army entailed, from his experience during the Indochina War against the French, and judged the time was not yet ripe for such a push against the American forces. He disagreed with the idea of the Tet operation.

            Ok, here is what Wikipedia states:

            “Giáp opposed the implementation of the Tết Offensive of 1968, considering focus on guerrilla tactics in the south to be more effective.[73] The best evidence suggests that when it became obvious that Lê Duẩn and Văn Tiến Dũng were going to conduct it anyway, he left North Vietnam for medical treatment in Hungary and did not return until after the offensive had begun.”
            1. Polar Socialist June 6, 2025 at 3:53 pm

               For what it’s worth, in the Vietnamese military history Thanh and Giap are not presented as opposing each other. That mainly comes from the CIA assessment of the speeches the both generals gave.

               The whole plan was Thanh’s, and it was accepted because the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party had in the early 1967 come to the conclusion that neither them or USA was winning the war. As they did not want longer war, the stalemate was unacceptable for them and had to be broken.

               On the Vietnamese side TET-offensive is called General Offensive – General Uprising, and it was designed to either knock US out of the war (by taking the main cities and causing a popular uprising) or at least show that the initiative in the war had transferred to the Vietnamese – if there was a message, it was for the people of Vietnam, not US.
      2. Milton June 6, 2025 at 12:24 pm

         I question almost everything now. How bad, really, was the Khmer Rouge? Was Idi Amin truly despotic or did he refuse to placate Uganda to the diktats of the Western imperialists. We know the Sandinistas and Chavistas were honerable backers of the common folk. But was Mugabe really that bad? I don’t know but I will no longer read or listen to any source from the west with regards to these people or movements. My inclination now is to 180 anything pushed by the western media.
         1. steppenwolf fetchit June 6, 2025 at 2:00 pm

            Of course if a western media operative wanted you in particular to believe something, they just have to tell you something 180 degrees from what they actually want to believe, and you will do a 180 on what they tell you, and end up believing what they actually want you to believe.
         2. Aurelien June 6, 2025 at 2:28 pm

            I think the point is that, if you ignore the western media and go to the regions concerned, and talk to the people, you will find that the Khmer Rouge were pretty bad, that Idi Amin was a despot, and so on.
            1. vao June 6, 2025 at 3:25 pm

               Since most people cannot travel to Uganda on a historical whim, I recommend watching the documentary “General Amin” by Barbet Schroeder (1974) instead.
               1. Fritz June 6, 2025 at 9:56 pm

                  In that 1974 documentary Amin emerges as a dumber, more naïve, and more boring version of countless Western politicians.
            2. Milton June 6, 2025 at 6:37 pm

               It’s obvious that I’m pushing the envelope on questioning the supposed self-evident truths that abound. But historical knowledge, that is put forth to a society, is really a continuum–from pants on fire to nose in front of one’s face. But where is the line on that continuum where it is OK to question? Most persons here will question the guilt placed on former Serbian president Milošević. Where on the spectrum is that truth. “White helmets good” is another where more people (outside this blog) than not will agree with that blurb. I think we can push that point towards the false end of the continuum. And those points on the continuum are not static. We see this currently where a more truthful (my view) placement of the point that the USSR was more responsible for the defeat of the NAZIs. Right after the war, more believed this truth. Now the percentages have flipped to the US being the primary catalyst.
               Bottom line. Without being a crank, I believe there is no point on the “Fact” continuum that cannot be questioned. Maybe the numbers are factual but the causes and players involved certainly are. An example would be the “killing fields” of Srebrenica. I believe the deaths there had occurred. But really, who was to blame? With the multitude of factions that were fighting it seems silly to pin it all on a single leader of just one of them.
               1. jsn June 6, 2025 at 8:05 pm

                  Yes, the past we experience in the present is a construct. There are, however, primary sources and honest debates about how to interpret them.

                  To the extent past events are used to justify current policies or politics, the primary sources and remaining evidence accrue current salience and are contested accordingly.

                  But the mythomania of “civilization” at scale pushes this good faith truth seeking, for truths that can’t really be finally determined and settled, into a tertiary or even more remote position. The myths move society for better or worse.
               2. Lazar June 7, 2025 at 7:52 am

                  You are pushing the envelope by using common sense, which is not as common as the name would suggest. As for the Balkans, it’s worse that you think. As for Aurelien, he is not really the one to debate about it because he was directly involved, and must have gotten some blood on his hands in the process. Of course he will deny everything, and shift the blame on whomever. As for the causes, provoking bloodshed around the World, and denying everything, is more British than tea and crumpets. I’ll leave it at that.

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzXhLp2wLQo
                  1. Lazar June 7, 2025 at 8:03 am

                     Sorry for the typo. In second sentence, “that” should be “than”. It should say: “it’s worse than you think”.
         3. sharron2 June 6, 2025 at 11:26 pm

            The young kids that joined the Khmer Rouge and committed atrocities were ostracized as adults when I was there in the early 2000’s. They lived like hermits in hills. I was told that many went nearly mad when their movement fell apart and they faced what they had done to their neighbors.
8. Antifaxer June 6, 2025 at 7:54 am

   Some context for the SCOTUS ruling on reverse discrimination since the headline is misleading as hell:

   Previously, to prove RD people of the majority class had a very high bar to clear compared to those of a minority class – the courts ruled it should be an equal bar.

   They didn’t rule in her favor per se and almost every legal expert I’ve read on the topic believes she will ultimately lose her overall case.
   1. Christopher Smith June 6, 2025 at 9:01 am

      Please do not use the “reverse discrimination’ language. Discriminating against someone on the basis of their race, sex, gender, or sexual orientation is discrimination full stop.
9. Wukchumni June 6, 2025 at 8:10 am

   Rising cost of homeowners insurance is scaring away millions of Americans USA Today
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   I’d mentioned how my cabin insurance more than tripled, and it isn’t only that, but the array of claim exceptions have more easy outs than Sandy Koufax pitching a perfect game.

   My favorite being that I’m not covered in case of a fire started by a meteorite, which gives the insurance company a clever way to deny claims…

   ‘Yes, that wasn’t a lightning strike caused fire, it clearly was on account of red hot metal entering the atmosphere from the nether regions, sorry.’
   1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 8:26 am

      But wait. So many homes have video cameras and door cameras these days that there is a pretty good chance that a video will catch a lightning bolt hitting a neighbouring home or a cabin. Of course that works the other way as well-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJJtLtV0Gx4 (39 secs)
   2. mahna June 6, 2025 at 9:26 am

      Does the cabin insurance cover cabin fever?
10. JMH June 6, 2025 at 8:28 am

    Israel is bombing Beirut. Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon. I had not heard that Israel and Lebanon were at war. Is this a new thing? You get to bomb the capital city of a neighboring country whenever you want because reasons. So Canada can bomb Washington because The Don has annoyed them? Seems odd, Not that The Don isn’t annoying, but bombing Washington seems to me an over reaction. I suspect I don’t understand this high level thinking as to why one can bomb and kill with impunity but for another to do so is an outrage. Like this for example, Rubio is sanctioning ICC judges for targeting the US and Israel, but if those same judges were to target say, Russia or China or Iran, that would be praiseworthy. I guess I would not make it as a diplomat … not that our Marco has ever been accused of being a diplomat … because I find it difficult to turn my coat, so to speak, several times each day. But you must do that if you are in thrall to The Don. Why/ You don’t know that he cannot hold to the same thought for more that ten minutes at a time … That’s not quite fair. He never forgets or forgives whoever wounds his amour propre. Example? Sure. It is nearly 15 years since Obama made fun of him at a dinner in DC. Has he forgotten or forgiven? No. He has been trashing anything Obama did ever since and I am not the only one who calls his current term the revenge tour. We expect it of him. It isormal for him. For anyone else, not so much. I should relax and raise a cheer for double standards.
    1. ilsm June 6, 2025 at 8:40 am

       Hezbollah like Hamas is hiding behind women and children like Gaza Beirut is a free fire zone.

       Seems the CIA jihadi is Damascus is not keeping Hezbollah blockaded.
    2. mahna June 6, 2025 at 9:30 am

       So Canada can bomb Washington because The Don has annoyed them?

       Nah, rules of the rule-based order say that you can only bomb capitals of non-white people.
       1. hk June 6, 2025 at 11:02 am

          The Lebanese are officially white, according to US Census bureau, I believe.
          1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 11:08 am

             According to the Gulf Arabs, they are as good as black in their eyes. Not “pure” enough in their blood.
          2. mahna June 6, 2025 at 11:34 am

             I belive Pentagon has their own checklist with Beirut inbetween Baghdad and Belgrade.
       2. Kouros June 6, 2025 at 11:23 am

          Not true. The rules based order says that you can only bomb capitals of contries that cannot bomb back. Serbia/Belgrade invalidates the “non-white” trope. Unless you count Slavic people as non-white…
          1. mahna June 6, 2025 at 11:50 am

             It’s not what I count, but what they count. For them, Slavs are the Barbarians at the gates of Rome (especially the rebellious ones), and Serbs probably count as Russians that cannot bomb back.
    3. hk June 6, 2025 at 11:01 am

       Canada can’t bomb Washington (Hizb’ullah attacking Israel is terrorism, you see) but we can bomb Ottawa…
11. Wukchumni June 6, 2025 at 8:35 am

    ‘Unfortunately, Altadena is for sale’: Developers are buying up burned lots Los Angeles Times

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Half a million to well over a million for a clean canvas in Altadena to spend half a million building a ticky tacky box, crazy that.

    About 5 years after the Rodney King Riots, I took a drive down Manchester Blvd from the 110 freeway to the Fabulous Forum, and entire intersection corner businesses were empty lots, many of the buildings en route of my youth when going to LA Kings games in the 1970’s with my dad, were gone. Burned out.

    It was a primarily black area, similar to Altadena.
    1. Socal Rhino June 6, 2025 at 1:04 pm

       Many people who lost homes in Pacific Palisades owned second homes, or otherwise have resources to live while a long process leads to eventual reconstruction. Directly impacted people discussed this on X. Altadena residents typically don’t have those resources.

       Most of us are more like Altadena residents than Pacific Palisades residents.
12. snafu June 6, 2025 at 8:50 am

    Defending U.S. Military Bases Against Drones? A Recent Tabletop Exercise Explores How RAND

    Nothing say military exercise like sitting at the table and talking about stuff you would do if you could.
    1. cfraenkel June 6, 2025 at 12:15 pm

       On the other hand, sitting around a table and talking is way cheaper than spending a couple $billion to find out you really didn’t need said equipment to begin with. (Crusader gun, Comanche, LCS, Starliner, way too many others to count….)
       1. Randall Flagg June 6, 2025 at 12:35 pm

          And a lower death count too
       2. snafu June 6, 2025 at 4:13 pm

          Comanche was an excellent video game back in the day, so that one gets a pass.
    2. Unironic Pangloss June 6, 2025 at 1:16 pm

       The Swedes perfected this 50+ years ago—-massive dispersion of your air force to ready-made landing strips dual-purposed as regular roads.

       But USAF airplanes are literally too dainty to be off-the-grid for any extended period of time
13. Christopher Smith June 6, 2025 at 8:59 am

    “Supreme Court rules for straight woman who claims she was subjected to reverse discrimination ”

    There is no “reverse discrimination.” What the decision says is that anti-discrimination laws protect everyone from discrimination. Discrimination against majority groups is not an exception.
14. Mass Driver June 6, 2025 at 9:00 am

    Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages The Verge

    I predict a viral video trend of kicking those members of humanoid robot workforce, as soon as they are let out in the wild.
    1. Unironic Pangloss June 6, 2025 at 1:19 pm

       humanoid robotics is a massive waste of money for the near/intermediate-term….the government pays some/most of the “maintenance” for low-wage workers (Medicaid); and education; and decommissioning (social security).

       Robotics is best suited for discrete, well-defined tasks, preferably in a controlled environment—preferably roles which have higher worker comp claims than your local dentist’s office. What a waste of resources.
15. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 9:13 am

    Antidote du jour

    ‘Awww. What a cute baby bear. And it’s so white. I think that I will pick it up and give it a cuddle. What’s that noise? Omigod Nooo….’
    1. duckies June 6, 2025 at 9:34 am

       Send Zelensky to poke it. :)
    2. Vandemonian June 6, 2025 at 9:40 am

       Such a cute picture that I sensed a whiff of AI. And the via link doesn’t help; it’s yesterday’s link to the tree goats…
       1. Conor Gallagher Post authorJune 6, 2025 at 9:55 am

          Fixed, although not sure correct link is a ton of help there.
       2. Art_DogCT June 6, 2025 at 10:27 am

          I seem to recall first seeing this image years ago – pre-COVID definitely. Thus, pre-AI ubiquity. I think it’s a brilliant photograph, made by a human.
          1. Randall Flagg June 6, 2025 at 12:34 pm

             I have to wonder too that if a human took that picture it must have been from quite a distance and a great telephoto lens. Otherwise in the real world I have a hard time imagining that Mama would let anyone get that close to her cub.
             1. neutrino23 June 6, 2025 at 3:12 pm

                Reminds me of a zoo. The Detroit Zoo used to have a polar bear exhibit with some sort of built in caves or such. At least I remember that from my childhood ~65 years ago.
          2. Vandemonian June 6, 2025 at 3:30 pm

             Thanks, Art_DogCT, good to know there was no AI involved. Given that, it’s a magnificent shot. Cute cub contrasted against the dark background, and then mummy bear looming from the shadow with that “Don’t even think about it” look.
16. Unironic Pangloss June 6, 2025 at 9:25 am

    >>>>What will it take to revive Forest City, Malaysia’s US$100 billion ‘ghost town’? Channel News Asia

    failure of planned cities is the usual rule, not the norm.

    Washington DC took a civil war, 2 world wars, and post-cold war imperial unipolarity before becoming a real thriving city. 1989 downtown DC turned a ghost town at 5:01p

    maybe peeps should try fixing their extant cities first (but ya, i get it…imminent domaim gets used corruptly, elites don’t want to share the sidewall with the hoi polloi)
    1. PlutoniumKun June 6, 2025 at 10:04 am

       As you say, most new cities don’t work, at least not without decades of patience or a very determined government. The costs involved in just putting in place the basic infrastructure is always enormous, and rarely pays itself back directly. Even when they succeed, they can be odd places – there are unheralded ones in South Korea (never official ‘new’ Cities’, just tiny towns that were supercharged for political reasons). These can have a strange vibe – huge hulking industrial areas and tower blocks overlooking tiny farms and villages, lacking any real ‘centre’. Sometimes they survive in a sort of fossilized form, like the medieval Bastides of France, built along now long abandoned borders as a security belt, now providing beautiful cheap homes for retirees.

       But I think its a misnomer to call Forest City a real ‘city’. Its not really a stand alone urban area, its more an attempt at creating a major suburb-city of Johar Bahru, which in turn is something of a Malaysian overflow from Singapore. The conceptualization of Forest City seems fundamentally flawed – there probably is the potential for a ‘off-shore’ Singapore, in the way Shenzen/Guangzhou grew off Hong Kong or Tijuana benefits from being just across the border from San Diego. But that would have meant putting together a targeted set of tax and regulatory benefits to persuade Singaporeans to invest. Plus, ideally, a direct railway to the heart of Singapore, and another to Kuala Lumpur.

       Instead, it was a pure property play aimed at Chinese with some surplus cash trying to find somewhere safe to put it. Its hard to see why any would want to invest there rather than somewhere established or nicer to live (plenty of options further north in Malaysia or the other Malaysian islands). And of course the Chinese property crash ensured that there is no more of that money available (its still floating around in other, more established investment areas). The irony is that the Chinese got it ‘right’ (with new-ish cities like Shenzen) three or more decades ago – they put the financial structures in place before doing any building – but as always with property bubbles the desire to lay concrete outdoes rational thought.

       It should be said that its not the only bad property investment in Malaysia. The country is full of half empty condos. It mostly seems part of the general ebb and flow of the ongoing property bubbles that have infected Asia for the past few decades – Taiwan and ROK have huge bubbles that are yet to blow, and the Chinese one still has a long way to go before it deflates. In Malaysia, oil money seems to have contributed to some of concrete pour, but anecdotally, it was mostly Chinese money. I’ve little sympathy for the Country Gardens of this world and the banks that poured their cash into them, but a lot of ordinary people have been victims too.
       1. Terry Flynn June 6, 2025 at 10:27 am

          thanks for as usual giving the “facts on the ground”. From Uni friends who spotted the “cold blob off Greenland” long before it became a thing, to others who like me were quite comfortable with non-linear models, I’ve thought something nasty is coming.

          We need to move uphill – literally. Fast. The posh bits of Nottingham are all at sea level (I shall try to refrain from schaudenfreude), Much of Nottingham should be using empty land to the north. A government with any nous would have bought up that land for a song and be ready to start constructing a LOT of housing for flooded Londoners. But that won’t happen.

          But ultimately not my problem cause it’ll go to the dogs after I die.
          1. PlutoniumKun June 6, 2025 at 10:47 am

             Land title is always the key. Forest City is on a reclaimed island because its easier than dealing with landownership issues. This is the reason why so many Japanese cities are on reclaimed land. Contrary to common belief, there is no shortage of land in the country (it has roughly the population density of the UK). The problem is getting large chunks of land with ‘clean’ title for major developments. So land reclamation is just easier. Well, until you get hit by an earthquake or tsunami or just general rising sea levels.

             The Indonesians are being quite far-sighted with their new capital of Nasuntara. Its at around 30metres above sea level, which is much better than Jakarta which is already sinking. Its one of the few new capitals that seem to be succeeding.
             1. Terry Flynn June 6, 2025 at 11:00 am

                Thanks. I know that there is a real problem that the UK is only around 50% self-sufficient in food. However, I think reduction in land to accommodate all those lunatics who want to live at sea level (including most Londoners) would not change the equation significantly…….we need to be imaginative with growing and/or trade better.

                I have a weird (TOTALLY unrealistic) ideal of a “New Mercia” Party dominating the area covered by the pre-Norman kingdom of Mercia but which sinply fights for local issues (kinda like the LibDems concentrate on the SouthWest). We could be “kingmakers” in House of Commons……but it’s a totally stupid fantasy I know!
                1. PlutoniumKun June 6, 2025 at 12:29 pm

                   Unconnected, but years ago a friend speculated that the north Saxon kingdom of Mercia was so-called , as there was a west Saxonia (Wessex), a south Saxonia (Sussex), an east Saxonia (Essex), but nobody wanted to live in a Kingdom called No-sex.
                   1. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:42 pm

                      Ha!!
    2. scott s. June 6, 2025 at 2:15 pm

       <"1989 downtown DC turned a ghost town at 5:01p

       In fairness, in 1989 you could say that about most cities.

       Washington DC was comprised of two thriving cities, Georgetown and Alexandria. The decision of Washington and GWP Custis to not develop Arlington pretty much closed off Alexandria. Decline in shipping and canal usage diminished Georgetown, and the construction of the B&O RR to Baltimore meant trade would bypass it.
    3. jsn June 6, 2025 at 8:08 pm

       Air-conditioning destroyed the Republic by making the erstwhile malarial swamp DC habitable year round.
17. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 9:47 am

    “Iran Orders Material From China for Hundreds of Ballistic Missiles”

    Wait, don’t they have to ask Trump’s permission to do that? Isn’t that breaking a US law somewhere? What if he hits them with sanctions for doing so? Will he also threaten to sanction China for selling them industrial products? So many questions.

    Personally I think that this is a good development. The more missiles that Iran has, the less likely Israel or the US will attack it which means maybe peace will have a chance. It’s like that old saying – ‘Peace through superior firepower.’
18. Expat2uruguay June 6, 2025 at 10:09 am

    AFRICOM commander General Langley out? Trump nominates new leaders to replace commanders in Middle East and Africa: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-names-new-commanders-lead-troops-middle-east/story

    Why did this happen now? Well, Langley did very poorly in a hard-hitting interview while in Africa. This YouTube channel presents and interprets the damming interview from the African perspective. It really tears General Langley up. (You can skip ahead to the 5-minute mark and not miss anything)

    https://youtu.be/oTTYE401DC0

    For more information about the new AFRICOM Commander nominee (he previously served 2 years as commander of Special Operations Command in Africa): https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-general-africom-anderson/
    1. Expat2uruguay June 6, 2025 at 10:23 am

       Here’s the entire original interview: https://youtu.be/XIBSRdtRLKs
    2. lyman alpha blob June 6, 2025 at 12:12 pm

       Thanks for the update. Glad to see these nations finally standing up to the US. Time for AFRICOM to be shut down.
19. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 10:13 am

    “How Common is Multiple Invention?”

    What can you say? Coincidences are happening all the time around us. It’s only now and then that we actually notice them. I’ll give a bit more material to this post. So this guy named Charles Hall has a brilliant idea – to invent the water bed that uses water rather than springs or padding or feathers. So he trots off down to the patent office to make sure that nobody can steal his idea only to find that he has been gazumped by about thirty year. And by scifi author Robert Heinlein of all people who wrote detailed descriptions in his books over the years-

    ‘I designed the waterbed during years as a bed patient in the middle thirties; a pump to control water level, side supports to permit one to float rather than simply lying on a not very soft water filled mattress. Thermostatic control of temperature, safety interfaces to avoid all possibility of electric shock, waterproof box to make a leak no more important than a leaky hot water bottle rather than a domestic disaster, calculation of floor loads (important!), internal rubber mattress and lighting, reading, and eating arrangements—an attempt to design the perfect hospital bed by one who had spent too damn much time in hospital beds.’

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterbed#Heinlein_descriptions

    Coincidences happen all the time.
    1. neutrino23 June 6, 2025 at 3:18 pm

       Maybe not that surprising. Ideas come from life around us. As the world changes we all get new ideas about modifying our world. Before we had knives no one would invent a knife sharpener. Before we had batteries no one would invent a battery charger or a flashlight, etc.
       1. tegnost June 6, 2025 at 11:32 pm

          before we had cans there was no reason to assume a can opener
    2. Mass Driver June 6, 2025 at 4:23 pm

       Same with Musk inventions, except he is about a century late.
20. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 10:20 am

    ‘Warren Pezé
    @WPezeMed
    Rutte on NATO: “We are more powerful than the Roman Empire, than Napoleon, we are the most powerful defence alliance in world History”‘

    The ghostly spirits of a Roman 10th Legionnaire and a French Imperial Guardsmen were seen to be crying on each other shoulders in laughter behind him.
    1. hk June 6, 2025 at 11:27 am

       Alaric and Alexander went to a bar. Whether it was in Rome or Paris, one could not tell…
21. Carolinian June 6, 2025 at 10:38 am

    Re the Dems and Musk–seems Musk asked his X audience whether the country needs a new political party and 80 percent said yes.

    Me too.
    1. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 10:46 am

       The funniest part about this fall out was when Trump threatened to take away Musk’s contracts saying on Truth Social-

       ‘The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts’

       In reply Musk said that he was going to decommission its Dragon spacecraft immediately. Since they are the only ship that can go to the ISS, it would mean that US astronauts would have to start hitching a lift with the Russians once more-

       https://www.rt.com/news/618718-musk-spacex-dragon-decommissioning/

       Musk backed down from his threat but there it is – like Checkov’s gun. Shows what happens when you dump NASA in favour of a bunch of billionaires instead.
       1. Glen June 6, 2025 at 12:01 pm

          What remains completely unsaid is also noteworthy:

          Taxes: What people forget about Reagan
          https://money.cnn.com/2010/09/08/news/economy/reagan_years_taxes/index.htm

          “Reagan was certainly a tax cutter legislatively, emotionally and ideologically. But for a variety of political reasons, it was hard for him to ignore the cost of his tax cuts,” said tax historian Joseph Thorndike.

          Two bills passed in 1982 and 1984 together “constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime,” Thorndike said.

          Even Ronald Reagan raised taxes when it was necessary.
       2. Nikkikat June 6, 2025 at 12:15 pm

          Thanks Obama!
       3. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 1:39 pm

          Trump debased the office of the presidency by allowing a mere businessman access and power that should never have been given. Musk is un-elected and unaccountable. The spectacle of the two of them fighting like children is a just ending.

          Imagine if Obama had invented a position like DOGE for Jamie Dimon and then given him total power with zero accountability. Rush Limbaugh would have had a conniption on the air.
    2. Nikkikat June 6, 2025 at 12:13 pm

       As long as h MUSK isnt in it!
    3. Lefty Godot June 6, 2025 at 1:44 pm

       It figures that the Democrats would immediately look to cozy up with Musk once the latter has a theatrical break-up with Trump (which will probably reverse itself in a few months). Because it’s all about the donations! Certainly not because they suddenly have stopped recognizing he’s a dangerous lunatic, like his fellow tech bros. They don’t really care, as long as they can add to their stable of “our billionaires” (who by definition are more virtuous than “their billionaires”).

       One answer to the question in the related link to What Is Centrism? It’s a way of telling us you’re right wing without coming right out and saying you’re right wing. As Daily Kos used to say: More Democrats and better Democrats. Well, maybe just more Democrats. Maybe worse bought-and-paid-for scum, as long as they’re Democrats. No hope, no change, no message, just keep the grift rolling.
    4. Mikel June 6, 2025 at 1:46 pm

       If anything at all, not being grassroots, it would resemble something like Musk (or some such character) hooking up with the “abundance” Dems.

       Just saw the link: Democrats eye a villain-to-ally arc for Elon Musk – Politico. Maybe I will check it out later. But I can already imagine…
       1. Wukchumni June 6, 2025 at 1:48 pm

          …isn’t villian-to-ally what WWE is all about?
          1. Mikel June 6, 2025 at 6:17 pm

             That’s why I suggested yesterday that Education Secretary Linda McMahon help out with the situation. She comes from the WWE.
             1. mahna June 7, 2025 at 8:19 am

                Would it include Trump shaving McMahon’s head?
                1. Wukchumni June 7, 2025 at 8:23 am

                   Everything is jake until somebody gets hit over the head with a chair…
       2. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:44 pm

          That’s how SK wound up with Yoon, btw…
22. Wukchumni June 6, 2025 at 10:41 am

    Goooooooood Moooooooooorning Fiatnam!

    The platoon stormed the beaches on D-Day + 81 years, with everybody wearing a minimum of SPF 50 lest we welcome sun damaged skin, which looks awful when set against your BDU.

    PFC Jones neglected to apply and the medic had to peel back his burnt skin ever so gently while the Private smiled knowing there was a Purple Heart in it for him.
    1. Munchausen June 6, 2025 at 4:34 pm

       Did the SPF 50 help with flammenwerfer burns?
23. Mikel June 6, 2025 at 10:55 am

    The Nazis Weren’t Socialists — They Were Hypercapitalists – Jacobin

    It’s a subject that has been covered at least as far back as William L. Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” (1960) – and most likely before that. That was the first book I read that went into the matter in some detail.
24. The Rev Kev June 6, 2025 at 11:02 am

    “U.S. Escalates Pressure on India to Cut Russian Defence Procurements: Why a Su-57 Deal is in the Crosshairs’

    Something like 60% of India’s military gear is from Russia so this would be a massive overhaul, especially so since they are still facing off with Pakistan which would make it a huge risk. And the US is demanding that they leave BRICS as well. They have not yet demanded that India stop buying Russian oil, even though that would wreck India’s economy, but you can be sure that it is coming. They also want India to buy the F-35. The one that can be switched off in DC, India remembers how the US sailed a fleet against them when they were in the middle of a war and it was the Russians which blocked that US fleet for India. Recent events may be playing on India’s mind. During that recent short, sharp war, the Indians had Russian S-400s guarding its skies which Modi noted in an address to is soldiers. If they had gone with inferior Patriot batteries all those years ago they could have been screwed. Especially since the US would have been putting pressure to send their Patriots to the Ukraine and the bulk of their Patriot missiles as well. But I would expect that the US will demand that India get rid of those S-400s and buy Patriots – which they may have to wait a few years to get delivered.
25. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 11:07 am

    I’ve been thinking about the crapification of the field of software development. I can’t open my LinkedIn feed without being assaulted with articles on “vibe coding” and how if you aren’t using the latest AI tools like Claude, you’ll be left behind.

    My prediction is that young people will start leaving this field in droves. Nobody wants to work in a place where mediocrity is the standard, and that’s what AI produces, by definition. Mediocre slop that’s just “good enough” for the average Fortune 500 company but would get you killed if it was ever used in a mission-critical setting like aerospace.

    It will take some time to shake out, but by 2035 (just in time for my retirement, I hope) having actual programming skills that don’t rely on crapified AI will be back in vogue. Some consultants may make a killing. Until then, the field is likely dead until young people currently on a STEM track drop out and pursue other things.
    1. Jason Boxman June 6, 2025 at 1:37 pm

       Weren’t there successful consultants that came in and cleaned up the early messes from offshoring to India back in the day?

       OpenAI’s ChatGPT Codex is now included as part of their Plus subscription. They loser money on every subscriber, at every price level, so I’m not sure how long they can keep burning money giving away more and more previously higher-tier paid features and survive. How is Microsoft weathering this storm with GitHub CoPilot?

       I do wonder what is going to happen. Plenty of applications are just CRUD. So LLMs are solving “solved” problems. On the other hand, novel applications can’t be assembled by reusing/stealing “average answer” coding from hoovering up existing code. LLMs don’t understand business requirements, or anything else.

       And how much code was already just copypasta from Stack Overflow? Quite a bit, I imagine.

       So I wonder how much these tools will just augment/replace people that weren’t really coding effectively anyway?

       Meanwhile how good were most programmers anyway? Look at the application bloat we have; you need a recent computer to even browse the Internet anymore. Every application is just a bloated Electron JavaScript app. This is driven by business objectives and product managers sucking, but how much is developers just sucking. How many really effective software engineers are there really anyway?

       I think there’s probably quite an oversupply of software developers as it is, given communications technology available even 25 years ago that enabled outsourcing it India in the first place.
       1. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 2:26 pm

          Keep in mind that the lawsuits are just getting rolling. Anthropic is being sued by Reddit for scraping their site w.o. authorization. The claims include tortious interference with business, unjust enrichment, and computer trespass.

          Of course, the Tech lords aren’t going to just lie down and roll over. They’re already lobbying Congress, and there is a provision in the House version of the Big, Beautiful piece of $4@t! that would put a moratorium on states passing laws regulating AI. It appears to have been gutted in the Senate, but note that the headline is deceiving – the provision got changed not completely removed, to try and pass muster with the Senate Parliamentarian:

          https://rollcall.com/2025/06/05/ai-regulation-moratorium-dropped-in-senate-budget-package/

          This is just one more reason that the BBPoS must be killed with fire, radiation, and a withering hail of bullets that would make Stallone and Ahhnold envious in an action movie from the 80’s.
       2. Mike Mc June 6, 2025 at 2:43 pm

          Cousin-in-law and cousin both worked as software engineers for GM in the 1990s. Nearly all of their workload consisted of unf***ing the code written by Indian programmers before major errors found their way into production vehicles. Basically all the money GM “saved” by outsourcing programming to India went to pay American programmers to fix the errors by Indian programmers.

          Multiply this by every other American corporation following this model. It looks like AI is doing something very similar. Sakes! (in the manner of Warner Bros. Sylvester the Cat)
    2. NotThePilot June 6, 2025 at 8:19 pm

       * NotThePilot raises his hand

       It’s already happening. I wouldn’t consider myself young (within the older half of the Millennials), but I left software after several years experience of my own volition. I’m finally ramping up now in a very different, much bluer-collar career (and happier with it each day so far).

       To keep it simple, I think you’re right about AI as a catalyst, but I don’t feel like it’s actually a qualitative change in why software is a declining field. Like Jason B, I look at it more as taking a deeper problem to its final conclusion: most software out there really doesn’t make life better, and even much of the software that does is badly designed and implemented. And on a related note, the people making the investment & personnel decisions are often the furthest from having any real sense of quality.

       Or as Zhuangzi’s eccentric farmer put it millennia ago: “It is not that I don’t know the machine you mention, but that I would be ashamed to use it.”
26. Horne Fisher June 6, 2025 at 11:18 am

    “Russia is in no rush to retaliate”

    If Larry Johnson is right about a shift in the Russian population’s attitude towards Ukraine, perhaps this is a turning point akin to the switch between McClellan to Meade to Grant/Sherman in the civil war. McClellan prosecuted the war with at least some ideas of brotherly love and kinship towards the south and hoped for a quick resolution to the dispute. I’m sure this was in line with how the majority of the populations in the northern states would have wanted the war prosecuted at first. With no solution coming, the animosity grew and by the time we get to Grant those feelings of brotherly love were gone and Sherman goes scorch the earth in Georgia.

    Of course this contributed to a century or more of anger and distrust between north and south that perhaps could have been avoided or at least tamed down had there been a quick solution. Sadly, Russia is probably now doomed to a similar fate with Ukraine, especially if forced to take control of Galicia rather than unloading it on the Poles.
27. Jason Boxman June 6, 2025 at 11:29 am

    From How big trade deficit drop as tariffs hit imports is playing out inside U.S. supply chain and economy

    But the ability to pass on price increases to customers varies business to business, and based on end customer. Helen Torkos, president and owner of Regent Tek Industries, which manufactures pavement markings, tells CNBC the global trade war has greatly impacted the cost of importing the raw components needed to manufacture the highest grade of thermoplastic road markings, the product that is on state, city, and local roads and highways.

    Of course it’s plastic. It would be. Plastics are actually the death of us all, we just don’t know it yet.

    Over 50 years of sprinkling poison across the entire world ain’t gonna end well.
28. Tom Stone June 6, 2025 at 12:12 pm

    I watched the videos of the ICE raids on Restaurants where dozens of cops with machine guns and wearing body armor were used to arrest bus boys and dishwashers and I have a few observations.
    Every one of those cops has sworn to defend the Constitution against “All Enemies Foreign and Domestic”.
    They have violated that oath.
    The US has millions of veterans who have also sworn that oath and they take those oaths seriously.
    These raids are designed to intimidate, and to provoke a violent response which will justify imposing Martial Law “In order to protect our Freedoms” and they will become more provocative until that happens.
    The most likely outcome of these actions is not a completely obedient and submissive society, it is chaos followed by warlordism.
    It’s going to be an interesting summer…
    1. MaryLand June 6, 2025 at 2:26 pm

       Plain brown shirts are cheaper than all that gear. Call in DOGE.
    2. CloverBee June 6, 2025 at 3:15 pm

       That sounds like exactly what our tech overlords want. Believing they will obviously (/sarc) end up on top.
    3. Simeon June 6, 2025 at 4:54 pm

       Raids like these are something US has been doing overseas to others (by the mentioned veterans). The Empire came home. An appropriate saying would be: “How do you like them apples?”
    4. Enter Laughing June 6, 2025 at 10:30 pm

       The workers were using fraudulent Green Cards. That’s a No No. If an immigrant working in Columbia or Mexico (the two countries the workers were from) is found to be using fraudulent Residency Permits or Work Permits (the equivalent of our Green Card), they can be fined, imprisoned, deported and banned from re-entry. It’s common for countries to enforce immigration laws.
    5. hk June 6, 2025 at 10:47 pm

       I could swear that they don’t look that different from 1990s, when the agency was INS…
29. Nikkikat June 6, 2025 at 1:02 pm

    I agree with you, I think all of this nonsense is used to intimidate these poor workers. I wonder when Trump plans to raid his own hotels? These people never mention the employers….wonder why?
    The picture of these racist idiots in the masks the other day was a real
    Stomach churner. This is going to get out of hand very quickly.
30. ChrisFromGA June 6, 2025 at 5:11 pm

    Big Chump

    Sing to the tune of “Big Gun” by AC/DC

    Melody

    Riot in the twitterverse
    Bitch-fight on the TV
    Orange-uh-man take what he can
    Shoot-out on the iPhone screen!
    Shirking the law and knockin’ ’em down
    Livin’ out a 3rd grade fantasy
    There’s a bad man cruisin’ around
    In a Cybertruck limousine

    Don’t let it be wrong, don’t let it be right
    Get in his way, you’re dead in his sights

    Big Chump!
    Elon! (get in on)
    Big Chump!
    Big balls kick the hell outta you

    Job terminators, tariff fakers
    Shootin’ up Bollywood
    Snakes alive with a .45
    Gettin’ up and doin’ no good
    If you ain’t wise, they’ll cannibalize
    Tear the flesh off you
    Classified TACO killers
    Put ’em on a pay-per-view

    He saddle you up and take you to town
    Better look out when he come around

    Big Chump!
    Elon! (let’s get it on)
    Big Chump!
    Big balls kick the hell outta you!

    Woo, yeah, yeah, a showdown

    [Guitar solo]

    Big Chump!
    Elon! [the love is gone]

    oo-ooh
    oh-oh
    yea-yea
    B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-big Chump!

    Big Chump!
    Big Chump [kill bill Elon!]
    Fire at the target
    Elon!

    Get it, get it on!

    Prevaricators!
    Market craters!
    Filthy traitors!
    Gonna getcha later …

    Big balls kick the hell outta you!
    1. Alice X June 6, 2025 at 8:11 pm

       In deed. Perhaps. Perchance.
    2. griffen June 7, 2025 at 11:09 am

       Bravo and well done! An underrated track from the band, off a rather surprising mix of musical talents on the movie soundtrack.
31. Alice X June 6, 2025 at 10:14 pm

    Madleen Gaza flotilla live tracker: Greta Thunberg, crew move towards Gaza

    and To the Zionists non live result

    Greta is a sweet young soul, among others who might give their lives.
    1. Alice X June 6, 2025 at 10:54 pm

       And curses on anyone who might entertain a non live result.
    2. moog June 7, 2025 at 8:28 am

       She is a sweet young soul, and way out of her depth. Right from the start of her media career, she had no idea what she was doing. A good pair of parents would have done things differently.
32. Jason Boxman June 6, 2025 at 10:21 pm

    He’s a Master of Outrage on X. The Pay Isn’t Great. (NY Times via archive.ph)

    An online creator went from a “nobody” to a conspiratorial sensation on X. What he gets in return is less clear.

    Dominick McGee was walking into the White House in April and couldn’t believe his luck. He was a self-proclaimed “nobody” just three years ago when he started working alone from his apartment, posting right-wing content and conspiracy theories to his X account. Now he was invited into the very center of American power.

    Why not?

    We’re still getting Pandemic deniers and minimizers on Twitter to this day, whining about “lockdowns” and whatever, when someone with a clue posts about the Pandemic.

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