Big Bang May Not Be The Beginning of Everything, New Theory Suggests ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
3,500-year-old graves reveal secrets that rewrite bronze age history ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
The Silent Virus Behind Mono Is Now a Prime Suspect in Major Diseases Bloomberg
Climate/Environment
Why Is Hail Getting So Big? Wall Street Journal
The atmosphere is getting thirstier and it’s making droughts worse – new study The Conversation
Rising sea temperatures spawning killer Med storms, study warns ekathermerini
Farmers’ harvest in limbo after UK endures driest spring in nearly 70 years Independent
China?
Hopes for a Xi-Trump summit are naively misplaced Asia Times (Kevin W)
* * * Falling sales underscore China’s property sector woes Nikkei
* * * China’s “intelligent mines” are getting rid of truck drivers and diesel fuel Kevin Walmsley
* * * You’ve heard of rare earths. What you haven’t heard is that the West can’t even finish turning them into a magnet.https://t.co/5trcBQpWYc
— William Huo (@wmhuo168) June 5, 2025
China’s Rare Earth Ban Starts Shutting Down Auto Production Ian Welsh (Micael T)
China issues rare earth licenses to suppliers of top 3 U.S. automakers, sources say: Reuters CNBC (Kevin W). This is not explicit here, but one assumes this change covers the global operations of these companies.
The reactions to Luanna Jiang's Harvard commencement speech in both China and the US are really interesting to study, in that they are so illustrative of the current zeitgeist in both countries.
First of all, let's be clear, her speech wasn't well received on either "side" at… pic.twitter.com/VKOWzbeauS
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) June 5, 2025
Africa
European Disunion
Pipelines That Could Spark the Next Price Shock OilPrice. Although loss or restrictions on these transits would have global implications, the EU would be first in the line of fire.
The emperor has no tanks Adam Tooze, Financial Times. On European military pork.
Nato chief is determined to give Trump a win with 5% defence spending plan BBC (Kevin W)
Gala of the Unscrupulous – How Profit Hunters Squeeze the Earth Uninhibitedly and with Impunity Nachdenkseiten via machine translation
‘These are not numbers – they are people’: what ex-communist Slovenia can teach the world about child poverty Guardian (Kevin W)
Old Blighty
British Army supplier founded by Tony Blair’s son raises $20m Telegraph. Colonel Smithers: “Where there’s a trough, there’s a Blair.”
The merits of a wartime mentality Engelsberg Ideas
HMRC plans for tax raid on pensions Telegraph. From last week, still germane.
UK tech job openings climb 21% to pre-pandemic highs The Register
Israel v. the Resistance
Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza BBC. (Kevin W: “Not so much ‘clans’ as Jihadists.”
Inside the Hamas unit fighting Israeli-armed gangs that loot aid and facilitate displacement in Gaza Mondoweiss
Israeli Army Faces Technical, Mechanical Failures in Gaza War – Report Palestine Chronicle
The Genocidal Heart of Israeli Society Ahmad Ibsais (Chuck L)
⚡️🇮🇱JUST IN: 'Sadistic Rituals' – Survivors Testify to Knesset About Childhood Sexual Abuse Network in Israeli Religious Ceremonies:
During a special joint Knesset session on Tuesday, several women, mainly from the ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionist communities, came forward… pic.twitter.com/SPMDbFUv1m
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) June 5, 2025
* * * My Clash with Dan Cohen Alon Mizrahi
How the Media Manufactured a ‘Genocide’ Tablet. Help me. How about the US government loudly backs and funds the Israel genocide? To pretend this is comparable to other cases is rich.
* * * Israel ‘will attack Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed’ Arab News
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s dangerous new ‘gift’ to Washington Aaron Mate
This is funny. Do you think there will be any meaningful records?
🇺🇸🇺🇦‼️THE END HAS BEGUN: US auditors have arrived in Kyiv – Are they investigating where the money is?‼️
June 6, 2025
The foundations of the Ukrainian political scene are shaking again – and not because of what is happening on the front line, but because of the arrival of… pic.twitter.com/tblCJLYFa3
— Djole 🇷🇸 (@onlydjole) June 6, 2025
Ukraine deceived American capitalists Vyzglad via machine translation (Micael T)
Scott Ritter : Is the US at War With Russia? Judge Napolitano, YouTube. Includes important detail on the CIA’s “Russia House”.
Imperial Collapse Watch
Airlines left with fewer flight routes as global conflict zones expand Independent
NTSB finds fuel leak and improperly installed parts in the engine of an airliner that caught fire Associated Press
Trump 2.0
Judge Determines Trump Will Get The Nation On Weekdays, While Musk Gets Every Other Weekend And Holidays Babylon Bee
Russia Offers Political Asylum to Elon Musk over Trump Feud Newsweek (resilc)
Sometimes I wonder how the media would write about what's happening in the U.S. if it were just covered as the banana republic it's rapidly turning into.
It'd probably go something like this:
"Escalating Power Struggle Between Strongman and Key Oligarch Threatens Regime…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) June 6, 2025
The End of Silicon Politics Yascha Mounk
Musk says SpaceX will retire Dragon spacecraft amid bitter Trump dispute Guardian (Kevin W)
Elon Musk proposes forming new political party amid tensions with Trump Anadolu Agency
Methinks Mike Benz doth protest too much:
Elon Was Always The Secret Weapon Behind Trump 2.0 pic.twitter.com/ii1HBqTKza
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) June 6, 2025
🇺🇸Elon Musk Finally Realizes Trump's Working for the Deep State…?
I warned all the way back when Elon Musk got involved in the US proxy war in Ukraine (and also US regime change efforts vs. Iran), offering Starlink to enhance US-backed hostilities – that this would inevitably… https://t.co/hNv1YEJYl1 pic.twitter.com/VMV6qtWjsL
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) June 6, 2025
* * * US declares Biden fuel economy rules exceeded legal authority Reuters (Kevin W). Note not a court determination
MAPPED: 70 Percent of Trump’s Cabinet Tied to Project 2025 Groups DeSmog
Will Military Officers Have to Sign a “Loyalty Oath” to Trump? A Senior Officer and MRFF Client Says it “Appears to be Imminent.” Military Religious Freedom (Chuck L). The site name gives me the willies, but with Trump, no ego-driven demand is too extreme for him not to attempt.
DOGE
DOGE can access sensitive Social Security records, Supreme Court rules Politico (Kevin W)
DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI to Help Kill Veterans Affairs Contracts ProPublica
Tariffs
Japan, US ‘yet to find common ground’ on tariffs: Tokyo’s top negotiator Anadolu Agency
Trump’s tariffs have become his Vietnam – and the right is breaking ranks Guardian (Kevin W)
Immigration
Agents Use Military-Style Force Against Protesters at L.A. Immigration Raid New York Times (resilc)
Trump’s justifications for the latest travel ban aren’t supported by the data on immigration and terrorism The Conversation
Immigration surge cost state, local governments $9 billion in 2023, nonpartisan CBO says Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)
Mr. Market is Moody
Global Bond Auctions Show Weaker Trend as Fiscal Pressures Grow Bloomberg
The dollar just had its weakest start to a year on record. Why it might be doomed to fall even further. MarketWatch
Loan defaults are looking worse below the surface Financial Times
Trade war bigger challenge for EM central banks than COVID-19: IMF Daily Sabah
The Bezzle
A simple comma is going to cost Apple billions in Europe Jérôme Marin
Class Warfare
Why Is Pizza So Expensive Now? What It Reveals About the US Economy Bloomberg. resilc: “Wake me up when the bonus army reaches Tyson’s Corner on way to Das Capital Hill.”
Consumers Are Financing Their Groceries. What Does It Say About the Economy? New York Times
Guillotine Season Is Coming: The Real Reason Living In America Is Getting Harder YouTube (resilc)
The hidden time bomb in the tax code that’s fueling mass tech layoffs Quartz. Paul R: “They stopped allowing deducting R&D expenses and that led to a lot of engineering etc. layoffs.”
Trump AI Czar Sacks on Universal Basic Income: ‘It’s Not Going To Happen’ Business InsideR
Wealthier Americans flock to dollar stores as tariffs stoke consumer angst Financial Times
Paraguay’s Bolt and Uber Uprising Paraguay Post
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Antidote du jour (John U):
And a bonus:
Have you ever seen a real life zebra crossing?
Only in Africa! pic.twitter.com/yvcqXAMXwY
— Culture Explorer (@CultureExploreX) June 5, 2025
“Will Military Officers Have to Sign a “Loyalty Oath” to Trump? A Senior Officer and MRFF Client Says it “Appears to be Imminent.””
Just an article to panic some true believers and the AI generated image kinda gives it away. This was of course inspired by what happened with the Wehrmacht back in the early 30s-
‘During the Weimar era, the oath of allegiance, sworn by the Reichswehr, required soldiers to swear loyalty to the Reich Constitution and its lawful institutions. Following H*****’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, the military oath changed, the troops now swearing loyalty to people and country. On the day of the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, the oath was changed again, as part of the Nazification of the country; it was no longer one of allegiance to the Constitution or its institutions, but one of binding loyalty to H***** himself.
Although the popular view is that H***** drafted the oath himself and imposed it on the military, the oath was the initiative of Reichswehr Minister General Werner von Blomberg and General Walter von Reichenau, the chief of the Ministerial Office. The intention of Blomberg and Reichenau in having the military swear an oath to H***** was to create a personal special bond between him and the military, which was intended to tie H***** more tightly towards the military and away from the Nazi Party. Years later, Blomberg admitted that he did not think through the full implications of the oath at the time.’
Trump may be dumb but he is not stupid and trying to do something like this would be an express rout to impeachment.
my dad’s a high ranking military officer. if this were to actually happen it would have been mentioned at the dinner table or something. my whole family would be talking about it. but it has not been mentioned. the only trump order i’ve heard about in detail was kicking trans people out, because my dad had a trans officer working under him but there were no backfill orders so it was like a pain to deal with.
Pleased don’t discount Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein of Military Religious Freedom. This man has been exposing the attempted and sometimes successful takeover of the officer corp by evangelical christians.
I don’t know about you all, but the idea that large parts of the nuclear strike capabilities are operationally controlled by people who think the second coming is at hand scares the living s–t out of me.
Weinstein has done some good work in uncovering a certain Christian dominionist tendency in the military, especially the Air Force. But like others who have devoted their lives to exposing the “radical right” (Chip Berlet comes to mind), he suffers from mistaking the trees he is studying for the larger forest in which they are situated, and mistaking their rhetoric for the larger reality of power. Such neo-fascist religious views are dangerous and despicable. And I don’t discount a “General Jack Ripper” event. But for me these groups and their beliefs are more like tools that are sometimes utilized by the Powers that Be rather than part of the dominant power structure themselves. Add to this the usual Trump derangement held by such analysts of the “radical right” and you have a picture of our Orange Hitler leading his secret Christian/fascist storm troopers which omits most of the *real* Establishment that holds the *real* power – and mostly despises Trump.
Your point gives me zero comfort.
“most of the *real* Establishment that holds the *real* power – and mostly despises”…
…was true for Nazi Germany too.
The same worries about the die-hard evangelicals being high in the AF command echelons was also being expressed during the administration of George Dubya. So it’s been a persistent worry on the alt-media side, not just another aspect of TDS. To be honest, there are so many things gravely wrong with how this country is being run now (and has been run for the last half century) that you could go nuts trying to account for them all. And the curve of decline seems to being getting steeper, from a point where things looked still recoverable in the mid-1970s to the current situation, where we’re all just hoping to die peacefully before the total yuge smash-up happens.
Sorry Rev but it seems you have jumped to an unwarranted conclusion based on lack of familiarity with the MRFF. In the late 1970s founder Mikey* Weinstein was a cadet at the US air Force Academy and as a Jew he was being verbally and physically harassed on an ongoing basis by a junior staff officer. One day he finally pushed back, which of course put him on the path to expulsion from the academy. Fortunately he had a well-connected attorney on his side who convinced the powers that be that it was not in their interest for the details of Weinstein’s experience to hit the publicity fan.
By the time he graduated Weinstein’s eyesight no longer qualified him for flight training so he chose to go to law school on the Air Force’s nickel, and from there he was assigned to a desk job and the service’s Legal Department in the Pentagon. His arrival coincided with the breakup of the AT&T telephone monopoly, and he was assigned to look into how this would affect the Air Force from a legal standpoint. Within months he became recognized as the go-to person in the Pentagon and in other federal government departments for anything having to do with the Bell breakup. When his service obligation was up he left the Air Force and founded a law practice specializing in telecommunications that quickly developed a lucrative nationwide practice.
Fast forward 20 years. Weinstein’s two sons are now USAFA cadets in the early naughts, and they too are targets of Anti Semitic harassment. But the perpetrators now include other, more senior cadets who are fundamentalist Christians as the academy leadership looked the other way. And the target spectrum has widened to include not only Jews but Roman Catholics and also members of mainstream Christian denominations, not to mention agnostics and atheists. This is when Weinstein senior established the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Since the religious right coalesced as a political force in the United States in the late 1970s christian evangelicals have encouraged their spawn to apply for entry into America’s military academies. Many of those former cadets are now well up the chains of command and are not sympathetic to those who protest actions that the cross red lines in the First Amendment and elsewhere in the Constitution. Protesting anomalously through the MRFF not only reaches a much wider audience, but also allows the protester to avoid risking career suicide. IIRC One of the foundation’s clients who chose to eschew anonymity was a female Lutheran Chaplain at the Air Force Academy. Based on having followed the MRFF since shortly after its founding, I don’t think there is any reason to suspect that the officer quoted is indeed what he or she says they are, very senior.
* In the 1950s there was a popular series of television commercials featuring a young child named Mikey who would eat anything on the trial basis. Weinstein’s parents thought their son Michael bore a close resemblance to the actor playing Mikey and therefore started calling him that. It has been his nickname ever since.
‘And the target spectrum has widened to include not only Jews but Roman Catholics and also members of mainstream Christian denominations, not to mention agnostics and atheists.’
Gee, we really are heading back to the 19th century aren’t we with the same sort of crap going on. They may one day have to re-make that film “Gentleman’s Agreement’ once more-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman%27s_Agreement
Not surprised that agnostics and atheists get it too. During the Iraq Occupation, they use to get a lot of flak from their NCOs and officers for being so and not being part of pre-mission daily prayers. Sometimes they were told that they were worse than the Iraqis they were fighting as at least they had a religion.
I remembered this background to all this as well, but not with anything like this detail. So we should thank ex-PFC Chuck for bringing all this here.
I would offer that caveat that the Christalibangelical harrassment against Weinstein was not due to modern racist antiSemitism as we understand it. It was due to preModern religionist antiJudaism as the Church Militant ( and other Militant Christian groups) understood it and practiced it back in the day. If Weinstein would have eagerly and joyfully converted to wholehearted servitude to His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the One True Church ( Protestant Evangelicalism), the harrassment would have changed to joyful welcoming. If I am wrong about that, I hope ex-PFC Chuck will offer me correction in the kindest possible way.
I suspect you really truly have not the slightest inkling of what is going on in this country with regards to the Christaliban, the Talibangelicals, the Biblical Inerrancy Literalists, the Seven Mountains Dominionists, the New Apostolic Reformationists, etc. They don’t want to take America ” back to the 19th Century”. They want to take America back to the 5th and 6th Centuries, but do it better this time and make sure that no Italian Renaissance or French Enlightenment ever happens, ever ever again.
And beyond that, many of them want to take America fast-forward to the End of Days, when Jesus will return in Triumph to rule over the Earth for a Thousand Years Long Righteous Reign of Righteous Blood and Righteous Vengeance. They support Israel in order to use it as the trigger to detonate the World Scale Thermonuclear War of Armageddon which will sterilize the path for Jesus’s Return in Triumph. Think of that East Texas rancher raising red heifers in hopes that one of them will be THE red heifer which signals this much-wished-for End Of The World as We Know It. Here is an article about that titled : ” From Texas to Israel: Red heifers needed for Temple arrive
A Christian farmer in Texas raised the prized heifers which are essential for priests to serve in the Temple.” Here is the link.
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-717650
America might break up into smaller countries at some future point, but for the moment America is still a big country. And the ” 19th century” ain’t got nothin’ on some of the things and people that go on all up in here. You would be amazed if you took the time to actually dig deep and wide enough to actually find out.
Ironically there was a series of Quaker Oats commercials in the 1970s featuring a Mikey who on the contrary “hates everything” yet enjoys the cereal promoted in the campaign
Thanks.
Wonder what Chris Hedges would add to that.
He has been warning of those groups for a long time, especially sensitive as a Harvard Divinity School post grad.
I don’t recall the source now, but a few years ago I read that whereas in the mid 20th century wannabe service academy cadets listed top drawer public universities as their safety schools (e.g University of California/Berkeley, University of Michigan), these days they’re more likely to be the likes of Liberty University and Oral Roberts University.
Wagner Group leaves Mali, but Africa Corps remains. Basically, Russia is changing from a mercenary operation to a training and technological support operation for many reasons as covered in this article.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/6/russias-wagner-mercenaries-leaving-mali-africa-corps-to-remain
Also, in May, Russia reported that Mali planned to recruit 15,000 soldiers + 9000 security in 2025/26
https://afrinz.ru/2025/05/vlasti-mali-planiruyut-dopolnitelno-nabrat-24-tys-soldat-dlya-obespecheniya-bezopasnosti/
But this comes four days after multiple significant battles throughout Mali resulted in 500-600 neutralized. Two sources with different perspectives:
Mali reports nearly 500 terrorists neutralized: (2:50, trusted source)
https://youtu.be/TRCj-eJfd2Y
JNIM claims dozens of Malian soldiers killed, Army base overrun:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3exnnd6po
Anyway, coincidentally, these huge battles between Malian and Russian forces on one side and JNIM on the other side happened just a week after General Langley of AFRICOM warned about the strength of the JNIM terrorists and the US desire to help out the Sahel… And/But as I reported here yesterday General Langley himself is on his way out, after having embarrassed himself while in Africa in the very interview wherein he expressed his above-described clairvoyant concerns:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/06/links-6-6-2025.html#comment-4226109
Taken together it is a juicy-twisty story, but I don’t think it’s being reported anywhere….
Saludos, expat2uruguay
Farmers’ harvest in limbo after UK endures driest spring in nearly 70 years Independent
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hunga Tonga did that ^
The almond harvest here isn’t in limbo-the projection is for nearly 3 billion pounds worth, what’s in limbo stick territory is the low value per pound and more tariffs levied by China against the orchardists, who tend to lean so far right politically that a number of them tip over on a regular basis.
Blue Diamond-the behemoth in the industry, is closing their giant almond plant in Sacramento in the next 2 years, and 600 jobs go away.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/blue-diamond-exits-sacramento-ending-202641096.html
Maybe now the spreadsheet-toting farmers will stop pulling up Olives to plant Almonds? Asking for a friend.
There was a big import duty on eating olives that allowed Cali olive growers to make a living, and then once it was dropped, foreign imports killed their market.
I watched a big olive orchard get ripped out near Woodlake and the trees ground into pyramidical piles, with citrus trees replacing it, all in the course of a fortnight.
What’s the bet that whatever ends up replacing those almond trees will be yet another crop meant for foreign export and not one for local consumption.
The Joads picked peaches in Grapes of Wrath around these parts, but I can’t think of anywhere locally where they are grown, or really much of any other summer fruit.
There are more almond trees in Cali than there are Americans in the USA…
Marzipan Plan:
We have to find new markets for the damned things, and I grew up eating marzipan, which one never really sees much these days, pretty delish.
re: Farmers’ Harvest in Limbo.
This talk from utube, 8 years ago, ~2hr 30min+ Long, but the first 30-45 minutes are well worth a watch. He’s doing exactly with his farm what Big Ag does not do with their monoculture, tilling fencepost-to-fencepost.
Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem with Gabe Brown Part 1, The 5 Tenets of Soil Health
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmIdq0D6-A
Leaving this for farmers reading NC who might find his ideas interesting. Why creating a healthy soil matters and can help blunt the worst effect of rising temps and changing rainfall.
aye.
ive been surprised, over the years…given how set in grandaddy’s ways they otherwise tend to be…that so many of the local ranchers(sheep, goats and cows) are in ready agreement with the adage:”we’re not growing(meat)…we’re growing grass”.
ie: grass comes first.
the follow-on revelation is that we’re not growing grass, we’re growing good, rich dirt…has been harder to get across to these guys, although i have had many sympathetic ears in the feedstore, etc.
its just that they are so embedded in chemical ag…helped by our very own, publicly paid for, extension agent…who is generally quick to tout the latest wonder poison out of dowdupont.
the other barrier to these folks going whole hog on soil building is cost of things like manure spreaders, and the time it takes for such a transition away from chemag to more or less “organic”.
but the ones who see the pastures on my side of the place(and the rest of the place, prior to mom’s febuary scraping madness)…can all see very clearly the results.
and even the front pasture that mom tried so hard to destroy…the bigger clump grasses(wilmann love(a stabilizer, nonnative), switchgrass, indian grass, and so on(rest are natives)) are all coming back, due to the excessive rain….but they all have very deep root systems(up to 30′).
its funny…when these dudes see me pick up their dirt and taste it…like my grandaddy taught me,lol…they , to a man, begin to wax poetic about how they’re own grandaddy did that.
but they never understood what he was doing.
re: lack of rain
The farmhouse where my Mum grew up has a couple of walnut trees. For a few years now there are those bugs apparently and they slowly kill the roots and there are less walnuts every year and those that make it often are sick. And natives there seem to not know what to do about this. And this issue, they believe it´s heat, is all over the country. That is Slovakian/Hungarian border region. Odd…
we have the same issue with our ancient post oaks…combination of droughts, and grasshopper plagues and weird ice age events(my technical term)…all have taken their toll.
dead post oaks all over the place…such that one cannot purchase mesquite wood, any more.
i keep my 3 Big Oaks satisfied by talking to them…as well as assuring that they are all within the radius of the Big Sprinklers that water my place.
walnuts like wet feet, as it were… and a swampy, very rich soil….so that might be an avenue to mitigation, if it aint too late.
often, with long lived trees, when you notice a problem, its already fatal.
were they my trees, i’d do concentric manure rings and apply deep watering.
at the very least, its preparing the ground for a replacement tree…which should not….very likely…be a walnut.
depending on where, exactly…microclimate, etc….maybe a hickory or pecan.
out here, in the northwest texas hill country, pecans do well(squirrels planted all of mine, in which cases i considered them agents of Goddess, etc…and built my doins around them.)
Walnuts are more of an east texas thing…they like more acidic soils than i have…but they’d do well adjacent to the built wetlands where the pee diversion from the composting toilets goes.—where a cattail will grow, a walnut will grow next to it.
but theres some walnut disease afoot for decades…and texas bans importation…so i havent been able to find any walnut trees.
i like them better than pecans for pesto.
and just eating in the winter.
cracking nuts over a big stainless bowl in my lap in bed, with a lil honey and coolbread and milk.
why i dont have nubile farmhands beating down my gate, i’ll never know….
Well I appreciate that. I´ll run down that suggestion to my mother who is mostly down there (I haven´t been for ages frankly). She did say folks tried all kinds of things. One social problem is of course the village is dying out. People do come, even from Norway to purchase land. But eventually it´s too off the main tracks for people to stay. And since the mayor seems to be opposed to Orban´s people in the capital they have no lobby.
In the south of the country there was a report of an actual walnut farmer who achieved success with walnut trees from France…
A certain manure in mind? And concentric rings in contrast to what? complete coverage?
I am not a farmer (neither is my mother which might be one minor issue even tough she gets help from others there. She was a musician, hated the place, and fled it going to the city when she was 12.)
p.s. Either I do my pesto with walnut and bear´s garlic or the more classic around here, pignolia and basil which is more expensive. The cheapest pine nut being 10 times more expensive than walnut.
That oak seems to be a very nice tree.
According to Wiki it was first categorized by this German fella:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Adam_Julius_von_Wangenheim
Friedrich Adam Julius von Wangenheim came to the 13 colonies as part of those German expeditions from Hessen.
p.s. Just cause I read it yesterday and since I associate USA with the animal, not Germany: Berlin has a raccoon problem. They shot 20k in 2006. Now it´s 200k.
fwiw from BERLINER ZEITUNG, a longer than usual piece from 2022 machine-translation
Save or kill? The raccoon polarizes like no other Berlin city animal
Are raccoons misunderstood animals or a nuisance? Urban hunters and veterinarians debate this question. One thing is certain: Berlin has thousands of adaptable new residents.
https://archive.is/zSvJB
If you catch or kill a raccoon as a private person you can be fined 10k. If you release that raccoon without informing the city you can be in for 50k.
Sorry for the dumb question, amfortas, but what is it that you’re trying to ascertain from tasting the soil?
I join the enquiry. I have read for ages that traditional farmers did “taste” the soil, but never got an explanation about the procedure.
half spectacle, half pseudoscientific sampling.
you can acertain the acidity/alkalinity, organic material content, mineral content…all sort of fuzzily.
rich, living soil tastes and smells a whole lot different than the worn out dead stuff most of these guys plant in(and hafta pour more and more chems upon every year to grow anything)
You can sometimes taste sugars too, which is an indicator of a very productive soil. Sugars and carbohydrates are exudates that are leaked into the soil by plant roots, and these exudates feed symbiotic organism and fungi. The happier the plant life, the more sugar and carbohydrates get exuded.
Kinda neat to see someone eat dirt, but personally I prefer to use smell, however I’m told you can taste lower concentrations than you can smell.
A news story recently reported that apiaries in the US are seeing a 70% drop in bee populations this year, on top of the 50% drop a few years ago. The large almond growers depend on bees trucked in from all over the country to come for pollination.
Last time I crossed the Central Valley (April of this year)I noticed there were fewer almonds and a growing number of agave fields.
https://www.californiaagave.org/
You keep making that claim about Hunga Tonga. Do you have evidence for that?
“British Army supplier founded by Tony Blair’s son raises $20m”
Like another father-son business relation, will Nick Blair have to kick back 10% to the Big Guy for getting an in?
I thought it odd that I had not heard of those involved.
I looked up Skylar and, lo! It is a divestment of Improbable. A bell rang distantly. Ah yes, a Softbank investment ($500m in late 2010’s) that pivoted to the metaverse in the pandemic (oops).
So basically a loss-making division of a loss-making Softbank boondoggle was refinanced in a tech PE deal and is now bidding for military slush money. Nick Blair is probably to be applauded on seeing where the future lies, or at least where Daddy is doing his lying these days.
Revenant: …basically a loss-making division of a loss-making Softbank boondoggle was refinanced in a tech PE deal and is now bidding for military slush money.
Jaysus! The Scum Also Rises — Softbank and the Blair crime family together.
Now I won’t be surprised if you tell me there’s Saudi investment already in it or they’re bidding for it.
re: the 4th Amendment
Judge Napolitano
US Domestic Spying & the 4th Amendment
Government officials — local, state and federal — are trampling the natural right to privacy
June 6, 2025
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/06/us-domestic-spying-the-4th-amendment/
“Those who drafted the Bill of Rights recognized that human rights are pre-political. They preceded the existence of the government. They come from our humanity, and in the case of privacy, they are reinforced by our ownership or legal occupancy of property.”
Damn, those Zebras are way quicker than the ones on Avenida Revolución~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonkey_(Tijuana)
‘Suppressed News.
@SuppressedNws
⚡️🇮🇱JUST IN: ‘Sadistic Rituals’ – Survivors Testify to Knesset About Childhood Sexual Abuse Network in Israeli Religious Ceremonies:’
After reading this, somehow that debate in the Israeli Knesset a coupla months ago about the right of Israeli soldiers to commit anal rape on prisoners is kinda more understandable from where it comes from. The kink is strong with these ones.
RE: The emperor has no tanks Adam Tooze, Financial Times. On European military pork.
Funny how the big brain-box professors miss the blindingly obvious: Europe cannot have an efficient military because there is no such thing as “Europe” the state. States do not have friends, only interests. The EU is a shambles and will continue to decline under the mis-leadership of the chicks who wanna have (figuratively) dicks. NATO is a paper tiger and does not overlap with Europe. European states need to look after their own interests. The first large Euro state (UK, Fr, De, It) that figures out that good relations with Russia/China/etc leads to prosperity will steal a march on the others. Who will crack first?
If the EU project fails, Europe fails.
Without the EU as a viable non-aligned counterweight to the racist, heavily militarized, hegemonic ambitions of two economic and one nuclear global superpowers, there’s a serious risk that global civilization fails.
Yeah, the EU has serious structural issues, and not a lot of time to step up. But we really, really need them to succeed.
My money is on Italy.
The UK is incapable of making nice with Russia – they still haven’t recovered from The Charge of the Light Brigade.
It will take a generation for the French to get over Macronitis, and they haven’t forgiven what happened to The Little Corporal’s army on the way back from the gates of Moscow.
Germany is busy working up a revival of Operation Barbarossa, and is looking for others to join them.
But Italy? As DJG likes to remind us, they still remember that la vita e bella, and that there is more to life than acting tough.
On Scott Ridder: “Is the US at war with Russia?” @20:40, “We are on the cusp of thermonuclear war.” There are good reasons he and a number of other people are concerned about a possible nuclear war. However, it still holds that only the president can authorize the use of nuclear weapons and the military is committed to following the chain of command.
I still don’t think Trump is the kind of president who will launch a first strike nuclear attack, especially against Russia. I don’t think Putin is either, especially against the US.
Moreover, as rogue and out of control as the deep state is, and capable of orchestrating a false flag event, if it’s no longer true only the prez can authorize it and the CIA or Lindsey Graham can grab hold of a nuclear device, then I agree we’re in serious trouble.
Russia Offers Political Asylum to Elon Musk over Trump Feud Newsweek
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
,rade Elon,
Of course you are welcome to Mother Russia in order to escape tyranny of distancing with Donald, bring along X Æ A-12 and the other ‘baker’s’ dozen too.
p.s. Adderall is prohibited in Russia, BYOA
Well Russia is trying for a larger population and Musk has proved that he is the man for the job.
Things really spiraled and the poor White House reporter on CNBC kept checking his phone for yet more new tweets….or I guess Truth Social postings by Trump. Granted this also wasn’t CNN reporters covering the first Gulf War in 1990 to 1991. But this week it was social media postings that were going faster and furious than ever imagined.
It had ended on such a good note a mere week ago! I guess now that Musk will not be ” right here ” after all…
https://babylonbee.com/news/elon-musk-extends-glowing-finger-to-trump-before-stepping-into-rocket-and-blasting-off
I guess Russia may as well have some fun with the feud.
On the other hand: DOGE loving BRICS nations – make of it what you will.
“Why Is Hail Getting So Big?”
This article starts of by talking about 5-plus-inch hail which is impressive enough. I wonder if anybody has worked out a theoretical maximum size for hail. It would be a function of the strength of rising warm air currents keeping hail aloft and gathering size but you wonder what that maximum theoretical size would be. We do have an inkling however from a partially melted hailstone-
‘A record setting hailstone was ultimately discovered in Vivian, measuring 8.0 inches in diameter, 18.625 inches in circumference, and weighing in at an amazing 1.9375 pounds!! This hailstone broke the previous United States hail size record for diameter (7.0 inches – 22 June 2003 in Aurora, NE) and weight (1.67 pounds – 3 September 1970 in Coffeyville, KS). The Aurora, Nebraska hailstone will retain the record for circumference (18.75 inches).’
https://www.weather.gov/abr/vivianhailstone
But one in Bangladesh back in 1984 weighed 1.02 kg (2.2 lb).
For want of hail, the car roof was saved
For want of a dented car roof, having to use Uber wasn’t needed
For want of Uber, taxis would still be in business
For want of taxis, badges would still be worth something in NYC
Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges.
Hail is getting bigger and more frequent. Rain patterns are shifting and growing more chaotic. Regions face lengthy droughts and others atmospheric rivers. Winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes are growing stronger and more frequent. A new climate is slowly but increasingly rapidly emerging into the future. Increases in the cost for house insurance, where it is available, are only just beginning. Existing houses are neither located nor built to withstand the new climate. Undeveloped land has been divided into a crazy quilt of parcels difficult to develop. New house construction and improvements to existing houses are heavily freighted with government zoning regulation and the construction approvals processes, crippling delays, and crushing fee and permits taxation. Even ignoring the gathering storms in the economy, I believe the homeless problem will become much worse.
For the future, it might be nice to work out a theoretical maximum size for hail … and also work out some notion of what kind of weather our homes will need to shelter us from. Then it would be nice to build a little engineering guidance for how to construct those homes, and perhaps add some variances to housing regulations to allow new home designs.
“Then it would be nice to build a little engineering guidance for how to construct those homes, and perhaps add some variances to housing regulations to allow new home designs.”
Which makes me think… What about all those solar panels?
The story below from 2023 includes an image showing an example of hail’s impact on solar panel:
“Solar farm pelted by giant hail as severe storm ripped through Nebraska”
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/community-solar/solar-farm-pelted-by-giant-hail-as-severe-storm-ripped-through-nebraska/
Another later posting on the web indicated it took six months to repair the damage and return the solar farm to the grid.
Another link discusses the effectiveness of a hail stow protocol
Reevaluating hailstorm damage at the Fighting Jays solar project
https://www.vde.com/en/vde-americas/newsroom/250114-reevaluating-fighting-jays
“With the support of Array Technologies, VDE Americas was able to study pre-event hail stow protocols and post-event damage reports for three utility solar farms located within 15 km (≈9.3 mi) of the hail-damaged Fort Bend County solar farm. All three of the projects studied—specifically, Cutlass I, Cutlass II, and Old 300—were exposed to >500-year hail events. Two of the projects sustained no direct hail-related damages. At the third site, a few dozen modules sustained damaged due to hail and wind-blown objects. Importantly, hail-related damages at this 270-MWp PV project site were limited to an area where a tracker motor issue prevented complete hail stow.”
There is map at the tail of this link showing the hail threat to the u.s.
I am not sure how rooftop solar panels do in a “1-in-500-year hail exposure”. Cars do not fair well.
Thanks for the information. From the first article, I gather that rooftop panels may sustain significant damage with high probability.
during the penultimant big La Nina Event…say 2008?
we observed hail at the place in town that was bigger than any softball…approaching volleyball size.
i rushed out afterwards to check on the geese, etc…and gathered up a bunch for margaritas(i know, i know,lol…)…and many of them were at least 4#.
tore up a bunch of trees, but only killed one goose…and injured several others, ere they figgered it out and got into the shop.
other than that extremism…hail around here is usually “pea sized”(official NWS nomenclature)…with very occasional cue ball sizes.
but i do most of my gardening under trees and under pergolas…the stuff growing on the pergolas gets damaged, but usually soon recovers.
the stock panel that they are made of absorbs the kinetic energy, and i end up with millions of ice chips in the beds, themselves.
and an aside…all the farmers and ranchers out here love ice from the sky…be it snow, sleet or hail.
they insist that it has a lot of Nitrogen in it, which ive never bothered to check in to.
“The Silent Virus Behind Mono is Now a Prime Suspect in Major Diseases”
Thank you for attention to this virus. I can’t read the article, only the headline and a few sentences but it is important information. I had severe mono twice, once in middle school and again in early adulthood. Back then, mono was not considered something that continued to impact the body after the initial infection(s). Now many years later I have terminal cancer. Before the cancer was discovered, doctors thought I might have MS because the symptoms I was experiencing were similar. I hope research continues in this area so future patients will not suffer as I am suffering.
Very sorry to hear about your diagnosis. There’s very little appreciation that I can see for the long term risks associated with many other severe infections, strep being a prime example. I found this access to the Bloomberg article, maybe it will work for you.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-06/-kissing-disease-mono-could-be-linked-to-cancer-dementia-and-long-covid?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0OTE5OTIxNywiZXhwIjoxNzQ5ODA0MDE3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTWEZDV0VUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIwMEJGMDJBNzYyNTA0RjU0QjY0MjQ5OUNEOEFDRDkxNSJ9.Tbs39lwF9_VplfNcc5akJlu2K9JJrZxgxLrQH8jGSfg&leadSource=uverify%20wall
Thank you very much.
I also had septic shock twice (just lucky I guess) and apparently sepsis has long term risks as well. There is so much we don’t know about such infections. I can’t help but think increase in deaths, especially for people under age 60, is due not just to Covid, but other infections like mono, strep and sepsis, to name but a few.
re: the William Huo tweet and magnets
“A lost industrial art…” It just occurred to me that I never hear mention of Industrial Arts in regard to the school curriculum as I did when I was in high school in the 60’s and many of my classmates were the first generation going to college, tuition paid by father’s who were tool and die makers. We just keep eating the seed corn…
Part of the unheralded rise in immune dysfunction? It’s fortunate that we have a health system that researches this…oh wait.
I have a small ringworm infection on the back of one hand. Six months of ant-fumgal cream and it is finally under control. I’ve read that this is become more common also.
First World environments are no longer healtheir than Third World.
IIRC, the mono virus was implicated in chronic-fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia (just your imagination) 30 years ago, which was also attributed to (IIRC again) the epstein-barr virus. A quick search says they’re the same virus and that there are no long-term problems … . In high school (’60’s) we called mononucleosis the kissing disease, and it seemed to be common. Oy.
What’s mind bending about this
Is given we’re still discovering the tragic things this virus can do even now… so why is it reasonable to conclude that a brand new virus, SARS-CoV-2, is “just a cold”? Yet that’s the party line. And we have substantial evidence at this point that in fact SARS-CoV-2 is very dangerous, not harmless. But the fantasies about it persist.
Boggles the mind.
What could possibly need to come out about SARS-CoV-2 for people to get “very, very interested”?
Those who are not cell biologists may he unaware that if you want a cell line to live forever in vitro, you infect it with EBV. It messes with the cell cycle.
It works best with lymphocytes – EBV transformed lymphocytes are an important research tool – but I think with other cell types too.
Don’t catch mono, kids!
After I got mono at age 12, my mother said I was never the same again. I don’t know how I caught it although it was not from kissing. I had been a healthy young person before but never regained the energy I had prior to the virus. I had a lot of illnesses in my teenage and adult years in spite of the fact that I lived a very health conscious life. And then the cancer diagnosis came.
Did my phd in this area, so I guess I should add some comments.
EBV only infects B lymphocytes (which are responsible for making antibodies); an old idea that epithelial cells can be infected as not, AFAIK, been confirmed.
Correct, this infection can transform them into a continuous cell line, an extraordinarily useful tool. Infection is for life. EBV is the most common viral infection; 95%+ in East Asia, probably 85% in many Western countries. Infection as a child is most common (via saliva exchange), and then it is usually thought to be asymptomatic. A very famous case was when Eva Klein (with hubby George, a doyen of EBVology), who of course knew she was seronegative, got infected after feeding her grandchild – she tasted the food!). Delay infection to the teens or later, and symptomatic infectious mononucleosis (a dramatic increase in responding T lymphocytes) can occur. This can also be the response to the slightly less prevalent cytomegalovirus (CMV), so you could be unfortunate and get IM twice. Chronic fatigue syndrome and Guillain-Barré syndrome can be triggered. EBV is kept in check by specific T cells. Incredibly, given the vast possible repertoire of T cell receptors that could be specific to the virus, individuals with a certain tissue type (HLA-B8) usually harbour identical T cells! Since you are infected for life, your responding T cells are constantly stimulated, occasionally resulting in them occupying a large proportion (20%) of circulating lymphocytes, some with altered function or dysfunctional. A possible link between MS and EBV was suggested to our lab by neurologist Michael Pender around 25 years ago, and was followed up (well after I had left) with clinical trials. Looks like the field is very active!
Thanks. I was almost 40 when I had a bad virus during my first or 2nd year in Sydney (moved from UK so they did a LOT of tests to fill in gaps in my medical record). Was asked “when did you get EBV?”.
I answered “never”. Doc said wrong, you got the antibodies but not currently active. Then the penny dropped. Early in my postdoc (around age 30) I was knocked out for a month with something. UK GP waiting list was so terrible and I could do some work from home so I fought through it. By the time I got GP appt I was on the mend so cancelled. That was clearly the primary infection (I had been a late bloomer regarding the usual risk factors).
When I see GP in 8 days will demand tests to see if the virus has reactivated and any other things the virus can cause. Because my Long COVID is simply getting worse and their attitude re bloods is typical NHS: rule out obvious ones like HIV etc then “go away”.
re: Trump did not know?
The Deep State Is Still Sabotaging Presidential Policies
Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar reminds us of subtle maneuvers by deep state actors to sabotage presidential policies.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/06/the-deep-state-is-still-sabotaging-presidential-policies.html#more
Among others Bernard mentions Eisenhower too, not knowing certain things and intended embarrassement….
Scott Ritter says the CIA’s Russia operation, called Russia House, is ungovernable. “Bloody Gina” Haspel, of black torture sites fame, tried to get it under control and failed. At 9:40:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p_faUdJT3w
Harry S. Truman, Op-ed, Washington Post, 12/22/1963
Trump: They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night
cnn.com/2025/06/07/europe/russia-strikes-kharkiv-ukraine-intl-hnk
Excellent! Thanks!
The different puzzle pieces, contradictory as they may be at times, are so important to track and decipher this decades-long madness and its results so far.
Was Vicky de “Cookie” surprised about what happened on Sunday? She certainly must have been pleased. Wonder about all those secrets she will take to her grave one day.
As far as I am concerned, the sooner the better.
It is not possible to more fully agree with that and may she occupy a seat right next to Madeleine Albright so they can pad each other on the back for eternity. That’s if Satan lets her in as well.
She and Madeline can stab each other in the back for eternity. That was one of their core skills in government after all.
Both ladies appear to have captchured our hearts and minds…
LRB just recently had a review of books about fascism (I wanted to post it here actually) also quoting a book by Madeleine which she wrote, with the title, ahem,
“Fascism: A Warning”.
of course part of our PR there is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russia_House
+ that movie adaptation…
If I am not mistaken “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is closely related.
After the drone attacks MSNBC had a segment entitled: “Ukraine Burns Putin, but also schools Trump with surprise drone attack”
We survived the first Cold War, where incidents and accidents brought us perilously close to Armageddon, and I’m not thrilled that the deep state is barreling towards planet destruction while well paid propagandists salivate over nuclear war. In the MSNBC show, hosts Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace, cheer Ukraine’s “audacious” drone attacks. Meadow confided to Wallace how they really weren’t that different from Leni Riefenstahl. “I feel like you’re, you’re one of my friends who understands how my brain works on this sort of thing. Like, it is an incredible war story about Ukraine’s capability and their resilience and their creativity and the way they have just done this, you know, like David versus Goliath… But it also does have international strategic implications for every country in the world… In Russia’s position, in terms of thinking about its own defenses, thinking about its own nuclear deterrence…”
Nicolle Wallace. That name sounds familiar? In her former political career, Wallace served as the White House Communications Director during the second term of the presidency of George W. Bush and as the Communications Director for his 2004 re-election campaign. Wallace also served as a senior advisor for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.
That Nicolle Wallace.
But, when you think about it, inciting conservatives to hate on Muslims with the war-on-terror gig, while whipping liberals into a Russia-phobic frenzy with Russia-gate is the reason why Nicolle Wallace and Rachael Maddow are paid millions of dollars. That the invasion of Iraq was a monstrous war crime and foreign policy debacle, and that Russia-gate turned out to be a big flop, with Maddow’s ratings taking a monumental hit, doesn’t matter because there will always be another war to promote.
As far as my environment is concerned, the more they are into media and “educated” the more they are buying into what you describe and the less sanity they show. Which means, I can hardly speak to anyone. Ah, one more feature: The older, the better.
These headlines, intentional or otherwise, are more right than not: this was an attack on United States as much as Russia, and these treasonous cretins would cheer the Imperial Japanese Navy just because they hate FDR or dance as the Twin Towers burn because they hate W.
I don’t think the cold war ever ended. There was a mere interregnum–a Peace of Nicias–that followed the CPSU’s abdication. That interregnum ceased with the bombing of Serbia. The west has been waging war on Russia since 1945–with hotter and colder phases–and it’s looking like it will be a 100 years war at least, with recent years ranking among the hottest, perhaps even hotter than the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Since 1918…
Since 1812, or even 1612.
Spot on re the bombing of Serbia in 1999: this is exactly the moment when RU-USA relations started to go south. Primakov (who was prime minister at the time) was in an airplane over the Atlantic headed to the USA when the first air strikes kicked off. He literally turned around mid-ocean and returned to Moscow. From Wikipedia:
‘On 24 March 1999, Primakov was heading to Washington, D.C. for an official visit. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean, he learned that NATO had started to bomb Yugoslavia. Primakov decided to cancel the visit, ordered the plane to turn around over the ocean and returned to Moscow in a manoeuvre popularly dubbed “Primakov’s Loop”.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Primakov
And since then, it’s been turtles all the way down.
Rules for life:
The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
See: Allegations of extensive abuse in the ultra-orthodox world, where elaborate hairstyles are more important than children. Too many liberals really dug some lazy-ass anti-Israeli rabbis. There are limits when one makes coalitions. This was foreordained.
The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
Poor Musk, drug-addled homme terrible. Poor Trump, so many cheeseburgers, so few ideas. Poor Bannon, whatever he is.
The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
Musk, leader of a political movement? What will he call it? The Zuidafrikaaner Resentful White Boois for Freedom? Watch Democrats try to egg him on.
Scratch a liberal, find a fascist.
I wasn’t willing to touch that stinking mess over at The Tablet, with its quantifications and graphics, but I did. Goldberg is liar, bullshitter, and propagandist. Just this little factoid shows how wrong he is: “the first in which the genocider permitted food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to flow into the territory of its purported victims.” Sorry, Goldberg:
https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/archives-unbound/primary-sources_archives-unbound_correspondence-from-german-concentration-camps-and-prisons.pdf
Noting Yves Smith’s observation about Benz: Methinks Goldberg doth protest too much.
Also, Goldberg should read Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte in which he writes of being allowed to tour (pretty much on his own) the Warsaw Ghetto. Where the hell does Goldberg think that the meager food was coming from?
Corollary to scratch a liberal, find a fascist: They are already trying to explain away Joe Biden and his war mania and will soon have graphs and charts to show that nobody was killed in Gaza.
The U.S. Supreme Court is what it has always been.
Note the Politico article on the Supreme Court deciding to let the DOGE-o-crats loose in the Social Security Administration. Here’s how the NYTimes puts it today: “Justices Grant DOGE Access to Social Security Data and Let the Team Shield Records. As Elon Musk leaves Washington, the team he formed to ferret out waste and abuse won dual victories in the Supreme Court.” In case you were wondering how the Supremes ever came up with the Dred Scott decision… Why, oh, why, am I tempted to dox Little Sammy Alito?
2x OT terrorism:
1) Looking back to 9/11. Has Bin Laden´s long-term strategy, if you wish to call it that way, possibly been confirmed? Dragging the US (whether it used 9/11 as a pretext is another matter) into senseless wars shaking its foundation in the very long-term?
2) Does anyone have reading suggestions on the Turkish left terrorist group Devrimci Sol in the 1990s?
In Germany they were regarded as a dangerous group and banned 1998. As such together with Kurdish affiliates they were painted as threats to our way of life. In hindsight it´s interesting that this episode has entirely been forgotten. But in the Gulf War under Bush I. Devrimci Sol allegedly was responsible for “75 percent of all terrorist-related U.S. deaths in 1991” to quote the only study I found, by a Michael J. Kenville (who possibly died this year. Not sure yet).
Eventually there is the question if terrorism possibly has long-term effects that might be positive in a twisted way achieved by wrong means.
At first I thought this was about explosive devices.
After reading this article, you wonder how many other mines that this could be applied to. When you stop to think about it, this might have been how we would have seen the world working towards when we were teenagers. Having dangerous, isolated jobs like truck miners be replaced with automated trucks instead. It would have been how we would have seen the future develop. And now it is happening in China. Down here in Oz we have fly in-fly out mine workers. Rather than having a local workforce working the mine, they fly in mine workers for a coupla days and fly them out again on a continuous basis. Those guys must rack up a lot of flybuy points.
“Rather than having a local workforce working the mine, they fly in mine workers for a coupla days and fly them out again on a continuous basis.”
I am baffled. Why would they do that instead of having a permanent (or semi-permanent) workforce living near the premises? In any case, if people remain for a couple of days, they must be accommodation, canteen, an infirmary, etc.
There must be some reason (no matter how perverted the economical incentives) to incur such astronomical transport costs.
A mine owner can control the dissemination of pertinent information to the local population, and their elites who control permitting and regulations, via physically removing all ‘questionable’ sources of direct information concerning methods and conditions of the mining process. Not being locals, said miners also do not really care about malign conditions arising from “questionable” mining methods. They are from somewhere else, plus a little bit desperate and or greedy too.
The continuous rotation of the miners suggests that there is something in that mine that it is not advisable to be exposed to for an extended period of time. It would be interesting and informative to find out if the same miners are constantly being rotated, or if there is a significant turnover in mining personnel.
Does the mine own or closely partner with the air taxi service? An in house transportation scheme probably would not ‘gift’ “flylage points.”
Finally, there well could be an economic aspect to this. As I have observed in the construction trades here in the Rancid Underbelly of the North American Deep South, ‘out of town’ workers, even skilled trades, will generally work for much less than the local population is accustomed to. The cost on flying in and out the cheaper labour would also be a tax write-off as being a “cost of doing business.”
It is called strip mining. You strip it andyou move along/ Communities are a hindrance. They want permanence and the miners have wivesand kids rooted in the place. At some point everyone will see they are dugging their graves so there is backlash that the owners don’t want to deal with.
Because nobody wants to live in the places these mines exist. On the east coast the coal mines and others built towns for the workforce but there are leisure opportunities within easy reach. Fly in/out mines are usually in places where there is nothing to do after hours, they can work longer hours this way. A few years in those soul destroying dongas will send a modern person insane. It is of course more than a couple of days.
There are technical people who need to be attracted as well ( metallurgists etc. ) who would never live there. Some of the local cockie’s sons usually end up being signed up and trained up, useful in time of drought for another line of income for the station.
It is no way to get familiar with the outback, all you see is the mine you are on, go into mineral drilling if you wish to be paid to travel.
A few reasons, vao.
1. The mine site is remote. Really remote. Find Roy Hill Mine (https://shorturl.at/Wp9w0) on a map, and check out the towns of any size nearby. Port Hedland is a 5 hour drive.
2. There is no established community at the site for incomers to join. The “astronomical transport cost” looks attractive compared to the cost of setting up schools, hospitals, medical practices etc. etc. (See point 1.)
3. Having a FIFO job means that workers’ families don’t have their lives ripped apart with every change of job.
4. The unforgiving climate can be unappealing for families. Daytime temperatures at Roy Hill are often over 40°C
Yes, we have FIFO workers in the Canadian Tar Sands of Northern Alberta. It’s called “The Oil Patch” or “The Patch” and workers are flown in for 12 or 13 day shifts where they work double shifts and earn a lot of money.
A lot of those workers are from Newfoundland. So much so that they have a radio station there that gives the news and cultural stories of Newfoundland. They have to have a lot of amenities there because it gets very cold up there and there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. If you get hurt or sick, they fly you out.
This is the case in northern Manitoba as well, with the INCO nickel mine, but there is a town there, Thompson, Manitoba and people live there year round. I lived there for four years and it was there that I experienced -60 degrees C. I never want to see that again. I asked a local what was the lowest temperature he remembers and he said he was a kid at the time when his dad worked at the mine and it was -70 degrees C one morning. His dad’s car was plugged in with a block heater, an interior heater, and an in-line oil heater. It started ok, but when his dad went to drive to work, all four tires exploded. He said car door handles break off in your hand at that temperature. The whole town was under thick ice fog because all the homes are heated with oil furnaces. Naturally, all the oil is trucked in from the south.
Maybe it’s the new Blue Sky Mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs
> The hidden time bomb in the tax code that’s fueling mass tech layoffs
Holy Moley! Boy, do a bunch of things make sense in retrospect.
Musk, Bezos, Googleguys, all of the tech tituns who spend more time with accountants than engineers knew this, they just kept it under wraps. They knew they’d be doing layoffs in 2022 but stfu about it. (MBA_101: reduce headcount.) They push the R&D section to ramp up AI, take the tax write-offs, and then when it comes firing time, holler that the AI is so good they can lay off workers.
That ‘hidden time bomb’ is running close to ‘forbidden knowledge’. At least if you’re a worker who’s been denominated out.
Yes, this tax provision is remarkable. A self inflicted wound. Even HMRC doesn’t do things this stupid. In the UK all R&D that is not capex (buying lab equipment) is a tax expense in the same year. Capex is immediately expendable up to a limit (annual investment allowance) or on an 8% p.a. amortising basis above the limit or for certain goods disqualified for AIA.
We even subsidise R&D, with a R&D Tax Credit which results in either a deduction of 130% (?) of qualifying expenditure or, for small companies only, can be surrendered for actual cash at a rate if c. 20p (?) in the pound.
Unsurprisingly, nobody has commented on the UK pension tax raid article (I suspect only Froghole might be tempted). I’d like to point out that it is classic Telegraph nonsense but there is something going on here that needs discussion.
First, the nonsense. The UK has a system of income tax and a parallel system of national insurance which is like income tax’s feeble twin kept in the attic. It is the founding shibboleth of national insurance that only the deserving pool get a full state pension, earned (as a right rather than by value) by paying National Insurance. NI comes in bewildering flavours depending on your employment status (employed, self-employed, a director, various special occupations etc) and caps and threshold and so on, none of which are related to their income tax equivalent. Plus employers must also pay it as well as employees.
Successive governments have refused to reform it by merging it with IT because it would increase the headline IT rate and deprive them of an employer tax and a second set of rules to tinker with and target people and they defend this stance with the contributory shibboleth.
The result is UK labour rax rates are c. 10% higher than the headline income tax for the employee and employers pay a further 15% on top. For an unhappy graduate, a graduate tax of IIRC 9% to repay state student loans kicks in on top, in – as you might guess – a third entirely uncoordinated system.
Now, the Telegraph is making a song and dance about a possible change in “salary sacrifice”. This is a measure that used to be an administrative convenience and minor tax benefit. You can surrender some of your contractual salary at source to be used in certain ways (formerly luncheon vouchers and childcare vouchers, pension contributions etc). The salary sacrificed bypasses the PAYE system and the worker ends up with the non-cash value benefit.
It has become increasingly important though because of successive tinkering with the tax system that has create dependencies in your tax rate or eligibility for tax allowances and deductions or welfare benefits on your income and/or “earnings from employment”. For example:
– earn more than £100k and your tax free income allowance is progressively removed. £100k is in the 40% headline tax bracket but losing the allowance creates a 60% tax rate until £125k.
– earn more than £150k and you are taxed at 45%
– earn more than £60k (just one spouse in a couple) and you lose your child benefit
– earn more than £150k (? – they keep changing the rules) and the amount you can contribute to a pension with income tax relief is reduced progressively, from £40k (?) to £6k (?).
These penalty rates at certain income levels gave lead to many, many more people using salary sacrifice to adjust the income / employment earnings. Done correctly, you can earn £150k and sacrifice £50k to a pension and avoid a 60% marginal tax rate and maximise pension contributions with full tax relief, for example. Employers also like this scheme because the salary sacrificed dies not incur employers NI.
The Chancellor wants to limit the effect of sacrifice, making either NI or IT or both applicable despite sacrifice. So this is going to affect marginal propensity to add to pensions but it is not a “raid” on an accrued pension fund.
Second, what is the issue to discuss? That the tax system is increasingly Byzantine and punitive and there is very little value in saving for a pension in the UK. The reliefs are being eroded and the money is trapped until 55 and increasing and all the benefits are at thebwhim of government. It makes dar more sense to take the income and service a mortgage on a house because we have a financial system built on land appreciation which is capital gains tax fee, just like a pension, which reduces your housing costs, and which is yours all the time with no age limits and risk the portfolio blows up or is embezzled or inflated away.
UK pensions are a dead letter! But the Telegraph misses the wood for the trees.
And if you scratch a conservative, you will find a fascist. Since most liberals and conservatives tend to be capitalists, then it’s more correct to say, If you scratch a capitalist, you will find a fascist. So liberals and conservatives ought to be the best of friends, and might gainfully wile away their most pleasant hours, scratching each other’s back.
Or alternately if you scratch any of us you may find a fascist under the right circumstances. Chris Hedges, the moral scold, takes on the issue of our present idiocracy.
https://scheerpost.com/2025/06/07/chris-hedges-the-rule-of-idiots/
Donald Trump, and the sycophantic buffoons in his administration, are updated versions of the reigns of the Roman emperor Nero, who allocated vast state expenditures to attain magical powers; the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, who funded repeated expeditions to a mythical island of immortals to bring back a potion that would give him eternal life; and a feckless Tsarist court that sat around reading tarot cards and attending séances as Russia was decimated by a war that consumed over two million lives and revolution brewed in the streets.
That sounds true enough but in his high flown way Hedges needs to explain why he thinks a society that spent its first one hundred years using humans as chattel has only now become decadent. The planters created their own fantasy world of Walter Scott chivalry to justify themselves because they thought without slavery to support the economic engine of cotton this contributor to a labor shortage country would collapse.
And to be sure Hedges says you can’t individualize the problem even as he seems to do so. In the end slavery did go away and many of our current problems may as well without “fascism.” It’s a cycle, and the wheel can turn.
Yeah, “fascist” is a dangerously loose term that applies, potentially, as an epithet to anyone wanting anything. No one should be using it.
I always thought its looseness was intentional: the original Fascists didn’t have a clear orientation, beyond their eagerness to use (and abuse) the machinery of the state to make themselves look good and punish their enemies. The former is a universal attotude for politicians of any stripe. So is the latter, but what would distinguish (and not very clearly, imho) a “fascist” is thst they are willing to go to crazy lengths stretching state authority. Neither US “left” nor “right,” under pretty much every leadership, not just Trump, has shown “fascist” temdencies in this dimension.
For all the talk about fascists being the enforcers of big business, the relation was actually reversed: firms were privileged and given plenty of leeway to exploit their workforce, but they had to obey the fascists — or else.
Case in point: were Trump a fascist, Elon Musk would by now have been arrested and disappeared into some secret jail after his latest outbursts, accused of “Wehrkraftzersetzung” and “Führerbeleidigung”. In addition, he would have ordered the transfer of ownership of his firms, and possibly authorized other corporations to use the patents registered by Musk’s firms free of charge.
The lesson for all other oligarchs of the Silicon Valley and elsewhere would have been very clear.
By the way: in nazi Germany, all of that was done.
Exactly: my point was that Fascists (the original ones) were predominantly interested in enhancing state power, to be used against its enemies and benefit its friends. Big businesses could be its frieds (often were), but could easily be its enemies, too (some were, iirc). This is not exactly bound up with any kind of “ideology.” A lot of modern politicians (and some not quite so modern ones, too–FDR for instance, who had a lot of shady moments during his long tenure that people would want to brush aside) trend towards fascist in that sense. All the lawfaring made me deeply suspicious of enemies of Trump, perhaps more than Trump himself (because Trump’s enemies are self-righteous and “ideological,” i.e. many of them seem to believe that they are doing “god’s work” and he/she/it will sort out what his/her/its own later.)
PS. I remember well what happened to Hugo Junkers–and that Ernst Heinkel and even Willy Messerschmitt used his example as jsutification for why they cooperated so closely with the Nazis. I always found the way Junkers has been lionized by some as a principled enemy of Nazism a bit odd–he was, after all pioneering warplane designer during WW1 and no one talks about his principles back then…
(hmm, original reply is in the moderation filter…hopefully, it’ll show up soon!)
The horse in today’s Antidote du jour reminds me of the first words of a well know poem down here-
‘There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses – he was worth a thousand pound…’
https://www.australianculture.org/the-man-from-snowy-river-paterson/
Cue the jokes on the improbability of an institution dedicated to Aussie culture. :)
Well, I ran into that beauty off-trail in the never-never region of Sequoia NP
> ‘These are not numbers – they are people’: what ex-communist Slovenia can teach the world about child poverty Guardian
The article is very interesting and worth your time. I was thinking about how it’s a matter of choice, how we treat children, how we prioritize their interests relative to other interests, e.g. those of banks and the investor class. That made me think of Graeber (the social world is something we make and could make differently) and then Zoe Williams puts her cards on the table:
As though the GFC had been a natural phenomenon we could do nothing about.
I also thought about the difference between how Germany and Slovenia (as Williams presents it) reconciled themselves with their socialist past in their post-Soviet position dominated by the Western capitalist model. I lived in W Germany 1990 thru 95 and the Western triumphalism was tough. When I worked and made friends with some ossis the potential for a dialectic was obvious but most wessis weren’t interested. I’m glad to read that in Slovenia they didn’t throw all the good bits away.
I may get pushback for noting this, but Slovenia is a very ethnically and religiously homogeneous country, with (I believe) the highest wealth of the former Yugoslav republics. It also seceded with little violent conflict, unlike Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina.
No pushback on the note itself (I live there), but what you are stating has little to no relation to what the article describes, because it is about dealing with economic hardship and nothing else.
I can give you an example as I’ve been participating in one of ZPM’s programs for well over a decade. This one is about becoming a godparent to a specific child. It works like this: you donate a fixed monthly contribution to the child’s escrow account at ZPM and the organization uses it to finance the child’s school activities that require co-payment (sports, excursions, arts, etc.). You only learn the child’s first name and age, and get a brief description of their family situation. So, by design, ethnic background is filtered out, because it is about the family’s economic situation and nothing else.
Why I like the program – it is about helping a specific child, so no generic contribution to some NGOs funds. Also no direct access to the funds by the parents. The ZPM sends occasional reports describing how the child is doing and sometimes a handwritten note or a drawing produced by the child. I had one of those displayed on my fridge for a long time and was quite proud of my protegee for producing it.
Thanks for these details, EKV. I especially like how the program makes your relation with your protegee somewhat personal. Like the Guardian article said, the children are people, not statistics.
Can anyone tell me how to access the paywalled Bloomberg article on Mono. My 45 year old daughter just got a mono diagnosis after having it as a teen.
Sorry, I was able to see the full text.
Use archive.is or archive.md
@McWatt See post above https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/06/links-6-7-2025.html#comment-4226471
I’m not one to post much, but I am a big fan of the US Dept. of Labor’s BLS. These bring to light something of great concern – namely that DOGE has decimated both the budget and the workforce producing important economic information and statistics going forward. But hey, we do have money for more war (sarcasm, of course)…
https://archive.is/20250606004417/https://www.wsj.com/economy/cpi-inflation-data-accuracy-8bd2a8ae
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/economy/cpi-data-bls-reductions?cid=ios_app
https://archive.is/20250604201106/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-04/trump-budget-calls-for-bls-cuts-raising-data-quality-concerns
Due to the reduced funding, they will increasingly replace hard price data with estimates.
And those estimates will of course “estimate” that price increases are quite small or non-existent!
Eventually Wall Street will treat US official data the same way they treat Chinese official data: with an eye roll.
“Israeli Army Faces Technical, Mechanical Failures in Gaza War – Report’
This will only be a temporary problems for the Israelis. When the war stops, they will then go to Washington to be made whole again just like in past conflicts. You can bet that Trump will be in on giving, not lending, giving the Israelis the tens of billions of dollars needed here and it will be unanimously supported by both the House and the Senate while being lauded by the media. They could even call it the PIZZA Act as in the Protect Israeli Zionist Zealots Again Act. And its antisemitic not to like pizza you know.
Here’s how we pull it off…
American Infrastructure Political Action Committee of course never gets called by that name, its always AIPAC.
Careless Congressmen bow to what they think is the Kosher Nostra, and highways, bridges and everything else gets fixed in a jiffy.
Here’s Starmer’s contribution to the pro-Zionist ‘cos we know where you live PR cause:
https://www.normalisland.co.uk/p/dawn-french-arrested-by-counter-terrorism
Examples must be made!
WTF! That’s mad! She’s a Living National Treasure (and a Devonian!), not a terrorist.
I wonder if she will be charged like Mo Chara….
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cdc-bird-flu-virus-that-infected-michigan-dairy-farmer-capable-of-airborne-transmission/ar-AA1G9Z8W
CDC: Bird flu virus that infected Michigan dairy farmer capable of airborne transmission
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/6/25-0386_article
Volume 31, Number 6—June 2025
Research Letter
Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Isolated from Dairy Farm Worker, Michigan, USA
Ode to mano y mano action in Humordor:
Neither One of Us, by Gladys Knight & the Pips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK0lebBtwm4
Saw them in Milwaukee, at a baseball stadium. With Al Green, and BB King.
So smooth, good times.
On a related note, we are buying the complete set of ‘Law and Order.’ It has become our comfort viewing – the early seasons have no cell phones, crude internet, no social media… Janet thinks it’s the Order part that we’re gravitating to.
Elon Musk proposes forming new political party amid tensions with Trump Anadolu Agency
Captain Tan-Fascist and the Brown Shirt Cowboy not besties anymore?
LOL! I can imagine the tweets.
“The bitch is back!”
“Saturday night’s alright for fightin’, Rocketman”
Scott Ritter : Is the US at War With Russia? – Judge Napolitano, YouTube
Ritter around 6:40 – “…Putin has to come up with why this is taking so long because the Russians have to come up with a retaliation that resets their doctrine they have. To put the British on notice that the next time you do this it’s automatic London disappears…”
Well, it’s summer now and school is mostly out, but across the pond they may want to keep tabs on travel plans of the children of the elite – foreign and domestic.
The problem with rare earths is really annoying. Rare earth elements (REE) are not actually rare. They are about as abundant as chromium, nickel or lead. We could have a reliable supply but capitalists found it cheaper in the short term to buy from China. It takes years to start up a mine. Many are reluctant to invest now in case China opens the gates later and prices fall.
The deal killer here is that you just can’t scoop them up with a shovel and start using them. They need to be highly refined with special techniques and that mean not only the infrastructure to do it but the workforce as well. The US outsourced all that many years ago and it would need to be built from the ground up all over again, providing that you could find a corporation ready to do it, and it would have to be heavily subsidized on a long-term basis in case, as you say, the Chinese flood the market to make that operation uneconomical.
A reminder that a “free” market (with increasing returns) is not exactly free–the most important insight from Marx that people conveniently never mention.
People feel the need to put “free” in front of something, only because it’s not.
ICE took a trip down to LA, America
To raid some businesses for illegals we’re told
ICE took a trip down to LA, America
To raid some businesses for illegals we’re told
LA, America, LA, America, LA, America
LA, America, LA, America, LA, America
Come on people, don’t you look so down
You know the raid men comin’ to town
Change in the political weather, change in bad luck
And then they’ll teach ya how to find undocumented
LA, America
Unfriendly strangers came to town
All the people put them down
But ICE Barbie loved their ways
Come again and bring the National Guard some other day
Like the gentle rain
Like the gentle rain that falls
ICE took a trip down to LA, America
To raid some businesses for illegals we’re told
ICE took a trip down to LA, America
To raid some businesses for illegals we’re told
LA, America, LA, America, LA, America
LA, America, LA, America, LA, America
L’America, by the Doors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JhkJjQwD-0
Kabul at risk of becoming first modern city to run out of water (Guardian)
Water access has become a daily battle for people in Kabul. Some households spend up to 30% of their income on water, and more than two-thirds have incurred water-related debt.
America – https://youtube.com/shorts/TjkCxyknAWM?si=csjZ4S6V2ZKAZF_O
America, when it was great. Second grade actor and third grade comedian gaslighting everyone. It turns out that suit instead of khaki pyjamas does make a difference.
Puppet Regime
https://youtube.com/shorts/aTSSCQA9LB0?si=W–6FE44cclLKM7m
Hollyshite …. Lawrence: And on day 134, Musk turned against Trump – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7KczB3QiA
Bitcoin is Bizarro World hyperinflation (from a value of $10 to present $106k) in asset form, not that there is any form or shape to Bitcoin, and how come every article I read on it feels compelled to have a picture of a metallic Bitcoin I can buy on eBay for a few bucks?
How much in $ value has it sucked out of the economy, $3 or $4 Trillion now?
It does not suck value out of the real economy, but it does make $ change hands. Well, not hands for real, because those $ are also in the computer. It’s like online video game of sorts, where those digitally printing $ have cheat codes.
All the electric power used to run the bitmines is sucked away from more beneficial uses. All the carbon skydumped to run the bitmines certainly destroys value in the real ecology.
Yea, but so do most of things that modern humans to. Bitmines are not the cause but the symptom (and so is the AI craze, that turned out to be much worse). A symptom of sick society. Beneficial uses never get the priority in anything anyway (the food being the most obvious thing, especially in the great US of A). Getting rid of bitmines won’t fix the sick society and save the real ecology, but fixing the society would get rid of bitmines as a side effect (and the mega AI datacenters, and also feed the hungry).
Arnaud Bertrand > Sometimes I wonder how the media would write about what’s happening in the U.S. if it were just covered as the banana republic it’s rapidly turning into.
@gathara on X/Twitter has been doing this for years!