Links 6/9/2025

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1. Antifa June 9, 2025 at 7:00 am

   Where Is The Fire?

   The City Of Angels is once more on fire
   With National Guard troops the cops don’t require
   Trump sent them to stand in the streets strapped and masked
   ‘Go there and stir up way more trouble’ he asked

   But Newsom says Trump is a stone cold liar
   And wholly the cause of the flames growing higher
   Folks on the Right say, ‘Throw Newsom in jail’
   At this point who knows which side’s gonna prevail?

   Trump’s certainly stretching the laws of the land
   Yelling ‘rebellion’ and taking command
   But Governors call out the Guard—Title 10
   Says Newsom can send them all home again

   So Donald’s next move, as a matter of fact
   Is invoking Ye Olde Insurrection Act
   Once habeas corpus no longer exists
   Trump’s enemies all get twist ties on their wrists

   ‘Move fast and break things’ will shatter what was
   Trump says the Guard’s there for protecting the fuzz
   But LAPD says they don’t need the Guard
   Those warriors make calming the protests too hard

   What Trump wants and needs is total control
   Only that feeds the ravening pit in his soul
   Plus these days dementia unfetters his ghouls
   So no, Donald will not observe any rules

   On the streets of LA people act out a play
   From the mind of demented old Donald each day
   Proving he’s not a loser with nothing to show
   A sad sack, a failure, with nowhere to go

   Trump never matured past the age of thirteen
   Lying and cheating is his whole routine
   He can’t stop himself from going too far
   Other people must stop him—and that’s where we are

   Reply ↓
2. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 7:13 am

   “Iran Says No Sanctions Relief In US Nuclear Proposal’

   The US negotiating strategy – ‘You give us everything that we want, we give you nothing that you want, and then you find a way to be OK with all that. So is it a deal?’

   Reply ↓
   1. AG June 9, 2025 at 7:24 am

      “The US negotiating strategy”
      That´s virtually the only one they ever had since the ontological moment of Trinity…copying what Brits did before.

      Reply ↓
3. AG June 9, 2025 at 7:21 am

   re: Israeli forces kidnap volunteers on Gaza-bound ship Madleen: Freedom Flotilla Coalition Anadolu Agency

   If anybody wants to study the embarrassing newspeak by German media take e.g. this item by TAZ

   Palestine aid ship stopped off Gaza
   Israel fishes Thunberg out of the sea
   Israel has intercepted the Gaza aid ship “Madleen.” Greta Thunberg and the other activists are to be sent home.

   June 9, 2025
   https://archive.is/S41ZF

   (yeah the same paper that had this insane interview yesterday about abducted Ukrainian kids. Interesting how differently TAZ operates with vocabulary in both theses cases)

   original
   https://taz.de/Palaestina-Hilfsschiff-vor-Gaza-gestoppt/!6093348/

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   1. Pudding June 9, 2025 at 9:08 am

      Here’s some background on the taz’s ‘journalism’

      https://thered.stream/red-media-is-closing-this-is-why/

      tldr: wholly in the pocket of the Zios

      Reply ↓
4. Terry Flynn June 9, 2025 at 7:36 am

   Caffeine does stuff to adenosine? Well, I never. My only significant experience of adenosine was in the ED when after a 2 hour SVT it was clear I was on fast track to total heart failure and so they injected me with adenosine. It’s the equivalent of “turning the PC off and on again and hoping it restarts normally and there is no BSOD”.

   I was told some people see weird things when “dead”…..I was rather looking forward to seeing if there was a door and a “come towards the light” thing but sadly my experience was very mundane. Just sudden relief to a degree that beats (ahem) any other type of relief.

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   1. Kurtismayfield June 9, 2025 at 10:18 am

      Caffeine has been known for a long time to be a mutagen in certain situations. I believe in the 70s they discovered that in damaged or repairing DNA, caffeine can play a part in dimerization. E Coli DNA have also been shown to be changed by caffeine in high concentrations.

      Reply ↓
5. mrsyk June 9, 2025 at 7:38 am

   This from Operation Sindoor: Unpacking the ‘military success, narrative failure’ discourse sounds familiar.
   “Push outrageous lies out at the public through the news media, knowing that the narrative can easily be reframed whenever needed, given that tough questions directed at the government are a thing of the past.”

   I wonder where they learned that?

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6. OIFVet June 9, 2025 at 7:38 am

   Re Europe’s zombie armies, Adam Tooze. That has got to be peak US imperial thinking right there: European military Keynsianism for the US MIC, because it’s efficient and makes for good progressive politics. It boggles the mind, mostly because I’ve come to have such high opinion of the EU establishment that I can see trillions flowing from Europe to Northrop, General Dynamics and Boeing.

   That’s not to say that his diagnosis is incorrect, it’s the prescription which is highly objectionable and shameless in the face of more Europeans experiencing economic difficulties and the continuing rise of the far right. Of course, we can add the further problem of the EU currently lacking any conceivable path toward federalization, which would solve certain military-related issues.

   Yet most conspicuous by its absence is the most effective security solution for Europe – raproachment. That would require to stop antagonizing Russia and pretending that it has no right to have its own security concerns, and apparently that outweighs such benefits as peace and economic cooperation.

   Worst of all is that this reality no longer boggles the rational mind.

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   1. Clock Strikes 13 June 9, 2025 at 8:46 am

      It is truly amazing how many of these big-brain professors have atrocious skills of critical thinking and analysis when it comes to the system that coddles them. Poor Adam is so deeply ensconced in the warm, cuddly embrace of Mother Natostania that it has sent him to Slumberland.

      The irrationality and unworkability of NATO is exemplified by the fact that Greece maintains a massive military force because it so fears its fellow NATO member Turkey! The idea that this rag-tag group of Euro loser states are going to willingly die for each other is hilarious. America needs to withdraw its legions like Rome pulled back from Dacia and later Britain. It is still a powerful force but the ‘barbarians’ are ascendant.

      Finally, if you depend on a third party for your fighting capability, well… you don’t possess a fighting capability.

      Europe has always had a reality-acceptance problem, probably why we love myths, coupled with a powerful death-drive. I have just accepted that we Westoids will always take the illogical, fantastical dream offerings of an ideology (ie fascism, neoliberalism, manifest destiny, exceptionalism) instead of the cool draught of reality.

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   2. Aurelien June 9, 2025 at 9:10 am

      Extra spending on defence will go on European equipment, as it largely does now. As Tooze says, this is an economic inefficiency, but it’s also a sovereignty issue. With US forces in Europe reduced almost to nothing, it’s unacceptable for an absent state to have any more leverage over Europe than it already has. And military Keynesianism is not about equipment, it’s historically been effective in injecting demand into the domestic economy by providing jobs for the unemployed and demand for ordinary goods like boots and uniforms, cars and trucks, food and fuel, as well as building and construction work. Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be any conscription, and almost everything is made in China, or can’t be done at all.

      But this is to mistake the nature of the issue. There is no “threat”, even a hypothetical one, that unites Greece, Portugal and Belgium, and looking at numbers of tanks and defence budgets is really not the issue. As I’ve argued elsewhere, the real task is to work out a modus vivendi with an angry and powerful Russia, in the effective absence of the United States. The best way to do this is through non-provocative defence of sovereignty, which means aircraft and ships to patrol airspace and maritime borders, and enough of a military capability to avoid being taken for granted. I would like to think our political leaders had the subtlety and intelligence to understand such things. I would like to.

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      1. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 9:19 am

         Otto von Bismark once said ‘The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia’ and he was right. Ominously, he also said the following-

         ‘Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia’s weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come – do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.’

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      2. vao June 9, 2025 at 10:31 am

         “Extra spending on defence will go on European equipment, as it largely does now.”

         Very doubtful.

         Some figures:

         52% of spending on military equipment by European NATO states goes to European manufacturers. 34% to the USA, 14% to Israel, Brazil, South Korea.

         European NATO states have considerably increased their imports of military equipment in the past years (2020-2024). 64% of these represent imports from the USA, a significant increase from the USA share of 52% in the period 2015-2019.

         The fact that Europe no longer has the capacity to produce military equipment at scale, to the point that it cannot even fulfil its — relatively modest — delivery promises to Ukraine, has been amply discussed in this forum.

         Conclusions:

         1) European NATO countries acquire just about (not “largely”) a majority of their military equipment from European suppliers;

         2) because of a lack of industrial capacity, extra spending will be affected to imports, and those will come to a vast majority from the USA.

         Therefore, I do not think that your assessment about Europe’s sovereignty in the military realm is warranted, at least in the short to medium term.

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   3. Carolinian June 9, 2025 at 9:11 am

      We are busy being boggled by our own government but take some cold comfort in knowing it’s not just us.

      As Ambrit likes to say, stay safe!!

      Reply ↓
7. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 7:39 am

   ‘Clash Report
   @clashreport
   American police shot 9News Australia reporter Lauren Tomasi in the leg with a rubber bullet at close range while she was covering the ongoing protests in Los Angeles.’

   Shooting a journalist at point blank range and not being worried that he had a video camera pointed his way? Boy, I see that all that Israeli training of American police is really paying off. But as we say down here, it was a dog act. Pro tip. If you are a news reporter going to the US, make sure that you are wearing padding all under your clothes. Come to think of it, something similar happened when Trump was Prez last time when he cleared all those people in front of the White House so he could do a photo op in front of that shut down church. An Aussie news crew were doing coverage live when this cop started to beat her with a billy stick. I’m sure that his mother must be very proud of him.

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   1. aleric June 9, 2025 at 9:06 am

      They don’t just shoot journalists in the leg – Linda Tirado died in 2024 after being deliberately shot in the face by police while covering the 2020 protests in Minneapolis. Racket MN link

      Reply ↓
8. Kouros June 9, 2025 at 7:54 am

   An interesting article by Peter Lee, now unlocked, about the loot Imperial Japan took in its decade long wars across China and Sout-east Asia, and its fait under US oversight:
   Asia’s Golden Curse: https://www.patreon.com/posts/unlocked-asias-131041268

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9. Unironic Pangloss June 9, 2025 at 7:57 am

   >>>> But Trump sends troops — for the 1st time since 65, over objections of state/city.

   So that Twitter-er is on the side of the Arkansas governor and against Eisenhower’s 82nd Airborne?

   Cracks me up that Mayor Bass literally cited “state sovereignty.”

   Everyone is for/against-XYZ lawfare, until that tool is used right against them by the other side.

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10. Unironic Pangloss June 9, 2025 at 8:00 am

    talking about Little Rock in the 50’s…and ya the 1965 LA riots were rough. and ya, maybe had the National Guard been activated earlier, there wouldn’t be Korean rooftop vigilantes.

    (Not defending Trump) just find it hilarious Dem. clutch state rights pearls now, like it’s 1968….over a situation that are just as helped create—not enforcing federal law versus overturning the laws that they don’t like

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    1. Unironic Pangloss June 9, 2025 at 8:48 am

       mea culpa. i see that at least one casualty of the mostly peaceful protests is a Waymo.

       excuse me as I grab Cosette and join the revolution. I volunteer to be Spartacus.

       Reply ↓
11. farmboy June 9, 2025 at 8:05 am

    2 good articles on ag, 1st crop insurance, it became essential for grain farmers to carry crop ins, banks often require it, yields can be individually tracked so a farms history can be used to adjust coverage. the trick now is to gauge the amount of risk in any one year as full coverage (85%) is spread through different databases and USDA FSA programs. Gotta be a student! Rainfall and weather are possible coverage policies, lots to consider. My policy did allow me to convert completely to organic for the last 5 years with price per bushel (yield) over twice what conventional was, huge opportunity here!. there is a discovery period for the next years price that is typically at harvest so will be the lowest prices of the year, easy for the underwriting companies to short futures to hold prices down (says the conspiracy theorist in me).
    the other article detailing how climate change is lowering yields, you can bet every single plant breeder is well aware and looking closely at how to adapt. Wheat is the most drought hearty of the major grains so it is worth watching and who responds with breakthroughs and what takes place

    Reply ↓
    1. flora June 9, 2025 at 8:17 am

       Thanks for this info.

       Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 9:26 am

       Time was that the biggest thing that farmers could never predict was rainfall. It is erratic, can be different from one day to the next, sometimes too little and sometimes too much, sometimes it gusts into a tornado and wrecks everything in sight and destroys farmer’s plans. Well that was then. Now farmers have to worry about rainfall and Trump which is kinda the same thing.

       Reply ↓
12. AG June 9, 2025 at 8:13 am

    re: latest German ambassador rotation

    Rarely talked about topic via news source German gmx which I usually ignore as they are ignorant tabloid level. They quote mainly SPIEGEL and DPA:

    New ambassador posts: Hanefeld in the USA – Kahl to the Vatican
    https://archive.is/59XHT

    “(…)
    Bruno Kahl (62), who has served as President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) since 2016, will become the new German representative to the Holy See in Rome.
    (…)”

    New US Ambassador Hahnefeld:
    “(…)From 2014 to 2024, he was on special leave from Volkswagen AG , where he served as Head of International and European Policy and Trade Policy. This position is likely to be a significant qualification in light of the dispute over auto tariffs with the US. Der Spiegel reported on Hanefeld’s appointment on Thursday.(…)”

    “(…)
    The new NATO ambassador will be Detlef Wächter, previously ambassador in Oslo. He has broad expertise in security policy. From 2005 to 2007, he worked at the Permanent Mission to NATO in Brussels, and from 2007 to 2010, he served as Deputy Head of the Security Policy Division at the Federal Chancellery, responsible for the USA, Canada, Western Europe, and Turkey.
    (…)”
    In between he also was part of DoD.

    Reply ↓
13. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 8:15 am

    “China Expert Warns Of “Something Worse” Than Covid After US Fungus Smuggling Case”

    You wonder how much agricultural sabotage actually goes on around the world. So country A is in competition with country B in growing an export crop that makes a lot of money. So maybe country A will send in some “tourists” or put something in a diplomatic bag for distribution after it arrived in country B. It could be a fungus or insect or maybe it is something present in Country A but not country B. Point is, that it will be something that will cause enormous problems for country B with country A having deniability. I bet that it goes on a lot more than governments are willing to admit.

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    1. frank June 9, 2025 at 9:10 am

       Something wrong about this report.
       1. It is already in the US https://www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area/stpaul/cereal-disease-lab/docs/fusarium-head-blight/fusarium-head-blight-in-the-us/
       During the past decade, Fusarium head blight or scab of wheat and barley has been the plant disease with arguably the greatest impact on U.S. agriculture and society. The disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum, has reached epidemic proportions in the United States causing yield losses and price discounts resulting from reduced seed quality. Over 2.6 billion dollars have been lost to US agriculture during wheat scab epidemics in the 1990s (McMullen et al., 1998) having a devastating effect on farm communities in the upper Midwest (Windels, 2000). Moreover, the disease is increasingly becoming a threat to the world’s food supply due to recent head blight outbreaks in Asia, Canada, Europe and South America (Dubin et al., 1997). The pathogen poses a two-fold threat: first, infested cereals show significant reduction in seed quality and yield due to discolored, shriveled “tombstone” kernels, and secondly, scabby grain is often contaminated with trichothecene and estrogenic mycotoxins (McMullen, et al., 1998), making it unsuitable for food or feed.

       2. A capsule-full of spores in a medicine bottle would be enough to get someone started. I’d say that they had to know who they were looking for and where to look.

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       1. Michaelmas June 9, 2025 at 11:24 am

          frank: A capsule-full of spores in a medicine bottle would be enough to get someone started. I’d say that they had to know who they were looking for and where to look.

          Except, of course, to know that with certainty is almost impossible. Two points —

          [1] This sort of thing was done by both sides throughout Cold War 1’s later decades, and in Cold War 2 it’s continuing, alongside vastly more advanced biogenetic tech.

          [2] The necessary programs to know and detect this sort of thing are publicly very sensitive — probably publicly unacceptable. Forex: one such attempt by the US government began with some biodefense programs funded at MIT in 1998 (I knew some personnel involved) which later became the infamous Total Information Awareness program, so when the surveillance technologiess involved created a public uproar, they were shifted into the black, and given to NSA and DIA.

          Reply ↓
14. ChrisFromGA June 9, 2025 at 8:17 am

    Ohio State says every student will become fluent in AI:

    Link

    So Ohio State is saying that they are no longer going to be an institution of higher learning. They’re converting into a technical school, with the goal being to create good little corporate drones who don’t have those pesky critical thinking skills.

    File under “Groves of Academe” or “Pandering to Tech Lords.”

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 8:34 am

       Maybe the idea is to dumb down the students graduating from places like Ohio State so that students graduating from elite universities don’t have to have so much competition. Here’s a NYT article talking how they want to jam this junk into every college – “Inside OpenAI’s Plan to Embed ChatGPT Into College Students’ Lives”

       https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/technology/chatgpt-openai-colleges.html

       Trying to force feed this to students to grow their customer base – at the cost of education.

       Reply ↓
       1. flora June 9, 2025 at 10:22 am

          Goodbye, Columbus.

          Reply ↓
    2. Erstwhile June 9, 2025 at 10:16 am

       They want you to say, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, and to say it with admiration and respect. Get with the program, fella, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY has a right to defend itself from its enemies, and you don’t want to be one of those now, do you.

       Reply ↓
15. Wukchumni June 9, 2025 at 8:29 am

    Well, the National Guard got into town about an hour ago
    Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
    Where some protesters live in their Hollywood bungalows
    Are you an Aussie reporter in the city of light
    Or just another stray target? L.A. woman, L.A. woman

    L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
    L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
    L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
    Reporting from your suburbs
    Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
    Into your blue-blue blues
    Into your blues, oh, yeah, city of night
    City of night, city of night, city of night, woo, come on

    I see those Waymos burnin’
    Streets are filled with ire
    If they say I never loved you
    You know they are a liar
    Drivin’ down your freeways
    Midnight alleys roam
    Cops in cars, the National Guard
    Never saw a city
    So alone, so alone
    So alone, so alone

    Home Depot day laborer madness
    Let’s change the mood from glad to sadness

    Mister DoJo risin’, mister DoJo risin’
    Mister DoJo risin’, mister DoJo risin’
    Got to keep on risin’
    Mister DoJo risin’, mister DoJo risin’
    DoJo risin’, gotta DoJo risin’
    Mister DoJo risin’, gotta keep on risin’
    Risin’, risin’
    Gone risin’, risin’
    I’m gone risin’, risin’
    I gotta risin’, risin’
    Well, risin’, risin’
    I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin’
    Woah, ohh yeah

    Well, the National Guard got into town about an hour ago
    Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
    Where some protesters live in their Hollywood bungalows
    Are you an Aussie reporter in the city of light
    Or just another stray target? L.A. woman, L.A. woman

    L.A. woman, L.A. woman
    L.A. woman, you’re my woman
    Little L.A. woman, little L.A. woman
    L.A. L.A. woman woman
    L.A. woman, come on

    LA Woman, by the Doors

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wu9xh71d2g

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    1. Steve H. June 9, 2025 at 9:18 am

       Should’ve been Milwaukee, Aug 17 2020.

       Covid knocked out the Democratic Convention. There was supposed to be hippie punching. Instead we got Jan 6.

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16. flora June 9, 2025 at 8:34 am

    re: Experts doubt FBI’s claim that crop fungus smuggled by Chinese students is a threat – Reuters

    If the fungus is already here and widely spread as article claims, why would the students have to smuggle foreign samples into the US? Why not simply collect samples of the existing, widely spread fungus already here?

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    1. t June 9, 2025 at 10:01 am

       Same reason you cannot just set live traps and get more mice when you run low.

       Same reason why even if some science funding cuts are overturned, the research will have been set back years because labs and freezers full of existing lines and sets will be gone because they couldn’t be maintained.

       This happened about a year ago, btw, which isn’t mentioned in most of the recent news stories.

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17. ambrit June 9, 2025 at 8:41 am

    Re. the Israeli commando raid on the sailboat in international waters off the coast of the Palestine; that is usually called piracy when done by non-state actors.
    The State of Israel is literally employing tactics appropriate to the Bronze Age.
    As dear old Dad used to say; “Give them a gun and a badge and they think they are G–.”

    Reply ↓
    1. flora June 9, 2025 at 8:49 am

       “…and they think they are G–.”

       Godzilla? / ;)

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    2. Wukchumni June 9, 2025 at 9:10 am

       Golem?

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    3. Deluxe June 9, 2025 at 9:58 am

       Gay?

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    4. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 10:11 am

       Meanwhile a boat is on it way to greet Greta and the others and has kids that are under the age of 10 on it because that is what any normal nation would do-

       https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-sends-kids-bolster-gaza-siege-bizarre-stunt

       I would image that if they are still going, that they would board the boat, be taken to where Greta is sitting in handcuffs, and then proceed to kick the crap out of her. Gotta start them young.

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18. Expat2uruguay June 9, 2025 at 8:52 am

    Bringing Africa into focus, today we look at youth-led protests in Togo.

    Faure Gnassingbé has been the president of Togo since his father died in 2005. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, his father, took power 38 years earlier in a military coup. The legitimacy of the last election in 2020 was widely disputed and there have been a lot of shenanigans before and since, such as changes to the Constitution, outlawing of opposition parties, outlawing of protests, and jailing of political opponents. A review of the Wikipedia pages of the father and son show a lot of corruption and general weirdness.

    A recent change to the constitution created the position of the President of the Council of Ministers of Togo, which would be elected by the parliament, and which has all the powers of the president (and perhaps commander of the military). The role of the president of Togo would be largely ceremonial, but elected by the popular vote. Since Faure Gnassingbé was named the President of the Council of Ministers of Togo in May, the Togolese people have realized that they will never be rid of their ruling family and this is what led to the protest on June 6th. The protesters have said they will return on a weekly basis to continue the protests.

    These issues are well explored in this video, 13 minutes. https://youtu.be/xgu0cqxiPTU

    Print verification of the protests last week in Togo:
    https://www.indopremier.com/ipotnews/newsDetail.php
    https://westafricaweekly.com/youth-led-protests-erupt-in-togo-against-government-corruption-abuse-of-power-and-repression-on-presidents-birthday/#:~:text=On%20June%206%2C%20coinciding%20with,corruption%20and%20abuse%20of%20power

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    1. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 9:01 am

       Thanks for that report Expat2uruguay as it look interesting but to be honest, when you said that ‘there have been a lot of shenanigans before and since, such as changes to the Constitution, outlawing of opposition parties, outlawing of protests, and jailing of political opponents’ I was wondering if you were also talking about the EU for a minute. :)

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    2. Colonel Smithers June 9, 2025 at 9:52 am

       Thank you.

       Let me add: https://www.military.africa/2025/01/togo-may-join-aes-as-french-influence-wanes/#:~:text=Togo%20considers%20joining%20the%20Alliance%20of%20Sahel%20States,blow%20to%20France%E2%80%99s%20waning%20influence%20in%20the%20region.

       One notes the resonance around Africa of what the Sahel trio are doing.

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       1. Expat2uruguay June 9, 2025 at 10:53 am

          Thank you Colonel Smithers.
          Togo joining the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) would be particularly important for two reasons. First it would provide a trade link to the ocean for the landlocked countries of the AES. That trade link was cut by ECOWAS, and the organization even threatened to invade Niger when that country was overtaken by a military coup in 2023. These were the events that led to the formation of the AES.
          The second reason is that there is a major enclave of jnim terrorists in the borderland areas between Burkina Faso Togo and Benin, in the forested parklands there.
          https://www.cass-center.org/public/en/blog/jnim-jihadists-train-their-sights-on-togo#:~:text=On%20July%2020%2C%20the%20Front,groups%20in%20neighboring%20Burkina%20Faso.

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    3. Expat2uruguay June 9, 2025 at 10:40 am

       Another video that ties what’s happening in Togo to the overall movement across the Sahel for true sovereignty outside of the constraints of compromised democracies (16:40): https://youtu.be/XHosY1HzYvM

       On the day of the protest I saw a couple of videos about it, but since I couldn’t find anything in front media I assumed it was a hoax. Now it is clear that those early videos were real.
       https://youtu.be/qwB9VE51qSA
       https://youtu.be/0dulNzRHL4E

       It is very difficult to determine the truth in the reporting from Africa. For instance, the widely liked video of Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso speaking in front of the United Nations is fake. He has never spoken in front of the United Nations General Assembly.

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19. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 8:57 am

    “Funding For Next Batches of F-35 Stealth Fighters Delayed: New Radar Requires Fuselage Redesign”

    Fortunately because the Chinese are denying processed rare earths to the US, they now have more time to rework those F-35s so win-win?

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20. Mass Driver June 9, 2025 at 9:16 am

    Germany plans rapid expansion of outdated bunkers amid fears of Russian aggression CNN

    If they really expect “Russian aggression” they should expand graveyards, because it turned out that Ukrainian bunkers are only used by the few, while the graveyards have capacity problems.

    P.S. Russian Aggression seems to be an antipode of Spanish Inquisition, because everyone expects it.

    Reply ↓
    1. vao June 9, 2025 at 10:55 am

       During WWII, Germany was full of such bunkers, makeshift or dedicated ones; their name was “Luftschutzraum” — air raid shelter — abbreviated LSR on signposts, entry doors, etc, indicating where to find them.

       The population quickly turned LSR into the moniker “Lernt schnell Russisch” — i.e. “Quickly learn Russian, you all”

       While it is appealing to revive that tradition to mock the frantic exertions of Germany regarding its military preparedness, I am afraid that in our times of “Zeitenwende” and “Kriegstüchtigkeit”, this might also be construed as “Wehrkraftzersetzung” in a perfect historical analogy.

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       1. Mass Driver June 9, 2025 at 11:11 am

          In this economy, they should build multifunctional stuff in order to get maximum bang for the Reichsmark. It should be Flaktürme all the way. In one package you get a flak tower, an air-raid shelter, and a monument to repeating the same mistake yet again.

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21. Wukchumni June 9, 2025 at 9:18 am

    From the halls of Montezuma
    To the streets of Los Angeles
    We fight our country’s battles
    As Donald damn well pleases

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22. Skip Kaltenheuser June 9, 2025 at 9:32 am

    Re: ABC’s suspension of Terry Moran for dissing Stephen Miller

    In the March 10th issue of The Nation, David Klion reviewed “Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda” by Jean Guerrero. The book conveys what a weirdo Miller has long been, though skilled at finding patrons as he calculates the country’s lowest common denominators.
    https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/stephen-miller-hatemonger-biography/

    If there are dicey issues on Moran’s post, one has to ponder at what point does a free press start loudly calling out authoritarianism’s henchmen? Meanwhile, we watch Trump’s manipulation of the tensions in Los Angeles, which must have Miller beaming.

    Where is Drew Pearson when you need him?

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    1. flora June 9, 2025 at 10:06 am

       ABC lost a major lawsuit to T last year.

       ABC and Stephanopoulos to pay Trump $15M, apologize in defamation suit settlement

       The network and anchor will also cover $1M of Trump legal fees.

       https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/14/trump-abc-stephanopoulos-settlement-00194391

       ABC is being careful. Once burned, twice shy. As the old saying goes. / my 2 cents

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    2. t June 9, 2025 at 10:25 am

       it is hard to escape the sense that there was something fundamentally malevolent about Miller from the start

       Thanks for the link! Hard to miss that Miller, like many of the current right wing marquee names, doesn’t seem to have ever been involved in political work.

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    3. antidlc June 9, 2025 at 10:27 am

       Amy Goodman interviewed Jean Guerrero about her book.

       “Hatemonger”: Author Jean Guerrero on Stephen Miller, Trump’s White Nationalist Immigration Henchman
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgQMdNZTNcQ

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23. TomDority June 9, 2025 at 9:33 am

    If protesters can’t wear masks – maybe they should wear Trump hair wigs and orange themselves up a bit.
    As for what appears to me to be Democratic strategy – sit back…don’t propose legislative alternatives laws, taxes, progressivism that would rebalance the economy or help to ensure domestic tranquility and all that preamble stuff or, even uphold the constitution… amazing that a repub has proposed to repeal the patriot act (I am all for that). This sit back strategy in order to take back majority or not? (calculus to not hold bag on global depresion or other catostrophic event) in order to continue the status-quo neoliberal financial order ( debt leveraged vulture capitalism free-to-loot ideology) When the (private) DNC gets in …then what? are we to believe they will stand up for the constitution in action, or, will they simply do as their actions show….put out sounds imitating concern and paying true lip service to the sponsers of their office.
    I think what Trump desires, is some national emergency (it does not matter to him how he forments it- as ‘all options are on the table’ but it seems he projects his own intent by saying it is the oppositions intent or the fault of some ‘other’ ) to, thus, keep himself seated without all this constitutional stuff and voting and other minor hinderences in satiating his unfillable ego pit.
    Trump and his pshycophants (including status-quo neoliberal order..debt leveraged vulture capitalism free-to-loot ideology) are the one and only true threat to the Constitutional order and to democracy itself

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

       ‘If protesters can’t wear masks – maybe they should wear Trump hair wigs and orange themselves up a bit.’

       Ooooo, that is so evil. I love it.

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    2. Wukchumni June 9, 2025 at 9:47 am

       You can expect the facial recognition sweeps to come next, as AI shows how useful it is at ferreting out protesters… brave new world, my arse.

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    3. Yves Smith June 9, 2025 at 10:24 am

       Other options include fake noses and great big fake mustaches and beards….particularly on women! Lotta facial ID markers around the bottom of the nose and mouth.

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       1. flora June 9, 2025 at 10:38 am

          Ah ha. The old Groucho Marx glasses disguise should do the job. / ;)
          https://www.target.com/p/halloweencostumes-com-groucho-marx-nose-glasses-with-mustache-costume-accessory-black/-/A-90214114

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24. RookieEMT June 9, 2025 at 10:55 am

    I know they want to be defiant and troll the police but running around downtown LA with Mexican flags seems like bad PR to me. Its plays directly into the ‘its an invasion’ narrative.

    That clip will be played constantly in the next election cycle.

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25. The Rev Kev June 9, 2025 at 10:55 am

    “Contours of a US-China Tech Grand Bargain”

    The guy may be technically correct in his arguments for a grand deal but it won’t happen. The spanner in the works is Trump himself and his Cabinet who are full of China-haters. Trump himself may just want a divorce from China where they cut trade ties with each other, no matter how rough that it would be. It is part of his dream to re-industrialize the US. But there are too many in the government that would think this not enough and would want to break China and delegate it to permanent second place. The guys at The Duran argue the same as well. They want to box China in with bases and to threaten their trade routes around the world and like they tried to do with Russia, try to put pressure on them until the government implodes and a more “friendly” regime takes their place. Even if Trump did negotiate a grand bargain – which would take years – what are the chances that any US government would honour their half of it? Yeah, I thought not.

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