7-Eleven to celebrate 98th birthday with free Slurpees, tongue tattoos KTLA
WHO’s ‘3 by 35’ initiative targets tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks Indian Express
Climate/Environment
It’s been moist – but how moist? Balanced Weather
U.S. rocked by four 1-in-1,000-year storms in less than a week NBC News
Floods and droughts in Texas Moving Day
Abbott says megafloods are “just part of nature.” The fossil fuel industry disagrees. HEATED
How unusual are these moisture levels? Very!
July is a moist month.
But when forecast maximum precipitable water levels over the next two weeks are compared to 85 years of historical data, it shows that much of the United States and southern Canada will experience very… pic.twitter.com/o5ZmF0LCHs
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) July 9, 2025
Are we heading for ‘managed retreat’? Everything you need to know about floods The Guardian.
Duration of heat waves accelerating faster than global warming UCLA
Climate risks: no longer the tragedy of the horizon European Central Bank. Predicts that a series of extreme climate events could cause euro area GDP to fall by up to 5% by 2030, basically another global financial crisis.
Global data centres face rising climate risks, XDI report warns Data Centre & Network News
Geoengineering could avoid climate tipping points, but not if we delay New Scientist
Japan
Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base with an eye on China AP
China?
Myanmar: KIA Clash Risks China’s Rare Earth Imports StratNews Global
MP Materials lands multi-billion Pentagon deal Mining.com
Syraqistan
Israeli Strike on Aid Queue in Deir al-Balah Kills 16, Including 10 Children Telesur
US urges UN and private aid groups to collaborate with GHF’s aid distribution in Gaza TRT
‘Like a video game’: Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones 972 Magazine
As the Bombing of Iran Took Center Stage, Israeli Forces Deployed Deeper Into the Occupied West Bank Drop Site
The Jewish diaspora must confront what Israel is doing in our name Antony Loewenstein, Middle East Eye
Israel’s Tech Boom & the Economy of Genocide Zeteo
Instigating Murder Tarilk Cyril Amar. “The US Attack on Francesca Albanese is even worse than meets the eye.”
***
War Risk Premiums Surge Amid Renewed Red Sea Attacks Reuters
***
🎯 Lucky Shot, or Bullseye?
Before/after satellite photos appear to show that, in Iran’s counterstrike against the US Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, an American radome was nailed dead center by an Iranian missile.
Looks like <5m CEP to me. pic.twitter.com/94XCxVnh8t
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) July 10, 2025
To Sunni brothers and sisters
Soon there will be a “Sunni Shia” war
Syrian regime with Erdogan and Netanyahu backing will attack #Iraq, (and help of others)
Remember this is not a “Sunni Shia” war, it is a Zionist fitna against all of us, but the resistance in Iraq is…
— Soureh 🇮🇷🇵🇸 (@Soureh_design2) July 10, 2025
Iran hosting and protecting Al Qaeda leadership, says UK The National. Absurd on so many levels.
False Flag Watch
UK faces rising and unpredictable threat from Iran, report warns BBC
Old Blighty
ISRAELI FIGHTER PILOTS TRAINING WITH UK EQUIPMENT Declassified UK
European Disunion
Slovenia’s risky referendum on NATO Politico
Germany a Threshold Nuclear Weapons State, Could Develop Bomb in ‘Matter of Months’ – IAEA Military Watch
UK and France Coordinate the Use of Their Nuclear Weapons TeleSur
Polish president discusses “hanging traitors”, suggests “cleansing” of judiciary necessary Notes From Poland
Concern in Greece as Infamous Neo-Nazis Leave Prison Inkstick
Rearming Europe Phenomenal World. “Political legitimacy through war.”
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine is Burning, Russia Advances Larry Johnson
Rubio says U.S. and Russia have exchanged new ideas for Ukraine peace talks AP
Comedy-Turned-Farce: Trump Pledges a Whole Ten Missiles to Ukraine Simplicius
The U.S. is holding back on giving Patriots to Ukraine — they want a European country to hand over theirs instead.
Rubio stressed that the Patriot system won’t save Ukraine from Russian drones:
“There are certain things Ukraine needs, like Patriot batteries. They are available.… pic.twitter.com/K1xr7U676u
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) July 10, 2025
Germany, Norway to supply more Patriot systems to Ukraine Defence Blog
EU Sends Ukraine Another $1.2B Backed by Russian Assets Kyiv Post
Conference commits over 10 billion euros to Ukraine rebuilding, Italy says Reuters
Amid all the sound and fury coming out of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome was this from Meloni:
“We will continue to support Ukraine, as Italy has always been on the right side of history,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. pic.twitter.com/Eaw2TPxo6f
— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) July 10, 2025
The Caucasus
Meeting in Abu Dhabi: how close are Azerbaijan and Armenia to peace without Russia’s involvement? JAM News
South of the Border
Latin America: A Lost Century for Catch-up Growth Conversable Economist
Technolatinas Phenomenal World. “Big tech and the global technological oligopoly.”
“Liberation Day”
Trump threatening 35% tariffs on Canadian goods across the board CBC
U.S. Container Imports Set to Fall as Trump Tariffs Loom, NRF Warns gCaptain
Some Elements of a Progressive International Trade Policy Dollars & Sense
Trump 2.0
Pentagon budget tops $1 trillion. Now what? Stephen Semler
White House accuses Powell of mismanaging Federal Reserve, citing headquarters renovation CNBC
Federal lawsuit attacks pro-animal law already approved by voters and upheld by Supreme Court Humane World for Animals
DHS Head Noem Prioritized Instagram Pics Over FEMA Requests for Texas Floods Truthout
The Uneasy Oligarchy The Baffler
RussiaGate
Brennan, MSNBC Can’t Stop Lying About Trump and Russia Matt Taibbi
Democrats en déshabillé
The Anti-Labor Forces Pushing the Abundance Movement In These Times
Mamdani
New York’s Financial Crowd Rushes to Build Anti-Mamdani War Chest WSJ
Collaborators Like Al Sharpton Can’t Assist Zohran Mamdani with Circumventing Pigmentation Politics and the Black Misleadership Class…But Principled Black Radical Organizing Can Black Agenda Report
Realignment and Legitimacy
Elon Musk Consulted Curtis Yarvin, Right-Wing Thinker, on Third Party New York Times
Speed Up the Breakdown Quinn Slobodian, New York Review. From February, but a useful summary of Yarvin’s “thinking” (sounds like he also provides consulting services for the current uniparty):
Right-wing accelerationists imagine existing sovereignty shattering into what Yarvin, writing under the pen name Mencius Moldbug, calls a “patchwork” of private entities, ideally governed by what one might call technomonarchies. Existing autocratic polities like Dubai serve as rough prototypes for how nations could be dismantled into “a global spiderweb of tens, even hundreds, of thousands of sovereign and independent mini-countries, each governed by its own joint-stock corporation without regard to the residents’ opinions.” These would be decentralized archipelagoes: fortified nodes in a circuitry still linked by finance, trade, and communication. Think of the year 1000 in Middle Europe but with vertical take-off and landing taxis and Starlink internet. Yarvin expressed the essence of the worldview recently when he enthused over Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip and rebuild it as a US-backed colony securitized as an asset and sold to investors—as he called it, “the first charter city backed by US legitimacy: Gaza, Inc. Stock symbol: GAZA.”
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Swedish bodyguards reveal PM’s location on fitness app Politico
Watching your trash: Local city using AI-equipped trucks to scan recycling Dayton Daily News
Immigration
This is the Trump administration scraping the barrel to follow through on the promise to deport hordes of criminal immigrants who don’t exist in sufficient numbers. In 97, Madeline Allbright said letting Megahey stay would help “a lasting, overall settlement in Northern Ireland.”
— Megan K. Stack (@Megankstack) July 10, 2025
AI
BREAKING NEWS: AI coding may not be helping as much as you think Gary Marcus
Cultural theory was right about the death of the author. It was just a few decades early Programmable Mutter
I replicated this result, that Grok focuses nearly entirely on finding out what Elon thinks in order to align with that, on a fresh Grok 4 chat with no custom instructions.https://t.co/NgeMpGWBOB https://t.co/MEcrtY3ltR pic.twitter.com/QTWzjtYuxR
— Jeremy Howard (@jeremyphoward) July 10, 2025
Police State Watch
TIGER TEAMS TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS: ICE AND ITS CONNECTIONS TO ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE MintPress News
Imperial Collapse Watch
Is This ‘What They Signed Up For?’ New Military Missions Ignite Interest in Conscientious Objectors The War Horse
Pentagon Just Made A Massive, Long Overdue Shift To Arm Its Troops With Thousands Of Drones The War Zone.
If Trump gets a Nobel, the director of this should get an Oscar:
Those drones are literally a wrapper on Chinese drone components.
Except now you pay 50% tariff and charge a premium to American tax payers. That’s a good grift! pic.twitter.com/xkgZAOkjze
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) July 10, 2025
Groves of Academe
US Campuses Have Become the Newest Laboratories for Surveillance Technology Truthout
Sports Desk
Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice. New York Times
The Bezzle
Trump Mobile Keeps Charging My Credit Card And I Have No Idea Why 404 Media
Class Warfare
Video game actors end 11-month strike with new AI protections SAN
Extreme heat is killing American workers. What will Trump do about it? USA Today
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
155 comments
Comments are closed.
Ozzy hangs it up after a long career:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyxIAF5EN-E&list=RDhyxIAF5EN-E&start_radio=1
Here is my tribute.
Studio version
TACO man
(I am TACO man!)
Has he lost his mind
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he hold firm at all
Or if he tries, will he fall?
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
We’ll just pass him there
Why should we even care?
He was turned to steal
From Gazans dying in the fields
When he travelled time
To epochs when Kings ruled mankind
Chorus:
No one believes him
He just stares at his feed
Planning his vengeance
He’ll unfurl on his enemies
Now the time is here
For TACO man to spread fear
Vengeance in all caps
But we know he’s full of crap
Chorus:
Elon doesn’t want him
He’ll just turn his head
Putin won’t heed him
Now he has his revenge
Heavy tweets of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
TACO man lives again!
Dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler.
Great stuff!
Ozzy would be proud. Altho maybe he’s turned conservative in his old age. I think Bush W. gave him some sort of medal a while back and complimented his parenting/family life.
I’ve never heard the Prince of Darkness’s political views which makes his musical career more enjoyable.
Hope Ozzie gets to spend his remaining days with his wife and family.
Geezer and Tony looked like they could keep on going in the concert video.
Sharon Osborne is a prime mover against Kneecap, pushing for the cancellation of their US visas and UK gigs etc. Very Trump.
She has also kept Ozzy on the stage years past his best. Very Biden.
I think we can conclude she is a member of the Uniparty, with that history..
Hmm, I hadn’t thought about the connection between Sharon and Jill Biden. Thanks for pointing that one out.
In both cases, keeping the gravy train rolling took precedence over a loved one’s health.
(Hey, there’s an idea for another parody – “I’m going off the rails of this gravy train”
Awesome! I love Ozzie. Wow they all look super old.
‘Olga Bazova
@OlgaBazova
“We will continue to support Ukraine, as Italy has always been on the right side of history,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.’
Technically Meloni was right. If you look at that image you will see that Mussolini is actually standing on the Mustache Man’s right hand side side. And did anybody mention to her what happened with Ethiopia?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Italo-Ethiopian_War
If you switch sides, then you are always on the right side of history, for a certain period of time.
What is equally entertaning is that Shaun Pinner joined the discussion.
https://xcancel.com/OlgaBazova/status/1943252905848435022
For those that don’t remember, he is a war criminal sentenced to death by Russians (alongside another British village idiot), and then released in some big exchange. A British dog of war accusing Soviets of “colonial obsession and Imperialism” is Monthy Python level stuff, though his war adventures in the Borderlands are more akin to Baldrick (except that Baldrick does not think that he has always been on the right side of history).
Maybe we are dealing with a new branch of geometry: Baerbock geometry. Right meaning any side on the circle, implying that you are always on the correct temporospatial point, because you are occupying a temporospatial point, but also not on the left because any point could be a dextratemporospatial point if you think about the space-time as a globe and any 360 degrees could be… well, this is getting to complex for me.
I do trust our EU-misleadership to safely lead us through these temporospatially challenged times too. They have taken all the right (in both meanings) decisions so far.
To her, being on the right side of history could mean being literally on the far right.
I am sure that Ms.Meloni merely forgot to mention that Italy aalwaysended up on the right side of history because they understood when it was the right moment to shift alliances, and her deep understanding of Italy’s history will lead her to the same positive outcome for Italy as it did her predecessors.
“Israeli Strike on Aid Queue in Deir al-Balah Kills 16, Including 10 Children”
Nearly all discussions about ending the Gaza war, imho, have everything ass backward. Undoubtedly, it’s natural to protest the genocide but, we are approaching two years since the genocide began and nothing has changed; Palestinians are murdered daily.
If there is any country in the world that needs regime change, it’s Israel. Yet, only the US is capable of bringing that about.
The crucial issue is Israel’s apartheid. Israel’s largest human rights organization B’Tselem, together with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Int’l declared Israel is an apartheid state. Apartheid is the glue that keeps the entire dysfunctional Israel state together.
Moreover,, without regime change, nothing will fundamentally change. To be sure, the only way to make it happen is to bring Israel’s economy and political class to the point of collapse. And the only way to make that happen is a BDS full court press with additional financial sanctions and a full trade embargo.
Only then, at the point of collapse, can you force Israel to dismantle the apartheid state, impose a lifetime ban on politicians who supported apartheid, and put Israel on the road to being a normal country.
Once that is accomplished, and only then, will you be able to organize a government with more open minded Israelis obsessed with peace; not war.
Furthermore, I once thought a two-state solution was necessary. Now I think a one state solution is the only way out of this disaster, where both sides figure out a way to co-exist. This, imho, is the only road to permanent peace and an end to genocide and permanent war, and potentially WW3.
Don’t forget Iran and the Houthis ;)
https://edition.cnn.com/world/middleeast/eternity-c-houthi-rebels-red-sea-intl-hnk
What about the Houthis and Iranians? They can cause further damage to Israel. Yet, the US has Israel’s back. And if there is a ceasefire beginning tomorrow what does it mean for the Palestinians long term?
Like the apartheid in South Africa, I think the zionist racism that fuels Israel’s apartheid must be brought to an end before progress can take place.
True, and I agree with you on this as a problem of apartheid. I’m just pointing out that while the US has Israel’s back, even the vaunted US military has been unable to subdue the Houthis. They will continue to inflict incremental damage, and after a certain point, shipping will likely be impacted (AFAICT Mr. Market is just shrugging off these attacks, tho that may not continue).
As for the US Congress imposing sanctions on Israel, the only way I can see that happening is through a movement to “deplatform” every congresscritter who supports Israel, i.e., getting them kicked out of office and replaced by independents. But USians would have to form a movement and face down the police, unemployment, threats of ICE camps, etc.
I think we basically agree but allow me to use the US Civil War as an example.
Lincoln knew that defeating the Southern Army would not accomplish much. The problem was slavery and nothing fundamental would change until that system was uprooted and legally destroyed.
The same is true for Israel. You can drag its economy down into the dirt and wreck its military, but if you leave Netanyahu and his apartheid supporters in charge nothing fundamental will change; they will continue apartheid, pursue genocide, and take more land.
Polls indicate Americans are changing their minds about supporting Israel. One way or another, apartheid and the politicians and corporations supporting it have to go.
After all, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was arrested and spent two years in jail.
Something noteworthy to South Africa’s apartheid. In the 1980s President Reagan rejected sanctions on SA in favor of what he called “constructive engagement” which, of course, did nothing.
In 1986, over Reagan’s objections, the Congress imposed sanctions on SA. Soon, US corporations were headed for the exits and the SA economy was collapsing. Within a few years, Mandela was released from jail and SA became a different country; legal apartheid was finished. It can happen to Israel too.
I have felt for years that the “two state solution” is a scam and a barrier to where things have to go to improve for the Palestinians. Just consider all the state supporters of Israel who are also backers of the two state solution — Canada is a perfect example — it’s a convenient never-ending impasse, not a solution.
A single secular state with a Palestinian majority is the way forward.
UK faces rising and unpredictable threat from Iran, report warns BBC
Worse than that, according to British media, Iran is behind the migrants coming across the Channel in rubber dinghies, and some of them are assassins that are going to target Jewish sites and individuals, plus other Zionists in Britain! A two-fer to raise the hysteria level of the Faragists. And where they go, Starmer obediently follows
The template is:
[Beautiful-and-indispensable-democracy name here] faces a rising and unpredictable threat from [Target-distant-evil-country name here] whose despotic government [Beautiful-and-indispensable-democracy name here] is trying to subvert and overthrow. We must redouble our efforts to subvert and overthrow “the regime” to defend ourselves from their totally unprovoked threat to our way of life!
It is true that the ISC Report sparkles with nonsense but as the dimmest of bulbs themselves, incapable of shining any light through the real murk of the UK’s Deep State, it’s members have become, through long and hard won experience, the very cognoscenti of stupidity.
The BBC’s reaction is interesting. In the final paragraph of the of BBC’s report: “Earlier this month, BBC director general Tim Davie called on Iran to “stop targeting journalists with violence, threats, and psychological warfare”. The BBC said it was preparing to lodge a new complaint with the UN calling on Iran to cease its “campaign of persecution”. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98wjzj4jlpo
I haven’t noticed a similar comment by the BBC admonishing the Zionist serial killers in the world’s most famous US financed settler colony targeting any journalist they come across in Gaza in any forum, whether the BBC or any other..
‘Will Schryver
@imetatronink
🎯 Lucky Shot, or Bullseye?
Before/after satellite photos appear to show that, in Iran’s counterstrike against the US Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, an American radome was nailed dead center by an Iranian missile.’
A neat message to those US commanders on the ground-
‘This time we targeted your very expensive radome. Next time, it will be your command post.’
Don’t forget also that they (pentagon) lied and said all missiles were intercepted.
You will know them by their deeds …
Maybe the stuff inside the radome was working so hard helping to intercept all those incoming missiles that it spontaneously combusted…
I thought the “air and missile defense of al Udeid Air Base was a glowing success”?
The dome probably covered “complex” communications antennas.
Who had air supremacy over al Udeid?
>U.S. rocked by four 1-in-1,000-year storms in less than a week NBC News
And in Vermont,
July 10, 2023
July 10, 2024
July 10,2025
https://vtdigger.org/
Third year in a row in this date areas of Vermont received extreme amounts of rain in a very short period causing flash flooding, washouts of roads, you name it.
On June 18th, Rochester, NY set a single June day rainfall record of 3.15” of rain. That broke the prior record set 120 years ago by almost 1 inch. Of amazement is that the 3.15” came down in about 3 hours. The airport record 1” of it falling in one 20 minute window of time.
This is why I say to go long cloud seeders. They seem to be everywhere. /sarc
So you’re saying I should reschedule my stay at a quint Vermont B&B for July 10, 2026?
“Comedy-Turned-Farce: Trump Pledges a Whole Ten Missiles to Ukraine”
Rubio and Trump are actually sounding stupid here. It’s like they are telling the Europeans to hand over the extremely expensive, gold-plated rifle to Zelenski that the US sold them and at the same time, the US will hand over 10 bullets to him. And when the Russians burn that extremely expensive rifle, then the US will be glad to sell them another one – though it will probably take a few years to deliver one to them. And hopefully they won’t need it to defend themselves against Ivan in the next few years.
The guys at the Duran made an excellent argument. They argued that most of the problems bedeviling Trump at the moment stem from his refusal to walk away from the Ukraine back in January. He could have told people that it was Biden’s war, not his, so he was pulling out. Instead he bought into Project Ukraine and has gone full neocon. This is now Trump’s war lock, stock and barrel. But when the Russians win in the Ukraine, those very same neocons will put the blame on him and not them. Never them. And Trump will lose a golfing partner in Lindsay Graham out of it.
I’m not sure that DJT had as much political maneuvering room as the Alexes believe. “Pull out of Ukraine” on Jan 20, 2025 would have required executive action to stop previously Congressionally authorized arms transfers. My understanding is that these have been proceeding on “auto-pilot”. They are Biden’s and Biden’s Congress’ policies that are still in effect.
It isn’t that Trump could have simply passively ignored Ukraine; to “walk away” would have required active prevention of further transfers (previously authorized) of arms, which would have made him presumptively responsible for the subsequent Ukrainian collapse and defeat.
—
A point made in a recent The Duran conversation is that Trump may be much weaker politically than his rhetoric suggests — he generally does not stick to positions. A case in point, argued by Mercouris, is that he seems to be slipping toward L. Graham’s position on punitive secondary sanctions.
Given political realities in Congress, Trump may have much less freedom to “do the right thing” than we would like him to exercise.
I feel a measure of sympathy for the man in terms of the difficulty of dealing with this ‘mess’ that is not of his making.
It appears that Trump’s approach to solving the problem was to allow Biden’s “drip-feed” arms transfers to continue, but to not add to them, and to try to persuade Putin to “freeze” the conflict.
We can see (and some saw beforehand) that was never going to work, and one can fault Trump for not sooner understanding the non-negotiable aspects of the Russian conditions for ending the conflict.
—
One can imagine a different trajectory, but I think it would have required widespread recognition in Congress (giving Trump political cover to acknowledge the realities) that the US “investment” in Ukraine was doomed to failure and was impairing other priorities. With that recognition, Congress could have repealed the prior arms transfer authorizations and, in context of the resulting materiel starvation, Ukraine could have been pressured to accede to Russian conditions to end the conflict.
But, …how likely is it that Congress would have agreed to this?
That kinda makes him a Shakespearean character who will be destroyed by his own flaws. A decisive, strong person would have gone ahead and not got himself sucked in and used his base to defend himself. Instead, as Biden’s shipments draw down, Trump is starting to push for his own military deliveries and before the end of summer I expect Trump to go before Congress and ask for a package of tens of billions of dollars more for the Ukraine. He has now tied that country to his ego and does not want a big loss on the board for him personally.
I tend to think of Benedict Donald as more of somebody who shakes spear, and tells 10 million Tehranians to beat it.
I wonder if he has read a book for pleasure since attaining adulthood?
I honestly can’t picture the Donald just sitting down and opening a book that he does not have to. Not his style. He reminds me of one or two people I have met who told me that when they finished school that they were glad as it meant no more books and no more studying boring subjects. I doubt that they would have a single book in their home.
You seem to be on a similar page with John Helmer who characterized Donny as being a vulgar and violent man that has no concept of what diplomacy is.
That’s a poignant analogy.
I’m not confident that there is anything in the conventional arsenals of the “Collective West” that can do more than delay an inevitable Russian victory on a time-frame that lands within Trump’s current term of office.
The policy you describe, which I fear is likely, is just kicking the can a bit further down the road, and the final outcome will not be improved by such delay.
Given the “Russia is a threat to us” rhetoric now coming out of Europe, perhaps it is time to dust off and negotiate over the 2021 proposal for “Collective Security Architecture for Europe” that Russia made, the rejection of which contributed to the outbreak of the conflict.
You mean someone (or something) like a less dignified Falstaff doing a gig as an out of time vaudeville clown in white face at the far end of a disintegrating pier rapidly collapsing into the sea?
Given all of trumps use of executive orders, emergencies etc I humbly disagree that the Biden arms shipments were unstoppable.
He would have faced pushback of course but he could have done it. Why didn’t he?
so the other way to look at it is that Trump is not against war, and it’s where I see it at this point.
He has had many opportunities to end conflicts ( Ukraine, Gaza, Iran ) and he has not taken them. That is 100% on him.
His tariffs is just another example of a war idea, pushed on the world, basically no nuance just do it or we will crush you, seems war like to me.
The latest against Brasil.
Why I have no idea. Is he doing all this on his own ideas or is he being told to? I leave that for others to decide.
They were certainly stoppable as a matter of executive authority.
The problem that Trump faced is the large political problem that this would pretty quickly have led to collapse of the Ukrainian military and possibly the Ukrainian State and then Trump would have inherited the blame for the failure of Biden’s Ukraine policy.
I’m guessing that was a really galling prospect.
A great-hearted hero who genuinely was determined to do whatever was in his power to end the bloodshed might have embraced this political cost. Sadly, there aren’t many of those in public office in US.
This isn’t to “defend” the man, but to try to “understand” him.
And while we’re at it, we can try to understand Congress.
But perhaps that way lies despair.
“Why I have no idea…” — He’s just an A-hole.
That’s the real reason!
‘Sweden has now announced that starting on July 1 its navy will stop, inspect and potentially seize all suspect vessels transiting its exclusive economic zone, and is deploying the Swedish air force to back up this threat. Since the combined maritime economic zones of Sweden and the three Baltic states cover the whole of the central Baltic Sea, this amounts to a virtual threat to cut off all Russian trade exiting Russia via the Baltic — which would indeed be a very serious economic blow to Moscow.’
There is actually an international passage way through the Baltic and none of those nations gets to claim it. And does the Swedish Air force really want to challenge the Russian Aerospace forces who have been in combat for the past three years? And suppose that the Swedes or Danes or one of the Baltic states try to land troops on one of those ships. And then discover that nobody expects the Russian Spetsnaz! And should it be mentioned that undertaking military action against Russian military assets is one step away from World War Three? What is wrong with these people.
It would be a direct attack by the states involved and it will simply lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy becoming an even more terrible reality than imagined. In the circumstances, Article 5 will have no meaning, particularly to the US, especially if Russia chooses to engage with each of the four countries by a combination of invasion and the use of the technologies which have proved so effective in the Ukraine.
Trump is carrying on the task of all US presidents since 1990.
Trump will send weapons planned for less urgent empire plans.
The empire is “run” by a figurehead “elected” every 4 years. Democracy is inefficient for running an empire. Project kiev is an operational set within empire strategy. It cannot lose!
Project Iran is a parallel operational set, as is project Taiwan.
Project Iran gets all the US aerospace power needed, because Iran has oil but no nuclear weapons.
Project Taiwan is a remnant of global Mahan and 3000 nautical miles beyond logistics.
Re; Germany a Threshold Nuclear Weapons State, Could Develop Bomb in ‘Matter of Months’ – IAEA
Taking events a month ago in Iran as precedent, when do we start the bombing?
As soon as Grossi and his wonky IAEA inspectors have gone in for a final inspection. /sarc
LawnDart and Rev Kev: As someone who lives in Italy, I can only say that I am ultra-super-thrilled at the prospect of Germans with nukes.
An invasion by the Russians would be better for us Italians any day.
Germans have, errrrr, history here.
Marzabotto, Emilia:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strage_di_Marzabotto
But there was also this:
SoDs Franz Josef Strauß, Paolo Taviani and Jacques Chaban-Delmas signing various secret documents in 1957 and 1958 for a joint nuclear bomb project. Percentage of cost/use of available arms were split 45/45/10 (FRG/FRA/ITA).
Failed because then de Gaulle came.
I don´t get tired of pointing it out now because it´s an insane repetition of history: talk of a European bomb.
It´s empty talk but it binds energies and resources.
This is not news. The Germans were interested in nuclear weapons as long ago as the 1950s, and the main reason for the NPT was to prevent a whole series of middle-rank powers like Germany, but also Japan, Brazil and others from going nuclear. The fact is that if you have a civil nuclear programme, an aerospace industry and an electronics industry, then it’s largely a question of putting the bits together. I’ve seen list of up to ten “dormant” nuclear powers, some of which could move to assembling a weapon in months, let alone years.
It’s largely an existential question, which is why I’ve argued that the current fuss over Iran is so silly.
Of course it makes a great excuse to attack Iran so that they cannot impede the creation of Greater Israel.
Re: Tattooed Sec Def Boy
Funny stuff that video!
I thought for sure at first glance that tiny drone was carrying a colostomy bag, but it turned out to be a memo~
Did you catch the Metallica song they copped for the ending?
I wonder if James, Kirk, and Lars really authorized that. Metallica as a band stood firm on copyright enforcement, back in the day.
A better choice from their catalog:
Disposable Heroes
I didn’t recognize the tune, but not surprising.
This is Eric Cartman come to life, they do what they want.
“Enter Sandman” from the black album.
“Off to never never land” is the closing hook … describes our current foreign policy well.
The Sandman sprinkles magical sand onto people’s eyes, the best sand, the greatest sand.
Even better choice,
Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy – Television, The Drug Of The Nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9pJzZ1XGI
I really liked the camera guy walking backwards while hegseth advances aggressively. They could have at least gotten Clint Eastwood to direct.
I liked the symbolism of the four horsemen (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force) of the apocalypse in the background, as Pete advances to the front.
And what’s with that super wide stance? It was so montypythonesque that I could barely follow the monolog.
Just watched that video now. I tell you, his speech kinda sounds like something right out of film “Starship Troopers” – which was a partial parody of a future militaristic society.
Not partial, but full parody. It was made as a fascist war propaganda movie, and it turned out to be way too good at it. :)
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1943658701786591704
🇨🇳🇺🇸 US drone dominance brought to you by DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations) Sciences and Technologies Ltd from Shenzhen … just for roughly $40,000
[image]
“Trump Mobile Keeps Charging My Credit Card And I Have No Idea Why”
Wait, I know the reason why. Because the guy was stupid enough to buy anything from Trump and handed over his credit card numbers to one of his organizations.
Does it count as “idiot tax”?
Tarik Cyril Amar. Instigating Murder.
I agree with what Amar has written in this article, and I am struck by the urgency of the tone of his writing.
This point is important: “Consider that the Israelis have a long history of not “merely” smearing and undermining the UN, its offices, and representatives, but of deliberately mass-murdering them, too. To his eternal shame, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has betrayed his own brave staff by never daring to say what the world knows: The hundreds of UN, in particular UNRWA, personnel killed in Gaza since October 2023 have been the victims of an Israeli campaign to destroy UNRWA as a last lifeline for the Palestinian victims. A campaign that is part of Israel’s use of starvation as yet another weapon of genocide. Its “logical” conclusion has been the replacement of UNRWA with the mercenary death squads, cooperating with the equally murderous IDF, of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, funded, of course, by Israel.”
I am not sure that it leads to this assertion: “Israel, in sum, has a proud tradition of murdering UN representatives. It also has a long tradition of impunity in this area – as in all others – of criminality as well. Against this background, it is impossible that Rubio, Trump, and other US officials have missed one simple fact: They have not only assaulted Albanese with criminal lawfare. They have also signaled to Israel that they won’t mind if Israeli criminals go a step further and murder this UN representative, too.”
If you get a moment, read Nick Corbishley’s excellent piece this morning about how U.S. maneuvering and bumbling and meddling have given President “Lula” da Silva a boost.
There is a side of current actions with regard to the “furriners” that keeps betraying the endless ignorance of the U.S. elites. Does anyone in D.C. even know how to speak Portuguese? Or do they beat up on Brazilians by sending twiXts in Spanish?
Likewise, in Italy, the assassination of Francesca Albanese would put the Italian government in a crisis, what with Giorgia Meloni being on the right side of history, taking cues from Tolkien, and lecturing the Nazione on Italianità.
Italians may be all excitable and irrational, but you don’t do something that would unite everyone from Forza Italia and antifascist Lega members leftward — some eighty percent of the population.
I hesitate to say it, but I am reminded that the behavior toward Iran, the Brazilians, Francesca Albanese, and the Palestinians is a constant reminder of the U.S. adage, White Is Right.
I suspect that Rubio and the other twerps think that they can force her resignation — and find someone more flexible to take her place. Juan Guaidó is still unemployed, isn’t he? Elise Stefanik is still in one of her convenient High Karen states, isn’t she?
Thanks.
I do agree with Amar´s urgency and radical view.
If you look back into how Israeli authorities have been undermining officials like Richard Falk, Richard Goldstone, Craig Mokhiber, the entire ICJ, if you look into the various murders of peaceful protesters in the 2000s, by simply shooting dozens, eventually hundreds. Killing negotiators, killing 10 people on the Mavi Marmara, etc.
It was all a prelude to what we have now. So he does connect the dots.
See also of course e.g. Finkelstein´s “Gaza – an Inquest into its Martyrdom” and “Image and Reality”.
Fwiw a German interview with Helga Baumgarten who has lived in Palestine for decades. She has been touring for her book together with German politician, lawyer and activist Norman Paech. Both into their 70s/80s.
please use googl-translate
“Genocide in Gaza” – Interview with Prof. Helga Baumgarten
by Gabi Weber
July 9, 2025
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=135741
p.s. There is a reason why a peaceful man as Craig Murray despises the Israeli authorities and their propagandists so much.
Folke Bernardotte. The history goes back further.
I guess the cowards at the UN will have to eventually commission a bust of the brave and Honorable Ms Albanese like they did for Count Folke Bernadotte, noting the assassination, without naming the guilty party.
https://www.un.org/ungifts/bust-count-folke-bernadotte
I pray for her because she’s a true hero to stand up to these bloodthirsty murderers and tell the truth.
Does anyone in D.C. even know how to speak Portuguese?
They can just ban it, the way Germany has arrested pro-Palestinian protesters for speaking Irish at protests.
Arrested for speaking a language? I read the article, but just how does one justify it, especially as the optics for a language like Irish is awful. (Your honor, he did the hateful thing! He spoke Irish! Isn’t that dreadful?)
Yes, I know that our lords and ladies increasingly don’t pay attention, if they can even understand the need, to how positive and negative appearances can affect them, but there’s not caring and there’s being stupid.
1600 acres of Ag land converted to utility scale solar. No local input allowed. The land is now useless for any other purposes. We have thousands of acres of brownfields, yet no PV in those places.
Big solar farm in Madison County gets go-ahead from state siting board syracuse.com
Also in planning stage are 650′ wind turbines, twice as high a the thirty 300 footer already in place. I’m all for renewables, but state and federal policy favors corporations and residential and small commercial, which don’t require expensive transmission infrastructure, face formidable connection barriers.
I grew up in Tully which is in the middle of the proposed 650’ windmill farm. A buddy of mine who still lives there said that a couple years ago the state snuck a rider in on the budget bill that allows the state to over-ride any local denials of renewable energy permitting as long as the project is over some X megawatt size (I can’t recall what the amount was though).
Crazy theory — the big solar farms might be a neat way to buy and hold farmland while sustaining a nice income until the solar cells degrade or until the value of good farmland has appreciated sufficiently. Maybe solar farms are like personal storage facilities or trailer parks for long term land speculators? [I do not know whether solar farms do permanent or very expensive to mitigate damage to the land.]
They sit 4 feet off the ground have aluminum post foundations and cables and gravel is laid between and/or end rows.
Supposedly remediation is required at end of life. Given the rich history of industrial wastelands in the rustbelt I am skeptical wasted ag land will have future use after hosting PV. Windfarms can remain productive.
Little to no damage is done to the land. I’m against productive agriculture land converted to solar.
Most today use pounded posts, no concrete and they don’t use gravel between the rows. In farm country they use sheep usually to keep the grass down.
If you install the posts and panels with agricultural thought beneath it, grazing works well.
Seconded. Pasture land is happy under solar. Animals like the shade!
You can graze sheep and non-perching fowl (ducks, geese) beneath ordinary field mounted solar, possibly also camelids and rabbits. Goats and chickens, which like to be on top of the panels, are forbidden!
There are experiments in the US with double height and strength mountings so you can graze cattle beneath.
Can you please post an examples of utility scale PV being successfully used for agricultural purposes? We have literally DOZENS of these installations and not a single one is used in any manner for agriculture. There are no pastured sheep, rabbits, alpacas or fowl of any sort. Zero, zilch, nada.
It is a fanciful notion that these renewable corporations are going to put panels on 20 foot pilings to graze cattle. Who is going to pay for all that extra steel and aluminum? Certainly not the “investors” cashing in on renewable energy credits.
There are a very few farms in upstate NY with pastured livestock. The once vibrant family dairy farms are virtually all gone, CAFO rules.
You’re welcome, upstater. You might like to have a look at:
https://lightsourcebp.com/au/news/six-reasons-why-solar-farms-make-great-grazing/
and
https://extensionaus.com.au/energysmartfarming/agrivoltaics-sheep-grazing-in-solar-farms-good-for-both/
and
https://cer.gov.au/news-and-media/case-studies/combining-sheep-farming-and-solar-panels-numurkah
I suspect the difficulties you’re witnessing are more procedural and political, rather than practical or technical.
Australia, Australia, Australia. They *might* do things differently in Australia. I have NEVER seen raised panels anywhere in New York State.
“I suspect the difficulties you’re witnessing are more procedural and political, rather than practical or technical.”
I notice you did not mention cost. In the u.s. ROI [return on investment] is not a trivial concern. I have no idea whether that is the case in Australia, but I suspect it would be.
While your links did provide examples, and touted many of the advantages of combining solar panels and agriculture, I did not see anything that might convince a corporation or private equity to invest in agrisolar. I did notice your first link was to a BP affiliated website. The parent of that website appeared to me like a public relations effort by BP. After the oil spill in the Gulf of MEXICO I believe BP needs all the positive public relations it can muster.
Your last link also includes a publication discussing various combinations of solar panels with agriculture:
AUSTRALIAN GUIDE TO AGRISOLAR FOR LARGE-SCALE SOLAR For proponents and farmers March 2021
https://assets.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/documents/resources/reports/agrisolar-guide/Australian-guide-to-agrisolar-for-large-scale-solar.pdf
A statement on page 21 SITE SUITABILITY GRAZING IN THE AREA suggests this caveat:
“The Australian experience indicates that sheep grazing should be considered only for those projects situated in regions where sheep grazing practices are already present. Where this is not the case, the initiative can be
costly, provide sub-optimal outcomes for the sheep’s wellbeing and, ultimately, be unsustainable. Consulting the local farming community is recommended to understand the viability of sheep grazing.”
Several advantages of agrisolar are described for various combinations of site and agricultural use through out this guide. Strangely, there is not study or mention of costs relative to other solar installations. I asked the advice section of the website to search for mention of cost in the most recent questions, and received — “Sorry, but nothing matched your filter.” — to several attempted queries asking about costs. The parent site “Agriculture Victoria” appears to have affiliation with the government of Victoria, Australia.
I should clarify my comment at July 11, 2025 at 11:34 am. I do not believe the solar farms necessarily intend that the land they buy for installing solar farms [not like the leased land] will be used as agricultural land after the solar cells degrade. The land could be used for other purposes. A lot of agricultural land finds its “highest and best use” as land for housing or other kinds of developments. Drive through Orange County and see how many orange groves you drive through.
I wonder whether the regulations that apply to brownfields might require the land owner to remediate the brownfield before using it for solar or wind power.
Re Slovenia on funding or leaving NATO:
The whole situation is a farce. The lawmakers of the opposition party who support staying in NATO voted in favor of the referendum proposed by the Left to create a rift in the coalition government. The Left didn’t expect the proposal to pass and submitted an insufficiently well-formed proposal “Do you agree with the increase in the military budget to 3%” (ie. you can vote no even if you support an increase to 5%). The main coalition party then suggested adding a question whether to stay in NATO or leave.
However, in the past week the political discourse has centered around 1) the fact that the referendums in Slovenia are not binding, so the politicians don’t have to follow through on the results); 2) identifying ways to cancel the referendum in the first place after most of the media invited “experts” claiming how it’s “irresponsible” to have the vote. Sadly, I am doubtful that any referendum will take place at all..
So, like Brexit?
Getting our first heat wave of the summer, 5 days hovering near 104 around these parts.
We had Southern California Edison ‘de-energize’ (Public Safety Power Shutoff) parts of Tiny Town last month for 12 hours for really no good reason in anticipation of high winds, and Hades hadn’t set in yet~
You turn off the power and A/C during this skein of hundred & hell, its gonna make life miserable at best and dangerous at worst.
re: abducted Ukrainian children
Ian Proud with a decent piece on the issue.
He should have been much more openly critical of the Ukrainian/US manipulative side of this.
But for someone from the West it is an important an welcome entry:
Ian Proud: Ukraine has consistently over-sold the number of children moved to Russia since war began
July 9, 2025
https://natyliesbaldwin.com/2025/07/ian-proud-ukraine-has-consistently-over-sold-the-number-of-children-moved-to-russia-since-war-began/#comment-279911
Another random news bit on Ukraine, Landmark ruling finds Russia shot down MH17 with 298 people on board, Guardian.
Of course. The fate of MH17 has been discussed extensively here at NC over the years. Here, (Links, July 18, 2014) you will find an excellent comment from Abe,NYC which contains a very relevant timeline, freshly culled only a day after the disaster.
Ha!
And this is apparently THE GUARDIAN´s new disclaimer under each article (new to me as a non-regular reader).
“(…)
There is a lot at stake
The world’s most powerful man is using his office to punish journalistic organisations that won’t follow his orders or who report critically on his policies. Donald Trump’s actions against the press include bans, lawsuits and hand-picking his own pool of reporters.
But the global threat against the press is bigger than just Trump.
Economic and authoritarian forces around the globe are challenging journalists’ ability to report. An independent press, one that those in power can’t simply overrule, is crucial to democracy. Figures such as Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán want to crush it through exclusion and influence.
The Guardian is a global news organisation that will stand up to attacks on the free press. We have no interest serving those with immense power or immense wealth.
We are owned by an independent trust devoted only to protecting and defending our journalism. That means we don’t have a billionaire owner dictating what our reporters can cover or what opinions our columnists can have, or shareholders demanding a quick return.
The global situation is shifting hour by hour, making this an extremely challenging moment. It will take brave, well-funded, committed, quality journalism to call out what is happening.
Our job is to make sure we do not get overwhelmed as Trump floods the zone. We must focus on the stories that will make the biggest impact on people’s lives, while holding the powerful to account. We’ll also continue to focus on the ideas people need to create a better world: a reason for hope.
As the writer and Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit says: “authentic hope requires clarity … and imagination”.
The Guardian can provide both and, with the help of readers like you in Germany, we can drive hope by reporting truthfully on what is happening and never pulling our punches.
A lot is at stake.
(…)”
Noah not NOAA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abbott says megafloods are “just part of nature.” The fossil fuel industry disagrees. HEATED
Abbott is accidentally correct – he just left out some context.
Mega floods are just part of Mother Nature… her revenge.
Or the law of consequences if you don’t believe in spiritual forces.
…matched despair on the ark?
Has the Pentagon been running low on weapons stockpiles like Iran had been alleged by some to be months away from a nuke for over 30 years?
That’s nothing, we’ve been months away from new nuclear power plants for over 30 years.
Speaking of which, if one can begat the other then nuclear proliferation may be on some players’ bingo card.
Re: Rearming Europe
Most analyses tend to focus on containing Russia, but I doubt that France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the Benelux really care that much about containing Russia in the East.
What is more important, is containing Russia and China in Africa. That is what all the money is probably for. In the Sahel, where the Russians help out anti-French governments, but also in DRC, where China might be a realistic way out of 60+ years of hopelessness.
It is an easier sell to say “Let’s defend our homes from the evil Russians”, rather than “Let’s re-colonize the brown people”. But I think the latter is closer to reality than the former.
good point
Furthermore latter they can at least try to achieve to some minor degree. Or at least muddle.
But former, war with Russia? Come on.
p.s. though if I look at someone like Traoré Europeans shouldn´t underestimate the African man, woman, child either.
The way I see it, DRC is a giant soft underbelly full of treasure that is basically there for the taking. If Europe does not get its share of the cake now, the Americans, Indians, Chinese and all the surrounding countries will leave nothing within a few years.
A place that the Belgians, the French regard as their own. Germany needs the raw materials. And even the puny European armies are well-matched in Africa.
Of course there are other breadcrumbs for the lesser countries: Russia is building a naval base in Libya, a sore spot for Italy. Spain has interests in the Maghreb. Greece might be pleased if Turkey gets less uppity in the Mediterranean.
I cannot quite see the point of a European rearmament for a war in Europe. But it makes a lot of sense to rearm Europe and then undo some decolonization in Africa.
I can assure you that no European country has the remotest interest in military adventures in the DRC. There were a couple of very limited deployments to the DRC about 20-25 years ago after the “end” of the war, and that was it. The country–I don’t know whether you’ve been there–is a money-sink with almost no communications, a central government that has never functioned and interference from all its neighbours. The Rwandans have basically controlled the East of the country and have been extracting minerals from it. European powers have poured untold billions–no-one really knows how much–into the country in aid, including training and strengthening the security forces so that they can control the country, but with effectively no result. They’ve also spent billions on things like human rights training for an unpaid police force, gender sensitivity training for immigration officials and promotion of civil society organisations in the regions. I’m ashamed to say I spent a little of that money myself. All wasted, with no possibility of it getting better. It’s a bit dated now but Theodore Treffon’s “Congo Masquerade” is a good summary of the never-ending waste and futility, with which Europeans increasingly want less to do. There’s no reason to suppose the Chinese will find it any easier, but then their usual methodology is much more modest: essentially trade deals for infrastructure, although given the size and state of the DRC (“Europe without roads”) I doubt if they’ll find even that easy.
“European powers have poured untold billions–no-one really knows how much–into the country in aid, including training and strengthening the security forces so that they can control the country, but with effectively no result.”
Oh, there are plenty of results.
Why does the ReArm Europe logo look like a classic Internet shock site?
Yeah, this one is golden. Supposedly authentic production of Brussels apparatchiks. I would say it is a perfect representation of their degeneracy.
I quickly scanned the headline and thought I was reading: reaming Europe. That could be true too, Ha.
Is this supposed to be a 3D Go move against China? Ospreys can only scare those taking a ride in them.
‘Gnatzis?’
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ospreys can only scare those taking a ride in them.
The “new base” is in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu.
I thought the Ospreys were based in Okinawa, which means they are now actually being moved further away from China, back to mainland Japan.
I wonder if this is due to some issue with maintenance, like getting all the spares needed for these trouble-prone aircraft.
Suspect you are thinking of the USMC Ospreys at Futenma. The Japanese ones are moving from Kisarazu on Honshu to Saga on Kyushu. I think Kisarazu will remain as a maintenance depot.
Sorry to nitpick, but there are no grenade-firing drones (because grenade launchers are way too heavy, not to mention the recoil). They are all grenade-dropping, but I guess that’s not clickbaity enough for the title.
European Central Bank on degrowth–
These projections (scroll to bottom for GDP mpacts) track closely with what I posted a few days ago from Britain’s Institute and Faculties of Actuaries.
Degrowth isn’t coming. It’s here. Are we’re going to go along with YOYO policies that allow the rich to buy their way out of trouble (albeit temporarily) with the result that the rest of us live under constant threat of financial destruction and perhaps death from climate disasters we no longer even try to predict or ameliorate? Or are we going to do whatever it takes to bring down this Superorganism and commandeer and distribute resources to protect us all while ending unnecessary activities from war to tourism to at least reduce the carbon spewing into the atmosphere?
Andreas Malm, author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, explains in this recent interview how our feckless elites have given up on bending the warming curve to remain under 1.5 or even 2.0 degrees. Instead, their plan is to continue Business As Usual and let the climate catastrophe get even worse until some magical technology comes along, like a new and greatly improved carbon capture, to draw down carbon at some point in the future. Maybe they’ll throw in some spraying of sulfur in the sky to cut the number of wet bulb 35 days while they’re waiting for Godot. The only problem would be that a plane capable of spraying the acid-rain causing sulfur has not even been built yet, though a recent British study claims airliners would do in a pinch, but with much lower effectiveness.
Our elites’ combination of greed, inability to look more than a month in the future and complete lack of concern for the rest of us on this planet is going to destroy us all unless they’re stopped.
The scale of carbon capture that is required ensures no such undertaking will ever occur on the necessary scale. We’d need to, immediately, today, stop all production of anything except for minimal maintenance of society, and just build seawater carbonic acid capture systems, worldwide, for 100 years or whatever.
So we’d still need to mostly end capitalism for any realistic geo-engineering solution to even work.
That Magic doesn’t Magic for the elite.
The funniest tthing I’ve read all day. I expect them to steal all of the money, without even bothering to build a Potemkin village or two.
Yea, driving a stake through its heart, which doesn’t sound that bad now that I think of it. Maybe burn it on a stake too.
re: Europe economy
FINANCIAL TIMES
Jamie Dimon tells Europe: ‘You’re losing’
JPMorgan Chase boss warns on EU competitiveness and market complacency over tariffs
https://archive.is/4AYpd
Regarding the “an American radome was nailed dead center by an Iranian missile.” this is an interesting time. This film is real easy to “fake” and manipulate. Whenever I see these types of things (including the recent film of Yemen sinking a cargo ship), I wait a few days to see if anyone refutes and discloses that the video is fake. I sense this one isn’t doctored, but as they say, “We’ll see about that”.
LOL, Strava strikes again.
https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-fitness-trackers-privacy/
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072
Ow, they’re the BRICS house
Awful mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out
They’re the BRICS house
That larders stacked and that’s a fact
Ain’t holding nothing back
Ow, they’re the BRICS house
Recently put-together, everybody knows
This is how the story goes
They know they got everything
That a new hegemon needs to take over from the man, yeah, yeah
How can they lose with the stuff they produce
Twenty-four/Seven manufacturing base oh what a winning hand
Ow, they’re the BRICS house
Awful mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out
They’re the BRICS house
That larders stacked and that’s a fact
Ain’t holding nothing back
Ow, they’re the BRICS house
Yeah, they’re the one, the only one, that includes the Amazon
The clothes she weaves, her innovative ways
Make an old Uncle Sam wish for younger days, yeah, yeah
She knows she’s built out and knows how to please
Sure enough to knock a formerly strong economy to its knees
Ow, they’re the BRICS house
Awful mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out
They’re the BRICS house
That larders stacked and that’s a fact
Ain’t holding nothing back
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down now
Brick House, by The Commodores
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYWOk-E4REE&list=RDRYWOk-E4REE
Does “sugary drinks” cover Starbucks and local teas from street carts?
– ‘The Uneasy Oligarchy’ – The Baffler
This is an excellent overview of the intra-class conflicts of interest behind our current political-economic chaos and a profile of those who have thrown their support behind Trump. I’d also recommend the article by Doug Henwood that is cited in this piece:
https://lbo-news.com/2023/02/14/scattered-speculations-on-the-us-ruling-class/
As both articles make clear, it’s a big club and most of us definitely ain’t in it. But there are factions within the clubhouse competing for power. At present the factions in control are those most likely to accelerate our collapse. Will “responsible” elites come and save us this time? Is there any such species anymore? Or will it be simply a Randian competition between a shrinking number of fintech overlords to see who gets theirs before China takes over the world?
thanks
I think the Baffler article was mislabeled. Instead of ‘Uneasy’ the word ‘Chaotic’ might better describe the conflicts in the oligarchy as its shifting factions scuffle in the Mercurial Trump regime. Politics has become less predictable and more random than the weather.
As for the big club, I think that image has fit u.s. politics since before George Carlin’s crack. Under Trump the big club acts more like a warring mob.
Enough with “elites”. Correct term is “insiders.” The overlords aren’t better than us just cunning they are in pushing theirselves ahead
Elite does not necessarily mean better. It also includes those having superior social or economic status, regardless of how it was acquired (inheritance, brute force. plain luck, whatever). In the current day Syria, elite class are worst of the worst. Back in the days of European monarchies, the elite class was bunch of inbreds in a literal sense (e.g. the Habsburgs). As they say, scum tend to rise to the top. An insider would be someone normal that got inside the “elite bunch”, and is working against it.
The Uneasy Oligarchy – The Baffler…a good breakdown of the state of affairs among the puppet masters.
Regarding the present Holygarchy and attendant Praytorian Guard…
Would JD need show any feasance to dogma, if similar to Joe, Donald had to go?
“US Campuses Have Become the Newest Laboratories for Surveillance Technology”
I sometimes think that conservatives wake up screaming in the middle of the night having nightmares of the student protests in the 60s. And that this makes them determined never to allow that to happen ever again.
“wake up screaming in the middle of the night having nightmares of the student protests ”
would make for a great movie scene
Weren’t they the students protesting?
😂
RE: Yarvin and the techno-monarchies and fiefdoms: Utah Senator Mike Lee tweeted ominously about “Freedom Cities” when he was fighting his losing battle to keep major public land sales in the Big Bad Bill. Here’s a recent article about the drive to carve tech bro kingdoms and company towns out of federal lands: https://coloradosun.com/2025/06/29/colorado-freedom-cities-federal-lands/?utm_source=1500+CWP+List+Daily+Clips+and+Updates&utm_campaign=fd8e12cde2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_07_07_01_33&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-fd8e12cde2-647471410
The article confuses — perhaps intentionally — radical libertarians and larping monarchists with actual rightwing accelerationists.
A cursory glance at actually existing accelerationists would reveal that most of them would prefer gassing Yarvin to breaking up the country.
Does economic theory have some prediction of what happens if a science fiction device suddenly, physically harmlessly, eliminates all the world’s billion-dollar fortunes? Example: Jane has $50 billion when the device goes off. She experiences an awful feeling for a moment but is otherwise ok. But when she pulls out her phone to check her holdings, her worst fears are realized: she now has only $999 million, still pretty good by most people’s standards. Non-billionaires experience no effect at all,.
Note that the device has settled her outstanding obligations as needed so she isn’t left holding the bag due to the sudden loss. There is presumably a lot lower economic equality in the world now, but the wealth (at least on paper) hasn’t been redistributed. A lot has simply vanished. Good or bad in terms of unskewing power relations and so on? I guess the device has to be re-activated once a year or so to keep things level. I have no idea how to model something like this. Obviously since it is fiction, the effect can be modified if that helps.
Maybe this has something in common with Michael Hudson’s debt jubilees.
Heck, if you can’t be happy with $99 million, you should go to Mars now. If I was going to start a new political party that would be plank 1 in the platform, no more billionaires and centimillionaires. Plank 2 would be full support for the Bill of Rights (which says nothing about “money = speech”). Plank 3 would be no more foreign aid (especially military aid) when Americans can’t get health care and affordable housing. Plank 4 would be more unions and better unions, for workplaces that have so far been resistant to them. Plank 5 would be get all bizarre superstitions like “woke” stuff and heretical Christian mythifications out of kids’ education. Sort of a lowbrow anti-Yarvin platform. But would anyone vote for that?
Here is Katiebird’s 12 Word Platform:
1. Medicare For All. 2. End The Wars. 3. Tax The Rich. 4. Jobs for Everyone.
re: UAE talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan: “an attempt to establish contact without interference”
best laugh of the night. every party is right there at the table.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/10/style/video/birkin-bag-smashes-auction-record-vrtc
~~~~~~~~~~~
The only way a man’s wallet could be worth $10 million, would be if there was 1,000 bundles of Benjamins therein.
Trump’s Purge of Foreign Workers Arrives at Amazon’s Warehouses
Trump’s America is going just great!
Labor shortages are surely going to get them prices down!
Amazon warehouse work destroys people’s bodies. Labor recruitment is a challenge.
Just another excuse for Scamazon to replace workers with robots.
Ain’t capitalism grand?
Re Technolatinas
The latest species of comprador elites which do the local dirty work of extracting surpluses from the colonial periphery for the benefit of the oligarchs in the metropole.
Same as it ever was …
Progressives should confront Jewish genocide against Palestinians.
The first step is to stop using the word “Israeli” and use the word “Jew” in all instances.
This will further encourage the so-called diaspora to stop the performative whining about this mass murder and actually do something about it.
Haven’t seen much discussion about the Epstein betrayal and MAGA, at least in today’s comments.
I think there is a big fly in the ointment for team bury it, in that Alan Dershowitz apparently has “the list” at least in his mind:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5395597-dershowitz-says-he-knows-epstein-client-list-names-but-im-bound-by-confidentiality/
Now Alan, being a good lawyer in good standing with the ABA, cannot disclose due to confidentiality agreements with a judge and likely attorney-client privilege as he represented Epstein. But Epstein is dead, and Alan himself is 86.
A next-level chess move would be for Alan to send a letter with what he knows, naming names, to his attorney, to be held in escrow until his death. At which time, the letter gets sent to the NY Times, WaPost, and of course, a few select independent media journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibi. As for the identity of that attorney, please keep it confidential. Better yet, rig up a deadman’s switch so that if Alan or that attorney disappears for more than a week, and doesn’t confirm his “proof of life” by validating an email sent from a cronjob somewhere out in the cloud, then the whole data dump happens immediately.
I bet that Alan would suddenly get the best health care the world could buy, even better than Trump’s or Bidens.
Alan Dershowitz? A list of Epstein’s “clients” was on NC a day or so ago and Alan Dershowitz was definitely on it. He doesn’t need a list as he would know them by face from those flights that he took on the Lolita Express.
Insiders make the best informants. This was a conspiracy, and so far, the only conspirators to face justice are Epstein and Giselle, his Madam.
Conspiracy is an inchoate offense that can be charged against anyone who agreed to and furthered the conspiracy, through an overt act that was intentional and intended to promote the conspiracy. That would include accountants, anyone who piloted the planes, and politicians who used their knowledge of the island adventures to blackmail or falsely accuse others.
The act could be as simple as handing $1000 in cash to buy a part for the plane, if the other elements are satisfied.
Then there are accessories before the fact, and accessories after the fact. Anyone who gained knowledge of the crimes after they happened faces lesser charges, like obstruction of justice, for things like aiding a principal in avoiding capture. Think letting Epstein crash on their couch, which certainly might have happened with Dershowitz.
This thing could make Fani Willis’ RICO prosecution of the Jan 6 gang of 19 or the YSL gang look like a jaywalking case, if the FBI really wanted to go after it.
Epstein was quizzical
Studied physical science in a bed @ home
Late nights all alone with a ‘test tube’
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Maxwell-Ghislaine, majoring in meddling
Calls him on the phone
“you know they have us together in pictures, oh!’
But as he’s getting ready to go
A knock comes on the cell door
Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Came down upon his head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Made sure that the story was dead
Back in court again, Maxwell plays the fool again
Judge gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene
He tells Max to stay when the jury has gone away
So she waits behind
Writing fifty times “I must not be so”
But when he turns her back on her ploy
She creeps up from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Came down upon his head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Made sure that the story was dead
Bailiff holding a quite large gun
Said “We caught a dirty one”
Maxwell stands alone
Painting testimonial pictures
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Donald, Bill & Andy screaming from the gallery
Say she must go free (Maxwell must go free)
The judge does not agree, and he tells them so
But as the words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Came down upon his head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell’s silver spoon
Made sure that the story was dead
Wo-wo-wo-woh
Silver spoon swoon…
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, by the Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJag19WoAe0&list=RDmJag19WoAe0
So a growing trash because of bots scraping and maybe LLM doing searches, are these are you human wait spinners now. I’m seeing this more and more from cloudflare for example. Another negative externality as web sites try to stay alive
Cloudfare recently announced a service that blocks AI crawlers. Apparently, it is turned on by default for all new domain registrations.
That probably has some panties in a knot over at OpenAI and Microsoft. Along with an arms race to defeat the blockers. Karl Denninger has written about over at his blog.
I’m seeing those spinners a lot in the past week or two. Sometimes multiple times on the same site.
I got stuck in an “are you human?” Cloudflare loop on AXS tickets website.
Frustratingly, this clearly happens often enough for AXS to have a specific warning message and suggested causes (we don’t support your browser or operating system) but no actual solution!
“Format hard drive: OK?”.
It’s an arms race … some blockers look for a string in the the USER_AGENT header that looks like “Claude” or “ChatGPT” but that can be spoofed.
Then the blockers have to observe traffic and black hole not just the IP but entire CIDR blocks. That gets ugly fast. And there are some techniques that send AI crawlers into endless loops that cost the AI companies precious CPU time.
Welcome to the enshittification era.
Yep. It’s a huge subsidy forced out of content providers. We’re caught in the middle and as always vendors are making bank providing a fix.
One thing to be aware of is that these “Are you human?” and “Solve this captcha” pages are also tracking you.
It’s getting tiresome to find that seemingly 90% of URLs now resolve through Cloudflare, and that we are expected to prove our humanity a dozen times a day.
Add this to the constant requests to accept cookies, to log in again, to validate via MFA Hell, to use some special “authenticator” app (Google, Microsoft, etc. and woe to those whose phones are not at hand), to solve some rando security challenge, e.g., “our database says that yesterday you were proven to be you — but that was yesterday, so today: are you still you???” and to deal with the now constant Israeli-level security paranoia overreach…
… and you know it’s only going to get worse.
UFC 86
Artificial Intelligence vs Genuine Stupidity
2 concepts go into the octagon, it isn’t improbable the match is declared a draw~
$39.95 PPV
$49.95 PPV (HD)
Trump achieving long standing conservative goal of having government not work
FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show
Lies no one believes
We’re so post truth
A counterpoint, inspired by Revenant’s comment on the parody of “Iron Man” up the page:
I’m going off the rails of this gravy train
Melody – Crazy Train, by Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz
Gravy – that’s just how it flows
Millions of dollars, every new show
Maybe, it’s not too late
To learn how to retire, and not hesitate
College bills, need paying
Sharon’s shoe closet’s insane!
I’m going off the rails of this gravy train
I’ve listened to accountants, I’ve listened to fools
I’m well past my sell date, I’m making new rules
Sharon’s conditioned to look for control
The media sells it, and you live the role
Road crew can’t learn to code
Who and what’s to blame?
I’m going off the rails of this gravy train
I’m going off the rails of this gravy train
I know I’m getting too old for this game
Sharon won’t listen to my words … yeah, yeah
[Guitar solo that was amazing in 1981 but now a zygote can play on YouTube]
Heirs of the genre, that’s what we’ve been called
We’re dangers to ourselves, we might slip and fall
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I’m living with something that just isn’t fair
Metal heads, keep coming, driving me insane … I’m going off the rails of this gravy train!
Sports Desk: Nope Springs Eternal dept.
It’s not easy being a Long Suffering Bills Fan, but somebody has to do it, and this is my 35th season of futility in following what at times has been such an awful team (one era consisted seemingly of acquiring every player named Williams in the league and putting them all in red, white and blue uniforms) with occasional and let me stress occasional periods of performance beyond the pale, low bar that it was.
They claim a man gets settled down after marriage, and that’s my hope with ‘In Josh we trust’, who shows such brilliance but can’t get us to the dance.
Extreme heat is killing American workers. What will Trump do about it?
Got to think outside the box on this one, how about cutting health care spending for the most vulnerable to fund a tax cut for the rich? Remember, every worker who dies is one less social security recipient. Its not heat stroke, its just being lazy. /sarc