Links 7/11/2025

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1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 7:06 am

   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.

   Reply ↓
   1. Trees&Trunks July 11, 2025 at 8:11 am

      Great stuff!

      Reply ↓
   2. ddt July 11, 2025 at 8:11 am

      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.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 8:36 am

         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.

         Reply ↓
2. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 7:11 am

   ‘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

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   1. Munchausen July 11, 2025 at 7:34 am

      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).

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      1. Trees&Trunks July 11, 2025 at 9:37 am

         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.

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   2. ciroc July 11, 2025 at 7:44 am

      To her, being on the right side of history could mean being literally on the far right.

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3. Victor Sciamarelli July 11, 2025 at 7:33 am

   “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.

   Reply ↓
   1. Acacia July 11, 2025 at 9:09 am

      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 …

      Don’t forget Iran and the Houthis ;)

      https://edition.cnn.com/world/middleeast/eternity-c-houthi-rebels-red-sea-intl-hnk

      Reply ↓
4. JohnA July 11, 2025 at 7:35 am

   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

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5. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 7:40 am

   ‘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.’

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   1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 8:39 am

      Don’t forget also that they (pentagon) lied and said all missiles were intercepted.

      You will know them by their deeds …

      Reply ↓
   2. ilsm July 11, 2025 at 8:43 am

      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?

      Reply ↓
6. Randall Flagg July 11, 2025 at 7:48 am

   >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.

   Reply ↓
   1. Adam1 July 11, 2025 at 8:49 am

      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.

      Reply ↓
   2. Henry Moon Pie July 11, 2025 at 9:55 am

      This is why I say to go long cloud seeders. They seem to be everywhere. /sarc

      Reply ↓
7. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 8:10 am

   “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.

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   1. Samuel Conner July 11, 2025 at 8:33 am

      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.

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      1. Samuel Conner July 11, 2025 at 8:47 am

         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?

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      2. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 8:48 am

         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.

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         1. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 8:56 am

            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?

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            1. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 9:12 am

               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.

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         2. Samuel Conner July 11, 2025 at 9:12 am

            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.

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      3. MicaT July 11, 2025 at 9:35 am

         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.

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         1. Samuel Conner July 11, 2025 at 10:16 am

            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.

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   2. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 9:07 am

      ‘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.

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   3. ilsm July 11, 2025 at 10:18 am

      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.

      Reply ↓
8. LawnDart July 11, 2025 at 8:21 am

   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?

   Reply ↓
   1. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 8:24 am

      As soon as Grossi and his wonky IAEA inspectors have gone in for a final inspection. /sarc

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   2. DJG, Reality Czar July 11, 2025 at 8:50 am

      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

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      1. AG July 11, 2025 at 9:34 am

         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.

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9. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 8:26 am

   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~

   Reply ↓
   1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 9:10 am

      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

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 9:26 am

         I didn’t recognize the tune, but not surprising.

         This is Eric Cartman come to life, they do what they want.

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         1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 9:44 am

            “Enter Sandman” from the black album.

            “Off to never never land” is the closing hook … describes our current foreign policy well.

            Reply ↓
      2. moog July 11, 2025 at 10:32 am

         Even better choice,
         Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy – Television, The Drug Of The Nation
         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9pJzZ1XGI

         Reply ↓
   2. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 9:38 am

      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.

      Reply ↓
10. The Rev Kev July 11, 2025 at 8:29 am

    “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.

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11. DJG, Reality Czar July 11, 2025 at 8:41 am

    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?

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    1. AG July 11, 2025 at 9:21 am

       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.

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    2. Bugs July 11, 2025 at 9:52 am

       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.

       Reply ↓
12. upstater July 11, 2025 at 8:47 am

    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.

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    1. Adam1 July 11, 2025 at 8:57 am

       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).

       Reply ↓
13. Zen July 11, 2025 at 8:49 am

    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..

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14. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 8:52 am

    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.

    The June 19th PSPS followed multiple days of SCE notifications forecasting high winds. Experts were not forecasting high winds in Three Rivers, however, and SCE recognized that Three Rivers was not in an area with a Fire Weather Watch, Red Flag Warning, Wind Advisories, High Wind Watch, or High Wind Warning. The National Weather Service predicted a relatively calm day in Three Rivers, and indeed the breeze in Cherokee Oaks was markedly calm during the PSPS.

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15. AG July 11, 2025 at 9:04 am

    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

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16. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 9:09 am

    Noah not NOAA
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Abbott says megafloods are “just part of nature.” The fossil fuel industry disagrees. HEATED

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    1. ChrisFromGA July 11, 2025 at 9:49 am

       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.

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17. Mikel July 11, 2025 at 9:10 am

    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?

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18. disc_writes July 11, 2025 at 9:12 am

    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.

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    1. AG July 11, 2025 at 9:25 am

       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.

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       1. disc_writes July 11, 2025 at 10:10 am

          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.

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    2. hunkerdown July 11, 2025 at 9:57 am

       Why does the ReArm Europe logo look like a classic Internet shock site?

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19. Munchausen July 11, 2025 at 9:20 am

    Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base with an eye on China AP

    Is this supposed to be a 3D Go move against China? Ospreys can only scare those taking a ride in them.

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    1. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 9:30 am

       ‘Gnatzis?’
       ~~~~~~~~~~~
       Ospreys can only scare those taking a ride in them.

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    2. Acacia July 11, 2025 at 10:00 am

       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.

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20. Henry Moon Pie July 11, 2025 at 9:37 am

    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.

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21. AG July 11, 2025 at 9:46 am

    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

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22. Wukchumni July 11, 2025 at 9:52 am

    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

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23. Mikel July 11, 2025 at 10:14 am

    The Uneasy Oligarchy – The Baffler…a good breakdown of the state of affairs among the puppet masters.

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