Bear-Sized Giant Beavers Once Roamed North America, and They’re Now the Official State Fossil of Minnesota Smithsonian Mag
From deep-fried delicacies to food on a stick and even a ‘hot-beef sundae’: The weirdest food found at state fairs The Independent
Grafting Oases into the Grid E-Flux
Climate/Environment
FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from 100-year flood map before expansion, records show AP
More flash flooding in Oklahoma and Texas last 24 hours Balanced Weather
Grief and Prayer at Texas Churches: ‘Lord, Turn Off the Floodgates’ New York Times
***
Banning problematic plastics may save the world up to $8 trillion by 2040 Down to Earth
Very Hungry “Plastivore” Caterpillars Get Fat From Eating Plastic IFL Science
***
Blackout risks rising as AI, reindustrialization push strain grid The Hill
Enron gives updates on bid to become Texas retail electric provider in satirical quarterly call Houston Chronicle
The “green” corporations funding anti-climate groups HEATED
A Green Cold War The Break-Down
Ocean circulation going South? RealClimate
Pandemics
This seems rather important:
1. Outstanding summary of a recently published study on cognitive dysfunction in Long Covid (link to study at end of thread). The important point here is the 20% prevalence of anosognosia: having cognitive dysfunction but not being aware of it. https://t.co/NmStNz3CD9
— Conor Browne (@brownecfm) July 13, 2025
Here’s the link to the paper: Profiles of Individuals With Long COVID Reporting Persistent Cognitive Complaints Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
Priced out: Some Long COVID and ME specialists charge high prices for concierge care The Sick Times
Long COVID patients among those likely to be targeted under new Medicaid work requirements The Gauntlet
China?
No, The Chinese Will Not Invade Taiwan Andrew Cockburn. Unless the US successfully provokes them.
US demands to know what allies would do in event of war over Taiwan FT
Ports and Paranoia: Commentary on CSIS’s “No Safe Harbor” Report Pekingnology
China trade balance grows in June, exports rise on US tariff deescalation Investing.com
Stepping back a bit and looking at the trailing 12m sum (so July 2024 to June 2025) and looking at the Chinese data, it is clear that China still runs a big surplus with the US
It is also clear that China’s surplus with the emerging world is soaring
— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) July 14, 2025
Africa
US Launches Its 49th Airstrike of the Year in Somalia Antiwar
Old Blighty
Labour has decided to self-immolate rather than redistributing a tiny bit of wealth.
Grimly fascinating. https://t.co/4NT82xkcnp
— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) July 13, 2025
Syraqistan
Israeli airstrike kills at least 10, including six children, at Gaza water station, say health officials The Guardian
Israel is using thermobaric (vacuum) bombs in Beit Hanoun. These are shock waves that spread in a circular and low pattern near the ground surface, preceding the appearance of the dust cloud by far, indicating a speed faster than the speed of sound.
This is genocide. pic.twitter.com/tA7jC61g33
— Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) July 13, 2025
Israeli plan for Gaza ‘concentration camp’ to cost billions: Report The Cradle. Pony up, Uncle Sam!
Israel’s most-advanced communications satellite successfully launched into space Times of Israel
The Israeli “communications” satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida thanks to an @elonmusk-provided SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Israel will now have more power to spy on the American and global population thanks to US taxpayer support https://t.co/B9YOaGrWH2
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 13, 2025
Funeral held for Palestinian-American killed in West Bank as Gaza ceasefire talks drag on CBS News. Killed by Israeli settlers.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s private military contractor hires crisis comms firm led by former Biden and Obama spokespersons All-Source Intelligence
“Trump, Bibi, and Ayn Rand’s ghost.” Patrick Lawrence, The Floutist
Rafael Advanced Def Systems tests its weapons on unarmed Palestinian civilians in Gaza and proudly advertises it. Rafael is part of a 5M € @HorizonEU project. Can you explain why you are partnering with corporate entities involved in international law violations @lemaitre_eu? https://t.co/XNe2o3joHG pic.twitter.com/HmrDXnYkPi
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) July 13, 2025
***
Freedom Flotilla’s Gaza-bound ‘Handala’ sets sail from Italy Anadolu Agency
‘No Nation Is Above the Law’: Colombia To Host International Summit Against Israeli Impunity Orinoco Tribune
***
Syria, Azerbaijan renew ties amid secret talks with Israel The Cradle
US Envoy: Disarm Hezbollah or Israel, Syria Will Conquer Lebanon Antiwar
Amid Attacks on Israel-Linked Shipping, Ansarallah Says It Remains Committed to Truce with U.S. Drop Site
***
Russia rejects US media report it backed ‘zero enrichment’ Iran deal Press TV
Iranian president lightly wounded while escaping Israeli attack Al Jazeera. On June 15.
European Disunion
EU delays US trade countermeasures until August: Von der Leyen Al Mayadeen
EU antisemitism tsar lobbied against Israel sanctions EU Observer. Commentary:
The EU Commission’s antisemitism coordinator:
– suggested human rights criticism of Israel is just ‘rumours about Jews’
– warned against ‘new forms of antisemitism’ such as ‘bake sales for Gaza’
– used such nonsense to press the EU against reviewing trade relations with Israel— JamieSW (@jsternweiner) July 13, 2025
Europe died in Gaza Benedetta Sabene
France’s Macron calls for major hike in defence spending: ‘To be free, we must be feared’ France24
EU backs off fight against fraud ahead of trillion-euro budget proposal Euractiv
New Not-So-Cold War
Waiting for Trump’s Yuge Russia Announcement Larry Johnson
Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine The Hill
Germany Spending $5 Billion to Buy Patriot Air Defences For Ukraine Military Watch
Trump considers greenlighting new funding for Ukraine, sources say CBS News
Senator Graham: You’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves Ukrainska Pravda
US senators aim to arm Trump with ‘sledgehammer’ sanctions against Russia France24
His 500% tariff plan on any country that does business with Russia is unworkable as far as I can see.
However, it looks like we might see some more details on how this will be implemented next week as it’s possibly the core of Trump‘s big announcement due on Monday.
The EU has… https://t.co/zVXIkfVJu6
— BenAris (@bneeditor) July 13, 2025
Grab Bag: Lavrov, Wang Yi & SCO + Putin Interview Karl Sanchez
Putin’s favourite conductor to lead orchestra in Italy as it breaks ban on pro-Kremlin artists The Telegraph
Imperial Collapse Watch
Balancing Act — How Allies Have Responded to Limited U.S. Retrenchment RAND
Pentagon Withdraws Admiral’s Nomination to Lead Pacific Fleet Amid Renewed Attention on Drag Shows Military.com
Trump 2.0
New Trump tariff threats rekindle investor concerns about trade and timelines Business Times
US Port Operators Seek To Mitigate Hefty Expected Tariffs On China-Built Port Cranes Reuters
Not anywhere near ‘crash’ levels but early stage evidence of DOGE cuts, Federal dismantlings, mounting tariffs, business uncertainty, reluctance to fill low paying jobs openings, etc. All consequences of Trump policies: pic.twitter.com/qFrF2FqoLT
— Warren B. Mosler (@wbmosler) July 13, 2025
A czar is born: Inside David Sacks’ 130-day White House mission to remake crypto and AI SF Standard
Democrats en déshabillé
Megabill may not be a silver bullet for Democrats in the midterms Politico
Funny how I can’t find “minimum wage” or “union” in this article about Democrats who allege the need for a more economic focus. But I can find “Lis Smith” and “Tesla executive” in it.https://t.co/8cjpnJ3GJa
— Jonathan ‘Boo and Vote’ Cohn (@JonathanCohn) July 13, 2025
AI
What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise? The New Yorker “If a recent crop of commercials touting the benefits of artificial intelligence is any indication, lots of Americans these days feel unduly burdened by the demands of everyday cognition.” See first item under “Pandemics.”
AI is cited as a basis for job cuts and productivity gains. The business press is quick to point out massive paydays for “superstar coders.” But what’s less clear is whether those productivity gains are being shared with all workers in the form of higher wages. So we dug in. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/45OZETwFhr
— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) July 13, 2025
I asked ChatGPT What Skills an App Would Have to Have to Replace a Billionaire Dougald Lamont
Bad Actors are Grooming LLMs to Produce Falsehoods The American Sunlight Project
Study warns of ‘significant risks’ in using AI therapy chatbots TechCrunch
Police State Watch
Copaganda and Authoritarianism Alec Karakatsanis
Is your family member or client at Alligator Alcatraz? We obtained a list Miami Herald
ICE memo outlines plan to deport migrants to countries where they are not citizens WaPo
Father of three Marines beaten by masked federal agents, set to be released from immigration facility Los Angeles Times
Trump says he’s considering revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, reigniting decades-long feud CNN
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Jeff Epstein, MAGA, and Monopolies BIG by Matt Stoller
Class Warfare
America’s Budget Blinders and Blunders James Galbraith, Project Syndicate
Trump’s Darwinian America Harper’s
How Corporations became people, money became speech, usury was legalized, and the civil rights movement was used to advance neoliberalism Sylvia Demarest
Fanon and the Asylum New Lines Mag
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
111 comments
Comments are closed.
“Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine”
At this point I say that the US and its allies – including Israel – should send every single Patriot battery to the Ukraine along with every single missile they have in stock. Send the lot. And when the Russians turn them all to ash, we may have an outbreak of peace as the west will not be able to start any major military actions as they will have no air defenses left. Trump goes hot and cold on those Patriots but so what. They are not a game changer and the Russians figured how to deal with them a long time ago. It won’t change the course of the war and the only reason why he is pushing them is to be seen ‘doing something.’
I won’t believe there’s an acute ammo shortage until Sally Struthers goes on TV in commercials pleading with us to donate small arms ammo so that Ukraine children won’t go without.
…is your donation of 65¢ a day and/or rounds too much to ask for you to be a Save The Ukraine War Sponsor?
I thought it weird about two years ago when it came out that guns that were seized by police forces in the US were being packed up and sent onto the Ukraine.
Hard to imagine, but TSA ‘intercepts’ nearly 7,000 guns a year going through security at airports.
Slava par avion Ukraini!
All those gangsta Glocks are a gamechanger.
Unless they are diverted to the black market after arriving in the Ukraine.
We were told in Canada that all the (Trudeau era) illegal rifles that will be purchased from citizens by the government to take them out of circulation will all be sent to Ukraine.
Can’t imagine the confusion of hundreds of thousands of Canadian bush rifles with different calibre bullets being used on the battle field.
In point of fact, last night the Russian Channel 1 news included a report about a successful combination strike (missiles, aircraft and drones) on a Patriot battery, claiming two launchers and one radar system. From the video, it seemed that they caught the thing during redeployment on some rural road, but there was no location given in the official announcement.
Wonder how little Emma is doing. [For those who remember the US Army recruitment ad from a couple of years ago.] I have to believe each battery has at least some American operators attached, still, at the very least to show the locals which button not to press.
That said, I have grave doubts that any “outbreak of peace” is in the offing, even if every single piece of military hardware the West happens to have is sent to, and burned to a crisp in, liberal-democratic Ukraine. What we really ought to start thinking about now is the the NEXT flashpoint – the Baltic? The Caucasus? Central Asia? – because after Ukraine, the US will just find another proxy. Again. Its strategic objectives viz. Russia have not changed an iota, and might even intensify over time if Yves’ thesis on neoliberalism-into-fascism from one of today’s posts proves correct (and it probably will, at least to some extent).
And remember, back during the Great 2023 Counteroffensive, when it turned out that the Ukrainians had absolutely no way to protect their advancing columns from being bombed to scrap by Russian aircraft and helos, the US spent months (!) telling the proverbial savages to die harder for their white masters back in Washington. So not actually having capabilities is not an obstacle, in this sense, so long as no American lives are (officially) risked.
Thank you, Conor.
The NC community, especially the British contingent, may find this of interest: https://27khv.substack.com/p/how-britain-became-a-poor-country.
A couple of months ago, I fell into conversation with a frequent visitor from the US. He wondered how long London, but this could apply to the wider UK, could continue charging NYC prices for a Detroit (or some great lakes post-industrial city) product.
Something equally depressing from yesterday. Yorkshire Rose attended a fund raiser for Palestine in Terry Flynn country. A bakery organised the event. There was Palestinian food and crafts, activities for children and music. It was a family day out. The baker received a visit from the police, who I will let Terry pipe up about, and was warned that the event would be under surveillance.
Thank you, Colonel. Maybe that baker should have baked a coupla dozen muffins for the protest that day to present to the police there. The card could read ‘To our local police – a bunch of muffins.’
How about a big batch of good old fashioned pot brownies?
Or a heavily- locked secure glass case of Doughnuts : Bad Cop- No Donut!
Thank you, Colonel, for the interesting article.
I left London for sunnier shores in 2005. At the time it (subjectively) felt like a vibrant city, although recently changed by the anti-terrorist fear-mongering. I visit friends and family every year or so and it feels noticeably unhappier each time.
That said, when I venture out into the country itself I realise London is still the lucky part.
I love a lot about my homeland, but I cannot picture returning to live there anytime soon.
Colonel, that was an interesting article but more for the author’s blindness than awareness.
First, it was as if the author left Zone 2 for the first time. The UK north of the Severn to the Wash has been a semi-derelict shitshow all my life. The cramped and grubby squalor astounded me when I first left my bubble in Devon.
Second, the author is nonetheless blind to the immense wealth and privilege of London within the UK. We have just rented a flat in Millbank, SW1. I am equally astonished by the care in the public realm, even in the social housing, that is on display. Parks, playgrounds, kerbs, roads, buildings, public transport, all excellent. What rattling trains? The author does not realise their privilege or London’s.
Third, the author paints Brexit as an economic cataclysm when no such thing has transpired.
It is unfortunate because there are real points in the article, about uncontrolled economic migration, uncontrolled land speculation, austerity and cowardice of vision but it is hard to trust the author’s judgment when his priors are so off-beam and, anyway, he merely rants rather then makes policy prescriptions.
And if you want to see a mispriced product, try Dublin. It’s a fun place as a small scruffy version of London (the buildings and the people). And yet one-course brunch for two cost €40 and one-course lunch in the airport for two cost €60. Guinness is €7.50 a pint! My hotel was €330/night then mysteriously dropped to €220 in the few days before I travelled. I am feeling poor and have constant cashier-anxiety, despite being here on expenses and a member of the 1% and probably 0.1%….
The escalation in Palestine oppression is much more alarming. I was late to notice that Israel has declared a State of Exception but now I have noticed, I feel like a man who has woken up to find his house on fire. The British constitutional order is being burnt down before our eyes and nobody is calling the alarm….
FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from 100-year flood map before expansion, records show AP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like most, i’d never heard of this elite evang girl’s summer camp and it sounds rather idyllic, other than when deadly floods engulfed it.
Deniers gotta deny, but here comes climate change, here comes climate change, right down climate change lane.
~~~
Grief and Prayer at Texas Churches: ‘Lord, Turn Off the Floodgates’ New York Times
~~~
Does this tragic event get whisked away vis a vis a pair of hands joined at the palms and pointing upward in front of your eyes, pleading for mercy from an almighty deity?
Its not a lot different than the usual pablum offered by politicians after the latest mass murderer goes about his appointed rounds dispatching a bakers dozen if you include the shooter in the total, and said poltroons offer up ‘thoughts & prayers’ as their solution.
Everyone knows about flood maps but is there such a thing as flash flood maps? Areas where if you get heavy rain, that you should immediately go for high ground? Of course if there was you would have to stop any construction there due to the lack of warning time whereas floods tend to be slower to build up. Of course being in an area nicknamed Flash Flood Alley is never a good sign-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Flood_Alley
The frustrating thing is that you can look at the surrounding hills, see exposed rocks, and it doesn’t take much to realize that water has flooded up to there at some point.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.0121126,-99.3737702,3a,54.4y,75.6h,86.05t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0_HlZlxQc_Q12khEdcHr0A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D3.953987211418763%26panoid%3D0_HlZlxQc_Q12khEdcHr0A%26yaw%3D75.59623860430607!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Interesting StreetView from the highway. Most folks would never contemplate that floodwater placed those huge boulders (12 tons+ ?) alongside the roadway. Some may believe the roadway constructors placed them. (Maybe they did?) In any case, the short, steep, dendritic nature of side-streams makes for a fairly short time of concentration (TOC) that allowed the main stem of the river to rise 20′ in just a few hours.
“Does this tragic event get whisked away vis a vis a pair of hands joined at the palms and pointing upward in front of your eyes, pleading for mercy from an almighty deity?”
The picture drawn by the article was pretty amazing. The pastor’s full petition was, “Lord, turn off the floodgates right now,” as thunder boomed overhead. The “right now” sounds more like a demand than a humble prayer, but we can at least hope that feelings of helplessness, of human frailty, of the existence of something much bigger and more powerful then humans are is beginning to dawn on all of us. For those who are Christian, maybe it’s becoming clearer that treating their God’s creation like a trash dump is not particularly wise. It’s a bit of the long way ’round when recognizing directly the divinity in Nature would do the trick, but I’ll take it.
My way of looking at it:
Tao te Ching #26 (Le Guin rendition)
We’ve changed the Earth. Now the Earth is going to change us, our children and our grandchildren. When you and yours happen to be the ones who come up losers on the wheel still in spin, it’s understandable to go looking for help somewhere.
Mother Earth- fatally gut-shot, moving to low ground and water, do die a log slow miserable death.
a bit of Bobby always appreciated HMP – this first verse doesn’t even need to be reworked –
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying
From that “FEMA removed” article,
“It’s a mystery to me why they weren’t taking proactive steps to move structures away from the risk, let alone challenging what seems like a very reasonable map that shows these structures were in the 100-year flood zone,” she said.
Is it? Having FEMA designate your property flood zone makes it virtually unsellable and close to worthless as collateral. I wouldn’t be surprised if the camp’s insurance issuers demanded physical infrastructure upgrades in order to maintain their liability coverage.
I’ve always considered the public act of invoking God as nothing more than a self-writ of power. Apparently Mother Nature feels the same way.
Lots of property is within FEMA flood zone. It means you need to buy Federal flood insurance if you want a mortgage. It may impact building codes, but don’t bet on it. In my father’s case (Marrero on New Orleans west bank) it meant FEMA paid to raise his house foundation 6 feet.
Youngest UK son,when 18, circa summer 2001, worked at Camp Mystic for the season along with other European , e.g. Lithuanian, Russian youngsters. He recalls river rising up to admin block during this time and mentioned another 10 or 15 ft would have taken out living quarters.I guess, therefore, problem was well known?
The Camp Mystic folks – just nice people, doing nice things? Perhaps, but this Texas Monthly story from 2011 presents a familiar tale of wealth and greed:
The Not So Happy Campers –>
Those upstate NY camps are lucky to have to worry only about mosquitos, poison ivy and humidity. /s
An ocean away, but still …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZjEyB5ChA
Re: Very Hungry “Plastivore” Caterpillars Get Fat From Eating Plastic (IFL Science)
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly….
Overhead inside the WEF secret volcano lab, sometime in 2027, “So these autonomous robo-mice have been attuned to the taste of caterpillar….”
From where I sit I can watch two robins feed a few gaping mouths in a sturdy little nest. I’m hoping that this busy mom and dad aren’t feeding “plastivore” caterpillars to their kids.
I’m wondering if anything eats those caterpillars. What happens then?
Or visualize mutated butterflies with big wingspans. Cousins of Mothra. lol
Like most science fiction readers, I’m just worried about when they invade hospitals to much on all the delicious delicious plastic inside….
Who I am kidding? What hospitals?
“Senator Graham: You’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves’
Since the US and NATO are mostly tapped out, I can only assume that what will happen is that the US will draw down their strategic reserves. You know, the one meant to be there in case the US ends up in a major war. The one that will take many, many years to build back up again. Mentioned before the difference between a risk and a gamble. That if you undertake an action and it goes south but you can regain your position, then you undertook a risk. But if you undertake an action and it goes south but you cannot recover but are in a worse position, then that was a gamble. if Trump and Graham are drawing down on the US strategic reserve, then this is a high risk gamble in order to stop losing the Ukraine. And is asked about it, I am sure that both of them would say nah! It’ll be fine.
What does an Iskander missile cost to shoot versus the two PAC III interceptors?
Consider this, suppose the US built its arsenal of weapons, associated munitions and supply chains for war that cannot be fought again?
Patriot etc were specified for operations against a Soviet main force invasion of West Germany.
May not be needed for a lot of reasons: can US deploy the force, ISR, precision long range fires, etc, such concentrations of forces may not be forthcoming. Patriot etc are outdated war has moved on.
That said their appeal becomes defending civilain targets, point defense. They are not well suited and the initial magazine of support and ammunition is too small!
One way or another Patriot may no longer fit in US military planning. THAAD is too expensive and a longer range system.. Aegis has been fitted for shore in Poland and Rumania but it is not transportable, yet.
Another,aside, I have not heard anyone talk about new/refurbished artillery barrels, if US can find ammunition by now the rifling in Kiev;s guns is worn….. US has very limited forge capacity!
Of course Graham and Blumenthal will make sure all those Patriot things are resupplied at great profit and years away.
Oh to see the last of this hillbilly lawyer masquerading as a military nitwit. His grinning clownish face and his ignorance are simply too much to bare. He has been so testy since McCain has been gone.
Patrick Lawrence is a treasure. His takedown of Ayn Rand and her pernicious influence on us over the last 75+ years is epic.
And just when I thought Lawrence’s outstanding piece would be the best Link of the day, along comes Benedetta Sabine’s superb piece tying together Europe’s response to Ukraine and Gaza
Lots of good reading.
Henry, Yes, I very much enjoyed them today also. Ayn Rand what a joke of a person, to realize how much she is responsible for the worst society has to offer today. Most people I know talk about this coming from Fox News, but she birthed it.
think this may have been an Ayn Rand link many years ago here –
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/13/right-wing-american-love-affair-one-most-disturbing-serial-killers
If you want a good laugh, check out the King Vidor adaptation of The Fountainhead (1949).
Starring Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, and Rand herself wrote the screenplay.
It’s the kind of kitsch that takes itself very seriously but is completely absurd.
There was an Atlas Shrugged adaptation project several years back. I watched the trailer and said, “my, the decor and costumes are gorgeous”. Because the acting and pacing were dreadful.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/
There is a “Part 2” and something else.
I feel so sorry for the struggling actors who get suckered into bombs like this. Like poor Ahmed Best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkZBElD-34A
If Democrats had a silver bullet, all they would do with it is shoot it into their own foot, so it’s just as well.
NONE! Yes, have to laugh, these morons are hopeless, gave up on their asses a long time ago.
On NC the other day there was a before and after satellite map on that Iranian strike on the US base in Qatar showing a radome being hit and some wondered if it was AI generated. It is now confirmed by the Pentagon-
https://news.antiwar.com/2025/07/13/pentagon-admits-iranian-missile-hit-dome-used-for-communications-at-us-qatar-base/
But at the end it says the following-
‘While Iran gave the US warning to repel the attack, the US military had to conduct its largest-ever Patriot missile defense system engagement to intercept the missiles, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. “We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in US military history, and we were joined in this engagement by the Qatari Patriot crews,” Caine told reporter.’
And yet Iran still hit that radome. That’s good shootin’, Tex.
re: “Bad Actors Grooming AI” and it’s that disinformation czarina Nina Jankowicz, trying on a new emotionally manipulative storyline OR telling us what she does in her spare time when hanging out with the think tanks.
“Trump, Bibi, and Ayn Rand’s ghost.” Patrick Lawrence, The Floutist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Atlas Shrugged wasn’t a how-to manual for the far right, it was a warning in regards to the future.
AI is Project X
https://www.conservapedia.com/Project_X
I think Marx was closer to the mark, mate. Not that she was much into society or what supports/enables it – family formation. More like a boys club of which Greenspan was one … yet Hayek wrote his tautology and all his followers brought on the very thing he was banging on about ….
Then again both were being funded by the very people they claimed to be warning everyone about … ponders …
Re: ‘Green Corporations’
I was disappointed that heated.world’s story (op cit) was based on guiltbytradeassociation.com‘s ranking of green hypocrites, with neither listing a single exemplary green leader.
There may not be any, but I noticed that both sites’ rankings differed rather markedly from the lobbymap.org ranking upon which both seem to ultimately have been drawn.
True, heated.world did manage to solicit and publish some corporate bafflegab, but both secondary ‘sources’ strike me as examples of life imitating AI.
lobbymap seems to have done some serious research and does rank some possibly credible ‘leaders’.
If I had to wager my not so hard-earned money, I’m guessing this facility was purchased by a PE firm in the recent past.
At least 9 dead, 30 injured in fire at Fall River senior living facility. Follow live updates.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/14/metro/fall-river-gabriel-house-fire-live-updates/
Boy, what a tragedy!
My late mother was ensconced in an assisted living place chain named Oakmont for the last 8 years of her life, and I used to laugh and say it was a cruise ship that never left Whittier Blvd, well appointed and probably overdone for the nonagenarian set-I never saw anybody reading in the library or much working out in the gym.
Oakmont was different in that it was a rare assisted living place where you paid by the month instead of buying an apartment for $400k when you’re 91, as was the experience for many other assisted living homes in Cali.
Overall she was happy with the experience, even if it became a gilded cage for 14 months during Covid when she was confined to quarters.
‘Good thing i’m a reader’, she assured us on one of the family Zoom calls, circa 2020.
The one difference in her 8 year run there was there was a fairly constant turnover of staff, especially so after Covid.
Oakmont also lost quite a few people to lower priced assisted living places during Covid, or their kids came and ‘adultnapped’ them.
Based on what I saw, if you’re lucky enough to live that long, your politics will swing pretty far right, my mom and another lady were the token liberals out of 52 apartments.
Re Patrick Lawrence on Ayn–there’s the no doubt apocryphal story that Frank Lloyd Wright, after reading The Fountainhead, the Rand book supposedly based on him, threw it across the room and denounced it as junk. Lawrence:
And so we come to Trump himself, who remarked of The Fountainhead during the 2016 political season, “It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions. That book relates to everything.”
So Trump did once read a book? But no
There is one thing one ought to keep in mind as these kinds of people cite Rand and her books. In almost all cases they have not read Rand.
Why waste time on the junk fiction when you can cut to the chase with the junk philosophy? Of course the US is a country devoted to individualism. But while this impulse once celebrated log cabin poverty as a character builder the con men of neoliberalism like to pretend that the wealthy spawn of NYC slumlords are in the same boat. And the first version wasn’t accurate either since poverty often produces later rapacious success.
But at least a taste of reality versus pulp fiction might have helped with our increasingly demented leader.
Humbly report, sir
Dear demented leader is in way over his head, and not only has he never read any books, notice he has no close friends, no confidants, where is my Bebe Rebozo?
“But at least a taste of reality versus pulp fiction might have helped with our increasingly demented leader.”
“Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.” —Mark Twain
Twain – who was then the inspiration for screenwriter Eric Warren Singer to write:
“Well, this is the difference between truth and fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” into the script for political thriller “THE INTERNATIONAL” (2009) about a bank used for international arms trafficking.
(quote at around TC: 82:00)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_International_(2009_film)
But Twain never had to read Gravity’s Rainbow
ha-ha!
Turns out the German translation was provided by Elfriede Jelinek, who is a Pynchon in her own way…for the third time I believe she was reported dead by media just recently.
Nor Finnegan’s Wake …
How Corporations became people, money became speech, usury was legalized, and the civil rights movement was used to advance neoliberalism
Shouldn’t it be:
Liberalism: Corporations are people, money is speech, usury is celebrated, and the civil rights movement is used to suppress class politics and strengthen oligarchy.
Its hard to understand the distinction between “liberalism” and “neoliberalism,” and while Powell said the silent part out loud, these features of liberalism have been well understood since the early 20th century. Perhaps if we only elect “centrists” with an “abundance agenda” we can stop it right?
How about this version-
‘We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy our economy’ – Chris Hedges
1000 %
Speaking of Hedges,
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/trump-epstein-and-the-deep-state
Well, and musicians destroy music and artists destroy art.
I understand the trend that the authors of that article are describing critical developments along the way to, but there are some misspellings of people’s names and misdatings of events that make me wish they had done another edit before posting. It’s kind of surprising now to realize how much terror Ralph Nader inspired in the hearts of the corporate elite.
Deep fried anything, on a stick or in a dumpling, most of that sounds more interesting as a curious dish as opposed to culinary bliss. I’ll stick to chicken and french fried taters…
Arizona for the win, my two cents…was not expecting those options but it is a state fair.
“Technical description” is nonsensical. AI would have probably done better job. Also, whether something is genocide or not has nothng to do with the type of explosives used. Russians have used the highest amoount of thermobarics ever, in the war with the lowest percent of civillian csualties ever.
Heh.
Although Gaza is certainly a much smaller size in Sq km, and it would therefore be harder to avoid accidents, if indeed accidents they are. Israel has killed so many Palestinians, the burden of proof is on you that Israel, in using these, is strenuously avoiding casualties.
That is not what Mass Driver is saying. He is saying that the use of thermobarics does not automatically = civilian casualties.
And they are nastier than “vacuum weapons”. Russia uses them in late-stage clearing of buildings. They are literally firebombs. My impression is that the main Russian use has been with the TOS-1:
And even if they did, you would have to prove the nature of the motivation. Genocide is a state of mind, not just a series of acts.
Thankfully for future genocide trials, the Israelis have gone on record repeatedly with their aims to eradicate the Amalek the cleanse Palestine from the river to the sea.
“Thermobaric” just means the weapon disperses particulate fuel before ignition, so that oxidizer doesn’t need to be included in the fuel mix. Grain silo explosions are the classic example of these outside a military context.
The advantage is that oxidizer doesn’t add anything to explosive yield, so removing it allows you to increase the energy released at the same weight. The “vacuum” effect is secondary – since the oxidation comes from the surrounding air, it creates a pressure gradient between the surrounding air and the very hot, rising gas within the explosion itself, while consuming all of the nearby atmospheric oxygen.
For what it’s worth, while there are thermobaric munitions used in TOS-1, many (most?) use old-fashioned incendiaries, in order to create a firestorm that also depletes nearby atmospheric oxygen.
More cause to celebrate beavers today, including (now) mega-beavers! What kind of dams and ponds were those adorable monsters building, I wonder?
The modern rescue-beaver variant is including all materials at hand, including hula-hoops. Maybe someone with experience in the building trades can tell me what they were hoping to accomplish with the green one they managed to squish in there – is it supposed to be load-bearing? https://youtu.be/4qKWQxvKa_E
Video also features rescue-baby water wrestling and shots of the beavers’ pet toads.
Giant Beavers!
Near the Mackenzie Delta, there is a little lake where the locals have stories of a giant beaver that used to live there. Archeologists found its bones, and they were only a few hundred years old.
In Wood Buffalo National Park, in the early days of Google Earth, researchers found a beaver dam over a mile long. They sent some archeologists in and determined it was almost certainly built by giant beavers back in the day, and maintained by normal beavers ever since.
Let us also not forget giant ground sloths, short-faced bears, sabre-tooth tigers, mini horses, and those big furry elephants. The human tradition of species extinction has a long history on this continent.
Amid Attacks on Israel-Linked Shipping, Ansarallah Says It Remains Committed to Truce with U.S. – Drop Site
At some point, the divisions that have caused havoc within Yemen for decades are going to have to be settled and resources re-directed toward that issue.
This is geostationary satellite, meaning that it will have to be somewhere above central Africa or Indian Ocean in order to cover Israel. Americans are safe from spying, or whatever it does.
Seems like Mr. Blumenthal has given up on facts and is resorting to madlibs style reporting. Scare quotes around “communications”? Spying?? Why? Based on what? Just looking at the thing, it’s obviously a communications satellite, since it looks just like every other one built in the last 30 years. Form really does follow function, at least in that industry.
FYI – if it really was a spy satellite, you’d never see a photograph of it, since it’s too easy to reverse engineer capabilities from the antennas. Also note that what has been inferred from early US sigint missions involved folding antennas many meters in diameter to obtain enough gain for useful ‘spying’. This ain’t even in the ballpark.
LOL! It seems like Putin has a favourite in every category MSM can come up with.
What do you think is his favorite flavor of ice cream?
Whatever he is having here. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiN4WNhb–I
Rocky Road
Shahed Kamikaze . . . it’s self licking
“Iranian president lightly wounded while escaping Israeli attack”
Proof that the Israeli attack on Iran was all about regime change and not anything to do with their nuclear program. And after the murder of Iran’s leaders would come the golden prize – the break up of Iran and its invasion by neighbouring countries who would each rip off a chunk of it-
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-2672502741/
Sounds a lot like Project Ukraine but like with Russia, Iran proved to be a resilient country whose people came together against the Israeli and US attack. And those murdered leaders were quickly replaced by a younger generation who will be even more hostile to Israel and the US. And now Iran has become a harder nut to crack and they are getting more external support. commentators are saying that Israel will go for round two in about September because Trump will let them do whatever they want and give them everything they need.
I hate to even think it, but the only way Israel could ‘surprise ‘ in its next attack on Iran would be to use a nuke.
Re “What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise?”
The entire scenario of the ad itself is is redolent of Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466958-bullshit-jobs
Heh. So finally a tangible use case for “A.I.”: How to identify all the fief-building, bullshit jobs in your organization you don’t have the balls (or intelligence) to get rid of on your own.
Step 1 – Roll out AI.
Step 2 – eliminate any positions using it (and fire that manager).
Anosognosia, Word of the Day, if not the decade
Lambert ran this a little more than a year ago, so if you missed it the first time around, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the term in order to recognize and understand what you are seeing– there’s a lot of it going around.
I myself only learned of anosognosia a couple of years ago as I disappeared into a rabbit-hole of what would prove to be a slimy and grotesque case of elder abuse served with a cold side of financial crimes… fun stuff, and I’m not by far through with it yet.
But bottom line: covid’s making already vulnerable people even more so, and you can bet that the predators among us are figuring this out and will be taking advantage of it.
Thanks (I think) for that quick trip down memory lane, heh heh.
Anosognosia, this is the crazy that’s “in the water”. One only needs to have had covid to be at risk. Impossible to self-diagnose.
Stay safe.
‘Quds News Network
@QudsNen
Rafael, an Israeli arms manufacturer, uses footage of a Palestinian being targeted and killed by a Spike FireFly drone in northern Gaza as a promotional material for its military products.’
So they target some random dude walking down the middle of a street to sell drones? He wasn’t armed, wasn’t hiding in the rubble or anything but was guilty of walking while Palestinian? My prediction in that the years to come, the Israelis will find themselves more and more on the end of such attacks. The genie is definitely out of the bottle here.
Basically, “what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander” is the precept that puts some balance back into the whole “might is right” / “the ends justify the means” / “the winner takes it all” / “the mighty endeavour what they can, the weak endure what they must” ideological environment. After all, those who had always been holding the upper hand were deeply shocked by the battering they got on a famous 11th September and 7th October.
Not disagreeing with any of the above, but I think every military use of a weapon system is likely to be adapted into marketing materials. Provided they show the weapon in a favorable light, that is. No reason to single out this particular instance.
It’s usually in the back of my mind that US weapon system marketeers must be pretty disappointed by the Ukraine war. Most of what was thought to be the US’s wonder weapons have turned out to be fairly worthless in actual combat. I assume this has to do with the fact that the US has been almost 100% fighting air wars since the Korean war ended, and most other types of weapons have pretty much just been sitting around in warehouses, or else operating with 100% air cover somewhere. It’s easy to make something that works well in theory, but much harder to make something that works in reality.
The US brand has really taken a beating in the weapons department. I’m curious to see how much future history will change because of this.
https://archive.ph/FeVM0
WashU closing its Long COVID clinic, leaving struggling patients worried about their care
Looking at pictures of Gaza always reminds me of pictures from an excellent book on the battle of Stalingrad. I read it maybe 15 or 20 years ago and I don’t have it anymore, but I think it was “Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943” by Antony Beevor. Pictures in the book were of Stalingrad in the middle of their battle — lots of destroyed buildings with metal and concrete piles everywhere, looking to me like an urban version of warfare in a jungle. So many places to hide, places to shoot at your enemy and then disappear who knows where.
My feeling is that the IDF cannot battle successfully with the Hamas fighters in this guerilla war, so they resort to slaughtering innocents in order to show that they’re doing something. I don’t think Israel is any closer to conquering Hamas than they were a year or more ago.
Re: Pentagon Withdraws Admiral’s Nomination…
This Daily Wire/Tuberville/Alford nonsense brings to mind not just these two numbers in the 1958 film version of the Broadway play South Pacific:
“Honey Bun”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYEdezKgbrk
and
“Nothing Like a Dame!”
https://www.tcm.com/video/291465/south-pacific-1958-movie-clip-nothing-like-a-dame/
It also brings to mind the short song that was a sudden awakening for children of a certain age:
“You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPf6ITsjsgk
I listened to it on our 1950’s HiFi over and over trying to make sense of it.
re: Mélenchon
NEW LEFT REVIEW
interview by Tariq Ali
Insoumission
Jean-Luc Mélenchon & Tariq Ali
11 July 2025
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/insoumission
I did not read anywhere how Mélenchon imagined insoumise helped with governance.
America’s Budget Blinders and Blunders
Is the otherwise estimable Jamie Galbraith grinding way too many axes here, or am I simply having a bad Monday morning? Oliver Blanchard has a pretty useless chart. Jared Bernstein has now gone over the edge with Summers. Bessent is wrong when he is not right. Interest rates are too high and were raised by the Fed on a whim. This is like getting lost in the suburbs and finding yourself at the end of a forgettable cul-de-sac
What I took away from the Galbraith post was that he was pointing out how the current crop of cheerleaders advocating for lower rates were standing on a pile of BS, not that he was making a case himself.
New Tariff Threats Risk Big Blow to U.S. Economy (NY Times via archive.ph)
Sometime has gotta give, eventually. We shall see. With Trump smashing his toys together, I’m not optimistic.
(bold mine)
Let me know how that works out for ya. America is going great!
I was really hoping the hot beef sundae would be actually vanilla or caramel ice cream with a hot beef gravy. I think it would actually be delicious in a rather insane way.
You’d probably enjoy trout ala mode, too.
Blackened, served with peach habanero salsa and lemon sorbet. I’d say Will is on to something
Watching a “behind the scenes” of Food Network’s Iron Chef program one time and one of the judges stated, “Every time they head for the ice cream maker, we shudder.”
$4.01k update:
After struggling in the low $100k’s, Bitcoin has broken through on fundamentals, to the halcyon heights of $120k as I type.
I’d like to claim its on account of my crypto acumen and getting in on the ground floor at the supermarket, but the fact was I had a bunch of small change @ the Coinstar machine, and there wasn’t a commission if you bought Bitcoin.
Fortune favors the brave, is the claim.
Trump’s yuuuge announcement:
– two weeks are now 50 days
– batteries are included
The 50 days are practically an invitation to make preparations — perhaps it’s a not-subtle hint that “we aren’t actually trying to hurt you.”
I am seeing a lot of braying about massive increase in weapons deliveries, but that doesn’t make sense, as there aren’t sufficient inventories to support that. What is new is the “funding mechanism”, cash purchases by Europe.
Looking at it on the surface, it has for me the feel of performative display. Am I missing something?
Labour has decided to self-immolate rather than redistributing a tiny bit of wealth.
I thought that happened when Labor left the Zionists depose Corbyn. Starmer is as much Labor as Canada’s Mark Carney is a Liberal–neoliberal, really.
“The problem is all inside your head”
He said to me
“The answer is easy if you
Take it logically
I’d like to help you in your struggle
To be free
You’ve got fifty days
To leave the battlefield”
He said, “It’s really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning
Won’t be lost or misconstrued
But I’ll repeat myself
At the risk of being crude
You’ve got fifty days
To leave the battlefield
Fifty days to leave the battlefield”
You just slip out the back, Vlad
Make a new plan, in one of the ‘stans man
You don’t need to be coy about Kyiv
Just get yourself free
Hop on the peace bus, Rus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the attacks, Vlad
And get yourself free
He said, “It grieves me so
To see your economy in such pain
I wish there was something I could do
To make you smile again”
I said, “I appreciate that
And would you please explain
About the fifty days?”
He said, “Why don’t we both
Just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning
You’ll begin to see the light”
And then he dissed me
And I realized he probably was right
There must be forty nine days left
To leave the battlefield
Forty nine days to leave the battlefield
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, by Paul Simon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABXtWqmArUU&list=RDABXtWqmArUU
Wowzers
Trump Administration Live Updates: Supreme Court Clears Way for Dismantling of Education Department
Re: the Cockburn/Grazier interview, having been to Taiwan on a couple of occasions I have to agree that a military invasion would be well-nigh impossible. Recall all the work that the Allies had to put into landing in Normandy after 20 miles of Channel crossing, and against 20th century technology – now imagine trying to manage that against a sea crossing four to five times as wide and against 21st century drone technology.
China could certainly physically wreck a lot of Taiwan, but I cannot see them choosing that over patiently waiting as long as necessary.
Now try the insane logistics necessary to invade Australia. How could anyone be stupid enough to believe such a scenario?
re: Gaza and killed reporters
JACOBIN
The War in Gaza as Told Through Dead Journalists
An interview with Robert Greenwald
Documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald talks to Jacobin about the targeted killing of journalists in his harrowing new film Gaza: Journalists Under Fire.
07.13.2025
https://jacobin.com/2025/07/robert-greenwald-gaza-genocide-documentary-targeted-journalists
France’s Macron calls for major hike in defence spending: ‘To be free, we must be feared’ 24
I would have thought that Russia being Russia, the best way for France – and any other European country – to remain “free” is not to provoke Russia by hiking up defence spending at the expense of the welfare of those people least able to cope with economic decline with rising unemployment and inflation in order to convert what used to be a Common Market to generate peace and prosperity through increasing trade between the countries of Western Europe.
I suppose we can only hope that we reach the point at which the slow collapse of the EU turns into an avalanche of rubble before Russia has to do the job for them – to the benefit of the great mass of the people of Europe.
re: US vs. UN
JACK POULSON Substack:
The U.S. is conducting an all-out assault against the United Nations.
I was also recently warned by a lawyer for a publication that citing and / or quoting United Nations officials is now a defamation risk.