Watching the World in a Dark Room: The Early Modern Camera Obscura Public Domain Review
Someone keeps stealing, flying, fixing and returning this man’s plane. But why? Los Angeles Times
Why blow up satellites when you can just hack them? The Register
Women in Trees Creative Fuel
Climate/Environment
The ‘King of the Great Plains’ is dying. Drought is killing giant oak trees in the Midwest KCUR
What happens to net zero if the trees don’t survive? New Climate Reality
Another 2025 day, another record flash flood event Balanced Weather
Colorado prison evacuated as wildfire becomes one of largest in state history AP
Firefighters tackle large gorse blaze on Arthur’s Seat BBC
Canyon Fire ignites in Southern California, echoes January’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires WSWS
Wildfires close Dardanelles gateway to Black Sea Intellinews
Pandemics
The Koreas
South Korea’s military has shrunk by 20% in six years as male population drops Channel News Asia
India-Pakistan
ThePrint Exclusive: Asim Munir’s India nuke threat from US ballroom—‘will take half the world down’ The Print. Also says if India builds dam on Indus River as planned, Pakistan will bomb it.
India Cancels Planned Purchase of P-8I Anti-Submarine Warfare Jets Amid Rising Tensions with U.S. Military Watch
India’s existential angst to confront Western imperialism Indian Punchline
China?
China pushes for looser chip controls in US trade talks Semafor
Nvidia and AMD reportedly agree to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US Reuters
How the U.S. Installs “Backdoors” in Chips CCTV (Translation)
CIA maps reveal the legacy of the planned economy in Chinese cities Sinocities
China to sustain top-down, debt-fueled investment in major projects and security capacities, ex-official says Pekingnology
Will the new judicial ruling in China bankrupt small businesses? China Translated
Philippines, Poland find common ground in deterring China, Russia South China Morning Post
Syraqistan
Israel allows for 430,000 reservists to be called up amid Gaza takeover plan New Arab
Despite What Netanyahu Wants You to Think, an Israeli Conquest of Gaza Remains Far Off Haaretz
Senior Israeli Commanders Openly Contradict Netanyahu Claim On Gaza Destruction Drop Site
Anas al-Sharif among five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza Al Jazeera
As Sisi Accuses Israel of Genocide, Egypt Signs Record $35 Billion Gas Deal with Israel Drop Site
Germany’s Merz defends partial weapons halt to Israel DW
‘Civilisation is no longer the norm.’ Patrick Lawrence, The Floutist
***
Another excerpt from Pezeshkian’s “despair” speech:
The state of revenues and expenditures is clear. When we create expectations (for the people), we must also ask where we will get the means to meet those expectations.
Industry has faced problems (budgetary) and was bombed.… https://t.co/4cEy8BPFRF pic.twitter.com/eK6Xl3i4l8
— The Middle Eastern (@TMiddleEastern) August 10, 2025
Iran says deputy chief of UN nuclear watchdog to visit Tehran on Monday Anadolu Agency
Old Blighty
London police arrest at least 450 protesters at rally against Palestine Action ban Middle East Eye. A new record for the Met.
The UK:
Throwing a Nazi salute: “Free Speech.“
Protesting against Genocide: “Not ‘Free Speech’, Criminal Offense, Arrested.“ pic.twitter.com/YMc0RT1hFx
— John O’Connell (@jdpoc) August 10, 2025
European Disunion
TRIESTE PORT MOVES CLOSER TO THE SILK ROAD GeoPolitiQ
New Not-So-Cold War
Vance tells Europe to step up in Ukraine, even though it lacks the strength The Times
Europe urges Trump to use sanctions pressure ahead of Putin summit FT
Crazy Spin About Upcoming Summit by Collective West Karl Sanchez
Is Vladimir Putin Naive in Pursuing a Meeting with Donald Trump? Larry Johnson
🇺🇸🇷🇺NEW VIDEO: US-Russian Presidents to Meet: US Prepares Dagger of Betrayal (Again)
On YouTube: https://t.co/xEt1m4u45B
▪️Nothing has changed fundamentally within the US power structure to change the overall objectives of US special interests in regards to pursuing primacy…
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) August 10, 2025
THE RUSSIA I DREAM OF FORGETTING; WHAT PEOPLE ARE DYING FOR IN UKRAINE Marat Khairullin Substack
How Nazi Collaborators Are Celebrated in Wartime Ukraine The New Paradigm
South of the Border
Wargaming Scenario: MAGA Versus The Cartels Un-Diplomatic
How Mexico Doubled the Minimum Wage Phenomenal World
Spook Country
When counterculture and empire merge All-Source Intelligence
“Liberation Day”
Goldman’s latest (still very early) analysis of tariff effects thru June 2025:
-Foreign exporters absorbed 14% of US tariffs
-US companies ate 64%
-US consumers ate 22%
-Protected US companies also raised prices
-Consumers will see bigger price increases (70%) thru the Fall pic.twitter.com/0S0fVnEvQp— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) August 10, 2025
Why is ASEAN planning a rare joint meeting of foreign and economic ministers? Channel News Asia
Trump expands use of tariffs to reach national security goals WaPo. Not new.
Trump 2.0
DONALD TRUMP IS MOSTLY A CRYPTO BILLIONAIRE NOW, GROUP SAYS The Intercept
Donald Trump exposes US retirees to new world of risk with 401k order FT
Trump warns homeless to leave Washington, D.C., ‘immediately’ CNBC
GOP Funhouse
Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani Must Build Power, Not Bridges America’s Undoing
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Back-to-School Inflation Stories Crop Up on TikTok BIG by Matt Stoller
AI
AI Designs Super Safe Sub for Billionaires to Ride Into the Depths of the Ocean Futurism
Imperial Collapse Watch
Foreign investors disappear from US Treasury auctions, as China borrows at the lowest rates ever Kevin Walmsley
Accelerationists
Sports Desk
The Bezzle
Big Tech is building AI in the desert. The water may not last Rest of World
Class Warfare
Public Money, Private Benefit Working Class Storytelling
Ride-sharing apps are bad, actually Edward Ongweso Jr. “Or why Matthew Yglesias has no clue what he’s talking about.”
Fragile Movements Crumble Hamilton Nolan
Labor’s Strategy Must Lean Into Synergies Convergence Mag
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Comments are closed.
“AI Designs Super Safe Sub for Billionaires to Ride Into the Depths of the Ocean”
‘When the presumably tongue-in-cheek Blueskyer asked the AI if this brave new submersible would be able to “go deeper than the Titan,” the chatbot responded with a resounding “yes.” ‘
Technically true as the Titanic itself was able to go pretty deep until it was stopped by the ocean floor.
The game changer with the new AI-designed submarine is the proutic haripotator. The submarine also has a truister, which means there is no problem when it comes to financing the operations, and the emergency baby is useful, but truly, what can go wrong when the vessel is endowed with a proutic haripotator?
They should really ask an AI to design a turbo encabulator to challenge it-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXW0bx_Ooq4 (3:53 mins)
That’s some top shelf bafflegab. Truly impressive.
I was equally impressed by the proutic haripotator. But am still trying to work out what the emergency baby does.
Tragically, not only was the Titan lacking a proutic haripotator, but it was in fact unequipped with any kind of haripotator at all.
LOL! It’s like wild mushrooms. You can eat any mushroom in the world, at least once ;)
To help out here, you should get a copy of that famous book – “How to tell the Difference Between Mushrooms and Toadstools” by the late Dr. P.I. Staker.
Especially if it’s included in a lovingly prepared beef Wellington!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-08/erin-patterson-late-august-mushroom-murder-pre-sentence/105627582
Humans were responsible for engineering and design of the Ford Pinto…just saying and yeah the Pinto was better advertising than calling the hatchback the “Ford Coffin Car…”. And well the Titanic was a feat of engineering it’s just unfortunate no one in charge thought to take caution of the iceberg here or there. Ok pulled the above article on my cell phone and getting properly updated this reads as though it was written by Mark Twain, or maybe Mel Brooks!
Billionaires should be forced to eat their own cooking, since it’s their AI recipe after all. Naturally each Tech bro wizard has their own fanciful brand of AI which won’t destroy jobs or humanity…
My first car was a puke-green (manufacturers claim was avocado) 1974 Pinto which I demolished by rear ending a lady in Buena Park, luckily not the other way around.
Did you hear that the US Air Force is going to by a coupla Tesla Cybertrucks – to use for target practice?
https://fortune.com/2025/08/10/air-force-tesla-cybertruck-relationship-big-tech-pentagon-contract-spending/
You’d think that it would be far cheaper just to find up a coupla old Ford Pintos and just make sure the gas tank was full and let the USAF practice on them. Of course you could probably get them to blow up by just throwing a rock at their rear end and save the cost of a coupla missiles.
But I think gasoline fires are old hat compared to EV battery fires that they will need to practice on. Plus, two fewer Cybertrucks.
Apparently, “it is likely the type of vehicles used by the enemy may transition to Tesla Cyber trucks”.
When I was a teenager, tv commercials for the AMC Pacer stressed that it was so wide that you could fit a Pinto in it.
Now that’s what i’m looking for in a car!
It was kind of the role model for the Cybertruck, a flop.
AMC Pacer 1975 TV commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEVYakdBmM
\
Rebadged as a Porsche 928? lol
Marketing challenge for the ultimate driving machine.
I bring up the Pinto as a historical example, basically since that era of American automobiles was top of mind. Over the weekend I watched for a third time through, a most excellent film entry, Zodiac, directed by David Fincher. The time period goes from the late 60s up through the mid 80s. Incredible cast.
Damn shame they never got the real Zodiac killer…though after the leads went silent it was the Robert Graysmith character (Jake Gyllenhaal ) who continued the efforts to solve those unsolvable crimes.
Just a note: This month, the Coast Guard released its conclusion after the years long investigation into the Titan implosion:
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/titan-oceangate-disaster-submersible-titanic-coast-guard-ruling/
“Big picture view:
The report found the company’s safety procedures were “critically flawed,” noting that the core of the failures inside the company came down to “glaring disparities” between their safety protocols and actual practices.
Investigators also found that the submersible’s design, certification, maintenance and inspection process were all inadequate…
What’s next:
Jason Neubauer, with the Marine Board of Investigation, said that the findings will help prevent future tragedies.
What they’re saying:
“There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework,” he said in a statement…”
Good morning, two rhetorical questions:
1. Where are the “bone-crushing sanctions” Linsday Graham promised?
2. Tomorrow is the 12th, where is the Chyna! trade deal TACO promised?
And right there is your answer to why Trump was frantic to set up this meeting with Putin in Alaska. He had boxed himself in with this threats and needed a huuge distraction to make people to forget about them. Thing is, now that he is meeting Putin in Alaska he has kinda boxed himself in again as there will be expectations that he will be able to get something done. As he is losing in the Ukraine he could make some sort of deal with Russia to scale back nukes in Europe for example which he could be seen as making him a “winner”. It won’t matter that countries in Europe will demand the right to have nukes stationed in their country as Trump will renege on that deal anyway lest he face the wrath of Lyndsay Graham.
I don’t see how any deal on any subject that satisfies VVP’s concerns would not be interpreted in the West to be Munich-scale appeasement.
Best case outcome IMO is agreement to continue to meet, thus kicking the sanctions can a bit further down the road.
No, best case scenario is that Putin and Trump discuss nuclear arms limits and Trump decides to pursue the idea to produce a great talking point alternative to Ukraine and would be one of the few things Trump could do to legitimately advance his Nobel Peace Prize aims.
We can dream of a new SALT treaty and co-recipients of a resulting Peace Prize.
Trouble is can the US honor any treaty?
A solemn promise by the USA is worth a little less than a confederate $3 Bill.
Not so fast, the south did rise again and a Confederate $3 bill is worth quite a bit~
https://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/digital/collection/p16057coll13/id/47/
Well, an unreconstructed former (current?) Confederate who apparently never got over 1865 is now running US foreign policy (into the ground), so…
Not as long as Lyndsay Graham and tom cotton have breath in their bodies.
If nukes are part of the conversation, I still think the subject of Iran and nukes will be a part of the discussion…on the side.
Nuclear arms limits are okay for Russia because it has Oreshnik. But Russia won’t trust the existing inspectorate should they be needed.
But…. no one is talking Epstein.
Some are talking Minsk III
I believe that Maduro is talking about Epstein. When Pam Bondi announced the $50 million reward for Maduro, Alex Christoforou said that Maduro came back with an equal reward offer for the Epstein files.
I should note that these were last seen on Pam Bondi’s desk.
And no one is talking Chyna trade … remember, reciprocal tariffs kick in at midnight unless TACO flips.
Update: TACO rolled over like a pig in a pig sty!
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-china-tariffs-deadline-extended.html
Some people are…
Both of those things are Old (fake) News. Have you so easily forgotten that history started yesterday, and will be different tomorrow?
I think you mean history started today. Yesterday is obviously antiquity.
Balanced Weather – “…rainfall rates of up 7” per hour…”
WOW! Even places that don’t flood from creeks/streams/rivers can flood in that situation. That’s a lot of water that needs to drain away and if it’s coming down faster than it can move then you’ve got flooding. Even if it can move fast enough now you’ve got a volume of water moving at speed that can be highly erosive.
Back in June we had a serious rain storm drop rain at about a 3″ per hour rate and it closed part of the NYS Thruway in an area with no real waterways. It was just too flat for the water to move out fast enough and limited places to drain too so the road flooded.
yep. im still in lingering shock from a month ago,lol.
we get torrential rains…3″…sometimes 6″…in a day, day and a half.
the pastures absorb it(by design…i cut a big hole in one of the ancient levies that was chanelling flooding into the belt of trees, slowing it down, and making it overflow that gully into mom’s yard….now, all that water floods the front pasture, and generally soaks in)
but 30+” in 3 1/2 days?
on top of 20+” a mere 3 weeks before?
its too much.
the usually dry creek down close to the highway still has running water a month later.
and when i go poke a stiff metal rod into either pasture, its still wet at 1 foot down in some places.
Late July (after your rains) I made a comment about Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE). My concern at the time was about devastating downdrafts. In that event, it wasn’t wind but rain, with rates at >18″ per hour. At least around here, it wasn’t broad & long, like Carolina in the 70’s during hurricanes. Rather it was locally torrential. Where there were organized fronts, there were sizzle-lines of massive amounts of lightning strikes.
Exciting times!
aye. like i said in my after action reports, i was out here at the bar, figgerin it would be a normal torrential downpour,lol…because i like to drink beer, listen to the Rain Playlist really loud, and enjoy it all, when we get storms(aside from winter, when i am definitely inside).
but it just rained and rained…heaviest rain ive ever seen…and ive been in hurricanes.
like you said, no wind, at least.
the various radar products showed my place just east of the center of an about 12 mile radius circle of super rain….and another one, slightly less intense, it turns out*, just west of hunt/ingram/kerrville.
(*i actually got the most intense rain, but we dont have canyons and we also have rather deep soils in between the hills, that soaks up a lot of it…kerr county is mostly rock)
When we had our winter of record for the past 125 years in the southern Sierra in 2023, it was a series of atmospheric rivers often with bright and sunny days inbetween storms, and the day before the big deluge I was by the river with a friend talking about what was well advertised in terms of what was about to hit us, and I could have walked across the river maybe up to my upper thighs in water-no biggie.
The next morning I woke up and went outside to make my bladder gladder and my current was drowned out by the insistent howl of the river, which I couldn’t wait to see up close and it was 26,000 cubic feet per second @ max flow, and instant death if you got into the water.
I saw creeklets 150 feet from the river flowing for the first time ever as far as I was concerned, water does what it wants.
Of course you have to ask yourself if this was a one-off or whether you will get to experience this sort of rain more and more down the track. From what you said, you made your preparations and it was still not enough. Good way to fill an artificial pond as a water reserve though if the terrain permitted it.
i expect this to become a more regular occurrence.
the forces driving this event….aside from the remnant tropical storm providing instability, and the weird behavior of the low level jet at that moment…were mostly too much water in the air…from too high heat over the gulf of mexico.
even during la nina years, when i am usually in drought(and also coincidental with super cold events in winter, btw), its been stupidly humid around here for at least 6 years.
especially from march through june…such that i have modified my spring/summer/fall working schedule to take a longer siesta, for to get out of the hot soggy air.
i am fortunate/prescient in that my side of the place has lots of shade…while mom’s does not. very unpleasant over there, even right now, at 9:30 am.
and if AMOC does, indeed, shut down…or even just get real sluggish…thats gonna ramp up the heat load in the Gulf and Caribbean, etc…which will just add even more water to the air.
God, ten years from now you might find that your area experiences so much rain that it is now worth while setting up rice paddies. You might have to look to see what crops do well with this sort of weather pattern if what you say is true. Speaking of humidity, I came across this yesterday-
https://apnews.com/article/humid-muggy-sticky-climate-oppressive-summer-df1b506a3036a6ea0c4c8ad5bbd87429
It has been quite wonderful west of the Rockies though, and only did a hundred and Hell hit us this weekend, there has been a paucity of high heat.
Think of it as the Hades and the Hades not~
p.s.
A few big acreage wildfires in Cali so far this year, with the Gifford Fire @ 120,000 acres and only 33% contained, and yet only 2 structures have been lost, so its mostly nature acres in need of a burn-which is normal in the cycle of those that die with their roots on.
Only this past weekend did the skies turn beige bordering on brown on account of smoke from the distant Gifford, looks better today as its all about the fickle winds.
It isn’t unusual to get a few wildfires in Sequoia NP during the summer, but so far nothing much, I’d like to keep it that way.
Trieste Moves Closer to the Silk Road.
Che sorpresa! I’m sure that right now the port authorities in Genova are trying to figure out a way to get into the action.
Note the map in the article. As ever, I realize that U.S. foreign policy is all about “Don’t know much about history…” Yet the two main operating “silk roads” / development roads are thoroughly in McKinder’s crescent, which was dismissed as pishtosh by commenters to a post here at Naked Capitalism just a few days back.
The soon-to-fail Cotton Road is outside the crescent. Hmmm. Now why didn’t it knock out the other two, which also have long histories of use? Some of the incipient failure is U.S. / U.K. sponsorship and the culture of inattention to details (like long sea voyages for freight). Some of the failure stems from the determination of Anglosphere imperialists to run the Cotton Road through two imperial creations, Israel and Saudi Arabia, rather than along viable routes.
As I watch political and cultural developments in Italy, I am always seeing geography in action. Italy has long ties to the Levant and to Anatolia. It almost goes without saying that Italy has long ties to Greece and Tunisia (Carthage).
Hamburg? Tallinn? Riga? Not so much.
How about ties to Abyssinia?
“India Cancels Planned Purchase of P-8I Anti-Submarine Warfare Jets Amid Rising Tensions with U.S.”
Can’t really blame them. If they get into a shooting war with Pakistan again, they have to be sure that they will have no problems with their weapons. But if a country buys US weapons, that usually means the need for contractors to service and maintain those weapons. When things went south in Afghanistan those US contractors were pulled out which put a big crimp in the Afghan military. More concerning, Iraq purchased US tanks to make nice but then one day a militant group was spotted driving US vehicles so Washington decided that it was Iraq’s job to get those vehicles back for them and to lean on them, pulled the contractors for those US tanks out of the country. And one after the other they fell out of service. The Iraqis had to go out and buy Russian tanks to fill the gap.So India knows that the US backs Pakistan so buying US weapons creates a massive vulnerability for them as the US might pull out their contractors on the eve of another war.
US’ military reliance on maintenance support contractors is an issue since the early 1990’s when it became hard to design systems w/o cost overruns which ate into budgets to establish economical repair processes!
A lot of maintenance including some unit level tasks are not afforded mil spec tech data which means soldiers cannot do the job.
It must be pretty safe in Poland and Lvov where a lot of the logistics for western gear is perfrmed.
“ThePrint Exclusive: Asim Munir’s India nuke threat from US ballroom—‘will take half the world down’”
Always nice to hear some clarity from the owners of Pakistan. If they could only deal with the reality that each side is a loser in this battle. But every time the people try to say it through the ballot, they lock up or kill the PM.
Saw this when taking a brief look at Ars Technica: Texas prepares for war as invasion of flesh-eating flies appears imminent. Lovely. With such plagues, can we decisively attest that the Mandate of Heaven has been lost?
If they’re lucky, those Africanized honey bees aka “killer bees” might take care of them as they arrive.
I Never Understood Our Data-Saturated Life Until a Hurricane Shut It Down (NY Times via archive.ph) (25 minutes)
Without a doubt, there was no anything out here. The loss of cellular service and broadband, with Spectrum not even notifying anyone it was down throughout the entire region, nor if they were even working on it. Other than the radio, I asked random strangers what news they might have. A curious way to learn about your immediate world, through rumor.
And a good example
We were another atmospheric river away in 2023 from having a dam collapse here which would have let loose with 185,000 acre feet of water on a quarter of a million people downstream of Lake Kaweah. The US Army Corp of engineers was madly getting rid of water at heretofore unseen rates and they were barely on top of it and i’ve never seen the reservoir so chock a block full as it was.
Luckily no more precip came our way until about 10 days later and the threat had passed.
whoa, cool antidote, I can’t figure out if that’s another cat, a reflection, or…??
That’s Ceiling Cat’s third aspect: Holy Cats!
It looks like a cat getting a visitation from Cat Jesus to me.
Drugs smuggling?
That’s one good idea, but I think the flights are all instate. If that is true, I would think that even a large sedan and certainly a large SUV would have as least as much capacity as a small Cessna, cost less in gasoline, and be more covert than plannapping.
I see a lot of parallels to current events in an old tome albeit a bit skewed, as Ayn had no idea she was writing in regards to AI, and it wasn’t the collapse of a socialistic society-just the opposite, a highly capitalist society. Only off by 5 years too.
https://www.conservapedia.com/Project_X
Hey, that link had the following sentence in it-
‘Ayn Rand did not believe that the government had any business funding scientific research, basic or applied.’
Is this what is at the heart of the present destruction of American research & development in Project 2025? A desire to see America being run along the lines of what Ayn Rand wanted?
If Gov funds something it has rights of ownership aka citizans, Private Intellectual Property means a person or a group of investors own its rights – now in perpetuity – income forever thingy …
What Bill Gates CORE/private schools was all about – owning the knowledge and the devices that kids were instructed/indoctrinated with …
64 yrs old today and going to climb 16″ trestles and planks on a 100 yr old Queenslander in Graceville, open presents from 39 yr old female GF when I get home. pip pip
I’m hoping to be hiking again when i’m 64, no thanks to my ailing knee which screams at me even merely driving 40 easy miles to the Big Smoke, er Visalia in such tones that i’m hesitant to repeat them, such as ‘you idiot-why do you have a stick shift and have to do twice as much as everybody else with an automatic!’ and other tirades too numerous to mention.
I’m ready to go backwards from 63 to conception.
“How Nazi Collaborators Are Celebrated in Wartime Ukraine”
The west have really sewn dragon’s teeth here. They have not only encouraged the reemergence of Nazism but have even rehabilitated them by pretending that they do not know what all those symbols are about. You now have at least tens of thousands of them that have been trained in the military and have experienced combat. And they want to expand into Europe as well and Lithuania was fertile ground for them. Come the end of the war you can expect them to start spreading their influence and this certainly includes the underworld. The Azov alone has been recruiting in Eurpoe for a very long time now. Can you imagine how much military gear they have stashed away for their own purposes? What is left of the Ukraine will be their base of operations and the west will not stop them as they will be so useful in places like Africa to practice their ‘expertise’.
How could people like Chrystia Freedland or Kaja Kallas let something like that happen? You’d think people with their family histories would be aware of the dangers of Nazis.
For people like Chrystia Freedland and Kaja Kallas, the Nazis were the good guys. That is why the EU is quickly evolving into the Fourth Reich.
Had Hitler said that Europeans, rather than Germans, should rule the world, Nazism would have become the EU’s official ideology.
That might have helped with the less Aryan among the new-skool 3G Euronazis, like poor old Salome Z, and fail-up Baerbock.
I thought it was already the EU’s official ideology given the nature of Europe’s political élite and their passion for slaughtering Slavs and stealing Russia’s resources. I suppose it will all come out at the trials once the war with NATO and EU is concluded. I hope they’ll be selling postcards of the hangings. Or better, the hangings will be televised.
New BBC series promo on the (UK) radio this morning: “A history of heroism – from Achilles to Zelensky”. Kid you not.
The series presenter: Rory Stewart, a British toff currently teaching “Grand Strategy” to the yokels at Yale, after a career in MI6 (allegedly), Iraq (managing the natives), and the British conservative party & government which presided over one disaster after another, foreign and domestic, in recent years.
Uncited. Probably millenia old :-)
I wonder if he’ll be running a seminar or two on his hard hitting strategic approach to the problem of being elected Tory Party Leader?
Donald Trump exposes US retirees to new world of risk with 401k order FT
Another article floating around from Business Insider; Trump’s 401(k) executive order marks big changes for retirement savings — and possibly puts your money at risk
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Some people were talking about this yesterday, and they were sure a fund like Vanguard would never do anything like this and put their money at risk.
FTA:
Private equity is called private for a reason. Why would we want our money in places we know nothing about? It’s bad enough already, now this new way to fleece us?
Am I too paranoid?
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that groups like Blackstone aren’t after your pension. Of course Wall Street are looking to bag the big elephant – have Trump privatize Social Security to them so that they can use the money to invest in things like cryptocurrency and AI while taking a hefty cut in ‘management fees’.
In the immortal words of George Carlin: they want it all. They want it all. They are coming for your Social Security, and they’ll get it.
You’re not too paranoid, and while there may be places for PE in long-term investment portfolios, they are limited, and generally not for the average Joe’s 401k or IRA. The fact that firms want to open ‘retail’ retirement funds to holding PE investments is a sign that the current holders of the PE have decided that they want out, and are looking for a new sucker to pass the investment on to. They’ve extracted what they want, and now want somebody else to take a lower return on a higher risk asset. Look, for example, at the offloading of PE investments by the investment funds of academic institutions over the last few years. If they don’t want it, why should you?
You can never be too paranoid. The financial sector has always “pushed the envelope” of what is permissible when profits were available.
$4.01k update
Great Caesar’s Ghost!
Bitcoin is over $120k, appy days are here again-the 1’s & 0’s are up on fear of missing out again.
In Europe they plan to create a bank to finance investment in arms companies:
Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, DSRB
“(…)
So far, five leading transatlantic financial institutions – Commerzbank AG, ING Group N.V., JP MorganChase & Co., Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, and RBC Capital Markets – are supporting the establishment. […] The banks are providing expertise in sovereign debt instruments, capital structuring, investor engagement, rating advice, risk management, and access to debt capital markets. The goal is to harness private capital quickly and confidently for global security and resilience.”
(…)”
For US standards this sounds benign. Here it´s brand new. And it conveys the same mindset:
The stuff we have been warning of for 30 years and always secretly hoped or thought it won´t really come to it are now taking over everything with speed of light and nobody there who would warn any more lest stop it.
That´s not being paranoid.
It´s fucking SCARY.
And people wonder why I am in such a bad mood since 2025 (failed German elections and election campaign that is).
To make the game interesting?
The statute of limitations has long since passed, so I can now admit to stopping an LA Kings game against the Detroit Redwings when a rubber chicken appeared out of nowhere on the ice.
Red Wings fans are notorious for throwing an octopus on the ice.
Yankees fans are nastier – 9-volt batteries are the weapon of choice.
Never threw anything on the ice, but since we’re confessing, I did throw snowballs at the sidelines of a certain Washington Football team from the old Ralph. My buddy got caught and was thrown out by security. We later found out that he had scaled a fence to get back in.
Oh, the mispent days of youth!
Philadelphia Eagles fan base generally have a terse response. Come on, throw something like a battery or an ice ball that leaves a mark! We boo anything and anyone, just ask Santa Claus!
Philadelphia as a city of “Brotherly Love” my eye…\sarc
After reading up on the story which I had kinda followed on the edges…there was a more hilarious take on the upcoming season for the NFL Indianapolis Colts. Subtle hints that neither QB offers much hope the Colts fan base. Peyton Manning isn’t in that locker room anymore.
The WNBA as a league has had their shining moments for 2025, it appears to me. Enjoy while it lasted. After all on ESPN they have to run 99% on coverage and NFL material now that games in August “almost mean something!”
WNBA, like some old low wattage FM radio station, struggles to survive on subsidies. Caitlin Clark was the greatest boost to their fortunes and they were all too stupid to be grateful. Goose, Golden Egg, bad omelet.
Thank you for the article on Thiel and Girard, which I found a very interesting read. It confirmed me in the view that Girard is far too subtle and complex a thinker to be reduced to an intellectual prop for today’s American Right. It seems to me the article also potentially casts some insights into the mind of Peter Thiel, which I fear we may all need to understand better as time goes by.
the war game thing about the cartels is interesting…as is the horse’s mouth:
https://www.winwithoutwaredfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/No-Winners-Simulating-the-Aftermath-of-a-US-Attack-on-Mexican-Cartels.pdf
but i have little hope that anyone in my gooberment will pay attention to any of all that hippy dippy stuff,lol.
Jake Sullivan on Navigating AI Uncertainty and Managing Competition with China
We do not need a regime change, but we must win the IA competition.
Outlines the liberal thinking which is not much different than GOP’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jM4NiZt3_M
…I say let the Chinese have Iowa
“Trump warns homeless to leave Washington, D.C., ‘immediately’”
Don’t suppose he has given any consideration of where they are going to go to or where they can access mundane things like food, water, shelter and social services or even banking? Such an idiot.
Create little reservations “america’s little Gaza’s” .
Call for periodically mowing the lawn?
Seems inevitable.
First they came for the undocumented, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not undocumented.
Then they came for the homeless, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not homeless.
And some may also have jobs. A fact that the administration insists on ignoring.
MOST of them have jobs. A fact ignored by ALL a of these morons. People like Trump and his pals
Don’t EVER consider anything. Just how to grift another Buck and paint it gold.
He’s by default taken ownership of the homeless problem which can sorta blow up on a President if things go badly:
Hooverville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville
I was expecting Bidenvilles at some point, but it never happen.
‘Trump-a-Lago Club’
Well now that we’ve got an extra Air Force 1 on hand, maybe he can transport them to Mara Lago for a stay!
Doesn’t Trump own a hotel in downtown DC? It would save on shipping charges to FL.
Re data centers in SW drought areas
Tucson city council+mayor just refused after significant citizen pressure to annex an adjacent area approved by the county for the huge Project Blue data center(s). PB then said effectively “we had no idea that evaporative cooling by potable water would be so divisive.” It will probably be built nonetheless, nearby without much oversight and same impact on water and electricity usage. Pyrrhic victory me thinks.
….about MAGA
From The Crowd, by Gustave Le Bon
Foreign investors disappear from US Treasury auctions…
Occasionally a graphic tells an important tale that is not part of the narrative. Here we have a six year chart titled “Chinese yields in a downward trend”. The narrative is that it is cheap to borrow money in China across the entire yield curve. The tale for me that goes unremarked upon is the inevitable decline of interest rates towards the dreaded liquidity trap. All the signs point to it…decreasing domestic consumer demand, domestic economic competition leading to overcapacity and price wars, cash hoarding compounded by patchy social safety net. I’m curious if the elites have thought about how to counter this possibility.
Seeing more signs of deflation here. I looked at ride share fees last year v. this and % decline was more severe than I remembered (10% to 20%!!!). Also roasted chicken prices at a new low. No price increases in tons of domestic food items and many imports like stuff from Japan.
Agreed. Nominal retail prices may still be climbing from tariffs, but demand is dropping fast. Treasury daily report for EOM July shows $152B collected in tariffs for the month of July. That’s nearly a $2T annualized tax increase which will be footed primarily by the consumer (and workers as profits & employment fall). And that’s before the August tariff rates kick in and Federal spend cuts go into effect.
ICYMI: Yves is in Thailand.
Yes, my data points are to show exported deflation from China.
From 21 Ways People Are Using A.I. at Work (NY Times via archive.ph)
Ha, IM Doc gonna lose his mind:
Plenty of other examples of nonsense.
We need more bad science, for sure.
And wowzers
Code as law, now we have LLM as law. What even is that? Stochastic law.
Wow
It keeps getting worse
I can’t even read anymore of these. We’re all so screwed.
Just what America’s deathcare system needs more of.
#15…
“I find that ChatGPT’s current approach is very much a groupthink summary, if you take it at face value,” he said. “That is potentially dangerous. However, taking its results with skepticism, you can use the results to seed additional searches, or additional prompting to get to the right answer.”
So what’s the benefit of it vs current search methods? Is the benefit worth the energy consumption and its impact on climate change?
The alternative is a lot more of what bothers him and likely few people skeptical enough to care… “Recently he asked ChatGPT a question about M.R.I. diffusion, an area where he’s made some contributions. The response misattributed his work to a person who appeared not to exist — frustrating for a scientist whose reputation is built on credit, and alarming for a chatbot user.”
I had my own recent run-in with the failures of (presumably AI-assisted) medical transcribing when the dermatologist billed (and the “notes” “confirmed”) a medical procedure that most definitely did not happen.
The AI-interpretation will increasingly be given credence with less and less recourse if you cannot prove it was hallucinating. At least in my case I could insist they look me over to identify where they (didn’t) freeze and cut and they eventually relented. Not so sure that happens 5 years from now. And few people are obstinate enough to raise hell over a co-pay for the good of the system when you have to sink hours into navigating phone trees and 3rd party bill management.
LLM’s are “The Tower of Babble” …
WOW! That’s a good one. I like it.
“From Philosophy to Power”
It seems Thiel, unfulfilled in his prosperity and facing the fear of death symbolized by 9/11, found something to subordinate his ego to, something greater than himself, or, rather, something with which to identify himself, an expansion, rather than an overcoming of ego, in the West as a racial-political project.
There is no such thing as a libertarian. There are merely ways to dress up justifications for inequality, violence, and theft. Witness here this “intellectual” asked about the popular support for Luigi Mangione’s adventurism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gZr65Fdb0
Clownish ruling class.
Vicky Cookies:
Oh, there are libertarians. I define libertarians as white boys who don’t want to pay taxes.
Yes, yes, I realize that Angela McCardle, chair of the Libertarian Party, seems like an exception, in particular, because she even seems rational. Nevertheless, McCardle went to Biola U., that is Bible Institute of Los Angeles.
So there you have libertarianism: Faith-based, and mainly white boys who don’t want to pay taxes.
PS: Piers Morgan, moral warrior? Not to get petty or anything, but what the hell is wrong with Thiel’s skin? Skin that looks that bad is usually the sign of the failure of a major organ…
DJG:
I’ve been reading Thiel’s essay “The Straussian Moment” mentioned in the essay, where his college libertarianism collapses under threat. He thinks the purpose, if not the function, of the IMF and the World Bank is to bribe the third world not to attack the West in a spasm of envy, and that Bin Laden’s cause gave the lie to the notion of the rational economic man, at least in the non-west. It’s kind of admirable how he strips the Enlightenment of all its loftier ideals and identifies it with simply individual greed, but he’s not coming from a critical perspective in doing so. Having been shaken out of this liberal complacency, he immediately consults the Nazi jurist Shmitt, in what has to be the quintessential example of what we mean when we say “scratch a liberal, bleed a fascist”.
I think the article’s author worked very hard building up Thiel. I’ve found it difficult to discern any kind of coherence when Thiel holds forth. He seems to be driven by an intense fear of death and a hot hatred for anyone or anything who just might organize enough power to restrain Thiel from some of his crazier ideas, As for Girard, I don’t know enough about him to accept the author’s defense or not. He certainly turns up in bad company here with Schmitt and Strauss. What a pair!
>>> It’s kind of admirable how he strips the Enlightenment of all its loftier ideals and identifies it with simply individual greed…
That is some serious stripping. I guess that he is using the Enlightenment’s focus on the centrality or importance of the individual to justify being pro greed while ignoring the bits focused on civil rights, the rule of law, replacing the divine rule of kings, and using debate to settle disputes?
Forty tears ago I got a free subscription to the WSJ because I was working for a Bank, an article I ran across mentioned that due to the influx of Cocaine $ into Florida the fed had begun to run trainloads of cash to the Chicago.
12 Trainloads per day.
Trainloads.
It’s been forty years, last year I read about two drug busts where the Feds seized 20 tons of cocaine in each bust.
That is a LOT of $ and a very well established covert distribution network.
A distribution network that can transport RPG’s and other weapons quite easily, at a time when the US Government has alienated the Hispanic populace and quite a few Anglos as well.
“Reconquista” is becoming more popular due to the brutal incompetence of USG, Hit one of those ICE task forces with RPG’s and automatic weapons and the Feds would go nuts.
The outcome would be very messy indeed and it is not an unlikely outcome because Human stupidity is infinite.
re: Russiagate and….the Vatican
SLEUTHNEWS
Money Laundering at Vatican Tied To Russiagate
https://www.sleuth.news/p/money-laundering-at-vatican-tied
Ode to Aesculus Californica
A native to the area-its also in the Mensa set as Buckeye trees go dormant in July when Hell sets in and all the leaves curl up and fall off, leaving a pod the size of a child’s fist to fall on the ground in the fall, where some of them sink a root into the ground to become the next generation. It is the only tree that is gaining on Mother Nature in the Sierra foothills-lots of them, whereas there really aren’t any young oaks, they’re all mostly hundreds of years old.
Acorns made up about 2/3rd of the Native American diet here, with Buckeye pods reserved as starvation food if the acorn drop didn’t happen. The acorn was about 85% protein and needed some work to leach out the bitter tasting tannins, whereas the pod was only 30% protein and you needed to get the poisonous part out and much more preparation was needed thus. The pods are the largest known of any temperate (non-tropical) plant species.
They were otherwise used to stupefy fish on creeks here-gives you an idea of utility.
There isn’t one straight and narrow Buckeye tree, they’re all crooked as can be, and in the spring they look like a Chiquita Banana tree with blossoms galore, here have a look:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_californica
Thank you Wuk, I enjoyed that detour.
This just in:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-takes-over-dc-police-in-extraordinary-move-deploys-national-guard-in-capital/ar-AA1KkdEa/
Trump takes over DC police in extraordinary move, deploys National Guard in capital
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/11/trump-national-guard-dc-takeover-live-updates/85606803007/
Trump orders National Guard into Washington and takes over DC police: Live updates
Looks like Big Balls failed to sufficiently strut with his, so Trump is strutting with his own.
He extended the China reciprocal tariffs again at the last minute also, another 90 days.
This is what a slow-motion coup looks like. Trump-loyal forces in control of the capital. Lotta directions this could go.
I agree with you Ben Panga, while Congress sits on its big Ass and does nothing but send out donation requests while proclaiming they are fighting for………..
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Law hide!
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
The DC homeless streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin’
Law hide (du-da-dam)
Used to living in humid swampy weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin’ the law was on their side
All the things they’re missin’
3 squares, shelter and a mission
Are waiting at the end of their ride
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Head ’em up (move ’em on!)
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Law hide!
Cut ’em out (ride ’em in!) Ride ’em in (cut ’em out!)
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in, Law hide!
Keep movin’, movin’, movin’
Though they’re disapprovin’
Keep them tent people movin’
Law hide
Don’t try to understand ’em
If they look unhoused apprehend ’em
Soon they’ll be livin’ high and wide
By Donald’s calculatin’
5 Star accommodations will be waitin’
Be waitin’ at the end of their ride
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Head ’em up (move ’em on!)
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Law hide!
Cut ’em out (ride ’em in!) Ride ’em in (cut ’em out!)
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in, Law hide! (Yah!)
(Du-da-dam)
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Head ’em up (move ’em on!)
Move ’em on (head ’em up!) Law hide!
Cut ’em out (ride ’em in!) Ride ’em in (cut ’em out!)
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in, Law hide!
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ (yah!)
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ (yah!)
Law hide
Yah!
Yah!
Law hide!
The Blues Brothers – Theme from Rawhide (Official Audio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtP7yH7l87w&list=RDrtP7yH7l87w
Perfect! I can see ICE Barbie in chaps with a bullwhip.
Backless leather chaps and a leather domino mask. Stiletto heels for that, exclusive feel.
“Assume the position citizen!”
Forgive me, but, a self licking ice queen coney?
What is truly coup adjacent here is the fact that the ultimate power in the District of Colombia is Congress. Once more, Trump steals power from the Legislative branch.
We are looking at a functioning “Strong Man” system of governance evolving before our eyes.
Now, the kicker here is that Trump the man is the antithesis of a “Strong Man.” He wants those around him to like him too much.
Not mentioned in the article is from what State the National Guard troops are drawn.
Pass the ‘Freedom Corn.’
re: Banderites Ukraine
nice one
as usual there is always more to it than meets the (Western) eye
Sorosites and Banderites
Culture warriors, the ‘anticorruption community,’ and the forever war
Moss Robeson
Jul 29, 2025
https://banderalobby.substack.com/p/sorosites-and-banderites
“(…)
“What if the Sorosites are right to fear the Georgian scenario?” asked a post from Events in Ukraine about the liberal protests against bill no. 12414. “What if Zelensky is purging them in preparation for some kind of agreement with Russia?” This is a tantalizing idea, considering that Sorosites and Banderites seem to be united in their conviction that Ukraine and Russia should fight to the death, but Zelensky has already backed down.
As the situation gets worse for Ukraine, militant culture warriors are still planning the “decolonization” of Russia while avoiding the frontlines. Look no further than Yurchyshyn’s parliamentary commission to “Make Russia Small Again,” and the “International Center for Ukrainian Victory” that a friend of the “Bandera Lobby” co-founded with AntAC leaders.
(…)”
News from the nominally socialist republic:
Vietnamese leaders took a pragmatic approach to the tariff issue and greenlit a huge Trump development here. Locals, to nobody’s surprise, are getting screwed.
Farmers displaced by $1.5bn Trump golf course reportedly being offered rice and cash (Guardian)
Villagers whose farms in Vietnam will be bulldozed to make way for a $1.5bn golf resort backed by the Trump family have reportedly been offered rice provisions and cash compensation of as little as $12 for a square metre of land by state authorities.
Thousands of villagers will be offered compensation based on land size and location, according to a report by Reuters. The agency spoke to elderly farmers who said they feared they would struggle to find a stable livelihood.
The sprawling golf resort, the first project by the Trump Organization in Vietnam, broke ground as the country scrambled to reach a crucial trade deal with the US.
Vietnam, which is heavily dependent on exports, was facing the threat of a 46% tariff in April, which has since been reduced to 20% for many goods.
Vietnam’s prime minister said the project played an important role in deepening the country’s relationship with the US and that villagers would be reimbursed. Pham Minh Chinh added that he hoped the development would create jobs and improve livelihoods.
The project will include a 54-hole VIP golf course, luxury resorts, high-end villas and a modern urban complex, according to state media. Reactions among local people have been mixed, with many farmers suggesting the compensation rates are too low.
BP: I’m not sure what the market will be for this kind of resort. Vietnam is booming tourism-wise and there is a lot of construction all over Da Nang. I can’t speak to other areas. However, much of Vietnam’s attraction is it is cheap. There are some high end tourists here but they are overwhelming Chinese with the occasional Russian. Rich westerners are rare.
Geopolitically Vietnam is in a very strange place – China right there, the history of friendship with Russia, and Trump waving his golf clubs and battleships.
The IDF comments reported in the Gaza destruction article made my blood boil:
Oh, so that’s why you destroyed all the universities, all the hospitals, the desalinization plants, the mosques? Hamas had tunnels under all of them, I guess. The implied tunnel network sounds like a feat of engineering to put the above-ground infrastructure to shame.
Right, you’re just rounding them up into concentration camps and systematically starving them, meanwhile destroying their homes so thoroughly that there will be nothing for any that do survive to return to? But you’re minimizing harm?
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
re: Russiagate
SLEUTHNEWS
Breaking: Schiff Approved Leaking Classified Material
https://www.sleuth.news/p/breaking-schiff-approved-leaking
“(…)
A former staffer on the House Intelligence Committee approached the FBI beginning in 2017 and again in 2023 and informed them Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified materials to hurt Donald Trump. The whistleblower also named Eric Swalwell as a source of classified leaks.
(…)
What is perhaps more troubling is that our government has hid this from the public for 8 years.
(…)”