Meet Maple: Former K-9 now beekeeper at MSU WKAR
They led police on a wild L.A. car chase, then managed to get away. Who helped them escape? Los Angeles Times
Our Culture is Addicted to Validation Freddie deBoer
Mouse Farm Orion Magazine
Climate/Environment
Smoky summers are Michigan’s new norm, experts say Bridge Michigan
Retail investors fight for right to bet on natural disasters FT
Inequality Worsens Planetary Heating Challenging Development+
Pandemics
Pathogens accelerate features of human aging: A review of molecular mechanisms Aging Research Reviews. Commentary:
1/ BREAKING: Infections can be major drivers of Aging Processes, new PolyBio review paper delineates
A new scientific review written by PolyBio’s core team challenges the long-held assumption that human aging unfolds in a sterile environment. The authors argue that lifelong… pic.twitter.com/hhHFnPZtJ7
— PolyBio (@polybioRF) August 13, 2025
SC state senator resigns after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease The State. “After seeking medical care for what I believed were long-Covid symptoms, I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.”
Japan
The Future that Never Was Unpopular Front
China?
Exclusive-US embeds trackers in AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China, sources say Reuters
American officials want to ban Chinese investment in US businesses and land. They shouldn’t bother. Kevin Walmsley
China accuses US of using ‘lies as pretext for seeking control’ of Panama Canal South China Morning Post
China seeks to bolster demand by subsidising interest costs on consumer loans South China Morning Post
Africa
On Zambia’s cost of living crisis Ntazana Siame Kaulule
Syraqistan
In southern Lebanon, IDF chief says he has approved plans for ‘conquest of Gaza’ Times of Israel
🚨At least 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including at least 37 aid seekers, medical sources have told Al Jazeera.
Among today’s death toll, 61 were killed in Gaza City.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defense,… https://t.co/uiUx0wutnL pic.twitter.com/AftF9AZHNg
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 13, 2025
By Netanyahu’s logic, the Holocaust never happened, because millions of Jews survived and it took six years. https://t.co/FI4L5SOBkt
— Afif Aqrabawi (@AjAqrabawi) August 13, 2025
IDF Brags of ‘In-Depth Review’ That Confirms Israel Is Starving Sick Children to Death Common Dreams
The West is in panic as Israel’s plan for ‘full control’ of Gaza heralds a new Nakba Jonathan Cook
Criticizing Israel? This definition of antisemitism will take care of that. Responsible Statecraft
Thyssenkrupp allowed to deliver submarine to Israel Taz (machine translation)
All Talk, No Action: Why Doesn’t the West Intervene in Gaza? Haaretz
Recognising Palestinian state must not distract from ending Gaza mass deaths, UN expert says. The Guardian. Francesca Albanese.
Former Irish president says US is the ‘most complicit’ in Gaza genocide Middle East Eye
Lindsey Graham: “If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us.”
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) August 13, 2025
***
Iran: EU leaders threaten snapback sanctions over nukes DW
Iran executes nuclear scientist, charges son of ex-spy chief as crackdown intensifies Amwaj
The Next Israel-Iran War Is Coming Foreign Policy
Old Blighty
Will UK’s populist surge challenge support for Ukraine? Responsible Statecraft
After Captain Tom Tribune
European Disunion
Iron Rhine strategic railway chugs back to life to counter Russia Politico
New Not-So-Cold War
Trump to present minerals deal to Putin in Alaska The Telegraph. Silly. Access to minerals in regions that are controlled by Russia and have voted to become part of Russia? Russia also not hurting for minerals:
Perhaps the point of The Telegraph story:
Involving Alaskan resources in a deal with Russia draws in clashing interests from various American businesses and factions. It increases the likelihood of resistance in the US itself
— Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) August 13, 2025
SITREP 8/13/25: Pokrovsk Breakthrough Continuation Simplicius
Trump vows ‘ very severe consequences’ if Putin doesn’t agree to end war Anadolu Agency
Short Report on Russian Economy Karl Sanchez
Ahead Of Trump-Putin Talks, Russia Readies World’s 1st Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile — 9M730 Burevestnik: Reports Eurasian Times
Zelenskyy says Trump ‘ready’ to provide Ukraine with security guarantees Anadolu Agency
Scraping the Barrel: Attrition and Cannibalization Big Serge
The War Goes On… Julian MacFarlane
The Caucasus
Seyed M. Marandi: New U.S. Frontline Against Iran & Russia? Glenn Diesen
South of the Border
U.S. MQ-9 Drone Just Flew A Mission Deep Into Mexico The War Zone
Spook Country
Hundreds of Former Israeli Spies Are Working in Big Tech, Database Shows Drop Site
Trump 2.0
Trump revokes Biden-era order on competition, White House says Reuters. The DOJ Statement: “The Division will use this opportunity to continue its work to recalibrate and modernize the Federal approach to competition policy to suit the needs of our dynamic and innovative economy.”
Proponent of Medicaid cuts set to brief House Republicans as they plot another megabill Politico
Democrats en déshabillé
WHAT STANDS IN THE WAY OF ABUNDANCE IN HEALTHCARE? LPE Project
Mamdani
As Hindu Supremacists Seek Influence in US, Liberal Deference Paves the Way Truthout
AI
Suetopia: Generative AI is a lawsuit waiting to happen to your business The Register
Relying on AI in Colonoscopies May Erode Clinicians’ Skills MedPage Today
AI Job Loss Hype Could Serve as Smokescreen for Trump Recession FAIR
How ‘Altman’s Pause’ Could Knock the AI Industry Off Course WaPo
Police State Watch
Trump to seek ‘long-term’ extension of federal control of DC police ABC News
Man who threw sandwich at officer in DC charged with felony The Hill
LAPD Eyes ‘GeoSpy’, an AI Tool That Can Geolocate Photos in Seconds 404 Media
Healthcare?
Eli Lilly accused of bribing providers to prescribe GLP-1RA drugs Yahoo! Finance
Imperial Collapse Watch
This is, without exaggerating, one of the most extraordinary things a US Treasury Secretary ever said.
It should be mandatory viewing for all citizens of US “allies”, Europeans first and foremost.
What Bessent is saying is that the US will now treat US allies’ wealth as an… pic.twitter.com/IdNFMW33P7
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) August 13, 2025
Over 80 countries are now engaged in conflicts outside of their borders. Most since WW2.
— David Roth-Lindberg (@RothLindberg) August 13, 2025
98-Year-Old Pianist Who Survived World War II Determined to Keep Playing Schumann’s ‘Traumerei’ for Those Who Died Yomiuri Shimbun
Accelerationists
How the unraveling of two Pentagon projects may result in a costly do-over Reuters
Groves of Academe
Lumps of Cram LRB
Class Warfare
Private Equity Managers Are Primed to Pounce on Your 401(k) Racket News
When Utility Regulators Despise Their Constituents Economic Populist
Clairton Coke Works, site of Monday’s explosion, has a history of problems WESA
Threadbare 3 Quarks Daily
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Goon Light
Sung to the tune of “Moonlight” as performed by Starbuck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYnQsvtfEsQ&list=RDHYnQsvtfEsQ
[Verse 1]
The wind blew some luck in my direction
I caught it in my hands today
I finally made a tricky SCOTUS Connection
They winked and gave me their OK
I’d take you on a trip beside the ocean
And drop you off in Gitmo Bay
Ain’t nothin’ like some new confinement potion
ICE Barbie sends you on your way! (ha ha ha)
[Chorus]
Goon light
Third Reich
Our might
Makes right
[Verse 2]
We’ll lay back and observe no constitutions
And bash some skulls with truncheons — right!
We’ll deport some folks to random nations
When ICE comes in the dead of night
You say you came to Baltimore from Los Mochis
A class action might save the day
Kristi’s glove looks ready for a wet kiss
To make the Third Reich rise again!
[Chorus]
Goon light
Third Reich
Our might
Makes right
[Marimba solo]
[reprise]
I’d take you on a trip beside the ocean
And drop you off in Gitmo Bay
Ain’t nothin’ like some new confinement potion
ICE Barbie’s gonna send you on your way! (ha ha ha)
[Chorus]
Goon light
Third Reich
Our might
Makes right
[Verse 3]
We’ll see the sun come up on Sunday morning
And chase some more brown folks away
I guess you won’t get a Miranda warning
Cause Kristi Noem ain’t here to play
I’d take you on a trip beside the ocean
And drop you off in Gitmo Bay
Ain’t nothin’ like some new confinement potion
ICE Barbie’s gonna send you on your way! (ha ha ha)
[Chorus]
Goon light
Third Reich
Our might
Makes right
[Bonus verse]
The IDF is rolling into Gaza
It’s Bibi’s time to ground and pound
Back home, the kids run riot on the plaza
The cops have got a junkie on the ground
Goon light
Third Reich
Our might
Makes right
“Trump vows ‘ very severe consequences’ if Putin doesn’t agree to end war’
Absolutely. He’ll huff and puff and blooooow the whole Russian economy down. Read that Trump was saying that after his summit meeting with Putin, that there should be a quick mini-summit between Putin and Zelensky which he might be gracious enough to take part in. Trump is so transparent. The only purpose of that would be to establish that Zelensky is still the “legitimate’ leader of the Ukraine because Putin met with him and for no other reason. There are still demands for a conflict freeze but Putin and the Russians are in no mood to sign up for a Minsk 3 and Trump is in danger of meeting with a leader that says ‘no’ direct to his face.How will he cope?
I predict double-secret probation!
Two bangers in a row!
Will there be pinky-swearing?
Asking for a friend.
Oh, there will be a lot of swearing. Take my word for it.
Mafia Don assumes all the other rackets run the same way his does.
It’s always worked for him before…
It’s the “Peter Principle” in neon for the world to behold.
Donnie just may mistake ‘Nyet’ for “nothing but net”.
> Our Culture is Addicted to Validation – Freddie deBoer
You’re absolutely right. ;) https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/3382
Idk if Deboer is right that this is much of an indicator of something in our culture but it is certainly the case that chatbots are abject suck ups.
Something about DeBoer’s worries struck a chord in me. I’ve been out of the workplace for a long time but I remember being uncomfortable with the need for all the niceties and compliments required in meetings and email communications. It had become almost impossible to disagree with or criticize an idea or direction or policy, however respectfully or constructively done, even if you could provide good reasons for doing so. Upper level admin really did thrive on sycophancy. And there is all this manifestation stuff going on now. Just how the hell is anyone believing that wishing for something will make it happen. And if it is true that good things happen because we deserve them, is it not also true that bad things happen because we deserve them? A helpful notion for those who think they only need to take care of themselves… Those poor homeless losers brought it on themselves, right? Our misconstrued ideas over masking during a pandemic being but one example of poor consequences of such focusing on one’s self.
Freddie kind of hits the nail on the head for me, too. It’s what I’ve been calling “the banality of empire”: the greater the inequality — at every level of the imperial hierarchy — the more we are all transformed into narcissists and sycophants. It has never ended well.
That validation played out on arrogant strivers, turning up the narcissism and tuning out remaining any sense of guilt, shame or decency. Others become speed bumps, collateral damage, irritations on that glorious road to fame and fortune. /:
It’s the perfect selection methodology for promoting sociopaths!
They are all like sunny state happy Americans, Californians perhaps. Eager to please. Like digital puppies hairing off into the distance based on one request. and there I am thinking “I havent finished asking for what I want yet, you don’t know what I want, just stop, ask me more clarifying questions”…
I want a dour, cynical, terse Scandinavian version. Or viking. Or some other european stereotype.
Telling me when idea X is doomed or asking me why I am bothering with idea Y… or perhaps occasionally saying “No, not doing that. total waste of energy, do it yourself”
In my experience Finns and Russians generally talk straight and don’t dance around all the possible sensitivities and insecurities of their interlocutors. I recently started working with a French person who is the same (though idk if it is typical in France). I so prefer it. Easier to get to common understanding.
Cranky Yankees! Particularly from Maine!
During my three and a half years in South Korea as a US government employee my job involved negotations with the South Korean air force, In most cases we were the supplicants. I found out quickly that the Koreans have about one hundred ways of saying no without ever saying “no.”
That’s very much at odds wuth my experience: Koreans have other issues having to do with “sycophants.”
Supposedly, for a long time, SK airlines had issues where co pilots could not “talk back” to their captains…except it’s their job to tell the captain if they see something amiss. The consequence was that their airlines had dangerously high accident rates. Supposedly, they spent a lot of effort in 90s and 00s to fix this. The point is that some cultures, eg Korean, are narcissistic in a different way–they may not care for overt sycophancy American style, but they suffer from overbearing know it alls in charge who don’t take advice/suggestions/corrections all the same. Come to think it, they need all those indirect and subtle ways to say no that their interlocutors may not even realize are “no'”s because they can’t just say no.
Watching some video clips this morning, and a recent clip from Bill Maher basically iterates what the article is telling. This modern society of IG, etc, or TikTok influencers doing whatever the heck it is they do is no longer a humble brag if it is Every Stinking Post. Honestly a humble brag isn’t a horrible thing to occasionally spout something good or positive from one’s life, say your children graduate college with a degree. And yet today, instead we get Grades 1 to 12 necessitating a “graduation” to 4th grade. Woo hoo long division. Way to go your the next flipping Einstein, perhaps not ( sarc ).
Maher captures that tone almost flawlessly, this incessant need for approval and being showered by never ending praise or adulation…”You did it…Way to go…”. His retort to his exercise machine instructors was quite apt, “shut the f up and tell me which routine / whatever comes next…”
ESPN is a poster child for this as well. So and so is a first ballot, future Hall of Famer! Why not, oh let them retire first FFS, or maybe win an important game or moment. Rant off.
There’s some truth in it I suppose but Deboer and Maher are in the business of attracting attention to themselves by commenting on others. They use an us/them divide and choose the worst examples of behavior of them to illustrate and it’s all very flattering to us right-thinking people. Given the nature of what Deboer and Maher are selling (superiority and “tsk, the kids today” outrage) and to whom I don’t trust their presentation. If you go looking for the best/worst examples of narcissism in social media you can surely find no shortage of insane stuff. But what does it tell us? Do those examples really characterize “our culture”?
Like I said, probably some truth in it but I really don’t how much.
I have a niece who is firmly in the right age and context of such a discussion. According to accounts she follows or views on varying social media, there are sororities that trend on TikTok I believe where the latest trends in gear and fashion are branded to followers. Thinking by example, Alabama was the school she referred to.
10 years ago I don’t know if that could fly and only or maybe if you were oh, the Kardashians or a similarly positioned brand of influencers. Nothing about “them” who do this consistently, daily or weekly seems real or believable. I don’t actively search out such people to follow or emulate myself, and to add it likely could match what you write. Some of the generation differences seem to be a real driver. I’m in my early 50s, so I try staying in my lane on most days.
My niece is a young mother who recently left the teaching profession. She couldn’t do the job anymore, the 3rd graders weren’t there to learn and even worse. The smartphone unleashed all manner of technology gee whiz stuff but there exists that darker side. Added I’ll include a paraphrased quote from American Gangster. “the loudest one in the room gets the attention…”. Frank was saying that to his younger brother in a bar.
I deactivated my insta account after less than one day, but now Freddie’s post has me kinda wanting to go back and carpet bomb the whole place with Emil Cioran apothegms:
“I leave it in writing for those who will come after me that I do not believe in anything and that forgetfulness is the only salvation. I would like to forget everything, to forget myself and to forget the world. True confessions are written with tears only. But my tears would drown the world, as my inner fire would reduce it to ashes. I don’t need any support, encouragement, or consolation because, although I am the lowest of men, I feel nonetheless so strong, so hard, so savage! For I am the only man who lives without hope, the apex of heroism and paradox. The ultimate madness! I should channel my chaotic and unbridled passion into forgetfulness, escaping spirit and consciousness. I too have a hope: a hope for absolute forgetfulness. But is it hope or despair? Is it not the negation of all future hopes? I want not to know, not to know even that I do not know. Why so many problems, arguments, vexations? Why the consciousness of death? How much longer all this thinking and philosophizing?”
What Freddie describes feels specific to Americans. I don’t find this to be true about other cultures, even Canadians. And it predates social media. Even when I was a child I had an American friend who, despite all reality, despite losing every time and very badly, kept wanting to race me down the street or around the block, believed he could win, insisted he was the fastest runner in the history of runners. It was exasperating. I was barely even running, kept stopping to let him catch up. His win rate was zero, his ego ensured I would never let him win. Nevertheless, he believed he was the better runner.
It almost describes the American worldview, doesn’t it? And the state of the US military.
First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1bn after he claimed she was introduced to her husband by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the first lady, who married US President Donald Trump in 2005, described the claim as “false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory”.
Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, made the comments during an interview earlier this month, in which he strongly criticised the president’s former ties to Epstein.
Donald Trump was a friend of Epstein, but has said the pair fell out in the early 2000s because the financier had poached employees who worked at the spa in Trump’s Florida golf club.
A letter from the first lady’s lawyers and addressed to an attorney for Hunter Biden demands he retract the claim and apologise, or face legal action for “over $1bn in damages”.
It says the first lady has suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” because of the claim he repeated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Benedict Donald filed in excess of 4,000 lawsuits over his storied career of being that guy that not only sez he’ll sue you!, but he always goes through with it, which makes this caper a little weird, in that all Hunter has to do is make a Billion Dollar apology, hmmm.
So between the $10 Billion lawsuit against the WSJ over birthday card greetings and a potential $1 Billion lawsuit over how Melania and he met, it goes to 11.
Aye, so there was a kind of poetic justice in the Dem’s law fare against Trump…as if one can find poetry in lawfare.
…there’s something awful about a filthy sewer overflowing with threats
‘First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1bn after he claimed she was introduced to her husband by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.’
This is obviously a rubbish claim this. Melania was about 35 years-old when she married Trump so would have been far, far too old for someone like Jeffrey Epstein to know.
https://youtu.be/Fs9v0sdZixs
Media moves fast these days!
“U.S. MQ-9 Drone Just Flew A Mission Deep Into Mexico”
‘The drone was operating at the behest of the Mexican government, according to the head of that nation’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch.’
This reminds me of the guy that says that he is boss of the house and whatever he says goes – and he has his wife’s permission to say so.
Who wants to bet that some of the Colombian mercs that are fighting in Ukraine make it back home and sell some of their services to the cartels?
Having a MQ-9 shot down in your own backyard might be … embarrassing, to say the least.
At thirty million dollars a pop, one of them being shot down would be more than embarrassing. I had this vision of some Cartel strapping machine guns to the wings of an ag crop plane and using it to shoot down a Reaper by following it location on that plane tracker. Can you imagine the reaction?
One has to factor in that these guys are likely to be motivated by a sense of betrayal. They were promised a “safari” to hunt Russians, and instead they got no air cover and a meat grinder.
Not to mention that the Ukrainians have a bad habit of not paying salaries.
Blowback – it’s what’s for dinner!
If you camp at Rockhound State Park in New Mexico you’ll spot a nearby tethered mini blimp peering into Mexico. It’s likely the US has detailed photo coverage of our southern neighbor without needing that Predator. What the balloons do is provide real time 24/7 coverage.
That said, if a cartel member (or someone who just looks like one–the “signature strike”) sees red lights in the sky better run. Hellfire missile on the way.
When I was biking touring in NM I saw one of those blimps from the highway. For some time I thought I saw a ufo! It kept getting bigger. Finally I figured out what it was. There is another closer to the Rio Grande I rode by later in my tour. The locals say it is a beacon for the illegals to fine the border! I saw some teenagers that just crossed the river one day and turned themselves into the local law enforcement ( nor border patrol). Pretty crazy then with so many crossing the border (2021).
Re: How the unraveling of two Pentagon projects may result in a costly do-over
Donald Trump’s Navy and Air Force are poised to cancel two nearly complete software projects that took 12 years and well over $800 million combined to develop, work initially aimed at overhauling antiquated human resources systems.
The reason for the unusual move: officials at those departments, who have so far put the existing projects on hold, want other firms, including Salesforce and billionaire Peter Thiel’s Palantir, to have a chance to win similar projects, which could amount to a costly do-over, according to seven sources familiar with the matter….
…Costello, who has since retired, was reacting to pressure from other Air Force officials who wanted to steer a new HR project to SalesForce (CRM.N), opens new tab and Palantir (PLTR.O), three sources said….
Thiel/Palantir was started with CIA money, and only had the CIA as a customer for years. Subsequently it has got it’s tentacles throughout the gov and military. Thiel has captured a lot of generals and bureaucrats over those years. Good for pork, good for his fascist takeover.
Was going to comment on this, but not as smoothly.
Scrapping the existing government wholesale for the savings of craptacular tech garbage that, at best, will only serve to surveil us.
(Bonus savings for axing existing working space projects while we pretend to build a nuke on the dang moon.)
The trough is deep and plenty of room for old hands and new firms alike.,,I didn’t expect that article to feature the planned or ongoing overhauls of HR, payroll and HR management software but it reads much like why the Air Traffic safety systems are so very outdated and behind on progress. Plenty of money to go around but they, meaning our “trusted US government”, can’t fix a damn thing or get it right on the first go around.
The article also serves as a reminder of our vaunted Space Force. \sarc
>>The trough is deep and plenty of room for old hands and new firms alike
Palantir isn’t exactly a plucky start-up though. Their market cap exceeds any other defence company by far:
Palantir 437B
Raytheon 208B
Boeing 176B
Lockheed Martin 102B
General Dynamics 85B
Northrop Grumman 83B
And still noone is really sure what they actually do beyond data something something.
On Palantir and their corporate leaders and executives. People like a Peter Thiel or the CEO Alex Karp help to prove that the evil men do in films, books or television series can’t hold a candle to real life villainy. No doubt the valuation of a company like Palantir is getting a good boost from ties into governments around the world and as well the increasing invasive nature of state or federal surveillance systems.
The business model in the next decade might even flex into a Minority Report styled pre crime offshoot. To quote or phrase from Dr. Malcolm from the original Jurrasic Park, no one is stopping to ask if they should. They’ll do it or go as far as they want, intervention or oversight notwithstanding. My simple opinion, Thiel is a dangerous person and it’s not restricted or solely due to his gazillionaire status.
Navy/AF HR systems cannot be shutdown and a new just system started. They need to run in parallel.
The SW projects probably paid for a lot of “support contractors” to run the legacy HR systems.
They are called Advisory and Assistance Support, and often replace civil servants and soldiers. IT contracts often cover for A&AS contract personnel dong for the customer.
Changing systems is overly hard for DoD. The rest of the federal gov’t as well, but outside DoD plunder is small waste.
I never saw any of those “back of the house” IT projects go well. Going back to when they deployed the Joint Uniform Military Pay System (JUMPS) years ago. Eventually they work it out but by then someone has to dream up the latest gee-whiz system to get his Meritorious Service Medal.
Though I guess now we have civvie CIOs everywhere so the problem is solved.
“Man who threw sandwich at officer in DC charged with felony”
Where’s the beef? That is what I want to know. Where’s the beef? They really want to charge a guy with felonious assault by a sandwich? Sounds like a lot of baloney to me. But then Jeanine Pirro, AG for DC, spoke up-
‘He took a Subway sandwich about this big and took it and threw it at the officer. He thought it was funny. Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today because we charged him with a felony, assault on a police officer, and we’re going to back the police to the hilt. So there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.’
Maybe that guy can ask that Pirro herself be charged – for making sexual threats to him.
It was a meatball sub? Those are tasty.
A Monte Cristo sandwich would be more historically apt…
Bacon butties for the rozzers!
So the coppers would go “down for the Count?”
This is an intimidation tactic, pure and simple.
The coppers had better think this one through. If one were to be charged with a felony for a prank like throwing something plainly harmless at a police officer, then a truly engaged protester might conceivably think that the next step then would to be throwing lead.
Thus does the “game” of Empire maintenance go.
Stay safe.
I think that the old English expression here was ‘Might as well be hanged for a sheep than a lamb.’
My thoughts as well. Although I am thinking increasingly about the line “freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose” for a growing population. If even the mildest actions gets you sent to prison, why not go big?
Anyways, charging a felony for an attack with a sandwich is embarrassing behavior for the DA. If she was a man, I would be asking if it was compensating for something.
‘En Garde Copper!’ as I pull back the aluminum foil on my rapier width of yummy triple decker sandwich
Visited a local Subway earlier in the week, and the roast beef was like chewing on a leather shoe. Just not very good. There’s a valid reason the sandwich chain needs a nearly full reset.
But I’ll take “Judge Jeanine” at face value in her new role; she will set a tone and that tone seems to likely be a FAFO approach. Criminals can freely move about some cities, almost at will it seems, no matter what the stats may indicate. Last week I saw some real zingers hereabouts in South Carolina, like head scratching types of behavior.
According to a friend in the food business, all the “meat” used to make Subway sandwiches is turkey.
I had suspected fowl play.
But police and military personnel are the most important people in the whole world. (/s)
The plebe was lucky he didn’t toss food on the stasi! They would have put him in his place!
The sandwich was deemed a deadly weapon, because it was full of cholesterol. As a less-lethal anti-officer munitions alternative, doughnuts should be considered. He looked hungry, Your Honor.
Next thing you know they’ll be attacking the cops with bananas!
https://youtu.be/piWCBOsJr-w?si=UZ6Mc8M2di3y6Vpr
Retail investors fight for right to bet on natural disasters FT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All of these assorted sordid financial bubbles have turned many into mad punters for a little piece of the action, not content merely to wager on the next pitch in a meaningless baseball game, they’re looking to parlay a heat wave into a hurricane with resulting loss of tens of thousands of homes.
Can you imagine a tsunami sweeping over The Hamptons and some guy cheering on Wall Street? And when his fellow investors point out that his family, his home, in fact his entire neighbourhood is now just plain gone, would reply ‘Yeah, but I made a big play on something like this happening and now I won!’
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/moeiNE_mspo
A worrying thought is that in our over-financialized economy, the ability to financially hedge real-world losses may de-incentivize action to physically intervene to reduce the risks that the losses will take place.
It has a bit of flavor of “moral hazard”, but perhaps that’s the wrong framing.
My cabin insurance policy is not covered in case of a wildfire started by a meteorite-which is kind of humorous, but what if said insurance companies claimed that a wildfire wasn’t lightning caused-but from another world (insert creepy music here) and said sorry, pound sand?
Think of it as “immoral hazard?”
‘Amoral hazard’
Nex thing ya no, ya’ll be flyin The General Lee acrost th Foggy Bottom Crik bridge!
Hasn’t that kind of thing been a feature of commodities markets for a long time?
Yes, great-great grandfather Wuk made a fortune shorting future Titanic passages.
Catastrophe bonds have been around at least 30 years. Filled a need when loss potential exceeded the capacity of reinsurers to absorb the risks, particularly geographic concentration. Risk they introduced was lack of underwriting expertise in non insurance institutions. Definitely a good product to make available to retail /s
Well there was that moment in the early 80s, when the Duke brothers were highly certain they had a key report on the upcoming OJ crops forecast! “Turn the machines back on”…\Sarc
Reading up on the topic it just reminds me of older but comparable articles discussing the details in developing a carbon credits trading market, something that was still a new concept. Articles were mostly focused on the institutional investors but also carbon producing companies and industries. Just something else to move around on a Bloomberg terminal while consuming a few Red Bulls!
A funny movie callback…
The Duke brothers receive a chance at a comeback after the OJ wiped them out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2JSETIzCyc/
Mouse Farm, by Bucklee and Fitzgerald. With some great photos of charismatic field mice.
Yesterday, we had a discussion in the comments of the article about not anthropomorphizing animals.
To wit: Indeed, from the author Miriam Bahagijo: “Instead of anthropomorphizing, we should try to understand animals based on how they experience the world with their own senses.”
When I mentioned that I recalled the days when dogs were dogs, I meant the same sense of an animal that Bucklee (who seems to be the main voice and who seems to have severe long Covid) describes in his interactions with field mice.
I recall a time when a dog was a familiar in the house (like Saint Luke’s ox) but wasn’t overwhelmed by the emotional neediness of the owners — which which doesn’t mean that I advocate indifference or cruelty toward dogs, just as Bucklee is exercised about how not to be cruel to his (unintentionally welcomed) mice. When I think of taking animals on their own terms, I think of those wonderful videos (and there are many) of people who feed crows and discover that crows leave gifts in return. Just as taking a dog on its own terms means learning that dogs have a sense of humor (although not always about themselves — there is a dog’s pride). Which you are not as likely to discover if you are carrying an overbred teacup poodle in your handbag.
The essay has much to say about trying to repair things (what to do with the little intruders?), the delicacy of health, and our interaction with animals. Recommended.
PS: The wonderful detail of the article is also a kind of reminder that when thinking of divinity, one must think of gods as immanent. That leads to Apollo of the Mice, one of Apollo’s nicknames. Immanence leads to the common idea in the ancient Mediterranean world that there is a god in a flower.
I was just thinking of something that British author Jerome K. Jerome pointed out when you were talking about dogs. He said that some people gush over dogs and some families make the family dog the center of attention and a dog will lap it up and enjoy it. The more the better but it will end up corrupting a perfectly good dog.
A cat, on the other hand, will not tolerate such nonsense.
It’s about empathy, I think. Would be nice to see more people anthropomorphize other people.
Interesting to see animals interact. At my house we have a multi-generational feud between poodles and crows.
We know so much more about animals’ inner lives than we did even 50 years ago:
We know why dogs push their heads against you when you cry:
https://www.tiktok.com/@selftrue.journey/video/7498592083989712159
I have a mouse. Or we have it, I suppose, sharing the apartment. But the lady of the house has not seen it. I don’t think the dogs have either or they would have said something. I saw it three times in the last week and it’s big but I didn’t get a good look.
It’s the middle of summer here in the middle of Boston so I wouldn’t have to wait for spring to move it but according to Massachusetts law it’s illegal to move wildlife. In any case it seems a lot of bother to try to catch the little guy and I guess very stressful for him or her.
When I could hear a mouse in the wall a month or two ago puppy Zeno got upset. Apart from that it seems not much bother to allow him to stick around.
98 years old and continuing to play her piano. Bit of an eye opener this morning but in a rather pleasant or soothing way, just my opinion. I was looking at generation distinctions last weekend just to randomly look; this Japanese woman was, like my late parents, a part of the Silent Generation born between 1928 to 1945. Let’s see welcome to the world and voila it’s The Great Depression.,,the Dust Bowl… Of course WW2, the very dark Fascism of Hitler, Mussolini, the iron rule by Stalin. Calamitous eras of history in the US and the world.
Traumerei was played on Moscow radio May 8, 1945, in memory of the victims of the Soviet Union’s war against Nazi Germany.
https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/schumanns-kinderscenen-op-15-no-7-traumerei/
Really thought my mom would make it to 100, but 98 was plenty good enough. She was a super ager with an exceptional memory, which she passed on to me in her will.
I remember watching Earl Wild playing the piano quite masterfully in his 80’s @ a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, but don’t try and be a pro athlete later in life, Joe Montana as QB at 69?
Here I am, appearing once more as your friend M.P. Cato. From the article by Jonathan Cook, The West Is in a Panic…
[Tell me when these jamokes aren’t in a panic.]
To wit:
Starmer’s government, for one, knew this was coming. Flight data shows that the UK has been constantly operating surveillance missions over Gaza on Israel’s behalf from the Royal Air Force base Akrotiri on Cyprus. Downing Street has been following the enclave’s erasure step by step.
Underlying story at The Guardian: Note the “funny” business with the transponder…
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/07/uks-surveillance-flights-over-gaza-raise-questions-on-help-for-israeli-military
Akrotiri and Dhekelia must be taken out.
‘NewsWire
@NewsWire_US
Lindsey Graham: “If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us.” ‘
Please dear Lord, pull the plug on Lindsay Graham. Your choice how. Maybe just let him suffocate in his closet or something.
Rev Kev.
“If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us.” ‘My attitude: Sic transit gloria mundi.
Bad religion, bad foreign policy, bad economic policy. What could go wrong?
And yet: Have you noticed that Lindsay Graham looks more and more like Divine, except without Divine’s many redeeming qualities?
Sooner or later, Graham is going to stumble over his cha-cha heels.
Quoting Wiki our Lindsey (not Lindsay) is a Southern Baptist as was yours truly as a tyke. Don’t recall much talk about the rapture back in the day. The main thing was to accept Jesus rather than the Zionist entity.
Of course two centuries ago the Southern branch of the Baptists defended slavery and you could say Lindsey’s current stance is of the same order. It’s likely that his true devotion, like most of DC, is to the religion of money and power.
I am so old that I can remember having to memorize the Beatitudes for Sunday school. I also doubt that Lindsey, being the very model of a Pharisee, has ever considered them to be part of his particular form of Christianity. That whole new covenant thing appears to have been completely lost on people like him.
I wonder whether LG speaks this way from conviction or because of the religious views of his constituents. Ted Cruz affirmed much the same in his (in)famous interview with Tucker Carlson.
From direct observation, I can affirm that within conservative Baptist circles (my interlocutors were “independent fundamentalist baptists”), at the level of “man in the pew”, there is significant concern about the risk of incurring Divine disfavor by speaking ill of Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and, as Carlson discovered, it is impossible to argue with such people about nuances such as the distinction between the present Prime Minister of the government of the State of Israel and the ancient wandering Aramean called from the city of Ur to go to a land that he would be shown (or the fact that Arabs are, per the text of Genesis, also descended from Abraham and are actually the older lineage)
Lol. I was thinking to comment the same.
And w.r.t. the Divine connection, maybe an injection of liquid eyeliner could be the way to go for ole Lindsay.
Graham gay jokes are evergreen seemingly. Perhaps it’s all that Southern Gothic shtick that keeps him in the TV network eye. Just ask Truman Capote–TV ubiquitous back in the day.
Lindsey Graham: “If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us.” ‘
Some (but definitely not I) might say, “What’s not to like?”
Knowing, or at least, reading less than “friendly” items about Mz. Lindsey, one would be hard pressed to know exactly where that “plug” was ensconced.
Pulling the plug is the right-wing pseudochristian epithet for the withdrawal of extreme artificial sustenance. I’m all in.
DropSite: Important.
“Hundreds of Former Israeli Spies Are Working in Big Tech…”
First, I kept wondering why Epstein stuck to money-laundering and influence peddling. It may have been that he and Ghislaine Maxwell (whose father was pretty much a full-out spy) had their hands full dealing with the avarice of the upper crust of the Anglosphere. After all, the avarice was bad enough and complicated enough, but it is seldom a crime — so they had to keep their charges under control and under wraps by abetting them in engaging in rape and sexual trafficking of minors.
But as the DropSite article notes, “The presence of current or former intelligence agents from foreign countries in key industries in the U.S. is generally considered a source of concern due to counterintelligence and industrial espionage threats. For decades, Israel has been identified as a major counterintelligence threat in the U.S., particularly for the targeting of industrial and technical secrets.”
Evidently, or maybe we just don’t know yet, Epstein and Maxwell weren’t as helpful when it came to industrial espionage. The industrial espionage by Israelis has been an open secret for years. I don’t want to get all paranoid — a natural development? Or is their an Epstein-figure behind this invasion of Silicon Valley?
PS: The size of this suborning of U.S. enterprise is another reason why the US of A is immobile on Gaza and the West Bank. All trussed up and nowhere to go. Except down.
Big Tech is a big target, sighted in by numerous countries for various purposes. Some are commercial, or industrial, or some combination, including the occasional espionage.
Evidently, or maybe we just don’t know yet, Epstein and Maxwell weren’t as helpful when it came to industrial espionage. The industrial espionage by Israelis has been an open secret for years. I don’t want to get all paranoid — a natural development? Or is their an Epstein-figure behind this invasion of Silicon Valley?
Industrial espionage, to be functionally useful, requires computers, files, code, ssh keys – stuff that is far easier to acquire when working as an employee at the target company. Epstein’s operation appears to have been kompromat-gathering and pillowtalk recording.
The 8200 ‘invasion’ is actually very simple to explain and doesn’t require an Epstein-like figure:
– it’s the biggest unit of the IDF
– those who make it into the unit usually have started training/testing/skilling into it in high school and are out by age 21
– those who were in it, then transitioned to the Israeli startup ecosystem, then move to US tech likely have at least a decade of high stress/high growth proven tech work, which is very attractive compared to a US CS graduate
As for why they’re leaving Israel the obvious answer is that US tech pay is the best in the world and the cost of living (in Tel Aviv) to pay ratio (in somewhere like the Bay Area in US) means if they can make the jump they can make 5x or more just on a salary basis. And given that one of 8200’s specialties is AI/ML, and this is the current US tech fetish object, it seems very obvious to me this is more about simple opportunism than anything else.
Thyssenkrupp allowed to deliver submarine to Israel Taz (machine translation)
This is insane given the Sampson option. When Is. starts collapsing, which some commentators suggest is happening now, countries could get nuked that simply do not prop them up enough. This psychotically genocidal country has implied before, if they go down, for whatever reason, everyone goes down, even allies. If I was the leader of a world power (Russia, China, US, even European countries) it would be a priority to track these subs with attack subs to try to prevent this apocalyptic insanity. Maybe even have standing orders to sink them if a situation arose where there was plausible deniability. But, instead, they provide more. The rulers of the west will kill us all. Israelis that have fled presumably have resources and want to survive. Many are in cities I bet that might be targeted. I wonder if they have discussions about this with those in their new locations. Does the average Israeli even know the extent to which the nuclear threat has been made, the Sampson option.
Did those several hundred Israelis killed by their own IDF at the beginning of the war know at all about the Hannibal Doctrine? Or that it applied to civilians as well as IDF personnel?
“This is, without exaggerating, one of the most extraordinary things a US Treasury Secretary ever said…”
@Arnaud Bertrand
Bessent should have really made people’s heads explode and called it “capitalism with Chinese characteristics”.
Bessent has his own priorities. His is to develop shake-down America. You want to trade with us? Pay us first. Send all your money to us so that we can decide how that money is to be invested even though it is your money. Funny thing though. Is Bessent making any mention of the untold wealth that American billionaires and corporations are holding overseas so that they don’t have to pay tax on it in America itself? What about that money?
Wealthy individuals and corps from all over the world are playing the “find my tax money'” shell game.
Did any of the NC songwriters do a parody of “The Panama Papers” to the tune of Van Halen’s “Panama”?
Goooooooooood Moooooooorning Fiatnam!
The 800 pound gorilla in the closet was obviously the Samsonite Option being played out by foreigners going elsewhere other than our not so welcoming shores, where a NZ mom and her kid with green cards were held for 3 weeks.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/360789288/tvnz-journalist-resigns-after-experiencing-long-covid
TVNZ journalist resigns after experiencing long Covid
re: Russiagate
TAIBBI
Russiagate Releases Lifting a Veil on Surveillance State Abuses
The latest revelations in the Trump-Russia mess increasingly point toward severe systematic abuses, indicative of a true police state
https://www.racket.news/p/russiagate-releases-lifting-a-veil
One would think, since saving our democracy is a thing these days, this would be a bigger story. Looking at MSM you wouldn’t even know about it other than some small spun tales. Seems to me, if this stuff is true, this should be a really big deal. Laws and all…
But it’s not, and will probably go nowhere, while 30 percent or more of our population will still believe Russia is controlling Trump and the GOP.
If only the democrats were in charge… Vote blue no matter who.
Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would vote for any of these repugnant POS in either party. This country is a complete joke and became this way because of all these slimy pricks regardless of party.
Yeah, actually what really bothers me is the hypocrisy of those very circles and strata who introduced those terms “disinformation” or “hate speech” on a daily basis concerning everyone and who love to talk about “democracy” most and who think that these “shortcomings” concern all those who do not agree with them.
They are not even aware that their ideology defies the alleged cores of their very own system of fucking “values”. And these people are numerous and, alas, many of them are really nice. argh.
Regardless of what you put out there they will never believe you (spytalk is one such less nice representation), never change their opinion. And yet they call you out for being “doctrinal”. Seriously?
p.s. The more sophisticated will tell you things about the Russian legal system. Regardless of that being correct or not (!) they never would on Earth consider the same verdict over the French, English, or American. Biggest carceral system in the world? Nahhhhhh. Capital punishment? Yeahhhh, but.
All this is embodied by the ignorance towards Russiagate that you point out.
Maybe this anger causes me to post every single item on the issue.
A helpless call for justice and accountability, I guess.
Interesting: Despite all the Russophobic PR in Germany there is virtually NOTHING on this story since it blew.
It was not really taken seriously ever, (thank God). But still the silence is verrrry telling.
Pardon my rant.
“Over 80 countries are now engaged in conflicts outside of their borders. Most since WW2.”
— David Roth-Lindberg (@RothLindberg)
I’ll have remember or find the channel, but some YouTuber had a graphic that showed a wild increase in proxy wars since around 2010. If I recall…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqJnmaLWnqQ/
Graphic around the 16:05 mark.
Note: just pointing out the graphic. I’m not necessarily on the same page about all of the analysis.
In southern Lebanon, IDF chief says he has approved plans for ‘conquest of Gaza’ – Times of Israel
“This morning, we approved plans for the conquest of Gaza, and now we are in Lebanon. At the same time, we are operating in Syria, Yemen, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and monitoring events in Iran. We are in a multifront war,” Zamir says during the visit to an army post in southern Lebanon, according to remarks published by the IDF.”
While so many have their attention on Alaska…
“Scraping the Barrel: Attrition and Cannibalization
Russo-Ukrainian War: Summer, 2025”
I wonder what they will teach about this war at places like West Point in the coming years. With a professional officer class you would hope that it would be analytical and dispassionate but what if they adopt the attitudes of generals involved with this war. That the Ukraine would have won but that they did not listen to their NATO instructors. That if they had fully embraced NATO tactics it would have been a massive victory but instead those stupid Ukrainians went back to using their old Soviet methods. To give an honest assessment would mean tearing off strips from those American and NATO officers involved in Project Ukraine so no doubt those officers will force their own views on those young officer cadets and how none of what went wrong was any of their fault. Yeah, I can see this happening very easily.
Imo and many others, Russia losing the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese war ushered in the Russian political disasters that followed. The first 20th Century Russian revolution in 1905 followed.* I think there is no way RU will ever let a much smaller country, like Ukr, win against it again lest RU political stability be once more lost. / my 2 cents
* https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Revolution-of-1905
adding: after the1905 RU revolution came the 1917 RU revolution ushering in 70 years of disastrous (imo) RU politics.
This is no apologia for RU. It is a point of history.
Some of that revolution was already in the air before that war.
That and the loss fed into each other.
The extraordinary strain of mobilisation (military and economic) was another, I’d argue decisive factor, then and even moreso in WWI. In the current war, the strain doesn’t even come close, so I suspect that its outcome is not and was never going to matter all that much domestically. (Although Putin might see it differently, of course.)
via Andrei Martyanov – I have had no time for it yet, but Cavoli and pals published a huge, dimwit study about “How Russia Fights”. 166 p.
This paper has pissed off Martyanov so much he came back to it several times since.
The study is here:
How Russia Fights
A Compendium of Troika Observations on Russia’s Special Military Operation
24 February 2022 – 30 June 2024
1st Edition – March 2025
https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/07/11/f2b1e75e/how-russia-fights-a-compendium-of-troika-observations-on-russia-s-special-military-operations.pdf
Martyanov on the study
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/08/i-had-to-endure-lot.html
again:
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/08/tourists.html
and again:
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/08/staying-nauseated.html
IDK if I’d trust Martyanov any more than these guys–he’s like their clone, except Russian (sort of). It’s almost like he learned only the crazy bragadaccio from us while living in the States.
His style as public persona, as propagandist often and his scholarly work on military affairs are two different sets.
When I am researching military issues along his suggestions and sources they are valid as far as my understanding reaches. And if one looks under the glossy surface in the West much of what he argues in fact is mirrored in blurred statements within the institutional structures. Just less explicitely of course because they are not independent be it War College or some German think tank.
So with a delay of several years his talking points were validated in spaces that initially were often parroting NATO PR. Of course this validation was articulated in very twisted ways. One always has to read between the lines.
He did not write about the German study against NATO but the fallacies of that study are a case in point. That paper is intended to counter NATO military buildup however based almost entirely on incorrect NATO-affiliated sources as I have repeatedly criticized. That study is nonsese.
And if you look at statements by NATO personnel and then what the obverse outcome of their actions was militarily in Ukraine, the facts speak for themselves.
I agree with him also in that this is a major turning point in world history. The turning point of course bein a very long uncertain period of possible turmoil.
This has already happened before: if it weren’t for that Bohemian corporal meddling, Wehmacht would have won. And that was literally taught at US staff schools for much of the Cold War–German generals were explicitly invited by the Pentagon to write about their experiences on the Eastern Front (which perpetuated these tales) for explicit purpose of “learning” about the Russian Army.
re: 401K’s and PE.
There’s nothing you can do if your group or employers pension is investing in 401Ks.
If you have a personally owned 401K or a 403B account, even through your employer, you do have the option of moving the funds into a traditional IRA with a new custodian. Make sure you know what services and options the proposed new custodian offers. Most importantly, if you decide to made a transfer make sure your hands never touch the account funds directly. (Big tax liability to you if your hands touch the money during the transfer.) Authorized the new custodian to request the funding transfer. Contact your existing 401K/403B account custodian and let them know you are authorizing the transfer.
Lots of helpful information about the process online. I did this three years ago. My old401K funds, now IRA funds with a new custodian are held in conservative investments. I’m not making the big yearly increases ‘promised’ by PE
snakeoilsalesmen. I’m not losing money, either. /ymmvDon’t forget to diversify a little.
Stack deep the “precious metals”: gold, silver, lead.
Maybe some ‘preps’ as well. Some freeze dried, long term storage basic foods. Some non-electric kitchen tools. A barbeque for those times when “roughing it” is the flavour du jour.
Someone earlier provided a link to the “Cannibal Cookbook.” Hmmmmm. Long pig on the menu?
Stay very safe!
If you want to push it a bit further, don’t use the power in your home for a day. See what life would be like in an “unpowered’ home. Keep the fridge and freezer going of course but no lights, internet, computers, electric can-openers – anything. Go full 19th century for a day. And it will be then that you will see your vulnerabilities.
US electrical power capacity surge vs Australian electrical power capacity surge is very different. / ;)
Like after a hurricane in Florida? I have kept a large bag of charcoal briquettes for that reason for two years now. I also keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
Sounds like heaven.
I’ve spent days in the wilderness, with nothing but a backpack, water, food, and a companion. Oh yeah, a cellphone until it dies. So not true 19th century.
Initial thoughts…one example comes to mind. CalPers, which has been covered in wondrous detail every so often…is that performance by their PE fund managers and advisors really a good track to share with potential retail investors. I am sure many know that answer.
In reality, well this kinda seems like the Bailey Savings and Loan vs Mr. Potter from It’s A Wonderful Life. George to Mr. Potter ….it’s galling you since you just have to get your mitts on every single thing in this little town….”And that goes for you too!”
The retail investors look like a goose about to get plucked I’m just certain of that, at least in the eyes of PE. I’d say PE executives are vultures but perhaps that is not kind to vultures.
Way up north (north to Alaska)
Way up north (north to Alaska)
North to Alaska, we go north, the rush to avoid Epstein heat is on
North to Alaska, we go north, the rush to avoid Epstein heat is on
Big Don left DC in the year of ’25
Better to grasp Putin than take a dive
At JBER in Anchorage they did meet
They crossed the Rubicon River and decided on a Ukraine defeat
Below that old white mountain, just a little Southeast of Nome
Donald relinquished minerals in the valleys far below
He talked to his team of apparatchicks as he mushed on through the show
With the northern lights a-runnin’ wild in the Land of the Midnight Sun
Yes, Vladimir Putin was a mighty man after the debacle in ’91
Where the Rubicon is windin’, point of no return they’re findin’
North to Alaska, we go north, the rush to avoid Epstein heat is on
Way up north (north to Alaska)
Way up north (north to Alaska)
North to Alaska, we go north, the rush to avoid Epstein heat is on
North to Alaska, we go north, the rush to avoid Epstein heat is on
Donald turned to Vlad with an offer in his hand
Said, “Vlad, you’re lookin’ at a lonely, lonely man
I’d trade the minerals that’s buried in this land
For one small band of the Ukraine to place in your hands
‘Cause a leader needs a country to love him all the time
Remember, Vlad, a true love is so hard to find
I’d trade you Ukraine for the minerals
Below that old white mountain, just a little Southeast of Nome”
Way up north (north to Alaska)
Way up north (north to Alaska)
Way up north (north to Alaska)
Way up north (north to Alaska)
North to Alaska, by Johnny Horton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoqVPcXDtUs&list=RDLoqVPcXDtUs
No one here talking about the sharp rise in Wholesale Prices? Looks bad…
Data broke after Links went live.
You could help with some detail :-)
https://www.ft.com/content/8af56329-6dbe-4f64-a21e-34c2144d10be
This is going to greatly complicate the push to badger Powell into cutting in September.
Expect more shitposting from TACO!
PPI inflation shock: Core producer prices hit 3-year high in July in ‘head-scratching’ inflation surge
Sounds high?
but it’s okay
“American officials want to ban Chinese investment in US businesses and land. They shouldn’t bother.”
Yeah, with the west stealing Russia’s financial assets and all the thefts of gold from different countries over the years the Chinese should be wary. But with the present US government, the Chinese should be removing as much North American exposure as possible. Could it be that Trump will have China removed from the SWIFT system to give himself leverage over them for example? I wouldn’t put it past him, especially with all the China Hawks that he has in his Cabinet. He has well over three more years as President so plenty of time to ramp up things against China, especially if the Ukraine folds.
Even if Chinese citizens purchase land in the United States, they cannot take it with them when they return to China. Should China become hostile toward the United States, the land could be seized as enemy property, and the owners would not receive compensation. In other words, selling land to Chinese citizens poses virtually no risk, so Americans should sell more land to them.
Great idea!
Pay no attention to the rising amount of homelessness this type of tactic would produce
Hmmm. And other implications of that..
With Trump crowing about the tariffs collected to date, we have a useful indicator of how much Trump has raised everyone’s taxes so far.
America is going great.
Trump and his people have their heads stuck so far up their nether regions, reality can’t find them.
Also
Big Tech’s A.I. Boom Is Reordering the U.S. Power Grid (NY Times via archive.ph)
Another tax on individuals
Also, the latest ChatGPT 5 is trash; They replaced GPT4o, which was much faster to run. Now it thinks forever, and doesn’t seem to be any more useful as a result. This is that multi-modal stuff they’re dumping on everyone now, in attempt to improve results by using a bunch of model queries and seeing what comes up.
I have been looking at the immense amount of residential construction taking place here in Sonoma County and talking to people I know who have many decades of experience in Real Estate.
This looks like “End of Cycle” building.
Thousands of units nearing completion, all aimed at the same high end market segment, ground recently broken on two 10 acre projects lying between Sebastopol Rd and Hwy 12 ( A marginal location which is why it hasn’t been developed previously) while the County’s economy is taking a big hit from both tariffs ( Ag is big here) and foreign tourists staying away in droves.
These properties will sell when they reach the right price point, after they go through BK.
Another economic headwind for the area is that wine consumption is slowing down, particularly in the youth cohort
The wine industry is important here.
I frequently drive past one of those luxury apartments finishing construction.
It is on the site of a hotel/restaurant that burned down in the October 2017 Sonoma County wildfire.
Setting expectations high, a banner on the fence surrounding the project states “A New Standard in Living”..
Alaska Meeting
Am I the only one who finds the TASS report https://tass.com/politics/2002277
a bit strange?
“The lineup of the Russian delegation has been determined. It includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev.
The lineup of the US delegation has also been determined but “it will be right to wait for a relevant statement from the American partners.”
The Russian delegation will leave Alaska for Russia immediately after the summit’s conclusion. “And, in the event you’re worried as to whether our delegation will return to Russia, yes, I can confirm, obviously, the delegation will return, it will fly out immediately after the conclusion of the negotiations.”
Suggested nickname of meeting:
‘The Oblast Frontier’
They led police on a wild L.A. car chase, then managed to get away. Who helped them escape? Los Angeles Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How cool that is, the little guy finally gets away with it, including copious amounts of mayhem, assorted felonies and the like~
When I was part of the SoCalist Movement, an LA car chase would instantly pre-empt whatever else was on the telly often, with most of them ending on the rather dull side, another runner taken into custody. Book ’em Danno
About 30 years ago just after it got dark, I was on the 101 freeway when I had my come to Jesus moment with at a least a dozen bright lights in the sky pleading for my attention coming right at me!
It was an ad hoc squadron of news and police helicopters following a car chase in Sherman Oaks in the opposite direction on the 101.
Some think inward capital flows to the U.S. is to facilitate the trade deficit thingy …. and if not done voluntarily … wellie its coercion time …
Amends, meant as a reply to
Mikel
August 14, 2025 at 9:23 am
Climate/Environment Canadian Wildfires Edition
All from the last 24 hours.
Overview from the NYT (archived), Canada Has Its Second-Worst Wildfire Season on Record, the lede, Thousands have been evacuated as quick moving wildfires burn in Eastern Canada.
That’s Labrador, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
“St. John’s, Newfoundland’s capital, and the surrounding area, where fires are burning, are experiencing dry conditions similar to what is typically seen in the Canadian Prairies of Western Canada, said Yan Boulanger, a research scientist in forest ecology at Natural Resources Canada.”
Coverage of the Kingston fire from CBC, About 100 homes destroyed by Kingston fire, says N.L premier.
Halifax, also from CBC, Halifax wildfire was human-caused, N.S. government confirms
Open fire found by crews when they arrived on scene near Bayers Lake Business Park
This fire is 10 kilometers west of downtown Halifax .Coming to Maine soon?
On to the west coast, from Nanaimo News Bulletin, Mount Underwood fire ‘unprecedented’ in behaviour; evacuations expanded, “This is not usual fire behaviour that we would normally see on Vancouver Island”
Northern Saskatchewan’s Shoe fire is Canada’s largest at 1.4 million acres burned since May. 83 active wildfires burning in northern Sask., displacing over 2,600: SPSA.
Antidote du jour makes me feel the wind on my snout. 🐶
P.S. Bonus antidote of steel beasts in their natural habitat.
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1956069093624439121
Trita Parsi is usually pretty good when commenting on the Middle East, but this piece seems below his usual standard, giving Israel the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.
This is an interesting tidbit:
This farcical operation seems like it was taken right out of a comic book. I imagine it’s still retold for laughs throughout the Iranian military. Israel seems to have picked up the US habit of vastly underestimating its adversaries, and denying any possibility that they may have organizational strength, professionalism, or patriotism and dedication to their country (or even a sense of humor!).
Imagine if Iraqi agents had called US generals with a similar demand on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq. How many would have complied or “defected” to Iraq in response? How would Americans have reacted to such generals if they did?
Seems like Israel would have been crushed long ago if it didn’t have its Big Brother saving its ass at every turn.
I thought this was posted here at the time, but maybe not. It includes audio of one of the calls.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/06/23/exclusive-israel-intelligence-iran-call-audio/
Alastair Crooke had confirmed this sick operation of Mossad when talking to Chris Hedges couple of weeks ago.
I find it interesting that it is explicitely stated that Mossad agents were fluent in Persian. Would we ever assume a foreign agent calling an American citizen and NOT speak English….
“Last year, China imported about 105 million tons of soybeans. Of this total, 22.13 million tons came from the US, worth US$12 billion.”
https://www.infomoney.com.br/mercados/china-prioriza-soja-do-brasil-e-eua-pode-perder-bilhoes-em-vendas-este-ano/
Aren’t they switching to soy beans from Brazil now? I’m sure that I read that as China now considers the US an untrustworthy supplier. When Trump put his huuge tariffs on Brazil, I read that a huge contingent of Brazilian coffee-growers went to China too.
The Future that Never Was – Unpopular Front
“Suffice it to say, Japan did not have some special, ahistorical substance but rather a particular history of industrial development that differed from the West and allowed it a period of strong export-led growth. And it was not insulated from the West so much as integrated with it: as collaborator, competitor, and sometimes enemy. Technology transfers, trade, and mutual borrowings had much more to do with the story than opposing cultural essences. Not to mention Japan’s post-war economic restructuring was overseen by American New Dealers. But those things are complicated and hard to explain fully. It’s much easier (and more ideologically functional) to say “they’re just different.”
There has been this explanation about what happened and what changed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY&t=665s/
Princes of the Yen | The Hidden Power of Central Banks
Seems like I come back to this about once a year…
My 82 y.o. mom now has covid for the third time. She has not tested yet, but she has a sore throat, a cough, and chest congestion, and covid is the only thing in the wastewater presently. I may be flying out if things look bad, but so far (knock on wood) she is in good spirits. Her previous two cases were very mild – that is, the initial covid itself. Then afterwards she developed kidney disease, pancreatic insufficiency, a bad case of psoriasis and a tremor. Which she’d never had before and which don’t run in her family.
None of this is surprising since she won’t mask, and now that she has kidney disease she can’t use other prophylactics (except the air tamer, which she sometimes wears). She and her friends live to eat out.
I had a feeling this was going to happen because the covid wastewater levels in Boston are up, and she caught covid the other times they had surges there. She’s close enough to the city that it’s relevant. At this point I think they could use her as a test of prevalence and not need to bother with the wastewater.
I texted a friend who is visiting relatives in Boston right now, to warn him. He told me that he had called a friend there to get together, and the friend has covid. His friend called his doctor, and his doctor has covid, too.
The odd thing is that although the Boston wastewater numbers are up, they are still quite low compared with earlier surges. I am wondering how well those numbers now match numbers of cases.
So sorry to hear about your mother. Maybe at her age she has decided to just go with the flow or some such. It must certainly be a worry to you. If you go to see your mother in Boston, just make sure to wear your own mask. You can’t help her if you are sick as well.
Staying COVID safe and quitting society are a heavy lift, particularly when you’re older, and this might be what’s left of your time on this earth. And it certainly can be harder to breath in an N95, that’s just how it is.
I don’t envy anyone the choices they’re making in this Pandemic. Individual public health comes with a price as does ignorance. We’re stuck with degrees of awful choices.
The last four years she’s spent loads of time with friends and her boyfriend (she’s a widow; he’s a widower) and relatives, doing all the usual things that people of her generation and social group do. Go to school plays, eat out, go to the Rod and Gun Club dinner, go to the Memorial Day parade. They are all still alive, albeit in worse shape than they would be without covid. But people they know have died of funny things; there are so many cases of pancreatic cancer. Sometimes I think I must be crazy. They’re not dead after all, right??? But then I see the people around me in CA and they all look so sick and older than their ages.
She doesn’t live in Boston; she lives in a small town area in a nearby state that is heavily influenced by Boston. She and her retired schoolteacher friends and the rest of her social network believe that there is nothing that they can or should do about covid. They are living their lives as they always have; it is all they can think of doing. Most of them have lived in the area for generations and there is a particular way people live. A deadly infectious disease that you catch once a year is not part of that world view.
When I visit I mask all the time. I haven’t caught covid yet (no symptoms, and since I declined the vax I tested weekly for three years straight). However, that means nothing to anyone, I’ve found; I have literally never had anyone in real life express interest in how I managed to never catch it.
Do go and see her if you can. At this late stage, every memory will be important. She might even tell you where some of the family ‘skeletons’ are buried.
My Mom finally went “ah H—, f—it” after her last bout of pneumonia at 89. She said to not take any “heroic” measures. I couldn’t get there, having to care for Phyllis. I got to talk to her over the telephone one last time close to the end. That was and still is important to me. My sisters said that she went quietly, with a smile on her face.
Say safe, wherever you are.
I am booked to visit in three weeks. Once every three months has been my plan. Right now I’m playing it by ear as to whether I need to rush out now. My brother died in 2020 so I don’t have a sibling to help; I’m glad your sisters were there for your mom.
I live in no-where western NC, and my parents live out here, and my dad got COVID the first time, despite masking and other precautions, at either the Ingles or the Lowe’s, two weeks ago.
Sadly, proximity to a major metro is not required. Nor is an unwillingness to mask.
I hate this timeline.
I wish your mother a speedy recovery!
I hope your father is okay.
Was hunting around for information on disability rates for healthcare workers in the US; Failed. But I came across this work from the CDC, that looks at using occupational absence data to look at public health trends. Sadly, the data only goes through 2022.
Absences in the Workplace (NIOSH actually, which Trump killed)
Of course they use Tableau for a text+diagram graphic with tabs, so you cannot copy and paste any text from it. Because, why would you want that? Can copy this text though for flavor
Regardless, you can see that workplace absences are consistently over 2% since 2020. Prior to that, it oscillated over and under with each annual flu season. Obviously, COVID is year-round, so we aren’t seeing this oscillation anymore. And SARS-CoV-2 is way worse than the flu.
This is fun, from health.gov:
(massive emphasis mine)
Basically, that is Trump and his sycophants in a nutshell.
That’s an insane disclaimer to read. I just looked into it an it seems to be all over. Particularly, “Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth.”
COVID is that you?
A record low level of Americans drink, and a majority now say alcohol is bad for your health
We know COVID infections can lead to alcohol intolerance.
(bold mine)
The deteriorating economic situation for most people might also be playing a role here, no?
Probably also weed right? I’m right at the age demarcation where everyone younger than me rarely if ever drinks or drank (mostly for socioeconomic reasons) but it is common to have a weed vape, and most older than me are recreational weed smokers and have cut back on drinking due to age/family. Especially in the US states where it is legal it is rare to get a social drink any longer it seems. I do most of my drinking these days on business trips since I participate in the sales junkets and that seems like the last domain of socially expected drinking.
Re: Alaska “Talks”
I kinda figured something like this would happen:
All caps DUMB is just how they roll now, izznit ?
To those from/in Italy, enjoy your Ferragosto.