Scientists Strip Cancer of Its “Superpower” To Outsmart Drugs SciTech Daily (Chuck L)
Alzheimer’s Genetic Risk May Be Effectively Countered With Diet MedPage Today
Exclusive: U.S. confirms nation’s first travel-associated human screwworm case connected to Central American outbreak Reuters. resilc: “Brings back my Peace Corps aggie days PTSD.”
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’ Daily Beast. Get your Novavax while you can.
Climate/Environment
This is not Autumn. This is drought distress in Islington, London
Trees shed leaves to reduce water intake. It’s happening all over England pic.twitter.com/SgHJ43gqpq
— The English Oak Project (@TheKentAcorn) August 23, 2025
China?
Taiwan referendum on reopening last nuclear plant fails Guardian
China decouples from US energy as key exports crash to zero Kevin Walmsely
More continuity of policy, of the “They have learned nothing, they have forgotten nothing” sort:
🇺🇸🇨🇳 US President Donald Trump says that People's Republic of China must supply USA with Magnets or it will face crippling tariffs:
"They have to give us magnets. If they don't, we have to charge them a 200% tariff or something… Nobody needed magnets until they convinced… pic.twitter.com/siXlaCVkdR
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) August 25, 2025
Tokyo reportedly asks countries not to attend China’s V-day events; potential narrow-minded move undermines correct view of history: experts Global Times. Tacky!
Koreas
Trump’s South Korea Outburst Daniel Larison
Exclusive: Korean Air makes airline’s biggest-ever Boeing jet order amid Trump-Lee summit Reuters (Kevin W)
Kim Jong Un supervises new missile tests as North Korea boasts advances with ‘unique technology’ Independent
Africa
Is South Africa sleepwalking towards prolonged violent upheaval? Mail & Guardian
Congo prosecutor seeks death penalty for former President Joseph Kabila Africa News
Nigerian airforce kills at least 35 jihadists near border with Cameroon France24
South of the Border
U.S. Deploys WARSHIPS Near Venezuela + Israel BOMBS Journalists in Gaza Hospital Dimitri Lascaris on Rachel Blevins, YouTube. Larry Johnson has pointed out that Venezuela would be hard to subdue. Caracas in a valley in a mountain range.
🇻🇪🇹🇹 Washington’s Caribbean pawn moves into position.
Trinidad & Tobago just announced it will hand over its territory to U.S. forces if Venezuela moves on Guyana, a “drug cartel” pretext masking an open military pledge to guard ExxonMobil’s oil claims in Essequibo.
This is the…
— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) August 25, 2025
🇨🇳🇻🇪 Beijing just moved another chess piece into the Western Hemisphere,
not with a state oil giant, but through a private Chinese firm.China Concord Resources Corp has signed a rare 20-year pact to develop two Venezuelan oilfields, investing $1B+ to pump 60,000 bpd by 2026.…
— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) August 25, 2025
Putin To Place Oreshnik Hypersonic Missile In U.S.’ Backyard As Trump Sends Warships To Venezuela? Hindustan Times, YouTube
Trump’s “Weapons of Mass Migration” Explains Targeting of DC, LA, Mexico, Venezuela Ken Klippenstein
European Disunion
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said tackling the country’s economic challenges is proving to be a far greater undertaking than he initially anticipated. Bloomberg. BWAHAHA
Federal Government: Welfare state no longer financially viable, but generous with billions in aid for the Ukraine war Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
French premier to seek confidence vote in September Anadolu Agency
Numerous explosions at burning "warehouse" in Hamburg Germany.
I wonder what was kept there? pic.twitter.com/IB8jf1cD8v
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) August 25, 2025
As Europe’s fear of war grows, French join military reserves DW
Stoltenberg’s effect on the election shocks Norway Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “Is this for real? Stoltenberg as James Bond and bumps Social Democrats with 20%? Are the Norwegians mad or do they really prefer fools?”
Old Blighty
Rachel Reeves ‘heading towards IMF bailout’ Telegraph
Farage’s mass deportation plan Telegraph
UK police arrest Ken Loach screenwriter Paul Laverty for anti-genocide t-shirt Middle East Eye
Israel v. The Resistance
⭕️ Residents in Sheikh Radwan, Al-Jalaa, and Jabalia Al-Nazla neighborhoods north of Gaza City have been urged to cover their faces with water-soaked masks after the Israeli occupation detonated booby-trapped robots, releasing gases and foul odors that are causing burning… https://t.co/ENDVPZqU5W pic.twitter.com/Bzs6p4LtJn
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 24, 2025
Israeli airstrike on southern Gaza hospital kills 20, including journalists Arab News
Not enough reporting that this was a “double tap” and hence very clearly targeting medics and journos:
Dismantle Nazi Israel TODAY https://t.co/Y5R22HXB9P
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) August 25, 2025
Trump says he is ‘not happy’ about Israeli strike on Gaza hospital as anger spreads Times of Israel
It took me a minute to realize this was not an AI-generated Groyper video
Turns out this is the true face of diplomacy in the Zionist-controlled Trump administration pic.twitter.com/1tp9mnvLuT
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) August 25, 2025
An Extremely Important Excerpt From Today’s Crooke–Judge Napolitano Chat Karl Sanchez (Chuck L). I’ve seen the segment and agree Crooke has an important observation. Here is the clip from the movie Patton he references. Crooke’s depiction is inaccurate save for the punch line.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Gives Megyn Kelly A REALITY CHECK On Israel The Young Turks. From a coupld of days ago, still of interest. As Larry Wilkerson said of an earlier MTG anti-Zionist speech, “Looks like that lady took some smart pills.”
>* * Israel Offers to Support Hezbollah Disarmament, May ‘Consider’ Reducing Troop Presence in Lebanon Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Syraqistan
Syria hails decision to remove its name from sanctions lists under US federal laws Anadolu Agency
Syria and Iraq, ISIS Creation Timeline: 1992 – 2015 Vanessa Beeley
New Not-So-Cold War
“Stolen Children” Putin’s war machine snatches 1.6 million Ukrainian kids Express. resilc: “Para los ninos….trying hard…then they eat them next?”
Gathering Escalation Olivier Boyd-Barrett. Readers invited to opine on his view of the effectiveness of the current US-EU last ditch efforts. Regardless, the intent and effort does seem to be there.
Ukraine – Zelenski Rejects Giving Land As Fascists Promise To Kill Him Moon of Alabama
Catastrophe! Why Europe & US War Against Russia Is Near Inevitable/Oreshniks In Venezuela!? Mark Sleboda with Jamarl Thomas. See more on Venezuela above under South of the Border.
Another Conversation with General Evgeny Buzhinsky… How Did the Russian Military Survive the Collapse of the Soviet Union? Larry Johnson
Caucasus
Russia blocks Armenian agricultural exports amid renewed tensions Azernews
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Palantir’s tools pose an invisible danger we are just beginning to comprehend Guardian (resilc). One advantage of being here is GPS is so bad, phones don’t know where you are. Seriously. You order a ride share (yes I know not at all preferred but barely any street hails here). App puts me at a goofball location. I type in where I am. It does not believe me and asks if I am ordering the car for someone else.
Imperial Collapse Watch
How ‘Human Rights’ Became Western Weapon Kit Klarenberg. Important.
The US Needs to Take Ukrainian and Russian Drone Operations Seriously Stephen Bryen (Chuck L). Good despite some sour notes like saying Ukraine has the most advanced drone program. Counterevidence: 1. Fiber optic droned were a Russian invention; 2. Russia has large scale drone production, Ukraine is producing them in workshops and I further infer there is not mass production type design standardization.
Trump 2.0
Trump wants nuclear arms deal with Russia and China RT (Kevin W)
Trump Doctrine 2.0: a half-year economic autopsy Asia Times (Kevin W)
FEMA staffers warn Trump administration policies weakening disaster response The Hill
Trump Has No Idea How to Do Diplomacy Foreign Policy. Misses the point a bit. Trump has no idea how to “do diplomacy” because he sees no value in it.
Fedwatch
Trump Fires Fed Governor Cook, Escalating Attack on Central Bank Bloomberg
Lisa Cook Says She Will Not Step Down From the Fed New York Times
Tariffs
Few commentators have pointed out that to the extent that manufacturing comes back to the US, it won’t generate many jobs because the production will be highly automated:
I saw a photo of a new U.S. reshoring factory.
The #1 robot brand powering Trump’s
“Make America Great Again” revival isn’t… American.It’s Japanese.
That sent me down a rabbit hole….
What I found is a 40-year silent invasion that reshaped American factories while almost… pic.twitter.com/3c0W0uLRqk
— Ilir Aliu – eu/acc (@IlirAliu_) August 24, 2025
Trump shocks UK business with stealth tariffs on 400 products The Times
Immigration
Roaming Charges: From of the Mouths of Madness Counterpunch (resilc)
Trump Is Holding Immigrants at a Former Japanese Internment Camp Rolling Stone
Why The White House Thinks Ford Mustangs Can Help Solve ICE’s Recruitment Crisis Autoblog (resilc)
Economy
Church Construction Is Booming as Religious Spaces Add Child Care and Coffee Shops Wall Street Journal. resilc: “Pole dancing could help too…..”
AI
How To Argue With An AI Booster Ed Zitron
Class Warfare
State Poverty Rates Barry Ritholtz (resilc)
U.S. Retirement Crisis: More than Half of Americans Have Less Than $10,000 Saved While Only 0.1% Hold $5 Million Plus 24/7 Wall Street
Surging Car Prices Push Buyers to Take Out Longer Auto Loans Bloomberg (resilc)
Bernie Sanders rallies hundreds in Davenport Cedar Rapids Gazette (Robin K)
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus (Chuck L):
This guy Feeding the birds and then this happened… pic.twitter.com/vCbJDtSaIJ
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 25, 2025
A second bonus:
Watching Tom & jerry pic.twitter.com/29YJYLCBDz
— Cats with pawerful aura (@AuraWithCat) August 23, 2025
And a third:
An octopus in a hurry.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/uO4TGrCSg2
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 24, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
‘Chay Bowes
@BowesChay
Numerous explosions at burning “warehouse” in Hamburg Germany.
I wonder what was kept there?’
Ukrainian coffee-makers? Like what was in that American factory that the Russians blew up in the Ukraine?
A burning car and gas cylindrrs according to Zeit
Will Putin be blamed?
https://www-zeit-de.translate.goog/news/2025-08/26/grossbrand-im-hamburger-hafen-loescharbeiten-dauern-an?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Yeah, I get it. Nothing to see here. Move along-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnX5wci404 (48 secs)
Re: UK police arrest Ken Loach screenwriter Paul Laverty for anti-genocide t-shirt
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in July that the UK’s decision to proscribe the campaign group as a terrorist organisation was “disproportionate and unnecessary” and called for the designation to be rescinded.
He said: “UK domestic counter-terrorism legislation defines terrorist acts broadly to include ‘serious damage to property’.
“But, according to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages, for purpose of intimidating a population or to compel a government to take a certain action or not.
“It misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism to expand it beyond those clear boundaries, to encompass further conduct that is already criminal under the law.”
Pariah SStates abound
“Tokyo reportedly asks countries not to attend China’s V-day events; potential narrow-minded move undermines correct view of history: experts”
I’ve got an idea. The Chinese are having their VJ celebrations on September 3rd in Beijing, right? So maybe Japan can organize their own event on that date but in Tokyo.They could invite all the former nations of the Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere to attend celebrations and make speeches how great it was for those countries. They could invite Trump over and tell him that the GEACPS was just their own version of the Monroe Doctrine. It’ll be great and all those countries would be able to share heart-warming stories about those times-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_East_Asia_Co-Prosperity_Sphere
Why The White House Thinks Ford Mustangs Can Help Solve ICE’s Recruitment Crisis Autoblog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was under the impression that all Ford made now was those incredibly ugly e-Mustangs that look like the automotive form of couch potatoes. Compare a 1965 Mustang and it’s clean lines to the bulbous mess of it’s 2025 counterpart.
Never been a car guy myself but the story of it’s development is an interesting one-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_(first_generation)#Design
As interesting as the development of the first P-51 Mustang-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang#Design_and_development
Yesterday I saw a couple of videos that I would like to recommend to the audience here (and everyone else, for that matter). They nicely represent Russian point of view (that one may, or may not, agree with, but should surely pay attention to).
First one is geopolitical analysis from the Kharkov trenches. Patrick Lancaster does his thing, and lets Batya tell it like it is. The interesting part starts at 19:48 (timestamp is in the link). Make sure that subtitles are on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iXZwjnDvE&t=828s
Second one is longer but is in English, and can be listened in the background while doing something else (increased speed optional, and recommended). Levan Gudadze is a Georgian-Russian journalist that has appeared as guest on The Duran. Stanislav Krapivnik have also been on The Duran, and some other places too. He was born in Donbass, have lived in the USA and served in the US military (on Abrams tanks), and came back to Motherland some time ago. They talk about many thing (past, present and future), but don’t dwell on anything. That gives the talk nice dynamic, and made me listen to it in one go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEydjPeYkjI
I worked for a Norwegian firm for six years, they definitely prefer fools.
“The Square” is a docu-drama filmed in Sweden about Norway as best as I can tell.
There’s a sauce…
The Square is a witty takedown of the fine art scene. One of my favorite movies.
They have to give us magnets. If they don’t, we have to charge them a 200% tariff or something… Nobody needed magnets until they convinced everybody 20 years ago ‘Let’s all do magnets.'”
I pause and wonder…
Leavitt to Believer
In this episode Eddie Haskell is deluded by Karoline into thinking she is being truthful with him and not playing around with misconceptions, er lies. It’s all good though as long as she has a swaying cross dangling from her pretty little neck.
“China decouples from US energy as key exports crash to zero”
Saw Kevin Walmsley’s video earlier this evening and it paints a grim picture for the US. It may be that the Chinese are decoupling from the US right across the board to not only damage it but to reduce their attack area as well so that the US will find it harder to damage China. But in a way, it is a double decoupling. Take soybeans for example. The Chinese will no longer buy soybeans from the US which Washington never predicted. But then you have Brazil. They are being attacked by Trump’s tariffs as well so now it will be them sending their soybeans to the Chinese. Same with coffee. When Trump’s tariffs on Brazil were announced, you had a huge contingent of Brazilian coffee growers jump on a plane to China where they were warmly welcomed. Nobody could ever have predicted that. /sarc
And now the same thing is happening with energy. The US is being isolated from a large chunk of the energy market as sanctioned countries are coming together to make trade deals. I really find it hard to understand the thinking in Trump’s Cabinet. If China needs energy and is being sanctioned then of course they will buy it from countries like Iran and Russia who are also being sanctioned. It’s Markets 101. And every country that the Trump regimes sanction will also reconsider their trade with the US and seek alternate markets to make them less vulnerable to Trump’s whims. It may be that Trump is the best thing to happen to encourage the development of BRICS.