Links 8/30/2025

Subscribe to Post Comments

85 comments

1. Geo August 30, 2025 at 7:13 am

   Not the most important thing considering all the harrowing articles in links today but symbolically it speaks volumes about the values and intentions of our current government:

   “The Pentagon is restoring a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, which includes a slave guiding the Confederate general’s horse in the background, to the West Point library three years after a congressionally mandated commission ordered it removed, officials said.”

   https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/us/politics/pentagon-trump-confederate-lee-west-point.html

   Reply ↓
   1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 7:38 am

      Lots of figures in the Trump regime like the Confederacy and are having bases, that had their names changed from Confederate officers under Biden to different names, having them revert back to those original Confederate names again. You wonder how far it will go. During Trump’s military parade they had soldiers dressed in the outfits from previous eras such as WW2 ‘dog-faces’ to Union troops to Revolutionary troops. So what happens when they hold a military parade like that again, that along side Union soldiers you will have soldiers dressed in Confederate uniforms marching as well. Under Trump, it could happen.

      Reply ↓
      1. QABubba August 30, 2025 at 8:46 am

         Arlington National Cemetery was built on Robert E. Lee’s former plantation. Outside his home, in the ’60’s, they had alternating Confederate and American flags. Now just American.
         As an aside, despite what Robert McNamara and Dick Cheney told you, there are no rows and rows of white crosses. Makes you wonder if they ever visited.

         Reply ↓
         1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 8:59 am

            About a decade after the US Civil war Robert E. Lee’s son got Arlington back again through a court of law but in the following decade, sold it back to the US government for a big payment. I guess they found their new neighbours very quiet but depressing. At the signing ceremony was the US Secretary of War – Robert Todd Lincoln, son of you know who-

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_National_Cemetery#U.S._v._Lee

            Reply ↓
            1. QABubba August 30, 2025 at 9:45 am

               Both sides are buried there.

               Reply ↓
               1. ambrit August 30, 2025 at 12:06 pm

                  Americas “Innocence” is buried there.

                  Reply ↓
      2. Carolinian August 30, 2025 at 10:51 am

         A couple or more decades back there was a fad in my region for Civil War battle re-enactments with whole troops of enthusiasts in Confederate uniforms. Trump had nothing to do with this and few eyebrows were raised.

         Here’s suggesting that for most of the Northerners fighting back then the war was not about slavery but about saving the Union and that’s why they were so willing to bring the South back in afterwards, if on dubious terms. The people who are changing history are those who ignore the reality that racism didn’t just exist in the South. Reconstruction was not so much a surrender to “fascism” as the goal of the war from the beginning.

         As for now, perhaps they should rename those forts Fort Westmoreland or LeMay. The line between good wars and bad ones can be very fuzzy indeed and forts are about wars. IMO the R2P people are mostly hypocrites.

         Reply ↓
      3. jax August 30, 2025 at 1:17 pm

         I was raised in south Jersey. About ten years ago my older sister sent me pictures of ‘Celebrate Vineland Day.’ Lots of pioneer dressing and pioneer food but my jaw dropped open when I saw people taking pictures in front of a huge Confederate flag. Plenty of cognitive dissonance for me, but when I asked about it I was told “it’s all part of our history.”

         Um. No, it is not. New Jersey fought for the Union. I’ve come to understand that the Confederate flag no longer has much to do with America’s civil war. It’s now a MAGA brand seen nationwide. Just kill me now.

         Reply ↓
2. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 7:17 am

   ‘Science girl
   @gunsnrosesgirl3
   Aug 29
   A bird that brought all its friends to thank the lady who rescued it’

   Those look like Rainbow Lorikeets from what I can see. They come to our place from time to time and I have to stop to watch them-

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_lorikeet

   Reply ↓
3. LawnDart August 30, 2025 at 8:03 am

   Col., thank you for that: The ghost in the Kremlin’s corridors…

   “…better to court many princes than bend the knee to one.”

   Immediately this brought me to the workplace, and then I realized that this applies to many situations in life: it’s about relinquishing one’s agency.

   Reply ↓
4. Neutrino August 30, 2025 at 8:09 am

   Jalopnik, a new website to explore for memories, fun and laughs. Start with the skimmer article and drive on through. There were some really awful car designs over the years. The pieces on the Oz gearheads were refreshing.

   Reply ↓
5. YuShan August 30, 2025 at 8:11 am

   “OpenAI Says It’s Scanning Users’ ChatGPT Conversations and Reporting Content to the Police”

   Another reason why in the future people are going to run local models on their own computer. You need a powerful PC to have things run smoothly, but out of curiosity I have installed a free model on my own ancient PC (Ivy Bridge 2012 system) and while slow and hallucinating a lot, it does functionally work, without sending any communications with the outside world. It’s remarkably good for a size of only 4GB. I can see where this is going.

   Reply ↓
   1. Jason Boxman August 30, 2025 at 11:30 am

      There’s so much investment in transforms/LLMs, I don’t think any of this is going away, but I do think small models are probably the future. As you said, they can be run completely locally, and trained to purpose. If you have Apple Silicon, and ~ 32GB of RAM, you can already run models that are functional and possibly even useful, depending on their size. No dedicated GPU necessary on Apple. With inference dedicated chips, you could do this on Wintel as well; I don’t know if that’s in the pipeline, I don’t follow PC architecture much for decades now. I know hyperscalers have been working on their own inference-only GPUs/CPUs for a number of years now.

      Reply ↓
6. QABubba August 30, 2025 at 8:23 am

   Re: Simplicius
   The problem is globalism/neoliberalism. The ability for corporations and billionaires to hide their money off shore, move it around the world, means it becomes tax free. Therefore wealth inequality skyrockets. No nation gets to tax it.
   Therefore the individual governments go bankrupt (including the US). This is not the Westphalian model.

   Reply ↓
   1. Bugs August 30, 2025 at 11:48 am

      It’s funny how the West can sanction and debank assorted enemies of the moment but can’t do a darned thing about tax exiles.

      Reply ↓
7. LawnDart August 30, 2025 at 8:26 am

   The dog (Chihuahua/Corgi) has mostly abandoned the first two floors of the townhouse where we reside: bats have figured out how to enter in the evening, both tiny and rather large ones. The tiny ones are black, fast and frenetic, and the large one is pretty chill, a reddish-brown in color; he takes his time to wonder around and to see what there is to see.

   At first the Princess simply wandered to her kennel (enclosed cage) and lay down with paws crossed to watch the show, but a recent morning addition has proven too much for her. You see, to get the hyper little black bastards out, I’d leave a door open… Mr. Grey Squirrel started showing up in the living room every morning, and a chunker is he.

   Now the Princess will chase cats, deer, and even bear (honestly, it’s hillarious– Chihuahua chasing/treeing Black bear) , but apparently not this invader of our household– a fat squirrel. Mr. Squirrel doesn’t give a damn about the dog, but she doesn’t care for his company, so she’ll whine a little and leave. Personally, I have no problem eating the son-of-a-bitch (squirrel, not dog… maybe) along with a few of his friends, and I think he knows this so he scampers off whenever I show up…

   Reply ↓
   1. mrsyk August 30, 2025 at 9:38 am

      You might try placing a realistic looking stuffed cat on a chair and putting it just inside the door so the silhouette is visible from outside. I’ve had some success doing this.

      Reply ↓
      1. LawnDart August 30, 2025 at 12:30 pm

         That’s an idea.

         We do have ferral cats around here, but they seem to mostly stick near the farms: too many hungry foxes, wolves, coywolves, eagles and hawks I suppose, but if I could get my hands on one for a few days that’d probably do the trick. Maybe it could teach the dog to fight as well… or eat it.

         The dog actually belonged to my father and step-mother: I am not a small dog person. They had Jack Russells before her, and each of them were mean and yappy, but not the Princess– if anything she’s too friendly, energetic and happy; she’s got zero mean in her, unlike their other dogs. Maybe she’s got doggie autisim, because she did not pick up on or take up the darker side of my elders personalities, ’cause those folks could be nasty, especially once their dementias started to set in.

         I had no plans on being a dog owner as it really isn’t compatable with my lifestyle, but it seems to have happened. She’s come a long ways from where she was at when I inherited her– an unhousebroken, skittish, pugly mess– and I am kind of proud of her, of how far she’s come. Now if she had been one of those Jack Russells she’d be filling a shallow hole in the woods– if I’d even bother to bury the damn thing.

         Reply ↓
8. Wukchumni August 30, 2025 at 8:35 am

   Starlink Puts the Last Nail in Burning Man’s Coffin Gizmodo
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Funny article, Starlink has been at Burning Man for many years now, it didn’t show up all of the sudden this Burn~

   My first Burning Man was in 2003 and it felt similar to a backpacking trip where there was no outside information, and you had to live in the present. It was most evoking in 2005 when Katrina was happening during the event, and we had campmates from Metarie, La. who would drive to Gerlach Nv just outside of the event to figure out what’s going on.

   They left Wednesday and hightailed it back home, where their house was a bit of a shambles from the hurricane.

   There is a great emphasis in the media that its all Illionaires and their ilk that rule to roost. If anything its more like a chance for them to be normal people in that everybody gets around on bicycle while festooned with goggles and a mask if duststorms are threatening.

   Much was made of the Orgy Dome being ripped apart by 50 mph winds, and there is a swinger element to BM, but its pretty much for those that indulge in such activities on a normal basis.

   I’m no prude, but i’d never do that, nor have any of my campmates ever partaken, that i’m aware of, and that’s around 200 people over 20 years.

   Last year the only public sex I saw was a couple making it on an art installment, that’s it.

   That said, Burning Man might be dying out, the last 3 years tickets with a face value of $550 have been available for a few hundred bucks leading up to the event, to me that speaks volumes~

   A couple of mudfests in the last few years doesn’t help things, although the silver lining to it all, is after it rains there is no dust as the alkali turned into hard caked dry mud.

   Reply ↓
9. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 8:43 am

   “Macron’s stunned troops see no good way out of France’s impasse”

   ‘It was, after all, the surprise snap vote following European elections last summer that shunted France into its current deadlock and irrevocably damaged Macron’s reputation.’

   Politico is mistaken here. Actually they are wrong. They want to blame voters but in the last elections the votes were heading to the left but what happened was that the French political establishment rigged it so that the right and the center-right continued in power in defiance of election results. They want a new PM now but the guy that they have in mind is center-right too. They refuse to change and they refuse to reform. So the present PM is still playing games by trying to set up inter-generational warfare when he said on French TV-

   ‘The primary victims of the government debt will be the “youngest French people,” Bayrou said in an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday.

   “They’re the victims; they’re the ones who will have to pay the debt for the rest of their lives,” he said, adding that Paris is trying to convince them that more borrowing is needed.
   French debt ballooning by €5,000 a second – PM READ MORE: French debt ballooning by €5,000 a second – PM

   “All this for the comfort of certain political parties and for the comfort of the so-called boomers.” ‘

   https://www.rt.com/news/623694-french-pm-debt-devastate-generation/

   No. It is still actually class. If they really wanted a solution they could reign in military spending and taxing wealthy people and corporations but they refuse to go there and instead try to get young and old people fighting each other instead of muppets like Macron and the people responsible for him. So all the present PM can suggest is things like scrapping public holidays, slashing public sector jobs, as well as welfare and pensions cuts. Pretty soon in France they will be saying

   ‘Help us, IMF. You’re our only hope.’

   Reply ↓
   1. YuShan August 30, 2025 at 9:05 am

      “The primary victims of the government debt will be the “youngest French people,” Bayrou said in an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday. “They’re the victims; they’re the ones who will have to pay the debt for the rest of their lives,” he said, adding that Paris is trying to convince them that more borrowing is needed”

      Has anybody considered that these young folks are simply going to default on that debt? That sucks for the holders of that debt (pension funds etc) but young folks know they won’t get pensions themselves, so why would they pay for it? If I were young (which unfortunately I’m not), I would rather default/ reset and start with a clean slate. When younger generations get more political power, they will be inclined not to pay for legacy debt.

      Reply ↓
   2. mrsyk August 30, 2025 at 9:28 am

      Where we fight our parents out in the streets to find out who is right and who is wrong.
      B Taupin

      Stoking this fire is insanity. The young will be/are looking for someone to blame for their (each day more) stark and hopeless reality.

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit August 30, 2025 at 12:15 pm

         Macron is too young to remember France in 1968. Maybe his Dom is, I don’t know.
         The big worry I anticipate is that the reactionary politicos will figure out a way to focus all of this resentment and anger on the “Others.” Make it an internal race war. Unfortunately, that strategy is feasible. It works all the time world-wide.

         Reply ↓
   3. Aurelien August 30, 2025 at 10:00 am

      No. You may want to glance at the figures for the 2024 elections. The clear winners of the popular vote were the Rassemblement national, with 37% followed by the Nouveau Front Populaire (sic) with 27%, just ahead of Macron’s coalition with 25%. Through a series of sordid (but not illegal) deals between the first and second rounds, the RN’s political enemies united to reduce the number of seats it gained to 143, whilst inflating the NFP’s seats to 193. However, the RN would not have been capable of forming a government (and did not want to) even if it had found coalition partners. And no-one would go into a coalition with the NFP, which in any case was riven with too many bitter internal disputes to form an effective government. (Though many people, including me, think that Macron missed an opportunity to destroy the NFP by asking them to form a government and watching them fall apart. But then he’s not a good politician.) So the relative majority that could be obtained from Macron’s troops, the centre-Right and independents was just about the only option.

      The situation in the National Assembly reflects the situation in the country, and new elections (which Macron has ruled out) would just produce another inconclusive result.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 10:14 am

         ‘which in any case was riven with too many bitter internal disputes to form an effective government’

         As compared to the current situation? All that is happening is that they are picking PM after PM in an effort to keep on kicking the can down the road. And how do you know that another election would be inconclusive. With France on the verge of having to go for an IMF loan, they might just be willing to give the le Penn’s party a go, especially after the extreme shenanigans that went on during the last election. At this point, Macron refusing new elections is just like Zelensky refusing new elections too and for the same reasons. Macron will eventually disappear into a nice new job with a bank or think tank somewhere but France does not have that luxury. And the clock is ticking.

         Reply ↓
      2. Norton August 30, 2025 at 12:49 pm

         Ressentiment Nationale, the new coalition that seems evergreen?

         Reply ↓
   4. DJG, Reality Czar August 30, 2025 at 11:06 am

      Rev Kev: What struck me in both articles is that they are written by the French equivalent of U.S. Republicans, that is, neoliberals. Both Saint Remy and Heffer are guilty of this, and I will quote Saint Remy:

      French politics will still be too internally riven to pass vital deficit-slashing reforms, despite Bayrou’s Cassandra-like warnings that France could be headed toward a Greek-style debt crisis if it sits on its hands and doesn’t implement an unpopular €43.8 billion budget squeeze.

      Then Heffer:

      Having written here recently about the problems that Prime Minister François Bayrou has in trying to secure €43billion of savings in a country addicted to state, and particularly to welfare, spending, the opposition is mobilising.

      With elites like these two, I’d be getting my gilet jaune out of the wardrobe, too.

      Vive la France.

      Reply ↓
10. chris August 30, 2025 at 8:49 am

    Following up on the discussion from earlier this week. Apparently, the EU has decided it can raid the entire confiscated amount from Russia, and Hungary is suing them because of that decision.

    Reply ↓
    1. Polar Socialist August 30, 2025 at 9:36 am

       No. Nope. Nyet.

       Today the EU foreign ministers will discuss, for the first time, officially about the possibility of using the frozen assets but as far as we know, most members oppose the move for financial and legal reasons.

       What Hungary sued EU over was that EU ignored Hungarian veto when it decided last year to use the interest from the frozen assets to support Ukraine. According to Hungary this violates the equality clauses of the EU member states and thus the EU law itself. It was filed in May and the European Court of Justice formally accepted it this Monday.

       Reply ↓
       1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 9:45 am

          If they let the EU get away with this, then voting becomes de facto majority voting – which the EU has been pushing for some time. Maybe Slovakia will launch their own independent lawsuit later on to add further pressure on the EU.

          Reply ↓
    2. QABubba August 30, 2025 at 9:43 am

       Make no mistake. The Russians will come for their money.

       Reply ↓
       1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 9:49 am

          They are a bit like the Game of Throne’s Iron Bank that way-

          ‘The (Russian Federation) will have its due’

          https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Iron_Bank_of_Braavos

          Reply ↓
11. AG August 30, 2025 at 9:08 am

    re: 10 years German immigration “crisis”

    This might be mostly for Germans.

    BERLINER ZEITUNG contacted several German “celebrities” who had publicly supported the opening of borders by Merkel in 2015 for an answer how they saw the issue looking back today.
    
    (I btw agreed with that decision but of course as an isolated action it was idiotic. But the truth behind immigration has not been acknowledged since, lest solved, of course.)

    Anyhow, not a single of those people responded to the inquiry of BERLINER ZEITUNG.
    That´s hard. They ALL declined an answer.

    Such people as Claudia Roth (Green Party, then Vice President of the German Bundestag), Dieter Zetsche (then Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG), Jan Böhmermann (TV Late Night Show host), or Reinhard Cardinal Marx (Catholic, then Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference).

    10 years of “We can do it” – From loud commitment to big silence:

    The silenced

    Ten years ago, the German federal government opened its borders to illegal migration. This decision found many prominent advocates at the time. Do people still see it the same way?

    machine-translation:
    https://archive.is/2MCem

    Reply ↓
    1. Daniil Adamov August 30, 2025 at 10:10 am

       It couldn’t be that hard to simply say they stand by their opinion of the time… Except that with the polarisation that seems to have vastly increased since then, perhaps they fear being pilloried by either side, whether they stand by it or admit to even the least bit of wavering?

       Reply ↓
       1. AG August 30, 2025 at 11:15 am

          Of course fear is behind it, too.
          But then what are they worth?
          These individuals als rich, influential, safe.
          And of course it´s easy to boast without anyone contradicting.

          This is what GREENS actually complained about late 2021 – well before the disastrous fallout of 2022+ – it was hard to implement their environmental agenda if circumstances are counter to it. Well, that´s politics my dear children…

          Reply ↓
    2. flora August 30, 2025 at 11:16 am

       From Bad Catittude about the latest news from Scotland. (And the pols and disconnected ‘elites’ wonder why regular citizens hate their open border policies? It’s almost like it was designed to destroy the white working class, the people who used to unionize for better wages. Nah, that can’t be what’s happening. )

       The Flower of Scotland.

       https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-flower-of-scotland

       Open borders is a WEF thing. Bernie called open borders the dream plan of the Koch Brothers. George S. wrote an open op-ed defining the program and insisting it would be implemented.

       Reply ↓
12. Afro August 30, 2025 at 9:11 am

    The White House’s Bizarre Defense of Chinese Foreign Students American Conservative

    *******

    Having taught at multiple American universities, I can confirm that foreign students are often among the best. They raise the standard. It’s also good to have American students exposed to students from other cultures.

    If I was a zillionaire, I’d set up something like the Rhodes scholarship, but instead of sending bright American youth to England, they’d go to China or Russia.

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk August 30, 2025 at 9:47 am

       They (foreign students) also pay the most.

       Reply ↓
    2. hk August 30, 2025 at 11:37 am

       In my experience, it’s been a mixed bag. Many foreign students come to US after being selected through competitive process and on national scholarships–they are invariably fantastic. Others are just good students who opted to come to US for school for various reasons (usually from rich families) and they tend to be pretty good on average, but not always. Then there are children of nouveux riches (or even not so nouveux ones) who come to US schools to party and think American colleges are a joke–I met a few of them, including Chinese, and my former institution wanted to actually solicit this subset–and these are execrable, the worst of the worst.

       Reply ↓
    3. caucus99percenter August 30, 2025 at 11:40 am

       A benefactor named Richard U. Light did do something along these lines, setting up a fellowship program where Yale students can live in China, Japan, or Korea for a year.

       https://light.yale.edu/

       Reply ↓
13. moog August 30, 2025 at 9:35 am

    Migrant riots have come to Switzerland Spectator

    It could very well have been a suburb of Paris or Lyon, but this was Lausanne, just along the lake from Geneva, in supposedly calm and orderly Switzerland.

    LOL, I love the comparison. Paris has become a benchmark for chaos. How do you say shithole in French? Le merde-something-something?

    Reply ↓
    1. hk August 30, 2025 at 11:38 am

       Sounds like stereotypical Swiss mindset, tbh….

       Reply ↓
14. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 9:39 am

    ‘Ibrahim Majed
    @ibrahimtmajed
    Aug 27
    Operation Hammer of God:
    U.S. and Israel Plan to Destroy Hezbollah Leaked Documents Reveal Blueprint for Lebanon Invasion’

    Yeah, nah! This sounds like a bs psyops story to put pressure on Lebanon to buckle under to Israeli/US demands – or else. But what is proposed here is a full scale invasion of the entirety of Lebanon. And if that happened, then Hezbollah would fire off every missile and drone against Israel they have under the use-it-or-lose-it principal this turning Israel into downtown Gaza city. Anyway, if the Israelis still haven’t broken Hamas, how will they defeat Hezbollah. Every time the IDF gets into a fair fight with an opponent, they get their clock cleaned and commenters like Douglas Macgregor have spoken disparagingly of the IDF’s quality.

    Reply ↓
15. Munchausen August 30, 2025 at 9:42 am

    Lindsey Graham Calls for Sanctions on Norway After Major BDS Move New Republic

    He should demand bombing of The Norwegian Nobel Committee. :)

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk August 30, 2025 at 10:09 am

       Sanctions! Sanctions!
       Read all about it
       Spin ball Wizard’s got a miracle cure
       Sanctions! Sanctions!
       Read all about it
       Sanctions!

       Good morning Campers!

       I’m your Uncle Lindsey
       And I’ll welcome you to Bibi’s Holiday Camp
       The camp with no conscience
       Nevermind the murder
       When you come to Tommy’s
       You’re iron-clad forever…., ha ha!

       Welcome…

       Music and cadence stolen from the Who’s rock opera “Tommy”.

       Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 10:17 am

       Hey, if Trump is not nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize the next time they meet, will he sanction the members of that committee?

       Reply ↓
       1. Carolinian August 30, 2025 at 10:59 am

          Their visas will be cancelled and smartphones seized.

          Reply ↓
          1. flora August 30, 2025 at 11:44 am

             You jest. However,

             US revokes visas of Palestinian president and other officials ahead of UN General Assembly

             https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-rubio-un-4bb2a424ecdd8805f9a7a153848b3ad7

             Who’s T’s daddy? / ;)

             Reply ↓
             1. Yves Smith Post authorAugust 30, 2025 at 12:32 pm

                Thanks for that link, but we do have that story, see the Jeffrey Sachs interview with Judge Napolitano.

                Reply ↓
                1. flora August 30, 2025 at 12:57 pm

                   Thanks.

                   Reply ↓
16. Wukchumni August 30, 2025 at 9:54 am

    Warning of ‘horrendous’ rat infestations after summer heatwaves Independent
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    We’ve had few heat waves in the Central Valley, but a rat infestation in the almond orchards like you wouldn’t believe.

    Central Valley almond farmers are losing the battle to a widespread rodent infestation that’s caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to crops throughout the region, impacting the entire industry.

    More than 100,000 acres of almond groves in Merced, Fresno, Kings and Kern counties have been affected by hungry roof rats that are gnawing on almond trees and destroying pricey irrigation equipment, according to a report by the Almond Board of California earlier this month. Preventing the invasion has been an ongoing effort since at least last year. In total, the financial toll to replace damaged crops and repair equipment is estimated to be as high as $310 million.

    https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/california-almond-farms-rat-infestation-20814345.php

    Reply ↓
17. AG August 30, 2025 at 9:57 am

    re: record-breaking crossing of Pacific
    
    3 Scottish brothers set a world record for fastest Pacific row
    https://apnews.com/article/australia-scottish-rowers-world-record-pacific-ef35e2e747770ded0c8d2e54a2d10e90

    I would have been impressed 60 years ago, but in the digital age, where is the danger…

    Reply ↓
    1. The Beeman August 30, 2025 at 11:58 am

       this part of the story makes me smile.

       “In the hours before their arrival, the eldest brother, Ewan, uploaded a video calling the marina ahead of their approach.
       “Do you have pizza and beer? I repeat, do you have pizza and beer? Over.”“

       Reply ↓
       1. AG August 30, 2025 at 12:48 pm

          It will potentially be a crowd pleaser in the movie theatre.

          Reply ↓
18. lyman alpha blob August 30, 2025 at 10:16 am

    RE: The White House’s Bizarre Defense of Chinese Foreign Students

    They really do think we’re stupid. From the article –

    “The cabinet secretary offered a curious defense of the proposal: It’s necessary to save American universities. “Well, the president’s point of view is that what would happen if you didn’t have those 600,000 students is that you’d empty them from the top, all the students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15 percent of universities and colleges would go out of business in America,” Lutnick replied. “So, his view is he’s taking a rational economic view, which is classic Donald Trump.” ”

    I don’t have numbers at my fingertips, but my understanding is that most Chinese students going to elite US universities are paying full tuition, essentially subsidizing USian students. And there are a lot of them. My kid is looking to go to college in Boston and we’ve visited a few times in recent months. A person dropped down from the sky by the banks of the river Charles might be excused for thinking they’d landed in Beijing rather than Boston. Even the pre-college summer program at a Boston school that my kid attended had a lot of Chinese nationals checking the place out. The kids who attend the lower tier US colleges which tend to be much less expensive are not suddenly going to be going to Harvard and paying full freight. It’s the top tier colleges which will suffer, with their endowments likely taking a hit. Or – the horror, the horror – administrative bloat might be cut to compensate for the lost revenue. This is all about elite rice bowls being smashed, not lesser known universities going belly up. Chinese nationals want to go to Stanford and Harvard, not University of Maine Machias in the middle of nowhere. The lead article in the local paper puts the lie to Lutnick’s claims –

    https://www.pressherald.com/2025/08/29/as-international-student-arrival-drops-nationally-maine-colleges-see-little-change/

    Reply ↓
19. IM Doc August 30, 2025 at 10:22 am

    0% of Democrats Happy with State of the US Right Now

    A few words from a bewildered former Democrat, now Independent, and that would be me.

    In the past, my wife and I have given generously ( very likely a bit too generously ) to various Dem campaigns and places like the DCCC and DNC. We stopped giving gradually as we noticed the Democratic Party and most recently the Biden Administration were turning the country into a Maoist struggle session. Watching how all of those initiatives have really taken a toll on my own profession of medicine has been an eye opener. Starting right around COVID, we just completely quit donating and soon thereafter quit voting for them. We have instead begun donating all of our money to local charities that are helping causes to support the less-fortunate in our community. I doubt we will ever go back to any political contributions. Giving money to the Dems at this point is like giving it to a black hole. We are bombarded weekly with emails and personal letters crying for cash – and according to the New York Times this week, most of any donations are going to pay off Kamala Harris’ huge deficit. I do not know about you, but I would much rather be giving money to local orphanages and homeless shelters rather than Megan Thee Stallion and Oprah Winfrey. The entire thing has really become a disgrace. I think this is a large part of the big ZERO as demonstrated in the link above.

    The Dem Party has really turned to cope. The past two weeks I have seen all kinds of missives about the imminent death of Trump. This has been even asked on our COVID email group right here. I just shake my head. If this is all they have, they are in serious trouble. You can go into any group of 70 or 80 somethings in this country ( I see this all day and every day) and see exactly the same hand and feet issues that the Dem operatives are spewing about Donald Trump. Every day. All day long. These things are part of being 70 something. That being said, as I tell every patient, the warranty expires at age 70. Any one over that age can drop at any moment from something, and organ systems can fail. It is part of being a human being. Our culture has completely lost sight of death and dying and doing so gracefully. We are all going to die. And there are possible consequences to electing anyone over that age to be President. I just cannot believe what I am seeing as the cope. It is truly something to behold.

    Each day he does not die, with the kind of suggestions these Rachel viewers are being drowned in, is even more days that the zero is going to become more agitated.

    My part of the zero percent is just the behavior of the Dems over the past 10 years or so. Literally everything is a lie, a distortion, a bamboozlement, a virtue-signalling performance. They are doing nothing, absolutely nothing, for the working class of this country.

    How many times did I personally witness a felony before the age of 21? ZERO. How many times have my children been visiting big blue cities and witnessed felonies? We are now up to 5. And yet we are told that any suggestion of a crime problem in those cities is just a huge exaggeration. This is the complete disconnect from reality. And this is just one example of many.

    Meanwhile, the other side is really getting sucked up into unwarranted triumphalism. Furthermore, it appears we are going to lower interest rates into an oncoming economic implosion…..what could possibly go wrong?

    But I just laugh out loud at all the Democratic handwringing – if this was all so important, why did the party nominate an obvious, severe dementia patient – and then follow that up with a dry ( or not so dry) drunk?

    Again, there are multiple reasons for the zero. Not the least of which is the complete failure of the Democratic Party. My wife and I as well as multiple other friends and family members have just decided to ride it out. No cash to politicos. Ever again. We are going to do what we can to improve conditions in our own little world. Make changes in the issues that are happening right in front of our eyes in our own community. And almost assuredly never vote for another Dem again until vast changes and accountability have occurred.

    Reply ↓
    1. anahuna August 30, 2025 at 12:13 pm

       Doc, there’s much to agree with in your post and your recommendations for local activity. Still, this paragraph seems to apply equally to Trump and the Republicans:

       “My part of the zero percent is just the behavior of the Dems over the past 10 years or so. Literally everything is a lie, a distortion, a bamboozlement, a virtue-signalling performance. They are doing nothing, absolutely nothing, for the working class of this country.”

       Reply ↓
20. antidlc August 30, 2025 at 10:24 am

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/covid-19-outbreak-forces-metro-234525158.html
    COVID-19 outbreak forces metro school to close until next week

    He said the public should consider reviving some forms of pandemic-era precautions, such as proper hand hygiene and avoiding unnecessary touching of the hands and eyes.

    Not a direct quote.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jason Boxman August 30, 2025 at 11:45 am

       “But we’ve all heard for the past few weeks either anecdotes of people who’ve been ill, or people in our community, or just specific communities who are having increasing numbers of COVID as well. I think this is one good example of that.”

       Heh.

       A quick look at “North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard“. ED visits are trending up. Surprise. But only for “COVID-like”, whatever that is. Why not, you know, test for COVID?

       Reply ↓
    2. curlydan August 30, 2025 at 11:54 am

       I visited a physician’s assistant yesterday in KC with a mask on. She asked me why the mask, and I said partly because a school shut down for a week in Kansas City, KS (the one mentioned in the story).

       I do some volunteer work in KCK public schools starting next week, and I think I’ll mask up there as well.

       Reply ↓
21. Trees&Trunks August 30, 2025 at 10:27 am

    Ooooo here is a goodie from the lovely country of Sweden

    I nominate Zelenskyy – deserves the Peace Prize
    The debater: The Ukrainian president is a true representative of peace

    Nothing says Nobel Peace Prize as 1.7 million dead of your own people.

    https://www-aftonbladet-se.translate.goog/debatt/a/Xjr3qn/jag-nominerar-zelenskyj-fortjanar-fa-fredspriset?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

    Maybe the next fool will suggest Netanyahu?

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian August 30, 2025 at 11:00 am

       Well Trump has suggested himself and that’s equivalent to suggesting Bibi since he indulges Netanyahu’s every whim.

       Reply ↓
       1. AG August 30, 2025 at 11:10 am

          ex aequo?

          Reply ↓
22. lyman alpha blob August 30, 2025 at 10:27 am

    Another way to throw a wrench into the “AI” machine – Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 10:35 am

       Could be worse. That Taco bell AI could start asking ‘And then…’

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqwzuiSy9y0 (2:39 mins)

       Reply ↓
23. XXYY August 30, 2025 at 10:46 am

    Israel’s Worsening PR Problem and Its Failure to Defeat Hamas, Larry C. Johnson

    I love Johnson, but I wish he and everyone else would stop saying things like this:

    I don’t think [Netanyahu] spinning on social media will salvage Israel’s well-earned reputation as a terrorist state that gleefully murders women and children.

    This is the kind of thing that people have been saying since the beginning of time, but I think we need to retire the idea that somehow men are expendable, either in time of war or for that matter during any other time when humans are being killed in vast numbers.

    Obviously our leaders love this formulation, since they greatly favor activities where they don’t need to worry about the lives or livelihood of the male gender: wars, dangerous workplaces, toxic industrial activities, or any other profitable elite pastimes that require large numbers of humans to be fed into the chopper. If they can tell themselves and everyone else that because only men are being killed, then their operation is somehow virtuous, this obviously lets them off the hook to a great degree.

    I like to think that in today’s world, most people would reject this premise if they had to say it outright, but it still seems to be lingering around in the backs of our brains and in certain patterns of speech and antiquated thinking.

    Let us henceforth reject the “gleeful murder” of people of any gender.

    Reply ↓
24. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 10:48 am

    “Israel’s Worsening PR Problem and Its Failure to Defeat Hamas”

    That Zeitoun battalion sounds a bit like the Persian Immortals, Every time somebody got killed, a replacement would be sent up so that formation would stay intact. Sounds too like that it is not so much a battalion as a large number of hunter-killer teams hiding out in the rubble that the Israelis themselves have created. Mind you, I don’t expect in 50 years time to see an IDF-Zeitoun Battalion Reunion Event.

    Reply ↓
25. The Rev Kev August 30, 2025 at 11:01 am

    “People, ideas machines XIII”

    Considering that this is Dominic Cummings writing this, I think that the whole thing is suspect. All a Cabinet is is a sort of executive committee but obviously politicians do love their games. But he seems to want to do away with permanent public officials, even though many of them are already being replaced with ‘consultants’. As Cummings is also an admirer of Musk’s DOGE, I could see him trying to get the UK to have their own version of DOGE to clear the way of public servants in favour of those that would have financial interest’s at heart to have yet even more say in the UK government.

    Reply ↓
26. DJG, Reality Czar August 30, 2025 at 11:18 am

    The Venezuela situation: I have been thinking of Venezuela and the gunboats. I am having a vu jà dé.

    It seems to me that the demonization of the presidents of a country with many natural resources, much like Russia’s mineral wealth (and Venezuela’s outsized petroleum reserves), and the invention of pretexts to confront such resource-rich country, and the search for pretexts to provoke a war, why, I’d say that the Ukraine Adventure is a thoroughly dysfunctional rehearsal for Venezuela.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Although the U S of A better get to work and find some nice khaki sweatshirts for Juan Guaidó.

    I’m sure Nancy Pelosi can be enlisted in a wildly witty Xitter meme campaign. Snake Island Venezuela!

    Stay tuned.

    Nancy and Juan, plotting revolution, with Juan who “we consider to be the president”:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRh2JeliY2w

    Reply ↓
    1. DJG, Reality Czar August 30, 2025 at 11:25 am

       Further on the glories of U.S. foreign policy and negotiations with a resource-rich country:

       Hillary Clinton, snivelling about man-spreading.

       https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hillary-clinton-putin-manspreading-sexist-b2105339.html

       Unfortunately, in the past six or eight years, this article, and Clinton’s attitudes, hasn’t changed much.

       Obviously, man-spreading is a good reason to move masses of long-range missiles into Ukraine.

       Hillary Clinton, the mind boggles. Even Samuel Beckett wouldn’t have put her and her compulsive babbling in Waiting for Godot.

       Reply ↓
27. Tom Stone August 30, 2025 at 11:34 am

    I finally caught Covid @ 5 weeks ago, now confirmed with a test, A “Mild Case” of razorblade Covid with symptoms that lasted a day.
    Since then I have experienced four minor cardiac events that involved shortness of breath, night sweats, swollen ankles and angina,which responded to Nitro.
    I’ll be getting an echo cardiogram on the 5th which will hopefully provide more information.
    It’s been a heck of a ride, I plan to enjoy the beauty each day brings me and leave with a laugh.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jason Boxman August 30, 2025 at 11:47 am

       I’m sorry to hear that; hit my dad a month ago, despite masking, and only a few quick trips that week to like Lowes and the grocery store. How is a mystery. Was bad enough swallowing treatment wasn’t possible without a liquid steroid.

       I wish you a speedy recovery!

       Reply ↓
    2. ambrit August 30, 2025 at 1:10 pm

       Do let us know the results. I’m pushing into your age cohort and am beginning to notice the signs of impending physical dissolution.
       I was thinking that the medical wealth extraction “infection” could possibly respond to a course of treatment with Nitro Express.
       Hang in there. The young’ns will need all the functional elders they can get to navigate their way through the coming “Time of Troubles.”
       “All that was old is new again.”
       Stay safe.

       Reply ↓
28. NotTimothyGeithner August 30, 2025 at 11:47 am

    It’s Lee Corso’s last College Game Day. I walked by him once in Tallahassee. He was perfect.

    Me: (As I walked by a gentleman in a Holiday Inn Suites in Tallahassee; Gameday was in town; I was helping my sister move) You are Lee Corso!

    Corso: (I had spun around, but he had clearly turned at a normal pace) I sure am.

    Reply ↓
    1. Norton August 30, 2025 at 12:59 pm

       There was a Lee Corso tribute Not So Fast, My Friend on ESPN last week and maybe it is still available on demand. Well worth the search.

       I met him in a hotel elevator just before he was going to speak at an event.

       Reply ↓
29. Jason Boxman August 30, 2025 at 11:48 am

    Hilarious.

    The Nobel Prize and a Testy Phone Call: How the Trump-Modi Relationship Unraveled (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was losing patience with President Trump.

    Mr. Trump had been saying — repeatedly, publicly, exuberantly — that he had “solved” the military conflict between India and Pakistan, a dispute that dates back more than 75 years and is far deeper and more complicated than Mr. Trump was making it out to be.

    Trump truly is a selfish gasbag.

    And NY Times always has its eye on the ball, eh

    The dispute has played out against the backdrop of trade talks of immense importance to India and the United States, and the fallout risks pushing India closer to American adversaries in Beijing and Moscow. Mr. Modi is expected to travel to China this weekend, where he will meet with President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

    (bold mine)

    Reply ↓
30. Tom Stone August 30, 2025 at 11:52 am

    The Trump administration is continuing to escalate its war on the American People and I predict that at some point the resistance will become violent.
    When that happens I expect the Trump Administration to go totally berserk, No limits, no boundaries.
    Which is the usual result of abandoning the Rule of Law, there’s nothing left but force.
    When the only tool you have is a hammer you are likely to end up with a very sore thumb.

    Reply ↓
31. Jason Boxman August 30, 2025 at 12:14 pm

    Targeting Iran’s Leaders, Israel Found a Weak Link: Their Bodyguards (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Israel was able to track the movements of key Iranian figures and assassinate them during the 12-day war this spring by following the cellphones carried by members of their security forces.

    It’s been clear for 20 years that cell phone usage is a liability; And Israel hasn’t been shy about conducting assassinations in Iran. I think sheer convenience frequently overrides security and privacy considerations.

    The meeting was so secret that only the attendees, a handful of top Iranian government officials and military commanders, knew the time and location.

    It was June 16, the fourth day of Iran’s war with Israel, and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council gathered for an emergency meeting in a bunker 100 feet below a mountain slope in the western part of Tehran. For days, a relentless Israeli bombing campaign had destroyed military, government and nuclear sites around Iran, and had decimated the top echelon of Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists.

    The officials, who included President Masoud Pezeshkian, the heads of the judiciary and the intelligence ministry and senior military commanders, arrived in separate cars. None of them carried mobile phones, knowing that Israeli intelligence could track them.

    (bold mine)

    Not immediately called out, but obvious, is that Israel tried to assassinate the president of Iran. The goal was/is clearly regime change.

    According to Iranian and Israeli officials, Iranian security guards’ careless use of mobile phones over several years — including posting on social media — played a central role in allowing Israeli military intelligence to hunt Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders and the Israeli Air Force to swoop in and kill them with missiles and bombs during the first week of the June war.

    Convenience.

    Reply ↓
32. Jabura Basadai August 30, 2025 at 12:17 pm

    don’t see a link where this could be attached as an appropriate comment/observation –
    a friend from the west coast sent me this link today that the commentariat may find interesting –
    https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/why-a-two-tier-medicare-system-may-be-on-the-horizon/

    Reply ↓
33. DJG, Reality Czar August 30, 2025 at 12:29 pm

    Relic Watch! The Shroud of the Chocolate City. Fraud, ambition, mayhem.

    Just when you were thinking, Oh, no!, is it possible that Bill & Hill are frauds? Now the shroud.

    I backed into this, and the detective work is a heck of a lot more interesting than Sweatily Ambitious Tom Cotton and Sweatily Ambitious Pete Buttigieg put together:

    Even in the 1300s, after this particular shroud showed up (along with several others, and who knew?), it had a whiff of fraud. Long article with wonderful details. I note that in 1453 the Savoys, who are wilier than the Windsors, got their hands on it, and the rest is the history of the Chocolate City.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03044181.2025.2546884#inline_frontnotes

    Summary news article of the above journal article.
    https://www.medievalists.net/2025/08/medieval-scholar-shroud-of-turin-fake/

    Italian video by a historian, with a mess o’ comments of all kinds:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4oLWyKcj9E

    More on Nicole Oresme, who was one of those wonderful, wild medieval/renaissance figures who got into everything. Note that he invented mathematical graphs for speed / velocity, well before the Cartesian business.
    https://www.dam.brown.edu/people/mumford/beyond/coursenotes/2006PartIb.pdf

    Reply ↓
34. MicaT August 30, 2025 at 12:36 pm

    Solar/china/africa
    Not just solar panels but everything else too. Inverters, batteries, wire, meters, racks, controllers, breakers etc.

    I take offense at the term cheap.
    15 years ago maybe, now it’s solid good to great quality. Inexpensive for sure, but not cheap.

    Reply ↓
35. Tom Stone August 30, 2025 at 12:56 pm

    So CPB is rounding up Lakota…they prolly intend to deport them to New Mexico because they are Red (Redskins, that is).
    That’s the Trump administration in a nutshell and I do mean nuts.

    Reply ↓
    1. Daniil Adamov August 30, 2025 at 1:01 pm

       “That’s the Trump administration in a nutshell and I do mean nuts.”

       As well as hell?

       Reply ↓
36. OIFVet August 30, 2025 at 1:08 pm

    Andriy Parubiy has been assassinated in Lvov. It could be the Russians but as Mark Ames points out, it is quite likely to be the result of internal struggles and score-settling. Regardless, the outpouring of homages and mourning from senior EUrocrats is very telling, particularly when they refer to him as a “Symbol of the Maidan.”

    Reply ↓
37. .Tom August 30, 2025 at 1:15 pm

    > The ghost in the Kremlin’s corridors: Yevgeny Primakov’s lasting power Brian McDonald (Colonel Smithers). Important

    McDonald sets it out in his 2nd paragraph. “The current talks with the United States won’t lead to Obama-era resets or Reagan-esque grand bargains. What Moscow wants is simpler: a) time, b) leverage, and c) a spread of options.” And the greatest of these is time. McDonald said that Moscow only has to wait for political change on France, Germany, and UK but I think Russia can wait for other trends to work in their favor too. Thanks to NC we can see the rough shape of the economic trends. The social trends are already visible, especially in UK, Germany and USA but these will also follow the economics. And Israel will drag its allies and supporters down to its level in international standing.

    Reply ↓