Links 8/5/2025

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28 comments

1. Terry Flynn August 5, 2025 at 7:19 am

   Texas not alone. Supreme example of look over here whilst what’s going on is over there. Starmer’s stupid online access bill is diverting attention from the HUGE gerrymandering operation going on in local government.

   I’m trying to alert everyone locally online and leaflet dropping on my “good” days what this means for Nottinghamshire

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2. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 7:23 am

   ‘Olga Bazova
   @OlgaBazova
   The US might start experiencing what Russia has gone through in the 90s, something that was coined as “the great brain drain”, but for completely different reasons – “failing to promote a research environment free of anti-Semitism and bias” – for instance.’

   Come 2028 there is going to have to be a damage assessment for the American scientific establishment and the damage by then will be EPIC. In the past, Republican hostility to government scientific experts testifying before panels was noted. It seems that this hostility to science experts is now playing out as the Republicans punish those experts by defunding their work and maybe it is on ideological grounds or maybe just personal petty dislikes. This whole bizzo about “antisemitism” is just a convenient excuse and nothing more. By 2028 they will not be able to hide all this damage and they will own it lock, stock and barrel. Will they try to present it as more “winning”?

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   1. Acacia August 5, 2025 at 8:35 am

      This. It will take a couple of years to get the numbers but it’s safe to predict they will look pretty bad. Scientists and academics who can leave the US will give serious consideration to doing so, and there will be opportunities, e.g.:

      French university courts American researchers seeking “scientific asylum” amid Trump’s academic cuts
      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-trump-white-house-college-cuts-harvard-aixmarseille/

      And Japan is making a similar offering:

      Ishiba aims to gain researchers in the U.S. fleeing Trump’s policies
      https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15822553

      And it’s not just for faculty:

      Regarding international students, the education ministry has asked Japanese universities to accept those affected by the Trump administration’s attack against Harvard University and other U.S. schools.

      Why study in the US when your visa could be nixed or you might even be grabbed by ICE agents?

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   2. vao August 5, 2025 at 9:01 am

      Contra this, the past few years have seen so much gaslighting and dissembling regarding Covid, so much sustained FDU (fear, doubt, uncertainty) actions against climatology, so much goofups at NASA, so many scandals of plagiarism, fabricated data, and spectacular retractions (see all the trouble in the domain of Alzheimer research), that the reputation of science and scentists has been durably damaged — not necessarily through their fault, but they are all stained.

      Therefore, in 2028 it is also conceivable that after the on-going rampaging by Trump, neo-liberals, libertarians, DOGE & co, most people will have so many more problems to deal with, will be so much more economically devastated, that the fate of fancy mathematicians and other scientists in their universities and research labs, and the damage done to basic science will just elicit shrugs in the populace.

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3. Terry Flynn August 5, 2025 at 7:41 am

   First person close to me who clearly has Nimbus variant. I knew it was coming to Midlands. Nasty variant. It’s been largely circulating in north West till now.

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4. LadyXoc August 5, 2025 at 7:51 am

   UK military captured in Ukraine: here’s link from Pravda. https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/08/02/1562801.html

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   1. ilsm August 5, 2025 at 8:48 am

      Tip of a closely guarded iceberg.

      There are thousands of US, UK, German etc “technicians” in Kiev operating and servicing billions of US $ in high tech weapons, rushed to Kiev to use to attrit Russia……

      Level of training to support the west’s donation wunder-waffen far exceeds any capacity in Kiev, would require years of schooling!

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   2. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 9:07 am

      I’ve heard it said that the British military/spooks were raised on heroic commando films like “The Heroes of Telemark”, “The Cockleshell Heroes”, “Operation Crossbow”, “Force 10 from Navarone”, “The Guns of Navarone”, etc. and we see this in the Ukraine with British inspired ops like the attack on the civilian Kersh bridge for example. Turns out that Russian special ops are no slackers either which I hope those two British offices and spook will ponder in their captivity. Those are three pretty big cards that the Russians now have and claims that they were just “war tourists” have already fallen flat. I don’t expect them to be released before this war ends.

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   3. mahna August 5, 2025 at 9:37 am

      Source: Telegram

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5. Wukchumni August 5, 2025 at 7:51 am

   The exodus at night
   Politicians not of the right
   Depart the heart of Texas

   Denying quorum
   Heinz 57 swarm
   Depart the heart of Texas

   Abbott wails
   He’s on their trail
   Depart the heart of Texas

   The rabid right
   Coming up light
   Depart the heart of Texas

   The chickenhawks
   Are full of squawks
   Depart the heart of Texas

   The Pachyderms bawl
   And say “eff you all”
   Depart the heart of Texas

   The Donkey Show cries
   “Ka-yippie aye!” (Woo-hoo!)
   Depart the heart of Texas

   That’s why perhaps
   They take no chance
   Depart the heart of Texas

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6. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 8:10 am

   “Bolsonaro Placed Under House Arrest by Brazil’s Supreme Court”

   Understandable when you think about it. Trump might get it into his mind to send in Delta Force to rescue his buddy and I would not put it past him. It worked for Mussolini. But even worse would be if Bolsanaro ducked into the US Embassy or one of the EU Embassies asking for sanctuary. That would turn Bolsanaro into a cause célèbre for Trump and there would be one threat after another against Brazil forever and a day. Better to lock this jerk up at home to close down those options.

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7. Wukchumni August 5, 2025 at 8:17 am

   Trump tariffs, tiffs tied to NYC tourism drop are ‘catastrophically’ affecting business Gothamist
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   The same thing is happening in Pavlovegas (voted #1 city in Reinforcement Times) for foreigners are staying away in droves and not dribs nor drabs.

   When your country makes it official through words* and actions that foreigners aren’t really welcomed here-guess what?

   ..they got the message

   * simulated US Customs official rifling through your smartphone upon entry to the USA and finds a gem:

   ‘I see you made a post on Facebook on June 11, 2014 that you really detest Jerusalem Artichokes. i’m afraid you are refused entry in the country and have a nice flight back home, goodbye.’

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   1. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 8:32 am

      I’ve read a coupla articles how Las Vegas has really been hit hard by people, well, not turning up. I do not know if this is true or not but one article was saying that the past coupla years, Las Vegas has been downgrading low-spenders in order to concentrate of high-spenders instead. I suppose one way would be to raise prices overall to discourage the plebs in favour of the big-spenders but I don’t know how accurate that article was-

      ‘Hey, big spender
      Spend a little time with me’

      Nope!

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      1. Henry Moon Pie August 5, 2025 at 8:46 am

         Let’s hear Peggy Lee sing it.

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      2. Wukchumni August 5, 2025 at 8:49 am

         I think its a number of factors hitting all at once…

         Sports betting online has more draw than hanging out with strangers awaiting the turn of a card or the roll of dice, there’s relatively instant gratification punting that the next pitch will be a curve (3-1 odds) and you’ve covered the action, winner winner-chicken dinner.

         Vegas suffers in a way similar to Hollywood making films, where once upon a time both had rather exclusive turf in both regards, but along came Atlantic City and Native American casinos sicced onto Sin City, and a digital spider did away with the silver screen’s tight grip on the end product.

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      3. Pat August 5, 2025 at 9:10 am

         Was wandering through Reddit for other reasons and there are multiple threads on how bad it is in Vegas. As an old Broadway veteran I might put a lot of their current woes on tourism, but apparently the locals and frequent visitors think there are a few other prominent reasons than just tariffs and ICE for the decline of tourists.
         The number one reason listed is the ready availability of Native American casinos and online gambling. Why fly hours when you can get to a casino in about an hour or bet in the comfort of your own home.
         The rising costs of visiting Vegas is the next. And it is also big. Nothing is free or cheap anymore. Hotels charge for parking. The buffets are no bargain and the casinos have eliminated the nickel slots and the dollar and five dollar tables.
         Entertainment is limited, expensive and almost exclusively adult. There is little in the current Vegas for kids. No more family friendly casino/hotels.
         Sure almost all of this is largely domestic tourism, but also from those threads that was the majority of Vegas’ business previously.

         I am sure there have been other effects of Trump policies there, but from this it appears that it was self inflicted private equity style wounds after a disruption in the market.

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   2. ilsm August 5, 2025 at 8:52 am

      We took a “Sunday drive” north of the Boston, Ma area. Maybe 100 miles on interstates.

      Remarkable was the scarcity of Canadian license plates!

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      1. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 9:17 am

         Turns out that Canada is 3,855,100 sq miles/9,984,670 km2 in size while the United States is actually a bit smaller at 3,796,742 sq miles/9,833,520 km2. So for Trump to demand that they just become just another itty-bitty State to be also plundered by Wall Street may have been an insult too much. Canadians are voting with their wallets and purses and this may get more and more entrenched over the next three and a half years. Heckuva job, Donnie.

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8. Henry Moon Pie August 5, 2025 at 8:40 am

   Somebody is getting ready. I ran across this local TV news investigation of a Christian Dominionist group buying land in central Tennessee. The reporter finds ties with Andreeson (as investor) and Vance (as buddy). The idea is to import enough fellow believers to take over the county–first. At least some of the locals are not pleased.

   This is the same basic line of development projected (prophesied?) by Octavia Butler in the Parable series.

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9. Joseph Samms August 5, 2025 at 8:45 am

   I’ve been a supported of NC since 2010. Today I thought I was getting my regular Nakedcapitalism fix, but somehow seem to have redirected to X/Twitter. What’s going on?

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   1. katiebird August 5, 2025 at 8:49 am

      Where did you get the link that redirected you? Was it something we sent?

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10. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 8:49 am

    ‘Li Zexin 李泽欣
    @XH_Lee23
    Hidden genius from the masses! A talented Chinese DIY maker has 3D-printed an incredible all-terrain robot that conquers land, water, and air with ease.’

    In wartime this would be the stuff of nightmare fuel. They would be like scuttling, black, killer spiders that can suddenly start flying at you. And I bet that they can hide in bushes and trees as well if need be.

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    1. Ben Joseph August 5, 2025 at 9:36 am

       I cannot fathom how anybody would NOT have their dystopia alarm going nuts. ‘Genius…conquers with ease’! Come pillage me my future oppressors!

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11. Munchausen August 5, 2025 at 8:58 am

    Russian Special Ops Forces Capture Three British “Soldiers” Larry Johnson. Readers dismissed this story due to some social media accounts including fake videos. Johnson says he has some corroboration from an intel source.

    Larry features an obvious AI generated image (jusl look at that Kalashnikov on the left). He references BORZZIKMAN’s Youtube channel (which is clickbait crap, to put it politely), and the Eurasia Daily. The Eurasia Daily references the Norwegian publication Steigan.
    https://steigan.no/2025/08/storbritannias-hemmelige-krig-ulovlig-utplassering-av-britiske-offiserer-i-ukraina/
    Machine translation of it says:

    We reported on British officers in uniform, Colonels Edward Blake and Richard Carroll, who were allegedly captured by Russian special forces while participating in the war against Russia in Ukraine.
    Our fact-checking was inadequate, so we have decided to delete the article.

    “A source from French intelligence” sounds more like “a rumor is on the street” than “from the horses mouth”.

    Larry says that this could be circular reporting, but to me it seems more like human centipede reporting, pardon my French.

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    1. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 9:21 am

       Could be. But when you think about it, unless the Russians parade them on TV, how would you get confirmation about this? This would be one of those shoot-self-after-reading secrets.

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12. Mass Driver August 5, 2025 at 9:10 am

    China is preparing to neutralize Starlink, and the toolkit they’re studying reads like a defense contractor fever dream.🧵
    — Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) August 3, 2025

    • Submarines equipped with orbital-range lasers, proposed as stealth sea-based ASAT nodes

    LOL, what a load of bollocks. Not a surface ship, but a submarine, because it sounds more badass. You can’t get more stealth than a surfaced submarine shining a mega-laser at the skies. Sounds like something Trump would order so that Russians would see that the two submarines have arrived at the designated location. :)

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13. DJG, Reality Czar August 5, 2025 at 9:19 am

    Colin Cornaby writes A Modest Proposal.

    With this gem: “Listen. First – you need to calm down. This is the sort of emotional response I’m talking about. You’re clearly irrationally anti microwave. And that sounds like a next quarter problem – and we don’t talk about next quarter problems.”

    Worth a read, just for his ability to take a joke all the way out the door and then some.

    Yet the point remains: How many times in U.S. culture has a twisted, burdensome solution been offered to a problem? That everyone then felt obliged to dance around as the latest shiny idol: The Great Awakening (I and II). Prohibition. Shopping on the Internet. Branding, branding yourself. Twitter. Salvation by faith alone. Hula hoops. Hydration. Selfies.

    Till people began to suspect that salvation by faith alone is just one more blue hula hoop.

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14. The Rev Kev August 5, 2025 at 9:39 am

    ‘Volcaholic 🌋
    @volcaholic1
    Rare snow in Australia….
    “I’ve never seen anything like this before in my entire life!’

    Seen lots of images of snow in rural eastern Oz and a cousin says that she is getting snow in Armidale. Even got some snow in southern Queensland along the Granite belt from what I hear. I bet our ski resorts are laughing all the way to the bank. Damn, I miss the snow.

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