Breathtaking cycling featspic.twitter.com/3YL1zyvvXG
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 5, 2025
Neoliberalism Comes for the Warfare State Compact
Against Re-Enchantment Plough
A Single, ‘Naked’ Black Hole Rewrites the History of the Universe Quanta Magazine
Yes, this is who we are: America’s 250-year history of political violence The Conversation
COVID-19/Pandemics
New global collaboration uses UC Davis experts and AI to spot the next pandemic UC Davis Health
School closures during COVID created massive long-term costs with limited health benefits News-Medical.net
Climate/Environment
Weakening Gulf Stream System Could Unleash Global Chaos SciTech Daily
Can Bipartisan Support in Congress Save NOAA From White House Cuts? Inside Climate News
China?
Chinese researchers on Tuesday unveiled their self-developed world’s first “bone glue” material capable of securely bonding fractured bone fragments within 2-3 minutes in a blood-rich environment.
Inspired by oysters, this new biomaterial, with a maximum adhesion strength of over… pic.twitter.com/7ozvRrQBP0— China Science (@ChinaScience) September 10, 2025
US condemns Beijing’s South China Sea ‘nature reserve’ plan Al JazeeraChina massively overbuilt high-speed rail, says leading economic geographer Pekingnology
Chart Shows China Winning Global Clean Energy Race Newsweek
Is China’s stock rally a bubble or just the start of more gains? Investing.com
India
India’s opportune moment to break out of its global value chain conundrum East Asia Forum
Nepal
Nepal appoints first woman prime minister on interim basis as calm restored following Gen-Z protests Euro news
Sushila Karki: How Gen Z protestors chose Nepal’s first woman prime minister on Discord The Independent
South of the Border
Mexico acting ‘under coercion to constrain’ China with 50% tariff on cars, says Beijing The Guardian
Mexico touts progress in fight against cartels along northern border Border Report
For the first time in its history, Brazil sentences military officers and a former president for attempting a coup d’état Global Voices
The end of Milei’s single-issue government Buenos Aires Times
Africa
Prospects for democratic resilience in Africa during uncertain times Brookings
African leaders unveil $150 billion green plan to make the continent a climate powerhouse Business Insider
European Disunion
The U.S.-Europe Divide on How to Hurt Moscow Foreign Policy
Europe Faces Four Self-Inflicted Crises RealClear Politics
European genuflection to America Press TV
Europe’s future depends on dismantling the EU — part two Thomas Fazi substack
Old Blighty
Why a decline in the UK’s university sector is a threat to GDP Euro News
London protests live: Over 100,000 gather for Tommy Robinson ‘Unite the kingdom’ march The Independent
Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran
Peak hypocrisy is showing concern for Israeli hostages, yet ignoring the fact that Israel is running the world’s largest hostage-taking operation. This is in the West Bank, not Gaza.
Netanyahu kills his own and kidnaps ours. pic.twitter.com/5aPyp74kLZ
— Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman) September 12, 2025
350,000 civilians forcibly displaced in latest Israeli assault on Gaza City Andolu AgencyIsraeli soldiers, and their mothers, increasingly reject calls to return to Gaza AP
Houthis Announce Death Toll from Israeli Strikes in Yemen: 46 Killed, 165 Wounded Yemen Online
Doha attack tests Qatar’s DC machine Politico</
Mamdani, if Elected Mayor, Pledges to Order N.Y.P.D. to Arrest Netanyahu NY Times
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine: Trump tells NATO allies to stop buying Russian oil DW
Hopes for Ukraine peace falter as Russian drones and joint drills fuel unease RFI
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
LA County Moves to Protect SNAP Recipients’ Privacy from USDA Demand My RCNS
Imperial Collapse Watch
Los Angeles residents’ fury over massive homeless encampment stealing their electricity Daily Mail
Trump 2.0
Trump’s criticizing Dem governors with 2028 in mind Axios
Trump Can Have Booming Growth or Deportations, Not Both RealClear Markets
The Standard for ‘Vicious’ Speech Trump Laid Out After Kirk’s Murder Would Implicate Trump Himself Reason
Trump eyes federal takeover of blue city with highest violent crime rate in US: ‘Deeply troubled’ Fox News
Musk Matters
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says Elon Musk got DOGE ‘backward’ Business Insider
Tesla shifts focus to robotics amid investor scrutiny Cryptopolitan
Tesla Chair Defends Musk’s SpaceX, xAI Ventures Amid Sales Slump Fears WebPro News
Democrat Death Watch
Some hard truths for Democrats amidst the despair Colorado Politics
Battenfeld: Democrats want hearts of voters, but party has lost its heart Boston Herald
Immigration
Families in crisis after massive immigration raid at Hyundai plant in Georgia AP
Immigration Agents Held a U.S. Citizen—and Veteran—for 3 Days Without Checking His ID Reason
Our No Longer Free Press
Republicans pledge censorship crackdown to avenge Charlie Kirk’s death The Verge
USA: IFJ joins call against visas restrictions for foreign journalists International Federation of Journalists
Mr. Market Is Moody
Analysis-US dollar bears think record slide may resume after recent pause Reuters
Fed unwind and US Treasury buildup drive up short-term borrowing costs Cryptopolitan
AI
"GPT-5 moves from human-comparable to above human-expert performance"
GPT-5 outperforms licensed human experts by 25-30% and achieves SOTA results on the US medical licensing exam and the MedQA benchmark.
I sound like a broken record, but AI models are better than most doctors. pic.twitter.com/ftId4TjWQd
— Deedy (@deedydas) August 27, 2025
World’s first AI minister will eliminate corruption, says Albania’s PM BBCCould humans and AI become a new evolutionary individual? PNAS
AI is opening a MAGA-Trump split Politico
How AI is disrupting the photography business Axios
Lila Sciences Secures $235M Funding, Hits Unicorn Status in AI Biotech WebPro News
The Bezzle
4 arrested in Miami-Dade for allegedly staging car accidents to collect insurance payouts CBS News
Victims in S’pore lost a total of $126.5m to this scam type in 6 months The Straights Times
Guillotine Watch
Cartier ''Eternity'' Emerald and Diamond Snake necklace.
This gorgeous piece needed 6000 hours to be crafted and was made from 26 emeralds, two emeralds of 206 and 205 karats (the largest ones in the world) and 3957 diamonds, it's value goes up to an approximate of $12 million. pic.twitter.com/uTjayNbph4— K (@imthespecialk) January 16, 2024
SANA sporting a $46 million necklace at a Graff event, holding the record for the most expensive celebrity jewelry on a red carpet. pic.twitter.com/XhiardYgsI
— Twice Fashion Data (@twoisefansi) June 5, 2025
This is the most valuable necklace in the world.
The full name of the necklace is Mouawad “L’Incomparable” and contains the largest flawless diamond in the world (407.48 carats), also know as the Incomparable. It also contains a further 102 diamonds cut into various shapes.
It… pic.twitter.com/zJH9Yw7XNH
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) January 9, 2024
Antidote du jour (via)
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
“London protests live: Musk tells Tommy Robinson protesters ‘fight back or die’ as 25 arrested during huge march”
So is Musk actually calling for regime change in the UK while inciting violence to authorities? Pretty tall talk from a pretty small man. And he thinks that Tommy Robinson is the answer? I can’t think of any question where the answer is ‘Tommy Robinson’. He is sort of the Navalny of the UK.
Not only that, but Tommy Robinson, is heavily funded by Zionists. He is frequently photographed wearing IDF and Mossad logo clothing, and for all the flag waving of the St George cross, there were plenty of Star of David flags on display among the demonstration in London yesterday.
25 arrests at a violent protest that left several police injured, and featured a prominent call for the downfall of the government, compared to last weekend’s 900 arrests for holding cardboard signs at a peaceful protest against genocide. That’s certainly sending a message to the population of our fair nation (facepalm).
“He is sort of the Navalny of the UK.”
I thought that was Farage – an Internet-savvy youth-appealing bridge between “normal” centre-right politics and far-right rabble-rousing. Robinson seems more like one of those people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_Against_Illegal_Immigration
“He is sort of the Navalny of the UK.”
In the sense that he’s funded and advanced by foreign powers to the detriment of legitimate local government, yes.
I can’t think of any question where the answer is ‘Tommy Robinson’
Which inflammatory rabble-rouser did time for assault and mortgage fraud? I’ll take mini-messiahs for $500, Rev.
Wrong. The answer to your question is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. If he wants to change his name to Robinson, he should do so by deedpoll; it’s not that difficult.
Dang!, SNL
(TikTok)
So is Musk actually calling for regime change in the UK
I don’t think there is anything the tech lords don’t want to break
Reminiscent of post Soviet oligarch attitide: break everything, steal them and sell them off, and escape the jurisdiction, whether by leaving or by subverting the state to exempt themselves….
Next, he will buy Chelsea F.C.
Musk is like the Jacques Necker of both the USA & UK, a foreigner who fvcks things up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Necker
Re: biking video
We have a most excellent mountain bike course here in Tiny Town-and my cycling is limited to the Tour de Burning Man, but a lot of friends enjoy hurting themselves on our demanding course, so much so that everybody I know has broken something en route, wrists, collarbones, knees, elbows, you name it.
If I was smart, I’d open a small health clinic in the parking lot…
https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/blood-guts-and-tarweed-mountain-biking-foothills-sequoia-national-park/
Regarding those bicycle acrobatics in mountains: recently, one of those “extreme bikers” died after falling 200m. I saw one of his gopro videos (biking on a ridge in a high mountain), and I just thought that what he was doing was simply suicidal.
Horrible way to go that. It must have taken a few seconds to fall that 200m and he could see what was about to happen to him but was totally helpless.
When people offer up the inane “he died doing what he loved” platitude, I always wonder what kind of a person loves hitting the ground at 200kph. 🤔
I’d prefer to have a heart attack and pass away @ the 2nd Mosquito Lake in Mineral King in Sequoia NP…
…than die of a heart attack at the Sequoia Mall in Visalia, given my druthers
The view for all eternity…
https://www.hikingwalking.com/index.php/destinations/ca/ca_sws/mineral_king/mosquito_lakes
Aye. I love biking and when a see those videos I only can think on why oh why facing those enormous risks.
Clicks, likes and sponsorships?
It fits in the picture of a highly decadent society, since those “extreme” activities tend towards similar morbid shows and thrills as gladiatorial combats of yore.
But are you not entertained?
Not me. It gives me the creeps and that does not qualify as entertainment.
I should have given the reference here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbBiXPVKuTA (2:15 mins)
As a 11 year old kid in 1973, heroes were few and far between, and along comes Evel in the guise of a guy who jumps over stuff!
We all emulated Evel by making bike ramps and pushing the envelope on just how far a Schwinn Sting-Ray could go, and then my brother broke his arm so bad he was in traction for a few weeks. It kind of soured us at about the same time as the Snake Canyon fiasco, so I gave it up and never looked back, except today.
My 1966 Sting-Ray was royal blue with a silver fleck seat! And yes, we built a ramp, too. For bikes and Super Surfer skate boards. Landscape was flat as a pancake, so no hills. The highest point within 50 miles was the lift-span draw bridge which was off-limits. My worst accident was “surfing” holding on to a rope tied to a bicycle and hitting a stone. The skateboard stopped. I did not. When I stopped rolling down the sidewalk and sat up the skateboard hit me in the back of the head. That was enough for me. My father was sitting on the front porch. Never moved a muscle except to ask if I was okay. Except for road rash and a bump on the head, yes. And a little humiliation. His was the proper reaction compared to what I have seen in parents since my children came into this world in the 1980s and 90s.
We had hills a plenty and would think of all kinds of ways, with my favorite being ‘parachutes’ made out of old bed sheets that were about 6 feet wide with cords, that we’d release somehow and it would slow us down bombing down a hill on a skateboard or bicycle.
My 1972 Sting-Ray was metallic blue, and frankly the pinnacle of possessions from my childhood…
…rosebud
There is no such thing as a non-decadent hero cult; all of them are fundamentally inseparable from the love of lying and predation that constructs and maintains them. The Western “tradition” is only the merger of three of these, which explains a lot about the present state of things.
Two weeks ago I lost control of my new skinny-tire e-bike on an urban arterial, took a header, and dislocated my shoulder. I went down three times on my e-bike…twice in 50 years of regularly riding 10-speeds.
Advice to anyone interested in getting an e-bike…get a fat-tire bike; easier on the butt and more control on bumps and holes. Get a bike with narrow handlebars where your hands rest equidistant from your shoulders for more steering control.
I’ll keep pedaling my bike as long as I can, and then I’ll go back to walking. I do not get the appeal of e-bikes at all. My bike will never, ever catch on fire.
Sorry about your shoulder!
e-bike is a misnomer. They are electric motorcycles without the robust build. There are restrictions on motor size but not in all states and cities. If I owned one I would treat it like a motorcycle. The world’s fastest e-bike can go 283 mph:
https://discerningcyclist.com/fastest-electric-bikes/
Not really a misnomer. Motorcycles are motorized bicycles (tricycles, quadcycles), and are also called motorbikes, or bikes. I have never seen a biker gang sporting regular bicycles. :)
Wasn’t the mtn bike trend birthed in CA (may have been Colorado) and therefore y’all have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do? Surely the daredevil version makes even skiing seem safe.
In any case hurtling through the woods is not my version of nature loving.
It’ll be my 48th year of intentionally hurtling myself down steep snowy embankments over and over again, and I’ve never broken anything, but then again I never leave my feet except that one time I got 7 inches of air and thrust my arms up in wild celebration.
It’s a commonly held belief among non-skiers that we are engaging in a dangerous pursuit, and yeah a handful of skiers die every year at resorts like clockwork, but car drivers pass away a lot more frequently.
I don’t know where it started, but it may be increasingly useful in typical US urban and sub-urban environments. I ride an inexpensive folder (a Downtube “Nova”) refitted with lower-pressure mountain-bike style tires. In my community, one needs off-road tires to ride on the roads.
Porto-mountain biker here, starting in the mid-1960s. Kids in the neighborhood saw teens with cool motorcycles, smaller displacement of 125 cc, and emulated the sounds and maneuvers. We even had our own course with jumps and banked turns, better experienced with plenty of sound effects. Our bikes ranged from balloon tire 24” to one 26” English racer, so named because Raleigh with three speeds. An occasional Sting Ray or two also appeared once those came out. Good, clean fun with plenty of exercise and fresh air.
I started on the same Raliegh 3-speed English Racer. At 9 years old that was many accidents waiting to happen :)
The worst, though, was attempting to ride a sting-ray off a dock and onto a float about 15 out. Never made it but I kept trying until I got a nasty 11 stitch cut on an elbow. My father, a physician, was at the lake that day with his “doctor’s bag” in the trunk of his car. Plenty of cat gut and a proper sewing needle, but no novocaine.
That, as they say, was that for me.
https://mmbhof.org/mtn-bike-hall-of-fame/history/
Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Biking
Mt. Tam is indeed a great place to ride a bike.
Seconded. I was friends with that group, but didn’t take up the sport until Tom Ritchey made a frame that I believed wouldn’t self- destruct.
At my age, I look forward to memorable bike rides (like seeing three turtles stacked on each off the bank of a canal trail) over exciting rides.
The quiet acrobatics of the indoor cycling posted awhile back is almost as exciting and without the terror.
Southern man reply….”Hold my beer, watch this !”. \Sarc
I’m sure there are likely more conventional methods to break limbs and crack some vertebrae. Oh and cue up the classic Dana Carvey impression of George HW Bush. ” Nah gonna do it “
Get you some WMT grandkids, Wuk! They’ll build you a Wally World in your parking lot!
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/single-track-minds
Our mountain bike course is on BLM land and keeps expanding as all the trail building and upkeep is strictly the responsibility of the riders. My buddy who rides there 4-5x a week will borrow my Ryobi 40v chainsaw to carve out a new trail every once in awhile.
I’ve walked a lot of the single track here and its daunting just walking in some of the sections, let alone bombing down the hill on a bike.
C’est le scars
At my nearby state park all the best trails were made by mtn bikers so I’ll give them that.
I’ve dabbled in it but around here you have to keep eyes glued to the trail because of all the roots. Lifelong street cyclist here.
You might want to double check that video, since I know at least one part of it was fake, the kid on the bike doing the rear tire wheelie at 28 seconds.
Massimo, I despise X accounts like his, he promotes the same Extreme AI Algorithm that is making everyone extreme. The Extreme AI Algorithmic Internet is turning out minds into “extreme” hungry machines. Normal politics is boring, normal life is boring, and that is why so many people seem depressed. And the only thing that makes them feel alive is the “extreme”. So we have kids walking around like furry animals and doing dangerous pranks, and grown men and women who have lost all their compassion, for compassion is very boring, and are resorting to violence.
If you keep looking at all the “amazing things” on the internet, your very beautiful simple life around you will looks so much more boring, and that is what the Extreme AI Algorithm wants.
Not that this is new, just that it is amplified with the AI Algorithm, and it is being weaponized against you, your kids, and your mental health. The rise and identity of both Charlie and Taylor were both powered by the same machine.
Thanks. I stopped following him about a month ago. Something didn’t seem right in his feed. Now I think I understand. -cheers, a.v.
I made a similar comment down bellow, in fewer words. This world needs more old men yelling at clouds. :)
Had a group of hard core mountain bikers at my work. A lot of time spent off work due to injuries, enough I think to raise our insurance rates as we had a very good health plan.
I think i’m up to 3 broken collarbones, and at least 4 broken elbows among my mountain biking friends maladies…
Snowboarding is the mountain biking of the slopes in injuries suffered.
A few years ago at Mammoth I was riding a chair up with another skier and small talk ensued as it will often do, and I asked where he was from, and he said right here in Mammoth, and asked what he did, and he told me he was a surgeon, and I asked what he specialized in, and he smiled and said ‘terrain parks’.
Terrain parks are a much more dangerous variant of the monkey bars we had in elementary school-obviously designed to weed out the weak among us, and almost all snowboarders jumping on and off of perfectly good metal pipes and other stuff, they ought to have an E/R right there on the slopes.
Maybe 10 years ago a co-worker related his mountain bike accident and medical treatment experience to me
He was riding his mountain bike on a trail in a city park and ended up unconscious off the trail side.
He is not daredevil type at all.
IiRC, he woke up weeks later in the hospital.
He has recovered well, but never recalled how it happened.
He now has a metal plate on his head.
He mentioned that the itemized medical charges were 1million USD + 60k.
But it is plausible the insurance company negotiated this down.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says Elon Musk got DOGE ‘backward’ Business Insider
It good rid of administrators and more importantly managers that would not follow illegal orders. An important step to get an administrative state that just obeys every order.
I would say they got what they wanted. This article is just portioning out blame for not achieving the targets stated in the propaganda.
The antidote is much more beautiful than the necklaces above it.
Those necklaces betray the taste of a society at an advanced stage of decadence: overly thick or sprawling, numerous oversized gems, dubious symbols (snake). To me, the snake necklace looks as a prop for a Conan-the-barbarian movie, the guiness world record one would be suitable for adorning the evil queen in a peplum.
These are not gorgeous or refined pieces, but dowdy ones with exaggerated characteristics designed to show off how much money the bearer has.
grotesquely tacky!
They would be very heavy and uncomfortable to wear, and cold and hard. Not pleasant. And tacky.
All they really say is “Look at me. Can you see how much richer I am than you are sucker?”
Tasteless.
It’s all about exclusivity with the mo’ manna crowd, know anybody that has a Gulfstream G800 at their beck and call?
The thing about giant stones of value is they wouldn’t seem all that important loose by themselves, they need the adornment of a lady’s neck or being front and center in a tiara if we’re talking royalty, to stand out proper.
No man would ever wear anything such as the 3 examples shown, except for maybe Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch.
The snake necklace is a disgrace to the Cartier name. It’s stiff and dead, as if a child drew out the design. Jackie O would not abide.
That link will take you to a Helmut Newton portrait photo of JO wearing, if my memory serves me well, a spectacular Cartier necklace of which she is not the original owner. A commissioned piece, of course.
That’s Elizabeth Taylor, my dear mrsyk. A much more interesting woman than Jackie O, imho.
I got my stars crossed, lol.
the B52s, 52 Girls
More coffee please.
Pearl Necklace, by ZZ Top
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Tg-JsMS-E&list=RD_9Tg-JsMS-E
The bright lights of Denver are shining like diamonds
Like ten thousand jewels in the sky
Willie
LOL, I posted it the other day in proper context. ;-)
It really don’t cost that much.
All of El Loco is draped in lyrical perversity, if you know what I mean and I think you do.
I know a
Rumor spreadin’ ’round
in that Texas town
About that shack outside La Grange
And you know what I’m talking about
…
I was struck by the stark juxtaposition- well done, NC / Haig!
Not to be a wet blanket, but why is the links column even wasting space on stuff like this? Showing the pointless excesses of the rich is a degenerate form of journalism that we can all do without.
It’s neither entertaining nor educational, it’s just grotesque and depressing.
Maybe I’m just having a bad day.
Not to worry. The rest of us are having a bad year.
I see that stuff, note it, and scroll on by.
My favourite Vladimir Nabokov word is : “Vulgarian” !
‘Massimo
@Rainmaker1973
Breathtaking cycling feats’
Nope! Double Nope.
However the guy’s homepage has lots of interesting videos-
https://xcancel.com/Rainmaker1973
Make sure to check out the ‘Centuries of varnish removed, revealing the 1618 painting’s original colors’ video.
Impressive!
I was fortunate enough to glimpse the Sistine Chapel before and after restoration, and it previously had this dark foreboding look thanks to over four centuries of being in long soot, and when it was returned to its original glory, I can testify that Michelangelo was truly the painter of light (sorry Thomas Kinkade) as I got on my tip toes to get the optimum view.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Sistine_Chapel_frescoes
Similar yet different from paintings, coins often needed judicious cleaning to make them more salable, and we called it ‘better coins through chemistry’ as all kinds of chemicals and whatnot were needed to restore an aged round metal disc.
Some of the methods were simple enough, if an old copper coin had been harshly cleaned and too bright and shiny, a couple of days rent in between your sock and the sole of your foot would bring the brown color back to life.
We always cautioned the public not to clean coins, as they might use something like Wright’s Silver Polish-which might be good for sterling silver flatware, but deadly to old coins as it was abrasive.
Worth mentioning that al fresco technique means that painting had to be done on fresh plaster before it cures so it was done in stages. On the scaffolding with your arms up most of the time.
And having lunch break otside. :)
I just booked for Michelangelo”s secret room in Florence, where he hid from the Pope for 2 months, making some drawings on the walls. I’ll see it in November – it’s sold out until then, as they only allow 4 people in at a time (it’s tiny).
When I was younger I went to every museum of note or not necessarily, and it was easy to get burned out on holy works, and if you gave me a buck for every gold halo atop somebody’s noggin on paintings in the Uffizi Gallery, i’d have enough for airfare to there and back, too much!
And then you make your way to the Michelangelo Room and the colors hit you…
https://friendsoftheuffizigallery.org/michelangelo-room/
Hopes for Ukraine peace falter as Russian drones and joint drills fuel unease RFI
Isn’t RFI writer confusing wishes for hopes? Some may have wishes, not hope on Ukraine peace on Western terms and the opposite holds true on the Russian side. Anyone watching events and “diplomacy” carefully can see this. Hopes on agreed peace do not exist in any way or form.
So how can these wishes come true? On the Western side the wishes rely on sanctions basically. Now there are proposals for secondary sanctions by the whole Western bloc on the rest of the world or at least China and India plus stop buying any Russian oil (and NG?) by the bloc. A war won on sanctions? Very doubtful and with some potential to derail the West in a very definitive way. Yet, the article keeps focused with the sanctions: Trump might get very, very strong (with sanctions) if Russia does not budge, RFI says. We need some second thoughts on the power of sanctions though not exactly the ones mentioned here, where it is suggested that secondary sanctions are the last alternative to the military force. There are of course more alternatives like admitting the mistake of the proxy war in the first place
There is no hope because we prohibit ourselves the thought on more sensible alternatives.
The whole concept of sanctions has really taken a beating during the Ukraine war. I remember when the US establishment was foaming at the mouth at the beginning of the war because of the tremendous sanctions they were going to deploy against Russia. Surely no such sanctions-power had been assembled in the universe before! The Russians would crumple instantly!
Of course we all remember how ineffectual it was against Russia, while at the same time destroying many European economies. We have seen this same result after every subsequent round of sanctions against Russia. Talk about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result! Evidently, we keep reaching into our toolbox and finding only one tool in it.
I like to think that one of the things that distinguishes the human species from others is the ability to rapidly learn from previous experience. We should rarely make the same mistake twice, let alone a hundred times. I guess this indicates we are being led by a subhuman species.
Sometimes a mistake becomes a habit, and then a habit becomes muscle memory. In this case it’s muscle memories of the mind.
The feedback mechanisms are short circuited.
The idiots making the decisions don’t personally experience the negative consequences, in fact are handsomely rewarded, promoted, given expense accounts etc. for maintaining the ordained folly.
The little people, on the other hand, those absorbing all the negatives, are the most heavily propagandized and social media addicted cohort on earth, and not by their own choosing: our government by auction has legalized most frauds, grafts and hustles on the condition they be perpetrated digitally.
Eventually reality will intrude enough to begin pushing consequences up the decision ladder and common interest will become apparent to the brain washed heard.
Same balkanization recipe did work for them in other places. Now that it’s stuck here, they just need a bigger hammer. The only problem is, that bigger hammers are made in China.
US gasoline prices rose significantly after Apr 2022, and it was not recovery from covid, although the trillions the federal reserve printed for covid “relief” were cash to pay for rising energy bills from US sanctions on Russia.
Suppose China and India stop using Russian crude and natural gas, where do they get the crude and natural gas?
OPEC+ less Russia can add a million barrels of crude a day in about 18 months. Russia exports around 10 million barrels. USA a net hydro-carbon exporter imports roughly 3 million barrels net of crude per day. USA won’t export crude anytime soon.
USA hydrocarbon exports are positive because of large increase in LNG exports to replace Russian gas not coming down nordstream!
What would the price of crude be if China and India began bidding against the remaining supply w/o Russian hydrocarbons?
Where would China and India’s customers for refined product get their demand satisfied?
Would fed lowering to 3.75 soften the blow of rising energy prices?
China solar article
What they left out is that those numbers for 2025 are for H1. And it’s over 64% increase than last year. Another fantastic achievement drive by chinese tech.
Here are the numbers.
https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/global-solar-installations-surge-64-in-first-half-of-2025/
When the US puts embargos on the Chinese panels, they need to go somewhere.
Makes perfect sense- yet again, the US inserts its nose into the path of a fast-moving razor sharp Bowie knife.
Trump has also pulled the government funding for various wind farm projects here in CA. My partner and I pondered whether the companies could sue the government for breaking their billion $ contracts without cause. Like when Carter stopped the B1 Bomber and put thousands of engineers out of work the next day. I wondered if company lawyers are smarter now.
I am for wind. On and offshore. But 1billion dollars for a port upgrade in Humboldt seems like an outrageous waste of money. Which will end up costing way more due to the pushback from the locals.
Cadter didn’t stop the B1 bomber. Rockwell and the Pentagon outsmarted him by the cunning ruse of renaming the aircraft the B1B, and continuing production. Approx. 60 remain in aervice.
And, I suppose, by having Carter replaced by Reagan? B1B was the product of the 1982 program, well after Reagan came into office.
Against Re-Enchantment
What a strange argument: step-by-step rigour in its rejection of enchantment, and then a collapse down the stairs into a heap of Christianity and Judaism.
I agree – I couldn’t get through the article it was so wrong-headed. To me, the biggest problem in our world is humans’ increasing disconnection from the living world. The living universe, really. Disconnection from reality in favor of connection to a virtual world entirely of human creation. It’s been long in creation and will be long in correction – what will trigger the blobby types wandering around in headphones and eyes on their phones, oblivious to their surroundings to exit their unhealthy mental universe? Connecting to an older religious word-world to occupy their brains? Nope. Real spiritual connection, energic connection, takes work and practice and discipline.
Om SHiva Shankara! Hare, hare, Ganga!
I think it was Camus in his Myth of Sisyphus who stated that the primary phenomenon, that is existence itself, was miracle enough for him. William Blake saw infinity in a grain of sand, and eternity in an hour. The Japanese Haiku poet, Basho, credited the sound of a leaping frog’s plopping into a pond as triggering a profound spiritual awakening. Enchantment is all around us if we are in a mental state to perceive it. Admittedly, this is a state of mind that I wish I were better at cultivating. The daily antidotes here certainly count as enchantments.
Thank you Lee. That really resonated with me
I used to ride BMX as a kid, a lifetime ago, and have to call shenanigans on 0:27. Balancing is impressive enough by itself (I couldn’t do it), without the editor rotating the body and bike beyond physically possible. I guess brain rot audience requires ever increasing stimulation.
As with the free skiers, red bull won’t sponsor you without a life threatening video
Kaja Kallas?
It all is starting to sound like “revolution” by NGO marketing plan. The constant use of the term “Gen Z” is the most obvious flag.
“Doha attack tests Qatar’s DC machine”
Well the results are in and it was a catastrophic disaster. Qatar has spent hundreds of billion of dollars worth o USf military along with all sorts of other “investments” to establish a bond between the two countries. But when Israel went after the Hamas peace delegation, the US shut down the entire defensive network and turned off all those Patriot & THAAD batteries leaving Qatar totally helpless. So Qatar has kinda wasted their money here.
Close the door, put out the light
You know they won’t be any defense network tonight
The realization falls hard and don’t you know?
The winds of Zionism are blowing cold
They’re bearing steel that’s red hot white and blue
They carry news that must get through
They choose the path where no-one goes
They hold no quarter
They hold no quarter
Walking side by side with death
The devil mocks their every step, ooh
They know now Uncle Sam is a no-show
The dogs of doom are howling more
They carry news that must get through
To build a Zionist dream for me and you, oh
They choose the path where no-one goes
They hold no quarter
They ask no quarter
They hold no quarter
They ask no quarter
Oh!
The pain, the pain without quarter, oh yeah!
They ask no quarter (without quarter, quarter, quarter)
They give no quarter (giving me, giving me no)
Oh (I hear the dogs of doom are howling more!)
No Quarter, by Led Zeppelin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSM0jj-hZtw&list=RDTSM0jj-hZtw
Crank that up. Led Zeppelin introduced me to the term “Valhalla”. Et tu Kash Patel?
Valhalla here is the tallest vertical rock wall in the southern Sierra, 2,400 vertical feet also known as Angel Wings.
Met a pair of big wall climbers who put up a new route circa 1997 and had port-a-ledges and were on the wall longer than they had supplied food for, and related that they were down to eating garlic powder the last couple days. It has always left an impression, that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Angel_Wings_-_Valhalla.jpg
In the short term, basically, Qatar blew its wad. In the medium term and beyond, I think this has basically crushed the US MIC–doubtful that they will keep spending the money the way they have. ME petrostates are about the only serious source of revenue for MIC that does not draw money from the US taxpayers. So, from now on, MIC can depend only on Uncle Sam, on way or another, unless EU really does fork over the cash–I doubt they will in the medium term and beyond.
“Why a decline in the UK’s University sector is a threat to GDP”
I am reminded of a Mark Blyth anecdote from the Brexit campaign where an auto manufacturer (in Sunderland, I think) held a pro-Remain session for its workers. When one of the presenters opined that Brexit would “reduce GDP” a voice from the back of the hall yelled out,
“Whose GDP? YOUR GDP!”
Distribution matters …
Invest now! The bubble needs more money!
“AIs are people, my friend.”
We are all about to take a bite of the fruit of the poisonous tree known as Amy Coney-Barrett:
https://x.com/caitoz/status/1967184383171043375
In Murphy v. Missouri, the SCOTUS had the opportunity to rule on the merits of the issue: Can private social media companies collude with the government to restrict Americans freedom of expression?
The case involved censorship of alternative opinions on the COVID vaccines, remedies for the virus such as Ivermectin, and other public health questions. The Biden administration pressured social media companies to toe the government line.
Rather than rule on the merits, ACB invented a new standard for establishing legal standing, and in her majority opinion decared that the plaintiffs lacked standing. Although they clearly showed harm. And at least one plaintiff was a Louisiana government official.
Dancing around the issue, ACB and her fellow majority dropped back 10 yards and punted. Now we all get to eat the poisonous fruit, as expected. A much more dangerous infringement on our 1st amendment rights is coming, and we have no precedent to protect us. This will need to be relitigaged at tremendous cost in time, money, and loss of civil liberties.
Thanks, ACB!
Mentioned yesterday after a Jewish fellow named Grynszpan murdered a German diplomat in Paris in 1938, 2 days later the Nazis did Kristallnacht in the fatherland.
Then: Kristallnacht
Now: Christianright
I read the opinion, and found it inscrutable. Using circular logic, ACB seemed to be saying that because the pandemic was over, it was too late to do anything to redress the harm caused to the plaintiffs. So it’s OK to violate the 1st amendment, as long as by the time the case makes it to the court, the harm is no longer a present threat?
A legal friend said that if the plaintiffs had asked for damages instead of an injunction restraining the government’s illegal conduct, they would have had a stronger case.
At any rate, it is hard to understand what motivates swamp creatures like ACB.
Yea, No. Charlie and Nick and Donald, all GRIFTERS.
Let them all come for dinner
“Immigration Agents Held a U.S. Citizen—and Veteran—for 3 Days Without Checking His ID”
Sounds like the ICA agents really messed up. They could have simply walked him to his car to retrieve his ID and he would have been on his way but no, they did the full Clown World segment and now some people have some ‘splainin to do. So I am guessing that the success of those raids is being judged by the number of people being picked up and not if they are real illegals or not. So I have seen ICE agents go in fully charged and I wonder if there is some music being pumped into their ear pieces to pump them up-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UGusjvPeOQ (4:37 mins)
Yup. I saw the same police behavior, deliberately ignoring anything the people they were rounding up said, at the 2010 G20 manifestations in Toronto. The police kettled people who were just walking home, they were so focused on arresting people and practicing using their new techniques and tools. It was a disgrace – a police riot. And the man mostly responsible for it, Bill Blair, was rewarded with a Cabinet position by little Emperor Justin Trudeau. (Worst PM ever).
Political agenda-motivated policing. The flip side of the coin is politically-motivated NOn-policing, as in Portland and other cities during the summer of FLoyd.
Nassim Taleb: Palestinians are the Israelite people |Nassim Nicholas Taleb LATEST INTERVIEW Genetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB8_911wDE
Taleb seems to also be somewhat of an expert on genetics (which i did not know).
Discusses the migration of peoples, languages, and religions in this interview.
Cultural appropriation to the max!
As I scrolled and read through Links this morning, the impression expanded that the Trump administration is in chaos, Europe is in chaos, Israel is in chaos and each is reaching for solutions by cracking down on everything and everyone who dares to disagree with them. And this is supposed to end well? Final comment. If DJT wants his private police force, he might at least discipline them. Their actions create resistance.
That resistance creates “reasons” to expand the police forces. When dealing with ruthless, amoral people, one cannot be too cynical.
Colorado politics
In whatever order you pick, three issues led to the party’s 2024 debacle. Those being runaway inflation due at least in part to government overstimulation, uncontrolled immigration and the whole mix of righteousness that fell under the umbrella of “woke.”
The right wing of the center left speaks.
Corpses raised their prices because no one stopped them and in pmc land good for the stock market is good.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2021/11/07/led-by-elon-musks-crazy-gains-american-billionaires-have-added-trillions-to-their-fortunes-during-the-pandemic/
Someone needs to remove their head from the nether region.
But yeah don’t fix student loans because where are poor elon and the other 20 wastrels going to invest all those ill gotten gains and still get a guaranteed return?
“The massive jump in billionaire wealth comes as markets have surged. The S&P 500 is up 45% since the start of 2020, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by 27%. The wealthiest Americans have, of course, beaten the market: They’re 56% richer over that span.
The spoils are concentrated at the top: Just 20 people account for more than half of all billionaire gains.”
The dems represent almost no one.
Oddly if we forgave student loans that would be a massive stimulus.
Late in my gambling woes I found myself in the Big Apple with a rental car and a hankering to drive to Atlantic City and what a right shit whole it was, and my antipathy towards the pre-President was such that I specifically went to his house of chance, and somehow came out $180 ahead-it was tantamount to a double win, but then again the doofus’s casino went bk not too much longer.
In a fortnight he has bankrupted relations with South Korea-our ally for over 70 years, and Qatar-also a long standing ally.
How much more does he need to bankrupt before we run out of allies?
Who needs allies when you have vassals? Trump is merely revealing the true nature of the relationships. I’m wondering if these clarifications will trigger schisms between the political elites of the various vassal states who bend the knee and the citizens they purport to represent. See for example: If There Is No Welfare State, What Will Europe’s Social Contract Be?.
Fun times.
My consolation is that Trump may well be successful in destroying much of the empire.
I’m personally hoping his association with golf, kills it.
A small request…
Hey! Now that our relations with South Korea are at a nadir, wouldn’t it be just awful if someone sent ICE after the engineers from Turkiye that help maintain the (Turkish contracted) automation at the Army’s new ammunition plant in Mesquite, Texas? Then we could have bad relations with Turkiye and less ammunition to waste in the forever wars.
Got your MAGA runnin’
Head out on the campaign
Looking for revenge, yeah
In whatever comes your way
Yeah, Donald, go and make it happen
Put the world back in it’s place
Firing all of your guns at once
Might explode in your face
You like choking lightweights
Heavy verbal bluster
Grifting like a fiend
And the feeling you got over
Yeah, Donald, go and make it happen
Put the world back in it’s place
Firing all of your guns at once
Might explode in your face
Like a simple-minded clown
You’re gonna bring the whole thing down
You can’t climb so high
That you won’t ever die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild
Got your MAGA runnin’
Head out on the campaign
Looking for revenge, yeah
In whatever comes your way
Yeah, Donald, go and make it happen
Put the world back in it’s place
Firing all of your guns at once
Might explode in your face
Like a simple-minded clown
You’re gonna bring the whole thing down
You can’t climb so high
That you won’t ever die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild
Born to Be Wild
Steppenwolf
Well done~
I must have mondegreend all this time!
What I always heard.
Horrible Person Watch
How Nancy Pelosi Quietly Shaped California’s Redistricting Fight (NY Times via archive.ph)
Not ready to go back to selling ice cream refrigerators I guess.
Somehow this is a “counteroffensive”? Wake me when Democrats support policy that actually delivers material benefits.
Californians can surely thank Pelosi for one-party rule:
(bold mine)
Their Democracy
Do what’s right because it is right
Experience with this is what convibced me that what we really need is a real partisan gerrymander, where the party in power stretches out its advantage so much that everyone is vulnerable. 70-30 or even 60-40 districts are evil. Every district ought to be 51-49, so to speak.
Since the article mentions Pelosi as the “Queen Bee”, I will likewise channel the pivotal scenes in Gladiator when young Commodus, as Emperor of Rome, learns what his precious sister has been doing to undermine and eventually unseat him from power. Eh, Democracy in America 2025 and the wretched stench of power grabbing, power hungry politicians and their donors.
“What have you been doing, busy little bee?”. Much thanks for sharing this article.
“GPT-5 outperforms licensed human experts by 25-30% and achieves SOTA results on the US medical licensing exam and the MedQA benchmark.”
Question for doctors: Are there not doctors better than others who didn’t perform as well on a test they took some years ago?
If AI’s role in matching thousands existing drugs for off label use for a multitude of diseases is accurately portrayed in this Radiolab presentation, The Medical Matchmaking Machine, then I would applaud this particular application of that technology. It’s quite a tale.
I hope this wasn’t trained on our increasingly unreliable medical literature in journals. The number of false positives would be imposing. Look at Alzheimer’s.
In any finite domain I would expect AI to outperform.
Our knowledge of the human body is finite, but what there is to learn isn’t.
Reality isn’t a closed system and LLMs can only reflect back to us what we’ve shown it. So, I expect it to test well, I knew lots of fools in school who did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgZXwXIVZTk/
Deep Dive: Who is Behind Regime Change in Nepal & How to Follow the Money…
A Brian B., New Atlas post from a couple of hours ago. I’m just now about to give it a listen. Agree or disagree…I’m sure it will be more than enough to consider.
One question that I have: He says countries like Chin and Russia can help countries get control of their information space. Even with plenty of resources to influence regions , is there something going on other than ONLY control of the information space that keeps the influence from sticking?
Corruption.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/sep/10/bari-weiss-cbs
“With her education, experience and extensively cultivated networks”
It should be noted that cultivation requires a lot of manure.
re: Germany post-Covid legal discourse
BERLINER ZEITUNG daily
interview
A rather general overview over the issues at hand
Gerhard Strate on the Corona investigation: “The state cannot simply curtail fundamental rights”
In an interview, criminal defense attorney Gerhard Strate takes stock: Why the legal review of the Corona measures failed and what responsibility politicians bear today.
https://archive.is/l3J5b
Here’s Ward Carroll going over a new GAO report on the F-35:
Deep Intel on the Damning New F-35 Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LReZ4ejDjpw
And just a hint on what you’ll hear – it’s got “A 2 Trillion Dollar Boondoggle” on the image for the video.
Here the actual report:
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Actions Needed to Address Late Deliveries and Improve Future Development https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107632
So a pretty critical report, but don’t be alarmed, no actual corporate profits were harmed in the making of this report!
I had a cab driver in Thailand tell me that not only were the F-35s no good (Thailand came up with a clever excuse not to buy them, that the demand of close to 10 years of infrastructure building in advance was de trop) but the F-16 isn’t either, and he spoke approvingly of the Swedish fighter jets that Thailand is buying. So word is really out.
Thailand did actively look at buying the F-35, but were refused by the US, probably for security reasons. The Thai Gripens are excellent for a country with Thailands military needs, but initially were chosen as an alternative to F-16 and others, the F-35 was not part of the competition. The Thai’s want F-35’s both to use on the ‘Thaitanic‘ and as a next generation complement to their Gripens, they are not direct replacement (the Gripens are mostly replacing F-16s). They’ve opted for the most up to date version of the Gripen for their ongoing upgrades.
That is not how it was reported here. Thailand was not on board with the US advance infrastructure build requirements. So they may have succeeded in having the US save face by the US being the one not to approve, but the reason was Thailand digging in its heels over US requirements over having to put in infrastructure way in advance of delivery in 10 years. The press here also reported that the US tried to sell more F-16s instead, which even the famed but real cab driver recognized as a bad deal for Thailand. Per the very US friendly Bangkok Post, admittedly a bit in code: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2578289/time-constraints-prevent-us-sale-of-f-35-fighter-jets-to-thailand-royal-thai-air-force
I suspect that is a face saving story by the Thai’s – they’ve been informally talking to the US about F-35’s for quite some time, specifically the B variant. Its possible there were just tangled communications, but it does seem very clear that there was a firm ‘no’ from Washington for security reasons. The Thais regularly carry out joint exercises with China (the Gripens have performed very well in these), so its unsurprising the US would be reluctant to sell the most up to date tech.
IMHO you are misreading this. The Thais refused to buy F-16s too. The word from my diplo contacts is the Thais have come to recognize US hardware is expensive and not very reliable and they can do better elsewhere. The Thais also recognize to stay on good terms with the US, so acting as if they still might be buyers does that.
Its possible – I don’t really know the details of the negotiations, but I do know the Thais specifically requested the F-35 without going through a competition for alternatives. But I do know that Thailand have been actively interested in the F-35 for some time, predating the 2023 contract – its the only option suitable for their single flat top navy vessel. The Thais were never likely to accept the F-16 as an alternative as they’d already chosen the Gripen as the spine of their air force to replace their older F-16s. They were interested in the F-35 as a complement to the Gripen, not a direct alternative.
The Gripen uses US built General Dynamics F-404 engines, so requires an approval from Washington for any sales. Previously the US has (allegedly) blocked Gripen sales to other countries in order to push through US alternatives.
Interesting. There was a huge debate in Bulgaria about whether to order F-16s or Gripens. The president, a former fighter pilot, insisted on Gripens as being both more cost-effective and more versatile. The government ordered 16 F-16s instead, fully paid for in advance. The delivery is running years late and only 2 have been delivered. Embarrassingly, the first one was grounded days after delivery due to a defective component. So it’s rather telling that the US is having problems building and assuring quality control even on a mature weapon system.
Given the EU’s rearmarment plans, it really begs the question how that will happen on a large scale and short time frame. It’s own industries can’t possibly be geared up to produce the quantities needed in any sort of reasonable time frame and neither will the US. Perhaps all of the orders will also be paid for in advance, which is a nice enhancement of the MIC’s bottom line.
Gripen looks to be good choice for operational cost:
Operational costs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_JAS_39_Gripen#Operational_costs
And Saab ad bragging about minimal required infrastructure:
Gripen – Always combat ready https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyD0liioY8E
Any new views on the drones in Poland?
Currently the problem that needs explanation seems to be: How exactly would those drones with a range of 700km reach Poland from Russia?
Most discussed: Either they were coming from Ukraine (false flag) or they started in Belarus which however so far no one suggested.
Alexander Mercouris has pointed out it is not unheard for tailwinds and/or just a particularly well functioning flier to lead a device to exceed its official range, he says he knows of multiple cases personally. But yet, in general, sus. Would have helped if someone said by how much. 100km might be plausible on a good day. 600km, not.
I haven’t been following the details of the Polish incursion, but it is true that the ‘range’ of any aircraft is highly weather dependent – the wikipedia level figures given for a military aircrafts ‘range’ are always very loose estimates. This particularly applies to relatively slow low flying aircraft.
Yves Smith: Yep.
Some Italian journalists have cited this incident from two-and-a-half years ago, when a sizable drone launched by the Ukrainians and likely from near Odessa ended up blowing a hole in a parking lot in Zagreb, Croatia:
https://www.panorama.it/tempo-libero/tecnologia/drone-ucraino-zagabria-schianto
First, even things this big get lost and go off course.
Second, Croatia didn’t get all melodramatic and demand that NATO occupy its border with the “Eastern Sentinel.”
In short, it is awfully convenient for the Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles not to know how the drones got to where they ended up.
Yeah, the “Eastern Sentinel” a new way to divert millions to defence. Lithuanian is the Defence Commissar of the EU Andrius Kubilius pushing for this. Defence commissariat? Created in 2004 with competence on melodrama.
thanks
And yes it would be nice to know.
(Staging a false flag with drones that have no explosives doesn´t make much sense. Even less a military operation by the other side. Odd.)
Get 7 years in prison for protesting Putin in Russia.
Fourteen years in prison for protesting Israel in the UK.
Dumb comments on AI and holography:
AI can compose entirely original photos
No it does not. Humans did and it steals them.