Recent Items

Links 9/18/2025

Posted on by

Why I Became a Birdwatcher Nautilus

Ostrich and emu ancestor could fly, scientists discover Phys.org

Climate/Environment

Only a third of world’s river basins experienced normal conditions in 2024 The Guardian

Increased emissions threaten solar infrastructure in India: Study Down to Earth

This Brick Is the World’s Most Boring Climate Solution Atmos

Pandemics

CDC ends telework for employees with disabilities, union says Government Executive

How do you get people to care about COVID-19? Here’s what I’ve learned as an organizer. The Sick Times

India

India Makes Waves: Navy Joins 40-Nation South China Sea Drill With US, Japan India Narrative

US-India Move Toward Mutually Beneficial Trade Talks India Narrative

China?

Trump’s China trip many hinge on Boeing and soybean deals, sources say South China Morning Post

Taiwan pledges US$10 billion in U.S. farm product purchases over four years Focus Taiwan

China drops Google antitrust probe during US trade talks FT

AI firm DeepSeek writes less-secure code for groups China disfavors WaPo

From Research Academy to State Venture Capitalist: The transformation of Chinese Academy of Sciences Sinocities

Will China be the first to bring humanoid robots into the home? Think China

Flying cars crash into each other at Chinese air show BBC

Syraqistan

Israel using booby-trapped vehicles to displace residents and destroy central neighbourhoods in Gaza City Euro-Med

‘Will Blow Up in Our Faces’ Israel Using Gazan Militias for Military Operations in Exchange for Pay and Territory Haaretz

Smotrich says a Gaza ‘real estate bonanza’ as stock market tumbles over Netanyahu ‘Super Sparta’ speech New Arab

Bernie Sanders becomes first US senator to say Israel committing genocide in Gaza The Guardian

In wake of Charlie Kirk Assassination, the Genie of ‘America First’ vs ‘Israel First’ is out of the bottle Conflicts Forum (Video). Danny Haiphong interview of Alastair Crooke.

House seeks to expand secretive arms stockpile used in Gaza war Responsible Statecraft

‘United States of Israel’: Bipartisan US delegation draws backlash for largest-ever foreign trip Middle East Eye

Families of US citizens killed by Israel say Trump administration refuses to investigate Middle East Eye

Following U.S. request, Japan won’t recognize Palestinian state Asahi Shimbun

BCG to train staff on ‘humanitarian principles’ after Gaza outcry FT

Old Blighty

Trade, Ukraine, Gaza: Starmer pleading for concessions from Trump Euronews

GSK pledges $30bn US investment as UK’s pharma woes deepen BBC

US tech giants pledge $42 billion in UK investment as Trump tours Blighty The Register. Data centers galore.

More than a quarter of children in the UK are growing up hungry, research finds The Independent

European Disunion

Over 800,000 expected to join French protests against budget cuts Euractiv

In Praise of Small Things. Aurelien

New Not-So-Cold War

Germany Backs Further Use of Frozen Russian Assets for Ukraine Bloomberg

Polish military delegation to visit Ukraine to study air defense experience Kyiv Independent

Ukraine to receive Patriot, HIMARS missiles, Zelensky says Kyiv Independent

Europeans still waking up to the same ‘Groundhog Day’ soundtrack by Sonny and Cher Ian Proud

Dead Bodies Don’t Lie — The Truth About Ukraine’s Military Casualties Larry Johnson

Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Says the US Could ‘Kick Russia’s Ass’ Antiwar

Russian team comes dead last in Hungary’s annual grave digging contest Intellinews

***

Poland’s border closure risks choking EU-China trade Politico

GREAT MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF CHRYSTIA FREELAND’S FAILURE TO HAVE ACHIEVED MORE FOR UKRAINIAN FASCISM (2013-2025) THAN HER GRANDFATHER ACHIEVED AS HITLER’S PROPAGANDIST AND SPY (1939-45) John Helmer

L’affaire Epstein

South of the Border

Pentagon Lawyers Raise Concerns Over Trump’s Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats WSJ

Tens of thousands protest Dundee’s Ecuador mine project near key water reserve Reuters

Our Famously Free Press

Note on Jimmy Kimmel Matt Taibbi

Trump 2.0

The Pendulum Swings: Free Speech Falls Under Tread of Prophecy Simplicius

Trump says designating anti-fascist Antifa movement a ‘terrorist organization’ France24

***

Police State Watch

Republicans eye a crime bill for Trump, and for the midterms Semafor

Defense Bill Opens Door To Guns-For-Hire At The Border The Lever

Airlines Sell 5 Billion Plane Ticket Records to the Government For Warrantless Searching 404 Media

Weimar Republic

Charlie Kirk shooting: Kash Patel grilled at hearing, classes resume at UVU USA Today

After Charlie Kirk’s Murder, Elite Arrogance Still On Full Display Matt Taibbi

Healthcare?

Doctor who left patient during operation to have sex with nurse allowed to practise The Guardian

Surgeon General pick had supplement company deals Axios

AI

Meta launches new Ray-Ban smart glasses in step towards ‘superintelligence’ The Independent

OpenAI says models are programmed to make stuff up instead of admitting ignorance The Register

Delegation to AI can increase dishonest behavior Phys.org

After child’s trauma, chatbot maker allegedly forced mom to arbitration for $100 payout Ars Technica

Anthropic irks White House with limits on models’ use Semafor. The AI Bluesky?

Screening Room

Kneel Before Zod The Baffler

Guillotine Watch

Most Of Billionaires’ $7.6 Trillion Has Never Been Taxed Americans for Tax Fairness

Mr. Market

Fed’s rate cut comes with caveats, leaving investors lukewarm Reuters

Funds Shifting Away From US Assets Due to Trump, Mercer Says Bloomberg

Class Warfare

The Moral Decay of Debt Charles Hugh Smith

FACE TO FACE WITH THE SCALE OF THE COSMOS IEEE Spectrum

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
78 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Mambo Italiano
    @mamboitaliano__
    St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle will provide the incredible setting tonight for the State Banquet, with a 165-foot-long table, as King Charles III and Queen Camilla host President Donald J. Trump, First Lady Melania, and 160 other guests 🇬🇧🇺🇸’

    The British would have studied his psychological profile and are playing up to it. Treating him as royalty, the honours given, travel in traditional horse carriages, dinner in that Hall with gold bling on display, military parades in his honour that he could only wish would happen in the US, being treated as ‘one of them’ instead of the outsider that he experiences at home. And you can bet that the people that sat down near him were all especially selected. And with a person like Trump, it might just work. It never hurts to tickle his ego.

    Reply ↓
    2. DJG, Reality Czar

      The Rev Kev: I offer a translation.

      Or, nobody does anachronistic feudalism with fancy titles and groveling like serfs the way the English do.

      And all a-google-eyed, the USanians, brought up on Downtown Abbey, think that the inherited kitsch is pretty darn classy, even better than the photographs on Zillow.

      Meanwhile, putting on my toga of Cato:
      Akrotiri and Dhekelia must be destroyed.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        It all works. A century ago in Britain there was not a group of women more determined and adamant in wanting to be ‘introduced at Court’ than American Republic women. For so many elite Americans, there is a sort of moth to the flames quality about the British Monarchy and its social setting. Many were the marriages between American heiresses and debt-ridden British nobility and Winston Churchill was the result of one such union. Here Trump is where he wants to be. The center of attention of a lot of important, powerful people.

        Reply ↓
        1. DJG, Reality Czar

          Rev Kev:
          As portrayed in The Buccaneers, the last novel of the wonderful Edith Wharton.

          Who knew? There is a streaming series of the novel now going on. From a July 2025 article at the web site of Town & Country (well, well):

          “[Wharton] died before she could finish her final work: The Buccaneers, a tale of a group of American debutantes who sail to England to trade their inheritances for titles, loosely based on real life counterparts like Consuelo Vanderbilt, Jennie Jerome, and Nancy Astor. Wharton’s characters live on through modern adaptations, most recently Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers, returning for its second season this week.”

          The buccaneers had plenty of money and weren’t quite so in-bred. A win-win situation, I’d say.

          Reply ↓
          1. The Rev Kev

            I tend to agree. The British got the money for their Estates and the Americans got the Titles which they were able to trade heavily on socially. Adding in fresh blood was a bonus.

            Reply ↓
    3. Wukchumni

      Americans would be wowed by an east end accent, not really knowing any better. Every Brit’s IQ goes up 10 points when on vacay in the USA, at least in estimation by my countrymen.

      My buddy who runs sightseeing tours in Sequoia NP since the turn of the century, is married to an English lass, and she takes calls and does all the booking side, and having her voice on the other line, instantly injects a bit of highfalutin posh, ‘I wonder if she knows any royalty?’ drifting through their minds, perhaps.

      Reply ↓
    4. JP

      When I saw the table I had to wonder about the seating chart, knowing that I would be seated at the long end with the persons who had to be invited but couldn’t be trusted to play along.

      Reply ↓
    5. Eclair

      And, sly Conor follows that link detailing the gold plates and servants and multiple-course meal, with the article on “More than a Quarter of Children in the UK are Growing up Hungry, Research shows.”

      Perhaps the Castle staff can distribute the leftovers to the hungry children gathered at the back gate, like the Lord of the Castle would do in more enlightened times.

      Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      The ‘via’ link says-

      ‘a male Himalayan Monal (棕尾虹雉,Lophophorus impejanus), in Xizang (#Tibet) autonomous region. It is under top-class state protection in #China, and is the national bird of #Nepal. ❤新疆雄鹰’

      Here is a Wikipedia page on that bird and it seems that the females luck out on the colours-

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

      Reply ↓
      1. Retired Carpenter

        re: ” the females luck out on the colours-”
        Rev,
        In avian society that is usually the case; plumage of ducks and drakes come to mind

        Reply ↓
    2. Stephen V

      According to ‘via’ link above on Twitter:
      male Himalayan Monal (棕尾虹雉,Lophophorus impejanus), in Xizang (#Tibet) autonomous region.

      Reply ↓
  3. Wukchumni

    Goooooooooood Mooooooorning Fiatnam!

    The platoon was on duty patrolling the mean streets of the nations’ capitol, when larger than life what many in the unit mistakenly took for a 12 foot high lawn jockey made out of salted butter, turned out to be a tribute in how to waste gotten Bitcoin gains, I mean why not also buy a fur sink and a bidet that splashes Prosecco into the nether regions, in redoing that bathroom more to your image?

    Reply ↓
    2. mary jensen

      Meret Oppenheim’s “Le Déjeuner en fourrure” is way beyond The Donald’s ken and as for a Prosecco jet bidet you’ve overlooked The Donald’s life long aversion to alcoholic bevvies: “Never trust a man who doesn’t drink”.

      Reply ↓
    3. JMH

      Graustark comes to DC? Hail Hail Freedonia. Land of the brave and the free. Where is Groucho when we need him? South Park may have some fun with “a 12 foot high lawn jockey.” But take a step back. The president of the United States as a golden statue holding crypto? What is the message here? Appallingly bad taste or public relations, which as we all know also spells crap built on lies? Crypto: its uses are, that last I heard, are money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal transactions. Are the others? Sucking up to he-who-is-depicted-in-gold?

      Reply ↓
    1. mary jensen

      Much to the chagrin of the USA’s “Christers”, the US never actually appears in either ‘Testament’ of their Holy Book so I suppose one would have to say Israel comes first …

      Reply ↓
  5. The Rev Kev

    “Trump says he will designate anti-fascist ‘Antifa’ as a ‘terrorist organization’Trump says he will designate anti-fascist ‘Antifa’ as a ‘terrorist organization'”

    Say, what about these guys then. Do they get a ban?

    https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/12/06/white-nationalists-march-lincoln-memorial-newday-jarrett-avlon-vpx.cnn

    Oddly enough, not a beer gut to be seen in the entire lot. They are all young and healthy and look like a group straight from Quantico.

    Reply ↓
    3. t

      other Anti-Genocide Left-Wing Orgs

      A call to investigate anti-genicide organizations?

      Once again, possible Onion or New York Times Pitchbot lose out to the actual news.

      Reply ↓
  6. eg

    Re “The Moral Decay of Debt”

    Begins with “Let’s start with a household analogy.”

    Ugh. Let’s not. It’s one of the most persistent, pernicious fallacies of macroeconomic public discourse.

    Followed by the less than useless “debt to GDP” metric of Reinhart and Rogoff infamy.

    Feh …

    Reply ↓
    1. La Peruse

      What bugs me most about this is that the erroneous framing of the economic relationship (between debtors and creditors) perpetuates the system the author is critiquing. This is bleeding heart liberalism, with no solution and real-world consequences. To whom are the children indebted? The children of the creditors? There is a solution for that problem that may be understood as that which ensues when politics has failed.

      Reply ↓
  7. Ben Panga

    I wonder when Taibbi will stop fighting the last war and figure out that (like his former podcast’s title) he’s fulfilling the role of Useful Idiot.

    Yes the old system needed to go. But I don’t think he’ll like what he sees when he finally wakes up.

    Reply ↓
    1. Basil Pesto

      There will be no figuring out or waking up. He’s played the Altstream media market and now he’s rich writing digital pamphlets from his mansion to loyal paying subscribers. It really is that simple. He may, of course, need to pivot if that income stream threatens to dry up. No sign of that as yet but he appears to be a skilled triangulator so I’m sure he’d manage.

      Reply ↓
    2. pjay

      It is quite striking to compare the lessons Taibbi draws from the Charlie Kirk murder with those being drawn by Tucker Carlson. It’s like some sort of Freaky Friday exchange has occurred. I wonder if Matt has any idea how rapidly he is discrediting himself among those of us who supported him a few years ago. I don’t quite agree with Basil Pesto’s comment above that implies that he is just a cynical manipulator for money. Staying with the liberal mob would have been more lucrative for him a few years ago. I think “useful idiot” (ironically) fits more here.

      Reply ↓
      1. Ben Panga

        In fairness, I can see how the amount of crap he got over Russiagate from the previous regime could send someone a bit….irrational.

        Reply ↓
  8. The Rev Kev

    “Flying cars crash into each other at Chinese air show”

    And that is the problem with flying cars. They are like regular planes and helicopters in that when they fall out of the sky, they have to hit the ground somewhere. And here we have two flying cars falling out of the sky. If there are a lot of these things flying around, they may have to organize air corridors that go over areas not so heavily populated. Maybe have them, when possible, over rivers and maybe harbours too.

    Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Yes, both had no-vault coverage, and judging from the fireball, it’ll be a closed casket.

        Would the unlucky pilot be the Thomas Selfridge of our times?

        Saw his tombstone in the cemetery @ West Point.

        Thomas Etholen Selfridge (February 8, 1882 – September 17, 1908) was an American first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and the first person to die in an airplane crash.

        Reply ↓
    2. LawnDart

      These vehicles appear to have collided due to pilot-error– the cause of most aircraft mishaps. They were supposed to be operating under “see-and-avoid” visual flight rules, but obviously that didn’t happen.

      The CAAC (China’s FAA) is puting a lot of effort towards ensuring the integration and uniformity of air traffic management systems throughout the country: China has successively issued the “Smart Civil Aviation Construction Roadmap” and the “Unmanned Aviation Development Roadmap”, and is drafting the “Urban Air Traffic Operational Concepts and Development Roadmap”. Other countries are making similar efforts, but it appears that China has taken the lead on this.

      Reply ↓
        1. LawnDart

          And they would be correct:

          “Pilot error continues to be the leading cause of general aviation accidents, with 69.1% of all general aviation accidents in 2020 caused by pilot error.”

          Overall, pilots are still significantly less accident-prone than the general population:

          “Studies reveal that a staggering 80-90% of all workplace and off the job accidents are linked to human error.”

          You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
          Harlan Ellison

          Reply ↓
  9. DJG, Reality Czar

    50 States, One Israel. The two-hundred-fifty U.S. state legislators wandering around Israel, eating the macadamia nuts out of the minibars at the hotel and hoping not to see some angry Palestinian (they’re all so darn crazed, those Palestinians).

    Only Wikipedia seems to be doing the work of compiling a list, because I can’t find a list in any news article after several searches with DuckDuckGo.

    Here’s a preliminary list:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_States_One_Israel

    Reply ↓
    1. John Wright

      I had the same reaction, why not provide a list of the proud/bought attendees?

      Did not see my USA CA Congressional rep on the list, but the list is not complete.

      Imagine the uproar if 250 USA representatives attended a Russian sponsored event in Moscow.

      Reply ↓
    2. elissa3

      The thought occurred to me that a truly incendiary and subversive new product would be a flag of the USA with the 50 five-pointed stars replaced by 50 six-pointed stars. Who could object? It would drive several partisan groups crazy. But, hey, free speech.

      Reply ↓
      1. chuck roast

        Can’t find any names from tiny-state. Just e-mailed a couple of my local Reps and local Sen asking for a name or names on the US/Israel solidarity junket since at least one of our 50 is missing as we used to say in New Mexico. I told them if this was a secret mission that I, being a patriot, would keep mum.

        One of my Reps replied that she knows nothing. This may be the Sgt. Schultz defense…or not. I sent a rejoined asking her to please find the names for me. I’m guessing that after the UN Report they may be trampling one another in the rush for the exit…or not.

        Reply ↓
  10. mrsyk

    Testing Humanoid Robots to the Limit. Notes,

    The robot is capable of regaining its feet very quickly.
    The robot lost a piece when it slipped and fell.
    The robot didn’t seem to notice when the man slipped around and behind it.
    The man (is careful to?) only kicks it on the upper body area.

    Give the young man a pry-bar or a baseball bat and let’s see.

    Reply ↓
    1. griffen

      Shades of the Robocop test scene for that robotic enforcer…you have 15 seconds to comply! \sarc

      It can be difficult to take these human like robotics all that seriously I do confess. Feels a bit like “Skynet” or “I, Robot” futuristic AI robotic pron, others mileage may vary!

      Reply ↓
      2. mary jensen

        Back in the halcyon days of San Francisco ‘punk/new wave’, I dated Mark Pauline known for his surreptitious rearrangement of large advertising billboards (Telly Savalas: “Feel the Pain, baby) and later founder of “Survival Research Laboratories”:
        https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Mark-Pauline-fiery-showman-now-into-machines-3510577.php
        and very noisy
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj0w1N2dcdg&t=15s&ab_channel=KVUE

        Now those are some robots.

        Reply ↓
  11. DJG, Reality Czar

    As DropSite News reports, Comer and Luna want you to know that it is indeed Scoundrel Time.

    I have no idea why these people keep referring to the Communist Party of China (CPC) as CCP. But then they are heirs to the famous tapes found in a pumpkin.

    Brethren and sistren, they’re naming names!

    From the underlying tweet.
    The letter alleges that Singham acts as an “agent for the CCP” and finances groups that “spread disinformation,” “sow discord,” and “promote pro-CCP talking points.” Citing NYT and pro-Israel think-tank reports, it claims nearly $1.8M in funding has gone to U.S. leftist organizations, including:

    ▪️ Party for Socialism and Liberation
    ▪️ Code Pink
    ▪️ No Cold War
    ▪️ Tricontinental
    ▪️ People’s Forum
    ▪️ ANSWER Coalition
    ▪️ Palestinian Youth Movement
    ▪️ BreakThrough Media

    So they want to ban a political party? And the esteemed Medea Benjamin and Code Pink? Tricontinental includes the excellent Vijay Prashad. And I demonstrated under the auspices of ANSWER for years — I recall going to demos against the Iraq War (II) sponsored by that coalition.

    PS: Pumpkin Papers pumpkineer Whitaker Chambers was described by George Will (who has his own problems with snobbery) thus. Sound familiar?
    “Witness became a canonical text of conservatism. Unfortunately, it injected conservatism with a sour, whiney, complaining, crybaby populism. It is the screechy and dominant tone of the loutish faux conservatism that today is erasing [William F.] Buckley’s legacy of infectious cheerfulness and unapologetic embrace of high culture. Chambers wallowed in cloying sentimentality and curdled resentment about “the plain men and women”—”my people, humble people, strong in common sense, in common goodness”—enduring the “musk of snobbism” emanating from the “socially formidable circles” of the “nicest people” produced by “certain collegiate eyries”.[57]”

    Reply ↓
    1. caucus99percenter

      Reminds me of the “PropOrNot” smear campaign, that time when the Washington Post accused this very site of being a channel for Russian propaganda.

      Reply ↓
    2. Vicky Cookies

      The NYT article referenced in the letter to the Treasury picked my ears up at the time; having failed at brown-baiting dissent re: Ukraine, the mainstream was now red-baiting it. The other footnotes are of interest, too. The Network Contagion Resrarch Institute, per Wiki, recieved funding from the Israel on Campus Coalition, which should itself interest the FARA-reaching minds rooting out fifth columns.

      Some insight, also, into the parties named. The PSL has a “critical support” line on the CPC, which in practice means little to members on the ground. Its a democratic centralist organization, however, and so the alignment of national leadership and their dependence on donors could make life more difficult. I’ve written before that communist parties in the US, historically, are expressions not of the labor movement, but of what Peter Turchin calls “counter-elites”. After the collapse of the USSR, left movements here, like the Battle for Seattle or Occupy seem to reflect more of an anarchist bent. Interestingly, then, as a bit of a mirror image of Obamas “pivot to Asia”, we begin to see a resurgence of party socialism. Not that the current administration would know any of that.

      The man in question is married to a Code Pinker. Seems like a bit of a clown to me. He’s given much more than 1.8m; that’s the number alleged to have been given to a Chinese media institute. He probably paid for The People’s Forum’s rent in the Garment District by Madison Square Garden; they are now looking to buy the building. TPF, ANSWER, and BreakThrough are all PSL, a split-off from Worker’s World, a Trotskyite party following Sam Marcy and Harry Haywood.

      Reply ↓
    3. ThirtyOne

      It’s scoundrel time—that’s what The Donald told me
      If you can’t stroke me, boys, you might get put on leave
      It’s bruisin’ time—that’s what The Donald told me
      If you can’t bend the knee, you might get put on leave
      Now, he said he don’t want me marchin’ in the street
      Don’t want me going ’round singin’ old Pete*
      Hanging out on Main Street is not his stick
      Waking up at 3 AM is not his kick
      Wants me to please him all the time
      Wants me to shaddap!** on late night
      That’s what he told me
      If you can’t do it, boys, you might get put on leave
      Baby, It’s scoundrel time—that’s what The Donald told me
      If you can’t stroke me, boys, you might get put on leave
      Said he don’t want me shootin’ my mouth
      Running in the street, sayin’ the country’s headed south
      Said he just wants me to stay at home
      Just tend to my business—leave his business alone
      Said he don’t want me hanging in them left clubs
      All them pinko commie, fakey news clubs
      That’s what he told me
      If you can’t stroke me, boys, you might get put on leave
      It’s scoundrel time—that’s what The Donald told me
      If you can’t stroke me, boys, you might get put on leave

      Groovin’ Time
      Otis Redding
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuB-ojRrN6s

      *Seeger
      **A good, loud Mel Blanc in-his-prime Ah Shaddap!

      Reply ↓
  12. Wukchumni

    It is amazing the ‘knee-Kirk’ reaction in our not so brave new world… Kimmel didn’t say anything inflammatory, mostly he let Trump provide unintentional humor in a lacks empathy vein, perfect when you consider Charlie thought empathy was a made up new age term, as if it never existed prior.

    Reply ↓
    1. Louis Fyne

      Kimmel spread flat-out disinformation re. the shooting during the monologue that got him fired.

      Blowback. Again. where the “Left”‘s favorite weapons gets weaponized against them. Color me unshocked

      Reply ↓
  13. Alice X

    >Kimmel

    It wasn’t the comment on Charlie Who, but the likening of Hair Furor’s response to a four year old that did it, imho. So we get a governance of, by, and for four year olds.

    Reply ↓
    1. JP

      Maybe that’s not it.

      It seems obvious that the GOP had a plan to crack down on, and I hate to use the word liberal because that’s now just a bulls##t label, their opposition to power. That plan has been loaded and ready to deploy for some time. They just needed a trigger. Kimmel’s comment that the killer was one of their own was reveling that intent.

      They couldn’t have that out there.

      Reply ↓
  14. Munchausen

    Polish military delegation to visit Ukraine to study air defense experience Kyiv Independent

    Russian military promised to help with the studies, if coordinates of Polish military delegation are provided.

    Reply ↓
  15. The Rev Kev

    “Germany Backs Further Use of Frozen Russian Assets for Ukraine”

    ‘Momentum is building in Europe to expand the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, following new pressure from US president Donald Trump and a shift in Germany’s stance.’

    They really do want that money. It is so close that they can almost taste it. If it can be outright stolen then there will be a great number of officials who will be able to wet their beaks here which is a major reason why they want it. Only problem is that it would be totally illegal and after three years or more, their trained-seal lawyers still cannot find anything in the law that will enable them to do it. Sooner or later the Russians will come for their money and all these dodgy schemes being constructed will mean that the EU will be on the hook for a lot of that money raised. In other news, I got a coupla hundred thousand dollars from my bank today using my neighbour’s house as collateral.

    Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        The guys at The Duran agree with you. That when the Russians go for their $300 billion, all that will be there will be a bunch of IOUs, the EU countries having spent it all.

        Reply ↓
        1. John Wright

          When one views resources by region, Russia swamps Europe.

          When Europe needs oil, metals, food from Russia, the clawback of the $300 billion will happen over time.

          Europe can’t “spend” this money without consequence, as the Russians hold the resources the Europeans will want in the future.

          Reply ↓
      2. Ignacio

        The frozen assets will be less consequential to the course of war than toilet paper in a suitcase spent in Ukraine. Consequences elsewhere might not be that desirable.

        Reply ↓
  16. Ksum Nole

    A 12-foot golden statue of Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin is displayed outside the U.S. Capitol as the Federal Reserve announces an interest rate cut, September 2025.
    — Future Adam Curtis B-Roll (@adamcurtisbroll) September 17, 2025

    This is US Empire’s equivalent of Venus de Milo, or David. Archeologists of the future will study this, and think:”WTF?”

    Reply ↓
    2. Lefty Godot

      The benefit of going hard after a nonexistent “organization” is that anyone can be accused of belonging to it, supporting it, being a “fellow traveler” or sympathizer, etc. The very unreality of the target group makes it that much harder to prove that you’re not somehow affiliated with it.

      Reply ↓
  19. Carolinian

    Re Taibbi on Kimmel–I didn’t watch Kimmel’s show but do think there’s some merit to booting people like Kimmel and Colbert who pander to one political segment in order to bolster the struggling late night business model. The air waves are owned by all.

    And here’s suggesting it was all business. Millionaire comedians make dubious populists.

    Of course there is considerable irony when Repubs go all Fairness Doctrine after doing so much to undermine. Maybe somebody should make a joke.

    Reply ↓
    1. Some Guy

      You think there is merit to a system where if a prominent person criticizes the president, the president intervenes to get them fired? I have to tell you, they have that system in a lot of places, but it doesn’t usually seem to work out too well in the end.

      It was kind of nasty (but deserved) for NC to link to Taibbi in particular on this topic. You could almost pity the sight of him trying to fit an inconvenient fact into his carefully curated worldview…

      Reply ↓
  20. AG

    re: Antifa “terrorist” label

    We Are All antifa Now
    The designation of the amorphous group antifa as a terrorist organization allows the state to brand all dissidents as supporters of antifa and prosecute them as terrorists.

    Chris Hedges
    Sep 18, 2025
    https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/we-are-all-antifa-now?r=1i81oo

    To offer a quote as opposing as it can be, Andrei Martyanov ending here with Hunter S. Thompson:

    “(…)
    The cries from justly fired nutjobs (remarkably–all democrats) about Charlie Kirk being a “fascist”–none of the American knows what fascist or fascism is, let alone Holocaust industry shysters and their media whores who know nothing about the world outside and its history. I don’t like Trump, you know my attitude towards him and treasonous GOP, but I definitely enjoy a squealing sounds from the environment which distinguished itself only as perverts, ambitious ass-holes and downright propagandists for homicidal owners of their outlets for:

    …a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.
    (…)”

    Indeed one may argue no American knows the true nature of “fascism”. Which is a point I often try to make.

    However Martyanov is too much in his own reality or simply forgot that it was antifa (admittedly I am not sure what that entity is) protesting and resisting the post 9/11 madness at home and in form of those wars getting killed 6M people in a dozen countries 10,000 miles away.

    And just because “Gonzo” was using bad language it doesn´t automatically make it “valuable” (in fact Martyanov here in an inversion falls prey to his own criticism of cultural snobbery because “Gonzo” of course did what he did with all the intent and calculation media “whores” are known for – man needs to eat and some groupies too).

    Fwiw: the demonization of Antifa in the US is not new.

    I assume this might make it easier for the likes of Mamdani on the level of gathering supporters? Which could be a good side effect. Of course under the explicit opposition to “political violence”. (I wonder how that works with the Gaza discourse, though.)

    Allow me this speculation as someone from a country far away where almost no one had heard of Kirk until a week ago:

    All of this would open paths to theories which call the lad who shot Kirk (I like “assassin” be reserved for Ninjas and people who are real professionals as in movies or at least a Ramírez Sánchez) an “antifa” or a rightwing puppet. So the murder could possibly serve both uniparties, if we take up stupid 4D-chess second-guessing. Although I don´t believe that. It´s too complicated.

    Reply ↓
  21. The Rev Kev

    “Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Says the US Could ‘Kick Russia’s Ass’ ”

    Yeah, that would be Keith Kellogg saying this as he gets all his facts from Zelensky and repeats them to Trump as his own observations. So he will say that the Ukrainian army is great and there is no emergency in the Donbass while the Russians have suffered a million dead and wounded. Yeah, the guy is an arrogant old fool but it was Trump that put him in place there and keeps on listening to what he says. So if Trump is badly informed about what is going on in the Ukraine, it is all on him.

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      Today i had a weird mixed feeling. Was hearing UB40 music, their version of ‘got you babe’ amongst others, and at the same reading about all that crap that American and European leaders produce. Having a simultaneous high and low moment for a while.

      Please, do not try it! It is really weird!

      Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    Leavitt to Believer

    In this week’s episode, Karoline invokes the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine, demands are a blonde’s best friend!

    Eddie Haskell from AP was chastised in such fashion.

    Reply ↓
  24. Wukchumni

    State sanctioned buffoonery can’t go on forever like some perpetual notion machine, and we seem to be cruising to a conclusion, but how does the end game go?

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *