Sanskrit university project: Ant movement, frog behaviour to predict rain Hindustan Times
What’s Happening to Wholesale Electricity Prices? Construction Physics
‘Involved sequentially’: leopard sharks observed mating for first time in wild have threesome The Guardian
Climate/Environment
What happens when major storms hit toxic dumps? Moving Day
A New Island Has Popped Up in Alaska Gizmodo
Formation of giant Siberian gas emission craters Science of The Total Environment
“But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!” Real Climate
Oxy Executive Says Direct Air Capture Model Isn’t Bankable Now Bloomberg
Revisiting the Geoengineering Question The Climate Brink
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2 can turn our own defenders into traitors.
A study in Sci Transl Med, 2025 shows the virus drives neutrophils into PMN-MDSCs cells that don’t fight, but suppress T cells.🧵 https://t.co/e3IgWFvdXg— Zdenek Vrozina (@ZdenekVrozina) September 19, 2025
How to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health European Society of Cardiology
Data investigation: Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S. NBC News
The Koreas
Kim says has ‘good memory’ of Trump, open to talks with U.S. if denuclearization demand dropped Yonhap
India
US fee on H-1B visas rattles Indian tech stocks Intellinews
Chabahar sanctions is a strategic move by US Indian Punchline
China?
Chinese automaker BYD’s U9 Xtreme EV just hit a verified top speed of 496 km/h (308 mph) at Germany’s ATP proving grounds, making it the new fastest production car in the world, beating the Bugatti Chiron’s 304.77 mph.
• 2,978 hp
• 80 kWh LFP battery
• 1,200v platform
• New… pic.twitter.com/JcP7yTyERJ— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 21, 2025
South of the Border
Venezuela Launches Military Exercises in All Regions Throughout the Country Orinoco Tribune
Syraqistan
This family killed today by Israel in Lebanon are Lebanese with American citizenship so Israel kills American citizens not only in Palestine but in Lebanon too.
Will the U.S do anything about it?
Some of their names:
Shadi Sobhi Sharara
Celine Shadi Sharara
Hadi Shadi Sharara… pic.twitter.com/vzmJ2QEmOf— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws1) September 21, 2025
US Amb Huckabee says Israel’s army is more moral than America’s: “They have taken measures to protect human life the likes of which our own country does not do.”
Says death toll in Gaza is so high because Hamas “moves” civilians into Israel’s targets after being warned to leave. pic.twitter.com/ORwNEUnySB
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) September 22, 2025
Netanyahu Asked Trump to Halt Egyptian Military Buildup in Sinai, Source Says Haaretz
***
UK, Australia and Canada recognize a Palestinian state, prompting angry response from Israel AP
Recognize Hamas The Anti-Empire Project. On why recognition of their idea of a Palestinian state by above is meaningless gesture.
⚡️🇮🇱BREAKING: Israeli PM Netanyahu:
“A Palestinian state will not be established. The response to the recent attempt to impose a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the US”
“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian… pic.twitter.com/NFnih2pEwq
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws1) September 21, 2025
Netanyahu’s Vision for Israel’s Future Is Not Sparta, It’s Something Worse Haaretz
EXCLUSIVE: Bill to Block Arms Sales to Israel Endorsed by Congressional Progressive Caucus Zeteo
***
Taliban rejects Trump’s ultimatum RT
Iran says it will suspend cooperation with UN’s nuclear watchdog Al Jazeera
Moving closer to part 2 of USrael-Iran war GeoPolitiQ
European Disunion
EU’s new strategy to lure India away from Russia’s orbit Hellenic Shipping News
Rome gloats as France becomes Italy and Italy becomes France Politico
Since I was born, Italy has ran primary surpluses every single year but seven, which coincided with the global convulsions of 2008-11 and 2020-23. During much of that period it was the worst performing G7 economy by a substantial margin.
The last years have surely shown that… https://t.co/MG11zbxkpM
— New Left EViews (@NewLeftEViews) September 21, 2025
Crisis At NATO Shipbuilder Unsettles Europe’s Defense Plans Bloomberg
The growing influence of US asset managers in the Netherlands SOMO
New Not-So-Cold War
NATO fighters scrambled to escort Russian reconnaissance plane over Baltic Sea ERR
Trump says he ‘would’ help defend Poland and Baltic states if Russia keeps escalating Euronews
Security guarantees for Ukraine require readiness to fight Russia, says Finland’s president The Guardian
TRUMP THE RETROACTIVE – HOW THE ANTE IS UPPED BEFORE TRUMP ANNOUNCES HIS DECISIONS John Helmer
Robert Kagan Foresees Critical Geopolitical Juncture Simplicius
‘Resilience factories’ German Foreign Policy
Russian drone pilots are becoming extremely good … this war is getting scarier
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) September 21, 2025
Trump 2.0
Trump administration halts government hunger report The Hill
Trump Hints at the Murdochs Joining the TikTok Deal Gizmodo
Trump’s H-1B visa fee to hit US employers with $14bn annual bill FT
Trump ‘border czar’ Tom Homan reportedly accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents The Guardian
Trump publicly pushes Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political foes NBC News
MAHA
Trump officials reportedly set to tie Tylenol to autism risk The Guardian
Weimar Republic
Trump memorializes Kirk: ‘He did not hate his opponents. … That’s where I disagreed’ The Hill
The emotional climax of the Charlie Kirk memorial came when President Trump asked Erika Kirk to join him on stage.
The audience roared as America the Beautiful played throughout the stadium.
The president embraced Erika as she wept for her late husband.
It was an incredibly… pic.twitter.com/4W3b2OCgRX
— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) September 21, 2025
Max Blumenthal: Charlie Kirk’s Story FALLS APART Dialogue Works (Video)
Surgeon calls Charlie Kirk ‘man of steel’ — reveals ‘miracle’ factor that likely prevented more from being hurt New York Post
A Charlie Kirk Update… While Trump is Playing with Fire in Venezuela Larry Johnson
How did “China Use Kirk’s Murder to Stoke Conspiracy Theories and Division”? Pekingnology
This Starbucks had to close temporarily after this accusation went viral. This tweet, ex., has 48K retweets and includes its phone number and address.
They just confirmed they checked the security footage, and “Loser” wasn’t on the drink when it was handed off. https://t.co/lEIrQ6KwPd
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) September 20, 2025
False Flag Watch
We will have another 9/11 in our country. Probably within the next 6 months to a year.
And when we do, it will be because the people who have been put in charge of combatting terrorism in America are too afraid to say ISLAMIC TERRORISM.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. @NCTCKent
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 20, 2025
Mamdani
Inside Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Drop Site
Land Value Politics Phenomenal World
Accelerationists
On the Origins of Dune’s Butlerian Jihad Edward Ongweso Jr.
The Luddite Renaissance is in full swing Blood in the Machine
Crapification
Slack threatened to delete nonprofit coding club’s data if it didn’t pay $50k in a week The Register
AI
And you twist the darkness in your fingers Internal Exile
Healthcare?
THE HEALTH PENALTY Texas Observer
Class Warfare
TOWARD LABOR UNIONS FOR INCARCERATED WORKERS: AN ORGANIZING STRATEGY LPE Project
“HOUSE FROM HELL” — HOW AMERICA’S LARGEST HOMEBUILDERS SHIFT THE COST OF SHODDY CONSTRUCTION TO BUYERS Hunterbrook
Hole-Punched History Extracurriculars
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
‘Chris Menahan 🇺🇸
@infolibnews
US Amb Huckabee says Israel’s army is more moral than America’s: “They have taken measures to protect human life the likes of which our own country does not do.”
Says death toll in Gaza is so high because Hamas “moves” civilians into Israel’s targets after being warned to leave.’
Listening to Huckabee is like listening to an IDF spokesman – null value. Here Huckabee has got it back to front. Israel will tell Palestinians to go into a safe zone and when they have gathered there, then Israel will bomb them. Can’t work out though if Huckabee is simply that deluded or whether he is lying his face off.
Huckabee and other members of the evang menace are the sad end game to making Billy Graham our official spokesman to the almighty, and with Hollywood looks and height, he almost resembled Charlie in that regard.
We needed a bulwark against the godless commies in the late 40’s, and like so much kudzu it spread.
If you’ve followed the career of Huckabee, it’s always been pretty obvious that he is not the brightest candle in the chandelier. This is his dream job because he actually, really believes in the millennialist rapture nonsense. He will be at the center of the apocalypse and rise to heaven with the Second Coming, as one of the just. The Israelis know darn well that this belief means that Jews, among others, will be damned to suffer the Final Judgment, and yet they ally with these loons. The cynicism never ceases to astonish.
And Shana Tova to all who celebrate.
The flag is high, our ranks are closed
The soldiers of God march with silent solid steps
Comrade shot by the red front and reaction
March in spirit with us, Charlie in our ranks
The street is free for the bible battalions
The street is free for the Dominionism Troopers
Millions full of hope, look at our flag lapel pins
The day breaks for freedom and for dread
For the last time the call will now be sounded
For the struggle now we all stand ready
Soon will fly Trump’s henchmen over every street
Our slavery will last only a short time longer
The flag is high, our ranks are closed
The evang menace march with silent solid steps
Comrade shot by the red front and reaction
Charlie march in spirit with us in our ranks
Horst Wessel Lied
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7pw9_EMGfI&list=RDD7pw9_EMGfI
Perhaps the imminent false flag event ms Loomer is predicting happened yesterday in Arizona. We wait to see if it takes.
Arizona has always been utilized by the Pachyderms as a crass-test-dummy, so it was kismet.
I really don’t like the trend to turn this fellow into some sort of religious martyr. It’s another lie.
I have no idea what Charlie Kirk was like in his private life, obviously. He may have been Mother Theresa for all I know. But in public, he presented himself as a political figure, and in all the videos I have seen of him engaging with students, he stuck to political topics.
Contrast this with the life of Jesus, who repudiated politics and the notion that he was a political messiah.
He was killed for his political, not religious beliefs. If some are saying otherwise, they’re dangerous demagogues who need to be denounced in the strongest possible terms.
If most of the people who claim that the Kirk “memorial” was spreading the word of Christ are Christians, then I must be Martian.
And yes, viewed from this side of the pond the “memorial” was a grotesque show of authoritarian designs dressed in the flag and carrying the cross (literally).
Final observation: crowds of diverse youngs were not in evidence. The crowd was rather more aged and monochromatic.
OIFVet: Yep. Yep. Yep. First, the idea that Charlie Kirk, the “back row kid” from upper-middle-class Arlington Heights, was an apostle humbly spreading the word of God through his campus visits is preposterous.
Second, all of the public testimony to Jesus is a tad off-putting. As esteemed commenter vao, who, I believe, lives in Germany, puts it in a comment from early this morning:
“Because after all, neither Trump, Hegseth, or Kennedy can really play the role, while other figures with a greater aura like Musk or once popular like Bannon fell out with MAGA. The weird assassination of a young, presentable demagogue influencer undoubtedly MAGA-compatible but without any real political power is a jackpot for them.”
The rumors about Catholicism are just rumors. U.S. Catholicism has for years had an inferiority complex, wanting desperately to be part of the Protestant power structure. Many of the Christercrats don’t consider Catholics to be Christians and certainly have never seen a Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Expect instead more enforced singing of all 57 verses of “Amazing Grace.”
“From this side of the pond,” Mediterranean adjacent, I’d say that the funeral was the usual rebuilding of reputation (“But Uncle Joe only lovingly beat Aunt Trisha”), an exercise in collective irresponsibility (“We’re the Elect”), and the usual U.S. avoidance of death (“He will pass into a statue in the Halls of Congress and later become a video game. Amen.”).
So: A warning to USanians. No, theocracy isn’t on the horizon. J.D. Vance and his pals in the Francisco Franco wing of Catholicism are a political problem. No one considers Trump a religious person (he’s a Francisco Franco Presbyterian). Erika Kirk may have forgiven publicly, but Turning Points is a political organization geared up for a turn ever farther right.
What is to be done? Politically.
Here in Godzone* (population 146k) they built the largest Catholic parish church* in the country across the street from a sleek ultra modern evang MAGAmegachurch. That couldn’t be mere happenstance on Caldwell Ave.?
*Visalia was recently ranked the dumbest place in the country, and I can attest to how much they love their religion, coincidence happens.
** done in early California Mission*** style, given what we know of how they treated the locals back in the day, an odd choice.
*** every kid in school in Cali had to make a mission when they were around 10, it was this odd right of passage and as far as many of us got in regards to a future in architecture.
Sugar cubes made for excellent walls, and it was all about penne pasta for roof tiles.
Maybe, just maybe, the dogs won’t eat the dog food. Slaughtering children for the greater good is going to be a tough sell. Will this hobble Turning Points’ momentum? Will they be able to navigate around this enormous elephant in the room? I’m having my doubts.
An aside, I did not know Marco Rubio was a skilled public speaker.
USian megachurch religiosity certainly has a different feel than that practiced in the small old churches here in the Balkans, and especially from the tiny stone chapels doting the footpaths of the hills and high mountains in Bulgaria and Greece, where a traveler can stop to rest, light a candle and commune with his god through no intermediary but the light coming in through the tiny stained glass windows to illuminate the icons and the carved altar. And when there’s a storm up in the mountains, they provide quite literal shelters from the storm. I suppose there are similar chapels in the Apennines.
In any case, even as an agnostic the megachurch evangelism of the US feels very much un-Christian and repudiation of Christ’s teachings. Perhaps that explains why the reactions to the “memorial” from religious acquaintances here basically amount to polite revulsion.
That is quite a revelation about those small stone chapels. They provide shelter for a traveler, protect people from mountain storms and I am guessing that the chapel function is not an isolated one but is part of the warp and woofs of those people’s social lives. Communing with god does not mean that it has to be in a big building with the whole village attending and a priest running things but can be done in the privacy of those stone chapels.
Rome gloats as France becomes Italy. Giorgio Leali. Politico being Politico.
Poor Giorgio slips at the end: “Both are currently saddled with more than €3 trillion of public debt. But Italy — while also guilty of letting things slip during the pandemic with its notorious “superbonus” tax credit scheme — has done a better job of correcting its course in the last two years.”
Notorious? To Meloni. Giorgio slips and reveals his Berlusconesque biases. In fact, the superbonus was designed to fuel the construction industry, which it did. Effectively. It was Keynesian economics, very strictly applied to real estate and the purchase of new appliances.
Truly, or untruly, Politico should try for better propaganda.
‘Laura Loomer
@LauraLoomer
We will have another 9/11 in our country. Probably within the next 6 months to a year.
And when we do, it will be because the people who have been put in charge of combatting terrorism in America are too afraid to say ISLAMIC TERRORISM.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Yeah, It would be Laura Loomer saying this. Made a mistake and went into her Wikipedia entry-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Loomer
Took me half an hour to climb out of that particular rabbit hole. And yet she has Trump’s ear.
Rev Kev: The part about her family background and education is a real, errrr, pastiche.
And yet, proof that theocracy cannot arrived in the U S of A:
“Loomer disapproved of the selection of Pope Leo XIV, who she described as “Just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican” and “anti-Trump, anti-Maga, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis”.[208][209]
Dumb as a doorknob, as we used to say in Chicago.
Against my better judgment I took your bait Rev. I started reading her Wikipedia entry and just couldn’t stop. It’s a real tour-de-force. I’ve been watching key individuals and organizations on the Right for decades. In terms of sheer right wing lunacy, Laura Loomer is hard to top. And yet as you say – and this is the scary part – she has Trump’s ear and seems to be influential.
‘Lord Bebo
@MyLordBebo
Russian drone pilots are becoming extremely good … this war is getting scarier’
Good enough so that they leave people walking their dogs alone-
https://www.bitchute.com/video/e18hdIwOlTVa (27 secs)
A nice written antidote composed in 1958 by a Chinese visitor to New England which in many ways is still true – New England is China.
‘Netanyahu’s Vision for Israel’s Future Is Not Sparta, It’s Something Worse”
‘As prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu always dreamed of an Israel free of U.S. restraints and conditions’
What restraints? What conditions? Netanyahu is just like Zelensky – ‘Ehh, give me money. Give me weapons.’ and that is exactly what the US does.
General strike in Italy. Support for Palestine is the theme. Appunti.
Here in the Chocolate City, Mondays are normally somewhat slow because most of the stores and shops close Monday morning and reopen only around 3:00 p.m. Today, 22 September, the autumnal equinox, is complicated because it started raining yesterday at 17 00 and continued till 10 00 this morning.
Conveniently, that pause in the rain arrived just before the second demonstration of the day, at 10 30, in front of the Stazione Porta Nuova. When I arrived, around 10 15, there were already about 3,000 persons milling around and chatting. Italians are good at milling around and chatting.
We finally stepped off about an hour later, heading roughly eastward on Corso Vittorio Emanuele toward the Mighty Po. Progress was very slow. The crowd was a mix of all ages, although not many toddlers. Drizzle doesn’t faze the Piedmontese, but if it drizzles, they don’t bring the little kids to the demos. Otherwise, a big contingent of high-school students and many university students. Plenty of the 6-to-12 set, too.
Italian demonstrations in general are lightly policed compared to U.S. demos, where the police line the sidewalks and “photographers” (who?) are lined up taking images. Today, there were police at the tail end of the demo, at the front of the demo, and at a couple major intersections.
The demo turned down Via Madama Cristina, past the market I frequent for vegetables. I hived off at Corso Marconi, because I was getting hungry from so much revolution. When I turned around, I was surprised to discover how much the parade had grown — I’d now estimate 8,000.
At Via Madama Cristina and Via Baretti, there was much cheering. I looked up, and an older woman was on a balcony waving a Palestine banner. When you’ve lost la nonna…
Another demo is scheduled for 18 00 at Piazza Castello. I will report again later.
All to the good, and a reminder that not everything in the world is highly public Tartuffian funerals in Arizona.
“But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!” Real Climate
Sigh. Defense built on straight line extrapolation. Does not once mention El Nino. Compare the Summer Arctic Sea Ice Extant Anomalies graph in the article to the ONI – 1990 – Present graph found here. Note the period between early ’16 and mid ’23 is dominated by La Nina’s cooling hand (La Nina contributes to cooler temperatures). Also fails to mention freshwater produced from melting ice and the slowing of the AMOC, which also mask rising temperatures regionally.
TikTok’s Algorithm to Be Secured by Oracle in Trump-Backed Deal (Bloomberg via archive)
Owners of the US-based TikTok would lease a copy of the algorithm from ByteDance that Oracle would then retrain “from the ground up,” according to the official.
Data from US users would be stored in a secure cloud managed by Oracle
Plastic Surgery victim and arch Zionist Ellison has suddenly become a powerful player in media old and new.
Everywhere I go I see slack-faced humans scrolling 10 second videos. It’s like they are hypnotized or lobotomized, just allowing this fractured crap to pour into their minds.
Ellison now controls the biggest hose.
Had Thanksgiving dinner at the Silver City Resort in Mineral King on Saturday with about 30 others, and I know what you’re thinking, isn’t that cheating having a couple of Thanksgivings?
The resort closes in late October, so they’ve traditionally jumped the gun, and this was the first one held in the last 7 years on account of fires & floods, not necessarily in that order.
They did a real bang up job, a feast of friends and food.
“Slack threatened to delete nonprofit coding club’s data if it didn’t pay $50k in a week”
‘Slack sent a nonprofit hacking club for teens a demand for $50,000, payable within a week, and threatened to delete the club’s message archive if it did not pay.’
Yeah, those kids learned an extremely valuable lesson when this shakedown was attempted. One guy said-
‘This experience has taught us that owning your data is incredibly important, and if you’re a small business especially, then I’d advise you move away too’
Moving forward I do not think that they will let themselves get into a position where some corporation can threaten to delete their messages with it’s institutional knowledge ever again. So it’s good that they learned this lesson when young. So why did Slack do this? I suspect that it was all to achieve some bs quarterly aims so that somebody can earn themselves a bonus.
That move by Slack is reminiscent of the new licensing terms that Broadcom imposed on users of VMware — generally more onerous and restrictive, customers with previous “perpetual licenses” in particular getting thoroughly shafted — thus sending SMEs and small customers scurrying to find some other providers of software for virtual machines under acceptable conditions.
Aware of any imperative “how-to” knowledge Sep 2025 update on mitigating Covid risk for Americans, using the “swiss-cheese” multifaceted approach, including
1 How to obtain the Novavax 2025-26, is a presription needed, & it is covered by health insurance?
2 What is the status of inhaled Covid vaccines? Is it relatively superior to Novavax 2025-26, in terms of providing immunity longer or in terms of risk reduction during the limited time it is protective? If an existing inhaled Covid vaccine is far superior to Novavax 2025-26, could it potentially be logical to medical tourist travel to obtain this vaccine if one has the money/time to do so?
3 Any recommendation of Vendor/SKUs for N95 masks based on testing studies?
4 Any recommendation on prophylactic use of daily vitamins like C/D/Quercetin/etc as mentioned on FLCCC Alliance “I Prevent” protocol, including on particular SKUs for vitamins.
5 Is “I vitamin” prophylactic use advisable? If so, what frequency say twice per week? Is it possible to obtain without prescription in certain states like TN? What pharma/vendor SKU to use?
6 For personal home & indoor worksite office, is a HEPA filter or Corsi-Rosenthal box superior? Any recommendation on SKU or local mutual aid org that teaches Corsi-Rosenthal box construction?
7 Any practical advice on persuading household members to take Covid risk reduction seriously?
8 Possibly other Covid risk mitigation factors I did not consider?
H-1B visas
When I was working at the CDC (25 years ago)congress would add money to our budget for creating software needed for our work. However, they would not allow us to hire more people to do this work – did not authorize more FTE’s (full time equivalent) . We were compelled to voluntarily use contractors and I believe congress specified suitable ones.
So the CDC was not able to develop in-house expertise for these purposes. We could work through the contractor and they’d send over a candidate for us to evaluate. Most probably could program at a moderate level but had no subject matter expertise. Ginning out a CRUD (create, read, update and delete) app is a long way from designing and debugging a system of data collection from multiple locations, consolidating it, analyzing and so on.
Needless to say we paid a lot for these folks. The programmer probably got a fraction of that and the contractor got the bulk.
So, by laying on the $100,000 probably wont go down well with the congress-connected contractors.
H-1B visas are open to a lot of abuse. As an example-
‘Retro Coast
@RetroCoast
Once there was a company that hired a foreigner on an #H1B visa as a manager.
Within a year, he fired all the Americans and replaced them with #H1B workers from his home country.
I know- because one of the fired Americans was me.’
https://xcancel.com/RetroCoast/status/1969479423050031435#m