10 of the Tallest Trees in the World TreeHugger (resilc)
A Fascinating Map That Illustrates the Widely Diverse Kingdom of Fungi Laughing Squid
Exercise and Schizophrenia Cognition Limited Benefits Shown in Single-Bout Study Naveen Shankar
Childhood plastic exposure could be fueling obesity, infertility, and asthma ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
What Turns Some Scholars Into Frauds? Chronicle of Higher Education. Anthony L: “‘… many savoring the irony that experts on honesty had faked results about honesty'”
Climate/Enviroment
Billionaires aren’t going to save the planet: The Bezos Earth Fund, AI, and carbon offsets REDD-Monitor (Micael T)
Earth’s ‘atmospheric rivers’ have shifted towards the poles, causing big local weather changes Earth.com
The world’s longest flower meadow is finished LandetsFria via machine translation (Micael T)
Ocean Warming Threatens Microbe That Makes Nearly a Third of Earth’s Oxygen Science Alert (Chuck L)
China?
Strongest storm of the year roars towards Hong Kong and southern China BBC
China Rare Earths Issue Remains Unresolved, US Lawmaker Says Bloomberg
In Rare Visit to China, U.S. Lawmakers Push for More Military Dialogue Wall Street Journal
Bad consumer loans emerge as new headache for Chinese banks Nikkei
China Floods the World With Cheap Exports After Trump’s Tariffs Bloomberg. Yours truly has seen just about no inflation here in Southeast Asia, and deflation in ride share rates.
Koreas
Korea’s President Lee says U.S. investment demands would spark a financial crisis CNBC
India
Indian rupee slides to all-time low, US visa fee hike compounds pressure Reuters
Why the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact is unsettling India BBC
Bangladesh faces its worst financial crisis in decades Dharka Tribune
O Canada
On Gaza & Ukraine: Canadian PM Mark Carney is either a fool or a Deep State operative Lucy Komisar
Canada keeps bankrolling Ukraine’s war crimes Eva Karene Bartlett
Elizabeth slams $24B nuclear deal: “Do we just write cheques to Trump now?” YouTube (resilc)
South of the Border
US ready to support Argentina with ‘large and forceful’ action, Treasury chief says Reuters (Kevin W). Lordie.
European Disunion
Europe’s reckless warmongering Wolfgang Munchau, Unherd. A piece that positions itself as rational still exhibits Putin Derangement Syndrome.
Germany’s death wish – not fit for war, but addicted to war Nachdenkseiten via machine transalation
Denmark suffers ‘serious attack’ on infrastructure with drones closing airport Financial Times. That headline is STILL up. Contrast with Associated Press story: Danish police investigate after drones flew over Copenhagen Airport for hours
Israel v. the Resistance
GREAT NEWS
Egypt and Turkey have announced they will be holding joint Naval exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean at the same time as the SUMUD Humanitarian AID Flotilla will be there, on their way to Gaza
If the flotilla is threatened by Israel while in International Waters,… pic.twitter.com/dM3Asf4mIc— Uncle Klaus #ANTIZIONIST #ProPalestine #BDS (@KlausUncle) September 21, 2025
Israel warns the EU James Dorsey
World Leaders Recognize Palestinian State, in a Challenge to U.S. and Israel New York Times
French town halls fly Palestinian flag ahead of Macron’s UN recognition Le Monde (resilc)
Little Seed of Goodness; or Not. Olivier Boyd-Barrett. On Palestine recognition.
Alastair Crooke : Israel’s War of the Jungle Judge Napolitano, YouTube
‘We’ve given up on Israel’: Disillusioned with Netanyahu and the war in Gaza, Israelis are fleeing France24
Imagine if Americans put as much effort into saving Gaza as they did into saving Jimmy Kimmel Council Estate Media (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia accuses EU of intentions to ‘occupy Moldova’ Anadolu Agency
Difficult decisions Events in Ukraine
Putin Proposes Extension of New Start Treaty for One Year Karl Sanchex
Imperial Collapse Watch
Proposed war authorization could allow Trump to target 60+ countries Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
THREAD: The Strategic Mutual Defense Pact (SMDP) signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on September 17th signals a seismic shift in global power dynamics.
Between 2020 and 2024, more than 60 percent of China's arms exports went to nuclear-armed Pakistan.
China maintains… pic.twitter.com/qnJRjsZjxD
— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) September 23, 2025
Trump’s Bagram Folly Daniel Larison
Islamic Emirate to Trump: No Deal Over Bagram, Honor Doha Agreement TOLO
Trump 2.0
The New Detroit-Windsor Bridge Can’t Repair the Damage Trump Has Done New Republic (resilc)
Trump officially designates Antifa as ‘terrorist organization’ RT (Kevin W)
Trump Declares War on Left With “Domestic Terrorist” Designation Ken Klippenstein
Whither the Birthright Citizenship Cases? Steve Vladek
From Nazi Germany to Trump’s America: why strongmen rely on women at home Guardian (Kevin W)
Congress locked in game of shutdown chicken as funding deadline nears The Hill
Immigration
Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa shock: Why US may lose more than India BBC
MAHA
Trump attacks Tylenol as officials unveil highly contentious conclusions on autism Guardian (Kevin W). I have repeatedly said that Tylenol should not be sold OTC due to liver toxicity risk, but is desperate. Oprah Winfrey lost a suit v. her for saying bad things about hamburger. Is there a defamation suit here?
Trump suggests changes to childhood vaccine schedule ‘based on what I feel’ The Hill
Why Swapping High Fructose Corn Syrup for Sugar Won’t Make You Healthier American Council on Science and Health (resilc). I had assumed so but good to have an expert confirmation.
Democrat Death Wish
Democrats Look for a New Villain: The Groups or the Billionaires New Republic (resilc)
Health Care
Patients Will Wait Longer:’ $100,000 Visa Fee Risks Worsening Doctor Shortage Bloomberg
Insurance Companies Send Chilling Letters Just Before Surgery. But Why? New York Times (resilc). I am hardly an expert on medical billing, but it is the hospital that is worried about getting paid and gets the prior authorization. The fact that the insurer is trying to intimidate patients is stunning, but the patient can reconfirm with the hospital (make it the surgeon’s problem, he has clout to penetrate the bureaucracy). The article essentially confirms that. I went through this with my hip replacement because I asked my surgeon to upgrade me very shortly before my procedure to a bilateral replacement and he agreed. My MD said even if he did not have the authorization in hand, he was damned sure he would get it, my hips were in the bottom 1%. The Communist State of New York has external appeal, so that may explain his confidence.
Psychiatric Hospitals Turn Away Patients Who Need Urgent Care. The Facilities Face Few Consequences. ProPublica
Charlie Kirk
Scenes From Charlie Kirk’s Spontaneous Memorial in Utah Wired. resilc: “USA USA is going down hard.”
Charlie Kirk memorial: Trump says he ‘hates’ his opponents at event attended by tens of thousands Guardian (resilc)
Who Killed Charlie Kirk? NATO Ramps Up for War with Russia Larry Johnson
Police State Watch
EU and German government sanction German journalist for critical tweets about Chancellor Merz Nachdenkseiten via machine translation (Micael T)
U.S. Attorney Refers Gavin Newsom To Secret Service For ‘Threat Assessment’ Over X Post Forbes (resilc)
Our No Longer Free Press
Sinclair preempts Jimmy Kimmel Live! after ABC’s decision to reinstate. Will Nexstar follow? Hindustan Times. Odd that this is the venue to focus on the key issue in its headline, as in what does Nestar do? The Financial Times, by contrast, completely omits it (as of this hour) in a comparatively long article. They have vastly more ABC affiliates than the conservative Sinclair. Recall also that Kimmel is wildly overpaid relative to his audience. Disney for the moment saves face but what happens if Nexstar folds, either out of audience pressure or fear of Trump?
A broadcaster on behalf of the people Multipolar via machine translation (Micael T)
Goebbels Ends Careers of Five ‘Aryan’ Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime New York Times (resilc)
Economy
Unemployment Barry Ritholtz
McCown: U.S. Container Imports Face Historic Decline as Tariff Effects Take Hold QCaptain
‘Underwater’ car trade-ins are at a 4-year high: What that means when buying a new vehicle CNBC
Demand for Data Centers, Energy Creates a Gold Rush for Infrastructure Investors Chief Investment Officer
Mr. Market is Moody
Longer-Term Treasury Yields & Mortgage Rates Jump after Rate Cut, Yield Curve Steepens, Bond Market Gets Edgy Wolf Richter
AI
Microsoft CEO fears artificial intelligence will destroy the company Telegrafi
The Bezzle
The $NVDA CoreWeave fraud just hit a new milestone.
On September 9, $CRWV signed a $6.3 billion deal with Nvidia. Per the deal terms, Nvidia is obligated to purchase any spare capacity that CW is unable to sell to end customers.
This seems to be a clever way to skirt… https://t.co/97p1ri19OM pic.twitter.com/LhXeNVdp1l
— Kashyap Sriram (@kashyap286) September 22, 2025
Guillotine Watch
Picasso or Bitcoin? How art’s status is changing among the super-rich The Art Newspaper (resilc)
Local decorators offer premium pumpkin decor for upwards of $1,000 ARL.com (resilc)
The Forever-35 Face New York Magazine
Class Warfare
Hamburger Helper Sales Rise as Americans Try to Stretch Their Food Dollars New York Times (resilc)
More Americans are living in RVs as housing costs rise NBC
I Took Bernie Into Deep Trump Country. Can He Win Them Over? YouTube (resilc)
The Social Security and Medicare Funding Problems Are Real Washington Monthly. resilc: “Dat’s da plan”.
Antidote du jour (via):
A bonus:
I just want everyone to look at this Capybara pic.twitter.com/5U4NgFVNq7
— Beauty Of Nature 🌳 (@ShouldHaveAnima) September 23, 2025
And a second bonus:
Little orange cat pic.twitter.com/iShXAHlaIu
— Beauty Of Nature 🌳 (@ShouldHaveAnima) September 23, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Rogue (although welcome) capybara tweet in the ‘Israel v. the Resistance’ section. I see it is also the bonus antidote.
>Alastair Crooke : Israel’s War of the Jungle
I got up early to have more time to take in the day’s latest batch of fresh hell. This was first on deck from last night and Alastair did not disappoint.
Last night Greenwald was back to soft pedal the outrage over Tucker’s speech at the Charlie Who memorial. GG holds that he didn’t say what I heard him to say. The genie is out of the bottle.
HTML on the Steve Vladek link is not quite right – for readers, the post is well worth pasting into your browser.
“Trump’s Bagram Folly”
I think that Wukchumni called it when he said that idiotic statements like Trump wanting Bagram is just a distraction from the fact that Trump still refuses to release the Epstein files. I don’t think that even his base believes him when he says that they don’t exist and are just a Democrat hoax.
DT Barnum is pretty predictable with verbal sleight of hand…
An oldie but a goodie from the 17th year of the war…
1, 2, 3, 4
Well the war was now seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way it looked
Was way beyond repair
So how could we depart & have conflict with another
Oh, when KBR had standing there
Well Halliburton looked at fees
And they, they could see
That before too long
They’d fall in love de rigueur
They wouldn’t dalliance with another
Oh, when they had standing there
Well war profits went boom
When we crossed into the ‘stan box room
And they held their hands out every time
Oh they danced through the night
And they held their money tight
And before too long
They fell in love with war
Now why be a sutler with another
Oh, when they had standing there
Well the war profits went boom
When we crossed that Rubicon into doom
And they held their hands out each time
Oh they danced through the night
And they held onto to manna tight
And before too long
They fell in love with war
Now why have a dalliance with another
Oh, when they have standing there
Oh, since they have standing there
Yeah, well as long as they have standing there
I Saw Her Standing There, by the Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwAB3SECtc
10 of the Tallest Trees in the World TreeHugger (resilc)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My cabin is just 7/10’s of a mile from the first Giant Sequoias in the Atwell Grove, one of 76 different groves all on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
It’s a remarkable grove in that the highest altitude Sequoias grow there @ 9,000 feet, about 3,000 feet higher than usual, and it also sports around a dozen trees over 300 feet high, not to mention perhaps the oldest Sequoia of all-the Arm Tree, at least 3,000 years old.
https://sequoiaquest.com/atwell-mill-arm-tree-tour-6212019.html
There is one route in via the Paradise Trail, otherwise its all steep off-trail walking to get to the holy grail. In a dozen years of traipsing around in such a fashion with friends, we’ve never met another hiker en route off-trail, so it very much feels like your very own grove of Brobdingnagians, most of which in the higher climes are around 20 feet wide at eye level.
The western edge of the grove experienced effects of the KNP Fire in 2021, with the Diamond Tree (19th biggest and 12 feet higher than the Sherman Tree) bearing the brunt of the activity, as flames raced through it’s base and carved a conflagration tunnel about 2 feet wide for 150 feet straight up, with the break-out point where the aged marquise diamond shaped fire scar that gives it the name, is. A mere mortal tree would succumb, but Sequoias can take such a beating and keep on living.
Before: https://sequoiaquest.com/diamond.html
After: https://sequoiaquest.com/atwell-mill-may-2022.html
It’s difficult not to feel like a big nothing-a pipsqueak, in their presence.
Frankly I was seriously impressed with that Hyperion tree. It’s massive. However Wikipedia says-
‘The exact location of Hyperion is nominally secret but is available via internet search. However, in July 2022, the Redwood Park superintendent closed the entire area around the tree, citing “devastation of the habitat surrounding Hyperion” caused by visitors. Its base was trampled by the overuse and as a result ferns no longer grow around the tree.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(tree)
Coastal Sequoias are basketball players, and Sierra Sequoias are sumo wrestlers…
Trees on the coast are in a maze of rainforest, as coastal fog supplies the wherewithal, as opposed to Sierra groves, where in a group effort, they really don’t allow much to grow in their midst and are oh so approachable.
I felt as if I was killing something with every step when we were in Redwood NP.
Regarding the Chief Investment Officer article in AI-infrastructure investing. There is no way these numbers make any sense at all. And, if they try it will actually crowd out other investing. This is a really bad bet but all parties.
Also, it means massive electricity shortages and rising power prices. Just what we need to frustrate consumers and fuel inflation.
The shortest path to increasing power generation is combined cycle natural gas. If we are about to enter a period of massive construction of these plants, it seems to me we would be seeing it in the futures curve for natural gas, no?
“The Forever-35 Face The face-lift is better than ever, and everybody wants one. Deep inside the uncanny world of the surgically ageless.”
In researching for a comment last night, I came across what may be an example of this Forever-35 face though she is only 32-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Loomer#/media/File:Laura_Loomer_by_Gage_Skidmore_(3x4_cropped).jpg
If it is, then the results are mixed.
The F-35 Face: sold for lift-off, designed to crash.
The H1B is framed as indians stealing American jobs, but it could also be framed as India subsidizing the US education system. Though as far as I know, nobody is doing that.
Maybe our elites concluded that it’s no longer necessary for India to train American workers, as they believe that AI is going to take over all of the jobs.
For the sophisticated and affluent. Escargot helper
I’m gonna call the Capybara video the genuine article-not AI
Saw around 40 of them on the banks of the Tambopata River in Peru, with half of them completely caked in dry mud-and after suffering through humidity surely from hell or approximating it, I thought not such a bad idea.
They lose a fair bit of cuteness, slathered in mud.
>They lose a fair bit of cuteness, slathered in mud
Relatedly – being close to many flamingos is sobering and uncute.
I’ve heard that in human-settled areas where there are also primates like monkeys or macaques, they can often be inveterate thieves and a horrible nuisance. Not cute at all.
(Of course, we humans being primates too, other species in nature might well see my remarks as the pot calling the kettle black.)
Never trust a primate. And never lend him your assault rifle either-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxYmm5yCJBg (42 secs)
Union Pacific – Norfolk Southern merger
UP-NS merger ‘sounds good to me,’ Trump says Train magazine
STB Criteria is serve the Public interest and enhance competition, huh? Looks like a rubber stamp to me.
Trump met with UP Chief Executive Jim Vena last week in the Oval Office, when he first expressed support for the Omaha-based company’s acquisition of NS, headquartered in Atlanta. Trains
Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) has been asset stripping for 15 years now. Employment down 33%, ripped up yards and trackage. Freight volumes have flat-lined since mid 2000s, while trucking is up 30%
Railroads have a 40% margin. Wall Street and executives compensated with stock are the ONLY beneficiaries of consolidation. Customers, the public and environment are the lovers.
The only positive is consolidation makes nationalization easier in the future. Railroads should be a public asset and not a plaything for billionaires.
Childhood plastic exposure could be fueling obesity, infertility, and asthma
Maybe autism? Psychopathic behavior? How does one avoid receiving the plastic spoon brain implant?
Good times.
Different link for “Microsoft CEO fears artificial intelligence will destroy the company” — after being unable to get Telegrafi (is that an Albanian language news site based in Kosovo?) to work:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-ceo-concerned-ai-destroy-113044270.html
Strongest storm of the year roars towards Hong Kong and southern China BBC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Typhoon Ragasa reminds me of Typhoon Ike 41 years earlier nearly to the day…
Being from Cali, I had no experience whatsoever with huge wind events, it was an unknown known. Was in Hong Kong for a coin show when Ike rolled into town, and what a performance.
I was on the 17th floor of the Holiday Inn in Kowloon, part of me wanted to watch the proceedings from a window, and another part of me wanted to lay in the bathtub sans water, and lock the bathroom door-just in case. The latter strategy won out.
It felt like a continual 4.1 earthquake for an hour, quite unsettling.
The next day, junks were 100 yards inland along with other boatalities scattered to and fro, bamboo which was used rather exclusively for scaffolding, was shredded similar to shredded wheat, and bamboo is no shrinking violet.
I’ll take earthquakes instead…
When those little orange tiger cubs grow up will they always play nice with their human hosts and handlers? Hard to predict but signs point to…maybe not.
Caught this on the evening news last night….Tigers are gonna tiger. Sounds like a horrific way to die quite suddenly.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-animal-handler-attacked-killed-tiger-performance-sheriff/story?id=125792975
“Who Killed Charlie Kirk? NATO Ramps Up for War with Russia”
‘…the NATO members genuinely believe that they enjoy military superiority over Russia and are proposing a range of crazed responses to alleged Russian provocations, such as shooting down Russian combat aircraft and closing the Baltic Sea to Russian maritime traffic.’
These are known as acts of war and I doubt even Trump will intervene if some of these eastern NATO members try a stunt like this. I keep on getting the impression that these countries are saying stupid stuff like this because they are absolutely convinced that Trump will ride to their rescue, even if it means triggering WW3. Since the Pentagon recently announced that they are pulling weaponry and resources out of the Baltic States, that is not a bet that I would take.
> Sinclair preempts Jimmy Kimmel Live! after ABC’s decision to reinstate. Will Nexstar follow? Hindustan
>> The Sinclair Broadcast Group operates 38 ABC affiliate stations in the U.S.
For reference:
> ABC has eight owned-and-operated and more than 230 affiliated television stations throughout the United States and its territories
That >15% of total ABC stations. Does that make them compliant, or non-compliant?
Wolfgang Munchau:
The war cheerleaders need to go back to the mindset I had in the 1980’s. War in central Europe was (and is) a tripwire for nuclear war! Recall of the horrors of WW II was gone in my view. Vietnam and the limits of US power were in play! Ground Launched Cruise Missiles and Pershings (nuclear tipped all) in Europe.
The war cheerleaders need to recognize the limits of US power to project against a first world power within its geography. They also need to recognize their own limits.
The fact that sanctions were wrong was obvious: long term trade benefits both sides. G7 is slowing in part because they shot themselves in the feet with sanctions. Anyone with eyes and Econ 101 would see!
They should all pull up Nena’s “99 Red Balloons”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY&list=RDFpu5a0Bl8eY&start_radio=1