The growing threat of vast ravines swallowing streets and homes Phys.org
Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds The Guardian
Climate/Environment
Great Lakes have entered era of extreme temps, study finds Bridge Michigan
A monster seaweed bloom is taking over the Atlantic Science Daily
Wildfire smoke is back for a national encore Balanced Weather
Western Canada tourism operators’ burned by another summer of wildfires The Canadian Press
Pandemics
RFK Jr. says he doesn’t know how many Americans died from COVID as he’s grilled at hearing USA Today. He doesn’t know and those grilling him might know but don’t care.
India
India’s strong economic growth fails to impress equity investors Reuters
ASML Pitches for India Business as Modi Eyes Local Chip Making Bloomberg
The Sino-Indian Rapprochement Is More Than Just a Response to Trump The Wire
China?
US and Taiwanese defence officials held secret talks in Alaska FT
Former official of China’s ministry sentenced to death with two-year reprieve for leaking state secrets: MSS Global Times
China’s AI-fueled stock rally bucks economic ills Asia Times
US-China AI Competition: Southeast Asia Will Need to Strike a Balance Fulcrum
Africa
Military juntas struggling for support as Islamist rebellion gains ground in West Africa Globe and Mail
Isn’t it interesting how whenever an African country resists western imperialism, all in the sudden they fall victim to attacks by “Islamist” terrorists pic.twitter.com/Xhz3Rqr34E
— Revolutionary Blackout🥋 (@SocialistMMA) September 4, 2025
Syraqistan
Israeli Attacks and Starvation Kill 87 More Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours Antiwar
Sensitive Israeli targets come under Yemeni fire during fresh pro-Palestinian operations Press TV
Israeli groups shared drone footage of their controlled detonation of the University College of Science and Technology in Khan Yunis today. pic.twitter.com/GEk2ekTojl
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 4, 2025
Israeli intelligence data: Militants account for only 1 in 4 Gaza detainees +972 Magazine
Gaza-bound flotilla condemns Israeli minister’s plan to seize boats, designate activists ‘terrorists’ Anadolu Agency
***
The Voice of Hind Rajab received a 22-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
The longest ovation in the festival’s history.
Hind, only 6, was executed by Israel with 355 bullets.
The world sees Israel for what it truly is.
🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸pic.twitter.com/oBb6YwCDxn
— sarah (@sahouraxo) September 3, 2025
Christ. I can’t bear this quote from Hind.
I can’t fucking bear it. pic.twitter.com/UM9byqbJUT
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) September 3, 2025
***
Israel’s Defense Minister vows to kill Yemeni children. https://t.co/mlfHyNfXFj
— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) September 4, 2025
***
European Disunion
JPMorgan Bringing Digital Retail Bank to Germany in 2026 PYMNTS
MAGA’s health wrecking ball is heading for Europe Euractiv
LONG READ: Europeans face recession, financial crises, as they struggle to boost defence spending Intellinews
Is Another Europe Possible? Counterpunch. Wolfgang Streeck.
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s central bank releases its closely-watched annual medium-term outlook report Intellinews
Trump Presses Europe to End Russian Oil Imports Reuters
US to cut some security funds for European countries bordering Russia FT
SITREP 9/5/25: Rumblings of New ‘Major’ Russian Offensive as Elite Units Regroup Simplicius
Russian Strike Kills 2 Deminers From Danish Refugee Council in Ukraine Moscow Times
Denmark involved in production of Ukraine’s new missiles – media RT
John Helmer: Russia Loses Patience Over Ignored Security Concerns Glenn Diesen (Video). For example…
(1):
Polish Prime Minister Tusk stated that the EU has decided to give Ukraine security guarantees in exchange for American sanctions against Russia.
‘As for the security guarantees that European countries should provide, we are talking about very specific things. Very specific data… pic.twitter.com/NHl7HVDiCG
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) September 4, 2025
(2):
NATO chief Rutte gets it: “Why are we interested in what russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for [russia] to decide” pic.twitter.com/vlUgRknGPd
— Alex Raufoglu (@ralakbar) September 4, 2025
WWII Revisionism
This is extraordinarily embarrassing: pic.twitter.com/Kl3Uttf90I
Kaja Kallas, the EU Foreign Policy head, doesn’t even seem to be aware that Russia and China were among the winners of WW2.
Immensely ironically, she dismisses it as “something new” and propaganda for people who…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 4, 2025
An apparently useful reminder:
So if the United States wants to talk about its role in WWII, it should be honest and it should sound something like this:
Yes, the Soviets destroyed 75–80% of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front (with some American and British help through Lend-Lease, which amounted to roughly…
— Rina Lu🇷🇺 (@rinalu_) September 4, 2025
South of the Border
Rubio Says US Is Open to Basing Troops in Ecuador as Ties Warm Bloomberg
Rubio Says U.S. Will Work With Other Nations to ‘Blow Up’ Crime Groups New York Times
Yale Law School never beating the “they don’t teach law at Yale” allegations pic.twitter.com/efgkgH4uUd
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) September 4, 2025
This whole thread is worth reading:
They’re trying to boil the Venezuelan frog.
Each escalation will be a small step from the previous one and any retaliation will be treated as a pretext.
The goal would be to ramp up to a situation where Venezuela can be bombed with impunity.
— The Anti-Genocide Project (@justinpodur) September 3, 2025
Trump 2.0
DOJ Opens Criminal Investigation Into Fed’s Cook, Issues Subpoenas WSJ
Search warrant reveals what feds seized at John Bolton’s home The Hill
Police State Watch
Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz detention site to stay open for now, court rules Palm Beach Post
US visa and green card agency creating police force to arrest immigrants and lawyers suspected of fraud The Independent
Antitrust
One of the last, best hopes for saving the open web and a free press is dead Blood in the Machine
Big Tech Always Escapes Justice What We Lost
Accelerationists
Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner WSJ
Be Best, bots: Melania Trump and tech CEOs discuss saturating US schools with AI The Guardian
The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? Wired. “When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate.”
Imperial Collapse Watch
On Utopias, Imperial Decline, and Monterey, California Un-Diplomatic
Sky-high budget gap: FAA launches air traffic overhaul, lacks cash to finish it The Register
Boeing
Boeing hires replacement workers as defense unit strike enters second month CNBC
Mr. Market
August jobs report to show further ‘softness growing’ in the US labor market as Fed rate cuts near Yahoo! Finance
US Hiring Intentions Pull Back While Job-Cut Announcements Rise Bloomberg. “US-based companies announced in August plans to add 1,494 jobs, the fewest for the month in data going back to 2009.”
Healthcare?
The Surgeon Who Took On UnitedHealth Now Pays the Price HEALTH CARE un-covered
Immigration
Trump Administration Ends TPS for 250,000 Venezuelan Migrants Amid Escalating US–Venezuela Tensions Venezuelanalysis
Groves of Academe
The Culture War Comes to Class The Orchard
Book Nook
Do Indian authors need to be social media influencers to sell books? Vogue India
Our Famously Free Press
Stop the Presses The Baffler
Brave New World
Neuralink’s Bid to Trademark ‘Telepathy’ and ‘Telekinesis’ Faces Legal Issues Wired
Do People Really Want Humanoid Robots in Their Homes? IEEE Spectrum
Guillotine Watch
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says investing for a living could replace labor in a post-AI world Fortune
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
” Alex Raufoglu
@ralakbar
NATO chief Rutte gets it: “Why are we interested in what russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for [russia] to decide”’
Some guy did a reply to this tweet which pretty well sums it up-
‘Michael Morrissey
@mindbanx
Replying to @ralakbar
The whole point of the conflict in Ukraine is that Europe has believed it does not have to consider what Russia thinks.
If Russia or China put troops in Canada or Mexico, I’m pretty f*cking certain that “what the US / NATO thinks” would be an “issue”.
It’s hard to fathom that this idiot actually said this. No wonder there is war.’
And does anybody care what Rutte thinks? No European country would send any troops into the Ukraine without a Russian agreement or the Russians would simply annihilate them. And Rutte knows it.
Rev Kev: I am in Sicily visiting the ancestors.
A brief comment. The Italian government has already indicated through Tajani, Meloni, and Li’l Matteo Salvini that no Italian troops will go to Ucraine. Doing so would cause this government to fall.
Rutte. I have such fond memories: “Not a euro for Italy.” Che pirla.
Meanwhile, big demos in Sicilia yesterday to support the Flottiglia Sumud. I chanced on the one in Palermo and joined in. A long line of people in Via Vittorio Emanuele. Much clanging of pots. Banners from some of my favorite groups of commies.
I had just emerged from a performance of traditional Sicilian marionettes.
That’s Italy. First the wonderful marionettes, then the Revolution.
Wish I was in Sicily too. Got interested in the place after reading about Scipio Africanus making his invasion preps there for Africa but what really sealed the deal was the beautiful views of Sicily to be seen in the Inspector Montalbano series showing the towns and countryside. Have a good time there and raise a glass of Sicilian wine for me.
And from what I saw in my time in Italy, the people there were too sophisticated to get themselves in a lunatic scheme to send their troops into an active combat zone on behalf of people like Zelelnsy, Rutte and von der Lying.
Spent a fortnight in Sicily before the turn of the century, and visited about a dozen ancient Greek temples including one with the original roof still intact.
Much more impressive than the Acropolis in Athens and you can walk all over them, the best grouping is in Agrigento and they are floodlit at night, amazing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_dei_Templi
I heard on the Kyle Kulinski news podcast that the news that the Trump 2025 Budget Bill will socially-murder 50K extra USians via 17M people losing health insurance (mostly via losing Medicaid, with a few Ms losing ACA private insurance).
I feel this was the missing recent-last-20-years historical context. The Lancet 2020 study projects the MedicareForAll act to save 68.5K lives annually.
Thus all recent presidents have been socially-murdering genocider demociders. The newly set Obama status quo set via the ACA makes Obama a 68.5k/year American genocider. Biden arguably slightly reduced this perhaps by 3K? (my uninformed guesstimate) via temporary more generous ACA discounts may have marginally kept a few more percent insured. BTW Obama & Biden campaign-promised Public Option health insurance & then promptly flip-flopped & killed Public Option immediately in office. BushJr’s genocide was worse than Obama for the cohort who purchased unregulated pre-ACA portion of the insurance market that was junk insurance & did not realize it until a serious medical event like a cancer diagnosis, + the cohort whose “prexisting condition” prevented ANY insurer from selling them a policy. Trump47 is the worst genocider of these 4 Presidents/Criminals-Against-Humanity for adding 50K to the 68.5K to murdering 115.5K/yr Americans with his budget bill slashing Medicaid & reducing ACA subsidies.
I doubt any MSM reported this historicaly context, not even PBS Newshour, much less Faux News/msDNC, C”N”N. Even Kulinski even did not give this historical context on his indy Youtube podcast.
‘Arnaud Bertrand
@RnaudBertrand
This is extraordinarily embarrassing: xcancel.com/peacemaket71/status/19…
Kaja Kallas, the EU Foreign Policy head, doesn’t even seem to be aware that Russia and China were among the winners of WW2.
Immensely ironically, she dismisses it as “something new” and propaganda for people who “don’t read or remember history that much” 🤦♂️
Not sure how she explains how Russia and China got their permanent seat at the UN Security Council 🤷♂️’
Pretty sure that if you asked Kaja Kallas, that she would modestly admit that it was Estonia that beat the Wehrmacht in WW2.
Gawd. Russophobia is a helluva drug that will fry your brain.
I’m honestly flabbergasted by how ignorant Kallas is. How does she manage to get by let alone become EU foreign minister? I think if I were that ignorant I’d be homeless.
She’s also stated the following:
“Like I always say, the Chinese have the technologies but are not that good in social sciences.
The Russians, vice-versa, are very good in social sciences but not that good in technology.”
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/keynote-speech-high-representative-foreign-affairs-and-security-policy-and-vice-president-european_en
It boggles the mind, or at least it boggles mine.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Are there any Danish commenters here?
Can someone explain what all the public crotchscratching is about? Shouldn’t the Danes offer to solve the North Stream alleged mystery (in their backyard)?
Has someone eaten too many butter cookies? Was the herring harvest inadequate this year?
Unofficial reports have emerged that Trump has once more phoned Putin-
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lVr2GxeJlCg
Does Putin have like a 1-900 number for Trump to call? For a Nobel prize, please call…
What´s going on with Moon of Alabama?
After almost a day still not reachable.
Is it just me or non-Germans too?
Just fix the data
Lutnick predicts ‘better’ job number accuracy after Trump fired BLS chief (CNBC)
Ignorance is the new hotness. That’s one way to mask uncontrolled flight into terrain, blackout the windows!
re: John Helmer
Not completely through yet but an excellent take by Helmer so far.
(corresponds with Berletic in a general sense I said to myself: “There is no hope” 🤔)
And I really enjoy his sharpness.