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Links 10/11/2025

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Surprise: Fog in March. Louis enjoys his morning kayaking YouTube (resilc). A soothing oldie.

This Creamy Pasta Trick Just Earned Scientists an Ig Nobel Prize SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

7 Awkward Things Intense Exercise Might Do to Your Body ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Earth’s largest ocean current is grinding to a halt: Crucial system is now flowing three times slower than it was 130,000 years ago Daily Mail

How extreme temperatures strain minds and bodies: a Karachi case study PreventionWeb

Photos capture devastation after hydropower dam bursts in northern Vietnam VNExpress

China?

China’s property slump this year is looking much worse than expected, S&P says CNBC

China’s Had Enough… Xi Calls Trump’s Bluff Larry Johnson. Conor featured the underlying tweet on the Chinese policy change. Johnson’s commentary suggests word is getting out.

China Is Going To Leave The US What America Left Britain: Nothing Ian Welsh

Trump puts extra 100% tariff on China imports, adds export controls on ‘critical software’ CNBC (Kevin W)

24 Hours in The Worlds LARGEST City | Chongqing, China YouTube. resilc: “Our dumbass presidente should watch this and then unconditionally surrender to China.”

* * *

Taiwan’s president pledges to accelerate the building of air defense system in face of China threat Independent

The Recent Sino-US Dispute Over Taiwan’s Post-WWII Status Is A Sign Of The Times Andrew Korybko

Southeast Asia

Villagers bolster bunkers as Thai-Cambodian tensions rise The Nation Thailand

Africa

A Spiralling Security Crisis in the Sahel Will Force Algeria’s Hand World Politics Review

Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of preparing for war as Red Sea tensions rise BBC

South of the Border

Venezuela asks UN Security Council for emergency session over US military actions in the Caribbean Independent

Why we need to take Trump’s Drug War very seriously Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

Ecuador’s Noboa faces escalating protests over rise in diesel costs Aljazeera

European Disunion

Macron reappoints Lecornu as French PM after days of turmoil BBC. I thought Macron was trying to get a center-left stooge to get on his bridge to nowhere. Will Lecornu decide to fail faster this time? Or will Macron actually relent on his budget demands? Regardless, if Macron can’t form a government and can’t get anyone credible in the French political elite to take the job, what next? I would assume that would force elections.

From Politico’s European newsletter:

President Emmanuel Macron spent much of the week walking up and down the Seine River making calls and proving that French politics is so much moodier than anyone else’s. He ends the week, of course, right back where he started, when on Friday evening he reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister still with no government around him.

Reality of Trump’s Tariffs Starts to Show in German Trade Data Bloomberg

Sahra Wagenknecht demands “to full review of the results” of the recent German Bundestag election International Affairs (Micael T)

Why Germany is being humiliated by Poland Vzgylad (Micael T)

Could France’s political turmoil spark eurozone debt crisis? DW

‘A fatal blow’: Italian producers fear effects of Trump’s ‘war against pasta Guardian

Low Hydro Stocks in Norway Risk Tighter European Power Market Bloomberg

Old Blighty

Inside the UK’s Energy Price Crisis OilPrice

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn Guardian

Cider ‘too potent for pubs’ after apple harvests hit by heatwave Telegraph

Israel v. The Resistance

Important:

How two years of war have shattered the Gaza Strip Sky

Israel agrees to another one of those ceasefires where Israel does not cease firing Council Media (resilc)

How to End the War in Gaza for Good Dennis Ross, Foreign Affairs. Robin K: “AIPAC backing down? Nah! Head-fake.”

US imposes new sanctions on Iranian petroleum exports Financial Times

New Not-So-Cold War

SITREP 10/10/25: Lights Out in Kiev as Putin “Hardens His Heart” Simplicius

Russia launched a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Friday morning Telegraph

On Russian Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Gas Infrastructure Amerikanets. Good detail on Ukraine’s supply options.

EU could fail to strike deal on frozen Russian assets – media RT (Kevin W)

Melania Trump says she has established communication channel with Putin over abducted Ukrainian children Ukrainska Pravda

Russian Stocks Suffer Sharpest Single-Day Drop in 3 Years Moscow Times

Scott Ritter vs. John Helmer: NATO and Russia on the Brink of Disaster Dialogue Works, YouTube. Important tidbit about Putin-Netanyahu call at 1:05:25.

Syraqistan

Regional powers signal objection to US reclaiming Afghanistan’s Bagram base Aljazeera

For war-weary Syria, potential benefits of security pact with Israel comes with big risks The Conversation

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

RondoDox botnet fires ‘exploit shotgun’ at nearly every router and internet-connected home device The Register

Trump 2.0

Interior cancels largest solar project in North America Politico (Kevin W)

This mysterious DOE ‘hit list’ has the clean-energy Canary Media (Chuck L)

Criminal charges against Bolton expected as early as next week MSNBC (resilc)

Tylenol use after circumcision ‘highly likely’ linked to autism, RFK Jr. says in wild new claim New York Post (resilc). When you’ve lost the Post…

Immigration

Immigrants Who Tried to Self-Deport with Trump’s CBP Home App Are Stuck in America ProPublica (Robin K)

Shutdown

HHS employees to be fired as White House enacts mass terminations it blames on shutdown STAT

Trump Admin Threatens to Fire “Problem Children” in Air Traffic Control Walkouts – WGAE to Fight Bari Weiss CBS News Takeover – LA Times Reporters Authorize Strike Mike Elk. The Hill has pointed out that air traffic control (as in the damage to air travel) was what forced Trump to relent in the last shutdown.

The FAA’s 40-year staffing hangover from Reagan’s mass firings just got worse Boing Boing (resilc)

Tariffs

Important:

Retail Prices Were Heading in the Right Direction—Then Tariffs Hit Working Knowledge (resilc)

Democrat Death Wish

Why Not Take Over the Hollowed-Out Democratic Party? Les Leopold

Our No Longer Free Press

He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US Wired (Robin K)

Conservative distrust of journalism threatens to spread among liberals Kansas Reflector. Robin K: “Looks like this J-prof’s snooze is over. Center-right are “liberals” in Kansas–and likely throughout the midwest and plains state.”

Facing dismissal over Kirk comment, teacher cites pro-GOP posts by superintendent Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)

Mr. Market is Moody

IMF chief warns ‘uncertainty is the new normal’ in global economy Guardian

Fears rise over $3tn shadow banking crisis Telegraph

Ray Dalio Warns of Soaring Debt and ‘Civil War’ Brewing in US Bloomberg

Economy

Roughly half of U.S. states are effectively in a recession and ‘hanging on by their fingertips,’ Moody’s chief economist says Fortune. Zandi has a bullish bias.

The Bezzle

Elon Musk’s Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky Futurism

Class Warfare

Marxism and the History of Philosophy Monthly Review (Robin K)

Why You Don’t Feel Rich A Wealth of Common Sense. resilc: “One gal of distilled water went from 1.23 to 1.37 at walmeurto in 2 week period.”

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus (Chuck L):

A second bonus (Chuck L):

And a third (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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139 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Sahra Wagenknecht demands “to full review of the results” of the recent German Bundestag election”

    They’d show her but unfortunately those results have been classified and declared to be subject to national security interests. You have to hand it to the present German leadership. They took the subject of elections in Germany, which seemed to be pretty mundane, and have now undermined them and put election results under suspicion. That’s great work that. Way to go. /sarc

    Reply ↓
    1. AG

      It´s seriously crazy what is going here in politics and media parallel to everyday life, which too is insane in a way that everybody carries on and indeed for many on the surface things do not change, as for now.
      (You can see it crumbling of course if you dare take a look.)

      When I try to argue with academics who are familiar with the term “Meta” in German scientific lingo in humanities they are absolutely oblivious to the fact that harsh political realities are shaping on the Meta level too, decades before they will become apparent to the broad public and by then be irreversible and that they should look there now and not in 20 years to foresee what´s coming. You think they understand my point? In literature, in climate change discourse, with the next covid killer virus (sorry but I have to put it under sarcasm to point out the inconsistency), in philosophy, in fashion, in ID politics, they regard the “Meta” as a fact which only they understand, the educated – but not in geopolitics.

      Total negligence of the BSW case by the broad elite is part of that.

      Interestingly on the matter of surveillance there is this today (it´s the same discrepancy of politics vs. population):

      via German MULTIPOLAR news blog

      “(…)
      Heise News: Chat Control: A Very Rough Wake-Up Call for Beginners – Excerpt: “The federal government is failing to read the mood in the country. (…) The CDU/CSU and SPD have been completely taken aback by the fact that a broad coalition, from those bound by professional secrecy to the Child Protection Association and civil rights activists to business representatives and ordinary users, is loudly and audibly protesting against what its opponents have dubbed chat control. (….) Anyone who listens closely these days can only be amazed at the astonishment of ministers, departmental officials, and members of parliament. Some whisper that they don’t even know who started this campaign. (…) Since there are hardly any supporters left of the ideas so controversial in Germany that the Danish Council Presidency is currently pushing forward again, this could have been known.”
      (…)”

      “(…)
      Netzpolitik News: “Unwarranted surveillance is taboo in a constitutional state” – Excerpt: “On Thursday, members of the Bundestag debated their position on chat control in a so-called “Topical Hour.” (…) Members of parliament, particularly from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, repeatedly emphasized that they had always opposed unwarranted chat control. (…) Several CDU/CSU speakers expressed their annoyance at the apparently countless protest letters, emails, and phone calls they have received in recent days. (…) Other CDU/CSU members of parliament used the opportunity to combine their rejection of chat control with a renewed call for data retention.”

      Reply ↓
  2. Ben Panga

    Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist (Guardian)

    Detailed analysis of the nonsense Thiel has been spouting.

    Complements the Wired article posted previously (I think in one of Nat’s articles) which had more background but less granular analysis.

    Surprised to see Thiel criticizing Andreessen

    During a question-and-answer session, Thiel was asked to respond to a quote from fellow investor Andreessen – a name he audibly bristled at. He said Andreessen was engaged in hyperbole and “gobbledygook propaganda” when it comes to the promises of AI.

    “Where should I start? I’m tempted to be triggered in some nasty ad hominem argument, but I can’t resist so I’ll do that. I don’t know, this is just pure Silicon Valley gobbledygook propaganda. I wouldn’t give someone who said things like that too much money to invest.”

    He’s not wrong on that bit.

    It’s very tempting to armchair analyse Thiel as 1. Insane 2. On some level believing himself to be the Antichrist due to the cognitive dissonance between being gay and his extremely religious upbringing and continued beliefs.

    I wouldn’t want to get Gawkered (or droned) though, so I’ll resist :)

    Reply ↓
    1. Afro

      What I got out of that is that Thiel thinks the antichrist is anybody that threatens his wealth.

      Really narcissistic.

      Reply ↓
      1. David

        Yes. It was very obvious how anything that got in his way just so happened to ve a sign of the anti-christ. Any regulations about technology development. Anti-christ. Any limits to tax havens. Anti-christ. Anyone who talks about philanthropy. Anti-christ. Anyone from a company that is a competitor. Anti-christ. He’s about as subtle as a brick shit house and displays absolutly no signs of self reflection.

        For such a religious individual he seems to have forgtotten “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
        “

        Reply ↓
        1. Mikel

          The current day embodiment of a frantic ideology of believers that have no ability or desire to imagine or live in a world beyond it.

          Reply ↓
      3. bertl

        Or he is the Anti-Christ he is denouncing, and hiding behind a pseudo philosophical cloud of smoke and mirrors to confuse the kiddies.

        Reply ↓
        1. Ben Panga

          In his own words:

          “Perhaps if you talk too much about Armageddon, you are secretly pushing the agenda of the Antichrist.” – Thiel, P

          Reply ↓
    3. CanCyn

      Theil is bad enough. But I worry just as much about who comprises his audience. Who would pay money to listen to such narcissistic claptrap??! He may be right about AI but I’d classify his content in a similar vein.

      Reply ↓
  3. Ben Panga

    A Worthy Nobel Peace Laureate (Brett “not a bedbug” Stephens / NYT)

    Full throated call for regime change:

    That leaves the option to which the Trump administration seems increasingly inclined: regime change….

    …But that in turn requires a willingness by the Trump administration to continue to escalate, up to the point of a full-scale military confrontation.
    That would entail unquestionable and deadly risks, to Venezuelans and Americans alike. It might also put Trump’s long-coveted Nobel Peace Prize permanently out of reach.
    Then again, there are greater peace prizes than the Nobel — a prize never won by Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman or other world-historical figures who knew that the path to peace can’t always lie through peace alone. If the sacrifice Trump must make for putting an end to the horror of the Maduro regime is forgoing the prize for himself, he can take solace in the fact that Machado dedicated her prize to “the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support.”

    Now is the time to act.

    Reply ↓
  4. Ben Panga

    Re: Tylenol use after circumcision ‘highly likely’ linked to autism, RFK Jr. says in wild new claim

    Slightly tangential but I’ve never understood why American boys are circumcised. We have soap and showers. The only thing I can come up with is that it’s Puritan desensitizing of the dangerous members.

    Reply ↓
      1. Ben Panga

        Hehe that’s a good one. You made me laugh in the midst of depression, thank you!

        But from that link:

        Still, the risks of not being circumcised are rare. The risks also can be lowered with proper care of the penis.

        Literally just wash it!

        This isn’t the 1800s

        Reply ↓
      2. griffen

        Last thing a parent standing by in observation during the approved , ahem, adjustment to the little baby male organ. “oh no, that wasn’t a good slice…” \sarc

        There are plenty of hilarious jokes about teenage boys “doing something too often”, and as the youngest from a big family you gotta believe older siblings are there to offer you instruction ( or generally they want to trick you at their leisure ). Some experiences in life happen very young, so I’m quite glad not remembering getting the snip as a baby boy.

        Added…this crap about Tylenol being an evil medication is going pretty far… as opposed to the universally accepted practice to reduce pain and fever.

        Reply ↓
      3. David

        Outside of Muslim countries and Israel, the only two countries where circumcision is widely practices are Canada and the USA. In most places it is incredibly rare to do it as a preventative health procedure.

        Reply ↓
      4. Randall Flagg

        Well, there was the tale of a boy born without eyelids.
        The parents were panicking and the Doctor said, “Don’t worry, we’ll circumsize him and use it for eyelids”.
        Dad: “Doc, won’t that make him cockeyed?”
        Dr.: “Nope. it’ll give him some foresight.”

        Reply ↓
    2. Donaldo

      It started with the goal of preventing masturbation, and then kept going because of inertia of the system. First one is dumb, second one is dumber, but the dumbest are excuses to keep it going. Gods work in mysterious ways, especially when genital mutilation of kids is concerned.

      Reply ↓
      3. Ignacio

        Masturbation is essential to get rid of the “green fluid”. Ya know, it gets greenish with time if not expelled timely.

        Reply ↓
  6. Bugs

    Saw that the French 15 and 20 year bonds are at around 3.80 and were over 4.00 in September. Maybe they should run a test and denominate them in francs, just for the lolz.

    Reply ↓
  7. eg

    “Why You Don’t Feel Rich”

    Because 90% of Americans AREN’T?

    Constantly increasing inequality will do that, eh?

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      A friend drove across the country this summer and related how hollowed out the middle of the USA seemed, there being hardly any there, there.

      Reply ↓
      1. David

        In most places coastal or near coastal areas are more populated and wealthy. It really requires being close to the sea to trade historically. Less important know but the trend has been well set.

        Reply ↓
      3. Mikel

        Outside of the coasts, one sign to look for in an area that’s “hallowed out” is grass growing over railways in the area.

        Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      To use a quote from Glengarry Glen Ross…”the rich get richer it’s the law of the land..”. Coming after the salesman pitch featuring the Alec Baldwin speech…ABC.

      I combine that article along with the Fortune article above, which features an interesting map of the US. Lots of mediocre or very timid signs of real growth and just not what Trump or his lackeys were selling at the outset in January once in office. But we’ll just have to wait patiently for the ship to turn, I suppose….all those magical factories producing American jobs and American goods will spring forth in the hinterlands which were once abandoned. Yeah I’ve got a bridge for sale and I’m willing to let go at a low price!

      It’s remarkable as a tangential thought. The price of WTI crude either touched a $59 handle or is roughly in that range to low $ 60 pricing. I guess refining capacity is still a hindrance on the stubborn levels for a gallon of 87 octane gasoline. Then again the demand for purchasing gasoline is one of those categories of an inelastic good or service. People are gonna pay what they must, having to go from point A to point B.

      Reply ↓
    3. JCC

      That, and I’ll never believe the opening bullet point, “40% of U.S. households had leftover earnings after tax of at least $94k.”

      40%?? That makes no sense to me based on what I’ve seen after living all over the US and driving across country multiple times over the last 7 years.

      Reply ↓
      1. albrt

        Maybe the folks with a dozen or so cars on the lawn have very large households. $29,000 standard deduction for married filing jointly means you only need about 3.5 married couples in a household to reach $94 K disposable income without paying any tax at all.

        Reply ↓
  8. The Rev Kev

    “On Russian Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Gas Infrastructure”

    Lots of excellent details in this post plus a side serving of karma. A coupla months ago Zelensky was hitting the Druzhba oil pipeline in Bryansk and cutting flows of gas to both Hungary and Slovakia. When they protested, Zelensky got really nasty and was mocking them but hard because the EU was letting him getting away with it. Why yes, it was a case of a non-EU state attacking two 2 EU member States but the EU deciding to back the non-EU State. But because of the Russian attacks, Zelensky is going to have to import huge amounts of pipeline gas and about half of it is going to have to go through Hungary. What happens if Hungary pulls a Ukraine and diverts gas for their own needs first?

    Reply ↓
  9. Yves Smith Post author

    Thank you for early readers holding fire. A regular submitted an antidote bonus which turned out to be AI generated, I have removed it and replaced it with one that is hopefully bona fide.

    What annoys me is the frequency with which readers send Twitter animal vids (which presumably did not have AI alerts at the time of e-mailing them) where I look at them hours to many many hours later and generate an embed code, only to see the alert ONLY AFTER THE POST WENT LIVE that it was fake.

    Twitter looks to be:

    1. Delaying notices on AI fakes so as to get them retweeted more

    2. Prioritizing putting them up on embeds because at the margin they want to keep views at Twitter and discourage views outside Twitter.

    Reply ↓
  10. mrsyk

    File under Climate,

    Researchers find methane leaking out of cracks in Antarctic seabed, ABC News.

    That’s the Antarctic seabed, not the oft-discussed Arctic. The paper is published in Nature, Antarctic seep emergence and discovery in the shallow coastal environment. From the abstract,

    We establish the recent emergence of many of these seep features, based on their discovery in areas routinely surveyed for decades with no previous seep presence.

    Methane eruptions from the polar seabeds scaling up?

    Reply ↓
  11. The Rev Kev

    ‘The Figen
    @TheFigen_
    Oct 9
    The homeowner saw on the security camera that a bear was playing on the outdoor swing every day, but couldn’t get on. So he had a bigger swing built, and this was the result.’

    Gotta admit that that bear is acting like all his Christmases have come at once. Now I am wondering if when he also grabbed the smaller swing, that he wanted to use it to get some swing on the seat that he was laying on. If so, he is smarter than the average bear.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Saw the 3rd black bear of the year yesterday, an interesting 2-tone bruin, whose upper body was brown, and its legs were kind of dirty blond. I’ve seen maybe a dozen bears in this configuration-of the 900 or so i’ve witnessed.

      Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      Shouldn’t the precautionary principle be in consideration? I mean as a homeowner it’s cute until the bear thinks the yard and the swing are actually there for it’s benefit…as opposed to IDK school age children…

      Thinking cynically of how the state parks and national parks are pretty clear on how park visitors should not feed the bears or other wildlife…

      Reply ↓
  12. Mark Gisleson

    Disappointed that the Les Leopold story called for taking over the Democrat party but didn’t explain how to do it, so please allow me.

    The “rules” of this game will vary from state to state but it’s quite simple. Under whatever rules each state has that defines their relationship with the DNC, that relationship must be severed. Each state must take full responsibility for fundraising and candidate recruitment/endorsement. State officials with tight ties to the DNC must be retired.

    There is no new blood in the party because the national party (DNC) has bigfooted everything in the name of money, more money, and still more money which is then given over to cut-outs purportedly representing “media,” media now being defined as a podcast watched by everyone in NGO world.

    Independent state parties can agree to meet to endorse a national slate every four years. That convention should be held the week before the DNC’s DNC Convention. The anointed ones can then decide whether to go with the grassroots slate, or if they’d prefer to hand another election to the Republicans.

    Under this set up the Democrats would lose one more national election but in so doing would destroy the DNC while improving their numbers in Congress. The DNC removed from power, everything else gets easier because the Base knows what’s needed (other than more donations). This solution would also make national conventions newsworthy again, assuming there are news organizations worthy of the name.

    Reply ↓
    1. Vicky Cookies

      We’ve had people advocate for local-level attempts at this here in Wisconsin. At the county-level, the Democrats have positions for officers, which are elected at poorly-attended membership meetings. More class-conscious progressives, it was said, could win these office and exercise some power over local platforms, help along certain candidates, &c.

      The problem is just the one you elucidated: the D’s money is all from sources which are conservative-to-reactionary on labor and welfare issues, so that if you took over the party entirely, you might have some empty storefront offices and a few phone lists, but no money, and the lease on the office would come due soon.

      Its a basic problem with having procedural democracy on the one hand and an antidemocratic ownership structure in the economy on the other.

      Conclusion: Dems are unreformable.

      Reply ↓
      2. Mark Gisleson

        File this under Secrets Revealed Only to a Few (really old people), but no, it doesn’t take money to win, it takes volunteers.

        Volunteers are the greatest source of votes the party has ever known. It took an unholy conglomeration of NGOs to replace volunteers with overpaid minions.

        Volunteer organizations thrive on shoestring budgets. Look at the history of electoral upsets and you’ll see that grassroots driven campaigns are the norm, not the exception. You can only buy your way out of a hole if the other candidate is just as beholden. Offer voters a not-bought-and-paid-for option and they’ll go with the candidate they’ve never heard of but about whom their neighbors rave.

        No wins are in isolation, each represents voter “territory” gained. Ukraine, er I mean the neoliberal Democrats may have some flashy gains now and then, but Russia, er, I mean rural Americans, aren’t the only ones fed up with big money politics. Electing Trump to fix that problem wasn’t a contradiction so much as a setup for Democrats to win the next election IF they field a better candidate. There is no reason why decent candidates couldn’t endorse each other across party lines, further shattering the corrupt duopoly.

        People>money

        Reply ↓
        1. hk

          Yes. The obsession with “money in politics” really began to intensify only when politicians began to lose touch with the voters. You gotta wonder why.

          The conventional wisdom on money in politics for decades was that money doesn’t work all that well and to the degree that it does, it’s good only for the challengers–people who are not so well known and haven’t had so much time to establish rapport with the voters.

          Money becomes valuable to the incumbents only if they lose touch with the voters. Part of it might just be sociological change that makes old ways of connecting with the voters difficult. But it is also driven by the politician getting lazier and not wanting to bother with the voters. But since incumbents don’t look too different from the challengers, they can leverage their position only to raise more money–even if it still doesn’t work that well. The cztch, it seems to me is that incumbents can always raise money–they write the laws, after all. Restrictions on campaign finance, I believe, still works mainly to keep the incumbents in office by preventing well-financed challengers to the degree possible. (Now, you gotta wonder if it is a good thing when wealthy oligarchs or foreign interests, say, can blackmail, say, a Tom Massie, by financing a primary challenger…)

          Reply ↓
    2. scott s.

      Don’t really know anything about the Democrat Party, but from what I see it works pretty much like the Republicans, which I do know a little about.

      The formal “DNC” consists of 3 state-elected members from each of the 57 state-like entities. How much control this body has I have no idea. I assume there are entities the are controlled by the chair.

      Federal campaign finance laws give the RNC/DNC certain funding abilities, along with committees for the house, senate, and governors. In these days of PACs and Super PACs I’m not sure how the authorized committees compare in influence.

      At least in my state (Hawaii) the “state party” serves in several state campaign finance roles. The main advantage of being a state recognized party is that the state will conduct a primary election for the party. Aside from having a minimum number of voters signing petitions, or voting for party candidates in the preceding general election, the requirement for a state party is to have a state or central committee, a set of rules or bylaws, and a party organization in the four main counties.

      Here, to run for state or federal office you must submit nomination papers with a number of voters and self-select a primary to run in (“no party affiliation” is an option and there is a “no party affiliation” primary). There is no access to the general election ballot except via the primary (though Presidential electors are in a different process).

      I suppose a state party could “divorce” itself from DNC/RNC by refusing to elect national committeeman/woman, but it’s hard for me to see how that actually would play out. The only state law reference to the national party is in regards to the name placed on the general election ballot for Presidential electors. The DNC/RNC control the rules for the quadrennial national convention. They could refuse to admit national convention delegates from a state (or state-like) entity. (DNC has 57 “states” and the RNC 56, the difference being DNC has something called “Democrats Abroad”.)

      Reply ↓
    3. Jonathan Holland Becnel

      Or:

      Start a new party using class politics not identity politics.

      Like wtf are we even doing here?

      Is this the sink cost fallacy again?

      We saw what they did to Bernie.

      These people are MONSTERS, and we should have ZERO association with them.

      Reply ↓
    4. Lefty Godot

      With the state of the Democrats nowadays, it would almost make more sense to try taking over the Republican Party. Because that’s where the winners have been coming from, electorally speaking. I wonder if Leopold would consider that an option. A new party would be great, but given the obstacles the duopoly have put in place for such an entity getting on the ballot and getting any kind of media coverage, the odds seem very slim.

      Reply ↓
      1. Ben Joseph

        Social conservatism plus economic leftism used to be a large voting bloc (essentially Catholics, formerly blue dog democrats or Reagan democrats). I am one so I know we still exist. Greens and DSA are too anti-religious, although I kept voting for Nancy Stein. Democrats and Republicans generally are MIC genocidal ratcakes. Looking for adoptive home…

        Reply ↓
  13. IMOR

    re: Ongoing University of California pension fund disaster(s):
    https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/465
    “…The framework calls for the formation of a new entity, Big Ten Enterprises, which would hold all leaguewide media rights and sponsorship contracts.

    Shares of ownership in Big Ten Enterprises would fall to the league’s 18 schools, the conference office and the capital group — an investment fund that’s tied to the University of California pension system. Yahoo Sports first reported the involvement of the UC investment fund.

    The pension fund is not a private equity firm, and the UC fund valuation proved to be higher than other competing bids. This has been attractive to the Big Ten and its schools, according to sources.”

    Reply ↓
  14. ChrisFromGA

    Re: China/Rare erfs

    It seems that Taco has really screwed up. China called his bluff, as Johnson points out, and his cards are weak. Does anyone really think China needs our “software?” Which is increasingly AI-slop-generated?

    China has lots of engineering and scientific expertise; meanwhile, we are chasing international students away, and Trump just killed the H1-B program (not that it isn’t a good thing for other reasons.)

    I think Xi holds all the leverage. He probably figures that now is the time to choke off the rare earths, before the US can find alternate supply chains. BTW, I wonder how many “rare earths” a Tomahawk missile requires? Something tells me that the notion of pissing away a bunch of them by giving them to Ukraine just got even less realistic.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I was wondering myself if China made this move because they found that the US has been trying to source Chinese rare earths from other countries like India and Pakistan for military production, hence the new tight controls. Something else I have wondered about. The Russians have said that in spite of moves like the Alaska summit, nothing is being done on the Russia-US relations front. Not opening air travel between the two countries, not return of Russian consular buildings & property in the US – nothing is being done at all. This being the case, then I can assume that the same is happening with China-US relations negotiations and China can see that Trump is not really interested in any negotiations at all so maybe they have given up and decided what needs to happen is for Trump to be b****-slapped to wake him up to hard realities..

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        One would hope so. Diplomacy is dead with the US,. All they understand is raw power.

        A smart move for Putin might have been to tell Trump, “Hey, I see you’re running low on rare earths, why don’t you make nice with Russia and end the NATO war on us, and in exchange we’ll help you out with those minerals. Plus, ending the scrap metal program that depletes your high-tech planes, tanks, and other things you’re running low on. You’d better husband those for a few years while this all shakes out.”

        As you point out, the US cannot even return Russian property like consular buildings, so they can’t stomach any sort of diplomatic approach. Now we get to reap what we’ve sown – China and Russia embraced like two young lovers, and no more rare earths for you, NVIDIA.

        Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          I can see how this would all shake out. So next year Trump rings Xi-

          Trump: ‘President Xi of Chyna? This is Donald Trump.’

          Xi: ‘Honoured to talk to you. How can I help?’

          Trump: ‘Next year I am declaring war on Chyna.’

          Xi: ‘That is terrible news. But why next year?’

          Trump: ‘Because you have to sell us rare earths so that we can make those weapons first.’

          Xi: ‘I understand. I will take the matter up at the next party Congress. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Goodbye.’

          Reply ↓
        2. leaf

          I suppose the only things left outside of outright warfare that the US can do to China is restrict Boeing and other airplane parts which will cripple the C919 for a while, especially if they can get other western countries involved in the project to halt their parts too. Would hurt their existing airlines too since Russia can’t really spare their own domestically built airlines for anyone else for a while since they need to serve themselves first.

          Meanwhile you have the techbros thinking that their startups will magically and instantly create rare earth mines and refineries out of thing air:
          https://x.com/aphysicist/status/1976772134945919065

          Or perhaps better in a Great Leap Forward style, backyard refineries!
          https://x.com/Object_Zero_/status/1976726412888318378

          They are just not aware of all the steps and difficulties involved.
          https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/elements/ree.html

          The future of MAGA is not looking so good.

          Reply ↓
          1. ChrisFromGA

            Russian aviation seems to be doing just fine, despite “massive” sanctions. I think that Russia has more home-grown aerospace engineering industry than China, but I could be wrong about that.

            Boeing recently restarted deliveries of the 737 MAX to Chinese domestic airlines, so if Trump tries to play that card there will be blowback damage to Boeing and their shareholders.

            Bottom line, China can survive without Boeing, but what happens to Boeing when they lose the world’s largest market?

            Reply ↓
            1. leaf

              The Russians do have a better aerospace engineering industry. I think the Chinese idea was that if they included Western parts it would be a way to encourage people not to put sanctions as they could still make money in the Chinese market. However, the Russians seem to have foreseen the issues much earlier and went their own to make all their parts domestic. From Andrei Martyanov’s blog, I think this is what he wrote about why the Russian-Chinese passenger airplane project ultimately broke up. I forget which article exactly but there were several he wrote about

              I’m sure Boeing will survive all difficulties, it is too important to the MICIMATT even if the plane quality continues to decline

              Reply ↓
      2. Polar Socialist

        As far as I understand this is about US expanding it “50 percent rule” on 29th to 15 Chinese companies – even though US and China had agreed in Madrid not to escalate while trade negotiations are ongoing.

        So, China is merely demonstrating that actions have consequences in this new world. Even for the USA.

        Reply ↓
    2. Pensions Guy

      As a practicing trial lawyer for 30+ years, I never had the time to read widely. I did manage to shift my retirement funds from equities to bonds just before the 2008 crash, and that’s when I discovered Naked Capitalism. Yves has been doing the Lord’s Work ever since. I remember well one small post from at least a decade ago with some Pentagon agency writing about the shortage of rare earth capacity in the U.S. and how Mountain Home in California was our basic repository. Even my feeble brain could figure out that if China cut us off, we were going to be in a world of hurt. And I have wondered ever since when the hammer would drop. Well, Friday just might have been the day. The markets cratered, crypto redemptions soared, and Trump just reacts with more tariffs. Oral arguments are scheduled for Nov. 5 in the tariffs cases in the Supreme Court. It just looks like things are being set up to end badly.

      Reply ↓
    3. Jason Boxman

      And China keeps building useful things

      How China Powers Its Electric Cars and High-Speed Trains (NY Times via archive.ph)

      In China, the longest ultrahigh-voltage power line stretches more than 2,000 miles from the far northwest to the populous southeast — the equivalent of transmitting electricity from Idaho to New York City.

      The power line starts in a remote desert in northwest China, where vast arrays of solar panels and wind turbines generate electricity on a monumental scale. It snakes southeast, following an ancient river between mountain ranges before reaching Anhui Province near Shanghai, home to 61 million people and some of China’s most successful electric car and robot manufacturers.

      That’s a single power line. China has 41 others. Each is capable of carrying more electricity than any utility transmission line in the United States. That’s partly because China is using technology that makes its lines far more efficient than almost anywhere else in the world. The feat is owed to China’s ambitious national energy policies and the fact that few residents along the path of these lines dare object — even though the lines emit static electricity that local people said they could feel when holding a metal fishing pole.

      The United States can’t even mobilize the defense industry to build artillery shells for a supposedly existential war, Putin’s eventual takeover of all of Europe. lolz

      Reply ↓
    4. Glen

      This is a guess, but I suspect that the software in question is EDA software, most specifically EDA software used in chip design:

      Designing Billions of Circuits with Code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihz2WY-E2C8

      And as PG comments, the importance of the lack of onshore access to enough REE ore and almost complete lack of REE refining has been known for at least two decades now yet very little has been done until only recently to change any of that. MP Materials has been expanding, and recently actually made a magnet (something pioneered in America all the way back in the 1970’s):

      MP Materials https://mpmaterials.com/

      Advanced Magnet Manufacturing Begins in the United States
      Rare earths maker MP Materials leads a tiny charge against the Chinese colossus
      https://spectrum.ieee.org/advanced-magnet-manufacturing-in-us

      I think this is only happening because the DOD has been throwing some serious money at Mountain Pass mine for a while now. But the article is right, this is a tiny fraction of what is required.

      I remain mystified at the Trump admin approach to re-industrializing. The almost complete lack of industrial policy and the apparently unplanned on/off nature of the tariffs even makes the Biden efforts look competent, and I thought even those efforts were seriously flawed and way too small.

      Instead American elites seem to have sorta given up on serious re-industrialization and have gone all in on AI to produce some sort of Silly Con Valley techbro SYFY miracle.

      Reply ↓
      1. David

        There is a simple reason they can’t manage reindustrialisation. They are market fundamentalists when it comes to anything practical. Thry expect it will work itself out due to magical market shenanigans.

        And secondly none of them are technical, practical people. And I include in that anyone with a software engineer background like the tech bros. Software engineers are not actual engineers. They are not people who deal with practical, physcial problems and resolve them.

        Reply ↓
        1. hk

          There is something ironic aboit this.

          Even without a politico-economic philosophy or policy, Qing China was a free market fundamentalist even by mid 19th century standard. (I suppose, in a way, Confucianism is quite free market oriented, especially the way it was interpreted in late imperial China.) It lacked any tradition of explicit government intervention in economic development and, when the government decided to intervene in the economy in the interest of industrialization and rearmamemt in the aftermath of the Opium Wars, things generally went badly. Some projects went fairly well–govetnment organized consortium of merchant shippers along the Yangzi became wildly successful and sort of continues today as the shipping giant China Merchants Group. Most others, however, not so great–great opportunities for graft, though. It wasn’t for nothing that Chinese students studied political economy of first Germany and later USSR (even the KMT had excellent relationship with USSR–it wasn’t for nothing that there was a Sun Yat Sen University in Moscow.)

          Several people noted parallel between late imperial China and USA today. I don’t know which is better comp: impetial China or imperial Spain (I think internationalists want to be Spain; Trumpkins (people who don’t want to commit to general internationalism, but still want yo play hegemon when it suits them, want to be China (and Qing in late 19th century was far more assertive and interventionist than people think–it intervened in domestic affairs of Vietnam and Korea in ways that they had never done before, setting up stage for wars against France and Jspan, gor example.)

          Reply ↓
          1. vao

            “It lacked any tradition of explicit government intervention in economic development”

            Not quite. For instance, the Chinese government had had a long-standing policy of limiting the export of unprocessed silk, understandably giving the priority to trading silk clothing and fabric instead. Chinese customs looked that this policy (in place at least during the Qing, possibly earlier) was enforced.

            Reply ↓
      2. neutrino23

        This goes back at least 40 or 50 years when the captains of industry decided it was fine to export manufacturing jobs and know-how to anywhere cheaper than here. What did they think would happen?

        Rare earth metals are not particularly rare, but they tend not to accumulate in one place. They are everywhere at trace levels. The West doesn’t supply them because no one wants to make the effort. They tend to associate with uranium and thorium so mining them is expensive because you have to be careful about these and other byproducts.

        Reply ↓
    5. Henry Moon Pie

      “Taco has really screwed up. China called his bluff, as Johnson points out, and his cards are weak”

      The deal is done, so you slip right in.
      You got the deck, but you can’t win.
      The cards are cold and the cut feels thin.
      You got the deck, but you can’t win.

      You must be crazy
      To gamble this way.
      Your kids are hungry
      And your rent ain’t paid.
      Gamblin’ man, ramblin’ fool.

      Eric Kaz, “Gamblin’ Man” (covered by Bonnie Raitt)

      Reply ↓
  15. Wukchumni

    A really interesting storm coming in, the remnants of the typhoon Ragassa in the far east-as luck would have it.

    This is the kind of storm that did in the Donner Party, an early arrival that’ll dump many feet of snow in the higher climes~

    Book tip: Storm, by George R. Stewart

    It’s oddly similar to what’s coming down the pike~

    In January 1935, a cyclone develops in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, and becomes a significant storm as it moves toward California. The storm, named “Maria” by the (unnamed) Junior Meteorologist at the San Francisco Weather Bureau Office, becomes a blizzard that threatens the Sierra Nevada range with snowfall amounts of 20 feet (6.1 m).

    This book was the inspiration for the Lerner and Loewe song “They Call the Wind Maria”, performed in the musical Paint Your Wagon, which followed Stewart’s preferred pronunciation. It also prompted the National Weather Service to use personal names to designate storms.

    https://www.nybooks.com/online/2021/07/28/george-r-stewarts-perfect-storm/

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      I always found weird the pronunciation of Maria or (Mariah) in that song now I know the explanation. Paint Your Wagon is a classic I like even if musicals are not my favourite. Then this is the origin for naming Storms. Good to know.

      Reply ↓
  16. .Tom

    Yesterday I listened to this conversation with David Adler of Progressive International who was on the Global Sumud Flotilla about the abduction by the Israeli navy and what happened to him and others after that. Clearly the Israelis aimed to be as cruel as they could get away with. Consular responses of different nations varied but it appears the US wanted to back up the Israelis more than they did their citizens.

    Find it on YouTube or in a podcast app with these keywords: TrueAnon Episode 495 Ktz’iot (55 min).

    Worth a listen as a first hand account. Adler is furious that how Israel mistreated 500 peace activists on a humanitarian mission isn’t a story back home.

    Brave people. They get my 2025 peace prize medal.

    Reply ↓
  17. chuck roast

    “Trump’s War on Pasta”

    Now it’s gettin’ personal! I just found Rummo a few months ago, and it is absolutely the best. Perfect dwell time in the pot for al dente, and even my ancient, declining taste buds pick-up on the great flavor. Standard brands deliver a flat, no taste experience, and they jam the pasta aisles at the grocery stores. The smaller Rummo sections are always picked over, so when you find your faves you gotta stock up. More wanna-be Italians to hate on Donny.

    Reply ↓
    1. earthling

      Not a big pasta eater, but it breaks my heart to see that Orange Julius can damage or destroy with one temper tantrum a business that is six generations old.

      Reply ↓
    3. Martin Oline

      “Trump’s War on Pasta” was not a story that appealed to me but you made me look. I have also just discovered Rummo pasta because they are about the only ones who make Orzo, a rice-like pasta I like in chicken soup. Thanks for calling this story out.
      I was surprised last night when I boiled a batch that the directions said to boil for seven minutes. I hadn’t noticed that before. I boiled it for five minutes in good water then drained it and put it in the soup. It looks like I will have to stock up on all the types available before January when the price will probably rise because it is very good stuff.

      Reply ↓
  18. AG

    re: Israel vs. Palestine

    After 45 min out of 90 highly recommended as a historic summary of the ugly history that Israel is an illegal state.
    The facts we know but it´s important to repeat them. I too forget the minutes from 1947, before and after re: GB, the UN and later PLO.

    Excellently described by JACQUES BAUD with NIMA.

    Baud also addresses something I know well from Chomsky in the 90s – the sad truth that especially scholars fail us as they seldomly read the documents which they like to quote.

    As the title is concerned I assume SMO is discussed in the 2nd half…

    Col. Jacques Baud: EU PANICS Claiming Putin’s Masterplan to DESTROY Europe’s Unity!
    90 min.
    https://rumble.com/v700k2w-col.-jacques-baud-eu-panics-claiming-putins-masterplan-to-destroy-europes-u.html?e9s=src_v1_upp_v

    Reply ↓
  19. Tom Stone

    I’ve been seeing a lot more people running red lights the last few years and just this morning I realized why.
    They are PATRIOTS! and those are RED lights.
    COMMUNIST lights.

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      Procter and Gamble is missing an opportunity to hit it big with the new and improved public.
      Allow us to introduce the “New and Improved Red Dawn Dishwashing Liquid!” Strike a blow for Freedom and wash those pesky blues out of your head!
      (Not available in all states.)

      I echo your observation about the continuing deterioration in the quality of public road navigation. Driving around here has become an Adventure.

      Reply ↓
      1. Ben Panga

        >the GOP is the red party

        This is filed in the same box in my brain as entreé denoting the main course of a meal.

        Reply ↓
  21. chuck roast

    How to End the War in Gaza for Good

    More claptrap from Dennis Ross. He’s like the undead…you have to clutch a crucifix when he’s around. For a solid dose of this cretin, check out this debate from the wayback machine. It’s kind of long, but it includes John Mearsheimer (post-w/Walt book) and the incomparable Tony Judt. At Cooper Union from the London Review of Books. Debate: The Israel Lobby: Does it Have too Much Influence on US Foreign Policy? (2007)

    Reply ↓
  22. Jason Boxman

    I was just pondering, and I realized with Biden out of office, I’d forgotten that his Pandemic policy murdered over 750 thousand Americans, and that the Pandemic is ongoing, and then Trump gets a COVID shot for a Pandemic that is supposed over. Why bother if it is over? Why did Publix pharmacy have rapid tests right out front on the countertop yesterday?

    This timeline is stupid.

    Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    Facing dismissal over Kirk comment, teacher cites pro-GOP posts by superintendent Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    evangs would have killed me for not being a believer in their malarkey a few hundred years ago, but all they can now is kill livelihoods-an improvement of sorts.

    Reply ↓
  24. Wukchumni

    $4.01(k) update:

    It’d be easy to cut and run now, but that’s what they’d be expecting and i’ll have none of that. Sure-losing 10% of your Bitcoin nest egg in a day leaves a mark, but if I were to sell-then i’d be just another person on the outside looking in, with no stake in the game.

    Reply ↓
  25. Judith

    Thanks for the kayaking vid. Kayaking can be wonderfully meditative, something much needed today. I have great memories of kayaking in the inside Passage of British Columbia for weeks at a time.

    I was curious about the bird calling in the background of the vid. The location seemed to be Europe, where I have never gone birding. So I asked Merlin Bird ID to identify the bird. (Too techy: phone app to laptop, but whatever.) The bird calling is the Eurasian Collard-Dove.

    Reply ↓
  26. Ben Panga

    A World Cup preying on Fomo: Fifa’s 2026 ticket scheme is a late-capitalist hellscape

    Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotion

    A game I used to be obsessed with but walked away from 15 years ago when my club lost its identity and sold out to foreign owners. I’m not sure why the Guardian is suprised – football clubs, associations, and FIFA sold their souls long ago. Fans were rebranded consumers and it’s been money-grabs ever since.

    People’s game my arse.

    I watched a fair bit of Aussie Rules Footy this year, and I loved seeing a more sincere relationship between sport/club and supporter. Watching the post-final speeches where the captains thanked the fans of both their and their oppo’s team was lovely. It seems like a healthy wholesome good time.

    (Or maybe I’m being naive?)

    Reply ↓
  28. Jason Boxman

    The NY Times discovers that are judicial system is broken

    Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

    More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.

    At issue are the quick-turn orders the Supreme Court has issued dictating whether Trump administration policies should be left in place while they are litigated through the lower courts. That emergency docket, a growing part of the Supreme Court’s work in recent years, has taken on greater importance amid the flood of litigation challenging President Trump’s efforts to expand executive power.

    I guess we forgot about Bush v. Gore or Citizens United. The Supreme Court has lacked any legitimacy for decades now. Biden should have packed the Court, but Democrats love their norms too much.

    Reply ↓
    2. Ben Joseph

      How did “The NY Times discovers that are judicial system is broken” get past editorial correction?
      I am weary of myriad homophone errors in print these days. (Daze/s?)

      Reply ↓
      1. witters

        – How did “The NY Times discovers that are judicial system is broken” get past editorial correction? –

        No-one read it until it appeared.

        Reply ↓
  29. XXYY

    China’s Had Enough… Xi Calls Trump’s Bluff Larry Johnson

    Johnson, usually a perceptive analyst, weirdly comments in this piece:

    Trump has been provoking China for several years.

    This is not untrue, but it’s also true that all US administrations have been provoking China for the last 20 years or more. Until Trump, these provocations tended to be more in the military sphere than in the economic sphere as Trump has emphasized, but there has been very little change in overall tone and emphasis since perhaps the 90s, when China was still the great place for American capitalists to move their business to.

    My impression from the sidelines is that the Chinese have shown great restraint through all of this, perhaps seeing the bigger picture.

    Reply ↓
  30. Jason Boxman

    From Interior cancels largest solar project in North America

    But the project had garnered concerns about its sheer size and the potential for it to disturb migratory patterns for wildlife.

    Do you know what also is going to cause disruption to migratory patterns. (Very dramatic pause. Still paused. Raising single finger high in the air. Wait for it.)

    Climate Change.

    This timeline is stupid.

    Reply ↓
  31. Jonathan King

    Candace Owens’s focus on Israeli culpability as a curse unto the nth generation is fine as far as it goes, although I take her use of “curse” as a metaphor rather than something that will be enforced by God. It’s unclear to me how literally she regards it, as I don’t know her spiritual priors. Still, what is there to say about a professional antisemite making a clear moral case for shunning Israel and Israelis, other than that it’s a funny old world? The vital difference between Jews qua Jews and the insane Zionist cohort that dominates world events and the news therefrom is too often ignored by those who comment on the Gaza genocide and Israel’s other regional atrocities from a range of perspectives. Given Candace’s previous contributions to that conflation — she’s prone to blood libel, among other antisemitic cudgels — this burst of right thinking strikes me as akin to the rare instances where Trump (accidentally, in his case) says something reasonable.

    Reply ↓
    1. ArvidMartensen

      To the practicalities. I wonder how the US & Israeli developers of the Gaza condos and beach resorts will deal with the many little and large human bones that they dig up while digging building foundations.
      Are bones a good strengthening agent in concrete? Perhaps the buildings will be made stronger by the special ingredient? So the opposite of a curse, really.

      And how will the happy little beach goers on Gaza beach deal with the little bones in the sand while making sand castles?

      Will the innovative Israelis create a machine that disappears human bones, like the machines that create a path through mined fields? Such innovation would increase Israel’s GDP, so another win for Israel.

      Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      Prone to blood libel? That is a ridiculous, made-up term like pointing the bone. Everybody has seen what Israel is about the past few years and they have been quite proud of what they have done judging by all the videos that they have been posting. People have seen the true Freddy Krueger face of Israel and they will never forget it – nor should they.

      Reply ↓
    3. bertl

      Ariel Toaff, professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and born the son of Rome’s Chief Rabbi, published a book in Italian arguing that, on the basis of the evidence, there was truth in what we call the “blood libel’.

      Some fundamentalist Ashkenazis, like all religious extremists not forgetting those who accept the current conventional wisdom of their faith, bend and have bent the basic laws of their religion to suit their own purposes and ideology as outsiders in the European Christian world.

      Of course Professor Toaff was pressured to recant and threatened with murder, amongst other things, and the book, “Pasque di sangue. Ebrei d’Europa e omicidi rituali”, was withdrawn.

      Of the copies which were already in circulation, translations were made and the English translation is entitled, “Blood Passover. The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murder”, and privately published by the translators who formally abandoned their copyright in 2014.

      I hadn’t read it for years because it was about strange cults, not dissimilar to those in the Catholic Church or the various Protestant subdivisions and the cults within those subdivisions and I stopped teaching the subject along, long time ago. I took it as being as relevant and historically interesting as cargo cults or Muggletonianism – and certainly a lot less interesting than the beliefs and practices of the Cathars as recorded by the Inquisitors, the victims of the first documented genocide in European history, not least because it was spearheaded by Simon de Montfort, responsible for forcing King John to hand over power to the Norman oligarchs in the form of the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215.

      I read it again when the Gaza genocide was well underway and I found it quite a striking read in those circumstances and I think that many followers of NC might find it an interesting book in the light of Palestine’s recent history.

      I will, of course, understand if Yves chooses not to publish this comment.

      Here is what Professor Toaff writes in the Preface in the revised edition of August 1 2016:

      “In this Jewish-Germanic world, in continual movement, profound
      currents of popular magic had, over time, distorted the basic framework
      of Jewish religious law, changing its forms and meanings. It is in these
      “mutations” in the Jewish tradition – which are, so to speak,
      authoritative – that the theological justification of the commemoration
      [in mockery of the Passion of Christ] is to be sought, which, in addition
      to its celebration in the liturgical rite, was also intended to revive, in
      action, vengeance against a hated enemy, continually reincarnated
      throughout the long history of Israel (the Pharaoh, Amalek, Edom,
      Haman, Jesus). Paradoxically, in this process, which is complex and
      anything but uniform, elements typical of Christian culture may be
      observed to rebound – sometimes inverted, unconsciously but
      constantly – within Jewish beliefs, mutating in turn, and assuming new
      forms and meanings. These beliefs, in the end, became symbolically
      abnormal, distorted by a Judaism profoundly permeated by the
      underlying elements and characteristic features of an adversarial and
      detested religion, unintentionally imposed by the same implacable
      Christian persecutor.”

      Hitler, I guess, would fit neatly into the classification of a hated enemy.

      Reply ↓
  32. XXYY

    Interior cancels largest solar project in North America Politico

    Large solar programs in Nevada are being challenged on environmental grounds by the department of interior. I always thought, and still think, that solar can be the most environmentally friendly energy source available.

    Obviously it has no emissions and requires no fuel, but furthermore the the panels themselves are mounted on masts having very little contact with the underlying terrain and whose height and spacing can easily be adjusted as needed. If the goal is to just leave the land “undisturbed”, this seems like an easy objective to meet. (The photo at the top of the piece, showing a different facility in California, shows the underlying land scraped off and bulldozed flat. This seems completely unnecessary.) Even wind turbines, with their impact on birds, seem worse than solar.

    I realize the emphasis on canceling solar is not driven by logic, but still.

    Reply ↓
    1. David

      If you put it on bare land it will prevent any sunlight reaching the ground. You might as well bulldoze it as not much will grow underneath if the coverage is too great. The nost sensible thing for solar is on roofs or areas that are effectively dead ground. I.e. car parks. Add a solar panels above the parking spaces as it won’t effect the ground. It’s a more wfficient use of land and it also cuts back on transmission loses.

      Reply ↓
      1. CanCyn

        I’ve long thought that car parks would make great places for solar arrays. The added bonus would be the shade they cast. A big car park is a very uncomfortable place on a hot summer day.

        Reply ↓
  33. Aurelien

    If anyone’s interested, it looks as though Macron’s sorrows in France will be lifted briefly when he goes to Egypt for the launch of the Gaza plan on Monday. But in spite of what the Politico extract suggests, he’s actually in a worse state than he was a week ago. The Republicans, the main right-wing party, have said that they will not join the new government, and one or two other parties have also declined. The party of Edouard Philippe, his first Prime Minister won’t commit themselves without promises of progress on the “reform” of pensions. The Socialists have said that if there’s any suggestion of touching pensions, they will vote to bring the government down. (The “Left” and Right blocs in Parliament could easily bring any government down, but the “Left” can’t be seen to be voting with the RN.)

    So it’s not clear where Lecornu will get his Ministers from, or how he will survive the inevitable vote of confidence. He’s now threatening to resign yet again if he can’t form a government, which would certainly be a record: I’m not sure anyone now believes him, he’s damaged his credibility a lot in the last few days.

    In response to the question from Yves, there is no way that Macron can be forced to call elections, and most of the political parties (not least his own) are violently opposed to the idea because they fear for their seats. Here, we run into the problem that whilst Macron’s political position in such circumstances would be theoretically untenable, there’s no article of the Constitution that says he actually has to call elections, and no way of making him. Politics runs largely by unwritten rules, and if somebody chooses not to obey them, there isn’t much you can do.

    Other than that, I don’t think Macron greatly cares. He is likely to insist on the fundamental distinction in France between the President and the Government, and to carry on prancing around the world and making war in Ukraine, while affecting a public lack of interest in successive political crises. Macron’s only subject of interest is himself: as far as anyone knows, politics is all that has ever interested him, and he has no life outside or beyond it. He’s never shown any interest in or knowledge of culture, for example, he appears never to have had any outside interests or enthusiasms at all. Leaving power must seem like a kind of death. So it’s not surprising that people are starting to get worried. Macron’s political judgement is awful, he’s surrounded by nondescript courtiers who tell him what he wants to hear, and nobody really knows him well enough to say what he’s capable of. (There doesn’t seem to be much to know, actually.)

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      “[…] he’s actually in a worse state than he was a week ago.”

      My guess is that he is just trying to gain time and hopes that something (certainly of a miraculous nature) will happen that will sort out everything without him having to figure out how to bring a coalition together to govern, or ask the RN to form a government, or ask the PS to form a government, or call new elections, or resign — so that in the end a government will arise that will deal with all the annoying, intricate, arduous stuff like budget shortfalls, increasing debt, increasing debt costs, the hot potato of “reforms” (aka screwing the population to maintain the “niches fiscales” for the wealthy), the relentless slow-motion foundering of the ambitious French-led European armament projects (SCAF/FCAS and SPCT/MGCS), and, and…

      Reply ↓
      1. NN Cassandra

        And if he has a bit of luck, this something could also solve the Ukraine mess. You know, two birds, one stone.

        Reply ↓
  34. ArvidMartensen

    Nothing says the Nobel Prize is a corrupt institution like their choice for who gets the “Peace” Prize.

    Their choices in all other areas including STEM need auditing.

    Reply ↓
    1. Ben Panga

      The NPP is completely separate from the other Nobel prizes. Not even the same country.

      Per Nobel’s will, they are awarded by different organisations – the NPP is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Whereas the rest are awarded by Swedish academies.

      In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry, Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) for the Nobel Peace Prize.

      In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was given the task to select the economic sciences laureates starting in 1969.

      Reply ↓
      1. Smurf

        He should have also specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he did not wish to be established:

        Reply ↓
  35. ThirtyOne

    RondoDox botnet fires ‘exploit shotgun’ at nearly every router and internet-connected home device

    Recommended reading:
    https://routersecurity.org/index.php

    “If the router has a web interface, Remote Administration is probably off, but since this is so very dangerous, take the time to verify that it is disabled. If the router is administered with a mobile app and a cloud service, disabling remote access to the router is unchartered territory. Lotsa luck.”

    “Periodically check for new firmware. At some point you will go a year or two, or more, without any updates. That’s when it is time for a new router.”

    Reply ↓
  36. AG

    Hollywood actress Diane Keaton dies at 79.
    Cause not reporte yet. Considering that she was supposed to star in 3 movies in prep it appears a tragic, unexpected fatality…

    Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘Annie Hall,’ Dies at 79

    The delightful actress — Woody Allen’s onetime muse — also starred in the three ‘Godfather’ films, ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar,’ ‘Something’s Gotta Give,’ ‘Reds,’ ‘Marvin’s Room,’ ‘The First Wives Club’ and much more.
    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/diane-keaton-dead-annie-hall-godfather-1236398458/

    Reply ↓
  38. amfortas

    adjacent to the guardian treatment of Thiel’s insane ramblings:
    https://firstthings.com/voyages-to-the-end-of-the-world/

    its a more coherent treatment of Thiel’s eschatology.
    worth your time, if yer innerested in what one of our overlords thinks about when he’s sitting around getting transfusions of the blood of youth.

    i’m almost weary of craziness, these days.
    ive expected the demise of amurkin empire for most of my life, but i never thought it would be THIS weird,lol.

    (and, yes, i read First Things regular like,lol…turns out, like the Russel Kirk Conservatives, i get along rather well with Thomists…unlike the randians and rothbardists and assorted lumpen teabilly types, they will engage with a civil libertarian anarcho-socialist, more often than not)

    Reply ↓
    1. Ben Panga

      Thanks amfortas.

      For Bacon, the rivers of blood in Revelation flow not through humanity’s future but through its past, through the millennia of ignorance and scarcity that had been man’s lot since he first walked the earth. Transcending this miserable history, Bensalem is almost indistinguishable from Heaven.

      Fits very well with the Thielspiel.

      Reply ↓
  40. none

    President Trump got a Covid booster vaccine pic.twitter.com/WtpLbshSDY

    — Neil Stone (@DrNeilStone) October 11, 2025

    Someone on Lemmy: “Oh great. On top of everything else, now he is going to be autistic. LOL”

    Reply ↓
  42. AG

    re: German lies vs. RU

    German blog ANTI-SPIEGEL with a small but important piece.

    Editor Thomas Röper is citing two written inquiries to the government, one via the public portal “Frag den Staat” / “Ask the government”, the other via MP in parliament, where the individuals want to know about the intelligence on which the govermment concludes that Russia is planning to attack Germany/NATO.

    The answer in both cases is simple – there is none.

    use google translate

    The German government admits that it has no reliable evidence of Russia’s alleged aggressive plans

    The German government was asked via the FragDenStaat portal whether and what statements by Putin it had received that Russia was planning an attack on Germany, the EU, or NATO by 2035, because German politicians claim that Putin has said this openly. However, the German government has no such evidence.
    https://anti-spiegel.ru/2025/die-bundesregierung-gesteht-ein-dass-sie-keine-belastbaren-hinweise-fuer-russlands-angeblich-aggressiven-plaene-hat/

    Inquiry #1
    “(…)
    On July 11, 2025, someone asked the government, specifically the Ministry of Defence led by Pistorius, via the FragDenStaat portal :

    “Does the Federal Government have any public or non-public statements by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, obtained through intelligence services, which could substantiate the thesis repeatedly expressed in the public debate that Russia intends to attack Germany, the EU, or NATO member states by 2029 or 2035, and if so, what information does the Federal Government have (please provide sources and dates)?”

    Although the German government missed the deadline to respond to the question, it ultimately responded anyway. The Ministry of Defense responded on October 7:

    “I can inform you that the Federal Ministry of Defense does not have any official information in line with your question. The assessment that Russia could be capable of launching a military attack on NATO territory by 2029 is based on national and international intelligence from intelligence and open sources. This includes, for example, information on Russian stockpiles, production figures, and restructuring. The situation assessment and threat analysis are continuously updated and refined.”

    Members of the federal government are lying

    Based on the Defense Ministry’s response, we can already conclude that all members of the German government who claim that Putin is openly talking about wanting to attack NATO are lying to the people of Germany, because the Ministry clearly states that it has no such information.
    (…)”

    Inquiry #2

    “(…)
    In July 2024, a member of the Bundestag submitted a request to the government, in which the member also asked about such statements by Putin, citing sources and dates. The federal government was forced to respond to the question :

    “The government is not aware of any statements by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, that he intends to restore the Soviet Union.”

    But that doesn’t stop many politicians and media from continuing to claim this nonsense and claiming that Putin keeps saying it openly.
    (…)”

    Reply ↓
  43. Sue Victoria

    I’m sorry that Pavel Durov founder of Telegram is arrested and facing threats from the State
    But its very hard to take him seriously as some sort of hero for free speech and democracy
    Anyone that has followed the story of Signal messenging app understands this. Going back quite a few years now.
    Cryptographer Matthew Green has written extensively about all the security issues with Telegram. As has Moxie Marlinspike founder of Signal.
    Moxie explained to Pavel all the serious problems with Telegram, and why it is in no way a secure channel. Moxie said he offered to help him resolve the issues and Pavel declined.
    So, Pavel is well aware Telegram is highly insecure, does nothing to resolve this, yet continues to promote it as secure encrypted communications.

    Reply ↓
  44. Ben Panga

    UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show (Guardian)

    One university said it would conduct “active monitoring of social media” for any evidence of plans to demonstrate against Rolls-Royce at a careers fair.

    A second appeared to agree to a request from Raytheon UK, the British wing of a major US defence contractor, to “monitor university chat groups” before a campus visit.

    Another university responded to a defence company’s “security questionnaire” seeking information about social media posts suggestive of imminent protests over the firm’s alleged role in fuelling war, including in Gaza.

    Loughborough University told a recruitment firm running a “Rolls-Royce roadshow” that its security team were conducting “active monitoring of social media … to provide early intelligence about protests”. It was doing so, it wrote, as “protest has been a concern for employers in recent times”.

    Emails from Heriot-Watt University (HWU) suggest Raytheon UK asked the university to “monitor university chat groups” on its behalf before a careers fair, prompting the university to agree to “implement the measures you have suggested”.

    Almost one in four (37 out of 154) UK universities launched disciplinary investigations into pro-Gaza student and staff activists between October 2023 and March 2025, with up to 200 people affected, data compiled by Liberty Investigates shows.

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      Hoo boy. One in four is all too many. They should name names. Identify the Universities involved. These do not merit anonymity and students need to know.

      Reply ↓
    1. griffen

      Always cues into my mind practically anywhere I find these articles that are revealing as to what a real version of sentient AI is gonna evolve into. An android version like all the most famed and also intentionally biased synthetic beings from TV and film…the Weyland Yutani corporation will stay busy in that future ( Ash from the original Alien, for one example ).

      As discussed at length above on one of many examples by a tech bro oligarch, someone like Peter Thiel just can’t be trusted. And that is the archetype of who is building out all this AI hype machinery, like in Spinal Tap with the volume set to 11.

      Reply ↓

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