France’s Last Circus Elephant Finds Freedom at Richter Safari Park Hungary Today
Climate/Environment
Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk The Guardian (Kevin W)
One dead, dozens rescued and roughly 1,000 displaced in western Alaska communities hit by ex-typhoon Alaska Beacon
Surveying a lot of strange weather Balanced Weather
Pandemics
Return to work with long COVID: a rapid review of support and challenges BMJ Open
153 unvaccinated students quarantining after measles exposure at South Carolina schools CBS News
The Koreas
Seoul to build bunker designed for nuclear, chemical defense Korea Times
China?
As China and US impose rival port fees, global shipping industry braces for disruption Channel News Asia
Trump’s 130% China tariff looks like another TACO moment Asia Times (Kevin W)
China Reacts After U.S. Pushed Netherlands To Seize Chinese Owned Company Moon of Alabama
EU considers forced tech transfers for Chinese investments Business Times
Trump threatens to end cooking oil purchases from China AFP
***
US wades deeper into rising Philippine-China sea tussle Asia Times
US Senate pushes for Taiwan to attend Rimpac drill in latest defence bill South China Morning Post
Scott Bessent slams China: ‘They want to pull everybody else down with them’ Irish Times
India
Syraqistan
Israel kills nine Palestinians just hours after Gaza truce begins The New Arab
‘Inhumane’: 154 freed Palestinian prisoners forced into exile by Israel Al Jazeera
NEW | Instagram has removed the verified account of Gaza slain journalist Saleh al-Jafarawi, who had 4.5 million followers.
Archived snapshots of his page on the Wayback Machine, the largest public internet archive, also appear to have been wiped or disabled, raising concerns… pic.twitter.com/X510RJUraG
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 13, 2025
Trump Keeps Admitting That He Is Bought And Owned By The World’s Richest Israeli Caitlin Johnstone
UK ready to join Hamas disarmament and Gaza ceasefire mission Al Mayadeen
More on the Delusional Thinking of Western Zionists Larry Johnson
🇮🇷| Iran defies reimposed UN sanctions by turning on proper identification without spoofing
After snapback mechanism caused UN sanctions to be reimposed on Iran, countries are supposedly forced to stop Iranian vessels and inspect them.
Last week, Iran’s FM has declared that… https://t.co/ynnds2R4rK pic.twitter.com/bupUuGHfMA
— Arya – آریا (@AryJeay) October 14, 2025
Secret Israeli military bunker located under Tel Aviv tower struck by Iran, analysis shows The Grayzone (Kevin W)
Kurds reach first deal on merging forces with Syrian army AFP
Old Blighty
Palestine Action ‘not close’ to terror group, Scottish board found The National
Israel is the excuse to snatch away freedoms we once took for granted Jonathan Cook
European Disunion
French prime minister will suspend a pension reform to avoid government collapse AP
63,000 SEK in rent – this is how migrant workers are exploited in the forest Dagens Arbete (Micael T – Machine Translation)
Poland demands Germany stop Nord Stream attack prosecutions FT
New Not-So-Cold War
Hubris and Theatrics Mark Atlanticist West’s Detachment from Reality Simplicius
Warning Delivered: Ukraine Will Cease to Exist Mark Sleboda (Video)
Russia’s Kamikaze Drones Demonstrate Major New Targeting Capabilities as Production Expands Military Watch
‘Surprising’ drop in military aid to Ukraine in recent months, report says Kyiv Independent
Europe cannot sustain the proxy war against Russia on its own. The United States is selling weapons it doesn’t have to Europe, which can’t afford them, in order to arm Ukraine, which lacks the manpower to use them. pic.twitter.com/eb1cjdN2eY
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) October 14, 2025
Africa
Madagascar military says it seizes power, suspends institutions Al Jazeera
South of the Border
Trump Announces New ‘Kinetic Strike’ Off Venezuela’s Coast, Extrajudicial Killings Reach 27, Venezuela Continues Defensive Drills Orinoco Tribune
President Maduro announced the opening of grandparents’ homes throughout Venezuela Telesur
Venezuelan bonds surge as Trump administration ‘plays hardball’ FT
Trump says Argentina assistance dependent on election results for ally Milei The Hill
Trump 2.0
Leak: Feds Think Protests Hide Terrorism Ken Klippenstein
Stephen Miller’s radically bogus idea of “plenary authority” Public Notice
‘I’ll have Eric call’: Trump’s hot-mic moment with Indonesian president raises questions about side business deals The Independent
Vance blames ‘misreporting’ for uproar after Hegseth Qatari air force facility announcement The Hill
Democrats en déshabillé
As Mills Enters Maine Senate Race, Platner Says Election Is Fight to ‘Retake Our Party’ for Working Class Common Dreams
Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani New York Times. Zohran, we hardly knew ye.
The Supremes
As SCOTUS Enters a New Term, These Cases May Grant Trump Unbridled Authority Truthout
Police State Watch
Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd Chicago Sun-Times
Trump Admin Unveils $500 Million Plan to Counter Drone Threats From ‘Evildoers and Idiots’ During World Cup International Business Times
Something that scares me Alec Karakatsanis
Forever Wars
Gov. Bill Lee says the Trump-Lee military-police occupation of Memphis “may never end.”
“We have just begun. We do know this is going to last for months… In fact, I will tell you that it will last forever.” pic.twitter.com/y9k2Gi6peD
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 14, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
US Army launches Janus Program to develop mobile nuclear energy for battlefield use Anadolu Agency
Trump’s Takeover Of Canadian Rare Earths Miners Raises Major Concerns OilPrice (resilc)
Chartbook 413 The future of the world economy beyond globalization – or, thinking with soup. Adam Tooze
Healthcare?
Tensions rise over health AI oversight and regulation Becker’s Hospital Review
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
US targets of Israeli influence ops alarmed by phone tracking Responsible Statecraft
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data Wired
Mr. Market Becomes Self-Aware
‘Absolutely’ a market bubble: Wall Street sounds the alarm on AI-driven boom as investors go all in Yahoo! Finance
There’s Now a Casino in Everyone’s Pocket. For Some Young Men, It’s a Near-Fatal Gamble Rolling Stone (Micael T)
AI
Over 50 Percent of the Internet Is Now AI Slop, New Data Finds Futurism (Micael T)
There are too many waterfalls here Internal Exile
Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon allow erotica for adult users TechCrunch. Commentary:
It’s been clear for some time now that the endgame was some kind of fusion of the AI chatbot and OnlyFans. The automation of thought and consciousness meets the automation of human sexuality. Total addiction to the mirror. https://t.co/QiZbt4kOrX
— Christopher Lasch’s Angry Ghost (@ghostofchristo1) October 14, 2025
Screening Room
How is the horror genre changing? Stephen Follows
The Friendly Skies
A look at how NWS supports our air traffic control system – and why it’s another staffing concern Balanced Weather
The Bezzle
OpenAI has five years to turn $13 billion into $1 trillion TechCrunch
Elon Musk Is Making Cybertruck Sales Look Better by Selling a Huge Number to Himself Futurism (Micael T)
Class Warfare
More than 31,000 California Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers begin 5-day strike KTLA
Limits Of Trade Unionism Class Consciousness Project
The Wisdom of Walking in Circles Earth Island Journal
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“153 unvaccinated students quarantining after measles exposure at South Carolina schools”
You know what? This could have been a headline from 2020 but it would have said ‘153 unvaccinated students quarantining after Covid-19 exposure at South Carolina schools’. I would guess that this sort of headline will appear more and more as time goes by, especially as vaccination rates fall. That’s a heckuva job, RJK jr. So should we expect Trump to announce in two years time that the Measles epidemic is over – so get back to work?
2027 news in advance:
“”China must recommence leech exports or face consequences” warns Trump as diphtheria outbreak forces closure of 5 more Texas branches of St Charlie’s Christian Madrasa”.
“Rickets caused by Marxist thinking, says 22 year-old Health Czar”
ChatGPT, going boldly forth into the deepest cesspool that isn’t politics….sexy adults alone time talking for “verified adults…”. Ok that didn’t take long really.
Seems like a popular ’90s band like Radiohead covered this development on at least one of their albums….Fake Plastic Trees or Paranoid Android were two of their tracks…in my mind.
There are eight million stories of online AI in the naked city. This has been one of them
Chat GDP to read aloud 1970s Penthouse Forum submissions … for a fee.
“US Seeks India’s Help To Counter China’s Rare Earth Grip — While Keeping 50 Per Cent Tariffs On Indian Goods”
This seems to be they way that they think in Team Trump. One hand will bash you up while the other hand asks for help. Come to think of it, Biden had a similar idea with China. That on one hand he could threaten them and launch all these sanctions on them but on an unrelated front he would expect their help to get the US out of a fix. If this was a person doing this you would say that they had split personality syndrome. But the people that keep pushing this line of thinking are mature men and not some goofballs straight out of college. Not that they will ever do it but they really need to rethink the idea of diplomacy and how it plays out.
Cybertruck sales….out of the Seinfeld playbook by none other than George Costanza who was selling computers to a Mr. Art Vandalay ( non existent ) but storing the hypothetically sold inventory at Kramer’s apartment…\sarc
This thing is a flop. And if that’s indeed what is occurring, then shifting numbers from company #1 by selling to company #2, or #3….won’t fool anyone except the most loyal bulls on the company stock outlook for Tesla. Hey Ron Baron, who is one of the more prominent supporter of Musk; Mr. Baron you’re a legendary investor but what the heck is happening to your guy lately…
(the now dead) US electrification subsidies were a farce.
Billions USD for $7,500 to people who did not need a subsidy to buy a $50,000 car that can go 0-60 faster than a 2005 Ferrari (while a Prius buyer gets $0.00), while $0 for diesel-battery-hybrids for truckerswho drive hundredsof thousands ofmiles per year, who still keep their **diesel**!! engines idling to have HVAC
There’s Now a Casino in Everyone’s Pocket. For Some Young Men, It’s a Near-Fatal Gamble Rolling Stone
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40 years ago tv commercials would tend to be in regards to self-improvement, what if an attractive woman saw you in an elevator exhibiting dandruff-that could be a deal breaker, or what if you were using an underarm deodorant that wasn’t up to snuff, that sort of thing.
FanGhoul & DaftKings tv commercials offer self-improvement, give them $5 and you’ll get 40 to 60 times that amount in action, and lets be clear about gambling, the most destructive part of it is ‘being in action’, and its never been easier to wager on damn near anything @ any time of day.
For yours truly, it was all about replacing a bad addiction with a good addiction-and we have vast legions of young men that are in a really bad way, when suicide is considered a painless way to end the suffering…
My replacement addiction for gambling was hiking in the mountains, what sort of broad-based replacement addiction would be appropriate for all of these John Oakhurst* types?
* homage to Bret Harte
Poland demands Germany stop Nord Stream prosecutions.
Well, isn’t this interesting. We have been warned by journalists like Barbara Spinelli. The European Union now is re-centered on the resentments of Poland and the Baltic States. Who enjoy the money and the attention, although not the responsibility of cooperating with other EU states.
Hmmm:
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said recently that it was not in Warsaw’s interest to extradite the suspect held in Poland, since “the problem with Nord Stream 2 is not that it was blown up, the problem is that it was built.”
Cenckiewicz said that while he had no knowledge of Poland helping Ukrainians to attack the pipeline, “the interest of the Polish state is to protect all who potentially took part in damaging Nord Stream 2, which we treat as part of the war machine of Russia.”
Qui s’excuse, s’accuse.
Meanwhile, the other main suspect is still in Italy, awaiting extradition.
It appears that the rush to bring in so many central European new members was a foolhardy German gesture to build an economic empire, and a source of low-paid plumbers, that ends up now mainly as Sauerkraut Republics and their historic anger.
I suppose that it is a matter of how the two countries look at it. To the Poles, those saboteurs are heroes and should be rewarded and protected. To the Germans, these are the people that helped deep-six their economy and should be punished. But for some strange reason, both countries still pretend that it was Ukrainians that did this.
Well, Russia provided the cheap energy and cheap raw materials, while Turkiyet used to provide the cheap workforce – unfortunately many did not return to homeland to retire. Germany needed new sources of exploitable people to keep the profits rolling.
Not just Germany. Before the Maidan in the Ukraine they were interviewing this business guy in the streets of London and he said that he was looking forward to all the cheap labour that would be coming from the Ukraine. Pre-Brexit UK of course.
“Scott Bessent slams China: ‘They want to pull everybody else down with them’”
File under “every accusation a confession.”
I think that the relevant word here is ‘projection.’
The Democrats just can’t stop being Democrats, three-thousandth edition.
Mills enters Maine race for U.S. senator.
To what end?
I have a feeling that Zohran Mamdani is causing even greater distress for the Regular Dems. Why, someone might interrupt their endless engagement in conflicts of interest.
And this, noting it comes from the savvy Ryan Grim: ‘Ryan Grim of Drop Site News posited that the entrance of Mills into the race could be “to Platner’s advantage” and may underscore his independent streak.’
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris are appearing — together, if one can stand it — obvious to the fact that they come off as two shambling wrecks of inept politicos. What did they put in Janet Mills’s Cupcake Chardonnay?
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris are appearing — together, if one can stand it — Dear God, think of the toxic emissions. File under Climate.
Here in SW Vermont we are being overrun with ticks. Yesterday, H and I pulled fourteen of the three cats and the dog, two wood ticks and a dozen of the disease carrying deer ticks. This following a dozen the day before, and fourteen the previous day. I got bitten and had to frontload 200 mg of Doxi in an attempt to Beat the Reaper.
I have never before seen them in numbers like this. Keeping the furry crowd indoors today, which has brought on a general strike with a picket line at the garden door.