Monstrification Aeon
Scientists Explain Why ‘Harmless’ Sharks Devoured Swimmer in Chilling World First Science Alert
New DNA Evidence Reveals What Really Killed Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812 ZME Science
The Dupont Metro Sticker Wars Overthinking
Climate/Environment
Melissa Undergoing Extreme Rapid Intensification, Catastrophic Impacts Expected for Jamaica Eye on the Tropics
New Satellite Data Reveal a Shift in Earth’s Once-Balanced Energy System Eos
Something very odd going on..
Arctic temperatures usually begin to fall at this time of year.
Currently there’s very little sign of that and if anything it’s likely we’re going to see temperatures rise again. pic.twitter.com/hs15pZY9Vp
— Met4Cast 🍂 (@Met4CastUK) October 25, 2025
Pandemics
‘Every time I step outside, the first thing on my mind is my forehead’: the women getting hair transplants The Guardian
Scars from the pandemic: understanding post-COVID-19 interstitial lung disease Breathe
WHN joins in the chorus: Medical masks are not PPE World Health Network
The great divide: How different Covid-19 control strategies shaped pandemic outcomes New Zealand Public Health Communication Centre
Tuberculosis cases are surging in the UK: Symptoms and advice you need to know The Independent
Water
Japan
In Abe’s shadow Observing Japan
Takaichi set to remove Japan’s defense export bans Asia Times
China?
US, China tee up sweeping trade deal for Trump, Xi to finish Business Times
The Illusion of American Leverage Warwick Powell. E.g.:
(1) US Auto Plants Weeks Away From Chip Shutdowns, Lobby Group Says Bloomberg
(2) China shift to higher-end exports boosts margins, mutual gains as US reliance dips: report South China Morning Post
(3) China’s industrial profits surge 21.6% in September, biggest jump in nearly two years CNBC
(4) China’s Pharma Leverage Is ‘Nuclear Option’ in US Trade Talks Bloomberg
China’s economic successes are reshaping the Western media narrative South China Morning Post
Stabilizing the U.S.-China Rivalry RAND We linked to a Simplicius piece on this in yesterday’s Links, but here’s a little more:
Absolutely extraordinary paper by RAND, the main think tank of the US military-industrial complex, and another key sign that the U.S. deep state – despite all the chaos and noise – is shifting away from deterring China, towards accepting coexistence (it’s literally what they… pic.twitter.com/AHNLfVuv6m
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) October 25, 2025
🇺🇸🇨🇳Beware of “analysts” (Arnaud Bertrand in this case) selling you US-China “peace” based on obscure papers disconnected from reality.
Arnaud is waving around a RAND paper as if it is proof that there is some sort of “retreat” in US policy regarding encircling and containing… pic.twitter.com/Ba7OznWmkG
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) October 26, 2025
Navy helicopter, jet crash in South China Sea in separate incidents Navy Times
US grants 0% tariffs to Malaysia alongside Cambodia and Thailand Intellinews
Syraqistan
Revealed: The plan for a ‘New Gaza’ – and the four militias Israel is backing to defeat Hamas Sky News
Israeli excavations around Al-Aqsa threaten partial mosque collapse: Statement Al Arabiya. That sure is convenient.
Trump’s Paradox: Opposing Israeli West Bank Annexation in Words but Allowing It in Practice Haaretz
Baby, Boom: How to Keep Israeli Kids Busy on Vacation? Take Them to a Minefield Haaretz
Trump’s Road to Riyadh: The Geopolitics of AI and Energy Infrastructure American Affairs Journal
PKK says withdrawing all forces from Turkey to northern Iraq Middle East Eye
Killing of Sunni candidate casts shadow over Iraqi elections Amwaj
Old Blighty
Share our nuclear weapons with Germany, say British military chiefs The Telegraph
European Disunion
China humiliated Germany: no one in China wants to meet with German politicians InfoDefense. There’s a strong case to be made that it’s Germany humiliating itself.
Germany is doing to itself what even its defeat in WWII couldn’t Tarik Cyril Amar
Flashy hardware, fragile strategy: is Poland, NATO’s biggest defence spender, preparing for the right war? Notes from Poland
Mac On The Civil War In Europe Mark Wauck
Hungary’s new energy plan quietly redefines Russia as a risk Daily News Hungary
EXCLUSIVE: EU mulls copying US with end to aid for global health funds Euractiv
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia Just Launched the World’s Longest Ranged Missile: Burevestnik Can Fly Around the World Thousands of Times Before Striking Military Watch Magazine
Trump may not follow through on Russian oil or Tomahawk Indian Punchline
Europe’s Plan B for Ukraine Politico. ‘EU countries may be called upon to raise tens of billions of euros in joint debt as part of a “Plan B” to keep Ukraine afloat after Belgium shot down plans to use Russia’s frozen assets as a financial lifeline for Kyiv, according to three EU diplomats.’
Lithuania closes border crossings with Belarus indefinitely after balloons violate airspace for 3rd night in row Kyiv Independent
South of the Border
Argentina investors poised for rally after Milei election win Buenos Aires Times
Venezuela Denounces US-Backed Military Drills by Trinidad and Tobago as Hostile Provocation Orinoco Tribune
From Baghdad to Caracas: A Washington Manual on Sanctions and War Z Network
A lithium bust leaves Latin American towns in the dust Rest of World
Spook Country
How Secret Agents Work to Hijack U.S. Foreign Policy SpyTalk
Trump 2.0
The risks of letting Trump become the military paymaster Can We Still Govern?
Federal food aid will not go out starting Nov. 1 amid government shutdown, Trump administration says CBS News
The Conservatives Who Think Trump Isn’t Going Far Enough Boston Review
Trump says he won’t run for vice-president in 2028 US election Straits Times
Immigration
SCOOP: ICE List Shares Evidence With Letitia James Migrant Insider
Democrats en déshabillé
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’d be ‘lying’ if he denied plans to consider a presidential run NBC News
Mamdani
I know you meant this to be racist against Mamdani but this mostly reads like “vote cuomo or else we’ll do another 9/11.” https://t.co/EVzSxHVLiy
— Matt Lieb?? (@mattlieb) October 25, 2025
Wars Come Home
How To Kill Subversives and Get Away With It New Lines Mag
Police State Watch
Feds detain Laugh Factory night manager, deploy tear gas in nearby neighborhood The TRiiBE
Imperial Collapse Watch
Golden Fleet: US eyes new generation of warships to restore dominance at sea Interesting Engineering
Accelerationists
What the Fascist Tech Bros Get Wrong About Prometheus Lit Hub
Groves of Academe
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI Defector
Educated Slaves in Ancient Rome History Today
Healthcare?
Monopoly Round-Up: Obamacare Is Cooked. What’s Next? BIG by Matt Stoller
PNHP’s New Report on Medicare Advantage’s Equity Illusion HEALTH CARE un-covered
Against Equity: An Old-Fashioned Defence Of Equality 3 Quarks Daily
Our Famously Free Press
As Millions March Against Fascism, NYT Warns Against Progressives FAIR
The White House shared this Washington Post oped written by an Abu Shabab gang member from multiple accounts.
Post then replied with a gift link. The oped was pitched by a pro-Israel PR firm. Israel backed these gangs.
The rot is so deep https://t.co/YFrubVUVY2
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 25, 2025
Sports Desk
Make Sports Sacred Again UnHerd
The Friendly Skies
More than 8,000 US flights delayed as air traffic control absences persist Channel News Asia
AI
Class Warfare
The merits of unified ownership Works in Progress
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Navy helicopter, jet crash in South China Sea in separate incidents”
What can you say. Military aviation can be a dangerous occupation, even in peacetime, and an accident can kill you just as much as enemy fire. Fortunately, the crew of that chopper as well as that F-18 were quickly picked up. You can always replace a helicopter or an aircraft but you can never replace an individual – or five as in this case.
But in wartime you have to replace the individuals which is why Russia has the simple weapons so the second wave with less training can fill the lines. The US handles that problem by fielding fragile weapons so there are fewer available in the second wave to man.
GAO: Each F35 has a $150 million life cycle cost. Pentagon bought about 1,000. Only 3 in 10 are ‘mission capable’ at any one time ever since procurement began. Congress authorized purchase of 1,500 more. Fragile, expensive technological wonders are mostly metal paperweights on the day of battle.
I do not know where GAO got that $150 M life cycle cost per aircraft. I doubt they had someone like me to ask. I have been out of the “system” since 2019.
Since DoD/DoW has been keeping records the cost to operate a system for a life is roughly twice the cost to acquire it. In GAO estimate the F-35 costs 50 million. More like $100 million at the 2000th delivery.
That said the spec’s for F-35 had a life cycle cost for the system delivering 80% mission capability! The designs for the airplane and support systems were for 80% mission capability.
That all we get is 33% is a failure of the “system”. F-35 is not unique since the 1940’s, when blank checks went out from the pentagon.
Failed systems cannot be accurately “valued”. Therefore, DoD/DoW will never pass a financial audit.
The GAO report six or seven years ago on F35 life cycle cost was $110 million as I remember. But things continue to happen: there was an announcement of delay on software upgrade package which was to have been already completed by 2025 and the price for each unit doubled and install complete time went out 4 or 5 years.
Obvious point, but life-cycle costs depend on how long the life-cycle is going to be. Aircraft these days are expected to stay in service much longer than in the past, so their LCC will be proportionately greater. The longer the F35 “replacement” is delayed, the higher the costs will be.
Do you happen to know anything about possible US meddling in EU´s FCAS desaster?
And was planned F-35 delivery blocking more Eurofighter purchases in the past?
Glad all aviators are safe and hopefully out of sick bay soon.
Make Sports Sacred Again UnHerd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I didn’t see bupkis in regards to mainstream media reporting of the NBA gambling scandal, and its all because they rely so much upon the advertising revenue, online gambling tv commercials predominate during any sporting contest.
Was watching NFL yesterday and before one of the games, the 9 network talking heads all gave their picks for a 3-way parlay-brought to you by Draft Kings.
You wonder why all the pro leagues went along with it when online betting was first legalized on a state by state basis, maybe part of the reason was their fan base was so aged (half of MLB fans are over 55) and gambling was seen as a way to get young adults interested?
Worse, I turned on the Celtics after football yesterday. Celtics star Jaylen Brown had already publicly commented on how gambling was a huge problem for the athletes which wasn’t taken into consideration at all when the leagues partnered with the gambling outlets, implying that there were people approaching players all the time.
Still, every other ad during the game was for one gambling app or another.
On Boston sports radio this morning the jocks suggested that nothing would or even could be done due to the massive amounts of money being made. Just in case you needed any further conformation that in the US, once you’ve made a billion or so, you can literally do whatever you want with zero consequences.
The antidote:
Welcome our kinder gentler ruling class.
Lewis Carroll said it best:
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin!
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!
Hear! Hear! Appreciate this on a Monday.
Thank you.
Now I know where “busy bee” comes from.
“Baby, Boom: How to Keep Israeli Kids Busy on Vacation? Take Them to a Minefield”
I have heard that it is going to take decades to de-mine Gaza as there is unexploded ordnance everywhere which I am sure that Hamas is putting to good use. They are going to need hundreds if not thousands of de-miners over those decades. Regardless, what if an unstated aim of this program was to get kids, when they grow up, to become de-miners themselves? They would already probably have their names as attending this program when kids. Does that sound too cynical?
Movie tip:
Land of Mine, a Danish film from 2015 in regards to ex-Wehrmacht soldiers tasked with removing millions of mines strewn in Denmark on the coast, after the war ended.
…not your usual type of WW2 movie!
Ah, original title translation.
The German title and the Danish original both say “Under the Sand”.
Correct me please, but it appears as if Trump Admin. did manage to suppress the Epstein story.
A few months ago everybody was warning US populace would not forget this and demand investigation and clarification.
Or is it just taking a pause before a storm?
The storm is coming! *snicker*
Well the Republicans don’t want it to really come out as too many of their donors are on the Epstein list. As for the Democrats, they have the same problem. Too many of their donors are on that list too. That being the case, Trump will continue to say that it was all a Democrat hoax and the Democrats will not press it but I am sure that many of his MAGA voters are bitterly disappointed that he sided with the kiddie fiddlers rather than any idea of justice for Epstein’s victims.
During the campaign 2024 it appeared as if GOP was closer to the pulse of their voters than DNC. On that I assumed they would not make similar mistakes e.g. with Epstein. But on the other hand a true full-scale Epstein scandal could wipe out an entire party. If that danger is palpable you will rather risk disappointing your MAGA voters and throw ´em some crumbs for diversion.
The Epstein story will have the same result as that other bit of #McResistance magical thinking, that Trump is ill and about to keel over: providing media hits and consolation to politically incoherent liberals while they continue primping their moral vanity.
I’d suggest trying actual politics, and class politics at that, but it seems to be a hopeless message to get across.
I was under the impression it’s due to the govt shutdown and the one politician not being sworn in to tip the vote?
I don’t know if it’s been fully suppressed. There is a lot of talk even among people in my social milleu (wealthy blue city coastal elites, to use the common nomenclature) that the current government shutdown has a lot to do with the fact that a new representative (Adelita Grijalva) will force a vote on releasing the Epstein files as soon as she is sworn in, and as long as the government is shut down, Johnson won’t swear her in. Lots of articles about it in the MSM, for ex:
– Adelita Grijalva can force a vote on the Epstein files, but she’s still not sworn in | NPR, October 16
– As Johnson Delays, Grijalva Sues to Be Seated in the House | New York Times, October 22
– Frustrated Arizonans have waited more than a month for their new congresswoman to be seated | CNN, October 25
Prince Philip isn’t a prince anymore and he is getting hammered in the British press and the new Virginia Roberts book is number 4 at Amazon and all of the initial printing already sold out and it is more than a week to get it delivered now.
This story has remarkable leg horsepower.
ok!
this is also what I meant by, er, “storm”
I think you mean Prince Andrew. He agreed to no longer use his title Duke of York but is still a prince by birth. I read that removing his title of prince would take an act of Parliament but apparently many MPs think it would set a bad precedent. But it has been done. A British prince who also held a German title declared his loyalty to Germany at the start of WW 1 and Parliament gave him the boot.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-18/buckingham-palace-slams-images-of-queens-nazi-salute/6630346
They didn’t kick them out….
thanks for the links!
re: american colossus/promethean stupidity:
ive been studying the american right for long time. senior year, in “government” class, taught by a coach, who identified me as “so far left, he’s almost a commie”…i asked him, “if we actually enjoy freedom of speech, and therefore thought, am i not free to arrive at a communist outlook by my own path?”
he hmmed and hawed, and had to concede my point, then muttering about how the ussr/commies were out to get us, so we had to be unified.
i interjected,”all this talk abt ussr and jackboots and marching in lock step…isnt that what you’re advocating?”
then the bell rang, and i waited for the throng to exit, the rednecks and manly men eyeing me suspiciously as they left.
coach took me aside, said, “you need to watch what you say”…
i was 18….this was 1987.
and i was already being harassed by the hs admin, and the cops…all of which just got worse.
and here we are again…but worse.
and scrolling through the rhetoric on their site, if one squints, one can see me, in there…because i am tenacious in the face of adversity(adversity none of those wankers have ever known), and i have built things, in spite of disability and poverty….using inspiration and innovation and way outside the boxism.
but i dont fit their narrow vision of worth, of course…because i remain poor.
and i dont get bailouts when i screw things up.
i predict that this thing, if ever built, will be built with construction drones, and will lack the sort of forethought regarding things like structural integrity that would come with a mere whiff of regulatory requirements…and that sooner rather than later, the edifice will topple into the bay, and become a reef substrate.
these dudes think that they’re howard roark, but are short sighted and vain.
they will fall…but cause a lot more damage on their way down.
I have to admit upfront that my dad and I had been mostly estranged for a couple decades, but during the 2016 election we had a few brief periods of chatting, mostly via text. In one exchange he was upset with me for being a Bernie supporter and told me there was no way I could be a supporter of a socialist. I retorted that I was Left of Bernie. That was the end of those chats for quite some time.
“New DNA Evidence Reveals What Really Killed Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812”
An interesting theory but it relies on evidence from bodies recovered from only one grave in Lithuania that was discovered only a few years ago. You would need more such evidence from other graves from different regions to show that this was happening everywhere or if it only happened in that part of Lithuania. Napoleon wasted massive amounts of men and he would have sorely needed them only three years later at Waterloo. With them he would have won. There is a famous map showing the amount of attrition that Napoleon suffered-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Minard_Update.png
The red, from left to right, is his invasion force as it proceeds into Russia. The black, starting from Moscow, shows his forces constantly shrinking as he fights his way out of Russia and really tells the story.
It’s not like Lithuanians are eager to credit Napoleon’s defeat to anyone but Russians. :)
Science stories in the popular press are getting to be just as fake as “news” stories now. Exaggerating possibilities into certainties and small statistical associations into open-and-shut causal verdicts. Seeing “reveals” in a headline is one of those keywords that immediately makes me suspect the contents of the article—along with “we finally know”, “linked to”, “opens up about”, “model predicts”, “what you need to know”, and, of course, anything supposedly scientific that talks about data from “AI”. And the words “object” and “structure” in astrophysics and geophysics article headlines seem designed to tease the reader with hints of the involvement of some sort of intelligence in a (dumb) natural phenomenon.
“what you need to know” is the worst, and NY Times readers are constantly bashed over the head with it, and probably like it.
I’ll be the judge of what I need to know, thanks!
What’s more puzzling; if what’s behind the link isn’t what I need to know, why did you publish it in the first place? It also states the obvious, making it doubly insulting.
Your paragraph is a very handy checklist for consuming today’s media.
Let’s toss in my favorite word, “innovate”.
And the evidence is analysis of 13 teeth, of which only four contained the paratyphoid and relapsing fever pathogens. So, yes, not exactly what you’d use to rewrite history.
> Currently there’s very little sign of that and if anything it’s likely we’re going to see temperatures rise again.
Red flag. Unless they mean ‘temperatures rise again by next summer.’ Arctic air temps did push record mid-October, but dropped to recent norms. Which are still very high.
Their response in comments to an objection about ‘rise again’ used an anomaly chart. That’s a rhetorical misrepresentation.
For solid and important work, look at the Eos ‘New Satellite Data’ link. CERES lets us tune into energy flux as master variable, from a globally consistent data set.
Sports Desk entry….yeah that ship has truly sailed and circumnavigation of the world’s oceans is continuing to lap the fullness of the earth. The only thing sacred that might remain is the regional interest and natural rivalries. Thinking here obviously, for myself, college sports rivalry that features a dividing line or border, and in certain states a mere 15 miles or 30 miles of separation in mileage. I doubt the sports betting conundrum is getting resolved overnight.
That ship began sailing by the way, on yet a new seabound itinerary, once college football and college basketball head coaches became one of if not the highest compensated positions on a public payroll. Tough times in the state budget, or recession? Coaching for wins and eyeballs is what matters.
Added…take a check how college football coaches this season are being fired. Each week a new top level program is wiping the slate clean..Penn State, Florida and now it’s LSU.
While fully cognizant that NFL players tend to come from the collegiate ranks (i’m hearing a lot more ‘Kinfork high school’ and such in player introductions early in the games) i’m not the least bit interested in college football, except for the 2.5% of total players per annum that make it to the really big show.
Ha! And I am a polar opposite. I haven’t watched NFL since Da Bears were doing the Super Bowl Shuffle. For me, their product cannot match the overall excitement of geek involvement (huge bands), battling fanbase rivalries built over generations, and the vagaries of inconsistent levels of college talent which supply much less predictable outcomes. All I have to swallow is the myth of the student athlete, and the results of brain damage from repeated concussions (shrugs). There are so many more teams from Texas and Florida to hate on at the collegiate level than in the NFL! ROLL TIDE!!
The college ranks found a welcoming place for the proverbial NFL coaching goat, and thus far Chapel Bill is not exactly setting the Tar Heels alight with wild success on the field. But….the NIL era almost makes it seem a reasonable approach, just to make a lot of noise with the hire.
College towns are like a tiny little place in one of those old school globes you used to get as a gift…Shaken to make it seem very magical as opposed to dreary…( sarc ) and almost anything is possible if a young striving student can stomach the student debt.
“Coaching for wins and eyeballs is what matters.”
Some of the old school concerns may be at play. On the other hand, the current gambling situation could be wielding influence in ways yet to be revealed.
I do appreciate Brian Berletic calling BS on stuff. Sure, he takes away hope and that’s sucks but still it is more important to get through to the real state of affairs.
Indeed. Expected he would be right long. They’ve previously had papers about different approaches in conflict. Point being, see that info and know that conflict continued and escalated.
I favor tl/dr with RAND papers. Brian’s commentors took care of that.
Tilting with China funds extensions of the 1900 Plan Orange, that is “how to break down doors/islands/lagoon ports and get back to running China. It was executed in 1942 to 1945. Mainly a naval show, with some army and air corps playing!
That is the problem. China has most of the advantages in the theater. US need massive ship building and hugely better missile and anti submarine defenses!
Imagine if Japan in 1944 could knock out ships 1500 km from shore….. China can operate its aircraft carriers under cover of shore based ballistic systems!
Managed conflict is an expensive joke!
Which is RAND mission “justify” sending.
I’m not sure whether it’s Bertrand or Berletic who understands this issue the least. On the other hand, Bertrand does know about China, whereas Berletic has to preserve his business model above all.
RAND papers (and similar papers for all governments) are normally written to order, or at least suggestion, under a generic contract of some kind. (I’ve done this kind of thing myself.) So there will be be a budget to cover China generically, and a faction within Washington will have suggested a paper that adopts a more “realistic” approach, in an attempt to counter some of the hawkish nonsense coming from elsewhere. Such papers are not dictated to order, nor are they entirely dreamt up by the authors. There’s usually a fair amount of discreet discussion with interested parties, to try to make sure the what is delivered will be within the grounds of accepted discourse.
So the significance is less the paper itself than the fact that the political climate in Washington is now ready receive such ideas, and it will be worth looking to see if anything similar comes out. Of course, some more militant faction will no doubt commission an opposite paper from someone else, but that’s politics. Once you abandon the fantasy of Washington as a single all-powerful edifice with ambitious long-term plans and infinite resources to implement them (now where did I hear that?) and realise that it’s a collection of children squabbling for control of the ball, some things become clearer.
And I love it whenever Aurelien comes in and set things straight. Thank you!
But would you say that Berletic is all business model and no content? It seems to me (based on reading mostly here at NC) that the “continuity of agenda” he speaks about does correspond to a reality where the US use local dissent to screw over countries in different ways.
I do get the children squabbling over which country to bomb first and the most, some want to bomb Russia first, others Venezuela firts, yet others China first (but they all want to bomb), but we also have Putin’s assessment that very little, if anything, changes between the presidents. He is at the receiving end of a continuity of agenda, isn’t he?
“Of course, some more militant faction will no doubt commission an opposite paper from someone else, but that’s politics.
Another way of saying who thinks the state of things can be called “peace” and who thinks it is “war”.
Remember that this is a group, in general, who took the “cease” out of “cease fire”.
Yeah thanks here too!
Part of a RAND business model may as well be that if a think tank is publicly mentioned it´s them. And then for a long time no other. That’s quite an achievement contributed to not insignificantly by the Ellsberg-legend, which was not his fault of course but due to how he was perceived by the Left in the aftermath.
p.s. As just per Ukraine/Russia: At the same time as there was the infamous”extending RU”-RAND study quoted by Berletic so often and by others too, justifiably so, there was a soft “dove”-study too with participation of German SPD-think tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
I am not sure anybody ever mentioned that one since. Even though it too represented RAND.
Of course the desired geopolitical outcome in both cases was the same. But both different approaches are worth to be quoted at least to understand Washington better.
p.p.s. apart from the fact that – allow me to quote Andrei Martyanov´s polemics – RAND are idiots. I do think there is some truth to this. I have not the insight but I wouldn’t be surprised if smarter people and better studies were affiliated with other institutes, less influential however.
I was just remembering…
Things also become clearer when it’s realized the USA can’t operate its foreign policy without the help of willing partners of privilege in so many other countries.
“Hungary’s new energy plan quietly redefines Russia as a risk”
Well, them and Ukrainian sabotage teams blowing up their oil infrastructure and the EU giving them cover while they demand Hungary stop receiving any Russian oil which would push them into a severe recession. Add to the mix Trump throwing Hungary under the bus by cancelling that summit and lining up with those countries that last year backed Kamala and criticized Trump heavily.
“Because of the country’s regional role in oil product distribution, managing the risks stemming from import dependence and diversifying oil supply – thereby reducing exposure to the dominant supplier, currently the Russian partner – is not only in Hungary’s interest, but in the region’s as well.”
– isn’t this just common sense, to diversify supply? It is not a threat to Russia.
Such a sentence could easily appear in an EU energy strategy paper
– no it couldn’t, because the EU let the US blow up NordStream in an effort to either concentrate or halt energy supply. As far as I understand, the EU is doing everything it can to undiversify its supply of energy.
Russian energy would remain – but as a risk
– no, energy would remain as energy. Energy takes different forms of energy but never the form of risk. I vaguely remember a dude called Newton and some fundamental principles of the universe and energy and thermodynamics.
While the European Union is preparing to phase out all Russian oil and gas imports by 2028, the Hungarian ministry’s draft proposes a more gradual timeline. By 2030, the goal is to reduce Hungary’s import dependence to 80 per cent for natural gas and 85 per cent for oil – not a full withdrawal, but a partial and progressive decoupling.
– hmmm, yes, getting 80-85% of your energy is not a full withdrawal. If a withdrawal at all.
Who writes these embarrassing pieces?
Is there any organization to which facts can turn for safety and treatment after having being abused?
“…re-imagine its surface fleet around larger, longer-range, missile-heavy ships…”
Brilliant. We know in all but experience (yet) that the most lethal hypersonic missiles can take out an aircraft carrier. So lets make our people floating targets even bigger… ummm… easier to hit.
There’s zero self awareness among US elites.
I see a lot of consternation over Mamdani becoming the socialist mayor of the world capital of capitalism. But I don’t see them ask why the people would even want Mamdani.
It’s an extremely expensive city, it’s dirty, high crime, why wouldn’t the people say no to establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo?
I saw a video showing Mandami speaking with street food vendors about their costs. Revealed that it was effectively impossible for them to obtain permits because of stalled, lengthy waiting lists, so they paid a premium to rent a permit from holders that weren’t using them. Asked what impact would be of expedited permitting, they told him it would allow them to lower prices significantly.
Re: Real Estate Is Entering Its AI Slop Era :
Realtors in NYC have been doctoring listing photos for many years (sometimes just adding a little fire in the fireplace, sometimes fully wiping out the current owner’s decor) and as the tools have improved, the photos have steadily moved farther and farther from the reality of the actual property. I’m seeing the tools used to hide or minimize architectural problems, show modern faux wood floors rather than the actual wood parquet that’s there (typical in ’50s-’70s era buildings, and of varying quality but often better than the junk printed strip floors being put down now), and creating views where none exist. Exceedingly few brokers will show the ‘before’ and ‘after’ versions, or note that the photo has been altered. As a potential buyer, it increases the amount of time I have to spend chasing around town actually looking at properties that I might otherwise have skipped, or missing properties that I would actually like, except that the broker obliterated features because they thought they were less marketable. I suppose playing with the AI tools is more fun and easier than actually finding potential buyers and selling them on the pros and cons of reality.
I came across a before and after image of one particular home. The one on the left was the AI version and it was showing this really beautiful house. On the right, however, was an image of the same house and it looked like it was a screen capture of Google StreetView. You could see that it was the same house but the AI version was an “idealized” version of reality. Looking at properties, it might be worthwhile using Google StreetView to see what is actually there.
Also check the date of the StreetView. Some that I have seen are five or six years old.
Plus, for those of us worried about inundiatory events, check the county GIS maps for the flood zones. Many will show recorded flooding levels.
Billy Joel has one of the characters in his song “Piano Man” have the profession of “real estate novelist.”
When big money is on the line, I find that most American salespeople will lie, cheat, and steal. Our Neo-liberal dispensation is premised upon the primacy of illusion over reality. We have found that going in person to see a property is the only way to make an informed decision. Now, with so called AI, the degree of falsity is magnitudes of dissemblance greater.
I wonder how Saint Luigi the Adjuster is doing.
– ‘How Secret Agents Work to Hijack U.S. Foreign Policy’ – SpyTalk
Well, it’s Michael Issikoff, in Spy Talk, in a review of a book by NY Times reporter Kenneth Vogel, so I assume bias. But at least there seems to be a degree of bipartisan critique in Vogel’s book. Paul Manafort’s service to foreign interests is examined, but also Hunter Biden’s. Pakistan, Ukraine, China are discussed. The book apparently covers the outrageous conflicts of interest by Trump himself regarding relations with … Indonesia. All relevant I’m sure. But on the subject of hijacking US foreign policy there just seems to be a country missing from this review. I wonder if it’s discussed in Vogel’s book?
No sensible person would take investment advice from me, and I’m not offering suggestions, but it seems to me that there will be some or considerable impact from the most recent Wall St bailout in Arghhhh! and TINA.
“China humiliated Germany: no one in China wants to meet with German politicians”
‘It sounds like a joke, but German Foreign Minister Wadephul is canceling his trip to China because “no one wants to meet him.” ‘
So maybe it was not a good idea for Germany to threaten China and demand that they abandon Russia, stop buying Russian oil and get them to make Russia stop this war as if they were a third world nation that needed to be lectured to. Come to think of it, is this so different from Trump’s demands? He is due to meet Xi soon and I bet that he makes the same demands when face to face and I am sure that Xi will listen to him because, you know, Trump has all the cards.
The consequences of becoming a vassal state include being ignored by world powers.
Why should they talk to you when you have no agency? They know who calls the shots.
There is a reason used car salesmen home in on the wife or girlfriend.
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI – Defector
That covered bezzles a plenty.
Funny thing to also ponder: People working now are capable of doing their jobs and so much else without AI or LLMs or whatever they want to call the bezzle. So the bezzlers must dream of people in the workplace that don’t know shit but how to “ask AI”.
They keep making up BS: “training for jobs that don’t exist.”
These idiots are sweating all that garbage, circle jerk financing.
Just goes to show the hellscape that comes from economic ideology that thinks people should serve a “market place”and not realize an economy should serve the broader community.
Can we start interpreting metaphysically or is it too soon? Is this karma, nemesis or what have you? The scientific explanation is all well and good, but who knows if there is something more to it!
“Revealed: The plan for a ‘New Gaza’ – and the four militias Israel is backing to defeat Hamas”
Sounds like Israel is recruiting some of their ISIS buddies to fight Hamas on Israel’s behalf. I’ve read about some of these groups months ago and some of their leaders and they are just terrorists probably left over from the war in Syria and looking for a new gig. Hamas executed a whole bunch of guys in public recently and I bet that they were some of these militias recruited by Israel. I find it adorable that these militias trust Israel not to execute them when they become an inconvenience.
ISIS already got defeated once in Gaza, and seems like they aren’t very welcome there. Furthermore, Qassam et al. managed to actually last two years against not just the “Israeli” army but the combined might of the West supporting it. Seems optimistic to think that inferior forces could do it.
If Donald Trump can run for a 3rd term, so can Obama.
Best…H
I hate them both and want neither as President but it would be satisfying to watch Trump beat Obama
I am but one, and lowly as well, but from my deeply humble point of view, Trump is doing an excellent job of re-organising the American Republic to the benefit of the entire world – apart from Europe whose brilliant political dross have skillfully equipped themselves with the tools to do the job themselves without outside help – and Trump should run for as many terms as possible, alive or dead, and with or without the necessary legal formalities to continue the sacifices the American people are making to help your wonderful President achieve his patriotic vision.
The Conservatives Who Think Trump Isn’t Going Far Enough – Boston Review
“Tech right political blogger and neo-monarchist Curtis Yarvin has suggested that he is contemplating fleeing the country. “Everyone involved with this revolution needs a plan B for 2029,” he wrote recently, because if the Democratic Party recaptures the White House, or even Congress in 2026, it will enact wholesale “vengeance” on Trump supporters..”
The Democratic Party should realize that best way to face melt this type of creep is to go about providing material benefits and fixing the broken parts. But do they?
To the Yarvin’s of the world, they consider it a personal attack to actually help the masses in the here and now.
Absolutely not lol
The Dry Powder MUST be kept for the EXACT RIGHT TIME!
You know what other cases are surging?
Diphtheria, a Once Vanquished Killer of Children, Is Resurgent (NY Times via archive.ph)
found this while roamin around per-links:
https://www.compactmag.com/article/after-the-liberal-international-order/
measured in stead of as radical as i might have been with such a review.
wish i had a book budget.
and a rightleaner mayor dude i follow bc of his ag policy:
on how many righties are asking the wrong question, re: SNAP:
https://x.com/jamesdecker2006/status/1982418727631978533
The bubble continues
Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter (NY Times via archive.ph)
and that sounds like a target
(bold mine)
and, i came across this on twix the other day, and found it interesting…but the plumbing of forex, etc has always been rather murky, to me:
https://weltinnenpolitik.substack.com/p/two-dimensions-of-dedollarization
It’s amazing how much no one cares about The Shutdown ™
Largest federal worker union urges end to government shutdown (CNBC)
Republicans in the Senate can jettison the filibuster for the Good of the Nation ™ and get on with it, but curiously they do not. Perhaps the goal here is actually further attrition, as government workers throw in the towel and seek employment elsewhere to pay pressing bills.
Meanwhile on TACO the S&P is on track for its highest close, ever, on a huge pre-market pop.
Stay ole scam.
The privatization of public goods.
We all know how this ends 😃
In the DMV area we’re starting to see the fallout from the extended shutdown. Federal projects can’t be billed to. New contracts aren’t being issued. Deliverables can’t be worked on. So a lot of contractors and associated people are being laid off. I have no idea what Trump or his administration thinks about that. But it’s going to become a large economic problem for MD, WV, VA, DE, and DC very soon.
The Mark of the Beast? Microneedle transdermal florescent dot patches?
New Gates-Funded Microneedle Patch Implant Installs Both mRNA and Quantum Dot Markings Into the Body
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-gates-funded-microneedle-patch
Who would have guessed that Gates is the Anti-Christ?
He spawned Clippy. I thought it was obvious?
We humans are eating too much meat? Bad for the planet?
This guy has an idea. Find a way to make people allergic to meat. What could go wrong? From Fl. Gov. DeSantis.
“This is an example of why entities like the WEF and WHO are persona non grata in FL.
Genetically engineering humans to become allergic to meat because some elites think people eat “too much” of it is insane.
Let us alone!”
https://x.com/RonDeSantis/status/1979150398767403421
adding: I know someone who developed a red meat allergy after being bitten by an inflected tick. He has to carry epi-pens all the time now, even though he doesn’t order red meat dishes at restaurants. Can’t ever tell what meat substance might be in restaurant foods for example.
From the Mayo Clinic:
“Alpha-gal syndrome – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic
Aug 8, 2025 Overview Alpha-gal syndrome is a type of food allergy. It can happen after a tick bite. The allergy is to red meat and other products that come from mammals. Alpha-gal syndrome can be life-threatening.”
In the “guillotine” section the other day, there were some posts about the expensive alcohol cocktails for the wealthy. I remember thinking: If only that was the kind of thing they could stick to. Conspicuous consumption. More of that and less gathering together with their “bright ideas”.
Re: interstitial lung disease. I have had asthma my entire life. Got covid three years ago – then had worst asthma flare in decades. Went to hospital – first they thought cancer, then tuberculosis, finally diagnosed as sarcoidosis. There isn’t a test. Now, cough for three years, constant trouble breathing. Urgent care/hospital visits. Docs won’t say covid triggered all this. “Unrelated”
I’m sorry to here this. I hope you can find care that helps you feel better.
Take care!
Boots. #2 Ranking on Netflix
LOL!!! Pete Hegseth and his minions are just so dumb. They bashed the show as “woke garbage” and now it’s the #2 show on Netflix.
My kids and I binge watched it over the weekend and it really is a good show, it just happens to be about a gay marine recruit (based on a true experience).
Anyhow, “book banning” has always been a great way to bring attention to something so I’d say bashing the show only helped it rankings.
I’m surprised marketing teams, for whatever shows that are released, are not supporting teams of virulent “haters” to bash said show as a way to generate buzz.
Israel’s Zombie Economy (Part 1): The War Currency w/ Shir Hever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIwObLvj-PA
The Counterrevolution of the Israeli Arms Industry – Bassam Haddad Interviews Shir Hever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ultxKL7PHlk&pp=0gcJCQYKAYcqIYzv
First 2 parts of 5 part series on
Jadaliyya
I have been checking that out. I didn’t know the 2nd part was posted. thx
In the last Daily Beast Michael Wolf show I saw he said that the demolition in the east wing of the White House is standard operating procedure for New York builders. Do not delay by one day the demolition part.
Re: Russia Just Launched the World’s Longest Ranged Missile: Burevestnik Can Fly Around the World Thousands of Times Before Striking
This is an amazing achievement, but let’s hope we can find out much more about how this thing is powered, and what exactly is in the exhaust. Similar propulsion systems have been tested in America:
Project Pluto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
They built and ran a couple of test reactors.
Let’s just say that if SLAM had been built and flown around the world for years, you might not have needed to drop the nukes, the exhaust out of the tailpipe was hot enough to do the job without them.
But I suppose if the game plan is those Burevestniks all fly around for a couple of days while the “Golden Dome” wastes all it’s missiles on dummy warheads, and then levels America back to the stone age, then worrying about tailpipe hot waste becomes a moot point.
(This line of thought is NOT a good way to start my Monday…)
It supposedly has enough power to fly around in orbit for ‘years’ before striking. That removes the launch site vulnerability, although I guess the control system could still be attacked (but that’s much easier to make redundant).
I can’t say I’m thrilled about living in a world with multiple nuclear-armed missiles constantly flying around overhead, awaiting the command to attack, but that seems to be where we are. There’s so much potential for horrible things to happen. If they’re positioned in non-decaying orbits, the risk of Kessler Syndrome goes way up (since they’ll certainly be high priority military targets). If they’re in decaying orbits, we get to find out what uncontrolled descent of a weapon with nuclear payload and propulsion looks like. And how will they secure the control systems? Ground based launch sites can at least be physically secured, hardened and set up with offline failsafes. Imagine what a prize target one of these things would be for a terrorist organization with sophisticated cyberattack capability (like Israel – oops, I mean shadowy evil brown people).
Let’s hope this is just a threat for positioning purposes and they don’t end up sending any into orbit.
Hi@ Chris –
Loitering nuclear munitions.
Yeah, just what the world needed.
@Glen –
No, this wouldn’t be like Project Pluto’s nuclear scramjet. Reports I’ve happened to see claim it’s probably a sodium-cooled reactor, and that would make sense because the Russians have described it as a nuclear- powered cruise missile.
If so, it’s actually a 70 year old technology in essence. Both the Americans and the Russians developed sodium-cooled reactors for their nuclear-powered bomber programs and the US actually flew one as freight aboard a B-36 Convair and powered the USS Seawolf, the second US sub, with another. But they couldn’t put enough shielding on a plane to protect a crew without making it too heavy to fly and, besides, ICBMs had been developed so the program was canceled.
But it would be quite feasible to power an unmanned cruise missile with such a reactor. Though I do wonder if hardening the electronics of the thing’s command and control systems was problematic.
You got things mixed up. Burevestnik is a crise missile. If flies low, and could not go into orbit even if it tried, because the jet engine needs air.
Our economy is healthy
Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts: Reuters, citing sources (CNBC)
This on the heels of what was a head scratching outage to engineers inside a hollowed out AWS organization, where most lack the deep institutional knowledge of yesteryear to quickly identify the culprit of these kinds of prospective outages.
America is going great!
They qualify N95 masks as respirators I guess. I had two in the shop at the outbreak and I wore those out. Now 0.3 um is pretty small so the face fit is the weak link. They were selling for $20 each which was 10X the normal price, during the panic.
The shortage was so bad that the nurses at the local hospital were reusing masks for 5 days, a work week, before replacing them.
Lesser masks protect others from the aerosol from you. At least partially. This was understood by many people. A video in YT showed the effect. The drastic reduction in aerosol size and projection using a surgical mask..
The article is not a condemnation of using masks. It points out limitations that were known.
Thanks Biden, Walensky, Cohen, and The Democrats!
Behind the Dismantling of the C.D.C.: Reform or ‘Humiliation’? (NY Times via archive.ph)
The CDC didn’t exactly distinguish itself doing this ongoing Pandemic, has it? And these “experts” are morons, then, by the way.
lol, yeah, remember that time the CDC finally included an N95 in a COVID poster, and it was a KN-95 upside down on a patient while the doctor is, of course, completely sans respirator. Yeah. Thanks Maskless Mandy!
lol, over a million dead Americans, and no clear guidance that COVID is airborne. Hello!
How much do you want to bet that Daskalakis doesn’t know that COVID is airborne?
The CDC has been borderline useless for over 5 years now in the face of the gravest Pandemic in 100 years. If it ceases to function, I’m not sure on that score anyone is going to even notice, outcome-wise. In other areas, this is going to accelerate resurgence of infectious disease, though. That sucks.
Looks like ya boi down here in New Orleans caught something this week at work in the French Quarter.
I have a very light cough with some congestion. No real runny nose or sore throat which I would get with the old coughs before corona.
I thought I lucked out not getting sick this year.
As long as it doesn’t feel like it’s burning when you take a pee, you’ve obviously not been fully embraced by the New Orleans experience.
Be careful. I caught something that didn’t have me coughing or sneezing or snotting much at all, and then two weeks later chest X-rays told me I had developed pneumonia. Further diagnosis and an aggressive course of antibiotics told me it was viral. Multiple physician administered RAT told me I was flu -, COVID -, and RSV -. So be careful!
ATW
Matt and Walter comparing Animal Farm with AOC and Mamdani?
I guess I get drunk.
Does Walter really believe what he says?
I have my cautious doubts.
USSR fighting with the revenge of mother nature via bad weather and bad crops harvest? Is this the latest Gospel On the Rocks?
I tried posting this last night with highlighted excerpts but it got mystery-Skynet-disappeared.
I think it’s important. Contains good detail, including Israeli media now referring to the yellow line as the “new border”. Amounts to an annexation of half of Gaza, including borders and all the bits not rubble.
Developer ready.
Fears Gaza ‘temporary’ ceasefire line could become permanent new border (Guardian)
Yellow markers installed by IDF entrench divide that cuts strip in two, as hopes of moving to next phase of truce fade
That’s a good and extensive Stoller on the problems with our medical system.
Some of us though would say that the price problem started before all the middlemen and had to do with the half a loaf government insurance for seniors and some poor which both allowed providers to be “unmanaged” with traditional medicare and price gougers for those in the private system where they could get back their profits–oh sorry necessary overhead. Stoller is certainly correct that making capitalism the basis for a purely social good is a leap into illogic. Like so much of our current sociopolitical life it boils down to “don’t think of the elephant.”
File under, those darn Gen Z kids! :)