This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 757 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, PayPal, Clover, or Wise. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser, what we’ve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, supporting our expanded daily Links.
Melodic Parrot Hated His Human Until They Started Making Music Together Laughing Squid
Bearded Vulture nests found to have hoards of cultural artifacts—some up to 650 years old Phy.org
Far side of the moon may be colder than the near side EurekAlert
Climate/Environment
Four major Earth system components are losing stability Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires Science
What’s a house in LA really worth? Moving Day
Iran must move its capital from Tehran, says president as water crisis worsens The Guardian
As millions face climate relocation, the nation’s first attempt sparks warnings and regret Floodlight
How Factory Farm Air Pollution Can Spread Dangerous Bacteria Sentient
Pandemics
INTERVIEW | ‘Covid increases heart attack risk, especially among youth’: Dr T K Jayakumar New Indian Express
Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults Neurology
If You Care About COVID, You Should Care About Tylenol Long Covid, MD
Old Blighty
Starmer’s latest DWP plan is to target people with mental health issues The Canary
Two killed and three seriously injured in car and knife attack at Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur Euronews
China?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies ProPublica
U.S. frets over Chinese money in SpaceX; China frets over SpaceX itself. Pekingnology
Huawei to boost AI chip output despite additional US curbs Asia Times
LONG READ: The GEMIs – the Global Emerging Markets’ interlocking institutions Intellinews
South of the Border
Venezuela Denounces U.S. Provocation with F-35 Lightning II Fighter Jets Telesur
Africa
Zimbabwe’s lithium boom uproots locals The Continent
Climate Negotiations in the Age of Warmongering, Militarism and Failed Multilateralism Review of African Political Economy
Death toll rises to 3 in Morocco with more protests expected Al Jazeera
Syraqistan
Israel declares 600,000 in Gaza City ‘military targets,’ cuts off lifeline from south The Cradle
How Hamas Is Navigating Trump’s Gaza Ultimatum Drop Site
Nazi-linked company among suppliers of 500 tonne+ munitions shipment to Israel The Ditch
SECRET CARGO: INSIDE AUSTRALIA’S COVERT F-35 PARTS PIPELINE TO ISRAEL Declassified Australia
Exposing JFK Airport’s hidden arms pipeline to Israel Mondoweiss
USC sold dead bodies to U.S. military to train IDF medical personnel USC Annenberg Media
Tucker Carlson blasts U.S. leaders for letting Israeli military officers “barge into Pentagon meetings” during the June 12-Day War with Iran:
During that short conflict, IDF officers in the Pentagon… enraged American Pentagon staff by just barging into meetings, giving orders,… pic.twitter.com/dwpKVLDDIk
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 2, 2025
European Disunion
Mathew D. Rose – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the German Economy Brave New Europe
Munich drone sightings force airport to cancel flights in latest Europe disruption The Guardian
Europe’s air safety at risk amid cost-cutting and staff pressures, study warns The Guardian
France braces for renewed strikes amid mounting pressure on premier Anadolu Agency
Babiš leads before Czech vote but smaller parties hold keys to government Euractiv
New Not-So-Cold War
Euro-Cabal’s Thirst for Conflict Grows into Insatiable Lust Simplicius
The US is sending Ukraine to hell to distract from what it’s doing in the Middle East at Israel’s behest, as a way to punish Russia for helping the Axis of Resistance and as a way to curb its ability to assist Iran in the coming war. And they get to wrack Europe as a bonus; they… https://t.co/3G2gxh6kW9
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) October 2, 2025
Re-Evaluating The Special Operation In Light Of The Valdai Club’s Startling Insight Andrew Korybko
President Putin Signals Peace to Donald Trump at Valdai Larry Johnson
US TOMAHAWK MISSILE SHIPMENTS TO UKRAINE UNLIKELY, SOURCES SAY Reuters
“Liberation Day”
Inside Pfizer’s Drug-Pricing Deal With the Trump Administration WSJ
China and Brazil are bankrupting American cotton farmers. Bailouts coming. Kevin Walmsley
Trump 2.0
Trump making plans to send billions in cash bailouts to farmers with taxpayer money Politico
Trump causes bipartisan alarm by turning shutdown into DOGE 2.0 Semafor
Trump administration cuts nearly $8B in clean energy projects in states that backed Harris AP
TRUMP DECLARES HE CAN WAGE SECRET WARS AGAINST ANYONE HE CALLS AN ENEMY Nick Turse, The Intercept
Democrats en déshabillé
Newsom Vows to Cut State Funding for Universities That Sign Trump’s ‘Compact’ NOTUS
Weimar Republic
The Battle Over Civil Society Dissent
Our Famously Free Press
‘Unconstitutional, Un-American, and Wrong’: Journalist Mario Guevara to Be Deported to El Salvador Friday Common Dreams
Larry Ellison Vetted Marco Rubio for Fealty to Israel, Hacked Emails Reveal Drop Site. “The billionaire Oracle founder is on track to take control of the American media.”
Faster Than Truth: Quantum-Enhanced AI and the Next Frontier of Information Warfare Propaganda in Focus
Imperial Collapse Watch
The number of countries issuing travel warnings about the U.S. is growing Boing Boing
The Moral Stupefaction of the American Public Boston Review
Pentagon plans widespread random polygraphs, NDAs to stanch leaks WaPo
Accelerationists
From the Cesspool to the Mainstream New York Review
We Are Not Peasants Notes from the Circus
AI
Sora 2 Is Creating Ads for “Epstein Island” Children’s Toys Futurism
The 100 GW Mirage Warwick Powell
Antitrust
What’s Wrong With Las Vegas? New York Times. Commentary:
Another day, another story in the mainstream business press about prices in a market magically rising for reasons completely unrelated to unfair practices by the sellers–in the case, hotels using a **common** pricing algorithm to set rates in Vegas. Here the purported reason is… pic.twitter.com/ajQOpGBgCM
— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) October 1, 2025
Sports Desk
Immigration
Texas halts commercial drivers licenses for many immigrants Texas Tribune
Supply Chain
The longer the shutdown lasts, the greater the risk of cargo backups at Texas ports Houston Public Media
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“President Putin Signals Peace to Donald Trump at Valdai”
Putin keeps on offering off-ramps to Trump so that he can get out of the Ukraine and Trump still sticks with the Ukraine so that he can achieve an American victory out of this war. Yeah, I don’t think that that’s going to happen but Trump has chained himself with the fate of the Ukraine. He chose poorly.
Just got my ‘puter back from the repair shop to go online, only to find everybody wanting to go to war with everybody else. This timeline is going nutso.
I have to use my computer for work and spend quite a lot of time with news outlets for data collection, but here in Europe (as Simplicius has documented) the calls for war a deafening. I find that very distressing, especially now since Finland and Sweden are in NATO. These countries had good skills in dealing with Russia and being between East and West, but they too joined the war choir. Of course these countries too have their own historical reasons – Sweden for losing Finland to Russia, and Finland for the Winter and Continuation Wars.
I also do read news items, where *real* military experts can still state what would be the folly of shooting down Russian planes. One can only hope the politicians do listen to the military. After Czechia the next major election is the Netherlands, where it is as yet unclear what will happen. Maybe changes in government give the governments an off-ramp here too.
The US might now be a fading nation domestically and militarily.
But when it was at its height, the US schemed to take over the world in every sphere. And now the effort and the money that the US put into this is paying dividends all over the world. The influence infrastructure that the US built over decades is propping up the fading giant.
Instant demonstrations by young people when a government isnt toeing the US line. Bought off “leaders” putting the needs of the US machine first, over the needs of their own citizens. US control of the mainstream media everywhere.
It built and controls an Internet communications infrastructure that infiltrates into almost every country in the world, and can be used to foment unrest at any time to protect US interests
It bought off the print and tv media years ago, and made sure the ‘right’ people were put in charge
It bought off quisling ‘elites’ and put them into every post in the world that it could.
It spent billions on media in other countries to sway opinion to be anti-Russian.
It bankrolled jihadist groups to turn middle east nations into hellholes.
It made american movies the norm all over the world, and had deep state operatives on sets to make sure the message was positive for US propaganda
And so now we have what looks like crazed European leaders slavering for war while their citizens are losing their jobs and pensions. We have Gaza, and the world’s media toning down any criticism of Israel. We have ‘spontaneous’ demonstrations by young people in Nepal and Georgia and Indonesia against governments getting too friendly with China etc etc
For students of politics and business, all this shows the importance of strategic planning, long term goals, patience, unlimited resources for implementation, building a propaganda machine over decades, and finding and finessing the right people, willing to put their own interests above those of their country.
The US ain’t done yet, not by a country mile.
Tomahawks for Zelenski!
Even the plucky Kievans need something to shoot them from!
The ground launched version of US Army tomahawks is Typhon. There are two small batteries, Last year one deployed to the Philippines. Another battery may be “on order”.
The only designed ground launched is Typhon, a modified 40 foot container with a US Navy launch tube same as in Aegis (sea and Aegis ashore) systems.
Plucky techies in Kiev may cobble together a ramp launcher, with all the help they could find in UK and US. Those would be fixed and targets!
US guidance support is not more than US has been giving since Feb 2022!
In Readovka, Russian journal often cited by Mercouris and indeed an excellent source, a Russian expert argues about the delivery of Barracuda and Tomahawk missiles as very unlikely and their mentioning possibly had to do with management of internal pressures in the US but with little chances to go ahead. The escalation ladder is now going in a horizontal plane. He also says that this is mentioned because there are some of these available and cheaper than PATRIOT systems. May be the Europeans could afford…
Indeed you already wrote there are too few in store for any adventures, days ago.
I have come to the conclusion that on military/strategic affairs, western decision-makers are just stupid and ignorant, and think that weapons are a kind of Harry Potter magic. “Missile that has the range to hit Moscow” equals “weapon that will win the war.” No more need be said.
They ignore logistics…. as well.
western MBA, JD-ism (see Robert McNamara) is one of the foundational mistake of the western ruling class….
everything is a widget that can be managed using universal MBA, JD-heuristics—whether selling soda, waging war, or running Disney World.
and someone w/the universal credential trumps a “in-house hire” w/specific sector knowledge.
An MBA, JD (or other advanced degree) is not worthless, but it is not sufficient either—particularly if the degree holder is an uncurious intellectual dolt
Was it here I read about the dinner between the (victorious) Vietnamese and McNamara? It was a tense affair, and the Vietnamese asked McNamara why the US was so determined to fight in Vietnam. McNamara replied with the conventional domino theory, and concern about China expanding to Vietnam. “But we’ve spent 1,000 years resisting China!” replied the Vietnamese.
“Americans are a primitive people disguised by the latest inventions.” – George Santayana
Most MBAs, JDs, MDs, and even PhDs are just meal tickets, part of the credentials required to get one’s feet through the door. Curiosity and unorthodox thinking are not required and in fact actively discouraged. As for MBAs, JDs, and MDs, well, they are “professional degrees,” basically glorified licenses/certificates, so nothing there. But, even for PhDs, there’s the fact that a PhD without a job is worth nothing and, even if you are in research work, the prospect of your publication depends on how well ypu speak to the “conventions of your discipline” (or you are very very good and the editor cares and can see that you are–most reviewers won’t catch that.) It’s rare that the latter happens. So most publications repeat the conventional wisdom with ever so slight deviation. (Feynman has a famous empirical illustration of this on how the misestimation of an electron’s charge evolved over time since Milikan’s original (and wrong) publication. In many disciplines, especially in soc sci, just getting slightly different estimate from a famous publication for the same “problem” will not get you published, incidentally. So you get some fashionable theory of legislative vote developed in context X applied to data from Y, in infinite guises.)
Today i was thinking that your “epic sulking” of European leaders is now in full display in Copenhagen.
Andrei Martyanov with Nima
(on military affairs always good for a knowing take especially considering the absolute cluelessness and/or dishonesty of Western outlets, commentators, lobbyists who are spreading their incredible BS 24/7)
55 min.
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/10/nima-and-yours-truly.html
The mighty Kea in the antidote is definitely in the Mensa set of 2 legs good-the worlds only alpine parrot.
They’re whip smart and cheeky as all get up. My favorite encounter was at the top of Avalanche Peak in Arthur’s Pass NP, where they are lying in wait with one giving you a perfect photo op, while a few others attempt to get at your daypack contents, hmmmmm what did you bring us?
https://www.summitpost.org/kea-on-avalanche-peak/187727
I thought it might have been a Himalayan Green Parrot, distant cousin to the funerial Norwegian Blue variety.
Keas hang around Homer Tunnel on the road to Milford Sound to take advantage of the tourist traffic stopped at the traffic lights at either end of the one-way tunnel. They even move the traffic cones around.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FuA5tO_c7s4
“Sora 2 Is Creating Ads for “Epstein Island” Children’s Toys”
Anybody know if this toy set will include the Randy Andy & Slick Willy action figures?
We all know for a fact that this will be an ‘All Ages’ product line.
I’m waiting for, “The Lego Movie: Epstein Island Playdate.”
Can you imagine Hollywood making a film about Epstein Island and all the people involved there? No, neither can I.
I can imagine a Bollywood film on that subject. The dance numbers will be fabulous.
Stay safe, in Hindi!
Well, lucky for your Rev, The Onion went ahead and did it.
https://www.avclub.com/the-onion-jeffrey-epstein-bad-pedophile-trailer-release
“There goes Jeffrey Epstein in the white Bronco, speeding toward pedophile island!”
Oops!
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4501654-mortgage-rates-rises-to-634-in-last-week
“Mortgage rates increased again this week but remains below its 52-week average of 6.71%, according to the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey.”
The Fed has scored an “own goal.”
What’s a house in LA really worth? Moving Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was a newly minted adult in the City of Angles, a circa 1971 3/2 SFH was fetching $100k in 1980 in a non gang area of LA, which was most of it.
Now that same tired 54 year old domicile is worth a million bucks.
Yeah I know that they aren’t making 4,800 sq ft lots anymore, and thus hallowed suburban ground, and salable in its own right-as per the various yard sales in Pacific Palisades & Altadena.
I can’t think of any common used consumer item that has gone up in value 10x in 45 years, yeah if you bought the right sporty car-but i’m talking more akin to a Toyota. something everybody has. Nobody’s really all that hot for your 1980 Corolla, even if it has the original headliner.
The current nationwide housing bubble has the feel of the early 1990’s SoCal bust, there were no liars loans or shenanagains-all prudent lending, but everything was overpriced and down goes Frazier!
Well, it hasn’t increased 10x. Inflation accounts for $800,000 of the $1 million.
Gas was 29.9 in 1971. A Honda Civic was $2000. Bread was 39 cents a loaf, if I recall correctly. College tuition was about $2,400 (at least my tuition was). 10X in 54 years is about 5% a year, not that much more than inflation over that time, as GF points out. Lots of stuff has gone up that much or more; I don’t have numbers for legal services, or plumbing or electrician, but they feel like they’ve gone up more. And pet care definitely has.
>>>>What’s Wrong With Las Vegas? New
Vegas is a death by 1000 cuts….the two biggest ones are:
middle class real income stagnation affect the LV core audience (50th to 75th percentile folks who provided the volume to churn/burn the rooms year-round) and
Vegas adopting the Disney World MBA model of pricing (beyond collusion)….jack up everything so that a 60th percentile family can’t afford it—feature not a bug.
My sister-in-law’s family saw the Eagles at the Sphere—they spent $50 per whiskey sour double, pre-tip lmao.
I’m afraid I do not understand that pricing model that they indulged in. Jack up prices so that average American can no longer afford to visit a city in the middle of the desert but only wealthy people can. Bonus points as those wealthy people are not having their elbows jostled by the lowly masses as they are no longer there. But gasp, nobody is going there anymore. Is it too late to take away control from those MBAs running the place and giving it back to the mob? They seemed to have had more success running the joint.
US Rockies ski resorts are the same.
Fixed capacity, essentially make it a Dutch auction.
Disney and Vail resorts can get away with it…especially given the adult Disney fanbase who are price insensitive (yes, that’s a thing)
For Vegas, too many alternatives for that sweet surburban couple from Ohio who just want 4 days of sun and exploring “the big city” while blowing $300 at slots/tables.
There are hotel/casinos that were once very popular they are now almost deserted too-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rrNcUuK_O0 (25:49 mins)
It was so weird watching the whole video.
The Dartful Codgers are all on Ikon/Epic passes, and we ski around 25 days a year, so its perfect for us, but the walk-up skier, wow.
I pointed out the $329 a day sign Deer Valley was charging for a lift pass earlier in the year when we were on skid row there, and there was a group guffaw. The first foray into over 3 bills for all of us.
Last time we drove the Las Vegas strip at night about a decade ago, I was under the influence of what should be termed a controlled substance-with a couple creams and a sugar added.
I felt like a pinball as we crept slowly thanks to the everlasting gobstopper of a backup that epitomizes the place, why are 28 people waiting outside of a Denny’s for a meal?
You’d never do that at home.
Back to being a pinball, so much in the way of lights, camera, action! going on, your mind is racing in stop and go traffic. bumper to bumper, side by side. Jesus H Christ, that last neon thunderbolt was a little too close for my liking. how do I get back on Interstate 15?
On Interstate 15, by Wall of Voodoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUSGlb72YVw&list=RDwUSGlb72YVw
In regards to Pavlovegas, its a creepy place that specializes in lawsuits for locals, not only plastered on billboards far and near, but slathered on tv commercials as well. Feeding off oneself is not a good look.
Tix from $325 to see the Eagles tonight at the Sphere. btw.
Wonder what a double Tequila Sunrise runs?
“Wonder what a double Tequila Sunrise runs?”
I hear that they are much cheaper at the Hotel California of all places.
I guess the pink champagne is already gone.
On ICE?
remarkably, i just checked (had to look on reddit, as the sphere’s official site doesn’t post pricing 🙃)
$40 for a double g&t. fools, money, parted. and an obligatory “Jesus, man, could you change the channel?”
What will Vegas do when the last of the aging boomer bands die off?
The Who, now in their 80’s for all two of the surviving members, just played their ‘final’ gig. I still remember seeing them at their “farewell tour” back in 1982. At least they still had John Entwistle! I figure he had the grace to go out before he hit old age, maybe “hope I die before I get old” meant something.
Aerosmith had to hang it up because of Steven Tyler’s vocal chord issues.
I don’t see the 90’s/2000’s era bands drawing the same crowds. Blink 182 or Maroon 5 playing “residencies” in Vegas in the year 2035? The nostalgia factor just isn’t the same. And, will millenials spend like aging boomers?
Then again, I am usually wrong about such things.
I flew to Austin from upstate New York to see the Misfits (with Glen Danzig). $200.00 tickets plus airfare plus a room at the Driskill. But I also chowed down on Texas style pit barbeque like it was going out of style.
But no, I won’t be doing that for Blink 182 or the Offspring (both of whom I saw in Austin when I was in college before they got big). Or maybe I will if they are serving brisket and ribs. Vegas doesn’t have its own style of barbeque yet, so not interested..
At least in Texas, the BBQ is good, and hopefully, reasonably priced. I plan on never setting foot in Vegas during my lifetime, if I can help it.
Taylor Swift will probably be able to do a very successful residency, but she should have enough money that she won’t need to.
Wayne Newton is waiting them all out, sell-outs at the Sphere and a decade long residency there to keep on keeping on.
What happens in Vegas-stays in Vegas!
No interest in visiting Las Vegas. They don’t need to sell me on that even more!
Perhaps we can sell you on a quaint Native American tribe’s efforts instead….
From a humble beginning where they traded perhaps the most valuable land in the country for Mardi Gras throws, imagine what they would have practically given away for a slot machine or craps table?
YouTube is asking me to sign in to watch videos when it did not before, citing bots. Is anyone else having this issue?
Not here in South Mississippi.
They appear to be blocking residential ip address ranges. I’m privacy-concious, and have cookies set to clear on browser exit, so I was similarly confused, as I never log into that borg cube. Switching to a brazil vpn, I was once again able to watch videos without issue. After a few weeks it cleared up. I am not doing anything like mass-downloading or anything, so I doubt my ip was flagged for a purpose. Maybe they are experimenting with a-b testing to see how many people they can nudge into remaining signed in?
Yes. Happens to me a lot. Really annoying.
Re Manchester England synagogue killings. It now transpires that the police shot dead one of the victims, and hospitalised others with gunshot wounds. The alleged perpetrator was armed only with a knife.
Jean Charles de Menezes still remains unavailable for comment on the subject of out of control British police-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes
The fact that these sad deaths have been seized upon by both high profile Jewish individuals – journalists, actors etc., – Jewish organisations, and uniparty politicians, to demand pro Gaza and pro Palestine voices and demonstrations be shut down and prohibited, does raise other questions. Many police forces in Britain have been trained by IDF actors etc. An incredible coincidence, or highly convenient incident. As the alleged perpetrator was only armed with a knife, one has to wonder why he was killed. The police statement also has conflicting information regarding where the perpetrator and victims were supposedly positioned. A lot of what has been reported does not add up.
I wouldn’t rush to stitch this up as a whole-cloth conspiracy. The police being confused on “positioning” dovetails with them shooting up innocents. Prominent pro-z’ist voices are going to do what they do, regardless. Why the affair turned into a shootout and why innocent people were shot by the police seems like plenty to be outraged about.
The truth of the matter is that even pleasant, bucolic English villages can be the scenes for police shootouts-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ3oHyUDNDI (9:46 mins)
The psychology of perception and decision-making is your friend here. Such cases have been extensively studied, both in the laboratory and in analysis of real life incidents. If I send you with limited knowledge into a confused situation, and I tell you that somebody has a gun, you will see that gun. Indeed, even confronted with contrary evidence later, you will still insist there was a gun. The eye-witnesses in the Menezes case were convinced that he was carrying a bomb, and one of them gave several statements to the media claiming that he’d seen wires poking from the backpack, where there were none. But given that 95% of our decision-making is unconscious anyway, it’s hardly surprising that we see what we expect to see.
Real example of “Inception” not some Nolan type sci-fi, eh?!
That’s why police and other law enforcement are supposed to have special training.
They are armed and will be expected to encounter confused situations.
There was confusion yes, but it was still a murder. They pinned him down and pumped his head full of bullets. Then they got rid of the footage from that carriage so that nobody could see what happened. Somebody higher ordered him killed and that is exactly what those specialized police did. Then for days afterwards they spread bs stories like he was running and jumped the barrier to get to the train just to muddy the waters up. That Cressida Dick has a lot to answer for.
I’m lucky enough never to have been in a situation where I have about until the end of this sentence to decide whether to use lethal force on someone I have been told is a dangerous terrorist with a bomb. Maybe others have. It’s the kind of situation that arises more and more frequently these days, and as I say has been studied a lot. Anyone here would almost certainly have done the same, because that”s how human beings behave.
I’m interested to know the source of your suggestion that it was a deliberate killing (which of course would have been a crime.) I’ve spoken to a number of Met officers over the years who were fiercely critical of the management of the whole episode, but no-one ever told me that, even as a rumour. Can you give us an idea of your source, obviously preserving confidentiality?
For what it’s worth, firearms trained officers in most countries don’t undergo tactical training, and the Met certainly didn’t in those days. They are largely taught to handle weapons correctly and shoot straight. It would be politically difficult to do that kind of training anyway, and lead to accusations of the militarisation of the police and other things. Likewise, the military I knew were always very dismissive of police firearms training, and thought that they would panic and react unpredictably if confronted with a real situation.
Confronted by reality … lmmao …
“because that”s how human beings behave” – bawhahahaha~~~~
People on a hill over looking the sacking of a city back in the day and then oops …
The use of armed rapid response teams by police forces that don’t habitually carry weapons seems to have made things worse to some degree. When called in they are in high alert – primed to shoot rather than do anything else. But they often lack the deeper training that well trained soldiers have.
We don’t have the details yet, but the Manchester incident won’t have been the first when a bad situation may (arguably) have been made worse by armed reaction teams spraying bullets around as if they were in a Bad Boys movie. I’m no fan of an armed police force (I’m happy to live in a country where the police don’t carry guns), but there is an argument I think that habitual armed police may be less dangerous than having these small testosterone fuelled rapid reaction teams.
Sadly, there is no easy answer to dealing with random acts like this, whether you want to call it terrorism or lone wolf acts by the mentally disturbed.
As for the Menenzes killing, that was clearly a systems failure from top to bottom by the Met, made worse by their habitual cover up. The guys who fired the shots were the least of the problem. That said, one would expect them to have at least had some ability to properly assess whether he really was a threat.
Where I live all policemen carry a pistol – and they have to pass a weapon handling test twice a year.
The leading principle is that using lethal force is the very last resort and all policemen are trained to draw quickly, so that they can enter any situation weapon holstered, hands bare and visible with the confidence that if it turns violent, they have the correct reactions. But until then, they’re supposed to use words to peacefully resolve situations.
Also, if police officers actually wound or kill a citizen, the prosecutors will automatically investigate the whole chain of command and events starting from the legality of the dispatch all the way down to the paramedics taking over the situation.
According to the statistics, police here uses firearms once every 35,000 dispatches and kills or maims a citizen every 1,500,000 dispatch. Unfortunately the trend is upwards, mostly due to (neoliberal) policies causing more untreated mental illnesses and rising popularity of α-PVP.
It’s all down to good training of course – although there can be a contradiction between ‘safe’ training and training to rapidly take down a threat.
In my country we have a proudly unarmed force, although it is becoming more militarised in reality, as they’ve started wearing protective jackets and so on – it’s been a slow creeping change. There are armed units constantly on call – easily spotted by the Audi SUV’s they drive. In years past, the army was used for situations where guns may be needed, and it worked well – I can’t recall a situation where shots were fired inappropriately. But soldiers tend to have a more level headed attitude to guns in my experience. A lot comes to selection – the young guy who volunteers to be in the armed unit is probably precisely the young policeman who shouldn’t be let near a gun.
Hannibal Doctrine?!
There may be a good reason why interrogation might be considered inappropriate given the sensitivities of Manchester’s Jewish community.
Or, then again, he might have shot them with the new Trump issue wonder weapon knife he brought home with him from his recent holiday in sunny Odessa and it was therefore highly appropriate for the police to take him out so he couldn’t be cross-examined in court about the black market in US wonder weapons in the Ukraine.
There is much to ponder before any of us reach any conclusion including the one that his behaviour totally justifies the ongoing genocide in Palestine and that the perpetrator was the victim of a mercy killing by a very kind police officer who wanted to ensure that he did not come to a miserable end being put to death by the congegration after being forced to carry his cross around Crumpsall in bare feet for a couple or three, maybe even four hours.
– ‘The Battle Over Civil Society’ – Dissent
Aarrggh! Once again we have prominent scholars on the “left” in a prominent “leftist” publication analyzing “fascist” tendencies in the US, and they focus *completely* on Trump and the MAGA movement. There is *no* acknowledgement at all – NONE – of any such tendencies in the pre-Trumpian National Security Establishment, its media lackeys, CIA Democrats, foreign policy over the previous 30 years, or manipulative NGOs like Soros’ Open Society Foundations that these authors actually hold up as democratic “civil society” institutions in opposition to “authoritarian regimes” like those of Putin or Orban. Yes the dangers of Trump are real. But goddamn it, for the millionth time, what created Trump? Why were Democrats unable to “defend the status quo” among the electorate? What the f**k WAS that status quo? It certainly was not at all the situation faced by Italy or Germany after the devastation of WWI, especially when our current trajectory started back in the 1970s.
Also applicable to these supposed scholars of history who keep referencing fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, there is an important element of “civil society” here that “leftists” usually ignore in their analyses of Trumpian fascism. That is the strong tradition of libertarianism in the US. As most readers of NC, myself included, would emphasize, this has often – usually – been used as a legitimating ideology for unfettered capitalism. But this suspicion of “big government” can also foster resistance among right-wing populists to the type of national security measures threatened by the Trump administration. And the only real opposition to our increasingly disastrous – and bipartisan – foreign policies among those with any modicum of political influence has been from libertarian conservatives. Current controversies on the political Right, even among MAGA folks, reflect these tensions.
Apologies for the rant, which I know is mainly preaching to the choir. But I am so tired of this type of myopic analysis among “leftist” academics which contributes more to obfuscation than a constructive understanding of our pitiful political condition today.
Curiously enough I was reading a ‘scholarly’ book last night about Germany from 1919 to 1939 and it listed “types of fascism.” One of those was “oligarchic capitalism.”
Would you disclose which book? This is one of the historical periods I am most interested in.
I have been reading two books on this subject recently.
First: “The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939” by Edward Hallett Carr, Harper Torchbooks reprint of a 1939 edition.
Second: “The German Dictatorship” by Karl Dietrich Bracher, Praeger english language printing of a 1969 german language edition.
Stay safe.
In between books, watch Cabaret. lol
For the whole of my lifetime (and arguably since the 1930s) leftist academics have seen themselves as “fighting fascism,” as opposed to poverty, unemployment and other trivia. This both de-legitimises any criticism of their actions (“you’re a fascist yourself”) and gives them an intoxicating sense of acting courageously in shouting down visiting speakers, because they are “fighting.” At any given moment, therefore, whatever they don’t like has to be branded as “fascism.” Thus the never-ending attempt to broaden the scope of the term, which began with leaders like Franco and Pétain, who would have been extremely surprised to be called “fascist,” going through Pinochet and assorted other leaders and regimes they didn’t like either. Since many of them, unfortunately, have authoritarian impulses of their own, a “fascist” becomes “someone who acts in an authoritarian way, but whose policies I don’t support.” (George Orwell famously said almost a century ago that the word had become meaningless, and if possible, it’s become more meaningless now.) As you suggest, fascism was the product of very special conditions at a particular time, and only came to power in two countries, under very special and disreputable circumstances. The trouble is “fighting reactionary right-wing regimes supported by the Church and the Army and also people in our country who in a dim light look a little bit like them” doesn’t have the same ring to it. It doesn’t even alliterate.
Though you cannot say Franco was a fascist in strict terms and he got rid of the “real fascists”, may i call them, he was indeed heavily influenced by contemporaneous fascism. With time, the regime changed but always conserved fascist traits: nationalist, even ultranationalist, authoritarian, militaristic, with forced and violent suppression of opposition, autarky, fascist symbolism etc. But yes, anti-fascism has probably been an excuse to avoid more complex thinkings in many cases, though you provide a good argument for such simplifications. IMO, anti-fascist types in Spain have been less academic, and more rooted in real political suppression. Because Franco.
Yes….”fascist” Trump didn’t invent all this executive powers on Jan 21 2017/2025.
Modern executive power has being ratcheting bigger since 1917. The only aspect of Trump that is new is his willingness to use the power at an unprecedented rate and at targets outside the Overton Window of the Northeast Corridor and Oxbridge.
You might want to read Peter Navarro’s diatribe in today’s NY Times for a partizan rant. The party line finger pointing is worse than tiresome. Suffice to say the old maxim, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We see that if you are allowed to jail your opponent, you will jail your opponent. The democrats when in power attempted this but their power was constrained. Now with not only both houses in the republican majority but the supreme court stacked, thanks to Mitch Macconnal, power is moving in the absolute direction.
The media you are reading is partizan opinion. Facts are constraining, outrage sells. It made Rupert Merdoc wealthy. Fox was a pioneer. The left may be smug about it but the right just rolls in it. Many in the US are encouraging a national divorce, a civil war. I well remember upon moving to a small town and realizing what a microcosmic of the range of human condition it was. All the goodness and evil potential in such a small theater. I was especially amazed when there was a controversy, people were less concerned about the actual circumstances then wanting to chose up sides for the fight.
Reasonable people in totalitarian countries are more aware of the social constraints of corruption and work around it and do their best to appear non-resistant and survive.
The human race has formed governments and empires but we can’t really get past out tribal instincts. Perhaps after we destroy ourselves something better will evolve.
Fascism is a topic I haven’t spent much time on but I did read Wikipedia’s definition:
“Fascism is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy…” – Wikipedia, Fascism\
In comparing the listed points to Trump’s actions I have to say there are some similarities, even though he doesn’t match one-for-one the historic fascist governments.
a. Dictatorial Leader: He continues to assume more powers and expects obedience.
b. Centralized Autocracy: He dances to someone’s direction, probably autocrats.
c. Militarism: He increasingly uses the military to do his bidding outside and inside the country.
d. Forcible Suppression of Opposition: His attacks on media and anyone who disagrees with him.
e. Subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or races: He’s heavy handed for the interests of the Israeli nation and Judaic race.
IMHO this makes him a Fascist.
Yes, Wikipedia is less than perfect, but with caution you can find some good information.
re: Australia vs. Chris Hedges
Just yesterday I wanted to call attention to Chris Hedges´s planned speech at Australia´s National Press Club.
That has been canceled today!
The National Press Club of Australia, caving to the Israel lobby, Cancels My Talk on Our Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists
The National Press Club of Australia cancelled my talk on how the media, by amplifying Israeli lies, have betrayed Palestinian journalists, 278 of whom have been assassinated by Israel.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-national-press-club-of-australia
“Euro-Cabal’s Thirst for Conflict Grows into Insatiable Lust”
‘Now the SVR believes that Ukraine has mobilized Russian traitors from the infamous ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ who will “infiltrate Poland” posing as Russian and Belarusian special forces. They will then be captured and given blockbuster interviews wherein they will confess to having been sent by Russia to attack Poland, to further perpetrate the big NATO intervention the Western establishment is desperately trying to engineer.’
Yeah, this is all starting to sound somewhat familiar. I wonder where the Poles got the inspiration for an idea like this-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident
What’s a house in LA really worth?
This piece echos the recent discussions here on real estate insurance. I found this interesting, emphasis mine,
Think of a piece of real estate as an asset that, if you were renting it, spins off a certain amount of income each year, minus maintenance, taxes, and insurance. If insurance costs go up, the net income associated with a property goes down. That affects property value in the eyes of an investor, who will assume that those insurance costs are going to continue climbing. A rational investor will buy the property only at a lower price that will result in the level of income the investor expects. Sellers have to take less or simply stay in place, unable to sell at the price they want.
Seems like a quiet acknowledgment that investors drive the market.
“Venezuela Denounces U.S. Provocation with F-35 Lightning II Fighter Jets”
The big worry is that Trump will order a decapitation strike so that the Venezuelan opposition can seize power but I wonder about this. What if Maduro organizes a ‘dead hand’ decapitation strike of his own. So if Trump attempts a decapitation strike on Maduro and other government leaders, then Maduro’s supporters and the military will take out every major opposition figure that they can find who would support the American taking over the country. With no local proxies left, Trump would have no local supporters that could step forward that could form a US-friendly government and you would still have a well armed populace that would not tolerate any US landing forces.
There will always be the Guyana border crisis as a backstop if the main event does not come off. That region does have exploitable oil and gas reserves.
“We were really there to protect the freedom loving Petroleum Corporations of Guyana from the deplorable hordes of Liberty denying Socialists! Hoo Rah!”
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Guyana
for some comedy antidote
SNL sketches
“he´s up”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eq6iaz5QV1U
Jennifer Aniston Look Alike Contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5RqYtxJ5KI
Prince Auditions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsMuKSpQfIY
I went to visit the Outer Banks over 30 years ago and was kind of amazed at what I saw – rows on rows of houses up on stilts built on a giant sand bar. I could not understand why anybody would do build expensive homes on a sand bar right in the middle of a known hurricane zone in an era of rising sea levels. Then I learned a little about flood insurance, and how the rest of us taxpayers subsidize the building of these homes. Anyhow, I was not at all surprised to see this news – https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/7-houses-collapse-less-2-151908545.html
I saw that, too. And wondered, were those things actually insurable? And do the homeowners get a bill from the town for the cleanup? All those splintered two-by-fours and other hazardous material polluting the beaches for miles …
i cant speak to the east coast, but the Gulf Coast is strewn with thise stilt houses.
they build em pretty tough, tho…huge telephone poles sunk up to 20 feet, with a concrete bell at the bottom.
i watched one being built on Galveston Island, one time.
my granda had one on the intracoastal canal just east of Matagorda, Texas, and the bottom was screened in(mosquitos like birds) and i’d stay down there in the hammock…and when i wasnt watching the barge traffic, there was little else to look at but the construction methods used,lol.
bolts 3 foot long and maybe 3″ in diametr, big steel plates to connect and tie down various things.
sturdy as all get-out…and informed my own construction out here(the telephone poles are free, since the landfill is forbidden from doing anything with them besides piling them up…i cut out the middleman, and called up the head honcho at the electric coop, and they’d drop them in the front pasture.)
One stark reminder of the power of Nature was the row of stilt camps on the lower East Pearl River after Hurricane Katrina had passed through. There was nothing at all left of the about a dozen fairly large and well-built structures except the stilts themselves. One place had even been built out of steel ‘I’ beams. All that was left of that were the ‘I’ beams and floor support ‘I’ beams.
After the hurricane, the locals, on the command of the Feds, outlawed the use of treated wood stilts and came back with requirements that future raised camps be supported on poured in place steel reinforced concrete columns. That effectively forced all but the wealthiest of persons out of that “market.”
Now coastal camps are gentrified. No more poor people allowed.
Good for you in finding a source for your own Lincoln Logs!
Stay safe.
‘Clash Report
@clashreport
Tucker Carlson blasts U.S. leaders for letting Israeli military officers “barge into Pentagon meetings” during the June 12-Day War with Iran:
During that short conflict, IDF officers in the Pentagon… enraged American Pentagon staff by just barging into meetings, giving orders, making demands. And nobody did anything about it.’
So where exactly did those Israeli military officers come from? Do they have their own set of offices inside the Pentagon itself? Is that how they knew which meetings to barge into?
I understand that Mossad has a suite of rooms in the Pentagon Dungeon. It’s in easy Secret Washington Subway reach of the chambers under the Senate offices where the Dry Powder is stored.
Washington Capitol Subway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_subway_system
Considering how corrupt and depraved Americas elites are today, I would not be surprised if that is also where tender young Capitol Pages are told that the ‘Golden Nail’ that holds the Republic together is situated.
“Come young one. Let me show you the Back Door to Power in these Hallowed Halls.”
“Wikimedia Is Making Its Data AI-Friendly”
I’m sure that this will thrill all the people who have worked on Wikipedia over the years but that mention of Musk’s Grokipedia. Am I correct in assuming that an AI will generate the information to be used in Grokipedia? That should be fun. Fortunately American schools specialize in producing graduates who are able to quickly discern what answers would be true and which would be made up using independent thinking skills and the vast amount of knowledge that they have acquired-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufmcubp2szg (4:17 mins)
With all due respect to Alon Mizrahi, Europe is doing a bang-up job of smacking itself without any help or prompting from the US. Simplicius and Matthew D. Rose give plenty of evidence for that, and I can confirm it from my perch on the Euro side of the pond. The scale of the elites’ attempts to create hysteria makes a sane person question their mental and intellectual fitness to be in charge of Europe.
Nothing about what’s happening in Gaza is funny, but the other bits he wrote made me laugh.
“OpenAI’s Stargate project to consume up to 40% of global DRAM output”
So that’s the reason consumer DRAM prices went through the roof recently. I felt like a genius investor when the prices jumped a week after I had upgraded my laptop’s.
Sigh. Tip Jar here I come.
And just when RAM prices were normalizing and returning to its pre-Covid “law” of persistently decaying the longer the RAM-type has been on the market.
Re; We Are Not Peasants
Peasants. Masses incapable of self-governance. Users to be monetized. Workers to be replaced. Voters to be manipulated through algorithmic feeds designed to exploit our psychological vulnerabilities. Populations requiring management by those with superior intelligence and technological sophistication
You see this in your daily life. An algorithm decides what news you see, not your own judgment about what matters. Your feed is curated by systems optimized for engagement rather than truth, designed to keep you scrolling rather than thinking.
Enter Israel:
TikTok’s US owner vetted US Secretary of State Rubio for loyalty to Israel: Report
(Larry) Ellison’s engagement comes amid a controversial environment as he aims to influence media narratives surrounding Israel, particularly through the acquisition of TikTok, where he will oversee content algorithms crucial to shaping public opinion.
Speaking at a closed-door meeting with US influencers at Israel’s Consulate General in New York last week, Netanyahu was filmed describing social media as “the most important weapon … to secure our base in the US.”
The head of the Israeli regime singled out TikTok as “the most important purchase going on right now,” claiming that whoever controls this Chinese app will wield “consequential” influence.
He also claimed that gaining influence over TikTok and X would allow Israel to “get a lot.”
Israel to get a lot of additional land?
I do wonder when will it be enough? When will Osraeli ensrine in a Constitution its national borders…
I think Thomas Mann captured in the Isaac’s deathbed monologue in “Joseph and His Brothers” the megalomaniac spirit residing in the chosen people, which is more than ethno-nationalism…
People who use ‘spa’ as a verb.
Just to comment to say I really like seeing articles tagged as ‘long reads’. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a piece I can get my teeth into, and sometimes I’m not. Having articles marked in this way makes the links page a lot more friendly and useful.
BTW another tag that would be useful is SUBSCRIPTION or something like that. It’s a bit frustrating to get a few paragraphs into a piece on my phone, and then find I’m not able to read the rest of it.
Keep up the fantastic work!
A passage from this piece:
My initial reaction was that the author had certainly given free reign here to his melodramatic tendencies. But after reflection, I realized that this was just a literal description of what had happened, and how we have all become accustomed, to the point of boredom, of being part of a gigantic global war machine that is killing people every day for absolutely no reason.
Kudos to this reporter for reporting what is really going on on his beat.
The Fuel Behind Trump’s $100,000 Visa Fee: Lost U.S. Tech Jobs (NY Times via archive.ph)
“The Global Sumud Flotilla: the view from Turkey.–Moldova’s Other Autonomous Region.–Bulgarian Modernism”
“Even so, the nationalist fad of the 1990s saw the Moldovan majority adopt slogans and attitudes with fascist overtones. One famous slogan used against the Russian-speaking minority was “suitcase, station, Russia”, suggesting that minorities like the Gagauz should self-deport. Chisinau still uses nationalist rhetoric to this day. In 2023, the Moldovan parliament changed the name of the country’s official language from Moldovan to Romanian. This passed almost without comment in Western media, but was viewed as hostile in Russia, where Romanian is seen as the more nationalist name and also carries pro-NATO and pro-EU associations.”
Lilly is obviously an expert (not) in Romance languages of the eastern branch I see. Nor Romanian and Moldovan history, same as Maria Zakharova, the Sinologue…
I worked as forest manager planner in Romania in 1990 and worked preparing 10 years forest management plans in bothe Moldovas, the one west of river Prut, that is in Romania, and the one east of river Prut, that is R of Moldova. There is no difference betwenn the Moldovans, none whatsoever, at least for somebody like me, coming from western Romania.
But Russians/Soviets tried to gaslight Moldovans that they don’t speak the Romanian Language for more than 3 generations.
And Lilly is not asking herself why the two Germanies were allowed to be reunified, and the two Romanies were not.
I don’t condone the lack of democracy in the latest election in Moldova, but nobody mentions that over one million R of Moldovan citizens (out of 2.4) hold Romanian passports.
And the ones reprotedly presenting pro-Russian views could just be anti EU centralization and annulment of sovereignity and nationhood and corruption enabling, the way it is felt in Romania.
Presidential National Security memoranda have some advantages over a Domestic Terrorism bill, but they still need an asset forfeiture provision.
Because FREEDOM isn’t Free.
Taxes are anti-American and anti-freedom, but civil asset forfeitures are pro-freedom, anti-criminal, because you don’t even charge the victims, forget about providing a lawyer, and it’s constitutional because the courts say so!
File under AI and surveillance.
Taibbi and Kirn, America This Week, public excerpt.
America This Week, Oct 3, 2025: “Surveillance is Not Speech”
Quiet Skies, James Comey, and the blurring of bad thoughts and bad deeds. Plus, the surprise twist at the end of “The Fall,” by Camus
https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-oct-3-2025-surveillance
Thanks.
Was asking myself just today what ATW would be up to these days.
p.s. It´s funny, in my own private environment I am trying to do what Taibbi&Kirn are doing, putting out the counter POV to what “our group” might agree on but which is not necessarily the view of others. So I am finding myself if not defending Trump etc but trying to rationalize him or voters who would still support him or trying to bridge his UN speech to his position vis a vis “Russia House” like rouges. Of course there is a limit to this approach. Maybe even morally. How far does freedom of speech carry if tested under real everday life circumstances out side court-rooms and law department studies.
Freedom of speech was always a lie, just like free market, and most of others things with “free” in them. The sad thing is that modern day people fall more for “free” things, than supposedly backward ones from the times long gone. Those that prayed for rain were more pragmatic than self-centered ideology-driven know-it-alls of our times.
US strikes another boat off Venezuela coast, killing four, Defense Secretary announces (CNN)
We’re way off the map here; there be real monsters.
Gun boat diplomacy, and then do a presser.
RE: Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults
Their data shows that this started getting worse in 2016, so something else other than Covid19 causing this.
Yeah, that was my first thought as well; While there’s very compelling evidence of COVID’s harms in many areas, the data doesn’t seem to support it as being the cause here.
Likely coinciding with the transition to hand held media devices by youth, which I think started to seriously penetrate about five years earlier (2010 or 2011). Though I bet (a small amount) that the curve shows an inflection point in the 2020’s.
Just to add to the confounders, there seems increasing evidence that the widespread use of artificial sweeteners may be contributing to cognitive decline.
Confounders Don’t we have a spoon’s worth of plastic in our brains?
I’m grateful I can still put one foot in front of the other.
After reading through the WSJ’s review of the TrumpRx-Pfizer deal,I conclude that it’s a nothingburger as far as I, an American consumer, am concerned. No pricing changes that I will see, no movement of manufacturing so no chance for more American jobs, just political posturing for Trump. Show me how I’m wrong.
More cowbell!
‘Trump just posted this on Truth Social, and all I can say is WTAF…😳😳😳’
https://x.com/TPV_John/status/1974023410180088065
Wow, Trump really has a hard time keeping the beat. Not in the pocket at all, which is unusual for him who is normally such a pig in so many pokes.
Melodic Parrot Hated His Human Until They Started Making Music Together Laughing Squid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That’s worth your time, and a nice tie-in to the antidote on a parrot theme.
We had just met our neighbors and from the back of the house came the sound an industrial truck makes when in reverse gear, really loud and out of place in the Sierra foothills-lemme tell ya, and our neighbor says…
‘Oh, that’s just Reggie backing up’
Sports desk:
There has been an outbreak of hyphenated NFL players as of late, and if Cupid has her way, we could end up generations from now with the picture of Dorial Green-Beckham-Valdes-Scantling-Clinton-Dix-Murphy-Bunting.
Its kind of like those male Spanish names that go on forever and have to include a Maria to be named later.
Any of them likely to play in the Super-Bowl? Asking for a fiend.
So it appears that Starmer is going after mentally ill youth, and wants them working. Because he cares so much about them.
Here’s an idea. Hear me out now.
How about the UK youth with mental ‘elf’ issues are conscripted into the UK army and sent to Ukraine as ‘peace keepers’, perhaps to the battlefront.
That would solve so many issues. Give Ukraine more young, alive, men because it’s running out of its own. Permanently cut down on costs of UK disability pensions. And help keep Putin stuck to the Ukraine tar baby.
I’ll just bet that somewhere on that small isle, that sort of innovative thinking is getting a bit of a run.
He’s not that smart. Just evil.
He’s not that evil. Just following orders.
Pete Buttigieg Interview Timestamp to his beliefs around Israel/Palestine
https://youtu.be/DlL376A1hMo?si=tmcjlJ-59E-b09fJ&t=1649
🤮
MAGA On the March
My parents homeowners insurance up 250% for next year. No claims.
Donald Trump orders Israel to ‘immediately’ stop bombing Gaza as Hamas agrees to free hostages (Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/03/hamas-agrees-to-release-all-israeli-hostages
Palestinian militant group accepts part of US president’s plan but seeks further negotiations on many terms
In a statement on Friday evening, the Palestinian militant group asked for further negotiations on other parts of the plan, and did not say whether it would lay down its arms – a key part of Trump’s proposal unveiled on Monday.
Despite the qualified response by Hamas, Trump said in a post on Truth Social: “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that.
“We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
After the Hamas response, the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement cited by local media saying Israel was preparing for an “immediate implementation” of the first stage of the plan for the immediate release of all hostages.
“We will continue to work in full cooperation with the president and his team to end the war in accordance with the principles laid out by Israel, which correspond with Trump’s vision for ending the war,” the statement said, making no mention of Trump’s demand that Israel stop bombing Gaza.
In a statement earlier on Friday night, Hamas said it was giving its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners – both living and remains – according to the exchange formula contained in president Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange”.
Hamas also said it was prepared to turn over “the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing”.
However, the group said “other issues” in Trump’s proposal would need to be discussed further “within a unified Palestinian national framework”. The unspecified issues would likely include arms, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and international guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.
Not sure what to make of this. A lot still to be agreed.
If the hostage thing is resolved, it would take away Israeli domestic support for more genocide, no?
We see I guess.
I’m getting some strong vibes that multiple factions are maneuvering against Netanyahu but it is kind of difficult to pin on anything too overt. There was this that also came out today:
Netanyahu ordered drone attacks on Gaza-bound humanitarian aid boats off Tunisia, sources say | CBS
Pressure from the US to ensure Netanyahu didn’t try to ignore Hamas’ statement?
In this link it is noted that Netanyahu was surprised by Trump’s statements as he interpreted Hamas’ statements as a rejection:
Trump says he believes Hamas ‘ready for peace,’ demands Israel immediately halt strikes in Gaza | Times of Israel
Sounds anodyne, but:
The phrasing of this is so weird. Did the IDF chief accept Trump’s order over Netanyahu’s? Trump had videos prepared too. And then there’s this:
It’s probably too much to hope that Trump is finally bringing Netanyahu to heel but maybe there are other elements in the Israeli governing structure that are communicating directly with his cabinet to ensure Netanyahu doesn’t spike this?
Trump tells Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas accepts portion of his peace plan | USA Today
Trump says he believes Hamas ‘ready for peace,’ demands Israel immediately halt strikes in Gaza | Times of Israel
News from Japan: the ultra-right-wing Takaichi Sanae has been chosen as new president of the LDP.
She will work for an alliance with Sanseito, Nippon Hoshuto (party of the author of Eien no Zero), and the Unification Church. She promotes the anti-espionage law, the suppression of women and foreigners.
Currently trending #1 on X: “Japan is Finished” https://x.com/search?q=日本終了
I’ve not been following Japanese politics much lately, but I am surprised – I thought the Abe faction had been more or less sidelined. As always with Japanese politics, the key issue is what sort of backroom understandings were made to ease her rise. I suspect it may have been as much the absence of a coherent alternative as any enthusiasm for her or her policies. The LDP has occasionally thrown up a wild card leader in the past when the traditional internal factions have cancelled each other out.
I doubt she will make an alliance with Sanseito – the LDP instinct will be to crush any populist alternative than seek any sort of alliance (apart from an alliance designed to destroy it). I think Sanseito are more useful to the LDP (and her), as a noisy but relatively unimportant gadfly on one flank (I always hesitate to use terms like ‘right’ or ‘left’ with Japanese politics as so often it follows its own pretty unique rules).
In terms of economics, she seems to have been keen on Abenomics, which is very much a rethread of distant past successful high growth oriented policies which may or may not (probably the latter) be applicable to its current economy. In other respects, she seems to me to be more of an old fashioned deep conservative, rather than a radical in the mould of western populist rightists or for that matter, neoliberals. The one thing that does stand out about her in contrast to most western leaders these days is that she seems intelligent and competent – at least superficially.
I think the outside country most impacted by her selection is ROK. It will strengthen those arguing for a more aggressive and independent stance in the region. In terms of militarism (i.e. having an arms industry) and economics, ROK is very much in a stronger position than Japan these days, something that does not seem to have quite sunk in with Tokyo yet.
Thanks for your take on this, PK. Regarding the relationship with the ROK, agree, and it is of course not coincidental that Korean novelist Lee Yong-deok’s Before You Stab Me to Death With a Bamboo Spear (2020) is now suddenly flying off shelves, leaving no stock in online shops:
https://x.com/Kawade_shobo/status/1974357761036333152
The story concerns a Japanese dystopia with an ultra-right party and an anti-Korea prime minister.
Sounds familiar?
Regarding Takaichi, she seems to follow the pattern of other LDP pols (e.g., Koike Yuriko), lying on her CV, in this case falsely claiming that she was an ex-US Federal Legislative Researcher, which people on social media have been pointing out cannot be held by Japanese nationals, so now there are the usual excuses being made to try and climb down from this.