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Links 10/8/2025

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Cheyenne Man Breaks Wyoming State Record With 2,085-Pound Pumpkin Cowboy State Daily

Dead Men Walking – Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World Literary Review (Anthony L)

Your Next Phone Might Come Without a USB Cable Android Authority

Common opioid is not that effective for easing chronic pain, study finds CNN

‘Veggie burgers’ face grilling in EU parliament RTL

Autism Is Not a Single Condition and Has No Single Cause, Scientists Conclude Wired. Dept. of Huh? Scientists find what we call autism develops on two different trajectories with different symptom clusters, yet reject the idea of concluding that there is more than one condition?

Climate/Environment

Marine heatwaves disrupt crucial carbon storage processes in the ocean, new study finds Euronews

Climate pollution from inhalers has the impact of half a million cars per year, study finds CNN

Most of the world has recently set all-time heat records Climate Brink

Sicily’s warming climate pushes farmers to swap vineyards for exotic fruit Telegraph

Mexico’s aquifers in crisis: overexploitation and scarcity threaten these hidden water reservoirs Noticiasambientales

China?

In silicon wafers, China’s emerging local stars rattle global giants Nikkei

China’s central bank aids gold’s record-setting run with 11-month buying streak South China Morning Post

India

India Inc’s Q2 test begins tomorrow. Will earnings recovery fail its 6th attempt? Economic Times

UK won’t relax visa rules for India, Starmer says BBC

South of the Border

Brazil soy deal that curbs Amazon deforestation to be suspended in 2026 Mongabay

European Disunion

Live: Outgoing French PM hopes to have a budget by end of 2025, dissolution ‘looks more remote’ France24

France, in political crisis, risks having no budget Le Monde

French National Assembly rejects motion to impeach President Macron Anadolu Agency

* * *

US demands EU dismantle green regulations in threat to trade deal Financial Times

Mayor-Elect in Critical Condition After Stabbing in Western Germany New York Times

Old Blighty

Labour’s War on Protest Tribune

China ‘spies’ case was dropped after government failed to provide evidence of Beijing threat Guardian (Kevin W)

Israel v. The Resistance

Israel is fractured, isolated after two years of its war on Gaza: Analysts Aljazeera

The US Spent Over $31 Billion Aiding Israel in the Past Two Years Antiwar

* * *

Israeli Navy attacks Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessels with around 145 participants in international waters Anadolu Ageny

Live: Israel intercepts several Gaza-bound aid flotilla boats Middle East Eye

* * *

Iran Faces Unprecedented Water Crisis Worsens: 19 Damns On The Verge Of Drying Up WION

New Not-So-Cold War

A Video Update on the West’s Faltering TNT Production and Aerial Attempts to Provoke Russia Larry Johnson

Negotiations with Putin ‘Tougher’ Than Gaza Peace Talks, Trump Admits Kyiv Post

The FSB Thwarted An Attempt To Exploit The Palestinian Cause To Sow Inter-Religious Discord Andrew Korybko

World Bank downgrades forecast for Russia’s GDP growth to 0.9% in 2025 and to 0.8% in 2026 Interfax

Syraqistan

Protests erupted across Iraq’s southern provinces of Maysan and Basra on Monday over unpaid wages and worsening water shortages, with demonstrators staging sit-ins and blocking key roads Shafaq

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

FTC Surveillance Pricing Study Indicates Wide Range of Personal Data Used to Set Individualized Consumer Prices FTC (Robin K). From January, still germane.

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Cult Of Can’t Aurelien. Important. Aurelien gives a very generous shout out at the top, and then proceeds with a favorite topic, that things increasingly don’t work, no one seems to feel obligated to do anything, and the public is just supposed to suck it up as things decay. This is not universal; the New York DMV, its Financial Services Department, and the Alabama Department of Labor still seem to be well run. But when I had to contact them, I recall being very pleasantly surprised….which should not be my reaction. Things working should not be an exceptional event.

Christian nationalism’s godless heart Unherd

Emmanuel Todd – ‘The Defeat Of The West’ In Its Current Phase Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Trump 2.0

Federal workers erupt over latest White House threat to withhold their pay Axios

Five takeaways from Pam Bondi’s tense, partisan Senate hearing BBC (Kevin W)

“Hegseth Hostage Speaks Out” — MRFF Senior Active Duty Client Ordered to Hegseth’s Quantico Confab Paints a Grim Picture of our Military’s Readiness MRFF (Chuck L)

Social Media Provocateurs Charged with Threatening to Harm Federal Agent and His Wife US Attorney’s Office

Tariffs

China and Brazil are bankrupting American cotton farmers. Bailouts coming. YouTube (resilc)

Democrat Death Wish

‘These Mothaf*ckas Are Crazy!’ Kamala Harris Blasts Trump Admin as Book Tour Rolls On Mediaite

L’affaire Epstein

Charlie Kirk. This is still not going away…

Charlie Kirk leaked text confirms he was livid about ‘bullying’ Jewish donors: ‘I’m leaving pro-Israel cause’ Daily Mail (resilc)

Our No Longer Free Press

David Frum, Douglas Murray Secretly Drafted Speeches for Israeli Ambassador Drop Site

CBS News staffers react to Bari Weiss being named editor-in-chief: ‘It’s utterly depressing’ Guardian (resilc)

Economy

Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says Fortune

Borrowers head back to riskier mortgages, looking for any potential savings CNBC

Mr. Market is Moody

Gold Rally Points to Eroding Faith in Central Banks Worldwide Wall Street Journal

AI

SpongeBob SquarePants Cooking Meth and Fake JFK Speeches: How the Sora 2 Launch Went Sideways Rolling Stone (Kevin W)

Sora 2 Watermark Removers Flood the Web 404 Media

Spotify is Joining Forces with ChatGPT to Generate Recommendations Because We Live in an A.I. Generated Hellscape Metal Sucks (Micael T)

Deloitte to partially refund Australia for report with apparent AI-generated errors ABC Australia (Kevin W)

Cops: Accused Vandal Confessed To ChatGPT The Smoking Gun (resilc)

AI is already upending the US job market as predictions of a ‘jobs apocalypse’ multiply Le Monde

Recruiters Use A.I. to Scan Résumés. Applicants Are Trying to Trick It. New York Times (resilc)

Class Warfare

CEO of FPL defends company seeking highest shareholder profit in nation Tampa Bay Times

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See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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23 comments

  1. Paul O

    On Tramadol. I was given this on two occasions for piriformis syndrome. Even at double the prescribed dose it gave no perceivable pain relief. Paracetamol was far more effective.

    Reply ↓
    1. Koldmilk

      Tramadol was prescribed by my dentist for pain but I found the combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen much more effective, and didn’t make me drowsy like the Tramadol.

      Reply ↓
  2. Wukchumni

    At + 1.5c, we are currently exactly on the flip side of this event in the Little Ice Age, when the coldest temps ever known were recorded in Europe.

    Everything of course is cattywampus, climate-wise. Those record high temps Yves keeps posting are par for our course, a bit hellish i’ll admit, but you go with the planet you have-not the one you want.

    The Grindelwald Fluctuation is a period (in a wider cooling phenomenon) when glaciers in Grindelwald, Switzerland, expanded significantly. Temperatures were 1-2 degrees Celsius lower than twentieth-century averages during this period, which is thought to have lasted from the 1560s to the 1630s.

    The Grindelwald Fluctuation occurred during the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling that occurred from the 13th to the mid 19th century; characterised by the expansion of glaciers in many parts of the world, including the Alps in Europe. It produced some of the lowest temperatures known to this holocene.

    In 1585, the Colima volcano in Mexico erupted. 10 years later in 1595, Nevado del Ruiz erupted. Then in 1600, five years later, the Huaynaputina volcano erupted in what is known as one of the most powerful explosions to occur in the last 2500 years. These back to back major volcanic explosions can cause long-term cooling by activating “positive feedback” in different parts of the Earth’s climate system.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindelwald_Fluctuation#:~:text=The%20Grindelwald%20Fluctuation%20occurred%20during,temperatures%20known%20to%20this%20holocene.

    Reply ↓
  3. ocypode

    ‘Veggie burgers’ face grilling in EU parliament RTL

    I know this isn’t how governments work, but don’t they, like, have more important things to do other than banning the use of the word “meat” for “meat-like” products? I wonder what names would be used to replace the more traditional ones: protein tube instead of sausage? Maybe some sci-fi sounding thing could appeal to a certain base.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Well, taking inspiration from “Yes Minister”, British sausages could be renamed “emulsified high-fat offal tubes”.

      Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “A Video Update on the West’s Faltering TNT Production and Aerial Attempts to Provoke Russia”

    I find it remarked that video of how an Su-30 was able to sneak up on an F-35 and look into its cockpit. I can only imagine that this meant that the Su-30 was flying over the F-35 inverted. At least that Russian pilot did not give the F-35 pilot the finger though you wonder if he snapped a few photos of the encounter on his mobile lest his colleagues back at base not believe him and call it ‘bullshitski!’ Bit insulting for the Russian pilot to cover his eyes as if to pretend that he cannot see the F-35. What can you say? Boys will be boys-

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPxDoFbsvWA (2:42 mins)

    Reply ↓
    1. LawnDart

      Re; F-35

      US admits F-35 program failure after decades and trillions spent

      A new Pentagon report admits the F-35 will never achieve its promised capabilities, exposing a $2 trillion defense failure and shaking confidence in the US military’s weapons program.

      Looks like they’ve given-up trying to polish that turd. We can expect F-35 sales to go right where they belong– straight into the toilet. How are US allies who purchased this thing going to feel? And what are the alternatives?

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        As one of the few in the line of ire some 11,325 feet below, I hear F(Edsel)-35’s caterwauling @ 12 o’clock high often, as recently as yesterday afternoon. So far-so good, with maybe a thousand sorties without incident, as in a crash.

        It’s more like 113 feet above the ground @ Star Wars Canyon in Death Valley~

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ski8nj9OdXw

        Reply ↓
  7. guilliam

    Regarding Aurelien’s mention of the problems making a payment for your fundraiser via paypal from the UK, I was similarly trying to give you a donation through paypal last night (btw I REALLY loathe the idea of giving paypal my phone number and email, so consider yourselves honoured that I was making the effort on your behalf!) but kept getting ‘this service is currently unavailable’ messages despite attempts via several browsers. Unless anyone’s got any better ideas, I’m going to give up on this now, but please let me know if there’s any alternative ways anyone else in my siutation can give a donation towards your excellent ongoing work.

    Also, just to add please don’t let this put off any other UK readers considering making a donation to you, I’m fairly sure think there’s probably something wrong with my setup since I know other people who’ve had no problems making international payments via paypal!

    Reply ↓
  8. Vicky Cookies

    “Veggie burgers face grilling”
    Love the headline. The story itself is reminiscent of Yes, Minister, a bit of manufactured rage-bait, cooked up for partisan tastes, and in the end (forgive me), a nothing burger.

    Reply ↓
  9. Chris Smith

    Re: “Five takeaways from Pam Bondi’s tense, partisan Senate hearing ”

    I watched some of the Bondi videos on X while I admittedly should have been working. I have watched a few of these hearings over the course of my life, and I have always winced at their performative nature. The members always seem more interested in making speeches instead of asking questions. I do a lot of trial work, and know that if an attorney asked questions like that in a court proceeding the judge would hit them in the head with their gavel before censoring them.

    Of particular disgust to me was the constant refrain of “Epstein.” The Dems may as well have high-fived each other as they attempted to dunk on Bondi with “Epstein.” I kept thinking “so why didn’t Biden release those files/list/whatever when he was in power if it was so damning,” and “will the Dems release those files when they get back into power after making such a big deal about it now?”

    I do not like Bondi’s politics, but she won me over at least with respect to how she handled herself at the hearing – with a special appreciation for how she handled the loathsome Adam Schiff.

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Pam Bondi is utterly despicable. She was singularly responsible in Florida for aggressively defending practices that allowed fraudulent foreclosures and ruined many lives. But you cheer her because you hate Congresscritters? Seriously? And you act as if Trump’s connection to Epstein is not a legitimate controversy? What sort of moral compass do you have?

      Reply ↓
  10. PlutoniumKun

    The Cult Of Can’t Aurelien

    Outstanding essay, especially the analysis of why fighting ‘abstractions’ has become so much more important than actually changing things to so many on the progressive side of politics.

    And having spent the last 3 evenings trying to sort out an issue with a rental apartment and hire car, the reality of crappification of what were once simply things is becoming apparent everywhere.

    Reply ↓
  13. mrsyk

    Marine heatwaves disrupt crucial carbon storage processes in the ocean, new study finds, Yikes!

    “This research marks an exciting new chapter in ocean monitoring,”

    “Exciting” isn’t the first word I would use.

    Reply ↓
  14. Valiant Johnson

    I suspect that any reduction in hiring attributed to A.I. is actually because the economy is in regression.
    It’s not just young wannabe PMC people not being hired, it’s everyone.

    Reply ↓

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