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Links 11/12/2025

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New South Wales Creates Massive Sanctuary To Save 12,000 Koalas Animal Rescue

Annual US household spending on pork correlates with Lululemon’s stock price (LULU) Tyler Vigen (Micael T)

Badass Rock Covers Played On Traditional Chinese Folk Instruments Laughing Squid

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

World oil and gas demand could grow until 2050, IEA says Reuters

Refugee camps set to be uninhabitable by 2050 as extreme weather worsens UN

UAE turns to cloud seeding as water scarcity challenges grow Borna News

The Middle East is running dry as water scarcity threatens millions The Star

Tehran’s water could be cut off at night amid ongoing drought Independent

World’s first green fuel levy to add almost US$32 to air fares Bloomberg

China?

China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months, analysis finds Guardian

EU Eyes Banning Huawei, ZTE Corp From Mobile Networks of Member Countries Bloomberg

Nobel laureate urges China to deepen space collaboration Asia Times (Kevin W)

India

LIVE: India, Pakistan launch probes after blasts in New Delhi, Islamabad Aljazeera

Trump tariffs: Why India should push for rollback of Russian oil penalty before trade deal with US; 3-point strategy explained Times of India

Southeast Asia

Fighting Cambodia, we must be the main boxer: Underline Thailand Thai Rath Noon, YouTube. >20 million followers. Thailand population is about 72 million.

Africa

Troubled waters: Why is a Nile dam causing such tension? Euronews

Amnesty accuses Somalia of neglecting drought victims Somali Guardian

South of the Border

U.S. aircraft carrier nears Latin America as Venezuela tensions simmer Washington Post

European Disunion

Paris, France. Andrei Martyanov

Germany inches close to agreement on contentious military service but questions remain Euronews

Europe’s chief justice slams Orbán Euractiv

Old Blighty

Starmer allies issue warning to PM’s rivals as fears grow over leadership challenge Guardian (Kevin W). BWAHAHA.

Israel v. The Resistance

Hamas Statement on Israel’s Ceasefire Violations in Gaza Resistance News Network

Partition of war-torn Gaza a looming risk Middle East Online

New Not-So-Cold War

Scott Bessent’s Damaging Remarks Puts More Distance between Washington and Moscow Larry Johnson. We have said from the outset that Bessent was an idiot. His hedge fund was microscopically small despite his Soros connection, which should have been an enormous marketing aid had he been any good. So he’s neither managed anything of size nor been a competent investor. His claims re his role in Soros short of the pound have always seemed exaggerated. Soros is hands-on, particularly with large bets. I suspect at most that Bessent executed trades or did some research. Admittedly John Helmer has depicted Kirill Dmitriev as a blowhard and a relentless self-promoter, but that does not make him wrong on the specific remarks that Bessent derided.

Killzone🔴Mass Surrender: It Has Begun!🏳️The Defense of Novouspenovka Has Collapsed💥MS For 2025.11.11 Military Summary, YouTube

Brief Frontline Report – November 11th, 2025 Marat Khairullin

How To Start War With Russia – A British Think Tank Has Ideas Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Sergey Lavrov: “We know what the Americans have, and the Americans know what they have. Let’s take a year to, so to speak, cool down, analyse the situation, stop measuring everything by the Ukraine yardstick, and focus on the great powers’ responsibility to maintain global security and stability, above all, in terms of avoiding nuclear war. We are ready for that” International Affairs (Micael T)

Lavrov’s More Extensive Very Detailed Q&A With Media Karl Sanchez

A US Think Tank Considers Armenia & Kazakhstan To Be Key Players For Containing Russia Andrew Korybko

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

The Biometric Payment Revolution You Never Agreed To Reclaim the Net. Consumers need to say no. I refuse face scans at airline gates. Stuns me that no one else does.

Critics Call Proposed Changes To Landmark EU Privacy Law ‘Death By a Thousand Cuts’ Reuters

Redmond turns off Flock Safety cameras after ICE arrests Seattle Times (Paul R)

Imperial Collapse Watch

I saw the Davos world order up close. Now it’s age of the predator The Times

TRUMP PLAYS THE OLD CIA CARDS FOR REGIME CHANGE John Helmer

Doomsday Scoreboard (Micael T)

Trump 2.0

Trump dismisses economic anxiety with ‘fake’ polls and reveals reason 600,000 Chinese students are in US Daily Mail. This from a right wing contact: “We can observe for ourselves how out of it/ill informed Trump may be. Had problems in a friendly interview.”

Trump responds to criticism from Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘She’s lost her way’ NBC. Exceedingly mild for Trump.

Exploiting MAGA Sentiments to Back Nigerian Intervention American Conservative (resilc)

Shutdown

SNAP: Trump admin gets longer Supreme Court pause on order it pay full food stamp benefits CNBC

Hemp-THC ban included in federal spending bill Supermarket News

The Democratic Shutdown Capitulation: A Perfect and Unnecessary Failure  Washington Monthly (resilc)

Chuck Schumer Should Be Humanely Euthanized* Ken Klippenstein

Jeffries, Democrats will offer 3-year extension of ObamaCare subsidies The Hill. Pathetic.

Once Again, Senate Democrats Show They Don’t Get Who They Represent New Republic (resilc). Huh? They represent donors.

Tariffs

Trump tariff dividends face legal, political roadblocks The Hill

Immigration

US has sent $7.5m to Equatorial Guinea to accept noncitizens deportees Guardian (resilc)

Trump’s H-1B Visa Crackdown to Accelerate Wall Street’s Expansion in India Bloomberg

Mamdani

A Graveyard of Bad NYC Mayoral Election Narratives Musa Al-Gharabi (Robin K)

L’affaire Epstein

Israeli Spy Stayed for Weeks at a Time at Jeffrey Epstein’s Mansion Drop Site

Epstein is not going away Edward Luce, Financial Times. No archived version :-(

Our No Longer Free Press

Kash Patel’s GF files $5 million lawsuit against podcaster for ‘insinuation’ she’s Mossad honeypot Grayzone (Chuck L). WTF? Did no one clue them in that the defendant can do discovery?

Antitrust

The War on Algorithmic Price Fixing Is Here Pat Garofalo (Robin K)

AI

US taxpayers being kept in the dark over datacenter subsidies The Register

5 recent, ominous signs for Generative AI Gary Marcus

Michael Burry’s latest argument against hyperscalers like Meta and Oracle echoes one made by an investor who shorted Enron Business Insider

AI adoption in US adds ~900,000 tons of CO₂ annually, study finds Techxplore (Kevin W)

Data centers meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America Guardian

ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules Guardian (Kevin W)

A tech entrepreneur/former professor and inventor sent this, noting: “Chat GPT is screwed. Who is going to trust it?”

Calls for chatbot age assurance increase as allegations of self-harm, psychosis grow Biometric Update

The Bezzle

Saudi Arabia’s Dystopian Futuristic City Project Is Crashing and Burning Gizmodo

Class Warfare

Inside London’s Smallest Apartments YouTube (resilc). ZOMG. The pricey one near Hyde Park looks to be in Belgravia.

Reverse mortgages edge up as US economy squeezes older Americans Financial Times

Is This The WORST TAKE On The Affordability Crisis? Young Turks, YouTube. It’s gratifying to watch Ben Shapiro self-destruct.

Even ICE Is More Popular Than Congress Now, Says Brutal Poll New Republic (resilc)

How HR Took Over the World Economist. The Economist catches up with what a colleague has been complaining about for years, rule by HR ladies.

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus:

A second bonus:

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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151 comments

  1. Wukchumni

    I’m calling the border collie herding a baby sheep video good, as in it really happened.

    In my visits to NZ in the early 80’s, there was 75 million sheep and 3 million people (down to 23 million sheep thrills and up to almost 5 million Kiwis @ present) and I ended up in a number of ‘Sheepedes’ that lasted 20 to 30 minutes as they just kept coming across the road-with border collies as canine cowboys, round ’em up, bring ’em out, keep ’em in line, rawhide!

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      We are currently foster parents for a border collie. While they are bright, athletic dogs, if you don’t have some chickens or sheep or goats for them to herd, they try to herd you.

      Reply ↓
      1. skylark

        When the challenge of herding our geese and ducks wasn’t enough, my border collie used to try to herd my kids when they were small. Was more successful than I was.

        Reply ↓
      3. Ignacio

        A friend of mine has a border collie who herds bikers. I find it extremely funny even if I am a keen biker. When you are fostering it. Have you noted who the dog has decided to be the “boss” in the herd?

        Reply ↓
      4. JayBird

        Shadow chasing is another one. Collies can be quite prone to OCD.
        My better half grew up with a collie in the countryside. It used to attempt to nip the back tyres of passing cars, which terrified me.

        Reply ↓
        1. ambrit

          Don’t be too frightened for doggo. We had a Border Collie that chased cars too. He caught two, and died of old age.

          Reply ↓
    2. Ben Panga

      British readers may remember the joys of “One Man and His Dog” a sheepdog trials show that was on BBC early Sunday evenings throughout my younger years.

      The intelligent dogs, the farmers communicating with a whistle and calling “come bai”. The excitement when one of the sheep got separated from the pack and tried to go rogue. I loved that show.

      Border collies are amazing.

      Here’s a clip from the 1990s. Trial stats at 4.30
      https://youtu.be/fHs5cT5kL58

      Reply ↓
      3. .Tom

        Nice choice of YouTube clip. I told you (below) that TV show is good for a few chuckles.

        There exist contexts in which a TV sport commentator can say, “For a nine-year old bitch she’s still extremely fast.”

        Reply ↓
    3. Duke of Prunes

      Definitely real. I have a rescue that genetic testing showed was perhaps 1/8th border collie, and he does these moves all the time – to us, to dogs he meets, to the feral cats, etc.

      We were confused at first because the herding dogs I saw previously didn’t get so low to the ground, then I saw a couple videos of border collies and bingo!

      Reply ↓
  2. Steve H.

    I would ‘rather claw out [my] own eyes’ than accept a three-month rolling average on a chart that exclusively uses the first eleven days of January across multiple years, which maybe I could get talked into, except it is literally connecting unconnected dots when it links the lines up as tho it is longitudinally contiguous.

    Rhetorical misrepresentation.

    (That last sentence scans, that’s when you know I’m miffed.)
    (Just noticed ‘longitudinally contiguous’ scans too. Whoa Momma! tern should know better.)

    Reply ↓
      1. vao

        Yes, it is.

        By the way: there is an international ISO norm regarding dates, and it has the format YYYY-MM-DD. I use it quite systematically — it is unambiguous and is quite appropriate for sorting data.

        Reply ↓
        1. Polar Socialist

          My biggest grudge against people writing the datetime libraries for different programming languages is that none of them use the ISO 8601 as basis and standard. It can handle dates, times, timestamps, time differences, time zones, duration, intervals, recurring intervals and eras.

          And it’s logical, proceeding from the lowest precision to the highest precision.

          Somebody should also fix the decimal separator issue for good.

          Reply ↓
    3. Jason Boxman

      This is why I prefer to be cautious in attributing everything bad to COVID. There is real evidence of risks and damage from each infection, but not everything bad is COVID.

      Reply ↓
  3. The Rev Kev

    “Saudi Arabia’s Dystopian Futuristic City Project Is Crashing and Burning”

    This project never made sense from the get-go. It seemed to be a cross between a vanity project and a white elephant and was sopping up enormous amounts of resources. In any case, who is even supposed to live in this city assuming it was finished? Saudi Arabia would have been better in spending the money on infrastructure, particularly drought-proofing the country. Considering how many countries are experiencing severe water shortages, that might be a wiser investment.

    Reply ↓
    2. jsn

      Sir Norman, in addition to being a very talented architect, is one of our era’s greatest con men. His understanding of the vulnerabilities of the plutocratic mind is unparalleled.

      Reply ↓
  4. Wukchumni

    Doomsday Scoreboard (Micael T)

    In their 1997 book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy, historians William Strauss and Neil Howe predicted that between 2005 and 2026 the United States would experience a “Fourth Turning” crisis—a period of social upheaval on the scale of the Revolution, Civil War, or Great Depression.

    Multiple commentators link recent U.S. crises (2008 recession, 2020 pandemic, political polarization) to this forecast, though no conclusive “cataclysm” has occurred. The cycle is set to resolve by ~2026.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I’m quite taken by the Fourth Turning, or 80 years later if you’d like.

    Everything lines up so perfectly…

    1781 Yorktown
    1861 Fort Sumter
    1941 Pearl Harbor
    2022 Ukraine

    1837 Financial Panic-1917 US enters WW1
    1849 Gold Rush-1929 Great Depression
    1893 Financial Panic-1971 US goes off gold standard
    1907 Financial Panic-1987 Financial Panic
    1929 Financial Panic-2008 Financial Panic

    Reply ↓
    2. Henry Moon Pie

      That is a fun scroll. One thing ought to be noted about it. The end-of-the-world predictions related to Christianity are far different from current predictions about the fall of the American Empire or neoliberalism or capitalism. The religious predictions actually entail a physical destruction of the planet to be replaced by a new and better model. If the American Empire falls, it won’t be fun for us who live here, but the planet will continue, perhaps for the better.

      Reply ↓
      1. GC54

        It all depends on how well the rest of the world can ease the USA down. I’m sure that the Empire will not go quietly. Who will secure its nukes?

        Reply ↓
          1. ambrit

            2025-Teheran & Tel Aviv
            I doubt if Pakistan will nuke Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock and all that, but I’m not so sure about India.

            Reply ↓
    3. albrt

      Howe has since extended his timeline to 2032.

      Historian David Kaiser has an alternative interpretation based on the original Strauss/Howe timeline. He thinks the Fourth Turning already happened, but the BushBama regime failed to unite America with a solution to the financial crises and permanent GWOT, so now we’re in an extended period of disgruntlement sort of like the post-reconstruction era.

      Reply ↓
  5. .Tom

    Very glad to see the bonus antidotes today. The sheepdog scene is perhaps to some UK TV viewers not so unusual. Since the 1970s sheepdog trials have been a televised sport in the UK. Close ups of the dog standing still close to the sheep aren’t unusual. Impressive all the same.

    The BBC produced a show called One Man and His Dog which my mum liked to watch. What the dogs and shepherds accomplish is very impressive but as a TV sport it’s inherently funny, like golf or snooker, owing to the voice commentary having to find novel things to say about it. I expect there are some old clips of the show on YouTube.

    The cat is wise. My Lucy runs from the room when the printer operates.

    Following up on yesterday’s Farmer’s Almanac link, it turns out that there are two Old Moores. The Irish Old Moore, Theophilus, was a teacher of languages, a mathematician, and an astrologer. His Old Moore’s Almanac has been going since 1764. The English Old Moore, Francis, was a court astrologer and physician and his Old Moore’s Almanack (note the K) has been going since 1697.

    Reply ↓
    1. Craig H.

      Agree!

      Antidotes without exhaustive investigation to authenticate their authenticity surpass no antidotes by around a million million times.

      Reply ↓
  6. AG

    re: Gaza fascism Germany

    Kinda funny in a desperate way – Jason Stanley was invited to Germany (Jewish community Frankfurt) to speak about – fascism – what else – on November 9th (saint date) and eventually couldn´t finish his speech becoz “Gaza” – so what about “fascism” now, Stanley?

    I applaud his honesty. But if the very society claiming absolute wisdom on issues of Holocaust and “fascism” yet over and over and over again denies the genocide “in our time”, what sense does it make to constantly use the term until it has turned hollow because no one listens who does not happen to be a leftist intellectual.

    It is a very strang situation – I listen to Walter Kirn and then to John Bellamy Foster – go figure.

    Reply ↓
      1. vao

        Seconded. So many of those events that make a big, immediate impact when they occur tend to disappear in the memory hole — especially if things do not unfold according to the approved narrative.

        Reply ↓
  8. .Tom

    Yves, the Military Summary link might be wrong. The link text says 2025.11.11 but it links to a video two days older with the title Killzone🔴Defense on the Zaporizhzhia Front is Crumbling in Real Time⚡️💥Military Summary 2025.11.09

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post author

      The state of search on YT is such that I can’t even find that 11.09 video so I have no idea how that happened (I did not watch it). Putting in an 11.11 Killzone link.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        The search function for YouTube is borked. You can put in a search term and enclose it with inverted commas to search for what you want. But half the search results that come back have absolutely nothing to do with what you are looking for.

        Reply ↓
        1. Henry Moon Pie

          And the feed is filled with these goofy knock-offs with a thousand subscribers robbing material from interviews of popular commentators from Mearsheimer to Candace. The original interviews or commentary are crowded out. An attempt to starve the content creators or at least slow the growth of ones who speak in contradiction to the Establishment narrative?

          Reply ↓
          1. Yves Smith Post author

            I hate those. Awful.

            But sometimes the channel crowds out its own video. It pisses me off no end that Nima will, a couple of days after a long interview, will repost 20-30 minute clips with a different header AND then remove the original!!! I am never giving him a dime due to that behavior.

            Reply ↓
            1. Kambei

              Yves, I want to confirm what .Tom wrote below. I just clicked back 7 months on the “LIVE” tab on Nima’s Dialogue Works and all his long-form interviews are there. I didn’t go further back. Nima, JudgeNap, and other sites should clarify how they use YouTube’s tabs.

              Reply ↓
              1. mess

                Nima, JudgeNap, and other sites should clarify how they use YouTube’s tabs.

                They don’t have a choice on what goes under what YouTube tab. Livestreams go under live tab. That’s it. Judge does his shows live, each one as a separate half hour livestream. Some do a long livestream, and then post interesting parts of it as separate videos, for those that don’t want to watch the whole thing.

                Reply ↓
                1. Yves Smith Post author

                  Bullshit. The channel puts a note under each video summarizing what it is about. Nima et al could easily mention that the shorter segments are clipped from a longer original interview, with a links to them. But they don’t. They want to sucker viewers into thinking a (typically weekend) rerun is fresh content.

                  Reply ↓
                  1. mess

                    Bullshit what exactly? I did not even reply to your post, but added some general info about Youtube tabs. I don’t even watch Nima.

                    Reply ↓
                    1. Yves Smith Post author

                      Nima et al are misleading viewers by reposting their own content and not flagging it as such. The fact that the original still exists but is difficult to find does not change the fact that the publisher is being misleading to generate more clicks, since even a very brief viewing (until the viewer realizes it is a duplicate) is a view in the # viewed listing and almost certainly gives the channel more points with advertisers. If Nima et al was publishing shorter clips for the benefit of time-stressed viewers, he would do so at the same time he posted the orignal content. He does not. He waits until the weekend when viewers for the most part have more time to consume longer interviews.

                      This practice also creates the false impression that the channel is generating more content than it actually is. Your clarification does not alter the fact that this is the publisher operating to the detriment of his audience and has an easy remedy.

                    2. skippy

                      Concur YS and will bump it up a level, Nima is a fully monetized site and that is how it rolls. Regardless of expressions of well meaning which is even worse in my book.

                      I currently check out ruslan belov and scan a few others to parse view points. Not rusted on about any of them and especially History’s Legions.

                  2. Henry Moon Pie

                    Agreed on all counts. And for me, that applies double to those I’ll call the Excerpters who jabber about clips of an interview of Y by X and never link the original interview.

                    But the machine-made garbage with 1.6k views mysteriously crowding the top of the feed is the strangest. Maybe I’m watching too many YT vids?

                    Reply ↓
  9. AG

    re: German farmland vs. Big Agro

    interview by BERLINER ZEITUNG

    use google-translate

    Foreign countries are buying up German farmland: “We are experiencing the second structural break in East Germany”

    Reinhard Jung from the Brandenburg Farmers’ Association on the sell-off of German agricultural land, the failure of politics – and why Germany is losing control.
    https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft-verantwortung/ausland-kauft-deutsche-aecker-bauernbund-warnt-vor-zweitem-strukturbruch-in-ostdeutschland-li.10004589

    “Following the takeover of Deutsche Agrar Holding (DAH) – including around 20,000 hectares of farmland in eastern Germany – by the Australian fund Igneo, an old concern has been rekindled: the “sell-off” of German soil. Thuringian farmer Reiko Wöllert warned in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung of the loss of farmers’ control – his words sparked a broad debate.”

    Reply ↓
  10. Ignacio

    Scott Bessent’s Damaging Remarks Puts More Distance between Washington and Moscow Larry Johnson.

    He is signalling to his PMC comrades that he is in the “correct” side of history. What the populaces think about his words doesn’t matter. So, yes, the same kind of idiot as Starmer, Merz, Macron et al.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I’ve seen Bessent in action and he acts like some sort of bully boy and makes criticisms based on what he thinks is real instead of having the Treasury department give him the straight dope. Still, being a bully boy makes him a good fit in the Trump Cabinet. But I do not think that he will give Trump the true picture of the US economy as Trump would not like that.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        Bessent is just a dummy who is projecting … calls Dmitriev a liar, but he himself is lying through his teeth about India buying Russian oil.

        Here is the key quote from Larry Johnson:

        Moreover, I think it is highly likely that Russia and India will find a way to use a third party to continue shipping oil to India in order for India to continue to have access to affordable oil.

        India just set up a big trading exchange that settles accounts in non-dollars. Rupees/Yuan, Rupees/Dinar, etc. They can set up intermediaries who will buy the oil, settle in rupees, and pass it along (with a cut, of course.) Bessent is either an illiterate who forgot basic economics – if a commodity is priced lower than market price and there is demand for it, middlemen will step in to make a market. Or he’s lying through his teeth. I suspect the latter.

        Reply ↓
    2. Louis Fyne

      But he is gay! (I didn’t ask, I don’t care; but I got told anyway)

      “Breaking barriers” is more important than competence.

      Reply ↓
        1. ambrit

          I wonder if that is in his Lincoln profile.
          I used to think that Gay Republican meant “Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.” Now I understand that it means “Epstein Bait.”

          Reply ↓
      1. Louis Fyne

        IMO, Barnes, or at least his twitter feed, consistently offers the correct diagnosis (even if you don’t share his worldview)—-but offers the wrong treatments, lmao

        Reply ↓
      2. Martin Oline

        I always learn something from Robert. Yesterday he said the reason Marco Rubio, a blue-collar son of Cuban refugees, became a successful politician was because his sister married one of the original cocaine cowboys of south Florida. Thinking Miami Vice here.

        Reply ↓
    4. Bugs

      He also got in an actual fistfight with Musk while in the West Wing. Apparently the reason Musk was banned from the White House and then retaliated with a tweet saying that Trump is in the Epstein list.

      Almost makes me say that Bessent can’t be all bad, but I guess it’s just two total jerks fighting, so it’s still all bad. Though one can still cheer them on.

      Reply ↓
  11. Earl

    I was not aware that GM’s CEO Mary Barra was previously GM’s head of HR. Barra has been criticized for abrupt firings of well-liked, and well-credentialed executives both recently recruited or having long GM careers. Eric Starkman is a columnist in our local online news mostly news aggregator, http://www.deadlinedetroit.com and Barra critic. He has written about fired executives as easily disposable “Barra bees.” http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/32623/starkman_why_gm_employees_should_bail_on_ceo_mary_barra_and_avoid _early_morning_termination_events and http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/32552/starkman_gm_under_ceo_mary_barra_is_an_undeniably_soulless_and_dishonest_company

    Reply ↓
    1. Louis Fyne

      changing GM’s old logo to its current sans-serif, lower case “gm” (sic) was the most HR-thing ever, lmao

      maybe Mary should worry more about build quality, diversifying the model portfolio away from trucks, and V-8 engines not grenade-ing

      Reply ↓
      2. John Wright

        Mary Barra should also lead an effort to make the front grill of GM vehicles less of a pedestrian killer as they push pedestrians underneath rather than on top of the hood.

        But then I like the old trucks from the late 1940’s, early 1950’s with the rounded lines.

        Reply ↓
        1. Martin Oline

          I bought a 1958 Chevy Apache pickup in 1974 for $300. Loved the hood with the little devil horns. It had rusted holes in the floor on both sides large enough to eject empty beer cans.

          Reply ↓
        2. johnnyme

          Small cars are also at risk from those behemoths.

          I saw what looked like a stock (no apparent lift kit) late-model GM pickup parked on the street behind a Toyota iQ the other day and the hood of the pickup was pretty much level with the top of the iQ.

          Reply ↓
        3. Arthur Williams

          One of the benefits of my 1978 New Yorker is that it still came equipped with the pedestrian gunsight on the hood.

          Sadly, the blood red paint on the coat of arms is fading after all these years.

          Reply ↓
    2. Jason Boxman

      She’s a great person in other ways as well

      Mr. Wenig and Mr. Wymer have no such worries. In June, Mr. Wenig was re-elected to the board of General Motors, a position that pays $317,000 a year. Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive, called the cyberstalking scandal “regrettable” but noted “it didn’t involve any GM business.”

      Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal (NY Times via archive.ph)

      I guess in this case she forgot her HR mindset.

      Reply ↓
      1. Arthur Williams

        Thanks for that link. The story is truly appalling and both Wenig and Wymer should be in prison, as if that would ever happen.

        Reply ↓
    3. flora

      Thanks for the links. The ‘deadline detroit’ 3rd link includes this:

      Perhaps in the greater scheme of GM’s global workforce of 163,000 employees, but it represents 4% of GM’s Tech Center workforce, assuming the 25,000 workers GM says its Tech Center employs is a current number. GM fired 600 software engineers assigned to its Tech Center campus in August.

      That’s crazy. Barra herself notes customers are complaining about the clunky software used to transition the screen between options, especially Apple and Android connections. A problem that could be fixed with better car software.

      Her answer? Layoff tech software engineers and….get rid of Apple Car Play and Android Auto and other ‘troublesome’ connections in the new cars. Let a 3rd party design new software. More subscription money extracted from car “owners” and advertisers.

      https://tech.yahoo.com/transportation/articles/gm-drops-apple-carplay-android-135933968.html

      Yeah, that’ll work. / ;)

      Reply ↓
  12. Wukchumni

    I want my, I want my ChatGPT
    I want my, I want my ChatGPT
    I want my, I want my ChatGPT
    I want my, I want my ChatGPT

    Now look at them kosher nostras, that’s the way you do it
    You play them for fools on AI & ChatGPT
    That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it
    Money for nothing and your clicks for free
    Now that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it
    Lemme tell ya, them Hasbara guys ain’t dumb
    Maybe get a blister on your little finger
    Maybe get a blister on your thumb

    We got to install influence covenants
    Custom distortion deliveries
    We got to move these goys along
    We got to move these Zionist themes

    Listen here
    Now that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it
    You play them for chumps on the ChatGPT
    That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it
    Money for nothing, and your clicks for free

    Money for Nothing, by Dire Straits

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0&list=RDwTP2RUD_cL0

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      The kosher nostras (nice one) might be doing us a small favor. By destroying the perceived impartiality of AI, they’ve undermined trust. Once nobody trusts that “muh AI” is unbiased and free from tampering by the Central Scrutinizer, they’ll ditch it and rediscover the joys of using your mind. Maybe. Well, we can always hope.

      Reply ↓
  14. DJG, Reality Czar

    Absolutely:

    The Economist catches up with what a colleague has been complaining about for years, rule by HR ladies.

    Further, DEI in various iterations has been around for quite a while. This sentence bemusedly gets to the point, but the chronology is older than the 2020s: ‘ For an “insecure” profession that is “prone to scramble around for fashions and fads”, in the words of one hr director, dei brought plenty to keep busy with, from micro-aggressions to non-gendered toilets. ‘

    Jennifer Pan was interviewed by Joshua Citarella on his excellent DoomScroll vlog. The interview is entitled “Selling Social Justice.” She describes the coopting of these initiatives into an extension of management. As Adolph Reed keeps pointing out, a more “diverse” ruling class of oppressors is still a group of oppressors.

    The expression “rule by HR ladies” also reminded me of a phenomenon that I see / saw in my career in publishing. I’m sure other commenters have seen the same phenomenon in their fields: The division of organizations into fiefdoms. HR is definitely “feminized space” — although it’s main job is to defend the company against the employees. In certain realms of publishing, editorial is women, and marketing is the men. It all becomes a tad too obvious.

    Oddly, though, publishers just can never find young black men to hire. I wonder why.

    Reply ↓
    1. lyman alpha blob

      It’s not just publishers whose HR departments can’t find the black people. A company I’m familiar with determined several years ago that it was short on minority hires and about that same time, the entire workforce was blessed with DEI training. Some did wonder why the rest of the company needed “training” because HR couldn’t hire any minorities (heal thyself!), but I digress…. The solution? An explicit call for more employees to refer minority friends for open positions, with referral bonuses being doubled if it resulted in a minority hire. I wish I was kidding.

      Reply ↓
      1. Revenant

        It has taken me a while to find it but that Economist article is a just a rehash of a Times article from September.


        https://archive.is/xemtx#selection-1459.0-1463.16

        How HR took over British business and got in the way of actual work
        There are now more people working in human resources departments in Britain than there are doctors or lawyers. They have made workplaces more pleasant but at what cost to productivity? Harry Wallop reports
        Thursday September 18 2025, 5.00am BST, The Sunday Times
        [Don’t as me why the Sunday Times publish on Thursday. It’s an internet thing…?]

        All the worst organisations I have worked in had HR as a major power centre and the HR director as some witchy familiar of the CEO. Their common failing as organisations has been the HR mentality: defensive, duplicitous and at every opportunity valuing form and process over judgment. Toxic cargo cults, the lot of them!

        Reply ↓
  15. Afro

    Re: Ben Shapiro saying people should move for jobs.
    Is This The WORST TAKE On The Affordability Crisis? Young Turks, YouTube. It’s gratifying to watch Ben Shapiro self-destruct.

    *****

    That’s actually pretty standard conservatism from the 1990s and 2000s, “we gotta move people to jobs and not jobs to people”, so it’s good to see some growth in thinking among the conservative base, away from Ben Shapiro, National Review, etc.

    Reply ↓
      1. Huey

        Rev what the hell is this? After all the rhetoric this decade on reparations not being a solution, the USA, France et al. gave and have been giving them to holocaust survivors this whole time?

        What about Native Americans and black slave descendants? Why has France still not given Haiti back their money? What about flipping Vietnam reparations? What about Iran, Iraq, Afganistan, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Cuba, Panama, Grenada, Peru, Venezuala, Palestine, hell even Japan, South Africa and Russia not to mention tens more I’m sure I’m forgetting.

        The US didn’t even ouright persecute Jews during WWII more than they supported Apartheid in SA, so what the hell are they giving them reparations for?

        Reply ↓
    2. herman_sampson

      So I see a collision of recent STEM graduates who buy a house with a 50 year mortgage (with very equity) finding no jobs due to US deindustrializing and shutting down biomedical research walking away to China or Russia for a sustainable job (and probably leaving both debts behind). “Failure to plan is planning to fail.”

      Reply ↓
      1. albrt

        Just spitballing here, but I think the demand in China or Russia for US graduates who never considered learning Chinese or Russian is going to be quite low. Although that observation does support your aphorism.

        Reply ↓
        1. Paleobotanist

          Oh, I know some young scholars who are tackling mandarin. A job these days is a great incentive. Some Chinese guys were trying to recruit me about a decade ago. I was very tempted. What’s tackling language 6 if it keeps you fed…?

          Reply ↓
  16. Lethe Waters

    Lavrov: “The EU may argue that we ‘invaded’ Ukraine in violation of certain agreements.”
    “We wanted Ukraine to keep its economic ties with Russia.”
    “Let’s take a year off.”
    *Blink*

    Reply ↓
  17. Bugs

    “Paris, France. Andrei Martyanov”

    I see this everywhere. In one of the small towns in Normandy near me, I recently saw seniors getting together to share their bounty from the local Carrefour supermarket, under the market square roof. They brought thermoses of coffee and tea to share with each other. About 15 people.

    I was also recently in an industrial park in a suburb of a major 2 tier city, to pick up some paint for my house. Next to the paint supplier was a food bank “Les Restos du Coeur”. There was a line of at least 50, in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. People looked working/middle class. Decently dressed, many with their children (Wednesday afternoon is off for grade schoolers).

    Before the pandemic, I’d see groups of pensioners in Versailles, in front of the Franprix there, by the movie theatre. Maybe 10, like the video posted.

    Reply ↓
  18. Samuel Conner

    At the intersection of D capitulationism and L’affaire Epstein, the thought occurs that in addition to potentially or probably (depending on what the Rs do with the promised ACA vote) keeping the ACA premium subsidies issue alive for the mid-terms, by bring the House back into session to deal with the continuing resolution, the capitulation accelerates the Epstein files discharge petition that Speaker Johnson would prefer to suppress.

    It might actually be smart politics (from D party interests perspective, regardless of real-world impacts on the population); the fact that it is being characterized as D fecklessness might be a bonus.

    This thought is not offered in praise of the Party; what has been done might be an objectively evil calculation, but a clever one.

    Reply ↓
    1. tegnost

      I think they’re playing good cop/bad cop.
      The “centrist” dems were recruited by the dnc to be the firewall against any movement left. It’s a rotating and unbeatable cast from manchin and sinema to the current crop of left wing republicans, We are a one party state, Remember the mississippi guy who self financed and was excoriated by the “centrists” for bucking the party. Mamdani sends chills down their spine. Socialism is for the rich and deserving. Part at least of the reason the r’s can’t replace ocare is because ocare is their plan so the protests are all an act. From their collective perspective mamdani winning was a major loss.
      They’re despicable. And guaranteed grocery lobbyists were banging their turkey pans to get the money flowing. Maybe the epstein thing will pan out, and maybe not,As an confirmed cynic I lean to the latter.

      Reply ↓
    2. Mikel

      Somebody tell me what I’m missing other than the Democrats wanting to slow walk to the day ACA health insurance premiums are $5,000 per month and still in need of subsidies.

      Reply ↓
  19. dougie

    As I am ALWAYS in search of methods to amuse myself, I was over the moon wonderstruck by the link to the young lady playing classic rock on the Chinese lute. I lost an hour of a otherwise mundane morning grinning from ear to ear. Thank you for the link, which has now been shared with all my music friends (with source attribution, of course)

    Reply ↓
        1. moog

          In case of “all new music sounds like stuff I’ve heard before” syndrome, nine out of ten doctors recommend getting out of your comfort zone. :)

          Jokes aside, musical genres can be defined as stuff that sounds like some other stuff. There is always new & unheard stuff in unconsumed genres, and in the space betwen them (for an example see below).

          Reply ↓
    1. Mikel

      “And the Republicans and Democrats want to treat New York City like the United States and Europe treated Soviet Russia after its revolution.”

      Might want to slow the row on all of that hyperbole. Not denying the part about the obstacles coming, but it’s not like it was the Russian Revolution.

      Reply ↓
  21. The Rev Kev

    “TRUMP PLAYS THE OLD CIA CARDS FOR REGIME CHANGE”

    A pro-tip for the Trump regime. If you are going to send covert operations teams into a country like Venezuela, then best you do not advertise the fact but keep everything quiet. Trump does not need the spectacle of a bunch of captured CIA spooks shown off in public.

    Reply ↓
  23. Ben Panga

    3 Epstein emails released by the Dems, all involving Trump.

    https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/3-emails_redacted.pdf

    Per the Guardian

    In one of the memos, Epstein wrote to his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011 that Trump “spent hours at my house” in the company of one of the disgraced financier’s sex-trafficked victims.

    The memo describes the president as “that dog that hasn’t barked”, and notes Trump had “never once been mentioned” in connection with what has become a long-running scandal overshadowing his second term of office.

    A second message, sent by Epstein in April 2011 to Trump biographer Michael Wolff, indicates that Trump had asked him to resign from Mar-a-Lago, the president’s exclusive members-only club in Florida.

    But Epstein said he was “never a member ever” and adds “of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop”.

    Reply ↓
    1. DJG, Reality Czar

      Ben Panga:

      It’s all fun and games till Bill and Hillary show up on lists. Then watch the Dems squeal.

      My attitude: Mr. Guillotine’s clever meat slicer. One size fits all.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        Bill and Hill are pretty far back in the rear-view mirror, even for the Dems. A trade of sacrificing that duo in exchange for taking down Trump seems more than even, to me.

        Then there is the Wizard of Kalorama, who would surely benefit somehow from all of their downfall.

        Reply ↓
        1. mrsyk

          I’m more than a bit skeptical of the authenticity of those emails, no?

          I find Whitney Webb’s articles credible. By that metric, specifically the power dynamic Webb describes existing in the sphere of Epstein’s bosses and business associates, the Clintons may be untouchable. The same method would explain Maxwell still being alive and enjoying privileges while in confinement. This is Robert Maxwell’s daughter after all.

          Reply ↓
  24. Wukchumni

    Last night’s northern lights was quite something to see~

    Tonight’s spectacle promises to be something special, peaking around 10 pm @ an overhead view near you.

    Unfortunately it looks as if Big Smokes and coastal cities in Cali will have poor visibility for the event, time for an after-work road-trip Californios!

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Our new planetarium had a great show called Aurora where a photographer went to Yellow Knife in Canada and pointed a hi def wide view camera straight up at the Northern Lights.

      On the planetarium dome it’s you are there. Spectacular.

      Reply ↓
  25. .Tom

    > Starmer allies issue warning to PM’s rivals as fears grow over leadership challenge Guardian

    What do dissidents in the PLP think they accomplish by replacing Starmer as PM with Angela Rayner, Shabana Mahmood or Ed Miliband? Seems to me the constraints of any neoliberal UK government are pretty much set and policies follow from that. Any such government will be hated soon enough. Making Miliband the face of it doesn’t fix much. Or what am I missing?

    Reply ↓
    1. Anonymous 2

      Reportedly Labour party members are terrified that they are going to lose huge numbers of local government seats at the elections due in May 2026. Some seem to think that a fresh face will enable them to reduce their losses then. All very short-term thinking.

      Of course the big showdown, the national General Election, will probably not take place until 2029.

      Reply ↓
  26. ChrisFromGA

    Today, the House does something it hasn’t done since September 19th: show up for a vote. And even in September, these stumblebums worked for a grand total of twelve days. Must be nice.

    Back in July, when the cowardly Mike Johnson skedaddled out of town like a fly-by-night con artist to evade a vote on the Epstein files, NFL training camps hadn’t even opened. The plan apparently is to vote on the new bill to reopen the government, take a long weekend, and possibly work a few days next week before disappearing again for Thanksgiving week.

    I think this deserves a tribute in song.

    Carry on, My Wayward Bums

    Carry on, my wayward bums
    The skids are greased now, shutdown’s done
    Lay your committee heads to rest
    Don’t you trade no more

    [Intro instrumental]

    ahh …

    [Verse 1]

    Once I rose above the noise and confusion
    Just to get a glimpse of Donkey illusions
    Their polls kept soaring ever higher
    But they got too high

    [Verse 2]

    Though my eyes could see they’d fold like a cheap tent
    Though my neighbor cannot make up the back rent
    I hear the voices when I’m dreaming
    I can hear them say

    Carry on, my wayward bums
    The skids are greased now, shutdown’s done
    Lay your weary heads to rest
    Don’t you trade no more

    [Verse 3]

    Masquerading as a base with a reason
    They’ll just yawn while Donald Trump commits treason
    And if I claim to be a moderate, well
    It surely means I’ve got no balls

    On the stormy sea of shutdowns and motions
    They’ll just genuflect to thugs ‘cross the ocean
    They’ve set a course to raise their fortunes
    But I hear the voices say …

    Carry on, my wayward bums
    The skids are greased ’til empire’s done
    Lay your committee heads to rest
    Don’t you trade no more

    No!

    [Break]

    carry on … we will always remember
    carry on … your defeat and surrender

    Now my health care bills are sky high … surely Hades waits for you!

    Carry on, my Epstein bums
    The skids are greased now, shutdown’s done
    Lay your committee heads to rest
    Don’t you trade, don’t you trade no more

    [Instrumental outro]

    (Melody and original lyrics by Kansas, “Carry on my wayward son”)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZJui3aPoQ&list=RDP5ZJui3aPoQ

    Reply ↓
    1. Pat

      Would state referendums requiring elected officials from the state spend a minimum of 40 hours a month meeting with constituents ( must live in the district, be from a variety of financials classes present in the district and cannot include lobbyists) be legal? This including both state and federal members.

      I would love to see elected officials be legally required not just to have to meet the responsibilities of their job more than their fundraising, but to have one of the required responsibilities to be regularly meeting with the people they are elected to represent. Instead we are paying a lot of people to beg and suck up to a small coterie of rich people.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        One of the arguments I heard Mike “the weasel” Johnson make was to the effect of, “oh, we’re still working, we’re just back in our districts meeting with constituents.” And there may be some truth to that, although something tells me that not all 435 of these guys and gals were really spending their time talking to the rabble, and not off on a junket bending the knee for the Israeli flag. Or fundraising.

        Your idea is an excellent one, but I have no idea if it would pass Constitutional muster.

        Reply ↓
      3. ambrit

        Considering how much of their time is occupied in funds raising, perhaps the best way to rein in the political parties would be to revoke their tax exempt status. Then go after all those dodgy “Advocacy Committees.”

        Reply ↓
        1. amfortas

          simpler to just feed them to the pigs and start over.

          altho i am a bit drunk and surly…spent 3 hours in a mudhole fixin mom’s ancient water supply pipe(1960’s era black poly pipe)…and cannot lay down, lest i seize up, entirely.
          laid down the law…instead of spending 25K on fixin the whole decrepit system under her house, she will pay me 5k to walk by and get it done, come spring.
          all the 100+ years of under the house plumbing will be simply disconnected, and left in place.
          all the random repairs done in that time, by unknown folks, with whatever was to hand, ignored.
          we’ll do what i did with my house, and go around the perimeter, and only come into the house where required….
          that 3 hours of bullshit honey-do kicked my ass….and covered my whole body with mud.
          but i walked by, and got it done, and she has water.

          fie.

          Reply ↓
          1. ambrit

            Poor man, well do I remember the abomination that is black poly pipe. Coterminal with the old multi-layered tarpaper sewer pipe. The only thing I feared more than those two was repairing lead and oakum joints in cast iron sewer pipe.
            Sleep well, you’ve earned it.

            Reply ↓
          2. Steve H.

            Myself spent hours digging under the porch, tracking a groundhog tunnel that took aim at our new sewer line. Second hole I dug myself in today.

            Reply ↓
  27. .human

    Disrespecting sacred spaces is part of…

    the hallmark of Western imperial colonialism. Ànd probably colonialism in general. I am not a scholar.

    Reply ↓
    1. hk

      Common experiences of many sacred spaces in times of conquest–symbolically convert infidels’ houses of worship to your own, if they are important enough, or blow them up. Hagia Sofia is a famous example, but many mosques/churches in Iberia and Middle East used to be churches/mosques, and, of course, many Protestant churches used to be Catholic (well, almost anything in England) and quite a few churches belonging to the wrong peoples were blown up (if only figuratively in some cases), like Alexander Nevski in Warsaw.

      Reply ↓
  29. Jason Boxman

    More Teens Are Taking Antidepressants. It Could Disrupt Their Sex Lives for Years. (NY Times Mag via archive.ph)

    Research on adults who take S.S.R.I.s shows they tamp down sexual desire. Why aren’t we studying what that could mean for adolescents who take them?

    You know what else is happening to teens and adults every year? COVID.

    COVID penis is a thing. If you want a functional johnson, don’t get infected!

    But we don’t care about repeat infections with a level 3 biohazard, no issues there!

    The effects of S.S.R.I.s on young sexuality are all the more relevant because prescriptions for the drugs have soared. Around two million 12-to-17-year-olds in the United States are on S.S.R.I.s. One large 2024 study in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics tallied, month by month, the percentage of that age group who filled an antidepressant prescription between 2016 and 2022. During that time, the rate climbed by 69 percent, with the Covid pandemic’s emotional reverberations almost surely playing a part, though a notable rise was underway before then. Among college students in 2023-24, according to a survey with over 100,000 participants, 22 percent had taken an antidepressant during the previous year. This was up from 8 percent in 2007.

    (bold mine)

    If you think that’s bad, just wait until you get long COVID!

    Reply ↓
  30. Jason Boxman

    From Trump’s H-1B Visa Crackdown to Accelerate Wall Street’s Expansion in India

    Catch this; Remote work for capitalists offshoring to save a buck, but not for you, to improve your life

    Trump’s $100,000 fee for visa applications — which JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said “caught everyone off guard” — could add to India’s edge, just as the pandemic gave GCCs a boost by showcasing the potential of remote work. Companies that might consider transferring a worker to the US may now opt to hire them in India instead, banking executives said.

    (bold mine)

    Remember, learn to code? Get a STEM degree? LOLz

    “With the new fee, they’re starting to question if that job is a priority for them,” said Ben Hodzic, head of North America at recruitment firm Selby Jennings. Jobs with a heavy math or computer science component are most at risk, he said.

    Thanks Obama!

    For most roles, India offers employers significant salary savings relative to other countries. For an entry level role at a US bank’s GCC, an engineering graduate could earn between 300,000 rupees ($3,384) to 800,000 rupees a year, depending on the location. That compares with $60,000 for an Indian on a US visa, and up to $120,000 for a US citizen in the same role, according to people familiar with the matter.

    That’s some serious labor arbitrage, no?

    And once again we see that H1B was about suppressing US wages.

    Reply ↓
    1. Basil

      It should remind you of Ukraine, and Syria, and all the other places where USA sponsored “freedom fighters” did their thing, and still do their thing.

      Reply ↓
      1. mrsyk

        For sure, and in this case willing to pay around a hundred grand for the privilege.

        To be weekend snipers, they reportedly paid the equivalent of between €80,000 ($92,800) and €100,000 ($116,000), according to the first hypotheses of the investigation. Shooting at children cost more.

        Reply ↓
        1. Basil

          Alleged, thesis, allegedly, according to the complaint, reportedly, according to the first hypotheses, rumored, clues about the possibility, “an urban legend”, Russian.

          In this case, I belive that the USA side did it, just like in all other cases. Accusing the “Russians” is part of the spiel.

          Reply ↓
          1. mrsyk

            I won’t argue that point as it’s always a reasonable argument, and it sounds like something the izzies/usians would do. It’s the demand side that baffles me. And this was back in the 90s. How much has the industry grown since then? The client list would likely make for interesting reading.

            Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      I heard the same about Lebanon during the civil war there. Wealthy westerners would pay for trips in to do a bit of sniping so that they could go home with some human kills on their board. Something tells me though that those kills were not Lebanese soldiers or militias.

      Reply ↓
  34. alrhundi

    https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Asia/Trump-Revives-USCentral-Asia-Ties-with-25-Billion-in-New-Deals.html

    According to the U.S. International Trade Administration, the deals between U.S. and Central Asian firms totaled $25 billion and included:

    All American Rail Group Global: rail construction and engineering in the Kyrgyz Republic

    Boeing: up to 15 787 Dreamliners (Kazakhstan); up to four 787 Dreamliners and 10 737 Max airliners (Tajikistan); and eight more 787 Dreamliners, bringing the prior total to 22 widebody jets (Uzbekistan)

    Cove Capital: privatization of a tungsten mining company in Kazakhstan

    John Deere: agricultural machinery for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

    Leidos: upgrade of Kazakhstan’s National Air Traffic Management System.

    MOUs between Nvidia, the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence & Digital Development, and Freedom Holding Corporation for Advanced AI chips in Kazakhstan

    The key takeaways from the C5 +1 are:

    Strengthening the Strategic Partnership and Mutual Trust. The U.S. and the republics underscored their shared commitment to building a long-term, strategic dialogue based on mutual respect, trust, and shared values. The C5 + 1 partnerships will be grounded in transparency, innovation, and shared global responsibility.

    Deepening Economic and Investment Cooperation. U.S. focus is shifting to economics and business and away from security-only policies. The leaders’ meetings with U.S. business and financial leaders laid the groundwork for a new phase of trade, investment, and industrial collaboration in key areas such as green energy, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure development, digital transformation, and technology innovation.

    Advancing Regional Connectivity and Sustainable Development. Economic connectivity, energy transition, regional security, and climate resilience are key to regional unity and integration, fostering a stable, prosperous, and interconnected Central Asia that contributes to global peace and sustainable development.

    Opening a New Chapter in U.S.–Central Asia Relations. The leaders’ shared vision aims to foster innovation, resilience, and shared prosperity for the U.S., Central Asia, and the broader international community.

    Reply ↓
  35. TomW

    OMG
    Sergey Lavrov: “We know what the Americans have, and the Americans know what they have. Let’s take a year to, so to speak, cool down

    Sanity

    Reply ↓
  36. bertl

    “EU eyes banning Huawei, ZTE Corp from mobile networks of member countries” and “EU’s top judge hits out at Viktor Orbán, warning that the bloc’s funds must not enrich a ruling elite” or some naughty nation’s “public procurement is systematically refused to out-of-state business, favouring the businesses around the leader or the governing party, the leading party.”

    The unelected leaders of the EU institutions really see themselves as the shit bedraggled tail wagging the member state dogs.

    Just to make it clear that it is Hungary being sent to the naughty corner because it’s elected officials are protecting the country’s national interests the “EU’s top Judge”, in the words of the Euractiv report, Lenaerts, who “argued that participation in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) – the EU body that investigates and prosecutes crimes involving the Union’s funds – should be mandatory for all countries that receive EU funds.

    “He described how in some member states probes by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) – the EU agency tasked with detecting misuse of EU money – “end up in the wastebasket,” lamenting that “the whole system is closed.”

    “Hungary, notably, has refused to join the EPPO, even though it has no formal opt-out from EU justice cooperation — leaving OLAF dependent on national prosecutors in Budapest, who critics say rarely act on its findings.”

    Wonder what stage OLAF and the EPPO have got to in the investigation and prosecution of fonda Lyin’s no longer existent trail of electronic messages dealing with EU business. Maybe Huawei and ZTE Corp can throw some light on the contents for us?

    Reply ↓
  37. Wukchumni

    Leavitt to Believer

    This week’s episode has Karoline on the defensive, it appears that it was Eddie Haskell who pal’d around with Jeffrey Epstein-not the President.

    In a Hail Mary toss, she even seemed to implicate Genocide Joe but it fell to the groundless.

    Reply ↓
  38. flora

    File under A Win For Womens Sports.
    From Vigilant Fox:

    The Olympics Finally Admit What Everyone Already Knew: Men Have an Advantage in Women’s Sports

    https://www.vigilantfox.com/p/the-olympics-finally-admit-what-everyone

    “The Olympic Committee appears to have suddenly stumbled across startling new evidence that suggests biological men have advantages over women in sports.

    Multiple reports are outlining that the IOC is to enact a new policy banning transgender individuals from competing against women.

    It will also cover those with differences of sex development (DSD), essentially individuals found to have XY chromosomes, such as Imane Khelif, the boxer who punched through every women to win gold at the last Olympics in Paris.

    Reply ↓

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