When researchers found this kind of mysterious underwater ‘crop circles’, they did not know the cause.
Then, they proved to be amazing artwork made by pufferfish to attract and win a mate. pic.twitter.com/38K3ba6iIj
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 15, 2025
New Study Uncovers Hidden Dangers of the Keto Diet SciTech Daily
The Progress Paradox Noema
Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media? Harper’s Magazine
Why the chemtrail conspiracy theory lingers and grows – and why Tucker Carlson is talking about it The Conversation
COVID-19/Pandemics
Experts: Conflicting advice on COVID shots likely to ding already low vaccine rates Tuscon Sentinel
AMP 25: Measles and Other Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Rebound in the Post-Pandemic Era Inside Precision Medicine
Climate/Environment
Climate leaders are talking about ‘overshoot’ into warming danger zone. Here’s what it means Euronews
Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber all Cop30 delegations except Brazil, report says The Guardian
South of the Border
Trump likely to face long military commitment and chaos if he ousts Maduro in Venezuela, experts say CNN
Mexico: Gen Z protests planned; government questions who’s behind them UPI
BREAKING: MEXICO🔴 THE NATIONAL PALACE HAS FALLEN
The National Palace in Mexico City has been overrun — crowds flooding the gates, barriers collapsing, and the government losing control in real time.
This is not a protest.
This is a national eruption — the kind that signals… pic.twitter.com/V4GEZydhLg
— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) November 15, 2025
But:
Clashes in Mexico City amid Gen-Z styled protests over crime and corruption Aljazeera:Monica Cruz, an AJ+ reporter in Mexico City, said it was likely that the opposition was behind the protests in the Mexican capital.
“We are having a hard time believing that this is an organic protest. Especially from young people. We don’t want to say that Gen Z is a monolith. There are young people in every side of the political spectrum,” she said.
“But there’s not a lot of young people out there on the streets and we are thinking that may be a reflection or a sign that this is not really coming from the young people. Because we’ve seen protests here in Mexico City against the genocide in Palestine, for example, and we’ve seen young people by the thousands marching in the streets.”
Colombia’s Petro inks $4.3bn deal for 17 fighter jets amid regional tension Al Jazeera
China?
🇯🇵 Japan’s new PM Sanae Takaichi has managed something remarkable: she single-handedly destroyed decades of China’s restraint toward Japan.
For years Beijing avoided escalating historical issues.
For years Chinese public opinion chose patience over anger.
But Takaichi’s nuclear… pic.twitter.com/JoUAZYy8BP— 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 (@OopsGuess) November 15, 2025
The End of China’s Old Guard Foreign AffairsChina slams Philippines over its joint drills with US, Japan Anadolu Agency
China finds bigger role as US sidesteps Brazil climate summit Reuters
China’s New Photonic Quantum Chip Promises 1,000-Fold Gains for Complex Computing Tasks Quantum Insider
China Built the World’s Quickest EVs — Now It Wants to Slow Them Down Auto Blog
India
India-Pakistan conflict risks surge amid terror attacks, Afghan proxy war claims SCMP
No major impact of Trump tariffs? Moody’s says India to be fastest growing major economy The Times of India
Africa
S&P upgrades South Africa for first time in nearly 20 years as reforms gain traction Reuters
Don’t Let Sudan Become Africa’s Afghanistan The National Interest
The moment the postcolonial domination of Africa finally ended The Globe and Mail
European Disunion
The EU’s new censorship machine UnHerd
How does the EU become a geopolitical force? Robin Brooks substack
Old Blighty
Reeves faces ‘credibility crisis’ as markets batter UK after Labour MPs force U-turn on income tax hike The Daily Mail
Final decision on fate of crumbling UK parliament delayed to 2030s Politico
Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran
This is the situation in the displacement tents in Gaza as winter begins and the rain starts to fall. pic.twitter.com/IP7QE2fCjZ
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) November 14, 2025
Hezbollah’s Quiet Rebuild The Cipher BriefRecord settler attacks in West Bank opening up rifts within Israel BBC
Israel breaching international law by limiting Gaza aid, says Unrwa official The Guardian
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia to produce 120,000 glide bombs and 70,000 drones this year – Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Ukrainska Pravda
Ukraine’s drone war is also being waged on the ground France 24
How to fight in ‘hell’: Ukraine veterans say Nato not ready for war with Russia The Independent
Russia pummels Kyiv in barrage of drones and missiles as it makes gains in Ukraine PBS
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
YouTube and Google $30 million child privacy settlement: Who qualifies and how to claim The Economic Times
Privacy Watchdog EFF Lambastes Lawmakers Over Terrible Plan To Ban VPNs Hot Hardware
Imperial Collapse Watch
The mayor lifted a homeless emergency declaration. South L.A. merchants and residents aren’t so sure Los Angeles Times
Nearly 400K fentanyl pills in car seized at Nogales Port of Entry News 4 Tucson
Killer Train Miami Herald
Trump 2.0
Trump Tries to Cover Up His Epstein Scandal With Wildly Corrupt Bullying Zeteo
5 issues at the center of the Trump-Greene spat The Hill
Trump, like Biden before him, finds there’s no quick fix on inflation AP
Economist Warns That Trump’s Investments in the Tech Industry Could Crash the Whole Economy Futurism
Americans with six-figure incomes are in ‘survival mode,’ poll finds USA Today
Musk Matters
Wall Street Touts Tesla Inc. (TSLA) Prospects Following $1Trillion Elon Musk Compensation Approval Insider Monkey
Elon Musk has a plan to reach Mars in 90 days. It normally takes 8 months India Today
Democrat Death Watch
Sen. John Kennedy ridicules Democratic Party divide between Schumer and ‘socialist’ wing’ led by AOC Fox News
Letter: By capitulating on the shutdown, Democrats showed their true colors The Salt Lake Tribune
Immigration
Trump’s latest Border Patrol deployment will fail for all the same reasons MS. Now
As ICE escalates its tactics, are federal agents truly ‘untouchable’ in the eyes of the law? CNN
Many businesses close in east Charlotte as masked federal agents make arrests The Charlotte Observer
Our No Longer Free Press
Stars and Stripes at a crossroads: Inside its mission, press freedom challenges and digital future Editor & Publisher
FCC Chair Carr’s Defiant Stand: Inside the News Distortion Crackdown WebPro News
Mr. Market Is Moody
What Lies Ahead for the US Dollar Index? STL News
The Stock Market May Do Something Last Seen During the Great Recession. A Sharp Decline Could Follow. The Motley Fool
Should you worry about an AI bubble? Investment pros weigh in. CBS News
AI
AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children Futurism
Databricks co-founder argues US must go open source to beat China in AI TechCrunch
AI pressures new graduates and exposes gaps in colleges’ job-ready promises Cryptopolitan
Cities and states are turning to AI to improve road safety AP
The Future of AI Nature
The Bezzle
Thailand police arrest 15 foreigners during raid on crypto scam site Cryptopolitan
Shocking! Southeast Asia Scam Parks Forcing Women Into Horror Surrogacy Scheme Vision Times
Guillotine Watch
World’s most expensive diamond earrings! They set new record price of 57.4 mln USD in #Switzerland https://t.co/uuLSXazhTt pic.twitter.com/qEkNWgDZ6g
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 19, 2017
Marie Antoinette’s pearl and diamond pendant smashed its £1million estimate to sell for an eyewatering £28million at Sothebys in 2018. If you wanted to pick up the matching pearls and earrings, they would’ve cost you another £2.4million! #ritzyrocks #gloriousGeorgians pic.twitter.com/zkRNdnYKo4
— Catherine Curzon (@MadameGilflurt) January 27, 2021
Antidote du jour (via)
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
Marjorie I love my Marjorie
That’s a Taylorism which makes me feel so good
And Donald can’t live without her ranting lunatic ways, even if he could
They call her Marjorie
I love my Marjorie
Oh yeah, come on
She’s the same Freedom Caucus member who used to hang around the Congress floor
But she sure acts different than the way she looked before
I call her Marjorie
I love my Marjorie
Marjorie I love my Marjorie
I love my Marjorie
I need ya, Marjorie
Valleri, by the Monkees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKGwiH2bw9s&list=RDwKGwiH2bw9s
Wuk, you have been on a roll the last few Months.
Thanks for the laughs.
Thanks Tom, this year has been an absurdist’s whet dream.
“Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media?”
Not hard to work out. These experts go on about how maybe it was 2016 or maybe the Iraq war reporting or Covid or Biden’s health or whatever that undermined them. Those were merely symptoms. A long time ago the main stream media stopped reporting news and started to shape the news. They ‘owned the news’ so for example they would silence smaller political candidates and boost candidates from the uniparty. ‘We were the gatekeepers, and we very much owned the facts as well.’ Reporters were then being recruited from elites and ordinary future reporters were shut out of the system – until they reappeared on the net as bloggers or on substack. People were learning how much reporting was actually just biased opinions on the part of reporters and the internet was showing what was really going on that undercut them. Here is a brief video taken last year in Davos that talks about this whole thing-
https://xcancel.com/ModernityNews/status/1748366347036176592#m
They don’t appear to understand that vast swathes of the public dismiss them for what they are — court stenographers shilling for corporate power.
They have all the credibility of a priesthood exposed for its blatant corruption. Which is to say, none.
Mostly peaceful journalism? /s
Sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill…
Before the dawn of the internet, there were say half dozen or so stories i’ve been privy to in my life that were notable enough to make it into the newspaper, they managed to get it all wrong, and you wondered if this was commonplace in the industry?
Fishwrap hoarse power in days of olde was considerable along with TV news coming at us all in a 1-way direction…oh sure you could write a letter to the editor, but I digress.
If you had told the 22 year old* version of myself that a standing President would take $16 million in payola money from the parent company of a major TV network, I’d think the world had gone mad.
* never then was heard that billion word
Not even the classic remark commonly attributed to Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL): “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money” — ?
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Everett_Dirksen
Hot chicks dig a pufferfish with a groovy pad, all you need now is some Barry White emanating from the sub-woofers.
My First My Last My Everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB54XUhA9_w&list=RDtB54XUhA9_w
So, are dry land “crop circles” alien attempts to attract mates?
Yea, from illegal aliens.
Elon Musk Predicts Humans Could Live Forever In Tesla Optimus Robots Using ‘Snapshots’ of Their Minds.
Musk has gone beyond being a parody of himself, and is now a cartoon character so scientifically implausible that he couldn’t make it as a fourth-tier science fiction writer. If this is who many Americans consider today’s Great Engineer — its Edison, Tesla, or even merely Ford — what’s that say about the U.S. today?
He seems to have a following for his stories about self driving cars and humanoid robots.
The humanoid story could be about an eternal museum to remind future generations why the revolution happened.
The headline is also untrue. “Humans Could Live Forever”? No, the humans still die.
However, I can imagine a future where people with the perfect personality for a particular task rent copies of their personality for robots.
Musk, unironically probably, expresses the Mormonism concept of “the soul”. (expressed in the “Caprica” sci-fi tv serie).
ie. if you take an amalgam of an infinite number of 3rd-party representations of you, that is you.
oh boy, wait ’til.your immortal Optimus soul takes her first “Star Trek” transporter trip….existential dread awaits, lmao
“Faith, Souls, and Battlestar Galactica”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dwCXSyB3vA8&t=300
Musk is just a few steps away from being a villain in any one of the 60s or 70s Saturday morning super hero cartoons.
Musk is already at the level of lackey-antagonist in a John Carpenter (RIP) film.
Can’t wait til he unveils his lizard face when his net worth hits $1t.
You’ll be waiting a long time.
He’ll never hit that number.
I won’t rule out a hyper inflated us dollar when we hit an AI/COVID/war fueled jackpot.
In regards to hyperinflation, when everything in your country revolves around the almighty buck and then whammo it isn’t worth anything-a well armed citizenry could get pretty uppity.
I’d wondered just how in the world a once mighty power that still wielded financial clout could go the hyperinflation route, as in the past you needed a prop of either coin or currency to make it happen, but our prop is the President!
Its worth noting that in 1922, smarties in the fatherland put their faith in the German stock market-which performed really well that year, but the next year it didn’t matter what securities were worth in Marks, as they weren’t worth diddly squat.
I keep a Zimbabwe $10 Trillion banknote in my wallet for yucks.
Occasionally in the right retail situation i’ll fish it out, like say at an event where parking is $20, ‘can you take this?’
Louis
John Carpenter isn’t dead. Peter Watkins and Tatsuyo Nakadai died last week, however.
Please I beg of you, Elon is on the very verge of a fourth comma, making Neil Armstrong weak at the knees in comparison to accomplishments.
“That’s one small scam for Musk, one giant grift for Musk-kind.”
How does he compare with Satchmo?
I would say P.T. Barnum…but that would be an insult to Barnum.
…but that would be an insult to Barnum.
Word.
“There’s a Republicrat born every minute.”
Every self-respecting cult leader needs to have a promise of afterlife, to go with promised land.
Am not a YT person so I didn´t know “PUPPET REGIME”.
Putin wants Trump to DO IT
1 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-2r-qJcxKc&t=53s
That brought a smile!
From a geostrategic point of view, the US bogged down in a mountainous jungle quagmire with an inability to make new weapons (and a disaffected military – see Trump’s military shlumping parade) is an ideal Thucydides trap – powered by an AI bubble economy.
“How does the EU become a geopolitical force?”
In short, it doesn’t. The EU economy is being deliberately wrecked on the alter of Project Ukraine, there is no powerful military to give the words of the EU an actual edge but what is worse how bad EU diplomacy is. Not only are Global majority countries sick of the finger pointing, the lectures and the hypocrisy of their actions, but the EU has tried the same with powerhouse China as well whom it desperately needs to help its ailing economy. The result is that EU officials are not greeted on the runway when they arrive in China, they cannot get meetings with high officials and even Ursula was forced to go through ordinary customs on her way back to the EU like a pleb. And yet the author of this article – Robin J Brooks – can only suggest doing more of what the EU is doing as a solution.
>”In short, it doesn’t.”
Yes!
😂
Nicolai Petro on this subject with Glenn Diesen a few days ago
Nicolai Petro: Ukraine Endgame & Fragmentation of Europe
54 min.
https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/nicolai-petro-ukraine-endgame-and
“How does the EU become a geopolitical farce?”
Fixed it, mission accomplished.
“Elon Musk has a plan to reach Mars in 90 days. It normally takes 8 months” caught my eye. Billionaire vs physics is always a good fight.
Unfortunately the article is nonsense and provides no explanation, indeed an anti-explanation that leaves one less wise, of whatever Elon is promoting. Apparently he will shorten the trip by half by making his spacecraft go slower, if the cited speeds are to be believed!
Read with tongs. Oh for the days of subeditors who would have made the India Today journalist rewrite it without errors.
If we’re lucky he’ll still try.
I am deeply confused by Japan’s new militarism.
That is a country in no position to fight. They haven’t made babies in a long time. They may have had 17% of global GDP in the 1980s, but now they’re at around 3%. There is really nothing that they can do against China.
I suspect it’s very much a Russia/Ukraine situation. Perhaps Japan (and Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea) will be completely used up to the point of practically disappearing in order to “weaken” China. How very abhorrent. These are cultures with thousands of years of history, it’s a big loss if they’re brainwashed into sacrificing themselves for nothing.
I had the same suspicion that you had. That Japan is being set up to be the Ukraine of the Pacific. Japan’s new PM Sanae Takaichi is really doing a job here by burning down relations between Japan and China and you wonder if that was how she came to be selected to be the new PM. Of course she could do the same with Japanese – Russian relations as well because obviously what Japan really needs is more enemies.
Same story with Korea. Both countries have a slice of their Establishment who want to be “big man on campus”.
Then toss in irrational distrust/hatred of China (china “communism”). Heck, Britain and France hated each other for centuries despite having ruling classes who were literally related to some degree.
To paraphrase Milton, Better for Japan-Korea be a satrap for the US (with the illusion of equality) than be an overt junior partner to China or neutral.
Of course, most of those people have spent tbeir entire professional life living of the gravy train of the US military/think-tank circles
Being related was a big part of the reason why England hated France: the other direction, I think, was much weaker. Kings of England claimed the French throne until after Louis XVI lost his head, I believe.
“Big man on campus” syndrome in Korea is more complicated than that in Japan: it tends to be directed at Japan as much as China, plus it gets mixed with a lot of confused mix of sentiment in the South vis a vis North. (Ironically, the North is as wary of China as the South is of Japan). Much harder to predict where they’ll align. What I can say is that South preferred align directly with US because of its issues with Japan and the North preferred USSR because of its China issues during the Cold War. South’s attempt at “Nordpolitik” and North’s attempt at dealing with US in the post Cold War era can also be seen in this light, too, but nobody really wants to actually “fight” their neighbors, either. As Koreans say, Japan and China are both “near but distant” lands.
While the USA never seems to have a problem finding a local quisling willing to participate in the destabilization and destruction of their own country, Jolani, Machado, and Zelensky are some of the names that spring to mind, I’d be surprised if there is a lever or a cassus belli that the US can find to manoeuvre stable and prosperous countries like Japan or South Korea into a solo fight against China. The Georgian reaction to being used as a disposable tool, i.e. “(it’s clear the Americans aren’t actually going to come to our rescue so) we surrender”, is still much more likely than the Ukrainian one, “(it’s clear the Americans aren’t going to come to our rescue so) let’s fight to the last Ukrainian.”
It’s a few years now since I was professionally involved in that part of the world, and I happily yield to those with more recent on the ground experience. But we need to remember that after 1945 Japan was a profoundly anti-militarist country, and it was only under US pressure that Self-Defence Forces were established in 1954 as a consequence of the Korean War. For decades, the US link was an acutely sensitive political issue in Japan and it hasn’t been resolved even today.
The Japanese adopted a deliberate policy of attempted low-profile repair of their reputation after the Pacific War, which was fought, let’s remember, largely in China. This involved a very low political profile, support of international institutions and being a major overseas aid donor. But there was no quid pro quo, especially from China, which for decades expertly manipulated Japanese war guilt for political and financial purposes. And other Asian nations followed suit: every time a few words were changed in a history textbook, “spontaneous” riots would break out in the region. The result was that, in both theory and practice, any Japanese politician who spoke of, or prepared to do, things which would have been normal in virtually any other country in the world was coded as an extreme right-wing nationalist. This couldn’t go on, and as early as 1989, a multi-authored book entitled A Japan that Can say “No” caused a significant stir, with its argument that Japan needed far more independence from the United States, and to be able to function as a “normal” state once again. (The same currents were noticeable in Korea, which began to move noticeably towards military independence in the 1990s.) This being Japan, of course, things happen slowly, but there’s really nothing unexpected in this development: I’ve been predicting it for a quarter of a century. Independent military power, and a defence and security policy which is allied to the US but independent of it, combined with a much more assertive foreign policy, aren’t actually all that radical or even unusual. It’s just that for generations the Japanese were, as they used to say “nothing but an ATM for other nations,” and now that they’re doing their own thing everyone is surprised.
I suppose it’s not unlike what happened with Germany for us (although Italy seems to always get off lightly).
I am always surprised though at how much modern culture from Japan and S. Korea make it to China, and it’s a huge influence on them. Manga, anime, music, games, fashion and beauty and so on. And the Chinese make up a substantial diaspora in Japan, on top of it being a huge Chinese tourist destination (for good and ill).
I did see talk of flight cancellations. There has been some individual bad stories of attacks, and there is a lot of talking about militarising, but there is obviously some deeper connection here. And at least for younger people in China, Japan and South Korea have plenty of soft power, would it not be better utilising this a bit more.
Historical wrongs were never addressed after WW2, General McArthur protected Japan from retribution. People all over East Asia have a grievance about this from their elders and still want Japan punished. China now has the power to do this as the US slides down the wrong side of history. They should keep their heads down.
If Japan does move toward military independence, we should expect to see policy independence in relation to the US. Will the number of US bases be reduced? Will Japan have a changed relationship with China that does not conform to US priorities? There has been a sector of the US security establishment that has advocated for remilitarization of Japan, so the new policy might not be a sign of independence.
Looks like loosing gen-Z anger in the streets against political foes is going to be a thing. Good luck finding the “off” switch.
How will Sheinbaum respond?
I’m hoping that these Gen Z protests don’t turn out to be like the Arab Spring protests of the 2010s – in being supported by western spooks.
Same old, same old….
https://latin-american.news/former-us-envoy-to-venezuela-says-that-it-will-be-mission-accomplished-when-maduro-leaves/
https://justthenews.com/video/elliott-abrams-participated-iran-related-meeting-israels-netanyahu
Busy ‘lil feller during the pre Black Friday doldrums!
Thank goodness Trump deep-sixed The Deep State, and that we have moved foreign policy away from such banal things as resources like oil…
It remains to be seen how it all develops. And maybe more on down south of the border.
And it just so happens, ahead this and Venezuela, the increased border lock downs, ICE/military patrols, and detention center$ that just so happened to occur. And that doesn’t discount the political motives for this ahead of elections in the USA.
It can’t be doubted some of the frustration is real and it can’t be doubted the opportunists will come out of the woodwork.
We will see…
Except it’s not real.
The US is once again trying to stir up a color revolution as it has in countless other countries.
The big difference is now these are more likely to fail than succeed. One more consequence of a multi-polar world.
“How will Sheinbaum respond?”
Indeed. She still has extremely high approval ratings in Mexico.
Not real. “GenZ” is not a concept used in Mexico, and if it was, it would not be used for such a middle aged crowd. Furthermore, any news article using “genZ” in its headline and omitting Sheinbaum stating that these groups were financed from abroad and organized through bots, is part of this staged event. GenZ unrest is the new color revolution.
The “black skull” anime character flags made an appearance.
Flag indeed…
I would say it’s part real, no?
Agree that those in the color revolution business will tap this resource and is likely in play here.
The old political parties in Mexico retain their paid gangs of drunks, petty criminals, cops, and agitators, as do the Americans.
All were visible throwing rocks and bottles in the Zocalo. ‘Gen Z’ isn’t even a concept in Mexico. La Presidenta, like Maduro, is solidly safe.
– ‘Why the chemtrail conspiracy theory lingers and grows – and why Tucker Carlson is talking about it’ – The Conversation
When I read that the author “was a communications researcher who studied conspiracy theories,” I was sure that what followed would be a regurgitation of the usual academic spiel. They always follow the same pattern. Choose an obviously ridiculous theory. Explain how it could not possibly be true, and that only people who don’t understand science or journalism or Karl Popper could believe it. Then explain how such beliefs help such ignorant people cope with their fears of an uncertain world. And somewhere in there you insert the main point of such an article:
“Although there are liberal chemtrail believers, aversion to uncertainty might explain why the theory has become so popular with Carlson’s audience: Researchers have long argued that authoritarian, right-wing beliefs have a similar underlying structure.”
It’s the old “authoritarian Republican brain” theorem. Not that there aren’t authoritarian Republican brains that believe in the chemtrail conspiracy. But one of the comforting beliefs of educated liberals is that it is mainly uneducated authoritarian types who believe in “conspiracy theories.” And they have research like this to back them up.
Right before reading this I read the panel discussion ‘Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media.’ There, the Dean of the Columbia Journalism School – also a staff writer for The New Yorker – said this in response to that question:
“… I’m not sure that there’s a correlation between the mistakes the media has made and the distrust the public feels toward it. Here’s what I mean: every one of us has been in a conversation in which someone says, “What the media won’t tell you . . . ” There are certain sentences that, when you hear the first half, you should immediately ignore the second half—and that’s one of them. The reason is that, 99 percent of the time, when someone says, “The media won’t tell you this,” it’s because the thing they’re talking about is either not true or is not true in the way they conceive it to be. Or they have a pet conspiracy theory that no one else shares, and the media won’t validate their viewpoint.”
See what I mean? Let’s call it the “liberal brain” theory: the psychological comfort provided by the belief that only the uneducated dolts see the world differently from highly educated, scientifically sound journalists like us.
There is a lot to say about such claims. But a simple response to such champions of Truth and debunkers of Conspiracy Theories these days is always: “Great. Now do Russiagate.”
In a way, they are mirror images of each other, no? Russiagate is a crazy conspiracy theory that only liberals believe in, in a manner of speaking.
Personally, I think there are two types of “conspiracy theories.”
The first kind is actually not “Russiagate type,” but people in basements with too much time on their hands. They actually care about the details and how they fit together. They look at the facts and know what’s going on at the granular level that few others do…but they often have certain worldviews that they fit all the facts into that are probably wrong and farfetched. I’d put most good investigative journalists into this camp. Let me emphasize that I think this sort of conspiracy theory is actually a good thing…if you only pay attention to the facts they bring up and not necessarily their conclusions.
Then there’s “mass delusion” type which I don’t think is really a conspiracy theory as such–like Russiagate–but a sociocultural phenomenon. We hate X, we think they are up to no good, so we are looking for reasons to justify hating X. So someone publicly says Obama is a secret Muslim and Trump is a Russian mole. Facts be damned, we hated them anyways and we can now “explain” why we hate them.
Re: 5 issues at the center of the MTG-Trump spat
If you were beamed down to earth from another planet, all five of those issues would sound very reasonable in terms of Ms. Taylor-Greene being the sane person.
We’ve entered the “MAGA eats itself” phase.
People like Taylor-Greene, Thomas Massie, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson are still sticking with the idea of America First which is why Trump has targeted all four of them and wants them gone. For Trump it is a case of ‘L’MAGA, c’est moi!’ but fewer and fewer people believed him anymore. When he said in that recent interview that the reason he was bringing in so many foreigners was because Americans just can’t do those jobs, it was insulting as hell and would have lost him even more support. Good thing that there are no elections within the next fifty weeks. Oh wait….
This has been fascinating. Look for MTG to prevail, eventually, as the perfectly sane side in this fight. Friends in Georgia politics who know her have always thought she was an honest truth-teller, as she sees it, without fear or favor as the saying goes. Unlike all other Georgia politicians, she has no fear of the president, and her constituents in NW Georgia will stand by her.
According to Track AIPAC, she is the only US Senator or Representative from Georgia with zero on her AIPAC tab. Her complete take from other lobbyists is essentially zero.
I, for one, would not look to MTG as being sane in this fight. While her stand is important vis-a-vis the Trump/MAGA original stances and demands, this is a huge distraction from the damage Trump has done to the economy and the political landscape, where political beef should be flexed. In every one of her objections, she is for a right-wing solution, which is to say a slightly more moderate stance than Trump and his crazies. Applaudable only if you earn in the high six digits.
Further, what will she do? Abandon the Republicans? Join the Democrats? Form an independent movement? With whom- Carlson, Owens, maybe the Tech bros? I smell grandstand, with MTG’s marvelous nose for wind direction.
KLG is in Georgia, so only has contacts but also has been getting more detail about her via local press than makes its way to the national rags.
MTG has chosen to shoot at a king. If she succeeds, as in she survives in playing a leading part in turning Trump into a lame duck, she does win a lot of power. She is not required to do anything with that. That is your demand, not any promise she has made. Americans have this weird need to annoint saviors and then trash talk them.
T going back on his H1-B visa promise and claiming on the Laura Ingraham show that Americans workers don’t have the talent needed for the jobs. The base is furious. From the Due Dissidence guys. utube. ~30 minutes.
MAGA Base IN SHAMBLES as Trump DOUBLES DOWN On H-1B Visas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf6-vtKqqnA
As I said the other day, they took housewives in WW2 and taught them to build modern bombers and tanks. Americans can do the job but Trump prefers cheap foreigners that would have no rights at work and can be deported if they get out of line.
A nostalgia trip about American manufacturing:
https://archive.org/details/OrsonWelles_CeilingUnlimited/06+42-12-14+War+Workers.mp3
Thanks for that, it gives you an idea of how all encompassing the war effort was…
A dozen years ago I bought complete 1943 and 1944 National Geographic magazines wrapped in newspaper and twine at a yard sale for a couple bucks a year, and managed to never take a look at them until last year, and wow, all the stories are somehow in regards to the war effort in some way, the advertising is interesting in that a good many ads are from consumer oriented companies that assure you that you’ll be back in the saddle of your car or lifestyle after we win, and they’ll be right there for you.
Imagine going a week on 5 gallons of gas?
…rationing began about 6 months after Pearl Harbor
Somebody from the Pachyderm party had to address the reign of error, and of over 200 of them, Marjorie not only had the most clout, but the loudest voice in particular, when it comes to a pedophile lurking as the President.
It is the America First branch of MAGA against the Graham GOP, and MICIMATT first coalition running Trump.
MTG, I am sort of lost.
I remember this piece in ConsortiumNews (but by Commen Dreams) and the author was mocking the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability discussing China as basically clueless:
“(…)
The Committee of Oversight and Accountability lacks China expertise. Representative Lisa McClain spent 10 years working for American Express before she was elected to represent the state of Michigan. Chairman James Comer was a Kentucky farmer. Representative Paul Gosar was a dentist in Arizona. Marjorie Taylor Green was a part-time CrossFit gym coach. Many of them have never traveled to China, let alone held a productive conversation with a member of China’s government.
(…)”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/07/17/china-ignorance-on-the-hill/
Sure if I have the choice between a moron and a moron who could blow up the world, I choose the moron.
also Medea Benjamin drew some heavy criticism when 2 years ago she welcomed MTG´s support re: ending the Ukraine operation. But still it´s all quite stunning what kind of people are running around and eventually those who enjoyed the fancy education turn out to be even the bigger idiots.
Re the Chemtrails: Living in Boulder, CO, I had a coffee shop acquaintance who was for some time the head ‘Climate Change Physicist’ at NOAA, also in Boulder. One day I asked him about “chemtrails” vs contrails. He responded that although atmospheric conditions will have contrails reacting in various ways, there were some Chemtrail experiments.
Part B:What sort of plant is Jim Ferguson on X to make such obscenely false statements regarding Mexico? And to what end??
I have no idea. A normally sound reader sent it to me but it was pretty obvious that at best the comment was over its skis. But what that suggests to me is that Twitter is promoting this sort of thing.
To add: I just spoke to an economist who has been an adviser to various Mexican governments over time on topics like how not to fall prey to the IMF.
He says this is not a Mexico City flash in the pan, that there are demonstrations in ~40 cities.
I knew cloud seeding was a fairly old idea, but I didn’t realize so much was done about this even in/by US. (Apparently, there was even an attempt to use it to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail during VN!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding
When Covid happened all the jets were grounded. Consequently there were no chemtrails for the duration of the grounding. As I recall some climate scientists around DC took the opportunity to measure radiational heating and cooling. Their findings determined that in the absence of chemtrails, the increase in radiational heating was non-trivial. Geoengineering is already a thing.
$4.01(k) update:
Just as i’d become accustomed to the hundred thousandaire lifestyle, Bitcoin goes into double figures on me, meaning i’ll probably have to go out and get a day job, and dreams of financing a chinchilla ranch to supply the wherewithal for fur sinks, are probably gonna have to be put on hold.
Israel’s Disinformation Bubble – Bassam Haddad Interviews Shir Hever
Part 5 of 5 part series
Israel’s Zombie Economy
Part 1: The War Currency
Part 2: The Counterrevolution of the Israeli Arms Industry
Part 3: Israel’s Breakdown into Tribes
Part 4: Is Israel’s Economy on the Verge of Collapse?
Part 5: The Disinformation Bubble
Produced by Jadaliyya,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly2xRfuRX4Q
“The EU’s new censorship machine”
I don’s suppose the nickname for this European Democracy Shield will be Minitrue, will it?
Why You Need To Reboot More Often
Naomi Brockwell TV
This is a short guide on why regular reboots are worth it, and how often to do them.
Both cell phones and main computers .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcd1ZCmFkiE
“How does the EU become a geopolitical force?”
The EU might want to consider encouraging the UK to rejoin the EU. According to Wiki, “The UK was a key asset for the EU in the fields of foreign affairs and defense given that the UK was (with France) one of the EU’s two major military powers, and had significant intelligence capabilities, soft power and a far reaching diplomatic network. Without the UK, EU foreign policy could be less influential.” And while the UK Navy is no match for the US, it is, nonetheless, capable of global operations.
Second, the EU needs to kiss and make up with Russia and if that requires new leadership within the EU, so be it. The EU is no match for the Russian military but Russia is not a threat. The EU has the world’s third largest economy and Russia has resources and important connections with China and India.
The EU might want to consider encouraging the UK to rejoin the EU.
Very unlikely to happen.
Just on the UK end, despite whatever polls may be set up to demonstrate about Brexit remorse’s extent, the reality is: –
[1] at the very least a sizable enough chunk of the British population from every part the political spectrum except the purely neoliberal is obdurate enough about never rejoining the EU to fight;
[2] almost a decade later, the majority of that population has moved on;
[3] and even former remainers are changing their minds as the collapse of the France-Germany engine of the EU economy gathers speed, the bill for the Ukraine war looms, right wing governments get closer to power across the continent, and Brussels is demanding self-destructive limits on trade relations with China which simply aren’t in British interests.*
*e.g. the City is by far the largest renminbi trading center offshore of China, the UK has no mainstream auto manufacturing industry to protect so Chinese EVs –including a hundred double-decker buses — are all over London, and so on.
I agree, I think you’re correct. I didn’t think for a moment that what I wrote would happen but it was only an attempt to answer the question presented by the title of the article. John Mearsheimer, eg, has said repeatedly the EU leadership is delusional.
However, I was confused by your statement in [1] “… never rejoining the EU to fight.” The UK is out of the EU but it’s still in NATO.
I parsed that as “obdurate enough about never rejoining the EU to fight [any attempt to rejoin]”. Nothing to do about joining the EU to fight with it, just against it.
Swapping Starmer for Ursula does not sound like much of a swap for the Brits.
Due Dissidence guys interview Caleb Maupin, author of the new book Trotsky & The Neoconservatives, The Whole Story. utube, ~50 minutes.
Is There a Trotskyist-Neocon Connection? – w/ Caleb Maupin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VqL7TGyeyk
Re “The Progress Paradox”
“There is a third option: If we further empower the state to steer the progress and deployment of technology, we may avoid the worst outcomes. For example, we might just be able to install a meaningful, accountable sense of the common good at the head of the vast technical enterprise. We might be able to use the law nimbly, shielding the most precious elements of domestic life, religious life, education and culture from technology’s too-rapid disruptions.”
Isn’t this what China is at least attempting to do? I get the impression that the author cannot acknowledge this simply because in America “China = evil communism” and therefore axiomatically MUST be failing, or at least “be seen to be failing” regardless of the evidence one way or another. To even ask the question in a purely analytical way would be evidence of “wrongthink” which will cast the questioner into the outer darkness where no brunch invitations are received.
It’s deeply unserious.
Trump’s latest Border Patrol deployment will fail for all the same reasons – MS. Now
The administration is going to try to justify these choices by saying it’s “AI” making them. “Unbiased” info.
And there is that element, but still not unbiased.
GIGO
On Nov. 13 Links, a reader posted: “My husband’s doctor told him the other day that starting January 1st people on Medicare in the US will no longer be able to get a Covid shot for free. RFK’s doing.”
I understand that confusion reigns, because our rulers want it to. And I certainly could be wrong, since the guidance changes daily. But as of September (ancient history!), what this patient was told does not appear to be true. I invite anybody to correct me if newer nonsense supersedes this source.
https://leadingage.org/update-covid-vaccines-covered-under-medicare-part-b-but-barriers-remain/
In other Medicare news:
My 2026 Medicare part D premiums will rise by 50%, and the annual copay for medications I currently take will rise by 120%.
As to Medicare Covid vaccine insurance coverage, Medicare being a federal program, I don’t think states have any say as to what it pays for. States however may be able to prevent a vaccine from being legally provided in their jurisdiction. This, I believe, is yet to be determined but at least some are trying to ban mRNA vaccines: States Reassessing Vaccine Policy and Public Health Powers ASTHO
I posted that. It is what my husband’s PCP told him, but the doctor could have been misinformed. Thank you for the update and I hope everyone who wants the vaccine can get it. Some states require an Rx to get the shot while other states do not.
Stoller is at it again with his reflections on the Epstein scandal. https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/larry-summers-and-the-blast-radius
“This moment is a good illustration of the utter disgrace facing our institutional fabric. And it has fostered some self-reflection on my part, regarding why I didn’t take this sordid behavior more seriously. At some level, I just could not fathom that these men would act the way they did. It just couldn’t really be that obvious and bad, could it? But yes, it was.
I don’t have a full answer for why we didn’t take this scandal more seriously. I think there’s a way in which we coded ourselves as “technocrats” to avoid factional disputes, instead of fully embracing the moral reform that truly animates the populist framework. After all, going up against Summers in this particular way means that Barack Obama tried to make the close affiliate of a sex trafficker the most powerful economic actor in the world. And that was really hard to suggest in Democratic circles without being pushed out as some sort of quack.
The truth is, from the Abundance movement to the pro-monopoly financial and economic group to the AI oligarchs, operates a class of human beings who feel completely insulated from any normal sense of political obligation to other Americans. Sam Bankman-Fried was a billionaire fraud and a deviant quack but he poured cash into an elite cult, Effective Altruism. EA turned into the creepy elite AI world at Anthropic, as well as Abundance, a New York Times-driven movement that is right now making a huge play to dominate politics, free from accountability from their association with him. Larry Summers is the legacy of decades of this sordid behavior. It’s not that these people are deviants, or have engaged in shameful personal behavior, or have abused power. These things happen, all the time, in every society.
It’s that these men were so cavalier that they could get away with what they were doing, because they realized no one in elite circles could even imagine they might be as gross as they actually are. They bet on our snobbery, on how we looked down on QAnon conspiracy theorists, and they were right. Hopefully, we will stop seeing our two-tiered justice system, and this insane elite world or insulated weirdos, as a conspiracy theory beneath our attention. It’s not. We are living in the world they’ve created, and it’s a world we must see clearly, so we can take it apart and restore some sense of moral order.”
IMHO most of us don’t want to think about the sex lives of not attractive older men. Big ick factor. So there is a baseline level of mental aversion.
“Hopefully, we will stop seeing our two-tiered justice system, and this insane elite world or insulated weirdos, as a conspiracy theory beneath our attention.”
There’s enough history of bizarre cultists roaming the halls and around the fringe of power to know much of this weirdness is now par for the course. A couple of flag phrases: ” path to enlightenment” and “chosen people”.
Speaking of bizarre cultists exerting an inexplicable degree of influence on U.S. government officials, here’s the Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon in 2004, having himself crowned world savior and king in the Senate Office Building:
https://www.salon.com/2004/06/21/moon_7/
re: Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media? Harper’s Magazine
There’s also that the media has been doing clickbaity misleading hyperbolly headlines since before the internet, the constant neverending exagerration of every little thing (GERMS IN YOUR TOILET!!), the utter demolition of science – where every “study” saying anything about anything is soon followed by a contradicting study. There’s also that editorial boards side with political parties, so every political news item is not at all balanced. There’s the problem of news having gone from factual and informative, answering obvious reader questions which come to mind, to uninformative pablum which answers none of the obvious questions at all, leaves the reader completely mysified, less informed than if they hadn’t read the item. There’s the loud hyperventilating delivery format with news ticker and several news items happening at once all over the screen, plus time and weather. There’s needing to have some “breaking” news item every minute of every day….
Maybe going back to the newsprint methods of the 1800’s would restore trust?
Please make it stop
Americans are heating their homes with bitcoin this winter
Yo, Kristi let’s kick it
ICE, ICE Barbie
ICE, ICE Barbie
All right stop, collaborate and listen
ICE is back with the brand-new makeup intention
Something, grabs a hold of eye shadow tightly
Flows like Earl Scheib daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights and they’ll still glow
To the extreme they walk the border like a supermodel
Light up a stage and wax eyebrows on the video
Dance go rush to the immigrants, some from Montevideo
They’re killing Emma Lazarus’s hopes like a poisonous mushroom
Deadly when they go on a 1-way wetback melody
Anything less than getting the best is a felony
Love it or leave it you better gang way
You better hit bull’s eye the undocumented can’t play
And if there was a problem, yo, they’ll solve it
Check out them losing face while their blush resolves it
ICE, ICE Barbie
Vanilla ICE, ICE Barbie
Vanilla ICE, ICE Barbie
Vanilla ICE, ICE Barbie
Now that the Republican party is jumping
When January 20th kicked in and Barbie is primping
Quick to the point to the point of yucko!
She’s applying concealer like a pound of stucco
Making her look like Tammie Faye if you ain’t quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear looking good is a status symbol
And foundation with a souped up-tempo
I’m on a roll and it’s obvious saving face is her temple
Yo, man let’s get out of here
Word to your mother
ICE, ICE Barbie too bold
ICE, ICE Barbie too bold, too bold
ICE, ICE Barbie too bold, too bold
ICE, ICE Barbie too bold, too bold
Ice Ice Baby, by Vanilla Ice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQtzxPnoY0
Elon Musk has a plan to reach Mars in 90 days. It normally takes 8 months – India Today
For some interesting background on rocket fuel (and a more interesting character than Musk), check out this documentary. And you know you’re in for a popcorn worthy story that includes Aleister Crowley and L. Ron Hubbard.
Master of the Temple: The Tragedy of Jack Parsons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxfSMcNP_HQ
And it should also ring some bells of similarity with themes some like Thiel are spouting today.
>How to fight in ‘hell’: Ukraine veterans say Nato not ready for war with Russia
I was unaware that Putin was trying to bring back the Soviet Union.
History Legends latest video is about logistics in recent NATO and French exercises. If that’s anything to go by then those Ukraine veterans may have a point.
Give the fact that the Lats, the Lits and the hamlet are so, so, so noisy, it might be well if the Russians were, by whatever means, to introduce a Russian majority into each country to protect their ethnic Russian minorities and to dominate their political systems. After a few years, it might be an idea to hold a referendum of residents to determine if the wish to remain independent nanno states with ethnic Russians dominant or whether they would prefer to join the Russian Federation to guarantee the rights of their new minorites.
Excellent conversation between Lina Khan and Jon Stewart here. Of particular interest is her discussion at about 40:00 of how the Trump administration has taken a government stake in private corporations like Intel and the reaction to that as opposed to the reaction against Mamdani when he suggests government intervention in the economy.
Very encouraging also to see the number of views this has already gotten.
Re: “The moment the postcolonial domination of Africa finally ended The Globe and Mail”
What the author fails to mention is that the governing military leaders of the three Sahel countries of the AES alliance assert that the Islamic insurgents in question are funded and directly supported by France and the USA. As for their landlocked status, one of the projects they envision for their future is a cross-north-African railroad line running from Senegal in the West to Sudan in the east. The prospect of this project may well be one of the drivers of the current conflict in Sudan.
At the intersection of Climate, Capitalism, and the exploitation of women in India.
What’s More Dangerous than India’s Frequent Heat Waves? Heat Stress. (NY Times via archive.ph)
COVID causes vascular damage, and is only going to make this worse.
On Letter: By capitulating on the shutdown, Democrats showed their true colors
I’m kinda lost on this one.
So, like what were those principles? That we should continue to subsidize Obamacare premiums?
I didn’t hear anything about rolling back the brutal aid cuts to Americans that are paid sub-poverty wages, for example.
Liberal Democrat principles, whatever they might be, where ever they might be hiding them, probably aren’t related to all Americans.
Inside the old church where one trillion webpages are being saved (CNN via archive.ph)
Might be the only Internet we have left with the invasion of AI Slop.
S&P upgrades South Africa for first time in nearly 20 years as reforms gain traction Reuters
Please, no more news from ratings agencies. They are at best lagging indicators. At worst, they were completely discredited in 2008 when they rated junk securities as AAA and then were found to be in collusion with the issuing banks.
“Those whose falsehoods no longer deceive have lost the right to tell the truth.”
—-Ambrose Bierce
Ratings agencies have proven themselves to be worthless as investment guides. They should be abolished. But, since that probably won’t happen, they should be ignored with extreme prejudice.
Or if one is not in the mood to stay away from the market, go short South Africa!
>Russia to produce 120,000 glide bombs and 70,000 drones this year – Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Ukrainska Pravda
>Ukraine’s drone war is also being waged on the ground France 24
>How to fight in ‘hell’: Ukraine veterans say Nato not ready for war with Russia The Independent
>Russia pummels Kyiv in barrage of drones and missiles as it makes gains in Ukraine PBS
With regards to the above Ukraine war links, one must always be circumspect about any reports regarding weapons (types and quantities and deployments), troops (casualties, defections, conscriptions, or movements thereof), or existing or pending offensives. No matter how “reliable” they may seem, be suspicious of those reports. It is, after all, war, and war means secrets and that means truth is a likely casualty.
When it comes to armed conflict, it is best to bear in mind a well-known stock market saying: “Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say.”
It might be a salutory experience for Europeans if they were to spin the wheel and attempt to put British, French and German boots on the ground.
There are those of us who cherish Sebastian Sas and his commentary on Ukraine. In his cheerfully satiric manner, he never utters the words “Ukrainska Pravda” without adding “the beacon of democracy”.
The Progress Paradox – Noema
Another part of this issue, not addressed, is the problem of pushing people to be more like machines in thought (while the idea is promoted that machines are becoming more like people).
Can what is called “management” get away from the idea that people should be manipulated like 0s and 1s?
Differentiating the Ones from the Zeros is the fun part.
A fascinating discussion between Aaron Bastani of Novara Media and Branko Milanović on his new book The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World.
World Bank Insider on Western Decline & the Chinese World Order
A follow-up to yesterday’s Ford technician post.
CEO says Ford can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs paying $120K/year (Page 1 of 7)
Pulp Common People/gun nuts caution. /s
Stone X estimates funds bought 19,000 corn; 30,000 soybeans; 7,000 meal; 10,000 bean oil and 9,000 wheat on Monday. wheat trading down today.
the Kobbeisi letter:Current situation:
1. The US is preparing $2,000 stimulus checks
2. Japan is preparing a $110 billion stimulus package
3. China has approved a $1.4 trillion stimulus package
4. The Fed is officially ending QT on December 1st
5. The US is issuing~$1.9 trillion in treasures per year
6. Canada is restarting its Quantitative Easing program
7. Global M2 money supply is at a record $137 trillion
8. Global rate cuts are at 320+ over the last 24 months
In what world is another wave of inflation not on its way?