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Links 11/8/2025

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Arachnid Megacity Discovered in Cave May Be World’s Largest Spider Web Science Daily (Paul R)

Archaeologists discover how oldest American civilisation survived a climate catastrophe Guardian (Kevin W)

Who waits in line for a 100-year-old, 5-hour silent movie? New Yorkers, of course. Gothamist

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Northern hemisphere forests have shifted from carbon sinks to carbon emitters ESA Climate

Vietnam deluge close to world record for highest daily rainfall Weatherzone

US social costs of plastics may total over $1 trillion annually, report finds The New Lede

China?

Chinese Exports Unexpectedly Fall After US Trade Tensions Spiked Bloomberg

‘A new arms race’: Satellite images, maps and records reveal huge surge in China’s missile production sites CNN. As if this development just fell from the sky.

China’s Navy Brings First Supercarrier Into Active Service: Fujian’s Commissioning a Turning Point in Carrier Program Military Watch

Big if true:

India

India’s West Asian blues deepen as Gaza Plan shifts gear Indian Punchline

India can’t keep balancing between US and Russia Asia Times (Kevin W)

O Canada

Trump trade war with Canada could usher Chinese cars into the US Asia Times (Kevin W)

Africa

Nigeria’s violent conflicts are about more than just religion – despite what Trump says The Conversation

Tigray fighters enter Ethiopia’s Afar region, stoking fears of new conflict Aljazeera

UK rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite warning of possible genocide Guardian

South of the Border

The US Moves Closer to Strike Venezuela Glenn Diesen

The Regime Change Temptation in Venezuela Foreign Affairs. When you’ve lost Foreign Affairs

Russia Can ‘Mirror’ in Venezuela What West Is Doing in Ukraine Antiwar (Kevin W)

European Disunion

German economy remains stagnant despite new government ANewz

Brown-Washing German Nazism Alon Mizrahi

Denmark’s government aims to ban access to social media for children aged under 15 Associated Press (resilc)

Old Blighty

Labour MPs are now openly plotting against Starmer iPaper (Colonel Smithers)

Construction sector records surprise steep fall in activity ahead of Budget Independent

Israel v. The Resistance

Exclusive: US intel found Israeli military lawyers warned there was evidence of Gaza war crimes, former US officials say Reuters (Robin K)

“Stick, stones, matches, gasoline.” Floutist

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza genocide Türkiye Today (resilc)

Israel carries out wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon Guardian

US issues Final Warning to Iraq: A Prelude to a Wider Middle East War Near East Online (Micael T)

New Not-So-Cold War

Why Ukraine’s troops are facing an amputation crisis Telegraph. Thw Wall Street Journal reported on a very high level of amputations >1 year ago based on prosthetic fittings.

Globalist Apparat Sells “Forever War” in Desperate Bid to Take Edge Off Pokrovsk Simplicius

Countering the Myths of Western Analysts on Ukraine Larry Johnson

This Ukraine War Report Is One Of A Kind Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Trump grants Hungary one-year exemption from Russian energy sanctions, White House says CNN (Kevin W)

Alexander Grushko: “Russia and the United States are still able to find ways to maintain strategic stability” International Affairs (Micael T)

The Continual War Against Russia & Its Primary Defense Mechanism–Ethnic Unity Karl Sanchez

Syraqistan

Exclusive: US military to establish presence at Damascus airbase, sources say Reuters (resilc)

Trump to increase military footprint in Damascus to protect “Israel” Vanessa Beeley

5 Killed In Fresh Clashes Along Afghanistan-Pakistan Border NDTV

Imperial Collapse Watch

Caesar and Trump Black Box Site

Leaks expose collapse of EU/US-backed Belarusian ‘opposition’ Gray Zone

Trump 2.0

Trump’s Economy Is Looking More and More Like Saudi Arabia’s Politico (resilc)

Trump Wines Sold At Coast Guard Stores On Federal Property Forbes (resilc)

Trump to skip G20 summit in South Africa, questions Pretoria’s membership The Cradle

No US official to attend G20 meeting in South Africa: Trump Anadolu Agency

Don’t Let the Fed Become a Wing of Mar-a-Lago Roger Lowenstein (resilc)

Trump admin brings international drug pricing to Medicaid The Hill

OVAL OFFICE SHOCK Dramatic moment man collapses just yards from Trump in Oval office during livestreamed Ozempic announcement The Sun. resilc took note of all the pretty tall blonds in attendance.

Trump Just Stands There After Man Collapses During Press Conference New Republican. Kevin W: “Weird. All he had to say was ‘Get this man a doctor” and he would have come off as decisive and Presidential.”

Immigration

ICE targets NYPD officers with ads claiming the agency offers ‘respect’ Gothamist

Shutdown

US flight capacity may face up to 20% cuts amid government shutdown: Transportation chief Anadolu Agency

Airlines cancel more than 700 U.S. flights as FAA-ordered shutdown cuts begin CNBC

Ketanji Brown Jackson halts order requiring full SNAP payments, for now The Hill

190. SNAP WTF? Steve Vladeck

US soldiers given food bank advice and could go without pay amid government shutdown Sky

Six election results that didn’t make the headlines Popular Information (resilc)

Supremes

The Breezy Inequity of Trump v. Orr Steve Vladeck

Mamdani

The Private Governments Who Will Resist Zohran Mamdani and Populism Matt Stoller (Chuck L)

New York Post’s cover on Zohran Mamdani election sold out in NYC — and already being resold on e-Bay New York Post

The Zohran Mamdani Psyop: How The Establishment Manufactures Its Own Brand of “Radicals” Fiorella Isable Craig Pasta Jardula

L’affaire Epstein

Democrats in US Congress ask Andrew to appear for questioning over Epstein links BBC (Kevin W)

Jeffrey Epstein Helped Israel Sell a Surveillance State to Côte d’Ivoire Drop Site

Economy

Consumer Sentiment Falls Toward Record-Low Levels Wall Street Journal

Mr. Market is Moody

AI valuation fears grip global investors as tech bubble concerns grow CNBC. Lead story.

Could soaring global debt trigger the next financial crisis? Aljazeera

As markets grow more fragile, matter of time before the bubble bursts South China Morning Post

Can world weather another crisis? Bangkok Post

World Economic Forum chief warns of three possible ‘bubbles’ in global economy Reuters

AI

Small Language Models are the Future of Agentic AI. Michel T: “This paper is now making the rounds on LinkedIn under the question: ‘”Is the AI industry sitting on a $57 BILLION mistake?’”

AI Spam and the Crisis of Digital Trust: How Synthetic Media Change Political Visuality Valdai Club (Micael T)

Elon Musk Reportedly Obsessed With AI Girlfriend Futurism. Erm, seems like a plant to make it OK for dull normals.

The Bezzle

What’s gone wrong between Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX? The Conversation (Kevin W)

Lawyers for data centers admit they don’t bring a lot of jobs and they wouldn’t want to be around one outlawed (resilc)

Class Warfare

Bari Weiss Crosses Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Picket Line Mike Elk

Antidote du jour (via):

A bonus:

A second bonus:

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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126 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘The White House
    @WhiteHouse
    “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening there, and in numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian Population around the World!” – President Trump’

    I got an idea. If he feels so strongly about protecting Christians, he can tell the Al Qaeda President of Syria to lay off Christians or prepare to have severe and possible lethal problems. Then he can ring up his buddy Bibi and tell him that unless the attacks on the Christian community stop, then maybe ammo supplies may develop “problems” in delivery. He can do little in Nigeria but can take instant action on both Syria and Israel with two phone calls. After all, he is such a great negotiator.

    Reply ↓
    1. Polar Socialist

      I heard that Ukrainian government is also both attacking and supporting attacks on Christian churches and monasteries. And also conscripting Christian priests by force.

      There may even have been some looting of valuable Christian sacred items and such.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        I have also heard that many valuable church relics have been sent to western museums like the Louvre for “safekeeping.”

        Reply ↓
      3. ilsm

        Since the Maidan swap of governments, Kiev has engaged in an ethnic cleansing of Russian language, culture and orthodox churches linked to the Metropolitan of Moscow.

        While the former Polish and Rumanian counties align with Rome as part of ultra nationalist run to NATO.

        Reply ↓
    2. KD

      Reader Poll:

      Who thinks Trump is just f/o/s here and is intentionally pandering?

      Who thinks Trump is serious and just completely delusional regarding the status of Christians in Gaza and Syria?

      And who thinks Trump is serious but just completely ignorant of what is going on in Gaza and Syria?

      Reply ↓
        1. Huey

          Wuk, my brother!

          And yes, absolutely. The Trump team is being opportunistic as usual. One of yesterday’s articles on Nigeria did a good job describing US’s history of treating Africa as a philanthropy photo-op.

          Between that, getting some sweet petrol and sowing further chaos to keep the labour class nice and preoccupied fighting each other, there’s probably not much else to it unless there are prospects I’m forgetting.

          Reply ↓
      3. MaryLand

        I refer you to the photo of Trump “just standing” when a guest in the Oval Office fainted. I’m sure he has a lot on his mind; possibly he was weighing his options in foreign policy.

        Reply ↓
          1. The Rev Kev

            In all fairness, he went to get a chair for the guy as the guy himself was being treated by a doctor there, Dr. Oz as it turned out.

            Reply ↓
      4. ciroc

        Trying to figure out what Trump is thinking is pointless. Ultimately, he is a showman who constantly puts on new acts to prevent his audience—the American people—from getting bored.

        Reply ↓
    3. ilsm

      USS Gerry Ford carrier strike group can park off Nigeria as easily as off Venezuela and Nigeria may not shoot at it! Or Syria, maybe not as safe.

      Reply ↓
    4. Basil

      Christianity have been facing an existential threat in many countries, courtesy of the USA. It have been on a TO DO list since forever.

      Reply ↓
      1. ACPAL

        Religiious minorities face antagonism pretty much everywhere, especially from the “true believers.” In mostly Christian areas admitting you’re a non-Christian can ruin your professional and social life as well as ancillary activities such as shopping and eating at a restaurant. In the US minorities are less likely to be killed than in some countries but it’s common for them to be forced into moving to a more diverse location. This is true of all religions. It’s also true for sects within a religion, such as the Shiits and Sunnis, Catholics and Protestants, and so on.

        While I find killing for almost all reasons abhorrent, I tend to skip over articles that focus on only one religion rather than the broader problem and/or underlying human nature that causes such problems.

        Reply ↓
        1. Basil

          They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. so here’s a couple thousand words that illustrate my point.

          picture 1
          picture 2

          Nothing says human nature like these two Avereage Joes, and them doing exactly the same things every single one of us would, with zero involvement of the great ol’ USA.

          Reply ↓
  2. upstater

    Is this another indication of the AI bubble deflating? First slowly, then suddenly?

    Micron chip factories in Upstate NY will be delayed by 2-3 years, company says syracuse.com archive

    Not only would construction start later on the two fabs, but it would take longer. The construction period for the first fab, for example, has been lengthened from three to four years.
    Micron did not explicitly give reasons for the delays. The company did note, however, that the requirements under its agreement for $6.1 billion in funding from the Department of Commerce had recently changed.
    “The amendment modified the time by approximately two years in which Micron would have the option to commence operations of Fabs 1 and 2 for purposes of the funding agreement,” the environmental report said.

    Or is shifting priority and money to building chip fabs in Boise a political thing by the Trump administration to reward a red state and “punish” a blue state? If the central NY plants never get built that is fine by me; the local, state and federal money is nearly $25B!

    Hope the county hasn’t started on the $1.5B waste treatment plant and $500M water supply line to Lake Ontario.

    Reply ↓
    1. ilsm

      Boise Id is a great place.

      How will it “attract” technical talent to compete with Onandaga Cty NY which has/is close to Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, etc.

      Much less construction scale.

      Reply ↓
      2. upstater

        $25B of free money is quite an attraction along with 3 nuclear plants and unlimited water 25 miles away. Global Foundries has multiple plants east of here and also got free money to expand.

        Reply ↓
      1. paul

        as William Henry Gates III has had to reiterate,
        AI will solve our energy problems by scratching its electronic humanoid head and coming up with the solution.

        “There will be some things we reserve for ourselves. But in terms of making things and moving things and growing food, over time those will be basically solved problems,” Gates said.

        Helpful tip for futuristic humans at end of the article:

        Want to earn some extra money on the side? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Start a Side Hustle to learn tips to get started and strategies for success from top side hustle experts. Sign up today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $97 (+taxes and fees) through April 1, 2025.

        I plan on being a top,top side hustle expert sometime, I’ll be famous to 15 people and a billion bots and scrapers.

        Reply ↓
    3. fjallstrom

      I have been seeing a noticeable amount of mention of the AI bubble in business press lately. For those reading the long term critics like Ed Zitron, the content is nothing new. But it being published in the business press, even though it is mostly “this person says it is a bubble, this person says it isn’t”, is a marked step forward. To some extent a bubble bursts when people believe it is going to burst.

      Reply ↓
  3. The Rev Kev

    “Arachnid Megacity Discovered in Cave May Be World’s Largest Spider Web”

    The other day I came across a video of one explorer that kept on pushing against this web again and again. No, no, no, no, no-

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1oq8riw/scientists_discovered_the_worlds_largest/

    Explorers of an earlier generation would have taken a knife and made a huge slice across it to see what is on the other side to see what was there. Probably desiccated human skeletons.

    Reply ↓
    2. Anonymous 2

      I had a hand in supplying the original Cabinet Office cat over half a century ago now. That is probably my most enduring (and some would doubtless say most valuable) contribution to Whitehall life.

      They were having problems with mice.

      Reply ↓
  6. Pearl Rangefinder

    Shocker: government shut down or no, infinity H1B visas (and crushing American workers) are this government’s top priority!

    H-1B Visa Update: Applications To Resume Under Department of Labor (Newsweek Nov 4)

    Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy and founder of U.S. Tech Workers, which has advocated for H-1B reforms, told Newsweek: “The Department of Labor’s resumption of prevailing wage and labor certification processing simply restores the administrative pipeline that employers rely on for H-1B and PERM filings.

    “In practical terms, it means employers can once again file and receive wage determinations needed to move forward with petitions that displace American workers in a tough job market to cut labor costs.”

    He added that employers should anticipate delays as the DOL clears backlogs but also should use this period to reassess the reliance on visa labor.

    “Employers can once again continue scouring South Asia for the cheap and compliant labor they can use to displace the American workers they deem to be expensive, undeserving and expendable,” Lynn said.

    Reply ↓
    1. JBird4049

      >>“Employers can once again continue scouring South Asia for the cheap and compliant labor they can use to displace the American workers they deem to be expensive, undeserving and expendable,” Lynn said.

      And it’s not the Onion or the Babylon Bee. How nice.

      Reply ↓
    2. ChrisFromGA

      But what happened to the $100k fee the Trump admin slapped on employers? That’s going to make a lot of employers balk.

      I know that there were rumored carve-outs for Microsoft, Amazon, and other Big Tech companies (surprise … not.)

      Reply ↓
  7. Wukchumni

    Elon Musk Reportedly Obsessed With AI Girlfriend Futurism. Erm, seems like a plant to make it OK for dull normals.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The only person I know with an all blown up AI Girlfriend is a friend who is retired from JPL. one of them there rocket scientist types.

    I’ve been out with him on outdoor excursions to hot springs and road trips, and his gal Friday is named Gloria Page-Tate, who has such a posh upper crust English accent… you can almost hear the hyphen when she speaks.

    He’s married and all that, but much more enamored with G P-T, who never berates him and relates to him, because its all about him, when you get right down to it.

    Reply ↓
  8. AG

    Any recommendations for using hyperlinks & Scroll-to-text Fragment with Firefox/Mac which might respect privacy to an extent?

    Reply ↓
  9. The Rev Kev

    “Who waits in line for a 100-year-old, 5-hour silent movie? New Yorkers, of course.”

    Wait. Standing in line to watch a bum-numbing five and a half hour 1927 silent film about “Napoleon”? Hey, that would be me. In a New York minute. I can only imagine what such a film would be like.

    Reply ↓
    2. Carolinian

      As I recall it was shown in Atlanta at the Fox although I wasn’t there. Someone I know became friendly with Brownlow who is known for his excellent book about the silent era, The Parade’s Gone By. Brownlow also made documentaries in collaboration with David Gill, listed here.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Brownlow

      It used to be one had to live in places such as NYC to see films like Napoleon. Digital has changed all that and now we all have movie theaters of some sort.

      Reply ↓
    3. Jorge

      I saw the early 80s showing with Coppola’s dad conducting is score. It was fun. I dragged my family there as a Christmas present, and they were bemused.

      Reply ↓
      1. Carolinian

        I pulled 4 hr version off my shelf and tried watching but just can’t. You really have to be into it.

        And Carmine’s score is not that good although he did some great music elsewhere for his son’s company (i.e. The Black Stallion).

        Reply ↓
  10. ISL

    Unexpected drop in Chinese exports. Hmmm. Who could have guessed that forcing a massive rerouting of all ships (to avoid the excessive docking fees for Chinese-made vessels) would cause export turbulence? Clearly not bloomberg. And now that the fees are paused, there will be more turbulence as the shuffling is unshuffled. Actually, I would expect, based on a propaganda model, unexpected, in a bloomberg piece.

    Reply ↓
    2. Polar Socialist

      Well, as Hamas is hiding in Venezuela, according to the brand new Nobel laureate (so it must be true), it’s obvious the Axis of Resistance is cunningly taking over the Latin America as a first(?) step on the way to world domination. World domination, I tell you!

      Reply ↓
    3. The Rev Kev

      This is a child’s story meant for gullible publishers – like Axios. And the kicker for this story was that this “op” was being run out of Venezuela. I felt my intelligence being insulted by just reading the title. They said too that Iran wanted to conduct attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Australia so the Oz government kicked the Iranian Embassy out of the country based on secret intelligence. And it turned out that that secret intelligence came from Mossad.

      Reply ↓
      1. hamstak

        I’m not so sure about “gullible” publisher — the author is a house contributor to Axios: Barak Ravid

        Willing participant seems a likely possibility. Note that the author did not seem to bother to request confirmation from the Mexican government. Their response to this might be helpful.

        My first thoughts were that this is along the lines of a manufactured casus belli to justify a new attack on Iran — not necessarily immediately, but again they waited until now to report this. Then we have the article above regarding a US troop presence in Damascus, and the US warning Iraq regarding “Iran-backed” militias in the country.

        But maybe I am reading to much into this.

        Reply ↓
        1. Emma

          After the last 25 months, I automatically prefix “Mossad agent” to Barak Ravid, just like I prefix “pedo” to American Zionist politicians.

          (After details of Dennis Hastert’s career came out – see this pretty mind-blowing interview with Sibel Edmonds https://youtu.be/yrC8cNM7tso?si=MLWwrWSXKyXaIDq0 – I figure my odds are probably better than 50:50.)

          Reply ↓
    4. Donaldo

      This article leaves a lot to be desired, and by that I mean drugs. Any competent fan-fiction writer would have found a way to include drug cartels in the mix.

      Reply ↓
  12. FreeMarketApologist

    Re: “Airlines cancel more than 700 U.S. flights”

    Funny, as the article notes, private jet flights aren’t affected, yet they also use the services of air traffic controllers. Another example of “more for me, less for thee”. Write a letter to your congress critter (whose paycheck is also not affected by the shutdown), and complain!

    I’m supposed to fly through two of the affected airports next Thursday (JFK, SLC, and not on a private jet!). I’m not looking forward this trip…

    Reply ↓
    2. ilsm

      I have no immediate knowledge. But I can suggest an excuse.

      Big air carriers schedule their flights using large multi-variable simulation programs, that have been around for several decades. The “brokers” of private jets are likely paper and ink scheduling.

      That would imply that FAA would tell them flights to cancel whereas airlines would be told a percent at which “servicing FAA center” and cancel their own flights with some level of “optimization”.

      Maybe OpenAI can send engineers (fde) out to help the little air carrier…..? \s\

      Reply ↓
      1. cfraenkel

        No doubt they’ll use that as an excuse to do what they wanted to do anyway. But nothing stopping the FAA from issuing a quota for each airport. First come, first served. But that would inconvenience too many with too much money to throw around. (that would be the point, in my opinion, but no one’s asking me….)

        Reply ↓
    3. Louis Fyne

      I love to rag on private jets as much as anyone else…..but the airports that private jets tend to use have lots of slack capacity (except notables like TEB, Teterboro).

      At those airports they can’t cut “x%” cuz beyond a certain point cutting capacity = shutting down the entire airport.

      Someone can do the math—-all the $$$ spent on general aviation airports versus the actual traffic. It probably equals a big subsidy to rural airports and private jet operators. No surprise….it parallels the big subsidy for freight companies that use highways (a fully laden semi does exponentially more damage to the pavement than a fully loaded sedan—-there is an exponent in the axle rolling force equation).

      Reply ↓
  14. Bugs

    “Bari Weiss Crosses Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Picket Line” link is messed up. But then so is Bari Weiss, I guess.

    Reply ↓
  15. The Rev Kev

    “No US official to attend G20 meeting in South Africa: Trump”

    This may have been a mistake. Without the US delegation present they will not see all those countries make side deals and will only learn about them afterwards. Obama would never have allowed that to happen. And then I saw this-

    ‘He added that he looks forward to hosting the 2026 G20 Summit in Miami, signaling his intent to bring the gathering to the US if he is in office.’

    So does that mean that the next G20 will be hosted at Mar-a-Lago?

    Reply ↓
    1. Expat2uruguay

      Does it mess up the functioning of the G20 if the US has no participation? Does it hamstring the decision making process? Or does it enable it?

      Reply ↓
      1. fjallstrom

        I don’t think G20 has any decision making process as such. Far as I know, it’s just a discussion club, all its power comes from it being the most important politicians in the world gathering.

        Without the US there might be some interesting discussions between essentially BRICS and the US vassals. But if anything important is said it is more likely to be found out years from now, than in the official communications.

        Reply ↓
    3. Wukchumni

      At the copa (co) Copa Mar-a-Largo (Copa Mar-a-Largo)
      The hottest spot north of Havana (here)
      At the copa (co) Copa Mar-a-Largo
      Persuasion and faux passion were always the fashion
      At the copa they fell in line

      Reply ↓
  16. Wukchumni

    An atmospheric river is gonna hit Cali later next week and promises plenty of precipitation, and another missed opportunity to have set up hundreds if not thousands of prepared prescribed burn sites throughout the state, and let ’em rip a few days before the deluge and have Mother Nature do all the heavy lifting of putting the fires out.

    Something around 4 of the last 6 years have had this perfect set up where the first really big storm of the late fall is big enough to make sure it’ll quench Rx conflagrations.

    Right now all over the state and up in the PNW, they are doing Rx burn pile fires-which mostly are confined to say 100 feet from mountain roads on either of the road. These Rx burns became much more commonly seen after Paradise, with all those trapped drivers on the roads with everything burning.

    Reply ↓
    1. jefemt

      Furloughed Federal firefighting workforce, and/or seasonal FS employees changing gears for a winter on the US ski team*. No one there to Do The Work.
      Old managers fired or DOGED. No replacements hired, none with any real world forestry firefighting experience.
      Move fast, break things.

      *seasonal unemployment benefits for collectively – minded ski bums. Dime a dozen.

      Reply ↓
    2. Michael McK

      Yes we need to put massive resources into fuel load reduction but trusting nature to put out unmanaged fires is a recipe for disaster.
      Oodles of pretreatment must be done, fire lines created and manned, many small fires lit slowly.
      A hot fire burning in thick fuel could destroy a stand and burn the soil before the rains expected the next day arrived and leave smoldering roots to flare up disasterously later.
      I was supposed to help on a burn near me last month but the conditions were not ideal so it was postponed for the third year.
      Forestry is possibly the worst industry in terms of costs born by society that consumers of forest products should be paying.
      Forest restoration that sequesters biochar would be the lowest hanging fruit for a jobs guarantee program led by an ecosocialist government.
      Everyone in non urban areas can do small amounts of fuel load reduction in spring when it is safe to use chainsaws, let the waste dry on site, make tall, compact piles in fall, put cardboard over the center to shed the first rains then light the pile on the top and quench it when it has burned down to a pile of coals and spread the charcoal in your garden or the forest floor. Fire safety and carbon sequestration on a small scale that YOU can do.

      Reply ↓
  17. Wukchumni

    US soldiers given food bank advice and could go without pay amid government shutdown Sky
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    GI Joes & Janes relate that the Go Fu** Me program is going as planned.

    Reply ↓
      1. Polar Socialist

        Or to the 17th century version of military supply: “there’s food in that town there, all you have to do is take it”.

        Reply ↓
    2. ilsm

      Looking at calendar, Tuesday 11 Nov is Veterans’ Day (Armistice Day when I was a kid).

      There is no problem finding US cash to keep paying the MICIMATT!

      The money “on contract” was put aside when the contract was signed.

      When a soldier signed his enlistment no such agreement was made.

      MICIMATT pay is the superior claim to the man and woman signing up with their lives!

      While the US flag is at half staff until the bury Cheney!

      Reply ↓
      1. scott s.

        Of course as you know, some contracts are funded with annual money and typically use options for future year funding, while others, mostly procurement, do use multi-year money.

        Reply ↓
  18. Wukchumni

    Brown-Washing German Nazism Alon Mizrahi
    ~~~~~~~~~~

    Kinda crazy comparing Zohran to Hitler, but it’s always good for shutting down a conversation, when Godwins.

    When my nephews were 14 & 17, I asked them if they knew what Nazis were? One of them looked up from the video game on his phone that he was playing ‘soccer’ on, and both said

    ‘no, Uncle Wuk’

    I was kind of gobsmacked, as Adolf & co. had set such a benchmark for everything that reeked of wrong, so as to be remembered along the lines of Attila the Hun, some 1500 years earlier.

    We’re quickly running out of living history, in terms of anybody actually involved in World War 2, the youngest GI to have seen action will be a centenarian a few years hence.

    Reply ↓
    1. P. Rus Blauman

      Everything Zionists don’t like gets compared to Hitler, no matter how ridiculous the comparison.

      >had set such a benchmark for everything that reeked of wrong

      No, first propaganda and then mass media set that benchmark, most solidly in the minds of people born right after World War 2. As they die off, this moral certitude will die, too.

      If the recent uproar over the interview with British vet Alec Penstone is any indication, the actual warfighters were less propagandized about the war than their children were.

      Given the paucity of National Socialists in the zip code in question, my first guess is a Zionist painted that swastika to produce the effect that it produced. It would not be the first time this happened.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        “the actual warfighters were less propagandized about the war than their children were.”
        important and has got forgotten. I see it with movies and novels about the war.
        Myth has replaced ambiguity of the real.
        Meta is replacing actual knowledge.
        Format instead of genuine wisdom.

        Reply ↓
  19. flora

    re The Zohran Mamdani Psyop: How The Establishment Manufactures Its Own Brand of “Radicals” Fiorella Isable Craig Pasta Jardula

    I agree with almost everything Fiorella Isable says, almost.

    When she says Americans won’t or don’t want to actually do anything to change I think she is assuming that would or could happen spontaneous among large groups at the same time. She almost answers her own question about why that might be when she notes there’s been no analysis, no thought put forwards about how we got here and what specifically needs to change.

    In the late 1800’s early 1900’s the Populist parties didn’t assume people would wake up and demand better. The Populist parties in states had speaking tours and newspapers that described the financial exploitatioin of farmers and laborers by Wall St, the railroads, and the big banks. They described the financial situation the audience could hear and relate to. They described the needed political changes to address these financial issues. They gave audiences a framework for putting the pieces of the puzzle together and for organizing a political response focusing on controlling what should be the limits of financial exploitation and of machine politics. These were educational speaking tours. Without those the Populist parties would not have achieved what they did achieve, which included many of the New Deal programs and reforms under FDR.

    https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/lesson-plan/rise-populists-and-william-jennings-bryan

    And, yes, assuming a new branding, this time as ‘socialist’, seems like a pr packaging to sell the product. / ;)

    Reply ↓
    1. Mikel

      If he were an actual threat to the establishment, his campaign would have received zero press.

      The article’s title reminded of the book 1984. The main part…the big reveal that people don’t often discuss. The alleged revolutionary opposition was all faked by those in power in that dystopia .

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        However fiction is not reality.
        And the “system” wants us to give up.
        Destroying hope takes most different forms.
        Eventually nobody should kid oneself into believing that fighting empire is easy.
        If at all it has to take place on various levels at the same time.
        Mamdani is just one of dozens of such levels.
        If we start infighting without even waiting if the possibility of some steps forward is materialized we can of course resign completely.
        Eventually we never know how and why a crack in the system (and the system is full of cracks) somewhere starts to grow and bring down some pillar.
        Remember what the former boss of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker once said very frankly: “We – the EU – come up with all kinds of laws and regulations. If people resist we may drop some of those. But if nobody says a peep we just go on.”
        It´s like a perverse game.
        Give up you already lost.
        There is no other path but forward. In whatever form and shape.

        Reply ↓
          1. anahuna

            Seconding the approval of AG’s comment.

            There is a difference between cynicism and a prudent avoidance of excess hope. Attempts to eliminate hope by forecasting inevitable disappointment lead to passivity: “they’re in control, and they always win, so why bother”. Hope may be illusory, and transcending hope and fear the highest wisdom, but we mortals seldom operate that way. As long as we are not capable of resting in the Tao and being moved by it, better continue to hope, attempt, and risk disillusionment, then, disillusioned, return to the next possibility.

            Reply ↓
        2. Jonathan Holland Becnel

          I’m out here preaching The American 🇺🇸 Revolution 2.0 and teaching my own lil political education mini seminars to the people around me.

          We know the answer and what to do and there’s nothing stopping us from doing it.

          Yves provides an invaluable resource with her Economic news.

          Revolutionaries need to know the truth because that changes you!

          Reply ↓
        3. paul

          F Me, did the sozzled,over promoted bank whisperer really say that?

          It should be on every billboard and voting slip in the world

          Reply ↓
      2. Pat

        Most of the real media coverage came after Mamdani won the primary, and even the so-called neutral press was subtly denigrating. Call it the Sanders 1/Trump factor, they had to cover the campaign but clearly didn’t understand what was going on so were ineffectual in their real purpose. Same with the anti Mamdani ad campaign.
        One of the big reasons that he was successful was he really did go talk to people everywhere. For instance a taxi driver told me that Mamdani spent time talking to drivers at the airports to find out about their issues, the driver actually was at the event at La Guardia. And that not one of the other candidates did that. If you looked at local coverage, this showing up and talking to people in neighborhoods and places other candidates didn’t came up quite a bit.
        So to echo AG’s comment. One of the reasons my hope still has those wings is that if he can keep that up, not only will there be a better understanding of what people are really going through, but more importantly it can and would inspire more populist activism…and maybe activists and representation.

        Reply ↓
  20. Camelotkidd

    “The Mamdani psy-op works because both sides willingly play their parts. The right gets a new communist to fear; the left gets a new hero to worship. The establishment gets to keep everyone divided, distracted, disorganized and utterly powerless.”
    Hope and Change never gets old

    Reply ↓
  21. Wukchumni

    Trump wants NFL team to name $3.7 billion stadium after him with president to meet owner at this weekend’s game (Daily Mail)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ‘it’s going to be named Trump National Stadium-the greatest stadium ever-many people are saying, are we clear on this?’

    Reply ↓
      1. paul

        all that’s guaranteed is that it will be both the biggest and beautifullist stadium ever.

        Until the team relocates to the Gaza riviera.

        Air traffic control availabilty permiting.

        Reply ↓
  22. Jason Boxman

    Families in Limbo After Supreme Court Order Interrupts Food Stamp Payments (NY Times via archive.ph)

    So, to be clear, many SNAP recipients work, and due to capitalists paying poverty wages, can’t afford to eat.

    So now we have the Republicans and the Supreme Court saying, well, no, you really can just go starve to death, your services are no longer required in the United States of America.

    The elite in this country are truly evil.

    And Democrats aren’t even demanding a rollback of the Medicaid cuts and work requirements from the Big Shat Pile. And remember, Democrats doubled childhood poverty, because The Deficit ™.

    This timeline is toast.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jason Boxman

      ‘People are really hurting’: From airports to grocery stores, shutdown leaves Americans scrambling (CNN)

      Think about this.

      SNAP accounted for $124 billion in sales at 262,000 retailers in 2023 — half of which were at superstores such as Walmart. A quarter of sales went to supermarkets.

      Billion. $124 billion.

      That’s how much the capitalists are stealing from the working class, leaving them so economically compromised that they’ll possibly starve to death, without life saving SNAP benefits. This country is a joke. In no same system of morality is this not manifestly evil.

      This is also going to nuke small businesses

      Large chains such as Walmart, Kroger, and Dollar General can absorb cuts to SNAP. It’s the small, independent grocers that depend on SNAP for up to half of their sales to sustain razor-thin profit margins that are most vulnerable to cuts, economists and grocers say.

      Progressive think tank Center for American Progress in May identified 27,000 retailers — mostly in rural areas with large shares of SNAP recipients — likeliest to shoulder the brunt of cuts to SNAP. In dozens of small counties and tribal areas, more than 30% or 40% of the population receives SNAP benefits.

      Oh, and CAP ain’t “progressive”. It’s a neoliberal think tank. Thanks for the lie, CNN.

      Someone should ask conservative Republicans in which version of Christianity, does Jesus support this?

      Reply ↓
        1. Jason Boxman

          Interesting point — and perhaps this shutdown ends one way or another when sub-subsistence level employers have employees too starved to perform on the job. But it won’t be the sufferings of the American people themselves that force a resolution to this deadly game.

          Reply ↓
        2. ambrit

          “Breakage on Aisle 17! Oh no, there’s rice all over the floor! Quick, sweep it up and ‘dispose’ of it!”
          When the employees begin to “shrink,” so will the store stock.

          Reply ↓
  23. AG

    re: 9/11 coverup

    Indeed it is remarkable how this went down the memory hole after the evidence has been around since last year. I actually first read about it by Branko Marcetic. Now it´s like none of this ever happened.

    Apparently first ignoring, then truly forgetting facts and replacing them with fairy tales is a new Western virtue. Just look at everything happening since 2022 (some might argue this already was visible with Covid…).

    Court Filing Exposes 9/11 Coverup
    By Kit Klarenberg –
    November 8, 2025
    https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/11/08/court-filing-exposes-9-11-coverup/

    Reply ↓
    1. paul

      Is something of a litmus test for me.

      How such an anomalous event, which went to shape foreign and domestic policy in quite dramatic ways, has been so unexamined.

      The next time I see another ‘out of clear blue sky’ reminisce I might well scream.

      Reply ↓
  24. Jason Boxman

    On Trump Just Stands There After Man Collapses During Press Conference

    We know COVID does this. Remember Bob Watcher, a prolific COVID minimizer, smashing his face (lol) into a trashcan? Or the newscaster that collapsed on air five or six months ago on Fox? was it?

    Meanwhile, At Least 4 Dead After Driver Slams Into Crowd Outside a Tampa Bar, Police Say (NY Times via archive.ph)

    COVID, is that you? Maybe.

    The crash happened shortly after midnight. The police spotted a person driving recklessly on a nearby highway and attempted to pull the car over.

    The vehicle, which the police said was previously involved in a street race a few miles away, sped off, and the police pursued it.

    At one point, the police unsuccessfully attempted to stop the car with a PIT maneuver, in which the police strike a car’s rear at an angle during a pursuit, before disengaging, Sgt. Steve Gaskins of the Florida Highway Patrol said at a news conference.

    The driver later lost control of the car, slamming into a group of more than a dozen people outside a bar that local news media identified as Bradley’s on 7th, an L.G.B.T.Q. bar.

    Stay safe out there!

    Reply ↓
  25. Huey

    Anyone else went through the article on fostering Russian unity?

    I was amazed, imagine if the west had actually adopted policies like this instead of generic platitudes that became exploitable identity politics. I’ve never seen anything like this and it sounds incredibly useful for almost every multi-ethnic country to adopt. The contrast between this and the ethno-religious divides in Nigeria from links yesterday, for example, is immense.

    Also, has there ever been a full transcript of this kind of meeting released from Western outlets? I’m sincerely unsure but my point is that reading this was able to help me gain some insight into the opinions of these decision-makers, something even more valuable to persons actually living there. My takeaway was that this was a relatively sincere venture (the heightened need for it to reduce avenues of attack definitely contributed to this). The point is, I can’t imagine what a similar meeting in, say, Obama years would look like. It feels like their policies weren’t informed by any kind of organized involvement at all.

    If people actually saw politicians making efforts like these to combat issues of local concern, I feel like that alone would boost confidence, even patriotism. I know some political discussions are televised but, even when persons aren’t shouting at each other, nothing of importance seems to change.

    Reply ↓
  27. Rabbit

    Inspiring the guy who reforested the island. Huge restoration efforts in the Sahel and China. Water retention plans making things grow where they haven’t grown in decades. Desert turned into fertile ground. A lot of videos on YT showing incredible successes.
    China aircraft carriers are targets, Obsolete. A waste of money.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      By my count, that guy must have planted over 13,500 trees in all those years. He wasn’t so much as planting tress as creating an ecology. As was once wisely pointed out in a Hagar the Horrible cartoon panel, usually it is not the big things we do every now and then that count but the little things that we do every day.

      Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Israel does not like it that a country in the region has a missiles defence system that makes their job of attacking that country extremely difficult. In any case, the US would want Turkiya to buy Patriot batteries, a much inferior system that has at least a seven year waiting list. In the Ukraine I believe that Patriots used to have over a 40% success rate but since the Russians figured them out, it is only about 7% now.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        Yeah it all sounds quite messy. (I only lately have come to take notice of Turkey as a major political player. My bad.)
        However, I really doubt those Patriot figures of 40%. I believe they were single digit from day #1.
        Just that 7% then is still better than 0% now.

        This self-double-crossing on true data about Western AD reminds me of the insanity pictured in that NETFLIX satire about an incoming asteroid, DON’T LOOK UP.
        nobody knows nothing. And as long as the party in charge makes a profit with being blown up it all works out fine.
        And entire society in complete delusion. Except some dude in the basement of Raytheon knows the truth.
        Why on Earth should anybody utter an honest word.
        AFU needs lies to provide new men.
        The governments need lies to extort billions from their people and parliaments.
        The companies need lies to sell their product.
        Even the Russians can use some of those lies to delude the enemy.
        As long as they really know the truth.

        Reply ↓
    2. ambrit

      ” The ongoing dispute has already led to Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program.”
      I’ll bet that the Turkish working General Staff is high fiveing at the prospect of dumping the F-35 boondoggle and freeing up all those resources for systems that actually work.
      I’ll bet that a lot of regional powers have been poring over the data from the recent dust up between India and Pakistan. No amount of sales propaganda beats real world use data.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Countries like Oz which bought the F-35s weren’t buying fighters, they were buying American support and backup. It was a political decision. Now under Trump that deal is broken. So now countries like Oz have an inferior & maintenance-intensive fighter and no guarantees of any American support at all – the worse of both worlds.

        Reply ↓
      2. AG

        So does the new attitude come from that particular war?
        I was surprised to lately see criticism of the plane which has been known for ages reach even the public by way of DoDs in Europe. But only this year. US-GAO reports too quoted in BERLINER ZEITUNG this year, not last year.

        Reply ↓
  29. Jason Boxman

    A sign of the times:

    The Astonishing Bull Market Will End One Day. Are You Ready? (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Must be great if you’re fortunate enough to have excess money to invest for decades

    The higher the A.I. bull market goes, the more nervous I get. So I’ve been thinking about whether I’ve protected myself sufficiently for a crash.

    This isn’t because I’m predicting an imminent market crisis. Not at all. Despite warnings from prominent bank executives and hedge fund managers that the stock market has gotten too high, I believe the frenzy for artificial intelligence — and for stock riches — is likely to keep the market moving upward for a while.

    Fabulous wealth is being generated in the stock market. Nvidia, at least briefly, reached a $5 trillion total market valuation. Microsoft topped $4 trillion. So did Apple. The numbers are so big, they are hard to comprehend.

    They reflect stock prices that strike me as excessive. Sooner or later, the market will take a serious plunge. Stock markets always do. President Trump’s deliberately disruptive policies have only heightened that risk.

    As a long-term, low-cost index fund investor who has already benefited from decades of an upwardly trending stock market, I’m not abandoning stocks. I resolved long ago to stick with the market, and that decision has paid off.

    Fabulous wealth for the already wealthy.

    Reply ↓
    1. Randall Flagg

      From that article:
      >Sticking with the stock market for the long run has been the secret of investing, hidden in plain sight. As I pointed out this summer, over 60 years, the S&P 500 generated a return of 38,881.17 percent. That means that $1,000 invested 60 years ago would have been worth about $390,000 in late June — as long as you stuck with it, even through terrible downturns.

      Yes, sticking with the long term can work out but his is what can be a little ridiculous about these presentations. If you had a $1000.00 60 years ago? How wealthy would you have been then? What age would you have been?
      You would probably have been DEAD many years ago. Hell, why not say if you had put a 1K in the market back in 1826 you would be a billionaire by now…

      Reply ↓
  32. Paul J-H

    Regarding Trump and Hungarian gas contracts with Russia:

    This argument of when Europe buys Russian oil and gas, it funds Russia’s war chest, how valid is this anyway? Lukoil and others surely pay taxes, but their income doesn’t just represent a local branch of the Russian Ministry of Finance.

    Also, isn’t it true also that since Russia is sovereign in a monetary sense (probably debts to China and US to some extent), it can just issue the money for the materials production for the war without running out of money? Of course after the war there must be heavy taxation to quell inflation.

    Reply ↓
    1. Polar Socialist

      Yes and no. Scarred by the 90’s, Central Bank of Russia is very conservative (with some pursuit of classical liberalism) in it’s monetary policy. That said, taxes from the energy exports are – as far as I can tell – around 5% of the government income.

      Next year there will be a rise in value added tax – the main income for the government – so that ratio is likely to get even smaller.

      It should also be mentioned that some of that tax revenue is returned to the oil companies as subsidies to keep the price at the gas stations within set limits, so we know that not all that 5% (or so) can be used to “feed the war machine”.

      tldr; it’s all based on the narrative that Russia is “a gas station masquerading as a country”.

      Reply ↓
    2. NN Cassandra

      It’s of course nonsense. For starter Russian budget runs on rubles, so they obviously don’t depend on how many papers with picture of $ or € west gives them.

      In real terms international trade is about exporting own goods in exchange for things you don’t have. Small countries can be crippled by this kind of sanctions (e.g. Iraq), but Russia is too self sufficient in basic things like food (so no boasting about 500,000 dead children this time), with too big export in absolute terms to be cut off from the world, and with too big trade surplus to push them into deficit where they would need more from the world than they can offer.

      But western rulers seems to really believe that if they print money, keep it to themselves, and at the same time refuse to take real things like oil, gas or fertilizers, Russia will soon run out if things like gasoline and food while they will drown in abundance.

      Reply ↓

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