Rethinking the Holiday Centerpiece Enlightened Omnivore
Brutal Beats Orion Magazine. On brutalist architecture and pirate radio in the UK.
Can We Really Claim That Civilization is on the Steady Path of Progress? Lit Hub
Rob Reiner, wife found dead inside Brentwood home in apparent homicide KTLA
Climate/Environment
To Feed Data Centers, Pennsylvania Faces a New Fracking Boom Yale Environment 360
Recent droughts hit the top cattle counties hardest Investigate Midwest
The EPA was considering a massive lead cleanup in Omaha. Then Trump shifted guidance. Flatwater Free Press
Shade Equity: To Understand the Problem — and the Solutions — Look to Tucson The Revelator
Polar bears are rewiring their own genetics to survive a warming climate NBC News
Pandemics
A new RECOVER study of 6.4M health records shows Long COVID risk has not decreased from 2020–2024. Incidence stayed stable across variants, reinforcing Long COVID as an ongoing public health priority.
Read the study: https://t.co/RN66kGhyxM pic.twitter.com/j93jKQCxML— RTHM (@RTHM_Health) December 10, 2025
Japan
Japan to create ministerial post for envisioned national intelligence bureau Japan Times
China?
China’s economy stalls in November as calls for reform grow Business Times
U.S. Forces Raid Ship, Seize Cargo Headed to Iran From China WSJ
Geopolitical Competition Intensifies: Dirt Wars Karl Sanchez
SpaceX Alleges a Chinese-Deployed Satellite Risked Colliding With Starlink PC Mag
The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate WSJ
India
INDIA AND RUSSIA COMBINE TO RESIST TRUMP’S INDIAN OCEAN STRATEGY John Helmer
Thailand- Cambodia Conflict
Thailand launches new offensive as Cambodia halts all border crossings Al Jazeera
Sydney Shooting
Mossad sent warnings to Australia about antisemitic terror attack risks Jerusalem Post
Indications point to possible Iranian link to deadly Sydney attack, officials say Ynet
Israeli Narrative Debunked- Bondi Terrorists Were Tied To ISIS. The Dissident
Syraqistan
Israel’s Gaza proxy strategy is collapsing +972 Magazine
Trump vows to respond to alleged ISIS attack on US forces in Syria Anadolu Agency
US special forces carry out arrest campaign in Syria following killing of three Americans New Arab
The coming conflagration in Lebanon and Syria will very probably be a shared US-Israeli effort. This will also send Gaza and a fabled ‘phase 2’ to oblivion
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) December 13, 2025
What the hell is going on? https://t.co/4uE5yLufnP
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 13, 2025
US takeover of Iraq’s West Qurna field sidelines Russia, reasserts energy dominance The Cradle
Old Blighty
Britain ‘seeking a quarter of global lithium’ The Ecologist
European Disunion
🧵 Part 1/2 – Merz stood before his CDSU party and did two things in the same speech that should have stopped Europe cold.
He declared that “Pax Americana is over.” And he reached for Europe’s darkest memory… Munich, the Sudetenland, Hitler, to argue that Russia “won’t… pic.twitter.com/msPDyUSvbC
— THE ISLANDER (@IslanderWORLD) December 14, 2025
Guest post : War clouds over Europe? By Johann Rossouw Emmanuel Todd
Estonian court sentences pro-Russian politician to 14 years in prison for treason ERR
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s Zelensky offers to drop NATO bid as Trump envoy sees progress in peace talks France24
⚡️⚡️⚡️BREAKING: Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has tasked lawmakers with drafting a bill to enable elections during martial law.
Sources said the media friendly to Zelenskyy’s team, that now Kyiv expects that the U.S. will make pressure on the Kremlin to stop the shelling and… pic.twitter.com/1JBR0FiwVp— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) December 15, 2025
Erdoğan pushes Putin on limited ceasefire for ports, energy facilities Turkish Minute
The EU’s Reparation Loan vote needs to fail Intellinews
‘The frontline is everywhere’: new MI6 head to warn of growing Russian threat The Guardian
South of the Border
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela The Guardian
Argentina’s President Javier Milei:
The left retreats. Freedom advances. pic.twitter.com/X9BXfxkolR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 15, 2025
Trump 2.0
US intelligence chief warns of ‘direct threat’ from suspected terrorists inside country Anadolu Agency
Asked if he’d carry out an attack on a presidentially declared domestic terror org on US soil (e.g. Antifa), NORTHCOM Commander Gen. Guillot says he would – as long as it was lawful.
SENATOR REED: if the president declared an organization, a terrorist organization, or a DTO,… pic.twitter.com/vpxwq0SolK
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) December 13, 2025
Good question:
Was Purdue Pharma a narco-terrorist?
— Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) December 1, 2025
“Trump and ‘the end of history.’” Patrick Lawrence
Accelerationists
AI billionaires’ 2026 intimidation campaign is already working Rolling Stone
Democrats en déshabillé
Spook Country
How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? New York Times
Immigration
20 states sue Trump administration over H-1B visa fee: 9 notes Becker’s Hospital Review
Judge Condemns the Trump Administration’s Illegal and “Impermissibly Punitive” Use of Guantánamo to Hold Migrants Andy Worthington
Imperial Collapse Watch
The AI Bubble in 2026 (1/4) Edward Ongweso Jr. On the “new imperial strategy.” Well worth a read.
On the Strategy of Coalition Warfare Policy Tensor
U.S. Navy Now Wants A New Frigate And Fast The War Zone
The U.S. Navy Isn’t Losing to China at Sea — It’s Losing in the Shipyard
By any measure, the U.S. Navy should not be struggling to build ships. It has the world’s largest defense budget, unrivaled operational experience, and decades of technological leadership. And yet, as the… pic.twitter.com/YWBcNbaMMN
— Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) December 14, 2025
Fashion
The Unlikely Rise and Uncertain Future of Lockheed Martin Streetwear Business of Fashion
Healthcare?
Anthem’s 62% Profit Margin in Federal Employees Health Benefits Contract HEALTH CARE un-covered
AI
Ownership of the means of thinking Archedelia
Idea: AI earrings that whisper to you and help you make decisions. pic.twitter.com/sOemSliQe5
— Shivers (@thinkingshivers) December 14, 2025
“I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off.” Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry Blood in the Machine
It’s crazy to me that adobe products were always known to be expensive for us artists, plus, have faced criticism with their hidden fees and difficult cancellation process. They were never user friendly and now they’re letting people who erase art use their product for free. https://t.co/V7kxOoqxCy
— Raph (@RaphDeee) December 13, 2025
Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs Los Angeles Times
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Denmark plans to severely restrict social media use for young people AP
Gunz
Sports Desk
Economy
The US labor market ground to a halt in 2025. The risk in 2026 is that it ‘cracks.’ Yahoo! Finance
Mr. Market’s Bright Horizons
Not ‘very hawkish at all’: Wall Street optimistic on stock market rally in 2026 after Fed rate cut Yahoo! Finance
Basically all of US growth is being driven by the enormous AI investment boom and the “wealth effect” the stock market boom is having on consumption. This likely accounts for the mixed polling on the economy in spite of seemingly robust headline growth. 🫧🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RDXCYrj8Nq
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) December 15, 2025
Class Warfare
Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy BIG by Matt Stoller
NEW: Behind Italy’s beauty (and parmesan) is a radical tradition of cooperatives.
In some areas, they make up nearly a fifth of the GDP.
We went to Emilia-Romagna, one of the richest regions in the country, to investigate how Italy’s workers built a more democratic economy. pic.twitter.com/3NbfuxsJwU
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) December 12, 2025
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela”
Trying to imagine what would happen if an America airliner like this Jetblue plane had a midair with a USAF plane because that the USAF plane had it’s transponder turned off, was not bothering to check their onboard radar or was even looking out the window. Bonus points when it is likely Venezuelan air crash investigators have to sort out what happened – with the Pentagon denying any request for information or help. No wonder the Pentagon did not reply with a comment. You can’t defend the indefensible.
And you’d have thought the naval fleet near by would have had both planes on their radar and have been able to make sure the tanker pilot was aware of nearby civilian air craft.
‘THE ISLANDER
@IslanderWORLD
🧵 Part 1/2 – Merz stood before his CDSU party and did two things in the same speech that should have stopped Europe cold.
He declared that “Pax Americana is over.” And he reached for Europe’s darkest memory… Munich, the Sudetenland, Hitler, to argue that Russia “won’t stop,” projecting expansionist intent onto Moscow while erasing the long trail of Western promises broken and red lines ignored.’
I bet by now that a lot of Germans are finding themselves nostalgic for Olaf Scholz. For all his faults, he never did this sort of crazy talk.
Both of them are incredibly weak and pathetic compared to Angela Merkel and Gerhard Shroeder. I don’t know what happened.
From what I have heard, it was Angela Merkel wrecking the system of government in Germany for her own gain that led to there being only weak leaders to follow. Sort of like Germany’s Bill Clinton.
Rethinking the Holiday Centerpiece. Rethinking social organization with cooperatives, the video.
I’ll mix my comments. First, as to meaty centerpieces, there are other possibilities besides a big chunk of meat. For Thanksgiving, I bought handsome duck breasts at — FiorFood (in Galleria San Federico) — part of the major Coop grocery chain in Italy.
Funny, the U S of A used to have co-op groceries.
https://www.coop.it/noi-coop-e-chi-siamo/storia
The web site for Co-op mentions that the cooperative economic and social structure is mentioned in the Italian Constitution at Article 45 as something to promote. And indeed it is.
The first co-op grocery, natch, was here in Torino, not so far away from where I live.
Which leads to:
Second, John Russell in Italy. He’s highly talented and has a great “screen presence.” Note (lyman alpha blob!) the discussion of keeping farmers on the land with herds as small as 20 cows. Note the stress on worker self-management (diptherio!). Note the discussion of how the reach of cooperatives has meant that the reach of big business in Italy is blunted. So much for the neoliberal advice that what Italy truly needs is more multinationals — see the currently failing FIAT / Stellantis as testimony to the emptiness of that line of thinking.
So think cooperatively. Buy the big meat centerpiece from an independent butcher or coop. (Or make a big dish of lentils, instead.)
And note that one of the reasons Italy never seems to be on the same track as France or Germany or England is, well, the good common sense of the Italians.
After all, you wouldn’t want a Piedmontese to tell you that you are “sensa cognission”~!