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Links 12/19/2025

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The Ozempic Revolution is Finally Coming for Our Pets. Up next: Chonky Cats ZME Science

How getting richer made teenagers less free Kelsey Piper

‘Magical’ galaxy frogs disappear after reports of photographers destroying their habitats The Guardian

Higher-order interactions shape collective human behaviour Nature Human Behaviour

What is ‘holiday heart syndrome’? Doctors share triggers, prevention USA Today

Climate/Environment

11 House Democrats Help GOP Pass ‘Disastrous’ Pro-Polluter Permitting Bill Common Dreams

Global Temperature in 2025, 2026, 2027 Climate Uncensored

Windy and warm are the weather words of the day Balanced Weather

Pandemics

You Recovered From COVID, But Did Your Brain? New Scans Raise Questions StudyFinds

China?

US must ‘immediately stop’ arms sale to Taiwan – China RT

China’s First Supercarrier Fujian Makes First Transit of Taiwan Strait During Service Military Watch

Report: China demands control of Panama ports operator Freight Waves

China reportedly sticking to its soybean deal with US, but worries remain South China Morning Post

China’s ByteDance signs deal to form joint venture to operate TikTok US app Reuters

China Ships More Rare-Earth Products as Export Controls Ease Bloomberg

“Gen Z” Spring

How Asia’s Gen Z is losing out to China’s US$1 trillion surplus Business Times

Asian Spring: Implications of Gen Z protests in South and Southeast Asia WTW

Egypt targets Gen Z online activism with arrests and surveillance The New Arab

US regime change front funded Nepalese youth revolutionaries, leaks reveal The Grayzone. From last week, still germane.

India

Who was Sharif Osman Hadi? Why has his killing resulted in anti-India violence across Bangladesh? Firstpost

World-Beating 55,000% surge in India AI stock fuels bubble fears The Hindu Businessline

Syraqistan

Lone Soldiers And Dual Nationals: How Genocide Was Globalised Nate Bear

South Africa ramps up coal exports to Israel despite diplomatic hardline against Gaza genocide The Cradle

Saudi-backed forces gather on Yemen border as separatists face pressure to pull back The Guardian

Africa

Latest Somalia strikes bring 2025 total to nearly twice AFRICOM’s previous annual record Stars and Stripes

Old Blighty

Man boards Heathrow flight without ticket, boarding pass or passport in major security breach The Standard

European Disunion

Slovak PM’s plane damaged at Brussels airport ahead of EU summit ED News

EU officials ordered to evacuate amid escalating farmers’ protest Euractiv

Germany launches $152bn fund to crowd in private equity capital Private Equity Insights

Russia wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources with its sabotage campaign, officials say AP

New Not-So-Cold War

EU to issue €90 billion in joint debt for Ukraine after hitting a wall on reparations loan Euronews. The rules-based order in action:

Exclusive: Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern border Reuters

History repeats Julian MacFarlane

South of the Border

US Southern Command Blows Up Another Boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Antiwar

Trump’s Tanker Blockade Leaves Venezuela Running Out of Oil Storage Bloomberg

How Policies From The Bi-Parisian Foreign Policy Establishment Led To Trump’s Venezuela War. The Dissident

US Deploys Troops To Ecuador For Anti-drugs Operation AFP

US says Bolivia’s reforms will encourage international investment Straits Times

The Great Game

Kazakhstan is building Nato-standard ammunition factories – and Moscow is not happy Intellinews

L’affaire Epstein

Justice Department prepares to drop trove of Epstein files as deadline looms Fox News

Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner’s Base Drop Site

Banker dad of Donald Trump Jr’s bride-to-be vouched for Jeffrey Epstein as’ a man of the highest integrity’ to help him get Pedo Island tax breaks Daily Mail

Harris defends Biden administration decision not to release Jeffrey Epstein files The Hill

Trump 2.0

Trump’s social media business is merging with a nuclear fusion company CNN

Trump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two years later Ars Technica. Nuclear reactors there, too!

Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio, wife to donate to 300,000 Trump accounts The Hill

Trump’s $1,776 ‘warrior dividend’ repurposed from military housing aid The Guardian

Coast Guard Removes “Hate Symbol” Designations Despite Assurances It Wouldn’t Truthout

GOP Funhouse

Johnson faces new rebellion from the center The Hill

The Double Whammy Behind the 2026 ACA Premium Shock HEALTH CARE un-covered

Democrats en déshabillé

Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024 The New Republic

2028

AOC Dismisses Premature 2028 Polls, But Says ‘I Would Stomp’ JD Vance Common Dreams

Our Famously Free Press

Florida politicians may give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists and silence critics Seeking Rents

Imperial Collapse Watch

Bondi Beach in focus, the ‘rise’ of ISIS in Syria and the global Zionist movement expansion as Trump increases pressure on Venezuela Vanessa Beeley and Fiorella Isabel

Conflicts to Watch in 2026 Council on Foreign Relations. Handy map:

Navy Ship Fire Prevention Falters on Contractor Oversight Gaps, GAO Warns gCaptain

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Mass hacking of IP cameras leave Koreans feeling vulnerable in homes, businesses Korea JoongAng Daily

Police State Watch

Conventional Wisdom and “Popularity” Alec’s Copaganda Newsletter

Immigration

These Seven Democrats Voted for Pervy GOP Bill Allowing Strip Searches of Migrant Children Migrant Insider

AI

Moloch’s Bargain: Emergent Misalignment When LLMs Compete for Audiences arXiv

There has to be a way Blood in the Machine

OpenAI has discussed raising tens of billions at about $750 billion valuation: The Information Reuters

Antitrust

How Wall Street Ruined the Roomba and Then Blamed Lina Khan BIG by Matt Stoller

Casino Nation

Polymarket’s Vile Gambling Market On The Brown University Shooting Gambling Harm

Suspect in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing found dead AP

The Bezzle

Waymo Spotted Driving Wrong Way Down Busy Street Futurism

Trapped in Uber’s Maze Boondoggle

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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102 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Israel prepares for a ‘Mass Immigration Event.’

    Well I suppose that if they could convince all the Israelis that abandoned the country over the past two years to return, then that would count for a ‘Mass Immigration Event.’ Good luck with that.

    Reply ↓
    2. Jerren

      A close friend lives in this municipality. I’m aware of three others that are fighting winning battles to get permits within driving distance of my house. It makes me wonder how many are being proposed around the state.

      Reply ↓
    3. ambrit

      Genuinely curious here, but, Michigan. Isn’t that right next to the Great Lakes? Couldn’t these sited “Data Centres” use Great Lakes water sources for their cooling? Plus, isn’t that region perfect for wind power?
      I knew the “fix” was in when none of these industrial scale projects were required to provide their own primary power sources. (Correct me if I err.)
      Every time I see the phrase, “Data Centres,” I think, “Surveillance Coordination Centres.”
      Stay safe.

      Reply ↓
      1. chris

        We’re getting close to most of these needing cooling beyond what air cooled racks with liquid cooling tower loops can provide. We’re going to get fully immersed cooling, probably using something like mineral oil, and then a cooling exchange loop that is more expensive and efficient.

        Reply ↓
    1. Louis Fyne

      Google will eventually sell or spin-off Waymo as Waymo is dilutive to earnings.

      Google/Alphabet has >20% margind (can’t remember exact #, might be >30%).

      Never will taxis duplicate those margins, even with all the help of Skynet. Google will make more money providing the cloud services akin to Amazon, the store, and AWS.

      Reply ↓
  4. Carolinian

    Re Stoller hand wringing over Roomba–he reveals that the silly robot vacuum is now IOT to which one says “whaaa?”

    https://www.ptc.com/en/blogs/cad/smart-connected-affordable-irobot-is-adapting-product-design-to-iot

    The new Roomba 960 includes mapping and adaptive navigation features as well as a cloud-connected app, making the 960 one of the newest “things” in the Internet of Things (IoT). That means you can start and stop the device, schedule and customize your cleanings, and install updates—all from your smart phone.

    HBO’s Silicon Valley did a joke about internet refrigerators and as I sit here I can get a wifi beacon from a neighbor’s fridge. Orwell take a bow!

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      If I open my smart Alec fridge after 10 pm, it says ‘you know those warmed up leftovers won’t digest while you’re sleeping. or ‘I thought you were on a diet, no ice cream for you!’. as it automatically forcefully shuts the freezer door on you.

      Reply ↓
        1. amfortas

          for a modicum of contrast: a year and a half ago, the fill valve on my dumb washing machine got sticky. 6 months ago, it just stuck closed. so i fill it manually, now, with a waterhose(i keep such machinery outside, for reasons,lol)

          Reply ↓
  5. William Beyer

    Regarding, “Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner’s Base,” it’s hard to believe that Bill Barr, head janitor of the Iran-Contra cleanup, whose CIA cover was VP of Southern Air Transport, is not mentioned once. Is Drop Site engaging in yet another limited hangout?

    Reply ↓
    1. pjay

      In fairness, the Drop Site story provides a lot of information on the subjects suggested in the headline that have been under-reported – or ignored- in mainstream press accounts. In the introduction it calls out the NY Times for issuing its own limited hangout that traces some of Epstein’s early shady business dealings while omitting the connections to intelligence or foreign governments. In my opinion the story fills in some important gaps while hinting at the reasons why the mainstream wants to emphasize the “lone pedophile” angle. Ryan Grimm is still a “respectable” journalist; I think they are releasing information fairly carefully as they are able to verify it through their own sources, so they are not going to be discussing everything here.

      That said, this story goes over material covered by Whitney Webb several years ago. She is given no credit or acknowledgement as far as I can tell. This may be for the same reason: their dependence on their own sources (such as the leaked e-mails from Distributed Denial of Secrets). But she should at least be acknowledged.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        Maybe because this was a guest post if I remember correctly?
        And they did not check it 100% due to it´s length?
        In any case to point this out to Drop Site might be a good idea.

        Reply ↓
      1. Lefty Godot

        I realize that was a rhetorical question, but…really! And the New Republic article abut the DNC’s cover-up of its own analysis for the election debacle of the deeply unserious Harris still hints that to them it’s all a matter of information massaging and propaganda, not having enough podcasters, not enough digital lures for the younger folks, etc. As opposed to the reality that their message was putrid (Joy! And Genocide! Both!), their politics have sucked for thirty years, their candidates are completely unable to relate to normal Americans, and their constant drum-beating for war with other nuclear-armed world powers was enough to scare plenty of prospective voters away. Instead they still think it’s “We didn’t make Trump look bad enough.” Normally I don’t even bother reading posts and comments that mention “TDS”, but the DNC has the worst case of TDS in the universe.

        Reply ↓
        2. Dr. John Carpenter

          Messaging is the same song they’ve been singing since Hillary bit it. Never an ounce of self reflection or acceptance of responsibility.

          Reply ↓
      2. Camelotkidd

        “The DNC has completed the report after extensive data analysis and hundreds of interviews in all 50 states. But according to a DNC official, the committee determined that releasing it would spark a media frenzy and retrospective finger-pointing that could divide the party and distract from its winning streak in recent elections.”
        So much winning!

        Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      There might be a link with the story in Links tonight called “Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024.” If she really did make a hash of her campaign and it was in that report, publishing it would torpedo her run for President in 2028. Regardless, does really America need a President Kamala?

      Reply ↓
  7. Louis Fyne

    Google will eventually sell or spin-off Waymo as Waymo is dilutive to earnings.

    Google/Alphabet has >30% margins.

    Never will taxis duplicate those margins, even with all the help of Skynet. Google will make more money providing the cloud services akin to Amazon, the store, and AWS.

    Reply ↓
  10. raspberry jam

    Link to the Jewish Exponent op ed about a mass immigration event here

    Quotes

    We’re talking about countries like Australia and France, Canada and Britain, and maybe even the United States.

    And

    Jews are now facing a form of hybrid warfare, where a tangible physical threat to their security is blended with psychological pressure, social ostracism and repeated denunciations on social-media platforms.

    The trend has been steadily building, perhaps more than many people realize, for most of this century. In that sense, the wave of antisemitism that followed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led pogrom in Israel was not a sudden explosion, but rather a dramatic escalation.

    It doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to envisage the kinds of attacks that could result in mass immigration to Israel.

    I suppose that is one way to raise more conscripts for the next round with Iran

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Oddly reports seem to indicate that Jewish people are leaving Israel rather than flocking to it. If one wonders why there’s that story where the resident of a Tel Aviv high rise struck by Iran didn’t even know that Israel’s military operations center was buried beneath it. Then there are questions about just how much Netanyahu knew about the coming Oct 7 attack and when did he know it. It could be that Jews are a lot safer among the supposed antisemites than in the so called lifeboat that is their claimed protection.

      Just recently there have been stories about the Reiner family tragedy but also about Carl Reiner who created The Dick Van Dyke show back in a time when most Jews, while banned from country clubs, saw America as a place where they could and did thrive. Meanwhile Israel isn’t even a 20th century idea but goes back to the 19th and many say was a Christian Zionist idea rather than Jewish. Hasbara, to quote a line from one of Rob Reiner’s films, “can’t handle the truth.” Or won’t.

      Reply ↓
    2. alrhundi

      They will need a mass immigration event or else they collapse. Their institutions are failing from people leaving. How they facilitate that is the question. I wouldn’t be surprised if some fuckery is done in Western countries to target Jewish people, make them feel unsafe, and offer them a safe homeland to immigrate to.

      Reply ↓
    3. Kouros

      I read somewhere that the attacks on the Jewish communities in middle east and north africa in the 1950-60 were in fact staged by Mossad to induce emigration to Israel. While Bondi Beach was not likely something like that, the silver lining needs to be expanded and profited from, no?!

      Reply ↓
      1. vao

        You are probably thinking of the “Lavon affair” — a series of false flag operations carried out in the early 1950s by the Mossad against Jews in Egypt and Iraq in order to induce a panic that would motivate them to emigrate to Israel.

        One should note that at time, the whole of Palestine was viewed as a backwater by Arabs — Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike — when compared to Lebanon and Egypt. Jews got severely discriminated and brutally oppressed in Muslim countries after the foundation of Israel, but given a chance, they preferred to emigrate to France, Canada, the UK, or the USA — as did, notably, most Jews from Lebanon and a large part of those from Tunisia.

        When Algeria became independent in 1962, Algerian Jews (who had been granted French citizenship — in 1870 for those living in the Northern “départements”, in 1961 for those living in the former “Southern territories”) emigrated en masse to France, some to Canada, and very few to Israel. Because frankly, if you live in 1962 and you can freely choose between France and Israel (since in both cases citizenship is not an issue), what would you do?

        Reply ↓
  11. Nikkikat

    Thanks for the bright spot provided by an adorable kitty! Loved this picture, cute cat entertains humans with antics! There really is nothing like a cat to brighten my day!

    Reply ↓
  12. The Rev Kev

    “Slovak PM’s plane damaged at Brussels airport ahead of EU summit”

    Of course it is just a coincidence that the Slovak PM was one of three leaders that decided to have nothing to do with the latest Ukrainian loan. Does anybody know where Ursula was at the time by the way?

    Reply ↓
          1. hk

            Fun fact: both Estonia and Ukraine raised large numbers of SS men–Estonia probably raised more SS troops per capita than any country in the world, including Germany…

            Reply ↓
        2. paul

          Family affair.

          wirdopedia: paternal grandfather

          Albrecht was a physician and psychotherapist, and is known for developing a new method of meditation based on autogenic training.[4][5]
          His psychological research on mystical consciousness culminated in his 1951 book Psychologie des Mystischen Bewußtseins; new editions were published in German in 1976, 1990 and 2018, and an annotated English edition titled Psychology of Mystical Consciousness was published in 2019 with an introduction by Franz K. Woehrer.
          Woehrer notes that “Albrecht’s results are unique in that they derive from a pioneering methodological approach based on ‘Autogenic Training’, which enabled a practitioner to verbalize spontaneously what he/she is experiencing while immersed in an altered state of consciousness.”

          Reply ↓
  13. Ignacio

    EU commits €90bn to Ukraine for 2026-27 through UNPRECEDENTED use of enhanced cooperation for budget-backed borrowing:

    I believe this is far from done. Yet, it will be probably be done and i feel ashamed that Spain might participate in Russophobic Eurobonds if and when these are agreed to be issued. Of course the taxpayers of participating countries on the hook. Will this be explained to the public opinion or subject to media omertá? Ukraine won’t give back any euro. Will ask for more, and very soon!
    It is a shame for all the EU.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Thing is, the EU Commission said the loan provided to Ukraine would be interest-free and Kyiv would repay using reparations cash from Moscow meaning never. And that loan is supposed to cover the next two years. Since none of that money is being audited in any shape or form, what is the bet that Zelensky will burn through all that money in only six months or so and then he will be back asking for more.

      Reply ↓
        1. paul

          I imagine there will be a great sigh of relief, and a great inhalation of beak amongst a small section of the ukranian polity.
          Plus they can giggle over the starmer/abramovich re-appropriation,
          2.5 billion to be divvied up, more than enough to take up a life even further from the front

          Reply ↓
  14. Rabbit

    Cooling towers aren’t the only Persian innovation. I believe the first plumbing and arches were also Persian. Copied by the Etruscans.
    Will Durant’s “Our Oriental Heritage” is a good book to read to find out more.
    I might add that almost all European languages are derived from the ancient Persian language, Sanskrit.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      All over the torrid Central Valley you’ll see circa 1900 cooling towers similar to the Iranian ones. I guess i’ve seen around 40 of them, a good many unused now as a/c is dominant,

      The way they worked was hot air would go to the top of the 30 foot tall stand alone tower about 15 feet from the dwelling, and cool air descended down to a conduit underground that brought cooler air inside the house.

      Reply ↓
      1. amfortas

        my house is more or less designed thataway…transom windows on east side(really, old front doors with windows, on their side, with ropes and pulleys) are ten feet higher than the windows on the shaded west porch. whole thing is a heat engine.
        we’ve had power out for 2 days a few summers ago…112 outside, stayed around 80 inside….not so good in winter, however,lol.(lots of grated vent-like structures between the 3 wings of the house, for airflow)
        in fact, fixing the screen on one of those transom windows is next task in line…a curious squirrel crashed through the screen 2 years ago, and, since it was over the kitchen stove, i couldnt get to it without removing the stove. now that stove has migrated, with the rest of my culinary stuff, to the new kitchen at the wilderness bar(dorm fridge, microhorno, coffee pot and sink are all thats left in the house.)
        so now i can get the small scaffold in there for to be stable while working at such heights(i hate heights)

        Reply ↓
    2. marym

      These languages are considered to be descended from a common proto-Indo-European ancestor (reconstructed by linguists) through several branches. European languages are descended via the Germanic, Italic, Balto-Slavic, etc. branches; Persian and Sanskrit via the Indo-Iranian branch. There are complexities and controversies among scholars that are way beyond my understanding, but I think the Wikipedia chart is a useful overview.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language

      Reply ↓
      1. Revenant

        Irish and Romance languages share a common ancestor in Italo-Celtic but there has been serious scholarly enquiry into some startling similarities between Irish and Sanskrit culture, myth and language, hypothesised to arise because they represented the extremities of the spread of the proto-Celtic people and were largely untouched by the Graeco-Romans.

        The wonderful Manchán Magan, who died in the last few weeks, wrote a popular treatment of this.

        https://thetimbuktureview.substack.com/p/old-irish-and-sanskrit

        The link above is about his book but it is a good place to start.

        Reply ↓
    4. The Rev Kev

      In that video you can see a whole bunch of bowls at about the 38 second mark. A reply to this video explained why-

      ‘سافر
      @mosafer_hastam
      As an Iranian, I’d like to add one more detail: on top of traditional windcatchers (badgirs), they used to place actual bowls inside the windcatcher itself, so that rainwater could collect in them and provide drinking water for birds.’

      https://xcancel.com/mosafer_hastam/status/2000450341972615588#m

      How cool is that.

      Reply ↓
  15. Jessica

    Ukraine will give back a good portion of those euros, but only to the European elites who gave them this money from the pockets of ordinary Europeans.

    Reply ↓
      1. Jessica

        I didn’t mean purchases. I meant kickbacks, in one form or another.
        I agree with you that purchases would have to be made mostly from the US.

        Reply ↓
        1. Yves Smith

          Why should the Ukrainians do that? Have you seen how deeply and madly invested EU leaders are in this project? This is existential, at least for their careers. No need to waste money on them.

          Reply ↓
          1. alrhundi

            It’s a pyramid scheme. US weapons manufacturers sell to EU NATO countries, they sell to Ukraine. The more people you get to join the scheme, the more the guy at the top makes. Meanwhile, create endless demand through forever-wars and you have a winning model.

            Reply ↓
    2. Ignacio

      Some of the money might directly go “back” to EU institutions (banks, whatever) which had previously loaned to Ukraine to purchase drones, AD systems, or any other expense. This, I would find it unlawful if all EU countries participating were to jointly pay for loan decisions taken previously by individual countries which aren’t being paid back by Ukraine..

      Reply ↓
    1. JBird4049

      As was said on Breaking Points two days ago about this, they are being even more open than two years ago about the corruption, which is likely to cause more problems with MAGA. Even if you are a forever Israel supporter, this is unseemly.

      Reply ↓
  18. Mikel

    World-Beating 55,000% surge in India AI stock fuels bubble fears – The Hindu Businessline

    The article mentions some wild stock moves in additional countries.

    It’s an all conquering economic ideology.
    Multipolar bubbles.

    Reply ↓
  19. The Rev Kev

    “Trump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two years later”

    A Moon landing in only the next three years? Yeah, nah. Never going to happen. The only reason for that 2028 target is so that Trump being President still, can take credit for it and boost Republican’s chances in the Presidential elections. Do they have a Lunar lander about ready to go? How about the rockets to launch that mission into space? Do the astronauts have the training to undertake such a mission? It was only a day or so ago that they finally got around to choosing a Director for NASA so he will be learning his job for quite some time. The fact of the matter is that it will take a whole series of miracles to put together such a mission in the next three years but if they rush it, could get a coupla astronauts killed. And I would not be surprised to see that happen.

    Reply ↓
      1. Alena Shahadat

        Thanks, that made me laugh. Imagine T-R singing that. Maybe the Moon will stop for him a little while so he can land on it…. If he bullies it enough.

        Reply ↓
    2. paul

      Gw bush commited to this 20 years after the first mission
      Following on (from walespedia):

      The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was a plan for space exploration announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. It was conceived as a response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the state of human spaceflight at NASA, and as a way to regain public enthusiasm for space exploration.

      The policy outlined by the “Vision for Space Exploration” was replaced first by President Barack Obama’s space policy in April 2010, then by President Donald Trump’s “National Space Strategy” space policy in March 2018, and finally by President Joe Biden’s preliminary space policy proposals in spring 2021.

      I hate to think negatively but just look at the apollo 11 presentation:

      Suprisingly muted for humankind#s greatest achievement, never repeated in our times.

      Maybe astronauts were just more stoic in those days.

      Reply ↓
    3. Acacia

      I can’t pay no doctor bills
      But Donny’s on the moon
      Ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still
      While Donny’s on the moon
      The man just upped my rent last night
      Cause Donny’s on the moon
      No hot water, no toilets, no lights
      But Donny’s on the moon
      I wonder why he’s upping me?
      Cause Donny’s on the moon?
      Well I was already giving him fifty a week
      With Donny on the moon
      Taxes taking my whole damn check
      Junkies making me a nervous wreck
      The price of food is going up
      And as if all that shit wasn’t enough:
      A rat done bit my sister Nell
      With Donny on the moon

      — with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron

      Reply ↓
    4. Skip Intro

      I think they can use AI to make a moon landing that looks even more realistic than the original! And the cost will be about the same.

      Reply ↓
  20. Carolinian

    Re the teenagers less free article

    Teenagers are allowed to do less and less in the physical world, even as (thanks to technological advancement) they have more and more access to the digital world. I’m not going to recapitulate Jonathan Haidt here; I actually feel very confused about precisely the role that Instagram and TikTok play in the stress and unhappiness of the modern American adolescent. But I feel on much more solid ground saying that the effects of the digital world on our kids is worse when it is the only world they have access to.

    Exactly? Once I learned to ride a bike I rode it everywhere and later–as a teenager–all over the county. My farm raised parents didn’t find this odd.

    Could be the country is in a maturity crisis starting at the top. USA–United States of Affluenza?

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      I remember being bored and having to make your own fun things to do, could a twelve year old ever be bored these days with more stimulation than you can shake a stick at, available to them?

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        Ah, but today all of those “fun things” are made by others with ‘agendas’ to promote.
        Now the pizza store jingle would end with, “…where a kid can be a consumer!” (It can be argued that this cynical observation was always the point, but hey now, remember when there was a futures market in fig leaves?)
        Stay safe and fun!

        Reply ↓
    2. amfortas

      yeah…feels weird to think how much has changed in my 56 years.
      i began avoiding my mom around 9 yo…wandering in the woods with a book in my pocket.
      and there was a railroad, with a sidetrack, adjacent to our isolated neighborhood…started riding freight when they were slow, doing the switching, at 11.
      when dad had enough and left, mom let her inner superbitch flag fly…and i pretty much disappeared into the piney woods.
      only tv i watched was dr who and other pbs type things…and that rarely.
      numerous remains of forts and redoubts can still be discerned all around that place, if one knows what to look for.
      none of that was all that conducive to bike riding, though…hopping fences, etc.
      i prolly walked a few thousand miles between 11 and 16.
      by the end of that time, my range was a ten to fifteen mile radius in all directions.

      Reply ↓
    3. LifelongLib

      In the 1980s my wife and I perceived the world as a much more dangerous place for our child than our parents had for us in the 1960s. By then we were living in rented apartments in the city, not in suburban neighborhoods where the houses had big yards and everybody pretty much knew everybody else. So until he got older our son didn’t have anything close to the kind of freedom we’d had.

      Reply ↓
      1. amfortas

        me, too,lol…altho i was a child in the 70’s(born 69), but my memories goes back to 72…and the mentorship he makes such a big deal about(it was) was not from my parents, but my grandparents.
        when i learned that i still had the old landline from 20 years ago(attached to te DSL), i dug out the old beige ma bell rotary phone and hooked it up in the house(the walk-around fone is at the bar). when boys first heard it, they were shocked,lol…and when they tried to call their girlfriends…waiting for the thing to cycle back, etc…
        hilarious.
        and i got to hold forth about all the phone numbers carried in my head(many to this day), and wrote on the rafters of the barn, etc.
        if i had attempted to live the life i led, bein born in…say 1990…i wouldnt have been allowed…or would have long ago been in prison.

        Reply ↓
  22. communistmole

    Do I get this right?

    The EU is thus shifting the costs of the war onto its taxpayers in order to prevent the collapse of Ukraine, hoping to win the war or at least to offset the costs through concessions from Russia in order to prevent its own financial collapse.

    Sounds like a winning strategy …

    Reply ↓
    1. Mikel

      I think it’s interesting that there is always an attempt by some European country to march through Belgium, literally or figuratively, in route to expanded war.

      Reply ↓
  24. AG

    re: Jacques Baud interview BERLINER ZEITUNG

    This is remarkable since Berliner Zeitung after all is one of the major established German dailies. It is an outlier in covering certain topics and allow certain views. But still. Quite something:

    Interview
    The EU sanctions Jacques Baud: “Like a bolt from the blue”

    The EU has sanctioned a Swiss citizen. His bank accounts are frozen, and he is not allowed to travel. To buy food, he needs a “humanitarian exemption”.

    Dec. 19th 2025
    https://archive.is/m0R0j

    “(…)
    How do you assess the EU’s decision from a rule-of-law perspective?

    The problem here is that it’s not a judicial decision, as if I had committed a crime or broken a law. It’s a political decision. Just like in the 17th century, when the king decided someone was an enemy: you can deprive someone of their liberty without a trial, without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves, without giving them the opportunity to influence the decision.

    Of course, you can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but formally, its ruling has no bearing on the sanctions decision made by the EU’s “executive.” We’re dealing here with a blatant violation of the principle of the separation of powers, which governs the rule of law. We are very, very far removed from the “values” that the EU claims to uphold. I myself am a United Nations expert on the rule of law and am very familiar with this issue.

    What happens next for you?

    The answer must lie in the political sphere, as this is a decision made by the EU Council of Foreign Ministers. This means that petition campaigns, signature drives, and similar measures can have an effect.

    We are currently exploring possible ways to get out of this Kafkaesque situation, but this will certainly cost a considerable sum of money, which I don’t have and which won’t be covered by any compensation, because that’s EU policy, even if it’s wrong!
    (…)”

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      ‘His bank accounts are frozen, and he is not allowed to travel. To buy food, he needs a “humanitarian exemption’

      You’d think that Switzerland would be squawking loudly over this one and demanding the return of its citizen. Then again, this particular Swiss government may be all in on this sort of thing happening. And all for the crime of analyzing a war and coming up with conclusions that don’t agree with the narratives.

      Reply ↓
  25. JBird4049

    >>>AOC Dismisses Premature 2028 Polls, But Says ‘I Would Stomp’ JD Vance Common Dreams

    I ain’t going to vote for Vance, but I am still puzzled that the Democrats still think that their party is a going concern with a future especially as they keep doing everything they can to have that not be.

    Reply ↓
    1. gf

      The two bases of the Dems and Repubs are so locked in that any discussion of a major change in the political system is very premature at this point.

      Just as the power of BRICs is over rated, the power of the forces against these two parties is over rated.

      Sad as that is.

      Reply ↓
    1. skippy

      Hi flora, I think you should be informed that Ellen is not a very good source on this blog, propensity to mangle some things due to some ideological millstones out of antiquity. Not that she is wrong in disposing power dynamics or FP agendas due too it.

      What she totally is removed from is the political proceeds of any money dynamic, matters not hard or soft systems.

      Reply ↓
      1. flora

        oh. I come from a long line of bankers and have always found her very sensible wrt banking and the big picture there.

        Am I supposed to self-sensor in order to fit a preferred narrative? / ;)

        Reply ↓
  27. amfortas

    man…the Dissident’s rundown of the 26 year history of usa skulduggery against Venezuela is pretty crazy. its nothing i was unaware of…save the biden attempted kidnapping…but its good to have it all in one place, short and sweet.
    like so many other things over the last hundred years or so, i just wish more americans knew about it.
    “a shining city on a hill, spreading the light of democracy across the world…”

    Reply ↓
    1. Pat

      I really have to wonder what led to this. And despite my overwhelming sense that it would offend my ethics I can only hope that it leads to your hope being granted.

      Oh if only so many others would not just be shown the door but go out it…

      Reply ↓
    1. bertl

      Lots of good people end up dealing with bad people without knowing it and bad people seek out relationships with good people as cover and a moral shield. Maxwell got into academic publishing which gave him access to the “great and good”, and Epstein seems to have spent a lot of time, money and effort doing the very same thing.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        You do have to wonder if Chomksy ever ended up on Epstein island if that was the Lolita Express jet that he was on and if he did, if he noticed all the young teen girls running around the place. Lots of unanswered questions here and anybody associating with Epstein has a cloud over them.

        Reply ↓
  30. AG

    re: Jeffrey Sachs Ukraine

    Jeffrey Sachs was on Glenn Diesen´s show yesterday.

    He stated that Amanda Sloat, National Security Council’s Deputy Director for Europe under Biden until Nov. 2023, privately conceded to Sachs that the war could have been prevented if the US had officially said No NATO to UKR.

    TC: 17:50
    https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/jeffrey-sachs-an-open-letter-to-chancellor

    But mostly Sachs uses the occasion to summarize his open letter to Friedrich Merz which so far virtually nobody in Germany speaks about.

    BERLINER ZEITUNG printed it. I think that was it.

    An Open Letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz: Security Is Indivisible – and History Matters
    https://braveneweurope.com/jeffrey-sachs-an-open-letter-to-chancellor-friedrich-merz-security-is-indivisible-and-history-matters

    p.s. POLITICO on Amanda Sloat when she left office:
    Nov. 2023
    https://www.politico.eu/article/top-nsc-official-europe-leaving-amanda-sloat-joe-biden/

    Reply ↓
  32. Acacia

    Re: Bond markets

    Bank of Japan hikes interest rates: Is a global bond crisis looming?
    https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/12/19/bank-of-japan-hikes-interest-rates-is-a-global-bond-crisis-looming

    As Japanese rates rise, the advantage of borrowing in yen becomes less appetising for global investors.

    The result could be a wave of deleveraging across global credit and equity markets, triggering a disorderly rise in yields.

    I wonder how this will play out for PM Takaichi.

    Meanwhile, she’s been busy, lately, on pushing for “work style reform” which means relaxing limits on overtime (“so you don’t need to hold down two different jobs” she chirps), and relaxing some rules on foreign caregivers to make up for a critical shortage in the local labor market (no, really?). Long karôshi.

    Reply ↓

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