New trend: Young people want a “perfect” anus Expressen via machine translation (Micael T). So anal sex is now preferred among heteros?
If a Tree Falls Harper’s (Micael T)
You’re Writing a Book. So Stop Writing a Movie. Rebecca Makkai. Micael T: “Old but still interesting and a nice break from violence.”
How Big Tech killed literary culture Unherd (Micael T)
The 4x rule: Why some people’s DNA is more unstable than others Science Daily (Kevin W)
Why It Still Makes Sense to Limit Saturated Fats Undark
Does running wear out the bodies of professionals and amateurs alike? The Conversation
Climate/Environment
Breaking News!
Code Yikes!The latest CO2 data just came in from Mauna Loa and the 3-year rate of CO2 growth just hit a new record high, now growing at a rate of 7.97 ppm per 3 years.
(That dip in the mid-1990's is Mt. Pinatubo. Google is your friend.) pic.twitter.com/3WtTmvlMs3
— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) January 6, 2026
Update:
We are witnessing the most insane unbelievable event in European climatic history.
Greeks from Crete sleeping with AC in January
with temperatures up to 26C in the middle of the night.
It's like August.
3 centuries of European climatic history is rewritten today https://t.co/txQW8Vc8rh— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) January 8, 2026
HISTORIC HEAT IN MIDDLE EAST
Hundreds of records smashed between Europe,Africa and Asia
35.0C at Yenbo on the North Red Sea coast:
Hottest January day in history.
Over 170 countries are breaking heat records:
never happened anything like this
and will be much worse next days. pic.twitter.com/HfvinYFIaP— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) January 7, 2026
New ECMWF guidance aggressively predicts the development of a planet-warming El Niño this year, with changes in Pacific wind patterns signaling that a transition is underway.
While possible impacts vary by region, El Niño would play a key role in shaping global weather patterns. pic.twitter.com/1P1QaWjXzt
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) January 6, 2026
Oceans struggle to absorb Earth’s carbon dioxide as microplastics invade their waters PhysOrg
People are leaving cities to escape toxic air Mongabay
Climate change shifts the North Pacific storm track polewards Nature
America’s tornado hot spots are shifting. Experts say this might be why Independent
California is completely drought-free for the first time in 25 years Guardian (resilc)
China?
Beijing moves to cut losses in Venezuela after Maduro’s capture Asia Times (Kevin W)
China’s Housing Slump Deepens as New-Home Sales Fall to Pre-2010 Levels Caixin
The Taiwan ‘Idiocy’: Why Game Theory Rules Out A 2027 Invasion – OpEd Eurasia Review
It’s Very Difficult To Believe China’s Claim Of Mediating Between India & Pakistan Andrew Korybko
Africa
UK government co-owns Somaliland port at centre of Horn of Africa crisis Middle East Eye
South of the Border
South Florida: When local politics become rogue US foreign policy Responsible Statescraft (Kevin W)
Trump promises oil companies ‘total safety’ in Venezuela as he urges them to invest billions Guardian (resilc)
Trump seeks $100bn for Venezuela oil, but Exxon boss says country ‘uninvestable’ BBC (Kevin W)
US military forces seize fifth tanker in effort to control Venezuelan oil Guardian (Kevin W)
Uruguay no reconoce a Delcy Rodríguez como presidenta de Venezuela: “Son parte de la misma realidad que no fue electa democráticamente” El Observador. Robin K: “Relatively progressive Uruguay is not giving recognition to Venezuela’s Delcy Rodriguez.”
The battle for seeds in Latin America: how the legal blockade is progressing and how the people are responding Rebelion via machine translation (Micael T)
European Disunion
Will Europe ever wake up? America loathes the continent’s elites Thomas Fazi, Unherd
European Union Agrees to Landmark Free-Trade Deal With South America New York Times (resilc)
Germany’s local governments face financial collapse DW
France’s economic crisis PressTV
Greenland should hold talks with the US without Denmark, opposition leader says Reuters. resilc: “Bidding war started, like with Paramount.”
Two years of BSW Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
Greek Prosecutor Launches Inquiry After Yanis Varoufakis Admits to Past Ecstasy Use Greek Reporter. Micael T: “EU values in action. Any and every dissident will be squashed in any and every way possible.”
Criminals and venture capital companies should get out of healthcare! Tidningenrorelsen via machine translation (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Treasury doesn’t understand risks of shadow banking bubble, Lords warn Telegraph
Israel v. The Resistance
On 11 Sep 2024, during the mass-extermination phase of the genocide, high ranking educators organized a meeting to figure out how they could continue educating children in Gaza.
Israel bombed the meeting. https://t.co/kK8rpwMi1D pic.twitter.com/PvP7QWpWhl
— Zionism Observer (@receipts_lol) January 9, 2026
* * * Probably F15s, F16s, F22s And F35s : Dozens Of US Jets Now Converging On The Middle East BOC-maintenance (resilc)
Iran’s collapsing currency exposes the profiteers behind the crisis The Cradle. Micael T: “Trita Parsi told me once that in the Middle East, there are no good guys. The unrest on Iran is also a murky mix of murky interests, as it seems. Not only CIA-supported traitors but also local nasties.”
Huge anti-government protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities, videos show BBC
🇷🇺🇮🇷arme nucléaire russe pour protégé l'Iran:Dimitri Medvedev,vice président russe dit que la Russie serait près à offrir la bombe nucléaire a l'Iran si jamais le guide suprême le demandait et il confirmé que cela fait partie du traité de défense que la Russie et l'Iran ont signé pic.twitter.com/s9n25Dy6jM
— Le Liptako Gourma (@LiptakoGourma3) January 8, 2026
Syraqistan
Syria live: Fighting resumes in Aleppo after ceasefire collapses Aljazeera
New Not-So-Cold War
Another group of #NATO officers killed by a drone strike in #Ukraine #Russia #Odessa pic.twitter.com/prbLBv0Ri8
— Lochdale (@ELINET19) January 8, 2026
Iraq has handed over control of Lukoil’s oil field to another company Top War
Unexpected Warriors: Scandinavia’s New Assertive Posture Forvm Geopolitica (Micael T)
Poland removed as host of weightlifting championships for refusing Russian athletes Notes from Poland (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
UK Orders Ofcom to Explore Encryption Backdoors Reclaim the Net
Imperial Collapse Watch
Former CIA director William Burns: ‘Imitating autocrats is not a winning formula’ Financial Times
The Empire Strikes Back: Trump, Netanyahu, and the Death of International Law Council Estate Media (resilc)
Is America on Step 1? 11 To Go? Corbin Trent (resilc)
The Long 20th Century Is Over. A New World Is Being Built Through Self-Determination Russia in Global Affairs (Micael T)
Trump 2.0
Trump Has Changed And TDS With Him Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Trump threatens US defence firms over executive pay, slow production Aljazeera (Kevin W)
Trump’s Big Tech takeover of the federal workforce The Hill (fk)
Trump orders ‘my representatives’ to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds in effort to lower housing costs CNN (Kevin W). Sigh. This is explicitly what Bernanke did with QE. He repeatedly said, and few listened. that he was seeking to lower both longer-term Treasury rates and mortgage bond spreads over Treasuries so as to lower mortgage rates. Buying mortgage bonds alone won’t do the trick.
Washington National Opera to move out of Kennedy Center after Trump ‘takeover’ Guardian
ICE Murder
NEW Video Of ICE Shooting Released Young Turks. Normally I am not a fan of Cenk’s rants, but this one is spot on. His fellow broadcaster highlights at the top that the cop shooter, right after firing, called Good a “fucking bitch,” showing he acted out of rage, not fear of injury. Also reports that clip was given by the cop to right wing Alpha News, then went to CNN and beyond and confirmed as authentic by DHS
2 things stand out to me about the assassination of Nicole Renee Good.
1) An American, award-winning poet mother of 3 and a former veteran shouldn't be interacting with ICE.
2) Her genuinely kind soul when she said to the masked officer, "That's fine dude, I'm not mad at you." pic.twitter.com/FUhuHvtW6K
— PRⓞTⓄTYPE e/acc (@PrototypeLive) January 10, 2026
Described by JD Vance 🇺🇸 as:
‘Using domestic terror techniques’
Nicole Good, mother of 3, told an Immigration Agent:
“That's fine dude. I'm not mad at you."
Her friend said:
“We don't change our plates every morning…come talk to us later”
Then shot in the head
Dead. pic.twitter.com/fhuUGxhm7U
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) January 9, 2026
ABC made a second-by-second reconstruction of the killing of Renee Good. Her partner saw the whole thing. https://t.co/JZp322Swqg
— MaaikeDx 🖌 (@RembrandtsRoom) January 9, 2026
As I said in comments:
I follow civil rights videos by lawyers and ex prosecutors. The order to get out of the car was illegal. In a traffic stop (not clear this was even arguably that) they can ask for ID and registration. They can’t order an exit from the car or a search unless they have probable cause and can articulate specific reason to suspect a crime. The word normally used is “particularized”. Can’t be a hunch. It is also DHS policy not to shoot into a moving car unless it might contain a bomb or otherwise poses an imminent and severe hazard.
And there is plenty of precedent for sweaing at cops being legal. First Amendment and all that in the context of cops merely arresting someone for getting mouthy with them. Courts have even ruled that cops as supposed pros are to be able to take that, are held to a higher standard, and not have it affect how they perform their duties. In no universe does telling off a cop (as the passenger did) warrant a violent response.
* * * Schumer, Jeffries Refuse to Join Democrats’ Growing Calls to Slash ICE Spending Common Dreams
‘Disturbing’ JD Vance ICE ‘door-to-door’ comments compared to ‘1930’s Germany’ after horror shooting The Mirror (resilc)
Omar Fateh Speaks to Zeteo at the Scene of Renee Nicole Good’s Murder Zeteo
‘A beautiful spirit’ – the Christian work of woman shot dead by ICE BBC (resilc)
* * * Following ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good, Trump officials threaten mass repression Countercurrents
In ICE’s Own Words, It’s “Wartime” in America New Republic (resilc)
Spotify no longer running ICE recruitment ads, after US government campaign ends Guardian
GOP Clown Car
Not even a trial balloon, more a provocation:
LOYALTY TEST INITIATED:
One Congresswoman Just Pulled the Pin on a Political Grenade That Could WIPE OUT Dozens in DC
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) didn’t just make a statement — she launched a war.
Standing before the House, she demanded what no one in Washington wanted to… pic.twitter.com/desf2yT6Bl— Mike Netter (@nettermike) January 7, 2026
Our No Longer Free Press
NEW:
In an incredible twist, Megyn Kelly says the media is controlled by people beholden to Israel.
She says this Zionist chokehold is making even her question her beliefs about Islam.
We are being force-fed a takeover when the takeover already happened pic.twitter.com/8ljgJFqeFl
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) January 8, 2026
Economy
Big copper shortage to pose ‘systemic risk’ to global economies, warns S&P Financial Times
No-one is predicting a US recession in 2026 despite this simple indicator having a 100% track record of success. This time may well be different, but you've got to have a bloody good reason to ignore this. Are you feeling confident? https://t.co/LmqUTOAgh8 pic.twitter.com/cvaNRLEPTb
— Albert Edwards (@albertedwards99) January 8, 2026
AI
Data Centers Are Asked to Bring Own Power Generation… or Shut Down OilPrice
Class Warfare
Power created neoliberalism, not economic theory Rebelion via machine translation (Micael T)
Ohio spends billions to create jobs. Economists say the lack of jobs is making people leave Ohio Capitol Journal (Carla)
More gen Z men live with parents in this city than anywhere in the US. How do they date? Guardian (resilc)
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
One changed its mind
pic.twitter.com/qHDwTSR8YX— Science girl (@sciencegirl) January 9, 2026
A second bonus:
This is Sir Reginald Fluffington the Third, bravely conquering the Mighty River of Doom (depth: 1.2 inches). After intense training and several motivational treats, he crossed the heckin' torrent. would award Medal of Valor and extra zoomies.
pic.twitter.com/hKWk09Zn3B— Puppies 🐶 (@Puppieslover) January 6, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“New trend: Young people want a “perfect” anus”
You get some weird crap here. Several years ago I read that people were bleaching them. And then there was this young woman that decided to have her anus tattooed. I winced at the thought of that needle jabbing again and again. I guess that it takes all sorts. Do you think that those surgeons have a big book full of images of different anuses so that patients can choose which one they want? I pity those surgeons as they certainly put in a hard day at the orifice.
BP flicks through brochure of arseholes…
“I’ll have the Tony Blair, please.”
I understand that Tony Blair once went for a arsehole transplant but it didn’t work. The arsehole rejected him.
I’ll see myself out now.
* The recipient rejected him.
The comparison is most unfair to arseholes. Speaking of Blair and his ilk, however, I recommend the Thomas Fazi piece, ‘Will Europe Ever Wake Up?’ which is linked to above and addresses the matter of Europe’s comprador elites in refreshingly direct terms.
Treason doth never prosper: what ’s the reason?
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
…as John Harington wrote going on five centuries ago. Harington (1560–1612), besides being a courtier and author, was the inventor of the flush toilet.
It’s a trend that I no longer have the option of following. Perhaps I should have given my late, great anus a proper burial.
Dinner
– I got a new tattoo.
– oh nice. Can we see?
– Yes, sure. It signifies my connection with the rainbow.
– How Beautiful.
– Thank you.
– I have a new anus. It is perfect.
– Oh how nice. Yes, many people gave new assholes nowadays. Can I see?
– Yes, sure.
Trying to show the anus bending forward.
– I am sorry but I can’t see. Can you point your ass more towards the lamp?
– Then I guess I need to stand on my hands.
– So stand on your hands then. I will hold you.
….
– Wait I will move some plates and these saucepans so you can put your feet on the table right under the dinnertable lamp.
– Ok…
– Oh yes, now we can see. Oh, what a… well, it is an anus. Can you please explain what is perfect with this anus?
– Oh it’s all about the wrinkles. Do you see any wrinkles?
– No…
– Just like my eyes. No wrinkles, not old. I have a unaged shithole. Isn’t it beautiful?
– But does it work? Can you still do what this little orifice is supposed to?
– Yes, it is beautiful. Now I can finally show it to anybody. No more anus-shaming on me. My self-confidence is top-notch. None of us has a better anus than me!!
– “Us”?
– Yes, me and my perfect-anus-influencer-ring. We are promiting the perfect asshole.
– Huh?
– Yes, nobody should be ashamed for their anus?
– In front of whom?
– Many! When your employer b+*^%k you with low salaries and bullshit job then you know that you have a bit of dignity left. It is important to alwys look beautiful even when bu=*^%ked. Especially then!
– Hmmm… ok, but does it work as intended?
– What do you mean?
– Can you… you, know… uuuuhh… poo?
– Well… the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh.
– Meaning?
– I have a beautiful shithole but it is more challenging to push through.
– I thought a perfect anus would take doing number two to the next level.
– You are such a prosaic person.
ha ha!
If an anonymous person (hopefully in a crowded elevator) lets loose with a ripper from their rear echelon, my standard response is to ask:
‘…are you gonna let that asshole talk like that?’
While we are on the subject of crowded elevators and you are one of the last let on-as the doors close, turn and face everybody else. I did it a few times on the cruise ship and it is so unnerving to your fellow travelers, who don’t mind looking at the back of other people’s heads in close proximity, but the other way around, whew!
Once the door closes behind you, say “the reason I’ve called you all together today…”
I would say that it’s more about the visuals for the regular doggy style.
I’m surprised this is new; it has been the trend in adult content for certainly over a decade, for reasons that I can’t fathom. What was wrong with the design that nature intended?
There’s a difference in how they look?
Seriously, haemorrhoids, etc., you can tell, but even when I had to manually inspect butts for work, I’ve never noticed a major visual difference, not even to the ones on screens.
I’m going to need some preparation H to deal with this comment thread.
We’re never gonna get Hillary out of our lives, are we?
Is she really a blond or is that the bleach talking?
When I was younger, a certain group considered anal sex to be a legitimate way to preserve their virginity, where preserving such was considered important.
I’ve head a few anecdotes of it being practised in Islamic coutries, though you are more likely to be from Utah, or Bible Belt, or something.
As an older person, I hate to break it to the young crowd, but we’re headed to anal Armageddon. I’ve learned the absolute worst thing you can do on the toilet is look at your phone. And yet, we’ve got the young crowd going down whatever rabbit hole for so much time on their phones on their toilets on a daily basis. In the past, sure, we had the sports page to look at, but after midday, that was used up. These kids are going to have hemorrhoids on top of hemorrhoids. I don’t envy them. I try to warn my teens, but you know kids…
I am not surprised at all. In that age category _everything_ is measured against the whole (social media) world. Anuses are sexually relevant body parts, so they are in imagined competition against all other women on the planet, like breasts, butt cheeks, toned bellys, you name it.
Also the prevalence of anal sex among heteros seems to have massively increased in the last few decades. In the 2000s i have not seen a single woman batting an eyelid, whereas before that it was at least something notable.
Excellent antidotes this morning, thank you. Brave Sir Reginald is adorable, but the horses and snow absolutely connects with this lad from the north. It’s difficult to express in words the magical feeling of waking up to the absolute silence of a couple of feet of fresh snow.
I really liked the horse video. First horse charges out, the second horse follows, says “Nope!” and turns back. First horse works out that there is no food to munch on and follows his mate back. Seen this before-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoQI55EUSQA (45 secs)
What breed is that wonderful puppy? (A much needed antidote this morning)
a Corgi pup? Cardigan Welsh?
just my guess!
Agreed.
Here’s a bipedal bonus, and another, and another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkrp2N5o49c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXRWOSmU2cc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc5Jhx9HjuM
> Trump threatens US defence firms over executive pay, slow production Aljazeera (Kevin W)
Unrelated.
I’d like to see Peter Thiel replace a window.
Trump could have let Musk go DOGE on the pentagon……..
Trump could also just tell the officer signing a receiving report “don’t waffle on quality”.
That would stop a lot of payments!
Whacking CEO’s is like grabbing Maduro!
TACO
That wouldn’t have suited Musk…not as much usable data to pirate, not to mention personal conflicts.
(Not to mention that the theft levels might have really started a revolution with every faction of the population except the oligarchs.)
Quick trans of Medvedev tweet: “Russian nuclear arms to protect Iran: Dimitri Medvedev, vice president of Russia, said that Russia would be ready to offer the nuclear bomb to Iran if the supreme leader ever requested it and he (Medvedev) confirmed that this is part of the defense agreement signed by Russia and Iran.”
Twitter provides a translation…..
I try not to click through to twitter most of the time, so I actually didn’t see a translation until now.
Here here!
The only reason I click through to twitter is to rip content and free it in the fediverse unattributed.
Baffles me that all the big brains on twitchan continue lap dogging the billionaires they decry due to “switching costs” (read … hypocrisy). If you’re all that people will search you out and follow you in the fedi. All followers are searchable.
Did I just recently read in one of the links that “Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue”?
I go on Twitter and whichever tweet the algorithm gods decide to show me I reply:
FUCK THE RICH
SHARE THE WEALTH
CLASS UNITY NOT IDENTITY POLITICS
THIRD PARTY THE DUOPOLY USING ECONOMIC POPULISM FOR AMERICAS 🇺🇸 250TH
#AmericanRevolution2
Stoller, Pilkington, Keen, random right wing wokesters, libs, Louisiana state officials like Jeff Landry or AG Murill or Blake Miguez whoever the f that is, spetsnaz, Putin, RT.com, Chief War Nerd, Patriotic Blonde, Tired Peasant, ACP, Midwestern Marx, Haz Al din, Carlos Guarido, Noah Kravchik, Mamdani, Zephyr Teachout, and everyone in between.
Starting to see the AI algorithm running with my message!
I couldn’t see a translation without clicking through, so having it pasted here was helpful.
If Medvedev is talking about the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed just about a year ago, he is of course wrong. That Treaty contains nothing about nuclear weapons, and the only references to nuclear at all are to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He may mean that Russia would be prepared to offer nuclear protection to Iran, but the actual transfer of nuclear weapons would be a breach of the NPT, and I doubt if the Russians would be prepared to station nuclear weapons in Iran, even under their control. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Honestly, I think the tweet (sorry, X?) is an interpretation by an African activist on what Medvedev said last June, after the Israel and US strikes on Iran: “There are many countries ready to give Iran nuclear weapons, if they want”. Next day he added that Russia, as a member of NPT, is not one of those countries.
That is the latest mention of Iran and nuclear weapons I can find from Medvedev in Russian media or his telegram account.
Interesting. I did wonder who this guy was, in view of the fact that even in this short text he makes a number of elementary mistakes in French. I can’t imagine what his Russian would be like. Not a reliable source, I suggest.
What was that about Pakistan “helping out” Iran in that area?
I read that info at Craig Murray´s blog during the Israeli attack.
Back then I doubted Pakistan really did say that or meant it.
p.s. German state media really dare propagating the Shah´s son. For anyone older than 50 with a little interest in current affairs this must appear insane and an irresponsible twisted déjà-vu.It´s not that long ago that TV programs about the 1970s were again showing those clashes between German demonstrators and his thugs. The country of “collective memory” has lost its memory.
Ah, but Trump just declared that there is no such thing as international law. Reap the whirlwind.
I heard he’s morally against whirlwinds.
If RF loaned a dozen nuke armed Iskandr on TELs to Iran would Trump go “Cuban missile crisis”?
What would TACO do?
…a Baedeker
Hair furor has a fair amount of Adolf in him, and the latter wanted Germany destroyed if it couldn’t prevail, late in the game.
sci-fi fans…
an 11 min. video essay on the 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still” interpreted via a “rules-based order” geopolitical lens with Gort as the hegemon enforcer. from the Feral Historian channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVPIWadVFek
Good watch, thank you.
Re: Mauna Loa CO2 and eastern hemisphere’s freakishly warm temps:
The carbon’s been spewed,
The curse it is cast.
The slow rise now
Will soon be fast.
As the present now
Will later be past
Our hope is rapidly fadin’
And the disaster now
Will be far from the last
For our home, the Earth, is a-changin’
The Times, They Are A-Changin'” (PP&M cover)
As performed by El Niño and the Tempests.
Re Stop Writing a Movie–a fun read that noodles around the key point that fiction on the page relies on the reader’s imagination whereas movies stimulate the viewer’s senses and desires. This is what Pauline Kael was talking about with the title of her first book, I Lost it at the Movies. Of course one might argue that even she was trying far too hard to intellectualize a medium that isn’t about “ideas” and is much closer to music and sensuality. It’s the reason why images and music go so well together (and why some of us lack enthusiasm for the silents as a genre).
Of course movies can be about ideas and a director like John Huston was devoted to the literary. But most of the time it’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang–another Kael title. Enjoy this magic window that tech has brought us.
Today’s FTAlphaville contains a post on a NBER paper about how GIF’s represent a leading counter-indicator of short-term market sentiment, because they express immediate visceral emotion, the trades on which get reversed later.
https://www.ft.com/content/9b1ff0b8-a1e8-4869-8d61-620c5ed32d35
I think that encapsulates exactly the point you are making about images and music but with the highest firm of proof, Money….
Actually, for me there is a hierarchy. Music beats moving pictures. If you turn the sound off on a film, it dies. Whereas if you turn your back, you have a badly edited radioplay. Terribly potent, cheap music.
Yeah but a movie gets all your senses all at once and I freaking love the feeling I get and the ideas that bubble up seeing a great film. For me it’s communing with the universe and stuff.
I’m glad you get such inspiration from them. I’ve never liked films as much as books and plays and once I learnt the sound trick, I’ve never been able to overcome my resentment of the limbic manipulation in films….
Trent’s 12 Steps for America–
I don’t know that I’d be bragging about recruiting AOC for Congress when she has voted money and arms to Ukraine at every opportunity. And “maybe” we need new parties? An electoral solution would require some combination of FDR, Lincoln and Joan of Arc and a new party more skilled and ruthless than the Bolsheviks.
In my opinion, we’re still quite a ways from a rock bottom turning point. That may not arrive until the last power plant has failed, the last bomber stranded on the ground. And the return will not be to some idealized “good old days” epitomized by “see the USA in your Chevrolet.” Instead, I hope it will be back to a future when we have finally learned how to live in harmony with the Earth and the life we share this planet with.
AOC is one of the deep bench I keep hearing about for 2028. Given the popularity of Trump, the bench itself might have a chance.
‘Bench Wormers’
Yes. I really try not to be just a negative, knee-jerk nay-sayer. I find I agreed with almost everything Trent says in this long piece. And yet, when I got to this point…
“It’s going to take new people. New movements. Maybe new parties. It’s going to take courage in the voting booth. Voting for candidates who look like long shots. Because truly transformational change always looks like a long shot from inside the burning building.”
“We’ve seen it work. I helped recruit a bartender from the Bronx to run against one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. She won. Bernie Sanders built a movement on $27 donations that nearly toppled the entire party establishment. Twice. These weren’t flukes. They were proof that contagious moral clarity can outrun donor gravity…”
… I realized why this eloquent rant was not sinking in for me at all. Corbin Trent, co-founder of the Justice Democrats, may be completely sincere here. But until he understands just *how* these examples of his “worked,” and why, then he can’t help us. That is at least Step 2. Just what happened to AOC after she won? What happened to Sanders after he “nearly toppled the entire party establishment. Twice”? After mobilizing the hopes and dreams of their supporters they were simply absorbed by the Borg. They continue to be useful by occasionally launching strongly-worded criticisms toward Trump and the Republicans – on some issues – keeping these flickering hopes alive for their dwindling supporters. On other issues – say Syria, or Russia and Ukraine – they are useful in sheep-herding liberals and progressives toward the Establishment mindset. And they have no effect on the political institutions to which they were elected.
Guys like Corbin Trent remain optimistic. Perhaps they can create other PACs and political organizations and hook up with other charismatic political candidates. Maybe they’ll even win! Then what?
Too cynical?
Too cynical?
Although I realize schumer and jeffries are not new movements but rather entrenched interests, I think refusing to cut ice budget says it all and emphasizes our one party state. The thrashing and flailing around, the “unprovoked” invasion of the world is really the last gasp of a dying empire. The mask is off, the globalists are losing. Istill think something no one expects will lead to the final undoing.
Not cynical enough imo. Those who make change impossible make change inevitable…
…anybody attending Steny’s going away party?
“They” never see “it” coming until “it” is already here.
One can never be too cynical in our Neoliberal Utopia.
The claim that Donald Trump is the Republic Bernie Sanders, the neocon sheepdog to recapture the MAGA right, looks truer by the day.
Nope, I’m getting started now building that new party based around economic populism for Americas 250th.
Fuck these assholes in charge.
Every action has a reaction. I didn’t just magically start thinking this way. It was inculcated into me through the bullies in my neighborhood, the pressure of a Jesuit HS, the laissez faire of college (and drugs), a shitty military that protects the rich, and a long series of lying to my face politicians.
Time to dust off this ole rostra and preach the word of the Economic Jubilee.
For in all my travels and studies, only ONE person has explained the truth about wtf is going on outside – Yves Smith & NC. She’s like a modern fucking Ben Franklin with REAL B-A-L-L-S.
‘Mike Netter
@nettermike
LOYALTY TEST INITIATED:
One Congresswoman Just Pulled the Pin on a Political Grenade That Could WIPE OUT Dozens in DC
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) didn’t just make a statement — she launched a war.
Standing before the House, she demanded what no one in Washington wanted to hear:
A total ban on dual citizens serving in Congress.’
The Aussie Constitution actually bans dual citizens from serving in Parliament. Nevertheless about a decade ago a whole bunch of them was found serving in Parliament. Instead of dumping them in a one and done, they stretched the process out for over a year so I assume political calculations were being made here when to do each person.
Congress could say that their members have until 2028 to renounce all other passports or withdraw from standing for office in that election. I doubt that it will happen, even though this plays directly into America First. Too many vested interests.
The claim of dual citizenship in Congress, and sometimes other government offices, is a long-standing contention on the right. Occassionally there will be a list. In the past these lists have been of those who are Jewish or (in at least one case I recall) had a Jewish “sounding” last name). Apparently Omar is now also included on such lists.
It’s just one part of the overall project on the right to limit who can be considered a citizen, become a citizen, retain their citizenship, vote, hold public office, etc.
I know some media “fact checking” sites have their own biases, but this post from 2019 with additional links gives some history of this project.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/feb/25/blog-posting/no-members-congress-dont-have-dual-citizenship-isr/
It isn’t just a bone of contention for the right. I am a long term New Deal Democrat who has long recognized that there are clear issues with dual citizenship and it should not be allowed. And for the record while I would not deny the right to vote, along with dual citizenship holders not being able to hold elected or high government administration office, I would also make it illegal to donate to political campaigns of any type. At one point it was illegal to hold dual citizenship. if we aren’t going to go back to that, the fact that there is clearly a loyalty issue should be recognized and handled.
I admit the limits I would insist on for dual passport holders won’t stop those who really would undermine this country for another, but it would make it more difficult.
I have dual citizenship and I can assure you that I would be partial to any actions that were intended to overthrow the existing political economic regimes in either of my countries.
I don’t but I would happily do the same for just this country.
Unfortunately undue influence comes in many forms and for most it has little to do with the best interests of the majority of the citizenry. And that is a global disease.
Funny thing about this…. all this gnashing of teeth about dual passports, all the while the US makes it practically impossible to renounce the US passport. Something about taxes on worldwide income or such. Rules for you and none for me, same as it ever was.
Possibly I phrased this poorly.
The contention on the right is that banning people with dual citizenship from serving in Congress would result in the disqualification of “dozens” of Jewish Democrats in Congress whom they chooose to believe hold dual citizenship.
My own contention is that this ban is promoted on the right as part of a demographic eliminationist project, not a good government project to reduce conflicts of interest.
“My own contention is that this ban is promoted on the right as part of a demographic eliminationist project, not a good government project to reduce conflicts of interest.”
As part of “the right” I haven’t seen this assertion stated or implied, but maybe I just don’t know the “right” people.
You know that there would be a carve-out put in place for dual-citizenship with Israel just like how Israeli lobbyists are apparently exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
I would have forgiven Pelosi to earn $$$ on our dime if he kicked out that congressman who came to the Capitol in israeli army uniform on ten-seven.
Such a measure to restrict dual-citizenship would never pass unless there is an exception for the exceptional state.
“demographic eliminationist project”?
No. It’s just that we have too many non-dual citizen Israel Firsters making policy to begin with. We don’t need actual Israelis. And considering the outsized importance of our connection to Israel, I consider it really duplicitous for any Congressman or woman to conceal their dual citizenship.
re: Venezuela – Tulsi Gabbard
U.S. Regime-Change Efforts in Venezuela: What Happened to Tulsi Gabbard’s Non-Interventionist Principles?
By Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2026/01/09/u-s-overthrow-of-venezuelan-government-what-happened-to-tulsi-gabbards-non-interventionist-principles/
“Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others” – G. Marx
Due Dissidence on Rumble read Tucker Carlson’s statement on the Minneapolis shooting. ~12+ minutes.
Tucker Compares ICE Shooting To Israeli Genocide in Gaza! w/ Jenin Younes
https://rumble.com/v744tha-tucker-compares-ice-shooting-to-israeli-genocide-in-gaza-w-jenin-younes.html
Tucker was awfully weak tea, which suggests he feels he has to tread awfully carefully.
The murder of Nicole Good was, indeed, a tragedy. It’s remarkable how Trump and other officials lie in order to defend ICE. This tells me ICE is more like Trump’s private army.
I’m concerned about the 2028 mid-terms and how ICE might be used to intimidate voters to stay home or other devices to affect the overall vote.
They made a woman who was trying to break down a guarded door in a government building a hero (Ashli Babbitt). They will do anything to justify their world view.
If you look at the video of the camera that the officer was carrying, it appears he took a step towards the car right as she was turning to try to avoid the officers. Also he switched hands while he was walking around the car so he had his right hand free to go for his gun. Why go to the front of the car when your fellow officers are trying to get her to move?
This does not increase my opinion of the T admin’s effort to understand what happened. From The Hill.
Minnesota investigators: FBI won’t work jointly on ICE shooting probe
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5679294-ice-officer-shooting-minneapolis/
‘One day after a woman was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota investigators said the FBI has cut them out of their joint investigation into the incident.
‘In a statement on Thursday, however, the BCA said that their investigators “responded promptly” to the scene of the shooting but claimed that the FBI informed them later Wednesday afternoon that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had pulled local investigators off the case and that “the investigation would now be led solely by the FBI.” ‘
oh….
It’s not a tragedy. It is a capital crime. A tragedy is when someone’s own flaw leads to his discomfiture or downfall. This is just murder.
The “Taiwan idiocy” link goes to a story about Greenland.
Sorry, fixed. On this new friggin’ Mac, copying to the clipboard routinely does not override what was there before, as it ought to.
Minneapolis TV station interviews Jessie Ventura, 38th gov of Minn., about the shooting. (Ventura won the governorship running on the Reform Party ticket. He’s now an independent.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udSUbBhA8I0
Ventura per Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura
I read one-third of the deceased’s award-winning poem before deciding that (1) she was crazy as a bedbug and, (2) that trying to meme this shooting into some sort of Winter of Good is political malpractice.
Then I wondered if #2 wasn’t a reflection of the truly existential crisis which re-migration poses for the Democrats.
By all accounts, she was very involved in charitable and social work activities.
Lambert’s mother had a small publishing imprint and handled many poetry submissions. She said as you might anticipate that most poetry and fiction are pretty bad. So Good may have just been not very adept and trying to reach for effect.
I wonder about this attempt to make the dead woman out as some sort of “Philosopher Queen.” The facts as they stand are bad enough. No need to try and appropriate the woman as a martyr for the “Educated Classes.” Idpol is a murky and contentious political strategy. It can backfire spectacularly.
The woman was doing political work for the benefit of the People. She was shot and killed by a member of the Organs of State Security. The conclusions here are obvious.
Bad poetry is not a shoot on sight (or any other kind of) crime. The muses may not forgive but they do not possess police power. Otherwise every folkie mic night would resemhle an abbatoir.
May I kindly suggest that you just don’t like her poetry? And I’m trying to be kind, because defaming this murdered woman right now is particularly unkind, at very least. Writing poetry is complicated and now she’ll never be able to try anymore.
Here’s her poem, for the curious.
https://poets.org/2020-on-learning-to-dissect-fetal-pigs
Thanks, I enjoyed that. She was more of a wordsmith than lyricist. And I can’t be the only one who nods along to this,
this fickle faith and this college science that heckles from the back of the classroom
now i can’t believe—
Hey that’s actually not TOO BAD.
She shoulda taken an economics course taught by Doc Hudson.
That way she woulda understood about the connections between Biology and the Bible?
Anyways, that’s a worthy effort for a poem from a Lib.
I’ve recently been kicked out (“suspended”) of DSA NOLA. This will be my 2nd Political Organization that I’ve been kicked out of in less than a year. Class Unity was the other one back in like Summer I think. DSA NOLA kicked me out because I kept sharing my opinion that identity politics is a losing strategy and we should focus on class solidarity. I also basically called them a bunch of PMC Lib LARPrs led by the lawyers at the Orleans Public Defenders Office. They have no long term strategy and are hemorrhaging dues paying members. They’ve been around for over 10 years so to me this shit is on purpose how much they shy away from real political power for the safe, secure spaces of the Bywater and Broadmoor. They are starting up a Marxism 101/DSA 101 Night School which is great IMO until they wanted to put in this GARBAGE article about MISOGYNY AND FED INFILTRATORS and how sex pests (usually hetero males) can derail a successful political organization like the Common Ground initiative post Katrina here in New Orleans was derailed by a Fed sex pests. They didn’t like it when I suggested the feds are more likely to derail a group using sexual mores away from class solidarity. They didn’t like it when I suggested THEY are doing the work of the Feds here and WHY THE FUCK ARENT WE BEING PROACTIVE SOCIALISTS? WHY ARE WE TAILING THESE FUCKING REACTIVE LIB INDIVISIBLE HACKS?
Do you know how to immediately call out any of these groups? Ask them how many workers they’ve helped? Ask them their strategy for getting material economic benefits to productive workers. I’m like CAN I PLEASE ORGANIZE THE WORKERS IN MY IMMEDIATE LOCAL AREA???? bunch of fake ass bureacratic do nothings.
Welcome to the “Official” Party Comrade Consumer.
It is similar up here in the Half Horse College Town. Lots of performative marching around, and no door to door organizing.
Keep the faith, baby.
And I know it’s hard sometimes to keeping the faith!
https://www.tiktok.com/@strawhatandrew/video/7207227997940911406?lang=en
re: ” that trying to meme this shooting into some sort of Winter of Good is political malpractice.”
As is trying to meme this shooting into some sort of Winter of ICE a political malpractice.
There was an event. There is a case to be made on the facts that can be determined. That is all.
The problem is, this “event” is part of a series of violent actions against the general public by the Organs of State Security.
I consider that many of the ICE Goons are demobilized Forever War veterans. They have been trained to not only view the “people on the street” as dangerous deplorables, but also trained to employ maximum violence in their dealings with said public. Remember how many Irakis died during the American occupation of their country?
See: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/03/15/iraq-death-toll-15-years-after-us-invasion
Now extrapolate a similar number of deaths resulting from the introduction of the same tactics and mind set in the American Homeland.
We are at the beginning of the trend. Expect a lot more Americans to die at the hands of the Organs of State Security.
Stay safe.
I agree in large part. However, once we move away from facts of individual cases determining a case’s outcome into “other side bad” determining case outcomes we are moving away from nation-of-laws into an irreconcilable territory, a very dangerous territory, imo.
And yes, one might think the move was made already years ago. They might be right. I still hope they are wrong. I still remember the Church Commission. / my 2 cents.
My theory is that the rich Israeli pedo mfrs are hyping these violent assassinations to divide and conquer us.
I know it’s hard but there’s gotta be a core that focuses on the main goal and not get swayed everytime by the next outrageous thing because I feel like it places into their hands. They are literally terrorizing us to distract us while they steal everything. I don’t wanna play their game. I wanna play OURS.
“European elites are deeply embedded in the transatlantic system from which they derive their power and legitimacy.”
With many of the European elites, it really does sound like battered wives syndrome. No matter how much they are hurt or humiliated, no matter how much they are ignored and sidelined, they nonetheless still beg and grovel to keep the US in Europe. They are literally wrecking their own countries and the prosperity of their people simply to do stuff that might please the US. And like the husband that beats up his wife and keeps her under thumb, there are always excuses to be found so as to forgive them.
With many of the European elites, it really does sound like battered wives syndrome.
You give them too much credit. It’s nothing like battered wife syndrome because there’s no masochism necessarily involved.
It’s pure naked self-interest. These people will flush their own populations down the toilet — not just immiserate them, but send people to die on battlefields, as Blair did with British troops in Iraq — purely to preserve and enhance their own standing in the system and feed their own bank accounts. And this because besides their ‘careers’ in that system, they have nothing else going for themselves and so must push that system forward.
That’s ruthless self-interest, more or less psychopathic, on the part of these mediocrities. In the fullest sense of the pejorative, therefore, they are sc*m.
As Col, Wilkerson reapeatedly said, after the UN voting down on the Iraq War and the spurning by major Europeans of the US illegal war, the US has spent billions to foster a different political elite in Western Europe…
>Trump Has Changed And TDS With Him
I agree. Even the most severe TDS sufferers could not have predicted how terrible of a leader Trump would be.
Count me as one of them.
Whatever. Makes our job easier pointing out the similarities between Obama and Trump. They say one thing to get elected and immediately start to do the bidding of the rich.
Dear Europe:
You have been attacked. You must proceed with the following:
1. Expell the U.S. from NATO. Confiscate all installations, equipment, systems and procedures. Rename and renovate all to European Defense. Eliminate all American involvment.
2. Cease American imported gas and re-open pipelines from the east. Russia is not your enemy. The U.S. is your enemy. Hold a press conference and tell the truth: the U.S. bombed the Nordstream pipeline.
3. Discontinue all military, agricultural, scientific and cultural exchanges and cooperation with the U.S. Increase those with RoW.
4. Reverse trade with the U.S. to favour the RoW, especially China, Canada, Mexico, South American and Africa.
5. Exit SWIFT.
6. Stop all aid to Ukraine and begin talks with Russia to set new borders with Europe and demilitarize the country.
7. End all aid to Israel and expell Israeli military from Europe.
8. Do not accept any further F-35’s. The U.S. will remotely disable the ones you have. Sweden can build you new ones.
9. Want prosperity? Join BRICS plus.
Sincerely,
Canuckistan
I suggest you do more homework.
1. There is no mechanism for expelling any member from NATO.
2. The US is the major funder of NATO. No US, no NATO. And all EU members save Hungary and Slovakia still see Russia as a bigger threat than the US. They are doing everything they can do undermine Trump’s headfake peace talks so as to keep the US in NATO.
3. The US has a permanent base in Ramstein, Germany.
4. Getting off SWIFT = a banking system collapse. And with that, no tourism as a secondary effect (as in bank and ATM cards rely on SWIFT).
I see no mechanism for one member of NATO to annex another member of NATO, either.
Permanent base in Ramstein? Nothing is permanent. Yes, they want the US to stay in NATO, but I suggest that attitude might be changing. If they want a European Army, they could “nationalize” the one that is already there.
Is everything so hopeless that wild-ass ideas can’t even be uttered?
I hate to have to continue to be the realist in the room.
Annexations are done by force, not mechanisms.
It is a permanent base per the treaty that ended World War II. Possession is 9/10th of the law, as the lawyers are wont to say. Pray tell, how does Germany, which had to practice with wooden tanks due to the lack of enough working ones, expel the US?
Aurelien has described long-form the impossibility of the EU coordinating an offensive operation. For instance: https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/natos-phantom-armies
Sure, they’re never going do do anything, but they could, if they really wanted to. Doesn’t require force, just make continuing as a going concern unviable. Stop all traffic going in or out of the base. Kick all the officers and families out of their off base housing. Shut off the electricity.
Of course that would require a completely different ruling class and politics first. Okinawa was heading in that direction a while ago, but the winds in Tokyo changed direction before that got anywhere.
SWIFT is based in Belgium. Just seize the servers.
The US is leaving NATO of its own accord.
The hardest step to freedom is not even mentioned, cutting the USD swap lines with the Fed…. I don’t see how the EU and USA divorce without a global financial crisis.
NATO is the US. It only has a purpose as an extension of US power and influence. It may have started with the full cooperation of the European moneyed classes who were worried about commies taking over and hanging them from lampposts, but without the US it would be a completely empty suit now. NATO troops without the US and lacking access to US intelligence and satellite data would be wiped out in days in a serious war.
US ground forces in Europe couldn’t take on the Belgian Army with any prospect of success. Their aircraft, although a powerful force in themselves, would be irrelevant to any conflict in Europe, and ISR assets could no more stop the Russians in Europe than they could in Ukraine: anyway, the Russians would destroy them in the first five minutes. Alliances like this are essentially transactional, and the Europeans must already be starting to wonder whether NATO is justified anymore. Ironically, the only useful function it has left is to provide a structure in which tensions among its members can be absorbed, but that may not last.
I doubt post-1945 Western elites ever really feared the Soviets. It was a convenient lie to cover up the only real fear they did have which concerned their own national labour movements to gain traction and turn into a serious political force. The social contract aka welfare state helped remedy that poblem.
Time and again I am asking myself if there hadn´t been the chance for a progressive alternative to Stalin´s purges and suppression to still create a viable true Socialist alternative.
Because if there was a single most harmful entity to the ideas of the left since 1917 for the rest of the world it was the violence used by the USSR nomenklatura.
At least whenever I argued with people their last line of defense argueing against The Left was “USSR” and all that is part of that “package” imprinted on collective memory. Stalin´s conduct poisoned the idea forever it seems.
Love where your heads at, Ann!
Keep repeating this enough, and it will stick.
The political education of the masses continues…
Speaking of political education, here is Heather Cox Richardson’s latest substack giving an excellent explanation of fascism:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-9-2026?publication_id=20533&post_id=184091532&isFreemail=true&r=ku34&triedRedirect=true
Quote from the article:
“Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.””
That’s a great definition for sure!!!!
Re: 3-yr CO2 growth rate, mid-90s growth rate attributed to Pinatubo [apparently Google said so]
Pinatubo can’t be responsible for a decrease the rate of CO2. The volcano ash/aerosols reflect sunlight and decrease temperature (masking the CO2 effect) but would not affect the generation of CO2.
The CO2 growth rate reflects economic activity. Without doing any search, I’d guess the drop in the early 90s is mostly the Soviet Union and Eastern Block falling apart.
This shows why Google is not your friend, in this case assuming the Pinatubo answer was based on LLM summary. Associations likely made between a number of climate change topics and incorrectly linked to CO2 growth rate. Google is never your “friend”.
Frank Little: The volcano ash/aerosols reflect sunlight and decrease temperature (masking the CO2 effect) but would not affect the generation of CO2.
Thank you.
Apologies, looking like I got out over my skis. Pinatubo may be responsible. Will post again with more info.
Volcanic eruptions add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Hunga Tonga was a rare Submarine Volcano that spewed a shit-ton of water vapor into the atmosphere, and not sure how that would register versus your regular pain Jane volcano such as Pinatubo?
Sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 and climate to explosive volcanic eruptions
LOL
Bird Flu Viruses Raise Mounting Concerns Among Scientists (NY Times)
Wait until you learn about SARS-CoV-2.
If some bird flu or another really makes a jump to H2H transmission, it’s gonna be fun. At least anti-maskers will get what they’ve got coming.
What sort of response would you even expect?
and this is fun, the modified RNA shots are not keeping pace with the mutations.
Maybe there’s no profit in making these modified RNA shots for SARS-CoV-2 as frequently updated as is necessary to maintain some level of antibodies? What good is it then? What good is any of it if you’ve discredited vaccines? Respirators and clean air are discredited too. Just what you don’t want if you’ve got an outbreak of an airborne pathogen.
Good ol’ Grandpa Bill Burns, eating his shepherd’s pie followed by a double espresso in one of DC’s most fabled haunts. Maybe the reporter should have asked him if the US pushed and prodded Putin into war with Ukraine since Burns warned in his 2008 memo as Ambassador to Russia that war is precisely what could and likely would happen. Maybe as Biden’s CIA director in 2022, Burns could have intervened and advocated for no NATO in Ukraine? Nah, we need global hegemony and have proxy warriors to do our bidding.
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/02/27/us-nato-expansion-ukraine-russia-intervene/
(only known via Wikileaks)
I can’t believe the former head of the world’s top intelligence agency said something as ridiculous as “Putin didn’t take out Ukraine’s air defenses because he was cocky.”
I am seeing a massive amount of “narrative building” in the support for a war against Iran in the so called “news outlets” and “social media” of late.
I fear that if Israel attacks Iran, the response will be catastrophic for Israel. Then the ‘Samson Option’ will come into play. One atomic weapon exploded in Iran and someone, not necessarily Russia or China, will “loan” Iran one to reply with. If we can stop it at that, we will be very lucky. As a bonus, the fallout will do wonders for remediating the recent climate warming.
Stay safe. Keep the Potassium Iodide handy.
Love the idea of restoring the Pahlavi dynasty…
It seemed to me to be overwhelmingly Jewish-Persians who were pretty loaded ex-pats all of the sudden in LA in the late 70’s, they bought up boucoup real estate, and that couldn’t have come from Rials which were worth 5 to the $, on their way to over a million to the buck presently~
Wonder what it was that they all had? …that sounds an awful lot like God, albeit with an extra letter.
We were all set to receive the wisdom of the ages from the heirs of Zoroaster and instead we got barbarians and their relics.
The book writing article was very eye-opening, much appreciated!
Would love to hear NC expert comments and evaluations of this recently published article:
“COVID vaccination and post-infection cancer signals: Evaluating patterns and potential biological mechanisms,” by Charlotte Kuperwasser and Wafik S. El-Deiry Oncotarget, 2026, vol. 17 pp 1-29.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41498242/
I’m in my late 20s and I’ve had three guys I know diagnosed with lymphoma in the last 5 years. I was wondering if there could possibly be a COVID connection knowing what I know about its effects on the immune system, so this is interesting.
Asking from a friend here…
If Venezuela owes oil to China, wouldn’t it be simple to create convoys of Chinese flag oil tankers protected by Chinese Navy ships as escorts so they are not confiscated? Such an approach would also uncover the actual position of the Venezuelan government. If they refuse to play it shows that they would be happy to not pay their debt to the Chinese, but keep the investments…
And if the US threatens, then cut rare earth magnets, Stibium (antimony) and other stuff like pharmaceuticals to the US.
China just accepting US imposition is quite self defeating.
Maybe China does not want to overextend, and risk a confrontation in the area where it does not have escalation dominance. A Mexican standoff in the Gulf of Merica is probably a wet dream of Trumpo Pistolero and his gang of marauders. Sun Tzu would probably advise against.
The If A Tree Falls link made me think of Harper’s. There’s a great short essay by Thomas Frank on the state of Democrats: Liberal Despair. (The site gives you limited access without logging in, you can try clearing cookies if access is denied).
Federal officers who commit murder on camera are seldom held to account.
Michael Byrd did not serve a day in jail for murdering Ashli Babbit, the video evidence is crystal clear in that case.
And anyone who thinks Ka$h Patel’s FBI can be trusted to investigate the shooting of Renee Good is extremely credulous, to put it mildly.
It is was crystal clear that the shooting of Ashli Babbit was fully justified.
CNBC runs an ad for Anthropic:
Of course that’s nonsense. They aren’t scaling exponentially. These companies lose money on every query in aggregate. How’s that going to scale?
Black Mountain Analysis
Mike Mihajlovic
Venezuela Raid – Aftermath [i]
Why Venezuela’s Air Defense Failed
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/venezuela-raid-aftermath-i
Regarding article
“Will Europe ever wake up? …”
I’m afraid they won’t.
Most of the European leadership and most of its politicians have been squatting and crouching so much and for so long, that when they will try to rise up, they will not remember how to do so.
What effect does this have internally within the militaries, especially since they don’t seem to be allowed to talk about it openly?
Do the officers/generals become more inclined for revenge, or less? If EU leaders try to back out of Ukraine is this the kind of thing that leads to military coups? Or does the military just start pushing for more budget/resources?
This sounds like the kind of thing that might embitter an officer corps for years against the political leadership that demanded it.
“Big copper shortage to pose ‘systemic risk’ to global economies, warns S&P”
Yet another bottle neck and this one will jam a spoke into the building of all those data centers. There is only so much copper supply and it is not like you can assume more copper mines opening up. And who is going to invest into opening a copper mine on the assumption that the demand for all those data centers will still be there in five years?