Dear patient readers,
Our moderators and your humble blogger are wasting time on a persistent troll who has tried posting under many many handles. That is a violation of our written site Policies. We will keep not approving and on the occasion when they manage to briefly appear, ripping out these fuckwit comments and banning. Go find a better hobby.
Your humble blogger has also been a bit under the weather. So I am behind on getting to issues like Trump’s sudden enthusiasm for “affordability” measures like a credit card interest cap of 10%. I am working on why that is going to be more a backfire than a benefit.
‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams dies after prostate cancer battle Live Now Fox (Kevin W)
US FDA requests removal of suicide warnings from weight-loss drugs CNN (Kevin W)
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body Guardian (Paul R). resilc adds: “Who is paying who?”
Climate/Environment
The end of green energy Unherd
CARIBBEAN RECORD HEAT
Fierce heat in Mexico,Central America and Caribbean.
And Record again in the US Virgin Islands:
89F/31.7C Charlotte Amalie AP (St Thomas) Tied The Highest temperature ever recorded in the USVI in January pic.twitter.com/d4Y17R4C4P— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) January 11, 2026
CENTRAL ASIA WARM SPELL
Exceptional warmth spreads and intensifies in Central Asia with temperatures typical of May and around 20C above average.
Today temperatures reached up to +19C in KAZAKHSTAN at 1000m asl !‼️Next days we might see almost 28/30C in Turkmenistan pic.twitter.com/1X6Amdopm8
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) January 11, 2026
Himalayas bare and rocky after reduced winter snowfall, scientists warn BBC
Floods Hit Several Indonesian Regions Over Past Two Days Tempo
Flying foxes die in their thousands in worst mass-mortality event since Australia’s black summer Guardian :-(
Drop in ocean’s iron spells danger for seals, penguins, and whales Oceanographic :-(
A rare meteotsunami triggered a sudden giant wave in Argentina’s coastal towns, killing one person and injuring at least 35 Times Now News
In a sane world, this would be front page news everywhere.
But it will hardly be covered anywhere.The North Pacific Ocean surface warmed over twice as much over the past 15 years than it did over the preceding 156 years.
That's an increase in warming rate of >2000%! https://t.co/tPp1fTHiLO pic.twitter.com/vcN2JuZXyp
— Leon Simons 🌍 (@LeonSimons8) January 10, 2026
Atmospheric physicists find error in widely cited Arctic snow cover observations PhysOrg
DROUGHT | VERMONT DROUGHT FORCES DAIRY FARMS INTO COSTLY SURVIVAL MODE Edairy News. resilc: “Ice picking up Latino labor is a much bigger deal tho…”
Water
Water crisis hits Türkiye’s capital as drought, infrastructure issues deepen Hurriyet Daily News
China?
China blames US for trade imbalances as surplus hits record $1.2tn in 2025 Financial Times
Panama Could Terminate License of China’s CK Hutchison Wall Street Journal
Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone BBC (Kevin W)
Southeast Asia
Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupts, spewing ash up to 1,600 meters Anadolu Agency
At least 22 dead as crane collapses onto train in Thailand BBC. Live blog. A tragedy as well as not a good look.
Africa
Egyptian army holds billions in secret cash as country misses debt deadline, officials say Middle East Eye
Ethiopia, Djibouti Leaders Talk Geopolitics as Tensions Grow in the Region Borkena
Chad: Malnutrition is a silent crisis Doctors Without Borders
South of the Border
Venezuela winning by being too much of a basket case to loot wasn't on my fight card, but, hey, credit where it's due for an innovative siestamaxxing defense plan.
Has anyone else noticed the "drug boat" airstrikes have stopped? Yeah… https://t.co/IoJirCBqVJ
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) January 14, 2026
‘History will tell’: as US pressure grows, Cuba edges closer to collapse amid mass exodus Guardian
European Disunion
Europe must now tell Trump that enough is enough – and cut all ties with the US Guardian. Good luck with that. For starters, that would require kissing and making up with Russia.
Trump Gang Theft of Greenland: View from China Karl Sanchez
From Politico’s European morning newsletter:
What’s happening: The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland land in Washington for high-stakes White House talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, who insisted on being in the room.
The message: Greenland is not for sale — period. That’s the line Danish and Greenlandic officials plan to deliver, an EU diplomat familiar with the prepping told Zoya Sheftalovich. “It’s good to have an honest conversation with the administration,” the diplomat added….
How the tables have turned: I was in Strasbourg when Nielsen visited the European Parliament in October and said Greenland had “no plans” to seek EU membership. On Tuesday, his tone had changed. If forced to choose between the U.S. and Denmark, he said, “we choose NATO, we choose the Kingdom of Denmark, we choose the EU.”
Mixed signals from Capitol Hill: The talks come as a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday proposed a bill to prevent U.S. President Donald Trump from invading a NATO country by targeting funding for foreign military incursions. However, another lawmaker introduced the Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act proposing … Well, it would do exactly what it says on the tin.
Preserving NATO remains the bloc’s top priority, one EU diplomat said in this must-read POLITICO piece by Jacopo Barigazzi and Nicholas Vinocur. Trump himself has hinted it “may be a choice” between Greenland and the alliance, with both Frederiksen and EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius warning military action would spell the end of NATO….
SCOOP — PARLIAMENT POISED TO DELAY KEY U.S. VOTE: A crucial vote on lifting tariffs on U.S. industrial goods is facing a delay, four parliamentary officials told POLITICO’s Camille Gijs and Max Griera. It’s being proposed as a tactical response to Trump’s threat to annex Greenland and would almost certainly anger Washington.
Imagine the delight and laughter in Moscow and Beijing over the US Congress being obliged to pass a bill to prevent the president of the United States from invading another NATO country. https://t.co/IPHxGnVMut
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 14, 2026
France to open its consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6 amid rising US threats Andaolu Agency
Sorry, the EU has no right to cry ‘McCarthyism’ Responsible Statecraft. Can’t be said too often.
Israel v. The Resistance
Gaza: Storms worsen already dire humanitarian situation, UN warns UN
Gaza: A ceasefire that still kills children is not enough, says UNICEF UN
Jewish terrorist who killed Palestinian family said allowed conjugal visits Times of Israel (resilc)
Iranian protesters reject US and Israeli interference Middle East Eye
The deranged US & Israel-backed Iranian opposition is boasting of the terror tactics its forces are deploying inside Iran, from the murder of civilians to arson attacks on places of worship
See the replies cheering the ISIS like violence and calling for similar acts in the US https://t.co/OoaKx7YChW
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 13, 2026
Trump vows ‘very strong action’ if Iran executes protesters BBC Lead story with VPN set to US. A Global South diplo-connected colleague reports that 3 slotted for execution are Mossad.
Douglas Macgregor: U.S. War on Iran Risks Triggering World War Glenn Diesen, YouTube
New Not-So-Cold War
No power or water and -19C: Kyiv seeks relief from Russian strikes and cold BBC
France, Spain Increase Russian LNG Imports as EU Ranks Among Top Buyers Kyiv Post
Long but effective:
"All wars are wars of Resources"
Natural Gas reserves by country, look out for Ukraine (now you understand why Uncle Sam is so interested?)
And watch until the end, and you'll understand why Russia is such an irresistible target for Western bankers pic.twitter.com/ttUj7Iy8wf
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) January 13, 2026
Imperial Collapse Watch
Shadi Hamid on the Case for American Power Sam Mace. Wowsers. Must be nice to smoke what he is smoking.
Mere Anarchy Aurelien
Loosing the Republic Scott Ritter
Pentagon bought device through undercover operation some investigators suspect is linked to Havana Syndrome CNN (resilc)
Trump 2.0
How It Stops, How It Ends Rick Wilson (Bill L). Important.
Is the US government using ‘Nazi-inspired’ slogans? Metro (resilc)
Ex-Presidents and Democratic Leaders Silent on the Impeachment of Donald Trump Ralph Nader, Counterpunch (resilc)
Stephen Miller’s Worldview Is Straight Out of “Starship Troopers” Washington Monthly
America: Breaking Bad – Again Julian Macfarlane. A rogue’s gallery.
Trump v. Powell
The not just one but two lead stories at the Wall Street Journal now:
versus:
The Billionaires and the November Election Dean Baker
Immigration
US businesses hit by anti-Indian backlash as Trump restricts foreign labour Financial Times
ICE Rampage
ICE agent who shot Renee Good gets $10K donation from Bill Ackman USA Today (resilc)
Joe Rogan criticizes ICE tactics: ‘Are we really going to be the Gestapo?’ NBC
Plenty like this on Twitter, and remember, its algos dampen “left wing” content:
Today at 34 & Park in Minneapolis, a woman tried to drive down the street where a protest had broken out in front of a home ICE was raiding, saying she had a doctor apt to get to. ICE agents busted out her windows, cut off her seatbelt, and pulled her out before arresting her. pic.twitter.com/Y9bDF1xfKW
— amanda moore 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17) January 13, 2026
A 21-year-old in Santa Ana was permanently blinded in one eye after a DHS agent fired a “less-lethal” round at close range. He underwent six hours of surgery to remove plastic, glass, and metal embedded in his face.pic.twitter.com/XwdyrfZUZO
— WarMonitor (@TheWarMonitor) January 14, 2026
Key West protest of Trump’s ICE death squad murder of Renee Good Lucy Komisar
L’affaire Epstein
House GOP moves to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress in Epstein probe Axios
Facing Contempt Threat, Clintons Refuse to Testify in Epstein Inquiry New York Times
Mr. Market is Giddy
Blistering Metals Rally Sends Silver, Tin and Copper to Records Bloomberg
AI
The rapid rise and slow decline of Sam Altman Gary Marcus
America’s Biggest Power Grid Operator Has an AI Problem—Too Many Data Centers Wall Street Journal
ChatGPT Killed a Man After OpenAI Brought Back “Inherently Dangerous” GPT-4o, Lawsuit Claims Futurism
The Bezzle
Eric Adams Launched a Crypto Coin. A Day Later, $1 Million Was Missing. New York Times
Guillotine Watch
Meet the pro-Trump billionaire buying up a Pennsylvania town Oligarch Watch
L.A. Rams Owner Stan Kroenke Becomes Largest Private Landowner in the U.S. New York Times
Peter Thiel makes $3m donation to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax Guardian (resilc)
Class Warfare
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
In Nara, deers have learned to open the doors of food establishments and bow to ask for food 🦌 pic.twitter.com/A7bdoAqyQ3
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) January 11, 2026
A second bonus:
Counting the sheep.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/47ZSiCtO40
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) January 14, 2026
And a third (Constance C):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Terrible accident, and truly appalling construction management, which i sadly all too common in Thailand and the wider region. In normal construction, you would only build over a live railway with some form of temporary protective cover for exactly this eventuality, or at the very least, temporary outages of railway use during heavy lift operations, which seems to have been what was going on here (a span being put in place). A primary problem though is that the project is very financially dubious and there has been enormous political pressure from Bangkok to expedite its construction.
The overall construction lead of that project is a Chinese state owned construction company, but the contract called for non-tunnelling civil work to be done by the Thai partners, so its likely that the latter will take primary blame.
” Stephen Miller’s Worldview Is Straight Out of “Starship Troopers” ”
Yeah, nah! Certainly there are a lot of quotes to be found in “Starship Troopers” that support this article but truth be told, this viewpoint of Stephen Miller is more akin to the beliefs held in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s with it’s survival of the fittest. The Federation as depicted in “Starship Troopers” is certainly fascist by nature but it is a disciplined society that follows a scientifically worked out moral code that was even being extended to alien species. The viewpoint held by Miller and the Trump regime is based on might makes right with the lust to make personal profits tossed in. I can promise you that if author Robert Heinlein – whose two-part autobiography I am in the middle of reading – were still alive to see the present state of America under Trump, that he would be both outraged and horrified by what is happening and would fight it.
“The Starship Troopers” (the book) is like “Das Capital” or “Wealth of Nations”…..cited by people in media who have never read the actual primary text, but rather recite the “meme version”, lmao.
(or at least it comes across that day)
Greenland Defense Front antidote–
I’m going to speculate that one of the reason Stephen Miller is pushing Greenland’s seizure is so he can personally club some baby seals to death.
Correct link for ChatGPT Killed a Man After OpenAI Brought Back “Inherently Dangerous” GPT-4o, Lawsuit Claims.
re: Iranian protesters reject US and Israeli interference – Middle East Eye
Isn´t MEE Quatari sponsored? Or am I mixing that up?
(Not a word there of the protesters supporting the government.)
p.s. For those who are interested, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof made his latest film inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seed_of_the_Sacred_Fig
I wasn´t satisfied with it fankly. Too forced a narrative, too uneven and unnecessarily long for what he was trying. There have been better takes on that sort of psychosis.
Also it´s tiring to get 100% nightmarish films about Iran in the West.
It´s on MUBI to my knowledge.
“Facing Contempt Threat, Clintons Refuse to Testify in Epstein Inquiry”
Correct me if I am wrong but can’t Bill and Hillary plead the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if they appeared in front of that Oversight Committee and be done with?
You are correct, but they couldn’t plead the 5th regarding incriminating others, including their backers. Also, going to the hearings adds to their credibility which I believe they are trying to frame as politically driven.
…I think this is used constantly in the movie “MISS SLOANE” (2016) about a lobbyist testifying in Washington…
1:22 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k8KaMdPYTY
The main character repeats the Fifth constantly during the inquiry by the Senators, until she doesn´t.
“Upon the advice of counsel, I must
respectfully decline to answer your
question, based on my rights under
the Fifth Amendment to the United
States Constitution.”
At one point she asks her legal counsel:
-“This would be a whole lot easier if I
could just shout ‘Fifth’.”
-“No deviations.”
-“Can I use a silly voice?
(silly voice)
Upon the advice of counsel…”
Legal counsel frowns…
re: Germany free speech
BERLINER ZEITUNG
machine-translation
“I hate freedom of speech!”: Acquittal for the creator of the Faeser meme
The editor-in-chief of the right-wing populist newspaper Deutschland-Kurier is back in court in Bamberg over a meme. The prosecution is demanding an acquittal.
https://archive.is/Vs4Nj
I think the Clintons defying a subpoena is strategically brilliant. It gets Epstein back on the front pages. It is clear that Justice in in breach for non-compliance with a law Trump signed and that Epstein really gets under Trump’s skin, a la his single digit salute yesterday.
Or, maybe I’m giving them too much credit.
re: Germany electricity prices highest in EU
BERLINER ZEITUNG
machine-translation
New EU data: Electricity in Germany is almost four times as expensive as in Hungary
German households pay more for electricity than anyone else in Europe. Experts point to electricity tax and grid fees as levers to reduce costs – but the Merz government is hesitant.
https://archive.is/Eos8z
“Flying foxes die in their thousands in worst mass-mortality event since Australia’s black summer”
Not a fan of them. They are loud with their screeches and are notorious for spreading some really nasty viruses like Hendra. That is why I had to ensure that none of our horse troughs (bathtubs actually) are under any trees where they may roost. They are a protected species too so if you are in a town infested by them and don’t even dare hang clothes out to dry, you are all out of luck. Several years ago in our State there was a really bad heatwave and people complained of the excess heat. But when it was found that flying foxes were dropping out of the trees dead, people suddenly said that they could put up with that heat a bit more. Volunteers went out to help the dying bats and several got scratches from them meaning they had to go off to hospital to get a bunch of injections for some of the diseases that they carried.