Links 1/17/2026

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1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 7:27 am

   ‘SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre
   @StratcomCentre
   The former Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, explains that the only way the west can avoid decades of war with Russia is to assure that Ukraine pushes Russia completely out of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.
   “There isnt any other choice”‘

   Is she serious? Or has she spent too much time with her boss Tony Blair. Hey, maybe she hasn’t been keeping up on current events, but the Ukes are getting their a**** kicked, lady!

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   1. Polar Socialist January 17, 2026 at 7:38 am

      With apologies to Mr. Sinclair, but it is difficult to get a woman to understand something, when her salary depends on her not understanding it.

      The problem isn’t really these immoral persons pushing for eternal war, but that they are the only ones allowed a platform, and never challenged in media about the ridiculous and obvious contradictions in their message.

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      1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 7:52 am

         Quite true that. I have heard some politicians make some howlers of statements but the journalists never challenge them or push back at all but just nod their heads while looking serious. And it is surprising how often, for example, that when they want to interview an expert about what is going on in the Ukraine, that they bring in someone from the Atlantic Council.

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         1. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 8:47 am

            That was a technique perfected while Tim Russert sat at Cheney’s knee during the selling of Iraq War II.

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   2. hemeantwell January 17, 2026 at 8:48 am

      Mercouris’ vid yesterday suggests Euroelites might be moving in a very different direction. Simply: a further stiffening of Russian demands for a security framework + Ukraine failure + weakened economies + Trump’s Greenland annexation antics = increasing interest in dialog with Russia, e.g. Merz from a couple of days ago. Mercouris: “If they’re not at the table they’re on the menu.”

      Dunno if he’s right, but certainly better time spent listening than to nonsense from a Finn who reminds me of the implanted drones in the Fallout show.

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   3. Judith January 17, 2026 at 9:14 am

      Her Wikipedia page is quite illuminating. Here is an example:
      “In January 2024, Marin started working in a new steering committee International Task Force on Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine. According to a statement released by the Ukrainian president’s office, the steering committee’s primary objective is to develop a strategy for Ukraine’s closer engagement with the Euro-Atlantic security area. The group is led by its founders Andriy Yermak, Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine and former Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In addition to them, 15 former European and North American heads of state, diplomats and officers (including Boris Johnson and Hillary Clinton) are members of the group.[107]”

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      1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 9:21 am

         Sort of like a Rogue’s Gallery.

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   4. pjay January 17, 2026 at 9:23 am

      Sanna Marin, Jacinda Ardern, and Kaja Kallas were sitting in a bar. Annalena Baerbock walks in…

      I’ll let others finish the joke. But it does seem like Globalist recruiters and propagandists favored a certain type a few years back.

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      1. DD GE January 17, 2026 at 10:02 am

         Uschi Wonder is behind the bar.

         “What’ll it be, Annie ?”

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      2. ArvidMartensen January 17, 2026 at 3:33 pm

         Yep, somebody high up made the decision that bad messages get sold better by good looking women.
         If she was being paid to sell VWs, Marin would be draped over the bonnet with her mouth open just a little in a suggestive smile.

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   5. LaRuse January 17, 2026 at 9:53 am

      In an incredibly odd moment of synchronicity, I will be able to tell you by tomorrow if Marin is serious. I will be hearing her speak live tonight at The Richmond Forum. I am not enthusiastic nor entirely voluntarily attending, but my daughter is giving a brief speech during the intermission about the work the Richmond Forum does in supporting speech and debate high school clubs and competitions in our region.
      I am utterly dreading listening to Marin give her talk to a room full of well heeled neoliberals, although deeply proud of my kid for being selected to give a speech of her own. But it’s Inauguration Day in Virginia and everyone in the room is going to be especially smug.

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      1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 5:49 pm

         Congrats on your daughter being able to give a speech there. Just don’t let Marin spoil the occasion for you and your family.

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   6. Victor Sciamarelli January 17, 2026 at 10:19 am

      @The Rev Kev – The former PM Sanna Marin is correct and this is exactly why Trump views European leaders as parasites, and he wants to exit NATO.
      Finland has a population of 5.5 million. The Northern NATO members combined; six countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the three Baltics have a combined population of roughly 28 million.
      Former PM Marin should be pressed to walk us through, step by step, just how we can push Russia out of Ukraine. Of course, the US is expected to do it and pay for it, and the EU will block any peace agreement until it does.

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      1. ISL January 17, 2026 at 8:09 pm

         My understanding is
         Step 1 Make a riviting speech
         Step 2 – the Underwear fairy kicks Russia out of Ukraine
         Step 3 – Make a victory speech

         But step 2 is secret so no one mentions it.

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   7. .Tom January 17, 2026 at 11:39 am

      The clip appears to be from a WEF conversation Jan 2023.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq9AJZMjfIM

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2. Ignacio January 17, 2026 at 7:33 am

   This is what happened when Stockholm abolished snow removal Arbetet via machine translation (Micael T)

   In short, the problem there is neoliberalism at play.

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   1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 9:31 am

      They took a service that was not broken and then dismantled it and I am betting that it was so that government snow removal contracts could go to the mates of those that did it. That’s the neoliberal way.

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3. Ignacio January 17, 2026 at 7:37 am

   Sanna Marin is pretty… idiot. Isn’t she?

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   1. Louis Fyne January 17, 2026 at 8:22 am

      A saavy, put-together woman can get far in office politics amongst old men—-whether it’s at a uni. or the C-suite, lmao.

      Don’t shoot the messenger!

      but it’s morphed over the years as the dirty old men have aged out and been replaced by a higher % of women and dudes who have only heard stories about “the randy before times”

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   2. .Tom January 17, 2026 at 11:01 am

      About the same as UvdL, Merz, etc. I should think, in other words I don’t think idiocy is the best way to explain such statements. Similarly I don’t think idiocy is the best way to explain Zelensky’s behavior. At steak is not just careers, organizations, budgets etc., it’s the legitimacy of an entire class of atlantist eurotechnocrats that dominate public life over there.

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      1. Ignacio January 17, 2026 at 12:22 pm

         Oh! I think pure idiocy is involved in all those cases. When one becomes blinded by some sentiments (nationalism, racism, Russophobia, whatever) and forget about behaving in a sensible and well-thought way idiocy reigns.

         One can be, for instance, a proud Scottish nationalist. No problemo, but must take care not to turn an idiotic Scottish nationalist in any way or form.

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      2. urdsama January 17, 2026 at 2:22 pm

         No, I think you can call it idiocy. They take actions which put careers, organizations, budgets, etc. (not to motion countries) at high risk of failure based on the irrational fear of Russia and the neoliberal greed of plundering her resources. Even if the actions they took were intelligent (which they are not) the motivation for such actions are based on stupidity, so the highest rung they could rise to would be clever idiots.

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         1. .Tom January 17, 2026 at 3:05 pm

            Galaxies of diverse options for stupid things to do are available to an idiot so how come the behavior of the atlantist eurotechnocrat so consistently predictable? Where do these regularities come from? I find the answer “they are idiots” explains very little. Their motives are structured somehow.

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   3. LawnDart January 17, 2026 at 4:34 pm

      She’s got nutter eyes– dead-giveaway that you don’t want to get involved with that shit except for maybe a quick fling while using a buddy’s name.

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4. edwin January 17, 2026 at 8:24 am

   Thousands of Chinese Fishing Boats Quietly Form Vast Sea Barriers

   I used the following address: https://min.news/en/military/5d824b7037942f3c9757f20796973084.html.

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5. Louis Fyne January 17, 2026 at 8:25 am

   sci-fi fans…

   Chinese media (CCTV) reports that work is progressing on China’s long-in-development airborne aircraft carrier.

   my google-fu doesn’t work in Mandarin, but the renderings look straight out of something like “Battletech”

   https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2026/01/13/LHM6EZ7FVJGPPCC6IO6ZAAFKB4/

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6. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 8:42 am

   “Dad’s Army! Veterans aged up to 65 to be recalled to serve as Russia threat grows”

   Those old boys probably haven’t been in the army since the 80s. I guess the UK is getting it’s inspiration from the Ukraine who sends in guys in their 60s who should be retired and at home. Those old boys are probably thinking ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!’ and I do not envy them. Time to rewrite some lyrics-

   ‘Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Putin,
   If you think we’re on the run?
   We are the boys who will stop your little game.
   We are the boys who will make you think again.
   ‘Cause who do you think you are kidding Mr. Putin,
   If you think old England’s done?
   Mr. Starmer goes off to town on the eight twenty-one,
   But he comes home each evening and he’s ready with his gun.
   So who do you think you are kidding Mr. Putin,
   If you think old England’s done?’

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DRip7QLC8g (51 secs)

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   1. jobs January 17, 2026 at 6:06 pm

      Thanks for bringing back a memory, TRK. My favorite phrase from that show, frequently uttered by private Frazer, was “We’re doomed!”

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      1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 6:17 pm

         What! Not “Don’t panic!” from private Jones? :)

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         1. jobs January 17, 2026 at 7:55 pm

            Oh that’s right! I can still hear it in my head after all those years. :) A recap:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR0lOtdvqyg

            Memorable characters for sure.

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7. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 8:44 am

   Energy costs of AI–

   Missing link:

   https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Hidden-Energy-Costs-of-Artificial-Intelligence.html

   I’m a regular viewer of Nate Hagens’s weekly Friday feature that he calls “Frankly.” This week’s video is titled, “Technology and Wealth: The Straw, the Siphon, and the Sieve,” and it presents Nate’s paradigms for technology and debt. Technology does not create wealth, Hagens reminds us; it merely increases the size of the straw the we use to withdraw Earth’s resources. Fracking, secondary and tertiary oil recovery are excellent examples of that. Similarly, debt does not create resources; it merely moves consumption of them from the future into the present.

   I strongly recommend this “Frankly.” Nate’s paradigms reveal the Techno-Optimists’s scam. They’re doing nothing but bringing collapse closer, using up limited resources even faster while dumping more pollutants into already over-full sinks.

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   1. Revenant January 17, 2026 at 6:26 pm

      I am a sceptic of long-term AGI, the singularity etc. But I have nevertheless signed up to chair the board of a company using AI tools to increase productivity in an essential financial services intermediary sector.

      The sector is currently too manual for either big tech or big banks to want and is therefore a low margin, people-heavy business with a few large national players and a long tail of local lifestyle businesses. Our data from early adopters suggests AI-native intermediaries will be 5x more profitable – because they will employ fewer people.

      Clearly, the energy cost of AI is an issue but… what if the energy costs of AI were less than the energy footprint of all those former employees…?

      Of course, this headline exoneration of AI doesn’t really stack up: society would still have the energy costs of the unemployed (unless it took the route of disposing of “useless eaters”…) and who will buy the financial services if effective demand plummets through unemployment (or depopulation)?

      I don’t really see where this is going but while the music is still playing, fallacies of composition be damned….

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8. flora January 17, 2026 at 8:59 am

   File under ICE Rampage and police state.
   The age of impunity. Katie Halper and Aaron Mate on Useful Idiots.
   utube, no paywall, ~1 hr, 5 minutes+

   Ex-UN Official EXPOSES Israel’s Secret Role in Venezuela

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_DZOvvOFY

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9. Carolinian January 17, 2026 at 9:06 am

   Re SC measles outbreak–must be all those rednecks right?

   Dr. Eliza Varadi, a pediatrician in private practice in South Carolina, said the outbreak is centered around a community largely populated by people who immigrated from Ukraine to Spartanburg County within the past few decades. Many came to the U.S. with a level of vaccine distrust based on their experiences under Soviet control, said Varadi, who is originally from Russia. She hasn’t treated patients in the current outbreak but provides care for many families from Russia and Ukraine.

   A quick search suggests the Russian/Ukrainian presence in the county goes back to before the war and in fact a late uncle had a Russian move in next door to his house up in farm country. Currently a trip to local Euro-ish stores Aldi and Lidl finds many customers speaking Ukrainian (I assume).

   I asked my brother whether we had the measles long ago and therefore immunity. He said back then (the 50s) everyone got it.

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   1. Polar Socialist January 17, 2026 at 10:39 am

      The experience under “Soviet control” was that of mandated vaccines for all kids. Soviet Union pretty much got rid of measles, mumps, smallpox and polio.

      It was only after 1990 when all these “advocacy groups” appeared in the Eastern Europe when measles cases exploded in Ukraine, as individualistic, good parents were not supposed to “blindly follow” the government policies. That, and the complete collapse of the Ukrainian health care system.

      Of course, also the policies were bad enough to warrant the USA-born health minister Ulana Suprun a nickname “Dr. Death”.

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      1. AG January 17, 2026 at 9:45 pm

         From German POV this is all absurd. Of course you got all the standard vaccines as a child.
         Just as you write it about the USSR.
         Only difference, the Western punctures were invisible. The Eastern, alas, were not..

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         1. Polar Socialist January 18, 2026 at 6:49 am

            I got my smallpox vaccine in the West in early 70’s. Still carry the scar – allegedly it means the vaccine worked.

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   2. IM Doc January 17, 2026 at 10:50 am

      Vaccine “distrust” and “hesitancy”. It is a real thing and thanks to the last 5 years of bumbling incompetence under the Biden/Fauci/Walensky regime at the CDC it is a real thing on almost all of the vaccines. Instead of taking a grand historical look at all the cases like the Ukraine situation and so many others, and really internalizing why the people are so hesitant ( this really is not rocket science) our leaders jumped all in – let’s do everything possible we can do to make vaccines something to be avoided – not just COVID but all of them. Let’s take generations of trust and throw it all out the window. So now, it is clear as a primary care provider, that vaccine refusal and hesitancy has now jumped out of its blue state liberal cocoon and joined the mainstream. I am getting it from all sides.

      Specifically about the measles……and yet another reason why the credibility of our media is in the toilet. If you look at the official numbers, intermittent measles outbreaks are not unusual at all – even since the introduction of the vaccines. There have been way way larger ones in the 70s 80s 90s than now again even after the intro of the vaccines. If you look at the current numbers from 2025 to 2026 – the number of full blown cases even among the totally vaccinated is around 4-5%. 4-5% of cases are totally vaccinated. The vaccines help – but they are certainly not foolproof and this should NEVER be the messaging given to the public. The last two years have seen smaller by historical standards outbreaks – and they mainly involve large immigrant or religious groups that are unvaccinated – just like this one in SC.

      This needs to be dealt with rationally and panic-free by our public health authorities. Calm cool collected is how my generation of physicians was trained to be. That is the way right now. We simply must do all we can not to revert to the fear-mongering and authoritarian attitudes of the past 4 years.

      Please note – and I urge people to pay attention – if you were born in the 1960s – and you got the 1960s era vaccines – you are very likely susceptible to infection. Talk to you doctor about this. If you were born after the 60s – you were given a vaccine that conferred life long immunity – and if you were born before 1963 or so – you very likely had the measles and have the best immunity of all – natural immunity – the antibodies on the these patients I have screened the past year every single time are off the chart. If you were born in the 1960s – basically the vanguard of Gen X – please talk to your doctor the next visit.

      If you want current information and to look at the historical trends and outbreaks and other numbers like vaccinated cases in 2026 – it is all at the CDC website. At least, the CDC is now putting out public information and more detailed info for providers. The information hiding of the past several years was an abomination. The first rule of public health is transparency. Hopefully that lesson has been learned for the next generation.

      https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

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      1. IM Doc January 17, 2026 at 11:23 am

         I am going to learn not to do these comments in haste – I did the above between patients and I forgot a very important point.

         Parents – get your kids vaccinated for the measles……Grandparents…..exert all you can to do the same.

         But just realize, unlike the “foolproof” reputation they are given in the media, the measles vaccines are not foolproof. As I said above there is about a 4-5% vaccination rate among the infected – according to the latest numbers. But the vaccines are better than nothing. Measles for the vast majority of the population is a self-limiting illness – but there are a minority of patients where this is not the case and bad things happen. I think the plus-minus is in favor of getting your kids vaccinated. Say what you will about the modern approach of giving 7 at a time, etc ( we refused this wholeheartedly for my kids as does every MD I know – I had my kids vaccinated one at a time with largely the same 12-15 or so I had as a kid) – just do it. But again just realize they are not foolproof.

         I am not sure there is any brighter indication of a captured regulatory agency that refused to publish how many patients who were vaccinated against COVID were actually getting COVID. But they did this for years……..among many other obvious missteps. And just look at the chaos it has caused.

         Transparency. It is a thing.

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         1. Ignacio January 17, 2026 at 12:06 pm

            Thank you for your commentary. Would you be surprised to learn that the Spanish public health care system is recommending, the vaccination (in Spain) of those born between 1970-1980? This because it wasn’t until 1981 when the measles/mumps/rubella became generally administered in Spain. There are very few cases currently in Spain but the institution is worried about cases being imported when measles is surging worldwide. So, not only those living in SC should be thinking if they need to vaccinate or not but in all the US (all around the world in reality). I was born in Spain in 1965 and remember very well how measles was then a theme. I indeed haD the disease in early 70s.

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      2. flora January 17, 2026 at 12:41 pm

         Thanks, IMDoc.

         I’m old enough that I had the measles, mumps, and chickenpox as a kid. Fortunately I didn’t suffer any after effects from the measles. I did know a boy who was made deaf from the measles. I’m glad there’s a vaccine for it now.

         As for the increase in vaccine hesitancy, I who once never questioned any vaccine am now questioning a lot of new vaccines. If, however, I get a dirty cut then I’ll be off quick as a wink to get a tetanus vaccine. The tetanus vaccine is old and long tested. Tetanus aka lockjaw kills. /my 2 cents

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         1. LifelongLib January 17, 2026 at 2:18 pm

            “…I had the measles, mumps, and chickenpox as a kid…”

            Yup, me too. Luckily no complications. IIRC I was told at the time that it was better to get these diseases as a child than as an adult when they would be more dangerous.

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         2. Pat January 17, 2026 at 2:58 pm

            Your list, plus German measles, whooping cough and scarlet fever…. If it was a school holiday I was sick. And yes, I was also lucky.
            My hesitation is for flu shots, Covid plus anything mRNA based. Essentially if it is a “good” guess or messing in areas they really don’t understand I am out. OTOH I got a tetanus booster a few years ago and may check to see when I am due again. There are others I would have no trouble with.
            I am going to be blunt, one of the biggest problems with vaccines is that like so much involving pharmaceuticals they , their use, and even the real record of their effectiveness became entangled in pharmaceutical companies rapacious need for profits and politicians needs to protect the industry because of campaign donations. Fudging, misrepresenting, even ignoring deep problems became SOP.

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         3. flora January 17, 2026 at 4:45 pm

            adding: a bit of anecdote from long ago.

            It was understood back then that kids with the measles should have their nervous systems shielded from excitement as much as possible. The measles was seem as a disease that attacked the nervous system, as understood then.
            So, keep the child in a dimly lit room, keep the noise level down, do not over excite the nervous system. I do remember my parents doing this. Even shushing my little brother when he laughed loudly over something-or-other.

            Did it make any difference to the disease’s progress or outcome? I have no idea. I only say this as a comment on how the disease was once handled at home before the vaccine.

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            1. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 6:25 pm

               And Vicks. Lots and lots of Vicks everywhere.

               Family lore was that the measles almost killed me when I was two. The mumps, and especially the chickenpox, I remember well. I had bumps on my bumps.

               Our eldest had chickenpox before there was a vaccine, and a connected strep infection, operating against his weakened immune system, almost killed him. Kudos to the doctors at Wash U in St. Lou for that save. On the other hand, a mild fever of less than 100 put our youngest into seizures so severe that the ER nurses mistook them for encephalitis. That all happened a day after she’d had the pertussis vaccination. She recovered completely, but the neurologist who treated her conceded the connection and exempted our further from that particular vaccine from then on.

               Our obsession with eliminating the risk from life and the imperfection of our technology due to humans’ limited powers of understanding has put us in zugzwang, fearing the small risk of a vaccine so much that we fall into the greater risk of the disease. Maybe we should all should go buy a wearable. Then we can learn what felching is from some much younger celebrity. Stupidest timeline for sure.

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               1. ambrit January 18, 2026 at 6:00 am

                  Ouch! A YouTube tutorial on felching! Now there’s an image one cannot unsee!
                  That reminds me of some very late nights, or early mornings, at some of the more obscure nightspots on the backstreets of the French Quarter.

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      3. Carolinian January 17, 2026 at 12:43 pm

         Thanks. And just to add it’s unclear why my county has become a small mecca for Ukrainians but the web search revealed a couple of Ukrainian churches–one Baptist–north of town. So evangelicals may be sponsoring and encouraging this (pure speculation).

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      4. Laura in So Cal January 17, 2026 at 1:25 pm

         I was born in 1965 and got the single measles vaccine in 1967? and rubella sometime after that. When I was about 12, the schools required that if you had gotten a 1960’s measles vaccine that you get it again due to “batch” issues. When I was 17 and moving into a dorm, we had to prove measles vaccination, couldn’t find the paperwork so I got the MMR, I think. Fast forward 20 years and I had my titers tested for measles, rubella, mumps, and chicken pox. I had NO immunity to measles or rubella at all. I had mumps and chicken pox immunity as I had those diseases as a child. So I got the MMR again. I did have an immune response (fever etc.), so hopefully it took. If you are concerned, have your titers checked.

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10. LawnDart January 17, 2026 at 9:42 am

    Re; China?

    Ian Welsh posted this yesterday:

    Canadian LapDog Breaks For Exit After Trump Declares Dog Is On The Menu

    It illustrates why Canada and other countries are turning away from the United States to form partnerships with China… Canada, one of the most 51st of the 51st states.

    No doubt the Team Trump flex has bounced many countries towards making nice with China sooner than by economic gravity alone.

    How to Influence Others to Choose New Friends, indeed.

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    1. LawnDart January 17, 2026 at 4:20 pm

       Re; China? Part II

       The Welsh piece should be seen as a counterpoint to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s concerns in the AP article,Canada agrees to cut tariff on Chinese EVs in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products.

       Ford is concerned that allowing China to export vehicles to Canada will hurt Canada’s auto industry, but Canada doesn’t have a native auto industry– they produce products for American manufacturers, and these manufacturers are cutting jobs in Canada.

       By placing a cap on China imports, combined with low tariffs, Canada is encouraging China to set up production lines in Canada that will employ Canadian workers, replacing jobs lost to American cutbacks– this is not mentioned in the AP article that was posted, and it’s an important omission.

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       1. Karen January 17, 2026 at 8:22 pm

          Canada’s actions might make Dump more inclined to act on making Canada the 51st state. Hopefully Dump won’t be around long enough to act, either by mortal or political longevity.

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11. pjay January 17, 2026 at 9:44 am

    Re the NewRulesGeopolitics post: “A potential Middle East war was just defused…”

    It is interesting to compare this post to the “scoop” by Axios. According to Axios author Barak Ravid, it was Netanyahu who asked Trump to hold off on military action against Iran, action which was, of course, a “response to the regime’s crackdown” on protests. Thank goodness Netanyahu’s wise counsel calmed our humanitarian impulses! Thanks Bibi.

    Just in case anyone has forgotten why Ravid’s reporting might lack total objectivity:

    https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-israel-unit-8200-spies-american-media/288457/

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12. Vicky Cookies January 17, 2026 at 9:46 am

    Some thoughts on our ICE storm:

    The ICE build up is a few things. In no order, it is countercyclical spending, a kind of domestic military Keynsianism; a jobs program for his base; a handout to private prisons and construction; a way to inflict retribution on political foes; and a deportation operation, which typically ramp up in economic downturns (hence why Obama was the deporter-in-chief post 2008 crash). It’s not so much a fascist takeover as it is an ourobouros ridden by fascists.

    I’ve been reading a book by Noam Chomsky’s daughter, Aviva on the subject of immigration, and one interesting thing it makes clear is that national origin is only the latest ideological cover for displacement and more or less forced labor, following religion and then race. It is basically a racial category, but updated for our 21st century sensibilities. A truly progressive movement would acknowledge and seek to overcome such arbitrary discrimination.

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13. Carolinian January 17, 2026 at 10:05 am

    Re manual transmission–until this last car I’ve always owned manual trans cars. When I was car shopping a few years back the salesman asked me to drive the rare manual on their backlot to the front because he didn’t know how to do it. In the end I bought an automatic and it’s just as well because that seven speed manual (the narrow ranges improve gas mileage) would have been a lot of shifting.

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    1. LifelongLib January 17, 2026 at 2:38 pm

       I learned to drive on manuals, but quite a while ago after several years of driving only automatics I drove a manual again. I found I’d lost the touch, stalling a few times. There’s a bit of a learning curve with manuals, getting used to the clutch let-out etc. You can’t just jump in and drive smoothly like with an automatic.

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       1. chuck roast January 17, 2026 at 7:08 pm

          I never had a problem with a manual tranny until I drove from DC to Baltimore on a Friday afternoon for a ballgame. I never got it out of third gear and I never bought another car with a manual transmission.

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14. Culp Creek Curmudgeon January 17, 2026 at 10:09 am

    The Middle East’s Next War Will Be Over Water – Times of Israel.

    Wait! Does this mean that the current war of Zionist against everyone will end?

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    1. Mikel January 17, 2026 at 11:12 am

       “Next”?

       At the end of the article:
       “At present, the Middle East is entering an age where sovereignty will be measured not by flags or fighters, but by reservoirs and reliability. Those who ignore this will continue to be surprised by the instability they claim came out of nowhere. Those who understand it are already building the future—quietly, methodically, and without asking permission.”

       Confirming my first impression: it’s something that’s already started.

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       1. vao January 17, 2026 at 11:44 am

          Why do you think the territorial objectives of Israel always included controlling the Golan in Syria and the Litani river in Lebanon?

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    2. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 6:00 pm

       Not just the Middle east. You are getting water shortages in all sorts of places like Capetown in South Africa. If you haven’t got water, you haven’t got a country.

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    3. hk January 17, 2026 at 10:41 pm

       Of course not. It’ll just be used to justify why Israel has the right to deny water from their semitic subhuman neighbors.

       Reply ↓
15. TomDority January 17, 2026 at 10:17 am

    The ICE protesters should go on protesting and, everyone of them should contact their representatives -house and senate – to demand, not complain, DEMAND that they put forward or reintroduce and HR1470 – ending qualified immunity act and,or, S492 Ending qualified immunity act to codify that into LAW
    If you write your reps, you will get a response…If you do not..then you know where they stand… but follow up with another letter asking for a response.
    (I would not suggest to do anything that I have not done)

    In this current session of congress they are considering- S122 codify the defense of qualified immunity-
    S122 would do the exact opposite of s492 and h1470 – Demand that they not support this
    By demand, I mean state clearly that you will not vote for them (whatever party) if they do not end qualified immunity.
    If you think that your voice does not matter, or, you think your reps already are decided…you are wrong.
    Take action in the street but also, take it straight to your congress and reps at all levels.
    If ‘law enforcement’ can not operate within constitutional bounds: Law enforcement is making a clear statement that they are incapable of performing their jobs.

    Sorry to get of finance and into politics, but with all the deliberate rukus by the executive … the legislative bodies need to act.
    That goes for the unauthorized invasion of Venezuela

    Reply ↓
16. AG January 17, 2026 at 10:20 am

    re: Greenland

    JACOBIN

    The Tech Billionaires Behind Trump’s Greenland Push

    By Lois Parshley

    Silicon Valley oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have much to gain from Donald Trump’s seizure of Greenland, both as a source of rare earth minerals to feed the AI boom and as a site for a libertarian “crypto state.”
    https://jacobin.com/2026/01/trump-silicon-valley-greenland-crypto

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 6:02 pm

       Those reasons apply more so for the country of Iceland which I expect to be next on the menu

       Reply ↓
       1. AG January 17, 2026 at 7:36 pm

          Indeed Icelanders were always hailed as modern in an era when German establishment still liked to paint itself old-fashioned (which of course was never true and only white-washing the immense economic might of the country.)
          But fwiw, now we are all “Scrooged”.

          Reply ↓
    2. fjallstrom January 17, 2026 at 7:05 pm

       It’s interesting to see what the EU does now that Trump has blown up VdL’s deal/capitulation. With extra 10% tariff on selected EU states (including France and Germany, the two most powerful states), the 15% “deal” is proven to be a sham. Will the Council and the Commission be forced to get their stuff together or will they find a way to re-surrender?

       Reply ↓
17. Carolinian January 17, 2026 at 10:25 am

    Re MOA on Iran and Starlink–he suggests GPS blocking was the key to blocking. In the above linked podcast Alastair Crooke says that large Russian supplied electronic warfare towers have been erected in Iranian cities to perform whatever was done and that Starlink was not only used to coordinate activity but also to pay agents using crypto.

    Whatever the reality you’d think the media would find this an interesting story and investigate. Instead they are all in with the regime changers and, as with the Syrian regime change op under Obama, simply go with questionable third party videos.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jeff H January 17, 2026 at 6:59 pm

       I think it shows the pernicious nature of cognitive bias. Our technology is sooo superior that it can’t be defeated. It reminds me of the shoot down of an F117 by Soviet era radar and air defense systems.
       Superior technology can be an advantage but only when used with wise understanding of its true capabilities and limitations.
       A master craftsman can do admirable work with the crudest of tools, but a duffer hack needs the best.

       Reply ↓
18. KD January 17, 2026 at 11:01 am

    The former Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, explains that the only way the west can avoid decades of war with Russia is to assure that Ukraine pushes Russia completely out of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.

    “There isnt any other choice” pic.twitter.com/jihU4MU17j

    She has a point. If the West accomplished this aim, I would expect hostilities, at least on the European continent, to end in about 15 to 20 minutes time after this stunning accomplishment.

    Although Europe may not need to wait for their decisive victory, according to this interview with Sergey Karaganov, Europe has about 1-2 years before Russia starts nuking Germany and the UK:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK4gfhWXs-U

    This was a nice take from 1983 on what “victory in Ukraine” will look like:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy9n8r16hs

    And we also have this peppy offering from 1984 back before Germany lost its mind:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiwgOWo7mDc

    Gorillas playing nuclear footsie, what could possibly go wrong?

    Reply ↓
19. timotheus January 17, 2026 at 11:13 am

    Re Renee Good being alive after the fusillade, isn’t there a possible prosecution available to the state/city for failure to provide medical assistance? Aside from the killing itself, that is. With the Feds hogging the direct evidence, one can easily see from the video that the MD on the scene was blocked from reaching her. Just wondering.

    Reply ↓
    1. JonnyJames January 17, 2026 at 12:26 pm

       Unfortunately, the rule of law is largely defunct for the US govt. and the oligarchy in general. Abuse of power, rampant lawlessness, institutional corruption etc. rule the day. The US supports and funds genocide, illegal bombings, illegal siege warfare and other economic warfare, piracy, theft of sovereign assets, attempts to assassinate Pres. Putin, etc. etc. Where is the rule of law? Checks and balances?

       And the dude who murdered Renee Good has reportedly raised over a million dollars from supporters. So much for being held accountable to the law, he becomes a hero, and he gets a nice reward. That’s what we call justice eh

       Reply ↓
    2. Rabid groundhog January 17, 2026 at 1:46 pm

       Medical treatment is pretty much futile, and arguably completely improper when part of your brain is outside your skull, as reported in this case.

       Reply ↓
       1. LawnDart January 18, 2026 at 5:51 am

          I was one of the first on the scene to where a young black male had jumped off an overpass into the eastbound 290 lanes towards downtown Chicago. Passing medics were on the spot almost instantly. As one was about to administer oxygen, the young man’s brains began oozing from the back of his skull. The medic quickly jerked back, stood up and stiffened, and both medics stepped back.

          The few of us around the kid shared a grim glance and nothing needed to be said. His eyes were still open, frozen in space with a seeming look of wonder and awe. After a long few moments I knelt down and closed his eyes, it seemed the right thing to do.

          It’s one of those things that sticks with you, know what I mean?

          Reply ↓
          1. Skippy January 18, 2026 at 5:59 am

             Yes …

             Reply ↓
    3. IM Doc January 17, 2026 at 4:02 pm

       I really hope we do not go there.

       I have no video evidence or proof. I have seen multiple tangential statements that at the scene her skull was clearly breached and multiple pieces of brain matter were completely detached and outside the body. There are zero situations in which resuscitating anyone in that condition will revive anything but a vegetative human on life support possibly for decades. That should never be done for obvious reasons. Any MD walking into a situation should know that. It is drilled into our heads in trauma surgery from day one. Closed skull injuries with no obvious extrusion of brain bits is a whole other story as is a breach with still attached brain swelling out. Those situations should be stabilized and evaluated in an appropriate place like an ER.

       Please, news media and social media, let’s not go there. Have some mercy on the family at this horrible hour.

       Reply ↓
       1. skippy January 17, 2026 at 5:30 pm

          As the phrase used by my ex paramedic clinician/educator wife would say – unviable with life – …. notes. Having grown up around my grandfathers house, as much as at home, GP/Trauma surgeon [WWII Air Force Europe], my military experience, industrial accidents, etc …. its a very difficult concept for most people to ponder. Especially when confronted with it for the first time out of the blue.

          Its the huge difference I find with someone like you having been mentally/cognitively prepared by strong ethical/moral people with knowledge and experience. Sadly that status has been changed as everything has been reduced to balance sheet flows and nothing else … as its someone else income expectations …

          Reply ↓
       2. Skippy January 17, 2026 at 10:09 pm

          It would also be interesting to see your opinion on how birth dramas were resolved back in the day IM Doc. Its a topic that most would have no clue about, per se Spina bifida back in the day or other high level life altering conditions. Hard for people to have an informed opinion when they have no clue.

          Reply ↓
20. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 11:35 am

    Yeah, c’mon on all you girls and boys.
    Neocon Don’s hatched another of his ploys.
    From Ukraine to I-ran, it’s all gone sour.
    But you can be the hero of the hour.
    So put down your phone, and pick up a gun.
    We’re gonna have a whole lot of fun.

    CHORUS
    And it’s 1, 2, 3, who’re we fighting for?
    Don’t ask me. I’m afraid to say.
    We’ll just say that they can pay.
    And it’s 5, 6, 7, open up the pearly gates.
    Well there ain’t no time to wonder why.
    Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.

    Well c’mon generals, let’s move fast.
    Your big chance has come at last.
    Gotta go up and get those Danes.
    ‘Cause Donald wants Greenland, and he’s the man that reigns.
    And you know that peace can only be won
    when we’ve blown ‘em all to kingdom come.

    CHORUS

    Well, c’mon on Wall Street,
    don’t be slow.
    Why all these wars ‘ll pay for your blow.
    There’s plenty good money to be made
    but know that the Trumps get a piece of the trade.
    Just hope and pray that if the Oreshniks fly
    that your Doomsday bunker stays safe and dry.

    CHORUS

    Well c’mon mothers, don’t think twice.
    Raise your boys right so they go join ICE.
    C’mon pops, don’t be glum.
    Send ‘em off before the time has run.
    You can be the first to brag about all those notches on his gun.

    CHORUS
    And it’s 1, 2, 3, who’re we fighting for?
    Don’t ask me. I’m afraid to say.
    We’ll just say that they can pay.
    And it’s 5, 6, 7, open up the pearly gates.
    Well there ain’t no time to wonder why.
    Whoopee! we’re ALL gonna die.

    “Fixin’ to Die Rag” Country Joe McDonald and the Fish

    Reply ↓
    1. Tom Stone January 17, 2026 at 4:43 pm

       Thanks, HMP.
       I will never forget the first one on my block that came home in a box.

       Reply ↓
       1. ambrit January 18, 2026 at 12:00 am

          Me too. All very hush hush.

          Reply ↓
21. AG January 17, 2026 at 11:52 am

    re: China energy

    JACOBIN Germany

    machine-translation

    What an electric state like China means for the Western left

    While the US relies heavily on fossil fuels, China is on its way to becoming the world’s first electric power nation. The left should take a page from this book and formulate its own development model that aims to surpass capitalism.

    By Timo Daum and Lia Musitz
    https://archive.is/LwB30

    Timo Daum is a non-fiction author and university lecturer. He is a visiting scholar at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and is pursuing his doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin.

    Lia Musitz is a sinologist and freelance research writer. She writes for, among others, the Hans Böckler Foundation, the Vienna Chamber of Labor, and the European Parliament on China’s political economy and green transformation.

    Reply ↓
22. Steve H. January 17, 2026 at 11:54 am

    > Landholder vs stockholder aeon

    Is this good? I thought this was good. At the least thought-provoking.

    A couple of queries:

    > Each economy has a full class structure with owners, bosses and various kinds of workers, so class alone can’t determine our political alignment

    which seems fair enough, but then

    > a simple two-sided class struggle is not sufficient to explain the complexity of a modern economy.

    which sort of puts a strawman as the axle of the cart they haul their final argument in:

    > As long as governments want to keep the value of their currencies from falling, someone in their ranks will be using the methods of the Left and inventiveness that brought us everything from our banking system to gay marriage. We don’t need to resurrect communism or focus narrowly on class, following Marx.

    Still, worth a read, it does a nice job of history, a reminder that these concerns are not new. Someone once said that ‘pursuit of happiness’ was substituted for ‘property’ since the authors didn’t want no one getting ideas they were entitled to land, but rather the tools of the trade that makes them happy. Could be.

    Reply ↓
    1. Revenant January 17, 2026 at 6:46 pm

       I was enjoying the analysis until it turned into flag-waving for “the Left”. All hail the banksters and remittance men, making the world safe for minorities one bailout at a time. Bah!

       I don’t think left and right is helpful here as a dichotomy. Slightly more useful is progressive and reactionary but that stopped making sense under neoliberalism and 1972. Both right and left now pursue hard money, international trade, debt finance and the rest of the Washington Consensus.

       In the UK, there is Tory (blue) and Labour (red) but there are substantial heterodox Red Tory and Blue Labour movements: the former are socially progressive but economically dry and the latter are economically progressive but socially traditionalist. Neither heterodoxy gives much support to MMT thinking but both at least try to frame policies that support the common man and acknowledge that one can only pick two out of three of mobility of capital, mobility of labour and high wages/welfare. Obviously, their preferred choices are different….

       Reply ↓
       1. skippy January 17, 2026 at 9:59 pm

          Firstly to Steve H …

          Landholder is the ancient notion where deity sorts out the worthy and unworthy via productive use of land and lifestyle aka make sure the riff-raff are as well. Stockholder is antiquarian, as well but, a much smaller foot print back in the day relegated to Capital Cities and much removed from the labour/family formation aspect. Revenant might be aware of the dichotomy between old school capital and financial traders in the City[tm] back in the day – wet ally rats – due to area of operations. Amends … I bemuse myself with the notion that my eldest daughter is in a long term relationship with a trader that cut his teeth young in the City and now back home. I attempt not to melt his head with a few crumbs thrown around about some financial thingys and social economic realities … lest I anger my daughter or harsh the buzz … At the end of the day I don’t think its confusing since TINA was proclaimed from above and the once rusted on [Hayek] with out a blink of an eye ushered Ordoliberalism, supposedly to make markets reach potential but, seems more like sacrificing everyone not in the ruling class as without their grace we all go poof …

          @Revenant …

          I am blown away every time I see someone use the term ” the Left” in the modern context. Its like the term “Liberal” [ e.g. Locke – one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “father of liberalism”] vs say how FDR bastardized it to advance his social agenda. The original left was not interested in virtue signalling about non traditional social values in the context of freedom and liberties … it was cut and dry … family formation aka kids [the future] and share of productivity – natch. Ugh … I mean Locke was the Spencer of his day … funded and adored by Elites of the day … granted a class upgrade as a slave Mgr – Jefferson nail shack stuff.

          Whilst I am not onboard with everything P. Plikinton bangs on about, I do share his opinion on family formation and its effect on long term to society in general and how that effects both a nations economy and its cohesion long term. Sadly Orthodox economics is more focused on econometric number wang. This is something everyone in the neoliberal camp ignores which fans the flames of ridged nationalism – a boat that sailed away a long time ago with the free market globalism agenda aka arrestee investors rule because their rights supersede all others … by law …

          Reply ↓
          1. Steve H. January 18, 2026 at 12:36 am

             Thank you, Skippy. Keep your daughters love. Mine has been fully aspirant, an asst to a vp of an aerospace company whose planes did not go Boing. We suggested making sandwiches for her youngers and she said they didn’t know what a sandwich was. Her eldest is in a battle for what Chicago-area high school she gets in, with stress levels rivaling Chinese civil servant exams. We hope to spend some time with the grandkids and get some dirt on their feet.

             Illuminating, the note about the areas of operation, there’s no physical distinction here in the hinterlands. Seen more as a continuum, excepting NYC and Chicago with their trading floors. I’ll segue a little paper I may be plinking at later, with respect to Lambert and his love for Categorization and the Norms Fairy:

             The emergence of categorical norms

             Reply ↓
             1. Skippy January 18, 2026 at 2:18 am

                Dirt on feet … what could be more human …

                Reply ↓
       2. hk January 17, 2026 at 10:34 pm

          You just reminded me of something that I used to wonder often: whether most ppl in US know the historical origins of the political colors, blue for aristocrats and red for the masses. Somehow, the weird post 2000 reorientation (we used to use the colors inconsistently even before 2000 anyways, thus how the “wrong” pattern somehow got stuck) is oddly apt given how things have evolved since, though. Still, there is something weird about the “blue” crowd going with the slogan “no kings.”

          Reply ↓
    2. Grebo January 18, 2026 at 12:16 am

       Good, yes, but not in a good way. Landholders (aka Feudalists) and stockholders (aka Capitalists) are two kinds of Right. Two kinds of ‘passive’ (aka unearned) income.

       The actual Left is against that sort of thing. But I guess we don’t need them anymore, now we are all living off our passive incomes.

       Reply ↓
       1. ambrit January 18, 2026 at 6:09 am

          And those without “passive incomes” can now “Go Die!”
          I fear that our “Betters” will eventually re-learn the meaning of “Peasant Revolt.”

          Reply ↓
23. Jason Boxman January 17, 2026 at 11:58 am

    I never knew anything about grazing on public lands, but I can now

    The Biggest Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Grazing on Public Lands (Pro Publica)

    Livestock grazing is allowed across 240 million acres of federal land. Our investigation revealed the subsidies propping up ranching, its impact on the environment and the politics underpinning the system.

    Reply ↓
24. earthling January 17, 2026 at 12:00 pm

    “Detailed map reveals groundwater levels across the U.S. PhysOrg (Micael T)”
    could be retitled “AI Slop Comes for Groundwater Research and Policy”. Breathtaking oversimplication of complicated stuff.

    Local water users and governing bodies already know what they have, and it varies wildly by location, and there isn’t just one ‘depth to groundwater’ that is relevant in many areas with stacked aquifers. The only people who can make use of this grand totaling up are broligarchs wanting a quick easy dataset to help them swoop in and swipe water supplies from where their algorithm says there is ‘excess’.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jeremy Grimm January 17, 2026 at 12:22 pm

       I am very glad to see this kind of research. As communities are forced to relocate due to coastal flooding and flooding due to what I expect will be increasingly frequent and randomly occurring atmospheric rivers, fresh water will become critical in selecting new places to locate communities and housing. Some regions will need to take more serious looks at building cisterns, adding rain-catches, and digging more ground tanks for any animals they raise. It is snowing where I am now. When I see snow now I often think of the possibility of shoveling the top cover of snow into a ‘snow cistern’ where I might keep the cold of the snow [not sure why I would want to keep the cold, except that I think of stored cold like stored heat as a possible resource] for a while and pull off the water from it as it melts. In addition to mapping ground water, I think it might be a good idea to map how ground water is interconnected through the underground geologic topology. One of the first problems we will face as the oceans rise will be the souring of ground water exposed to seawater during storm surges. By studying the souring process I suspect it may be possible to supplement, rationalize, and sometimes correct and expand our understanding of the underground lakes, rivers, streams, and brooks that will provide much of our fresh water.

       I am also afraid you are right about how this information might be used by your broligarchs. I am not sure I agree with your assertion that “Local water users and governing bodies already know what they have…”. Your claim that there isn’t one ‘depth to groundwater’ is definitely common knowledge to anyone who checks into getting a well dug for their property, and the hems and haws by well diggers when asked about drilling costs and where to locate the well suggests that at best they “only vaguely know what they have” and if local governing bodies know more they are keeping that information to themselves. This is not related to your observation that water can exist in several layers underground at different depths. When considering such deeper water there are new issues related to the rates that ground water recovers as it is used. The study of ground water also does not mention issues like the various ways ground water may be polluted by things like PCPs, arsenic, … and so on. This is to suggest a great deal of research now might be a very good idea for the future.

       Reply ↓
       1. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 5:53 pm

          Your “snow cistern” idea is a great one. People have “stored” the cold of winter long into the summer until rural electricity became common with FDR’s REA. The old house where I grew up had the ruins of an old icehouse nearby. They cut ice from frozen ponds in the winter and stored them in a hollowed-out area covered by sawdust. Then you can read in the Firefox series about year-round cooling with a spring house, only possible if you’re lucky enough to have a spring available. So snow in a cistern would be a very “cool” idea.

          Reply ↓
          1. Revenant January 17, 2026 at 6:52 pm

             In Devon, a traditional longhouse farmhouse (animals one end of the building for warmth in winter, people the other) would often have its dairy(*) built over the well or even better a live spring channelled under the slate floor, for cooling. These days many longhousee have been renovated for sale, on-farm dairying has long ceased, fridges keep food cool and fresh etc and the new owners wonder why one of the ground floor rooms is always so much colder and a bit damp! Or in a year of exceptional rain, it floods!

             (*) where milk is processed into cream and butter and fresh foods are stored, not a milking parlour!

             Reply ↓
25. Lefty Godot January 17, 2026 at 12:11 pm

    The Freddie deBoer article about coordinated media campaigns using similar language on behalf of an author is just an example of how coordinated media campaigns are behind a lot of media coverage, not just in the arts. But why should the arts be exempt? His example is a “literary novel”, but in the fantasy genre there has also been at least one author recently who burst on the scene with overwhelmingly favorable coverage and vaulted onto the best seller lists (for whatever that’s worth nowadays), and who comes from the upper PMC while also having “marginalized” group credentials. No doubt the same type of thing has been going on in the music industry forever. But in the political world it’s been that way forever and a day. The coordinated media campaigns for whatever the latest war is that the US government wants to get us into, the coordinated suppression of accurate reporting about the Gaza genocide, the coordinated reliance on stories from right wing exiles about the evil socialist dictatorships in their former countries, the coordinated reporting of any other country’s election results that we don’t like as being rigged, the coordinated media agreement with the narrative that “the pandemic is over” as soon as a Democrat becomes President, etc. To the extent that the creative arts are now just another commodity that can be sold, information war on the public will become more common and, as Freddie says, more blatant there as well.

    Reply ↓
    1. Revenant January 17, 2026 at 7:02 pm

       I’ve friends from College who are authors and columnists and freelancers in newspapers and it was interesting to watch their colleagues and acquaintances review their latest works in other publications. It’s like a literary La Ronde, where the public is in the dark…..

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ronde_(play)

       Once you see it, you look at every review wondering why X was chosen to review Y, who loves/hates whom, who owes a favour etc. The UK arts pages have always been incestuous. Private Eye was always very good at pointing out these linkages, like Colonel Smithers here does….

       I think the difference that FdB decries here is the coordinated positivity. This, in the UK’s defence, was never its weakness: backstabbing and flattery were equal outcomes!

       Reply ↓
    2. AG January 17, 2026 at 7:24 pm

       German fiction literature is a different beast than the American but humans and money are the same everywhere.
       Naturally editors of literature columns and sections in TV, radio and papers have certain powers and if you do not cultivate alliances as an author you remain fringe.

       Of course, still Europe offers more habitats for outlaws.
       And after all the state does support publishers. Even more so Austria and Switzerland. You have more space for experiments, variety and deviation.

       Around 2010 senior figure and co-publisher of the powerful F.A.Z. daily in Frankfurt, the late Frank Schirrmacher, in a piece publicly admitted that he and his honorable gatekeepers in other legacy entities of German literary success had been handpicking certain novelists who they deemed fit to rise to the top.

       All this had happened quite openly for instance by simply calling some younger writers on the phone and inviting them to private dinner parties. This being the 90s and early 2000s. (This part Schirrmacher did not say.)

       In the old days Schirrmacher and his likewise arrogant colleagues with the same limitations of aesthetic understanding had demanded an end to novels by politically progressive writers who tried to merge politics with literary forms. Sometimes the intention was to coopt the young artists and maybe navigate their future literary output more to the establishment centre of taste and form.

       By 2010 however the number and reach of political novelists had so much diminished that Schirrmacher who after all was an old-school ivory tower intellectual who hated low quality art admitted that his “recruiting politics” had been a mistake and in a u-turn now called for a resurrection of the political novelist.

       Of course it was way too late. I don´t know in how far Schirrmacher who died age 55 in 2014 did understand that it was e.g. the economics section of his very paper that would have had to change its course to help change the economic conditions of the entire country for any such cultural sea-change in the literary output to take shape.

       Like with many conservative cultural critics who I used to be very opposed to (Schirrmacher one of them) – today Schirrmacher most likely would be among those who are opposed to the idiocracy in Europe and join ranks with individuals like myself.

       Reply ↓
26. TimH January 17, 2026 at 12:55 pm

    Interest Jack Poulson piece “The dirty tricks of reputation management: from PI firms to sabotaging Google Search” https://jackpoulson.substack.com/p/dirty-tricks-reputation-management-blackman

    Found it from here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/eff-california-appeals-court-first-amendment-protects-journalist-tech-executives

    EFF asked a California appeals court to uphold a lower court’s decision to strike a tech CEO’s lawsuit against a journalist that sought to silence reporting the CEO, Maury Blackman, didn’t like.The journalist, Jack Poulson, reported on Maury Blackman’s arrest for felony domestic violence…

    Reply ↓
27. Tom Stone January 17, 2026 at 12:57 pm

    I wonder how many of America’s oligarchs have begun feeling uneasy about Trump’s recent behavior?
    Are any of them aware enough to realize that if there is no due process for “Those People” there is no due process for the Oligarchs ?
    I know it’s unfortunate that the proles also benefit from “No person shall be deprived of Life,Liberty or Property without Due Process of Law”, but the Oligarchs should just pinch their nostrils shut and accept that even the unwashed must be allowed to share the benefits of the Law, or the King can simply take what they have with no recourse.

    Reply ↓
    1. Geo January 17, 2026 at 1:23 pm

       “there is no due process for the Oligarchs ?”

       Why would they care when they can just buy a pardon for any crime they commit?
       https://apnews.com/article/trump-pardons-donor-twice-convicted-fraud-99263a04b8a60ce8c081b9c5feaffd2e

       Reply ↓
    2. Jeremy Grimm January 17, 2026 at 10:03 pm

       I think america’s oligarchs believe they enjoy their own special ‘due process’. So far, there is little reason they might believe otherwise. The laws and codes of decency for the riff raff and commoners have no application to people of their rank.

       Reply ↓
28. ciroc January 17, 2026 at 1:23 pm

    >Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Starmer he knows his own power – and how to use it

    The modern left shares ideals with the right, making it difficult to implement policies while maintaining a leftist image. However, when it comes to important and urgent issues, such as showing solidarity with Zionists, the left acts just as boldly as the right. Starmer’s decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization predated Trump’s NSPM-7 by far.

    Reply ↓
29. Henry Moon Pie January 17, 2026 at 2:52 pm

    Live stream of “March Against Minnesota Corruption”–

    Right-wing “influencer” and J6 pardonee Jake Lang does not seem to have much influence. From what I can glean from the livestream, he’s there with his red-headed significant other along with a couple of lieutenants. They’re far outnumbered and outsized by the counter-protestors and observers.

    I find it reassuring that his turnout was so abysmal.

    Reply ↓
30. NotThePilot January 17, 2026 at 2:59 pm

    Pentagon begins overhaul of ‘woke’ newspaper

    Trying to turn the Stars & Stripes into a propaganda rag is the sort of move I could only classify as “dumb authoritarian”. It shows a total lack of awareness or even interest in where the military is at.

    The new angle they’re going for may appeal to / work on the most gung-ho, naive fraction of new recruits. But a lot of them probably aren’t even going to be reading the paper. If they genuinely want to read about being more lethal, that’s what the training manuals are for, and if they want “war porn”, they can find that all over the web (even Soldier of Fortune is still around online).

    It’s just going to alienate everyone else that does read the paper though. The sort of dynamics that are just weird tribal games or image management for DC types, the military directly experiences everyday. Trying to spin or ignore what the military can see for themselves is just going to demoralize them as a fighting force and increase the simmering resentment towards the civilian government.

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31. ibaien January 17, 2026 at 3:11 pm

    what is the point of linking the LGBT policies of greenland? dogwhistle for the general alt-left blogosphere’s dislike of trans rights, or am i missing something?

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    1. The Rev Kev January 17, 2026 at 6:14 pm

       If Trump takes over Greenland, then you can expect the US to impose its own laws and values on that country and some of those LGBT policies will be first on the chopping block because of “MAGA values”. Saw this with the occupation of Iraq where US laws were being downloaded and an attempt was made to impose them onto Iraqi culture. One ex-cop was put in charge of traffic regulations so downloaded the road rules of the State that he came from and attempted to make them the road rules of Iraq. Of course the Iraqis ignore them and drove how they always have. True story that.

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       1. ibaien January 17, 2026 at 7:16 pm

          ok, so we’re supposed to feel bad that trump might roll back LGBT rights in greenland. it’s so hard to keep track of whether or not to care about gender and sexual minorities (see also the response to the iranian protests, where the alt-left is cheering on the regime because ‘marg bar amrika’ and the putative resistance to the zionist state, i guess)

          sometimes the new party line gets me all bugaboo…

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          1. Yves Smith Post authorJanuary 18, 2026 at 1:29 am

             It appears that you are too thick to see that the position is consistent. Countries have a right to self-determination. The US action in Greenland would result in the US imposing Trump Administration views on Greenland. Contrary to Western propaganda, Iran is a democracy and its citizens came out in support of the current regime and against US regime change.

             And you adopted a posture that is an attack on the site.

             I trust you will find your happiness on the Internet elsewhere.

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32. NN Cassandra January 17, 2026 at 3:14 pm

    The most straightforward and logical retaliation for Trump invading Greenland would be to take the ~100,000 US soldiers stationed in EU as prisoners of war. Of course the European vassals would never even thought about that, so they will not offer any meaningful resistance and whenever Greenland becomes US territory is at this point internal US matter. But still it would be fun if someone high-profile suggested just that and EU potentates would then need to explain their stance on this.

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33. rob January 17, 2026 at 3:24 pm

    The amount of money that the ford employee has made from the go fund me donations is like winning the lottery.
    I hope it will catch on. Something that SHOULD go viral. Just think. if anyone who happens to be in proximity to the trump/chump… can get a reaction… on camera…..could deal with getting fired… and get a million dollars in donations. I heard that great american who heckled the chump/trump… chose to suspend donations after only getting 800 -plus thousand dollars…

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34. kareninca January 17, 2026 at 3:38 pm

    In November, a 69 year old friend of a friend went to Yale for open heart surgery; it was supposed to be absolutely routine, but he died in the recovery room. Now the 55 year old son of a friend just discovered he needs open heart surgery and will have it done there. He has tons of calcification out of nowhere; it does not run in his family. He decided to have a cardiac scan on a whim, and it was found. Yale is as good as it gets but most people are damaged by covid now; surgery is a lot more dangerous.

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    1. Jason Boxman January 17, 2026 at 3:50 pm

       We’ve wondered about that; my father didn’t have the degree of blockage they found during the cath lab when the ambulance brought him in; he got COVID in July 2025, dead less than 4 months later. Maybe the situation was already dire in July, we’ll never know.

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       1. kareninca January 17, 2026 at 6:03 pm

          I was thinking about your father, too. I am terribly sorry about your loss of him so I didn’t want to say anything, but I definitely noticed what you had said about the speed of the progression he had. I am feeling kind of doomed because I had cardiac calcification even before the pandemic; it runs in my family. I’m taking low dose methylene blue, lumbrokinase and K2 and fisetin; this is absolutely NOT medical advice since it can all interact with various other supplements and with meds and with existing ailments. However, there is no doctor for me to ask since “extra fast calcification” isn’t on their radar and the doctors in my area don’t even mask.

          Also several people I know who have had dementia for a very long time now, have just passed away or have just been put in hospice. None of them have been protected from covid. I think it may be a factor for them.

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          1. Jason Boxman January 17, 2026 at 6:36 pm

             Thanks for your kind words.

             Likewise, if my dad had gone in and said COVID is a vascular disease, can we do more than just an EKG, he might have died anyway before someone took him seriously. He did get in and they did chest x-rays, because “respiratory virus”, lol.

             When I was saying that last year was gonna be lit, I guess it hit a little too close to home.

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             1. kareninca January 17, 2026 at 8:50 pm

                It is really hard to say if more medical treatment would have worked. But it is clear that he was and is loved.

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    2. Jonathan Holland Becnel January 18, 2026 at 1:35 am

       Had a few people I know pass away recently as well:

       A former bar patron went in for stomach issues or something similar and died a few months later from Liver Cancer. Turns out there was a mass.

       A dear family friend passed away at the age of 24 because of some diagnosis of POTS and/or a recent car wreck. Livia will be missed. A lovely spirit taken too soon for sure.

       My Exs brothers best friend just passed away from complications due to diabetes/bacterial infection. Had a couple amputations before the end.

       These were all in the last week.

       And now that I’ve actually written it out, it occurs to me that all these deaths happened in Texas.

       HOUSTON
       AUSTIN
       EL PASO

       The decimation of the imperial core continues unabated.

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       1. kareninca January 18, 2026 at 2:13 am

          There are a lot of deaths now. I have a friend who is rehab who was doing totally fine; he had pneumonia last month but it was cured and he just needed his strength built up. But today his oxygen level was 89. All the rehab people did was stick oxygen in his nose for the long weekend. I asked him if he shouldn’t go to the hospital to find out what is up but he doesn’t want to and I couldn’t convince him. This is someone in the one percent with a $600/month concierge doctor and he is in the best rehab center in the region. His wife is a dolt. I think he’s not going to be around much longer.

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35. Acacia January 17, 2026 at 5:23 pm

    Re: Trump floats new tariffs in push to acquire Greenland

    It’s getting worse…

    European leaders warn of ‘downward spiral’ after Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland – Europe live
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/17/hands-off-greenland-protests-denmark-us-donald-trump-europe-latest-news-updates

    The US president said 10% tariffs will be imposed on all goods the countries export to the United States from 1 February, followed by a 25% rate from 1 June.

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    1. Polar Socialist January 17, 2026 at 7:26 pm

       One wonders if Mette Fredriksen has given any thought whatsoever on how the posterity will see her: Russia has for years stated they don’t want any piece of EU or NATO, USA has clearly stated that it will take Greenland, Greenlanders are protesting against USA in front of the US consulate and yet she keeps claiming Russia is the threat…

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       1. hk January 17, 2026 at 10:21 pm

          Leon Degrelle and Vidkun Quisling insisted that the commies were the real enemies after Nazis actually invaded and conquered their countries, no?

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       2. Jessica January 18, 2026 at 12:04 am

          One of the problems the smaller EU nations have is that their PMs and Presidents often treat that office as merely a stepping stone to the big time in Brussels.
          Denmark specifically has the problem that because it is still such a high-trust society, Danes trust their leaders more than those leaders deserve.

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    2. Jeff H January 17, 2026 at 8:15 pm

       I think it’s foolish to think Greenland is defenseless.

       https://youtu.be/hS0wFiWpU4U

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36. Lefty Godot January 17, 2026 at 5:54 pm

    The Vermont Daily Chronicle gives the impression of being a right-wing rag judging by the article writer’s prescriptions (“bring nuclear power back to Vermont”) and the assortment of “it’s all an Al Gore climate hoax” comments and “pro-life” organization ads. By the time a new nuclear plant could actually come online in Vermont I would be long in my grave, even if you adopt the author’s preferred solution of eliminating safety regulations. This isn’t to say that electricity costs are not going rise dramatically, as he says, but I would bet anything the miraculous “savings” of his nuclear plus natural gas solution mostly vanish by the time that solution gets implemented.

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37. kareninca January 17, 2026 at 6:06 pm

    Macron does not look like a 48 year old and he does not look well at all; he looks terrible: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15473461/Emmanuel-Macron-Trumps-tariff-intimidation-Greenland.html.

    What is it with these people? They could retire; they could stay home, but instead they go out collecting covid infections. I guess it is the brain damage.

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    1. Revenant January 17, 2026 at 7:09 pm

       Macron is looking strung out there but he is also sporting a spectacular bloodshot right eye.

       Speculation is rife how he got it (although walked into a table is plausible, he only likes Zelensky but he makes him feel tall). The internet insinuations about a sadomasochistic affair with his mysterious and volatile Maghrebien head of security, who was spirited away when it turned out he wasn’t a proper policeman, have never gone away. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benalla_affair

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    2. Acacia January 18, 2026 at 2:29 am

       Re: the bloodshot right eye, a.k.a. “Il a quoi l’œil de Macron ?” Lol

       Du Mexique à la France : plus de 200 kilos de méthamphétamine saisis
       https://www.lechorepublicain.fr/pont-a-mousson-54700/faits-divers/du-mexique-a-la-france-plus-de-200-kilos-de-methamphetamine-saisis-les-cartels-en-toile-de-fond_14812630/

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38. amfortas January 17, 2026 at 7:33 pm

    been busy bein a hewer of wood with my neighbor and my eldest, removing an enormous post oak that had fallen on his fence(ill end up with at least 6 cords of wood, if not more…eldest estimates 10, by the time i get the 30′ trunk cut and split):

    thought i should leave this fer whomever does links in the mornin…poorly edited, but insightful:
    https://iqrapost.substack.com/p/notes-on-state-as-service

    and , as for my personal aftermath of the hewing of wood…yeah,lol..ima feelin it.
    got up to 45 today(laugh all ya want), but with 35 mph north winds, gusts up to prolly 50.
    ill hurt like a dog by the time i wake up at 2am to tend the fires(20, tonight)…currently 65 in Little Greenhouse.

    but i picked/grazed a salad for lunch, wanderin thru with a hunk of some italian soft cheese and a couple of slices of sourdough grilled in olio oliva, eating an ancho, a few cherry toms, some green onions ,sage and some parsley, right off the plants, like a frelling dinosaur.

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    1. ambrit January 18, 2026 at 6:16 am

       Texasaurus amfortii.

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39. AG January 17, 2026 at 7:39 pm

    re: Iran + Ukraine War

    Good sum-up by Mark Sleboda with Garland Nixon
    
    Trump’s Neocon Viagra
    My latest geopolitical soapbox rant with Garland Nixon 15/01/26
    60 min.
    https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/trumps-neocon-viagra

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40. amfortas January 17, 2026 at 8:06 pm

    waltz has apparently located his spine and/or balls(they were in the junk drawer in the kitchen all along!):
    https://x.com/adamscochran/status/2012643385073405963

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41. Jeremy Grimm January 17, 2026 at 9:56 pm

    Unrelated to today’s links, but not foreign to the post the other day about crypto: I ran across a recent podcast with Bill Black that seemed to explain Trump and his strange lack of policy focus in a way that made sense to me. I made a very cursory check whether this podcast has had previous mention in the forum and found none. I apologize if I simply missed some previous mention:
    Macro and Cheese Podcast Episode 350 – Naked Corruption with Bill Black
    18th October 2025 Steven D Grumbine
    to download the mp3:
    https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/475bc521-587c-4237-af18-ecd42edc6cf2.mp3

    Regarding Trump as a useful idiot bent on becoming a billionaire helps me make sense of Trump’s frenetic shifts of his attention and too often the national attention, onto people and events with no apparent connection or unifying intent behind the sudden limelight his attentions engendered. I had thought he might have some hidden strategy, not necessarily his own, directing his bizarre actions and policies. Bill Black’s explanation in this podcast seems to offer a plausible explanation I feel I can begin to understand. But if Bill Black is even in the ballpark of the truth of Trump’s motivations, I am deeply embarrassed and ashamed for the u.s. … … my country.

    Given Bill Black is correct in his analysis of Trump and Trump’s reign, I am more than embarrassed and ashamed. I am truly horrified to contemplate what is really going on behind the curtains. I feel as if I just came from a tour of Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI, guided on that tour by an uncompromised Jacobin tour guide with inside sources. [This does exaggerate a little, though I am horrified and appalled by what Bill Black had to say about Trump and his presidency.] If I came from Kansas, I am definitely no where near Kansas now.

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42. AG January 17, 2026 at 11:20 pm

    re: Iran

    In the end of his latest show Andrei Martyanov said that Putin had talked to Iran and Israel and so both countries pledged to not attack each other.

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43. skippy January 18, 2026 at 2:39 am

    Good times … Victorian Premier PANICS After Amazon Layoffs CRASH Real Estate Market!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6_XA-hUcPc

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit January 18, 2026 at 6:17 am

       You write CRASH like it is a bad thing….

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