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Links 1/5/2026

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You Must Stare Into the Heart of the $400 Million Machine Gizmodo

Climate/Environment

Is This Where The Human Evolution Journey Ends? The George Tsakraklides View

Pandemics

The COVID generation: the neurodevelopmental consequences of in-utero COVID-19 exposure Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

South of the Border

With good reason, the U.S. smash and grab in Venezuela is dominating the news cycle. So today’s Links are reflective of the global implications. I’ve tried to organize into buckets here to sort through the firehose of info/disinfo.

Mission Accomplished?

Venezuela live updates: interim president offers to ‘collaborate’ with US after Trump warns of further strikes The Guardian

Major Questions Finally Answered About Trump’s Venezuelan Adventure Simplicius

Rubio clarifies US role in Venezuela following Maduro capture Intellinews

Regime Tweaking, Not Regime Change, Is What The US Just Achieved In Venezuela Andrew Korybko

Legal Matters

Corporations Invested In Lawsuits Before Venezuela Invasion The Lever

Imperial Presidency

Maduro Capture Operation and the President’s Duty to Faithfully Execute U.N. Charter Just Security

Poll: Americans Not Onboard With Trump on Venezuela American Conservative

Bipartisanship?

Chuck Schumer Says Democrats Want ‘All the Facts Out’ About Venezuela Mission NOTUS

Bipartisanship!

“It looks weak”: Dems fume at their party’s response to Maduro capture Axios

Finance Industry Eyes Investment Opportunities in Venezuela WSJ.  Paywalled but here’s a snap shot:

The Narco-Terrorist Elite Moe Tkacik, The American Prospect

Starlink says it will provide service to people of Venezuela through Feb. 3 The Hill

Resources

Following U.S. coup in Venezuela, the CIA’s former station chief is advertising support for corporate exploitation of the country’s oil All-Source Intelligence

Is Trump’s Venezuela Oil Plan a $100 Billion Gamble? Bloomberg

Famously Free Press

US Murders Sleeping Civilians, Media Calls It “Audacious, Stunning” Nate Bear

A Newly Created Polymarket Account Made $436,759.61 on Nicolás Maduro’s Capture Gizmodo

Immigration

Venezuelans under TPS can apply for refugee status, Kristi Noem says The Guardian

China

Chinese FM responds to whether China will continue importing Venezuelan oil Global Times

China asks banks to report exposure to Venezuela after US raid Business Times

Blow to China from loss of Venezuela oil blunted by hoard at sea Business Times

The US plan for countering China in South America Asia Times. From May, still germane.

China social media hails Trump’s Maduro move as Taiwan template Straits Times

Wider Implications

We will regret the dawn of a ‘might makes right’ world Thomas Fazi, The Telegraph

‘Only a Nuclear Arsenal’ Provides Sufficient Security: Russia’s Medvedev Warns U.S. Attack on Venezuela Makes Deterrence Vital Military Watch

North Korea tests hypersonic missiles as Kim cites ‘geopolitical crisis’ UPI

Global defense stocks soar as U.S. strike on Venezuela heralds new ‘hard power’ era CNBC

14 Points on Trump Kidnap of Venezuelan President Maduro on the Sixth Anniversary of the Trump Assassination of Haj Qassem Soleimani Vanessa Beeley

IS THE MADURO KIDNAPPING A PRELUDE TO ATTACKING IRAN? Larry Johnson

U.S. Ambassador To Israel, Mike Huckabee, Boasts That Regime Change In Venezuela Is Good For Israel. The Dissident

While Europeans dutifully read from the script in support of the US, here’s the wife of Trump’s homeland security advisor:

What credibility?

Popular Culture References

What Year Is This? Phantom Heresy with Jack Hanson. Drawing on Twin Peaks.

China?

China escalates Nexperia dispute as Malaysia shift looms Asia Times

Syraqistan

Iran arrests rioters in possession of ‘weapons and bombs’ as protests enter second week The Cradle

UK, France bomb suspected Islamic State arms dump in Syria New Arab

European Disunion

Financing war with climate funds: how Europe made weapons “sustainable” GeoPolitiQ

Sergio Cesaratto – EU SCENARIO/ Left-wing and neo-liberal delusions leave Brussels with nothing but war Il Sussidiario

45,000 homes in Berlin without power after politically motivated attack by ‘left-wing extremists’ Euronews

Leader of movement “defending Polish border” from German migrant transfers to stand trial Notes from Poland

Old Blighty

Starmer signals new plan to unpick Brexit harm a decade on from EU referendum The Independent

New Not-So-Cold War

Latvia Police Board Vessel After Baltic Sea Telecom Cable Breach Reuters

Shadow Fleet Tanker ‘Qendil’ Runs Aground in Turkey Following Ukrainian Drone Strike gCaptain

Budanov’s Israelization, military indignation Events in Ukraine

Trump says Ukraine did not target Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod as the Kremlin claims Euronews

L’affaire Epstein

Epstein, health care and a shutdown fight: Here’s what the House faces in January The Hill

Minnesota Fraud

HHS escalates Minnesota fraud fight, prompting fear among day care providers The Hill

Mamdani

Mamdani, Trump and the “A” Word Ken Klippenstein

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Permanent War Machine: The Modern State as Organized Crime Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue

We Are the Bad Guys Hamilton Nolan

Starlink to lower orbits of thousands of satellites over safety concerns The Register

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

NYC Wegmans is storing biometric data on shoppers’ eyes, voices and faces Gothamist

AI

The dark conspiracy that OpenAI can’t shake San Francisco Standard. On death of whistleblower Suchir Balaji.

Cops Forced to Explain Why AI Generated Police Report Claimed Officer Transformed Into Frog Futurism

Antitrust

Reddit overtakes TikTok in UK thanks to search algorithms and gen Z The Guardian. “A recent deal with Google that allows the company to train its AI model on Reddit’s content also appears to have provided a boost. Reddit is the most-cited source for Google AI overviews…”

The Bezzle

Microsoft silently kills Windows and Office phone activation and forces online activation with a Microsoft account — Windows users are now herded into an online-only portal for activation Tom’s Hardware

The LinkedIn job scam is global. The hook is local Rest of World

Class Warfare

The gap between farm costs and prices received hits a decade high Investigate Midwest

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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110 comments

  1. Wukchumni

    Starlink says it will provide service to people of Venezuela through Feb. 3 The Hill
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Kind of comes off as a sign on an apartment building that proclaims:

    ‘First Month Free’

    Reply ↓
  2. Kissing Toads

    Cop turns into a frog has made my day. Thanks for that.

    “The body cam software and the AI report writing software picked up on the movie that was playing in the background, which happened to be ‘The Princess and the Frog.”

    We’re doomed. But the journey is not humourless at least.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Good thing that those cops did not have a pron movie playing in the background. :)

      Prediction – AI generated police reports will turn out to be a defence lawyer’s dream.

      Reply ↓
      1. TimH

        AI generated police reports will turn out to be a defence lawyer’s dream.

        I think not. “Watch You Have the Right to Remain Innocent” by James Duane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FENubmZGj8

        The police officer records a interviews on cassette tape, and it is transcribed, and the tape is then reused. Defense not only can’t check that the transcription is accurate, but also have no right to any part of the interview that prosecutors don’t present to the court.

        Sadly, plan to record any interaction with police (etc) independently.

        Reply ↓
  3. The Rev Kev

    ‘While Europeans dutifully read from the script in support of the US, here’s the wife of Trump’s homeland security advisor:’

    Waiting for Katie Miller to do the same for a map of Canada in 5…4…3….

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had better get in some more Mounties for his Protection Detail.

    Reply ↓
    2. flora

      Ya know, if T seizes Greenland we’ll have Canada surrounded. Surrounded, I tell ya! The new pivot of history! Mackinder 2.0 / ;)

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        It’s the Son of here; Mackinder-Gentler.
        I can see the Polymarket advertorial for the Greenland Filibuster now: Inuit to Winuit.

        Reply ↓
      2. Norton

        Alberta has been talking about secession. They are very resource-rich and Canada would suffer without them.
        Too many moving pieces these days!

        Reply ↓
      3. Birch

        That’s exactly what I thought when I saw Katie’s map. It looks like a strategic move from the game of Go. Once we’re surrounded, we vanish, all the pretty beads representing Canada get taken off the board.

        Reply ↓
    3. Wukchumni

      Katie only put 18 stars on the old glory superimposed on the map of Greenland, what has she done with the rest of the states?

      Reply ↓
  4. Louis Fyne

    Star Wars Holocron unintentionally captures the zeitgest beyond the obvious Trump VZ connection:

    1. everyone doesn’t bother to lie (all sides in the Establishment),

    2. using CGI Mon Mothma;

    3. in a scene from the “Andor” series that (intentionally? unintentionally?) has a scene lifted from Maidan Square that (arguably) can be spun to be sympathetic to Yanukovich’s take on events (ghorman massacre and allegations that UA ultranationalists fired into the crowd and police)

    Reply ↓
  6. Wukchumni

    The mirror thing worn by a man that resembles a Pac-Man eating dots-albeit not sideways, is perfectly ridiculous.

    The rage goes on with AI, it conjures up images that we want to be real, and yet cheapens the real thing.

    …is everything make believe now?

    Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    ‘Classical Liberal Caucus
    @LP_CLC
    The only “crime” they’ve charged the dictator of Venezuela with is… possession of machine guns.
    Which the Constitution of the United States says is not a crime at all.
    Trump can’t even start an illegal war without Pam Bondi assaulting the Second Amendment!’

    Someone was saying on the net that it was a 1934 US gun law that Maduro broke. Seems that not only do US arrest warrants apply all over the world but also American law in general. Seems too that this is a form of extraterritoriality that does not even need to be negotiated first.

    Reply ↓
    1. Pat

      Hey, if State and the Department of Justice were serious about drug enforcement, they would have raided Langley years ago. And for the record, I seriously doubt that Maduro was wielding a machine gun. One being in his presence…

      There is so much hypocrisy and obfuscation involved in this it is almost mind blowing. It personally hasn’t hit the point like the ex Senator trying to justify the quagmire that was Iraq to me early on with ‘women no longer have to wear the hajib’ right after a major news report about how women who didn’t were being murdered on the street. But it is definitely giving me Iraq run up and aftermath BS level vibes.

      Reply ↓
      1. Cat Burglar

        Your statement about Langley is why I believe that, if the US puts forces into Venezuela, then the amount of drugs coming from there will increase. The historical record suggests that is the likely outcome.

        Reply ↓
    2. scott s.

      The 1934 law is the “National Firearms Act”, re-codified as Title II of the “Gun Control Act” of 1968 but typically referred to as NFA34. The law is actually an Internal Revenue Tax Code that imposes a tax on making and transferring certain “firearms” (actually, five classes of firearms) along with certain regulatory requirements. Note that the OBBA of 2025 set the tax at $0 for most of the classes (but not machine guns or destructive devices). Also note the “destructive device” class is about any weapon with a bore in excess of .50 inches and includes things like hand grenades.

      But Maduro is not being charged for failure to pay the making or transfer tax. The anti-drug laws provide for separate charge of possession while trafficking in scheduled drugs. Aimed at domestic persons but I guess the “Noriega” clause allows arrest and trial of non-citizens not in the US for the same offenses.

      Reply ↓
      1. Caps Lock

        Maybe Maduro had a Tommy gun in a violin case, like it was popular in 1930s.

        P.S. Shotguns are not “destructive devices”, in spite of exceeding .50 inches (e.g. 12 gauge is .729 inches). It’s more about firing explosive rounds, and .50 inches is used as a more-or-less arbitrary cutoff because of popularity of .50 BMG.

        Reply ↓
  8. Trees&Trunks

    USA does what USA want because they can. Nobody stops them because nobody can.
    The only country that I believe could shake the US foundations is China. A total export blockade would grind the USA to a halt within a few months. However, would the US get the nuclears out before the halt?

    Reply ↓
  9. DJG, Reality Czar

    George Tsakraklides. Is This Where Human Evolution…

    I always find Tsakraklides worth reading. This essay, though, is good only as a diagnosis.

    To wit: “The system holds all the cards, ready to discard us along with its toxic waste, unless we cooperate and participate in its global ecological fraud operation. This monstrous progeny of our greed now runs the planet.”

    As Lambert Strether used to highlight (as well as other writers here at Naked Capitalism), generations don’t have agency. “The Baby Boom” doesn’t do anything. It’s a category.

    Tsakraklides is on the border of the pathetic fallacy here: Capitalism doesn’t think for itself. It doesn’t feel that impetus of greed and immoralism. People do. So let’s name names. Let’s talk about the predatory elites by name: Noting today’s immoralism on Venezuela from Metsola, Kallas, and von der Leyen.

    I’m not interested in hearing about Trump’s narcissism (and certainly not from USanians with their “self-esteem” problems). I am concerned with actions, deeds, and gestures.

    Which is what predatory capitalism is about. Not the false category of “being a system.”

    Nancy Pelosi famously blabbed about how everyone is a capitalist — especially dodgy immoralist congresscritters up to their eyeballs in conflicts of interest.

    Enforce the laws. As some commentators in Europe are noting about Venezuela — if USanians don’t do anything about Trump, who is supposed to do something? Is Andorra going to have to fire up the airplane in its airforce and kidnap Donald and Melania to take them to a mountain fastness in the Pyrenees? (At least, they’ll give them all-i-oli.)

    Also, the pathetic fallacy neglects one big, buzzing thing: Real people can be sent to encounter Dr. Guillotine’s clever meet slicer.

    Reply ↓
    1. Old Jake

      if USanians don’t do anything about Trump, who is supposed to do something

      DJG, your comments are well received here, erudite and incisive. Your analysis resonates. But we are left with “so what, how do we proceed?” I see performative activities happening in my town (Indivisible) but nothing that might result in real change.

      What actions are available to us that can truly impact the direction of our society? Is “keep hope alive” the full extent of our options? Mr. Becnel’s study group comes to mind, but again that’s more studying the problem. Suggestions welcome.

      Reply ↓
    2. Kouros

      Something a bit sweeter would be more proper though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNc7cgz15So

      But the USians will act only a very big shock, a la 1929: absolute depression, climate induced bad crops, 1 to 3 carriers sunk by China after a US intervention to block China’s take over of Taiwan, coupled with total stop of products from China to the US…

      Reply ↓
  10. mrsyk

    Regarding “Is This Where The Human Evolution Journey Ends?”, the author writes that our economic policies have taken on a life of their own, and we are powerless against it.
    The reason we are unable to prevent our self-destruction is that we are simply not in charge. This seems rather abstract. Am I supposed to feel better because it’s not my fault?

    The reason we are unable to prevent our self-destruction is quite simply that we were unable to prevent overpopulation. Why we were unable is up for debate, for sure capitalism and its need for never ending growth is part of the problem, but I’d put dominion theory (and The Church) in front of that.

    Reply ↓
    1. tegnost

      It’s the end of history redux, some just cannot fathom a reorganized world, but in history it happens repeatedly. Go figure.

      Reply ↓
      1. geode

        Self centered people can not comprehend that the world can exist without them because they they are self centered.

        Reply ↓
    2. Steve H.

      I need to gently disagree here, and with ambrit’s 6:17 am comment on yesterdays links. Following Odom; Pandit et Al; and Price; the concentration of resources is inevitable in living systems, as is the development of efficient ubiquitous signalling systems. Trophic levels exemplify the first point; what we call money/currency fits the second.

      So there is an ambiguity between the accumulation of resources/capital, and Capitalism as a social distribution system. This is urgent and important, in how the current collapse is being perceived. Following Pandit, middle classes increase elite payout; the payout to at least half the population must be minimal; and the greater the power skew, the fewer classes needed (ie Ozymandius).

      There’s been a collapse in net migration, and the mortality rate in the US has been climbing since 2010. As the bottom class numbers decline, members of the lowest middle classes are getting squeezed out. Losing the house can be an exemplar. The not-rich are eating the principal, and their kids are not in a position to accumulate.

      > We note that the profitability and stability of the hierarchy of classes critically depends on the values of the {payout per class} parameters. If any of these, except for b0, are too low (relative to the individual cost of class formation), the lower-ranking individuals from any of the middle classes may form a feasible and profitable (i.e.,viable) coalition with the individuals from the bottom class

      The question is, will they recognize the squeeze while they still have resources to bring, or will they be bamboozled enough to not recognize before they are no longer middle class?

      * * *
      : https://www.frbsf.org/research-and-insights/publications/economic-letter/2025/11/immigration-and-changes-in-labor-force-demographics/
      : https://www.macrotrends.net/datasets/global-metrics/countries/usa/united-states/death-rate
      : Pandit

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        My quibble with your formulation is that Capitalism does not simply shrink into smaller and smaller ‘versions’ of Capitalism as the general socio-political scheme shrinks. I posit that it transforms into various authoritarian systems, ie. neo-feudalism, neo-corporatism, neo-fellahinism. “You will own nothing and be happy” is the perfect world view for a peasant class.
        Also, while the lower tranches of the Middle Class fall to lower energy levels, the lower classes also degrade, often into savagery. Spend some time in your local homeless encampment to see what I mean. Tribalism is a real thing.
        Thirdly, the level of resources needed for “regime change” in Capitalist societies, short of outright revolution, is now out of the reach of even organized groups of the sub-wealthy classes.
        I fear that we are entering a period where total collapse of the civil society is built in. I see no ‘enlightened’ Upper Class politicos on the horizon, like Franklin Roosevelt and his cadre of assistants were for the Great Depression.
        Stay safe.

        Reply ↓
        1. Steve H.

          Thank you, ambrit, no quibbles here. Your scenarios seem likely. It does occur to me that the Mamdani experiment is a soft fit as a coalition with members of the bottom class. Could end up as a feral city, could end up as something we haven’t seen before.

          But I am innately an optimist, and have not followed up on your cookbook recommendation.

          Reply ↓
          1. mrsyk

            Thank you both. I envy your optimism, I’ve seemed to have misplaced mine. All the same happy new year to you and Janet ( I think I have that right).

            Reply ↓
            1. Steve H.

              !

              And you and yours as well. The optimism’s a bias I have to correct for. But I’m rationing reality, too much of it drives you insane, as Sarah Kendzior wrote.

              Putting out birdseed also helps.

              Reply ↓
  11. DJG, Reality Czar

    Another diagnosis, definitely worth your while. Sergio Cesaretto at Il Sussidiario with translation at Brave New Europe: EU Scenario, leaving Brussels with nothing but war.

    In the U S of A, where the Left supposedly consists now of Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and where the Democrats are coalescing around poseurs like Buttigieg, it is helpful to read Italian leftists and their ideas. The Left tradition in Italy is still quite strong (roughly 20 percent of the electorate is thoroughly to the left of Mamdani).

    So Italy, besides the endless options in food, offers options in political thought.

    Professor Cesarotto has plenty of blunt words for the etiolated European left, now reduced to warmongering in Brussels (I’m looking at you, Pina Picierno). He has a few blunt, well-deserved comments for Elly Schlein and President Sergio Matarella.

    The concluding paragraphs give his summing up of the moral disaster of the genocide in Gaza. There is also something that may seem to relate only to the skirmishes here in Torino over censorship — but the repression of Askatasuna is part of wider social crackdown now being actively resisted by the populace.

    Reply ↓
    1. KLG

      Late to the party after a busy day, from a favorite Italian…

      The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

      One of life’s little ironies is that Pete Buttigieg’s father was a foremost interpreter and translator of Antonio Gramsci.

      Reply ↓
  12. t

    Officials from top Wall Street firms will be traveling to Venezuela to investigate “investment prospects” of the country. “

    Looting. Smash and grab. Robbery. This sounds entirely crinimal.

    Reply ↓
    1. thoughtfulperson

      I wondered about this claim. Why would Venezuela allow a bunch of Americans, the country that just kidnapped their president and is blockading their ports (ie they are at war with), to come visit and take measurements for the new furnishings?

      Reply ↓
      1. t

        Because the people they’ll be meeting with are equally stateless money ghouls who want to loot the earth? Each aideaccompanied by a retinue of legal lackies who will advise on gloss and frippery needed to be within, or pretty much appear to be within, the letter of the law for treaties, sanctions, and taxes.

        Reply ↓
      2. Norton

        Get rid of the old regime, bring in citizen representation, have transparent oil operations for dividends to the people.
        Think of that as a variation on the Alaska model where the Aleyska profits included some for Alaskans.
        Cheering VZ people would welcome the change. Now, how to effectuate that?

        Reply ↓
      3. Old Jake

        I think Simplicus’ reporting and analysis will inform this discussion. The u.s. operation was but the culmination of a quiet internal coupe, and new VZ regime will be much more friendly to American interests.

        Reply ↓
  13. edwin

    Re “Trump says Ukraine did not target Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod as the Kremlin claims”

    There is a really good take on this from an interview that Jamarl Thomas did with John Helmer. “Why Putin’s Assassination Attempt Changes Everything” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YQgRRRdgY0

    One surprising piece of information to me is that the US embassy humiliated Russia when the drone was handed over to the US.

    Something very significant happened there [at the US embassy] that people don’t understand. It was admiral Igor Kostyukov the chief of the group, the chief of Russian military intelligence who’s filmed presenting the evidence to the US military attache. There you have it. On the left admiral Kostyukov. The American who is not named but who doesn’t wear stars on his tabs who appears to be a captain rank… You don’t send a messenger boy to meet an official of that rank.

    Time stamp through 8:22. Later on they discuss the war in the oceans. More really depressing stuff.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I’m going with the idea that Trump is just lying when he said Ukraine did not target Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod and it’s not just a matter of not being informed. Due to his track record of constant duplicity, I would not be surprised to learn that he gave the go ahead for that strike like he did for the strike on Russia’s nuclear triad last year.

      Reply ↓
    2. Polar Socialist

      That’s a… stupid take on the event, if I may say so. Most embassies in Moscow have a military attache (or “defense attache” as USA likes to call the position) for precisely this kind of diplomacy. The person receiving the proof was exactly the person the Russians expected – and invited – to receive the evidence.

      My parents were diplomats for a few decades, and according to them the military attaches always had the best stories to tell…

      Reply ↓
      1. hk

        I thought defense attaches at embassies to major powers are flag rank–field grade attaches are at embassies to small to smallish powers. If the story is true, either US does not have a flag rank attache at the Moscow embassy or it was an underling. It still doesn’t seem good to me.

        Reply ↓
        1. Polar Socialist

          It’s not about military rank, really, it’s about diplomatic rank. This officer had no epaulettes but had an aiguillette to signify that he’s on a diplomatic mission.

          And frankly, it’s my understanding the Russians don’t care much about military ranks, when it comes to getting stuff done. There is plenty of anecdata of emperors and generalissimos sending colonels to shake up generals (it’s not their rank that matter, but the rank of those they are representing).

          Reply ↓
      2. scott s.

        Historically there are military attache and naval attache, but in our consolidated system “part of” the defense attache office. IIUC an Air Force one-star is the defense attache. I’m assuming this Coastie is the naval attache. Don’t know about diplomatic protocol, but seems a bit much to call this officer an “underling” or “messenger boy”. May have been the senior officer present at the time. Certainly he would be a “known quantity” within the attache office.

        Reply ↓
  14. Wukchumni

    As of January 1st, all foreigners entering the 11 most visited National Parks will each be subject to a $100 fee, plus the $35 charge per vehicle for park entrance.

    In the summertime it can be quite a jamb job getting into Sequoia NP here, sometimes the line snakes for as much as 5 miles on a busy holiday weekend, and that was before the mandatory checking of nationality.

    I’m thinking there is quite the opportunity for a Harriet Tubman like underground railroad for locals here, in that for say $50, they’ll drive your ride through the entrance station flashing their American bonafides and then a couple hundred feet beyond the station, exit stage left and then walk back 100 yards looking for another customer.

    Those foreign visitors contribute in a big way to our economy in that they rent vehicles, stay in motels and eat at restaurants, are we missing out by not levying surcharges on those as well?

    Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        I’d guestimate that in the summer, foreigners make up 30% of visitation to Sequoia NP, makes our little foothills town seem so cosmopolitan.

        Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      Maybe somebody can hire some of those Mexican Cartel engineers to dig a tunnel into those National Parks so people can get in for free.

      Reply ↓
    4. scott s.

      Don’t know about Cali, but here in the Aloha State we charge foreigners to enter state parks (Honolulu County too). I suppose now Volcanoes and Haleakala as well. And our tourist room tax (applies to locals too, though) just upped to 14%, though the attempt to charge cruise ships for their passengers got enjoined by the Ninth Circuit last week.

      I got a NPS senior lifetime pass years ago before the price jumped, so I’m good to go.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Foreigners have always been charged the same rates as Americans to get into State Parks or National Parks, but this new and improved gouge is something else.

        Reply ↓
  15. tegnost

    Looking at a one year chart of WTI to me seems to highlight weak demand. Back in the days of darth cheney unrest in nigeria could blast the barrel price, while now nothing seems to work.

    Reply ↓
  16. Historicality

    Immigrant welfare usage and voter ID requirements present a novel situation. Minnesota may be the self-licking ice cream cone poster child, for now, until California starts getting more notoriety. :(

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Ah, my man Devin…

      Just off to the side of Hwy 99 wrapped around a round 5 foot pole is a dilapidated banner that says:

      ‘Say no to Socialism listen to Devin Nunes’

      It has been there for about 5 years now, looking awfully forlorn and is jaggedly sideways.

      Might take 5 minutes to take it down, but the task was beyond them.

      Reply ↓
      1. JP

        We have a neighbor just up the road who still has his elect Devin sign up. But then most people around here are now pretty sure their side is finally winning the civil war. It is telling that most of the stars and bars flags have diminished in favor of pro Trump signs and banners with an in your face we are ascendant quality.

        Reply ↓
  18. William Beyer

    Regarding, Maduro Capture Operation and the President’s Duty to Faithfully Execute U.N. Charter Just Security…

    The U.S. has used the UN Charter as asswipe since 1945. Next argument, please.

    Reply ↓
    1. geode

      Signing toilet paper of the future is a tradition as old as USA itself. The only variable is the time it will take to flush it.

      Reply ↓
  19. The Rev Kev

    “Rubio clarifies US role in Venezuela following Maduro capture”

    In interviews the past day or so, Rubio has the look of the dog that caught the car. It is said that he eventually wants to make a run for being the President one day. If through his constant prodding, he can get Trump to take down Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia and Nicaragua, then he would secure all the votes of the diaspora of those countries living in the US which would be a huge block of voters. But maybe it has occurred to him that if things go south in one of those countries and the US ends up in a quagmire fighting insurgents in some jungle, then somebody is going to take the blame. It will never be Trump as he will not allow it but Rubio would make a good sacrificial pawn. And with that would go any chance of Rubio being President.

    Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    ‘John Hudson
    @John_Hudson
    Trump sets his military operation in Venezuela to the soundtrack of “Fortunate Son,” a song about how the people who start wars are not the ones who pay its costs, it’s ordinary working-class Americans who fight and die and pay the price’

    Man, that song can bring back memories. You don’t know what it was like-

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98k2DlQ9PMY (1:01 mins)

    Reply ↓
  21. Carolinian

    Re the somewhat arcane discussion about the UN treaty and “non self executing”–perhaps the UN itself is the real problem here along with its structure that includes a “some animals are more equal than others” Security Council. This was inevitably going to lead to abuses by those among the “more equals.” Truman used the UN to make war on Korea with many atrocities committed by our side. More recently control of the UN and its agencies was used to justify the Israeli attack on Iran.

    Indeed Israel is a prime example of a country that respects the UN only when convenient. This hasn’t much dented it’s “legitimacy” among the wielders of power here and abroad.

    Ultimately Trump’s power does come from the people and his defiance of their will with his latest attack is the real risk to his misrule. It is said that Venezuela’s public are heavily armed. America’s too.

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  22. Wukchumni

    The youngest GI Joe to see action in WW2 will be 99 this year, and their passing is coming just as our vaunted war economy has udderly Krupp’d us, might it go away as well or are we stuck with it?

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  23. Maxwell Johnston

    We will regret the dawn of a ‘might makes right’ world — Torygraph

    We Are the Bad Guys — Hamilton Nolan

    Both articles are late to the game: our world changed in the spring of 1999 when the USA and its EU allies attacked a country in the Balkans and dismembered it. Ever since then, it’s been turtles all the way down. The history of the 20th century was a footnote to the events of 1914, and the history of the 21st century will likely prove to be a footnote to the events of 1999. Might makes right, and the winners write the history books. And we’re just getting started here in early 2026. At least the Trumpians (to their dubious credit, I suppose) are facing reality and using the USA’s temporary military/financial preeminence to keep the western hemisphere under USA tutelage. Those of us in the eastern hemisphere will be dealing with the end of the Pax Americana for a long time.

    My off-the-cuff predictions: Cuba and Greenland are toast. As are Taiwan and Ukraine. And I wouldn’t travel to Iran anytime in the next three years.

    Ye Olde Yellow Metal is having a field day.

    Fasten seat belts!

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Isolation was good for the USA in WW2, whereas isolation will be good for the rest of the world when push>meets<shove.

      My grandfather saw the writing on the wall in Czechoslovakia before WW2 and lost everything to the Nazis (they took your money) and the Soviets. (who took your property)

      What’s past is prologue.

      Shakespeare

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      1. Polar Socialist

        Red Army was so much more efficient at that point: Nazis were there seven years and managed less than Soviets did in six months before they left.

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    2. Kypck

      The opening of Pandora’s box happened in 1991. 1999 was just the end of the beginning, and a wake up call for the bear.

      Reply ↓
    3. DJG, Reality Czar

      Maxwell Johnston: Già.

      It has been interesting to see how much the dismemberment of Yugoslavia weighs on Italian writing about history and how often it comes up in political commentary. It was a mistake for Italians to have anything to do with it — dismembering Yugoslavia served German interests, not Italian interests.

      Along with Libya, Yugoslavia keeps coming up, as does the Levant, all regions of the world within hours of Italy. Heck, Slovenia is one meter from Gorizia.

      Fortunately, the example of Yugoslavia (and the habit of Marco Travaglio and others of sticking in the stiletto by pointing out that Sergio Mattarella was in the government most responsible) has had some effect on wider thinking here.

      I am hoping that Italian hard-headedness and stubbornness lead things in the best direction — toward “separate bedrooms” with the European Commission. Although Mattarella had to say more dumb things about Putin and Russians in his New Year’s Address, didn’t he…

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    4. erstwhile

      1999 was the first time I ever made a public comment on how I felt about anything political. I spent about $100.00 buying a commercial grade sign and posted it in the front yard. It was strictly a blue collar neighborhood, and I wondered how my neighbors would react to a sign that stuck out like a sore thumb. It read, Zip it up Clinton Stop the Bombing in Serbia. The first was a hats-off to monica, the second is (was) obvious. Sad to say, no one said a word. I guess it was a messaging problem, just like the one that the dems have today.

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  24. Watt4Bob

    It suddenly dawned on me last week, that AI is not being developed to take charge of a new and wonderful world, it’s being created to further enable, and take over control of the ever expanding and ever more repressive system that we are currently suffering under.

    We don’t currently have justice, AI won’t improve that.

    We don’t have reliable infrastructure, AI will most likely not think that’s a priority.
    (I’m told those data centers are single use, AI. Won’t be surprised when we find out that they also mine crypto perfectly.)

    AI is already destroying what’s left of our healthcare systems.

    AI is bound to prioritize spending modeled on current trajectories, IOW, don’t expect it to recommend moving any of that DOD budget towards pursute of happiness.

    And of course AI will be tasked by the looters to find the last of the loot.

    All that would be enough to know it must be resisted at all cost.

    TPTB have already rendered democracy toothless, with the help of AI, they will drive a stake through its heart.

    Of course, after crashing the economy massively in their effort to birth this monster, they may have much less ability to hang on to what ever remains.

    One can hope.

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  26. MikeFromMN

    The Maduro abduction/kidnapping is instructive as to how US media manufactures consent especially in subtle ways. It is striking that this violent action is uniformly reported using the more sanitized term “capture”. This is not surprising for a media which labeled US torture as “enhanced interrogation” during the Bush years.

    Unfortunately, the world’s online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, also adopts this biased terminology despite proudly proclaiming its “neutral point of view”.

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  28. Geo

    The dark conspiracy that OpenAI can’t shake San Francisco Standard. On death of whistleblower Suchir Balaji.

    It’s really sad how many whistleblowers suffer from severe depression issues. From Balaji to the Boeing whistleblowers, Aaron Schwartz, Virginia Giuffre, and on and on for decades. Glad Edward Snowden was able to escape to Russia before his depression caught up to him.

    Don’t mean to minimize the suicides. Just find it crazy how often whistleblowers meet this fate and wonder even if there’s not an actual sinister coverup how there must be some sort of psychological campaign to push them to that point.

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    1. lyman alpha blob

      It sounds like he wasn’t all that depressed until after he became a whistleblower and didn’t have a long history of it, at least as far as his parents knew. But the parents did admit he was on antidepressants, and there was a decent amount of alcohol in his system apparently – twice the legal limit. One of those, much less both together, can really make people think bad thoughts.

      Family friend who was the nicest woman in the world was on antidepressants and burnt the family home to the ground and then killed herself by jumping off a bridge. Another friend who always laughing and joking around was a pretty hardcore alcoholic and wound up shooting himself. Twice the legal limit of alcohol in the system can really mess up a person with not much tolerance (and I’m guessing this kid wasn’t a heavy drinker given the career success) and it’s not so great for the bibulous either.

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      1. mrsyk

        I mostly agree (points at Rob Reiner’s ghost), but I’m not convinced either way. Any information coming from the cops, including the video, should be taken with a grain of salt. Extract that part from the article and it’s a nothing burger.
        If it was a hit, there would be considerable resources spent to cover it up.

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  30. TomDority

    “Schumer said he also wants the Senate to vote on a bipartisan resolution that would bar any war with Venezuela that Congress does not authorize.”
    Mr Schumer, F-ing ridiculous, gee whiz. I am a F-ing tax paying, USA citizen who upholds the constitution. I consent, through my vote, to those elected to represent the will of the people even if they may not be the same as I voted…..just so long as it all operates within the bounds of the hard won constitution. I can not consent to anything without be informed of what I am consenting of…. Just like I can not be held under a contract for which I was not afforded opportunity to review its terms, unless I signed without duress and of my free will (Although doing that would be probable cause for being declared incompetent to enter a contract)
    How am I to offer my consent to you when, you yourself as demanded by the constitution, have not been informed of actions involving government monies and military activities that have already occured? Where is your oath to the constitution? Did you find yourself happy to enter into this contract freely and without review? Do I have cause to declare failure or some other descriptive?
    Is it that you wish to abdicate your responsibilities to me and to the constitution by not adressing what has occured and demuring to some unknown future event as a substitute? If you wish it to be some sort of deferment, then, by all means, anounce it loudly!!
    And, Mr Schummer, to be fair…. I have directed the above to yourself in hope that it be understood that it is meant to apply to both the house and senate including all parties and affiliations therein equally.
    Maybe you can make it about the constitution and implore both the house and senate to uphold the constitution for ‘we the people’ and not AI, corporations, monopoly, money etc Just ‘we the people’ and not the corruption of big money.

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  32. AG

    In the old times Cuban troops would have been dispatched to help resist the invaders.
    At which point do we abandon non-aggressive response?
    I am constantly asking myself now since SMO started.

    Not because defending some symbolic “sovereignty” or meaningless “honour”. But to possibly preempt the very material realities of the destructive long-term consequences for the population in the follow-up of such imperialistic Mafia moves.

    Reply ↓
    1. flora

      Rubio has been making hints that Cuba is also in the crosshairs. Maybe the Cuban govt takes those hints seriously.

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  34. .Tom

    John Helmer said to Nima (between 9 and 10 min in today), “Trump has admitted there was a targeted attack on the Novgorod residence near Valdai of president Putin. Now Trump is saying it was near his house, a military facility, according to CIA.” When I web search I find only reports of Trump’s denials of this, doubting that it even happened. Can anyone guess what Helmer might be referring to?

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  36. flora

    File under: you can’t make this stuff up.

    From the Western Standard.

    Zelenskyy appoints Freeland to advisor role; Still stays as MP

    https://www.westernstandard.news/news/zelenskyy-appoints-freeland-to-advisor-role-still-stays-as-mp/70110

    Also, from the article,

    “Freeland is a former foreign affairs minister and former deputy prime minister of Canada. She has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since the start of the war and currently serves as Canada’s special envoy for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

    “The appointment comes as Freeland prepares to take on a new international role. The Rhodes Trust has confirmed she will begin serving as its chief executive officer in July 2026. The position is full-time and based in Oxford, United Kingdom.”

    All the pieces are being put into place….. / ;)

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  37. Wukchumni

    Do we insert Miguel Rojas as leader of Venezuela?

    He came through big-time in the 9th inning of game 7 in the World Series~

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  39. AG

    re: German history

    German blog NACHDENKSEITEN features a critical biographical long-read about West Germany´s first Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.

    You can use google-translate

    The Christian liar
    Konrad Adenauer’s path from German to US capital. A sketch on the occasion of his 150th birthday on January 5, 2026.

    by Werner Rügemer
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=144278

    intro:
    “German Chancellor and CDU Chairman Friedrich Merz has submitted to the most powerful right-wing extremist on earth, US President Donald Trump: This includes the impoverishment of the majority of the population and even more rearmament with the risk of nuclear annihilation. This has a history, beginning with the first Chancellor and CDU Chairman Konrad Adenauer. His current successor, Friedrich Merz, has affirmed: Adenauer “set the decisive course for the Federal Republic.””

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  40. AG

    re: Taibbi-Kirn/ATW

    It´s odd: Walter likes to fancy conspiracy theories, as he himself calls them. But when it comes to Israel´s genocide that suddenly does fall victim to conspiracy theories in his view. That is: It´s a war dude. Not a genocide. And: the war is over, after all…

    Why doesn´t the RACKET staff finally provide Walter with the adequate scholarship on Gaza. There are so many other interesting topics where Walter can use his speculative analysis.
    Why on the backs of these poor poor victims? Even if the number would turn out lower (but they don´t have to) – 600k people killed either directly or due to the conditions?
    Did Walter see Anthony Aguilar´s testimonies about the disgusting “mass-control” of Palestinians caged in prisons aka concentration camps by IDF-affiliates?
    He addresses with acerbic criticism the new surveillance state when crossing into Utah. Is he aware where much of this technology originated, under what conditions it was tests to whose detriment?
    And how it ends up surveilling people like him and other everyday folks in the US?
    (Yes I categorize him as a commoner in this context even though he obviously is not because otherwise he wouldn´t have the privilege to rant about Yale to a mass audience.)

    Or to quote Ernst Lubitsch´s TO BE OR NOT TO BE from 1942:
    “We do the concentrating and the Poles do the camping.”

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  41. Grateful Dude

    “With good reason, the U.S. smash and grab in Venezuela is dominating the news cycle. So today’s Links are reflective of the global implications.”

    umm … At the risk of being moderated out of this, I’d really like to know why someone would write that something is reflective of something else when this can be said assertively and simply that that something reflects the something else. Anyone?

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