Links 2/11/2026

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1. farmboy February 11, 2026 at 7:22 am

   i’m watching the VIX for indication of hostilities in the Gulf. Last April it spiked to over 40 pre attack. Someone, somewhere will know and trade;/
   1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 11, 2026 at 10:37 am

      Not if too many believe what Israel may be telling itself, that Iran either won’t retaliate or will be prostrated pronto.

      The VIX was 20 on Feb 10, 2022 and 26 the last trading day before the Special Military Operation started. And there was a big buildup of Russian forces and a “will they or wont’ they” debate in the media.
      1. Spastica Rex February 11, 2026 at 10:56 am

         Maybe the Trump administration is more willing to provide early information about its own intentions to important economic players?
         1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 11, 2026 at 11:06 am

            Trump dissed Bibi by not putting him up in the usual digs. If my guess and Larry Wilkerson’s intel is correct, Bibi is about to try to force Trump to knuckle under with Epstein kompromat. Trump is highly domineering and already can’t stand being pushed around by Netanyahu. So this is not something Trump would be doing with conviction or enthusiasm and would be trying to find a way to slip the leash.
            1. Revenant February 11, 2026 at 7:10 pm

               Lol, are you saying that this time Bibi has come to Washington with Trump’s dirty laundry rather than his own?

               Donny, send him and his skidmarked smalls back where they belong!
   2. vidimi February 11, 2026 at 11:12 am

      back in 2003, young, anti-imperialist me was hoping against hope that they wouldn’t attack Iraq. I didn’t want them to destroy the country.

      Today in 2025, less-young anti-imperialist me is hoping they do attack Iran, because I want them to destroy Israel and the US’ aura of invincibility. The dominos will fall all once in asia.
      1. Bugs February 11, 2026 at 11:24 am

         I worry about Pakistan getting involved somehow. Then all bets are off.
      2. Huey February 11, 2026 at 11:59 am

         Agree with Bugs in that, in a perfect world, watching them get their what for would be the end of it, but things could easily go out of control. Even with the odds generally in Iran’s favour, I’d rather things never reach the point of another attack.
      3. motorslug February 11, 2026 at 1:26 pm

         Col. Wilkinson at 8:20 – the only good thing that could possibly come out of a full scale engagement is the elimination of the state of israel.
2. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 7:38 am

   ‘Europa.com
   @europa
   Feb 9🇬🇧 The Ministry of Justice has ordered the deletion of the UK’s largest court reporting archive.
   Courtsdesk, a platform launched to improve media access to magistrates’ court data has been ordered to delete its archive of records by David Lammy’s Ministry of Justice.’

   The comments below this tweet are really harsh at this development-

   https://xcancel.com/europa/status/2020851497437708297

   At this point, what does British justice even mean anymore? More and more it is resembling the worse aspects of the old Soviet Union.
   1. Vicky Cookies February 11, 2026 at 8:44 am

      It’s shocking. One concern I’d had was that this is the type of government they’re leaving for the crazies in Reform. But I think it lends credence to the theory that fascism is a response capitalists and their governments make to crisis. They’re terrified of their working class.
      1. Ignacio February 11, 2026 at 10:47 am

         I increasingly believe that political labels do not matter any more: labour, tory, reform, green, nationalists of any flavour. You vote whatever and in exchange obtain servile bots who follow the same political push that the handlers deliver. Some small differences on flavour but without nothing really difference.
   2. Revenant February 11, 2026 at 7:22 pm

      In trying to follow the Kneecap trial (magistrate’s court case against Mo Chara and then HMG’s appeal against the case being thrown out), I have discovered how bad the court listing platforms are. You would expect that, with directions hearings setting hearing dates in advance, the cases would be listed well ahead of time, with times and venues and officials. No, they are listed next day only, sometimes same day.

      And transcripts are only obtainable at exorbitant cost.

      So much for open justice.

      Another issue is court translation. The contract has been given to a large company that rehired the translators on zero hour type contracts at the lowest possible rates, with predictable consequences. A friend was sitting in London on a case where both parties where Arabic speakers. One side objected to the other side’s translator, as being so poor as to prejudice proceedings. Both sides agreed to use the first side’s translator.

      He then announced he would not be present for the final day (because he was only contracted for the first side) and he would lose money paying for a night’s accommodation in London. This would result in abandoning a multiday hearing on the final day, to be rescheduled and of course heard in fragments.

      It is not clear how my friend solved it – perhaps threatening contempt of court?!
3. Afro February 11, 2026 at 8:03 am

   Regarding the Epstein files and Iran,

   I did wonder if the Epstein file release a couple weeks ago was a response to Trump digging his heels on Iran. I was surprised to not see the same guessanalysis made elsewhere, but perhaps it was and I missed it.

   I don’t know to what extent the current release has had an impact. I think that a lot of the disgusted people are already disgusted and tuned out, and that normies who trust the system are tuning out the release. It’s easy to tune out because there’s a lot of noise along with the signal.

   There’s also the issue that much of the Epstein release so far makes powerful Jewish Americans look bad, so it’s hard to square with the Zionist agenda. Are Israeli military veterans Rahm Emmanuel and Josh Shapiro still the two front runners for the 2028 Dem nomination?
4. leaf February 11, 2026 at 8:39 am

   https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/02/smearing-chomsky-for-his-friendship-with-epstein-is-a-disgrace.html

   looks like b has hopped onto the michael tracey train of thought regarding epstein
   grim
   1. pjay February 11, 2026 at 10:51 am

      The stance of b on the Epstein issue is truly extraordinary. As the hundreds of responses by commenters indicate, he risks undermining the entire history and reputation of the MofA site by his position on this issue. He has stubbornly refused to even consider any of the (now considerable) work on not just the sexual crimes, but the role of Epstein in significant intelligence networks and global economic and political influence that affect issues that should be of great interest to a blog like MofA. The question is: why has b taken this potentially suicidal position?

      This has been building for a while. Though not addressing the Epstein issue in his own posts until this one, he kept featuring Tracey (or Tracey and Taibbi) in his weekly links on the subject while ignoring everything else. Many of his readers kept objecting, including me (I almost never comment on that site but made an exception in this case). He kept doubling down in his responses with the Tracey line of “no evidence” and parsing the definition of “pedophilia” while completely ignoring the larger intelligence and geopolitical aspects of the case. But now he is completely out in the open. It would be one thing if he were just advocating a cautious skepticism (as Aaron Mate keeps doing). But as anyone who read this post can see, he is regurgitating the dishonest Tracey argument which completely obfuscates the real issues. He does it in the guise of defending Chomsky, but that was just an acceptable “leftist” opening for him to express his actual views on the Epstein case itself (I guess they are his actual views).

      Very grim indeed.
      1. ArvidMartensen February 11, 2026 at 11:35 pm

         The whole Epstein files saga is hitting a raw nerve in b. I don’t know what that raw nerve is but it sure is raw. Hard to know on whose behalf he is getting so heated as I don’t know him apart from his writings.

         But what he writes here is similar to someone saying it’s an outrage to talk about Gaza deaths instead of Israeli deaths. If I read him saying hey lay off Bibi, I couldn’t be more surprised.

         Does anyone know the circles that b moves in? Perhaps he is getting upset about his friends? And is this really about Chomsky or is this displaced anger about someone/something else? German intelligence? Mossad?

         Was his site hacked?
   2. bystander February 11, 2026 at 10:55 am

      Comparing that swill to Michael Tracey is being way too kind to Moon. It’s vile.

      From the comments (bolding in original text):

      Chomsky was always corrupt. He loved corruption. He said so openly in the early 90s.
      “I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m very much in favor of corruption. I think that’s one of the best things there is. You’ll notice that in my books I never criticize corruption. I think it’s a wonderful thing. I’d much rather have a corrupt leader than a power-hungry leader. A corrupt leader is going to rob people but not cause that much trouble. For example, as long as the fundamentalist preachers–like Jim Bakker, or whatever his name is–are interested in Cadillacs, sex, and that kind of thing, they’re not a big problem. But suppose one of them comes along who’s a Hitler and who doesn’t care much about sex and Cadillacs, who just wants power. Then we’re going to be in real trouble. The more corrupt these guys are, the better off we are. I think we all ought to applaud corruption. In fact, that’s true in authoritarian societies too. The more corrupt they are, the better off the people usually are because power hunger is much more dangerous than money hunger.”

      Epstein was not just a notorious convicted pedophile, but an rich elite of the kind that Chomsky pretended to warn us about his entire career. This crashout everyone is having is the realization that Chomsky was running a scam on the political left the entire time.

      Posted by: Rian

      Long time reader, first time commentator. Epstein was evil. Noam Chomsky got seduced. Your defense of Epstein is sickening. I will no longer be reading your column given your trivialization of Epstein’s crimes.

      Posted by: Peter McLuskie

      I have not posted in a long time and this will likely be my last. B you clearly have not paid any attention to this issue, have not listened to any of the women. The thought that you think flying young girls to an Island to be raped abused and likely murdered ,says stuff about you that I can’t unsee. Men who think rape and abuse are ok in particular with under age girls boggles my mind and makes me unable to see you as anything but a creeper.

      Posted by: Susan

      JUST TODAY WE LEARNED OF MORE 9 and 10 YEAR OLDS. FFS

      Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins

      Hi b, long time reader, first time writer.
      This is your worst take by far. I don’t understand why you are defending Epstein.
      Without going into the details of Epstein’s legal troubles, what he was convicted of or not is almost immaterial. OJ Simpson was found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown, Adolf Hitler never stood trial for anything; it doesn’t mean their hands are clean.
      Wouldn’t it be expected that a very rich and powerful man would be able to avoid criminal prosecution, and if prosecuted, be able to walk regardless of the facts?
      Epstein’s reputation among his peers was that of a pedophile. The number of birthday cards he received from big names in his entourage making direct and explicit references to his pedophilia is staggering. You have seen these documents. He makes explicit references to his preference for young girls in his emails. He exchanges messages with his lawyers about the finer points of human trafficking laws.
      Beyond the sexual crimes, the emails have shown that he regularly orchestrated insider deals, he profited off material non-public information, he helped high profile individuals avoid taxes, laws and consequences for their bad behaviour.
      But I concede: a trove of emails is indeed insufficient for criminal conviction; at minimum there is sufficient basis for a major investigation, with most people named in the emails being interviewed by police, and the barefaced corruption that’s exposed is at least slightly punished. But, since he is rich and powerful, and the people implicated are rich and powerful, the investigation will not occur, and charges will not be pressed, and b and Michael Tracey and Matt Taibbi will continue to carry water for the ultra-powerful by insisting that, since there is no criminal conviction, the actus reus didn’t even occur.

      Posted by: Max
      1. hemeantwell February 11, 2026 at 11:57 am

         Thanks for the sample. I’ll continue to rely on his site, but his stupidity has hurt the development of alternatives to the MSM at a critical time.
      2. AG February 11, 2026 at 12:02 pm

         This demonization of Noam Chomsky is frankly insane and to me a new degree of incompetence by people. What is going on? And it´s not limited to MoA´s commentariat.

         The corruption quote is from below conversation. It´s very important to understand the context. MoA readers probably have not done that.

         As I said a few days ago: All the critics of woke, anti-Russia-hysteria and EU hypocrisy now themselves prove to be not capable or willing to understanding contradictory, complex or ironic views mixed with serious warnings and analysis. Are we in kindergarten?

         p.s. “B”s piece was of great disservice to Chomsky. But that entry (Macleod hasn´t however lived up to his reputation either) is a separate topic.

         From 1991

         Language, Politics, and Composition
         Noam Chomsky interviewed by Gary A. Olson and Lester Faigley
         Journal of Advanced Composition, Vol. 11, No. 1

         entire long-read:
         https://chomsky.info/1991____/
         “(…)

         Q. You’ve even expressed fear that the U.S. is ripe for a fascist leader. You write, “In a depoliticized society with few mechanisms for people to express their fears and needs and to participate constructively in managing the affairs of life, someone could come along who was interested not in personal gain, but power. That could be very dangerous.” Is this statement rhetorical, or cautionary, or do you have serious fears that the U.S. can fall victim to a charismatic, fascist dictator?

         A. It’s real. I mentioned something very good about the United States, but there are also a number of things that are very bad. One is the breakdown of independent social organization and independent thought, the atomi­zation of people. As we move towards a society which is optimal from the point of view of the business classes—namely, that each individual is an atom, lacking means to communicate with others so that he or she can’t develop independent thought or action and is just a consumer, not a producer—people become deeply alienated, and they may hate what’s going on but have no way to express that hatred constructively. And if a charismatic leader comes along, they may very well follow. I think the United States is very lucky that that hasn’t happened. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m very much in favor of corruption. I think that’s one of the best things there is. You’ll notice that in my books I never criticize corruption. I think it’s a wonderful thing. I’d much rather have a corrupt leader than a power-hungry leader. A corrupt leader is going to rob people but not cause that much trouble. For example, as long as the fundamen­talist preachers—like Jim Bakker, or whatever his name is—are interested in Cadillacs, sex, and that kind of thing, they’re not a big problem. But suppose one of them comes along who’s a Hitler and who doesn’t care much about sex and Cadillacs, who just wants power. Then we’re going to be in real trouble. The more corrupt these guys are, the better off we are. I think we all ought to applaud corruption. In fact, that’s true in authori­tarian societies too. The more corrupt they are, the better off the people usually are because power hunger is much more dangerous than money hunger. But I think the United States is ripe for a fascist leader. It’s a very good thing that everyone who’s come along so far is impossible: Joe McCarthy, for example, was too much of a thug; Richard Nixon was too much of a crook; Ronald Reagan was too much of a clown; the fundamen­talist preachers are ultimately too corrupt. In fact, we’ve escaped, but it’s by luck. If a Hitler comes along, I think we might be in serious trouble.
         (…)”
         1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 11, 2026 at 12:27 pm

            I now live in a country that scores high on the corruption index.

            Chomsky was full of shit. This is societally destructive sophistry.
            1. AG February 11, 2026 at 5:41 pm

               He was too dead serious here for this to be a case of sophistry.
               If he talks about dictatorship vs. corruption and feeds in Third Reich, he is looking at a choice between corruption or extermination.

               There was mention on NC last year of those dire deals Hungarian Jews struck with Eichmann over letting some go – for money.

               Initially the deal was supposed to cover most of Hungarian Jews. Of course that huge deal never materialized. But if you can even save 100 or 1000 or 10.000 by paying for them you will do just that if those would otherwise be killed too. (Not gonna get into the Kastner affair in detail here.)

               For the other 560k who got killed that´s worth nothing. But in hell there is only the choice between bad and worse.

               I do think this is in fact a very realistic and very dark angle on how the world of power and force works which Chomsky is presenting (and always has).

               If dealing with the devil saves lives you do that. And if the choice is between a corrupt authoritarian state and extinction you choose former.

               If he says Hitler, he means Hitler not in words but deeds and consequences.

               I never agreed with him on the numerous references to Hitler throughout the years but WWII was formative for him and all those who lived through those years.

               p.s. One more thing: he changed views over time when the idealistic assumption was not tenable any more. Most prominent example Palestine. For most of his life Chomsky defended the one-state-solution. Until there was no way to uphold it.

               He also liked to remind audiences that we are not angels with superhuman powers. But very weak individuals. So if we do not use military force the way states can and instead try all kinds of (militant) resistance as a group, the likelhood of short-term success is very limited but it´s there.

               In fact the social progress of the 1960s he desribed as a very rare historic window of opportunity made possible only because the elites were in disarray for a little while and only then was it possible to push through certain laws and regulations – all of which – and that too was him warning – were never carved in stone and could well be reversed.

               So Chomsky has a way darker view of the world than most might think. But since surrender was the worst option he urged to never give up hope instead.
            2. Ben Panga February 11, 2026 at 7:15 pm

               Typing from Vietnam I totally agree.

               Corruption is a poison that colours everything here, even more so than the country Yves is in.
         2. Juice February 11, 2026 at 12:54 pm

            You are talking into a void. Everyone’s lost their minds. I agree on the point about the deranged vilification of Chomsky.
         3. pjay February 11, 2026 at 12:56 pm

            The debate on Chomsky and the “left” has been going on for a long time. In some ways the “Epstein” issue has served to trigger some old debates between those who venerate Chomsky as an absolute hero of the Left vs those who have pointed out some inconsistencies regarding that reputation over the years. I’m in the latter camp. But as I said above, b, and some other commenters as well, are really using Chomsky-veneration as a “leftist” opening to label legitimate inquiry about Epstein as at minimum a misguided distraction, if not hysterical conspiracy theory. That is the Tracey line, which b apparently accepts completely. For me, the Chomsky-Epstein bromance is a somewhat separate issue; Chomsky’s importance for the Left is yet another one.

            As soon as McCleod’s piece appeared I saw a critical piece rip it apart using very similar language as b does in his post. I knew the real issue would be neither Chomsky nor McCleod.
         4. ocypode February 11, 2026 at 12:58 pm

            Incredible shortsightedness by Chomsky. This passage is revealing of a man who seems to have been close to corruption himself. After all, all his dealings with the US Military sure do leave a bad odor. The piece on Counterpunch is even-handed enough (maybe even more than I’d like) and shows that the man was at best a hypocrite and at worst an opportunist. What I don’t understand is how some people have doubled down to defend him at all costs, instead of being a little more objective about the absolutely horrid associations he had with a vile man. Claiming Death of the Author would be one thing, but to bat for someone who has said some very damning things in private correspondence with Epstein seems far too optimistic in my view.
         5. ciroc February 11, 2026 at 1:48 pm

            Hitler and his entourage were thoroughly corrupt. The generals followed him not because he was a brilliant military leader, but because they had been bribed.

            Hitler reinforced his incorruptible image by publicly renouncing his salary as Reich Chancellor, which came to 45,000 Reichsmarks a year, and his annual expenses allowance, which came to another 18,000. Whe public was not told, however, that he had never paid any tax, nor that when the Munich tax office attempted to slap a bill of 400,000 Reichsmarks on him in arrears in 1934, the tactless officials received a quiet visit from the Gestapo, after which they wrote off the whole sum and destroyed Hitler’s tax files into the bargain. In return, a grateful Hitler gave the head of the Munich tax office a tax-free annual pay supplement of 2,000 Reichsmarks for his services.

            Hitler’s real income came from sales of Mein Kampf, bulk-bought by Nazi Party organizations, and amounting to 1.2 million Reichsmarks in 1933 alone; from 1937 onwards he earned huge sums from the copyright fee levied on the use of his portrait on postage stamps (50 million Reichsmarks in one year alone); fees and royalties on every printing of any of his speeches in the press; legacies left to him by the grateful Nazi dead; from the Adolf Hitler Donation of German Industry; and after the death of Hindenburg in 1934, from the official funds of the President, which were now removed from the civil service auditing procedure. All of this allowed him to build up a state fund for his personal disposal that by 1942 had reached the astonishing sum of 24 million marks.

            Hitler used this first to give pensions to elderly racist and anti-Semitic writers he described as Nazi ‘precursors’, then to over 100 Nazi activists who had been imprisoned in the Weimar Republic, and then, importantly, to the army, in effect corrupting its leading generals to persuade them not to undertake any action against the regime. He gave them military paintings for the regimental headquarters, he paid 100,000 Reichsmarks a year for officers to go on ‘rest cures’, he increased the pensions of retired officers, he provided Field Marshal von Mackensen with a tax-free gift of a landed estate together with 350,000 Reichsmarks to cover renovation costs, and he repeated this kind of gesture with other aristocratic landowners who still hankered for the return of the Kaiser. Hitler’s largesse became even more generous during the war, when he showered the generals with magnificent gifts of money, paintings, property and much more besides. At the same time, rapid promotion, the creation of numerous new generals and Field-Marshals, brought its own rewards in the form of rapidly increasing salaries. Hitler added substantial monthly sums to the salaries of senior ministers and officials, he gave his favourite sculptor Arno Breker a quarter of a million Reichsmarks as a present in 1940, and in general he spread his donations around large parts of the military, ministerial, civil service and cultural elites. In effect, therefore, one of the major and too often neglected factors holding the top ranks of the Nazi Party together was corruption: the receipt of massive gifts, huge increases in income, property and so on, that cemented the patronage relationship they had with Hitler in a relationship of clientage that then repeated itself on a smaller scale all the way down the hierarchy to the very bottom.

            https://www.richardjevans.com/lectures/corruption-plunder-third-reich/
         6. jrkrideau February 11, 2026 at 2:45 pm

            I found Chomsky’s response quite funny. Irony is fun.
            1. bertl February 11, 2026 at 10:18 pm

               Irony is effective when it is based on truth, and Chomsky hit the nail right on the head.
         7. Partyless poster February 11, 2026 at 4:49 pm

            Its pretty disingenuous to just look at the Epstein association, there’s also that pic of Noam having a laugh with Steve Bannon who that same year he was accusing of spearheading a fascist resurgence. That’s pretty damning for someone who’s life work was fighting fascism. Not to mention the blue no matter who crap of his later years.
            “Its easier to fool a man than to convince them they’ve been fooled”
            B is off my reading lists too, there’s no excuse for that.
         8. Archie Shemp February 11, 2026 at 5:23 pm

            AG: “This demonization of Noam Chomsky is frankly insane and to me a new degree of incompetence by people. What is going on?”

            Wasn’t Epstein also putting funds into accounts for Chomsky’s children’s (or was it grandchildren’s) educational funds? I don’t think Chomsky was only getting financial advice from Epstein.

            If so, I guess he lived up to his own idealization of corruption. (I can’t read that quote as ironic.)

            His blanket dismissal to Epstein of the entire Me Too Movement as mere “hysteria” (such word choice!) is also damning in my book.
         9. Don February 11, 2026 at 6:11 pm

            Regardless of his relationship with Epstein (which I am not much interested in), I find the insistence on considering Chomsky as of the “left” bizarre.
         10. AG February 11, 2026 at 7:25 pm

             Here a 30 minute read written by Tim Hjersted who has collected the evidence, provided hyperlinks and goes through what he believes to be a fair assessment.

             Chomsky and Epstein: What the Evidence Shows
             A comprehensive look at the evidence, the emails, and what they tell us

             By Tim Hjersted
             February 9, 2026
             https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chomsky-and-epstein-what-the-evidence-shows/

             He updated the text including Chris Hedges´s and Valeria Chomsky´s letters.

             It´s too long to pick a few representative highlights.

             Nonetheless three excerpts:

             (1)
             “(…)
             Since first publishing this piece, a reader forwarded an email exchange he had with Chomsky about Epstein, shared here with permission. Chomsky’s response, dated May 4, 2023, provides important insight into his reasoning:

             “There’s an old principle, particularly on the left but much more broadly, that someone who has served a sentence re-enters society without prejudice. One close friend spent years in prison. Epstein was well-known in Cambridge, taking part in scientific conferences in Nowak’s lab, meeting people, bringing important scientists and mathematicians to the meetings. It was well-known that he’d served his sentence. I don’t recall anyone even mentioning it.

             Much later, after his incarceration, a flood of lurid stories and charges came out. But no one who knew him, Valeria and me included, ever [heard] or saw a remote hint of anything like that, and all were quite shocked, sometimes skeptical because he was so remote from anything they’d ever heard of.”

             As Jennifer Loewenstein has explained, the general public during 2008-2017 knew only that Epstein had been convicted of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of a minor for prostitution, and served 13 months. What they didn’t know was that behind this lenient arrangement was a secret sweetheart deal, and that the victims’ evidence had been “effectively dismissed by higher-ups in Florida and Washington.”

             Research into the media record during this period supports the claim that the New York Times—Chomsky’s primary newspaper—largely whitewashed and suppressed the story of Epstein’s rigged prison sentence, despite extensive reporting in the local Palm Beach Post. MIT faculty who interacted with Epstein similarly did not disclose his criminal record when accepting donations, which facilitated the initial connections.

             The full extent of Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and the systematic nature of his abuse of children only became widely known after the Miami Herald’s November 2018 investigation by Julie K. Brown, which led to Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
             (…)”

             (2)
             “(…)
             Chomsky’s response referenced his own experience dealing with public vilification: “A google search will bring up tons of hysterical accusations of all sorts, even groups devoted to vilifying me… venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts.” He then referenced #MeToo and “the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.”

             This is, to put it plainly, awful to read.

             Even under the most charitable interpretation, Chomsky was treating the well-documented accusations against a sex trafficker as analogous to the bad-faith political smears he’d endured throughout his own career. The comparison is stomach-churning—and it represents a profound failure of the moral imagination Chomsky spent his career applying to geopolitics.

             Valéria addresses this directly in her statement:

             “Epstein had claimed to Noam that he [Epstein] was being unfairly persecuted, and Noam spoke from his own experience in political controversies with the media. Epstein created a manipulative narrative about his case, which Noam, in good faith, believed in.”

             She adds an important clarification:

             “Noam’s criticism was never directed at the women’s movement; on the contrary, he has always supported gender equity and women’s rights. What happened was that Epstein took advantage of Noam’s public criticism towards what came to be known as ‘cancel culture’ to present himself as a victim of it.”

             There is some supporting evidence for this framing.

             In late 2018, Epstein sent Chomsky a draft op‑ed giving a detailed, lawyerly defense of his 2008 case, arguing among other things that state prosecutors had weighed “exculpatory evidence, including sworn testimony from many that they lied about being eighteen years old.” Chomsky replied that this was “a powerful and convincing statement.”
             (…)”

             (3)
             “(…)
             Against Hero Worship

             One recurring criticism in left circles dismisses Chomsky as a “poor man’s Michael Parenti,” someone who didn’t lead the revolution, who sold out, who wasn’t radical enough. Similar attacks target Bernie Sanders for working within the Democratic Party, or dismiss any activist who doesn’t meet some imagined purity threshold.

             This is ironically its own form of hero worship—just inverted. It assumes the only activists we should respect are those with the most radically uncompromising politics.

             But here’s the thing: I’m actually doing the opposite of holding Noam on a pedestal. I don’t expect any single activist, intellectual, or politician to lead us to liberation. That’s not how change works, and placing that burden on individuals sets us up for endless cycles of disappointment and denunciation.

             Instead, I appreciate contributions for what they are. Chomsky introduced millions of people to sophisticated critiques of power and manufacturing consent. That’s valuable. Bernie Sanders moved policy conversations leftward and inspired a generation of organizers. That’s valuable. Anarchists blockading pipelines risk their freedom to slow ecological collapse. That’s valuable. None of them are perfect. None of them will save us. All of them contribute something worth building on.

             We never needed Chomsky or any movement figure like Michael Parenti, Kshama Sawant, Chris Hedges, Amy Goodman, Bernie Sanders, Cornel West, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or anyone else to be a perfect avatar for our politics.

             What we’ve always needed is millions of people to get off the sidelines and into the game, taking the best from these influences, learning from their mistakes and respecting a diversity of perspectives and contributions.
             (…)”
             
             p.s. I can only confirm from personal experience that Chomsky for most of his life tried to respond to all letters he received from private people in a serious way engaging into their argumentation if possible. At some point it became impossible to uphold that principle, not least to the advent of emailing.
         11. Glen February 12, 2026 at 1:58 am

             Corruption is a huge problem. Corruption is at the core of America’s problems. Corruption is so much more common and accepted in American life than it was decades ago, but it is a complete cancer in our society.

             I can see and accept when somebody does something good, and also at the same time, I can see that they have made mistakes because we are human, and all make mistakes. Being in favor of corruption is a mistake.
   3. elissa3 February 11, 2026 at 12:17 pm

      This is so vile that I am on the verge of permanently deleting MoA from my reading list. There is a (very) faint hope that the February 10th piece is fake. Otherwise, MoA is dead to me.

      Growing up, one of the best pieces of advice that my wordly-wise father gave me was: “Be careful with whom you associate”. A casual conversation at a party or even an email exchange on some topic of mutual interest would not qualify as an “association” for me. Chomsky went much further. For this unreligious person, there is such a thing as Good and Evil. Once Evil is openly displayed, it is to be avoided and shunned.
   4. earthmagic February 11, 2026 at 12:49 pm

      Yikes. Another one bites the dust.
      Bye MoA.
   5. ocypode February 11, 2026 at 12:51 pm

      Bizarre hill for him to die on. Shame, really.
   6. motorslug February 11, 2026 at 2:08 pm

      My personal view of Chomsky is similar to Christopher Hitchens.
      The vileness of some of their positions (and friends) or opinions cannot erase the nova-bright of the positives. Manufacturing Consent was a lighting rod for fighting the oligarchy.
      Similarly, regardless of how CH carried on in the latter years of his life, they cannot stain The Trial of Henry Kissinger and his atheistic eloquence.
      I also don’t view the thinkers in a left/right vein, more of a class war envelope.
   7. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 6:50 pm

      I’m afraid that b has just jumped the underage shark. But when he says that ‘Jeffrey Epstein was notoriously involved in sexual activities (not intercourse) with female teenagers’ he is literally lying his face off. People here are probably familiar with the Zelensky Curse but now we have the Epstein Curse which has not only claimed Michael Tracy but b here as well and I am afraid that once you read this article defending kiddie-fiddlers, you cannot unread it.
5. .Tom February 11, 2026 at 8:52 am

   I love coffee but caffeine limits my coffee drinking. I’d drink more coffee if it had less caffeine. I tried decaffeinated coffee for three months a couple of years ago but didn’t enjoy it much and found no benefits.

   For tea I like Ceylon and Assam but I don’t have a Kaikado caddy. That Eric Markowitz article is big on the Gladwell “we” and Orientalism. Last week I met our friend and genius ceramicist Hideaki Miyamura who again was telling stories about his apprenticeship in Japan. For sure he had to do such vast amounts of repetition that it built muscle memory so he can do in moments at the wheel without thinking what takes most potters time and concentration. But the long hours, relentless repetition, and labor moving heavy loads of clay led to many injuries. I suppose he tells these stories because his clientele romanticizes them but they sound like war stories to me.
   1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 11, 2026 at 11:00 am

      It’s the caffeine and not the coffee that has the anti-Alzheimers benefit. Decaf is no good.
      1. Oregon Lawhobbit February 11, 2026 at 1:01 pm

         “Decaf is no good.” You could have just led with that and stopped, Yves… :)

         Wife brings packages and packages of organic green tea back from her visits to Taiwan, and they get used and appreciated. Nice to know that there’s some value to tea as well.
      2. Louis Fyne February 11, 2026 at 2:26 pm

         also….the effect from industrial/factory-synthesized caffeine is not the same as natural caffeine. Diet Coke is not the same as coffee, lmao

         biochemists can chime in if they want.
         1. Jonathan Holland Becnel February 11, 2026 at 5:39 pm

            Diet Coke will fuel the 2nd American Revolution.
            1. albrt February 11, 2026 at 11:38 pm

               Will Stancil drinks Diet Coke?
   2. curlydan February 11, 2026 at 12:50 pm

      I drink coffee about once a week, usually a “medium” cappuccino. After drinking coffee regularly for many years, my heartbeat started to get a little weird, so I cut back. I shifted to Chinese tea… one in particular is called “Iron Buddha” or Tieguanyin which is an oolong tea. I like it because it’s easier to regulate the amount of caffeine with just a few “leaves” and still tastes good (weak coffee doesn’t taste very good in my opinion).
      1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 11, 2026 at 2:16 pm

         Macha is supposed to have a more hefty caffeine dose than brewed tea yet somehow not be as “upperish” in its effects. I’ve never tried it but you might consider it.
         1. Old Jake February 11, 2026 at 4:38 pm

            Yet advice I received from tea-drinking circles years ago was to limit matcha to one dose a day due to lead contamination .
            1. Don February 11, 2026 at 6:22 pm

               That doesn’t really make much sense, since matcha is the same tea as regular Japanese green tea (sencha) but just uses the fresh new leaves and is ground instead of just dried — unless of course there is a lead problem with regular Japanese green tea as well.
6. DJG, Reality Czar February 11, 2026 at 8:59 am

   Between Paris and Geneva, the many facets of Jeffrey Epstein. Thanks to Aurelien.

   Marc Endeweld goes into much detail. Woody Allen. Special appearance by Antony Blinken’s stepfather Pisar at the end. A persuasive argument that the Maxwells ran (and Ghislaine Maxwell still may run) the whole shebang, with Epstein as a kind of busybody networker who made himself useful in all kinds of ways — see the part about the tip he received for helping the Rothschild bank through some regulatory, errrr, challenges.

   I read the French, but you should be able to get this in the Englished version:

   Derrière l’entre-soi cultivé par l’intéressé (en façade) et la mise en place d’un système de prédation sexuelle (dans l’arrière-cour), se cachent des mobiles qu’on a encore bien du mal à nommer en France, alors que la presse anglo-américaine les a déjà largement documentés : l’espionnage et la grande criminalité financière. Dans les Epstein files, on trouve ainsi un rapport du FBI datant de 2020 et faisant état du témoignage d’un informateur anonyme qui assure que Jeffrey Epstein était un « co-opted Mossad agent » (Un agent coopté du Mossad).

   The sexual abuse was one more service — what mattered to these elites was the spying (for Israel) and the criminality involving finances.
   1. t February 11, 2026 at 9:32 am

      So you’re saying Epstein was sales and client relationships while Ghislaine Maxwell (and presumably others) ran the business.

      Seems reasonable.

      In an interview, I think from the Bannon collaboration, where Epstein claims having a Texas Instrument calculator wowed finance guys – at a time when those guys had high school kids with the same model. Just another example of him sounding really dumb – the kind of dumb where you cannot see most people are at least half smart.
7. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 9:00 am

   Piracy on the high seas was a new passion for the Buckaneers and in particular Cap’n Donald (Duck) Epstein, who had conveyances that Henry Morgan could only dream about, not that the latter was on the hunt for grandiose amounts of oil in lieu of other spoils.

   47’s men on the dead in the water war chest!
8. Chris February 11, 2026 at 9:03 am

   The Fermi paradox solution seems to rely on aliens all having roughly human psychology. Hyperintelligent ants aren’t going to have an “individual needs vs. group needs” issue.
   1. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 9:21 am

      Good point that. A hive mind will have their own priorities. So will a psychic race too.
      1. Chris February 11, 2026 at 10:04 am

         It’s a standard “aiiens are just like funny-looking humans” assumption. As opposed to taking a jellyfish and speculatively extrapolating a cognitively-advanced version of it.
   2. cfraenkel February 11, 2026 at 12:17 pm

      This is aimed at the tech-bro Silicon Valley accelerationist crowd. (who else cares, or even knows about the Fermi Paradox?) They are steeped in first person syndrome, so of course any alien civilization would follow the same historical trajectory as us. The tell is the ‘math’ – the ‘equation’ is a just-so metaphor dressed in mathiness. That said, if it causes a chink in their narcissistic armour, then great.
      1. ChrisPacific February 11, 2026 at 4:56 pm

         Agreed. It’s overly simplistic, and uses ‘math’ to give a sense of faux-precision to what is ultimately a qualitative argument. It’s dishonest, in other words.

         That said, the central point is sound. Community structure and expectations matter. It’s why the Prisoner Dilemma is only a ‘dilemma’ if you simplify the problem by removing all societal considerations, and why people don’t typically behave that way in practice.
   3. ocypode February 11, 2026 at 12:39 pm

      To be fair it just felt like the differential equation was entirely unnecessary to the point, put there just to add a “respectable” amount of mathiness to it. Besides that the logic, it is, as usual, entirely restricted to the kind of logic that prevails nowadays, whereas other forms of human society might not be described at all by this equation (Graeber’s Debt is a good corrective to such assumptions). I confess feeling disappointed since it wasn’t really astrophysics math at all, which would have been much more interesting, in my view (calling a paradox “solved” is deeply questionable, by the way).
   4. LifelongLib February 11, 2026 at 1:15 pm

      Quick summary: “Let’s coerce people into loving each other.”
   5. Old Jake February 11, 2026 at 4:33 pm

      Which is precisely why such a “creature” is more likely to be encountered, being a long-term survivor, whether in a single planet or a galaxy-spanning civilization, than would be a social creature wherein each individual acts independently.
9. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 9:06 am

   “In Australia The Police Beat You Up For Opposing Genocide”

   Caitlin links to a video where the police were getting heavy with Muslims worshipers and were attacking them in the middle of their prayers. This is what happens when you prioritize Zionists, even if it means getting rid of human rights, and treating them as citizens plus. There are probably over one million Muslims in Australia so I expect them to be heard in any upcoming elections about what is being done to them.
   1. Carolinian February 11, 2026 at 9:48 am

      Perhaps it’s more than a coincidence that Australia has given us not just Hollywood stars but the man whose media seem to be running our presidency.

      https://fair.org/home/rupert-murdoch-heads-west/
      1. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 9:58 am

         Sorry about Rupert. We thought it a smart move to get rid of this jerk and transport him to the UK. We never dreamed that he would accumulate so much power, wealth and influence after he moved to the US. Not to put too fine a point on it but the guy is about 94 years old. Isn’t it time that he fell off his perch?
         1. Joe Renter February 11, 2026 at 12:14 pm

            I hear from a reliable source he wears a black hat. Collation of evil.
         2. eg February 11, 2026 at 10:16 pm

            Or off his yacht?
10. AG February 11, 2026 at 9:08 am

    re: German economy and labour unions

    commentary by HEINER FLASSBECK on OVERTON BLOG

    machine-translation

    The unions (and the SPD) are speechless.
    https://archive.is/cC3hc
11. flora February 11, 2026 at 9:11 am

    Tucker Carlson in Isr. utube short.

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GGT3xKgSEI0
12. AG February 11, 2026 at 9:16 am

    re: US economic war on Venezuela

    German NACHDENKSEITEN BLOG

    English interview by Michael Holmes with Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodríguez

    Interview with Venezuelan economist: US sanctions caused economic decline and mass death

    Francisco Rodríguez, an economist at the University of Denver, former head of the budget office of the Venezuelan National Assembly, and author of the book *The Collapse of Venezuela*, is one of the few voices analyzing the country’s economic collapse without ideological blinders. Rodríguez paints a picture of a destructive zero-sum conflict: an authoritarian executive without institutional checks and balances, a radical opposition that accepts foreign sanctions and military strikes as instruments of power, and a US policy that violates international law and accepts massive civilian suffering. The interview was conducted by Michael Holmes.

    Sanctions, according to Rodríguez’s empirically grounded thesis, are responsible for roughly half of Venezuela’s economic collapse. The solution lies not in fantasies of regime change or military pressure, but in negotiations between the government and the opposition. Furthermore, Rodríguez refers to a study he co-authored, which found that Western economic sanctions cost more than half a million lives worldwide every year.

    104 min.
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=146104
13. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 9:22 am

    Without explanation, FAA closes El Paso and New Mexico airspace for 10 days, cites national defense El Paso Matters! Paul R: “ICE storm brewing I guess.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Long live Kinky! (RIP)

    Asshole from El Paso, by Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__tAHR5ErM&list=RDn__tAHR5ErM
    1. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 9:52 am

       It’s a weird story this. They shut down a major airport and the surrounding region without giving an explanation? Was it so that they could demonstrate that they had the power to do so? A practice run so that they could fly in ICE to a city and then shut down the airport so that protestor could not fly in too? The Trump regime seems to be so arbitrary in what they do across so many areas.
    2. ddt February 11, 2026 at 10:08 am

       Wish I’d heard of him while he was alive. Thanks for this.
       1. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 12:09 pm

          He was great, saw him in concert a number of times~

          They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNM4KRbtevg&list=RDpNM4KRbtevg
    3. Clwydshire February 11, 2026 at 10:40 am

       There are a lot of air force bases in the wider area, including Kirtland, which, according to Wikipedia, specializes in non-conventional weapons development and testing. See Wikipedia’s map of bases for the wider geographical picture. This could have as much to do with potential war with Iran as anything else.
    4. none February 11, 2026 at 1:07 pm

       The closure was apparently lifted earlier today, just as suddenly.

       https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/11/us/faa-el-paso-flights-airport?unlocked_article_code=1.LVA.nwX2.hyFkY9uSlAM0

       “Live Updates: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

       The secretary of transportation said the military had neutralized a drug cartel drone. Two officials said testing of counter-drone technology prompted the closure. The F.A.A. initially said it would last 10 days.”
       1. Jonathan Holland Becnel February 11, 2026 at 5:35 pm

          So false flag by CIA supported Cartels maybe?

          🤔

          My gut told me that Mexico was next after Venezuela and they’d use drugs as an excuse. Or the Empire waits until Sheinbaum builds up the manufacturing base and then seizes it? Same in Canada?
    5. Ben Panga February 11, 2026 at 9:39 pm

       Lasers!

       Per The WarZone (in the update at the bottom):

       CBS News and CNN have both now reported that a breakdown in coordination between the U.S. military and the FAA over the employment of a counter-drone system armed with a laser directed energy weapon contributed to the imposition of the flight restrictions around El Paso.

       “Meetings were scheduled over safety impacts, but Pentagon officials wanted to test the technology sooner,” according to CBS News, citing multiple unnamed sources. “Airlines were also aware of the apparent impasse between the FAA and Pentagon officials over the issue because the Pentagon has been using Fort Bliss for anti-cartel drone operations without sharing information with the FAA…”

       …Larsen and Carson both sit on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

       “This chaotic outcome is the result of hamhanded language forced into the NDAA [the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill] by the White House that allowed the Pentagon to act recklessly in the public airspace,” their statement added.
14. Robert Hahl February 11, 2026 at 9:33 am

    re: “Doctors discover new virus can cause dementia… and 20 million Americans already have it Daily Mail”

    Covid might be reactivating latent herpes, which most people probably have these days.
    “…a study showing that people who regularly took anti-herpesvirus medications were almost 10 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease:…”

    https://x.com/microbeminded2/status/1931735511619477634
15. Carolinian February 11, 2026 at 9:41 am

    Meanwhile at that DC newspaper we are supposed to feel sorry for

    https://scheerpost.com/2026/02/11/leading-papers-call-for-destroying-iran-to-save-it/

    The second Washington Post editorial (1/23/26) expressed disappointment that, despite “mass killings” and the “most repressive crackdown in decades,” “Trump has ratcheted back his earlier rhetoric.” It emphasized that “the regime is now mocking Trump for backing down.” The paper offered advice for the president:

    Airstrikes alone won’t bring down the regime—or make it behave like a normal country. But Israel and the US have shown in recent years that bombing can cause significant tactical setbacks. And there is always more room for sanctions pressure….

    The president cannot maintain effective deterrence by turning the other cheek [in response to Iranians who have taunted him]. How he responds is just as important as how quickly he does it.

    The implication is that, to deter Iran’s government from killing Iranians, the US needs to kill Iranians. After all, bombing campaigns come with “mass killings” of their own: The US/Israeli aggression against Iran last June killed more than 1,000 Iranians, most of them civilians.

    Bezos has made a good start but are more layoffs needed? That editorial page is begging for a dose of its own medicine.
16. Henry Moon Pie February 11, 2026 at 9:57 am

    Fermi silence–

    Roemmele’s equation is a good way of understanding our predicament, but is it applicable to every possible civilization in our galaxy or, say, the Andromeda galaxy, our near twin and companion? I don’t even see it operating on this planet among elephants or dolphins or whales. We’re driving them to extinction; they’re not doing it to themselves.

    Daniel Schmactenberger attributes our multicrisis to the “multiplayer trap.” Any “player” inclined to behave responsibility toward the public good will suffer for it unless some third entity imposes a steep price for anyone acting in a ruthless, self-interested manner. Schmachtenberger pleads for enforceable international agreements like arms control to avoid the self-destructive path at the geopolitical level and national laws and regulation to rein it in for national economies. That may be the only way to control Roemmele’s “β.”
17. Ghost in the Machine February 11, 2026 at 10:20 am

    Concerning water news from my part of the world.

    https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-coming-failure-of-glen-canyon-dam/

    Looks like the issue is going to be forced imminently.
    1. curlydan February 11, 2026 at 2:30 pm

       “In March 2023, the water level of Lake Powell dropped to within 30 feet of the minimum required for power generation”.

       As of Feb 10th, Lake Powell levels are only 11 feet above the 2023 levels on the same day (see link and click on 2023 box), but this is the worst Colorado snowpack in 30+ years. https://powell.uslakes.info/Level/

       Although the 1983 El Nino was cited in the article as a danger from almost overtopping the dam, we might need some thoughts and prayers for a 2026-2027 El Nino for the coming winter.
    2. KLG February 11, 2026 at 2:55 pm

       The long-retired principals of the firm Sarvis Hayduke Smith & Abbzug LLC are not surprised. And somewhere the shade of Cactus Ed Abbey has a faint smile on his face.
    3. JG February 11, 2026 at 7:43 pm

       Egads; here at the North 40; the Klamath River Dams have been removed. This year we are hurting for ANY snowpack, 60 degrees today and the trees are blooming already, pink, white… The Rogue River burned last year… water, water is life💙💦
18. ChrisFromGA February 11, 2026 at 10:29 am

    Taco gonna Taco, dept:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-11/white-house-amends-us-india-trade-factsheet-to-remove-pulses

    (No paywall: https://archive.ph/U3Rbn)

    On Monday, the White House said India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on a range of agricultural goods, including pulses. The latest version of the statement on the website removed the reference to pulses.
    The revised statement also says India is “committed’ to buying more American products, instead of “intends.” The statement removed a reference that India will scrap digital services taxes, and now only says India is “committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules.” The White House also removed a reference to “rules that prohibit the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions.”

    So, a total climbdown by Taco. I “intend” to compete in the Winter Olympics as a downhill skiier … and I’m committed to not surf ESPN.com when I should be working on my technique.

    #WhaddaMaroon!
    1. flora February 11, 2026 at 10:48 am

       I’m starting to see T as a sideshow. The real action is going on behind him within his cabinet, his staff and rich donors’ group. They haven’t moved to Autopen v. 2.0 …. yet.

       Apparently, even little Marco is lying to him about Mexico.
       This link was posted in the NC links earlier.

       https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/marco-rubio-is-deliberately-blocking
       1. ChrisFromGA February 11, 2026 at 11:10 am

          I tend to view T’s lies about trade deals as his way of asserting dominance, perhaps also as a larger game strategy to bluff and bully the rest of the world. Who cares if, in reality, India is still buying Russian oil? The important thing is the appearance of submission by Modi.

          I hadn’t considered the possibility of rogue cabinet members taking advantage of his senility and/or stupidity. Your example of Rubio and Cuba certainly gives us another dimension to consider.
       2. Dr. John Carpenter February 11, 2026 at 11:17 am

          The figurehead usually is a distraction. The thought I always keep in mind is, if this is the part they’re willing to show us, just imagine what’s going on behind closed doors.
       3. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 12:25 pm

          I tend to think of Benedict Donald as more of a slideshow.
19. flora February 11, 2026 at 10:53 am

    From Drop Site News comes this heartbreaking story.

    In Gaza, One Man Is Searching for the Remains of His Family With a Flour Sifter
    “If I was able to reach my wife and children in this primitive way, there are many others in Gaza who are searching for the same thing. Just provide the means.”

    https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-palestinians-dead-buried-rubble-searching-bodies-returned-israel
20. Ignacio February 11, 2026 at 11:01 am

    Today’s pic by Mark T. Great pic. Nice antidote. One of those rare occasions when the composition has magic on it. At least in my humble opinion. It has smell and flavour on it. Thank you! It seems you are enjoying the Kruger N.P. and i feel sooo envious about it!
21. ciroc February 11, 2026 at 11:02 am

    >In Ukraine, deaths from hypothermia rise as Russia attacks energy system

    What the hell is Russia doing? They claim to be liberating the Ukrainian people from fascist rule, yet they’re destroying infrastructure and letting people freeze to death. This is blatant collective punishment. Are they suggesting that every deceased Ukrainian was a Bandera supporter? At least NATO was sincere in Yugoslavia. They didn’t claim to be liberating the Serbs from Milošević’s dictatorship.
    1. ilsm February 11, 2026 at 12:48 pm

       Recent harsh cold weather, 20 odd days temps well below normal in Midwest and northeast U.S. Probably too many hypothermia fatalities.. DC and Kiev could shield the people.
    2. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 6:58 pm

       The Ukrainians have been believing their propaganda that they are winning the war and it is only a matter of time until they get their territories back again. You see it with every street interview. So they end up supporting the Zelensky regime. I would guess that these energy attacks are “shock treatment” by Russia to get the Ukrainians to realize that they are actually losing this war badly and that things will get worse by following the Zelensky regime.
    3. juno mas February 12, 2026 at 12:14 am

       The Russians are doing exactly what the US/NATO did to Serbians.
22. Craig H. February 11, 2026 at 11:05 am

    ‘Walk for Peace’: Buddhist monks arrive in in Washington after 108-day journey

    Did Aloka the Peace Dog get out of the veterinary hospital for the big finale?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAPPM4vxIXI

    OK I found a post on instagram. Yes Aloka made the final leg of the route under his own power. I thought the dog had gotten more buzz than the monks and Al Jazeera would have led with that part.
    1. rowlf February 11, 2026 at 6:32 pm

       I started following them when I saw the news stories coming out of Alabama. I was at work when they passed through my town in Georgia, but my wife and one of my sons tried to go to one of their lunch break gatherings, and the parked cars where a mile long on either side, and the got larger later in their walk. While they had a custom Google Maps link for their daily progress, you could also track them by the traffic on Google Maps.

       A lot of local news stations (Many Fox affiliated) would run the story for a few days all along the trip, always in a positive tone. I liked when the news teams would fly a drone to show the large size of the crowds that came out for the walk and the lunch and nightime teaching sessions. The police and sheriff departments made sure the monks where safe and would advise on roads to use for safe travel.

       Several news stories stories showed the handover between police and sheriff departments, which was often humorous in seeing law enforcement personnel (Male) hugging the monks they had accompanied. (You’re not supposed to touch a monk, and you’ll learn something else if do hug someone who has been walking for many hours.) Still, nice to see honest emotion.

       What I liked about following the news stories was how many people came out to see and listen to them. The organizers had to learn quickly how to manage the crowds. While there were a few people who appear to call themselves Christians heckling the monks (Which the monks ignored), the rest of the people were happy to see the Walk For Peace and presented one of the better sides of many people in the US in my opinion. It almost seems that as long as politicians are not involved, most people can get along well.*

       *There was one female state politician along the walk that tried to walk in front of the monks for a while, which almost everyone involved and watching thought was poor manners. It might bite her in the voting booth.
23. XXYY February 11, 2026 at 11:41 am

    Electric Cars Are Making It Easier To Breathe, Study Finds The Drive.com

    Hunter Thompson, in his book Hells Angels, noted that motorcycles are a fair weather vehicle, and as a result motorcycle gangs were pretty well restricted to California in the US because of the weather.

    The Golden State has by far the largest number of plug-in vehicles in the United States, and they’ve now reached significant numbers to have a positive impact on air quality.

    I wonder if the weather is also taking a hand in encouraging EV uptake in California. Many people, including me, have been shocked the last few winters at how electric vehicles are incompatible with a cold weather climate; it wouldn’t surprise me if it turns out that electric vehicles are strictly a warm weather technology.
    1. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 12:05 pm

       Snow is falling in Mammoth and being weather wimpy Californians, the Dartful Codgers are in our rental digs waiting it out until we hit the slopes…

       Euphemisms are all we have now, and at Alta a few weeks ago, the digital message boards there at the lifts made mention to beware of ‘sliding snow’ which is a long way version or saying ‘ICE’, but you go with the words you want-not intimidating words.
    2. cfraenkel February 11, 2026 at 12:27 pm

       The encouraging news out of China (just this last week) is that one of their big brands is finally bringing a sodium battery powered vehicle to market this summer. It has dramatically better cold tolerance with almost as good energy density. (Not to mention that its not a bomb waiting to burn down your house.)
    3. Late Introvert February 11, 2026 at 4:33 pm

       It was -1 F for a couple weeks here and the Hyundai hybrid did just fine. Only problem is the windows freeze shut.
    4. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 7:01 pm

       Fun fact. The Hell’s Angels began in the same place in California and the same year as McDonalds did. Coincidence? I think not.
       1. Late Introvert February 12, 2026 at 1:33 am

          Post war veterans with lethal training and too much time on their hands?
    5. Es s Ce Tera February 12, 2026 at 7:16 am

       Incompatible in what way? In Scandinavia EV’s are half of all cars on the road (and 90% of cars registered in 2025). In Denmark it’s 67%. In Sweden 60% of cars on the road are EV. And certainly here in Toronto where last week it was -40C, the snow is still piled up higher than the cars themselves, I would guesstimate 30% of the cars in the parking lot at my work are EV.
24. flora February 11, 2026 at 11:56 am

    From Due Dissidence on the Epstein Files, utube, ~16+ minutes.

    Alleged Epstein Co-Conspirator NAMED After Massie-Khanna Probe

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ravwRQolT9o
25. Jason Boxman February 11, 2026 at 11:59 am

    Archive version

    US Consumer Delinquencies Jump to Highest in Almost a Decade (Bloomberg)

    Delinquency rates on loans ranging from mortgages to credit cards rose to 4.8% of all outstanding US household debt in the fourth quarter, the highest level since 2017, driven by higher defaults among low-income and young borrowers.

    While the overall share of loans in some stage of default is near pre-pandemic averages, the rise in delinquencies among the lowest earners adds to evidence of an increasingly bifurcated economy, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released Tuesday showed.

    America is going great!
26. pjay February 11, 2026 at 12:07 pm

    – ‘Do you think “It can’t happen here”? Revelations of Joint Chiefs of Staff spy operation against White House’ – Lucy Komisar

    With all the other major news going on in Links today, I am afraid this item might get overlooked. So I just wanted to recommend it, especially to those who might still accept our Court history of Watergate. But even more significant is the NY Times Opinion piece by James Rosen which triggered Komisar’s article:

    https://archive.is/VqOzL

    Rosen’s article is specifically on the Moorer-Radford affair, but it is actually a reflection on the true significance of Watergate itself. It is noteworthy for a number of reasons. It appears in the NY Times. It is unusually long and detailed for an “Opinion” piece. And then there is the headline/title: ‘The Secret History of the Deep State.’ And it is not meant ironically or sarcastically! It came out a few days ago. Given everything going on at the moment (e.g. see today’s Links), I find the timing interesting. Also interesting is that Rosen, here discussing the “silent coup” against Nixon by elements of the “deep state,” was himself a significant contributor to a similar coup attempt against Trump as a prestigious journalistic stenographer for Russiagate propaganda by … elements of the “deep state”!

    Rosen mentions the book ‘Silent Coup’ by Colodny and Gettlin, on Watergate. I’d also recommend Jim Hougan’s ‘Secret Agenda,’ and the multi-part series by Russ Baker (excerpts from his book I believe) as starting points in challenging the fairy tale of ‘All the Presidents Men.’:

    https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/watergate-downing-nixon-part-1/

    Never let a link to a good conspiracy theory go to waste, I say.
    1. ChrisPacific February 11, 2026 at 9:28 pm

       Peripheral note, but I can’t help noticing how many articles these days follow the ‘bolded statement -> bullet points with bolded headings -> conclusion with key terms or sentences highlighted’ format. (This one certainly does). I always think of this as an AI tell, but I’m not sure if it really is, or if it’s always been this common and that’s why AI copies it.

       The detailed, intelligence-insulting analysis of why it couldn’t be prosecuted today definitely feels like AI to me. It’s difficult for me to believe that a journalist would devote so much column space to discussing this, but I can very easily imagine an LLM spitting out this long-form statement of the obvious. Lucy Komisar seems to be doing good work generally, but I feel like this column showed signs of hasty drafting and lazy editing.
    2. Late Introvert February 12, 2026 at 1:04 am

       It’s pretty heavy. I was telling my wife how everyone has to die first before the truth comes out, and even then it’s never for sure.
27. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 12:16 pm

    A friend mentioned how much citrus is on the ground below trees in large orchards in Godzone, and there is always some amount of it to be seen, and I was surprised at just how much was visible on my drive last Sunday, and its a sign that the fruit is ripe, but maybe they lack pickers?
28. Jason Boxman February 11, 2026 at 12:19 pm

    Job Growth Was Overstated, New Data Shows (NY Times via archive.is)

    Job growth over the past two years was far weaker than previously believed.

    U.S. employers added just 181,000 jobs last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. That was 69 percent fewer jobs than its initial estimate of 584,000. The agency also lowered its estimate of job growth in 2024 by nearly 28 percent.

    In total, the U.S. economy has more than a million fewer jobs than previously reported.

    The revisions are part of a longstanding annual process in which the B.L.S. reconciles its monthly estimates of job growth, which are derived from surveys, with less timely but more reliable data from state governments.

    and

    The revisions also underscore how dependent the job market has become on hiring in the health care sector. Before the revisions, health care accounted for about 405,000 of the 584,000 jobs added in 2025, or nearly 70 percent of the gains. According to the latest data, health care companies added 391,000 jobs, while employment in other sectors fell by a combined 210,000 jobs.

    “That really puts into sharp relief how poorly other industries are doing even as health care continues to grow,” Mr. Zhao said.

    Trump has it as his mission to throw out of America foreigners here legally and illegally, and some of them work in healthcare. Some portion of these might not be net new jobs.
29. AG February 11, 2026 at 12:44 pm

    re: immigration Spain

    JACOBIN Germany

    machine-translation

    Spain shows that a different migration policy is possible.

    Anti-racist groups in Spain have achieved what other European leftists have long failed to do: exert pressure on migration policy. Instead of deportations, the Sánchez government plans to legalize over 500,000 undocumented people.
    Febr. 3rd
    https://archive.is/4a6kL
30. Tom Stone February 11, 2026 at 1:07 pm

    If you want to know why Western Elites are cracking down on their populaces, look at the heat records being shattered every day.
    Here in the USA they are in a hurry because they need Trump in order to gain complete control and he is fading fast.
    Vance doesn’t have the political base needed, he is widely disliked not just by the populace but also the centers of power.
    It’s gonna be lit with a flamethrower, stay safe and enjoy the show.
31. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 1:16 pm

    There’s a man who leads a life of danger
    To everyone he meets, he claims Epstein was a stranger
    With every move he makes
    Another chance he takes
    Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow

    Secret Pedo Man
    Secret Pedo Man
    They’ve redacted the evidence and taken away your name

    Beware of implications of pretty young faces once upon a time
    A pretty young face can hide a digital photo mine
    Oh, be careful what you say
    Or you’ll give yourself away
    Odds are you won’t live to see tomorrow

    Secret Pedo Man
    Secret Pedo Man
    They’ve redacted the evidence and taken away your name

    Pam Bondi talking Dow 50k
    And now she’s saying everything is a-ok
    Oh, don’t you let the wrong words slip
    While dissing persuasive lips
    Odds are you won’t live to see tomorrow

    Secret Pedo Man
    Secret Pedo Man
    They’ve redacted the evidence and taken away your name

    Secret Agent Man, by Johnny Rivers

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iaR3WO71j4&list=RD6iaR3WO71j4
32. Wukchumni February 11, 2026 at 1:25 pm

    At the World Ag Expo in Godzone, DT Barnum relayed the following message yesterday…

    “The men and women at this expo are the heart and soul of America,” Trump said during the two-minute video. “You’re the people who get up before dawn and work until after dark and feed our nation, power our economy and make the most of the land that God gave us.”

    Meanwhile, a good many farmers are abandoning their crops and many have been bankrupted by his policies, despite perhaps all of them voting for him.
33. Cat Burglar February 11, 2026 at 2:20 pm

    Iran has a finite number of missiles and drones, so they have a limited capacity to respond to Israel and the US. That argues for a graduated and selective response, focused on destroying the most threatening assets first. So I have some doubt that they might go big.

    The opposite type of response was defied by General Van Riper during the Millenium Challenge wargame — you know the enemy has a greater power, so fire everything at once to deal a knockout blow. That stopped the exercise.

    The Iranians have to at least survive initial strikes with at least some defenses and punchback capability to retain sovereignty. Surely they will hold the Straits of Hormuz closed, and they can do that with only a small force.

    But beyond the general limitations here, it would take a lot more particular knowledge of the forces arrayed to predict what might happen — and whole staffs have been working on that for a long time.
    1. The Rev Kev February 11, 2026 at 7:05 pm

       When the Iranians were firing their drones and ballistic missiles at Israel during the war last year, they were keeping back all their good stuff. In any case, the US/Israel will run out of anti-air missiles long, long before the Iranians run out of drones and missiles. Then they will be like the present Ukraine – an open, defenseless target.
34. DJG, Reality Czar February 11, 2026 at 2:40 pm

    Baffler. Mary Turfah. I’m Not Done with You.

    I tried to read this essay when Links was posted. I couldn’t. I had to stop. The moral decay described by Turfah is horrifying: Turning Gaza into a death camp.

    I managed to read the essay this evening, here in the deceptively tranquil Undisclosed Region.

    It is said that the god of monotheism died in Auschwitz. Not to be revived. Now, we witness the loss of moral authority among so many public figures and institutions. After such knowledge, what forgiveness?

    Give the essay a look.
35. wl February 11, 2026 at 3:56 pm

    thanks for the Yascha Mounk piece: really good insights!!
36. AG February 11, 2026 at 6:34 pm

    re: immigration and labour

    VIJAY PRASHAD – again with some great paintings interspersed

    Migration Is About Neo-Colonialism
    In 2024, there were 304 million — mostly economic — migrants. Thousands die or disappear in transit. Creating dignified employment in the poorer nations is the primary answer.
    https://consortiumnews.com/2026/02/10/vijay-prashad-migration-is-about-underdevelopment/
37. AG February 11, 2026 at 6:36 pm

    re: Wilkerson Trump

    “But Trump beats up only on parties he regards as weak.”

    Which party is the weak one here, Israel or Iran? 😉
38. AG February 11, 2026 at 6:43 pm

    re: NYC immigrants

    https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-signs-executive-order-to-protect-new-york-immigrants-from-ice/

    Zohran Mamdani Signs Executive Order to Protect New York Immigrants From ICE

    On Friday, February 6, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order—the thirteenth since taking office—to protect New York’s immigrants from the Trump administration’s abuses. New York is a so-called “sanctuary city,” which limits cooperation with ICE and refuses to detain or refer undocumented immigrants for deportation. This order reinforces the direction it has been pursuing for some time.

    The mayor announced the executive order during an interfaith meeting at the New York Public Library.

    “If faith offers us the moral compass to stand alongside the stranger, the government can provide the resources,” Mamdani said. “Let’s create a new expectation of City Hall, where power is exercised to love, welcome, and protect. We will stand alongside strangers today, tomorrow, and every day to come. No New Yorker should be afraid to use city services, such as childcare, just because they are an immigrant.”

    The executive order includes:

    A ban on ICE entering city property without a warrant, including schools, parking lots, shelters, and hospitals.
    Strengthened privacy protections to prevent the federal government from illegally accessing New Yorkers’ private data.
    A public safety report submitted to the mayor of New York City to ensure essential city agencies comply with municipal laws.
    The creation of an interagency committee to coordinate policies in the event of major crises.

    Mamdani also launched the “Know Your Rights” campaign, distributing 30,000 flyers in various languages ​​to explain the rights of every person stopped by ICE, including how to remain silent and request a lawyer and interpreter.
    1. Vincent February 11, 2026 at 8:17 pm

       This commenter has been banned for multiple rule violations, including Being an Asshole.

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