Links 2/4/2026

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1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 7:29 am

   “Trump Team to Hold Daily Meetings on Getting Revenge”

   Now this is a strange one. There was a report a coupla months ago that the Trump regime was going to wreck vengeance on his enemies the first six months of his Presidency and then get on with domestic policies. But here there will be daily meetings with Bondi to get revenge on his enemies. I wonder if that will include new enemies as well? As an example, Trump has been on the warpath over Thomas Massie and Trump being Trump, decided to attack Massie’s new wife as a left wing “flamethrower” because of course you attack the family members of your enemies. Massie shut him down when he stated that his wife had actually voted for Trump – three times – but it seems that Trump will go feral at the slightest criticism of himself or anyone that tells him no. I can only imagine that the floor of the White House is now covered in egg shells.
   1. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 11:10 am

      ‘Boor War’
   2. JMH February 4, 2026 at 11:48 am

      Revenge is a prime motive for Donnie. Always has been. Always will be. Could be more important to him that grifting.
   3. ex-PFC Chuck February 4, 2026 at 12:02 pm

      At the link:

      Hockey journalist Luc Gélinas reported that the Montreal Canadiens, who play the Minnesota Wild on Monday night, have been told by management to stay inside their Minneapolis hotel at all times, take the team bus rather than walk to the stadium, and carry passports with them.

      This begs the question how much the quoted journalist knows about the venues in which NHL teams play. If indeed the team is staying in a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, they would have a 5 mile walk to the Xcel Arena in downtown Saint Paul where the Wild plays. They would indeed need to have their passports with them.
      1. Yalt February 4, 2026 at 2:36 pm

         Most visiting teams stay at the St. Paul Hotel. It really is a short walk to the stadium, but it isn’t a “Minneapolis hotel.”
   4. Geo February 4, 2026 at 12:38 pm

      I’ve got a Learning Annex catalogue from 2003 when Trump was doing $99 get rich quick lectures through them (catalogue also offers talks by Jim Cramer, Robert Kiyosaki, and Tony Robbins).

      Near the top of the bullet point list of topics he’d be teaching is “How to use revenge as a motivating factor.”

      It’s literally his main motivator. Always has been. Dude is a feral animal in a business suit.
   5. Tom Stone February 4, 2026 at 2:10 pm

      Trump has lost it and that will become undeniably clear given time.
      Perhaps SOTU will be clarifying in that regard.
      In the meantime I expect ICE and the other organs of State Security to become much more extreme in both their words and their actions.
      Be lucky and stay safe.
2. ocypode February 4, 2026 at 7:55 am

   Xi Jinping on the Chinese Financial System Karl Sanchez. In a bit of synchronicity. Chuck L, who sent the tweet above, asked if Xi had been reading Hudson. Sanchez pinged Hudson for his take. Hudson pointed out, among other things, that China, and Xi was following that policy, was not taxing land to prevent rentierism and also gave preference to US-trained, as in neoliberalized, economic students.

   On that note, it’s kind of shocking how strong orthodox economics is in China. There are Marxists and other kinds of heterodox economists, but they seem to be just as marginalized (if not more!) than in the rest of the world. I think what gives the Chinese their edge in general is that the government can force finance to obey through less usual means, something which is impossible in the West (where the contrary occurs, i.e. finance forces society and the government to do its bidding). I guess the economy doesn’t need much help from economists to work, but they can make a mess of things if given the opportunity, which would not bode well.

   (On a random point, I recall once seeing some discussion about how finance bros were not appealing on the dating scene in China, which made it less attractive there. Might have some influence too? As in attracting people who are genuinely interested in financial plumbing as opposed to any opportunist that smells good profits;)
   1. lyman alpha blob February 4, 2026 at 2:11 pm

      Take a look at the China Briefing article via Irawaddy in links above. From the article –

      “China executed 15 members of two dominant Kokang criminal clans, the Bai and Ming families, over the past week in its most sweeping action yet against northern Myanmar’s telecom‑fraud network. The two clans long controlled Kokang’s scam economy, operating fortified compounds, trafficking workers and running large‑scale online fraud and gambling operations that targeted Chinese citizens across the region.”

      China does not mess around with stuff like this. We’ve seen other examples of Chinese oligarchs being taken out to the woodshed by the government when they start becoming a little too wealthy and powerful. In the US, we let those types buy up all of Congress. Or just skip the middleman and go straight to the presidency.
3. Vicky Cookies February 4, 2026 at 7:56 am

   Re: Behind ICE list from Migrant insider:

   I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I understand the desire to Do Something, as it’s often put here, about ICE, and conceivably something like this could work as a counterforce to the incentives DHS is putting behind recruitment. On the other hand, AI-powered facial recognition, through the additional layer of masks, is a) dystopian and wrong, and b) unreliable, especially when dealing with nonwhite faces, and many ICE and CBP agents are Latino. Would you be okay with this being used as evidence against you in court?

   Ultimately, those who want to play a part in resistance to this deportation push will have to come to terms with the fact that we have a legal framework within which noncitizens have very few rights, if really any, and contribute to changing that reality. It’s a feature of nation-states, but there could be amnesty (as there has been in the past), decriminalization, &c. None of it is very likely in the current political moment, but the hysteria from both poles of the debate doesn’t help. One thing activists can ask ourselves is how actions will be perceived and used by opponents and sympathizers.
   1. Lee February 4, 2026 at 9:07 am

      Tangentially related anecdotal response to your question, “Would you be okay with this [facial recognition technology] being used as evidence against you in court?”

      A couple I know told me that on several occasions their three year old toddler unlocked their iPhones via facial recognition. While the child may well resemble both parents to some degree, the parents’ respective faces are quite different from one another. Upon querying Google as the the reliability of iPhones’ facial recognition capabilities the AI Overview response was: “iPhone Face ID is considered highly secure, with a less than 1 in 1,000,000 chance of a random person unlocking it.”

      Draw your own conclusions.
      1. Milton February 4, 2026 at 9:35 am

         “random person” that’s the big kielbasa!
         1. earthling February 4, 2026 at 11:37 am

            Perhaps after the 50th incident of sleazy cousin Freddie hacking into Uncle Bob’s brokerage accounts while everyone else is at the funeral, we will acknowledge that recognition technology is not perfect. Everybody always said Freddie favored Bob in his looks.
         2. Mel February 4, 2026 at 12:22 pm

            :/ “1 in 1,000,000” could be a calculated result, but it sure looks to me like a canned phrase to indicate “very unlikely” that the AIbot has picked up and spliced into its reply.

            By the numbers, though, If there are 8,000,000,000 people on earth, surely only 10, tops, could be in the iPhone camera’s field at any one time, so only one of those 10 could possibly unlock the phone.
            The odds of a randomly chosen person being in that group is 1/800,000,000. less than one in a million, just like the AIbot said.
      2. Geo February 4, 2026 at 12:44 pm

         “Idris Elba Shocked When Wax Figure of Himself Unlocks Face ID”
         https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/treyalston/idris-elba-wax-figure-unlocks-face-id

         Pretty sure anyone with a photograph of a phone users face, basic depth mapping software, and a 3D printer could do the same thing.
   2. AG February 4, 2026 at 9:43 am

      The constant change of what form of resistance/activism is best at one particular moment in time appears to be one of the most demanding challenges in all this.

      And even though I am not a friend of “activists” running around and insult people (see my overlong comment below) I always like to remind others that cops are being paid for their shit. Activists and those who simply help get organized get no pay. In fact they are paying huge amounts when being fined by the courts etc.

      They also do it in their free time additionally to often difficult jobs without such privileges as state pensions or health care.

      So in all this we already have an insane capitalist double standard nobody seems to be aware of in the media. Whether or not I agree with everything done to resist, this aspect makes me really angry. It´s like real estate funds vs. powerless and poor tenants. And on whose side is the law?!
      🥊 😡💣
   3. ChatET February 4, 2026 at 10:04 am

      Well if you do plan on protesting, perhaps consider juggalo makeup.
      1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 10:33 am

         Please no. A search says it’s not reliably effective against the better AI detection methods.

         A Covid mask or face gaiter absolutely works, even better if paired with IR blocking glasses.

         https://www.gadgetreview.com/the-glasses-that-make-you-invisible-to-facial-recognition-cameras
4. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 8:27 am

   ‘Will Schryver
   @imetatronink
   ‼️🤔 Iran Standoff Escalation
   Therefore, Greasy Pete Hegseth probably texted Rear Admiral Todd Whalen (commander of CSG-3) and told him to shoot down the Iranian drone as an expression of displeasure with the Iranian impudence.’

   Pretty sure I know who Pete Hegseth backs in this conflict-

   https://www.bitchute.com/video/5N1Y6DgRo1Xb (2:01 mins)

   Hint – it’s not really the US.
5. eg February 4, 2026 at 8:41 am

   U.S. Sanctions on Iran Failed—So Why Do They Continue?

   Of a piece with Biden’s response to a journalist’s query as to the efficacy of the initial American strikes on Ansarallah during Operation Prosperity Guardian (🙄):

   “When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis?” Biden said in an exchange with reporters in Washington, D.C. “No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”

   Meet the new boss, same as the old boss …
   1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2026 at 10:38 am

      When it comes to willful blindness in ignoring reality, you can’t top this:

      https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5721015-bipartisan-north-korea-sanctions/

      10 years of failure of sanctions against N. Korea don’t discourage this opinion piece writer. Who works for a think tank called the George W. Bush institute … you can’t make this stuff up.
      1. .Tom February 4, 2026 at 3:23 pm

         The article opens with, “Bipartisanship on foreign policy is in short supply these days.” Aaaaahahaha.
      2. eg February 4, 2026 at 10:27 pm

         Well, the US has been sanctioning Cuba for over 60 years, so the capacity for stupidity is apparently limitless.
   2. Lee February 4, 2026 at 11:18 am

      “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

      I assume the Democrat neocons are quite pleased with some of Trump’s geopolitical moves as regards Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Israel, India’s no longer buying Russian oil, and that a future Democrat administration will continue along the same lines. But will NATO members forgive and forget, and return to lap dog status?
6. boots February 4, 2026 at 8:49 am

   I would like to see the commentariat’s discussion of the pope’s major new message on A.I. (especially chatbots), to consider its use, impact, and framing. I wonder if it will impact policy or advocacy in heavily roman catholic countries, spur a response from other denominations, or if it can be used to shame i.e. Vance?

   It is called “Preserving Human Voices and Faces,” and was delivered 24 January for the 60th World Day of Social Communications.

   https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/communications/documents/20260124-messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html

   The argument begins:

   Our faces and voices are unique, distinctive features of every person; they reveal a person’s own unrepeatable identity and are the defining elements of every encounter with others. The ancients understood this well. To define the human person, the ancient Greeks used the word “face” (prósōpon), because it expresses etymologically what is before one’s gaze, the place of presence and relationship. The Latin term “person” (from per-sonare), on the other hand, evokes the idea of sound: not just any sound, but the unmistakable sound of someone’s voice.

   Faces and voices are sacred. God, who created us in his image and likeness, gave them to us when he called us to life through the Word he addressed to us. This Word resounded down the centuries through the voices of the prophets, and then became flesh in the fullness of time.[…]

   From the moment of creation, God wanted man and woman to be his interlocutors, and, as Saint Gregory of Nyssa explained, he imprinted on our faces a reflection of divine love, so that we may fully live our humanity through love. Preserving human faces and voices, therefore, means preserving this mark, this indelible reflection of God’s love.[…] Each of us possesses an irreplaceable and inimitable vocation, that originates from our own lived experience and becomes manifest through interaction with others.

   If we fail in this task of preservation, digital technology threatens to alter radically some of the fundamental pillars of human civilization that at times are taken for granted. By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship, the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships.

   The challenge, therefore, is not technological, but anthropological. Safeguarding faces and voices ultimately means safeguarding ourselves.

   The rest of the statement is very good, I think, but the opening salvo is an argument I hadn’t heard before, and one with some serious theological import, including possibly for Muslims.
   1. ocypode February 4, 2026 at 9:25 am

      Ivan Illich has a similar discussion in The Rivers North of the Future. There are some serious theological implications when computers are taken into consideration; the whole debate that led to the Iconoclast Controversy in the Eastern Church seems to have some strong considerations about it. A small passage, if I may:

      This was at first no more than a curiosity, but what impresses me so much is the speed with which, during the second part of my life of seventy years, virtual spaces, images and other objects presented in virtual spaces, have spread. There are quite a few serious thinkers now who claim that, among the most profound changes of the last twenty-five years is the ubiquity of virtual spaces from which we are asked to derive our knowledge. (…) The icon was conceived as a threshold to a super-reality into which only faith could lead. The virtual space asks you to look into a nowhere in which nobody could live.

      The icon, I would argue, cultivates my ability to see the misery of a slum, or to be present on a bus, or during a walk through the streets of New York. It allows me to shed, through my gaze, some light from the beyond on those whom I touch. Experiences in the virtual realm, on the other hand, lead me to see what is virtual and disembodied about others. They become clothes hangers so to speak for the abstract “programming” which I bring to my encounter with them.

      Worth a read if the subject interests you.
   2. Vicky Cookies February 4, 2026 at 9:34 am

      Papal infallibility ain’t what it used to be, unless you’re pope Thiel. Interestingly, the Vatican etymologists fail to note that the word “person” possibly derives more fundamentally from an Etruscan word meaning “mask”, and that, even for the Latin personare, the son part refers to a sound-hole in an actor’s mask https://www.etymonline.com/word/person

      As many as a quarter of Americans are Catholics, but not as many attend church services regularly. It would seem to me that a more influential part of their identities would then come from media, workplace, and community, and the values expressed therein. I don’t know much about the influence of the Church in other countries, and so can’t comment. I’d guess that AI will fall on its own merits, or lack thereof, rather than from democratic or theocratic opinion.
      1. ocypode February 4, 2026 at 9:51 am

         I thought the etymology sounded strange, but I assumed persona (mask) maybe was derived from this per-sonare as the pope suggested and I didn’t know. Well, the history of the Catholic Church, for all the theological business, shows anything but infallibility.

         A quick look at wikitionary suggests that per-sonare is the etymology suggested by Roman authors, which would explain why the pope would make that mistake:

         Unknown; two etymologies have been suggested:

         – Derived from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask, masked actor”), possibly via a hypothetical *𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖𐌍𐌀 (*φersuna, “belonging or pertaining to a φersu”)[1] which many etymologists further propose was derived from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “mask, character”).
         – From personāre (“to sound through”); this is the etymology often proposed by Roman writers, but it is unlikely, considering the discrepancy between the length of the /o/ in this verb and in persōna.
      2. jsn February 4, 2026 at 10:16 am

         So, you mean Paypall infallibility?

         And as to boots query regarding shaming Vance, what would lead anyone to believe that’s possible?
         1. Vicky Cookies February 4, 2026 at 11:19 am

            That’s fantastic! Thanks for the laugh.
      3. Lee February 4, 2026 at 11:01 am

         This causes me to wonder what is one to make of the French term personne, meaning no one.
      4. earthling February 4, 2026 at 11:27 am

         The pope is playing his role on the world stage, speaking up for things that the marketplace and halls of power do not wish to acknowledge. Many non-believers respect these statements, when he is serving as our conscience or reminder that there is more to life than getting, spending, ruling, and killing. It would have more of an effect if our ‘leaders’ had souls or consciences, to be sure.
   3. anahuna February 4, 2026 at 12:30 pm

      Also profound, though from a somewhat different starting point, this Muslim perspective on our life on earth. From a long, astonishing essay on the possibility of a revised Islamic philosophy (Moroccan Epistemologies, Substack).

      “But in the iʾtimānī framework, the human is not sovereign. The human is muʾtaman—entrusted. What appears in liberal discourse as right appears here as amāna (أمانة)—trust. The human has not rights to life, knowledge, movement, but rather he is entrusted with life, knowledge, capacity for movement. These are not possessions to be wielded but deposits to be stewarded.”
      1. Ellery O'Farrell February 5, 2026 at 9:29 pm

         Yes. Similarly for Christians (though generally ignored): Genesis 2:15, “The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it”; (“>); also ()

         The human being was to be the steward of the earth. It illustrates and interprets the earlier statements as to dominion (Gen. 1:26 & 1:28). I’d argue that the blessing in 1:26, which grounds the dominion statement by saying that we are made in his image and likeness, who had just made and blessed the earth, the fish, the animals (wild and tame), and the crawling creatures, that we also are to bless — not wantonly destroy — these creatures. Rather, they are entrusted to us as they are to God.
   4. .Tom February 4, 2026 at 3:26 pm

      It reminds me of Dennett’s “The Problem With Counterfeit People”.
7. AG February 4, 2026 at 8:59 am

   re: activism vs. ICE

   Now all parties masking themselves gives this a HOT SHOTS comedy vibe (or any other Zucker brothers/Abrahams spoof). Eventually they get all mixed up and the wrong people end up in prison and protesters turn into ICE-commanders by accident…(SNL???)

   How is the law in the US re: disguise btw?

   In Germany official protesters – you have to ask for permission for a protest from the town or city administration first – are banned from masking their faces. It´s a felony if you do. (except you are Ukrainian Fascists.)

   p.s. I assume constant I-Phone presence influences ICE-behaviour.

   But still it is a bit absurd that the guy in the video with the megaphone is using these rather teenage-level insults which 1) makes him not very convincing 2) even less so as the Nazis apparently don´t bother to even tell him to stop.

   In Germany most likely they would have already demanded him to stop and possibly threaten him with arrest. You get into trouble when you insult representatives of the state.

   On the other hand: I have grown up with a rather stark picture of the US as a police state. A country where the right to display and use of force by the government and its law enforcement has a pretty robust tradition and seems to be rooted in a highly reactionary population (2nd Amendment, capital punishment and immigrant-hatred).

   So this whole ICE menace did not surprise me – which is probably why my reaction to it is different than by those who are actually there in person and affected.

   But a country where KKK is still a thing and some dark supremacist tradition most likely will never go away entirely will always have the label of archaic and rogue stuck to it. So the alleged “beastly Russianness” is rather to be found in the US with its eternal frontier-metaphysics coupled with the annoyingly arrogant yet naive “chosen”-nation BS.
   1. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 10:02 am

      The Lone Ranger hid his eyes, while ICE usually covers themselves from the nose down, exposing their orbits.

      What Would Tonto Do, after they arrest him for being the wrong shade?
      1. AG February 4, 2026 at 1:02 pm

         The ancient European heroes were heroes only as long as they were blind to the harsh truth. Their heroism waned once they “saw” and understood. So being an idiot made them a hero.
         In a world where everyone sees everything this distinction is no more and you have no heroes.
         But I welcome it. Where you have no heroes bathed in blinding light you have no shadows to hide the ugly truth any more either.
         This may have an effect on the traditional forms of conduct on both sides: Law enforcement is crude and clumsy not even trying to hide its true nature or seek fake legitimacy – (a naive point Lee Fang made recently when argueing that the old Bush admin. at least tried to seek the appearance of legality in their “war on terror”-terror) – and protest in some cases may not look as sophisticated and honourable as it once was.
         But of course rather less style but alive protesters than more heroism for the price of getting lynched.

         p.s. A not so bad installment from the LRB´s 6-episode series on 25 years “War on Terror”

         Aftershock: The War on Terror
         Episode 3: Dr Yes
         Daniel Soar
         5 December 2025
         https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/aftershock-the-war-on-terror/episode-3-dr-yes

         For once Daniel Soar manages to keep his voice acting ambitions under control (at least a bit…)
         
   2. johnnyme February 4, 2026 at 10:27 am

      There is an important distinction to make: incidents like these are not official protests, they are entirely impromptu.

      Ordinary citizens are out keeping watch on their neighborhoods and when ICE/CBP vehicles are seen, they start blowing whistles and send out alerts (mostly via Signal group chats from what I understand) and people in the vicinity descend upon the scene. I’m not on social media so I don’t get the alerts but the times I’ve been out and about and answered the call of nearby whistlers, the whistling stopped before I could get there, indicating that ICE/CBP vehicles were seen passing though without stopping.

      Most of what you are seeing is in the densely (by US standards) populated inner city of Minneapolis but there was a good article by Minnesota Public Radio today on what people in the less densely populated (and more Republican) suburbs are experiencing and the tactics they are using.

      The juvenile insults are indicative of the level of rage that permeates the citizenry here and citizens recording their activities has no impact whatsoever on the behavior of the agents.

      ICE agents have recently been given instructions to not interact with “agitators” anymore, but as you can see in this photo posted by the Associated Press about an incident that occurred yesterday with citizens following and documenting ICE/CBP agents, no one here is buying it.

      People are now setting up impromptu road blocks in their neighborhoods as a way of keeping ICE/CBP agents out.
      1. jsn February 4, 2026 at 10:51 am

         Thank you for the field report!
         1. johnnyme February 4, 2026 at 1:17 pm

            You’re welcome!

            Minnesota is very much “the canary in the coalmine” and I hope that my ground level posts on this topic are helpful to people in other cities for if/when this starts happening in your neck of the woods. What citizens are doing here is definitely not “The McResistance” and the canaries here are leading the way for others to follow.

            This Minnesota Public Radio interview from last night is long but well worth bookmarking for later if/when this starts happening in your area:

            
            The digital dragnet: ICE’s surveillance playbook and your legal rights

            Federal immigration enforcement has entered a new era. ICE agents are now deploying facial recognition software, social media monitoring, and other digital tools to identify immigrants and surveil protesters.

            Tuesday at 8 p.m., MPR News host Catharine Richert and her guests take a hard look at how these technologies work, where the law draws the line, and what the expansion of digital surveillance means for privacy for all of us. If you’ve ever wondered how much your digital footprint can reveal, join us for tonight’s conversation.
            1. AG February 4, 2026 at 1:36 pm

               thanks here too!
8. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 9:19 am

   “NHL Denies Report Montreal Canadiens Tried to Avoid ICE in Minneapolis”

   The Montreal Canadiens were also told that when going out on the streets, to make sure that they were wearing their helmets, neck guard, shoulder pads, elbow pads, gloves, padded pants, shin guards, and a mouth guard. Just in case they came across some ICE goons.
   1. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 9:58 am

      I heard one of the Canadiens players was watching Karoline Leavitt and got called for cross checking.
      1. alrhundi February 4, 2026 at 12:17 pm

         Wuk……….. your mind is wonderful
9. AG February 4, 2026 at 9:36 am

   re: NATO Ukraine

   Fascinating how our MSM can ignore even the closest of sources and fail to draw the most obvious conclusions

   NATO chief says Western troops to be deployed in Ukraine the moment peace is concluded
   Other types of NATO assistance will still be provided to Ukraine, Mark Rutte said
   https://tass.com/world/2081013
   1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 9:50 am

      Sounds like Mark Rutte has been negotiating with himself again. The Russians keep saying that any foreign troops in the Ukraine will be attacked on sight and yet Rutte and Macron and other leaders keep on talking about sending their troops there. The NATO leaders had better get used to hearing some Russian concepts pretty soon. And one of them is ‘Nyet!’
      1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2026 at 10:27 am

         Fifteen months until Macron is gone. He’s a lamer duck with every passing moon.

         That tells me the SMO will continue for at least fifteen more months.
      2. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 12:57 pm

         Oh, it’s worse than that.

         Rutte is effectively telling Russia it has to take all of Ukraine if it wants to keep NATO out.
         1. AG February 4, 2026 at 1:31 pm

            Which is a necessity for the EU narrative to hold. Remember they called out 2029 as key year. But not because RU would be ready by then as they claim (RU would be ready this very moment) but because NATO internally has assessed that´s the year when AFU would break down finally and RU would have gained control. So what they want is RU at the western borders to justify the militarization in the EU.

            For the scaremongering scheme to work you do not need actual NATO-troops in Ukraine. You can create the same story of urgency and threat if it´s Romania and Poland instead.

            Rosa-Luxemburg Conference last week had a good panel where a lady from Physicians Against Nuclear War stated that – believe or not – the main German medical associations welcome the new warfooting of the country. So with February this year doctors will receive new instructions by the government to preapre for such new practices as triage in war time or handling frontline injuries. They “dig” it. Dunno what to say any more..

            even if this is only officaldom and many doctors in everday life will tell you this is all idiocy. All the prep propagated in public with so much aplomb will get stuck in the inertia of everyday contradictions and resistance.

            However the country´s wealth will still be burnt up/stolen.
10. flora February 4, 2026 at 9:37 am

    re: The Predatory Hegemon – Foreign Affairs

    Very good article. Thanks for the link.

    From the opening paras:
    “Given the United States’ still considerable assets and geographic advantages, predatory hegemony may work for a time. In the long run, however, it is doomed to fail.”

    The current admin acts like it doesn’t think about the future at all, imo. It is almost childish in its failure to consider possible consequenses to any action it takes.

    The latest Texas election results are a prime example of failure to think ahead. For example, Texas GOP redistricted the state to give greater importance to the Latino vote. The Texas GOP controlled lege thinking was that because T did so well among Latinos in the last election that giving their votes more weight in the redrawn districts would be a sure winner in the midterms this year. What does T do? He turns the ICE thugs loose on anyone who looks even slightly Latino or ‘unamerican’. Blowback ensues in the Texas races. The Dems win.

    I can’t decide if the T admin is flailing or dumb – unable to think 2 steps ahead. Or maybe it’s greed driving the whole shebang.
    1. flora February 4, 2026 at 9:53 am

       an aside: the American Heritage Dictionary definition of the word ‘shebang’.
       (I’m adding this definition because the word shebang is now common in computer programming. It’s used here as in its older meaning, not computer programming.)

       shebang /shə-băng′/
       noun

       – A situation, organization, contrivance, or set of facts or things.
       “organized and ran the whole shebang.”
       – A jocosely depreciative name for a dwelling or shop; a primitive dwelling; a shanty.
       – The structure of an object, process, organization, or anything viewed as complicated; — used primarily in the phrase the whole shebang.
    2. hk February 4, 2026 at 11:25 am

       People have gotten such nutty ideas about the might of gerrymandering that they forgot how it actually “works.”
    3. Geo February 4, 2026 at 12:59 pm

       “The current admin acts like it doesn’t think about the future at all, imo. It is almost childish in its failure to consider possible consequenses to any action it takes.”

       For years there’s been a refrain mostly on the right and in neoliberal circles about running government like a business. Modern business is primarily focused on quarterly profits and wealth building for the shareholders, not about long term sustainability or the wellbeing of the workers.

       According to Forbes the president’s wealth has increased $3B since his election. So, seems the consequences of his actions are working out great for him.
       1. flora February 4, 2026 at 1:49 pm

          Your comment about T’s new-found wealth reminds me of the old 1996 comedy movie ,(dry, very dry), about a fictional Vermont dairy farmer who decides to run for Congress.
          utube, ~1hr,30+ minutes.

          A Man with a Plan.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUZGv4idk3s
          1. lyman alpha blob February 4, 2026 at 6:38 pm

             The movie is fictional, but Fred Tuttle was a real VT dairy farmer. And not long after the movie, he actually did run for US Senate, beat his rich carpetbagger opponent handily in the Republican primary, and then dropped out and told everybody to vote for the Democrat Leahy.

             I remember he made an appearance on Letterman during his run and when asked how much money he was spending on his campaign he said “$251.00 – one dollar for every town in VT”. He might have spent more than that, but not a whole lot. He made a bit of a splash at the time and got a lot of free publicity.

             His farm was not all that far from my own family’s and my brother in-law was the EMT who drove the ambulance that took Tuttle to the hospital for what turned out to be the final time. He’s remembered fondly at the Tunbridge World’s Fair, which is a real hoot.
    4. Late Introvert February 4, 2026 at 11:30 pm

       I think this sentence at the end of para 3 has undermined my confidence in the author.

       U.S. officials led, but they also listened, and they rarely tried to weaken or exploit their partners.

       Walt seems to whitewash every US Administration that laid the table for Trump. Not saying Trump isn’t awful, just that he is the result of decades of rot and not the sole instigator.
11. t February 4, 2026 at 9:42 am

    Calling ICE babies and telling them nobody is threating them has really got to hurt. They probably like being called Nazi and Thug and 100% want to be seen as dangerous. We need to take our kids to school and you are in the way…

    That’s the right stuff.
    1. Spastica Rex February 4, 2026 at 11:21 am

       To be fair:

       Shaming is a tactic.

       Is it a viable tactic in this case? In my opinion, no.

       To be a fair a second time, these people could be disappeared, maimed, or killed for standing up in the way they can in a very scary situation.

       There was no risk, and no effort in my typing the BS I just typed.
    2. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 11:30 am

       In my experience, nobody ever comes off good speaking into a bullhorn, it’s a bullying tactic of being louder than everybody else.
       1. Darthbobber February 4, 2026 at 8:24 pm

          Indeed. Whenever I see someone armed with a bullhorn facing off against masked vigilantes with long guns and pistols, I always feel for the bullied vigilantes.
    3. Dr. John Carpenter February 4, 2026 at 12:32 pm

       It reminds me of someone who mentioned giving meatheads who drive the huge trucks with zero regard for anyone else a simple thumbs down would provoke a much greater reaction than flipping the bird. Id imagine these are the same people were talking about.
       1. ambrit February 4, 2026 at 6:12 pm

          From my experience, what really gets their goat is to drive up next to them and start laughing. Look up and down the truck they are driving and laugh outrageously.
          Just remember to stay out of the “crash zone.”
          Stay safe.
12. AG February 4, 2026 at 9:51 am

    re: Greenland

    Is the issue seriously off the table due to the pension fund moves by the Danes and Swedes???
    It is a great detail I found nowhere reported of course. But how enduring is it in the face of geopolitical interests.
    1. jsn February 4, 2026 at 11:01 am

       Dollar liquidation is geopolitical: our policies have forced that on the world.

       The world used to cringe in front of our “power projection”, which I’m sure is what attracted Trump to the Presidency in the first place.

       But now that he’s got it again, the power isn’t what it used to be and agency is breaking out amongst erstwhile cringers while the President is getting a real time education in systemic feedback loops, something his wealth and domineering personality has previously shielded him from.
13. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 9:57 am

    I privately advised last September that central bank gold buying was relatively stable, that the surge in demand for gold now driving gold price higher was due to sustained wage growth in China, India, West Asia and East Asia – all gold preferring cultures.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Native Americans seemed to not really care for the alluvial riches in California in river beds that required not much effort in retrieving them, one of my favorite Gold Rush towns is Downieville on the forks of the Yuba and Downie rivers, where early argonauts could expect to fill a cup in a day’s work in one locale on the river, and said spot became known as Tin Cup Diggins. That’s around 50 ounces a day, just waiting there for them after time immemorial.

    Latter-Day Americans are much the same, there’s that odd taint from when it was ‘illegal’ to own, plus Wall*Street has never met an opportunity to diss old yeller they didn’t like, pushing the narrative against, pretty hard. Yeah it’s deflationary and doesn’t pay any interest and on account of being a tough taskmaster was likely responsible for all those financial panics in 19th century America, as opposed to fiat being continually inflationary and paying scant interest.

    I must admit I prefer the fiat cards dealt-as its the only system anybody alive knows, and its worked despite crazy inflation over my lifetime that didn’t come all at once. My parents first house in LA was $12k and now ‘worth’ 90x that amount, my coming out party in 1961 cost $190, now a pregnancy is 100x that amount.

    Its staggering when you look at it over a long period of time, but luckily most people aren’t hep to what’s what, and live for the moment, along with salaries keeping up, hopefully.

    One day in 2010 on a drive in Glendale, Ca. I counted 17x ‘We Buy Gold’* storefronts-when most that glitters was around 1/5th of the current price, and I hit up friends in LA recently, asking if they were seeing any action, and they all said they weren’t seeing anything along those lines, what’s happening in your Big Smoke neck of the woods?

    Remember when catalytic converters started being stolen?

    It was on account of palladium and platinum going up mightily, and a converter with say $300 worth of metal was worth $50 or $100 to the thief…

    Pretty much every mans’ 14k wedding band is worth $400 to $500, and the hope is that perps that switched from catalytic converters to digital thefts don’t need to use a Sawzall in procuring the precious.

    * am excellent way to get 25-50% of the true value for your goods, they rely on their clientele not knowing weights or measures
14. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 9:58 am

    “The US Might Make The Sahelian Alliance An Offer That It Can’t Refuse”

    It might be better to bite the bullet and refuse the US. When France was in this region “fighting” terrorists, terrorism actually ramped up. When the US had their base in Niger, they refused to share their intelligence with that government so that those terrorists could be attacked. Come to think of it, when a US negotiating team arrived in Niger to keep that base open, their behaviour was so outrageous that the Niger delegation kicked them out on the spot. You let the US into this region, the next thing you know they are building a 50-acre Embassy and the air will be thick with drones. Better to hang on until the Russians can send more help.
15. flora February 4, 2026 at 10:06 am

    Tucker and Cenk Uygur. Cenk calls out the MSM’s multiple failings, among other topics. utube, ~2hr, 24 minutes+

    Cenk Uygur: Epstein, JFK, 9-11, Israel’s Terrorism and the Consequences of Opposing It

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOs0Kpj0g1w
16. Archie Shemp February 4, 2026 at 10:42 am

    Just wondering what Naked Capitalism has against Blue Sky?

    Sorry if it’s been explained before, but why support Elno with so many links to Ex? And none that I’ve seen to Blue Sky?
    1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 11:14 am

       Blue Sky asks me to provide information I am not willing to give them to open an account. Twitter did not. So yes, Blue Sky is disrespectful of my privacy.
    2. Geo February 4, 2026 at 1:09 pm

       I’m not speaking for NC in any way, just offering my own perspective on BlueSky:

       It’s an echo-chamber of MSNBC refugees who still think Russia is the cause of all evils, idpol is the most important factor in politics, and everything wrong with our government started with Trump. It’s basically a 24/7 “No Kings” rally where liberals can be free to cancel dissenting views. It’s unbearable.

       UpScrolled is an interesting newer platform but still has a way to go to become a well-rounded portal for news and opinions.

       Twitter is a cesspit but still has enough residual good from its glory days to be useful. Sort of a metaphor for our country.
       1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 1:10 pm

          Also a lot of officials use Twitter to make short statements.
          1. Geo February 4, 2026 at 1:14 pm

             Plus, on Twitter I get notifications when NC has a new article up!
       2. Archie Shemp February 4, 2026 at 5:11 pm

          Thanks for explaining, Yves. I don’t have an account with either one, so didn’t know that.
          1. Late Introvert February 4, 2026 at 11:41 pm

             I’ve had excellent luck with replacing those links with nitter.poast.org

             There does seem to be a fair amount of value lingering in pockets of Elon’s cesspool.
             1. Archie Shemp February 5, 2026 at 9:04 am

                Thanks. I hear xcancel is good too, but haven’t tried it.
17. Will February 4, 2026 at 10:59 am

    Seeing the chaos in MN, the wise leaders of TN have decided to be proactive in protecting their law enforcement officials by cooperating fully with Stephen Miller.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-plan

    the [Tennessee] speaker [of the house] announced a suite of eight bills that would turn state and local police officers, judges, teachers, social workers and others into an auxiliary extension of the federal immigration system. It makes the presence of an undocumented person with a final deportation order a state crime in Tennessee. And it mandates that officials report the presence of undocumented persons to ICE, while criminalizing disclosure of information about immigration enforcement activities to the public.
    …
    But the most controversial and legally impactful proposal would require local school systems to verify lawful status for K-12 students. Those without legal residency would be charged tuition. Others could be denied enrollment.
    …
    The legislation directly challenges Plyler v Doe, a landmark 1982 US supreme court case that establishes a constitutional right for undocumented children to an education at public expense, setting up revisitation of the decision in the Roberts court.

    The above legislation was tabled 8 days after the murder of Renee Good. During the press conference announcing the legislation, speaker of the house Cameron Sexton pointed to the widespread protests in MN.

    “Look at Minnesota,” Sexton said. “Is Minnesota holding those individuals accountable? Are they holding them accountable for blocking streets? No. You can’t block streets in Tennessee. You’re going to be held accountable or you’re going to go to jail. And Minnesota is just a wild, wild west. They allow people to do anything. It’s actually a detriment to law enforcement. They’re making it less safe to be a police officer or a federal agent in Minnesota.”

    Incredible leadership.
    1. Judith February 4, 2026 at 12:42 pm

       Miller is deliberately creating divisiveness, which contributes to the push toward fascism.
18. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 11:02 am

    Epstein revelations are carrying as much media weight as the Panama Papers, and this was the last hurdle for the miscreants involved to get over, and so far-so good.

    This heinous hive of humanity is quite depraved, but to what heights of depravity are they capable of, once unburdened?
    1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2026 at 11:22 am

       The litmus test for me is whether Bill Gates is excommunicated from polite society, shunned, and disinvited from Davos and other global get-togethers of the super elite.

       To your point, now that the files are out, what’s left to keep these depraved sociopaths in check? Throwing one or two of their own like Gates and Larry Summers under the bus seems like a minor sacrifice to make.
       1. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 11:36 am

          Epstein alumni then: ‘take one for the teen’

          Epstein alumni now: ‘take one for the team’
       2. Geo February 4, 2026 at 1:16 pm

          “excommunicated from polite society”

          Where is this polite society you speak of and how can I become a resident?
          1. Young February 4, 2026 at 11:15 pm

             You probably need a lot of these:

             000,000,000 ;-))
       3. CanCyn February 4, 2026 at 5:38 pm

          Bill is already out and denying any wrongdoing. Apologizing and regretting he ever spent any time with Epstein – he only did it to find wealthy donors for his foundation. Melinda isn’t really saying much other than the Epstein friendship did contribute to their divorce and the current release of papers is reminding her of dark times in her marriage. Hmm, maybe something more there than Bill is admitting? No link included, a quick search will find you all the mainstream media reporting on this. Of course none of them are questioning the ethics of knowingly spending time with a convicted sex trafficker just to find some rich folks. If they don’t shun Gates for shenanigans with Epstein they should at least be wondering about his intelligence. I’d think that he’d know all kinds of rich folks who aren’t convicted felons who could introduce him to other rich folks.
          1. ChrisFromGA February 5, 2026 at 8:01 am

             Until we get criminal prosecutions, scum like Gates will get a pass.

             Slipping someone prescription meds without their consent, even if just antibiotics, sounds like some sort of misdemeanor. Assault? Not to mention cavorting with Russian prostitutes, allegedly.

             But as you point out, Melinda seems to want to let bygones be bygones, and statutes of limitations may have run out. The Trump DoJ has indicted folks for less, though.
19. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 11:35 am

    In a winter that wasn’t for those in western states, the Sierra is the big winner with 60% of an average snowpack for this time of year-boy howdy, while every other state is in the midst of getting nearly skunked if they don’t get a winter and pronto.

    Even Oregon, well-known precip earner, has got so little that a number of ski resorts that don’t have manmade snow capabilities, have closed down in what would be the height of the season normally.

    The larger ramifications are huge, and with the Feds taking Colorado River matters into their hands, the situation grows even more dire, like a boiling plot watched over.

    This is not to mention all those who rely upon surface water in states effected.
    1. curlydan February 4, 2026 at 4:54 pm

       Definitely looking bleak and dry out there. Here are some good snowpack stats from Colorado from the past 35 or so years.

       https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/states/CO/products/#state=co&element=wteq
    2. The Rev Kev February 4, 2026 at 6:12 pm

       Sounds like there is going to be one hell of a fight between some States over water and who gets it. Don’t know what States like Oregon are going to do after being shorted over rain.
    3. JG February 4, 2026 at 10:38 pm

       Zero point; South: Cascade/Siskiyou Crest; ski area shut. North: Mt. Hood, same. Crater Lake? 2/3 feet; usually 9 feet, or thereabouts. My “town” burned down era FEMA Disaster Almeda, October 2020. Summer Plan: outside Olympia, WA, family has property…summer at the “mini” ranch is what I am leaning into. Be Well, year of the Fire Horse and all that jazz❤️🐈‍⬛
20. KD February 4, 2026 at 12:04 pm

    Now that I live in Asia, I take posturing about China’s virtues with a fistful of salt. The fact that the US utterly squandered its enormous advantages including not having been a gracious victor when the USSR collapsed and being so dopey as to think it could dominate China “because democracy” when it pushed for China to be allowed WTO preferred status when it did not qualify, and now has and is now openly predatory on many fronts to try to claw back, clearly makes China much less bad in comparison.

    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
    1. ambrit February 4, 2026 at 6:17 pm

       H G Wells had an answer to that saying, and it wasn’t good at all.
       Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Country_of_the_Blind
21. Expat2uruguay February 4, 2026 at 12:06 pm

    I have observed that extreme-heat-wave items linked here under the Climate/Environment heading occurr more often in the northern hemisphere.

    Research reveals tthat extreme heat waves hit the Northern Hemisphere harder because of:
    More land
    Less ocean buffering
    Arctic amplification
    Jet stream instability
    Emissions geography

    Climate change is global — but extremes are not evenly distributed.
    1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 1:19 pm

       Wellie, Australia has also had it rough. I don’t feature as many items on them but they have had super nasty heat as well.

       But I get your implicit point that South America has been less affected than most places.
22. Jason Boxman February 4, 2026 at 12:33 pm

    I think IM Doc mentioned a Greek word some years ago, that might have translated into sickness or sadness of the soul, and I’ve thought about that occasionally in the years since, with regard to the ongoing Pandemic and how diseased American culture is in general. I’ve felt profound sadness for many years now, so although I can’t spell or pronounce the word, it struck a cord with me.
    1. Henry Moon Pie February 4, 2026 at 11:47 pm

       I’m guessing you’re thinking of ἀσθένεια (astheneia) which means “weakness” or “sickness.” Jesus heals of a lot of astheneia in the Gospels, but the meaning you’re speaking of is best exemplified in Romans 6:

       What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were [e]delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness [f]for holiness.

       Romans 6:15-19 (NKJV)

       Another interesting use is Matthew’s quote of the Septuagint’s version of the Suffering Servant passage in Second Isaiah:

       When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

       Matthew 8:14-17 (NRSVU)

       The connection between a sickness of the body and a sickness of the soul makes sense in a Semitic context where shalom refers to health of body and soul, and nephesh, the Hebrew word for “soul” and “esophagus.” Mind/body dualism was not a thing. Paul, Semite though he be, is another story because of the Greek/Roman influence.
23. Jason Boxman February 4, 2026 at 12:41 pm

    FT archive is live now

    Tether retreats from $20bn funding ambitions after investor pushback (FT via archive.ph)

    Tether’s chief executive has downplayed the amount of money it will raise in a new funding round as the world’s largest stablecoin issuer faces investor pushback over its $500bn valuation target.

    The crypto group, registered in El Salvador, last year began talks to raise $15bn-$20bn in a deal that would make it one of the most valuable private companies.

    But Tether’s advisers have floated raising as little as $5bn after facing reluctance from investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
24. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 1:04 pm

    $4.01k update:

    The fervent hope is that we will see institutional buying of Bitcoin, but mental patients seldom have the wherewithal to play along, so into the abyss we go, the all-important $73k barrier being breached, with underwater creeping in.
25. Bugs February 4, 2026 at 1:20 pm

    Thanks Yves for that article on the Zero Dollar Factories.

    In France, we’ve got plenty of Zero Euro Tourism going on – they have an entire escort and guide system in place to take the Chinese tourists to the major sites, while only spending money in Chinese-run businesses that are not necessarily closed off to others (restaurants will have menus up, as required, etc) but that only open their doors when the tour busses empty out in front of them. There’s even a duty free shop in one of the main boulevards off the Versailles Palace that is run this way. Of course there are Chinese tourists who actually do spend time and money in country, but this is an obvious scam that I didn’t even know had a name.

    I actually got kind of pissed about the restaurants because I thought they were probably good places to try some pretty authentic Chinese food and they were never open lol.
    1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2026 at 1:23 pm

       I didn’t want to go on overmuch…but we too have Zero Baht tours run by Chinese. And China is the biggest tourist group. Admittedly many Chinese come on their own but (not this year but in past years) there were a LOT of Chinese busses tying up traffic! And so annoying to know that pretty much all Thailand was getting from them was the VAT on the hotel charges and restaurant meals.
       1. Antagonist February 4, 2026 at 1:52 pm

          It’s an unfair stereotype, but I have seen it too many times first hand to be a coincidence. A bus load of Chinese tourists will descend like locusts on a site. They will be obnoxious and rude, smoking cigarettes, littering everywhere, and taking things that are usually offered as a free hospitality (e.g. hotel soap). Then, the Chinese will engage in their favorite pastime: hocking loogies in public. I have noticed some pretty amazingly well done medical research from China, but apparently nobody told them about potential viruses and bacteria from phlegm.

          I can’t remember a single time I have ever seen a busload of tourists that is all one ethnicity and nationality except for the Chinese. Do busloads of Russian tourists even exist?
          1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 5, 2026 at 12:39 am

             There used to be busloads of Japanese tourists in Europe in Japan’s better days but the Japanese are unfailingly polite.
    2. .human February 4, 2026 at 3:29 pm

       We’ve got these in the US of A also. They are called multi-national companies that pay below subsistence wages and though some little remains in the community, much of it goes to cover the tax break given to the corporation and the remainder of the profits are divvied up by the big club never to be seen again.
26. Wukchumni February 4, 2026 at 1:38 pm

    Ultimate Faith Competition

    Mike (of amnesia) Johnson versus Pope Leo

    A couple of bible slingers go into the Octagon-who knows what emerges?

    PPV HD $29.95/30 Shekels
27. CanCyn February 4, 2026 at 2:52 pm

    Re Trump and the female reporter… I try not to react to his pettiness and boorish behaviour but no matter how I try, he still manages to get under my skin sometimes. It really is something else that no one stands up to this buffoon. But everyone is scared of the consequences and I’m guessing their own bosses have rules of non-engagement. And being professional and taking the high road counts. But, wouldn’t it be great to hear a response like, “Well, Mr President, you’re a really terrible president, the worst ever, so I guess that makes us even.”
28. Jeff W February 4, 2026 at 3:02 pm

    “I am retiring Democrats en déshabillé as far too charitable”

    Well, the phrase means “not fully or carefully dressed,” primarily in a literal sense. I never really had any idea what lambert intended it to mean—maybe “revealed” [from the “unclothed” meaning] but I had a feeling, perhaps, he might have meant “in disarray” (which it doesn’t mean). Who knows? Well, in any case, I, for one, am glad it’s gone.
29. johnnyme February 4, 2026 at 6:27 pm

    Pushback is happening regarding the use of Flock surveillance cameras here in Minnesota. Brooklyn Park is a large suburb north of the city of Minneapolis.

    Roadside cameras going dark: Another department makes changes to program over accountability concerns

    The city of Brooklyn Park canceled its contract with the company Flock Safety at the end of December. According to city council minutes, the city signed on with Flock in the fall of 2024 to operate eight cameras around the city at a cost of $28,000.

    Inspector Matt Rabe said they cancelled the contract “due to concerns over customer support and poor data sharing protocols.”
30. AG February 4, 2026 at 9:01 pm

    re: Minneapolis vs. ICE

    interview by JACOBIN

    The Minneapolis Strategy for Fighting ICE Is Worth Studying

    Interview with

    Emilia González Avalos
    Greg Nammacher
    JaNaé Bates Imari

    In Minneapolis, years of robust labor and community organizing set the stage for the fierce pushback against federal immigration agents’ aggressive invasion. Their experience may soon be relevant to cities elsewhere in the US facing incursions from ICE.
    https://jacobin.com/2026/02/minneapolis-ice-protest-organizers-trump
31. johnnyme February 4, 2026 at 9:24 pm

    This link should help give everyone a better idea of the immense scale of how everyday Minnesotans are responding to what is happening here:

    Nearly 30,000 Minnesotans trained as constitutional observers

    The Immigrant Defense Network helped band together more than 100 organizations to assist struggling families and defend immigrants’ constitutional rights. In January, the network registered an average of 2,000 volunteers per week to train as constitutional observers. A constitutional observer is a trained community member who observes and documents federal law enforcement activity to help ensure constitutional rights are followed.

    Edwin Torres Desantiago, the Immigrant Defense Network manager, told MPR News in November that 2,500 people were trained as observers. He said the total now is nearly 30,000 trained observers in 77 out of 87 counties in Minnesota.

    Additionally, another 6,000 volunteers are registered to help deliver food, give at-risk families rides, go to court hearings and translate documents. Torres Desantiago said that to many staff and volunteers, their work feels like a nonstop sprint.
32. rowlf February 4, 2026 at 9:42 pm

    This could fit in here but it is just likely AI slop. Anti war song, probably just from a desktop.

    
    Children of War
33. johnnyme February 4, 2026 at 10:22 pm

    Woodbury man describes conditions inside Whipple Building; Minnesota congresswoman investigating

Comments are closed.