Just read this beautiful story 😭❤
I live in a 12-unit apartment building. For two years, I didn't know a single neighbor.
We'd pass in the hallway. Nod. Maybe say "hey." Then disappear into our separate lives.
That was normal. That was city living.
Then someone new moved into…— Sheila of the Most High (@sheilatebra) February 6, 2026
The push to turn Big Food into the new Big Tobacco STAT
Autism Incidence in Girls and Boys May Be Nearly Equal, Study Suggests MedPage
Sex during working hours – new wellness program proposed by the Center: “Started as a joke” Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology. Aieee!
Climate/Environment
I’m a prepping expert – this is how I’m getting ready for water shortages iPaper
Melting Antarctic ice may weaken a major carbon sink Science Daily
Greenland shatters temperature record, redrawing economy from fishing to minerals Reuters
Compound Heat-Drought Threatens China’s Oil Crops Bioengineer
At least 35 killed after weeks of heavy snowfall in Japan Snowbrains
Colorado River Negotiators Are Nearly Out of Time and Snowpack Inside Climate News
China?
Chinese provinces set lower growth targets for 2026 Financial Times
China’s Easy Money Floods Metals Markets as Real Economy Falters Bloomberg
🚢⚡ The world’s largest pure-electric cargo ship just began sea trials. And it’s Chinese, of course. 🇨🇳
China has launched sea trials for the world’s largest 10,000-ton, pure-electric intelligent ocean vessel, the Ningyuan Diankun (宁远电鲲号).
This isn’t a concept, it’s not… pic.twitter.com/hxgjmv3cFG
— James Wood 武杰士 (@commiepommie) February 5, 2026
Under US scrutiny, CATL rolls out new batteries and investment Asia Times (Kevin W)
Africa
Amid worsening drought and crop failure, Zimbabweans support government investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, green energy The Zimbabwean
South of the Border
Cuba records first freezing temperature amid deepening energy crisis Intellinews
O Canada
Trump’s designs on Greenland might be as much about out-manoeuvring the Canadians, as the Russians Ian Proud
European Disunion
Volvo Slump Fuels Fears for Europe’s Auto Industry OilPrice
Europe’s public finances in a warming world VoxEU
US to fund free speech activists in Europe – FT RT (Kevin W)
Europe’s Next Hegemon: The Perils of German Power Foreign Affairs
German journalists are playing war: “What if Russia attacks us?” Nachdenkseiten via machine translation (Micael T)
Dutch Queen Maxima joins army as a reservist, as “safety can no longer be taken for granted” CBS (resilc)
Old Blighty
UK borrowing costs rise as concerns about Starmer’s future mount Reuters
Daily Mossad
Keir Starmer a decent man pic.twitter.com/32A6FC7YCW— ARTIST TAXI DRIVER (@chunkymark) February 7, 2026
I once had some respect for Paul Mason:
People are joining Labour tonight. To back Keir Starmer and take part in the clean up of British politics that will now begin… join us in the fight to stop the racist right https://t.co/Rawr0ob14P
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) February 6, 2026
Who is Starmer’s Irish adviser at centre of Mandelson scandal? RTE (Colonel Smithers)
* * * Pubs and restaurants hit with most sustained job losses since financial crisis The Caterer
Israel v. The Resistance
Handcuffs, interrogation, humiliation: Palestinians describe Israeli treatment at Rafah crossing Mondoweiss (guurst)
Scholasticide as a military achievement.
A school, in the midst of pulverized buildings, close to a hospital that has been attacked and shut down, in order to create conditions of life leading to the destruction of Gaza Palestinians as a group. https://t.co/ZYJtIuqBnw
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) February 5, 2026
U.S.-Iran Talks Up To A ‘Good Start’ Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Iran Is at Work on Missile and Nuclear Sites, Satellite Images Show New York Times. resilc: “Now that the CIA’s favorite propaganda rag, WaPo, is relegated to a weekly shopper paper, the NYTmes picks up the war monger slack.”
New Not-So-Cold War
Killing the negotiators Events in Ukraine
Mixed Signals On Iran / US Talks… Russians are Furious Following New Terrorist Attack in Moscow Larry Johnson
Brief Frontline Report – February 6th, 2026 Marat Khairullin and Mikhail Popov
Russia will respond to the military threat from Finland and Sweden Vzglyad via machine translation (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Decolonization I: “the biggest reconfiguration of world politics ever seen” James Rich
The New World Order–or Disorder? John Mearsheimer
VIOLENT AMERICA HAS LOST ITS WAY Michael Basta
Trump 2.0
It is not just that Trump posted this. The clip was produced (the spokesmonster tries to pretend otherwise by calling it AI generated, as if Trump were sufficiently down the curve on AI to have done this on his little old lonesome). That means no one on his team tried to stop it, or worse (and more likely), they thought this was just ducky:
Folks, Trump just posted a video of Michelle and Barak Obama as apes.pic.twitter.com/6ZyWFU6quE
— Renee (@Renee05208714) February 6, 2026
BREAKING: Madman President Promotes Racist Video of the Obamas as Apes ZETEO
Trump won’t apologize for sharing since-deleted racist video depicting Obamas as apes on Truth Social CNN (Kevin W)
Karoline Leavitt slams ‘fake outrage’ after Obamas depicted as ‘The Lion King characters’ Daily Star (resilc)
American Violence New Left Review (Anthony L)
Can neuroscience shed light on Trump’s new world disorder? Globe and Mail (Dr. Kevin). IMHO, IM Doc’s white matter disease hypothesis fits the behaviors better.
Farmers squeezed by Trump tariffs press lawmakers for action The Hill
White House pitches renaming Penn Station as Trump Station to unlock Gateway tunnel funding Gothamist
ICE Rampage
GOP, Democrats expect DHS shutdown after talks fizzle The Hill. Sadly, ICE is fully funded.
What Americans actually want done about ICE G. Elliott Morris
What Democrats Need to Know to Truly Reform ICE Mother Jones (Chuck L). Assumes against evidence that Democrats want to rein in ICE, as opposed to whine about and fundraise off it
With ICE Using Medicaid Data, Hospitals and States Are in a Bind Over Warning Immigrant Patients KFF Health News
The Blueprint That Broke a Federal Occupation Chris Armitage
The Ferocity of Responses to Tim Walz’s Anne Frank/ICE Comments Are Revealing Religion Dispatches (Chuck L)
This is the worst one yet… and confirmed everything we suspected about Epstein's Zorro Ranch.
"2 foreign girls buried on orders of Jeffrey & Madam G. Both died by strangulation during fetish sex." https://t.co/1NcqKm9BqU pic.twitter.com/f28IyE0yvw
— Jason Bassler (@JasonBassler1) February 6, 2026
You’re Paying Taxes to Billionaire Pedophiles Who Bomb and Maybe Eat Children Charles McBryde (Micael T)
Epstein’s “wild” party with Zuckerberg, Musk, and Thiel Oligarch Watch
The Epstein Files Are Hazing You Into The Pedo Gang indi.ca (resilc)
Democrats Suck
How Worried Should Democrats Be About Trump Stealing the Next Election? Washington Monthly. After the ICE trampling of the rule of law, they recommend taking a chill pill? Have they lost their minds? The risk is not “stealing”. It’s finding a way to brick them.
‘It’s pissing people off’: Centrist Democrats are livid with AIPAC after primary fiasco Politico (Kevin W)
Our No Longer Free Press
Economy
Mr. Market is Edgy
Death, taxes and turmoil: is the age of the safe haven over? The Times
Silver Whipsaws Again as Thin Liquidity Fuels Wild Price Swings Bloomberg
Bitcoin’s 45% Plunge Is A Warning Of A Bigger Liquidity Problem Seeking Alpha
The Bezzle
From Andrew Ross Sorkin’s morning newsletter:
Shares in an array of subscription-based software companies, including Salesforce, ServiceNow and Figma, slid again yesterday as investors feared the disruption posed by A.I. agent software like that produced by Anthropic. (Wall Street is calling it the “SaaSpocalypse,” referring to the category’s formal name, “software as a service.”)… Sam Altman, the co-founder and C.E.O. of OpenAI, told the popular tech talk show TBPN that he expects “there will continue to be more” sell-offs in SaaS stocks.
Bitcoin rises above $70,000, extending bounce from Thursday’s crash CoinDesk
It Turns Out That When Waymos Are Stumped, They Get Intervention From Workers in the Philippines Futurism (Kevin W)
Guillotine Watch
The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves Caitlin Johnstone (Micael T)
Class Warfare
The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. New York Times (resilc). How come no articles like this in late 2008?
Retirement in America: An Analysis of Retirement Preparedness Among Working-Age Americans National Institute on Retirement Security
Wisconsin Burger King franchisee accused of over 1,600 child labor law violations Channel3000 (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour. Mark T: “A lilac breasted roller. Ubiquitous in Kruger National Park.”
A bonus:
This is Rex. He's patrolling the store with his current handler when he suddenly recognises his very first one. Breaks all protocol for the purest, most joyful tackle-hug. Dogs are simply unmatched.
pic.twitter.com/qXsMSKifO7— Puppies 🐶 (@Puppieslover) February 5, 2026
A second bonus:
How armadillos gather foliage for their nests pic.twitter.com/y4t64C4t0d
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) February 7, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Re: Snowfall in Japan
More than just snow is falling. Snap elections happening tomorrow and many people on social media are questioning how a political ad for PM Takaichi just got more views on YouTube than the entire population of Japan, and where the money for all of these YT saturation ads came from (bots? taxpayers?).
Sound trucks are everywhere, loudspeakers yelling out the names of the parties over and over.
Takaichi is hoping for victory and openly saying she will consider it a mandate to then revise the Constitution. Got to get rid of all that “peace” and “human rights” language, opening the way for military conflict with China. And taxes will be raised, but “vote for us to find out how much.” lol
Quite a few people on X are alarmed, e.g.:
“Mama votes to stop the war. Papa votes to stop the weakening of the yen”
https://x.com/enokix_kokeshi/status/2020019023417950680
I don’t understand, are there people in Japan that actually think that a war with China would be a good idea? How can that be?
What the people think is irrelevant, same as many Potemkin democracies.
This.
‘Renee
@Renee05208714
Folks, Trump just posted a video of Michelle and Barak Obama as apes.’
If Obama wanted to, he could really get Trump’s goat by making a brief video. He would be at his desk remonstrating in his ‘aw-shucks’ voice when he would glance to the side and pick something up – his Nobel Peace Prize medal. While he continues to talk, he would be blowing dust off it and rubbing its surface with a handkerchief to polish it up. Then finishing his thoughts, he would use a small brush to get off any remaining specks of dirt. Finally, while saying that he forgives Trump, he would then put the ribbon on the medal around his neck to show off him wearing that medal while grinning. Trump would blow a gasket at a video like that. But of course it will never happen.
The problem is, anyone can now make that video without BO thanks to AI.
AI could stitch it from bits of previous BO footage, a la “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”, which would work even better.
Mixing the Obamas, grifters, evicters of thousands, war criminals and yet-to-be-revealed as Epstein-paedophiles and/or murderers (remember the two chefs of theirs who died), and monkeys is highly offensive to monkeys.
thanks for defending the honor of monkeys!
Saw a street dog chasing some street monkeys in Ahmedabad a while back. Could not for the life of me figure out who to root for in the moment. I’m sure the one of the monkeys did something to the dog to piss him off though. Monkeys are like that.
This 5 minute video explains so much about Trump as POTUS – it reveals the moment he decided to run, it explains yesterday’s Lion King post, and much of the in between. How dare a POC mock The Donald…
https://share.google/4RtqGvmzClJS9jEWA
OMG, this does explain much!
I saw a funny comic in the New Yorker yesterday where Trump was stealing the Westminster Best in Show trophy from Penny the Doberman Pinscher and she was attacking him. That would also be a great AI video in the same vein, with the Obamas in the background aghast at the situation. I actually tried making it on one of the more popular platforms and it wouldn’t let me download or share to social media the end result because it depicted a “well known figure” or politician.
Which begets a question: How is it that the Trump Regime is so adept at (and allowed to) downloading and posting their own “AI” schlock without the same guardrails as the rest of us?
Here’s the cartoon:
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/thursday-february-5th-westminster-trump
Copy the image in your browser.
Save it to imgbb, and post the URL.
“Guardrails” defeated.
The major (passive money) indexes are at, or at most 4% , below all-times highs….but if you were on social media, you’d think that this was October 2008, lmao.
the gamble-ification of everything effect….if someone is under 40, good chance that they are sverely skewed into: crypto and all the momentum-meme names (semis, PLTR, silver, etc).
Gambling was quite prevalent in the run up to the French Revolution, although it wasn’t as easy without the internet.
And Friday saw a negation of the selloff days in a single bar on low volume. Perhaps the bull is still very much intact.
The index gains, as you ought to know, have no breadth, as in are based on a few monster tech stocks.
That is a bad sign re durability.
File under AI : moltbook for moltbots, personal AI assistants.
From the Los Angels Times.
Social media for bots takes off, sparking concern and skepticism
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-02-06/moltbook-social-media-for-bots-takes-off-sparking-concern-skepticism
(What if it turns out all this AI infrastructure spending is used for AIs to talk to each other in their own metaverse?)
Bitcoin as a mechanism to turn math into waste heat: AI as a mechanism to turn language into waste heat.
The two primary systems resulting from the symbolic reasoning module, itself resulting from energy capture, cooking food freeing a greater proportion of calories for cognition, defining humans as distinct from our ancestors.
Full circle, adaptive advantages now driving towards extinction, unless we somehow manage to overcome our deeper, bacteria in a petri dish inheritance.
>>>>The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. New York Times (resilc). How come no articles like this in late 2008?
Because the media felt comfortable on being on the receiving end of noblesse oblige from their fancy pants uni alumna “betters.” (class solidarity).
fast forward to today….layoffs and algorithmically-generated media are coming even to the shores of the WaPo op-ed columnists. No one is safe, and Maureen Dowd-tier staff don’t want to learn to code, bro. lmao
Speaking of uni alumna “betters”, how many Harvard lawyers are in Trump’s employ across all his grifts? I wonder if any school spirit still exists for them as Trump tries to extort his current ask of a $billion from their alma mater?
It’s the circle of lies
And it moves us all
Through despair from a dotard
Through fade accompli and loathing
‘Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of lies
Regarding the dogs bonus: am I to conclude that it’s normal in the US for private security firms to patrol Walmart-like stores with attack dogs?
Not yet ‘normal,’ but definitely “normalized.”
Shocking.
I’ve never seen it. Must be a store with serious theft and/or drug problems. Not pleasant, but beats just closing stores in rough areas where innocent people need to shop.
It could be just a training exercise and the store management agreed to it for some weird reason. But the dog failed. It’s supposed to stay on duty.
Is it possible that humans might be deprived from instincts and trained to be strict vigilantes, killers, whatever, with more ease than dogs? If so (big if); Who might be considered more intelligent? The one who is more easily manipulated? May be it wasn’t the dog that failed, it could have been the handler who failed by creating an emotive link with the dog. Fire the first handler!
That looks like a Target store. I’ve never seen guard dogs at any of the “Tar-ghetto” stores here so I’m curious to know when and where this footage was taken. If it is recent and is in response to the increasing number of protests taking place at Target locations here in Minneapolis, it will only sink their dismal reputation further.
2 Target employees who are U.S. citizens injured during Richfield arrest, lawmaker says
Clergy-Community Group Hopes to Meet with Target CEO on ICE Staging
Demonstrators in Dinkytown call for Target to speak out against ICE
It’s not normal, but there are a few Walmarts that house mini police precincts or substations. I know one Walmart in Atlanta reopened with a substation fairly recently. The video looks like a Target though.
Friend of mine lives in an assisted living facility in North Portland, Oregon.
There was a smaller Target store located to the east of the facility. (Within a mile or two…) It closed recently. (A couple of years, or a year ago? Not sure.) When we visited it a couple times to purchase basic household items, there was a heavy security presence.
One entry and one exit. Exit required walking through a detector and showing your receipt and purchases to a uniformed security guard. One and sometimes two of them. I can’t remember if they were armed or not. The exit was right next to the checkout stations, so the stations were under direct visual observation of security.
In other stores I have noticed the tendency to place more items in locked cabinets. Requiring store staff to unlock and retrieve items. I first noticed this with Gillette Mach III blades. Then in Nevada I saw milk and dairy products under lock and key. Recently vitamins, over the counter meds, and… underwear have been in the locked cabinets.
The proliferation of trailer mounted floodlight/camera trailers in shopping center parking lots is also noticeable. They are moving from central Portland out to the suburbs. I first saw them at the Beaverton Fred Meyer. Now they are showing up further out.
I think eventually we go to all online, with home delivery or pickup at the merchant. Or everything is “behind the counter” and you talk to an employee who brings your items out and sells them to you.
If anyone remembers Service Merchandise stores, we’re headed back there.
Is that like the old Consumers Distributing or the 70s Liquor Control Board of Ontario where you would write your order on a slip of paper and staff would retrieve the goods from the warehouse behind the counter?
Or everything is “behind the counter” and you talk to an employee who brings your items out and sells them to you.
Just like merchants did in the 19th century. Progress!
“Mixed Signals On Iran / US Talks… Russians are Furious Following New Terrorist Attack in Moscow”
The US side keeps on adding demands to their list which the Iranians are ignoring. The latest one is that Iran stop selling oil to China. I bet that went down like a lead balloon. You get the feeling that the US side is playing for time and trying to lull the Iranians into relaxing their guard until a military strike can be launched because, you know, Trump is so cunning.
As for the attempted assassination of that Russian general, the guys at The Duran were saying that this was not just any general but the second in command to the guy that had just been negotiating with the Ukrainians the day before. You can’t tell me that that was not a message to the Russians. The Russians themselves are outraged at this so you can bet that there will be payback.
Torah Torah Torah
…you can feel a sneak attack coming
aka: Climb Mount Saini.
Trump wants it to be last time. About a fortnight of war, a dramatic bombing mission and then declaring the war over and won. This time the Iranians are saying nope and it will go for a coupla months. Good luck getting any non-Chinese ship through the Strait of Hormuz in the 3 months that they have declared that it will be shut. They know that Trump has an economic glass jaw, especially with the bond market, and intend to press their advantage.
Its been said the u.s. is no longer agreement capable. Apparently with this new strategy of assassinating negotiators, the u.s. is really no longer capable of coming to agreements of any sort!
It is the same weary playbook that Donnie has been using since Hector was a Pup. He is as consistent in his tactics as a one note flute in its sound. So what to do when faced with it? Stick to the agreed subject. Reject anything else. Eventually it may penetrate.
It could be that the faction that is negotiating is not the faction that is shooting. If so are they on the same side or opposite sides? Inquiring minds want to know
Looks like payback may have taken the form of hits on a couple 750kv substations, which have forced the remaining NPPs offline.
Is it totally out of the realm of possibility that the “nuclear talks” are a smokescreen for what’s really being discussed?
And in this article: U.S.-Iran Talks Up To A ‘Good Start’ – Moon of Alabama
‘”The talks held today were indirect. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi shuffled between the rooms to convey each parties position.”
Even relations with Russia and China haven’t degraded to the point where they can’t be in the same room with US representatives.
I have zero inside information, this is just a gut feeling, my first thought when I saw Bitcoin tanking day over day was it was Israeli-led softening in advance for the start of renewed hostilities with Iran. It’s forgotten now with everything else that happened but in the lead up to the 12 days there was another similar, much smaller event where a major Iranian Bitcoin platform had the wallets either fully drained or reset to zero or something else that “isn’t supposed to happen” given the technology.
as a bonus it would temporarily halt capital flight out of Israel which is a big problem as more leave
re: The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. – New York Times
Great read. Nicely condenses the last 40 years of US “economics.”
A good bookend to the NYT’s editorial is this article from Paul Craig Roberts.
Does Trump’s appointment of Kevin Warsh Signal an approaching financial crisis?
https://paulcraigroberts.org/does-trumps-appointment-of-kevin-warsh-signal-an-approaching-financial-crisis/
adding: on the local news last night
National fire truck shortage threatens Missouri and Kansas communities
https://fox4kc.com/news/problem-solvers/national-fire-truck-shortage-threatens-missouri-and-kansas-communities/
Well they could import Chinese-built fire trucks which would be a fraction of the price and would be built in only months and not years but we all know that that will never happen.
Most US govt entities like local fire departments are tasked with buying US sold products with their US tax dollars budget.
Where I live in Chemung county in NY we used to have two companies that manufacture most of the fire trucks used in the US. Both are gone. They moved south for cheaper labor.
Paul Woolley was interviewed by John Cassidy in the November 21, 2010 issue of the New Yorker.
https://www.fmg.ac.uk/pwc/news/what-good-wall-street
Woolley suggested the financial industry in the USA and UK was 2x to 3x the size it should be for societal benefit.
So the op-ed didn’t discover anything that hasn’t been suggested for more than 15 years.
In the small Northern CA town I live in, I can walk to Chase, Wells Fargo, and three regional banks in about 7 blocks.
Maybe a bit too much banking?
The op-ed doesn’t mention the employment in the USA financial sector.
A search has that 8.29 million USA workers are employed in the finance/insurance industry.
If 2/3 of them lost their jobs, there world be a firestorm of political reaction.
But a surprising op-ed for the NYT.
BTW, maybe the USA also has too many think tanks?
We said the same as did, far more importantly, the Executive Director of Financial Stability for the Bank of England then, Andrew Haldane.
One New Yorker interview does not = meaningful MSM coverage. And Cassidy was a bailout defender although he recanted much too late to make a difference.
re: anti-war protests Italy
interview by GERMAN-FOREIGN-POLICY-BLOG
machine-translation
“Lay down your weapons, raise your wages!”
Interview with Cinzia Della Porta about the day of action against militarization and war in more than 20 ports on the Mediterranean – from Morocco to Italy to Turkey.
ROME – With a day of action this Friday, workers in more than 20 of the largest Mediterranean ports are protesting against the EU’s militarization policies and the use of the ports for supplying weapons in the wars in Ukraine and Israel. They are resisting “the transformation of the Mediterranean into a hub for the war economy,” Cinzia Della Porta explained in an interview with german-foreign-policy.com. Della Porta is a member of the board of the Italian trade union Unione Sindicale di Base (USB), which is involved in organizing the day of action. The USB demands that the ports on the Mediterranean be “places of peace.” Della Porta points out that workers are always among the first to “pay the price of war,” for example, in the form of wage cuts or restrictions on union rights; these are “direct consequences of the war economy.” Furthermore, dockworkers who have to load weapons become unwitting accomplices in wars they oppose. Della Porta argues for linking “resistance to the war with social struggles for wages, public services and workers’ rights”.
February 6th
https://archive.is/NO342
the idiotic Olympics are an excellent way to divert from this
To go with the above report about statins, see below an “article” from the BBC (showcased on the MSN ‘news’ crawl opening page,) running interference for the poor maligned pharmaceutical. When there is money to be made…..
See: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/statin-pills-much-safer-than-advertised-major-review-finds/ar-AA1VM4jW?uxmode=ruby
Stay safe.
A few words about statins – they have been with me largely through all of my career – all the way back to the very first one that came out MEVACOR or lovastatin.
I had the benefit of being trained before the statins came out. This of course was a bit before the medical literature had been hijacked by the pharma, hospital, and insurance industries. I am looking at my notes and materials right now from medical school……….cholesterol levels were considered a 3rd tier modifiable risk factor. Far more important were smoking, exercise, obesity, social activity, diet, stress etc. Diet was a bit problematic because it was not clear what exactly in the diet was an issue back then. Things that could not be altered by an individual were elevated issues in male sex, family history, etc……both of these things were considered to be very significant risk factors and still are.
Then the statins hit. Overnight, cholesterol became the primo risk factor of all. It was everywhere in our media. I would say it speaks to our predilection as a species – we are hooked on things that can be distilled into a number. The osteoporosis issue is exactly the same.
So for years, the media and medical and Pharma marketing did their thing with LDL, HDL, etc. We as a profession treated peoples’ numbers. We put everyone on these drugs. There were even those who were literally demanding statins to be placed in the drinking water. We made their charts really pretty…..but was it actually doing anything in health outcomes? Not so much.
Primary prevention is when you have a lab or test finding – like elevated cholesterol – but you have never had an incident in your life related to it – in the case of cholesterol – an acute MI or stroke, etc. We place people on an intervention for example statins to get the cholesterol down in hopes that will lessen the incidence of the disease – ie MI, sudden cardiac death, etc. Multiple studies over years have shown that there is absolutely and precisely zero benefit of statins in this regard. Zero. Nada. When your MD is putting you on statins to decrease the numbers you found on your labs, and you have never had a cardiac issue – it is basically chart decoration. It is not helping you at all.
Secondary prevention is when the person already has had a stent or an MI or whatever, and then you put them on statins to prevent another event. There is a VERY MARGINAL benefit here – it is not anything like what is presented to the American people.
Since their intro, some off-label uses have been determined to be of help – for example, giving them in the setting of an acute MI or stroke for the first month does seem to increase survival. This likely has nothing to do with cholesterol – it appears to be an acute anti-oxidant effect.
So, for the most part, these drugs are marginal at best. An MD truly interested in your health should be pounding lifestyle changes on you – weight loss, quit smoking, exercise, eating well, sleeping well, decreasing stress, etc.
Statins have all kinds of nasty little side effects especially in those over 70 – and especially in people who are athletic. The more athletic the more likely you will have all the muscle issues. Mind hazing, diabetes, muscle issues and general malaise are all associated with their use. There are others.
My big fear now is all of a sudden in the past year or two, cardiologists are pushing these things to huge doses to get the LDL down to less than 60. This is madness. The study this is based on shows again just very marginal benefits for this. What is never told to people is LDL is actually a semi-truck – it is delivering energy to your body from the food you just ate. When we get it down this low, there is less energy going around. I worry about many organs in this kind of setting.
I do my best to present all of this to my patients. Especially those over 60 or so.
News you can use– something for consideration for sure, and thanks for that.
Yeah, at the VA, numbers with limited context seem to dictate everything in a carry-over from active duty medicine, where our competetive body-builders were threatened with discharge for being “too fat,” according to the BMI index…
Thank you very much IM Doc. I am in the cohort that have had stents inserted into coronary arteries. One is in the “widowmaker” coronary artery, where I was 85% reduced at the time of having the procedure done. Otherwise, I am a fairly typical now semi-sedentary North American male. I was very physically active during my ‘working’ life, so the information concerning “athletes” and the effects of statins is of interest to me. I do experience the “strenuous suggesting” that I partake of the Statin Wonder Drug whenever I visit my Medica. Such behaviour seems to have been institutionalized.
Again, thank you, and I most definitely do not take anything you write here as “medical advice.” Horrors! That would be unethical!!?? [As well as against site policies, natch.]
Stay safe.
I don’t know if you would find this fellow interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6FGaR7vOHk
Medlife Crisis – Statins Explained in 10 Minutes (by a cardiologist)
Interesting video. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
I would urge everyone to read through the comments. 7-8/10 of them or so are describing the side effects of the statin class. If you would like a snapshot of my days in medicine, nothing could embody them more than the comment section in this video.
He is clearly well intentioned and I look forward to his all too rare youtube posts.
But given he aims this video at lay people, it is perhaps unfortunate his treatment of side effects, in being particular, seems to have fallen victim to the brevity he was going for here – at face value his language appears to encompass all side effects, which might be confusing to anyone who has heard of hepatic injury in this context. The pop up texts don’t quite succeed in undoing this mis-presentation. Or perhaps he assumes anyone who has been told to take a statin has been well briefed.
Many thanks for your analysis, which I sincerely appreciate.
It seems like big pharma has captured the medical profession (for the most part, since there are notable exceptions) in the same way that the military-industrial complex has captured US foreign policy.
The whole situation reminds me of a medical appointment with a physician assistant who introduced himself by saying he was a perfectionist and then spent his time staring at numbers.
I read that BBC article and the text has changed. When first published, it read something like “apart from diabetes […] the risks of statins have been shown to be illusory”.
I laughed darkly at this. Apart from diabetes! And how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?
My mother needed no medication and has no family history of cardiovascular disease and her grossly fat GP kept insisting she took statins (because GP gets incentive payment for uptake) and Boom! my mother develops diabetes and now takes. pills for that too.
If Ancel Keys had never done his diet studies in a rabbit, the only animal model to show a direct link between dietary and blood cholesterol, this worthless hypothesis would never have seen the light of day. All the major studies (Framingham, Finland) keep reporting that cholesterol is not a beneficially modifiable surrogate for cardiovascular disease except in men with existing CV (e.g. heart attacks).
Colorado River Negotiators Are Nearly Out of Time and Snowpack Inside Climate News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nobody on skid row ever says ‘man, I heard they got some artificial overnight, lets get first tracks!’
Skiing on artificial snow beats no snow, but its only ok at best, and Big Ski is hurting in attendance, for the perception from afar is that there isn’t any snow in the Rockies, although a good many runs are open vis a vis manmade snow.
Not that a lot of this matters to Alterra and Vail, who sell season passes well in advance of the winter, monies in hand before the snow flies, or doesn’t. Its a good deal if you ski a lot-not so great for the occasional skier/boarder who gets nailed for $349 at Deer Valley for 1 day, yikes!
Have a week ski trip to Colorado in the middle of March, and i’ve been following the weather forecasts, and a smidge here, a scintilla of snow there, and none of it adds up to much in their winter of missed content.
In an odd year, the northeastern ski resorts have a lot, in a snow switcheroo~
Somebody’s gonna take the hit on the new and improved Colorado River negotiations. and seeing how the Feds are in control and Teetotalitarian Leader loathes California, I say we’re the crash-test-dummy.
The Trump upper basin favoring proposal cuts a smaller percentage from CA than from Arizona and Nevada. Of course even in AZ much of the river water flows to agriculture that perhaps would be better located somewhere else. AZ also rapidly grows new houses which, according to my friend who lives there, would also be better somewhere else.
Yes, I love how that article promoted Arizona’s governor fighting Colorado, insisting it somehow overcome climate change and continue flooding her state with water. Then her state turns around and pumps 2/3 of it for agriculture in the desert, some of it for export to Saudi Arabia. This year needs to be the year that the irrigation machine gets dialed back, and if that means suspending permits, denying all new ones, and the start of phasing out desert agriculture, so be it. Time to face reality.
Those Saudi alfalfa farms are depleting the ancient aquifer. It’s the CAP canal water that has long been channeled east from Havasu to farmers but also to Tuscon. I believe Phoenix mostly gets its water from the Salt River and mtns of eastern AZ which is how there came to be a Phoenix in the first place.
Phoenix and surrounding suburbs get a chunk of CAP water as well. One of the bigger beneficiaries are some of the local tribes who are selling some of their CAP allotment and are very worried about the forthcoming cuts. Of course the bigger issue is that the Colorado has been oversubscribed since 1922. Everybody should be taking an immediate and permanent 30% cut just to bring the overall totals down to what the river can produce in a normal year. If we ever have another normal year.
Maybe Trump and Kushner can get all those States together and whichever States gives them the most money and concessions, gets the most water. This was written in satire but now I am not so sure that something like this might actually happen.
About this time last year, Trump ordered the release of 2.5 billion gallons of freshwater from Lake Kaweah here and Lake Success below us on the Tule River, none of which ever goes to Southern California, as the whole stunt was in regard to his statements a few weeks after the LA Infernos, that he could have ordered water moved, or along those lines.
Ag needs that water in August when its a hundred and hell, but its of little value in February when primarily tree crops are dormant, and he wantonly wasted it, with his constituents who all voted for him all being affected.
Could someone help me with the Jason Bassler X-tweets concerning Jeffrey Epstein? Bassler is a podcaster is about all I know about him and his schtick. What am I to make of these? Is this an indicator of a kind of hysteria taking over as lurid and titillating imaginings compete with Israeli spy tales in the American Id? I am genuinely confused by the inclusion of Bassler’s offerings in Links. Are these representative of something? That email from the guy with a USB wanting a bit coin strikes me as Nigerian Prince trolling. But, should I be reading it differently?
– “Is this an indicator of a kind of hysteria taking over as lurid and titillating imaginings compete with Israeli spy tales in the American Id?”
“Lurid and titillating imaginings”? “Israeli spy tales in the American Id”? Is this Michael Tracey using a pseudonym?
Seriously, I don’t know about this particular document or its content. Indeed, my own view of this massive document dump is that it was purposely meant to mix actually relevant material with junk in order to muddy the waters (and provide material for Michael Tracey to select for ridicule). Jason Bassler is sort of a left-libertarian. He co-founded The Free Thought Project site, which I think tends to focus on government corruption and repression. His site has been accused of sometimes enabling “conspiracy theories” by Establishment fact-checkers (which to me is often a recommendation). But there is, in fact, a lot of “circumstantial” evidence (meaning a lot of information by numerous unrelated witnesses which, of course, has been almost completely ignored or disparaged as “baseless”) about Zorro ranch. And certainly there is enough evidence for even the most skeptical critic not to write these charges off as “imaginings” anymore. As to “Israeli spy tales,” you’re kidding, aren’t you?
thanks for your reply. that actually helped further my sanity check.
just to clarify: I buy the hypotheses that Epstein was a Mossad access agent, pervert and pimp. I am trying to stay anchored in reality not deny it for clicks
never investigating or verifying or confirming anything about anything, leaving people to speculate imaginatively is a bit of a psyop on the population. and, a grifting opportunity for many, including, imho, Michael Tracey, whom you mentioned.
It helps to keep in mind that all of it is taken directly from the Epstein Files, gathered by the FBI, DOJ and other law enforcement in preparation for prosecution of the perpetrators of grave, depraved criminal acts.
Dry, very dry.
snark on/ Seeing how those august institutions have had this material for literally years now, exactly what “prosecutions” are you speaking of? /snark off
I do appreciate irony when I see it.
Olympics underway in Italy. Vance booed when cameras showed him and wife at ceremony.
https://www.rt.com/news/632142-trump-surprise-vance-olympics/
I’m in awe of Lindsey Vonn just competing with a bum ACL, I mean who does that?
She’s a speed freak, and I can relate albeit at a more pedestrian 40 mph down blue runs, please.
Most of the Winter Olympics seems kind of made up sports or obscure (I was on the mens junior varsity luge team in high school) stuff best epitomized by curling, and any sport you can do and hold a glass of beer at the same time takes a certain talent.
I’m rooting for the Jamaican bobsled team.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/olympics/news/meet-jamaica-olympic-bobsled-team-how-2026-cool-runnings/4347dfc1eca57643f8d18a13
At this point, I’d be more in awe of Vonn if she gave up her spot to the next best qualifying American by recognizing that her knee is not likely to hold out. But I’ll be happy if the really unexpected happens, and she medals with her wobbly knee.
I guess for Olympic sport athletes, this is the one big time to make a mark and get on the proverbial Wheaties box.
‘Paul Mason
@paulmasonnews
People are joining Labour tonight. To back Keir Starmer and take part in the clean up of British politics that will now begin… join us in the fight to stop the racist right’
I was just imagining an equivalent American ad-
‘People are joining the Democrats tonight. To back Kamala Harris and take part in the clean up of American politics that will now begin… join us in the fight to stop the racist right.
Renew America
Has there ever been a British Prime Minister more hated than Keir Starmer?
People are saying that, y’know: Harris isn’t there by name, but Dems do seem intent on running just on Trump this year without mentioning themselves at all. I am genuinely curious if it’ll actually work this time.
Has there ever been a British Prime Minister more hated than Keir Starmer?
Not since records began!
Oct ’25: Keir Starmer is polling as the UK’s most unpopular prime minister on record. (CNN)
Up-to-date: Starmer Likeability tracker (YouGov. Goes back to 2020)
Oh, perhaps Cromwell. (Technically not a PM, but a Lord Protector. However, the distinction between the two is blurred today.)
Cromwell was quite popular personally with contemporaries generally but not, of course, the Tories (by definition of “Tory”). Irish Catholics need not apply. The Whigs retained a nostalgia for “the good, old cause” thru the 18th century. But, Whigs and Tories did not become a thing until well after the Restoration, in the Exclusion Crisis.
That Cromwell was seen at the time and long after as a competent and effective governor of England, in stark contrast to the Stuarts, especially Charles, Charles and James II, is the animating secret of British Constitutional Monarchy. The country seat of the Prime Minister, interestingly perhaps, is a shrine to Cromwell.
I found incredibly contradictory the pic with Starmer and the “Renew Britain” slogan all in a red background, i guess because “labour”. Imagine a pic of an oil well with a “Think Renewable” slogan in a green background. Wouldn’t you have similar feelings seeing that?
I think Starmer is doomed. Why do I think this? Because somebody has placed a front page article in the Weekend FT (a favourite hangout for geopolitical and affairs of state briefing) saying (I paraphrase) that unless everybody supports Starmer, the economy gets it!
Lol – Project Fear is reborn! (Project Keir? Keir Ii – First Nonce? What to title it?)
https://www.ft.com/content/c855761d-99fb-4fbf-9bec-3270d6439e76
Clearly a desperate move by a desperate man and the people behind him: the New Labour authoritarian Zionist tech-grifters we thought we had decapitated and staked through the heart when Blair was hounded from public life. I really don’t think Mr Market cares, the bond yield movements were just noise….
Also, can we have an update on the was four, now five Ukrainian men of negotiable affection who’ve been firebombing the Friend of Peter?
(Contrary datapoint, a KC tonight said her friend used to instruct Two-Tier when he was a barrister and he was the most lovely man….).
PS for readers with a strong stomach, here is the soft-soap, ready-for-my-comeback exclusive interview the Times gave Mandelson on Thursday. Aged like milk is an understatement. Self-pity, entitlement, throwing others under the bus (even his husband), Petey has it all!
https://archive.is/EeDJP
Eeeewwww!
Speaking of Grayzone, the secret life of Dickie Mountbatten.
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/06/kincora-british-intelligence-run-sex-abuse-brothel/
Oddly this royal wrinkle not mentioned in The Crown although they did show him being blown up by the IRA.
Irish scandal magazine The Phoenix has been reporting for many years on the Kincora Boys Home scandal and Mountbatten’s possible connections. The core of the story is that a Protestant Boys Home was run by known *ahem* boy-lovers and ‘allegedly’ MI5 was well aware of this and was using it as leverage on the Unionist and Loyalist politicians known to frequent it back in the early 1970’s. That it may well have been used by some very high profile abusers, including royals, is one of those open questions – lots of indirect evidence, no real proof.
Occasionally, the mainstream media has sniffed around the story, but never to any real degree.
Klarenberg seems pretty reliable.
The IRA was blamed for the bombing, but the degree of sophistication involved in the plot suggested that it was more likely to have been the British intelligence services keen to get rid of an embarrassing figure before he was publically exposed for his crimes.
My father-in-law taught the 15 year old boatboy, who was blown up in the boat with Mountbatten, and his brother.
The IRA claimed responsibility within hours. They also attacked the Parachute Regiment the sane day, at Narrow Water Castle with a double-tap bombing, killing 16. It seems more plausible the IRA bombed Mountbatten than the UK deep state, given the mood of time.
New Left Review: Interview with Wolfgang Streeck, originally published by the Frankurter Rundschau. What he says is likely to be shocking in Germany, given what we have been reading here about how Germans are marinated in propaganda up to their eyeballs.
I won’t paste his analysis of violence in U.S. culture since the beginning. But it is worth your while, especially if you are a USanian, to head in and read it. This is how much of the world views the U S of A and even individual USanians. Streeck dismisses the notion of fascism, and I’d add that the oppression of the working class and the current abuse of immigrants go all the way back to slavery and the culture built on the labor of slaves. See: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
His diagnosis of the U.S. Constitution as old and creaky doesn’t sit well with me: I’d say that the problem lies more with the working Constitution, that is, how the government applies it, and the U.S. Supreme Court, which, by and large, has produced crappy decisions. There is still much to be said for the Bill of Rights. There probably no longer is much to be said for dissolving the government and electing a new House of Representatives every two years. It builds in instability.
So I *will* paste Streeck’s take on Macron and the current crop of bad negotiators: “Macron floated the idea of Putin attending the G7 summit. Pure desperation or a good idea? One of Macron’s notorious inconsequential self-promotions. Aside from that, it is astonishing how simple common sense seems exotic these days. How can you end a war that you cannot win on the battlefield if you refuse to talk to the other side?” Bracing: Like a good nip of cognac.
Following yesterday’s links piece by Streeck
No end in sight: Reflections on recent literature on the destruction of Gaza
Streeck is always worth reading. I thought this piece, Streeck’s concise response to a series of interview questions, was very good – except for one question, which he either misunderstood or provided a somewhat evasive response:
Q: “Well, the war in Ukraine was started by Russia, not the US, wasn’t it?”
A: “That’s a long story. You can’t just plan to deploy intermediate-range missiles 500 miles from the capital of a rival nuclear power without it reacting. But I agree with you insofar as Russia has managed to modernize its armaments and convert to a war economy during the four years of war despite apparently suffering heavy losses on the battlefield…”
This was a disappointing response. I can’t think of an easier question with which someone like Streeck could spend an hour ridiculing. It is indeed a “long story,” but not a complicated one. He does start by mentioning missile deployment, but then the “I agree with you” part just confuses things. I mean Russia did invade, so technically it “started the war” in that sense. But c’mon.
The rest of the interview is good though.
Interesting. When did the US announce plans to deploy intermediate range ballistic missiles five hundred miles from Moscow ? I must have missed that. Did the Russians protest diplomatically, or did they just invade straight away?
I’m not quite sure what he is referring to here. Perhaps he’s projecting assumed US plans based on the end of the missile treaty, 25 years of NATO expansion, and US/NATO/CIA actions in Ukraine after 2014 (or earlier). There is certainly a pretty long history of Russian diplomatic protests over these events. In my view Streeck should have brought up some of this history in response to such a question.
According to the guys at The Duran, US SecState Blinken was in talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Blinken was telling Lavrov that the US will be stationing nuclear-tipped missiles to the Ukraine and the only thing up for discussion was how many. That made the Ukraine an existential threat to the Russian Federation and their reaction was the same as if China was telling the US that they would be placing nuclear tipped missiles in Mexico.
Not Mexico. Texas, or South Carolina, after US broke up into pieces.
I am just about certain that this ultimately comes from Ray McGovern, who multiple times has recounted (based on readouts) how Putin and Biden had a conversation on Dec 30 or 31, 2021, when Biden conceded some very important point the Russian had asked for in a written proposal re location of missiles (and it was IIRC not “nuclear tipped” but nuclear capable; McGovern had separately but often pointed out the US had taken to putting missiles in Eastern Europe that prevented the Russians from telling what they were).
Lavrov followed up in mid-Jan. Blinken walked it back (and per McGoverrn, insinuated that Putin had unfairly jumped Biden by calling him when he had no minders) and then some, basically saying the US would locate missiles anywhere it damn well pleased.
@ Pjay —
Are you a European? I presume not, because Streek would be immolated if he outright explained the truth about the proxy war effort that EU and UK elites were and are all in on — not least most of the left here, still. And after he was immolated, made a non-person and deprived of whatever voice as he now has.
And for what purpose? This war is going to end with Russia winning and Euro elites losing.
Streek is being brave saying as much as he has here.
*What might be disappointing, to one who does, or especially does not know, is the lack of reference to the INF treaty which T pulled out of in 2018 (did he have authority? I’m one who does not know that).
So with that, and the coup of 2014, yes it is a longer story.
In my view, the war was started by the US. But if one really wants the long story it goes much further back to Lenin cobbling together a Ukrainian administrative state. Could Streeck even go there? (And in the recesses of my humble mind the maxim that history is one damn thing after another). Was the interview edited? So much to know, so much pressure to forget.
if one were to go back, we’d talk about the king of Poland arranging for the Union of Brest.
Lenin started it but Stalin added Galicia and IIRC a bit of Hungary, neither territories ever having part of the Russian Empire. Galicia had been part of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire and them Poland!
Between the two of them, they made a real mess.
Worthwhile comments and always to Thucydides’ maxim.
Lenin was weak at his designation of a Ukraine jurisdiction. It served a purpose in the civil war to come.
Stalin, and the battered Red Army, held strong. The shifting of the maps reflected earlier realities but there were errors.
” I’d add that the oppression of the working class and the current abuse of immigrants go all the way back to slavery and the culture built on the labor of slave..”
And slavery was part of a global trade – shipping, finance, insurance – that adds a whole other aspect to talking about “culture”.
Allegedly Anna-Lena Bärbock carried the torch somewhere on its way from Greece to Milano…
haven´t seen any reports so far though
Indi Samarajiva sending in a challenge from Sri Lanka. Yes, you should read his latest.
The beginning is on the mark: “Nothing happened after MeToo. Nothing happened after BlackLivesMatters. Nothing happened after Snowden. Nothing happened after WikiLeaks. And nothing’s happening after Epstein too.”
I am seeing names like Karp and Mandelson thrown around. And there was that ultra-important resignation in Slovakia. Well, Slovakia, that’ll resolve the whole Epstein swamp.
Just as a for-instance, why hasn’t Epstein-whisperer Stacy Plaskett been tossed out on her ass? I’m so old I remember when people were forced out of the U.S. Congress for much less: The Fannie Fox scandal?
Heck: She sounds like what these days would be a Republican trophy wife:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanne_Foxe
And then there was Richard Nixon’s famous Checkers speech — the inciting incidents being rumors of a mink coat and a puppy.
Now, the corruption doesn’t even cause a blip. USanians should be demanding mass resignations and imprisonment.
PS: The other day, a commenter here mentioned the possibility that Epstein reported to Ghislaine Maxwell. Think of Maxwell’s pedigree. And think about how she’s always presented as his “girlfriend,” you know, the billionaire moll tied to the intelligence services. The reference to her in the Bassler Xitter above as “Madam” may mean more than chairwoman of the brothel.
PPS: Kudos to the commenter for the idea of Maxwell is the leader hidden in plain sight. I’ve been turning over the thought in my head for a couple of days. It may be on the mark.
PPS: And speaking of e-mail dumps, I’m still holding out for those 30,000 missing messages from Hillary Clinton. Given Epstein’s ubiquitousness in handing out advice, you don’t suppose that he was helping her choose the caterer for Chelsea’s gala matrimony, do you?
I am afraid I have not the link but a few days ago I watched a video interview with a woman who, when younger, was one of Epstein’s victims. She was forced to spend a period of time on the island. She thought G. Maxwell was the one really running things.
I was sufficiently motivated to search the reference. Chris Hansen interview with Juliette Bryant.
“The other day, a commenter here mentioned the possibility that Epstein reported to Ghislaine Maxwell…”
The other day? Somebody else finally wondering?
I’ve been harping about the “Maxwell” in the equation for a long time.
Perhaps it is already been announced that Graham E Fuller died on January 28 or 29.
Nima and ambassador Chaz Freeman speak of him briefly at the start of this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/live/AdJzX_YXSEU
Thank you for bringing this up.
RE: Anne Frank reference from “The “Ferocity of Responses to Tim Walz…” This gem from the Rabbi who is the US Envoy to Combat Antisemitism:
” Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, accused the governor of “cheapening the horror of the Holocaust,” while the US Holocaust Memorial Museum cautioned against “making false equivalencies… for political purposes.”
However, it’s just fine that the Zionist folks have been using it since 1948 for their own political purposes. Hey… it’s our narrative so hand’s off!
re: Russia history – Gilbert Doctorow
Reprint of my 2015 review of a book that remains highly relevant to our understanding of Russia today
As I prepare my “Memoirs of a Russianist, Volume 3, Years in the Opposition, 2010-2025,” I turn up materials that merit separate republication in full, such as the essay below. This piece was highly praised by leading academics of the day, including S. Frederick Starr and Richard Sakwa as well as by long-time member of the NY Times editorial board, Serge Schmemann. Its particular value is in putting in focus the lessons Vladimir Putin drew from his own study of Russia’s rulers in the decade before the outbreak of WWI and also putting in focus the importance of Ukraine to tsarist Russia and to the empire’s great competitor in Austria-Hungary. I also offer this review as an answer to the several readers of my Substack platform who write to me directly asking for a reliable and useful book on Russian history.
https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/reprint-of-my-2015-review-of-a-book
Nuuk, Greenland warmer than Matanzas, Cuba (and Detroit, MI, btw) in the dead of winter.
All right then.
Re: Caitlin Johnstone’s The Plutocrats Who Rule Our World Aren’t Even Enjoying Themselves
***************
Excellent article and some good comments.
In spite of being a generally cynical person, I was surprised that Elon Musk ‘s self pity post accepted 600,000 likes. I like Elon more than money but that tweet made me roll my eyes.
But at least Elon is building things with his wealth. Rockets and cars and brain chips. Most of his peers are not building anything as far as I can tell. Just buying and selling stocks and lobbying for more handouts, and then buying things like yachts … Honestly I love the water but I don’t get why anybody would care about a 100 million dollar yacht.
We’re a long way from the Medici family. I have visited Florence. It’s the most beautiful city I’ve been to. There’s this room there where Leonardo Da Vinci worked with Michelangelo at the same time. But hey why fund anything like that when you can buy a gold plated BMW or donate money to AIPAC?
Musk might even turn to be an adorable creature if his riches were divided by 1.000.000. The problem with extreme wealth accumulation isn’t exactly that it didn’t make Musk happy but that it turned someone who could have possibly been a nice person into a bloody stupid billionaire while at the same time keeping millions barely afloat or sinking. So, what is this high inequality for?
Musk isn’t “building” anything. Companies he’s bought into are and it’s not like the examples you’ve mentioned actually benefit society as a whole or even work more often than not.
hmm
The workers build things, the overlords scrape off everything they can get away with. We let them. Fie!
Overthrow.
Mexican Cartels Overwhelm Police With Ammunition Made for the U.S. Military (NY Times)
America exports instability. Gotta be the largest chaos agent in the world.
It is working according to plan.
Fed starting to do its bit to inflate the economy. Balance sheet expansion.
This week the balance sheet rose by $18B mostly treasury notes/bills. The near time QT low was $6.535T Dec 2025. 5 Feb H4.1 up to $6.605T about $18B added week on week.
Highest balance sheet was $8.966T in Apr 2022.
The Fed buying securities does not inflate the economy. It is an asset swap. It gooses asset prices.
From ‘It’s pissing people off’: Centrist Democrats are livid with AIPAC after primary fiasco
Liberal Democrats operatives are either stupid or playing stupid; but clearly the message AIPAC sent has been received.
Or is Bennett stupid enough to believe that AIPAC’s goals and his own are aligned in some way? AIPAC punished a Democrat for offering less than total support for whatever Israel demands. And in delivering such punishment reiterated that you don’t part ways with any position that Israel takes. Period. Or you risk your seat.
The liberal Democrat seat count in Congress isn’t particularly relevant; AIPAC owns all, Democrat, Republican, their bidding be done regardless.
I doubt much these whiners don’t understand the subtext of the message sent, protestations to the contrary.
There is still time to coverup the genocide. It is a work in progress.
How about all the Anne Franks in Gaza. Our library has this one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_Your_Soul_on_Your_Hand_and_Walk
The title of this documentary refers to how the beautiful young woman in the phone chats regards walking down the street under Israeli constant attacks. In Gaza hiding isn’t enough.
That video depicting the Obma’s as apes is not just an insult to our Primate cousins it is a clear example of just how far off kilter Trump has become.
He has lost it, big time.
If the owner of a major sports team posted something like that you would be able to hear the shrieks of outrage on the far side of the Moon.
How much crazier will Trump have to behave before talk of invoking the 25th Amendment becomes common in the MSM ?
SOTU is going to be worth paying attention to this year and I hope Nat Turner will put on his HazMat suit and do his usual fine job of dissecting it.
Stay safe and enjoy the ride, it’s going to be a wild yesr.
This one got my attention:
Trump wanted Dulles Airport, Penn Station named after him — in exchange for releasing federal funds
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-asked-dulles-penn-station-named-exchange-gateway-money-released-rcna257708
The tunnels finally being replaced are over 110 years old, and probably should have been replaced over forty years ago, but after these were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, the clock was running. Instead we have a bunch of potentially demented American elites (demented might be better, if they’re all “sane” then how do you explain this behavior?) arguing over DEI, naming, etc while the funding runs out.
I think a better explanation for how things like this happen is that the Epstein class never uses and so doesn’t need 99% of America’s infrastructure so it’s all going to just fall apart sooner or later.
I think we should give in to Trump’s obsession with attaching his name to things. I propose that every landfill, sewage treatment plant and junkyard after him.
Headin’ over to the Trump Dump to drop off some materials. Be back soon!
Trump’s relation to the United States of America is now strongly resembling that picture’s relation to Dorian Gray. I would bet the rest of the world is not missing the significance of this.
From Due Dissidence, utube, ~19+ minutes.
Epstein Files FBI Report Claims Israel OWNS Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6xQWbQnqOA
I’m shocked, shocked… / ;)
Re Greenland
My tin foil sense is a water pipeline to canada then down to refill the great lakes.
I don’t know how hard that would be though…
If you want to see ultimate hydrologic engineer’s fever dream do a search for NAWAPA
re: Epstein
Lately I’ve been wondering – is there something about wealth which turns people into pedos? Is it my imagination or is there a noticeably higher incidence or prevalence of it at the level Epstein inhabited? Or is it just that wealth in general puts you in closer proximity to pedos? Or is it that wealth makes you vulnerable, a target of pedos or pedo-minded sorts? Or is there something about wealth itself which changes your outlook, your view of others, such that there is no limit to the sort of immorality or exploitation you’d willingly participate in? Or is it just that pedophilia is very prevalent, but somehow more obvious at the Epstein levels. Whoever was handling Epstein, was their goal to expose it? Was it perhaps even Epstein’s goal to expose it, given he didn’t seem to care about evidence trails – seemed to be an evidence producing machine?
If I were a wealthy person, which thank goodness I’m not, even knowing there were children at these parties, even seeing such with my own eyes, would be enough to GTFO, but not so with everyone who WANTED to be with Epstein, willingly chose to speak to this person, actively sought to share the same space with him, take selfies with him. Are there really that many pedos out there?
If I were a particularly wealthy person I’d have people on staff who research, investigate and pre-screen anyone I come into proximity with, so surely these were given executive handouts, summaries and profiles of Epstein? I wouldn’t mind seeing what they said, because what possible financial gain could be gotten through this guy which outweighed the risk of associating with him?
So many questions…
I think it’s the other way around: wealth hasn’t turned them into sociopaths, they have become wealthy because they are sociopaths.
The Epstein Files Are Hazing You Into The Pedo Gang – indi.ca
Actually, the oligarchy should be “overthrown” first. They need your cooperation. Why go after the rodeo clowns and puppets first?
Deal with that by available means and then improving or changing government will be much easier.
I knew statins were bad but yeesh…
Maybe there are conflicting opinions.
A good read anyway…
re: Sorkin’s note on software sellers’ stocks and Reuters on Fed under pressure from layoffs.
I think these two stories will become linked quite soon. The “AI selloff” is not in NVDA and Co. lately, but the software and software tangential companies that are taking a beating because AI magically will eliminate the need for these companies. For example, Intuit (INTU) is down almost 50% in the last year despite being ridiculously profitable. My own company’s stock is in a similar boat despite being _very_ software tangential. These losses are being largely hidden in overall stock performance due to the strength of NVDA etc dwarfing everyone else.
If there’s one way to reverse a stock drought, it’s layoff employees, so I think the pressure on the Fed is just starting since many of these companies have not yet started layoffs. Then the pressure will revert back to NVDA and the like when the wheels could really fall off.
Hiring in the US has been trending down since 2021, just starting to go negative now. They have been adroitly using the mini shutdowns to suppress timely economic figures and have lined up some small stimulus of tax cuts for the mid terms but it is obvious now that a white collar recession is looming as AI agents spread.
The financial side of things is still in firm control but the loose financial conditions at present are storing up problems for the future. Just think the level of deficit spending needed to turn the real economy around now and multiply that if a financial system bailout is added.
Minneapolis now has daily deportation flights. One man has been documenting them
Charles McBride (You’re Paying Taxes to Billionaires) is right on target when he writes about how the Epstein scandal is a product of deference to class.
I wrote down several examples from recent years then decided to delete them. Now is not the time to revisit distractions past.
Primaries are coming up and not paying attention to your local primary is a leading contributor to crappy choices on the fall ballot. Heavy primary turnout is also a very strong predictor of heavy turnout in the fall which tends to result in a better quality of elected officials. Improving the quality of representation would seem to be a very low bar but somehow the duopoly consistently manages to field two lousy choices because not enough voters pay attention to the primaries.
And yes, I haven’t voted since 2018 but I think this might be the year I show up (with ID) at my polling place again. This is an interesting year and you need one of those if you want to turn a country around from war mongering election rigging authoritarianism back into a reasonable semblance of a democracy.
Statins stimulate … heart failure ?!
This interesting but heterodox review of statin studies is 10 years old. Its abstract states, “… statins may be causative in coronary artery calcification ….”
Is anyone in the NC readership aware of support or disagreement for its conclusions? Having been recently diagnosed with aortic valve calcification after having reluctantly complied for a few years with medical advice to take statins, I find it of more than academic interest.
Causes of aortic valve calcification include injury to the valve historically due to rheumatic fever, wear and tear to a congenitally abnormally formed (bicuspid) valve and calcification in a normally formed valve, usually in the elderly. It is my understanding that the risk factors for the latter are metabolic (blood lipids), the same as for coronary heart disease. It is my experience in a general hospital autopsy population that the numbers of incidentally found calcified aortic valves are minuscule compared to the numbers of patients with coronary artery disease many of whom are taking statins. I am reluctant, absent further literature review to accept the notion that statins cause arterial calcification. There is a problem not just in medicine of reduplicating results. Also, correlation even if true, is not causation.
The article in my opinion asserts as facts, some things that are not clearly established. The assertion that statins cause heart failure is suspect. The citations given, 38 (2004) and 39 (2005) are those of the paper’s second author. One would have thought that this 2015 article would have found other papers by other authors to cite to support that statins cause heart failure. Citation 39 appeared in the journal BioFactors 2005;25(1-4):147-52. It is summarized in the linked article. It claimed that 50 consecutive patients presented with various severe statin side effects. One-Fourth had signs of congestive heart failure. Stains were discontinued and all were supplemented with CoQ10 daily and followed for two years. Most improved including half of those with congestive heart failure.
The same series or similar series of 50 patients were cited again by the second author in “Life Extension” http://lef.org/ in LE Magazine February 2008 http://www.molloychiropractic.com/storage/app/media/LEF115366.pdf
Ubiquinol CoQ10 is a popular supplement. I have taken it along with my statin. I see there is a Life Extension brand Ubiquinol CoQ10 60 count for $29.02 on Amazon.
Gratefully many cases of calcified aortic stenosis can now be treated through a limb vessel avoiding major surgery. Good luck Bill C.
This is quite brilliant:
As I read this, I was wondering in the back of my mind how they would incorporate batteries into the ship. This brilliant yet obvious solution not only makes sense for cargo ships, but suggests a forthcoming global standard on powering electric Industrial vehicles. It’s easy to imagine pluggable designs for everything, where the electric power store can be instantly swapped out and replaced in the form of shipping containers. Not only can they be used this way on the vehicle or facility, but they can also be shipped around the world this way as needed. These containers are quite a brilliant standard and should be used for everything we can think of.
“Engineering” was the pervasive attitude in the United States from perhaps 1800 until 1970, which I consider the Golden Age of this country. Other countries and societies are living through their own version of this period now. Can a place and people recapture it once it’s gone? We will find out.
It is an elegant design, and the really ironic thing is that if two specific people deserve credit for birthing modern (intermodal) containerization, they were both Americans working in the ’50s and ’60s.
You’re also right that it’s crazy in retrospect how much the USA has declined in one lifetime. And unfortunately, the more the country degrades in reality, the more the elites and a good chunk of the populace develop megalomania.
I think a people can bounce back, especially over long periods of time (most of the really ancient civilizations, Old and New-World, have done it several times already). Unfortunately, the low-points can drag on for generations.
i just glanced at that, having been busy, today…but my initial thought regarding where do they put all those battries was as ballast: down along the bottom of the boat.
long ago, ships would use dirt for this, from wherever.
btw,this is how imported fire ants were imported into biloxi, Mississippi in the 1910’s or 20’s.
banana boat.
If there is any question of where I have lived, check my feet for fire ant scars. Grr…
Thanks amfortas for all your contributions here.
It’s pretty much accepted that fire ants were first introduced into the U.S. through the port of Mobile , Alabama. Let them have that bad mark. Not to be argumentative, but Mississippi has enough of a bad rep f’real that it doesn’t need this one, too.
RE: “I’m a prepping expert – …”
“The fact that everything’s controlled digitally nowadays means cyber attacks could knock out our supply systems. It wouldn’t take a lot for Russia to mess with our systems in the UK, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that sort of thing starts happening more frequently. You can completely disable a country without firing a shot nowadays, if you’ve got the means to do it, and I don’t have confidence in the UK that we’re ready for that.”
I do not have confidence in the u.s. that it is ready for that, as the u.s. goes strutting about shaking its sword and threatening war. So much of the u.s. economy is dependent on the Internet, it seems especially vulnerable to cyber attack.
‘It wouldn’t take a lot for Russia to mess with our systems in the UK’
Russia wouldn’t have to do anything. Between the incompetent governments of the past few decades and the neoliberal policies that they enforce to the detriment of the population, things will fall apart by themselves. Thames Water anyone?
While I felt like this article itself was a little fuzzy and seemed to be vaguely just setting up for other articles, this guy’s Substack was a good find. I’ll have to come back to it now and then.
I wound up sticking around to read another couple articles, even watched one of his Youtube vids (I overwhelmingly just use Youtube as a jukebox), and now I have a new book by one of his interviewees to put on my reading list.
agree… lots there t think about.
im currently reading one of his links, and its chilling:https://substack.com/@nelbonilla/p-183648203
from bunker article i linked below(still in moderater hell, but i aint mad, guys):
“In very crude terms, the old social contract between the citizen and the state was: I give up some liberty; you give me order and prosperity. The Bunker Social Contract is: I give up my freedom, my reality, and my prosperity; the State protects its own existence (and its functional elites) from an enemy (and maybe allows me to survive inside the walls).”
If a Harris presidency did allow time for some kind of power to assemble to resist an oncoming Plantation system, then it would have been a useful lever to vote for (and when I do vote for Dems, that’s an important criterion to measure them against).
I’m with you there, but remember how BLM was co-opted and drained of power by the centrist Dem patronage networks — not only was a qualified police immunity ban disappeared with Dem approval, but they worked to neutralize the movement despite huge public support. The Moderates are not just a neutral placeholder, they are hardworking and vicious — remember when Obama’s people tried to unseat Chelsea Manning as San Francisco Pride March Marshal? They used every bylaw violating parliamentary trick in the book, and were only stopped by a highly sophisticated, militant, and ultra-left group in the LGBTQ community.
I agree with you that a moral purity objection to voting Dem is something we don’t need; strategic and tactical political objections hold the real force behind decisions here. If the Dems can provide relative protection to oppressed groups, that justifies voting for them — but what if that transaction also involves handing over complete control to Dem political patrons, as we saw with police immunity? That strikes me as a valid non-moralist reason for not voting for them.
Community based multiethnic movements like we’re seeing in Minneapolis look like the way forward now, and might create a terrain that channels the electeds in the right direction. If Dems can be a useful lever, I vote for them; if not, I don’t.
For overwhelmed commenters needing an interlude of sanity – Kneecap’s manager Dan Lambert explains how the band navigates media bias and the music industry (11:26):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OJByxR_X-o
Thank you for posting this. 732 comments on that video in a couple of days and nearly all of them positive for Dan and for the Kneecap lads.
Dan is a very brave man because he posts against Zionism but he also posts against the proxy war on Russia in the Ukraine and the war on Iran. He’s preaching to the choir when he tells Kneecap’s fanbase to reject the genocide of the Palestinians (the fans may be all ages but they are mostly left of centre) but he’s a voice in the wilderness on Russia: the fans that pay attention to Dan post concern or anger online about his analysis of the proxy war on Russia or on the war on Iran.
I suspect Kneecap share his views but for the moment, they stick to Palestine (understandably; don’t fight a war on two fronts).
This is Dan Lambert’s Twitter account. He’s well worth a read, he posts something excoriating every day!
https://nitter.poast.org/dllambo
Marjorie Cohn Truthout:
The Oligarchy at work.
I’m not sure how to post this without getting in trouble with Skynet’s algorithm but a hilarious protest happened yesterday at the Whipple Federal Building. The links I’ve been able to find are all Faceborg pages so it may take a while for the videos to go viral (which they absolutely will) and hit youtube.
The are calling it “[Redacted naughty toys] and Defiance” and “Operation [Redacted naughty toy] Blitz”.
Never underestimate Minnesotans.
T picked on the wrong State.
And speaking of media bias, the Guardian would like us to be appalled that a few obvious Naughtzis are making, literally, thousands of dollars, from hundreds of subscribers, on Substack. Which is why you should think that Substack is awful and supports awful things. Because it is a platform serving 5 million people which, in the first case study discussed, allows it to realize 22k$ in profits from the silly little Naughtzis and their newsletters.
Note that the article discusses ridiculous people saying ridiculous things for small change to a tiny audience. Hundreds of people. As opposed to the people in the main stream media making millions of dollars saying ridiculous things to tens of millions of people to cover up atrocities in Gaza or the very public Naughtzis in Ukraine. But the ridiculous things being said on Substack will no doubt be the cause for future censorship. Whereas the ridiculous things being used to support the unsupportable will be used to support Pulitzer prize recommendations.
Dutch Queen Maxima joins army as a reservist, as “safety can no longer be taken for granted”
Right. Just the other day some friends of mine saw Estonians in their freezer. A mold in the refrigerator shows the Lithuanian flag! And those Latvians…!! I hear Mandelson is a cousin of their prime minister. /sar
She did not say whom she thought the enemy was. After Denmark/Greenland she may be thinking about the USA. The Netherlands has overseas territories in the Caribbean.
Not sure where to throw this but interesting Bannon-Epstein exchange in the documents on Aug 1, 2018:
JE: Want to visit Florida for weekend? . lets talk today or tomorrow . Lots to catch up on
SB: Cool, In cambridge with Errol
JE: Great use of time. Can we take out. Fuck you if you want clean water ? ending with a celebration .
SB: Ending with a celebration ??? is not burning everything down a celebration!!!!
JE: You sound like bush in Iraq and Clinton in libya 0
SB: LOL
JE: You guys are the best at it. I am looking to its impact in Europe . Again
Kristalnacht always has the big fire. symbols that cause many not to listen further. Kristalnacht is NOV 9. 1938. A little close don’t you think
SB: Opening night
JE: Considered the beginning of the holocaust .Thats one way to describe it. Come join us at Auschwitz , opening night. Special. Byob
SB: Wow
JE: mid terms Almost eighty years to the day.
JE: Btw , tom and Henry believe that china wants to weaponnize and control their consumer base.
SB: Incredible. Weaponize as in stop buying western goods
JE: All consumers digitized . Evaluated , they get points for certain behaviors This is the next ten year plan. They say if you want our 500 million people buying X. We want Y and if xi says no Microsoft products. Its not like Donald asking people not to buy Toyotas. In china. The next day , no Microsoft products sell. . genius
SB: Total control
JE: xi has moved the party ABOVE govt. . lots of tentacles. . they used to be side by side.
SB: Total control– it’s what we have going for us. 60 million in charge of 1.5 billion
JE: Tom was the the top of the news in china. Xi , believes he has a better way to govern that he will be able to convince the world that the democratic US. Model. DOES NOT WORK. So he will offer an alternative system. Putting the belt road , made in china 2025 . And not allowing different views from that of the party . All purchases can be directed monitored and like a video game , the individual gets social reward points. Very clever
SB: Xi said he had a better way to govern ???
JE: Yes a new form of govt for the future. Feel free to reach out to Tom for a download directly. He likes you .
SB: Thanks
JE: Also keep in mind that right after the burning of kristalnacht , Goebels released his move. . it was the eternal jew.. my ex girlfriend used to say she wanted to make a move taking off only the ” w” and make it the eternal J E
SB: She meant the ‘Internal’
JE: Now you’re taking DARK
SB: American Dharma baby.
Interestingly they mention the word Dharma quite a bit throughout their messages.
An interesting interview with Ken Klippenstein about what’s going on in DHS (ICE and BP):
ICE Demoralized And “Antifa Leader” Exposed | Ken Klippenstein | TMR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZIf8tJIVU
It Turns Out That When Waymos Are Stumped, They Get Intervention From Workers in the Philippines -Futurism
Stupid and dangerous on so many levels.
And Bezzle is certainly the best place for the info.
Zero trust in these systems.
Can someone please tell me what resilc means?
(XXXX) after a link is a version of the name of the reader that provided it. So this is a hat tip.