Links 3/2/2026

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1. The Rev Kev March 2, 2026 at 7:20 am

   ‘Suppressed News.
   @SuppressedNws1
   ⚡️🇰🇼🇺🇸BREAKING:
   Smoke plumes rise after the U.S. Embassy building in Kuwait was reportedly targeted by Iran, with alleged footage showing the aftermath.’

   But wait. Embassy buildings are supposed to be sacrosanct under international law and no country should ever attack one. Well, except for the time the CIA bombed the Chinese Embassy in Serbia. Oh, and the time that Israel bombed the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria back in ’24 and nobody said boo to them.
   1. Samuel Conner March 2, 2026 at 10:27 am

      I believe that in a de facto state of war, all infrastructure of an enemy government is a legitimate target. US embassies in Axis powers lost their diplomatic immunity and were occupied after war was declared in December 1941, for example, as were Axis embassies in Allied nations.
2. flora March 2, 2026 at 7:44 am

   File under Trump 2.0. From Due Dissidence, utube, ~34+ minutes.

   Vance and Dr Oz Announce PUNISHING Healthcare Cuts in “War on Fraud”

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84o8RMua-CE

   Sound like a war on the old, the ill, and the disabled.
   1. chuck roast March 2, 2026 at 8:58 am

      Dr. Oz…a creature of Oprah. Kill your television!
      1. flora March 2, 2026 at 11:15 am

         I can’t think of another pres admin that had so many grifters or swindlers in their cabinet and related high admin positions. Maybe the admins of pres Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War or pres Warren G. Harding in the early 1920s come the closest.
         1. lyman alpha blob March 2, 2026 at 1:31 pm

            There was Obama’s cabinet, selected for him by Citigroup. They were admittedly somewhat more polite than the current crop of thieves.
3. The Rev Kev March 2, 2026 at 8:04 am

   ‘Al Jazeera English
   @AJEnglish
   Video shows the moment a military jet crashed in Kuwait, as the crew ejected from the flaming plane. Residents who rushed to the scene of the crash said the aircraft and crew were American, the country’s defence ministry confirmed they were US fighter jets.’

   That jet in what looks like a flat spin may be an F-15 and was supposedly hit when it crossed into Iran. Other jets have gone down too. Makes you wonder if it was hit by one of those Chinese anti-air systems that were recently brought into the country. So I guess that the Israeli boast of establishing an aerial bridge into Iran is off the table now.
   1. Victor Sciamarelli March 2, 2026 at 8:11 am

      “Several US warplanes crash in Kuwait; all crews survive” Gulf News
      According to the WSJ, “U.S. Jet Fighters Mistakenly Downed by Kuwait as Conflict Widens”
      Six crew safely ejected from the F-15s and are in stable condition
   2. Acacia March 2, 2026 at 7:38 pm

      Less embarrassing to blame friendlies than admit Chinese tech defeated exceptionalstan military?
4. Christopher Mann March 2, 2026 at 8:12 am

   Iran seems to be employing a Zugzwang move: US assets are so widely dispersed over the Mid East region it cannot possibly protect all of them AND Israel™️.
   1. flora March 2, 2026 at 8:40 am

      AND interdict sanctioned oil tanker shipments at sea, and blockade Cuba, and resupply arms to Ukr, and…..

      “No one starts a war–or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so–without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.”
      ― Carl Von Clausewitz

      T’s war plan looks less like a carefully considered and thought out plan; it looks more like throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. He’s gambling, imo.
      1. flora March 2, 2026 at 8:49 am

         adding: Alastair Crooke remarked that for the US to maintain financial dominance and the dollar’s world reserve currency status the US has to show it is still the biggest force in the world. Any miscalculation by T could hasten the end of the dollar’s reserve currency status and the rise the BRICS new financial trading system. It won’t happen overnight, but it could happen.

         Imo, T might be the most shortsighted pres in US history. Even B (or his handlers) knew better than to let Bibi and the Lobby suck the US into yet another war against the US national interests.
         1. Geo March 2, 2026 at 11:26 am

            Netanyahu has “been trying to get presidents from both parties to do a regime change operation in Iran with him for decades. Donald Trump is just the first one stupid enough to actually do it.” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)
5. Wukchumni March 2, 2026 at 8:23 am

   And here’s to you, Tyler Robinson
   Bibi loves you more than you will know
   Whoa, whoa, whoa
   God bless you, please, Tyler Robinson
   Zionism holds a place for those who prey
   Hey, hey, hey
   Hey, hey, hey

   We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files
   We’d like to help you learn to help yourself
   Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes
   Stroll around your cell until you feel at home

   And here’s to you, Tyler Robinson
   Bibi loves you more than you will know
   Whoa, whoa, whoa
   God bless you, please, Tyler Robinson
   Zionism holds a place for those who prey
   Hey, hey, hey
   Hey, hey, hey

   Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
   Leave engraved bullets with a Mauser
   Put it in a wooded area off-campus
   It’s a little secret, just Tyler Robinson’s affair
   Most of all, you’ve got to hide it from the Feds

   Coo, coo, ca-choo, Tyler Robinson
   Bibi loves you more than you will know
   Whoa, whoa, whoa
   God bless you, please, Tyler Robinson
   Zionism holds a place for those who prey
   Hey, hey, hey
   Hey, hey, hey

   Sitting on a roof on a Wednesday afternoon
   Going to the campus debate
   Laugh about it, shout about it
   When you’ve got to choose
   Every way you look at this, you lose

   Where have you gone, William Shatner?
   Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
   Woo, woo, woo
   What’s that you say, Tyler Robinson?
   Kirk has left and gone away
   Hey, hey, hey
   Hey, hey, hey

   Mrs. Robinson, by Simon & Garfunkel

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1BCAgu2I8&list=RD9C1BCAgu2I8
6. johnnyme March 2, 2026 at 8:37 am

   Additional Charlie Kirk Groves of Academe data point:

   Minnesota Republicans propose $25K statue of Charlie Kirk on U of M campus

   This bill would appropriate $25,000 from the state’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

   A cohort of five Republican legislators have proposed a bill that would appropriate $25,000 of state money for a statue of Charlie Kirk to be erected on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.
7. lyman alpha blob March 2, 2026 at 8:42 am

   RE: Is AI already killing people by accident?

   Marcus sort of gets to the point in the article, but does not go far enough, and I reject the framing.

   If you are using a system known to be inaccurate to choose what human being to kill, then there are zero “accidents”. The murderer employing the “AI” just wants to kill indiscriminately and fob off any blame to a clanker.
   1. Acacia March 2, 2026 at 7:40 pm

      Exactly. The whole “by accident” claim misses the forest for the trees.
   2. ArvidMartensen March 2, 2026 at 7:43 pm

      It looks like a whole new generation of terrible human beings being able to duck responsibility for decisions they make.
      Like the old customer service joke “Computer says no”, but now it’s “computer says kill”
8. You're soaking in it? March 2, 2026 at 8:45 am

   When the rubble stops bouncing, (as John Greer is wont to say), would the Iranians take a page from the Allies in WWII and insist on the US and Israel turning over the responsible leaders for war crimes trials as one of the peace conditions?

   Asking for a friend . . .
   1. Yves Smith March 2, 2026 at 8:59 am

      They can ask but never never never gonna happen.
      1. tinywriting March 2, 2026 at 12:58 pm

         You’re right. But the American Public™ is so stupid and conceited that it would be a salutary wake-up call for them to hear some ‘third-world shit hole’ make the kinds of demands that the US routinely demands of others. Although I personally think that Iran should ask for a de-nuclearized Israel. It doesn’t matter whether it’s realistic. It’s important to change the discourse.

         (and thanks for all your work. I was just looking at the waste land that is the NYT. They’re still trotting out Friedman for Christ’s sake!)
   2. Samuel Conner March 2, 2026 at 10:33 am

      A more plausible, but probably also unachievable, demand would be a “new security architecture for Western Asia and Northeast Africa that instantiates the principles of respect for national sovereignty and indivisibility of national security.”

      I think one could interpret the current ME conflict as a subset of the worldwide contest between unipolarity and multipolarity.
9. The Rev Kev March 2, 2026 at 9:02 am

   “The US Military Campaign Against Iran Is Part Of Trump’s Grand Strategy Against China”

   Not just China but Russia too. the strategy seems to be to wreck any country that is aligned with those two countries. They took out Venezuela. They are trying to strangle Cuba. North Korea is too hard as it has nukes and a disciplined society. So they decided to go for the big one – Iran. Bonus points in that it would throw a spanner into the workings of BRICS. The idea is that in the end both Russia and China would be totally isolated on the world stage and thus vulnerable.
   1. In Cold Chud March 2, 2026 at 2:50 pm

      I wonder what the liberals and leftists who still believe in Russiagate see as the angle, here. Is Trump cunningly hollowing out American power with a disastrous war, in his role as a Pyootin puppet? One can only guess. They haven’t been saying much.
      1. Anthony Noel March 3, 2026 at 2:42 am

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmcxmX0E9Bw&t=7s

         The New Statesmen. 30 mins of pure drivel explaining how this is all part of Putin’s power play. I had to watch it in segments to keep my blood pressure from stroking me out.
   2. Polar Socialist March 2, 2026 at 6:34 pm

      Oddly enough, as Iran is now sort of closed for transit, and Afghanistan and Pakistan are slugging it out, if this thing last much longer, the Central Asian countries have only Russia and China to turn to if they want to export or import anything.

      I guess this is as good a class on geopolitics for Washington as it is for the Central Asia.

      Of course, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have been making a soft decoupling from USA for several years now, and one would think this will only accelerate the process, given that USA security guarantees have turned out to be worse than being without them, and it’s also turning out that their economies are more dependent on the goodwill of Iran than the almighty dollar.

      Doesn’t take much to see that aligning with China offers stability, predictability and wealth while USA… well, does not.
10. Louis Fyne March 2, 2026 at 9:07 am

    >>>The war on Iran likely brings a new oil price shock and windfall profits.

    sigh, this is a lazy chart crime powered by Gemini. (if this is a long war)

    yes, certain Permian basin plays will $$$$. but overall, even “Big Oil”, will be net losers as the destruction of stock market wealth, credit crunch, and overall demand-wealth destruction caused by a recession will cascade through the world
11. Tom Stone March 2, 2026 at 9:26 am

    Does the fiasco in Iran make it more likely that Trump will cancel the mid terms?
    That might not go over well with the Public…

    I am among the 170,000,000 Americans that “share” 2.5% of America’s wealth, $7 gas and a 20% rise in food prices ( A very conservative guess) means that a LOT of us won’t be able to afford the necessities of life.
    That’s a lot of unhappy people.
12. Wukchumni March 2, 2026 at 9:35 am

    Battle of Thermonuclearpylae?

    528 above ground atmospheric nuclear devices have been detonated since Trinity in various test ranges-with seemingly little affect to anywhere else, and if a nuclear war, say one in the middle east, was unleashed with a ‘bakers dozen’ localized spots between combatants and that was it, what would the effects be, aside from opening Pandora’s Box?
    1. JBird4049 March 2, 2026 at 11:29 am

       Those 528 above ground tests were done away from cities and over a period of decades. If the bombs start exploding now, it would be on cities, which would start massive fires, and release an ungodly amount of radiation and smoke; if I remember correctly, less than a hundred cities could lead to a nuclear winter.

       Think of alcohol poisoning; ten bottles in a night is not the same as ten in a year.
       1. Revenant March 2, 2026 at 12:15 pm

          I don’t think Israel would nuke Iran’s cities, there’s no plausible justification for that. But they must be itching to nuke desert bases with secret nuclear programmes like Fordo and Natanz.
          1. ambrit March 2, 2026 at 7:29 pm

             We are dealing with “True Believers” here. Such people make their own reality. (Where have I heard that before?) Their “justification” is their status as The Chosen of G-d (TM.) Nuking Iranian cities would go a long way to breaking the country apart, which is the ultimate goal of the Eretz Israel clique.
             Stay as safe as you can be.
13. pjay March 2, 2026 at 9:47 am

    – ‘How The War With Iran Was Bought By Adelson Money.’ – The Dissident

    I have no doubt that “Adelson Money” was influential on Trump. But please let’s not pretend that this isn’t just the latest phase of a neocon grand strategy that has been ongoing for decades, through Democrat and Republican administrations. The neocons and the Israel lobby are a cancer that has metastasized throughout both the “liberal” and “conservative” wings of our National Security Establishment, Congress, and the media. For god’s sake: Bush I and Iraq; Clinton; Bush-Cheney and Iraq II; Obama and Biden, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, etc., etc., etc. Nothing will change until this cancer is cut out. But I fear it has spread too widely. And of course those who profit from our massive War Machine will go along with it as always.

    So yes, let’s expose each of these evil influences as we can. But this is a drop in the bucket.
    1. Anon March 2, 2026 at 11:34 am

       An important point–underlined by the other links today criticizing the Democrat response on the basis of process. One can already see many signs that the Democratic Party wants to oppose the war on procedural grounds, even though many of them support the underlying action.
14. t March 2, 2026 at 10:16 am

    Ia the FBI instantly going terrorism with the Austin shooter because he is known to them as a local mope that was scooped up as an asset, had nothing to offer, but radicalized by them in the hope he might some day, some how find and share some useful info?
15. LawnDart March 2, 2026 at 10:22 am

    ‘Insane This Is Legal’: Democrats Allege Trumpworld Insiders May Be Betting on War in Iran

    Not proud of it, but I bet on the war and am now up +20% this morning… thanks, NC.
    1. Wukchumni March 2, 2026 at 10:28 am

       I put a wager down on it coming down to sudden death over time.
16. Geo March 2, 2026 at 11:13 am

    Trump: “It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less.”

    The old Friedman Unit of six months has been revised to this new Trump Unit of four weeks?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit
17. diptherio March 2, 2026 at 11:37 am

    From Mastodon from Christopher May:

    A Dubai based hedge-fund executive has said to the FT:

    No one knew ‘you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai. It was not a consideration. People have moved families. This element of concern is new’!

    Given the Hedgies are supposed to be the smart guys, how did they miss the Middle East is suffused with global oil politics, and that it has been unstable politically for generations….

    Oh that’s right; low taxes, folks… it’ll all be fine

    https://zirk.us/@ChrisMayLA6/116160510040970228

    Smartest guys in the room…
    1. Geo March 2, 2026 at 11:47 am

       Who would have guessed a city of glittering towers built overnight with slave labor in a barely habitable desert was situated on an unstable foundation of corruption, oppression, and strife?
       1. lyman alpha blob March 2, 2026 at 1:34 pm

          Heh. I wonder if current events are making the techbros reconsider all those plans for “smart cities” modeled on small despotic arab nations…
       2. eg March 2, 2026 at 10:01 pm

          First hubris, then nemesis …
18. Tom Stone March 2, 2026 at 12:15 pm

    If Iran doesn’t have any terror cells in the US I’m sure the FBI can help, they have decades of experience in false flag ops, ask Gretchen Whitmer for details…
19. Jason Boxman March 2, 2026 at 1:14 pm

    America is going great

    Sales of Heavy Equipment Fall Under Tariff Pressures (NY Times)

    Heavy equipment manufacturers are bringing their bulldozers, backhoes and tractors to Las Vegas this week for North America’s largest construction trade show, but the mood for many is not celebratory.

    The sector is producing less and employing fewer people than it did in 2022, according to a report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, released every three years at the triennial expo.

    “The path that we are on is leading us to less manufacturing in the United States,” said Kip Eideberg, senior vice president of government and industry relations for the group.

    Total sales and indirect economic output from the heavy equipment sector was $902 billion in 2025, a slight contraction from $905 billion in 2022. There’s a similar cooling trend in the labor market, with direct employment falling to 421,000 workers, from 423,000 three years prior, the report stated. Direct sales were basically flat at $265.76 billion last year, down from $266.64 billion in 2022 according to revised figures, the association said.
20. Wukchumni March 2, 2026 at 2:59 pm

    Watching war on a Monday afternoon
    For what I read between the lines
    Your lies
    Feeling like a hand in rusted shame
    So do you laugh or do you cry?
    Reply?

    Leaving on a runaway train
    Only yesterday you lied
    Promises of what peace seemed to be
    Only watched the time go by
    All of these things you said to me

    Being truthful is the hardest thing to do
    With all I’ve said and all that’s dead for you
    You lied
    Goodbye

    Leaving on a runaway train
    Only yesterday you lied
    Promises of what peace seemed to be
    Only watched the time go by
    All of these things I said about you

    Interstate Love Song. by Stone Temple Pilots

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe7m1VzD2Fk&list=RDqe7m1VzD2Fk
21. Jason Boxman March 2, 2026 at 3:55 pm

    In this edition of Democrats Suck

    It’s AOC or bust for far-left Democrats in 2028 (Axios)

    Left-wing Democrats are quietly escalating efforts to persuade New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president. One big reason: They see no clear alternative. Bernie Sanders (84) is too old — and no other Sanders-like pol with national punch is emerging.

    (bold mine)
    1. Adam March 2, 2026 at 6:04 pm

       And yet Axios correctly points out Ro Khanna, who is the actual leader of the fight while I don’t really hear anything about what AOC is doing.
    2. flora March 2, 2026 at 7:55 pm

       Er, to entirely misquote former Dem US pres Harry S. Truman, “If AOC is a leftist I’m a hottentot!” / heh
22. lyman alpha blob March 2, 2026 at 7:01 pm

    If you, like me, need a little faith-in-humanity restoration and something that will put a smile on your face right about now, check out this new album from Johnny Blue Skies (fka Sturgill Simpson) and the Dark Clouds – Mutiny After Midnight

    To pique your interest, some lyrics from the first track Make America [Family blog] Again, which is a banger.

    “Need to get back on the wagon
    Before I end up back on the drink
    Need to stop doing dark s**t in dark rooms
    Just to drown out the pain

    Don’t know why everybody’s afraid of me
    I’m a sensitive boy when push comes to shove
    I’ve got that Hunter Biden energy
    I make a hooker [family blog] around and fall in love”

    Boogie.
    1. witters March 3, 2026 at 1:03 am

       Listened to that, all the way through…

       Great album, perfecting timing…

       (Obviously understanding the “…” ending requires listening to the end. So proof I did!)

       thanks a lot
23. amfortas March 2, 2026 at 7:21 pm

    3-2-2026
    a post card from the Wilderness Bar, out here on the farm, in nw texas hill country.

    Bought a new wireless keyboard, and the first fucking thing I do is knock it off the bar,lol…left shift key came out and sticks, now.

    Anyhoo…segued seamlessly from winter work to spring work…got all manner of firewood, either on site, or just up the road…just gotta cut it, dolly it onto the red trailer, and haul it to woodshed for further cutting and splitting.
    Eldest son and cousin enjoy splitting wood, so ill leave all that for them.

    Initial 3 layers of lasagne gardening in the big bed behind house is done….cardboard and feedsacks(all paper, no glossy stuff) then hay and chickenshit from acrosstheroad chickenhouse, and bark and sawdust(from all this hewing of wood), and woodashes(from woodstoves and fire pit and smoker at bar)…then a buncha licktubs that my neighbor ranchers left, holes drilled in bottom…diapers…even tam’s adult diapers from hospice…(for the hydrogel), then well rotted cow and horse manure from neighbor.
    Scattered about.
    This has all taken a month and a half.
    Today, I maneuvered those tubs into a rational order, and built a buncha trellisses from a load of stock panel that eldest salvaged from a job(re-doing a water gap)…and then planted a buncha the direct seed things:radishes, carrots, spinach, hubbert squash, those pimply french pumpkins(latter two I grow up into trees)…cukes(also into the trees)…buncha other stuff.
    Planted eggplants and more peppers in the little greenhouse…and in there, apparently all of the rooted fig cuttings have taken…and at least some of the other fruit tree cuttings…too early to know abt the sycamore, cottonwoods or honey locusts.

    Last fall, I loaded up all the young male sheep and took em to be castrated…but we missed one…didnt know til he was fucking everything that moved.
    So we’ll be over run with sheep before long…which is a problem,lol…because grass…20 acres, etc…and in addition to the practical aspect, theres demon mother. She has rather insane ideas about sheep husbandry/pasture management…and there aint shit my eldest son and I can do about it. So we do what we can, and await her timely demise.
    (I actually got a community note from X the other day after describing my demon mother…listing help lines and such)

    got $ set aside for a spiderlift for to cover the big greenhouse, finally…after the windy season.
    Had all the materials for 3 years, sitting there, covered.
    But no money, and no labor.

    Plod, plod, plod along.
    Ive heard that slow and steady wins the race, but I just want all the infrastructure finished, dammit.

    Back, neck, shoulder and knees woke me up at midnight, then 2 am…but I am slowly learning that I must check the time on my fone ere I make coffee,lol(last vestige of a clock in my house died, 3 years ago…an 80’s era clock radio)
24. ArvidMartensen March 2, 2026 at 7:27 pm

    The US basically put the nails in the British empire coffin by bankrupting Britain during WWII. Britain lost India soon after that, and some other countries.

    Maybe China and Russia are doing that now, slowly strangling the US to death by 1000 cuts. Giving Iran more means to fight Israel/US so that the US is using up its missiles and losing it planes, and maybe even a ship or two if the fight goes on.
    And China is gradually choking off the supply chain for all the minerals that the US needs to build more weapons.

    In the end, an empire survives because it’s looting is backed up by military muscle. The Americans must be panicked by the confluence of events. Maybe the Iran attack was out of desperation for its own situation vis-a-vis China as much as because Bibi has all the dirt on the Donald.

    An empire summons leaders from lesser states to an audience with the king. Ergo, all the EU leaders meekly going to the White House to be humiliated by Trump like schoolchildren.

    I wager that the meeting in China is no longer a meeting of equals. And Trump, being in the weaker position, will do what aeons of subservient rulers have done – he will praise Xi and say their relationship is stronger and better than any relationship that has ever been.
25. Tom Stone March 2, 2026 at 8:02 pm

    Pete Hegseth doesn’t seem like the sharpest spoon in the drawer to me, do others here have the same impression?
    An informal poll…
    1. Archie Shemp March 3, 2026 at 10:28 am

       Gee, ya think?

       He’s an insecure blithering roid-pumped manbaby who’s always avoided any challenge that requires brain power. Obviously.
26. Glen March 2, 2026 at 9:06 pm

    I meant to get this comment posted when the NASA report came out, apologies for being late. Here’s Scott Manley going over the Starliner report from NASA:

    Explaining Why NASA’s Starliner Report Is So Bad
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L96asfTvJ_A

    This was a lot closer to very bad things happening then we knew at the time. (NASA knew, but now we know.) I’ll have to say, Scott is very good at explaining tech stuff in a very understandable fashion – always the sign of a good scientist/engineer.

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