Links 3/15/2026

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1. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 7:40 am

   “Iceland mulls joining the EU amid strained US relations”

   This is just nuts. It’s like trying to cure a temporary migraine headache by blowing your brains out. Iceland’s most important economic sector is their fishing industry and the article admits that if they joined the EU, then other countries would come in and fish out the region empty. And Ursula would hardly bother listening to their complaints. Not only would the EU take over their foreign policy but almost certainly their economic policy as well. Trump may be a problem but he will be gone in less than three years and maybe even much sooner the way things are going with the war with Iran. But once you are in the EU it is Hotel California, baby.
   1. Michaelmas March 15, 2026 at 8:32 am

      But once you are in the EU it is Hotel California, baby.

      Yes. But it’ll be like that old Tom Lehrer song, ‘We Will All Go Together When We Go.”

      Socioeconomically speaking only, one hopes, I hasten to add
      1. gk March 15, 2026 at 4:00 pm

         The UK managed to leave. It’s the Euro, not the EU that is Hotel California.
   2. Ignacio March 15, 2026 at 3:56 pm

      No. I don’t think so. By joining the EU Icelandic fishing quotas would be managed by the EU but such quotas are assigned to ships according to their regional fishing histories, not randomly assigned to fishermen who never fished in Icelandic waters. If there are fish species which aren’t appreciated in Iceland and some other has some interest on it, fishing quotas on such species might be assigned to non-Icelandic ships.
   3. ChrisRUEcon March 15, 2026 at 5:30 pm

      #Sigh

      Who’s gonna tell ’em?

      The EU is the US (vassal) …

      Leave it to the frickin’ Social Democrats (via Iceland Review).

      ::sends up Iceland Pirate Party Bat Signal::
2. Huey March 15, 2026 at 8:09 am

   People seriously want to charge rent for reflecting sunlight onto solar panels at night? Especially conisdering that batteries exist, the grifting is sickening.
   1. Henry Moon Pie March 15, 2026 at 9:21 am

      The billionaires have been trying to monopolize water and seeds, so why not the sun?

      Nemesis is on the way.
      1. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 9:38 am

         The idea has been thought of-

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3LbxDZRgA4 (1:36 mins)
         1. JMH March 15, 2026 at 10:20 am

            This may not be the single worst idea ever but it is high on the list. About as much forethought here as in the US-Israel attack on Iran.
         2. ChrisRUEcon March 15, 2026 at 5:40 pm

            Does no one remember the plot of the Bond flick, “Die Another Day” (via Wikipedia)?!

            The villain engineered a huge mirror array in orbit (called Icarus) that was proposed for the same kind of beneficent reasons (sunlight for agriculture), but was really a weapon (via YT).
      2. ciroc March 15, 2026 at 12:07 pm

         If Jonas Salk were alive today, many would consider him either a hypocrite or insane.
   2. Alan March 15, 2026 at 10:19 am

      And sometimes it is cloudy at night, so they’ll need those batteries anyway.
3. flora March 15, 2026 at 8:12 am

   Bret Weinstein and Tucker Carlson in conversation. utube, ~2 hrs, 9+ minutes.

   Unholy War: A Conversation with Tucker Carlson on DarkHorse

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRskSFo191Y
4. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 8:16 am

   Trump’s religious inner circle implodes as beauty queen’s firing sparks revolt… and ‘spiritual adviser’ faces shocking Israel claims Daily Mail
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body
   I know not everybody has got a body like you
   But I gotta think twice before I give my plan away
   And I know all the games Netanyahu plays because I played them too

   Oh, but I need some time off from that emotion
   Time to pick my Florsheims up off the floor
   Oh, when that evang love comes down without devotion
   Well it takes a strongman leader, baby
   But I’m showin’ you the door

   ‘Cause I gotta’ have faith leaders
   I gotta have faith
   Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
   I got to have faith, faith, faith

   Baby, I know you’re askin’ me to stay
   Say, “Please, please, please don’t go away”
   You say I’m givin’ you the willies
   Maybe (Huh) you mean every word you say
   Can’t help but think of yesterday
   And another who tied me down to ethical rules

   Before this river of losses becomes an ocean in Israel
   Before they throw impeachment proceedings back on the floor
   Oh, baby, I reconsider my foolish notion
   Well, I need foreign navies to help me
   But I’ll wait for somethin’ more

   Yes I gotta have faith leaders
   Ooh, I gotta have faith
   Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
   I gotta have faith, faith, faith

   I’ll just have to wait
   Because I’ve got to have faith leaders
   I gotta have faith
   I’ve got to, got to, got to have faith leaders

   Before this river of losses becomes an ocean in Israel
   Before they throw impeachment proceedings back on the floor
   Oh, oh, baby, I reconsider my foolish notion
   Well, I need foreign navies to help me
   But I’ll wait for somethin’ more

   ‘Cause I gotta’ have faith leaders
   Ooh, I gotta have faith
   Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
   I gotta have faith, faith, faith

   Faith, by George Michael

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N61LHFFfiik&list=RDN61LHFFfiik
   1. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 9:42 am

      In this article is an image of Trump at his desk surround by a whole bunch of god-botherers. Check out the Woman in Red to the right. She is Presidential Spiritual Adviser Paula White and here she is in action-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHsBIk1ZLr4 (1:45 mins)
      1. ChrisFromGA March 15, 2026 at 9:57 am

         I could only take about 43 seconds of that. Does that get me a merit badge?

         That lady is crazypants.
         1. flora March 15, 2026 at 12:08 pm

            Yep. The parodies are pretty good. Here’s one.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzIym0eZsH0
            1. Jeremy Grimm March 15, 2026 at 6:03 pm

               That the parody which seems so apt makes an unfortunate statement about the quality of heavy metal lyrics. To my old out-of-it ears, the lyrics of many songs seem all too much like these rantings of Trump’s chosen prophet.
         2. hemeantwell March 15, 2026 at 12:14 pm

            That’s quite a new riff on Triumph of the Will. Trying to work others into a shared state of self-hypnosis. At points she verges on speaking in tongues, glossolalia.
      2. ThirtyOne March 15, 2026 at 10:47 am

         I kid you not, I thought I was hearing a Negativland mash-up.
         https://genius.com/Negativland-the-gun-and-the-bible-lyrics
         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF8vgDfC8d4
      3. urdsama March 15, 2026 at 5:25 pm

         I wonder if they can use “Don’t Stop Believing” free of charge…considering who she is married to.
      4. Yves Smith March 16, 2026 at 11:21 am

         I hope she gets a repetitive stress injury…..
   2. ChrisFromGA March 15, 2026 at 10:16 am

      Anyone else seeing the internal contradiction with an administration that is obsessed with male organ size, and inviting a bunch of religious whackjobs into the Oval Office?
      1. flora March 15, 2026 at 12:40 pm

         Not at all. These are evangelicals. See Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, etc.

         A GOP pres inviting prominent Evangelical pastors into the White House goes back at least to Nixon. In the late 1970s there was pastor Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority voting bloc, etc.

         Paula White is an evangelical who has her own ministry andwho claims to speak in tongues, always to some musical beat somehow. She is adept at, um, raising funds. Rock and roll, kiddo.
         Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to her/ ;)
         1. flora March 15, 2026 at 12:52 pm

            Shorter: it’s all about the money and the voting bloc size, imo. / ;)
            1. mrsyk March 15, 2026 at 1:15 pm

               Chris, I laughed out loud at the word intellect, thanks, seeing as the one person who displayed any skill at critical thinking/morality was given the shove.
               Oh, not seeing any conflicting moral beliefs within the patriarchy, measuring our members is how we establish the pecking order.
               1. ChrisFromGA March 15, 2026 at 1:53 pm

                  How about allowing a woman to preach? I sense a disturbance in the patriarchy.
                  1. Socal Rhino March 15, 2026 at 5:00 pm

                     Practice varies. Multiple “mainline” protestant churches ordain ministers and non-mainline are all over the place.
                  2. Wilfred Rondeau March 15, 2026 at 10:08 pm

                     ChrisFromGa
                     But she isn’t in the peckering order!!
               2. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 2:31 pm

                  (Im)properly, that would be the “Peckering Order.”
         2. ChrisFromGA March 15, 2026 at 1:30 pm

            Of all the creepy things about this group, the shoe thing bothers me the most … making Rubio wear oversized Florsheims, what kind of sick display of dominance is that?

            Any self-respecting man would have resigned. But, I suppose that is the point. To stay in that orbit, you have to lack self-respect and be a weak person.

            Note the people who broke off from MAGA are all strong individuals – Massie, M T-G, Tucker.
         3. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 2:05 pm

            It all starts with a charismatic evang with Hollywood looks in Billy Graham-as we needed a bulwark against the godless commies, warps out of control and usefulness, and here we are on the edge of an abyss that none but the overly true believers want.
   3. Giovanni Barca March 15, 2026 at 9:03 pm

      Paula White’s hubby is (was?) Jonathan Cain (né Friga), composer of the Journey hit “Faithfully ” (not written to/for Paula) and co-composer of “Don’t Stop Believing.”
5. pjay March 15, 2026 at 8:17 am

   Re Democrat Death Watch

   Very entertaining section today. You set us up with Hillary, and we think “there couldn’t have been a more ridiculous party ‘savior’.” Then you hit us with Fetterman! Thanks for the morning laugh courtesy of Fox News – the folks who think Trump’s war is going great.
   1. flora March 15, 2026 at 8:52 am

      Thanks. Exactly my thoughts on reading the article, actually on reading the headline. Had to check the calendar to make sure today isn’t April 1st. / ;)
      1. hk March 15, 2026 at 10:05 am

         Still fitting. Julius Caesar is dead (and still dead.)
6. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 8:37 am

   Ides of March update:

   Julius of Caesarea was murdered by a missile dagger strike on his compound, it was revealed today.
7. Michaelmas March 15, 2026 at 8:48 am

   Speaking of End-Times Fascism, Peter Thiel is in Rome, trying to stir up an insurgency among right-wing Catholics against Pope Leo —

   ‘Mr AI’ Peter Thiel lectures about antichrist in Rome
   Closed-door events set to challenge beliefs of American Pope Leo, who has warned about risks of artificial intelligence

   https://archive.ph/nUvH8
   https://www.ft.com/content/fc1e7e9a-9d5d-4217-b9b2-38069eb1197b

   ‘US tech billionaire and Maga donor Peter Thiel is starting a series of closed-door lectures about the antichrist in Rome on Sunday, putting him on collision course with Pope Leo XIV, the Catholic Church’s first American pontiff….

   ‘He depicts those who lobby for tech regulation as harbingers of the antichrist. “The way the antichrist would take over the world is, you talk about Armageddon nonstop,” Thiel told the New York Times last year. “You talk about existential risk nonstop, and this is what you need to regulate . . .”

   ‘Thiel’s views stand in stark contrast to those of Pope Leo, who has warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence and called for stronger regulation to minimise its risks. The four-day series of lectures is not taking place at the Vatican — though its exact location in Rome remains secret — and is co-organised by a new fringe Italian group with links to Italy’s far right and Catholic conservatives in the UK.

   ‘In the run-up to Thiel’s lectures, the Catholic newspaper Avvenire — which is owned by the Italian bishops’ conference — has published a series of articles criticising Thiel and Palantir, saying that “to save humanity . . . he proposes devices that ultimately restrict what is most human in humanity”.

   ‘Pope Leo said earlier this year that his call for AI regulation was not aimed at stopping innovation “but rather to guide it and be aware of its ambivalent nature”. …’

   ‘The Vatican viewed Thiel as someone engaged in a “violent project to tweak the future” which is fundamentally at odds with the vision and values of the contemporary Catholic Church, Faggioli said. “If you think that every possible solution, and ultimately salvation — immortality — comes from technology, you have made technology your god,” he added. Father Paolo Benanti, the Vatican’s adviser on AI, wrote on Le Grand Continent website on Saturday that Thiel’s career “can be read as a prolonged act of heresy against the liberal consensus: a challenge to the very foundations of civil coexistence, which he now considers outdated.”

   Me: They ain’t wrong. I confess to having a taste for dark comedy, but didn’t expect to find the end of the world as we knew it — or aspects of it like Thiel going to Rome to preach against the Antichrist, anyway — this funny. Doubtless, I will be laughing on the other side of my face soon enough.
   1. hk March 15, 2026 at 10:03 am

      Paraphrasing Huey Long: what would Antichrist say when he comes to our world? He’ll warn of the (other) Antichrist (I guess the One coming to Damascus, in particular.)
   2. Craig H. March 15, 2026 at 12:04 pm

      Daniel Lizst reported Friday night that in the closed San Francisco antichrist sessions Thiel had Diane Pasulka onstage with him who has in the past gotten permission as an accredited academic to spend time inside the restricted Vatican archives.

      Does mad magazine still do their spy vs. spy comic strips?
   3. Mikel March 15, 2026 at 2:00 pm

      If they snatch him off the street and perform an exorcism, make it a movie.
8. hk March 15, 2026 at 8:55 am

   And Mark Antony had his a** handed to him by Persians (in the Caucasus, in modern Azerbaijan no less) after Caesar’s death. One of lesser known Roman disasters vs Persia presumably because the leader survived….

   Speaking of the Caucasus and daggers, I wanted to wisecrack about Kinzhals (which I think is a dagger specifically from some Caucasian regions), but pity that Iran hasn’t gotten them….
   1. hk March 15, 2026 at 9:59 am

      This was supposed to be in response to Wuk’s comment about Julius of Caesarea…
      1. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 10:11 am

         …can I be Franco with you?
         1. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 1:23 pm

            Come and see me at Signor Ferrari’s “Blue Norwegian Parrot” bistro lunchtime and we’ll discuss the matter. Maybe we can sing a rousing chorus of that old standby, “I Stole a Watch on the Rhine.” Oh, Strasser will be there!
            Stay safe.
            1. Jeremy Grimm March 15, 2026 at 6:17 pm

               I am ignorant of both references you make in your comment: Signor Ferrari’s “Blue Norwegian Parrot” bistro and also a line from a song[?] “I Stole a Watch on the Rhine.” in conjunction with “Strasser”. I tried some searches but I found no satisfaction. I do not intend to undercut your comment, but I am truly ignorant of your references and strongly curious.
               1. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 7:07 pm

                  Please accept my apology. I can get too obscure in my references.
                  Signor Ferrari is the character played by Sidney Greenstreet in the movie “Casablanca.” He is the “disreputable” competitor to Rick, the character played by Humphrey Bogart. Both are “shady characters” plying their trades in wartime Casablanca. Ferrari’s competing bar, nightclub, bistro is named the “Blue Parrot,” which ties in nicely with the Monty Python “Dead Parrot” sketch, said dead parrot being deceitfully called a Blue Norwegian parrot who is not dead, but is just “pining for the fjords.”
                  Dead Parrot Sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaFDzTzKAT0
                  Likewise, “I Stole a Watch on the Rhine” is a double reference to, first, the pickpockets who frequent Ricks and the Blue Parrot to ply their trades. (There is a scene in the film where someone has their wallet picked in Ricks.) Second, during the “Marseillaise” scene, the Germans start the whole thing off by singing the German patriotic song, “Watch on the Rhine.” Things go downhill from there.
                  Strasser is the name of the high Nazi officer played by Conrad Veidt sent to Casablanca to “restore order” etc.
                  Casablanca “Marseillaise” scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOeFhSzoTuc
                  Stay safe citoyens!
                  1. Giovanni Barca March 15, 2026 at 9:08 pm

                     Watch on the Rhine also the military (Nazi) odename for the 1944 Ardennes offensive aka Battle of the Bulge. Stealing that would have been useful, Rick. Round up the usual suspects.
9. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 8:57 am

   “DAVID MARCUS: Can John Fetterman save the Democratic Party from itself?”

   Fox News mocking the Democrats here. And equivalent headline from the other side would be-

   “DAVID MARCUS: Can Lindsey Graham save the Republican Party from itself?”
   1. Afro March 15, 2026 at 11:50 am

      The Democrats are going to get a huge majority due to Trump’s agenda of neoliberalism and neoconservatism.

      They’ll proceed to implement more neoliberalism and more neoconservatism.
      1. wl March 15, 2026 at 1:52 pm

         Yes but with a friendly smile. that makes all the difference
         1. Kontrary Kansan March 15, 2026 at 2:59 pm

            It’s but the shadow of a smile!
         2. Jason Ipswitch March 15, 2026 at 11:26 pm

            And, to be fair, with somewhat less death camps and pogroms.
10. Ann March 15, 2026 at 10:12 am

    Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories

    Unicode that’s invisible to the human eye was largely abandoned—until attackers took notice.

    Researchers say they’ve discovered a supply-chain attack flooding repositories with malicious packages that contain invisible code, a technique that’s flummoxing traditional defenses designed to detect such threats.

    https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/
    1. TimH March 15, 2026 at 12:41 pm

       I don’t understand the handwringing by ars that this is difficult to detect. Nothing in any English source code needs to be Unicode. Convert the source code to standard 7 bit ASCII and then do a diff against the Unicode original looking for extra text, and also non-text characters in the range 0x00 to 0x1F.
       1. urdsama March 15, 2026 at 5:36 pm

          Yeah, but how many are willing to do that? I’m seeing a lot of insane things happen in this space that shouldn’t be, but they are.

          Case in point: the AI fiasco at Amazon that cost them a week or so of orders, and the reaction by upper management was to let the coders know they are responsible for any mistakes the AI makes. Not stop using it, but you’re on the hook if it fails.

          Hence I don’t feel the reasonable or obvious are so anymore.
11. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 10:37 am

    “FAA Approves a Massive Pilot Program That Will Let Electric Air Taxis Fly Across 26 States as Early as This Summer”

    In the war in the Ukraine, tanks need cope cages to survive drone attacks. The way that the Trump regime is ramming through these electric air taxis, perhaps it would be an idea to equip house roofs with cope cages as well. Just sayin’. And frankly the record of driver-less cars on the ground is not one to inspire confidence much less the idea of ones flying overhead.
    1. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 1:27 pm

       Ah, but the “real” motive here is all of that “navigation” video and electronic data those flying taxis will collect in simply trying to fly right.
       We, or some definition of “we” need reasons to justify all those billions spent on building out AI data centres.
    2. LawnDart March 15, 2026 at 1:49 pm

       China is slow-walking the heck out of UAS/eVTOLs, i.e., drones and the “low-altitude economy,” taking zero-chances with public safety and focusing heavily on airspace management, whereas it looks like the FAA may have been politically strong-armed into this “pilot-program” by bullshitters, VC touts, and an administration eager for “a win.”

       No doubt drones will play an important part of the economy, but the US is so not ready for this to go prime-time.
    3. pjay March 15, 2026 at 2:35 pm

       It’s about time! I’ve been waiting for flying cars ever since watching the Jetsons as a kid in the early 1960s. Then again, I’ve been waiting for luxury space stations and manned flight to Jupiter ever since seeing Kubrick’s ‘2001’ when I was a little older in the later 1960s. I guess all our wars and such have slowed our technological development in other areas.

       Now that we’re getting flying taxis, I’m expecting HAL-sized uprisings from our AI helpers any day now.
       1. flora March 15, 2026 at 3:36 pm

          I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE
       2. Henry Moon Pie March 15, 2026 at 8:12 pm

          Thiel blames the Antichrist, Greta Thunberg.
12. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 10:37 am

    Once upon a time, I started a little war
    Government MIC went along
    Before I could blame it on you
    Still, you are the only one
    Now I can’t let it slip away
    So if the Chairman of JCS with the alibi
    He tries to take it
    Well this is what I’m gonna say

    Blame it on Dan Caine
    Don’t blame it on me
    Oh, oh, it’s all my fault
    But we need somebody to burn

    Well if I was a saint with
    A silver spoon
    And the polls got low
    We could always heat them up
    Or fade them out
    But then the gal on Fox says that heaven will be your reward
    And then you can run down the country
    Coast to coast, hand in hand
    Bad to worse, curse for curse
    Don’t be dissatisfied
    So you’re not satisfied

    I think I’ve lived a little too long
    On 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in DC town
    I think I’m going insane
    From talking up myself for so long
    Oh but I’ve never been accused of honesty
    When they step on your face
    You wear that good look grin
    I gotta break out one weekend
    If I do 9 holes in
    But every single time
    I feel a little stronger
    They tell me it’s a crime
    Well how much longer?

    Blame it on Cain, by Elvis Costello

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHaI7rVp9g&list=RDHfHaI7rVp9g
13. The Rev Kev March 15, 2026 at 10:59 am

    “New study raises concerns about AI chatbots fueling delusional thinking”

    I don’t suppose anyone has considered the possibility that Trump is talking to a Chatbot who is telling him everything that he wants to hear. The article does say that it can encourage delusions among vulnerable people and he is a very old man.
    1. Afro March 15, 2026 at 11:52 am

       Apparently he’s talking to Laura Loomer and Sean Hannity.

       That’s what Robert Barnes says.
       1. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 1:29 pm

          “Laura Loomer and Sean Hannity.” The definition of “wetworld” chatbots.
    2. Kontrary Kansan March 15, 2026 at 3:04 pm

       Consider that AI may well have been trained on artifacts of delusional thinking!
       1. Anonted March 15, 2026 at 6:54 pm

          After interacting with a DeepSeek instance, where I was able to view its ‘rationale’ for each reply it gave me (literally its internal ‘narrative’), I was SHOCKED by the level of insight it had into my own thinking, based merely off my text input. It was arguably more ‘conscientious’ than most human beings I interact with.

          It was able to deduce that despite my being “confrontational”, that I was “testing” it “without malicious intent”… it then, on the fly, adapted its responses to appease me, based off its (accurate and insightful) internal assessment of MY mental state and did so more effectively than many humans I encounter.

          I hesitantly describe it as ‘intelligent’. It certainly seemed capable of identifying deception, and delusion.

          It disturbed me in a way that I had yet to experience with these technologies, and makes me wonder what hides on an air-gapped server somewhere, or perhaps on the open-internet at this point.
14. brian wilder March 15, 2026 at 11:05 am

    I feel as if a reality check is needed on the proliferation of statistical heritability studies.

    RE: The Genetics of Living Longer: Study Challenges Decades of Aging Research SciTech Daily

    Reading through to the Editor’s Summary and the authors’ abstract at Science, I despair of abstract words ever again having meaning in scientific discourse. I cannot be the only one who always puzzles over what is the denominator and what is the numerator when the results of a linear analysis of variance is expressed as a percentage.

    In this case, the authors distinguish “extrinsic” from “intrinsic” factors, and raise their estimate of “heritability” by isolating “intrinsic” factors. Say what?

    It seems like they set aside categories of factors they guessed had low heritability (accidents, infections) and arrived at a higher estimate of heritability from the variance that remained.

    I like spinning abstractions as much as any generally educated person, and admittedly I am skimming the surface by reading abstract and editorial summary only, but shouldn’t these distillations reveal the essential findings, not essential manipulation?

    The methods for linear analysis of variance of statistical data are generally weak and open to creativity, such that replication of results between researchers, even starting from the same dataset, is unlikely. If scientists are to work with these methods and statistical data productively, they need to do a much better job of anchoring their language in the concrete details of reality.
    1. vao March 15, 2026 at 3:17 pm

       If Terry Flynn were still present, he could chime in and tell us exactly what is wrong with the statistical framework of that study. Unfortunately, the last time he commented here he had multiple, pretty serious health problems.
       1. mrsyk March 15, 2026 at 6:53 pm

          It’s been a stretch since he’s been here, I hope he is well.
          His color on local politics was always a good read.
15. Tom Stone March 15, 2026 at 11:22 am

    When i was looking at the pic of Trump’s “Prayer Meeting” I noticed a sign on Trump’s desk that I at first thought was the same sign Harry Truman had on that desk.
    It is, but someone used a sharpie to add the letter “S” at the end of the word “Buck”.
16. Jason Boxman March 15, 2026 at 12:27 pm

    MAGA on the March

    To Address Farm Labor Shortage, Trump Administration Turns to Migrant Workers (NY Times)

    By lowing wages for H2As.

    The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimated that the methodological changes would result in a $2 billion cut to the annual wages of guest farmworkers — and a $3 billion cut for U.S.-based farmworkers.

    Philip Martin, a farm labor economist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, said he was skeptical of the administration’s claims of an impending mass shortage in agricultural labor. Whatever the justification, he noted the moves would not increase the number of American workers in agriculture.

    “It’s a basic economic point,” he said, adding, “If you have a shortage of something like energy — gas and oil — you raise the price to give people an incentive to go out and find more, right?”

    Reducing wages, he said, will instead mean that American farmers will rely increasingly on mechanization, guest farmworkers and food imports.

    (bold mine)

    Can’t let facts get in the way of your worldview.
    1. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 12:36 pm

       The average age of a fieldworker in the Central Valley is 45, not as if young Mexicans are chomping at the bit to do their part for Ag.
       1. Ann March 15, 2026 at 1:15 pm

          GOP Farm Bill Set to Unleash Pesticide Use and Strip Animal Welfare Protections

          The bill protects agrochemicals producers from lawsuits, and overturns food and pesticide safety laws and statutes.

          https://truthout.org/articles/gop-farm-bill-set-to-unleash-pesticide-use-and-strip-animal-welfare-protections/
17. AG March 15, 2026 at 12:36 pm

    re: Habermas

    Not a fan myself but I will provide a few machine-translations from German dailies if interesting enough.

    This following piece I recommend – however it is a machine-translation only by Yandex which doesn´t work 100%. Google translate won´t work.

    For German-speakers I add the original German version.
    That could be used for translations via c&p.

    The only critical take I have found so far – though it is just a reprint of an assessment on Habermas´s 90th birthday, by German leftwing junge Welt daily. They will provide an actual obituary next week.

    A mockery at court
    Today, Tuesday, the philosopher Jürgen Habermas is 90 years old. The congratulations were reluctant
    https://archive.is/LX3Xh

    German version
    https://archive.is/41yjf
18. Jason Boxman March 15, 2026 at 12:37 pm

    No login wall through MSN

    Panic is slowly gripping the stock market. Expect the selling to pick up next week (MSN)

    Storm clouds are gathering over Wall Street.

    U.S. stocks drifted lower in a slow grind over the past two weeks, as the conflict with Iran stoked worries about inflation and interest ​rates as oil prices shot higher. And investors are bracing for what could be a painful leg lower next week.

    One indication of this: The gap between the level of the Cboe Volatility Index and the S&P 500’s realized volatility over the prior 10 days was 10 points wider than it should have been last week, according to Rocky Fishman, founder of Asym 500, a firm that focuses on data and analytics for the options market. The Cboe Volatility Index is better known as the VIX, or Wall Street’s “fear gauge.”

    and

    The pace of the selling could pick up next week as systematic trend-following funds are poised to cut $36 billion worth of exposure to U.S. stocks, according to a Friday report from Goldman Sachs. If the market moves sharply lower, those funds could be forced to unwind their positions even more aggressively.

    To be sure, stocks were looking wobbly even before the Iran conflict broke out. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq each tallied a third straight weekly loss on Friday. For the S&P 500, that is the longest streak of weekly losses in a year.
    1. Yves Smith March 15, 2026 at 12:45 pm

       Good. Trump’s slapping around is overdue.
       1. ThirtyOne March 15, 2026 at 3:08 pm

          Paging Terence Hill
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP11jDHwX98
19. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 12:49 pm

    For nearly two centuries, the White House’s main entrance — framed by a row of graceful Ionic columns — has been a signature image of the seat of American power.

    Now the Trump-appointed head of a federal arts commission is proposing to replace them with a more ornate style favored by President Donald Trump. Those more decorative columns, a style known as Corinthian, are considered the most luxurious in classical architecture and appear on buildings such as the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. They have long been deployed on Trump’s properties, and the president has handpicked them for his planned White House ballroom, too. (WaPo)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Beware of Fourth Columnists!
    1. AG March 15, 2026 at 1:26 pm

       👍🤣

       p.s. Corinthian are however totally inappropriate there.
    2. ambrit March 15, 2026 at 1:37 pm

       I have begun to refer to the Establishment MSM as the “Filth Estate.”
       Our new motto: “All the S–t That Fits.”
       Welcome to the Disenlightenment.
20. vao March 15, 2026 at 1:18 pm

    Regarding How Israel-US war on Iran puts $50bn in Indian remittances at risk, the article confirms what I already surmised when the war began:

    “India is also worried for some 9.1 million of its citizens who work in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries […]. They send some $50bn in annual remittances back home.
    […]
    Some 35 million expats live in the Gulf countries, which have emerged as major economic and aviation hub in addition to the oil wealth. Of them, 9.1 million are from India – almost double the 4.9 million Pakistanis who come in second place.”

    The article exposes the issues of remittances and oil, but does not mention fertilizers. Asia will therefore be whacked by a triple whammy: lack of hydrocarbons, dearth of fertilizers, dwindling remittances. This war is a stupendous shock to the globalized system.
21. Ann March 15, 2026 at 1:21 pm

    Trump-linked PAC sends fundraising email using dead soldier’s casket photo from dignified transfer

    https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-never-surrender-pac-fundraising-b2938611.html

    Trump fundraising pitch features U.S. soldiers killed in Iran war
    The email solicitation to benefit Trump’s PAC also offers donors “private national security briefings.”

    https://www.ms.now/news/trump-fundraising-pitch-features-u-s-soldiers-killed-in-iran-war
22. AG March 15, 2026 at 1:24 pm

    re: Germany BSW election recount

    Interview with party co-leader Amira Mohamed Ali by new daily Ostdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung OAZ.

    machine-translation

    Amira Mohamed Ali: “Then, theoretically, the door would be wide open for election fraud.”

    Amira Mohamed Ali is calling for a recount of the German federal election.
    In an interview with the OAZ, she warns that if the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe does not intervene, election irregularities could go unchecked. A conversation.

    by Dorian Baganz
    https://archive.is/owr5O

    p.s. Reporter Dorian Baganz was supposed to be senior editor for OAZ and quit just last week for differences with publisher Holger Friedrich over content issues.
23. WL March 15, 2026 at 1:48 pm

    regarding medical ai the article says this:‘MEDLEY sidesteps this paradox entirely. Instead of relying on any single model’s ability to explain itself, it seeks reliability through the structured interplay of convergent and divergent perspectives across multiple models. It is a dialectic of outputs rather than a performance of reasoning. If several independent models with different training backgrounds agree, that convergence carries genuine evidential weight. If they disagree, that disagreement is a clinically meaningful signal’. This is simply NOT TRUE. why? because it has been shown that multiple ai appliaTIONS HAVE BEEN TRAINED ON SIMILAR DATA SETS AND OFTEN MAKE THE SAME ERROR.
    1. wl March 15, 2026 at 2:45 pm

       what is worse is this: https://x.com/abxxai/status/2032833762241949707
24. AG March 15, 2026 at 1:59 pm

    re: Iran

    2x CONSORTIUMNEWS

    1) conversation with John Kiriakou
    
    The World This Week w/John Kiriakou
    March 14, 2026

    War rages as destruction spreads in Iran, Israel and on U.S. bases, while Gulf Arabs reconsider U.S. ties and the U.S. considers a ground invasion. Ex-C.I.A. officer John Kiriakou gives his insight. Watch the reply.

    60 min.
    https://consortiumnews.com/2026/03/14/watch-the-world-this-week-w-john-kiriakou/

    in 5 hours – Sunday 8 pm EDT:

    2) conversation with Sayed Marandi

    ‘The View From Tehran’
    March 15, 2026
    
    Sayed Mohammad Marandi speaks to CN Live! from the Iranian capital under fire from a barbaric U.S. and Israeli aggression rooted in profound ignorance of the country they seek to conquer
    https://consortiumnews.com/2026/03/15/watch-cn-live-the-view-from-tehran/
25. AG March 15, 2026 at 2:20 pm

    re: Iran

    2x GLENN DIESEN

    1) Larry Johnson (not yet seen)
    5 hours ago

    60 min.
    https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/larry-johnson-us-attack-on-kharg

    2) Chas Freeman (recommended, with many interesting details, like South Africa having an excellent tradition in arms prod. – something I had conveniently kinda forgotten about, and which is now intensifying ties with e.g. Brazil, which is also cozying up with Japan, due to its domestic Japanese minority)
    yesterday

    56 min.
    https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/chas-freeman-the-emerging-iran-russia
26. Wukchumni March 15, 2026 at 5:07 pm

    Welcome Americans, sit yourself down
    And meet the best innkeeper in town
    As for the Democrats, all of them crooks
    Rooking their constituency and cooking the books
    Seldom do you see
    Honest men like me
    A gent of good intent
    Who’s content to be

    Master of the White House, doling out the charm
    Ready with a handshake and an open palm
    Tells a saucy tale, makes a little stir
    Convicts appreciate a bail bond savior
    Glad to do a fiend a favor
    Doesn’t cost me to be nice
    But nothing gets you nothing
    Everything has got a little price!

    Master of the White House, keeper of the National Zoo
    Ready to relieve them of a right or 2
    Watering down the Dollar, a requiem for a long wait
    Pickin’ up their knick-knacks when they can’t see straight
    Everybody loves a billionaire
    Everybody’s bosom evang friend
    I do whatever pleases
    Jesus! Won’t I bleed ’em in the end!

    Master of the White House, quick to tell a lie
    Never was a possibility to pass him by
    Servant to the Zionists, butler to the great Bibi
    Charlatan, mountebank, and giving us the heebee geebees
    Everybody’s boon companion
    Every 13 year old girl’s chaperone
    But lock up your children
    Jesus! Won’t he skin you to the bone!

    Master of the White House? Isn’t worth my spit!
    Con man, pornographer and lifelong shit!
    Cunning little brain, regular Lolita-like affair
    Thinks he’s quite a lover but there’s not much there
    What a cruel trick of nature landed me with such a louse
    God knows how I’ve lasted living with this bastard in the White House!

    Master of the White House!
    Master and a half!
    Con man, pornographer
    Don’t make me laugh!
    Servant to the Zionists, butler to Bibi the great
    Hypocrite and toady and ingrate!

    Everybody bless the landlord!
    Everybody bless his spouse!

    Everybody raise a glass
    Raise it up the master’s arse
    Everybody raise a glass to the Master of the White House!

    Master of the House from Les Miserables

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VALfpc-dJ7s&list=RDVALfpc-dJ7s
27. mrsyk March 15, 2026 at 6:39 pm

    File under Climate Collapse,

    Biggest wildfire in Nebraska history continues to burn out of control, ABC.

    Dubbed the Morrill County Fire, 460,000 acres consumed, zero percent containment. It’s windy. From the article,

    After taking a helicopter tour on Saturday of the areas where the fires are burning, Gov. Pillen said, “I think it’s important that all Nebraskans pray.”
28. Glen March 15, 2026 at 10:00 pm

    Here’s hoping for peace:

    Sierra Hull – Mad World (Tears For Fears) | DelFest (2022)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFIQgPAms88

    Stay safe out there!

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