How the spreadsheet reshaped America David Oks
Climate/Environment
As the first reanalysis data become available, I think I can say with a fairly high degree of confidence that the March 2026 heatwave will go down as the most anomalously extreme heat event ever observed at any time of year in the southwestern U.S. pic.twitter.com/eool7XBjwh
— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) March 25, 2026
Human Health: Measuring the impact of rising temperatures on mortality to target adaptation planning Climate Impact Lab (Gurst)
Snowpack decline kindles more severe fire in the western United States IOP Science
US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds The Guardian
Pandemics
Italy: MOH Statement on First LPAI H9N2 Human Case in Europe (imported) Avian Flu Diary
South Carolina: No new measles cases in Upstate outbreak CIDRAP
Japan
Where Are the Japanese? Why Japan’s CEOs Skipped Beijing This Year George Chen
Embassy break-in, Taiwan row and a diplomatic downgrade: Japan-China ties are taking dangerous turn Firstpost
China?
Trump will travel to Beijing for rescheduled China trip May 14-15, after delay due to Iran war AP
Wang Xiaolu: Why More Stimulus Has Meant Weaker Demand in China The East Is Read
On sale now: China is mass-producing hypersonic missiles for $99,000 Kevin Walmsley
Deputy head of China financial regulator probed for suspected law, discipline violations The Standard
India
Hormuz as the new Suez: What happens if multipolarity arrives before India is a ‘pole’? India Inside Out
Syraqistan
After Nearly A Month Of Epic Fury There’s No Off-Ramp In Clear Sight The War Zone
Rosatom chief declares preparations for 3rd stage of evacuation from Iran’s Bushehr plant Anadolu Agency
The U.S. needs to be worried about Iranian biological materials STAT
Western Media Rushes to Judgement on “Iranian Diego Garcia Attack” The Column
The Iran Files III: The Shareholder State – How Iran’s Political Architecture Absorbs Pressure Kautilya The Contemplator
***
Iran Gas Flow to Turkey Said to Stop After South Pars Strike Bloomberg
Spain granted permission to sail through Hormuz, as Trump’s energy dominance policy failing Intellinews
The Kurds strategy: Surviving the war on Iran Burhan N.S JAF
The Shadow Vizier Frame the Globe News
***
Israel’s plan to buy Greek islands resurfaces amid Iran war TRT World
Israel used white phosphorus to scorch earth in south Lebanon, researcher says The Guardian
Hezbollah sets unparalleled record: 87 operations strike ‘Israel’ Al Mayadeen
Africa
European Disunion
Europe could face fuel shortage by April as Iran throttles supplies, says Shell boss The Guardian
Europe loses its grip as LNG cargoes chase higher prices in Asia Euronews
The EU: from propaganda and censorship to electoral interference Thomas Fazi
A Portrait of Israeli Meddling in Slovenia Lily Lynch
Old Blighty
Met says it will resume arresting people who show support for Palestine Action The Guardian
Newly discovered film gives extraordinary first hand account of the General Strike The Canary
New Not-So-Cold War
British forces preparing to board Russian shadow fleet ships in UK waters BBC
Russian SMO Enters Doldrums Under Shadow of Iran Conflict Simplicius
Over the weeks of the Iran war the Ukrainian military has been carrying out a systematic campaign targeting Russian oil and gas infrastructure. The attacks have reportedly halted 40% of Russian export capacity which limits Moscow ability to profit from price spikes but also… pic.twitter.com/w9zrhLRG34
— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) March 25, 2026
War stalemate? Events in Ukraine
🚨BREAKING
Russia’s Starlink is already in space: The first 16 internet satellites of the Rassvet communications constellation have been launched into orbit.🇷🇺🛰
▪️”After reaching the reference orbit, the satellites successfully separated from the launch vehicle and were taken… pic.twitter.com/wj2z8ZGr1h
— Aleksey Berezutski 🇷🇺🎖 (@aleksbrz11) March 24, 2026
South of the Border
U.S. ramps up fuel exports to Cuba’s private sector Reuters
Venezuela: Rodríguez Announces Electricity Rationing Ahead of Heatwave, Drought Forecast Venezuelanalysis
Trump 2.0
Why are ICE & Border Patrol at airports? Borderland Talk with Jenn Budd
White House turns down Elon Musk’s offer to pay TSA workers during DHS shutdown CBS News
Treason in the Futures Markets Paul Krugman
Inside Trump’s daily video montage briefing on the Iran war NBC News
Imperial Collapse Watch
U.S. Votes Against UN Resolution Calling Slavery a Crime Against Humanity Prism News
The Accelerationists
Palantir CEO Says Only the Neurodivergent Will Survive the AI Takeover Gizmodo
Hunted and Banned Boston Review
Immigration
Inside Trump’s Plan to Finish Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley The Border Chronicle
Mamdani
Government must deliver for working people—and every dollar in our budget should work as hard as they do.
That’s why I directed every agency to cut waste and help close our budget gap.
Here’s some of what we found. pic.twitter.com/wFOxj4zTcg
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 25, 2026
Groves of Academe
🚨 Melania Trump this morning: Proposes an AI system—“Plato”—as a replacement for teachers.
“Literature, art, science, mathematics, history… the entire corpus of knowledge… at home.”
Replace teachers? With a machine?
AI over teachers. That’s the idea.
Instead of calling for… pic.twitter.com/U4T4T8Z6eU
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) March 25, 2026
An AI School, With No Teachers, To Open in Chicago This Fall Block Club Chicago
AI
Microsoft and Nvidia claim AI can speed approval of new atomic plants The Register
The first basic income for workers impacted by AI has begun sending out $1,000 monthly payments Blood in the Machine
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Trump Openly Calls for ‘Clean’ Extension of Spying Power Opposed by Privacy Advocates Common Dreams
San Francisco once led the fight against police surveillance. Now it’s a laboratory for it San Francisco Standard
Economy
Imported inflation strikes again: US import prices post biggest jump in nearly 4 years Firstpost
U.S. Postal Service seeks 8% fuel surcharge for package deliveries as Iran war raises oil prices CNBC
The Bezzle
SpaceX IPO leaves some private share buyers unsure what they own Reuters
Who’s driving Waymo’s self-driving cars? Sometimes, the police. TechCrunch
Class Warfare
Holed up: L.A. tries closing off manhole where people live, nearly sealing someone inside Los Angeles Times
War Dollars, Care Dollars (and No Sense) Dollars & Sense
Children’s screen time is a class issue Arbetaren (Micael) [machine translation]
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
45 comments
Comments are closed.
Melania proposes an AI system to replace teachers. Why does this remind me of Harry Harlow’s experiments on social isolation using rhesus monkeys. JFC.
On the other hand, an AI teaching system wouldn’t have much difficulty in filling Mail-order Melania’s head with everything she considers important, would it?
1) Immigrate to US
2) Suck Cock
3) Get Green Card
4) Marry wealthiest man available
“On sale now: China is mass-producing hypersonic missiles for $99,000”
Maybe the Pentagon can buy themselves one. By taking it apart, they may finally be able to build a hypersonic missile themselves. And from there they can manufacture a whole bunch of them like they did with the Iranian Shahed drone. The MIC corporations won’t be happy though as they will lose all that revenue from trying to build an American hypersonic missile themselves – and which they still have not succeeded in doing.
Let’s see….there was the successful test of ASALM in 1979 and the MARV in 1980, not to mention missiles like the Phoenix which were near hypersonic.
BTW, the Shahed is a copy of a German drone.
Where are the US hypersonic if they were successfully tested as you claim?
File under class warfare, public-private partnerships, data centers, dark money and corruption in govt., and the T admin.
Whitney Webb on Jimmy Dore Show talking about her new article in Unlimited Hangout. utube, ~30+ minutes. I start the utube clip at the beginning of her interview. The part I’m interested in, which has nothing to do with Jon Stewart or Iran, lasts about 30 minutes.
Jon Stewart KNEW US Was Overthrowing Syria & Kept Mum! Iran Now Holds ALL the Cards! w/ Whitney Webb
https://youtu.be/KIwf1B-bgyE?t=2400
thanks!
Thank you.
Thanks for the link! Whitney Webb does so few interviews that it’s a real treat to hear from her today. She covered a lot! And her theory that Joe Kent is a psy-op, is interesting. We are ruled by psychopaths and Sociopaths. It’s all just a game to them.
Also, I listened to the whole thing and i never heard the part about John Stewart? Why is that the title?
It should be titled “How the Fascists Win” or something. Because she lays out so clearly how the powerful operate.
Re: the Walmsley item on low-cost single-use medium-range precision strike munitions, one could purchase, in round numbers, of order 1000 of these for the price of an F-35.
It does seem that the American way of war is starting to look a bit obsolete.
Like nearly all Walmsley’s posts, its a junk story.
The source is a press release by a company few have heard of. These press releases are generated multiple times every day. It’s just one of dozens of military start ups trying to generate more cash. The ‘technical details’ supplied make very little sense. You can tell a Chinese military investment is serious by the absence of press releases and online amplification.
The most important thing in the Epstein files : Kait Justice: It’s about Deutsche Bank
> We launched TrueHoop on Substack on February 20, 2019. The very first announcement post included the name “Rosemary Vrablic” because at that time we were investigating oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, and Deutsche Bank was an essential part of the offshoring of Russian billions.
Henry Abbott is a basketball analyst who helped popularize advanced analytics. He started looking at the billionaires buying up teams and ran into the sewer line at the end of the rabbit hole. Vrablic is a new name for NC. Also includes a music video from Mariel Colón Miró: ‘ranchera musician, El Chapo family attorney, and witness to Jeffrey Epstein’s final will and testament.’
Thanks for this.
Anyone interested in investigating the real Epstein story should take a look at this and follow the links provided. Especially useful is the work of Kait Justice (and the various links in her substack articles). Together they provide many reference points on the “follow the money” side of this story – the one Ron Wyden has been desperately trying to get out, Scott Bessent has been completely blocking, and the media have been ignoring or covering up. As we focus attention on the hapless Patel and Bondi and whether Trump assaulted a teenager in the 1990s, Bessent is the key actor in hiding the money trail, and the money trail appears to be what this operation and cover-up is mostly about. Lot’s of useful clues here that converge with those trickling out from Drop Site News, Bloomberg, and others.
So the girls are a modified limited hangout? I’m shocked, I say.
re: Microsoft and Nvidia claim AI can speed approval of new atomic plants – The Register
Hmmmm…. could give a whole new meaning to “Blue screen of death.” / ;)
Every reader here and citizen should learn all about the Simi Valley Nuclear disaster.
History repeats, it rhymes, has more rhythm than Trump by a long stretch.
AI built on fallible human data might be more than a bit fraught…
https://www.nrdc.org/bio/caroline-reiser/questions-and-answers-about-santa-susana-field-lab
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2024/10/santa-susana-cleanup-nuclear-waste/
Bill Gates, The Epstein Class, AI and Nukes. What could possibly go right? And round-heeeled hell yeah Wyoming embracing the micro reactor in Kemmerer like a dronk ronery cowboy on a Friday night…
“The U.S. needs to be worried about Iranian biological materials”
Oh, no! Iran has Weapons of Mass Destruction – maybe. Now we have to invade Iran in order to find them. /sarc
Frankly, I would be more concerned with Israel’s biological materials.
Boo! U.S. neo-“cawns” need to get better material!
https://www.falseknees.com/comics/204.html
Hmm, or this article is an Establishment blind setting up the cover for a false flag biological attack on Iran. If you cannot bomb the missiles or leaders, kill their operators and followers…?
I am reassured slightly by the author being some kind of NBC-security entrepreneur so ge may merely have a grift to sell but these days every US/Israeli accusation is a confession!
speaking of which, anybody see anymore updates on that Israeli guy who was running a clandestine germ research lab in Nevada?
I think the only biological weapons used on Iranian soil are the ones that the US gave to the Iraqi government when they invaded Iran.
Lily Lynch: A must read, if I may, on the endless meddling and wreckage.
I made a comment to Yves Smith’s comprehensive daily war briefing, Iran War: Accelerating Economic Damage. What I noted is that the dismantling of Yugoslavia was a prelude to the current attempts to dismantle the Russian Federation and Iran.
Lynch’s article about Slovenia will show you exactly why. Slovenia is a country of two million people. Because the U.S., U.K., and Israel are predators, Slovenia is an easy prey. And Slovenia shares a border with Italy, so Israel gets the added bonus of causing tensions. This is similar to Israeli predation on and bullying of Lebanon.
All the more reason for opposing the forever wars in Ukraine, Iran, Syria, and Palestine.
PS: And the U.K. must be forced to close those two “extraterritorial” bases in Cyprus, another small country being preyed upon.
PPS: I will let lyman alpha blob, who knows the Greek islands, comment on that surreal TRT article about the Israeli government plan to rent / buy “uninhabited” islands (ohhh, like Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s). As mentioned, Italians consider Greeks to be the cousins, and this move by Israeli politicos seems like one more way of raising tensions in the Mediterranean.
Non-sequitur, but that is my forte:
How does a Greek Island diaspora fit into Huckabee & Hegseth’s cross-clutching Red Calf Ascension plan?
Are they angling on Easter Sunday for The Big Call-up?
The Sea Peoples in reverse.
“Israel used white phosphorus to scorch earth in south Lebanon, researcher says”
The Israelis have been using white phosphorus for yonks as no weapon is not allowed to them. I’m surprised that they don’t make napalm. Supplies of this horror weapon may come up short soon. An Iranian ballistic missile made direct impact at the ICL Rotem chemical complex in the Negev where this stuff is made so hopefully it will be knocked out of production-
https://thecradle.co/articles/iran-strikes-israeli-chemical-complex-linked-to-white-phosphorus-production
Oopsie — dang! We just wrecked yet another country…
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/oops-we-have-wrecked-another-country
Re: AI
Pretty good summary on the state of play on state-level AI laws:
https://www.smithstephen.com/p/federal-ai-preemption-has-failed
Taco’s toothless EO changes nothing. The author handicaps the chance of Congress passing federal pre-emption as low. I concur, you can’t get it through budget reconciliation due to the Senate Parliamentary rules, so it would need 60 votes there. And getting through the House might be nearly impossible, as the weakest speaker in 50 years can’t keep his caucus together (Mace, Massie are still loose cannons.) As we get closer to the mid-term elections, pretty much nothing will pass Congress.
“Met says it will resume arresting people who show support for Palestine Action”
You are slowly starting to get the same sort of crackdown here in Oz. For example, in the State that I live in, if I went to the State capital and unfurled a banner saying “From the River to the Sea” I would be arrested, fined, put on a terror watch list and I don’t know what else. But if I went to the State capital and unfurled a banner saying “From the River to the River” then there would not be a problem at all. I guess that some slogans are less equal than others.
“Spain granted permission to sail through Hormuz, as Trump’s energy dominance policy failing”
Spain must be laughing. They are the only European country that has stood up to Trump and now because of it they will get their shipments of oil. Of course Iran is doing it to drive a wedge into the EU but Spain would say who cares so long as we are getting our oil.
My understanding is that Europeans do not need Hormuz for access. They can get crude through Saudi East-West pipeline, then suez canal to Mediterranean. Their issues have to do with competing for reduced volumes and high prices. Please correct me if my understanding is incorrect.
7mb/d they the saudi pipes is about 1/3 of full flow and would be substantial for eu. However, it seems easy to bomb the pipes or any of the pumping stations, especially at the east end on the gulf. I’ve wondered why Iran hasn’t done that yet.
Love the Icelandic horse photo. Got the opportunity to visit Iceland a few months ago and rode one of them. Amazing horses. They way they climb volcanic rocks is akin to a mountain goat. And their hair is stellar. They all look like 80’s New Wave/Glam Rock stars.
I noticed the Lipizzaner horse from Tuesday was white. Today’s horse is red. So, according to Ye Booke of Revelations, we have the black, and then green to come next.
I would append the song by Aphrodite’s Child, but I have already done that in the Long Ago.
By the way, did Bill Clinton playing the saxaphone qualify as one of the seven angels blowing on a trumpet?
Stay safe as the Seals are opened.
I saw this on twitter:
BREAKING: Fannie Mae says it will start accepting crypto-backed mortgages, per
@WSJ
.
Seems insane.
“We will now start accepting shares of ponzi schemes as collateral for federally backed mortgages.”
Treason in the Futures Markets Paul Krugman
This is about the insider trading that went on when the markets took a huge change the other day.
Was it Treason when all the dems were insider trading? Did the democrats police any of this when Nancy was speaker? How’s her portfolio doing Paul?
He sounds like my PMC friends who think the dems will fix everything Give me a break. Paul, you are still a hack, and a bad one at that.
German filmmaker & author Alexander Kluge died age 94.
His work is way more interesting and much more important to many people like myself than Habermas´s.
But who do elite media talk about more?
Which doesn´t mean Kluge was not present. Until around 2 years ago he has been a major part of intellecutal discourse since the 1960s.
He did some of the best essayistic documentaries in this genre which put him among the most accomplished filmmakers working beyond the conventional narrative, as the early Soviet school, Sokurov, Godard, Varda, Marker, Resnais, Rosselini, Pasolini and the two other major German proponents, Farocki and Bitomsky who too are dead.
(I am leaving out Straub & Huillet since they did not actually do documentary essays although the uniqueness of their oeuvre would demand them added here.)
So much about that…
Additionally Kluge did some outstanding written work at the crossroads of sociology, history and literature together mostly in close cooperation with major German sociologist Oskar Negt, who had a chair at Hannover Univers. until 2002. He died Febr. 2, 2024. (Negt was Habermas´s assistant which completes the circle.)
Both had predicted the demise of the USSR in their 3-volume study “Geschichte und Eigensinn” (1981) which in essence is a major take on capitalism across the centuries, societies, academic fields.
Kluge as was often forgotten originally was a lawyer…
The Spreadsheet article gives a good detailed history of the changes that occurred in calculating numbers. The prognosis on AI is rather doubtful though.
In 1979, I worked for a utility company that was comprised of 20 small electric, gas, water, and telecom companies in 3 states. One of my co-worker’s roommate worked at Apple and said we had to try a new program called Visicalc. We borrowed a couple Apple II’s with Visicalc to use for a couple months. We liked them so much that we convinced our boss to spend $10,000 for two Visicalcs, two 16K Apple IIs with green screens, and a daisywheel printer. The mainframe people were furious!
After a couple years, some from the California Public Utilities Commission came to see why we weren’t making the same mistakes that the big utilities were making. They gave me a hard time for using linear regression instead of multiple regression forecast on my then 64K computer.
By the time Apple failed to upgrade the Apple II to meet the IBM competition, Visicalc no longer worked and I searched and found Lotus 123 to run on our new IBM PC computers.
>Treason in the Futures Markets
Given that Trump built his empire on lies, it wouldn’t surprise me if he started a war with Iran just to profit from prediction markets. After all, he and his cronies have benefited from all his foolish decisions. I am convinced that, if it would make him extremely wealthy, he would have no qualms about abandoning the Zionists and destroying Israel.
Army Raises Enlistment Age Limit to 42 and Eases Marijuana Rules
~~~~~~~~~~
They raised it to 42 when Fallujah was happening in 2004 and briefly I could have been a contender if it weren’t for indulging, but that was then and this is now, and although i’m too old to join up, I can smoke ’em if I gottem’.
The city streets are empty now
(The lights don’t shine no more)
And so the financials are way down low
(Turning, turning, turning)
A sound that flows into my mind
(The echoes of the daylight)
Of every high rise loan that is alive
(In my blue world)
They turned to work @ home, and now are gone
They turned to home
Returned to home, when you forfeiting loan?
This can’t go on
The dying loans of edifice wrecks
(A fire that slowly fades till dawn)
Still look down upon Wall*Street necks
(Turning, turning, turning)
The tired streets that hide away
(From here to everywhere they go)
Roll past my door into the day
In my blue world
They turned to home, and now are gone
They turned to home
Returned to home, when you forfeiting loan?
This can’t go on
Turned to home, after the pandemic was gone
They turned to home
Yes, I’m returning the loan ’cause you’re working at home
Why ain’t you working in the office, so I’m returning the loan
You’ve been gone for so long and I can’t carry on
Yes, I’m returnin’, I’m returnin’, I’m returnin’ the loan
Turn to Stone, by ELO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDhJU_cNCZE
Hi Yves and others following the Iran. Israel and US War :
Some interesting – yet important – topic from the militarist perspective.
Dimitri Lascaris covers an important aspect of how Iranian villages are getting “prepared” for ground invasion by US and ISrael.
Youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RpCzR5Usob
For a context – I have basic understanding about electronics communications.
Others here who are more informed can understand better about what is happening with implications.
Thanks,
Madhan.
re: BRICS problems
Iran War Exposes Cracks in BRICS Wall
Fissures have opened in the bloc over the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, writes Betwa Sharma. India has perhaps been most divisive. Let alone as a global power, India isn’t even projecting itself as a truly independent, regional one.
By Betwa Sharma
March 26, 2026
https://consortiumnews.com/2026/03/26/iran-war-exposes-cracks-in-brics-wall/
Remarkble image
https://xcancel.com/BowesChay/status/2036496830536511948#m
I hope this interview with Viktor Orban hasn’t been posted yet. The interviewer honestly comes off as a bit annoying, but maybe you will find Orban’s thoughts interesting (at least more insightful than Kallas) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRoEMG9wx0E
An old (2013) profile on Ayatollah Khamenei that may be of interest:
http://polazzo.com/Who%20Is%20Ali%20Khamenei.pdf
Random excerpt that I found interesting:
As a young man, Khamenei loved novels. He read such Iranian writers as Muhammad Ali Jamalzadah, Sadeq Chubak, and Sadeq Hedayat but came to feel that they paled before classic Western writers from France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. He has praised Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Sholokhov and likes Honoré de Balzac and Michel Zévaco, but he considers Victor Hugo supreme. As he told some officials of Iran’s state-run television network in 2004,
Khamenei felt that novels gave him insight into the deeper realities of life in the West. “Read the novels of some authors with leftist tendencies, such as Howard Fast,” he advised an audience of writers and artists in 1996. “Read the famous book The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, . . . and see what it says about the situation of the left and how the capitalists of the so-called center of democracy treated them.” He is also a fan of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which he recommended in March 2002 to high-level state managers for the light it sheds on U.S. history: “Isn’t this the government that massacred the original native inhabitants of the land of America? That wiped out the American Indians? Wasn’t it this system and its agents who seized millions of Africans from their houses and carried them off into slavery and kidnapped their young sons and daughters to become slaves and inflicted on them for long years the most severe tragedies? Today, one of the most tragic works of art is Uncle Tom’s Cabin. . . . This book still lives after almost 200 years.