The One Arm an Octopus Will Never Risk in a Fight—Its Sex Arm ZME Science
This detox may erase 10 years of social media brain damage, researchers say WaPo
Climate/Environment
Meridionally consistent decline in the observed western boundary contribution to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Science Advances
The world just had its second-warmest March on record Climate & Capitalism
And it wasn’t just heat…
Following another record warm and very dry month, the nationally averaged U.S. Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) fell to an incredible -7.84. That is the driest national value on record — drier than the Dust Bowl or any prior drought on record.… pic.twitter.com/uYvrfrRLRA
— The Global Warmer🔥🌏 🔥 (@TheGlobalWarmer) April 8, 2026
Pandemics
CDC delays publishing report showing covid vaccine benefits WaPo
Water
As Shrinking Colorado River Imperils California Agriculture, Data Centers Seek More Water Capital & Main
Japan
Japan’s quiet break with pacifism is about to get louder East Asia Forum
China?
China’s Xi meets Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing Channel News Asia
China’s AI Companies Are Going Closed Source ChinaTalk
The Chinese Era: How Young People’s Views of China Changed China Observers
Philippines opens key coast guard base in the disputed South China Sea AP
Southeast Asia
Iran ceasefire won’t easily ease emerging Asia’s pain Asia Times
Syraqistan
‘Nightmare for Civilians’: Israel Inflicts 1,400+ Casualties on Lebanon War’s Deadliest Day Common Dreams
Iran denies Islamabad talks amid ongoing war on Lebanon: Exclusive Al Mayadeen
Qalibaf: ‘Time running out’ for US-Israel to honor ceasefire, stop attacks on Lebanon Press TV
Netanyahu orders ‘direct negotiations with Lebanon under fire’ New Arab
Israeli Missile Interceptors Have Dwindled to “Double Digits”: Trump Administration Official Drop Site
Netanyahu corruption trial to resume as Israel lifts war emergency The Cradle
Israeli cabinet ‘secretly approves record number’ of new West Bank settlements Middle East Eye
***
“It Seems Like Blind American Ignorance”: The New U.S. War on Iraq Drop Site
Official Source at the Ministry of Energy: Operational Activities Halted at Several Energy Facilities in the Kingdom due to Recent Attacks Saudi Press Agency. Includes upstream production reduced by 600,000 barrels/day.
Shipping begins moving through Strait of Hormuz Intellinews. “At least six individual vessels can be identified transiting or preparing to transit the strait.”
Iran to allow no more than 15 vessels per day through Hormuz — source TASS
Africa
Amid Shaky Ceasefire, War in Iran Is Starving Sudan Just Security
In the Sahel, Mali’s Military May Be a Greater Threat Than Jihadists World Politics Review
European Disunion
Ireland deploys army to clear protests blocking key ports Politico
Fuel price protesters say they will ease blockades after securing Government meeting Irish Times
EU faces ‘stagflationary shock’ risk despite Iran ceasefire, economy chief warns Euractiv
Old Blighty
Nigel Farage wants to build a British ICE. Keir Starmer may have handed him the tools The Nerve
OpenAI drops out of multi-billion dollar UK investment plan, says Stargate UK is on hold Data Center Dynamics
Keir Starmer: ‘I’m fed up’ with Trump and Putin affecting UK energy costs CNBC
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s Putin announces Orthodox Easter ceasefire, Ukraine’s Zelensky agrees Straits Times
Brief Frontline Report – April 9th, 2026 Marat Khairullin
UK and Norway led a military operation to deter Russian submarines in the North Atlantic AP
South of the Border
US is ‘using Mexico as a garbage sink’ leading to ‘toxic crisis’, UN expert says The Guardian
L’affaire Epstein
Melania Trump holds extraordinary White House event to deny ties to Epstein, knowledge of his crimes AP. Someone not happy about ‘ceasefire’?
President Trump reveals he had absolutely no idea that Melania Trump was going to address the nation about Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump said he was in a meeting about the war and could not speak further.
“She didn’t know him.”
Does anybody else feel like something big is about to… pic.twitter.com/LuXKteuRuE
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) April 9, 2026
Trump 2.0
Non-Recourse National Strategy Syncretica
Pope Meets With Top Obama Adviser Following Pentagon Threat New Republic
Is JD Vance stealing his book titles from bell hooks? Lit Hub
Hunter Biden challenges Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, to cage match TRT World
Democrats Suck
Sam Altman Is Giving OpenAI a Makeover to Woo Democrats New Republic
DNC avoids taking a stance on Israel, AIPAC Politico
The ‘Opposition Party’ Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It Jeremy Loffredo
Imperial Collapse Watch
TACOs on the menu Julian MacFarlane
The Middle East war depleted US weapons. Rebuilding will require China’s cooperation. Politico
Automatic registration for US military draft to begin in December The Hill
Police State Watch
He was willing to testify against the cartel — but ICE got to him first Los Angeles Times
The Accelerationists
Make ‘em dumb, sell ‘em smarts Disconnect
Antitrust
A group of seven-figure Amazon sellers is planning a one-day ad boycott as payment changes squeeze cash flow Modern Retail
Our Famously Free Press
Army veteran charged with disclosing classified Delta Force tactics Politico
can’t go after leslie wexner but plenty of time to arrest a whistleblower source for @sethharpesq ‘s book. https://t.co/EQVf0Fvhqy
— Whitney Webb (@_whitneywebb) April 9, 2026
Economy
PUMP PRICES KEEP CLIMBING AS CRUDE OIL REMAINS HIGH AAA
Why $3 gas won’t come back anytime soon, even with a ceasefire in Iran Yahoo! News
The myth of US energy independence Nature. From 2022, still germane.
Helium Is Hard to Replace Construction Physics
Class Warfare
Housing Is Cheap. Capital Makes It Expensive. The Dialectics of Destruction
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
63 comments
Comments are closed.
Thank you for that octopus antidote. Needing some beauty these days, and that was a lovely lift.
Antidote du jour: one of the winners of the Underwater Photography Guide’s Ocean Art Contest 2019 here:
Compact wide angle category – ‘Coconut Octopus’ Honorable Mention – Shot in Sipalay, Philippines
Fascinating book about the octopus and the origin of minds.
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020/12/05/book-review-other-minds-the-octopus-and-the-evolution-of-intelligent-life/
‘Shadow of Ezra
@ShadowofEzra
President Trump reveals he had absolutely no idea that Melania Trump was going to address the nation about Jeffrey Epstein.’
Methinks the lady doth protest too much. And with that, the Epstein Files have re-entered the Chat.
Melania must not know about the Streisand effect!
Her claim that she did not have a ‘relationship’ with Epstein reminds me of Bill Clinton’s line of reasoning about what the meaning of ‘is’ is. Depends on what she would define as a relationship.
Depends too on what your definition of the word ‘a’ is as well. :) When you started to talk about Clinton, I was already modifying what he said once about Monica Lewinsky-
‘I did not have (relationships) with that (man),( Mr. Epstein.)
🛎️ I had no idea she was implicated until now.
I noticed that she defended only herself, not Donny. The text is clear about that.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/09/melania-trump-epstein-statement-transcript-white-house/89538207007/
Melamine Trump is a survivor, she used her looks to marry a wealthy man and become a Trophy Wife, which is not an easy job.
She gave him a son and has never embarrassed him, she kept her end of the deal.
Seeing her very carefully distance herself from the Donald is…interesting.
Seeing rumors that it’s due to Paolo Zampolli’s ex-wife who he had ICE deport over a custody dispute. Zampolli was appointed United States Special Representative for Global Partnerships by Trump. He’s also a former “fashion model agent” (pimp to the rich?) and the guy who introduced Trump and Melania.
A twitter user going by Zampolli’s exes name has posted a thread threatening to expose Melania and the rest of them. https://x.com/amandaungaroa/status/2042105392285487353?s=46
My tinfoil hat guess is Zampolli, Brunell, Casablancas (Next Models), and Trump (T Models) were all luxury pimps and Epstein learned his trade from them.
This quote has always stuck with me: “[Epstein] admired Trump’s T Models agency and wanted MC2 to be just like it.” – Maritza Vasquez, Assistant to Jean-Luc Brunel
If that twitter account really is Amanda Ungaro – the deported ex-wife and former “model” – she probably has some backroom info about those operations.
“ I will tear down your corrupt system, even if it’s the last thing I do in my life. I will go all the way—I am not afraid.
Maybe you should be afraid of what I know… of who you are, and who your husband is.”
Related thread:
“Melania Trump should be investigated over her ties to Epstein. Here she is with Amanda Ungaro, who flew on the Lolita Express at just 16 years old.”
https://x.com/amandaungaroa/status/2035439777307070838?s=46
One more. This one from New Mexico rep Melanie Stansbury:
“This is Paolo Zampolli, Trump’s close friend whom he also appointed to the Board of Trustees at the Kennedy Center. This is also one of several men who owned a modeling agency known for bringing girls from Eastern Europe into the US under suspicious visa arrangements. Zampolli was also a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, Jean-Luc Brunel. Incidentally, he also introduced Melania to her future husband, President Donald Trump. We’ll let you connect the dots.”
https://x.com/rep_stansbury/status/2035112048875405812?s=46
I lied. One more. Whitney Webb shared this article on Zampolli:
How the First Couple’s Consigliere Went From Modeling Mogul to Special Envoy
https://x.com/_whitneywebb/status/2042584913497452997?s=46
The dates on this story make sense. The harassment and deportation take place after the files were “redacted” which appeared to happen even before the relevant legislation was passed.
Rep. Stansbury’s tweet that you posted comes out March 20th. Noem was fired on March 4th, and eventually, Bondi was fired. Could Noem and Bondi have been fired for not keeping Zampolli in line?
Good catch. I hadn’t even considered the recent timeline.
With Noem I’ve been thinking the impending revelations about her husband may have lead to her firing. Never felt right that Trump cared about ICE optics that much.
As for Bondi, there’s a photo circulating of her with Zampolli and Ungaro that was apparently taken just weeks before she was deported. So Ungaro (if the twitter account is real) has a special fire for Bondi whom she seems to feel was part of her deportation. Maybe Trump realized that deporting Ungaro was a major fubar and fired the two people who facilitated it?
But, considering his friendship (if you can call any Trump asssociate his “friend”) with Zampolli, I doubt he was in the dark about the ex wife issues. Possibly just trying to close Pandora’s box after he’s already opened it.
Or, the whole Ungaro thing is a twitter hoax. I dunno. But, it’s the only thing that makes Melania’s sudden press conference make any rational sense.
Related: Julie K Brown just released an article about the whole thing here: https://x.com/jkbjournalist/status/2042653692273324108?s=46
Apparently Zampolli was in Hungary with Vance to promote Orban.
Perhaps Mail-Order Melania is upset because of this?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/12/peter-zampoli-trump-ally-accuse-abuse-ex-wife-amanda-ungaro/
Goys ‘Я Us
Jeffrey who is hung like a giraffe, continues to offer titillation as his personal statute of limitations comes a cropper in August on the 7th anniversary of offing himself, er going fakerupt.
Not sure what to make of FLOTUS, each word spoken yesterday in mockspanic or whatever that tortured accent is, seems to bring her much pain, in particular the multi-syllabic ones.
C’mon Wuk. She’s better at delivering a prepared statement than her hubby.
I drove past the cheap gas station in SAnta Rosa yesterday, cash price was $6 per gallon for regular.
On a personal note I did have an epidural last week (C5-C6) with no improvement, that’s # 2 at that site with no relief.
Rain started at 5 AM on the dot with lots of thunder and lightning, a welcome and beautiful show.
An aside: old 60 Minutes episode with Mike Wallace from the 1980s. DMSO is now legal over the counter and online for topical use. I use it as a topical analgesic.
DMSO – Dr Jacob on 60 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XEt0n6LPrk
8 bucks a gallon for non ethanol at the dock in friday harbor
This is just the beginning..For scale, friday harbor to anacortes with a 115 hp (about as small as a commuter needs, ritchie rich has multiple 350 hp gas guzzlers and that math is frightening) is close to 4 gallons each way. 64 bucks now for what has been 32 bucks for a while. It’s a budget buster. For the main islands there is a hedonic adjustment, you can leave your boat on the trailer and take the ferry, but outer vacation islands will be hit.
On a more personal note…
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61irQrNjgnL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
Re Ireland fuel protests
I’d like to hear from PK if he’s about. My impression is that the direct action element in these protests is uncomfortably aligned with far-right “Ireland is full” types, who are looking to push the government around. Of course, the awful, sanctimonious, hypocritical, tone-deaf austerian government needs pushing around and the right to protest and take direct action needs to be upheld, so it’s hard to take sides! It feels as if the government could steal their thunder by talking to them rather than calling out the army and making them into charlie big potatoes, if only the government could get over itself and think politically rather than ideologically.
Re Nigel Farage ICE
Hmm. HMG is forever trying to centralise our data. This is a very good reason not to allow if but, yet again, it is a Labour government that has ridden over privacy in the interests of an ineffable “efficiency”. Well ,at least we know who to blame!
And, more pertinently, fighting to close the stable door after the horse has bolted is not going to get anywhere. The real evil in the race to be tough on immigration is that it is focused on illegal immigration, which is a tiny part of the problem. A British ICE will solve none of the problems it claims to address unless legal migration is curtailed in favour of domestic investment in British workers, training and high salaries – which is of course anathema to donors to all political parties.
Re OpenAI defers datacentre in the UK
isn’t this an example of one of the events Ed Citron is watching for, that presages the collapse of the AI grift? When OpenAI starts pulling out of datacentres? The UK is thoroughly peripheral so it makes sense to try to get away with cutbacks here because everybody is watching for Stargate in Abilene….
Thanks for the shoutout.
The fuel protests in Ireland seem to be organised by a group of anti-tax and right wing small business and farming groups. One of the self proclaimed leaders if a farmer with a history of convictions for tax defaults and animal cruelty. The general organisation seems to be ‘hands off’ organised by farmers and haulier organisations. The big target is green taxes.
Various strands of the left have tried to hop on the bandwagon, but are really making themselves look very stupid as its obvious these are not ‘organic’ protests by downtrodden salt of the earth types.
So far the government seems to have decided to face them down. Shutting down the city centre (its actually a pleasure to walk through Dublin today, so quiet) has annoyed city dwellers and other business people, and blocking fuel deliveries is infuriating rural dwellers, who would be the natural supporters. Plus doing blockades with brand new, top of the range farm tractors and trucks hasn’t exactly made them look like the underdogs. I don’t think most city dwellers realised until now that you could drop half a mil on a John Deere. A lot of people are wondering when some local northside scamps decide to hotwire one and take it on a joyride.
My guess is that the government has decided that making concessions is too dangerous – better to wait until the protestors get unpopular as other businesses and commuters get hit badly. Its early days, but I think the protestors have overplayed their hand and overestimated their support, so the government could end up coming out well if they don’t back down.
“The big target is green taxes.”
Full disclosure- Do you derive an income from green taxes?
It’s not a fuel protest.
Ireland IS full. Especially if you think it needs more Africans, Middle Easterners, and other parasitic filth.
I myself have seen a picture of Melania in which she was wearing something very sheer and you could see right through to one entire boob, nipple included! Part of a legit modeling shoot for a fashion brand.
If you’ve worked as a fashion model, every square inch of your body has been photographed or filmed. Not the hardest AI challenge to take all the outtakes and deep fake some porn.
This is the worst part of Epsteinism: you don’t have to be guilty, you just have to be credibly accusable. Which every person who ever worked in the fashion industry is. Credibly accusable. Very low bar. Just thinking about how low has me writing like Trump…
How low can hasbara on a First Lady go? I believe the record is still held by a living First Lady who later became a Secretary of State and then war crimed Libya into anarchic chaos (a crime from which we are still being distracted).
With Melania, didn’t the Democrats publish a nude photo of her just before Trump was voted in the first time? I think that they put it up on a billboard. They must have gotten hold of it from her modelling days but it was still a dog act for them to do that.
There’s actually porn, though, including at least on series of photos with another woman.
(I think, but haven’t spent any time on, her background was not at all financially difficult and she had plenty of options.)
I’ll take that over war-criming Libya and Saying No to Drugs.
Bring back first ladies who promote anti-littering campaigns and getting treatment for addictions!
How about another Eleanor Roosevelt-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Civil_rights_activism
For the win. Yes, she was shining star in my book.
She could be harsh in her judgments of fellow Democrats. Allegedly her take on JFK was “Too much profile. Not enough courage.”
Eleanor Roosevelt, love her, but I think she was wrong there.
Four things JFK is said to have done that took plenty of courage (and may have given some people a motive to have him killed):
• Wanting to break up the CIA and “scatter it to the four winds” after the Bay of Pigs disaster
• Wanting to nip increasing U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam in the bud
• Intending to take action to stop Israel from acquiring nuclear weapons
• Having the Treasury issue “United States Notes” (red seal), circumventing the Federal Reserve system’s monopoly on money creation
Wanting and intending are not things Jack did.
> Hunter Biden challenges Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, to cage match
Please. I’ll be tempted to bet the farm on Hunter here.
I went to a demolition derby once in Sacramento, and the key is to ram your back end into the other guy’s front end.
I think that Donald Jr. and Eric trump should accept that challenge – so long as afterwards Hunter invites them back to one of his hooker and blow parties. Say what you will about Hunter, he knows how to throw a party.
Good enough excuse to share this again? Afroman – Hunter Got High
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgLD1yhxNik
The same Andrew Callahan just interviewed Afroman too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmvGdzMSEtU
thanks! audio cued in my podcast player for this afternoon’s shift walking shelter dogs
No excuse needed to share Afroman.
The article refers to Callahan as a “right wing social media” figure, which he absolutely is not. I would say “gonzo journalist and sh*tposter” would be a better description. He did a 2 hour interview with Hunter a few months back, and this was just one question from that. This wasn’t a challenge, it was a silly answer to a silly question. It must be a slow news day if someone is trying to make a story out of this, lol.
This’ll be a great!
Next up, Kushner and Witkoff!
Call Ari Emmanuel stat!
I’ll write al Marilagis “truth” now…
“We’re gonna make a lodda’ money, a LODDA money…”
Never thought I’d miss the Hunter Biden show, but here we are.
“The Dialectics of Destruction
Housing Is Cheap. Capital Makes It Expensive.
The real cost of building a home is measured in thousands—not hundreds of thousands. The rest is extraction. -William Murphy
So yes, housing can be made affordable for everyone. The material conditions already exist. What’s absent is not capability, but the social decision to organize production around human need rather than capital.”
Yes- succinct and to the point.
My understanding is that it’s the location rather than the house itself that’s the main driver of cost. Buyers are competing for e.g. houses in safe neighborhoods with good schools and reasonable commutes for jobs. Granted, in a country as wealthy as the U.S. those should be everywhere, but of course they aren’t.
Land is a major expense. Want to cut that expense in half (per unit)? Build two units. Cut it even more with four, eight, or more units.
Multi-family residences are far cheaper, have lower impacts and (bonus!), by providing enough riders within a walk of the stops, support transit that is less subsidized. Of course to do that, the US would have to provide civic public services, like transit, parks, entertainment, museums, etc.
William Levitt told his government patrons, “No man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist. He has too much to do.” Added bonus, sprawl is Veblen’s “conspicuous consumption.”
Sprawl that’s not infill has longer roads, pipes, etc. and is roughly twice as expensive to maintain as infill. It’s a Ponzi scheme.
Five elegantly dressed women stole furniture worth several thousand euros from a Portuguese IKEA store, before fleeing in a luxury sports car while the goods were put into a van. Both vehicles escaped.
However one lady was identified as wife of a drug dealer.
I do so hope we get a photo of the elegant flat-pack Banditas of Matosinhos.
America is going great
Consumer prices rose 3.3%
in March, as energy prices spiked due to Iran conflict (CNBC)
How long will “core” stay contained with the ongoing Epstein Fury?
CNN is paywalled, but their headline is: US inflation tripled last month on record spike in gas prices.
As Shrinking Colorado River Imperils California Agriculture, Data Centers Seek More Water Capital & Main
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artichokes versus Artificial Intelligence
Saw one of the data centers on Hwy 58 in the vicinity of Edwards Air Force Base last week. They spared little expense.
If you drive by it in another five years, you may find that the whole place has been abandoned. The economic crisis of ’26 killed it and many others because of the war against Iran.
Castroville CA newspaper headline, “Artie chokes 7 for a dollar”.
I was told that joke 43 years ago and still remember it. The person that told me it dose not recall telling it.
Thanks for the article about social media/phone detox. Useful reminder for myself and one I’ll be passing around to others I know who spend too much time doomscrolling those endless brain draining, soul crippling feeds.
This is the second postcard from some hand written person in 6 months from “informedvotersus.org”. There is literally no information of any kind available about this group, even on their web site which is parse. I can’t believe it isn’t Democrat adjacent, but I can’t even find evidence of that, although the cards are clearly related to bad things under Trump, this one about Energy bills going up attributed to ABC News.
Very puzzling.
that drop site article about bombing Iraq….makes your head spin. Or rather shows what insane people we have in charge. Absolutely stupid, and psychotic. Both parties btw.
It does that. Different factions of the same government is killing the government’s allies because reasons. Do we really have a functioning government anymore?
RE: Epstein, Melania’s recent press conference, and Amanda Ungaro
https://bekahdayyy.substack.com/p/a-message-from-amanda-the-epstein
“From Amanda Ungaro (with approval from her legal team):
1/18/2026
“This is not family drama. This is a criminal operation.
I have witnessed many things since I was a teenage girl who became swept up in this nightmare.
I have photos to prove the physical abuse I have experienced at the hands of Paolo.
I have proof of his long time substance use issues.
I have information and proof of his fraudulent business deals and millions of dollars worth of insurance fraud that Paolo has committed.
I have proof that me and my family have faced harassment, threats, and blackmail from Paolo for years.
I have information and proof of government and public officials being bribed by Paolo.
I have proof that Paolo began trying to date me when I was 15 years old, and it is true that I was on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane as a teenager. I was only 16 years old the first time I was put on his plane.
I have proof Paolo abandoned his own mother in a nursing home in Italy after stealing her jewelry and other valuable items. If a man can rip away his own mother’s dignity without a second thought, you can imagine what Paolo is capable of.
I faced a false arrest based on manufactured charges. I was forced to stay in an ICE detention facility for months before I was deported to Brazil where I have been fighting for justice. My paperwork and history of work for The United Nations did not stop the government from treating me like an animal.”
I can’t even
Harris Says She Is ‘Thinking About’ Running for President Again in 2028 (NY Times)
Will she still be working tirelessly for a ceasefire?
Maybe her campaign will grift even harder than the previous campaign, which set a record for money appropriated by consultants that failed to deliver for anyone but their own bank accounts.
Hmm, we’re going to let The Who answer for us today. Because why not…
Harris running for President?
Eminence Front https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HTVMh7fur4
Now, Graham Platner for Senate?
Join Together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDMCCLlGl4
Yeah!
She’ll end the war in 24 hours!
That is exactly what Trump said about the war in the Ukraine.
Richard Medhurst just did a 30min piece about the “Petrogas Dollar.”
This sounds like a much bigger plan is afoot to maintain dollar hegemony.
If this is true then everything is going according to plan.
(As far as I could tell, I fell asleep halfway through)
What do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nt1CgQsgpI
[The Iran War is just one chapter in a US plan to monopolize energy and dismantle the Silk Road. Witness the transition of an empire into a Pirate State that feeds on the cannibalization of its own allies. Medhurst connects the dots from Venezuela, to Iran, to China, to Greenland — and all roads lead to Washington]