Links 4/11/2026

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1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 7:19 am

   “US economy grew a sluggish 0.5% in fourth quarter, government says, downgrading previous estimate”

   I read somewhere they they were expecting over 3% growth but instead got 0.5% instead. You wonder if Scott Bessent is ringing up Trump and giving him a heads up that if the economic fallout from the Gulf war really ramps up, that it will head deep into negative territory. And with the Midterms in only seven months time, that is not a lot of time to turn things around and make them look rosy for votes again.
   1. Samuel Conner April 11, 2026 at 7:33 am

      JCPOA — per DJT the “worst deal ever”, may come to be regarded as “the best of times”.
   2. NotTimothyGeithner April 11, 2026 at 9:07 am

      Based on Hassett, I suspect Trump’s team is made of true believers not mere crooks. Romney might have made cuts, but he would never have done it in the DOGE style which would Romney politically. They don’t seem to get this. They worship Trump as a crook.
      1. jefemt April 11, 2026 at 10:20 am

         Trump doesn’t call his outfit The Trump Organization for no reason! https://www.trump.com/
2. Dave April 11, 2026 at 7:29 am

   Today, for the first time, the ad server blanked out my whole screen to show me an ad for a sandwich while I was scrolling the links. I’ve noticed that the ads have been getting more aggressive lately. I hope something can be done to turn this trend back, even if it requires a subscription.
   1. Yves Smith Post authorApril 11, 2026 at 8:11 am

      We do not have popups. They are explicitly barred in our ad agreement..

      I am sorry and will immediately raise holy hell with our ad service.
      1. Jabura Basadai April 11, 2026 at 11:08 am

         fwiw – never seen one ever – been here over a decade –
3. Wukchumni April 11, 2026 at 7:35 am

   The first genuine instant coffee powder emerged in 1889, created by David Strang, a spice merchant in Invercargill, New Zealand. He developed a ‘Dry Hot-Air’ method that removed water from coffee by blowing heated air over it, likely using a spice dryer he’d patented a few years earlier. While hot air dehydration had been used in France since 1795 to dehydrate foods like pasta for commercial sale, Strang was the first to apply it to coffee.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Great article, my go to beverage in the back of beyond is a Mexican mocha, which consists of Nescafe Clasico instant coffee (please-no brickbats) and Abuelitas instant hot chocolate laced with cinnamon, hmm good.

   When I first traveled to NZ in 1981, the only cup o’ Joe really available was Greggs instant coffee, but that was then and this is now, and most every restaurant can whip you up a flat white or one of half a dozen Starbucks-like creations. You never really see anything like that in most eateries in the USA.
   1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 8:12 am

      Your comment reminded me of a video I saw of this old guy giving advice to this young guy going back in time. So if you could go back to pre-WW2 America, your first stop would have to be to a diner. Would you even recognize the taste of real coffee? Certainly today’s coffee is a much weaker version. Or even the taste of the foods without all the preservatives or chemical compounds of today? Actually I just refound that clip and it was for someone going back to the early 60s-

      https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SZLbGB9LnBo
      1. Daniil Adamov April 11, 2026 at 8:31 am

         While visiting our grandmother, my cousin showed her children a Stalin-era “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food”, a sort of encyclopedia of food available in the Soviet Union at the time (precisely who it was available to and how easily is a separate controversy). She was particularly keen on the entry for mayonnaise, advertised there as an especially healthy sauce, which from a modern Russian and likely not just Russian perspective seems absurd. As she pointed out, the ingredients were completely different back then. Apparently they started adding preservatives in the freewheeling 90s, changing appearance, taste and effects on health. Especially a problem since it is so big here, even now.
         1. Jonathan King April 11, 2026 at 11:51 am

            The authorial credit for “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” (originally published in 1939) belongs to none other than Anastas Mikoyan, a name familiar to those who recall U.S.-Soviet tensions during the Cold War. He was a former Bolshevik who in the late ’30s served as the Soviet Union’s “food commissar.” It’s said a visit to the U.S. in 1936 influenced his inclusion of “Soviet burgers” and variations on other Western dishes in the book published three years later. A more recent English-language edition is downloadable at Anna’s Archive: https://annas-archive.gl/md5/b4291c5bb3cd578281875d3f6492ec8f
            1. Daniil Adamov April 11, 2026 at 12:49 pm

               Thanks! I believe our grandmother’s version was the 1952 edition.
      2. Some Guy in Jeju April 11, 2026 at 9:35 am

         Your broader point stands, but with regard to coffee:

         Instant coffee always tastes like trash, no matter the decade. If you’re using real beans, it was probably worse back then. Robusta beans–higher yield, cheaper to produce, but worse tasting–went mainstream around that time.

         Arabica is the superior bean type in terms of flavor. Say what you will about Starbucks (I hate their roasts) but even they don’t mess with Robusta varieties
         1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 9:45 am

            I think that it was in the 50s that coffee companies started to weaken the coffee that they made in the supermarkets. It was a very gradual process so that no-one would notice. But if you were overseas and returned to the US and tried a coffee, it would be immediately noticeable. You would have to probably buy expensive, rare brands to drink a coffee that one all use to drink.
         2. Roland April 11, 2026 at 1:33 pm

            As far as instant coffees go, Nescafe Gold and Starbucks Via are not bad.

            When I go hiking, I bring the very foulest generic brand instant coffee. For me, scalding black hideous jamoke is the very flavour of sunrise in the high alpine. And I don’t have to pack out wet coffee grounds…
            1. Just Say No to instant April 11, 2026 at 2:34 pm

               > I don’t have to pack out wet coffee grounds…

               But they’re organic and thus bury-able, no? Do you pack out your excreta too?
         3. RobertCvn April 11, 2026 at 10:08 pm

            Do NOT diss the robusta! Try a fresh brewed Vietnamese “cafe sua da” ala phin dripper. The DA at the end means on ice..

            Double the caffeine, powerful flavor, and I have weakness for Trung Nyugen #2, chocolatey aroma in the jar, and brews in about 4 minutes.

            Do not stir aggressively.. Leave a bit of the condensed milk at the bottom to catch the grit.

            HTH.

            That said, VN and Brazil are usually the top two producers, depends on droughts, blights etc. Much of the VN crop goes to instant, which indeed, is nasty. That is the bulk early crop. They keep the best stuff for themselves. Wait for the ripe berries.
         4. Sibiriak April 12, 2026 at 4:53 am

            Sri Lankan Kiri Kopi tastes great. Instant, coffee made with milk (no water at all ), spices, sugar. Very rich and creamy.
      3. Bugs April 11, 2026 at 1:11 pm

         That’s from a limited series based on a Stephen King novel about a time traveler trying to prevent the Kennedy assassination. It’s a great watch. Recommended especially for the portrayal of Marina and Lee Oswald. The ending will surprise you. James Franco can be a bit of a hokey actor but he’s good in this.
   2. Matthew April 11, 2026 at 2:19 pm

      Yes, hate to use Nescafe, but it actually tastes fine (to me). Am in Jamaica and have discovered “Mountain Blend,” which–while not quite as good (again, IMO) is just fine. I see that it’s available in Florida, where I live. It’s a Grace Foods product, and they’re a Black-owned, fairly family oriented company who a friend works for. You might look for it.
      1. Wukchumni April 11, 2026 at 2:23 pm

         I’m so used to Nescafe it seems ok to me, and anything in drink or food tastes a lot better when you’re 18 miles in, funny how that works.
         1. Oregon Lawhobbit April 11, 2026 at 8:54 pm

            Just like in the Army when you’re in the field for training. It’s amazing what sort of “brought it with me” stuff that you wouldn’t touch in garrison suddenly seems quite appealing….
      2. Bugs April 11, 2026 at 2:35 pm

         Jamaica has the best coffee in the world. The Blue Mountain filtered is insanely good. With a nice soft spliff, your day is made (not for driving or working).
         1. Matthew April 11, 2026 at 2:44 pm

            Yes, Nestle the co. is the devil, though. It’s all capitalism up down and sideways, but it’s good to have personal limits.

            I actually STOPPED smoking in 1976 after spending three days at an encampment of The Twelve Tribes of Israel up IN those mountains. . . We were smoking the entire time, and when we got back to Kingston my friends kept waking me up to make sure I was alive. Ate some hash by accident with my daughter in Spain a few years ago (a friend left it in his refrigerator), and the two of us talked for about a day and a half and then–again–slept the sleep of Los Muertos; I’m just not cracked up for it.
   3. Basil Pesto April 11, 2026 at 2:50 pm

      There’s a cool James Hoffmann video where he tries to make his own instant coffee
4. William Beyer April 11, 2026 at 7:49 am

   Regarding “Housing Is Cheap. Capital Makes It Expensive” – Factory-built housing is not habitable until it’s connected to the land, all utilities, and the fabric of community.

   The cost of housing you can actually LIVE in includes the cost of the land. The housing unit starts falling apart – depreciates – the second you move in.

   The land beneath it appreciates, and is the main basis for long-term value. Henry George had this figured out 150 years ago; why can’t current clueless analysts figure it out?
   1. albrt April 11, 2026 at 8:20 am

      Oh they’ve figured it out all right. Just don’t call it “rent,” they prefer “location as a service.”
   2. hereweare April 11, 2026 at 8:53 am

      “The land beneath it appreciates” makes it sound like some magical process land does all of its own volition.
5. LadyXoc April 11, 2026 at 8:44 am

   How I make instant coffee: I pour boiling water over a drip cone filled with ground coffee beans. Et la voilà!
   1. Some Guy in Jeju April 11, 2026 at 9:40 am

      I recently started roasting at home. Even when it’s subpar, it’s better than most beans I get at the store, and much cheaper per kilo.

      I don’t understand how Nescafe is so popular worldwide. It’s only drinkable with heaps of sugar and cream, which I guess is the average coffee drinker’s preference? 🤮
      1. Pearl Rangefinder April 11, 2026 at 11:25 am

         I’m with you on Always Say No To Sugar™, but you can pry my coffee cream from my cold dead hands!
6. AG April 11, 2026 at 8:51 am

   re: Vijay Prashad and Uyghur question

   errors in citations of MONTHLY REVIEW piece

   Prashad post:

   “(…) Errors often happen with citations for several reasons, carelessness being the most frequent. Now, with the apparent ease of the internet and artificial intelligence, these blunders can creep in at much higher rates. We apologise for the errors in some of our citations, which have been now corrected on the Monthly Review website:
   Barring a correction to one paragraph, none of these faults alter the article itself nor blunt the force of our argument, behind which we stand 100%.
   (…)”

   corrected piece:
   https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-idea-of-the-uyghur-genocide-and-the-realities-of-xinjiang/

   I had no time yet to actually check what he means
7. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 8:53 am

   “Japan aims to boost number of female troops as SDF struggles to enlist”

   Guess that not many Japanese guys want to charge into battle with China on behalf of Sanae Takaichi of all people. Trying to recruit female soldiers is a admission of failure here and troops will always come up short in number which will put a crimp in Sanae Takaichi’s plans for military expansion.
8. AG April 11, 2026 at 8:53 am

   Prashad comment on SOLARIS novel

   “(…)
   As Trump threatens to destroy the world, barbarian that he is, brutality that he wants to inflict, I am re-reading Stanisław Lem’s great novel, Solaris (1961) – a science fiction story about impossibility of all knowledge and about the frailties of humans as the imperialists try to understand and destroy everything around us. ‘We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors’, thinks the lead character, who precisely understands this desire to impose the imperialist will. We need to reject that will to dominate and embrace the human gesture of friendship and collaboration.
   (…)”
   1. Henry Moon Pie April 11, 2026 at 9:32 am

      Great quote, and one that applies to our relationship to the Earth and the other living creatures with whom we share it.
9. Ben Panga April 11, 2026 at 8:54 am

   I’m confident that “King Salman is dead” tweet is fake news. Account is pro Houthi semi-spam.

   They also have tweets today saying:

   The Pentagon admits and displays one of the warships destroyed by #Iran with a ground-launched missile during the last war 🚀💥 [with fake photo]

   —

   A reliable intelligence source reports: A Saudi-South Sudanese agreement to transfer 45,000 South Sudanese troops to the Kingdom’s southern and northern borders will be implemented by the end of next week! Is there a major escalation in the Middle East in the coming days? Is this a sufficient pretext for the Houthis to occupy South Sudan?

   —-

   Other tweets with AI fake “attacks on Haifa” etc
   1. Revenant April 11, 2026 at 11:35 am

      Oh, so that is what it said! I keep reading about the delights of auto-translate on Twitter without being aware of what these are and at the same time a lot of anglophone accounts are reposting foreign language content in its native language. I suppose if you have a twitter account the tweets come through in English.

      @yves, the platforms are throwing more sand in NC’s gears because reposting these tweets on links because a screen grab of the translated tweet strips all the hyperlinks but a post of the translated tweet will lose its translation for readers who are not logged into to X. And I guess it may not even be obvious in your feed that they are non-English underlying tweets….
10. KD April 11, 2026 at 8:59 am

    The DNC just voted down three resolutions to stop AIPAC from influencing our politicians. One would have condemned AIPACs role in primaries. One would have conditioned military aid to Israel. The other would have recognized what is happening in Gaza.

    Sounds like a good extortion job to get the donors to pay up going into the mid-terms. Pay up or we will adopt a resolution that is actually in tune with 80 percent of our voters. Progressives I guess more or less function as hostages to use to extract ransoms from donors.
    1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 9:08 am

       ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’ – Maya Angelou

       There is no redemption arc for the DNC. The party itself could go down in flames and the DNC would stay the same.
       1. flora April 11, 2026 at 11:52 am

          From Breaking Points, utube, ~34+ minutes.

          Elissa Slotkin LASHES OUT Over Israel Lobby Question

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ztGw3l0WQ
       2. Lefty Godot April 11, 2026 at 12:20 pm

          What will the DNC do when Trump is finally gone? All their begging for money is based on Trump. He’s the gift that keeps on giving, so they don’t have to have a platform or be for anything real. It’s all about Trump. What a miserable excuse for an “opposition” party. The Washington Generals, for sure.
11. Tom Stone April 11, 2026 at 8:59 am

    Thank you Mr Beyer, any text on Real Estate appraisal states that the value is in the land, that’s what appreciates or depreciates while improvements almost always depreciate.
    There are rare exceptions for properties that have historic importance and that can not be replaced.
12. Wukchumni April 11, 2026 at 9:00 am

    Epic winter drought creates a bleak situation for farmers — and your food Washington Post
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I was skiing in Utah in January and there was practically nothing on the ground in natural snowfall, and I remember thinking that surely some big storms would show up and make a winter out of it, but it never happened, and then the Big Heat done showed up, ridding what was left of the white as the driven snow.

    Its a disaster that’s gonna play out over the rest of the year, and farmers are looking at so many horrible angles to the dangle.
    1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 9:41 am

       Sounds like you guys are in for a bad fire season and so it’s time to ramp up getting rid of dead wood near where you are. Here’s hoping that nothing happens.
       1. jefemt April 11, 2026 at 10:29 am

          If Trump declares a National Emergency, and we have no elections, how can we get rid of the
          Dead Wood?
          1. ambrit April 11, 2026 at 7:09 pm

             To get rid of Dead Wood, use Plan 9.
             [If anyone asks you, I didn’t say a thing. Understand?]
13. Some Guy in Jeju April 11, 2026 at 9:18 am

    Re:Seoul plans to replace troops on North Korea border with AI-based systems

    The article cites “manpower shortages”, but I often hear that military service is largely makework and lots of downtime. Young men tend to take up hobbies because it’s the only time in their lives that they have free time with no responsibilities toward family. I have two friends who learned card magic and guitar, respectively, while doing their service.

    (Through their experiences, I also learned that recreational soccer is a common cause of injury among conscripts.)

    Possibly an indicator of priorities: One of the largest conscription assignments is riot control. It’s typical for small to medium protests in ROK to have multiple conscripted police per participant. A protest of a few dozen grannies will be monitored by hundreds of conscripted police, brought in by the busload.

    (bonus fun fact: When I visited Dokdo in 2017, the island had 17 police offers per resident, mostly conscripts)
14. JohnnyGL April 11, 2026 at 9:24 am

    Re: bonus antidote

    I really hope that little story is true, it’s a nice one. I do wonder if the way the job market has evolved has made match-making between job-seekers and employers much harder. Or, maybe it’s just a really crappy economy and employers have gotten incredibly snobby about who they’ll hire because they know they’ve got the upper-hand.

    A couple of friends of mine have been searching for over a year, lots of resumes, and even a few interviews, but offers are few and far between.
    1. jefemt April 11, 2026 at 10:38 am

       HR seldom hires. HR keeps stats on apps/openings.
       Every position NOT filled moves the unpaid wage directly to the bottom line.
       Existing staff are flogged to do the work; flogging continues until morale improves.

       AI ‘trick’ is to match cover letter with job posting, hoisting clauses verbatim, so that there is a higher ‘match’ of candidate to necessary skill sets. It still seldom works.

       Small business hiring, referrals- not what you know, it is who you know.

       Reticence to hire in uncertain times is not helpful. Sit on hands and pull in horns. Its a downward spiral. The good news, — like Covid, it does give the earth a wee momentary break.

       I have a real sinking feeling about the future. USrael are up to no good in the next few days. All of the cans are lined up to Kick in our paradigm of perpetual war and chaos. And its not even May of year 2.
    2. ambrit April 11, 2026 at 7:13 pm

       Even back in the Age of Dinoeconomies, the popular saying was: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
    3. chris April 11, 2026 at 10:22 pm

       I hope that story is true too.

       I’m seeing companies move to something I never thought would happen. They are actually asking candidates to work for a few days to a week on a trial basis to show that the person can work and meet expectations. The trial period is mostly free, or not highly compensated. Something I never expected to see in professional settings. LinkedIn and other job hunting ecosystem pundits are suggesting this will become normal due to AI making it so easy to fabricate a resume.
       1. Kfish April 12, 2026 at 3:53 am

          In any civilized country that would be illegal. It’s certainly illegal here in Australia.
          1. Daniil Adamov April 12, 2026 at 4:28 am

             Trial periods after hiring are legal in Russia. They’re generally for 1-3 months and compensated in full, though, or they’re supposed to be. Either party can call the employment off afterwards. Possibly you and chris mean something different, or is this really such an unusual practice in the West?
             1. chris April 12, 2026 at 5:30 pm

                Yes, this is not a probationary period. Or a trial period post hire. It is a pre hire trial period where potential technical staff are asked to demonstrate that they can perform as advertised in the position they are trying to obtain for several days prior to being hired. For no pay, or limited compensation. The argument from the tech companies pushing this is if we can’t filter you with AI HR, and you can use AI to lie or sound much better during interviews, how can we trust you are who you said you are when we interviewed you? This kind of thing just builds on the extended job interview process that has become common these days.

                In short, don’t lose your job if you can afford to wait out any unpleasantness. Make sure you have your next move planned in advance.
       2. mzza April 12, 2026 at 8:02 am

          this feels like another result of the gig economy. I was working in (US) publishing until 2017 or so, and from the early aughts-on, it became increasingly normalized to ask freelance candidates for a set of pitches and 1 to 3 “article ideas” or actual drafts as part of their interview process.

          Multiply the average number of candidates times the number of free easily re-written at the editorial meeting articles and/or content ideas, and you can see the attraction.

          Considering the difficulty most freelance writers have tracking down payment for their work, imagine the impossibility of claiming plagiarism against the business that didn’t hire you.

          I can 100% believe that model expanded outside publishing.
15. ISL April 11, 2026 at 10:05 am

    on ozone and cancer, I would argue that ozone is a marker – its always accompanied by a lot of other nasty trace gases. Interestingly, regulations often focus on reducing NOx, which pushes O3 to be volatile organic carbon dependent – much harder to regulate – see California’s war on lighter fluid, etc., causing ozone to increase. That and also, for California, a significant fraction (not dominant) comes from Asia – ironic. As an allergy sufferer in a rural area, very sensitive to air quality.

    Still, an important article as it doubles the cancer rate to 1.08 from the 2009 seminal paper on ozone and cancer (Jerret et al. 2009), which put the rate at 1.04.

    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0803894

    Visited Beijing last spring – the air was clear every day, which is typical (and not noisy like US cities), thanks to the EV regulation – I recall articles about visibility of a few klicks prior to the Beijing Olympics. So there is hope for southeast asia in the next few decades.
16. Jason Boxman April 11, 2026 at 10:14 am

    Hacker Steals 10 Petabytes of Data From China’s Tianjin Supercomputer Center

    And then they discovered it’s all just 1s and 0s.

    Ha.

    I’ll be here all weekend, thanks!
    1. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 10:48 am

       China fools the hackers and instead of 1s and 0s, it is all 6s and 7s. I’ll let myself out now.
       1. ambrit April 11, 2026 at 7:18 pm

          The fact that PETA bites should have given the hackers pause.
          Plus, and forgive my Luddite tendencies but, who has data storage capacity in the petabyte range? That should limit the list of suspects considerably.
          1. Cetzer April 12, 2026 at 3:24 am

             “who has data storage capacity in the petabyte range”
             Perhaps the guys on XYZ (famous commercial site), who sold me a 512GB SD-Card for 5€ with a 20 year guarantee (No questions asked) and exclusive bonus software¹, that more than doubles the capacity by endearingly compressing the data.

             ¹Needs an Internet connection for occasional queries at the Compression Superintendance Facility
17. Jason Boxman April 11, 2026 at 10:22 am

    As Election Looms, Washington Wonders if Trump Will Get a New Supreme Court Pick (NY Times)

    Sure, why not?

    Ever since President Trump returned to the White House, speculation has swirled about whether he will have an opportunity to name a fourth or even a fifth justice to the bench, which already includes three justices nominated by Mr. Trump during his first term. Those questions have mounted in recent months, as Mr. Trump’s political fortunes have waned and the chance that Democrats might win the Senate in November has grown.

    and

    Many observers of the court see a cautionary tale in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision not to retire before the 2016 election, when President Obama could have named the liberal icon’s successor. Instead, President Trump nominated the conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett after Justice Ginsburg died while in office in 2020.

    You never hear much about abortion from the Democrat Party anymore, having lost that for women after failing to codify it for like 50 years. It shouldn’t have all hung on RBG retiring in time for Obama to pick another ostensible liberal justice.

    Oops.
    1. DD April 11, 2026 at 1:33 pm

       I distinctly recall Obama having the House and the Senate and not advancing a law to make abortion legal. They couldn’t kill the golden goose, the threat of Republicans overturning Roe brought in too much money and voter support.

       https://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-blasted-not-codifying-roe-v-wade-democrat-failure-1719156
18. ISL April 11, 2026 at 10:22 am

    Lawmakers seek to restrict Chinese access to deep UV fabs

    Good luck with that. China has made very rapid progress towards an EUV machine, with first chip production starting in 2028-2030 (not 2036+ as the “experts” forecast – my SWAG is that the “experts” are from marketing).

    https://www.reuters.com/world/china/how-china-built-its-manhattan-project-rival-west-ai-chips-2025-12-17/

    Will the end goal message get through the reality-filtering bubble surrounding DC? I am not holding my breath
    1. Glen April 11, 2026 at 12:09 pm

       Thanks for the link!

       Here’s an interesting report on how the approach to implementing AI differs between China and America:

       Two Loops – How China’s Open AI Strategy Reinforces Its Industrial Dominance
       https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/Two_Loops–How_Chinas_Open_AI_Strategy_Reinforces_Its_Industrial_Dominance.pdf

       This report is from a commission set up by the US Congress but I don’t think we can assume this information gets through the DC bubble either.
       1. AG April 11, 2026 at 5:58 pm

          thanks!
19. The Rev Kev April 11, 2026 at 10:53 am

    “AI Is Coming for Car Salesmen and Let’s Be Real, It Makes Perfect Sense”

    My memory banks are failing me tonight but I seem to remember a story from last year how a car yard was using ChatGTP. And that a customer was able to manipulate it into offering a car for an extremely low price, something like a dollar.
    1. Cetzer April 12, 2026 at 2:31 am

       And then it comes for the first mafia boss, although at first sneakily gaining a foothold as consigilAIre, after the old one got a bloodier job as RAM-Procurer for Sam Altman. Soon all the minions knew: One false word about AI, even after a few drinks at the bar, and you get rewarded with a free diving course, including generously dimensioned diving boots, and a long, AI written graveside speech at the not so lavish¹ funeral.
       And now the tricky question: What happened to the burly priest, who used to specialize in mafia funerals?

       ¹Better applaud till you drop or…
20. ChrisFromGA April 11, 2026 at 11:32 am

    Re: European jet fuel shortages

    We’re almost certainly at or near the point of no return here, with the strait being closed at least until the “ceasefire” ends next weekend, or a true “peace deal” emerges (don’t hold your breath.) And all the experts saying that even if it opens, it will take weeks to resume deliveries. That means those three weeks until the tank reads “E” are going to end with no jet fuel deliveries coming in.

    It looks to be another lost European summer vacation season, at least for those who want to travel by air.
    Flying has pretty much become a nightmare in the US. All of the big carriers are focusing on expensive business travel, and nickel and dime-ing the rest of us to death with fees, add-ons, and generally treating the customer like cattle. Near-misses are making safety an issue.

    I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but we bailed these guys out during the pandemic, too.
    1. Cetzer April 12, 2026 at 2:45 am

       “cattle”
       Don’t you know, even they have to pay a large optional add-on fee¹ for a little bit of anesthesia before being branded?
       And now stop complaining or stewardess Ratchet will do something terrible to you, that at least you will not be able to remember.

       ¹Four numb presidents
21. Es s Ce Tera April 11, 2026 at 11:50 am

    re: “Is Israel Blackmailing President Trump?” Tucker Carlson Fires Back With Explosive Newsletter – FULL TEXT Latin Times (Ann)

    If anything is being used by Israel to control the president, whoever has it or knows about it should bring it out into the open now.

    It would help end the current crisis, preventing further bloodshed and likely stopping this from becoming world war or going nuclear, would save the world from the worst economic and humanitarian disaster we’ve ever seen, would prevent mass suffering and death, could even end the genocide and bring the world a lasting peace.

    There are saints who’ve had to choose between God’s will and their own. Pray they guide you.
22. Lefty Godot April 11, 2026 at 1:16 pm

    “The Other Porn Land” makes a good point, but does it in a somewhat convoluted fashion. Romance is porn, basically, but it’s women’s porn. It’s sexy writing about sex where the sex always leads to a committed relationship, where indeed that might be the “fated” outcome, because soul-mates or some other inanity. (And maybe there’s a second sexy guy who wants the heroine too, because every gal needs a surefire fallback plan). And if you’re making a romance series with the same characters, of course this leads to babies and your dangerous, moody, sex machine guy turns into a sensitive New Age parent. It’s fantasy, because none of those guaranteed happy endings are what usually happens in real life for women, who routinely get ghosted, left pregnant with no partner in sight, or stay stuck in a relationship with an abusive man, or just find their soul-mate is dull as rocks after years of commitment. Because women are intrinsically good in woke-speak (let’s ignore the claims that essentialism is a great evil, because that depends cui bono), their porn is good, no matter how it objectifies men and portrays them in grossly unrealistic ways.

    Men’s porn (the kind we recognize as porn) is bad, however, since men are intrinsically bad in woke-land. And their porn just portrays sex as something that’s easy, where every woman the hero meets immediately wants to have sex with him, where there are no strings attached and no messy committed relationships to get in the way of the man sleeping around and probably siring multiple children (off-screen, usually) that he won’t have to support. And where sex is all about pleasing the man and he doesn’t have to worry about the woman much because he is a sex machine after all. And, as with female porn, this is a total fantasy because sex is not easy for most men, it’s hard to get, it almost always comes with strings attached, and it can end up with the man supporting a child that may not be his offspring. And let’s face it, relationships are natural and hard to avoid, as well as being messy and subject to buyer’s remorse, and you have to be a jerk not to stumble into one once you have sex. Men’s porn is shallow wish-fulfillment, much as romance is for women.

    Without going too far into sociobiology, men and women have different goals for mating (from an evolutionary standpoint) and those are reflected in their preferred porn. Some of that porn can be stupid but basically harmless, but the porn (both what we call pornography and what we call romance) that gets commodified and turned into an addictive ultra-processed product by capitalist media can be actually harmful, because it normalizes ever more extreme narratives (not to mention extreme “lookism”) and pushes unreality deeper and deeper into the behavioral repertoire of consumers, making real life sex and romance seem more and more unsatisfactory by comparison. And here we are.
    1. Wukchumni April 11, 2026 at 1:22 pm

       Nakedness in public really weirds out Americans, and I think its because we only ever see anybody in their birthday suit on porn.
       1. Lefty Godot April 11, 2026 at 3:55 pm

          Putting on special clothes (a “bathing suit”) to jump in the ocean always seemed a bit strange. But the thrill of the taboo is part of the sales pitch for much current porn. Romance novels are into the “forbidden love” affair trope quite a lot. Unfortunately men’s porn (the hard stuff, not the softer male action fantasy porn) has gotten progressively viler and more degrading toward women over the past three or four decades. Once money becomes a driver of any type of expression, making that expression more and more extreme seems to be an inevitable consequence. Which kind of kills people’s natural sex instinct.
          1. Jason Boxman April 11, 2026 at 9:08 pm

             progressively viler and more degrading toward women

             The stuff is straight up horrific, truly. I’ve heard from a friend.
23. XXYY April 11, 2026 at 5:02 pm

    “Is Israel Blackmailing President Trump?” Tucker Carlson Fires Back With Explosive Newsletter – FULL TEXT Latin Times

    Carlson provides no particular evidence for this theory except historical precedents, but I have an easy time entertaining it. Anyone who controls a nation-state intelligence agency would have a very easy time gathering blackmail material, and the stance of US presidents in unconditionally backing every single atrocity-laden campaign of the Israeli government does not seem like it’s naturally-occurring.

    Trump should remember that blackmail is a gun with only one bullet, and furthermore Israel has a lot more to lose if Trump decides to go to the mat with Israel than the reverse.

    Proposal to Trump: Pull your earlobe three times in quick succession at your next news conference if Carlson is correct!
    1. flora April 11, 2026 at 6:07 pm

       Completely aside, and with no data: Me thinks Melania making a statement was more about protecting her son’s reputation than anything else. I think the women reading here will understand what I mean. Imagine Barron’s subjection to teasing or worse about his mother’s supposed “associations.”
       Imo, this is a mother protecting her child from false infamy charges. / imo
    2. Sibiriak April 12, 2026 at 5:12 am

       Max Blumenthal provides an excellent, highly detailed review of Israeli/Zionist influence on Trump over his career (no blackmail) and on the Israel Lobby in general:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVmTEA9ViNU
       1. hereweare April 12, 2026 at 5:27 am

          I do get tired of these blackmail-based hypotheses, when pretty much by definition there’s no evidence for them.
          1. skippy April 12, 2026 at 5:31 am

             Sorta like your comment hereweare ….
24. skippy April 11, 2026 at 7:56 pm

    Act fast ….. running out now …

    😂 Aussie Ad

    Is the News cycle doing your head in? (Trump)

    Don’t worry, Bunnings have launched the ORANGE Fuckit Bucket

    https://x.com/SPBMcKenna/status/2042768600138912239
    1. ChrisRUEcon April 12, 2026 at 2:34 am

       LMAO

       Nice one, skippy!
25. Jason Boxman April 11, 2026 at 8:25 pm

    Americans are eating up the meat industry’s health claims (NBC News)

    I know NC had a link last year about how excessive amounts of protein are harmful.

    More than three-quarters of U.S. consumers saw meat and poultry as “part of a healthy, balanced diet” last year, up from 64% in 2020, according to an annual survey from food industry groups FMI and the Meat Institute, released last month. Forty-five percent are “actively trying to prepare more meals containing meat or poultry,” while another 31% are “doing so off and on,” the survey found.

    The unifying factor behind these increases? Protein. It’s “firmly at the center of consumer interest,” the report said.

    and hello incoming economic calamity. We’ll see how long these are non-negotiable purchases.

    Even value-conscious shoppers are keeping meat and poultry in their carts; in the industry report, 68% called these items “non-negotiable or important when it comes to budget tradeoffs.” Beef comprised 70% of last year’s 6.8% jump in U.S. meat sales, which hit a record $112 billion, according to Circana data. (FMI, which represents grocers and their suppliers, declined to comment, pointing to its statement applauding the new dietary guidelines.)

    I get much of my protein from dairy, mostly greek yogurt and some low fat cheddar. I still like my breakfast chicken sausage, turkey sausage, and two eggs and bacon. Never more than about 100 calories total of any of these, though, with eggs being the exception at 80 calories per egg. I never got into beef, for dinner it’s either grilled chicken breast (salt it at least an hour in advance, and it’s better than anything I’ve had at a restaurant) or I cheat with precooked chicken sausage.

    I do love some chickpeas, I haven’t gotten into lentils much yet.

    I’m probably still short daily relative to 0.8g per pound of muscle.

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