Determined Woman Makes It Her Mission to Rescue Every Abandoned Dog in Her Georgia Community Laughing Squid
Climate/Environment
Global carbon emissions and decarbonization in 2025 Nature. Another record year.
El Niño is rumbling like a freight train across the subsurface Pacific Ocean.
Over the last two months, the warm pool has shifted east, with some areas reaching 5˚C above-average.
Warmer waters will soon surface, as a strong westerly wind burst keeps this train rolling. pic.twitter.com/vIVhwGIv1T
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) April 14, 2026
Seems like it could be a big wildfire year globally… current “high” burn area (since 2012, so… not a huge dataset) largely driven by unusually high burn areas in North America and Africa (and even Asia to an extent). Transition to super niño will be interesting to track. pic.twitter.com/qP2xSULYA2
— Prof. Ryan Katz-Rosene (@ryankatzrosene) April 11, 2026
Forest Service shake-up will boost states’ role — but even supporters have concerns States Newsroom
How many people does heat actually kill? The Climate Brink
Our Famously Free Press
Climate Coverage Plunges, Though Crisis More Dire Than Ever FAIR
Google Says Showing Polymarket Bets on Google News Was a Mistake Futurism
Water
Japan
Japan parties discuss reforms to maintain imperial family size Anadolu Agency
China?
Chinese Electrotech is the Big Winner in the Iran War Paul Krugman
The “Greater-than-Expected” Impact of the Iran War on China’s Economy | by Peng Shaozong Sinification
Beijing Cares About Oil. Beijing Doesn’t Care Whose Oil. ChinArb
Africa
Libya’s Rival Forces Take Part in Joint US-Led Military Exercises for 1st Time Sada Elbalad
Mali and the Western Sahara Sawahil
India
India’s wholesale inflation rises in March on higher energy prices Anadolu Agency
Old Blighty
The UK Is Carrying Out A Rigged Trial Of The ‘ Filton Six’ To Continue Palestine Action Crack Down. The Dissident
Syraqistan
Israeli attacks kill 11, including two children, in day of strikes on Gaza Al Jazeera
Anti-Blockade Blockade Comes Into Effect to Mass Confusion Simplicius
Is Donald Trump Trying to Create a Nuclear Narrative as his Escape ramp from the War with Iran? Larry Johnson
***
US-Iran peace talks could resume in next two days, Trump says The Guardian
Lebanon, Israel hold talks in Washington as Israeli troops close in on Bint Jbeil New Arab
Ghost Murmur Frame the Globe News
***
European Disunion
Iranian academic jailed in France over anti-genocide stance returns home Press TV
French Inflation Rises to 2.0% in March Global Banking & Finance
UK Arms Shipment to Israel Seized in Belgium Consortium News
Italy’s Meloni suspends defence cooperation deal with Israel New Arab
Trump slams Meloni in Italian newspaper interview: ‘I’m shocked by her’ The Hill
The Smoke Clears in Budapest Philip Pilkington, First Things
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine Demands Israel Detain Russian Shadow Fleet Vessel Carrying Stolen Grain at Haifa Port HVYLYA
Scoop: U.S. suggests Cuba complicit in helping Russia fight Ukraine Axios
Two Of Russia’s Top Experts Shrugged Off Orban’s Downfall Andrew Korybko
South of the Border
US Southern Command Kills Six in Latest Boat Strikes in Eastern Pacific Ocean Antiwar
Trump 2.0
Trump denies AI Jesus post was removed due to conservative backlash The Hill
Why Doesn’t the Pope Excommunicate Genocidal Maniacs? Sam Husseini
The Accelerationists
21st-Century Fascism and the Antichrist Savage Minds
Spook Country
Yes, Eric Swalwell Was a National Security Risk The After-Action Report
Democrats Suck
House Democrats push for JD Vance–led commission to oust Trump Al Mayadeen
Imperial Collapse Watch
“No Kings” and MAGA: Turf Wars on the Titanic’s Deck Laura Ruggeri
“Free Seas” Are Not Unraveling — But the System Is Changing Under Pressure gCaptain
Police State Watch
ICE Doesn’t Need the Money. Republicans Want to Give It a Decade’s Worth Anyway. Migrant Insider
Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled ProPublica
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit 404 Media
Meta Thinks Its Smart Glasses Could Stalk People in a ‘Thoughtful’ Way Gizmodo
Gunz
California ghost-gun bill wants 3D printers to play cop, EFF says The Register
Agriculture
Nationwide Survey: Most Farmers Can’t Afford Fertilizer Morning Ag Clips
Ag Priorities Pile Up in Congress Progressive Farmer
Healthcare?
Introducing The Health Insurance Influence Tracker HEALTH CARE un-covered
They Have You by the Ovaries Do Not Research
Economy
Oil prices may be starting to come down for a worrisome reason NBC News
Jet Fuel Shock From Iran War Sends Airline Costs Soaring, Triggers Global Travel Crunch International Business Times
Guillotine Watch
Luigi-Inspired Arsonist Threatened “Our Way of Life,” Feds Say Ken Klippenstein
AI
The Death of an AI Whistleblower The Nation
OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s mom:
We learnt recently that Autopsy was never performed. Partial autopsy by Medical Examiner means they dissect part of the body injured. Medical examiner failed to open the head though there was injury.
Autopsy has to be supervised. In this case Chief Medical Examiner was not…
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) April 15, 2026
Why the AI backlash has turned violent Blood in the Machine
AI chatbots are fuelling a new era of violence against women Citizens Reunited
First Statewide Data Center Ban Passed by Maine Legislature Gizmodo
Class Warfare
How 30,000 LA School Employees Won a Landmark Contract: Education About LAUSD Budget Manipulation Payday Report
“I had the hunch other people were worrying about the same things.” Working Class Stories
Antidote du jour (Nat Wilson Turner’s dog Preston who is celebrating his sixth birthday today.):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Comments are closed.
‘Chinese Electrotech is the Big Winner in the Iran War’
Further to this,
Chinese officials have held initial talks with providers of equipment to make solar panels as they consider limiting exports of the most advanced technology to the United States, said five people with knowledge of the consultations.
…
If adopted, such a move could threaten plans by U.S. firms, such as Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, to build new factories or expand existing ones in efforts to boost local production.
Exclusive: China weighs curbs on exports of solar manufacturing equipment to US – Reuters
And I doubt the US war on Iran will make China any more willing to export advanced solar panel manufacturing technology to the USA.
Also BYD reported to install 3000 EV-chargers in Europe in 2026.
Wouldn’t this Chinese move be welcomed with open arms by Trump? Another talking point to eliminate renewable energy.
Another rift between Trump and Musk? Musk wants this technology; Trump says the Chinese can keep it.
Libya’s Rival Forces Take Part in U.S.-Led Military Exercises.
Hmmm. Another strange and out-of-place datum. Yes, there are some Russians and Turks in Libya, who also don’t belong there. But the US of A in Libya is the wrong country at the wrong time in the wrong place. Italy doesn’t need the tender mercies of U.S. foreign policy this close. I will monitor Italian press reports for the Italian reaction.
Meloni? Squirming? She’s having a bad coupl-a weeks after the No vote won the referendum, after her attack dog Delmastro resigned in a phenomenally stupid scandal (that brought down some other members of her party), and now that Marina and Pier Silvio are asserting even more control over their private fiefdom Forza Italia. Luckily, she has the presence of mind to try to dump that defense agreement, now that the Israelis are shooting at Italian peacekeepers in Lebanon.
The attacks on the Popester and on Meloni are sparking the reaction here that it is time for Italy to stop being a zerbino. A doormat.
Stay tuned.
Today’s NYTimes, article and its deck from their daily e-blast:
Vance Says the Pope Should Be More Careful When Talking About Theology
The vice president, who is Catholic, took issue with Pope Leo XIV’s statement that disciples of Christ are “never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
I believe nippersmom used the expression CINO, convert in name only. So now we have someone who has been a Catholic for six hours and three minutes lecturing someone who majored in theology and church history. Because Leo Fourteen doesn’t know the secret Jell-O mold recipes that power the evangelicals, I’spose.
Saint Phanourious the Newly Revealed, ora pro nobis.
Discuss, brethren and sistren, discuss.
Saith Jesus: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Or so one of the memoirists reports. No doubt there are mighty efforts devoted to arguing that that saying doesn’t really say what it says. For such is the Theology Industry, for ever and ever, amen.
IIRC, in context, Jesus was speaking about the divisions he would create among the people of Judea.
If one is going to read these texts as relevant to present circumstances, perhaps one could consider this saying to be a prophecy of the present divisions with the Israeli polity. In which case, perhaps it would be plausible to assert that Jesus wants people to vote against Netanyahu at the next election (which rhymes with Leo XIV’s rhetoric, I think).
He also spoke about setting child against parent and brother against sister. And, in fact, when his own mother and sisters came to remonstrate with him for causing an uproar with his preaching, he refused to go out to them and instead told his disciples that they were his family now. So, yes, while he wasn’t calling for violence, he was definitely promising disagreement and division for his followers in relations with their society.
FTFY
Thanks for the correction. I do find it highly plausible that Jesus wanted to interfere with Judean nationalist militancy — which anyone who could objectively read “the signs of the times” could see would (and eventually did) lead to a blood-bath. [funny how history rhymes]
I bring this as something to ponder, as it seems that often times what is emblematic is taken as literal, and what is literal is taken as emblematic. From the Bhagavad Gita:
“Roots above, branches below, the actual form of material existence, as described above, is not perceivable within the world, for its beginning, end and existence cannot be ascertained here. Therefore, after resolutely cutting down this deeply rooted tree of material existence with the sharp axe of intense detachment, one should search out the lotus feet of that primeval Person”
Many Catholics are fervent supporters of Papal elitism and authority — until it goes against their own personal political alignment.
I’m Catholic.
I suspect that Leo’s theology and Church History credentials do not amount to much, compared to the biggest credential of all: he’s the Pope, for God’s sake (pun intended)!
re: identity politics, trauma & the left
interview with CATHERINE LIU
The left once spoke the language of solidarity. Now it often speaks the language of trauma.
In this interview, Catherine Liu argues that centring trauma as identity risks turning politics inward, where subjective experience outweighs material reality. When suffering becomes a kind of cultural currency, it can fragment collective struggle and replace structural critique with personal validation.
What happens when politics becomes about how we feel, rather than what we change?
Tap here to watch this interview in full:
34 min.
https://iai.tv/video/the-new-moral-elite-with-catherine-liu
I am experiencing this with a local organization right now. The young wokesters insist that job one is always listening and accommodating the trauma of whoever is demanding that their trauma be accommodated (except not old white guys). Some of the people who want to have their trauma accommodated do not contribute much of anything except criticism of our trauma accommodation capabilities (“do better”). They are on the brink of driving out people who do the actual work (for free).
With all due respect to the Combahee River Collective, “the personal is political” has turned out to be the absolute worst strategy in recorded history for organizing the oppressed.
“The personal is political.” My understanding is that the signal feature of totalitarianism (distinguishesing it from authoritarianism) is the elimination of the boundary between private and public. In a totalitarian society everything is political.
See also big tech’s devastating attacks on privacy.
This is how you sabotage building a mass movement for social change. Clearly not an accidental development.
p.s. I have to apologize for not thoroughly checking the video (it´s Liu so I took it without scrutiny) – but to watch it completely you have to sign up for free trial (which I never do.)
For those others who wanna check out nonetheless – I am sure Liu is good the entire 30 minutes – first 3 minutes free access rest only with trial account.
It seems like the video or a similarly themed one is available in full on youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CS1Ng3CcAOs . Thank you for introducing me to Catherine Liu.
Excellent!
thanks
Climate Coverage Plunges, Though Crisis More Dire Than Ever FAIR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It isn’t just climate change, its also the effects that are being ignored.
A 600k acre wildfire in Nebraska in March wasn’t on my bingo card or anybody else’s and maybe on account of a prairie fire being not so photogenic, it seemed to barely make the news cycle and then disappeared.
In days of olde in the aftermath of such catastrophic events, the President would dutifully make an appearance… and despite the Cornhusker state being MAGA turf-he was a no show.
The lyrics of this Marty Robbins song Prairie Fire are pretty prophetic, except for it being September, when you’d expect a conflagration-not March!
Fell in love with Marty at a tender age when I saw him perform at Knott’s Berry Farm in the late 60’s a number of times at the Round-Up Theater.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2theVkJGHp0&list=RD2theVkJGHp0
re: Israeli war PR
+972 MAGAZINE
Inside the Israeli army’s propaganda wing
Psy-op campaigns, selective leaks, exclusive reporter access: Soldiers and journalists reveal how the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit controls public discourse and promotes Israel’s narrative abroad.
https://www.972mag.com/inside-israeli-army-propaganda-wing/
re: Craig Murray now with pacemaker still running in Scotland election
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/04/vote-for-the-alliance-to-liberate-scotland/
I went to a clinic a week ago feeling dizzy and was immediately rushed to hospital. My heart rate was fluttering and below 20ppm. I have since had an emergency procedure to fit a pacemaker.
Long term followers of this blog (and readers of Murder in Samarkand or The Catholic Orangemen of Togo) know that I am dogged by long term heart problems which I have to work through. I try to avoid hospitals because such is the apparent seriousness of my condition it is very hard to get out of them again.
In 2005 I was given three years to live with pulonary hypertension, but I am still here and still fighting for good causes. Now with electronic enhancement.
HOWEVER:
I am not withdrawing from the election as I believe it is essential to give voters in Edinburgh Central the opportunity to vote for someone genuinely committed to Scottish Independence and who intends to do something about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYJ7NU8fwDY
For all you highbrow gardeners, and those interested in international affairs mixed in with with agriculture. This podcast with Geoff Lawton discussing his experiences in Iran was really fascinating. It’s a nice related, but very different sort of discussion on the region that we in the west often know very little about.
This is fun. I remember when Obama was all about you needing to get that higher education. Then liberal Democrats under Obama nerfed the subsidized Stafford loans and vastly increased the interest rate on Stafford loans.
Getting a Loan for Grad School Is About to Get More Complicated (NY Times)
So this is just a continuation of Democrat wishes as well.
What we ought to do is require any university that takes government funding in any form to disclose their ratio of administrators to faculty, including support staff and adjunct professors, and the average and median pay for each relative to administrative salaries and perks.
Ought to be enlightening.
If you’re gonna borrow big, you should be headed to a school that actually funds your education with your borrowed money, no the lavish salaries of administrators.
hmmm… none of the kids of the wealthy people I know have student debt….
I wonder if there’s a connection…
“No,no, no biffy, you access the ladder from up here, not down there,,,”
The wealthy are just more virtuous and don’t engage in bad behaviors like borrowing money for things they could just budget and save for. It’s similar when one studies criminality, where the wealthy are so infrequently accused and indicted, despite the fact that, to quote Anatole France, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”
Robbing one man is a crime. Robbing a million men is a statistic.
Paid for my son (only child) at an Italian University,living and travel expenses for an Erasmus stay in Barcelona, Spain and an MSc at Imperial College London. He won a European scholarship for his PhD at Trinity College Dublin. Got work and paid for his later qualifications by himself. Often wondered how I would have managed to provide the same opportunities if I had had 2 children or more (not possible for health reasons). Nevertheless he finished with no debt, no borrowing. Not all debt-free students belong to the 1%
House Democrats push for JD Vance–led commission to oust Trump.
I’ve been voting Dem a long time…with a lot more regret of late.
When I see this headline… It amplifies my regret and angst as TINA keeps jumping on stage.
It is so typical of Dems to put forward performances based on figuring out which option optimizes failure, and then, push for that option, knowing it will most likely fail.
Same as it ever was. Gotta keep that powder dry, you know?
Anyone here have any reliable accurate information/ news about an Irish General Strike?
There have been multiple CALLS for a general “day of strike’, but no concrete plans have yet materialised, so far as I am aware, here in Dublin.
re: EU economic crisis
use google-translate
Europe’s chemical industry is fighting for survival
https://www.telepolis.de/article/Europas-Chemieindustrie-kaempft-ums-Ueberleben-11259114.html
When geopolitics and climate together destroy the harvest
https://www.telepolis.de/article/Wenn-Geopolitik-und-Klima-gemeinsam-die-Ernte-vernichten-11255913.html
Re: AI backlash
I assume, and it seems obvious to me, that AI is coming with the advertised promise of job losses. I’ve seen images and videos of Peter Thiel and Alex Karp and they all seem to exude genuine joy and deep smiles when they discuss how many people are going to be made unemployed by AI. It’s the sort of smile you might see on somebody when they hold their newborn baby for the first time. I think that what Karp said is that everybody is going to be unemployed unless they’re neurodivergent or they work with their hands.
Now, having used AI at a superficial level I don’t think that this is going to happen or should happen, but I guess it could on some level. As an analogy, this website used to talk about outsourcing, I think that Yves would argue that the economics of outsourcing were flawed, but it happened anyway because Wall Street loved it. And perhaps this could happen here as well, companies start laying off people to replace them with AI, things end up not working as well, but it doesn’t matter because the stock rises 25%. What we’ll then end up is a less skilled workforce, a less effective economy, but more wealth inequality. Other countries that don’t go on this gravy train will benefit more in the long run.
I’ve been following Terrence Tao, a mathematician and one of the greatest thinkers of our times, on Twitter and I find that he has a more nuanced take on AI. He recently said that instead of anticipating “AGI”, whereby humans become extinct and irrelevant in two or three years unless they own the AI, we should assume a Copernican principle of intelligence, whereby computers do surpass us in certain tasks over time, and remain far behind in others.
But regardless, of course most people oppose this, anybody can realize that boom isn’t benefiting the common man.
Lastly, notice that the powers that be are so excited about replacing workers with AI, but they don’t seem nearly as excited about helping workers with AI. I would love a robot that could fold my laundry. That would save me time, and make me and millions like me a more productive worker. I don’t think it’s coming.
Agreed…
Now, having used AI at a superficial level I don’t think that this is going to happen or should happen,
I believe AI will be used in the way it’s now used, surveillance, ad delivery, and censorship. Also being a bullshit generator has advantages to a certain class of people. And destroying copyright.
I’m in the we’re already a fascist country camp. AI is staking it’s territorial claims that will expand from where they are now, curing cancer or solving any human problem is just that bullshit generation in action.
Just got done with Capital as Power. (Thanks to whoever mentioned it – NC has the best book recommendations). Their conclusion is capitalism is motivated by “sabotage” – ie *reducing* production to allow for grabbing a higher share of the profits. From this POV, AI is just about the perfect silver bullet.
One thing that seems to come up repeatedly in using AI (based on exp from several settings) is thar AI is great if you can place information in context: if you know how to ask the right questions of the AI and how to evaluate and filter the information it spits out. You cannot get people who know nothing to make productive use of AI, at least not for a very long time to come, I think. Perhaps thr analogue might be to the last industrial revolution? The really skilled weavers were fine: machines could never replace them. Textile mills still needed somewhat skilled workers to produce decent products (although their place was threatened by products of truly unskilled workers that were of really bad quality…up to a point). But moderately to decently skilled workers were doomed.
UK Arms Shipment to Israel Seized in Belgium – Consortium News
Belgium has strict laws on the transshipment of military items to Israel through its ports and airports, including a ban on overflights carrying weaponry through its airspace.
Customs officials were notified last month of a suspicious military shipment travelling from Britain to Israel through Liege airport.
The cargo was subsequently searched by a specialised engineer who found “the presence of fire control systems and spare parts for military aircraft.”
Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont said:
“We have to see if the legislation has been respected. Here, in this case, it’s clear that it hasn’t.”
re: Ukraine/Germany v. Russia
By former MP Sevim Dagdelen
use google-translate
The German government is leading Germany into war against Russia
April 15
https://overton-magazin.de/kolumnen/dagdelen-direkt/die-bundesregierung-fuehrt-deutschland-in-den-krieg-gegen-russland/
The aim is to be able to wage war against Russia jointly and to act as a tandem against Russia even after a potential end to the war. The German government is thus attempting to take the place of the USA. However, this new dimension of arms cooperation is by no means solely about money. The signed agreement on defense cooperation contains a clear roadmap for the joint production and procurement of weapons systems, drones, and long-range weapons in Ukraine.
In doing so, the German government avoids what it considers the tiresome debate about German weapons being delivered to Ukraine and intended to be used to strike deep into Russia. The joint production of medium- and long-range drones, with regard to their operational objectives, rests solely with Ukraine.
What was agreed upon in Berlin is far more serious than the postponed decision on a possible delivery of Taurus cruise missiles. Zelenskyy tellingly called it “the biggest deal of its kind in Europe.”
Besides new commitments regarding arms deliveries and the financing of US arms purchases, the agreed-upon integration of the German and Ukrainian arms industries is particularly striking.
(…)
Added to this is the declaration of intent by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to repatriate Ukrainian men liable for military service who are currently in Germany to Ukraine.
With this bilateral strategic partnership, which clearly aims at war with Russia, the German government is fulfilling the dream of German militarists to finally achieve revenge in the East after their defeat against the Soviet Union in 1945. (…)
The joint arms production of Germany and Ukraine represents an existential threat to Russia. The risk of incurring apocalypse by de facto declaring war on the nuclear power Russia stems from a mindset that is fatally reminiscent of the policies of the two World Wars.
p.s. While I agree with the economic and in part political analysis the military falls short of Russian capabilities and intentions to use them. And Germany will not risk being bombed. As I wrote 2 days ago, Germany 2026 is not Germany 1941. Same goes for Russia. And most importantly military technology. We simply live in a different era. Which of course doesn´t mean, people don´t die or huge land battles are a bygone era.
Russians destroyed Yuzmash and many more installations. Won´t be the last.
Agree fully with your points. But this time Germany (VdL has just announce that she plans to scuttle the veto vote in EU) plans to drag the whole of Europe in a war against Russia. But she needs that countries with 65% of population vote for it. I am not sure about Italians, Spaniards, French, Romanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Slovaks, and Hungarians…
Ghost Murmur…Apparently the drive to claim divine powers is not limited to al Marilagi…
“You can’t run, you can’t hide…”
I wrote a comment that was eaten by Skynet that the Ghost Murmur piece was 100% LLM-written and an insult to intelligence too but it must be cover for something important.
I think it is the use of aerial towed SQUID sensors to survey Iran to detect static magnetic field variation and infer underground structures or metal deposits (bunkers and uranium…).
But I don’t understand how a cover story is needed or helps. Is the F35 / F15 pilot going to be reported as a posthumous hero of Ghost Murmur because his or her death or capture needs explaining but they don’t want to admit the real reason?
I didn’t really see anything there that couldn’t be explained by cell phones.
No need for anything “secret”, except maybe as propaganda to keep your enemies guessing.
Not sure what category this fits into, perhaps the daily Links needs a new category, “The World Gone Mad”? A good perspective here on why the mad king (Trump) is not a bug but a feature, an emergent property of a humanity that has hit resource limits. Snippet:
“From John Mearsheimer describing the geopolitical landscape as a “Titanic heading for an iceberg”, to Jeffrey Sachs diagnosing the US Executive branch with “hyper-irrationality” and an utter collapse of institutional process, the consensus of the intelligentsia is clear: the United States has been captured by a delusional megalomaniac, the ‘Deep State’ has been sidelined, and the destruction of the global economy is the tragic result of a one-man show.
It is perhaps the most successful magic trick in Imperial history.
What these ‘Linguistic Thinkers’ fail to understand is that the chaos they are witnessing is not a failure of process. It is the process itself. The erratic, deeply personalised spectacle of the Executive branch is not a bug in the American geopolitical machine; in April 2026, it is its most vital feature. . . . .
Historically, the Triffin Dilemma required the US to run trade deficits to supply the world with dollars. The 15% blanket tariff is the intentional, violent reversal of this mechanism. It acts as a mechanical pump, forcefully vacuuming Eurodollars from the international market back into the US core, creating a global funding crisis.
This isn’t trade policy; it is a global entropy dump.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics dictates that you cannot locally reduce entropy (order your own system) without increasing it to a greater degree elsewhere. By combining the Triffin Tax with a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—deliberately starving the Asian manufacturing bloc of energy—the US is attempting to lower its internal entropy by exporting chaos, bankruptcy, and energy starvation to the periphery.
The Avatar Function: Plausible Deniability for the Apocalypse
Herein lies the ultimate utility of the current President. . . . ”
https://theuaob.substack.com/p/the-avatar-and-the-entropy-dump-why
by Steven J. Newbury
First, medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Khaldun observed empires typically last 250 years. 7/4/1776 – 7/4/2026 is right on the money.
Then there’s the old saying that poor people want good governance. Rich people — i.e. the donor class — want no governance. Governance by dotards, saboteurs and mad kings de-legitimizes government, much to the donor class’s satisfaction. Generating problems and crime is part of the agenda here.
If you count Byzantium the Roman Empire clanked along for about 1500 years, the Ottomans for 600.
1865 (Northern/federal victory in the Civil War), 1898 (acquisition of overseas territories), 1945 (end of WW2) have all been proposed as dates the U.S. became an empire. If you lean toward one of these 1776 seems a stretch.
Apropos of the Afghani water crisis, I remember reading, as a grad student at the U of Florida, that the football stadium’s grass consumed more water annually than the city of Kabul.
[Expunged because AI]
NC Policies: “Nor do we allow any AI generated content. We will remove comments that contain AI-provided material.”
Thank you for calling that out! I was late to jump on it.
Here is a nice explanatory article by the Zero Spike project, which is looking into solutions for long Covid.
The article covers:
The characteristics of SARS-COV-2 and spike protein
Difference between natural and vaccine spike protein
The concept of Quasispecies and disease enhancement
Toxic sequences of the spike
Spike and Syncytial formation
Prion Properties
Endothelial damage
Molecular Mimicry
–
Also
Asprin may fight cancer – but not for the reason you may think of
A study showing Salicylic acid works better than Bayer’s patented acetylsalicylic acid at treating cancer and the likely mechanisms.
Researchers at a company called Tahoe Therapeutics have built something that has never existed before.1 They measured how 1,100 different drugs changed the genetic settings in cancer cells — one cell at a time — across 50 different cancer cell lines. The result is a dataset containing 100 million individual cell measurements from 60,000 separate drug experiments. That’s 50 times more data than everything publicly available before it — combined.
Then Really?
Frog-Derived Gut Bacterium Completely Eradicates 100% of Tumors After a Single Dose in Mice
A single intravenous dose of Ewingella americana achieved complete tumor elimination in 100% of treated animals, with no detectable toxicity—outperforming chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Working link for the frog bacterium:
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-frog-derived-gut-bacterium
This is really amazing. Very clever approach to find a bacterium that thrives in the micro-environment of the insides of a tumor. Wow.
And the tumours’ll probably have a hard time evolving effective defences, as the bacteria will keep up with them.
NC readers may not know that the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis (a widespread mass vaccine globally but very rarely administered in the USA) is a live TB strain, the infectivity of which in vivo has been attenuated by culturing it on specialist media (no, not MSNBC or Fox News) and the BCG vaccine has long-standing case histories of its administration provoking tumour remission, to the point that common treatment protocols for bladder cancer include it. The frog bacterium would appear to be a more powerful tool but in the same vein. Fascinating stuff!
By the sound of it, the bacterium pulls off some immuno-oncological miracle and makes the bacterium visible to the immune system. Very expensive therapies like CAR-T attempt this trick today in very specific circumstances.
Less mind-blowing topic but maybe related – what do we know about the actual usefulness of vaccines against pneumonia for the elderly…
To my knowledge former German Chancellor Mrs. Merkel got it back when it was a “thing”. I never found out whether that was for show only to push some companies or did make actual sense.
Re: Warehouse fire
It’s remarkable how central the refusal to negotiate or compromise, underpinned by the denial that other interests even exist (let alone might be legitimate), is to American elite ideology. Abroad, any assertion of collective self-interest by other countries is incomprehensible; at home, with the bottom 80% of the population, it is much the same.
A while back, I was reading about the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building (an event that, unlike other instances of late-19th to early-20th century American political violence, I had not been aware of). According to Wikipedia (“Aftermath”) the event was pivotal in subsequent labor reforms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times_bombing
No one will respond to the warehouse fire this way. If there is a positive ideological bedrock to this, it’s that a system based entirely on coercion–no belief necessary–is both technically feasible and, because of its reliability, desirable.
File under AI….. ‘security?, what security? ‘ / ;)
From MalwareBytes:
AI, Data breaches, News
NSFW app leak exposes 70,000 prompts linked to individual users
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/04/nsfw-app-leak-exposes-70000-prompts-linked-to-individual-users
From MalwareBytes article, advice about using AI:
This is yet another data breach affecting an AI girlfriend service. Developers tend to rush these emerging platforms into existence because they are popular and profitable. Unfortunately, that often comes at the expense of security and privacy. Here are some things to bear in mind:
– Don’t trust AI platforms that promise privacy and encryption just because they say so.
– Don’t log in with your Google/Facebook/Microsoft credentials or by using your regular email address or phone number.
– Remember that anything you put online, including a service that promises privacy, carries the risk of becoming public.
Despite what users my think when engaging with a chatbot, these conversations should never be considered private. For particularly sensitive use cases (health, sexuality, legal issues), consider services that explicitly commit not to retain or train on conversations.
Tax day, and I gotta agree with the Lever on this:
Tax Day Could Be Easy. They’re Fighting To Make It Hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhr8s6g-ckM
Plus, in the last few years there are literally http call-outs for where to get instructions on the tax forms. I’m not sure one can even do your taxes without having Internet access. The irony is that I use to use the Internet tax return free file for my tax return, but it seems to have been enshittified. I no longer use it. Maybe I’ll try again next year.
Most public libraries have forms, or computers to print them. Many have people to help you complete them
Go public libraries!
Thanks for point that out jp!
Our local library does a great job providing forms, Internet access, and hosting organizations providing tax prep assistance.
I have personally had very good luck with OLT for several years. It’s free for under $50,000. There are other options here:
https://www.irs.gov/e-file-do-your-taxes-for-free
Happy birthday, Preston!🎂NWT is lucky to have a cute little guy like you to help ease the stress!
The msm often described Viktor Orbán as a strongman, right winger, even a fascist. Yet, a fundamental principle of democratic government is the peaceful transition of power. Within his concession speech Orbán said, “The responsibility and opportunity of governing was not given to us.”
A rather noble statement from a so-called fascist. To this day Trump insists he won the 2020 election handily and that it was stolen from him.
I am still waiting for a German/EU study that looks into the relationship between their very own state media and governments.
Where on earth is there a single European power which would accept state funded national broadcasting attacking government in a way that it´d undermine power – and in fact enact transition of power – if editors and media directors would consider it fit.
The whole notion of singling out Hungarian “aligned state media” is so absurd and delusional. It just shows you how much Western academics and media people are entrenched in their must-believe, we-are-role-models kind of BS. Not to speak of privately owned media…
Any one comment addressing German Bauer or Bertelsmann media group owning countless Eastern European outlets and private broadcasters? Or the pressure on domestic economic decisions in Hungary, former Yugoslavia or Romania or Bulgaria by major Western companies? Big Agro in Romania, I learned more about that from thriller novels than daily news. The topic is as pressing as ever but has long vanished from the news. (Except maybe in le monde diplomatique every now and then. But who is reading LMD…)
re: China´s CP
New book by Cambridge University Press
The Communist Party of China
Understanding the Durability of the World’s Most Powerful Political Organization
Edited by Ben Hillman and Fengyuan Ji
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/communist-party-of-china/communist-party-of-china/DE49DE893058897FEF8F5FCD28494252
Summary
From Marxist revolution and the rejection of Chinese cultural tradition through market reforms and the embrace of Chinese cultural traditions, the party has repeatedly reinvented itself and maintained its monopoly of political power. Four decades after it abandoned communes and centrally planned economics, the party now sits atop a system of state capitalism and steers the world’s second largest economy. Confident in its success, the party now promises it will lead the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation – the restoration of China to advanced economy and great power status. This chapter reviews the multiple sources of the party’s strength and resilience in the second decade of the twenty-first century. It argues that the party’s strength lies in its adaptiveness and inventiveness across three dimensions: ideology, organization, and public policymaking. In doing so, the chapter provides a conceptual framework for the book and a launchpad for subsequent chapters which examine the multiple sources of CPC strength in greater depth.
re: Agota Kristof
LRB
I Don’t Care
by Ágota Kristóf, translated by Chris Andrews
review by Sarah Resnick
Enemy Language
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n07/sarah-resnick/enemy-language
re: Paul Theroux
LRB
Gun Love
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n07/paul-theroux/gun-love
re: Heiner Flassbeck and economics
Economics video-interview with Flassbeck about gasoline prices and the “rest” by German OVERTON MAGAZINE.
This is just a trial because the AI-generated dub IS odd.
43 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJAz_aOHrPw
File under Class Warfare. From Due Dissidence, utube, ~38+ minutes.
Everything’s Wrong With The “Doordash Grandma” Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKma8H9UwHg
Good discussion about the gig economy.
The linked piece from Savage Minds about Peter Thiel’s bizarre lectures on the Antichrist as evidence that fascism never went away is a challenging read but fascinating. Thiel’s topsy-turvy claim that democracy is the Antichrist is a reminder that the devil’s greatest trick is convincing us that he doesn’t exist. Like the devil, Thiel is a master of twisting philosophy 180 degrees so that all wisdom benefits him personally; the man is a literal vampire.
What is most interesting is the reference to the December 2, 1948 letter to the NYTimes from a group of Jewish intellectuals led by Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt warning that the party of Menachem Begin that eventually became today’s Likud, was “… a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.” Chilling.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/einstein/1948/12/02.htm
While I appreciate all the work of good conscience done here, I’m finding too many links are now paywalled to be useful to look into.
Just saying,
and thanks just the same.