Links 4/16/2026

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1. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 7:22 am

   ‘Why are Democratic leaders still ignoring voters on Israel?’
   Despite the headline, the article offers little by way of explanation beyond “party leaders are stuck in an anachronistic time warp, severely out of touch with – or contemptuous of – what most Democrats currently believe about Israel. Whether clueless or disingenuous, top Democrats keep insisting that the reality is not reality.” Funding and smear campaigns, surely major reasons, don’t get a mention. Perhaps the Guardian thinks it antisemitic to suggest that Zionists lobby for Israel, support politicians who support it, and hound those who don’t.
   1. TimH April 16, 2026 at 8:42 am

      DNC has no interest in even pretending they’ll do what most ordinary citizens (let alone voters) want, so long as they are convinced that the tired old pitch “Vote for our candidate otherwise the bad person will get in” will work.
      1. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 8:57 am

         I suspect many high-ups in the DNC don’t care too much if ‘their’ candidate gets in or not, as they’re salaried employees.
         1. dave April 16, 2026 at 2:31 pm

            Iron Law of Institutions–those inside care more about their place in the institution than they do about the activities or health of the institution itself.
   2. pjay April 16, 2026 at 8:46 am

      Yes, I noticed this as well. Solomon definitely leaves out the main explanation for the situation he describes. Moreover, a growing percentage of the Democratic base understands that The Lobby is the reason for this “disconnect” between the DNC and “reality.” This includes not only money to finance political campaigns and media propaganda, but also the Israeli agents and their neocon allies embedded throughout the foreign policy establishment and both political parties.

      I generally like Norman Solomon. He has no problems calling a genocide a genocide and condemning the US/Israel for its “rampaging through the Middle East.” His failure to state the obvious cause of this “fatal blind spot” is puzzling.
   3. Wukchumni April 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

      The Donkey Show never looks a grift horse in the mouth…
      1. ambrit April 16, 2026 at 9:44 am

         Are you suggesting that they are all Asses? Perish the thought! Only the “Best and Brightest” go to Washington. It says so on the tee shirt I got from the DCCC.
         1. Wukchumni April 16, 2026 at 9:51 am

            Did the tee shirt come in the price of admission to the Donkey Show?
   4. Matthew April 16, 2026 at 11:10 am

      Just one of The Guardian’s disingenuous headlines. We KNOW why: AIPAC owns many of them, lots are CIA and intelligence-community connected, and the corporations own the party (which is a registered business and not an organic political party to begin with, the DNC Services Corp.) to begin with. It’s the fantasy that we “take over” such an entity, engineered NOT to be taken over, that we need to dispense with. Hasn´t happened over 50 years since Reagan, since Carter started working to dissolve the New Deal, not gonna happen now. Political economic, structural impossibility.
      1. Matthew April 16, 2026 at 11:41 am

         Sorry, this was meant to be a response to hereaware and the Guardian teaser about why the Dems still ignore the party faithful in re: Israel.
2. flora April 16, 2026 at 7:47 am

   Tucker Carlson’s view of the US govt’s new religion. utube. ~1hr, 50 minutes+.

   Tucker on the New Religion of Trump’s America and His Mockery of Jesus Christ

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv9Bh6Pu3uc
3. ACF April 16, 2026 at 7:58 am

   Re SantaCon charity fraud

   Back in the early 2000s, when I was living a Lower East Side improvisational life, friends I knew through Billionaires for Bush and connected with at Burning Man invited me to SantaCon–dress up in Santa gear, run around the city posing by some landmarks and random places in pseudo-flashmob style (flash mobs were beginning(?)), playfully turn a lot of heads, and also visit bars. It was informal, playful, vaguely subversive, and fun. I haven’t tried to participate in the past 20 years (that was at the tail end of my sowing oats stage, and around 20 years ago I settled down, married with kids, house, etc) and was only vaguely aware of what the event has metastasized into. It’s an official charity? It’s only a pub crawl? Enough money is involved that fraud is possible? Wow, that all sucks.
   1. Michael Fiorillo April 16, 2026 at 9:44 am

      That might have been its origins, but for at least two decades, if happen you happen to live in the affected neighborhoods, mostly Downtown, it’s an infestation and plague of drunken, obnoxious frat bros and sorority sisters, which in a moronic way always seemed to confirm the old Nation of Islam line that The White Man Is the Devil.

      Hopefully this indictment drives a stake through its heart.
      1. ambrit April 16, 2026 at 9:49 am

         As Hollywood has known for years, there is no such of a thing as bad publicity.
         Expect to see Zombie Santa Con next year.
         For fun, next year someone with a legitimate Left spirit should dress up some Manhattan homeless as Santa and let them swan about the Lower East Side.
         1. Michael Fiorillo April 16, 2026 at 9:54 am

            Alas, you are likely correct… silly me, for thinking that logical, ethical consequences might follow from events.
            1. Alex Cox April 16, 2026 at 11:07 pm

               In the late 1980s a young and foolish friend of mine worked for an evangelical christian xmas tree salesman in Los Angeles.
               His name was Mr Christmas.
               When payday came, he defrauded them all, and then encouraged them to pray with him.
      2. hk April 16, 2026 at 11:18 pm

         So SantaCon has become SatanCon?
4. AG April 16, 2026 at 8:11 am

   re: Germany Israel/Rabkin

   This was originally intended as comment to KLG´s post from April 8th:

   Notes on the American Justification for the Ramadan War in West Asia of 2026
   https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/04/justification-for-the-war-on-iran-politics-culture-and-religion.html

   KLG recommends Yakov Rabkin, which I can only affirm strongly.

   An excellent conversation between Rabkin with Lottaz from 5 months ago:

   Professor EXPOSES Secret Origins Of The Israel Project | Prof. Yakov Rabkin
   61 min.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKzAzbjKNF0

   1 week ago I still knew what I wanted to highlight from it but the damn wars these days make time fly by like in a blink of an eye.

   Just listen to the whole thing.

   For German-readers or the diligent C&P readers since the second article is archived:

   2x interviews within 2 years by horrific German SPIEGEL with the as much horrific German Zionism/Judaism scholar Michael Brenner whose influence via overseeing PhDs cannot be overestimated. He is something of a saint within the establishment discourse.

   CV Michael Brenner: Born in 1964, is Professor of Jewish History and Culture at the University of Munich and Director of the Center for Israel Studies at the American University in Washington, DC. His books include “Israel: Dream and Reality of the Jewish State” and “History of Zionism”.

   #1 – Interview March 21 2024

   machine-translation

   “There is Zionism of enthusiasm and Zionism of despair.”

   Few terms have been as controversial since the October 7 massacre as that of Zionism. Historian Michael Brenner explains how the term became central to the State of Israel – and currently, for many, a term of abuse.
   https://archive.is/0QWyE

   
   #2 – Interview March 15 2026

   German-language

   “What Tucker Carlson says is, in part, blatant antisemitism.”

   The US and Israel are fighting together against Iran. Historian Michael Brenner explains how this close partnership came about – and why it is now at risk.
   https://archive.is/wFvwX

   Just like with Russia: Germany will not change.
   The intellectual failure is total.
5. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 8:12 am

   Iran’s Tajikistan embassy has a ten second video take on Trump as Dr. Jesus, and it’s somewhat more direct than Daddy Lion’s. (Thanks to someone yesterday!)
   1. Acacia April 16, 2026 at 8:32 am

      The Dr. Orange Jesus image has morphed into some kind of insane meme lol… e.g.:

      https://x.com/skenzyme/status/2044529062673023138
      1. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 9:09 am

         They Live (on which that video’s based) and The Matrix have similar premises, but I far prefer the former. The latter takes itself too seriously, the guy in the long black coat and shades gives me the creeps, and Keanu Reeves’ character is a crude Hollywood action hero with lots of special effects.
         1. lyman alpha blob April 16, 2026 at 11:33 am

            Keanu Reeves is a very nice man from what I understand, but the only role I ever liked him in was whichever of Bill or Ted he played in the movie about their Excellent Adventure. He comes across as the same dazed California teenager is his other movies. I did see the Matrix and he ruined it for me, and I haven’t watched another of his movies since. To each their own, but I just can’t stand his “acting”.

            Also, after 25 years of technological advances, it does seem that a significant portion of the population would prefer to exist in the Matrix rather than reality.
            1. Matthew April 16, 2026 at 11:49 am

               It’s all hard to separate out. The original public book on him was that he was a dolt playing a dolt, and I tended to bring that take on him to roles that followed. The fact that he has evolved into a kind of everyliberalwoman’s Fabio is hilarious. But in the meantime, I think that the truth may lie somewhere in between: He has evolved, and treats it all with a certain good grace. People do get smarter, and–more important–they can become more self-aware. I’d drink an NA beer with him.
               1. lyman alpha blob April 16, 2026 at 12:15 pm

                  everyliberalwoman’s Fabio – ha!!

                  I’d have a cup of coffee with him too. He does seem like a genuinely good person. But I wouldn’t cast him as an extra in a middle school play.
                  1. Tom Stone April 16, 2026 at 1:34 pm

                     Keanu Reeves is a serious athlete and a good shot with a Pistol as well as a rifle.
                     You can find short vids of his preparation for his roles.
                     I will say that the firearms training vids (3Gun) are about gameplaying , suitable for a Hollywood action star or an “Operator”, not someone interested in the defensive usage of a Pistol…who wants to stay out of prison.
            2. curlydan April 16, 2026 at 12:02 pm

               I recommend River’s Edge from the 80s where he plays a dazed teenager quite well in a very good teen murder movie featuring Dennis Hopper.
               1. OverHandWristFlip April 16, 2026 at 4:30 pm

                  “My Own Private Idaho”
               2. Peter Steckel April 16, 2026 at 10:32 pm

                  River’s Edge (and Over the Edge by the same writer/director) are amazingly real, if a bit depressing, meditations on teen angst. I’ve seen it several times over the years and it holds up incredibly well. That said, Keanu Reeves is good in it, but he PALES in comparison to Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper, and Daniel Roebuck. These three shine so brightly. Add in some great dialogue, a really good sound track and decent score, and you have a wonderful counter point to all those 80s teen comedies.
                  1. hk April 16, 2026 at 11:23 pm

                     Based on a real murder case, too–which had some more disturbing undertones that were left out of the movie.
                  2. outside observer April 17, 2026 at 12:05 am

                     Let’s not forget Keanu sparring with Al Pacino in ‘The Devil’s Advocate’! Especially in these times.
6. AG April 16, 2026 at 8:37 am

   re: EU sanctions v. Hüseyin Dogru

   A group is campaigning against the sanctions:

   NACHDENKSEITEN reporting

   machine-translation

   Email campaign regarding the EU sanctions against the German journalist Hüseyin Doğru

   The citizens’ initiative GemeinWohl-Lobby (GWL) , together with the human rights organization United for Freedom (UFF), has launched an email campaign against the EU sanctions against German journalist Hüseyin Doğru. In a letter they drafted to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, the Federal Minister of Finance, the German Journalists’ Association, and Amnesty International in Germany, they demand the immediate end to the sanctions against the journalist and his family, arguing that the sanctions violate human rights and even constitute a form of torture.

   An article by Maike Gosch
   https://archive.is/GIXbp

   campaign site
   https://gemeinwohl-lobby.de/sanktionen-gegen-meinungsfreiheit/
   1. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 9:14 am

      Please let us know if and when there are any English language equivalents.
7. AG April 16, 2026 at 8:48 am

   re: US NAVY

   via reddit:
   “Almost new San Diego warship USS Augusta needs major overhaul that will cost at least $33.5 million”

   From January

   US NAVAL INSTITUTE

   Navy Won’t Decommission More Littoral Combat Ships, Officials Say
   https://news.usni.org/2026/01/27/navy-wont-decommission-more-littoral-combat-ships-officials-say
8. flora April 16, 2026 at 9:13 am

   From Due Dissidence, utube, ~ 9 + minutes. comedy.

   Alex Jones MOCKS TRUMP in “Low IQ” JP Sears Comedy Sketch

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7EDELNN58w
9. Wukchumni April 16, 2026 at 10:05 am

   Cool boulder in Norway…

   I know where say half a dozen of them are in the Sierra Nevada, but not perched over a fjord in terms of dramatic, but still maybe 40 feet above a chasm where a river runs through it.

   Mountains in the Sierra look pretty majestic from afar but when you get up close they are all the same with scree fields full of VW Bug sized boulders strewn below at every angle imaginable as the peaks molt their granite skin all the while.

   That Norwegian boulder made its own scree field of sorts.
   1. JP April 16, 2026 at 11:42 am

      If you look at the background of that video the country is completely glaciated. The top of the sierra is not gouged out but there certainly is no top soil. I find the more curious local feature to be a large bolder right on top of another bolder. I should take some pictures.
   2. ArvidMartensen April 16, 2026 at 7:13 pm

      Did that woman say just before the video “hold my beer and watch this” ?
10. t April 16, 2026 at 10:50 am

    From half of us use AI: “Half (50%) of those using AI for work rely solely on personal subscriptions or free access, while one third (33%) use an employer-provided AI service.”

    Are there that many jobs where information can be shoveled into a public AI tool?

    Serious question. Even jobs that don’t seem to have privacy concerns, like oil change franchise locations, probably want to keep their data close because of competition from other oil change franchises.

    ChatGPT does at much data brokering as anyone, don’t they?
    1. flora April 16, 2026 at 11:18 am

       Another question for corporations demanding employees use AI:

       Isn’t this a great open door for corporate espionage? Consider the “secrets” AI reveals. Not to mention the scams. Not to mention false information presented as true.

       From flyingpenguin:

       Security
       The Boy That Cried Mythos: Verification is Collapsing Trust in Anthropic

       -April 13, 2026 Davi Ottenheimer

       https://www.flyingpenguin.com/the-boy-that-cried-mythos-verification-is-collapsing-trust-in-anthropic/
11. Jason Boxman April 16, 2026 at 11:04 am

    Oops

    Carbon Removal Industry Reels as Microsoft Retreats (NY Times)

    Over the last several years, Microsoft almost single-handedly established the market for carbon dioxide removal technologies, a nascent field that aims to scrub the planet-warming gas from the atmosphere to counter climate change.

    But now, Microsoft is stepping back from the industry it helped create, telling some companies that it is pausing future purchases of carbon removal credits, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The news was first reported by Heatmap.

    The development could be a major blow to the hundreds of start-ups developing carbon removal technologies, which have raised more than $5 billion in recent years.

    Even the technology magic pony cannot save us, apparently, because no one even thinks there’s any reason to be bothering.

    The market for carbon removal emerged only in the past decade, as more than 1,000 major corporations announced their intention to eliminate or offset all of their planet-warming emissions.

    …

    One of the biggest investors in the field is Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has backed at least four carbon removal companies, did not respond to a request for comment.

    I guess that capitalists aren’t going to save the planet, then? Surprise.
    1. flora April 16, 2026 at 11:37 am

       Microsoft has other problems. From TechCrunch:

       France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

       https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/france-to-ditch-windows-for-linux-to-reduce-reliance-on-us-tech/

       From ZDNet:

       France is ditching Windows for digital sovereignty – and its new Linux stack is taking shape

       https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-leaves-windows-for-linux-desktop/

       I bet France will not be the only EU country to move away from Microsoft.
       1. hazelbee April 17, 2026 at 5:08 am

          Keep an eye on mistral in all of this. as in the french AI company.

          They published a “playbook” for european AI here: European AI a playbook

          I need to dig in more to what they are doing. as we see here sovereignty matters.

          I’ve been stuck in a rut with anthropic instead of looking wider.
          but there is a huge issue with capability running ahead of adoption. I spend at least half my working time on this and I struggle to keep up. the vast majority have no chance to keep up with it. capability is way ahead of what people are actually using.
    2. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 11:51 am

       This so-called carbon removal technology is more of an excuse to add more carbon to the atmosphere with a vague hope it’ll eventually be removed. Has anyone yet come up with anything that might work at the scale needed?
       1. Jason Boxman April 16, 2026 at 12:04 pm

          The sea-water based carbon removal seems the only maybe credible approach to this; but it needs to be coupled with extreme conservation, regardless, to try to mitigate some of the ongoing damage. There’s no approach that is gonna permit business as usual. In the meantime the elite seem determined to hit the brick wall as fast as possible. I just want to get off this train.
12. LawnDart April 16, 2026 at 12:30 pm

    Yeah, about that peace-thing… yesterday Iran had this to say about the blockade:

    Iran threatens to halt trade in three seas

    “This action by the US will be the precursor to violating the ceasefire, and the powerful Iranian armed forces will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea…”

    If that wouldn’t cause Mr. Market to scream, our Mideast monarchs sure would.
13. Kouros April 16, 2026 at 1:04 pm

    I think that the block Israel vs … should start every time with this entry:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/1sli8bx/yes_the_ugly_crazed_settler_pic_is_real/
    1. LawnDart April 16, 2026 at 2:08 pm

       “He (the Israeli settler) was so ugly that the Israeli government said that publishing his photo was a hate-crime.”

       It would seem that the Israeli state itself is a hate-crime.

       The docket at Nuremberg should be filled for at least a generation when this conflict truly ends.
14. Acacia April 16, 2026 at 2:18 pm

    “Europe has maybe six weeks of jet fuel left.” – IEA

    https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/182074
    1. hereweare April 16, 2026 at 2:42 pm

       European airlines cancel hundreds of flights – Telegraph
       Two of Europe’s biggest airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights in response to soaring fuel costs caused by the Iran war.

       Lufthansa on Thursday announced plans to shut down its regional airline by the weekend, while Dutch-based carrier KLM axed 160 flights for the coming month.
15. vidimi April 16, 2026 at 4:50 pm

    Watched a Tucker Carlson monologue in which he names America’s state religion as Israelism. He could have just said Zionism, but it is a watershed moment as he’s spot on. Identifying the problem is a necessary first step on the way to defeating it.
16. samm April 16, 2026 at 6:37 pm

    France shelves draconian antisemitism speech bill after petition forces parliamentary debate:

    https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2026/04/16/what-is-the-controversial-bill-on-antisemitism-french-mps-are-debating_6752478_117.html
    1. vidimi April 17, 2026 at 5:25 am

       tant mieux
17. skippy April 16, 2026 at 10:50 pm

    Wellie FB is blowing up with video shorts of food/gas/diesel prices going parabolic all over the U.S. I was shocked, even places like Sam’s club, and even highly processed stuff like packets of chips, meat, eggs, tomatoes ….

    Seems this thingy with Iran has all the hallmarks of a religious crusade with one side claiming divine agency, hence the suffering of all sucked into it is good for their souls … makes them stronger … separates the wheat from the chaff … then again good people[tm] go up and bad people down … its only Natural ….

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