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Links 4/21/2026

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California bear-suit luxury car scam ends in insurance fraud sentences for 3 AP

FAA orders investigation into Blue Origin’s New Glenn mishap TechCrunch

Climate/Environment

Nordic overturning increases as AMOC weakens in response to global warming European Geosciences Union

Global drought extremes in 2025 Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

Water

Corpus Christi Projects Emergency Water Restrictions in September for Large Industrial Users and 500,000 Customers Inside Climate News

#Snowpack news April 20, 2026 Coyote Gulch

Egyptian Archaeologists Find Perfectly Circular Temple Tied to Ancient Water Cult Gizmodo

China?

Xi says normal passage through Strait of Hormuz should be maintained Xinhua

The Raid That Produced China’s Biggest Food Safety Fine — and the Compliance Meltdown That Made It Worse Inside China

Southeast Asia

Indonesia to stop diesel imports, shift to palm oil fuel ANTARA

India

U.S. Wants To Boost Energy Exports to India. It Will Be Tough. Oil Price

Syraqistan

Gaza: Human development set back 77 years as recovery costs rise to $71 billion UN News

Replay: Israel’s slow ethnic cleansing of Christians from the Holy Land Jonathan Cook

Jewish fundamentalists increase attempts to smuggle animals into Al-Aqsa Mosque for sacrifice The Cradle

Israel claims ownership of Lebanese gas field after establishing Gaza-style ‘Yellow Line’ near border The Cradle

***

The Moment the World Realized Iran Is a Global Power Robert Pape. Well, not all the world…

Is Trump Going for Armageddon? Larry Johnson

***

Washington cuts flow of US dollars to Iraqi central bank until ‘acceptable’ government formed The Cradle

Iraq reopens Syria border route, boosting trade and fuel exports Iraqi News

US urges citizens in Iraq to leave Iraqi News

European Disunion

Power Again Rebalanced in Europe Amidst Political Shake-Ups Simplicius

EU/Israel: 60+ organizations demand suspension of EU-Israel Association Agreement World Organization Against Torture

Spain’s call to suspend EU-Israel agreement set to fail amid broad opposition Euronews

EU to Widen Iran Sanctions to Those Who Block Hormuz Reuters

Old Blighty

Starmer to investigate whether Mandelson leaked secrets in US The Telegraph

Palantir’s NHS future in doubt as ministers eye contract break The Register

British universities paid security firm to ‘spy’ on pro-Palestine students Al Jazeera

Signs of panic in UK over Hormuz blockade, as chancellor summons five bank bosses for talks New Arab

New Not-So-Cold War

EU eyes approval for €90B Ukraine loan on Wednesday Politico

South of the Border

Cuba Confirms Meeting with U.S. Delegation, Demands End to Energy Blockade TeleSur

Trump 2.0

Trump Pardoned a Nursing Home Owner Who Owed Almost $19 Million to a Grieving Family ProPublica

Trump Loses Another Cabinet Secretary as ‘Scandal-Ridden’ Chavez-DeRemer Resigns Common Dreams

As Trump Threatens Iran, Veterans Arrested Protesting ‘War Machine’ at US Capitol Common Dreams

The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump’s presidency BBC

Issue 104 – World Tyranny Financial Citation Needed

The media blackout of Jared Kushner’s historic, ongoing corruption scandal Popular Information

Five Trump Scandals You’ve Probably Missed Doomsday Scenario

“Liberation Day”

The $166 Billion Tariff Refund Portal Is Now Open: How Your Business Can File a Claim Today Inc.

Democrats Suck

Boos Erupt Against Pro-Israel Candidates at Michigan Democratic Party Convention Michigan Chronicle

Why Democrats with 2028 hopes are calling Lina Khan – and what she’s telling them about remaking the economy CNN

Lose Your Job to AI? New York Lawmaker Proposes ‘AI Dividend’ Stimmy Decrypt

Police State Watch

Public Safety Is Not a Police Problem. It’s a Political Economy Problem. William Murphy

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Exclusive: ICE Glasses Ken Klippenstein. “Homeland Security is making “smart glasses” to collect intelligence on Americans.”

Agriculture

Middle East Conflict Revives Concerns Over Fertilizer Dependence in the U.S. and Brazil Farmdoc Daily

US Set to Use Tariff Funds to Address High Fertilizer Prices Morning Ag Clips

Supply Chain

The KitKat heist that exposed a confectionery crime crisis Food Navigator

Crapification

What a John Ternus Era Means for Apple Gizmodo

Economy

Kuwait declares force majeure as Hormuz disruption halts oil export flows Bloomberg

Spirit Airlines asks for bailout, what to do if you have trips booked USA Today

Guillotine Watch

How Australia’s other half heals: all aboard the superyacht where rehab costs $600,000 a week The Guardian

AI

The Real Question About the AI Future Project Syndicate

The Bezzle

Anthropic takes $5B from Amazon and pledges $100B in cloud spending in return techCrunch

Casino Nation

In Article About Horrific Shooting That Killed Eight Children, Forbes Lets Readers Place Bets About Gun Control Futurism

Class Warfare

Emails show Amazon colluding with other firms to raise prices, California authorities allege The Guardian

Can a Good Person Survive a Corrupt Society? The Culture Explorer

“We must learn to disobey.” Patrick Lawrence, The Floutist

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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95 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Trump Loses Another Cabinet Secretary as ‘Scandal-Ridden’ Chavez-DeRemer Resigns”

    And to my surprise – not – it was another female member from Trump’s regime that got the boot. He seems to want to get rid of them all and is doing so once after another. After all, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. Hegseth has no use for females in his War Department either so you wonder if this is a general trend across the Federal government.

    1. Dr. John Carpenter

      They should change the Department of War (crimes) to the He-Man Woman Haters Club.

    2. PVDSteve

      No doubt this is an openly misogynistic administration, but the reports coming out of the Labor department have made the term “shitshow” seem politely understated. This feels more like Trump deciding to cut bait with a toadie who has moved from being an asset to a liability.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/business/labor-secretary-husband-sexual-assault-allegations.html

      https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/business/economy/labor-secretary-misconduct-complaints.html

      https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/us/politics/labor-secretary-text-messages.html

    3. Wukchumni

      Color me disappointed as my polymarket wager on Tulsi being next to get the ax, didn’t quite pan out.

      I’d gone with a hunch after Kristi and Bondi, in that you needed to be a female with your name ending in an ‘i’ to be pushed aside, but it turned out to be the week that hyphenated females are let go.

      1. Mark Gisleson

        You bet against Tulsi? The only person in Trump’s administration whose eyes are wide open?

        Bad bet. Gabbard’s doing yeoman’s work on the 2020 election scams. If she manages to break Arizona or Georgia wide open before November it could change everything.

        Democrats have done less than nothing to improve their standing with the electorate. The real question still remains: Do Americans now hate Trump enough to vote for the same Democrats they rejected in 2020 and 2016?

          1. jsn

            Well, I do have a problem deciding who I hate more, Trump or the Democrats.

            We’ve been on the nuclear knifes edge since Bojo blew Istanbul and the Democrats are as wholly owned by AIPAC as Trump.

            WRT Gabbard, I think I agree, Joe Kent proved her courage (stolen).

    1. The Rev Kev

      Would that not depend on a country having the recharging stations necessary to support those electric trucks? Trump strikes me as the sort of person to order them all to be all shut down rather than investing Federal money to build more.

      1. Christopher Fay

        That was the Biden Regime plan have the dirty ice car drivers subsidize the charging stations which became $8 billion for 8 stations. The masses provide the socialism for the upper middle class. I think a $100 or $1000 levy per electric vehicle per year is fairer.

        1. Carolinian

          Here in my town 30 million Federal dollars were spent to lengthen the runway of the downtown airport. This primarily benefited the private jets that now fly over my house every day (more so seemingly since the new war started??).

          Same deal.

          1. The Rev Kev

            I wonder what would happen if some plane-spotters started publishing the tail numbers of all private jets that lands and takes off from your downtown airport plus images. Who am I kidding. They would probably get a visit by the local FBI and be leaned on to cease and desist.

            1. Carolinian

              I could drive over to the airport and do that myself although I pretty much know who the fat cats are already. We are not that big a city.

              The private jets do have their own hangar area to which the public is very much not invited. The small terminal on the other hand goes back to 1927 when we had the first airport in SC. Lindbergh and his famous plane came there once.

              1. Wukchumni

                When you’re in a private jet, you’re in a jet all the way
                From your first $50 million to your last dyin’ day
                When you’re in a jet, if the shit hits the fan
                You got others in private jets around, you’re a made man!
                You’re together alone
                You’re never disconnected!
                You’re home with your own
                When instead a commercial carrier’s expected
                You’re well projected!

    2. Christopher Fay

      Where did musk’s cypher truck go to? We need that directed govt socialism that muskmobile leveraged so successfully on the stock market.

      1. Wukchumni

        Saw a cyber truck in Tiny Town a fortnight ago, it was hauling carbonated water laced with HFCS and enclosed in plastic and aluminum.

        I nicknamed it ‘the Pepsi Challenge’

    3. Glen

      Diesel in my part of the PNW is over $7/gal.

      Switching to electric semi’s makes complete sense for the short haul fleet that does things like move shipping containers from the port to the adjacent rail yard, or short haul delivery fleets with fixed routes. Should go after those first.

      Trump keeps up this war and he should not be worried about becoming the next Carter, he’s going to be the next Hoover. (Which is a complete slam of Hoover if you ask me. Trump is a pampered American billionaire that was given everything, Hoover was a self made millionaire.)

      1. jsn

        Palo Alto might change your view of Hoover, who spent his later years in his bathrobe yelling at Douglas MacArthur in the opposing tower of the Waldof Astoria.

        But your larger point remains, at least Hoover had done done real things himself!

        1. Glen

          Oh, I am no admirer of Hoover (nor the whole Stanford/Hoover Institute mess), just that Trump makes Hoover look good, almost real good.

  3. OptikErik

    Aww. What a cute and cuddly polar bear. Not!
    Humans are a natural prey animal for polar bears.
    I friend of mine worked in the Canadian arctic for many years and tells me that
    when a polar wanders into an Indigenous village, it doesn’t get to wander out again.
    I gets put into local freezers. Cut and wrapped.

  5. ciroc

    It’s unreasonable to expect Mayor Mamdani to criticize U.S. foreign policy given his lack of authority to influence it.

    1. Quintian and Lucius

      During the campaign, Mamdani’s national profile exploded very clearly as a result of his full-throated condemnation of Israel at a time when the Gaza genocide was waxing germane in public consciousness. Since his election, he has bowed to the pressure to condemn Hamas as well as the various New Yorkers who themselves espoused a moral hard line in the same language as his not a year old. Mamdani has been two-faced, not silent, on foreign policy.

    2. The Rev Kev

      But if Mayor Mamdani did let his feelings be know on US foreign policy, then voters would know what he was all about and would vote accordingly in the next election. Look at Republican Lindsey Graham. He is only a Senator and everybody knows where he stands with foreign policy. Or the Democrat Hakeem Jeffries who has shown he will fold like a cheap, lawn deck-chair on any major issue. That image of Mamdani singing alongside Obama makes me wonder though if that is his role model – on his way to the Presidency. Didn’t help him getting buddy-buddy with Trump just after he was elected in New York.

      1. Steve Gardner

        Mamdani cannot be president. He is not a native born American. Although there is some discussion on what native born means he was born abroad to non-american parents. That is manifestly not native born by any criterion.

        People need to stop saying he is suspect due to presidential aspirations. In my view he is focused on running NYC. He doesn’t have time to waste on foreign policy.

      2. Michael Fiorillo

        If Mamdani is looking to Obama, who spent his eight years in office trying to destroy the public schools and hand them over to Bill Gates and hedge fund billionaires – as a model, then those kiddies better watch out.

        I’m still holding out some hope that this photo op was just some garden variety political hypocrisy on Mamdani’s part, based on some (incorrectly) perceived need. We know that Obama was an unconscionable fraud; the case against Mamdani is much more ambiguous and has yet to fully play out.

        1. Glen

          Obama’s best skill is to give you a hug, and talk about hope and change while he slides a knife in your back and gives it a twist.

          Mamdani hangs out with him at his own peril – he’s going to get the knife or become an Obama wanna be. Either way, Mamdani looses.

  6. YuShan

    “Indonesia to stop diesel imports, shift to palm oil fuel”

    I guess this means even more destruction of irreplaceable tropical forests and more species going extinct. Palm plantages are a curse in the region (ecologically). The best forests remain in Brunei, because it is so rich (oil) that they never needed to exploit (cut) the forests. I have spent quite a bit of time in tropical forests in Malaysia (including Borneo) and the parts that remain are sublime, but…

  7. Trees&Trunks

    Indonesia and palm oil: goodbye industrial cookies and hopefully most of the candy from Nestle Mondelez and all those poisoners of the world

    2. The Rev Kev

      Thanks heaps for that link. Have bookmarked it and will read it slowly over a cup of coffee tomorrow.

  11. The Rev Kev

    “U.S. Wants To Boost Energy Exports to India. It Will Be Tough.”

    The US wants India to be dependent on its oil the same way that the EU is dependent on the US for its energy. That way, they can from time to time yank India’s oil leash to make them follow US demands. Modi would be a fool to let this happen so I think that Modi will actually let this happen. I believe too that there is an omission in this article. It mentions that for years India has been getting a steep discount on its purchases of Russian oil. But since the Iran war, I understand that not only are those discounts at an end but that India is paying a premium for Russian oil. I think that it may be market price plus ten percent. Still a bargain compared to US oil so there it is.

  12. Jason Boxman

    From Why Democrats with 2028 hopes are calling Lina Khan – and what she’s telling them about remaking the economy

    Now, Khan is getting constant calls from Democrats, many of them thinking about presidential runs, who are sounding out problems or workshopping potential solutions. Schumer headlined a press conference in Washington to introduce a bill that would break up meat processing companies, inspired by Khan’s methods and with her input, but which a Schumer aide noted also drew on years of his own consumer advocacy.

    LOL, for the primary, of course. Watch whatever Democrat wins the Democrat primary to quickly forget all about antitrust.

    2. TimH

      Why Democrats with 2028 hopes are calling Lina Khan

      They should be asking her to be the candidate.

  13. pjay

    Re: Trump 2.0 + Lutnick & Sons

    A lot of news today on the overwhelming levels of corruption within the Trump administration. As always, my reaction is twofold. On the one hand I wish all these creatures would be prosecuted to the full extent of the (never enforced) law and thrown in prison to rot. On the other hand I know they won’t, because – and this is where such articles often irritate me – Trump and his pirate band are not doing anything that countless opportunists in previous administrations haven’t also done. But as with Trump’s foreign policy adventures, they are doing it more openly and blatantly in ways that are harder to hide. They act with impunity because they know they can. In this they follow a long tradition. As is often said here at NC, Trump is not the cause, but the ultimate result, of the long-term decline of our political system. The difference in these cases is that the level of sycophantic individual able to serve in a Trump administration has now become so narcissistic and predatory, or just plain stupid, that their actions force a response, even in a system as hopeless as our own.

    Their “punishments,” of course, are meaningless. These people will leave their lucrative government positions for lucrative positions in the “private” sector where they will no doubt benefit from their corrupt friends who remain in government. Nothing else will happen to them. The cycle will continue when the Democrats take over again – though the latter might be a little better at hiding their graft.

  14. leaf

    I have always been a big fan of Tim Cook, and likewise, Steve Jobs, but if Steve was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim. For me it began with a phone call from Tim at the beginning of my First Term. He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix. Most people would have paid millions of dollars to a consultant, who I probably would not have known, but who would say that he knew me well. The fees would be paid but the job would not have gotten done. When I got the call I said, wow, it’s Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to “kiss my ass.” Anyway, he explained his problem, a tough one it was, I felt he was right and got it taken care of, quickly and effectively. That was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship. During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could. Years latter, after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader. He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don’t. Anyway, Tim Cook had an AMAZING career, almost incomparable, and will go on and continue to do great work for Apple, and whatever else he chooses to work on. Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP

    https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116442276577696798

    Basically saying it’s a good thing Steve Jobs died and Tim Cook took over? Tim Cook was kissing his ass for help? Why would he post something like this? I’ll admit I don’t know much about Trump’s relationship to Apple, does he use an iPhone?

    Looks like asylum material

  15. Quintian and Lucius

    Starmer to investigate whether Mandelson leaked secrets in US The Telegraph

    I have seen endless commentary, for what feels like months now, that Starmer will surely be ousted by the Mandelson scandal by the week’s end, a scandal which seems once again to be in crescendo, and here he is…not getting ahead of the thing, exactly, but repositioning himself as a champion of truth? This man is a political cockroach par excellence. I’m in awe.

    1. The Rev Kev

      It’s getting ridiculous now. Even at the time that Mandelson was nominated to be Ambassador to the US, there was a lot of outrage and screaming how wrong this was in the media alone. And now Starmer is saying that he ever heard a nary word about Epstein’s good buddy? Is Starmer in the Epstein files as well?

    2. paul

      Starmer has something of a blind spot for sex criminals, (Saville and Janner when he was DPP) so it was only natural he didn’t look at peter’s long and grisly record, one so alarming that even Stevie Wonder would have noticed.

      1. paul

        Can’t see much coming out of that, they’ve got a few years of porridge at his majesty’s pleasure or a one way ticket to the front if they embarrass anyone.

  17. DJG, Reality Czar

    I chanced on that video of Zohran Mamdani and Barack Obama in my YuToob feed a day or so ago.

    Observations:
    —Zohran Mamdani and team are very good at short videos as explainers (and propaganda, natch). So the person who may benefit here is Obama, rather than Mamdani.
    —Note that Mamdani is wearing his uniform of a dark suit, dark tie (no wild patterns!), and boots. This costume is to reassure the wypipo.
    —As mentioned, Mamdani is excellent in video and such. Obama may have thought that he was the brand of the century, but the blush indeed is off the rose. Yet Mamdani also should be concerned that the Obama wing of the party is like kryptonite to him — they want Mamdani for what he can do for them. They don’t give a crap about city-owned grocery stores and food deserts.
    —What is Obama doing in NYC? His (many) mansions are on Martha’s Vineyard, in D.C., in Honolulu, and in Chicago (near the Ziggurat That Ate Jackson Park). Something is out of place here… Likely, Obama’s intense desire to be relevant without taking public positions (that would be inconvenient).

    Well, at least Obama isn’t out in public threatening Persian Civilization with oblivion like Hillary “Goddess of War” Clinton and “inflicting pain” on Russia.

    1. Screwball

      If St. Obama is involved in something, someone is going to get screwed. I trust him about as far as I would trust Trump.

  18. Wukchumni

    #Snowpack news April 20, 2026 Coyote Gulch
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    The map could easily double as to where the wildfires will be in the midst of a mid-summer stream of conflagrations.

    All the hillsides here are tan in color-as everything has died back with its roots on, giving us around a month’s head start on fire festivities~

    Tumey Fire mostly contained after burning more than 1,600 acres

    https://abc30.com/post/cal-fire-crews-battling-120-acre-tumey-fresno-county/18921718/

  19. The Rev Kev

    Wow. This is going to send Trump ballistic-

    ‘Prominent conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has issued a public apology for his role in getting US President Donald Trump into the White House, saying in a podcast published on Monday that he will be “tormented for a long time” by the damage he helped cause.

    “You and I and everyone else who supported him… we’re implicated in this for sure,” Carlson said. “It’s not enough to say, well, I changed my mind or like, oh, this is bad, I’m out… In very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now.” ‘

    https://www.rt.com/news/638814-tucker-carlson-sorry-trump-election/

    Wonder who else will speak up and say the same.

    1. flora

      Yeah, T has started using his Truth Social to attack everyone who supported him who isn’t a Zio fanatic. Calling them Low IQ people. Now, those attacked, like Tucker, are fighting back using their platforms. Tucker is having some fun with merch.
      https://store.tuckercarlson.com/products/low-iq-trucker-hat-red-blue

      And so…. Kamala would have been the better choice? (She seems to be running, gearing up for 2028.) Kamala’s word salad-fests and blowing through trainloads of money on the campaign trail was something. The Dem estab installed her as the candidate. No primaries. No pesky Dem voters to upset their plans.

      My guess is the GOP is going to get wiped out in the midterms.
      Does that mean the Dems will have better candidates? I’m not counting on it. It’s still a uniparty. sigh….

      2. Jason Boxman

        I guess we’ll see if Harris’ blindness to genocide plays as well in 2028 as it did in 2024.

        Harris 2028: The grift is back!

        What a slogan!

    2. compUTerguy

      I watched the entire show with his brother as, like MTG, I find myself ‘agreeing’ (maybe sympathizing is a better word?) a lot with Carlson lately and thus trying to understand why a progressive like me should dislike him so much.

      Man; What an eye opener that was!!

      Some notes. Most of these were brought up by his brother but all were agreed and exhorted by TC:

      – Kamala Harris is referred to as “Cuckling(?) Camel Toe”
      – George Floyd was not killed by the police officer but from a drug overdose
      – The country started to fall apart when the tobacco regulations came into being
      – The 2020 election was definitely stolen

      There was much more but at least I don’t have to be concerned about my TC conflict anymore!

    3. Martin Oline

      Trump has blundered in so many ways. Today he recalled how Tim “Apple” (Cook) would call to kiss his ass. I now believe that bullet wound in Butler, PA was an exit wound. It entered through his mouth.

      1. wilroncanada

        Martin Oline
        He puts gunpowder in his denture cream; that’s why he’s always shooting off his mouth.

    4. ChrisRUEcon

      > Wonder who else will speak up and say the same.

      MTG pretty much has expressed this in more implicit fashion.

      The (W)hol(l)y Complicit Trinity of the #2026MAGASchism consists of:
      Carlson, Greene & Massie

      They all supported him in ’24, and they have all deserted him less than two years later.

  20. Mark Gisleson

    Had an idle thought I wanted to leave here. Where are all the “Where are they now?” articles about early political bloggers? Srsly, peak blogging was twenty years ago and no one’s writing about any of the old bloggers some of whom — our host included — are still around and still blogging!?

    Don’t waste time searching. They didn’t do any tenth anniversary stories and there won’t be any twentieth anniversary stories. Because back then those bloggers were right about Iraq and Afghanistan as meanwhile we’re busy being wrong about Lebanon and Iran. Also and just as off-message, many of those bloggers — not including our host — were wrong about Israel. And that, I suspect, is the whole story of why “mainstream” media is still erasing the bloggers.

    1. In Cold Chud

      What ever happened to the bloggers, it’s probably less depressing than what happened to the readers. The people I protested the Iraq war with, became Ukraine-flag libs. Where have all the flowers gone, indeed?

      The more interesting, and less overtly political part, though, has to do with the Internet itself. Up until around 15 years ago, there was a certain genre of conversation (or conversational aside) that playfully recalled various artifacts of early-Internet or even pre-Internet life: Dial-up, ICQ and AIM, rotary phones, card catalogs, etc. Perhaps such reminiscences have just moved to the more high-saturation nostalgic corners of Reddit, but I often have the rather eerie sense that, even among xers and boomers, the Internet has managed to erase its entire history prior to 2005, along with that of analog information technology.

      I don’t know how significant this is. Of course one could argue that it’s no different from any loss of knowledge that accompanies universally adopted technological change. But I find it concerning that every iteration of the Internet requires less intentional, less precise, and overall just less input from the user, especially since it seems to be of a piece with the (largely self-) infantilization of almost everyone.

      Sorry for the tangent, though it was on your tangent.

      1. barefoot charley

        Enshittification is an essential analytical concept, but stupidification is where everything worse comes from. De-skilling for the assembly line is first cousins with Window-ing simple DOS codes so you needn’t beetle your precious brow with the slightest understanding of what you and your computer are doing as you lose control of your eyeballs. Cars (and refrigerators! and doorbells!) thinking for you prevent you from knowing what thinking (and responsibility) is. Images replace words. Feelings replace thoughts. Stupid can only get stupider. F*ck yeah!

      2. Lefty Godot

        It feels like all cultural advancement went into a frozen haze after 2005, having already slowed to a crawl two decades before that. What we have now are new video series “based on” older ones (but with a “feminist slant” or some similar description), popular music that doesn’t seem much different from the what the parents of the current bunch of kids listened to, even the comic strips in the newspapers are mostly of 1980s vintage. But, yes, the user experience of the internet in the 1990s and the huge hopes we had for it in that era (along with the finicky technology) have been completely forgotten. Every one of those hopes has been betrayed. Is it all the fault of social media? Or just a sign of the terminal degeneration of our society?

        1. In Cold Chud

          I had a friend who was a super early adopter of everything, including Facebook, and I remember how repellent I found the idea of having to have one of a certain set of .edu e-mail addresses (even though by that time it included mine). Maybe this initial requirement that one be part of the in-crowd is social media’s original sin, continually reproduced in ever more grotesque ways, until now you have these young men hitting themselves with hammers. (In contrast, the Internet of the 90s provided a kind of community that had never existed before, for at least some marginalized groups–another part of its history that has been forgotten.)

          A related observation I remember having around 2010-2012 was that late middle-aged people were the only ones using social media rationally, to share pictures of their grandchildren, or to show off their petunias or the tractors they were rebuilding, or whatever. It was unself-conscious and utilitarian and completely against the grain of the medium. Of course, many of them were subsequently assimilated.

    2. Buzz Meeks

      Wasn’t wrong on Afghanistan or Iraq and certainly not wrong on Israel since the USS Liberty attack, war crimes and attempted crew massacre.

  21. Jason Boxman

    At a company I know of, the push to use AI is so fierce, every quarter review, the question comes up, how are you using AI in your job? The job description has been updated, and everyone in the role needs to be using LLM for draft planning, release notes, and agentic workflows.

    So much glue is being huffed.

    I doubt any value from this exceeds the true cost of compute for any of it. No one I think is paying the real cost of compute yet.

    This timeline is a dumpster fire.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      RE: “I doubt any value from this exceeds the true cost of compute”

      I have pointed out at a company I know of that with the money it spends on “AI” which is largely used to edit emails and summarize documents, it could instead hire a half dozen English majors and keep them on retainer.

      Little known side effect of too much “AI” usage – it makes one completely deaf to any criticism of “AI”.

  22. Di Modica's Dumb Steer

    Not entirely sure if this is soft censorship or my terrible search skills, but considering that YT has been shoving Coachella down my throat for the better part of a week or two, the difficulty in finding this has been notable.

    The Strokes performed at said festival (they’re fine, I’ve just never followed them much) and they closed out with a song called “Oblivius” from a 2016 EP. They set that song to a slideshow of footage of intelligence toppled leaders (Allende, etc) with a caption pointing the finger at the CIA. They close out with footage of Gaza University being destroyed by recent bombing.

    Searching YT will bring up nicely formatted and edited video of (far as I know) EVERY OTHER SONG they played at the festival, just not the closer. It’s hilarious how obvious it seems. If you want footage, you have to dig through the gawdawful Shorts. Might have slightly more luck on IG, but I’m violently allergic to vertical short-form video. What little I have:

    https://youtube.com/shorts/_9SNvAR6WLM

    https://youtube.com/shorts/otisgHURRVA

  24. neutrino23

    Ternus becoming Apple CEO is a very good thing. He has a good history at Apple and he is an engineer, not a finance guy.

  25. Wukchumni

    It was borne in a Operation Epic Fury hurricane
    And I howled at the moon for financial drivin’ pain
    But it’s all right, oh yeah
    In fact, they said we’ll soon see $3 gas!
    But it’s all right
    Said Jumpin’ Jack cash
    Gas! Gas! Gas!

    It was raised by a thoughtless Torah! Torah! Torah! attack
    I felt the sting right across my back
    But it’s all right, oh yeah
    In fact, it wont be long until $3 gas!
    But it’s all right
    Said Jumpin’ Jack cash
    Gas! Gas! Gas!

    A jet was downed, a pilot was left for dead
    They claimed they rescued him, that’s what they said
    Yeah, yeah
    I frowned at the crumbs of a story I read
    Yeah, yeah, yeah
    I was a regular doubting Thomas in my head
    My, my, yeah

    But it’s all right now, in fact it’s a gas
    But it’s all right, I’m jumpin’ jack cash
    It’s a gas, gas, gas

    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas
    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas
    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas
    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas
    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas
    Jumpin’ jack cash, it’s a gas

    Jumpin’ Jack Flash, by the Rolling Stones

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXUJMaYzh6U&list=RDKXUJMaYzh6U

  26. AG

    re: Martyanov NOT going to Oxford

    Category: Too good to be true.

    So apparently some people in UK like Ian Proud managed to persuade Oxford University of inviting Andrei Martyanov to giving a speech within their prestigious debate series this summer.

    A few hours later it appears as if they have done a somersault and “chickened out” to quote Martyanov.
    No invitation, no speech.

    Frankly I was excited to hear about the invitation.
    It would have meant a great deal to those in the West fighting empire in whatever miniscule form.
    It would have made some arguments easier and more far-reaching.
    It would have meant more hope.

    1. flora

      Three paras from the longer article:

      After the 2008 financial crash, I covered scams that victimized everyone, but especially middle class retirees. The typical protagonist of a 2008 horror story was an elderly black or Hispanic couple who’d poured a lifetime of work into a family home, only to open a door to a mortgage salesman and lose everything in an exotic refi deal. Wells Fargo devised special “ghetto loans” for homeowners who lacked “savvy,” and even had a unit targeting black churches. Still, retirees of all persuasions got it good and hard.

      I met elderly people victimized three times over. First they lost home equity to refis or prime-to-subprime switcheroos. Next, their pension funds were wiped out by overinvestment in junk mortgages. The next insult was paying taxes to bail out the companies responsible. Finally, after finance sharks had taken almost everything from retired toll-takers and teachers and firefighters who’d set aside savings into retirement portfolios and homes, they were robbed a fourth time, this time by intellectuals.

      …..

      Now, instead of rewarding Americans for saving, avoiding debt, and living within their means, politicians redefined frugality and economy as antisocial behavior. Meanwhile they used public resources to fund things like private equity takeovers, investments in emerging markets abroad, and stock buybacks. These same types of policymakers are the ones Moyn now thinks would be better stewards of “our inheritance.”

      1. ChrisPacific

        Yes, a remarkably blinkered article.

        Older Americans own much of the most desirable real estate…

        You know who owns even more of the most desirable real estate? Rich people! (Hedge funds and private equity). Could we ‘transfer jobs, houses and wealth’ down the chain from them to poor people? Of course not – they’re too politically well-connected.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Good news, AG-

      ‘The upper age limit for military reservists in Germany should be raised to 70 given that people stay fit longer, Bastian Ernst, the newly elected president of the country’s Reservists’ Association, has said.

      “The retirement age is rising anyway. People are staying fit longer,” he explained.

      “If we are lamenting a shortage of young recruits, then we should also address the other end of the age pyramid,” he argued.’

      https://www.rt.com/news/638859-seventy-year-olds-fit-for-service-germany-reservist-union-head/

      Where do they even find idiots like this Ernst character?

      1. ThirtyOne

        The greatest and most direct threat comes from Putin’s Russia. For more than three years, Vladimir Putin has been waging a brutal and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. His war is primarily an attack on the Ukrainian people. But Putin’s war and his lust for power are also directed against the European peace architecture and the rules-based international order – and thus against us as well.
        https://bastianernst.de/

      2. Uwe Ohse

        Where do they even find idiots like this Ernst character?

        i suppose one just can abuse the lobby watch web sites to find high-profile persons with ties to the defense industry and the bundeswehr.

        Though i don’t understand why anyone would even listen to a former manager of Dynamit Nobel, who worked in the digital sector of the company, when he talks about higher age people staying fit.

        but note that this guy spoke about the age limit for reservists in the context of the bundeswehr not finding enough young recruits. It’s quite likely part of a campaign to reintroduce conscription, because even most idiots understand that modern wars (like the current ones) are different.

      3. AG

        “Where do they even find idiots like this Ernst character?”

        Not able to answer seriously (Uwe Ohse above does the job)…

        Let me point out that THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST in the German translation “ERNST SEIN IST ALLES” (“Being earnest is everything”) is using the same name “Ernst” also as adjective “ernst” = earnest, serious, indirectly “square” too.
        Fittingly Ernst can be both first name and family name.
        Which would lead us to some old-fashioned anarchic joke about a character by full name of “Ernst Ernst”…

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