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Links 4/26/2026

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Suspect in custody after shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner CNN

The Four Horsemen of the PolyCrisis: Sulphur, Naphtha, El Niño & Central Bank Amplification Craig Tindale substack

Researchers Print Artificial Neurons That Can Talk to Living Brain Cells ZME Science

The US Military Just Arrested One of Its Soldiers for Making Ghoulish Polymarket Bets, and It Shows How Deep the Moral Rot of Prediction Markets Really Goes Futurism

Rethinking Healthcare Productivity and the Strategic Role of Regenerative Medicine Fair Observer

A Humanoid Robot Beat the Human World Record for a Half Marathon Singularity Hub

COVID-19/Pandemics

Ban fur farming or risk a new pandemic The Guardian

Bat alphacoronavirus could be next global pandemic – as study reveals it can jump into human cells Daily Mail

Climate/Environment

Why delaying climate action now means higher seas by 2100 – new research The Conversation

The Next El Niño Could Lock Earth Into a Hotter Climate Inside Climate News

South of the Border

Cuba – Russian Vows to Help Withstand US Threats NY Carib News

Colombia, Venezuela hold key talks in post-Maduro visit DW

CIA deaths in Mexico: Is Trump playing with fire? Responsible Statecraft

China?


China car giant BYD says it can thrive without US BBC

China warns against US export control bill, vows to ‘firmly’ safeguard its ‘legitimate’ rights Andolu Agency

China Deploys World’s First Drone Carrier Warship For First South China Sea Training Military Watch Magazine

China Hit Brakes on Fiscal Stimulus as Economy Holds Up Amid War Bloomberg

US chasing AGI myth while China builds the AI future Asia Times

India

India pushes e-rupee through welfare pilots as BRICS digital currency plan takes shape Coin Desk

The Great Indian Flattening: The Management Crisis Inside India’s Economic Ascent Forbes

India’s first private orbital rocket Vikram-1 heads to launchpad in Sriharikota The Federal

Africa

Accelerating action to end malaria: A test of Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty Africa CDC

African governments need to take urgent action on fertiliser shortages Al Jazeera

Nigeria Emerges W/Africa’s Renewable Energy Hub With Advanced Production Capacity Leadership.ng

European Disunion

Macron says global turmoil could mark ‘European moment’ for EU Andolu Agency

EU Running Out of Steam to Counter Record Energy Crisis Kyiv Post

The EU is overhauling its competition policies, but a big-is-best credo is no gift to consumers The Globe and Mail

Old Blighty

Falklands is a pressure point for the UK – and the US knows it BBC

UK cancer cases reach record 400,000 a year, report warns Andolu Agency

Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran


Negotiations that enable Israel’s land-grabs Al Jazeera

Trump alum helps Israel mount AI influence campaign Axios

Can the US-Israel ‘Special Relationship’ Survive the Iran War? The National Interest

Israeli forces kill 13 Palestinians in Gaza in last 24 hours, as child succumbs to wounds The New Arab

New Not-So-Cold War

Major Russia drone and missile attack kills several, wounds dozens in Ukraine France 24

Ukraine to receive first “military” tranche from €90bn EU loan as early as June Ukrainska Pravda

Zelenskyy ready to hold Ukraine-Russia talks in Azerbaijan DW

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

A new Republican privacy bill could be ‘worse than no standard at all’ The Verge

Can AI agents protect our privacy?  The Hill

Mike Johnson’s Crusade to Renew Warrantless NSA Spying on Americans Culminates This Week Glenn Greenwald substack

Imperial Collapse Watch

Fed up Venice Beach residents mock city’s homeless cleanup charade NY Post

American “Micro-Militarism: Or How Defeat in the Iran War Will Accelerate American Global Decline Scheerpost

Trump 2.0

Trump cancels US envoys’ trip after Iran’s Araghchi leaves Pakistan Al Jazeera

For Catholic voters, Trump’s record may be catching up with him National Catholic Reporter

Trump Is Going After Birth Control. Here’s Why. Politico

Trump’s oil export surge — and ceiling Axios

Musk Matters

Elon Musk Fans Increasingly Disgusted by His Toxic Outbursts Futurism

Tesla’s Cybercab goes into production — so why is Musk tapping the brakes? The Verge

Elon Musk makes shocking admission about Tesla The Street

Democrat Death Watch

The midterm mirage: Democrats shouldn’t get high on their own supply The Hill

Impeachment is a political trap for Democrats UnHerd

Immigration

Trump changes green card rules: Immigrants who express political opinions on social media can now be denied the path to citizenship Daily Mail

Trump Restrictions on Legal Immigration Could Sharply Reduce U.S. Population Growth Migration Policy Institute

Our No Longer Free Press

Trump’s FCC eyes new ways to squeeze the TV networks Politico

Trump tests the First Amendment: A timeline CNN

Mr. Market Is Moody

The billion-barrel Hormuz oil shock is about to crash demands Bloomberg

UAE’s dollar swap threats show how brittle these US alliances can be Responsible Statecraft

Inflation Complications: The Unusual Gap Between PCE and CPI Is Widening Barron’s

AI

Unions Attack AI for Menacing Human Jobs Futurism

Natural-language AI helps chemists design molecules step by step Phys.org

AI Agent Designs a RISC-V CPU Core From Scratch IEEE Spectrum

New AI chatbot uses medical protocols to guide patient care decisions. News-Medical.net

The Em Dash Epidemic: How AI Is Making Every Writer Sound Exactly the Same Nerd Daily

The Bezzle

Crypto scam takes advantage of Strait of Hormuz crisis by taking fake payments, leading to two ships being fired upon — two vessels reportedly fell victim and paid fake ‘Iranian authorities’ Tom’s Hardware

Louisiana universities see rise in fraudulent ‘ghost applications’ for student aid KPLC TV

Guillotine Watch

 

Antidote du jour (via)

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here

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99 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Ukraine to receive first “military” tranche from €90bn EU loan as early as June”

    It’s not enough. The Ukrainians are already demanding another €19 billion to cover its budget needs in 2027 so all those EU countries had better get busy borrowing a coupla billion more from world markets. Chop! Chop! After all, it’s all in a good cause-

    https://www.rt.com/news/639065-eu-ukraine-money-costa/

    1. LifelongLib

      Dunno. There were con artists going around western Pennsylvania before the Battle of Gettysburg. For a dollar they would teach you a “secret handshake” that would supposedly stop the Confederates from looting your stuff. Fraudsters will take advantage of anything. At least it gave the Confederates a good laugh.

  3. Wukchumni

    Goooooooood Mooooooooorning Fiatnam!

    There was I daresay, a little bit of celebration in the MIC with the revelation of extensive damage to our military infrastructure in the Emirates, et al, as this surely meant everything would have to be fixed toot suite…

    Feed me, Seymour!

    1. Carolinian

      Hey I saw that movie, old version and new (Little Shop of Horrors). While I don’t know much about the Emirates there are some concert films and shows from there and reports that it is the Arab version of Rodeo Drive. Is Iran conducting class warfare at its best (or worst if you are an expat Valley Girl)?

  4. Steve H.

    > The Four Horsemen of the PolyCrisis: Sulphur, Naphtha, El Niño & Central Bank Amplification Craig Tindale substack

    >> Caloric loss equivalent to ~3.79 billion people

    That doesn’t look like the slow grind of Gibson’s jackpot. Chuck the draft into the mix, Wilkerson said half of US 18..24 yr olds would leave. Can’t interpolate this.

    Sports Desk: Talladega Superspeedway is known for massive moving logjams of racecar wrecks. Today, 3:00 PM Eastern Time. Metaphor applicable.

    1. Henry Moon Pie

      Those charts would keep you busy for a week. Tinsdale knows refining and related industries, that’s for sure.

      All this reminds me of that BAU1 (course we’re on) graph from Limits to Growth (scroll down to the graphic with four charts). Industrial production peaks around 2025 with population shortly thereafter. Food doesn’t peak until about 10 years later, so a little optimistic there.

      Now I’ll admit that the disruptions tracked by Tinsdale are the result of geopolitics, and geopolitics was not a direct part of the LtG model, but resource scarcity is tracked, and the war that closed the Strait certainly has resource scarcity aspects along with the crazy religious backdrop.

      The bottom line: Business as Usual leads inexorably to a polycrisis with environmental, economic, cultural and geopolitical components.

      1. Wukchumni

        It used to be that nobody knew nothing in regards to how other countries were faring, food-wise…

        I give you The Great Grain Robbery from the same year as Limits to Growth

        In 1972, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R were deep in the middle of the Cold War, but that did not stop the daily business of trade among nations. In fact, given the dicey agricultural policies and poor weather of the Soviet breadbasket, crop failure was not unusual. Soviet agricultural trade representatives often turned to the foreign commodity markets to make up the difference.

        In July of 1972, the Russians began buying up foreign wheat, purchasing 10 million tons from U.S. brokers by August. Richard E. Mooney’s economic analysis in a 1975 issue of The New York Times states that despite receiving reports of crop failures in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the U.S. government failed to appreciate the significance of the global grain shortage and the effect it might have on the U.S. economy. As federal grain subsidies continued to favor bargains for the Soviets buying American wheat, the price of domestic grain rose sharply, causing a food price crisis back home. According to John A. Schnittker in a 1973 paper for the Brookings Institution, the U.S. government wasted $300 million in public funds and lost the same amount in potential revenue by unwittingly subsidizing the Russian wheat purchases.

        As it turned out, the shortage in Russia was part of a worldwide shortage in grain production that almost wiped out international stockpiles. Clifton Luttrell wrote in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review in 1973 that the U.S. government did not recognize this as it was happening because the government did not have a big-picture view of agricultural output worldwide.

        https://earthzine.org/the-great-grain-robbery-of-1972/

  5. upstater

    I’m surely not the only person that is appalled at the hype around the billionaire pedophile/rapist Michael Jackson biopic. The NYT is pumping this sewage for over a week. There must he half a dozen articles currently posted. But the motivation is clearly money, one lede states that fact “Lionsgate estimated on Saturday that the Michael Jackson biopic would collect more than $200 million over its first few days in theaters.” NYT tells us “Michael Jackson’s Music Was Too Big to Be Canceled”. This dead guy is still worth hundreds of millions to his kin and the entertainment industry. The new hype is going to pay off well.

    I bring this up because the NYT spent weeks recently canceling Caesar Chavez, the United Farmworkers president that has been dead for 33 years. Memorials have been removed, streets renamed and murals repainted. Chavez used his position to coerce sex from women and girls in his orbit. There is no biopic coming out to gross $200M. Indeed, a scrubbed biopic of Chavez might inspire union organizing, which costs TPTB money.

    If Chavez can be so effectively erased, why not MJ? Or any number of celebrities, politicians or executives? The Epstein connected surely have not paid a price. Michael Jackson should have been permanently canceled more than 30 years ago.

    Disclaimer: I hated Michael Jackson’s pop, never oowned any and would turn the station. But that ain’t the point.

    1. Carolinian

      Haven’t seen those NYT articles but Jackson as a person of color star was huge internationally and that may account for the movie’s success. A sequel is planned that will go into his later sex abuser phase. It will use footage removed from the current movie because the Jackson family misled the movie company re their obligations under legal settlement.

      Michael has faced a number of challenges on its way to the big screen. Reportedly, the film’s third act originally included some of the child sex abuse allegations against the superstar, but it was later discovered that Jordan Chandler, who alleged that Jackson sexually abused him in 1993, had reached an agreement to not be depicted in any dramatization of Jackson’s life. The movie then had to push its release date and do reshoots to rejigger the story.

      https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michael-biopic-jackson-family-controversy-premiere-1236569192/

    2. Pat

      Any biopic of Chavez would have to include the millions+ spent by the US to overthrow him including the multiple assassination attempts. I am sure There is more concern about that than his reported sexual crimes. Well that plus the fact that Chavez cost the “right” people money rather than make it for them as Jackson did. Additionally there would be little chance of ancillary rights profits as there are with anything about Jackson.

      I like pop, and did enjoy many of Jackson’s songs, plus I appreciated his theatricality and use of that visually as part of his music process. That doesn’t excuse his abuses. For me the real loss here is that there is a great deal of information about the Jackson family dynamics, a history that could be used to illustrate the creation of the abuser from the abused. Another movie that will never be made.

      1. caucus99percenter

        Conflating two different men named Chavez?

        Cesar = the United Farm Workers / “boycott grapes” campaign labor leader in the U.S.

        Hugo = left-wing politician who was head of state in Venezuela.

        Cesar is the one whose memory is currently being cancelled for “Me Too” reasons (charges that he mistreated women).

        1. Lefty Godot

          The accused is always presumed guilty until proved innocent. Especially if he’s dead. A “by definition” virtuous category of accuser is incapable of lying/false memory. Only a racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic brute would argue against that. /s

      2. The Rev Kev

        Maybe the Iranians could make a movie of the Jackson family dynamics – but using Legos. :)

      3. AG

        I once asked Oliver Stone what he thought about doing a Chavez biopic.
        He just shook his head and smiled, forget it.
        The events re: the failed coup would have offered fantastic material of course…

    3. hereweare

      Isn’t the NYT simply reporting facts when it says the movie’s expected to make tons of money and Jackson’s ‘too big to be cancelled’?

      1. cfraenkel

        It’s called lying with facts. What they choose to amplify, and what they choose to ignore is the heart of the big kayfabe.

        1. hereweare

          Do you think they should ignore a controversial movie that’s expected to make a lot of money?

      2. upstater

        Nine main page articles in a week, only one about box office receipts. Not on the scale of Taylor Swift Era tour “news”, but certainly a lot of hype. Ad revenue and eyeballs drives such “news coverage” about a dead billionaire pedophile that deserved cancelation decades ago.

    5. LifelongLib

      No, people like Michael Jackson (and allegedly Cesar Chavez) shouldn’t be “canceled”. They should be exposed, and subject to justice. Being “canceled” is social and economic lynching.

      1. upstater

        Who benefits from the first week revenues of the $200M Michael Jackson biopic take? And a huge amount in subsequent weeks and music sales. Certainly not the victims of his rape and abuse. The Jackson family are involved with this “whitewashing” of a criminal. That guy’s music shouldn’t be played. Ever. Economic lynching and canceling of such sociopaths seems appropriate.

        1. Tom Stone

          I know a little bit about the Jackson Family, starting with the “Jackson Five”.
          Michael and Janet’s parents were depraved addicts and alcoholics and I would not be surprised if all of their kids were sexually molested, it was a very sick Family.
          In a very sick industry.
          Michael I see as an extremely talented and extremely fucked up individual, one of the abused who becomes an abuser.
          I don’t care for his music but it is silly to deny his talent.
          Making a buck off of him seems very Hollywood.

        2. Roland

          “Cancelling” is stupid. It doesn’t help anybody who got hurt, and it denies justice to the accused.

          “Cancelling” is nothing but the effort of power-hungry persons to control what other people say, think, or like.

          In any case, a work is its own thing, separate from its creator. If it turned out that the architect was a criminal, would you demolish your own house?

        3. AG

          HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

          ‘Michael’ Director, Producer Paid Millions More After Reshoots Cut Abuse Allegations

          The film underwent 22 days of reshoots to reshape the third act due to a legal settlement the estate had overlooked preventing an accuser from being depicted onscreen.
          https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michael-director-producer-paid-millions-reshoots-cut-abuse-1236577257/

          The centre of empire is more often than not bathed in light. Accompanied by friendly words.

          Just like in “Apocalyps Now” when Kurtz with a totally clear mind is quoting a TIMES article in the middle of the jungle when the hero has reached what he thinks is the heart of darkness.

    6. CarlH

      I believe one of the main accusers was Dolores Huerta, who I don’t trust at all after her behavior towards the Bernie campaign and in support of Hillary’s. I have no idea about the other potential victims, who could well have been assaulted, but with Huerta as the most prominent accuser, I have my suspicions.

    7. Jonathan Holland Becnel

      What are you talking about?

      Everyone knows the accusations were a set up by the Zionists because MJ started talking about Palestine.

      Not to mention the fact MJ saved Macaulay Caulkin from Epstein Island!

      MICHAEL JACKSON: REDEEMED

      🫡 🇺🇸

  6. The Rev Kev

    “Macron says global turmoil could mark ‘European moment’ for EU”

    ‘French president says Europe must turn economic and strategic weight into geopolitical power’

    Only Macron could say something as stupid as this. The EU has alienated the world’s three major power blocks – the US, Russia and China – which is turning them into a geopolitical backwater. And these were purposeful choices with the last two. In addition, the countries of the Global Majority have had it up to here with EU lecturing and finger-wagging. And how is the EU to have economic weight without a reliable energy source? They swapped, cheap, reliable & convenient Russian gas for highly expensive, unreliable and inconvenient US gas. How are they to power their industries? Countries like Germany are already being de-industrialized through lack of cheap energy. If the EU had experienced, pragmatic leadership they might be able to put something together but instead they have people like Ursula, Kallas & Merz who sabotage the EU for their own personal benefit instead. The EU is done no matter what Macron says.

  7. AG

    re: Classical Athens

    Interview with David Stuttard by Harvard Univ. Press

    Art, Power, and Hubris in Classical Athens

    Writer, lecturer, theatre director, and Fellow of Goodenough College, London, David Stuttard, delves into the world behind his new book, Hubris: Pericles, the Parthenon, and the Invention of Athens. In this conversation, he traces how art, politics, and religious ritual combined to reinvent a city at the height of its power.

    https://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/art-power-and-hubris-in-classical-athens

  8. Wukchumni

    That mountain road in China is cray cray…

    Our closest thing to it would be Moki Dugway in Utah, but with much longer switchbacks, quite a hoot to drive and fun to say.

    The Moki Dugway Scenic Backway, located in Southeastern Utah in the United States, is a remarkable and dramatic stretch of road that runs along Utah Highway 261.

    This unique stretch of road–which has literally been carved from steep cliff walls–connects Utah Highway 95 with US Highway 163. The dirt road forms part of the “Trail of the Ancients,” a national scenic byway where travelers can see multiple archeological sites and unique geological formations that played a role in the history of the southwest Native American people who inhabited this area.

    The Moki Dugway is famous for its steep, unpaved, but sharp switchbacks, which descend 1,200 feet from the top of Cedar Mesa. The relatively easy gravel road extends for about three miles and has a gradient of up to 10%.

    https://www.utahscanyoncountry.com/The-Moki-Dugway-Scenic-Backway-Utah-Highway-261/

    1. Carolinian

      Those of us who find Western “adventure roads” a bit scary point out that the recently controversial CIA agents in Mexico fell off of one and were killed in the crash.

      Vertigo–not just a movie. A trail guide I saw for Mt Whitney suggested you could always drop down and crawl across the dicey bits.

    3. Frank Little

      Reminded me of Walter’s Wiggles in Zion NP but with cars. Concur with Moki Dugway – check out the San Juan Goosenecks before heading up to Natural Bridges NM.

    4. Jonathan King

      My first thought on seeing that photo was of southern Utah’s Muley Twist switchbacks, which lead up to the Burr Trail from the backside of Capitol Reef. But I can’t find a photo of those that maps to my memory of that drive. It’s not super-long, just a tad white-knuckley in a passenger car. So no doubt still holding Moki Dugway’s beer.

      1. Wukchumni

        I did the Muley Twist a year ago and loved the Burr Trail…

        It was not quite a white knuckle ride, but getting there.

  9. Bugs

    Trump is now the president most shot at in US history. Not sure what it all means, since assasins tend to have convoluted explanations for their actions. This guy posted a photo of himself in an IDF t-shirt. I imagine we won’t hear much more about him, just like the others.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Like Ryan Wesley Routh and his direct, major connections with the Ukraine? He dropped out of sight quicker than that rescued US pilot.

      1. Wukchumni

        The only tidbit we’ve gleaned from Tyler Robinson, is that the bullet that pierced Charlie Kirk’s neck, didn’t come from his Mauser.

        1. The Rev Kev

          And the crime scene was soon covered over with a layer of concrete. Say, the guy that removed the memory cards that filmed his death right afterwards. Whatever happened to him? Did they recover those memory cards?

        2. t

          Did we learn that? Last I heard, it was not possible to confirm. Not that it was excluded.

          Soon after, I think it was pretty clear that anything that was do ne properly was quickly undone.

    2. hereweare

      “Trump is now the president most shot at in US history.”
      And the Washington Hilton is now the venue for two attempted assassinations of US presidents.

      1. ambrit

        I have been a long time “proponent” of the theory that Regan actually died after being shot that day in front of the Washington Hilton but was ‘replaced’ by a Disney Animatronic Robot. That theory would explain a lot about his later Administration and why Nancy and the Court Astrologer were so involved in the running of the country during that time.

        1. Wukchumni

          There were some major-league inter-day price swings in the spot price of old yeller the day Reagan was shot, it shot up after the shooting and then as news of him being ok came in, it drifted back down to previous levels from the day before.

      1. Dr. John Carpenter

        Yet four shooters apparently couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. How is it that four people got close enough to take a pop and all missed?

    1. The Rev Kev

      Wait. You expected honesty and sensitivity from the press corps? That is one bet that I would never take.

    2. Dr. John Carpenter

      Same behavior from some when Charlie Kirk got dropped. What does anyone expect when we live in a society where shooting, usually mass shootings, are a normal, everyday occurrence?

    4. Wukchumni

      one clip sparked outrage by showing alleged theft and insensitive behaviour, with some guests laughing, taking selfies, and carrying wine bottles amid the chaos, drawing sharp public criticism.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Could it be members of the press mistakenly thought they could make a Molotov Cocktail out of a red?

      1. ambrit

        There was a commenter on this site back in the days of yore who was infamous for a cocktail he preferred that consisted of cheap red wine and xanax. It apparently had a psychic effect similar to Minister Molotov’s concoction.

  11. TomDority

    The US Military Just Arrested One of Its Soldiers for Making Ghoulish Polymarket Bets, and It Shows How Deep the Moral Rot of Prediction Markets Really Goes Futurism”
    As always… Sh$t rolls downhill…. so the grunt takes the fall for the rot cascading down from the top

    1. The Rev Kev

      Trump was talking about this soldier and said that he didn’t see a problem as the guy was betting on his own “team” to win.

      1. Wukchumni

        Its hard to believe that went I was younger, bookies were often the subject of police bunco squads busting them, and said bookies used ‘flash paper’ that went up in a poof, to hide action.

        Now, bookies are ubiquitous and in my face all the time~

        Its been a century since the only betting allowed in these 50 states involved 1-horsepower steeds in a number of oval offices. Nevada only signs casino gambling into law in 1931.

        Don’t look a grift horse in the mouth, when the backlash against gambling hits and generations of punters have to go without.

        1. ambrit

          One will get you three, the Administration enshrines the G-d given right to gamble in the Constitution.

          1. The Rev Kev

            He could rewrite the First Amendment of the US Constitution to do so-

            ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of gambling, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of gambling, or of the punters; or the right of the people peaceably to gamble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances when they lose their shirts.’

            Gets rid of those pesky freedoms at the same time.

            1. hereweare

              Voting is a form of gambling.
              Whenever there’s an election coming up in the USA, Naked Capitalism’s comments are stuffed full of people who know the odds are stacked against them and the system’s rigged, but who nonetheless devote torrents of wishful words to debating which candidate is the least likely to renege on their promises and sell out.

  12. Earl

    The Em dash epidemic and Orwell. I know some things that I hope to share. I am trying to write bettor with the help of how to books and essays. I wonder what Orwell would say about AI? It’s been a while and I recall his admonition against using non fresh metaphors. Could these be a clue AI writing.

  13. lyman alpha blob

    Trump turns the lemon of being shot at again into lemonade. To be served in his new, biggest and best ever ballroom.

    Scrolling down that CNN link, one finds links to his recent social media post from just over an hour ago. FFS –

    “What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House. The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

    1. The Rev Kev

      I don’t know if this is any different to how the big US banks were taking in Cartel drug money and laundering it for them not that long ago. One big bank was caught doing this and got a serious slap across the back of their hand. Money talks.

  15. Jason Boxman

    Hit the Barron’s thing via a Google read more like somehow to unpaywalled version

    From Inflation Complications: The Unusual Gap Between PCE and CPI Is Widening

    The consumer price index focuses heavily on housing costs, while the PCE focuses more on healthcare costs.

    and

    Pfajfar argues that while housing typically drives the PCE-CPI wedge, recent shifts in information technology, which is more heavily weighted in PCE, are likely the primary force behind the current reversal. But those broad weightings don’t tell the whole story. Even within IT spending, PCE and CPI have different weights on specific subsectors.

    Computer software and accessories, which has seen nearly 12% inflation over the past year, makes up a larger share of PCE’s information technology sector. CPI gives more weight to smartphone prices, which have deflated over the past year.

    The Cleveland Fed’s Center for Inflation Research is projecting month-over-month PCE to increase 0.58% in March, nearly 30 basis points below the latest CPI figure.

    Stephen Brown, chief North America economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a recent note that most of the factors driving the “unusual situation of core PCE inflation being higher than core CPI inflation should reverse by the turn of the year.”

    I know Wolf Street often talks about how PCE and CPI are constructed, and the absurdity of the owners’ equivalent rent component.

  16. The Rev Kev

    Just came across this-

    ‘Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra has warned of growing pressure on the country’s public finances. The warning comes just days after the government unveiled a multi-year fiscal plan that combines increased military aid to Ukraine with domestic spending cuts.

    The government’s fiscal plan for 2027–2030 was presented earlier this week. It includes cuts of €240 million to social and healthcare spending but €300 million in increased military support for Ukraine.’

    https://www.rt.com/news/639111-finland-extremely-difficult-ukraine-aid/

    Why am I not surprised? I wonder how much they will have to kick in for that 90 billion Euro loan to the Ukraine.

    1. Polar Socialist

      This is Riikka Purra. Being a nationalist-conservative she would find a way to take money from the poor regardless. Ukraine doesn’t really factor in.

      But unlike your regular run-of-the-mill European nationalists, she’s a Finnish “nationalist”, which means almost the opposite: when NATO implodes (soon) she and her ilk will be the last ones still waving a NATO flag and trying to find way to sacrifice her country just to hurt Russia.

      1. Ignacio

        How is it possible to end having such a stupid political class?-

        Yes, I know, there are some xplanations and for instance, Aurelien, has done a very good job on this. Yet, how can someone become such a a Russia hating NATiOnalist willing to destroy whatever welfare Finland reached after WWII? How do people reach such formidable level of stupidity?

        1. AG

          Did Aurelien address the “why” somewhere explicitely as of late?

          As far as Martyanov´s often exaggerated rethoric is concerned he suggested that Finland´s infrastructure and command centers would simply be wiped out. So that this question if it truly came down to it would be solved pretty straight forward and pretty quickly, within 48 hours.

          Although I still very much doubt EU will do anything of what they so much purport these days it would feel a bit like Febr. 24th 2022 felt back when I was part of the old information crowd: Russia just simply acts after warning several times. And over the course of a night things have changed.

          Creating truly new realities.

  17. AG

    re: Chernobyl v. Germany

    I don´t want to mitigate Chernobyl disaster.

    But as far as German reporting is concerned it is by now not treated as what it was factually in a row of several similiar disasters and near disasters of that kind all over the world – but as token of proof to how backward Russia has been and will always be.

    The only thing missing is that Putin was responsible and that the Russians did it on purpose.
    But the repetitive nature of it as a media “event” offers enough room for associations of exactly that sort.

    The more Russia leaves behind Europe the more Europeans will agree on a Russia image which is stuck in the early 1990s. Or in fact we choose to even go backward in time.

    Chernobyl is eventually not about the place and what is related but about us.
    Their failure provides the opportunity to prove how great we are.

    It´s a psychosis.

    Hardly a single year that Chernobyl was not commemorated in an exaggerated way since 1986. And it turns ever worse with every passing year.

    It´s the occasion to summon all citizens in front of the TV-set and celebrate our Western brilliance in the face of the immaterial horrors of nuclear fallout and radiation – mechanized by a kaputt Russia and its medieval people.

    Almost like an inverted, perverted form of Christmas celebration.

    1. caucus99percenter

      The German Green-left-adjacent daily newspaper “taz.de” is even using the occasion to introduce yet another virtue-signalling editorial fillip:

      Ceremoniously announcing that they will henceforth be spelling “Tschernobyl” as “Tschornobyl,” because it’s a location in Ukraine and the latter spelling is supposedly less Russian and more Ukrainian (and thus, one may infer, more “politically correct”).

      https://taz.de/40-Jahre-Tschornobyl/%21t5010181/

      1. AG

        Goodness…
        The only thing now that remains to be done is get back to a TAZ print version in Ukrainian.

        btw, I assume you did read about the German government funding social housing constructed by German companies in Ukraine as part of the recent big deal with Mr. Z.
        Homeless in the FRG will surely adore that item…

    2. hereweare

      How will Russia leave behind Europe? By retreating behind the Urals, abandoning Moscow and St Petersburg?

      Most Russians are European! And:

      In 2018, Europe had a total population of over 745 million people.[1][2] Around 448 million of them lived in the European Union and around 110 million in European Russia; Russia is the most populous country in Europe.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe

      1. AG

        I meant to leave behind Europe technologically and economically.
        Not spatially.
        Wasn´t sure about the correct verb to make that clear without a doubt…🤔

      2. hk

        The boundaries of “Europe” had always been fuzzy, though.

        A joke that’s been attributed to Konrad Adenauer is that, whenever he crossed the Rhine into the rest of Germany (he was a Rhinelander from Cologne), he was going into the depths of Asia.

        There have been Germans who insisted whatever was the eastern border of Germany at the time was the eastern border of Europe.

        I’ve met Poles who insisted the eastern border of Poland is the eastern border of Europe. (I wanted to interrgate them further about which borders, historically speaking

        I’d met Croats and Slovenes saying much the same thing, except the border of Europe was to their south and southeast. I got the impression that some Slovenes might not have thought of Croatia as European.

        I would guess that the Balts might have similar notions as the Poles.

        Who knows if the same sentiments still prevail? Some of the notions by the former Yugoslavs, I’d heard when bad feelings were running high….

        1. hereweare

          Many US citizens think their country isn’t just in America: it is America. And I’ve seen commenters here on Naked Capitalism arguing that Syria and Iraq aren’t in Asia.

        2. AG

          One of the major projects or temporary achievements of Socialism was a new culture of respect and acknowledgment of those European territories which historically had been left behind and mostly treated as resource and secondary people and entities since the Renaissance and all the geopolitical struggles there. Yugoslavia as a prime example.

  18. Wukchumni

    Are you ready, Stephen? Uh-ha!
    Markwayne? Yeah!
    Marco? Okay.

    All right, fellows, let’s go!

    Oh, it’s been getting so hard
    Livin’ with the things Biden did to me, ah-ha
    My dreams are getting so strange
    I’d like to tell you everything I see, mm

    Oh, I see a man an administration back as a matter of fact
    I blame him for everything under the sun
    And M T-G & Tucker no longer in my corner, let no one ignore them
    ‘Cause they think they’re the passionate ones

    Oh yeah, it was like lightning
    Everybody was frightening
    And the criticism was hardly soothing
    And they all started hearing shooting
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    And then the press hacks in the back said: “Everyone attack”
    And he turned it into a ballroom build blitz
    And a reporter from fake news said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
    It’ll turn into a ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz

    Oh, I’m reaching out to Fox News
    Doing nothing’s all I ever do
    Oh, I softly call them over
    When they appear, there’s nothing left to do, ah-ha

    Now the reporter at the back of the presser is ready to crack
    As he raises his hands to the sky
    And Karoline in my corner is everyone’s mourner
    She could kill any argument with a wink of her eye

    Oh yeah, it was electric
    So frantically hectic
    And the original architect ended up leaving
    Thank goodness Shalom is still breathing
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    And the press hack in the back said: “Everyone attack”
    And he turned into a ballroom build blitz
    And the fake news reporter said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
    It’ll turn into a ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz

    Oh yeah, it was like lightning
    Everybody was frightening
    And the criticism was hardly soothing
    ‘Cause they all started hearing shooting
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    And the press hacks in the back said: “Everyone attack”
    And he turned into a ballroom build blitz
    And a fake news reporter said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
    It’ll turn into a ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz
    Ballroom on the fritz

    It’s, it’s a ballroom on the fritz
    It’s, it’s a ballroom on the fritz
    It’s, it’s a ballroom on the fritz
    Yeah, it’s a ballroom on the fritz

    Ballroom Blitz, by Sweet

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPQPdYttl7U&list=RDmPQPdYttl7U

    1. hereweare

      Trump says Allen is anti-Christian. We all know Trump is the greatest theologian of all time, certainly greater than the Pope, and thus able to definitively separate true believers from the rest, but Allen seems to consider himself a Christian:

      Objection 1: As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.

      Rebuttal: Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.

      Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.

    2. LifelongLib

      The New York Post calls it a “sprawling, crazed manifesto” but it actually makes a lot more sense than Trump’s speeches usually do…

      2. LawnDart

        Some of it made sense, but this part kinda made my teeth grind:

        PS: Ok now that all the sappy stuff is done, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? Sorry, gonna rant a bit here and drop the formal tone.

        Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo…

        He watch WAY too much TV. And what does he want? An actual police state?

        Our bullet-catchers are really not as good as those depicted by the Hollywood copaganda crap– don’t know how the SS stands on the investigative side of things– but you’ve got some real knuckle-draggers on the security details. I recall when they mixed it up with Swiss Guards in Geneva and our men in RayBans sure as heck did not come out ahead!

        Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.

        Oh, hell no!!! I am curious to know what he thinks is “competent leadership.” Democrats? About the last thing we need is to be ruled by persons who are evil, who are corrupt, and who are competent.

    3. flora

      Not seeing a lot of online comments buying the narrative building around this event. Lot of people wondering if it was theater to build support for the WH ballroom bunker. I don’t know. Somehow the finding of a manifesto doesn’t sway me one way or the other.

  20. samm

    RE: The midterm mirage: Democrats shouldn’t get high on their own supply

    A plug for Rahm? It seems like it even might be a joke. The best quotes:

    The two most electorally successful Democratic presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — ran as change agents against status quo interests including teachers unions, which was a feature, not a bug of their success.

    And also:

    Emanuel doesn’t fit the profile of a central casting presidential candidate, but so far, he’s framing the debate. He’s refined a line that perfectly critiques the Democratic drift on cultural issues when it comes to what matters to working class voters: “We’ve become so obsessed with bathroom access that we’ve ignored classroom excellence.”

    And most telling:

    Classroom excellence means adopting common sense reforms that have succeeded in deep red Mississippi, such as: the Science of Reading, ending social promotion, early screening and intervention, and accountability for results. It also means embracing charter schools as the progressive school choice alternative to President Trump’s national voucher plan.

    Back to Charter Schools? What is it, Make Charter Schools Great Again? So this clown has cornered the conversation of policies that failed 20 years ago, and somehow this is supposed to make him relevant. I see.

    Democrats are a sad bunch, pushing unpopular policies as the only remedy for what ails us. Well at least they can win by default, simply because Trump is so unpopular.

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