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Links 4/28/2026

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Chuck L: “Arguably a bigger deal than the 4 minute mile in 1954.”

This tiny mammal survived the dinosaur apocalypse and changed life on Earth Science Daily (Kevin W)

DNA research just rewrote the origin of human species Science Daily (Kevin W)

‘A remarkable time capsule’: The enchanting history of Oxford University’s 750-year-old medieval library BBC (Kevin W)

A Comment on Noah Smith’s “The Moderately Easy Problem of Consciousness” Brad DeLong

Climate/Environment

The Next ‘Forever Chemical’ May Already Be in the Air. Scientists Still Don’t Understand What It Could Do Popular Mechanics

An El Nino forecast pointing to the strongest event in decades is raising concerns about global crop production as farmers also face supply disruptions linked to the Iran war The News

Extreme heat is harming food systems in unexpected ways Observer

Building a massive dam between Alaska and Russia could prevent AMOC collapse, scientists say Live Science. A lot less pernicious than other geoengineering ideas since can be reversed or moderated.

Amazon recovery masks diversity loss as fires, droughts and windstorms reshape forest edges PhsyOrg

ISU research finds ‘extinction vortex’ for pollinators Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)

New York City is at major risk of flooding that could leave 4.4 million people exposed to extreme damage, study finds LiveScience

Lake Superior ‘zombie’ fish increase leaves researchers searching for answers MPR News (Chuck L)

China?

Analysis-Under cover of trade truce with Trump, China expands economic pressure toolkit Reuters

Un-sanctioned: China to welcome Dutch trade minister amid Nexperia, ASML discord South China Morning Post

China’s ‘iron flow battery’ can make renewable energy storage cheaper NewsBytes. Chuck L: ”

India

Democracy vs. Religion in India Consortium News

Southeast Asia

U.S. offers no help with Iran war’s fallout, Thai foreign minister says Washington Post (Kevin W). Rumor is Thailand is getting some oil from Angola…but from what I can tell, this will reduce but not close the gap.

Cambodia reproaches Thailand over military aggression Khymer Times

Africa

Rising geopolitical shocks expose North Africa’s fragile food system Caliber

Egypt seeks to isolate Ethiopia with diplomacy blitz in Africa as nations quarrel over water National News

Sudan: Millions of civilians on the brink of famine amid starvation, siege, and international inaction CounterCurrents

UAE paid Colombian mercenaries to help RSF commit genocide in Sudan The Cradle (Kevin W)

The Congolese military said Sunday that it shot down a drone belonging to the Rwandan army in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Anadolu Agency

South of the Border

US strike kills three on alleged narco boat as campaign death toll hits 185 Guardian

European Disunion

France and Greece call for delaying Covid debt repayment and for more EU bonds Politico

Largest-ever ban on toxic chemicals in EU hit by ‘extremely frustrating’ delays Guardian

Poland’s population set to fall by 31.6% by 2100, Eurostat says BNE Intellnews

Old Blighty

Government ramps up planning for possible supply shortages from Iran war Independent

MSM silent over Starmer arsonists trial – yet no special reporting restrictions Canary (Colonel Smithers)

Does the Royal Navy have more admirals than ships? Navy Lookout (Colonel Smithers)

One is amused! King Charles makes Melania Trump giggle while visiting White House beehive Daily Mail

Israel v. The Resistance

A ‘300-tonne crane’ needed to remove Palestinian flag from Dublin Spire Irish Times (PlutoniumKun). BWAHAHA

Deadly Israeli attacks worsen Gaza’s water shortage crisis Guardian

IDF LURED INTO SOUTH LEBANON, ‘DROWNING’ IN AMBUSH ATTACKS | Robert Inlakesh Rachel Blevins (Chuck L)

* * *

US Carrier Groups in Position for Next Round as Trump “Dissatisfied” With Iranian Demands Simplicius

Trump cornered as Iran scores multiple diplomatic wins; Putin praises Iranians Janta Ka Reporter. Has clips of Karoline Levitt doing her usual jerkface act while effectively confirming that Iran is now refusing to discuss nuclear enrichment; see also supportive Pakistan statement at UN Security Council on behalf of itself and other key players.

Note Bloomberg landing page:

US being ‘humiliated’ by Iran, says German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Financial Times

Iranian Leaders Are Not Divided… The Trump Administration Is Larry Johnson

See comments:

On board a ship stranded in Strait of Hormuz: ‘We just want to go home’ The Times

Pirates near Somalia hijack cargo ship off Garacad Gulf News

New Not-So-Cold War

Fake News Alert: Russia Isn’t Plotting An Amphibious Assault In The Baltic Andrew Korybko

Ukraine War: Untangling the Current Disinfo Cloud. What Truly Caused Russian Strategic Shift? Simplicius (Kevin W)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Trump uses assassination try to justify expanding spying powers Asia Times (Kevin W)

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Empire Comes Home: Managed Neglect and Internal Colonialism in the United States John Robb (Micael T)

Embracing Autonomy John Robb (Micael T)

Everywhere, all the time, serious trouble looms Olivier Boyd-Barrett (Chuck L)

Trump 2.0

U.S. Spies on the Vatican Ken Klippenstein

Trump accused of siding with Big Ag over key supporters in major blow to MAHA Alternet

Supremes

Supreme Court to weigh use of ‘geofence warrants’ by law enforcement The Hill

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case New York Times (Kevin W). No archived version yet.

Fed

THE HANDOFF: How the 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord Was Outflanked by the Front-End Dollar Machine Shanaka Anslem Perera. Due to being in transit, have not thought about this thesis yet. In general, Perera identifies important facts others have missed, but then has a propensity to make overly strong-form claims based on them.

Our No Longer Free Press

Jimmy Kimmel rejects White House criticism over Melania widow joke BBC

Economy

Impact of Iran war on Asia: rotting crops, shuttered schools and rationing The Times

Stagflation Incoming: The Donald Ain’t Gonna Like What Happens Next! Antiwar.com

Supercars risk being stalled by Strait of Hormuz blockade Telegraph

Japan’s largest power producer, JERA, has said it cannot provide an earnings forecast for its fiscal year to March 2027, blaming energy market uncertainty stemming from the Iran war Nikkei

Structural Gas Demand Destruction Threatens Global LNG Market OilPrice

Will the Iran war reshape the auto industry? DW

Iran war disrupts the circuit board supply chain, raises costs for tech firms Channel News Asia

AI

Dario Amodei, hype, AI safety, and the explosion of vibe-coded AI disasters Gary Marcus

The UK Government has admitted it underestimated AI’s carbon emissions by as much as 136,000pc Telegraph

The Bezzle

Private equity backers raise new conflict concerns over sweetheart deals Financial Times

Guillotine Watch

US millionaire big-game hunter dies after being crushed by elephants Guardian

How A Tax Loophole Drained Schools And Enriched A Trump Megadonor The Lever

Class Warfare

Global hunger hits most severe level in years as aid funding collapses, UN warns Politico

National Security Eats American Farmers Alive Un-Diplomatic (Chuck L)

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus (Chuck L). Not AI but tame rhino. See small dog nearby.

And a second (Bob H):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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196 comments

          2. Wukchumni

            I heard the Swiss Navy is doing maneuvers off the coast of Bohemia. (with apologies to Billy S.)

          3. converger

            Swiss Admiralties are an available add-on when you become a minister in the Church of Universal Life.

            Fun historic fact: contrary to popular belief, Captain von Trapp was actually in the Swiss Navy, not the Austrian one.

          4. vao

            Laugh, but since 1941 Switzerland does have a commercial high seas fleet, created to secure supplies to the country. Till 2016 it comprised about 50 ships belonging to half a dozen Swiss shipping companies (port of registry: Basel).

            Since then, there has been a rapid decrease of the fleet size; it followed the abolition of a law making the Swiss government a guarantor for the losses of Swiss shipping companies — which proved to be quite expensive when a couple of such firms went bankrupt. Nowadays, only two shipping companies remain, operating less than a dozen bulk carriers.

            But still: you may not be an admiral (like Horthy was a KuK, then a Hungarian one), but you may still be a rare Hochseekapitän of a Swiss merchant vessel.

              1. amfortas

                im the admiral of the free navy of amfortas’ hermit kingdom(landlocked) consisting of 2 canoes and a kayak that i salvaged from the landfill.

                cousin is an actual captain…i forget what class, or whatever.
                but he can legally take folks offshore fishing.

            2. ambrit

              I was wondering how the Swiss got the cacao beans from Africa to the Swiss chocolate factories on the shores of Lake Geneva. (Up the Rhone to Geneva looks doable if transshipped to barges. Barges protected from Robber Barons by Swiss gunboats and Monitors.)
              Stay safe. Be sweet.

          5. hk

            I (sort of) personally know a couple of actual Nebraskan admirals and at least one Kentucky colonel. (Professional contacts from my former line of work. NB: these are rather humorously themed honors handed out by state govts–one of the admirals told me that all he has for it is a certificate, and the fact that he can “officially” call himself an admiral.)

          6. Jon Cloke

            As someone certain to fail any and all UK government security vettings, I just applied to be UK Ambassador to Washington…

  2. Huntly

    Antiwar stagflation piece. Is Stockman actually saying that he thinks, Trump appointed, Warsh will raise interest rates?

    1. ChrisFromGA

      Alternative take – What if Warsh bends over for Orange Julius and cuts rates, but the long end of the curve blows out?

      1. ChrisFromGA

        Accompanied by dousing a red MAGA cap with lighter fluid and dropping a match on it from the podium.

  3. Mikerw0

    As I read the MSM and so-called analysts description of the situation with Iran, I am reminded of the great quote that “Wall Street slices a salami one slice at a time.” The end conclusion is so obvious, but they can’t come out and say it, can they.

    In a sense, little difference than when Crockite went to ‘Nam and came back and said we can’t win. By the time he did it was so self evident.

  5. DJG, Reality Czar

    Far be it from me to speak of the dead. The late and now flattened Ernie Dosio.

    The Mirror sent out msg on Xitter. (The Guardian blocks me.) Excerpts:

    A millionaire trophy hunter has been killed by a herd of five angry elephants. 🐘😯
    Ernie Dosio was trampled to death by the stampede as he stalked through a thick forest in central Africa.
    The 75-year-old displayed a vast collection of exotic animal heads across trophy rooms in his home in California, including elephant, rhino, bear, buffalo, crocodile, lion, zebra and leopard. 🐊🦁
    Dosio met his demise on April 17 when the veteran hunter was ambushed by a herd of elephants as he hunted a small forest antelope in the Lope area of Gabon.
    The hunt was on for a £30,000 shot at the secretive and elusive yellow backed duiker.
    The father-of-two stood little chance against the herd of five as they guarded a young calf. 🐘
    The elephants were well hidden in the dense undergrowth at the time, and appeared “as if from nowhere”.

    I’m shocked, I tell you, at the unprovoked reaction of the elephants. Were these elephants agents of Putin?

    1. The Rev Kev

      By coincidence I have been reading the books of Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson, two Anglo-Indians who were active hunters in the early 20th century. Corbett was in north India and Anderson in south India and some of the stuff they write is unbelievable. Both specialized in hunting man-eaters which included rogue elephants and their descriptions of what happened when an elephant attacks is pretty grim. When Dosio stumbled into that herd of elephants while hunting antelope, they probably acted to protect the calf so tough luck for Dosio-

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Anderson_(writer)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Corbett

      1. Wukchumni

        Its interesting how social mores in regard to hunting have greatly evolved in the space of a century…

        I know in my particular case of hunting down meat on the hoof, that sometimes i’ll walk serpentine through the aisles before descending on the cold cuts counter at the deli of WinCo supermarket, where I meekly request a pound of pastrami shaved razor thin, ok?

        Read a book last year on Teddy Roosevelt and he goes on a hunting safari in Africa with his son and others in 1909-10 and its a killing fest with the numbers of animals dispatched around a thousand!

        The mission of the expedition was to bring back animals for the Smithsonian, with an on-site taxidermist @ the ready.

        Ernest Hemingway was also quite the hunter, with him shooting his final quarry in 1961.

        1. The Rev Kev

          Both Corbett and Anderson became dedicated conservatives as they lived and frequented those jungles and worked to save the wildlife in India. Anderson noted in later life how so many Indian jungles became quite as the animals that once stalked there were all shot out.

          1. hk

            You mean “conservationists,” right? That seems to be a rather common pattern, per Carolinian’s obs below. I tend to find it amusing, though, that conservationism is often the pursuit of elites and conquerors–like the hunting preserves of medieval kings where conservation was, eh, enforced with extreme ruthlessness.

        2. Carolinian

          Gore Vidal sniffed at Hemingway’s literary status and said he should have been a writer for Field and Stream. Hem killed boat loads of fish as well.

          But we nature lovers have to admit that the gunsports crowd have also been advocates of wild land preservation if only to provide them with targets. And some species like whitetail deer need predators to keep them from over populating.

          It’s complicated. But Hemingway had talent and TR gave us National Parks.

          1. Wukchumni

            The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History by Darrin Lunde, was the title of the aforementioned book…

            Here in Animal Switzerland you can’t shoot anything and its as if the residents are hep to such things.

            On the other side of Farewell Gap in Mineral King in Sequoia NP is the Golden Trout Wilderness, where deer hunting season starts in August, and sightings are few and far between, as all the stag party had to do was be on the safe side of the divide in the National Park.

            The lay of the land:

            https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/farewell-gap-20761898/photo-12993086

            1. ambrit

              “Here in Animal Switzerland you can’t shoot anything…”
              I understand that a “select few” can avail themselves of the offices of the Soros Eugenics Hunt Club up that way to ferret out and dispatch the dreaded, overpopulated Evangutan.
              Stay safe.

        3. L.M. Dorsey

          re: quarry.
          Maybe “ultimate” for “final” in the paperback edition? Maybe. Either way, very nice. Thanks.

      2. jefemt

        I can’t help but have a voice over from Bullwinkle with the blowhard British empire era military top brass character running in my mind’s ear. Incredible book, Man Eaters of Kuamon (sp). And quite an homage and hat tip to field spaniels! Recommend find and read …

  6. Bob from Kansas

    A comment on “A Comment on Noah Smith’s ‘The Moderately Easy Problem of Consciousness'”

    Does consciousness only happen in the mind? That is the question left unanswered and which no one is asking. AI has no cellular consciousness, no memory like we have written in our DNA. It will never be human, it will never be conscious. We are a consciousness of consciousnesses, with ions linked through quantum entanglement, calculating and working collectively for each other survival, and so, for the system’s survival as well. That is something that is impossible to replicate with data and hard drives and an algorithm that arises out of our limited knowledge.

    More on this:

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a61059424/every-cell-in-your-body-could-be-conscious/

    “Every aspect of the consciousness that I’m experiencing is a simultaneous aggregation of the consciousnesses of all of my body cells and all of those microbes working in tandem, coordinating so seamlessly that I feel like I’m one individual,”

    2. KD

      Does consciousness only happen in the mind?

      Is the mind a physical location or a physical place where events happen? If not, what does it actually mean to say the “event” of consciousness is only happening in the so-called mind? Is this sentence similar to asking “Does sleep only happen in the bedroom?”

      If the mind is by nature not a physical location or physical place, isn’t nonsensical to identify it with a physical location like a body or an organ of the body except in certain contexts? [Where does the Platonic circle exist?] “I could see from the way my wife was lying that she was already completely unconscious by the time I came to bed.” “From the red face of the man, I could tell he had already lost his mind.”

    3. Lefty Godot

      Just defining what “consciousness” and “mind” are is one of those “hard problems” that explaining the phenomena is often described as. The difficulty allows philosophers and neuroscientists to bloviate endlessly with their theorizing. The one thing I am sure of is that so-called AIs will never be anything close to what we describe as conscious, and that attempts to propose that they are (or will be soon) are just an excuse to give them legal “personhood”, so their owners can start claiming they have rights that supersede ours. Just like with corporate personhood, a strategy for allowing fake entities owned by the wealthy to drown the rest of us.

    4. Lee

      I’ll go with Wordsworth on this one:

      Even the loose stones that cover the high-way,
      I gave a moral life; I saw them feel,
      Or linked them to some feeling: the great mass
      Lay bedded in a quickening soul, and all
      That I beheld respired with inward meaning.

      1. amfortas

        nice!

        i read a david bohm book long ago(cant remember title), and ive stuck with his idea of consciousness ever since–non-local…some kind of quantum field thats beyond our ability to otherwise detect…brain as antennae.

        1. lyman alpha blob

          This short clip elucidates his thinking – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7qq1CGJTHU

          To claims that consciousness is an illusion, he replies that for that to be true, there must be a consciousness to be illuded! Yes, semantics to some extent, but a witty reply I thought, and the first time I’ve ever heard the verb ‘illude’ used before.

  7. Revenant

    I had high hopes for “THE HANDOFF: How the 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord Was Outflanked by the Front-End Dollar Machine” but it is one long screed of unreadable AI rhetorical tics. It never explained the Treasury-Fed accord, just wove aphorisms in the air around it.

    I was not aware of the accord. I found this a useful summary.

    https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/treasury-fed-accord

    But frankly I don’t understand how a central bank under the control of a democratic government was permitted to seize power in this way. Has any other central bank ever pulled a similar stunt? Not that I can think of….

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      I appreciate you pointing out the substantive deficiencies in the linked article and providing important supplemental information.

      But I don’t think the situation you describe is unusual, merely that that fight in the US was so overt.

      In one of many examples, Thailand has kept its interest rates high to keep the baht high….which is not in the interest of Thai businesses or citizens. The baht is so high relative to other SE Asia currencies that we are losing out on tourism to Vietnam and Malaysia. I am told the central bank regards this as a matter of prestige! It has hit the point that with even a pretty cowardly press here, the Bangkok Post has run occasional compliants.

      am getting tired of you accusing writers of using AI and dissing pieces based on your stylistic preferences as opposed to substance.

      I did not approve other comments by you along these lines. You did not take the hint.

      First, this is a critical thinking fail. We have a lot of less than well-written pieces we link to and even sometimes cross post (see OilPrice and Andrew Korybko as examples). There are other writers who have unduly baroque exposition styles. I have never seen you take issue with these obvious deficiencies.

      The point is the substance and whether the exposition is so unclear or muddled (or deliberately misleading/propagandistic) as to obscure or misdirect.

      So the grounds for your complaint is out of line.

      Second, you are not a professional writer or editor or to my knowledge a linguist, so I question your ability to make these calls even if you were on to something.

      Third, NOT ONCE do you say that these writing habits or tendencies undermine the content any more than other widespread writing habits. There are a lot of sites that are turgid (start with many of the articles at Russian sites, like Valdai Club or International Relations, where something may have been lost in translation, or even some of the erudite to the point of pretentiousness pieces at venues like the London Review of Books). I have never seen you complain about them.

      I have been edited FOR YEARS before having this site and have sometimes had very good editors.

      Nearly all of what you depict as AI is typical editing that a human editor might inflict on a writer or a writer learning to write defensively to minimize editing or even adopting a certain MSM style, In particular, for instance, Bloomberg has human editors yet imposes a strong house style. Ditto the New York Times, The Economist, the McKinsey Quarterly, even lesser pubs like The Conference Board Review and The Conversation. For instance, I can still channel the McKinsey voice when I need to.

      I have also never seen you once complain about management bafflegab, which has become only more common over time. See Lucy Kellaway, who made it a major point in her Financial Times columns to oppose its use.

      Oh, and I do not use dashes much but mine have always been em dashes. so the idea that this is proof of anything is bullshit.

      I am NOT approving any more comments by you with stylistic whining

      1. lyman alpha blob

        At the risk of ticking you off (sorry in advance!), what I noticed in that article was a lot of the “Not A, but B, and not C, but D” style of writing which is claimed to be typical of “AI”, although it’s surely possible that a human could have written it. It’s also claimed that em dashes are typical of “AI” and that one I’m not so sure about – I do use them often myself!

        But as you have wanted to keep comments written by “AI” off the site, I think that is also why some readers try to point out “AI” usage in linked articles. Everyone wants to be sure to avoid the slop and keep the quality of what appears here on the high end. We do realize nobody is able to read all the linked articles in full ahead of time.

    1. The Rev Kev

      If memory serves me correctly, Obama passed the 60-day limit in Libya and Congress did nothing about it. Laws that are not enforced are worse than no laws at all. So if Trump does the same the Democrats have no one else to blame but themselves.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        There was a weak justification given for Libya under the color of the 2003 AUMF against Iraq, IIRC.

        Also accompanied by a busload of lies on how we were fighting “terrists” in Libya when, in fact, we were arming them to the teeth via the CIA.

        But to your point, the silence from the Donkeys is deafening.

        2. John k

          There was no excuse for Libya. Peaceful, prosperous, substantial spending on schools/hospitals. Women got as much Ed as men under ghaddafi and Reagan had discouraged him from his foreign adventures. It is still a broken country. As a kid I could bike anywhere in perfect safety, granted my mother did not think my extensive collection of unexploded ww2 munitions was perfectly safe.

          1. hereweare

            “There was no excuse for Libya.”
            A UK Parliamentary Commission reached precisely the same conclusion.

        1. JMH

          White House + DOD + CIA = all the government that matters. Congress? flaccidity + cultish behavior + seats on the gravy train + go along to get along = < 0. The Supremes? Misreading the headlines + atrophied judicial reflexes + genuflection to authority = shame? disgrace?

        2. Oregon Lawhobbit

          This. Selective enforcement is even worse than “not enforced” or “no laws at all.”

          But laws are, you know, for the “little people,” not for the oligarchs.

  9. Adam1

    “The Handoff” I think the main failure of the article is the same as all failures in understanding how the governments debt is financed. The generally understood purpose of the 1951 Treasury-FED Accord was to give the FED independence from the Treasury and allow the FED to manage inflation through monetary policy rather than finance the government’s deficits.

    However, that general understanding has always been wrong. The accord allows the FED to set the price of money by being able to target and manage interest rates independent of what the Treasury might like. But the FED is still obligated to fund all deficits (indirectly) because if it doesn’t then: A) it loses the ability to control interest rates; and B) there would quickly be insufficient Fed Reserve balances to sustain interbank settlements and the whole payment system would be at risk of collapse which is the primary legal objective of the FED to prevent.

    That said I do find Perera’s article to be quite esoteric in language so connecting the dots for me hasn’t been straight forward and the final conclusion could be true, but that just means it’s removing the smoke and mirrors that have existed since the 1951 accord.

    1. jsn

      I’ve gotten sucked into several of his tweets, not because they’re coherent, they all have this buzzword salad quality, but he seems to be enbubbled at the reality adjacent edge of the crypto space.

      The crypto-bros are all looking for ways to get the Fed/Treasury fiat spigot into their digital environment, Shanaka Anslem Perera’s one of the ones trying to propose mechanisms, but so far they all evaporate into the word fog he creates.

      I’ll believe something is up with this when Nathan Tankus covers it, but monitoring cutting edge cryptothrashing seems important to the degree they’ve rented a wing at the White House.

  10. ChrisFromGA

    UAE to exit OPEC – I don’t have a written source, live update from Bloomberg TV I am watching in real time.

    Something big is happening.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        OPEC imploding would have much bigger ramifications, IMO.

        I’m sure Taco would enjoy the moment, but he might not like it when every gulf state makes their own calculus on how to align. There would be some “L’s” on the scoreboard for the US, for sure. China would score a few “W’s”, IMO.

        1. thoughtfulperson

          In links above, “Emir of Sharjah His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi is expected to announce REPUBLIC OF SHARJAH and breaking away from UAE”

          No doubt this UAE breakup is connected to OPEC withdrawal (and have both withdrawn? )

            1. Objective Ace

              I commented below, but it looks like this split was announced in December. I dont think it has anything to do with the war

              1. jsn

                The breakaway appears to be mostly industrial with a light sprinkle of tourism, but a population that is majority ex-pats.

                Monaco on the Persian Gulf?

                All together 2 million or so, so like Staten Island seceding from New York?

          2. pjay

            That tweet was pretty startling to me. Is this confirmed? Because if so it would certainly seem to qualify as “something big happening” as well.

            On that subject, the tweet (or whatever they are called now) on the new Pakistani transit order on overland trade with Iran also struck me as highly significant. Admittedly I have large gaps in my understanding of the region, and literally anything can be posted on X. But both of these events strike me as very significant – if true.

            1. The Rev Kev

              It seems that this entire region is undergoing a major reconfiguration. How it will all shake out is up in the air at the moment and predictions impossible. With Pakistan’s announcement, we now know what Iran and Pakistan were talking about a coupla days ago.

            2. ChrisFromGA

              Iran can re-route crude via land corridors through Afghanistan and the other ‘stans into Chyna. There is jack all that Bessent and his merry band of simps can do about that. Afghanistan is under Taliban control. Other ‘stans are falling into China’s sphere of influence.

              The best that the US can hope for is to play the sabotage card, via CIA treachery, funding terrorists, etc. Oops.

              1. vao

                “The best that the US can hope for is to play the sabotage card, via CIA treachery, funding terrorists, etc.”

                I have difficulties to see how that overland corridor between Iran and Pakistan can work, with the entire Balochistan on both sides of the border being in the grip of an active insurgency.

                1. ChrisFromGA

                  Geography. China and/or Russia can roll the tanks in and simply smash any headchoppers into the Stone Age. It’s expensive to maintain multiple insurgencies across far-flung countries.

                  Not that they won’t try it.

              2. hereweare

                What’s the capacity of the land route for oil? Are there pipelines, and if there are, how far do they go?

                1. ChrisFromGA

                  There is some discussion on this over at Moon of Alabama. The talk is that overland routes have less capacity than sea routes, but Iran may not need to replace all sea-borne transport, as there is still some getting through the Swiss-cheese blockade.

                  Pipelines are better, but they can be bombed with plausible deniability (the terrists did it, not the CIA!). There is also the possibility of sending oil to Russia via the Caspian sea, then transporting it from there to China. Lots of holes in the Swiss cheese blockade.

                  1. hereweare

                    There may be ships getting through the enemy blockade, but a few are getting seized, along with their cargoes – surely not very sustainable.

                    1. ChrisFromGA

                      How sustainable is it for the US Navy to keep that up? Given reports on food shortages on ships, the costs of having to refuel at sea, return to port, etc.

                      I honestly have no idea. But I suspect that the answer isn’t “indefinitely.”

              3. hk

                Makes Turkiye and their pan-Turkism more relevant, eh? Curious how that fits with growing, eh, weird relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.

              4. John k

                Seems moot to me. Iran won’t open the gulf if us is pirating their ships. IMO Trump likely to try another attack, but by end May things will be falling apart at home as oil goes to much higher world prices. The off ramp is retreat.
                And eu out of jet fuel end May just in time for summer travel? Wonder when the struggling peons revolt against their revolting leaders and sue for good relations/fossil fuels from Russia?

            3. thoughtfulperson

              Yes pjay, the Pakistan- Iran deal was predicted by Prof Pape @escalationtrap over the wweekend. It’s one of his 3 things to look for. This was expected as Iran works to respond to the US blockade. It is a very significant piece of news as it makes the blockade less effective.

  11. Alice X

    William Murphy

    The Empire Comes Home: Managed Neglect and Internal Colonialism in the United States
    From imperial command center to abandoned interior—how the U.S. reproduces colonial logics inside its own borders

    A Marxist perspective, it stands to reason. There is a plan.

    1. chuck roast

      Stands to reason he used to work for the bad guys. Practice and theory in action. And wicked-a$$ historical materialism.

  12. AG

    fb-post by Viet Thanh Nguyen:

    “(…)
    And that’s it. Taught my last class ever as a university professor, to one of my smallest classes ever, nine students in a senior seminar (which I’ve never before had the opportunity to teach). I was fortunate that they were all wonderful, dedicated, serious students. The topic was “The Question of Palestine: Memory and Forgetting, Violence and Genocide, Narrative and Literature, Self and Other.” While Palestine was not something I’d taught before, all the other themes have defined my life as a scholar and writer.
    I surprisingly–or perhaps not, knowing me–feel no sentimentality about the end of my professorial career, after 28 years as a professor and 5 years as a graduate student, where I taught at least one class every year. 33 years altogether of teaching. I leave the profession of teaching knowing that it was the right time for me to do so. Not only because of what American academia has become, but of what I’ve become. I can still do my job in a more than competent manner, but I don’t have the same fire that I did when I started. It’s better for me to clear the way for a younger, more passionate teacher to take my place. That’s what the students deserve.
    (…)”

    1. Archie Shemp

      Would that more elderly profs would take that perspective. Many get so wrapped up in their 60-hours per week jobs that they can hardly imagine themselves living differently, and being someone different.

      I suppose a big reason that the decision was easier for Nguyen is that he has an out in terms of keeping busy, and of getting paid for his new forms of busy-ness (a tv deal, book sales, speaking fees). I’ve long appreciated that he’s outspoken on Gaza and parallels therein to U.S. colonialism/imperialism.

  13. Tom Stone

    I have experienced the standard, if not common, “Out of Body” experience, looking down at my body while connected to it by a golden cord.
    Pushed out of my body by pain.
    Was it “Real”?
    As real as being “Awake”.
    Many people have had similar experiences which leads me to suspect that Consciousness is Universal, literally.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      He also explains it in his talk with Nima today. The relevant part starts at about the 33:30 mark – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfIxqx3QAVE

      He is repeating what the surviving ship captain said and says that about a week before the ship was attacked, both India and Sri Lanka denied three Iranian ships access to their nearby ports, likely under pressure from the US, and were only granted access to one Indian port that was farther away. Then the one Iranian ship was torpedoed by a US submarine several days later but the first torpedo only disabled the ship and did not kill anybody. As the crew was trying to get off the disabled ship, an hour and a half later a 2nd torpedo sank the ship and killed most of the crew, which is an obvious war crime (and regardless of the legal definition of a war crime, it was just a despicable, vicious and completely unnecessary attack). Iran is extremely unhappy with India now as a result. The question is how much India and Sri Lanka knew of US intentions when they initially denied the ships safe harbor.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      That denial originally comes from a crypto website, so I’d take with a large barrel of salt until someone other than a grifter has confirmed or denied.

    2. hereweare

      Why? The constitution doesn’t allow it, but the Shah might have other ideas. He’s said that he wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. From that same article:
      The coming days will show whether the rumor cluster fades or draws further amplification. No verified source has supplied any basis for the central secession claim.

  16. hereweare

    China’s ‘iron flow battery’ can make renewable energy storage cheaper

    Water based zinc batteries are coming along too.
    The researchers used their newly designed electrolytes to create Zn batteries and then tested these batteries in laboratory experiments. They found that the batteries achieved a remarkable coulombic efficiency of 99.99% over 1,000 operation cycles and energy densities of up to 130 Wh/kg.
    https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-based-zinc-batteries-tackle-barrier.html

  17. Jason Boxman

    Ugh, NY Times has some exclusive video interview with Swift, the woman that spread COVID around the world, but protects herself. What a truly horrible human being, who’s doubtless killed scores directly and indirectly through chains of transmission.

  18. William Beyer

    Regarding DNA evidence changes human history, now, instead of “Adam and Eve,” we have Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice…and Ross and Rachel and Mike and Molly…

    1. JP

      Any student of physical anthropology knows that primate evolution in Africa was long and diverse. My own take is from Lenny Bruce who famously said, a man will f**k mud. I would extrapolate that to dogs, sheep. chickens and fresh dead things. Man is one of nature’s most sexually active animals. Whereas most mammals come into season, humans are always ready to one degree or another. Possibly Cro-Magnons eliminated all the others by combination of out procreating and brutality.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      Rather than anything anthropologically groundbreaking, my takeaway on that article is that a new definition is required for what constitutes a species. The lines are not as neatly drawn as taxonomers from a couple centuries ago would have us believe.

  19. ChrisFromGA

    Big trouble for the GOP:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/us/politics/republicans-midterms-trump-popularity-decline.html

    I’ve never witnessed a political party commit Hari Kari like this. With the exception of M T-G, Massie, and Nancy Mace, these hidebound stooges are going to go down with the H.M.S. Taco.

    By August I predict there will be more M T-Gs, inspired by her courage and also out of pure survival instinct. Milk Carton Mike can go back to managing a Stuckey’s off of I-65.

    1. ACF

      Trump’s grip on the Republican party will be determined by how his endorsement plays out in Republican primaries. If people like Massie win, who is facing a potentially strong candidate with strong Trump backing, Trump’s grip will slacken or be lost entirely; if his endorsement is still a golden ticket to victory in a safe R seat, they’ll keep kissing his a**.

      Primaries will generally be over by mid-August I think, but some will be June and perhaps May/July(?) I know for sure June and August…

      In any case, his primary endorsement power is the key question. It’s totally plausible it no longer exists.

      1. The Rev Kev

        I’ve heard that Lindsey Graham’s seat is looking kinda shaky so one lives in hope. Personally I hope that Massie wins big time to demonstrate that Trump’s personal attacks on him were counterproductive.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      Well the Democrat party did run a demented geriatric, only to replace him with a dummy everybody hated not long ago, so the self-immolation does have recent precedent ;)

      1. John k

        And the dummy wants another bite of the apple.
        Frankly, haven’t seen any contending dem say anything bad about the war or of Israel insisting on it. And I assume if one did the apparatus would bury him.
        A pox on both parties.

    3. vao

      Lambert would have stated that “6 months is an awfully long time in politics” — who knows what can happen between now and those midterm elections in November.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        True, but we’re running low on comeback time in terms of the sheer number of “Ls” that the GOP is putting up on the board. At some point, every failure compounds into a margin that becomes too much to overcome. Like a football team falling behind 6-nil at halftime.

        This week, they are failing to pass a funding bill for DHS, which means no paychecks for the TSA starting this weekend. And likely huge lines coming back to airports, just in time for the summer travel season.

        I’m looking to trademark the term “summer of rage travel.”

        1. JMH

          Meanwhile the democrats rely on being not the republicans when the parties differ only in slight variations in loathsomeness. The democrats do appear to prefer the geriatric cases … not meant to be pejorative, I am older than everyone on congress with the possible exception of Chuck Grassley… consider for example Janet Mills in Maine. Cannot possible allow that whippersnapper who is not with the program to be our candidate. There is a desperate need for a new generation and a major overturn in Congress. Oh, a backbone injection would help … and a focus on something other than careerism.

          1. ChrisFromGA

            It’s almost as if the elephants are creating a power vacuum that the donkeys refuse to occupy.

            Hakeem Jeffries made a half-hearted move, calling Karoline (the darling of the evangs) a “stone cold liar” :

            https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5851681-jeffries-leavitt-liar-political-violence-rhetoric/

            While callouts like this are welcome, what is missing is any discussion of what they would do differently in terms of policy. What about the CFPB being mothballed, that was Liz Warren’s baby, where is she to point out that it is consumers who are hurt by it?

            Or how about calling out the airline execs looking for yet another bailout? The summer of rage-flation will enter another ring of Hell when you can’t reschedule a cancelled flight and the only agent you can talk to is an AI chatbot.

            1. jsn

              Do different on policy!?! Don’t be a such kidder.

              No matter what they run on, it will be more of the same after the election.

              The system is rotten root to branch and anything short of a new electoral system barring anyone who accepts bribes won’t be able to change anything. In the Market State that took final form with Citizens United, policy is purchased. And this is true in all three branches of government. So until the Market is replaced with a Republic of some sort, nothing can change.

        2. hereweare

          huge lines coming back to airports … summer of rage travel
          With jet fuel in short supply, maybe not.

      2. Lefty Godot

        I have great faith in the Democrats’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Six months is plenty of time for them to mess this up, with right-wing Israel-firster primary candidates steamrolling any more populist-leaning competitors. I get appeals for money from various Democrat candidates as punishment for donating to some back in 2004 and 2006, and one of the latest was from Alex Vindman running for US Senator from FLA. They just can’t stop pushing repulsive creeps like this on their prospective voters.

  20. t

    Researchers collected saliva samples from people in their villages between 2012 and 2015, while participants were going about daily life.

    The origin of the species article specifies that participant were “going about daily life.” Does anyone know why? What does this mean? Should I otherwise be worried Nama participants were ambushed, hog-tied, and stabbed for DNA against their will? They didn’t surreptitiously swab patients seeking medical care?

    I’ve read three articles that specify UC Davis researches got the Nama samples from people going about their business.

    Weird detail for every single write up.

    1. Archie Shemp

      Maybe it just means that they didn’t pause their daily lives to go into a lab and get swabbed? Maybe because doing so — instead of just pausing while say, cooking breakfast, or inputting AI prompts at work — could affect test results?

      1. t

        Perhaps. But I believe this is as usual as asking people to come into a lab or setting up at a school or market.. UC Davis may have wanted to stresd that the 40-odd people were not people who had not moved into urban areas, such as confusing south Africa with the Republic of South Africa, but writers missed that, or editors kept cutting to “daily lives.”

        Just seemed a very odd detail.

  22. The Rev Kev

    ‘S͎a͎l͎a͎d͎i͎n͎🇸🇴⚖️🕋✍️
    @InaHassan3
    🚨 They tried to do to Mali what they did to Syria.
    Russia’s Africa Corps just dropped their battle report:
    10,000 to 12,000 fighters attacked Bamako, Sévaré, Gao, Kidal, and Kati simultaneously.
    Over 1,000 neutralized. 500 in Gao alone. 300 in Kati. 200 in Bamako. And that’s before counting Sévaré and Kidal. They killed the Defense Minister with a car bomb at his own home. And Russia says a Western country was behind it, using proxies to trigger a coup and repeat the “Syrian scenario.” The media called it a “terrorist attack.” It was a regime change operation. It failed.’

    Russia is too polite to say that it was France but we all know it is. And the Russians probably knew that they were coming so may have let them go all in and then lowered the boom. Macron is really getting reckless as his time in office slowly comes to a close.

    1. bidule

      Last time I checked, two years ago, Mali (twice the size of France) had only 13 000 men in its military, a couple of planes and only a few armoured vehicles. These soldiers had a very bad reputation (of fleeing on first shot). There were not so much real soldiers than a sort of national guard, more a police than an army. Most of them were sitting in Bamako, the capital, and around, protecting the powerful.

      They had to confront a huge force relative to their own size, well armed, equipped with pickups (probably the infamous white Toyota), drones and even some heavy vehicles. And they stood their line. Scattered in the whole country from the south-west (Gao) to the north-east (Kidal), four strategically important cities were attacked simultaneously by “jihadists”: lots of logistics and lots of coordination were required here, way too much IMHO for jihadists. Ukrainian “instructors” were present. And I have no doubt that France, which was expelled not so long ago, was also heavily involved.

      The Wagner unit, since the French left the country, were busy training this (initially not so good) military personnel. There is certainly a long way to go (and the Wagner probably did the heavy lifting), but anyway, and against all odds: the soldiers stood their line and won their first really big battle.

      Mali would be a very deep mess if these jihadists had succeeded to entrench themselves in one of these towns. I am not sure that the situation is stable and controlled now, probably a lot of work still to do, despite what the Russians say. But, anyway and as it is: this is already a big blow for the (ex/neo)-colonialists and a big success for Mali.

        1. bidule

          Yes, heard that too (from Rybar by the way). Kidal may have not completely fallen, but I suspect that the situation is at minimum difficult. Kidal is on the opposite side of Bamako, far, far away from where the Wagner are stationned. I fear that Mali’s army is pretty much on his own there, if present at all.

          The scale of the attack is impressive. More than 10 000 men to move around and coordinate, that entails serious organisation, serious command and control, serious logistics. And almost audacity. Difficult times ahead for Mali. These fighters (the “jihadists” aka the Tuaregs) are very good and have always been. They know the terrain, they know how to move (motorbikes mostly), where to hide, and they are very good at killing. They are no joke. And obviously, they are not alone: these “instructors” (Ukraine, France and probably others) are all over the place.

          Again the scale and the coordination is surprising (I am on the fringe of using a more stern of a word, but let’s stay with surprising). This was, and probably still is, a real battle. Even the almighty american army would have not found the task easy for such a large attack (see in Iran). Only in Ukraine, can you find such numbers: 4 towns, more than one thousand kilometers between the extremities of the front line, Gao and Kidal, more than 10 000 men involved. That’s true kino as they say.

          For now (and for me this is also a bit of a surprise), if what I heard is true, Mali’s army has performed pretty well. Not so long ago, this (small) army was pretty much inexistent, not reliable at all, prone to flee etc. Not so long ago, this army would have surrended almost immediately. Certainely, the Wagners did a lot of work (they have the required hardware, and they have the skills). But, alone, without some support and some willingness to fight from the regular troops, all these skills and hardware are useless (remember Syria).

          This is not finished despite what the Russians say. I am pretty sure that the situation is very tense everywhere. These 10 000 men have not vanished. This will be difficult I fear, for the Wagners and for Mali’s army.

    2. Darthbobber

      I suspect that reports of great victories by the Russian mercs are exaggerated, unless its become normal to then withdraw and leave your enemies in control of areas where you won your great victories against them

      1. Samuel Conner

        I don’t know the details of these battles, but a claim of “success” even though one has withdrawn kind of rhymes with the RF defensive battles in Autumn 2022, when they withdrew with few losses from untenable positions but in the process inflicted very high casualties on the Ukrainians as they advanced. RF approach to conflict is attritional, and a large ratio of enemy casualties to own casualties is “success” in attritional terms.

        If they got out of an undefendable position while suffering many fewer casualties than the enemy suffered taking it, that would be “success” in that context. There is a public claim of ~1000, around 8%, casualties inflicted on the attackers. That’s pretty high for a brief battle. We don’t know how many R and allied casualties there were.

        The claim can’t be evaluated either way at present, IMO.

  23. tegnost

    The Empire Comes Home

    They are zones where capital has extracted sufficient value and then withdrawn, leaving the state to manage the aftermath without reversing the underlying logic.

    This is Trump as he says we’re at war, can’t fund all these social programs, must throw them down to the states…a good read

    1. tegnost

      By the way, and if it has not already been noted, it’s misattributed to John Robb when the author is William Murphy at The Dialectics of Destruction

  24. The Rev Kev

    “A ‘300-tonne crane’ needed to remove Palestinian flag from Dublin Spire”

    Probably find that these were students that put the flag there. In Victorian times students would climb the spires of Oxford to put a chamber pot atop of it. Even today you have the Night Climbers of Oxford-

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Climbers_of_Oxford

    And of course Dublin has their own famous universities.

    1. hereweare

      The headline doesn’t make it clear that the flag’s still there, and has been since September at least!

    2. PlutoniumKun

      The Spire is polished steel, so essentially unclimbable – the flag was almost certainly put there using a drone. Sadly, its become tangled so isn’t very visible right now.

      Dublin students would regard such Oxfordian antics as far too mild. The Spire is on the site of Nelsons Column, which (allegedly) a number of students were involved in its removal, involving a substantial amount of gelignite. Nelsons head was never found, various rumours abounded as to which student bedroom it ended up in – it was eventually handed over to a library anonymously.

      1. Cat Burglar

        A drone does seem the likeliest way they got the flag up there. But it was still a difficult project — the ring would have to be held horizontally and centered well enough over the tip of the spire before making the drop, and the flag could have easily fouled during deployment.

        It happened right in the middle of a city full of people with cameras on their phones, but nobody has stepped forward with an image of the action — that suggests something about the depth of support for Palestine in Ireland.

        Climbing the Spire would not be impossible, because, even as smooth as it is, it appears to have a consistent taper from bottom to top — a couple of some kind of tightenable steel strapping fittings around the circumference, standing in slings, inchworming them upward, and the taper would prevent the straps from slipping downward. You’d have to do some design testing first, and maybe carry a couple extras for up higher where the diameter gets smaller. But climbing it would be pretty slow and pretty conspicuous, so I agree about drone placement. Quite the coup!

    1. hereweare

      Ugh! Two hours! That’s an hour on double speed, about as fast as I can usually follow. Can you give an idea of why they think it was?

        1. hereweare

          Thank you.

          I’m very unimpressed. MKUltra? If Allen had been driven insane by CIA drugs, why would Trump be unfazed? There’s little telling what an unhinged assassin might do. And all this in order to get his beloved ballroom? Conceivable, but I find sloppy security a more likely explanation. And Allen didn’t even make it to the floor Trump was on, did he? Some bit in the Bible about building a temple Oh, and Epstein, of course.

          Sounds to me like Dore and his guests are already convinced it was some kind of psy-op conspiracy, and they’re latching onto anything that might fit their preconceived ideas. Perhaps the CIA got to them with weird drugs!

            2. hereweare

              I don’t doubt he wants his ballroom. I don’t go along with Dore and his fellow conspiracists in thinking the CIA used MKUltra to help Trump establish some kind of Temple of Solomon and extricate himself from Epstein by getting Allen to try to get into the Washington Hilton ballroom. Isn’t it possible he wants his ballroom, and he’s using Saturday’s attempted assassination as another reason he should have it, without himself, the CIA, the Secret Service or Netanyahu having any prior knowledge of Allen’s intentions?

      2. Screwball

        I watched part of it as I ran out of time. Most of it made sense 20-30 minutes in. I ran out of time.

        Even if it was all a setup, and I would not discount that, how do they explain the guy who did the shooting? How do they get him to be the patsy?

    2. Escapee

      Is Kurt Metzger still side-kicking JD? I found him so intolerable I stopped watching the show at all. (And Dore’s horribly unresearched positions on masks didn’t help.)

  26. XXYY

    Building a massive dam between Alaska and Russia could prevent AMOC collapse, scientists say Live Science.

    Not to be a wet blanket, but how much cement would be needed for a structure like this? Cement manufacture is already one of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions on Earth.

    I wish we had spent the period from 1970 until now developing an emission-free cement formulation or equivalent. It would have helped during China’s huge building boom of the last few decades, and it would help going forward if we’re doing a lot of geoengineering. We’ve probably missed the boat on this at this point.

    Welcome back, Yves. I hope you’re doing well or better than ever!

    1. PlutoniumKun

      The irony is that the Soviets had a scheme to dam the Bering Strait in order to melt the Arctic ice cap.

      I doubt any dam, assuming it is feasible, would require much cement – to block sea currents it would not have to be a sealed dam – just loose rock would do – it probably would not need to close off the two sides completely, just provide a barrier to the main currents. It would still of course need a lot of energy to construct.

      The Bering Sea is quite shallow, so as a construction scheme its certainly possible – as the article says, there are existing seawalls close to this scale. some built a century ago in the Netherlands. It could even revive an old dream of a cross-strait road and rail link.

  27. XXYY

    China’s ‘iron flow battery’ can make renewable energy storage cheaper NewsBytes.

    Flow batteries seem like something we should have been working much harder on before now. The idea is to have a liquid electrolyte which can sit in a charged state, and can be pumped through pipes and into tanks and so on and then it’s stored energy easily used somewhere else, at which time the electrolyte is reused and recharged.

    Much of our technology is built around handling and storing liquids, so this kind of thing seems like a natural fit for what we are already doing. From an engineering standpoint, it seems a lot like an oil or gasoline based technology, especially for portable equipment: A brief “fill up” at the “fuel station” and the vehicle is on its way again.

    I believe issues to date have been power density of the electrolyte, and the cost of the electrolyte itself. This seems like it will take care of at least one of those.

    1. PlutoniumKun

      Vanadium flow batteries have been successfully used for quite a while for grid storage, especially for wind farms. At the moment, the exceptionally low price of lithium and (increasingly) sodium batteries are outcompeting. But there are several distinct ‘niches’ for grid scale batteries, so going forward there is likely a market for many different types.

      The ‘Just have a Think’ YT channel provides a very good ongoing reportage of various battery techs – there are several companies worldwide actively rolling out iron flow batteries.

      1. MicaT

        Flow batteries after years or a decade or two still can’t compete with LFP or now sodium. And don’t look to anytime soon.
        Sodium is a huge win for storage technology. Here is just another example of what’s happening in real time vs some future based technology. CATL has a 200 gwh tender between 2026 and 2028 with just 1 customer. What makes sodium such a game changer is the huge temperature range it will work in without any hvac needed. For those not wanting to read the link. 15,000+ cycles at 80% depth of discharge, 97% efficiency at a price I saw a few months ago of 10-20$ per kWh. The future is here now.

        https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/28/catl-secures-worlds-largest-sodium-ion-battery-order-with-hyperstrong/

    1. hereweare

      ‘Whole Empire Fry’ sounds like the name of some revolting fast food dish Trump eats daily.

      1. ambrit

        “Would you like Empire Fries with that Bugout Burger sir? Good to see you again sir. You are usually here for Taco Tuesday. Enjoy.”

  29. Jason Boxman

    Oops?

    Jamie Dimon warns of ‘some kind of bond crisis’ ahead as global debt risks build (CNBC)

    Always public debt, heh, of course.

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday warned that rising government debt levels could trigger a crisis in the bond market, urging policymakers to act before markets force their hand.

    Dimon’s statement was in response to a question about whether he was worried about rising levels of government debt “around the world and in your country.”

    “The way it’s going now, there will be some kind of bond crisis, and then we’ll have to deal with it,” Dimon said at an investment conference held by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world.

    “I’m not that worried we’ll be able to deal with it,” Dimon said. “I just think maturity should say you should deal with it, as opposed to let it happen.”

    Dimon, who runs the world’s largest bank by market cap, said history has shown that today’s growing mix of risks could combine in unpredictable ways. While the timing is uncertain, failing to address those pressures increases the odds that adjustment comes after upheaval rather than deliberate policy moves.

    Because private sector debt couldn’t ever cause a crisis, no? And meanwhile the United States can always pay its bills and debts, all denominated in dollars.

    1. chuck roast

      Actually Dimon recently warned of “cockroaches” in the private credit market after several business development companies lost some of their opacity at the same time as they limited investor redemptions. Next we will have another repo market blow-out, or the AI bub will pop, or leverage will be stretched somewhere and we can count on Jamie to tut-tut the obvious. Expect Goldman Sachs to remain golden throughout the hubub with the very special assistance of his golfing partners. No handicap is too high for Jamie. The boy can land in every sand-trap on the course and still finish minus three.

  30. hereweare

    Adopting Trump’s Voice, Justice Dept. Asks Judge to Let Ballroom Proceed – NYT, archived

    The Justice Department filed a remarkable motion late Monday, written in President Trump’s recognizable online voice, explicitly linking the security breach at the White House correspondents’ dinner to the lawsuit over the president’s ballroom project.

    The motion, signed by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, and submitted by Stanley Woodward Jr., attacks the litigation against the ballroom the same way Mr. Trump has on social media. It asks Judge Richard J. Leon to backtrack and allow construction on the project to continue.
    …

    “Because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed,” the filing states. “Again, it’s called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
    …

    “‘The National Trust for Historic Preservation’ is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words ‘in the United States’ to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not,” the motion begins.

      2. Tom Stone

        Thank you Yalt, that filing is astounding.
        If it were better written I would have assumed it was from the “Onion”, it seems that Trump is not the only one in the WH suffering significant cognitive decline.
        Wow.

        1. Yalt

          I read it differently. I don’t intend to defend Stanley Woodward in any way but I do not think he’s a moron and I’m quite sure he’s not senile. The fact that he personally filed a brief is strange enough; if he’s chosen to file using Trump’s own arguments and language–and that had to be the purpose of his intervention–there’s a reason.

          What that reason is, I’m not quite sure. It certainly isn’t to win the case.

      3. lyman alpha blob

        Damn, that is some serious crazy.

        There is just nowhere in DC where president’s can throw a gala! I guess it hasn’t occurred to Roi Lewy #1! that this is supposed to be a republic, not a monarchy, and maybe throwing parties shouldn’t be a president’s top priority. Or the 58th priority. Or the 107th. When we asked for concrete material benefits, we didn’t mean the foundations of this Iron Pyrite Abomination.

        1. Yalt

          Those already inclined to a certain perspective might have noticed…

          (1) lawdork’s comment that the filing “detailed the weekend’s shooting in terms that will undoubtedly be used by the suspect’s defense lawyers in the coming weeks and months” and

          (2) the comment in the filing itself that “the timing [of the attack] was not coincidental.”

          (Just to be clear, I’m not saying what I’m not saying. I’m not even thinking what I’m not saying.)

    2. Wukchumni

      There’s a world where I can go
      That has a bunker too

      In my ballroom
      In my ballroom (In my ballroom)

      In this world I lock out
      All my worries and my fears

      In my ballroom
      In my ballroom (In my ballroom)

      Do my dreaming and my scheming
      Lie awake and pray
      Do my crying and my sighing
      Laugh at yesterday

      Now it’s dark and I’m alone
      But I won’t be afraid

      In my ballroom
      In my ballroom (In my ballroom, in my ballroom)
      In my ballroom (In my ballroom, in my ballroom)

      In My Room, by the Beach Boys

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l71pbhqnvNM&list=RDl71pbhqnvNM

  31. hereweare

    A Trump-branded nuclear power project thrilled investors. Then came the crash. Washington Post – archived
    When the start-up Fermi America announced plans to build the Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus near Amarillo, Texas, last year, investors clamored for a chance to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom sweeping through the U.S. economy.
    …

    But stock traders have been fleeing Fermi since and dumped more shares last week after Neugebauer was forced out by the board. Construction appears to have stalled in Texas, and Fermi, which said in federal filings that it has never generated any revenue, has been unable to secure a tech company tenant for its planned data center. Griffin Perry and other company executives have cashed out tens of millions of dollars in Fermi stock in recent weeks, according to regulatory disclosures. Shareholder lawsuits accuse the company of overhyping its prospects for success, and its stock price ended Monday 81 percent below its public debut.

    1. nyleta

      There is only one scenario where a large economic dislocation doesn’t occur and that is if Iran capitulates soon. Both attacking and blockading Iran lead to real economic problems that central banks can’t stop with infinite credit.

      This makes investment judgement of the situation simpler because only one vector needs to be adjudicated.
      Will Iran give up ? I don’t imagine the US giving up but that is the same as Iran giving up for investment purposes short term, the longer term implications of the US giving up would be profound.

  35. Acacia

    The hissing sound just got louder…

    Market slumps as OpenAI reportedly misses internal targets for active users and revenue — Nvidia, Oracle, AMD, and CoreWeave shares all tremble on the news

    https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/market-slumps-as-openai-reportedly-misses-internal-targets-for-active-users-and-revenue-nvidia-oracle-amd-and-coreweave-shares-all-tremble-on-the-news

    OpenAI has reportedly missed its internal targets for the number of active ChatGPT users, as well as multiple revenue goals. Because of this, The Wall Street Journal reports that CFO Sarah Friar has expressed worries about whether the firm can afford the billions of dollars of future compute contracts it has taken on.

  36. johnnyme

    96% of Gaza’s agricultural land inaccessible due to Israeli genocide

    A report released Tuesday by the international aid organization Mercy Corps found that the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has damaged or made 96% of agricultural land inaccessible, resulting in near-total disruption of local food production systems.

    The study indicates that just 7% of agricultural infrastructure in the strip is still functional, while water systems have significantly deteriorated, and wells have been damaged.

    It also notes that increased soil salinity and sewage leakage into farmland have rendered large areas unsuitable for cultivation.

  38. AG

    re: Domenico Losurdo

    open access paper
    fwiw:

    Imperialism and Emancipation: An Introduction to Losurdo
    Jennifer S. Ponce de León & Gabriel Rockhill
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21598282.2026.2653535

    ABSTRACT:

    In addition to providing an overview of this special issue, this article by its editors argues that Domenico Losurdo’s work offers an indispensable framework for analyzing modern imperialism and the struggle for socialism, including the overt colonial aggression and ethnonationalism that characterizes contemporary US-led imperialism in its decline, as well as the concurrent rise of the global South and a multipolar world order led by China. Building on the theory of class struggle developed by Marx and Engels, Losurdo demonstrated why major class struggles in the age of imperialism take the form of national struggles for emancipation from colonialism, neocolonialism, and fascism. He understood the importance of development and self-defense in processes of socialist construction, as is evidenced in his analyses of China. This is one of the ways in which Losurdo’s work stands in contrast to the Eurocentric, anti-statist, utopian, and messianic tendencies in the Western left that he criticized and historicized. His arguments for a holistic and historically-grounded understanding of class struggles, which include battles against colonial oppression and subhumanization, are an important corrective to liberal and reactionary tendencies among the contemporary Western Left, including among some Marxists.

  39. Jason Boxman

    What a pathetic country

    DHS shutdown: Congressional dysfunction imperils pay for TSA, Secret Service (CNBC)

    The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than 70 days and with Congress seemingly at an impasse on a series of contentious topics, there’s no quick end to the funding lapse on the horizon.

    As the House spun its wheels on Tuesday, some turned to a higher power.

    “I have a copy of the serenity prayer here,” said House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., kicking off a Tuesday afternoon hearing. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, the wisdom to know the differences.”

    The congressional to-do list is long. In addition to DHS funding, it includes thorny legislation like the reauthorization of a controversial foreign surveillance program that expires at the end of April, a bill that sets agricultural and food policies and a budget measure on Republican immigration priorities that some hope will pave the way to ending the partial government shutdown.

  41. johnnyme

    Sweden warns jet fuel shortage threatens summer holiday travel plans

    Sweden has warned of a potential jet fuel shortage stemming from the war in the Middle East, Energy Minister Ebba Busch said Tuesday.

    The Swedish government said there was currently a good supply of jet fuel domestically, but a shortage could emerge further ahead. “We want to issue a warning well in advance that there is a risk that there will not be enough jet fuel,” she told a press conference, without saying when problems could arise.

    “Don’t book trips where you have to come home at a specific time. It’s good to think that you might need a bit of a margin,” she said, emphasising this was not a recommendation not to book travel.

    1. ChrisFromGA

      Good golly miss Molly, they just can’t come out and say it – stay home. Don’t travel. God forbid we do anything to stop consuming and fuel the bezzle (no pun intended).

  44. johnnyme

    The list of signatories is, as Lambert would say, clarifying:

    74 House Democrats urge Trump to keep Chinese automakers out of the US

    We have consistently worked to confront these threats by supporting strong trade enforcement, pushing for restrictions on Chinese-connected vehicle technologies, and advocating for policies that protect American workers and domestic manufacturing. This is a bipartisan issue that is about protecting our industrial base, our workforce, and our national security, and we urge your administration to:

    ● Maintain and strengthen existing tariffs and trade enforcement measures on Chinese automakers and automobiles;

    ● Ensure that Chinese automakers cannot establish manufacturing operations in the United States or use North American production as a backdoor into the U.S. market;

    ● Explicitly prohibit vehicles produced by Chinese-owned or controlled entities in Canada or Mexico from qualifying for USMCA benefits or entering the United States;

    ● Accelerate and expand restrictions on Chinese-connected vehicle technologies across all vehicle classes; and

    ● Work with allies to counter China’s coordinated effort to dominate the global auto industry through non-market practices.

    We must not cede the American auto industry to a strategic competitor intent on global dominance. The consequences for American workers, our supply chains, our national security, and our communities would be profound and irreversible. Therefore, we urge you to take clear and decisive action to ensure that Chinese automakers are not permitted to enter the United States market in any capacity.

    1. hereweare

      “Work with allies to counter China’s coordinated effort to dominate the global auto industry through non-market practices” is ominously ambiguous. It could mean
      Work with allies to counter, through non-market practices, China’s coordinated effort to dominate the global auto industry.
      In other words, war.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      China engages in unfair labor practices, eh? I’m so old I remember that during the GFC in 2008 when automakers received a bailout, labor unions were forced to take cuts, including, if I remember right, a two tiered pay scale where newer workers would be paid less than what they would have received previously.

      But like most things, it’s all OK when the US does it.

  45. johnnyme

    US Army seeks 857 THAAD interceptors in major 2027 surge

    The US Army is seeking to procure 857 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors for fiscal year 2027, marking a dramatic expansion of its missile defense program amid rising military spending and operational demands.

    According to US budget documents, the requested number represents a sharp rise from the 37 interceptors sought by the Missile Defense Agency in fiscal year 2026. The surge reflects a broader push to scale up missile defense capabilities.

    The Army’s request for THAAD systems totals $11.435 billion, divided between two funding streams. Around $10.528 billion in mandatory funding is allocated for the procurement of 830 interceptors under an accelerated production plan led by the Munitions Acceleration Council.

    An additional $907.162 million in discretionary funding is set aside for 27 interceptors, as well as supporting systems including sensors, launchers, and upgrades to address system obsolescence.

    1. urdsama

      The grift goes on and the US has learned nothing.

      If an equal amount was spent on the drones, missiles, and munitions that have countered the US wonder weapons, it would likely be in the hundreds of thousands and more then enough to completely overwhelm any US and Israeli stockpiles, new and current combined.

      So foolish.

  46. johnnyme

    City birds appear to be more afraid of women than men, and scientists have no idea why

    European Great Tits and 36 other bird species on the continent are more afraid of women than they are of men, according to a recent study—and researchers have no idea why.

    In the study, men could get about a meter closer to birds than women could before the animals flew away, according to the results. This pattern remained regardless of what the men and women were wearing, what their height was or how they tried to approach the creatures. That suggests birds may be able to suss out the sex of a human, though the researchers aren’t sure how.

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