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Links 4/30/2026

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Do memories form on a blank slate? EurekAlert

‘Speed running’ Scientology: TikTok trend causes havoc, church alleges ‘hate crimes’ Los Angeles Times

Climate/Environment

European State of the Climate 2025: record heatwaves from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, while glaciers shrink and snow cover declines World Meteorological Organization

Poleward migration of warm Circumpolar Deep Water towards Antarctica Nature

We Are Bombarding America’s Forests With Roundup Mother Jones

Rush for ‘green energy’ minerals harms the world’s most vulnerable Climate & Capitalism

April 2026 has been an unusually hail filled month Balanced Weather

Pandemics

Here’s the COVID Vaccine Paper the CDC Censored MedPage Today

Japan

Specter of stagflation Observing Japan

China?

Christian Zionism Has Come for the Chinese Mind BettBeat Media

MSS Reveals: Foreign Organizations are Heavily Funding “Lying Flat Influencers” and Systematically Conducting “Lying Flat Brainwashing” Ministry of State Security WeChat (Translation via Sinocism)

China’s preparedness Warwick Powell

Syraqistan

Lebanon: New IPC analysis shows conflict escalation pushing nearly a quarter of population into acute food insecurity World Food Programme

Israeli navy intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla vessels heading to Gaza Anadolu Agency

Israeli maps outline expanded zone of military control in Gaza Reuters

A Growing Rat Infestation Plagues Tent Cities in Gaza Drop Site

Military Suicides Surge as IDF Scales Back Mental Health Support Haaretz

***

Beaten and Shopworn Trump Settles on Flaccid ‘Forever-Blockade’ Strat as Broken-Down Carrier Limps Home Simplicius

Scoop: Commanders to brief Trump on new Iran military options Thursday Axios

US Seeks to Deploy Hypersonic Missile for the First Time Against Iran Bloomberg

European Disunion

Iran war costs EU €500M a day, von der Leyen warns Politico

German government plans massive cuts to health, pensions and social benefits WSWS

Berlin deepens military ties with Washington while Merz-Trump rift grows Politico

Albania, US firms sign $6bn LNG deal to boost Balkan energy security Intellinews

Africa

Algeria and the Sahel Amid the Turmoil in Mali Sawahil

O Canada

$200 Per Barrel Oil Isn’t Out of the Question – and it Would Ravage Canada’s Health Care System Dougald Lamont

Old Blighty

‘Full force’ of Iran war will hit food prices soon, supermarkets warn The Telegraph

New Not-So-Cold War

Putin, Trump discuss May 9 ceasefire, situation around Iran TASS

Russia would not accept military presence of outside powers in Central Asia, says defence minister Intellinews

“The myths of ‘Russian aggression.’” The Floutist

Culture ministry sends inspectors to Venice Biennale over Russian Pavilion ANSA

South of the Border

US, Latin America countries criticise China’s retaliation over Panama Canal Al Jazeera

Who’s the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ in China-Latin America cooperation? The US should look in the mirror Global Times

L’affaire Epstein

Pam Bondi to appear before House oversight panel over Epstein files The Guardian

Trump 2.0

The Trump plan to add work requirements to public housing Can We Still Govern?

***

Is the Justice Department lying about Saturday’s “shooting”? Doomsday Scenario

The “Good Liberal” Assassin Un-Diplomatic

GOP Funhouse

Johnson quashes farm bill rebellion to pass budget blueprint for reconciliation 2.0 The Hill

Democrats Suck

‘Dangerous and Shameful’: 42 House Democrats Help GOP Send Trump Spying Bill to Senate Common Dreams

Top Democrat Opposed Surveillance Bill — While Whipping Votes For It The Lever

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Gov. Wes Moore Claims Maryland Banned Surveillance Pricing for Groceries. It Didn’t. Boondoggle

Imperial Collapse Watch

Strategic Intimacy Without Trust: Russia, Iran and the Emerging Anti-Coercion Order Kautilya the Contemplator

The Accelerationists

Exclusive: The US Tech Giant Where Employees Wear IDF Uniforms To Work Nate Bear

The Supremes

Will the Voting Rights Act be a casualty of the collapse of the Soviet Union? Tony Karon

Supreme Court Signals It May Let Trump Kill TPS for Haitians and Syrians — With Barely a Look at the Evidence Migrant Insider

Immigration

Fear and Opportunity: Immigration Scams Surged as Trump’s Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders ProPublica

Groves of Academe

How YouTube Took Over the American Classroom WSJ

Should schools get rid of homework? Some educators are saying yes NPR

AI

A.I. Bots Told Scientists How to Make Biological Weapons New York Times

Google inks deal giving Pentagon access to AI models for ‘classified work’: Report The Cradle

Landmark New Report Warns That A Flawed AI Content Market is Accelerating ‘Content Cannibalization’ Center for Journalism & Liberty

Crapification

Your Dinner Got Worse On Purpose Worse on Purpose

“MAHA”

RFK Jr. talked about ‘reparenting’ kids on wellness farms. We visit one that inspired him NPR

Economy

Oil Hits Wartime High on Report US Eyeing Iran Military Options Bloomberg

Aramco halts LPG shipments through May over war damage to Saudi export hubs The Cradle

The Bezzle

California high-speed rail price tag jumps to $231B, nearly seven times 2008 estimate KMPH. At this rate will cost a trillion by the early 2100s.

Class Warfare

Why Hasn’t Zohran Done More to Boost Organizing? Labor Politics

Claire Valdez Wants to Bring the Labor Movement Into Congress Hamilton Nolan

Electoralism as Containment: The Reproduction of Liberal Hegemony Inside the U.S. Left William Murphy

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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117 comments

    1. Vicky Cookies

      Milei is trying to allow Israelis fleeing the destruction they’ve wrought to emigrate to Argentina, providing them with salaries, paying homage to the proud history of the Argentine right.

      2. skippy

        I wonder if the Argentina Court will arrive at the same decision as Israel on Rape: ***Only if with a Jewish woman***, otherwise its open season, albeit assault charges could be given if authorities feel[tm] like it …

  3. The Rev Kev

    “Beaten and Shopworn Trump Settles on Flaccid ‘Forever-Blockade’ Strat as Broken-Down Carrier Limps Home”

    ‘The reports claim (Trump) therefore prefers to now maintain the blockade indefinitely as the chief operative posture toward the Islamic Republic.’

    During the Napoleonic wars, the British blockaded France for over a decade in an effort that nearly broke the Royal Navy. Anybody think that those US Navy ships can sit outside the Strait of Hormuz for anywhere near as long?

    1. Steve H.

      At least the Ford gets to come home. With ye old Bush rounding the Cape of Good Hope, it looks like the Houthis control the Bab el-Mandeb. With the Cape’s storm season (May..Sep) coming up, there are risks to returning that way. Does that count as a blockade?

      1. Jabura Basadai

        ‘At least the Ford gets to come home…’ – at least the sailors will get a good meal –

  4. PlutoniumKun

    California high-speed rail price tag jumps to $231B, nearly seven times 2008 estimate KMPH. At this rate will cost a trillion by the early 2100s.

    So far as I’m aware, the $231 billion figure is untrue, it originated from a right wing blogger.

    Current estimates for phase 1 (SF to LA) appears to be around 126 billion – still an exceptionally high cost by international standards. Current estimates for the projected Hanoi to HCM is around 67 billion dollars, and its about double the distance (although many question if it can be delivered for this estimate).

    1. Wukchumni

      The crazy thing about Cali high-speed rail that even as in insider within the Central Valley who likes to notice things, its as if you’d hardly know a 1/4 or an 1/8th of a trillion project even existed, in attempts to get from Chinatown in LA to Chinatown in SF by choo-choo.

      1. Colonel Smithers

        Thank you, both.

        I’m with W. In my case, it’s with regard to the HS2 and east west varsity lines ruining Buckinghamshire and the rural round about that has so far cost £20m/

        1. PlutoniumKun

          HS2 is an appalling mess. The roots of the disaster goes back to the early to mid 90’s – the Tories, having reluctantly supported the line to the Channel Tunnel, refused to put any money into building a potential interchange. The absence of any coherent railway strategy pretty much guaranteed that any lines subsequent to HS1 would be unrealistically expensive.

          Still, an army of consultants did well out of it.

  5. Deb Schultz

    Thanks so much for the article on Gov Moore’s failure to protect buyers from surveillance pricing. I received a self-congratulatory email from his office this week, telling me he had stopped this sort of pricing in the state. He is a big disappointment, I have to say.

    1. BrianH

      He’s my guv too, and I agree he’s an empty suit. In addition to this weak legislation there’s the baldly political and ultimately failed attempt at redistricting, the poorly written book touted during his campaign (required reading for my HS freshman daughter) and his tendency to tell whoppers about his past experiences. He’s got all that and more in his briefcase, add in good looks and a decent speaking voice and he’s got what it takes to run for president.

    1. KLG

      He was a regular in my college town in the 1970s and 1980s. An American original. Sad news. RIP.

      1. lyman alpha blob

        The song I linked to above was on a jukebox at a Seattle bar friends and I frequented in the 90s and for some reason we all took a liking to it, and would play it a lot, sometimes a few times a night. And sometimes the bartender would get annoyed and cut the music off after the third time or so – then patrons were treated to the a capella version ;)

        Never got to see him live though. The closest I got was sometime around 2003 in Maine. He had a concert scheduled and he used to attract a pretty hard core biker crowd. Shortly before the concert was scheduled there had been a dust up between two biker clubs with shots fired, possibly a fatal one, I don’t remember exactly. Local authorities decided Coe was too risky and cancelled his concert, much to my chagrin.

        1. KLG

          We had a biker gang that was an offshoot or wannabe of the Outlaws. They were regulars at David Allen Coe performances but never at the party band outposts. I remember once standing at the bar of the deepest dive bar* I’ve ever been in (good cheeseburgers, though; sadly closed now and the kidz have no idea what they are missing) and having a Biker “ask” me to buy his Biker Girl a beer. Which I did, a one-dollar Budweiser in a bottle IIRC. Left soon after. Dying did not appeal to me at the time.

          * Their posted health rating report card was 98 out of 100, which was perfect proof of their irrelevance.

    2. Henry Moon Pie

      Coe was one of the Luchenbach “Outlaw” gang. Waylon’s “Luchenbach, Texas” is a favorite of mine from the Willie and Waylon era:

      Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas,
      Willie and Waylon and the boys.
      This successful life we’re livin’s got us feudin’
      Like the Hatfield and McCoys.
      Between Hank Williams’ pain songs,
      And Jerry Jeff’s train songs, and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain,”
      Out in Luckenbach, Texas, there ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain.

      Waylon Jennings, “Luchenbach, Texas“

      1. lyman alpha blob

        Love that one! There was a duo who used to play that every night in a Colorado bar I used to frequent. They also played Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” regularly, but they’d change the first line of the chorus to “I’m proud to be an a**hole from El Paso”.

        Those two were the ones who got me into the “outlaw” music. Another favorite is Ray Wylie Hubbard’s song, popularized by Jerry Jeff Walker, taking the piss out of the woman who would produce these outlaw reprobates – Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother

          1. lyman alpha blob

            Ha! That’s a great take. One of the reasons I still like the original is because Haggard changed his opinions drastically over the years –

            ” “I had different views in the ’70s,” shared Haggard. “As a human being, I’ve learned [more]. I have more culture now. I was dumb as a rock when I wrote ‘Okie From Muskogee.’ That’s being honest with you at the moment, and a lot of things that I said [then] I sing with a different intention now.”

            Haggard continued, “My views on marijuana have totally changed. I think we were brainwashed, and I think anybody that doesn’t know that needs to get up and read and look around, get their own information. It’s a cooperative government project to make us think marijuana should be outlawed.” ”

            I don’t know if he was in Muskogee when he did his duet with Willie Nelson shortly before he passed away, but they sure were smoking marijuana somewhere. A more recent favorite – It’s All Going to Pot

  7. AG

    re: Germany freedom of speech

    Ulrike Guérot´s case.
    She has now filed her complaint with the German Constitutional Court.

    About this her 4-part video:

    – available with Engl. AI dub –

    1/4
    21 min.
    “the case”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CkSQCu1m_Q

    2/4
    18 min.
    “looking back on the events”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6RWtZU5gAo

    3/4
    17 min.
    “the appeal”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUb8slb3TDI

    4/4
    13 min.
    “conclusion”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUb8slb3TDI

  8. Isanthrope

    I expect that we won’t just begin to adjust to AI slop. We won’t just lower our expectations for logic, sentence structure and cadence. We won’t even notice these assimilations. We will begin to think and write like AI itself.

    By the way, that’s the very paragraph structure and cadence right there that screams AI. It’s: it won’t be this, or this, or this, or even this…it’s this (ta da! grand reveal!). It’s pantomime language.

    The LLMs don’t have to get better; we will quietly enshitify ourselves.

    1. vao

      Well, this is really interesting. This is not evolution. It is involution. Delving into the issue, we can make some fascinating observations. It is not just about imposing new modes of expression on an audience, but about the public at large freely adopting technologically-shaped formulations. This is the new world:

      Humans immersed in AI interactions.

      Conversations structured around AI discourse.

      Pervasive AI style and syntax.

      Natural hegemony of AI-based expressions.

      Therefore, of modes of thinking.

      This is the real singularity. Not human beings integrating cyber. But human beings adjusting to become cyber. This is not about the future. It is happening now.

      DISCLAIMER.

      I have not used AI to write this text. I actually never used AI even just for trying it out, and strenuously refuse to use AI. However, it is not really necessary to indulge in much prosody to figure out how the AI style works — it has become despairingly prevalent throughout the Internet.

      1. Isanthrope

        I like your framing of the singularity in this way. I too must rush to disclaim that I do not use AI but my entire circle absolutely does and, well, it shows.

      2. playon

        I’ve never used AI, and never will, aside from websites etc where it is forced upon you.

  9. Carolinian

    The Mother Jones/Glyphosate is worth a read for those who think the Forest Service are the good guys. I’ve been to the Lassen area which features not just the volcano centered park but a surrounding corner of California that has the faint whiff of economic decay–explained, in the article, by the decline of the timber industry. Of course the West is full of instances of former exploitation since natural resources and mining were its main attractions in a country where money is the most important resource.

    And so it’s hardly surprising that our forest agency is as much or more in bed with the ‘money talks’ crowd as the tree huggers. The zeal by some on the left to defend government at all costs ignores the many instances where it has always been on the side of the bad guys.

    1. Michael Fiorillo

      For me, the fact that it’s part of the Ag Department has always told me most everything I needed to know.

    2. playon

      It’s disgusting that they are using glyphosate on public forest land. I called the WA state DNR to protest but doubt it will make any difference.

    3. GrimUpNorth

      After yesterdays post on Monsanto I had a chat with a friend who looks after a UK nature reserve as a volunteer. I expected him to be anti Glyphosate. However he says he uses it (with full PPE suit) and is worried that a ban would lead to the use of worse chemicals as there are two invasive plants that are very difficult to control by hand. He has not seen any damage to fish or insects caused by spraying over the years. Of course this is targeted spraying.

      1. Carolinian

        I refuse to use it even on the weeds in my yard. As the article makes clear Monsanto is conducting a giant experiment on humanity. But then our “better living through chemistry” era has been doing that a lot.

        Here in the Southeast our forests were ravaged early in the last century. So economy over ecology is hardly a new thing.

  10. Krautsalat

    Re: German government plans massive cuts to health, pensions and social benefits

    Public health insurance has the problem, that they have to pay for the health care of people with base welfare payments (currently ~50% Non-Germans) and the government doesn’t cover all cost (net costs for base welfare receivers in public insurance: ~10 billon per year). So instead of covering the costs (and reduce the cost cutting to half) they want the normal worker to take the loss and getting less for the money too. Private insured people (like MPs) don’t have to pay for that (would be possible via additional taxes) and are getting better healthcare.
    For the public pensions it’s a similar problem. The politicians financed some gifts to the public from the pension funds (private insured people are not paying into the funds) not related to any payments into the funds (like mothers pensions, investments after Germanys reunification, etc.). So first they plundered the funds and now they are declaring force majeure and cut the payments (I don’t think that’s even possible, so next step would be a complete scraping of public pensions).

    The difference of CDU/SPD/etc. to the AfD (also very friendly to cutting the social welfare state) is now a more friendly approach to asylum seekers and a more hostile position to Russia/China. That’s all. So how exactly they want to get votes in the next elections (apart from the 60+ age group (who don’t seem to care anymore))? It looks like they are eager to get the AfD guys into power positions. Next elections where this is actually possible: Sep 6th in Sachsen-Anhalt and Sep 20th in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In Sachsen-Anhalt AfD is at 38%. If only AfD, cdu and die linke are getting into the parliament (5% needed) it’s possible. In Mecklenburg it doesn’t look that likely, but it’s still 4-5 months to go.

  11. The Rev Kev

    ‘Future Adam Curtis B-Roll
    @adamcurtisbroll
    At the White House, First Lady Melania Trump hosts Queen Camilla and children participating in a cross-cultural educational program using Meta VR headsets, April 2026.’

    It looks like a scene from one of those 1970s dystopian films like “Logan’s Run.” Bonus points for the two creepy ladies in white in the background. And looking at that image, if Melania wore regular shoes like Camilla did, they would be of a height.

    2. Huey

      Absolutely Rev. Haven’t watched any recently but even the few clips I’ve seen of technodystopian film trailers look extremely similar.

    3. ambrit

      Hmmmm….
      My first flash was of “Last Year at Marienbad.” The atmospheres match.
      Paired with “The Iron Domes of Tel Aviv.” A bittersweet musical about the end of a Grand Affair.
      Iran may well be America’s Algerian War. Alas, Trump is no de Gaulle.

      1. LifelongLib

        “Alas, Trump is no de Gaulle.”

        What’s worse is that none of his potential successors are either.

    4. Alice X

      Bonus points for the two creepy ladies in white in the background. And looking at that image, if Melania wore regular shoes like Camilla did, they would be of a height.

      Rev, if M wore regular shoes she might collapse. Ones’ ankles (though they may endure for awhile) are stressed by 4-5″ heels, when you come down, they resist walking flat. She probably has a therapist to help ensure the official image.

        1. Alice X

          lol

          Her image must not betray the source of her power

          quoth se’ moi

          the older I get the more flat footed I cherish being

  12. Wukchumni

    Death Valley superbloom…

    Did a drive-by shooting pictures glimpse on the very verge of the Ides of March and it was ok, nothing special really. We got out of the car occasionally to soak in Lake Manley or stretch our feet, and as we got towards the exit of the NP, I had a ‘is that all there is?’ gulp in my throat.

    The best superbloom in Death Valley NP in my lifetime was in 2005, seas of yellow and purple all the way up to the base of desert peaks, where they ran out of real estate to re-develop.

  13. AG

    re: ideology/film
    
    It´s just a detail:

    According to interviews made about the production of the war movie “DUNKIRK” (2017) instead of SPITFIRES YAK-52s were used for certain things because the YAK-52 of course had more space inside.

    And because “SPITFIREs” are “saint”. You don´t “just drill holes into a SPITFIRE”. While with a Yak-52 that´s not a problem – for Western film crews.

    Of course the origin of the SPITFIRES for this huge production is a fantastic backstory in itself while not a single word is uttered about where the production had found the YAK-52s.

    p.s. is it actually conceivable that this entir SPITFIRE cult is a fabrication?
    The first Spitfires were inferior to Messerschmitts. The killing ratio was 1.2:1 in their disfavour. That´s 20%!

    It is known that the Messerschmitts were small inside and cost a lot of energy to handle. But the plane itself appears to have been really good.

    1. Wukchumni

      I knew the gent who owned Patrick’s Rpadhouse on PCH in Santa Monica, as he was a coin collector and I’d eat there on occasion and he got so many celebrities and such coming through, and he’d sometimes introduce them to little old me, and one of them was an older German fellow who flew planes in the war, and I casually asked if he flew the 109, and he said, ‘Young man-the ME-109 was an extension of my body’.

      This was about 35 years ago and the 3rd highest scoring ace in history before me was Günther Rall.

    2. Carolinian

      Re Nolan–old John Wayne movies used American planes with a “meatball” painted on them to represent Zeros. Nobody seemed to mind.

      But perhaps Nolan fans are disillusioned by the departure from “authenticity.” It’s just a movie.

      And re Spitfires–early days those Spitfires were often piloted by rookies fresh out of flight school. ME pilots had been at it since Spain. Nothing beats experience.

    3. vao

      Reconstitutions of WWII battle scenes have long devolved into choosing how many pieces of modern equipment will be disguised as old-timers, and how much CGI will be splurged to conjure up enough period machines to fill the landscape.

      There was a time when it was possible to shoot movies showing sizeable battle scenes entirely with genuine vintage equipment (and genuine pyrotechnics), such as this Czechoslovak one from 1955 (terribly boring apart from battle scenes). Everything, from uniforms through weapons to airplanes, is the real thing; the nasty looking German tanks are real PzKpfw IV for instance — something rarely seen in movies (I remember another Czechoslovak film with two such original tanks, and the appearance of a fake PzKpfw IV in a recent Russian one), as Tigers seem to have become indispensable when putting German armour into play. Or when it came to airplanes, this German movie also from 1955 (a fairly good one) — featuring real Junkers 86 that were in Swedish service.

      Perhaps film makers should give up on great displays of armoured vehicles and aircraft for WWII movies. Even the Soviets could not muster enough German equipment in working order to shoot their “Liberation” series in the early 1970s (the couple episodes I saw were terribly boring). After all, I find productions that deal with other aspects of that complex phenomenon called war more appealing that just focusing on large scale battles.

        2. hk

          Not the “real” things: the Spanish built Messerschmitts and Heinkels under license and kept on building them into the postwar era, although they had to substitute the RR Merlin for the Daimler Benz engines that were no longer available. You can tell the “German” planes in BoB are Spanish postwar versions because they are using upright V engines (German engines were upside down.)

      2. AG

        Thanks for the examples

        To defend Nolan, in this particular case of a movie the production did everything to be “real”.
        The didn´t even use Green/Blue-screen.
        Instead they put plane-cockpits + exterior onto a cliff looking at the Pacific where they shot and moved the plane-chassis by hand to get the real reflections e.g. from the sky etc. for scenes where the plane was flying low and maneuvering above water.

        So there was I assume not a single item of CGI in the air-scenes used.
        The Bluyray has 2 short videos on that.

    4. hk

      The thing is that most “wonder weapons,” Spitfires included, belong in the realm of myths. Most early World War 2 planes belonged in roughly similar class, although some were slightly more modern than others (Spitfire and BF 109 bring the two first planes–designed roughly at the same time–to incorporate all the latest tech of mid 1930s). Some unsung and less impressive planes, like the Hurricanes and P-36’s were far more effective than their reputations, for example, when used “correctly.” The mythmaking seems to have extended to even the contemporaries: German pilots who got shot down by Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain often genuinely believed that Spitfires got them, refusing to believe that they hot bested by “inferior” planes.

  14. The Rev Kev

    ‘US Seeks to Deploy Hypersonic Missile for the First Time Against Iran”

    Wow. Is that a ‘Wonder Weapon’ that will win the war for the US? Better hope that the Iranians don’t hit it first with their own hypersonic missile.

    2. hereweare

      They’re not supposed to be operational yet. My hope is they fail dismally, going wildly off target, exploding on launch, or something like that.

    3. Glen

      Haven’t seen much reporting on this:

      India to Unveil Long-Range Hypersonic Anti-Ship Missile at Republic Day 2026, Signalling a New Era of Maritime Strike Power
      https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/india-hypersonic-anti-ship-missile-republic-day-2026-drdo-lrashm/

      From BrahMos cost cuts to hypersonic glide and cruise, how is India’s missile warfare playbook reshaping?
      https://www.theweek.in/news/defence/2026/04/30/from-brahmos-cost-cuts-to-hypersonic-glide-and-cruise-how-is-indias-missile-warfare-playbook-reshaping.html

    1. mrsyk

      No thanks, despite their admirable ability to stick to their principles. I’d prefer returning Rushmore to a state free of white faces.

      1. Carolinian

        Borglum though might have approved. He planned the Stone Mtn memorial and was involved with the KKK. There’s a new book.

        Of course back then many saw Lee and Jackson as just as respectable as Washington and Lincoln. TR made the cut because Borglum was a fan.

      2. ChrisFromGA

        It comes to mind that if such a Mt. Rushmore were to exist, it would be the ultimate rage-bait for the Donald. He’d probably order Pete Hegseth to drop a MOAB on it, or maybe a tactical nuke.

    2. The Rev Kev

      If Mt. Rushmore had been a Roman project, all those faces would have been painted to make them look lifelike, especially in the skin tones.

  16. TomDority

    “Sheer insanity. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta collectively are spending more money than the Manhattan Project *every single month*. More than 12x the Manhattan Project every year.”
    Is it insanity or is it calculated?? do they anticipate a new world order beyond that which is currently promulgated??
    Does digital currency play a part in a possible full spectrum control of all aspects of life through digital dominance and elite control??? I don’t know.
    A pay out and recoupment for their expenditures by some AI generated scenario for which they (ruling class) have bought into? to achieve global dominance?
    We have been coding and living in a binary world view…yes/no, up/down, left/right etc.
    sort of like Madonna’s “living in a material world” — Living in a digital immaterial world.
    Just another loony rumination from me –

    1. Duke of Prunes

      It’s FOMO on an inter-galactic scale as well as FOMO all the way down (Fear Of Missing Out). No one wants to admit that its not the greatest thing ever lest they be accused of doing it wrong. Quickly followed by irrelevance because you’ve fallen behind and missed out on that sweet, sweet “productivity” (that no one seems to be able to measure, but, again, they’re measuring wrong).

  18. pjay

    – ‘Is the Justice Department lying about Saturday’s “shooting”?’ – Doomsday Scenario

    I have little personal experience or expertise regarding firearms these days, though as a kid I grew up immersed in gun culture and have family members and friends who are quite knowledgeable. Despite my relative ignorance on the subject, the early reports on the Cole Allen encounter just didn’t ring true to me. And it was for all the reasons mentioned here: A 12-gauge shotgun? The grainy video in which a sprinting Allen did not seem ready or intent on firing while numerous agents were drawing their guns? Reports of an agent shot in the vest by a “bullet”? Six shots? Etc.

    The author’s explanation of the obvious security lapses make sense to me. Perhaps this also explains how these agents could fire (at least) five shots at close range without hitting the suspect. Regardless, thanks for posting this, which summarizes most of the obvious questions I have about the incident. Naturally, the media either ignores such questions or gives coverage to more questionable “conspiracy theories.”

    1. jefemt

      My impression is that no one in the media has ever held, much less loaded operated, a gun- sporting or black killing machine.

      Ignorance helps the fourth estate from asking informed questions.

  19. Tom Stone

    Law enforcement officers are, for the most part, not good shots and a moving target is hard to hit.
    NYPD, “New York’s Finest” did a long term study of police shootings, one out of five shots fired by NY cops hit the intended target.
    These are the highly trained and carefully screened Men and Women who are all that stand between the sheep and chaos!
    The thin blue line.
    Men like Lt Michael Byrd, Jonathon Ross and Derek Chauvin, respectively the incident commander on 1/6, a 9.5 year veteran and member of CBP’s “Special Response Team”, and a “Field Training Officer” a highly respected veteran entrusted with showing rookies “How It’s Done” on the street.

    1. t

      Thanks for bringing that up. There’ds also some data on the incidents of US LE shooting themselves, in the line of duty and on their own time.

      Me, I’m guessing the results we have are after most city, county, and state cops did everything they could to hide and obscure failures.

  20. The Rev Kev

    “Israeli navy intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla vessels heading to Gaza”

    So they did this a long way from Israeli coastal waters. In fact they did it west of Crete. Colour me suspicious but I bet that a lot of that Israeli task force was staging themseves out of either Crete or Greece.

  21. The Rev Kev

    “Exclusive: The US Tech Giant Where Employees Wear IDF Uniforms To Work ‘

    So does that mean that every American who used Intuit’s Turbotax to do their taxes with now has a copy of their tax forms in Israel?

  22. lyman alpha blob

    RE: Should schools get rid of homework? Some educators are saying yes

    Some educators apparently need further education. The excellent sitcom Abbott Elementary had an episode just over a month ago on this very topic and their answer was a resounding “No”. Gold star for them!

    If you haven’t watched this show, you should check it out. It’s set in an inner city Philadelphia public school and not only is it hilarious with great acting, but it does take on the issues of the day from a liberal (or maybe humanitarian is the better adjective) standpoint, but without being preachy – imagine that! They have had episodes trashing charter schools trying to edge out their public counterparts, and even one touting unions in a very positive way, something you almost never see in the US today. It’s on ABC so most people should be able to view it – give it a watch and keep their ratings up so they can continue with the excellent programming.

    2. hereweare

      Finland’s education system is frequently said to be one of the finest in the world, and homework is minimal.

      1. lyman alpha blob

        True, but minimal is different from non-existent. And from what I’ve read, the education in the classroom is far better than what we get in the US. Anyway, the episode I mentioned makes a good case for homework, and they aren’t talking about hours per day either. Worth a watch!

        1. hereweare

          “And from what I’ve read, the education in the classroom is far better than what we get in the US.”
          That’s my impressiion too. I doubt if homework or no homework will make up for it.

    1. flora

      Hmmm. Maybe the approval of the Dem estab, aka Chuck Schumer et al, is a boat anchor instead of a balloon for Dems running for Congress. / ;)

    2. ChrisFromGA

      She served her appointed role as a Judas, sticking around just long enough to veto the bill that would have placed a moratorium on data centers in Maine. Now she falls on her sword.

      Isn’t it uncanny on how such characters always show up at the moment when the people’s voices finally might result in threats to power?

  24. lyman alpha blob

    RE: ‘Speed running’ Scientology

    Hilarious! Several years ago I was in that neighborhood and decided I’d like to take a peek inside myself. I only made it to the foyer before an annoyed thetan materialized and asked about my intentions. Since I was not planning to join up, I was quickly shooed away. They definitely do not like the lookie-loos!

    1. Wukchumni

      About 30-40 years ago Dianetics would regularly appear on the NYT best seller list, and the Scientologists had figured out what Big Apple book stores they utilized to tally sales, and there were a number of Crown Book stores that Scientologists would buy from and then return to say another Crown Book store for a refund.

    1. flora

      Even W, W! did better than this. The top Enron guys were given prison sentences. The top Worldcom guy Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

      And then?…. O bailed out the banks and Wall St., and it’s been downhill ever since. Do I think a current Dem front runner would have a better Justice Dept than T when it comes to financial malfeasance? No, sadly I don’t. When on this point W looks good by comparison to the last crop of occupants…. /smh

      Here’s the PBS Frontline docu about the opioid crisis, focusing on one company, not Purdue but same playbook.
      1hr. utube.

      Opioids, Inc. (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvCld2vKug8

  27. Tony Wikrent

    George Noble: [Musk / Tesla] is the most OUTRAGEOUS deal I’ve seen in my 45 years on Wall Street.

    This is the most OUTRAGEOUS deal I’ve seen in my 45 years on Wall Street.

    SpaceX just disclosed Musk’s new compensation package:

    He gets up to 200 million super-voting shares if SpaceX hits a $7.5 trillion valuation, establishes a permanent human settlement of at least ONE MILLION people on Mars, and deploys roughly 100 terawatts of space-based computing power.

    Let me put the 100 terawatts in perspective:

    The entire electricity generation capacity of the United States is around 1.2 terawatts. The comp plan asks Musk to build more than 80x America’s entire power grid… in orbit.

    This is a science fiction screenplay that somehow landed in front of the SEC….

    1. Carolinian

      He’ll have to get in line at the looney bin given Trump admin crowding.

      Real men go, not to Iran, but to Mars? Maybe real men are nice???

    2. lyman alpha blob

      This bit is also worth noting, and more confirmation of my theory that a lot of what we call “finance” is indistinguishable from check kiting or others forms of petty fraud –

      “This is the same playbook he’s run for two decades.

      Use a privately controlled entity as a personal piggy bank, and when the bills come due, find new investors to absorb the losses.

      The IPO is structured to keep that game going FOREVER.”

  29. Cat Fancier

    Since I don’t see anyone else posting this, I am going to post it, because I like it, and I think it captures the spirit of the times as much as the Iranian LEGO videos. It’s by the Berlin-based Syrian musician SIBA and her collaborator @monkyman_music and is called “Dounana.” Apparently despite all the censorship and cultural unfriendliness towards non-Israeli peoples in the Middle East in Germany, it has become a hit. I like this particular link, from ethnicalmusical on Instagram (I seem to follow more Insta posts than most NC posters and I feel the same affinity with much younger people on Insta. They’re way beyond my stuffy, boring, boomer generation with which I share precious few attributes. No investment portfolio, never in the PMC, left Dem Party for all intents & purposes when it abandoned the working class under Clinton.
    https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXgtDTQDa_n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

    1. bertl

      How many and how long have state and non-state actors known about and exploited this vulnerability since 2017?

  32. johnnyme

    If anyone is in need of an extra antidote today, this one is pretty special. Courtesy of the Voyageurs Wolf Project:

    https://x.com/VoyaWolfProject/status/2049880987832631424

    Without a doubt, our best trail camera capture yet: the first documented observation of a cougar with kittens in Minnesota in modern history. Turn up the volume to hear all the vocalizations.

    The footage, which was captured on March 25, shows a cougar with 3 large kittens while they feed on a deer they killed just south of Voyageurs National Park.

  34. Jason Boxman

    LOL, I know Yves has mentioned this recently

    A “rich face” is stretched taut, often incapable of varied expressions and plumped with filler or implants or a person’s own grafted fat. Once, this face belonged to a villainous class of elites in sci-fi depictions of a dystopian future. In “The Hunger Games,” residents of the capital city who revel in luxury and excess at the expense of other impoverished districts often wear sculpted, altered faces. In “Doctor Who,” a wealthy socialite from the distant future has gone through so many face-lifts that she becomes little more than a stretched face on a thin sheet of skin mounted on a frame, maintained with constant moisturizer.

    From Rich People Didn’t Look Like This Before (NY Times oped)

    Wowzers, send help

    The masses want in. Millennials who say they cannot afford homes are spending on their faces instead. Magazines such as Vogue and Allure are no longer just advising readers on nail polish colors and designer sandals for spring, but also when — not if — they should get face-lifts. Rhinoplasties, face-lifts and blepharoplasties (eyelid surgeries) were the three most popular facial procedures of 2025, and the number of facial procedures overall increased by around 19 percent. The luxury sector, meanwhile, contracted by 2 percent last year.

    The endless self gratification of our elite. Meanwhile, the country burns.

    We’re not ready for the brick wall that is Climate, nor the incoming depression from a billion barrel oil shortage that’s wending its way through the supply chain.

    Tomato prices have tripled or quadrupled, due to Climate, this year at wholesale, says the local farmer’s market grocer; What happens when this is Every vegetable? Grain? Fruit? Oops.

  35. Jason Boxman

    Larry’s risky business (The Verge via archive.ph)

    Oracle’s betting everything on OpenAI. Will it pay off or pop the bubble?

    I can only hope the bubble implodes soon, before the Internet is just slopland.

    Another rich whackjob

    n some ways, Oracle was an obvious partner for OpenAI. It’s one of the few Big Boys that isn’t trying to compete with Nvidia by building its own chips — though it does have a very close relationship with AMD. But there’s one other benefit that probably tickled Ellison, a longtime Microsoft hater who even resorted to sending private detectives to sort through Microsoft’s trash: OpenAI’s biggest partner for compute used to be Microsoft. The deal was pure, flashy, competitive Ellison — and propelled Oracle’s shares to an all-time high.

    (bold mine)

  36. AG

    re: Germany rearmament

    BERLINER ZEITUNG

    google-translation

    The German government is struggling to explain: Where have all the billions spent on defense gone?

    The balance sheet for this turning point embarrasses the German Armed Forces: 111 billion spent, 47,000 contracts signed – and apparently nobody knows what has actually arrived.

    by Florian Warweg
    https://archive.is/EwHud

    1. John Wright

      One may suggest that the financial and military industries in the USA/Europe are becoming a force for world peace as so much spending is siphoned off before destructive weapons can actually be built.

      They may function as an updated and indirect version of the USA’s Peace Corps, which still exists, with a small budget of 430 million for 2026.

      The Peace Corps budget is about the cost of 100 Tomahawk missles.

      The Peace Corps needs to embrace the work of USA’s finance and military procurement industries.

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