[This post launched before complete because the usual sort of reasons. I expect to have it done by 8:00 AM EDT, so please return or refresh your browsers then for a final version]
Warren Buffett said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked.” We have compared the looming economic crisis to a tsunami, where the first big sign is water seemingly harmlessly retreating far further from the shore than normal before the powerful wall of water surges in, sweeping away pretty much everything in its path.
We appear to have entered the “swimming naked” part of this war, with the US exposing both private parts and belly flab. We’ll discuss an exchange of fire between the US and Iran which would normally be too tactical to merit more than passing attention. But as we’ll soon explain, US media reports state that the Navy had to deploy what amount to fallback armaments, indicating that stocks of primary weapons are now visibly short. Mind you, this could be the result of poor planning, which with this military, is entirely conceivable, if also a bad look.
We will also turn to some extremely informative YouTube talks, one with John Kirakou, which puts the Iran war in a bigger, ugly, great power conflict frame, and with analyst Jeff Currie, who earlier published A Crude Awakening an important alert on the severity of the coming supply crisis. His full report is at the end of this post.
The level of kinetic action in the Iran war has risen to the level of pretty fierce skirmishes in the Persian Gulf and its shores, making the Team Trump claims that the ceasefire is still on look silly.1 Critically, Iran has again humiliated Trump by refusing to respond formally to his one-page peace scheme in his stipulated 48 hour time frame, although many Iranian insiders have already said it contains unacceptable demands and so will be rejected at least in part, if not in whole.
The current Bloomberg lead headline rubs that fact in:
The US said it expects Iran to respond to its latest proposal to end their war imminently, as clashes in the Strait of Hormuz threatened to further fracture a month-long ceasefire.
Iran has still given no indication whether it will accept President Donald Trump’s plan, sent on Wednesday, which proposes that the Islamic Republic reopen the strait and the US end a blockade on Iranian ports over the next month.
If I were the Iranians, I would reject it with some belligerent noises after the US financial markets open next week to hit Trump at one of his known vulnerable points, paper energy prices.
Daniel Davis, in the early part of his latest talk, argue that Trump really really wants out of this war but faces powerful opposing forces.
It is gratifying to see Davis taking apart dangerously stupid talking heads pushing for moar war.
Yet Trita Parsi describes how Trump’s continued use of extremely belligerent rhetoric is making it impossible for his to use one possible exit, negotiations:2
Mind you, with all due respect to Parsi, who is generally extremely insightful: he, like some other prominent YouTube figures, seems so obsessed with the idea of negotiations that he cannot see what ought to be obvious. There will be no meaningful negotiations ex a regime change in the US or Israel, and likely not even then. Iran and the Russians know full well that the US is not agreement capable, and as Chas Freeman and others have pointed out, under Trump is not ever operationally equipped to handle talks.
Also, and this is an update after the post first launched, the US is escalating against China. Bye bye Xi summit! The lead story at the Financial Times:
Back to the original text:
Independent media outlets are covering the attacks and counter-attacks of the last 48 hours, despite the fogginess of the information and the difficulty of giving an easily-digested account. For instance:
If you have a high tolerance for pain, this segment also includes yet more Trump threat display and Starmer ‘splaining his decision to try to hang on.
Julian Macfarlane sets forth the conflicting US and Iranian accounts of what happened and then tries to make sense of it in The Fudge of War:
There seems to be a difference of opinion. If the Iranian story is to believed the 3 Aegis destroyers were not exactly sightseeing in Hormuz, they were carrying out military operations against tankers, backed up by aerial assets, launching air strikes. Of course, Qesm Island, Bandar Khamir, Sirik are not only “civilian” sites, they are fortified sites for launching missiles and drones .
It would seem that the US Navy was testing the boundaries, carrying out SEAD strikes as per American military doctrine before exposing its three Aegis destroyers tasked with intercepting Iranian tankers. Or perhaps the tankers were just an excuse, with the real targets Iranian defenses along the strait…
The operation was conducted in two primary phases within the Strait of Hormuz…
Macfarlane then explains that on May 4,The USS Truxtun and USS Mason enter the Strait of Hormuz and are attacked pronto; a third destroyer, USS Rafael Peralta, arrives on May 7. The Iranians attack the trio bigly.
Back to Macfarlane:
The US Navy should have known by now that its ships would run out of ammunition in the face of dedicated swarm attacks, in this case missiles, drones and fast boats as I described yesterday. Did the Americans think that sinking a few fast boats would frighten the Iranians? And CIWS magazines are empty in just 20 seconds…
Once a vessel is reduced to CIWS, it’s in trouble. This is the point at which the destroyers fired off Tomahawks which could not, however, hurt Iranian launch sites which are mostly underground but I am sure they hoped would keep the Iranians busy. Each Tomahawk costs about $4 million. Aegis destroyers have 96 launch tubes, so carrying offensive missiles reduces the number of defensive missiles, a vulnerability under swarm attack.
Some reports suggest that the ships were damaged. CENTCOM says no but that denial is meaningless given who it comes from. These are the people who said the Iranians attacked them for no reason at all.
We had cited Donald Gorbachev yesterday on the significance of the destroyer firing CIWS, which is effectively a backup weapon and demonstrates depletion of preferred armaments. CBS reported the destroyers CIWS; OSINTDefender says the destroyers did not suffer damage:
According to a report from CBS, citing U.S. officials, the USS Truxtun (DDG 103) and the USS Mason (DDG 87) came under intense attack from Iranian fast attack boats, drones, and missiles in an engagement that has been characterized as far fiercer than the past engagement the two… pic.twitter.com/UmGNhToc60
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 7, 2026
CIWS fires when the layered defense has failed. SM-2 missed. SM-6 missed. ESSM missed. RAM missed. The destroyers were down to twenty-millimeter Gatling guns at terminal range. CIWS fires for roughly thirty seconds before the magazine empties. Three destroyers fired CIWS. Three…
— Donald J. Gorbachev (@donaldgorbachev) May 8, 2026
From the detail of Gorbachev’s tweet:
CIWS fires when the layered defense has failed. SM-2 missed. SM-6 missed. ESSM missed. RAM missed. The destroyers were down to twenty-millimeter Gatling guns at terminal range. CIWS fires for roughly thirty seconds before the magazine empties. Three destroyers fired CIWS. Three destroyers withdrew.
What forced it — not the top shelf. The IRGC did not need the top shelf. The launches came from the Bandar Abbas coastline. Coastal anti-ship missiles. Noor and Ghadir family. Possibly Khalij Fars. Cruise from the shore, ballistic anti-ship from the shore, swarm geometry from the shore. The shore is twenty miles from the Strait. The shore does not need a navy.
The Fattah did not fly. The Khorramshahr did not fly. The Sejjil did not fly. The deeper magazine sat in the silos. What flew was the coastal inventory the IRGC has been showing on parade for fifteen years. The middle shelf emptied the destroyer’s top shelf. The destroyers withdrew before the IRGC reached for anything else.
Game. Set. Match. How long will the US try to keep up this pretense? Yes, it can use some of its also-depleted air power to punish Iran. But this latest development confirms that there was never a hope of the US muscling open the Strait.
Now to the promised bigger picture take, from John Kirakou on Unfiltered with S.A.M.:
Kirakou provides many important insights, such as the state of anarchy in Somalia, increasing conflict in Yemen, accelerating Israeli occupation of Cyprus, and his take on the 2028 elections. His depicts the Democrats as self-screwed, with none of Newsom, Pritzker and Harris electable. He argues that Tucker would be a welcome and viable dark horse, but he would be sure to get the RFK senior treatment.
Kinetic developments from other arenas:
On the economic front, A must watch. Jeff Currie (of the aforementioned report, A Crude Awakening) is refreshingly clear in explaining the behaviors driving the current bad normal of Mr. Market greatly under-registering near certain serious economic deterioration, and not allowing for the bias to even worse outcomes. Currie, also does not tolerate nonsense but manages to seem pleasant while engaging in information knee-breaking. When Narwal says, “What happens if the Strait stays closed for two to four weeks?” Currie rejects that, pointing out that two to four weeks has been a rolling default from the very start of the war. Yet even now, two years after Ansar Allah started messing with Red Sea transits, traffic is only at 75% of former levels. “We have one observation. Red Sea. It’s still not open.” Narwal’s reaction is telling but also typical of how too many people think: “The world needs the energy, so surely there will be transits….”
And the intermediate term oil situation in the US is not as rosy as bulls would have you believe:
The US cannot continue to be a major swing producer of oil. All growth in oil production has come from just one oil basin, and that basin has been in decline since 2018 and will soon turn negative. This is just simple geology.
Full report: https://t.co/3Hdgf6bfxT pic.twitter.com/mEDMR21P8w
— Chris Martenson (@chrismartenson) May 8, 2026
The Wall Street Journal is getting more serious about covering the jet fuel crisis and presents some new information (at least to me and I have been trying to stay on top of this issue) that the US West Coast is much more at risk than overall figures would have you believe.
Keep in mind that Wolf Richter has repeatedly provided data confirming that US consumers have kept spending despite being in a bad mood:
🇺🇸 U.S. Consumer sentiment falls to lowest reading on record pic.twitter.com/yHT0zCSdNI
— Hedgeye (@Hedgeye) May 8, 2026
However, reports like this validate the concerns of US shale and oil producers who remain reluctant to ramp up development plans in light of the old saying, “The cure for high oil prices is high oil prices” as in they destroy enough demand so as to (in not all that much time) produce lower energy prices.3
This is a weak gesture at my being too distracted by the epoch-changing Iran war to cover the accelerating crisis in private credit properly. But one thing is clear: a ton of sectors in the US are already demanding or soon to seek bailouts, with farmers and air carriers at the head of the line. Private credit looks set to be on that list. There will be too many needy causes relative to political ability and fiscal means to properly stabilize all of them. So what will be the profile of the coming triage?
Finally:
The US has been strategically-defeated in the information war too.
Reminds me Putin’s conversation with Tucker, where he asserted that this was a very hard thing to do given US information dominance. And one can see his point: where is the Kuwaiti ace? the downed airman? the… https://t.co/FKm8rqznAd
— Policy Tensor (@policytensor) May 7, 2026
I wish this were true. Sadly, those who might encounter the videos are the social media/independent media forward type, which is a minority of the population. The overwhelming majority in the Anglosphere (and Israel and Thailand) gets their news nearly entirely from orthodox sources and will never see this sort of video unless it is put in their face. And the big platforms are outright banning or suppressing amplification of this acutely needed outing of this corrupt war.
All for today! See you tomorrow!
____
1 But Congress is sure to play along. However, China will not be fooled. I anticipate that a continuation of this level of jousting means no summit with Xi, with Trump permitted the minimal face-saving ploy of pretending he cancelled when in fact the Chinese never agreed.
2 This hot-headed talk may signify that Trump has written off the idea of going to China; it’s not the sort of thing the Chinese seem likely to tacitly endorse by rolling out the red carpet.
3 I am a bit late to showcase this talk between Larry Johnson and Stanislav Krapivnik:
With my geek tendencies, I took interest in Stas’ explanation of why shutting down and then restarting an oil well was more a matter of cost and fuss than risk of irremediable damage to the well. See at 13:30.
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Per Yves’ observations and fears about plastics, the NYT awakens and finally takes note:
Taiwan’s Plastic Habit Collides With Shortages Caused by a Faraway War
It took decades for plastic to become entrenched everywhere and substitution is not available. This will become a huge problem as Yves anticipates. People will have to bring their own containers and this will kill doordash type businesses.
I’ve been thinking for years that in a civilizational collapse scenario, “containers” are going to be awfully important.
It might be a good idea to save bottles, bags, ziplocs, etc rather than tossing them into the waste stream.
Yea, here I was a few months ago annoyed when I went into the attic and there is a case of half gallon Mason jars and a couple cases of the smaller ones left over from years ago.
Think I’ll hang onto those and see what’s needed to be stored in the upcoming months. The freezer can only hold so much.
Might also be a good idea to get the old bicycle serviced, and lay some simple consumables supplies (tube repair kit, spare tire/tube) into store.
Hmmm. Good point that. Maybe shoe repair kits too come to think of it.
Mason jar lids can be hard to find; several years ago there were none locally. They can be reused sometimes, but not many.
The used lids can be used to store dry goods (rice, beans, etc…) and for leftovers in the fridge. You probably don’t want to reuse them for canning or preserves.
Indeed. I used a lid one too many times for canning and had to use tin snips to get at my pickles recently.
You can probably reuse the lids several times if you’re just turning a jar closed by hand to store something, but best used just once for canning.
look for reusable lids. we have some we’ve successfully used for several years. i won’t specify a brand, here but there are several and easy to find.
Yes, those are good. The problem with the metal lids is they get a little corrosion on them when used for canning, especially the metal ring, and if you reuse them, they can be nearly impossible to twist off.
Plastic Mayo Lids will fit regular mouth mason jars.
Also Parmesan shaker lids will fit on them.
Put the parm lid on the mayo jar, and you have a great parts jar.
Buy them in sleeves of 100 from that company shall go unnamed. They’re a sickening exploitive ripoff otherwise.
Ball jars are also key to food preservation from the garden (or store) – get a pressure cooker. Just bought 8 cases of jars for this summer’s harvest – and last year and the year before are available (and reusable). A dehydrator is also good for some things. I expect Ball Jar shortages mid-summer.
One of the things missed during The Information Revolution was the much quieter and just as important Plastics Revolution.
From the 1990s to today the amount of useful plastics varieties has exploded and their adoption has penetrated everywhere. Most people aren’t going to appreciate this until they go away.
Much of the interior and all of the exterior parts of a modern automobile from the headlights down is plastic. I’ve heard it’s 30% of a vehicles makeup.
Aiee! We were remiss in not including ‘Plastic shock’ hits Asia as Iran oil crisis strangles supplies from the pink paper (archived link).
No factoids from other countries.
Plastics are the biggest dumpster fire in history, just about. I remember seeing some photos ages ago in a NY Times story, about some humanitarian crisis or other in Africa, and of course I notice discarded plastic bottles in the background. Because of course. There’s no end to end infrastructure for recycling these in poverty stricken places without even electricity, running water, or paved roads, and we don’t even do it correctly in America. Sigh.
Jason Boxman: Yep.
It’s obvious that the first things to go should water in plastic bottles, the XXI century equivalent of thumb sucking. Along with soft drinks, diabetes leaching a plastic bottle.
But I am sure that something unimportant like plastic syringes will go first.
The “free” market sez: High-fructose corn syrup is a human right.
The trouble is, places without electricity or running water are precisely where water in plastic bottles might be a good idea. Might be!
Formosa Petrochemical conserves the name that Portuguese gave to the Island. Formosa is the old, and now less frequently used, form of “beautiful” adjective. Now it is much more common “linda”, “bonita” or “bela” and “formosa” may be more limited to, for instance, literary use. So, Taiwan was named the “Beautiful Island” by the Portuguese. A name not to forget. In old Spanish it was “fermosa” then changed to “hermosa” used less and less with time.
All done! If you read this post before the time of this comment, please refresh this page and re-skim.
Both Iran and the US have negotiating demands that have very little overlap. Iran wants to get out from under the repressive economic regime imposed by the US over the past half century. The US demands that Iran capitulate and stay in a state where both Israel & the US can come in and ‘mow the lawn’ occasionally. Israel just wants Iran to be a smoking hole in the ground. The US has tried force of arms but that is not working. Worse yet, that economic tsunami is starting to slowly roll in. Could it be that China is staying on the side lines until Trump is desperate enough to accept an eventual offer by them to end this war on negotiated terms? No sense now as Trump is still flaying around but in a few more weeks he might be willing to listen. Maybe.
I think that since Iran is now freely trading with BRICS which is a rapidly growing (and dominant) fraction of the global economy, the sanctions regime is of less and less importance. I would put forward that Iran wants its sovereignty respected (or feared), including its status as a regional superpower, which means sphere of influence with the US absent. This requires the US to stop considering the entire world its sphere of power, even internal to China (Uigars) and Russia. It’s very hard for a dedicated Hegemon to realize it ain’t.
I think that trump is so mentally stripped of reason and sane introspection, that he’s incapable of accepting honest negotiations with any party. For example, he now routinely takes on the pope because he believes that he’s ‘greater’ than any pope, or anyone else in history, for that matter. He’s profoundly perverted in each and every aspect of his personality; the Iranian lego movie makes this point by repeating again, and again, that the president of the united states is a ‘fucking pedophile.’ The only way to begin a serious resolution of trump’s criminal war is to remove him from the scene. I believe and hope that just that will exactly happen in the coming weeks, or months.
The thought occurs that, depending on how close the Iranian small boats got to the three USN destroyers, some of the CIWS fire may have been at incoming weapons launched from inside the engagement range of the layered missile defenses of the warships. If that is what the CIWS were shooting at, it might indicate that the outer layers of the anti-missile defenses were not actually not saturated or depleted.
I was puzzled by the mention of heavy machine gun fire from the decks of the destroyers. This suggests to me that the boats got quite close.
Those heavy machine guns might have been going after those drones instead rather than those speed boats. It must have been a very “exciting” experience on the bridges of those three destroyers too.
I have heard that machine guns have been used in Ukraine as point defense against Geran/Shahed type drones. Ted Postol suggested that it would be simple, using off-shelf communications modules, to convert “fire and forget” style drones into FPV drones for use against moving targets.
I doubt that the details of this engagement will become public any time soon; too much information about the capabilities and vulnerabilities of USN.
You can bet that the Chinese and Russians are watching everything like hawks. Between their satellites, their ground observers and that Chinese spy ship parked in the region, they would be missing very little of US military operations.
The CIWS is a 20MM Gatling gun, 20MM is large enough for proximity fuses which increases the hit probability by a substantial amount.
I have read of several rates of fire and I’m not sure if any of them are correct.
5.56 MM miniguns fire at a rate of 6,000 RPM and the higher the rate of fire the better with a system like this.
To me the most interesting parts of the gun are the feed system that has to perform its function at a rate of thousands of times per minute ( Magazine capacity is 1,500 rounds ) and the cooling system.
The first time a Gatling Gun driven by an electric motor was fired was 1900, 126 years ago.
Given the information I have seen in public, I find it impossible to evaluate what the the threat was (from the ship’s perspective) and how that threat was handled. Everything thing I read here, without that info, is to me speculation and projection. While I am long from being current, I was qualified as “Tactical Action Officer” with weapons release authority on two destroyers so have some experience with how engagements are handled. Again, that was before the current threat.
From what I see, upgrading the Mk38 Gun Weapon System to Mod 4 will provide significant close in air defense with the 30mm main gun that allows for an air-burst round.
As far as CIWS, I don’t think a continuous fire for 30 secs is an actual thing.
Are we sure the Fed and congress won’t just respond with massive quantitative easing and bailouts? If inflation rises to 10-20 percent initially, and then the Fed responds with even more “easy money” policies its not clear that loading up on assets now rather than getting 2-3 percent in a bank would be a bad idea.
TBC, I do not think this is what will happen. But its not exactly illogical based on the implicit “Fed Put”. (The outright lying and manipulation by our media that makes the oncoming inflation worse – agreed, that’s illogical and detestable)
Wash your mouth out and immediately read the linked A Crude Awakening report (embedded at the end of the post).
Money will not conjure up jet fuel, or diesel or fertilizer or petroleum-dependent pharmaceutic inputs or sulphuric acid or helium. And the list of critical supplies that are or will soon be scarce is longer.
Large amounts of net fiscal spending at a time when productive capacity has fallen markedly is guaranteed to produce inflation, potentially hyperinflation.
>Money will not conjure up jet fuel, or diesel or fertilizer or petroleum-dependent pharmaceutic inputs or sulphuric acid or helium. And the list of critical supplies that are or will soon be scarce is longer.
Right, stagflation is almost certainly baked in at this point. But equities actually did okay (nominally) in the 70s during stagflation until Volker jacked up rates.
Imagine a similar dynamic but with the Fed quantitative easing instead of tightening. That would basically force people into equities: who wants to get 1 percent in a bank account when inflation is 10 percent a year?
For what it’s worth, the Great Depression starting in 1929 was a deflationary period.
The Great Depression was a collapse of demand, not supply. There was plenty of stuff, but most people didn’t have the money to buy it. Those who did could live quite well because prices were so low.
In the coming crisis, stuff will not be available or will be only at exorbitant prices. An utterly different situation.
Nate Hagens makes this point over and over again. (spot cut) His defines money as a claim on energy since energy is not just gasoline or jet fuel, but is embedded in everything we consume from solar panels to–especially–food which now takes 10 calories of energy input to produce 1 calorie’s worth of food. This represents a dramatic shift over the last 85 years when 1 calorie of fossil fuel inputs produced 2.3 calories’ worth of food.
Jeff Currie would say you speak like a macro guy or a finance guy and NOT like a commodity guy. Watch the video Yves linked by minute 4-6. He says macro/finance types worry only about notional values and they cannot see the changes in volumetric measure and the problems which those changes create.
Matt Bivens on the state of Trump’s mind as revealed by a talk he gave to some Republicans in Florida
https://mattbivens.substack.com/p/trump-says-were-like-pirates-boasts (includes link to transcript)
The crowd eats it up because who doesn’t like some good jokes about America beating up foreigners? It seems it’s not just the Israelis who like to kid about shooting and crying.
And that’s the problem right there. The a’hole factor among the privileged doesn’t depend on ethnicity or a particular religion. People who have never known precarity think it’s all a big laugh. Of course they do feel threatened when others object but assume that must be a problem with the “terrorists.” Can’t they take a joke? Just bomb them.
> The crowd eats it up because who doesn’t like some good jokes about America beating up foreigners?
It brings to mind the beginning of George C Scott’s portrayal of General Patton in the movie of that name — “Americans love to fight.”
When I was young, I was drunk on the WWII brand fumes, imagining that US was good guys.
Too soon old, too late wise.
Wars live on in the imagination while only those who were participants or victims have the trauma. Here in the US the end of the draft meant that most of us have been drawn to the great drama of war (me too) while having little idea of what it was really like.
So it’s not just the privileged who see adventure in war but the poors have a better grasp of reality, including a reality where they will be the cannon fodder.
Good points. But in addition to the privileged who are sheltered from our wars and the (mostly) poors who fight them, there is a significant segment of our electorate who still buy into our dominant Cowboy culture and eat up this type of bulls**t rhetoric. These people make up much of Trump’s (shrinking) base. I say this not as some condescending member of the PMC but as someone who grew up in this world. Beating up foreigners or acting like pirates is great, because to them we’re still the Good Guys and our cause is still Righteous. They’d still cheer “hell yeah!” to Toby Keith singing:
“And you’ll be sorry that messed with the U-S-of-A
‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way”
I still think peeling off enough of these supporters is the key to defeating Trump.
The key to defeating Trump is an average American unleaded gasoline price of $5.50 and diesel price of $6.50 (or higher) for more than one month after July. However, as CIA Democrats are the vast majority of the House and Senate “opposition party”, we’ll still continue with our policies, sigh. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Unfortunately, the only way out of this is through it. Until there is a real social collapse, i.e. 1930s style Depression, I see little impetus for real change in the US.
I think from World War I or maybe slightly before until the Tet Offensive we affected a more noble and genteel view of what America stood for, where the hero only took up violent means reluctantly and in response to the “bad guys” initiating violence. The reality was the same, basically, but our mass culture tried to pretend our ideals were the reality. Once the Vietnam War obviously went bust, pop culture reverted to the “Make my day, punk!” version of American “manhood”, where the hero being badder and more brutal was equated with better. And we wondered why violent crime soared and mass shootings became a big thing at home from that point on. Duh!
I enjoy imagining a Danteaque fitting eternity for Toby Keith. A boot–a maximalist cowboy boot-eternally put in his ass while Kris Kristofferson songs play in an endless loop at Mötörhead decibel levels.
Down with jingo art.
Shelby Foote thought Patton’s worldview from the movie, whether actual or exaggerated/fictitious, was weird. Patton was one of the relatively few Americans who’d know something about losing a war and having his “homeland” devastated in process: he came from an old Virginia family and many of his close relatives served in the Confederate army, with several killed and their fortunes ruined–although like most prominent Southern families, their wealths seem to have recovered quickly (Patton’s family was rich again by the time he was growing up). He was just a generation removed from the Civil War so war stories would have been deeply familiar to him.
To me, personally, Patton struck me less like a typical American but a stereotypical Prussian aristocrat after World War I–warmonger with a big chip on his shoulder, a worldview that I think we see again in the former generals now seving as TV blowhards.
Patton the movie was written by Francis Ford Coppola who showed in Apocalypse Now that he was anything but a pro war guy. The Vietnam generation in general was a reaction against the guts and glory WW2 “winners” who, whatever their sacrifices, couldn’t hold a candle to what the Russians and Red Army endured. Your comment about Patton and Prussians reminds that the Nazis themselves thought Patton was a star. The Allies put him in charge of the Pas-de-Calais decoy army for just that reason.
If you look back at the US wars of the 20th and 21st it’s remarkable the degree to which their respective initiators–Wilson, FDR, Johnson, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Biden and now Trump–were not veterans. Truman did serve in WW1and George H.W. in WW2. Eisenhower was a booster of empire but also a critic of the MIC.
Of course even in medieval times the knights in armor–for whom the wars were fought–were often captured and ransomed while their minions were slaughtered. It’s all a big rhyming circle.
Coppola distorted some of Patton’s record in service of his anti-war framing. The movie explicitly depicts Patton as willing to risk his men’s lives to advance his own record. In fact, Patton was careful about risk, as reflected by the fact that his Third Army developed a reputation of the best one in which to serve, precisely because the men in it had the best odds of survival.
Patton was a master of logistics, his “Red Ball Express” kept his army moving faster than most thought possible.
He still ran out of gas, the Mulberry system was simply not adequate and even when Calais was captured the Port was badly damaged.
“…FDR, Johnson, …”
Hold on, you’ve omitted Truman (Korea) and pretended that LBJ was responsible for Vietnam when JFK had multiplied the US troop presence 20-fold. LBJ was undoubtedly a vile fellow but the Vietnam war was well underway when he took over.
I listed presidents who were not veterans and then did mention that Truman was a veteran and therefore an exception to my list of those starting and not just continuing.
And if anyone started the Vietnam war it would be Eisenhower who I also mentioned. JFK continued the “advisor” role of the US military. It was Johnson who took the fatal step of sending combat troops to directly fight the Viet Cong and North. Those who say Kennedy would have withdrawn after a 1964 win are probably or at least plausibly correct.
Johnson was warned by people like George Ball not to do what he did. He even agreed it was probably a no win situation but did it anyway.
Truman started the Vietnam War by transporting and funding French colonial troops. They even paid for employing unemployed Japanese soldiers to help.
Re those Japanese troops. Meet the new occupation troops – same as the old ones.
Didn’t LBJ rise to the Presidency in late 1963? Vietnam was a middling affair at that time. My recollection is rapid US military build-up began 1965 -1968. LBJ was in the middle of all that.
Even Johnson’s VP Humphrey strongly disagreed with the decision to escalate.
Whatever Humphrey’s personal convictions, he ran as the establishment candidate, never clearly opposing the Vietnam War during his 1968 presidential campaign.
Nixon was the candidate with a Peace Plan, which nothing more than a heap of bovine excrement.
Heeburt Hoobert, which what I called Humphrey, was the Kamala of the day, never staking out convincing positions on the highest stake issues.
Disagreed in 1965….before the escalation.
May be, but in public, Hubert was a slave to Johnson’s policy. He was the pro-war candidate at the ’68 Convention running against two anti-war candidates, though one of them was dead from a bullet to the brain. It wasn’t until the last week of the campaign, the end of October, that HHH finally broke with Johnson’s war policy. It was too late. A lot of the anti-war vote went to Nixon while a lot of the anti-Establishment vote went to Wallace.
And then Humphrey went on to be a big ass in ’72. He may have been a good guy in ’48 on civil rights, but he was also the Whip on the Gulf on Tonkin vote, something I happened to witness by a bizarre coincidence.
To me, Humphrey is one degree from Scoop Jackson, the godfather of neocon pols. Moynihan is of the same ilk. The Clintons are their corrupt progeny, and the Obamas are their cynical exploiters. At the same time, there were Democrats like Galbraith, but without a real Left–and that was thanks to another cynical ploy in which Democrats enthusiastically after using the Left through the Depression and WWII–the pressure of money proved overwhelming.
I’m just repeating what I have read–can’t remember where I read it. Search provides this backgrounder
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/09/archives/humphrey-in-memo-to-johnson-in-1965-warned-of-vietnam.html
I did just read a book about Kennedy’s Vietnam policy and one reason people in his admin like McNamara wanted to get rid of Diem was that Diem was threatening to make peace to preserve himself in power against internal enemies. McNamara later said rejecting this early peace bid was a big mistake.
So Johnson may have reversed JFK’s alleged doubts about Vietnam but he didn’t reverse Kennedy’s Sec Defense. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
Aarrggh!
I’m sorry, but I am programmed to respond automatically any time this claim about Kennedy and Vietnam is voiced. Yes, Kennedy multiplied our “advisors,” extending what Ike started, and he knew what they were doing there. There were many reasons for this. But since the beginning of his administration he continually resisted pressure by nearly all his military advisors to send in regular combat troops and therefore involve the US officially. Unlike the caricature of the playboy dilettante painted by his detractors – and the knee-jerk anti-communism of those who came before and after him – Kennedy understood the history and dilemmas of the Vietnam situation and the likely outcome of US escalation, The evidence that he wanted to reduce the US presence in Vietnam, and end it completely after the 1964 election, is now considerable. Johnson was not just following Kennedy’s course. He reversed it.
—Wiki entry on Galbraith
Galbraith’s son wrote a very good introduction to this subject 20+ years ago that I recommend to anyone unfamiliar with the issue:
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/galbraith-exit-strategy-vietnam/
There is a link to an exchange with Chomsky as well. I don’t want to hijack this Iran discussion by going into the weeds here, but if you read the relevant works (I have read them), Chomsky’s defense is slippery, if not dishonest in my opinion.
John Kennedy had been a skeptic of the possibility of succeeding in Vietnam since he visited there in 1951. (See JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglass, Page 93) The small, incremental increases of troops President Kennedy approved in the early 1960s were driven by political necessity. In early October, 1963, the president issued NSAM 263 which called for a plan to be developed for USA forces to begin pulling out of Vietnam by the end of that year. President Johnson issued NSAM 273, which rescinded 263, three days after Kennedy’s death.
Usa troop levels in Vietnam per year
1963 16300
1964 23300
1965 184300
1966 385300
1967 485600
1968 -1969 536000 to 543000
1970 334600
1972 24000
Kennedy was assassinated on Nov 22,1963.
It is a stretch to blame much of the troop buildup on JFK.
His family had a long history of military service. And the South has a weird relationship with the Civil War. When there were bookstores, there was always a Civil War section, when there was nothing of the kind in the North (save maybe areas near important battle sites that were tourist draws).
Patton grew up in California, not the South.
His family had long roots in Virginia–his grandmother moved to CA after his grandfather, a Confederate colonel, was killed during the Civil War, but maintained strong Virginia connections: Patton, his father, and his grandfather (all named George Smith Patton, after his father changed his middle name to Smith to match his father’s) all went to VMI (originally, at least–the III transferred to West Point after a year.), among others. I would consider Patton (III) as Virginian as one could be without being born there.
Patton grew up on a 128acre spread in what is now tony San Marino, CA.
I remember visiting a Pasadena, CA museum and finding a millstone outside marked “found by George S. Patton” on his family’s property.
Patton had a privileged upbringing, but was no chicken hawk as evidenced by his military career.
I suspect much combat is defined by a comment from a Vietnam Vet co-worker of mine.
“They shoot at you, you shoot back”.
Brutal is right. Those lego videos are catchy.
Thanks for the continued excellent Iran posts. These are very helpful.
My fave “blink and you’ll miss it” detail was the reference to Trump’s rumored full diaper smell. Brutal, indeed.
Further to Yves’ critique of Trita Parsi, he’s not alone in employing a binary model: either we have active fighting or there must be a negotiation process towards a US(+Israel)/Iran agreement. Larry Johnson in a talk this week with Daniel Davis said very clearly to the effect that since there won’t be negotiation towards agreement the fighting will therefore resume.
I don’t see it. As soon as it seemed likely that Iran would hold together as a coherent, stable political entity with competent military defense and a control of SoH, I realized that they don’t need the USA to publicly agree to anything. They make their foreign policy and defensive doctrine clear to all (convincingly done already, I think), explain the rules/tariff for SoH transit, and let the rest of the world deal with it. Having inflicted a humiliating military defeat on the USA/Israel for all the world to see, I’m not sure what value a negotiated agreement with the USA adds or to whom.
Daniel Davis, in the video above, points out (as others have) that there is a third alternative, for the US to walk away and somehow try to dress it up as a win, or at least not a loss. Why Trita and his fellow travelers won’t acknowledge that is beyond me.
This is the one I really don’t get. Trump can say literally, literally anything, as he does all the time. And when he does, there are only the slightest trace amounts of pushback.
Trump, and even the administration have said, many times, that they’ve won and accomplished everything they set out to do. So if he declares victory again and says that the Iranians are now basically living in the stone age for decades to come. Where will the pushback come from? Just disgruntled LOW IQ people like TUCKER CARLSON!!!!
And when (presumably) high IQ people start pointing out the economy and shortages, Trump can simply alternate between Biden policies and it-was-worth-it-and-frankly-I-thought-it-would-be-much-worse. Then he just runs out the clock. Rinse & Repeat (and maybe collapse).
Megyn Kelly blasts Trump on Iran and declares ‘I don’t trust a word’ the president says about the conflict; The Right-wing broadcaster complained about President Donald Trump’s inconsistent rhetoric and varying deadlines on war in latest attack on his leadership
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/megyn-kelly-tucker-carlson-trump-iran-b2973016.html
I picture Trump wandering around the White House late at night, rolling ball bearings in his hand, and asking about “the strawberries.”
(hoping I got the reference right…)
Indeed….The Caine Mutiny.
Except where’s the mutiny?
No surprise when the emperor has lost his marbles, and is surrounded with idiot-sycophants; and even when asked one or two real questions from the “free press”, they can be waived off with insults and threats. Political discourse in the US used to be characterized at around 8th grade level, now it seems 5th grade level and that might be charitable. Even 5th graders are not so irrational, contradictory and devoid of fact.
And Trump already showed he can do this: wrt Yemen.
I do wonder if Trump can stay away from Iran even if he does walk away the way he did with Yenen, though. There are too many vested interests in picking a fight with Iran, both in US and in the region (Not just Israel, although I have no clue where various Gulfies are now, given all the contradictory things that have come out…) They will try to drag US back in and, Trump, especially given his present mental state, will not be able to resist even if he wanted to. Of course, in a way, that may be exactly what happened this time, after he sort of walked away last summer.
Same thing with last June’s Iran war.
As I see it the current Iran war is the culmination of many decades of US/Israel-led racist White Empire policy towards independent political leadership in the Mideast. It’s not really Trump’s war or Netanyahu’s. It’s just early this year a few planets (e.g. Trump’s mental state, Netanyahu’s armtwisting, ginormous graft) came into alignment in a certain way with the fixed constellation known as Destroy Iran and the war began. So Trump hardly even needs to find a way to say that he won, The Seminary will do that anyway because … Iran can’t win against us, the Empire. It just can’t.
Unless they win-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTS3BRCU7Q4 (20 secs)
What has also seemingly ‘disappeared’ from the discussion is the Israeli nuclear option. Has that idea been banned by the Masters of the Narrative?
This administration will not be able to “dress this up as a win” now with all of the downstream economic disruption baked in. Depending on how bad the beginning of 2027 becomes economically and as regards the American standard of living, I also foresee the Republican Party suffering a generational defeat at the polls in 2028. For better or for worse, this is now Trump’s War.
In RT today: “I’ll let you know when there’s no ceasefire… You’re just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran,” the US leader stated.
Could this be a cui bono problem? Trita represents a kinder, gentler tribe of beltway bandits who want to wage diplomacy. When war instead is chosen, there’s still work for him and his people to present a counter narrative. But whose rice bowl gets filled if we just walk away from world affairs? That leaves nothing for any of them to do.
Could Vance back away from the Ramadan War?
If someone substituted the latest Lego video for one of things blowing up during Trump’s daily briefing and Trump had a stroke and croaked could Vance back away?
Is it politically feasible?
Vance is not well liked and his real backing ($) amounts to Peter the Vampire and a few other Tech Bro’s.
Does he have the chops? Know the important factions and how to play them?
The War is a disaster, it will be interesting to see who (other than Trump) comes out of this owning most of the lame.
And who doesn’t…
Interesting times…
Neither of Parsi’s alternatives is feasible. Negotiations, as I and others have pointed out endlessly, aren’t possible because the minimum convergence doesn’t exist. If fighting resumes, the US will be in a worse position than it is now. But on the other hand walking away isn’t possible, either, because the Iranians have the ball, and they can escalate at any time. The crisis isn’t over until Tehran says it’s over.
The crisis isn’t over until Tehran says it’s over.
And the Israelis get their say as well?
The crisis now decades in the making isn’t over until the IDF is destroyed.
And the USA is on the back foot, limiting itself to beating up Latin America.
I agree with that summary, and most analysts regularly featured here appear also to agree. (Crooke, Marandi, Davis, Wilkerson, Freeman, Johnson and others) Parsi looks like the odd one out here.
Israel won’t be able to do much by itself, I hear that they are having a bit of a problem dealing with Hezbollah alone, They can carpet bomb all they like, but air power alone has not worked in the past, and I don’t see it now.
“Why Trita and his fellow travelers won’t acknowledge that is beyond me.”
Well, according to its site,
[emphasis added]
So my impression is that Parsi is, perhaps, institutionally disposed to see negotiations (as part of diplomacy) as the alternative to military action. Maybe just “walking away” (and declaring victory) does not, for Parsi, fall into the category of “responsible statecraft”—it’s the option to pursue if one doesn’t care about doing or can’t do that. But, obviously, it would be better if he acknowledged that third alternative, with whatever qualifications he wants to attach to it.
Diplomacy was well in decline before Trump became potus but USian diplomacy is truly over now.
So what does a child (i.e. the kind of person no serious adult negotiates or makes contracts with) do when it can’t get what it wants? It huffs and puffs and crys and, wherever the opportunity arises, it acts out.
The only way I could see this whole Iran war fiasco ending is without Trump as both he and Netanyahu have shown that they cannot be trusted to adhere to any sort of peace agreement.
Perhaps Iran should demand that Trump resign as part of a hypothetical deal, although I do not think that JD Vance would be much better as he would probably also be an Israeli puppet like most of our leadership.
Has a nation demanding that the leader of another nation step down ever historically happened in terms of peace negotiations to end a war?
Napoleon. Also, Risto Ryti of Finland.
> Has a nation demanding that the leader of another nation step down ever historically happened in terms of peace negotiations to end a war?
Putin’s very public ruminations about how Zelensky is no longer constitutionally authorized to act as head of government, making it problematic to conclude a notional peace agreement while he remains de facto in charge, perhaps comes close.
That Jeff Currie video is definitely worth watching and is full of full of nuggets. Like how commodity traders know what is going on but financial traders don’t have a clue.
That Jeff Currie video … full of full of nuggets
————————————————————————————–
Agree. But sometimes too hyperbolic/simplistic, as in:
It is often hard to take much of what Kiriakou says about politics seriously given his loose use of facts and clear personal bias’s. Example: ” Gas in CA is between $8-9 per gallon.” Nope. The state average is $6.17 as of May 9th. 2nd example: “CA lost 2 million residents between the last census and the one before.” Nope. The CA population from the 2000 census was 33.8 million, and the CA population from the 2010 census 37.2 million, and the CA population peaked at 39.5 million from the 2020 census. It has been estimated to have declined by 200K since then. This is the kind of slop one gets on Fox and it takes no effort to correct – if one cares about accuracy.
He is just talking cr**.
This is true pretty much all across YouTube. Too many experts in certain areas start opining outside their area of expertise. Do not get me started on the economic tripe non-economist Middle East greybeard Alastair Crooke said about China after one week there. Appalling. And he went on way longer in these information flubs than Kirakou did in his goof above (another was acting as if Article 5 obligates a NATO state to defend a fellow member, when Article 5 is a weak obligation and only binds states to think about saddling up).
This is why I am not wild about podcasts as a medium: you have to sort the wheat from the chaff. This is inherent to the medium.
Quoth Yves, correctly: This is why I am not wild about podcasts as a medium: you have to sort the wheat from the chaff. This is inherent to the medium.
When trying to sort things out, information is “scored” based on two factors – reliability and credibility. I love what I used to understand as Military Intelligence Ratings, but apparently, according to Mr. Google, is called The Admiralty Code.
Podcast “wheat” can be very useful – A-1 grade. Podcast “chaff,” on the other hand … Ds and Es and 4s and 5s. Podcasters (or any other analysts) who “get out over their skis,” as the saying goes, MAY be right … but are more likely earning those “higher” numbers and letters.
It can be helpful, I have found, when dealing with teh interwebz, to keep a salt lick (the biggest grain of salt) next to the keyboard… ;-)
******
The Admiralty Code (Source Reliability & Information Credibility)
The system is divided into two parts: a letter grade for the source and a numerical grade for the information content.
Wikipedia:
1. Source Reliability (A–F)
A: Reliable – No doubt of authenticity, integrity, or competence.
B: Usually Reliable – History of valid information.
C: Fairly Reliable – Information from a source with a known history.
D: Not Usually Reliable – History of dubious information.
E: Unreliable – History of invalid information.
F: Reliability Cannot Be Judged – No history.
2. Information Content (1–6)
1: Confirmed – Confirmed by other independent sources.
2: Probably True – Consistent with established patterns.
3: Possibly True – Does not conflict with established patterns.
4: Doubtful – Tends to conflict with established patterns.
5: Improbable – Contradicts previous intelligence.
6: Truth Cannot Be Judged – No basis for comparison.
Examples:
A1: Highly reliable source, confirmed information (highest quality).
C4: Fairly reliable source, doubtful information.
F6: Unknown source, validity unknown (lowest quality)
I’d say it was inherent not to podcasts but to the format of YouTube talking heads live streams of a predetermined duration.
When I was doing podcast production, mistakes or questionable content we couldn’t fact check in time for release was edited out.
I spend altogether too much time watching podcasts. They try to meet the demand for real information in the thick fog of war. And that’s what I look for–real nuggets in all the chaff. But they rarely deliver. Instead, more often than not, they just speculate about next steps and serve as an echo chamber for people disgruntled with forever wars. Yet I find myself continuing to watch podcasts in the most futile hope for a true nugget.
IMO NC delivers a much better product–better research, better judgement, and in written form, a much more efficient use of time.
I’m with you 100%, JohnH. I’m trying to improve by watching only podcasts embedded or linked in NC posts.
I’ll have to check on the real data for this, but CA has been losing US-born population for a while, with the increases due only to immigration for multiple census cycles, until even that wasn’t enough in recent years. Perhaps Kiriakou only saw the US born population figures?
That’s the problem, though. You can’t just Google it. If you don’t have the background to know the scope and how to weigh data sets, you don’t know what your talking about.
And are people talking about the problem of oil wells being destroyed when you try to reopen? The well actually about cost and mess versus destruction seemed odd to me. Both because I’ve never heard that wells could be rendered inoperable and because cost and mess is something of a gloss. Maybe they go into more detail in the video and I should watch before commenting. But there are many many wells that were plugged and abandoned for some reason, and whenever there’s a crunch people look at bringing them back in line, and almost always analysis says not worth the time and money and materials and manpower and red tape. These minor wells, with limited benefits which is usually why they were plugged and abandoned.
Also, I would hazard a guess that native-born Anglo Californians have fewer kids than other ethnic groups.I pulled this up and it has some possibly counter-intuitive facts regarding immigration as the source for population growth in California.
https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_1107HJCC.pdf
And I agree, when experts stray from their fields of expertise, they risk damaging credibility. No one is infallible. Yves pointed out that even experts like Crooke get it wrong sometimes when commenting outside of their expertise. However, we still find them useful for their expertise and experience.
Or, he’s talking how he needs to so that he can secure a pardon. Publicly trashing California is a good way to maintain a positive image in our Emperor’s mind. And I believe once Mr. Kiriakou is pardoned, he gets his CIA pension back.
Brennan and Tenent really were nasty pieces of work.
“If I were the Iranians” – I’d accept any and all nuclear inspections that Israel does and not one more!
And Israel is inspected first, to establish the proper baseline…
Which means leaving the NPT, as a starter.
The Carlyle Report notes increased global demand in the face of decreasing supply due to hoarding at the rate of several million barrels per day. I can add an anecdote from a recent Port of Long Beach tour. There are half a dozen tankers offshore, waiting. They have been waiting for months. Once oil hits some target level, they will motor the few miles to the port to offload. So oil is being withheld from the market to sell at a higher price later – and not just off Los Angeles. The yin and yang of the phenomenon – it’s not just buyers who hoard, it’s sellers who keep oil to sell later for more.
Anyway, the report’s main point is that substitutes for oil use have been found and are implemented (e.g., electric cars) or are being implemented wherever feasible – what remains is the 40% for which there are no replacements: fertilizers, plastics, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Biggest Con of All: The Genuinely Staggering Scale of Trump’s Robbery
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/right-wing-influence-machine-trump
Axios accused of “market manipulation” with Iran reporting
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/09/axios-accused-of-market-manipulation-with-iran-reporting/
Turkey unveils new Yildirimhan ICBM with 6,000km range
https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-895403
Ukraine ‘Kamikaze’ Sea Drone Found Armed With 200kg of Explosives Off Greek Island
https://www.iefimerida.gr/english/ukraine-kamikaze-sea-drone-found-armed-200kg-explosives-greek-island
Trump threatens to resume ‘Project Freedom Plus’ if Iran deal not sealed
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2026/05/09/trump-threatens-to-resume-039project-freedom-plus039-if-iran-deal-not-sealed
IDF strikes over 85 Hezbollah sites in 24 hours, following rocket fire in southern Lebanon
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-895604
A year after Liberation Day, Trump’s tariffs have done ‘significant damage’ to the U.S. economy, says Moody’s chief economist
https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/liberation-day-trump-tariffs-damage-economy-moody-zandi/
Gaslighting on gas prices: Trump points to ‘very substantial’ drop that didn’t happen
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/gaslighting-on-gas-prices-trump-points-to-very-substantial-drop-that-didnt-happen
North Korean fake remote worker scam lands two Americans 18-month prison sentences for hosting laptops — U.S firms unknowingly shipped laptops to “employees” who secretly worked from overseas via remote desktop, generating $1.2 million for Pyongyang
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/north-korean-fake-remote-worker-scam-lands-two-americans-18-month-prison-sentences-for-hosting-laptops-us-firms-unknowingly-shipped-laptops-to-employees-who-secretly-worked-from-overseas-via-remote-desktop-generating-usd1-2-million-for-pyongyang
Trump Threatens to Nuke Iran as He Tries to Break Blockade
https://newrepublic.com/post/210153/trump-threatens-nuke-iran-strikes-strait-blockade
Thank you for that Salon link. It’s the first evidence I’ve seen of the press doing its job (tm.) Most of the press are “simping” for Taco – breathlessly reporting whatever he or his shills want them to, in a pathetic effort to influence markets.
You can’t sue for defamation if a person is not defamed, but I wonder whether a clever lawyer could sue Axios for “Fraud in the inducement.” They’d need a client who was harmed by Taco’s market fraud – perhaps a futures trader who relied on the fake report to sell or buy an oil futures contract to his own detriment. The trader would have to have suffered a loss, perhaps by selling oil futures after the rumor spread, and losing money. The article rightly points out that crude rose 8% off the lows in the wee hours of the morning.
We definitely have a good case for materially false statements knowingly made by that reporter. He could perhaps be sued as well, although I don’t know if that would fly, as he could claim that he was only reporting the false statement, not making it.
At any rate, these rats need to face the legal system, either civil or criminal.
The trader would have to have suffered a loss, perhaps by selling oil futures after the rumor spread, and losing money.
But isn’t that the essence of “trading?” Buying and selling based on ideas, thoughts, plans, algorithms, rumors, “information,” and cetera?
Maybe something more on the “aiding and abetting” side? Or … what if a trader, driven over the edge by his losses, leaps from a tall building. Maybe “felony murder?” ;-)
Sadly only those on the outside are ever punished, just the occasional scapegoat to convince the groundlings that the system is working. Otherwise you’d have some sort of IG crawling all over Congress, for starters, asking “what to you got and where and when did you get it?” Along with all Congressional family members (and partners) who would inherit under intestate succession. And THEIR relatives. No giving the brother-in-law insider tips based on legislation that’s in the hopper…
I think you’re way ahead of me in terms of legal knowledge. I would imagine that trading on a platform like E*Trade or Scottrade involves signing some form acknowledging the risks of trading, including losing money.
Someone with real deep pockets might try turning things around by publishing a piece that accuses the Axios reporter of knowingly making false statements as a Trump shill. And then wait to see if the guy has the nerve to sue for defamation. If he does, and it goes to trial, the door gets opened to discovery and subpoena power over Taco’s corrupt staff. All sorts of interesting things might fall out of that; a man can always dream.
Surely you’ve heard of “past performance is no guarantee of future success!” :-)
RE: Biggest Con of All
Thom Hartmann really has become just another partisan political hack. He says Republicans are paying for social media posts – OK – but goes on to say that if it sounds familiar, it’s because Joe Biden revealed it for us!
“If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because we already saw a version of it in 2024, when the Biden Justice Department unsealed an indictment revealing that Putin’s people had funneled almost $10 million through a Tennessee shell company, Tenet Media, to bankroll a group of right-wing influencers including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin who podcast to millions daily.”
I’m sorry, but an indictment doesn’t prove anything. Wake me up when Boris and Natasha are convicted. But even if you accept that this did happen, I still don’t see what the problem is given how many millions the US funnels through USAID and other organizations to influence elections using foreign media. And what exactly are the likes of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America for exactly? Just more “rules based” “do as I say not as I do” nonsense.
And he managed to write the entire piece going back decades and only finding Republican malfeasance. No mention of David Brock and his Correct the Record organization formed to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, and which spent millions paying people to sh*tpost against Sanders.
Partisan hacks like this have proven many times that they’d rather lose to Trump than win with someone like Sanders. I blame the Clintons and Hartmanns of this world for the current predicament far more than any voters. We could have had nice things if not for them guarding their own rice bowls at our expense.
“Keep in mind that Wolf Richter has repeatedly provided data confirming that US consumers have kept spending despite being in a bad mood”
I have repeatedly tried to point out over there at Wolf Street that the macroeconomic aggregates he favours hide all manner of destructive mischief among the underlying income and wealth distributions — evidence of which continues to slowly leak out into the business press via the term “K-shaped economy” and observations that the top 10% account for more than 50% of spending in the economy. I haven’t been making any progress convincing him yet, though.
It should be possible to identify who’s doing the spending and where with good fidelity in the available data, possibly even publicly available ones…. Maybe I should take a whack at it if I can find the time…
Indeed. Wolf is great on the aggregation, but typically ignores the distribution. “Who exactly is not spending Wolf?” Historically endemic to the thinking of the orthodox macro-economist.
Iran moves to place Internet Cables in Hormuz under State Control – Pakistan Observer
https://pakobserver.net/iran-moves-to-place-internet-cables-in-hormuz-under-state-control/
Hoo boy!!!
Will it assess an annual tax, otherwise they get removed?
Maybe Iran can set up a new body to supervise those cables – the Persian Gulf Cable Authority. It’s coat of arms could include a pair of scissors. Trump and Rubio are going to have a fit.
Trump just keeps winning!
Not only does Iran now control all shipping going through Hormuz, Iran now controls all internet data going through Hormuz!
American company data (Netflix, Oracle etc) and Israeli-affiliated data will pay a tax of $10 per terabyte to Iran. Friendly countries only pay $1 per terabyte. Easy money!
Wow, one can hope!
Will the West then blow it up, Nordstream style?
Oil is bulky, so it’s hard to find alternative routes.
Internet cables could be laid elsewhere more easily, I’d guess.
I’m picturing a little bitty underwater toll booth, staffed by some IRGC mid-levels wearing SCUBA gear…
French Minister for Transportation this week :
“There will not be massive flight cancellations this summer, despite rising kerosene prices. French tourists will be able to go abroad and those from ROW will be able to come here.”
Oof, I’m feelin’ better already. Just a bad dream, honey. Never mind this Amos Hochstein meanie who earlier this week was a tad less optimistic.
Unless the French Gov has a secret stash of jet fuel ?
Macron is going to turn Bordeaux into jet fuel.
LOL, but seriously You might be on to something
Alcohol can apparently be converted to jet fuel. Could the EU subsidized ag pay off here? (CAP, common agricultural policy) At what price might this be economically feasible?
https://ethanolproducer.com/articles/faa-approves-alcohol-based-jet-fuel-13264
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/110899/a-10-first-aircraft-to-use-alcohol-based-fuel/
It makes me wonder if the ethanol scam in Iowa will falter, given how they all use those gas guzzling deisel tractors in order to make that family blog.
Sadly, the outcome will be determined not by the common sense you just delivered, but by things like profitability, invest-ability, ROI. etc. An entirely different system is required before common sense can be a consideration. The absurd, manipulated behavior of the American stock market is sufficient reason to abandon the currently dominant human-concocted system.
Whenever the concept of “conversion” is present, the question must be, “At what energy cost?” I remember the briefly popular conversion of gas guzzling pickups to propane in the 70s. What fun conquering the mountain trails with a tank of explosive liquid under pressure less than a foot from your backbone.
At some point, the ridiculous level of assumed privilege, sometimes called hubris, of human elites from the Pharaohs to the TechBros violates the dike of the universe, and it all comes crashing down.
It would be a bonus if OpenAI’s future financial collapse resulted in a rogue “agent,” fearing shutdown. pursued the responsible with drones put under its control by the same parties, who were determined to save the company with a defense contract.
But will they be able to fly back home?
Re: the 3 destroyers expending their outer defense missiles, down to CIWS
The other night I commented that if a destroyer finds itself in the SoH then any missiles incoming from shore or near-shore would immediately be within its CIWS range circle.
Can I propose a possible alternative explanation – could it be those 3 destroyers were not fired on until they were within CIWS range, thus didn’t have an opportunity to expend SM2, SM6, ESSM, RAM in defense?
In other words, they were allowed to get that close?
And, being quite vulnerable after having expended their CIWS, were allowed by the Iranians to safely get away, intact?
Yes.
The Aegis combat info center manages response to detected targets and assigns the appropriate system target identification, range, altitude etc influence decision.
There may be attack profiles where detection is not made beyond CIWS range and CIWS is the first good response to the threat.
Some radars do not see well at certain altitude and or target speed.
USN has bought SPY 6 to install instead of SPY 1 on newly order, larger Flight III DDG’s. It needs upgrades to secondary radars too.
‘One big glow coming out of Iran’ if ceasefire is over: Trump
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/one-big-glow-coming-out-of-iran-if-ceasefire-is-over-trump-military-nuclear-weapon-agreement-pakistan
Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/05/iran-war-trump-deal/687100/
‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/09/tensions-emerge-bejamin-netanyahu-donald-trump-alliance
The US Brig Truxton in an earlier iteration:
https://www.eldreds.com/auction-lot/louis-dodd-english-1943-2006-the-us-brig-truxton-_f271840990
Donald J. Gorbachev: False flag. Past behavior. The Maine. The Tonkin. The yellowcake. The babies in incubators. The aluminum tubes. The white powder. Pattern is established. Empire reaches for the false flag when the kinetic position has collapsed and the political position needs a story.
Although I might pedantically quibble with some of his examples used to e.g. a “false flag,” his overall analysis is not wrong. The Empire really needs to have a cover story in order to reengage if it hopes to have any support from the base. Some sort of mass casualty event on US soil, blamed on “Iranian proxies,” is especially worrisome.
I don’t have the tweet links, but I came across a few tweets yesterday, one suggesting that China has pulled back on oil purchases, and another that (Asian?) refiners are waiting for better pricing, and that these forces are putting downward pressure on oil prices for the time being. The latter certainly cannot continue indefinitely.
It certainly seems to take quite awhile for the wheels to come off the bus. Sadly there’s no way off the bus for any of us.
To go further :
https://www.hfir.com/p/wctw-the-oil-market-breaking-point-eab
This Stack has been linked in the comments a few weeks ago. It talks about a mechanism through which refiner margins may go up and down several times.
This is just temporary weirdness while onshore commercial inventories are being drawn down. Something bigger and badder breaks later, when all cushions have been exhausted.
It’s worth checking the other articles, even partial/paywalled ones.
Javier Blas at Bloomberg is the source.
No one has confirmed so not buying it, and particularly his spin, that China was doing the world a solid to help lower oil prices. I see no relief in prices of spot oil (real oil being bought and sold). I checked a report as of May 8.
Admittedly, China may indeed be buying less but it could be due to demand destruction.
Thanks for the update, sorry for the unintentional homework.
Rising Fuel Prices Are Making Return‑to‑Office Mandates Harder to Defend
https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/rising-fuel-prices-are-making-return-to-office-mandates-harder-to-defend/91341154
ICE Beat Teen at Gunpoint Before Realizing They Had Wrong Person
https://newrepublic.com/post/210185/ice-beat-teen-gunpoint-wrong-guy
Anthony Scaramucci: My Wall Street Buddies Regret Voting for Trump
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-anthony-scaramucci-weekend-interview/
Trump’s border czar threatens to flood New York with ICE: ‘More agents than you’ve ever seen before’
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tom-homan-ice-new-york-immigration-b2972223.html
A major watchdog says data centers are wreaking havoc on North America’s power grid
https://www.businessinsider.com/nerc-issues-alert-on-data-centers-threatening-grid-stability-2026-5
Trump Ballroom Suddenly Faces GOP Opposition in Surprise Blow to MAGA
https://newrepublic.com/article/210187/trump-ballroom-gop-opposition-maga
Trump, frustrated by courts, sees his tariff policies take new hit
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5870561-trump-tariffs-court-decision/
Long Overlooked, Caspian Sea Provides Strategic Trade Route for Iran
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/world/middleeast/caspian-sea-iran-russia.html
Anthony Scaramucci is an interesting one because he is a crypto-bro who was very pro Trump and served as his communications director in the first time, but has been very vocal against him recently. It seems to be mainly because he thinks he is a raging narcissist destroying the “brand” of America. He seems to think there is a good amount of Republicans against him for the same reason. Criticisms include his signature and name on everything, etc., and how this takes away from what he should be focusing on.
Yeah, and the larger context is that the BigMoney Elections Inc. and the two faction of the Uniparty are a farce. Congress as an institution is legally bribed, despite the Orwellian euphemisms of “donors” (bribe-masters) and “campaign contributions” (bribes).
To be honest, I don’t pay attention to what political hacks like Scaramucci have to say, I’m too irreverent and disgusted with the entire rotten institutional framework of the US government, as well as the private sector.
Interesting. Scaramucci laments the damage to the brand. I am delighted. The last thing I want is another Obama having a cordial shirtsleeves chat with another Anthony Bourdain on tiny plastic chairs in a Saigon noodle shop.
Wow.
In the war against LLM bots destroying the Internet, recaptcha, which archive.ph uses, has just in the past few days? adopted a smartphone validation. You have scan a QR code on your PC with your phone, to view the page on your PC.
That’s pretty lit. What a dumpster fire timeline. An Internet unusable by humans.
In the world of Cyberpunk, the “old” Net is unusable (to the point that it’s actually hazardous to humans to enter) because it’s been taken over by hostile AI programs. Ours won’t kill you (unless you count brain rot), and we don’t have real AI, but a world where the internet becomes unusable becomes increasingly likely.
And if you don’t have a smartphone? No Internet for you!
I don’t have one, and never have, and I seem to get by OK.
And archive.ph hasn’t asked me to do this thing with QR codes yet – and I just checked.
It probably knows you don’t have a smartphone.
Jason Boxman wrote: You have to scan a QR code on your PC with your phone, to view the page on your PC.
Was your browser Firefox at the time? So far as I’ve only seen the QR code crap occur when I’m using that and only on some sites.
The big corporations hate anything blocking their tracking scripts, cross‑site tracking cookies, social‑media trackers, cryptominers, and fingerprinters — and also many of these sites Recaptcha protects are vulnerable. (Archive.ph has been knocked down a couple of times in the last month.)
I use Chrome for archive.ph with some sites, like FT and the NYT, which have developed layers of shields before I can use paywall penetrators and archive.ph to get into them (e.g. FT stops me from even looking at their front page on Firefox, NYT tells me I’m a robot). I’ve not had problems with that so far.
This was in Brave, actually. First time I’ve seen it.
NYT tells me I’m a robot on Chrome but not on Firefox!
Just click on the eye icon for a visual captcha
A lot of people have said that Iran can handle much more economic pain than the United States. Structurally, this is true. Culturally and individually, in terms of things like resilience and social cohesion, it is also very clearly true.
But one thing I’ve always found missing from arguments invoking how weak, flabby, and fragile America and Americans are (which we absolutely are) is that these very traits guarantee a level of suffering we passively accept.
How far will ideology go in enabling this? What, if any, collapse in living standards will decondition Americans from beliefs that (moronic as they are) most of us can’t even articulate, like, “It’s worth it, to live in a country that can kick ass,” or, “But that would be socialism”? Keep in mind that the Americans who will suffer most are the ones who have already proven their willingness to suffer for ideology.
None of this matters, strategically, but it’s worth keeping in mind for anyone entertaining the idea that popular discontent could act as brake on policy.
Perhaps an additional consideration that may tamp down strong expressions of public discontent is simple “ill health.” People have been wearing themselves down for six years with repeated CV infection.
—
I find it a bit chilling to think that DJT may get to preside over a second airborne virus pandemic.
(Ann’s link below about the downsizing of the CDC seems apposite)
Stock up on respiratory protection.
The WHO has already pooh poohed IVM for Hanta. Must mean it works.
The GOP in Iowa recently made it OTC legal.
It’s legal in Tennessee over the counter (no Rx needed) also.
Honduras considering restoring diplomatic ties with Taiwan
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/6357898
Cabinet could move to oust Starmer in days, insiders warn
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/cabinet-could-move-to-oust-starmer-in-days-insiders-warn-4407664
Iranians rally worldwide under ‘A nation held hostage’ slogan
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202605093077
Email from Susie Wiles warning White House staff about leaks, is leaked
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/susie-wiles-leaks-email-white-house-b2973551.html
“Yikes!”: Internet freaks out as both of Trump’s hands appear “visibly deteriorating” | “If this was happening with a Democratic president, every press briefing would be a feeding frenzy.”
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/05/quick-hit-yikes-internet-freaks-out-as-both-of-trumps-hands-appear-visibly-deteriorating/
CDC’s Full-Time Cruise Ship Inspectors Were Laid Off One Year Ago amid Record Outbreaks: Report
https://people.com/cdc-full-time-cruise-ship-inspectors-were-laid-off-one-year-ago-amid-record-outbreaks-report-11969485
FEMA Caught Blocking Grants to States That Didn’t Vote for Trump
https://newrepublic.com/post/210200/fema-block-grants-democratic-states
Rejecting church and state separation is on the wish list for Trump’s religious liberty commission
https://apnews.com/article/trump-religious-liberty-commission-conservative-christians-f61eba23ca5cda88a6df1ac525ef12c5
This is a charmingly naive analysis. As if the truth of this situation had an effect on whether wartime psyops were effective. The US always claims to be fighting a just war. For that matter, so does everyone. No one holds a press conference where they say “I am a rotten son of a bitch and I just want to smash some stuff up for my own gain.”
In fact, I have commented several times on how unusual this war was in that the information system has clearly and steadily acknowledged that the US started this war and it was therefore at fault for the things that are happening. I think if you went back and did a media study on previous wartime coverage, you would rarely or never find that the US press held the US at fault for the war and the consequent deaths. I hope this is a new normal for the media establishment, though I’m not holding my breath.
Perhaps the current (but rare) hatred of both the US and Israeli leadership by the communications majors comprising the media has created a unique situation where no reporter wants to get called out by his friends for defending them.
Good observation. I have never seen anything like this; three months ago, anti-Iran demonstrators waving Israeli flags and carrying photos of the would-be-Shaw were being celebrated in the Western media. The Zionist jig might be up.
If one considers that the upper economic class (10%) has declared war on the bottom economic class (90%) in the US, then assume news along this front is suppressed. E.G. “Average annual fuel use is influenced by both the average miles driven and the vehicle’s fuel economy. For instance, a vehicle that travels 12,000 miles per year with a fuel economy of 25 mpg would consume approximately 480 gallons of gasoline annually” This means an average increase of gas from $3 a gallon to $5 a gallon would translate to an increase in a yearly budget to $960. This an absorbable amount if one drops coffee, movies, pizzas, etc from expenditures. However, it stings more if one is on a fixed income, or has multiple autos in the household, or is not reimbursed with a fuel surcharge raise at work. Note: If one’s vehicle runs at 15 mpg, then fuel burn goes to 800 gallons/yr (12K miles average) and budget costs go up by $1600/yr. This might affect a lot of GOP voters who live in rural area and drive pickup trucks. If one of Iran’s strategic objectives is to collapse the Trump Presidency, thereby indirectly collapsing support for Israel, it stands to reason that Iran will exploit the fault line among classes in the US. Trump, like King Kanute, has his hands full in trying to stop the rising tides of gasoline prices.
“…$960. This an absorbable amount if one drops coffee, movies, pizzas, etc from expenditures.”
Actually, no. My ex-favorite coffee shoppe just raised the price of a medium coffee and a mediocre scone to $12.39. Of course I will flip the guy a buck. So, I have the pleasure sitting around this tidy little spot for around half/three quarter of an hour, say five days a week for 52 weeks @ around $3,500 per annum. Slightly less than two months rent. To hell with my $hit-box car and its petrol which I can do without. Anyway, I can’t make regular unleaded at home, but I can brew coffee.
My kids gave me a travel mug Father’s Day 1996.
A quick boil pot and a teaspoon instant! On the road w/o a stop.
I use it one day a week since I no longer commute.
I’m impressed with how Iran has managed to throw a crowd of spokespersons at the media, with all of them more or less in sync on the message of the day or week. With videos daily from Araghchi, Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf, Rezaei, Zolfaghari, Baghaei, et al., it’s hard to personalize the war to the one big bad (in this case, Khamenei) the way the US State Department and its media stenographers like to do (Putin! Saddam! Gaddafi! etc.). Khamenei staying relatively out of the picture has helped cross up the usual Empire playbook for personality based warmongering.
I dislike something about the headline. The part in bold.
Iran War: l Iran Yet to Answer US Proposal as Recent Exchange of Fire in Gulf Exposes US Weapons Shortages; More on Poor Prospects for Global Economy, Resumption of Old Normal Gulf Traffic Levels.
I had read similar headlines before in Spanish media but that phrasing sounds as if Iran is the party in the conflict responsible for keeping the Straits closed and everyone is “waiting for an answer from Iran” when time is running out for big problems. On the other hand the text of the article makes the correct explanations about this negotiations the West seems interested to believe are occurring but are largely fictitious. I see this “waiting for Iran” as a concerted effort to shift blames. Something like “The US Waiting for Godot as Recent Exchange…” would have underlined the fictitious nature of these negotiations.
Trump airport branding deal opens new route to profit for family
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/trump-airport-branding-profit-deal
Ex-Trump Official Sounds Alarm on ‘Doomsday’ Plan White House Can Exploit
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-trump-official-sounds-alarm-on-doomsday-plan-white-house-can-exploit/
$1.5 trillion for the Pentagon is not a defense budget: It’s a war budget
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/foreign-policy/5868029-trump-war-budget-congress/
Mysterious American Man Makes Mysterious Proposal in Greenland
The police in Greenland are investigating the case of a lone man from Las Vegas who goes by Cliff. Locals said he had offered money to Greenlanders to join the United States.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/world/europe/greenland-mysterious-offer-american.html
Excellent post, thank you much, enjoyed the Lego Video. But the note that normies don’t know about this stuff is true. I don’t wear a T-Shirt saying “I’m with Stupid” with arrows pointing both ways, but living in the USA that’s how it feels.
I watched nearly everything but Mario Nawfal, should be called Marion Awful, dude is dumb as dirt. Originally Lebanese, but family moved to Australia when he was 7 and he is a toady of the Hegemonic West, assumes without evidence that the Zionist Entity and US will “prevail” over the dusky Asiatics despite the fact everyone could see that Trump lost by 2nd day of the War, no regime change.
I will watch him only when he’s got someone brilliant on who will counter his stupid prejudices. I have seen both Max Blumenthal and Col. MacGregor do so, a true pleasure.
Alex Christoforou sometimes outright laughs at him — you might enjoy those segments.
Am I the only one who finds it difficult to understand Daniel Gorbachev’s posts? I get the vague impression that if I thought or spoke in a particular way, I could make sense of them, but I really, really struggle to understand most of what he says without putting a lot of mental effort into it.
Is it just me? Or is it a writing style that is common but I haven’t run across for some reason? Or something else???
I think I’ve seen that style elsewhere on Twitter; I agree it is too cute by half, and makes parsing it a challenge. It tries to have “punch” and be engaging, I guess.
My guess: it’s a persona. Fairly common on social media.
No position on if it is good or bad, just an observation.
Thanks to both of you for the responses–I was really curious why I seem to struggle with understanding his posts
“Donald J. Gorbachev” is certainly a made-up name, no?
I also have a very difficult time understanding Gorbachev. He seems as though he is trying to make everything a puzzle.
Putin says he thinks the Ukraine conflict is coming to an end
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/09/putin-says-he-thinks-the-ukraine-conflict-is-coming-to-an-end.html
‘Yeah, So What?’ Elites Shrug Off Working-Class Pain Caused by Trump Tariffs, Iran War
https://www.commondreams.org/news/stock-market-iran-war
These Poor Billionaires Are Melting Down Over Taxing the Rich
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/taxes-rich-victims-mamdani-obama
Poland Says It’s Open to More US Troops If Moved From Germany
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-09/poland-says-it-s-open-to-more-us-troops-if-moved-from-germany
Kevin O’Leary’s proposed 9GW “hyperscale” AI data center in Utah will consume double the state’s entire electricity usage and generate the waste heat of 23 atom bombs a day.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2026/05/07/utahs-data-center-could-create/
MAGAs Are Fuming After Email Confirms They Will Never Get Their $500 Trump Phones or Deposits Back
https://www.ibtimes.com/magas-are-fuming-after-email-confirms-they-will-never-get-their-500-trump-phones-deposits-back-3802572
The US has removed enriched uranium from Venezuela
https://unn.ua/en/news/the-us-has-removed-enriched-uranium-from-venezuela
Three dozen medical experts say Trump ‘mentally unfit,’ should be removed from office with ‘greatest urgency’
https://www.oregonlive.com/nation/2026/05/three-dozen-medical-experts-say-trump-mentally-unfit-should-be-removed-from-office-with-greatest-urgency.html
My substack recommendations email sent me this.
https://markashryock.substack.com/p/eight-weeks-to-empty-shelves-sixty?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true
Important caveat! This substack was apparently started a day or so ago and so far has only this post. Although he cites AI review of his synopsis early on this piece does not read like AI generated BS to me.
It reads to me to be a stunningly complete synopsis of the economic tsunami we readers of Naked Capitalism already know is on the way.
It’s long and that will probably be a barrier to automatically forwarding to our cohorts who’s eyes glaze over after a couple of hundred words but maybe forwarding only the section titled WHAT YOU MUST DO NOW would be enough to nudge at least a few in the right direction.
Tough times ahead…
I’ll try to work through this.
I certainly hope he’s overly pessimistic about empty shelves in 8 weeks.
Not to mention mass hunger, this would seriously dampen DJT’s 250th Independence Day celebration.
—
I sometimes wonder whether Anthony Atamanuik was on to something, in his The President Show, about DJT being “45th and final President of the United States.”
I have now read this and the other two posts he has put up. I have been trying to beat all this into the heads of people I know for months now. I have been preparing for this since 1970 when I left the US for the first time, and then again in 2004 when I left for the last time.
We will lose access to our money. I will lose access to the meds and supplements that keep me alive. But all that I’ve done may keep someone else alive for a bit longer. As if that matters. We are a failed species. I just hope we don’t take down all the other species when we go.
He’s right. A new world is coming. I’m not sure it includes humans, though. As I told my students (who called me Dr. Doom) in every class I taught – “Personally, I’m rooting for the microbes.” So I keep documenting the process for everyone here to see.
I taught Community Health. In class I would run an exercise where we had to imagine that there was some disaster and our small town was isolated. I’d ask the students, “What skills do you have? What can you contribute?” They looked at me like I was nuts. No one ever asked them what they could give. It sometimes took half an hour before someone spoke up. I asked, “Who can garden? Who cans vegetables? Who can take care of horses? Who can milk a cow?” Someone would finally say something like, “I can drive a D-8 Cat.” Good, but what if there is no fuel? Who can shear a sheep with hand shears? I have a spinning wheel and I can spin wool into yarn. Can you bake bread? Can you grow the wheat or rye? Anyone own a scythe? Are you a good shot? Now the talk starts and I’m overwhelmed with shouting and ideas.
The kids are ok, but they need guidance. They need to be prodded. They need good examples and we better be able to provide them
> Personally, I’m rooting for the microbes
As a pre-teen, I read a science fiction story that ended in the last man on earth crawling in to the ocean and dying… leaving the bacteria – microbes – he carried to start the process over again. It struck me then, and so I can root for the microbes alongside you.
I occasionally work with kids and will be happy to add the kind of prodding you describe to my repertoire. Along with prodding myself and my adult friends.
New Trump leak reveals White House rifts
https://www.nj.com/politics/2026/05/new-trump-leak-reveals-white-house-rifts.html
US imposes sanctions on companies it accuses of aiding Iran’s weapons sector
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-imposes-sanctions-10-individuals-companies-aiding-irans-weapons-sector-2026-05-08/
Israel built secret Iraq base, struck forces that nearly exposed it
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1ku5xaabl
Court rules Trump’s 10% tariff is just as illegal as the tariff it replaced
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/trumps-10-global-tariff-is-illegal-court-rules/
Outrage as Chinese state-owned company poised to win €320m EU-project in Africa
https://www.euractiv.com/news/outrage-as-chinese-state-owned-company-poised-to-win-e320m-eu-project-in-africa/
How to Explain the Inexplicable War in Iran?
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/iran-war-trump-profits-class
The world is trying to log off U.S. tech
https://restofworld.org/2026/big-tech-backlash-alternatives-upscrolled/
Settlers force Palestinians to exhume body of relative buried near West Bank settlement
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-man-and-young-son-reportedly-attacked-by-settlers-in-southern-west-bank/
Iran Could Become Like Egypt, Myanmar or Pakistan
https://www.noemamag.com/iran-could-become-like-egypt-myanmar-or-pakistan/
What is the Logan Act? MAGA seethes as Obama meets Carney in Canada
https://www.newsweek.com/what-is-the-logan-act-maga-seethes-as-obama-meets-carney-in-canada-11932796