Recent Items

Links 5/19/2026

Posted on by

Dear patient readers:

You have a Links overdose today. Too many things of import happening that are going more under the media radar than they should due to the Iran war. So that this Links could cover these many other fronts, nearly all Middle East news is in our daily Iran war post.

* * *

Words Lost and Stolen Peter Gelderloos (Micael T)

Ebola

At least 100 deaths reported in Ebola outbreak in DR Congo as six Americans exposed BBC

Hantavirus

Climate/Environment

Gas prices are rising. So is public transit ridership. Grist

Wood burning is reintroducing lead pollution into the air, US scientists find Guardian

Gooey blue blobs are washing up on U.S. beaches—here’s why National Geographic

Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO Guardian

Scientists find climate change is reducing oxygen in rivers worldwide Independent

Israeli tech company aiming to cool the Earth with masses of tiny particles Times of Israel

Melting of Greenland ice sheet could release methane ‘fire ice’ New Scientist

Hundreds of extra French communes recognised as ‘natural disaster’ zones ConnexionFrance

Landslides are New Zealand’s most expensive natural hazard, and the costs are rising quickly eos.org

China?

China’s April slowdown highlights dilemma between growth and inflation Think.ing

Could China limit Japanese airlines’ access to its airspace as ties sour? South China Morning Post

Lai says Taiwan won’t be sacrificed as Trump weighs arms deal Japan Times. Oh really?

Japan

Exclusive: Japan’s extra budget to include funding from fresh debt, source says Reuters

Koreas

North Korea enshrines automatic nuclear strike if Kim is killed MSN

Kim Jong Un Sends Troops to the Border with South Korea Nasha Niva

Africa

Protesters block major Sudan-Egypt highway over power cuts Sudan Tribune

US lifts Ethiopia’s ban on arms dealing as Red Sea tensions reshape regional alliances Business Insider

South Africa’s biggest city descends into chaos Daily Investor

South of the Border

‘Feels like an illusion’: inside post-Maduro Venezuela’s bewildering new era Guardian

Bolivia deploys thousands of troops to break La Paz siege as economic crisis bites Intellinews
https://www.intellinews.com/bolivia-deploys-thousands-of-troops-to-break-la-paz-siege-as-economic-crisis-bites-443234/

Cuba accuses US of fabrication after Axios report alleging drone threat Reuters

European Disunion

Ranked: Where Inflation is Highest in Europe in 2026 Visual Capitalist. Micael T: “I can tell that for Germany this is pure bollocks. My weekly food expenses go up even though I buy less meat & fish and more beans and pasta.”

EU races to find deal compromise as Trump tariff deadline looms Financial Times

NATO’s biggest special forces exercise in Europe takes place as US reduces support for allies Sky

In closed-door talks, U.S. demands a major role in Greenland New York Times

US and EU officials converge on Greenland as Denmark stays away Euractiv

Biotech lobby groups are set to trap farmers and breeders in patent minefield Corporate Observatory Europe (Micael T)

President Connolly ‘very proud’ of her sister who was detained by Israel on Gaza-bound flotilla The Journal. Go Ireland!

Comments from PlutoniumKun by e-mail:

Yes – its widely reported here, but very neutrally, I don’t think the media quite knows how to report it.

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2026/0518/1573901-gaza-flotilla/

She is a doctor, married to a well known independent leftist politician.

The President was meeting King Charles at the time.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0518/1573827-connolly-visit-uk/

Privately, I think the Irish government will be furious – they don’t like Connolly, they don’t see her as a ‘safe pair of hands’, but constitutionally they have to keep quiet about it.  They will be fully aware Israel will do whatever they want to her, and don’t care too much about how it looks.  They already have a history of interfering in Irish presidential elections.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/31/david-norris-ireland-mercy-letter.

In the latter case, its widely believed that Israel deliberately released the story to stop Norris getting elected.

The Irish government is caught in a very awkward position between being pushed internally and externally to take a strong pro-Palestine stance and the enormous external pressure from Trump, Brussels and London.  They are very aware of various forms of US and Israeli pressure (something like 75% of all Twitter posts on Irish politics are from outside Ireland).

Old Blighty

‘Unprecedented’ police operation to control rival London protests Sky

THOUSANDS march at HUGE London ‘Unite The Kingdom’ rally with FURY aimed at ‘abhorrent’ Starmer Daily Express. A compilation of footage, including drone shots which show the crowd was very large.

MEP and far-right influencers barred from UK rally: Who are they and what was the reason? Euronews

Starmer sabotages Burnham on Brexit Telegraph

Is the bond market making Britain ungovernable? Guardian

Drones spreading seaweed to keep Britain growing BBC

Israel v. The Resistance

Israel launches strikes on southern Lebanon despite extending ‘ceasefire’ Aljazeers

Israel advances plan to seize Palestinian property near Al-Aqsa Mosque Middle East Eye

Syraqistan

Pakistani forces kill 35 terrorists in Balochistan operation, capture 3 high-profile commanders Indian Express

Can new Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions lead to another border clash? Aljazeera

New Not-So-Cold War

Nuclear weapons ‘cornerstone’ of Russia’s national security: Kremlin Turkiye Today

Why’s The Russian Foreign Ministry Downplaying The Likelihood Of TRIPP’s Implementation? Andrew Korybko

Please click through to read the entire tweet. One of its important points: “Starlink is no longer a commercial venture; it is the enemy’s orbital backbone, a de facto NATO asset branded with Musk’s name.”

Why we do not allow links to ZH (plus they other sites’ copyrighted work, including ours):

Big Brother is Watching You (and Maybe Blowing You Up) Watch

Imperial Collapse Watch

Should India Mediate The Iran-US War? Retd. Maj. Gen. GD Bakshi Explains Republic World. The headline does this fine talk a disservice. Maj. Gen. Bakshi takes a broad view of the role of America, BRICS, and India.

Please click through to read entire tweet:

THE SEVEN THUCYDIDES LINES WHICH PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND PRESIDENT XI JINPING SHOULD DISCUSS THIS WEEK BUT CAN’T BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO SUPREMACIST, TOO SUSPECTING John Helmer

Trump 2.0

Trump’s approval rating slides to lowest since 2023, CBS News poll shows CBS

Billionaire Trump’s Secret Trading Spree Alarms Wall Street Daily Beast

Pentagon says Hegseth campaigning against Massie in ‘personal capacity’ The Hill. Trump allies could not hire someone more credible as part of the first team?!?! This is the best gift Trump could have given to Massie.

Our No Longer Free Press

X Agrees to Review Illegal “Hate” Within 48 Hours Under UK Online Safety Act Reclaim the Net

Economy

Our fragile world is being hammered by one crisis after another. It’s about to get worse. The Age

The Chip Shortage Is A Gulf Energy Crisis Wearing A Different Costume Forbes. This was not a hard call, but comparatively few (including yours truly) made it early

China quietly turns off sulphuric acid supply amid disruption from Iran war ABC Australia

Shipping industry faces bunker fuel shortages amid Iran conflict Associated Press. We discussed this issue at least a week ago

Food Inflation in America by Product: It Boils down to a Sharp Acceleration on Top of Already Very High Prices Wolf Richter

Mr. Market Needs a Therapist

Global bond rout deepens as inflation fears trigger rate-hike bets Reuters

G7 finance chiefs seek to look through bond volatility Reuters. Shades of “subprime is containted.”

Oil Breaks Above $111 as US-Iran Conflict Enters Dangerous New Phase Action Forex

Mortgage costs rise sharply on Middle East conflict Financial Times

AI

From Andrew Ross Sorkin’s e-mailed Dealbook newsletter, subject line Booing A.I.:

Cue the boo birds: In a commencement address at the University of Central Florida this month, Gloria Caulfield, a real estate executive, called A.I. the “next industrial revolution” and was met with a loud chorus of boos. Stunned, she asked, “What happened?”

Yesterday, Eric Schmidt, the former C.E.O. of Google, was booed repeatedlywhen he began talking about A.I. during his commencement speech at the University of Arizona. “I know what many of you are feeling about that,” Schmidt said. “I can hear you.”

Schmidt told the grads that he understood there was “a fear” that the machines were coming and jobs were disappearing.

Scary numbers: According to new research from the employment site ZipRecruiter, some 47 percent of recent graduates say that A.I. has already affected hiring in their field, and nearly 51 percent of soon-to-be grads believe that A.I. will reduce the number of entry-level jobs.

American Jobs with AI Exposure Really Are Starting to Disappear, Data Show Gizmodo (Ann)

A 45,000-person labor strike at Samsung’s memory chip plants could throw a wrench into the AI boom Fortune (Ann). BWAHAHA.

The Bezzle

BlackRock Private Credit Fund’s Valuations Are Probed by DOJ Bloomberg. From over the weekend. Important. The SEC oversees private fund managers. See for instance this ACA report from March Private Credit Under SEC Scrutiny as Liquidity Pressures Rise. This means the SEC found enough that it did not like that it not only made a DoJ referral but the DoJ took it up. The SEC has plenty of power to impose fines but only the DoJ can pursue a criminal case. Mind you this is just an investigation but is looks mighty serious. But again remember this action is only against one fund so in theory the implications for BlackRock, which is ginormous, look limited. But this is a big deal in that it suggests that investor worries about valuations are bona fide.

Lawmakers zero in on sports gambling regulation as scandals boom The Hill

Guillotine Watch

The AI trial of the century ends with a whimper Gary Marcus

Class Warfare

The Affordability Case for Public Factories Washington Monthly

LIRR Strike Brings Five-Hour Commutes, Bleary Travelers THE CITY

Antidote du jour (Retaj):

And a bonus. The vets loved my last cat, Gabriel, because he acted like a dog and would accept all sorts of handling. They also seemed to have PTSD related to his breed, Abyssinians, because they were typically hostile. For instance, after my first cat, Winston, had a catheter put in him to clear some urinary blockage, the vets had to wear full-arm welding gloves to deal with him.

A second antidote. Cats heart science experiments!

And a different sort for the third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
91 comments

  1. Mikerw0

    New Yorker here. On the LIRR workers strike I am struck by how the local coverage never went anti employee, which would have been common recently. Instead they repeatedly pointed out that the employees have not seen a wage adjustment for years. And, in the interviews with impacted commuters they didn’t air someone who was disgruntled or mad despite the serious inconvenience.

    That said, given how close the solution is to what the union requested, it strikes me as a tad ingenious for Gov. Hochul to paint this as some big victory by her.

    Reply ↓
    1. upstater

      The elites needed LIRR back in operation to allow reverse commuting of wage slave help from the city to the Hamptons. The season is just beginning with Memorial Day and the larders and wine cellars are full. Who would do the work?

      Reply ↓
  2. Lou Anton

    “Global bond rout deepens as inflation fears trigger rate-hike bets” – so bonds everywhere are selling off…where does that money then flow? Maybe movement from long bonds into short-term bills? T-Bill and chill? It’s certainly not flowing into gold at the moment.

    Reply ↓
    2. Wukchumni

      The GCC is really into karats and if you need to raise dough re mi in a hurry on account of say oil income stopping rather all of the sudden, a whole bunch can be sold off toot suite…

      Old yeller went down about 10% during the Yom Kippur War back in the day, and here we are at the same juncture~

      Reply ↓
  3. Mark Gisleson

    Nothing starts my day off better than an apology for over-aggregation due to too much news : )

    Thanks for the content. Not your fault we live in interesting times ; )

    Reply ↓
  5. The Rev Kev

    ‘Kathleen Tyson
    @Kathleen_Tyson_
    Australia deserves the isolation it is determining for itself with self-harming aggressions against China. Forced divestments in rare earths will deter all Chinese investment in Australia, incur retaliatory measures. Who sold Australia jet fuel last month? China.’

    This is just plain nuts and is the exact same sort of thing that the EU does with it’s relations with China. I suspect that behind the scenes, that it was the Trump regime giving Albo his marching orders, no matter the consequences to Oz. Unless the Chinese had a controlling interest in any of those companies (i.e. over 51%), what difference would it have made? Does Albo think that the US would rush to his aid in case Oz came a cropper economic wise? If so, I have news for him and it is all bad.

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      “This is just plain nuts and is the exact same sort of thing that the EU does with it’s relations with China.”

      Most recent example: unseating Chinese management at Nexperia (Netherlands). And let us not forget the forced sale of TikTok to cronies of the US government, and the takeover of Russian-controlled Gazprom Germania and its subsidiaries by the German government.

      This is bound to provoke some backlash:

      1) the evident one — China preventing European and Australian capital to take over or participate in Chinese firms because of “national security interests”; I doubt that China will go all the way to expropriate foreign corporations;

      2) the silent one — Chinese firms reducing or stopping their investments in Europe and Australia — which risks to be even more damaging in the medium to long term, leading those hostile economies to wither away without a fresh influx of capital and technology.

      Reply ↓
      1. Windall

        The nexperia fight is still not resolved.

        According to the Financial Times, customers are now purchasing wafers from the European unit and sending them to the Chinese unit for assembly themselves.

        I don’t see the business case for this when the Chinese unit can just buy wavers inside China. Unless the Dutch wavers are super duper special for some reason.

        https://www.nu.nl/economie/6395399/wingtech-eist-8-miljard-dollar-van-nederlandse-staat-na-ingrijpen-nexperia.html#nujij

        https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/netherlands-to-probe-chinese-owned-chipmaker-nexperia

        Reply ↓
  6. RookieEMT

    It’s a nice little ‘oh my god’ moment when you realize Jim Kunstler’s orange champion might actually bring the end of Happy Motoring. He’s going down in flames as a Trumper even with the recent news.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I was winnowing my bookmarks yesterday and took one last look at Kunstler’s latest post – and deleted that bookmark without regret. Poor guy really went down the rabbit hole.

      Reply ↓
      1. Carolinian

        I think the Gaza slaughter has become a litmus test re who is reasonable and who is not. Defending the indefensible gets the delete button…in my case many months ago.

        Reply ↓
      2. Michael Fiorillo

        Kuntsler was posting vicious anti-immigrant screeds well before Trump I, when I realized it was necessary to ignore him.

        Reply ↓
    2. Wukchumni

      Kunstler has been unreadable for at least the statute of limitations~

      I’m anxious to quiz my to the right of right brother-in-laws (one of them leans so far right that he has a permanent list going on) how they’re feeling in regards to current events.

      One of them went as far as blaming Biden for all that ails us, when we last spoke over Xmas.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        If you were going to needle them, maybe you should ask them what they are paying for gas right now. Then being a good brother-in-law, suggest they run out and buy some motor oil – while they are still on the shelves. :)

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          One of them was in higher management @ the ‘Estes rocket factory’ in Tucson, and although retired for some time now, keeps up on things.

          He told me a few years ago that it was taking over a year to build new Patriots on account of chip issues.

          I’ll see what I can glean out of him…

          Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    ‘Cue the boo birds: In a commencement address at the University of Central Florida this month, Gloria Caulfield, a real estate executive, called A.I. the “next industrial revolution” and was met with a loud chorus of boos. Stunned, she asked, “What happened?”’

    Ooh! Ooh! I know somebody that can answer that-

    ‘Stop the Forever Wars
    @DoctorFishbones
    Turns out “Our technology will destroy your hopes and dreams and cannot be stopped” is not a great marketing message.’

    https://xcancel.com/DoctorFishbones/status/2056421645430989238#m

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Here’s another good clip of Google dork Eric Schmidt getting booed at a commencement:

      https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/1tft863/eric_schmidt_booed_into_oblivion_by_students_for/

      How self-absorbed and rotten do you have to be to essentially taunt a group that invested four years of hard work and thousands of dollars in getting a degree with this AI crap?

      Perhaps in addition to bringing a cap and gown, graduates should also pack rotten tomatoes and nine-volt batteries?

      Reply ↓
  8. mzza

    re. “Israeli tech company aiming to cool the Earth with masses of tiny particles”

    I hope it’s comforting to the many dead and displaced to hear that Israel’s nonstop destruction via bombing and demolition is simply a proof-of-concept test to save the world from climate change via atmospheric particle distribution. In this light we can optimistically read the upcoming iPhone 17’s with potential pager chips as part of a global roll-out of this life-saving-through-death, “dust to dust” Problem Solving.

    Reply ↓
  9. eg

    “Is the bond market making Britain ungovernable?”

    Gah! Make it stop!

    By whom are we to be governed? Elected representatives or coupon clippers? 😡

    Actually, they finally interview someone intelligent on the issue — Daniela Gabor is excellent

    Reply ↓
  10. The Rev Kev

    ‘Seyed Mohammad Marandi
    @s_m_marandi
    Do not buy Apple.’

    Turns out that the new Apple iPhone17e will have very advanced technological features. For every time you criticize Netanyahu while talking on that mobile, your mobile’s memory will drop 5%. Every time you criticize Israel, your signal suddenly turns spotty. And for every time you criticize Zionism, it will download kiddie pron to your mobile and then report you to the authorities.

    Reply ↓
  11. Tom Stone

    If Trump wasn’t a stable Genius chosen by almighty Gawd to Make America Great Again I would be deeply concerned.
    As it is he has clearly solidified his position as the Greatest American President since Joe Biden.
    Don’t worry, be Happy!

    Reply ↓
  12. The Rev Kev

    “Could China limit Japanese airlines’ access to its airspace as ties sour?”

    If China did this, Japan would be borked. Japanese airlines already avoid flying over Russian territory. And if they could not fly over Chinese territory, that leaves them with not many choices. Either flying much further south but which means flying over the Middle east which could erupt into warfare at any time or flying over the pole via Alaska. Not a great bunch of choices. But with jet fuel stocks worldwide going down, perhaps this problem will partly resolve itself with far fewer flights before too long.

    Reply ↓
  13. LawnDart

    Re; Billionaire Trump’s Secret Trading Spree Alarms Wall Street

    How is this news?

    And why in the hell should Wall Street be alarmed? Hasn’t insider-trading and self-dealing become normalized amongst the US misleadership class?

    I’m not suggesting that it’s right, and personally I feel that all officials (federal, state, and local) who engage in this behavior should be publicly hanged and their ill-gotten wealth– in addition to all other family assets– seized.

    The Daily Beast post is not exactly a clarion call to action, and it appears to reinforce the bipartisan status quo by tacitly endorsing the duopoliy’s strategy of divide et impera (divide and rule): why choose only one? Get ALL the bastards, democrats and republicans alike!

    A lot of lamposts in DC and across the nation are in serious need of holiday decorations… the day that happens will be a holiday.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I tend to think that it will not be lamposts that will be decorated but those posts with CTV cameras mounted atop them instead which would be more fitting.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        A good many lampposts in cities in Cali have banners of locals that enlisted in the military, and are treated like hometown heroes in thanks for their service.

        It’d be a bit busy if something else was hanging there too…

        Examples:

        https://thebraveprojectvisalia.org/

        https://www.rialtoca.gov/212/Military-Banner-Program

        https://www.simivalley.org/departments/public-works/armed-forces-banner-program

        https://www.santa-ana.org/cosas-newsletter-july-31-2025/military-banners-23-of-44/

        Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          It would be a bit on the nose if some cops roused some homeless guy sitting under one of those lamposts claiming it was his and when one of those cops looked up at the Military Banner, was startled to realize that it is the same guy. With over 30,000 homeless veterans, it could very easily happen.

          Reply ↓
          1. Wukchumni

            The only time you ever saw banners in SoCal back in the day, was after the Lakers or Dodgers won a championship, and they’d have individual players names aloft.

            The rot that the MIC has successfully implanted into our noggins since 9/11 was deep & dank.

            Reply ↓
            1. Carolinian

              No banners here. I think it’s an CA thing.

              We still don’t have any more American flags on houses other than the few seen after the Ramadan war beginning.

              This neighborhood does now skew younger than it once did. There are lots of young professionals with children.

              Reply ↓
  14. nycTerrierist

    Outstanding antidotes today — and as much as I love cats…
    wow that last one (w/the mascot)!
    :-)

    Reply ↓
  15. Earl

    The Pentagon Wants 300,000 Drones But China Controls The Magnets https://finance.yahoo.comsectors/technology/article/pentagon-wants-300-000-drones-000000791.html
    Also of interest is note that cable news talking head and retired four-star, General Jack Keane serves on the Advisory Board of REalloy a company that hopes to develop alternative sources of rare earth metals. The potential conflicts of interest of cable news military experts should be disclosed in their introduction to their offered on-line opinions.

    Reply ↓
    1. Socal Rhino

      I always liked the idea of requiring public figures to show their endorsements on their clothes, like NASCAR drivers.

      Reply ↓
      1. cpm

        I’ve suggested the same to my local giant Health Care organization.
        Docs and nurses could get some great new smocks with Pfizer logos.

        Reply ↓
    2. alrhundi

      REalloy has been heavily pushed by oilprice.com yet I can’t seem to find any reliable information on the company other than it’s connections.

      Reply ↓
      1. LawnDart

        I noticed that too– non-stop puff-pieces on OilPrice about that company, which makes me wonder, what’s in it for OilPrice? Some of their reporting already seemed questionable, but I think it’s getting to the point of not trusting anything you read on that site unless confirmed by other, more reputable sources.

        Reply ↓
    1. Lefty Godot

      And do we have any reporting on the number of fatalities for US troops “over there” since Operation AIPAC Fury began? Still stuck at 6? Good to know our news media are right on top of these stories.

      Reply ↓
  17. ChrisFromGA

    You’re a mean one, Mr. Schmidt
    You really are a heel
    You’re as cuddly as a cactus
    You’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Schmidt
    You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

    You’re a monster, Mr. Schmidt
    Your heart’s an empty hole
    Your brain is full of spiders
    You’ve got garlic in your soul, Mr. Schmidt
    I wouldn’t touch you or your greasy AI with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole

    You’re a vile one, Mr. Schmidt
    You have termites in your smile
    You have all the tender sweetness
    Of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Schmidt
    Given a choice between the two of you
    I’d take the seasick crocodile

    You’re a foul one, Mr. Schmidt
    You’re a nasty-wasty skunk
    Your heart is full of unwashed socks
    Your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Schmidt
    The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote
    “Stink, stank, stunk”

    You’re a rotter, Mr. Schmidt
    You’re the king of sinful sots
    Your heart’s a dead tomato
    Splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Schmidt
    Your soul is an appalling dump heap
    Overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment
    Of deplorable rubbish imaginable
    Mangled up in tangled-up knots

    You nauseate me, Mr. Schmidt
    With a nauseous super naus
    You’re a crooked jerky jockey
    And you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Schmidt
    You’re a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich
    With arsenic sauce

    “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch”, Dr. Seuss

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hj3U18FHgQ&list=RD3Hj3U18FHgQ

    Reply ↓
  19. Lupana

    It is depressing. Latin America is caught in a recurring cycle of breaking free from the US only to walk back into the trap. What needs to change is for the elites who govern to actually start representing their people and their national interests not just looking at ruling as a way to accumulate personal wealth and power. Or for the elites to finally be completely replaced. ( I would like to see more regarding Israel’s role. )

    Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    “Wood burning is reintroducing lead pollution into the air, US scientists find”

    ‘The use of wood as an energy source is a relic of the past, one that should not be relived if given a choice. Although wood fuel use can feel nostalgic, it does have negative consequences on air quality, and therefore public health.’

    For lots of people in Europe this coming winter, burning wood will not be reliving the past or done so to feel nostalgic. It will be a matter of trying not to freeze to death due to lack of affordable energy. Maybe they should take those very same US scientists, transport them to somewhere like northern Michigan in June, and then inform them that where they are at there is no energy – but there is an old wood burner in the corner. See what happens then.

    Reply ↓
    1. lyman alpha blob

      That article should be read in conjunction today’s first link, Words Lost and Stolen. From that article –

      “So… what the hell is an estover? This refers, again, to that period of time when the Masters of the Universe still hadn’t completely crushed the commons. Of course, the commons still exist and they will continue to do so as long as life exists, but nowadays they are almost completely criminalized or privatized (or made public, i.e. taken over by the State, which honestly is pretty similar to being privatized).

      Estovers, traditionally, were an inalienable, lifelong allowance of wood that commoners in many parts of Europe were allowed to take from a forest that had been taken over by an aristocrat (private) or taken over by the State (public). They could gather as much as they needed for making tools, fences, and firewood. Estovers evolved over time and were eventually abolished once private/public property became a totalitarian regime, but for long periods of time estovers were associated with widows: for centuries widows had a special right to gather resources from the commons for their own support.”

      My parents heated their house exclusively with wood for decades. My father and I cut it in the summer from the woods around the house. While I would not recommend extensive wood burning in urban areas, I don’t see a problem in rural areas where wood is plentiful, with the literal windfall often just rotting on the ground.

      The warning coming from the neoliberal Grauniad sounds like just another attempt to keep the poors down.

      Reply ↓
  22. Wukchumni

    O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
    What so proudly we hailed at the empire’s last gleaming,
    Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
    O’er the internet we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
    And Hormuz red glare, the Shahed drones bursting in air,
    Gave proof through the night that Iran was still there;
    O say does that $tar-$pangled banner yet wave
    O’er the land of free for the taking, those buckaneers from the home of the brave?

    Reply ↓
  23. Socal Rhino

    Very interesting discussion with Matt Otte, German economics professor, on Glenn Diesen’s channel. Among other things, touched on both Spengler and Tainter views of civilization decline with mentions of the Fourth Turning and Toynbee.

    Mentioning after seeing Tainter brought up in comments a few days ago.

    Reply ↓
    1. In Cold Chud

      I listened to this as well, more or less just to see if it was what I thought it would be. While Diesen is definitely smoother than Steve Buscemi trying to bribe a Minnesota state trooper, his shtick does begin to grate, after a time. This is the link, for anyone else interested:

      https://youtu.be/BqHa-dqG5dE?si=6VJfGKB45Rzb5iK

      Shit gets real at around 32:40, with a discussion of (what else?) population. “Every continent is collapsing, with the exception of black Africa[!].” (The reader has probably already guessed that there will be no mention of underlying material conditions.)

      But the best part is at 35:45, when Diesen basically asks if the Spenglerian civilizational life-cycle paradigm has any wiggle-room–which is to say, if the West can turn it around with Christianity and childbearing.

      This is more about my side of the Atlantic, but yet another thing that can be laid at the feet of the Western left (with exceptions, of course) is the cession of antiwar, anti-imperialist rhetoric to the thousand-year pancake prayer breakfast.

      Reply ↓
      1. Socal Rhino

        Just curious what you mean by Diesen’s “shtick.” I’m guessing you’re referring to disagreement with his political point of view as I don’t pick up any routine affectation in his delivery.

        Reply ↓
        1. In Cold Chud

          I guess it depends on what the center of his politics is, and whether or not he is trying to conceal or finesse it, or to present the audience with a package deal. Of course he is right that the Western antagonism toward, and provocation of Russia is insane. But somehow this always ends up with at least a hint of culture-war frisson. I might be alone in this, but I have the nagging suspicion that he sees the recklessness and shortsightedness of Western foreign policy as the ultimate evidence of cultural degeneracy, or moral rot, or whatever (as opposed to, say, an extractive, growth-based system becoming increasingly desperate in a finite world). It often seems like the second part is what he really cares about, and that geopolitics is just a vehicle for what usually ends up as no more than innuendo. To my ear, it is a higher-stakes version of, “Crime spiked because they took God out of the classroom!” Larry Johnson does something similar, though he is much easier to listen to, for a number of reasons, including the fact that the culture-war stuff is pretty clearly only a bonus. It’s more extreme with someone like Andrei Martyanov.

          Reply ↓
          1. bertl

            The recklessness and shortsightedness of Western foreign policy is part and parcel of a papermill financial system firmly grounded on the illusion that a extractive, growth based system will continue, magically, to support that illusion without any need for additional thought or effort. Anyway, that’s what comes across to me as the implicit basis of Diesen’s world view.

            Reply ↓
  24. Tom Stone

    It will be interesting to see the outcome of the Kentucky Primary, if Massie wins Trump will go ballistic because he will see it as a slap in the face.
    If Gallrein wins it is still a loss for the Zionists because the interference in American domestic politics by Israel is so blatant.
    Spending this much money to defeat Massie is a sign of weakness, not strength, whether Gallrein wins or loses.

    Reply ↓
    1. Socal Rhino

      I was going to comment on this. One question I’ve had since the onset of war with Iran is whether this leads to a break with Israel. Massie’s election is a signal. If the Israeli money defeats him other Republicans will be cowed, at least for a while. If he wins, some may be emboldened to put some space between themselves and the Zionists.

      Reply ↓
      1. upstater

        Can Massie run as an independent? I don’t know KY election law. In NYS Andrew Cuomo basically outlawed independents, third parties and primary challenges for statewide elections.

        Reply ↓
      2. flora

        Looks like Massie lost his primary race. Looks like the under 60-year-olds didn’t turn out to vote in the primary. Sad. The millenials and under are the largest voting cohort in the US now. Massie is hugely popular in those age groups. Why didn’t they turn out to vote?

        Reply ↓
        2. ChrisRUEcon

          > Why didn’t they turn out to vote?

          This group, like others, seldom does for primaries. I’ll try to follow up with the #’s … but I would hazard a guess that turn % as a whole was < 50%, and will end up being something like high teens to mid twenties for Millennials. Most Boomers are retired and have nothing else to do. They're also more rabidly political. There is a lot more apathy among the younger demographics.

          I remember looking up the election where Tim Scott won over an incumbent years ago. IIRC, the turnout in that election was < 20%.

          Reply ↓
    2. lyman alpha blob

      I’m not sure I agree that it would be a sign of weakness. Uncle Sugar gives the Zionist Death Cult a few billion per year. The Zionist Death Cult spends some of that largesse buying US politicians and controlling the US Congress for the benefit of the Zionist Death Cult. Rinse, repeat. When they want to slaughter some folks, the US ships them weapons to do so. Anybody seen the receipts for those? If not, I’ll assume those were shipped at no charge as a favor among friends. They’ve already removed a handful of anti-Zionist Congresspeople in recent years, and are gunning hard for the rest. They have been very successful. They even sneak in unexpected Death Cultists every so often – looking at you, Fetterman.

      So I’m not sure I’d consider a small country of fanatics running circles around a much larger ally a sign of weakness. It is, however, most definitely a sign of US stupidity and abject immorality.

      Reply ↓
    1. Es s Ce Tera

      If any and all images of a person, or information around a named person, can be deepfaked and used in sexploitation, I wonder if this would finally lead to privacy.

      By the same token, if anyone can be made to appear anywhere, I wonder if this will lead to widespread not believing or mistrust of digital images or videos, a trusting of only what we see with our own eyes.

      And the end of advertising and marketing.

      Reply ↓
      1. Alphonse

        Sorry to be a downer, but I this is interesting to think about.

        Privacy and doubt would be ideal outcomes. My first thought, however, is that we believe what we want to believe. Reason evolved as a selective tool for social cohesion, not for grounding us in reality. My second thought is that human beings respond to confusion by seeking stability and simple explanations. In an uncertain world we are likely to resolve cognitive dissonance by aligning with the in-group and an authority who can cut through the complexity with a simple narrative. Lies polarize.

        On privacy: when the people in search of authority and stability they seek safety in the group. Rather than protect their privacy they display their belonging. Zebras don’t hide, they conspicuously blend in. That is what I think we have seen and will see. So long as you signal correctly, the in-group will absolve you of sins. Trump supporters stand by the man who betrayed his promises to them. MeToo dissolved when Tara Read accused Biden of sexual assault. They are dangerous, so if you are on our team you can do no wrong.

        How many times have you succumbed to an uplifting AI video of cute animals because you want it to be real? How many times have you accepted a claim that reinforced your priors about your opponents, belatedly realizing it’s too “good” to be true? How many times have you rejected their claims about those you agree with because “they wouldn’t do that”? I don’t recall instances, but I’m sure I have. Which authority would you accept to settle the matter – one of “yours” or one of “theirs”? I’m sure your authorities are trustworthy while theirs are not, but be sure that they think the same way.

        Remember the Covington kid? Many people, just from looking at the expression on his face, determined that he was being racist. Journalists even published articles to this effect. They were not willing to sit with the uncertainty of “I don’t know whether he’s bullying or not.” Journalists didn’t look at the video of the complete interaction, even though it was available right from the start. Given a small cue (white, Christian, native) they took an ambiguous image and slotted it into a known category. He looked like the kid who bullied them in school. They saw what they wanted to see.

        There have been cases where the record was explicitly corrected and the response has been that while X was not actually true it was narratively true. One can imagine how it would go in the case of the Covington kid. Although this particular privileged white school boy might not have done anything untoward, we were not wrong to see the interaction that way: this is the reality of race and power in America. Only racists deny it. Even though they turned out to be factually correct, we made the right judgment, they made the wrong one, and the original reporting was more essentially true in that it reflected the reality of race in America.

        Consider the Kamloops graves. Questioning whether the graves exist constitutes hate because it diminishes the wrongs inflicted on native people.

        The most extreme example is the Gaza genocide. Although in that case, forced to confront the contradiction, advocates simply buy in. “Even the kids. They will grow up to be terrorists.”

        During Covid this was given a name: malinformation – facts that undermine the official narrative. Stories about injuries mRNA vaccine injuries were censored as malinformation because it could discourage people from taking the shots. What, are you going to let quibbles put lives at risk?

        I recall a Marxist definition of myth as a story that resolves a contradiction. The more contradictions we face the more myths we construct. I have a suspicion that the historical genius of the West, and its downfall, is an extreme dedication to narrative.

        Reply ↓
        1. LifelongLib

          The big problem with this sort of analysis is that it applies equally well to any idea or point of view or politics here under the sun, although in practice we usually apply it only to things we disagree with. But if we’re being consistent it all comes out in the wash and we’re back (for better or worse) to traditional forms of argument.

          Reply ↓
          1. hk

            I think that is the point: I don’t think any idea or “truth” is strong enough to cut through all the “structures.” The more complex a society gets, the more epistemologically sclerotic it gets, I think, with all the attendant consequences.

            Reply ↓
        2. Henry Moon Pie

          “I recall a Marxist definition of myth as a story that resolves a contradiction.”

          How is that definition applied to myths like those found in Genesis in the Hebrew bible?

          I like the definition that a myth is a story created by humans to answer a question for which neither the science nor the history of the time can provide an answer. The “creation-in-six-days” myth answers the question, “How did all this stuff–and I–get here?” The “Adam-and-Eve” myth, put in its current form when the Jewish exiles returned to a Jerusalem that was destroyed, answers the question, “How did things get so screwed up?” The “Tower of Babel” myth answers the question, “Why do humans speak so many different languages.”

          Our science and history know a lot more than what was available in the 5th century BCE, but there are still questions for which we don’t have answers. For example, a biggie right now is, “Are humans, by nature, destructive and incapable of living in harmony with the Earth and the rest of its creatures?” Joni Mitchell’s chorus in Woodstock is one stab at it:

          We are stardust (billion year-old carbon).
          We are golden (caught up in a devil’s bargain).
          And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden.

          Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock“

          Reply ↓
          1. LifelongLib

            You could turn your question around though: is the Earth so amoral and brutal that no human can live in harmony with it? Read any biography about someone from (say) the 19th century and count the dead children. Are we supposed to live in harmony with that?

            Reply ↓
          2. Alphonse

            It’s a particular understanding of myth applied to the particular Marxist meaning of contradiction as a unity of opposites. Consider the I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke ad (I think I linked to it in another conversation with you). The contradiction between wholesome image and imperial practice of an exploitative transnational corporation is reconciled by a trio of white youth leading people from around the world in multicultural song. In myth, Coke and western capital become forces for togetherness and love.

            One of the oldest contradictions in masculine and feminine. Drawing on Christopher Booker’s book The Seven Basic Plots I figure that stories that unite male and female (man and anima, women and animus), e.g. the classic comedy, are myths in this sense. A community is turmoil, the hero kept from his love by a tyrannical father figure. When he defeats the tyrannical father he wins her love (representing his anima). The contradiction overcome, the community is healed. The best example I can think of off the top is The Lion King.

            A scapegoat, described by Rene Girard, is a myth in this sense. One ancient version of this concerns plague. Plague in the ancient sense is not simply a disease but a condition of social disintegration and conflict. The community is in turmoil until the source of the wrong is discovered. In the most famous version of this, the king, Oedipus, is the source of the wrong. He has murdered his father and married his mother. When Oedipus is expelled, the plague is lifted. The expulsion or sacrifice of a scapegoat (often a foreigner, beggar, cripple, or elite – Oedipus was all of these) was traditional in Greek cities in case of plague. The word for this victim was pharmakon – the same root as pharmaceutical. The persecution of the unvaccinated repeated an ancient pattern.

            Girard argues that the mythical power of the scapegoat was mortally wounded by Jesus. Across time and cultures the scapegoat takes on the guilt of the community, which is then expunged by the scapegoat’s destruction. By permitting himself to be sacrificed, Jesus revealed that the scapegoat is innocent. This flipped the script in Western culture. Where previously the strong and weak were deserving of their status, undermining the scapegoat myth made room to liberate the poor, the marginalized, the downtrodden.

            That was Girard’s hope. It’s clear that myths retain their ancient power. They allow us to recover a sense that society is stable by believing what we want to believe and seeing what we want to see.

            Reply ↓
            1. Henry Moon Pie

              Thanks for these examples. I have a much clearer idea now of what you meant.

              I have not read any Girard (though that may be necessary to understand how some of the elites are thinking these days), but is it really Jesus’s innocence that was important? In the Hebrew bible, it’s made clear in Leviticus 16 that the goat that was banished bore no personal guilt. He is, after all, chosen by lot (still a question as to which goat “won the toss”). The same is true of the Paschal Lamb, Jesus’s antetype. After all, how guilty can a lamb be?

              There are two differences from other sacrificial beings in the Hebrew bible: Jesus is human; and Jesus, according to the texts, is the divine Son of God. It’s really those two things that are necessary to the whole point of Jesus’s sacrifice: atonement for human sin, according to orthodox Christian theology? The Church had to fight off the Gnostics on the first point and the Arians on the second, and orthodox Christianity regarded both points as essential to preserving the forgiveness of sins as a theological matter.

              I still don’t think that the concept of myth as cope is the only way that myths work. Humans do ask big, basic questions about the cosmos, and when there’s no answer from science or history, a story that provides a answer that many find satisfactory, will have to do. When a myth is very well constructed, it can even continue to answer that question as it evolves along with the advancement of human knowledge. We can have Peggy Noonan using the apple in the Garden as a stand-in for AI.

              Reply ↓
  26. Mikel

    THE SEVEN THUCYDIDES LINES… – John Helmer

    “One needs to read ten thousand books and journey ten thousand miles to gain understanding”, Xi said.

    I had to chuckle because I thought Xi “Malcolm Gladwell” Jinping.

    Reply ↓
  27. AG

    re: RU vs. Germany

    German NACHDENKSEITEN

    a decent report by Gert-Ewen Ungar who is currently in Moscow

    use google-translate

    Moscow nights and quality from Germany

    Ukraine attacked Moscow with drones over the weekend. It wasn’t the first time. What is new is that the drones were launched from Ukraine. Ukraine previously lacked long-range drones. There is strong evidence suggesting that the drones were of German manufacture. Regardless of whether this proves true, increasingly vocal calls are growing in Russia to return the war to where it is being fueled and escalated: to Germany.
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=150619

    Reply ↓
    1. bertl

      And so it bloody well should, if only to give Jonny Kraut a little reminder of where pissing off the Bear always ends up.

      Reply ↓
  28. Mikel

    “The five-second epistemology of the novel technology just discovered by America’s Silicon Valley and defense-tech genius fluids, called concrete
    Day 48. Ask a Stanford alum to name the top defense technologies. Hypersonics. AI. Quantum. Sixth-gen. Ask him about UHPC. Carburetor…” https://t.co/vxsQWSBIFN — Donald J. Gorbachev (@donaldgorbachev)

    And from this part of the link (https://t.co/vxsQWSBIFN )

    “…Pre-crisis spare parts manufacturing, strategic stockpiling…”

    The kinds of things that many referred to as “lower value human capital” propose and know about.

    Reply ↓
  29. Christian B

    I will celebrate with great fanfare when Starlink is gone from the skies and those dumb antenna are removed from the tops of the van’s and RV’s I come across in the remote campgrounds across the United States. I swear, since I have been seeing them my sleep in these desolate places has suffered.

    Reply ↓
  32. hereweare

    First chick hatched from artificial egg
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/19/first-eggless-chicken-hatches-from-3d-printed-shell/
    Colossal Biosciences, the world’s first de-extinction company [dire wolves], said on Tuesday that it had hatched live chicks inside a capsule which provides the growing embryo with everything it needs to develop.

    A window in the top of the egg allowed scientists to watch the chicks grow and hatch after just a few weeks.

    Reply ↓
  33. curlydan

    It’s not a “$1.766B” or “$1.78B” slush fund for Jan 6th protestors–the two figures used in the tweets above. It’s $1.776B (get it, 1776?) which only further reflects the ridiculousness of the “settlement” between boss and subordinate since the figure was made to match our country’s Declaration of Independence year instead of an actual amount tied to any kind of analysis.

    Reply ↓
  34. Tom Stone

    Massie lost, however Trump and the Zionist Billionaires may soon wish he was still in the tent and pissing out rather than outside the tent and pissing in.

    Reply ↓
  35. Robert Gray

    re: chaos in Johannesburg

    > [Joburg Executive Mayor Dada Morero] said there is a pressing need to
    > expedite the implementation of existing turnaround plans,
    > strengthen consequence management,
    > and enforce accountability.

    Hats off! What a masterpiece of cope-speak!

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *