Recent Items

Links 5/26/2026

Posted on by

This prehistoric fish may explain how animals first walked on Earth Science Daily (Kevin W)

Climate/Environment

China?

Brussels Blames China. The Data Point Elsewhere The East is Read

Stable US-China ties? It won’t last long, Evan Medeiros says South China Morning Post (guurst)

The US Has Demanded an “Open Door” to China Since 1899 Finn Andreen (Micael T)

India

The ‘cockroaches’ India’s elite created — and can’t exterminate Asia Times (Kevin W)

The Iran War Is Coming for Your Diet Coke Bloomberg. So far only in India where Diet Coke parties are A Thing. Subcontinentals are more subject to diabetes at normal body weights than Caucasians, so this is not quite as bad from a health perspective than it might seem (but those caramel colorings are not good for you, even before you get to the aspartame).

Southeast Asia

Indonesia faces ‘vicious’ stagflation Nikkei

Africa

Unrest in Somalia’s southwest as federalists battle regional force APANews

Drones turn Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ war into a relentless civilian killing field Los Angeles Times

In Sudan’s war economy, gold keeps flowing as miners risk mercury and collapse Independent

The speaker of Senegal’s parliament says he is resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister in a deepening political crisis Aljazeera

‘Tinubu’s borrowing in 24 months surpasses 55 years’ debt record’ Guardian Nigeria

South of the Border

Cuba thanks China for rice shipment amid worsening humanitarian conditions Aljazeera

Guyana engages allies after back-to-back attacks on GDF patrols near Venezuelan border News Source

Brazil debt crisis swells with over 82 million behind on payments Nikkei

Global market volatility threatens one of Milei’s key goals: a return to international debt markets Buenos Aires Herald

Peru sends four tons of food to Bolivia and joins humanitarian airlift over blockades MercoPress

Colombia: “Serious deterioration” of security in Catatumbo after a new massacre UN.org

European Disunion

The EU is disappointed with Hungary’s new prime minister because of Russia Vzglayd via machine translation (Michael T). Micael T:

This is the highest or lowest level of tragicomedy: “The politician reminded his European colleagues of Russia’s unchangeable geographic position”

Apparently one has to explain to these people that the largest country on earth doesn’t sail away or swap continents just like that.

‘Turn off the juice of the rulers!’ Who are the Volcano Group, mystery saboteurs behind a five-day Berlin blackout? Guardian (Micael T)

Greenlanders ‘love and embrace the United States,’ Jeff Landry says after visit Politico

Old Blighty

Bank lending to UK businesses falls to lowest level in nearly 30 years Financial Times

Britain rejects Nato plan for extra Ukraine military aid Telegraph (Micael T)

Britain curbs electricity trading after straining Europe’s power grids Financial Times

Can Scotland still feed itself – and what happens if global supply chains fail? Herald Scotland

The Protection Racket: why is Sturgeon free tonight? Robin McAlpine (Colonel Smithers)

Israel v. The Resistance

Jesus. Our Brains Are Normalizing Atrocity. What the Hell is Happening to Us? BettBeat Media. While this is accurate for many of us and some of it is due to movies showing graphic violence. But occasionally even a written description can cut through the numbing, like of Palenstian parents trying to pick up the bloody pulp that was their child and put it in a pillowcase for burial. And it goes on and on and on in Gaza:

A related phenomenon is not much acknowledged in polite company: the way the press keeps people in nominally civilized societies well away from horrors experienced on a widespread basis in many parts of the world. The reason protests against the Vietnam War took off was not merely resistance to the draft but also the fact that television gave a sense, even if still sanitized, of the savagery of conflict. Israel genocide in Gaza is a special case due to the gleeful barbarity of Zionists who ought to have their licenses to the human race revoked. The US is not merely complicit but actively seeking to profit. The rest of the world does nothing except hand-wring even though genocide conventions impose a duty to intervene.

But what about the horrors that take place that the media barely acknowledges or at best, provides anodyne accounts? And the worst is it is because they occur in places that Trump calls dirtbag countries and/or to non-whites. This is still prettied up and thus pale compared to actual events because a fictionalized witness account, but this is still a tiny window on horrors taking place daily on a mass basis:

* * *

Memorial Day: When Israel Killed 34 Men on the USS Liberty Sam Husseini

* * *

Israeli organisation threatens legal action against Canadian Museum for Human Rights over Palestine exhibition The Art Newspaper (Kevin W). Has Israel backers not heard of the Streisand Effect? They seem determined to take action that will only get Israel even more hated.

Palestinian UN ambassador withdraws General Assembly vice presidency bid after US pressure Middle East Eye (Kevin W)

Not just the US: How 51 countries armed Israel during Gaza war Aljazeera

West Bank health system near collapse as debt crisis deepens Arab News

* * *

Israeli strikes continued across southern and eastern Lebanon despite a ceasefire, as Hezbollah reported heavy casualties and cross-border clashes persisted New Arab

Huckabee tells Lebanese being bombed to thank Israel for seedless watermelons Middle East Eye (Kevin W)

US and Israel ‘actively working’ to strip Jordan of Al-Aqsa custodianship, sources say Middle East Eye (Kevin W)

Yemen war sees scramble for scant resources between displaced and locals Aljazeera

* * *

The Babylon Bee Has Obtained A Leaked Copy Of The Iran-U.S. Peace Deal Babylon Bee

Syraqistan

Afghanistan’s silent collapse The News

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia Tells Western Diplomats to Flee Kiev, Announces Campaign of Prolonged Systematic Strikes on Capital City Simpilcius

Lavrov Tells Rubio, Russia Will End the War with Ukraine and the West Larry Johnson

Kazakhstan found itself in the Naftogaz trap Vzglayd via machine translation (Micael T)

Latvia’s PM resigns in fallout over stray Ukrainian drones DW

Russia steps up economic pressure on Armenia ahead of pivotal election Intellinews

THIS IS HOW PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN ANSWERS THE QUESTIONS ON EVERY RUSSIAN VOTER’S MIND IN THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN — WHY COUNT ON TRUMP BRIBES TO FINISH THE WAR WHEN ZELENSKY BRIBES KEEP THE WAR GOING? John Helmer

Imperial Collapse Watch

After Minab, Starobilsk: The Pattern of Civilian Children Becoming Targets in Modern War Global Geopolitics

War becomes the number one political violence risk for more than 50% of companies globally Allianz

You Cannot Unsee the Loops Craig Tindale. A terrible title for a really good piece on elite incompetence and political polarization. Written about Australia but IMHO has

Trump 2.0

‘Dirty little secret’: Ted Cruz just said the quiet part out loud about Trump Accounts and Social Security privatization Yahoo! Finance Yahoo (Kevin W)

GOP Clown Car

One can hope:

Supremes

A Tale of Two High-Profile Immigration Cases Steve Vladeck

Police State Watch

Economy

‘The world is not going to be the same’: Global turmoil rattles shipping TradeWinds

Charting the Global Economy: Factory Activity Sags on Inflation Bloomberg

Fertiliser groups cut production as Iran war squeezes sulphur supplies Financial Times

Mr. Market Needs a Therapist

Why Private Debt, Not Government Spending, Drives Crises Steve Keen, YouTube (Micael T)

Strategists Warn Yields to Stay High Even If Iran War Ends Yahoo

AI

If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you Sam Kriss

The terrifying rise of schoolboys making AI girlfriends Telegraph

Pope Leo calls to ‘disarm’ AI in major document, warns of technologic threats to humanity National Catholic Reporter.and Pope Leo’s ‘Magnifica humanitas’: AI must serve humanity not concentrate power Vatican News

Pope Leo denounces ‘culture of power’ driving rise of AI Guardian. One of quite a few MSM accounts, including on Bloomberg

How to end the Age of Slop Unherd

An Incomplete List of Successful Anti-Data Center Legislation 404 Media

The Bezzle

Rising Private Credit Defaults Are Testing Banks And Insurers Forbes

BofA warns AI stock mania is nearing historic extremes Seeking Alpha

Goldman Sachs Just Confirmed the Worst-Case Scenario Eurodollar University. On the private debt version of a bank run.

It’s not just SpaceX: Big Tech is dominating bond markets too Financial Times

Class Warfare

Today’s must watch:

Why Achieving Middle-Class Milestones Like Kids, Marriage, and a Car Is Increasingly Out of Reach Investopedia

Big Trouble in Little Human Genetic Diffence-Worshipper Land Brad DeLong

The Revolution Cannot Be Streamed The Ministry of Pop Culture (Micael T)

The People Do Not Need Permission William Murphy

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
110 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Memorial Day: When Israel Killed 34 Men on the USS Liberty”

    The saga of the USS Liberty will never be resolved until not only is there a memorial to that ship in Washington DC but that a major movie has been made about it. It was this attack that let the Israelis know that they could do anything to Americans that they wanted and that they would never be called to account for it. I honestly doubt that Israelis respect Americans but regard them as useful Goyem. The fact that they got the US to attack Iran not once but twice in the past year or so and ran down their critical weapons systems stockpiles would confirm this idea.

    Reply ↓
    1. Samuel Conner

      And thanks for drawing attention to this. Am nearly half-way through and am very impressed with the analysis.

      I wonder if it would be possible to intentionally design self-correcting, self-limiting “loops”. The cultures or nations that do that would have an immense advantage in dealing with remorseless material reality.

      Reply ↓
      1. Aumee

        A key point Tindale points out is that these loops, when self-reinforcing, are the most destructive. I think a better aim when designing these systems is to avoid intentionally creating loops altogether, and instead ensure there are outside checks and balances, as well as room for introspection for those operating within.

        While a self-limiting loop may operate as a “negative feedback” loop at first, the bureaucratic tendency is to eventually become self-defending and self-protecting. Open systems that are rooted in reality and genuine outcomes seem much more robust.

        Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      It’s an interesting work and I can see here a lot of what he is talking about. Like talking favourably of the Russians or the evils of Zionism would get you frowned upon because it is not part of the socially acceptable narrative. I disagree with his take on ex-PM Paul Keating though. Didn’t like him as PM but in recent years he is sort of like the uncle that will give you his opinion and social norms be damned. It was he that said that Oz’s future lay in Asia – which I agreed with & still do – but the past twenty years or more our elites have pushed us into making our future with the US. Trump has prove the folly of this idea.

      Reply ↓
    3. Henry Moon Pie

      There is an important element missing in Tinsdale’s systems analysis: the role of information pollution coming from the plutocrats’ paid liars. One can see his own blindness and susceptibility to this from his remarks on Covid. This very deliberate attack on the public’s information streams spills over to the political arena where two, out-of-state Zionist billionaires can convince enough Kentuckians that one of their own is a bad guy so that an anti-Zionist is eliminated from Congress.

      This is not to deny that he is spot on about all the shaming over shibboleths. Tinsdale is right: net zero is crap. Electrification is the same, requiring such a huge expansion of mining that it would be a destroy-the-Earth-to-save-it project. The shibboleth approach is a favorite of the Dems who merely ask questions like, “Do you accept the reality of climate change?” or “Do you believe health care is a right?” All you have to do is pronounce “shibboleth” correctly; you don’t have to enact policies to do something about those problems.

      But Naked Capitalism has taught us that information is worse than worthless if it’s not trustworthy, especially if the source of that information is some billionaire-funded paid liars’ outfit like the Manhattan Institute, the Great Barrington Declaration or the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Such groups and institutes pretend to be the rebel and dissenter, when they are nothing more than plutocrat-owned liars advocating for Business As Usual no matter the consequences.

      Reply ↓
      1. Lefty Godot

        The Empire of Lies could not continue without the constant operation of its Lie Factories, deluging the population in infoslop. To end the Empire, neutralize the Lie Factories. They mostly have physical headquarters locations and their senior executives and editors are known, so it’s not an impossible task.

        Reply ↓
    4. Joe Blow

      This is a very interesting article, but I think it’s a lot simpler than what he talks about.

      The world is enormously more complicated than it was, say, 30 years ago, and people are nowadays inundated with a firehose of information from many different sources, each of them pushing their own agenda, and people are simply overwhelmed. And in the face of such complexity, they do exactly what you would expect them to: simplify.

      But the complexity of each topic, the sheer number of them, lack of time and/or attention span, whatever, people simplify down to a “you’re either with us or against us” level, giving rise to the pro-immigration vs. racism, pro-net zero vs. climate change denial, kind of stand-offs that Tindale talks about.

      I spent a lot of time in Australia, and his account of the nasty, vicious take-downs of people who don’t think exactly like you do is spot-on. There’s safety in numbers, and so if you join the herd’s group-think, pillory the outsiders, that’s a guaranteed way to ensure your moral superiority. If you’ve watched one or two Facebook videos, maybe read a blog post or two, then you know you’re right, so what’s there to discuss?!

      Reply ↓
      1. Yves Smith Post author

        I have to disagree. A regular commenter, Clive, described in the UK an attitude he called managerialism, whereby if someone actually knew something and told a bosscritter that something was hard and/or would take time, he was dismissed as not being clever enough.

        One example from 1984: a partner in the London office of McKinsey, on a study for Citibank’s Treasury, decided McKinsey would figure out how to beat the foreign exchange trading market. This was when McKinsey has zero experience in this area.

        I told him that we did not have the right data. Foreign exchange is not exchange traded. All we had was end of day data in four currency crosses. Ww would need intra-day data, and not just from Citi but from everyone in the market and they would not give it to us.

        I then told him even if it was the right data, we had it for only four months. It was not enough to conclude anything.

        I did not add “because efficient markets hypothesis”. The four currency crosses were hugely active and London was the world’s biggest FX market.

        The partner decided I was an associate with bad attitude who did not want to do computer work,

        I concluded from that interaction that I had to leave McKinsey, that I would not want to be partner with a firm that thought an arrogant twat like that could be trusted to put the firm’s reputation at risk.

        When he came up for election to the tenured class of partner (director), a member of the shareholder’s committee resigned when he was elevated, which had never happened before. So I was not alone in my dim view.

        Reply ↓
        1. Joe Blow

          I think the managerialism you described is something different (although probably related). It’s managers indulging in wishful thinking and only wanting “get it done” staff to implement their ideas, not get in the way. Tindale is talking about a broader shift in society, not just the workplace.

          Supporting a political party has often been likened to following a sports team – you stick with them through thick and thin, right or wrong. This might be fine for a football team, but it’s obviously less ideal for a constantly changing political and social landscape.

          Tindale gives examples of the polarization in Australia today – the girl calling her dad a racist because he voted One Nation, himself being accused of not caring about the climate because he has a problem with net-zero policies – and has come up with a theory of self-reinforcing loops which, while good, I think what we’re seeing can be explained more simply: people are struggling to cope with the complexity of modern life.

          We all know people who blindly believe what they read online, who think they understand a topic because they watched a reel or two. Everyone’s definition of fake news is “something that I disagree with”, and so issues collapse down into two simple sides: righteous people who think like I do, and those morons and assholes who don’t. My team, your team :-) People then retreat to the safety of the herd, which creates this impenetrable wall of group-think that we’re seeing.

          There’s maybe a bit of all this in managerialism, but I think that’s probably more a simple power-play, bosses pulling rank and getting pissed off at anyone and anything standing between them and their bonus :-/

          Reply ↓
    6. In Cold Chud

      This is quite good, though perhaps just very slightly overtheorized. I would say that what Tindale calls the “compliance loop” and the “cost-externalization loop” are really the same thing, with faulty measurement inseparable from the policy choices that make everything ever-worse for non-elites.

      At least in the American context, the “shaming loop” and the “denunciation-polarization loop,” describe the same process, as well, though Tindale might actually be too charitable in his explanation of shaming. The prospect of shaming does not generally act as a deterrent, nor does it have to. PMC liberalism is overwhelmingly repellent, if one has been out in the sharp-edged world and not managed to rationalize it as an anomaly. Those who can espouse it are, by definition, non-threatening. It is a mark of election. Even the possibility of crossing lines is minimal.

      This might also be more American, but, behind credentialism, precarity drives all of this. The futurelessness of non-elites exacerbates elite overproduction, and, to the extent that the shaming Tindale describes is necessary, replacement* with another dime-a-dozen advanced-degree holder is the unspoken threat behind it.

      *It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that all of the admittedly meagre self-corrections America has been able to do were before the rise of meritocracy. (No, I am not saying it would be possible or desirable to have WASPs run everything, again.)

      Reply ↓
    7. ArvidMartensen

      Halfway through. And it strikes me that there is also a physical loop that reminds me of Aurelian’s analyses, where people trained(not educated) in universities have a symbolic grasp on the world while having no appreciation of the real world at all.
      So, most politicians, who these days start straight out of college as staffers to other politicians, assume that wanting something can make it so.

      What do they want in the US? MAGA. Reshore manufacturing. Obliterate the Shia regime in Iran and take their oil.
      Perhaps all of these fantasy strategies, like the reshoring wish, coupled with the new demands on aging US infrastructure caused by the supply disruptions of the Iran war, are coming home to roost.
      If you push aging infrastructure to nearly 100% operation, then any cracks and blockages and faults that could stay under the radar when the plant wasnt stressed, suddenly erupt.
      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/26/california-chemical-tank-orange-county
      https://abcnews.com/US/multiple-injuries-reported-chemical-explosion-facility-washington-state/story?id=133316638
      We’ll probably see more of this as plants are stressed and corners are cut.

      Reply ↓
  3. flora

    Two links from yesterday’s post seem to have something in common.
    1. WSJ – The Stock Market Has Never Been So Good When People Have Felt So Bad
    and
    2.The liberal establishment doesn’t take repression seriously – Alec Karakatsanis

    These articles show a disconnect of the elites from most of the country’s citizens and citizen interest. All for them, none for the rest. Corruption becomes acceptable in elite society. This is socially destabilizing and they either don’t see it or don’t care.

    This recent interview of Deni Rancourt sheds a lot of light on society, hierarchies, and the difference between a good for most citizens hierarchy and a bad for most citizens hierarchy. He focuses a lot on the biological/health outcomes of prolonged stress in most the citizens living under a bad hierarchical system.
    Why elites in their own interests alone can create a bad hierarchy than benefits them exclusively. It’s a pretty interesting talk.

    Why the Establishment Wants to Destroy Farmers & the Working Class: Scientist Denis Rancourt

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjhQuMKQo8s

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      “Scientist” Deni Rancourt:

      In 2007, Rancourt published an essay disputing the scientific consensus on climate change on his blog, which has served as a platform for climate denial by politicians such as James Inhofe.[33] In 2024, Rancourt made statements expressing support for various fringe views regarding COVID-19, including suggesting that the virus did not exist.

      Where’s Deni going to appear next? Jimmy Dore?

      Reply ↓
      2. flora

        Did you dismiss this interview out of hand, or did you bother to listen to this analysis of social hierarchies?

        Reply ↓
        1. flora

          Adding an aside: what Rancourt says about the state of the modern Western university is spot on, imo. I’ve watched and dealt with this change in real time, as they say. / ;)

          Reply ↓
        2. Henry Moon Pie

          Given that history, it’s the paid liars’ routine I’ve heard more than enough of. Step 1: sketchy science to sow doubt about the real science. Step 2: claim that it’s all just a plot to keep us from livin’ our best life driving giant pickups up and down creeks and eating those baby backs at Applebee’s in the middle of a pandemic. Step 3: pronounce a blessing on Business as Usual.

          I guess I regard such links, including 90% of what Dore puts out, as information pollution, and I’m trying to stay away from hazardous materials as much as possible.

          Reply ↓
            1. paul

              I used to listen to denis on his blogspot and I always thought he was pretty sound and he is certainly entitled to his opinions.

              Reply ↓
  4. Mr. Woo

    With regards to aspartam, unless they are submerged in diet soda and try to drink their way out they might be alright.

    Reply ↓
    1. Dingleberry

      Do we know the effects of consuming liters of the stuff every day for 30, 50 years on a person’s health?

      Reply ↓
      1. Oregon Lawhobbit

        Personal single-point anecdata, for what it’s worth – thirty years,* so far so good. Slightly elevated blood pressure, but that’s more likely due to weight.

        *three year break while living in Korea, where it wasn’t available…

        Reply ↓
        1. ChrisFromGA

          My gut feeling is that regular soda, despite the high fructose corn syrup, is less harmful than diet. I have a friend who guzzles the diet stuff and he’s quite obese. Either way, sticking with H20 is your best bet.

          If you can get your hands on it, Mexican Coca-Cola is made with real sugar cane, allegedly.

          Reply ↓
          1. ambrit

            I prefer the Colombian Coca Cola, naturally.
            Refined sugar and alkaloids. The Way to Start Your Day. (Better living through science?)
            Like many of my age cohort, I grew up with refined sugars in my diet. Luckily for me, I developed a taste for more louche sugars later in life.
            ‘Original’ Coke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula

            Reply ↓
          2. ArvidMartensen

            I watched a young coworker gradually become fat and flabby over a few years as he ascended the hierarchy and took to ordinary drinking cokes in his office.
            Not a great look for a young dude around 30 yo.

            Reply ↓
    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Aspartame has gotten more complaints to the FDA than any other dietary supplement/additive and by a monster margin. After I went off Diet Coke and then had a can about 3 years later, I got a terrible headache.

      And there is evidence of harm. Diet soda drinkers (and that is overwhelmingly aspartame, although some use sucralose or stevia) :

      A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who drank diet soda gained almost triple the abdominal fat over a nine-year period as those who didn’t drink diet soda. The study analyzed 749 individuals 65 and older and were asked every few years how many cans of soda they drank every day and how many of those cans were diet or regular.

      After researchers adjusted for factors such as diabetes, smoking and levels of physical activity, the study found that soda was a major factor in abdominal-fat gain. Participants of the study who did not drink diet soda gained about 0.8 inches around their waists, but those who drank diet soda gained 3.2 inches around their waist. Occasional soda drinkers gained about 1.8 inches.

      https://communitycare.com/new-study-links-diet-soda-to-weight-gain-and-belly-fat-asp/

      The WHO deems aspartame as possibly carcinogenic and recommend watching daily intake:

      Assessments of the health impacts of the non-sugar sweetener aspartame are released today by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Citing “limited evidence” for carcinogenicity in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 2B) and JECFA reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight.

      https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-hazard-and-risk-assessment-results-released

      I was drinking a 6 pack of Diet Coke most days but was below the limit above.

      Reply ↓
      1. amfortas

        i get a craving for a root beer(IBC, or other more traditional kinds, with real sugar) maybe 3 times a year, mostly in summer, for some reason.
        never had a sweet tooth, tho. ( so my bad teeth are almost a mystery,lol…due to neglect during the decade of my Wild Years, 35+ years ago)
        Tam drank diet dr pepper like a fiend…especially after type 2 showed up. i finally got her off it. then she was an ice tea with stevia girl. cancer got her anyways. i even grew stevia for her,lol. tastes just like sugar when freshly picked.

        when i see my doctor, i always forget that they assume that i’m consuming soda all the time…because everybody else is, so its a safe assumption.

        and pro-tip: dont water your plants with soda…diet or otherwise.
        spent coffee, however, is just fine.

        Reply ↓
        1. skippy

          A&W root beer in the 70s where you could by it in a Anchor-hocking Gallon Jug at the restaurant. What is sold in can now days has no resemblance to the real thing ….

          Reply ↓
      2. motorslug

        Years ago I was told by a dentist to stop drinking sugared (corn syrup) colas or risk losing teeth, so had to switch.
        Rum and water just don’t cut it!
        Anything with aspartame is too syrupy, a nasty aftertaste and hangover city. Diet Rite (RC) was the only national brand soda made with sucralose (splenda) but then they stopped making it last year and switched to diet RC with aspartame which is as disgusting as the others.

        Bobcat Goldthwait said he used to drink 2 six packs per day of Tab, when asked why, he said: I’ve never drank a case of tab and told a cop to blow me.

        Reply ↓
  5. DJG, Reality Czar

    The People Do Not Need Permission. William Murphy.

    Yep. Yep. Yep. I recommend reading — in part, for those who keep trying to pretend that right/left orientations in politics don’t exist anymore and that somehow Pete Buttigieg is just a younger, more boring, avatar of Trotsky.

    Murphy is writing an analysis of how leftists see political movements. Murphy is also writing about what the citizenry merit — and the public doesn’t have to wait for permission from Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, or Bernie Sanders (now so obviously retired). Or Ted Cruz, for that matter.

    Murphy: “One of the most powerful ideological weapons used against revolutionary movements is the accusation of illegality. Every transformative movement in history has been denounced as unlawful by existing power structures.”

    Exactly. So nowadays, everyone is a terrorisses. Yet Ali Abunimah recently started a discussion with Katie Halper by describing the events in Palestine as what they are: The Palestinians are conducting a liberation war.

    The demands by the Iran government sure look like those of a liberation organization. Territorial integrity. Economic independence.

    The U.S. elites may not approve. Much of the clucking liberal class doesn’t approve. But the U.S. elites no longer have any moral authority, which means that they cannot influence events in Palestine and in Iran except to make things worse. Which I’ll describe as “guillotine futures.”

    It’s like the opportunity that the U.S. elites threw away years ago to deal directly with the Chinese revolutionaries — and even more so, Ho Chi Minh, in Vietnam, who reported had a good deal of respect for Americans.

    All those opportunities lost to maintained the system now ending in a whimper. Even as the clucking class crawls about looking for “Putin” under the bed.

    PS: The wonderful Patti Smith has a word or two on this subject:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAUrab7mgmQ

    Reply ↓
  6. DJG, Reality Czar

    Aakash Gupta: Those darned Roman aqueducts.

    And as friend of mine reminded me the other day, among Italians, Rome still has the reputation as the best drinking water in the world. Which is important in the taste of bread and of pasta.

    I recall the meme that went around not so long ago: Women ask, “How often does your boyfriend think about Roman Empire?” And men would annoyingly answer: “All the time.”

    The Romans were remarkable engineers. Italians still prize engineers and engineering. So Gupta is not exactly guilty of presentism — but the important thing to keep in mind as that the ancients (in Rome, in Greece, in Egypt, in China, in Persia) knew a thing or two. It is very much a Usonian prejudice to think that everything was invented in 1892 in the U S of A.

    Bonus: What happens when two “bath o centric” cultures, the Italians and Japanese, cross paths. Romae Thermae by the esteemed Mari Yamazuke:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmFSflNiQU

    In which the protagonist, natch, is an architect/engineer.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I was once lucky enough to be able to visit the Pont du Gard and it is all that they say it is-

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

      I even walked across the top from one side to the other which was very windy. Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Felt sorry for those Roman engineers though. They needed a source of water for Nîmes and after looking at all the possibilities, realized that they would have to build this huge aqueduct across this deep gully. But they got down to it and built it and here it still stands.

      Reply ↓
    3. emc

      During a recent six week stay in Siena, I was far more taken with the medieval water system than the ubiquitous medieval artwork (Ambrogio Lorenzetti notwithstanding). 25 km of underground canals capturing rainwater cut to a 1% grade feeding fountains at the surface, supplying the city with clean water from the 13th century until 1914. Unfortunately the water museum which would have allowed me a tour of the canals was closed for restoration, but I spent much time tracking down as many of the old fountains as I could find.

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

      Reply ↓
      1. gk

        There’s also the impressive rainwater harvesting system in Matera, You can visit the main reservoire from the town centre.

        Reply ↓
  7. Henry Moon Pie

    For those who’d like to check out “Magnifica Humanitas” for themselves, here’s a link. You won’t need your Latin lexicon. It’s in English. It’s lengthy, but there’s a detailed, linked table of contents at the beginning, so you can spot cut what interests you.

    I left a lengthy comment in the long “indigenous” thread that included criticism of Leo’s complete reliance on Genesis 1:26-27, the “man created in the image of God” passage, in order to accomplish his task of establishing human dignity above the machines and systems humans create. Since Leo relied exclusively on a “human exceptionalism” basis, it left him with no ammunition to protect the biosphere from the AI attack.

    I also think Leo’s core analogy, that involves the comparison of the building project of the Tower of Babel to the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah and Ezra, to be a bit off when it comes to the Tower of Babel element. YHWH’s problem with the Tower of Babel was that the project encompassed all of humanity united under a single language:

    The LORD [YHWH] came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

    Genesis 11:5-6 (NRSVU)

    The problem in the Tower of Babel story is not a tiny elite pushing a project through over the objections of the rest of us. It’s too much unity in too large a group of humans, a problem Nate Hagens does a thorough job of dissecting and explaining in “Humanity as Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: The Symptoms, Patterns, and Drivers.”

    A better, though still imperfect, analogy is to the Golden Calf myth in Exodus:

    When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

    As becomes clear later in the story, not everyone among “the people” shared this complaint, but those who did had already forgotten that, according to the story, it was Moses and YHWH who had led them out of slavery and defeated the mighty Egyptian army. After Moses’s absence of several weeks, their impatience and insecurity made them ready to trade Moses and YHWH in for a new model.

    Aaron [Trump] goes along with the loudmouths, and asks for everyone to give up all their gold, even personal jewelry, for the sake of the Golden Calf project. The people comply, the Golden Calf is built, and they party like it’s 1999, until Moses returns and things get ugly.

    We have forgotten that it was on this Earth that humans evolved, and that it is this biosphere that has fed and nurtured us from the time our species first appeared. Someone proposes we need a new God who would do a better job of taking care of us, not just feeding us, but giving us flying cars and vacations to the Moon, but the building of that New God will require rendering the Earth inhospitable and giving up everything material that we have. And, as Leo rightly points out repeatedly, it’s not at all clear that the flying cars and Moon vacays are for everybody or just Thiel and his fellow plutocrats.

    Add into this all that the AI builders often admit they’re trying to build a god who can solve all the problems they’re having trouble with, like infinite growth on a finite planet. No one in the Tower of Babel story advocated for worshiping the Tower as a god; it was simply for human aggrandizement and unity, but the Golden Calf was built to be a god.

    Reply ↓
    1. Samuel Conner

      > We have forgotten that it was on this Earth that humans evolved, and that it is this biosphere that has fed and nurtured us from the time our species first appeared.

      Thank you. I’ve been thinking in recent years, as I contemplate my species’ headlong rush into polycrisis, that there is something to be said for the cultural conservatism of the ancients. This connects with the Tindale link on self-reinforcing ‘loops’ in the structure of the present West.

      I’d like to think that it is possible to pursue improvement without finding oneself on a road to ruin, but I suspect that such pursuit must be more gradual, incremental, and grounded in an expansive understanding of material constraints than has been the trajectory of human civilization in recent centuries.

      Reply ↓
      1. Henry Moon Pie

        Edward Goldsmith’s The Way: An Ecological Worldview argues (also in this online essay) that life at every level seeks stability. The cell, living individuals and ecosystems all have cybernetic feedbacks that operate to produce that stability. He proposes that human societies require the same if they’re to avoid becoming exploitative to the point of destructiveness. He calls that “religion,” and as you might discern from the title, what he has in mind is distinctly Taoist.

        Technology does two harmful things. First, it inevitably disrupts human societies. Second, it separates us from Nature. The good that technology might bring must always be balanced against these very serious, ill effects.

        Reply ↓
        1. LifelongLib

          Technology (controlled fire, basic tools) predates our biological existence as a species. We probably evolved using it and never existed in a non-technological “state of nature”. And not being immortal there’s always the temptation to grab the short-term solution even if we’re aware there are longer-term bad consequences. As somebody once said, in the long run we’re all dead.

          Reply ↓
    2. DJG, Reality Czar

      Henry Moon Pie: Thanks for reading, and thanks for your analysis. The encyclical is being covered as a news story in Italy, but then, the relation of Catholicism and Italian culture and Roman tradition is a complicated weave indeed. I will await to see how the encyclical flows into Italian culture.

      As to the Earth itself, keep in mind that the Catholic ethic in relation to the Earth was encapsulated and commented upon by Papa Francesco in his encyclical Laudato Sì:

      “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]

      2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

      Nothing in this world is indifferent to us

      I took this from the English version of the opening paragraphs published at the Vatican’s own site:

      https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

      You’re talking Francesco channeling the bodhisattva Francesco di Assisi, who is the Italian version of Kannon, the god/bodhisattva who listens to our laments.

      Also, Leo has made something clear in recently: The major Catholic hospital in Roma, the Policlinico Gemelli, abrogated its contract with Palantir after some dustups over privacy and data-mining (what else?) and the stupidities uttered by Thiel.

      Paywalled, but there is enough to get you going:

      https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2026/05/06/via-palantir-dal-gemelli-dopo-peter-thiel-a-roma/8376560/

      The excellent investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi has been on the story in an attempt to clarify / dislodge Palantir:

      https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2026/05/06/15-mail-in-2-anni-e-nessuna-risposta-negata-al-fatto-copia-dellaccordo/8376558/

      Reply ↓
      1. Henry Moon Pie

        Thanks for that, DJG. No wonder it seemed that Leo was deferring to Francis on that topic. How beautifully put. Sister and Mother! I like it, and considering the namesake and forerunner, it should be no surprise.

        And Francis of Assisi is really about the oldest source the late Pope can find. The reliance on the heavenly potter shaping us from the dirt of the Earth, the same substance as our true, living sisters and brothers with whom we share Our Mother, is brilliant, but I think it demonstrates how the writers of both the Hebrew and Greek bibles, even as separated as they were in time and culture, shared a distinct disinterest in the need for harmony with the Earth, unlike Eastern traditions like Taoism that taught striving to be like water, seeking the lowest places, following the bend in the valley. The river in whose valley all of my family live, but my Thailand-dwelling son, is called the Cuyahoga River, “Crooked River” in Ottawa. The river begins heading south toward the Ohio River and the Gulf, but it runs into a ridge left by the retreating glacier that indirectly brought the first humans here. Being flowing water, it obeys that ridge and heads north toward Erie, the St. Lawrence and the North Atlantic.

        Knowing man
        and staying woman,
        be the riverbed of the world.
        Being the world’s riverbed
        of eternal unfailing power
        is to go back again to be newborn.

        Tao te Ching #28 (Le Guin rendition)

        Can humanity grasp the wisdom that the poor, old, formerly burning Cuyahoga demonstrates? We’ve run into an insurmountable ridge on the path we’ve taken our first time around. It’s time to admit our limitations and head back in the opposite direction, back to that harmony with Nature that humans once shared with the rest of life on the Earth, back to when we spoke with the birds and bees, and more importantly, we heard their responses back to us.

        We truly lost one of those “touched” people you spoke about recently when we lost Francis. He had the boldness to leave part of the tradition behind so that other parts could be shaped into something new and better equipped for these times. That is always the work of the prophet.

        Reply ↓
  8. paul

    I have a lot of time for robin macalpine but I find it strange that he does not credit stuart campbell (aka wings over scotland) as the person who got the ball rolling 6 years ago.

    It really boils my piss that sturgeon walks while one of the most talented and honest uk politicians died both prematurely and broke after his political assasination.* Still both cases show that you get your rewards if you do your job properly.

    *happens a lot here to talented, principled ones; willie macrae, robin cook, charlie kennedy.

    Reply ↓
    1. TonyJ

      Paul, I cannot agree more strongly with your recognition of the valuable work that Stuart Campbell did to bring this egregious scandal to light.

      His posts this week are well worth reading:

      https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-final-robbery/

      https://wingsoverscotland.com/no-money-back-no-guarantee/

      If he seems to be indulging in a little self-congratulation then I would say that’s entirely justified. I haven’t noticed much congratulation from anyone else.

      Reply ↓
    2. dearieme

      “Robin Cook” Ha!

      A pal of mine once told me “Today I met a fellow I’ve not seen since primary school.”
      “Has he changed much?”
      “Oh no, still a shit.”

      Reply ↓
  9. The Rev Kev

    ‘Wolf of X
    @WolfofX
    In 2006, emergency responders in Columbus, Ohio received a mysterious silent 911 call from the apartment of a disabled man named Gary Rosheisen.
    When police arrived, they found Gary on the floor after he had fallen from his wheelchair and couldn’t get back up. Sitting beside the phone was his pet cat, Tommy.’

    Just goes to show you that cat’s are highly intelligent – but normally they can’t be bothered putting up with our nonsense. That is why they are intelligent. Here is that same cat later that day-

    https://xcancel.com/Divincii22/status/2058692429423976795#m

    Reply ↓
    1. Oregon Lawhobbit

      What they don’t mention is that the cat also ordered 100 pounds of cat treats from Amazon and 5 large pizzas from Dominos before finally getting the number correct. ;-)

      Reply ↓
  10. Jabura Basadai

    Greenlanders ‘love and embrace the United States,’ Jeff Landry says after visit – Politico

    foreign policy has become nothing more than lies of wishful hallucinations –
    had to snort a laugh at the headline – and we still have 2 years left of maroons leading –

    Reply ↓
  11. The Rev Kev

    “The EU is disappointed with Hungary’s new prime minister because of Russia.”

    Still too soon to see how this guy Magyar will turn out as he is suppose to be a globalist. But it may be that Magyar has discovered that a lot of the policies that Orban had in place were not a result of personal quirks but a recognition of Hungary’s place in Europe. And that following the dictates of the EU will lead your country into the wrecker’s yard before long.

    Reply ↓
  13. earthling

    Re: the millions poured into one race in Kentucky by AIPAC etc.

    So this grossly misguided Miriam Adelson is somehow entitled to pour $200 million plus into any election cycle she chooses. The rest of us little peasant peon sheep have a strict limit of $3500 this year, and have to cross our t’s and dot our i’s and get on campaign lists in order to do it.

    Yes I know there are rules. I just want to say, now that our country has been ruined by oligarchs purchasing our leaders, that this whole system is so very wrong.

    I have high hopes that these contributions are going to get slapped down by hordes of angry young voters this fall, but, with mass media failing to make it clear what’s going on, I don’t know.

    Reply ↓
  14. Jason Boxman

    From The Iran War Is Coming for Your Diet Coke

    All of that will put sand in the gears of the energy transition, just when we need it to be speeding up. If you want to survive the brutal heat of the coming few summers, don’t get too dependent on steady grid power for your air conditioner. A cooling can of Diet Coke might be the better way — if you could just get your hands on one.

    Instead, people will just die. A diet coke ain’t gonna do it. Written by someone who clearly has reliable energy.

    Reply ↓
      1. t

        if I could, I would drink the first few fizzy sips and then toss the rest.

        I’ve always suspected this is what Trump does. Although there are gamer boys with worse habits so who knows.

        (Like Trump, I also love Sunset Blvd. Likely for different reasons.)

        Reply ↓
      2. Oregon Lawhobbit

        Me, especially when summer hits.

        Though the missus has me working on green tea as well.

        Reply ↓
  15. The Rev Kev

    “Lavrov Tells Rubio, Russia Will End the War with Ukraine and the West”

    I get the feeling that the Russians have had enough. At the beginning of the war there was a lot of good will towards the Ukrainians as so many families were spread across both sides of the border. That feeling has passed. Russia now sees the west arming the Ukraine with its weapons and attacking Russia but in truth, it is the west attacking Russia. That deliberate attack on that school dorm which killed so many young girls was I think what pushed the Russians over the edge. That was just Nazis being Nazis so now it is time that the Kiev regime found out. The Russians are going to ramp up their attacks and finally put an end to this western adventure called the Ukrainian war. Expect the situation in this area to get kinetic.

    Reply ↓
          1. Trees&Trunks

            “”Europe understands the potential of the Russian Armed Forces and understands the risks. I admit that some of the European embassy personnel and their families will be secretly and discreetly removed from the Ukrainian capital.”

            WTF does it take to get rid of these war-mongering cockroaaches?

            Western diplomats in Kyiv are preparing for a quiet escape.
            https://m-vz-ru.translate.goog/world/2026/5/26/1422198.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

            Reply ↓
    2. AG

      I still don´t get what Russia would gain with attacking those tiny arms shops and some factories in Europe on NATO territory.

      Two of the spots in Germany are really only shops at the outskirsts.
      The insanity within Europe after such meaningless destructions will of course go through the roof.
      And they won´t back down. So attack won´t change anything.

      Only if RU destroys serious government and military infrastructure will that resonate.
      But then EU has achieved its goal for an Art. 5 worthy sit.

      Now, to assume Rubio and Trump will keep to some promises to avoid WWIII, not live up to the Art. 5 clause and leave Europe alone is a risky undertaking.

      It most likely would open a nasty box of – well at least – possibilities.
      To assume Europe would back down after such attacks without pushing USA into WWIII territory is bold.

      More likely the crazies from London, Brussels, Berlin and the Baltics will start to openly harrass RU assets everywhere just to simply get the US involved.

      Anything of this sort would mark the beginning, not the end of something bigger, something RU did not want in the first place.

      Why give it to Brussels and the Banderites now?
      It would be much more volatile than any attack by 6000 drones by Ukraine as suggested by Scott Ritter, who stated a few hours ago that UK has provided UKR with 20k new drones.

      There should be economic punitive measure instad to the Russians´ disposal, for instance.

      Reply ↓
  16. The Rev Kev

    “The terrifying rise of schoolboys making AI girlfriends”

    This article should have gone more into those predatory corporations that are responsible for those AI girlfriends. They took one of the most vulnerable groups that there is – young teenage boys – and decided to make some bucks off their loneliness, no matter what the consequences were for those kids. That’s the Epstein class for you.

    Reply ↓
  17. Wukchumni

    90+ degrees in Europe feels closer to 100 back in my world, not that there is anything right with that.

    Reply ↓
  18. Windall

    You Cannot Unsee the Loops Craig Tindale. A terrible title for a really good piece on elite incompetence and political polarization. Written about Australia but IMHO has

    There is no link for the Craig Tindale piece at the moment.

    Reply ↓
    2. Jason Boxman

      An interesting read, and also unintentionally amusing. It seems the author holds opinions that fall prey to this moral policing loop, and thus is especially tuned into this manner of enforcing right-think.

      The Neo Liberal First Estate operates on identical lines, and the loop runs on its own in the same way. To question net zero is to be marked not as someone with a different reading of the evidence but as a climate denier.

      To question mass immigration is to be marked not as someone worried about wages, housing, or social cohesion but as a racist.

      To question the management of the pandemic was to be marked not as someone weighing costs and benefits but as a conspiracy theorist endangering grandmothers.

      The pattern repeats across every contested issue because it is not a pattern of conscious decisions. It is a loop. The vocabulary is supplied by the credentialing institutions, deployed by the credentialed, enforced by social cost, and confirmed by the silence it produces. Each iteration strengthens the next.

      Of course given what we know now, and what was already known at the time, Australia was right in pursuing a Zero COVID policy. The denialism about COVID, from educated people, is quite deflating. Indeed, it’s an acquiesce to social murder.

      Reply ↓
      1. Henry Moon Pie

        He fails to recognize the role of paid liars in his Information TOE. Questioning them is not part of a shaming cycle based on shibboleths. It’s information hygiene made necessary by the huge funding of efforts to deceive and mislead us. I operate on a two-strike test. Denial of the seriousness of Covid and the need for interventions like mask mandates and shutdown of non-essential gatherings is, “Strike 1!.” Denial of the reality of climate change or maintaining that Western lifestyles can be preserved by unrealized technological advances (e.g. cold fusion) is, “Strike 2! You’re out!.”

        Someone who gets both those wrong is either: 1) willfully ignorant; 2) has no judgment or is prisoner of a twisted worldview; or 3) they’re paid liars. Most of those who get published online fall into 3), as we’re discovering is also true of many pro-Zionist influencers.

        Reply ↓
      2. Henry Moon Pie

        Aaron Bastani of Novara Media pulls out his hair over climate deniers’ copes as Britain suffers from record heat.

        Like Bastani, I’ve lost patience with this.

        Let us not talk falsely now,
        the hour is getting late.

        Bob Dylan, “All Along the Watchtower” (Hendrix cover)

        Reply ↓
  19. Tom Stone

    There is blood in the water, the chaotic destructiveness of the Trump regime has laid bare just how weak the Hegemon has become.
    The deliberate destruction of Civil Society in the USA is a part of this that is not, to my mind, getting sufficient attention.
    It is much more fragile than most suspect.
    And the reaction of Western Leaders, TPTB, will be to double down.
    It’s going to be a lively Summer…

    Reply ↓
  20. Colonel Smithers

    Thank you, Yves.

    Your link about youth unemployment in India reminds me of, in particular, three increasing things:

    Sex workers being sent from Europe, mainly, and North America and, to a lesser extent, Australia to India for clients of my former colleagues in private banking and wealth management. The Gulf is competitive and worse, although there’s some mileage left in Saudi Arabia. East Asia is getting competitive.

    Young Indians working in Mauritius and elsewhere in Africa.

    Young and middle aged Indians working in health, hotel and catering and even horse racing in the UK and, to a lesser extent, the continent.

    Reply ↓
  21. nap

    Yves: “What about the horrors (in Gaza) that the media barely acknowledges?”

    At least it’s good to know that some very dedicated people are trying to keep track of and publicize Israel’s never-ending crimes, including this new database:

    https://genocide.live/

    and an interactive page (may take a minute to load)

    https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/3fb13dd2fc4f478cbdf1f6bca39f191b#zoom_to_selection=true

    It joins several other sites trying to do the same, including:

    https://databasesforpalestine.org/

    https://israel-warcrimes.com/

    https://www.sarkhaproject.org/

    https://data.techforpalestine.org/

    https://law4palestine.org/law-for-palestine-releases-database-with-500-instances-of-israeli-incitement-to-genocide-continuously-updated/

    https://www.ajiunit.com/investigation/gaza/

    https://www.btselem.org/statistics

    https://bearing-witness.com/

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post author

      I appreciate your desire to help but you misread my remark. It was NOT about the horrors in Gaza, which do get media attention, but in places like Somalia, the DR Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, which are close to completely ignored. I included the fictionalized TV clip of a woman who was regularly mass raped in the DR Congo to illustrate the dearth of genuine reporting on what it correctly calls an epidemic of violence

      Reply ↓
        1. Yves Smith Post author

          She is an American representing Americans. Why should she as a Representative go on about Somalia? Even with a lot of Somalis in her district, that does not represent the issues of the majority of her constituents. She perhaps could make some remarks about the horrors but make clear she is speaking in a personal and not an official capacity.

          Reply ↓
  22. hereweare

    Trump administration proposes NDAs for all federal workers – Washington Post
    The Trump administration is planning a government-wide nondisclosure agreement that would bar federal workers from sharing a wide array of “confidential government information,” according to a draft notice posted to the Federal Register on Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
    The draft notice, which will be published Wednesday and stay open for a 30-day public comment period, uses an expansive definition of privileged information, beyond typical classified and unclassified designations. The draft blocks employees from sharing “non-public, confidential, or proprietary information” or “any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material that is not currently publicly available and should not be disclosed under applicable law.”

    Reply ↓
    2. LifelongLib

      Well, as a federal and state government employee, I was always “block[ed]…from sharing ‘non-public, confidential, or proprietary information'”. Not sure what would be “sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material”, sounds quasi-legal so I probably wouldn’t have had access to it anyway.

      Reply ↓
  23. Jason Boxman

    Wowzers, so actually no need to be concerned.

    Why Scientists Retired the Dire Climate Scenario Used for Over a Decade (NY Times)

    From magic pony to nothing to see here, move along.

    It’s rare for technical papers about climate modeling to kick off a heated public debate, or attract attention from the White House.

    But that’s what happened recently after an international team of researchers published a major revision of the emissions scenarios used to study global warming.

    When scientists try to model how hot Earth could get this century, they typically look at a range of possibilities for how much planet-warming pollution humans might pump into the atmosphere. These scenarios get updated every seven years or so.

    In this latest update, the researchers abandoned a dire — and often criticized — high-emissions scenario known as RCP8.5 that has been prominently cited in thousands of climate studies over the past decade. The authors said the scenario was now “implausible” given recent energy trends.

    Reply ↓
      1. Jason Boxman

        The headline leads you to believe Climate isn’t necessarily as dire if they’re retiring a worst case scenario.

        Reply ↓
        1. hereweare

          You obviously read past the headline, so you know you’re misrepresenting the article and the 8.5 scenario’s retirement. Trump is the only source mentioned who says this shows climate change isn’t serious.

          Reply ↓
  25. Rabbit

    Yea Roman engineering is impressive yet they also stand on the shoulders of giants. They got their skills from Etruria and Etruria got their skills from Persia. Qanats date from at least 1,000 BCE.
    A nitpick 2.5cm is about an inch, not the thickness of a coin. Everyone should be able to do rough conversions off their head. The numbers to know are 25 and 40.

    Reply ↓
      1. Samuel Conner

        40 inches is a little more than 1 meter, 100cm.

        I find another useful ratio to be “3 meters is close to 10 feet”

        Reply ↓
  26. Rabbit

    Oh, Romans did have piston pumps made mostly of wood. I believe they used them in London among other places. There it was for municipal water supply I think.

    Reply ↓
  27. Jason Boxman

    You can see Trump making sure our case count here remains 0.

    Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya (NY Times)

    The Trump administration plans to send to Kenya U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus rather than bring them home for observation and treatment, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.

    The approach is a stark contrast to the way previous administrations responded to outbreaks, during which health care workers and other U.S. citizens exposed to the virus were brought home to be treated at specialized medical units. The administration this month flew an American doctor who developed symptoms to a hospital in Germany, and transported six other Americans for monitoring in Germany and the Czech Republic.

    Reply ↓
  29. Kouros

    People have issues with LLMs. I use them copiously in Civic Activism. It is a breeze. The article about the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and being pressured to cancel the exhibit on Nakba. In less than 5 minutes I had a letter and submitted it to the museum to encourage them to hold the line. And it was something that would have taken me quite some time to find the right tone, info, polished and respectful language (ESL that is brash by nature). Thank you NC for bringing the article to my attention.

    Reply ↓
  31. ChrisRUEcon

    #HelmerOnPutinVZelensky

    Thanks for the link! I actually watched/listened-to Helmer being interviewed by Dimitri Lascaris here (via YouTube), where the same topic is covered. Z is about to have his Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin moment … not a moment to soon.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisRUEcon

      #ChildrenAsTargetsOfWar

      Gaza. Is. The. Template.

      Gaza. Is. The. Template.

      Gaza. Is. The. Template.

      Reply ↓
    2. Skippy

      Today on Dialogue Works[????] one of the Larry’s and him were having a bad/bummer trip …. both ended the conversation taking about both Larry’s and him on the next show if “nothing bad happened over night”.

      Its very surreal, in a way, many accomplished people with life times of experience/knowledge on monetized digital platforms, some totally gaslighting unabashedly [dominate] and then those that attempt to cut through it to inform readers/watcher of a totally different reality, how it will effect them and future generations. In that moment today I saw the look on their faces, tone of voice, dialectal, something I am very familiar with in my life – anything can happen next.

      On Z …. neoliberal Atlanticists elevated a TV personality to head of State, based on political/ideological change in Russia, nice resources without environmental/labour arb blow back to the fatherland, fractured societies can’t fight back. Oops. Now Z is years into a bad coke habit and his cognitive functions are late state Heir Mu-stash[meth] or say some LatAm puppet like Noriega. Yet some people are still surprised at events at the moment.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisRUEcon

        > neoliberal Atlanticists elevated a TV personality to head of State

        … sounds familiar … :)

        Reply ↓
        1. skippy

          Wellie in the “sounds familiar case” its more than a leading man feature, its a whole cast of past media ***Influencers [tm]*** … woe to the West as this is were the next Gen of Talent will be pulled up from. Politics in West the is little more today than a PR/M[J]erketing comp for selling the neoliberal narrative script.

          Reply ↓
  32. ciroc

    >If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you

    (Maybe it’s because I’m Jewish and he’s Palestinian, but whenever I see anything from Richard Hanania I’m seized by an overwhelming desire to demolish his house.)

    He may have meant it as a joke, but I didn’t find it funny.

    Reply ↓
  33. Jon Cloke

    Private credit debt is increasingly looking like NINJA mortgages with no houses attached, isn’t it?

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

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