Ancient DNA shared with Neanderthals may explain human language Science Daily (Kevin W)
Smartphones arrived just before the US fertility rate plunged. One study says it’s a direct cause CNN (Paul R)
Climate/Environment
Gorillas can learn to trust humans even after years of poaching pressure, research shows PhysOrg
How a record-high ‘energy imbalance’ is driving global warming Carbon Brief
We Are in the Anthropocene—Now What? AGU
Im still in disbelief.
Each new model that comes out – somehow – raises the expectation of a record breaking El Niño incoming.
If for nothing other than my own clarity, I need to plot it – just to see how 2026 stacks up “IF” the models are right.
Using @webberweather’s… pic.twitter.com/9pazHBkINQ— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) June 9, 2026
Amplified Arctic iceberg traffic reshapes benthic biodiversity Nature
Record winter temperatures in Antarctic raise fears over speed of climate breakdown Guardian
Wild temperature swings are becoming the ‘new normal’, EU agency says Financial Times
Colorado and Nevada negotiators throw cold water on parts of federal plan to manage Colorado River Wyoming Public Media
Fishers live in fear as looming El Niño and fuel crisis pile on pressure Dialogue Earth
China?
China cancels high-level meetings with EU Financial Times
China says Japan has torn off its so-called ‘peaceful nation’ mask CGTN
Sen. Slotkin: NDAA, AI guardrails, and banning China’s cars China Talk
Japan
Japan’s looming typhoon crisis threatens disaster defences and tourism South China Morning Post
Koreas
India
Fixed this for you @CNN pic.twitter.com/Znv4VSKuWu
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) June 12, 2026
Modi orders Indian officials to prevent water from entering Pakistan Independent
Why India’s deadly dengue crisis is now no longer confined to the monsoons Aljazeera
Southeast Asia
China Supplies Battle Tanks To Cambodia Amid Thailand Border Row FirstPost
A Princess Who Never Rested On Her Laurels and The Lasting Legacy Of Thailand’s ‘Lawyer Princess’ Bangkok Post. Princess BajrakitiyabhaI died at 47 after having been in a coma for years. She was very well loved for her interest in and dedication to the interests of ordinary people. Please no comments about the monarchy or Thai politica but condolences are fine.
European Disunion
EU to protect industries from future carbon costs if they invest in the bloc Financial Times
ECB raises eurozone interest rates as Iran war stokes inflation Guardian
Germany news: Recession looms as Iran war chokes growth DW
Germany pulled the plug on flagship FCAS fighter jet – the implications for European defence are worrying The Conversation
Switzerland to vote on plan to cap population at 10 million BBC (Kevin W)
Norway challenges EU to call US gas ‘safer’ than Arctic reserves Financial Times
Poor parents forced to steal porridge for their children Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Millions of homes in London, Essex and Kent at risk of sinking as climate crisis worsens Guardian
Gilt Traders Brace for UK Vote With Burnham Eyeing Starmer’s Job Bloomberg
Britain’s defence secretary Healey quits over defence spending Aljazeera (Kevin W)
Record numbers turning to loan sharks as cost-of-living crisis bites Centre for Social Justice
Met police chief calls for law to make stolen phones ‘unusable bricks’ Guardian (Kevin W)
Same sit, different day!
Arrested under terrorism charges for holding a sign saying “Saving Lives Is Not Terrorism – I support Palestine Action” despite the Government's ban being found unlawful by the High Court.
"How ridiculous!"
Support at: https://t.co/nOqO4QQdM5 pic.twitter.com/7Tni6bAZo5
— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) June 12, 2026
Israel v. The Resistance
BREAKING: 'Regarding the text of the understanding, we are in the final stages of finalizing it in Iran. The place and time of the conclusion of the understanding have not yet been determined.'
Spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.— IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) (@iribnews_irib) June 12, 2026
What Iran smashed and future of the deal Ryan Dawson:
So we know why Iran hasn’t been striking the UAE
And we know why the US air base in Saudi Arabia has also been left aloneThe UAE refuses to allow its airspace to be against Iran and the Saudis refuse to provide any further logistical support for an offensive against Iran.
The Americans have become over-dependent on their bases in Bahrain and Jordan. The bulk of US land-based air power being concentrated at just two bases is far too dangerous for the US to sustain in a renewed war. Trump is trapped under these circumstances and he cannot renew a general war.
guurst: “CENTCOM going blind”:
Bahrain 🇧🇭Jabal ad Dukhan Radar Facility hit by Iran 🇮🇷 ballistic missile spotted DESTROYED TODAY at
26.0380, 50.5421
BAE AR-327 RADAR capable of tracking ~470 km away.
Plays, I mean, played vital role in regional US 🇺🇸 missile defense & Persian Gulf shipping lanes monitoring. https://t.co/QQ2CWv5rzp pic.twitter.com/ZZnDF7EavR
— Tom Bike (@tom_bike) June 12, 2026
IRAN WAR BATTLING NARRATIVES //LT Col Daniel Davis YouTube
TRUMP: “WE’LL TAKE KHARG ISLAND” AS PEACE DEAL “NEARS” – w/ Geopolitics Expert Brandon Weichert Mario Nawfal. Important aside by Weichert, that Pakistanis are (apparently culturally) extremely optimistic.
Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar: Iran Warns Israel – Leave Occupied Territories or Final Deal Is DEAD Dialogue Works, YouTube
Jeremy Scahill: Iran Fears Trump MENTALLY ILL Breaking Points, YouTube (flora)
Deal to end fighting would lead to Hormuz reopening, Iran says BBC. Which will pin the closure on Israel…
Iran demands $300bn to end war Telegraph. resilc: “How can the Israeli lobby allow this??????”
51st State, Imperial Proxy and Scapegoat Olivier Boyd-Barrett
Iran Attempts to Thwart Iraq’s Disarmament Efforts Alhurra
Israel launches overnight strikes across Gaza Aljazeera
New Not-So-Cold War
World Chess Federation suspends chess superpower Russia Sportschau via machine translation (Micael T)
US publishes docs on ‘dangerous’ Ukrainian biolabs RT (Kevin W)
Poland waits for crucial Patriot missiles, with no firm timeline for delivery TVP World
Imperial Collapse Watch
Remember When We Used to Take World War III Seriously? Washington Monthly
Reading the Times Tom Engelhardt. His first post on his new Substack
First look at the Global War on Terrorism Memorial design in Washington Military Times (Kevin W)
Trump 2.0
Judge indefinitely blocks Trump ‘anti-weaponization’ fund The Hill
Court denies emergency appeal to retain Trump’s name on Kennedy Center Guardian (Kevin W)
BREAKING- Very active rumor mill currently with specifics from senior USG (government) employees that RFKjr will be leaving as Secretary HHS in July, after the 4th. Meeting was apparently held last Monday. Oz to head transition team.
— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) June 12, 2026
🚨 BOMBSHELL! Nicolle Wallace exposes a terrifying DOJ power grab.
She confirms the Trump administration is blatantly violating decades of policy to seize control over state elections.
The White House is desperately trying to rig the midterms to maintain their grip! https://t.co/FXL59vaoDz pic.twitter.com/YOKy5f9uGb
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) June 12, 2026
Washington National Opera sues to force Kennedy Center to turn over $17M in gifts Washington Post
GOP Clown Car
Federal Judge Blocks Paxton’s ActBlue Lawsuit, Citing First Amendment Retaliation Law Commentary
Economy
Global growth is slowing to lowest level since pandemic, says World Bank Guardian
The tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, are hitting bottom. The oil market is about to hit a tipping point CNN. Not news for those paying attention, but this is a solid overview and the fact that this is appearing on a MSM site is noteworthy.
El Niño Slams Into a Global Economy Unprepared for More Chaos Bloomberg
Why Do the Best Leaders Fail at the Most Important Job? Derek Thompson
Mr. Market Needs a Therapist
Financial Engineering Is Resembling Pre-Crisis Era, Pimco Warns Financial Post
The next financial crisis could start with advanced economies’ sovereign debt Business Times
AI
A must read. Click through:
This broke TODAY — June 10, 2026. From News5Cleveland and the Ohio Capital Journal. Confirmed by the Ohio Farm Bureau. Backed by documents obtained directly from the Ohio Statehouse.
And what is being proposed in Columbus right now — quietly, while every eye in America was on… pic.twitter.com/cQagI9SLov
— 0️⃣BlackBetty ⚓️ (@BabyD1111229) June 12, 2026
You can’t get more 2026 than that Gary Marcus
AI bubble: ‘It’s approaching vindication hour for me’ | Ed Zitron YouTube (resilc)
Breaking news: US Commerce Department effectively shuts down Anthropic’s latest models Gary Marcus
‘Tell Him He’s a Piece of Shit’: Meta’s New AI Unit Is a Total Mess Wired (resilc)
How data centers are blowing a hole in state budgets Popular Information
You generated it, you own it: a Munich court has cracked the search-engine shield for AI answers ResultSense
The Bezzle
SpaceX IPO takeaways: SPCX closes at $161, jumping 19% after record debut CNBC. When I was at Goldman, IPOs were priced so as to seek to achieve a 15% gain at the end of the first day. You need to engineer a first day rise so as to get investors to buy the IPO in teh first place.
Why Musk Raced to Take SpaceX Public in the World’s Biggest IPO Bloomberg
Guillotine Watch
One man. One trillion dollars. Oligarch Watch
Elon Musk, Human Ponzi Scheme Paul Krugman
Class Warfare
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus. I think he wants a bigger pool:
Jaguars are one of the few big cats that actively enjoy spending time in the water pic.twitter.com/6p1l7eqxFs
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) June 10, 2026
A second bonus:
Wait for it.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/JBdvsWnQ8d
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 2, 2026
And a third:
Kindness is Everything pic.twitter.com/7DMO4Tjtl2
— Amazing Nature (@AmazingNature00) June 7, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Tony Blair takes on larger role as US-led Board of Peace struggles to advance Gaza plan (Times of Israel)
…He has already been serving on the Board of Peace’s Executive Board, as well as the Board of Peace’s Gaza Executive Board, which is focused specifically on the Strip, but neither of those has actually been operating since they were unveiled by the White House in January, according to the three sources familiar with the matter…
Blair will also take on an elevated role with regard to the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza…
He has already been engaging regularly with the Palestinian Authority on a reform process, so that it can eventually take over Gaza and hold peace talks with Israel, as envisioned by the 20-point plan.
Blair will continue his contact with the PA as his Board of Peace portfolios expand, the three sources said.
Blair’s Institute for Global Change has also run training sessions for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the technocratic panel that is supposed to replace Hamas in Gaza. The NCAG has been stuck in Cairo for months, though, as the Board of Peace’s progress has stalled.
The institute will continue serving as a resource for the Board of Peace, one of the sources said.
A public announcement regarding Blair’s expanded work is not expected, and his office declined to comment on the matter.
BP: Messiah-complex grifter shitbag.
Also: progress has “stalled” like a car that just randomly stalls. Nothing to do with Israel continuing the family-blogging genocide?
The Board of Peace is supposed to be broke already. So what happened to all that money that some countries kicked in from the get go? Don’t know. This Trump initiative to replace the United Nations is already dead on arrival. But if so, I am sure that Tony Blair will find another grift. Perhaps another institution to repair the damage caused to the Gulf State countries during this war.
Someone needs to stick a stake through the demon Blair’s chest, cut off his head and burn the MFer.
“A Princess Who Never Rested On Her Laurels”
Saw her story on the news last night and she had a helluva resume. And most interesting of all, she earned it all and it was not gifted to her on a silver platter. She may have even ended up as the Queen of Thailand in her own right but now we will never know. But you cannot but compare her and some of the British royal family.
2028 potential Dem and GOP Pres Candidates.
From TrackAIPAC:
https://www.trackaipac.com/2028
Kamala Harris leads the pack to date.
Re: PE buying up trailer parks
Some states allow residents a right of first refusal when their parks go up for sale. This has been used successfully by orgs like ROC USA and Neighborworks. There are a lot of resident-owned parks around the country – it’s a great alternative where people can figure out who to wrangle the money to buy the place. Fortunately, the previously mentioned nonprofits and CDFIs can often take care of that bit. The other aspect is running a trailer park collectively, but from everything I’ve read and heard from people, they almost all work far better (and operate far cheaper) than when an outside owner had it.
PE buying up parks is a big problem, but we do have a opposite movement as well, thankfully.
‘Nature Unedited
@NatureUnedited
Jaguars are one of the few big cats that actively enjoy spending time in the water’
All members of the feline family are renowned for their relaxed and reflective nature-
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1u4n14b/a_leopard_watches_the_sunset_perched_high_in_a/
Regarding “Germany pulled the plug on flagship FCAS fighter jet – the implications for European defence are worrying”: there is the joke that FCAS actually meant French Combat Air System because of the demands set by Dassault. One possibility for Germany is to join the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), led by the Japan, Italy, and the UK — but there is the joke that Germany would come with enough demands to turn it into the German Combat Air Programme.
Apart from that, another big French-German programme, MGCS (Main Ground Combat System), is also lying on its deathbed. It would not be the first time those countries fail to design a common battletank: the joint French-Italo-German project to develop one floundered in the early 1960s (France went on to develop the AMX 30, Germany the Leopard 1).
And then there was MAWS (Maritime Airborne Warfare System), another French-German programme, which collapsed a bit over a year ago when the Germans decided to buy the Poseidon P8A from the USA instead. Another French-German endeavour, CIFS (Common Indirect Fire System), is now to be suspended sine die — the typical stage before the abandonment of a programme.
There are other cases: the programme MALE RPAS (European Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, dubbed Eurodrone), involving France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, is facing difficulties and France is reportedly wanting to get out of the project. Germany had already exited in 2023 the joint French-German-Spanish project to overhaul the Tiger attack helicopter.
Despite all those solemn declarations about a “Europe of defense”, the EU is hopelessly hampered by diverging national military and industrial interests. With other problems related to deindustrialization, I expect Europe to face a cliff in half a dozen years where it will not have the resources and the time to replace the older equipment (armoured vehicles, aircraft, vessels) from 40 years ago, neither even to sustain them and prolong their useful life with spare parts and ammunition, nor to develop novel kinds of equipment required to wage modern warfare (such as missiles and land-based, aerial, and seaborne drones).