Monday, September 15, 2025

How Los Angeles Can Fireproof Communities, Not Just Houses

Ideas about how to reduce fire risk in Los Angeles do not appear to go far enough.

Links 1/21/2025

Four Lawsuits Targeting DOGE Filed Immediately After Trump Swearing In Demand Compliance with FACA, Other Laws

DOGE is dodgy! Who’d have thunk it? Four fast-off-the-block filings seek to bring it to heel.

Cold War 2.0 in Mexico: US and Russian Embassies Lock Horns Over International Study Programs

The German embassy also joined the pile-on, with slapstick consequences.

How Trump 2.0 Could Herald a New Age of Authoritarian Capitalism

To discuss: “Trump’s weaponisation of US power poses a threat to peace, prosperity and the planet.”

Trump Shreds Emoluments Clause with New Memecoin while Norms Fairy Weeps (and Melania Joins the Fun)

Even tech bros are aghast.

2:00PM Water Cooler 1/20/2025

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Democrats take their farewells; DOGE commissars; A web beyond the platforms ~

Links 1/20/2025

The Next Unwind of Social Guarantees: Home and Medical Insurance

A Wall Street Journal column suggests that elite conventional wisdom favors more gutting of medical and home insurance as unduly “socialized”

There’s No Growth, so What Should Labour Do?

Labour’s dilemma — which has parallels in other countries — leads to vague aspirations that are almost meaningless, and probably undeliverable. So, what should it do?

For Homeless Seniors, Getting Into Stable Housing Takes a Village — And a Lot of Luck

Another indictment of America’s claims of superiority: a coming tsunami of homeless elderly

Los Angeles Fires: A Guide for Making Sure Your Home Insurer Pays What It Owes

Links 1/19/2025

What Will A Trump-Aligned EU Look Like? 

The gangster state’s bust out of Europe is set to accelerate as the EU center embraces its true nature. 

David Lynch Exposed the Rot at the Heart of American Culture

Lynch’s films and TV series reflected the dark, ominous, often bizarre underbelly of American culture – one increasingly out of the shadows today.