Author Archives: Yves Smith

Godzilla v. Mothra: How Google Is Winning Struggle Among AI Giants to Control News Flow

How a few platforms control how news travels, shaping what we see, starving journalism, and locking new AI rivals out of data voters need.

As ICE Street Raids Ramp Up, New Yorkers Stock Up On Whistles

Community groups and ICE protestors have distributed thousands of whistles in recent weeks to help neighbors sound the alarm.

Yet More AI Bubble Worries, Now on Debt Side, with Wall Street Journal Featuring AI Datacenter Borrowing “Frenzy”

Peeling back another layer of the AI onion, today on datacenter financing.

Links 11/15/2025

Cities Panic Over Having to Release Mass Surveillance Recordings

Time to cheer a legal win against the surveillance state, here the use of massive spycams by a vendor called Flock.

MAGA Is a NATO Racket – Trump’s 5% Military Budget Hike to Fight Russia Stokes Corruption In Estonia

Yapping dog Estonia is out to take the lead among NATO members not only in arms spending to GDP but also in open corruption.

More and More Young People Disengaged from Work and Social Contact

Unemployment among young graduates has hit a sustained high level in many countries, which will produce further social and economic harm.

Ever Be Escalating: A Short History of the Long War on Drugs in Latin America from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump

The twisted history of the US war on drugs shows how failed policies come to have a life of their own.

Paying for Euroskepticism

A new data analysis shows that Euroskepticism, as in regional voting for nationalist/anti-European Union policies, produces lower growth.

Has Ed Zitron Found the Fatal Flaw with OpenAI and Its Flagship ChatGPT?

The Financial Times has re-reported cautious but devastating-looking findings by Ed Zitron on OpenAI’s inference costs and truthfulness.

Tom Ferguson and Nick French: Red Tech’s Political Power, Its War on Labor and the Environment

An in-depth talk between political scientist Tom Ferguson and Jacobin’s Nick French about recent big shifts, above all the rise of red tech.

What the Air You Breathe May Be Doing to Your Brain

Why it behooves you to care about air quality, specifically PM2.5 pollution.

‘An Indictment of the Trade Union Movement’: Why No One is Organising Seasonal Workers

Farm workers go on unofficial strikes as their temporary visas create barriers to union membership

Links 11/12/2025