Links 5/2/2023

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1. timbers May 2, 2023 at 7:17 am

   Will We Ever See Affordable Housing Prices Again? A Wealth of Common Sense (Micael T). From last month, still germane.

   For the time being – no. Lower end property in Brockton, Ma is selling within days over asking price after first open house. No sign of declining real estate in Boston area.
   1. skylark May 2, 2023 at 7:59 am

      Definitely no signs of lower prices here on Cape Cod. The real estate sale signs go up the first day with a sale pending notice attached. My small 70’s ranch house has doubled in “value” in the past 8 years.
      1. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 8:06 am

         Doubled in “value” or doubled in “price?” People assume they are the same but they are not. As an example, do you remember that sandwich shop in New Jersey that was priced at $113 million?

         https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/magazine/your-hometown-deli.html
         1. Jabura Basaidai May 2, 2023 at 11:03 am

            excellent point – bought a Chevy ‘heavy-duty’ half ton in the 70’s for a bit over $5K out the door of the dealer and now it probably tickles $50K, haven’t checked, but wonder if you consider the buying power of those dollars in early 70’s and what inflation has done to dollars in the 20’s is there really much difference in the value and what you buy with dollars – not an economist but inflation and money printing by the Fed has always been the stealth tax on us –
         2. skippy May 2, 2023 at 4:26 pm

            Price is always notional. AZ RE lost 40/60% of its notional price post GFC yet in less than two years was back and more in some places.

            Bit like RCT’s where the rub is what is under the hood and not just taking it at face value[tm] …
      2. Mildred Montana May 2, 2023 at 11:12 am

         In my pricey Canadian city house sales are down ~20% YOY while prices are down ~10%. A little “price-stickiness” there. My guess would be that some sellers are holding out for last year’s prices.

         Current average sales price for a single-family home here, $1.3 million.
   2. Louis Fyne May 2, 2023 at 9:16 am

      Nope, even with 15-year-high mortgage rates.

      In PMC-Central-land, my brother sold his house in less than one week well above what he paid for it 10 years ago (in might as well be 1999, 2006, or 2021).

      in my neck of the woods in NPR-land, any reasonably-priced, or modestly-overpriced, house, in move-in condition, is gone in less than two weeks—the houses that are languishing are the ones that are insanely over-priced.

      This is the golden age for empty-nesters who are looking to downsize their home/become snowbirds—-while those wanting to start a family are S.O.L. without healthy balance sheets.
      1. Benny Profane May 2, 2023 at 9:52 am

         Yeah, it’s a losing battle with cash customers in many markets.

         I can only speak for two markets I am familiar with. We are looking in suburban to countryish north Baltimore, and there’s a sweet spot in the market of not too big and a little charming home with nice kitchens getting snapped up immediately. We assume downsizers with cash, or young families with family cash. Prices are pretty stable, though. At least they aren’t going up. But interest rates haven’t dented them, either.
         I live in Fairfield county in Ct. (Greenwich, Stamford) and this market, although relatively very wealthy to most, has been strangely static in pricing for a very long time. Just read about a famous baseball manager who sold his million dollar plus home in north Stamford for a ten percent loss after twenty years. Those stories are not unusual around here since ’08. But, dont cry for them. Life is pretty good otherwise, it seems.
2. Henry Moon Pie May 2, 2023 at 7:25 am

   Tucker–

   This morning, Axios editor Eileen Drage O’Reilly, speaking on MSNBC’s “Way Too Early,” opined that Tucker’s removal made it easier for Kevin McCarthy to do a Ukraine rah-rah. That’s an interesting liberal observation that sure undermines the pushed claim that he was removed because of lawsuits or personal scandals.
   1. zagonostra May 2, 2023 at 8:37 am

      The ascription of motive for the firing of TC will be with us for a while, similar to JFK assassination. I’ve read that Larry Fink and Blackrock increased their holdings in Fox parent company just before the firing, (Blackrock has financial interest in Ukraine), Zelensky meeting with Murdoch senior and his son, Biden administration and deep state actors upset about Jan 6th video clips, etc…makes for good entertaining and sometimes revealing speculation.

      What is not speculative and subject to equivocation, is that it has narrowed the parameters of allowable discourse on a widely tuned in media outlet, diminishing contrarian views and tightening what some call the Washingtonian neoliberal/neoconservative consensus.
   2. Benny Profane May 2, 2023 at 9:21 am

      Trump will make Ukraine rah rah from Republican quarters difficult to impossible. But it certainly was a factor. I’ll bet that Tucker’s recent rant about the corruption of big pharma and cable news was the final straw. Drug advertising is the lifeblood of Fox and CNN.

      Here’s a take from somebody that worked for Tucker.

      https://youtu.be/CKvvfE8VRvk
      1. flora May 2, 2023 at 10:54 am

         Thanks for the link. Russell and Saagar. Saagar’s take on the future of cable news sounds coherent…and frightening.
         1. Benny Profane May 2, 2023 at 12:48 pm

            Yeah, he contradicts my attempt to say that advertising revenue is a major source of cable revenue. I defer to him, what do I know. It’s a scary future he talks about, but, at the same time maybe not. Joe Rogan survived the cancel culture attack, and gained a lot of viewers in the process, even gloating about it a little, but Joe points out that the business is changing big time, and he and the numbers Saggar report are proof of that. Somebody is going to bring this to the Supreme Court soon, and hopefully they rule in favor of free speech, but, who knows.
   3. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 9:26 am

      I don’t suppose that Fox has managed to find anybody with the stature of Carlson to take his place, have they? Last I heard, Fox’s shares were cratering because they got rid of one of their major assets.
      1. Mildred Montana May 2, 2023 at 12:05 pm

         If by “stature of Carlson” you mean his willingness to speak truth once in a while, the answer is a resounding “no”. The war against truth is raging and Fox has decided to toe the line. Why else would it ditch its highest-rating host? In his case, none of those oh-so-easy (and difficult to prove) accusations of abusive behavior, sexual harassment, etc. etc. etc. were never made.

         My prediction is that Fox will replace him with an “edgy” right-wing version of Rachel Maddow. Definitely a woman to increase viewership. She will still be controversial in keeping with the Fox ethos but more subdued. In other words, Tucker-Lite with a pretty face.
3. Nikkikat May 2, 2023 at 7:55 am

   That’s a nice looking cat in antidote today very nice colors in his/her fur. Seems a little annoyed at photographer.
   1. digi_owl May 2, 2023 at 8:03 am

      That are the resting face of cats, best i can tell.
   2. Hank Linderman May 2, 2023 at 8:14 am

      I’m trying to sleep here…
   3. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 8:24 am

      When I saw that cat, the first word to pop into my head was ‘battlecat’. Been there, done that and got the t-shirt if you know what I mean.
   4. Jen May 2, 2023 at 8:39 am

      I have a tortie, as these cats are sometimes called. There is a thing called “tortitude” and it is real. Grace the tortie is the queen, and she does not hesitate to everyone know it. She has ruled the house since she was a 6 week old kitten.
   5. Laughingsong May 2, 2023 at 9:57 am

      Almost assuredly “her”….. if I recall correctly, male tortoiseshell cats are extremely rare. Don’t know why.
      1. megrim May 2, 2023 at 6:19 pm

         It’s because fur color is carried on the X chromosome. Female cats can be torties/calicos because they can have two different colors, one on each X, and they both are getting expressed in a patchwork. Only male cats with an extra X chromosome (XXY) can be tortoiseshells/calicos. So yes, very rare and usually sterile!
4. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 8:02 am

   “Le Maire doubles down on reform plans after Fitch cuts France’s credit rating”

   Just goes to show you that neoliberals are just like neocons. When their plans go awry, they will double or even triple down. And they never have a reverse gear. The down rating by Fitch Ratings is actually a backhanded compliment to the French people. It says that they fight back and will not roll over for the latest neoliberal edict.
   1. nippersdad May 2, 2023 at 10:26 am

      My perception of them has always been that neocons are the shock troops for neoliberals, and as such are just two sides of the same coin.

      That may not have always been the case, but it has certainly looked like it ever since I started paying attention.
      1. BeliTsari May 2, 2023 at 10:51 am

         Fell asleep on Blazing Saddles, only to be awakened by Scorsese’s swell Goodfellas’ montage explaining that the mob sells “protection for the kinds of guys who can’t go to the cops. That’s all it does?” Maybe TV’s FINALLY trying to tell us something?
         https://www.leefang.com/p/how-the-fbi-helps-ukrainian-intelligence
5. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 8:13 am

   I grew up listening to Gordon Lightfoot and am a big fan who happily fell under his spell of tales told by a troubadour, R.I.P.

   The temptation to overload the circuitry with his work is a given, and I can’t play favorites, some lesser known gems.

   Your Love’s Return (song for Stephen Foster)

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC8iAGSr4pU

   Pussy Willows, Cattails

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWqK4ecpsn0

   Ballad of Yarmouth Castle

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4cAnMZc79U
   1. zagonostra May 2, 2023 at 8:47 am

      Damn, didn’t know he died. One of my favorite singer song writers. He played at FAU in Florida when I was a freshman there. Girlfriend and I had front row seats.

      The “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is one of my favorite in his long-lived oeuvre.

      Thanks for the links and sad news Wuk.

      https://youtu.be/9vST6hVRj2A
   2. Lex May 2, 2023 at 9:41 am

      The gales of April came late this year. If the snow we’ve gotten in the last 24 hours was rain it would have been 7″. Measuring the snow is difficult because it’s not exactly snow but not exactly rain either. It came off the Big Lake. She’s like that, as Gordon summarized.

      Of course the Fitzgerald is more than a bit overplayed here, but I’ll give the song that it does a pretty good job of conveying the brooding power of Superior and the violent lash of her anger. And it’s true that she doesn’t give up her dead. A friend got washed out to sea at the main public park during a storm and it was surprising when his body turned up at the ore dock 3 months later. Most expected him never to be seen again.

      Macabre fact: if a sailor goes down with a boat more than about a mile offshore (or at any serious depth) and is trapped inside a closed room of the boat, the body doesn’t decompose. Bodies of close to 100 years old have been recovered off of Isle Royale and it’s reported that they were still identifiable except that everyone who would have known them is dead.
      1. petal May 2, 2023 at 10:26 am

         Yes, grew up on southern shore(beach) of Lake Ontario, listening to Gordon’s music. He captured the personality and essence of the lakes with that song. They have to be respected, can turn on a dime, and are not to be trifled with. They always win. Anybody that went in around the Erie connection/Niagara Falls would tend to be found down around our area months later. Was just how it was. Was very sad to wake up this morning to the news that he had passed away. Another soundtrack of my life musician.
         1. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 10:38 am

            Song for a Winter’s Night

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyDs6uXww0

            Ghosts of Cape Horn

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67mlD1o130o

            In a Windowpane

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N96z0mv_sCw
            1. petal May 2, 2023 at 10:54 am

               Thank you, Wuk! I have his YT channel playing. Takes me back.
               His songs would come on my radio at night, the trees blowing in the howling wind, and the lighthouse light would be flashing into my bedroom window.
   3. BD May 2, 2023 at 11:18 am

      RIP Gordon Lightfoot. Here is one of his greatest, IMO.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Aic9KNPgc
   4. Jabura Basaidai May 2, 2023 at 11:37 am

      and “Song For A Winter’s Night” probably my favorite for the imagery and being from Michigan and having lived in the UP a while after the tragedy and saw first hand the terror of Gitche Gumee when restless in November – sad what happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald – the small chapel at the tunnel crossing to Windsor is dedicated to the ship and men that went down with it –
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyDs6uXww0
6. Chris Smith May 2, 2023 at 8:15 am

   Re: Feds: Hospitals that denied emergency abortion broke the law

   Look at this from a doctor’s perspective. Perform an abortion in one of these states and you commit a state crime. Some sicko county prosecutor out to prove his conservative bona fides decides to make an example of you and prosecute you. A county judge gets to determine whether EMTALA (the federal law in question) provides a defense or otherwise trumps state law. Meanwhile, you are paying a fortune to defend yourself in court. Lose and you end up in prison while you appeal – also through the state system. Ultimately, if the highest state court ratifies your conviction (years and tons of money later) you finally get your day in the federal system. Of course, you appeal directly to the US Supreme Court from the highest state court – before the same US Supreme Court that overturned Roe.

   If I am that doctor I am not performing an abortion. Good luck getting away with firing me if you are the hospital when the cause of termination would be my refusal to violate state law (and if I am the doctor, I bring a case in a state court). So if the Feds use EMTALA and the medicaid law to cut off the hospital – the death sentence, then you deny the local people their hospital. What would be the end goal there? Make the people suffer to pressure state law makers? Sure, that will work.

   The Feds don’t really have a good move here under current law.
   1. ron paul rEVOLution May 2, 2023 at 8:43 am

      >The Feds don’t really have a good move here under current law.

      VA hospitals are federal property and abortion-providing doctors could be hired as federal employees.

      The Supreme Court has nine members, and could easily have thirteen, or twenty seven.

      The Feds have good moves, but none that don’t escalate things with Republican officials, which oddly seems more important to them than delivering to constiturents.
      1. Chris Smith May 2, 2023 at 9:48 am

         That works for VA hospitals, and could be a plan if the Biden administration felt inclined to do something about abortion rights other than fundraise off of them. Regardless, the feds don’t have a good move against the hospitals in the article.

         The only move the feds have that would matter is codifying Roe, and even that could be struck down by the Supreme Court.

         As for increasing the size of the Supreme Court, that just results in each party increasing the size and packing it when they are in power. I am not sure whether that would be better or worse than the current situation.
   2. Katniss Everdeen May 2, 2023 at 1:43 pm

      The overturning of Roe v. Wade is relatively recent. We should all expect more and more issues like this to crop up and, at some point, the “legal” system will have to take them on, since that system has appropriated to itself a control that more properly belongs to the medical “system.”

      I’d also expect the legal “questions” to become more and more bizarre.

      Not only do these draconian anti-abortion “laws” declare an unborn fetus to be a “person” with all the rights of an actual living person, they subjugate the rights of a living person–the pregnant woman–to those of the unborn. As has already happened, women suffering miscarriages can be charged with a “crime” against the fetus.

      Luckily this healthy woman survived this incident. But if she had died, who would have been responsible? If the medical providers were within their “legal rights” to refuse treatment, it leaves only the woman herself and the fetus. Could the fetus be deemed responsible for failure to properly gestate? Could it be considered murder/suicide because the woman undertook a pregnancy that her body was unable to support?

      I know all this sounds batshit crazy. But it only serves to demonstrate how untenable it is when pandering politicians attempt to legislate the unlegislateable in a lunatic frenzy to curry favor with “voters” who couldn’t find their asses with both hands. And to those religiously inclined, I refer you to the immortal words of my 4th grade teacher, Sister Mary Judine, “god gave you a brain, and he expects you to use it.”
7. Aurelien May 2, 2023 at 8:30 am

   A few observations on yesterday’s May Day in France if anyone’s interested.
   May Day is a public holiday and a festival for the working class. It’s the occasion for large marches, rather than demonstrations, and everyone was interested to see how it would turn out this year. In fact, turnout was massively up compared to last year, and the trades unions, which have been given a new lease of life by the Pensions saga, were very pleased with the turnout, and with the fact that they are still united.

   I followed an unusually large procession in provincial city with no particular tradition of militancy. It was very relaxed and good-humoured, and had contingents from everywhere (with one exception see below). People were singing and chanting, carrying placards with jokes about Macron and incitations to keep up the struggle. There was some direct reference to the Pensions question, but not very much. It was striking that a very large proportion of the demonstrators were young: many probably students. The songs and chants were those of the traditional Left: the modern Notional Left was nowhere to be seen. I overheard snatches of Le Temps des Cerises associated with the 1871 Commune, and Le Chant des partisans from the Resistance in WW2. It was, in many respects, traditional France re-asserting itself against the globalist Parisian elite, engaging in a peaceful Gramscian war of position, and digging in for the long haul. The contrast with Macron on Saturday evening, skulking in the VIP enclosure for the Football Champions Cup, not daring to go down onto the pitch or have his face shown on the video screen was remarkable.

   Two concerns. In some large cities, the trades unions lost control of the demonstrations (their marshals were overstretched by the numbers) and groups of anarchists attacked town halls, shops and prefectures. This was feared and anticipated, but there’s not much that can realistically, be done to stop small numbers behaving in this way. That said, the trades unions (who are meeting today) are going to have a job keeping control in the longer term, and the risk is that the protests and ill-feeling deteriorate more and more into actions by uncoordinated small groups. Macron’s own tone-deaf and provocative attitude only encourages such developments. People are now starting to ask “how will we get through the next four years?”

   The other point was the complete absence of the immigrant community. Where I was, as in many French cities, that community is overwhelmingly from poor agricultural areas of Tunisia, and is under the tight control of Imams and patriarchs. The Notional Left (especially Mélenchon, but also the Greens) has been courting the extremist Muslim vote for a while, with promises of more “anti-Islamophobic” laws. But clearly, instructions went out not to participate: from the point of view of the Imams, who are strategic thinkers, the more chaos there is the better, and at the moment they don’t see any point in having their own people take part. This must be a huge disappointment for the Notional Left, who have failed to understand that, like all such entryist groups, the policy of the Imams is, what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is increasingly mine as well
   1. IMOR May 2, 2023 at 9:00 am

      Thank you, Aurelien! Very interested. Always look forward to your reports.
   2. Colonel Smithers May 2, 2023 at 9:42 am

      Merci, David / Aurelien.
   3. Chris Smith May 2, 2023 at 10:47 am

      Thanks for this!
8. zagonostra May 2, 2023 at 8:58 am

   Yes some are interested. I’ve been following very closely and unfortunately I’ve only received images/news mainly from Twitter feeds and here at NC. As for the wider population in the U.S. and from what I can garner from conversation with family in Italy, there doesn’t seem to be much interest.

   Fitch’s change to France’s credit rating should be of concern for those who know that the politics and the economics of popular struggles for more social benefits is inextricably linked (controlled?).
9. Henry Moon Pie May 2, 2023 at 9:03 am

   “Anarchism’s Failure” and May Day–

   Contra Eric Hobsbawm’s verdict on anarchism is what Orwell had to say about the anarchist revolution in Catalonia:

   But it (the revolution) lasted long enough to have its effect upon anyone who experienced it. However much one cursed at the time, one realized afterwards that one had been in contact with something strange and valuable. One had been in a community where hope was more normal than apathy or cynicism, where the word “comrade” stood for comradeship and not, as in most countries, for humbug. One had breathed the air of equality.

   and:

   I had dropped more or less by chance into the only community of any size in Western Europe where political consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than their opposites. Up here in Aragón one was among tens of thousands of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the normal motives of civilised life– snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc.– had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master.

   Both quotes are from Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. Did this wonder survive for long? No, but it was not done in by internal problems but instead by a unified attack from Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and the capitalist “democracies.” For much more historical context, you can check out this old DailyKos diary.

   As for May Day, every one of the eight Haymarket martyrs self-identified as anarchist rather than socialist. For more historical context, you can check out another old DailyKos diary.

   We may be about to see that the real utility of anarchism is not in tearing political systems apart but in building back cohesion and self-governance in circumstances of the failed state. Occupy Sandy is a good example of self-organized self-help. Given the increasing number of disasters hitting us, there will be plenty of opportunities.
   1. Amfortas the hippie May 2, 2023 at 10:41 am

      my almost separatist geopoliticoeconomic ideal ive been running on out here has a lot to do with stuff like that….including things like paris commune and that kurdish enclave that i can never remember the name of.
      add in things like parallel institutions/import substitution(a la Lenin and Proudhon and Blue Bell ice cream*)…which i think will be necessary going foreward…like a societal version of one’s appendix, which seems to serve as a sort of back up storage device for gut microbiota.

      that Russia has gone big time into a much grander version of all this has been enlightening…and i dont think the ideas and reasoning have penetrated the western Actual Left, as of yet.
      i think they need to, though.
      Temporary Autonomous Zones(TAZ) with subsidiarity and however much Autarky/Emersonian Self Reliance can be mustered at such small scales will be important as the hypercentralisation comes apart.

      (* “eat all we can and sell the rest”….or give it away to engender neighborliness and good will)
      1. bdy May 2, 2023 at 12:27 pm

         And let’s not forget the Basque collective, Mondragon — resilient autonomous/integral operators for almost 70 yrs now, spanning Franco, the Eurozone and all the accompanying shocks.
      2. Alice X May 2, 2023 at 4:42 pm

         >kurdish enclave that i can never remember the name of.


         Rojava

         Only recognized as autonomous by Catalonia.
10. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 9:04 am

    “April’s cold weather shows it’s time to fill our gardens with hardier plants, say experts”

    It may not only be a matter of choosing hardier plants due to climate change. We may be seeing the end of what is known as the English country garden which will be sad-

    https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/garden-styles-and-types/english-garden-design

    https://www.realhomes.com/design/wonderful-english-country-gardens
    1. zagonostra May 2, 2023 at 3:24 pm

       It’s May and temperatures in Central PA are in the 30’s and 40’s. My plants, bees and me are not happy.
11. Stephen May 2, 2023 at 9:31 am

    “May Day began in 1886 when tens of thousands of workers in Chicago, led by socialists, went on strike for the 8-hour day. They were repressed and their leaders hung.”

    Only one interpretation of May Day was initiated by that. As well as International Labour Day, it is also a very traditional holiday in much of Europe too. In England it is associated with the start of summer and various traditions such as Maypoles, Morris Dancing and the May Queen. Some of this still happens and has been revived in recent years: I remember Morris Dancing taking place on the top quad of my college at Oxford in the 80s, associated with May Morning. During the Commonwealth Cromwell tried to ban it all though. Not Puritan enough.

    Always intrigues me that the US celebrates its own Labor Day in September.
    1. Amfortas the hippie May 2, 2023 at 10:46 am

       Labor Day is in september, because september is not May First.
       quite intentionally.
    2. Eclair May 2, 2023 at 12:03 pm

       We, for the second year, along with a group of neighbors and fellow dancers and musicians, celebrated Walpurgis Eve, or Valborgmässoafton in Swedish, on April 30th, the night before May Day. As usual it rained, with temps in the 30’s, and we gave up our outdoor bonfire and lit one in the fireplace.

       The bad witches and other evil spirits were frightened off by our singing and wild rumpus and flames. We hope now for a good planting season, beginning on May 1st.
12. Henry Moon Pie May 2, 2023 at 9:34 am

    Pro-Trump pastors–

    The article focuses on Jackson Laymeyer, leader of Pastors for Trump and pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, OK. Again, this pastor and his unaffiliated church are designated “evangelical” when their “about” page notes that among their spin-offs is an Assembly of God parish, i.e. Pentecostal. The Sheridan Church provides a sign-up for “water baptism,” terminology unique to Pentecostals and charismatics who also practice “spirit baptism” connected with glossolalia.

    Personal note: Sojourners, mentioned in the article, is an organization with which I’m familiar. Back when I was blogging as The Right Christian in the Aughts, I was recruited by an associate of Jim Wallis to blog for Sojourners. Wallis, now retired, is an actual evangelical known for being progressive on economic issues. Negotiations broke down before I ever traveled to DC to meet with them because Wallis required that I adhere to the organization’s anti-abortion stance.
    1. Socal Rhino May 2, 2023 at 2:26 pm

       “Spirit filled” also reads as charismatic to me. The non-denominational churches in my area go more with “bible based” or focused on “the Word”. I assume they are evangelical.
13. Carolinian May 2, 2023 at 9:42 am

    Re Atlanta/Scalawag story–at least this article does offer some context to the situation rather than simply offering an emotional appeal that leaves out contradictory info that might undermine. Trying to frame the story as all warm and fuzzy eco defense wasn’t very credible in a city that is both full of trees and has no old growth in the true sense.

    In short the real beef appears to be about gentrification and the hardly new phenomenon of Atlanta boosterism (a major theme of Margaret Mitchell’s decades old book). Some of us who lived there for years and no longer want to might have the same complaint. And I’m told that now, with the “New Urbanism” moving white people into the city’s black core, the already strained traffic system has turned into giant gridlock. Too many BMWs and Range Rovers, too little space.

    But I am unconvinced that the training center is really a major issue for anyone other than the poor or that this city–devoted more than most to wealth–is likely to change course. And most especially trying to turn Atlanta into Portland via urban rioting is never going to fly because in fact the rebel numbers are not there. The city is a vast swath spread across north Georgia with a much smaller urban core of Fulton county and the City of Atlanta. The outer and inner have always been at odds and that’s unlikely to change. One result is that the center with its many pockets of poverty lacks the political power to change the whole.

    It says it all that many of those arrested are from out of state. They seem to be surprised that they are not getting the Portland treatment and easy release. If you want real revolution then be prepared for the consequences.
    1. flora May 2, 2023 at 10:20 am

       “It says it all that many of those arrested are from out of state.”

       Carpetbaggers selling riots in Atlanta? / ;)
       1. Carolinian May 2, 2023 at 10:57 am

          Antifa-baggers. One of those denied bail had his mom come down from Vermont to plead for him.

          The real estate promoters–of which Atl has so many–are the carpet baggers.

          I do recommend the Scalawag story even if it doesn’t come from my point of view. A big part of story is Buckhead, which is in Fulton county and a sort the tree lined version of Manhattan upper east side. The Floyd riots trashed the shopping core of this area with its luxury hotels. The once major Lennox Square Mall is now patrolled with dogs. MARTA subway makes this enclave of the rich (Elton John lived there for awhile) accessible to the poor parts of town and they claim to have a major urban crime problem. The story says part of the motive for Atl police expansion was to keep Buckhead from seceding and taking all those tax receipts with them.

          So yes, it’s about neoliberalism vs the poor but in a city where the vast majority are on the sidelines. Me too I must say because I now live back in my home state of SC.

          If the protestors goals are really economic rather than eco then they should be more honest about that. But don’t expect support from the Hamptons or Rodeo Drive to continue to be quite so enthusiastic if they make it a battle against the rich.
          1. flora May 2, 2023 at 11:27 am

             Great comment. Thanks. “Antifa-bagger” sounds about right.

             For readers outside the US here’s a Wiki description of the history and use of the term “carpetbagger”.

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger
       2. ambrit May 2, 2023 at 11:16 am

          Aunt Pittypat said it best. “Yankees in Georgia! How did they ever get in?”
          1. deleter May 2, 2023 at 6:55 pm

             My.great great grandfather walked there with a bunch of other Iowans in 1864.
             Under Uncle Billy Sherman. I believe they carried plenty of torches.
             1. rowlf May 2, 2023 at 7:31 pm

                My.great great grandfather from Kentucky couldn’t attend due to being laid up with malaria after he was at Gettysburg.

                There is a fun song that might not be appreciated by some that celebrate Confederate Memorial Day: Marching Through Georgia

                The Confederates really tied their shoelaces together. State’s rights over war effort. Central planning is what wins wars.
    2. griffen May 2, 2023 at 12:26 pm

       Had a recent road trip, took us through Atlanta via I-285. No thank you, not on any day of the week. The sprawl is continuing its crawl north as well on I-85. Immediate family members have lived there for nearly 35 to 40 years, and the growth has been remarkable but that brings a cost on the infrastructure.
14. t May 2, 2023 at 9:57 am

    “I have now heard a Biden fundraising ad 2x in barely an hour of YouTube listening today. This on a channel that engages in anti-globalist commentary, as in would not skew Democrat.” These could be targeted or so much of the ad traffic. I have a tablet used mostly for Lefty stuff and various science podcasts (such as the BBC science hour.) There were weeks on end where every third ad was for Prager U. And a lot of my ads are for weird scams that seem to be targeting conservatives.

    I would think location had something to do with this, except that the YouTube ad sets on my TVs (which I use for old movies mostly) and are completely different.

    Eugene Miram, comic and voice of Eugene Belcher, has a bit about insanely narrow targeting on ads. He found a set of categories that had single digit numbers.
    1. Yves Smith Post authorMay 2, 2023 at 11:10 pm

       I’m in deep Red Alabama. Even less of a reason to show that ad.
15. Samuel Conner May 2, 2023 at 10:25 am

    > Small sample but dire findings. karenica in comments yesterday that all the long Covid cases studied (12) had zero circulating levels of Interferon Gamma. That is what you see in AIDS.

    Perhaps Lambert’s “something awful” is coming into clearer view.

    ————–

    I am trembling a little as I write this. Not sure that US can handle 10s of millions of cases of immune deficiency disorders.
    1. flora May 2, 2023 at 11:08 am

       There’s been a lot studied about and written about the spike protein and the presence of largely unexplained AIDS or HIV (I always confuse the two) molecules in the spike of both the C19 infection and in the body’s immune response to the injection. (Bodies’ own cells create spikes as antigen instead of using traditional weakened or killed virus as the antigen). No idea what the presence of these molecules means, what affect they could have.

       dr. F’s work on AIDS has a long, long, unhappy record.
    2. ambrit May 2, 2023 at 11:18 am

       I’m convinced that the plan, aka The Jackpot, is to not treat these 10s of millions of immune deficiency disorders. Neo-liberal Rule #2 for the win Alex!
    3. Henry Moon Pie May 2, 2023 at 11:29 am

       So will the immune deficiency from repeated bouts with Covid counter the rampant auto-immune disorders Americans suffer from, at least in part from all the poisons in our environment, water and food?

       What a country.
       1. Jabura Basaidai May 2, 2023 at 11:49 am

          what a world too – these poisons have no borders –
          1. Henry Moon Pie May 2, 2023 at 1:02 pm

             Most of them are worse outside the U. S. because that’s where they’re produced. We’re an exceptional nation capable of polluting the entire Earth with our consumption, our waste and our culture.
16. spud May 2, 2023 at 10:31 am

    the inevitable results of bill clintons massive deregulation of the american economy.

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/half-america-banks-already-insolvent-133000968.html

    Half of America’s banks are already insolvent – this is how a credit crunch begins
    70
    Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
    Tue, May 2, 2023, 8:30 AM CDT

    “The twin crashes in US commercial real estate and the US bond market have collided with $9 trillion uninsured deposits in the American banking system. Such deposits can vanish in an afternoon in the cyber age.”…
    1. Keith Howard May 2, 2023 at 1:21 pm

       We keep reading of serious trouble in the ‘banking’ system, and I believe that is credible. But nobody ever mentions credit unions. Can anybody here comment/explain to what extent CUs are also in trouble at the moment, and clarify the reasons? I ask as somebody whose little nest egg resides in a rather big credit union. Many thanks in advance.
    2. cnchal May 2, 2023 at 2:31 pm

       The horrible truth is that the world’s superpower central bank has made such a mess of affairs that it has to pick between two poisons: either it capitulates on inflation; or it lets a banking crisis reach systemic proportions. It has chosen a banking crisis.

       The FED choosing a bank crisis to resolve inflation caused by supply disruptions and explosions of corporate greed as told here is horsecrap. With the fastest interest rate increases yet, we are expected to believe the current mess is from lack of foresight by the FED? Now we get a giant criminal bank being subsidized to take over another failed bank when depositors withdrew their money. Orchestrated by the FED.

       Corruption is the key. Bank consolidation is the lock.
17. petal May 2, 2023 at 10:40 am

    This talk will be live-streamed on YT. 5pm EST today. Still not sure if I will go or not-not sure I can stomach it. There is a link to Dartmouth’s YT channel at the page below:

    https://neukom.dartmouth.edu/wright-center/working-groups/lecture-series-presentations

    NINA JANKOWICZ, VICE PRESIDENT, CENTRE FOR INFORMATION RESILIENCE
    May 2, 2023 @ 5pm
    “HOW TO (REALLY) LOSE THE INFORMATION WAR”
    “In 2020, Nina Jankowicz published a book examining how targets of Russian disinformation attempted to counter the Kremlin’s lies, often floundering along the way. In 2022, the Biden administration tapped her to lead the Disinformation Governance Board — an intra-departmental coordinating body at the Department of Homeland Security. Within hours of the announcement of the Board, partisan domestic disinformation actors labelled it a “Ministry of Truth”, falsely claimed it would censor the American people, and directed lies, hate, harassment, and threats, towards Jankowicz. Rather than defend the effort and its director, or even communicate about its plans, the Department left an information vacuum that buoyed the lies and ultimately led the administration to scrap its plans for the Board.

    Weaving together her experience in US government as well as her extensive research on online abuse and disinformation across Central and Eastern Europe, Jankowicz will offer ideas and best practices for efforts to counter disinformation both within and outside of government structures, as well as predictions for the future of the problem.”
    1. Lex May 2, 2023 at 11:23 am

       Oddly that nowhere mentioned was her work on Zelensky’s presidential campaign.
    2. Mildred Montana May 2, 2023 at 1:08 pm

       I will get the ad hominen out of the way right now. Nina Jankowicz is a hack and probably interested only in her salary and “career”. Otherwise, how can she possibly presume to know what is true and what is not? Her hubris is stunning.

       And she is a callow 34-years-old. Or 35. Because, curiously, Wikipedia says she was born in either 1988 or 1989. So much for truth. Note to Nina: Did you know that Wiki has an edit function?

       And what the hell does “Information Resilience” even mean? I’m sure she can say the phrase but I doubt she could explain it. Has Nina ever read Orwell or even heard of him? Abstractions like that are a sure sign of a hack and everything she has said or done only proves that she is one.
18. tegnost May 2, 2023 at 10:41 am

    From Wolfstreet…

    In addition, future credit losses on the loans (such as a result of foreclosure) are partially covered by a loss-share agreement. The FDIC will cover 80% of the losses from the single-family residential mortgages for seven years, and 80% of the losses of commercial loans, including commercial real estate (CRE) loans, for five years.

    When .gov is covering 80% maybe “partially” is not the right wording, especially considering the dire straits faced by san francisco CRE.
    1. Mildred Montana May 2, 2023 at 11:29 am

       In the event that things turn out better than expected, no mention of profit-sharing? Oh sorry, stupid question. It’s the government, which is only allowed to help itself to most of the losses.
19. Mildred Montana May 2, 2023 at 10:47 am

    Re: JPM takeover of FRC

    Says Elizabeth Warren: “…ultimately taxpayers will be on the hook.”
    Says Maxine Waters: “…[it] ensures that no cost is borne to our nation’s taxpayers…”

    Stupid feckless (or duplicitous) Dems can’t even agree on the most obvious thing unless it’s “woke”. Their motto on the big issues must be, Keep ’em confused.

    OF COURSE taxpayers will bear the cost and it will be much more than the stated $13 billion, what with all the loss-sharing agreements (80%!) and fixed-rate loans granted JPM. Not to mention that the increased FDIC premiums, nominally paid by banks, will be passed on to every American everywhere who has an account.
    1. ambrit May 2, 2023 at 11:27 am

       And, given the rush to CBDCs, every American will have to have a bank account just to survive. Who could have predicted that the Panopticon would be instituted through the banks?
       The ‘headline’ “Yellen: The US could run out of cash as soon as June1.” can be construed several ways. One way would be the elimination of physical cash. Therein lies the genesis of the EconoOpticon.
       Next up, Revelations was right! Beware the Mark to Market of the Beast.
       1. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 11:34 am

          dude, CBD Cash solves all ailments, just rub some into your pocket and you’ll feel the difference.
    2. Pat May 2, 2023 at 11:37 am

       I don’t often cheer on Warren, but this in her wheelhouse. They are going to need to get her in line. (I’ll really cheer if she keeps telling this as it is and doesn’t cave.)
       OTOH whatever value Waters offered was jettisoned by her years ago. She is a charter member of the Black misleadership class and has been for a very long time. Waters knows more banks, and bankers, are going to need this kind of help. Can’t encourage the tax payers to rebel by telling them the truth. And mark my words, with some added weasel words this will be the accepted Dem Party position.
       1. Art Vandalay May 2, 2023 at 3:51 pm

          Waters was interviewed on CNBC yesterday afternoon, and was quite something to behold. Towing the bankster line, and one could not help but notice her face was paralyzed and wrinkle free from the eyes up and as old as Biden from the eyes down. She seems to be well down the path to incompetence typical of our demented gerontocracy.
    3. Angie Neer May 2, 2023 at 1:47 pm

       Federal taxes don’t fund federal spending
20. Mark Gisleson May 2, 2023 at 10:53 am

    What are these people thinking? How is this remotely helpful?

    Sorry to be so colorful but this comment is not being made in jest. If you’ve ever done stimulants to excess (not talking coffee jitters), it’s hard not to notice that Ukraine is behaving as if it is being led by meth addicts. Utterly dependent on others the only time they feel like they are in control is when they are [family blogging[ the [family blog] out of Russians.

    Agitprop is [family blogging] the Russians. Is there anything more gratifying to someone on a rage bender than to yell obscene lies about their enemies? Fake blowing up a tank is not unlike claiming to have slept with someone’s wife especially if your belief system equates wives with property.

    Serious studies will be done later showing amazing parallels between the end of the Third Reich and the collapse of Tori Nuland’s pol sci project. They’ll all need to include a chapter on how meth makes people think different and how not all meth is called meth and that we really don’t have a clue all the different things Big Pharma is involved in and . . . did I mention I used to experiment with this stuff? The “and…”s are endless and luckily your brain is moving quickly enough to explore all the possibilities and cetera
    1. Yves Smith Post authorMay 2, 2023 at 11:07 am

       I did say to Lambert that this looked like drug induced behavior but I should have taken that idea more seriously.
       1. Mark Gisleson May 2, 2023 at 11:18 am

          A lot of people have been saying this and I couldn’t help but note that many had military or intelligence backgrounds and those are both excellent places to score speed.

          There are no William Burroughs in the world of meth, no one can wisely tweak their way into old age. I don’t use the word survivor. I just quit. Everyone you talk to who’s done meth and is still alive, quit. And we’re all super fast to spot meth-like behavior. This is one sliver of the zeitgeist where the right is picking up on this more quickly than the left, not that anyone is listening.
          1. ambrit May 2, 2023 at 11:44 am

             An earlier Fascist state was famous for it’s abuse of “stimulants.” The home DIY way of ‘cooking’ meth is called the NAZI Method for a very good reason.
             Since the Ukraine elites are and embrace the mantle of being the heirs to that earlier National Socialist organization, this development is not so surprising.
             As for GI Stimulants, I remember “Military Mollies.” One would keep you up and active for a day running. After a while, you lost track of not only the time, but reality too. I saw people go down that Rabbit Hole and not return.
             Mr. G is exactly right. Speed is not like opiates. You do not taper off that stuff. You either quit or die. (Sometimes, you can do both at once.)
             I’m glad I managed to survive my teens and twenties. It was a close run race.
             Stay safe all.
          2. Pat May 2, 2023 at 11:44 am

             Meth is not the drug(s) of choice for most of the PMC crowd that is the acceptable moderate and left in the media/Democratic party crowd. Now if it were the latest version of cocaine, Ritalin or any other fashionable upper….
          3. B24S May 2, 2023 at 4:59 pm

             Despite (or because of?) growing up in Manhattan, in good part, I was never terribly attracted to anything besides weed and psychedelics. A good friend of mine, who grew up in Oregon, was the Junior National Road Cycling Champion, back in the mid 70s. There was no way he could have done that, or even been competitive, without chemical fortification.

             The day we met in California, he called me up later, and asked if I wanted to drive to X? Sure I says, and hop in his Beetle. So, I ask, what’re we doing?, as I lit the hash pipe. Going down to X to see my cousin Jimmy, and score some speed…..

             Less than four years later I watched him smash his “works”, and he’s been clean, at least as far as stimulants go, for over forty years.

             He worked in Human Powered Transport in Haiti, Senegal, Indonesia, and India for some time, and helped redesign, modernize, and lighten the bicycle rickshaws of Agra (specifically to reduce acid rain from moto-rickshaws that was melting the Taj Mahal, by improving and humanizing bicycle rickshaws), and hopefully the rest of the country. So he was on Lariam™ to protect him from Malaria. That’s some real nasty stuff too.

             The poor guy has now survived Hep C, but between the those two in particular, he’s a bit family-blogged up, and his memory in particular has been toast for some time.
          4. Michael Fiorillo May 2, 2023 at 6:49 pm

             Pro-Russian blogs and podcasts were making much of Zelensky’s supposed coke habit early in the war. I haven’t seen much mention of it recently.

             None of it would be surprising, but it’s not like we need that to question the dude.
       2. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 6:50 pm

          Stories of Zelensky and his use of a certain white powder are rampant. But when you stop to think about it, perhaps it is his entire circle that takes part as well. Remember those reports of partying and dancing in central Kiev at the bars and night clubs? Maybe this is the fuel for all that.
    2. Cetra Ess May 2, 2023 at 10:35 pm

       So, if true, after this conflict the country will be populated by people whose brains were effectively and permanently turned to swiss cheese. Great.
21. flora May 2, 2023 at 10:56 am

    Russell Brand on the WHO pandemic treaty. utube, ~18 minutes.

    Hang On, LEGALLY BINDING Lockdowns Now?!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLRYgNcvbcw
22. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 10:59 am

    ‘Russians With Attitude
    @RWApodcast
    9 years ago, the teeming crowd – people who cheered at human beings being burned alive & survivors being finished off with steel pipes – had their moment of national birth; from this event the “Ukrainian nation” was born. On this day, war stopped being a matter of geopolitical necessity & became a matter of moral urgency.’

    This was the point where it all changed in the Ukraine. Those in Crimea and especially the Donbass realized that this was going to be fight to the death. That the ultra-nationalists would kill them on sight and would not be satisfied until the population of the Donbass were all gone – one way or another.
23. Regis II May 2, 2023 at 10:59 am

    Re: Jack Teixeira

    I will be interested to see whether the claim that Teixeira had weapons in his bedroom turns out to be true. The prosecution produced photos of the weapons allegedly recovered and it should be fairly simple to demonstrate whether they were real. Also, if they were “airsoft” weapons, why did he need a silencer?

    Also, in the FBI affidavit included in his latest appearance in court, the agent quoted Teixeira as expressing an interest in being a mass shooter.

    And Texeira’s “explanation” for his statements while he was in high school, i.e. that they were in reference to a video game, shed some light on his credibility – i.e. he has little.

    I think Scott Ritter’s version of the case – that security around these types of documents is so loose that it should not be surprising that they sat on a discord server for that long without being noticed – should be taken more seriously.

    And, finally, Helmer states: “Each promotion and pay grade increase would have required additional checks; some of them appear to have occurred after “approximately February 2022.”

    I would like to know where that comes from. Going from E1 to E2 to E3 is practically automatic, represents nothing more than time served in rank and amounts to little more than an increase in pay.
    1. ChrisFromGA May 2, 2023 at 2:26 pm

       Speaking about Jack T., has anyone heard if the preliminary hearing was held? Who is Allen Franco, the defendants lawyer, is he/she court appointed or someone more experienced? Anyone trying to setup a legal defense fund so that he can get a real good one?

       Where is the media? /s on that

       All I could find was this 5-day old story:

       https://abcnews.go.com/US/pentagon-leak-suspect-jack-teixeira-face-detention-hearing/story?id=98897146e.

       Memory-holing seems to be the likely outcome of this.
       1. The Rev Kev May 2, 2023 at 6:54 pm

          It is strange how news about this guy is just not there. I think that Yves is right here and a deal is being made. Otherwise the military would have to explain how he got access to material that no way should have even been near. And that would bring up the thought that he might have been fed all this info. More questions than answer here.
    2. Yves Smith Post authorMay 2, 2023 at 11:14 pm

       Alexander Mercouris addressed that yesterday, I believe on info from Larry Johnson. The weapons were copies, and yes, this is a real business and some collect them.
24. Expat2uruguay May 2, 2023 at 11:12 am

    Yves, Lambert, it is “kareninca”
25. indices May 2, 2023 at 11:14 am

    Ain’t it something that the same powers-that-be that tell us the Ukraine war is going fantastic, that an economy pitting the top 1% against the rest – and the resulting inequality – is the best of all possible worlds, and that climate change, species extinction and global warming are just ridiculous hallucinations, are now touting Artificial Intelligence as the next big (really big) thing, a be-all and end-all to save the world from itself?
26. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 11:49 am

    My Kevin (since ’07) is in the holy land, which construes that the rest of the world is unholy, that ain’t kosher.

    Kev had to shoot down a Russian heckler cleverly disguised as a reporter who sounded Badenov and the goods were odd, but odds were good he’d say the right thing in mentioning a Russian atrocity, you don’t become apparatchik-in-chief if you can’t follow orders.
    1. Carolinian May 2, 2023 at 5:47 pm

       Kev had on his Bibi t-shirt and said he would invite the not yet convicted war monger to Congress so they could hold up their lighters and wave their cell phones. The Bib will be bringing his cartoon bomb drawing for dramatic impact.
27. Jason Boxman May 2, 2023 at 11:55 am

    Is the Debt Limit Constitutional? Biden Aides Are Debating It.

    A standoff between House Republicans and President Biden over raising the nation’s borrowing limit has administration officials debating what to do if the government runs out of cash to pay its bills, including one option that previous administrations had deemed unthinkable.

    That option is effectively a constitutional challenge to the debt limit. Under the theory, the government would be required by the 14th Amendment to continue issuing new debt to pay bondholders, Social Security recipients, government employees and others, even if Congress fails to lift the limit before the so-called X-date.

    It would be comical if conservatives again save us, first from Obama whacking Social Security by wanting moar cuts, and perhaps now the debt limit by wanting moar cuts?
28. tevhatch May 2, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    Kali – Ukrainian Nazis probably follow German to have a claim on that god too.
    Christopher Hale’s book, Himmler’s Crusade has some sections about the Nazi fascination with Hindu and Tibetan pre-Buddhist mythology and origin of the Übermensch from North India/Tibet.
29. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 1:07 pm

    Oh, nobody’s default but mine, yeah
    Nobody’s default but mine, yeah
    Trying to save my savings tonight
    Oh, it’s nobody’s default but mine

    Kevin he told Joey to roll back
    The devil in the details he told Biden to roll-oll-oll, oh
    How to roll back the $31 trillion debt tonight
    Nobody’s default but mine

    Brother he showed me whats going on
    Brother he showed me the ding dong ding dongs
    How to kick-start that economy to life
    Oh, it’s nobody’s default but mine

    Got a debt ceiling monkey on my back
    The m-m-m-m-monkey on my back, back, back, back
    Gonna change my ways tonight
    Nobody’s default but mine

    How to kick-start that economy alright
    N-n-n-n-n-n-nobody’s default

    Nobody’s Fault but Mine, by Led Zeppelin

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la-zf2TgCjw
30. Tom Stone May 2, 2023 at 1:45 pm

    I wonder if the clampdown by the authorities is in part due to their realization that we are going to have a whole hell of a lot of people dying soon.
    This Fall’s ‘Flu/Respiratory season might be a real Mother, we have at least 15,000,000 with Long Covid which means they ALL have damaged bodily systems.
    Our Hospitals are hanging on by a thread, we could very well see a near complete collapse well before Brandon’s re election.
31. Tom Stone May 2, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    Wuk, have you spent much time in the Golden Trout Wilderness?
    I spent July 10-August 10 1968 in the back country and it is a treasured memory.
    Yosemite was always too crowded for my taste, but stunningly beautiful all the same.
    1. Wukchumni May 2, 2023 at 2:34 pm

       Yes, i’ve walked through a good swath of the GTW, one backpack starting from Jerky Meadow and going to Crescent Meadow in Sequoia NP, about 80 miles later.

       Friends were at Yosemite last Friday, said it was stunning.
32. lyman alpha blob May 2, 2023 at 3:13 pm

    RE: The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Mockery Of An Indian Deity Was Reprehensible

    So they made fun of Kali, did they? Sounds like Zelensky better start wearing a having-your-still-beating-heart-ripped-out-of-your-chest-by-a-pissed-off-Hindu-priest-proof vest along with the bulletproof one.
    1. B24S May 2, 2023 at 5:07 pm

       And here I thought that was going to be a clip from “Help”…
33. spud May 2, 2023 at 8:28 pm

    capitalists banks are unable to self regulate, and self police, looting is common by the capitalists, the only way capitalism can work, is if its regulated by socialism.

    bill clintons deregulated banking system failed

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-not-just-first-republic-155253651.html

    Opinion: It’s not just First Republic that failed. It’s the whole banking system
34. giantsquid May 2, 2023 at 8:46 pm

    Re: Cytokine deficiencies in patients with Long-COVID

    With regard to the lack of IFN-gamma found by these investigators in patients with Long Covid, I want to point out that this finding is at odds with those of other investigators. For instance:

    “We identified a set of analytes (IFN-β, PTX3, IFN-γ, IFN-λ2/3 and IL-6) that highly associated with LC at month 8, indicating that components of the acute inflammatory response and activation of fibroblast or epithelial cells, T cells and myeloid cells are associated with LC. Immune cell phenotyping indicated chronic activation of a subset of CD8+ T cells, with expansion of PD-1+ and TIM-3+ subsets and pDCs and monocytes persisting from month 3 to month 8 in the LC group.”

    In this study, the authors also found that elevated levels of three of the factors identified in their analyses — IFN-β, PTX3 and IFN-γ — had a prognostic accuracy of 79.68% for Long Covid.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01113-x

    Furthermore, in a paper published in Frontiers in Immunology, the authors determined that IFN-gamma is elevated by more than 40-fold in PASC [Long Covid] patients as compared to healthy controls.

    “To further characterize the immune response in PASCs, we performed a quantitative, multiplex cytokine/chemokine panel on 29 healthy control individuals to establish the healthy control range of the assay. We then analyzed Mild-Moderate, Severe, and PASCs plasma samples and compared the cytokine/chemokine profiles ( Table 1B ). CCL5/RANTES, IL-2, IL-4, CCL3, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and VEGF were all significantly elevated compared to healthy controls (all P<0.001)."

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8273732/

    The authors lack clarity here. If you look at Table 1B, you will find that IFN-gamma is significantly elevated in the PASC patients while IL-6 for example is elevated in both severe Covid patients and PASC patients.
35. Korual May 2, 2023 at 9:26 pm

    Aeon article:

    It’s not helpful to connect quantum entanglement with monism. Entanglement disproves the existence of individual objects prior to the entanglement. Hence we are rather dealing with pure multiplicity, just as in mathematical set theory where the null set implies multiplicity and where there is no set of all sets, which would imply monism.
36. britzklieg May 3, 2023 at 1:19 am

    re: Costello’s Political Science:

    “The American republic long and rightly celebrated its founding generation. With all their faults they began, they acted, they were free. However, after two centuries, their founding institutions increasingly became not facilitators of action, of new beginnings, but a straight jacket limiting both citizen decision making and action. Writing in mid-20th century New York, Arendt critiqued the state of modern republicanism, participatory decision making, resulting in citizen action was largely illusory. Limited in a number of ways from the beginning, at that point American democracy existed not much at all.”

    Here’s an essay by my brother-in-law (alas, deceased): The Unfortunate Revival of Civic Republicanism https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3645&context=penn_law_review

    During the last decade, constitutional theory has been radically altered by the infusion of ideas loosely grouped under the title “civic republicanism.” Recent attention to these ideas initially
    surfaced during the sixties and seventies in the works of legal historians who argued that the founders of the American constitutional scheme were influenced as much by republican ideas as by
    traditional Lockean liberal theory.’ In the last decade, civic republican theory has become the primary concern of several prominent constitutional scholars. Nationally known scholars such
    as Frank Michelman, Cass Sunstein, and Mark Tushnet have written extensively of their desire for a more “republican” Constitution.

    This article examines several different aspects of the civic republican phenomenon. The first aspect involves the constitutional politics of civic republicanism. In particular, why are politically
    left-of-center constitutional scholars attracted to civic republicanism? Putting the matter differently, is civic republican theory truly congenial to the goals and aspirations of constitutional theorists
    who locate themselves on the left side of the political spectrum? The most obvious answer to these questions is that the political left shares with civic republican theory a theoretical focus on the community rather than the individual. Both civic republicans and members of the political left view the collective exercise of power more favorably than their political and theoretical adversaries.
    Under this view, both civic republicans and members of the political left view government as the necessary agent for cultivating positive social values and developing a “good” society. Classical liberal theory and members of the political right, on the other hand, view government as at best an unfortunate necessity.
37. britzklieg May 3, 2023 at 1:54 am

    John Perkins’ “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” has 12 new chapters in its latest, 3rd edition. Here’s an interview with A. Rattansi: https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/575462-john-perkins-economic-sabotage/

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