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Links 11/5/2023

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Horseshoe crab blood is vital for testing intravenous drugs, but new synthetic alternatives could mean pharma won’t bleed this unique species dry The Conversation

Second snow crab season canceled as researchers pinpoint cause Seattle Times

World’s smallest particle accelerator is 54 million times smaller than the Large Hadron Collider — and it works Space.com

Bennu Asteroid Samples Expected to ‘Fundamentally’ Shift Our Perspective on Cosmic Life Gizmodo

Climate

How psychedelic therapy may help with climate change anxiety WaPo

Water

A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short NYT

#COVID19

CDC panel backs looser guidance on hospital masking Becker’s Hospital Review. HICPAC:

In emailed comments to Becker’s, a spokesperson for the CDC said, “the process has been misunderstood,” and reiterated that the recommendations are not final. “The advisory committee has not introduced any binding recommendations, but is instead kicking off a process that includes a transparent, lengthy public comment period.”

In fact, the process is quite well understood; see NC here, here, and here.

People’s CDC Public Comment on HICPAC People’s CDC. Mail comments by Monday:

A lapse in COVID wastewater detection is worrying scientists about distorted data Salon. After the “Green Map” episode, I think CDC is capable of anything, including a handy “lapse” between the plateau from the last wave and a surge from the coming holidays.

China?

China’s Xi Jinping says Communist Party control too weak in rural areas, new book reveals South China Morning Post

Western Left and the US-China Contradiction People’s Democracy

A Tale of 3 Nations: Debt Restructuring in Ghana, Zambia, and Sri Lanka The Diplomat

Myanmar

Russian Warships Arrive for Myanmar Naval Exercises The Irrawaddy

Myanmar ethnic groups seize more outposts in junta offensive Channel News Asia

European Disunion

The EU’s plan to regain its competitive edge FT

Dear Old Blighty

MP who had s*x with pr*stitute on a billiard table… while four Tory MPs cheered him on: At any one time there are about 30 MPs behaving in similarly shocking ways – and the shady figures who really control the party don’t hesitate to blackmail them Daily Mail

The UK’s Shambolic COVID Winter Vaccine Programme Alarms Experts Byline Times

Boris Johnson Believed Old People Should ‘Accept Their Fate’ And Catch Covid HuffPo

Syraqistan

Far-right minister: Nuking Gaza is an option, population should ‘go to Ireland or deserts’ The Times of Israel. Clarifying!

Israel’s ‘Total War’ Strategy in Gaza Tikun Olam

Imperial Designs New Left Review

The case for optimism:

We should assume that regional players — Nasrallah, Khamenei, El-Sisi, Erdogan, Assad, even Salman — and global players — Putin, Modi, and Xi — are smarter and more strategic than Bibi, Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, et al.

* * *

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 29: Israel hits hospitals, ambulances, and schools across Gaza Mondoweiss

Between 350,000 to 400,000 people still in northern Gaza, says US special envoy France24

Israeli army says 345 soldiers killed fighting Palestinians since Oct. 7 Anadolu Agency

The Tunnel War New York Magazine

Israel posts fake video of dog chase in Gaza tunnel Electronic Intifada

* * *

As their soldiers fight hand to hand in Gaza, Israelis wonder about the endgame Guardian. Aleady?

‘Extremely challenging’: Israel’s Gaza ground assault faces stumbles Al Jazeera. Illustrative video (although I have no way to authenticate it, so “big if true”):

And:

“Where is the infantry”? Looks like the IDF is, indeed, casualty-averse.

Scoop: Blinken tells Israelis humanitarian pause will buy Israel time for Gaza operation Axios

* * *

Obama Urges Americans to Take in ‘Whole Truth’ of Israel-Gaza War NYT. Here it is if you can stand it:

Israel Military Reports It Was You, The Reader, Who Blew Up Hospital The Onion

* * *

America is discovering the limits of its leverage on Israel FT

Inside the Biden White House, Doubts About Gaza War Are Beginning to Creep In Ryan Grim, The Intercept

The President Who Stood Up To Israel and Won Ettingermentum Newsletter

Blinken goes begging Gilbert Doctorow

‘People are frustrated’: Gaza war opens rift among US Democrats FT

* * *

George Orwell’s 1984 in Washington The American Conservative. Syria.

Going to hell with no possibility of redemption Yasha Levine, weaponized immigrant

New Not-So-Cold War

U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say NBC. And commentary–

The Ukraine Peace Talk Trial Balloon Moon of Alabama. Also commentary–

Gaza conflict ‘taking away focus’ from Ukraine, Zelensky says France24

As the U.S. fights over aid, Ukraine’s hopes hang in the balance David Ignatius, WaPo. “My visit was organized by the McCain Institute, as part of its Ukraine Business Alliance, a group of companies working with the Ukrainian government, including tech giants Microsoft and Palantir.” As if these goons were Ignatius’s real sponsor….

* * *

The Road to Ukraine’s Ruin and Possibly a Russian Quagmire Gordon Hahn, Russian and Eurasian Politics

Russia must protect Zelensky RT. The deck: “The Ukrainian leader’s erratic behavior and growing messiah complex means he’s now an asset to Moscow.”

Russia’s nuclear saber rattling: A threat or wake-up call for the West? Christian Science Monitor

Republican Funhouse

Tensions erupt within Senate GOP over Tuberville military holds The Hill

2024

Judge, citing Trump’s ‘repeated public statements,’ orders anonymous jury in defamation suit trial Orlando Sentinel

Digital Watch

Big Tech’s “attention rents” Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic

It Is Not Properly Called “Technofeudalism”. But What Is It? Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality

* * *

A day in the life of a delivery robot The Verge

The AI-Generated Child Abuse Nightmare Is Here WIred

PSA: Your chat and call apps may leak your IP address TechCrunch

The Future of RSS is Textcasting Kottke.org. Hmm…

Imperial Collapse Watch

Inflection Point: How to Reverse the Erosion of U.S. and Allied Military Power and Influence RAND

U.S. Coast Guard Reduces Active Cutter Fleet Due to Personnel Shortage Maritime Executive

Class Warfare

Labor Unions Are Industrial Policy Lee Hepner, BIG

Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors v. Fiduciary Duty JSTOR Daily

Antidote du jour (via):

Bonus antidote:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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247 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “U.S. Coast Guard Reduces Active Cutter Fleet Due to Personnel Shortage”

    While it is true that all branches of the US military are experiencing recruitment shortages, the US Coast Guard may have additional luggage to bear and that is it’s name. You would expect hard duties doing patrols off the 153,646 kilometers (95,471 miles) of the US coastline which would also include vital S & R as well so you would expect that in signing up. But more and more ships of the US Coast Guard are being sent out to patrol other country’s coastlines such as in the Gulf, the Indo-Pacific even and Papua New Guinea so maybe that is not what new ‘coasties’ really want to sign up for. If they did, then they would join the US Navy instead. Radical idea here. Perhaps the US Coast Guard should be allowed to concentrate on the US coastline instead and not being treated as an auxiliary US Navy.

    1. mrsyk

      Does anybody in charge here have even a shred of common sense? At what point does the lack stewardship lead to domestic calamity? It’s like we’re on one of those reality shows where the contestants are driven to do crazier and crazier things to “win”. Looks like we’re champs….oh, look at the UK go.

    2. Milton

      Well it seems the ‘Guard has reverted to its Revinue Cutter Service roots of interdiction of trade smugglers off of Tripoli to now enforcing whatever whims of the global elite decides is befitting of their needs. Even when I was going through bootcamp in 1980, Coastie instructors let us know that Search and Rescue, though the stated primary directive of the USCG, was secondary to drug enforcement.

    3. scott s.

      With a “main battery” of a 57mm gun, a National Security Cutter isn’t going to impress too many navies, but for missions like maritime interdiction and fisheries you need the capability.

  2. mrsyk

    How psychedelic therapy may help with climate change anxiety Dear god. I thought I was the cynic in the room. Bezos telling us to suck it up and deal, here’s a drug to help you handle the awful. (Sorry, I’ve gone and violated the read the article before commenting rule on this one.)

    1. Rodeo Clownfish

      It is not unreasonable to wonder if our elites have embraced increasing drug legalization to enervate the masses and prevent the anxieties of current times from producing uprisings.

      Consumer culture and popular entertainments have been the tools of our distraction and enervation for generations now, but as economic, classic, and resource constraints threaten to blunt those tools, or at least the consumption one, something new will be needed lest the population pay too much attention to how the world works and what to do about it.

        1. Feral Finster

          I once was told that religion no longer is the opiate of the masses, as nobody believes in God anymore.

          Rather, buying on credit was the new opiate of the masses. Since credit is increasingly tapped out…

        2. Procopius

          How are things going in Portugal? About three years ago I read that their legalization (or at least decriminalization) of all drugs was working out very well. I haven’t seen any reports in Western media since then. It seems if all drugs are legal, and if you use the resources formerly sent to the drug warriors for treatment instead of prisons, that not very many people actually have a problem. The masses don’t need opiates so much. Has that held up for a longer time?

          1. tegnost

            pretty sure both jobs require a positive test result for both substances otherwise you’l either be whingeing about being hurt or whining about being tired…

      3. HomoSapiensWannaBe

        Beyond those seeking escapism due to their pleasurable, entertaining effects, Psychedelics and Cannabis Sativa can have the effect of holistically heightening and focusing one’s attention on what is important, to what needs to be done, how to live better, etc. They can put one in a frame of mind that discards distractions and helps identify root causes and effects, hence their growing appeal and success in cognitive therapy.

        “Elites” such as Nixon and his generation have been afraid of legalization and widespread adoption going back at least to the “hippies”, anti-Vietnam War, Black Panthers, MLK, RFK era. Not because they hurt people when used moderately – as their own studies showed – but because when used moderately and in the right setting they can help create synergy among like-minded people in a way that bonds them together and frightens the elites. Kumbaya! Pass the “peace” pipe!

        Psychedelics and Cannabis also compete with LEGAL, highly profitable, patented pharmaceuticals sold at enormous markups by the big drug cartels, whose “good” effects are sometimes barely, if any, better than placebos, and whose negative side effects can be significant and harmful. These drug cartels are against natural, non-patentable substances being available at low cost to the masses for their self-administered “medication.”

        The Military, Police, Prison-Industrial and Legal complexes have also made much money over the decades from arresting, trying and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people for enjoying the effects of Cannabis and other banned substances. I have family members whose lives were negatively impacted from this injustice.

        Cannabis and Psychedelics CAN be “gateway” drugs when you have to buy them from dealers who’d rather sell you more profitable and actually addictive substances like Cocaine, Meth, Heroin, etc.. Legalization helps remove and reduce this buying route and temptation for those prone to addiction to such objectively bad drugs compared to Cannabis and Psychedelics.

        Ahem… Tobacco and Alcohol are both addictive and kill tens of thousands year after year, but are still legal and easy to buy and abuse. Both substances led to poor health and early deaths for many friends and family, including my Mother and Sister, who both died of stroke/lung cancer. I have witnessed many people becoming belligerent and mean after consuming too much alcohol, including my brother-in-law who’d go from a sweet, funny guy to beating my sister, depending on his mood and how much he’d drank THAT DAY.

        I have NEVER seen anyone become like this from using Cannabis. Lethargic maybe if consuming too much of a strong Indica strain, but then what happens after that 3rd or 4th alcohol drink if not lethargy and numbness.

        1. S.D., M.D.

          Cannabis was introduced to the Americas via the West Indies, were it was used to keep the plantation slaves docile, pacified and easier to control.

          Hemp, which is the same species, was grown in the slave states so it would be no surpise at all if it was used for the same purpose there.

          Just saying.

          Now, the government has actually convinced people to pay for the privilege of making themselves passive, docile and controlled.

          1. JP

            Cannabis Indica was introduced to the Americus. Cannabis Sativa has always grown here. Both can be made into rope.

      4. playon

        I figured that when pot became legal in many states there were two prime reasons for it – keeping the population happy while most Americans’ fortunes continue to decline, and tax revenue.

        This bit about psychedelics as an answer to climate change anxiety dovetails nicely with SSRIs being a good idea for long COVID sufferers.

      5. Feral Finster

        “It is not unreasonable to wonder if our elites have embraced increasing drug legalization to enervate the masses and prevent the anxieties of current times from producing uprisings.”

        You are not the first to have asked this….

    2. MaryLand

      Reminds me of my college statistics class in which our grade was based solely on the quizzes we took at the beginning of every class. Each quiz was based on the previous class and consisted of 3 problems. The teacher gave no partial credit, so on every quiz you either got 100% or failed. After a few weeks of this the students complained that it was too stressful. The teacher said he understood and would allow us to bring a flask of alcohol to class to help with our anxieties. Problem solved!

    3. Louis Fyne

      a possible future “equilibirum” will be a barebones universal basic income and more drug legalization.

      essentially turn the underclass into a giant 19th century Chinese opium den..

      my inner armchair 18th-century-Enlightment-wannabe is aghast that as a society we have stooped so low.

      1. R.S.

        “Why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly…”

    4. jefemt

      Hey, I read the article. Tune in and Drop out… might be the eventual upshot. If one partakes, becomes more intimately aware of the natural world and it’s beauty, amplified as only hallucinogens can, what happens when one comes back down to 2023 Earth?
      The guys who were really cranking out good quality LSD in the early ’70’s wanted to popularize the experience so that the world might alter it’s course. Lord knows DC might benefit…

      Delusional cognitive dissonance can only take one so far, and the Red Pill of hallucinogens could make the now-seen Matrix unbearable? No more Delusional Cognitive Dissonance?

      Yes we are only a spec of cosmic dust, yes it all is impermanent. But if one was raised to believe in agency, free will, cause and effect, choices and consequences– what then when we see the blood on our hands chasing our follies in a western modern wealthy nation state and economy- the death of our home planet and the suffering of others- all species, all walks of life?

      General Malaise, Sufferin’ Succotash…. tis a misery.

      Continue to couch-surf on the collective psychiatric chaise longue that is the Naked Capitalism…

      Great Read: Dr Rick Strassman on DMT- the Sprit Molecule. Eye popping information form clinical trials…
      https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51654.DMT

      Wishing everyone some grace and peace.

      1. MaryLand

        I used to look down upon those who ignored current events and found their joy in “shallow” entertainments. With the little we can do to influence national policy and actions, I begin to wonder if they have been wise to take the blue pill after all. Taking one’s joy from nature is welcome solace as is whatever happiness one can have with family and friends. Peace out.

      2. Feral Finster

        “The guys who were really cranking out good quality LSD in the early ’70’s wanted to popularize the experience so that the world might alter it’s course. Lord knows DC might benefit…”

        Screw LSD. Put thorazine in the DC water supply.

      3. Thomas The Obscure

        One can also enjoy the solace of nature without being stoned. As a former psychedelic drug user, I thoroughly recommend the experience. While also recalling Marx’s imperative to experience the world with sober senses.

      4. jrkrideau

        I only scanned the article but it seemed like a bit of using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut but there has been a good bit of applied research done recently in using psychedelics in treating severe depression and PTSD. I have heard of programs in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. I believe funding is difficult because of the demonization of these drugs in the 1960s and 70s.

        So far the results seem to be looking good. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-psychedelic-drugs-may-help-depression. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-feb-25-2021-1.5927501/growing-interest-in-psychedelic-treatments-for-mental-illness-but-expert-warns-more-robust-research-needed-1.5929902

        Kids, DON’T try this at home.

    5. i just dont like the gravy

      Yeah that article definitely misses the forest for the trees.

      I’m all for ingesting whatever – hell, pop a few amanitas for all I care – but for the Elite and Rich Tech Oppressors to support psychedelics as a means for dealing with it all is just plain evil.

      It’s not like when you’re tripping you forget about your problems, either. That is unless you have a credentialed PMC to guide your journey like a techno-shaman (would rather eat amanitas and die).

      1. ambrit

        Oh boy. If you do just eat the Amanitas, you probably would die. The amount of toxins in unprocessed Amanita is daunting. Maybe you originally meant eating Psilocybins? (And then realized the irony futures inherent in your original formulation?)
        I fully agree with your ‘Credentialed PMC Shaman’ reference.
        The earlier comment about “Eat your Soma and chill out” does justice to the trope that “1984,” “Brave New World,” et. al. were originally cautionary tales but are now Textbooks.

        1. i just dont like the gravy

          Oh no I sincerely meant eating amanitas, I know they are toxic :) the mention was merely a point of rhetoric: I believe in the libertarian idea that if it hurts you and no others, then you have the liberty to do it (i.e. eating amanitas).

          I would rather ingest a painful neurotoxin in large quantities than experience the Satanic “psychedelic retreats” that the mainstream PMC class will force down the throats of the depressed and anxious.

          1. ambrit

            Oh yes. No peer group mediated sweat lodge “between the buttons” ‘retreats for the poor folk.
            When I first presented as severely depressed to the Parish Health Clinic, many years ago, Prozac was the only option offered. I soon learned my painful lesson with that “Satanic Potion.”
            Stay safe. At least keep sanity in view.

      2. jefemt

        I think Amanita muscaria (fly agaric?) was apparently ingested by the Berzerkers. Hard on the organs, so I have heard.

        As a group, good one to know and avoid. actually, the good news is there are very few edible choice wild mushrooms (non hallucinogens) , so it’s a pretty small body of knowledge to get dowwn pat. When in doubt, don’t pick it, don’t eat it.

        1. ambrit

          Get to know your local dairy cow fields. Early in the morning on foggy days are best. Keep a line of bushes between yourself and any houses, barns, and roadways. The more ‘discreet’ the better.

        2. Lefty Godot

          Was also used by Siberian shamans. Enough active principal in one’s urine after taking it that you could get stoned again drinking that, which they apparently did. R. Gordon Wasson had a book devoted to a. muscaria back in the 1970s.

          Amanita phalloides is the deadliest one, I gather. No high, just die. I think that was the one used in Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not a ‘peace plan’ but that idea from a coupla months ago of ‘freezing the conflict.’ Naturally the present lines will still favour the Ukrainians and will give the west a chance to catch up on arms deliveries so that the Ukrainians can have another go in a few more years time when the present cohort of teenagers reach military age. And of course it will give western corporations a chance to go in and hoover up any and every asset in sight and get out of the country while it is still quiet. It won’t work this idea and I can think of one reason why. At every conference that they have had the past two year there is one country not invited – Russia. So the west would have to do a Baerbock 360 and have a conference with Russia and the Ukraine at the same table together. Not going to happen, even if the west pushes them two together and then pretend that it has absolutely nothing to do with them.

      1. Ignacio

        I thought it was so obvious that the morons at the State Department wouldn’t, by any chance, get that freezing without ensuring the other side no more weapons sent, with Russian controls included on the matter, that no more explanation was needed. They will have to try and try to get any ceasefire that is acceptable and that Is why I chose that song. And this “try and try” goes well beyond weapons. It would be cease and desist.

      2. John k

        It will happen right after the surrender. Granted, the west is still trying to enjoy their fantasy of just who surrenders…
        But time mag sees the fantasy is unraveling, so the ME genocide usefully helps the west forget that debacle as they chew over the new one. It’s astounding to me how fast the world has shifted from uni to multi. And how fast the us is losing influence under Biden. What was it Obama said?
        Btw… doesn’t giving israel bombs that israel drops on hospitals etc full participants?

        1. Daniil Adamov

          I think that we will have to be eventually. Or at least we will have to pretend to be fooled, because the only real military threat to Russia comes from American nukes and we can’t have a “honest” fight with those. At some point we will have to settle, and personally I’d rather that happened without more pointless waste of human life.

          1. Feral Finster

            Keeping in mind that the American Empire will see any settlement only as an opportunity to regroup and rearm, to wait for a new generation of cannon fodder to reach the age where they can be handed a gun….

            That is one of the problems with this war. How does one end it, and on what terms? Which is one reason why the Empire is so enthusiastic about it.

    3. Es s Cetera

      Just to add to MoA’s observations, I live in a predominantly Ukrainian area of Canada and very early on knew Ukraine had lost for somewhat related reasons.

      The influx of able-bodied military aged refugees from Ukraine, people who fly the flag from their cars, their windows, their lawns and porches, are all rough’n’tuff’n’stuff and willing to be confrontational about it but apart from that are actually unwilling to fight.

      Every day I’m trying to figure them out, how are you Ukrainian but standing here, in a restaurant in Canada, waiting for your order of pierogies to go…? Perhaps it’s not worth fighting for, perhaps your pierogies are more important?

      Pierogies being more important is why Ukraine lost.

      Also, those countries willing to take waves of Ukrainian refugees helped drain Ukraine of its manpower.

  4. Lexx

    ‘Israel Military Reports It Was You, The Reader, Who Blew Up Hospital’

    The Perpetual Victims position is always one of moral superiority and who must above all keep their hands clean… no matter who they have to throw under the bus.

    1. Louis Fyne

      to normalize what’s happening in Gaza, (on the low-end) Gazan * 160 = what the equivalent per capita number would be in the USA; Israeli * 40 to 32 depending on whether one includes Arab, non-Jewish Israelis.

      The per capita rate of 10,000 Gazan deaths = 1,600,000 American deaths.

      Or the equivalent of everyone in Hawaii or New Hamphire being wiped out. 10 states have less than a population of 1.6 million

      1. Tom Stone

        I looked at the Palestinian casualties over the last 5 years and was struck by the very high percentage of wounded.
        And then I remembered Volquartsen.
        Volquartsen makes astoundingly accurate versions of Ruger’s 10-22 rifle, and made their first big splash selling integrally suppressed versions to Israel’s security services.
        These are very quiet, no hearing protection need and they will put every round on a nickel at 100 Meters as fast as you can pull the trigger.
        They have been and are used to kneecap Palestinian protesters.
        By the Thousands.

        1. Lexx

          A tactic I recall to force ‘the enemy’ to expend resources caring for those wounded. No need to kill them, just remove them from the field of play, where they’re both expensive and demoralizing… for the Palestinians.

    2. Carolinian

      Latest Turley: he’s fine with the NYT firing–on the grounds of “objectivity”– an employee for signing a pro Palestinian letter and then scolds the paper for not being pro Israel enough about the hospital bombing.

      The problem for the NY Times is not severing ties with Hughes over her public advocacy, but the paper’s embrace of such advocacy in coverage, including its recent controversy over spreading false claims that Israel clearly bombed a hospital causing hundreds of deaths in Gaza.

      Shorter him: subjectivity is ok when we on the right do it. Or something. Other take is that Turley should stick to the law, about which he seems reliable, and pipe down about foreign affairs about which he seems to know nothing. My esteem for his column is dropping like a rock.

      https://jonathanturley.org/2023/11/05/new-york-times-controversy-exposes-the-inherent-conflict-in-advocacy-journalism/

      1. Mark Gisleson

        His points are not unfair but did drag on. My objection was to his throwing this in at the end:

        The problem for the NY Times is not severing ties with Hughes over her public advocacy in coverage, including its recent controversy over spreading false claims that Israel clearly bombed a hospital causing hundreds of deaths in Gaza.

        I keep seeing this trotted out. The story was initially incorrectly reported (fog of war) but WHO CARES? The folks pushing this line (including Taibbi and Kirn the week after their “um, er” podcast) are doing so in absolute bad faith. The problem with media coverage isn’t that they got one wrong, but that they’re not getting most of the story at all.

        Genocide is genocide is genocide. To talk about anything else is a deliberate distraction from the ongoing genocide. When a genocidal war is in progress, all focus should be on the genocide in progress.

        Also, it’s odd that Turley stuck this in at the very end. Almost as if he’d been ordered to include it as a condition of publication. He’s not usually big on repeating talking points and this clearly is being used as one.

        1. Tom Stone

          Turley understands that there are Good Genocides and Bad Genocides, what’s happening in GAZA is analogous to a gardener pruning a sick limb or pulling invasive weeds.
          And criticizing Israel is Anti Semitic, Palestinians aren’t “Real Semites”, they are Human Animals and definitely not made in God’s image, so it’s actually a moral duty to kill them and steal their stuff.
          If you just understood God Swill you’d be more than OK with what’s going on.

        2. pjay

          Regarding the Turley quote, I believe there is considerable evidence that the missile in question *was* fired by the Israelis. In fact, the assertions to the contrary by Israel and by our own government that Turley cites always rang hollow, yet it is *those* assertions that I heard repeated over and over in the media echo chamber – until the contrary evidence that was available from almost the beginning in the alt media slowly trickled out. Then the story was forgotten. That’s what *I* remember about this story. So what’s that about “objectivity” again Jonathan?

          We hear what we want to hear, I guess.

      2. Chris Smith

        I just read the article and saw nothing that supports your summation “subjectivity is ok when we on the right do it.” Quite the contrary, Prof. Turley’s essay is calling out the Times for allowing advocacy by employees only when said advocacy aligns with the Times’s position. Turley writes, “instead of denouncing the shift to advocacy journalism, media outlets are seeking to simply maintain a selective, NPR-like line of what advocacy is to be allowed, even fostered.”

        On the other hand, I have been long in favor of (and advocated for) antidiscrimination laws that prevent an employer from firing workers for political activity or ideological positions. I’ve held that position since people were getting fired in the early 2000s for having a Kerry bumper sticker. It really chaps my hide however that so many on the illiberal woke left think its fine to fire people for their beliefs or politics if they don’t conform to woke ideology.

        So on the one hand, I am opposed to firing the little wokies for supporting Palestine, especially the Palestinian people. On the other hand, their getting fired and cancelled is an important object lesson for them that the censor’s veto always sides with power. Best to have a work place that is about doing your work, not about mouthing the proper platitudes.

        1. Carolinian

          an important object lesson for them that the censor’s veto always sides with power.

          All over the map much? Or just objectively pro power?

          As for “doing your work,” in any sane or observant world the NYT is, in their news pages, absolutely pro Israel and therefore pro power. The notion that objectivity is still in any way part of our MSM is a farce.

          You don’t have to take my word for it. Take a look at Chris Hedges who was also fired from the NYT for wrongthink. He was their Jerusalem bureau chief at one point.

          https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-culture-of-deceit

          “Objectivity” is the great dodge that lets those who don’t tell the truth get away with it. My beef with Turley is for not stating the obvious and signing onto the deceit. Perhaps this is simple naivite but if he’s not fully informed he shouldn’t be giving lectures on misinformation.

        1. ilsm

          See who voted in the house the other day to send $14 billion.

          The list of those speaking out for humans is low single digit.

          The military industry complex broaches no morals.

    4. HomoSapiensWannaBe

      Perpetual victimhood is also a common defensive stance taken by Sociopaths/Psychopaths when they are caught/cornered…

  5. LawnDart

    Re; People’s CDC Public Comment on HICPAC

    Those comments are a must-read– I am genuinely surprised that they were made public. Now we need the names of the people who drafted the HIPAC policy proposal for future prosecution and victim restitution.

    1. .human

      I don’t have an X account and have been unable to find the comments. May I ask that you post a link? Ty

        2. Kouros

          From Deborah Gold
          Certified Industrial Hygienist
          Retired Annuitant, Cal/OSHA
          My name is Deborah Gold. Thank you for the opportunity to provide some brief comments on
          behalf of Cal/OSHA, California’s OSHA State Plan. I also refer you to the May 31st letter from
          our Deputy Chief, Eric Berg, and the July letter signed by 900 public health experts. We are
          seriously concerned about the lack of transparency and openness in this process. Despite
          repeated requests, we have not seen a draft of the proposed guidelines. We have not seen the
          minutes of working groups or even of the previous meeting. Working group meetings have not
          been advertised or open to the public. If we learned nothing from the tremendous illness and
          loss of life during the past 3 years of the COVID crisis, it is how important it is that public health
          recommendations be clear and strong enough to protect both individual workers and patients
          and the healthcare system as a whole. At various points in the pandemic, we have seen
          massive personnel and equipment shortages that put lives at risk. As with Cal/OSHA, the CDC
          process must include all stakeholders, including affected workers, their unions, and experts from
          various disciplines and must be publicly transparent. California/OSHA has an aerosol
          transmissible disease standard which requires that novel respiratory pathogens be considered
          airborne for the purpose of employee protection, including the use of respirators. But repeatedly,
          employers have ignored these requirements and claimed that they were confused by CDC
          guidelines. This has resulted in a very resource-intensive enforcement effort by Cal/OSHA to
          ensure that at least minimum protections for the healthcare workforce. Insufficiently protected
          workers and the facilities in which they work have suffered unnecessarily and many still do. It is
          important that public health messaging be consistent, and that the CDC establish credibility if
          we are to control communicable disease. Public health message consistency must be based on
          protecting workers and the public and not be the result of demands for unquestioning loyalty to
          weak and unprotective guidelines. We are a state OSHA program. We rely on NIOSH-certified
          respirators to protect ourselves and the workers of California. The CDC must not undermine
          respiratory protection regulation by making the false and misleading claim that there is no
          difference in protection between respirators, which are designed and independently certified to
          protect against inhalation of small particle aerosols, and surgical masks which do not.           We do not
          rely on randomized controlled trials to require certified respirators for workers exposed to lead,
          asbestos, and other harmful aerosols. It would be unethical to do so. Personal protective
          equipment is only part of reducing transmission in healthcare facilities and other congregate
          environments          . We saw COVIDcovid-19 blaze through health facilities and prisons because they
          lacked effective means of isolation and comprehensive infection control programs          . The little we
          have seen of the draft guideline does not include a thorough discussion of isolation and does
          not include early identification and isolation of infected people. Thank you.

        3. playon

          A great comment from the document:

          “I had an episode of a fib and ended up in Newton-Wellesley Hospital in the cardio unit. Cardio patients are at risk for all sorts of opportunistic diseases and are vulnerable. Hardly anyone was
          wearing a mask. I masked the whole time, including when I slept.
          I felt very uncomfortable and I think that it’s incredibly stupid, unfeeling, and uncaring of public health for hospitals to not mandate masks. I don’t understand what the problem is. I don’t
          understand why public health is not being paid attention to. It is not a big deal to wear a piece of cloth over your face. Covid is not over. I’m still afraid I caught something even though I was masked the whole time. And I would blame the department of public health and the Healey administration if I get sick. You could do something and you are not. You are shortsighted and inconsiderate. I actually don’t have enough bad adjectives to describe how I feel about the
          decision to not mandate masks in hospitals. I cannot believe that you are in charge of public health because you’re not paying attention. You are like ostriches with your head in the sand hoping it goes away. It’s not going away.”

          (name redacted)

    2. lambert strether

      I am very pleased that readers are following CDC’s efforts to turn hospitals into deathtraps* via HICPAC closely.

      * More than they are already, I mean.

      1. LawnDart

        At risk of repeating myself, the fact that members of the public are screaming bloody-murder over this (which I suppose it is) added some much-needed vigor to my morning, and bit of edge off of my cynicism– those comments were a delight to read.

        If I have time, later today I’ll go over the document more throughly to find sime favorites (it’ll be worth it, I’m sure).

        1. flora

          The ideologicial economic sons and daughters of the Chicago School and Milton Frieman, and the ideological foreign policy sons and daughters of Irving Kristol, having been in the accendant for 45 years, have finally made a complete mess of both economics and foreign policy, imo.

          Do they now correct course or double down? (rhetorical question) Is doubling down on dangerously failed policies simply nihilism? I don’t know.

          Hospitals treating – or not treating according to prevailing “market principles” seems pretty nihilistic to me.

  6. timbers

    The Ukraine Peace Talk Trial Balloon Moon of Alabama. Also commentary

    1). I am a bit lost and unable to draw possible out comes (aside from a disorganized general collapse of Ukraine if it does not change course) due to Zelensky’s heavily irrational and emotional behavior. Meaning, I expected him to logically follow the principle many grifters follow – self interest. If Zelensky were following this principle, about now if not earlier would be (IMO) the right time for him to bail on Project Ukraine to one of his many mansions he’s acquired since the war started and disappear.

    2). IF Ukraine ever does offer peace on terms remotely close to what Russia requires, I fear for Russia because then there is a possibility Putin will enter negotiations (which might be essentially secret and mostly hidden from it’s public) and give away important chips, resulting in no real “permanent fix” to the Ukraine problem and a new Western build up and long terms threats to Russia.

      1. ambrit

        I can remember when good American Patriots all hailed, and then elected as President, Unconditional Surrender Grant.

    2. EMC

      Zelensky got too high on his own ego last year when he was elevated to heroic savior because Russia didn’t shock and awe Kiev in two days – because it was never what the intended. He can’t let go of the drug, and retiring to a mansion on the coast of Tuscany just won’t cut it.

    3. Lex

      Not an option for Zelensky. He was never well liked by the ultra-nationalist right. If he bails and leaves the nation in tatters after so many bold promises as the little war leader who could, they will hunt him down and kill him. There is no way out for Zelensky, so he’ll have to burn it all down around him in hopes of a miracle. Also, he’s a coke head. Some of the primary social symptoms of cocaine use include delusions of grandeur, hare-brained schemes and a disconnection from reality that makes those hare-brained schemes seem realistic.

      1. BillS

        Ironically, it’s possible that he could find sanctuary in Russia, if he wanted it. My guess is they are the only ones who could protect him.

      2. S.D., M.D.

        There will be a coup in Ukraine. Elensky will escape, claiming to form some sort of legitimate government in exile, allowing numerous grifts to continue, new scams to commence and even conning some nation or other into providing for his security.

        : “Next year in Kyiv!” will be the new “for as long as it takes”.

      3. Feral Finster

        I personally am agnostic on whether the Little Twerp is or is not a cokehead. That said, IIRC, our very own Wukchumni once had a boss that got deep into the honk.

        Perhaps his insight and experience with cokeheads would be helpful here.

        1. Wukchumni

          I knew a stoner numismatist who would ‘drug test’ prospective employees, as he was looking for like minded stoners with a work ethic, like him.

          I’ve never tried cocaine and never will…

          Around 1982 this numismatist I knew made serious bank off the Hunt Brothers silver deal in 79-80, he had a quarter million in the bank, a thriving business, a beautiful wife and a Ferrari like Magnum PI.

          18 months later, no money, no business, no wife, and he was driving a Pinto with mag wheels.

          It all went up his nose…

          1. Procopius

            Don’t remember who said it; somebody famous: “Coke is God’s way of telling you you’re making too much money.”

        2. Michael Fiorillo

          Does it even matter if he’s a coke head or not?

          He didn’t have the authority to conclude a peace deal with Russia in the early days of the invasion, so why should we think he’s had any more power since? The appearance in the media of pieces critical of Zelensky is a better indication of current/evolving Western attitudes toward him and the Ukrainian project in general, rather than trustworthy descriptions. Just as depicting him as heroic early on was an absurd fabrication, I’m skeptical about the coke-head-with-a-Napoleon-complex narrative, now that the jet crash onto a train wreck into a dumpster fire that is US involvement in Ukraine is becoming widely apparent.

          I think there’s a good chance they’re going to Diem him.

          1. Feral Finster

            The West already spent too much time and PR proclaiming Zelenskii to be George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ, Napoleon Bonaparte and Lord knows who else all rolled into one to do anything so open and crude as what was done with Diem.

    4. SG

      “I expected him to logically follow the principle many grifters follow ”

      Maybe, just maybe, he’s not a grifter at all.

    5. Revenant

      Zelensky is packing his bags as we speak, hence the denials. Not just that nothing is ever official until it is denied (thank you, Sir Humphrey) but logically, he has to be ousted still fighting so that his replacement us the scapegoat who lost the war.

      Arestovich seems to be auditioning for this job. What can they be paying him? Or does he think he can convince Azov that Zelensky betrayed them and/or that they will do very nicely out of Nazifying a rump Galicia? A sort of Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrangement where they control major business, not just protection and drugs rackets?

  7. The Rev Kev

    “Far-right minister: Nuking Gaza is an option, population should ‘go to Ireland or deserts’ ”

    Nah! Nah! Don’t want to do that. How can those settlers go in a grab that land if it is radioactive? Ultimately that is who this war is being fought for after all.

    1. nippersdad

      Further to that, Eliyahu just got sacked.

      “Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on X.”

      So then Netanyahu engaged in his own brand of unrealty:

      “Israel and its military “are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents,” the prime minister added.”

      Those two Yahus may have just realized the limits of their PR machine.

      https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-minister-amichai-eliyahu-suspend-benjamin-netanyahu-nuclear-bomb-gaza-hamas-war/

      1. edwin

        Looking at your link, did I misread it? I see that he was suspended. I see that the opposition wanted him sacked. No, I am pretty sure that advocating for the final solution does not get you fired in Israel.

        I know a thing or two about suspensions in Israel. Watch closely to see is this permanent? A few days until the heat is off? Will he be reinstated with a promotion? Maybe the mantle will be passed to someone else in his party – someone who potentially could be even more extreme, though the mind shudders in the attempt to imagine it.

        What has happened is Eliyahu has started to move the overton window. Today’s outrage is tomorrow policy.

        1. nippersdad

          You are correct in that he was suspended. I took that for a face saving way of getting him off the front page and that they were just getting rid of him altogether. But now they have a new problem:

          “The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations insisted Sunday that there was not a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza…….“I’m not saying that the life in Gaza is great,” Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And, obviously, Hamas is the only one that should be held accountable for any situation in Gaza. But there is a standard, due to international humanitarian law. What does it mean, a humanitarian crisis? And I’m saying, again, there is no humanitarian crisis, based on the international humanitarian law right now in Gaza.”

          https://thehill.com/policy/international/4294292-israeli-ambassador-insists-theres-no-humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza/

          So, suspended or sacked? At this rate they are going to start having staffing problems.

          1. caucus99percenter

            By this time, I know I shouldn’t be — yet I am indeed astounded every single day, seeing what new depths of bad-faith argumentation Israel and her supporters are capable of.

  8. Wukchumni

    Go take a hike dept:

    5 of us walked to the Oriole Grove of Giant Sequoias yesterday, and its my favorite kind of grove, as in while not quite forbidden-nobody ever goes there as its largely off-trail and ya gotta walk about 4 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation gain to get the goodies, which didn’t disappoint.

    The largest tree we saw was nearly 20 feet wide across @ eye level.

    On the way down we encountered another 3 sites with sunken rock basins on large boulders, bringing the total amount of these enigmatic tubs to 17 within the vicinity of Oriole Lake.

    The jury is out on how these were made, either by natural process somehow, or Native Americans?

    Each tub is approx 4 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet deep, and pretty much all exist from 4,000 to 7,000 feet all on a north-south axis from the Kings River to Lake Isabella.

    https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/5210/sir2008-5210.pdf

    1. jefemt

      Basins: Perched rock on the boulder, then eons of freeze-thaw, melt, etc? Sound pretty neat to behold!

      And big ancient old growth trees– well enough said… If yiu haven’t read it, check out
      The Golden Spruce – Vaillant… great read.

      1. Wukchumni

        Thanks for the tip on the book, looks meaty.

        I don’t think these had anything to do with eons of freeze-thaw, because if it did i’d find them on more than 1 out of 100 likely boulders I come across in my explorations.

        1. jefemt

          I’m wondering if glacial scour could account for the numbers… maybe the smaller boulders have been moved downhill (ahhh gravity!) and the larger stayed put? Very interesting deal.

          You all need solar powered immersion heaters and could make your own hot-pots!?

    2. Sub-Boreal

      Years ago, I saw similar features formed in granitic rock, approximately 50-70 cm across and almost as deep, in a high alpine area of southern BC, quite close to the border with WA (Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park). These occurred at least ~ 300 m above treeline, and were associated with piles of well-rounded granitic boulders 1-2 m in diameter. The local subalpine forests don’t include any pine species which produce edible seeds, so in this instance a non-human origin seems more plausible. And I saw similar-sized but somewhat shallower basins in granitic rock outcrops above treeline in western Yukon, close to the AK border. In both the BC and Yukon examples, it’s possible that production of such features could have begun during earlier interglacial times, because at high elevations the ice cover would have been thin enough and/or it was frozen its bed so that it had little power to erode weathering features in the underlying bedrock.

      I see that another commenter has recommended Vaillant’s book on the Golden Spruce – definitely a great read! I actually saw that famous tree (on Graham Island, off the BC north coast) back in 1984, about a dozen years before it was felled by a rather sad case.

  9. Louis Fyne

    —Where is the infantry”? Looks like the IDF is, indeed, casualty-averse.—

    An alternate take—the IDF knows exactly what is doing and the potential consequences.

    It is because: a) hubris from eating their own propaganda and/or b) even after total mobilization, the IDF does not have enough capable warm bodies to man the northern border, enter Gaza, and counter-insurgency in the West Bank.

    we reap what we sow. Hamas is on the road to a major victory.

    2. The Rev Kev

      The Israelis broke with their doctrine and now they are going to be in the hurt locker. What doctrine is that? That is where, like in the past, the Israelis bomb and shell the crap out of Gaza using high explosives and aerial bombing. This is done from some distance away so that there is minimal risk to Israeli lives. And ordinary Israelis grab their deck chairs to sit on a hill to watch the show. About the point that the artillery and missiles run out, Israel magnanimously announces that they are stopping the war for humanitarian reasons. After that they run to DC and demand that the US replenish their stockpiles for free.

      Well they are not doing it this time. They are actually going boots on the ground and meeting Hamas on their own turf. A very thoroughly prepared turf. And as Hamas has nowhere to flee to and are enraged at the deaths in their families the past month, they are well and ready to fight to the death and take as many Israelis with them as they can. Yeah, it is Stalingrad 2.0. And all those buildings that they destroyed only means that it will make it much tougher to dig out those Hamas soldiers. Even their armour will be restricted by the rubble in the streets. It’s going to be brutal.

    3. ilsm

      Unopposed hostile infantry among tanks is usually detrimental to the tanks.

      Red army in Budapest 1956 learned the trouble that occurs when the tanks are available to infantry attack, helmets of mud, etc.

      Infantry support for tanks was standard in WW II and so forth. The Bradley was designed to keep up with the M-1 Abrams and provide infantry support to suppress ATGM’s etc.

      Hamas probably studied Budapest while urban setting means a lot more infantry than one needs in farm fields.

      In open areas the number of Bradleys per tank is a lot fewer than needed in urban situations.

    4. Mind Sausages

      But Sarge, you’re making a big fat assumption that those conspicuously stripped-down APCs, without the rucksack accoutrements, actually have humans inside them driving. The IDF’s task is to locate, eliminate, and scoot. The conventional-looking objects and units that tempt Hamas into engagement are not the same IDF units observing and shooting from concealment. It took a lot gopros attached to individuals whose capacity for breath has been severely curtailed, to finally get an rpg onto a remote un-personnel-ed personnel carrier.

      There’s a place called “Chicago” in the Negev, a kind of graduate school that taught the USMC how to fight in urban areas in 2005 — break through walls, move through buildings to displace the enemy onto the streets, disguise the shape and structure of your units, orient and re-orient your units to the units operating beside you, swarm from all directions at once, train to operate with intelligence that is neither accurate nor relevant — the city, a medium into one can disappear. Or it would have been had the IDF not conducted air strikes with such a disregard for human life Hamas did not anticipate. Nor did Hamas anticipate the IDF writing-off the hostages as a strategic choice to degrade the value of hostage-taking.

      It’s almost as if Hamas did not expect its allies would write them off like they did. “Sure, destruction of Israel, gotta go, maybe tomorrow.” Religious fanatics always believe other people actually like them, that the fanatics themselves could never be someone else’s pawn in this action-drama. Whereas Israel knows with stunning clarity nobody likes them. But hey! The Houthis will come to the rescue.

    5. R.S.

      It looks so bad that it must be doctrinal. IIRC the IDF are generally very heavy on armour. My Hebrew is beyond any hope, but last time I’ve checked they had something like 3 tank brigades and 4 regular infantry ones (not counting paratroopers and special forces), that’s almost 1:1. And they use a lot of “heavy APCs”, basically tank-like infantry carriers.

      My SWAG is, they bought into the idea of a “mobile fortress”, so to speak. Tanks, heavy APCs, armoured dozers and the like form something like an armoured demolition team moving slowly, while being virtually invincible to irregulars with small arms, crude RPGs and similar weapons. The infantry is supposed to stay inside their mobile pillboxes and come out only when everything has been cleared by heavier guns. Gives me a vibe of colonial warfare, to be frank.

      1. NotTimothyGeithner

        The number of tanks in 67 and 73 was staggering.

        The Israelis receive military aid cooked up in (78?) as part of the Camp David Accords which likely favors tanks. Knowing politics, the tanks are simply delivered year in and year out without much thought especially with the fall of Hussein and the fantasy of USSR support. No neighbor was going to threaten Israel.

        There wasn’t a reason to do anything else. The US guarantees an inane Iran crossing iraq to fight scenario (im fairly bullish on commitments especially easy ones). Egypt has stayed out of the Levant since Ramses. Turkey is too concerned with the pissant Greeks. Ehud Barak was a dullard centrist, and Netanyahu is a conservative . Reinvention won’t happen as the powers that be are nothing and their isn’t a pressing reason to focus on defense.

  10. Alice X

    >Labor Unions Are Industrial Policy

    Just skimmed the piece but will go back in depth. The more I read and hear of Shawn Fain, the more I like him. Having the big three contracts all expire on May Day, and suggesting that other unions follow suit is forward thinking. General strike anyone? My 2¢.

    NYT today shows a poll with Trump leading Biden in five key states with significant margins.

  11. The Rev Kev

    Re the cat in today’s Antidote du jour. This is what happens when you leave your cat at home alone and forget to turn off the TV news channel.

  12. Kouros

    Re Russian nuclear sabre rattling:

    It looks even more ominous when you think at the failed Minutemen III launch some days ago, and Russia having the most modern and potent nuclear arsenal out there. A new Bulava type sub just hit the target thousands of kilometers away, from White Sea to Kamtchatka.

    1. tegnost

      US wunderwaffen have a spotty history in ukraine which I figure to be apparent to the ROW, and emboldens entities such as hamas as well as states such as iran. A poor showing in gaza will only make that worse. I don’t know how casualty averse or not the zionists are, but american teenagers are all in on electric bikes, video games,etc and are not army capable, and if they were, and started coming home in body bags, which is what happens in war, support for globalism would evaporate faster than a piss taken in death valley (pardon the pun) in the summertime.

        1. jsn

          Having systematically denuded public education and public health while substituting industrial product for food and providing no interesting or healthy ways to make ends meet, the US is about to discover it’s general population is no long empire capable.

          It’ll be outsource the empire or bust.

          I’m seeing bust.

  14. The Rev Kev

    “Gaza conflict ‘taking away focus’ from Ukraine, Zelensky says”

    Of course he is worried. That is why he will be going to Israel. Probably find that his handlers in DC told him to do it so it makes their job of tying in funds for Israel and the Ukraine together a lot easier. But there may already be a hiccup. Zelensky wanted to go there and have the full brass band and somebody leaked his going to Israel’s Channel 12 news so now that trip may or may not go ahead-

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ukraine-diplomat-says-zelensky-visit-now-up-in-the-air-after-leak-to-israeli-tv/

    I wonder what Zelenski and Netanyahu would say to each other if they met-

    Zelenski: ‘I have a confession. I think that I have destroyed my own country through my actions.’

    Netanyahu: ‘What a coincidence. So have I.’

    1. Benny Profane

      Yeah, considering how badly this is going for Netanyahu in the court of worldwide public opinion, doubtful he wants a loser like Zelensky anywhere near him. At least the latter had most of the western world solidly on his side for well over a year before it all went south.
      Maybe they can work out an asylum package for each other for the end time.

  15. Benny Profane

    As per “Israel posts fake video of dog chase in Gaza tunnel”, well, first, I think Biden’s lovely dog has a new purpose in life, but, second, I cant trust any video coming from any source these days, including those well edited Hamas videos, considering that urban war video games have been around for a long time, and now we have AI to enhance the production quickly. Doesn’t Israel have a presence in the video game industry?

    1. nippersdad

      LOL!

      Commander was apparently only the last one of several dogs that had to be sent off to a farm because they became too vicious. It would be funny to think of what his PR meisters could do with the idea that he has been training them for the IDF.

      See? He isn’t really a moron, he is just making the world safe for (his form of) democracy!

    1. tegnost

      Yes, indeed it was a great week in the “where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket”watch.

  17. Lex

    I don’t get why so many analysts are having a hard time understanding Nasrallah’s speech. There’s no reason for Hezbollah to enter the conflict with its full force because Israel is losing to Hamas already and Hezbollah can and is tying down a significant chunk of the IDF that might help in Gaza. Not entering the conflict more deeply denies the US a good excuse to use its power. Not entering the conflict more deeply maintains escalation dominance in terms presenting a suite of unknowns that DC and Tel Aviv must manage.

    Israel losing in Gaza is a bold statement but it’s true because Israel has a maximalist definition of victory and Hamas (et al) only need to deny that. Israel also needs a clean victory, fairly swift and relatively bloodless from its side. That’s not going well. Counter insurgency is the most difficult military doctrine, doing it in heavily bombed urban environment with many civilians is next to impossible. And the IDF isn’t built for it. This isn’t a raid into an unarmed refugee camp to bulldoze a building.

    The standard Israeli plan B is genocide by air force but that’s making everything worse this time. Rather than buying time, it’s putting more pressure on the IDF for immediate success. 100,000+ people gathering in front of the White House to protest against Israel and chanting about “genocide Joe” is a problem every bit as big as not being able to wipe out Hamas in <3 weeks.

    1. Louis Fyne

      only one nitpick…as Nasrsllah said .Hezbollah is already at war with the IDF—IDF = frog, Hezbollah is slowly turning up the heat.

      The skirmishes already destroyed many IDF radar, eavesdropping, and communications infrastructure.

      Replace those losses can’t be done via an express delivery from Amazon.

      Either IDF goes without, or the US replenishes from its limited inventory

      1. Polar Socialist

        It indeed seem to be on a slow escalation curve. At first both sides were hitting each other only within the 5 km border area. Then Israel hit some targets outside that, and Hezbollah retaliated.

        So far it has also been pretty much only military targets being hit (if one considers press as military), but today Israel killed three kids in Lebanon, and Hezbollah will very likely retaliate by hitting a civilian target, too.

        Then Bibi will scream bloody murder and Genocide Joe just has to “send a message” to Hezbollah and Iran that only the most moral army in the world has a right to self-defense – anywhere, anytime, against anybody.

        Them’s the rules.

        1. JBird4049

          All this fun is making the books The Guns of August and The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman along with others’ books and documentaries more… relatable, even understandable. Despite disasters or even the complete horrors described, the quality of politicians and bureaucrats of those times look to be much more capable and (gasp) responsible, even when they are being obvious fools, than today’s crowd. This fact just strengthens the feeling of dread, maybe despair, that seems to be in me. How wonderful.

    2. SG

      I’m confused. Is the IDF losing to Hamas or has the entire population of Gaza been subjected to a genocide, which would, presumably, include Hamas (but not its leadership, who are safe and sound in Qatar)? Is Oceania still at war with Eurasia? I need to keep the Party Line straight so I don’t commit badthink.

      According to Hamas’s charter, its objective is the elimination of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean – so it would seem that it is Hamas that has a “maximalist definition of victory” rather than the IDF.

      1. Daniil Adamov

        I think you partly answered your own question – Hamas’ leadership is doing fine. The rank and file can be replaced if it comes to it. Of course Hamas is nowhere near its stated goal, but it can take comfort in having humiliated Israel and drawn it into a costly political and military quagmire (which is, at any rate, a step towards reaching that goal in the future). Tactically, Israel is bound to win. Strategically, I think the case can be made that it already lost (it was put in a lose-lose scenario, made to look evil, and worse – made to look weak and inept). Palestinian civilians are also losing, but that’s a different question. I am almost certain that the goal of Hamas is not to save as many Palestinian lives as possible in the short term.

      2. Donald

        Incoherent sarcasm is not a good way to make a point. You should get your own side’s talking points straight, for one thing.

        Hamas is mostly in its tunnels, so they probably aren’t suffering as much as Gazan children unless they come out to fight. Isn’t that supposed to be your line? You should use it, except you should also blame Hamas for the children Israel kills. In reality, of course, both Hamas and the Israeli government are war criminals and both bear some blame fir all the deaths, but mainly for the people they kill themselves.

        And the Israeli right clearly wants to expel Gazans— even the NYT is reporting this. Both Hamas and the Israeli right are maximalists. The so- called Israeli liberals didn’t much care so long as no violence spilled over the borders but they were angry at threats to their own rights, until Hamas went on its murder spree.

  18. Maria Lusitane

    Second snow crab season canceled as researchers pinpoint cause

    “Of those three spikes, the 2018 and 2019 marine heat waves resulted in a mass die-off of snow crabs for a few reasons”

    Intersting how there are no temperatures given in the article. Clicking on the link, no temperatures in the abstract. No, I am not going to buy the research report, conducted with my already paid tax dollars.

    What happened in March, 2011 at Fukushima?
    What’s been dumped in the Pacific at Fukushima and drifted “downwind” or downcurrent of the Bering Sea?

    See for yourself on this map of ocean currents in the Pacific
    https://oceanblueproject.org/ocean-currents-map/

    Guess maps of ocean currents will soon be “disinformation” as they threaten the credibility of the nuclear power industry which is attached at the hip to the nuclear weapons industry.

    Research wouldn’t be controlled for someone’s financial gain would it?

    1. jefemt

      Fergoshsakes don’t leave out Bill Gates and his micro salt reactors… safest thing singe a bean bag chair!
      And don’t ever look into the Salt Reactor disaster in Simi Valley CA.
      Cancer/ schmancer. Let’s put in some ball fields and a mall.

  19. The Rev Kev

    ‘President @BarackObama on the violence in Gaza.

    Full interview out Tuesday.’

    Obama being Obama again and doing his Captain Obvious routine again. They said that he did this in his college days. Just restate the obvious stuff and try to make it sound brilliant. The guy had eight years in office – eight years – and things only got worse in the Palestinian territories. Does this sound like the actions of a guy that has scars to show of his efforts?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Barack_Obama#Israel

    Did notice one thing when he was talking and that was how he looked a bit twitchy. Will he, in old age, be one of those twitchy old men?

    1. Alice X

      >Did notice one thing when he was talking and that was how he looked a bit twitchy. Will he, in old age, be one of those twitchy old men?

      Generally in the past, one of his speaking trademarks, to me, was his focused gaze and use of hands. It tended to give a sheen of brilliance and sincerity. You know the old saying: if you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. Folks in droves fell for it hook line and sinker (but not me).

      Here, he has a spacey gaze, like he didn’t know where to focus.

      Some of these people are catching on that they are on the wrong side of history but are having difficulty triangulating.

      1. JBird4049

        >>>Some of these people are catching on that they are on the wrong side of history but are having difficulty triangulating

        Yeah, because they were too busy to see what their destination was going to be as they triangulated themselves into that tree or off the cliff.

    2. Screwball

      I found it interesting he felt the need to come out and opine on this. Like Hillary, he needs to just go away. He has done enough damage and his successor is still sowing chaos here and abroad. Thanks for giving us creepy Joe St. O. /s

      Given what I see on Twitter, an impressive number of people were in DC and NY yesterday protesting what is going on in Gaza, so maybe they don’t give a hoot what St. O has to say. Good, that’s progress.

      I’m hoping the vast number of protestors will get the attention of this administration and calls for peace find their way into the conversation. But then again it seems like the only thing Biden cares about is more war money and more war – so I won’t hold my breath.

      I did see a recent Tweet from none other than Bill Kristol that said;

      It’s time.
      President Biden has served our country well. I’m confident he’ll do so for the next year.
      But it’s time for an act of personal sacrifice and public spirit.
      It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation.
      It’s time for Biden to announce he won’t run in 2024.

      It’s Time

      When you lost the warmonger Kristol… Translated; he’s probably worried they might scale back a war or two.

      Of course in a previous tweet (Kristol again);

      One piece of good news from the NYT/Siena poll:

      So you support or oppose providing additional economic and military support to Ukraine?
      All voters: 57% support, 38% oppose.
      Democrats: 79%-18%.
      Republicans: 42%-54%.
      Independents: 55%-42%.

      Good News

      Grab a gun, a uniform, and a helmet. Head over to either Ukraine or Gaza and I’ll buy your ticket. Another slimeball who’s used up date is long past due.

      1. Feral Finster

        “Given what I see on Twitter, an impressive number of people were in DC and NY yesterday protesting what is going on in Gaza, so maybe they don’t give a hoot what St. O has to say. Good, that’s progress.”

        Once Obama became president, criticizing the wars became tantamount to criticizing St. Barack. In this, Obama did more to neuter the antiwar movement than anything Dick Cheney could ever have done, even if he were made Maximum Leader and President For Life.

        1. Screwball

          Agreed. I consider him as perhaps the biggest used car salesman to ever hold the office. And a perfect example of how propaganda can turn a complete fraud and slimeball into a worshiped god. I heard a guy a while back talk about his “awesomeness.” How people become this delusional is a question above my pay grade, but when so many think this very same way – how screwed are we?

          Screwed squared?

      2. undercurrent

        If Kristol is talking about passing torches to the next generation, then he only means that the next generation will continue the fires, The Great Conflagration. Those torches gotta be used to burn it all down, you know, to keep the world safe for democracy.

  20. The Rev Kev

    “MP who had sex with prostitute on a billiard table… while four Tory MPs cheered him on: At any one time there are about 30 MPs behaving in similarly shocking ways – and the shady figures who really control the party don’t hesitate to blackmail them”

    Anybody that has ever heard of Piggate would not be surprised in the least-

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

    1. Trees&Trunks

      The description of what is going on in the Tory seems to be applicable to the whole of EU.
      If only we had some journalists left, maybe we would have known more about it.
      In the article they write that they promote only the stupid. If you look at the eyes of the leaders in Europe you see only empty cow eyes.
      Baerbock, Scholz, Habeck, Lindner in Grrmany. Kristersson in Sweden etc.
      They all look like Peter Sellers’ Clouseau when you look at their eyes. Nobody’s home.

      1. JBird4049

        My apologies for the large quote. The article had several paragraphs other paragraphs that are directly connected to this as well. The bolded part is me as I want to emphasize a cause of the dull herd in charge of us all.

        There is a vacuum in No10 and in Government which these people created by a process of controlling candidates for Parliamentary seats. No candidate’s name is put forward without it first being scrutinised by Dougie Smith. High-quality candidates are pushed aside because they don’t want intelligent, knowledgeable, enquiring minds to be MPs. He also controls appointments of substance, the Spad [special advisers] network itself, from within the heart of government. They employ kids. Twenty-something-year-olds.’

        2. Revenant

          You have to take this with a pinch of salt. Nadine Dorries is writing this. A live yoghurt has an intelligent knowledgeable enquiring mind from her perspective.

          Something inteestimg though, that Daily Mail article’s headline is unexpurgated in the UK web edition and yet the link text is positively Victorian in its prudishness.

          Yves, you link to the DM a lot so would it be presumptuous to ask if NC might use the UK edition for links to avoid the Bowdlerisation? I think the commentariat can cope with sex and prostitutes!

          1. bertl

            Either way, it shows the the latent creative power of the Tory mind. A truly innovative extension of pocket billiards is not something to be sneezed at whether dreamed up by Nadine, a Tory MP deep in his cups and cheered on by his colleagues, or a market oriented prostitute at the cutting edge of her profession.

      2. digi_owl

        Those that are titled “journalist” these days are those that failed to get into showbiz or politics, but still feel some allegiance with said groups.

        They act as bulwarks and PR departments, not muckrakers.

        All thanks to journalism going from something you learn on the job to something you learn in airconditioned college classrooms.

        1. JBird4049

          >>>All thanks to journalism going from something you learn on the job to something you learn in airconditioned college classrooms.

          All the better to indoctrinate them into the Professional Managerial Class, isn’t?

        2. Anonymous 2

          That is not how it works in the UK. Here the journalism students are taught how to research and construct stories so as to try to get at the truth and report it to their readers. Then if they get a job at a ‘prestigious’ newspaper it is made painfully clear to them that supplying the readers with the truth is the very last thing they are expected to do. Feeding the readers propaganda is the order of the day.

          Does it make any difference how the journalists are trained? Nah. You do what the boss tells you or you get fired. Simple really.

      3. The Rev Kev

        Tucker Carlson was saying in an interview recently that he knew all the big people in Washington and chuckled that not one of them had a normal sex life.

  21. Jason Boxman

    I love it. At least in my browser (Chrome-based), I can’t access it. Intentional or incompetent? It does work in Firefox. How many people still use Firefox? Doesn’t work in Safari either.

    This site can’t provide a secure connectionwww.federalregister.gov uses an unsupported protocol.
    ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH

    This is like Internet 101 level stuff here, to not be able to get this right.

    1. Alice X

      I still use Firefox as it is still supported (sort of) in my Mac OS10.12.

      But what page are you not able to access?

      2. Mark Gisleson

        On Firefox and OS 10.11.6. Still agonizing over whether or not to upgrade to 10.12. Seems too soon, keep hoping they’ll fix the bugs in 10.11.6.

        1. Alice X

          Too soon? 10.12 is seven years old. They’re on OS 14.

          I always seemed to jump by threes, so 10.6 to 10.9 to 10.12 and that’s it.

          Most of my old software won’t run on 10.13 so I’m stuck.

      3. Not Qualified to Comment

        Works for me in Brave browser on Mint 20.3. I moved to Brave from Firefox as it seemed to be de rigueur in my circles. Can’t say I understand what goes on under the bonnet but it is fast and blocks a lot of rubbish – so it might be at least partially responsible in Firefox’s decline.

      1. ChrisPacific

        +1. I note market share is down to 3% or so. I’m not sure why everyone abandoned it. Chrome is no better than it ever was for privacy, and Google is as conflicted as ever.

    3. SG

      Hardly surprising. I can confirm from personal experience thatn one of the uniformed services used an expired certificate for well over a year on their public-facing websites.

  22. square coats

    I keep wondering, why doesn’t anyone near Palestine try sending in aid using unmanned aerial vehicles? I don’t know much about the technology but I think UAVs can get fairly large, and surely at the very least they could carry payloads of large quantities of water purification tablets and the like. I assume Israel might try to shoot them down or claim that it was aid for Hamas or whatever, but my thoughts are

    1. This would contribute to overall depleting their ammunition

    2. Contribute to international awareness/outrage/pressure on both Israel and US

    3. Could be done with video recordings showing exactly what was in the packages, or could be done with some kind of internationally accepted aid/humanitarian organization (Red Crescent, UNRWA, etc)

    4. Or could be done by regular folks, even crowd funded or whatever, like people were trying to crowd fund getting drones to the Ukrainian army at some point iirc

    Alternatively, Turkiye said way back in the beginning that they had tons of aid ready to send in by ship. Would Israel attack the ships if, say, they were accompanied by Chinese or Russian vessels? Like maybe explicitly non-military vessels, but with military vessels strategically located at a safe distance but able to provide defensive cover? Or would the US counter that somehow? This seems eminently less feasible than my UAV idea…

    Apologies if this has been discussed here already. If so, could someone perhaps point me in the direction of the discussion?

    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      Biden dispatched a flotilla to send a message because the Israelis will shoot. They’ve been bombing the airport in Damascus. Biden sent a huge flotilla to discourage retaliation against Israel.

      Like the US in Ukraine, Russia and China can’t support the operation they would need to guarantee operational security. Countries like Iran, Turkey, and Egypt see a White House run by Joe Biden with a chief diplomat who has taken himself out of any possibility as a honest broker and completely content to oversee genocide, a third genocide if you count ending mitigation efforts and Ukrainian men.

  23. Jason Boxman

    I different kind of “SARs”:

    By law, banks must file a “suspicious activity report” when they see transactions or behavior that might violate the law, like unexpectedly large cash transactions or wire transfers with banks in high-risk countries. According to Thomson Reuters, banks filed over 1.8 million SARs in 2022, a 50 percent increase in just two years. This year, the figure is on track to hit nearly two million.

    …

    But a New York Times examination of over 500 cases of this dropping of customers by their banks — and interviews with more than a dozen current and former bank industry insiders — illustrates the chaos and confusion that ensue when banks decide on their own to cut people off.

    Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts (NY Times via archive.ph)

    1. Daryl

      I’m unable to read the article due to payalls and archive.ph not working for me.

      But worth noting that the current law prevents financial institutions from giving people any insight into this process, as this is considered “tipping.” And this approach generally bleeds over into any kind of account suspension, even if not done for reasons relating to financial crime.

  24. Jason Boxman

    So the US military destroyed more soldiers during an illegal deployment in Syria under Obama: A Secret War, Strange New Wounds, and Silence From the Pentagon (NY Times via archive.ph)

    The cannon blasts were strong enough to hurl a 100-pound round 15 miles, and each unleashed a shock wave that shot through the crew members’ bodies, vibrating bone, punching lungs and hearts, and whipping at cruise-missile speeds through the most delicate organ of all, the brain.

    Whatever else might be true, if you’re in the American armed services, you can bet you’re at risk of having your health destroyed and no one knowing how or why, whether it’s Gulf War Syndrome, Agent Orange, burn pits, firefighting foam, broken arrows, this, or something else. And you can always expect the Pentagon and Washington to look the other way. Nothing to see here.

  25. Lex

    Reading the Hahn and MoA pieces as complimentary will give a solid understanding of the current political situation in Ukraine. I think Hahn overstates the potential for insurgency against Russia. Russia mitigated most of that potential by not rushing into Kiev to depose Zelensky and is mitigating the wider potential in liberated territories by doing what the US never does: actually rebuild and develop.

    That’s not to say that Ukrainian nationalists won’t commit acts of terrorism for years to come. They will. Rather that those acts probably won’t be similar to the insurgencies of Iraq or Afghanistan. Those require broad popular support.

    What happens inside whatever is left of Ukraine, however, will almost certainly be a form of ugly the west is not prepared for. A bloody civil war is a real possibility, a completely failed state is almost a certainty. The US and EU won’t actually do what’s necessary to stabilize and develop it. I think the greater potential for terrorism and semi-insurgency behavior may be directed to the west. The “stab in the back” narrative will be obvious and Europe will be a far, far softer target than Russia or the Russian regions that used to be Ukraine.

    1. Altandmain

      Yep. Keep in mind that the West engineered the Maidan coup, helped fund the far right in Ukraine, and convinced the Ukrainians to walk away from the peace deal that was being negotiated around March to April of 2022.

      The Ukrainians also seem to see Europe in rose tinted glasses as a set of nations where institutions work. That isn’t the case of course, and the European countries will see a major fall in their living standards due to their subservience to the US, but it matters most from an insurgency point of view how Ukrainians see this.

      1. Reply

        Thanks, Obominable, Killery, Kerry, Nuland et al.
        Their little stunt ruined a nation and caused enormous casualties.
        When children abuse their toys, adults take those away. Too bad the adults were nowhere to be found.

        Seriously, folks. How did those idiots think that their idiotic idiocy would not end up in disasters? There are still more shoes to drop, and coffins. :/

    2. Feral Finster

      Looking at successful insurgencies in recent decades (Zimbabwe, Yemen, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua) one thing that they all feature is a young population.

      The median age in Yemen is something like 19 years of age. The median age in Ukraine is over 40, and that before the war. (The median age of Ukrainian soldiers is now 43….)

    3. Skip Intro

      It is pretty far-fetched to imagine that arming, training, and directing a violent extremist group would somehow ‘blow back’ on the US/NATO. That would be unheard of…

      /snark

  26. enoughisenough

    Absolutely cannot stand any more of Obama’s waffling, stilted, prevarications. I lasted 30 seconds, about to when he tried to say that the problem is that we need to make things more complicated. His moral equivocations have done SO MUCH HARM to this country.

    Why can’t he ever take a stand: no more arms or money to Israel while they prosecute a genocide.

    It’s not that hard.

    1. Katniss Everdeen

      Add me to the absolutely-cannot-stand-any-more-of-Obama’s-waffling-stilted-prevarications list.

      I never thought that any politician’s voice would ever again cause me an instant, explosive, debilitating migraine the way hillary’s did, but one should never say never.

      1. Megan

        Saul Alinsky, the activist who created Obama is dead.

        His disciples live on in the Industrial Areas Foundation which has spread all over and helped elect local politicians who are helping destroy the country.

        They trick parishioners into donating to them to help fund various social programs disguised as charity.

        https://www.industrialareasfoundation.org/affiliates

        1. steppenwolf fetchit

          I wonder what Adolph Reed thinks about the theory that ” Saul Alinsky created Obama.” I hope someone asks him.

          I wonder what Adolph Reed thinks Saul Alinsky might have thought and felt about Obama. I hope someone asks him that, too.

    3. Glen

      Reagan, love him or hate him, made one phone call to the Israeli PM and stopped the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Obama could have acted, but he did not. Biden can act, but he has not.

      Obama has a lot of blood on his hands, and no American civilian should feel like they have any on theirs. They cannot act like the President can act.

      Obama just needs to nut up and shut up.

  27. Katniss Everdeen

    So, in a piece of “news” that does not involve the names zelensky, netanyahu or biden, one of our most esteemed oligarchs has announced that he intends to “fund” a “scientific investigation” into childhood vaccines.

    https://twitter.com/Inversionism/status/1720926604644254101

    Bill Ackman just said he’s funding a scientific investigation into vaccinations and the accumulative effect of the full schedule on children because of what he’s heard from RFK on vaccines.

    @BillAckman
    wants more research on the toxicity of adjuvants like aluminum as well, which is the massive elephant in the room that pharma and all the corrupt regulators have systematically ignored and covered up for decades….

    mr. ackman apparently has small children, and found the fact that he “got three shots as a kid,” and now his own kids are supposed to get 73, somewhat disconcerting.

    Setting aside the possibility that this is just another of those brilliant plays financial geniuses make in order to execute a “hostile takeover” of one business or another, this could be one of those “Big, if true” items.

    1. Phenix

      That is huge. RFK Jr is great on so many things….Israel is not one of them.

      Mishandling Covid has opened the doors to question vaccine safety in general….they are not safe and some are no longer effective due to natural selection… evolution of the target.

      1. jrkrideau

        There have always been people willing to question vaccine safety since Jennings. Cowpox

        The Covid fisco has just been a magnification of the vaccine panic caused by ex-Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s lies. In fact most of the Covid vaccine arguments seem to be the same arguments (and grift) we saw after Wakefield.

  28. Vodkatom

    Regarding piggate: I can’t wait for the older generation of leaders to leave the stage. Usually I think of the Biden/Trump/Clinton generation. Cameron is quite young by those standards. But he’s ancient in the internet age.

    My point is children of the internet age know everything is recorded. My naive hope is politician of the future will be less likely to get involved with the Epstein’s, Clubs with bizarre hazing rituals, and assorted unsavory characters who in the popular imagination have “dirt” on the politicians to keep them in line

    I said naive. I know it’s probably simpler than that. You just buy them with money.

    2. Joe Well

      Pessimistic counterpoint (and sorry to be Captain Obvious): young people don’t engage in hazing rituals, even (or especially) the lurid ones involving alcohol, drugs and/or sex because they want to or because of simple peer pressure.

      It’s because they believe (usually correctly) those are gatekeeping exercises. You do the horrible thing to get into the fraternity or “secret society” and then get some kind of valuable social network which is more valuable now than at any time in a century, because inequality is higher than it has been since the Depression, if not long before.

      In other words, whereas a postwar generation could buy its own home and support an entire family on a single income as by right, in the 21st century, if you don’t f*** the pig, literally or figuratively, you are never owning your own house, much less standing for national office.

      1. Feral Finster

        Exactly. That’s why the MPs had sex with the prostitute. You can’t join the club if the club cannot blackmail you.

        1. Reply

          Time for some citizen initiative requiring all current and prospective politicians to swear under penalty of, well, death or something that they are not subject to any blackmail, extortion, duress or other bad things. :)

          Of course, then very few would run. And it wouldn’t work in Hollywood, either. ROFL

          Some say that a variation of that process was tried at a three-letter agency or two. The downside was that people who weren’t corruptible were not likely to interact productively with those who were, say, in the field under NOC.

          1. Feral Finster

            “Time for some citizen initiative requiring all current and prospective politicians to swear under penalty of, well, death or something that they are not subject to any blackmail, extortion, duress or other bad things.”

            Politicians lie.

        2. digi_owl

          For a time the Russian term kompromat was very popular on social media.

          It seems to have gone out of fashion after Biden got elected, and the SMO kicked off in Ukraine…

      2. NotTimothyGeithner

        I’m not a pessimist, and the primary reason Joe Biden is president is that no club member can get through without nostalgia. As Rev Kev brought up David Cameron, would Cameron’s porcine affections remain hidden in a US system?

      3. digi_owl

        This comes back to that concept of freedom that the enlightenment sprouted, the freedom from coercion.

        Ultimately that means the state, as the underwriter of said freedom, will have to create and maintain a welfare system that gives any worker the ability to tell their employer to pound sand.

        But instead the idea of freedom has been corrupted into corporations being the modern equivalent of feudal fiefs. And thus workers are once more serfs subject to managerial whims.

    3. steppenwolf fetchit

      Maybe ordinary young citizens should immunize themselves against caring about the webcast recordings of young leaders having their private pecaddilloes. If young people see an agenda-politician whose agenda they support, and they are willing to tolerate that politician getting it on in a Las Vegas hotel room with a Fifth of Vodka, an electric cattle prod and three female iguanas; then that politician can’t be blackmailed with threats to “play the tape on You Tube” because the young electorate is already prepared to accept such things.

      That’s how the “everything is recorded” threat will be neutralized.

  29. Jason Boxman

    Enshitification watch. Amazon finally deleted date added from your wishlist. I’ve used it for decades to add books that mostly come up in the NC comments. There’s no practical reason to stop displaying this information, other than to perhaps increase immediacy; books I haven’t bought after 10 years I’m probably still not going to have time to buy and read today. Now it’s just a big list, by age, without any dates! Instead you can add “priorities” to items, and sort by that. Of course.

  30. Ignacio

    Not trying to emulate Sar, Wuk and others but giving it a try:

    I´ve got many rivers to cross
    But I can’t seem to find my way over
    Wandering, I am lost
    As I travel to Middle East feeling sombre

    Many rivers to cross
    And it’s only my will that keeps me angry
    I’ve licked, spoiled up for years
    I thoroughly thrive because I’m greedy

    Oh, that fuzziness won’t leave me alone
    It’s such a drag to be on your own
    Netanyahu left and he didn’t say why
    Well I guess I’ll have to try

    Many rivers to cross
    But just where to begin? After Russia I mean,
    There’ll be times I find myself
    Thinking of committing some dreadful crime

    Yes, I’ve got many rivers to cross
    But I can’t seem to find my way over
    Wandering, I am lost
    As I travel to Middle East feeling sombre…

    Many rivers to cross-Jimmy Cliff (I beg your pardon Jimmy!)

  31. Kouros

    One silver lining today in the ‘point of inflection’:

    “Neither today’s force nor forces currently programmed by the U.S. Department of Defense appear to have the capabilities needed to execute this new approach.”

    Of course, the US doesn’t do diplomacy, and with “lie, cheat, steal” not being an option anylonger, one must do gunboat diplomacy…

    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      The youth numbers should be terrifying to the propagandists. Thanksgiving is coming. The young person views are largely shaped by knowledge of right and wrong or knowledge of the situation. Those kids aren’t going to go “the holocaust? What’s that? Boy I was wrong.”

      Like the soon to be former Sanders supporters yelling, they need to discredit them before msm drones learn what Biden knows or his handlers.

      If all the grand kids say eff Netanyahu, that will cause problems. The Imperialists have threatened jobs already.

      Biden is done. He will not be reelected in 2024. The only issue is he figures it out. Sanders is done as a sheepdog after today.

      1. SG

        Netanyahu’s cooked. He’s gone as soon as this war is over (one way or another), which goves him incentive to prolong it as much as possible.

        As for Biden, whether he stays in office seems to depend on whether RFK, Jr. stays in the race, since he seems to be pulling more support from Trump than from Biden, at least if Quinnipiac is to be believed:

        https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/01/spoiler-alert-rfk-jr-takes-eye-popping-22-in-poll-against-biden-trump-00124855

  34. Tom Stone

    I think Palestinian spokespersons should start wearing a prominent yellow star out of solidarity with the victims of the last overt Genocide.
    There’s no ambiguity about the current slaughter in Gaza, just like the Third Reich, it’s “God’s Chosen People” killing “Two Legged Animals”.
    And taking their stuff…
    Because Civilization requires it.

    1. Verifyfirst

      I had been thinking everyone in Gaza should start wearing yellow stars. I don’t know anything about Hamas, but if their goal was to expose the naked face of Zionism, they have done that extremely well.

  35. antidlc

    https://www.cnn.com/videos/opinions/2023/10/24/tiktok-teachers-pandeic-learning-gaps-contd-orig-dp.cnn

    ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: Teachers are struggling with pandemic learning loss

    According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, average test scores for 13-year-olds plummeted during the 2022-2023 school year when compared to pre-pandemic levels. These teachers took to TikTok to give a first-hand account of the scale of the learning loss they are seeing in classrooms.

    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      This is with teaching to the test. The lack of a centralized education system left everyone to their own devices. The current college freshman were 9th graders when schools closed. Chatgpt and such and excuses about kids not testing well have kept plates spinning, but as a society, we are failing kids.

    2. Jason Boxman

      Because of no child left alive under W Bush, we’re going to have a treasure trove of evidence that Sars2 damages kids. Not the intent of this and neoliberal race to the top under Obama, but here we are. I imagine these numbers will only get worse. If only attendance numbers were tracked in a standardized way as well.

    3. steppenwolf fetchit

      There have been genocides more recent than the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews.

      For example, the Interahamwe Holocaust of the Tutsis. Now THAT was a GENOCIDE . . . done up close and personal with machetes and axes and hatchets. ” The Interahamwe, led by Robert Kajuga, were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994, and the term “Interahamwe” was widened to mean any civilian militias or bands killing Tutsi.[1][2]”

      April-May-June-July. From a half to a whole million. I haven’t done the arithmetic but that would be tens of thousands each day . . . . up close and personal with knives, hatchets, axes, machetes, etc.

      As they say . . . now THAT was a GENOCIDE.

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

          1. Daniil Adamov

            My favourite part was how the Americans ended up diplomatically supporting the Khmer Rouge at one point, basically just to spite Vietnam. Already after the event in question had started.

  36. steppenwolf fetchit

    About Myanmar, Russia and China . . . the ChinaGov wants the kind of stability needed to do business and keep doing business. The ChinaGov will keep watching the situation and if the relevant ChinaGov analysts feel that one horse is winning and the other horse is losing, the ChinaGov will undermine the losing horse and back the winning horse to restore the state of order which is good for business. The ChinaGov doesn’t really care which horse wins, just so long as one horse wins by making the other horse lose . . . and the winning horse imposes the kind of order which is good for business.

    ( Just as . . . in Afghanistan, China will do whatever it can to keep enough order in the mineral belts to keep Chinese mining investment lucrative and keep the minerals moving to China. ” The spice must flow”.
    China won’t hurt a fly in Afghanistan as long as it doesn’t get in the way of Chinese mining investments and other business in Afghanistan).

    The RussiaGov has decided that the Myanmar uprising(s) is(are) a Western Color Revolution. They will support the coup regime and its TonTatmadaw Macoutes as hard as they can right up to the bitter end. If their support makes the coup regime into the winning horse, then the RussiaGov will consider it a loss for Western Color Revolutionism and therefor a win for Russia. If the various Myanmar Insurgencies win despite Russia’s best efforts to make them lose, then Russia won’t be doing any business in Myanmar for a long time to come.

    In my purely amateur intuition-based opinion.

    1. Kouros

      Are you saying that China would accept any winner, even one that would absolutely undermine the security of China? For the sake of some business? What, do you think they are Americans?

      1. steppenwolf fetchit

        They would advise the winner not to dare undermining the security of China. They would work closely with the winner to see that it doesn’t. They are, after all, right there. They are not half a planet away.

        Anyway, that’s just my feeling as to what ” will” happen. That “whichever” side seems to be winning . . . if it seems to be irreversibly winning, China would try and help it win faster harder to get the warfighting stage overwith and get back to business.

        Unless Russia bitterly objects to that. If China-Russia start to have opposing views on what to support, then my intuition runs into a black hole.

      2. Daniil Adamov

        How would any winner in Myanmar be in position to seriously undermine the security of China?

        1. Kouros

          Allowing US military bases, entering in alliances with US, curtailing the land route of comerce through Myanmar to Indian Ocean and bypassing the chockepoints in SCS.

  37. willow

    > Nasrallah

    Türkiye moves first, Hezbollah has to wait. Hence ambiguity. Goose should be cooked (popular fervor) by mid-December. Israel doesn’t seem to be doing too well in Gaza, so things will drag on & building anger in Islamic world (& Global South).

    Why Global South smarter & more strategic than West? West’s decision makers snorting too much blow, comparably shorter term decision making and hubris.

    1. Daniil Adamov

      Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. I’m not convinced there is some sort of coordinated master plan to get Israel here – it could also just be local actors pursuing their individual self-interest and reacting to events. Though maybe that’s not what you’re implying.

      What do you think the strategy is?

    2. steppenwolf fetchit

      Drop out in favor of what . . . Kamalabama Harris? McKinsey Bootagoog? Or what?

      Or have real primaries with all the unpredictability that leads to?

  39. Victor Sciamarelli

    Regards Obama and the “Whole truth” it seems to me that he, and most our current political elites, are like wild animals who were born and raised in captivity, and when released never can quite understand or fully adjust to the natural world around them.

    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      Obama was always dull. It’s just more obvious with time, but even in the face of genocide, he’s going to offer up banalities. This is his Selena Gomez moment. The pr people are screaming that he needs to say something. Unlike Selena Gomez, his brand is built on perception he cares, but at the end of the day, he’s the guy who repeats what the professor said in question form.

  40. Joe Well

    I just visited some Twitter profiles on a browser on PC without being logged in, and it showed a jumble of tweets from 2020 and 2021.

    Just curious whether anyone else has noticed any recent Twitter weirdness. On the watch for the platform’s technical death.

    3. Joe Well

      Also, the much-hyped feature to show the reach stats for each tweet is only working for a few of the tweets.

  41. Revenant

    I thought that JSTOR article on fiduciary duty and ESG was another trumpet of Revelations. Yes, of course we must align investors’ interests with asset managers’ and with the ESG complex. And we should tie our feet together with an onion up our bums so it is easier to cook our goose, too! Investors’ interests are *not* asset managers’ interests and that is why we have fiduciary duty. Pointing at the squirrel of ESG to distract or exculpate from this is a new low….

  42. The Rev Kev

    Saw this headline and sub-headline a little while ago-

    “Scott Morrison lands in Israel on solidarity visit”

    ‘Former prime minister Scott Morrison, accompanied by Boris Johnson, is the first Australian politician to visit the country since the October 7 massacres committed by Hamas terrorists’

    Scotty and Boris together? Not so much dumb and dumber but vile and viler.

    1. ambrit

      Now if only someone would smear some vegichok on the door handles to their hotel room bathrooms.
      “Gad Carruthers! That’s a plan fiendish enough for Dr. Fu Manchu!”

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