Links 12/16/2023

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1. Tress&Trunks December 16, 2023 at 7:17 am

   AI & democracy. I am just waiting for the headline “AI can help our children”. All you need are the words democracy and children to know it is either a scam or something evil inflicted upon us
   1. Chris Smith December 16, 2023 at 9:46 am

      LOL, it’s up there with having ‘people’, ‘democratic’, and ‘republic’ in the name of your country.
      1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:51 am

         Good point. The old East Germany was also called the Deutsche Demokratische Republik which translated as the German Democratic Republic. So right there it has the words ‘democratic’ and ‘republic’ in it’s title.
         1. Oh December 16, 2023 at 7:48 pm

            The Dems think that we have a Democracy; the Repubs think we have a Republic. All we have is a Oligarchy.
            1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 7:57 pm

               That is what the Princeton University study would say-

               https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
         2. Steven A December 16, 2023 at 9:03 pm

            And of course we still have the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
   2. Lefty Godot December 16, 2023 at 6:12 pm

      Yep. It’s like knowing that any email with the words “this” or “you” in the subject line is a scam/spam email. Unless your regular correspondents are way over on the left tail of the bell curve for intelligence. Some things should just be self-evident when it comes to the marvelous intertubes.
2. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 7:22 am

   ‘Disclose.tv
   @disclosetv
   Dec 15
   JUST IN – Many injured after lawmaker detonates multiple grenades during a council meeting in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine.’

   Should it be mentioned that the lawmaker – Sergey Batryn – is an MP representing the Servant of the People party – which is the same one that Zelensky belongs to? News reports say that 26 people were injured, 6 of them seriously-

   https://www.rt.com/russia/589133-blasts-ukraine-grenades-deputy/
   1. Polar Socialist December 16, 2023 at 7:56 am

      As commented somewhere in TG: Ukraine is so ready for the EU membership!
3. c_j_b December 16, 2023 at 7:34 am

   Working link for Pfizer Has a Criminal Record. Did the Media or Your Government Inform You?https://michelchossudovsky.substack.com/p/pfizer-criminal-record-covid-mrna-vaccine
   1. Jabura Basaidai December 16, 2023 at 6:14 pm

      or there is this one too
      https://www.kanekoa.news/p/pfizers-history-of-fraud-corruption
4. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 8:06 am

   “How Yemen is inflating Israel’s war cost”

   Good over view of the situation in this article. This is Yemen doing asymmetric warfare. The US has already talked about putting together a squadron of Navy ships from a coalition of the willing to patrol the Red Sea. So Yemen has launched missiles and drones which probably cost them at most a few million. But the west will respond with a naval solution that will before too long add up to a few billion as those ships will have to be sustained in this part of the world. The Israeli economy is taking a hit as the Houthies are targeting ships headed for Israel and this article goes into this. Would you believe that one of the ships that the Houthies captured is now a tourist attraction in Yemen right now with lots of visitors? Nobody is saying what the effect on insurance ship is in this part of the world but it is bad enough that shipping giants MSC, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk have all announced that they are suspending any ships traversing the Red Sea which means that they will also not be going through the Suez Canal. Yemen is a bit like The Mouse That Roared but they too stand a chance of winning. Yemen is not backing down and considering that they were attacked by a coalition of dozens of countries for the better part of a decade, Navy ships will not scare them-

   https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/15/shipping-giants-hapag-lloyd-and-maersk-pause-red-sea-travel.html

   I wonder if the Houthis also have sea-mines available to them?
   1. Polar Socialist December 16, 2023 at 8:24 am

      Some commentators seem to think it’s significant that the Houthi managed to hit a ship with a ballistic missile apparently using it’s own seeker independent of any ground guidance.

      This would mean that a) Iran really knows how to build missiles that work in real world, b) they can be launched anywhere from Houthi controlled area, not just from the coast and c) the final approach is at angles very difficult for the current shipboard air-defenses to deal with – even the Russian über-systems can’t “see” directly above.
      1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:10 am

         The Russians owed the Iranians big time for the use of those Shahed drones at just the right time. I understand that they have been working together to improve those drones with better materials, quieter engines, etc. but I would also expect that the Russians are helping the Iranians with their missile program to help safe-proof them against any western attacks. A sort of missile hedgehog strategy. It would not surprise me then to see some ‘leakage’ of technology to the Houthis with their missiles.
         1. flora December 16, 2023 at 1:35 pm

            Remember when that giant container ship got stuck sideways in the Suez Canal a couple years ago and put a serious crimp in supply line delivery times?

            This is going to do the same for a number of countries.
            https://splash247.com/maersk-joins-red-sea-exodus/
            and
            https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-16/red-sea-shipping-chaos-as-us-military-defends-threat-to-commercial-vessels

            If ships headed to Europe don’t use the Canal they’ll go south in the Indian Ocean, around the Cape, and back north through the Atlantic, which adds several days travel and increased costs.
            1. digi_owl December 16, 2023 at 5:02 pm

               Glorious timing given that the Panama route it also clogged thanks to drought. As if the COVID shutdown was not enough of a reminder of how sensitive the supply routes have become. And all this just as the last of the WW2 generation is exiting the stage. The very same that after the war pushed for national supply resilience. groan.
            2. vao December 16, 2023 at 5:06 pm

               This makes me think: not only does this increase costs to the shipping lines (and Israel), it also decreases income for Egypt (no more transit fees through the Suez canal) — which so far has not mounted a particularly vigorous defense of the Palestinians trapped in Gaza.

               So the actions of the Ansarallah result in a double pressure point to resolve the Gaza crisis — on Israel and on Egypt.
               1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 5:43 pm

                  That’s not a bad observation that. The pressure is not only on Israel but also Egypt through the total loss of those transit fees. And neither country can do a damn thing about it. And it puts world sea travel under the gun as well.
               2. Roland December 17, 2023 at 5:12 am

                  What can Egypt do to solve the Gaza problem? How is Egypt responsible for what is happening in Gaza?

                  Did Hamas seek Egyptian approval before they provoked the Israelis? Does Israel pay any heed to Egypt’s daily pleas for a cease-fire? Are the Egyptians supplying billions of dollars’ worth of bombs on behalf of massacre? The answer to each of these questions is, “No.”

                  This is not Egypt’s war. The Egyptians are stuck living next to door to a nuclear-armed state run by religious fanatics bent on genocide, which also happens to be allied to the world’s would-be hegemon.

                  And for failing to solve a world-scale problem, Egypt deserves to be punished?

                  Nowadays, it seems that whenever the developed countries screw up, it’s Egypt that gets hit. Global Whipping Boy: Egypt!

                  Except for Ukraine and Russia, nobody has been hurt more than Egypt by the latest of Europe’s stupid wars. The soaring cost of food imports has put Egypt in a serious balance-of-payments crisis.

                  And now people have the nerve to cheer when Egypt loses Canal revenue?

                  Do you think that a starving Egypt is somehow a remedy for a starving Gaza?

                  And let’s get something else straight here, too: Sinai is not Palestine. Egypt does not have the infrastructure to take two million migrants, least of all in Sinai. Egypt cannot police or protect Palestinians in Sinai, because the peace treaty with Israel forbids Egypt from keeping more than a token armed force in Sinai.

                  There is an nomadic ethnic Bedouin minority in Sinai, whose rights Egypt has taken significant steps to protect. Are the Bedouin of Sinai to suffer a ” Nakba,” just because the Israelis have gone on a rampage of murder in Gaza?

                  The Egyptians have been the “responsible adults” in this Gaza War. They’ve called for cease-fire, and they’ve tried to supply humanitarian aid. And yet the world expects Egypt to solve the world’s Israel Problem?
                  1. Arkady Bogdanov December 17, 2023 at 6:08 pm

                     The Egyptians could be dumping relief supplies into Gaza, or allow others to do so- they are not. The Israelis might threaten them militarily, but the Egyptians have a much larger military than the Israelis, so if the Israelis threatened the border crossing, Egypt could easily retaliate. Egypt could be playing a huge role in alleviating the suffering of the people of Gaza.
                     I do not think the Egyptians are afraid of the Israelis, so much as they do not want the money spigot from the US turned off-They get a lot of money from the US too, right along with Israel. The US basically bribes Egypt to keep the Palestinians as helpless as possible- Egypt is just as complicit in the blockade of Gaza as the Israelis (responsible adults, my ass), so as far as I am concerned, if the Houthis hurt the Egyptians (government, that is)- good.
5. notabanker December 16, 2023 at 8:07 am

   Tucker’s streaming service may not be the answer, but his overall mantra is spot on. Corporate media has committed suicide. As the boomers die, so does it.
   1. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 11:29 am

      “Corporate media has committed suicide…”

      Or is it just rebranding? Is it coming back disguised as thousands of different influencers? The digital world is filled with many more corporate media tentacles.

      Has it been killed with fire?
      1. Objective Ace December 16, 2023 at 5:32 pm

         These influencers — while certainly able to push the same narrative — do not have the reputation of media outlets with decades worth of relatively objective news reporting. Given that, I dont see those tentacles being nearly as influential
   2. Geo December 16, 2023 at 6:13 pm

      There’s no shortage of opinion shows online of every possible ideological category. One more “anti-establishment” blowhard ranting about the evils of the MSM is about as useful to society as another dollar store or fast food drive thru.

      One thing I rarely hear (outside of Naked Capitalism) from any of these often highly paid opinion celebrities is how all that news they opine on is collected and reported. Is Tucker gonna use his lavish wealth to fund journalists braving war to get us the truth in the ground, getting involved with Wikileaks to carry on Assange’s mantle, or is he just going to sell us more outrage to fund another vacation home?

      The closest most of these polarizing grifters get is sending out some doofus to harass other doofuses of opposing ideologies to edit together some “gotchya” video about how crazy the other side is.

      So, unless Tucker is going to take on the MSM by investing his wealth and stature into improving the state of journalism I personally have no interest in what he has to say about the establishment. Maybe his years on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox give him some special insight, maybe his youth spent in opulent wealth gives him insight into how power is wielded by elites, or maybe he’s just following the money and sees how much can be made by peddling outrage online?

      We can despise corporate media all day but CNN got cameras into Gaza. The NY Times, Wash Post, and others have real reporters. They may have lots of problems but still provide a valuable service that another talking head like Tucker doesn’t.

      Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll do something beneficial but he’s always been a clout chaser so I don’t have high hopes. Either way, cheering on the end of establishment media (by someone who was enriched through that media) without building up a replacement is worthless in my opinion.
6. KD December 16, 2023 at 8:13 am

   The mystery of the missing binder: How a collection of raw Russian intelligence disappeared under Trump

   Biden took office Jan. 20, 2021, almost three years ago. Its interesting that the spooks just realized this binder was missing and went public with it just as Biden was collapsing in the polls and funding for the Ukraine boondoggle is on the ropes. I wonder if we can find 51 intelligence officials who are willing to sign off that this story bears all the hallmarks of a classic “Russiagate” disinformation campaign?
   1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:57 am

      My understanding is that with that binder, the covers were ripped off and the papers were then rolled up tight, put inside a heat-proof bag, and it was then backed inside a statue in the shape of a small, black Maltese Falcon.
   2. Screwball December 16, 2023 at 11:01 am

      It also keeps the Hunter stuff out of the news, or at least the conversation among the PMC crowd. They are having quite the time. Trump is guilty of everything (by default) yet they can’t understand why they are picking on Joe for what Hunter has done. Joe is innocent as fresh snow.
      1. Pat December 16, 2023 at 11:15 am

         Hey why wouldn’t they think that Joe was being picked on when the story that comes up in the Google and Apple newsfeeds is from Reuters’ and titled

         Biden impeachment inquiry authorized by House Republicans, despite lack of evidence

         Mind you I never read the rest of it so I don’t know that it got worse or better, but I would bet that more than 50% also didn’t bother be cause of course it is all about political revenge.
         1. Screwball December 16, 2023 at 12:13 pm

            LOL! I know, and only one of many.

            That kind of story, and whatever MSM story exonerates Joe is all they will read and believe. The ones I know live in the safest most guarded echo chamber possible. They just laugh off anything not fitting the narrative. Nothing outside of their “chosen” chamber is allowed. They tell me the repubs have admitted they have nothing on Joe, including Peter Doocy.

            But Max Boot, Aaron Ruper, Bellingcat, David Ignatius, Jen Rubin, anything NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, CNN, and of course the great journalist Rachel Maddow are the gold standard for hard hitting news. You cannot present enough facts, pictures, or evidence to prove otherwise, because you are stupid and they are not. You are so stupid and out of touch you aren’t even worth talking to. And probably a Trumper as well. Because at the end of the day it’s all about Trump. Stage 5 TDS, if not worse.

            If Trump were to die tomorrow, these people would have a meltdown not knowing who to hate next, but would find someone. They love to hate because it makes them feel sooooo good.
         2. GF December 16, 2023 at 1:04 pm

            To be clear, I am no fan of President Biden. The way I understand the constitution (please correct me if I am wrong) is that impeachments occur AFTER high crimes or misdemeanors have occurred in order to oust the perp from office. With NO evidence of any crime the republicans in the House are impeaching Biden in order to investigate if a crime was committed – totally against the constitution. All those voting for the impeachment need to resign now or be removed from congress – by any means necessary.
            1. Big River Bandido December 16, 2023 at 1:51 pm

               This is incorrect.

               Impeachment is strictly a political proceeding, not a criminal trial.
            2. Pat December 16, 2023 at 2:15 pm

               This is a formal impeachment inquiry, as in a formal investigation. And the Bidens’ responses to committee investigations got Republicans who had not wanted to formalize it to change their minds. As per CNN:

               “Part of the reason for Wednesday’s vote came from the White House telling the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry. That prompted some reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts. “

               This could be a political calculation on the part of Biden and his team, but if it is, it is a mistake. It was probably meant to help protect Hunter since he just gave a committee subpoena the finger. But this does guarantee that it will all be public, he will have to testify or go to jail, and I am betting they will be bringing back the IRS whistleblowers.
            3. John Beech December 16, 2023 at 2:51 pm

               GF, yes, you do fundamentally misunderstand. This was not a vote to impeach. Instead, this was a vote to formalize the investigation. E.g. to *officially* see if there’s any there, there.

               What was going on previously was largely unofficial but now, with this vote, the House committees have the official authority to root around and investigate. Until this point in time, they were sniffing around the edges without much power but now they can compel evidence, things like banks being forced to disclose records, and witnesses to testify, and generally examine the Biden clan’s lives like never before. Will it withstand scrutiny? Unknown. So far, a lot of smoke. But is there any fire? That’s is the purpose of the formal investigation, to figure it out.

               Me? I buy the argument all the money sloshing around amongst them with notes like ‘loan repayment’ but without documentation of any loans is something that I suspect will bite them in the hind end. Had President Biden been anything more than a petty crook, he’d have set up a foundation along the line of what the Clintons had.

               Moreover, had the media actually played their role instead of busied themselves with covering his ass, he would long ago have been hung out to dry (as I believe he deserves).

               We may yet see Vice President Harris sworn into office as President. Honestly? It’s my opinion the Democrats were so busy timing political allegations against President Trump they weren’t watching their six and thus, have left themselves exposed with President Biden. E.g. his becoming uniquely vulnerable *just* as the election campaign heats up.

               Could they be left with Harris and others, perhaps Governor Newsom, as their standard bearers? And what about HRC? Will she stand above the fray? The saying is ambition is blind. Stay tuned!
               1. Carlos December 16, 2023 at 5:55 pm

                  There is so much dirt on Newsom that he doesn’t stand a chance of surviving scrutiny. Homeless flocking to California despite $20 plus billion spent on them, the lies of his surplus announced just before the recall he won, the $68 Billion deficit admitted despues, rampant crime, wasteful expenditures of tax dollars–i.e. bullet train, or ‘bullet drain’ and his ownership by PG&E.
   3. Feral Finster December 16, 2023 at 1:28 pm

      Of course the story is so much malarkey. It doesn’t matter as it will serve its intended purpose of restoking the russiagate conspiracy theory.
      1. KD December 16, 2023 at 4:35 pm

         Trump should put out an old fashioned vinyl record album so that Rachel Maddow can run news bits on the secret backmasked messages to Putin on it.
      2. Lefty Godot December 16, 2023 at 6:23 pm

         Want to bet that the sources include members of the same brigade of intelligence bureaucrats who testified, “Trust us, we just know for sure that Trump is a sock puppet for Putin even though we can’t show you any hard evidence–we’re experts, you have to take our word for it!”

         It would be poetic justice if Biden got impeached, but it’s hard to imagine a conviction with 2/3 of the Senate voting guilty given the current D-R numbers.
         1. Feral Finster December 16, 2023 at 8:36 pm

            Of course they are functionally the same. The same crew that lied to us about Iraqi WMDs went on to give us other wars based on lies, and nobody so much as said a word.
            1. berit December 17, 2023 at 2:13 pm

               Feral Finster, 12.16 at 8:36
               … “and nobody so much as said a word”, you mistakenly say. Huge demonstrations in Britain and USA, millions protested against US-UK attack with their small band of willing lackeys, lots of protest ahead of the occupation, massmurder and looting of Iraq. At the UN too. Huge demonstrations in big cities, not big in my small place in Norway, but we said and begged, protested and complained – and we have not forgotten the warmongering scoundrels who wrecked and continue to wreck the ME and Ukraine and Libya and the world … We need another breed of leaders, a reformed and functioning UN, a new, cooperative, peaceful world order would be most welcome
7. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 8:29 am

   “India, Israel and the neo-Fascist International” Defend Democracy

   India pulling an Israel over Kashmir and also getting away with it would be quite a start for the heralded multipolar new world order.

   It would be a start a lot like the one that kicked off the current one.

   The kind of world order the current demons can leave behind and feel comfort that they will have a glorious legacy…despite the “rebranding.”
   1. JTMcPhee December 16, 2023 at 12:36 pm

      Takes a long time to undo the horrors of hegemonic globalism. It’s also clearly a coronavirus-quality political-economic pathogen.

      Of course those of us who are realistically cynical about the nature of humans feel guardedly confident that like Covid, there’s probably little chance of escaping the insidious disease of MORE-ism, https://www.moreism.com/ .

      As with Covid, there’s likely never going to be a sterilizing vaccine, one that roots the pathogen out of all the nooks and crannies of the body politic, one that leads to universal satisfaction with a “genteel sufficiency,” ever being allowed to reach the omnipotent universal Market…
   2. digi_owl December 16, 2023 at 5:04 pm

      India is really the wildcard of the bunch, forever trying to play both sides hoping to get the best deal form either.
      1. mago December 16, 2023 at 10:01 pm

         Amazing that anyone can think Modi is a voice of reason.
         1. Yves Smith Post authorDecember 16, 2023 at 11:57 pm

            That sort of comment is why you are in moderation and are now being blacklisted. Straw manning big time and a baseless attack on a reader. The comment was explicitly not about Modi and not an endorsement. And had you bothered to look, the article under discussion is not supportive of India’s position.
8. Milton December 16, 2023 at 8:31 am

   Pfizer criminal story:
   https://michelchossudovsky.substack.com/p/pfizer-criminal-record-covid-mrna-vaccine?

   Somehow, the link doesn’t look like a link.
9. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 8:35 am

   “Tucker Carlson lashes out at big news companies and plants billboards at HQs of NYTimes, CNN, MSNBC and the Washington Post with ‘corporate media is dead’ emblazoned, as he launches his OWN streaming service”

   This will automatically make him an enemy of Al Gore of course who believes that all of us should only get our news from the main stream media. Ever since I saw that image of him leaving Belmore Prison aka “Britain’s Guantanamo Bay” after visiting Julian Assange, I am now willing to cut him some more slack. He has certainly gone his own way and what made me really acknowledge this is when he was interviewed by Jimmy Dore in an hour and a half long interview. They were talking near the end about how Tucker Carlson had Fox News as his background and Jimmy Dore had The Young Turks as his but they both now found themselves as fellow travelers with much more in common than not. If you had asked me five years ago if this was possible I would have just laughed. Strange times.
   1. Screwball December 16, 2023 at 10:15 am

      That was an interesting interview. Both from different sides of the political spectrum, yet have a lot of the same opinions and ideas, and willing to talk about it. Strange for sure. We need more of that.
   2. Katniss Everdeen December 16, 2023 at 11:42 am

      Glenn Greenwald celebrated his 200th Rumble show last night with a long interview with Tucker as well.

      They laughed about how such a friendly interview would have been unthinkable by either of them 10 years ago, and Greenwald “welcomed” him to the ranks “independent media.”

      Though many of us could see past it at the time, now that Tucker’s opinions can’t be smeared or dismissed just because he’s “on fox,” I predict he will become even more of a force to be reckoned with, particularly considering the alliances he’s building with people like Greenwald. Hopefully those alliances will translate into greater exposure for Greenwald and Jimmy Dore and others like them amedias well.

      Most see the “legacy media” and “social” media as entrenched behemoths that can never be dislodged, but you never know. Right time, right place and things can change in an instant.

      Gotta say, I love the billboard trucks…
      1. Screwball December 16, 2023 at 9:52 pm

         More voices is a good thing. Freedom of speech. Imagine all the things we would not know if everyone was limited to the MSM? At the same time, I’ve been told by others that anything “substack” is fake news and not to be taken seriously. Only one example, this site would be another.

         Two front problem. Orwell would be proud.
10. Giordano Bruno (formally Bryan) December 16, 2023 at 9:01 am

    It’s disappointing the article on neoclassical economics focused on the theory’s lack of empathy. It’s a perspective I share but why not stay focused on the nuts and bolts of what powers of successful economy? The greatest economic arc in US history happened after world war II when the top marginal tax rate was above 90%. We paid off our debt for world war II and created a middle class that narrowed the racial economic divide. Why not state that taxing extreme wealth is not about morality/empathy, it’s about what creates a broadbased healthy economy?
    1. Carolinian December 16, 2023 at 10:04 am

       In yesterday’s Cooler I linked the current In Our Time podcast about Thorsten Veblen and they talk about how he viewed the previous Gilded Age, with its celebration of hyper individualistic Robber Barons, as an economic aberration. Veblen grew up in a tight knit Midwest Norwegian community and thought the real human tendency was toward cooperation, at least within groups. I’d say there’s historical evidence for that. The Romans and Greeks made a big deal out of citizenship and it’s now thought that even the Egyptian pyramids were a cooperative endeavor. Meanwhile Europe during the hyper individualistic Middle Ages barely seemed to progress at all.

       So perhaps our choice is between falling back into a New Feudalism or promoting a new cooperation that even transcends local and national groups. The madness taking place in the Middle East could be the last gasp of our neoliberal era or the beginning of a worse one.
       1. Daniil Adamov December 16, 2023 at 10:55 am

          Many histories of the Middle Ages emphasise the importance of medieval communities or “corporations”: cities, guilds, universities, monasteries, orders are all cited as examples. One can always cite some counter-examples, but there is a good case to be made that medieval Europeans were very community-oriented and cooperative. There was plenty of what most would consider progress as well: the rise of European cities beyond the older Roman territories, for one thing.
          1. Carolinian December 16, 2023 at 11:42 am

             You’re right of course but the point being made by the podcast panel was that economically and politically the system based on inheritance and landed aristocracy was static. Whereas once the industrial revolution happened social change went into overdrive.
          2. JTMcPhee December 16, 2023 at 12:58 pm

             Once upon a time, “corporation” was not a filthy swear word. Not that the medieval guilds were such nice folks, nor of course the Roman church, or the Orthodox one for that matter. Comity seemed to exist in certain interstices.

             It bears remembering that, before the looting-enabled set of humans pirated the legal form and turned it into what hag-rides us mopes today, corporations had limited powers and could be dissolved if they could not meet the regular burden of showing that they served, emphasize “served,” an honorable public service. See “Our Hidden History of Corporations,” https://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate-accountability-history-corporations-us/

             But somehow along came the British East India Company, and McKinsey, and LockheedMartin, and Black Rock, via Standard Oil and the Vanderbilts and Rothschild, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age

             Squilliinaires seek to rewrite their genotypes to live eternally. Corporations have accomplished that by gaining control over the political equivalent, like the tax code, bankruptcy laws and the Delaware General Corporation Law.

             But the current FTC gives some hope that the worst excesses will get slowed at least, if not imposing corporate dissolution “death sentences” again..,
             1. Jabura Basaidai December 16, 2023 at 7:14 pm

                not holding my breath for a corporate “death sentence” – corporations have over a century of standing as “people” – as disgusting as that sounds and is in reality –
                https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/03/corporations-people-adam-winkler/554852/
    2. LifelongLib December 16, 2023 at 3:07 pm

       Not arguing against taxing the rich etc, but post-WW2 was a very atypical time in history. Being the only major country not devastated by war meant the U.S. would have had a degree of economic success no matter what policies it pursued. Speaking as an American I’d say it gave us a false view of how good our system really is.
    3. Roger Boyd December 16, 2023 at 5:19 pm

       Neoclassical economics is the brain-dead medieval elite-serving metaphysics version of society you get when you remove real political economy and focus on utterly simplistic and ridiculous assumptions. The last thing we should be doing is teaching this brain worm to our children. But if you produce an effective critique, unlike the “its not empathetic” type surface level tripe, you will be quickly cancelled in the academy as the latter’s fundamental job is to provide philosophical support for elite interests.

       Steve Keen has taken apart its ridiculous financial assumptions, Michael Hudson much of its basic philosophy and many of its assumptions (J for Junk Economics is excellent) and the Ecological Economists have shown the idiocy of ignoring the ecology of which the economy is a part. Development economics is very well documented, with Ha-Joon Chang being an excellent read.
11. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 9:07 am

    U.S. homeless count reaches highest level ever; California numbers staggering Associated Press
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    They called homeless encampments ‘jungles’ in the 1930’s, and it strikes me that the down and outers of that era had more mobility by hopping a freight train to somewhere else when choo-choos were all over the place, whereas now how would a homeless person go from say LA to Dallas?

    Hitchhiking is pretty much non-existent and planes & busses require money to board, and i’d imagine there’s a certain embarrassment factor in their particular state of affairs in doing something so highfalutin and far flung, especially when you haven’t had a shower or bath in a world of Sundays and are hooked on drugs, something that didn’t exist in the 30’s, largely.

    An awful lot of restrooms in stores or restaurants in Visalia have a combination lock on it, and our Wal*Mart has items that would be of interest to the homeless under locked glass. We’re talking underwear, headlamps & flashlights, tents, and just about anything else that would appeal in 5 finger discount bargaining.

    in lieu of railroad wheels getting them to and fro, the only wheels they seem to possess are bicycles & shopping carts, so they’re kind of stuck in place, aren’t they?

    I’m still not seeing any visible homeless here in Tiny Town, although i’m sure there’s a few scattered about, and our National Parks practically forbid entry due to the steep entrance fees ($35 here in Sequoia NP) and the tyranny of distance in getting there, aided by that lack of mobility mentioned above.
    1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:23 am

       Came across an interesting factoid today. There was this guy who ran to be the Mayor of San Francisco and one big pledge that he made was to end homelessness within a decade. This was Gavin Newsom back in 2004 but after a decade squandered and $1.5 billion spent, nothing had changed-

       https://www.ocregister.com/2020/01/18/keep-newsoms-san-francisco-record-in-mind-as-he-tries-to-solve-homelessness/

       Of course if they really wanted to solve the homeless problem, all they would have to do is invite China’s President Xi to come live permanently in San Francisco.
       1. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 9:39 am

          Fentanyl wasn’t around in 2004 as an additive to other drugs, and you’d think it would have aided Gavin’s plan-but despite it being the leading cause of death in younger adults 18-45, the homeless issue has only burgeoned since.

          ‘Poortemkin Village’ move, removing them in SF, eh?
       2. Polar Socialist December 16, 2023 at 9:40 am

          You know, officially there are a bit under 200,000 homeless people in California, and about 1.2 million empty homes. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel like there’s a solution somewhere in those numbers. Especially if you add the $1.5 billion in to the equation.
          1. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:47 am

             Good idea – and a sane one – but recently I have been reading how more and more homes are being bought up by private equity firms as well as the Big Wall Street players like BlackRock (I think) to turn into rentals. And none of them are in the business of charity.
          2. Kurtismayfield December 16, 2023 at 10:13 am

             Median rental price in California is $ 2770. If there are 200,000 ilt would cost half a billion a month to house them. What is needed is more available housing and less zoning restrictions.
             1. Chris Smith December 16, 2023 at 10:49 am

                If there are 1.2 million homes empty and 200K homeless, the problem isn’t lack of capacity or zoning.
             2. Pat December 16, 2023 at 11:07 am

                But maybe after cleaning out the zoning restrictions, make sure to add one that manage to keep big finance out of the rental industry.
          3. John Beech December 16, 2023 at 3:01 pm

             Are you offering your private property? HI’s governor has said something along the lines of B&B owners being forced to convert their leases into longer term leases for the citizens who lost home in the fire, recently. So the question is, does the state have the power to compel private property owners to give up their property rights? Seems the answer is yes. Witness the decree that led to long terms abuse of those who rented property during the pandemic. I haven’t been motivated to find out what the state did for those landlords who were injured by state action. Suspect there’s some juice but no clue what it actual is, or was. Doubt they were left holding the bag.
             1. Polar Socialist December 16, 2023 at 6:12 pm

                I rent. I also live in a country that decided homelessness is both a bad and also a solvable thing. No rough sleeping here, no homelessness.

                It really is that simple: someone needs a place to live, they get a place to live. It’s amazing how many other problems (for the individual and for the society) are solved with that simple thing.

                Much easier to stay clear of drugs and petty crime when you have a roof over your head. Much easier to get employed when you have roof over your head. Much easier to stay healthy when you have roof over your head.
          4. Objective Ace December 16, 2023 at 5:45 pm

             >in California, about 1.2 million empty homes.

             Source? I tried tracking it down and only came across California actually having the lowest rate of vacancy. Rates and levels of course are not the same thing
             1. Polar Socialist December 16, 2023 at 5:58 pm

                Vacancy rates study (lendingtree.com). Page has a table saying California has 1,248,161 vacant housing units.
          5. ACPAL December 17, 2023 at 12:15 am

             People with rose colored glasses believe all homeless people are good people simply down on their luck and if given a nice place to live everything would be wine and roses. You make me puke.

             There are as many reasons for them being homeless as there are homeless people. Way too many are there because every time they’re allowed into a place they destroy it, rip out the appliances to sell, urinate on the floors, harass the neighbors, and etc. People renting out homes have to vet potential renters very carefully to make sure they’ll pay and don’t have a history of bad behavior. Even then they often get hit with big losses.

             If the government forced owners to let the homeless live in empty homes then the government would have to guarantee to pay the rent and repair any and all damage. I don’t think any government, after thinking it through, would be stupid enough to sign up to that because it would be extremely expensive.

             There is a way to take care of the homeless but it would mean providing health care for the needy (especially psychological), psychological analysis of each person to assign them to a home suited to their personality (some place they’re not going to destroy), and enough staff to monitor these places 24/7 to keep them from being destroyed, becoming a nuisance, becoming a drug house, and etc. And enough law enforcement to quickly solve problems as they arise.

             Low cost housing has been developed before and I’ve seen it work (as a child I lived in one). But typically they’re intentionally shoddily built, poorly maintained, and poorly supervised and become a disaster so those opposed to social programs can say that social welfare is a failure.
       3. Victoria Mukerjit December 16, 2023 at 12:29 pm

          Rev Kev,
          You forgot the exact press release quote:

          “In 10 years”, Gavin Newsom pledged on June 30, 2004, “the worst of San Francisco’s homeless problem will be gone.”

          “The most seriously ill homeless people will be moved indoors, clearing downtown streets of in-your-face transients who were startling residents and tourists alike. Emergency shelters will cease to exist because nobody would need them, he said. And new arrivals to the streets will be helped immediately.”

          “This is a dramatic shift,” Newsom announced as he unveiled his “Ten Year Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness.” “This won’t all happen tomorrow. But it will get done.”

          https://www.sfchronicle.com/archive/item/A-decade-of-homelessness-Thousands-in-S-F-30431.php

          Newsom’s near the top of the political punchbowl, having risen from managing parking meters in S.F. That job given to him by same FBI investigated turd in the political punchbowl, Willie Brown, who exercised Harris’ kneepads for a BMW and a couple political appointments.

          Newsom is corrupt, rotten and loathsome. The perfect choice to replace Hide N Barris. If elected, she’ll drop out and he becomes prez, same way Gerald Ford did.
    2. Carolinian December 16, 2023 at 10:15 am

       Interstate buses have been poor people transportation in our era and of course lots of homeless have old cars and a few can be seen sleeping in my library’s parking lot. The current living in your van movement–Nomadland–is doubtless at least in part about necessity.

       And the fact that so many homeless cluster around interstate highway exits suggests that they are getting rides from somebody. It is also said that one reason California has so many homeless is that they are natives who can’t afford the housing–they were already there.

       But you do raise an interesting question. BTW even in the 30s hopping trains put you in danger from the railroad police, the “bulls.”
       1. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 10:43 am

          Emperor of the North with Ernest Borgnine & Keith Carradine, from 1973 is a worthy watch…
          1. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 10:50 am

             p.s.

             Lee Marvin would be so pissed off if I left him out of the cast, I meant no disrespect.
             1. deleter December 16, 2023 at 12:28 pm

                Good movie, I saw it as a high schooler and haven’t seen it since.
                It’s little known but memorable.
                If a hobo could ride the train conducted by Borgnine to Portland and live, he claimed the title ‘Emperor of the North Pole.’
                When Marvin chalks ‘A Number One
                to Portland on the 19’ on a rail yard water tank the game is on…
          2. Mark Gisleson December 16, 2023 at 12:58 pm

             Best violent movie ever. Borgnine and Marvin are brilliant, probably because both were WWII veterans and — Marvin, at least — had first hand experience with the horrors of war. You believe both men want to kill each other and then you get to watch. That’s the whole movie and there isn’t a wasted shot in the whole thing. I’ve only seen it a few times, each viewing leaves a lasting impression.
             1. Enter Laughing December 16, 2023 at 1:37 pm

                Borgnine absolutely nails his role as a sadistic, swaggering train guard who delights in maiming or killing any hobo who ares to hitch a ride on his train. Excellent cinematography of the Pacific northwest and many brilliant action scenes throughout. The climatic fight scene between Borgnine and Mavin aboard the rocking and rolling train cars is one for the ages
             2. Michaelmas December 16, 2023 at 1:45 pm

                Marvin was the only survivor of his platoon in an engagement against the Japanese in the Pacific theater, with wounds that kept him hospital for a year.

                POINT BLANK wouldn’t work without the plausibility he brings to the idea that his character is that unrelenting and implacable.
             3. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 6:24 pm

                Yeah, its a keeper!

                Think I’ve convinced myself to watch it tonight…
       2. JP December 16, 2023 at 3:57 pm

          Maybe because those green landscaped interstate exits are not municipal property.

          Back in the day I did a lot of train hopping. Myself and a few friends often did it with our bikes. I can be hard to find an open freight car sometimes because they like to keep them closed to cut wind resistance. I think I only ran into an aggressive yard bull once in Barstow. Once coming out of San Diego a yard guy opened a car for us and thought the floor was too dirty so he closed it up and found us a better one. The most uncomfortable ride was on a flat car in a snow storm in Arizona.
          1. Enter Laughing December 16, 2023 at 10:51 pm

             First time I hopped a train I went up to the yard bull and politely asked if I could ride the next freight train east. He said sure and led me over to the caboose, introduced me to the guy working in there and got me set up in one of the big chairs just before the train got underway. Traveled a couple hundred miles that way until the train stopped at a yard for the night.

             Thinking I had this thing figured out, I went to find the yard boss at this location and asked him if I could hop on the next train east. He yelled, “Get the f**k out of here right now before I knock you on your ass.”

             Needless to say I took off on foot along the east bound tracks to the edge of the woods, where the floodlights of the yard petered out.

             As the next train came my way, still going at about a fast walking pace as it picked up speed exiting the yard, I hoped on to an empty flatcar and continued my trip back home.

             Decided that asking for permission was probably not the right way to go about it in the future.
       3. LifelongLib December 16, 2023 at 4:03 pm

          I remember seeing what were probably hobos riding freight trains in the early 60s, but IIRC in the mid-60s or so they were replaced by hippies. Whoever they were we’d wave to them and they’d usually wave back, as would the train crews.
    3. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 10:20 am

       I think it could get up to 25% of the US population becoming homeless (without war or natural disaster) and there would still be denial about the financial system being a root cause.
    4. eartl December 16, 2023 at 10:33 am

       Yes, mobility is hard. But as a different example, the small town of Blythe CA has a significant street population. It’s on I-10, in winter apparently a combination of bus, walking, or hitchhiking can get one there, and to other towns strung out along the interstate highways.
12. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 9:35 am

    “HOW THE WEST BANK FITS INTO THE EQUATION”

    I have no idea why Seymour Hersh writes stuff like this unless he wants his old job back again with the New York Times. For a start. Violence by Israeli settlers is not complicating Israel’s war in Gaza. It is part of the plan. And Hamas ‘are trying to cope with the increasing winter chill and heavy rains’? Only when they go topside but they spend most of time underground. They only go above ground to be hunter-killer teams to hit Israeli armour and to kill unwary Israeli troops. They are successful enough that Scott Ritter reported that one major unit had to be pulled out of Gaza city as they had had enough of the costly Hamas attacks. And when he says that ‘Israel’s military leaders now assess that the majority of Hamas fighters will be dead, will be captured, or will have deserted by the end of January’, I can only think that all his sources are Israeli sources. Hamas has only lost a very small fraction of its fighters over the past two months and are still combat effective. This article of Seymour Hersh will not age well.
    1. Donald December 16, 2023 at 10:00 am

       I told a friend yesterday that Hersh has been useless on the Gaza War— he doesn’t have the kinds of inside sources that the Israeli magazine 972 has— they were exposing Israel’s intentional targeting of civilians, They were whistle blowers. Hersh’s sources are basically passing on hasbara. You might as well be reading David Ignatius.
       1. GF December 16, 2023 at 1:40 pm

          They are now doing more than targeting civilians. I posted this at the article today above the links “The No-State Solution Becomes More and More Real as Israel’s Permanent Nakba Continues – 12/16/2023 – Yves Smith”

          Israel has learned from its history. The latest from Larry Johnson:
          https://sonar21.com/israel-continues-to-shoot-itself-in-the-foot/
    2. John Zelnicker December 16, 2023 at 12:01 pm

       I have been an admirer of Seymour Hersh since his exposure of the My Lai massacre.

       However, his reporting on the Israeli/Gaza war is a great disappointment. IMNSHO, he is being taken for a ride by his sources, sort of a useful idiot. It appears that he really doesn’t know much about the history of Zionism and the religious foundation thereof.

       Some of what Hersh reports as the assessments of Israeli leaders is completely unrealistic in light of that history, e.g., Hamas fighters are motivated, at least in part, by religious fervor and I’m willing to bet that there will be almost no desertions.
       1. flora December 16, 2023 at 12:47 pm

          After far too many disappointing Hersh articles that sounded either like CIA talking points or a gossipy limited hangout I finally unsubscribed. The NordStream story was the Hersh I remember. His latest stuff sounds… not like the old reporter; on the Kennedys, Isr, and other topics he sounds like he’s carrying water for someone else. But that’s just my take, and what do I know.
          1. Mark Gisleson December 16, 2023 at 1:00 pm

             I don’t begrudge him the money I’ve given him but no, he’s not getting any more $$ from me either.
       2. zach December 16, 2023 at 11:49 pm

          IhbaaoSHsheoMLm.

          H,hrotI/Gwigd. In My Not So Humble Opinion,hibtfarbhs,soaui. IathrdkmathoZatrft.

          SowHrataoIlicuiloth, e.g.,Hfam,alip,brfaIwtbttwband.

          This is the kind of insightful, sober, and nuanced commentary that keeps me coming back to Naked Capitalism.
13. Eclair December 16, 2023 at 9:39 am

    RE: “Don’t Look Away.”
    It’s Saturday and I will, once again, go down to Seattle’s Westlake Center, the open area, now festively decked out in Christmas lights and trees, in the middle of the City’s shopping area, and stand and march with the Palestinian diaspora and supporters who are calling for a Gaza ceasefire. And, for the formation of a Palestinian state, which now seems an even more forlorn hope.

    Thursday evening, at 4 PM, the local Jewish Voice for Peace group shut down University Bridge, calling on Washington Senator Patty Murray (chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee) to call for a permanent ceasefire. And, maybe stop funding the sending of bombs to Israel. Not gonna happen: AIPAC is her third largest donor.

    The JVP action was one of eight bridge shutdowns across the US, from Philadelphia to Minneapolis to Portland, on the eighth night of Hanukkah. Not too much press coverage on these actions, although a traffic alert did appear on a local TV station news.

    And when this afternoon’s assembly is over, I will walk to the bus stop, along city blocks that, in last week’s steady rain and darkening December gloom, resembled a Bosch painting of a circle of Hell. Homeless people huddled in doorways, stretched out on the sidewalks, and stood silent in wretched groups, amid the litter of the week’s McDonald’s Happy Meals.
14. timbers December 16, 2023 at 9:49 am

    John Mearsheimer: There is no two-state solution

    Standout feature is Unherd’s journalist Freddie Sayers spends the first 8 minutes bullying Mearsheimer to conflate Hamas/and Israeli action = Russian conduct of war in Ukraine. Failing that, Freddie Sayers proceeds to try and conflate Mearsheimer’s “realist” analysis with being the same as “ethical/moral” analysis. I think he finally gives that up around the 25-30 minute mark in the 50 minute watch.

    Around the 8 minutes mark, Mearsheimer has enough of it and slams Freddie Sayers on the matt saying (loosely remembering) “no I don’t have to use the same analysis to Ukraine as I do on Gaza these are two different events”.

    Other nice lines:

    Mearshiemer: “You can’t trust ANY American Presdient’s word. There is no reason for any Russian President to trust an American President.”

    Freddie: “In the same way can you trust any Russian President?”

    Mearshiemer: “That’s irrelevant to the question that’s on the table (the question Freddie asked).”
    1. flora December 16, 2023 at 1:03 pm

       I always thought unHerd and Freddie were good, impartial investigators. Wonder who got to them. / ;)
       1. timbers December 16, 2023 at 2:45 pm

          On balance I would say he is impartial – light yrs ahead Western MSM – but his questions indicated he had Western views like isn’t Russia’s invasion comparable to Hamas Oct 7 and Israel response since then.
    2. Richard December 17, 2023 at 10:13 pm

       Jeez. Glad I skipped it.
15. Wukchumni December 16, 2023 at 9:55 am

    History’s Five Best Body Part Stories Nautilus
    ~~~~~~~~~
    I was surprised Manhattanite Peter Stuyvesant didn’t make the cut…
16. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 10:08 am

    “The One Woman men in power can’t seem to escape”

    After reading this, I feel like I have gone through a psyops program with the intent of misdirecting attention. So it goes on about Ghislaine Maxwell, does a drive-by shooting of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Christina Oxenberg, Donald Trump, Chris Cuomo and Bill Clinton. No, that is not going to cut it. I wanna see the flight logs that showed every person that went to that island – every single one. We hear from time to time that this financier was involved or that corporate exec but that is about it. Where are the mass arrests. Why isn’t Bill Clinton in a prison cell. So for me, this article was a deliberate exercise in misdirection.
    1. Pat December 16, 2023 at 12:13 pm

       It would be nice.
       It would also be nice to find out how Epstein lost his protection.
       But I think we are both out of luck.
       1. Tom Stone December 16, 2023 at 2:09 pm

          Whitney Webb concluded that Epstein lost his protection because he was no longer needed, Modern Surveillance Tech provided all the blackmail material needed without spending all that money on a high end honey trap.
          Epstein had a house in Manhattan that covered a full city block…plus “Zorro Ranch” and Pedo Island.
          Lots of overhead…
          1. Yves Smith Post authorDecember 16, 2023 at 4:13 pm

             I have never believed the kompromat theory. Rich men do not continue to do substantial investment business with men who are blackmailing them. Epstein had both Wexner and Leon Black stop using his services as an investment manager and there was no evidence Epstein tried to blackmail him. Black got in trouble with women he got involved with on his own and sued him directly plus being perceived to be too close to/involved with Epstein.

             Much more plausible that he was an arms dealer on top of his $ management business. Jets can move arms.
             1. jsn December 16, 2023 at 6:29 pm

                I’m confused.

                “Rich men do not continue to do substantial investment business with men who are blackmailing them. Epstein had both Wexner and Leon Black stop using his services as an investment manager (this far, I follow) and there was no evidence Epstein tried to blackmail him.”

                Isn’t the fact they both quit using his investment services suggestive of blackmail? The relationship with Wexner is older and much more twisted, but with Black, that he dropped Epstein’s cover business supports the suspicion of blackmail. Or I’m missing something.
    2. pjay December 16, 2023 at 12:52 pm

       I agree that this article does not provide much new information and is silent about Espstein’s backers and motives. It does allude to the fact that his cover story is not believable but then simply leaves it there. But Kennedy and Trump actually come off pretty well here. In Kennedy’s case it sounds like Epstein tried, and failed, to rope in an up-and-coming member of the Kennedy clan. Trump seems to have severed ties when he sensed (or was advised) that Epstein was bad news. This compares quite unfavorably with the Clintons’ extensive beneficial contacts (financial or otherwise) – which once again confirms my opinion on whether Trump or the Clintons are the greater evil.
    3. jsn December 16, 2023 at 5:55 pm

       I read a dozen paragraphs and it started feeling like my time was being wasted.

       Then, I scanned the balance looking for “Mossad”, most of who’s living directors attended her fathers funeral, or the CIA. Did anyone who read it through notice a mention I missed?

       There is no way to understand these people without understanding the institutional incentives presented them by their relationships to secrets, power and secret power.
17. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 10:50 am

    “Invest in the Future of Living Together: Free Private Cities” Investment Migration Insider.

    “.. International Cities will be established at multiple locations around the world, sharing common values and distinct characteristics, yet thriving in harmony and synergy with their local environment and culture…”

    Another parasitic idea posing as “innovation.” Basically it’s an idea to suck the life out of any culture that’s not corporate controlled or moderated.

    It reminds me a bit of Uber, but with towns as the target for destruction.
    1. flora December 16, 2023 at 1:06 pm

       So they’ve given up on their Sea Steading dream, then? / heh
       1. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 1:49 pm

          It’s also a model that has the City of London as inspiration.
          So it’s not a new idea at all.
          But they hang their hype on “the future” and “progress.”
    2. digi_owl December 16, 2023 at 3:58 pm

       Reads like Mr Lee’s Greater Hong Kong.

       Again and again it feels like silly valley read all the dystopian scifi and dreamed themselves being demigod protagonists.
18. Jason Boxman December 16, 2023 at 12:00 pm

    This is the inside story of how the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. (NY Times via archive.ph)
19. Jeff W December 16, 2023 at 12:03 pm

    “No Lorana Bobbitt.”

    Lorena. (The NYT ran a sympathetic story about Lorena Gallo, the event, and its aftermath on the occasion of the release of a documentary series “Lorena” in 2019.)
20. Pat December 16, 2023 at 12:06 pm

    So I mentioned my Rep’s email newsletter and I got a new one headed:

    “NY-10 Weekly Update: Fighting to make higher education more affordable”

    You will be happy to know that means My Dan (since 2022) is fighting for student loan relief by signing on to be a co-sponsor on a couple of pieces of legislation that aren’t going to go anywhere. Not a bad thing in itself, and I have to give him a couple of points making a good choice of voter friendly issues. Still I am underwhelmed. Not only is there a lot of overuse of “fighting for” throughout, it is only about student loans. That may make paying for an unaffordable higher education easier, but it is a miss in that it doesn’t make it more affordable. You still have to take out a loan the size of a mortgage in order to get a degree, and pay it back in some manner.

    I also love the big SUBSCRIBE button at the top since they are already sending it to me without my asking.

    He’s slick and I am cranky at how useless the Levi Strauss heir is.
    1. Frankie December 16, 2023 at 3:04 pm

       It would be nice if you explained who My Dan is and where you are.
       1. flora December 16, 2023 at 4:34 pm

          Rep. Dan Goldman, NY !0th Congressional district, trust fund baby. He’s an heir to the Levi Strauss and Co fortune. His current estimated net worth is $253 million. He’s fighting for you because he feels your pain. / ;)
          1. Pat December 16, 2023 at 5:12 pm

             Thanks, flora.
             Yeah, you just know that he wants to address student loan reform because paying off his was so difficult…not.
       2. Pat December 16, 2023 at 4:46 pm

          NY 10 is the Congressional district for lower Manhattan and much of Brooklyn. After the redistricting the slot became open so Levi Strauss heir, and one of the key lawyers working on impeaching Trump got the job – Dan Goldman (according to Wikipedia).

          He is…interesting. He is also connected, and very ambitious.
21. LawnDart December 16, 2023 at 12:08 pm

    Another journalist gets edited in a targeted killing by “Israel”

    An Al-Jazeera Journalist Killed by Israeli Drone Strike in Gaza

    Samer Abu Daqqa, 45, an Al-Jazeera cameraman has been killed by a drone attack in Khan Younis, and the network’s chief Gaza correspondent was wounded.

    https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/An-Al-Jazeera-Journalist-Killed-by-Israeli-Drone-Strike-in-Gaza-20231216-0001.html
    1. Synoia December 16, 2023 at 1:03 pm

       Well that fixes that Intelligence leak. Next target please…
    2. digi_owl December 16, 2023 at 4:01 pm

       Will they claim the drone operator thought the camera a MANPADS this time as well?
       1. LawnDart December 16, 2023 at 4:17 pm

          If the pen is mightier than the sword, then a camera is practically a nuclear weapon.
22. Mikel December 16, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    Re: Putin speech and Alex M. discussion

    Anybody else wondering if NATO isn’t somehow enthused about Russia possibly inhabiting more territory to demilitarize Ukraine?
    After all, its existence depends on Europe shaking in their boots with fear and huddled up under the USA.
    Meanwhile, Russia is at the point where it does them no good to worry about the optics of controlling more territory. The ethnic tensions and greed have made it a damned if they do and damned if they don’t situation for the Russians.
23. Mint Man December 16, 2023 at 2:38 pm

    Hoo hah! On top of Biden cutting Americans off from cheap Russian Diesel, grain and fertilizer, now his puppet masters wants to stop importing Russian uranium to fuel nuclear reactors. America relies almost exclusively on imports. Food prices, fossil fuel prices and now electricity costs to double?

    https://johnhelmer.net/us-house-of-representatives-passes-depleted-brains-blackout-bill-for-banning-imports-of-russian-uranium/

    On another note: Why don’t Arab countries just stop all exports of oil to the U.S. until there’s a Gaza ceasefire?
24. antidlc December 16, 2023 at 2:52 pm

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/14/opinion/my-life-with-long-covid.html
    December, 14, 2023
    1,374 Days
    My life with long Covid

    Every morning, I wake up in my Brooklyn apartment, and for two seconds, I can remember the old me. The me without pain, the me with energy, the me who could do whatever she wanted.

    Then I’m shoved back into my new reality. As I fully come into consciousness, I feel dizzy, faint and nauseated. Pain pulses throughout my body, and my limbs feel simultaneously as heavy as concrete and weak as jelly. It feels as if a machine were squeezing my skull, and extreme exhaustion overtakes me.

    These sensations have been a daily occurrence, with few exceptions, for the past three years and nine months. In the morning my boyfriend will be the one making coffee for us. He will run all of our errands. He will cook and clean. He now does all the things I used to do, the things I can’t do anymore.

    I live with what’s known as long Covid, an illness that has reshaped my life.
    1. Festoonic December 16, 2023 at 6:20 pm

       I truly do empathize with suffering the author of this heartfelt piece is experiencing. But when I read “…doctors and scientists across the globe are investigating possible root causes of long Covid,” I spit out my coffee. She quite reasonably wants to see a cure for long COVID, but the article suggests that, like her editors, she cannot imagine taking any steps to avoid getting the obvious “root cause” of Long COVID in the first place, which is, of course, COVID. Do I read this correctly or am I missing something?
25. antidlc December 16, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/12/11/potential-recruits-receive-heart-screenings-under-proposed-defense-bill.html

    US Military to Screen All New Recruits for Heart Conditions Under Must-Pass Annual Defense Bill

    Beginning next year, the U.S. military is expected to screen all potential recruits for cardiac anomalies under a new program designed to reduce deaths at boot camp and beyond.

    The current version of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, expected to pass Congress this month, requires the Defense Department to launch a pilot program by next October to give electrocardiograms, also known as ECGs or EKGs, to anyone who undergoes a military accession screening.
    1. Jason Boxman December 16, 2023 at 5:52 pm

       And what happens once they get COVID one too many times after they’ve enlisted?
    2. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 5:56 pm

       Because of course kids in their late teens and early twenties are notorious for having heart trouble and having heart attacks on you. Unless of course there is something happening to them that is leaving them with heart conditions. Can’t imagine what though.
       1. LifelongLib December 16, 2023 at 7:46 pm

          Well, according to the article the concern about sudden cardiac arrest in young people goes back before Covid. I’ve read there are congenital conditions that can cause it but I don’t know how detectable they are.
          1. Ranger Rick December 16, 2023 at 8:24 pm

             Yeah. It’s worse now due to more recent events, but high school sports for instance are rather infamous for kids just dropping dead from heart attacks and undiagnosed conditions. The schools wised up and started mandating complete physical exams on prospective athletes.
26. Maxwell Johnston December 16, 2023 at 3:13 pm

    The Atrophy of American Statecraft — Foreign Affairs

    I get one free article monthly in FA and the headline looked enticing and we’re halfway through December, so I took the plunge. Oh my goodness…..

    Philip Zelikow starts out sounding reasonable enough, but things go downhill fast. The first hint that we’re about to plunge down the rabbit hole is when he compares FDR’s 1941 desire to spend 10% of GDP on foreign aid (to the Brits, China, and USSR) to today’s battle over aid to UKR and Israel (“The equivalent level of effort today would be about $2.6 trillion dollars—about 25 times the amount President Joe Biden requested in October 2023 from today’s divided Congress for Ukraine, Israel, and other priorities.”)

    I lack the time and energy to deconstruct the entire screed, so here are a few of the choicest howlers (some of them are real knee-slappers):

    “Even before Hamas’s October 7 attack, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen had already been shattered by conflict…” Absolutely no mention of the USA’s key role in three of these mishaps (don’t know about Sudan). The lack of introspection is typical but still astonishing.

    “NATO and Croatia’s victory over little Serbia in 1995 fed years of hubris.” No mention of the small matter of what NATO (dominated by the USA) did to Serbia in 1999.

    “Between 2015 and 2019, after a year of floundering, having learned from prior missteps, and with relatively few troops, the United States helped lead a remarkable foreign coalition that liberated lands overrun by the Islamic State, or ISIS, in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.” No mention as to why USA troops are still sitting in Syria, overseeing the pumping of Syrian oil. Let alone in Iraq, even though Iraq’s government long ago asked them to leave.

    “The United States has also authored economic success stories. Many rightly blame its failure to police highly leveraged asset speculation for the global financial crisis. But they should also recognize that as the crisis spread to Europe, American and European leaders did whatever it took to arrest it, backing financial guarantees to stave off sovereign defaults and keep the eurozone from plunging into the abyss.” I for one don’t see that any of the financial problems existing in 2008 have been solved, neither in the EU nor in the USA, they’ve just been kicked down the road to become bigger and more intractable for some future set of elites to deal with. To give Zelikow some credit here, he uses the phrase “to stave off” rather than “to solve”, so maybe he understands that this problem isn’t fixed yet.

    “More recently…..few would have predicted that Europe, and especially Germany, could ever wean itself from Russian energy. Yet after the invasion, a handful of European—especially German—leaders worked with Americans and rose to the challenge.” I like the use of the verb “to wean”, it makes it sound like that cuddly little German baby is finally learning how to get out of the crib and walk around! Unfortunately there’s no mention of the resulting crisis hitting German industry (or of the benefits garnered by the LNG exporters in the USA).

    It just goes on and on like this. The rushed production of the mRNA vaccines (supervised by the Pentagon!) was a huge success! Russia’s $300 bn or so of frozen assets need to be given to UKR immediately! USA taxes should be used to buy foreign weaponry and send it to UKR!

    And my favorite proposal of all (and I actually laughed out loud when I read this one):

    “A common proposal for the future of Gaza, which the United States has endorsed, is to use the current war to establish a reconfigured PA. The new PA would be more competent and legitimate than the present one based in the West Bank. It would replace Hamas…..” Yes, of course, the new PA will be–WILL BE–more competent and legitimate because we demand it! Thus spake Zarathustra! Assume a can opener! Go USA!

    Zelikow has a brilliant CV: top universities, government service, professorships, books, the Hoover Institution. He is well-connected and influential.

    Sometimes I think we are doomed.
    1. WobblyTelomeres December 16, 2023 at 6:15 pm

       “Thus spake Zarathustra! Assume a can opener! Go USA!”

       Best nine words I have read today! Thank you.
27. Will December 16, 2023 at 5:34 pm

    Today I learned the US has no federal requirement for lead testing of domestically produced or imported food. Thankfully, legislative proposals for 2024 include granting the FDA the power to set binding contamination limits on food.

    These remarkable facts are mentioned in the below link on lead poisoning of more than 60 children after eating apple sauce and apple purée. It’s believed the lead contamination was deliberate and economically motivated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/applesauce-lead-ecuador-cinnamon-additives

    I guess I need to spend the rest of the day looking into food safety here in Canada.
28. The Rev Kev December 16, 2023 at 6:04 pm

    “We need emergency legislation to prevent a total water supply and financial meltdown if Thames Water fails”

    How about nationalization? And going through the books of Thames Water to see if there was any criminal activity. But we all know that the government would never allow their friends to get prosecuted. They are from the same class.
29. chris December 16, 2023 at 8:31 pm

    I was able to get a Novavax vaccine today. They did just about everything possible to prevent me from getting Novavax. CVS requires you to sign into their site as if you’re requesting a Pfizer or Moderna shot, but says at the top of that website that all of their locations have Novavax and just continue on with scheduling the appointment. Upon showing up, they insist you’re going to get what you signed up for and refuse to get you Novavax, until you request several times. It’s nuts. I’ll say that unlike my experience with Moderna and Pfizer, boosters or the original, it didn’t make me feel like $hit afterwards. Glad I pushed through and got that given the request of exposure I face. Really annoyed I had to make a fuss to get what I asked for in the first place.
    1. Carla December 17, 2023 at 4:04 am

       Guess Novavax won’t be around for very long. They were struggling to get a foothold in the market because of the long delay in FDA approval. Now with CVS making people jump through hoops to get a non-mRNA shot, how long can they last?
    2. Lunker Walleye December 17, 2023 at 5:17 am

       I phoned the CVS pharmacy to schedule novavax. The pharmacist asked if i knew others who wanted novavax because one vial held enough vaccine to use on 4 people. Nobody I know had heard of it and were sticking with mrna. There were no side effects.
    3. jc near philly December 17, 2023 at 8:59 am

       Costco has novavax and you do not need to be a member to use their pharmacy.
30. tegnost December 16, 2023 at 9:54 pm

    Russian baby boom.
    Soldiers rotating home from the war zone

    see Mercouris at 1:03:00

    so how many babies can 600,000 troops make?

    Adding…
    russia
    6.602 million mi²
    The largest country in the world is Russia with a total area of 17,098,242 Km² (6,601,665 mi²) and a land area of 16,376,870 Km² (6,323,142 mi²), equivalent to 11% of the total world’s landmass of 148,940,000 Km² (57,510,000
    square miles).
    US 3.797 million mi²
    China3.705 million mi²
    … and canada
    3.855 million mi²
    1. digi_owl December 16, 2023 at 11:43 pm

       Note however that USA has almost 10x the population of Canada, even though they have comparable land. And China is 4x more than USA. And Russia, even with close to twice the land of USA, has half the population.

       All in all, Russia and Canada sitting further north means that much of the land is unsuitable for large settlements. both of them have most of their population living in a band along the south edge.
       1. tegnost December 17, 2023 at 12:03 am

          Thanks, I didn’t think I could do the population thing justice
       2. SocalJimObjects December 17, 2023 at 6:31 am

          With global warming, would settlement along the north edge be feasible in our lifetime?
          1. digi_owl December 17, 2023 at 4:50 pm

             Perhaps. But if so one must also ponder what that will do with more equatorial regions. If so we may well be looking at a scenario where some of the most populous regions right now end up being uninhabitable from heat.

             And who knows what that kind of extra atmospheric heat will do to weather patterns.

             All in all, it will not simply be that Russia or Canada all of a sudden can house many more millions.
31. steppenwolf fetchit December 17, 2023 at 2:48 am

    At a time when “antidotes” are needed, here is a funny video titled ” So my other dog is making fun of my corgi’s short legs . . . ”
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Awww/comments/18k8hse/too_helpless_with_that_mocking/
    1. steppenwolf fetchit December 17, 2023 at 3:15 pm

       So the moderator has removed this video from off the subreddit.

       Well, it still exists on you tube. Here it is.
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yysKK6c75d4
32. Matthew G. Saroff December 18, 2023 at 7:46 pm

    “Atrophy of American Statecraft,” is optimistic.

    The American foreign policy establishment has had an almost unbroken record of failure for almost 80 years.

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