How to earn a ‘black belt’ in solar eclipse chasing Space.com
South Korean ‘artificial sun’ reaches 7 times the Sun’s core temperature Interesting Engineering
Modern Living Is Stripping Our Gut of Healthy Bacteria SciTech Daily
Researchers find WWI and WWII bombs in the ground are becoming more volatile Phys.org
Climate/Environment
Exclusive: Startup Plans Largest Ocean Geoengineering Plant IEEE Spectrum
World’s first green steel plant backed by Bill Gates, Amazon opens in Colorado Interesting Engineering
***
Microsoft and OpenAI want to build a $100 billion datacenter Interesting Engineering
Will bitcoin and data centers risk US climate goals? Floodlight
With energy demand surging, utilities fall back on their old standby: Fossil fuels Grist
Water
Iowa official finds dead fish in 50 miles of fertilizer-contaminated river Des Moines Register (LS)
#COVID-19
The Greatest Trick The John Snow Project.“Most governments are trying to trick us into believing we don’t need to adapt to COVID-19. They can’t sustain the illusion forever.”
Victorian children as young as eight-years-old are being diagnosed with long Covid.
Health experts warn it’s becoming more common, putting further pressure on the state’s health system. https://t.co/hN7jIhJQ8E @ainsleykoch #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/dxhTpPxHAB
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) March 31, 2024
India
For a decade, earnings of regular salaried & self-employed Indians have been declining: ILO Down to Earth
India’s Income Inequality Is Now Worse Than Under British Rule, New Report Says TIME
Indian Economy Is Rigged Under Plutocratic Influence. What About Elections? The Wire
Indians may already be experiencing temperatures close to limits of human survivability without even being aware Down to Earth
China?
China’s new rules for finance pull the brakes on gravy train, bringing ‘greed is good’ era to a halt South China Morning Post
From Pyramids to Olives CICC Research, CICC Global Institute. Springer, Singapore. On China’s wealth inequality problems.
China’s factory activity hits 1-year high, adding to signs economic recovery is picking up pace South China Morning Post
What if China Manufactures a Sugar High? Liberty Street Economics
***
Everything Chinese is a national security threat to the United States Pearls and Irritations
The Lucky Country
Australia’s energy transition collides with Japan’s energy security East Asia Forum
New Zealand’s Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It Apricitas Economics
Syraqistan
Netanyahu approves Rafah attack plans despite international warnings Anadolu Agency
Dozens Killed, Injured – In New ‘Flour Massacre’, Israel Targets Aid Recipients in Gaza Palestine Chronicle
Israel Created ‘Kill Zones’ in Gaza. Anyone Who Crosses Into Them Is Shot Haaretz
‘Israel’ bombs journalist tents within al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital Al Mayadeen
Israel’s Netanyahu to undergo surgery for hernia Anadolu Agency
***
Palestinian-led campaign calls for haste in rebuilding the PLO The New Arab (LS)
Egyptian official: We reject sending Arab or joint forces to Gaza i24
Egypt Receives Additional USD 5 Billion Funding from the IMF Egyptian Streets
Egypt seeks border security support from US amid Gaza negotiations POLITICO
***
Israeli F-16s Provide Close Air Support to Turkish-Sponsored Jihadists in Syria’s Aleppo Military Watch
Turkey’s opposition claims victory in Istanbul, Ankara in blow to Erdogan Al Jazeera
European Disunion
Academic Freedom Dies Not With a Bang, But a Whimper The Left Berlin
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia Seeks Extradition of Ukraine Security Service Head; Ukraine Rejects Demand Reuters
Rus Missile Strike, Tsirkon, 3rd Town Falling, Ukr Troops Bombed, Huge Losses; Neocons Unlimited War Alexander Mercouris (video)
ARE UKRAINE AND NATO WAITING IN VAIN FOR A RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE? Larry Johnson
***
Worthy Use of NASA Budget: Mars Program Technology Found in Ukrainian Drones Sputnik
Debt alert for Italy if NATO rearmament race is on – Moody’s Ansa
Sanctions on Russian diamonds see traders flee Antwerp for Dubai bne Intellinews
The Extension of Geopolitical Rivalries to the South Caucasus Threatens Regional Peace and Security Modern Diplomacy
South of the Border
60 years since coup, Brazilians call on US to declassify its role Responsible Statecraft
Spook Country
Secret CIA Presence on January 6th Confirmed Kit Klarenberg, Active Measures
2024
Trump vs. Biden Polls: Joe Has Finally Stopped the Bleeding New York Magazine
The Memo: Biden faces new moment of truth as Israel presses in on Rafah The Hill
GOP Clown Car
Ukraine aid likely to spark mutiny against Speaker Johnson, could force him out, GOP rep says New York Post
GOP congressman tempers ‘Nagasaki and Hiroshima’ comments on Gaza: ‘I used a metaphor’ POLITICO
Our Famously Free Press
Chevron owns this city’s news site. Many stories aren’t told. Floodlight
AI
Artificial Intelligence – Magic Money Tree Richard Windsor, Radio Free Mobile
Something in Your Eyes May Reveal if You’re at Risk of Early Death Science Alert
A Digital Twin Might Just Save Your Life NOEMA
Police State Watch
Prison Phone Companies Involved in Scheme to Ban In-Person Jail Visits, Lawsuit Says Gizmodo
Forced Labor vs. Forced Idleness Dollars & Sense
Groves of Academe
Should Higher Education Ratify Privilege or Public Service? Law and Political Economy Project
Class Warfare
Liz Shuler Wants AI to Reinvigorate the Labor Movement POLITICO
Sports Desk
Zeitgeist Watch
Floating Board From ‘Titanic’ Sells for Over $700,000 Smithsonian Magazine
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
180 comments
Comments are closed.
The owl in today’s Antidote du jour. Is it….is it wearing scale armour? Man, nature really is metal.
I actually thought it was just a branch when I glanced at the thumbnail…
Zoom out just a little and it would be almost impossible to tell.
When I compare the sharpness of the owl to the branch it is sitting go, my conclusion is the owl demonstrates a sharpening filter used enthusiastically if unwisely.
…or depth of field and a small aperture. If you look, the owl is sitting behind the branch, not on it.
The owl’s foot is also out of focus. A legit photo IMO.
Here’s a pic of another one:
https://www.thainationalparks.com/species/mountain-scops-owl
Plus the photographer choosing to focus on the face,
as is customary.
I think I see two blurry claws on the branch itself.
That’s an African Scops Owl. Unless uncle google is playing me an April fool
According to the ‘via’ link, it is a Scops Owl-
https://twitter.com/PazyBirds/status/1762852188265865326
Never seen an armoured owl before though.
An internet search produces several photos of this particular species of owl, and they bare a similarity to the one in this photograph, however I really believe this photograph has been digitally altered and enhanced. But, incredibly, this is not the most important news of the day…
Re: “Israeli F-16s Provide Close Air Support to Turkish-Sponsored Jihadists in Syria’s Aleppo”
I wonder if 1 reason the US gov cannot withdraw support for Israel is their decade plus long shared project to use “moderate rebels” (AQ) and later ISIS in Syria. I would guess that Israel has a lot of proof of some very dirty deeds.
“OK you can stop weapons transfers to us, but we will release proof of you funding and training ISIS” would destroy what is left of the US government reputation at home and abroad
Now that we have ‘ISIS (Special) K’ I’m anticipating ‘ISIS Generation X’ and ‘ISIS: The Millennials’ and maybe ‘ISIS: The Woke Vegans’ guaranteed to be carbon use compliant.
I miss the good’ole days when you could just go to YouTube and watch the West make commercials of White Helmets moving Styrofoam rocks and painting blood and dirt on victims that Assad gassed then yelling out “ACTION” for the video recording crew.
The White Helmets kinda busted themselves when they took part in the popular “mannequin challenge” a coupla years ago-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y722iojyFVs (54 secs)
But is it too late to re-badge the Israeli Air Force as the ISIS Air Force?
In 2013 lucky Brits got “Saving Syria’s Children” an episode of Panorama (the premium BBC documentary series).
The filmmakers just happened to be present to see the aftermath of a “regime chemical weapon attack” and capture it for the nation’s edification.
Judge it’s veracity for yourselves; I certainly did. It was the point I fully gave up on the BBC.
https://archive.org/embed/BBCPanoramaSavingSyriasChildren (from 31.08)
(Hope it’s ok to link it here)
Then there was the female reporter who sniffed a bag to determine if there was lethal chemicals present-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mydfue-vF90 (8:17 mins) – about 3:14 mins in.
That CNN reporter – Arwa Damon – is the daughter of granddaughter of a Syrian official if I recall correctly. And she got a journalism award for her performance-
https://twitter.com/jimmy_dore/status/1233773553561919488?lang=en
It’s one reason but I think the rabbit hole goes a lot deeper. Israel is in the center of a lot of dodgy finance, arms trafficking, and dubious pharma stuff. Epstein was certainly not the only one running sexual blackmail operation for Israel.
And there are probably other less visible operations that compromise our political and corporate class in other areas such as white collar crimes. How do our congresscritters all become so immensely wealthy and good stock pickers after they get into public office?
As i understand it, insider trading is effectively legal for congresscritters.
All they risk is a token fine if they fail to divulge their trades within 30 days.
I am thinking more in the line if Hillary Clinton’s amazing commodities trading acumen. I’m not sure that just frontrunning would give them such great results.
Then again, neither that nor the Clinton Foundation’s graft on Haiti or the private email servers land anybody but Julian Assange in prison. 🤷. Compare that to the chicken scratch fake scandals that sunk John Edwards or Elliot Spitzer.
Mock mammary manhandling did in Al Franken, he too.
Don’t forget Bob Livingston, who was also deleted from the scene by the foibles of his marital infelicities.
See: https: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-impeachment/livingston-quits-speaker-designate/
And Garrison Keillor, who never got a day in court despite female members of his staff vouching for him.
Don’t forget Kevin Spacey who had a few days in court, all ending in his innocence. None of it made any difference.
“OK you can stop weapons transfers to us, but we will release proof of you funding and training ISIS” would destroy what is left of the US government reputation at home and abroad
Mother Russia would like a piece of that action– hot off the RT press:
Russian investigators to probe US for terror
A complaint filed by lawmakers last week was deemed credible enough for a formal inquiry
https://www.rt.com/russia/595222-russian-investigators-probe-us-terrorism/
Say it ain’t so, Genocide Joe…
Of course, Israel was all in favor of this at the time. Still is, for that matter.
The article on “clean iron” is 100% delusional (self promotional) and again illustrates the fallacy that technology will bail us out of climate change without changing what we are doing.
First, it starts with mined ore. The process of mining and transporting ore is inherently hydrocarbon intensive. Big so what, you reduced (no pun intended in that steelmaking is a reduction process) the amount of CO2 to make usable iron.
Second, and more importantly is scale. In 2022, the most recent year for full data, the world produced 1.9 billion tonnes of crude steel. There is no possible way to replace the production infrastructure that makes this quantity in any period of time that will curtail CO2 emissions.
You hit on something I want to emphasize: transportation. In analyses of the carbon emissions of a building from cradle (raw material extraction) to gate (building completion and operation), one of the biggest contributors to emissions is the transport of the raw material to the production facilities and from there to the jobsite. It’s one of the reasons cross-laminated timber hasn’t taken off until recently even though the technology has existed for decades – there were very few CLT plants in North America in the 2000s, and the cost (in dollars, not to mention the environmental cost) of transportation to the east coast outweighed the benefits. While considering CLT for a building in Philadelphia many years ago, I had to scrap the idea since the closest plant that could produce at the scale we needed was in Vancouver.
Long story short, the decarbonization of every industry will rely on the decarbonization of transportation to some extent.
Are you saying then that if every industry concentrated on the decarbonization of transportation, that most of the other efforts of decarbonization might fall into place as most stuff would be localized production-wise?
Not necessarily. I think there are a few competing visions of decarbonization: one camp seeks to keep global trade/production arrangements more or less as they are but reduce emissions by decarbonizing those processes through new technology. The other advocates for reducing emissions by re-arranging our infrastructure / lifestyles to reduce the amount of new materials produced / reduce distance travelled. A good microcosm is the debate over electric vehicles – should we keep our suburban American lifestyle but reduce emissions through electrification, or arrange our lives so we don’t have to rely on cars at all? To be honest, I see the former camp winning out long term – their ideology is compatible with the global capitalist system.
See “carbon credits”. Problem solved! And that is sarcasm.
No no, I am starting
up a new venture, Honest Randall’s carbon credits. You can trust us, we’re not like the rest.
First thing in setting this business up, donate to the proper politicians and regulators.
Fist things up are grant applications and a budget featuring bloated administrative salaries. I’m thinking I could run your new enterprise’s back office.
Sounds good. And don’t forget we need a fall guy. Or gal. No sexism allowed. Oh, and should we think about being an NGO?
Absolutely. A foundation. I’ll reach out to the Clinton’s for advice.
I agree. I work (as a sociologist) in a circular construction economy project, with a number of pilots (www.recreate-project.eu). Logistics is included, but compared to the total CO2-impact of concrete is almost negligible. Also transporting dismantled concrete is a relatively small part of emissions, as the deconstruction is the most intensive in this context.
But I agree that the localization of production is very important, but not necessarily possible (given all inputs).
One personal quibble with LCA-measurements is that transport of the workforce to place of work is usually not taken into account. Yet, most driving to and fro is related to work.
…and workers at a steel plant probably don’t have the option of working from home.
This exactly.
Well they could always set up barracks on the premises.
Company towns used to be a thing as well best i recall.
this is what i’ve been saying. in the us specifically, much of our industrial transportation is done by tractor trailers despite them being vastly inefficient and environmentally toxic compared to trains. but we do not have functional rail because four companies (bnsf, csx, norfolk southern, and union pacific) have a monopoly over the rail and then purposefully run bad service so they can give more money to shareholders. it is an issue that has been covered extensively because it is so bad. not to mention the jones act crippling merchant mariners in the us. and large trucks cause more damage to roads for obvious reasons, causing for more money to be put towards toad maintenance, it is this horrible cycle.
i do think nationalizing rail would solve some of these issues.
While reading that Green Steel article I was tempted to give Bill Gates a tiny bit of redemption, but then I read the article on the proposed $100B super computer AI data center that Microsoft and Open AI are planning to build that will likely need it’s own nuclear reactor to power. The one hand givith and the other shovels away.
Think of it more as…
‘Bill’s Great Leap Forward’
I really hope that Bill the Epstein paedophile Gates is leaping forward in canyons like Coyote Wiley. Bill the Epstein paedophile Gates is allowed to stay forever inthe ground though after landing.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wRSHzenjiNA&pp=ygUWQmVzdCBwZiBjb3lvdGUgZmFsbGluZw%3D%3D
And here I was thinking you meant Bill the Epstein paedophile Clinton.
Bill the Epstein paedophile Clinton and the Bill the Epstein paedophile Gates could hold their hands and leap forward together? Anyone they could drag down in the fall so we see seven flies at one leap?
“We will correct our mistakes and redress our shortcomings,” Erdogan said in a speech from the balcony of the presidential palace. Whoever heard an American politician make a promise like THAT?
Here’s a little bit about the victor in the Turkish elections:
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/imamoglu-turkish-mayor-following-erdogans-footsteps-2024-03-31/
He’s secular, which in my book is a big plus.
Erdogan is helping the US get weapons to Israel. A big minus in my book.
‘Square profile picture
7NEWS Melbourne
@7NewsMelbourne
Victorian children as young as eight-years-old are being diagnosed with long Covid.
Health experts warn it’s becoming more common, putting further pressure on the state’s health system’
I should point out that Channel 7 news was all in favour of opening the country up again and ‘learning to live with the virus.’ All the media outlets were. They criticized the lockdowns because of small businesses they said. When wearing masks was no longer required, they gleefully showed cafe workers taking them off and throwing them away. The idea was not make everything look normal again and get people to forget that there was a Pandemic going on. As Tony Stark said ‘Not a great plan.’
Re: Tim Walberg. May I offer a different Final Solution? Am I allowed to say this? Just bulldoze the Temple Mount (Western/Wailing Wall, Al-Aqsa, etc.) and put up a Walmart. Put an end to this endless dispute over real estate. Take the holiness out of the Holy Land.
Hmmm. Tell me more. Maybe sell it to Disney and turn it into a theme park. Step right up and purchase your deep religious conviction here! All denominations on offer! Given a long enough timeline, we’ll probably get there.
No, just relocate It. More authentic than that run down place they have now. You’ll need a big parking lot, close to an airport, and a public private partnership to manage the hotel and gift shop.
And the concession stands. Bibi’s BBQ baby. Apologies to all. I seem to have woken up bitter, angry and confused. Again.
Why not shift Wall and Mosque to Vatican City, fence the place off and let the Abrahamics fight it out without bothering us.
This being April 1, I assume this is a Swiftian suggestion.
Still, I will point out that various religions had lived in peace in the Levant before Zionism spearheaded by Christians and no believing Jews, imposed themselves on the Holy Lands. The conflict in Israel/Palestine has very little too do with traditional Judaism and very much to do with European style settler colonialism. Desecrating the third holiest site in Islam doesn’t solve the problem that Palestinians are at best second class citizens in the land of their ancestors. Nor the draw of Gaza offshore gas or beautiful Gazan beaches.
I have my own suggestion. Let’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki NYC and DC… metaphorically.
Heh heh, good morning Emma. This world has gone starkers, and I have been reduced to dark humor, cynicism and marijuana to simply not go insane. My comment is admittedly in poor taste, yet sadly I’ll stand by that last sentence.
The Palestinians and their supporters (who risk brutality, arrest, and doxing in their solidarity active) haven’t given up hope yet. What right do we have to give up hope?
True. Like black humor and weed, it tempers the reality of our surroundings. Carry on!
Heh, a temple of mammon. Glorious.
A less “robust” idea than my suggestion that Jerusalem be nuked.
There was a second Temple, at Aswan in Egypt.
See: https://thecompletepilgrim.com/elephantine-temple/
Why nuke other places? Nukes start at home.
“Worthy Use of NASA Budget: Mars Program Technology Found in Ukrainian Drones”
Maybe NASA needs a new motto. How about this one-
‘We aim for the stars, but we keep on hitting the Ukraine.’
Just in passing, has anybody seen the latest bunch of Ukrainian soldiers on their way to the front?
https://twitter.com/narrative_hole/status/1773719051736420756
Didn’t Hitler try something like this in 1945?
War is a human sickness.
Please tell me this is just a disgusting April Fools joke for those of us in the USA.
And if this is true, would it be a war crime if Russia absolutely annihilated every, single, decision making center and government official possible in Ukraine in order to further protect kids from being sent anywhere near the war fronts?
If true, I would be interested in hearing a response about this from the MSM, any Ukraine war supporter, you name it…
Go go R2P!
OMG…. the world has gone mad…they are sending children into battle.
Well, the West did say that they would fight Russia to the last Ukranian.
The sighting of pregnant women in uniform at the front is alleged too.
I tried to find video relating to this and almost all of the clips ‘suggested’ by YouTube are Radio Free Europe or Voice of America styled pro Ukraine propaganda. I wonder why that should be so? Hmmm… Something about ‘shaping’ the Narrative Battlefield no doubt.
Try and think of them as Zelenskyugend, not accessories to a crime.
Oh Saint Marx forgive me, but, not the dreaded Epstein Brigade?
“Frictionlass payments” are just another word for “no cash”. Amusement parks and sports venues are all going this way because you will spend more if you use a credit or debit card. And very few will boycott.
Gooooooooooood Mooooooooorning Fiatnam!
Take me out to the ballgame
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack
Via frictionless payment hack
I don’t need any cash back
So let’s root, root, root for the home team
If they don’t win, it’s a shame
For it’s one where using currency is like three strikes, you’re out
At the old ball game
Play ball!
C’mon Wuk! It’s hard to make change with a surge pricing strategy.
I worked for a large coin & bullion firm in LA and the owner had 4 season tix about 50 rows behind home plate and I probably went to 30 games in the magical 1988 season, and the highlight of every game was when Roger Owens was on the mound, er in the stands @ Dodger Stadium…
It really didn’t matter what was transpiring on the field as Roger went into his windup-the crowd transfixed by his uncanny ability to throw 2 bags of goobers behind his back 15 rows down and 7 over from your seat, with amazing accuracy.
It wasn’t that Roger didn’t trust you with payment, but it was customary to spread the cash towards him in a circuitous manner where maybe half a dozen fans acted as intermediaries-go betweens if you will.
Roger Owens Peanut Man on KCAL 9 News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7joXJm5QZK4
Don’t many states have laws making servers responsible for drunks on the road home?
I thought the majority of US states had laws. How are they not in effect? Is this yet another special deal for stadiums?
I will boycott…but then I boycott everything, I just stay home. When I do venture out I pay mostly in cash.
“World’s first green steel plant backed by Bill Gates, Amazon opens in Colorado”
As an engineer the technology described is interesting to me, but I have questions about just how competitive their electrochemical refinement process is compared to traditional blast furnace. For widespread adoption of such a technology it will either have to be cost-competitive with traditional production, incentivized/required by the state, or clients must be willing to pay the premium for the “green” prestige of their buildings. Also, their emission-reduction claims are a little exaggerated. I can only speak to the construction industry, but according to the American Institute of Steel Construction the average new piece of structural steel contains 93% recycled steel (at least in the US). So Electra is really claiming to decarbonize the production of the remaining 7%. Maybe things are different in the marine/aerospace industries. Does that really represent a “trillion dollar market opportunity?” I’ll leave that up to the finance-minded, I’m woefully illiterate in that department.
See my comment above. But the world produces 1.9 billion tonnes (metric) per year. In aggregate, about 30% is from scrap, i.e., recycled steel. There is no way this new technology can have any meaningful impact for decades.
I haven’t read the complete article about the Congressman making Nagasaki and Hiroshima comments, but I have read the most recent comments to Yves’ Draft UN Report Finds Israel Has Met The Threshold For Genocide of March 26th. One of the two from this morning by the same poster is an accusation of whitewashing Hamas’s actions to condemn Israel. Their analogy is the museum in Hiroshima leaving out everything awful Japan ever did. Justification for Israel’s actions and American support is getting so limited and weak that using an action that most other Americans now consider beyond the pale is all they have got.
It may reek to the skies, but this is now a talking point and is going to be more common. And for the record, if it gets any traction I fully expect it won’t jut be GOP but Democratic politicians using some tweaked version of it.
I always find it a pleasure to read a David Bentley Hart essay; it was a pleasant surprise today to encounter him, seemingly channeling Michael Hudson, in the linked Jacobin item.
———
I have the impression that Hart is well-regarded for the style as well as the conceptual force of his argumentation; of course, there are loads of people who don’t like the conclusions toward which he argues. Here’s an oldie-but-goodie of his that is not directly relevant to political economy, but it’s there in the background (literally and figuratively, the utility of the threat of terrible post-mortem punishments as a tool for the maintenance of order having been recognized anciently, back when the Empire was still undivided).
Thanks for the recommendation of this article from today’s Links. Though his subject was familiar, I don’t believe I’ve read anything by this author before and it was a pleasure to do so.
Yes, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and bookmarked this piece, and thank you for the link to his other work. I’ve always thought Marxism was a distillation of early Christian concepts but it’s also true that almost every major world religion has some variation of this theme of wealth being destructive and immoral. Where did Marx, a historian, get his ideas from if not from studying the early history of Christianity/Judaism (which would have been inseparable, really) has always been something I’ve wondered about. I would argue this piece lays out numerous points of similarity.
Exclusive: Startup Plans Largest Ocean Geoengineering Plant I’m of a mind that these will never scale, but that doesn’t matter because there’s cash to be made. From the text, opening sentence refers to the projected 500 tonnes of co2 removed annually.
While that’s literally a drop in the ocean compared to the more than 2.5 trillion tonnes of excess carbon dioxide that humanity has released into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, it’s five times the capacity of the largest marine CDR experiments to date. Ebb is currently testing a 100-tonne system at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in nearby Sequim, while rival startups Captura and Equatic have similarly sized electrochemical plants at the Port of Los Angeles in California. All plan to sell, or have already presold, carbon-removal credits from future facilities.
I know I’m bitter and a cynic, but sniffing out profit making schemes off of the “carbon removal credits” policy isn’t going to solve anything.
“Crazed CEOs Adding AI to Home Appliances”
An AI in every appliance? Sure, why not. I see Nike has come out with a pair of smart shoes that require software updates and charging on a matt. Maybe they will get an AI as well. At this stage I am waiting for the formation of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation who will announce that each of their AI’s will have what is called “Genuine People Personalities.” It’ll be great. Just the doors will be fun as when they close behind you, they will do so with a sigh of contentment. But then again, Silicon Valley being Silicon Valley, I would expect that more than a few of the AI’s personalities will be based on the personalities of the developers. What could possibly go wrong? If you send out an inappropriate tweet, perhaps your fridge will lock itself for 24 hours to teach you a lesson. Maybe your microwave will start demanding the latest upgrade and your meal can wait. As you open up your cupboards. the doors will tell you the latest specials on sale near you. Maybe the AIs might get into fights with each other and you will have to sort it out. At the end of the day it would be like living in a household full of noisy, opinionated teenagers telling you what you can and can’t do and you will look forward to going to work each day for a bit of peace and quiet-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn3Vv6VYdxw (15 secs)
Remember that tweet storm from a couple years back concerning an IT professional, a “smart” kettle, and the cup of tea that took half a day to make?
I remember it very well. He filled his home with all the latest tech gadgets. And even though the guy was an IT professional, he spent the entire day trying to make the damn thing work. I think that in the end he had to boil a pot of water to make tea with. And just to add insult to injury, when he and his wife sat down to dinner, the lights went out plunging them into darkness as they were doing a software update.
Who here predicted that “The Wrong Trousers” would become a cautionary tale?
hahahaha. Damnit I’ve coffee dripping out my nose. Spot on.
The lie is that this kind of tech will be enhancing.
And it is…for people with disabilities.
But now people don’t seem to believe that “use it or lose it” has any bearing on their reality in any way.
Could be worse, could be your replicator is on drugs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_Jerusalem
I haven’t read the piece but have already run into AI’s doing stuff like this. My Apple watch recognizes where I’m going while I’m driving, correctly guesses my destinations in fact, and suggests the best routes to get there based on current traffic – and gives me an ETA. And just yesterday I was walking in an unfamiliar park and when I opened Google maps on my iPhone to check the trails, realized it had marked on the map where I had parked my car.
The second actually was helpful as I was in a neighbourhood I didn’t know, wouldn’t have been able to (easily) make out where I was in relation to my car.
There is a downside to this, however. I’m very good at visual navigation and sense of direction but I can see people losing that skill as they come to depend on their watches and phones. It’s like when they added ABS and GVC to cars to ease the sensation of g-forces in turns and under/over acceleration, now we’ve got a generation of kids who don’t ease into stops or slow down around turns, they can’t even physically feel why they should.
Edited to add: This last may also be contributing to luxury car drivers being a**hole drivers in the first place.
Let’s tell them all, “Go stick your head in a pig.”
Somehow the Zionist Entity still manages to invent new ways of enacting massacres and horrors. The news from Al-Shifa hospital are frankly unspeakable. Does anyone still remember the whole “discussion” about how a bomb from Israel had hit a hospital and there was 24/7 hasbara trying to pretend it was somehow a Hamas rocket? Do we not have the retroactive proof that yes, everything that these scum have been accused of is in fact real? These monsters and begetters of evil will pay.
As for developments, one should keep an eye for protests on Jordan. It seems like things might heat up fast, and once the dam breaks we’re going to see a very different reality, I suspect.
The PLA is under fire now too. The west bank might open up a new front.
Jeffrey Sachs on twtr.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs on Russian TV: “It’s part of the U.S. long-term strategy dating back to the late 1970s to pay and arm jihadists to attack Russia… This is Biden’s war… He’s been at this for a long time. He was a proponent of NATO enlargement for decades. He is pushing this against the will of the American people.”
https://twitter.com/upholdreality/status/1774186219703869896
That’s a good clip that, Flora. I wonder if the history books that will be coming out will call it “Biden’s War.” It does has a ring to it and more than an element of truthfulness. Biden is so emotionally involved in the Ukraine and perhaps he thought that a Ukrainian victory was going to be his own personal legacy.
I think it’s too easy to blame just Joey Genocide. It’s a full blob project, including the fraternal blob in the UK (who are even more pro the war than the US), and subsidiary blobs (bloblets?) in the new generation of Atlantic-Council-sounding types running Europe.
If Joe drops dead tomorrow, do you think it would stop?
Without irony, we’ve always been at war with Eurasia. Just the method changes.
Not in any way disagreeing with your depiction of Biden though
MV Dali is a very good metaphor the American empire under Joe Biden, with the two blackouts representing Ukraine and Gaza. Is direct war with China or Iran next?
“Biden’s Folly?”
Joey’s just BiBiden his time…
Talkin bout my cash g-g-generation!
SNORT—Thanks Ambrit
“Here comes Uncle Joey to guide you to, your very own Machine.”
If The Who had written “Welcome to the Machine.”
Alas, no, Americus Maximus, I am not entertained.
About long C and C. Seems like increasing Vit. D intake to get one’s D levels up to a good level would help one’s immune system. Yet, I never see anything about the importance of Vit. D for immune system functioning coming from the prestigious unis or trusts, from the CDC, and certainly not from pharma. odd.
‘Tis a mystery! Hard to get a patent on fish oil. I take it every day.
Good morning f.
The US vitamin D requirements with specifics on 2 and 3 went up a few years ago and at the same time well-woman exams started having a focus on Ds.
If you’re getting major medical care from Walgreens and the ER, those blood tests are probably not available.
I don’t have any idea what percentage of the US population can get annual exam but surely not enough. (A cousin works in an “underserved” population. Grim.)
Anthony “I am science” Fauci himself actually mentioned the immune-boosting benefits of Vitamin D supplements at least once in public — in an Instagram interview about Covid with actress Jennifer Garner back in 2020:
Guess he figured that one mention was enough to get the word out.
I had been taking 10,000 iu vitamin D religiously for some years before the pandemic and still have had COVID multiple times. It might be the reason I didn’t get more ill, but it’s no silver bullet.
The early vitamin d study on Israeli orthodox pops and smokers indicated the location of vitamin d production in the body mattered as orthodox who took vitamin d supplements were still getting COVID but smokers weren’t.
I have had C once, and the next time could be a death sentence for this geezer. Thursday I had a visit from two family members from Denmark. I asked them to take C tests. He was happy to…tested neg…she refused to. It was against her principals. I tried to explain to her that it was my health we were talking about not her principles. She said I should take 1,000 iu’s of vitamin D (which i do anyway). Well, we went round and round and then went to bed. So, I blasted myself with povidone-iodine infused nasal spray and Ivermectine.
In the morning we went round the block again, and she told me we were losing our sovereignty. I told her it was not about sovereignty, it was about family, and she needed to assist me in my endeavor to have a quality of life a bit longer.
Anyway, I told her to pack up her principles and her bags after breakfast be on her way. Complete bummer.
I’ve had a similar experience and have to confess great difficulty in understanding this mentality of not wanting to try to keep someone healthy. I’ve tried to see it from their perspective and just don’t get it. You may not believe the test, you may not believe in covid, but if it’s important to someone who might weak or ill, especially someone you care about, and there is really no impact to your life – why the staunch refusal?
The tests are not all that accurate; they miss a lot of cases. In that sort of circumstance I wear an N95 since then I know that I am reasonably safe. I have gone out to dinner with relatives and I haven’t eaten since I wore a mask instead (plus Xlear and a claritin and an AirTamer). And I’ve worn the mask around them outside, too. Even though I hadn’t seen them in years. I’m not saying that you were wrong to ask, and testing is better than nothing, but an N95 is really very good.
Ouch. It’s not related to one of the links today, but I think I just found the clearest summary as to why people are dissatisfied with today’s economy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Wages_in_the_United_States.webp
Well now. I imagine, assuming the inflation figures used are the “official” gov numbers, that this chart understates your observation.
Do not confuse Bideneconomicons with facts, they already know what they think.
Also, the life of the deplorables is not to be mentioned among the polite Bideneconomicons. It is not comme-il-faut. Therefore it does not exist. Please, retract your comment, apologize for the hurt feelings and come up with a way to blame the common people for their misery.
Productivity vs income: https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
Caitlin Johnstone
Israel’s Savage Destruction Of Gaza’s Healthcare System Is Exactly What It Looks Like
There’s more, with many links.
If Israel wants diseases like typhoid and cholera to spread to reduce the Palestinian population, then the healthcare system simply had to go.
The fact that so few have died from disease and starvation so far, and most of those who did appear to be infants or have chronic illnesses, is a testament to how good the Gaza civil support system is still functioning even under unbearable strain.
Electronic Intifada videos talk about people planning their day around using the communal toilets with hours long queues. That’s what’s preventing massive disease outbreak in the crowded Rafah camps. Wherever IDF withdraws as they did with Al Shifa, there are immediately videos of crowds of people coming in to dig out and collect their loved ones for burial.
It’s incomprehensible how Jewish leaders, who have (rightfully) been pointing to the Nazis as history’s most vicious atrocity-mongers for the lifespan of everyone now alive, seem hell-bent on doing everything they can think of to take over the title.
An entire generation of the world’s population will look back to the 2020s Holocaust of the Palestinians, set up new foundations and Museums of Tolerance, and (rightfully) take up the slogan “never again”.
It’s both horrifying and depressing.
Their communication about the Holocaust was always bad faith, since it doesn’t mention the very many genocides that occurred before 1939 or Israel’s crimes against humanity less than 3 years after the end of war in Europe.
Or that Zionism collaborated with Nazis and other antisemites in the first four decades of the twentieth century to get their settler state going.
Or that Israel intentionally perpetrated terror acts in neighboring Arab states to force Arab Jews to emigrate to Israel. So they could get their demographic majority over the remaining “Arabs”.
It was always a crime scene. Most of us just didn’t notice because MSM was so good with burying it under Holocaust guilt and the “it’s complicated” narrative.
Never mind that Nazis went after more than just the jews. Just about anyone with a disability was targeted. And the slavs were to be worked to death.
But the Zionists had British politics on their side…
It’s even stranger when you consider it’s against Pikuach Nefesh, the central Jewish tenet that life is holy, sacred, and belongs to god. I don’t understand how this genocide is not a direct attack on god.
Further, Mishnah and Talmud differentiate murder (unlawful killing) and self-defense with reference to proportionality, imminent threat, and there being no other options (e.g. last resort), but this atrocity woefully fails on these points. What’s going on?
And what about Sameach B’Chelko, the prohibition around coveting and scheming to acquire others property?
And how having a prime minister of a Jewish state, is that not having a king before god, as warned against in 1 Samuel 8?
Everything about Israel and Zionism goes against what I thought I knew, understood, and valued about Judaism. Did Judaism die in the holocaust, I wonder? Has it been lost?
Shakespeare had a line about this, but the priest class usually serves power. This is all that is going on.
There is a reason Jefferson got rid of this nonsense.
Shakespeare had a line about this, but the priest class usually serves power…
[ Please tell the play and character in question, if recalled.
Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet? But, if so, why?
I am puzzled. ]
Fascinating questions, no matter whether answers immediately or for quite a while come. I am grateful for the questions.
“Fascinating questions…”
Meant to respond to the questions of Es s Ce Tera.
By burning down to a crisp the hospital and the medical equipment, Israel has invalidated the claim that it was after the Hamas fighters. If you bomb and shoot people, the level of destruction is far smaller. Looking at videoclips inside the al Shaifa hospital it looks like they used accelerants. It seems that that was the goal, not Hamas.
Pump
Sung to the tune of, “Jump” by Van Halen
I go up
And nothin’ sends me down
Bears got it tough
I’ve shamed the toughest around
And I know, baby, just how you feel
You got to suck in dumb money
Cause nothin’ here’s real
Ah can’t you see me standin’ here?
I’m gonna jack the Dow with AI machines
Could be the worst that you’ve seen
The Fed can’t print gasoline
Ah, might as well pump – pump!
Might as well pump – pump!
Go ahead, pump
Wait for the dump
hello, hey you?
Who said that?
2007, how you been?
I said you won’t know
You won’t know until bank runs begin
Ah can’t you see me standin’ here?
I’m gonna jack the Dow with AI machines
Could be the worst that you’ve seen
Uh can’t you see what I mean?
Ah, might as well pump – pump!
Go ahead, pump
Might as well pump – pump!
Wait for the dump
Pump!
Might as well pump
Go ahead, pump
Print some more, pump
Pump!
Hat tip from a once upon a time Van Halen fan.
Super groovy, that!
I’ve been on tenterhooks
Ending in dirty looks
List’ning to Dow Jonestown
Thinking ’bout this ‘n’ that
They said that’s that
I don’t wanna chitter-chat
Turn it up a little bit
Or run it up just like dat
Pump it up when you really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it
Down in the pleasure center
Hell bent or heaven sent
Listen to the propaganda
Listen to the latest banter
There’s nothing underhand
That the market wouldn’t understand
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you really need it
Wall*Street has been a bad actor
It’s a 1929 reenactor
Though you try to stop it
Profit is like a narcotic
You wanna torture losses
You wanna talk to lower Manhattan bosses
All the things you thought crazy for sure
Putting up with the financial cure
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you really need it
Out on the trading floor
Down in the bargain bin
You put your money out
Under the 401k pressure pin
Fall into submission
Hit-and-run AI transaction
No use wishing now for any other win
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you really need it
Pump It Up, by Elvis Costello & the Attractions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y71iDvCYXA
Nice … several Elliott wave chicken entrail chart renderers I follow say that this is the last gasp here, and we’re facing a very long bear market. Of course, take with a large grain of salt.
From my backseat I say watch the long-term bond market, it’s the only one capable of calling the cops and hauling the Manhattan bosses off to jail in the paddy wagon.
Taibbi’s latest. no paywall. / ;)
Rules on Comments
An issue of importance.
https://www.racket.news/p/rules-on-comments
> Taibbi’s rules on comments
Comments on Racket News are, as it were, pre-filtered. There is in fact a policy:
I think if comments Racket News were completely open to the entire Internet without exception, Taibbi’s views on moderation might change.
“Egyptian official: We reject sending Arab or joint forces to Gaza’
Which country would want to send a force to police Gaza? If I was an Egyptian soldier, for example, on patrol there I would not be worried about being attacked by Hamas much. What I would be worried about is being attacked by the Israelis. They seem to have no problem attacking UN troops from time to time so I am sure that it would happen that they would attack those Arab contingents and then exclaim later “Oopsies!” Or maybe they will attack an Arab force and then claim that it was Hamas that did it in a false flag operation. There is zero faith or trust in Israel so no country will want to risk their soldiers on behalf of what exactly? Netanyahu? The ultra-Orthodox settlers?
Gaza and Egypt share a short border in southern Gaza. Will someone explain to me why food, water and aid is not coming across this shared border by people just driving trucks up? Is Egypt blocking this? Then they are in alliance with the IDF. Does the IDF control the border, the Philadelphia strip, shutting down transfer? Then why is Hamas not fighting grimly to open it? Or is Hamas doing so and no-one in the press, including the alternative press, is reporting on this? Thank you. This is the dog that is not barking in the night.
All aid transiting the southern border must pass through an Israeli checkpoint. Each and every truck carrying aid is inspected by the IDF in its entirety, slowly and meticulously. If the inspection finds a single item which could benefit Hamas (by some stretch of the imagination), the whole truckload is rejected. There is effectively a quota system as well.
The same controls will be in place when Sloppy Joe’s jetty is in operation. Probably not for outbound human cargos, though…
So why is not Hamas trying to destroy this checkpoint? Or is it?
I suspect it’s because that’s not the sort of war that Hamas is fighting. As an inexpert observer relying on (almost certainly biased) internet news sources, I believe the main reason is that Hamas relies on “shoot and scoot” guerrilla tactics, and would fare badly in any head-on assault.
Yep. Supposedly it is part of some “aid” deal USA has going…
Not only does the IDF impede the import of aid, everyday Israeli citizens are all in on blocking it as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMjB4y32mXM
Larry Wilkerson, gloves off, offering a critique of US foreign policy for the last 40 years. Larry gives a lecture and there’s a Q and A after some singing (not Larry) and some other announcements. Excellent. Larry clearly has regrets about the role he played in the Iraq war.
https://www.youtube.com/live/mw0T4clo2Ys?si=lu14GV28SV2jQKcP
“Ukraine aid likely to spark mutiny against Speaker Johnson, could force him out, GOP rep says”
Imagine if Speaker Mike Johnson goes to the mat over that $61 billion to the Ukraine and ends up losing his job as Speaker. Will he ask himself later ‘Did I just throw my Speakership away for Zelensky of all people?’
Johnson’s not long for the world, and as long as Israel gets all it wants, that’s all that matters in the nutty world of ‘doomer vs doomer’ that is evangs and like minded Likuds, both consumed in making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Hmmm….
Build a big warehouse in Gaza and call it a ‘Prophecy Fulfilment Centre?’
Oh, silly me. There already is a plan to build it on the Temple Mount.
It won’t be $61B, for starters, that died back in March.
Johnson apparently wants the House to write its’ own bill, with some yet to be determined funding mechanism, maybe a loan, maybe confiscating stolen Russian assets (problem: there ain’t much there in the US, it’s all in European banks.)
What that means on a practical level is it will have to go through regular order, and also back to the Senate. Which means more delay, and more time for Marjorie to pull the trigger and send Johnson to the graveyard with Kevin.
Someone from the Pentagon, Langley and/or Foggy Bottom has doubtless made it clear to Johnson that fun time is over, and that he’d best now come to heel.
The Zelensky Curse claims another elected official! h/t Alex Christoforou
> Trump vs. Biden Polls: Joe Has Finally Stopped the Bleeding
How much of the Biden boost is due to the huge student loan write-offs? Buying back the youth vote at a huge cost to US budget.
I wouldn’t get to caught up in causality. These days polls are as reputable as the MSM behind them. The polls themselves should receive the critical eye, their results likely to be expectations management going into an election that will be determined by who can cheat the best. Pass the popcorn.
Biden’s student loan forgiveness is a tiny fraction of what people owe, which is over $1 trillion.
I guess you have a lot of sympathy for usurious loan programs?
No. The higher education institutions should bare the cost of the forgiveness. As per Taleb, there needs to be ‘skin in the game’. A lot of the ‘problem debts’ come from study at for-profit institutions.
How Gen Z is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation (WSJ, free at archive.ph)
I was for a time quite disappointed and worried about my son’s viability as a self-supporting economic unit because he had no interest in a college and was cursed with a love of working with his hands. He started as a general construction worker acquiring skills in various trades, focusing finally on becoming an electrician now working toward his C-10 contractor’s license. These kids will be alright.
Uno, dos, one, two, trés, quatro!
Ay
Wooly bully
Watch it now, watch it
Here it comes
Watch it, he’ll get you
Sammy went batty
About a thing in his cell he saw
Had a big horn
And a wooly jaw
Wooly bully
Wooly bully
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully
Mammy told her Sammy
“Let’s don’t take no chance
Let’s not be lower bunk
In order to do a horizontal dance”
Wooly bully
Wooly bully
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully (watch it now)
(Watch it, watch it, watch it)
You got it, you got it, you got it
Wooly Bully, by Sam the Sham & the Pharohs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZJiGu6Gz8E
recall suggesting this tune last week for your satiric take – back then for Sam Bankman – anyway – still waiting for using the other Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs song “Little Red Riding Hood” – it seems perfect for the sardonic satire of the Wuk –
Please do one for Gulyai Pole in Ukraine when the Russians take the town. It sounds the same as Wooley Bully.
Re Pearls and Irritations and those supposed Chinese spybot cars–Curiosty arises over whether Tesla has an “airplane mode.” Why yes it does.
https://vehiclearmy.com/how-to-disable-tesla-location/
Meanwhile lately I sometimes receive the WiFi beacon from a neighbor’s refrigerator. What a world….
If I were running the campaign of someone targeted by AIPAC i’d use “Vote for Life” as my campaign slogan and my premiere commercial would go something like this “Russia isn’t the only foreign country who interfers with American elections and it isn’t the only country that has invaded a neighbor, slaughtering tens of thousands of innocents in the process ( Yes, I know).
This used to be an apartment house where hundreds of families lived ( Pic from Gaza), this used to be a University ( Pic), these used to be hospitals ( pics of destroyed hospitals), and these…used to be Children (Pics of dead kids bundled in sheets).
The same people who are doing this are the people who are funding my opponents campaign to the tune of Millions of Dollars.
Will you vote for life ( Pic of beautiful Palestinian children frolicking), or will you vote for Death ( Pic of opponent).
VOTE FOR LIFE!
I think I will copy this and send it to my Republican rep. He gave a radical speech (as they all did) in support of Israel at the conservative convention.
We met F-18 & F-35 pilots whilst up to our collective necks in hot water over new years, and they had flown over our phalanx of palm trees previously @ 500 knots and say 128 feet above ground level, and wanted a closer look…
The F-35 pilot was part of a sortie of 9 of us over Easter weekend and Death Valley NP is kind of a precipitation fortress in that winter storms dump their load in the Sierra and not much makes it east over the Inyo range, just enough in this case to give the mountain tops the look of sparkly powdered sugar as the Sun beat down upon it, spectacular!
It was interesting, my conversations with him in regards to what we landlubbers tend to think is an ill-fated folly, but what do I know. He thinks it’s one of the best planes imaginable, having flown the other F series as well.
Never is heard a discouraging 4 letter word that everybody merely calls ‘w’, and one morning a gaggle of Russian-Americans from SF were soaking with us, and Katja-a recent arrival from Kursk a dozen years ago, mocked us by repeatedly saying wind over and over again with such a playfulness as we recoiled in horror, practically tempting the weather gawds with such forceful application of language, and when a zephyr duly arrived she was momentarily shunned, and then we shared a decanter of tawny port and German chocolate cake they brought to the hot springs, and I saw a glimmer of hope for relations between Boris Badenov and Uncle Sam.
No doubt the pilots love them as they are the ultimate flying hot-rod, but as I understand it their maintenance is the weak point.
April fools! Israel just “flattened” the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Presumably with some of the 2,000 lb bombs GenocideJoe just sent over via airlift.
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24188
Well, Israel has definitely lost the Chinese now.
holy f@&king $h!t they have lost their minds and thrown a torch into a barn of dry straw – i’m at a loss of capably measuring the level of absolute stupidity this takes – insanity –
Why does this surprise you? The plan is to keep attacking Iran until it finally retaliates, then Israel runs screaming to its American thug and demands war on Iran, backed up by America’s loyal catamites around the world, each competing as to who can be the most servile and slavish.
guess it doesn’t surprise, that was rhetorical, but does deeply sadden – if this doesn’t pull Genocide Joe and the DoD/ MIC into more than just supplying weapons, perhaps the crazies will just send planes to bomb Tehran – surprise or not, it is not a good development –
Oh no, no surprise at all. I would say acting this crazy in an obvious plot to force Iranians to react and pull in the Americans (not recognizing just how weak the American military is, especially with their rapid response ships stuck behind the collapsed bridge probably for the next 6 months). I think it’s a sign of desperation.
The original plan was to easily pacify Gaza and drive the “Arabs” into the Sinai. Build the Ben Gurion canal, usurp the offshore gas reserves, and build seaside resorts for rich old Zionists (Christian and Jewish) looking for an alternative to Florida. 6 months later, they couldn’t even pacify the area around Gaza City. They were making threatening noises against Southern Lebanon but the IDF generals know that’ll mean the end of Israel.
So this seems to be some kind of weird flex/Hail Mary to get a response from Iran, pull in Americans…profit. Even if it doesn’t work, it plays well to their psycho supporters so it’s a win win!
I thought my thc days were over, but may have to rethink that in lieu of the bat-guano crazy war pigs taking us into hell on earth… and despite my facility with many languages I’m starting to seriously regret not diving deep into Russian and Chinese. Repatriating at my age is not easily considered but when faced with “western” perdition…
It was a building attached to the embassy. Moon has thoughts.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/04/zionist-entity-assassinates-iranian-general-in-syria.html
The west has a talent for own-goals.
I heard that it landed between the Canadian and Iranian embassies and did not destroy them.
This is the age of sociopaths and censorship.
“Researchers find WWI and WWII bombs in the ground are becoming more volatile Phys.org”
Yep, scary stuff. I have probably mentioned before the helicopter hangar in Kirkenes going boom during a thunderstorm. This thanks to a WWII bomb that had been sitting in the ground since. Luckily nobody got hurt or killed.
Funny enough Kirkenes is supposedly up there with Malta in how much it got bombed during the war. But as it was just a sideshow to the main eastern front, who cares. Never mind that the red army retreated back across the Pasvik River come the peace. Stalin must have been really pissed when Norway was part of the NATO founding.
Not to mention American Civil War ordinance still goes boom from time to time. The big mortar shells used were stuffed with gun cotton, which had an early form of nitro in it. Over time, that substance degraded, leaving really unstable nitro compounds behind. Dig one up with a tractor and go boom.
See: https://relicrecord.com/blog/destructive-practice-civil-war-artillery-disposal/
Also: https://www.army.mil/article/269279/bomb_squad_personnel_attend_unexploded_ordnance_course_at_gettysburg_museum
Anyone cheering the resurrection of the PLO might consider whether the corruption and collusion stink built by Yasser Arafat over decades of mal-rule has somehow been erased and its polity somehow cleansed of bad old habits. Back when The Atlantic was NOT just another narrative rag, it published “In a ruined country: how Yasir Arafat destroyed Palestine.” This piece now resides behind their paywall, but it’s a great primer for anyone seeking understanding of just how badly Palestinians have been treated by the Zionists, working so comfortably hand in glove with one of the great traitors of our time. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/09/in-a-ruined-country/304167/
Poppycock! First, this was certainly written by a Zionist Jew. So many paragraphs of orientalist tropes, psychoanalysis of Arafat’s habits rather than his goals and deeds. It’s so very long and the section I read was so… nauseating, that I only got about a quarter down.
PLO was handicapped by the very very bad Oslo agreement that they were forced into after losing their last major backer in Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War. There’s was some hope of Israelis and Americans realizing that making a somewhat fair and lasting peace was in everybody’s interest. There were other presidents, especially JFK and GHWB, who were interested in restraining Israel and bringing about permanent resolution to the Palestinian issue. But a few years in, it was clear that there was no good faith from the Israelis or the Americans, which led to the second Intifata
Criticizing whatever downsides to Arafat’s rule ignores the horrible hand he was dealt. When he seemed ready to cast off Oslo, he suddenly contracted a deadly rare cancer quite common to other leftist leaders who opposed America and obligingly died. Fair elections led to Hamas win both West Bank and Gaza, but the settler colonists installed Abbas, the man who secretly negotiated the terrible Oslo deal and is currently into the 19th year of his five year term. His Jordanian trained security forces are never around when settlers and IDF come to disposses Palestinian homes or shoot kids allegedly throwing rocks.
Don’t blame the Palestinians or Arafat for a system that set them up for failure, capped by a handpicked comprador with no legitimacy amongst his people. Look at how much Gazans have accomplished despite being under complete siege since 2006. This is a white man’s problem, no a Palestinian problem.
Emma, your long comment inspired me to look up this David Samuels. I found a remarkably incoherent article of his in The Tablet (November 15, 2023), in which he claims not to identify with any country but America — not even his native Ukraine. He remarks in passing, after a rant about of America’s “broad-scale political, cultural, and social decline”:
“Why didn’t you notice any of this before college students began marching in favor of genocide or tens of thousands of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags defaced the U.S. capital?”
So he’s at least trying for both-siderism. It’s that word “defaced” that seems to tip the balance.
. . . ” The Greatest Trick The John Snow Project.“Most governments are trying to trick us into believing we don’t need to adapt to COVID-19. They can’t sustain the illusion forever.” . . .
They don’t have to sustain the illusion forever. They just have to sustain it long enough to achieve a few hundred million premature deaths “tomorrow” by spreading enough covid to enough people enough times “today”. By the time the public decides that the governators have not sustained the illusion “forever”, the governators will have rolled out enough other multi-megadeath vectors of population culling that their Long Killoff Plan will be achieved.
Unless an aroused public gets so aroused so fast as to be able to physically eliminate every single one of the governators and every single one of their owners, sponsors and patrons from physical existence fast enough to disrupt the Long Killoff Plan.
I’m going the cheap way on the total solar eclipse, I plan on closing my eyes for about 4 minutes, a week from now in my path of totality on the trail.
Should Higher Education Ratify Privilege or Public Service?
Marshall Steinbaum
Tip-o-the-cap to Steinbaum for an exceptional class analysis and economic deconstruction of higher education. Something every aspiring high school senior should read. With the exception of their working-class parents, it won’t make a damn bit of difference to the PMC or their cohort. Dog eat dog.
This is my first time posting anything here. I have been reading Naked Capitalism for some months now and it is my main reading in the mornings after several other good non MSM sources.
I think this will definitely arrive here but, being in Australia, I may have seen this WSWS article first. Very interesting for evidence in the struggle to see how Covid can be mitigated:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/02/vpoj-a02.html