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Links 4/19/2024

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Hunters Die After Consuming CWD-Infected Venison Yahoo! News (Chuck L)

Dry-Clean-Only Swimwear Is the Unlikely Trend of Summer 2023 Elle (Dr. Kevin)

We Need To Rewild The Internet NOMEA (Micael T)

How the American Workforce Got Hooked on Adderall Bloomberg (Jason B)

#COVID-19

After COVID, WHO defines disease spread ‘through air’ Reuters. Robin K: “How many experts did it take to create the confusion.”

Climate/Environment

Slow recovery as Dubai airport, roads still plagued by floods PhysOrg

Effort for better air quality in CT schools gets bipartisan support CTPublic (ma)

China?

China steels itself for new front in trade war after US proposes tariffs on metals South China Morning Post

US complains China hurts shipbuilding, steel firms Asia Times. Um, that’s a feature, not a bug.

FBI says Chinese hackers preparing to attack US infrastructure Reuters (furzy)

One Nation’s Fishing Fleet, Another Nation’s Pirates: Countering China’s Maritime Militia USNI (furzy)

Blinken to China to fuss about support for Russia Asia Times (Kevin W). Olaf Scholz just got “What about ‘no’ don’t you understand?” from Xi. How often does China have to be on the receiving end of this nonsense?

European Disunion

The IMF has outlived its usefulness – by about 50 years Bill Mitchell. ma: “Others would say it has been extremely useful in subjugating nations and transfer assets into Western private hands.”

Old Blighty

Prince Harry Renounces His British Residency, Says America Is His Home Daily Beast (furzy). Li notes:

There must’ve been a lot of drugs. How is this idiot going to support himself and his polo habit? Wifey’s lifestyle business tanked, and no one is interested in hearing from them if they’re not royal.

Thames Water nationalisation plan could move bulk of £15bn debt to state Guardian (Kevin W)

South of the Border

Argentine: The Escalation of Poverty teleSUR (ma)

Gaza

Norman Finkelstein Returns: The Future of Israel’s War in Gaza SYSTEM UPDATE #259. (Alice X) ZOMG. Be sure to listen to the section on the Gaza peace initiatives and 2018 Great March of Return, started at 47:00. You can listen to Finkelstein at 1.5x.

Israelis enraged as Palestinians seek respite from war and heat at beach Middle East Eye

US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership UN News

US Congress declares Palestinian slogan ‘anti-Semitic’ RT (Kevin W)

The Amputated Limbs Of Children Caitlin Johnstone (Dr. Kevin)

4 Takeaways from Today’s Hearing on Antisemitism at Columbia University New York Times. Kevin W: “‘Are you now or have you ever been a critic of Israel?'”

Israel v. Iran

Israel-Iran tensions live news: Explosions as air defences fired in Isfahan Aljazeera

Newly published story ~ 2:30 AM EDT: Oil rises and stocks tumble after Israel retaliates against Iran Telegraph

Scoop: U.S. and Israel to hold talks on Rafah amid Iran tensions Axios

Iran Can Beat Israel Destroying the IDF Scott Ritter Nima, YouTube. Ritter is really good when he does military geekery. If nothing else, listen to the section starting at 17:10.

From the ‘Battle of Dignity’ to the shield of shame: How Jordan has fallen The Cradle (Chuck L)

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine suddenly walked away from Black Sea deal Reuters. From earlier in the week, not widely reported.

Germany arrests suspected Russian spies over bombing plot Financial Times (furzy). This makes zero sense from the Russian perspective.

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

CIA Director Claims Lawsuit Against Alleged CIA-Backed Spying On Assange Visitors Could Damage US Security Kevin Gosztola (MLK)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Checkmate Scott Ritter. Chuck L: “It has been my impression that Ritter on occasion has a tendency to get out over his skis, but he provides enough specifics here to suggest he may be on to something.” Moi: Important.

Inferiority of the ‘Western Way of War’ Slowly Comes to Light Simplicius the Thinker. Warning: available part useful but then they want you to download an app.

US Navy can’t hide its flagging fleet Asia Times (Kevin W)

Trump

How Trump is taking advantage of the hush money trial spectacle The Hill

2 of Trump’s jurors are lawyers. Would they acquit on a technicality? Politico. As Lambert laid out the problems with the case go beyond “technicalities”.

Biden

2024

Where the 2024 Presidential Election Voting Integrity Will Be Fought Angry Bear

Gunz

Maryland high school student arrested after authorities discovered a 129-page document detailing school shooting plan, police say CNN (furzy)

Police State Watch

The Supreme Court effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states Vox (Chuck L)

Falling Down Boeing Airplanes

AI

Liberals accuse Conservatives of using AI for amendments to jobs bill as votes loom CBC/blockquote>

The Bezzle

Tesla Cybertruck No Match For Car Wash Jalopnik

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Vitor J’s dear and very handsome Javi:

And a bonus:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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178 comments

  1. Antifa

    ISRAEL FADES
    (melody borrowed from The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades by Timbuk3)

    Israelis live by defiance
    Threaten nuclear ashes
    Terror’s their procedure
    Till this world crashes
    A violent state
    Treating Arabs like they’re lepers
    But magical rites
    And black box cockades
    Won’t win a real fight
    So Israel fades
    Israel fades

    Uncle Sam pays bills
    For their tiny nation
    They’re his Jewish spear
    On the oil frontier
    His money fills their plate
    Yet he acts like he’s the debtor
    Uncle Sam eats shite
    He funds their brigades
    But Jews can’t fight
    So Israel fades
    Israel fades

    The Middle East is a mess
    Black oil’s the prize
    It’s sunny and sweaty
    With lots of flies
    The Hormuz Strait
    Is this world’s carburettor
    It’s a spot we can’t smite
    No bombing crusades
    We can’t win that fight
    So Israel fades
    Israel fades

    (musical interlude)

    Israelis live by defiance
    Threaten nuclear ashes
    Terror’s their procedure
    Till this world crashes
    A violent state
    Treating Arabs like they’re lepers
    But magical rites
    And black box cockades
    Won’t win a real fight
    So Israel fades
    Israel fades
    Israel fades
    Israel fades

  2. The Rev Kev

    ‘Jonathan Turley
    @JonathanTurley
    President Biden suggested that his uncle Ambrose “Bozey” Finnegan may have been eaten by cannibals in World War II. What is striking about this story is the specificity of the key facts … and the fact that they are false…’

    Biden has only a nodding acquaintance with the truth, and a contemptuous one at that. A day or so ago I saw a video compilation of Biden talking about how he was raised and he talked about being raised Catholic, Armenian, being known as Bidenopelous for his Greek upbringing and several others as well. When you are a Senator usually people will not challenge you too strongly on that sort of stuff but when you are the President and start making up stories made out of whole cloth, you will be fact checked. But maybe by now he does not care as he knows that he will always be protected over his follies.

    2. Wukchumni

      I was hoping that Genocide Joe would go to the Alferd Packer was my great uncle angle, aka the Colorado Cannibal.

      1. Ranger Rick

        I’m still amused every time I think of the slogan of the Alferd Packer grill in the University of Colorado student union building: “Have a friend for lunch!”

    3. Pat

      My first thought on seeing this was “it’s campaign season, of course he is lying about some aspect of his family!” Over the years he has lied about his background, his success at law school, and though there is little concrete evidence whole swaths of the dead Beau saga reek. Then there were the very bad excuses for his bouts of plagiarism.
      But if you really want to know about Joe Biden’s lack of character go way back to when he spent years campaigning on the death of his first wife and child. Poor pitiful but brave Joe carrying on after the big bad trucker killed them driving drunk, sometimes even running. Only the driver was not drunk, Mrs Biden was at fault, and he did absolutely nothing wrong except maybe feel responsible enough to let the “grieving” man vent. But it never stopped, the story of Biden’s victimization grew and despite the real problems it caused the man and his family, they couldn’t get the government to stop Joe Biden libeling him for years. It is part of the reason that the E Jean Carrol case sticks in my craw so much. Just for one heresay vs. actual police reports.
      A cannibalized uncle is nothing in comparison.

      2. Lena

        Why did Biden tell such a weird story in the first place? Is he going after the anti-cannibal vote in Pennsylvania?

        My aunt, who was a nurse, served in New Guinea during the war. She had a lot of harrowing stories to tell but none of them were about cannibalism.

        Biden is proof that losing your marbles is a terrible thing to lose.

        2. The Rev Kev

          The only marbles that you will find in the White House are those left by Kamala Harris on the staircase for when Biden goes to walk downstairs.

        3. Benny Profane

          There was an item in the news about gang related cannibalism in Haiti at the moment, which sounds like a great racist concoction by our wonderful media, and he may have heard that and thought, in that daft old brain of his, that’s great, I have to use that somehow.

        4. Susan the other

          Funny. This now because it’s a cost savings to have yer president also be the court jester. Very efficient.

      3. DJG, Reality Czar

        Pat: Likewise, the constantly repeated story of his stammer. I don’t recall in the past that Biden included his stammer in his campaign biog.

        I suspect that the staff wanted to humanize him with a disability. Being deaf or addled brained would have been a tad too inconvenient.

        If anyone can find serious evidence of Biden’s stammer, I’d like to see it. That notorious video of Biden abusing Scott Ritter is strong evidence against Joe’s desire to have a “nicely heroic” disability.

        Evidence:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDi6ItNciCk&t=0s

        The “stammer” thing is a cover for his declining ability to speak coherently, which is a symptom of his dementia.

        1. Lena

          Agree. There is plenty of CSPAN video from Biden’s days in the Senate that prove he had no stammer. The guy could talk nonstop for hours without any sign of a speech disorder unless boring your audience to the brink of madness qualifies as one.

        2. Belle

          Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first time I ever heard someone use the term, “over your pay grade” was Biden in that session. Did he coin that despicable phrase?

    4. Milton

      Apparently, Mr Biden is taking NPR CEO Katherine Maher’s philosophy to heart:

      Our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done…
      One reason we have such glorious chronicles to the human experience and all forms of culture is because we acknowledge there are many different truths.

      I’m certain that the truth exists for you. And probably for the person sitting next to you. But this may not be the same truth.

            1. flora

              adding: “Seeking the truth might not be the best place to start.”

              Oh. So, anti-enlightenment then? If yea olde facts contradict yea officially approved of narratives? Then what? Ask Galileo and other early scientists how that worked out. Seems a very unliberal idea to me. / heh

      2. Carolinian

        What a maroon as Bugs would say. In last week’s talk Taibbi and Kirn discuss why they no longer listen to NPR even though both have been guests on the network in the past to discuss their books. Kirn says the woke monomania has made the channel boring because the news is treated as less interesting than the filter. He also made the important point that for many rural people NPR is the only radio they can get. This is because the supposedly “national” network holds those valuable broadcast licenses. As with PBS this is a USG subsidy that goes beyond the tiny cash donation that Congress now makes to the network. And it’s one reason why the ravings of Maher should not be allowed to govern our national public radio even if pledge drive contributors might approve.

          1. Feral Finster

            Not only pompous and boring, but smug, self-satisfied, contemptuous and so humorless as to make Cotton Mather look like G.G. Allin by comparison.

        2. Benny Profane

          “even if pledge drive contributors might approve.”

          I’ve been following the coverage of this in the NYT, and, of course, it’s biased towards her and her world view. They can’t mention stuff like this Ted talk or her horrendous collection of tweets (they claim they are social media posts from a long time ago, as though 2021 is ancient history. She’s not a recent high school grad), but the comments are actually encouraging. The Venn diagram of NYT readers and NPR listeners I’m sure is quite the intersection, and many are saying, I’ve not only had it after this, I’ve had it for a long time, and no more contributions from me. They need a really rich benefactor, which they very well may get, and not have to grovel to the unwashed masses.

            1. JBird4049

              It is just as with elections. Who needs people if you have corporations with their bribes donations?

    5. Patrick Donnelly

      POTUS is showing he is not Joseph Biden.

      Not for the first time … nor the last. After Putin, Hitler, Saddaam Hussein and Nelson Mandela … we know that lookalikes are part of the set up for those at the top of the PMC.

    6. Feral Finster

      Biden is not fact checked in public because he represents the class interests of the hegemonic class, the PMC, as opposed to Local Gentry and Deplorables.

      He can make up anything he wishes, no matter how absurd, and he will never be called out on it. Because Trump.

    7. Lefty Godot

      Biden seems to fall into that subgroup of psychopaths who lie compulsively. So, the type that need to be shepherded carefully by their handlers in consequential public interactions. Trump was supposed to be such a big liar, but in his case it seemed to be more the outcome of being a big mouth and being ignorant of the facts. Seems more like a personal tic with Genocide Joe.

      Jesus said “by their fruits ye shall know them” of metaphorical trees. What does it say about Western culture that the fruits include such superstars as Biden, Trump, Prince Harry, Boris Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Marjorie Taylor Green, Taylor Swift, O. J. Simpson, etc.? Oy vey.

  3. Sam Adams

    RE:” There must’ve been a lot of drugs. How is this idiot going to support himself and his polo habit? Wifey’s lifestyle business tanked, and no one is interested in hearing from them if they’re not royal.”
    What if mummy’s money and wifey’s money are sufficient for them to live a comfortable and maybe a private life and they want no more than that?

      1. t

        Still not clear to me that they’ve done anything more than change address. Probably still considered dignitaries and entitled to all the protections in the US. They’re financially independent from the crowns cash, which means that they can legally earn their own money, not that they aren’t getting any from the royal loot – unless something has changed recently.

        1. Pat

          If you read his quotes, stepping away was a huge shock to Harry. He suddenly had to pay his own bills for the first time. And unlike say Andrew and Anne’s kids he never held an actual job. His extravagant lifestyle costs a lot. He is responsible for providing his own security, lawsuits in Canada and the US took those governments out of the mix. (Lots of complaints about that and he even lost a case in Britain to get state provided security there.).
          As for earning the money, all the deals he and Meghan made are fading into nothingness as they have provided little or no value comparatively to the cost for the companies involved, and to their dismay they actually had to cut into their take for the production costs. So far there is little on the horizon from the big name agent Meghan signed with. (One big deal supposedly fell apart when the brand took a negative hit just on rumor of her being signed.) They have little to offer but the titles and the value of those has plummeted. Much as Meghan wanted to be the classy Kardashian style influencer, all she has proved is that she doesn’t want to work that hard. (I dislike Kris and her crew, but even I have to give them that they never stop hustling.)
          My bet is that they are hoping there is a large inheritance from Charles, because otherwise they could be broke in a few years without a lifestyle change. Not to mention that if they have gotten any help in the past couple of years that is going to be over once he dies. Still any inheritance could only be from Charles personal fortune, which will have some claims closer to home (Camilla, her family, Andrew and his family)
          This was probably not the best move.

          1. ArvidMartensen

            If one assumes that he is the son of Charles, then of course the Royals have been plotting and in-fighting since time immemorial, including beheadings and such.
            Of course, if he isn’t the son of Charles, then no problem with the inheritance, up up up in a puff of smoke.
            I also think, that the upper class white Brits found a problem with his wife’s provenance. This new fashion for ‘inclusion’ in drama eg Bridgerton, is what it is, theatre.

    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Wifely is very fond of riding on private jets and mistakenly married Harry thinking they came with begin a royal. She also did not like the royal duties of having to go to bumfuck nowhere UK to cut ribbons at hospitals and press the flesh of dull normals., or hunting. or other features of royal life like hanging out in drafty castles. By contrast, Diana adored her meet and greet detail, she loved being out with people.

      More generally, you need to widen your reading diet include to the UK press, which documented Wifey’s relentless self promotion and money grubbing (which I recall extended to a reno of one of the castles).

        1. Alice X

          ~And why are we supposed to care one way or another?

          To keep our poor minds off the real sh¡t the ruling class is pulling daily. The boot on the neck sort of things.

        2. Cassandra

          I think a lot of the fascination with their slow motion train wreck is due to people who have been on the receiving end of the boot, who are very aware that there ain’t no justice, and who would dearly love to see karma in action for once.

        3. ambrit

          Because many “in the know” think that Megan has a “cunning plan” teed up for when the Throne next changes occupant.
          Being visibly “off in the New World” when a ‘series of unfortunate events’ occur to those before Harry in the line of succession sounds about right. Playing Royalty ain’t beanbag.

            1. ambrit

              Hmmm. The ultimate “fundamental Right?”
              However much I appreciate the pun, using American baseball allusions concerning the Royals isn’t Cricket old man. A sticky wicket, eh, wot?

              1. Wukchumni

                I put in time on the all-time best throne ever @ Snowbasin ski resort

                Snowbasin’s restrooms feature Italian Carrera Marble, Barovier, Tosso & Moscatelli Chandeliers crafted from bronze and crystal, floor to ceiling commodes, beautifully inlaid African Anegre Wood and hand-painted walls.

                Intuitively I knew my outward message was worthier than usual…

      2. Jonhoops

        Why should we pay attention to anything the UK gutter press has to say about anything. Given their propensity for lying (Skripals,Ghost of Ukraine,Corbyn,White Helmets,Gaza etc.) I would take anything they said about anyone with a huge grain of salt.

        We will probably find out in a few years that the whole smear campaign against Harry & Meghan was orchestrated by the British establishment as punishment for him stepping out of line. Much like Edward and Ms Simpson back in the day.

    3. Louis Fyne

      Not-so-secret secret….living in a castle is not all that it’s cracked up to be.

      While the royal family may have lots of paper “wealth” and a security detail, the actual level of disposable money is—relatively speaking for all the hubbub made in the media—not that much.

      An A-list Hollywood celebrity definitely lives a much, much more comfortable lifestyle than a 2nd-tier royal (arguably better than a 1st-tier royal)—-and without the baggage of public engagements.

      1. ArvidMartensen

        Isn’t Charles the largest land owner in the world? There must be some coin attached to that.

      1. The Rev Kev

        In his case, once a prat, always a prat. The guy is a snake who you’d trust only as far as the door and he married someone on his level. They both remind me of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who ended their days in self-imposed exile in France and they were both prats too.

        1. Benny Profane

          Well, then, he should establish ties with Putin and his people to replicate that one.

      2. Belle

        From what I know of the monarchy, they are less arrogant than others. I can understand wanting to get away from the UK media and politics.
        I find it ironic that the Heritage Foundation criticizes Harry, and wants him deported, but ignores that the UK government has tried to interfere in US affairs the most of any country, from William Cobbett under John Adams (who took Thomas Paine’s bones and we still don’t know what happened) to Christopher Steele and Simon Bracey-Lane.
        There is an excellent work of WWI propaganda that was unsuccessful. It was a little graphic polemic (graphic as in graphic novel) entitled “The Fable of John Bill and Uncle Sam”. It was pro-German, and thus didn’t get much attention (And it makes a lot of historical errors), but it helps explain some of why the USA likes the Brits. (Some parts are quite funny! And keep your eyes open for the possible inspiration of J. Jonah Jameson!)
        https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:119529#?xywh=0%2C-695%2C3078%2C5039

    6. Cat Burglar

      California can have this effect on people. Think of the British Suffragist Christabel Pankhurst, who moved to LA and became a Second Adventist. Kenneth Rexroth scoped it out:

      Vitamins and Roughage
      By Kenneth Rexroth
      Strong ankled, sun burned, almost naked,
      The daughters of California
      Educate reluctant humanists;
      Drive into their skulls with tennis balls
      The unhappy realization
      That nature is still stronger than man.
      The special Hellenic privilege
      Of the special intellect seeps out
      At last in this irrigated soil.
      Sweat of athletes and juice of lovers
      Are stronger than Socrates’ hemlock;
      And the games of scrupulous Euclid
      Vanish in the gymnopaedia.

  5. Lena

    Is that “Cat Worker” kitten real? Its front paws doing the massage look a little odd. And how did anyone get it to wear a sweater?!?

    1. Wukchumni

      I can buy into the ‘meowseusse’ angle, as cats are always grooming one another, but too have qualms with the sweater.

  6. JohnA

    Prince Harry and supporting himself and his family. His mother got a very juicy divorce settlement that she could barely have dented by the time she met her early demise. Harry must have got half and the royal family appear to be exempt from inheritance tax, so he should have enough to see him through. As for his wife, has she not just launched an upmarket branded range of jams and suchlike? Grifters gotta grift.

    1. griffen

      Ugh…is my usual response to anything related to the aforementioned Prince Harry and his bride Meghan. Why on earth are they popular for certain segments, is it the royal lineage and just not much more aside from it.

      They want peace and quiet…I think it was an episode of South Park that hilariously just didn’t believe them when they say so…

    2. Emma

      He got about $20 million from his mother and great grandmother. Its possible that his grandparents also left him some money. His wife might have $2 million plus some residuals. That’s not much money if you are living a bling life style in SoCal with assistants, nanny, and security details.

      And unlike his uncle Andrew, he’s not reliable enough to channel shady deals through. So he’s useless to the British establishment.

      If he really wanted independence from his family and not work for it, he should have married someone really rich like James Matthews (Pippa Middleton’s husband).

  7. Wukchumni

    Gooooooood Moooooooorning Fiatnam!

    The Great Halving was upon us, even more limited addition was the claim, and soon miners will have to waste twice as much electricity in order to mint a Bitcoin-a whinge win!

    1. Susan the other

      Yes. And beyond or beneath Bitcoin folly? So just to remain skeptical, what is to prevent ultra-derivatives on bitcoin or gold? Some estimation of all the yet un-mined”wealth”? Nothing really. The very human love of ponzi? Probably. But, I’m sure that this logic of the intrinsic value of money-tokens, (which has no hard reference to reality) is the ultimate tranquilizer for the money hysterics. Well, there actually is enough gold/bitcoin to ultimately account for all this greed and folly and pollution. The thing that goes unaccounted for is the fact that gold/bitcoin is fiat too and in the end we are all dependent on each other and actual molecules of things for survival. In Devine irony, it is in that sense that we are wisely investing in ourselves. And ecology.

  9. Wukchumni

    How the American Workforce Got Hooked on Adderall Bloomberg
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Maybe i’ve lived the most sheltered life ever, but i’ve never tried Adderall and know of nobody else that has partaken and related that to me.

    I understand that Wall*Street has been quite addicted on Adderall for some time now~

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Adderall is chemically similar to meth, except for the absence of a methyl group that drives the compound deeper into the brain.

      1. Mark Gisleson

        Makes sense. I’ve noticed younger folks talking about Adderall the way I used to talk about speed which is to say it’s the main focus of your world and whenever you meet new people, you always ask if they can get you some.

        If you know an Adderall addict, chances are very good that you know that you know an Adderall addict. Most other Rx addictions much less obvious. If guests use your master bathroom, keep track of pill counts and dust for fingerprints occasionally. Going through the ‘rents medicine cabinet is the new ‘smoking behind the barn.’

        1. Alex Cox

          When I taught at university I asked my students what drugs they took.
          Their answer: ‘for fun or to study?’ Aderol was their preferred study drug.

      2. Lefty Godot

        Isn’t Adderall just the old benzedrine, remarketed? We had bennies and dexies (the non-racemic one) back in the ’50s (and probably before).

        1. Jamie

          When I was a young teen in the 60’s’, my best friend’s mother was an RN. She seemed to have an endless supply of Dexedrine. If we had “cramps” or a head ache, we could help ourselves. It was in the bathroom Med Cabinet.

          45 years later, I asked a doc for generic Adderall because I was tired at work. (“Oh. you mean can’t concentrate”?) I took a quarter of what was prescribed because the pharmacies always out. DEA deliberately creates the shortage. Really wreaks havoc on children.

          I quit going in for refills. Waste of time. I can’t imagine people depending on this, their their entire life. Early heart, kidney failure seems obvious.

          Most of it is made in Israel and China. Seems like it’s replaced Opiate income for pharma.

          And, yeah. Just like those little blue cross-top pills, in the 60’s

      2. Wukchumni

        Wow, sounds almost like Pervitin, but in lieu of Blitzkrieg-it alleviates writers bloc, which is right where I am at flailing for want of words to torture into submission.

    3. The Rev Kev

      Never even heard of Adderall until I saw it mentioned here on NC. Still, I remain suspicious of pills like these simply because they seem to be so popular.

      1. Wukchumni

        Growing up in LA in the 60’s & 70’s, it wasn’t uncommon to see 2 or 3 gas stations on the corners of intersections with traffic lights… a good many of them replaced by chain drug stores now, you see America isn’t only hooked on illegal drugs, we loves our Rx prescription ones too! (Tell you doctor! you wan’t Ozempic)

        I’ve managed to eke out my existence without their assistance, and i’d guess i’m a rarity in that regard.

        1. The Rev Kev

          Same with me. Made it a rule early to never start something that I might not be able to stop. So I am a social drinker, never took up cigs nor drugs. I think that I dodged a few bullets there. That and a bit of luck.

      2. Cat Burglar

        You can envision that some Long Covid sufferers are going to use Adderall to “push through” the fog and exhaustion.

    4. Ken Murphy

      I well remember during my time at BNP back in the 90s there was a phase where a lot of the financial analysts in NYC were trying Adderall and others as way to give themselves a competitive edge. Ick.

      I’ve generally eschewed the stimulants, as I want to slow my brain down, not speed up its hyperactivity. If I want to focus on something I’ll just unleash my autism on it and disappear down the rabbit hole.

    5. Bugs

      I’m here to fill you in. It feels just like speed without the nice euphoric edge that makes speed so addictive. Like a cleaner caffeine buzz, if you will. But the crash is uncomfortable, which makes you come back for more. I prefer Ritalin. At least that goes away fairly quickly.

      I still find it hard to believe that millions of schoolkids are on this stuff. I see my friend’s little boy tapping his foot in nervousness and I know he’s not happy about it.

      1. Neutrino

        All those Ritalin Riders from the Nineties and the Naughties are into adulthood now, providing enough time and membership for a longitudinal study. Would one be done via sponsorship of the MFer, if only to spin whatever findings toward some follow-on pharma?

        A few questions to consider for an independent study:
        How many had counseling before, during and/or after?
        How many used Ritalin as a gateway drug to something else, and if so, to what?
        What were the social relationships and school results compared to non-users?
        What were the demographics of the users compared to non-users?
        What did brain scan comparisons show?
        et cetera

        1. vao

          Reduced life span? I can imagine that ingesting such chemicals over a long period will have detrimental effects on life expectancy.

    7. Paleobotanist

      When I assign term papers, my university students tell me they must score some Adderall to be able to write them. Not good for the future.

        1. Yves Smith Post author

          I had my caffeine and sugar dosing down to a science (normally candy was an absolute no-so, but nice caramels were very useful during an exam).

    8. Lena

      I remember years ago hearing about ‘suburban housewives’ using meth to give themselves the energy to clean their McMansions in less than an hour. I always assumed it was just a myth. A meth myth.

      1. Wukchumni

        I thought the deal was, you completely rearranged the outdoor furniture @ 3 in the morning?

        1. ambrit

          “… you completely rearranged the outdoor furniture @ 3 in the morning?” By driving into it with the Beamer coming home from the ‘Corner Pharmacy.’

          1. Wukchumni

            Local tweaker house on Hwy 198 in Tiny Town (nicknamed ‘Pirates of the Kaweahbean’) is a tribute to rearrangement, hey wasn’t that boat on ‘the lawn’ that hasn’t seen water in 27 years, about 100 feet away last week?

    9. Feral Finster

      I am told that the Next Level Geniuses infesting FTX were quite fond of stimulants and uppers, to the point where there were on-boardings for new hires suggesting what uppers they should be taking to obtain the desired results, where and how to obtain them, how to come down when needed, etc..

      It is good to see management taking such an active interest in fostering a productive workplace culture.

    10. Ranger Rick

      They start early. I happened to be on a university campus the other day and saw a PSA advert announcing that 95% of the student body had used prescription stimulants at some point during their academic careers — “don’t stay up late, take a break!”

      I also hear occasional whispers about the adderall alternative: modafinil, much less commonly encountered; I suppose I’m witnessing the power of marketing in action.

    12. Kouros

      You poor people, the brain muscle has to be built from primary, middle school and highschool.

      The socialists, or South Korea, or Japan, going to university is like going to vacation.

      The exam sessions are just revving up. Nobody needs Adderal there, at most they would go for smokes and coffee…

  10. The Rev Kev

    “FBI says Chinese hackers preparing to attack US infrastructure”

    Well they are always going to come up with stories like this. Just wait until next year when things gear up against China and everything goes into hyper-drive. By this time next year, all the right-thinkers will have the flag of Taiwan on their social media account or on the side of their tote bags. The truth of the matter is that China may be monitoring American infrastructure but they will hardly attack it. They recognize that both the Democrats and Republicans have sold out and destroyed much of US infrastructure over the past half century. And they only have to look around to see the quantity of American manufacturing machinery that was sold to them and found a new home in Chinese manufacturing centers. Such being the case, the Chinese only have to wait another half century for America’s politicians to finish the job.

    1. digi_owl

      I suspect they do not even need to, as the infra is so lacking in maintenance that it will collapse on its own if “stressed”.

  11. Pat

    Dear Matt Stoller, of course the psycho went to Boeing rather than becoming a hit man.
    1. Organizations and people who hire hit men face violent reprisals that can also be directed at hit men.
    2. There are banking issues which are complicated for illegal activities. Nor are there extensive legal perks to being a hit man.
    3. It is a criminal act that can get you sent to prison, heads of corporations rarely if ever face legal consequences.

    The old line about the real bank robbery is running the bank, could be adjusted to this idea.
    It is long since time to address the fact that our corporate compensation system actively encourages destruction of the company (with its workers, it’s customers and he’ll even it’s stockholders as collateral damage) for the profit of a few.

  12. Pat

    And a big thank you for my favorite item of the day to Vitor J for sharing his very handsome good boy with us. Hurray for Javi!!

    1. jefemt

      I agree. One happy handsome pup. I can practically hear him getting ready to burst out in song to the metronome of his floofy tail …

      Thank you!

  13. The Rev Kev

    “Tesla Cybertruck No Match For Car Wash”

    So it is not only ugly but it is also fragile enough so that a simple car wash will play havoc with its systems. And how much code does it have if it requires fives hours to do a full reboot? And not being able to wash it in direct sunlight is just verging on weird. I almost felt sorry for this guy but when I saw the shirt that he was wearing thought nope, he deserves whatever he gets. And if the things dies on you, what are you going to do with it? Can’t use it as a garden ornament as it has a bad rust problem. But the more images that I see of them, the more I found them just plain ugly. I think that they were trying for an ultra-utilitarian look like the moon lander was but as personal transport, it only serves as people trying to brag over the fact that they can afford to buy them. But all that it proves is that money does not buy you taste.

    2. digi_owl

      Would not surprise me if said reboot meant a full download of all software over a mobile phone connection, and if that had a poor reception the bandwidth may well have tanked.

      Tesla behaves more like a web company that happens to house its server far in cars than a vehicle manufacturer. Thus it may well be that the default procedure on a reboot is to grab fresh containers from the Tesla cloud, same way Google or Facebook run their systems (and increasingly Apple and Microsoft wants to run “our” laptops and desktops).

  14. Hunter B

    The CWD and CJD linkage is starting to feel a little too real for my comfort. I am a fairly infrequent (once or twice a year) deer hunter in AL. Last year, a very prominent member of my community (and a hunter) died of CJD. I’m not sure if the family investigated or even thought to, but it was the first thing I thought of when I heard he was sick. I’m also an animal lover and believe you should use as much of a harvest as you can, so I think my hunting days may be over. It’s just not worth the risk of a horrible death.

    1. MT_Wild

      A question of distribution and occurrence for me. I fortunately live in a part of Montana that has only had one CWD case despite being prioritized for surveillance with several hundred samples tested.

      We get our animals tested, which is a pain because you do have to process the animals separately and keep the meat separated in the freezer in case one comes back hot.

      If the frequency of occurrence in our area goes up, then we will probably have to stop eating game meat, which would be unfortunate because I think it’s healthier than store-bought options. My understanding is if you stuck to yearlings you would have a high likelihood of avoiding CWD contaminating animals, but then overall yield would be down.

      This will eventually become a huge management issue for wildlife agencies. If hunters become unwilling to hunt deer for meat because of CWD culls will become necessary.

    2. Roger Blakely

      Isn’t it true that you cannot solve the problem of the prion protein by cooking the meat? It isn’t clear to me that anyone should be confident in the safety of meat, especially beef, in our food supply. I went vegetarian when Oprah said that she would never eat beef again and go sued by the Beef Council.

  15. Benny Profane

    You know, it’s wonderful that the Columbia kids are protesting the Gaza genocide, but, not a peep when Vicky Nuland just got hired. Hillary, eh, that was bad, but the fake feminism is a shield. Cookies, though? That’s evil.

    1. The Rev Kev

      I always wondered if the cookies that Vicky Nuland handed out were not spiked with captagon – the drug that Jihadists used in Syria – to stir things up a bit.

  16. Aurelien

    Ritter is inclined to get over-enthusiastic at times, but I think his article about the Iranian attack on Israel may be on to something quite significant. The problem is, that it’s not clear from the rather breathless tone and the lashings of detail whether he’s saying that the Iranians have certain types of missile that Israel (and the West) cannot in principle stop, in which case they don’t need many for the game to be over, or whether it’s simply that the Iranians were able to overwhelm the Israeli defences by sheer numbers. Either is significant, but in different ways. Ritter suggests that Aegis system SM-3 and SM-6 ABMs were fired, which implies that some of the targets were indeed intermediate range ballistic missiles. The effectiveness of the Aegis system has been, let’s say, questioned over the decades.

    But it will probably turn into a numbers game in the end, even if it emerges that the Aegis system was effective, or partly so. The origin of this technology in the late 90s was fear of a small-scale attack from North Korea or Iran, and the number of interceptors built and deployed, as well as the organisation of the capability, reflected this. It’s several orders of magnitude more difficult to shoot down a ballistic missile than it is to fire it accurately (thus the traditional comparison to trying to hit a bullet with another bullet) and if the Iranians have any appreciable number of missiles with a range of 1500 km (and there are varying reports) they should be able to hit Israel hard enough to matter. This is one of those occasions where the advantage is with the offence.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Another factor is return of military investment. The Israelis are saying that they sent $1.3 billion in missiles to intercept what they could. And I saw an article that the US spent about a billion dollars too on their missiles. Add in the British and the other countries as well so you may be talking about $2.5 billion dollars in total. And how much did the Iranians spend? About $35 million. And it was only a tiny fraction of what they could have sent. The Iranians have about 10,000 ballistic missiles plus change. And what they sent was the ‘plus change’ bit. So it becomes a mathematical problem. How many waves of missiles do the Iranians have to send before Israel, the US, UK, etc, run out of interceptor missiles. Not many I suspect.

      1. Wukchumni

        My sister and husband worked for the ‘Estes missile factory’ in Tucson, quite higher ups they were, now retired.

        Over Xmas I asked my brother in law how long it would take to replace a given missile costing between $1 to $4 million, and he told me 12 to 18 months as they can’t source D engines, nah not really, same problem as elsewhere, chips.

        We can conjure money out of thin air, our forte.

        Can’t conjure armaments though, and sooner or later the Israelis might have to call on David and his sling.

        1. The Rev Kev

          Be tough luck for David if Goliath put away his sword and started to use spears instead. Maybe you should send your brother in law a link to that RUSI study “The Return of Industrial Warfare”. I’m sure that he would agree with a lot of its conclusions.

        2. ambrit

          Hmmm…. So, you didn’t get the “D Engine” notice? His Majesty’s Government wants a few minutes of your time….
          Handy tip. Use old carpet roll inner tubes, (really strong cardboard,) as launchers for “Semi-guided Missiles” and watch your local “Organs of State Security” have fits. (Tried out in the field. Feasible.)

          1. Wukchumni

            I preferred urban launches for lift-offs of model rocketry-which gave a few of our neighbors fits, my specialty at the time.

            Anybody could light ’em up in a giant open field, where’s the fun in that versus a drifting parachute forcing you jump over walls, fences and I dare say, leap tall buildings?

            1. cfraenkel

              Mine always had those special parachutes that homed in on the tallest tree in the vicinity : (

    2. scott s.

      I think it worth clarifying that I believe “The effectiveness of the Aegis system has been, let’s say, questioned over the decades. ” is in reference to Aegis BMD, not “Aegis Combat System” in general. Aegis BMD is developed under the umbrella of MDA along with THAAD. AFAIK Aegis BMD capability is in 4 destroyers (Roosevelt, Bulkeley, Paul Ignatius, and Arleigh Burke) homeported in Rota, SP and 2 “Aegis ashore” sites in Eastern Europe.

    3. Socal Rhino

      I think Ritter is saying both: the Israeli defense systems supplemented by US and Jordanian systems could not prevent Iran from hitting their intended targets with (their second or third tier) ballistic missiles. And, defense systems can be overwhelmed by swarms of cheap drones, of which Iran has and produces many. In short, Iran demonstrated that they can hit any target at will. True for Israel and for US bases in the mideast.

    4. ilsm

      My understanding from Ritter: 5 or several warheads hit the air base in Negev, suggests a better than expected defeat of basically the best U.S. missile defense. As well as accuracy.

      The U.S. and IDF have the details.

      About SM 3 making a hit I would want to see the data, SM 3 tests are not reassuring. The engagement profile was at range as SPY 1 linked to missile is optimum at mid course high altitude.

      Of note should be the amount of integrating long range sensors to targeting, which may be good or bad.

      US did provide a lot!

      As in WW II, offense seems to dominate but the efficacy may not be worth the attrition from defense.

      Too many headlines push “the bombs go boom” as goodness.

      1. noonespecial

        Columbia’s Gaza sit-in update:

        It’s possible that the school’s admin called in the cops to clear the area that is used for guest seating in the upcoming commencement ceremonies; can’t have a PR hassle with pesky protesters around. One pic i saw shows the beginning stages of the benches being erected near the main admin building at the school’s famed Low Steps.

        From hellgatenyc.com seems like the NYPD is trying to play the cool hand:

        https://hellgatenyc.com/columbia-minouche-shafik-nypd-gaza-solidarity-encampment

        NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said the “clear and present danger” allegedly posed by the Gaza Solidarity Encampment was identified by Columbia, not by the NYPD, at a press conference on Thursday. He noted that the NYPD had zero reports of violence or injuries—except, perhaps, bruising to Shafik’s ego—associated with the encampment. “To put this in perspective, the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner…”

    2. Victor Sciamarelli

      I doubt the Israel Lobby will support reviving the HUAC. The dust ups in Syria and Iran have removed the Palestinians in Gaza from the front pages allowing the genocide to continue in the dark.
      I hope the students continue their protest.

  18. The Rev Kev

    ‘Armchair Warlord
    @ArmchairW
    I’m a little late on this news item but it seems to have flown under the radar for people who don’t obsessively follow US military procurement, so:
    The US Army cancelled the XM1299 Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) system last month. The next-gen cannon.’

    It was probably too heavy anyway. The NATO equipment that the Russians have been capturing are criticized by them as being much too heavy for the terrain that they are working in. Some were captured simply because they got stuck in the mud and the Ukrainians had to abandon them as a result. But until the US Army can get their artillery right, they will always be behind peer nations like Russia. And as so many nations around the world buy US equipment, they will be behind as well just like with the Ukrainians.

    1. digi_owl

      Thing is that USA has never really needed artillery.

      After all they have a navy and air force. Thus they could always call on either shore bombardment or close air support, as they never dealt with marching under a contested sky.

  19. spud

    i love the tweet on x about finance and free trade. i have been pounding on what bill clinton and the free trade cult was doing to america since 1993.

    “Now, Beijing is doing partial trade embargo. Dogma was a self lie, it was hallucinations. Marxists – Leninists in Beijing are winning for now.”

    the author is correct. what bill clinton did by repealing the new deal and almost all constraints on finance was bad, really bad, but free trade is the worst. its how finance has come to rule the world, not for long though.

    its going to be really hard for america and its financial rulers, to hang onto super power status, when the free traders pounded the skilled deplorable into misery and early death, and buy what it needs from other countries.

    the look of rage and bewilderment on the faces of free traders and their supporters, will get ever more shrill.

    1. Glen

      What is wrong about that tweet was that there was no discussion of the long term implications of off shoring industry. There was, but it occurred all the way back in the first Cold War. There were organizations and people that had to decide what was restricted technology which could not be allowed to get exported to the USSR. By and large these restrictions were successful, but there were some notable “escapes”. Asianometry provides a good overview of how the export of CNC technology to prevent advances in sub technology, and covers how technology export was coordinated with COCOM:

      Toshiba’s Big Technology Export Scandal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRyqAVIkwI

      Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinating_Committee_for_Multilateral_Export_Controls

      Where the West was most effective was in the control of technology for manufacturing chips. (The USSR kept using tubes long after these were dropped in the West.)

      But those same people deep in the details of technology control were also advising about the long term results of off shoring key technology. Their advice to the DOD if it was allowed to continue was (as I have stated before) “Game Over”.

      People looking for debates on this in finance are looking in the wrong place; people looking around 2008 are not looking far enough back.

      1. spud

        transistors. but bill clintons policies sent almost 200 years of manufacturing out of the country.

    1. vao

      Had a look at the Challenger 3 page on Wikipedia, which states:

      It will be produced by the conversion of existing Challenger 2 tanks

      In other words, it is not even a new design, but a retrofit of 25-year old vehicles with new electronics, a new gun (without an autoloader!), and some other improvements.

      At least the Germans, when introducing their “new” Panther KF51 (based on a 35-year old variant of the Leopard 2, itself a 50-year old design), increased the caliber of the cannon and put an autoloader in it. But once again: not even a new design here, either.

      I view both cases as examples for the loss of capability of the European armament industry.

    3. The Rev Kev

      When it is combat loaded, it may weigh from 70 to 80 tons. But the trend in the Ukraine is to put a limit on the weight of tanks lest they get stuck in the mud in the east.

    4. jrkrideau

      All prototypes will be tested under operational conditions to validate their performance and make refinements, before another 140 are built and delivered to the British Army.

      Field testing in Ukraine?

  21. Carolinian

    That’s a good article on rewilding the internet but one has to wonder whether the proposed solution–more government rules and regulations–won’t be merely transferring power from big business to government bureaucrats who are also controlled by big business. After all following the article’s Biden quote from 2021 praising competition he then went on to use pressure from the FBI and others to suppress unwanted speech on those platforms he claimed to criticize. It could result in one walled garden being replaced by another that is even worse. This definitely seems true of some new EU regulations where a “hate speech” threat is used to conjure moral panic in the same way that Big Tech uses the malware threat as a way of maintaining their “wall.”

    Here’s suggesting that computers do give each of us great power if we choose to use it and a bottom up reform is more likely to bear fruit than the top down. The open source movement seems to have lost a lot of its mojo through co-optation and the rise of apps that allow the many to make a bit of money out of programming. But that was the healthy part–the forest’s littered floor if you willl–of those early days. From the article

    Whatever we do, the internet isn’t returning to old-school then-common interfaces like FTP and Gopher, or organizations operating their own mail servers again instead of off-the-shelf solutions like G-Suite. But some of what we need is already here, especially on the web. Look at the resurgence of RSS feeds, email newsletters and blogs, as we discover (yet again) that relying on one app to host global conversations creates a single point of failure and control. New systems are growing, like the Fediverse with its federated islands, or Bluesky with algorithmic choice and composable moderation.

    I use RSS every day and abhor Facebook. Funny how the demise of RSS was so greatly exaggerated. If you build freedom they will come and the websites who depend on getting their message out by any means possible will cooperate.

    1. DJG, Reality Czar

      Emma: Thanks. I don’t know Gil Duran, so I went to the underlying story at BrasilWire, which is a highly reputable site.

      https://www.brasilwire.com/brazilian-lawyer-exposes-deceit-at-heart-of-twitter-files/

      What Estela Aranha is pointing out is many differences between a continental / Napoleonic / code-law system and the U.S. common-law system, which interprets the U.S. Constitution. I’m not sure that I agree with all of what she sees. Some of it is much too complex for me–and relies on descriptions of events that I don’t understand. Nevertheless, her assertion that Shellenberger mixed cases and events wrong in his article is serious indeed.

      As to Shellenberger, I find something about him louche. There is a whiff of something that’s off. I recall that he also did an exposé on the “suppressed UFO story,” which is pretty much a non-story. Isn’t he also one of those looking for the Dragon Lady Who Invented Covid?

      I wonder if Shellenberger can even read Portuguese–or if he fell for the old “It looks just like Spanish!” trick. And Portuguese, a delightful language, has plenty of divergences from Spanish.

      It will be interesting to see if Glenn Greenwald, who helped Shellenberger to break this story, will do some kind of retraction on his own Rumble show.

  23. digi_owl

    “We Need To Rewild The Internet NOMEA (Micael T)”

    Good luck with that as long as dox-happy busybodies are running around.

    When Reddit had a bruhaha between company and the volunteers policing the sub-groups, the fediverse was supposed to be an alternative. All that ended up doing was splintering said federation into a million pieces as any server that didn’t agree with the silly valley zeitgeist got blacklisted (*gasp faint trigger warning*) ASAP.

  24. Terry

    Where the 2024 Presidential Election Voting Integrity Will Be Fought

    Well worth a read. In California, a mail in ballot voter is required to sign their name on the OUTSIDE of the return envelope.
    Anyone stealing outbound mail thus has their name, address and a copy of their signature. What could go wrong?
    Why people who are serious about democracy vote on Election Day at their polling place. Prevents early mail in vote “vote banking” something the Democratic Supermajority running the state since 2006 uses.

    https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/vote-mail

      1. scott s.

        In Hawaii, each of the 4 main counties must operate a “voter service center” which opens 10 business days prior to election for “walk in” voting.

  25. Feral Finster

    2 of Trump’s jurors are lawyers. Would they acquit on a technicality? Politico. As Lambert laid out the problems with the case go beyond “technicalities”.

    Technicalities are something the judge decides. The jury finds facts. The judge rules on the law.

    Moreover, to the extent that such matters spill over somehow into the province of the jury, surely these lawyers are lawyer enough to recognize that “technicalities” matter, but only sometimes, and are “harmless error” when the judge wants them to be.

    1. Jeff V

      I’m pretty sure lawyers are not allowed to serve on juries in the UK.

      Presumably to stop them making helpful comments like “The reason the judge just asked us to leave the courtroom is so the lawyers can argue over whether or not we can be told about the Defendant’s previous criminal convictions.”

    2. scott s.

      Except that there is the theory of “jury nullification”, a concept judges hate but no real way to prevent.

  26. DJG, Reality Czar

    Kevin Gosztola has been covering Assange diligently. Take a look at his “CIA Invokes State Secrets” article if you want to understand / get a reminder of how vile the “intelligence community” of the U S of A is.

    Just for the sheer arrogance and deceit.

  27. Tom Stone

    I was idly wondering whether anyone had ever come up with a comprehensive list of “SubHumans” yesterday and came up with a partial list.
    Here in California during the early days it was Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese and and Chilean miners with Hispanics kind of on a bubble like the Slavs are in Europe ( Sometimes all the Slavs are subhuman, sometimes it’s just the Russian Orcs).
    In the US as a whole you can add the Irish with Jews and Hispanics again on a bubble, and as the song has it “The Monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga”.
    In Yurp it’s the Irish, the Jews, the Gypsies, the Poles and the Slavs.
    In India the Brahmins are fully Human, in China it’s the Han, in Israel it’s the “Right kind” of Jew.
    It appears to me that Pogo was right, We have met the Enemy.
    And He is Us.

    1. Emma

      “In India the Brahmins are fully Human, in China it’s the Han, in Israel it’s the “Right kind” of Jew”

      Brahmin are not a dominant force in modern Indian society and are not the primary drivers behind Hindutva.

      Han includes everyone in China without a distinctive other ethnic identity and the Chinese government works very hard to ensure that non-Han Chinese treated at least as well as Han Chinese.

      As for Israel, “Right Kind of Jew” is very much in the eyes of the beholder, even amongst Zionists who agree on hating Arabs including unassimilated Arab Jews.

      1. Snailslime

        Thank you, thank you for calling out this all to common nonsense.

        I’ve occasionally tried doing so too, but the narratives are just too convenient to not run with them even for so many of the otherwise critical.

    2. Kouros

      In Europe, every country’s neighbours are bad or subhumans; as such all countries, will get one vote for being good, ok, human, and more than one for being subhuman.

      1. paul

        But where you come from,is always the best, even if you have to surrender it.
        Assimilate first, and when the homeland has been correctly configured, you can return, an EU citizen.

  28. DJG, Reality Czar

    Arnaud Bertrand on Draghi’s Very Extraordinary and Remarkable and Wonderful Day of Speechifying.

    Maddai. At least, Bertrand admits that Mario Draghi is twenty-five years late and a lira short. But the issue isn’t competitiveness: It is ordoliberalism (as Yves Smith has explained any number of times), lack of accountability by EU institutions (see: La Ursula!), and the absurd idea that the “free movement” of labor means that workers’ rights will be protected (they won’t).

    Mario Draghi is one of the indoctrinated technocrats (along with Mario Monti) and unidimensional politicians (along with Enrico Letta, Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Renzi, Matteo Salvini, and current president of the council of ministers Giorgia Meloni) who have spent years and years wrecking the Italian economy. I’d rather take a manganello to him–he deserves it more than the high-school students in Pisa a few weeks ago and the students in Roma who seem to be getting it the last few days.

    But I will let the other commenters who live in Italy take a manganello to Mario if they so choose.

  29. Lefty Godot

    In contrast to the dramatic goings-on in the Middle East, the advance by Russia in Ukraine is grinding on, inch by inch. Apparently fighting inside Chasiv Yar and Ocheretyne now. With any kind of luck they might be able to actually push Ukraine completely out of the Donetsk oblast by the end of June (and they have almost gotten them out of Luhansk already). With a lot of luck, they might have things mostly wrapped up by the time Trump gets sworn in next year. Very methodical.

    I know some commenters believe the slow going is due to Putin and his generals being too timid, but I think most of it is due to needing to wear down Ukrainian air defenses, trying to gauge whether NATO would over-respond at each step of the way (like the “no fly zone” talk early on that ended up not leading to anything), and just not having enough military and industrial resources in the first year or so to sustain an attack for the length of time needed (and also guard against other Western mischief). Ukraine may have corrupt and reprehensible leaders, but their troops have been putting up a ferocious resistance, at great cost.

  30. Ignacio

    On Draghi’s speech:

    Is this a radical change, what he is proposing or just a simple “double down” on recent trends? It seems to me he is asking for more power to the EC to decide more and more on harmonization and to create “EU champions” in some kinds of activities to compete globally. He focuses almosr exclusively on the benefits of scale as the way to go up on the competing ladder. He hasn’t changed that much, or anything at all, IMO. Just another globalist with plans of grandeur in the neoliberal framework.

    I believe there is a lot of bad or biased diagnosis in his speech though he seems to identify the disease (part of it) correctly. He fails to elaborate and doubles down on the financialization of everything and of course the creation of “private-public partnerships” in every aspect of life and most importantly he avoids mentioning the worse mistakes of which many have been made at EC level particularly regarding “competitiveness”. The EU will harmonize in poverty except if you are lucky enough to work on the grand strategic fields the EC wants to take its claws on.

    As I see it, this might start a race between influential groups and countries to “competitively” gain for them the benefits of this new push for external competitiveness. The risk is for peripheral countries is to become nearly non-existent.

  31. steppenwolf fetchit

    . . . ” I have been reading about finance and history of finance since 2008.

    I have never, to repeat, never, seen any debate about sending means of production to Asia and China in particular.

    There was 100% consensus. ”

    There was? 100% consensus? Really? Among whom? A narrow cadre of professionals and talkers-of-their-book?

    I certainly didn’t consent. Neither did fellow commenter spud. Nor did a number of other people who opposed and rejected NAFTA, WTO membership “for” America, MFN status for China, etc. etc.

    So among whom is this 100% consensus supposed to have taken place?

    2. skippy

      Totally driven by the “Free Market” Ideologues in the day which were just sales men[tm] for the Corporatists dating back to FEE et al …

      Rub is as Marx said … they hang themselves in the end …

      How funny is it to understand economic libertarians and latter synergies are contemporaries with mobs like ISIS … absurdity meter pegged hard …

      1. spud

        i have spared with gigantic mental midgets that say manufacturing jobs are white entitlement. you simply cannot make this stuff up.

        alfred kahn, paul volker, bill clinton, gene sperling, obama and many many others, turned a first world nation, into a third world nation. quite the achievement.

  32. steppenwolf fetchit

    . . .” Blinken to China to fuss about support for Russia Asia Times (Kevin W). Olaf Scholz just got “What about ‘no’ don’t you understand?” from Xi. How often does China have to be on the receiving end of this nonsense? ”

    Only until the West wears itself out. Till then China will keep hearing this nonsense. There is a difference between ” being on the receving end” of the nonsense and having to “address the nonsense”. It costs the West more energy to say a thousand words of nonsense than it costs the ChinaGov to say one word of “no”.
    So the ChinaGov will just outwait the West while the West wears itself out.

    1. Kouros

      The Chinese can also ask when will the US stop sending bombs and missiles to kill Palestinians in Gaza, since ICJ has found Israel plausibly conducting a genocide in Gaza, no?!

  33. CA

    “China steels itself for new front in trade war after US proposes tariffs on metals”

    George Bush imposed tariffs on Chinese steel early in 2002. The US consumed 93 million tons of steel in 2023 of which a mere 600,000 tons of steel were imported from China for a ratio of .00645. Chinese steel imports which have been special orders are simply no problem for the US steel industry, but we are led to believe they are an important problem.

    1. steppenwolf fetchit

      I remember reading decades ago in Acres USA commentary written by the Editor and Publisher Charles Walters Jr. explaining how permitting the import into America of just a relatively tiny amount of lower-priced foreign beef could be used to destroy the price structure for American beef. It only took a little to undercut the rest.

      Of course it is hard to prevent that sort of thing in a Forcey-FreeTrade world order. Which is why Charles Walters Jr. wrote hundreds of thousands of words against Forcey-FreeTrade for years and years and years in the pages of Acres USA.

  34. CA

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-call-higher-tariffs-chinese-metals-steel-city-pittsburgh-2024-04-17/

    April 17, 2024

    Biden calls for higher tariffs on Chinese steel
    By Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and David Lawder

    “China’s steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit,” Biden said as he visited the headquarters of the United Steelworkers union. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America.”

    [ Comments by President Biden are incorrect and purposely and needlessly offensive. ]

  35. steppenwolf fetchit

    About that working cat in the video . . . I am prepared to believe that is a real video. I can’t be sure for sure but I am prepared to believe it. The head of the working cat looks natural-in-itself to me and while the border between cat and sweater looks awfully sharp, I notice that the border between the client cat’s head and body also looks awfully sharp. It could be a matter of perspective and what is hidden by what.

    If someone had definite proof one way or the other it would be nice to know.

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