Tosca and the baby seagulls One Garden Against the World
A World Built for House Sparrows (excerpt) Flaming Hydra
Gizmo the dog went missing in Las Vegas in 2015. He’s been found alive after 9 years AP
The surprising thing sharks can teach us about life WaPo
Private Equity Firms Should Prepare for Increased Scrutiny as DOJ Puts False Claims Violations Under the Microscope National Law Review
Side Letter: Alaska plays offence Private Equity International
David Rubenstein’s daughter resigns Alaska fund post after cronyism claims FT
Private Equity Investors Plead for More Clarity on NAV Loans Bloomberg. “Private equity firms should alert investors before they borrow against their funds’ assets — especially when using so-called net-asset-value loans to juice returns, according to new guidelines from a trade group for such investors.”
Climate
Scientists call for greater study of glacier geoengineering options Guardian
Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Nature. From the Abstract: “We estimate a collapse of the AMOC to occur around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions.”
Wildfires ravage western Canada as Trudeau sends in military to help Anadolu Agency
Park Fire rips across 125,000 acres in northern California Wildfire Today
Life at 115F: a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink Guardian
Capitalist catastrophism and eco-apartheid Geoforum From the Abstract: “Capitalist catastrophism has three characteristics. First, a newfound ability for social movements and theorists to imagine post-capitalist futures combined with an inability to realize them. Second, cascading and mutually amplifying social and ecological crises that outrun the capacities of states and capital to contain them. Third, an unevenly distributed cancellation of human and non-human futures.”
Water
Could humans run on water? Physics World
Syndemics
US bankrolls a third of global Pandemic Fund. Can it get congressional support? Endpoints News
Where is COVID-19 spreading? These states have the highest COVID rates USA Today
Data: COVID shaved 2.6 years from life expectancy—much more in some groups—in India Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
China?
China sets launch date for world’s first thorium molten salt nuclear power station South China Morning Post
Can China smash the Airbus-Boeing duopoly? The Economist
South China Sea: Is the Philippines becoming a gateway for the West’s Indo-Pacific interests? Channel News Asia
India
George Harrison, Ravi Shankar & The Journey Of The Sitar Madras Courier
Bangladesh continues curfew amid mass arrests of protesters Anadolu Agency
Africa
Evil Empires? New Left Review
Syraqistan
Atlantis Is Lost: How the Israeli Army’s Plan to Flood Hamas’ Network of Tunnels Under Gaza Failed Haaretz. The deck: “Israel started by adopting an old and unsuitable plan, continued by ignoring professional advice and the possible danger to the abductees – and ended quietly a few months later, anyone saying whether it achieved anything at all. Haaretz surveys profiles the Atlantis project – a predictable military failure which no one stopped until it was too late.”
* * * American Surgeon Who Volunteered in Gaza Says IDF Snipers Shoot Toddlers Antiwar.com. The deck: “‘No toddler gets shot twice by mistake,’ said Dr. Mark Perlmutter.”
US humiliated itself ‘for the sake of a child killer’: Turkey’s former president Turkish Minute
* * * Netanyahu irked by “critical” Harris comments Axios. Commentary:
Some will approvingly claim that Kamala Harris is showing more "empathy" for Palestinians than Biden. But she's not calling for a single shift in the guiding policy of unfettered US support for Israeli mass murder.
She's also adopting the guiding dehumanization of Palestinians… https://t.co/u9azrh86up
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 25, 2024
Meanwhile:
Read my full statement on the protests in Washington, D.C. yesterday. pic.twitter.com/zJpZvdQDt9
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 25, 2024
Illegal sale of Palestinian land embraced by Biden, governors, mayors and city councilmembers MR Online
* * * ‘Pressure for this to succeed’: Will Fatah-Hamas unity deal hold? Al Jazeera
The Buffer Zone Phenomenal World
The Assad visit to Moscow two days ago about which you have heard nothing Gilbert Doctorow
Why President Pezeshkian’s Election is Good News Pluralia. Iran.
European Disunion
Brussels abandons crackdown on overfishing FT
Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics AP
Dear Old Blighty
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s hopes and challenges after long wait for F-16s BBC
NATO’s false promises are encouraging misplaced Ukrainian hopes Politico
EU transfers $2.2b from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine Straits Times. “Proceeds from.”
Press review: China mediates on Ukraine and forecasting foreign policy under Kamala Harris TASS
South of the Border
Venezuela presidential candidates hold final rallies ahead of election Al Jazeera
Farming Is Hip in Brazil, Where a New Generation Is Outpacing the US Bloomberg
2024
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support AP
Seven Lessons from Joe Biden’s Candidacy The Bulwark
The Supremes
Justice Kagan says there needs to be a way to enforce the US Supreme Court’s new ethics code AP
How the most right-wing appeals court was reined in by the Supreme Court this term USA Today
Digital Watch
OpenAI to launch ‘SearchGPT’ in challenge to Google FT
Healthcare
We may finally know how the placebo effect relieves pain New Scientist
Boeing
NASA says astronauts stuck at space station until troubled Boeing capsule can be fixed France24
To Secure Undersea Cables, Take Lessons from the British Empire’s All-Red Line U.S. Naval Institute
Imperial Collapse Watch
How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe WaPo. Commentary:
I rarely praise mainstream media but this is truly journalism at its very best by WaPo, revealing the economic warfare that the US wages against much of the world, and especially against poor countries, with 60% of them today under US sanctions!
Here is what their analysis… pic.twitter.com/3OSKTCRE58
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 25, 2024
What I Saw at the Discover-Capital One Merger Hearing Next City
Class Warfare
Video game performers will go on strike over artificial intelligence concerns AP
Antidote du jour (Dandy1022):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Bibi must make a plan for The Day After
All his impotent rage brings is laughter
Tanks and troops running short
Plus that ICJ court—
He must concoct a plan that’s much dafter
Netanyahu’s his own saboteur
Such a rare Fustercluck connoisseur
All his murderous plans
For the Mohammedans
Spells the last stand of Zion for sure
Natural gas right off the Gaza coast
Oh my, Israel wants that the most
They aren’t planning to buy it
They will simply deny it
To the Arabs once Gaza is toast
Settlers expand the Israeli Reich
By murder, land theft, and the like
They deny people food
As suits their turpitude
And condemn Israel with each strike
One ton bombs are loaded and fused
Then dropped on the lost and abused
Killing toddlers and mothers
Fathers and brothers—
Not one ounce of this shall be excused
For forty years, I have read about too many horrible wars filled with unending atrocities, but snipers double tapping toddlers and children is something new to me. It sounds like it should be a vignette in The Heart of Darkness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre
Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! … I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians. … Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice.
— Col. John Milton Chivington
The Sand Creek massacre can bring me to tears just by being mentioned. It isn’t just that Sand Creek happened, it is how effectively it has become a buried footnote in American history that rips my heart out and my suspicion that it isn’t shame but approval that keeps it from being the fully acknowledged and taught as the warning it should be.
Requesting a favor from the NC brain trust: Can you share any good source(s) that point out what’s really going on in Ukraine for a brainwashed consumer of mainstream media who thinks that Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing?
I recall seeing something a few months ago in the Guardian or NYT or some other place …
Thanks in advance!
Well, one good general antiseptic to M$M brain worms could be this, it is with Tucker, but he stays out of the way. There has been plenty of pushback against the Covid theories espoused but is otherwise quite sound. It has been awhile since I saw it so I don’t recall exactly how much it aligns specifically with Ukraine.
Jeffrey Sachs: The Untold History of the Cold War, CIA Coups Around the World, and COVID’s Origin
YouTube channel The Duran, and the individual channels of the two Duran guys, Alexander Mecouris and Alex Christoforou.
Judge Napoltano’s Judging Freedom YouTube is also an excellent source.
Don’t forget the always entertaining and informative John Helmer: Dances With Bears.
Having read to the end of this thread, and been a viewer/reader of most of the people listed, I don’t think any of the suggestions will have much of an effect on your friend if he/she is indeed brainwashed.
Everyone who made the list, to varying degrees, are blowhards chasing bucks, clicks, and views.
The best commentary on Russia from this list is John Helmer, hands down (who is also a blowhard, though not without justification). If your description of your friend is accurate, he’s unlikely to gain any traction since his POV is entirely Russian.
If your friend is 100% siloed, John Mearsheimer is probably the only other blowhard that might stand a chance of grinding down the brain calluses, since he’s comfortably, unthreateningly establishment American.
And he’s got that condescending male Boomer confidence (no offense intended to any male Boomers, condescending, confident, or otherwise).
His friend will never listen to someone who is in Moscow.
Jeffrey Sachs and Ray McGovern are the most credentialed people who are sane on Ukraine and Russia. They are his best shot.
I forgot to add, to my other comment that got moderated, Michael Rossi’s youtube channel. Mostly translations of Russian government press conferences, which are themselves illuminating, but he’s done a couple of analysis videos that are pretty even-handed.
My brother found this to be very helpful and informative. It’s a timeline of all the events from 1990 on that led up to Russia starting the SMO.
Timeline: Euromaidan, the original “Ukraine Crisis”: https://archive.ph/j5QdH
I know this doesn’t fulfill your requirement for evidence that Russia is winning and Ukraine is losing but I did a quick search on gibiru.com just using “Ukraine losing” and there were several articles including in the mainstream media
That was a good article but largely ignored Crimea pre-2014.
This article from 1994 is key to understanding the situation and useful because this was before anti-Russia history took over the discourse so it is fairly straight reporting. An interview on Deep Dive with Jacques Baud touched on the events in this article.
Funny that no one ever referred to Crimea as “Ukraine Occupied Crimea” before 2014 but now it is “Russian Occupied Crimea”.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-21-mn-60465-story.html
Title: “Crimea OKs Constitution Declaring Its Independence From Ukraine : Black Sea: Kiev proclaims the vote invalid and issues an ultimatum”
Judge Napolitano and Nima at Dialog Works have a variety iof guests; Alistair Crooke and Ray McGovern.bring depth of experience to their interviews. I change settings to a higher speed and skip through some parts from the transcript. Alexander Mercuris presents full updates on the Ukrainian front.
Simplicius The Thinker has regular Sitreps mostly referring to western sources, so he could be palatable, at least to an extent.
I wish there was an animated map available showing how the “Ukrainian victories” keep creeping towards west, and how the creep has picked pace recently.
It should tell something that all of sudden Ukranian media is allow to speak about negotiations and quick end to the war instead of banging about victory.
I don’t agree re Simplicius. He is extremely uneven and not careful about sourcing. He too often publishes garbage and he should know better. You have to be knowledgeable about this beat to tell the often great Simplicius posts from the piss poor ones.
His column last week about the coming AI drone swarms is an example.
That’s why tried to emphasize his SitReps, which mostly use Western media to debunk Western media. The rest indeed requires a keen mind to parse trough.
His latest SitRep, for example sites the Ukraine’s head of the Unmanned Systems Forces from the Economist about the impossibility of AI drone swarms.
Big Serge probably better? Also Moon of Alabama as long as you stay away from the comments section
Big Serge is great but he mainly writes about big historical themes.
MoA is very good on Ukraine. On some other topics he is more mixed.
Me thinks Big Serge is mostly boring, one-track-minded and often begins from false premises. I actually stopped following him months ago, even though I used to enjoy his “today I have a hammer, so let’s study all military strategies as nails” approach.
I emailed a suggestion to Yves a few days ago about this particular Big Serge post but I can imagine that her inbox can get a bit ‘constipated’ at times (s**t happens…. :^\ ) Anyway,
The Big Serge post from 7/19, “NATO at the Crossroads”
https://open.substack.com/pub/bigserge/p/nato-at-the-crossroads?r=1ot60&utm_medium=ios
Is estimated as a 26 minute read by Substack – not long compared to a typical post from him – and is imho well worth one’s time. A succinct, “just the facts, ma’am” analysis that shows the NATO/ Unipolar Hegemon as having pretty thoroughly painted itself into a corner and now having to contemplate abandoning a sinking ship – which he concludes (like many of us in the Commentariat) is unlikely. No snarky cynicism here – and given his undeniable expertise in the history and technical nuts and bolts of warcraft and the geopolitical motivations of the players on the global chessboard, the analysis is pretty bulletproof (sorry!) and sobering, considering the PTB that are calling the shots. Sadly, (quoting Pogo Possum) “we have met the enemy, and he is us!”
Jason Boxman mentioned it on July 20. Unfortunately I was too busy on that day to point out the “false premises” I mentioned above on Big Serge’s writing.
Researchers have know, and published, for four decades now that US military intelligence was well aware by 1948 that Soviet Union and USA had equal amount of troops deployed in Europe. The was no military threat coming from Soviet Union, as George Kennan was shouting from the top of his lungs, but nobody was listening to him anymore.
The question that has bothered researchers since early 80’s is whether Western politicians exaggerated Red Army strength on purpose or did they just not get the memo – it is within the realm of possible that the top western military echelons could have found it beneficial to get more funding after the enormous demobilization.
By skipping all this and retelling the established but false narrative Big Serge does a huge disservice for his* readers.
The fact remains that it was the West which decided to seek deterrence and divide Europe into NATO and Soviet buffer zone. NATO was founded on deception to maintain eternal conflict. A collective security for Europe (or the globe) and NATO are fundamentally incompatible.
* I don’t know the appropriate pronouns, but take the liberty follow those assigned to the eponym, count Sergey Witte.
John Mearsheimer has credentials, demeanor, and a public track record of predictions that make him hard to dispute.
There was that one Mearshheimer YouTube talk right at the beginning of Feb 22 and then the Arnaud Bertrand or was it Jacques Baud? Basically a diplomat has a come to Jesus moment and does a deep dive on the history of the conflict.
Sorry I tried looking on google and couldn’t find them.
Jacques Baud is a great resource.
Thank you, Rolf.
Baud is the one I’m thinking of.
Baud in writing is great. Spoken Baud takes some getting used to.
You can refer to your “brainwashed” friend to previous posts on the subject by Yves Smith here, at NC. Personally, I’ve given up on some disabusing family/friends on Ukraine and Palastine, they are too far infected with the M$M brainworm someone accurately referred to.
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast
openly Russo-phile (culture wise). one of the most level-headed Twitter accounts in Russophile-Twitter.
very conservative on sharing breaking news.
your mileage may vary.
They recently (at about 1-2 months ago) published video(s) on the Maidan which I found very informative.
The New Atlas is a good start.
And also deserving strong endorsement is Dima at Military Summary. One of the better daily report sites out there. This is Utoob link but better found on Rumble.
If you can access English-language translations of public communications of Ukrainian units actually engaged in combat with RF ground forces (I don’t know how to do this), this might be the least unbelievable-to-your-interlocutors source of information.
In yesterday’s daily commentary, Alexander Mercouris discussed recent posts by Ukrainian 79th Brigade, which is slowly losing its fight to hold Konstantinovka (an important road junction NE of the important fortified stronghold Vugledar). AM discussion of 79th Brigade public statements begins about 43:35.
I think there is also commentary somewhere in this “episode” of an interview with General Syrsky, in which it is acknowledged that RF ground forces strength is growing, while UKR faces serious problems replacing losses. The Guardian interview is accessible online, but it’s salted with optimistic pronouncements and is probably not a useful tool for promoting realistic assessment of UKR prospects. AM mentions rumors that Syrsky has privately given up and thinks UKR should accede to RF terms to end the conflict.
Perhaps your interlocutors would be willing to listen to Mercouris himself. He’s (IMO) very even-handed, though his neutral analysis posture may strike Putin-antagonists as “pro-Russian.”
Be sure to speed up AM by at least 1.5x.
My good sources, already named, are Alex C. and Alexander M. and Napolitano with all his stellar guests. The challenge is there will not be seen as good sources by someone indoctrinated by MSM, but perceived as fringe and thus reliable. But Jeffrey Sachs has enough cred for his articles to sometimes appear in MSM, and he is often painstakingly granular in going back to origins. Because otherwise it makes no sense to someone whose needle is stuck on “unprovoked”. Find Sachs in a mainstream source.
Yeah, Sachs and Mearsheimer are good ‘intro’ sources. American academics with bullet-proof credentials.
https://x.com/KimDotcom/status/1666920267271266304 “All the Ukraine Documentaries”. I have many links tho. I have been following it very closely since the beginning. An interesting aside: hundreds of links I saved from 2014 have been purged from the net. Originally, every combatant on both sides was uploading constantly to youtube, VK.com and twitter. Most of those have vanished completely. However, many of the journalists that were also documenting then are still around. Eva Karene Bartlett, Graham Phillips, Pat Lancaster, Russell “Texas” Bentley (now deceased, but his videos from the very beginning were what alerted me to the total propaganda blanket that was commercial media), Alina Lipp, and others. Also, go to Slavyangrad.org and start reading from the first post. I believe the archives of The Vineyard of the Saker are still up, tho the owner has stopped updating because he fears deportation. And Telegram. Slavyangrad has a channel there, as well as most of the above journalists. Enjoy!
If books are allowed as sources, I’d recommend “The Russian Art of War: How the West Led Ukraine to Defeat” by Jacques Baud and “The Ukraine War and the Eurasian World Order” by Glenn Diesen for the bigger picture.
After those it should be possible to proceed to books like “The (Real) Revolution in Military Affairs” or “America’s Final War” by Andrey Martyanov and “Why the West Can’t Win: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World” by Fadi Lama on where all this might be going.
Alexander Mercouris is good on the Ukraine War/geopolitics, though his battlefield updates on youtube are pointlessly granular, and his videos are prolix in the extreme. I think if he stopped “reiterating again” and larding his delivery with needless verbiage his videos would be half the length.
Mercouris provides pretty bad political commentary for countries that aren’t the UK. Being a Britain, his instincts are solid when it comes to his native land, and since his father was a Greek diplomat, he sometimes has interesting things to say about that region of the world. However, his commentary about American politics, for instance, is so bad that I often have to skip it or turn it off. Because I don’t believe he understands American politics very well I’m highly, highly skeptical about his readings of, say, Indian or Chinese or even Russian domestic politics.
Nima of “Dialogue Works” and Napolitano of “Judging Freedom” on youtube let their guests for the most part say what they want to say. So it all depends on what you think of their frequent guests. It’s a mixed bag. I like Larry Wilkerson and Scott Ritter’s commentary, but I don’t trust commentary by Larry Johnson, having been burned by his coverage of the Teixeira top-secret-NATO-slide leak scandal a year back. Johnson, a former CIA analyst, was then pretty adamant that someone of Teixeira’s low stature could not access such secret information from the secure centers where they’re kept without “help,” implying a conspiracy to set up Teixeira. As far as I can tell, Johnson turned out to be totally wrong, and in my opinion was stirring things up to get views and clicks. I’ve never trusted him since.
I read Andrei Martyanov’s blog “Reminiscence of the Future.” He knows Russia, especially the Russian military, well, but it’s important to keep in mind that he’s kind of a blowhard. His opinions outside his area of expertise (see his denial of man-made climate change) are frankly asinine.
aye.
i understand your longing to counter all the BS you hear from all and sundry…i shared that longing for a long while.
but ive found it rather hopeless…and therefore gave up on it….save when people are out here, tipsy around the fire…and then only if they ask.
similarly on Iran….with a potted history on the tip of my brain going back to Operation Ajax..
as well as China…with similar potted history right there in me head.
people will deny what they dont want to know…especially if the implications are obvious…and even more so if they’re awful.
this goes for even history lessons from the horse’s mouth….Kremlin english service, of course…but also the frelling CIA website,lol.
aside from cousin in houston…and my last friend from high school, also in houston…i dont know anybody in real life who can even listen to me on such topics, without launching into a largely unconscious parroting of state department talking points….from either side of the party aisle, as it were, and depending on where they lie on that symmetry.
so…i wish you a heartfelt “Good Luck” on that endeavor,lol…but dont get yer hopes up.
the Mighty Wurlitzer of Chaos and Confusion has done just a fine job…a fine job…
“Can you share any good source(s) that point out what’s really going on in Ukraine for a brainwashed consumer of mainstream media who thinks that Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing?”
If you’re taking someone who’s just starting from scratch (mostly a CNN/Guardian/Politico/NYT reader) and isn’t going to be comfortable with some of the military heavy analysis, I’d start with one of the John Mearsheimer lectures. He’s a very distinguished academic at U of Chicago in the political science department and can’t be blown off as some hack who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s refined his summary of why Ukraine can’t win as the war has gone on, but he keeps it at a geo-strategic level and doesn’t bog things down into too much detail. I think lots of the military guys cited below (Ritter, MacGregor, Larry Wilkerson, Brian Berletic is great at citing sources) are excellent for improving and adding detail to Mearsheimer’s explanations.
The short version of Mearsheimer’s lecture is this 1) population size and resource base. Russia’s way bigger. 2) In an attrition war, the superior artillery firepower usually wins. There’s a massive gap in artillery production — Russia is heavily outproducing the west. It’s not even close 2b) The gap in drone production is similar to the gap in artillery production. Russia is way ahead. 3) the difference in air power was large at the start of the war and has gotten more pronounced as Russia dismantled the Ukrainian air defense systems. There’s a Duran video about how Russia is obliterating defensive fortifications with FAB 3000kg bombs.
For a concrete sign that Russian casualties are way overestimated, Alexander Mercouris often cites the Mediazona project partnership with the BBC which reviewed obituaries and funeral proceedings in Russia to get a rough casualty count. But it was way below what the Ukrainians were saying they’ve killed, so the methodology had to be ‘revised’.
If you want to approach from the perspective that everyone is lying about everyone’s casualty numbers (certainly a logical view). Then, look at how both sides are behaving. Ukraine has to kidnap people off the street and has had to keep expanding the age range of its draft pool. The Ukrainian parliament spent months hemming-and-hawing over passing the legislation. Russia has had one draft, and hasn’t needed to launch another one, since then, because it’s gotten a lot of volunteers. If Ukraine isn’t running out of people, why was there talk of deporting refugees from surrounding countries in the EU?
Agreed. I really had to listen to an International Relations expert to get to the heart of the matter.
Also when I realized that The West has tried to take Russia several times whether it’s Napoleon or Hitler or Nuland I realllllly understood.
It’s as simple as Greed and World Domination.
Also gotta shout out my boy Oliver Stone and his great documentary, “Ukraine on Fire 🔥!”
At an intellectual level, I agree that an overview video or two from Mearsheimer is probably the best for your purposes.
Hitting at the gut level, the documentary “Roses Have Thorns” is compelling. It does a good job of letting events speak for themselves from the Maidan onward. Start with episodes 1 & 2.
Mercouris is good on Ukraine and most geo-politics* except for US stuff for my money. But he’s too detailed for an intro, as you’d have to follow his numerous daily reports to get the gist. The Duran when Glenn Diesen is co-hosting, the New Atlas, and Neutrality Studies videos are even better–but, ilke Mercouris, they are topical rather than giving broad summaries.
Simplicius, Big Serge, and RWAPodcast have some value but they are also all varying degrees of too-online conservative cranks. They are not tapped in to any particular sources, rather they are assiduous internet observers who happen to be pro-Russia.
* (Samuel Conner’s summary of Mercouris above is spot on)
Thanks all!
I’m just geekin’ out about the above. Just looking at the deep and diverse responses to deedee’s query, made me wonder: from where else could one obtain such a richly informed list? It’s like having a seat in a small, intimate cafe frequented by unassuming deep thinkers, where you can just listen, converse, and think.
The supply of review articles, commentary, and précis authored by NC’s core — Yves, Lambert, Conor — are the very definition of reliable, authentic, critically hard-headed “news you can use”. Coupled with the erudite contributions from visitors such as Dr. Michael Hudson, and of course the incomparable commentariat (see above), regulars and irregulars alike: man, NC is just … a treasure. Nothing else like it. Anywhere.
Sorry, I had to hit pause on my discussion between Garland Nixon, Scott Ritter, and Andrei Martyanov in order to reply to you.
Yes, I’ve been here since late 2007. I generally don’t comment that much. I’ve got a job and kids and other crap to do. However, I can tell you that Yves had a grip on what was going on that you couldn’t get anywhere else. I’d just started a new job at a big bank at the time and we got pulled in on a conference call with our Money Center desk that they could not get a hold of short term T-bills for our clients. For me, I had to ask, “why on earth can’t we we get T-bills?”
Only Yves Smith had a coherent explanation. She said, across a number of detailed, explanatory posts “because no one trusts each other anymore because of counterparty risk and you don’t have counterparty risk with the US Treasury, because they print US Dollars.”
Me: “But, why don’t counterparties trust each other anymore?”
Yves: “Because no one know who’s stuck holding all the worthless subprime debt, and they don’t want to take a risk.”
At that point, I realized I was reading a blog from an analyst that knew how to cut through the bullshit at crucial moments. And, more importantly, an analyst that could tell you when a crucial moment was upon us. Yeah, sure, Yves/Lambert aren’t right about everything, all the time. But, you’re not here for 100% accuracy. You’re here for a group of people (cultivated and nurtured by Yves and Lambert) that genuinely use their brains and try to grasp WTF is going on with the world at a given moment, and we’re prepared to cite our sources, and recognize their limitations, as you can see from the commentary above.
John, thank you for this.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED, NC?!
Apologies, coming late to this thread: I would recommend Aurelien, occasionally of these parts.
Not every essay is about Ukraine but a lot of them are on the history or the NATO kabuki play or the likely long term outcomes. They are the sort of unhistrionic but candid analysis that a former UK civil servant would write. There is a Foreign Office tradition of the ambassador having carte blanche to write what he likes in his final cable home and I often wonder if that is partly Aurelien’s style guide….
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/
I would also recommend the Ziggersphere on Twitter. Armchair Warlord, Lord Bebo, Squatsons, Fennec Radar and Russians with Attitude all write interesting things daily (slightly less often for RWA, they divert their energy into a podcast). Armchair Warlord and Lord Bebo are usually entirely safe for work. Fennec Radar and Squatsons less so, the former increasingly retweets some dubious ethnonatalist posts and the latter gets caught up in schoolyard slanging matches. Armchair Warlord posts interesting analysis situated in a US artilleryman’s perspective, just ignore the anime in between. Lord Bebo posts random videos and tweets etc from both sides’ media. Fennec Radar posts videos from the frontline (often 18+) but also videos of Ukrainian cemeteries, showing the huge death rate. He’s up to over 400 now! Squatsons posts a daily Mao update which I have never watched as Kalibrated and some media clippings.
You might try showing your friend pro-Ukrainian sources that admit the problems. There are people like Julian Roepcke and Budanov and Arestovich (?) who occasionally post candidly.
You Tube “Military Summary” channel and Simplicius on Substack. Also, lots of channels on Telegram, like Slavyangrad.
for daily updates try DPA War channel from Singapore. I find the guy reports neutrally and doesn’t take claims by either side for granted, until confirmed. /my 2 cents
With that tweet, Harris has already lost Michigan.
Alice X: She never had my vote, but that twiXt guarantees that I won’t vote for her.
The McCarthyism about unpatriotic and antisemitic is more than evident–and a signal of more to come. Do you want to be called a misogynist? Give it fifteen minutes.
The attack on basic first amendment rights shows that she is a cop and authoritarian. People at demonstrations do plenty of dumb things. I have seen them. There are always those who crave attention.
(Do I truly have to march in the Pride Parade behind the three-hundred pound guy wearing only chacha heels and a thong to show his freedoms? Likewise, throwing potato soup on the Mona Lisa is a thoroughly counterproductive technique.)
The official statement is sneering, authoritarian, and not so subtly racist (“brutal terrorist Hamas”).
Let’s keep this official statement around so that we can remain aware of what Kamala Harris will do to gain and hold power.
And, yeah, sure, seeing an Arab kid with his brains blown out is pretty darn upsetting. But if she has no plans to end the wars in Russian and Palestine, and lead on détente with China, she’s just a bullshitter.
The official statement is sneering, authoritarian, and not so subtly racist Kamala in a nutshell, or at least my impression of her.
In total agreement, there is no way she gets my vote or anyone I can talk out of voting for this capitalist pig. I will never forget her wondering who will fight the fires if we cleared over filled prisons and her cackling laughter at poor people not able to wash their kids clothes in order to send them to school from cheap
Motels used to house them. This piece of crap makes Newsome look good.
What did she say? Some of us don’t Twitter and don’t care to do so. Copy and paste still a thing?
And while I’m whining it would also be useful for archive links to also show the orginal url.
Carolinian:
Among links, above: The statement with the tasteful azure background, twiXted out on the White House account. It is below the Aaron Maté twiXt with video.
Is it not displaying on your machine?
On a different computer I see it’s a video not a tweet so I withdraw the copy and paste crack. Still I didn’t get audio for some reason–maybe you have to sign up with “X” for that. Sorry for being a fogey but some of us are mentally still living in Web 1.0. Now to delete that “X” cookie.
From your above comment I get the gist however. See link below for the real law and order Kamala who once got a 2011 campaign contribution from one Donald Trump.
It’s not only you.
I also don’t get audio, video is also unreliable, and I DO have an X account.
Maybe it’s Musk, idk, but X has just become a lot more janky.
It is in the links about which starts with:
never thought Harris had a chance – no primary just an anointment by the DNC – and the weaponized false anti-semetic trope endorsed by the PMC is distressingly baffling but reinforced by the lack of true and honest coverage of the carnage and genocide expressed so clearly by the Jewish doctor who volunteered to work in Gaza in today’s links – here he is in his own words that brought me to tears –
https://x.com/OwenJones84/status/1815668357527388515
although voting for Jill Stein at this point, may write in Claudia De la Cruz –
If she demanded:
1) an immediate ceasefire and exit of Israeli troops from Gaza
2) an end to the blockade
3) an end to the occupation
4) an arms embargo
and Biden suspended arms shipments
then I could reconsider
and I want a pony
think Jill is onboard with #1 but the rest are waiting for your pony – and don’t misconstrue voting as a belief that it will change a G.D. thing – gave up that hope a while ago – even gave up voting for a while – don’t know why but will cast a vote this time –
“never thought Harris had a chance ”
I’m just astounded at all this. I thought Biden’s biggest handicap was her, a heartbeat away. And now the entire world of media is promoting her as a super great alternative. It’s going to be a nutty 100 days.
I put 100 bucks on the table that they try to kill Trump, again, or Vance soon.
Avoid stairs, elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks at airports…basically anything that might be too risky..
Feels like we’re* following the mass media narratives much in the way the two hobbits were following Gollum to sneak into Mordor…sorry for the nerd reference to LOTR but it popped in my mind…*Not everyone of course. People who know her candidacy from 2020 or her up from nowhere career track (heh, not so much)
“this way hobbitses…must go, no time “. ” the fat one knows, he suspects us!”…
But but but…………..she was that little girl! Gag, cough, gag and vomit
To Joe Biden from some fake debate in 2020
I have to agree with you, Benny.
I’ve just finished reading “Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years”.
When it comes to assassination, “they” have form.
The Dallas section of the book could have described what I’m currently reading into events and reports: security detail missing in action; likely multiple shooters, but a single (conveniently deceased) patsy to take the blame; culprit identified too quickly after the event; MSM singing in unison from the same hymn sheet.
To quote Theodore Reik:
“There are recurring cycles, ups and downs, but the course of events is essentially the same, with small variations. It has been said that history repeats itself. This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes.”
Today, the problem with American politicians dying is that unlike the 1960s, Americans are willing to believe that American agencies will assassinate Americans. This what is different from before.
Yes, the True Believers will believe what they are told, but like with Jeffrey Epstein’s “suicide,” we have reached the moment that most people will be at least skeptical. Having the opposition’s candidates die for any reason will just trigger active resistance sooner, not end them.
“but a single (conveniently deceased) patsy to take the blame”
Shot by a cancer ridden nudie bar owner in Dallas. He’s dead, too.
She can condemn all she wants, but burning the flag and speaking in favor of Hamas are 1st amendment rights. And she expressed her concern to the Israeli nutter, did she? So did GenocideJoe, right before he shipped a few billion more in weapons.
But in the clip Mate highlights, she did read her lines for a whole 1:20 without nervously laughing once, and she’s clearly working on the whole serious furrowed brow look. Very presidential, so credit where credit is due!
I’d still hammer a tetanus-laden rusty railroad spike through my temple rather than cast a ballot for her though.
I saw an article by a rightwinger source that said Harris is more dangerous than the Trumpies think and that’s probably true. She will have all the media save Fox pushing her and help from Hollywood friends at cultvating a persona (acting classes?). It will be TikTok Kamala (where she is apparently a presence) versus old guy Trump. Judging by some of my young urban professional neighbors this is likely to go over but then they were never going to vote for Trump anyway.
So it’s the usual Dem stragtegy of image versus reality and since Trump also has a few reality problems he’d best start ditching as much rightwing baggage as possible and go full populist. In his first campaign he was just fooling around but this time he really seems to want to win.
Very worth a look.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-tale-of-two-kamalas/
Good take, thanks. And I think you’re right about ditching the rightwing baggage. Trump should come clean and admit that he took the RNC advice on cabinet nominees in 2017 and shouldn’t have, and then highlight Harris’ record as CA AG and make the point that he would never have been able to appoint Mnuchin had Harris not declined to prosecute him when she had the chance.
That still wouldn’t make me vote for Trump either, but I’d like to see it!
I think that’s accurate. There’s enough existing anti-Trump sentiment out there to ensure that any candidate would have at least a shot at winning.
For Harris, I don’t think she’s going to attract an unusually strong degree of black voter support, but she may be able to reduce the defections of black voters (either to Trump, outright, or to non-voting or protest voting) to a more manageable level.
Shooting from the hip, here, if Biden was a 4-1 shot, Harris is probably a 2-1 shot.
Alice X: “great minds…”
>Could humans run on water? Physics World
I submit the basilisk as a candidate for the Antidote de jour.
Fast feet The basilisk lizard is known as the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to sprint several metres across the surface of water to escape predators
>How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe WaPo. Commentary
The system [financial sanctions] built slowly…
All that changed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Congress enacted legislation to compel financial institutions to maintain records of consumer transactions and hand them over to law enforcement. Suddenly, U.S. officials had volumes of information on the world’s banking customers, just as the rise of digital banking gave new insights into the worldwide flow of money.
As the Treasury Department became a key player in the global war on terrorism, U.S. policymakers began to understand the power of the nation’s financial hegemony.
No, I do not think it was in the wake and as a consequence of “global war on terrorism” that U.S. policymakers began to understand the power of the nation’s financial hegemony anymore than I think the U.S. is a “reluctant” empire. I think financial scenarios were analyzed/understood and gamed-out a long before 9/11, the event, intentionally or not, provided the opportunitey/cover to extend/preserve/lockdown that financial hegemony.
It would have been informative if they had broken it down into number of sanctions against individuals, organizations (businesses), and sovereign states. How much of this is protecting business and how much is political punishment.
Like all the tools of empire it becomes over used and over extended, one more thing to invite blowback and other unintended consequences. It is about the flow of goods and money and that is where alternative channels will evolve and diminish the imperial reach. It is a short term solution with long term consequences.
The problem I see with the impending collapse of empire is the collapse will be complete because the US is weak at the core. We have a spreading mycelia of impoverishment and general lack of purpose in our social fabric and a decaying commons. Just shrinking the global foot print won’t work. We will break into many pieces. Probably the only thing left holding us together will be cell phones.
US bankrolls a third of global Pandemic Fund. Can it get congressional support? I can only get part of the first sentence without signing up, yet this seems enough. The US Treasury has committed $667 million for a global Pandemic Fund hosted by the World Bank, a third of the $2 billion the fund … It looks like a SPAC for grifters, congress should lap it up.
>George Harrison, Ravi Shankar & The Journey Of The Sitar
A puff piece that starts off with: The Sitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world. The stringed instrument, popularised globally by two of the greatest artists from the East and West – Pandit Ravi Shankar and George Harrison…
Shankar was truly a great artist who spent his entire life developing that artistry. George Harrison was a rudimentary guitarist who was a member of an enormously popular musical group that made some nice music and sold vast numbers of records. I was a teenager when they came along, and I liked them, but I would never have called him or them great instrumental artists, though there was an obvious synergy (aided significantly by George Martin).
It was Harrison’s interest in the instrument (which if he had studied and practiced it eight hours a day for a dozen years he might have been competent at) which brought the instrument and Shankar into wide public view. For anyone not aware, there was a meeting of two of the greatest artists from East and West.
1967 – Ravi Shankar & Yehudi Menuhin – West Meets East – Swara-Kakali
I have that lp. I remember liking it, and now I’m going to have to dig it out and give it a fresh listen. I see that Shankar has a collaboration with Philip Glass from 1990. If anyone can make Glass listenable…who knows.
Brian Jones did better sitar.
George Harrison was a great artist in some manner of speaking. He was a musical artist, had a great public profile and great commercial impact. So not in the same way that Ravi Shankar was a great artist.
I causally use the word great but it is a matter of semantics and context. It is a category error to put the two musicians together in the same sentence with the word great but without distinction. You and I both addressed that, the author of the cited piece did not. That is what I meant.
Apples and oranges, both can be enjoyed. A more detailed scientific discussion is another matter.
Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha, Monterey Pop Festival. Some of the best music anywhere, any time: (18:42) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk60ObnbIOk
At 06:29 Jimi Hendrix can be seen in a closeup, sitting on the ground in the audience. The intricacy and complete control of pitch inflection by Shankar are among the elements that define his artistry. Those elements take many disciplined years to master, I can only suspect that Hendrix could have appreciated that. And Alla Rakha is likewise a master.
we lost Jimi too early Ms X –
Here here. I listened to this podcast yesterday during a long drive. https://open.spotify.com/episode/37xdvBJrrTgkw055gXaQwo?si=aHF_aImET2KhFrToJ9N2IQ
I highly recommend this man’s podcasts if you are a fan of rock and pop. Superb researcher. This one does not disappoint. I was a big Hendrix fan, saw him four times. One thing I learned is that he was briefly kidnapped by gangsters at one point, but, as Andrew said, it was to his advantage that he was signed to Sinatra’s Reprise label, and was quickly released. Crazy life. Fun fact. Between his first single release and his final album release was only 22 months. Dead at 27.
saw Jimi4X also – the last time was at the final concert of the Electric Flag at the Fillmore East – Bloomfield said he had a surprise and at the end of their set Jimi came out and jammed for about 2 hours with bass, drums and keyboard players of the Flag
Enjoyed Hendrix live at the Santa Clara, CA Fairgrounds in 1968. The local police immediately arrested him for snorting cocaine backstage AFTER he finished a mind-boggling set. The crowd erupted in anger. I got bonked in the head from a crowd-tossed beer bottle. Those were some crazy daze!
Alice X, was it you who posted Esperanza Spalding here in Links? Whomever it was has my immense gratitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOTigo5U-JY (2:24)
I believe so, she’s terrific.
fun fact: Norah Jones is Ravi Shankar’s other daughter
Netanyahu irked by “critical” Harris comments Hmmm. We should be expecting narrative construction here at this candidate transitional point. Any breathless commentary about how KH is more sympathetic to Gaza should be taken with a pinch of Dead Sea bath salts.
Gounod – Funeral March of a Marionette
There is, of course, the clip used in Alfred Hitchcock’s TV intro.
Regarding Netanyahu giving grief to Harris, I’m wondering how our New Leader will handle this type of stress? Hope not with downers like say Valium. A Harris/Valium combo might make Biden look lucid in comparison.
Bibi irked. Good. Too bad she didn’t actually say anything that would change the continuing arming of mass murder. Bibi is offended if the obeisance of the DC Bubble and Echo Chamber is not absolute. I am offended that this genocidaire was given a platform. I await the issue of ICC warrants. What would the dear speaker’s, Mike Johnson’s workaround be for that?
Supporters of genocide are as guilty as if they pulled the trigger.
Self defense: I punch you in the face and you kick me around pretty good.
Not self-defense: I punch you in the face and you kill or wound my family, burn my house down, while indiscriminately damaging or destroying every material and living thing in a ten-block radius.
I suspect it’s theater, and Harris told Bibi in private that she would have to perform just a bit of tsk-tsking for the benefit of voters, and he was asked to complain so her tsk-tsk would seem important.
Good performers have to keep up kayfabe.
Democracy Now showed a photo of her and Netanyahu shaking hands, he is looking into the camera, smirking like a large snake having caught its prey. Her look is, well, rather difficult to describe, but I can imagine that she, being a politician, is mentally running through the thousand words that she knows will follow her with that picture. She does not look happy, to say the least. I can’t say if there is much confidence, or determination there.
US sanctions – the sanctions inflict pain, misery and death on civilians in the target countries but do not achieve what is intended. If this is not pure evil, then what is?
Pure evil is telling those people that it’s done for their own good, and democracy, and human rights.
well stated Joker
My initial reaction to the article title is: if 4 presidents, nearly a full generation of various administrations, have a consistent policy of economic warfare – can we argue it’s instead a fundamental policy of the United States of America as a political entity, rather than attributing it to specific individuals?
And when we overlay that picture with the “kintetic” warfare, arms dealing, covert ops and coups, and as an added recent bonus, genocide enablement, we get a really ugly image.
as far as “kinetic” warfare, the USA has been an aggressor since inception – enshrined in the “Marines’ Hymn” is the first foray of war on a foreign soil –
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/forgotten-wars-19th-century/barbary-war-1801-1805/marines-derna.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
so much for Washington’s admonition to Americans to avoid foreign entanglements in his farewell address – and don’t forget the violence set upon the indigenous population –
The last estimate I read was that there are currently 9600 separate sanctions in force. I think a couple thousand more have been inflicted this year. Since I don’t recall a single sanction ever having been removed because it’s purpose was fulfilled, there must be a lot of profit for someone in imposing sanctions. It’s not the American companies in the businesses being sanctioned, because they are hurt at least as much as the companies or government agencies being sanctioned. Well, OK, exporters of Liquid Natural Gas have made small profits from Europe the last couple of years, but most of them were reluctant to upend their regular supply lines. No, I think it’s someone more obscure that that, but don’t know how to go about finding out who.
Thank you, Lambert.
Further to the sabotage in France, have Gladio Langley and Vauxhall “the hundred years war is far from over” Cross officially denied involvement yet?
Re migration from Israel. Unfortunately, some of these family bloggers are coming here. As if Blighty did not have enough problems.
Speaking of Israel, fun fact for readers: For the past twenty years, Israeli security forces have been seconded to train and deploy alongside their British peers in Blighty, including the team that murdered Jean-Charles de Menezes and had the murder covered by by chief prosecutor Starmer. The programme was renewed by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace under Johnson and includes funding for a parallel Jewish police force called Shomrim.
Thanks Colonel. Well, the Israelis have been quick off the mark, with their Foreign Minister accusing Iran of the sabotage.
More seriously, the problem is that there is an almost infinite variety of ways in which the Olympics, and especially the opening ceremony, can be targeted, ranging from individuals with knives, to drone attacks, to demonstrations to cyber-attacks: the list is almost endless, and of course the one thing that happens will be the one you didn’t expect. There has been an enormous international effort to find and break up potential conspiracies (I know from personal contacts that the UK has been involved, for instance) but you can’t cover everything.
However, it’s worth pointing out that the sabotage may not be directly linked to the Games: this weekend is one of the busiest of the year for people departing on holiday, and in the present febrile environment, where people have been doing silly things already, it’s a good moment to strike if you want to create the maximum impact. There are plenty of groups in France with a tradition of doing this kind of thing just for the hell of it.
Meanwhile, everyone is freaking out about the opening ceremony this evening. I’m not going to watch it, but I do see the forecast is for rain, which is promising.
Thank you, Aurelien.
I was being facetious and can imagine domestic elements, even ecologists, being responsible.
One of the reasons I mentioned Vauxhall Cross is that Auntie BBC has been at pains to highlight the adverse impact of the games. We don’t want France to outdo London 2012.
That’s right about la chasse croisee.
Let’s cross the fingers or at least hope any sabotage does not involve killings, please.
Fortunately they can detect any nuclear submarine navigating the Seine river.
Israelis have been quick off the mark, with their Foreign Minister accusing Iran of the sabotage…
[ Simply appalling, but completely typical and even to be expected. ]
France: sounds like somebody following in the footsteps of the Tiqqun group “comité invisible”.
Thanks Colonel, and the Manchester Airport police certainly give the impression of being Israeli trained.
https://x.com/DillyHussain88/status/1816112400497614941
When I tried that link just now, I got
“ Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.”
That was quick.
This works though
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/25/uk/british-police-beating-uk-airport-intl-hnk/index.html
And the beat goes on. Now we have the possible “shrapnel” theory that Wray had the brass ones to present in front of Congress, but the NYT at least tries to sort of debunk that here: Speculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/us/politics/trump-shooter-bullet-trajectory-ear.html?smid=nytcore-android-share although the headline is just bad comedy, and they’re implicating the Trump crew by saying they haven’t said whether or not it’s a bullet wound. Furcryingoutloud. Shades of the magic bullet theory. These people have no shame.
This (press focus, not your comment) annoys me to no end. What exactly is the point of publicly determining whether it was a bullet or shrapnel?
Well, first of all, how can it be “shrapnel”? That slots in to the “broken teleprompter” theory, which is also absurd. Was there a broken teleprompter or metal object of the stage? That would be easy to find. But, no, c’mon, I’m just playing their game if I continue down that alley. And how in the world can Trump or his campaign people tell the difference? Anybody, for that matter. As though we can trust the FBI forensic results.
The point is to dilute the act, somehow, water it down with stupid speculation, so that the conspiracy theorists can have some support that Trump somehow faked this, or is exaggerating his injury. They don’t want that campaign poster with the first and the blood and the flag to have full effect. But, it will.
The point is to dilute the act I wish them good luck with this. If the attempted assassination was indeed a blue interest conspiracy it is as big an own goal as the Key Bridge.
Anything to re-focus attention away from the other obvious questions. Same reason for floating Iran theories.
simple: it gets people clicking and sells ads. cha-ching!
That’s our MSM
This reeks of desperation. Shrapnel or a bullet, either way the man was wounded in an assassination attempt, and reacted in a way that was both reassuring to those also at this deadly event and to much of the public at a time when no one could really know either way.
I am going to be blunt here. Trump utterly disrupts our political and societal power brokers. Yes, he is a fraud and a con and a horn dog and all around un admirable human being yet his diverse skill set makes him a better politician, a more successful businessman and even better at a crisis then the entire Democratic and Republican Parties combined. His very presence rips the cloak of respectability off our political system. And he has so far not just survived everything they have thrown at him, he has prospered. And yet these supposedly smart and not really so upright geniuses keep running the same unsuccessful actions against him. God forbid they stop fighting him and recognize that they themselves are the problem and start cleaning up their own lives, actions, and policies. Let me repeat that, Trump is not the problem, they are. People embrace Trump because he is NOT them.
I am reminded of HRC claims of coming under fire while she was Secretary of State, it was all a revelation that was meant to do for her what Butler has done for Trump. The difference is that not even shrapnel would have been possible to wound Hillary because it was what so much of her CV and bio was, a huge honking lie. And it eventually became a self inflicted wound. And just like this almost every claim and accusation that is made about Trump reveals to those that look they really are statements about self. They accuse him of being what they are and do behind their masks. They lie, they use the justice system as a weapon, they endanger to destroy Democracy and subvert elections. And they don’t even do that well anymore.
They don’t call him Teflon Don for nothing. I am rather amazed at how every attempt to take him down has failed, but he’s lucky in his enemies I guess. With all the talk of what a fraudster and criminal Trump is, it’s rather astounding that they have been reduced to concocting “crimes” out of technicalities. One of my favorite pastimes lately is asking the TDS-infected who are crowing that Trump is a convicted felon what the crime he was convicted for actually is. Still haven’t got an answer for that one.
Of course they never bring up the worst things that were done on his watch like assassinating an Iranian general or attempting on a coup in Venezuela. Of course, they all agreed with him on those actions, and were they to go after Trump for them, they might have to stop doing them themselves, at least temporarily, and we can’t have that – the war must go on after all.
I am often reminded of the moment in the debate with HRC when she tried to throw his low taxes at him and he pointed out that he paid the taxes he owed and that it was so little because of her and her colleagues in Congress. He was terser and more blunt but it was the truth. His enemies have so twisted the system for the wealthy and powerful that they keep finding their actions blocked by their very own policies. And as you point out his real crimes they cannot use because that would blowback on them in multiple ways.
Like I said if they really wanted to vanquish Trump they could do it. They would need to reject almost everything they have ever done and represent the 90% of the voters who could never afford a George Clooney fundraiser. But that would mean pissing off those that can, run the PACs that can and generally remind them that as the other ten percent they are a minority and will be treated as such.
His enemies? Do you really think the legal loop holes Trump has used and his father used to accumulate wealth were designed by his enemies? Do you really think tax doges were all designed by evil democrats? Are his enemies the flat taxers (Forbes) or those who would abolish taxes on corporations. I’m pretty sure that his enemies are the promoters of progressive taxation who have little voice because that benefits the poor.
George Clooney? and who is bankrolling Trump? Politics has become celebrity promotion. That’s why Trump is so good at it. His only concern is where the spotlight is pointing.
Oh, I think he was part of the cabal when they were passed, but he was never supposed to use them once he was out of the club. My point being that the very people who are annoyed that he is escaping their law fare are the ones that were happy to take the donations from Donald…and George…and Warren…and Reid…and on and on to put in those loopholes. Donald is far more honest about the system than they are.
As for concerns, I don’t think we can attribute any altruism to anyone from either party and the donor class regarding their concerns. It is not just Trump who have ethics a millimeter deep.
“This reeks of desperation. Shrapnel or a bullet, either way the man was wounded in an assassination attempt, and reacted in a way that was both reassuring to those also at this deadly event and to much of the public at a time when no one could really know either way…”
Simple and entirely correct.
The question is whether Trump was hit by an intact bullet or a piece of that bullet.
By definition shrapnel is not pieces of a teleprompter or other materials not part of the projectile.
But that doesn’t fit into conspiracy theories, because either way means he was shot.
Official story Lee Harvey Oswald of “magic bullet” still stands after all these years, so why not recycle it? I wish I could get that kind of mileage from my car.
Independent journalist who’s substack I read, is convinced there were two shooters and Crooks was the fall guy. There are so many discrepancies that it you would think people would be interested in getting to the bottom of it. But no, I see no interest in pursuing it in the general population. We are way way past “post modernism” we are into Baudrillardian territory.
Was the article ‘Scandal Erupts in Germany As Leaked Documents Confirm Government’s “Pandemic of Unvaccinated” Claim Was a Lie’ taken down? In Recent Comments its title is prefixed “Private:”
It looks like it. Just as I attempted to post a comment — which is now gone in the ether…
Eugyppius has a good summary here, including links to German media sources
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/unredacted-rki-protocols-lay-bare
How rude ot the former colony to act like it is no longer a colony, with complete disregard for the wishes of their former masters. Scoundrels, I say.
CQC “not fit for purpose”. And water is wet. A few years ago I applied for a job (interview online due to pandemic restrictions) there under the highly mistaken belief that being someone who had called out bad practice before might stand me in good stead.
Boy oh boy was I dumb. Middle of my interview the “big Zoom outage of 2020” happened. Was I offered new interview? No. They hadn’t even unlocked the Excel file for me to do the test. Clowns or worse.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Dunno but one might ask if they live in a Tory tax haven.
The hunter-gather dialog until agreement article is interesting but but but the key example sounds like the poor woman had to satisfy her complaining ex because he was too high status and, for whatever reason he couldn’t be expected to shut up or have parents and siblings keep him in line. She didn’t want to have that husband! That’s how it all started.
The article would have been a lot more interesting if it had acknowledged this dude’s status as an instigating factor in the process beyond the throw-away line that he was one of the collective land-‘owners’ and therefore couldn’t be exiled. How often does the formal or informal rank of participants impact the creation of consensus that the author romanticizes? The article doesn’t really say other than to remind us that the individuals who disagree with a decision are less likely to get cooperation from the group in the future.
The goal of the process was consensus, to find a solution that everyone could live with, even if it was imperfect (the new throuple ‘did not exactly live happily ever after’, according to Silberbauer).
I thought the article was plenty interesting, in form and content.
Having been raised in a faith tradition whereby decisions impacting the congregation were arrived at by consensus, the idea of a consensus-based government at the scale of the United States federal gov’t (for example) is sheer lunacy. The conclusion to the article hearkens to Patrick Geddes’ admonition to “think globally, act locally.”
That’s just like, my opinion, though, man.
My only question is, what do the Ju/”hoansi think about AI?
Re SearchGPT, I think OpenAI is much more interested in crushing Google’s revenue stream than making any Internet search dollars.
By far the most reliable positive reports on GPT that I have seen are from people who like it as a search engine. At least a half dozen top reports such as “I can find things on the internet again for the first time in five years”.
Now google has its limits. But everybody’s google search is a little different. The search engine knows who you are and thinks it knows the search results you are looking for. (Well that is to anthropomorphize and make this short!) If your google stinks, it is at least partly because in your personal history you have clicked on a lot of poop. : )
Google mostly works fine for some of us.
Boeing Starliner
What I have found interesting is the non-stop coverage in India of how Boeing has stranded Sunita (Suni) Williams. Once an international beacon of outstanding engineering, now seemingly just another unmoored victim of Wall Street greed.
Interesting. Sounds like they haven’t forgotten she’s a human being, not a part of the spacecraft. Imagine that.
Too Big To Fail has a twin: Too Big to Care.
One of the most striking plots in Lethem’s Chronic City was the decaying space station with astronauts losing it as they gradually realize that they are done for. A powerful and frightening representation of decline of American -something- (empire? engineering? it’s not said). Every time I think of these two stranded up there I think of the novel.
Park Fire rips across 125,000 acres in northern California. This fire started as a deliberate act of arson. wtf. Are we on the path to compulsory suicide? Uncle Sam needs a shrink.
Having just driven back from a family reunion in Leadville, Colorado to the PNW, I can attest that it’s real smokey out there. We also managed to avoid the massive freeway closure of I-84 from Ontario, ID to Pendleton, OR (that’s like 150 miles of freeway closed, never saw that before!)
Lucky for us, it’s not so smokey where we live, but the significant other has a very raspy sore throat. We never got to the point where we were wearing KN-95s while driving, but it got close at times.
Stay safe out there!
Regarding possible Hillary Clinton candidacy. Aaron Mate’s article was removed from my Facebook feed: https://open.substack.com/pub/mate/p/john-durham-ignores-clinton-role
me too, but that is becoming SOP, so I don’t even bother to read the reason and appeal bs
That stuff has verbiage about “don’t keep this up” or else… Not sure how to reach my cohort of “Friends” if I do get banned. Oh well….
hey Wuk where are you…………since you are a tree lover like i, wanted to share this with you –
https://www.mlive.com/life/2024/07/northern-michigans-giant-sequoia-must-be-seen-to-be-believed.html
granted not the behemoths on the west coast, give them time, but kinda nice to see they can flourish here – i say plant more up and down the west side of Michigan –
One of the more interesting groves of giant sequoia is found in Condrieu France right around the hotel de ville.
re Condrieu giant sequoia grove: and good wine as well!
https://vin-condrieu.fr/en/history/
Grow a little Viognier to blend with Sarah here in California. Made the pilgrimage to Condrieu the first time and the Chateau Grillet was out of my $ reach. 20 years later the Chinese had bought every last bottle. Found a Chateau Grillet in a restaurant cellar in the Bahamas for a really good price but it was pretty old and had gone bad.
As it’s Friday and we can chillax, TM David Cameron, did anyone see Starmer’s mistress on the BBC yesterday lunchtime, Politics Live at midday? She’s a junior minister at the Foreign Office and was party general secretary. You can’t say that you don’t get tabloid scuttlebutt at NC.
Illegal sale of Palestinian land embraced by Biden, governors, mayors and city councilmembers
No surprise, yet well worth a read. The sale was conducted at a synagogue in LA. The article details the unsavory actions of CA state and local politicians. One week after the June 23rd real estate event by My Home in Israel, over 20 organizations including Jewish, Palestinian, human rights and anti-racist organizations demanded that LA City Council members vote against a resolution that was introduced by Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky that would provide $1 million of public funds to racist Zionist vigilante groups such as Magen Am…. Here’s Magen Am USA. Their lede is “Dedicated to training and empowering members of our Jewish communities. In order to deter and respond to security threats, so they may live and practice in peace.” (Their punctuation not mine).
More (Gov Newsom), According to the Los Angeles Times the proposal by the council member was intended to mirror Governor Gavin Newsom’s California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Here’s the (Newsom) grant description,
2023-24 California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP) RFP – EXTENDED
Due Date: 10/27/2023
Category: California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program
Amount: $19,000,000.00
Purpose:
The purpose of the CSNSGP is to provide funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs, or mission.
More (Mayor Bass), Mayor Karen Bass immediately vilified pro-Palestinian protesters for simply protesting against genocide and labeled their actions as “anti-semitism.” Additionally Bass appeared at the Simon WiesenthalCenter with a further condemnation and promises of public funding.
So, shovel cash at the zionists and stamp out any dissenting voices. Again.
It’s the California model for Bibi’s would be US. Of course to their credit many Californians including the Jewish ones are objecting. Seems the Zionists can buy our politicians but have to rely on some well bribed Elmer Gantrys to subdue at least a portion of the rest of us.
In the end the Lobby may have to defeat itself and is working on it with the ongoing Genocide. It’s terrible for the victims but a sign that the settler colonialists know history is not on their side and a final solution for their project must be rushed or at least attempted.
This week’s issue of Science has a theme section on air pollution, including this piece: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for ventilation and indoor air quality. (open access)
Abstract
The rapid global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the beginning of 2020 presented the world with its greatest health challenge in decades. It soon became clear that governments were unprepared to respond appropriately to this crisis. National and international public health authorities were confused about the transmission routes of the virus and the control measures required to protect against it. In particular, the need to reduce the risk of infection through sufficient and effective ventilation of indoor spaces was given little attention. In this review, we discuss insights and key lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the role of ventilation as an effective means against airborne transmission of pathogens and, more broadly, for supporting good indoor air quality.
Conclusions
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown the vulnerability of society to the spread of infectious diseases. At the same time, with frequent outbreaks in elder care facilities and school classrooms, it became clear that it was a fatal mistake to largely neglect the recommendations of scientists and engineers regarding minimum standards for ventilation and indoor air quality. It took far too long for airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to be accepted. We also learned that in the interest of human health and well-being, the natural and social sciences need to be more closely linked. People’s reactions to recommendations and regulations ranged from fear to panic to outright rejection (67) and were often unanticipated by the authorities. This was particularly evident in the communication of ventilation concepts, where there was regularly a negative attitude toward the proposed measures.
In addition to negative health consequences and fear, the pandemic has revealed that there are major deficits in terms of clean air supply to indoor spaces. An improvement in this situation is urgently needed, not only to reduce the risk of infection by airborne pathogens but also for general well-being. We view the seven key lessons we have identified as the basis for implementing appropriate measures. It is important to act in a timely manner. Optimized ventilation performance and controlled indoor air quality in buildings are essential both from today’s hygiene perspective and for the prevention of future infectious disease outbreaks.
With regards to aerosols, public restrooms with no toilet lids are a particular scandal.
EU warns Slovakia against foreign agent law for NGOs
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-warns-slovakia-against-foreign-agent-law-ngos-2024-07-24/
BRUSSELS, July 24 (Reuters) – The European Commission has warned Slovakia that it will take immediate legal action if the government pushes ahead with a proposed law requiring NGOs that receive funding from abroad to label themselves “organisations with foreign support”.
EU warns Slovakia against foreign agent law for NGOs
[ Somehow the EU commission has become a dictatorial organization. EU countries are giving up and losing sovereignty. This should have been understood in the dictates presented to Greece over debt when Varoufakis was finance minister.
At least the UK left the EU, rather than being swallowed up. ]
Dearie, dearie me. I seem to be in the wrong universe. One might be forgiven for thinking that the Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency would welcome a transparency law requiring NGOs that receive funding from abroad to label themselves “organisations with foreign support”. However, the remnants of the Third Reich that have become the EU seem to be working to a masterplan that is very Philip K. Dick, if I may be so bold as to comment on our betters.
when looking at von der Leyen’s picture in EU transfers $2.2b from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, her canine teeth stand out in an appropriate vampiric manner
Pentagon finds another $2 billion of accounting errors for Ukraine aid
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-finds-another-2-billion-accounting-errors-ukraine-aid-2024-07-25/
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) – The Pentagon has found $2 billion worth of additional errors in its calculations for ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine, increasing the improperly valued material to a total of $8.2 billion, a U.S. government report revealed on Thursday.
Given the War Dept’s repeated audit failures over the decades, there’s plenty more to be extracted from that couch.
What was wrong with the article posted this morning (gone now?) about documents related to Covid in Germany?
According to Harris’ Sister Maya Kamala set her sights on the Presidency when she was still in High School and achieving that goal has been the focus of her life.
Hooking up with Willie Brown was not by chance and the boards he appointed her to were chosen because they gave her the opportunity to meet the lobbyists with the most money and influence in both California and the Nation.
I first became aware that the Presidency was her goal during her campaign against Hallinan for DA of SF.
I have watched her since and concluded that she is totally ruthless and entirely lacking in Morals, Ethics or Scruples.
She will do whatever it takes to achieve her goal, Power.
I do mean that literally, whatever it takes.
Her logorrhea may be amusing, but she went from polling at less than 2% in her Home State to the Vice Presidency in a matter of Months and sewed up the Nomination in three days when Genocide Joe stepped away.
If she does take office in January her backers will discover just how ruthless she is and just how little their desires matter when she has her hands on the reins of power.
Trump is no bargain but he is nowhere near as dangerous as Harris.
Thanks for the somewhat depressing info. I think that if the country is really going to be presented with a choice between these two then they at least have a right to know who she really is and not some carefully managed image. Perhaps the hesitant two faced-ness accounts for some of her verbal stumbles.
The Trumpies may have trouble getting their message out but they do have some significant assets such as Carlson and his large following.
Looks like the Obamas have publicly endorsed Kamala (extremely staged phone call tweet now making the rounds) but we know he’s not on board. Does he have machinations behind the scenes to make another switch (as speculated by Taibbi/Kirn?
Seven Lessons from Joe Biden’s Candidacy The Bulwark
This article has to be one of the most obvious pieces of propaganda that I’ve ever scanned — because as soon as the page loaded and saw the subheadline, I realized it wasn’t worth more than 30 seconds. We start out learning that “The Democratic Party is a healthy institution”. The next stop is NeverNeverLand.
These are the geniuses behind The Cackling Cop. I don’t think it’ll be long before voters coalesce around the idea that Trump is by far the safer candidate.
Remember: Kamala Harris is a cop.
I’ve been thinking about inflection points in regard to Covid.
There’s a point when enough of the population has damaged immune systems fro Covid that what Lambert calls the “Syndemic” really takes off.
And that might happen this fall with the beginning of the respiratory virus season and the return to school, the when is uncertain, the what is not.
There’s also the fact that Politicians are by necessity exposed to Covid on a regular basis and thus more likely than most to experience cognitive decline.
The consequences of that could be dramatic.
This is just one of several stories that has been on the same theme: that replacing Biden would significantly help the Dems (not necessarily just with Harris):
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/07/25/republicans_should_expect_harris_to_make_it_a_closer_race.html
In fact (although I can’t find the exact link), Nate Silver had been arguing that the problem with the Democrats is not that the Democrats collectively are disliked (relative to Trump and/or the Republicans), but Joe Biden is uniquely disliked, so if you replace Biden with just anyone, Democrats would do better. So the Democrats did do this, and now, they think they have a complete reset witht he American people, or so it seems, but….
1) Joe Biden is still the president and a Democrat. How can the Democrats, even if he is not actually running, disown him and cut themselves off from his record/reputation? In fact, Democrats and their agents are working very hard to address this by insisting how great Joe Biden is, notwithstanding the obvious fact that, if he were so great, they wouldn’t have dumped him. Or, more accurately, they are trying to put up the fiction that everything has been great with Biden, except for his “sudden” deterioration that forced them to act quickly and reluctantly. We who read NC don’t buy that at all, obviously, and I have trouble imagining the people who are not serious Dem Party cultists would buy this. Am I wrong thinking this?
2. I suppose the same logic “works,” with the fact that Harris is indelibly linked to the Biden administration–being the VP and all. So, if the Dem insiders really do think Biden has really been that great, except for his “sudden and unexpected” deterioration, being the person who lacks Biden’s allegedly worst weakness (being old and all that) but can own everything about his record, is the perfect candidate.
So, in an odd way, I can actually see how the Democrats are piecing things together: maybe they really do believe that Biden administration really has been the greatest since the birth of the Republic and that keeping all of his supposed pluses but none of his presumed minuses is a good thing–so failing a younger clone of Biden, they nominate a clear “regime insider.” Or, at least, so you would believe if you buy your own propaganda.
I guess this makes me wonder about two things. Can the Dems seriously believe this? If not, and if they realize that Biden has tons of liabilities due to his administration, not just because of his personal “failings and weaknesses,” can they seriously believe that they are so skilled that they cna manage to have the cake and eat it, too? The evidence that Silver used in his post (that I can’t find again at the moment) was that most, if not all, incumbent Democratic senators are outpolling Biden, that they are doing better vis-a-vis their Republican challengers, if I remember right. This seems a bit of silly argument since incumbent senators do have fairly strong name recognition/incumbency advantage of their own and their polling probably is not a good measure of partisan preference, compared to, say, Congressional generic ballot, which, fwiw, is showing a small advantage for the Republicans. Second, Trump is himself an entity quite apart from the Republican Party in general, and using the preference for “the Republicans” as a stand in for preference for Trump vis-a-vis “someone else” seems foolish (surely, someone who saw the elections in 1980s, with huge support for Reagan not translating to Dems in House (and to a lesser degree, Senate) elections can appreciate this.) Second, could the Democrats get away without suffering backlash as an institution from all the irregularities they engaged in lately, first to get Biden coronated as the undisputed Democratic candidate, only to chuck everything over a span of just a few days, and yank the nomination away from him through shady means? If you took Democratic Party seriously and not just deranged Trump hater (and deranged Trump haters would still have voted for Biden, I think, even if he were rotting literally and visibly), you’d have serious doubts about the instititutional “sanity” of the Democratic Party after having seen all these. The only people they could reliably keep, in other words, would be the people who would have voted for any anti-Trump, after all these.
In other words, it seems to me that the Democrats are trying too hard to be too clever for their own good, while thinking everyone else is too stupid to notice, while engaging in something that’s way too obviously ludicrous. Now, head to head polling that compares candidates, pretending that nothing else has changed, seems to be a very bad way to measure this change. You want to look how big a hit the Democratic Party as an institution took, vis a vis which voters, and how that translates to support for generic Democratic candidates, at different levels. Surely, you’d think someone would be thinking about this problem….
Agree, and I very much doubt anyone not: an ideologue (cultist), or dependent on politics directly as income, or having significant wealth threatened by any popular change (“popular” meaning “of benefit to most people”), buys into any of this.
The Democratic Party seems to me almost completely disconnected from voters, and sees nothing wrong with airing indigestible contradictions. The closed circuit of donors –> party –> media organs –> market + policy –> donors doesn’t involve the voter. If the Democratic party’s candidate wins, OK (shuffle to the right), if the candidate loses, OK as well (more opps for fund-raising). But policies, with very exceptions*, don’t change. To me, this has the lesson of Clinton –> Obama –> Biden. The Democrats are the New Republicans. It remains to be seen if the other party actually produces something in the common good.
*Lina Khan would be an exception, thus she must be expelled.
“Is the Philippines becoming a gateway for the West’s Indo-Pacific interests?”
The question then is whether the Philippines can be used to launch a new Western and Japanese attempt to colonize China and the rest of Asia. After all, the British were ravaging China through the 1800s, the Japanese invaded and began ravaging China in 1931 to begin the World War.
I suppose the answer is, “yes.” The path to waging new Opium Wars and Nanjing Massacres in China is through the Philippines.
How appalling and stupid such an article is.
The other question is: “Can be used successfully?”
Likely the answer is No…
The highlighted New York Times article on whether Donald Trump was actually shot, which of course was the case, is malicious beyond compare. The article in turn attracted astonishingly malicious comments. People along with Mr. Trump, were shot at a political rally, a given firefighter and family supporter was killed. Mr. Trump immediately acted in an heroic manner to reassure people.
Harris posted a sternly worded tweet? Be still, my clutching pearls.
So . . . ” Farming Is Hip in Brazil, Where a New Generation Is Outpacing the US “.
Yes, but, what kind of farming? Biologically correct eco-compatible farming? Or petro cancer-juice farming?
First, they cut the forest…