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Links 8/10/2024

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On patrol with Thailand’s ‘Anti-Monkey Unit’ battling to keep primates at bay in Lopburi ABC Australia (Kevin W)

What explains the variations in sexual sensation between us? aeon (Chuck L)

What becomes of the broken-hearted? Scientists investigate New Scientist (Micael T)

Smashing idea: how East Germany invented ‘unbreakable’ drinking glasses Guardian (Kevin W)

World’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas Reuters (Kevin W)

Bite-sized Threats of Ticks Your Local Epidemiologist (Dr. Kevin)

#COVID-19

BREAKING! Parts of China witnessing a COVID-19 resurgence driven by a new recombinant Delta and Omicron variant. XDV.1 Thailand Medical News (IM Doc)

Climate/Environment

‘Cruisezilla’ passenger ships have doubled in size since 2000, environmental group warns CNN (Kevin W)

The new EU initiative to Solve Plastic Waste is stupid, will do nothing, may be counter-productive and loads of people think it’s totally cool anyway eugyppius (Micael T)

Avocado goldrush links US companies with Mexico’s deforestation disaster Reuters (Robin K)

In 2023 the world’s forests stopped acting as a carbon sink REDD Monitor (Micael T)

China?

Numerous airlines are once again canceling flights to China The Street

TSMC Arizona struggles to overcome vast differences between Taiwanese and US work culture Tom’s Hardware. Micael T: “So all this American Talwan vs. China nonsense iis really about importing new management practices to the US?” Moi: Some of you may remember that Toyota went into a joint venture with GM to take over GM’s worst plant, which feature regular absenteeism and drunkenness in its workforce, and of course high defect rates. Toyota got the plant performance to above average for Toyota plants, which was much higher than GM levels.

Bangladesh

Regime change in Dhaka a morality play M.K. Bhadrakumar, Deccan Herald (Chuck L)

Bangladesh as color revolution on India’s doorstep Asia Times (Kevin W)

Gaza

‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 307: At least 56 Palestinians killed across Gaza as Israel bombs two more schools in latest massacres Mondoweiss (guurst)

Alaskan F-22 Fighters Forward Deployed to Support Israel Against Iran: Qatari Airbase Plays Host Military Watch

U.S. Approves Massive Arms Sales to Israel, Waives Leahy Sanctions Against Abusive Israeli Military Unit Amid Ongoing Atrocities DAWN

Cost rising for US as it fights off Houthi drones Politico

Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise Reuters

US accuses Israeli far-right minister of ‘misleading’ Gaza ceasefire comments Financial Times. ZOMG, the US thinks sending the zero credibility yapping dog spokescritter John Kirby against Smotrich, or any Israel official, is going to make an iota of difference? In fact, it will be correctly recognized as yet another admission of weakness.

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine SitRep: Kursk Campaign Designed To Keep War Going Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). Alexander Mercouris has an interesting theory as to why the Russias were caught flat-footed. He assumes that Russia did see forces massing in Sumy region, but assumed they were for defensive purposes, that no one would be so dumb as to throw some of their best remaining units into (at best) a Hail Mary pass.

Russia has begun evacuating people from parts of its western region of Lipetsk, after a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones, regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said. Reuters

Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines Agence France-Presse (Li)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Comment from the TSA on Tulsi Gabbard and the “Quiet Skies” Program Matt Taibbi

Russia’s Biometric Boom Faces Rising Data Security Fears Reclaim the Net. Micael T: “It seems as if Russia too is aboard on the WEF dystopia.”

10 years after Michael Brown’s death, police body camera effectiveness still elusive Axios

DHS Prioritizes Investigating FAM Whistleblowers Over Quiet Skies Surveillance Abuses UncoverDC (furzy)

Trump

The Post-liberal Catholics Find Their Man in J. D. Vance Atlantic (furzy)

Trump calls Tim Walz ‘freakish,’ stepping up attacks on Dem ticket Politico. Trump still of his marks.

Kamala

‘Uncommitted’ leaders demand Harris back Israel weapons embargo to get endorsement Detroit News (ma)

From Aaron Bushnell To “I’m Speaking” In Five Months Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)

Our No Longer Free Press

More on Scott Ritter, Ukraine and Israel and My Conversation with an Iranian Professor Larry Johnson (furzy). Linked for the discussion of Ritter but the other parts have merit too.

Mr. Market Has a Sad

Global financial markets settle into ‘yo-yo pattern’ after Monday’s meltdown City A.M.

US consumer spending slowdown weighs on travel and leisure groups Financial Times

Do the math. Recession risks add up. Washington Post

Another recession signal: Credit card spending is slowing significantly. FXStreet

Abortion

Judge to rule whether Alabama can prosecute people who aid out-of-state abortions The Hill

Antitrust

The Google antitrust remedy should extinguish surveillance, not democratize it Pluralistic (Chuck L)

Elon Musk’s X sues advertisers over alleged ‘massive advertiser boycott’ after Twitter takeover ABC (furzy). f they colluded, which having a brand named org coordinating suggests, it’s a restraint of trade and Musk, despite his warts, would have a case

Advertisers axe corporate responsibility scheme after lawsuit from Musk’s X Guardian (furzy). A guilty look. A more pointed account X and Rumble’s Lawsuit Topples Alleged Censorship Cartel Reclaim the Net (Micael T)

AI

Google DeepMind develops a ‘solidly amateur’ table tennis robot TechCrunch (Dr. Kevin)

The Bezzle

How Intel, the weak link in the chip strategy of Bidenomics, is resorting to financial engineering to raise billions for fabs. Adam Tooze (Paul R)

Apple’s new charging cords have ruined my life. Welcome to Charging Cord Hell. Business Insider (Kevin W)

USPS Text Scammers Duped His Wife, So He Hacked Their Operation Wired

ATM Software Flaws Left Piles of Cash for Anyone Who Knew to Look Wired (Kevin W)

Class Warfare

State Behemoths Are Devouring the Global Economy Bloomberg

Germany could partially nationalize key weapons maker – media RT (Kevin W)

Antidote du jour. Tracie H:

The owner of this exceedingly mild mannered little ladies’ man that my husband and I encountered at a local coffee shop was telling us how everywhere they go the little fellow is adored by all the waitresses and baristas.

And a bonus (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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233 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘David Sheen
    @davidsheen
    State-funded Chief Rabbis of Tampa Florida’s sister city Ashdod (Israel’s 6th-largest city, pop. 225,000) rule that females above the age of 9 may not ride scooters and their voices may not be heard when they ride city buses, where they are already forced to sit in the back seats’

    When those little girls start studying black American history studies, I am sure that they will recognize some parts. In Israel itslef, the ultra-orthodox believes that a woman’s place is in the home – and nowhere else. One of the way that this manifests itself is where they will digitally remove females from photos taken and hilarity ensued when visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had her photo taken with the Israeli Cabinet but when it was published in some newspapers, there was no Hillary to be seen. If only real life was so easy.

    1. Polar Socialist

      What makes you think those little girls will ever receive an education in a world they live in?

        1. Afro

          I think most of them won’t, and that this is part of the issue with Israel, it’s a remarkably insular society which is inevitable in a context of religious fundamentalism as well as extreme racism of the other. I don’t see a credible path for the situation to improve.

          1. rudi from butte

            This is pretty low in the scheme of things….what’s their stance on genocide and raping prisoners and Zionism and a one or two state solution? That’s what matters.

            1. ISL

              You confound repression of the goyim and repression of the chosen. And of course, there are the apostates….. Its a nuanced spectrum pioneered by ISIS, supported by the US and Israel.

            2. Phenix

              We are talking about 9 year old or younger females that are and will be oppressed by the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Zionists in Israel…and possibly in US communities.

              The actual issue is our ability to still see nuance in a system of oppression.

              1. JBird4049

                >>>The actual issue is our ability to still see nuance in a system of oppression.

                This is not allowed when this takes power from the strong and gives it to the weak. See the West currently or any corrupt and/or repressive system.

    2. Es s Ce Tera

      Someone really should point out to Kamala that her support of Israel is inconsistent with her feminism, assuming she supports feminism, and that she’ll lose the youth vote on account of it.

      Maybe substitute the Harris and Ruby Bridges poster with one of an orthodox Israeli girl or a dead Palestinian girl.

        1. hk

          And rainbow graffitis on bombed out mosques. Proof of how “woke” Israel is crushing savage infidels under progressive jackboot, to compensate for their own religious crazies.

    3. steppenwolf fetchit

      Since the little girls involved are the same ethnic group as the Rabbis involved, why would black American history studies have any resonance for them? Wouldn’t Afghan Taliban history studies have more resonance for them?

      Not that the Rabbis would allow them to study that, either.

    4. skippy

      Foaming the runway for biblical slavery …. yes you too can own your neighbors children … years later during Jubilee they can stand in the front door and pierce their ear with an awl signifying their freewill to remain a slave ….

    1. The Rev Kev

      That’s how you do it. You take some poor sucker, throw the book at him with a maximum sentence, and then make everybody else scared to retweet or forward a post so that they keep on having to second guess themselves. And of course all the big social media corporations will do all they can to ID any wrongdoer and any associated accounts to turn over to the Starmer government to keep in his good books.

      1. BillK

        I was going to comment on this – but decided it was safer not to.
        By the way, the UK police are also going after ‘illegal’ messages to *private* WhatsApp groups. (They can find them when they search the phone of a member of the group).
        So it is not just public tweets on X (Twitter) or Facebook that can get UK people arrested.
        Once everybody adopts NewSpeak it will become impossible to have wrong or non-approved thoughts. Brave New World!

        1. JBird4049

          If the Feds UK considers words so highly dangerous to them the public, what is to stop the stasis from going after private verbal speech? Get the kids involved. It will be fun for the whole family!! The Nazis, Soviets, and Communist China would approve.

          I feel like ranting especially as the twentieth century has plenty of examples of such folly, but if the fools and tools are too interested in maintaining power and probably think history is stupid as well, what does it matter?

        1. The Rev Kev

          The thing to watch for is when the phrase ‘E pluribus unum’ on US currency is replaced with the motto ‘We Are Watching You’ instead.

          1. ambrit

            I expect the Prime Indicator of the fulfilment of the Panopticon will be when the eye atop the pyramid on the reverse of the American Dollar Bill is made into a ‘winking’ holograph.
            “I’ll be watching you!”

            1. flora

              Thanks, Ambrit. My first thought was also of the image on the reverse of the US dollar bill. The Latin motto on the US dollar bill is very interesting. Back then it was, imo, very clearly a rejection of the Crown and aristocratic, hereditary control of governments. ymmv.

              Adding the late 18th C Latin motto “New order of the ages” isn’t exactly the modern motto of “Panoptican Uber Allies. ” / hehe

              1. ambrit

                Don’t know about you, but I remember having big, wonderful, roiling arguments about Nelson Rockefeller, the Tri-lateral Commission, and the New World Order back in the 1970s.
                My ‘bid’ for New Motto would be “Panopticon omnia videt.”
                Just like how, in Economics, the new and improved version of “Assume a can opener,” is now “Assume the position.”
                Concerning the dollar bill, the reverse eagle would now have eyes instead of stars in the ‘seal’ above the eagle.
                I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
                Stay safe.

                1. flora

                  Oh, indeed. I remember those days and arguments. I also know that the , what can I call it, the American character is above the poli and MSM stereotypes, maybe it’s our great saving. Who knows? /;)

                  1. ambrit

                    True about what I see of the Public Character on the American Street. Which suggests that, the disdain shown for said Public by the ruling elites will be, sooner or later, returned in full measure.

                2. skippy

                  Nothing is assumed[tm] in orthodox Economics mate, ex ante reversed engineered out of whole cloth and then disguised with bad maths and physics.

                  Take Samuelson, shown to be wrong and then at the end of the day can’t wiggle out of his position. Ends up a the end saying he can not live or think of a reality outside the one he chooses to believe in … not that everyone else gets dragged along wrong or right …

                  1. ambrit

                    Good Heavens skippy! Samuelson and Company, a true blue Boys Own Phenomenology Club?
                    As for “reverse engineered,” doesn’t that imply a working ‘object’ or ‘idea’ to be studied?
                    This being Orthodox whatever, “assumed” takes on the characteristics of ‘being translated into Heaven.’ I knew it sounded too conveniently like a cult. On a road trip to California one summer back in the late 1970s, I spent a few days ‘crashing’ at an EST house near San Diego. That was a trip and opened all three eyes.
                    Be safe.

            2. ChrisPacific

              I always thought the eye on the pyramid was creepy. Not sure why it’s there in the first place.

        2. Chris Cosmos

          Certainly Starmer is the villain but before we attack him and his flunkies we have to understand that we are going through a period when most people welcome authoritarianism for a variety of reasons–most important of which is the reality that we live in such a confusing time that we want someone to tell us what to do and what to think because it’s easier to get through the day if you don’t have to think about real issues and just go to work and try to keep a family together.

          1. Old Jake

            And this is different from when? I can think of a lot of times when people just obeyed and just went to work. But perhaps our times are more confusing because many of us have more access to information than in other times, and so raise more questions.

            1. Chris Cosmos

              I’m pretty old and I remember the current love of repression was not there 50 years ago…even with relatively straight people. The current movement started after 9/11 and the gradual decline of the left into almost nothing. The current “left” is nowhere near what it was and wants repression and control by the FBI/CIA and so on only the current “right” believes in freedom and free speech.

              2. CarlH

                “…the current “right” believes in freedom and free speech.”

                Unless it’s speech about Israel or any of their other bugaboos. There are no good guys or gals.

            2. steppenwolf fetchit

              Well . . . its certainly different from the Hippie times and Student Revolt times of the Sixties and earliest Seventies.

          2. flora

            re: “we have to understand that we are going through a period when most people welcome authoritarianism for a variety of reasons”

            I cannot disagree with this ever most vehemently, disagree most strongly, most completely and entirely. Pushing people into a corner and then claiming their “choice” is free is nonsense. / my 2 cents

            1. ambrit

              Agree. The effects of social conditioning are vastly under appreciated.
              Start with the decline of formal religion into the Cult of Neo-liberalism, where all are in conflict with all for “individuality and freedom.”
              Continue with the overt corruption of Politics by money, and those who wield it.
              Finish off with the dissolution of the Social Contract into an ethos of Fear Everyone.
              Stay safer than ever.

              2. steppenwolf fetchit

                And the economic fear-pressures of engineered mass-jobicide and engineered growing mass-poverty to place everyone under the threat of economic capital punishment for a less-than-cheerful less-than-obedience attitude.

                ” Watch your step. There’s always room at the bottom.”

        1. The Rev Kev

          I can see a situation where this guy is on his way home from work when he has to stop because of passing protestors at which point he is ‘nicked’ by the police as taking part in it by watching instead of waiting for them to pass so he can go home. I’m pretty sure that I read of a very similar case in the past.

        2. JustTheFacts

          Criminalizing presence at a riots conveniently prevents street reporting on said riots. Your single source of information will be the mainstream media, which will not report that Keir Starmer is bought and paid for, that he has had authoritarian tendencies for a long time, that under his leadership the basic tenets of the Magna Carta are being violated, what with Constables who don’t know the law and people detained for 36 hours for speech and finally released because they can’t find anything to charge them with. It’s not just the working class, it’s professionals being imprisoned for words, 3 years for what should merit at most a few hours of community service. What a contrast to “Sir Keir” taking the knee when London was burning. Oh, how he’s changed his views since the Wapping dispute.

      4. Willow

        UK has to be extremely careful. COVID lockdowns created hardened sentiment on the right which needs time to dissipate. Taking an extreme enforcement approach to social media, as opposed to covertly manipulating social media interactions, is only going to reinforce adverse dynamics. Post Brexit UK has become very fragile with public physical and social infrastructure being sacrificed to funded its overextended involvement in overseas conflicts. Thames Water is a pertinent example of what’s work with UK’s public economy.

    2. Terry Flynn

      20 months in an insane asylum under the 1983 Mental Health Act for posting anything to Facebook.

      There, fixed it ;)

        2. Ben Panga

          You are right that these posts were inviting violence.

          History would suggest that the government will use the outrage about this to push through wide-ranging illiberal laws. I’m very uncomfortable having any government be the arbiter of correct speech, especially one that is abetting genocide and would love to silence protests.

          They are already saying they will make the Online Safety Bill stronger. Note, the incitement to riot tweets were already illegal before the Online Safety Bill came into force.

          Sure today they are prosecuting those that invite to riot. Like ASBOs, the net will widen.

    3. mrsyk

      One theme from Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage was music being made illegal in order to make everyone eligible for selective prosecution.

    4. Anonymous 2

      Well, if the hotel is the one I think it to be, there were reportedly efforts to set fire to a hotel containing hundreds of applicants for refugee status. If the man charged was inciting people to burn other people alive for racist reasons, then I suggest he is lucky to get off with 20 months.

      Think Ku Klux Klan.

      1. fjallstrom

        From Sky News:

        The 28-year-old wrote that “every man and his dog should smash [the] f*** out of Britannia hotel (in Leeds)” in a Facebook post in early August.

        Then that hotel was indeed smashed.

        Inciting major crimes like rioting, is illegal in many jurisdictions, including UK apparently.

        1. Roger Boyd

          Yep, he was guilty of a real crime – incitement to violence. That’s the law, I was waiting for someone to actually say what he had written, rather then just endless ignorant bloviating.

        2. Dermot O Connor

          The wife of a tory councillor has been arrested for similar statements – worse actually – saying they should burn a hotel to the ground with the people inside it.

          Those of you here, clutching your pearls about the threat to this poor man’s ‘freedom of speech’ should really wise up. Shame on you, for this fash-simping.

          The real issue is how LAX law enforcement was compared to how hard they’ve come down on left and leftish protestors. 15 years for extinction rebellion twats for a LOT less than the racist thugs. Where were the kettles? Where was the tear gas? Where were baton charges? Eh?????????

          Let the thugs run loose, then the govt. can come down with the hard hand and a new wave of Stamerite Authoritarianism, “never let a crisis to go waste”.

          This does not mean we should feel sorry for the thugs and yahoos, who frankly, deserve a LOT more than what’s being dished out to them.

          Other than that, some of you blokes need to cop on.

      2. Doubt

        I’m not sure why other commenters are waxing indignant about this particular imprisonment either. Most people agree with exceptions to free speech like “shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater when there’s no fire”; inciting an anti-immigrant pogrom would be somewhere in the exception category for most people, I think, in the same territory as calling for a lynching (in that roughly the same type of person would believe both to be legitimate “free speech”). While Starmer is terrible, a pogrom is far more arbitrary and tyrannical than Starmer has been so far.

        As a general recommendation, I’d exercise suspicion towards any articles posted by someone called “End Wokeness.” Accounts of this type tend to be on the far-right and conflate everything on the left (or even just not right-wing) with “wokeness.’ You have to read carefully to avoid being misled.

    5. Kouros

      UK returning to form.

      People stealing a handkerchief sent for a 7 year stint in Australia in 1800s…

    6. JohnA

      All the more ridiculous considering one of the first things Starmer said after the election was that British prisons were overcrowded and they would have to release many prisoners early.

  3. Ben Panga

    The rusdians with attitude embedded tweet: “Their behavior in Kursk oblast speaks for itself: summary executions of civilians, including women, hunting down fleeing civilians with drones, and indiscriminately opening fire on civilian cars.”

    I’ve seen these claims on Twitter. Are they verified?

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      I cannot say since I have not had time to follow this story closely. However, the Ukrainians have been targeting civilians in Donetsk City for years.

      Russians with Attitude is generally pretty solid, but like journalists, any site like that is only as good as its sources.

    2. Polar Socialist

      A couple of dashcam videos and at least one drone video of allegedly Ukrainian AFVs shooting at civilian cars. It’s a war. Things happen even without malice.

      That said, the Ukrainian tactics seem to resemble of those in the Kharkov region in 2022: lots of fast, lightly armored groups driving around causing as much havoc and chaos as possible, only stopping for a propaganda picture or two.

      Which also means that the social media is filled with Ukrainian psyops disinfo aimed to cause as much panic in Russian population as possible. After all, the main aim is to turn the population against current government in the hope that successor would be more lenient/meek…

      So, not much can be verified at the moment.

    3. The Rev Kev

      I’ve seen videos released by Ukrainians themselves of their drones hitting ambulances, fire trucks and electrical service vehicles. I don’t think they know that even in wartime those are actual crimes. Or maybe they don’t care so long as they kill Russians.

    5. skippy

      Its strange how activities in Gaza are not unlike some things going on in Ukraine for sometime, Corp media white washing since Fallujah or in my past life how the Mujahedin went from freedom fighters to Taliban and the most vile things can be rationalized … see orthodox economics …

  4. GramSci

    Re: Tick-borne diseases

    It should be noted that, per the underlying study of deer tick distribution, the white counties in the range map do not indicate the absence of ticks — they merely indicate the absence of data.

    My father likely contracted Lyme disease as a young man in the CCC’s in a “white” Wisconsin county in the 1930s. His “arthritis” plagued him from his early fifties.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Can’t blame the poor guy. Who would believe that EU countries would be willing to wreck their own economies and impoverish their own people, simply on the hope that things might be worse for the Russians? I wouldn’t have believed it and yet here we are.

    2. Chris Cosmos

      But “leaders” in Europe do make rational decisions for their careers and bank account. The System in the West (the imperial system) does not exist for the benefit of human beings in the general population due to a very brilliant regime of mind-control that uses every trick (including stage magic techniques) and social-science research to keep them under control. I’ve just been re-reading The Psychology of Totalitarianism` by M. Desmet that goes into some of this.

    1. Terry Flynn

      It’s sad that a bunch of us on here saw this coming from the moment the election was called (in fact before). We discussed how election literature and flag usage had fundamentally changed.

      In the 1970s only the (fascist) BNP used the Union flag prominently in its flyers. Labour ones were red (flag if old school, rose from Kinnock era onwards). Conservative ones were blue. LibDems orange. Green, well green duh.

      The election last month had the Conservatives using red or green in vain attempt to confuse people. Labour had the Union flag prominently displayed. Try finding pics of Sir Keir without the flag behind him. People can’t claim they weren’t warned what was coming.

      1. JohnA

        Dont forget lapel badge flags. Often twinned with Ukrainian flag. I think this was a US invention during the Bush II era. Now all politicians seem to have adopted the habit.

        1. hk

          North Korean thing from decades ago, although they often had a picture of Kim Il Sung on top of the flag, too. A most troublong development arlund the world.

    2. Mikel

      If it weren’t for the “far-right,” they’d have to pay more attention to all the economic problems there.

    3. begob

      I have yet to see PM Starmer wearing a red tie. Alastair Campbell recently told a story about PM Gordon Brown realizing, as he was about to step out and call the 2010 election, that he lacked a red tie – Campbell was the only one among the minders wearing one, so he whipped it off for the leader … and the rest is history.

      1. Terry Flynn

        I subscribe to the Alastair and Rory YT channel out of some weird masochism.

        We talk about the blob routinely on here. But here is a channel which if on Freeview would/should be channel 69.

      2. JohnA

        Campbell, the ex-tabloid journalist who ‘sexed’ up the report on Iraq to justify British involvement in the invasion and destruction of that country.

    4. JustTheFacts

      I am so sick of the word “communities”. Britain has always been about individuals & their equality before the law. But somehow, we’ve ended up in a world where individuals are not equal, do not need to be considered, only “communities” and their sensitivities. In such a world, the most tribal win, and that is not the native Britons. This is a radical change of direction, which seems incompatible with our civilization to date, leading me to wonder whether “multiculturalism” is incompatible with democracy: the more tribal people vote as blocks as instructed by their “community leaders”, which is very different from individuals voting. It encourages politicians to curry favor with “community leaders”, instead of the population. Such “community” focused legislating replaces the British value of allowing free debate (may the best idea win) and bottom up bubbling of new ideas by top-down decision making, and reliance on authority. It is based on new laws that speak of “equality” but actually mean the opposite. The bottom up principle gave us the English enlightenment, the scientific method, new technologies and the Anglo-Saxon bottom up entrepreneurial spirit. Without them, we return to a dark age of being told by “our betters” what to do and what to think. “Don’t do your own research”, i.e. don’t read. Let the Catholic priest interpret the Bible for you, it is too complicated for you, you dimwitted peasant.

    5. Ben Panga

      https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/aug/10/uk-children-to-be-taught-how-to-spot-extremist-content-and-misinformation-online

      Teaching critical thinking = good

      I’m sure I’m not alone in doubting this will do much of that though. I’d expect more “BBC good; blogs bad” type indoctrination.

      Teach them to default to distrust all media. Teach them not to outsource their thinking to authority. Teach them to analyse evidence.

      Fat chance of that coming from a system of corrupt genocide-enabling liars though. Labour don’t want people thinking for themselves.

      1. JohnA

        Yes, the BBC, that appointed a ‘disinformation’ correspondent who actually lied on her CV to get work. And was not asked to resign when this came to light.

  7. Afro

    Regarding: BREAKING! Parts of China witnessing a COVID-19 resurgence driven by a new recombinant Delta and Omicron variant. XDV.1 Thailand Medical News (IM Doc)

    I’m surprised, I thought that Delta was extinct due to a combination of the vaccines being more effective against Delta, and Omicron crowding out Delta. I searched the issue a while back and it was strongly suggested that all remaining COVID is Omicron’s descendents.

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      For the regular flu, old variants have come back regularly. The last really bad flu was (IIRC) Sydney A, which was last a big and pretty nasty flu in 1957. So older people were not too badly hit by it, but hospitalizations and even deaths among 20 to 40 year olds were high.

      I believe it was GM of our Covid Brain Trust, who has been following variants like a hawk (he called that Omicron would be a huge wave and fast-growing wave when it was only at 7 or 11 cases based on the very large number of mutations) has predicted a Delta variant would come back This one seems to have Delta and Omicron features, presumably including Omicron’s greater infectiousness v. Delta.

    2. Cassandra

      The circulating strains are, to a great extent, descendants of the Omicron variant. However, millions of people who were infected with Delta may be harboring reservoirs of Delta RNA in their bodies which can recombine with the circulating variants to create a new hybrid.

      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05542-y

      If you throw the dice a few trillion times…

  8. Kurtismayfield

    RE: Taiwan vs. US workers.

    Taiwan has a better social safety net and more worker protections that the US. Perhaps that is why they feel more loyalty to their corporation and less like precarious workers. In the US at the end of the day you are on their own.

    1. Cat Burglar

      In Washington, TSMC offers dental and medical plans “at a low cost” to workers. No free healthcare, like in Taiwan.

      1. Kurtismayfield

        And as it has been pointed out by me before, the median salary of a Chip fab tech is laughable.

  9. griffen

    2024 election campaigns, first TV advertisement for the Harris/Walz ticket. Not a horrible ad, quickly to the points about “lowering health care costs” or “affordable housing” and “Trump just wants to cut taxes for billionaires”…

    No personal anecdotes, no hint of pandering. I thought well done. First hints I’ve seen yet on policy ( okay the substance will eventually follow ).

    1. Katniss Everdeen

      First hints I’ve seen yet on policy ( okay the substance will eventually follow ).

      The “substance” has never followed before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

      I suppose we could always try holding someone’s Louboutins to the fire…

        1. Ben Panga

          “Don’t worry your pretty little head about all that stuff. Let Momala and Dad take care of it. Go back to sleep honey”

    2. Chris Cosmos

      That is pandering. No one will do anything about health-care costs. I mean whose income are you going to cut? They’ll just increase their bribes to the House of Bribery. As for affordable housing? No one has done anything about that sort of thing for some time–again, whose income are you going to limit?

      The System is locked in place and nothing can change unless there’s a very strong bottom up movement or an eruption of noblesse oblige among the ruling class.

    3. Pat

      I keep seeing the Future Forward pac Harris ad as I watch the Olympics. Using quotes from her it is all to sound good. And maybe on first hearing they do. But I found myself going that doesn’t make sense. And not just the opening “I’m running to fight…” bull. Nor was it just because it was of course false marketing. No, it honestly seems that Harris doesn’t understand jobs or even laws. I know it will go right past most people, but some are going to start going WTF. (That Every Breath You Take is not a romantic love song was not missed by the entirety of the 90’s music audience.)

      1. hk

        Honestly, if the Dems keep saying “fight for X” without doing anything, why does anyone believe anything they say? The only thing that keeps them going is scaremongering, methinks.

      2. John Anthony La Pietra

        “Every Breath You Take” is the kinder, gentler version of “She Drives Me Crazy”. (Which with a pronoun change could, I suppose, be an alternative theme for the TDS wing of the campaign.)

  10. Afro

    Concerning the election,

    I went out to dinner last and there was a table with three loud middle-aged+ White liberals next to mine. They were do depressing to hear:

    – Kamala don’t do great shutting down that protester. If people want to protest, wait until December, otherwise STFU.
    – The pedophile in the Olympics, I think they meant Steven Van Den Velde, did his time in prison, and anyway pedophilia has a low recidivism rate.
    -Something something JD Vance weird.
    – Thank God Biden was exposed in an early debate.

    Really seems like the American professional managerial class left is turning into a cult / religion. I felt like I was listening to a satire, but really they were very annoying.

    1. tegnost

      I got harangued into watching the daily show which started with walz going on about we’re inclusive or something something finishing with if you don’t like it mind your own biz. This was followed by the sub anchor making fun of a funny looking guy (a cow?) and the mean spirits of the pmc crowd rose to a fever pitch It was not at all funny really, just sneering meanness. Seems like walz was just blabbering nonsense because all I saw was back slapping ridicule by a bunch of in crowd exclusive-ists.
      Apparently “we’re the smart people” is still a thing.

    2. ilsm

      Each veteran should send Walz a white goose pin feather for exemplary ducking his service in Iraq

      1. JP

        cheap shot, his service? He served in congress. And your proud credentials? You served but flunked civics?

      2. EY Oakland

        Every US soldier should have ducked that illegal war. Were you brave enough to send a white feather to President Cheney and Vice President Bush (aka “the Decider”)?

  11. The Rev Kev

    “TSMC Arizona struggles to overcome vast differences between Taiwanese and US work culture”

    I’ve begun to wonder about this ongoing story and am thinking that perhaps that there is more to it than you might think. Is it really in TSMC’s interests to have a successful plant up and running in the US? For a start, I myself believe that TSMC was forced by the US to open up a plant in the US and did not really want to do so. So consider this. US officials have already promised to bomb TSCM’s facilities in Taiwan if it looks like China will take it over. That US plant then may be a way for the US to ensure that they have their own supply of chips for themselves and will be free to bomb those facilities in Taiwan when the need arises. TSCM may not want their facilities to be bombed for some reason so they may be slow-walking that Arizona plant through the use of ‘cultural issues’ until they can create an escape route. Maybe by creating a generation of chips that the plant in the US can’t make so make themselves too valuable to bomb.

    1. SocalJimObjects

      If you read the comments for that article, someone made an observation that Samsung has not been experiencing these issues even though there’s plenty of cultural differences between South Korea and the US. The work culture in Korea, where the economy is dominated by a few chaebols is not really different from the typical East Asian work culture i.e. work till you drop.

      Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC was always against the idea of expanding to the US, so I wonder if there’s another story behind this story.

      1. PlutoniumKun

        In my experience, well run multinational companies are pretty good at adapting their work culture in different countries. They usually learn the hard way that if you try to push an inappropriate work culture on a branch, you end up losing lots of money.

        I once worked for a company based in London that was a partnership of several engineering companies – one US, one British, one Anglo-Danish, one French. The difference in work culture was startling. The US company struggled hard to recruit in the UK until they adopted (for one thing, no European engineer will accept 14 days leave a year, it not even legal). They also had to loosen their very strict alcohol rules for the World Cup – no self respecting English engineer was going to stay out of the lunchtime pub when a big match was on. The French did entirely their own thing – starting very early in the morning, do a few hours of intense, focused work (they would refuse point blank to attend any morning meetings), then have a long, leisurely and alcohol rich lunch with a gentle wind down, which would include snoozing through meetings. To general surprise, the French company proved by far the most efficient. In my personal experience, French workers are by far the hardest working and most productive per hour in the world, they just do it for fewer hours than anyone else.

        I know a few Japanese, Chinese and Korean people here who work in branch offices of Asian banks in Europe. Without exception they adopt a European work culture (they have little choice if they want to recruit), and this is generally very popular with relocated Asian staff, to the extent that some refuse to return. A Japanese financial analyst I know refused a promotion because it would mean dealing more with Japanese clients. When later having to return to Asia for family reasons she got a transfer to Singapore, as the place with the most ‘European’ culture in Asia.

        1. Mikel

          The netflix documentary on Carlos G. and Nissan Renault adventures was highly entertaining.
          It featured some examination of a clash of work cultures.

        2. SocalJimObjects

          Huh, Singaporeans work very long hours , https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/right-disconnect-work-life-balance-harmony-jobs-careers-4178131.

          “Workers in Singapore worked an average of 44.1 paid hours a week in 2022, according to official labour statistics.

          But they reported themselves as working an average of 8.2 unpaid hours a week in a survey last year by ADP, a HR and payroll solutions provider. That put Singapore behind India (10.7 hours) but ahead of China and Australia.”

          That reflects my personal experiences working in the country for a couple of multi national banks/asset management firms. I was working close to 70 hours a week, and my boss who was from the UK easily clocked close to 100 hours a week.

    3. Adam Eran

      Worth a look, the “This American Life” account of the Toyota/GM joint venture (NUMMI).

      What was striking was that American manufacturing at the time looked like it employed prison labor, far more interested in taking sides (labor vs. mgmt) even sabotaging output than in being productive.

      The Japanese respected their employees, and their productivity. When they discovered the American workers they were training to run the NUMMI plant were too big to reach some screws, they gave them longer screwdrivers. Quality was important enough that even a lowly assembly line worker could stop the line when he discovered a defect, etc.

      They threw a farewell party for the Americans who Toyota had been training. The Americans wept and hugged their Japanese trainers. People actually want to work, we don’t have to employ “labor discipline” to get them to work unless we just want to be sadistic.

      1. Procopius

        People actually want to work, we don’t have to employ “labor discipline” to get them to work unless we just want to be sadistic.

        I agree, but you have to pay them fairly, too. Frederick Taylor complained that American workers tend to “soldier.” He himself was a fanatic hard worker and did not seem to pay attention to wages. The companies he worked for used his techniques to increase their profits, but were very reluctant to pass those gains on to workers.

    4. John k

      It’s not just the us that might bomb those plants. Us agrees on one China, right? I assume China is miffed that one small bit of China won’t sell chips to the bigger bit while selling to the enemy. Were it me I’d say sell to all or sell to none.

  12. timbers

    Russians With Attitude

    Around the time the phrase Russia Winning The War But Losing The Peace began being used, I expressed fear of a similar to this type of situation as being a possible worst case scenario that might come closest to “losing the peace” – rogue or semi-rogue actions increasingly devolving into terrorism by Western financed Ukraine elements – is closest Russia might come to “Losing The Peace”.

    “…it’s still a bad, bad sign of things to come. Their behavior in Kursk oblast speaks for itself: summary executions of civilians, including women, hunting down fleeing civilians with drones, and indiscriminately opening fire on civilian cars.

    I’m afraid we’re not far from a mass casualty hostage scenario… They’ve pulled troops out of Chasov Yar for this. That’s actually crazy from a military POV. The closer the Kiev hardliners come to defeat on the battlefield, the more savage their tactics will become. We haven’t seen the worst yet.”

    There is no Peace to win and this has been true for a very long time. Russia winning the peace is not an option as long as we have current Western regimes. The West was at war with Russia before 2022, before 2014, before the end of WW2, and after, and will be at war with Russia after the SMO is complete. It is for this reason I think the “winning the peace” does not make sense because Russia most win the war, not the peace. She will always be at war as long as The West is the west.

    So IMO opinion, a relevant question might be “Why hasn’t Russia ended electricity in Ukraine?”

    PS it should be noted reporting on the Kurst seems sketchy and propaganda fog of war prone so it’s hard be sure of the facts.

    2. ChrisPacific

      If it gets to the point where Ukraine is clearly losing on the battlefield or has lost, but wants to fight on, then it will turn asymmetric (which probably means it will get pretty nasty). Russia has arguably ‘won the peace’ before in other situations like Chechnya, but Ukraine is much more strategically important and subject to NATO and European influence.

      The main reason I can think of for Russia not to go for full grid shutdown (I agree they could if they wanted) is because they’re performing for a global audience, and trying to look like a more reasonable party than NATO. Much of the war is playing out via propaganda in the media sphere, and precipitating a humanitarian crisis with massive civilian impact (which is what shutting down the grid would do) isn’t likely to play well to neutral or undecided observers. Bluntly, if you’re complicit in war crimes against civilians on a mass scale then your status and influence in the global community suffers, as the US is currently finding out.

      Helmer, I think, routinely misses this point with all his flip little cartoons on the subject, but I’m very sure that Putin gets it.

      1. chris

        The Ukrainians are already there and are going insane. Or more crazy than normal. And they appear to accuse the Russians of acting similarly. Allegedly, the Russians at the Zaphoreiza plant stacked a bunch of tires in a cooling tower, and then lit them on fire. You know, as you do when you’ve been protecting a nuclear generating facility for months and months, you stack tires in a critical location for safe plant operations and then light them on fire. Impressive to see the Guardian report it as such without any kind of question. It means we’ll see the west cover up everything the regime does as it burns the world to the ground.

  13. griffen

    Recession signals… consumer spending is a topic du jour no doubt. Certain comments from CNBC this week rely heavily on the tried and true “resilient American consumers” but I’m sensing a weariness on this front. Upon signing a new rental lease that takes hold middle October, I was pleased that base rent expense went up roughly 1.5% or so. But you gotta mind the add on fees, and layer everything together. Ho hum it’s the nature of this beast.

    Elsewhere I do see trends this week from US streaming media behemoths that are going to seriously struggle or have already been on that struggle bus, seated beside an Intel, by example. Warner Bros Discovery took a massive write down in their quarter, and losing the media rights in the next NBA agreement is going to leave a big hole in programming. Paramount is laying off more people but that’s in some level of turnaround mode, with a potential ownership change on the table.

    Some added detail on Warner Bros Discovery.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/08/warner-bros-discovery-ceo-david-zaslav-to-deliver-value-for-shareholders.html

    1. SocalJimObjects

      https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ubers-second-quarter-revenue-beats-ride-sharing-demand-2024-08-06/

      “While there have been some concerns about consumer spend on restaurants and delivery, we are not seeing any impact today,” Khosrowshahi said, adding that a greater push on groceries through expanded partnerships with Instacart (CART.O), opens new tab and Costco Wholesale (COST.O), opens new tab was boosting deliveries.”

      When people can afford to take expensive taxis and order overpriced deliveries, the economy has to be doing quite well. Consumers are ride hailing through the “recession”.

        1. Eclair

          Ride hailing in Chautauqua County, NY, involves phoning your brother-in-law’s high school best buddy to pick you up at the Buffalo International Airport. Because he has the most reliable pickup for the 3 hour round-trip. :-)

      2. The Rev Kev

        I’m not so sure about his viewpoint. If those people have been totally priced out of the possibility of buying a home or even starting a family, then you would expect to see loose money going to ‘expensive taxis and order overpriced deliveries’ and maybe even travel. If this is the case, then the outlook of such an American economy would not be good or even healthy long term.

        1. SocalJimObjects

          Home prices going stratospheric is not a recent phenomenon in the US, as evidenced by the Case Shiller Index. Super expensive health care, child care, etc, have been going on for many many years. On top of that though, people still have the wherewithal to utilize services like Uber. I think I’ve said this before, but Uber has become a barometer for consumer health. If Uber is doing fine, the economy is probably doing ok.

          1. griffen

            I expect retailers to go a little, ok much further on explaining the healthy status of the economy than that of a single ride sharing company. Stretches the analogy pretty far and wide, my two cents.

            It appears to be now a pillar of the economy? Say as opposed to airlines and the cruise industry ( by all counts many continue to travel a lot ). I think this reflects more accurately a tiered economy, those who are flourishing or maybe in retirement or nearing retirement having done rather well in their planning these past 30 to 40 years. I know of a few who can fit this description but they definitely earned their keep and deserve to travel if they choose.

    2. JTMcPhee

      Notions we blithely accept, usually without any reflection: “turnaround mode.”

      What does that actual import, in real-people terms?

      1. griffen

        Analogy would apply…I think for a modern corporation like Boeing, like Intel, is akin to turning a large cruise ship around in record time to reverse course. It isn’t something done quickly or easily.

        Headcount is the first proverbial shoe to drop, as Intel is reporting layoffs after their recently disaster of a quarterly report. No worry, however Mr. Gelsinger appears safely in place as a well compensated CEO.

        Also “turnaround mode” is analyst speak on Wall Street…we rate this company a Hold since we aren’t ever allowed to put a Sell rating on said company stock. It’s a sh*t show and even the most loyal of value investing pros can’t ignore the facts.

  14. The Rev Kev

    “Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines”

    ‘And if the robot dogs were ever to fall into Russian hands, he said, an emergency switch allows the operator to erase all its data.’

    What happens if Russian EM warfare units cuts all control signals off between that robot dog and it’s controller? And that would include the signal to wipe it’s data. Don’t know how one of these robot dogs can replace cheap drones on the battlefield though as they can both do similar jobs. Colour me cynical but as far as I can see, it would really be only good for being a future trophy at Russia’s military exhibition. Maybe the Ukraine should stick with its T-800 program instead.

    1. JTMcPhee

      Which Western Bloc MIC lout is making bank on this step on the railroad to our “Terminator” future?

      Love the BAD Dog nomenclature.

      All reminiscent of the Nazi end game push to activate the Fuhrer’s fever dreams fed by the Reich’s stock of mad scientists and exotic and erotic wunderwaffen…

    3. tegnost

      i don’t know, robot dogs and drones seem to occupy the same space with the advantage to drones and buckshot with a chain attached to it will work pretty good on a robot dog and be easier to hit. Seems like an area ripe for innovation, this robot dog deterrence…probably they’ll work good on student protesters until some scamp fashions a trebuchet and says “I got your robot dog right here” and sends it into the the opposition at speed…
      Everything old is new again…

  15. SocalJimObjects

    https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ubers-second-quarter-revenue-beats-ride-sharing-demand-2024-08-06/

    “While there have been some concerns about consumer spend on restaurants and delivery, we are not seeing any impact today,” Khosrowshahi said, adding that a greater push on groceries through expanded partnerships with Instacart (CART.O), opens new tab and Costco Wholesale (COST.O), opens new tab was boosting deliveries.”

    When people can afford to take expensive taxis and order overpriced deliveries, the economy has to be doing quite well. Consumers are ride hailing through the “recession”.

      2. Ben Panga

        “this is the BDSM economy”

        Except in the BDSM community consent is crucial. This economy is just abuse.

    2. ISL

      many (maybe all) govt contracts require spending on US airfares unless there is no alternative. And people with lots of delta miles.

  18. jefemt

    Antidote Ladies Man. A dear friend has been chided for trolling for girls with his springer spaniel puppies at springtime field lacrosse games in the mid-Atlantic.
    Irrisistible, like a # 14 Royal Trude to a cutthroat trout….

    1. mrsyk

      A time tested technique! I may be guilty of having done some trout fishing in the past. Catch and release only, mind you.

    2. wol

      I lent our fluffy blue-eyed blue merle Aussie to a recently divorced friend to tarry outside a yoga class. Magic.

  19. Acacia

    Re: U.S. Approves Massive Arms Sales to Israel, Waives Leahy Sanctions Against Abusive Israeli Military Unit Amid Ongoing Atrocities

    No mention of Harris in this article.

    Safe to assume she approves of this, approves of carrying moar water for the Empire, though she will lie about it to try and get votes.

    Same old same old.

    1. hk

      Clever, in a juvenile way.

      The masses csn be bought off with meaningless lies about “negotiations.”

      Friends of Israel would know the truth.

      Trump is too deep with friends of Israel to say anything about it.

      Sounds too clever by half to me, but stuff like that are known to have worked, eg Kennefy pulling the missile gap on Nixon (whoch both knew to be untrue, as they had access to classified intel, but the American public did not and in fact were propagandized to believe.)

  20. The Rev Kev

    “Alaskan F-22 Fighters Forward Deployed to Support Israel Against Iran: Qatari Airbase Plays Host”

    If the USAF is going to be flying F-22s around the middle east and the Russians have already set up radars and air defense equipment in Iran, would this not give Russians a chance to thoroughly check out the profile of the F-22 in action? Get a peek at their operational capacity?

      1. Polar Socialist

        They are F-22, with only 50% service capable rate even without 14,000 km transfer flights. They’ll be secure right there in the hangars waiting for the photo ops.

        1. ambrit

          And when Ansar Allah sends over a few advanced drones to bomb those planes in those hangars…..

        2. scott s.

          Don’t know USAF maintenance priority, but in USN deployers would have much higher FMC/PMC rates than fleet average due to focused logistics.

    2. ilsm

      I may have seen a piece of misinformation that Qatar has told CENTCOM ; no combat operation from Al Udeid that support Israel.

      I may be wrong or the F 22 report is misdirect, they are somewhere US don’t want implicated.

      Imagine if Turks grounded US at Adana!

    3. scott s.

      And I suppose give the USAF a chance to thoroughly check out the Russian air defense in action, and peek at their operational capacity.

  21. .human

    “When people can afford to take expensive taxis and order overpriced deliveries, the economy has to be doing quite well. Consumers are ride hailing through the “recession”.”

    Taxis are less expensive than auto ownership and delivered groceries are less time intensive, and do not require personal transportation. It’s all working to plan.

  23. Katniss Everdeen

    In case you haven’t seen or heard of it, here’s a link to The Fall of Minneapolis about the george floyd death and subsequent riots in 2020.

    https://rumble.com/v3vyvzv-the-fall-of-minneapolis.html

    It features several “cameos” of the just nationally introduced bower-and-scraper-in-chief to the Queen of the Word Salad in his natural habitat. It turns out that once a pathetic panderer, always a pathetic panderer.

  24. viscaelpaviscaelvi

    @Trump campaign:
    I haven’t followed the Water Cooler lately, so I may have missed out basic information there about what I am going to say, but here it is:

    Malcolm Kyeyune, who is a friend of Phillip Pilkington and is often invited to the Multipolarity podcast, has been saying for days that Trump’s campaign is rudderless, that he seems to be lost in idiotic commentaries about the Dems and that he is just and that fears that there is a risk that Harris will succeed by dint of Trump’s sheer campaigning incompetence (my words). My twitter bubble would seem to roughly corroborate those facts, although I would disagree as to the prediction. There is plenty of time until the election and he may only need one debate face to face to get rid of her. Or maybe he is basically sitting it all out (honeymoon period, VP nomination excitement…), waiting for her campaign (herself) to implode.
    The risk for Trump, though, seems real to me. This can’t go on for much longer, I assume.
    Am I missing anything important — as in the ACTUAL TRUMP CAMPAIGN — just because i am focussing on other events? Does anyone perceive this sort of dynamic?

    1. Carolinian

      He challenged her to three debates and one has been agreed. That doesn’t sound like sitting it out. Trump has his faults which the media will highlight as much as possible but Harris can’t hide behind the teleprompter forever.

      1. tegnost

        It’s no surprise that having his opponent summarily switched would wrong foot the T’s for a bit, and keeping his new opponent in a protective bubble will make recovering hard and mis steps/statements easy. We’ll see, as lambert pointed out i believe yesterday we’re watching two pro teams of consultants duking it out, and it’s going to be quite the spectacle.
        87 days

        1. griffen

          87 days…still enough time to start on a long walk and just be completely unplugged from this circus and all the ensuing hilarity of the new Democratic ticket having plans to address American concerns at home. You know I was reminded today, that Harris is the VP now so what is this current administration not doing today that “must wait” until early 2025…eh I almost put that as 2035. Meh it’s DC. I don’t have billionaire status so my small level influence is a trifle.

          I think the Trump campaign leaders like Susie Wiles should be strategic and cutting to the core on Biden failures, the impact of Bidenomics and the looseness of party politics as displayed by Democrats this election cycle. I mean to add, were the Dem party elders really so shocked or surprised that Biden was old as of late June? FFS.

          1. viscaelpaviscaelvi

            Sorry, replied to the wrong comment earlier. Hope reposted here it makes more sense 😁

            Thanks for your comment (and to the rest, as well)
            Your first paragraph captures the essence of my question very well.
            As to the second, and as an aside, I don’t expect that much from Trump. Since I’m not American, therefore look at things from a foreign policy aspect. I would say that my main expectation is disruption. The solidity of American foreign policy is seriously being put to test, and Trump can do a lot of damage there, even if he ends up working within its basic framework. That’s what I understand he did in his first presidency.

            But, when that is your opinion about him, the fact that he gets so much establishment pushback from the establishment is somewhat puzzling.

            To finish this: in a way, I want him to win because I want to keep observing all those Trump-deranged heads doing stupid things and teaching me things about the clownish and ridiculous nature of people (and classes: the PMC and its retinue of uni degree holders) imbued with their sense of self-importance and entitlement.

    2. Katniss Everdeen

      The man has been subjected to a vicious, relentless, and wholly fabricated assault by the entire united states “intelligence community” for the last nine years.

      The entire u.s. “justice” system has been perverted, contorted and abused to PERsecute him for “crimes” invented specifically for him.

      The entirety of the corporate press, self-proclaimed rabid guardians of “truth” and fatally allergic to “misinformation,” have given themselves a blanket exception in his case.

      Three weeks ago he was nearly assassinated in what is increasingly looking like an inside job.

      Under the circumstances, I’d imagine it would take at least a week to get your head screwed back on straight, but that’s just me.

      1. mrsyk

        Not sure v’s comment elicited that last line as it seems designed to promote debate. As far as Election 2024! (make your donation here) how exactly will any outcome change our trajectory? Maybe like this?
        If you wish your imminent demise to be at the hands of your white christian neighbors vote Trump!
        If you wish your imminent demise to be the result of nuclear annihilation vote Harris!
        If you wish your imminent demise to be the result of a pandemic vote either!
        If you wish your imminent demise to be the result of climate change, well it’s either/or again!
        Good times!

      2. pjay

        All these statements are true, and reason enough to be concerned about the systemic forces behind them. To me, they represent the most significant danger of fascism in the US. But that said, any small hope I had that these events might actually shake Trump into something authentic that exposed our real enemies was rapidly dashed. Instead, Trump started going back to “being Trump” during his convention speech. Since then, I’d say “idiotic commentaries about the Dems” pretty much sums up his campaign strategy. It’s all super-partisan, Dems as “radical leftists” who are too scared to fight real wars (Walz) and who coddle terrorists and terrorist states like Iran that threaten our wondrous ally Israel. At least in 2016 Trump swatted away all the Republican pretenders like flies. This time he is completely pandering to the worst of their right-wing base. All the problems with justice, the media, the intelligence community, etc. you list are simply depicted as a Bircher from the 60s would do: it’s the commies! Or whatever term for the “radical left” you want to use: “liberals,” “socialists,” “leftists,” “Democrats,” “globalists,” – they’re all the same in this world of patriotic Red Team vs. Evil Marxist Blue Team WWE matches.

        I’m still waiting for any hint of actual policy on anything that would represent progress. Screeching about evil immigrant rapists or “Marxist” college professors doesn’t count. Nor does saying he’d end the Ukraine war tomorrow without a plan. And who will his policy advisors be this time? I did actually take his selection of Vance as a *possible* positive, since at least Vance had some “populist” leanings compared to the other known choices that were all despicable neocons. But Vance has also been playing the “Dems as anti-semitic commies” pandering game. Of course it could be that *this* time the “4-D chessmaster” Trump will really emerge after the election to really “drain the swamp” and save the day. And it could be that *this* time the lottery ticket I bought at Quick Stop will be a winner.

        1. viscaelpaviscaelvi

          Thanks for your comment (and to the rest, as well)
          Your first paragraph captures the essence of my question very well.
          As to the second, and as an aside, I don’t expect that much from Trump. Since I’m not American, therefore look at things from a foreign policy aspect. I would say that my main expectation is disruption. The solidity of American foreign policy is seriously being put to test, and Trump can do a lot of damage there, even if he ends up working within its basic framework. That’s what I understand he did in his first presidency.

          But, when that is your opinion about him, the fact that he gets so much establishment pushback from the establishment is somewhat puzzling.

          To finish this: in a way, I want him to win because I want to keep observing all those Trump-deranged heads doing stupid things and teaching me things about the clownish and ridiculous nature of people (and classes: the PMC and its retinue of uni degree holders) imbued with their sense of self-importance and entitlement.

          1. kareninca

            Twitter has become useless to me (other than for covid and avian flu stuff). Until a day or two ago, if I went on and took pot luck, I would get a mix of tweets, pro Trump and pro Harris. Now ALL I get is pro Harris stuff. I doubt there is any connect between what is going on in Twitter vis a vis the election, and what is going on in the real world. Some of it even looks AI generated. It feels like a giant psyop.

  25. flora

    re: The Google antitrust remedy should extinguish surveillance, not democratize it – Pluralistic

    Very good article. A must read to understand the state of play. Thanks.

  26. Matteo

    Re: cruise ships.

    So I was on a work call (corporate America) where we all had to talk a few minutes about ourselves to “get to know each other better”.

    I spoke to my university and graduate education across 3 countries, my travels, my work experience in many different roles and locations, etc.

    A colleague said she’s taken 37 cruises and the entire team gushed on and in about how amazing that is.

    To he clear, I wasn’t looking for recognition but this is telling about what people prioritize in their life.

    You will never find me in a cruise ship. And I don’t use the word “never’ lightly!

    1. The Rev Kev

      That’s an amazing anecdote that. So her only claim to fame was that she went on 37 holidays? Is she doing two a year or something? Most places I know such an announcement would be met with crickets.

      1. Matteo

        I don’t know which is worse, that she is proud of 37 cruises or the fact that my colleagues found that , and only that, incredibly fascinating.

        I just shake my head at it all now. It’s become too absurd.

      2. JBird4049

        Whenever I might possible have an urge for a cruise, I just remember reading A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace.

        I mean really, I am a homebody who hates to travel, and a cruise ship sounds like Purgatory at best. Let’s float around on a luxury permaparty barge filled with wasted narcissists trying desperately trying to have “fun.” That might, possibly, maybe, somehow, interest the eighteen year old excitable, horny me. For about five days.

        Maybe, I might reconsider, if the barge had a large, comfortable, library stocked with fine, old, interesting books, filled with reading nooks, sunlight and cats and/or dogs, perhaps with a full bar including the best coffee and tea, a first class kitchen and chef, plus and alcohol bar, then I might reconsidered. A nice writing desk would be great too. Oh, and if it it did not bother anyone else, a nice sound system full of jazz, classical, and the occasional rock.

        Well, I can dream.

          1. JBird4049

            :-)

            Well, I did say that I hate to travel, but having it all together with staff would be nice. Maybe even a large patio for a garden as well? I just might move onto a yacht for that.

            Unfortunately, I don’t have the first class bar and kitchen with the chef and barista. I just have to make do with my very meager talents.

    2. griffen

      I’d have gone with some lighter instead, like I root for North Carolina men’s basketball and would prefer cheering for a Satanic cult before cheering for Duke men’s basketball…very much easy low hanging fruit…and lol territory. I concur on the cruise ship, nope and no thanks to going on that. It’s like the question of going back to a Golden Corral restaurant. Not going.

      When on occasion we have such introductory team calls like that, also in a corporate America role that is fully remote, this team of 10 to 12 ( stateside ) has a basic rhetorical question. “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be ?”…To date the best answer to that question was “a money tree”.

      1. Jeff W

        “something lighter”

        I agree. The whole “getting to know you better” gambit isn’t—rightly or wrongly—about you as a co-worker or colleague. It’s about how “interesting” or quirky you are—sort of like “Tell me a little about yourself” at a cocktail party. Going on about what might make you worthwhile as someone working at the company makes you seem too much of a grind. The “37 cruises” bit fits right in. (Aside: I’ve been on exactly one cruise in my life—a short cruise to Alaska—and, well, it’s not my thing. I can’t imagine enduring 37 of them.) This is the country that gave us the “who-would-you-rather-have-a-beer-with?” metric for choosing its leader, after all.

        1. ambrit

          My “choose a leader” metric is to chug a sixpack of beer before voting. Let your subconscious vote for you!
          (I wonder how putting voting precincts in pubs and bars, and making Voting Day an “open bar all day” holiday would affect the outcomes of elections? With hand marked, hand counted in public, I’m afraid that the election workers would have to stay sober all day. Sorry!)

          1. griffen

            Drink your self happy, American voter ! Just be certain to vote against something, something, Trump! Much like the American media instructions…er reports.

            A vote for Trump / Vance is a vote for couch offenders and law breakers! \sarc

  27. Carolinian

    Re the TSMC way

    TSMC is known for extremely rigorous working conditions, including 12-hour work days that extend into the weekends and calling employees into work in the middle of the night for emergencies. TSMC managers in Taiwan are also known to use harsh treatment and threaten workers with being fired for relatively minor failures.

    I’ve linked this a couple of times but Construction Physics did a piece on chip making and the Phoenix plant in particular and worth a look.

    https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-to-build-a-20-billion-semiconductor

    The gist is that making these extremely advanced chips requires a fantastic level of quality control with a workplace completely free of contaminants and even floor vibrations. And while the above described labor regime may go over on an island with an authoritarian history the American attitude toward work is far less self effacing. Given the other problems including the dry climate you have to ask who ever thought the new plant north of Phoenix was a good idea. Maybe it would be a lot easier simply to make peace with regions of the world on which we have become so dependent.

    1. spud

      or look at it another way. we should have never been subjugated to free trade. its unworkable, and always leads to immense poverty, immense debts, which always ends in war.

    2. GF

      “who ever thought the new plant north of Phoenix was a good idea”

      The Republican ex-gov Ducey. There is also a 3rd ring freeway up in north Phx that needed to have development near by in order to justify its construction. Then there’s the $billions given to TSMC as incentives to move there. And, the plant is located next to the CAP canal (300+ mile long Central Arizona Project Colorado River water canal into the AZ desert to quench thirsty Phx and Tucson.). Chip plants are huge water consumers – just what is needed in the desert.

      1. JBird4049

        Just what makes these deserts so attractive besides the bribes? Whatever happened to the Mississippi, the Missouri, or even the Sacramento Rivers? Even in these droughtish times, the United States has a number of large rivers that will keep flowing in some amounts unless the End Times actually arrives.

      1. Wukchumni

        Wuk’s Law:

        You’ll always hear CCR being played by chair lift operators @ some point in your skiing/boarding day.

        1. Wukchumni

          p.s.

          Sinister Purpose needs no re-wording, stands on it’s own:

          When the sky is gray
          And the moon is hate
          I’ll be down to get you
          Roots of earth will shake

          Sinister Purpose
          Knocking at your door
          Come and take my hand

          Burn away the goodness
          You and I remain
          Did you see the last war?
          Well, here I am again

          Sinister Purpose
          Knocking at your door
          Come and take my hand

          I can set you free
          Make you rich and wise
          We can live forever
          Look into my eyes

          Sinister Purpose
          Knocking at your door
          Come and take my hand

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjHfkGM5jnc

        2. ambrit

          Now, if Sarah Palin had adopted “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” as her campaign tune, we would have had President McCain. Plus, we could have kept a much better eye on those Pesky Russkies.

  29. Katniss Everdeen

    RE: The Arnaud Bertrand tweet

    The article linked in the tweet is an interesting one. Turns out the meteoric rise of Chinese domestic EV makers to the detriment of foreigners has a couple of familiar themes.

    –Nationalism, commonly derided in the u.s. as “isolationism,” “xenophobia,” “jingoism,” or “racism”:

    When it comes to cars, Chinese brands are suddenly the new cool. Global brands, once so aspirational, are now so yesterday.

    Nationalism is the invisible but potent force behind the shift.

    –And the cultivation of all facets of manufacturing expertise, eschewed in this country as too “dirty” and “expensive” for awhile now.

    The article reminded me of this prescient piece written in 2010 by Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, on creating american jobs. If you’ve not read it, you’re in for a treat. Here’s a taste from Widipedia:

    “Each company, ruggedly individualistic, does its best to expand efficiently and improve its own profitability. However, our pursuit of our individual businesses, which often involves transferring manufacturing and a great deal of engineering out of the country, has hindered our ability to bring innovations to scale at home. Without scaling, we don’t just lose jobs—we lose our hold on new technologies. Losing the ability to scale will ultimately damage our capacity to innovate.”

    To remedy the problem, he strongly believed that “job creation” should become America’s primary objective, much as it is in Asian nations. Among the methods he felt were worth considering was the imposition of a tax on imported products, with the funds received then made available to help American companies scale their operations in the US. However, he also accepted the fact that his ideas would be controversial: “If what I’m suggesting sounds protectionist, so be it.” Or that those protectionist steps could lead to conflicts with trade partners: “If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars—fight to win.” He added:

    “All of us in business have a responsibility to maintain the industrial base on which we depend and the society whose adaptability—and stability—we may have taken for granted.”

    Just sayin’.

    1. spud

      nationalism is at the core of the founders vision of the enlightenment.

      fascism is the exact opposite, under free trade, the corporation has sovereignty over the people.

      protectionism is the foundation of national self-determination and is fundamental.

      https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nationalism-is-rising-not_b_10281138

      headshot
      George Friedman
      ,
      Contributor
      Geopolitical Forecaster and Strategist
      Nationalism Is Rising, Not Fascism
      06/03/2016 02:18 pm ET Updated Jun 04, 2017

      “Nationalism is the core of the Enlightenment’s notion of liberal democracy. It asserts that the multinational dynasties that ruled autocratically denied basic human rights. Among these was the right to national self-determination and the right of citizens to decide what was in the national interest.

      The Enlightenment feared tyranny and saw the multinational empires dominating Europe as the essence of tyranny. Destroying them meant replacing them with nation-states. The American and French revolutions were both nationalist risings, as were the risings that swept Europe in 1848. Liberal revolutions were by definition nationalist because they were risings against multinational empires. ”

      “In a very real sense, Hitler and Mussolini believed in multinationalism, albeit with other nations submitting to their will. Fascism was an assault on the right of nations to pursue their self-interest, and an elevation of the fascists’ right to pursue it based on an assertion of their nations’ inherent superiority and right to rule. ”

      “Fascism asserts that a Hitler or a Mussolini represents the people but is not answerable to them. The core of fascism is the idea of the dictator, who emerges through his own will. He cannot be challenged without betraying the people.

      Therefore, free speech and opposition parties are banned and those who attempt to oppose the regime are treated as criminals. Fascism without the dictator, without the elimination of elections, without suppression of free speech and the right to assemble, isn’t fascism.

      Arguing that being part of the European Union is not in the British interest, that NATO has outlived its usefulness, that protectionist policies or anti-immigration policies are desirable is not fascist.

      These ideas have no connection to fascism whatsoever. They are far more closely linked to traditional liberal democracy. They represent the reassertion of the foundation of liberal democracy, which is the self-governing nation-state. It is the foundation of the United Nations, whose members are nation-states, and where the right to national self-determination is fundamental.”
      …

      1. hk

        Friedman seems to be mixing up schools of thought in European history: nationalism came out of Romantic Era, in response to the cosmopolitan Enlightenmentism that culminated in the Napoleonic Wars. Granted, this too is oversi.plification, but I think it is indisputable that nationalism, with its assertion that “nations” make for natural “communities” and that these communities naturally command primacy is not in any way inherently associated with “Enlighyenment.”

        1. spud

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

          “The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and philosophical fervor in the thirteen American colonies in the 18th to 19th century, which led to the American Revolution and the creation of the United States. The American Enlightenment was influenced by the 17th- and 18th-century Age of Enlightenment in Europe and native American philosophy. According to James MacGregor Burns, the spirit of the American Enlightenment was to give Enlightenment ideals a practical, useful form in the life of the nation and its people.[1]”

          1. hk

            One problem is that the American Enlightenment was a quite different phenomenon from its European counterpart, much more eclectic and overlaps a lot with ideas of Romanticism rather than (European) Enlightenment (enough that the the intellectual movement gained its name only in (far) retrospect, well over a century after the era) and, unlike the European one, much harder to summarize neatly.

            Certainly, the idea of characterizing the French (!) Revolution as a “nationalist” rising seems bizarre: many contemporaries described Napoleonic Wars as carrying Enlightenment ideas around Europe. I’ll accept that there was a peculiarly “parochial” (but not really a “nationalist” flavor to the American Enlightenment…but that was a mix of many things not always pointing in the same direction…)

            1. spud

              no movement copies another movement perfectly. freidman was quite right, american liberalism was from the enlightenment. matters not the flavor, it was a fact.

              no movement goes exactly as thought. but the enlightenment helped to create the modern nation state.

  30. Ghost in the Machine

    I found the Kamala dinner training anecdote to be somewhat surprising. Aren’t empty suits supposed to be good at schmoozing? Is she completely empty?

    1. mrsyk

      Consider it just another example of performance over policy. America, where we always get a good show.

    2. Katniss Everdeen

      Practice makes perfect. But since none of us mere mortals will be witnesses to the prep, we’ll have to use our imaginations.

      Here’s kamala impersonator (!!!) Estee Palti “imagining” a harris “brainstorming” session. I think we’re gonna get to know this gal’s name…

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToCFf0kj2YM

      Only 1 minute.

    3. Judith

      Harris cannot retain staff. She cannot handle Palestinian-Americans in Michigan shouting at her. She cannot handle dinner parties. Apparently she is now avoiding interviews. What happens if she is actually elected and has to engage in complex negotiations with heads of state?

      (I would enjoy seeing Maria Zakharova question Harris.)

      1. CA

        When Kamala Harris was asked by President Biden to attend the recent conference on an approach to peace in Ukraine, Harris went and left almost immediately, evidently making no impact but easily escaping even a series of private meetings. I was startled, and find this worrying.

      2. Neutrino

        A former Harris staffer is a friend of mine. He said that the other staffers were part of the problem as they played roles in a blood sport. Not much team spirit or cohesion, and with the boss having severe communication and interpersonal skill deficits, the fallout was inevitable. A wonder that anything ever got done.

        Like that Hollywood saying now applied to Washington, or vice versa, if you want a friend, buy a dog.

    4. Socal Rhino

      Harris isn’t a naturally gifted politician like Obama or Clinton, but those skills are probably more important to winning primary elections than to the general election. She has, by all a counts, always been good at fund raising.

      1. Carolinian

        Well that’s reassuring

        The Dems have put their thumb on the scale with their instacandidate but that isn’t going to help if she can’t even put a few sentences together. So one has to suspect that they are more worried than they let on. Axelrod let the cat out of the bag by saying that Trump is still the favorite.

    5. kareninca

      It would explain why she is always grinning and laughing; that is something a shy person might do.

  31. The Rev Kev

    That Bald Eagle in today’s bonus Antidote du Jour looked like he was being readied for the Olympics. So can we call him Eddie?

    1. Ben Panga

      Is Raygun Australia’s Eddie the Eagle?

      Love me some breaking. Hate seeing it in the Olympics. “Underground” culture being coopted by shiny materialists.

      1. ArvidMartensen

        She is a perfect example of the saying ‘Those who can, do. They who can’t, teach”

        Since she is a university lecturer in “Cultural Studies”, ” …research centered on breaking, hip hop and gender stereotypes that surround the dance styles”

        ……….Paging Aurelian

        1. Ben Panga

          I wondered if I was being unfair, so I had a look at one of her papers.

          “Abstract:

          In this article, I analyse how bodily potential is culturally regulated in Sydney’s breakdancing (breaking) scene through drawing both on my breakdancing practice and interviews conducted with prominent figures in this scene. I critically examine my lived experiences as one of only a few female breakdancers (“b-girls”) in Sydney through analytic autoethnography, and use the theoretical tools of Deleuze and Guattari to unpack and challenge normative gendered nar-ratives. With breakdancing culturally inscribed as masculine (“b-boying”) and its conventions interlocking with broader patriarchal restrictions that inhibit female participation and bodily expression, I argue that the Sydney breaking scene is both a site of transgression and regres-sion for the female body. This paradox confronting the b-girl sees her participation as “othered” , while also challenging normative assumptions of gender. Through situating specific practices of breaking within broader Australian culture and gender norms, I examine how the performances of b-girls and b-boys in Australia disrupt the stability of binary logic on which the organization of bodies is so heavily reliant and, in doing so, allow for the experience of breaking as a site of “pure” difference.”

          BP: Can’t wait for her future paper analysing her experience becoming a global laughing stock due to gendered assumptions and patriarchal thinking. Feels low-key grifty to me. Or maybe it’s a political statement. Tommie Smith and John Carlos for our vacuous age

      2. The Rev Kev

        How the hell did breakdancing ever become an Olympic sport? Can’t wait for pickleball to become an Olympic sport too.

    3. Cat Burglar

      The Bald Eagle reminded me of my days as a Junior Curator at the Alexander Lindsay Junior Museum, which had the first wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center in the US. They were probably the first place with enough experience working with raptors to develop the data and methods to treat them. The wildlife hospital took in every animal imaginable — salamanders, snakes, songbirds, owls, deer, mountain lions — it was amazing. It was run on a shoestring by donations and the City Of Walnut Creek California. Even today, when turning in an injured bird, they will tell me about putting the bird on “the Lindsay Diet,” first developed there 50 years ago.

      Lambert’s list of Helpers should surely include the amazing Curator of the Museum, the late Gary Bogue. He started the Wildlife Hospital at the Museum and was involved every day. According to some sources, he was the first person to rehabilitate a mountain lion and successfully release it back into the wild.( I remember overhearing him telling someone, back in the 70s, how they had to figure out what healthy blood sugar levels were for hawks, because nobody else knew.) He was also a great natural history educator, writer, leader of backpacking trips for kids. It was in his house, one evening, that I held a baby mountain lion that leaped into my arms (his fur was softer than domestic cat fur, and his affectionate kneading was painful: even a baby lion has powerful claws). He changed my life, and the lives of many people and animals.

      Any time you bring an injured animal in for rehab, don’t forget Gary, one of helpers that started it all.

  32. Mikel

    Russia’s Biometric Boom Faces Rising Data Security Fears – Reclaim the Net. Micael T: “It seems as if Russia too is aboard on the WEF dystopia.”

    That’s why I also facepalm when I hear mimicry of the “AI” hype in Russia or China.

    It’s sh- – like that which gives me pause at the “fall of the USA” narratives.

    1. Polar Socialist

      Regardless of the state of biometrics in Russia, Reclaim the Net is not completely honest in that article. First of all RBC is not a research agency, but a media site focusing on commerce and business.

      Secondly, the article by RBC referred to is basically saying that the biometric identification is suffering from a set-back in Russia, not going trough a boom. Originally Russian banks were all on board with government providing centralized biometric identification service, because Russia is a huge country and being able to interact with bank remotely would be a big boon for banks (as in way less actual service desks needed).

      As it turned out, the security requirements for using the government biometric identification system are so draconian it’s still actually cheaper for the banks to retain remote branches. In 2023 the system had only 250,000 person registered. The same year saw a law that forced all previous biometry data collector to transfer their data to the centralized system and destroy their own databases. That’s why there are now some biometric information of 18 million people in the system. Not because people or companies want to use it, but because law forced them to use it.

      As far as I understand, which is not much, they claim that the central system stores only the biometric profile, not any personal identifiers. It’s left for the companies that use the system to match the verified profile to a person.

      1. ebolapoxclassic

        That is good to hear. And it’s funny how governments, both in the the West and the East, are backing off from such schemes mainly because they realize how vulnerable they’re making their own systems to both private hackers (criminal gangs, script kiddies, or whatever), foreign government-backed hackers but also to chaos from more or less natural factors (CrowdStrike incompetence, solar storms, and so on).

        There’s a similar dynamic going on with their beloved “cashless society” vision. Even in the absence of external shocks stressing the system, going cashless has shown itself to be a great way to simply nuke your own economy. For example, Nigeria, with the “eNaura” forced meme and the withdrawal of a lot of cash from circulation, provided a master class in how disastrous it can be to implement the Western elites’ latest great idea, expecting to be lauded. (And I have to contain my glee a bit, given how nauseatingly obsequious Nigeria is to the West and all its fads and instructions, while on the other hand a lot of innocent people have been utterly ruined there).

  33. Mikel

    How Intel, the weak link in the chip strategy of Bidenomics, is resorting to financial engineering to raise billions for fabs – Adam Tooze

    Intel has serious problems, but don’t make me start thinking a lot of this press is a globalist hit job.
    Probably don’t want any monopolies in fabs no matter how much one may currently dislike a company’s practices.

  35. Jason Boxman

    From Apple’s new charging cords have ruined my life. Welcome to Charging Cord Hell.

    Some of them are my own fault, I’ll admit. I had the idea to add a few children to my household. No one tells new parents that one of the biggest changes to their lives is that their charging-cord equilibrium will be completely thrown off. Not only do you have a bunch of new devices (baby monitors, noise machines) that take up charging space, but you may find yourself with a chaos agent hell-bent on pulling cords out of the wall socket. Rearrangement of your whole charging rig may be necessary.

    My kids have exited the baby stage, but now they have their own devices to charge. There are tablets, walkie-talkies, random electronic toys, an AI-powered talking stuffed animal voiced by Grimes that uses USB-C. It isn’t uncommon to find my iPhone charger on the kitchen counter removed, in its place a remote-controlled monster truck that’s charging.

    Wow, life must be so hard! To be able to afford children, and all those toys! And all those devices!

    Katie must really make some bank. I’m so glad she’s shared her first world problems with all of us.

    1. JBird4049

      It is truly a very First World problem, but I find it really frustrating when I have to feverishly run around looking for that particular and correct cable especially when the last one has croaked because of overpriced, cheap-ass Chinese/Vietnamese/Indonesian construction. Again. Thus making my cellphone useless. Again.

  36. Jason Boxman

    From USPS Text Scammers Duped His Wife, So He Hacked Their Operation

    America is a failed state:

    As a result, smishing has been on the rise in recent years. But there are some tell-tale signs: If you receive a message from a number or email you don’t recognize, if it contains a link to click on, or if it wants you to do something urgently, you should be suspicious.

    And why is SMS trust by default? Why am I forced to accept incoming data packets from a possibly malicious actor? This is a joke. Always has been. Receiving text messages should be and can be opt-in by default per number. It’s worse than spam, because if you receive a text its imbued with a higher legitimacy. And there aren’t any robust filtering tools, it all happens on the carrier’s network. You’re at the mercy of your carrier.

  37. kareninca

    People here keep saying that covid isn’t seasonal, but of course it is. There are four seasons.

    1. Amateur Socialist

      Wanted to attend an outdoor production of Cyrano here in S. Vermont tomorrow evening but the entire weekend was cancelled due to illness. Hoped this would work out being outdoors, but oh well.

  38. kareninca

    My elderly mom has no interest in politics and it is extremely rare for her to remark on the appearance of public figures. However, when I brought up Walz (whom she knew nothing at all about, other than that he was the VP candidate) she said that she had seen him on TV and really did not like his face. So Trump’s “freakish” insult may stick, if it fits with how people initially feel about Walz.

  39. Jason Boxman

    How California Turned Against Growth (Construction Physics)

    Even before it became a state, people migrated to California in search of a better life: for jobs, the chance to become rich and famous, or simply the comfortable climate and beautiful landscape. From prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the gold rush, to actors dreaming of becoming Hollywood stars, to Okies looking for work during the dust bowl, to entrepreneurs creating startups in Silicon Valley, the California Dream attracted people by the millions. Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco quickly grew from nearly nothing to become some of the largest U.S. metros. Between 1900 and 1970, California had the greatest population increase of any state (going from the size of Kansas to surpassing New York as the most populous state), and the second-highest rate of population growth (barely behind Arizona’s). For over a century, California was a growth machine.

    20-30 minute deep dive on this.

  40. kareninca

    Something weird has happened to X. As I wrote above, until today when I would open up the site, I would get a good mix of pro-Trump and pro-Harris tweets. But now they are ALL grossly pro-Harris; that is ALL I AM GETTING. It is incredibly creepy; it is as if X has been taken over. And a lot of them look like they are AI generated.

    2. ebolapoxclassic

      I have no real idea what’s actually going on there, but the first thing that popped up in my head is that Elon might be too incompetent (and frankly dumb) to rig his own platform.

  41. Revenant

    Starmer was a Trilateral Commission member. He was head of the Crown Prosecution Service. He pushed the Swedes to maintain their indictments to keep Assange in gaol. He will do anything to shore up the Narrative. So I don’t think this is a trap, it’s an apotheosis. Plus Blairite que le Blair.

    Long-term however, I think he is going to blow up:

    1) He is used to being obeyed (he ran a major government department, he purged Labour and installed Blairite lackeys) and as a result he is thin-skinned.

    2) The CPS is historically part of the Home Office (now there is a Ministry of Justice but the culture did not change in the hiving off). The Home Office is the stupid thuggish department. It has performed forty years of authoritarian posturing and civil liberty infringement for successive Tory and Labour governments. It only objected to the Rwanda on human rights legal grounds, not a single moral qualm!

    2) Nobody voted for him, they voted for everybody else and he won by default coming through the middle. As a result, he stands on a tiny lilypad of shared opinion with the crocodiles of opinion snapping at any step to the left or right.

    3) related to 2, he has no coherent vision of Britain, just his ancien régime CPS instincts in a new world. His response to the riots is not to call a commission on immigration and examine the issues Philip Pilkington explored in his analysis of UK mass legal immigration policy options (HT Yves for posting this recently!). Oh no, his response is to demonize the rioters and protest generally.

    Starmer represents Continuity Centrism, Continuity Authoritarianism and Continuity Lawfare. He is Obama.

    As for the riots and rioters, I think they are hateful and the rioters deserve conviction. Possibly even the tweeters (but probably not the bystander, I think that judge will get overturned on appeal!).

    But the Two Tier Kier jibe is very insightful: there is an immense amount of selective prosecution and policing going on and there has been for years in the name of “race relations” and now the woke bandwagon.

    Asylum seekers, while an irrelevance in any discussion of the impact of migration in the UK and the bane of the Home Office’s life, are the pets of many on the left. They are charismatic megafauna like the giant panda, totems in the culture war of our righteousness and their deplorability. For the Continuity Centrists, the refugees are also human shields on the immigration question. The housing and public services crises from legal migration cannot be named because, like Israel and antisemitism, the woke useful idiots will cry racism and parade the refugees and the real topic is diverted into a culture war. But neither the centrists nor the woke care to ask what some of those “communities” are Tweeting or sermonising about UK officials etc in Arabic, Somali, Urdu etc. in the name of community relations. They also don’t want to draw attention to the Muslim block vote for Labour, which has had awkward revelations about postal voting by household (the man fills in the postal votes) and even block voting by mosque. For example, Lutfur Rahman was convicted of a notoriously corrupt ethnic political operation for Labour in Tower Hamlets among the Bengali population.

    So Starmer’s authoritarianism is entirely explicable. Can’t look weak compared to the Tories, won’t hold a real debate about immigration, daren’t draw attention to the Muslim block vote for Labour.

    Unfortunately, none of this is sustainable. Tory and Labour voters who want red meat on immigration will vote for Reform, Reform and Tories and “Blue Labour” are gradually putting legal migration in the spotlight, in the Tories’ case because the home building programme that Labour is pushing to paper over the cracks is skewed to the wealthy shires, the Tories remaining seats, so they have to reflect their electorate’s wishes in opposing it and immigration is Labour’s soft underbelly here. And Gaza / Hama’s / “terrorism” is drawing attention (and tension) to the Muslim Labour vote. If it is terrorism for the protestors against migration, it has to be double plus terrorism for the Hamas / Palestine supporters (not my view, just the logic of Labour’s stance) and so Starmer is now going to have to punish a Labour constituency that is already in rebellion. In that sense, it is a trap.

    1. PlutoniumKun

      Thanks, great analysis that beats pretty much anything you’ll find in the UK media (including the more radical media).

      I have a few British left wing friends who with great reluctance went out to support Starmer and Labour on the reasonable basis that anything was better than the Tories and just maybe he may change his colours a little when in power. But I do think that he has the capacity – or I should say incapacity – to potentially destroy the Labour Party and any hopes of a progressive alliance with it. The UK political system is crumbling and its hard to see what can replace it.

      I keep telling my Scottish friends that the Brexit vote was the key moment that Scotland could have abandoned the sinking ship, but the SNP blew it.

    2. ebolapoxclassic

      I remember how countless people made basically the same joke that Starmer (or strictly speaking, his party) would win the election in a landslide, but would have the same negative approval ratings as Sunak, Trudeau, Biden, Kishida etc. within nine hours or so. It was of course a joke only in the sense that it was funny.

      Now nine hours was obviously an exaggeration, but still it didn’t take very long: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50277-is-the-honeymoon-over-keir-starmers-favourability-ratings-return-to-pre-election-levels

  42. ebolapoxclassic

    How Intel, the weak link in the chip strategy of Bidenomics, is resorting to financial engineering to raise billions for fabs. Adam Tooze (Paul R)

    The headline alone made me laugh out loud. Intel is the weak link of America’s chip strategy? There are no other American chip manufacturers (whether integrated device manufacturers or foundries – as opposed to fabless chip designers, like Nvidia). Intel bought up DEC’s old fabs (I think those were mainly in Massachussetts) decades ago. I’m pretty sure Sun Microsystems had their own fabs but those have been gone for decades too. There actually used to be tons of American chip makers but they all dropped off during the 90’s and 2000’s. (Ironically because they couldn’t keep up with Intel. How times have changed.)

    GlobalFoundries still retains the vestiges of IBM’s (as well as AMD’s) old chip manufacturing empires, but it’s been owned by Abu Dhabi for years (though they apparently made a new IPO in 2021), and at this point lags behind even Intel. So Adam Tooze (who I must say I’ve never had much respect for as an analyst, in any field) is describing a chain made up of a single link, that happens to be the weak link? What a joke (literally).

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