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Links 10/8/2024

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The fierce battle over the ‘Holy Grail’ of shipwrecks BBC (Kevin W)

‘Sensational breakthrough’ marks step toward revealing hidden structure of prime numbers AAAS (Dr. Kevin)

Measures to prevent golf cart–related injuries are urgently needed CMAJ (Dr. Kevin)

CDC conducting extensive probe into bird flu contracted by Missouri resident Kansas Reflector (Robin K)

#COVID-19

Australia detects the first case of the highly transmissible COVID-19 strain dubbed XEC ABC Australia (Kevin W)

Climate/Environment

Innovative method targets removal of PFAS from wastewater PhysOrg (Chuck L)

New Coral Discovery May Solve the Ocean’s “Missing Plastic” Mystery| SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

Making waves: Boxwall Flood Barrier leaves sandbags high and dry Thaiger (furzy)

China?

Chinese hackers access US telecom firms, worrying national security officials CNN

Asian NATO’ calls, Taiwan moves: should Beijing worry as Japan’s Ishiba gets going? South China Morning Post

China’s Options for Retaliation in Highly Charged Dispute With EU Over EVs Sputnik (Kevin W)

Breast cancer in China Lancet (furzy)

South of the Border

The mayor of a state capital in Mexico is killed less than 1 week after he took office Associated Press. Robin K: “Sheinbaum will have a rough six years, even with huge popular support.”

Africa

Chagos islanders displaced for a US military base protest a deal on their future made without them Associated Press (Robin K)

European Disunion

EU needs faster migrant returns, say 17 countries including Germany, France Politico

German government’s 2025 cultural budget: An attack on the freedom of art WSWS (Micael T)

The S-top takes out a government income guarantee – despite a fat ambassador’s salary Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)

Old Blighty

Who is Morgan McSweeney? The Labour election guru replacing Sue Gray as chief of staff Independent (Kevin W)

Israel v. The Axis of Resistance. FWIW, I told Lambert a few days ago that I did not believe Israel would attack until after Yom Kippur, which starts Oct 11. Everyone is supposed to be in shul then. It would be an own goal to give Iran the opportunity to launch a counter-strike then.

Israel’s Genocide Day 367: Israel orders new evacuations in Gaza, expands bombing on Lebanon Mondoweiss (guurst)

Israel sends thousands more troops into Lebanon Financial Times. Note that the “into” may be a stretch. Alastair Crooke claimed on Judge Napolitano on Monday that not on is Israel making what amount to short border incursions that it cannot make stick, but it is also improving appearances by focusing on getting to hamlets known not to be unfriendly to Israel (perhaps Christian dominated?) taking pix, and departing. Note headline on the archived version is outdated; perhaps readers can send a fresh version later.

Over 100 rockets fired at Haifa in heaviest attack on city since start of war Times of Israel

Israel strikes military sites in central Syria, killing 5 Xinhua

‘Death sentence’: Asbestos released by Israel’s bombs will kill generations Aljazeera

* * *

Scott Ritter : The Middle East One year after October 7th 2023. Judge Napolitano, YouTube. Many important tidbits, such as why the seismic event in Iran was highly unlikely to be a nuclear test. Ritter also describes how Israel will need to re-do any strike plans in light of possible addition of S-400s to Iran’s defenses. Ritter thinks Israel has to find a way to de-escalate with Iran because it knows doing so would result in the destruction of Israel. But Norman Finkelstein has described Israel as a crazy country and Alastair Crooke, along with others, has said how many Israelis see the country as on an eschatological path. So assuming rationality may be way too generous.

A look at Gaza City before and after October 7, 2023 Associated Press (Robin K)

A year of horror, 76 years of oppression: a visual guide to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Thomas Fazi (Micael T)

How Netanyahu stole defeat from the jaws of victory Middle East Eye (guurst)

* * *

Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest Drop Site (Chuck L)

Israel reveals its military losses RT (Kevin W). Have yet to see commentary as to whether this is seen as an undercount

Irish troops ‘determined to fulfil mission’ in Lebanon as Israel invasion continues Irish Times

* * *

Perfidy in Tehran Alastair Crooke. Aurelien gets a shout out!

General Qassem Soleimani wins: Israel falls into the trap of the Axis of Resistance Lucas Leiroz (Chuck L)

Legal Experts Criticize Biden for Praising Israel’s Extrajudicial Killing of Hassan Nasrallah Orinoco Tribune (Robin K)

Exposing The IDF’s Insane Level Of Incompetence | Greg Stoker, TMR YouTube. Makes Scott Ritter’s assessments look charitable.

What an Escalating Middle East Conflict Could Mean for the Global Economy New York Times

Year of war creates cracks in Israel’s borrowing strength Reuters

New Not-So-Cold War

What if Russia blocks the export of its raw materials? DW

Exclusive: Russia’s Lavrov Warns of ‘Dangerous Consequences’ for US in Ukraine Newsweek. I plan to post on this.

Over 1,000 people evacuated after Ukraine’s drone attack set ablaze Russian fuel storage in Crimea Anadolu Agency

Ukrainian official filmed lying on bed of money RT. Robin K: “Probably readying it to send to North Carolina where the US doubtless originally intended it to go.” Moi: “If this is not a deepfake, someone has really awful judgement or alternatively, everyone in Ukraine of any importance is in on the stealing, so this sort of thing does not register there as provocative.”

Why Europe’s leadership wants war Al Jazeera (Kevin W)

Syraqistan

Pakistan: Imran Khan’s supporters clash with police as army seals off capital, internet cut Economic Times

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan has said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was attacked near Karachi airport. Aljazeera

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Former UK PM suggests Netanyahu planted listening device in his bathroom The Cradle (Chuck L)

American Water, the largest water utility in US, is targeted by a cyberattack ABC (Kevin W)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Future of US airpower in turbulent disarray Asia Times (Kevin W)

Kamala

2024

The Most Important US Presidential Election of Our Lifetime: The Rightward Trajectory of the Two-Party System Orinoco Tribune

NC tweaks voting rules in counties ravaged by Helene Axios (Kevin W)

Hurricane Milton is a Category 5. Florida orders evacuations and scrambles to clear Helene’s debris Associated Press (Kevin W)

Immigration

U.S. approving citizenship applications at the fastest speed in years Los Angeles Times. Robin K: “‘Immigration officials said the timing is not driven by the election or any political agenda.'”

Abortion

The Supreme Court has let stand a lower court decision barring emergency abortions in Texas. New Republic (furzy)

Our No Longer Free Press

Meta Is Aggressively Censoring Criticism Of US-Israeli Warmongering Caitlin Johnstone (furzy)

The Censorship Industrial Complex Is US Government Counterpopulist Blowback Michael Shellenberger (Robin K). Interview with Mike Benz

Mr. Market is Giddy

The S&P 500 is almost never this expensive. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. MarketWatch (ma)

Global markets surge as $8 trillion rally faces key tests WION

The stagnation of the world economy MROnline

Antitrust

Monopoly Round-Up: The Fed Took $3k From You and Gave it to Jamie Dimon Matt Stoller. Note that the practice of having the Fed pay interest on bank reserves as a way to manage interest rates is new, a post GFC gimmie. Before, the Fed used open market operations, which did not enrich banks.

Guillotine Watch

I Worked for Democrats for Years. Billionaires Have Unfettered Influence Newsweek (Li)

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus (Robin K):

A second bonus:

One more bonus (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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138 comments

  1. Antifa

    KAMALA
    (melody borrowed from My Sharona  by the Knack)

    How we gonna get it done, get it done?
    Gotta sell the voters on my persona!
    We could sell ’em anyone, uh anyone
    If I lose I’ll be back in Pomona

    Biden did a swap, he dried up, now he’s been confined
    So now I’m stepping up, pretty much, but I’m flying blind
    My my my I I—(Wooh!)
    Muh muh muh my persona!

    We know I’m a poser—I’m underdone
    I’ve got people fixing up my persona!
    I say words that I can see, I can see
    Words to paint a picture of my persona!

    Biden did a swap, he dried up, now he’s been confined
    So now I’m stepping up, pretty much, but I’m flying blind
    My my my I I—(Wooh!)
    Muh muh muh my persona!
    Muh muh muh my persona!

    (musical interlude)

    Gravitas and dignity—instantly
    Things they say will flatter muh my persona!
    All these things are dense to me, dense to me
    People find me lame without my persona!

    Biden did a swap, he dried up, now he’s been confined
    So now I’m stepping up, pretty much, but I’m flying blind
    My my my I I—(Wooh!)
    Muh muh muh muh muh muh my my my I I—(Wooh!)

    Muh muh muh my persona!
    Muh muh muh my persona!
    Muh muh muh my persona!
    Muh muh muh my persona!

    (guitar and a glass or two of Chablis . . .)

    Ooooaaahhhhh my persona!
    Ooooaaahhhhh my persona!
    Ooooaaahhhhh my persona!

    1. Mark Gisleson

      Just finished scrolling Evan Barker’s X timeline and your timing with this persona rap is perfect : )

      I have nothing invested in Trump, my sole goal for this cycle is that Harris must not win. Every time I try to think of politicians I’ve encountered with her skill set, all I can recall are people who got shellacked in the general election and were then never heard from again.

      There comes a time in every campaign when you have to show the voters what you’re made of. This candidate won’t even take off her coat and roll up her sleeves which is beyond weird. Google pix of Harris in dresses — this is a woman whose suits do not need shoulder padding. I don’t know if she’s actually strong but she looks pretty fit yet zero pictures of her chopping wood, carrying things or just acting like a normal human being. She is the most literal suit I’ve ever seen in politics.

      Which tells me that her handlers view her suits as the basis for her authority which again is very odd because nothing makes Americans happier than seeing their leaders engaged in physical tasks, however symbolic. Try googling “Kamala Harris chopping wood.” Then replace ‘chopping wood’ with almost anything you’ve ever seen a candidate do. Nada. You can’t even pull up a picture of her carring her own bags. The only search you can do that doesn’t pull up carefully selected portrait shots are those involving sex words and srsly do not do this as the fakes are not deep but very plentiful.

      And, IF I were working for Trump, I’d have an intern go thru all the pictures to try to count how many suits Harris owns. I suspect the actual number would startle her supporters. After looking at pages of pictures I suspect she has more suits than Ilhan Omar has hijabs or Mitch McConnell has ties.

      1. Yves Smith Post author

        Oh, no, she is big as a house. She wears those highly tailored custom-made suits to cover that. They are really gorgeous. Women very seldom get great tailoring and the shoulders on hers are perfect. As good as Saint Laurent or Armani (the best off the rack tailoring for women in their high end, “haute couture” lines) in their heyday, which was also the heyday of big shoulders, the 80s into the early 90s.

        See how porky she is here….and wearing all black (= slimming):

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww-FMTT3pqY

        In fact one of my fashionista friends has gone on in the vein of, what is her excuse for getting so fat, it’s not as if she is so busy as VP that she can’t get to a gym and keep her weight under control. Admittedly a lot of menopausal women do gain a lot of weight and have trouble taking it off.

        1. Mark Gisleson

          Your take is consistent with what I saw: the very few non-suit photos seemed to be of a much younger Harris.

          I even found a picture of her sitting in jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes. She’s still wearing a coat with padded shoulders.

          She appears to have a bright blue suit she wears repeatedly but the rest of my search kept revealing more suits however I am not taking fashion into account. Not sure how women’s lapel widths work but to be fair I’m sure they change and every time they do a whole closet gets bricked.

        2. Steve Andrews

          Lady K get to a gym? Come on!! Did she not have one in the VP residence? Could she not fit the personal trainer in between appointments with massage therapists, various stylists, acting coaches, fashion advisors etc?

      2. IM Doc

        Let’s talk about fitness.

        Yesterday brought the most amazing contrast that I have not seen a lot of talk about.

        In one 60 Minutes clip, we have Ms Harris admitting that she owns a Glock, that she has fired it at a shooting range. This is very discordant with all of her previous statements about guns and gun control. A Glock is NOT “just a handgun”. It is also discordant with the fact that for several reasons – ALL GLOCKS are classified as “unsafe handguns” in California. They all lack a magazine disconnect, they lack microstamps, and there are load indicator issues – all of which make them “unsafe” under CA law – Much of this was indeed done WHEN SHE HERSELF WAS THE ATTY GENERAL OF THAT STATE.

        I was put onto this by my neighbor – who mentioned this to me last night – I wanted to find out exactly what the rules were in CA – and the above is the research I was able to find online in a very cursory exam. It is very likely far more extensive. But let’s just say – Glocks are not welcome in that state – and again – a lot of these issues date to when SHE HERSELF was in charge as the Attorney General of the state.

        I think the microstamp issue is up in the air – the rest still stands.

        I too am a Glock owner. I too have gone through lots of shooting range training. I too have noticed the immense recoil in this weapon. Let’s put it this way – this is not a weapon for beginners. I only have it for very peculiar issues in my own environment – I would never dream of having such a weapon in the big city environment in which I lived before. NEVER.

        On the exact same day as these clips came out, she and her husband so graciously gave us a video of her planting an Oct 7th tree. Shovel and all. Let’s just say based on her performance with a shovel – this is not someone who should be anywhere near a Glock or other such weapons. As in obvious musculoskeletal performance in the shoulder and upper arm area.

        I have dealt with people like her all my life – I never understand why they feel like they just have to make stuff up like this. It is just incredible. Looking at her “deer in the headlights face” when asked the question – I believe that the word Glock just popped in her head in that very instant. This is NEVER EVER someone who does well in charge of anything.

        2. DJG, Reality Czar

          IM Doc: You may be onto something metaphorical rather than literal / physical. There has been some discussion among the writers and commenters here that there is a tendency for women politicians to talk tough — and to engage in warmongering like Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton — so as to appear somehow resolute and not weak, not “feminine.”

          At this point, if it is somehow true that Harris has a Glock, and recalling her “prime lethal force” line in the acceptance speech, we are seeing someone who has crossed a line.

          Imagine if J.D. Vance was blabbering about his Glock and going on about “prime lethal force.” Other men would call him out as a lightweight, a jamoke, and a buffoon.

          And she’s never learned how to plant a tree? A tomato plant? Some lettuce seeds? So Harris proves herself a dolt.

          1. Mark Gisleson

            Big political secret here: one I’ve been hoarding for years and have probably only mentioned here a few dozen times.

            No one impresses voters like a tough broad. Tough guys need to be checked out but women with callouses command immediate respect. Gravitas is not something they worry about.

            If a female candidate is not broad, she should sweat on camera like Tulsi Gabbard working with weights. Incredibly she was dinged for that by neolibs who thought sweaty was all about looking sexy. I find it hard to believe they actually watched the workout.

            It’s mandatory for male candidates to do physical activity on camera or, if extremely old, to at least pose next to a symbol of virility (rocket launching, holding a gun, sitting in a corvette…) This doesn’t flip by gender. Women don’t look more Presidential with a baby in their arms, they just remind us that women’s priorities do not mesh perfectly with those of a warmongering imperialist nation. Russian subs spotted off the coast of Delaware! But the baby’s sick!!?!! We trust men to sacrifice their families if necessary but the wimmins we’re not so sure about.

            My Rx for Harris would be to stage a ‘perfect’ photo opp. Thinking Harris picks up a very chubby very happy schoolchild and everyone is happy and no one is touched in any inappropriate way. By holding the child high, she replicates the upward look of her campaign ads. Indoor shoot of course, done on a stage and there would have to be invisible wires, a harness and some kind of pulley. Absolutely doable!

        3. Tom Stone

          The Generation 3 Glocks are still legal in California,more recent models are not because California.
          Microstamping is required for all new pistol models sold to non Law Enforcement Californians ( LEO can buy and then resell firearms to ordinary Californians that ordinary Californians can not buy directly).
          However “Microstamping” is not technically feasible and would not achieve its stated goal if it were feasible because most firearms used in crimes are stolen or purchased through straw buyers.
          Harris’ hypocrisy is no surprise, both DiFi and Don Perata were concealed weapons permits for the asking.
          Who will be allowed to bear arms is always a class issue and here in the USA the second amendment comes from an idealized view of the Roman Republic whose Citizens had two inalienable rights.
          The right to vote and the right to keep and bear arms.

        4. NYMutza

          Presidents are largely figureheads. The vast bureaucracy makes most decisions, including Executive Orders and possibly presidential pardons. Harris likely won’t be any better or worse than her predecessors if she is elected POTUS.

          1. kareninca

            Biden was forceful in publicly expressing his hatred and contempt for people who declined the covid shots, and his desire to coerce them to accept those shots. That made a big difference in my life. Not the same at all.

      3. Wukchumni

        The only thing that stops a bad opponent in favor of the 2nd amendment is a good opponent in favor of the 2nd amendment, and if you break into her house, she’s gonna shoot first and question why she did it later.

        Just when you think the Donkey Show couldn’t accede even more in regards to hand cannons, she’s a pistol packin’ cat lady momma too.

  2. The Rev Kev

    “Exclusive: Russia’s Lavrov Warns of ‘Dangerous Consequences’ for US in Ukraine”

    ‘The United States will face “dangerous consequences” if it presses on with growing military aid to Ukraine rather than backing a proposed Russian settlement that would see Moscow take over swathes of territory’

    Hard to parse this article. Between shipping arms and ammo to the Ukraine and Israel, the US cannot have that many arms left to ship. The idea of the US shooting missiles directly at Russia from the Ukraine seems to have faded away too. And I doubt that the US will send troops direct into the Ukraine like they did in Syria when they were losing there as that would have zero appeal, especially with the election just round the corner. So perhaps this is part of a Russian campaign to tell the Biden White House to wake up and smell the coffee as reality is about to be a calling.

    1. Randall Flagg

      >So perhaps this is part of a Russian campaign to tell the Biden White House to wake up and smell the coffee as reality is about to be a calling.

      A ridiculous thought but I can amusingly imagine the Russians presenting the reality in Ukraine as bluntly as this, adding to the last words of Clint Eastwood’s character in the final scene in the movie ,Unforgiven. , ” . This SMO is over. No more support of Ukraine. No more support of the Nazis. No acceptance of Ukraine into NATO. Leave us alone. Or I’ll come back and kill everyone of you sonsabitches”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_cBlJHW98

    2. ilsm

      US’ “ammunition pantry” is very big! It is established to supply 2.5 wars at the same time, stock is spread around the world, some prepositioned, some in US for shipment.

      The numbers of stocked are classified, but I suspect the Biden draw of ammunition has not put a small hole in the “half war” set of stocks.

      Expensive items like PAC 3/AIM 120 (ground launch) intercept missiles may be an issue with Israel needing them as well.

      The problem with US/EU military supplies to Ukraine is they do not fit the prospects for success nor match the depleted order of battle of the Ukraine armed force.

      Besides US is agreement incompetent.

      Lavrov may be saying get over your perfidy!

      Pray for peace.

      1. The Rev Kev

        They use to plan and prepare for 2.5 wars at the same time but I was reading years ago that they gave that idea up. Don’t know what it is right now so maybe one war and a police action or something. That would imply that the reserved ammo supply was run down accordingly.

        1. ilsm

          USEUCOM, USINDOPACOM, are two big wars: Russia, China.

          USCENTCOM, SOUTHCOM are the .5, being Iran (assist EUCOM). or Venezuela/Cuba.

          Force structure down about 30% since demise of USSR.

          I have no direct knowledge of whether ammunition was demilitarized for the lower force levels.

          There were huge store of munitions for the pre 1991 plans. The only issue with ammunition is some of the powders get more energetic with age.

          In any event US can fight Russia from three directions, if it were a land power. But lacks lift for any real effort.

      2. Skip Intro

        i wonder if all that materiel is as well maintained as the stuff they dumped on Ukraine from NATO stocks.

          1. Tom Stone

            Dude, it’s right there in the Constipation, “Providing for the Welfare of Generals”.
            Are you some kind of Commie?

          2. scott s.

            I think a general fallout from BRAC process was to defer facility upgrade due to fear it would be stranded in the next round. USN is finally putting priority on the four remaining public shipyards. Example, new drydock 5 to replace drydock 3 at PHNSY. DD5 intended to support Virginia class submarines.

            We lost a lot of good capability in BRAC. My program lost electronics repair that was being done at Sacramento Army Depot and Seal Beach Naval Weapons Sta. The gov’t facilities competed for our business just like any contractor.

            Of course we are closing down major logistics capability like DLA-E Red Hill fuel storage, since we will never need a lot of fuel in INDOPACOM outside of IRBM range.

            1. marku52

              Red Hill leaked into the island’s water supply, so it needed to be fixed. I don’t know what the resolution is to be.

  3. Mikerw0

    Re: The Stock Market is Expensive.

    I always find it interesting that a significant portion of elite measure the health of society, the economy and basically everything by the performance of the market. So how can the elites let it fall.

    But, as we know there have been massive structural changes over the last couple of decades. These include the rise of index funds and ETFs, and the massive growth in PE. The result is a reinforcing loop. As there are fewer stock to buy, as PE takes companies public at ever higher valuations, and money continues to flow into the system, at a minimum via mechanisms such as 401k’s, it has to buy something. Prices get bid up — inflated.

    Now add the likelihood that the Fed will reduce interest rates, effectively increasing demand for limited supply.

    What could go wrong?

    1. NotThePilot

      I think you’re exactly right that it’s ultimately a story of structural changes encouraging inflows & bid-side pressure. The plumbing has been controlling the system instead of the system controlling the plumbing. I’m not sure the Fed can directly juice things much more even if they turn on the taps though (the feedback loop of negative consequences is too immediate now).

      Behind it all, the gravitational force of long-term fundamentals still strikes me as very negative. The only real fundamental argument for these valuations I can see is monopolistic pricing power, which Veblen pointed out is directly correlated to things like Tobin’s Q. Even then though, you have to believe that pricing power is sustainable to justify current valuations. Between foreign competition and domestic politics though, I just don’t see it.

      1. ilsm

        Stock speculation gives returns far in excess of how far the fed can devalue the dollar!

        Until it does not!

    2. Mikel

      “So how can the elites let it fall.”

      It could depend on which elites go with trades such as puts and shorts as the quickest way to large profits. Plenty of stories in history about wealth being minted during a crash.
      But there’s the other force at work, with stocks as an asset that is used as collateral for loans,

  4. Wukchumni

    Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest Drop Site
    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    Then: Live Aid

    Now: Dead Aid

    There comes a time
    When we heed a certain call
    When the world must come together as one
    There are people dying
    Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to the Zionists
    The chosen people of all

    We can’t go on
    Pretending day-by-day
    That someone, somewhere soon make a change
    We’re all a part of the MIC great big family
    And the truth, you know, lock & load is all we need

    We arm the world
    We harm the children
    We are the ones who do what AIPAC says, so let’s start giving
    There’s a choice we’re making
    We’re saving our own lives
    It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me

    Oh, send them your bunker busters
    So they know that someone cares
    And their lives will be stronger and free
    As Israel has shown us by turning cities to rubble
    And so America must lend a helping hand

    We arm the world
    We harm the children
    We are the ones who do what AIPAC says, so let’s start giving
    There’s a choice we’re making
    We’re saving our own lives
    It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me

    When you’re down and out, there seems no hope at all
    But if you just believe there’s no way we can fall
    Well, well, well, well let us realize
    Oh, that a change can only come
    When we stand together as one with Israel, yeah, yeah, yeah

    We arm the world
    We harm the children
    We are the ones who do what AIPAC says, so let’s start giving
    There’s a choice we’re making
    We’re saving our own lives
    It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me

    We Are The World USA for Africa

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw

    1. ChrisFromGA

      Well done … captures the current spirit of utter obliviousness to suffering and death on a scale not seen since WWII. Not to mention, Perfidious Blinken and his pack of neocon ghouls.

      USA! USA! USA!

    2. Steve H.

      The post Richard D. Wolff & Michael Hudson: Middle East Exploding, Ukraine Crumbling! The US Take Action? from a couple days ago was clarifying:

      > in order to have an army that’s willing to fight to the last member of its country – the last Afghan, the last Israeli, the last Ukrainian – you really need a country whose spirit is one of hatred towards the other

      > The whole idea of the Ukrainians and Israelis is to bomb civilians, not military targets, but civilians. It’s a fight literally to destroy the population under an ideology of genocide. And that is absolutely central. It’s not an accident

  5. The Rev Kev

    ‘tern
    @1goodtern
    Had anyone noticed that the spectator has finally removed the childish ‘lockdowns’ line from this graph?
    Look at that hideous growth in UK disability benefits caseload caused by the long term effects of covid infections.’

    In all fairness, this is what the UK government worked so hard to achieve. They went with herd immunity – because political pundits said that it would totally work – and that everybody would have to learn to live with the virus. And now that graph showing UK disability benefits is exactly what learning to live with the virus looks like. One aspect at least.

  6. Mike

    I almost had a severe golf cart injury. I was volunteering at a community festival and I was getting a ride in a golf cart to a different location. My leg was hanging out the side when the driver veered toward a building. I pulled my leg up just before she scraped the building at high speed.

    1. Carolinian

      My neighbors have a fondness for golf carts–trying to turn our abundantly sidewalked neighborhood into the new Hilton Head. Sadly I have yet to see any of the things crushed under a giant oak tree. SC law says they are legal on sub 25mph streets despite the lack of tag and–probably–insurance. Sometimes you see them driven by children which is undoubtedly not legal. But then my neighbors also like to gun their Range Rovers through stop signs since only the little people worry about traffic laws.

      May be getting an attitude.

      1. mrsyk

        Sadly I have yet to see any of the things crushed under a giant oak tree. Glad I put my coffee down for that one. What do you have against oak trees?

      2. The Rev Kev

        ‘But then my neighbors also like to gun their Range Rovers through stop signs’

        Put a coupla speed cameras on those intersections and see how long that practice continues. Bonus points in that SC gets a new revenue stream targeting only idiots.

          2. hunkerdown

            That doesn’t prohibit sharing of clips to your local PD’s social media page, if that is the sort of thing you’re into. Arguably that is a more social way to go about it than letting Amazon do it by algorithm.

        2. t

          In the US, we’ve had problem with the private companies that do stoplight cameras setting the sequence to guarantee violations which is even less safe than idiots in brodozers and Range Rovers.

          There’s a concern they train drivers to consider a yellow light red (conservative drivers) or green (wreckless) which decreases safety.

          SC still has cameras in intersections for various reasons.

          My cousin works for Florida DOT and these cameras are, internally, debated. We’ll see how many are restored after this year’s storm season, and to what extent the state pays v the vendors.

          I don’t suppose they’ve been used to ticket golf carts rolling on the wrong roads. Maybe I’ll ask when things calm down.

          1. GramSci

            There is no justification for short yellows, but there may be some merit to the argument that traffic cams enable corrupt cps and judges to shake down violators.

            If only there were a technology that would make short videos public….

      3. doug

        At the coastal town I am familiar with, there are two golf cart rental agencies. EMS folks find they get a lot of calls from the tourist driven rentals. And yes, kids driving them, despite not legal at all. Wait til folks start hot rodding them….

      4. wanabbruin

        In my rural community, on the gravel roads mainly, outside of town, people go around on “4-wheelers”, or “quads”, basically the same as motorcycles but with 4 wheels instead of 2. They also drive around on “side-by-sides”, which are more off-road-ish golf carts. They’ll take these things down the paved roads, too, when they feel like it. Adults and kids ride them on the roads. They’re deadly as all get out. I know several who have been badly hurt in 4-wheeler accidents, teen-aged kids, mainly.

        1. mrsyk

          Yes. This describes my rural community as well including the last part. Seems culturally related to the street takeovers in urban areas that get discussed here now and then.

        2. Keith Newman

          I know someone who died instantly when his 4 wheeler tipped over driving through rough terrain in the forest. Snapped his neck. His brother, a medical doctor, was with him and could not help. Sad. A really nice guy, 48 years old with a family.

      1. The Rev Kev

        Somebody should do a mod for Grand Theft Auto where all the vehicles are golf carts – with unstable Lithium batteries.

    3. amfortas the hippie

      aye.
      rule #1 definitely applies.(dont do stupid sh&t)
      wife almost fell out of th Falcon in the front pasture on one of our date afternoons(tm), due to vodka…but i(just as drunk) grabbed her just in time.
      since the charge lasts so much longer at slow speeds, ive inadvertently trained myself to not go very fast.
      even on the dirt road.
      its a tool, not a toy.

    4. KLG

      A definite “first world” problem. But golf is one of my character flaws, though absolutely never in a golf cart when avoidable. Golf carts are a peculiar American perversion of the game. I have seen things, carts flipped, carts in lakes and ditches, carts colliding with trees, carts colliding with other carts and people. Drunk driving in a golf cart is a sport. Regarding the leg hanging out of the cart, I know of one golf course where it is an immediate, no-questions-asked firing offense for an employee to be seen the second time without both legs and feet in the cart, for just the reason Mike states in the first comment. Walls, curbs, trees…all lie in wait to remove a foot. This has happened, and Workers’ Comp should not pay for abject stupidity.

      Golf carts are a menace on the road. Where I grew up on the Georgia coast they have become quite the status symbol, on a par with the category mistake that is the 4-door Porsche. And also in the neighborhood surrounding my current golf course. A few weeks ago I saw a 10-year-old driving one on a public road, albeit with mom beside him. What could go wrong? Let me count the ways. Ditto for the cart full of tween girls earlier this summer. Entitlement, much?

      And then there was the case on one of the islands of South Carolina in May 2023 when I was attending a conference at Kiawah. Bride and Groom, just married in the afternoon, driving a golf cart on a very dark street later that night. Hit by a drunk driver. Bride killed instantly, groom severely injured. The driver of the car was completely at fault…but: (1) golf carts are practically invisible in the dark, not so for cars, (2) in a collision with any motor vehicle the golf cart has as much chance as one of us has in the ring with Mike Tyson in his prime, or dotage. It would be no contest between my 2011 MINI Cooper convertible and any golf cart or similar vehicle. Four-wheelers in the country are just as lethal, by the way, and more often.

      I’m with Carolinian on seeing them crushed under trees, without anyone in the carts, of course.

  7. Zagonostra

    >The Censorship Industrial Complex Is US Government Counterpopulist Blowback Michael Shellenberger

    … governments are waging war on free speech. Australia is at risk of passing sweeping censorship legislation in November. The Irish government has abandoned its hate speech legislation for this term, but governing parties are promising to bring it back. And the European Union is well on its way to implementing the most aggressive censorship agenda in the West.

    I happened to be getting my “free” breakfast at a Hilton near PIT airport yesterday morning around 8:00 am. Two TV’s in the breakfast buffet area, one had NBC Today the other FOX. I thought I would see some reporting on Gaza death toll, but instead I was reminded that it was the anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. I thought I’d see some images of NC Helene devastation, nothing, I did see a clip of Bolton trashing Trump, but the main focus of NBC Today was a long piece on some tall skinny black man called Snoop Dogg (two g’s) dressed in Pittsburgh Steeler worship clothes strutting/swaggering with a young, attractive NBC star-struck female journalist in tow with adulation and cloying smile on her face who was struggling to keep the mic close to Snoop who towered over her and who was dispensing words of wisdom about his football team, the Steelers, as he high-fived adoring fans.

    Censorship is the more obvious tool used in, as Jacques Ellul’s subtitle to his book Propaganda, the “formation of men’s attitudes.” Who are these couch creatures expounding on war to other couch creatures on the other end of the viewing device, TV? Having given up TV decades ago and having NC and other platforms as my source of what is happening in the world, this 20 minute exposure was jarring. I forgot who said that America went form barbarism to decadence without the advantage of culture/civilization in the middle.

    1. The Rev Kev

      ‘… governments are waging war on free speech. Australia is at risk of passing sweeping censorship legislation in November.’

      And I have to hear about it here on NC because our own main stream media in Oz is totally useless. As for the lack of images of Helene devastation, I’m sure that the US main stream media will be telling you to forget about it and stop living in the past. It’s yesterday’s news. /sarc

      2. gk

        It’s a bit similar to Grillparzer

        Der Weg der neuern Bildung geht von Humanität durch Nationalität zur Bestialität.

        I think he was writing about the Hungarian uprising in 48, but Leibowitz liked to quote it about Israel.

  8. The Rev Kev

    “EU needs faster migrant returns, say 17 countries including Germany, France: Report”

    This Politico report talks about this happening across many countries and even includes the obligatory picture of a bunch of poor black people while saying ‘The push comes amid a rightward and anti-immigration shift in multiple EU countries’ however – and this is just a guess – what if this is happening in anticipation of another bunch of immigrants. One that two and a half years ago was described as blue-eyed and blond-haired so “just like us.” It is only a matter of time until the Ukraine collapses and you might have a coupla million people trying to flee west. So maybe this return of migrants is really talking about the expected wave of Ukrainians?

  9. mrsyk

    Making waves: Boxwall Flood Barrier leaves sandbags high and dry. Ugh. Sandbags are great because you can make them on site with sand from the local highway department. Where are you going to store these? Crafted from tough-as-nails ABS plastic and aluminium, this barrier is not just effective but built to last. So, not a eco-friendly footprint. However, there’s a slight hiccup: the Boxwall shines brightest on even ground. For bumpy terrain, you’ll need additional gear to ensure it’s up to snuff. Would that additional gear be — sandbags?

  10. ProNewerDeal

    any chance there will be a Policy October Surprise from either duopoly candidate? Given early/mail voting, it seems a candidate would need to make it asap to have any effect.

    I wish Harris would publicize her federal cannab1s legalization and removal from Controlled Substances list, plus her legislate Roe v Wade as Federal law policy. Repeat this in every speech and interview, instead of low/no-substance crap on how as a kid her nanny was an entrepreneur and this is why she loves small business, etc.

    Combine this with some SIGNIFICANT “concrete material benefits” ( (c) Lambert) economic benefits, even if watered down from the Sanders 2020 or Greens/Stein policy. Pick at least 1 of these examples

    1 Medicaid open to anyone as Public Option at actuarial cost

    2 Medicare age eligibility lowering to 55

    3 Walz MN-implemented policy of free public university/ community college/trade school tuition

    4 Federal minimum wage to $15 or $20/hr, CPI-inflation-adjusted every 1 or at least 3 years

    5 Massively fund Covid R&D for better (nasal?) vaccines, long Covid research funding Dr Al-Aly requested, and NPIs including ventilation/UV light (I have the least hope on this item, as the duopoly has decided “Covid is over”)

    Give the swing state voters enough policy to vote for, not just vote against OrangeManBad TM.

    2. GramSci

      Swing state voters might get all of the above, wrapped up in tinsel and ribbon. Promises are cheap.

    3. amfortas the hippie

      “Medicare age eligibility lowering to 55”

      hear, hear!!!

      (pinches self)
      yep, currently conscious…so i know this aint gonna happen.

    4. Glen

      The reality of US elections is that either half of the uniparty can offer national changes which would be very popular with the American people and win the election. In it’s lack, we get the inane debate about which is the “lesser evil”.

      Our elites can keep stomping on the American people, and most likely they will. But the fact that stomping on the American people has lost them their world empire is finally starting to register. They still think their wealth and power will keep them immune from the results of their greed. There too, they are wrong.

  11. DJG, Reality Czar

    The Due Diligence guys (Keaton and Russ) read this piece on their show, and I caught that portion.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/06/palestinian-us-friends-job-opportunities-humanity-gaza

    Arwa Madhawi on living in America as a person of Palestinian descent.

    She calls out the racism, which is more than obvious. But heck aren’t Americans in post-racial America?

    By implication, the article also shows that [patented] U.S. helplessness at the savagery of Israelis is a sham.

    To listen to Keaton Weiss read the article:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJxE5g04KM

    Meanwhile, as the video-twiXt above about Israelis admitting complicity in the massacre on 7 October reinforces, what we saw this weekend was thousands and thousands worshipping propaganda. Edifying, brethren and sistren, edifying.

  12. mrsyk

    Ukrainian official filmed lying on bed of money One might wonder why this person was singled out for prosecution. ….as part of an investigation into the forging of fraudulent disability certificates allowing men to avoid military conscription. That’s why.

  13. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Scott Ritter : The Middle East One year after October 7th 2023. Judge Napolitano

    Scott explains the seismic event in Iran cannot be a nuclear blast because the IAEA monitors Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium which apparenlty haven’t moved. Ok, but what if Iran was given nukes? As I’ve said, this would be a very good option for deterring Israel, promoting ME stability and ending Israel’s aggression. If I was a nuclear power I would be doing this forthwith and posthaste to avert the impending catastrophe.

    So what other methods are there for checking other than watching a stockpile of enriched uranium? Has SEAL team whatever HALO dropped onto the location to take radiological readings? Or duct taped a Geiger counter to a drone. Is every intelligence agency and their U.N.C.L.E. converging on the spot as we speak….

      1. Jester

        That is no obstacle for a serious conspiracy theorist. Putin gave them a nuke, and an improved drilling machine, last year. :)

          1. GramSci

            Also, there were no pre-shocks in the seismogram I saw here on NC. This can happen in nature, but it seems rare.

            Prudence would seem to be in order, yet here we are…

      3. ilsm

        Drill bits tend to “soften” as the temperature of the rock rises at depth. Research is (has been?) being done at MIT to use powerful microwave sources to “drill” down/deeper into the crust.

        If they can overcome the materials issues of keeping the drill holes open they could generate huge amounts of steam!

        I doubt Iran has a microwave drill that can put a device 10 mile deep.

      4. Es s Ce Tera

        Yves, I did catch the 10 mile bit but disregarded as I don’t know the science behind pinpointing the depth, how accurate it is, nor how much decisive weight it would give this particular point.

        Nevertheless, my question would be what buildings are at that particular location, it seems so easy to disprove a nuke test if nothing at all was at the coordinates, no activity, etc., because it would have taken a long time to drill and there would at least be some activity in the area. That said, the Western powers would want there to be a nuke especially if there isn’t, so won’t be inclined to help disprove this.

        What I’m learning, however, is that Iran is very seismically active and has several fault lines running through it, so a quake like this is not unusual. Ritter may be on the right track even if the 10 mile reference is wrong. Also, looking at the map it seems awfully close to Tehran even if the middle of nowhere. So at the moment I’m 75% leaning toward it was not a nuke, this morning I was 50%.

  14. Zagonostra

    >Perfidy in Tehran – Alastair Crooke

    The ‘professional permanent class’ (the western deep state) eschews any moral underpinning. It makes a virtue of its nihilism. Perhaps the last leader capable of real diplomacy that springs to mind was JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis and in his subsequent dealings with the Soviet leaders. And what happened? … He was killed by the system…

    The West is in the throes of at least one, potentially two, crushing defeats at the moment – and so the question arises: Will lessons be learned? Can the right lessons be learned? Does the professional world order class even accept that there are lessons to be learned?

    [my emphasis]

    System, world order class? Admire and respect Crooke and the familiar constellation of commentators, but they have to do better in unveiling and exposing these forces, masters of the universe, oligarch’s, “inner circle,” deep state actors, etc… otherwise it’s hopeless.

    https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/10/07/perfidy-in-tehran/

    1. Mikel

      Failure after failure will be suffered until the “world order class” believes they will be held accountable.

    2. Chris Cosmos

      As I’ve mentioned many times–the “Deep State” or whatever you want to call “the System” is governed by a neural style network of oligarch forces which are easy to name. These days this is all facilitated by “big data” and, in recent years, versions of AI. The problem is that what I call a virtual Emperor (the sum total of all powerful political forces–this has nothing to do with “democracy”) seems to be drifting more like an amoeba than a mammal. In other words, it appears to be lacking a focus and purpose other than world-conquest.

    3. dave -- just dave

      …”inner circle”…

      I was reading about Milton – Milton Eisenhower, that is – and recalled another powerful pair of DC insiders of that era besides the Eisenhower brothers – the Dulles brothers – and came across this Wikipedia article:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_(Kinzer_book)

      Even when one can assign names, under less-than-revolutionary circumstances it stays much the same – the powerful do what they will, the rest endure what they must

  16. ChrisFromGA

    Gazatown

    Sung to the melody from “Allentown” by Billy Joel

    Melody

    Well we’re living here in Gazatown
    And they’ve leveled every inch of ground
    Out in Bethlehem, they’re killing kids in their prime
    Stealing our land, laying land mines

    While the Knesset cheers for a Third World War
    Spent their shekels buying Congress whores
    They invested in the U.S.A.
    See how their bets really have paid

    And we’re living here in Gaza town
    But the ethnic hate was handed down
    And it’s getting very hard to stay

    Well, we’re waiting here in Gazatown
    For the rules-based order we never found
    All the promises the bastards made
    If we worked hard, if we behaved

    So the phony peace deals hang on the wall
    But they never really helped us at all
    No they never taught us what was real
    Thousand-pound bombs, IDF steel

    And we’re waiting here in Gazatown
    But they’ve put 50k stiffs in the ground
    And the U.N. people crawled away (way, hey)

    Jimmy Carter gave it a pretty good shot
    He got a peace accord with Anwar Sadat
    But something happened on the way to that place
    They put an Israeli flag in our face
    Whoa-oh-oh

    Well, I’m living here in Gaza town
    And I saw another kid on the ground
    And he won’t be getting up today

    And it’s getting very hard to stay
    And we’re living here in Gazatown

  17. Wukchumni

    A Mega-Millions lottery ticket will go up 150% in price in April, I hope that it isn’t part of the CPI index.

    1. ChrisFromGA

      Hedonic pricing. You can substitute for that good with a sniff of airplane glue in the back-alley behind the Seven-Eleven.

  18. The Rev Kev

    ‘Nature is Amazing ☘️
    @AMAZlNGNATURE
    This is the best thing I have seen today!!’

    Re that dog helping that little kid. As so many other people say, we don’t deserve our dogs.

  19. Wukchumni

    There hasn’t been a boy named Milton or good old Milt for probably at least a few generations, and Milt is a fine name, but Milton conjures up the junior high school class nerd with polyester white shirt and black pants, with plastic protector at the ready in shirt pocket, just in case of an inopportune ink stain.

    I suggest we give him a second name as we await storm surges up to the attic in Tampa…

    Milton Badly

        2. Antifa

          On the roof of the Tampa Bay Hilton
          We’re partying, waiting for Milton
          O the wind! O the water!
          The storm surge! The slaughter!
          The thrill when the hotel starts tiltin!

    3. Michael Fiorillo

      Or Milt Pappas, who the Reds traded Frank Robinson for in 1965, because Robinson was an “old” thirty.

  20. The Rev Kev

    “‘Asian Nato’ calls, Taiwan moves: should Beijing worry as Japan’s Ishiba gets going?’

    Yeah, sure, why not? Because NATO has worked out so well for Europeans, especially the Ukrainians. Ishiba actually says ‘Today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia’ but does not reflect on the fact that if an Asian NATO is established, that that is exactly what would happen. And for the cherry on the turd pie, he actually wants American nukes stationed in all those Asian nations which would automatically make them a target for nuclear retaliation. I already miss the days when the Pacific was relatively speaking a backwater.

      1. Acacia

        Yes, some of this is encouraging. At the same time, Ishiba is a senso otaku, which is somewhat worrisome.

        Worth noting that Koike Yuriko, the right-wing Governor of Tokyo (the one who lied about studying overseas, which seems to be a pattern with LDP pols), was also a Minister of Defense.

        As I believe Michel Hudson said a year or so back: Japan wants to be the Ukraine of East Asia.

  21. The Rev Kev

    “Israel bombards Lebanon as it prepares to expand ground operations”

    The IDF has sent a fourth division north from which I take it that Hezbollah resistance has been much fiercer that expected. But there seems to be internal pressure in Israel to go into Lebanon so that all those Israelis can go back to their homes in the north. How many Israelis? Maybe 100,000 to 200,000 and that is a lot of unhappy people which the government has to pick up the tab for in their hotels. The past coupla days I have noticed more than a few ‘human pieces’ on the news about how hard it is for these people in their interviews and it’s not fair. Of course these very same people are demanding that the IDF occupy Lebanon up to the Litani river so that they are ‘safe’ which did not work out well when the IDF did that decades ago. Hezbollah is a result of those occupation years-

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/08/israel-lebanon-ground-offensive-hezbollah-gaza

  22. bertl

    “Who is Morgan McSweeney? The Labour election guru replacing Sue Gray as chief of staff”

    After deliberately throwing Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and it’s members under a bus in 2017, and enabling the PLP to get its way by mouthing Bibi’s patent anti-semitism gobbledygook against Jeremy Corbyn in the year preceding Labour’s election defeat in 2019 and, thus, ensuring the impossibility of a sensible Brexit deal for the UK and economic and social policies based on growth, as expected we’re now watching the single-celled plankton of the Labour Party apparatchiks devour their opponents before they begin to devour each other.

    I predicted a short shelf life for a Labour government long before it was elected, and the larger the majority, the more likely the PLP and the rest of the Party will begin to splinter and disintegrate even more amusingly than the Liberals did during the Asquith/Lloyd George years.

    Neither McSweeny or Starmer have ever had cause to understand that politics is a process of conciliation and not a justification for seeking to silence or otherwise destroy one’s opponents (ie, anyone who has the mildest disagreement with any of your views, let alone competing substantive interests).

    It is a government which has started badly, will continue to act badly, and will end badly, and whose popularity has already managed to fall to just one point ahead of the Tories.

    Starmer, by some magician’s touch, probably Sue Gray’s, has survived longer than Liz Truss’s lettace despite the UK’s housing shortage, it’s reliance on student-loan financed universities to disguise youth unemployment, the collapse of it’s health service in traditional Labour areas, and decreasing productivity, et al, the government’s all too valiant physical and financial support of the Ukraine experiment in national suicide and the genocide in Gaza, and the emerging genocides in the West Bank and Lebanon is unsurprisingly failing to generate much compensating enthusiasm amongst the British public.

    It will be interesting to see how just long Starmer can survive an opposition composed of a recovering Tory Party, Farage’s Reform Party, and the Labour recalcitrants temporarily or permanently parked on the Opposition benches due to Starmer’s failure in leadership.

    1. nap

      Re: Chagos Islanders displaced for a US military base…(Diego Garcia)

      “Joe Biden Pushed UK to Surrender Chagos Islands” – Telegraph

      https://archive.ph/PERHx

      Two weeks after visiting the White House, Keir Starmer and David Lammy start doing what they’re told.

  23. Alice X

    >WSWS – German government’s 2025 cultural budget: An attack on the freedom of art

    From the piece:

    Culture as state propaganda

    The federal government’s budget decision must be seen as a targeted political action in relation to cultural life. The fact that, in parallel with the drastic cuts in independent cultural projects, some prominent areas are to be financially strengthened serves to further integrate art and culture into foreign policy and government propaganda.

    Well, the Germans might have gotten it from the Soviets then. It’s not an original piece (I don’t believe) but the Trots could have mentioned it in a write up.

    I wanted to go hear one of my favorite violinists but she is playing Shostakovich who leaves me in the Siberian outback. That poor guy went through the wringer. I couldn’t afford a ticket anyway so it’s just as well.

  24. Jabura Basaidai

    excuse me but i need a history lesson from the commentariat – did the SMO begin with the Russian bombing and troop movement on Kharkiv? – and if so, why not begin in the Luhansk and/or Donetsk where the Russian speaking Ukranians were being attacked by the Azov goons? – do i have this wrong? – little help please –

      1. cfraenkel

        Including from the north against Kiev, with an airborne assault against the airport and a ground invasion from the Belarus border. Remember the 50mi line of tanks?

        It’s telling that we struggle to remember – propaganda works, even when you’re aware you’re being manipulated.

  25. Eclair

    RE: The Newsweek interview with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

    I linked to this earlier from Moon of Alabama: Lavrov is his usual, diplomatic self. And then I made the mistake of reading the comments.

    After following reports of two plus years of fighting in Ukraine, and reading daily reports of the horrors in Gaza and the West Bank, and now in Lebanon, I physically hurt. It’s not just emotional pain any longer.

    If I feel this level of pain and anxiety, what must those people in the middle of such chaos, death, destruction and daily bombings feel? And what kind of monsters, who apparently glory in the power and wealth that their endless wars and sanctions and impositions of austerity bestow on them, to we have leading us?

    1. Zagonstra

      I’m right there with you. I’m coming to the conclusion that the ME has failed to protect its citizens against the a barbaric invasion and slaughter. Regardless of what Ritter and others are saying about how badly Israel is doing, I see how badly ME leaders are failing in allowing/preparing/anticipating the “chaos, death and destruction.” The ME leaders have failed in their most essential task, protecting citizens from external invaders.

      1. GramSci

        They were afraid of Israeli nukes and the US military. But you’re right, now they have no excuse, except they’re worried about how to get their dollars out of the US and their gold out of the City and Basel.

        1. cfraenkel

          Who exactly are we talking about? Leaders in Lebanon? Are there any who control that polity? I understood that to be a very fragile, corrupt, ‘coalition’ with all sides actively distrusting and undermining the others. Syria? they have bigger problems at the moment, trying to rebuild after the US proxies attempted to destroy the country. Jordan? more or less in bed with the US military, and more fearful of their own population. SA / UAE, same thing.

    2. Alice X

      I’ve lost my mind over Palestine sometime ago. I weep repeatedly over the reports. Now the one on asbestos. Every night before I sleep I solve the problem there, it’s not pretty but it works, at least until I wake up.

  26. Jason Boxman

    On COVID, denialism and minimization have set in to such an extent, in part because people aren’t turning blue and exploding, with personal experience guiding risk assessment, that I think we’ll need significant time to elapse in the FAFO stage, before there’s any meaningful awareness, but maybe not even then. Cause and effect likely being so remote from each other, will anyone take seriously that mounting medical conditions might have any relationship to repeat COVID infections, after having several, maybe scores, and “recovering”?

    None of this bodes well for the future.

    America being a low trust society, I don’t see any way out. Even if we had honest public health officials, liberal Democrats eviscerated public health. It’s dead. Gone.

    I’d hoped China might persist in their zero COVID strategy, as a control group, but it was not to be.

  27. more news

    https://www.constructionbriefing.com/news/digging-for-ukraine-volvo-s-battle-to-get-women-to-operate-excavators-and-wheel-loaders/8039410.article

    Digging for Ukraine: Volvo’s battle to get women to operate excavators and wheel loaders

    Until 2017, females in Ukraine were banned from operating heavy construction equipment. Now, with the country at war against Russia, the government is working with Volvo CE and partners to bring record numbers into the industry via an accelerated course to help women qualify as excavator and wheel loader operators. Lucy Barnard reports.
    …
    Repealing Soviet-era legislation
    In 2017 the Ukrainian government repealed Soviet-era legislation which banned females from 450 professions considered to be damaging to women’s reproductive health which included many construction jobs including carpentry, welding and operating excavators. In fact, before the Russian invasion, fewer than half of all adult Ukrainian women had a job – one of the lowest rates in Europe.

      1. jrkrideau

        Actually it did wonders in WWI and WWII. My aunt in 1980 still had her micrometer that she used in WWII in Seattle. IIRC, she was quality control on spark plugs. Her husband was “logistics” on Iwo Jima.

        It did not make her a rabid feminist but someone perfectly happy to tell off any arrogant male.

  28. barncat

    WRT Kamala: The woman’s had positions on both sides of several issues, may we think of her platform as the Kamala Sutra? ;)

  29. thump

    re: your comments on Scott Ritter : The middle east one year after…

    In his recent interview of John Mearsheimer, Glenn Greenwald (who I think is usually JM’s best interviewer) asks what JM calls “the $64,000 question”: Since Israeli leadership / military has to also know how difficult (impossible) it would be to defeat Hezbollah as JM just outlined, why are they pursuing this aggression against Lebanon? JM says he has two possible answers:

    1) “They’re just plain nuts.”
    2) They need continuing conflagration as cover for ethnic cleansing of greater Israel, as the greatest amounts of cleansing happened during wars in 1948 and 1967.

    This exchange is in time stamp 11:45 – 15:00 of this excerpt of the full interview.

    1. Alice X

      >1) “They’re just plain nuts.”

      As Finkelstein has it: Israel is a lunatic regime…

      Nixon had the mad-man strategy.

      It might work until it doesn’t.

  30. AG

    This is not uninteresting:

    Apparently there is no comprehensive analysis of how much Germany has spent on the Ukraine War.

    Florian Rötzer, co-founder of TELEPOLIS, who has left the site around 3 years ago, on the new project OVERTON, has a short piece on this pointing out – and I wonder if NC would corroborate this:

    “Where are the investigative journalists and scientists?

    Unfortunately, there are no scientists for Germany – or for the Ukraine war in general – who estimate the total cost of the war, as the Watson Institute at Brown University is trying to do for the American post-9/11 wars. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to research in detail what the indirect costs were for Germany and the Germans in the anti-Russia coalition (inflation, cost of living, energy prices, rents, job losses, etc.). But we can ask the super-smart AI experts who have access to many documents.”

    The lack of “scholarship” on this is indeed a bit surprising, since “in the shadows” of ivory tower research many important things are to be discovered.

    But as he writes:

    “it is actually quite embarrassing to have to question an AI because no one in the army of investigative journalists seems to be interested.”

    Rötzer has no final calculation but a few numbers.
    So work needs to be done:


    “To give you some inspiration, here is ChatGPT’s estimate. It can be assumed that the direct and indirect costs incurred so far for Germany are between 400 and 500 billion euros. That would be the equivalent of the entire federal budget for one year.”

    See entire article machine-translated:

    “What costs did the Ukraine war incur for Germany?”
    https://archive.is/oGR2F

    1. cfraenkel

      Interesting, I guess. Mostly in pointing out the lack of interest in the MSM/academia in finding out. But ChatGPT doesn’t have a stellar reputation with arithmetic. It more likely found a few wild guesses out in the text corpus and incorporated that into it’s answer. You’d have to dig in and ask it where it got the numbers, and then independently verify *those*, because it might have just made sh*t up there also.

      1. AG

        To me using GPT in such inquiry is completely out of the question.

        Above gentleman might be doing it for the very reason that he officially has retired and for trying to not fall back despite his “age” he engages with curiousity into this new technology.

        Regardless of that I assume there is indeed no official overall assessment of the costs of this war for German society.

    1. AG

      Very thankful for their show and you reminding of it.

      The CIA was being loathed by every decent person I knew. Secret intelligence in general.
      And then…what happened? Reporters praise articles based on the level of CIA collaboration???

      Their insight I see almost no other place. It´s terrifying.

      Also of course how Kirn manages to express the simply obvious in a way that it becomes relevant that you think others have to see it too because THEN they might understand that 2+2 still IS 4.

  32. Michaelmas

    US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting:
    Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/01/sheep-cloning-montana-hunting-prison


    An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

    The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

    Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the US Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a federal bureau of prisons medical facility….

    ~
    Me: What they actually got the guy on was illegally acquired and imported biological material from an endangered species. He didn’t synthesize the DNA, but brought ram testicles in to extract it.

    Here’s the thing: the guy didn’t break any Federal laws, AFAIK. Maybe Montana has some state laws that apply.

    The point being, then, that big corporations that create clones and do genetic editing/modification, and upscale outfits that clone rich people’s pets for them don’t get prosecuted like this. But for anybody else, apparently there’s going to be no freedom of genetic information, if this sets the legal precedent.

    And that’s the world the rich would ideally want, after all, because then they can just send pregnant wives and their kids overseas to be gene-modded.

  33. Michaelmas

    More disturbingly, this is something to see —

    Dr Richard Kirby
    @PlanktonPundit
    The most grim plankton compilation video I’ve made. This should only be a beautiful world of microlife. Instead it’s a microplastic-polluted, horror movie. Beauty and the beast.

    https://x.com/PlanktonPundit/status/1842973093213700404

    A view of a science-fictional world now existing all around us.

  34. Zagonostra

    >Trump wearing a Kippah with Ben Shapiro at his side paying homage at the tomb of Chabad movement

    Photos of this are making the rounds on Twitter. Seems like Trump is earning that $100M from Miriam Adelson.

    1. Maxwell Johnston

      Sigh. I’m drinking an extra glass of wine in his honor as I write these lines. Loo-eee’s performance in the 1975 WS was truly epic. Here’s a nice obituary in the NYT (the Grey Lady still publishes good articles on food and sports and travel):

      https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/08/sports/baseball/luis-tiant-dead.html

      I had forgotten about his father (quite the pitcher in his own time!) being allowed to visit the USA to watch his son pitch in the 1975 baseball playoffs. Castro was a baseball nut, and the Tiants were local heroes.

      1. Wukchumni

        Loo-eee’s performance in the 1975 WS was truly epic.

        That World Series is the ne plus ultra of them all, the type of championship where sadly one of the teams had to end up as the losing side, and back when baseball was truly the national pastime-not past it’s time thanks to the NFL.

  37. Wukchumni

    The timing is about right, with the location differing.

    The Great Hurricane of 1780 was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, as well as the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles when the storm passed through the islands from October 10 to October 16.

    The hurricane struck Barbados likely as a Category 5 hurricane, with at least one estimate of wind gusts as high as 200 mph (320 km/h), before moving past Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Sint Eustatius, and causing thousands of deaths on those islands. Coming in the midst of the American Revolution, the storm caused heavy losses to the British fleet contesting for control of the area, significantly weakening British control over the Atlantic.

    Among the ships lost from Rodney’s fleet were the frigates HMS Blanche, which disappeared without a trace, and HMS Andromeda and HMS Laurel, which were wrecked on Martinique with heavy loss of life. By far the worst losses in the Royal Navy, however, were those ships under the command of Vice-Admiral Peter Parker and Rear-Admiral Joshua Rowley. At the time of the hurricane, Rowley was off the coast of New York with a portion of the fleet, including HMS Sandwich, while Parker was in Port Royal, Jamaica. Many of their ships, however, were in the hurricane’s path. The ships of the line HMS Thunderer and HMS Stirling Castle, the post ship HMS Deal Castle and the sloop HMS Endeavour were lost, and seven other warships were dismasted.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780

  38. Rob

    Measures to prevent golf cart–related injuries are urgently needed CMAJ (Dr. Kevin)…
    LOL, I would wager there is either a tragic story or a related economic interest in this authors background. Let’s regulate golf carts because people do dumb things and we must protect them from themselves. How far the pendulum has swung. Way overproective, no thanks Mr Bean.

  39. The Rev Kev

    And in today’s Clown World. So the Canadian government has built a ‘Victims of Communism’ monument in Ottawa which features names on it of those people and organizations targeted by those commies. But then somebody decided to check out those names-

    ‘According to a document obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, the Department of Canadian Heritage found that out of the 553 people and organizations to be originally listed, 50 to 60 were “were likely directly linked to the Nazis.”

    A 2023 report for Canadian Heritage insisted that over 330 names be excluded from the list “to be on the safe side,” as there was not enough information to confirm or deny Nazi links.’

    https://www.rt.com/news/605417-canadian-monument-names-nazis/

    No word if Waffen SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka’s name was one of those listed.

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