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Links 12/13/2024

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Grandmother, 80, is killed in freak accident in her Sleep Number bed Daily Mail

A new timeline for Neanderthal interbreeding with modern humans ScienceDaily (Kevin W)

Beatrix Potter’s Quiet Rebellion Humanities (Anthony L)

Kafka’s Screwball Tragedy: Investigations of a Philosophical Dog The Reader (Anthony L)

A philosopher engages with the mystical tradition Times Literary Supplement (Anthony L)

Philosophical Dead Ends Los Angeles Review of Books. Anthony L: “Dawkin’s simple (minded) story appealed to many, and still does, but not, I think, for reasons they admit.”

Leading Scientists Urge Ban On Developing ‘Mirror-Image’ Bacteria Science

Climate/Environment

Study finds Arctic warming tied to severe cold spells in UK, Europe PhysOrg

Arctic tundra is now emitting more carbon than it absorbs, US agency says. Guardian

A Controversial Plan To Refreeze the Arctic is Seeing Promising Results CNN

How Drought Insurance Can Leave Millions Without Food Bloomberg

Housing must take priority over nature, says Starmer in green belt reform plan Guardian (Kevin W)

China?

China gorging on silicon before Uncle Sam slams the door The Register

The Red Dragon Strikes Back Lau Vegys (Micael T). Important.

China’s ‘explosive’ ironmaking breakthrough achieves 3,600-fold productivity boost South China Morning Post (Chuck L)

Koreas

The Failure of Yoon’s Desperate Power Grab Daniel Larison

Myanmar

Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border BBC

China Urges Kachin Rebels to Stop Fighting Myanmar Junta Irrawaddy

India

Who’s afraid of George Soros? Indian Punchline

European Disunion

A NATO coup just took place in Romania Thomas Fazi. Micael T: “Let’s see if this will end up like the Greek NATO coup in 1967 with a military dictatorship.”

Norway Wants to Scrap EU Power Links amid Surging Prices OilPrice (Kevin W)

How von der Leyen sold out European farmers Thomas Fazi (Micael T)

Cocaine consumption in Germany is increasing Tagesschua via machine translation (guurst)

France’s New PM: Is the Wait Over? European Conservative (Li)

Israel v. The Resistance

Please click through to read the tweet below in full. Another indicator that relying on unverified sources is problematic. This take may prove to be incorrect, but at this point, it looks like a better assessment based on currently available information than other Resistance-supporting accounts:

‘As much and as quickly as possible’: Israeli settlers eye land in Syria, Lebanon 972 Magazine (Kevin W)

Netanyahu Hilariously Claims Israel Doesn’t Seek To Intervene In Syria’s Affairs Caitlin Johnstone

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia will reply Julian Macfarlane

About Russian Response Andrei Martyanov

SITREP 12/11/24: Zelensky Draws Line with US in Mobilization Impasse Simplicius (Kevin W)

Trump says he will not ‘abandon’ Ukraine RT

Gref warns of risk of stagflation in Russia RBC via machine translation. Micael T: “Some in the West take this as the end for Russia being nigh.”

Low global demand creates opportunity for more US sanctions on Russian oil, Yellen says Reuters (Kevin W)

Syaqistan

How the US and Israel Destroyed Syria and Called it Peace Jeffrey Sachs, Common Dreams

New regime forces in Syria carry out summary executions in Latakia Defend Democracy

Iraq rejects asylum for Syria ex-regime soldiers, Maher al-Assad The New Arab (Kevin W)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Federal government sending drone-specific radar to New Jersey to investigate mysterious sightings Gothamist

Imperial Collapse Watch

NATO tells members to divert social spending to militaries RT (Kevin W)

Patrick Lawrence: The Centrists Cannot Hold ScheerPost (Chuck L)

Amid Cuts To Basic Research, New Zealand Scraps All Support For Social Sciences Science. Only spending with economic benefit allowed. That is not what basic research is supposed to be about.

Trump 2.0

Trump weighing options to stop Iran going nuclear, including preemptive strikes – report Times of Israel

How to Trust a Trump Voter London Review of Books. From early in the month, still germane. Anthony L: “Never stop the blame cannons! – This guy is the LRB’s go to on ‘populism’ etc. Little by little the LRB converges on The Guardian.”

The “Perestroika” in the USA Anti-Spiegel via machine translation. Micael T: “That would be the day. I do not understand the hype and expectations on Trump. Given his first performance and organizational inertia and political resistance, he will deliver tax relief for the rich and that‘s about it. Perestroika it ain‘r.”

2024 Post Mortems

Kamala Harris Ignored Big Corporate Monopolies. It May Have Cost Her the Election Zephyr Teachout

Our No Longer Free Press

The Onion Can’t Buy Infowars Yet Matt Levine, Bloomberg (Micael T)

Tech Platforms Diverge on Erasing Criminal Suspects’ Digital Footprints New York Times

Antitrust

It’s Time to Break Up Big Medicine Matt Stoller (Dr. Kevin). Important. An epic shellacking of Noah Smith.

Lawmakers push health insurers, PBMs to sell pharmacy businesses The Hill

AI

Losing our voice? Fears AI tone-shifting tech could flatten communication Guardian (Kevin W)

Guillotine Watch

Robert Sterling’s Post LinkedIn. On Brian Thompson. Micael T: “The comments even on LinkedIn are scathing.”

Class Warfare

Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger calls for prayer and fasting for employees Fox. Paul R: “WTF. This explains a lot.”

Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Mr. Livingston (Jonathon), enjoying a stroll along the shore on a lovely December afternoon.”

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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102 comments

  1. Antifa

    Damascus
    (melody borrowed from It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year  by by Edward Pola and George Wyle, as sung by Andy Williams, 1963)

    O the Headchoppers From ISIS Are Here
    All the looting and yelling
    DO NOT leave your dwelling—it’s chaos out here
    ‘Cause the Headchoppers From ISIS Are Here

    O these Salafists will soon come to call
    They’ll administer beatings
    In spite of your pleadings and your head may fall
    Yes these Salafists will soon come to call

    These guys are not into voting
    The views they’re promoting
    Say everything modern must go
    They prefer getting gory
    To Islam’s full story
    The blood of apostates must flow

    Yes, the Headchoppers from ISIS Are Here
    We have no way of knowing
    Where Syria’s going to be in a year
    ‘Cause the Headchoppers from ISIS are here

    All their arrogant boasting
    And sick vids they’re posting
    And grudges they cannot let go
    They want us on our knees
    We cannot pretend these
    Salafists will just let us go

    O the Headchoppers From ISIS Are Here
    As our children are growing
    They’ll grow up not knowing this world is a sphere
    We’re back to medieval times
    They commit such mad evil crimes
    Thousand year old paradigms
    And they’re here

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Excellent!

      There are now reports of Christians disappearing from Aleppo – Archbishop Jacques Mourad has sounded the alarm. Yet the Christian Zionists in the US will applaud. They really aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, Mike Pompeo, Lindsay Graham, and others.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        It would be ironic if the only Christian community in the Middle east that has not been ravaged by western-sponsored attacks in a few years time will be the one in Iran which continues to grow and thrive-

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

        Damn, man. After Israel, Iran is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East too-

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

        What’s the bet that their DNA is far closer to the Israelis from the 1st century AD than the present lot there.

        Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    “Trump weighing options to stop Iran going nuclear, including preemptive strikes – report”

    The Times of Israel getting it’s hopes up here. Trump thought about attacking Iran back in 2020 and asked for options for attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. The Pentagon told him that doing so would lead to an all out war that would take years to fight and lead to thousands of US military personnel getting killed with no guarantee of success as they did not have the troop numbers to occupy that country. A lot has changed since then.

    For a start I do not think that the US has the weapons and ammo to do this anymore as the bulk of it has been spent in the Ukraine and in Gaza. US troop numbers must be declining as the services fail to meet recruitment quotas. And certainly Russia would not allow this to happen and they have already stationed a bunch of defensive gear in Iran to thwart the Israelis. It would be a red line for Russia. Does the Pentagon really want to see Russian fighters face off with F-35s to see which is the better fighter? Think how it might effect future sales!

    Trump will have to be wary. In the same way that Zelensky wants Trump to commit to the Ukraine war and eventually send troops, the Israelis will be doing the same with Trump and Iran. He may think himself a master negotiator too but what happens when he meets with a delegation from Iran and their first words are. ‘Your country has broken every single agreement that we had with you including when you were last President.’ What will Trump say to that? ‘Trust us – this time will be different.’

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54972269

    Reply ↓
    1. Ben Panga

      He’s always seemed keener on attacking Iran than Ukraine though. And there are frequent spurious Iran hitmen etc stories emanating from MAGAworld. I think he will be super reluctant to agree to troops.

      Maybe it’ll take a couple of years to build up a drone force and then they can have their damn war.

      Reply ↓
      1. Not Again

        There are 90 million Iranians. Trump would need close to 5 million soldiers to “pacify” Iran.
        Trump is a bullshit artist. Miriam Adelson’s $100 million donation – in the future, to be called “an Adelson” in fundraising terms – isn’t going to buy her a land war that we can’t win.

        Reply ↓
  3. JohnA

    Re A NATO coup just took place in Romania Thomas Fazi.

    Fazi concludes by asking “How long before the same measures are deployed against core NATO countries in Western Europe that stray from the alliance’s prescribed path?”.

    Maybe he overlooked how Corbyn was destroyed via a fabricated antisemitism smear. Maybe not the same means in terms of a campaign directly based on unfounded allegations of Russian interference, but certainly the same end of ousting a popular politician not subservient to NATO’s prescribed path. Although the BBC did show an image of Corbyn wearing a Russian style hat against a background of the Kremlin and Red Square to allow viewers to join these dots.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I thought that disgraceful of the BBC at the time but now I know that it was just par for the course. Don’t forget the coup in Moldova as well. President Maia Sandu was losing when at the last moment all those votes came in from Moldovans around Europe that tipped the balance a second time. Not those in Russia of course as only a tiny percentage of those Moldovans were permitted to vote by severely restricting the number of ballots sent and the number of polling stations opened. I’d call that a coup. And of course there has been an attempted coup in Georgia but the government was ready for it.

      Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Wouldn’t it be funny if Trump offered Zelensky a deal. That he will continue to support Ukraine – but Zelensky has quite the Presidency and get out of the country. You think that Zelensky would take him up on that offer?

      Reply ↓
      1. Joker

        All Zelensky’s thoughts & prayers are about getting off this runaway train. He would even give away his Oscar, alongside his firstborn, just to get out of this in one piece (or “piss” as he would pronounce it).

        Reply ↓
      2. ilsm

        Zelenskyy, like the string of puppets in Saigon from 1963 to 1975, serves at the pleasure of the trans-national deep state.

        Reply ↓
    2. Carolinian

      I avoided voting for Trump by not voting at all, and will merely say that some of us who hoped Trump would win are quite aware that Trump should not be president either.

      But anything is better than Biden and the lunatics he brought into the White House with him. Probably the biggest thing to worry about is that the ever shallow MSM will start deciding that Trump is their guy and Trump turns into Biden. May he always be hated by those who are the real issue.

      As for Iran, Russia etc–reality stands in the way of the Bomber Boyz.

      Reply ↓
      1. mrsyk

        But anything is better than Biden and the lunatics he brought into the White House with him, Oh yes, and if I may, “the unnamed behind him”.

        Reply ↓
  5. Ben Panga

    Re: Feds send drone radars to NJ

    I predict a continuation of the kabuki of bureaucratic ineptitude and the radars will not get to the bottom of this.

    I would bet large amounts of money that these are Anduril drones and none will be taken down.

    Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey looks to be a MAGA Sam Bankman Fried of war. You can hear him talk about his plans for the defence industry from 21:40 of this hour long talk at Pepperdine University

    If I wanted to find where this operation was being run from, I’d start at Anduril’s huge marine drone facility in Rhode Island

    Reply ↓
    1. Craig H.

      Maybe they could contract with some experienced drone warriors to shoot one down. It can’t cost that much to hire some Russian mercenaries.

      This presumes they don’t know what they are. I think they do.

      Reply ↓
  6. Zagonostra

    >Housing must take priority over nature, says Starmer in green belt reform plan Guardian (Kevin W)

    The link title was enough to trigger me. Priorities!? How about prioritizing life over war mongering death that is part and parcel of Starmer’s support for genocide in Gaza and UK’s perennial strategy of division, fomenting political stability and alliances that strengthen nations that seek autonomy. How about extending instead of diminishing heating subsidies to elderly and poor instead of arming the ME to the teeth?

    Reply ↓
    2. JohnA

      Establishing so-called green belts was one of the achievements of the post WW2 Labour government headed by Attlee. Other achievements included the creation of the free at point of use National Health Service, nationalisation of various key industries etc. Most of these nationalised industries were since privatised by Thatcher and then Blair. Now Starmer is finishing the job, he is well on course to complete the destruction of the NHS, so obviously green belts would now be in his sights as the last bastion of putting society and people before capitalist profits. Any and every suggestion that socialism can be the answer to any question must be ruthlessly oblitorated. And whatever he fails to tackle in this direction over his five year mandate, will be completed by Farage, for whom Starmer is oiling the path to power.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        All that wasted green belt could finally be put to use as land to build exclusive gated communities on that would be convenient to London. There would be room for exclusive golf courses as well. /sarc

        In a way, it is like a seizing of the Commons all over again but this time around instead of going to the local lords and gentry, it will be going to the wealthy elite of London.

        Reply ↓
      2. mrsyk

        Sorry for your (unrealized-maybe there is hope yet?) loss. Selling the family silver for an exorbitant broker’s fee is old school corruption. As we are number 1 (guess who!), I’m sure we will come up with some kind of even more backward thinking natural resource grifter’s delight project.

        Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    ‘Citizen Free Press
    @CitizenFreePres
    ABC News reports that one million Ukraine soldiers have died.’

    Watching that ex-Ukrainian soldier wearing a prosthetic leg reminded me of something. I have the series “The Civil War” by Ken Burns on DVD. At the end of the war he mentioned one ex-Confederate State whose largest budgetary expense on their books was prosthetic limbs. I guess that some things never change.

    Reply ↓
    1. Zagonostra

      This reminded me of seeing a huge billboard on highway 22 about 30 minutes east of Pittsburgh. It shows a U.S. Veteran with a prosthetic limb and says “another victory.”

      Men and women maimed for life and needing prosthetic is according to U.S. military advertisers, a “victory.” It assumes that the eyeball that sees the billboard doesn’t have the capacity to ask “compared to what?” I guess, they just assume you’ll fill in the the answer, death and not think that maybe it would have been better if the person didn’t sign up to go to join the military.

      Reply ↓
      2. Michael Fiorillo

        Indeed, Compared to What?

        https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCDMQqDUtv4

        “The President, he’s got his war
        Most folks don’t know just what it’s for,
        Nobody gives us a rhyme or reason,
        Have one doubt, they call it treason,
        We’re chicken feathers all without one gut,
        God damn it!
        Trying to make it real compared to what?”

        Reply ↓
        1. Bsn

          Fabulous. That’s the first Jazz album I ever bought. In the back yard having to “clean it up” instead of ride bikes with my girlfriends, he said, Hun, “why don’t you put on one of your stations”. Unheard of as he would always play country music and Howard K Estep christian preachers. I put on the local rock station and it was their Jazz hour. When “God Damn it” rang out, I had to buy that LP. Changed my life.

          Reply ↓
          1. Jabura Basadai

            have the “Swiss Movement” vinyl too, purchased because of that song – have to add, as a Detroit boy, that Marvin Gaye’s album “What’s Going On” released a couple of years later was transformative – the key changes within a song were musically illuminating but his song lyrics, especially “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and in particular “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” cut to the quick – still relevant – his death an unnecessary tragedy –

            Reply ↓
    2. .Tom

      It’s extraordinary that ACB News would give numbers like that. Can anyone find the video clip on an ABC News property? Any idea where the reporter got the numbers from?

      Reply ↓
  8. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Housing must take priority over nature, says Starmer in green belt reform plan Guardian (Kevin W)

    This same scenario is taking place here in Ontario, with conservative Premier Doug Ford, who promised to leave the Green Belt intact, having made deals with real estate developers. As we speak, the Green Belt is mountains of dirt and mud, converted to suburb after suburb, it is no more.

    The problem with taking this particular Green Belt is the soil is the most fertile in Ontario, perfect for agriculture, which is the reason it is a Green Belt. Land usable for farming is scarce. So, in effect, it’s “Housing must take priority over food.”

    The Guardian article doesn’t even dive into this aspect. What good is writing a piece about it if you’re not going to get into why it’s designated a Green Belt in the first place, which might be rather relevant?

    Reply ↓
    1. t

      London famously has zillions of square feet in luxury housing that sits empty year after year. Is the same true for major cities in Canada?

      London also has a lot of vacant rental property, but that’s another type of thing.

      Although one one think asking questions about existing property that none one lives in would be a sensible move before bulldozing greenbelts.

      Reply ↓
    2. Pearl Rangefinder

      Yes, the green belt desecration in Ontario has been particularly egregious. What’s going on in Britain is a mirror to what’s happening in all the Anglo 5-I countries, which is the push for insane permanently high immigration levels to, in our leadership’s eyes, keep ‘groaf’ high while keeping wages permanently under pressure. Bonus points to keeping the housing price ponzi going. If there is one thing they hate above all else, it’s when workers have any bargaining power whatsoever which leads to rising wages, and you can see the misleadership class acting tout-suite to stop that happening.

      Plowing over Green Belts and general environmental destruction is to be expected when your public policy is to jam in as many new slaves workers as possible. Can’t have much of a green belt with a million newcomers every year, forever.

      Reply ↓
  9. Steve H.

    : Philosophical Dead Ends Los Angeles Review of Books.

    > Niche Theory: Hat tip Judith.

    > Assembly theory explains and quantifies selection and evolution [Nature, 2023; co-author Sara I. Walker]
    [nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06600-9

    > The equations for niche construction allow negative values. Cases include the Great Oxygenation Event (self-extinction), and wild boars (destruction of existing niches). New niches alter the covariants of selection. Cui bono, cui malo.

    > Coalescence theory has been showing up in the equation icosystem. Good stuff, but I have concerns about the tool influencing the mindset. There is a difference between a cause and a retrospective attribution of why something happens. While you can follow time in geological strata, there are techniques to discern where strata have been eroded away, so you at least can discern that a period of time has been removed. Is there a similiar mechanism of discernment in genetics? Ἐγγύα πάρα δ’ Ἄτα.

    Reply ↓
  10. Joker

    Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger calls for prayer and fasting for employees Fox. Paul R: “WTF. This explains a lot.”

    I guess thoughts and prayers were not good enough, so he wants to ramp it up.

    Reply ↓
    1. Pearl Rangefinder

      Ha! Thank you for the laugh.

      Everyone thought the whole prayers thing from Pat was just a quirky charming CEO thing, when the reality of the situation was that he was 100% legit, for realz, ‘Pray for Intel’ mode, lol.

      Reply ↓
  11. Zagonostra

    Haaretz confirms: Dr Iyad Rantisi — head of obstetrics at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, was tortured & killed by the israelis while in their custody

    Torturing and killing doctors, bombing hospitals, schools and mosques, targeting children, women, and U.N. aid workers, our close friend and ally who we will spare no cost in blood and treasure to support. Sick, sick, sick. All the opprobrium of civilized nations (which excludes most of the West) 2 years on continue to watch this madness in horror as the genocide continues and expands.

    The first quarter of the 21’st century is turning out to be as blood soaked as the last one.

    Reply ↓
    1. t

      The first quarter of the 21’st century is turning out to be as blood soaked as thgreenbelt

      Well said. Depressing summary to have rattling around in my head during the holidays but apt.

      Reply ↓
  13. mrsyk

    A Controversial Plan To Refreeze the Arctic is Seeing Promising Results CNN
    We are in for geoengineering whether we like it or not.
    This example seems to have the least potential downside of any ideas I’ve seen so far. The strategy is to …drill holes through the sea ice to pump out the seawater below and freeze it on the surface. Does it scale?
    Lastly, If all goes to plan, he expects they can scale up within eight to 10 years. I’m skeptical we have that many years to give, maybe.

    Reply ↓
    1. Cassandra

      If the AMOC is indeed shutting down, the Arctic may begin refreezing on its own. Which may make for interesting times in the mid latitudes, with all that excess heat trapped there.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Be more interesting in Europe where they would then get the same weather that Siberia gets. Hey, if all that excess heat is getting trapped in the mid-latitudes, wouldn’t that make for more powerful & frequent hurricanes that would head west to the US and the Caribbean?

        Reply ↓
      2. mrsyk

        That’s a recipe for foul weather, and I’m guessing it may not be preventable. Recovering lost albedo might restore some balance (cold poles), who knows. We need a new ice age.

        Reply ↓
          1. mrsyk

            Yes, but I have come to the conclusion that this is the only path to survival for the human species. Depopulation is a feature.

            Reply ↓
      3. i just don't like the gravy

        We are thoroughly out of the icehouse state. The Arctic is not refreezing any time soon.

        Why do people insist on perpetuating the idea that AMOC slowing will freeze Europe? You know that energy imbalance doesn’t just magically go away, right?

        Reply ↓
    2. ChrisFromGA

      Seems like the laws of thermodynamics might not have been studied to hard in college by whomever is behind that plan.

      Reply ↓
        1. ChrisFromGA

          It takes energy to power a drill to put a hole in sea ice, plus the transport to get it there. Holes don’t just drill themselves.

          Where is that energy going to come from? Might not some fossil fuels be involved?

          I guess sailboats with battery powered Ryobis?

          Reply ↓
          1. mrsyk

            Yes, thank you. From the photos, it looks like they use a generator to power the pumps. The drill looks to have a battery pack, and I can’t imagine those batteries keep a charge very long in sub-zero weather. Nevertheless, manually powered drills and pumps exist. Manpower is one resource that we have plenty of if the will to pay for it is there. To the upside, no energy required to freeze the water.
            At what duration is there a return on the energy invested? That’s above my pay scale.

            Reply ↓
            1. Steve H.

              Never, ever. The water they pump up will melt the top layer of ice, mixing with the sweat of the Kamala Krew of the indentured incarcerants who are relocated via NGO.

              Reply ↓
              1. ambrit

                What would be the cost of using shaped charges to blast the holes? Compare that with the drill scenario. Put some of that Pentagon budget to a good use for once. Let the Corps of Engineers do it. They have a history of geo-engineering, such as the levee systems along rivers in America.
                Make Americas Army Great Again (MAAGA.)

                Reply ↓
    3. Wukchumni

      Yo! Europe, let’s kick it
      Ice age, ice age baby
      Ice age, ice age baby

      Alright stop, collaborate and listen
      Ice age is back with brand new cold convection
      Something grabs a hold of land tightly
      Flow like a frozen wave daily and nightly
      Will it ever stop? Yo!, I don’t know
      Turn off the soil and on ice what can you grow?

      To the extreme, it’ll rock the AMOC like a vandal
      Light up a stage and wax a tipping point like a candle
      Dance, go rush to the money that go boom
      I’m killing your brain like a poisonous nuclear mushroom

      Deadly, when I play a climate zugzwang melody
      Anything less than the best is a felony
      Love it or leave it, you better gangway
      You better hit bull’s eye, the atmosphere don’t play
      If there was a problem, Yo!, I’ll solve it
      Check out the free freezers while the ice floes hit

      Ice, ice baby
      Vanilla colored Ice, ice baby

      Vanilla colored Ice, ice baby
      Vanilla colored Ice, ice baby
      Vanilla

      Now that the climate change party is jumping
      When the frozen kicked in, with all that oil pumping
      Quick to the point, to the point, no faking
      Chill out the continent, a destiny of our making
      Burning them out, if you ain’t quick and nimble
      I go crazy when I hear there goes their status symbol
      And hi-lo temps with a souped up tempo
      I’m on a roll, it’s time to go Han Solo

      Rollin’ in my snow-mo
      With the helmet off so my hair can blow
      The icebound frantically waving, want a ride
      (Did you stop?) No, I just rode by
      Kept on pursuing to the next stop
      I busted a left and I’m heading to the next block
      The survivors on that block was dead, yo
      So I continued to what used to be A1A Beachfront Avenue

      Take heed ’cause I’m a lyrical poet
      Miami’s a snow scene just in case you didn’t know it
      That town created on all that low down
      Enough to create sinkholes in the ground
      My style’s like a mindful spill
      These are rhymes that fit the bill
      Conducted and formed, it’s a hell of a concept
      I make it -31f and you want to step out on this

      Yo mankind, let’s get out of here
      Word to your mother

      Ice, ice baby, too cold
      Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold
      Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold
      Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold

      Ice Ice Baby, by Vanilla Ice

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQtzxPnoY0

      Reply ↓
  14. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Haaretz confirms: Dr Iyad Rantisi — head of obstetrics at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, was tortured & killed by the israelis while in their custody

    I went looking for the article and it seems to be six months old. Not that this invalidates it.

    It’s this one, right? Or is there some new development I’m missing? https://archive.ph/g8oLU (https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-18/ty-article/.premium/israel-arrested-a-senior-doctor-in-gaza-six-days-later-he-died-in-a-shin-bet-facility/00000190-27eb-d14b-a999-27eb9aea0000).

    Reply ↓
  15. ChrisFromGA

    Holly Jolly Kill-mas

    Sung to the tune of, “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives

    Have a holly jolly killmas
    It’s the worst time of the year
    I don’t know why hatred grows
    But have a cup of fear

    Have a holly jolly killmas
    And when you walk down the street
    Say hello to ancient foes
    On battlefields you’ll meet

    Oh no, the death toll grows
    Anyone can see
    Somebody lies to you
    On cable TV

    Have a holly jolly killmas
    And in case I wasn’t clear
    Oh by golly dodge a volley, of hot bullets, this year!

    Have a holly jolly killmas
    And when you walk down the street
    Say hello to ancient foes
    On battlefields you’ll meet

    Oh no, the death toll grows
    Anyone can see
    Somebody lies to you
    On cable TV

    Have a holly jolly killmas
    And in case I wasn’t clear
    Oh by golly Biden’s folly, brings more misery, next year!

    Reply ↓
  16. Zagonostra

    >Russia will reply Julian Macfarlane

    Good Media people will tell you The Fall of Assad is a forerunner to The Fall of Putin and The Fall of Xi Jinping.

    Well, maybe not the “Fall,” but it certainly was a set-back. Russia/Putin by announcing that there will be a retaliation, seems to be have a milquetoast flavor. You would have thought the the response was primed and would be instantaneous, but no. Like Iran, they seem to telescope their response and targets ahead of time. I don’t get it.

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post author

      No, the last time they did the Oreshnik, followed by the biggest strikes evah on Ukraine electrical production and taking out 5 ATACMS launchers.

      The reason it seems wimpy is the press here didn’t report on them.

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    3. Mikel

      “You would have thought the the response was primed and would be instantaneous, but no.”

      And leaves no doubt about what is being responded to. Probably would force more news coverage of a response.

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  18. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Who’s afraid of George Soros? Indian Punchline

    This weird obsession with Soros has always mystified me. It originates from somewhere unseen, Netanyahu just one day out of the blue decided he was enemy #1 in the whole wide world.

    When I was involved with Occupy the neocons and anti-Occupy folks were arguing that Occupy was funded by Soros. Always seemed to always bring him up, seemed to be operating from some unseen script or playbook somewhere. Before Occupy, and before I was accused of being Soros funded, I had never even heard of Soros.

    It was around that time Netanyahu in particular, and the Israeli right, seemed to have a major grievance with him, targeting him relentlessly. The standard was to accuse him of being a Nazi. (For the record, Soros was a Jewish child hidden by a Christian family in Nazi-occupied Hungary, he barely escaped the camps.)

    Fast forward to now and I read in Indian Punchline that Soros is a neocon, which I doubt given the projects his foundation supports. This piece reads to me as if the lies around him have been repeated often enough that IP now believes them, a major victory for Netanyahu.

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    3. pjay

      Soros has long been a right-wing boogie man who has been blamed for almost everything right-wingers don’t like. Since he was Jewish, he has also been a convenient foil for antisemitic International Jewish One-World Conspiracy types.

      He has also been a major funder and supporter of neoliberal color revolutions worldwide, as this article suggests, often using his resources and the “private” cover of his NGOs to partner with and amplify the actions of the CIA and State Department to destabilize uncooperative nations. This is well-documented and pretty well known today. I don’t know about his role in current Indian politics. But such allegations are not made out of thin air.

      The fact that he has been targeted by paranoid “conspiracy theorists” on the right provides a convenient excuse for ridiculing anyone who points out his actual role in various foreign and domestic policy adventures (needless to say the antisemitic stuff helps as well). It is perhaps possible to distinguish “neocon” and “neoliberal” factions of our national security establishment, but since their desired policy goals are often indistinguishable I can understand the use of the “neocon” label here.

      Reply ↓
  19. mrsyk

    Dr. Mahmoud Al-Namleh,
    Dr. Saeed Joudeh,
    Professor Abdelsalam Abu Zaida
    A what point do we arrive at “enough is enough”? How many more? Bloody hell.
    Rest in peace.

    Reply ↓
      1. Emma

        It literally is, in the sense that the Mafia is often called Murder, Inc.

        Aaron Good of American Exception podcast is doing a series exploring the role of the Jewish mafia in doing the dirty work for the American oligarchy, founding of Israel, and the assassination of JFK. Israel was a Mafia state from the start and engaged in all kinds of organized crime activities, in addition to “legal” stuff like arming and training right wing regimes in Africa and Latin America.

        This is outside of the series, but he brings some of this up in his interview with Larry Wilkerson.

        https://youtu.be/9Fh2svieFaA?si=GCc234RiZ20P8cS6

        Reply ↓
  20. DJG, Reality Czar

    Gothamist: Feds in a panic sending radar to New Jerseyites in a panic. To quote:

    “Meanwhile, a tense Congressional hearing revealed that FBI officials still do not know who is behind the drone activity.”

    Che sorpresa. The FBI doesn’t know~!

    As for me, my money as the cause is on either (1) Caltiki the immortal monster or (2) Mothra.

    Never rule out Mothra.

    [In Chicago, such drone sightings would be an advertisement for Mr. Beef on Orleans. Here in the Undisclosed Region, we don’t have drone sightings, although nearby Monte Musinè has been visited by UFOs and other apparitions, just like any other reputable mountain. Undoubtedly, the UFO pilots were looking for a good recipe for bonet.]

    All in all, though, I see the drone sightings as a metaphor for the new U.S. age of anxiety.

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    1. The Rev Kev

      The whole thing smells of a psyop. You’ve had people claim that there is a Chinese mothership off the coast of the US sending these drones over which is ridiculous. The government and the media are only happy when they are making the public frantic with worry and scared out of their wits and this is no different. Remember the induced panic when a Chinese weather balloon was blown off course and flew over the US? They never did show people the shot down remains of that balloon, did they? I’ve seen videos of some of those drones and wondered why you don’t have people following them in cars or getting vigilantes using their own drones to crash into these UFO drones to bring them down to be examined. They do it in the Ukraine.

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      2. Es s Ce Tera

        Indeed, if the feds are sending drone detecting radar, why even announce it and thus tip off the drone operators, eliminating your one opportunity to figure it out? In what universe does that make sense to do? Unless the drone operators are themselves the feds, perhaps?

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    2. ambrit

      How about CaliTikiToki? A wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Valley Influencers Alliance LLP.
      What is “fun” here is that the people reporting their sightings often jump right to the “drone” explanation. This brings to mind Jacques Vallee’s observation that the UFOs, whatever they may be, are usually described in terms common to the era of the sightings.
      Stay safe. Keep watching the skies.

      Reply ↓
  21. DJG, Reality Czar

    Patrick Lawrence: Center Cannot Hold.

    Always worth a read. There is much detail in this article as well as many insights.

    Just one quote: “And what unfolds in France as we speak — Macron says he will shortly name a new premier — is a variant of what we witness across the neoliberal world, if I can suggest this term. Democratic process is to be sacrificed at the altar of power.”

    Romania, anyone?

    Looking back in European post-WWII history, we have Ukraine. One million dead soldiers. In a population now estimated at 25 million. Every family has been destroyed.

    The dismantling of Yugoslavia. It was too big a counterweight of imperial designs in the Balkans.

    The regime of the Colonels in Greece no longer looks like an isolated event. It seemed peculiar and horrible at the time, even a tactical blunder on the apart of the U S of A. It was a rehearsal.

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Teddy Roosevelt thought we should get into the imperialism business but wasn’t so smug after one of his sons died in WW1.

      Of course as long it’s far away Ukrainians getting slaughtered then “damn the torpedoes full speed ahead.”

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    2. Wukchumni

      This ‘Decembris’ movement is kinda reminiscent of the farewell tour when the Iron Curtain came down. It was a series of incremental incidentals that led to collapse, and nobody would a figured, just like now, who had Assad sacked on their crystal balls?

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        Remember that “d–n the torpedoes, full speed ahead” was uttered during Admiral Farragut’s assault on Mobile Bay, Alabama, during the American War Between the States. The Civil War, an original Colour Revolution?

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  22. The Rev Kev

    “France’s New PM: Is the Wait Over?”

    I suppose that for Macron, he has two things that he wants in a new PM. They have to be a centrist and they have to be loyal to him. Considering the numbers that the left and the right have, I do not think that they will treat the next PM any better than Barnier. Why should they? Macro is only selecting his centrist buddies for office holders and blocking people from the left and the right. And this goes back to the election that he called which he did not have to any kept his Cabinet in the dark until he announced it. Maybe he should have gone for a grand coalition but that is not Macron’s style. He wants all the power so France is now stuck with an unstable government for the next coupla years.

    Reply ↓
    1. Robert Gray

      Nice one, Rev. Way back when that Hoosier fella Buttitch was truncated to Mayo Pete, I smiled and adopted that form for all subsequent references (not that there have been so very many) to himself. Now you’ve given the world another one:

      > Why should they? Macro is only selecting his centrist buddies …

      Macro he is and Macro he shall henceforth be. Good on ya, mate.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        Maybe Macro can write an MS Word Macro to randomly select a stooge from his Excel DB every three months as the new PM?

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  23. Anon

    Re: How to Trust a Trump Voter

    That second paragraph is interesting:

    Second, the ‘arrogance’ of liberal elites is largely an invention of right-wing media. Long before Trump, talk radio and cable TV hosts practised the art of creating political community through a sense of shared victimhood – Trump only brought it to a head when he explicitly told his supporters at rallies that ‘we’re all victims.’ The point is not that the supposedly resentful ‘deplorables’ never have reason to complain about injustice; rather, it’s that ‘elite condescension’ is less an actual experience than a political meme that always fits.

    Having heard of the premise and not having read either book myself, but wouldn’t Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? and Listen, Liberal contradict that entire paragraph?

    Reply ↓
  24. AG

    MONTHLY REVIEW – The New Denial of Imperialism on the Left
    This is from Nov. 3rd. So I hope I am not reposting here something.

    But at least based in Germany I come across this failure of the Left every single day in all shapes and forms.

    https://monthlyreview.org/2024/11/01/the-new-denial-of-imperialism-on-the-left/

    by John Bellamy Foster

    intro:

    It is a sign of the depth of the structural crisis of capital in our time that not since the onset of the First World War and the dissolution of the Second International—during which nearly all of the European social democratic parties joined the interimperialist war on the side of their respective nation-states—has the split on imperialism on the left taken on such serious dimensions.1 Although the more Eurocentric sections of Western Marxism have long sought to attenuate the theory of imperialism in various ways, V. I. Lenin’s classic work Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (written in January–June 1916) has nonetheless retained its core position within all discussions of imperialism for over a century, due not only to its accuracy in accounting for the First and Second World Wars, but also to its usefulness in explaining the post-Second World War imperial order.2 Far from standing alone, however, Lenin’s overall analysis has been supplemented and updated at various times by dependency theory, the theory of unequal exchange, world-systems theory, and global value chain analysis, taking into account new historical developments. Through all of this, there has been a basic unity to Marxist imperialism theory, informing global revolutionary struggles.

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  25. The Rev Kev

    “Confronting risks of mirror life”

    ‘All known life is homochiral. DNA and RNA are made from “right-handed” nucleotides, and proteins are made from “left-handed” amino acids.’

    Just had a thought based on an old Robert Heinlein story. So what if Country A wants to wreck Country B. So they breed a species of wheat that has “right-handed” amino acids. They then get Country C to sell the seeds for Country B to grow their wheat crops with. All looks well as they grow and are harvested except for one thing. You could eat a truck load of bread made from this wheat but your body would never get any nutrition from it as it only handles protein from “left-handed” amino acids. By the time this is discovered, you have starvation undermining that country.

    Reply ↓
    2. Michaelmas

      Rev Kev: ...You could eat a truck load of bread made from this wheat but your body would never get any nutrition from it as it only handles protein from “left-handed” amino acids.

      During the Cold War, both sides distributed crop-blighting pathogens in each others’ territories to lower the enemy’s harvests; likewise, spread flu viruses among the enemy population to crimp their industrial productivity. (I used to have contacts in the biodefense/bioweapons business as it was part of my turf as a journalist.)

      So what you’re proposing is nothing new in that general sense and, in fact, I’ve heard your specific idea proposed before. But there’s far too much risk of such reengineered seeds and the amino acids themselves escaping (via the decayed plants in the fields, or carried by the wind, rain, insects, birds) into the general environment beyond the targeted nation’s borders.

      What a good bioweapon needs is a vector that supplies targeting specificity. A good example of this is DARPA’s ‘Insect Allies’ program, one of the technologies field-tested in the US biolab sites in Ukraine —

      https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2016-10-19
      DARPA Enlists Insects to Protect Agricultural Food Supply
      New program aims for insect delivery of protective genes to modify mature plants within a single growing season

      …using targeted gene therapy to protect mature plants within a single growing season. DARPA proposes to leverage a natural and very efficient two-step delivery system to transfer modified genes to plants: insect vectors and the plant viruses they transmit. In the process, DARPA aims to transform certain insect pests into “Insect Allies,” the name of the new effort.

      And to be clear, this was not theoretical. It was done. With this technology, a potentially large number of specific genes can be selected to be inserted into crop plants out in the fields — including an enemy state’s fields — and there’s precise targeting specificity and far less genetic engineering required than what you propose.

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  26. Max Z

    So, Hezbollah does not have 100k missiles? Now wait a minute… And everyone who said it sounded so sure of themselves. Though in retrospect I always wondered where did that number come from. It’s not like Hezbollah is subject to regular independent missile audits.

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      The problem is that it is not just the number of missiles available, but their targeting and their drone swarm front guards.
      True existential missile targeting on Israel would be to take out the factories that make the high profit export items. Next, take out the offices where the cyberforce programmers and operators work.
      Unfortunately, when the Ukraine finally collapses, America will have all of that “Excess Political Economic Capital” sloshing around in the DofC appropriations trough to be redirected. The State of Israel will become even more dependent on American largess.

      Reply ↓
  27. Wukchumni

    Gooooooooooood Mooooooorning Fiaaaaaaatnam!

    The platoon had mutually decided to slit our risks of triskaidekaphobia* becoming rampant in the ranks-a clear and present danger on occasion when it befell on a Friday, and more pressing than overhead action near Area 50.99 in the pine barrens, that is if said extraterrestrials don’t decide to stay and becom ‘para-illegals’ as they will henceforth be called.

    …what do they bring to us other than a veritable shitload of air mile points?

    * if you’re staying on the 14th floor of a hotel, stop deluding yourself that you really aren’t on the 13th floor, just because the elevator suggests there isn’t one

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  28. The Rev Kev

    “Amid cuts to basic research, New Zealand scraps all support for social sciences”

    Classic neoliberal thinking. If you have research going on, you should be able to see some sort of return for it on the quarterly accounts. They would have closed down the Manhattan Project on the grounds that it was not showing a profit on the first year. Hmmm. Bad example. Point is that historically research has always paid off and the big advances came from projects where they were not making money for several years but when they succeeded, that is when the big advances came and the money flowed.

    Reply ↓
    1. ciroc

      Interestingly, a Japanese study found that while researchers can achieve more with larger grants, in terms of investment efficiency, it is more effective to allocate smaller grants to a larger number of researchers than to allocate larger grants to a smaller number of researchers.

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  29. DanB

    Note: I posted this comment on another thread yesterday, but I feel it’s relevant to one of the Tweets listed above. I’ve been a daily NC reader since its appearance in the mid-2000s and I occasionally comment here. Israel has, I’m my view, fatal vulnerabilities. It is wholly dependent upon the USA for its continued existence. This support is a contingency, not an absolute certainty. Also, its army is flaccid and in several respects endangered. Its air-force is formidable but only because the US supplies it and it has no opposition in the sky. I suspect that Iran could severely damage or destroy Israel’s air-force -and Israeli society. If that occurs the entire balance of power equation is upended. There are other factors to consider regarding Israels’ quest for permanent bully-boy dominance, like its precarious economic status, out-migration, small population and geographic size, and the wherewithal of its benefactor, the USA. In sum, in the short term, a big win for Israel; long-term, the inevitable end of Israel.

    Reply ↓
    1. AG

      One fear I read appears to be that a huge confrontation between Iran-Israel would pull RU in after Iran had had supposedly done some serious damage to Israeli structures. I don´t know if genuine experts share this or not.
      I could however imagine this Syria business satisfies Israel in a way that it may expand into that area and might attempt to cut off Iran in the long run instead of seeking hot war. With the goal of setting up an Iron Curtain just the way it might return in Europe. Richard Medhurst mentioned the Silk Road as a perceived threat which they try to counter. Although I have the impression Israeli nat. sec. state is among the most flexible ones when it comes to business ties globally. But eventually the rough idea is a bipolar world where the US is fine with simply disconnecting their sphere of influence from those who dare trade with China. Since they can´t bully many countries the way they did they now bully their allies into subservience. i.e. no-no to China and Russia. BRICS conveniently would be confined to the non-US part.

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  30. JB

    There’s a notable controversy in Ireland, where a recent and supposedly left-wing party the Social Democrats, ended up having an ex-Palantir (i.e. basically CIA) employee elected as a TD (like an MP in UK Parliament) – and now just after the election, dumped him from the party after it emerged he still held hundreds of thousands in Palantir shares, while the party is supposedly Pro-Palestine (which is a bit odd, as you’d think simply having been a Palantir employee is discrediting enough):

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/social-democrats-deputy-leader-ocallaghan-very-angry-about-hayes-incident-1706892.html

    Today they called in the bomb squad for a package addressed to this politician (remains to be seen what the story is there). Previously the party had been under threat from the far right, too:

    https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2024/12/13/army-and-garda-security-operation-ongoing-at-social-democrats-headquarters-after-suspect-package-sent-to-office/

    Reply ↓
  31. Wukchumni

    Grandmother, 80, is killed in freak accident in her Sleep Number bed Daily Mail
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Not mentioned in the article, but obviously #13 was a bad choice, Granny.

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  32. petal

    Re Robert Sterling’s post: I saw it the other day and was disgusted. My work colleague had liked it(he’s a jerk, par for the course for him after how he’s treated me). I couldn’t read through the comments, was too upset by such an elitist, out of touch post. Other former colleagues now in biotech and pharma liked it as well. When people show you who they are, believe them.

    Reply ↓
    1. Screwball

      FTA:

      This guy—not the person who murdered him in cold blood—was everything that’s right and good about America, and the American Dream. May his memory be a blessing, and may his example inspire all of us to do better.

      Wow! The first sentence (bold mine) is a dandy, and so is the guy who wrote it.

      Reply ↓

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