Alzheimer’s Mortality Lowest for Taxi, Ambulance Drivers MedPage Today
First baby conceived via breakthrough fertility tech born New Atlas
Human Minibrains Launched Into Space Thrived in an Unexpected Way Science Alert
Climate/Environment
Biden’s LNG-Export Study Presents ‘Speed Bump’ for Trump BNN Bloomberg
Developers eye Louisiana, Texas coasts for offshore carbon storage Floodlight
Pandemics
Flu surveillance flags probable H5 avian flu case in Delaware CIDRAP
India
India-Russia energy deal underscores Modi’s multiforeign policy Semafor
Japan
Honda, Nissan eye merger talks to form world’s 3rd biggest auto group Kyodo News
China?
Chinese astronauts complete world record-breaking spacewalk at 9 hours South China Morning Post
China’s factories seek to Trump-proof business by going global The Business Times
China Dominates Global Containership Construction as Korean Shipyards Face Decline gCaptain
Why Anti-China Economics is Failing Un-Diplomatic
Cratering Effects: Chinese Missile Threats to US Air Bases in the Indo-Pacific The Stimson Center
Old Blighty
Prince Andrew spy scandal rocks British establishment Politico
Hundreds of websites to shut down under UK’s ‘chilling’ internet laws The Telegraph
Private Equity Is Making Big Money From UK’s Most Vulnerable Bloomberg
European Disunion
Slovak, Hungarian, Austrian and Italian groups sign declaration backing continued gas transit through Ukraine Bne Intellinews
Syraqistan
Western powers expand engagements with new leadership in Syria The New Arab
US veterans: Didn’t we fight Al Qaeda terrorists for a reason? Responsible Statecraft
Reporter: Is $10,000,000 for Jolani still valid?
Miller: It is
Reporter: So if someone arrested him and gave him to US, he/she is gonna take 10 million dollars
Miller: I’m not gonna deal with hypotheticals
Matt Lee: The reward can’t be claimed by a government official… pic.twitter.com/Z1H5ka10pv
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) December 17, 2024
Netanyahu: Israeli troops will occupy Syria buffer zone for ‘foreseeable future’ AP
Hezbollah without Damascus: Adapting in the wake of a severed supply line The Cradle
***
Turkiye masses troops on Syria border, invasion ‘imminent’: Report The Cradle
Trump Comments on Turkey’s ‘Unfriendly Takeover’ of Syria Using Proxy Forces: Regular Forces Deploy to Aleppo Military Watch
Turkish government bans metalworkers’ strike as war in Middle East deepens WSWS
Turkey, one of the world’s most dangerous places to work, and one of the most hostile to trade unions Equal Times
***
Israel launches first domestically-built quantum computer Globes
Israeli Spyware Firm Paragon Sold to U.S., as Trump’s Digital Arsenal Grows Haaretz
To succeed in defense-tech, Israeli startups must stake their claim in the US CTech
***
Irish support for Palestinians stands firm, despite Israeli anger Al Jazeera
Illegal munitions flights to Israel continue through Irish territory The Ditch
New Not-So-Cold War
Trump Says It Was ‘Stupid’ for Biden to Let Ukraine Use US Weapons to Strike Deeper into Russia AP
Talk is cheap News Forensics
***
FSB Arrests Ukraine-Recruited Terrorist For Deadly Blast That Killed General Kirillov Sputnik
Throwing Gasoline on the Fire, Ukraine Murders Russian General and Aide with a Bomb Larry Johnson, Sonar21
Russia – Agree To Be Provoked Or Fall For Lucy’s Football? Moon of Alabama
***
Zelensky insists on direct US ties amidst Orban’s remarks KBN
NATO takes over coordination of military aid to Kyiv from US, source says Reuters
No concrete plan yet to deploy Western troops to Ukraine — Berlin The New Voice of Ukraine
As US pushes Kyiv to lower draft age, why won’t Ukraine conscript younger men? The Kyiv Independent
South of the Border
US, Trinidad and Tobago Renew Military Agreements as PM Denies ‘Venezuela Conflict’ Troop Deployment Venezuelanalysis
O Canada
No more middle road Canadian Dimension
Trump Transition
Is Trump Playing for Keeps? The American Conservative
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
CCTV Cameras Are Everywhere — And They’re Changing How Your Brain Works ZME Science
Boeing
NASA astronauts who flew on Boeing’s spaceship to remain in space even longer NBC News
Imperial Collapse Watch
Ukraine and Syria, A Western Plan Goes Awry Larry Johnson, Sonar21
AI
Character.ai Lets Users Role Play With Chatbots Based on School Shooters Gizmodo
Uber for Nursing: How an AI-Powered Gig Model Is Threatening Health Care Roosevelt Institute
Healthcare?
Medical debt to be eliminated for 23,000 residents: governor NBC Connecticut
Los Angeles County announces $2 billion Medical Debt Relief Program CBS News
Guillotine Watch
Luigi Mangione Charged With Murder as ‘An Act of Terrorism’ for Killing of Insurance CEO Common Dreams
UnitedHealth Gets Luigi Mangione T-Shirt Pulled With Copyright Complaint Gizmodo
Four Luigi Mangione Documentaries Are in the Works (So Far) Vulture
***
Giant Companies Took Secret Payments to Allow Free Flow of Opioids New York Times
“Unprecedented” decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts Ars Technica
Our Famously Free Press
NYT Panics Over Outrage at Insurance Companies FAIR
The New York Times Ignored Source’s Doubts About Hamas Docs Provided by Israel Drop Site
So CNN is now no longer claiming it freed him. https://t.co/iV5ZawpGuK pic.twitter.com/0LqWwCAkn4
— gathara (@gathara) December 17, 2024
The Bezzle
Tesla is having major issue with its self-driving computer inside new cars Electrek
Trump team to scrap car-crash disclosure rule opposed by Tesla – report GlobalData
Driverless bus service in Scotland to be withdrawn due to lack of interest The Guardian
Class Warfare
An Interview With a Boxer Who Is Paying the Price How Things Work
Meet My Pal, the Ancient Philosopher Nautilus
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
113 comments
Comments are closed.
GOD KNOWS WHERE THE MONEY ALL GOES
(melody borrowed from Love Grows by Edison Lighthouse)
We’ve been printin’ money, money by the tonny
To salvage our economy
Only God knows where the money all goes
We’re safe because MMT
How it works is hazy, a dollar’s like a daisy,
Print it and then set it free
Only God knows where the money all goes
We’re safe because MMT
Accounting of the classical kind says a dime is a dime,
And a dime it will stay (hey!)
You use it when you buy or you sell, hold it for clientele,
For their odd rainy day
I learned this from a feller, he’s my favorite teller,
Workin’ on his PhD
He says God knows where the money all goes
But we’re safe because MMT
When dollars land in your hand or mine, we’re the consumer kind,
And we spend it today (hey!)
If it comes from a bottomless well, how could we even tell?
Everybody got paid!
Wall Street fortunetellers all head for the cellars
When Congress turns to budgetry
Only God knows where the money all goes
We’re safe because MMT
> Only God knows where the money all goes
I believe that nearly all of what is not taxed out of existence winds up in bank accounts of those who already have a lot.
Audit requirements, sunset provisions and transparency in legislation would be desirable to most people. Therefore, little chance of that trifecta hitting.
Sunsetting, in moderate use already, and not just for Biden’s early lids.
Well done, but I have to stand up for My Money Tree, which is also all of yours (not valid for citizenry from other countries-you have your own safe arbors) and this modern society we’ve come to know and loathe couldn’t keep going without steady growth in all things, with bumper harvests when it comes to lucre as of late.
Thanks for Another winner “Only God knows where all the money goes”
That Atmos article —
https://atmos.earth/waste-not/
explains some of it—replete with stunning photos of subjects and backgrounds
Those not naked should give it a read…
BigAdmin.
RAMJAC at your service.
Pallet loads lost by the military and swamp agents overseas??
“Chinese astronauts complete world record-breaking spacewalk at 9 hours’
The Chinese have been building the Tiangong space station for only a few years now and it is supposed to have a service life of 15 years. They just do steady progress in their aims instead of spectacular achievements like with this extended spacewalk. It will be interesting to see when, in not too many years, when the International Space Station heads down to the spacecraft cemetery in the south Pacific and the only space station in orbit will be a Chinese one-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_space_station
In not too many years, the Russian Orbital Space Station (wikipedia.org) will have it’s first modules in the orbit, too.
Can you imagine Mr. Trump giving a speech: “To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.”
JFK wanted to put a man on the moon (we’d already missed all the other space firsts.) He did it. We won! Cold War victory!!! USA. USA. USA.
Anything that happens in space is a direct result of the moon landing and America.
The Galactic Federation is holding out on our application for membership. We’ll eventually be admitted as Planet China, and earthlings will be forever, thankfully known as “the Chinese”.
And a hundred years after that, the Chinese will be running the supply chains for the entire Galactic Federation and Amazon will be merely a subsidiary. :)
The Hamilton Nolan interview with boxer Heather Hardy is a must read for a lot of reasons, including that it’s extremely compelling writing. A metaphor for the class war. It’s like being dropped into the ring with a tiger and only one of you is coming out.
I hope she manages to get proper care for her brain injuries.
I really don’t understand how any conscious human would enter into boxing and not understand that few leave the ring without debilitating physical impacts.
Read that interview. She felt like her boxing was the only talent she had to make sure her child had a future better than her own. And from that Zip Code, she was absolutely right.
(sponsored by the Decembris Movement)
O Canada!
Your home and native land!
Trudeau love not in much demand
With glowering hearts you seethe the guy
Trudeau words not worth a penny!
From far and wide
O Canada, you stand on guard for thee
God keep your land glorious and free of Justin!
O Canada, you stand on guard for he
>Throwing Gasoline on the Fire, Ukraine Murders Russian General and Aide with a Bomb Larry Johnson,
Ukraine has crossed another redline and I believe that Putin will allow the Russian General Staff to carry out a retaliatory strike that will target senior Ukrainian military and intelligence officials. This is now personal for the Russian generals and they will exact a Russian version of a pound of flesh. I suspect it will be far more than just a pound.
I’m not so sure Putin will do much. In fact, I’m more inclined to regard Paul Craig Robert’s view that Putin’s is inherently disinclined to take on the West no matter how many redlines are crossed. Why Russia is supplying energy to Poland and Romania when they are hosting NATO missiles pointed at them is puzzling, and If I recall, they are still supplying the U.S. with some material. This assassination may just be swept under the rug. The Crocus City Hall shooting also took place in Crocus in Moscow, yet I’ve seen little reporting on what consequences were met out to planners.
The narrative that Russia like a “hot knife through butter” that was airing from those alt media podcasters that I’ve been listing since beginning of conflict has broken bitterly off the mark. Over 1M dead young Ukrainian men confirmed by dead by ABC last week, and still conflict lingers like a deadly sore that should have been lanced long ago. But who knows, Russia as many have also claimed did not have the capacity back when conflict started.
I think the death of General Kirillov will create the “Streisand effect” and more people will be exposed to the nexus of U.S. chemical/biological activities and Hunter Biden. The implications are disturbing.
I was wondering if we should be attaching any significance that of all generals, the Ukrainians wanted to off this guy in particular, one who specializes in the Ukrainian bio-labs. Was there additional damage this hit was intended to mitigate? Or are we to anticipate that the Ukrainians are planning a biological/chemical attack?
Well, I do remember that he was the Russian spokesperson at the UN Security Council when Russia was accusing the USA of operating biological warfare labs in Ukraine in the early days of the SMO, but that’s probably just a coincidence.
What we have done in the West is adopt terrorism as part of our method of war. Not only is terrorism (versus military) are means of war, we are doing it through proxies and unseen entities. I don’t know what Mr. Putin will or will not do. When Larry speaks of “Generals”, he is only considering the military which is odd as Larry is formerly of the CIA. Mr. Putin can turn in other directions and if he does, it will not be publicized. In the UK, Germany and the US, explosions have occurred at various manufacturing plants. In the case of the US, I recall Larry pointing out that the explosion has not been explained by US authorities. I don’t know the reason for the explosions but maybe we are experiencing Russia’s terrorism in return for ours. Mr. Putin and other Russian representatives are not likely to stand up and make the claim. If we force Mr. Putin and Russians into a war of terrorism, we will probably not like the result.
Most likely explanation for the fires and explosions in Western ammunition factories are hasty attempts to expand production without renewing machines and hiring cheap, non-expert workforce who don’t know how to handle explosives – but are learning the hard way.
Where I live the average seems to be one explosion every decade in ammunition/explosive production or storage facilities. You average that over all NATO members and you get 3.2 serious accidents every year during normal production run.
Run more than normal, then add some human factors, and you get stuff going boom much aften.
Terrorism as part of our method of war. Yes and add to that attacks on infrastructures such as NG pipelines, “color revolutions”, economic sanctions etc. Yet the West accuses Russia for waging hybrid wars as if a dirty thing which does not apply to the West. It must be that if you have “values” you can do whatever you want. Even genocide is kosher.
First time I’ve seen the expression “genocide is kosher,” an expression that can be taken as both figuratively and literally true.
People should also know: Russian two-star generals do not live like aristocrats.
“Cratering Effects: Chinese Missile Threats to US Air Bases in the Indo-Pacific”
There is a reason that Chinese missiles are a threat to US Air bases. Check out the map in the following tweet-
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1784123161392668938
So what happened is that the US put hundreds of bases into surrounding China which sounds like a good idea for dealing with a backward nation. But now China has the ability to shoot back and as we all know – ‘Incoming has right of way!’ You might find that Chinese subs will launch missiles at the bases in Hawaii too as why wouldn’t they? Shades of Tora! Tora! Tora!
So the article goes on to suggest building hundreds of more bases and getting the allies to do their part in attacking China. They go on about trying to protect the runways but it might be that the Chinese hit the fuel bunkers and machine shops instead. So maybe not getting into a shooting war with China might be a better idea but negotiating an understanding instead. It would be cheaper.
What goes around comes around.
Plans go back to the Dewey taking Manila and the Russo Japanese war of 1905. Plan Orange or Rainbow. The US Navy fight its way across the Pacific to subdue PRC (Japan)!
The 1943 version of Plan Orange had SeaBees building runways on suitable island/coral atolls from the Solomons to the New Guinea environs as the fleet pushed the Japanese back.
The answer as the “brown shoe” US navy said during WW II is 25 fast carrier battle groups (they wanted 40, but Henry Kaiser talked FDR into 100 light and escort carriers) at more $30 billion a piece and more than 40 years to realize!
The heirs of Kaiser sell insurance not ships!
Kissinger opened China as “one China”, recognizing Taiwan as PRC!
Duplicity is the US!
Study Alfred Thayer Mahan. The answer is a major naval engagement somewhere west of the dateline if PRC would allow.
USN needs to share!
I enjoyed reading this part about the necessity and vulnerability of refueling the F35s…
I expect China can build so many missiles like the Oreshnik no matter how much quick-setting concrete for runway repairs is stockpiled, The Stimson Center’s suggestions amount to wishful thinking. Every MIC hack wants a pony.
I understand there are identical limitations using the F35s based in central Alaska versus Russia. Western Alaska is at the edge of the operating radius, necessitating refueling. Ditto for Europe. And none of this addresses the extensive sustainment requirements to keep the F35s operational.
It would ,but alas as Dr Diesen describes , the West has painted through internal propaganda for so long Russia and China ( and Iran, N Korea) as evil ,that good negotiating with evil is not possible for internal consumption.
Just look at how Sweden is preparing its population for half a million deaths with the upcoming war with Russia.
I fear this has a momentum of its own that will only be stopped by something horrific.
This effort has been going on for a while now:
Tinian Island: WWII’s Busiest Airfield Comes Back Into Focus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bck_CHmtWPI
What I don’t get is how American elites think about this conflict. Worried about “projection of power”? Missiles? Taiwan? Taiwan is still officially part of One China according to the Dept of State web page:
U.S. Relations With Taiwan https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/
If I go looking through this report I cannot find any reason WHY there would be a conflict, and even if I go looking through the whole Stimson Center web site, I cannot find any articles/reports where China is a military threat.
Honda, Nissan eye merger talks to form world’s 3rd biggest auto group Kyodo News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This kinda has the feel of Studebaker & Packard merging in the mid 50’s, only to be a goner by the early 60’s.
Why Honda would want to sully their reputation taking on Nissan is a quandary, is it all about quantity?
So what would it be called then if the deal goes through? Honsan? Or Nisda? I hope that it is not going to be a Japanese version of the Boeing – McDonnell Douglas merger though.
I’m going with Nisszilla
Datcar?
Disscar?
Dothercar.
Is the Isuzu trademark still available?
i still remember those vehicles from the 80’s.
I think Isuzu still exists. But they’d only been making commercial trucks since 1990s, though.
Isuzu co produced the GM Colorado and Canyon small utility pickup trucks 90s up to 2015. Great utilitarian vehicles, reasonably priced. Still have our 2010 and deeply dread having to replace it. Isuzu still available (to my knowledge) in the Asian market. USA wants bling over function and GM can’t allow a joint venture to pollute their domestic cash cow profits.
A friend had a Daihatsu Charade, and if you pantomimed having a shitty Japanese car, it lived up to its name.
A Japanese portmanteau would be “Nippon,” ironically…
Yes, 日本 — or the reverse, 本日 / Honnichi, which would mean Today. . . .
Anything to get a Z car
Insert aphorism about a drowning man pulling down a well-intentioned strong swimmer.
Assuming there are a lot of Japanese domestic political pressures (and investment bankers with spreadsheets using *very gemerous* assumptions), but Honda would be insane for taking on Nissan.
Let Nissan collapse and then see what is left over, unless the JPN govt wants to own British Leyland 2.0
It seems to me the only truly innovative car designs are coming from Korea, Hyundai and Kia to be specific. All other cars seem bland, all taking on a very similar look. It’s sad that the Chinese EV’s aren’t allowed to compete in the U.S.
I’m looking to trade in my 2016 Honda Civic, maybe I should wait and see if the Honda and Nissan merge generates any innovations. Right now, new cars are just too damn expensive and with interest rates higher then recent years, they’ll have to get creative to get me in their show room.
>>> All other cars seem bland, all taking on a very similar look.
When one has to optimize among (1) fuel efficiency/emissions mandates, (2) pedestrian crash regulations, (3) cost, there are a finite number of ways to shape the profile of the car—the only main differentiators are the grill, headlight flourishes, and side swish flourishes.
We will never see the diversity of pre-2000 aesthetics in vehicles ever again.
Good riddance. It’s long past time we all grew up as a culture beyond our adolescent identification of ourselves by our possessions. Not going to happen, sadly, but one can dream of a better world.
Yes, and the other constraints are stamped body construction, covered with modular components (doors, head/taillight units) and lower body components (‘bumpers’, grills) made of molded plastic. The creases/shapes you see on a modern made car is a method of strengthening the ‘crumpleness’ of very thin metal/plastic.
Don’t get me started on not having options like Toyota HiLux or Chinese EVs. We’re close to needing a new vehicle and they’re all overpriced loaded with useless unserviceable features. Nissan kind of lost it’s way, even their Frontier utility truck base model is an over $30k bucket of bling with a tiny bed. Thinking Mazda is the one maintaining it’s soul.
Honda’s sales have been shrinking for the past few years – from 5.3 million in fiscal 2019 to 3.7 million in fiscal 2023. In China so far in 2024, Honda’s sales are down over 40% (from 1.23 million in 2023, itself a 10% y-o-y fall), and with it having no competitive EV products in China that trend is set to continue in 2025 and 2026; same in the rest of Asia outside Japan. That will leave Honda as a significantly smaller and predominantly North American company with a Japanese arm (with only small sales in Europe and RoW).
Nissan is in the same position in China, just more advanced with China sales tracking more than 20% below 2023 (794,000, itself a 24% y-o-y drop). Its is also becoming predominantly a North American company with a Japanese arm (and about a third of its sales in Europe and RoW).
So more like two failing car companies seeking to find company for their misery. With the Western manufacturers being utterly absent from the competitive EV space in China this is going to be the future of many other of those companies. VW and Toyota may be the longest to stick it out, as they take an increasing share of the smaller and smaller ICEV segment in China (already less than 50% and quite possibly shrinking to 35% or less in 2025 and lower than 20% in 2026). They will more and more shrink back to the protected markets of South Korea, Japan, the EU and the US+Canada; where ICEV sales will fall much more slowly.
According to media sources, it doth seem like a ceasefire between Hamas and Iz, is imminent:
https://youtu.be/JeEWUBxoPuU?si=Yk4u-ZBKRhb2nb2X
Meh. We’ve heard these lies before from the media.
Netanyahu will yank the football away for the umpteenth time. He is waiting for Trump to be inaugurated.
What happens if the Great Pumpkin doesn’t show up on account of Chuck Schumer rallying the Donkey Show party faithful on January 6th in Humordor to a popular uprising, allowing the other Teetotalitarian leader to stay in office… everything of course orchestrated by Kamala-yeah she’s that good.
Opium must flow!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_British_East_India_Company_(1801).svg
Here is a link that might work better-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_East_India_Company#/media/File:Flag_of_the_British_East_India_Company_(1801).svg
Oddly enough, that is what some British and Americans thought could be the flag of a combined UK – US back in the 19th century, people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
re: Alzheimer’s Mortality Lowest for Taxi, Ambulance Drivers
It occurs to me that another group known for spatial and navigational processing might be gamers.
One of the highest life expectancy expectations is among musical conductors. With their arms slightly raised (good cardio) constant light movement (as in martial arts) and intellectual/emotional engagement, they live pretty long – and have a great time doing it.
This study is ridiculous.
First, they had a WAY lower life expectancy. I do not buy the “age adjusted” business. The driving resulted in them being more likely to die of something else before Alzheimers did them in.
Second, the base group were London taxi drivers. They had to spend 2 years on average riding on bikes all over London learning “the knowledge”. Their brain parameters may not reflect the skill required in driving a cab. It may at most that those who have good enough brains to acquire the knowledge or in the US, to stick to driving a cab, are less likely to get Alzheimers, as in the causality may go the other way.
World bridge org site reports a 2000 study showing bridge players ‘might’ have as much as 75% reduced chance of dementia.
Us ACBL has i think about 150k members, I’m surprised they don’t have more recent studies.
I believe it about bridge players. My grandmother who was a.killer bridge player lived on her own until she was 96 when a broken hip sent her to assisted living and the covid restrictions stopped all her bridge games. She has just started showing signs of dementia. She is 101.
– ‘Western powers expand engagements with new leadership in Syria’ – The New Arab
From the article:
“Western countries were unified on the conditions the new government will have to meet before being allowed in from the cold: it will need to show concrete signs that it is committed to secular governance, protecting minorities and fighting terrorism before Western nations agree to normalise ties.”
Syria used to be a country committed to secular governance that protected minorities (it was governed by one) and fought terrorism (which it had experienced for decades). It was destroyed by “Western countries” and their regional allies by supporting radically sectarian groups who zealously persecuted minorities and terrorized anyone loyal to the legitimate government or holding different beliefs.
I would say the hypocrisy is unbelievable, but of course it is completely believable.
I notice that Jolani now wears a shirt and coat now like when he met the British in Damascus. The French were quick in establishing their embassy as well. The western media go on about how he is a surprisingly pleasant moderate. A guy with a bounty of $10 million on his head still for being a major terrorist. The guy seems to be like a chameleon. Has he claimed that he is LGBTQ as well?
Trans. His birth name was Fatima.
Western countries seem to be desperately bailing water and
hoping for a miracle.
BTW, are the wheels coming off NATO? We have the Biden regime and the rest of NATO trying to Trump-proof the Ukrainian intervention against the incoming head of the most powerful country in NATO while in Eastern Syria we have NATO member Türkiye attacking US proteges Kurds in an area with US garrisons.
There is a big problem here for the Western governments that want to co-opt and control these rebels. They don’t really control much of Syria.
The Kurds and the SDF have the eastern part, with all the oil. Israel is busting a move to take over the South, and the Turks of course are going to take the biggest bite of the enchilada.
With the Latakia and Tartus bases possibly a Russian protectorate, these clowns may end up ruling a land-locked autonomous region with no real power.
One should also remember that there’s Syrian National Army which is technically loyal to the Syrian Interim Government as which is much bigger and control bigger area than Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham which is technically loyal to Syrian Salvation Government, now know as Syrian Transitional Government.
The latter controls Damascus and Aleppo, the first one everything else not controlled by Kurds or Israelis. Seems like ingredients of a proper civil war are still there. and getting more plenty.
As Glenn Diesen says, a major war in Middle East is inevitable, although I wonder what the current violence has been so far in not major war?
This from the second Johnson link was news to me:
That would explain a lot if true. The backstabbing and hypocrisy were running in a lot of different directions. The Russians and Iranians are better off if they can avoid further involvement, and the US would be better off to do the same.
I have no trouble believing that Mossad had penetrated Syrian intelligence. But I don’t believe for a second that the Assad government would betray Iranian forces to Israel, so the reference to “Syrian intelligence” is suspect here. It does seem to be true that Assad resisted advice from both Iran and Russia and that he may have been trying to reduce the IRGC presence to gain favor with the Saudis and the UAE. I agree the backstabbing and hypocrisy runs in many directions, but I think the wording of this statement is misleading.
Johnson doesn’t say “Syrian intelligence” was taking direction from Assad. I agree the wording is ambiguous, but somebody was clearly passing information to Mossad and the disintegrating Syrian Stasi seems like it would contain many likely suspects.
Vanuatu takes the World to court over climate change! https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-international-court-of-justice-takes-on-climate-change
“NASA astronauts who flew on Boeing’s spaceship to remain in space even longer”
Those aren’t NASA astronauts – they are Boeing astronauts. And I am beginning to think that they sabotaged their own space vehicle. They were only suppose to be up there for a week but it has been several months already and it will be several months more before they get back to the ground. So consider how much flight pay they will be owed when they get back. I’d call that good motivation.
…didn’t the Donner Party start serving all-you-can-eat canapés on account of bad planning?… when marooned in their long journey
That thought had just crossed my mind. Do they get time and a half with double time on the weekends?
When Did Throw-Away Culture Become Big Business?
This article is about disposable fashion, but I would proffer the answer (in Jeopardy style because this timeline is like a gameshow) to the title query as “What is 1973”, the year the Bic disposable lighter hit the market.
It was in 1970 when Wilkinson introduced the first disposable blade in a plastic cartridge followed by Bic in 1974 when they came out with a razor where the whole thing – blade and handle – were disposable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor#Single-edge_razors
Must have created a boom for the plastic industry.
Good one. And not just a boom in production of plastics, but promoting it as an improvement to society, strengthening “convenience” as a value.
You used to be able to drive to Willett and Sespe hot springs until around 1970 when the road was closed and a hiking trail in its place, and I was walking to Willett with my longtime backpacking partner in 2007, 6 months after the Day Fire had laid waste to everything north of the Sespe River in a more or less complete takeout, I remember seeing amputated 4 inch wide trees, maybe a foot high. More importantly it completely wiped out the dense understory where truly nothing flammable wasn’t torched in entirety.
So as a result, all of the trash strewn along the sides of where the road had been was quite something to see, when its hidey holes went away.
No plastic of course, and metal and glass in entirety. Pull tops were pretty damn common, even found some old school triangle punch Shasta cola cans from the early 60’s, the color on the can still fairly intact.
I carry a large plastic liner bag for my backpack contents, and using that alone by itself we started picking it up and in a few miles had run out of room for more, so said time treasure may still sit, waiting for another conflagration confirmation.
Damned handy, ergonomically correct, with 30’s art deco design thrown in for a buck fifty…
Yes, you’re about right. the Bic lighter was the vanguard.
Around the turn of the century I was out for a week bagging peaks in the 9 Lakes Basin with friends, one of whom had been in Nepal for many months and had only recently returned, and his prized possession was a Bic lighter with 2 lead plugs in the side, and he’d related that for around 15¢ U.S., enterprising Nepalese would drill a hole in your lighter and using a hypodermic needle, refill it with butane and then put in said lead plug. He bought 30¢ worth.
It was still firing up, but on its last legs…
In Istanbul 50-odd years ago I bought a used Bic with a valve soldered (or melted?) into the bottom, for many refills. Like all lighters, I lost it.
Wow, Bic had an even bigger year in 1973 than I ever knew.
1973 was also the year that the Bic team’s top rider won the Tour de France. That was the spectacular (and doomed) rival of the great Eddy Merckx, a Spaniard whose name was Luis Ocana (spelled with the little twisty thing over the ‘n’ in his name). Eddy skipped the race that year, tho.
(Sorry. Big bicycle geek here.)
The 2017 sci-fi movie Life is set on a spaceship, where the crew includes two scientists who don’t want to return to earth: one has been released from the captivity of his wheelchair by zero-gravity, whereas the other is a flat-out misanthrope.
Another member is Russian, and yet the movie contains a clunky bit of propaganda about Syria. Pentagon approved?
In the end, everyone dies at the tentacles of a Martian invader. I’m thinking it may have come to earth in the Potomac area.
Leading American economists were sure that China was failing in ship-building, and then ceased writing about the failure that wasn’t:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202410/1320959.shtml
October 10, 2024
China secures 70% of global green ship orders in first three quarters of 2024: report
Major indexes of China’s shipbuilding industry have risen steadily in the first three quarters this year, data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed on Thursday. China captured more than 70 percent of global green ship orders in the first three quarters, according to China Central Television Station (CCTV).
Data shows from January to September, China completed 36.34 million deadweight tons (DWT) in shipbuilding, an 18.2 percent increase year-on-year, while securing 87.11 million DWT in new orders, up 51.9 percent. By the end of September, the total orders on hand reached 193.3 million DWT, a 44.3 percent rise.
During this period, China accounted for 55.1 percent of global ship completions, 74.7 percent of new orders, and 61.4 percent of the global holding orders, according to the MIIT…
Medical debt relief. The strategy of both the programs in the articles above is to buy the arrears at a steep discount (“pennies on the dollar”). The non-profit involved, named in the California article, is Undue Medical Debt.
Of course, the fundamental causes of medical debt aren’t addressed, but meaningful relief in real time is a good thing.
“As US pushes Kyiv to lower draft age, why won’t Ukraine conscript younger men?’
There is a simple reason why the Ukrainians are resisting-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9yAfQ3CTnc
But then there is this bit in that article-
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a meeting with journalists on Dec. 9 that the U.S. was ready to take over the training of new Ukrainian soldiers and provide them with the necessary weapons if Ukraine changes its mobilization policy.
Sure, the Ukrainians only have to believe in Potomac promises and that they will not just give those kids a three-day training set, a baggy uniform, a gun – maybe – and off to the front lines. If I were the Ukrainians, I would want to see all those weapons delivered first.
A year after I graduated from High School (1968) all my friends who were not deferred 2S were drafted…..
US has always preferred kids who have no idea of dying.
I’m sure they already lined up customers for those guns, too…
Salesfarce needs AI pushers: Salesforce to hire 2000 to push AI products
[Insert joke here]
But seriously, folks, if AI is so great why do they need an army of Joe Isuzu’s to push it like bad crack?
The good stuff sells itself. I am increasingly thinking 2025 will be the year that the AI bubble pops. This warmed over crap is marketing drivel, and nothing more. IF there is one thing that Wall St. is good at, it’s selling garbage as gold.
Just kill me now. Salesforce was crapified a long time ago and is already just about useless. Adding “AI” isn’t gong to help. The gigantic bug-filled accounting platform I’ve been forced to use also has an AI component to it. It doesn’t work. It’s very similar to the component I was introduced to when I first started over a decade ago. Back then it was called “automation” and it didn’t work either. But they’ve changed the name, so progress!
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking my job could be done more efficiently with a pen, stack of index cards and an abacus.
Nearly every security vendor I deal with is wrapping their junky software in the two-letter buzzword.
Its mostly market-ecture. Or just blatant lies.
Throw in a soft-paper legal pad and some mechanical pencils and I’m with ya.
The good stuff sells itself. Yup.
I am increasingly thinking 2025 will be the year that the AI bubble pops. Lol, my 2025 bingo card is littered with bubbles popping.
“Zelensky insists on direct US ties amidst Orban’s remarks”
It seems that Zelensky thinks that he can dictate terms to Trump and demand that he and only he will talk to the President. Under Biden it was easier of course. He would go to America in his green t-shirt, make a speech to the trained seals in Congress who would wave Ukrainian flags and then fly back home with tens of billions of dollars in his bags. So much easier. Now. He can’t even get an invite to Trump’s Inauguration but Trump said that he could come anyway. Still, hard to gate-crash an Inauguration as they have a dress code and a green t-shirt is not part of it. Zelensky would totally flip out if Trump got Orban to be his spokesman on the Ukraine. And so would Ursula. So maybe when the war is over Zelensky can go back to playing the piano again.
Tesla is having major issue with its self-driving computer inside new cars
So Tesla (a Musk driven mess) is trying to make its growth numbers look better by covering over a manufacturing defect and offering to send out a firmware patch instead of doing the right thing which would be a recall.
It reminds me of what Edward Zitron said in Never forgive them from yesterday’s links
Russia – Agree To Be Provoked Or Fall For Lucy’s Football? ******* MOA says it is a difficult question to answer if Russia should negotiate with Trump/USA. No, it is not. Too many including Putin are rationalizing Putins weakness (yes Putin is weak), his total lack of red lines, and his empty promises to hit back, “because Trump.” This is a big mistake which has allowed The West to totally normalized bombing Russia and killing her people with 100% immunity. Trump is irrelevant and what he might or may not do can and will be reversed. It’s shocking Russian leadership have already forgotten the lessons of the Minsk agreements not to mention many others. Building a national security policy “because Trump” is beyond my comprehension. What are those who do so thinking?
Yes, Putin is weak; did you notice Russia is winning? It’s not a schoolyard pi%$g contest. Red lies, blue lines, green lines, Russia is still winning.
Russia is still winning.
You seem to know better than Putin which are his red lines and how has he to react. I on the contrary believe that he is cautious and not falling into sterile retaliations for immediate satisfaction of vindictive emotions. I believe that not being immediately dragged into the slumdog tactics of Ukraine, which in turn reveal weakness, is a sign of strength. Budanov will probably meet his fate in the way, form and instant the Russians decide.
Is there any such thing as just a plain, good old fashioned murder anymore?!!??
First we get “hate” tacked on to already existing crimes, now it’s “terrorism”. Do prosecutors get a bigger Festivus bonus or something for bagging a conviction with these additional qualifications added on?
Seems like a stretch to charge Mangione with terrorism on top of murder. The CEO was hardly terrified as he never saw it coming. And the rest of us seem to be the opposite of terrorized judging by the interwebs response.
Terrorism (in my view) is an attempt to change, or protest, public policy through violence. That definition is generally obscured by a haphazard use of the term.
Revolutionary violence might be a more apt term in this instance that will perhaps be applied by historians in a more enlightened future. Ever the giddy optimist, me.
Jolani is not a long term bet for a Syrian government. Not long for this world I’d say. Most likely HTS factions will begin to split or become unrelaiable, Jolani will be removed and in the ensuring chaos the US/Israel/Turkey will appoint more acceptable local governors or with a Vichy provisional administration nominally in charge of the whole country. Likely all ex-Syrian intelligence and military men. Egyptian/Jordanian style dictator rather than Iraq style parliament as the latter did not work out so well.
“whole country”
Houston, we have a problem. Jolani and his merry men of sanitized, kinder, gentler, and DEI-friendly headchoppers do not control the whole country. Actually, they control very little of it – the Kurds are in control of the eastern parts, and Turkey will no doubt carve out the north. Israel is happy to take whatever they can in the south.
The US meddlers can try to cut a deal with the Kurds but history doesn’t suggest that will happen. More likely, they get thrown under the bus again, and Turkey takes most of the country over as a protectorate.
Heckuva provisional administration, they won’t be presiding over much at all, other than CNN photo shoots for puff pieces.
‘
From The Automatic Earth: World Gripped By Mental Health ‘Pandemic’ – FT (RT)
A mental health crisis is unfolding in workplaces worldwide, with financial services emerging among the hardest-hit sectors, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing recent research. Burnout, depression, and anxiety are the main issues that significantly undermine productivity, economists, business leaders, and health advocates have warned.
The organization said that mental health levels have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, with some individuals continuing to experience a “massive hangover from the pandemic.”
Ilargi can’t post stuff from The Financial Times. FT came down on him several years ago. He can, however, post something from The Financial Times if it comes from RT first.
Well, I say, that’s what happens when people are spending most of their lives in office buildings full of SARS-CoV-2. There is less virus than in other years. However, there is still plenty of virus. Employees are inhaling SARS-CoV-2 all day long.
an aside: if the jabs worked the way we were told then inhaling C19 virus wouldn’t affect the jabbed at all. But of course, they don’t work the way we were told . . . and Birx and others knew that from the start. She even said later they knew they didn’t have any proof the jabs worked as advertised but they “hoped” they would work.
A great loss can bring on grief. My great loss was losing the trust I’d had my entire life in the US FDA, CDC, NIH, and the highest level politicians not to lie to me about something as important as health and medicines. I can no longer trust institutions I have trusted my whole life. It’s disconcerting, even disorienting in a way. / my 2 cents.
Yes, absolutely. My faith in industrial medicine is completely shattered.
And it only took 3 years to go from utter blind faith to “Show me a study with no conflicts of interest, and then I might look at it otherwise, no.”
The bald faced lies about the vaccines, and the crushing war against IVM (something that actually was safe and effective) did it.
More a water cooler link but worth a look
https://www.openculture.com/2024/12/99-year-old-dick-van-dyke-sings-dances-in-a-touching-new-coldplay-video-directed-by-spike-jonze.html
ZOMG he looks and sounds terrific!
Thanks. That is amazing. I love that he is barefoot while wearing a suit and tie.
This old man thanks you for that.
DvD 2018 in Mary Poppins Returns:
1 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAHM08OxSfU
Dick van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver have a 46 year age difference, and have been together for almost 15 years?
He first saw her backstage at an event in 2006 and was “bowled over” by her beauty, and had to introduce himself to her.
He was still in a relationship with his longtime partner of 30 years. She died from lung cancer in 2009. Arlene would visit Dick and bring him food, and he fell in love.
Another call I’m on was canceled, principal is out sick. I’ve never seen this much sickness. Back when I went back to college, it was mostly remote, but none of the professors were ever out sick in 22 months. A long time ago in regular school, I never had school shutdown because people were out sick. At community college, no professor was ever out sick.
This just never happened.
I’m amazed people think this isn’t happening. After almost 5 years, this year is definitely the year of FAFO.
I’m sure that’s a good doggie in the antidote, but sadly 2 more people have died from Pit Bull attacks in the past few days, 1 locally in Coarsegold, and another victim in Beaumont. Tx.
Happily, Bassett hounds are low on the bite list. https://petolog.com/articles/dogs-attack-statistics.html
Congo mystery disease.
Malaria Is Official Cause Of Flu-Like Mystery Illness In Congo
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2024/12/17/malaria-is-official-cause-of-flu-like-mystery-illness-in-congo/
____
Earlier this year, in October:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo introduces R21 malaria vaccine
31 October 2024
https://www.afro.who.int/countries/democratic-republic-of-congo/news/democratic-republic-congo-introduces-r21-malaria-vaccine
Correlation is not causation. But interesting, considering hydroxy is considered an effective treatment/prophylactic against malaria. However, hydroxy is off patent, aka inexpensive. Too cynical? See also the book The Constant Gardener.
So Moon of Alabama thinks the British poisoned the two ex-Russian spies living in England? Yep. I read the 2019 Rand report mentioned. It says nothing of the sort alleged here. It just reviews all options for the US/NATO to try and overextend Russia, militarily aiding Ukraine one of many, and not particularly recommended.
> US veterans: Didn’t we fight Al Qaeda terrorists for a reason? Responsible Statecraft (in Links above)
This is not news to NC readers but worth noting that Paul Jay has reported extensively on how the Bush administration systematically misdirected intelligence that could have prevented the September 11th attacks. He notes that the late Senator Bob Graham, who chaired the joint congressional investigation into the attacks, “outright accused Bush and Cheney of facilitating” them. [1]
As someone who lost a family member in the attacks I was outraged in the 2010’s that U.S. government would align itself with Al Qaeda (As Jake Sullivan wrote in a 2012 memo to Hillary Clinton, “Al-Qaeda is on our side in Syria”).
People, like Bill Kristol, who celebrate the jihadist triumph in Damascus are the same ones who want to provoke a direct confrontation with Russia, putting us on the path to a nuclear war that would exterminate virtually all life on earth. The neoconservatives sicken me.
[1] https://theanalysis.news/paul-jay-on-9-11-2/
US and UK veterans of WWII were asking the same question, why they have to join with Japanese troops in fighting against national liberation movements…