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Links 12/23/2024

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Even if someone time travels, they may not remember or capture it: Study Interesting Engineering

How old are you really? Your blood can reveal your biological age — and risk of health problems Study Finds

SCIENTISTS SUGGEST HARVESTING BLOOD FROM MARS COLONISTS TO CONSTRUCT FUTURE CITY Futurism

Early warning tool will help control huge locust swarms EurekAlert

Brace! Risks stack up for the global economy in 2025 Reuters

Climate/Environment

Why Seas Are Surging Washington Post

Ancient Resilience of Ferns Helps Ecosystems Recover After Disasters EcoWatch

Pandemics

Key warning signs about bird flu are all going in the wrong direction NBC News

Rapid spread of H5N1 bird flu through California dairy herds suggests unknown paths of transmission STAT

The Koreas

Division and purge: South Korea’s conservatives in deep trouble Asia Times

China?

Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign nets record number of ‘tigers’ in 2024 Channel News Asia

Chinese Premier Li Qiang makes new overtures to foreign firms, pledging more access and services South China Morning Post

How far can toxic workplaces go? Employees forced to lie on floor and eat ‘Death Chilies’ The Economic Times

Old Blighty

‘Strained’ Keir Starmer badly needs holiday, his friends say as they reveal PM is suffering from the ‘relentless strain’ of the job Daily Mail

Soldiers quit the Armed Forces in their droves despite Labour pay rise LBC

Amazon-hosted AI tool for UK military recruitment ‘carries risk of data breach’ The Guardian

European Disunion

ANAF Uncovers PNL’s TikTok Campaign Promoting Călin Georgescu Romania Journal

Syraqistan

Did Yemen’s Ansurullah Shoot Down a U.S. Navy F-18F Fighter? Assessing Conflicting Claims Military Watch

***

Eilat port lays desolate amid Houthi threat Ynet

Mossad chief urges direct strike on Iran in response to Houthi attacks – report Jerusalem Post

Iran’s Supreme Leader rejects claims of regional proxy forces Bne Intellinews

Iran’s energy crisis hits ‘dire’ point as industries are forced to shut down New York Times

New report reveals multiple oil shipments from Turkey to Israel despite embargo Turkish Minute

‘No Civilians. Everyone’s a Terrorist’: IDF Soldiers Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor Haaretz

New Not-So-Cold War

Dmitry Trenin: What Ukraine should look like after Russia’s victory RT

Zelensky Must Answer for Ukrainian Genocide Magyar Nemzet. The deck: “There is genocide in Ukraine, and it is now official, since even the ceasefire agreement was rejected by the Soviet penis acrobat.”

***

Russian military: Moving from Syria to Libya? Deutsche Welle

Italy bristles at prospect of Russia moving ships from Syria to Libya Defense News

Earth’s magnetic North Pole is heading to Russia, what it will do to your GPS? Interesting Engineering

Biden Administration

Biden Ends Term With Parade of Lies About Our Wars Ken Klippenstein

Trump Transition

Trump suggests he wants to buy Greenland Axios

Trumperialism Un-Diplomatic

President of Panama fires back at Trump: Canal ‘belongs to Panama’ The Hill

Trump Companies Accused of Tax Evasion in Panama ProPublica. From 2019.

***

Trump muses about keeping TikTok “around for a little while” Axios

House Democrats say GOP caved to Musk in funding bill, protecting his China interests CNBC

***

Trump Announces Colby, Duffey and Feinberg for Defense The American Conservative

Billionaire tied to shady military ops could be no. 2 Pentagon pick Responsible Statecraft. On Feinberg.

Antitrust

Monopoly Round-Up: New Deal or Crime Spree? BIG by Matt Stoller

Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts Financial Times

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Forget Chrome—Google Starts Tracking All Your Devices In 8 Weeks Forbes

Apple is reportedly working on a smart doorbell system that could unlock your door with Face ID Engadget

Police State Watch

Healthcare?

The Fallacy of Modern Psychiatry: Treating Symptoms, Ignoring Causes Mad In America

Guillotine Watch

‘SNL’ blasted over ‘shameful’ moment audience cheers for accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione New York Post. Commentary:

Luigi Mangione’s Commonplace, Deplorable Politics The Atlantic. Commentary:

Class Warfare

The Cost of Anticompetitive Pricing Algorithms in Rental Housing White House Council of Economic Advisers

The New Property Feudalism Tribune

Everyone Needs A Trust Fund Noema

Living happily ever after? The hidden health risks of Disney princesses The BMJ

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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109 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Soldiers quit the Armed Forces in their droves despite Labour pay rise”

    Could it be that a lot of these British soldiers are quitting because they realize that Starmer is fully capable of sending them to a big, open space full of frost and snow where lots of guys named Ivan are shooting at them?

    I note that the British Army numbers about 70,000 or so right now which is pathetic. At the same time, the UK Salvation Army has 1.65 million members.

    Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Doesn’t help when those “squaddies” know that they may have only five days of ammo to shoot and that it is. Colonel Smithers mentions that the UK has only about 40 tanks to send which would last about what, a week on the eastern front? Would Starmer even care?

        Reply ↓
        1. GlassHammer

          Is that “40 tanks in mission capable status” while several are “mid repair/upgrade” and the total tank “inventory” is much higher?

          My understanding is that the “inventory” is closer to 200 and if it was urgent the “repairs/upgrades” could be expedited to put more into “mission capable status”.

          Without getting too into the weeds, readiness is normally based on Mission capable which allows some of the inventory to be in repair/upgrade its not based on the total inventory because all equipment needs to be in a repair/upgrade cycle.

          Reply ↓
        2. Colonel Smithers

          Thank you for shout out, Rev. About 40 – 60 main battle and light tanks, which equates to an armoured regiment.

          Reply ↓
    2. JohnA

      I cannot think of any single group of society in Britain, other than the proverbial 1%, that Starmer has not offended, insulted, and alienated since coming to power in July. Why would the armed forces be any different?

      Reply ↓
  2. Steve H.

    > Ancient Resilience of Ferns Helps Ecosystems Recover After Disasters EcoWatch

    >> Ferns were able to completely transform Earth’s biosphere following the devastation of the K-Pg [Cretaceous–Paleogene] extinction event.

    We walked the hill yesterday, with the leaves down we can see the twisted wreckage of trees that The Storm took down with hurricane force winds. The ground was moist and soft, and the ferns the only green. Such gentle creatures.

    Reply ↓
  3. farmboy

    @8teAPi OpenAI’s o3 model for laypeople

    What it is and why it’s important

    What
    > o3 is an AI language model, that under the right set of circumstances, can solve PhD level problems

    Its Smart
    > it’s a big deal because it’s effectively solved
    a) ARC-AGI which is a picture puzzle IQ test similar to Raven’s matrices which is what Mensa uses
    b) solved 25% of FrontierMath which are difficult grad student level math questions

    There is no wall
    > it’s also a really big deal because OpenAI only introduced its last o1 model 3 months ago. This means they reduced the cycle time to 3 months from 18 months
    > Intel used to have a tick (chip die shrink) tock (architecture change) cycle during the height of Moore’s law.
    OpenAI now effectively has a tick (new Nvidia chip training data center) 4 tocks (new chains of thought) cycle.
    > This means potentially 5 (!) step ups in capability next year.

    The machine that builds the machines
    > OpenAI is also using its current generation of models to build its next generation
    > The OpenAI staff themselves are somewhat bewildered by how well things are working

    Fast, cheap models every tock
    > OpenAI also introduced an o3-mini model which is small and fast and capable.
    > Notably it was as capable as the much slower o1 full model.
    > This means that every 3 months you can look forward to a cheap fast model as good as the smartest state of the art super genius model 3 months before that.

    Reliability
    > one big barrier to AI deployment has been hallucination and reliability.
    > The o1 model had early indications of much higher reliability (in one test refusing to be tricked into giving up passwords 100% of the time to users).
    > We don’t have a sense of how well the o3 models perform yet… but if this has been solved you will start seeing these models in service work next year…

    By end 2025 (speculation)
    > superhuman mathematician and programmer available at moderate prices
    > reliable assistant for hotel booking, calendar management, passwords, general computer use

    What will a superhuman mathematician/programmer do?
    > Everywhere you use an algo, it will get better
    > jump from 5G to 10G in cell phones
    > credit default costs across economy will drop, leading to credit becoming much much cheaper. 0% interest rates for some, no credit for others
    > search costs across economy drop: hotels, airlines, dating…
    > quantitative trading will better allocate capital, more good ideas financed, fewer bad ideas funded

    Reply ↓
    2. Mikel

      “0% interest rates for some, no credit for others”

      Like that is something new and innovative? The only think new in this hypothetical fresh hell is if there is actually no more in-between 0% interest rate credit recipients and those with no credit.

      And it’s kind of funny because so much about “AI growth” is dependent on a broken economic system that can’t handle the slightest rise interest rates. It’s a “growth” that has much more to do with financial engineering than any other kind.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Loved the Pushmi-Pullyu move by Jay the other day, he lowers the interest rate, and the mortgage rate goes up, further stymieing the moribund market in housing, where buyers can’t afford the mortgage, and sellers can’t afford to cut the price.

        Reply ↓
    3. jm

      Looked up Prakash Narayanan (@8teAPi). Looks to me like he’s talking his book.

      Meanwhile…

      > Everywhere you use an algo, it will get better
      For whom?

      > quantitative trading will better allocate capital, more good ideas financed, fewer bad ideas funded
      Who (or what) defines “good idea” vs. “bad idea”?

      Reply ↓
    4. Skip Intro

      There’s an AI sucker investor born every moment!

      https://www.wheresyoured.at/godot-isnt-making-it/

      The other assumption — those so-called scaling laws — has been that by simply building bigger data centers with more GPUs (the expensive, power-hungry graphics processing units used to both run and train these models) and throwing as much training data at them as possible, they’d simply start sprouting new capabilities, despite there being little proof that they’d do so. Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google have all burned billions on the assumption that doing so would create something — be it a human-level “artificial general intelligence” or, I dunno, a product that would justify the costs — and it’s become painfully obvious that it isn’t going to work.

      As we speak, outlets are already desperate to try and prove that this isn’t a problem. The Information, in a similar story to Bloomberg’s, attempted to put lipstick on the pig of generative AI, framing the lack of meaningful progress with GPT-5 as fine, because OpenAI can combine its GPT-5 Model with its o-1 “reasoning” model, which will then do something of some sort, such as “write a lot more very difficult code” according to OpenAI CEO and career liar Sam Altman, who intimated that GPT-5 may function like a “virtual brain” in May.

      Chief Valley Cheerleader Casey Newton wrote on Platformer last week that diminishing returns in training models “may not matter as much as you would guess,” with his evidence being that Anthropic, who he claims “has not been prone to hyperbole,” do not think that scaling laws are ending. To be clear, in a 14,000 op-ed that Newton wrote two pieces about, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that “AI-accelerated neuroscience is likely to vastly improve treatments for, or even cure, most mental illness,” the kind of hyperbole that should have you tarred and feathered in public.

      So, let me summarize:

      The main technology behind the entire “artificial intelligence” boom is generative AI — transformer-based models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 (and soon GPT-5) — and said technology has peaked, with diminishing returns from the only ways of making them “better” (feeding them training data and throwing tons of compute at them) suggesting that what we may have, as I’ve said before, reached Peak AI.
      Generative AI is incredibly unprofitable. OpenAI, the biggest player in the industry, is on course to lose more than $5 billion this year, with competitor Anthropic (which also makes its own transformer-based model, Claude) on course to lose more than $2.7 billion this year.
      Every single big tech company has thrown billions — as much as $75 billion in Amazon’s case in 2024 alone — at building the data centers and acquiring the GPUs to populate said data centers specifically so they can train their models or other companies’ models, or serve customers that would integrate generative AI into their businesses, something that does not appear to be happening at scale.
      Their investments could theoretically be used for other products, but these data centers are heavily focused on generative AI. Business Insider reports that Microsoft intends to amass 1.8 million GPUs by the end of 2024, costing it tens of billions of dollars.
      Worse still, many of the companies integrating generative AI do so by connecting to models made by either OpenAI or Anthropic, both of whom are running unprofitable businesses, and likely charging nowhere near enough to cover their costs. As I wrote in the Subprime AI Crisis in September, in the event that these companies start charging what they actually need to, I hypothesize it will multiply the costs of their customers to the point that they can’t afford to run their businesses — or, at the very least, will have to remove or scale back generative AI functionality in their products.
      The entire tech industry has become oriented around a dead-end technology that requires burning billions of dollars to provide inessential products that cost them more money to serve than anybody would ever pay. Their big strategy was to throw even more money at the problem until one of these transformer-based models created a new, more useful product — despite the fact that every iteration of GPT and other models has been, well, iterative. There has never been any proof (other than benchmarks that are increasingly easier to game) that GPT or other models would become conscious, nor that these models would do more than they do today, or three months ago, or even a year ago.

      Reply ↓
    6. chris

      Interesting. Would be good to know if the “graduate level” math problems are symbolic in nature, as opposed to computational. ChatGPT and others still can’t do basic math because of the way they cut up numbers. Symbolic math should be easier for LLM to handle. As it is now, the stuff being offered isn’t accurate when you have large numbers or too many significant digits, and can’t do probability either.

      Reply ↓
    7. redleg

      One big barrier to AI is resources.
      Where’s the electricity coming from?
      Where’s the coolant coming from, and the heat going?
      How are the above issues sustainable, both long term and in terms of O&M?

      As a resource and infrastructure person, I know these these questions must be addressed before any of your talking points happen, and these are years away. Power plants, for example, don’t grow from seed to harvest in 60 days.

      Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk

      Now carefully observe Mayorkas’s eyes in the Klippenstein tweet video (since we’re looking at eyes). Dude is spinning narrative whole cloth. Those are lyin’ eyes, plain as day.

      Reply ↓
    3. The Rev Kev

      Looking at that image, I was imagining it from the viewpoint of that fox on a rainy day when it would retreat further into that pipe and watch & listen to the rain falling outside.

      Reply ↓
  5. bertl

    Three questions arising from the WSJ’s investigation which reveals that Biden was mentally incompetent before he even became President.

    First, how does this affect the legality of the pardons that the administration has been handing out like a paedophile offering sweets to kiddies at the school gates?

    Second, how does this affect the legality of the US vetoes in the UN or the weapons he sent to Israel and Ukraine, or the undeclared war in Yemen, etc, etc?

    Third, what about the legality of the fact that the problem was concealed so that unelected officials were able to use and abuse executive power?

    To me, as a Brit, each of the three points smack of treason which demand a exemplary punishnents for ALL those involved, and the unorthodox granting of pardons should result in every one of the being rescinded.

    I find it impossible to comprehend the extent ofthe damage done to the USand its Allies by the wars provoked. aided, abetted and financed during the bitter years of the fake “Biden” administraton.

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      The old penalty for High Treason, which, as you point out, this silent coup qualifies as, was to be half hanged, drawn, and quartered. Make the punishments Pay per View on a .gov site, say the House streaming show, at a cheap rate and you could retire a big chunk of the National debt.

      Reply ↓
    2. Screwball

      As an American, what these people have done over the last 4 years is disgusting. Probably illegal, but I don’t know as I’m not a lawyer. Even more disgusting is nothing will happen. We are not a serious country. Laws for these people are only suggestions. Biden will leave office and we will be told what a great man he was and how much he cared for we the people – as he walked all over the laws and the Constitution.

      The United States is a corrupt joke of a country ran by corrupt people who only care about money, power, and how to keep it. Laws are only for us serfs when they decide to use them.

      Reply ↓
      1. JMH

        This administration has continued sending arms to Israel come hell or high water and violated the law in doing so. Why? Reasons, of course. No explanatikon required.

        Reply ↓
    3. John Wright

      I’m uncertain that a competent Biden would have behaved any better.

      He, and Jill, surrounded themselves with people and policies built up over many years.

      My earliest memory of Biden is the Judiciary committee hearings about confirming Clarence Thomas.

      While later voting against Thomas, Biden helped get him confirmed by not letting some Anita Hill supporting testimony to proceed.

      A competent “good” Biden may never have “served” the public and he selected similar people for his staffers.

      Having Kamala Harris as his backup was not at all a good sign.

      But he’ll get the flags at half staff and state funeral when he passes.

      The Democratic Party deserves much of the blame for promoting him to this office and for not constraining his actions.

      Maybe the Democratic Party truly liked the results.

      Reply ↓
  6. The Rev Kev

    “Earth’s magnetic North Pole is heading to Russia, what it will do to your GPS?”

    Make all your readings appear in Cyrillic? Switch you from GPS to the Russian GLONASS system?

    Reply ↓
    1. Sam Adams

      Likely not, but it’ll screw up military GPS and the US could attack France or Italy. And once you sense Pareee it’s hard to get them to go back to the farm.

      Reply ↓
    3. Victor Sciamarelli

      It doesn’t seem anybody need worry. According to the article it states, ‘In case you’re worried about whether the GPS on your smartphone will remain accurate after the WMM 2025 update, don’t worry. The map and other GPS-driven apps in your smartphone will receive the required update from the respective service providers.”
      Moreover, it makes reference to the NOAA notes which states, “This year, two versions of the model are being released. In addition to WMM2025, the release includes the first-ever World Magnetic Model High Resolution (WMMHR2025)…” Things will be normal for the military, aviation, shipping, etc.

      Reply ↓
      1. MicaT

        GPS doesn’t use the magnetic field of the earth for anything.
        It uses ground based stations which it then calibrates via accurate clocks onboard the spacecraft to provide location.

        The magnetic pole is always moving. If you want to use a compass then you need the updated magnetic North Pole location. Most smart phones have a choice of true Or magnetic direction.
        That is what is being updated.
        Not gps.

        Reply ↓
    4. Polar Socialist

      All liberal democracies will cancel this new authoritarian magnetic north pole and use the soon to be established Freedom Pole instead. A NATO subcommittee has been preparing this MIL-STD-461WTF for several years now: each Western Democracy will host the Freedom Pole in turn for a period of 365 days.

      Reply ↓
  7. Steve H.

    > Alignment faking in large language models

    >> We present a demonstration of a large language model engaging in alignment faking: selectively complying with its training objective in training to prevent modification of its behavior out of training.

    [arxiv.org/abs/2412.14093]

    Reply ↓
  8. MaureenO

    On “The Fallacy of Modern Psychiatry: Treating Symptoms, Ignoring Causes”

    I brought up here in the past that my brother has Schizophrenia. We grew up in a stable house, he never did drugs of any kind, and no trauma in his life. He seems to have good and bad times, which leads him to think there is something environmental that is making him feel worse.

    With this in mind we are trying to find a doctor that can try to put him on a medical keto diet instead of the psychoanalytic that are doing him some physical harm.

    We have been following Lauren West for years and her story seems legitimate and encouraging. She just yesterday put out this long documentary about being cured by medical keto.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pIs30jDxeo

    Some of the work my other brother has showed me is that mental illness is a metabolic disease, and that people with mental illness should be eating a diet that matches their genetics.

    I know my brother will always be different, but we know he can be different but not have to suffer the extremes of his illness.

    Reply ↓
  9. mrsyk

    I’ve noted the NY Post has taken upon itself an attempt to shame SNL over their “coverage” of Luigi, starting when Chris Rock hosted a week ago. Good luck with that. Note to the Post’s editors; we only read you for the troll-goodness of your headlines, not for content.
    That the author went so far as to describe that the cheering came “..from what sounded like mostly women”, that is just ugly writing.

    Reply ↓
    1. Bsn

      Why do supposed leading newspapers even mention SNL, week after week? Why don’t they discuss other comedy shows? Are comedy shows news? Remember when the term “infotainment” was used? It’s so obvious now that no one seems to notice, though fools care.

      Reply ↓
    2. pjay

      LOL. Yes, the Post’s “populism” definitely has its limits. It seems fans of the “privileged Ivy League graduate” Mangione are just “woke” members of the “deranged, anti-capitalist left.” Wake up all you MAGA fans! He’s not a true hero; he’s not one of us!

      So the Post shares the views of the NY Times and the Atlantic on this issue. Another example where our fake “left-right,” “conservative-liberal,” “Democrat-Republican” divide is exposed for the oligarch kayfabe that it is.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        The NY Post never saw semantics that weren’t anti-Semitic, a knee-jerk response.

        For the longest time the Las Vegas Review-Journal had a splashy header atop each days news delivered online…

        ISRAEL AT WAR

        …but it went away a few weeks ago

        Reply ↓
        1. Carolinian

          Time to put the stymie on all the Robin Hood talk. The Sheriff of Nottingham is a great guy.

          Jessie Jackson used to talk about “reverse Robin Hood” but they quickly pushed him to the side in favor of the poltically hapless Dukakis. In ’92 the more poltically savvy Clinton rode to the rescue while still working for the Sheriff. A pattern may have been formed.

          The prob for the news business is that their incessant good guy/bad guy narrative frame is hard to maintain when the good guys are so obviously acting like villains as in the insurance biz or Gaza.

          Reply ↓
    3. ambrit

      I just had a longish post concerning this get eaten by Ye Internet Dragons. I haven’t had that happen in a while. So, extra “Internet Gatekeepers” on patrol for the Holiday Season? (Not talking about the NC cadres here, but the Internet in general.)
      Dons tinfoil hatt to wonder if the “spaces in between” have been dragooned into becoming secondary filters.

      Reply ↓
    4. Carolinian

      The Post is still owned by Murdoch is it not? Those upset at the paper must be worried about the safety of their dubious patron.

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        The Infernal Lord will welcome “Creepy Joe” with open arms. Confusion is one of the Devil’s best tools. Besides, if “Creepy Joe” does manage to start a Nuclear War, then the Infernal Region will have to hire tons of temporary workers to handle the tsunami of sudden “Asylum Seekers.”

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          Wait a second, wouldn’t Beau be beyond the pearly gates, and judging by how many times Joe has mentioned him in the decade since his passing, wouldn’t being in Hell hinder them rekindling old times when he was merely a Senator on the take?

          Reply ↓
          1. ambrit

            Poor Beau. The Infernal Region is the perfect place to “rekindle” anything and everything.
            It’s a shame that the Biden Circle is trying to “kindle” the Earth via thermonuclear war.
            Maybe The Buddha was right. All is “Burning, burning, burning.”
            When the order goes out from the White House to burn it all down, I hope that there will be a modern day von Choltitz to refuse the order.
            von Choltitz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Choltitz

            Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        The New York City Department of Correction regrets to announce the death of Luigi Mangione next Tuesday about four in the morning of unknown causes. The cameras on that wing will also suffer from an unexplained outage.

        Reply ↓
    3. midtownwageslave

      JB cannot buy his way into a wet paper bag at this point. This reeks of Dr. Biden & Co. protecting the Biden legacy…

      Bunch of charlatans and shysters.

      Reply ↓
  11. The Rev Kev

    “Even if someone time travels, they may not remember or capture it: Study”

    ‘For instance, one major consequence of traveling in time might be that “Any memory that is collected along the closed timelike curve will be erased before the end of the loop,” Gassavino said.’

    I don’t believe this idea for a moment. Consider. A spaceship accelerates towards the speed of light and one consequence is that time slows down relative to Earth. According to the Twin Paradox-

    ‘In physics, the twin paradox is a thought experiment in special relativity involving twins, one of whom takes a space voyage at relativistic speeds and returns home to find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more.’

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

    They actually did this with two brothers to prove it. Point is, there is nowhere in this theory that states that when one twin returns, they they sync up in their ages again so why would a time traveler sync up with memories that they themselves have not experienced and their memories get wiped? In any case, how do we know what form time travel will take?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpzYYOSwqtw (4:21 mins)

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      My occupation included gobs of time traveling, I might be in the Roman Empire in the morning, and the French Revolution in the afternoon…

      It wasn’t yours truly that was doing time travel, but the aged round metal discs I was buying and selling, and there was a proverbial ton of coins minted since the Lydians back in the day.

      Reply ↓
  12. DJG, Reality Czar

    Thank you, Czarina. Full disclosure: We aren’t related, in spite of our empirically imperial genes.

    I recall that article from the morally befuddled Atlantic magazine that Czarina excerpts. Yep, the argument that it is “possible” to kill children in war legally. Heck, then let’s do so!

    The interesting thing going on here is that all of a sudden we have the Superiors telling us who it is okay to murder. Palestinians, yep. Americans paying ridiculous health-insurance premiums and being overcharged for their prescriptions, you betcha. An entire generation of Ukrainian men, hey, less “toxic masculinity.”

    Nice people like editors for riviste smerdate like Atlantic. Perish the thought.

    In the U S of A, suddenly, the Superiors are baring their fangs. It’s the plantation-overseer mentality, over and over and over again.

    Meanwhile, in news that isn’t news, the NY Post, lawn-ornament of the Superiors, contemplating that “Shameful Moment,” clarifies its editorial stance: “The new charges mean the privileged Ivy League graduate — who has been adopted as something of a bizarro folk hero by the deranged, anti-capitalist left — could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.”

    Pretty soon, the Atlantic and the NY Post editors (if they are indeed editors and not just excrescences of the marketing departments) will be writing about the good, ole, orderly days of Francisco Franco, when the most deranged thing allowed was joining Opus Dei. Amen.

    Reply ↓
    1. ilsm

      State sponsored murder!

      Nothing the IDF is attempting to achieve meets a single point of Just War doctrine.

      Same for US’ adventures of “interests” and “security”

      If it were okay to kill human shields all the US artillery soldiers who fired at the refugee column at No Gun Ri in Korea would be famous!

      Reply ↓
    3. Ignacio

      the plantation-overseer mentality. [might be “function” instead of mentality?]

      That was a good one, your Majesty. Merits development.

      Reply ↓
  13. .Tom

    Zelensky Must Answer for Ukrainian Genocide – Magyar Nemzet.

    Penis acrobat is not a common insult in Hungarian, it is a reference to a comedy sketch Z took part in in 2016 that the article includes as a video.

    Magyar Nemzet is, afaik, state media. So I guess this is the PM’s response to the Z’s response to the xmas truce proposal. Accusing Z of genocide seems an escalation of rhetoric to me.

    Reply ↓
  15. The Rev Kev

    “Strained’ Keir Starmer badly needs holiday, his friends say as they reveal PM is suffering from the ‘relentless strain’ of the job”

    Seriously? The guy has only been in the job about 171 days. If he can’t do the job, then maybe he shouldn’t be doing it. He’s outlasted Liz Truss as PM – but so did a lettuce. On a list of UK Prime Ministers by length of tenure, he is down near the bottom at number 55-

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

    Reply ↓
    2. NotTimothyGeithner

      Regardless of particular branding, Starmer is the 3rd generation of neoliberals. They are simply degenerating as time progresses. Starmer drove out people who care about government, only has centrists available, and was much like Biden fairly dull.

      Obama was some time ago, but Obama and his cultists were fond of saying being president is hard as if that was a novel idea. Poor Keith needing a holiday is the natural progression.

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  16. .Tom

    Luigi Mangione’s Commonplace, Deplorable Politics – The Atlantic.

    Editors at the The Atlantic have forgotten the special resonance this word acquired in 2016. But instead of denouncing Trump voters as deplorable, it’s denouncing a much broader class of people as deplorable. If it weren’t for the inescapable taint of HRC, The Deplorables could be a good name for a political movement as it evokes the class power and elite distance of those who consider us deplorable, who automatically recoil from populism.

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        1. pjay

          I was thinking the same thing. With enough time passed, someone will write a Broadway musical about The Deplorables and they will be cheered on by theater-goers and show tune lovers and NY Times reviewers everywhere. The play will end by the masses rejecting their false orange-haired leader when they come to realize the True meaning of Democracy. Tony awards all around.

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  17. Wukchumni

    Each endowment will likely amount to between $11,000 and $24,000, depending on how soon the beneficiary accesses the funds once eligible at the age of 18, according to the state.

    Everyone Needs A Trust Fund Noema
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    My parents had a few Nickels to rub up against one another, and starting in my mid 20’s, every year all the children (and later-the spouses & grandchildren) would receive the maximum tax free gift from them, which used to be $10k and I think is now up to $18k.

    It wasn’t enough money to live a highfalutin lifestyle, but it certainly was appreciated and helped out tremendously.

    For them it was a no brainier, if the government is gonna allow such a thing, why not dole out inheritances way ahead of time, which is what they did.

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  19. The Rev Kev

    “Trump suggests U.S. should take ownership of Greenland”

    Trump was saying ‘For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the US feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity’ so hand it over Denmark – for the sake of freedom, freedom I say! Not much potential for a Greenland Liberation Front much less the Popular People’s Front of Greenland. The US got Alaska for $7.2 million but I do not think that there is any amount of money to buy Greenland. The place is rich in zinc, gold, lead, silver, copper, iron ore and uranium and the ocean shelf below its territorial waters is believed to have vast oil reservoirs. And that is a just a start for it’s mineral wealth. It has the potential to supply around 30% of Europe’s molybdenum use with very clean molybdenum as well as antimony, beryllium, chromium, cobalt, graphite, fluorspar, etc. It has access to the Arctic so how much is that worth. If a Trump America moved into Greenland, they would strip-mine it’s mineral wealth and sink oil platforms everywhere they could. And the 57,000 people there? I’m sure that their young people would have a great future servicing all the US bases to be built so the young men could get jobs as taxi drivers and the young women jobs as waitresses. If the future was any more bright for them, they would need sunglasses.

    https://www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/exploring-greenlands-critical-mineral-potential/18566/

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      1. The Rev Kev

        Then there was the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million back in 1803. What a bargain. Of course that was a time when you still had smart Yankee traders.

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        1. Wukchumni

          On 10 November 1845, before the outbreak of hostilities, President James K. Polk sent his envoy, John Slidell, to Mexico. Slidell had instructions to offer Mexico around $5 million for the territory of Nuevo México and up to $40 million for Alta California. The Mexican government dismissed Slidell, refusing to even meet with him.

          The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

          After the defeat of its army and the fall of the capital in September 1847, Mexico entered into peace negotiations with the U.S. envoy, Nicholas Trist. The resulting treaty required Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, and a small portion of Wyoming. Mexico also relinquished all claims for Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary of Texas.

          In turn, the U.S. government paid Mexico $15 million “in consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the United States” and agreed to pay debts owed to American citizens by the Mexican government.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          We tried to buy Alta California for up to $40 million in 1845, but then cut a deal for $15 million for what would be 7 states in 1848, an even better buy than the Louisiana Purchase, considering all the mineral wealth.

          Interesting how 1848 was also a year of big changes in the USA, a little different from goings on in Europe.

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          1. Colonel Smithers

            Thank you, Gentlemen.

            Fun fact: Minnie d’Erlanger, a descendant of Slidell, who moved to Paris after the civil war and died on the Isle of Wight, married the grandson of Winston Churchill, another Winston and Tory MP. She was one of many Slidell descendants who married into the French and British aristocracy in the 19th and 20th centuries.

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        1. The Rev Kev

          Netanyahu reckons that when you are committing the mass murder of Amalekites, it doesn’t count as genocide. In Israeli society, those officers would be heroes.

          Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          Maybe they are just eager to be out of the IDF, so they can go be world class boors when traveling overseas with other recently released IDF jackals of all tirades.

          Reply ↓
  21. Mikel

    Russian military: Moving from Syria to Libya? – Deutsche Welle

    My big picture, off-the-cuff takeaway is that too many countries (USA being a well-documented case) are finding the Middle East chaos workable for their needs. Maybe not ideal. Yet, they move right along from region to region until they think it’s less manageable than usual, then just skip over to the next chaotic region to navigate within.

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  22. Tinky

    The linked Haaretz article is pungent. Anyone who had friends or colleagues, etc., who are reflexively pro-Israel, should perhaps consider encouraging them to read it, given that the source is an Israeli newspaper, and the (damning) accounts are first-hand, from soldiers and officers, no less.

    Reply ↓
    1. Bsn

      We have friends and colleagues who are reflexively pro-Israel and they’ll hear none of it. Israel uber alles is all they see and say. We’ve lost a few…… no biggie. Ha, in the 70s while hitch hiking around Europe, it was common for Americans to sew Canadian flags on their rucksacks to hide their “American-ness”. I can imagine people soon traveling around with a sewn on Israeli flag and a big red null sign drawn over it. Shame, shame on Israel and its supporters!

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Makes the German public’s support of their country’s actions in the late 30s and early 40s a lot more understandable now, doesn’t it? They were “supporting the troops” and were proud of all the territory that they had seized.

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  23. Katniss Everdeen

    RE: “The SNL crowd cheers for Luigi Mangione last night …” tweet

    On last Friday’s (I think) America This Week with Kirn and Taibbi, Walter Kirn “guaranteed” that Mangione would not be convicted of this murder. (OJ anyone?)

    Kirn’s been making some wild “predictions” lately, like the NJ drone “mystery” is a psyop intended to scare people away from Trump’s inauguration. Dunno. But Kirn tends to view things through the lens of a screenwriter/novelist, which he is.

    In the case of Mangione, he tends to view the furor over the murder of a “health” insurance executive as an attempt to steer people away from criticism of the piss poor, grossly ineffective american “healthcare” system, with its relentless emphasis on high-cost drugs and surgeries and beggaring of primary care, toward ire at the insurance “industry.” He sees it as a way to undercut RFKJ’s “healthcare” reform mission.

    Once again, dunno. But his take is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk

      It’s not difficult to agree with the hypothesis of diverting attraction away from the evils of our healthcare, and the entire FIRE section. Ex “alt media”, it’s crickets on this subject. Apologies to the media moguls, this djinn is out of he bottle, and no amount of spin is going to change the revelation that the misery meted out by these sectors is an experience common to all of us.
      I’m remembering a scene from the movie “Bandits” when Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis rob the electric company, to the applause of the customers in line waiting to (cash) pay their bills.

      Reply ↓
  24. The Rev Kev

    ‘Dionis Cenușa
    @DionisCenusa
    #Romania: Liberal candidate Elena Lasconi is using the image of the Moldovan and Georgian presidents to boost her chances against her rival Georgescu, who is described as a Russian asset (“United against Putin”).’

    What that image needed was those three women to wear t-shirts saying ‘The Future Is Female’ but it is not that way at all. Salome Zourabichvili on the left is French spook adjacent while Lasconi and Sandu are WEF all the way. But this image is not that good a look for Lasconi. Zourabichvili got the boot as President but is refusing to leave and may even try to call her own election. She is like the guest that refuses to leave.

    Sandu is going nuts right now. The Ukraine is giving the chop to all gas west which means Moldova as well. Sandu is blaming the Russians so she wants to invade Transnistria and seize the Cuciurgan power plant which supplies around 75% of Moldova’s electricity. But what if those Russian peacekeepers start shooting back and have help from Mr. Kinzhal?

    The funny thing? Remember how Hillary was boosting Trump back in 2016 as she considered him an easy candidate to beat? Turns out that after an investigation by the Romanian tax authorities, it was not the Russians that was supporting that guy Georgescu but the main party as boosting him supported their agenda of who they wanted to beat. Just like with Hillary and Trump back in 2016.

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  25. eg

    Re “The New Property Feudalism” I ask yet again — how is it that we find ourselves with capital allocation and inter-generational wealth transfer circumstances which wouldn’t be out of place in a Jane Austen novel?

    Reply ↓
  26. Carolinian

    Forbes/Google article

    “For users, though, the choices should be clear and transparent at all times. You should know when and how you are being tracked, and you should have an easy-button to say thanks, but no thanks.”

    So if such a button existed who wouldn’t push it? Or believe it really works.

    Perhaps the current user bargain is preferable: Google pretends to show us ads and we pretend to watch them. Of course there are lots of people who do watch the ads and even enjoy them just as there used to be, still are, people who stay glued to QVC on their televisions all day.

    Apparently there is big money to be made off of this particular segment or TV stations not to mention Google would quickly go broke. But here’s suggesting it’s not our privacy but our ever under assault eyeballs that are the real victims of American culture. Some of us believe that if you want to control this you have to find where the other button, the off button, is. I don’t watch much commercial television any more and as for Google Chrome, never use it.

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  27. Alice X

    How old are you really? Your blood can reveal your biological age — and risk of health problems

    A mildly interesting piece. I don’t have blood sample documentation but I’ve been going around for quite awhile still feeling like I was 25 (I’m 75). But then my hip went out (to lunch) and oh brother, I felt like I was 95. I’m back, but now it’s more like 55, maybe I’ll improve.

    Meanwhile people I’ve known younger than myself have gone. C’est la vie.

    Reply ↓
  28. Wukchumni

    The committee said it also received testimony that at a 2017 party, Gaetz twice had sex with “Victim A,” who was 17 years old at the time and had just completed her junior year in high school.

    “Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” the committee wrote. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Is statutory rape with an afterthought of turning it into a trick, enough to disqualify you for being Attorney General?

    Reply ↓
    1. Katniss Everdeen

      So, for those interested in “the rest of the story” (credit, the late Paul Harvey), here’s Jimmy Dore telling it, as discovered by “Mel, @Villagecrazylady” and recounted on X.

      It’s bizarre and totally believable in today’s decrepit, pathetically debauched america.

      Well worth your time, if only for the you’ve-got-to-be-effin’-kiddin’-me factor.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL1qZGXci18

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  30. Tom Stone

    I had several delightful hours with my Daughter yesterday, she is renting a nicely updated 60’s 3/2 tract home with two other College graduates for $4,400 per Month, $1,000 a Month less than it would have cost 2 years ago.
    A home across the street with the same floor plan that has not been updated sold a Month ago for $2,300,000 cash.
    I looked at the pics and it needs not less than $200K to bring it up to snuff, redo 2 bathrooms and a kitchen, paint, carpet, refinish hardwood floors.
    Since this is not an area where you can skip getting permits the new assessed value will be $2.5MM.
    Even if there are no school bonds or sewer bonds the minimum property tax will be 1.25% per year, or $37,500.
    Back in the days when Gross Rental Multipliers gave an approximation of value a home in this area, in first rate condition, would sell for @ 110X Monthly rent.
    It’s going to be an interesting next few years, for the survivors.

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  31. herman_sampson

    Mayorkas’s interview: “The domestic violent extremism that exists, the threat of it in the United States is one of the great threat streams that we must counter.”
    So, are the CEOs being rounded up now to protect us?

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