Recent Items

Links 12/31/2024 New Year’s Eve

Posted on by

Dear patient readers,

We trust all of you enjoyed this festive season, or at least got some R&R. We wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2025!

* * *

Astronomers Discover an Ultra-Massive Grand-Design Spiral Galaxy PhysOrg

An archeological revolution transforms our image of human freedoms aeon (Anthony L)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Watch Greenland lose 563 cubic miles of ice in under 30 seconds in disturbing new time-lapse video Space (Kevin W)

Race for Arctic resources in a climate change era Asia Times (Kevin W)

How Oil Companies Offload Costly Cleanup Onto the Public ProPublica (Robin K)

Researchers make game-changing discovery while experimenting with plastic replacements: ‘It cannot be ignored’ TCD

Expulsion in the name of climate hysteria : Tanzania’s Maasai must give way Cocotteminute (Micael T). “Climate scamming” seems more apt.

China?

EXCLUSIVE: Former GM Exec Warns Tesla and China’s EV Domination Is Unstoppable Brighter with Herbert, YouTube (Vikas S)

What UK fighter pilots did and didn’t teach China’s PLA Asia Times (Kevin W)

US Treasury says it was hacked by China in ‘major incident’ BBC (Kevin W)

Koreas

South Korean court issues arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Anadolu Agency

Going Nuclear Is a Bad Option for South Korea Daniel Larison

Why was there a wall near runway at S Korea plane crash airport? BBC (Kevin W)

Japan

Japan’s road to nowhere Julian Macfarlane (Micael T)

European Disunion

Elon Musk Doubles Down on Endorsement of Far-right Alternative for Germany Party Haaretz

From a few days back, but worth a watch (Chuck L):

Old Blighty

How disillusioned Labour supporters can fight back against Starmer and Reeves Steve Keen (Micael T)

Israel v. The Resistance

Jimmy Carter’s Palestine legacy Mondoweiss

New Not-So-Cold War

The absurd story of Ukrainian gas transit and Nord Stream Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)

Who benefits from the end of Ukrainian gas transit Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T). Important. Some key bits not what you might assume.

Genuine “Power Politics” in Ukraine and Eastern Europe Larry Johnson

Biden Administration Announces Nearly $6 Billion in New Ukraine Aid Antiwar (Kevin W)

CLOSING OUT 2024: FROM RUSSIA TO THE U.S.A. Hal Freeman (Anthony L)

Syraqistan

Chuck L: “Haven’t seen corroboration. Was Julani smoking a controlled substance?”

Syria’s de facto leader says holding elections could take up to four years Aljazeera (Robin K)

The scramble for Syria: Regional powers jostle for influence The Cradle

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Meets With HTS Leaders in Damascus Antiwar (Kevin W)

US helps Syria’s ruling Al Qaeda offshoot while punishing its people Aaron Mate

Imperial Collapse Watch

What a Year 2024 Was. How energy and resource depletion undermined the post WWII order and democracy Honest Sorcerer

Geopolitical plates shifted this year. We’ll see the fallout for years to comeps://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2024-12-30/ty-article/how-to-build-an-empire-slavery-in-ancient-rome/00000194-177e-dc0f-abdc-1f7e5bfc0000″ rel=”nofollow”>How to Build an Empire: Slavery in Ancient Rome Haaretz (Robin K)

Trump 2.0

Bill Ackman expects Trump to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Reuters (Reuters)

RFK Jr. vs. Oz sets up clash on weight loss drug coverage The Hill. IM Doc has raised concerns over what appears to be irreversible muscle loss (muscle mass loss is a marker of biological aging), including for the heart. However, RFK, Jr., who I suspect has never been meaningfully fat, underestimates how hard it is to get and keep fat off.

Appeals court upholds verdict finding Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll The Hill

Game of Chicken, Budget Version

US to hit debt ceiling as soon as Jan. 14 Associated Press

Donald Trump is demanding that the House of Representatives votes on the debt ceiling extension (or abolition) “NOW” Independent

Immigration

What to know about H-1B visas at the center of Musk-MAGA fight The Hill

The H-1B program is about corruption and fraud, not ideology Jonathan Schachtel (Micael T)

New evidence of widespread wage theft in the H-1B visa program Economic Policy Institute. From 2021, still germane

Trump Weighs In on Immigrant Visa Debate but Offers Little Clarity New York Times. Confirms our speculation in comments, that Trump used H-2B, not H-1B visa holders.

EXCLUSIVE: Fears grow over spread of sadistic super gang Tren de Aragua across America… as expert issues chilling new warning Daily Mail. The fact that this looks like awfully propitious timing given the Trump emphasis on getting illegal entrants who are also criminals does not mean the facts alleged are not true.

Mr. Market is Moody

Global corporate borrowing climbs to record $8tn in 2024 Financial Times. From earlier this week, still germane.

Boeing Falling Apart Airplanes

South Korea To Inspect Boeing Aircraft as It Struggles To Find Cause of Plane Crash Associated Press

Jeju Air faces second Boeing 737-800 incident – media RT (Kevin W)

The Bezzle

Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts ProPublica (Robin K)

Cocoa bean beats Bitcoin RT (Robin K)

Bronze should not rust either:

Guillotine Watch

America in Two Headlines Ken Klippenstein (Chuck L)

Class Warfare

Evolution Journal Editors Resign En Masse ars technica

In a First, Surgical Robots Learned Tasks By Watching Videos Washington Post

I’m an emergency physician. The modern telehealth model should have all of us concerned. MSNBC. Headline weirdly buries the lede. Amazon Medical being sued over patient death.

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus (Chuck L):

A second bonus:

And a second bonus (Chuck L; note neither of us is certain if NC has featured this one before, but it is worthy of a rerun if so):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
154 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “What to know about H-1B visas at the center of Musk-MAGA fight”

    I came across an interesting tweet a little while ago about this subject which revealed an interesting chart. The text says-

    ‘Lee Fang
    @lhfang
    Dec 29
    Foreign workers on special visas (H-1B, OPT, etc) are taking as many as 25%-33% of all new IT jobs in America. There’s strong evidence they are holding down wages: IT jobs grew 20% from 2014-2019, yet wages rose only 3% during that period.’

    https://xcancel.com/lhfang/status/1873494095802544499#m

    ‘When your country depends on another country’s workforce…’

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      IT jobs as measured by the BLS information category and Professional and Technical services are DOWN over the past two years (since May 2022) per WolfStreet.

      Reply ↓
    3. Pearl Rangefinder

      I saw Lee Fang started covering this the other day as well. I believe his source for that graph is this Bloomberg piece from 2021 by Rachel Rosenthal, “The STEM Graduate System Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It”

      Because foreign STEM graduates are concentrated in certain occupations, their impact on wages is stark even if absolute numbers aren’t huge. In 2018, some 53,000 foreign students earned degrees in computer science or related engineering fields, two-thirds of which were master’s degrees, according to calculations by Hal Salzman, a professor at Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, and Khudodod Khudododov, a research analyst, using data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That year, the U.S. had between 96,000 and 143,000 openings in IT occupa­tions that typically went to candidates with a bachelor’s degree or higher in computer science or engineering, they found. So, OPT participants accounted for anywhere from one-third to one-half of new hires. If you add H-1B candidates, up to two-thirds of openings went to guest workers, according to Salzman.

      Also the $$$ quote:

      “If the U.S. truly faced a talent shortage, paychecks would be rising much faster. Thanks to OPT’s loose provisions, these new hires can legally work for less than market wages. That helps explain why the median annual wage in IT occupations rose just 3% between 2014 and 2019, while employment jumped 18.7%, according to Salzman and Khudododov. This trend may be consistent with stagnant wages in the rest of the economy — but it also flies in the face of employers like Microsoft and their insistence that OPT and H-1B are critical to filling a shortage of qualified U.S. workers. Ample evidence suggests these industry claims are overblown, if not false: For one thing, more than 90% of STEM bachelor’s degrees are earned by American citizens and permanent residents. And if the U.S. really lacked skilled workers, wages would be rising sharply. Instead, we see mild wage growth and tens of thousands of candidates beyond the available supply of jobs.”

      From the info that the Twitterati’s have gathered over just the past few days, it seems abundantly clear that the H1B system is almost entirely a scam, just rigged and engineered to screw American tech workers – and not even only tech workers given the disclosures on H1B awards for things like 7-11 cashiers and pickleball trainers.

      The tech bro’s and CEO friends want you poor and desperate, and their ‘cheat code’ to getting around US labor standards is importing infinity foreigners to replace you while literally pretending that they can’t find Americans to do the job.

      Lawyers complying with the law btw. Guest worker programs are a dubious sell on the best days, but man are they not doing themselves any favours here if it’s Saul Goodman types all the way down.

      Reply ↓
    4. Leftcoastindie

      My wages dropped 40% after 2002 and pretty much remained that way until recently where my wages were only down 10% from where they were in 2002. Cost me over 2million+ in the last 22 years as I was out of work 30% of the time as well – a real bad combination. And that number is not inflation adjusted.

      Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I guess that Christine Anderson can only say this as she is a member of the AfD now so can give Ursula both barrels unlike members of the main stream parties. But I don’t think that Ursula will really care as she is entrenched in her position and nobody in the EU will haul her over the carpet for her criminal behaviour. She is far too protected. That’s not to say that Ursula will not seek to hit back at Anderson as she has a proven vindictive streak.

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

      Reply ↓
      1. Brian Beijer

        Yeah. You never go against the don unless you’re willing to take down the entire family.
        My guess is that Christine will soon learn the Corleone lesson.

        “Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.”

        Reply ↓
      2. Jessica

        VDL had a lot of American support both to create something like a President of Europe and to assume that office herself.

        Reply ↓
  4. Mark Gisleson

    Geopolitical plates shifting seem to have impacted NC’s formatting or at least that’s what I thought before reading the linked-to ABC story which is so utterly corrupt in its framing that I now suspect that it’s leaking toxic wastes which are slowing dissolving this morning’s links.

    Walter Kirn talked about this last night, how he can’t watch mainstream news anymore because nothing they say makes any sense. Criticizing Trump before the fact for abandoning poor poor little ol’ Ukraine isn’t framing so much as erecting a gallows.

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      What one can say with nearly 100% certainty is that the Global Affairs editor at ABC didn’t read Aurelien’s The Year of Failing to Understand. Or may be he did, but failed to understand again. That is why what they say is so nonsensical. To tell the truth I have no idea about how things will unfold in the Middle east though I expect a lot of “unexpected” stuff happening there.

      Reply ↓
      1. chris

        The funny part about that linked article is they refer to “Iran’s axis of resistance” but do not explain what Iran is resisting. What is there in this world that Iran could possible be resisting… who could say?????

        Things like that and the horrid article about Elsevier make me hope we’re near rock bottom. How much longer can this facade be maintained? How much longer until we the people in the US, and many other countries, get a chance to have government with goals that weren’t carved in stone after 1942?

        Reply ↓
    2. Neutrino

      H1-B, Citizens United, sharp as a tack and their ilk are newsish matters in the following way.

      The public framing of information differs from the private heart of the matter. What you are told, or even shown, is happening differs mightily from what is actually happening.

      The lede isn’t just buried, it is willfully obfuscated. When the lobbyists write the press releases and the stenographers recite those like trained parrots, then the first step in controlling the news cycle may be checked off.

      There are too many people with interests to protect, and too little transparencies to bring each interest into the sunlight for some illumination and the necessary disinfectant. /end rant for the year :)

      Reply ↓
    3. Donald Obama

      Too bad Walter Kirn has become unlistenable to due his morally depraved support for Israel. I can’t be bothered to try to dig up transcripts, so here is what Walter Kirn’s co-editor of Country Highway, David Samuels, has to say about Netanyahu:

      Netanyahu’s decision to invade Rafah on May 6, 2024, was the culmination of two long and otherwise separate chains of events whose consequences will continue to reverberate throughout the Middle East, and also at home. Netanyahu had been promising to invade Rafah since February. The fact that he had not done so by May had become both a symbol of Israeli weakness and indecision in the face of a global onslaught of Jew-hatred, as well as the continuing solidity of the regional power structure established by Obama’s Iran deal. Within that structure, Israeli interests were held to be subordinate to those of Iran, which was allowed to finance, arm, and train large terrorist armies on Israel’s borders.

      The above is from: https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/rapid-onset-political-enlightenment
      Which was recently praised by America This Week co-host Matt Taibbi.

      Kirn, who sardonically lampoons the “corporate media”, has a massive blind spot for Israel, and in that blind spot are hundreds of thousands of starving people, tens of thousands of slaughtered civilians, and an utterly devastated Gaza. My utmost contempt for him and Taibbi, people who I used to admire.

      Reply ↓
      1. judy2shoes

        “Too bad Walter Kirn has become unlistenable to due his morally depraved support for Israel. I can’t be bothered to try to dig up transcripts” [bold mine]

        **Shrug** If you can’t be bothered to dig up evidence to support your claims about Walter and Matt, I can’t be bothered to believe you. The burden of proof is on you, and here’s a hint: quoting someone who is Walter-adjacent doesn’t prove your point.

        Reply ↓
        1. Donald Obama

          I will reemphasize: Kirn is a gutless genocide apologist.

          First, I suppose you can dismiss the views of the two people Kirn is partnered with on his two major on-going endeavors. **Shrug**. I find it relevant who he chooses to work with.

          Anyway, let’s see what he had to say more than a week into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. From America This Week, Episode 60, “Tragedy in the Middle East”:

          “[Taibbi] I’d like to turn it over, Walter, to you. I think you have a better idea about how to lead into the topic of what happened in Gaza last week.

          Walter Kirn: Yeah. Well, in Israel, first.”

          Oh right, Walter. Israel first. The past 70 years are irrelevant. By the way, as we will later learn, maybe Taibbi shouldn’t be so snivelingly deferential.

          Let’s see how Walter elaborates:

          I’m going to do this on the basis of laying my cards on the table, it has been my position through the years, probably formed almost unconsciously as a child, that I have sympathized with the Israeli predicament, and the Bob Dylan song, neighborhood bully, country surrounded and besieged, and attempting to consolidate the Jewish people who survived the Holocaust in a way that would allow them to defend themselves in the future. That was the basis of my understanding of what Israel was, and of its rights to defend itself.

          Hmmm. Interesting. A Bob Dylan song as the analogy to understand the poor victim, Israel. Perceptive.

          I think that illustrates my point. There’s more, go ahead and give the show a listen since I assume you are a Kirn fan? Unfortunately for me, after that episode I decided to unsubscribe to Racket news. But from some internet searching, the only other time I can find Kirn weighing in on the still-continuing live-streamed genocide is in May, where he says:

          “The show is America this Week, not Israel this week.”

          **Shrug** I suppose the united states doesn’t have a lot to do with what is going on in and around Israel, sure Walter.

          I’ll leave my critique with this – having had six months and a detailed genocide charge brought by South Africa, with detailed receipts for all of the genocidal language from the upper levels of Israeli government – it seems Walter has not learned much:

          Walter Kirn: So I think it’s appropriate. But like you, I’ve never been to Israel. I’ve never been to Gaza. I don’t consider myself a student of the conflict, though it’s been going on in the background all my life. I’ve been aware of it in some form or another, not necessarily the Gaza conflict, but Israel’s wars with its neighbors. To make a confession, or just a simple acknowledgement of personal history, I grew up in the ‘70s at a time when Israel was under siege and was quite celebrated in the American press as a holdout against regional terrorism and so on.

          I think, if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he at least shouldn’t thoughtlessly support Israel. It doesn’t take much wisdom to be against the mass murder of children.

          Reply ↓
  5. The Rev Kev

    ‘Peacemaker
    @peacemaket71
    The Olympic gold medals awarded in France rusted after just four months.’

    Looks like Macron decided to get cheap with the medals that they were awarding athletes. They look so crappy that they look like they came from the Paris 1924 Summer Olympics, not the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Obviously it was a cost-cutting measure and who knows what happened to the money that was “saved” not making quality medals. Into somebody’s pocket? In the past during the Closing Ceremony, the city might be awarded with the title of Best Olympics Ever or if it was not that great, they would just say Well Done. No idea what title was awarded to Paris but people just tuned out from that fiasco so this further fiacso with the Athlete’s medals is just par for the course for Macron’s France.

    Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Who would ever have thought that after a century, that the “barbarous relic” would still be holding it’s value. And I’m pleased to see that the example that you found has as it’s main message sportsmanship.

        Reply ↓
    2. flora

      The medal looks like cast iron that was treated with a bronzed colored, too thinly applied paint. Cast iron rusts very quickly unless treated in some way: sizing a cast iron skillet or painting iron ornaments, for examples.

      The cast iron is heavy like bronze and gold.

      Bronze does not rust. It develops a patina naturally, or can have a chemical applied, only once, that controls the color of the patina that develops.

      Not only did 2024 Olympics insults millions of viewers worldwide it insulted the athletes with cheap, knock-off medals. Good job, good job.

      Reply ↓
      1. mrsyk

        From my ai; For the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the medals were all manufactured with 18 grams of iron, which had been taken from Paris’ most iconic monument; the Eiffel Tower. Meanwhile, both the gold and silver medals were made with over 95 percent silver content.

        Reply ↓
        1. ambrit

          So, in terms of costume jewelry, the main medals are “Gold Toned.” Sounds about right. Unlike as a former French autocrat remarked, “Paris is no longer worth a Mass.”

          Reply ↓
    3. Es s Ce Tera

      I notice the medal appears to have been photographed in a bathroom, over a bathtub. Is this where the medal is kept, the washroom?

      Moreover, photo is by an Olympic swimmer. Did said swimmer perhaps take the medal for a victory lap in the chlorinated pool?

      Reply ↓
    4. Wukchumni

      Its a bronze Olympic medal-not a gold* Olympic medal in the link that suffers from the same malady as many a post 1982 Lincoln Cent, in that the composition is largely zinc with a slight copper covering, and they look great the first year or so, and then the zinc kinda bleeds through, and it looks as if Honest Abe got hit with the ugly stick.

      * 18k gold until 1912, then gold plated on sterling silver.

      Reply ↓
  6. .human

    To put $6 billion in perspective: There are some 3000 counties as jurisdictions in US states (parishes, etc, some no more than in name only such as in Connecticut), so this equates to $2 million from each.

    To paraphrase a common thought here: What else could possibly be done with that largese?

    Reply ↓
    1. Ignacio

      Another perspective is that 6 bn is about 9 Patriot systems equipped with 100 missiles each. Expensive largese, little utility.

      Reply ↓
      1. timbers

        If our leaders were really cared about our national defense they’d buy weapons from Russia. Or hire a bunch of H-1B’s and build our defense industry from the groud up from stolen Russian technology. Musk & Co should get right on that.

        Reply ↓
        1. jrkrideau

          Before the slight unpleasantness in Ukraine started I was strongly for buying SU-57’s rather than F-35’s for the RCAF but I guess that may not happen at the moment..

          Though, with Canada’s normal pace of military acquisition we have another 20 or thirty years to change our minds. Or maybe check out that new Chinese plane.

          Reply ↓
  7. LawnDart

    Re; Who benefits from the end of Ukrainian gas transit

    “Trump also promised to repeal a number of regulations and decisions taken by the Joe Biden administration in the United States on restrictions on energy production and exports in order to assess the impact of exports on domestic prices and energy security. According to the US Department of Energy, unrestricted LNG exports could lead to a 30 percent increase in gas prices in the US.”

    Great. Not even in office yet, and Team Trump is already talking about cutting our wages and increasing our costs.

    And about those European companies looking to possibly relocate to the USA because of “cheap and stable” energy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them consider Mexico, Brazil, or central Asia as alternatives, especially considering the unpredictable nature of US politics.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Zelensky would never be willing to give up on the billion dollars that the Ukraine gets in transit fees from Russian gas going through the Ukraine to the EU. Likely he and his buddies would be getting a cut of that money too. This sounds like something that the Biden White House would come up with and simply ordered Zelensky to give that gas the chop. There is one thing not mentioned about those pipelines that go through the Ukraine – their age. I think that they are decades old and are in need of a complete overhaul which has never been done. Give a few more years and those unused pipelines may only good for scrap metal value.

      Reply ↓
    2. Mikel

      “I wouldn’t be surprised to see them consider Mexico, Brazil, or central Asia as alternatives, especially considering the unpredictable nature of US politics.”

      Unpredictable politics is the global game.
      I don’t think the globalists care as long as the unpredictableness keeps populations divided while the needs of the corporations are met.

      Reply ↓
  8. DJG, Reality Czar

    From Evolution journal editors resign en masse:

    In-house production has been reduced or outsourced, and in 2023 Elsevier began using AI during production without informing the board, resulting in many style and formatting errors, as well as reversing versions of papers that had already been accepted and formatted by the editors. “This was highly embarrassing for the journal and resolution took six months and was achieved only through the persistent efforts of the editors,” the editors wrote. “AI processing continues to be used and regularly reformats submitted manuscripts to change meaning and formatting and require extensive author and editor oversight during proof stage.”

    I have been working in publishing for quite a long time. I used to help copyedit the tablets of Linear B at the University of Knossos. Let me assure you that it is highly difficult to make such mistakes with human editors involved.

    outsourcing (meaning: India) >>
    The excuse is always “cutting costs,” in much the same way that the H1B program is related to managerial oppression, class politics, and dealing with “the servant problem” = hollowing out wages.

    I recall that the Big Publisher that I worked for near the end of my U.S. career had exported / eliminated its production and design departments (ending many highly valued colleagues’ careers) to Lumina in Bangalore. It came out during some extravaganza of errors that the language of the shop floor wasn’t English. How one can work on complex designs and complex texts that are in English without knowing English is beyond me. Hilarity ensured!

    other symptoms >>
    Publishing has suffered for years from the bean counters, who started showing up in the early 1970s. They often have had no publishing experience. Some tony publishers like to import executives from England, who can then whip the colonials into shape. It’s almost comic — although during one English invasion I was part of a mass layoff. Here’s a tell, though: Manager imported from England = grifter.

    as applied to ElonVivek >>
    When management sets up systems that are so thoroughly enshittified, it makes no difference how many times foul-mouthed Elon goes off. Such shit just isn’t going to work out. So the continuing crisis in publishing stems from not letting publishing peeps run their own businesses.

    Reply ↓
    1. KLG

      Elsevier and the scholarly publishing racket, what else to say? A $4,000 submission fee? Really, who can afford that? Scientists at institutions buying their way up a ladder. Anyway, with each passing day I am grateful that at this stage of my work life I am not often required to even consider dealing with the thoroughly corrupted scientific literature, other than to read it and wince. I’ve noticed recently that former colleagues with 400+ papers to their names are now publishing in neo-predatory journals, when back in the day a solid, legitimate archival journal was something they avoided at all costs. Some of the earliest foundational work on the cell division cycle (now critical to the understanding of cancer progression) was published in such a journal because “no one” believed (they did not actually stop to think) that research using yeast as a model organism could have any relevance to so-called “higher” organisms. Such an outrageous fact was beyond their ken. The awardee of that Nobel Prize smiles.

      Reply ↓
    2. GramSci

      «Some tony publishers like to import executives from England, who can then whip the colonials into shape. »

      A similar fate befell some of my grad students who went to work for Lexis-Nexis in the late 90s.

      LN was bought by Reed Elsevier and handed the task of putting all European case law online. The Elsevier execs had been reading more scifi than science. LN engineers ‘succeeded’ using IBM code pages and UTF-16, but it was like Saml Johnson’s dog walking on its hind legs — not notable for its having been done well so much as for its having been done at all.

      London/Amsterdam fired LN’s Dayton-based engineering team, replacing it with European ‘experts’ who eventually got it ‘right’ — not so much by their own efforts as by adopting UTF-8, which didn’t become a published ‘standard’ until 2003 (and the internet norm in 2008).

      Reply ↓
      1. scott s.

        Hard to see UTF-16 vs UTF-8 as making any difference, at least for the BMP. Now for emojis, supplementary CJK, etc I guess you can make a case that UTF-16 needs a kludge, but is that even a thing in this context?

        Reply ↓
    3. Jason Boxman

      So the continuing crisis in publishing stems from not letting publishing peeps run their own businesses.

      Can be said of many places, such as hospitals.

      Reply ↓
    4. nyleta

      AI is already ubiquitous, case in point yesterday the Chicago PMI came out and was down. I wanted to check which part was the worst and it was the largest part new orders, but the feeds reporting on this were nearly all very, very similar with minimal detail and all went into a spiel about the effect on the USD this might have. The Chicago ISM seems to release only headline info to non-members now.

      Only the trading economics report had any value, all the rest were obviously AI generated and designed to stultify any enquiry. The management of information has already been centralised and controlled behind the curtain while we were living our lives. Guard your old bookmarks file jealously because it will take a lot of time to chase down trusted sources in the future, I printed mine out because to my great shock my ISP injected an ad into my internet feed yesterday, until now they have limited themselves to e-mail campaigns. Gatekeepers are going to be up front and in our face going forwards.

      Reply ↓
  9. FreeMarketApologist

    Re: The hack on the US Treasury (or, more accurately, its vendor):

    The fact that the hacked vendor’s name was “BeyondTrust” proves that some days (more often than not, these days), the jokes just write themselves.

    A Happy New Year to all!

    Reply ↓
  10. Mica

    737 manual non hydraulic gear extension. In the event of a complete hydraulic failure the gear can be extended manually. This has been discussed extensively on many of the airplane blogs. Including blonclario.

    Here is an airliner line A&P ( airframe and power plant ) mechanic showing how it’s done, and how it works. 1:15 video.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Do2pIjz6zA4

    It is entirely possible that there was some other reason why the pilots didn’t lower the landing gear, but hydraulic failure isn’t one of them.

    Reply ↓
    1. tet vet

      It has been speculated that the plane lost both engines (one from a bird strike and the other shut down by mistake by the crew) and in that case it is appropriate for the pilots to keep the wheels up and not engage the flaps as it cuts down the the plane’s ability to stay airborne. If the crew did in fact shut down the wrong engine that is certainly a major contributor to the accident but most commentators I’ve heard agree that the true cause of the fatalities is the fortified concrete barrier placed so close to the end of the runway. They have claimed that, but for the improperly placed barrier, the plane could have slid to a stop with minimal loss of life.

      Reply ↓
        1. Tom Doak

          I fly a lot, and I believe that both LGA and ATL have concrete barriers at the end of certain runways, to prevent anything from going out onto the highway.

          Reply ↓
            1. Bsn

              Same thing for large trucks in the USA, an escape ramp (filled with deep sand) on steep hills in case of breaks overheating on downgrades.

              Reply ↓
          2. Jokerstein

            Also, SFO has a rocky seawall. Asiana 214 hit it in 2013 (crewed by Capt Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, ans Bang Ding Ow)..

            Reply ↓
        2. flawedmind

          I worked on the EMAS system installations at SFO back in 2014. The stuff was interesting and somewhat fragile. Very similar to green floral foam in consistency and feel. Just a heavy duty version thereof.

          Not sure if it would have worked as intended for the South Korean situation though as there was no landing gear extended to dig into the material. Probably would have been more like a boat hitting a runaway truck ramp.

          Reply ↓
      2. Mica

        When the flight data recorders are reviewed, we will have actual answers to the extent of conditions the aircraft and flight crew were dealing with.

        Reply ↓
      3. Maxwell Johnston

        Every airport I’ve ever seen in Russia was surrounded by a concrete fence. They all look like this:

        https://www.shutterstock.com/ru/image-photo/damaged-concrete-fence-barbed-wire-moscow-1298240026

        The MSM’s reaction to this awful Boeing crash is quite a contrast to its coverage of the K-stan crash four days earlier. Whereas many (possibly most) quickly blamed Russia for shooting down the Azerbaijan Embraer, after the Korean crash there is an emphasis on not rushing to conclusions and waiting patiently for the investigators to do their jobs. My guess is that pilot error played a major role in making a bad situation worse, and Korean civil aviation has a long record of pilot error leading to disaster (KAL 902, KAL 007, KAL 801, Asiana 214, to name a few).

        From the Moscow countryside, a Happy New Year to NC and its fine commentariat! Putin’s midnight speech will apparently be a 3-minute quickie this year. The local fireworks enthusiasts are already hard at work; if UKR shoots a few drones in our direction, we might not even notice the extra noise.

        Reply ↓
      4. scott s.

        Near as I can tell it’s not a “fortified concrete barrier” rather a masonry stand for the ILS localizer antennas. Don’t know if the associated earth berm was intended to mitigate any crash effect. Anyway, many opinions from pilots but nothing in the news sources from actual engineers who construct these things.

        My guess is that an aircraft overrunning the runway at high speed is not part of the design criteria. I see a lot of comments that some other design would have resulted in no casualties; that is pure speculation unless you can show me the design that takes this type of impact into account.

        And then “Boeing” — this is just Boeing bashing at this point.

        Was the TAM3054 runway overrun that killed 199 the fault of Airbus (A/C was A320-233)?

        Reply ↓
    2. LawnDart

      Panic?

      I’ve witnessed this first-hand in the cockpit: the copilot froze during an in-flight emergency after the aircraft commander ordered him to make the mayday call. He made the call and then simply froze, totally unresponsive in his seat, leaving her alone to do the work for what felt like several minutes.

      I was getting ready to yank him from his seat and take over, but then he “came to,” sort of, and started doing his job… over the headset he sounded distant, far away, and he went through the motions as directed by our pilot.

      As I was writing this, I realized that this happened on this very day, many years ago: New Years Eve, 1990.

      It was on a C5 military cargo plane, midway over the Atlantic, travelling from Europe to USA, when everything began to go wrong. Our #2 hydraulics system developed a pinhole leak and was filling the cargo compartment with a fine mist– highly explosive, and only takes a tiny spark to set it off; see this for reference: https://youtu.be/PvI5As5rMUI?si=QOcEjn3VCPt_xFrD

      We shutdown the engine in hopes of slowing the leak, but this being an engine-driven pump, it continued to empty the fluid/mist into our aircraft as the engine’s fan pinwheeled, driven by the breeze.

      Now on three engines, we quickly turned back towards Europe, but were decending into the worst of a violent gale– lots of turbulance, and lightning… lightning, on top of the potential for sparks from static electricity, electrical relays (hundreds of these) and whatever else, talk about the icing on a cake!

      But it got better:

      After a while the hydraulic pump emptied of fluid, and the pump began to overheat, burn-up. We were getting fire warnings off of #2, still hours away from land.

      And better still:

      The indicator lights showed the forward cargo door was open. This cargo door is the entire nose of the aircraft, as the C5 can be loaded/unloaded both fore and aft. I crawled through a hatch in the loading ramp to inspect the hydraulic-driven bayonet locks that held the door closed: most of these had retracted, as apparently they are held closed by positive hydraulic pressure/trapped fluid, both of which were now lacking.

      Somewhere in all of this, the mayday call went out. Ships on the ocean below were diverting towards our anticipated crash site, but somehow we stayed aflight.

      Nearing Western Europe, we radioed ahead, searching for anyplace that we could make an emergency landing, but due to the gale’s arrival, every airport within our range all reported windspeeds out of limits for the aircraft. We rolled the dice and diverted to Glasgow, Scotland, where, while still out of limits, the winds weren’t super-terrible, horribly bad, making our landing less-likely to be a fatal one.

      Through the muck and rain, the lights of Scotland finally appeared. Now on approach, we went gear-down… and it got even better yet: the landing-gear stalled, midway. We’re above Glasgow, circling, dumping our remaining fuel, with the pilots, the engineers, and me the sole loadmaster all working to get the gear down and locked, which eventually did happen, and on three engines in ferocious crosswinds, our pilot absolutely aced her landing– picture-perfect.

      As the emergency vehicles raced towards our aircraft, the clown-show began.

      In short, it didn’t get “better” for me, as they kindly kept the hotel bar open just so we could get a round of drinks into us (minus one flight engineer, now in the hospital with chemical pneumona caused by the hydraulic mist). It did get better for our AC, as she was already getting threatened with court martial for not landing in a NATO country, which Scotland was not. And the copilot, I don’t think he flew for a while…

      An entirely too long-winded explanation as to possibly why the gear did not go down on the Boeing, but I feel it’s wrong to judge the pilots until the facts are known.

      Reply ↓
      2. JP

        Can’t speak for a C5 but aircraft hydraulics always used a non-flammable fluid like Skydrol. I always avoided the stuff because it was nasty enough to eat holes in your shoes. I sure wouldn’t want to breath it in.

        Reply ↓
            1. Glen

              You can tell these apart by the fluid color. Skydrol is purple, and the MIL spec is red. If you look at the Ground Support Equipment around the airplanes, you may see color coding bands on the equipment – red or purple – to indicate what type of hydraulic fluid is being used. The military was still using the MIL spec fluid for most everything when I was in whereas commercial had switched to phosphate-ester (Skydrol). The red fluid is much more flammable, but Skydrol eats the rubber used in most O-rings and we had problems with hydraulic equipment suppliers that would provide components or systems with the wrong seals.

              Neither fluid is fun to deal with when spilled, but as JP says (and I can verify first hand dealing with both types) Skydrol is nasty stuff, and the mechanic nick name for the hydraulic filling process is “fill and spill” becasue it finds every loose hydraulic line connector.

              Reply ↓
            2. LawnDart

              Whatever that we were using at the time sure did, as it was a fact covered in the training I had at Altus AFB, 1989.

              Reply ↓
                1. rowlf

                  Looking at technical manuals online, was the flight engineer unable to feather/depressurize the two engine driven pumps, leading to the need to shut down the engine? Also, I can see the visor door (nose cargo door) having hydraulic actuated latches but typical systems like landing gear and other cargo doors use hydraulic power to move and mechanical locking to keep everything in place to drop the hydraulic load after everything is in position.

                  The MacGyver fix is an O-ring and a hose clamp for a pin-hole leak. Not sure of the AMM reference.

                  Reply ↓
          2. Revenant

            Scotland is in the UK and the UK is in NATO.

            Unfortunately.

            Ireland is NOT in NATO. Perhaps you landed at Shannon rather than Prestwick, Lawndart?

            Reply ↓
          4. ruskin

            A newly independent Scotland would not be in NATO and would have to apply to join (if it wanted to). However it is not yet independent.

            Reply ↓
            1. IveHadEnough

              This is getting silly.

              Scotland has debated on whether it would remain a member of NATO if it was an independent state which it is not and has the referendum to prove it. As long as it is a constituent of the UK it is and always has been a member of NATO.

              Reply ↓
      6. cfraenkel

        Great story. For everyone who wasn’t involved back then, this was 19 days before Desert Storm kicked off. I imagine LD racked up a ton of frequent flyer miles ferrying the US Army to SA those five months.

        Reply ↓
        1. LawnDart

          I dropped from 205 lbs in late July 1990 to 137, 138, by the spring of ’91 and was often unable to tell you what day or date it was– we were all over the globe, non-stop, and the crew-rest requirements had become mere suggestions (like most other rules or requirements, even those pertaining to flight safety).

          Reply ↓
      7. Charlotte Korb

        A friend would watch the bombers fly in and out of Oklahoma City (Tinker Field). His uncle was sometimes the pilot; he would fly over the house and waggle his wings. One day the mother answered the phone, saying she was expecting the call since the boys had reported his plane low overhead – with the bomb bay doors open and all the lights on. He said, “Lights, hell. My damn engine was on fire.”

        Reply ↓
        1. LawnDart

          That sounds like par for the course.

          We had an incident nearby and the song went something like “I left my bogie in Muskogee…” as two FREDS (C5s: Fucking Ridiculous Economic Disasters (hee-hee, meet F35!)) landed a bit short of the runway, damaging or tearing off their landing-gear.

          Reply ↓
      9. The Rev Kev

        Jee-zuz. That is a helluva story and I am glad that you and your crew made it out OK. Sometimes things turn into a s*** show no matter what you do so it was just as well that your aircraft commander turned out to be a helluva pilot who did her and her co-pilot’s job and got her plane and her crew back on the ground. Thanks for sharing that story.

        Reply ↓
  11. hardscrabble

    Thanks for the link to Wengrow’s aeon article. His, and Graeber’s, The Dawn of Everything (’22) is a book I can’t recommend enough; particularly if you’re weary-of or enraged-at the current negative views of human civilizations. It doesn’t have to be this way.

    Reply ↓
    1. .Tom

      Agree very much. The Wengrow article in Aeon is from July but it still good. The Dawn of Everything book is from 2022 but is still good. Very good.

      Reply ↓
          1. Ann

            Fifth, and also the book by Philip Ball, “How Life Works”. I thought I had kept up my college biology. NOT. My favourite quote: “It’s cognition all the way down.”

            Happy New Year to all.

            Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Yandex Translate throws this up-

      ‘J(Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti)
      @M_N_Albukhaiti
      Golani admits that his military action prevented a very large-scale regional war against Israel involving Syria, Iraq and Iran, which could embarrass Turkey and push it to stand with Iran.

      The man openly admits that his task is to protect Israel and secure its military incursion into Syria peacefully.
      Didn’t I tell you that I have known the brothers for a yearسلام peacefully.’

      Reply ↓
      2. anahuna

        In your debt again, Rev. Not for the first time!

        I admire your spirit and wish you and all the commentariat all the best in facing the continual onslaught of the coming year.

        Reply ↓
    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Ours just finished. They have a LOT more this year than last, all along the beaches and a few hotels and even some people on lots are having moderately big displays. I’ve never seen so many fireworks at different distances going off at the same time. Gives the Sydney Harbor display (which I saw 2x) a run for its money!

      Reply ↓
  14. ChrisFromGA

    I’m still confused on the House Speaker math.

    Media outlets are saying that Johnson can only afford one defector, but I have the current math at 219-214. That’s because Pelosi is recuperating at home and unlikely to make a floor vote on Friday. Of course, I could be wrong about that, and a medical team of doctors, nurses, and transportation specialists that only money can buy is assembling right now as I type.

    If I’m right, Johnson can afford two defectors and win a 217-216 squeaker. If Pelosi shows, then I get the math.

    Either way, Johnson must go:

    1. He caved on Ukraine aid back in the spring.
    2. He still doesn’t allow for 72 hours for bills to be read before votes.
    3. He blundered badly in not having a CR last through the entire 2025 fiscal year.

    Massie and Spartz are firm nos. 72 hours to buy them off!

    Reply ↓
    1. Vodkatom

      From what I understand the speaker must get a majority of house members. Not just those voting. So 218 is the number, even if opponents decide not to vote.

      see here

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        Thanks. Then Johnson can only afford one defector, and we know Massie is a NO.

        That means zero room for error … I think Spartz said she is a NO unless he cuts a deal to stop the porkulus/CRomnibus nonsense, offset any debt ceiling hike with spending cuts, etc. And there are the wildcards out there like M T-G.

        I don’t see how he survives. Unless Democrats vote for him, and Hakeem Jeffries has been awfully quiet, lately.

        Reply ↓
    2. marym

      The long-standing practice of the House is that electing a Speaker requires a numerical majority of the votes cast by Members “for a person by name.” – 12/20/2024 Congressional Research Service

      https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44243.pdf

      The pdf has notes and references so maybe there’s an explanation of when/how/whether “long-standing practice” can be changed.

      Reply ↓
    3. scott s.

      You can’t really have a CR last the entire FY. That would be chaos to the nth degree. I think what you mean is a consolidated appropriation for FY25. As it is the CR that was enacted had to add in the FY25 submarine procurement funds, or the program (approved in the FY25 NDAA) would get way off track.

      Reply ↓
  16. Es s Ce Tera

    re: EXCLUSIVE: Former GM Exec Warns Tesla and China’s EV Domination Is Unstoppable Brighter with Herbert, YouTube (Vikas S)

    I was surprised to pass a GM plant yesterday, wondered how it was possible it was still there. It’s like a rare sighting or something. And then this…

    Reply ↓
  17. mrsyk

    Regarding the Tren De Aragua gang article in the DM, looks like the fear card is being played again. Do have a close look at the “gang tattoos” for a laugh. I personally know people with the first two, and I can vouch that they are not affiliated with TDA. Further, I’d wager clocks, trains, and stars are common themes.
    I see they are also trotting out the now threadbare video showing kids with guns in the hallway of an apartment complex. It’s a disturbing video, but, to this point it’s also a one-off.

    Reply ↓
    2. jrkrideau

      former immigration and customs enforcement director for Colorado and Wyoming, John Fabbricatore,

      It may be just a fluke but I am having a problem believing a man named “John Fabbricatore” telling lurid gang stories as the Italian noun “Fabbricatore” seems to mean “Manufacturer” in English. Do you think someone is fabricating this story?

      Reply ↓
    3. Grebo

      One of the motorcycles that parks at my work has the motto “Real Hasta La Muerte” emblazened across it. I shall have to make enquiries.

      Reply ↓
  18. The Rev Kev

    “US helps Syria’s ruling Al Qaeda offshoot while punishing its people”

    One thing that you will never see the American media do right now is to interview a 9/11 survivor or somebody that lost someone on 9/11 and ask them how they feel about US support for Al Qaeda in Syria which may have gone into the billions. Never happen that.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      What if Trump ordered the US military to take out HTS leadership? That could be fun. Would they disobey direct orders?

      It’s only a thought experiment. Keep in mind that they do not really “rule” anything – the Kurds and Israel have free reign to take whatever they can from Syrian lands.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        I do wonder if Syria may turn out to be another Iraq. The Coalition went into that country and announced ‘Mission Accomplished.’ Well we all know what happened next. Syria is awash with weapons and the HTS nutjobs have already been murdering Allawites and others so you might have the same sort of insurgency going on in Syria before too long. Why wait and let HTS come after you when you might find it better to go after them.

        Reply ↓
        1. jrkrideau

          Professor Said Mohammad Morandi suggests that Israel and Turkey have just bought themselves a nightmare.

          Watching a jihadi video where the participants say something like “Yesterday Haga Sophia, today, AL Umayyad, tomorrow Al-Aqsa does not seem to bode well for Israel.

          Reply ↓
  19. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Elon Musk Doubles Down on Endorsement of Far-right Alternative for Germany Party Haaretz

    Does Musk realize that AfD is extremely anti-immigrant?

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Since Trump managed to win a majority of the voters it looks like Musk is going to be the new whipping boy among the Dems and associated pearl clutchers. And yet it was only a few years ago they were eagerly buying his Teslas in order to boost their anti AGW cred.

      Honestly who cares what Musk thinks about German politics? Not I. There’s plenty to dislike about the man but some things to praise as well. Enough with the good/evil “narrative.”

      Reply ↓
  21. .Tom

    > Dear patient readers, We trust all of you enjoyed this festive season, or at least got some R&R. We wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2025!

    Dear patient bloggers, mods and staff, Thank you and the same to you all. Stay free!

    Reply ↓
  23. Afro

    Regarding the Rolls Royces, how can the Ukrainian elites be so sick? They’re practically sending their countrymen to walk on fields of land mines so that they can have Rolls Royces, vacations in G’Staad, designer clothes (except for Zelensky who always wears the same $5 sweater), etc, it’s such a high level of moral duplicity that I can’t wrap my head around it.

    Reply ↓
        1. Jessica

          No one ever emerged to knock heads together and force the oligarchs to settle down. (That’s what Putin did in Russia.)
          In Ukraine’s case, the combination of the transition out of communism plus the less mature state of Ukraine as a nation-state plus using what were the purely administrative boundaries of the Ukraine SSR as the national boundaries of the independent Ukraine. US involvement in Ukraine was always aimed mostly at holding Russia down, not at building Ukraine up.
          If referenda had been held in 1991, Ukraine would have been smaller (Donbass and Crimea at a minimum would have elected to be part of Russia), but more Ukrainian. There would have been no contradiction between Ukraine as an ethno-national state and Ukraine as a multinational state. (That’s the same problem that interwar Poland wrestled with. Not necessarily so successfully. Polish attempts to make Ukrainians in what is now the westernmost part of Ukraine into Poles is what the Bandera folks responded to with genocide.)
          Volodymyr Ishchenko is worth reading about Ukraine.

          Reply ↓
          1. Antonio

            Good summary. The point even being, about the Polish and Russian respective ukrai that this is a staple knowledge of the post Tatar period History of Eastern Europe. We had it in high school textbooks in the 80’s. Common basic knowledge.

            To clarify the Banderist key point: this one is due to the hybrid war on cultural field of Austro-Hungarian Empire against Russian Empire. On this, despite Polish-Germanic conflicts, the Austrian-Polish wars, there was a united front at religious level with Rome role, against Russian Orthodoxy, under a common Catholic umbrella.Hence the silly “Greek-Catholic church” ie. Uniates basically Catholic Roman church in an Orthodox looking clothing. Their priests are the ones who bless re-burials of SS auxiliaries of the 1940’s.
            In Belarus, city Grodno, former Poland, is very illustrative of the contact line.. By the river in the park there’s still the 12th. c Orthodox Borisogleb church (nicknamed Kalozha), that marks the Western-most edge of Byzantine christianity, but city’s main square and its baroque cathedral is the former inner yard of the former huge Jesuit monastery that was headquarter for conversion and influence operations inside Russian realm.
            Contact line of Galician Rurikids with Carolingean realms.
            EU has implemented overnight an insane History deletion and rewriting operation that is possible temporary only on the internet surface, because any library is full of centuries old books that can not be burned like they do in Ukraine.

            Reply ↓
        2. rasta

          A country ends up that way, with a little help of their friends from the west. USA plan was to turn the whole ex-communist block into bunch of corrupt colonial shitholes (aka banana republics) that could be milked dry.

          Reply ↓
  24. TomDority

    Jimmy Carter’s view on citizens united can’t be repeated enough – everyone ought to press their congress critters and locals to make noise at every opportunity and visit

    Reply ↓
  25. AG

    interview by German daily taz (Greens) with sociologist Klaus Dörre who seems not to entirely get the nature of the crisis. Well, judging from the interview only (I don’t really know Dörre’s scholarship)

    Sociologist on Germany’s economy
    “The crisis is partly staged”

    The influence of unions is too great for companies, says sociologist Klaus Dörre. He calls for a left-wing alliance for an ecological welfare state.
    December 31, 2024

    https://archive.is/cSOPP

    p.s. seldom have I encountered this ittle hope and vision for a solution in this kind of conversation….Musk? seriously a bar to measure anything of substance?

    Reply ↓
    1. GramSci

      Actually a decent inteview, and notable for cogent criticism of the German Green Party in the German ‘green’ journal taz.

      Dörre does not himself say the unions have too much influence; he was merely reporting that the companies feel this way.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        I stand by my criticism that he lacks advice (big picture scale) but your point is of course correct (I seldomly link taz here since they too often have infuriated me in the past with really evil pieces whereof I migh miss out on some better ones.)

        Reply ↓
  26. pjay

    – ‘The scramble for Syria: Regional powers jostle for influence’ – The Cradle

    At the risk of being accused of denying the “agency” of these regional powers, I find it stunning that the actions and interests of the US, its Western allies — or ISRAEL – are not even mentioned in this piece (I guess “Israel’s ISIS” is mentioned, but just as a pejorative that is not elaborated). I guess now that the Demon Assad is gone the latter are satisfied and will all just go home.

    Reply ↓
    1. ArvidMartensen

      We make a mistake treating Israel as a separate country. It is not, it is an arm of the Western hegemony, now centred in the US. Like Trump suggests for Canada, Israel should have a Governor

      Israel started as a project of the British upper class, for their own purposes. Under their watch a bunch of Europeans took over Palestine and changed their names to Jewish biblical type names. To convince the world they were the rightful owners of Palestine. The Jewish religion is a mere sideshow to the geopolitical power games of Great Britain and now the US. Useful idiots.

      The US treats them as an arm of the Pentagon. The US military can try out weapons and tactics through Israel that even the US don’t want to be seen doing. Like genocide in Gaza, bombing hospitals and killing women and children. The US can and does say ‘not us, them’.
      This is why the US govt and business attacks on pro-Palestinian students have been so savage, because attacking Israel is the same as attacking the Pentagon. Treasonous!

      Israel taking over some of Syria is really a move by the US to fully control the Middle East. If Erdogan were to challenge Israel, the US would go all in for Israel and flatten Erdogan. If there is a war between the US and Russia, I think it will start through Turkiye/Israel battles, maybe Iran too. I’ve got the popcorn ready.

      If the US unleashes a nuclear weapon, it will most likely be via Israel. And if Israel ceases to exist as a consequence, the US will still see this as a victory because the Israeli lightning rod will have protected the US Fatherland.

      Israel is also starting to take over India. Whereas the Indians are wary of domination by the US, the US stalking horse Israel is waltzing in and forming partnerships with Indian companies like Adani. Prepare to see India move away from BRICS in the not too distant future.

      Reply ↓
    1. AG

      Thanks!
      For those without a YT account and who can’t stand the ads:
      https://theduran.com/oreshnik-power-confirmed-russia-takes-kurakhovo-zelensky-gas-row-us-kiev-aid-damp-squib/
      p.s. Mercouris does have the habit to talk a lot about things which he – as he himself points out repeatedly – doesn’t know anything about.
      As to Postol: I haven’t seen the Danny Davis show but if I remember Mercouris correctly, the last time he said pretty much the opposite of what he said now – that Postol pointed at its limited destructive scale.
      Back then I critically mentioned this in Martyanov’s blog hoping that someone call Mercouris’s attention to this issue. For whatever reason he has since indeed dug into the topic again which I appreciate. I assume Postol will follow the poblem if there is more info out (which according to Mercouris however is unlikely).

      Reply ↓
  28. Jeremy Grimm

    RE: “CLOSING OUT 2024: FROM RUSSIA TO THE U.S.A.”
    I extracted some content I believe is reasonably representative of this link:
    “I rarely watch the “mainstream media.” I watch news from those who are there on the ground and supplement that with commentaries from men and women I have learned over the years to trust. …

    I have never been so disgusted in my life than I have in seeing the continued genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. I was brought up to believe America stood for truth and justice for all no matter their race or creed. …

    The America I have come back to is not like it was just 8 or 9 years ago. …

    All of you who read my blog regularly have heard me complain ad nauseam about the ignorance I hear coming out of leading politicians in the U.S. when they talk about Russia. On the other hand, I have been amazed at how well Putin understands America and its leaders.”

    One commenter suggested Hal Freeman might want to return to Russia if things in America continue in the present direction, to which he replied: “…Marina and I are Russian citizens and have our Russian passports so we could bail out quickly if need be.” I fear a time may come when I might envy Freeman’s freedom. Times in the u.s. are growing much too “interesting” as the year turns.

    Reply ↓
  29. Jason Boxman

    Amazon Medical

    I received an unsolicited email from Amazon about their medical thing only in the past 30 days or so. Fun times. I certainly didn’t sign up for or ask to be notified about any new Amazon businesses.

    I have a Walmart account, but I’ve never in my life received any emails from Walmart about their forays into banking, or health clinics, or anything else that I can ever recall.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Happy New Year Wuk!

      May much inspiring material emerge in 2025 to generate new parodies!

      Prediction: we won’t lack for new material.

      Reply ↓
    2. Bsn

      Yes Wuk. Let’s hope we all share a wonderful time in 2025. 2025? How did we ever get this far along? I remember as a child imagining what it’d be like in the year 2000 when I would be just over 50. A musical interlude: Funny How Time Slips Away

      Reply ↓
  31. Jason Boxman

    Ever wonder if those super hero movies Hollywood keeps making as opiates for the masses are coming home to roost, with the hero-ization of The Adjuster? Generally, as the story goes, the hero, an embodiment of good, defeats the evil, not uncommonly through death.

    Oops?

    Maybe we should have sternly worded letters instead. I mean, it works for the Democrats, right?

    Reply ↓
  32. Tom Stone

    I am once again struck by the lack of responsibility of our “Thought Leaders” and Elites.
    Their egos are so fragile that they can not admit error, there is never “In light of new information I have revised my opinion”.
    Professor Turley still insists that the Great Barrington Declaration was right and that Masks don’t protect from Aerosol transmission of Pathogens.
    More than 1 Million dead Americans and more than 20 Million crippled by long Covid and it’s invisible to Him.
    Then we have the droplet goons who would rather see hundreds of thousands or millions die than admit error, even when the evidence is incontrovertible.
    We can all think of numerous examples of this kind of Immature behavior, it has become pervasive.
    Adults take responsibility for their speech and their actions, Children do not.

    Reply ↓
    1. CA

      [ I am once again struck by the lack of responsibility… ]

      President Xi Jinping speaks seemingly continually. Xi is always explaining policy, from a village to a national television setting. Just as interesting is how little American analysts set down and discuss Xi’s formal and informal extensive public talks. Writers like Paul Krugman seemed to be proud of never paying attention to Xi. But why?

      Reply ↓
    2. CA

      Here is the lead headline in China, Xinhua:

      Xi underlines confidence, hard work in 2025 to rise above challenges
      Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on the nation to remain confident in the coming year, saying the world’s second-largest economy can overcome challenges and pressure through hard work. | Full Text

      There is nothing comparable in The New York Times.

      Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the nation repeatedly, as did Eleanor Roosevelt.

      Reply ↓
  33. CA

    [ I am once again struck by the lack of responsibility of our “Thought Leaders” and Elites… ]

    An important comment, since we are passing through a time when thought leaders evidently feel ever less reason to speak publicly. I have no idea why, but we have become used to not being spoken to by “leaders.” While Biden may have felt limited for quite a while, I was startled that Harris seemed to feel no obligation to just speak informally at length about her ideas.

    Reply ↓
  34. Jessica

    “I was startled that Harris seemed to feel no obligation to just speak informally at length about her ideas.”

    If she had done so, Trump would have won in an actual landslide.

    The real failure to communicate was when she, having failed abysmally as a presidential candidate, was selected as VP, then when she was crowned as the nominee.

    Reply ↓
  36. steppenwolf fetchit

    Some people think Trump will be better than Harris would have been. Other people think Trump will be worse than Harris would have been. Neither some nor other people will really know until we find out. And that will take time.

    I think everyone can agree that Trump will be “different” than Harris would have been. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? Here is an example of the emerging difference, in the form of something that is going to be tried and probably would not even have been tried under a President Harris. Here is the link.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/clevercomebacks/comments/1hqeq1e/we_are_evolving_backwards/

    Reply ↓
  37. Balan Aroxdale

    Bill Ackman expects Trump to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Reuters (Reuters)

    This would spark off the final phase of strip mining the American middle class, via conversion of private housing stock into rental properties. If this succeeds, I would not be surprised to see a return to property based voting rights as the oligarchy simply does anyway with the democratic pretense.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *