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Links 1/17/2024

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Have a Great Day: David Lynch (1946-2025) Roger Ebert. Commentary:

Farewell, Mr. Baseball JoeBlogs

RedNote/Xiaohongshu

Biden won’t enforce TikTok ban: Reports The Hill

US ‘TikTok refugees’ spark global rush of sign-ups to China’s RedNote platform South China Morning Post. Commentary:

Americans and Chinese share jokes on ‘alternative TikTok’ as US ban looms BBC Commentary:

“Strength of weak ties” but nonetheless moving.

* * *

The voice of a new generation:

California Burning

Conditions not ignitions:

Indirect death toll from the L.A. fires may end up in the thousands Yale Climate Connections. The deck: “The toxic smoke from the fires, combined with disruption to the economy, health care system, and mental health may lead to thousands of deaths over the coming years.” I think breathing toxic smoke is very “direct” indeed.

* * *

Huge fire at Moss Landing battery plant spurs evacuations, road closures, sends out plumes of toxic smoke Mercury-News

Climate

Atlantic overturning inferred from air-sea heat fluxes indicates no decline since the 1960s Nature. AMOC jackpot event not imminent?

Has Trump Changed the Retirement Plans for the Country’s Largest Coal Plants? Inside Climate News

Big Wind & Big Solar Are Trying To Sue Rural America Into Submission Robert Bryce (PI).

Water

An even bigger threat is looming behind California’s fires Vox

Bloodletting recommended for Jersey residents after PFAS contamination Guardian

Chemicals in sewage sludge fertilizer pose cancer risk, EPA says AP

Syndemics

Hospitals Should Test All Influenza Patients for Bird Flu, CDC Says Barron’s. Uh oh. More–

CDC HAN: Accelerated Subtyping of Influenza A in Hospitalized Patients Avian Flu Diary. Commentary:

Bird Flu Detected on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Charlottesville Now

Bird flu: Another capitalist crisis Liberation

* * *

American Airlines Flight Attendants Now Face Being Terminated If They Catch COVID-19 Under Harsh New Attendance Rules PYOK. “A positive COVID-19 test will not, however, be enough evidence to apply for a leave of absence, and flight attendants will need to seek out a professional certificate from a healthcare provider.”

Meet the Americans who still take COVID-19 precautions seriously AP

Don’t pretend COVID-19 didn’t happen Science

NIMH awards $1.5 million grant for long COVID neurological research News Medical Life Sciences. A million. Fancy that!

* * *

Scientists discover how viral infection triggers autoimmune disease News Medical Life Sciences. Hep-C, at least. Big if true.

China?

China says it’s sending top official to Trump’s inauguration Axios

China investigates whether CHIPS and Science Act harms its chip companies Tom’s Hardware

China Begins Probe Into US Chip Grants, Alleged Dumping Bloomberg

China’s local governments raise minimum wages to boost consumption South China Morning Post

China’s population falls for a third straight year, posing challenges for its government and economy AP

The Koreas

South Korean Court rejects petition against detention of impeached president Anadolu Agency

Bird feathers, blood found in two engines of Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea: Source Straits Times

Syraqistan

Netanyahu says hostage deal now agreed BBC. Commentary:

Ron Johnson expresses concern Israel ‘coerced’ into ceasefire agreement The Hilll

Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi rebel attacks threaten region AP

Gaza authorities to unveil plan for return of displaced Palestinians Anadalu Agency

* * *

A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy: How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza ProPublica

Israeli lawyer files genocide case with ICC against Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and 6 others The Skwawkbox

* * *

Our famously free press:

Max Blumenthal too:

And:

* * *

Beirut blast investigator resumes work after two years, charges 10 people The New Arab

The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood Boston Review

Africa

Chinese nationals sentenced to jail over illegal mining, money laundering in Democratic Republic of Congo Anadolu Agency

The New Great Game

Armenia makes a strategic turn from Russia towards the West BNE Intellinews

New Not-So-Cold War

Trump’s State Department pick delivers Ukraine reality check RT. Meanwhile:

Needed: A Sober Assessment of Putin’s Russia to Help End the War The Nation

* * *

NATO takes over coordination of military aid to Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda

NATO and EU membership and weapons: Zelenskyy names key security guarantees ahead of Trump meeting Ukrainska Pravda

What British boots on the ground would look like in Ukraine The Telegraph

Warnings British Army is too small to help Ukraine – as Keir Starmer signs 100-year pledge that could put forces on Putin’s border Daily Mail

Who’s Afraid of America First? Foreign Affairs. The deck: “What Asia Can Teach the World About Adapting to Trump.”

Biden Administration

Executive Order on Strengthening and Promoting Innovation in the Nation’s Cybersecurity The White House

Trump Transition

The Dollar’s Smile Can Change the World for Trump John Authers, Bloomberg

Trump Plans to Designate Cryptocurrency as a National Priority Bloomberg

Will Trump Wage ‘No New Wars’? Foreign Policy

Trump fuels an informal House GOP land-grab caucus Axios

Greenland’s prime minister says Arctic island doesn’t want to be part of the US: ‘Always be a strong partner’ FOX

Groves of Academe

School cellphone bans keep bipartisan momentum Axios

Supply Chain

USGS releases map identifying potential geologic hydrogen deposits in the US S&P Global

The Final Frontier

Space Force procurement official removed amid investigation Space News

Class Warfare

Why We Have Prison Gangs Asterisk Magazine

Young Morality and Old Morality Hamilton Nolan, How Things Work

Antidote du jour (Derek Keats):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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109 comments

  1. PlutoniumKun

    Big Wind & Big Solar Are Trying To Sue Rural America Into Submission Robert Bryce (PI).

    Nice to see Robert Bryce is now defending rural communities against the depredations of Big Solar and Big Wind. One wonders if this means he has now rescinded his past strong support for shale oil and gas, and his apparent failure to tell the NYT about his financial links to the fossil fuel industry when writing supposedly independent op-eds criticising renewable energy.

    Reply ↓
    1. MicaT

      Good observation, I think the answer is no.

      it is true that especially large solar has almost zero employees and often contributes very little to the tax base.

      Large wind takes many more people due to much more maintenance required.

      The opposition to these comes from both the left and the right for different reasons, but still opposed.

      Reply ↓
      1. PlutoniumKun

        The number of local jobs provided by solar and wind tends to be pretty minimal. A mid sized solar farm just needs a maintenance check ever week or so. There is almost nothing that needs regular work apart from the transformers. Wind turbines do need very specialized (and highly paid) workers, but they are usually mobile work crews. Wind turbines do have the advantage of taking up minimal land, so they don’t disrupt existing uses such as agriculture to any great extent. Increasingly, solar lands are being used for low level agriculture such as sheep rearing (turns out its cheaper than mowing weeds).

        The tax issue of course is very locally dependent. In Europe, its common for energy developments to have to provide a local community fund as compensation, but its applicability is highly variable.

        The landowners of course can benefit. The rent for solar panels now in Europe is approximately double per acre the typical profit from a dairy farm – triple or quadruple what you’d expect from a beef or lamb operation. I’d imagine the differential in the US is much greater as productivity per acre in agriculture tends to be much lower.

        Thanks to the vast expansion of capacity in China, the panels themselves are almost ridiculously cheap, such that now the grid connection and land is frequently a much higher cost than the purchase and installation of the PV cells.

        Reply ↓
    2. SOMK

      Hi there, I’m sure you saw the recent report (it was cited in this weeks phoenix magazine, don’t have it at hand) but it essential said all Ireland’s renewable energy generation was essentially gobbled up by data centres. I recently met a data centre engineer and his argument was you needed data centres to make renewables viable, sounds like nonsense to me, but I wouldn’t have the chops or expertise to counter argue, I’d be very interested to know how does that argument stack up with you? Thanks.

      Reply ↓
      1. PlutoniumKun

        The issue of data centres and renewables is quite complex. A lot depends on the timing of energy demand from the data centre and the inputs mix for the grid (not to mention locational issues – data centres tend to cluster where they can connect to 3+ circuits). If the data centres are drawing energy on an ‘on demand’ basis, then it is a major strain on the grid and makes renewables less viable. But if the demand is temporally flexible, then it can have a major role in stabilising the grid, which is particularly important in small grids like Ireland. Likewise, demand can be postponed for a few hours when the local grid is under strain.

        In general, the data centre manager is right in terms of demand management. If the primary demand is cooling, then the draw down from the grid can be timed to avoid peak demand periods – this can be used to ‘smooth out’ demand and adjust demand timing to when generation is at its peak. In a small grid like Irelands, this is most definitely a ‘positive’. By drawing down power when its windy or there is plenty of solar, you prevent the need for curtailment (which is very common now in Ireland due to the upper limits of wind input being reached), which greatly reduces waste.

        One issue that is very hard to quantify is the role of natural gas peaking plants, which have now become the norm for clusters of data centres. Looking at the installed capacity, its a lot of potential power generation, but its likely to be used only for very short periods, and so is largely irrelevant for overall demand or fossil fuel projections. However, the temptation may be (depending on fuel price of course), that any such peaking plant may well turn into normal generating capacity.

        A third issue is overall demand. There comes a point where additional demand, even if flexible, requires a quantum leap in a requirement for new power capacity, and this becomes a problem. This is currently the situation in Ireland, where data centres in particular are pushing average demand levels upwards at a rate far in advance of what can be provided quickly. Unfortunately, while a 100MW solar farm can be erected and attached to the grid in a matter of weeks, the regulatory system can add a couple of years to that. As I’m writing this, I just checked and demand is over 6GW (probably 1 GW over a similar January day 2 years ago), with 3.3GW coming on stream from wind. There is no need for curtailment now, but if the wind levels increase overnight, and demand goes down to the usual 4GW or so, that will mean substantial wind curtailment (i.e. they shut down turbines), which is pure waste. If data centres could take up that supply, its a win-win for everyone.

        To make things even more murky, the term ‘data centre’ covers an increasing range of different type of facility, with differing energy needs – an AI centre has a very different power use profile than an older style data storage facility.

        Reply ↓
  2. griffen

    TikTok imminent, pending ban gets delayed for maybe like 90 days? Making a stab that the American ideals for security and also not having the CCP mind your device’s every step needs further review in the courts. Not a lawyer nor am I capable at future forecasting. I am not a user of the platform at any rate.

    Seems a lot of kayfabe…it’s as though the US tech monoliths we all embrace and adore aren’t up to the same sorts of corporate evil…\sarc

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Those US tech monoliths are just two-bit operations that can’t stand one bit of real competition. The Tik Tok ban was never about the worry that the Chinese would use it to spy on Americans but that it made it harder for the government and those monoliths to control and censor and spy on Americans. look what twitter was like before Musk took over as an example.

      Reply ↓
      1. griffen

        Well the ruling by the Supreme Court just rendered my useless opinion even more useless, worthless, etc…Or supposedly there needs to be an interested party to put forth more than just a plan to acquire the social media platform out of the parent company…Lots of talk on the CNBC this morning.

        My next job at forecasting will predict cold weather across much of the US. Hey it’s middle of January so that has a better shot at generally being a good prediction.

        Reply ↓
      2. John k

        Yes. What can the Chinese do to me? I’m more worried about the locals.
        Also agree re twitter, maybe not perfect under musk but great improvement… so far.

        Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “Warnings British Army is too small to help Ukraine – as Keir Starmer signs 100-year pledge that could put forces on Putin’s border”

    Starmer decides that as the UK economy is going so well, that he will commit the UK to continually sending money to the Ukraine for the next hundred years because Zelensky does not have enough houses yet. Sounds legit. And just how many British soldiers does he want to send to the Ukraine anyway? The UK military is so run down that it would be hard put to generate an infantry brigade which would have to help garrison a country almost as big as France. And the Russians will never tolerate their presence there as they would not be British troops but NATO troops which crosses all sorts of red lines. Is Starmer this crazy or is he following orders from elsewhere? Don’t know why but the guy reminds me of Blinken and that is not a good thing.

    Reply ↓
    1. ilsm

      Queen of Hearts crazy?

      Seems there are several in EU lifting that level crazy.

      What level crazy needed to ask “why not have elections in Kiev”?

      Reply ↓
    2. DJG, Reality Czar

      The Rev Kev: Then, I also note this insistence that Ukraine join NATO and the European Union.

      If Ukraine is going to be a U.K. colony, even if England is now living on the vapors of Cadbury creme eggs, I can’t image why Ukraine should be in the EU.

      Maybe the Scots would like to trade Scottish independence for Ukrainian accession to the U.K. (heck, it could then be called Unikrainian Kingdom).

      As for me, here in the Undisclosed Region, my attitude is that I will wait for the patient Albanians to be admitted to the EU before we talk about bringing in proxy-war-wreckage Azovlandia.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        If the Ukraine went into the EU, it would blow up that whole setup financially. From an FT article-

        ‘Admitting Ukraine, with farmland that exceeds the size of Italy and an agricultural sector that employs 14 per cent of its population, would be a game-changer. It follows that Ukraine would become the biggest recipient of CAP funding, the majority of which comprises direct payments to farmers or income support. The consequences would be severe: other farmers in the union would have to accept much lower payments or the EU would need to agree a massive boost in its agricultural budget.’

        https://www.ft.com/content/744078f2-0895-44d9-96f9-701c13403df0

        It is already causing all sorts of trouble because the EU has been letting in grain from the Ukraine which is impoverishing EU farmers and they aren’t even in the EU yet. Most EU members would be secretly glad that countries like Hungary and Slovakia are saying that they would nix the vote on their entry.

        Reply ↓
        2. Skip Intro

          The Ukraine that went into the EU would not be burdened those huge tracts of land, as most of those areas will be Russia. Same with much of the mineral and (former) industrial capacity. The EU can breathe easy.

          Reply ↓
    3. Neutrino

      Starmer Gambit:

      Draft Asians, in British parlance, the Pakistanis and other recent arrivals.
      Provide generous promises of post-victory benefits.
      Highlight past county success stories, regalia, provide new necktie.
      One-way tickets to Kiev and points beyond.

      Just in time announcement now for the next election. Two birds, one stone. /s

      Reply ↓
  5. upstater

    Re. Huge fire at Moss Landing battery plant spurs evacuations, road closures, sends out plumes of toxic smoke Mercury-News

    I wonder how many pump storage hydro plants burn up this way? They can last centuries if maintained and don’t yield a mountain of toxic waste after the batteries are depleted. Battery banks are a cheap sugar high. Pump storage requires a long term investment and skilled management, engineering and trades. We don’t do those things anymore.

    Reply ↓
    1. IEL

      Pumped storage requires specific geography. There are areas (mostly out West would be my guess) where we could add more pumped storage, but in many areas there is nowhere to put them. Other energy storage tech (compressed air, lifting rocks) haven’t really panned out, at least so far.

      Batteries are also modular and can be located near the load, avoiding congestion and the need for more transmission lines. And they can be repositioned as needs change.

      Reply ↓
      1. PlutoniumKun

        The DoE did an excellent report on this 2 years ago. It identified 3.5 terawatts of 10 hour storage – this is a lot – actually far more than is needed.

        I’ve been fascinated by pump storage since I was 9 years old and brought on a school trip to visit one of the worlds first pump storage systems – Turlough Hill in County Wicklow, Ireland. I still hike up there regularly. Its worked pretty much flawlessly for more than half a century now and has paid its initial very high cost many times over.

        They fell out of favour for decades mostly because increased network expansion and CCGT gas plants proved a cheaper way of maintaining grid stability. But they are becoming increasingly attractive for power grids. The big problem is that while they are fairly benign in some respects, you can’t get around the fact that building a big reservoir on top of a mountain is rarely pretty and is generally very unpopular. So the ‘real’ capacity to build out pump storage is far less than the theoretical maximum. Another issue is that the best sites are not often near the required grid capacity. A friend of mine who lives along the route of the power line to Turlough Hill still speaks bitterly about how his parents were unable to stop it crossing their land.

        At least one of the existing Californian pump storage facilities was built in tandem with a nuclear power plant. For all its virtues, nuclear is highly inefficient at meeting demand peaks. Matching the two was a pretty good idea, albeit probably staggeringly expensive.

        Potential is overlooked for using existing reservoirs for pump storage – this was quite common in the early days of producing electricity. In simple terms, it just means building a small secondary reservoir below your main reservoir, so you can pump water back up at times when there is very low demand. The Portuguese have retrofitted a number of existing reservoirs for this.

        It should be pointed out that battery storage and pumped storage are not competitors – they provide different storage requirements. In simple terms, batteries excel at ironing out short term demand/supply fluctuations (for example, over a 24 hour cycle), while pumped storage is most efficient for longer term or seasonal balancing. You also need additional storage for very rapid fluctuations – this is usually provided by flywheels or capacitors.

        In the medium term though, there will also have to be major investment in utilising surplus renewables. We are rapidly approaching the point where we will have vast amounts of essentially free energy from solar and wind at regular times of the day. It will almost certainly be cheaper to use this for production (hydrogen, ammonia, industrial products, etc), than to curtail or store it.

        Reply ↓
    2. CA

      https://english.news.cn/20241231/bfa9e1c920f34e0194978ad9706f8d0f/c.html

      December 31, 2024

      World’s largest pumped storage hydropower plant in full operation in China

      SHIJIAZHUANG — The Fengning pumped storage hydropower plant, the largest of its kind globally, has commenced full operation in the city of Chengde, north China’s Hebei Province.

      Operated by the State Grid Corporation of China, the facility boasts a total installed capacity of 3.6 million kilowatts and is designed to generate 6.61 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

      The company said that since its initial units began operating in 2021, the plant has generated approximately 8.62 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

      As a leading renewable energy storage technology, pumped storage plays a key role in advancing the country’s green energy transition.

      The Fengning plant is expected to save 480,800 tonnes of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million tonnes annually…

      Reply ↓
    3. micaT

      The section that caught fire is inside the old building. It was installed in 2020, meaning it was designed at least 1-2 years before. The fire that happened at APS in 2019 was a watershed moment in future lithium battery design.

      While this fire will be used against all lithium storage, it is not how they are designed/manufactured or installed now. Yes there are still fires, but the number of fires from the new UL/IEEE/fire regulations is smaller every year even though the number of systems installed is growing exponentially.

      And while the US is focused on Lithium, China and the big three battery companies there are focused on Sodium ION as the future of BESS and possibly cars as well.
      The chemistry of the moss landing stage 1 install where either NMC or NCA, both less stable than the majority of the newer system which use LFP due to its lower cost, much greater longevity, better environmental foot print and lower fire risk.

      While 2020 was only 5 years ago, it’s impossible to overstate how much change has happened in the design and installation of BESS since then.

      Reply ↓
    4. converger

      This is battery fire number four at Moss Landing. PG&E got regulatory approval to install 3GWh of Tesla Powerwalls there three years ago, at a cost of roughly $1,000/kWh. China is producing far superior quality lithium iron phosphate batteries – no cobalt, don’t cause lithium fires if you look at them funny – for ~$50/kWh.

      Welcome to MuskWorld.

      Reply ↓
      1. Joe Renter

        I grew up 18 miles as the seagull flies from Moss Landing. Home of a good size fishing fleet back in the day. The Monterey Canyon led to some nice waves there. Overall beautiful area. Hopefully the environmental impact is not too great.

        Reply ↓
    5. expr

      The upper dam of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant in MO failed catastrophically and the entire contents of the upper reservoir went down the side of the mountain anddown a local stream

      Reply ↓
    6. taunger

      There is no solution that meets local tastes. Here on the Connecticut River Valley, residents oppose Li batter as dangerous, and the Northfield Mtn pumped storage as environmentally destructive. We are in a bad timeline

      Reply ↓
  7. Wukchumni

    Perhaps lost in the equation is the shattering effect volcanoes can have on civilization, a couple of Icelandic beauties blowing up real good in 1783-85 fomented the French Revolution when the cost of bread was more than a Frenchman’s daily wage on account of failed harvests, and look where we’re at now, most of the USA is locked in an arctic freeze, while SoCal hasn’t seen any precip in a world of Sundays, which leads me into better or verse.

    Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
    Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
    Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
    Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga

    I can’t stop this feeling
    Deep inside the sea
    Earth, you just don’t realize
    What you do to me

    When you blew up in the sea
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    Into the atmospheric bight
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    You let me know
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    Everything’s not alright

    I’m hooked on a feeling
    I’m high on believing
    That you’re gonna mess with me

    Submarine volcano eruption disruption
    It’s case is on my mind
    Earth, you got me wondering
    If you want a population decline

    Got crop failures because of you
    But there is no cure
    I just stay a victim
    If I can endure

    All the good above
    When in the ozone
    Took it out clean
    Yeah, you spurn us on

    I’m hooked on a feeling
    I’m high on believing
    That you’re gonna mess with me

    All the good above
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    When in the ozone
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    Took it out clean
    {Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
    Yeah, you spurn us on

    I said I’m hooked on a feeling
    And I’m high on believing
    That you’re gonna mess with we
    I’m hooked on a feeling

    Hooked on a Feeling, by Blue Swede

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-qweh7nbQ

    Reply ↓
  8. Zagonostra

    @redstreamnet
    🟡 BREAKING: Reporter Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) is arrested and dragged out of a press briefing by @SecBlinken for daring to ask the tough question: ‘Why aren’t you in The Hague?

    This clip of Husseini, and also of Max Blumenthal, was on almost all of my Twitter/X feeds yesterday. The number of views must easily be in the millions. I don’t recall any Administration in my lifetime doing more damage to the image of what America stands for, and revealing duplicity/mendacity of ruling elites, than this outgoing Administration.

    I know America’s image is just that, an image, but behind it lies the ideals that have provided inspiration for others countries (I’m thinking specifically of Ho Chi Minh embrace of Thomas Jefferson).

    https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/ho-chi-minh-thomas-jefferson/

    Reply ↓
    1. JBird4049

      The arrests do show the essential cowardice of Antony Blinken doesn’t? Then add the unwisdom of such politically stupid act especially as the arrest was used to suppress free speech, which is just about the only right almost the entire American Nation can agree on, especially in a press conference.

      Reply ↓
  9. The Rev Kev

    “An even bigger threat is looming behind California’s fires’

    It occurs to me that the clock is ticking on Los Angeles and they had better get their act together. The reason is that in only 42 months time the 2028 Summer Olympics kicks off in Los Angeles. Can you imagine a firestorm like this blowing up while the games were being held? I can. But 42 months is not a very long time but at least that State has a capable Governor in the form of Gavin Newsom. Oh, wait…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_Summer_Olympics

    Reply ↓
    2. Pat

      I fully expect that the 2028 Olympics will be a very widespread affair with little actually happening in the LA metropolitan area. We saw a fair amount of that in Paris (surfing being the most obvious item) but many winter versions have also seen whole tracts of events hundreds of miles away from the supposed host city.

      Reply ↓
    4. Mikel

      It’s a widespread affair and could still be held without anybody going to or passing through Palisades or Altadena.
      But the Olympics itself is always a controversial way for a city/state to spend money… even without the disasters.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        As long as there are mandatory torch management courses, I don’t see a problem with the 2028 LA Olympics going forward.

        Reply ↓
        1. Ben Panga

          I have been trying to think of new Olympic events.

          My creative juices are low today and I got no further than Smoke-Jumping and possibly Buck-Passing

          Reply ↓
        2. Mikel

          Those will probably be the times that precautions will be taken that should have always been taken.
          Then afterwards, back to regularly scheduled programming.

          Reply ↓
        3. griffen

          I look forward to all the fine celebrities and athletes* pitching in to garner the attention that tends to accompany the carrying of the torch, and since it’s Hollywood surely they can prepare in advance a mythical torch that burns as opposed to the real thing.

          Since Snoop Dogg featured prominently in the Paris Olympics naturally he’ll be featured again…along with looming figures like oh, Magic Johnson and various important athletes.

          Reply ↓
    1. Screwball

      FTA:

      The president’s son had rented the property for $15,800 per month and used the idyllic space to work on his paintings, the Mail report claimed. Also destroyed was a neighboring house rented by Hunter’s Secret Service detail at a monthly cost to the US taxpayer of $16,000, the newspaper added.

      Does his artwork pay the rent? Doesn’t matter now, but he’ll likely make a bunch of money on the insurance. Talk about falling in a barrel of poop and coming out smelling like a rose.

      Reply ↓
    2. lyman alpha blob

      Hmmmm. The “art” Dear Hunter sold went for very large amounts. Some people (like me!) suspect that this was a money laundering scam to begin with, but it did allow Mr. Art Market to set a going rate for a genuine “Biden”. Makes me wonder how much he insured any unsold paintings for and how much he might be cashing in.

      Are we sure it was the inferno that destroyed them, and not Uncle Jimbo’s Zippo?

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Even worse, the Etch-a-Sketch with which the First Son apparently rendered coveted artworks sadly lost to all humanity, melted into a gob of plastic-melded with a Kodak film canister.

        Reply ↓
  11. Wukchumni

    Indirect death toll from the L.A. fires may end up in the thousands Yale Climate Connections. The deck: “The toxic smoke from the fires, combined with disruption to the economy, health care system, and mental health may lead to thousands of deaths over the coming years.” I think breathing toxic smoke is very “direct” indeed.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I kind of wonder if the LA Infernos were a death knell in a similar fashion to how Lisbon became a has-been after the 1755 earthquake?

    The City of Angles had kind of run out of them aside from your crib being worth a million bucks, and had become reliant on the local citizenry buying stuff. About the only new buildings designed for commerce were the giant warehouses dotting the freeways in the Inland Empire which moved consumer goods down the line a piece, go east young man, the truck dispatch coordinator urged.

    I used to go to the movies once a fortnight if not oftener, and then the content went to shit, theaters squeezed more screens into too small of a place, and since the turn of the century maybe a dozen trips to the picture show for yours truly.

    Most of their recent efforts are pure dreck, with an unfortunate bias towards using gun violence, so as to make it seem normal societal behavior to what’s left of their audience.

    Hollywood had a giant ace up their sleeve in exclusivity in both owning the product lock stock and barrel, and tv and movies were 1-way action, everything directed at the public-nothing desired from them other than kudos.

    Covid killed going to the movies, these fires took out the talent’s haunts.

    Here come those Santa Ana winds again, bad news

    Reply ↓
    1. Pat

      I think you are giving too much credit to Covid. Sure it was probably the final blow, but the economy, streaming and mismanagement had movie theater going starving, beaten and on the ground before that.

      Even before the lockdowns, theater closures and bankruptcies were a thing. The costs of running the theater meant tickets were increasingly expensive. A movie date could easily cost people $40 to $50 dollars in an economy where that was five hours work for most people. All when rents and housing were going higher and higher. This meant that going to the movies were yet another no longer cheap item in America. That meant that the movies that got people into the theater were big event movies. Along with this you have to remember how movie theaters actually make their money. It is really true that concessions are it for theaters. Theaters see very little if anything from the ticket prices for the first weeks of a movie run. IIRC the first weekend is all for the distributors for first run films. This has always been problematic, but in an environment where movies remain in a theater for three or four weeks, it is deadly. So there are two of the on the ground economic reasons.

      Mismanagement is obvious. And I include theater owners in that not just production companies.

      Streaming, which is now also showing huge management failures, became a means of eliminating revenue sharing for production companies. Which is why so many of them own their own platforms. It is also why so many movies are on streaming so quickly after being released. See above that detail about theater owners taking more of the admission take every week a movie is in the theater. A movie may end up on for rental streaming a week or two before the distribution take would equal the rental take but they also get many of those who would never go to the theater without much additional advertising. And for critics and Oscars etc, most Studios/major distributors have deals or even own a theater in NY and LA where they can run the film for a couple of weeks (and have screenings) in order to meet eligibility criteria. For instance Netflix is one of the owners of both the Paris Theater in NY and the Egyptian Theater in LA.

      And once again all that was happening before Covid. IMO, the lockdown merely sped up the trend of people setting up their own viewing space with larger screens and sound bars/sound systems. It was already happening, but it became more of a priority for people and the Covid checks made it possible for some.

      Reply ↓
      1. Carolinian

        Movie theaters are expensive to run and arguably only still exist to support a business model that H’wood was reluctant to give up. That reluctance is fading.

        Of course they once provided towns across America with the social experience that big city folk got from B’way and live entertainment. Television came along but you still needed the movies to go out on a date.

        Digital has disrupted everything but the decline of the movies may also be a symptom of the decline of the middle class. It’ll be Walmarts out to the horizon and cheap tvs they sell to keep us entertained. The elites will be in their enclaves–some of them on fire.

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          Movies also had a relevancy once upon a time in that it was a sure-fire conversation starter as everybody that saw the film had a shared experience.

          For instance nearly every male from 60 to 70 probably knows some or most of the dialogue from Caddyshack, so we got that going for us, which is nice.

          Reply ↓
          1. ChrisFromGA

            A classic … apropos for the upcoming transition in 3 days:

            Kid: “I want a ceasefire in Gaza, no I want a ceasefire in Ukraine, I want tariffs, I want MAGA ..”

            Trump: “You’ll get nothing and like it!”

            Reply ↓
    2. Carolinian

      Of course the Los Angeles of a few decades back was choked with smog and had its own set of problems.

      As for the movie biz, it has been declared dead on previous occasions. There are still some interesting smaller films but the comic book movies are played out as seen in the horribly smug and self referential (but successful) Deadpool film. Certainly there are still plenty of up and coming aspirants seeking to bring fresh faces and ideas. The studios however seem to have mostly been swallowed up by Disney and its suits.

      We still have a couple of multiplexes, one of which moved out of the now struggling mall. I never go however. The multiplex idea itself was a product of previous H’wood struggles. Technologically you can now get the same experience at home.

      Reply ↓
  12. Valiant Johnson

    The massive head fake that is the attention Greenland,Canada and Panama are getting getting from both mainstream and alt media is amazing.
    The Hegemon exerts now and always has within living memory complete strategic,economic and political control over these areas.
    Look there’s a squirrel.

    Reply ↓
    1. JMH

      In other words, smile as you increase pressure on the arm lock, but remember it’s bad form to make the recipient wince … visibly.

      Reply ↓
  13. The Rev Kev

    “Meet the Americans who still take COVID-19 precautions seriously”

    The oddity about this article is that it emphasizes that it is only people with medical conditions or have family/partners that have medical conditions that mask up and not so much ordinary people. Guess that Biden was right when he said that the pandemic is over. But with this story I cannot shake the feeling that this was the intent of this AP News article. Came across an unusual story about what Covid was like in the early days. So Musk had a disagreement with a friend back then on how serious Covid was going to get with Musk fobbing it off. It ended with a bet between the two with Musk betting that he would donate $1 million to charity against a $1,000 bottle of tequila that COVID cases in the US would not exceed 35,000. When the friend a few weeks later said the CDC admitted to 35,000 deaths to Musk in a tweet, Musk turned on him nastily and ended the friendship-

    https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-lost-bet-covid-005051446.html

    Reply ↓
    1. Es s Ce Tera

      Another oddity for me is that, here in Canada, within my social circles, family and workplace, so many people still take it quite seriously, with or without health issues, to the extent I think maybe south of the border is an alternate universe or maybe I live in a particular bubble. Maybe that’s another intent of the article, to convince the last holdouts that what we’re seeing and experiencing isn’t real.

      Reply ↓
    2. Jason Boxman

      There are those of us without any preexisting medical conditions that we know of, that aren’t seniors, that still take this deadly seriously. But from the COVID conscious community, there are certainly a number of people that do have preexisting medical conditions, or long COVID, and need to avoid (re)infection at all costs. There’s an appreciable mental trauma to being completely abandoned by civil “society”, such as it is, for a convenient fiction that COVID ended/never happened. But the preponderance of evidence at this point is overwhelming that SARS-CoV-2 infections are bad, and should be minimized.

      This is the stupidest timeline.

      Also was pondering today, and someone else had made this point, that in America hospitals must provide emergency care, regardless of ability to pay. So, at some point in the past, there was a basic understanding that as a society, we don’t leave each other to go die.

      But today, if you got to a medical facility, you can get infected with SARS-CoV-2, and become either disabled, or die. And no one cares.

      I think today, a law requiring that hospitals provide emergency care to those that cannot pay, would not pass Congress. If it did, it would require religious education or something as a condition of receiving care or something.

      Reply ↓
  14. DJG, Reality Czar

    Blood letting.

    Heck, we’re back at 1631.

    And let us not forget how helpful blood letting was to George Washington. It may have been his cause of death.

    To check on how to get PFAS out of one’s bloodstream, I checked around for some alternative medicine sites. This one was started by a mom, and being a mom, she is very serious and tenacious. Much of the advice seems better than what the Jerseyites are getting. Blood draws are way down on her list:

    https://taborplace.co/blogs/plastic-is-toxic/how-to-detox-pfas

    “Detox” sounds woo-woo. But what I can tell you is that I preferred my U.S. chiropractor for years (forty) over the advice I was getting from MDs. As a link around here mentioned the other day, MDs are good for severe pain (broken limbs) and severe illness (tumors), but MDs aren’t as good at chronic illness (heck, I’m aging). As we see with Saint Luigi the Avenger, he would have been better off going to my U.S. chiropractor or to my Chocolate City shiatsu therapist, who is a remarkably talented man. Back surgery likely was not indicated.

    So: Blood letting? Errrr. I’d go with Mom Beatrice first.

    Medical peeps here in the commentariat: Okay, I’m live bait. Have at it!

    Reply ↓
      1. JMH

        Leeches haven’t gone away, but they are reduced to niche uses.

        That said once seen can you unsee Humphrey Bogart coming out of the water in African Queen? Can I unsee Dougie brushing the leeches off his brother Ronnie’s legs one day when we were fishing for Sunnies? No and no.

        Reply ↓
        1. Daniil Adamov

          I remember seeing handbills advertising leeches in a Russian state clinic. Granted, I think that was a decade ago now, but I doubt hirudotherapy was banished since then.

          At a glance, it seems that our blood-loving friends have been making a comeback for the last few decades in much of the world, including the US; though yes, their role is not so big as it once was.

          Reply ↓
    2. EMC

      Thank you. I thought I was clicking on a link to The Onion.

      Good article. The bottom line seems to be a classic healthy diet – whole grains, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, cultured/fermented foods. Heresy.

      Reply ↓
      1. Joe Renter

        Yeah, old George should have asked his friend Ben about a vegetarian diet and the benefits of a morning air bath (naked in the sunshine).

        Reply ↓
  15. CA

    After being assured by the most prominent of Western economists that “China’s Economy Is Rotting from the Head,” a full year has passed and China has grown at a 5% rate just as planned; which will mean 5% per capita growth, a 42% share of GDP spent on investment which will mean a significant potential growth increase going forward, a trillion dollar export surplus which was generally in advanced technology products…

    There is much more to add, but the point is what does this mean for developing nations? The point is why the overt hostility? Why is reading the New York Times day by day such a trial in overt China hostility? How has China gone on so successfully these decades, no matter the hostility?

    “China’s Economy Is Rotting from the Head,” from a Nobel Prize awarded MIT economist.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Because, they lie?

      Note that the same sort of propaganda is used against Russia. I would say that China as a country does not really care what propaganda foreign media assault it with. The articles are aimed at low-information US citizens to keep them uninformed.

      As US citizens we should be outraged that our press no longer functions as a “watch dog” or even a neutral observer of the world. They’ve been weaponized to become a tool of US foreign policy.

      Don’t fret too much, their business model is failing. We might consider the NY Times a candidate for nationalization and re-purposing into the Ministry of Truth,

      Sticks and stones …

      Reply ↓
    2. Trees&Trunks

      “China has grown at a 5% rate”
      If it is rotting from the head, it should also be growing from the head? Is Xi Jinping’s head 5% larger now that previous year? Is the leadership now stuffed with macrocephals? Or Is it because the Chinese economic body is dead and the corpse is bloating with 5%. If you are in China, please, provide pictures of the heads of different leadership-levels for a proper phreno-economical analysis.

      Reply ↓
    3. JMH

      I had a brief and inglorious stint teaching economics. I had no business doing so as was proven all too soon to the Dean and to my considerable relief. My conclusion after the dust settled was that so-called macro economics made a certain amount of sense as it was more the history of economic activity and as primarily a historian, I was comfortable with it. Micro-economics seemed to describe the inner workings of idealized models eschewing the plethora of messy and complicating details not least of which was human irrationality and perversity. The very idea of “rational choice” as a basis struck me as questionable in the extreme. Economic predictions looked akin to reading tea leaves. Someone, J P Morgan (?) is reputed to have said when asked what the market would do replied, “Sir, it will fluctuate!” As I said at the start, I had no business teaching economics.

      As to China’s economy, it grows. It has huge problems. It has tremendous prospects. It is highly innovative. It makes big mistakes. The Belt & Road is a brilliant concept that is becoming reality (not without its hiccups) and remember that the timeline stretches to 2049 … as does the timeline for the reintegration of Taiwan. Add to this the Russia, China, and Iran complement each other and that complementarity holds promise for all three economies.

      Maybe the focus should be not on one piece on the chessboard, but on the entire board. Not on the next move, but the ever changing strategy of the game and trhe game is not checkers.

      Reply ↓
      2. CA

        https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2024/October/weo-report?c=223,924,132,134,532,534,536,158,546,922,112,111,&s=PPPGDP,PPPSH,&sy=2000&ey=2024&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1

        October 15, 2024

        GDP, 2024

        China ( 37,732)
        United States ( 29,168)
        India ( 16,020)
        Russia ( 6,909)
        Japan ( 6,572)

        Germany ( 6,017)
        Brazil ( 4,702)
        Indonesia ( 4,658)
        France ( 4,359)
        United Kingdom ( 4,282)

        Italy ( 3,598)
        Turkey ( 3,457)
        Mexico ( 3,303)
        Korea ( 3,258)
        Canada ( 2,582)

        Reply ↓
  16. DJG, Reality Czar

    Alex Shams, Boston Review. The terrorists in the neighborhood.

    As Shams himself describes, the Basij (for all their flaws) come from the same place as Hezbollah and Hamas. They are ground-up organizations providing services at many levels. Plus a militia.

    This “model” is also seen in Ireland / Eire with the IRA and Sinn Fein. It is part of the history of the Basque Country in Spain.

    In short, a fairly long article worth your while. Just to get everyone thinking that there are human beings and complex social structures involved. The Lebanese/U.S. journalist Rania Khalek has been pointing out for months that Hezbollah has deputies in the Lebanese parliament and isn’t just a fire-breathing militia. This is also why Israel’s exploding-pager tactic was, well, terrorism, because it targeted, as the Israeli government well knew, the social organizations / medical organizations affiliated with Hezbollah.

    I was also reminded of something I read a while back in a book about recent Iranian history and culture: The author, an American / Iranian, wondered how it was possible that the U.S. of A. had alienated the most pro-American culture in the Middle East.

    Reply ↓
    1. NotThePilot

      It’s a really good article, and the guy’s actually been to Iran so I wouldn’t challenge his take much. That said, I get the impression his academic and (upper case “L”) Liberal worldview obscures certain things.

      While he’s right that many of the members are younger, I think his emphasis on it as a youth group is misleading. The Basij definitely trends younger like any military force and has a lot of uniquely Iranian features (plus some unofficially Maoist ones), but in another sense, it’s just Iran’s version of the National Guard. It definitely has middle-aged and older members in run-of-the-mill positions, not just cadres continually pushing doctrine on 18 year olds. Which makes the whole terrorist organization designation by the West look even pettier than it is on the face of it.

      Also, the way he talks like Israel can do the same as Gaza to Iran, or like the iteratively weaker protest waves are going to collapse the society, sounds frankly like catastrophizing. I think he’s completely sincere, but he’s probably been gripped by FUD, which seems to be the new flavor of Western propaganda about the entire Resistance Axis.

      Reply ↓
  17. TG

    California and water: there is an elephant in the room. California in 1950 had a population of about 10 million. Mostly (not entirely) because of forced population growth (‘immigration’, done by the rich against the will of the citizenry), that population has now been approximately quadrupled to around 40 million. Annual precipitation has remained roughly constant (California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, website 2021), so obviously per-capita precipitation has been cut to a quarter of its previous value, even as net precipitation trends constant. One must also note that all the practical sites for water storage have already been exploited, so this population increase has also reduced per-capita water storage capacity to a quarter of its previous value. Even as the long-term trend for precipitation in California remains constant, it does look like the always high year-to-year variability has increased somewhat. But suppose that per-capita precipitation were four times greater than present, and also per-capita water storage were four times greater than present. Or even just double. Would California still have issues? Sure. Would they be a lot less than at present? Absolutely. But when the rich move to force the population up, for the specific amoral purpose of making themselves richer at the expense of making everyone else poorer, why there can be no possible downside, more people are ALWAYS better – and when that inevitably turns out not to be the case, why, it never happened.

    Reply ↓
  19. timo maas

    Armenia makes a strategic turn from Russia towards the West BNE Intellinews

    Armenia makes a strategic turn towards the cliff, because GPS navigation device said that there is a bridge leading to the promised land over it. I wonder if this counts as assisted suicide.

    Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    “Bird feathers, blood found in two engines of Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea: Source”

    Sounds like one of those times that no matter what you do, it is not going to end well. It looks like it was bird strikes that caused the original problem but the fact that the recording devices stopped four minutes before the crash indicates total power loss. As they never re-started, it may be that the pilots were too hard-pressed to deploy the air driven generator (a big fan) to give them minimal power. That concrete barrier waiting for them at the end of the runway was just the end of a run of bad luck.

    Reply ↓
    1. micaT

      The Boeing 737 does not have a RAT ( ram air turbine).
      It does have battery back up, for most major systems, and dual redundant power system for the hydraulics which work even if the engine is dead but turning which it would have been doing due to the blades being turned by the air speed.
      We don’t know if 0,1,2 engines had issues. The right engine was in reverse thrust mode on landing, and from crash damage appears to have been working, while the left does appear to have been off.
      As others have pointed out, the approach they flew could only have been done with power from at least 1 engine.
      The gear can be lowered via cables, pulled from the first officer seat, no hydraulic or electric power needed.

      Time will tell after the investigation and hopefully it will provide some answers.

      Reply ↓
  22. timbers

    Trump Transition ****** Am seeing various reports Trump Team plans moooooore sanctions on Russia “to improve Ukraine’s bargaining position.” Essentially a continuation of Biden Team failed policies that will continue to be paid for by many in Trump’s MAGA worker bee class (higher energy costs). Only real verbal difference being that the word “bargaining” is there which presumes talking to Russia is now OK. Will the next shoe to drop be that Trump also changes his mind on long range US strikes into Russia like Biden is doing is OK too, if it “improves Ukraine’s bargaining position” given that Putin has normalized it by making it consequence free for America and the West to do do? Gilbert Doctorow said some in Russia were “estatic” that Trump is talking spheres of influence and that it is understandable Russia is uncomfortable NATO wants Ukraine. Someone might remind these Russians that USA is exceptional.

    Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    Things have come to a pretty pass
    Our press romance is growing flat
    For you say this and the other
    While I go for this and that
    Goodness knows what the end will be
    Oh, I don’t know where I’m at
    It looks as if my work here will never be done
    Someone must be gone!

    I say small a cost, you say holocaust
    You say manslaughter and I say man’s laughter
    Holocaust, manslaughter, neither, either
    Let’s turn their microphone off, yes

    You like live and let live and I like genocide
    You like anti-semetic? and I like Zionism
    Live, murder, new world order
    Let’s turn their microphones off

    But oh, if we turf them out
    Then we must part
    And oh, if we ever see you again around these parts
    Then that might break my heart

    So if you like press perks and I like serious smirks
    I’ll wear a knowing smile and give up my lying style
    For we know, we no longer need each other
    So we better call the calling names off, off
    Oh, let’s turn their microphones off, yes

    Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfu_PD-7EtM

    Reply ↓
    1. AG

      “I say small a cost, you say holocaust”
      that’s a keeper

      Or rather this one?
      “Live, murder, new world order”

      Reply ↓
  24. AG

    German NACHDENKSEITEN with a not very friendly piece on Friedrich Merz (which won’t change much of course) – even though I like to repeat – people do not really like him.

    Who is Friedrich Merz?
    https://archive.is/2ovCW

    p.s. As TAURUS goes, as I wrote in Dec., Merz is not suicidal.
    Author Berger is a good man but shares puzzling verdicts on some issues – such as Andromeda and NS2 or not questioning (but nobody in Germany is doing) Greenpeace’s NATO study and the supremacy of the West.
    But “nobody is perfect” to quote I.A.L. Diamond.

    Reply ↓
  25. pjay

    – ‘Needed: A Sober Assessment of Putin’s Russia to Help End the War’ – The Nation

    So this is the “sober” assessment our leading “progressive” or “leftist” magazine, that Russia is disintegrating and Putin is desperately just trying to hold on to power — so let’s just have peace now? Sounds to me like the US goal of making Russia scream has been achieved. Oh, the author agrees: “That goal has arguably been achieved.” Russia surely can’t hold out much longer. It’s apparently lost 700,000 killed and injured in the war! Ukraine has suffered too, though not as much: 100,000 killed and 400,000 injured according to this author. Russia’s economy is in shambles. Putin is losing his grip on society as he grows more paranoid and “obsessed” with “color revolutions” (how delusional). He’s in no position to threaten the rest of Europe any more.

    Clearly this Russian expert and Oberlin professor knows what he is talking about! So naturally, all those anti-Russia hawks who have been lusting after this very outcome will listen to this humanitarian “progressive” argument and stop the killing now, right?

    Thanks to The Nation for this sober assessment.

    Reply ↓
    4. CA

      ‘So this is the “sober” assessment our leading “progressive” or “leftist” magazine, that Russia is disintegrating and Putin is desperately just trying to hold on to power — so let’s just have peace now?’

      What I find interesting is how “The Nation” became carefully conservative as the health and energy of Stephen F. Cohen declined, even as the wife of Cohen was Editor. Then, with the death of Cohen, the magazine turned to a little more subtle version of the imperialist “Foreign Policy.”

      As for President Putin, the point is to save Russia in the manner of Tolstoy’s Kutuzov. To honor Russian culture and turn the strategy of the country to allying with the East.

      As far as I can judge simply by looking at a globe, Russia and China as partners become impossible for the West to actually threaten.

      Reply ↓
  26. Wukchumni

    Farewell, Mr. Baseball JoeBlogs
    ~~~~~~~~

    Fittingly I find out only today that Uecker was treading the Mendoza Line over a less than storied career, but oh how he was loved by many a pitcher. RIP just a litttttttle inside.

    Reply ↓
  27. Lee

    Just because seasonal flu is present doesn’t mean H5N1 is not ALSO present.
    They can and do co-occur. And the presence of both is the perfect incubator for producing a lethal pandemic strain of H5 flu.
    There is currently no readily available test for H5 subtypes.

    Hickam was a doctor, Occam wasn’t. Hickam’s Dictum:

    Hickam’s dictum is a counterargument to the use of Occam’s razor in the medical profession.[1] While Occam’s razor suggests that the simplest explanation is the most likely, implying in medicine that diagnosticians should assume a single cause for multiple symptoms, one form of Hickam’s dictum states: “A man can have as many diseases as he damn well pleases.”[2] The principle is attributed to an apocryphal physician named Hickam,[2] possibly John Bamber Hickam, MD.[3] When he began saying this is uncertain. In 1946, he was a housestaff member in medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Hickam was a faculty member at Duke University in the 1950s, and was later chairman of medicine at Indiana University from 1958 to 1970.[4] Wikipedia

    Reply ↓
  28. from where the fires burn bright

    Possibility, some of Twitter’s more opinionated personalities have no idea what the Holocaust was. The Holocaust was 15,000 murdered in a ditch, over 24 hours, in just one place, Baba Yar, one of many. Then repeated the next day. Then the next day. And the next until 150,000 were murdered at Baba Yar alone. The mass grave dug by Soviet POWs resembled a quarry. The Luftwaffe was impressed enough to take aerial photos of the massive site.

    That is exactly what for which the word “genocide” was coined (US v Otto Ohlendorf, at al. 1946). A given member of the Sicherheitsdienst would execute 90-100 people then pass the gun to the next man.

    Bones, some charred, to this day, are routinely unearthed by the otherwise unremarkable suburban construction in Baba Yar. This is why wars of aggression must be replied to in the most effective terms possible. Ideally, it’s best to dissuade such actors before they choose to invade our homes.

    Reply ↓
    1. Zagonostra

      Grandson suffers from “Habsburg Jaw”

      The Habsburg dynasty practiced inbreeding for centuries to maintain their power and royal bloodline. This practice led to a number of physical and mental health issues, including the “Habsburg jaw”

      Reply ↓
  31. Hastalavictoria

    Been away for a long time.However the Telegraph headline ” What British boots on the ground in Ukraine would look ” too good to miss.

    How about :

    – Full of dead legs
    – Prone
    – Lacking a torso

    Comics please literally “fill your boots” here.

    Reply ↓
  32. Tom Stone

    I have noticed three painted Cybertrucks in the last week, green, orange and white.
    I don’t know if this is done at the factory or by owners tired of all the ugly little rust spots.
    The Rivians are a lot more common, about ten Rivians to each Cybertruck and I suspect that a good part of this is that the form of the Rivian follows the function of a pick up truck, hauling stuff and towing things.
    The “Cool Factor” of the cybertruck seems to fade quickly, expensive, ugly, unsafe and impractical vehicles lose their appeal soon…

    Reply ↓

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