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Links 1/28/2025

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Peeing Is Socially Contagious In Chimps 404media

Stanford Researchers Produce Ammonia Fuel From Thin Air IEEE Spectrum (Chuck L)

High and Dry: Sobriety and transcendence at Bonnaroo Harper’s (Anthony L)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Finally, an answer to why Earth’s oceans have been on a record-hot streak Grist

Opinion: The Uncertain Multigenerational Implications of PFAS Undark

China?

China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in January, official data showed on Monday Financial Times

Bloom and gloom: China’s Spring Festival flower sales hit by weak demand, warm weather South China Morning Post. Further confirmation of my take from the sex capital of Asia re the flagging state of China’s economy.

Tesla, BMW Sue EU After China-Made EVs Hit by Tariffs Bloomberg

NZ’s relationship with Kiribati strained — aid fund under review 1News. Mark Todd: “China has won the hearts and minds of a tiny sinking island nation by providing crayons to school children. It’s not in the text. Watch the videoclip to the end.”

Africa

‘Blood in the oil’: Nigeria’s delta drilling plan sparks fury Financial Times

‘Trapped miners ‘resort to cannibalism’ after police fail to ‘smoke them out’ Telegraph

European Disunion

‘It Cannot Go On Like This’: Voices From Europe’s Swing to the Right New York Times

CORDON SANITAIRE ON LIFE SUPPORT: Merz bows to pressure, pledges to bring anti-migration legislation to the Bundestag on Friday and hopes to pass it with AfD support eugyppius (Micael T)

Germany’s immigration meltdown: The AfD has everything to gain Wolfgang Munchau, Unherd

Italy resumes policy of sending its unwanted migrants to Albania EuroNews

Austrian far-right victory foreshadows dystopia for Muslim population Middle East Eye

Old Blighty

Recession fears grow as companies prepare to ramp up staff cuts Telegraph

Israel v. The Resistance

Arab League says any plan to uproot Palestinians from Gaza would be ‘ethnic cleansing’ Arab News

Trump can’t ‘clean out’ Gaza without destabilizing entire region Responsible Statecraft

Lebanon reports 6 new Israeli breaches of ceasefire deal Anadolu Agency

Iran War Hawks Getting Wrecked In Trump Personnel Fight DropSite

New Not-So-Cold War

The Resource Curse: How Ukraine Lost Trillions-Worth of West-Coveted Natural Wealth Sputnik

Exchange bullets for money Russia in Global Affairs via machine translation (Micael T). Interesting to see the discounting of Trump’s bluster

Europe braces for ‘most extreme’ military scenario as Trump-Putin 2.0 begins NBC. Losing their minds…

Ukraine – Organizational Chaos, Commanders Fired Moon of Alabama

Syraqistan

Taliban ambassador warns Rubio against bounty threat over Americans in Afghanistan South China Morning Post. Hoo boy.

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

FBI’s Warrantless Search Ruled Unconstitutional in a Blow to Government Spying Intercept

Sam Altman’s World now wants to link AI agents to your digital identity TechCrunch (Kevin W). OpenAI can’t implode fast enough. Please China, out-innovate faster!

Russia to Launch Nationwide Biometric Payment System by 2025 Reclaim the Net. Micael T: “This seems really stupid. Ukraine is an elite digital crime country with which Russia is at war. How long will it take for Ukraine to publish all biometric data and use it to screw up the lives of ordinary citizens?”

Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts 38Degrees

Imperial Collapse Watch

Farting whale behind ‘Russian’ submarine false alarm – media RT (Kevin W)

Trump Goes on the Offensive against Russia, China, and Iran | Alastair Crooke Interview Larry Johnson. There’s an important part in the interview where Crooke politely refutes, apparently based on some inside information, the notion that Russia has checked either Iran’s nuclear development or its overdue retaliation against Israel. Your truly indicated in comments that I was never keen about theories that had Russia seeking to influence Iran’s actions with respect to Israel or its nuclear enrichment program. IMHO it smacked of Orientialism.

1/6

January 6 rioter pardoned by Trump is killed by police in traffic stop Guardian (Micael T)

Trump 2.0

Trump administration orders sweeping freeze of federal aid Politico. This will knock at least a half point off GDP if really executed in full:

In a two-page memo obtained by POLITICO, the Office of Management and Budget announced all federal agencies would be forced to suspend payments — with the exception of Social Security and Medicare.

Money quote from the Journal article on the same edict:

The memo’s broad language prompted some federal officials to wonder whether it halted the vast array of federal assistance programs, from small-business loans to highway funding, said the person. Footnotes to the memo exempted Medicare, Social Security benefits and assistance provided directly to individuals—but gave few other clues as to what it covered or didn’t cover. Federal administrators sought advice from their internal counsel on Monday evening, the person said.

Trump’s new trade war may prove far more disruptive than his first Washington Post

‘We just can’t take the hit’: businesses worldwide brace as Trump threatens tariffs Guardian

Donald Trump risks tax war with global minimum tax pull-out. The Times. This is typical and very poor reporting. There was NO “OECD tax deal”. The OECD’s scheme was merely a recommendation, albeit very detailed. The EU adopted it because they were upset about US tech and pharma giants putting their intellectual property in low-tax jurisdictions, which enabled them to recognize significant profits there and lower their tax rates in countries in which they have operations. The Trump Administration is correct in saying the US never adopted the OECD recommendation and is therefore not obligated to move forward with it. However, the US retaliating under existing law could cause a big mess.

Trump expected to sign executive orders to reshape the military, including banning transgender troops CNN (Kevin W)

Immigration

Trump “border czar” Tom Homan said there will be mass deportations every day during Trump’s term and that the numbers will grow each week Independent

‘You’re Dr. Phil.’ TV personality says he joined immigration raids in Chicago for ‘transparency.’ Chicago Tribune

Mexico refuses to accept a U.S. deportation flight NBC

Brazil to demand explanations on ‘degrading treatment’ of deportees Reuters

New York hospital association prepares medical facilities after ICE directive by President Donald Trump Newsday

Our No Longer Free Press

Klaus Schwab Labels “Misinformation” a “Critical Challenge,” Urges Elites to Develop Solutions Reclaim the Net (Micael T)

AI

AI Is Too Unpredictable To Behave According To Human Goals Scientific American

OpenAI’s Altman vows ‘better models’ as China’s DeepSeek disrupts global race Financial Times

DeepSeek hit with large-scale cyberattack, says it’s limiting registrations CNBC (Kevin W). So much easier than developing better models!

DeepSeek just proved Lina Khan right DropSite

Class Warfare

Wall Street Is Jacking Up The Cost Of Your Doctor Visits The Lever

When professional class liberals abandoned universalism Catherine Liu

“Anarchism Means That You Should Be Free.” On the Literature of Liberation Literary Hub (Anthony L)

Whole Foods Workers in Philadelphia Form Grocer’s First Union in Decades Wall Street Journal

Antidote du jour (Tracie H):

And a bonus (Chuck L):

A second bonus. One of my mother’s cats, Michael, a tabby with a white bib and feet who grew to be 27 lbs, was raised with a neighbor’s puppy. They often slept together. When my parents traveled, they would leave Michael at the local dog pound, where he wandered freely, much to the consternation of the caged dogs.

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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132 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ” ‘You’re Dr. Phil.’ TV personality says he joined immigration raids in Chicago for ‘transparency.’ ”

    Not really surprising. I seem to recall that several months ago he popped up at a police raid on Palestine protestors at a major university. Just appeared on scene and announce that he was Dr. Phill. Is he doing this to establish his conservative credentials so if Dr. Oz gets the boot by Trump, that he will put himself forward to take on that job?

    Reply ↓
    1. GF

      Here’s a border post from a Tucson AZ news outlet The Border Chronicle which has recently ramped up border coverage. It describes the first phases of a authoritarian takeover of the southern border region using the US Military.

      “This is not about the U.S.-Mexico border region or fixing our broken immigration system. Instead, it’s about consolidating power and making a profit while distracting us with intimidation and fearmongering. In Trump’s executive orders we can see how his administration could build an authoritarian infrastructure under the guise of protecting Americans from an “invasion.””

      “Another dangerous EO is the “Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States,” which forces the U.S. military into a gray zone of civil enforcement and policing, to be exploited by Trump for political purposes. In the EO, Trump gives the U.S. Northern Command 30 days to create a Level 3 Plan, which is one step below a full-blown operational document for battle, according to Military.com. All to fight an “invasion” that doesn’t exist.”

      https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/trumps-invasion-theatrics-act-1

      Reply ↓
      1. lyman alpha blob

        Hmmm – would that be kinda like how the Biden administration, and the Obama administration, and the Bush administration all eroded our civil rights, instituted surveillance and censorship, and put ever more people in prison over the last 25 years (the US left Russia and China in the dust in incarceration rates some time ago – we’re #1!!) ?? This was also done to protect us, or to “protect the children”, or because “they hate us for our freedoms”.

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

        I don’t remember the same uproar over those authoritarian moves. Yes, there was some against Bush to be sure, but the liberals have now seen the light and count Uncle W as one of their own.

        I have a hard time believing these articles filled with histrionics. It was “kids in cages” the first time around, and then not a care in the world when it turned out kids were still in cages when Biden took over. Yes, “invasion” is a stretch, kind of like “insurrection” was, but to try to hand wave this away as nothing to really worry about is ridiculous. The majority of the country sees unchecked immigration as a big problem, and for good reason. If liberals are so concerned about it now, maybe Biden should have done something about it when he had the chance.

        Reply ↓
  2. Zagonostra

    Rabbi David Schlusselberg
    @RavSchluss
    General Dwight D. Eisenhower had the foresight to realize that Holocaust denial would occur.

    The good Rabbi should also mention below, which seems to have been buried for the most part and still creates controversy among historians.

    Dwight D. Eisenhower intentionally caused the deaths by starvation or exposure of around a million German prisoners of war held in Western internment camps after the Second World War

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

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      German civilians try to throw food parcels to those starving prisoners were shot dead. Not even a warning shot.

      Reply ↓
      1. ana

        Boo hoo poor Nazis. Good on Eisenhower. I’ve had enough of Americans defending genociders. Whether they’re Nazis or Israelis, Americans just love a genocider!

        Reply ↓
    2. JohnA

      Piers Morgan did an interview with Anna Frank’s sister (dating from the 75th anniversary) in which she said the Red Army liberators did not have cameras to record the scenes. The scenes were therefore recreated in the spring with actors. The clue she argued was that there was always deep snow in January, the time of liberation, but none in the footage subsequently recorded.
      https://x.com/realstewpeters/status/1883976603216273815

      Reply ↓
    3. Kurtismayfield

      Where are the bodies? There has to be mass graves or funeral records of the million people being buried. All of those camps were along the Rhein, some in very close proximity, so there has to be hundreds of thousands of graves from that time period.

      Reply ↓
      1. ilsm

        I was raised by WW II US servicemen.

        I never heard of starving POW. That large a number would have had oral history, even as they were comparing scores to go home.

        Of course, there was no sympathy for Germans.

        Reply ↓
            1. Bugs

              It in fact calls BS on the whole theory, which apparently relied on the lack of evidence as proof that the evidence was hidden or lost or something. I’m not buying that Ike was out for that kind of revenge at that point.

              Reply ↓
    4. ilsm

      After the Bulge the U.S. soldiers’ humanity, which held far too long given two and a half years of experience, was gone.

      A few POWs bc officers were at the surrender.

      Kilroy had awoken.

      Reply ↓
    6. timo maas

      Maybe the good Rabbi should also mention that Nazis killed multiple Slavs for every Jew. I wonder what is the “exchage rate” for lives, because tens of millions of dead Slavs does not count in the Holocaust at all. I guess some lives matter much more than other.

      Reply ↓
    7. murf

      I’am more worried about the confusing/rewritng of history. This was in relation to the liberation of auschwitz being remembered and many of these camps were in fact liberated by the Soviets. Not the Americans of the picture. The Russian dominant role in the defeat of Nazi’s is often chipped away at.

      Reply ↓
    10. Harold

      The Wikipedia link above states that the Canadian novelist Bacque, author of the book, Other Losses, on which these ghastly allegations about Eisenhower are based, was criticized for having no historical or research experience and that critics found his book “spectacularly flawed” .

      “After the publication of Bacque’s book, a panel of eight historians gathered for a symposium in the Eisenhower Center for American Studies[38] at the University of New Orleans from December 7–8, 1990 to review Bacque’s work.[39] In the introduction to a book later published containing each panelists’ papers, Steven E. Ambrose noted that Bacque is a Canadian novelist with no previous historical research or writing experience. His introduction concludes that “Other Losses is seriously—nay, spectacularly—flawed in its most fundamental aspects.”[39][40] The panel comments that, among its many problems, Other Losses:[39]

      misuses documents
      misreads documents
      ignores contrary evidence
      employs a statistical methodology that is hopelessly compromised
      made no attempt to see the evidence he has gathered in relation to the broader situation
      made no attempt to perform any comparative context
      puts words into the mouths of the subjects of his oral history
      ignores a readily available and absolutely critical source that decisively dealt with his central accusation.

      On the other hand the Nazi Wehrmacht actually did do these things to Soviet POWs, including prohibiting civilians from throwing food parcels into the enclosure, resulting in the deaths of 330 million prisoners, which was judged to be the main cause of their deaths.

      Reply ↓
  3. Wukchumni

    I’m in the midst of Swedish Death Cleaning-which is quite liberating, and maybe 15 years ago bought complete runs of 1943 & 1944 National Geographic magazines at a yard sale for a few bucks, each years worth wrapped in newspaper and secured with twine. I never unwrapped ’em.

    Took ’em to Utah for some reading material on our ski trip, and the Dartful Codgers really enjoyed them, and everything in the magazines seemingly was geared towards the war effort, all of the advertisements in the front section were from titans of industry and stressed how they were doing this and that in building war machinery and always include soldiers and/or planes/ships in the artwork.

    The articles directly related to the war probably was around 20%, while images of topless native women commanded a much smaller, but notable presence. Lots of interesting WW2 photos i’ve never glimpsed in the 24 issues.

    Often on the back cover was a Coca Cola ad, always with GI’s holding a bottle aloft.

    Conversely now, you wouldn’t really know we’ve been in a hot war in the Ukraine for going on 3 years, it hardly registers.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      If you ever have the opportunity, it would be worth your while to look through “Life” magazine in the years leading up to the outbreak of war in the Pacific in December of 1941. Did so at the NSW State Library when I was living in Sydney. It really was a different time and a different country.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Indeed, i’ve too looked at Life magazines leading up to Pearl Harbor and then after, and what a difference.

        In many of the ads in the NG’s, the wordage says something to the effect of ‘when the war is over, the new Buick/Boeing offerings for the public will be coming’.

        This against a backdrop of rationing, including only 5 gallons of gas per week per licensed driver.

        Delayed gratification, what a concept!

        Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          Many of those soldiers were pessimistic how long it would take to fight the war in the Pacific and what waited them at home. There was a saying that went-

          ‘The Golden Gate in forty-eight,
          the bread line in forty-nine.’

          Reply ↓
      2. MicaT

        We have had a real time, streamed genocide and war crimes committed by our government.
        It has been basically ignored in the media and denied again and again that it was genocide or a war crime by our government.

        And while what musk has done is reprehensible, it seems to be getting way more press and attention than Gaza. Hundreds of thousands killed Many more wounded, many many more homeless vs him.

        And let’s not forget Ukraine and the fact that Biden/harris never even talked to Russia. They had no intention of stopping the killings.
        Again all supported or ignored by the Dems.

        So yeah can you ignore or try to change the past? Yes we have seen it streamed in real time.

        That is what scares me.

        Reply ↓
        1. cfraenkel

          The scary part is the most likely ‘rational’ explanation for normalizing the current horrors is that our betters assume they’ll need to do much worse in the future.

          Reply ↓
          1. rob

            I suppose there is a line of thinking that all of this madness ,for the entirety of this century so far; is just securing a chair somewhere before the music stops….. but really these psychos who run the world are just making real; the prophecy of doom. They just can’t help themselves.

            Reply ↓
        2. rob

          we are like babies with no object permanence.
          The mass of people couldn’t really see this happening, while it was happening(cognitive dissonance).And now they are forgetting that there was even something they missed.( warm and fuzzy).
          Woe unto those who would inform them… kill the messenger..(transference)
          how typical. For this entire century. Almost everyone has been specifically unaware of the crimes of this government.
          I mean… if you can blow up three skyscrapers, two , full of people in NYC… and no one really accepts the only rational explanation… and the world goes on. Sure they never fell down before… or since… but the odds of three times in one day…. beeep… beeep… beep… I mean that is rational nothing to see here…
          We only had to avoid paying attention to the crimes of the last century… to get ready to ignore the crimes of this one.
          HMMM?

          Reply ↓
    1. GramSci

      Not a maven, but T’s a real property guy. His taxes on intangible, intellectual property didn’t win him any friends in Sillycon Valley, but they seem to have forgiven him. That’s just pocket change to them. What they really care about is their rank on the Fortune stocks-and-bonds leaderboard and their ability to protect those assets in some court.

      Reply ↓
  5. Zagonostra

    >Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts 38Degrees

    Keir Starmer is pushing plans we defeated under the Conservative Government – to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error.

    What has me even more worried than Gov’t’s spying on my bank account is banks, under pressure from the Gov’t, freezing my account, as was done to the Canadian Truckers. Also banks have targeted individuals whose politics they disagree with to ban then from using their services…slippery slope.

    Reply ↓
  6. Zagonostra

    >Klaus Schwab Labels “Misinformation” a “Critical Challenge,” Urges Elites to Develop Solutions Reclaim the Net

    A report published ahead of the gathering elevated “misinformation and disinformation” among the world’s top critical challenges and risks (others being armed conflicts, and climate-related issues).

    Of course its a critical challenge, how can armed conflicts be carried out if the population doesn’t want wars if you don’t have control over misinformation and disinformation. Of course you don’t want to leave out “malinformation.” Elites must be “urged” to develop solutions that will further various agendas in the face of majority of people who don’t want to play their game.

    Reply ↓
    1. John Wright

      Rather than stopping mis/mal/dis-information, the elites should develop penalties for foisting same on the population.

      Of course that would punish various USA public and private agencies and media that have misled the public for their own purposes.

      For example, the “intelligence professionals” who signed onto the Hunter Biden laptop “appears to be Russian dis-information” story could be liable for damages to the USA public by their actions which could suggest they are also guilty of election interference.

      Would be a good “make a job for a lawyer program”.

      Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    “Taliban ambassador warns Rubio against bounty threat over Americans in Afghanistan”

    ‘A Taliban ambassador is warning new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio against making threats after he said he would place bounties on Afghanistan’s rulers for their continued detention of U.S. nationals.’

    So who is supposed to be collecting these bounties? ISIS fighters fresh from Syria? Not hard to guess where Rubio got this idea from. During the occupation of Afghanistan there was this bs claim that the Russians were putting bounties on American troops on the battlefield and there was a lot of outrage in DC and in the main stream media. No proof of course so you were left taking the word of US officials. Then a few months later the claim was changed so now it was Iran putting bounties on America troops. A few months later it was some other nation accused of putting bounties on American troops but I forget who. Afghanistan could invite US officials to that country to discuss the issue but that would never happen.

    Reply ↓
  8. ambrit

    “Police officers who were at the Capitol that day and political violence experts have warned that the pardons could lead to further acts of violence.”
    They didn’t specify who would be carrying out those “acts of violence.”
    Stay safe. Avoid at all costs “Imperial entanglements.”

    Reply ↓
  9. Emma

    Western Holocaust denialism is far stronger against the Russians. They no longer even acknowledge that the Soviets liberated big Eastern European camps or that Slavs make up the majority of the counted victims of the Holocaust.

    European and American officials will not even admit a Russian presence at Auschwitz memorial while permitting German and Israeli presence. While denial of Jewish Holocaust is a fringe and disreputable position, anti-Russian hysteria is mandatory in Western officialdom.

    In any case, Zionists undeniably weaponize the memory of the Holocaust decades after the fact (and hiding their collaboration with the Nazi regime in the 1930s and use of ex-Nazis after 1948) to shout down accusations of Israeli crimes before and after 1948.

    Interesting what gets highlighted in Twitter (a false charge of extensive denial of the Jewish Holocaust by a Zionist who defends what Israel does to its neighborhood) rather than the far more extensive denial of a Slavic Holocaust and the Soviet role in liberating the world from the Nazi scourge.

    Reply ↓
    1. NN Cassandra

      It starts with the erasure of the original term “judeobolshevism”, basically Nazis thought Jews and bolsheviks were the same, if there was any distinction it was that Jews were the ruling class, manipulating the slavs. I’m sure Hitler would be quite surprised if he was to learn that he and USSR were ideological buddies and WW2 transpired only because they were too similar and had to determine who is the undisputed numero uno in the dictator business.

      Reply ↓
      1. timo maas

        Nazi thought that Slavs are lesser-humans (that should be exterminated and their lands taken), and most of the Western Europe did too. Nothing has changed there. All of the mental gymnastics presented nowdays is pahtetic (including attempts at equalizing Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, present in your post).

        Reply ↓
  10. .human

    Multigenerational PFAS Breastfeeding

    It’s the old Excepional Country story. Some 15,000 mostly unregulated chemicals, mountains of anecdata amid ones own lying eyes, and lack of research / testing for lack of funding and offical FUD. If a death occurs during an unrecognized disabilty or condition, did it happen?

    Reply ↓
  11. The Rev Kev

    ‘I witnessed that cat distribution system in action on my way to work.’

    It’s kinda like that saying ‘The wand chooses the wizard’ but in this case it is the cat choosing the provider. Still, nice to have cat waiting for you when you get home, even if is only for dinner.

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk

      Our younger boy was chosen in this way. Notably, he was having a “not great” day, as he had just been “un-chosen” by his lover just hours earlier. His new partner turned out to be higher in maintenance and more loyal.
      My wife (and I as collateral) was once selected in this way as well. This cat used subterfuge too. He was a beautiful sooty gray. “We love Siamese cats!” was overheard many times. That, of course, was soot. Soon enough he was revealed to be an orange cat. Rest in peace D Train, I think of you pretty much every day.

      Reply ↓
    2. Es s Ce Tera

      There was a time when I disagreed with having pets. Then I was accosted by one cat in particular who quickly secured concession with excessive headbutting, generally comporting herself like her whole mission and purpose on earth was to change my mind, ensure I couldn’t say no. The system is real.

      Reply ↓
  12. Henry Moon Pie

    Anarchism–

    Nice, brief introduction to the topic that covers most of my favorite sources: Goldman, Kropotkin, Graeber, Butler and Le Guin. It discusses how Mangione (Luigi, not Chuck) fits into the tradition of “propaganda by deed” and Alexander Berkman.

    Reply ↓
    1. gk

      But misses Gaetano Bresci, who was a better shot than Berkman (Prato now has a street named after him).

      Tolkien once described himself (in a letter to his son) as an anarchist, which seems to be how the Shire works (even though there is a king in the background).

      Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      On the TV tonight it was saturation coverage on the Holocaust. I saw that Zelensy, whose countries provided many guards for those camps, was present at the Auschwitz service but the Russians, who freed those camps, weren’t. The Russians had their own memorial service but to the siege of Leningrad in which so many civilians died. The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg filed a story at a two year-old memorial to all the Russian civilians that died during the war, But Rosenberg took umbridge at this memorial in the TV report implying that it should have only been for the one million dead Jews and not the 17-18 million civilians who died-

      https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyw0vkzkzdo

      Reply ↓
    2. pjay

      Last night’s NBC News story on the Auschwitz commemoration made sure to warn about the startling rise in “antisemitism” over the last few years, just in case there were any viewers who didn’t get it. Also, and to Emma’s point above, the story stated, quote, that “almost all the victims were Jewish.” I think this is true for Auschwitz itself, in terms of percentages. But for the typical uninformed American, “Auschwitz” usually represents the Holocaust as a whole. So the effect of the story was to emphasize Jewish victimization while ignoring that of other groups – while also noting our current epidemic of “antisemitism,” of course. Never again…

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        Yes it is a clusterfuck. (I know no more appropriate word)
        Larry Johnson e.g.

        The West Continues to Insult Russia
        https://sonar21.com/the-west-continues-to-insult-russia/

        or this hint that German state media do not mention USSR at all.
        Which is beyond words…
        German:
        https://www.telepolis.de/features/Auschwitz-Befreiung-Wenn-die-Befreier-aus-der-Geschichte-verschwinden-10258420.html

        p.s. I haven´t checked exact numbers but FInkelstein never forgets to remind of the 2mn. USSR POWs kille/died in Germany

        Reply ↓
      2. Munchausen

        If you were to count other groups (aka the elephant in the room), then the Jewish victimization would be second best, which would go against the-biggest-victim narrative.

        Reply ↓
          1. Munchausen

            On a percentage of population, Serbs had it tragically bad in both World Wars (which I consider to be essentially the same war, that we see continuation of nowdays). My comment is not about statistical competition in who had it worse (because the numbers can be massaged beyond recognition, like in “GDP games”), but about completly neglecting countless victims in order to push the narrative. Maybe I should have writtet the-only-victim-worth-mentioning narrative instead the-biggest-victim narrative (because it was never a competition).

            Even if we accept that the victim group XYZ had it worst, I expect them to show respect for those that were dying alongside them, and not make everything about themselves. That skewed me-me-me narrative is largely responsible for the whole Holocaust denial thing. People with no knowlege of history see that something does not add up, and dismiss everything (aka. throw the baby out with the bathwater).

            Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, and we see many things repeating because the narrative required the history to be taught wrongfully. That’s how one get everyone to chant Slava Ukraina. /rant

            Reply ↓
            1. AG

              “me me me”? Yes. Amplificaton via post 1945 media made it worse. A huge issue. And it naturally fed aversion. On what that nurtured in particular cases (as per pre-1945 hate or not) is a different matter. But that instead of being acknlowledged as a normal human reaction (fighting and wanting to hurt are human too, we are no angels) it was pathologized as Nazism as such.
              big problem. not solved. still.

              p.s. in fact what is not all understood and no-no in Germany – pre-Nazism Europe Jews wanted not to be seen as “Jews”. Wanteit not be about them no “me me me”. But like everyone else. And this had worked to a considerable extent I believe. Which is one reason why Zionism was a minority thing. Another no-no in Germania today. Of course it did feed class-warfare phenomena with the influx of poor Jewish-Jewish who had fallen back on that identity thing in lack of anything other. Bourgeoisie didnt want them.

              Reply ↓
            2. AG

              p.p.s. what we are witnessing is how for decades Europe had confined the topic “genocide” and destruction of the Global South/colonialism and made it possible to handle all its crimes against humanity by uniquely elevating Holocaust eclipsing everything else that happened before, at the same time and since.

              And now after 80 years this mis-representation disintegrates and all the corpses are dragged into the sunlight. Trying to salvage some honour by neglecting 90% of the other victims ain´t workin´no more. Which is why South Africa at ICJ was so historic (despite my personal disappointment they fell short of calling it a genocide without hair-raising caveats such as “plausible”.) the mad notion of worthy and unworthy victims.

              Reply ↓
      3. Aurelien

        Don’t forget that the Nazis had an array of camps for different purposes from 1934 onwards, and they bureaucratically sent different groups to different camps. Thus, there were separate camps for male and female resistance fighters, for example. In general, the model was that those who were capable of working were worked to death, and those who couldn’t work were summarily killed. In Auschwitz the vast majority of the inmates (perhaps 90%) were Jews, but even there things were confused: Primo Levi was sent to Auschwitz for his resistance activities, although he was also Jewish. And these work-camps have to be distinguished from the horrors of the four camps constructed in Poland to murder two million Jews in 1942-43, to preserve food for more deserving human beings, and which were destroyed afterwards.

        Reply ↓
        1. MFB

          Auschwitz was there to provide labour for the huge methanol and rubber factory next door hence the fact that some survived. Also the Nazis focussed their Jew-killing activities in 1942-3; the last big massacre was of Hungarian Jews in 1944, which is also why a lot of the Salonika Jews rounded up after Italy’s surrender survived. (Levi talks about them in his memoir.)

          Reply ↓
      4. Zagonostra

        I was at the gym on treadmill and on one of the 35 monitors, I saw Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash walking inside some Auschwitz building. Wolf had his trench coat collar up looking serious and Dana pointing to the wall…I have no idea what they were saying, but I found the optics bizarre since Wolff was hosting his show and cut to this previously recorded piece. I think they are both Jewish, so maybe that’s why the news casters were part of the news?

        Reply ↓
    3. vao

      One interesting tidbit I found recently: if you look at the well-known, remarkable zionists who played a major role in the foundation and the subsequent construction of Israel, none of them had ever been persecuted by the nazis. In fact, those zionists were safely away in the UK, the USA, or in the British mandate of Palestine when the nazis were perpetrating the holocaust:

      Zeev Jabotinski
      Chaim Weizmann
      David Ben Gurion
      Golda Meir
      Ariel Sharon
      Moshe Dayan
      Yitzhak Shamir
      Shimon Peres

      Looking at the biography of the presidents of Israel, the pattern is even more pronounced, with all of them having immigrated to or been born in Palestine when Hitler came to power:

      Yosef Sprinzak
      Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
      Kadish Luz
      Zalman Shazar
      Ephraim Katzir
      Yitzhak Navon
      Chaim Herzog
      Ezer Weizman
      Reuven Rivlin

      And the same characteristic is evident for the prime ministers:

      Moshe Sharett
      Levi Eshkol
      Yigal Allon
      Yitzhak Rabin

      Menachem Begin escaped Poland in the nick of time. He was persecuted by the NKVD, but he never confronted the nazis.

      Missing names correspond to persons born after WWII.

      I did not look into all ministerial positions, supreme court judges, generals, etc, but it is remarkable that not a single survivor of the WWII persecutions ever ascended to those commanding heights. Israel was thus always the realm of hard-core zionists, not the recovered haven for persecuted Jews around the world, and especially not for the survivors of the shoah. In fact, it looks very much as if the zionists were always disconnected from what was happening to their supposed Jewish brethren in Europe.

      Interestingly, Uri Avnery, who both fought to establish Israel and was later a notable peace activist, staunch proponent of a genuine peace agreement with the Palestinians, had actually lived in Germany under the nazi regime and suffered from its antisemitic measures.

      Reply ↓
      1. vao

        I checked the list of chiefs of the general staff of the Israeli army, and nothing changes: all of them were either born in, or immigrated to Palestine before the nazis came to power. Haim Bar-Lev and David Elazar were living in Yugoslavia, but departed well before the invasion by the Axis forces.

        All of this is not enough to be conclusive, but I think it is fairly significant.

        Reply ↓
        1. vao

          Thanks for the reference.

          By the way, looking at the list of presidents of the supreme court of Israel, I finally found just one who was actually a holocaust survivor: Aharon Barak (from Lithuania), whose family finally emigrated to Palestine in 1947. Significantly, he was a judge at the ICJ when the genocide case was brought by South Africa; he resigned from his position shortly after the ICJ published its preliminary ruling against Israel.

          As for the others: all born in or immigrated to Palestine before the nazis. Only Meir Shamgar was living in Danzig till 1939, when his family emigrated to Palestine.

          Reply ↓
      3. ciroc

        It was the Nazis who wanted to drive all Jews out of Germany or Europe as a whole, and it was the Zionists who believed that all Jews should live in Palestine. In other words, their interests were perfectly aligned, even though for many Jews their homeland was Europe and not a desert area to which they had no connection.

        It may be slightly difficult to understand today, but in the beginning of the Nazi rule in Germany, way before anyone could have imagined the horrors that would be committed by the German people, there were some Zionist Jews who saw Hitler’s political doctrine as an advantage. The Nazis didn’t conceal their desire to get rid of Germany’s Jews, and some Zionists saw it as an opportunity to boost the rate of Jewish immigration from Germany to the Briths Mandate of Palestine, Land of Israel.

        And in the newly established state of Israel, Holocaust survivors were despised.

        For Auschwitz survivor Nahman Kahana, memories of the trains, the bodies, and the hunger were too much to bear once he arrived, “euphorically,” to Israel in 1948, he says. Plus, it wasn’t a popular topic in the new state, where Jews were trying to carve out a new identity as strong and independent. (Editor’s note: The original version misspelled Mr. Kahana’s name.)

        Holocaust survivors were known here by the derogatory moniker, “sabon,” or soap, in reference to the rumors that Nazis made soap from the skin of Jews in the camps. Mr. Kahana preferred to forget the shameful memory of being “sheep led to the slaughter.”

        Reply ↓
        1. gk

          Actually, for Hitler himself, their interests were not aligned. He was opposed to a Jewish state as he thought that from there they would have a base to rule the rest of the world (Source: Mein Kampf). There were plenty of other Nazis that thought differently.

          Reply ↓
      4. Es s Ce Tera

        There’s a reason. As has been documented, the Zionists were actually collaborating WITH the Nazis to capture and expose Jews who disagreed with the Zionist project, meanwhile paying the Nazis to issue permits to relocate Zionist Jews to Israel. That was the big controversy at the World Jewish Congresses at the time, that the Zionists were working with the Nazis, against the consensus of the WJC which wanted to expressly protest and boycott the Nazis.

        The Zionists, being anti-semitic, Herzl considering Jews to be a lower human caste, fundamentally agreed with the Nazi project to cleanse Jewish “vermin” from Europe, so were doing their best to assist the holocaust.

        See p.23 here, for example:
        https://www.palestineremembered.com/images/Zionist-Relations-with-Nazi-Germany-Faris-Yahya-PS.pdf

        Reply ↓
  15. Escapee

    Re: “Europe braces for ‘most extreme’ military scenario as Trump-Putin 2.0 begins” (NBC): yes, losing their minds, but NBC is also hawking those weapons for them:

    And yet there are plenty of observers who believe that Europe is not doing nearly enough.

    Western European countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have only committed “small percentage uplifts to defense budgets, which is nothing like the transformative investment” in Eastern Europe, said Keir Giles, a leading defense analyst at London’s Chatham House think tank.

    Connects to a muse on Ginsburg’s HOWL earlier today while staring at a quiet Thai bay: Ginsburg wrote HOWL when he was only 28-29. So the “best minds of [his] generation” weren’t old enough to have grabbed levers at the commanding heights.

    I’m in my early 60s–a late Boomer–and my generation’s “best minds” (which I take as “smart enough to attain whatever dark height”) have not only been “destroyed by madness” but are also destroying so much of the world.

    The propaganda of the NBC piece was a revelation, because I never read MSM stuff. Same principle applies. Our howl is even worse than Ginsburg’s.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      We are of the same age, and really had an easy ride through this game of life-our era.

      Signing our Selective Service agreement when we were 18 was our full and total commitment to the man, man!

      We remember when after the fall of Saigon to right around Operation Urgent Fury, how only misfits and/or legacy types went into the military-as evidenced by how life becomes art in Stripes.

      One thing this contraption and smart phones have done is make us docile, next time you’re out in public, watch us… we’re all quiet as church mice staring at the big cheese on our screens.

      To actually go out and protest against what we’ve become is problematic because you can’t chew gum, walk the walk and watch on the web all at once, which would severely limit screen time and is a no-go so far-so good.

      The only option left is to lavishly lampoon those leading us down the primrose path while howling with laughter, and spread the words.

      Reply ↓
  16. BlueMoose

    Sam Altman’s World now wants to link AI agents to your digital identity – but probably not his! He and his kind should be free to wander. The rest of the deplorables need to be tethered. Keep that leash short and tight.

    Reply ↓
      1. GramSci

        ChatGPT etc does dramatically increase programmer productivity. So much for “learn to code”. CEOs wouldn’t really even need H1Bs, were it not so much fun to wield “the sack”. (Cf. Kalecki, 1943)

        PS. It’s not so much that LLMs ‘can write programs’ as how much they can assist human coders.

        Reply ↓
      2. Lefty Godot

        It’s extremely important to put people out of work so more money that would’ve gone to their paychecks can be diverted to the oligarchs. But it’s also extremely important to force the people to do everything online with a digital ID so their activities can be tracked minutely and all that information can be sold to advertisers. By implication, it’s extremely important for advertisers to micro-target ads for their products to people who won’t have any money to buy them. The logic of this system is impeccable, I must say.

        Reply ↓
  17. timbers

    FBI’s Warrantless Search Ruled Unconstitutional in a Blow to Government Spying Intercept ***** “a federal judge ruled the FBI violated constitutional rights when it accessed NSA database searching for information on a suspect…” Oh. So it’s totally OK to collect each and every bit of private constitutionally projected information on EVERY BODY without a warrant, but unconstitutional to use it? These folks calling them selves “judges” need to be re-educated starting with ginder garden classes.

    Reply ↓
  18. AG

    re: nuclear energy vs. renewables in Germany

    on German Nachdenkseiten Jens Berger makes the argument that nuclear energy is no option for Germany any more:

    Back to nuclear power? Energy policy daydreams in the election campaign

    https://archive.is/DEAiV

    intro:

    “During the election campaign, the CDU/CSU and FDP are calling for the “option” of returning to nuclear power. The AfD is even calling for its expansion. At first glance, this may even sound tempting, since the proponents of a return to nuclear energy are promising the people the moon and the stars – climate protection with a stable supply and falling energy prices. This creates the impression that the world is in a “nuclear renaissance” and that only ideologically stubborn Germany has once again failed to hear the shot. On closer inspection, however, these daydreams burst like soap bubbles. One can argue excellently about whether the phase-out of nuclear energy was a mistake; but now it has been completed and is irreversible. The construction of new nuclear power plants, on the other hand, is not a sensible option and, above all, is one thing – very, very expensive.

    By Jens Berger”

    Reply ↓
    1. MicaT

      They have a number or recently closed down power plants that have reputation as the best built in the world.
      They could be reopened, but Germany and the greens decided that burning coal was better than low carbon energy
      Weird.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        Read the entire thing if you have time. it´s a machine translation though.

        It´s not that simple.
        Eventually Berger argues in favour of natural gas. Neither NPPs nor renewables.

        p.s. Merkel shut down the nuclear plants.

        However what would be worth a serious investigation in my view – while the Merkel admin. prepared shutting down NPPs they knew the US was strictly against NS2.
        By spring 2021 Biden and Merkel had agreed that NS2 would be stopped in case RU attacked. This was official. Now if you are the chancellor you will have to take precautions in case the RUs do attack and do not jeopardize your energy imports. So why take the risk shutting down the NPPs before having created enough altern. sources. So as to have a safe and long enough transitional phase?
        Utter utter incompetence/corruption.

        Reply ↓
  19. AG

    re: Ukraine mineral wealth

    A new slightly odd text by Ian Proud (he is often covering in a way I don´t know what he thinks just like if he still were a diplomat.)

    Russia races for Ukranian mineral wealth before a potential ceasefire

    Moscow is targeting Ukraine’s rich mineral reserves, crippling the steel production efforts and jeopardizing its ability to repay war debts

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-war-2670984030/

    Reply ↓
    1. Bill B

      IIRC, this is a crazy Blinken idea, he tried it fairly soon after Oct. 7. Didn’t work then… Great minds work alike.

      Reply ↓
      1. Bugs

        It’s an Israeli idea. They’re constantly kvetching how “no Arab countries will take these Palestinians and we’re stuck with them”. The more you look at that place, the more ridiculous it is. The fake crying and rending of garments and the “we have no other place to go” Oy vay. Free Palestine.

        Reply ↓
  21. Bill B

    “This will knock at least a half point off GDP if really executed in full…” I don’t know where that figure comes from, and I don’t know myself how to calculate the impact, but $3 trillion is about 11% of GDP.

    Reply ↓
    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      Trump’s Lehman moment is here pretty quickly. Trump and his goons don’t have enough understanding of spending or the work ethic. The stop in federal spending will just be hideous.

      Reply ↓
      1. Bill B

        Yes. Such “populism” would be breathtaking. Just incidentaly, Musk floated a $3 trillion figure a bit before the election.

        Reply ↓
    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Huh? The entire Federal government spending in FY 2022 was $6.75 trillion or 23% of GDP.

      “Federal assistance” is a subset and excludes a lot, starting with payments to individuals and military contractors.

      Plus Trump does not have the authority to permanently impound the money. Questions is what bits get turned back on sort of quickly (a few days to two weeks) v. longer.

      Reply ↓
  22. Wukchumni

    Interior Department staff Monday had no information on when a hiring freeze impacting seasonal and full-time positions at the National Park Service will be lifted.

    The freeze, implemented across the federal government while the Trump administration looks for ways to cut the federal workforce, left an untold number of individuals hoping to land summer jobs with the Park Service in limbo.

    The hiring freeze, which reportedly could affect as many as 1,400 individuals, touches both seasonal hires and permanent positions. Each year the Park Service hires an estimated 7,500 workers for the busy summer season. There also are a good number of permanent positions, reaching into the ranks of superintendents, that won’t be filled unless the freeze is lifted, either across the board or for specific positions.

    Under President Trump’s executive order implementing the freeze, staff at the Office of Management and Budget and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency have 90 days to “submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition,” an Interior spokesperson told the Traveler. “Once a plan to reduce the federal workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition is developed, departmental leadership will work closely with its bureaus to execute personnel decisions in a manner that best supports the mission of the department and the policy priorities of the administration.”

    https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/01/interior-department-has-no-news-national-park-service-hiring-hold
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Here at Sequoia NP, 40% of permanent NPS positions in the park are unfilled-largely because there is no longer term rentals available, all are short term rentals catering to those tourists who want to go into the NP instead.

    Seasonals are what makes the place run in the spring to fall period, take them away and you probably can’t even open the gates, as there is nobody to clean the bathrooms, pick up the trash et al, not to mention all the seasonal rangers, yikes!

    If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Trump sees a cloistered audience that is in some cases just not being charged enough, case in point, well a 1/12 case that is. My buddy from Tucson gets a tremendous urge for a barley soda, goes into the Lodgepole market in Sequoia NP and buys a tallboy 24 ounce Coors in a can for $2.49, when at a concert or sporting event that same amount is more around $24.

    Is privatization a coming?

    Reply ↓
    2. mrsyk

      The syk household takes a 20% pay cut today, per the freezing of research grants. Still no word from the Dean. That the dearth of talent runs deep in the halls of administration and runs cross sector comes as no surprise, yet now would be a great time for some real leadership from the top. We’ll survive, sympathetic thoughts should directed (in this singular example) at the double handful of staff whose jobs apparently were created out of the thin air of government largess. Who needs science anyway? Who needs to pay rent and eat? SNAP benefits? Same. If this holds, the short term is going to be messy. A hungry mob is an angry mob.
      I’m unsure how this plays as populism. Selling austerity to the mope masses, what’s in it for us?

      Reply ↓
    3. Carolinian

      I’m not sure how you get to privatization although that has definitely been on the agenda of many Repubs. But as with SS this is not something they can do without Congress going along. There’s a consent of the governed factor.

      And of course many features of these national lands have already been privatized–campgrounds, fees, reservations. Our state parks which used to be free to enter now have entrance stations.

      I don’t think you can trust any Republicans–not just Trump– to do right by our public lands but the Dems, as in the Clinton admin, are often their collaborators.

      Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    $4.01k update:

    Bitcoin is hanging in there, confidently holding the $100k line, occasionally daring the high nineties, establishing a value.

    It’s performing in the same style as the Mexican Peso did from the late 70’s to early 90’s during their long hyperinflation, albeit in reverse.

    Let me explain…

    1 million Pesos was worth $80,000 US in 1977, and $330 US in 1992.

    ‘Hype-Inflation’ i’m gonna call it on Bitcoin, yeah that’s the ticket.

    Reply ↓
    2. ChrisFromGA

      My REIT-wreck portfolio did a nice job of holding up yesterday, but the stench of NVDA could not be overcome.

      Data center REITs are the new edifice wrecks, now the faulty towers, as you put it, have company!

      Reply ↓
  24. ZenBean

    With Kickl at the helm, a new dystopia looms for the Muslim population in Austria.

    Maybe. That wouldn’t have happened though if immigration policies had been subject of democratic control and Austria’s political class responsive to public attitudes. Have you visited Vienna lately? It’s almost like the Ottoman Empire managed to achieve through civil means what it wasn’t able to achieve on the battlefield.

    This backlash is a reaction. Easily preventable, but now it’s there.

    Reply ↓
    1. Munchausen

      Didn’t Vienna help this “new Ottoman Empire” reconquer Yugoslavia first? What kind of grand strategists they have there, if they expected “the invasion” to just stop before reaching their gates? I see no reason for them to complain, since even the most famous Vienna painter preferred “new Ottomans” to Orthodox Christians.

      Reply ↓
      1. Aurelien

        No, the Austrians pushed very hard for recognition of Croatia (Catholic solidarity) and then helped arm the Bosnian Croats against the Muslims.

        Reply ↓
        1. Munchausen

          They pushed very hard for balkanization, and return on their former imperial territories. Putting some silly explanation does not change that (“Catholic solidarity”, “anti-Orthodox solidarity”, “Vienna painter” solidarity, NATO solidarity, fighting Russians, democracy spreading, whatever). It’s just yet another attempt of WWI/WWII (because third time’s a charm). Since it’s not their first time showing their stratiegic genius, the reward should be appopriate. Make Vienna Ottoman Again, or whatever.

          Reply ↓
        2. ilsm

          Earlier in that “campaign” Croate separatists received a large amount of Soviet mechanized equipment and weapons from reunified German’s excess.

          Germanic crusaders endure. Abetted by U.S.

          Rome aligned religious wars?

          Reply ↓
  25. Tom Stone

    I have a few remarks to make about the death of Suchir Balaji.
    1) in addition to numerous signs of a struggle Mr Balaji allegedly shot himself between the eyes at a downward angle.
    Take your forefinger, place it above your nose and cant your hand downward while holding it 4″ or so away from your head.
    That’s extremely awkward.
    2) the SFPD investigation.
    The SFPD has a longstanding and well earned reputation for both corruption and incompetence.
    How longstanding?
    Mark Twain wrote about it 160 years ago.
    4) Means and Motive.
    Several dozen people stand to make $100MM or more if open AI is a roaring success.
    And a final thought…I wonder how whoever paid for the hit felt when DeepSeek R1 was released…
    There’s always a shortage of Justice but seldom a shortage of Irony.

    Reply ↓
  26. Alice X

    Apologies if this has been previously noted:

    Ken Klippenstein

    Big Brother Becomes Little Brother

    Corporations are the new nation state, U.S. intelligence admits

    Well, of course, Apple has a market cap greater than the GDP of UK or France. Along with others, but maybe not NVIDIA after yesterday.

    Reply ↓
      2. AG

        TC 57:00 on Covid – Taibbi doubts that there are US documents that would openly state the manipulative intent of Covid policies.
        Someone should point him to Germany…there is actually verbal admission of using this pandemic for future scare tactics in Germany (the infamous Heinz Bude quotes) and that scaring should be used to keep children and kids under control – see the infamous internal memo of the Ministry of the Interior, leaked to the press around summer 2020, which however did not change much in the public arena. Amazingly. To this day German MSM mostly ignore matters. Very very slowly some politicians are taking up the baton, but purely due to the election.

        Reply ↓
  28. Tom Stone

    If my daughter wore a button to work that read “Eff Trump” she’d probably have a few people remind her that the election is over.
    If she wore a button to work that read “Free Palestine” she would be fired.
    “America, the Home of the Fee and the land of the Grave”

    Reply ↓
  29. JMH

    Why do I believe that after all the stomping about with ruffled feathers and loud crowing it shall, for the most part, be business as usual? The really important rice bowls cannot, must not, be touched. Who was that guy who said, “Nothing will fundamentally change? Can’t recall his name … or his face.

    Reply ↓
    1. Glen

      Not a Carlson fan (but a massive Tabbi fan), but this is good – a very, very good interview.

      So good job Tucker, keep it up!

      Reply ↓
  33. Matthew G. Saroff

    Regarding Sam “Serial Failure” Altman’s plan to link AI to one’s identity, this appears to be him doubling down on his Worldcoin eyeball scanner excrement.

    Keeps coming back to it, like Elon and X.

    The Silly-Con Valley geniuses appear to be complete idiots.

    Reply ↓
    1. Glen

      It’s more correct to point out that this “version” of Silly Con Valley is functionally different than the older Silicon Valley. One has to wonder how much the tech billionaires act as gate keepers controlling what companies/technologies are even allowed to exist. They are easily able to buy out and crush potentially better competing technology. This has been happening at least since Gates was able to turn Microsoft into a giant and crush competing OSs. It’s no longer a place where the best technology wins, it’s where the most money in the hands of a few win.

      Reply ↓
  34. CA

    “China has won the hearts and minds of a tiny sinking island nation by providing crayons to school children.”

    This would be Kiribati, a country that has had no per capita growth since 1977 and has been among the lowest income of all countries. Kiribati was allied with Taiwan, but since 2019 has been partnered with China, and China is offering assistance from environmental to agricultural to medical and, evidently, to supplying crayons for children.

    Kiribati, partnered with China, is now growing and that is, unsurprisingly, encouraging.

    Reply ↓
  35. CA

    https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1266745.shtml

    May 28, 2022

    Wang’s visit to Kiribati shows devt opportunities, injects firmness to one-China principle
    By Zhang Hui and Hu Yuwei

    China and Kiribati underscored the remarkable achievements of bilateral cooperation in improving livelihood and economy of Kiribati since the two resumed ties in 2019, during Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the South Pacific nation on Friday, vowing to further enhance cooperation in tackling climate change, COVID-19, and building Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) amid the US and Australia’s intensified demonization of China’s role in the region.

    Wang’s visit has injected more confidence and firmness in both the government and people of Kiribati for their historical decision to develop ties with China on the basis of recognizing the one-China principle, Chinese analysts said, noting more countries in the region will realize that developing ties with the world’s second-largest economy will bring them unprecedented development opportunities to better integrate into global development, and will help them make independent decisions free of the Western countries’ interference.

    Wang arrived in Kiribati on Friday during an eight-nation tour in the South Pacific region. In a meeting with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, Wang said the president regarded China as a true friend as he received the Chinese delegation at his home.

    But the US and its allies have focused their efforts on containing China’s development with the essence of not wanting to see non-Western forces succeed in the world and the enhanced cooperation of developing countries, Wang said, noting no one and no force can stand in the way of the development and revitalization of China and other developing nations.

    President Maamau said the nation unswervingly adheres to the one-China principle and the resumption in bilateral ties with China proved the world is on the side of China and Kiribati is on the right side of history.

    On September 27, 2019, China and Kiribati resumed diplomatic ties.

    The president said the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results and the livelihood of the people in Kiribati has improved, which strongly testified to China’s sincere friendship.

    The first batch of Chinese medical teams arrived in Kiribati along with the Chinese delegation to help the nation fight against COVID-19, and the two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation on tackling climate change, infrastructure, tourism and promote the BRI construction….

    Reply ↓
  36. juno mas

    The bear in the video was ‘fleeing’ not ‘chasing’. Brown bears are ‘conflict avoiders’. Unless you get between a mother and her cub. Bears have more explosive muscle mass than hominids.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      I’ve seen dozens of black bears scurry up pine trees in a series of grappling moves with both sets of feet, branches not being an issue.

      Maybe it takes them 10 seconds to go 100 feet up~

      Reply ↓
  38. Wukchumni

    High and Dry: Sobriety and transcendence at Bonnaroo Harper’s
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Bonnaroo sounds pretty commercialized so I can’t really relate to it versus Burning Man, although the drug culture part seems a little similar…

    Rx that helps enhance the visuals have always been part of the scene @ BM, and for whatever reason last year, I didn’t indulge-and it wasn’t as if I wasn’t offered plenty of party favors, just wanted to go without.

    It was ok, but I think I prefer enhancement~

    For many Burners, its about the only time they do drugs, and normally you’d never want to ingest fungi around a bunch of strangers, a nature setting in Mother Nature’s realm with a few others tripping is much preferable, but somehow being around 66,431 is no big deal~

    Reply ↓
  39. MFB

    That article on “green” ammonia was interesting.

    First you have to use energy to crack hydrogen out of something, since there is no free hydrogen in the atmosphere.

    Then you have to use energy to separate nitrogen from other gases in the atmosphere.

    Then you have to use energy to combine nitrogen with hydrogen to create ammonia.

    Although they call ammonia a “fuel”, it is nothing of the kind. It is a way of storing hydrogen which does not require such heavy cryogenics as liquid hydrogen does. However, in order to get the hydrogen to separate from the nitrogen in ammonia, you have to use energy, and a lot of it, since making ammonia is very energy-intensive.

    Basically, the chemistry I learned in high school (and I didn’t get a good mark) suggests to me that this is a preposterous scam.

    Nothing to see there, move on, folks, but leave your wallets behind.

    Reply ↓

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