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Links 2/23/2025

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Why Is Warren Buffett Hoarding So Much Cash? WSJ

Buffett seeks to reassure shareholders over record cash pile FT. Commentary:

Bank of England’s Gold-Diggers Grapple With Trump-Fueled Frenzy Bloomberg

Climate

Garbage Craig Mod

China?

Chinese take record 9 billion domestic trips during Lunar New Year, Xinhua reports Reuters

Trump orders new curbs on Chinese investments in strategic areas South China Morning Post

In Malaysia, low-priced Chinese brands gain popularity in Western-dominated malls South China Morning Post

Digital Watch

AMD is in talks to sell $4 billion AI server assembly plants Toms Hardware

Pollution from Big Tech’s data centre boom costs US public health $5.4bn FT

Hey programmers – is AI making us dumber? The Register

Syraqistan

At Bibas family’s request, no government minister to attend funeral for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir — report The Times of Israel. Commentary:

Hamas releases remains of captive Shiri Bibas after ‘mix-up of bodies’ Al Jazeera. The deck: “Family members and forensic experts confirm that the new remains turned over by Hamas belong to the deceased Bibas.” Commentary:

China?

Chinese take record 9 billion domestic trips during Lunar New Year, Xinhua reports Reuters

Trump orders new curbs on Chinese investments in strategic areas South China Morning Post

In Malaysia, low-priced Chinese brands gain popularity in Western-dominated malls South China Morning Post

Digital Watch

AMD is in talks to sell $4 billion AI server assembly plants Toms Hardware

Pollution from Big Tech’s data centre boom costs US public health $5.4bn FT

Hey programmers – is AI making us dumber? The Register

Syraqistan

At Bibas family’s request, no government minister to attend funeral for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir — report The Times of Israel. Commentary:

Hamas releases remains of captive Shiri Bibas after ‘mix-up of bodies’ Al Jazeera. The deck: “Family members and forensic experts confirm that the new remains turned over by Hamas belong to the deceased Bibas.” Commentary:

* * *

‘Blatant violation’: Hamas slams Israel as release of Palestinians delayed Al Jazeera

Israel indefinitely delays Palestinian prisoner release as hostages freed BBC

* * *

Shin Bet Arrests Two Israelis Suspected of Involvement in Tel Aviv Suburbs Bus Bombs Haaretz

European Disunion

Polls open in pivotal parliamentary elections in Germany EuroNews

Germans vote as far right surges in polarised national election France24

Now That Trump Is Done With Europe, Will Germany Step Up? Foreign Policy

New Not-So-Cold War

Wounded, recovered and back to war. Ukrainian soldiers are returning to battle after amputation AP

Fresh draft minerals agreement: US to be granted 100% of financial interest Ukrainska Pravda

US says revenue from minerals deal will fuel Ukraine’s postwar growth FT

Trump’s team confident they can end Russo-Ukrainian war next week, The Hill says Ukrainska Pravda

Biden Administration

Biden sent $2 billion to Stacey Abrams-linked group in green energy ‘scheme,’ EPA says FOX. Hmm.

Trump Administration

Trump moves with light speed and brute force in shaking the core of what America has been AP

* * *

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Confirms Plan to Gut Medicare—and More The New Republic. Commentary:

“Back in October … I flew down to Texas, got Elon Musk to [set up DOGE], and here was our agreement: that Elon was gonna cut a trillion dollars of waste fraud and abuse,” Lutnick told Jesse Waters of Fox News Wednesday night. “We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one’s ever looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong. So he’s gonna cut a trillion and we’re gonna get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America and we’re gonna raise a trillion dollars of revenue.”

Just last week, President Trump promised that “Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid—none of that stuff is going to be touched.”

Fast forward a week, and he endorsed House Republicans’ budget plan, which is expected to make an $880 billion cut to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

Anxiety Mounts Among Social Security Recipients as DOGE Troops Settle In ProPublica

* * *

A look at Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, Trump’s pick to be the top US military officer AP

Many Americans don’t trust the media to cover Trump: Survey The Hill

* * *

STATE OF NEW YORK, et al., v. DONALD J. TRUMP (PDF) United States District Court, Southern District of New York

Judge extends block on DOGE’s access to federal payment systems Politico. The opinion.

Supreme Court sidesteps Trump’s effort to remove watchdog agency head SCOTUSblog

DOGE

DOGE Claims It Has Saved Billions. See Where. WSJ. The deck: “A WSJ analysis of government data found that many claims of savings were overstated and ‘woke’ cuts were only a tiny fraction of the total.”

Trump and Elon’s ‘Pointless Bloodbath’ at the FAA Is Even Worse Than You Think Rolling Stone

Hundreds of Philly IRS workers laid off on Thursday, union says NBC

Is Elon OK?

Feds must answer email on what they did last week — or lose jobs, Musk says WaPo. “Trump posted on Saturday morning to Truth Social, his social media platform, commending Musk for doing “A GREAT JOB,” but adding, “I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. Musk’s post to X came about seven hours later, and the emails began going out to federal employees close to 4:30 p.m. Eastern.”

Elon Musk says ‘bar is very low’ after ordering federal employees to fill out productivity reports or resign FOX. Heather Has Two Supervisors apparently Elon’s favorite bedtime reading.

New Doge/Musk Email Goes Seriously Sideways Talking Points Memo.

Over the course of the evening top leadership at the FBI, the State Department, the VA, the Department of the Navy (to its civilian employees) and other parts of the government have explicitly instructed employees in their departments and agencies to ignore the email. Meanwhile the DOJ seems to be instructing its employees to follow it. (And yes, FBI is sort of under DOJ and that’s kind of weird but that’s where we are.)

It’s important to note that these emails are authorized or allowed if not directed by the President of the United States. And yet whole wings of the government are saying to ignore it. I mentioned to someone this evening that they’re treating a presidentially authorized email as some kind of insider threat. And this person says, we’re surprised that Trump is an insider threat? To which I said, yes, I’m surprised that his own appointees are doing so.

Kash Patel overrules Elon Musk as new FBI boss throws down gauntlet to DOGE Daily Mail

The Final Frontier

Boom or bust? Making sense of conflicting signals in the space economy Space News

Astronomers discover ‘Quipu,’ the single largest structure in the known universe Space.com

The Bezzle

Bybit Sees Over $4 Billion ‘Bank Run’ After Crypto’s Biggest Hack CoinDesk

Imperial Collapse Watch

Mearsheimer was right:

Palantir’s Call to Arms Is Also a Sales Pitch Bloomberg

America’s National Security Wonderland American Affairs

Class Warfare

The Black Panther Party’s Under-Appreciated Legacy of Communal Love TIme

Is Protest Dead? Foreign Policy

Life on the tracks: hanging with America’s hobos FT

We Are Losing Our Words The Common Reader

Antidote du jour (Bernard DUPONT):

Bonus antidote:

Double-bonus antidote:

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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84 comments

    2. Wukchumni

      I’d guess the majority of Au trades in London are 1’s & 0’s gold, and if things were looking really dicey, i’d want to be first in line to get the real barbarous relic, not a faux facsimile utilized only for trading.

      Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          My favorite vault tale of woe was this beauty from 1983…

          Stacks of 2×4’s spray-painted 24Krylon gold.

          International Gold Bullion Exchange was founded in 1979 by brothers William and James Alderdice. It grew to be reportedly the largest retail gold bullion dealer in the United States. It offered sale and storage of gold and silver bullion and coins. The company would sell gold bullion at a discount if the buyer agreed to postpone taking delivery. It was headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with offices in Los Angeles and Dallas and employed over 1000 people. The company advertised in national publications like the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s.

          The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 1983 and then ceased operating. When the company’s offices were raided by law enforcement, it turned out that the gold bar stacks shown in their advertising were only wooden blocks painted a gold color. While it operated the company collected over $140 million. At the time it shut down, there were $75 million in claims by 23,000 people. The company spent over $44 million on personal spending, salaries, marketing and travel and had little in assets when it shut down.

          Reply ↓
          1. griffen

            The history of American exceptional capitalism has a long and sordid list of tall tales, on scheming and the willing ability to separate a sucker and his money. Back then as detailed it was the above falsehood of a gold payoff, fast forward to our modern times and we have magical visions of wealth and riches thanks to the Bitcoin and, in kind it’s cryptocurrency counterparts.

            All reminding me of the fictional Duke brothers of course, from the ever excellent and relevant Trading Places… Randolph and Mortimer, emboldened by the orange juice crops report and the ultimate marks of their own corporate demise.

            Reply ↓
    3. Raymond Carter

      The Bloomberg article attempts to explain the surge in gold and silver exports from London to New York, but it makes no mention of the coincident surge in future contracts standing for physical delivery of Comex gold and silver in the last few months.

      Why isn’t this massive increase in the number of Comex futures contracts demanding physical delivery an adequate explanation for the run on London’s gold and silver? And why no mention whatsoever of the surge in physical deliveries in the Bloomberg article and others like it?

      See: https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/02/20/desperation-in-the-global-gold-market-003852

      Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    “Shin Bet Arrests Two Israelis Suspected of Involvement in Tel Aviv Suburbs Bus Bombs”

    Just as suspected. It was a false-flag op blowing up those buses. Thing is, this article merely says that two Israelis have been arrested. It doesn’t really say what type of Israelis which may be the important bit. I’m calling it as those two Israelis being either from Settler organizations or Ultra-orthodox factions. The Israeli censorship will be heavy on this story if so.

    Reply ↓
  3. Mikel

    Palantir’s Call to Arms Is Also a Sales Pitch Bloomberg

    Excerpt from book.
    “..The most effective software companies are artist colonies, filled with temperamental and talented souls. And it is their unwillingness to conform, to submit to power, that is often their most valuable instinct…”

    Ripping off the creative content of artists of various disciplines…

    Then you look at DOGE emails to federal employees.
    It’s one thing having layoffs…that’s just showing something else childish and vile happening.

    Reply ↓
    1. ilsm

      Noting wrong with figuring out what federal civilians do in their jobs. The activity (should not expect products) reports would be useful if the authors position description came with.

      Palantir does a fair amount of services non personal for government.

      A fertile plain for waste is the DD 250’s for service contract payments.

      Reply ↓
  4. Mikel

    Palantir’s Call to Arms Is Also a Sales Pitch -Bloomberg

    A better late than never mainstream critique. Too much smoke blown up SillyCon butts for too long.

    “The Technological Republic is a terrible book: badly written, tedious, and — when they can be gleaned in between the jargon, clichés and repetitions — full of bad ideas, ranging from the merely dubious to the execrable and disturbing. This book is dismal on the level of both form and content. It heralds a dark and depressing future.”

    NOW they finally see it?????

    Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      I see maybe a hundred people or so with that crowd. He will never again have crowds of tens of thousands of people following him in monster rallies and people giving him the last of their money either. Just another version of Hope and Change.

      Reply ↓
      1. ISL

        Bernie warns the US is moving towards oligarchy.

        I say that bus sailed, but strangely, your voice is impossible to hear when it’s a “D” captaining the ship of state.

        A selicious irony – Bernie provides an argument to vote R so he can revert to (ineffective) form!

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    3. urdsama

      This is a distraction ploy to block any momentum by third parties. Sabby Sabs and Due Dissidence have done some great coverage of this “tour” and Sanders specifically. The man who honeymooned in Russia has now gone into full red-scare mode and is parroting all of the anti-Russia talking points.

      Angry with myself for ever supporting the the man.

      Reply ↓
    5. Kontrary Kansan

      In Iowa City he riffed on old campaign themes–of which condemning oligarchy is one. He followed the neocon line about Ukraine, if but briefly. He did not mention Gaza.
      Bernie has berned out.

      Reply ↓
  6. Wukchumni

    We Are Losing Our Words The Common Reader
    ~~~~~~~~~~

    Sometimes i’ll see an article online with the header telling me it’ll take 6 minutes or such to read, and you wonder when books will start taking on the trend, and sometimes I devour a book, other times I might be reading 4 at once, chapter remember.

    Words are pretty cool to dick around with and so often have multiple meanings so as to add confusion to the mix. They have a power of their own-the 26 disciples available to everybody-a very socialized language, it isn’t as if the Illionaires speak in tongues known only to them.

    This text-led trend of abbreviating everything takes the elegance out of the lingua franca and turns us into Gregg shorthand typists-no thanks!

    In my travels i’m running into more young men from say 25-35 years old who use the f word to the point where it has no point, not that they’d know.

    How much more fun to find really descriptive words in lieu of the same old same old crudeness?

    Reply ↓
    1. Steven A

      Wonder no more. Kindle displays an estimate of how much more time it will take you to finish a book as you are reading. This is one of the reasons I prefer the paper and glue versions.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        I must admit I appreciated it more when a kindle was merely a family of cats, such as the hair’m here where mommy and sonny boy live.

        Reply ↓
      2. Chet G

        Kindle has a setting to show percentage read, instead of time remaining.
        As a book person I enjoy both paper and glue (or paper and string, depending on the type of binding) and the Kindle. As someone who has frequent insomnia, I can read in bed from the Kindle at night without disturbing my wife. Also, via Project Gutenberg I’ve come across many old books that would otherwise be difficult to purchase.

        Reply ↓
        1. JohnA

          Kindle has a setting to show percentage read. Surely anyone with the most basic grounding in arithmetic can see what page they have reached, how many pages the book contains in total, and quickly calculate the percentage read/remaining?

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      3. Carolinian

        The iPad Books app has a related feature where you can set a daily reading goal in minutes to serve as a kind of reading odometer. You can turn it off though.

        This all seems tacky to some of us but perhaps a screen obsessed population does need someone to crack the whip on their reading habits. Musk can send out an email “how many pages did you read last week?”

        On the plus side Cyberworld allows one to carry a substantial chunk of the world’s literature around on a hard drive. For those who want to read there are more opportunities.

        Reply ↓
    2. Steve H.

      I just used a Flesch calculator three days ago, trying to discern the argument inherent in the trialectic of the following quotes, alluded to earlier:

      > Weinberg: Why do I see what I see? Why do things stay the same? Why do they change?
      > Tolkien: So do I, said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
      > Niebuhr: God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
      > Adler & van Doren: A work of speculative or theoretical philosophy is metaphysical if it is mainly concerned with questions about being or existence. It is a work in the philosophy of nature if it is concerned with becoming – with the nature and kinds of changes, their conditions and causes. If its primary concern is with knowledge – … and with its certainties and uncertainties – then it is a work of epistemology.

      The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of these are (-1.58, 3.1, 10.82, 7.28), respectively. Note that Niebuhr is rated more difficult, despite having fewer syllables per word (Weight, in Cecily Berry’s terminology). Weinberg again:

      > But there are other measures of quality, such as the Cohen Cloudiness Index, which is based on the simple premise that overabstraction is the number one enemy of meaning and understanding.

      Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    “I was leaving peanuts out for my local squirrels&ended up attracting this crow.He’s been coming to my home multiple times a day to get his daily peanuts. Today he brought me a dead rat and left it where I leave him peanuts. I feel super special now lol.”

    I’d feel kind of honoured as that crow went out of its way to give thanks with the only currency it could – food. And that shows a sophisticated metal process at work as well. I’d be checking out what other foods crows eat to give it as well-

    https://aviancontrolinc.com/what-do-crows-eat/

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      It seems that giving gifts to human beings is not that rare amongst animals — beyond cats offering the proverbial dead mouse to their owners. See here and there for some amusing examples.

      Reply ↓
    2. petal

      I used to put peanuts out for crows during the winter in hopes they’d leave something for me. Well, they did. They’d leave a piece or two of gravel. Guess I should be happy they didn’t leave me fresh meat.

      Reply ↓
  8. timbers

    So Zelensky is reportedly (again) going to sign a minerals deal with US to be partly funded by Ukraine energy production and US tax payers:

    Fresh draft minerals agreement: US to be granted 100% of financial interest Ukrainska Pravda

    Trump says it will make Ukraine’s economy become 2021 all over again.

    US says revenue from minerals deal will fuel Ukraine’s postwar growth FT

    Why do I think anything Zelensky signs and gets his hands on will end up looking more like this?

    Biden sent $2 billion to Stacey Abrams-linked group in green energy ‘scheme,’ EPA says FOX.

    Reply ↓
    1. MicaT

      Timber’s can you provide some info on Ukraine energy production and how that is going to fund the US? I can’t find anything on that.
      Thx

      Reply ↓
      1. timbers

        First link contains text: “The Investment Fund will receive 50% of revenues from Ukrainian mineral and oil and gas resources (net of actual costs) for reinvestment in the Ukrainian economy (mining and processing infrastructure, ports, etc.).”

        Can’t vouch how accurate or plausible above words are.

        Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          I read that too. It means that the US will extract 50% of the Ukraine’s wealth till that $350 billion is paid back and the US will have control of – probably – Odessa port so that they have a stranglehold on any efforts of the Ukraine to export its products out to the world. It’s a wealth pump operation intended to suck the Ukraine dry for decades to come leaving that country poverty riven. The best part? If the people there flee that country in order to survive, it won’t be to the US as they have an ocean between them. Unintentionally though, the country will become an object lesson of what happens when you ally yourself with the US.

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          1. timbers

            “…and the US will have control of – probably – Odessa port so that they have a stranglehold on any efforts of the Ukraine to export its products out to the world.”

            And box Russia in, at the Black Sea.

            Statements like that fuel my concern that – despite Lavrov’s statement no land in Ukraine where Russians live must be allowed to remain part of Ukraine because she will just kill those Russians – Putin will make unwise concessions in his negotiations with Trump and forfeit land beyond beyond the 4 Oblasts, allowing Odessa to remain in Western hands. Putin has a long history of making deals with the West that – for whatever reason – end up being bad for Russia.

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  9. Mikel

    I just read yesterday’s discussion in comments about long Covid and vaccines, etc.

    Apparently, more study needed.

    But remember when some actuallly thought that mandating a treatment that didn’t prevent disease would be okay? As in who needs a control group for a mass distribution of an essentially experimental drug?

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    1. judy2shoes

      “remember when some actually thought that mandating a treatment that didn’t prevent disease would be okay?”

      Yes, I do. Those same people that I know still believe it was okay. Those vaccine mandates will have to be yanked from their cold, dead hands.

      Reply ↓
      1. Craig H.

        OK?

        I have heard and read the message in multiple locations that the invention, manufacture, and distribution of the covid vaccine was the single greatest human achievement of the 21st century so far.

        Reply ↓
  10. Ben Panga

    A look at Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, Trump’s pick to be the top US military officer (AP)

    The article is vague about Caine’s experience. Curiously “CIA” does not appear in the article.

    Caine’s last 8 years work history from his LinkedIn:

    Associate Director – Central Intelligence Agency, USAF Lieutenant General (3-Star)

    Central Intelligence Agency

    Nov 2021 Dec 2024-3 yrs 2 mos

    Washington, DC

    Director – DoD Special Access Programs “Black Programs”, USAF Major General (2-Star)

    Office of the Secretary of Defense

    Sep 2019-Aug 2021. 2 years

    Deputy Commanding General – Special Operations Task Force, USAF Brigadier General (1-Star)

    Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve

    May 2018 – May 2019 1 yr 1 mo

    Baghdad, Iraq

    COMMA CAL OPERATION

    Assistant Commanding General/JSOC, USAF Brigadier General (1-Star)

    Joint Special Operations Command

    Jun 2016-May 2018. 2 yrs

    Fort Bragg. NC

    Reply ↓
  11. Sean

    America’s National Security Wonderland – Phenomenal essay. It treads familiar ground but for me, connecting the purpose of the security apparatuses to protecting ideologies, narratives, and a gerontocracy, cemented for me the hollowness of the current empire. Ukraine will turn out to be the perfect embodiment of this – a nexus where all these contradictions congealed into a putrid mess.

    What do you do as individuals, families, communities with limited resources in a situation where its risky to bet against empire collapse?

    Reply ↓
    1. IM Doc

      In regards to one of the points of that article.
      The family and I were just in a big coastal city with a huge port – glistening white cruise ships with no sign of any kind of rust on the outside.
      A bit down the road was a naval base – and I have to admit – I was really taken aback by the amount of rusting on the sides of the nasal vessels. I could not believe the difference between the two.
      I am not a nautical professional. I have never owned a boat. But I have always been under the impression that you do not let them rust on the outside – that great care must be taken to maintain them. And yet this was clearly visible to anyone able to make observations.

      Reply ↓
  12. Lieaibolmmai

    Regarding Hobos, my great Uncle, Frank Gusick, a veteran of WWII (PFC US ARMY), was homless, and a Hobo in the 60’s. He was murdered at 47 years old by the railroad’s private police (railroad bulls) after they lit the car they were sleeping in on fire. Great way to treat a veteran. At least he is buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery.

    I kind of do not like the way they romanticize it all.

    Reply ↓
      4. Tommy S

        Wow! thanks…two my favorite old actors….I see dvd copy on e. bay. for $12. On topic. but different and almost an art film…..beautiful really… is Bill Daniels Who is Bozo Texino?…years of work on this…and even an ex flat mate of mine! Shot on real film with a Bolex. Then there is the fascinating tale of Boxcar Bertha in the re issued book on AK press…as told to the anarchist Dr. Ben….Sister of the Road….IWW ….all kinds of fun in there…

        Reply ↓
    2. upstater

      NPR had a similar romantization of hopping freights in a Feb. 17 story, “Train hoppers ride the rails across America — and you can tag along”

      Trains magazine published the industry response:

      NPR story on train hopping raises safety concerns, industry officials say

      Wonder how many hobos use NPR tote bags as luggage? Hopping freights is really, really dangerous. Back in the 70s I rode many freights, but far more civilized riding in trailing locomotives. Crews never bothered us and sometimes invited us to the lead units. Now it’s a federal crime and both crew and riders have been prosecuted.

      Reply ↓
  13. The Rev Kev

    “Many Americans don’t trust the media to cover Trump: Survey”

    I don’t think a lot of Americans trust the media to give a weather report. Same too for countries like Oz, the UK, Germany, France, etc. They went from reporting the news to shaping narratives and censoring those that they did not like and acting as if they were the gatekeepers of what people should and shouldn’t know. Not many people trust them anymore – nor should they.

    Reply ↓
  14. lyman alpha blob

    RE: We Are Losing Our Words

    We aren’t losing them at NC. I have learned many new words here over the years, as well as many anglicized Latin words and phrases (ie modulo – thanks Lambert!). I do enjoy it when I need to stop mid-comment to look up a definition.

    Full disclosure – I will admit that I do use the NC comments section on occasion to practice my own words to keep from dumbing myself down, although I do endeavor to eschew the gratuitously sesquipedalian.
    Nobody likes a show off. Irony can be funny though ;)

    Reply ↓
  15. Es s Ce Tera

    re: New Doge/Musk Email Goes Seriously Sideways Talking Points Memo.

    What I find interesting about this is, most corporations (with good security departments) send out deliberate spam/phishing emails to train employees on what not to open or respond to, how to identify phishing attacks. This email checks almost every box for a phishing attack.

    It’s a) it’s coming from an outside party, or an unexpected inside party, often purporting to be from HR, b) claims to be from an executive or appears to be from someone high up in the organization chain, is using their authority, c) it sets a short timeframe to comply, adds urgency/pressure, d) is employing fear tactics, e) it’s soliciting sensitive information, f) has a dubious email address, g) bypasses normal channels and established procedures.

    Given the folks at DOGE come from the corporate world, would presumably have had that same security training, why would they construct an email which so perfectly matches the criteria for a phishing attack, almost guarantees that employees WILL ignore it?

    And they will ignore it because to respond would create grounds for disciplinary action.

    Also, even if valid, email is insecure – email packet traffic traverses the world, you’re asking government employees to broadcast to the whole world what you’ve been doing, every foreign government is going to be gobbling up that data. Another reason you’ll be disciplined as government employee for responding.

    Could it be DOGE is trying to find the weakest links among government employees, I wondered. But you can do that without leaking government info.

    So I have to wonder if this email is what it seems.

    Reply ↓
    2. IM Doc

      For a very long time, I had to fill out an email like that every 6 months. Questions like “State 10 ways that what you did at work last week accomplish the goals of our organization”. The surveys were required – or you would face termination. They were like clockwork in February and August. There were many other questions on them as well. It took an hour or so out of my life twice a year to fool with them.

      I always assumed this was just part of the modern MBA/HR crap that had to be endured in our world. There are so many other things that are much worse – it is hard to quantify badness.

      Never in my wildest dreams did I think that somehow federal workers were exempt from this claptrap. But I am assuming from their reaction that is the case. I would likely have a similar reaction to this kind of time waster if it was presented to me for the first time at my age.

      Reply ↓
      1. Objective Ace

        The issue is not the request. It’s that it is coming from an entirely separate organization. Federal agencies are independent of one another. OPM can’t order employees from another agency to do anything.

        To take your example, what if you received the demand from an entirely different hospital system who neither you, nor any of your supervisors answer to? And combine that with a single days deadline, the worlds richest man threatening to fire you for noncompliance, and that many employees who are on leave already due to the short notice.

        I’m not sure why you are assuming federal employees are exempt from any “claptrap”. However, the expectation should be that it comes from ones actual supervisor

        Reply ↓
        1. IM Doc

          Well in my case – it was from a completely separate entity that I never dealt with. It had nothing to do with the medical school hierarchy – it came from some distant non-profit corporation that signed our checks. The academics ( state workers) were completely under the control of the corporate HR – it was a very bad situation that continues to this day.

          Reply ↓
        2. BrianH

          If managers/executives care about the employees and the organization, these types of requests don’t happen. If you want to drill down on job requirements and the difference between formal expectations and actual performance, you don’t do it like this. You sit down with the employee, work mutually to define the job requirements and work mutually to create the process for measuring and evaluating. These emails and the ones Doc mentions are simply gotchas, and they are designed to create anxiety in even the hardest working employees.

          Reply ↓
  16. AG

    re: Musk

    The German Constitutional Blog which is extremely pro EU-elites has a dossier on Musk with 14 essays.

    Even if it may be full of bias in between one might find helpful bits.

    DEBATE

    Musk, Power, and the EU: Can EU Law Tackle the Challenges of Unchecked Plutocracy?

    At a time when calls for the EU to respond to Musk’s actions are multiplying, the question of whether, why, and how the EU may react remains largely undefined. What makes Musk’s conduct problematic under EU law? Is it a matter of disinformation, electoral integrity, foreign influence, unprecedented market concentration, or possible abuse of power? Or is it all of the above, or a combination of these factors? This symposium intends to explore these questions through a series of brief opinion pieces.

    https://verfassungsblog.de/category/debates/musk-power-and-the-eu-can-eu-law-tackle-the-challenges-of-unchecked-plutocracy-debates/

    content:

    11 February 2025
    Jacquelyn D. Veraldi, Alberto Alemanno
    Does the EU Have What it Takes to Counter American Plutocratic Power?

    10 February 2025
    Anna Gerbrandy, Viktorija Morozovaite
    Corporate Power Beyond Market Power

    07 February 2025
    Julian Uhlenbusch
    Elon Musk, the Systemic Risk

    03 February 2025
    Elena García Guitián, Luis Bouza García
    Democracy vs. Digital Giants

    27 January 2025
    Carolyn Moser, Laurids Hempel
    Elon Musk’s Wake-up Call for Europe

    24 January 2025
    Ferry Biedermann
    Countering the Tech Oligarchy

    William E. Scheuerman
    The US Supreme Court and Plutocracy

    23 January 2025
    Todd Davies, Spencer Cohen
    Democracy or Domination

    22 January 2025
    William E. Scheuerman
    Trump and the Folklore of Capitalism

    21 January 2025
    Judit Bayer
    Zuckerberg’s Strategy

    20 January 2025
    Dieter Zinnbauer
    Plutocracy 2025

    19 January 2025
    Viktoria H.S.E. Robertson
    Protecting Democracy in the Digital Era

    17 January 2025
    Jacob van de Kerkhof
    Musk, Techbrocracy, and Free Speech

    Alberto Alemanno, Jacquelyn D. Veraldi
    Musk, Power, and the EU

    Reply ↓
  17. griffen

    Heretofore I would have found much to applaud in the corporate career at Cantor Fitzgerald, and not to romanticize at length but that firm sustained much loss of human life in the events of 9/11/01. Lutnick has been highly vocal in the company endeavors to rebuild but also to provide support and funds to the survivors and families impacted in that attack.

    Fast forward to the current environment and he sounds like a fully entitled conservative Republican prick of the highest order ( yeah it’s a low bar to hurdle ). The very type who will, or would slash FEMA aid to hurricane Helene survivors that lost everything. Cause it didn’t impact him where he lived. Here in South Carolina we have the senior senator Graham to look up to with his “wisdom and guidance” in similar situations….it is not encouraging to say the minimum. Onward and upward for some but the rest are gonna need their own bootstraps of course. A reminder of why I find most national politicians, of varying stripes, hard to trust in. They seemingly have little grasp on an average American family that’s been struggling with inflation and those effects.

    Adding a favorable quote from Fight Club… I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise…\sarc

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      The trunk show of the Pachyderm Party is parading down Pennsylvania Avenue, while the Donkey Show has to pay people to watch them perform.

      Reply ↓
  18. The Rev Kev

    “Germans vote as far right surges in polarised national election”

    You tend to forget that in any politically healthy country, that you have a left, a central and a right faction in play and you will probably find that the spread will be in the shape of a Bell curve. But we don’t have that anymore in many countries. The left has been driven from the field or suborned into what we call a ‘liberal’ faction who are anything but and who will ally themselves with centralists for power. The Greens in Germany are an example of this. Due to the hostility of centralists/liberals in power to the needs and wants of the people, the people find themselves having to align with right factions as they are the only ones actually listening to them anymore to the shock of the centralists/liberals. And again, the AfD in Germany is an example here. So what I am saying that any country that has adopted this sort of model is inherently unstable and we are seeing the results in play in the US and in the EU States.

    Reply ↓
  19. Wukchumni

    Why Is Warren Buffett Hoarding So Much Cash? WSJ

    Buffett seeks to reassure shareholders over record cash pile FT. Commentary:
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Cash is King, until some idiot leader decides to throw a spanner in the works and you lose your hegemony.

    Reply ↓
    1. Jabura Basadai

      concern for Buffett’s cash hording goes back a ways – doesn’t seem mysterious to me –
      8/2023
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-recession-michael-burry-big-short-steve-hanke-2023-8
      2/26/2024
      https://www.ft.com/content/c2f72b52-df75-463a-987a-e2d3ae4f4c97
      if you hit a paywall – https://archive.ph/wHXwm
      9/9/2024
      https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/09/09/warren-buffett-54-billion-warning-to-wall-street/

      Reply ↓
  20. griffen

    Scanning the Sunday morning weekend shows this morning and come across what I would label as one, a reminder of the horrific battles fought in the Pacific during WW2, and two a reminder that there was a great generation of volunteer forces that included many families who lost numerous family members…

    Flag raising at Iwo Jima in February 1945…I must wonder if this photo is the most famous from that particular war.

    https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures/highlights/flag-raising-on-iwo-jima

    Reply ↓
  21. Wukchumni

    If you search for legal tenderness
    It isn’t hard to find
    You can have the local lucre you need to live
    But if you look for truthfulness
    You might just as well be blind
    It always seems to be so hard to give

    Hegemony is such a lonely word
    Everyone is so untrue
    Honesty is hardly ever heard
    And mostly what we need or it’s through

    I can always find someone
    To say they Dollar sympathize
    If I wear my reserve currency status out on my sleeve
    But I don’t want some dismal scientist
    To tell me pretty lies
    All I want is everyone to believe

    Hegemony is such a lonely word
    Everyone is so untrue
    Honesty is hardly ever heard
    And mostly what we need or it’s through

    I can find a DOGE lever
    I can diss NATO friends
    I can have security until the bitter end
    Anyone can comfort me
    With promise sorry notes again
    I know, I know

    When we’re in too deep inside of the Ukraine war
    Don’t be too concerned
    We won’t ask for nothin’ while it’s game on
    But when we want security
    Tell me where else can we turn
    ‘Cause spoils of war is what we depend upon

    Hegemony is such a lonely word
    Everyone is so untrue
    Honesty is hardly ever heard
    And mostly what we need or it’s through

    Honesty, by Billy Joel

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4gOIt-M02A

    Reply ↓
  22. Trees&Trunks

    Is he committing suicide or have his great friends in the West, the people at the Children’s Table, promised to extract him? If they extract him, what is the correct measurement unit of his survival: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years?

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/zelenskiy-says-he-is-willing-give-up-presidency-if-it-means-peace-ukraine-2025-02-23/

    How about a competition at NC – the funniest necrology of one of history’s most despicable men?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMEpcQ6izBQ
    A laughter that cost the Ukrainians a bit more than 1 million dead men, millions of people leaving the country and basically destroying the country.

    Reply ↓
  23. Wukchumni

    I went to the CPAP party
    To reminisce with my old friends
    A chance to share old memories
    And say our slogans again

    When I got to the CPAP party
    They all knew my name
    But no one recognized me
    I didn’t look the same

    But it’s all right now
    I learned my lesson well
    You see, that first term was like a starter marriage
    So you got to help yourself

    People came from miles around
    Everyone was there
    Elon brought his chainsaw
    There was magic in the air

    And over in the corner
    Much to my surprise
    Mr. Bannon gave us a salute
    Wearing no Nazi disguise

    But it’s all right now
    I learned my lesson well
    You see, that first term was like a starter marriage
    So you got to help yourself

    I played them all the old slogans
    I thought that’s why they came
    No one heard the mood change
    We didn’t look the same

    Garden Party, by Ricky Nelson

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

    Reply ↓
  24. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Trump and Elon’s ‘Pointless Bloodbath’ at the FAA Is Even Worse Than You Think Rolling Stone

    The piece highlights how utterly baffled everyone is by the firings, how nonsensical they are, with no rhyme, reason or logic. I’m reminded of how, during Lenin and Stalin, there were very many instances of logically and morally questionable directives but the whole point of the Party and Party Ideology was you did what the Party wanted, without thinking, question or resistance. Blind loyalty, obedience and adherence to the authority of the party apparatus, in other words, was ideological purity, even at the cost of your own or others lives. Sacrifice of self and everyone around you is what it’s all about, yours is not to reason why, yours is but to do and die.

    The danger of having a police/military/agency state is everyone is pre-conditioned, ripe for such. It’s almost like kindling, as if Comrade or Chairman Trump is trying to light that fire.

    Reply ↓
    1. Emma

      Can we leave comparisons to The USSR or Maoist China out of a discussion about American/Afrikaner oligarch doing exactly the same thing that they’ve previously done at other companies that they hostile-y took over?

      Western understanding about Stalinist USSR and Maoist China is utterly polluted with anti-Communist claptrap funded by decades of many many billions via NED, USAID, the Ford Foundation, and others. The works of Grover Furr debunks this in exhausting detail.

      And it’s absolutely unnecessary. This is just unthinking normalizing demonization of Communism by automatically comparing it to every horrible CRIMES OF CAPITALISM. Whether Communism is good or bad can be judged on its own more and by the way, Communism is actually quite popular with Russians and Chinese who lived through it.

      Reply ↓
  25. IM Doc

    I am hearing from many colleagues this AM that the big city hospitals in which they work are now being overrun with flu and other respiratory issues. The ERs are in many cases back to being war zones with 1-2 day holdovers very common.

    So everyone needs to take care and be as healthy as you can.

    I thought it important to realize that since COVID started to really wind down in the hospitals, your non-profit corporate hospital companies have been doing their very best to lay off all kinds of nurses, PTs, etc – and have trimmed the nation’s hospital capacity by at this point 16-20% – reports vary. So when you are sick in the ER for 1-2 days please keep in mind, it is not the ER doctors and nurses who have done this.

    This report – documents that occupancy is at an all time high – but staffing and beds have been cut by 16% in the past year or so.

    https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1073936

    You know things are bad when the WSJ is now openly bragging about all the massive hospitals across the country that are being repurposed into condos.

    https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/former-hospitals-residential-housing-bae7c276

    That very first picture in that article makes me heartsick – that building looks very similar to 2 of the hospitals in which I trained.

    Long ago when I was young, there were often 2-3 wings of any of the hospitals in which I worked that were darkened and inactive. They had all the equipment ready to go – and they could be up and going within hours. That is no longer the case. We do not do “inefficiencies” like surge capacity anymore.

    I know which system was much more efficient – and it is not the system we have now.

    Reply ↓
    2. mrsyk

      We are hearing the same stories from two friends who are nurses here in the northeast. Lots and lots of “flu”, most of it not Covid. Also hearing about lay-offs, re-assignments, etc, all set to the years long backdrop of shuttering rural hospitals.
      Whoever thought “just in time delivery” applies to healthcare should go take a flying leap.

      Reply ↓
  26. Carolinian

    Larry Johnson on stubble boy Zelensky’s Producers scheme.

    https://sonar21.com/is-volodymyr-zelensky-channeling-max-bialystock/

    “Zelensky has offered the rights to rare-earth minerals in land occupied and claimed by Russia. He’s trying to sell something he does not own nor control. The UK’s Starmer got scammed. Remains to be seen if Trump is going to be bamboozled as well.”

    One needs a score card for all the grift, for sure. If only there were some institution, one with printing presses, that could help us.

    Reply ↓

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