Links 2/4/2025

Subscribe to Post Comments

49 comments

1. Mikel February 4, 2025 at 7:06 am

   The #1 cause of maternal death in the US: suicide/homicide – ZMEScience

   Those causes for maternal death have been at or around the top spot for years.
   I can’t decide if it’s the worst or best kept secret.
   Just doesn’t fit the fantasies being promoted.

   Reply ↓
2. Huntly February 4, 2025 at 7:13 am

   No stupid questions. Could Musk’s bro techs access to the fed payment system have any connection whatsoever with the Barclays outage?

   Reply ↓
3. flora February 4, 2025 at 7:13 am

   file under USAID:

   Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn spend most the this episode discussing USAID. / ;) utube, no paywall, ~2+ hours.

   ATW Live on Monday 2/3/25

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WBh2CNH7U

   Reply ↓
   1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 7:17 am

      The Duran has also just dropped a long video called “Dismantling regime change machinery”-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStZiLu_F_U (41:14 mins)

      Reply ↓
      1. Mikel February 4, 2025 at 8:41 am

         Let a country nationalize some resource the USA needs badly…the Musk Administration will hit the regime change 2.0 button and with X playing a key role.

         Reply ↓
   2. Zagonostra February 4, 2025 at 8:12 am

      He [Elon] accused USAID of funding bioweapons research and believes that USAID “should die.” “Did you know that USAID, using your tax dollars, funded bioweapons research, including COVID-19, which has killed millions of people?” he said .

      Could Musk actually be running SpaceX, Tesla, and other companies and be able to assume such a role in the Trump admin? I’m beginning to think he is just a front man, an actor, who has been put in place to give a face to deep state actors behind the scene. I see how much the CEO of the company I work for spends at the office, doesn’t even have time to be with his family.

      Reply ↓
      1. Mikel February 4, 2025 at 9:23 am

         “I’m beginning to think he is just a front man, an actor, who has been put in place to give a face to deep state actors behind the scene.”

         The way to the executive branch goes through “the deep state”….officially in the USA since 1947. Thoroughly enforced since 1963.

         BTW: I think the same about Zuck.
         The techbro or type is the face and image the national security state put on this program. They have the media and industry committed to the particular image as well.

         Reply ↓
4. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 7:14 am

   Working link for “Freezing US foreign aid will result in humanitarian disaster” article at-

   https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/freeze-us-foreign-aid-will-result-humanitarian-disaster (missing the initial ‘h’ in ‘https’)

   Well if USAID gets folded into the State Department, all those food and medical deliveries will continue. What won’t continue is the billions going through USAID for regime change operations, think tanks, protests, NGOs, cookie handouts, etc. and this article makes me wonder if Doctors Without Borders has been getting money from USAID as well. Turns out that USAID was basically a spook operation with a thin veneer of humanitarian work. Who knew? /sarc

   Now the thing to watch for is how many operations around the world such as media companies, NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. just mysteriously fold or slip away into the dark.

   Reply ↓
   1. Mikel February 4, 2025 at 7:33 am

      The Musk administration is going to rebrand and keep a good deal of the spook and regime change operations.
      These f’ers are going to be spooking and regime changing like the worst of them and with their own bad actors to partner with in other countries.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2025 at 7:37 am

         I suspect that as well, with a change in focus to the W. Hemisphere.

         Operation “Trudeau gets the heave-ho?”

         Reply ↓
         1. Mikel February 4, 2025 at 7:59 am

            And their usual on the menu favorite countries for regime change: any country that wants to maintain ownership and control of resources, eapecially make resources a part of the commons or doesn’t go to enriching some singular grifter.

            Reply ↓
         2. Jessica February 4, 2025 at 9:16 am

            Standing up to Trump is the first thing in a while to improve Trudeau’s standing with Canadian voters.
            Trump gave pretty boy the chance to show some teeth.

            Reply ↓
   2. Bugs February 4, 2025 at 8:47 am

      Re: Médecins sans frontières, look up the sordid history of one Bernard Kouchner.

      Reply ↓
5. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2025 at 7:35 am

   Re: Donald Trump wants Ukrainian rare earths

   This was his M.O. in Syria. Steal the oil. It worked to a certain extent, but Ukraine is not Syria.

   1. Russia already has possession of a lot of the land where the lithium is (Trump is an ignoramus who doesn’t understand (or is paid not to understand) the difference between lithium and rare earth minerals.

   2. Russia continues its relentless march westward, and will no doubt control more territory next year.

   3. Europe isn’t going to like having an even more failed state left at its doorstep. Ukraine needs to keep some natural resources to be a functioning state, after the war, else it will be like Syria or the Sudan.

   Unlike the “shock and awe” optics of Trumps DOGE attacks and tariffs, he seems to be really thrashing on Ukraine. His latest musings contradict earlier statements that he would cut off the aid. Part of me suspects that these inconsistent statements are a way to distract the public, so that he can concentrate on higher priorities such as immigration and turning Canada into the 51st state.

   Reply ↓
   1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 8:03 am

      Will Trump be saying in a few months-

      ‘We’re keeping the Lithium. We have the Lithium. The Lithium is secure. We left troops behind only for the Lithium.’

      Reply ↓
      1. MicaT February 4, 2025 at 8:46 am

         Lithium is not in short supply. It’s available from many western countries.
         The US doesn’t have any refining capabilities to speak of.
         But lithium based batteries require lots of other materials with graphite being a big one that we don’t manufacture and China makes most of it.

         And the new generation batteries are going towards sodium, ie no lithium.

         I don’t know why he would care about lithium anyway, he’s against EV’s.

         Reply ↓
         1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 8:51 am

            Trump sometimes suffers for a severe case of verbal diarrhea and spouts out all sorts of ill-thought out bs. I think that he does it on purpose so that people find it hard to find out what he is really thinking.

            Reply ↓
6. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 7:48 am

   Your empire is fadin’
   I feel it fade
   Ah, your empire is fadin’
   I feel it fade

   Ah, your empire is fadin’
   Donald, I feel it fade

   Ah, Donald, Donald your touch, your touch has gone cold
   As if someone else controls your very soul
   I’ve fooled myself long as I can
   Can feel the presence of another man

   It’s there when you speak his name
   It’s just not the same
   Oooh, empire, I’m losing you

   It’s in the air
   It’s there everywhere
   Gaslightnost, I’m losing you

   When I look into your eyes
   A reflection of a face, I see
   I’m hurt, down-hearted and worried, America
   ‘Cause that face doesn’t belong to me

   It’s all over your face
   Someone’s takin’ your place
   Oooh, America, I’m losing you

   You try hard to hide
   The emptiness you feel inside
   Oooh America, I’m losing you

   I can’t bear the thought of losing you

   Rare Earth “(I Know) I’m Losing You” on The Ed Sullivan Show

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq0FvPLWo0Y

   Reply ↓
   1. Michaelmas February 4, 2025 at 8:23 am

      For heaven’s sake. The original version by the Temptations of “I’m Losing You” from 1966 has David Ruffin on lead and a Norman Whitfield production from before he jumped the shark (check out the horn arranging in the middle segment).

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWr_F4Gg8sY

      Accept no substitute. Even the Rod Stewart version is superior to the plodding Rare Earth one, though I’ll grant that the go-go dancers on the Ed Sullivan Showdo earn points for cheesy non-hipness..

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 8:24 am

         I specifically used the Rare Earth version in keeping up with current news…

         Reply ↓
         1. Bugs February 4, 2025 at 8:49 am

            I own the 45 of that one and I salute your choice.

            Reply ↓
            1. mrsyk February 4, 2025 at 9:24 am

               Good tune! I like the Faces (Rod Stewart, Ron Wood) version best, turned up loud. Very loud.

               Reply ↓
7. Zagonostra February 4, 2025 at 7:56 am

   >A Mossad Fantasy Tour SpyTalk (Micael T)

   “Go behind the scenes of Israel’s legendary Mossad!”

   Curious about those exploding pagers, a terrorist action which goes unpunished, indeed, it’s “legendary.” Not to mention Epstein’s potential role in suborning U.S. politicians of all stripes

   Reply ↓
8. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 7:58 am

   “A Mossad Fantasy Tour”

   If you think that that is something, you can also try the IDF Fantasy Tour. They take you in a group to a high point in Gaza with a telescopic rifle to shoot terrorists. How do you know if the Palestinian in your sights is actually a terrorist? If they are in Gaza they are either a terrorist or support terrorists so easy to decide. Person with the highest score gets awarded an acre of freehold land in Gaza itself after the war. Unfortunately no coastal land as all of it has been reserved for Netanyahu and his friends plus someone – whose identity we cannot reveal – called J. Kushner. No! Wait! That should be Jared K.

   Reply ↓
   1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2025 at 8:42 am

      Here come the jesters, 1, 2, 3
      It’s all part of my fantasy
      I love the Tik-Toks and I love to snipe the crowd
      Hidin’ in the aisles, and makin’ Jared proud

      Yeah …

      Here come the excuses, one by one
      They’re Yahweh’s chosen – they’re just havin’ fun
      You’ll find you’re dancin’ on a number nine cloud
      Put your hands up in the air and take another round (to the chest)

      It’s all part of my IDF fantasy
      It’s all part of my lebensraum dream
      yeah …

      It’s all part of my IDF fantasy
      It’s all part of my lebensraum dream
      It’s all part of my IDF fantasy
      It’s all part of my lebensraum dream

      Hit ’em with drone strikes, kids and all
      And let the slaughter shake right off your soul
      The bombs are so loud, you can hear the sound
      Screaming from the sky and churnin’ up the ground

      It’s all part of my IDF fantasy
      It’s all part of my lebensraum dream
      It’s all part of my IDF fantasy
      It’s all part of my lebensraum dream

      Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ZB3M31jfM

      Reply ↓
      1. mrsyk February 4, 2025 at 9:32 am

         Bad Company, It’s a classic rock morning. “Losing You” into “Rock and Roll Fantasy” into… somebody’s gonna have to do Heart’s “Barracuda”. If you’re driving into Portland (Maine, thank you) this morning on your way to work listening to the Shark (rock radio station) you will undoubtedly hear one of these.

         Reply ↓
9. Terry Flynn February 4, 2025 at 7:58 am

   “unacceptable risk” under AI. Sheesh, do they even know what might be?

   I am reminded of anecdote from medic friend in run up to year 2000. The NHS proclaimed it was “Y2K proofed”. To be fair, it largely was. However, a number of potentially high profile failures went under the radar that were NOT considered vulnerable. My friend was doing a rotation in OBGYN. All of the key artificial breathing instruments for the premature babies shut down at midnight. Never considered to be Y2K vulnerable. Thankfully there were few babies needing the system and a frantic rush by drs and midwives ensured no injuries/deaths. But it was real. And totally unreported.

   Reply ↓
10. Zagonostra February 4, 2025 at 8:04 am

    >A new world order? Julian Macfarlane (Micael T)

    Rome didn’t give up on Empire until the Barbarians were at the gate. In fact, not even then: the Empire moved to Constantinople.

    And where did it go after Constantinople fell? The LaRoche organization for all their faults, does a good job trying to provide the answer.

    https://youtu.be/utkhD0Gypro?si=04t2slY2n6L6cERu

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 8:18 am

       A new money world order occurred when the western Roman Empire fell, in that the Byzantine Empire issued only bronze and gold coins primarily, eschewing silver coins on account of what had happened in the 3rd century when high-tech of the time allowed for the minting of nearly completely debased silver Denarii, which certainly helped things come a cropper.

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

       Reply ↓
11. Michaelmas February 4, 2025 at 8:04 am

    The article ‘Black holes seen ‘cooking’ their own food in fascinating discovery’ is a pathetic piece of PR puffery.

    There’s no discovery involved in what it says has been discovered. It’s long been known that because stars retain their rotation after they contract into black holes, they spin nearly at light-speed, dragging along — distorting — the spacetime surrounding them beyond their event horizon, and so the gas and dust—the accretion disk—caught in that spacetime.

    The gravitational and frictional forces that result then clump that gas and dust into filaments, and again heat and ionize it as it’s infalling, generating the visible and ultraviolet light we detect, as well as the even hotter gas radiating furious X-ray energies above the accretion disk.

    Fascinatingly, even the largest black holes—the supermassive ones in galactic centers—rotate like the smaller ones do, at speeds that can be an appreciable fraction of c, lightspeed. Their accretion disks’ ionized gases thus emit a spectrum of wavelengths, from radio to gamma rays, so each central black hole has a pattern of emission lines as uniquely identifying as a biometric portrait is for a human individual.

    Anyway, the original study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) that this piece is a write-up of has given specifics of the mechanics of an already-known phenomenon, which would be the entirely worthwhile point of the research. But it’s not a new discovery.

    Reply ↓
12. stefan February 4, 2025 at 8:11 am

    The Republicans control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and White House.

    If they want to make changes to the USAID, Department of Education, Department of Treasury, etc., why aren’t they doing this legislatively, by law? Why go on a spree to rifle through these departments?

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 8:19 am

       As pointed out by The Duran, if the Dems or anybody else challenges them in court, they are probably going to win so in fact the Repubs are looking forward to legal challenges to establish a legal precedent for what they are doing. This way also means that they are not giving their opponents time to react and slow-walk any laws that they want to change and bog it down in the bureaucracy. They must have spent years planning this all out.

       Reply ↓
    2. Terry Flynn February 4, 2025 at 8:34 am

       USians please correct me if I’m wrong, but several of the key changes proposed require changes in the constitution. The bar is MUCH higher. It’s practically impossibly for either party to do what is necessary to introduce any new constitutional amendments.

       However, I do agree with you that “doing things on the quiet” – aka using existing laws in weird ways rather than using proper legislative routes – might be their best way to sidestep issues that wouldn’t get ratified into the constitution.

       Reply ↓
       1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2025 at 9:10 am

          Constitutionally, Congress has the sole power to appropriate funds. However, with money being scarce back in the day, I doubt our framers contemplated a situation where the executive branch would refuse to spend what Congress allocated.

          It may be more of a grey area than a black/white one. What if the money Congress appropriates gets “lost?” You know, due to incompetence, buggy IT systems, etc. What if an agency head accepts money from Treasury but lets it pile up in an account, and rolls around in it like Scrooge McDuck?

          Musk could introduce “chaos monkey” to the Treasury’s IT systems. Redirect a few billion from the foreign aid bucket to a random taxpayer in Des Moines, Iowa. Use your imagination – the possibilities are limitless.

          Reply ↓
          1. Terry Flynn February 4, 2025 at 9:27 am

             Thanks – glad although I didn’t exactly get stuff right, I did anticipate some of the types of shenanigans that Musk etc might be tempted to use.

             Reply ↓
13. Zagonostra February 4, 2025 at 8:16 am

    Bonus Antidote du jour

    What a great metaphor for Trudeau viz. Trump.

    Reply ↓
14. Zagonostra February 4, 2025 at 8:24 am

    >Trump agrees to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico after they pledge to boost border enforcement

    Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Monday that it was misleading to characterize the showdown as a trade war despite the planned retaliations and risk of escalation… Trump was absolutely, 100% clear that this is not a trade war,” Hassett said. “This is a drug war.”
    

    So we’re back at war with “drugs.” I thought that went out with Bush the Elder.

    Reply ↓
15. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 8:32 am

    Isn’t the last available mechanism to thwart Trump et al being the utter tanking of Dow Jonestown?

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA February 4, 2025 at 8:48 am

       Perhaps Musk’s geek squad can tunnel into the Fed’s balance sheet and delete the confetti money cannons that the banks rely on, to our detriment.

       Now, that would be a mass casualty event on Wall St.

       Reply ↓
       1. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 8:55 am

          Musk now has the ability to chop off all the free Fed money going to Wall Street. I would call that a strategic win for Musk/Trump without firing a shot. And how did they do it? They followed the money until they came to the ultimate spigot.

          Reply ↓
16. Es s Ce Tera February 4, 2025 at 8:34 am

    re: Trump agrees to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico after they pledge to boost border enforcement

    This para:

    While the trade war feared by investors, companies and political leaders now seems less likely to erupt, that doesn’t mean the drama over Trump’s tariff threats has ended. Canada and Mexico bought some additional time, but Trump could easily renew his tariffs and already plans to announce taxes on imports from the European Union.

    Rather invoked images of Neville Chamberlain declaring peace in our time.

    Also, removing American liquor from Canadian shelves sure seems to have spooked the Fuhrer.

    Reply ↓
17. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 8:39 am

    “Finland and Sweden in NATO: Disregarding the Benefits of Neutrality”

    One of the most bizarre things to come out of this war is the number of countries who threw away decades if not centuries of neutrality to become hostile against Russia. So now they are having to devote a bigger part of their budget on the military, cut back on pensions, schools, hospitals to pay for it all, give up their defense policy to NATO and allow foreign forces to take up bases in their country that are above the law, build fences and fortifications so what exactly did they get out of it exactly? The people will now be worse off and they may not have much to show for it. In fact, do not be surprised to see Finnish and Swedish troops be sent to Asia as part of a NATO mission to deter China or something. Would you believe that-

    ‘The Finnish foreign ministry has published official guidelines for its citizens who want to fight for Ukraine as mercenaries. An information page that appeared on the ministry’s website on Monday contains a broad range of recommendations covering anything from practical steps before moving to Ukraine, through to payment, compensations and “declaring death in Finland.”

    “Volunteering in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is not a crime in Finland,” ‘

    https://www.rt.com/news/612122-eu-state-guidelines-mercenaries-ukraine/

    This is just nuts. When the body bags come back will they be given a hero’s welcome?

    Reply ↓
18. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 8:54 am

    Another sign of collapse in South Africa’s richest city Business Tech
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    My friends were in Capetown a few years ago in a rental car on an on ramp that was merging onto a freeway, when a steel bar in the arm of a determined smartphone thief smashed the passenger window and made off with the booty which was in a cradle on the dashboard.

    My sister was told repeatedly to not expose her smartphone in public in Nairobi last year when she was there. One person in her group had his snatched right out of his hand.

    Doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling for the continent…

    Reply ↓
19. The Rev Kev February 4, 2025 at 9:20 am

    Like those two cats in the bonus video and it just goes to show you – don’t mess with a ginger. That other cat knew.

    Reply ↓
20. Neutrino February 4, 2025 at 9:20 am

    and it looks like the only thing that fits the bill is the purported border crisis.

    Many would take exception to the notion of purported. The porous border over the past several years led directly to deaths of many Americans, from assaults and fentanyl among other causes. Videos of the Jacumba area east of San Diego showed scores of people entering, with little to no resistance. That gave more indications of the problem to a wider audience. Interviews of those enterers revealed quite a range of origin countries from all over the world. The shocking number of subsequently documented criminals is reason enough to question the policy intentions.

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith Post authorFebruary 4, 2025 at 9:31 am

       Sorry, crime rates among illegal immigrants are lower than among native Americans. That is well documented.

       And the US has had a drug crisis pretty much my entire life. The issue here is that fentanyl is vastly higher potency than any other opioid-like substance, which among other things = higher value per volume (as in extremely profitable to smuggle even in very small packages) and far more fatalities on minuscule doses.

       Reply ↓
       1. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 9:39 am

          I sometimes wonder if fentanyl isn’t some sort of wonder drug in these dystopian times when it still wouldn’t be prudent for city leaders to send nooses through the mail with instructions on locating a good rafter. when it takes only a minuscule amount of a substance that they themselves pay to play, to rid a metropolis of those that probably cost the most to keep alive in city revenue going out?

          Click to Edit – 

          

          I sometimes wonder if fentanyl isn't some sort of wonder drug in these dystopian times when it still wouldn't be prudent for city leaders to send nooses through the mail with instructions on locating a good rafter. when it takes only a minuscule amount of a substance that they themselves pay to play, to rid a metropolis of those that probably cost the most to keep alive in city revenue going out?

          SaveCancelDelete

          Reply ↓
21. Revenant February 4, 2025 at 9:22 am

    Here’s a more positive link, when I am not in burn it all down mode. :-)

    Some of you, especially PK, may remember my occasionally mentioning various family and friends apropos of different environmental issues in Ireland. Here’s an article in the Guardian with quotes from some of those people, about ancient woodland and controversional “reforestation” targets.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/04/ancient-rainforest-island-of-ireland-ecologists-northern-ireland-forestry

    Apparently hours of interviews turned into a few lines of quotes but that’s journalism!

    Why in the world all EU countries should be aiming to meet a European hypothetical average of tree cover when most of those trees are contributed by Sweden and Finand is the usual EU nonsense, sadly….

    Also, something not in the article but it should have been are the conifer plantations on the Lough Navar plateau, which rises from the Correl Glen that is mentioned and ends in the sheer Cliffs of Magho overlooking Lower Lough Erne. We go blueberrying on the cliff top in summer, hundreds of feet up with a glorious view across the lough, but the drive up the back of plateau from the Correl Glen is through stunted conifers planted wholly inappropriately in bog. The conditions were so inappropriate that, after they were planted, the Northern Ireland forestry board had to bomb them with fertiliser from the air to get any of them to grow. :-)

    Reply ↓
22. Wukchumni February 4, 2025 at 9:28 am

    Guillain-Barre syndrome: India faces outbreak of creeping paralysis BBC
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    My 69 year old buddy from Tucson contracted G-B-S when he was 9 and spent a year and a half in an iron lung. imagine that?

    He’s kinda recovered-but can only walk about 1/2 a mile before he gets really tired. We did a month long road trip in his rig with handicapped plates, they’re damned handy for snagging car camping spots.

    Reply ↓