Remembering Kevin Drum Washington Monthly. :-(
Do cats have ‘friends,’ or do they always vie for territory? Animal experts weigh in The Conversation. My mother’s second cat, Michael, grew up with a neighbor’s dog. They often slept together. As a result, Michael was so chill with dogs that he would be given the run of the small town dog pound as a boarder when my parents went on holiday, much to the consternation of the dogs. It didn’t hurt that he was then over 20 lbs. (eventually 27).
Humans have a long way to go in understanding a dog’s emotions ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
‘A Fire in His Soul’ Review: Van Gogh’s Paris Transformation Wall Street Journal (Anthony L)
Climate/Environment
Cargo ship captain arrested after oil tanker collision in North Sea as experts warn coming hours are ‘critical’ Independent (Kevin W)
Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for COP climate summit BBC. Paul R: “Not the Onion.”
For the first time ever, recorded atmospheric CO₂ has exceeded 430ppm! 😱
The last time CO₂ consistently reached today’s human-driven levels was ∼14 Million years ago, with shorter periods of similar levels around 3-5 Million years ago.
Source Thomas Ronge pic.twitter.com/cvNedvGYR9
— Melaine Le Roy (@subfossilguy) March 10, 2025
I'm dumbfounded every time I see this methane graph
We don't know what the last time was that methane concentrations were this high (1943 ppb @noaa)
Maybe 55 million years ago during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)? https://t.co/rJJznLxkbR pic.twitter.com/TaIWPZC5Oj
— Leon Simons (looking up) (@LeonSimons8) March 9, 2025
Only 17% of global cities had safe air in 2024, air quality report finds Independent. The big reason I am in the sex capital of Asia, rather than Bangkok, is the air quality.
Earth orbit is filling up with junk. Greenhouse gases are making the problem worse Grist
Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air Northwestern University
#COVID-19/Pandemic
Since the start of COVID, the number of people reporting a disability soared. Yet the majority of the world acts like COVID is over, and Long COVID doesn't exist. pic.twitter.com/XOQ61r6xSP
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) March 10, 2025
China?
US-China Tariff Talks Stuck at Lower Levels, Stoking Frustration Bloomberg
China totally dominates renewable energy manufacturing pic.twitter.com/SRywsjSGoZ
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) March 11, 2025
Not enough power to share: The political feud behind Rodrigo Duterte’s downfall BBC
Marcos Jr's plan was this:
Issue an ICC arrest warrant while Duterte and Sara are in Hong Kong, and spread the news that Duterte will be arrested if he returns to the Philippines.
Marcos Jr. believed that Duterte would be scared when he heard such news, and would seek political… pic.twitter.com/b2SYC0JHbM
— DaiWW (@BeijingDai) March 12, 2025
Africa
Internet Shutdowns At Record High In Africa As Access ‘Weaponized’ Guardian
O Canada
I believe this is a world first: An intra-day tariff chart. https://t.co/tEZV7ipT40 pic.twitter.com/CgopazQU9z
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) March 12, 2025
European Disunion
Trump’s Trade War Expands as Metal Tariffs Spur EU Retaliation Bloomberg
Lagarde says ‘impossible’ for ECB to always meet inflation target Financial Times
A Swan-song For Europe Aurelien
Europe faces a MAGA ‘vibe-shift’ as Trump moves to his primordial objective – The Global Reset Alastair Crooke
Pro-independence Demokraatit Party wins significant election in Greenland Anadolu Agency
Europe can stand on its own two feet against Russia & Open letter to Pål Jonson: Tear up the DCA agreement Tidningensyre via machine translation. Micael T: “The Swedish Green-leaning people are just as Trump/Putin Derangement Syndrome ridden as Baerbock and her ilk. War against the dictator-imperialist against Putin and tear up defence agreement because of Trump not because of sovereignty issues with a surrender agreement.”
A historic scandal – the questions about Northvolt that must be answered Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “Ex-Tesla people continued their scam at Northvolt. ‘Over a hundred billion lost, thousands of lives in ruins and managers who escaped with millions in their pockets. Northvolt’s bankruptcy is not due to bad luck but to greed and incompetence.'”
Israel v. The Resistance
Yemen’s Houthis vow to resume attacks on Israeli ships after Gaza aid deadline expires Anadolu Agency
We Need to Teach Ourselves Disciplined Hate, and Never Forget it Alon Mizrahi
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine agrees to 30-day ceasefire as US prepares to lift military aid restrictions Guardian (Kevin W). We have a post coming soon.
US and Ukraine Hatch ‘Ceasefire’ Travesty Simplicius
Hyping Drone Attacks in Moscow Larry Johnson. Surprised he did not point out that the fact of these attacks, right before the US-Ukraine meeting in Riyadh, is a clear message that Ukraine continues to oppose a peaceful settlement.
Russia’s coexistence with West to depend on its readiness to recognize mistakes — Lavrov TASS
Syraqistan
Russia’s Khmeimim Airbase Turns Into Refugee Camp as Turkish-Backed Jihadists Massacre Shiites Military Watch
Pakistan militants attack train and take passengers hostage BBC
Imperial Collapse Watch
China to hold meeting with Russia and Iran on Iranian nuclear issue Al Arabiya. Showing irrelevance of US.
How Likely Is Trump To Play The Iranian & Russian Cards Against India In Their Trade Talks? Andrew Korybko (Micael T)
Trump 2.0
Trump imposes new Canada tariffs, demands it join U.S. Axios
Trump raises Canadian steel, aluminum tariffs to 50% in retaliation for Ontario energy duties CNBC
Trump makes flurry of posts as global markets fall amid fears of US recession Guardian. Wowsers.
Trump approval rating drops 50 days in, new poll from Emerson College shows. See stats USA Today
DOGE
Elon Musk Finally Admits Social Security Is on the Chopping Block New Republic (Kevin W). Write and call your Congresscritters and get everyone you know to do so to raise holy hell. Call the local offices, not the DC ones.
Security researchers aren’t buying Musk’s spin on the cyberattack that took down X Yahoo! Tech (Kevin W). So the US is supposed to trust a guy who can’t even manage his own social media site well with massive amounts of important government data, even before getting to bad intent and self-dealing?
DOGE Likely Can’t Evade Freedom of Information Law, Court Rules Intercept
Elon Musk’s self-destruction Edward Luce, Financial Times. One can only hope.
Musk’s Empire Is Looking Even More Shaky Ian Welsh
Tesla and Elon Musk Had a Very Bad Day, More Bad Days Coming Michael Shedlock
Trump says he’s buying a Tesla to show support for Elon Musk Business Insider
USAID employees told to burn or shred classified documents NBC (Kevin W)
IKEA beds? Dressers? Inside the ‘exceedingly odd’ DOGE office setup Politico. resilc: “and pocketing the hotel part of the per diem too I bet.”
NASA Eliminates Chief Scientist and Other Jobs At Its Headquarters New York Times
Our No Longer Free Press
When anti-war protesters are called national security threats Responsible Statecraft
FBI Redactions on Seth Rich Index Leave No Answers ConsortiumNews
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Deepening Yield Curve Inversion at 6 months to 2 year Maturities since Inauguration Day Menzie Chinn
Dodge Chargers Now Have Pop-Up Ads at Every Stoplight… Just What Nobody Asked For FuelArc News (Paul R)
Class Warfare
“PATCO on steroids”: Trump’s TSA union busting sparks calls for a general strike Salon
Antidote du jour. A Miami scene from Bob H:
And a bonus (Chuck L):
Bird ate too many fermented apples and got drunk
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) March 11, 2025
A second bonus (Chuck L):
Ever wondered why your clothes hangers keep disappearing? pic.twitter.com/ZlPd5HlPF6
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) March 11, 2025
Yet one more (Chuck L):
When you lied on your resume but still got the job.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/lSnWJuTlt3
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) March 10, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
173 comments
Comments are closed.
“FBI Redactions on Seth Rich Index Leave No Answers”
More than 300 pages of redactions? Seriously? This is like the release of the Epstein files a few days ago which turned out to be nothing new but a rehash of old stuff. Just goes to show you that Trump being in office has made no difference at all. Yeah, he has promised to release the JFK files but don’t be surprised to see that most of those 60 year-old pages have been redacted as well.
Now that the MAGA Republican “Revolution” has been shown to have been a huge head fake, the mood “on the street” in my part of the country is starting to get very ugly. I’m hearing increased mentions in public places of the need for a “real” revolution.
Go long guillotines, go short PMC life expectancies.
I was thinking that you could have the readers of NC come up with a coupla pages of suggestions for US reform that would be pragmatic, vitally needed and maybe even easily done. Instead Trump and Musk are like out of control wrecking balls with no real idea of what they are doing – or their consequences – and would never listen to such suggestions but are using a combination of bluster and bullying that will sink their positions well before the midterms come into view.
The question is, which will “break” first, the Pseudo-MAGA/Republican ‘movement,’ or the country?
Right now, my money is on the nation fracturing first. The Pseuds are ideological “True Believers” in the Ultra Libertarian Eugenicist Dispensation. They will bull their way “forward” for as long as they can. The deciding factor will be the political strength of their opposition. I do not expect any useful actions by the American Democrat Party. Increasingly, that group is beginning to look more and more like the old Holy Roman Empire; no longer completely American, Democratic, nor a cohesive Party.
When this all blows up, I expect something dramatic and dangerous.
Unless Trump starts delivering on concrete, material benefits to his base I can see whole segments of Republican support falling away. And ‘sticking it to the libs’ gives you nothing except a momentary thrill. And you can’t use a momentary thrill to pay for your groceries as rising inflation cuts your purchasing power away.
Libertarians are the new “libs”.
Oh, you mean renaming the Gulf of Mexico didn’t thrill shoppers at the grocery store? Bullying Canadians with crap about becoming the 51st state and Trump buying an electric Tesla after issuing an executive order against electric cars isn’t going to tame the out rage about Musk attacking SocialSecurity, May not fly with the maga crowd? I also think something’s gotta give here and perhaps it’s time for Musk to start sleeping under his desk at the Tesla factory again.
He better learn to sleep with one eye open.
MAGA will be happy to eat s*^#, as long as it can have the soul satisfaction of continuing to punch down.
Yes, I think we will have some dramatic events that do not involve electoral politics, and I am hoping they will not cause mass bloodshed. Huey Long’s crazy but populist reign was done away with by an assassin, and some say JFK met a similar fate from shadowy forces. Of course WWI was touched off by an assassination, so there’s that.
I agree with you, but the last thing I would call the dems is “the American Democrat Party.” It’s clear to me that they are controlled by the zionists, whether Jewish, American, or otherwise. I recall a video in Lambert’s Water Cooler that showed the Capital building’s hallways, located in and among House offices, decorated with israeli flags, and slogans showing knee-jerk support for the Jewish state. This, all the while the zionist genocide is, and was, taking place. But we all understand that the Gazan genocide “enjoyed” bipartisan support from both parties as these slavish politicians are more deathly afraid of losing zionist financial support of their positions rather than the wrath of an abused and forgotten citizenry. The parties represent foreign interests and hardly the interests of US citizens. The democrats, I would say, resemble Likud, while the republicans strut the basest spiel of a zionist settler party.
That is why my hope lies in the real possibilities that if, and when, the whole thing blows up, a new generation of leaders will emerge who will be anti-capitalist, anti-zionist, and anti-militarist. Trump and company going after Social Security might be the spark that fans the flames. The effing spectacle of the world’s richest man taking grandma’s paltry pension away, to steal it for himself, might be too much to bear for even the hard-right.
I’m going to disagree with the “no real idea” portion of your statement. They did have a plan, go after the low hanging fruit, show power, start bringing the bigger and more powerful segments with the most real opposition to heel after. It was a campaign for power, control and privatization.
But the unintended consequences, that is true and has been the kicker. Sort of like how all the Russia assumptions proved to be wrong with Ukraine, the assumption of fraud in the government and that people didn’t want to spend money on insert social program here has been falling apart. And this is one I give Social media. Like the H1B1 visa dust up, it has been very usefully destroying DOGE’s. half assed assertions of fraud in things people or their relatives need and depend on.
I also think the less in your face moves to kill dissent aren’t playing so well either.
I too am detecting timid comments amongst working class peasants in Republican Tennessee that things aren’t heading in the direction they had hoped for. And now that Trump has fully embraced Bidens project Ukraine (that might change again before I finish typing this) that’s another blow though admittedly the worker bees don’t bring that topic up as much as ones that affect them closer to home.
Starting to look like T is the GOP’s Obama/Biden in terms of hope and change.
The ad hoc justifications of 5d chess and credulity given to Trump by many I’ve read and listened to around me really reminds me of how I felt about Obama around 2008-2009 so I think this is pretty accurate.
I think media has changed the way that it expresses a bit, and it feels like it’s now a group writing assignment, where everyone works together out loud to add their preferred subtext to the visible text and actions. Julian Feeld has talked about it being the mainstreaming of Q-anon and Russia-gate style thinking, and I find that pretty convincing.
Being in the “older cohort,” I am hearing whispers of discontent from Social Security recipients.
Whenever I bring up Lambert’s “Neo-liberal Rules,” I have to explain them the first time. When I append my Rule 2B, “Go kill” instead of “Go die,” I generally get first a laugh, and often now a quiet pause as the concept sinks in.
The Confraternity of Saint Luigi is headed for a period of strong growth.
America has world levels of armed citizens and private drones. Put the two together….
Years ago I read Rollo May. His particular use of the word ‘intentionality’ stuck with me.
So, many of us are regarded as parasites, but not to worry?
If I were to tell you my house was infested, how many of you would believe I had no intention of bringing in exterminators?
From the Simplicius above re the new “ceasefire” proposal
“It appears to have been made for no better reason than scoring much-needed political points for Trump, who now wallows in a post-euphoric doldrums phase of his floundering second term, when virtually every one of his campaign promises has faltered or flopped. No Epstein, JFK, or 9/11 lists, no Mexican wall, no Fort Knox audit or UFO disclosure, no mass deportations, with ICE raids rumored to have halted, no promised US troop withdrawals from Syria, Europe, or elsewhere. Every other boastful attempt to capture Greenland, Canada, Panama, and everything in between has likewise fallen flat on its face, with countries no longer fearing nor taking the US seriously.”
In other words Trump 2.0 is fast turning into Trump 1.0 as every other day he seems to change his mind just as he did the last time.
Of course Trump’s stated desires for nuclear disarmament or detente with Russia may still be sincere and many of us hope they are. But Trump seems to lack the mental equipment to formulate a path forward and his bully boy side as seen in Gaza makes him a very dubious Gandhi indeed. All we can do is hope that something good comes out of all of this since intellectually and morally his Dem opposition are no better and the reason the country is now taking a chance on Trump.
Pshaw. The multitudes of gun owners out there would rather spit shine their gleaming rods rather than actually firing them.
As long as there is food on the table, I would probably agree with you. However, when “real” hardship begins to bite, and non-violent calls for government action go unanswered, those “boomsticks” can and will come out. The question is, who will be organized and resolute enough to “lead that parade?” It could be either “side” of the political spectrum. Remember the Communists versus the Reactionaries in Germany after WW-1?
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacist_uprising
Stay safe, well fed, prepared.
Friend of mine said something about beheading the 1% to his supervisor at work. She was horrified and now he thinks he might be in trouble. He should know better working as he does in the snowflake rich environment of the SF bay area.
I am so sorry for the death of Kevin Drum. His blog was one of the very first blogs I followed regularly (I have no memory of how I found it.)
Bone cancer. What a terrible disease.
I started reading him when he was CalPundit. He had been in this battle for a very long time…A big loss. He made a difference.
His work on lead in gasoline and violent crime was excellent. He should be well remembered for it.
Light and love to him and his family.
I’ve been reading for longer than I can remember. It was so great that he backed up his thoughts with data and I loved his love of charts.
I wonder if Trump will kill the FRED database? It seems to be part of the Federal Reserve so maybe there is a bit of a cushion there.
Wolf in with the sheep….okay looks like a happy camper dog but I do digress. Pairs well with my stated contention on US leaders and well, many political or national leaders.
“You should fully trust us, we’re the politicians in charge.” Said at every administration transfer since the dawn of time.
Fun antidotes today, the expression on that lab’s face is hilarious. The crows appear to be assembling some sort of brutalist birdhouse, or is that IKEA?
>The crows appear to be assembling some sort of brutalist birdhouse, or is that IKEA?
Or a real life flow chart of President Trump’s thought process?
The Democrat’s well laid plan to return to power?.
The path to peace between Ukraine and Russia? Or the Middle East?
Having solved the missing hanger problem, now do single lost socks.
Father Jack has his glasses pinched by the crows.
From the Father Ted tv series.
>We Need to Teach Ourselves Disciplined Hate, and Never Forget it- Alon Mizrahi
Both genocides are genocides of preference and convenience for cold political calculation and the spread of Western domination. These are not spontaneous outbursts of uncontrollable popular rage; these cold-clooded, calculated genocides, planned strategically and performed mechanically…
…the individuals who planned and enabled this must pay the price for their actions. They must stand trial and have all their crimes detailed and exposed in full.
I’ve unboxed a treasure trove of audio cassettes I had stored in my basement, and to my astonishment most are still playable. I bought a Akai analog cassette player on ebay since my old one died many years ago. These cassettes have radio recordings, mainly from public radio shows. One recording from Michael Stock “Folk & Acoustic Music” who has been broadcasting on WLRN, South Florida Public Radio for over 30 ears, had this following lyric, “Forgiveness is the Perfect Revenge” which I had to jot down.
This article title made me think about “disciplined hate.” The “never forget” part I understand. But can there be such a thing as disciplined hate that doesn’t taint the one hating? Revenge or Justice? “Vengeance is mine, so it the Lord,” but justice on this earth is in man’s hands.
The culture that breeds such monstrosity can only and will only be hated and detested by the rest of humanity and we need to teach ourselves and our children to hate Western culture; it is a culture of fake and cold-blooded murder. There is absolutely nothing else to it.
Harsh concluding paragraph. Is “Western culture” in toto to be discarded? Has not Western culture contributed somethings to civilization worth preserving?
He might do better to turn his anger against Netanyahu’s govt.
He did and that forced him into exile.
There is a school of psychology that says you are just aggravating your own subconscious which isn’t high level enough to sense the hostility as outward pointed.
These theories are nebulous and unproven but sometimes they work pretty well.
“Western culture” is nothing but a fiction.
“Western culture was, at its core, individualistic and democratic and liberty-minded and tolerant and progressive and rational and scientific”
Kondiaronk begs to differ:
http://www.professorcampbell.org/sources/kondiaronk.html
Western culture is too broad a concept.
And what people crave is not Brando, but Justice.
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
I found that deflating, that last bit. “Western Culture ” isn’t to blame. Mozart and Michelangelo and Melville aren’t committing genocide or ethnic cleansing. Or even Mendelsohn and Mahler. And atrocity is not unique to the West, however defined–ask the Armenians or the Dzungarians or the innumerable victims of Imperial Japan, 1931-45.
I understand the sentiment that fires Mizrahi’s disciplined hate or Cockburn’s pure hate. I’m just not sure the purity or discipline can be sustained. I think of Nietzsche saying “one does not refute a sickness;” and of Burroughs’ Dr. Benway swearing at cancer cells. But what is the social and political equivalent of excision with precision, dispassionate treatment or cure?
Climate Reanalyzer is lagging several days, but on March 6 the Daily Surface Air Temperature hit an all-time daily high, 0.06’C above the previous record set in 2023.
La Nina, , , , you know the next four paragraphs.
I’m pretty much freaking out on the climate change thing. Seems like we’ve stepped off the ledge.
At 9.8 m/s2 it won’t take long.
My situation is similar to everybody else’s, here I am on the very orb doing about 67,000 mph on the Sun NASCAR circuit, and I often wonder why we don’t occasionally step off the ledge more often than we do-as per the gravity of the situation.
You just said it, you cheeky…
I’ve already parodied “Free Falling”.
Re: the methane chart. It probably didn’t help that about 450,000 metric tons of methane was released when the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up. Good job!
>Trump/Thomas Massie
I had not seen this Tweet/X on Trump calling for Massie to be primaried, thanks for posting. If you follow TM like I do on Twitter/X you can see he has some avid followers/supporters. Like Dr. Simon Goddek, many conservatives, and people who do nott identify as either “left” or “right” like myself, will abandon Trump on this one. Trump’s first couple of months are unravelling. Some, like Col. Douglas MacGregor (on yesterday’s Tucker interview) still cut Trump a lot of slack, that going to be very hard to do with this move going forward.
You wonder if he is doing this as a favour to AIPAC as Massie is the only Republican that does not have a AIPAC ‘minder’ attached to him. I guess that he would like to replace Thomas Massie with someone like a Marjorie Taylor Greene or a Nikki Haley – both Trump loyalists – which I wonder if the people of Kentucky would really want.
Due Dissidence guys refer to T as Miriam Adleson’s persian lap cat. ;)
Apparently, Masse is thinking of running for the Senate when Mitch retires. A lot of very rich and influential people do not want Masse in the Senate. / ;)
And Bibi did give T that pager. Was that a threat? / ;)
Due Dissidence guys on this issue. utube, ~19+ minutes.
Trump ATTACKS Thomas Massie For OPPOSING Spending Bill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pidGCvb8fHs
I have come to think of Trump as a carnival barker – and Musk as a snake oil salesman. All part of the one circus complete with its own clowns.
‘I have seen the elephant’
19th century phrase: gaining experience of the world at a significant cost.
It appears tRUMP sucks up to Mariam for her pecuniary bribes but finds her boring: https://forward.com/fast-forward/698884/trump-miriam-adelson-michael-wolff/
“There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.” — Theodore Roosevelt
This has that Obama-Rangel dustup vibe to it. Rangel worked his district, so Obama’s efforts were clunky and not direct as Obama was fine with respectable grift.
Does Massie work his district? If he doesn’t, Trump might win this at least in the short term fundraising before the economy unwinds, but Massie isn’t Jeb! from what I’ve seen. The campaign message for Massie writes itself.
“Trump threatens, then reverses, new Canadian tariffs”
It takes a Trump to take one of the most stable, secure relationships that the US has with another country that threatens it in no way – only to throw it in a dumpster and then set it on fire. Canadian – US relations have not been this bad since 1812 and I doubt that Canadians will ever forget. I can see no way forward where they will accept becoming American citizens as when you get down to it, what do they have to gain in doing so? So will Trump try to wreck Canada financially so that it will seek relief in a union with the US as happened with the Scots being forced into a union with England due to a destroyed economy? I would not be surprised to see Canadians doing a general boycott of US goods to make their feelings know in the one place that Trump can feel it – in the hip pocket nerve.
Then again, Canada could accept the US as it’s 11th province. :)
Canadians have already started doing a boycott of US goods.
The Reddit group “Made in Canada” is very active…you can find the Canadian replacements of almost all the US products we used to buy, many times they cost more but we are still buying it
Grocery stores are displaying the “made in Canada” sign on the shelves to make it easier to find.
You wonder what would happen if this idea spread to other countries under attack by Trump – which is basically all of them. Here in Oz Trump slapped a tariff on our steel and aluminium but a White House spokeswoman added some useful advice-
‘And if they want to be exempted, they should consider moving steel manufacturing here.’
She is saying that Oz should just deindustrialize itself and accept huge unemployment for what exactly? To make Trump look good? I can see how well that is working for Germany and want no part of it. For Trump, loyalty goes in only one direction-
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/australians-react-to-donald-trump-imposing-tariffs-on-aluminium-and-steel/news-story/9934387b7073188f680b5a31b8098c89
So would Trump bring out anti-boycott laws against people boycotting US products like he has on behalf of Israel?
Trump continues to clown himself. Canadians are Not going to ever become Americans. For one thing our medical system is such a joke. Apparently, musk has been boot licking so much that he actually believes his own bluster. What next renaming the Atlantic Ocean the ocean of the americas? This crap gets more ridiculous every day. And I live in Kentucky, they aren’t throwing Massie
Overboard any time soon. They voted for him, but not to close Government offices or buy Teslas.
I have enjoyed several YouTube channels who interpreted Starmer’s “letter from the King” not as bootlicking but as high level trolling that only we Brits can do…… we wanted to show that Trump can’t read beyond elementary school level.
Whilst not proven, his reaction was certainly……odd
Before Russia launched the SMO and industrial warfare was rebooted, I harboured a fantasy of the UK leaving the EU (mission accomplished! Cough) and investing in the Commonwealth to follow a non-aligned/less-aligned policy vis-à-vis the USA. In particular, a close alliance of the Anglophone former Dominions would produce a polity of some 130m people, all of them Five Eyes members (I don’t think South Africa or Ireland would be easily tempted back!) and with a UNSC veto and nuclear weapons (UK).
I have begun to think I should be careful what I wish for. Starmer and Carney may be forced to triangulate between USA and RoW by doing just this. And it looks like the Great Satan would be glad to have a kid brother Little Satan bloc share patrolling and campaigning duty, even if economically some tariff issues need settling.
Unfortunately my dream of a Commonwealth redux would be in the service of the USA and pointed at Russia and China, rather than non-aligned….
I wonder if both the US and Canada citizens had a vote to which country each would like to reside, how many more citizens Canada would pick up. I’m guessing the final pop would be:
US 250,000,000
CD 130,000,000
Meanwhile, Fox is running stories telling their viewers that Alberta aims to be part of the USA. Apparently some nut job who is about to lose his law license has a movement (this movement is himself, posting and talking to the media.)
The U.S. would never allow a province or Canada to become a U.S. state because then we would be allowed to vote, to have representation and to have some rights. No, instead we would be forcibly integrated into the union as a territory, like Puerto Rico. No voting, no representation, no rights. Then the asset stripping could ensue with no dissent whatsoever allowed.
If you have any knowledge of the history of Puerto Rico, or the Marshall Islands, or any other territories, then you know what would happen. Colonialism is alive and well.
One grocery store of my acquaintance in desperation mixed together the hardy granny smith apples from Washington state with those from the Okanagan. Didn’t work, people checked the stickers. Maybe this will help finally take down the dumb trade barriers between provinces.
My last visit, I also noticed that goods from Mexico were moving smartly and the Californian stuff was just sitting there.
Looking beyond Canada, the whole world is looking at the US with their rose-colored glasses off. “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” – Henry Kissinger
Proxy wars, sanctions for half the world, wars based on lies, support for genocide, support for rebels to overthrow democratically elected governments, false flags, sabotage, selling junk as weapon systems, etc, etc, etc. And now an incomprehensible bully for president with a lame congress. We are living in interesting times.
I think of what’s going on between Canada and the US as a 3-alarm fire for us Canadians. At first, when I heard of annexation talk, I dismissed it as Trump being Trump. But since the last weekend, it’s clear for me that I no longer have faith or trust in the US Government.
Our political leaders are no doubt strategizing and pursuing quiet diplomacy to renew and strengthen ties with current allies (US doesn’t count, sorry) and find new friends. There’s an upcoming G7 meeting in Charlesvoix Quebec at the Foreign Minister level. Marco Rubio will be there. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has briefed the press, and the game plan for the trade dispute is to apply maximum pressure on the US, tit for tat/reciprocity. On Friday, we expect the swearing in of Mark Carney.
Trump has succeeded in uniting Canadians with his plan.
On the social medium X (where I hang out), the hoards of MAGA true-believers post memes, diss Canadians, are boastful, etc. I have no time for that crew. On the bright side, we know many Americans are still friends of Canada.
In 2010 I did an analysis on the direction I thought the US, and the world, was headed politically. While I found nothing in particular in the literature it seemed a logical eventuality that the US would absorb Canada and Mexico, possibly by force. I think that idea may have come from the US’s need to expand it’s empire as it’s economy and political system crumbled, but I can’t be the only one who postulated this. As I look at the US now I find the idea of such expansion even more plausible and I recommend that Canada and Mexico take it seriously.
I think that if you look objectively at the situation one has to look to Hudson, Wolff, Marx, Lenin, Mao, Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, Sweezy, Baran, Magdoff, Hobsbawm, just to name a few and at some point in the analysis and deal with the basic “classes”. So Canada is easily the most compromised or rather possesses the most intricate intertwining of national and comprador elite structures – other than colonial or neo-colonial countries. For example: the Auto pact negotiated in the 1960s shuttered pure Canadian car manufacturing to what is now a completely integrated North American car manufacturing: Mexico (low wage), Canada (slightly higher but 30% lower than US wages) and the US at the top with highest wages and with a larger part of manufacturing and final assembly than the other two. Each country has production based the wage rate. The intertwining of Canadian, US and Mexico capital is very hard if not impossible to recast on the basis of three different countries or social formations (marxist terminology). It was revealed much later in the 70s or 80s that during the Auto pact negotiations Simon Reisman (Dept minister – bureaucrat in charge of the Canadian delegation) was fed up with the US negotiators constantly pushing for changes to the agreed terms of the auto pact — he walked into the office of the main US negotiator in Washington and in those days he was smoking cigars. He walked into the US negotiator ’s Washington office and said this is what I think of your latest proposed changes: and extinguished the stoggy on the top of the very big and beautiful hard wood desk. The answer given, the US backed down. This will not happen by any Canadian now. What is not understood by Canadian and US manufacturers is the whole free trade, tariffs, etc. business from Trump. To be blunt: both sides (big and middle sized US and Canadian industrial capital) seek nothing more than free trade, FDI in both countries, free flow of capital and crumbs for the little producers. Trump has kicked a sleeping dog and that dog are those in Canada who are not of those economic, political and social classes. The manufacturers in Canada – either Canadian or US capital invested in Canada will do almost anything to stop this: ie. sacrifice farmers, dairy, fishers, credentialized middle classes, gig workers, unionized workers, and social programs, etc. to stop Trump and quell the furor in Canada before it gets out of hand: buy Canadian, elbows, etc.. I am awaiting what the sell-out on the Canadian side will be and how the governments (all levels) will rationalize the selling out if Trump persists and gets a defeat for Canada. I don’t think the sleeping dog in the US is fully awakened yet, or even if once awake, does it just go right back to sleep ? But in Canada what Trump (and his economic class) has opened is a Pandora’s box. The Auto pact in the 1960s was a sell out in Canada, the FTA and NAFTA were sell outs and the MUSCA was sell out as well of Canadian interests. In all cases Canadian workers – ie. not the capitalist economic, social, economic and political sub-classes (in Poulantzian terms) the hegemonic bloc – were not rejuvanated, refreshed but were set up for another round of capital accumulation (in full marxist sense).
This is a nice piece of history and analysis, thank you. Maybe you should email your opinion to your MP…?
You know, the funny thing about Canada is that when someone tries to treat us like a colony, we unite and become one people more than you would ever believe. One of our (most important) provinces is Quebec who agreed to be part of Canada so that they would not become anglicized by the Americans. At one time, Quebec was eager to leave the other Canadian provinces to be on their own but their province never got the numbers in order to vote for separation. Now, Quebec is pleased to be part of Canada because they have gradually over time won most of the freedoms that they wanted and have the best of both the world of the Quebecois and the world of Canada. (Some of our best figure skaters and swimmers are from Quebec.)
The people of Quebec have their cultural and language “freedoms” without interference from Canada. They have control over their immigration and basically consider themselves a country within a country. For example, Canada has supply management for the dairy and agricultural region in Quebec and that is why we held onto supply/management during the negotiations of NAFTA (to satisfy Quebec’s wishes for it!). We have managed to be two countries in one and we are happy to be doing it! Some of our best democratic ideas spring from the soul of Quebec!
I’m from Canada and a francophone – your opinion is not grounded in fact(s). The provincial vote on separation held in the mid-90s was a fraction of a percentage above 50%. The PQ (provincial) and the Bloc Quebecois (federal) are a force for an independent Quebec to be reckoned with in the coming federal and provincial elections and Quebec separatists are simply keeping their powder dry until it is the right time. Supply management has overwhelming support not only from the producers but the consumers as well – this is the case not only in Quebec, but has trans provincial support – wide and deep. Tommy Douglas was Premier in Saskatchewan immediately post WW2 and was the leader introducing provincial health care as we know it today even though Ontario fought the federal government’s use of the power of the purse in the introduction and continuing support of universal federal health care and funding from the mid-1960s to this day. Presently Alberta is moving toward the US system of health care as we speak: Google “alberta politics” for a full discussion of the latest developments – this website is important to anyone interested in the erosion of universal health care in Canada. Private health care in Canada is limited according to federal law but a loophole allows private health corporations to operate: for example a non-Quebecois citizen can get an MRI privately in Montreal and the same true is for a Quebec person who can pay get private health care in Ontario. The federal law prohibits internal provincial private health (a friend of mine in Ontario had an MRI on his knee done in Montreal rather than wait 9 months for public health care MRI in Ottawa (Ontario)). Quebec civil law is based on the Napoleonic civil code not the common law as in the US, UK and Canada, like Louisiana. You might be surprised that a woman’s matrimonial are limited in Quebec, less than under the common law. Quebec society still deeply divided over First Nations’ Right. And just recently a provincial law prohibiting religious symbols in the public workplace has created a lot of turmoil. The federal gov’t is supporting a challenge to this law before the Supreme Court of Canada. Quebec has a deeply divided soul. Certainly we are better off in Canada than US citizens, but Canadian citizens do not have equivalent European social rights. It is true that the US/Canadian dollar currency differential of 30% and universal health makes Canada an FDI paradise, — it was published somewhere in the US business press about 20 years ago that the average cost of health care for the autoworkers adds about $1,000 per vehicle produced in the US, and no such calculation has to be made by US manufacurers in Canada. Maybe Canada should level the playing field: par for the dollars and US style health care ? I hope not.
For someone complaining about another comment being ” not grounded in fact(s)”, you then proceed to talk right past JEHR’s comment. You maybe talked about one point (the mid-90s vote), without actually refuting it. Maybe pretend you’re actually in a real conversation instead of just throwing out a wall of unrelated talking points?
Thank you. cfraenkel! The comment I made is based on my own experience even though I do not live in that province. I am proud that we have Quebec and every time they have a protest, I applaud them!
I am prepared to work very hard to have California, Oregon, and Washington State join Canada as its 11th province. Seriously.
Add British Columbia and we have the newest Province: Cascadia! I’m in, let’s get started.
Ginger Goodwin, that is an excellent post. I agree with you totally, on every point, and have had the same thoughts on multiple occasions.
Now, how to go about it?
Driving a Tesla “truck” into the White House might be a good start given how well those things burn. Note sarcasm
Reviewing what I just wrote one could look at this situation from another angle or Zizek and parallax paradigm: Trump (his group) is a personification of a dialectical unity: industrial capital vs. financializing capital (FIRE and rentier capital as Michael Hudson would put it I believe). Since the advent of petty commodity production for a market its counterpart has been money capital and now given the overall social development of capitalism starting with the industrial revolution it has been transformed into productive industrial capital vs money capital, writ large. Per Hudson, classical economists (including Marx) were in a long term battle against the rentier (money and revenue class) class. Industrial capital held the sway over capital accumulation until the rentier class came back slowly after the Long Depression of the 19th century. Through the 20th century: 2 World Wars and the Great Depression, the rentier class fought back to regain control and for sure with the defeat of Keynes in the 1940s with the establishment of the World Bank and the IMF. Productive capital in the strict Marxian sense fought internally over market share through constant innovation while money capital played a subordinate role of servicing productive capital. However Schumpeter tried to put a happy face on the destructive force of innovation (the write off of existing productive but inefficient means of production) in writing that the creative destruction laid the groundwork for a new exuberant long wave of capital accumulation. The downside for Schumpeter was the anarchic creative destructive was he believed – destruction of capital, unemployment, immiseration of the working classes, etc. – bring about socialism. (He supported Baran replacing him at the university). So productive capital in its current phase destroys the environment, destroys communities as the means of production are closed for more efficient means and it finds itself in alternating phases of overproduction and underconsumption (break in the circulation of capital, not a demand problem) – it is a break in the valorization of the process of productive consumption. Rentier capital is active in hollowing out whatever inefficient productive and unproductive capital exists. In other words, it has been roughly 85 years since the end of the Great Depression and given all economic indicators we are due for another Great Depression, not like 2008 but like the 1930s or the late 19th century depression. Recent reports are that Chrysler could be the next automaker to close shop. There is talk now that Tesla has reached the limit in automation and the next phase will have to be the absolute or the relative lowering of wages in Tesla factories. Canada and the US wages on the whole are 4 times more expensive than the latest productive capital outside of the G7 – in other words, outside the North American and European geographic areas. The constant search for profitable investment leads inevitably to the privatization of social services because if they are service based they are inefficient uses of capital. It is possible to profit by providing less service – this used to be called niche capitalism in the 1960s and 1970s in the Third World. So Trump is a walking contradiction: alternating favoring productive capital and then rentier capital. Unfortunately according using an hegelian analysis the synthesis would be something new incorporating parts of both: is China the economic model – a unique form of dirigisme ? Trump is caught: if productive capital is to recover by hiding behind tariffs, which though it is hoped will bring an investment phase, but ultimately tariffs artificially provide price support for inefficient productive capital — therefore stagnation investment and probably higher inflation and relatively little US export growth. Alternately Trump favors rentier capital: the continuing hollowing of industrial capacity in the US and facilitating US FDI in the rest of the world: using the primacy of the US dollar to buy up and send back (patriated) dividends, based on industrial production and patent, IP and other dollar monopolies. This schizophrenic Trump is visible on almost every angle and issue: because if the above is true all the other issues through the prism of the economic.
Are Tesla factories going dark due to automation? Haven’t heard anything about that.
The Chinese ones do though…
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1899655898676723780
The fact that the vampire squid is making housing, education, healthcare, transportation, and sustenance so much more expensive will always make North America and to a less degree western Europe more expensive producers.
The question is, can the west and US s especially suck enough wealth and dividends that hoi polloi can be kept above revolt? Maybe there would be enough wealth to go arround, but given the little excerpt we have read yesterday from A Tale of Two Cities that Yves so kindly provided, the chances are slim this will happen.
Interesting. Engels and Lenin referred to those workers who profited from imperialism: the giant sucking sounds of goods and money from the periphery (Global South, Third World, etc.) as the labour aristocracy. But their emphasis was not on the impact of the actual material transfer of goods and money (capital and revenue) to the working and middle classes for example within the G7. The transfers resulted in the political fragmentation of these social classes. Both (Engels, Lenin) were of the view that the actual tangible transferred “rewards” were negligible. It was the ideological impact of the transfers on these classes and said benefits blunted and effectively neutralized the politics of these classes. Guilt by association in other words. Having marginally gained, these social classes were held equally responsible for imperialism by profiting, from benefitting, from the crumbs tossed off the table by the dominant classes.
I wonder if including CA in the group helps promote the message.
I remember seeing “Don’t Californicate Oregon” signs in Oregon years ago, and wonder if the sentiment has changed.
Of course, with your merger, current native Canadians would be out numbered by the new province.
But CA Gov. Gavin Newsom needs to find a new office due to term limits.
Canadian Prime Minister might suit him just fine.
A few times a year I spend a week or so in rural Oregon on business. I’ve gotten acquainted with the “State of Jefferson” and “Greater Idaho.” My impression is that a vocal portion of rural Oregon wants nothing to do with California, or the perceived “liberal” populace of Portland.
NY is also working on joining Canada as well.
>Climate Change
Sabine on a new Jim Hansen piece, the worst case scenario? Maybe not, the worst case scenario seems to regularly shift…to, well, even worse.
I wasn’t worried about climate change. Now I am.
“Hot models” and clouds. I consider clouds the one ring to rule them all in the realm of runaway global climate catastrophe. A good time to remember that Mother Nature has been “worst case” on everything climate change to date in our current predicament.
This video is a year old, but more relevant than ever, thanks.
Yes, there have been no winners in the best perceived locations to avoid the wrath of nature, its the getting used to the new normal that will have to be learned, 16,000 homes turned into cinders in LA in January wasn’t remotely on my radar.
The Big Heat® is 7x the other direction from the Little Ice Age in terms of Celsius, gonna be a hot second.
I’m giving this here orb 20 years to shape up or i’m so gone.
Drove home from Brian Head Utah yesterday and what can be a dreary drive through the desert was often accentuated by interesting cloud formations overhead, the kind you almost want to stop the car and take a photo-but a mental snapshot @ 75 mph will have to suffice.
Complains about climate change while driving 75mph through the desert. This is why we are screwed. Everyone is waiting for someone else to make the change or for governments to mandate it. People need to boycott cars, planes and consumerism. We Americans won’t give anything. Go on Reddit for subreddits about cycling or guitars and many people have 20 bikes or 20 synths or 20 guitars. “Possessions are a disease with them”. May the Native Americans be avenged.
I try and boycott cars whenever possible, but my oxen are tired and I didn’t have 6 weeks to make the trek west in my covered wagon.
What is your ox’s name: Gored?
Muskox are pulling the Conestoga…
I don’t know about Wuk, but I paid my dues living a small constrained life as a wage slave, and now I’m driving across the desert every chance I get. It all amounts to a tiny drop amid the ocean of waste by military and corporate jets. Sacrifice having a good life so they elites can still have plenty to burn? Nope.
People collect things as their hobby? So what? We’re all supposed to sit in our humble abodes, streaming amusements that don’t involve accumulating any objects? You can go ahead and own nothing and be happy if that is your choice.
Hear, here.
When i’m driving somewhere on a sojourn to something groovy, I sometimes wonder how lucky I am to be that one guy wrecking it for everybody else…
Talkin’ low passes, a couple F-35’s were about the lowest you can get without the prospect of Danger Will Robinson!… well below 100 feet at 500 mph in Star Wars Canyon in Death Valley NP. I figure that I got $14 worth of tax money out of each jet, in enjoyment.
The MSRP (Minimum Service Required Payout) being much higher on the F-edsel.
p.s.
About 120 years ago to the day, Death Valley Scotty set a record and went as fast as 63 mph, boy howdy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Special
We are well past the point of doing anything, unless doing something is nuking some volcanos. That won’t save our sorry lot, but it might preserve earth’s life-bearing capacity.
For 8 billion people you mean? With expanding apetites of all sorts…?
Re Europe can stand on its own two feet against Russia & Open letter to Pål Jonson:
“Russia is a country with just over 140 million inhabitants, which after the fall of the Soviet Union has not managed to develop into a modern industrial nation, but relies on exporting its raw materials.”
Aka Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.
Now where have I heard that before? John McCain lives on!!!
Utterly idiotic article, even to the cliche that the Russian army is poorly motivated with no chance of defeating plucky Ukrainians willing to sacrifice everything for their country, (obviously pretending to resist being press-ganged into service). And naturally Putin is a dictator. Of course he is. Why would any voter support a man who had made their lives far more materially better following the shock doctrine of the Yeltsin years. Tis a mystery, as Lambert would say.
I hate these Chickenhawk “call to arms.”
who is willing to fight/bleed/die in an anon. Belarus field during the first days of WW3? A random Russian or a random Western European?
Round up all the keyboard warriors, kit them out and send them to the Dnpir.
If we truly lived in an age of biting Hollywood satire, this would be the plot of the 2025 “Dr. Strangelove” Netflix reboot
When analysing a political argument I think there are two central points: what are they arguing for and how are they arguing for it?
The article in question is an opinion piece that is arguing against the warfare state, and against NATO. It is arguing for a EUropean military alliance with a limited military that doesn’t get involved outside EU.
It is doing that by arguing that Trump is bad and unreliable and Russia is losing the war and thus is weak. It puts little emphasis here and simply states these points as already agreed facts.
In a similar way when the warfare proponents argue for changing from welfare to warfare they argue that we can’t trust Trump and Russia is a threat. Therefore we need a huge military (which just happens to be what the US is demanding, but that isn’t mentioned).
When pushing opinion it is easiest to argue from what people already believe are facts. So we can see that both sides here thinks people already belive that Trump is bad. They disagree on wheter Russia is a threat, and are playing of different parts of the dominant narrative regarding the war in Ukraine.
If you are completedly outside the dominant narrative, these arguments will sound false, because they are not directed at you. This could be because the author believes what they are arguing from or that they simply believe that most people believe it and it is thus the most economical way of getting to the intended opinion that they are arguing for. Either way, you are not the target audience.
Humans have a long way to go in understanding a dog’s emotions ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Ah, I wish humans only made this mistake when trying to understand dogs…
I was initially interested in this paper but testing random people on whether they can distinguish a dog’s emotions is about as interesting as whether random people can distinguish a horse’s emotions. What are the results for dog owners? How do those results map to how long they’ve cared for a dog? I highly suspect that a lot of long-time dog owners haven’t bothered to learn what their dog is trying to say. That would be something interesting.
Of course randos can’t interpret dog body language. Most people see a dog “smiling” and think “aww, cute!” instead of seeing a highly stressed dog that wants to be anywhere but where they are.
Democrats prepare to “assume the position” (the supine one) on the “clean CR” to fund the government through September.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5189724-senate-democrats-government-funding-shutdown/
Last night I posted that buried in the 99 pager is a provision to extend loan guarantees to Israel for another year. What else is buried in there? And why aren’t the DOGE cuts codified? Not a single mention of USAID. I guess they get a money bomb that will just sit in a safe, somewhere, waiting for Rubio to de-mothball it.
Sex and city air quality: more sex for the people! But not in cars, obviously.
Maybe we can solve other problems that way too? Could EU & Russia & US & China & Middle East have free sex somehow and untie unnecessary knots? Could decreipt infrastructure build up more muscles through hard and fast humping? What would interest for STEM look like with a little bit of bumsi-bumsi thrown into the integral calculus? Could we shut down the OpenAI scam with sex?
> Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air Northwestern University
This is really good news. Really. There are always problems scaling up, but given how fast we’re finding out how bad microplastics are, this looks doable with investment. Genuine plastics recycling.
If we catalyze cellophane this well, we can reduce overall plastic use. Best thing for everyone.
Presented without endorsement:
The ULTIMATE Guide to Limiting Microplastic Exposure | Dr. Rhonda Patrick
“Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air”
It sounds good but will it scale up to an industrialized version? Every years or so there is always a story about some new process which will break down plastics but you never see it going anywhere. At least they have stopped with stories of breakthroughs with fusion energy which will make electricity so cheap, that it will in fact be too cheap to meter. Unless something like that has not only been developed but is being manufactured on an industrial scale, I no longer listen to them.
What is done to remove plastic materials so we don‘t need to break them down again?
Everything is like Silicon Valleyor the Clinton Global Initiative: making money off the symptoms and ills of society and thus prolonging the suffering but never cure it.
I went to a talk by Stanley Pons at the cold fusion peak, in a room full of scientists with access to a cyclotron. When his evidence was ‘gosh the hood melted and what else could it be’ the response was not overwhelming.
The underlying paper shows an accident which is often the hallmark of a breakthrough: ambient humidity is near ideal for the reaction. It’s also exothermic (self-sustaining temperatures), and once the catalyst is in-hand can be done at small scale. The issue are, how much mechanical separation needs to be done, and the catalyst bottleneck. But they claim the catalyst is easily regenerated.
The big deal is, if picking up trash in the bay is a low-cost feedstock for local production, there’s advantage to grabbing it at the point of generation. That could undercut demand for oil production, thus price for oil, thus keep the carbon in the ground. Not to mention fewer cancers around the Yellow River and Houston.
There are many insects and microorganisms in the world that decompose plastic. I think they can solve the problem of plastic waste.
https://kustreview.com/the-bugs-that-eat-plastic/
US-Kievan meeting in Jeddah, KSA: ridiculous!
Russia stand is clear from Dec 2021, June 2024 and the past few weeks.
The quid pro quo for 30 day cease fire are “awesome”.
Why stop “prepping the battlespace” just before the dry ground season?
US and Ukraine Hatch ‘Ceasefire’ Travesty Simplicius.
Move over, Annalenna 360. There’s a new title holder to take your crown – Trump 720. Up next: Experts predict surge in neck injuries and popcorn shortages in the Kremlin.
Say, do you remember reading how after the Battle of the Bulge back in early ’45, the Germans and the Japanese negotiated an offer between them to the Allies for a 30 day pause in fighting the war? But that Germany would still be able to receive weapons and money and move their troops around? Because I sure don’t.
When I posted Elvis was hiding out in Fort Knox and was preparing to pop out the day audit starts to begin a comeback tour starting in Las Vegas, I was mistaken. Actually it is Adolf. On the the first day of the audit, he plans to pop out of Fort Knox and demand The Allies surrender to Germany.
…remember Elvis in a gold Lamé suit?
Well it was the genuine article and it had been the King smuggling all that glitters out of Fort Knox, he got it one bar at a time, similar to his music.
US’ debacles in Korea and Vietnam negotiated for years without the benefit of cease fires!
re. methane…
well gee, it’s almost as if relying on LNG and fracking was an idiotic move. (but the catch 22 with solar and wind is that you need a stopgap)
Peak solar output is at solar noon (ie 12 to 1p) Peak US electricity consumption is 7 to 8AM and 4 to 6pm in winter; 3p to 6p in summer.
And even at 3am (graveyard shift), US electricity needs only are 25% to 33% less than what is used at noon.
Fission is the least bad option. Don’t care if I get flamed, lol.
That vertical line in the graph made my eyes water.
Thanks to Aurelian for his latest, the essay discusses and connects some things I hadn’t thought about, though I’ve noted.
If there’s one little bone to pick it may be with the rhetorical question at the end, “Why anyone should want to defend the Europe we have.” Here, I think, part of the answer lies with the existence of tiny statelets he discussed earlier in the essay. They, or at least those that are ex-Soviet have a vested interest to wag the European dog. Other part of the answer lies with historical animus and revanchism in other, larger states, again in the East. In a way, that anodine EU culture created after WW2 has been a perfect blank canvas upon which they could project their historical grievances and paint them as European security concerns in terms of
European “values” that must be defended against a hostile, alien other who hates them and is bent on destroying them.
Combine that with greed, incompetence and all else that ails Brussels and most national capitols, and you have you have a partial answer to the rhetorical question. Yes, I realize that Aurelian means to point that likely there isn’t a widely popular desire amongst the national populations to be fighting and dying for this version of Europe, but that has never stopped wars from being fought, has it?
Not really a bone to pick, rather a reminder of the other aspect driving the unification of Europe by elites described in his post by Aurelien.
“But of course the sub-text is very useful: we should not put too much power in the hands of the voters, because they might vote for the wrong people again, and these people might once more plunge the Continent into a disastrous war.”
Of course, the other wrong people the voters elected pre-WWII (among other places in France, in Spain, in Sweden) were those Popular Front politicians — who then proceeded to implement such outrageous, ungodly policies as paid vacations, working time limits, unemployment insurance, trade union representation, nationalization and forced mergers of private firms, and so on.
Truly, for European elites voters could never be trusted; this explains why the “democratic deficit” has been never been seriously addressed, and why now, after ignoring the results of referenda (France, Ireland Netherlands…), eliminating the possibility of referenda since they do not deliver “reliable” outcomes (Netherlands), making sure that “unreliable” voters could not vote (see Moldavia), they have just now made sure that “unreliable” candidates cannot be elected (see Romania).
The horror, the horror!
You and Aurelian are correct, of course. The Euro misleadership isn’t even trying to hide that the rush to rearm Europe (which is virtually assured of becoming an expensive boondoggle) is to come at the cost of the “welfare state”, removing troublesome regulations and protections, and the environment.
And lots and lots of profits and commissions from arms sales and procurement. My gf, who is plugged in by virtue of being in a PMC power-adjacent profession has been telling me certain things about the on-the-side merchant of death commissions of a former BG Defense minister who is on TV every day these days, his balding hair on fire while waving the Putin scarecrow and beating the war and rearmament drums. All in the name of defending our values and freedoms, of course 😉
After all, never let a good crisis go to waste, right?
Aurelian provides important historical context for the shaping of Europe and the emergence of key transnational institutions after WWII. The factors he discusses are significant and well worth reading. But for me he leaves out some of the most important questions.
Starting at the other end of postwar European history, much of the current turmoil in Europe is a direct or indirect result of the war in Ukraine, and the related issues of European security and relations with Russia. So it would seem to be crucial to understand the history of this conflict if we are to understand the present European predicament. If we reject the Western fable that Putin just up and invaded Ukraine one day because of his evil imperial designs, then we have to look at the history of NATO expansion and its clear and completely predictable (indeed predicted) effects on Russia. Leaving aside the economic pillage of post-Soviet Russia for the moment, relations between Russia and the West were strained by the Yugoslavian conflict, undermined by the first waves of NATO expansion in the 1990s, then progressively weakened by, among other events, the “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, the generous offers of NATO membership to these two countries by the Bush administration, the coup of 2014, etc. leading to the “invasion” in 2022. The relatively rapid decline of the European ruling class from a perspective of realist detente and even potential economic integration with Russia to its current state of Russophobic hysteria mirrors this history pretty well. So… who pushed this expansion? And why did they do so?
For me these are crucial questions if we are to understand the current deconstruction of Europe. The “Russia question” is not the only factor, but its the most important one. I reject the idea that the current situation was the result of any real Russian threat to Europe or preexisting anti-Russian fears on the part of European leaders after the Soviet collapse. This was a manufactured conflict. The current ideological insanity in Europe is an *effect* of this, not its cause. So again… how *was* this conflict manufactured, by whom, and for what purposes?
For anyone interested in these questions, one could do worse than start with Scott Horton’s recent and aptly titled book ‘Provoked.’ At the least, this dense and heavily documented book should convince the reader that such questions are not just a symptom of unsupported “conspiracy theory.”
The NATO extension, the refusal to acknowledge Russia’s security concerns, and the russophobic civil war in Ukraine, leading to the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the subsequent actions undertaken by Europeans are the immediate sources of the morass the EU is finding itself.
However, I (and probably Aurelien) suspect that there is something deeper that has to do with the mentality and characteristics of Europe’s elites and institutions.
After all, despite all the proclamations about peace and harmony, Europe was neither able to prevent, nor to resolve, the various conflicts that erupted in its immediate periphery: the Greek-Turkish war because of Cyprus, the Yugoslavian civil war (comprising several sub-conflicts: Slovenians vs. Serbs, Croatians vs. Serbs, Croatians, Serbs, Bosniaks against each other, Albanians vs. Macedonians, Albanians vs. Serbs and Montenegrins) the Moldavia-Transnistria civil war, the Ukrainian civil war — and perhaps we could include the Ireland troubles (but I would exclude what happened in Georgia and Armenia, this is neither Europe, nor in in Europe’s sphere of influence).
We could even list conflicts that Europe did ignite or helped stoke (Libya, Syria), but where are the examples where it had a calming effect?
There seems to be a fundamental European inability to handle conflicts that has been papered over by the EU institutions and phraseology, but that is becoming evident — probably rooted in its troubled history that it still cannot get past.
And let’s not forget the Israeli genocide, which Europe not only failed to resolve but, with few exceptions, very much condoned and enabled.
In case you hadn’t see it already, Jeffrey Sachs laid out the history from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the current conflict in Ukraine very well in his recent address to the EU Parliament.
NC readers will be pretty familiar with everything he has to say, but it is very useful as a historical documentation.
Sachs was very vehement in putting the blame for all of this squarely on the US.
It wasn’t the voters who caused the World Wars but the elites–first in WW1 and then via their disastrous settlement leading to WW2. Hitler gained power via a minority govt.
Rinse and repeat? Seems like the obvious answer here would be fewer elites.
I’m reading a book that yet again gives an account of the SC secession before the Civil War. You had to be a property owner meaning a slave owner to even be a member of the SC lege at the time. As at least one Nazi so accurately said “the people never want war.” It’s a game between the powerful. They are all “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.”
What object would be satisfied by occupying EU?
Besides Russian Federation is enjoying fighting them at the end of long lines of communication. Why reverse the logistics problems?
Digging through twitter yesterday I came across a snippet of a rather interesting interview with JD Vance from 2021. Haven’t been able to find the rest of it, but it is an interesting peek into the ideological underpinnings (if any?) behind the crew in charge ATM. Apologies if it has been posted before: https://xcancel.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1898396201147326714
And for some chuckles, have some 2016-era (little) Marco Rubio, on Donald “3rd world strongman” Trump: Rubio in ’16: Trump is like a 3rd world strongman It’s fascinating to me how few principles most politicians seem to have, many (most?) will sling mud one day and sing praises the next, with us left trying to divine what their real goals ultimately are.
Yep, Andy Jackson is the pre-Trump Trump. Author of the “Trail of Tears”–the outcome of challenging the Supreme Court’s validating the Cherokee’s claim to their land in Georgia.
He also paid of national debt entirely in 1835. That meant there was no public currency. People did their business with monetized gold (“specie”) and over 7,000 varieties of private banknotes of varying reliability. It was the predecessor to the “Panic of 1837,” … a bad depression. I’d also say it set up the Civil War, although the need for slavers to expand West, taking even more land from the Indians, was a more direct cause.
Oh yes, and this genocidal maniac is still on the money. Talk about forgetting nothing and learning nothing!
“The Wrecking Crew”… It was recently discussed here at NC.
Trumps’ Trade Fantasies
(Sung to the tune of, “Flesh for Fantasy” by Billy Idol)
There’s a change in pace of fantasy and taste
Do you like chin music? Do you like to watch Ford dance?
Oh yeah
Hanging out with Elon for a body blow at night
Ain’t it strange what they do to feel all right? Oh yeah …
So, when will Putin call?
He’s experienced
(Trump’s not)
Chorus:
Disgrace to disgrace, this dude’s just whack
You’ll see and feel, his tariff attack
Sing it! Trump!
Trump’s trade fantasies
We want … Trump! Trump’s trade fantasies
Nucular clock strikes midnight, oh, are you feeling all right?
Oh, yeah
Turn out the lights, babe, the party is over tonight
Invading our neighbors, door to door
Don’t ask questions, time for it all
Oh, yeah
Disgrace to disgrace, this dude’s just whack
You’ll see and feel, his waffle attack
Sing it! Trump!
Trump’s trade fantasies
We cry … Trump! Trump’s trade fantasies
[break]
All the senseless slaughter
Mothers, daughters, too
It’s an old, old story … cries the new world, too
Trump!
Trump!
Trump’s peace fantasies …
We want … Trump! MAGA fantasies
You cry – Trump! MAGA fantasies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw1oM7LBbxE
Big idol of Idol, good job!
…been to the new Waffle House on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?
As like all WH locations, this one always stays open during emergencies, Mother Earth caused and/or vis a vis human blunders.
White House -> Waffle House
I like what you did there. After Hakeem “the Dream” Jeffries locates a spine and gets up off the mat, I suggest passing it along to him.
I found it weird how Trump turned 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into a car sales yard for the day. He also said said he would label violence against the company’s showrooms as domestic terrorism and that boycotting Teslas is illegal-
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/trump-tesla-boycott-musk
There have been some links here I think, but anyone who follows the news have read headlines about Tesla charging stations and dealerships getting vandalized. I have read people rooting and encouraging this type of stuff. A guy I know has found another way to cause trouble for Tesla (not that I condone any of this).
He lives in the Detroit area and works for a bank. He finds the Tesla dealerships in town and calls using a fake name and schedules a Tesla test drive. He then doesn’t show up, so the dealer calls him to find out where he is. He then uses this opportunity to mess with them. “Where are you?” “Wave your hand so I can find you” Anything he can do to waste their time and create any kind of chaos he can. Then, when they finally start to figure out they my be on the wrong end of a joke, he asked them to name five things they accomplished last week. This, he says, is when they usually hang up on him.
Many think this is a really neat thing and more should do it. Ironic, he’s doing this from his work. I wonder if his bank knows he is spending his time doing this. Also, maybe this is why banks have such awful customer service? And, lastly, this is kind of like yelling at the person running the checkout for high food prices. It’ ain’t their fault.
These kinds of things are only going to get worse as we move forward, and warming weather won’t help. It’s going to be a long hot summer IMO.
Stay safe all.
I really had to laugh at the 5 things they accomplished last week question.
I’ve hated teslas since I saw the first one on the street. MUSK brought all this on himself. Excuse me if I can’t muster any pity for the lying idiot.
Hyping Drone Attacks in Moscow — Larry Johnson
I agree with Johnson. The media coverage of these drone attacks has been wildly overblown, making them sound like a re-run of 1940’s London blitz. According to RU media (Kommersant), only one drone actually made it through to Moscow proper. About 90 of them made it into Moscow Oblast (the region surrounding Moscow city like a giant doughnut), and this region (area 45k sq km) is bigger than Belgium (30k sq km). And these drones don’t carry much explosive, certainly nothing like a howitzer shell or a missile or bomb. These attacks are annoying and I feel sorry for the unfortunate victims, but come on people…..get a grip on reality.
These stunts only serve to demonstrate that UKR is not interested in peace, and to reinforce RU determination to end this conflict on its own terms.
What costs and limits are involved in shooting down drones like this relative to those of attacking with them? If the drones are cheap and easy to obtain while the AD equipment is expensive and hard to replenish then that affects our evaluation. When Iran was shooting at Israel last year, the number and cost of the AD equipment used up was a part of people’s commentary.
Well isn’t this special. The US/NATO/EU war against Russia is to continue … until the last Ukrainian? Until US/NATO/ EU gets what it wants? forever? What a happy prospect. What could possibly go wrong?
Musk is The Don’s Roy Cohn whisperer giving voice to all the worst greediest most destructive desires. (The Don: No longer shall I call him DJT or Trump, he is The Don because he acts like a character from The Godfather only not nearly as smart)
Is the United States of America actually supporting genocide in Gaza, genocide in the West Bank, and genocide in Syria? Yes, Sparky, this is the United States of America 2.0 … or is it? Must get back to the history books. Forgot to add the genocide of Ukraine by proxy.
Thomas Massie does not have an AIPAC minder? I am shocked, shocked, and also delighted that there is one member of Congress who has a pair.
Snark is the only path open in response to an utterly depressing edition of Links, but the crow with the hangers and the Labrador up to his neck in sheep were uplifting end notes.
Trump makes flurry of posts as global markets fall amid fears of US recession – Guardian
That’s seen as pathetic, but people putting their retirements on the line in a system that responds knee-jerk to rumor and innuendo (like being in high school) isn’t seen as the bigger issue.
Security researchers aren’t buying Musk’s spin on the cyberattack that took down X Yahoo! Tech (Kevin W). So the US is supposed to trust a guy who can’t even manage his own social media site well with massive amounts of important government data, even before getting to bad intent and self-dealing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Loves my historical parallels and this one is coming into soft focus, with a foreigner in Paris-a Scotsman named John Law peddling a new frontier about this time in France 300 years ago. It ends horribly when shares of Tesla, er the Mississippi Company plunge, despite the Regent pledging to buy a double-wide in Biloxi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Law_(economist)
He should have gone with tulips instead.
One of my favorite books, and a great take on John Law:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm
The best things in life are free.
Pretty much the primer for things bubble related, I cut my eye teeth on it~
The bubbles in it were all regional ones, not a worldwide version of the teenager flavorite of yours truly blowing a bubble within a bubble within a bubble with 4 wads of Bazooka Joe.
Musk is just another guy saying “I am with the gumint, come to help you”.
Hold on to your valuables!
The Van Gogh book review from the WSJ was an excellent read. The author understands something about VVG that I’ve never been able to put into words – his unique personal talent and ability to transmit his “fire” through those paintings and that hard, expressive line.
I shot up the tariff
But I didn’t shoot down no economy, oh no, oh
I shot up the tariff
But I didn’t shoot down no economy, ooh, ooh, ooh
Yeah! All around in DOGE town
They’re tryin’ to shut jobs down, yeah
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of the economy
For the life of a democracy but I say
Oh, now, now, oh
I raised the tariffs
(But I swear it was in self-defence) oh no, oh, oh, ooh
Yeah, I say, I shot the Dow Jones oh, Lord (and they say it is a capital offence)
Yeah, yeah! Hear that
Sheriff Elon always veted me
For what, I don’t know
Every time I plant an idea of axing Federal employees
He said kill it before it grow
He said kill them before they grow, and so-and-so
Read it in the news!
oh, Lord!
But I swear it was in self-defence
Who was Elon’s deputy? (Ooh, ooh, ooh)
I say, I shot down the economy
But I swear it was in self-defence, yeah! (Ooh)
Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be
Every day the bucket a-go a-well
One day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom a-go drop out
I say
I, I, I, I raised the tariffs
Lord, I didn’t shoot down the economy, no
I, I (raised the tariffs)
But I didn’t shoot down no economy yeah
So, yeah
I Shot the Sheriff, by Bob Marley and the Wailers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe2hdbft5-U
Heh heh, “managed recession” then?
https://time.com/7213409/elon-musk-us-government-trump/
Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
If what Lutnick was on about today about how far they intend to pursue tariffs is true, nobody should be buying US debt going forwards. Maths says they will have to default when you look at todays budget figures which are the worst first 5 months ever.
Mr Musk probably realises by now that he will have to set up his Mars colony on earth and set up his own reality inside it. How he thinks a Presidential pardon is going to protect him from the blowback coming is delusional. I could see a constitutional convention called to restrain future Presidents at this rate.
hmmm…
Actually, he did not say civil servants, which is benign, but bureaucrats, which is a right wing cultivated slur:
“We Want the Bureaucrats to Be Traumatically Affected”
Time has committed journalistic malfeasance. Words matter.
US and Ukraine Hatch ‘Ceasefire’ Travesty – Simplicius
“It appears to have been made for no better reason than scoring much-needed political points for Trump, who now wallows in a post-euphoric doldrums phase of his floundering second term, when virtually every one of his campaign promises has faltered or flopped. No Epstein, JFK, or 9/11 lists, no Mexican wall, no Fort Knox audit or UFO disclosure, no mass deportations, with ICE raids rumored to have halted, no promised US troop withdrawals from Syria, Europe, or elsewhere. Every other boastful attempt to capture Greenland, Canada, Panama, and everything in between has likewise fallen flat on its face, with countries no longer fearing nor taking the US seriously.”
But watch the tax cuts for the wealthy. Bet that happens. The administration will say that will solve everything.
The same promise after decades of the same types of tax cuts.
I thought Trump was shrewdly using Musk and his DOGE as a lightning rod. Now I’m thinking he is more like Beast Rabban Harkonnen from Dune, and he will be sacrificed by the beautiful ‘savior of the people’ Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, played by Trump Himself? Vance? A ‘good’ oligarch?
I never expected to watch Trump buy an EV? We even get a peek at his notes where the cheapest one is $59K:
Trump, Elon PANIC SELL Teslas As Stock TANKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVkcfBVnu4
One wonders if to be a good MAGA, you’re expected to buy a Tesla.
Does he sell them for that much in China?
Tesla Model Y became the bestselling car in China in 2024
https://carnewschina.com/2025/01/13/tesla-model-y-became-the-bestselling-car-in-china-in-2024/
Hmm, about $20K more in the USA. Wonder how that happen.
Pretty sure MAGA hates non ICE vehicles.
file under RU, utube, ~1 hr, 30+ minutes
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to the US bloggers, March 12, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICvOkguQsk4
The US bloggers are Mario Nawfal, Larry C.Johnson and Andrew Napolitano.
Where ther 5 questions in total? It was more of a recap and lecture. Having heard most of the points before, I got a bit bored. Lavrov had some moments of humour though.
Interesting graph, US adults reporting a disability.
One missing element is a big blinking arrow on the axis indicating precisely when the synthetic mRNA injections began to be distributed at population scale.
Please refrain from this sort of thing. Each case of Covid does damage, as brain and lung and organ scans and IQ tests show. Even though the vaccines can and do cause bad side effects, Covid is more consistently damaging and takes a cumulative toll.
For instance, disproving your implicit thesis, that all the increase in disability is due to the shots is that long Covid started occurring before the Covid vaccinations began.
Due to the lack of good data about either mRNA vaccine side effects or Covid cases incidence (home tests not very reliable, not reported and ~40% of cases believed to be asymptomatic), there is no way to pick apart Covid disability from vax issues (for starters, getting a Covid vax while having Covid was likely to be harmful….but was anyone tested before getting the jab? There were surely some who were in the midst a asymptomatic case when they were vaccinated).
yeah that lack of reliable data, re: vax/infection(and so much more) is gonna continue to hamper any future hypothetical rational approach to all this.
but, as ive said before…during the first month Tam was in hospital, and i had little to do but wait and watch her sleep…i dove into Pubmed.
and quite by accident, came across the original mRNA Vax platform(this was in oct. 2018) literature.
i saw immediately that this could be a major game changer, and not just for cancer.
so i dug in.
and there at the end of a long string of papers, covering many years, the guy who co-invented the idea(i can never remember his name) put forth that…essentially, never mind, my bad,lol. the problem of inducing autoimmune disorders(lupus,CFS, and a bunch of weird ones i had to look up) couldnt be solved at the current level of understanding.
so he shelved the whole thing.
this is why i was surprised when “they” started touting this platform for covid…and unsurprised when the global genpop was to be the tertiary sample pool,lol.
as you say, we will likely never know…but plug the above into Leonardi(?) and his T Cell exhaustion, and similar things(all this from memory, so forgive, please(web connx sucks today due to wind and dust))…and there’s certainly what appears to be smoke.
now that i dont have a cancer patient to worry over, i sure as hell wont be taking another mRNA jab.
as an anecdatapoint leaning towards covid, itself as the seed crystal of the long problems…it was imediately after my second bout with covid(i again tested negative) that my current and ongoing super allergy problems ensued…Not after either of the moderna jabs i got.
post hoc, ergo propter hoc, and all…but still…
its what we’ve got..rather what theyve left us(i stopped paying Lamberts charts any mind(altho i still appreciate the monumental effort) when they were obviously unreflective of what i was seeing on the ground and anecdatally(!) in texas…like nixon burying the pro-pot report, long ago…texas stopped testing(HC places within 100 miles of my far place simply couldnt get tests any more) …with what were apparently janky tests anyways…so…mirable!: no covid in texas.
stupidest timeline.)
I had what I presume was Covid in January of 2020 (scary bad cold followed by loss of sense of smell). Since then my allergies have become a significant constraint on my activities. I wear a mask outdoors nowadays because I never know when some flower is going to bushwhack me.
The potential role of prior infection in vaccine injury being a pet topic of mine (I was worrying about it before the vaccine trials even started.), I would pick a nit with Yves’ observation: I would emphasize the role viral persistence likely plays, together with asymptomaticity.
Also, it’s not just Long Covid that was already occuring before the vaccines were rolled out, it’s pretty much every condition attributed to them.
We do have what would seem a potentially valuable natural experiment in New Zealand, where widespread vaccination preceded widespread infection. Alas I personally lack the energy and cognitive stamina to dig into that.
This is taking your conclusion and forcing the data to support it. What else happened at the same time? Multiple infections by the real thing virus? No that can’t have anything to do with it, even though scientists are finding the virus affecting the brain, nervous system, circulatory system… pretty much the whole body. That can’t have anything to do with long-COVID and disability, no. It must be something in the mRNA shots.
I think that’s a reasonable hypothesis that should be investigated. I’m also pretty sure it will never be investigated. And of course, the trials destroyed the control groups, something which should not have been done. So there’s that.
From Elon Musk’s self-destruction
This is nuts. In a functional country, the United States would nationalize Starlink immediately and take Musk’s toy away, particularly given the grave national security implications of him taking away Starlink at a whim in what is ostensibly a war against evil authoritarianism, the West against Putin.
So, no, that probably won’t happen. But it definitely should be on the table if Musk keeps running his mouth.
For the Deadheads, including Lambert if you’re lurking, there’s a new limited edition and very large CD box set out – https://ultimateclassicrock.com/greatful-dead-enjoy-the-ride-box-set/
I’m sure my favorite is represented in the box set more than once. Here’s hoping that in this harsh and cruel world, we all find our way back to Tennessee, metaphorically or other otherwise, eventually.
Ripple is still my hands down fave of theirs.
like a prayer.
Tam thought so too…sorta uncharacteristically,lol.
(a Selena y Tejano girl when i found her)
she wanted to hear it at the end of just about every datenight/dateafternoon.
Thanks for the heads up on the Dead CD, I made half a dozen of their New Years Eve concerts and Mickey hart’s drum solos are something I will never forget.
I’m hearing rumbles in regards to a proposed DMZ between the Gulag Hockeypelago and USA.
Area 5150 is the suggested name and a mime is a horrible thing to waste on such trivialities, but you can be sure the DMZ is strewn with them, silent sentinels.
Looks like the same group behind Prospera (linked a few days ago RE: potential coup in Honduras) is lobbying the government to allow similar corporate city states in the US. It seems like this could be one of the reasons for appropriating federally-owned land and by extension gutting National Park’s?
https://gizmodo.com/tech-execs-are-pushing-trump-to-build-freedom-cities-run-by-corporations-2000574510
thats been a key plank in the erstwhile platform of people like Moldbug for a long, long time.
Dark Enlightenment.
Statestar Codex had a whole bunch of fleshing out posts on all that mess, some time ago…but the dust and high winds wont allow me to locate them,lol.(days like today, i may as well be on dialup, out here)
i guess that before the CEO can become a monarch, he must become the Doge of a Citystate.
Start here?
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/prospectus-on-prospera
Is there a section in the US Constitution where it says that American laws does not potentially apply in a part of the continental United States? And that not even the US Constitution applies in these zones? I’m not sure that even the present Supreme Court would be willing to give that a pass. And will these zones be like the old company towns but writ large? Will they have their own border guard? Where will they get the water from to enable these zones to work? I’m sure that Silicon Valley would be one of these special zones but man, there are so many questions here.
Book Recommendation, “Roots Demystified” by Robert Kouric of Occidental CA.
This is one of the most informative and enjoyable garden books I have encountered, a copy will be on its way to my Daughter tomorrow.
Learning something new about a subject I love is a delight.
This is one of the most amazing pieces of European political analysis I can remember reading. Fairly unique in that it pulls the territory of Europe out as a place that has certain freestanding characteristics that engender certain violent political tendencies.
Really nice. Thanks to whoever posted it.
Something for the end of the day-
‘Chief Nerd
@TheChiefNerd
Mar 10
Jon Stewart is ‘Horrified’ to Learn About Hungary’s State Media
“You have a media machine that purposefully lies to its people to maintain a political fiction and get themselves power … It would never happen in the United States.” ‘
(1:24 min video)
https://xcancel.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1899044395090837844#m
Not just the United States either.
My father used to watch Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street Week on PBS in the 1970s and 1980s. Rukeyser ran a pretty interesting show with decent interviews of important people and group discussions that gave ordinary viewers some idea of what people on Wall Street were thinking. It was a popular show. After Rukeyser got greedy and lost his place on PBS, it was never really replaced. Yes, Rukeyser put together a new show, but it didn’t get the same wide distribution, and though some people might mention MSNBC’s reporting as a partial replacement, their productions tended toward sound bites and slick “explanations” of market moves. Rukeyser and some of his guests occasionally had some depth.
I know what I’m leaving out, but I don’t think there was any real replacement for Rukeyser’s show, in terms of decent advice for ordinary investors, until Barry Ritholtz and his associates at Ritholtz wealth management began to blog and put on Youtube shows (such as “The Compound” with Josh Brown). Over the years I’ve listened to their interviews of Wall Street characters, Fidelity managers, and the like. That said, I invite you to listen to the segment on the mutual admiration society between Argentina’s Javier Melei and the Trump administration, especially Musk and Trump himself. Start listening at 24:20, and don’t stop listening until you see the picture of Milei giving Elon Musk a chain saw. “Milei is Elon Musks hero…”
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUdmZjt0tNY again, the interesting segment begins just after 24:20.