Links 3/17/2025

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1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 7:12 am

   “Macron says Russia’s permission not needed to deploy troops in Ukraine”

   And yet when Macron visited Kiev, he had to have his trip cleared with the Russian Federation to make sure that he would be safe. And this has been true of every western leader that has gone there, including Biden. But now Macron proposes to send in thousands of his military into the Ukraine without asking or clearing it with the Russians. If I were the Russians, I would tell them that they have 24 hours to move to the border or be attacked as a legitimate enemy force in that country – and they have said as much. Of course this is probably a cynical move on Macron & Starmer’s part so that when they are attacked, they can demand that Trump send in US troops into the Ukraine to back them up and next thing you know US troops are fighting with Russian troops.
   1. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 7:54 am

      I’ve got one just for you, Rev:

      Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine promised green cards for the withdrawal of mercenaries from the Kursk region

      The UkrainianArmed Forces (APU) are sending sabotage and reconnaissance groups of “volunteers” to use them to try to remove foreign mercenaries who are surrounded in the Kursk region. This was announced by the coordinator of the Nikolaev pro-Russian underground Sergey Lebedev, RIA Novosti reports.

      According to Lebedev, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are assembling sabotage and reconnaissance groups that are trying to withdraw foreigners. It is noted that for this they are promised green cards in the United States.

      https://lenta.ru/news/2025/03/17/boytsam-vsu-poobeschali-grin-karty-za-vyvod-naemnikov-iz-kurskoy-oblasti/

      See? This is how we’ll keep the Ukrainians doing our dirty-work: when those NATO forces get into a jam, offer Green Cards for their rescue– no US troops needed!
      1. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 7:58 am

         And I’ll add…

         The Russian Armed Forces have only one village left to clean up before the Kursk Region is completely liberated

         The Russian military has only to clear out the village of Gornal until the Kursk region is completely liberated. This is reported by the Telegram channel Mash.
         …
         “There are less than 1.5 kilometers left before reaching the state border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, on the territory of the Sumy region, our troops continue fighting for Basovka. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are responsible for two-thirds of the territory of the settlement, ” Mash notes.

         https://aif-ru.turbopages.org/turbo/aif.ru/s/politics/vs-rf-ostalos-zachistit-odno-selo-do-polnogo-osvobozhdeniya-kurskoy-oblasti
         1. timbers March 17, 2025 at 9:29 am

            I am not yet celebrating. Putin still holds back his military’s ability to wrap this up and take Odessa & other Oblasts, more quickly than is happening now. I grow doubtful they ever will be taken by Russia at this slow pace. And Dima at Military Summary (yes his analysis of politics and diplomacy is usually off) say negotiations between US-Russia touched on how Ukraine can keep ownership of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and port access to the Black Sea. Which means surrendering part of the 4 Oblasts Russia has not yet captured.

            Yes, this is Dima and he usually takes these reports of diplomacy too literally. But Putin has a long history of making many deals that turn out to be catastrophically bad for Russia because he consistently underestimates the West’s desire to destroy Russia, so it hits a nerve for me.
            1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 9:40 am

               Putin can’t just negotiate away those parts of those four Oblasts not yet taken. Pretty sure that it is in the Russian Constitution that that is not allowed to negotiate away Russian territory so would be illegal and Putin as a trained lawyer would know that. Besides, Putin has to answer to a whole lot of factions in Moscow and there is no way that they would tolerate a situation where they win this three year long war but lose the peace which enables a western-backed Ukraine to have another go in a few short years.
            2. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 9:52 am

               I came across the article earlier, but I cannot find it right now. Putin recently mentioned the need to create a buffer zone, one originally 40 km from Russia’s border. This has since been extended to 140 km, and would include Odessa and several other major cities.

               For Russian news coverage of the SMO, I use Yandex– Goo-gle just don’t work.
            3. ilsm March 17, 2025 at 11:41 am

               The object is to see US run out of things to send over the long expensive supply lines.

               Smashing through to Kiev is not going to empty belligerent supplies.
            4. Yves Smith March 17, 2025 at 2:19 pm

               Odessa is very hard to take and probably will not be taken.

               Russia lacks the means to take it from the sea.

               There are no good coastal land or rail routes. The least bad way is for Russia to come down from the north west and cut across the country. That would be a very long logistical tail to support.

               And the Collective West will go nuts. If they have any capacity left to do anything, they will try. Turkiye would be massively pressured to allow military ships into the Black Sea, for instance.

               On current trajectories, the only way Russia gets it is in a “collapse of Ukraine” scenario. Experts are contending that that is less attractive to Russia than a less disordered outcomes.
               1. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 4:29 pm

                  “Buffer-zone” may not equate to occupation. As to how it will be administered, I haven’t the slightest idea, especially when it comes to a large city like Odessa.
      2. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 8:22 am

         Those “volunteers” probably have secret orders that if they can’t get those NATO officers out of Kursk, then shoot them and bury the body in a shallow grave out in the woods – Green Card still guaranteed. Having the Russians put on display actual NATO officers is one card that the US does not want them to have so one way or another, they have to disappear. Tough luck for those NATO officers but to quote Super Chicken-

         ‘You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.’
         1. Emma March 17, 2025 at 9:58 am

            If I was a “liquidator” then I would run for the Russian line at first opportunity. Everybody has seen enough movies about what happens after you finish your assigned mission.
         2. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 10:10 am

            Yes, “removing” them from the region can be interpreted a few different ways.

            As an employer, I’d still want proof of death to ensure the deed was done. In this age of DNA testing/identification, you wouldn’t need to drag a whole body across the border as proof– just a part of it… a part either so vital or of such importance that one would fight to the death not to give up.

            Let your imagination run wild.
      3. Aurelien March 17, 2025 at 10:00 am

         Given the source, I would want to see some collateral: we’ve had essentially the same story a number of times since 2022, and nothing has ever been substantiated. Meanwhile Martyanov today is upping the ante claiming that they are “officers of high tactical and operational level,” which, assuming he knows what he means, equates probably from Lt Col up to General, and implies that the whole Kursk operation is being commanded by a heterogenous bunch of senior NATO officers who won’t speak the language or be familiar with the equipment or doctrine. Recipe for failure scarcely begins to cover it. If they are just foreign enlistees in the UA I doubt the Ukrainians care very much. But it’s effective propaganda for all that.

         More generally we are seeing a further stage of the blame-shifting process I have described elsewhere, and the positioning for post-Ukraine dominance on European defence issues. The British and the French may even wind up sending small forces, out of the way of direct conflict. After all, being “at war” with a country is a declarative political situation, not a legal one, and it’s improbable that either British or French troops would be allowed to engage in combat, or that the Russians would bother with them.
         1. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 10:14 am

            Given the source, I would want to see some collateral

            Perhaps the New York Times will cover the story?
         2. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 10:20 am

            I am afraid that I am going to have to disagree with your last statement. The Russians will absolutely care about British and French troops scattered around strategic points. For the Ukrainians, they will be a source of fresh weaponry through those British and French supply lines. They will provide training and upgrade any Ukrainian outfits that they “happen” to be stationed next to. They could be used as cover so you might have British troops staying in a hotel where you have foreign mercenary troops or maybe where they stay will be used as a safe venue for British-French-Ukrainian units to confer. Or you may have French troops stationed next to a drone assembly plant to protect them from a Russian strike. And of course you have Starmer talking about having NATO aircraft over the skies of the Ukraine as well as a sort of de-facto no fly zone while they try to spot Russian emplacements. The British troops may have Union Jacks on their uniforms and the French the Tricolour flag on theirs but you can be sure that in their pockets they have NATO flags just waiting to be slapped on their sleeves. You then have de facto NATO protection of the Ukraine and what could possibly go wrong with that?
            1. Ignacio March 17, 2025 at 11:10 am

               I believe that Simplicius might be right when he states that the sudden urgency does lend an interesting angle, as it seems to suggest that Ukraine’s situation is more dire than is being let on. (I believe he might be right because i was thinking exactly the same). If Macron and Starmer were to be sending troops, which IMO is very far from “operative” stage at this point, it would have minimal impact because most of Ukrainian troops are in the frontlines and performing security functions behind the lines wouldn’t release many troops to the frontline, which I think it is the main objective. Besides, i don’t believe that French or British troops would be really able to play any meaningful security role well behind the frontline, not to mention any kind of role near the frontline apart from making things more complicated. I gather that their effect would be close to nada and the Russians won’t care. The Russians will care only if they dare to use their weapons against them which would obviously kill the supposed concept of peacekeepers. This looks all very stupid. Very Macronite and Starmerite stuff without any second thought.
               1. JohnA March 17, 2025 at 11:38 am

                  There were rumours that the 100 year deal signed between Starmer and Zelensky included giving Britain control of the port of Odessa, hence Starmer’s rush to want a coalition of the willing to ‘save’ the port from Russia. Not sure how they would get around the Montreux Convention to moor British warships there and Russia allegedly already sank a ship full of British supplies in Odessa last week.
                  It was said that one reason Sunak called a premature election last year that he was bound to lose was because he did not want to be a war PM. Maybe there is more than a grain of truth in that.
                  What’s more, the health minister, the extremely sinister Streeting, has declared himself an expert on diagonising mental health issues – ie, they are phony – so any British soldiers returning alive from the Odessa area and claiming Post traumatic stress disorder, will be denied support and benefits. Getting their ducks in a row before it all kicks off.
                  1. Ignacio March 17, 2025 at 12:16 pm

                     According to British sources, there are a “significant number” of countries that will provide troops (significant though unspecified which and how many troops) and more which will cooperate in other forms (unspecified too). Only the UK and France have confirmed, though. Semicolons on that confirmation granted too. The chiefs of staff (unspecified) will meet on thursday to make the operative plans… Virtual meetings are effective, aren’t they? Yet this looks all too virtual and little real.
            2. hk March 17, 2025 at 11:23 am

               French, Spanish, and other Western European SS troops had their national flags on their uniforms, too, during World War II. If that wasn’t good enough, doubtful it’s good enough now.
            3. Aurelien March 17, 2025 at 12:11 pm

               I don’t think anybody, not even Martyanov, has suggested that either British or French troops are deployed on a national basis in Kursk. The tweet in the link claims that they are “mercenaries” (ie foreign nationals who have enlisted in the UA, and are entitled to the same status as Ukrainian troops.) Martyanov has got hold of the idea, I don’t know where from, that they are in fact senior officers from several western countries in command positions, in which case they would be deployed in national uniform and under national command, and would be treated as PoWs. (There are lots of precedents.)

               I’ve suggested more than once that a possible move for the British and French is to send small groups of military personnel, very publicly, into certain areas of Ukraine (perhaps Odessa) as an attempted deterrent to Russian attacks, on the basis that the political price of killing foreign soldiers is one the Russians would not want to pay. This would be very high-risk and probably of little practical use. The troops would be under strict orders not to take part in combat (and probably the Russians would be told this) and not to resist if captured. Their actual legal status would be ambiguous, and would very much depend on whether they were taking an “active” part in hostilities. (This issue is so complex, the ICRC has a whole short book on the subject.)

               I’ve no idea what you mean by “NATO flags.” If you are thinking of the Art 5 “security guarantee” it only applies in certain geographical areas (see Art 6) and Ukraine is certainly not one of them.
               1. mrsyk March 17, 2025 at 12:57 pm

                  Interesting stuff. Is there a possibility that these are mercenaries in name only? It would seem to be page out of the west’s general mode of operation to come up with an accounting trick to be technically correct when claiming they are mercs and not official NATO troops. Whoever was in charge, they fell for the now thrice used pipeline sneak around the back trick.
               2. lyman alpha blob March 17, 2025 at 1:40 pm

                  What you describe in your second paragraph sounds an awful lot like those “human shields” the West is always accusing the “terrorists” of using. Right before they send in a missile and turn everyone to pink mist.
               3. Yves Smith March 17, 2025 at 2:32 pm

                  The Russians have repeatedly said in the firmest terms possible that any foreign troops sent to Ukraine would amount to that country declaring war on Russia and their troops would be hunted down and killed. I doubt they would accept the half-pregnant pretense. Russia has already stridently rejected the peacekeeper ruse. The only peacekeepers they will accept are ones approved by the UN Security Council, meaning them.

                  Recall that Russia has already repeatedly killed groups of foreign trainers who do not appear to have been sheep dipped as Ukrainian forces.
                  1. Aurelien March 17, 2025 at 5:16 pm

                     Oh indeed, this was the point. Any state can regard any action by any other state as an act of war, or just unilaterally declare that a state of war exists. There are no objective criteria, and the Russians can decide for themselves if they consider that a state of war exists. However, you can’t have a state of war selectively: it means that Russia is at war with any country it nominates, and that the armed forces of the two countries can engage each other anywhere up to the nuclear level, as well as conducting attacks against each other’s territories with conventional or nuclear weapons. I doubt if that’s what the Russians meant: at least I hope not. It may simply be that they are saying that the alleged peacekeepers will be considered as hostile forces and treated accordingly. It would be, let’s say, unusual, to treat foreign deployments in a third country as a casus belli: it’s rather as if the US declared Soviet missiles in Cuba to be an act of war. But as I say, there are no objective rules for such things.
                     I’d be interested to see the proof of serving professional NATO soldiers actually being killed in Ukraine: there have been lots of allegations, that may for all I know be true, but no independent confirmation to the best of my knowledge.
               4. socal rhino March 17, 2025 at 2:45 pm

                  Martyanov “got the idea” from the news report screen captured in his presentation. And he does not claim it is true.
            4. Skip Intro March 17, 2025 at 1:49 pm

               I think the real purpose of these ‘peacekeepers’ is as sacrificial tripwires, whose death will trigger the world outrage it finally takes to get full-scale US involvement. If Russia doesn’t hit them, Banderites will do it as a false flag.
         3. panurge March 17, 2025 at 10:54 am

            Haven’t we watched the same movie three years ago (Summer 2022?), when France was fretting about some suicidal exfiltration mission during the Siege of Mariupol?
            1. panurge March 17, 2025 at 11:23 am

               As if on cue:

               https://sputnikglobe.com/20250316/some-30-officers-from-nato-countries-surrounded-in-kursk-region-1121643590.html
         4. Socal Rhino March 17, 2025 at 2:40 pm

            Martyanov made no such claim. He cited a news report that made the claim and said “If true…”

            What he has said multiple times is that the extreme incompetence displayed in the planning and execution of the Kursk incursion made it look like a UK project.
   2. Ignacio March 17, 2025 at 12:52 pm

      Well, that’s true, he doesn’t need permission but not having it these would never be agreed as peacekeepers but military forces called by one of the sides in the conflict and supporting said side. This has all the chances to put these troops in a very difficult position as the war goes on. Either Macron doesn’t understand this or he is unwilling to explain such difficulties. I bet on the second. Do journalists in France make these questions to Macron in person or publicly?
   3. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 2:13 pm

      I think the USA and some associates are also fine with Russia taking more of Ukraine. If that is the outcome, it fits with their narrative “Be afraid. Russia is going on a land grab.”
      And just Russia having to hold on to bigger chunks fits in with extending Russia.

      USA is loathe to go to the bargaining table without leverage. They are very likely to just ride it out and tease “business interests” with Russia and, for the time being, court them through the sympathetic ear of alt media.
      By their actions, the lives of Ukranians are not the first priority.
2. Zagonostra March 17, 2025 at 7:27 am

   >We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives Zeynep Tufekci, New York Times

   Why haven’t we learned our lesson? …Only an honest conversation will lead us forward.

   Reads like Ms. Zeynep Tufekci is speaking to kindergarteners. Not sure who this “we” is, some of us have been on to this since day 1.
   1. flora March 17, 2025 at 9:17 am

      Yep. Some of us have been talking about the dangers of GoF research for years. Still, it’s nice to see “the paper of record” is finally getting around to saying this; NyTimes is signalling to its readership it’s OK to think these thoughts. I know it sounds silly, but for a lot of people the NYTimes is gospel – so to speak. / ;)
      1. judy2shoes March 17, 2025 at 12:37 pm

         “it sounds silly, but for a lot of people the NYTimes is gospel – so to speak. / ;)”

         Not silly at all to me, Flora. Some of the most rabid atheists I know seem to worship at the feet of the dem party, take everything the party says on faith, and look to the NYT as their bible. With respect to the NYT, they believe the NYT slogan “all the news that’s fit to print” and so look no further for differing views.
         1. urdsama March 17, 2025 at 2:09 pm

            Not sure why you bring atheism into the discussion as that involves a view about deities, and nothing to do with politics. It would be more accurate to call them democrats: many rabid dems worship at the feet of the dem party and take the NYT as their bible.

            Being an atheist has nothing to do with it.
            1. judy2shoes March 17, 2025 at 8:03 pm

               Thank you, urdsama. I realize that I most likely sounded as if I have something against atheists, which I don’t. I just see similarities between belief systems of some of the atheists I know with respect to the dem party and the belief systems of various religious groups, whom these atheists roundly criticize.
               1. timo maas March 18, 2025 at 8:52 am

                  The word you are looking for is ideology. Both religion and ideology are based on belief systems, and are overlaping, and often hard to separate. Worshiping some deity, or political party, or a company (like Apple, or Musk related ones), or something else (in USA some worship a Constitution like it is a holy scripture), is not much different as far as brain chemistry is concerned.
   2. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 11:46 am

      The lab was chosen for those experiments because the safety regulations weren’t as strong.

      And knowing the origin of a virus is an important factor to finding effective treatments. Marinate on that for a while…
   3. John Wright March 17, 2025 at 12:55 pm

      Here is a link to an earlier, and heated, discussion on NC about the lab leak hypothesis.

      https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/10/why-i-still-believe-covid-19-could-not-have-originated-in-a-lab.html

      I was accused, several years ago, of being a conspiracy theorist, by a dedicated NY Times reader, for suggesting the lab leak as possible.

      I believed that both the US government and Chinese government would want the lab leak hypotheses to be seen as implausible, given that they would have shared blame for a lab leak.
   4. Jason Boxman March 17, 2025 at 2:11 pm

      It’s still mind bending to me that it can both be a lab leak, ostensibly of a bioweapon, but perhaps just GoF gone bad without any attempt to weaponize, and it is also harmless to get infected by SARS-CoV-2 again and again forever.

      What a stupid timeline.

      I guess this is permission for liberals to also believe it’s a lab leak, but harmless.

      And we’re still gonna let it spread forever.
      1. Parker Dooley March 17, 2025 at 5:13 pm

         I can also believe that it can be a lab leak and neither gain of function nor a bioweapon
         Just a sample of a zoonotic virus under study and let loose through carelessness or stupidity. SARS and MERS may be examples.
         1. Mo's Bike Shop March 17, 2025 at 6:18 pm

            Yes, for instance, how was the guano collected? Grad students in bunny suits or hired locals skilled in bushcraft? Plenty of ‘oops’ available either way.

            But I’m reflexive against ‘Ooh! It’s genetically engineered!’ I think mother nature can do far better.
      2. ambrit March 17, 2025 at 5:13 pm

         As of the present, the only “effective” way to stop the spread of this coronavirus is to “cull the herd.” Something positively Jackpotean in its implications. How about degrade the public services that would have worked against the spread of the pathogen for starters? Join that with destroying the reputation, and thus public cooperation with those same public health authorities.
         Call it the “Fledermaus Effect.” A bat flaps its wings somewhere in China and millions worldwide die off.
         1. flora March 17, 2025 at 6:15 pm

            re: Die Fledermaus”. (The Bat.) Die Fledermaus Effect meets The Butterfly Effect, aka the chaos theory. Sorry. I can’t resist. / ;)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2lrKuZKV-Q

            cheers.
3. Sam Adams March 17, 2025 at 7:30 am

   Re: US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says
   Does this strategy sound eerily like, “We will stop the beatings when morale improves?”
   1. ilsm March 17, 2025 at 9:05 am

      Recently, F-18 has not had the usage that F-16 had so far. US needs to wear them out like the rest of the breakable weapons.
4. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 7:34 am

   ‘sarah
   @sahouraxo
   The US dropped bombs on a Cancer Center and medical facilities in Yemen.
   A Cancer Center.
   Over 151 Yemeni civilians killed and injured in the last 2 days.
   They are deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
   This is a war crime and a crime against humanity.’

   Well that can’t be right. Israeli intelligence assured that US strike force that the place was an Ansar Allah command post.
   1. ciroc March 17, 2025 at 8:14 am

      And of course, all Yemenis are Houthis.
   2. Emma March 17, 2025 at 10:01 am

      Command post on the war against cancer.

      Understandable mistake really, since Israel sees itself as cancer.
      1. alrhundi March 17, 2025 at 11:40 am

         From those who brought you the War on Drugs:

         The War on Cancer, out now!
         1. Red Snapper March 17, 2025 at 5:06 pm

            The War on Cancer, wIth depleted uranium rounds.
            1. paul March 17, 2025 at 8:48 pm

               See it as targeted, free at the point of access, radiotherapy.
5. Zagonostra March 17, 2025 at 7:38 am

   >Trump ‘voids’ Biden’s pardons after ex president used autopen signature and moves to investigate Fauci and Cheney Daily Mail

   Many post on Twitter/X decry MAGA morphing into MIGA. So consequently, Trump Inc. has to throw these increasingly disillusioned supporters some red meat. HRC was not arrested during T1, and the “autopen” is just a “head fake” in the current T2 reign to take attention off disastrous first 50 days in office, and what is looking like to be an even more pathetic first 100 days.

   skimming through NC links this weekend, I saw one that said Trump is seeking to have Australia pay more for pharmaceuticals. What a downward spiral from a couple of election cycles back when people were discussing the merits of M4A. It seems “progress” in American politics is impossible when it comes to making the lives of ordinary people better. Only more war, more crumbling infrastructure, more debt, fewer good jobs, less affordable housing, more toxic chemicals in my food, air and water. Sad, sad, state of affairs.
   1. t March 17, 2025 at 9:22 am

      A separate examination of 25 Trump signatures on orders on the Federal Register’s website from his first and second administrations also found the signatures were all the same

      That paragraph has been in every story I’ve read on this – but just that paragraph and no further details on the process or a review of timeliness on an thing signed.

      As if former presidents rolled out of bed and just typed up whatever out of the blue and smacked down and autopen signature. I mean, historically, we have news stories about President expected to sign this, president expected not to sign that.

      I’m sure all these things were discussed with Biden during pudding time or whenever.
      1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 9:28 am

         I wonder if this is why Trump makes such a big song and dance about signing all those executive orders in front of reporters. Not only does he want to put his stamp on them but he may be thinking that he does not want any accusations of robo-signing with those orders.
         1. Wukchumni March 17, 2025 at 9:37 am

            I feel that somehow there must be endorsement fees from the Sharpie pen co. for those oh so very Richter Scale looking nom doubloons, look-a 6.3!
            1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 9:47 am

               At least the Sharpie pen co. knows that Trump won’t be so stupid as to bodgy up a weather map to make him look right about a tweet he made this time round-

               https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/04/trump-hurricane-dorian-alabama-sharpie-map

               Just thinking that the next few days will be interesting. Will Trump or Vance visit those new disaster areas in central and southern US or will they pull a Biden and pretend they don’t exist?
               1. Wukchumni March 17, 2025 at 10:01 am

                  Be careful in regards to little Anthony Fremont-all grown up now, he can whisk anybody into the scorned field.

                  It’s a great life!
      2. hk March 17, 2025 at 11:29 am

         While the argument is stupid, it does harken back to ine question: who exactly were acting in Biden’s name in the last months of his alleged presidency? If, say, Jake Sullivan were acting as de facto unelected president and was really the one who issued the pardons, that’d be a serious problem.
         1. Neutrino March 17, 2025 at 12:29 pm

            Carl Bernstein, a lonely nation turns its eyes toward you. Those investigative journalist chops, and TV panel appearances about the crimes and cover-ups, could be coming soon to a theatre station near you. /s
   2. IM Doc March 17, 2025 at 9:29 am

      I am getting the same “constitutional crisis” hysteria all across my family feeds this AM about the autopen issue.

      Well, I have issues with this.

      First of all as a physician, dealing with federal documents with CMS, I have to personally sign the 20-30 that come across my desk every day. Many of these are up to 10 pages, and each page has to be signed and dated in wet ink. Every single one of these documents has a disclaimer on the bottom that automated signatures and signature stamps are not allowed. Again, these are doctor’s orders for home health, medical equipment etc. and stamps and automatic signatures are specifically not allowed. It takes quite a bit of time every day to sign these.

      Why is a doctor’s order for federal documents more important to be genuinely signed in ink than a President’s signature on a document of great import that is a Constitutional duty? Sorry, I am OK with him autopenning letters about veteran service, holidays, etc – but actual EOs, pardons, vetos, passed Congressional legislation and other constitutional requirements – absolutely not. What a joke that even is to contemplate.

      But in my humble opinion all this talk about a constitutional crisis is about 2 years too late. The constitutional crisis started when we allowed an obvious dementia patient to stay in the White House. What is happening now with the autopen thing and many others is a natural outcome of that original sin. As I was screaming to my Dem and PMC friends for years – “There will be consequences” and here we are.
      1. Wukchumni March 17, 2025 at 9:51 am

         In the midst of the Civil War, a new type of money was introduced in 1863 that was called National Bank Currency, and the way it worked was say you owned a bank, and the Federal government would print banknotes that all looked the same for the 14,000 or so different banks that issued money, except for the name of the bank and geographic district lettering, you just had to send them funds to cover it.

         Initially the bank cashier and bank president had to sign each note, but by around 1900, autopen signatures start showing up, in particular for larger cities where much more currency was issued.

         This is what they looked like, amazingly beautiful banknotes, my favorite is the 1875 $2, known as the Lazy Deuce, on account of the elongated sideways 2 on the front.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bank_Note
      2. pjay March 17, 2025 at 10:26 am

         “But in my humble opinion all this talk about a constitutional crisis is about 2 years too late.”

         This is the argument in the excellent piece by Patrick Lawrence in today’s Links, though he takes it back about 10 years. Well worth reading.
         1. flora March 17, 2025 at 7:34 pm

            Indeed.
      3. Nikkikat March 17, 2025 at 11:53 am

         I have to agree, and wasn’t Obama that pushed Biden through in the end? And wasn’t it Obama that gave Musk his Space X contracts and the leased Solar panels that Musk got the rebates for instead of the homeowner? I imagine there were more things done there than we can even know. All swept under the carpet long ago. As I remind my democrat friends Obama didn’t end up with those three mansions in Uber desirable locations because he bought them with his salary or even the income from his ghost written books.
      4. judy2shoes March 17, 2025 at 12:50 pm

         ” The constitutional crisis started when we allowed an obvious dementia patient [Biden] to stay in the White House.”

         I would argue that the precedent was set during the Reagan years, and the democrats made good use of that experience to run their own con on the country.
      5. flora March 17, 2025 at 1:53 pm

         about the autopen controversy, Taibbi’s latest on his Racket(dot)news substack, almost all paywalled so I won’t link.

         Joe Biden and the Autopen
         A fight about Joe Biden’s pardons may escalate into a larger question about the last presidency

         A para from the longer article:

         As noted in Obama-era coverage of the autopen, federal officials have long been anxious about its use, fearing exactly this sort of challenge to the legitimacy of White House documents. That makes coverage today describing the autopen as “ordinarily uncontroversial” odd. The autopen was and is highly controversial, with aides concerned about the requirement of a president’s physical presence for documents. Back in 2011, Slate noted that the same Office of Legal Counsel under George Bush that devised infamous torture memos hesitated to use the device, and “even President Bush never utilized an autopen,” noting Bush “flew through the night to get to the White House in time to sign the Terri Schiavo bill.” Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution describes how bills must be “presented” to the president:
         (photo image of the Constitution’s relevant section.)
         1. flora March 17, 2025 at 1:56 pm

            Adding: I wondered why T made a big deal out of publicly signing his executive orders in front of the the MSM reporters’ cameras.
      6. Bill B March 17, 2025 at 2:08 pm

         Actually, the constitutional crisis was consumated last Friday when Congress (including 10 Dems) voted to give away the power of the purse to Trump.
      7. JP March 17, 2025 at 4:11 pm

         Of course you have to sign every page with wet ink indicating you ostensibly read and agree with terms. It is considered a contractual arrangement. A pardon is not contractual with the recipient. It is a statement and formalizes an intent. The intent was well broadcast known and affirmed.
         1. Pat March 17, 2025 at 4:28 pm

            If the President is not capable of signing one page of a document, then no intent is not clear. Especially since just as I don’t know for sure that George Clooney wrote whatever the last tweet that was on his account, none of us know who the hell wrote Biden’s social media post regarding…well anything…but particularly the pardons.

            While the intent of the inner circle of the Biden administration is clear, we haven’t a clue if Biden even knows they happened much less if he initiated and intended them.
            1. JP March 17, 2025 at 5:13 pm

               Your contentions are speculation. You don’t know his capability when the documents were ready and the intentions were already broadcast in the media. You don’t know if any president knows everything that happens in his inner circle. I also doubt any president writes any of the documents he signs.
         2. IM Doc March 17, 2025 at 5:14 pm

            I may be wrong here but I definitely seem to remember lots of verbiage going around with some of these pardons, especially the ones for people like Cheney, Schiff, and Fauci – the preemptive pardons, that they had “accepted” them. That would imply a conversation ahead of time regarding terms. In many cases, that would imply a verbal contract.

            A verbal discussion beforehand is often all that is required in medicine for a fudiciary bond to be created. I have no idea about presidential pardons.

            But again, I am so sorry, but it just seems to me that Constitutional duties and signatures should be done in person with the President signing in real time. If this is not formally laid out, the Supreme Court definitely needs to get involved to guide this in the future. Especially in the event we ever again decide to have a dementia patient as president.
            1. JP March 17, 2025 at 7:34 pm

               https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5199270-trump-jan-6-committee-pardons/

               The Maryland Democrat pointed to a 2024 opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that says the Constitution does not say a presidential pardon has to come in a particular form. The case looked at whether a man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was valid after then-President Trump said he would commute his sentence during a phone call with two of his associates.
            2. JP March 17, 2025 at 7:50 pm

               I am frankly more concerned with the mental aberration that Trump is displaying. Shouldn’t we be just as concerned about personality disorders. Which is more dangerous?
               1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 8:10 pm

                  You should be more concerned that twice now you have had Presidents in power that were suffering from dementia but that the system kept them in place anyway for their own gain. And now it is bipartisan. What happens if you have a President elected that not long after has a complete mental breakdown that was as bad as King George III? Can you imagine?
6. Steve H. March 17, 2025 at 7:40 am

   > Tiny lightning bolts discovered in water droplets—and it might explain how life began on Earth StudyFinds

   Listed as March 15, but I have the same article in my notes from Jan 21. ?.

   Anyway, Lord Kelvin’s Thunderstorm is amazing. That Gerald Pollack’s work on Exclusion-Zone Water ain’t mentioned is not-able. His work on charge separation with liquid crystals in water is imo the best explanation of available electrons for life to piggyback on. See:

   EZ Water and the Origin of Life [2022]
7. Zagonostra March 17, 2025 at 7:46 am

   >Antidote du jour

   [This cardinal looks like it means business]

   May you come to find comfort in and remember:
   Cardinals appear when angels are near.
   So go now, sit outside and drink your tea.
   Keep a look out for the little red bird —
   It is there, your loved one will be.

   Victoria McGovern
   1. jefemt March 17, 2025 at 8:55 am

      The cardinal, when I first glanced at it, was a Poppy? I notice, upon closer inspection, it is not wearing green.

      That is a terrific photo. Thank you!
   2. flora March 17, 2025 at 6:49 pm

      Thank you. Mom’s favorite bird was the cardinal.
8. AG March 17, 2025 at 7:50 am

   re: Germany

   BSW asks DIE LINKE to cooperate with AfD to try stop the rearmament program. What does Mrs. former JACOBIN senior editor – now DIE LINKE head – answer? “NOOOOOO!”

   p.s. an open letter by a couple of DIE LINKE members who are opposing the madness:

   via JUNGE WELT daily
   Disarmament, whatever it takes
   Documented. Germany is rearming and making the world more insecure. An anti-militarist statement
   https://archive.is/v4z4S
9. Colonel Smithers March 17, 2025 at 8:07 am

   Thank you, Conor.

   Further to the Yemen links, readers may not be aware that the border between KSA and Yemen has long been disputed. Conflict involving these two could get complicated.

   Hadramaut / Hadramawt is split between Yemen and KSA. The Bedouin there identify as Yemeni. The bin Ladin family comes from there. So did 15 of the 9/11 hijackers. Saudis from Najd, the Hejaz etc. would not marry someone from that area / these tribes or vice versa.

   Smuggling is rife as the mountains and deserts are not easy to police. Some of the area is beautiful. Some of Jizan is like Provence’s Gorges du Verdon. Imagine that in wartime and the potential for ambushes.

   There are also tiny Jewish communities on either side of the border. You read that right. There are Bedouin Jewish and Christian communities, going back millenia, in KSA. The al Sauds leave them alone.

   Dad worked for the Saudi government from 1992 – 2015. We could travel freely and did.
10. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 8:11 am

    Re; Immigration

    I’ve just had a brilliant thought: with all of these hardened gangbangers we are deporting, why not re-route the planes to Ukraine? They’re hurting for soldiers, and if these are hard-core gangbangers, they already are somewhat pre-trained… the aircraft can then load up with Green Card holders for the return trip.
    1. Daniil Adamov March 17, 2025 at 8:25 am

       If that happens, I think you’ll soon have representatives of Ukraine’s celebrated and influential organised criminal class complaining about all those foreigners taking their jobs.
       1. jefemt March 17, 2025 at 8:56 am

          That needs a coffee warning…
    2. t March 17, 2025 at 9:25 am

       Hardened gangbusters are hard to find and might put up a fight. Easier to go after well-documented people at their homes or work – you’ve already got the address and know they are cooperative.
11. Adam1 March 17, 2025 at 8:14 am

    “Stock market is a major focus: “Expand asset-based income channels and take multiple measures to stabilize the stock market. Strengthen strategic reserves and market stabilization mechanisms.”

    Holy Cr@p!!! Warren Molser frequently wondered what would happen to China when all those western educated economics students returned to China!
    1. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 12:19 pm

       For a while, I’ve been thinking of it as the poison pill in BRICS.
       1. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 12:31 pm

          Or even more broadly: the poison pill in the “multipolar” world.
    2. SocalJimObjects March 17, 2025 at 8:54 pm

       Xi Jinping wants his portfolio to match that of Nancy Pelosi’s!!! He probably invested in a bunch of meme stocks and they are all under water.
12. William Beyer March 17, 2025 at 8:25 am

    Regarding the Krystal Ball tweet, I personally know the woman apparently harassed out of the country by ICE, although none of the actual facts around her treatment. If true, the Nazis have already taken over the U.S.government.
    1. ambrit March 17, 2025 at 5:21 pm

       The Nazis took over the government back in 1946 with Operation Paperclip. (Some would push that further back to the time when Wall Street “Interests” financed a small, feisty Anti Communist German political party; The National Socialist German Workers Party.)
13. Adam1 March 17, 2025 at 8:27 am

    Autopen, pardons and Dr. Fauci…

    Interestingly if Dr. Fauci remains pardoned we actually have a greater chance of learning much more (if we follow the assumption that there was some kind of cover-up around covid). As a pardoned man, Dr. Fauci still could have been subpoenaed, however he could not invoke the 5th Amendment as he would not be testifying against himself as he faced no criminal charges because of the pardon. Likewise, he would be dumb to lie in his testimony because then he would be perjuring himself which would be a new crime not covered by his pardon.
14. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 8:40 am

    “Israel gets 3 fighter jets from US amid uncertainty over Gaza ceasefire”

    More likely the Israelis have mostly wrecked at least three of their F-35s by constantly using them to bomb Gazans to the point that they became hanger queens and a source of spare parts for other F-35s.
    1. ilsm March 17, 2025 at 9:21 am

       Aircraft inventory is a thing!

       A fighter squadron is authorized XX aircraft equal to the number of aircraft that unit operates in “war”. That is called primary aircraft inventory (PAI).

       The squadron is also issued x back up aircraft inventory (BAI) to account for aircraft hard broken or in depot when the squadron needs to go off anf fight.

       I suspect the IDF/AF needs more BAI, due to poor reliability and parts shortages.

       A BAI aircraft can be a warehouse for parts!

       F-35 parts may be short world wide, which is bad bc IDF is flying so few.
15. ChrisFromGA March 17, 2025 at 8:48 am

    Runnin’ Outta Steam

    Sung to the tune of, “Runnin’ Down a Dream” by Tom Petty

    Melody

    It was a beautiful wall
    The sun beat down,
    On rusted metal laid on
    Pallets and ground

    Dreams went bye-bye
    Me and Marge were singin’
    A little runaway … AI was a lie

    Trump is runnin’ out of steam
    It never would come to be
    Just like Roman history …
    We’re going wherever he leads
    Runnin’ outta steam!

    It felt so good, like anarchy was possible
    Ethics on cruise control, no red lines
    The last three days, the cons were unstoppable
    They were always bold, no sunshine

    Chorus

    Whoo-hoo! 6x

    The lies rolled on, the market grew dark, Oligarchs put the petal down, like Yeltsin’s time
    There’s something bad waiting down this road
    I’m movin’ out to Lichtenstein

    (Repeat Chorus)

    Trump’s runnin’ out of steam
    It never would come to be
    Cookin’ up more hare-brained schemes …
    Doling out misery
    Runnin’ down the drain!

    Trump’s runnin’ out of grit
    Catchin’ line drives with no mitt
    Rehashing his “Greatest hits!”
    MAGA-world’s goin’ to s**t!
    He’s runnin’ outta grit

    Whoo-hoo …
16. Steve H. March 17, 2025 at 9:00 am

    > America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1Semi Analysis

    We should appreciate when an author takes a knobkerrie to a topic and delivers such a shellacking, repeatedly layering evidence upon evidence, that it destroys a particular strategy. Jason Fung and Dave Kimble come to mind. The calf kick serves this function in mixed martial arts – while a single blow has won a fight, it’s generally used to destroy the ability of the other’s front leg to form a foundation to present an argument.

    Have Another! My takeaway is that the US in particular is on dangerous ground, moreso as it starts banning Chinese goods in the tech realm. Not even taking part in the conversation. Our best out might be following Qiao Liang with decentralized three-dimension printers.

    * * *

    Dave Kimble: Does nuclear energy produce no CO2
    : No longer available at:
    http://davekimble.net/peakoil/news/index.phpdoes_nuclear_energy_produce_no_co2.htm
    :: Descent version:
    https://www.resilience.org/stories/2006-05-11/does-nuclear-power-produce-no-co2/
    :: Cleanest version:
    https://www.brattleboro.net/nuclear-power-articles/does-nuclear-power-produce-no-co2/

    Qiao Liang: One Belt, One Road
    limesonline.com/en/regions/one-belt-one-road-14720766/
    : Not loading for me. Hmm. Archived it this morning: https://archive.ph/VLG4P
    1. Glen March 18, 2025 at 1:24 pm

       That robotics article is an extremely good primer if one wants to learn more than the basics about robotics – thanks for finding and posting it Conor!

       Lights out factories are nothing new – these have been around for at least a decade in the CNC plus robotics mix, but these have been much smaller scale that those achieved in China where apparently there is a factory now making a complete smartphone. It is extremely difficult to get that level of automation (although smaller is always easier), and if China is able to apply that level of automation to vehicles, large airplanes or ships, or other examples of large items – it is a complete game changer.

       Honestly, China is now so far ahead of the West in manufacturing that it would take decades of concentrated industrial policy affecting all segments of America society to even pull close.
17. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 9:01 am

    “SpaceX Crew-10 docks at space station, Starliner astronauts to soon return to Earth”

    I wouldn’t let them leave without making sure that their back-rent is paid up first. Hummph. The story of Apollo 13 was epic in nature as well as how they survived. The story of that Starliner crew? Just woeful and embarrassing.
    1. Wukchumni March 17, 2025 at 9:10 am

       Initially the dynamic duo was supposed to be up there for a 3 day tour-a 3 day tour, and it isn’t as if they brought wardrobes as per Gilligan’s Island, so imagine how nasty those couple of shirts must be after 9 months in a leaky boat?
       1. Wukchumni March 17, 2025 at 9:21 am

          When I was a young boy
          I wanted to sail around the world
          That’s the life for me
          Living on the Gemini, you see
          Spirit of a sailor
          Circumnavigates the globe
          The lust of a pioneer
          Will acknowledge no frontier

          I remember you by, thunderclap in the sky
          Lightning flash, tempers flare
          ‘Round the horn 16 x daily if you dare
          I just spent nine months on account of a leaky Boeing
          Lucky just to keep afloat

          Stranded in space
          Rugged individuals
          Glisten like pearls
          At the top of the world
          The tyranny of distance
          Didn’t stop the cavalier Russians
          So why should it stop me
          I’ll conquer and stay free

          Ah, c’mon all you lads
          Let’s forget and forgive
          There’s a world to explore
          Tales to tell back on shore
          I just spent nine months on account of a leaky Boeing
          Nine months on account of a leaky Boeing

          Ship-wrecked love can be cruel
          Don’t be fooled by her kind
          There’s a wind in my sails
          Will protect and prevail
          I just spent nine months on account of a leaky Boeing
          Nothing to it leaky Boeing

          Six Months in a Leaky Boat, by Split Enz

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSGpLto1yxU
    2. Ranger Rick March 17, 2025 at 12:31 pm

       As legend has it, Grumman billed Rockwell for “towing expenses” for bringing Apollo 13 back from the moon.
18. timbers March 17, 2025 at 9:09 am

    Texas population continues growing faster than any other state Texas Standard

    Before relocating to Knoxville, I considered Texas. Not long and hard, in part because the difference in property taxes was jarring – much higher in Texas. Though apparently job growth is higher in Texas so that’s the big draw, especially for younger looking for jobs who rent first instead of own a home. Knoxville despite having a few “sky scrappers” in it’s downtown, is really more like a great big small town. Any auto rush hour it has (and they are few) is located in the outlying areas/suburbs so that must be where much of the job growth is occurring. In contrast, one can drive into downtown with almost no traffic. Which is not to say downtown is not on the move – the University of Tennessee is thriving and new sports stadium is under construction all within walking distance of “downtown”.

    Growth in Knoxville appears more gentle and even.
19. Sean March 17, 2025 at 9:17 am

    The WSWS article (Germany’s Greens support historic rearmament programme) is quite the development. I think it was only a few days ago we had a link here to a substack that I thought made a compelling case of how Merz had taken a gamble with his negotiations with the Greens and SPD. Does anyone have a link to that?

    It looks like Germany very well could be going down that path after all.
    1. Zagonostra March 17, 2025 at 9:44 am

       The Greens, the party of the wealthy and warmongering upper middle classes, who fully represent the interests of the state and German imperialism…

       Not what I used to think “Greens” were all about. What’s in a name? Apparently, not much.
    2. Sean March 17, 2025 at 1:15 pm

       Found it – https://www.eugyppius.com/p/on-the-manifold-fractal-screwups
20. flora March 17, 2025 at 9:31 am

    re: ‘In the last 3 weeks, 5 trillion has been wiped off the American stock markets.

    In the next 3 weeks, it’s going to be 2-5 times that at least, as all signs indicate a wide, direct war between Iran and Yemen and Israel and the US is…
    i
    — Alon Mizrahi ‘

    And this is why Social Security is the third rail of politics; imagine Social Security funds being privatized and controlled by Wall Street. ‘Pension? Do you see a pension? I don’t see a pension.’
21. Mr woo March 17, 2025 at 10:04 am

    IRS
    I’m surprised that a 50% personel cut would only cost 40 billion a year in lost revenue . That’s less than 1 % of the federal budget
    1. curlydan March 17, 2025 at 11:20 pm

       The other IRS article is a bit scary, but the headline is so wrong because it’s not “just ahead of tax season”. Through March 7th, 62M returns have already been filed out of about 160M that will be filed.

       While rich peeps may not have filed, a ton of people who really need that refund have already filed. Tax season runs basically from the end of January to April 15th.
22. user1234 March 17, 2025 at 10:15 am

    US Considering Recognition of Somaliland in Exchange for Military Base Militarnyi

    And it shall be called Camp Bondsteel.
    1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 10:23 am

       Sounds like something from 007. ‘The name is Bond. Bond Steel.’
       1. user1234 March 17, 2025 at 10:33 am

          I tried to post just a link to the photo, but the gremlins ate the post. Let’s see if it will go trough with this ballast text.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Le_Chiffre_by_Mads_Mikkelsen.jpg
23. TomDority March 17, 2025 at 10:39 am

    Globaly, manufacturing has never been better.
    However, manufacturing of consent is having a bit of a dip lately.
24. upstater March 17, 2025 at 11:08 am

    Trump’s plans for a sovereign wealth fund, a Thatcher redux:

    Selling the family silver, American-style John Authers

    Ian Harnett of Absolute Strategy Research suggests that it should be easier. The government owns a lot of land, valued 10 years ago at $1.8 trillion, and presumably worth far more now. It also owns a range of nationalized industries, from the Tennessee Valley Authority to Amtrak. Selling land or companies, at a discount to fair value to make sure there were buyers, would fund a SWF quite nicely. The UK’s radical privatization program under Margaret Thatcher provides a template.

    It’s also not as much of a political challenge as first appears, since the Democrats under President Biden had already been exploring just such an idea. So while it can sound rather overblown, it’s far more feasible than many of the other policy actions that have been batted around.

    [emphasis added]
25. LawnDart March 17, 2025 at 11:16 am

    And here I though it was just me.

    People becoming more stupid…

    The shift from reading to consuming video content may have diminished human intelligence, research finds

    https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/278099865/people-becoming-more-stupid-study

    I absolutely hate videos… well, most of them anyway. I must admit that there are some great ones out there, but when it’s a talking-head or two spouting-off, count me out: yeah, thanks for wasting my time… no transcript? Well then, double thank-you.

    Videos that are great are the ones at kindergarten level: they give you a general overview, breaking-down a complex subject that you may be unfamiliar with and feeding you with understandable, bite-sized pieces– that can be a good use of screen-time, or a great introduction.

    For true understanding and comprehension of any given subject matter, video is no substitute for reading and real-life experience.
    1. Daniil Adamov March 17, 2025 at 12:39 pm

       Agreed, but I also just have no patience for video (or podcasts). I prefer to read because I can do so at my own pace, and it is much quicker anyway. I understand some people listen to videos (or, even more naturally, podcasts) while doing something else, but I can’t see that working for something that I actually want to understand because I could easily miss an important part. So it becomes an annoying distraction. And the video format does encourage keeping things simple, which almost always means dropping potentially significant details. I do greatly appreciate transcripts when those exist, though, in case there is something interesting that I would otherwise miss.
    2. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 2:59 pm

       Depends on the form and content (and, granted, one can get more out of even long form videos if there has been some reading done previously). Sometimes seeing and hearing participants in an event, not second hand, has its own revelations.
       1. Daniil Adamov March 18, 2025 at 4:04 am

          I’ll grant you that, it can at least change your impression of some people involved due to getting their emotions and overall attitude across in a different way. Though is it always a better way? I don’t have the confidence some show when it comes to interpreting emotions, body language, etc. on video.
       2. PlutoniumKun March 18, 2025 at 5:04 am

          I think this is the key point – video can be very misleading on a subject you don’t know much about – you are very much at the mercy of the presenter and (often overlooked) the editing. But if you have a fairly good baseline understanding of a topic you should be quickly able to work out if the video (or podcast, etc.) is worthwhile or not.

          Over the years, my ‘deep’ reading habit has to a large degree been lost (my own fault), with lots of my information coming from scanning various sources. This can be effective for gaining a good broad overview of a topic, but will not work if you don’t have some baseline knowledge of the topic. I’m currently trying to find an effective balance between ‘real’ concentrated reading (which I agree is the only real way to gain some depth of knowledge and wisdom), along with video, podcasts, audiobooks, real life experience, etc. Its not easy in a world where we are constantly bombarded with facts and opinion.
26. edgui March 17, 2025 at 12:08 pm

    Great coverage as always, Conor.

    I think we could use a post (or links) on the underlying reasons for the attack by the US and its collaborators against Yemen. Mizrahi hints at a whole strategy underpinning a direct confrontation against Iran. But, other commentators such as Alex Christoforou, have insisted that Trump does not want a war against Iran. As both speculate, something more weighty is needed.
27. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 12:10 pm

    Rearmament is a noble lie – Unherd

    Near the end:

    “…Britain’s security elites are suddenly bereft of purpose, the incoming Strategic Defence and Security Review less useful than a blank sheet of paper…”

    And what popped into my thoughts for more historical context?:
    The Mayfair Set Part1 – Who Pays Wins
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emb5BWQSfak/

    One of Adam Curtis’s best works. Four part series from around 1999 that has aged so well. It’s focused on one country that is his home and where he honed his journalism skills. It’s more profile and interview.
    Second time I’ve found myself referencing one of the parts this year.
    1. paul March 17, 2025 at 9:14 pm

       While I find curtis’s work extremely tiresome and sensational, the mayfair set was all right, and a bit better than that.

       The ‘power of nightmares’ was as a lavish bit of propaganda for the now forgotten menace of AQ.

       The unique position he he had in the BibiC,and those increasingly tenuous, formualic (eg bitter lake) concoctions that followed rather put me off.

       His interesting, blogs for the bibc, were always just fascinating.

       Just like the dreadful ‘human interest’ programming he was groomed through*

       *”That’s life’, dominated by long time assisted dying celebrity esther rantzen.
28. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 12:25 pm

    OpenAI and Google’s dark new campaign to dismantle artists’ protections – Blood in the Machine

    Remember:
    2026 – Trump administration gets to appoint a new Librarian of Congress.
29. Yeti March 17, 2025 at 12:34 pm

    Since so many songs today I thought I would put out a favourite

    Alice Cooper Generation landslide, still relevant today

    Please clean your plate dear
    The Lord above can see you
    Don’t you know people are starving in Korea

    Alcohol and razor blades and poison and needles
    Kindergarten people, they use them, they need them

    The over-indulgent machines were their children
    There wasn’t a way down on Earth here to cool them
    ‘Cause they looked just like humans
    At Kresge’s and Woolworth’s
    But decadent brains were at work to destroy
    Rats in batallions were ruling the street scene
    Generation landslide
    Closed the gap between ’em

    And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
    Who never conceived of us billion dollar babies

    Militant mothers hiding in their basements
    Using pots and pans as their shields and their helmets

    Molotov milk bottles heaved from pink high chairs
    While Mother’s Lib burned birth certificate papers
    Dad gets his allowance from his sonny the dealer
    Who’s pubic to the world but involved in high finance

    Sister’s out till five doing banker’s son’s hours
    But she owns a Maserati that’s a gift from his father

    Stopped at full speed at one hundred miles per hour

    The Colgate invisible shield finally got ’em

    But I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies

    Who never conceived of us billion dollar babies
30. ChrisFromGA March 17, 2025 at 12:40 pm

    Re: Democrats en Déshabillé

    It seems that the Donkeys lack the self-awareness to understand their predicament.

    The Clintonism/New Democrat era is over. It probably died with Hillary’s campaign in ’16.

    They’ve been completely outflanked by D.O.G.E. and they don’t have a plan, let alone a strategy. Hoping that Trump will magically screw up and waiting around to pick up the pieces isn’t a strategy.

    A full-fledged reboot of the Dem party requires: 1) getting rid of the neo-con elements, 2) Pivoting to policies that favor the middle class and the poor, and 3) fighting oligarchs.

    Note that of those three, only Bernie has made any sort of organized efforts and they’re weak, at best (he failed totally on number 1.)

    Reminding the middle class and the poor that their kids are the ones who will be asked to die for Ukraine and Israel would be the first step in fixing the Dems problems.

    Next, they’re going to have to come up with better standard-bearers than UpChuck and Hakeem “The Dream.”

    Steven A. Smith (the ESPN personality) has them pegged. They’re just on the wrong side of history and they have no message that resonates with the average man/woman in the street.
    1. Jason Boxman March 17, 2025 at 2:05 pm

       To win elections as a nationally relevant party, sure, but that doesn’t seem to be the actual goal in practice. Thwarting the Left, such as it is, and the distribution of any material benefits, is the real priority in practice. So I don’t think liberal Democrats have any reason to engage in introspection. Their project is working, for them, for the consultant class, for the donors, for the staffers. Why introspect?
       1. ChrisFromGA March 17, 2025 at 2:16 pm

          True, and I realized after posting this that if you work from the starting assumption that both parties serve corporations, not people, then the whole introspection thing makes zero sense except as kayfabe.

          However, I sense a disturbance in the force. In the past, the Dems would be happy to play “good cop” while the GOP bad cops threatened to dismantle social programs, privatize everything, etc. Then they could sit back, feed the outrage machine with NPR sob stories, and count on a “wave” election to put them back in power. The left wasn’t their target audience – it was the middle.

          I don’t see this working anymore. By the time we make it to 2026, there simply won’t be much left to fight about. I don’t see the old Slick Willy playbook that worked so well even in recent years working anymore.

          The question then is – what next? Extinction is on the menu for the Dems.
          1. Jason Boxman March 17, 2025 at 3:19 pm

             If Trump engineers a depression or recession, with liberal Democrats haplessly standing by or even aiding, they’re still gonna run on Trump’s disaster economy, and I think from the pool of people that choose to vote, enough might vote D as we oscillate back and forth, that they pick up the House in any case. I don’t think the party can ever go extinct as long as it’s part of the ballot duopoly. There will always be some petty squabble between elite factions or another to provide a reason to vote for D.

             So I guess my question is, what does extinction look like for a party that’s a participant in the ballot duopoly? I don’t see it disappearing from the ballot line, never to be seen or heard from again, although that’s my sincere wish.
             1. ChrisFromGA March 17, 2025 at 4:37 pm

                I don’t have any answers, just observing. Political parties have gone extinct before in American History – the Whigs, for example.

                It could happen, but I agree that duopoly works to keep the status quo in place. We haven’t had a real third-party attempt to form since Ross Perot’s reform party in the early 90’s. Maybe a marker for extinction of either the Elephants or the Donkeys would be the rise of a real 3rd party.
                1. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 6:53 pm

                   Not just the Whigs that have gone extinct-

                   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_political_parties_in_the_United_States
             2. Hepativore March 17, 2025 at 6:43 pm

                What might happen is that the Democratic party will still exist in the future, but will have dwindled to the point of near irrelevance. During various races, you will see Democratic candidates listed on the ballot, but at the national and state levels, barely mentioned by the media or even marketed anymore by the moribund party.

                The Republican party will basically take over all of our political systems, much like having twin fetuses with one slowly being absorbed by the other during gestation. That might leave us with a one-party “monopoly” but since the party in charge gets to write and re-write all of the rules and laws, they will also make the existence of a one-party state perfectly legal.
             3. ChrisFromGA March 17, 2025 at 8:25 pm

                I should have been clearer, on this statement:

                there simply won’t be much left to fight about

                I think there are very high odds that Trump’s defenestration of the regulatory and legal system will result in a crap-topia: greased AI resulting in slop code deployed to production systems, resulting in a collapse of the web, software engineers replaced with not-ready-for-primetime “AI agents” that poop themselves, the FAA run by corporate CEOs (look at Trump’s new FAA head) who put profits over safety, a toothless SEC that lets crypto scams run wild.

                Basically the 1890’s, except that back then the world did not rely on technology to the extent it does now. Worst case scenario: A “Mad Max” collapse.

                Planes crashing out of the sky like it’s WWII.

                A catastrophic disaster that the likes of Schumer and Jeffries are simply not capable of imagining nor fighting to stop.
31. Mikel March 17, 2025 at 12:41 pm

    Southeast Europe erupts in weekend of protests – Bne Intellinews

    File under: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

    Paging Brian B. at The New Atlas….
    1. Kouros March 17, 2025 at 10:59 pm

       The 10,000 strong pro-Europe gathering in Bucharest was maybe 300 strong, based on some drone pictures I have seen…
32. Sub-Boreal March 17, 2025 at 12:52 pm

    For fans of stock market scandal lore, this book excerpt revisits a Canadian classic from the 1960s: Windfall.
33. NotTimothyGeithner March 17, 2025 at 1:30 pm

    Ole Chuck has postponed his book tour

    Chuck Schumer was scheduled to discuss his book on antisemitism with Ritchie Torres tmrw, at a $45 ticketed event that wouldn’t be recorded and where all audience questions would be pre-screened. Now they’re postponing it, and all his other book events, for security reasons.
34. SomeGuyinAZ March 17, 2025 at 2:25 pm

    This has probably been brought up already so apologies if it’s a duplicate comment, but if the autopen voiding holds up does that mean all those mortgage documents signed by autopen are also null/void? Oof.
    1. flora March 17, 2025 at 2:33 pm

       Important mortgage docs usually require notarization by a Notary Public – a person with state notary credentials – stamped and initialed in wet ink. (At least in my state.) Notary Publics keep a notary book in which they log all docs they’ve notarized. The book is subject to state examination at any time for any of various reasons.

       https://notary.net/which-loan-documents-need-to-be-notarized/
       1. flora March 17, 2025 at 5:32 pm

          Adding: some of those examination reasons can include something as simple as an audit of a new Notary’s bookkeeping records to check their compliance, or something more legally challenging, like a legal challenge to a claimed notarized property deed of transfer. Is the claim valid or fraudulent. What does the claimed Notary’s book show? If there’s no record in the claimed Notary’s book it’s probably a fraudulent title claim. That sort of thing.
35. flora March 17, 2025 at 2:30 pm

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
    Wear something green. Go to the parade. Don’t drink too much green beer. / :D
    1. wol March 17, 2025 at 6:10 pm

       The Ms is Mc on both sides. She sent me this (iamblakeley) youtube short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WtUNtZqdD6k
    2. Red Snapper March 18, 2025 at 9:05 am

       Don’t drink green beer, or eat yellow snow. / :D
36. Jason Boxman March 17, 2025 at 2:34 pm

    COVID brain damage, normalized. From OpenAI and Google’s dark new campaign to dismantle artists’ protections:

    So I spent much of the week traveling, and the rest of it sick. But I’m back from a long and good and productive SXSW, where I did a featured talk with the great crypto skeptic Molly White, a chat at the LightHouse about generative AI and labor, and a talk with the 404 Media folks about AI slop at the Fediverse House. If video for any of those talks surfaces, I’ll share them. I also wrote a big and probably overlong response to all the AGI talk going on right now, but given the exhaustion and the brian fog I figured I’d wait to give the thing an edit; look for that early next week.

    (bold mine)

    Sigh. This is all gonna come to a head eventually.
37. Jason Boxman March 17, 2025 at 3:33 pm

    Trump’s Unwelcome News to Auto Chiefs: Buckle Up for What’s to Come (NY Times via archive.ph)

    President Trump’s approach to tariffs has unsettled many corporate leaders who believed he would use the levies as a negotiating tool. As it turns out, he sees them as an end in themselves.
38. XXYY March 17, 2025 at 4:27 pm

    From USNI News:

    The attacks on targets in Yemen follow a Houthi announcement that the group would resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in response to Israel cutting off food and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

    Amazing that people openly trying to restore food, water, and humanitarian aid to an impoverished population are the bad guys in Washington’s world. This is one of the worst public relations operations in the last 30 years.
    1. Don March 17, 2025 at 6:40 pm

       It has always been so.
39. Tom Stone March 17, 2025 at 4:46 pm

    If I substitute “The Party” for “Doge” and “Political Commissar” for “Doge Team Leader” it clarifies things.
    1. ambrit March 17, 2025 at 5:28 pm

       The next logical question is: Will they become Tankies?
       1. JBird4049 March 17, 2025 at 5:58 pm

          Tankies usually have actual ideological convictions and a willingness for a little suffering. I don’t see the Doggies having either aside from the love of breaking things for the greater greed.
       2. Daniil Adamov March 18, 2025 at 4:01 am

          Depends on what you mean by that. If it’s uncritically supportive of violence and coercion by ideologically sympathetic foreign governments… I suspect most or all of them are already there.

          But really, shouldn’t the DOGE tankies be the fans in other countries cheering them on? I think I know people like that…
40. flora March 17, 2025 at 9:03 pm

    Forgive this nonsensical interlude. From the D’oyly Carte Company’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado.”
    For He’s Gone and Married Yum-Yum. ( And a very, very happy spring to all.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVWfK9_m1s
41. The Rev Kev March 17, 2025 at 9:18 pm

    Just in passing-

    ” ‘End of an era’: Last surviving Battle of Britain pilot dies”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1z42pkj8o

    End of an era.
    1. flora March 17, 2025 at 9:23 pm

       Ah, thank you. I remember being quite saddened by HRH QEII passing, and not quite understanding why I was so saddened. I’ve never been a royalist after all. I’m a USian. Perhaps it’s because she was the last surviving great political figure of that time. Perhaps because it seemed she’d always been there while I was growing up. I don’t know.

       Your link reminds me of that era. Thanks.
42. spud March 17, 2025 at 10:36 pm

    excellent,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6RJOD2ksZ8

    The Biggest Lie About Debt Exposed: Why U.S. Can Never Go Broke | Warren Mosler

    Warren Mosler, widely known as the creator of the monetary philosophy known as “Modern Monetary Theory”, discusses the impact that the federal debt level has on the economy.

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