Links 3/19/2025

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1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 7:18 am

   ‘AMK Mapping 🇺🇦🇳🇿
   @AMK_Mapping_
   At least one Ukrainian UAV struck the Kavkazskaya oil transshipment point in Kuban, Krasnodar Krai.
   The Kavkazskaya oil transshipment point is designed for transshipment of Russian oil by railway and into the Caspian Pipeline Consortium JSC pipeline system. It transfers an average of 6 million tons of oil per year.’

   Well that didn’t take long. Putin and Trump set up a deal where neither the Ukraine or Russia will attack each other’s energy infrastructure – and immediately the Ukrainians attack Russia’s energy infrastructure. Bonus points as this facility is partially owned by American investors such as Chevron and Mobil. I’m wondering if perhaps the UK may have provided targeting data to the 3 drones that attacked this facility. Putin may have promised not to attack the Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but he never promised not to take the Sumy Oblast which is only about 70 kilometers from Kiev. And as Trump has been left looking like a sucker over this attack, he would probably look the other way.

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   1. Polar Socialist March 19, 2025 at 7:47 am

      Apparently the damage is not serious – fragments of drone fell on a pipeline between storage tanks and caused a difficult but limited fire.

      The “funny” part is that Exxon and Shell are among the majority shareholders of Caspian Pipeline Consortium which owns the pipeline and the transshipment point. According to Lenta.ru Mr. Putin has already instructed them to provide spares, sanctions or not, if they need their oil to flow.

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      1. ilsm March 19, 2025 at 9:22 am

         Talk between CEO’s is just talk.

         No terms have been presented that could be applied.

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         1. Yves Smith Post authorMarch 19, 2025 at 10:18 am

            No, false. The Kremlin readout said Putin immediately ordered the military not to fire on Ukraine energy targets. Russia immediately implemented its end of the verbal agreement.

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         2. heh March 19, 2025 at 10:25 am

            Putin – orders Gerasimov: no more bombing of thermal power plants.
            Gerasimov – answers Putin: there are no more of them left.

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   2. ChrisFromGA March 19, 2025 at 7:52 am

      It’s impossible to have a unilateral ceasefire. I would encourage reading Simplicius’ piece. He takes apart the notion that there was any concession from Putin. Russia apparently took out the power in Slovyansk UA last night, as well.

      The whole notion that there was any mutually agreed to cessation of energy attacks manifest by the parties is complete BS.

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      1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 8:05 am

         Trump wouldn’t care. Just so long as this “deal” made him look good back home. It’s all about appearances.

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         1. ChrisFromGA March 19, 2025 at 8:12 am

            The key part to understanding the mess is that Trump cannot control what Zelensky does. Trump does not represent Z-man. Ukraine still has agency.

            In a negotiation, if one side makes an offer and the other side never accepts, there is no objective manifestation of an agreement. Putin offered to halt the attacks for 30 days IF Ukraine agreed to do the same. The second part never happened.

            As far as your comment about appearances, I agree that our Orange Julius only cares about the appearance of progress. The sheepish press who really know better will oblige him.

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            1. Polar Socialist March 19, 2025 at 9:23 am

               30 days pause in hitting energy infrastructure was an Ukrainian proposal to begin with. Trump merely conveyed it and Russia accepted. Russians even claim that their air defenses shot down 6 drones of their own that were already on their way to hit Ukrainian targets.

               Agreement or not, theatricals or not, I assume Russia will use the Ukrainian strike as a showcase to the 86% of the world not following western media what kind of regime Russia is dealing with.

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               1. ChrisFromGA March 19, 2025 at 9:33 am

                  But where was that written down (Ukrainian proposal?) Trump and Putin were merely “talking” not working off of detailed written documents. That would never be the case, of course … technical details would be ironed out by teams of negotiators who would report up to Putin and Trump. That never happened, either. We’re in the realm of oral statements and hearsay.

                  Technically, because Russia made a counter-offer to Trump’s initial proposal in Saudi Arabia, the original offer that Trump claimed to have been presenting to Putin was dead. That is a bit of legalese but it still raises the question, what exactly is going on here? It isn’t good faith bargaining. It is mere posturing.

                  It’s all moot now anyways, as both sides attacked each others energy infrastructure last night, per CNN:

                  https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/europe/ukraine-russia-drone-attacks-intl-hnk/index.html

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                  1. Yves Smith Post authorMarch 19, 2025 at 10:20 am

                     There were notetakers, both agreed, and the US and Russian readouts confirmed the understanding. That is acceptance and offer..

                     In New York State, verbal agreements of less than one year duration are binding.

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   3. Yves Smith Post authorMarch 19, 2025 at 8:18 am

      Yours truly said from the outset of the talks talk that the US and Russia could settle this war between them was barmy. Ukraine even though weak and destined to lose, still has agency. And even more important, it still has possession of the considerable majority of the land area.

      TASS is signaling Russia is not about to shrug this off….as one might expect.

      The Kremlin views Ukrainian army’s attacks against power installations in the Kuban region as sabotage of agreements, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said.

      “Certainly,” Peskov said, responding to a question whether attacks against Russian power infrastructure are viewed as sabotage and an attempt to disrupt agreements reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

      “Information has already been widely available about the command of the Russian President, the command of the supreme commander-in-chief of Russia [about termination of strikes against Ukrainian power facilities for the period of 30 days] at the moment of launching these attacks. The Kiev regime did nothing to cancel them. Therefore, such actions definitely run counter to these common efforts,” Peskov stressed.

      https://tass.com/politics/1930739

      Now I would still expect Russia to adhere to its side of the deal for appearance’s sake, since among other reasons running out the ceasefire clock is running out the clock, it looks good before the Global South, and it puts the US in the awkward position of needing to beat up on Ukraine, which just embarrassed Trump. Russia no doubt regards regime change as a necessary but not sufficient condition for an end to the hot conflict. The topic is absent from the readouts of both sides. Admittedly, this may not be the sort of thing that can be discussed in recorded exchanges, but the Russians will likely push on this issue on next level meetings where not translators are present.

      And remember, keeping the ceasefire is no cost to Russia. Russia was not reinstigating the electric war. Putin may have decided he did not want to wreck Ukraine further unless absolutely necessary to allow the possibility of a a somewhat viable post-conflict Ukraine. And if Russia wants to drop the hammer, it could probably start in Sept and have the job done in a few weeks, leaving enough time for the population to decamp before the really cold temps kicked in…of course creating a humanitarian crisis. That is presumably a less preferred outcome but is still very much there.

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      1. Darthbobber March 19, 2025 at 9:58 am

         The Russians might well be giving even less than appearances indicate. If they’re intending to launch major offensives with the end of the rasputista, the strikes on power plants and relays in the Ukrainian deep rear would be paused for awhile in any case, to focus on logistics hubs and assembly points in the near rear..

         So it could well be time for that “halt”, which is just a change of targets, for purely military reasons.

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   4. timbers March 19, 2025 at 8:35 am

      New Not-So-Cold War

      Looks like Simplicus didn’t make the list, but I read it last night. Quick take is, Russia kept responding with technical concerns needed to achieve what the US and Russia agree upon, like how is a truce to be monitored, weapon supplies and intel must be halted entirely by all The Western nations for hostilities cease, etc. US response was basically a vacuous dead blank stare back with the eyeballs as they seem completely out of their depth at implementation which fits Trump’s modis perfectly. The read is not unlike Larry Johnson’s.

      Western MSM is also being shown to be utterly out of it’s depth and incompetent. For several days now, headlines like Putin Agrees to Ceasefire, Deal Reached, etc, have mislead Westerners. As if it happens because Harry Potter waived his magic wand so it must be so, nothing else needs doing. The MSM in this case may not be trying to manage narrative so much as just completely incapable of reading and interpreting what Putin/Russia is actually saying.

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      1. Louis Fyne March 19, 2025 at 8:42 am

         lol. Team Marco Rubio, nor Team Jake Sullivan, would be able to produce a detailed technical primer on the logistics of a cease fire.

         I hate “4-D chess” hypotheses, but it does feel like Putin is playing a long-game and setting the backdrop under which Trump can politically-walk away from Ukraine later in the year

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2. Zagonostra March 19, 2025 at 7:22 am

   >Why We Should Worry When Whales Stop Singing Bloomberg

   …given how important singing is to whales’ reproduction, social interactions and foraging, their silence signals trouble. A whale has no energy for song…devastated populations of krill, anchovies and sardines that the cetaceans eat.

   Much like humans. To open my phone and see images of U.S. supplied bombes raining down indiscriminately on innocent Palestinians makes it hard to pick up my guitar, listen to songs, and enjoy social relations. It feels with all the bad news there is no “energy for song.” Without a periodic self-imposed media quarantine, to immerse myself back into the analog world around me, to feed my spiritual “krill”, I’d starve.

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   1. southern appalachian March 19, 2025 at 7:33 am

      You speak my mind

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      1. MicaT March 19, 2025 at 8:51 am

         The YouTube dialog works with Wilkerson is the best I’ve seen. He is pissed.
         I highly recommend the listen.
         And it’s just so sad.

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         1. ChrisFromGA March 19, 2025 at 10:00 am

            I second the recommendation.

            Just started listening – Wilkerson makes the point right out of the gate that Israel has never honored the ceasefire, they’ve killed Gazans every single day since Jan. 20.

            It’s all so depressing – the press won’t report honestly on this, Orange Julius’ coddling of Netanyahu, now Gabbert turning out to be a turncoat. It’s lie after lie.

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   2. Ghost in the Machine March 19, 2025 at 9:57 am

      I have been pretty cynical about my country, the US, for many years, but it is only in the last few that I internalized it was profoundly and thoroughly evil. Evil political leadership. Evil corporate leadership. The actual structure of the limited liability corporation to maximize shareholder value selects for evil leadership. The economic system is evil. Life destroying. Although we share this evil with many including our adversaries.
      I also gave to Tulsi’s presidential bid. And now this. The situation is soul destroying. What does someone who sees reality tell children?
      Is the only way to save the world from this evil collapse of the system? That seems to be what is happening. Many commentators I have grown to respect, Sachs, Wilkerson etc. indicate that an attack on Iran would do the job. Evil and also insane.
      The only hope is that it seems that most citizens are not evil, just ignorant and struggling. But desperate ignorant people do dangerous things. Can the powerful successfully enslave us officially and overtly?
      I too might have to take a media break and play guitar. I have a feeling reality would quickly intrude, however.

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3. OIFVet March 19, 2025 at 7:30 am

   Re Turkish police detain Erdoğan’s main political rival.

   I am all pins and needles for EU’s position to this blatant violation of the democratic process in the wake of what transpired and continues to transpire in Romania.

   Judging by the first reactions amongst liberal BG politicians, I expect it to be marked by utter lack of self-awareness. A Pandora’s Box was opened in Romania and now it will be tough to take the democratic high ground.

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   1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 7:48 am

      I wouldn’t get your hopes up for the EU. They just promised a coupla billion dollars to the mild head-choppers in Syria without demanding that they had to stop their massacres of Alawites and Christians first. More of those EU values at work

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      1. ChrisFromGA March 19, 2025 at 8:46 am

         Because HTS is so weak and doesn’t control Syria or even Damascus, it would be kind of funny of that money ended up in the wrong hands. Probably Israel, or maybe the SDF could simply walk into a bank and take it.

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         1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 9:02 am

            More likely that money would go into the hands of HTS’s owner – Erdogan.

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4. Zagonostra March 19, 2025 at 7:31 am

   >Tulsi Gabbard Wants Other Countries To Join the US in Attacking Yemen Antiwar.com (Kevin W)

   At the time, Gabbard was critical of the fact that the Yemen war was unauthorized by Congress, making US participation illegal under the Constitution.

   Both TG and BS received financial donations from me in their presidential bids. I sent several emails to friends asking to get on board and support them. And now, now they can go in the dustbin/trash.

   It seems a losing battle, almost everyone that held promise and then rises to a position of power sings a different tune than the one they were playing earlier, on their way up. Makes you want to take that “black pill.”

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5. Zagonostra March 19, 2025 at 7:38 am

   Wolf of X
   @tradingMaxiSL
   9. And free medical.

   As 4/15 approaches, I was looking for a financial advisor, thanks.

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   1. Wukchumni March 19, 2025 at 8:32 am

      …go long kitty crack, er Temptations

      p.s. a product of the Great White North, not sure if tariffist attacks were levied upon cat treats~

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      1. caucus99percenter March 19, 2025 at 9:18 am

         Orijen brand cat and dog food (made from “whole prey”) is also a soon-to-be-tariffed product of Maple-Leaf Land. Their “Regional Red” variant is said to contain, among other things, wild boar, bison, and Alberta lamb. Was always tempted to think of it as “regional roadkill” flavor.

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6. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 7:42 am

   “Back to cash: life without money in your pocket is not the utopia Sweden hoped”

   ‘Such is the perceived severity of the situation that the authorities are trying to encourage citizens to keep and use cash in the name of civil defence. In November, the defence ministry sent every home a brochure entitled If Crisis or War Comes, advising people to use cash regularly and keep a minimum of a week’s supply in various denominations to “strengthen preparedness”.’

   I got a idea. Instead of stockpiling cash and maybe food in their pantry, all those Swedes should emulate Trump and seek to have a personal strategic bitcoin reserve or other digital assets. Then it won’t matter if the power and net goes down because of those dastardly Russkies as they will have the potential wealth to buy all the food and services that they will want or need and will be technologically superior to all their quaint fellow citizens who invested in cash and the barbarous relic.

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   1. Trees&Trunks March 19, 2025 at 8:56 am

      I am getting tired of thanking Putin everyday for throwing a monkey-wrench into the stupid plans in the West.

      The latest major Putin-intervention to be thankful for was the new nuclear doctrine that said they would bomb USA too if they or the Eurotards were stupid enough to launch a nuclear bomb towards Russia. Most likely he and his team at least slowed down our path to nuclear war.

      Now thanks to the Putin-cyber-hackers-attackers-hybrid-shadow (feel free to add more scary words of your choice), obviously Putin-controlled and managed because he personally controls and manage absolutely every person and action of every person both individually and in aggregate, we may be able to use cash again in Sweden.

      Sweden is really a digital hellscape. I wanted to pay some local handymen for their services in cash but when trying to withdraw cash from the bank I was to undergo an interrogation and having to wait for a few weeks to get the cash.

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   2. JohnA March 19, 2025 at 9:31 am

      Funny you should mention no need to stockpile food and cash.

      In one of the main Swedish broadsheets today, a Swedish Defence University researcher claims the idea that society would suffer a catastrophic collapse in the event of war is a huge myth. Instead of prepping by stockpiling water and tins of food, what you will need is friends and social relationships.

      https://www.svd.se/a/Av9vgr/forskare-vid-forvarshogskolan-odla-relationer-bra-prepping-rad

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      1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 9:42 am

         Pretty sure that if you stockpiled water and tins of food while most people didn’t, that pretty soon the friends and social relationships would come to you. :)

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7. IM Doc March 19, 2025 at 7:45 am

   The melioidosis story brought back some memories……..

   I was an intern in July, my very first month in the big city and my very first call night as an MD. My attending physician ( boss ) was a world renowned infectious disease physician with a reputation for being just ruthless on rounds. Back in those days, as interns, we were on call every third night. That meant you admitted all the patients to the big inner city hospital that needed to come in, you took care of all the overnight happenings on all of your fellow intern’s patients, and you had to have everything ready to present to you attending by 7 AM the next AM. You then worked all day the post call day to get everyone tucked in. It was often 36 hours straight. It taught doctors how to think, how to prioritize, how to manage, how to behave under extreme pressure. This was also decided about 20 years ago to be too harsh. So now, we let the interns go home before 5, there is no overnight management, and instead of the 14 admissions like I had on my very first night, the interns are usually capped at 3-5 patients a day. And we wonder why young doctors do not know how to prioritize, manage emergencies, etc – but that discussion is for another day.

   We admitted 14 that first night. As an indication of that era, 11 of those people were AIDS patients in various stages of dying. 1 was a lung cancer patient, and 1 was a renal failure patient, the other one was a Vietnam veteran – about mid 40s – who was having what appeared to be cardiac chest pain, and a fever.

   The attending, again a very stern world class ID physician, arrived at 630AM. He sent my senior resident off to what is called Morning Report and looked at me pitifully and said “IM Doc will now take the students and I on rounds – and we will start with the very easiest patient.” So off we went to the Vietnam veteran with chest pain and fever.

   In those days, after all night on call, no sleep, the intern was asked to be at the foot of the bed, the attending on the front right side and the students all around. There were no notes, iPhones, papers, etc – all from memory. And the formal presentation was done by the intern. Right in front of the patient. “Mr. Smith is a 45 year old Vietnam Vet. He has been having fever for the past 3 days, and has developed a severe chest pain upon inspiration on the right side. …… cardiac enzymes are mildly positive….Chest X ray was negative….”

   From the attending – “Dr. IM Doc, could you please give us your discussion right now of the diagnosis of melioidosis and how it may comport with this patient?”

   Me – “Melioidosis, sir, umm, ahh, I did not even think of that, sir.”

   Attending – “Well, tell this patient what you know about melioidosis”

   Me – ( up for 26 straight hours – pager going off every 5 minutes ) – “Sir, I have no idea what that even is.”

   Attending – looking down at patient “Mr. Smith, I am so sorry that Dr. IM Doc here has completely humiliated himself, this team, and this hospital. This is completely unacceptable. This will not happen again. Dr. IM Doc and I will be back precisely at 2 PM. He will do this all over again. And he will know all about melioidosis and he will demonstrate to me how to diagnose it correctly. We are so sorry, Mr. Smith, we hold our doctors to a much higher standard than this.”

   My very first call day. My very first presentation. I wanted to melt into the floor. No mercy or compassion shown. I wanted to go back home. He was very very hard on me the whole month. I just knew I was going to flunk. So, on my very last day and my verbal review with him – he said – “You are not half bad. I see great promise in you. This is why I am so hard on you. Otherwise I would not waste my time” And four years later, when I finished and joined the faculty – he became one of my very first patients.

   We do not even remotely train doctors like this anymore. This was deemed too brutal about 20 years ago or so. And now the fruit of this decision is plain for all to see, especially the unfortunate patients in the hospital. There is a great accounting going on right now, however, just look at the state of the profession and the disaster that is our hospitals. Again, that is a post for another day.

   Melioidosis – is one of those ancient scourges of mankind. It does not get much press because it is not as common as some of the others and is largely confined to certain parts of the world. There are those who make a very good case that this may very well have been “The Plague of Athens” as described by Thucydides. The symptoms do comport. It is found in very damp and warm parts of the world. Lots of wet soil and wet plant fronds – and it gets placed into open cuts. Very common in places like VietNam. It causes a very acute illness in most people that is like a severe pneumonia-but it can be sepsis. The chronic phase – and what my attending was getting at in Vietnam veterans – is that it can come back years later usually as initially unexplained fever and pleuritic chest pain. It is caused by organisms in.a gram negative family called Burkholderia. It is not to be messed with. No vaccines available.

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   1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 7:59 am

      Thanks IM Doc. Your comment now has me wondering how many Vietnam vets died after the war due to diseases like Melioidosis that they picked up in-country. And now I am wondering if there were any studies done to pick up on this. Surely the medical records of the Vets Admin would help out here. The 58,000 lost in Vietnam may turn out to have been only the down payment when you crank in things like suicide and diseases like this.

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   2. Zagonostra March 19, 2025 at 8:02 am

      We do not even remotely train doctors like this anymore. This was deemed too brutal about 20 years ago or so.

      Great anecdote, thanks for sharing.

      We do not raise children this way either. To be even a wee bit harsh to little Suzy when she does something untoward in public, would garner a harsh rebuke from many, including spouse. I can see this statement generalized into many areas of life. And maybe there is a better way, and then maybe not, to make sure when you drive home a point/learning, it sticks.

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8. mrsyk March 19, 2025 at 7:49 am

   Another round of effective antidotes, thank you. I’ve signed up for orange cat’s stock picking news letter. He seems to be doing well.

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   1. Judith March 19, 2025 at 8:19 am

      Perhaps the greater the number of antidotes, the worse the news.

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9. Stephen V March 19, 2025 at 7:50 am

   Looks to me like that cat has a job: guarding beehives. Not a bad gig!

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10. Wukchumni March 19, 2025 at 8:16 am

    Newsflash:

    This just in, (REDACTED) spent another peaceful day resting in Arlington, as is his custom.

    I always wondered, was it a bakers dozen worth of (REDACTED) on that grassy knoll blasting away at the Lincoln on Garfield Ave, far from Mt McKinley?

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    1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 8:34 am

       The unredacted JFK documents reveal that yes, Kennedy was killed that day and the cause of death was definitely bullets. No idea though what is in the 3,000 documents that still have not been released. Sixty years later and some secrets are still too hot to release.

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11. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 9:01 am

    “The Iran War Plan”

    Pretty sure that it was Scott Ritter who pointed out then when the Pentagon wargamed out an attack on Iran, they found that it would last at least a decade and the end would be very uncertain indeed. None of the Arab states like Saudi Arabia would want a bar of it as it would put their oil infrastructure into the territory of collateral damage. And the US does not have the troop numbers to actually invade Iran successfully so it would be a missile slogging match with the complications that the Russian would be aiding out here. And what would Trump get out of it exactly? A war that he can hand over to the Vance Presidency? A pat on the head by Netanyahu? A chance to completely empty US military inventories? The risk of US Navy ships going down? Does Trump even know what he wants? I am reminded of an incident in the early days of the Vietnam war. The US was quickly getting bogged down so the White House called in a highly regarded Admiral for advice. He took a look at the war and then asked the White House about what they wanted the end state to look like. As the White house did not know themselves, they just sacked that Admiral.

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    1. MicaT March 19, 2025 at 9:54 am

       There is a section in the dialog works with Col Wilkerson that covers war with Iran. He thinks it would be a disaster.

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12. Wukchumni March 19, 2025 at 9:22 am

    Back to cash: life without money in your pocket is not the utopia Sweden hoped Guardian
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Cash* doesn’t last, but coins are really your best hope for future historical artifacts, pretty much the most common item found since the Lydians came up with the concept back in the day.

    When Sweden ran out of precious metals in the 17th century, but was loaded with productive copper mines, they minted large ‘coin’ plates weighing up to 44 pounds made out of copper. Most of the examples on the market come from a shipwreck in 1783 off the coast of South Africa that was salvaged in the 1970’s.

    Sweden, though home to extensive copper mines, some of which have been worked continually for over 900 years, does not have a readily available source of precious metal. By the early 17th century, Sweden’s precious metal reserves had been exhausted by a series of expensive foreign wars, and the government responded by striking copper coins of ever increasing size. In 1644 came the first issue of the famous plate coins, a huge 10 daler piece weighing over 44 pounds. This and the equally rare 8 daler piece were too awkward for use, but the principle proved economically sound and the idea was accepted by the people. From that point until the 1750’s plate coinage was produced in denominations ranging from 1/2 to 4 daler, and remained legal tender until 1777. Many pieces then fell to the melting pot, as their usefulness as metal outweighed their intrinsic value. The most famous source for these plates has been the “Nicobar” shipwreck hoard, an East Indiaman who sank in 1783 with eight tons of copper plates as cargo and ballast, intended for the eastern trade. Most of the Swedish plate money currently on the market come from this shipwreck, and show the effects of 200 years under water.

    https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=270093

    We tend to think of money in coins and currency, but every culture had something else that sufficed, here in the USA it was pretty much a shell game, Wampum (specific shells & clams) on the east coast, and by simply moving shells from say Malibu eastward, they became more valuable the further they went.

    Gold didn’t seem to garner much interest among the Native Americans, here in Cali the first to get to gold bearing rivers in the Gold Rush found so much just laying in the river, one place in Downieville was called ‘Tin-Cup Diggins’ as thats how much early argonauts could expect to find in a day of searching for the golden fleece.

    Bricks of tea were utilized as money in Russia, the Aztecs had copper axe money, the Japanese made clay money, and hundreds of other go betweens.

    * I once did an appraisal on around $40k face value worth of large size National Banknotes from around 1900 that were hidden in a wall for 80 years, and 95% of it crumbled if you barely touched it.

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13. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 9:55 am

    “Ice Blast: East Kazakhstan Rescuers Share Mesmerizing Video”

    It’s kinda like watching fireworks but done with ice and snow. And once you start watching, you want to watch it through to the end.

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14. Camacho March 19, 2025 at 10:00 am

    Trapped Antarctic scientists plead for rescue after ‘assault’ The Times (Micael T)

    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

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15. Zagonostra March 19, 2025 at 10:09 am

    >JFK Assassination Records National Archives (Martin O)

    Showing 1 to 10 of 2,181 entries

    Yeah, not on the reading list for today, or probably in my lifetime…

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16. Wukchumni March 19, 2025 at 10:15 am

    Wildfire fallout – insurers set to reassess risk, tighten policies in California Insurance Business
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The insurance renewal on my cabin comes in a month or 2, hopefully that is. If not, i’ll become another cabin owner in the community bare asset naked, of which about 40% are currently.

    Not much I can do in terms of making my surroundings safer up in the forest for the pine trees, as i’m practically surrounded by them-which has been quite the blessing in that when its a hundred and hell down below on the fruited plain, those same sentinels tend to shade out the Sun, allowing me to live la vida 72 degrees.

    I’ve had the cabin now for 13 years and greatly enjoyed it, and were it to be consumed in a blaze along with the other 55 or so cabins, I would just take the insurance money and not rebuild.

    If you think the situation of rebuilding is daunting in SoCal currently, my scenario would unfold like this:

    Its 639 significant turns and 21 miles from the turn on Hwy 198 to get to my place, there is literally one blind curve after another in much of sojourn as an added bonus, and you’d have to locate a contractor in probably Visalia to drive about 3 hours each way every working day, to build a new cabin, and 55 other cabins would be vying for that guy willing to put crazy wear on vehicles dragging up everything necessary to build a cabin, and good luck with that.

    The guy I bought my cabin from was a contractor and built it himself and brought up every last piece of cabin in his work truck, or should I say trucks, as he told me he wore out 3 of them building his cabin for me, as it turned out.

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    1. The Rev Kev March 19, 2025 at 10:21 am

       If that was true for your own cabin, then how the hell did those other 55 cabins get to be built? They can’t all have been built by contractor/builders.

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       1. Wukchumni March 19, 2025 at 10:34 am

          Most of them date from the 1930’s-40’s and are board and batten built-not insulated, really only basic lodging for summer months-not meant to be used in the winter.

          None of them would come close to passing muster in terms of building codes currently, adding to their excessive charm.

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17. flora March 19, 2025 at 10:18 am

    I’m fine with T deporting Tren-de-something gang members here in the country illegally.
    I’m not fine with T trying to deport someone in the country legally, someone with a green card, because they said something T (and his biggest sponsor) doesn’t like. What happened to T’s love of the 1st Amendment? How’s he gonna criticize the EU’s Digital Services Act if he goes through with deportations based on speech he doesn’t like?

    Jimmy Dore, utube, ~29+ minutes.

    Marco Rubio CAN’T DEFEND Deporting Pro-Palestinian Mahmoud Khalid!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJoTi4ioq0A

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    1. flora March 19, 2025 at 10:23 am

       Not that the Dems have clean hands on this issue. / ;)

       Dore, utube, ~2 minutes.

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6t36qPJLgE

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    2. Yves Smith Post authorMarch 19, 2025 at 10:24 am

       You have no idea if those Venezuelans were gang members. Neither does anyone. And if you know DAs and prosecutors, they will tell you cops plant evidence all the time.

       It’s pretty appalling to see Trump able to dog-whistle this level of cruelty by doing the legal equivalent of name-calling.

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18. Carolinian March 19, 2025 at 10:22 am

    Re new war plan against Iran–there’s really nothing in Kipperstein’s article other than cited passages of milspeak blather and the hint that the bomber boyz favorite, “decapitation strikes,” may be on the way. Also the Israelis will need some Arab governments to cooperate.

    In other words the war plan is they have no plan but a louder mouth than usual to threaten it in the person of DT. That’s of course when he’s not hinting at a new detente with Iran if they show a little deference. The “face/heel” (ht Lambert) duality continues.

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19. antidlc March 19, 2025 at 10:31 am

    https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/department-of-defense-takes-down-article-on-jackie-robinson-time-in-army-dodgers-legend-broke-color-barrier-01jpq6xte0gb
    Department of Defense Takes Down Article on Jackie Robinson’s Time in Army
    Jackie Robinson both broke baseball’s color barrier and served in the United States Army during World War II, but new federal policies have led to his story getting swept under the rug.

    Now, the link leads to a 404 error page. “Dei” was added to the URL.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles-navajo-code-talkers-removed-223000982.html
    Articles about Navajo Code Talkers removed in Pentagon’s DEI purge

    Some articles were put back.

    Click to Edit – 

    

    https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/department-of-defense-takes-down-article-on-jackie-robinson-time-in-army-dodgers-legend-broke-color-barrier-01jpq6xte0gb <strong>Department of Defense Takes Down Article on Jackie Robinson’s Time in Army Jackie Robinson both broke baseball's color barrier and served in the United States Army during World War II, but new federal policies have led to his story getting swept under the rug.</strong> <blockquote>Now, the link leads to a 404 error page. "Dei" was added to the URL.</blockquote> https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles-navajo-code-talkers-removed-223000982.html <strong>Articles about Navajo Code Talkers removed in Pentagon’s DEI purge</strong> Some articles were put back.

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