Scientists Found the Exact Angle That Turns a Crowd Into Chaos SciTech Daily
The global majority is more conservative than the global North. Why? Institutional War Theory
Climate/Environment
Uninsurable and unaffordable: climate change and the rising cost of housing The Guardian
1 in 7 Homes Does Not Have Home Insurance as Premiums Skyrocket Realtor
Climate change drives surge in global energy demand Carbon Brief
Pandemics
Measles cases rise to 23 in Kansas, may be linked to large multistate outbreak CNN
Remedy Supported by Kennedy Leaves Some Measles Patients More Ill New York Times
China?
Trump says he may reduce China tariffs to help close a TikTok deal CNBC
European Disunion
Left Party leader Gregor Gysi calls for unity with the warmongers WSWS. Germany.
Poland plans to use EU Covid recovery funds for defence and security spending Notes from Poland
Poland only has ammo for two weeks of war – security chief RT
NATO would defend Poland “with full force” if Russia attacks, says secretary general in Warsaw Notes from Poland
EU urges citizens to stockpile 72 hours’ worth of supplies amid war risk CNN. Here’s the video (not a parody):
🚨La Commissione Von der Leyen chiede alle famiglie europee di preparare un kit di sopravvivenza per le crisi (quali non è specificato) con questo video che sembra una parodia, e che probabilmente verrà rimosso presto.
Voce, musica, risatine: tutto è semplicemente catastrofico. pic.twitter.com/gV18mHkgsl
— Paolo Mossetti (@paolomossetti) March 26, 2025
Old Blighty
Estonia’s fears after UK cuts British troop numbers The Times
4 US soldiers missing from training exercise in Lithuania Anadolu Agency
India
India ditches its ‘Google Tax’, perhaps to tickle Trump and dodge tariffs The Register
India & African nations to hold 1st joint naval exercise in Indian Ocean. Why it matters The Print
Syraqistan
ISRAEL PREPARES ANOTHER INVASION Seymour Hersh
Why Israel’s plans to forcibly depopulate Gaza won’t work Mondoweiss
Palestinians Protest Hamas in a Rare Public Show of Dissent in Gaza Asharq Al-Awsat. Commentary:
1\ The protests seem to have started spontaneously in small numbers & limited areas. Their grievances are genuine; people are tired, desperate for the genocide to end at any cost, many want Hamas to step down from gov to take away Israel’s pretext for the siege & killing
But… pic.twitter.com/efIXdnkvRl
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) March 26, 2025
***
Trade In a Time of Genocide Declassified Australia
‘Israeli tech is a long-term asset, not a short-term risk’: Avi Hasson on Israel’s tech future Ynet
“Bigger than Wiz”: Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire says Israel can build trillion-dollar companies CTech
***
US launches new aggression on Yemen with 15 airstrikes Al Mayadeen
The Path to Tehran: Strikes in Yemen Signal a Broader Confrontation with Iran Elijah J. Magnier
Talk of US-Iran war is all a load of baloney Indian Punchline
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine and Russia’s Truce Agreements Run into Trouble within Hours Asharq Al-Awsat
Kiev’s Desperate Offensive In Belgorod As Negotiations Go Nowhere/The Reason A Trump Deal To End Ukraine War Is Not In Russia’s Interests The Real Politick with Mark Sleboda (video)
SITREP 3/26/25: Signal-Gate Crash + Russia-US Make Progress as Ukraine Stalls Simplicius
***
US looking for ‘proper way’ to reconnect Russia to SWIFT – Treasury secretary RT
There’s a right way to lift sanctions on Russia. Follow these Dos and Don’ts. Atlantic Council
EU says sanctions stay until ‘unconditional’ Russian withdrawal from Ukraine AFP
European force in Ukraine could ‘respond’ if attacked by Russia, says French president TVP World
As Macron talks about building up Europe’s defenses, Ukraine awaits for actual results Kyiv Independent
***
Putinism? News Forensics
Zelensky: “Putin will die soon, it’s a fact, and his safe and unsuccessful historical life will end.
I’m younger than Putin. Place your bets on me. My prospects are better.” pic.twitter.com/5oiX2q1UZB
— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) March 26, 2025
South of the Border
Bolsonaro must stand trial over alleged coup attempt, Brazil’s top court rules The Guardian
Trump 2.0
Trump: All imported autos face 25% tariff beginning April 3 Detroit Free Press
Over time, firms will have to move final assembly to the US — but in the interim, the US market will be under supplied absent (expensive) imports and Americans may simply try to wait it out …
6/
— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) March 26, 2025
***
Appeals court keeps block on Trump’s sweeping funding freeze The Hill
Federal Appeals Court Keeps Block on Trump Use of Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants ACLU
Mike Johnson Suggests Eliminating Federal Courts After Trump Rulings Blocked Truthout
***
Trump Dubs Himself ‘Fertilization President’ At Women’s History Month Event Newsweek
DOGE
How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China ProPublica
More evidence of government inefficiency and waste: Some idiot demanded that every federal employee email five bullet points of what they did last week, but failed to set up an inbox that could cope with that volume of incoming email, so the messages bounced. pic.twitter.com/xK2YBZyS5C
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) March 26, 2025
2028
The 2028 Election Starts Now America’s Undoing
SignalGate
Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal The Atlantic
Timeline: The Houthi Attack Chat on Signal That Includes A Journalist Racket News
Um.
So did @CENTCOM level a whole apartment building to kill one guy? pic.twitter.com/UQyhQU3NI4
— Konstantin Toropin (@KToropin) March 26, 2025
Democrat: Leaked Messages Show Waltz Admitting to War Crime in Yemen Strike Truthout. Well, at least one Democrat is saying it.
Chatgate: Senator Mark Warner’s Shifting Stance on Leaks Matt Taibbi, Racket News
***
Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online Der Spiegel
What to know about the Espionage Act and Signalgate Axios
Judge at centre of row with Trump over Venezuela deportations will hear Signal lawsuit The Guardian
***
Asking the Wrong Questions About Jeffrey Goldberg Rootless Cosmopolitan
Michael Waltz’s Venmo Is Public, and It’s Full of Journalists The American Prospect
Police State Watch
FBI Becomes Rent-A-Cops for CEOs Ken Klippenstein. Everything just more in the open now.
Deconstructing the new American oligarchy Blood in the Machine
NEW—After a day of uncertainty on where agents took Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, she seems to be in a Louisiana facility.
1400 miles from where she was taken.
A judge ordered to not take her out of state without 48 hour notice. She was detained last night.https://t.co/rJUEmLURnJ— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) March 26, 2025
Perilous Times for Personal Liberty Judge Andrew Napolitano
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
I won’t connect my dishwasher to your stupid cloud Jeff Geerling
Supply Chain
Trump’s Critical-Minerals Obsession Is Leading to Some Weird Places Kate Aronoff, The New Republic
AI
Apple says it’ll use Apple Maps Look Around photos to train AI The Verge
Why Your City’s Street Grid Matters More Than You Think The Transit Guy
Healthcare?
Vaccine skeptic hired to head federal study of immunizations and autism WaPo
The NIH Moves to Stop Studying Vaccine Skepticism The Bulwark
Imperial Collapse Watch
US Annual Threat Assessment is a Hot Mess Larry Johnson
Mad Men: Selling war where it counts, in DC metros and buses Responsible Statecraft
SM-6 Missile Closer To Proving Hypersonic Weapon Intercept Capability After Aegis Destroyer Test The War Zone
Class Warfare
Florida child labor bill SB 918 would let minors as young as 14 work overnight Pensacola News Journal
Florida wants to loosen child-labor laws to make up for loss of migrant workers The Independent
The Big Bank Plotting to Privatize the Post Office Under Trump In These Times
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
201 comments
Comments are closed.
“4 US soldiers missing from training exercise in Lithuania”
I notice that other people have had the same thought. Have they tried looking for them in the Ukraine?
Maybe they just defected because they didn’t want to return to the US? Wouldn’t you?
In the past the US would play games with casualty numbers. So a mortally wounded US soldier serving in Iraq would be kept alive just long enough to be flown to Cyprus or Germany whereupon he would be pronounced dead. And that would mean that he was not counted as killed in action in Iraq. No idea if their family missed out on any benefits by this happening. The Israelis played the same game before the present war by saying that a soldier died falling off a ladder or in a car accident when actually they were killed in action. These four soldiers? Who knows? Unless it was a bona fida accident, it could be four mouths being silenced about what they did in the Ukraine. It does happen.
i am pretty sure those anecdotes are wrong. The US Army is not Ukraine.
The US military has hazard pay, but not a separate hazard life insurance. It doesn’t matter where a 19 y.o. dies on duty for any survivorship benefits
Damn sure they are fact. Back then Bush was hiding US casualties in Iraq as it might drain support for the Global War On Terror. That term sound familiar?. Don’t you remember how it was made verboten to film US flag-draped coffins coming back from Iraq through airports in the US? I remember.
There is a long history of US military personnel not bejng “US military personnel” on certain missions: there’s the Flying Tigers from WW2, of course. But, during the Cold War, everyone flying U2 over USSR was officially CIA (as in, they officially resigned from US military and were signed on by CIA while doing these missions.) and the opposite for missions over Cuba. I am pretty sure there are no US soldiers in Ukraine…technically speaking.
Case in point which people of my generation may remember: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union and captured in 1960.
Maybe they got caught defecting.
I read that they were discovered in their sunken armor recovery vehicle, in a swamp.
Thousands of years, our forests and swamps have been dangerous places for foreign fighters. Kind of a point of pride that they stay that way.
It is a part of the reason we still occupy a space (however small) on maps.
They have declared them dead, and then changed their minds. Maybe transport of the bodies from Ukraine took more than expected.
https://www.dw.com/en/nato-retracts-comment-on-death-of-4-us-soldiers-in-lithuania/a-72048878
Wow the NATO forces have invented game-soldiers with multiple lives! Super Sarah AC Bros?
unfamiliar terrain, sparsely populated region, likely 20 y.o. kids commanded by a 25 y.o.
no need for tin foil. plenty of tin fpil needed for other things.
Still, once they were dead, but now they are not?
It seems like they are dead again.
Homeland secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to the megaprison in El Salvador has to be seen to be appreciated. And Trump was complaining about Zelensky’s sartorial tastes… at least Kristi wasn’t wearing shorts and a tank top in the sweltering prison.
Homeland Security Secretary Noem visits the El Salvador prison where deported Venezuelans are held AP
It would be nice if we could consider such people as unserious. But they are deadly serious. I’m not sure how MS13 or Tren Agua can be managed under neoliberal capitalism.
Love that photo op…”Hey, get all the guys with full body tattoos up to the front for us.”
But IMHO, some gangs wear tattoos, others wear suits, and some wear stupid hats and have Mar-a-Lago faces.
Of course some have suits and still have tattoos-
https://newlinesmag.com/essays/pete-hegseths-tattoos-and-the-crusading-obsession-of-the-far-right/
I liked it better when she was killing pets that gave her agita~
I notice that in that image of her walking down that corridor surrounded by all those officials and guards, that she was wearing a Zelensky-inspired outfit. Is that very respectable to her hosts? I noticed too that the bodyguard on the right is carrying a P90 which is a serious piece of hardware-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_P90
Trump Dubs Himself ‘Fertilization President’ At Women’s History Month Event Newsweek
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think of our teetotalitarian leader as more of a stir manure sort of fellow, rather than steer manure.
He should have brought along the unofficial Co-President – Elon Musk. Musk has so many kids that the older ones only find out about a new sibling by reading it in the media. And yes, this is true.
Pooh — compared to some, Musk is a piker, strictly amateur hour.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/netflixs-man-1000-kids-puts-spotlight-lack-international-regulations-s-rcna159073
Nah, some real men put the actual effort into it:
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/tanzanian-man-has-16-wives-104-children-my-father-wanted-to-expand-our-clan-7838589
Usher is carrying his end of sharing his genius seed for the future. He drags his mini me around after learning Trumpster is a family first man
Trump dubs himself ‘fertilization president’, not to be confused with Clinton who was more of the ‘on-the-dress president’. Musk approves, and brings all of his kids to the White House, wearing a Red Hat of Distraction.
I think we can all agree he’s full of fertilizer.
I would suggest using the name Trump as a word . . . a synonym for “fecal waste material”. If enough people use it that way often enough, it might enter the language.
” You’re full of trump”.
“Excuse me, I have to go take a trump.”
” Cut the bulltrump.”
” Don’t step in the dogtrump.”
” as happy as a pig in trump”
etc.
In British slang, a “Trump” is a fart, so that is not too far off the mark. We also need to come up with nouns for “Pelosi” “Schumer” and “Jeffries”… as you just know that the Democratic Party has aided and abetted Republican malfeasance and overreach every step of the way.
Should the Democrats win in the 2026 midterms or 2028 presidential election, they will make no attempt to clean up whatever mess Trump made of things by then, and the Democrats would probably be sad that they will have to find another political scapegoat for their own incompetence after Trump.
“Wet trump” would be on the mark.
He’s steering us into ever-deeper manure.
2025 – “Poland plans to use EU Covid recovery funds for defence and security spending”
2030 – “Poland does not have enough soldiers to man their equipment through high Long Covid rates”
And to think that during my studies it was forcefully impressed upon our minds that budgeting and bookkeeping rules do not, ever, allow diverting funds allocated for a specific purpose with its own accounting position to a completely different usage on a separate account…
It was also the time where it was impressed upon our minds that a firm buying its own shares was a crime, that balance sheet and income statement had to reflect the economic situation of the firm faithfully, that the profit rate of private corporations included a premium compared to treasury bonds because firms did not have a safety net preventing them from going bankrupt, that interest rates could never go below zero…
Our thieving Bulgarian politicians plan to do the same, because the poorest and most corrupt country in the EU does not need recovery, it needs more commissions and kickbacks from arms dealing.
Simplicius reports of finding 4 American soldiers — dead.
Bombs really need to hit America, people then can reflect about a whole building collapsing and call it excellent news.
Caitlin Johnstone recently made the point that when we see genocidal maniacs in films, that we recognize them straight away and know that they are evil. But in real life most people just can’t seem to make the connection-
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/in-movies-we-understand-that-the-genocidal-child-murderers-who-blow-up-hospitals-are-the-villains-4c978486c77b
Seems like the last time a building was levelled here by people from the Hadhramaut reflection was about the last thing we engaged in. Judge Nap was saying yesterday that he can trace many of our ongoing problems to 9/11, and he is not wrong. They should have gone after Bush Jr. when they had the chance but all those corporate Democrats wanted their imperial presidency as well. And now here we are.
Yep. Quoting American historian Carroll Quigley about the American duopoly parties.
“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies… is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
― Carroll Quigley
I remember B saying upon winning in 2020 that basically nothing will change.
That’s exactly how it was when I was in high school in Columbia SA. They had two parties, one conservative the other liberal and they switched out every election. Very fair solution and nothing ever changed. The elite kept their position, and the poor stayed poor. At least until then narco-trafficante’s put themselves in the mix. Then it was just kidnapping murder and extortion for all.
Files release pending, should answer many 9/11 questions like Whodunnit!
My Pet Goat, and gold, too!
Miniseries material, or a 1970s-ish thriller.
Yes it’s both. The Intercept is making a useful point by talking about the Waltz/Vance approval of a war crime in Yemen but under Biden USA was an accessory to the murder of 50k plus and maybe 16,000 children in Gaza, a slaughter that is now continuing.
So Trump has already crossed the Rubicon into becoming Genocide Don in the service of the client that is not really our client. Trump can fire a lot of people in DC but he can’t fire Congress and seems disinclined to even fire the idiotic Waltz, a Pompeo with fewer brains. The corruption of our govt, across the board, is off the scale.
The only way the slaughter in Gaza can either continue, resume or increase with Biden long out of office by now is if it has the approval of Trump. So it would be Trump’s genocide now.
And the plan to take Gaza over, expel every last Palestinian to . . . somewhere . . . and turn it into the Trumpiera of the Middle East is strictly, only and totally Trump’s. No Biden anywhere in it.
Oh, Joe had a go!
https://www.reuters.com/world/egypt-rejects-any-displacement-palestinians-into-sinai-says-sisi-2023-10-18/
“Normalcy” for the USA is hundreds of mass shootings yearly.
Reflections?
Nothing thoughts and prayers can’t alleviate in a jiffy!
Our King Donald is no Cassius Clay!
Donald the King
Sung to the tune of “Black Superman – the Muhammad Ali Song”, by Johnny Wakelin
Melody
This here’s the story of Donald Trump
Who changed America into a fascist dump!
He knows how to talk, and he knows how to lie
And all you on Medicare can just go and die!
Sing!
The Donald, the Donald’s our king
He’l de-bloat the government, but there’s just one thing …
The Donald’s our modern strongman
Who calls to the other guys … I’ve got immune-it-ee … jail me if you can!
Now, all you war fans, let’s face it, chumps
There ain’t no peaceniks with Donald Trump
He fills the arenas wherever he goes
And everyone gets what they’ve paid for …
The Donald, he’s not very bright
You’ll watch him shuffle to a world war tonight
He moves like the Orange Superman, and calls to the other guys, I’ve got immune-it-tee … catch me if you can!
He says “I’m the greatest the world’s ever seen!”
The rap-beating champion who came back again
My ear is so pretty, you don’t see a scar
Which proves I’m the King of this country by far!
Sing!
The Donald, the Donald’s our king!
He’s our Mussolini, folks, so go kiss the ring
The Donald, the Orange Superman
Who calls to the other guys … I’ve got immune-it-ee … catch me if you can!
[Sax solo]
[Howard Cosell voice-over; classic Trump footage]
And a right cross to the judiciary! A punishing uppercut to Congress! Down goes democracy, down goes democracy!
Sing!
The Donald, the Donald’s our king!
He’ll de-bloat the government, but there’s just one thing
The Donald’s our modern strongman
Who falls for his filthy lies? … you all do … catch him if you can!
Who falls for his filthy lies? … you all do … jail him if you can!
So well done!
Don has a feeling, a beautiful ceiling
The smell of grasp just makes you pass into a dream
You’re here today, no future fears
This reich will last a thousand years
If you want it to
You look around you, things they astound you
So breathe in deep, you’re not asleep open your mind
You’re here today, no future fears
This reich will last a thousand years
If you want it to
Do you understand that all over this land there’s a feeling?
In minds far and near, things are becoming clear with a meaning
Now that you’re knowing, pressure starts flowing
It’s true life lies, faster than eyes could ever see
You’re here today, no future fears
This reich will last a thousand years
If you want it to
Dawn is a Feeling by the Moody Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ZzvgsdEms
Thanks for that Moody Blues deep cut. A new addition to our songbook, as well.
Love the Moody Blues.
now do Ride my Seesaw
Simplicius the Thinker wrote:
“Coordinated operation” isn’t what I’d call it.
It’s self-destabilizing.
The opposition gerontocracy couldn’t begin figure out how to “do a signal” if they tried.
Losers, even compared to the twits in charge.
Simplicius is counting the europols and eurocrats in this coordinated operation. I, otoh, am reminded of Chas Freeman’s remark that Europe is much less than the sum of its parts. Simplicius own articles detail their chaotic cycles of summits, group photos, disagreements, and cross-purposed press releases. If Europe cannot unify around hatred of Trump and war with Russia, what can it unify around?
Self-loathing?
“Coordinated operation” is pure wishful thinking. The destabilization is all Trump’s and is all deliberate on Trump’s and Musk’s part.
Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’
Hurry up and die? Is this why? I mean it is not like they want to give the future useless eaters UBI or anything..
In 2004, Gates predicted that spam would be eliminated within two years. However, spam remains a persistent problem. Thank you Google AI!!!
Well, for teachers it’s really beyond his control what humans teach each other.
I can’t think of anything billg at microsoft.com is needed for. His continued media and tax dodge charity presence is one of the best arguments for squillionaire disapproriation I think one could make.
IMHO, as a senior who’s visited many doctors, we don’t even need AI to replace many of those expensive visits (I wouldn’t trust AI). A high school graduate with a smart-phone app can order the standard tests, make diagnoses, and prescribe most medications. A simple decision-tree app can diagnose probably 90-95% of the ailments the public sees doctors for. GPs (aka primary care physicians) are all too often just routing clerks sending patients to various specialists who often refer them to even more specialized physicians, at ever increasingly outrageous fees. The outcome is often either a recommendation for a very expensive operation or just a prescription, an outcome that an app could make in seconds rather than the months waiting for appointments. This would free up doctors to actually research the more uncommon ailments which tend to go undiagnosed because of the 15 minute rule dictated by insurance companies.
You’re of course entitled to your opinion, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. Medicine is a complex art that has basis in science. The experience gained through years of practice is what makes the physician valuable. I have a score of patients weekly, who arrive with their diagnosis already given by ‘Dr. Google,’ and are floored when I tell them that they have something 180 degrees from what they are expecting.
In addition to that, knowing when not to test is at least as important as knowing what to test. Each test opens a patient to the possibility of having a false result, or requiring further testing, or of being harmed by intervention. We estimate that up to 90,000 people are harmed (even killed) by medical management/error each year. Biopsies, procedural/medication errors, these things have real life consequences.
Physicians have done a terrible job at communicating these factors to patients, who have radically different perceptions of healthcare, based on media and advertising. We as a group have been sabotaged by neoliberal/libertarian economic forces that dominate American medicine.
I wish you luck with AI designed and run healthcare, but ask physicians how many would place their health in the hands of these algorithms, and I bet the answer is dependent on where their income is derived.
Is it going to be called AI-NT, or we have to wait for AI98, released in 2098?
‘MenchOsint
@MenchOsint
Zelensky: “Putin will die soon, it’s a fact, and his safe and unsuccessful historical life will end. I’m younger than Putin. Place your bets on me. My prospects are better.” ‘
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian Banderites might be willing to take up that bet. It explains why Zelensky spends so much time out of the country.
Russia to Trump: “Mr. President, who’s in charge of your proxy leader?” Perhaps some public hints that The Great Trump can’t control his underlings – or that in fact he IS in control of his proxy leader, might clarify matters and help provoke a Trumpian response to the disadvantage of Zelensky?
People are actually placing bets on him.
Will Zelensky wear suit next Trump meeting? 18% chance
https://polymarket.com/event/will-zelensky-wear-suit-next-trump-meeting
Zelensky resigns in 2025? 23% chance
https://polymarket.com/event/zelensky-resigns-in-2025
He has better prospects of resigninng than wearing a suit. :)
Trump is older and in worse shape physically than Putin, why no worry in regards to the former?
Donald has Vance, dunno who Putin has for a successor but whoever they are, they’re probably a lot tougher.
Russian Prime Minister Mishustin is Putin’s successor as Vance is Trump’s.
re: Ukraine War / USA
ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT
OF THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
March 2025
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2025-Unclassified-Report.pdf
via Martyanov
Martyanov with a goood longer entry:
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2025/03/it-merely-underscores.html
“(…)
Russian losses, while significant, are not “heavy” for such an operation. Its scale is beyond the grasp of Pentagon and, in general, American war experiences since Korea. You can read the whole thing by following this link. But as I write non-stop, American combat “thermostat” as far as combat losses go is set extremely low and shows an extreme sensitivity to own losses which has been pointed out on many occasions even by the most atrocious warmongers such as late fanatic Richard Pipes:
The United States is accustomed to waging wars of its own choosing and on its own terms. It lacks an ingrained strategic tradition. In the words of one historian, Americans tend to view both military strategy and the armed forces as something to be “employed intermittently to destroy occasional and intermittent threats posed by hostile powers.” This approach to warfare has had a number of consequences. The United States wants to win its wars quickly and with the smallest losses in American lives. It is disinclined, therefore, to act on protracted and indirect strategies, or to engage in limited wars and wars of attrition. Once it resorts to arms, it prefers to mobilize the great might of its industrial plant to produce vast quantities of the means of destruction with which in the shortest possible time to undermine the enemy’s will and ability to continue the struggle. Extreme reliance on technological superiority, characteristic of U.S. warfare, is the obverse side of America’s extreme sensitivity to its own casualties; so is indifference to the casualties inflicted on the enemy.
(…)”
p.s. another Russian war reporter was killed, Channel One, Anna Prokofieva
Came across a video today of her work at the frontlines-
https://www.bitchute.com/video/77vloTHnUFb9 (5:13 mins)
She was a gutsy woman.
Would you happen to have a serious source on the reporters killed during the Ukraine War so far and how?
I only found Wiki´s page.
Reporters Without Borders I didn´t even bother to look into.
I’m afraid that I cannot help here. But you are right about Reporter Without Borders as when they report reporter deaths, they do not mention Russian ones in the Ukraine and I don’t think many killed by Israelis either. Maybe they too got money from USAID.
From today´s German NACHDENKSEITEN this brief text.
It´s by Ulrich Heyden, their guy who has been in Russia since the early 1990s and was suspended by his paper 2022 after readers complained about him being too pro-RU – so much about enlightened Germans…. this was the left paper FREITAG. So there is even worse out there.
This report too claims they hit a mine. Martyanov – may be just automatically – wrote “drone” yesterday. I doubt it was a mine, frankly. Makes no sense. But I haven´t double-checked.
German version (see for embedded links):
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=130815
“(…)
Four dead Russian journalists in three days
Four Russian journalists have died at the hands of the Ukrainian military in three days – an alarming number. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the Ukrainian military is deliberately targeting Russian journalists. By December 2022 alone, 32 pro-Russian journalists had died in the Ukraine war. A report by Ulrich Heyden (Moscow).
The situation for journalists in the Ukraine war is not yet as dire as in the Gaza Strip, but it is heading in that direction. On March 26, 35-year-old journalist Anna Prokovyeva died in the Russian border region of Belgorod. She was a correspondent for Russian Channel 1. The car Prokovyeva was in crashed into a Ukrainian mine. The incident occurred in the Russian village of Demidovka near the Russian-Ukrainian border .
Prokovyeva’s colleague, cameraman Dmitry Volkov, was injured in the mine explosion. According to Kursk Region Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein, Volkov suffered burns to his respiratory tract, face, and other parts of his body. He is receiving artificial respiration in a Kursk hospital, and doctors are fighting for his life.
The murdered journalist, Anna Prokovyeva, was working as a correspondent in the town of Sudzha, which Ukrainian soldiers have abandoned. She participated in the evacuation of civilians.
Prokovyeva graduated from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Moscow with a degree in journalism. She was fluent in Spanish and worked for the Rossiya Sevodnya news agency . She joined Channel 1 in 2023. Her duties included reporting from the area of the Russian “special operation” in Ukraine.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry official Rodion Miroshnik , the mine that killed Prokovyeva and injured her cameraman was planted in an area where civilians were present.
Targeted fire with HIMARS missile
On March 24, three Russian journalists and three civilians were killed in a targeted attack with a HIMARS missile in the village of Mikhailovka in the Luhansk region. A correspondent for the newspaper Izvestia , 28-year-old Aleksandr Fyodorchak , as well as Andrei Panov and Aleksandr Sirkeli, the cameraman and driver for the military TV channel Zvezda , were fatally hit .
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the attacks on journalists were “a targeted measure by the Kyiv regime to cleanse the information space.” Before Zelenskyy, the Kyiv government had practiced censorship. “These measures then escalated into violence, including murders, the non-investigation of murders, the violent arrest of journalists, and attacks on editorial offices.” Now the Ukrainian military is “targeting Russian journalists.” Russia will raise this issue at the next UN Security Council meeting.
A spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General expressed his condolences to the families of the recently killed Russian journalists, but told the TASS news agency that the UN could not investigate the incidents without a mandate. Mandates are issued by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.
In December 2022, Russian Public Chamber member Aleksandr Malkevich published a list of 32 pro-Russian journalists who were murdered in connection with the war in Donbass between 2014 and 2022 .
(…)”
The list with the 32 “pro-Russians” (I counted 17 during SMO):
https://bloknot-donetsk.ru/news/malkevich-opublikoval-imena-pogibshikh-za-10-let-v-1809730
re: NEW—After a day of uncertainty on where agents took Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, she seems to be in a Louisiana facility.
The piece has Senator Warren condemning the arrest as an attack on speech.
But to my mind, the Democrats refusal to condemn Israel or the Israeli genocide speaks louder, makes me think if they had won the election they’d probably be doing the same.
Probably not a question that can be answered, but I wonder to what extent do we know if they would or woudn’t be doing the same, given their complicity in Israeli crimes and the obvious Zionism in the ranks, especially of team Biden and Kamala’s complete silence in the face of obvious genocide, and military support of the same?
Cop!
????
I will speculate that this use of “Cop!” is using it in the “Englandish” sense of the word.
” It’s a fair cop” and stuff like that there. Something like . . . ” busted” . . . or “gotcha” .
But someone who actually knows can tell us what this particular “Cop!” really means in this context.
“Probably not a question that can be answered, but I wonder to what extent do we know if they would or woudn’t be doing the same”
This is pretty easy to answer no to, imo. Black bagging protesters in the US by the feds started during the BLM protests in 2020 in Trump 1, then stopped under Biden, then escalated to black bagging and shipping out of state/out of country. I think Trump admin and ideology represents a clear ratchet to the right, even if both parties are both pointing the same general direction. (Dems were happy to call the cops on encampments, etc)
GUILLOTINE
Parody of “Tangerine”. Info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_(1941_song)
Frank Sinatra version (2:04):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V3larewcTo
Guillotines, for our kings and queens
With their hearts of coal and wealth beyond obscene,
Guillotine, when it slashes by,
All the peasants stare and rabble-rousers sigh
Put the swords, to our overlords
And the oligarchs who rule behind the scenes,
And I’ve seen, toasts to guillotine,
All across the land, from Texas to Racine.
Bridge:
Yes we have them all on the run,
For their heads belong to just one,
Their heads belong to guil-lo-tine!
Bravo!
p.s. killed Russian war reporters
British tabloid THE SUN is interesting because while smearing the killed as “pro-war Putin propagandists”
(when was there a single Western war reporter a “Bush/Biden-propagandist” ???)
they do provide names and faces.
Information the so-called legacy media (what legacy ffs!) would never come up with.
Of course THE SUN lies about the way they got killed.
These were neither mines nor accidents.
They were targeted by AFU-drones. But we can´t expect THE SUN to go full Monty…
FRONTLINE BLAST Russian war reporter killed by ‘Ukrainian mine’ in Belgorod – after she posted chilling last pic near charred vehicle
The Kremlin accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting Russian journalists and media workers inside the conflict zone
by Sayan Bose, Will Stewart
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/34080433/russian-war-reporter-killed-ukrainian-mine-belgorod/
Trump 2.0
“Over time, firms will have to move final assembly to the US –”
Final assembly. What does that actually mean?
I have a farm tractor (Mahindra) and one of the mechanics at the dealer told me that when he’s gone there for training ( Pa. I think) he sees tractors being unloaded having steel wheels. They are driven into the facility where the metal wheels are replaced with normal ones.
Now why is that? Is that the final assembly?
Yeah maybe some knows the details.
From what I read most plants in the us assemble cars from premade parts shipped in from all over the world.
Does that count as us made?
And 50% of cars sold in the us are fully imported.
I’m already reading about sales are down so much a steel mill laid off a lot of people.
Is Trump and or his advisors really this stupid?
“Is Trump and or his advisors really this stupid? ”
It does appear so.
What’s that hiding in my shoe? Ready. Aim. Fire!
GM is the master of “final assembly” semantics. Its full-size SUVs are assembled in Texas, but (per the window sticker) 34% of the parts value is USA, 34% Mexico, and the rest undisclosed other, presumably largely China (SAIC-GM China).with a smidge of EU, Korea, Taiwan.
Moving final assembly and/or parts to US production is like moving a truck with your hands. it’s going to take a while.
Wish Trump avoided the “go big or go home” mindset. moving production back to the US is good, but a 8% tariff rising over time to 25% would have had nearly the same effect without the shock of 25%.
Imported aftermarket parts are critical to the bottom 80% and (IMO) underweighted in the inflation basket. Producers and retailers won’t absorb all the tariff
Mennonites and Amish use steel wheels due to reasons.
They’re secret Rolling Stones fans? ;)
I purchased a new Kubota tractor a few years ago. The purchasing process started just about the time of the supply chain crisis (which motivated my purchase) and took almost 2 years before the tractor was delivered. Kubota has a fantastic website where you can choose from a lot of customization options. I just re-checked the website, and there are 10 different tire packages for the tractor I got. All of these variants are functional, as opposed to cosmetic differences, and were selected to match your application. There was a significant amount of back-and-forth with the dealership about the options specification during the long delivery process, since some of the options I picked would delay even further the availability and final delivery. At least one of my originally specified options was dropped for this reason. I believe that the specific tire package was one of the options in play, but would have to go back and check my purchasing notes.
Kubota ships a base tractor model to the dealership, and the dealer installs a lot of the options. I think the cab configuration comes from the factory, but a front end loader (which is added by A LOT of the purchasers in the 35-70 HP range) is received separately by the dealer and installed by their service department.
All of this is to say that there are some legitimate reasons a tractor manufacturer may ship tractors with temporary “shipment” wheels. However, this could also potentially be used to game the system and give it an “Assembled in America” designation
Sounds like the Chicken Tax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
Could be, although in PA certain Mennonite groups will only use steel wheels on tractors. Maybe there’s a market? Or maybe a tractor sitting on a ship for 6 months gets wear on the rubber if it doesn’t move? Certainly shouldn’t count as “assembly” in either case.
“Trump says he may reduce China tariffs to help close a TikTok deal”
‘Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done. TikTok is big, but every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok.’
It’s a sucker deal. The US wants to get their hands on TikTok’s secret sauce and also make it into another Facebook or Snapchat or whatever and never challenging the “current narrative”. And in return Trump says that maybe he will possibly might reduce some tariffs – which he will jack up as soon as that deal has gone through. If I were the Chinese I would say screw it and that Trump can pound sand. And that by the way, say hello to our new friend – Chinese export taxes. The only way to deal with a bully is to slap them across the face with some reality until the lesson is learned and that is what Trump needs.
Trump is not reality-learning-capable. His targets can slap all they want. He will only want yet more revenge.
Can’t recall the name, but one of Trump’s Zionist mega-donors owes his fortune to TikTok. I think the easing of tariffs in this case is a personal favor to protect the wealth of one of his biggest financial supporters.
Florida child labor bill SB 918 would let minors as young as 14 work overnight – Pensacola News Journal
Florida wants to loosen child-labor laws to make up for loss of migrant workers – The Independent
Is that the real deal? Industry can only be reshored if sickos can get child labor and probably zero protections for workers next?
It’s happening in other States as well. It looks like the Republicans really want to go back to the 1890s – child labour included-
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/07/child-labor-in-america-100-years-ago/397478/
You know. The good old days.
Thank you, both.
I’m sure it’s returning to Blighty.
Hey, given the current attitude of the government of the USA regarding public health, and especially vaccination, as well as its protectionist stance (tariffs & co), I gather that the Republicans really want to go back all the way to 1790.
The Propertarians have been railing against child labor laws online since the early days of blogging. In the mid-2000s, I was arguing against Gene Volokh and his Volohk Conspiracy colleagues who were arguing “freedom of contract,” the battle cry of the Four Horsemen, including against child labor laws.
My grandfather started me on the tractor when I was about 11 (and I’m still alive). Before “civilization” youths began helping out in the village at very young ages and they learned about being part of the community. Nature evolved children to go through puberty at around 12 and by 14 most have matured enough to be fully working members of the village.
Dividing youths into minors or adults applies arbitrary societal restrictions with complete and total disregard for what nature has developed over millions of years. It also disregards the variability of individuals.
This doesn’t mean that I believe that all controls for safety should be disregarded, or that children should be taken out of school and put to work. But I do believe that children should be allowed to “dip their toes into the work arena” as part of their learning process toward becoming “adults.”
I’ll bet your grandfather cared more about you than any corporation.
Which is the problem as almost any local farm or family business would be far more concerned about the youngsters health than any corporation.
So much difference between familial socialization and corporate exploitation. A young woman who works at my food co-op has her young son with her sometimes. He is about your mentioned age of eleven. Today he was helping out and I saw a gleam of pride in his face at carrying a bag of something into the back room. There is the strength in community, and then there is oppression. I’m sure he had no official status but he did have the support of those about.
I have my kids out every day all summer, tending gardens, tending chickens, tending the fields and the pastures. They also fish all the time for dinner. They take care of all of our animals. And I must say they do a fine job. I am doing all I can to teach them a hard work ethic.
I think the big difference in their world and the child labor world from decades ago – 1) I am out there with them for hours a day. I am not sitting on the porch drinking juleps. 2) They make incredible money from the fruit of their labor – and it will be sitting and waiting for them when they need it as adults. 3) We work hard but we play harder. 4) Unlike some corporate master, I actually love my kids as I do my own life. I have family members and friends who believe I am way too hard on them…….but I am right there with them, and they know it. They are old enough to be very aware of some of their peers and their addiction to video games, etc. And they have begun to personally thank me for “being hard on them”.
I am more profoundly disturbed by the day what is happening with both of our extreme sides in a race to the bottom.
The global majority is more conservative than the global North. Why? Institutional War Theory
When you are barely getting by, you don’t want to rock the boat. Any remotely helpful social structure you will want to keep around.
Following that link I was quite surprised to discover that the author considers Uruguay to be part of the global north. I’m going to have to ask the locals.
Uruguay is a mix of conservative and liberal, and I imagine that it would be better to classify the world into more than two buckets. Sure, Uruguay is pro gay rights and women’s rights and 47% religiously unaffiliated. But there was a dictatorship here from 1973 to 1985, where else was that true in the global North? The article has an interesting thesis but the classification of Uruguay as the global North really shows the limitations have the underlying analysis.
Greece (joined NATO 1952) did have a military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974, though. Spain (openly fascist in the wake of its civil war) from 1939 until 1975. Portugal (founding member of NATO) until 1976.
Turkey (also joined NATO 1952) was under army rule several times, off and on, with military coups in 1961 and 1980 and a “coup by memorandum” in 1971.
Not even considering eastern Europe under the Soviet Union.
Looks like Erodogan is trying to become a dictator even as we speak.
He always wanted to be. Years ago he said that democracy was like a train. And that when you got to where you wanted to be, you got off.
Not a dictator, but the sultan of the neo-Ottoman Empire.
Signal gate is classic dem, ie the problem is the messaging not the message.
The problem to them is how the leak or how the internal communication happened.
Not about the death and destruction of Yemen.
2 war parties.
>2 war parties,
Yup. Intercept:
The Real Outrage About the Yemen Signal Group Is That It Called for Attack on Civilian Home
And they gleefully confessed to a war crime. Let’s have more such leaks.
First, I want to comment that spring has arrived in the Chocolate City, although the change of seasons has not impaired chocolate production, so far as I know.
I got an e-blast from pagan, gay, writer & druid, Rhyd Wildermuth, who lives in Luxembourg. Spring is on the way in that tiny axis of gardening:
https://rhyd.substack.com/p/bodies-against-fear
Everyone once in a while, Lambert Strether wrote on the theme of embodiment, of the body as body. Or as I interpret it, paraphrasing the timeless Colette, the body as the only possession that we have. So we tend plants and we tend our bodies. And the reason artificial intelligence is neither art, nor artifice, nor intelligence is that it is disembodied.
As for me, I am tending three white cyclamens, which thrive in Italy. One croaked — dreaded cyclamen mold. One is rebounding. One is robust.
I put three long & rectangular terra-cotta pots outside on the three big windowsills. For a while, I was frequenting a local gardening shop that seemed to carry just about everything imaginable. Too many temptations.
I have three “miniature” roses that will expand some as they acclimate. I put in sweetpeas as seeds — and all of the seeds planted came up (good stock). I have an oregano as an experiment and to nibble. I have two “fragrant-leaved geraniums,” which are really pelargoniums. And some trailing ivies (three) to evoke the god Dionysos.
And you?
It’s almost warm enough to move the two gardenias back outside. Moved most of the geraniums back out last week. All the potted chives survived – nice to see splashes of bright green, too early to see what else made it, though it’s pretty much a given that the mint will need to be beaten back again : )
>>>though it’s pretty much a given that the mint will need to be beaten back again : )
Mint always needs beating back. It’s spread is like the ocean tide.
Hi DJG! Yes! It’s time to get going with the planting. Last weekend, my better half and I planted potatoes, onions and garlic. We were thinking that we wouldn’t plant potatoes this year, because of the work involved. However, homegrown spuds are just so damn good, (gnocchi di patate con gorgonzola- un piatto libidinoso!)
https://1drv.ms/i/c/3cbca1cf8ab21fe1/ETIOjFu6mQ9Fmr9dFimUdZMBsCn3X0SnvHj0C53Lxv4-0w
https://1drv.ms/i/c/3cbca1cf8ab21fe1/EVaHjvHYEi5PpGFef4sVL2EBxYvnATFvPT5mV94XJP8ZyA
The seasons have become so strange in the last years, it is hard to know the best time to plant. Last year’s harvest was pretty miserable because it rained so much. Speriamo bene che quest’anno vada meglio.
Planted lots of Greek Oregano (the bees are wild for it), lemon and small leaf thyme, rosemary (blooming now), sage and lavender. Later when it’s consistently warmer, I’ll put in some basil alongside the heirloom tomatoes.
Snap peas just coming up and strawberries putting out new leaves. Lots of flowers on the blueberries already, and the peach tree (less than last year as we are trying to shape the tree). Raspberry canes leafing. Italian sweet peppers go in April.
You are ahead of us here in the USian Northeast. So far, it’s just the daffodils and crocus sprouting. Their little green shoots have already been snowed on once since they popped up, and are in for it again over the weekend. I always worry a little bit about them when it’s like this, but they wouldn’t sprout in March in the first place if they weren’t resilient.
I’ll have to check on the scilla siberica, my new favorite spring bulb. It may have joined its friends by now! I’m not sure of the etymology, but I like to think of the little purple downturned bells as monstrous heads searching for prey beneath, like the similarly named Scylla of myth.
So, they predict another 3-day war.
What with inflation, internationalism and all, better make it a 6-day supply. :(
She forgot to include the most important item and that is a towel-
https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Towel
And she seemed to have an awful lot of meds in that bag. Maybe the day of filming she forgot to take a few?
Humans in Europe won’t last much longer than that once WW3 goes thermonuclear.
It’s click-bait journalism, basically. As far as I know, International Red Cross at some point checked the statistics and found out that in case of a big emergency situation, the national response to crisis takes no more than 72 hours. So, the international* recommendation is to always have supplies at home for 72 hours.
* for the USA, the time frame is at least 72 days, though.
The wife and I admit to being food hoarders, the garage is handy…
Do they have any suggestions about how one should stockpile 72 hours’ worth of water? And what about money? Cards and CBDCs may not survive the first wave.
Sensible advice, nevertheless, for the elites’ benefit, if nothing else:
“There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.”
– Alfred Henry Lewis, 1906
>>>Sensible advice, nevertheless, for the elites’ benefit, if nothing else:
Our we worried about long pork? I assume that the elites believe that the masses would be on the menu, not the other way around.
Intercept:
U.S. Officials Called Signal a Tool for Terrorists and Criminals. Now They’re Using It.
hmm… Well, birds of a feather flock together.
That go die after 72 hours video was quite something, leave ’em laughing into eternity, I suppose.
(Joni Mitchell ♫ sardonic voice) – “I’ve looked at war from both sides now / Alive and dead and still somehow …”
Hundreds of troops and fewer than ten tanks, commonly known as daysworth.
Thank you.
A British cavalry troop numbers 3 – 4 vehicles and is led by a second lieutenant or lieutenant. If that’s the case, it’s two troops. Steve Witkoff was right about the posing and posturing, words which outraged the PMC. As did Marjorie Taylor Green’s yesterday.
The army can’t muster more than one cavalry regiment in the field (40 – 60 vehicles).
Thank you for that info, Colonel. And the British army still has far more horses than tanks-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4TmtkjcY9A (13:29 mins)
Thank you for that info, Kev. Is there any data available on the current donkeys to lions ratio?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_led_by_donkeys
FBI Becomes Rent-A-Cops for CEOs – Ken Klippenstein. “Everything just more in the open now.”
And that’s for domestic operations. They have the CIA and other agencies for international enforcement.
A couple of days ago I mentioned that – according to English language business press in Russia at the time – in Russia in the 90ies you could buy a subscription from the FSB, 10 thousand dollars a month and you got on call negotiation support to deal with the mob or local cops that claimed you had done something and tried to shake you down. Of course, whether you had done something or not didn’t matter either way, but that went unstated.
Klippenstein confirms that US is following the same trajectory. The CEOs don’t even have to pay a subscription fee.
The FBI works internationally as well.
The movie Sicario suddenly comes to mind.
Second, Hadja Lahbib inadvertently exposes the complete immorality of the European Commission.
From Paolo Mossetti: “La Commissione Von der Leyen chiede alle famiglie europee di preparare un kit di sopravvivenza per le crisi (quali non è specificato) con questo video che sembra una parodia, e che probabilmente verrà rimosso presto.”
Sembra una parodia? No. This is not parody.
The reason that the twiXt may be from an Italian, and the reason I reproduce the Italian, is that this video has *not* gone down well in Italy. It presents three issues: The immorality of the highly placed in the EU and their warmongering. The detachment from reality of the bourgeoisie in Northern Europe and the Anglosphere — Italy and the other PIIGS may have their problems, but I cannot image this video being made in Italy or Spain. And the question of the banality of nihilism — of a particular feminist strain (Baerbock, Nuland, Kallas).
Or, how to face 72 hours of nuclear radiation, physical ruin, and social collapse with a Swiss army knife and a protein bar.
To paraphrase a great joke in Fatto Quotidiano from a reader’s letter: If her name is Kallas, should she at least know how to sing? But no. She’s all about résumé padding and bombs.
As for me, I will run out now and buy some cuneesi al rum, an effective treatment for radiation sickness and visits from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
You and I both know what the Northern European’s software glitch is. What’s Macron’s and why haven’t the French gotten rid of that meddlesome neoliberal pipsqueek yet?! He’s hellbent on being even more destructive than the Euro Anglo-Saxon crazies.
Thank you, both.
Blighty has similar as PM. Methinks that he and his ministers know the UK is fcuked, so get tough on the poor, minorities, Russia and China, sell the benighted kingdom to BlackRock (heavily involved with yesterday’s budget) and hope to cash in after defeat in / by 2029.
Thanks. I have debated with myself internally as it whether it is worth writing a letter to my Labour MP. On the one hand, although all the road closures and diversions to busses as they fix the roads drive me wild, at least a “bread and butter issue” is being addressed.
However, I’ve read stuff about how the UK might be an easy target if we keep poking the Russian bear which is scary, and that’s before we get to the whole “budget balancing” nonsense of the Chancellor.
Frankly I don’t think my MP is very clued up. The last Labour MP we had was an ex-headteacher and had what we call “nous” as well as intelligence which enabled him to relate to all sections of society in this quite diverse constituency. The current one has neither quality so I tend to think “why bother”?
I agree it’s likely a waste of time, he/she would likely just use it as Bogroll as read it. If your local rep is as “good” as mine, anyway.
Best thing to do is make the letter two pages and hope he/she forgets to remove the staples first. 😈
Secondary, but why should the Russians in fact attack GB???
Russia uses force if it sees an existential threat only.
Which is why the war now started.
But there is nothing GB could do to pose as such.
Unless of course they would fire their Tridents which they couldn´t do without US approval most likely and that would therefore turn any action by the Brits into a stand-off between superpowers and that won´t happen. So, too many strings attached.
The biggest threat to British society comes from the “Labour” government; me looking at my own “Labour”/”Tory” coalition in Berlin which will lay the foundation for destroying German society. So Europe will ruin itself without any outside assistance.
re: UK nuclear deterrence I have linked a new podcast on this here:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/links-3-28-2025.html#comment-4196267
or directly here:
https://letstalkdeterrence.substack.com/p/english-lets-talk-deterrence-and-b0c
see the podcast around TC: 22:00.
William Alberque suggests that UK has ISR and sovereignty over launch codes and thus could launch independently of USA. However he is a NATO guy, and the way he speaks leaves tiny bit of doubt. In one instance he says “I saw online” – so how far does his knowledge really go? If he is unsure he doesn´t admit it. And that makes me wary of his verdict. Eventually I still have the impression the true extent of British control is secret. And thus we remain with uncertainty and may go on with our private speculations.
I’ve run across a variety of Youtube videos I had not seen before that talk about a collapse and/or civil war before long in the UK. This young fellow, interviewed on what seems to be a far right podcast, is pretty alarming in the way he can make rational points about how the UK is failing its citizens while arranging his narrative according to his deep racism. His claim to fame is an op-ed he wrote about how he was unwilling to fight for multicultural Britain.
Another meme seems to be that the USA is to blame, especially US companies taking over British firms.
The “US companies taking over UK firms” is something I’ve seen up close and personal, though I will not comment about the wider stuff you refer to.
For those who don’t know, Boots is the main chemist/pharmacy in the UK. It is (was) a Nottingham institution, before being taken over by US Private Equity. I recently commented about the fact all the male staff were gone from my local branch and the security guard (sigh, yeah more of our shops have then) told me “abuse”. Boots frequently had “supply disruption” on key medications. Of course this is due to the fact they have corporate agreements with a single supplier and when that supplier can’t give you your medicine then you’re up the proverbial creek.
I changed my local pharmacy that my GP has electronic ties to to an independent one. It uses at least 2 suppliers for my key medicine. So I’m fine. However, I’ve heard rumours that Boots may be iiquidated or radically downsized due to PE not making the profit from it that they expected. I’m very glad I, and my parents, do not use them for our meds these days so I have no reason to set foot in the local branch. However, the wider point about US PE buyouts that you allude to is real and is beginning to hit people here at the sharp end.
One can hope the Boots infrastructure remains maintained during the liquidation.
Private equity financing has the same simple financial accounting as USA student loan debt.
In one case, load up an income producing entity (a company) with debt.
In the other case, load up a student, and hopefully a soon to be income producing worker, with a lot of debt .
One crucial difference is the student, thanks to Joe Biden, cannot use bankruptcy to clear the debt.
Private equity will eventually stiff too many lenders and be self limiting as they stripmine the equity of USA and UK companies.
>>>Private equity will eventually stiff too many lenders and be self limiting as they stripmine the equity of USA and UK companies.
And aside from the few monopolies, what will be left?
Terry,
If you do go into a Boots you will see a shop that looks like it is about to close. I’m expecting ‘closing down sale’ signs any day. BTW the Boots factory, as was, is down the road from me. The facilities are mostly occupied by other concerns now, albeit some are pharmaceutical related.
Yeah have told mum to use up her Boots Rewards points in case of sudden collapse…. looking through their window, our local branch looks almost empty.
Interestingly I picked up my main medicine from the more local independent pharmacy today. They had sourced it from the main “alternative” manufacturer since they shop around and are clearly not locked into supply chain with one company. Interesting.
Plus senior partner at my General Practice accepted a letter from me after text request yesterday about all my long covid stuff to bolster a case for referral. Not guaranteed to work but small mercies and all that!
And she didn’t warn you to tidy your yard.At least the Americans took that precaution.
Hadja Lahbib reminds me of Nina Jankowicz. She has eurochic that Jankowicz lacks but they both have a theatrical out-of-touch self confidence that I find really disturbing.
Is Paolo Mossetti especially influential?
Sports Desk – today is opening day! Play ball!
I’ll be watching the Yankees lose!
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-opening-day-2025-guide
(Bleeds a little Dodger Blue)
Us too, Dodger Blue. But the Dodgers had their opening day game in Tokyo a week ago. They beat the Cubs in a 2 game series. Wild world. Hey batter batter, hey batter batter …… swing!
Reminds me of a Simpsons episode years ago. One of the aliens was sitting in his flying saucer watching a baseball game. Decided it was moving too slowly so zapped it with an accelerator beam. Thought the game was still too slow and was about to use the accelerator beam again, but his colleague stopped him. He warned that if the beam was used twice it would destroy the fabric of space and time, to which his colleague replied – well, maybe then the Cubs will win.
I don’t think that there were that many reports, but that they did not configure spam protection properly and got overloaded with buy-V1AGra stuff. I suppose federal employees made sure that specific email address got on all the spam lists (I know I would).
The dishwasher… you will own nothing and be happy.
One day soon there won’t be a dishwasher on the market you can use without an app. I don’t even use a smartphone, but I have to keep a burner one around for situations like this. I’m clinging to my appliances until there’s not a minute of life left in them.
I’ve got three dishwashers at home. Me, myself & I. No apps, no internet, no electricity and at most half an hour a day’s time spent.
The first time I got hit by this was over a decade ago with a scale which would only report body fat if you used an app which required registering on the company’s cloud service. The scale was cheap, and I just decided we never needed that feature so I’ve never registered. Since then I’ve been very careful about what we buy.
One potential way to avoid this is to buy equipment which is targeted towards small businesses (or categorized as commercial appliances). These tend to also be built to be repairable, but you can pay dearly to get these (although it turned out to be the least expensive way to buy a truck – I’ve been buying the fleet configured trucks for over forty years.)
You are correct to do this with appliances. I held out on my stove until there was only one burner and it didn’t even have a knob on it. You will never get that quality again. I make everything last until there is nothing left. It’s just a 60s thing I cling to, and a bit of my own stubborn dislike for all this automated crap! I have hand washed dishes for years, but that can also lead to problems. I have to laugh everytime I look at the wifi and see my LG microwave on there. I refuse to use any of the wifi functions. It’s just stupid! But let’s talk about my new 2024 ford bronco. The other day my husband and I were sitting for over an hour in the parking lot of a grocery store because a car that was fine when we left, suddenly wouldn’t start. Depress brake…push start button…nothing. My husband was trying to get someone at the dealer on the phone..I was frantically thumbing through the incredibly thick
Manual, looking for an answer. Under trouble shooting, nothing, nothing on car not starting, nothin, nothing, nothing. Then I noticed a yellow light was on by the park indicator.
Oh yes,…..here it is yellow light near parking indicator on….the auto engine stop…to reset
Depress accelerator then the brake, car should start after reset….it did! Apparently, my husband had turned off the auto engine stop on the car….NOT ALLOWED even though there is a button for this on the car. It’s a function that cuts the engine at lights to save gas.
The driver then touches the accelerator and car restarts. To say that this is irritating is an understatement. We won’t even discuss…unnecessary. So after an hour we were able to start the car. Also we will never dare mess this this button again. We learned our lesson.
Lol!
As they say; Fucked On a Recent Deal or found on the road dead.
Rumeysa Ozturk was abducted by ICE in my neighborhood. In Somerville fucking Massachusetts.
I’m seething and feeling completely helpless.
What do I do? What are WE supposed to do? How can we protect our friends and neighbors?
I have plenty of [fantastical, cathartic, self-defeating?] ideas but nothing that can be posted online, obviously.
There is no way out without putting some skin in the game, I’m afraid. I’ll refrain from commenting further, except to say that we all need to look in the mirror.
I noted this elsewhere earlier, but to your point, the woman in the following piece had it right – https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/03/26/thousands-protest-after-tufts-grad-student-arrested-by-ice-transferred-out-of-state/
“Elizabeth Warren is not going to save you. The Democratic Party is not going to save you,” Kayali shouted to the huge crowd. “They did not save Rumeysa. She is detained. They did not save hundreds of thousands of my people murdered by U.S. bombs. This whole damn system has to go.”
If you check the video of her in the article though, she wasn’t met with all that enthusiastic of a response from the rest of the crowd.
My read of US history is that civil rights were never just granted or even recognized by the government without a hard, long fight.
The Bill of Rights may have used the word “persons” when referring to due process and other rights, but there was always a wink-wink that “persons” only meant white male landowners.
It took around 100 years to get black men, and finally women included in the mix. And yeah, there was this civil war thing, along with lots of violence and the suffragette movement.
It was a decent 30-40 year run from the late 70’s until 2010 or so when we could all sit back and enjoy the fruits of others suffering. Looks like it’s our turn to suffer, now.
And yeah, neither Lizzy Warren, Bernie, nor Rand Paul are going to save us.
Meanwhile, Josh Kraft runs for Mayor of Boston. Josh is the son of squillionaire Robert Kraft best known as the owner of the NE Patriots. The elder Kraft, know as “Mr. Kraft” among the lesser mortals, was first in line to put the squeeze on the Columbia Administration when the ‘resistance’ broke out on campus…and kept squeezing. Another to add to your conga-line of charmers.
Yep. Many of my friends and colleagues want to, “fix things, so that they work better.” As if what we had before was good and just needed some tweaking. These are the people who are most virulent in their Anti-Trump expressions. But they won’t cross the line to revolution. They felt too successful under the old regime.
Whatever happens next is going to erupt in ways the PMC can’t control and won’t expect. Or else it won’t happen.
I would suggest the vulnerable use a buddy system to move around. In the video note that she was alone when they grabbed her, and they love to take advantage of early hours too. At this point we know who is vulnerable and why – whoever is targeted and listed by Zionist groups is being snatched. And there does not seem to be a shortage of people willing to put themselves on the line to organize a defense.
Also, train on surveillance detection, counter surveillance, opsec, and especially around phone handling when in transit. They obviously had surveillance and spotters in this case. And the three car snatch and grab tactic has been in use at all G20’s, will be familiar to very many with any protest background.
Use disruption tactics and supporters can group themselves into green, yellow, red along the lines of how willing to be arrested. It would actually be helpful to create a few court cases here as that would get ICE names, warrants, actions, activities, etc., into the public record. It would help to map out the legal dimensions, especially for the surveillance activities which are very likely to be illegal.
Also, it seems to me ICE agents need to be tracked and named, they’re essentially like the Gestapo or SS at this point, they will need to be held accountable in the courts. It’s also instructive in terms of this is a team demonstrating willingness to do certain things, and we know ICE will scope creep, all police forces do, so they should be watched.
Why not broaden your suggestions a bit, to include not just ICE but every actor and/or just-following-orders person who is de facto serving as muscle for Israeli, rather than American, values and interests.
A problem that nobody seems to notice is that there is nothing readily identifiable as law enforcement or at least governmental on the kidnappers. Even if everything is legal and due process was being followed, there is nothing to prevent doubt or even give reasonable pause to anyone looking at the scene. Heck, were the local police notified? I would hope so for while I very little faith in them, it is possible that a police officer would intervene seeing this kidnapping as some still keep the faith.
Americans have guns and the police shot easily especially when there is even a slight chance of danger, which a kidnapping is.
Organize a new party in your local area.
Speak to them as you speak with us.
Build society BACK from the ground up so we can put an end to this nonsense.
“SITREP 3/26/25: Signal-Gate Crash + Russia-US Make Progress as Ukraine Stalls”
‘It has been discovered that the command is forming several new Army Corps units; these being – the 15th, 18th, and 20th Army Corps. Information on these formations is scarce, though it is known that two of them have received their insignia, and the first-mentioned is based in Rivne Oblast. There is no information currently regarding which units will be subordinated to them, or otherwise whom their commander may be.’
The Ukrainians do this a lot. Instead of getting new soldiers and sending them to depleted brigades, they will instead form brand new brigades. By the time this war is over, the Ukrainian army will resemble General Lee’s army at Appomattox. A witness there said that Confederate brigades had shrunk to the size of regiments, regiments to the size of companies and companies the size of platoons. The rest were buried at over a hundred battlefields up and down the eastern side of North America. The same will be true of the Ukrainian army.
Gooooooood Moooooooorning Fiatnam!
We in the platoon depended upon the signal caller when it came to making plays on the field of battle, and yeah-interceptions were all part of the game, and if he was out of the loop, did it really happen?
Finally
I have been missing that Fiatnam lately for my morning coffee…
“US looking for ‘proper way’ to reconnect Russia to SWIFT – treasury secretary”
I think that the EU will flat out refuse. They have already refused the Black Sea ceasefire deal until ‘the end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions to amend or lift sanctions.’ Trump may rage but after everything that he has done against the EU, he is going to have to offer them something to reconnect the Russians to SWIFT alone. Trump being boxed up here was probably Russia’s plan all along as they knew that the EU would balk at ending this war but want t keep it going-
https://www.rt.com/news/614838-eu-sanctions-ukraine-trump/
Can they refuse? Even though SWIFT is based in EU, US runs it.
This sounds performative … note that there is nothing stopping Trump from revoking all of Biden’s executive orders that put US Treasury Dept sanctions on Russian banks, oil tankers, etc. With a stroke of a pen he could revoke all them, and the best part is no judicial review. The Euros would blow a head gasket, then he could negotiate with them on SWIFT.
The fact that he hasn’t even hinted at this avenue makes me think this is all kayfabe.
Probably find that the sanctions are the only real leverage that Trump has with the Russians – or think he has.
There is SWIFT, DTCC and Euroclear. You would think US control of the first two would be absolute, so the problem is probably Euroclear. This is where most of the stolen Russian funds are stored I think about $ 213 billion worth. Well within Oreshnik range at Brussels if they get really upset about their money being stolen.
As I search for ways to opt out of the coming dystopia our overlords seem hellbent on creating for us, I’m coming to understand the Amish aversion to technology.
I expressed a similar sentiment a few months back. Here in Ohio, many of the Amish communities were settled on top of the Marcellus Shale, not such a good place to be in this “drill, baby, drill” era with all the lovely side effects of fracking.
Here’s a 1.5 minute news report video of Putin kickin’ dupa and taking names in 2009. He humiliated Western backed oligarch owners of a steel plant, forcing them to commit to restarting the plant or have it Nationalised.
Imagine if Dodge did this to Amazon? As Lamber woulda said “aint gonna happen”.
It was posted over at Automatic Earth: https://x.com/BowesChay/status/1904664544812958069
If this happened in the USA, a judge would say that he had “exceeded his authority” and blocked the move.
Thanks for that one – I’ve seen it before but had been looking for it recently and couldn’t find it.
“Give me back my pen” – haha!
Noboa announces alliance with mercenary firm Blackwater for security in Ecuador – El País
Surely figures like Erick Prince have already served as advisors to Noboa’s government, but as he plays for re-election in a tight ballot’, he only seeks to make such links visible as political proselytism. In fact, allegations of human rights violations by the ecuadorian security forces have accompanied us since the beginning of his term in office. The news also seems to cement the apparent links of the Noboa family with drug trafficking, following the denunciation of a journalist who had to flee abroad.
re: nukes of the world –
Annual testimony now for the Fiscal Year 2026 by
STRATEGIC COMMAND
SPACE COMMAND
For downloading the testimonies scroll down:
To receive testimony on United States Strategic Command and United States Space Command in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2026 and the Future Years Defense Program
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/to-receive-testimony-on-united-states-strategic-command-and-united-states-space-command-in-review-of-the-defense-authorization-request-for-fiscal-year-2026-and-the-future-years-defense-program
A laughable “assessment” via X (which however was my source):
https://nitter.poast.org/Matt_Costlow/status/1904910746187595873#m
The author, Matt Costlow:
“Personal acct. NIPP Senior Analyst. Writes on nuclear deterrence, missile defense, arms control. Usual caveats.
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Too much Tennyson, eh.
Costlow in above nitter thread mentions “Putin” although there is not one mentioning of Putin in either of the testimonies.
And of course US hegemonic status quo and claim of are part and parcel of these funny little guys who so lovingly paint their national security studies and are certainly agreeble fellows privately.
But do they actually add 1 and 1 together as to their idiotic so-called analyses?
By design any threat that might lacking legitimacy can only be from either Russia or China.
The US is never an issue.
To the Costlows of this world it is meaningless that for Russia WMDs in the European theatre poses something totally different than for the US.
I don´t know if I have ever encountered a single US establishment study as of late where Mexico or Latin America were regarded as contestable strategic areas from US POV the same way as the US regards Europe from Russian POV. Russia has to yield if necessary as Europe is concerned.
Latin America doesn´t even exist. The backyard ideology might not be admitted to openly by woke world but in effect it is enshrined in these peoples ideologies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKLL-7S_cGk&ab_channel=TheNewAtlas/
US “Peace” President Drops Bombs, Green-Lights New Warplane
Giving Brian B. a hearing.
IMO: It makes one wonder if another part of the USA and associates school of thought is that the deeper Russia goes into Ukraine the less attention they can give to Iran. Not saying it’s an accurate school of thought. But it has crossed others’ minds as well.
It does seem that every move made by USA and associates, when not giving the appearance of furthering relations with Russia, pushes Russia to take more territory in Ukraine.
There was a post that mentioned the difficulty of taking and holding larger cities.
Just spitballin’ with situations still being fluid and fluctuating.
So what is the story about Signal–an encrypted mobile phone messaging app for the iPhone and android.
In his book, Surveillance Valley, especially Chapter 7 “Internet Privacy Funded by Spies,” and in a recent post, Yasha Levine outlined its origins.
Signal was supposedly created and funded by a CIA spinoff Open Whisper Systems headed by Moxie Marlinspike, a former anarchist cryptographer. Signal was also, at that time, promoted by Edward Snowden as being secure.
According to Levine, a portion of Signal seed-money (about $3 million between 2013-2016) came from Radio Free Asia, also a CIA conduit.
Signal supposedly encrypted voice calls and text making it impossible for governments to monitor communications and became the go-to app for political activists around the world. Facebook incorporated Signal’s underlying encryption into What’s App and Google followed suit.
Did everybody, including the top people in the Trump administration, develop a false sense of security about this app?
What is going on–feels like swirling down a rabbit hole.
P.S. This brief account of Signal origins does not even consider Waltz’s apparently non-privatized Venmo account which gave, for a brief period of time, public access to 328 of Waltz’s associates developed over his career in Special Forces and his work with Rumsfeld, Gates, Cheney, and others.
NYT
Trump asks Stefanik to withdraw from UN Ambassadorship consideration and stay in the House.
She would be the same ghoul in either place, and Hair Furor can probably find someone nearly as bad to gag the UN, but she was singularly egregious for that post. They are concerned now even for Walz’s deep red Florida seat flipping.
It is a circus, the reptiles are the clowns and the d’rats are the jokers. Maybe I have that reversed, though I suppose that depends on the time of day.
The genocidal joys around a heart that’s black and blue
Tattooed Sec Def boy
Trump on his knees getting to you
‘Cause he needed
To find out what the thing was for
Been reading
But man the time came to explore
Goldberg went apewire ’cause he thought
Like I’d like it little tease
But I didn’t mean it
But you mess with the goods Jeffrey, honey you gotta pay, yeah
A good time was guaranteed for one and all
The tattooed one did target practice on the Houthis
While waiting for their number to get called out
I, I, I, I found out what the wait was about
It was a good time, yeah, you got pretty good
At changing stories upstairs bro
You shot your mouth off and showed me what that hole was for
Now I see you
All impressed and half undressed
You got called out over the scars and lumps and bumps
Tattooed Sec Def boy
Have got you where on Fox you used to say
Well ha ha too bad, but you know what some day
“Stop snivellin’, you’re gonna make some innocents dead man”
Oh, but the prestige and the glory
Another human interest story
You are that
Tattooed Love Boys, by the Pretenders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9_7xdsq-sE
Trump is not reality-learning-capable. His targets can slap all they want. He will only want yet more revenge.
I don’t think tit for tat is unique to either side.
Revenge/resentment is accelerating across the board.
Extreme partisanship is the new normal and its consequences are profound:
No accountability, no compromise and an acceleration of lying and deceit.
The only question is which power faction wins and how cruel can one be to the losers.
Ken Klippenstein:
A Trump Doctrine Emerges
A Trump Doctrine Emerges
Provided in his piece, the link to download the document is:
Annual Threat Assessment 2025
This is the second time Klippenstein has been unsound. He recently took a pretty long-standing type of plan re Iran in particular and depicted it as signaling that an attack on Iran is imminent. That may be true but the report Klippenstein cited no way, no how establishes that.
This is a standard annual assessment. It is totally consistent with past issues, most important in saying with high confidence that Iran is not developing a nuke as of now. It was also pretty sure to have been prepared in large measure before Trump took office.
Trump officials have been making loud statements that are totally at odds with this assessment. The sending of half our in-service B2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia is inconsistent with this analysis.
I’m going to have to stop linking to Klippenstein, since doing so implies he’s a good analyst.
Thank you!
side note:
First time I became wary of Klippenstein was when under his true name he commented on Moon of Alabama the day Hersh´s Nordstream story broke. You might remember how much hustle was going on during those days online.
And Klippenstein took a for me surprisingly critical position against Hersh´s report. Almost as if he wanted Hersh to be wrong for reasons…such as rivalry? As odd as that might sound. And probably I am incorrect. But Klippenstein´s comment left me skeptical and I have remained so ever since.
On the other hand a Kit Klarenberg isn´t flawless either…
needless to say I used to mix ´em up:
Ken Klippenstein and Kit Klarenberg? wtf!
re: SM-6 Missile Closer To Proving Hypersonic Weapon Intercept Capability After Aegis Destroyer Test The War Zone
From comments there:
Meaningless until the entire engagement is tested, including launch of and successful intercept by an SM-6.
The West Wing – Missile Defense
https://youtu.be/oQP52M_0tcE
p.s. too much smartass dialogue as often with earlier sorkin though
They have conducted a paper launch of a missile.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=paper%20launch
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paper_launch
thanks
Actually the term (“paper”!) gives a totally wrong impression of the exclusive nature of what it really means to say.
It’s not about exclusivity, but about “existing only on paper”. Paper launch means no actual launch happened. I have heard it in the context of graphics cards, but it fits perfectly here (“no SM-6 was fired during the test”). My post was tongue-in-cheek. :)
ahhh ok
thanks for explaining