The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer NOEMA
Man Searching For Dumped £600 Million Bitcoin Drive Has Better Odds of Winning Lottery Science Alert
What Shape Is the Universe? Gizmodo
Climate/Environment
Wildfires rage across the Carolinas; South Carolina governor issues state of emergency USA Today
Park rangers battle Australians seeking rare earth minerals in old Mojave gold mine Los Angeles Times
What Are Public Lands For? Defector
***
How will media report on this new AMOC study? RealClimate
Do Climate Adaptation Strategies Get Enough Attention? Breakthrough Journal
Pandemics
Confirmed measles case linked to international flight that landed at Toronto Pearson: health unit CTV
***
Second US company recalls pet food as bird flu spreads to cats through tainted meat Guardian
Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way? LA Times
To the Pandemic Czar: Are We Prepared to Talk About Bird Flu? MedPage Today
The Koreas
US carrier docks in South Korea after North’s missile tests DW
China?
China’s AI push in the Global South is not just about technology South China Morning Post
Africa
African countries must urgently start the process of ending aid dependency An Africanist Perspective
Old Blighty
Keir Starmer learnt his lines, if only the world would stick to theirs The Times
Who were the undercover cops who deceived women into sexual relations? The Guardian
Syraqistan
Israel plans escalation in Gaza within a week: Media Anadolu Agency
English translation: https://t.co/Kc6HV1oSQB
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 2, 2025
By supporting Israel’s right to rescind its agreement to withdraw troops (i.e., to demand an extension of Phase 1), the EU has endorsed Israel’s right to re-start the genocide at its pleasure. In so doing, the EU just crossed a line into utter criminality. https://t.co/6N1NSoRQMK
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) March 2, 2025
New Not-So-Cold War
Putin unleashes Iskander-M missile attack to ‘sink container ship in Odesa carrying cargo of British weapons for Ukraine’ Daily Mail. Would be nice to know how a ship carrying NATO weapons made it to Odesa.
Ukraine still ‘ready’ to sign US minerals deal, Zelensky tells BBC BBC
US Republicans take to airwaves to suggest Zelensky may have to step down France24. Commentary:
***
Starmer says ‘coalition of the willing’ to present Ukraine peace plan to US Al Jazeera
France, UK propose 1-month truce as Europe’s leaders rally behind Kiev Al Mayadeen. Commentary:
🇺🇸🇪🇺🇺🇦 London Ukraine Summit “Comes Up With” LITERALLY US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s February Directive
◾️Europe will do the “heavy lifting” by supplying Ukraine with weapons;
◾️Apply pressure on Russia economically to force Russia to freeze conflict;
◾️Europe will… pic.twitter.com/j4BZFhoVyO
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) March 3, 2025
The EU Carnival Brings Same Old Show to Town Simplicius
King meets President Zelensky at Sandringham after defence summit The Independent
***
The Budapest Memorandum: The Fake Narrative Supporting a Long War in Ukraine Glen Diesen
IAEA conducts rotation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant without Ukraine’s approval Ukrainska Pravda. Lambert: “Hmm.”
***
Putin ally pushes deal to restart Nord Stream 2 with US backing FT
EU Paid Near 300% More for Russian LNG in 2024 Compared to Early 2021 High North News
European Disunion
Europe Enters Its Metal Era Phenomenal World
Is an Independent Europe post Trump possible? Warwick Powell’s Substack
South of the Border
Latin America’s New Right Ushers in Pan-American Trumpism The Intercept
The Bezzle
BlackRock Adds Its Record-Breaking Bitcoin Fund to Model Portfolios Decrypt
US Treasury Department says it will not enforce anti-money laundering law Reuters
Trump 2.0
the “working class populist uprising” theories of Trumpism are really starting to break down
a grand union of all criminal and scammer elements in American society, a stack of utter lumpen scum from top to bottom pilfering society in a 4 year capitol raid is closer to the truth https://t.co/srRjGc4AHG
— John Wakefield (@JohnWakefieId) March 2, 2025
More Commentary:
Jaw-dropping corruption in the US:
Trump’s billionaire crypto czar is heavily invested in a fund whose top 5 holdings are the 5 in the US government Crypto Strategic Reserve.
Mere hours before Trump announced it, someone bought $200 million in Ethereum & Bitcoin on 50X LEVERAGE pic.twitter.com/LQWZceeTvB
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 3, 2025
This is a direct transfer of wealth from the U.S. treasury to David Sacks and other crypto barons.
The railroad and coal tycoons of the 19th century could never have dreamed of this level of heist https://t.co/FkLTEOXD6O
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 2, 2025
***
Trump can’t fulfil his promise to fix the economy, so he’s blaming workers instead The Guardian
DOGE
The Trump administration may exclude government spending from GDP, obscuring the impact of DOGE cuts AP
How DOGE detonated a crisis at a highly sensitive nuclear weapons agency WaPo
Safeguarding the future of biomedical science in the United States Cell
Before grants are awarded, they have to be evaluated in meetings called study sections.
Before a study section can meet, it has to be listed in the federal registry for at least 15 days.
These are the new study section meetings listed in the federal registry this year.
2/ pic.twitter.com/fv8PM5YSwv— Marc Johnson (@SolidEvidence) March 1, 2025
Fired CFPB Director HITS BACK At Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon, Tech Bros Breaking Points (Video)
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Are We Headed into Recession? BIG by Matt Stoller
Immigration
A California sheriff is planning to break the state’s sanctuary law. Here’s how Cal Matters
GOP Funhouse
MAGA world erupts over Andrew Tate release, Epstein stunt Axios
Democrats en déshabillé
Playbook: Democrats in despair Politico. Commentary:
The goal to “move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors” is a key to the whole agenda. The goal is to have the Democratic cease to be a political party in any meaningful way & instead become an ad agency controlled by billionaires. Instead of the normal party that… https://t.co/AD0EWuX8Ma
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) March 2, 2025
***
The Dems appear a-okay with cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Head Start, the Department of Education, affordable housing, accommodations for the disabled, environmental protections, public health, etc., but they’re ready to go to the mattresses over Ukraine:
Democrats: Putin ‘only winner’ from Trump-Zelenskyy public clash The Washington Times
James Carville roasts Donald Trump, says syphilis in his brain caused Zelensky meltdown at the Oval Office The Economic Times
Senate Democrat says White House is ‘arm of Kremlin’ The Hill. Chris Murphy from Connecticut, the sixth highest recipient state for DOD spending.
The Real Reason Trump Berated Zelensky Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic. The deck: “He simply likes Vladimir Putin better.”
Digital Watch
The Digital Packrat Manifesto 404 media
Mozilla flamed by Firefox fans after promises to not sell their data go up in smoke The Register
DeepSeek Open Source Week: Committed to open, collaborative AI ecosystem CGTN
Supply Chain
Pink Gold Globe and Mail. The deck; “Trump said Canada has nothing the U.S. needs. When it comes to potash, the president couldn’t be more wrong.”
Healthcare?
Examining gender-specific mental health risks after gender-affirming surgery: a national database study The Journal of Sexual Medicine. From the Abstract: “From 107 583 patients, matched cohorts demonstrated that those undergoing surgery were at significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders than those without surgery.”
Imperial Collapse Watch
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
>Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way? LA Times
That’s not the only financial incentive for mass culling. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses farmers for eggs and birds that have to be killed to contain an outbreak, but not for birds that die of the flu.
Yet at times, this has meant killing more than 4.2 million birds, most of which may have been healthy.
Grocery store, Martin’s, in Central PA, this past Sunday had hardly any eggs. They had a sign apologizing and attributing lack of stock, and high prices, on the bird flu.I’m wondering how long it will take for the market to adjust. Last swing in prices of eggs saw the same grocery store lower prices, on their weekly specials, to 99 Cents.
$5.97/dozen in my neck of the woods is the cheapest. Long way from $2.49 12 months ago.
$/gram, I think that at this price a lot of meat is cheaper protein.
now if you can find a way to bake with a pork chop..
.
Your Egg Prices Could Be So High Because of Price Gouging, Farm Group Says
“Cal-Maine Foods, which controls 20% of the retail egg market, reported quarterly sales up 110% and gross profits up more than 600% over the same quarter in the prior fiscal year, according to a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
Trump should tell DOGE/Musk to investigate why egg prices remain so high. If he doesn’t, how will Musk ever know what the price of eggs are? Actually how would Trump know what the price of eggs are? They’d have to asked their maids, chefs, cooks, butlers I guess.
Just shy of $5.00/dozen at Sam’s Club in Knoxville. Sold in carts by the 2 dozen for just under $10. They were about $5 per 2 dozen before the bird flu hit.
Using a pork chop may not work, but there’s always aquafaba:
https://livingonthecheap.com/how-to-use-aquafaba-as-an-egg-substitute/
In Germany a cheaper egg from industrial livestock farming was once 25 cents by now its around 30+ cents. The 25 was very practical because bottle deposits are 25 cent per bottle.
I assume that many vendors who demand higher prices in truth don´t treat their birds any better.
Wholefood places sell their eggs 60-80 cents.
As I prefer brown eggs over white I found it odd to read that in the long run they won´t have brown eggs. They say customers don´t like brown eggs. I have never heard that. I come from a family with tradition in baking and we always preferred brown over white.
Still none at Costco, one month running. Others have a case or two sporadically if you get there early.
2 dozen brown organic eggs $8.49 last week at Syracuse Costco. Plenty of non organic eggs also. Aldi has been ~$5/dozen with a more limited selection.
If there is a Trader Joe’s near you, try getting there when they first open.
I found in my local (LA area) Trader Joe’s that they put them out in the mornings first thing and don’t restock the shelves during the day after they run out.
Limit to a dozen per visit at the moment.
In San Luis Obispo it’s 7.49 f 2 dozen organic, limit 3 boxes per customer, and didn’t see any carts w the limit and many without any eggs at all. On the other hand in San Leandro Costco no eggs at all were to be found.
One can bake without eggs, which I learned after my kids had egg allergies. Just the basics tho, no soufflés or meringues and custards.
I doubt there is a practical alternative to mass culling. The supposed alternatives being presented are only plausible if you’re unaware of some of the practicalities or badly misundertand the situation.
I don’t know why the adminstration is promoting this discussion, let alone why Mr. ‘Dow 36,000’ is their choice for its public face, but it all has the feel of Ukrainian Minerals.
my college dining hall has not seen a drop in egg levels this entire time. they probably have some sort of contract that guarantees eggs, but it does make me wonder how exactly they’re sourcing their eggs. i feel slightly guilty at my personal egg glut when i have my breakfast.
I reckon these are regional trends. At least for the moment.
“Treasury Secretary says Ukraine economic deal is not on the table after Zelenskyy “chose to blow that up” ”
That would be the deal that is two pages long. That apparently will not have to be ratified by the US Senate or even the Ukrainian Parliament. That more or less hands over the Ukrainian economy, including infrastructure like ports, to the US. That does not have an expiry date so could go for generations. That deal. I hope that countries like Taiwan are taking notes about what happens when you become a proxy force for the US because it is not good. I don’t know where Trump thinks that he can get a workforce for this so-called economy as too many Ukrainians are dead, crippled, or have shot through to the west. Maybe he thinks that he can transfer the Gazans to the Ukraine and make it their own beautiful nation and live in the empty apartments. I’m sure that the EU will have no problem with this idea.
I think by their own nature proxies don’t get much of a choice in the deals they are forced to accept. Seems to me that the collapse of US-Ukrainian relations is less from Zelensky’s inadequate dress code and more from the fact that the US establishment needs to cut its losses if it wishes to wage war against China (a poor decision, but dying empires are known for those), which in my view has been persuasively argued by Leng Weibing in the following substack series: https://waronchina.substack.com/
And with the Genocide in Gaza likely to start once again soon, so they’ll also be needing the bullets to send to the Zionists; all of this bodes very badly for the Ukrainians and the Europeans in general. But then again, as the old Melian dialogue goes, “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
There are rumors that a US/Russia plan is already well under way in secret negotiations.
https://weapons.substack.com/p/russia-us-peace-deal-on-ukraine-at
And if that’s true then a legitimate Ukraine ruler is needed to sign on. Before Z showed up in his PJs Trump was already calling him a dictator who needed to hold elections (and therefore get the boot). Perhaps Trump was hoping the Friday signing would be another step toward “will someone rid me of this troublesome comedian?” Our US history doesn’t reveal much compunction about passing out the exploding cigars.
Meanwhile Simplicious up in Links said Zelenski even wore his t-shirt to his meeting with King Charles. Someone should tell Carville about IM Doc’s theory of events–not so much syphilis as a certain white powder.
I find it hard to believe the Russian hardliners will accept anything but a complete victory with total annexation up to Odessa. Does Putin have that much of a leeway in accepting negotiations? (Not to mention the obvious point: who can be trusted to sign such an agreement anyway? Are the Russians really interested in a Minsk 3?) Besides that, any agreement would be sure to be seen by the Ukrainian “hardliners” (to avoid mentioning that old German party) as a stab on the back, and that might be a little dangerous.
That being said, it’s a good thing that the two preeminent nuclear powers of the world have reopened diplomatic channels. Thanks for sharing the link!
Europe’s recent attempt to ship weaponry to Ukraine via Odessa would seem to add weight to your “total annexation” thought.
Thank you, mrsyk. IIRC, Odessa is home to many Russian speakers, and I think Russians in Russia feel an affinity for them. Odessa was also the place where the horrific Trade Union Massacre took place. In essence, the people in the building were protesters who were chased there and intentionally set on fire. I think this lends credence to the notion that Odessa, too, may be annexed.
I believe a deal was already signed with the Rada, which Russia considers the legitimate political power in Ukraine.
Whenever the final catastrophy falls, I will feel a lot worse for the Ukrainians than the Taiwanese. Most Ukrainians wanted peace and neutrality with their neighbors and it took two brutal coups (Maidan and then Zelensky turning away from his peace platform) to push them into a hopeless war with the Russians.
The Taiwanese made their moronic choice to become a launchpad against China willingly, after getting decades of exorbitant privileges in their business dealings with the Mainland. They’re lucky that the Chinese can just blockade them so no need to “fight to the last Taiwanese”.
Taiwanese opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) was split and received 60% of the vote. Both are non-confrontational AFIK. Pro independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) got 40% and won.
Maybe somebody could email this great deal to all the Palestinians, call it “a fork in the road”.
Well I suppose if the Palestinians took such a deal, they would be well and truly “forked” then.
>Democrats: Putin ‘only winner’ from Trump-Zelenskyy public clash The Washington Times
The only winner in that exchange is Putin, who’s a criminal, who’s killing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians,” the Arizona Democrat said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It was a sad day for our country. It was a dumpster fire of diplomacy.
Brain rot. That is the only way to describe this headline. Unfortunately for those who have not begun their road to TDS recovery, continue to believe this nonsense. A couple of days ago a family member posted on our family chat that “Trump is siding with Russia.” WTF is that supposed to mean? This mentality of “winning” or taking the “side of” is reveals that some people are trapped in a Hegelian dialectical dead end. These people continue to believe that Russia interfered with previous Presidential elections, discount all of the Democrat/Biden warmongering, and are incapable of breaking out of a world view that has been crafted to misinform them.
Ideology always trumps reality among the university graduates. These people make up stuff to align with their comic-book level minds. I blame the university system for this absurdity I see in the PMC and their allies. The working class people I talk to have more realistic view of reality to the extent, ironically, they don’t follow “the news.”
I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day in which we were discussing Trump, Trump, Trump. Somewhere in there, I mentioned Hillary’s basket of deplorables and when I pointed out that we all were in that basket because we weren’t in the big leagues, he was shocked. He said he didn’t think he was in that basket. Made me wonder he wasn’t thinking something along the lines of “it’s other people in that basket, not me.”
Here is how another person is reacting to all this news. I now find myself feeling sorry for such people-
https://xcancel.com/SpittinVenoms/status/1896223137928466832#m
Thanks, Rev. I had a chat with a sister a couple of days ago, and she was going on about poor Zelensky (although not crying). She then mentioned something about Bill Gates saving her if she could just hang on long enough (she has stage 4 cancer). Apparently, Gates is working on some kind of cancer treatment. I kept my mouth shut and did my own crying after we hung up. I still don’t understand why intelligent people think a billionaire cares about them, ffs. Just one more bloodsucker latching on..
I’m so sorry to hear about your sister. What people like Gates is doing is just cruel. They really don’t care.
Thank you, Rev. Couldn’t agree more. My sister is the only reason stopping my move out of this country. I despise all these bloodsuckers.
Adding, why on earth are people, particularly here in the u.s., going on to an extreme extent about Ukraine while ignoring what’s so obviously unfolding in their own country? I mean the deaths of despair, the growing numbers of homeless, the medical bankruptcies, the people losing their jobs during the chainsaw massacre? It screams to me that their thinking is that ‘those’ people deserve it. I just don’t get it.
My brother is a devotee of Rachel Maddow. He also never votes. I’m sure for many watching Maddow or The View it’s is a kind of vicarious civic participation without having to get up out of their TV chair. This applies to Fox viewers too of course and perhaps especially to Fox as MSNBC is merely a Dem riposte to Fox by design.
And in defense of the bro, who is no spring chicken and mostly home bound, our elections are so rigged for the rich that voting may not matter. So getting mad at Trump becomes a kind of substitute for action.
Lumet/Chalefsky’s film Network saw this coming decades ago. Screaming “I’m mad as hell and not going to take it any more” allows them to take it.
Spent time this weekend with a longtime true friend who has been drinking the kool-aid. I got to him with these two phrases, “Giving war a chance?” and “Remember the Cuban missile crisis?”, along with “Is this a hill to die on?”.
Credit and a big thank you to Lambert for the first phrase.
Thank you, Carolinian. You make excellent points. Of particular note is your observation that “it’s is a kind of vicarious civic participation without having to get up out of their TV chair.” I know this on a certain level, but it gets increasingly difficult for me not to turn into a screaming banshee. Ultimately, I turn into the character in a short story saying, “I need to scream but I have no mouth.”
Jeff Schmidt agrees with you. He specifically blames grad school since his attention is on US education. His book about how that system works is very good and I recommend it.
Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
https://disciplinedminds.tripod.com/
“These people continue to believe that Russia interfered with previous Presidential elections, discount all of the Democrat/Biden warmongering, and are incapable of breaking out of a world view that has been crafted to misinform them.”
The dems I know are like trained seals. The party leaders tell them whom to vote for, whom to hate, and on cue, they perform. It takes a lot of work to dig for truth, but if your ‘truth’ is the party line, well, what can I say. I’ve given up on the dems.
No limit to TDS.
That brain rot’s called the lusory attitude, a transmissible paraphilia for unnecessary obstacles, which was first seen in ancient Greece and became endemic in the 20th century. To cure it, ban the Olympics and shut down all processes of others’ self-valorization. Easy peasy.
>MAGA world erupts over Andrew Tate release, Epstein stunt Axios
“If I’m gonna be fair these questions needs to be asked today. Why is the release of the Epstein list always a shit show?” tweeted Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
I think the question answers itself. Candace Owens claims that we will never get a fully unredacted release of the files is probably correct. The whole sordid tale, going back to Donald Barr, father of William Barr, is just too damn incendiary and outside the Overton window, like many topics that border the land of the cryptocrats.
I might add that the springing of Andrew Tate may be a White House deal where they get this guy back to the US to make them look good to their base and the US looks the other way about the rigging of elections in Romania as the US needs that NATO base in Romania too badly. Probably years ago the plan was for that base to be built in eastern Ukraine but that idea never worked out.
Checks out – not that I actually know anything.
Rumania is too far from air targets in Kiev!
To do Russia US needs several Danangs east of Kiev…. A few big support bases in west Ukraine
Russia air defenses are immense compared to N Vietnam
Methinks Isr and Mossad do not want said Epstein files released. Therefore, said files will not be released. An elaborate fan dance to make it look as if they’re being released will happen instead. You’ll never see what is teasingly suggested. / my 2 cents
You’re more likely to see the full release of the Kennedy files before you see the release of the full Epstein files. By keeping a lid on the later, Trump now owns many very important and powerful people who will do him all sorts of favours when asked – and he will ask them.
I’d suggest Bibi owns many very important people. / ;)
All could be true. Perhaps sexual kink is some kind of signpost of having arrived among the elite. It’s like the Matthew Broderick movie The Freshman where rich people periodically gather to eat endangered species.
Eagerly awaiting news of that completed remaining file turnover from the NY field office.
However, not holding my breath.
Files may be transferred to the DOJ only to have how many kept under wraps as legal work proceeds?
Come to think of it, the Trump DoJ now owns the Hunter Biden laptop. I wonder if they will do anything about all the files on it or save it for an election year. I would have thought that Trump would want to put the boot into the Democrats while memories are still fresh on old Joe and start proceedings this year.
I would have thought that Trump would want to … start proceedings this year.
Indeed. The extent of the corruption could be sufficient to open out into investigations and prosecutions for a few years to come. We’d see how the Dems like lawfare back at them, wouldn’t we?
Joe’s blanket presidential pardon of Hunter and Joe’s entire family makes it pointless to waste time there, imo. A pointless distraction from more immediate issues.
No point in T using the Hunter laptop for election purposes in future. Everyone already knows about it; why rerun the 2020 campaign? And best of all, a whole lot of people who voted for T this time even though they maybe don’t like T very much are still heaving a sign of relief that the word-salad wasn’t elected. If the Dems follow Carville’s advice and play dead then T and the COP will still be running against no real opposition. / ;)
an aside: I keep wondering how long Australia will keep Albanese in office. / ;)
What can studying cults tell us about the trans movement?
Eliza Mondegreen
Over the last several years, I’ve spent a lot of time buried in the literature on cults and coercive persuasion. So today I wanted to reflect on how many of these dynamics show up in online trans subcultures. In particular, I want to focus on three key concepts from the literature on cults and coercive persuasion: don’t-know seekership, radical departures, and bounded choice.
https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/p/listen-to-my-talk-from-lisbon?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F794dd2aa-151f-472b-8f30-09cf1266d4af_2940x1912.png&open=false
And then there are organizations like https://wpath.org/ .
Michael Shellenberger has written extensively about what he sees as abuse of mentally vulnerable children and young adults. Then there are the parents who may be suffering Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. I new a grandparent like this, I think. I’d never heard about any of her grandchildren until one minor-aged grandchild desided to transition. Then that’s all I heard about. The trans grandchild was so wonderful and fabulous etc etc etc, as if that made the grandparent really, really special. That was the only grandchild she talked about. It was very strange, imo.
I’m not anti, but leave the minor-age kids alone.
adding: I knew she had several grandchildren.
“White House backs Israel blocking aid to Gaza”
Meet the new Genocider. Same as the old one.
Because there is little or no public support in the West to condemn Israel. Nor is there much support in the Arab of Muslim world to condemn Israel and certainly not to do much of anything to support the Palestinians. Why this is the case is what we should discuss.
More Making Shit Up and you will be banned. You are in moderation for past violations. I have been trashing some of your recent comments for rule violations. You have not gotten the message One more comment like this will be treated as a reader assisted suicide request.
Contrary to your bullshit, the US, which is heavily propagandized, is split on whether Israel’s conduct is genocide: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/24/americans-believe-israel-committing-genocide-poll
If you don’t think calling Israel out as a genocider = condemnation, I can’t help you. This is before getting to probable under-reporting of Israel criticism to pollsters given the consequences to some of being found out to be critics of Israel.
And:
https://www.thepipd.com/resources/polling-2024/
Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza elicited widespread condemnation around the world, including in Europe, so there’s no reason to think results have improved for Israel.
And your lie about Arab states is vile. See just in the last 24 hours
The fact that most Gulf states are under US protection does not mean that they would not do more if they were not fettered.
So take your hasbara elsewhere.
All of fresh graves, all the people behind bars, all the hurried legislation written to shut people up, and more…that doesn’t happen to stop internet bots.
Simplicius, Garden of Knowledge, “The EU Carnival.”
Definitely worth your while. Simplicius is downright frisky today and certainly can turn a phrase:
In the end, it seems, the spectacle is staged for itself, because the European elite have fashioned a kind of simulacrum echo-chamber onto which they project their own tinsel performances ad nauseam, like a weird reality glitch. It’s a broken TV tuned to a dead station, sputtering noise in a long-abandoned flat.
Indeed.
Meanwhile, as I scan the headlines above, I see that U.S. liberals, who were not in favor of negotiations because Antony Blinken was busy eating at that nazipizzeria, Jake Sullivan was being his usual waste of spacetime, and Joe Biden was waiting to be spoon-fed, are now aghast at the idea that negotiations, no matter how clumsily and preliminary, have broken out.
Meanwhile, my BookFace feed has lots of earnest liberals “supporting Ukraine” and proposing that the Russians be forced from Crimea.
Trump may be a lot of things, but it turns out that he isn’t stupid. Vance is ambitious. Meanwhile, the Democrats are preparing to send out Pete Buttigieg to lift the hearts of their anointed.
Do U.S. liberals know what it means to be against peace?
As that old commie fox, Massimo D’Alema, has pointed out, no party can be considered leftist if the party doesn’t propose peace. This observation has more to do with Italian politics than with the U.S. Democratic Party, which is a rightwing party that happens to serve vegan appetizers at its conventions.
The debate in Italy is more rambunctious than the U.S. medley of “let’s not have peace,” “Trump is a poophead,” and “I see Putin under my bed.” And I’m glad of that. I’m also glad that Massimo D’Alema recently hinted that it may be time for Italians to say: Yankee Go Home.
I wasn’t of the opinion that the Big Z blow-up was a set-up but now I think it’s obvious that the intention was for Manu and Sir Keir to wear down DJT and get him to some make affirmative noises about Article 5 and supporting European peacekeepers (oh so clever, if les Renseignements and MI6 were on board, we’re doomed), before sending in Big Z to close the rare earth protection racket deal and then hold a triumphful European Leadership Meeting™ in London to announce Peace in Our Time, and declare the Americans on board.
Well that didn’t go well but the catering was already ordered and Charles III booked for Sunday afternoon so they decided to just bloody carry on as if it were a normal Sunday, even if the roast had burnt and the house with it.
Someone here mentioned a huge overcommitment to the sunk cost fallacy yesterday and it sure looks that way.
Bugs: As I watch the English, and the U.K. is all about the English, I see the weakened governments of remarkably talent-free individuals like B Johnson, Truss, Sunak, and Starmer as desperate to distract from the depleted state of Britannia by trying to cobble together some new Empire. If it means lording it over the Poles and Latvians, so be it.
I’m not sure how Starmer expects to run a war in a country whose industrial production is now limited to Cadbury Creme Eggs.
As to Emanuel Macron, it seems to be all about salvaging his own career as his impossible political choices are being reduced to irrelevance.
Meanwhile, as I mentioned, U.S. liberals are demanding that Russia pull out of Crimea. U.S. liberals have a fantasy that removing Russian troops form the Donbass will lead to peace — just as it did from 2014 to 2022, eh.
So U.S. liberals will be only to happy to sacrifice any peacekeepers.
I had to look up Cadbury.
It is owned by Mondelez International in Chicago.
The Wikipedia page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cadbury
mentions how the UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland, which was 84% owned by the UK government, helped finance a US takeover.
The U.K. does look very “owned” by the USA.
Mercouris is his latest was saying that the British press is now, again, full on Russia is in tatters mode, with assertions that Ukraine is doing very well, they only need a little help to defeat Russia and more of the usual BS. This, Mercouris interprets, as preparation to blame the Ukraine defeat, collapse, whatever comes, entirely on Trump. This is the only “effective” tool left in the CW, the blaming game prepared in advance, trying to save face after all these years of disgraces and mistakes soon to be followed by more disgraces and mistakes.
Maybe those who say that NATO is in its latest days, weeks, months are right.
My nephew, who is Italian and lives in Brescia, knows more about the Punic wars than post WWII Italy a la the likes of Gladio and other covert CIA operations, is one of those who think “Trump is a poophead.” It seems the Italian educational system is good on the classics, Latin, Greek, etc…but woefully deficient, in contemporary politics that fall outside MSM.
For US liberals I talk to (I used to be one btw) the world has been reduced to a comic book of “good guys” and “bad guys” without a whole lot of nuance. I get these rants about Trump and Republicans. For most of them war is fine and a justification of their Manichean view of reality–how that came about from the old urbane liberal tradition in the US where one could debate issues and listen rather than ranting is complicated. Personally, I see it as a result of a radical distortion of the Western Humanist tradition in the academy and the debasement of and ignorance of art, literature, poetry and philosophy.
Team Blue, “Give war a chance!”, lol, Kissinger from above, “You’ve come a long way baby!”
Simplicius sure is entertaining.
I find it sort of ironic that the UK governments back in 2012-2016 fought so hard for Brexit, ostensibly so that they would not find themselves entangled in the European continent.
And yet … here they are, with a so-called “leader” proposing that their kids get their faces blown off to defend a country that isn’t even in the EU.
Where is Farage?
Most likely the plan is to present Farage as a Putin stooge, and rely on UK [English] patriotism in order to upend the otherwise inevitable blowout loss. These bozos just have no perspective that the last time this worked [the Falklands War], the stakes were 100x lower.
When I pull the tinfoil hat on too tight some times, I start to wonder whether Reform and Farage were not supported by the US Deep State to split the Tory vote and elect Starmer because either:
(i) only a Clintonesque Third Way party could deliver the UK to WW3 (chief item of evidence: Peter Mandelson in Washington as Starmer’s handler); or,
(ii) UK electoral arithmetic can only deliver a landslide victory by splitting the right and allowing Labour through, which is the second placed party in most seats; the opposite is impossible because the Tories are not second place to Labour and splitting a Labour vote merely results in different permutations of Tory+other coalition government, which would be too diverse in views (nationalist etc.) to put up with this nonsense.
Whatever the manouevring, Labour in power and Reform with a high vote but minimal seats has created a PMC dictatorship and frozen the populist nationalists out of power, if not out of the discourse. And Elon has recently administered a whipping to Nigel because Nigel’s instinctive line on Putin is now threatening Operation Skedaddle from Ukraine. Trump / Elon need Europe to grasp the tar baby….
It’s like their major goal is to get the USA more committed to wars, with all the problems that would cause for the USA.
The more suspicious and cynical side of me thinks of it as a bit engineering a downfall. And people are thinking the EU are sheep herded by the USA.
Then I remember that it’s hard to find a conflict that isn’t kept going by weapons and weapons systems from the USA.
A peace party in the USA — it’s gone. Ukraine needs support because the only people dying are Ukrains and Ruskies so, I guess the thinking goes in the USA political and media outlets is, spending this money (which helps “organized money”) without the attendant loss of American blood is (a smarmy) peace for americans and, opens up future oportunities for “organized money” so there should be no question about the veracity of the statement –
“We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.”-FDR
Further, as a result of, the financialization of the economy and, userpation of our Government and Press by the creditior class, as deliberatly fashioned and supported by both political parties in legislative actions for 50, 60, 70? years. There is a silence in opposition to peace by both parties now ( even now when you have a president looking for peace (whether altruistic or not) proving points as has been said before – “War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.” -George Orwell or as iterated before -“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.” -Alexis de Tocqueville
Regarding the new era of fraud, con-artistry, for-us-or-against-us-ism and, mob-mentality ( mimicking the old) that is seen today – He or she isn’t really a big time crook unless you must let him alone to prevent the loss of public confidence.
So the Dem and Repub have a bi-partisanship clearly visable by looking at public debate. It has been so monetized and scripted in order that the questions of genocide, endless wars, corrupting influence of money, wealth disparaties and peace or no peace questions are not put up for debate, …. to put Lincoln’s “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” – into some kind of reconstuction to speak of both parties ( I’ll try but it’s beyond me anyway) – when organized money makes cowards of congressand the press, then the consent of the people is silenced.
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be … The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe.” – Thomas Jefferson
Sorry for the divergent rabbit hole thing here
I think it truly absurd the synthetic outrage to violations of decorum thats being tossed out in the media.
Where is the outrage to the Genocide, massive human rights violations etc.
I see the war in Ukraine as not one of defending the principles of democracy but one of defending the principles of organized money – It is a folly of huge proportion who’s only winner is organized money, organized mob and the only loser is a republic run by and for the consent of the people.
Sorry about espousing and ranting the way i do
Hear hear! (Thank you for your rant, TomDority)
>Putin unleashes Iskander-M missile attack to ‘sink container ship in Odesa carrying cargo of British weapons for Ukraine’ Daily Mail. Would be nice to know how a ship carrying NATO weapons made it to Odesa
It probably made it all the way there because the Russians couldn’t confirm its contents until it docked. Probably eyes on the ground.
Probably a message as well to all those UK/European nations saying that they are going to send boots on the ground in the Ukraine. Don’t even think of trying to supply them by sea. Also, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Simplicus:
Two Iskander-M ballistic missiles hit the Panama-flagged container ship MSC LEVANTE F – reportedly Swiss-owned – soon after it arrived in Odessa on March 1, after making a stop in Turkey. PS. Swiss owned, Panama flagged, loaded in Turkey with British weapons, yet everyone says that this war is still only between Russia and Ukraine.
I’m curious to why pictures of these ships in smoking ruins are not out yet. But I could be completely missing it.
“the “working class populist uprising” theories of Trumpism are really starting to break down
a grand union of all criminal and scammer elements in American society, a stack of utter lumpen scum from top to bottom pilfering society in a 4 year capitol raid is closer to the truth”
LOL!!! When I had family members repeat Trump’s rhetoric about draining the swamp back in 2016, I always said that I thought it was a noble goal, but it’s just as important to know what one plans to refill the swamp with. I always knew it would not be what most of his joe 6-pack supporters were thinking.
Trump doesn’t seem popular with my family these days – they’re mostly talking about weird diets for autoimmune disorders and the occasional breathless and contradictory threads on elderly folks in the hospital. (Except for some T1 diabetes, no autoimmune anything, and they are not actually following the diets.)
Taking this now weeks-long silence regarding the MAGAverse as a good, goodish at least, sign.
Regarding these tweets by Wakefield, Ryan Grim, and Ben Norton: the bitter irony is there is not a damn thing that can be done about such “criminal and scammer” looting now even if anyone wanted to. And this is because of the Democrats and the Establishment. By all of their earlier efforts to get rid of Trump through the dangerous Russiagate project, the farcical impeachment effort, the obviously coordinated lawfare attacks after Trump was out of office, and the general Trump derangement of the entire Establishment, he has been given complete immunity. The Republicans control Congress and are scared s**tless of being seen as opposing Trump in any way. The majority of the electorate (a slim majority, perhaps) don’t believe anything the opposition says about Trump any more. Why should they? Seeing which way the wind is blowing, most of the billionaire club has thrown their support to Trump, at least publicly. While there is an echo of “resistance” in the liberal media, the People Who Count are pretty quiet.
Remember when Trump made some comment about being able to shoot someone in the street and get away with it? He’s about there now. But I’m not sure he is more of a “criminal and scammer” than many who have come before him. He’s just the culmination of a long process of political destruction. We’ll see how far he goes and low long he is able to leverage this power. I’ve given up making predictions; things are too crazy now.
“By all of their earlier efforts to get rid of Trump through the dangerous Russiagate project, the farcical impeachment effort, the obviously coordinated lawfare attacks after Trump was out of office, and the general Trump derangement of the entire Establishment, he has been given complete immunity.”
Somebody raided the dry-powder vault.
Look at it altogether. All the posts and links about financial engineering.
Trump can’t fulfil his promise to fix the economy, so he’s blaming workers instead -The Guardian
As I said in reply to someone’s comment yesterday: For centuries, after financial crises caused by greed and speculation, it’s been the case to blame workers for lack of productivity/efficiency.
Kinda reminds you of that old saying – ‘The whippings will continue until morale improves.’ I guess the idea is for Trump to ransack the economy for himself and his buddies for the next three years and then do stuff for the little guy in 2028 to get Vance over the line.
that’s just cynical enough that it might both work, and be the truth.
Outside election power grabs, the only other certain plans: financial engineering and eventual asset stripping to pump stock prices.
Going on over 50 years now.
Keir Starmer learnt his lines, if only the world would stick to theirs The Times
“…Sir Keir Starmer felt triumphant. Shortly after he left the White House on Thursday following a meeting with President Trump that had gone better than any of his team dared hope, the prime minister was cock-a-hoop about one thing the American leader had said.”
All because Trump said something vague and hypothetical supporting Article 5.
This is just as triumphant as the Daily Mail article a few days back, which was a total buff up piece and how awesome Starmer was and had so much victory to celebrate after his meeting with Trump. All with zero facts and lots of pics. Then I listened to the Duran explain what a bust Starmer’s meeting was and how hard the British establishment media props him up.
It’s true, and if those 2 articles on Starmer’s incredible victory with Trump is typical, propaganda seems to be a lot worse in Britain that in the US.
I thought it embarrassing when Starmer pulled out what he thought was a powerful trump card – an invitation from the King. Trump didn’t look impressed and joked how was it even official. For those who have not seen it, here is that Duran video that timbers talked about-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKt5Jta0JG4 (17:11 mins)
But Trump had better hurry. The King just met with Zelensky so now has the Zelensky Curse and may not be around that much longer.
Kyle E. Starmer … super genius!
Almost as good as the genius-level plan to get a ceasefire without one of the two parties agreement, then send troops to get obliterated in a war zone.
I watched that remark to Starmer about the Royal invitation and laughed out loud.
As we have all noted numerous times, one of Trump’s biggest threats to the Establishment is his tendency to say the quiet parts out loud, pulling back the curtain and exposing the edifice of make-believe that is suppose to keep the people believing in it. His cracks about Zelensky’s dress had a similar effect. Whatever Trump’s other faults – and they are many – I do enjoy it when he seems to take mischievous pleasure in such moments of exposure.
“The Dems appear a-okay with cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Head Start, the Department of Education, affordable housing, accommodations for the disabled, environmental protections, public health, etc., but they’re ready to go to the mattresses over Ukraine…”
Because what is happening in the Mid East is so horrendous, it’s easy to overlook how much more attuned the government officials are to the needs foreign lobbyists from all over the globe and not only the usual suspect.
“it’s easy to overlook how much more attuned the government officials are to the needs foreign lobbyists from all over the globe and not only the usual suspect.”
I agree and would add it’s not just that the gov officials are attuned to the needs of foreign lobbyists, it’s also that the gov officials are themselves profiting in various other ways like investments. This is something the people around me just cannot grasp – that all of the elected officials, for the most part, are just as corrupt as any official in a so-called banana republic. I view it as one giant circle jerk.
“IAEA conducts rotation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant without Ukraine’s approval”
Interesting that. The last time a AIEA crew in a convoy went to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for a rotation, they were attacked by Ukrainian drones even though (or because of) they had coordinated their movements with the Ukrainians. This time they were not so stupid as to let the Ukrainians do that again.
Odd, that IAEA seems to have known the drones were Ukrainian yet were never able to figure out who was firing at them when asked in public who it was, when Russia hosted them in the past.
I think that at the time of this attack a few weeks ago, the IAEA refused to identify whose drones were attacking their convoy. Such a mystery. I guess that we will never know.
Release of all the Epstein files would simply take down too many politicians and their donors. It’s really that simple.
A public airing of the complete Epstein files might release enough steam to rid us of our Israeli sponsored government.
Our modern “Churchill”. from twtr-X
As the Zelensky worship reaches fever pitch, it’s worth looking back at how this “Churchill” became President.
Here’s a 2019 video from RFERL on then candidate Zelensky and his oligarch backer, Ihor Kolomoisky. Don’t expect our media to ever cover this.
https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1895925342264504587
And here is the flip side of the coin FWIW-
https://xcancel.com/ricwe123/status/1895571160332726683#m
Toria Nuland is a US arch neocon in a family of arch neocons.( See Irving Kristol. ) So, it’s less a flip side than Tweedledum and Tweedledee. What is the sound of two wings flapping? / ;)
Two Tweedles don’t make a right or absolve either with a ‘what about them’ excuse, imo. / ;)
A lot of people in the US are tired of being Tweedled for others’ geopolitical interests.
european elites are tone deaf.
if/when the missiles start flying on the EuroArmy, “The Plebs” are not going to send their kids to Ukraine. Nationalism/patriotism is dead in W. Europe.
Will make Suez Crisis look like a Boy Scout Jamboree. and of course, Starmer-Dee, Tweedle-Annalena and Co. may make it happen
Louis Fyne: if/when the missiles start flying on the EuroArmy, “The Plebs” are not going to send their kids to Ukraine.
Indeed.
“There is no such thing as society,” they told us for 40 years. We got the message.
I think the officials get that feeling. That’s why they desperately throw money at “AI” fantasies.
I know even the mention of David Irving is verboten in many circles, but his book, Churchill’s War and his lectures on Churchill comes readily to mind, where the larger than life size character of Churchill is vastly different than the one I received in school or absorbed growing up…so in this light, maybe Zelensky is a modern “Churchill.”
[I wonder why the book is almost $152.00 on Thrifybooks’ website]
For much cheaper option on Churchill deconstruction try Tariq Ali’s “Churchill: His times, his crimes” published by Verso.
“How DOGE detonated a crisis at a highly sensitive nuclear weapons agency’
Do they do this in major corporations when they do mass sackings? Get rid of a section of that corporation to see if things catches fire or blows up? And if it does, rehire those people again to repair the damage done?
You’d be surprised.
There have been a number of anecdotes published as comments here at NC of people reporting what happened at some of their former employers: mass sacking (especially of older personnel), followed by the firm scrambling to re-hire those people when it was realized they were the only ones who were actually able to operate some machinery, or who knew the ins and outs of an essential piece of software, or skilled enough to perform some crucial core-business task…
I have also heard a few stories about large firms providing a “generous package” (similar to that DOGE “exit offer”) to employees ready to leave on their own, only to go back at them and making retention or re-hiring proposals because so many of those employees who took the offer were precisely those the corporation did not want to lose…
Fact check = true.
I was one of them. 59 years old. Large multi-national company. They got rid of 113 of us at once. The youngest was 58 and the oldest 65. You were gone, got a severance, and a few months of insurance. 45 days to sign the agreement that you wouldn’t sue for age discrimination among other things we had to agree to.
They did the layoffs in waves sending hundreds off at a time. It was about making the company younger, and cheaper. Most of us were replaced with H1B visa types from India and China. This was all salary engineering type jobs.
Some were re-offered their jobs because they cut more than they should, or a position them left themself short. Of course the stock price rose every time the layoffs were announced. But that became kind of funny too.
In early Feb 2017 they reported earnings (same day as layoffs, or the day after) and their stock jumped to the all time high of $217 dollars. On March 4, about a month later, it was around $211. But over that month the top 10 insiders were selling like crazy. By July of that year it hit $142. Opps! People had been using their 401k to buy company stock. Some not only lost their jobs but got raked by the stock as well. Not a happy time for many.
Especially because of management’s belief nowadays that everything can be managed on a dashboard. In my organization managers spend a huge amount of time badgering us to capture our work in jira and timesheets so that it shows up on their dashboards that they review in high level meetings. I can easily see them making staffing decisions based on those dashboards, not understanding how many mundane but critical tasks are not actually captured anywhere, they are just done.
The link (‘Megalodon’ Goldfish Found in Pennsylvania Waterway — and Now Officials Are Issuing a Warning to Pet Owners People) has perhaps the most annoying type of super-wide-angle lens photography: making something small look large (i.e., foreground objects are many times actual size). The goldfish is a foot long? Big deal.
More of a problem is koi, an imported fish, twice the size of the “megalodon”; a popular fish to stock ponds everywhere; and are invasive.
On the plus side of koi, in the spring migrating osprey find them very tasteful food, via the pond at a nearby golf course.
True of the first photo in the article. Farther down is a second that isn’t so distorted. That one shows a fish at least a foot long. Kinda the size of a typical koi, now that you mention it….
“Putin ally pushes deal to restart Nord Stream 2 with US backing’
‘ “The US would say, ‘Well, now Russia will be dependable because trustworthy Americans are in the middle of it’,’” said a former senior US official, who was aware of some of the dealmaking efforts. The US investors would collect “money for nothing”, he added.’
This is so bizarre. The Russians have always kept supply up and at a good price for Europe. And now they are saying that it will be even more reliable because US investors are in this chain of supply? That would mean Trump. So what if Trump threatens to have that supply line shut down if they do not play ball. What makes everybody think that Russia will be interested in supplying gas again. Won’t they want all their owned money back first? If they do, what if Russia says that all wages, maintenance and running costs are to be paid for by those US investors and not them? I would.
If the U.S. is invested in it, then they are unlikely to blow it up a second time — so more reliable to that extent.
Possible, but IMHO I don’t think so. The US investment, even if they paid for the entire project, would be peanuts compared to vast amounts involved in all the sanctions, damage done to Europe, and profits on LNG for the US. The US offer to help rebuild the pipeline (the carrot) would probably come with requirements, like most of it being built by US companies (more money to the plutocrats). Once rebuilt the US could use the threat of blowing it up again as a stick to bring European governments into line, and influence the Russians. I don’t think the plutocrats running the country would hesitate for a moment if they thought blowing it up again was in their financial interests and the war-hawks would probably love it for all the chaos involved. But that’s just my opinion.
I’ve noticed that since the Trumpster came in making these noises about ending the ware in Ukraine, the social media posts, across all platforms, combined with the legacy media, have gone into absolute overdrive on the he loves Putin, he is betraying our allies, he is an enemy of democracy, etc., etc. It was already like that before the big meeting but now is just completely bonkers. It seems like nearly all the normie dem/lib world is coalescing behind the propaganda without even a hint of awareness about the reality of the situation. Even of those progressives who seemed willing to criticize the dem party, the previous admin, etc. most seem to have completely fallen in line on this issue. Many people who created content I like, I can now no longer take them seriously because they have completely given into the mania.
I had noticed that on the X platform, the changes in the algorithm were sending me increasingly dumb brainless content, which I attribute to the fact it probably generates “engagement” or whatever BUT ALSO an increasing amount of mean, heartless right wing stuff too (which makes little sense for an algorithm targeting a leftie like me). But, with all that being the case, the dem/mainstream propaganda on the site is EVEN MORE pervasive somehow, even with Musk being at the controls of the system. I just wonder how those two opposing forces can continue to play out on a platform the oligarch influencing the current admin owns. It just seems so bizarre.
Even on Reddit, where I peruse sometimes, I had hoped that the notion of the “kids are alright” would show at least some posts that don’t simply repeat propaganda. But nothing but the same stream of consciousness I see on all other platforms. In the 22 years since the ginned up Iraq fiasco, I’ve hoped that people would become better at spotting bs in this world but it somehow now seems to be worse. All very disheartening all around.
Did they ever have a hint of awareness? The democrats and their PMC base are incapable of self reflection or analysis. They still blame the loss to Trump because the racist goons with tobacco stains running down their chin will never vote for a women. It never has anything to do with what the democrat party didn’t offer, or the billions thrown to the cesspool of corruption known as Ukraine, and an endless list of other failures.
I’m guessing many in fact would vote for a women if their names weren’t Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris, and that particular women was worth voting for. They don’t understand they beat themselves, and Trump was the protest vote, just like he was the last time. Nope, can’t see that, so let’s spend the next 4 years running around with our hair on fire screaming Russia, Russia, Russia, and Orange man bad.
I have already heard them talking about 2028 and how big they will win because they are not Trump. They learn nothing – ever.
More than a thousand people protest Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Vermont, VTDigger. The lede;
While most people demonstrating around the Mad River Valley expressed concern regarding the current administration’s policies and direction, others showed up to support the vice president.
Good article with quotes from organizers on both sides giving strong signals to decipher. Lots of good photos, worth a look.
Tiptoe through the window of opportunity
By the window, that is where I’ll be
Come tiptoe through the tulips with me
Oh, tiptoe from the rose garden
By the garden of the crypto deed
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
Knee deep in crypto we’ll stray
We’ll keep the naysayers away
And if I endorse them in the rose garden, in the moonlight
Will you play along with me?
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
Maybe it’s manufacturing will bring the economy to life
And when I endorse Bitcoin in the rose garden in the moonlight
Will you join me and tiptoe through the tulips with me?
Tiptoe Through the Tulips, by Tiny Tim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcSlcNfThUA
It seems like nearly all the normie dem/lib world is coalescing behind the propaganda without even a hint of awareness about the reality of the situation.
For me this is very reminiscent of the attitudes coalescing around CV19 jabs during its early phase roll-out.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/03/kennedy-jr-measles-outbreak-vaccine/
RFK Jr. urges people to get vaccinated amid deadly Texas outbreak
I guess a body count changes everything…
Regarding the article: “Examining gender-specific mental health risks after gender-affirming surgery” the conclusion made me laugh (or maybe cry). The conclusion was “Gender-affirming surgery, while beneficial in affirming gender identity, is associated with increased risk of mental health issues, underscoring the need for ongoing, gender-sensitive mental health support for transgender individuals’ post-surgery.
Post surgery support???? Oh my, why not save a lot of money and heart ache and get support before surgery??
Such twisted logic form this study!
US may exclude government spending from GDP, obscuring effect of Doge cuts https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/trump-government-spending-gdp-doge
‘“A more accurate measure of GDP would exclude government spending,” Musk wrote on his social media platform. “Otherwise, you can scale GDP artificially high by spending money on things that don’t make people’s lives better.”’
What is the supergenius trying to say here? That Social Security payments to grandma and grandpa, or Medicaid payments to nursing homes, etc., don’t make people’s lives better?
LOL, I had the same reaction.
Economics isn’t a hard science, but this would reduce it to witchcraft.
These calculations (ex-fed) are already published. The real issue here is in the MMT sphere. Which spending has produced “”legs” in terms of supporting future borrowing?
Back in the day, when the GFC was just a kiddo, we used to have these debates. I don’t fall into any particular camp, as I used to. Maybe I’m humbled by decades of waiting for the big kaboom-sky to finish off the dollar … which never comes.
In a consumer economy like ours, social security directly supports consumer spending. As does Medicaid, by keeping the indigent from starving in the streets.
The real issue, IMO, is printing money for Ye Olde Pigmen. Like today’s article on the Crypto bros getting a bagholder from Trump’s strategic scam-coin reserve.
Thanks. Maybe the long wait is over.
>A more accurate measure of GDP would exclude government spending,” Musk wrote on his social media platform. “Otherwise, you can scale GDP artificially high by spending money on things that don’t make people’s lives better.”’
I guess that’s accurate if you consider F-35s, bombs, artillery, tanks, all armaments not making someone’s life better when used ( except for shareholders), or used for color revolutions etc., etc.
Frankly, I’m just fine with the government money being spent on good roads, schools medicine, you know, seems to be a positive for society when spent properly.
But what do I know, I’m not one of the world’s wealthiest getting subsidies left , right and center from the government I’m now wrecking. Not that it needed Musk’s help.
And let’s not forget that Musk is a defense contractor, making people’s lives better, as opposed to say cancer research at the NIH.
What happened to transparency? / ha
RT claims that some of the Hollywood VIPs visiting Ukraine were paid by USAID.
I don´t really buy that because it´s so obvious right before the Oscars.
On the other hand had they reported a month ago I would have believed it. Their greed is endless.
I don´t know what to think. REUTERS claims – as RT reports – the source, a video, is staged.
There is no way to really find out unless an insider blows the whistle. And that individual really must hate the former employer. And you would burn all bridges behind you in the industry if you did such a thing.
Western celebrities paid millions to back Ukraine – Orban
The stars’ trips to Kiev were funded via the US foreign aid system, the Hungarian Prime Minister has claimed
https://www.rt.com/news/613572-celebrities-ukraine-orban-usaid/
Thomas Fazi with an interesting take that somewhat dovetails with my views on Europe’s role in Z’s Oval Office drama and Europe’s role going forward: The pro-war party has won — for now