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Links 4/1/2025

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How evolution favoured costly and frivolous animal play aeon (Anthony L)

Honey bee colonies could face 70% losses in 2025, impacting agriculture ABC (Robin K)

Short-staffed USDA seeks help on honeybee decline E&E News, Politico (Robin K)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Geopolitical conflict impedes climate change mitigation Nature

Rainstorms are getting more intense amid climate change Axios

Vanishing Water Mystery: Scientists Uncover Why the Colorado River Is Running Dry SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

China?

China delays $23B sale of Panama Canal ports to US-backed consortium led by BlackRock New York Post (Kevin W)

Taiwan accuses Chinese chipmakers of illegally poaching engineers Financial Times

ExxonM and CNOOC sticking to 11B barrels figure in Stabroek Block, but Hess says estimate higher Kaiteur News (Robin K)

Myanmar

Myanmar’s military junta has continued to bomb parts of the war-torn country following the major earthquake there, which has killed more than 1,600 people BBC

Thailand Says Collapsed Bangkok Tower Used Substandard Steel Bloomberg. I hate to say “I told you so” about an accident where workers died…but it was obvious that this was a construction problem. If the quake had been strong enough to damage buildings in Bangkok, you would have seem more examples of at least structural damage. In a city with a metro area population of 17 million, I saw reports of 4 or 5 office buildings where the tenants were worried about cracks….which turned out to be old cracks.

Africa

Trump admin ups the tempo of airstrikes against jihadist groups in Somalia Long War Journal

The siege of Khartoum has lifted. Left behind are scenes of unimaginable horror Guardian

Guyanese should feel confident in US firm support for Guyana’s territorial integrity- US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson says Guyana Chronicle (Robin K)

South of the Border

Venezuela: US Threatens Military Intervention in Essequibo Dispute Orinoco Tribune (Robin K)

Private sector welcomes US pledge of support against threat by Venezuela Stabroek News (Robin K)

European Disunion

Marine Le Pen’s 2027 presidential bid in jeopardy as she is banned from running in elections Le Monde. From Aurelien by e-mail:

She’s speaking at the moment but it doesn’t look good. What she did was not unprecedented in the French system (basically moving money around to meet costs elsewhere) but it was done very clumsily, and left a paper trail behind. She also denied everything from the word go, in spite of the evidence, and her defence witnesses were very unconvincing. It just goes to show that the RN is actually a pretty amateurish organisation, with a very limited capability outside Le Pen herself. I don’t think anyone else is capable of running in 2027. The political consequences are effectively impossible to predict at this stage.

From Politico’s EU morning newsletter:

IS LE PEN MIGHTIER THAN THE COURT? “I’m combative. I won’t let myself be eliminated,” a visibly infuriated Marine Le Pen said Monday evening. In her first interview after an embezzlement conviction that leaves her unable to run for office for five years, the far-right icon conspicuously refused to endorse her lieutenant in the National Rally, Jordan Bardella.

That was the first sign of where Le Pen’s head is at as she makes an agonizing choice, as my colleagues Clea Caulcutt and Marion Solletty lay out:

— Let them eat cake: After painstakingly transforming her father’s racist party into an electable force, Le Pen was a strong contender to win the French presidency in 2027. So she could boost Bardella to take the top spot on the ticket.

— Après Marine, le déluge? Or she could dig her heels in and unleash an almighty blitzkrieg, castigating the French justice system with one hand and bringing down the government with the other.

Both options come with risks. Bardella is still seen as green (profile here). And so far, the French public seem pretty comfortable with Monday’s court ruling. An Odoxa poll for Le Figaro published Monday evening found that 54 percent of 995 respondents said they believed her sentence was a sign that France had a healthy democracy. Another 65 percent said they were “satisfied” or “indifferent” to the verdict, Victor Goury-Laffont reports.

LIBERAL UNEASE: Yet even among liberal democrats, there was a sense of unease. Sure, this is an affirmation of the rule of law — Le Pen was convicted of misusing European Parliament funds for campaign activities, after all. But it’s not a popular rejection by the demo.

Germany’s spending push drives up borrowing costs across Eurozone Financial Times

Old Blighty

Welcome to Britain, Where Critical WhatsApp Messages Are a Police Matter Reclaim the Net

The Rise of the Gurus Sam Freedman

Rachel Reeves is a helpless pawn in Donald Trump’s tariff war Telegraph

Israel v. The Resistance

Netanyahu cancels appointment of new Shin Bet head amid opposition from allies Times of Israel

The first responders massacre: 14 aid workers found dead and buried, hands bound Mondoweiss (guurst)

US Blames Hamas for Israeli Execution of Palestinian Medics Antiwar.com (Kevin W). Lordie.

Three killed in Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah militant in Beirut Arab News

Iran will target Britain’s Chagos base if Trump attacks Telegraph. The media and some readers argued that Iran might not be able to reach Diego Garcia. Iran is signaling otherwise.

New Not-So-Cold War

Racist Allied Underestimation Of Russia’s Abilities Led To Its Win Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Trump-Putin parley is a bit under the weather Indian Punchline (Kevin W)

Europe prepares itself for all-out war with Russia Ian Proud

Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war BBC

Trump’s Negotiators Fail to Understand Russia and Europe Crashes and Burns Larry Johnson

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down To Protect Users From ‘Authoritarian Governments’ 404media. Help me. The fact that police are the main users is a surprise?

Privacy died last century, the only way to go is off-grid The Register

Imperial Collapse Watch

The weapon that could end America’s global supremacy Spectator

Trump 2.0

Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of economy: Poll Anadolu Agency. The disapproval margin has risen since the last poll, IIRC by NBC. Yet the headline you see overwhelmingly in a web search: “Trump scores better marks with the public on immigration than the economy.”

Trump to Unveil Country-Based Tariffs April 2 in Rose Garden Bloomberg

RFK Jr. Is Already Vindicating His Critics Wall Street Journal. Editorial.

Trump Administration Targets Harvard With Review of $9 Billion in Federal Funding Wall Street Journal

Trump tariff tumult has ripples for sporting goods, puts costly hockey gear in price-hike crosshair Associated Press (Micael T)

Trump administration sued over effort to dismantle federal unions Axios

DOGE

Democrat Death Wish

How Joe Biden’s frailties hampered Kamala Harris The Hill. All this talk of Kamala comes off like a bad remake of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, in which Tommy Lee Jones hauls a very overripe corpse over long distances in Texas and Mexico.

This is good but but so far, one Senator all alone IMHO signals weakness, not strength, but perhaps more will follow:

Immigration

Judge blocks Trump from ending deportation protection for Venezuelans Washington Post

Secret Bukele Deal Lies Behind Trump’s El Salvador Deportations Drop Site News (Chuck L)

Mr. Market Has a Sad

Stocks had worst quarter in years amid Trump tariff chaos CNBC

Antitrust

Google To Pay $100 Million To Settle 14-Year-Old Advertising Lawsuit Reuters

AI

The Senescence Loop Haydar Khan (fk). Yes, AI will make you stoopid. And quickly, too.

US judge rejects J&J’s $10 billion baby powder settlement Reuters (Kevin W)

The Code That Controls Your Money WealthIsSimple (Paul R)

The Bezzle

Musk Merged His Xes Matt Levine, Bloomberg

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (via):

A bonus and honorary Class Warfare (Chuck L):

A second bonus (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here

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189 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Wolf of X
    @tradingMaxiSL
    Mar 12
    11. The boy went to the shelter with the intention of adopting a kitten, and as soon as he arrived, one of the cats hugged him..
    Cat chooses you’

    Nice to see that at least the cat distribution system is still working.

    1. Steve H.

      > How evolution favoured costly and frivolous animal play
      >> Interspecies play relies on – and, in doing so, reveals – animals’ ability for reciprocal flexibility.

      What they call play, I call love. Incipient, perhaps.

      Noting that direct reciprocity is based on ‘the probability of another encounter between the same two individuals’, and that species is not specified.

      [pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3279745/]

    4. heresey101

      Reminds me of when my wife got me up early to drive 60 miles to a shelter to look at a bishon-poodle dog. When we were put in a room with the dog, he ran up barking and jumped on my wife and said let’s go!! He came over to me and barked a couple of time and said you’ll do.

      Thirteen years later, Pebbles is still my wife’s best friend and the little guy walks a mile every day and is so loyal and friendly. He made a good choice. We’re hoping he lives for many more years.

  2. Steve H.

    > The siege of Khartoum has lifted. Left behind are scenes of unimaginable horror

    Wesley’s List: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.

    On a side note, the phrase ‘Empire of Chaos’ dates to at least 1814.

      1. Revenant

        I was lucky enough to visit Khartoum for a wedding fifteen or so years ago (an Establishment British friend married a high society British-Sudanese girl). It was quite an affair (2,000 people in a tent, every man with his stick, three days of celebrations and not a drop to drink…) and the city and country were a wonderful experience.

        We had to take cash and travellers’ cheques though because the country was cut off from SWIFT and only Diners card worked. As a result, the “Hilton” had long ago stopped paying licence fees to the brand owner but had kept the name. :-)

        We visited the pyramids at Meroe (now controlled by warlords); we spent afternoons in the fabulous National Museum (now looted); we saw the Sufi’s whirling in Omdurman (now a horror scene along with Khartoum). It was a well ordered, proud, dignified society that had made the best of a thin hand after it threw off colonial rule.

        The destruction of Sudan by Great Power meddling is a great crime.

        1. PlutoniumKun

          That sounds like an amazing experience. I knew a few cyclists who managed to cycle through the country back before it was ruined – they said that in all of Africa they had never experienced such hospitality, and they always felt safe.

    2. pjay

      I was immediately struck by this headline. But the reason was that I could no longer imagine any horrors that were “unimaginable.” As I read on this was confirmed, the horrors sounded all too familiar. For example:

      “…They recount a siege of theft and murder, as a trigger-happy RSF militia shot those who resisted their demands. Afraid to carry their dead to graveyards, people buried those killed in shallow graves in their own streets and back yards. Elsewhere, corpses have been left to decompose where they fell. Widespread sexual violence against the civilian population has been reported from the early days of the war. It is an indication of the total siege that Khartoum was under that there isn’t yet a reliable estimate of the death toll.”

      For “RSF” substitute “IDF,” and for “Khartoum” substitute “Gaza.” As Clark’s list suggests, we could play this game all day. There’s no shortage of such scenes. Far from being “unimaginable,” we have to fight to keep from being numb to them.

    3. Aurelien

      I’ve been in Khartoum a number of times for professional reasons, and whilst I can’t say it’s my favourite African country, I was always well looked after and the people are very hospitable. The Sudanese are an also a proud people and I remember being taken around the National Museum, and being told that the Sudanese had pyramids when the Egyptians were in short trousers. They were also proud of never being an Arab colony, but adopting Islam voluntarily because it had a well-developed system of commercial law.

      But the problem is a regime that has kept power by force (with a brutality comparable with we’ve seen in recent days) and cynically instrumentalised Islam as a way of controlling the population. It was always argued that the regime’s practice of subcontracting security to militias in distant areas of the country would backfire, and now it has.

      1. Ignacio

        With regards to your quote on news about Marine LePen, i was wondering that OK, RN schemes were clumsily done and left a trail, but, what if in other cases there are similar trails to be followed but those aren’t followed because there is less interest in doing the same with “establishment” parties. The orders could be “focus please only on parties deemed as menaces” no matter what you find. Just as a possibility.

  3. Tom67

    Re: Honey bee collapse. I am a bee keeper myself and a pretty big one as hobby keepers go. It is the same story like with bird flu. You have completely unnatural conditions that result in bad immunity that result in enhanced disease. Nobody looks at the underlying conditions and “specialists” “veterinarians” a.s.o. look for some magic solution.
    Some basics: bees in nature stay in one place and then collect nektar, pollen a.s.o. from plants that offer the bees sustenance at various times of spring into the summer. All that in a natural order. First bloom the cherries, then the apples and at the end the chestnut trees. On top there are hundreds of different flowers, scrubs a.s.o. Each plant offers something slightly different to the bees. In sum what they collect in barely half a year will get them through the second half of the year. After the first half of the year you take away the larger part of honey and substitute it with sugar. That is how small beekeepers work all over the world.
    Big commercial bee keepers move from one mass flowering to the next. For instance canola to almonds. As you have mono cultures you can´t leave the bees in place. In an almond grove there would be no other food but the nektar from almonds and after the bloom bees would simply starve to death. And as the almonds groves are so massive in California you must get the bees from out of state. So commercial bee keepers need to truck their bees over hundreds and thousands of miles.
    From the above you can see that it is completely unnatural and furthermore bees lack all the pollen and nektar from “lesser” plants that in nature would supply part of their food. All that is apart from all the pesticides and fungicides that are in use in intensive agriculture.
    Just as you won´t get rid of bird flu in chicken concentration camps you will also never have healthy bees under such circumstances. There is no other option but to dial back the industrialisation of agriculture. Except it won´t happen unless there´s a catastrophy. Seems like we are heading that way. As with bird flu – in order not to be forced to look at the whole picture – they will try ever new band aids and find ever new “reasons” for the sudden problems.

    1. Adam1

      “… it is completely unnatural and furthermore bees lack all the pollen and nektar from “lesser” plants that in nature would supply part of their food.”

      Interestingly it’s also how we’re harming ourselves with highly processed foods. Lack of the right mix of foods to support good gut health and lack of vital micro nutrients that never make it through the processing of the food ingredients.

    2. Wukchumni

      Almonds have really been a disaster cloaked initially by being so damn profitable, which only encouraged everybody and their mother to plant ever more of the jackrabbit of food bearing trees (some varieties will get you a commercial crop after only 4 years) to the point where there are more almond trees in Cali than there are citizens in the USA, and every last one of them needs pollinators.

      Then the wholesale price went from $4.50 to a buck fifty a pound, and growers are going b/k all over the place, but not before playing a huge part in the destruction of our bee population in the USA.

      Bees there-done that

      1. ArvidMartensen

        So I heard on a podcast that almond orchards, at least here in Australia, have nothing to do with growing almonds. Instead, they are a way to capture water licences and warehouse them for when water is priced astronomically due to mega droughts. And any profits from almonds are an added bonus, but not the main game.

        I had never heard that before, but in this totally rapacious world and in this very dry land, it certainly makes sense.

        Business is way ahead of us in climate change. They know that the temperatures are going to fly past 2 degrees C, with mega floods and mega droughts, and they see it as a way to make even more money.

        Sort of like a man stuck in a truck on railway lines taking bets on what injuries he will have when the next train comes along and hits his truck. And bystanders not wanting to rescue him because they think they will win big on their bets.

    3. vao

      “In sum what they collect in barely half a year will get them through the second half of the year.”

      Wasn’t there also the practice in traditional agriculture to have some late-flowering plants (e.g. ivy) around to enable bees to forage in Autumn?

      1. lyman alpha blob

        In the traditional agriculture in my yard, I have plants that bloom from early spring (crocus) to late fall (aster) with the intention that there will always be something around for the bees. I do plant a vegetable garden too, and I have gotten in the habit of letting at least some of my broccoli go to flower. The bees really like the yellow blossoms in the fall since they are one of the few flowers around in our area at that time.

    4. VTDigger

      Didn’t this happen also in the early 2000s?
      I remember a save the bees campaign back then with predictions of a crop apocalypse. What happened, why no apocalypse that time?
      It was Neonicotinoids then I believe

    5. Judith

      Support your local beekeepers. I have had an at least one serving per day honey habit for years. My local sources include one beekeeper who sells at the farmers market in MA and another from an activist beekeeper up north in VT. I also have a jar of Oacaxa honey (very intense) for special occasions.
      (A long time ago in college I worked at the usda bee culture lab in Madison. Which is where I learned to out honey in burns.)

      1. Tom67

        Nice to hear that you buy honey local. In fact the honey will be in sync with nature around you and with you as well. Also ask your local bee keeper to give you some propolis and some wax. Propolis helps against all kind of ailments and it is not difficult to make your own tincture and ointment once you have the above. Big pharma doesn´t like propolis ointments (acting through the FDA) but you can make your own.

    6. steppenwolf fetchit

      To the extent that people in cities, towns and suburbs spend some of their disposable income on “artisanal” food from relatively nearby, to just that extent will little zones of artisanal and “artisindustrial” agriculture survive right near those centers of customer spending on less-industrial food.

    7. Rui

      Many commercial beekeepers treat bees like slave labourers, starve them, destroy their social behaviours, overcrowd them and infest them with pests, and then are shocked – Shocked! – they die in droves. And expect people to pity them and compensate them for their losses.

  4. Wukchumni

    Goooooooood Mooooooorning Fiatnam!

    The platoon had been given the parameters to the Greenland Reorganization Economic Endeavors Diktat and we were ready to go on a moment’s notice, catching a ride on a proudly American made icebreaker to Nuuk, Nuuk, Nuuk. (homage to Curly Howard)

    The idea that we didn’t actually have any serviceable icebreakers was alleviated by flying coach on Air Greenland to the field of battle.

        2. Ann

          There is a group of lawyers in Kamloops named, “MJB Lawyers”

          Their slogan should be, “Good To The Last Tort”

    2. ambrit

      Let me get this straight. The GREED campaign will be carried out in stooges? And yes, it is entirely appropriate to name an icebreaker after someone who made a career out of bashing things, especially himself. Now, to see if the N3 can break up some ICE and escort supplies across the Artic to the gallant freedom friers of the Parti Liberacion Quebecois.

        1. Wukchumni

          Hate to say, but I liked her better when she was shooting pets that gave her agita~

          Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona Cosmograph fetched $17.8 million, I was able to procure his frozen pizza for $6.

            2. ambrit

              Doctor Midge to treat those “leaks” estra.
              Coming soon: Skipper “Body Shop” mix and match gender transactional clinic with attached Playground. The swings go both ways!

  5. Revenant

    Diego Garcia is a gift to Iran. A military base used by the USA but technically controlled by the UK (we can ignore Mauritius’s claims) with essentially no civilian population who might be hit (there was an encampment of some unlucky migrants who washed up in a boat years ago but they were recently removed).

    It’s the perfect target for a demonstration of strength.

    Or do the UK and USA see this and encourage it? Has the USA moved all its B2 bombers there to tempt Iran into doing something it can use as an excuse for USA and Israeli escalation?

    They certainly didn’t move them there to bomb Iran. Those aren’t fighting bombers, they’re for trading etc….

    1. Unironic Pangloss

      Another western own-goal….in that the US is/will be using B-2s over Yemen as apparently the US Navy can’t park a carrier off the coast of Yemen (as the US did in 1967 off of Vietnam) without using all of its anti-air ammo.

      B-2s have a finite, expensive lifespan before needing lots of maintenance.

      Billions of dollars of capital, operating at millions of dollars per hour…all to “destroy” a military operated by a country that is not even recognized by 100% of the countries around the world.

      Team Trump is continuing Team Biden’s strategy of (a) “doing something” and kicking the can down the road is better than (b) sitting at a table and hashing out an agreement that might be incrementally negative for Israel.

      1. timbers

        Someone should show Trump a map. Maybe leave it on his Oval Office desk. On this map, Yemen is labeled in big red letters “Mini Vietnam” Iran “Big Vietnam” Ukraine “Big Mama Vietnam” and China-Taiwan “Big Daddy Vietnam”.

        1. Unironic Pangloss

          GOP = MAGA held by the puppet strings of “I stand with Zion”….

          even Trump can’t grasp that

    2. John

      Diego Garcia plays a prominent role in Twilight’s Last Gleaning, JM Greer’s all too plausible story of how the American empire finally comes crashing down

      1. The Rev Kev

        Remember that part of the book well. The Chinese take Diego Garcia in a well planned raid but that was in response to the US bombing a Chinese mainland air base to teach them a lesson.

        1. John

          Yeah, and events in the non-fiction world are proceeding unnervingly like they do in the book. Doesn’t take much imagination to see an aircraft carrier washed up on a beach somewhere.
          The story ends on a rather hopeful note – won’t give it away, but it’s not the worst possible outcome, not by a long shot

          1. The Rev Kev

            I found that ending to be very hopeful as well. But to think that it all started because the US tried to smash & grab an African country so that they steal their newly discovered oil.

      2. ACPAL

        I just watched the movie “Twilight’s Last Gleaming,” 1977, with Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark. Perhaps there’s a different movie of the same name but the one I saw doesn’t seem to match up with comments like “American empire finally comes crashing down..” In the movie I saw Lancaster convinced the president played by Charles During to admit to the public the reason for the Viet Nam war. In the end Durning, Lancaster, and his cohorts are all shot down to prevent the public from knowing the truth.

        I found it heartening that in 1977 a producer had the balls to air such truth in public. Not that it did much good. The ending where the president is gunned down and the only one to run to his side was his Aide showed the disdain of all the rest of his advisors and cabinet members for his desire to speak the truth. I imagine this bears some element of truth about presidential politics even today. It also showed that even the president is expendable if he doesn’t go along with the “agenda.” Our current and future presidents may want to avoid pissing off government and non-government organizations who might wish him (or her) to retire early.

  6. The Rev Kev

    ‘Megatron
    @Megatron_ron
    BREAKING:
    🇺🇲🇾🇪 Yemen’s Houthi have shot down an American MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ drone above the city of Marib’

    By their own count, this is the sixteenth MQ-9 Reaper Drone that they have shot down. At about $30 million a pop, you are talking about nearly half a billion dollars worth of Reapers turned to ash. Start cranking all the other associated costs and now you are talking well north of half a billion bucks. If they can do this, then it is only a matter of time until they get a luck hit on a Navy ship in the Red Sea. So what will Trump do then? Rage that he will unleash hell or some such? Offer to make a deal? If he can’t break tiny Yemen, than what makes him think that he can do so to Iran?

  8. jefemt

    Colorado River Water disappearing. Here I thought it was over-appropriation and use by humans. It’s the damned headwaters biomes! Blame the ecosystem, NOT the humans!

    1. The Rev Kev

      I saw that too. All that freeloading, parasitic vegetation sucking up all that water which could used for almonds farms or whatever. I got an idea. They should spray Agent Orange all over that region and kill off all that lazy, unproductive vegetation so that all that water will have the freedom to flow unhindered to the Colorado river. Problem solved! An idea that Trump himself could be proud of.

      1. ambrit

        They’ve tried that already, the Mekong River.
        So, the Colorado “deforestation” campaign will be the Beta test?
        (Do they have Marmot Cong in Colorado?)

        1. Wukchumni

          Water is for lying over/Whiskey is for lying under: dept.

          The difference from Cali water and Colorado River water, is the latter allows for so much potential pilfering compared to the relatively short delivery span of aqua here-less chances of chicanery.

      2. timbers

        Trump should impose tariffs on those free loading plants. Because it will make him feel better without actually doing harm to anyone or thing.

        1. Wukchumni

          It’s almost all orchards here in the southern San Joaquin Valley, and farmers & local officials of the far right persuasion refer to the pines that get first dibs on water in the higher climes as:

          ‘Straws’

          1. The Rev Kev

            I can just imagine those orchard owners looking up to all those pines while fingering a cigarette lighter in their pocket.

            1. John Wright

              There are an estimated 129 million dead trees in CA that are no longer water straws.

              But they are ready to burn.

              I remember reading that there is great concern that CA will have the most massive wildfire, ever, in the Sierra Nevada.

              1. Wukchumni

                Methinks the number is closer to 200 million newlydeads in the Sierra Nevada, and the 129 million number is from the 2012-16 drought.

                In the earlier epoch rarely did a pine above 7,500 feet succumb to the bark beetles, now its closer to a 9,000 foot ceiling for the die-off.

        2. Henry Moon Pie

          It’s my contention that Bill Gates stays awake at night fretting about all those birds sleeping for free in his trees. The man really hates Nature. Maybe this would help him: “Mother Earth.”

  9. jefemt

    Stabroek Block Oil reserves estimate of 11 Billion barrels… Hess believes more.
    US uses 20 Million bbl/per/day m/l;
    11,000,000,000 / 20,000,000 = 550 days of US demand. Heck with the rest of the world demand, it’s all about US. Note, there is an absence of we in US these days. Note additional articles about US and Guyana today

  10. Wukchumni

    Shohei Ohtani 50-50 card sells for $1.07 million. It includes piece of pants Dodger wore reaching milestone
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I made a living off of collectors, but grew to dislike the practice of things having absurd values, in particular in the arts & sporting fields.

    It’s reminiscent of religious relics, imagine what a piece of the cloak that Jesus wore on the cross would be worth if included in a limited edition card?

  11. ChrisFromGA

    Legal update:

    CFPB spared, for now:

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5220651-federal-judge-trump-cfpb/

    A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from effectively dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an early target of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

    U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson barred the administration from stopping work and firing employees at the CFPB and ordered the reinstatement of previously terminated workers. She also blocked the destruction of any CFPB records and ordered the recission (sic) of any “wholesale” contract cancellations issued on or after Feb. 11.

    However, USAID has met its fate. An Appeals court lifted a lower court’s TRO restraining and held that the Trump admin and Elon may proceed feeding it headfirst into the wood-chipper.

    The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that social-media posts like Musk’s declaration that he “fed USAID into the wood chipper” didn’t legally prove he was making the orders.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/appeals-court-clears-way-for-doge-to-keep-operating-at-usaid/ar-AA1BRPGO

        1. Bill B

          Of course we can’t possibly be 100% sure. Is it 100% certain that the Guardian article is true?

          It’s clear, though, that the humanitarian programs exist and are crucial to the health and survival of many people around the world in poor countries, even if the CIA is involved in some cases. This is according to media reports, the UN, multiple private aid agencies, government officials, etc.

          Pretty sure these are actual programs that help people: S. Africa: USAID cuts could prompt over 500,000 HIV deaths https://www.dw.com/en/south-africa-usaid-cuts-could-prompt-over-500000-hiv-deaths/a-71777420 and https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usaid-trump-funding-pause-500-million-food-spoilage-risk/ “USAID plays a major role in coordinating earthquake assistance.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/state-department-notified-congress-intent-reorganize-usaid-rubio-says-2025-03-28/ There are many more examples. I doubt the CIA is involved in all of them.

          Why couldn’t the aid have been continued de-coupled from any spook activities? Axing all of them at once is unconscionable. But, Musk obviously doesn’t care about that and scored political points by doing so.

          1. steppenwolf fetchit

            It was probably the humanitarian programs in particular which upset Musk.

          2. AG

            A short critical German comment on USAID by Austrian Hannes Hofbauer (whose restrictive views on migration I e.g. do not share.)

            machine-translation from German NACHDENKSEITEN
            On the end of USAID: self-empowerment instead of external control
            https://archive.is/frJFL

            “(…)
            Development of underdevelopment

            Malaria: widespread. HIV: Africa’s hostage. Hunger: not eradicated. Since the term “development aid” was popularized in the 1960s, hopes have rested on it – in vain, as history shows. According to a UNICEF report, 733 million people worldwide were affected by hunger in 2023, 152 million more than four years previously. Africa leads the field, with a 20 percent increase in the number of hungry people. Since 2010, the number of undernourished people has also been rising sharply again – in sub-Saharan Africa from 18 percent to 23 percent.[ The entire paradigm of development aid – rich north helping poor south – has failed across the board. Honest aid workers can hardly admit this, and those who abuse it as an instrument to build political influence and economic outflow cling to it anyway, out of self-interest.
            (…)
            Through so-called partnership agreements, the EU has also opened markets to EU-European goods with over 30 African and Caribbean countries, driving local businesses, farmers, and fishermen to ruin. Their sons, deprived of their livelihoods, are drawn north, across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean to Europe.
            (…)”

            Of course within a huge structure through e.g. inertia some positive outcomes of any such opertion are not impossible. Just look at British or French colonial history.
            In fact to offer genuine aid bolsters any form of serious control.

            But the strategic relentless prerogative shouldn´t be denied.

            USAID reminds me a bit of philanthropy:

            People turn into billionaires by destroying the lives of millions ripping off entire countries. While at home using that profit they pay for cultural or social services to the benefit of a few hundred or thousand – admired by media.

            Like shooting off someone´s leg in order to steal his home but then getting him a wheel-chair for free under the eyes of the press.

            p.s. To clearify: An Elon Musk doesn´t care for the Global South any more than any EU-Commission member or Boeing. So the positive effects of USAID dismantled again are certainly not intended.

      2. ArvidMartensen

        Yep, whenever governments want to impose something or do something that smacks of bastardry, and would otherwise not be approved of, they all cry in unison “think of the children”
        So… here we have…USAID.

    2. Henry Moon Pie

      I must admit to quite a bit of schadenfreude watching Musk whine about vandalism on his lots on Fox’s “The Five” this afternoon. Poor baby after taking a chainsaw to the lives of thousands.

      Otherwise, things are getting biblical. The SSA change that ends using phones for making changes to one’s SS account quickly became, in some news circles, a decree that all SS recipients come into the offices that are still open to prove their identity. Made it seem all Christmassy to me: “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world…”

      Then to satisfy my curiosity about the UK’s breakdown, I watched this fellow get interviewed by the same hard right British “channel” as interviewed the frightening young fellow I linked several days ago. This guy, who was a Tory and UKIP member of Parliament for more than a decade, says that “being born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse.” He proposes that Britain should “remigrate” up to the second generation of descendants of immigrants back to the countries where their ancestors came from. In other words, if your grandpa came from Jamaica, even if legally, back you go. But this Mr. Carswell offers his advice not from a post in not-so-merry old England but from the American state of Mississippi where he is the CEO of some non-profit funded by somebody who shouldn’t be allowed to have money.

      So when I heard Carswell advocate for returning the first and second generation of British descendants of immigrants, legal or illegal, this sprung to mind:

      for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

      Crazy times.

  12. The Rev Kev

    “Trump to Unveil Country-Based Tariffs April 2 in Rose Garden”

    Of course the whole thing is a shakedown. He is putting a tariff on every country that there is but I think that the real reason is so that he can extract economic concessions from them. I think that there are two or three demands that the Trump regime is making of Oz. One is to get rid of our PBS subsidized drugs so that Big Pharma can make big profits here like in the US but that is absolutely the third rail in Oz politics. Another is stranger. There is an attack on our Goods & Services tax here in Oz. In short, you buy something or pay for a service here, you have to pay a tax on it. The US is crying that it is an unfair tax but many States in the US do exactly that-

    https://theconversation.com/is-australias-gst-a-tax-or-a-tariff-and-why-has-it-become-a-target-in-the-trade-wars-250041

    I think that the problem is that the US buys more from Oz than Oz buys from the US and Trump is upset by that. But there is a solution. The biggest export to the US by a country mile is gold which is why the imbalance. So I propose that we stop selling gold to the US. Immediately the deficit will run the other way, Trump is happy and I am pretty sure that Oz can find another country to sell our gold to. Anybody know the telephone area code for Beijing?

  13. ChrisFromGA

    AI is “running out of juice”

    (The Register)

    https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/14/ai_running_out_of_juice/

    If you look closely at what Microsoft has been doing with AI, you’ll see that it’s pulling back in places some of us wouldn’t think to look. Microsoft has canceled more than a gigawatt of datacenter operations in addition to numerous 100-plus MW agreements.

    I’m old enough to remember when the “Juice” ran for 2003 yards, breaking Jim Brown’s NFL rushing record in the old Shea Stadium. Maybe AI must bring back “the Juice” for the man in the street?

  14. vao

    Regarding the ruckus about the USA moving airforce assets to Diego Garcia:

    “The media and some readers argued that Iran might not be able to reach Diego Garcia. Iran is signaling otherwise.”

    There is another hypothesis: those B2 & co bombers are not there to attack Iran, but to subdue Yemen.

    I agree with that hypothesis. I already commented here that I believe the USA first has to crush Yemen if a joint Israel-USA attack against Iran is really to take place: having Ansarallah capable of wreaking havoc in the rear is something that must be excluded for such an offensive to have any chance of success (and even then).

    The massive bombardments that are now taking place against Yemen (several dozens of attacks daily) show that the focus is on eliminating Ansarallah as a player able to lob missiles and drones at Israeli and American ships and bases in the region. If and when this is achieved, then the USA will be able to proceed with Iran.

    1. The Rev Kev

      I see Iran has three Kilo-class submarine. Can you imagine what would happen if after the US launched an attack against Iran, that one of them surfaced near Diego Garcia and lobbed a few missiles into the airbase just as those planes were getting ready to land again?

      1. Unironic Pangloss

        Just sink (or debilitate) US Navy oilers in random corners of the world.

        The US only has so many. even losing one makes things more complicated

        The US military has a logistical chain built on playdoh

  15. paul

    RE: The Code That Controls Your Money

    I notice that it is written by someone called Clive, perhaps the same one who, a fair while ago, said on NC (paraphrasing):

    I can no longer see any way for a human to progress without harming another

    Which resonated then, and booms emptily more these days.

    1. Unironic Pangloss

      a natural consequence of having 8+ billion people on the planet, and the politically incorrect observation that certain jurisdictions have 0, or negative, non-migration population growth while others don’t.

      PS, I hate the Club of Rome and their intellectual heirs

      1. paul

        I think that is a bit of a stretch, we (as a species) are bearing the consequences of earlier globalisations, destabilising previously stable populations.

        Do you enjoy being historically incorrect as much as politically?

    2. vao

      “someone called Clive, perhaps the same one who, a fair while ago, said on NC”

      I doubt it. The article states that

      Clive Thompson is a journalist who writes about science and technology

      and as far as I can remember, NakedCapitalism commentator Clive was a software engineer, not a journalist.

      Since the article talks about COBOL, let me add a few points.

      1) Learning COBOL — or most other programming languages — is not that difficult. While this is the first obstacle to having programmers able to deal with those legacy systems, the other software components and libraries that those COBOL programs rely upon constitute a really big hurdle.

      I bet that many of those banking/financial/insurance COBOL programs make use of the services of such software systems as CICS and IMS — IBM technology from the 1960s to deal with transactions and databases. Yes, IBM is still maintaining all of it.

      This is something that is often forgotten: learning a programming language is not enough; one must be knowledgeable with a large set of external libraries, additional software components, and ancillary services to develop or maintain anything of value. This does not just affect COBOL; the situation is the same with modern programming languages (for instance, since they are mentioned in the article, Java, Python, JavaScript).

      2) By the mid-1980s, development had moved from programming individual COBOL statements that invoke those auxiliary libraries and modules explicitly, to embedding some higher-level descriptions or instructions in the COBOL program that would then be processed and automatically transformed into the necessary COBOL code. For instance, one would insert a (properly tagged) SQL statement that would then be replaced by the necessary COBOL calls to the database management system.

      This was possible not just for database functions, but also for user interfaces, report writers, communications, etc. So when reading about the sheer amount of existing COBOL code, remember that a large fraction of it is not hand-coded, but automatically generated from other formalisms (at least from the late 1980s onwards).

      3) Ah, the infamous “GOTO”! Two things: first, it is “GO TO” in COBOL, not “GOTO”. Second, the real killer in COBOL is the “ALTER” statement. I will not explain it, but suffices to say that our teacher of COBOL refused to explain its semantics, telling us to never use it, and that one of my colleagues once joked about making use of one such statement to make life “interesting” for future maintainers of the application he was developing.

      Disclaimer: I learned COBOL at the University, and developed in COBOL in the mid-1980s.

      1. scott s.

        What I remember is the hierarchy between application programmers and systems programmers. The systems guys were the high priests needed to make things work — they knew the inner workings of the OS.

        In my DoD days we had Ada as the language that would incorporate all the best software engineering ideas. Problem was it was competing with the private sector C and then C++/C# with OOA/OOP concepts and while DoD was important, thanks to the mini/micro revolution it wasn’t big enough to command things.

        Agree that much of the problem is a system engineering one. Interfacing systems, understanding and implementing APIs, testing interoperability.

        I guess Rust is coming on as the language de jour, with JSON and REST getting a lot of the web interfacing chores.

      2. Late Introvert

        Much respect, thanks for this comment.

        I was employed for about 5 years writing Javascript in my mid-30s back when the WWW was fairly new, after failing Comp Sci 101 in the 80s with punchcards.

        But I’ve always been fascinated by the history of computing.

  16. The Rev Kev

    “Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war”

    This could get interesting. I can just see the next general NATO meeting now and where the German representative stands up and says-

    ‘OK now. Just for the official record. So you want Germany to build up our military into a powerful force once more.’

    Lots of nods.

    ‘Then you want German tank armies to go charging across the plains of Poland.’

    More nods from the other NATO members.

    ‘Then you want the German army fighting the Russians in front of the gates of Moscow.’

    Yet more nods.

    ‘And nobody sees a problem with any of this.’

    The other NATO members then shake their heads.

    1. paul

      Lighten up,Kev.

      This is very much the age of looking forward,not back.

      Are you going to hold Baerbock and Baroness VDL to account for their descendants’ honourable sins forever?

    2. tegnost

      Then Mark Rutte says “I assume I’ll be getting a raise?” to many nods and whispers
      Wait,…did I just hear a champagne cork…?

    3. BlueMoose

      Annalena Baerbock (AB): Radek, why our all those new tanks you bought recently parked at our border?
      Radek Sikorski (RS): We wanted to protect them from the Russians. Hold them in reserve.
      AB: Ok, that makes sense but why are they all still pointing towards Germany?
      RS: It costs lots of fuel to even turn those big boys around so we just left them like that for now. But don’t worry, we can have them do a full 360 in a flash.
      AB: Thanks for the reassurance. Do you think you could lend us a few attack helicopters. I read you bought a bunch of those recently too.
      RS: Sorry, no.
      AB: Are you still planning to do a joint build with South Korea of fighter jets in Poland?
      RS: Sorry, can’t discuss that. Do you need some old MIG’s?
      AB: No, I hate anything Russian.
      RS: Well, at least we have that in common. Good luck.

    4. scott s.

      But isn’t there also a history of Germany forcing overthrow of the Russian government followed by civil war?

      1. Late Introvert

        Only when the Romanovs were still in charge, right? Never even close since then.

  17. paul

    RE:The Senescence Loop

    What do you expect from a lamarckian process?

    Soft inheritance via personal computer/oracle will not reproduce, but merely,and increasingly meagerly produce.

    1. Geo

      “Men are increasingly automatons, who make machines which act like men and produce men who act like machines; their reason deteriorates while their intelligence rises, thus creating the dangerous situation of equipping man with the greatest material power without the wisdom to use it.” – Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (1955)

    2. steppenwolf fetchit

      One suspects the Silicon Priesthood will teach their own children the good old ways, using the good old methods.

      ” In the kingdom of the witless, the half-wit man is king”. The Silicon Priesthood hope their AI will make everyone else’s children witless.

  18. fjallstrom

    Typo, kind of.

    You put the news regarding Guyana, which is in South America, under Africa. You might have been thinking about Guinea, which is in Africa.

  20. ChrisFromGA

    Is the Trump agenda already dead? Trump peaked back in Feb. when Musk’s wood-chipper turned USAID into mulch, IMO. That’s a banner achievement, but it looks to me like its all downhill from here.

    House descends into Elephant-on-Elephant infighting; proxy voting bill rebellion threatens Trump’s push to limit judiciary and other agenda items:

    https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5224637-house-republicans-proxy-voting-bill/

    Sounds like common sense to allow new parents to vote by proxy, but what do I know? Is the hill that “Swamp Stooge” Johnson wants to die on?

  21. ChrisFromGA

    Re: Mr. Market has a sad

    I’m watching the tape, and it looks to me like this is do-or-die time for the Bulls. Heaven knows my predictive powers are at best crummy; I have predicted 10 out of the last 2 bear markets.

    This is the point in time where, in the past, Ben Bernanke or Greenspan would have dropped a surprise 50bps rate drop on the market, effectively nuking “Da Bears” from low Earth orbit. But this ain’t 2007 or 1998, so perhaps we are going to see this stinking market crater into oblivion.

    When CNBC puts up the “Markets in Crisis” banner that’s time to buy.

    1. Wukchumni

      In the hundred daze campaign by our Tettotalitarian Leader, he’s done everything to alienate anybody left that still has a scintilla of sense, and they’re all tied to us via the almighty buck, yuck.

      Add in that this is a key year in the fourth turning for all the wrong reasons…

      1865: Appomattox
      1945: Tokyo Bay
      2025: Kiev

      We’ll even our surrender record to 2-2 after exiting stage right.

      Adios hegemony~

      Don’t even want to bring up Hiroshima & Nagasaki, but we’re zeroing in on the fourth turning there, too.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        I have a bad feeling about this, to quote Indiana Jones.

        There will be some rip-your-face-off countertrend rallies in the coming bear market, to be sure.

        But it’s clear to me that AI has come a cropper, and deglobalization won’t come easily. Predatory late-stage capitalism doesn’t have a reverse gear … that means driving us all off a cliff is the endgame.

        1. Wukchumni

          Can you imagine various European nations recommending their citizenry to have 72 hours worth of rations on hand, in late August of 1939?

          That’s the feel of goings on, prepping for 3 days-not 2,200 days.

          1. ChrisFromGA

            I just assumed that was a form of narrative building, i.e. “evil Russkies, mama!” meant to scare the locals into a docile and subservient position.

            My operating assumption is that WWIII has already begun. But to your point, the notion that it will all be over in 72 hours, and then we can to back to our regularly scheduled episodes of “Real Housewives of the ATL” is rather comical. More likely, it will play out like “The Walking Dead.”

            BTW, error noted – Han Solo said “I have a bad feeling about this” not Indiana Jones.

          2. AG

            The German title for Don Siegel´s “Madigan” was – “Nur noch 72 Stunden” / “72 hours left”
            The German title for Paul Haggis´s remake “The Next Three Days” was – “72 Stunden – The next three days”
            The German title for Javier Gutiérrez´s “Tres Dias” was – “72 Stunden – nur noch 3 Tage”

            Germans seem to have a math problem.

            So if you bring in 2,200 days that´s not gonna end well. Total confusion.
            By total I mean – a “One thousand” – kind of confusion.
            (“360-degrees-syndrom” also made in Germany)

            p.s. as Ian Proud is concerned – that was an April 1st prank by him on us

          3. bertl

            In the UK, many families don’t have the next meal on hand and our government just doesn’t care. Now that more working class and middle class families find their earners trapped in the gig economy, they are beginning to rely on food banks rather than making donations to them. And when the middle class feel the bite of hunger and the threat of permanent impoverishment for their offspring, that’s when the need for real political reform takes shape in their minds and they take the first faltering steps towards reality.

            I think we are reaching the position where Farage will make a real breakthrough and Reform becomes a broad enough church to win the next election. It might be a good idea to have a government relying on a parliamentary majority consisting of people with little or no political experience who have become politicians out of necessity because they’ve given up hope in the existing order and not because it is a good career choice for someone on the make.

            1. JBird4049

              But as with other countries in Europe, will the British establishment allow new politicians into power or find creative ways to block them?

  22. The Rev Kev

    “Taiwan accuses Chinese chipmakers of illegally poaching engineers”

    Maybe that story is not so simple. Maybe those Taiwanese bosses told some of their engineers that they have a new assignment for them. That they will be sent to the US to go work in setting up a new chipmaking foundry there. And those engineers sat down after work in a bar sharing their thoughts. Working and living in America would be a great experience. Doing the same in Trump America may be not so much. Even Canadians are avoiding traveling there and the number of ways that you can fall afoul of law enforcement/ICE/FBI, etc. is legion. On the other hand they can actually see China from their office windows. You could work there and see family every weekend. They talk the same language and have the same customs. For any Taiwanese engineer that would be a great temptation and it is not like Taiwan values its workers that much.

    1. The Infamous Oregon Lawhobbit

      The headline just seems to conjure images of Chinese poachers, dressed in Ghillie suits, stalking the streets of Taipei and darting unsuspecting engineers with trank guns, then dragging their unconscious forms off to Shanghai.

      I suppose that even works as a resurrection of the old verb “shanghai,” right?

  24. Lee

    Re Corey Booker speech:

    “This is good but but so far, one Senator all alone IMHO signals weakness, not strength, but perhaps more will follow…”

    Senator Christopher Murphy has also been saying things I find agreeable . Musical Interlude

    1. Christopher Smith

      Wake me when one of these speeches turn into conrete action of some sort. Talk is cheap and getting cheaper by the minute,

  25. pjay

    – ‘Europe prepares itself for all-out war with Russia’ – Ian Proud

    This was excellent; each paragraph was better than the previous one. But that last line is doubly ironic. More and more, yesterday’s ridiculous satire has become today’s reality. I’m expecting those mandatory green T-shirts any day now.

  26. antidlc

    https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/politics/maryland-father-mistakenly-deported-el-salvador-prison/index.html
    Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison

    The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland father to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and argued it could not return him because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.

    Someone wake me up after this nightmare is over.

    1. Geo

      Odds are more likely we too will wake up in an El Salvadorian prison than in our own beds before the nightmare is over. I’ve no idea what a useful path forward may be but does not seem like an ideal time to go to sleep.

      Crazy that we’re losing a debate on the merits of the Magna Carta in 2025. Seems like only yesterday this anti-Due Process crowd was livid over cancel culture.

  27. Christopher Smith

    “Trump Administration Targets Harvard With Review of $9 Billion in Federal Funding ”

    My take is that Big Ed, much like DEI-wokeworld made a lot of enemies and alienated almost all potential allies. Now the Republicans in power are going to smack them around a bit. It’s a cheap giveaway to some of their allies with the bonus of dinging what has become a power base for the Democrats.

    1. Wukchumni

      Perhaps they can keep Harvard going with plasma donations in the i.v. league, er mobile blood donation vans?

    2. pjay

      Unfortunately, I think this is a significant factor. And it’s nothing new. George Wallace used to slap “pointy-headed liberals” around a lot with much success, and conservatives have been making fun of obscure research projects by academics forever. And liberal condescension toward the deplorables has not helped. Many people who do not live their lives in academic bubbles or education-adjacent PMC enclaves do not see the world the same way and will not connect the necessary dots.

      I was very sympathetic toward that Rutgers Resolution for the Big Ten schools, but I doubt if that would be the case for the broader public. Now if Trump were to slap a 25 percent tariff on football tickets or alumni donations to athletic programs, well that would be a whole new ball game – so to speak. (See, I can’t even keep myself from being condescending!)

      1. Geo

        Not a fan of “liberal condescension toward the deplorables” but having been born in the Heartland and moved to the coastal cities as an adult I find the crying about condescension to be hypocritical at best. Mostly it seems like projection. Much like the GOP cries of “groomers” when every week another is busted for worse.

        Anecdotal but the only times I’ve ever had a gun pointed at me were by the NYPD (lived in a latino neighborhood and police raids were common) and in the heartland by a guy who didn’t like my “fruity” look. Also while in Texas on a film production had a local in a cowboy hat and AR-15 graphic t-shirt threaten to “kick my Hollywood p-ssy -ss” for enforcing on-set mask mandates back in 2020.

        I could list numerous other examples of Heartland values I’ve experienced that 25+ years of NYC/LA living have avoided but won’t for brevity. I’ll just say that I’ve lived in city neighborhoods often deemed dangerous yet have never had threats or issues in these places like I have experienced in small town America. So, for some of us, not seeing “the world the same way” is why we prefer the very flawed world view of coastal elites. Yeah, I got turned down for a job because they didn’t want to hire a cis white guy (was surprised they actually said that!) but they’ve never pulled a gun or threatened to beat me.

        Every so often I scroll through the threads on Truth Social, Rumble, and Gettr to get a glimpse of the conservative cultural landscape. Similarly will browse Bluesky and Mastadon for liberal ones. The liberal platforms are very PMC Russia-gate delusions of being one lawsuit and Sorkin speech away from mimosa brunch utopia. The conservative ones are a descent into violent civil war fantasies, gun fetishists, replacement theory rantings, and dreams of putting women back in their place. Both are crazy but only one is wishing for a new Crusades.

        Personally, as a person and an artist, I try to find ways to bridge divides and wish that was a more common approach. So, yeah, maybe “liberal condescension toward the deplorables has not helped” and maybe wokeness was annoying but back in 1946 Superman was shown punching Klansmen (the original idPol activists) and that was considered a good thing. Now are we supposed to just accept there are “good people on both sides” because the Heartland might get offended if we say such things are bad? What (if any) critique of so-called small town values is acceptable? Or is “this” only an acceptable mantra for one side?

      2. Gumbo

        I have dual citizenship: rural Illinois and west coast port city. In my boonies the condescension is noticed and leaves a mark.

    3. converger

      President Garber’s official letter to the Harvard Community.

      Harvard has $55 billion endowment, more than enough to tell Trump to pound sand. F*cking cowards.

      Dear Members of the Harvard Community,

      Earlier today, the federal government’s task force to combat antisemitism issued a letter putting at risk almost $9 billion in support of research at Harvard and other institutions, including hospitals in our community. If this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.

      The government has informed us that they are considering this action because they are concerned that the University has not fulfilled its obligations to curb and combat antisemitic harassment. We fully embrace the important goal of combatting antisemitism, one of the most insidious forms of bigotry. Urgent action and deep resolve are needed to address this serious problem that is growing across America and around the world. It is present on our campus. I have experienced antisemitism directly, even while serving as president, and I know how damaging it can be to a student who has come to learn and make friends at a college or university.

      For the past fifteen months, we have devoted considerable effort to addressing antisemitism. We have strengthened our rules and our approach to disciplining those who violate them. We have enhanced training and education on antisemitism across our campus and introduced measures to support our Jewish community and ensure student safety and security. We have launched programs to promote civil dialogue and respectful disagreement inside and outside the classroom. We have adopted many other reforms, and we will continue to combat antisemitism and to foster a campus culture that includes and supports every member of our community.

      We still have much work to do. We will engage with members of the federal government’s task force to combat antisemitism to ensure that they have a full account of the work we have done and the actions we will take going forward to combat antisemitism. We resolve to take the measures that will move Harvard and its vital mission forward while protecting our community and its academic freedom. By doing so, we combat bias and intolerance as we create the conditions that foster the excellence in teaching and research that is at the core of our mission.

      Much is at stake here. In longstanding partnership with the federal government, we have launched and nurtured pathbreaking research that has made countless people healthier and safer, more curious and more knowledgeable, improving their lives, their communities, and our world. But we are not perfect. Antisemitism is a critical problem that we must and will continue to address. As an institution and as a community, we acknowledge our shortcomings, pursue needed change, and build stronger bonds that enable all to thrive. Our commitment to these ends—and to the teaching and research at the heart of our University—will not waver.

      Sincerely,
      Alan M. Garber

      1. lyman alpha blob

        Cowards indeed. They should have stood up on the hind legs when the slavering Elise Stefanik went after the college presidents. And that was when Biden was president, and I don’t remember that he objected to it at all. And not many other Democrats either.

        And from the letter, you can see that these universities have bought in 100% to the new definition of “antisemitism”. Really tired of all the liberal mewling about everything that’s going down right now, and then watching them do nothing at best, or help Trump along at worst (Thanks Chuckie!)

        A pox on all their houses. Which given current national health policy, is actually very likely!

      2. AG

        via Adam Tooze

        on Columbia

        by David Pozen of the Columbia Law School

        The Tenth Demand?

        David Pozen

        The latest drama at Columbia—involving interim President Katrina Armstrong’s “resignation”—has broad implications for the academy and American democracy. Once unpacked, this episode throws into sharp relief the issue of whether universities now operate at the pleasure of the White House.
        https://substack.com/@adamtooze/p-160353375

      4. bertl

        It seems rather quaint now, but I can dimly remember a time when antisemitism didn’t mean pro-genocide.

    4. AG

      There must surely be groups collecting and breaking down which institutes across the country get cut down. And which do not.

      Just like nobody touching DoD.
      So I am waiting for Taibbi/Kirn to address that eventually…

      If protest won´t be supported at some point by institutions, i.e. party structures, unions, academia, churches the current movement won´t have any effect. Which I assume will be the case. Our Western societies have become so affluent that any serious urge to change has disappeared under the too many layers of wealth still entitled to by too many.

  28. Christopher Smith

    If I am reading the news correctly, Trump intends to bomb Iran, seize Greenland, fight Venezuela, repel a Chinese takeover of Taiwan, continue the fight in Ukraine, and back Israeli genocide in gaza while bombing Somalia. Has he decided to go to war with everyone and see how it shakes out?

  29. The Rev Kev

    ‘vitrupo
    @vitrupo
    Instead of learning how to code, Replit CEO Amjad Masad says “learn how to think, learn how to break down problems, learn how to communicate clearly.”

    Is there an accreditation for this? Asking for a PMC friend.

    And this guy is actually going to put his trust in AI generated code? OK then. What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Jason Boxman

      I guess that makes sense; Replit is all about live coding environments; LLMs doing the coding for you means more customers for him and his service.

  30. PlutoniumKun

    Thailand Says Collapsed Bangkok Tower Used Substandard Steel Bloomberg.

    The latest news I’ve seen is that four senior staff of the Chinese company that was the main construction partner have been arrested for (allegedly) trying to remove records from the site.

    I doubt if this could have been caused by substandard steel, even if it was used. A quick google indicates that the construction of the tower has been very troubled, with lots of delays. This can be highly problematic in building construction as there can be break in the ‘knowledge’ trail due to changes in staff/contractors after an unplanned pause, and if a building is left exposed you can have unexpected deterioration in structural fittings that were never intended to be exposed to the elements. For example, concrete has been laid, its very difficult to test if it was done correctly in the first place, and a pressurised sub-contractor may just assume that it had been done to legal standards by the previous contractor. As one engineer who had a business fixing concrete rot once said to me – ‘a good paper trail is not a guarantee of good concrete’.

    But it could have been just bad luck with timing, depending on the construction design. The basic frame may have been in place before stressing cross-braces were put in place, or the foundation may still have been open to allow ground works, before everything was concreted over. For the most part, most building codes apply to the finished building, not an interim structure (I confess to knowing zero about Thai construction codes, except that they are much weaker than most western countries, but substantially better than most poorer Asian countries).

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Construction here is not very good. Air conditioners do not have filters. Toilets do not have traps. Many tall-ish buildings do not have steel frames (there is a term of art, which I forget, but one floor is built on pillars, and then the next floor is built on top of that).

      And that’s before getting to the ability to make payments to smooth bureaucratic obstacles.

        1. Expat2uruguay

          We have a lot of reinforced concrete framing here in Uruguay, but we don’t have earthquakes. I really don’t think that the structures themselves are deficient, but that they tend to pancake during earthquakes. I remember the freeway that pancaked in San Francisco in the World series earthquake of 1989, Loma Prieta

      2. Unironic Pangloss

        lazy load-bearing walls and earthquakes don’t mix….and it’s unfortunate that, like many parts of Asia and other parts of the world, the local authorities can’t codify safe practices which literally arose from the body count of early-industrial age (see Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire)

    2. scott s.

      Article mentions “steel bars” suggesting rebar, but maybe this is a translation thing and it’s structural steel forms.

      Reminds me of the 1031 Canal (Hard Rock Hotel) collapse in New Orleans in 2019 (I was there at the time). Seems like the design was fingered as the culprit. Or the FIU bridge collapse where the construction team changed the design without going back to the designers.

  31. Tom Stone

    I’ve been wading through Marc Andreesen’s “Techno optimists Manifesto”, Nick Land’s “Dark Enlightenment” and some of “Mencius Moldbug’s” writings.
    Their plan seems to have three parts.
    !) Destroy American Civil Society.

    2) After a period of Civil unrest and Martial law which will “Right Size” the population, impose the Technate.

    3) Paradise!

    I have few doubts that the first part will succeed, it is well underway and I see little opposition to date.

    The assumption that Civil unrest and “Right sizing” the population is going to be controllable seems unrealistic.

    And the assumption that our Techlords will be the only ones attempting to fill that political vacuum seems to ignore groups such as the Mormon Church, which is a State within the State.
    There are others…

    “If everything goes as planned” ignores the fact that Murphy always shows up at the party, invited or not.

    It won’t be boring.

    1. EGrise

      No kidding. These geniuses (genii?) possessing neither a drop of empathy nor any understanding of how humans work really think they can make this happen.

      Sure, they’ll just impose themselves on the populace whether the rabble likes it or not. They seriously can’t conceive of anyone opposing the gift of enlightenment they would bring. Certainly not any churches, organized crime groups, unions, militias (right, left and non-partisan), ethnic communities, rural communities, National Guard units who remained loyal to their states, etc.

      As someone said the other day, I’ve never seen a successful oligarchy with this many unemployed snipers around.

      They’ll learn too late why we went to the trouble to build civil society in the first place. It’s like ol’ Mencius was too busy trying on leather jackets for his photo ops to pick up a book on the Thirty Years War (which loomed large in the minds of the founders, I can assure everyone).

      Oh well, like you say – interesting times ahead.

      (Thanks for letting me vent!)

    2. Kouros

      US Military returning home might have a different take on things, despite its very corrupted higher eschelons…

    3. IM Doc

      Here is probably the best one I have run across today. If you look at the title of the very first podcast in the list. The eyebrow-raiser – Dr. Ehrman actually was very much involved in the presentation of The Gospel of Judas to the public twenty or so years ago, and that was anything but a hoax. So, there is some ring of credibility there which made the joke all the more gripping. If you are interested, the entire podcast from today’s April Fool’s festivities was all about the most important hoaxes and forgeries of gospels and other Christian documents. It was actually quite enlightening.

      Just FYI, I have been reading and studying the Ancient Greek and Latin for decades. All of the ancient classical library of Greece and Rome and all of the Christian documents. Dr. Ehrman, of Duke University, an avowed atheist, is by far and away the best teacher and study guide for those interested in the koine Greek Christian canon. I always leave his lectures with more questions than answers.

      https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/

    1. AG

      The problem:
      If this is First Amendment the First Amendment is a joke. It´s a worthless token offered to the protest rabble to give them the feeling that they actually can do something. Which they can´t.
      In fact it´s an expression as it is a cover for and of total and utter powerlessness.
      Everyone doing some idiotic thing in public apparently invokes the First.
      The First provides the right to be a moron.
      Wow. Very helpful.
      That´s almost like protest against “the right” in Germany.
      Completely worthless.
      I doubt these people would be protesting in front of BMW or GM.
      Though those companies do not cause less destruction on the planet.
      Or of course take any multi.
      They say Musk. But they ought to say capitalism. But capitalism has again become the sacred cow of Jane and John Doe.
      Long live the First International.

      1. flora

        Oh? Is that why govt worked/works so hard to silence certain voices and threads via NGO cutout organizations? Because the 1st is a joke? Riiight….

        1. AG

          I am all in for the First. And I am abhorred over what is going on in Germany (the only case I can judge).
          And I will always defend it.

          BUT:
          The fact that there is free speech – whatever its limits in Europe e.g. – what´s it worth?
          Did it stop us from inching towards WWIII?
          Does it stop a genocide committed as openly as ever?
          Does free speech stop the destruction of free speech on campuses in the US?
          Will it stop the destruction of labour via AI?
          Will it stop the increased concentration of capital?
          Will it stop climate “change”?

          I do for instance believe labour unions can achieve a few of these things.
          But when labour will in fact endanger the ruling order it will clash violently with state and corporate power.

          I.e. that labour will have to act well beyond the rights granted by free speech and arm itself.
          In the face of material force free speech in itself is worthless. That´s what facsism means.

          When free speech does threaten ruling power only on the surface you already can see what happens. They will use a tiny bit of judicial force to stop it. What if you push further?

          What if all BSW-voters in Germany had gone to the street and would have demanded a recount of the votes?
          What if protesters storm the US nuclear storage at Büchel base in Germany?

          Freedom of speech – or lets say diplomacy – did not help the Russians in preempting a war with 1.3M KIA on both sides.

          As Capone says in THE UNTOUCHABLES “With a gun and a nice word you achieve more than just a nice word.”

          What is free speech worth if we dare not question the capitalist structure underneath it?
          What is free speech worth if we have no means to enforce it against the state?
          What is free speech worth if the people who have the means to push for political change are so brain-washed that they in fact support the above mentioned WWIII policies or a genocide.

          Naturally this is a polemic comment and I am putting forward talking points which I still do not believe but I must contend with current realities.

          It is also a very personal reaction to the political fallout which we have experienced since 2024 in particular. As the necessity to resist couldn´t be more obvious.

          But never have we been further away from a viable political opposition with the Left – that usually held up that option – completely in tatters, or better, paid off.

          I am not argueing that we have completely run out of options with the use of free speech rights. But right now I am pessimistic it will in fact change anything beyond the cosmetic level.

          p.s. In his latest podcast Doug Henwood had two regulars as guests to his show. They spoke about the PMC. Henwood being Henwood I need not go into further detail. But there was this one point:

          The guests suggested that one reason for a possible demise of the genuine left originating in the 1960s was the idea of many academics then to change the system from the inside and decided to enter the system – after – and this is the interesting part – coming to the conclusion that the protest did not seriously end Vietnam but changes within the system did.

          I don´t know about the evidence for that. It´s complicated to prove any such point. Much of it being smart PR by pseudo-leftists I would suspect.

          I have all my life been in favour of protest. And I have always been of the opinion that protest (i.e. the First) did end Vietnam.

          But comments like this make me think. Especially if a Daniel Ellsberg 2 years ago mused that may be it was not the protest that brought down Nixon, not his own Pentagon Paper leaks and not a seminal SCOTUS decision “NYT & Co vs. US” – but a Howard Dean.

            1. AG

              “Of course John Dean. What did you think.
              I was only testing you.”

              Shit.
              Thanks.
              Sorry.
              I seem to like making these slips…
              and it´s not the first time with Dean.
              And I really don´t know why.
              My memory of Howard Dean is very murky.

                1. AG

                  Poor guy. He didn´t deserve it, did he? I do believe he opposed Iraq.

                  p.s. Who among D.C.s big shots today opposed Iraq???
                  (AOC I assume wasn´t even born, so she´s lucky and excused.)

                  1. katiebird

                    Yes, I’m sure he did. Obama sure didn’t. He wasn’t that great on Universal Health care for everyone though I did work for him at the time.It was an optimistic campaign.

                    1. AG

                      Sidenote because I just saw it:

                      Howard Dean´s campaign manager was Robby Mook.

                      He later worked for HRC. And 2022 in Russiagate investigations as a witness Mook suggested that he was ordered by Clinton to feed lies to a reporter.

                      https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Robby_Mook

                      WALL STREET JOURNAL 2022

                      Hillary Clinton Did It
                      Her 2016 campaign manager says she approved a plan to plant a false Russia claim with a reporter.

                      https://archive.is/Ne6sI

                      p.s. So Mook appears to still belong to the good guys which is why he worked for Dean…it is odd, memory on Dean has faded so much.

  34. SZ

    Re: Iran will target Chagos

    “When the time comes, it won’t matter whether you’re an American, British, or Turkish soldier – you will be targeted if your base is used by Americans.”

    Uh oh! Goodbye Al Udeid! We won’t miss you!

  35. upstater

    Prosecutors directed to seek death penalty against UnitedHealthcare killing suspect Luigi Mangione AP

    “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement. “After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”

    2. Mildred Montana

      “Brian Thompson—an innocent man”

      Only because he was never charged for his crimes.

      1. JBird4049

        The wealthy sins and mistakes, which all need forgiveness, while the poor have crimes and sins, which are unforgivable and require punishment. Money really does wash away one’s guilt.

    3. Dr. John Carpenter

      It may have “shocked” the powers that be and the oligarchs in charge, but down here on the ground “shocked” isn’t the word I’d use to describe the reaction.

  37. Maxwell Johnston

    Re Marine Le Pen:

    I have no particular insight into French politics, so I will only point out that stealing/diverting a scant 4m Euro over the course of 11 years is truly Mickey Mouse League corruption. And they couldn’t even cover their tracks?

    Amateurs, mere amateurs. Sigh.

    1. Aurelien

      There is a lot to say and the case is still developing. But French law is pretty strict on the financing of political parties, and there have been a number of similar prosecutions in recent years. Former President Sarkozy, already convicted of fiddling election expenses, is on trial for receiving campaign contributions from Libya amounting to millions of Euros, at least.
      But the point here is not the crime (which is pretty well established) but the punishment. The judge had a great deal of discretion in the punishment awarded, and opted for the harshest available: disqualification with immediate effect, even while an appeal is being mounted. That means that Le Pen cannot present herself in 2027, it means that the party itself probably won’t be able to find another candidate, and that the whole complexion of French politics has just been altered by one judge who could easily have awarded a sentence that was less harsh. Not everybody is happy about one judge having so much power and influence.

      1. AG

        >”Not everybody is happy about one judge having so much power and influence.”
        Which does confirm a Walter Kirn (sorry to bother with him who is no expert on foreign affairs) who I have criticized just yesterday for alluding to this very problem.

  38. Adam1

    I cross-posted this with yesterdays article on not accepting or sending checks for US taxes…

    Holy mackerel!

    I was reviewing the US Treasury’s Daily Statement trying to get a picture of tax inflows from tariffs from a before perspective. While I was reviewing it I came across 2 line items that when viewed together shocked me… (fiscal year to date numbers)… inflows/deposits to the Treasury…

    Taxes – Non Withheld Ind/SECA Electronic $164,358M
    Taxes – Non Withheld Ind/SECA Other $126,061M

    These line items relate to taxes paid by individuals that were not withheld from payroll or collected in advance for other reasons… the money owed after you complete your return if you did not receive a refund.

    While I’m not 100% confident I have identified the best/fullest answer, but from what I’ve been able to glean the difference between Electronic and Other is tied to whether you filed your return electronically of via paper where “Other” is primarily paper filed returns. I’d suspect they call it Other because it likely also includes legal judgements regardless of your original type of filing.

    While it is technically possible to file on paper and pay electronically via the IRS web portal, I would highly suspect the correlation is that paper filings include a paper check!

    At least at the dollar level, the ratio is 1 : .75. That’s a lot of paper checks (or their dollar equivalent) to force to electronic payment in the next 6 months or so! While I do suspect some of those paper returns & checks are very high dollar value, I still think it directionally points to a significant volume of people who are paying their taxes in paper check form (or equivalent such as a money order).

    1. scott s.

      Don’t know, but like lots of people without W-2 income or mandatory 1099 withholding I make estimated tax payment by check throughout the year. I did notice my 15 Jan check processed by Cincinnati came back as “converted to ACH”. Think that’s a first.

      Hope Hawaii doesn’t jump on this bandwagon. We pay some business taxes. They keep raising the tax so for one period we got fined for exceeding the dollar limit where you have to file electronically. So now we file electronically but the limit for mandatory electronic payment is higher (and with “convenience fee”) so we still pay by check.

      Had a three-month span where we were getting dinged for non-payment. Had to call and fax copies of the cleared checks (thankfully, not converted to ACH so you can still get an image of front/back of actual check).

      No, I’m not going to Zelle my IRS payment.

  40. Tom Stone

    A question for the commentariat:
    What are the power centers in the America of today?
    There are the spooks and the cops.
    There are the media including faceborg and X.
    There are the fusion centers, total information awareness is here.
    There’s the Military, including the National Guard, which might be problematic because the Military Oath is to “Defend the Constitution from all enemies Foreign and Domestic”.
    There are the Churches and the various State Governments.

    Any more?

    It also occurs to me that Musk, Thiel and the gang’s sources of information may be no better than what the Generals feed Trump about Russia and Ukraine.
    “No worries, Elon, WE HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL.”
    “We control the Narrative, the Fusion Centers and the Cops, the Military will do what they are told and the proles will submit because TINA!”.

  41. AG

    re: Le Pen

    JACOBIN

    Stopping Marine Le Pen From Running Is a Bad Idea

    By David Broder

    Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for office for five years. The sentence applies the law as written, but it turns her embezzlement conviction into a propaganda coup for her party.
    https://jacobin.com/2025/03/marine-le-pen-embezzlement-propaganda

    The thrust is obvious but there is also at least this bit:

    “(…)
    But banning candidates from running for office due to financial crimes is highly dubious. The damaging effect on the democratic choice seems out of proportion to the crime in question, and (even coupled with a €2 million fine) is ineffective in punishing the party. As left-wing party France Insoumise pointed out in a statement, the Rassemblement National’s claim to be uniquely “clean” and stand against a corrupt establishment is in tatters. But that is for the electorate to judge. France Insoumise added that it had never sought to “use the courts as a means of defeating the Rassemblement National,” but instead relied on “popular mobilization of the French people.”
    (…)”

    + as linked in an earlier thread, here the 2700-word comment by German EMP Martin Sonneborn:
    https://x.com/MartinSonneborn/status/1858464178530357476
    Pointing out who else could or should be convicted for embezzlement of much higher sums. (Among others the entire French political elite)

    “(…)
    According to an investigation by Le Monde, at least a quarter of the 720 MEPs have been and are still involved in affairs, scandals, and corruption. Former MEP Marine Le Pen and two dozen of her party officials are now among them.
    (…)
    In fact, the prosecutorial machinery seems to be moving forward with great accuracy and speed when it comes to the president’s political opponents, whereas all investigations initiated against members of the government (or Macron personally) drag on – year after year – without producing any results.
    (…)”

  42. Mikel

    I no longer think you should learn to code. https://t.co/UNkOEmotwQ

    — Amjad Masad (@amasad) March 27, 2025

    Reading between the lines and yet another tech “innovation” that is humans doing all the adapting and jumping through hoops – many that are not actually necessary.

  43. Alice X

    >The Market is having a sad…

    hee hee, pump and dump, flush, then buy at the fire sale…

    looting 101

    The World is made for rich people!

  44. Alice X

    Al Arabiya English – Counterpoints – with interlocutor Melinda Nucifora (sounds like an Aussie – see TRT World, she’s pretty, and good, enough.) Saudi English, so what do they say in Arabic broadcasts?

    Mearsheimer with Sergey Karaganov – (Russian strategist, Honorary Chairman of the Center for Council for Foreign and Defense Policy and adviser to President Vladimir Putin.)


    Ukraine Will Be Eliminated’ John Mearsheimer and Putin Advisor Discuss US-Russia Relations

    Well, from Sergey, eliminated as the spearhead… but that was missed by Melinda, and the editor’s title…

    The slightest touch on Gaza from Mearsheimer.

    1. AG

      Since I intended to post the same Mearsheimer interview along with another interesting one, here the other one:

      This strangely intruiging but irritating interview by Glenn Diesen with a political rival of Zelensky, who is in prison. But appears to have no problem with presenting answers for an interview conducted by Diesen online.

      Former Zelensky Ally Speaks Out From Prison
      Oleksandr Dubinsky interviewed by Prof. Glenn Diesen
      30 min.
      https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/former-zelensky-ally-speaks-out-from

      1) Dubinsky suggests that Zelensky had sexual encounters with other men during parties in Moscow and that Moscow was using this as compromat so that Z made some military decisions favourable to the Russians in the early days of the attack 2022 (makes no sense to me).
      2) He suggests that 1/4 of Zs party in the Rada are criminals (makes sense).
      3) He sees the sell-out of Ukraine via minerals and agriculture as a possibility for Ukraine to postion itself as a bridgehead in the region (naive).
      4) He speaks out about the massive corruption by deserters paying $5000-20.000 to get away. And about the fact that an Army of 300.000 soldiers, is officially 800.000 strong and still billing suppliers and thus the taxpayer and the West for 800.000 soldiers not 300.000. So the fraud goes into the billions (good).

      I don´t quite know what to make of him.
      Is this a mad man, a fraud himself, or Pauly from Good Fellas who controls the mob from inside Sing-Sing.

  45. rjs

    on honeybee losses, i think they’re missing the most important reason for this year’s winter kill, dysentery…that’s due to no break in the weather allowing the bees to get out of the hive to take a shit…after ~30 days of confinement, some can’t hold it any longer and shit in the hive, subsequently infecting those who clean up after them…in Northeast Ohio we went over consecutive 60 days with little thawing…this was a winter like those in the 70s…i didn’t expect my bees to survive it…

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