Rare ‘double sunrise’ captured in Canada by intrepid solar eclipse chasers (photos) Space.com
Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought Ars Technica
An accounting startup has turned tax preparations into a Pokémon Showdown game TechCrunch
Climate/Environment
Inadvertently Victorious — How Some Species Persist as the Climate Collapses The Revelator
Global soil moisture in ‘permanent’ decline due to climate change Carbon Brief
Farmers scramble to protect crops after unpredictable ‘fake spring’ disrupts growing season: ‘We can lose our entire crop’ The Cool Down
Climate-resilient potato farming: Strategies for adapting to extreme weather conditions, drought, and unpredictable growing seasons Potato News Today
The Value of Climate Prediction Markets Interactive Brokers
Pandemics
A new COVID variant is on the rise. Here’s what to know about LP.8.1 The Conversation
Healthcare workers with chronic condition miss more days of work due to COVID than flu, data show CIDRAP
‘Shrinking my world really small’: How New Yorkers are coping with long COVID Gothamist
Africa
The problem of organizing weak states; and why Africa needs a new model of Pan-Africanism An Africanist Perspective
China?
China blocks CK Hutchison BlackRock Panama ports deal as Li Ka-shing adapts to political shifts Dimsum Daily
Commentary: The Panama ports sale isn’t over, but China’s message to the Li family is clear Channel News Asia
Andreessen Horowitz now front runner to help buy out Chinese-owned TikTok – media reports Cybernews
Wang Huning’s Assessment of the U.S. Managerial State Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue
Syraqistan
Israel’s latest vision for Gaza has a name: Concentration camp 972 Magazine
The New Face of Christian Zionism In These Times
NEWS GRAVEYARDS: HOW DANGERS TO WAR REPORTERS ENDANGER THE WORLD Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Chart:
Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people near Hodeida, Houthi rebels say AP. Targeted a water project.
US imposes Iran-related sanctions on Chinese, UAE-based entities; move will ‘only further worsen’ nuclear issue Global Times
European Disunion
White House studying cost of Greenland takeover, long in Trump’s sights WaPo
“A Landscape of Greed”: The Collapse of Denmark’s Fjords Green European Journal
Finland prepares to leave Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines YLE
How The Times, the BBC and The Guardian Responded to the Le Pen news Hauntologies by Elia Ayoub
New Not-So-Cold War
Whiplash Effect as “Pissed Off” Trump Flips Again Simplicius
Trump-Putin parley is a bit under the weather Indian Punchline
If negotiations among Russia, Ukraine, US collapse, what’s next? Asia Times
EUROPE’S DESPERATE GAMBIT Gordon Hahn, Russian & Eurasian Politics
How to Secure the Black Sea During a Russia-Ukrainian Ceasefire Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. BY “secure” they mean more NATO.
Trump 2.0
How a $1.4tn Trump trade war could unfold FT
Trade Tariffs on Canadian Pharmaceuticals—Implications for US Drug Supply and Costs JAMA
Trump to Kill National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Payday Report
DOGE
DOGE Accesses Federal Payroll System Over Objections of Career Staff New York Times
Trump administration moves to shutter mine safety offices in coal country Grist
The CDC Has Been Gutted Wired
Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, defying Elon Musk NBC News
Democrats en Déshabillé
Cory Booker sets a record with marathon Senate speech. Will it rally anti-Trump resistance? AP
Scoop: House Democrat wants to drug test Musk and DOGE staff Axios
Democratic Party Leaders and “Free Speech” Warriors Shrug as Trump Deports Dissidents In These Times
Isn’t it hilarious how Republican presidents are all powerful meanwhile a Democratic President can’t even defeat the Senate Parliamentarian pic.twitter.com/tNS9ZMxftm
— Revolutionary Blackout
(@SocialistMMA) March 31, 2025
Immigration
Migrant Workers Hired to Build Jail Turned In to ICE, Sheriff Says Newsweek
As children are pulled into immigration court, many must fend for themselves Los Angeles Times
Ex-Costa Rica president says US visa revoked after criticism of Trump The Guardian
SignalGate
Signalgate’s “Classified” Texts Stump Media Ken Klippenstein
Signalgate, Natsec Ideology’s Contradictions, and Yemen Sawahil
Waltz and staff used Gmail for government communications, officials say WaPo
Healthcare?
A Health Insurance Scandal Unfolds in Texas HEALTH CARE un-covered
California ballot measure named after Luigi Mangione would make it illegal to ‘delay, deny’ healthcare coverage: ‘Crazy’ New York Post
Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing AP
Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation The Hill
AI
Does OpenAI’s latest marketing stunt matter? The Tech Bubble
Our Famously Free Press
The Normalization Of Autocracy Techdirt
Substack says it’ll legally defend writers ‘targeted by the government’ The Verge
Supply Chain
About a third of Americans stop buying eggs due to rising costs, study shows The Guardian
Cargill Kitchen Solutions Recalls Liquid Egg Products Due to an Unapproved Substance USDA (press release)
The Bezzle
Class Warfare
Feeling Broke? Blame Big Oil The Tyee
It’s time for a national rent freeze The Breach
How do political families reproduce power: evidence from Maharashtra, India Commonwealth & Comparative Politics
Worker-Led Unionism in the 21st Century Left Notes
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Secure Payments Powered by Clover
“Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation”
Just wait until Trump pardons the Sackler’s Purdue Pharma. For the right price, anything is possible.
May well indeed prove out over time…but I’d have doubt about that one corporation, and it’s ownership family in particular. Opioids and fentanyl go hand in hand over the last 20 or so years…
I was gonna layer something onto the pardoning or potential for the pardon of corporations in the near future. Bankruptcy courts exist to wipe a clean slate on debts including pension liabilities, so what other recommendations are there? Executives and Board members aren’t really held to count for much of anything anymore…to be fair this predates anything done by the Trump administration.
People went to jail following the S&L crisis but that is becoming ancient history.
that article is clickbait. Not defending Trump…. the pardon info isn’t public yet.
Maybe Trump did pardon BitMex. If so, this is a signal that if Democrats just go on vacation for 18 months, trump 2 will implode via own-goals.
But given the habitual need for DC Dems to hear their own voices and follow the most retarded policy paths possible, DC Dems are just as likely to grab defeat from the jaws of victory
These Get Out of Jail Free cards are getting more ridiculous with every new edition of Real Life Monopoly.
Who needs a pardon when you already have a rigged system? :)
“A court ruled the owners of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, will be protected from civil lawsuits linked to the opioid crisis in exchange for a $6 billion settlement.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/purdue-pharma-family-protected-from-lawsuits-in-exchange-for-addiction-treatment-funding
“It seems likely that Purdue Pharma and others will be able deduct opioid settlements. Plainly, tax deductions make any legal settlement less painful, and they are standard fare for business.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2019/09/14/big-opioid-settlements-big-tax-write-offs-any-questions/
“Purdue has generated more than $35 billion in revenue since bringing OxyContin to market.”
https://www.congress.gov/event/116th-congress/house-event/LC65831/text
It seems like the US is reaching the ‘all at once’ phase ….
[1] Re. the Boeing Starliner fiasco on the way to the ISS last year, Ars Technica has some great reporting. Everyone should read it.
[2] I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America.
When you’ve lost Thomas Friedman, you’ve lost America. The Moustache of Understanding just visited Huawei’s research campus in China and now even he begins to get it.
Original — https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/trump-tariffs-china.html
Archived — https://archive.ph/OZrfa#selection-4585.327-4585.335
One of my old uni friends (born and bred north of England, Han Chinese by ethnicity via his parents) is hardly political. However, now as a senior hospital consultant he looks around and has explicitly said “the future ain’t here”.
I wonder how many others like him are thinking likewise, maybe teaching their kids Mandarin etc? Because he has all but given up on the UK health system. His only mistake was a foray into Bitcoin: when I sent him the 7DIF and explained MMT he got out quickly. Just in time. Admitted if he’d stayed in he’d have been in reeeeeeal trouble. But got out with minimal losses.He now understands stuff like sovereign currencies etc.
He knows the West is eating itself. He’s not wrong. He’s counting down days til he can take early retirement.
7DIF? I need a glossary, Terry!
I think he is referring to this book about the “seven deadly innocent frauds of economics”.
But I agree: I am also annoyed when people use domain-specific, professional, or sub-culture related abbreviations that are actually not in general use.
Thank you, and to gf below as well.
But I am not annoyed, just hungry to learn. Sometimes a bit hangry with it perhaps at obstacles like these.. :-)
I am not annoyed, just hungry to learn. Sometimes a bit hangry. :-)
Perhaps it is this
WARREN MOSLER 4 SEVEN DEADLY INNOCENT FRAUDS OF ECONOMIC POLICY
https://www.moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf
Agreed about that Ars Technica article with the Boeing Starliner fiasco. It was a near run thing. You wonder what would have happened if too many thrusters on that Boeing craft had failed leaving them stuck in space near the station. Would the crew of the International Space Station have been able to retrieve them? I believe that there is a Soyuz capsule kept docked in case the crew of the ISS has to bail out and I wonder if they could have used it to maneuver near those astronauts to haul them back to the ISS. But it would have required an Apollo 13 level effort to save them.
Or suppose the Starliner hit the ISS, because at the critical moment the thrusters wouldn’t switch off or necessary retro-thrusters failed.
Boeing has become a threat. It needs to be shut down, liquidated, terminated.
How about revoking Boeing’s corporate charter due to its criminal litigation settlement. What about ‘public benefit’ is no longer considered?
I’m thinking the thruster problem on the Boeing spacecraft was a software problem, both because it could be cleared by restarting the thruster, and because identical problems appeared in multiple thruster units under approximately the same conditions.
It seems fairly clear that software is not a strength of the Boeing corporation.
The silver lining of this is that it will be relatively easy to replicate the failure here on the ground under laboratory conditions. But will anyone, including future astronauts and the American public, believe it was actually fixed?
This part is interesting:
This is true in America too, except it seems to focus in more on software and coding (one could argue with the tech layoffs that the bloom is off this rose too), but the real unstated emphasis in America higher education is the almighty MBA and PMC. Getting into corporate management or going to Wall St is where the big money is at, not traditional designing and making things. Heck, right now even the Federal government is shedding STEM people with the expectations that everyone has to take a pay cut and benefit cut and go work for a corporation. This is not a way to fire up more future STEM students.
Meta pun? A “musk” ox? Is it slouching towards Bethlehem (to become Joan Didion?)
Also, time for a revised Country song?
“I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Bitcoin Someday.)”
ambrit: See the “Inadvertently Victorious” article in The Revelator for more revelations about musk oxen.
My first thought was that maybe it was a baby miniature buffalo or something.
Bison calves are gingers.
Why isn’t the media referring to his nerd team as the “Muskrats?”
They are afraid of being sued by Rats Anti Defamation League for defemation of rats, and by Musks Anti Defamation League for defemation of rmusks, at the same time.
indeed…
Muskrat, Muskrat DOGE delight
Doin’ DC town and doin’ it right
In the evenin’, it’s pretty pleasin’
Muskrat Jeremy, Muskrat Sam
Do the debug
Out in the Muskrat land
And they shimmy
Elon has the skinny
And they fire and they twirl and they tango
Singin’ and jinglin’ a jango
Floatin’ like the heavens above
Looks like Muskrat love
Nibblin’ on livelihoods, chewin’ on government cheese
Sam says to Jeremy: yes please
We can save money, would you please help with my disses
Jeremy says yes, with his assistance
Now, he’s ticklin’ Elon’s fancy
Rubbin’ out jobs willy nilly
Muzzle to muzzle now
Anything goes
As they wiggle
Jeremy starts to giggle
And they fire and they twirl and they tango
Singin’ and jinglin’ a jango
Floatin’ like the heavens above
Looks like Muskrat love
Do, do, do, do, do
Do, do-e, do
Do, do, do, do, do
Do, do-e, do
Do, do, do, do, do
Do, do-e, do
Do, do, do, do, do
Muskrat Love, performed by Captain & Tennille
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2BuP-NcJ5Q
Awesome!
“Government cheese”, one of usa’s greatest contributions to the community of metaphors.
Okay people, ease on through
Rappin’ Ron Reagan got cheese for you
Got a big civil service that will hire your best
And a volunteer army that will take the rest
https://genius.com/Reathel-bean-and-the-doonesbury-break-crew-rap-master-ronnie-lyrics
I’ve taken to using the term Muskotechs, but Lambert’s descriptor, absent the play on the name, “feral incels” is most apt.
I’ve compounded his usage with “incel Dogebags.”
Or people could also try ” DOGEbag incels” to see which “scans” better, which has more brain-sticky impact on an audience, etc.
Why not “Muskovites”,there’s no reason not to tap into Russophobia…
They will slaugter three of those in order to fulifll the prophecy of Trumpmusk taking over the holy land of Greenland.
Re: Finland and anti-personnel landmines. I watch the Finns gping seinähullu with fascinated horror. This decision was based on a citizens‘ initiative gatheribg 50,000+ signatures. It could be all NATO-bots but I am not sure. In any case, what exactly do they think they will achieve with this except for killing and maiming their own citizens?
Again, I ask myself, are these border preparations to keep Ivan from invading Finland or to keep Matti from fleeing to Russia?
What if those nefarious Russians invaded in winter when there was several feet of snow over those landmines? Even if they worked, that several feet of snow would absorb a lot of that force. But in a way this might be good news for the Russians. Landmines work both ways so if the Finns were thinking of an incursion into Russia, they would have to send in sappers to remove them first. It was Ukrainian sappers removing mines on the eastern front before the outbreak of the war that made the Russians aware that they were prepping for an invasion of the Donetsk Republics.
Snow doesn’t protect at all from the mines would they go off. When I did military service we practiced how to fix mines on trees in with strings tied to a trigger. Then when you stumbled on the string Boom! We were skiing and walking around with a soft branch in hand that would discover those strings.
Trust me, anti-personnel mines work in the winter just as well as in the summer.
Now, it took Finland about 15 years to join the Ottawa Treaty, and then years to actually get rid of the remaining anti-personnel mines. It was mostly a political or psychological thing, Finnish army already was convinced earlier that with new weapons systems anti-personnel mines really were not worth the trouble.
Also this citizen’s initiative started already two years ago, so Finns again took their own time decide that against all rationale our security needs things that mostly kill and maim civilians. Anti-personnel mines don’t really fit into the very mobile defensive doctrine Finland has. Or had, pre-NATO.
Citizens‘ initiative wanted to show that joining NATO isn’t the dumbest thing Finland can do.
There go the wolves, bears, lynx, wolverines, reindeer….
New You Can Use:
Omega-6 fatty acid promotes the growth of an aggressive type of breast cancer
“Linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid found in seed oils such as soybean and safflower oil, and animal products including pork and eggs, specifically enhances the growth of the hard-to-treat ‘triple negative’ breast cancer subtype, according to a preclinical study. The discovery could lead to new dietary and pharmaceutical strategies against breast and other cancers.”
my hypothesis (relatively easy to prove if the $$$$ was there, but relatively solid hints from studies are there) is that the median American diet (food + water) is the perfect storm of everything that’ll give you a circulatory problem and/or cancer and/or a epigenetic-genetic scramble—-even structural brain issues because the brain is starved for vital building blocks during pregnancy and infant-years.
and ya, zombie canola oil is one factor.
Good news, European olive oil prices are coming back down due to better harvests in Europe.
Japanese populations have very low breast cancer incidence. First generation adult Japanese immigrants to USA have similar low incidence. By third generation, Japanese origin US citizens have US incidence rates. There is something in the environment, possibly diet.
I learned about this studying iodine – some scientists think it is more important than we credit in diet – but it could equally be in the oils. Japan uses a lot of rice bran oil.
sesame oil too…it isn’t even marketed as “cold press” because, duh, of cpurse that is the only way to make edible, civilized oil….
what can kind society would consume anything otherwise? oh wait.
This increase in rate of Breast CA has been found to be assiciated with birth control pills which increase the ovulation, and hence breast tissue development, over the “natural” occurrnce of women cycling off during breadt feeding for a few yrs. Study from yrs ago. The immigrants gradually adopt the US lifestyle including BC pill usage.
That’s an interesting hypothesis. I am now trying to find the monograph I originally read (by an iodine obsessive!) to see if hormonal contraception was a variable in the study.
However, it would seem that there is still a lot of work on iodine’s role in cancer mechanisms, for example in preventing ore-cancerous tissue changes or regulating tissue sensitivity to oestradiol. predisposition, e.g. this review.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5327366/#B10
“Ex-Costa Rica president says US visa revoked after criticism of Trump”
If you think about it, the implications that somewhere there is a team looking out for criticisms of Trump or perhaps it is algorithms doing this and then reporting the results to some group who will then use the US government to punish that person for doing that. This is partly confirmed by Rubio boasting that he had a list of 300 students who he was going to punish for wrongthink, including kidnapping off the streets and revoking their visas. Where did he get that list from? This is the sort of Mickey Mouse stuff we laughed at North Korea for doing by going after people, foreigners included, who criticized Kim. At least North Korea only did stuff like that for people actually in their country.
This is outdoing Germany where you have Robert Schwachkopf Habeck and the minister of internal affairs Faeser hunting down people for calling them imbeciles online and fine them. So far they have squeezed out about 90K € in fines per ministerial idiot.
At least North Korea only did stuff like that for people actually in their country.
Well, they didn’t have people wanting to come into their country to worry about. Make your own parallel with the U.S.
“North Korea has long detained U.S. citizens to use as bargaining chips.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korea-s-hostage-diplomacy-kim-uses-detained-americans-leverage-n754841
The algorithms are already there:
“Madison Square Garden Uses Facial Recognition Technology to Ban the Owner’s Enemies”
https://jipel.law.nyu.edu/the-power-of-exclusion-madison-square-garden-uses-facial-recognition-technology-to-ban-the-owners-enemies/
China’s AI Censorship Machine: Tracking Dissent with LLMs. This system goes far beyond traditional censorship, targeting subtle dissent and hot-button social issues.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/26/leaked-data-exposes-a-chinese-ai-censorship-machine/
This is partly confirmed by Rubio boasting that he had a list of 300 students who he was going to punish for wrongthink
~~~~~~~~~~~
…go tell the (Michigan State) Spartans?
Climate and environment, locally to myself in South Carolina there are nearby adjacent wildfires that recently ignited in a large state park here and a little further north into several counties of western NC. Admittedly a lot of debris remaining from hurricane Helene has only added or made plentiful fuel to get these fires moving.
Local news overnight, some knuckleheads were arrested and have been charged with setting the Table Rock wildfire. Hardly the rough and tumble appearances in their visage, more like the young kids in a bygone Stephen King movie.
https://www.wyff4.com/article/table-rock-wildfire-arrests-south-carolina/64353125
…and did not extinguish their cigarettes in a proper and safe manner, which officials allege led to the ignition of the Table Rock Fire. Smokey Bear has probably been furloughed at this point.
Everyone should (5 minute) read this, A once-in-a-generation flood event could cap off this week’s slew of severe weather threats, CNN.
“April is typically when severe thunderstorm season starts to pick up the pace, but destructive weather has already unfolded more often than usual this year. Storms from January through March generated more than 3,200 reports of tornadoes, hail and damaging wind nationwide.” Thirty-two hundred. NOAA has 1,200 as the national annual average, with a caveat that we can count more now than in the past because improved science. Never the less, March through July is considered tornado season, yikes.
More, “A roadblock in the atmosphere caused by a stalled front will point a firehose of moisture from the Gulf right into the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and create a days-long, life-threatening flooding event this week.”
2025, the year checking the weather became doom scrolling.
Cool that NOAA and NWS are being defunded – and anything environment related – amidst this all, while some with large leftist platforms are stoking climate change denial.
Just brings to mind the lyrics from Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman”:
Oh, sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Sinnerman where you gonna run to?
Where you gonna run to?
All on that day
Well, I run to the river
It was boilin’, I run to the sea
It was boilin’, I run to the sea
It was boilin’, all on that day
(A cover version that captures the tone more appropriately in my opinion: https://youtu.be/utEu0wylJBo?si=w2yyr81E4Fepj9CD )
We are sleepwalking into the climate apocalypse endgame.
Thanks for the excellent music.
Thanks for that Geo. I only knew that as a Peter Tosh song (Down Presser Man)
Fascinating reveal of Jimmy Dore and Matt Taibbi . . .
Jimmy Dore is probably too poor to buy land in Florida. But Matt Taibbi should definitely buy land in Florida. He should invest contrarianly in “betting against” climate change. If he’s right, he can have the last laugh.
Jimmy Dore is still stuck at a junior high school level of intellectual development. Junior High is when kids first discover the joys of mocking hypocrisy. Some kids never outgrow it. If Mr. Dore wants to confuse the messenger with the message, that is his right. Let Darwin decide if he is right or wrong about global warming itself.
That’s a great cover!
I still prefer the original, it has more emotion in the vocal, but that cover has more atmosphere in the arrangement.
I do about a mile stretch of Hwy 198 twice a year, and there’s usually 5 or 6 of us picking up trash, and by far the commonest item is cigarette butts.
Now did somebody toss those out still lit, or did the contents of an ashtray get tossed?
It remains a cold case~
«Larry Fink says Bitcoin could replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency because of national debt»
Yeah, that’ll work /s
The stupid, it burns.
The guy’s actual name is ‘Fink’. The universe is telling us something here.
Fink is saying out loud that we ought to default on our National debt~
Things like this make me believe the Bitcoin CIA theory a little bit more each day
Pittsburgh Post Gazette workers have been on strike for more than two years. Please stop giving scabs publicity.
Thanks for the reminder. I replaced the link.
The continuing crisis of monotheism:
“The NAR believes it can bring about the millennial utopia — 1,000 years of perfect Christian rule — by expanding Israel’s sovereignty over “biblical” land, supporting the immigration of Jews to Israel and converting Jews to faith in Jesus.”
New Face of Christian Zionists, In These Times.
Note the info later in the article about the focus on Brazil. The evangies have had their eyes on Brazil for years — and they are part of the wrecking crew there.
And here I thought that these Christianist types were wholly committed to the Beatitudes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzqjhC2OYnM
Martynov.
We wouldn’t want the Beatitudes busting out, now would we?
[PS: I’m kind of glad that the Popester busted out of the Gemelli, and as reliable rumors report here in Italia, gave the finger to the U.S. bishops.]
As I said the other day, just wait until the Pope goes and Trump demands that a US bishop – with the US bishops full support – be the next Pope. You just know that it will happen.
J.D. Vance supposedly is coming to Italy around Easter for a visit with Giorgia Meloni and Papa Francesco.
I can hardly wait for J.D. to start lecturing the Pope on Catholic history and practice. Getting the Calvinism and Manifest Destiny out of a convert like J.D. is going to take some doing.
Catholics briefly had their own version of Calvin in Jansenism.
begob: Which centered on Paris. And we see what Jansenism did. An Italian friend of mine remarked:
I Francesi sono Italiani, ma tristi.
Cocteau. “Les Italiens sont des Français de bonne humeur.”
My Brazilian friends are unanimously pessimistic about the evangelical wave in Brazil. These insane NAR cults are eating up their family members one by one. Even the ones from Catholic families.
You need a scorecard to keep track of the different flavors of Evangelicals these days. One group are the premillennialists known for the Rapture, Hal Lindsey and the “Left Behind” series. Their basis is the Darby-ite interpretation of Daniel as spread through the Scofield Bible. Here the sequence is: 1) things get worse and worse until they get really bad; 2) Jesus comes on clouds and defeats the bad guys; 3) new heaven and earth and the 1,000 year reign of Christ on Earth. So Jesus comes before the 1,000 years spoken of in Revelation, hence premillennialism.
The NAR are postmillennialists, but not in the traditional sense. Postmillennialism dates to the 17th century (orthodox Christianity had been amillennialist following Augustine) and is represented by John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and Christians who believed they were working to make the world a better place so that Christ would return. Here the sequence is: 1) Christians make the “Kingdom of God” here on Earth which lasts 1,000 years; 2) Jesus returns, hence postmillennialist.
But the NAR movement comes out of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, which is traditionally premillennialist. Their “Kingdom of God” here on Earth is considerably darker than the earlier postmillennialists who sought to cure society’s social ills through personal sacrifice and service. The NAR is more related to R. J. Rushdoony, who sought to establish the 1,000 year reign through control of the levers of power.
It’s not hard to see how different the political goals of each of these groups would be based on the theology.
You had the same sort of thing happening in Scotland as you had more and more groups breaking off the main church,, amalgamating with others, going back to the main body, etc. Here is a chart giving you an idea of how this worked out-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scotland#/media/File:Reformed_Scots_Church_Denominations.svg
One might suggest the word “NARzis” for the New Apostolic Reformationaries. It may be too “cute” and artificial to catch on. But if it were to spread to the point where it became an accepted lower case word in the language, i.e. — narzis –, then it could be useful.
And also then we could speak of Christianarzis.
…didn’t some other movement also plan on having a 1,000 year reign in the 30’s?
I wonder how the NAR plan to bring the Zionists to Jesus?
Conversely, I’m not sure how the NAR would survive the Zionist endgame…..
Given how hard the NARs are working to bring the Zionist endgame closer sooner, and make it endier, one wonders if they have thought about that or not. It may be that they are certain that God will save them from that endgame for His own Glory as a reward for the NARs working to bring that endgame about.
Those beatitudes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be anyway. As a wise man one said, the meek shall inherit nothing. New Golden Rule for the groovy –
“Do what you wanna, do what you will.
Just don’t mess up your neighbor’s thrill.
And when you pay the bill, kindly leave a little tip.
To help the next poor sucker on his one way trip.”
That sounds like the motto of the New Age Techno-cult “Thielema.”
And what is this I keep hearing about beta-attitudes?
really like The Persuasions version – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c9EfRZXglg
“An accounting startup has turned tax preparations into a Pokémon Showdown game” —this might well work. I remember I leared ten-finger-blind typing in the 1990s with a game named “Mario teaches typing” Worked well, and let me learn something I would else never have learned.
The CDC Has Been Gutted – Move fast and kill people
“Go die”, the first rule of Neo-libertarianism?
According to Lambert that was the second rule, the first being “Because markets.”
Second rule of neoliberalism becomes first rule of neo-libertarianism?
Conjugation of ‘Because markets’ and ‘Go die’ is ‘Make them pay to die.’
> Unfortunately, these medications are not covered by most insurance plans or hospice care, and they can be costly. Typically, the medications cost $700 for the prescription, plus delivery fees.
ucsfhealth.org/education/faq-end-of-life-option-act-at-ucsf
Re: AI’s latest marketing trick
Stealing is a crime … under a theory of respondeat superior Sam Altman is liable for copyright infringement every time somebody uses his little toy to create an image that rips off Ghibli’s art.
I say sue him to the stone age and ask for disgorgement of ill-gotten profits as a remedy.
I do like the term “semantic apocalypse” presented in the article. I’d say that has application beyond AI … whatabout punk politicians like Antony Blinken using the term “ceasefire” as a great big lie?
A whole generation of kids now thinks of “ceasefires” not as a temporary cessation of hostilities, but some cretinous pol yammering about “muh ceasefire!”
Oh and by the way, isn’t the proper term for what OpenAI is doing with art counterfeiting?
Heh heh, in a way yes. Having no financial skin in this game, AI’s further enshittification of the internet is my main beef.
The idea that a trained baboon could work for the mouse clique, banging away on a keyboard creating money, gives me cold comfort that the Fed has been doing the right thing all along.
That said, i’m ready for AI Fed… damn the torpedoes!
“disgorgement of ill-gotten profits as a remedy.“…. too bad there aren’t any!!!
“White House studying cost of Greenland takeover, long in Trump’s sights”
Maybe they can offer each of those 58,000 inhabitants a million dollars plus US voting rights to say yes. It would be cheap considering the mineral rights they would be grabbing. Can’t confirm it but I think that the ice in Greenland is constantly on the move which, if true, would make it harder to get at any buried minerals. Back during the First Cold War the US built a military base underneath the ice but had to abandon it eventually as that ice was always shifting and wasn’t just solid-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Century
I did not with grim amusement the following passage from that article-
‘White House officials have in recent weeks taken steps to determine the financial ramifications of Greenland becoming a U.S. territory, including the cost of providing government services for its 58,000 residents’
With DOGE at work, that cost will be getting cheaper and cheaper all the time through cutbacks and ending services. :(
Rev Kev: Maybe they can offer each of those 58,000 inhabitants a million dollars….
I suspect Greenland natives would ask — rightly — how long those million US dollars will be worth that much.
Re: Booker’s filibuster
No, it won’t rally anyone. Schumer joined him. He failed the test and has no record in his 12 years in the Senate to speak of. It’s just his third term.
Booker donated to Bob Menendez’s legal defense funds and took days to say anything after Bob’s arrest.
Yesterday, Booker impressed me and a lot of people I know. I’m seldom a fan of his but he made good trouble. Is he a perfect human being without flaws or mistakes? No, he is not. But at this point, I will take the good without expecting the perfect. Some Americans are desperate and need help now, not online cynicism.
Agreed. Today is not a day to shit on Booker, even if he’s one of yesterday’s favorite turds.
I don’t want to shit on him, but did he mention “Gaza genocide” or “we lost Ukraine it’s time to get out” once during his filibuster?
I have no evidence either way … but suspect neither. I’ll give him credit for doing something other than insider stock trading.
Perhaps he brought up the deportation/kidnapping of a PhD student in Boston … wonder if he connected the dots to AIPAC essentially buying off Congress?
I’m sticking to my word and am going to wait til tomorrow, lol. My wife had it on for about four hours (while doing other things). She does not recall any mention of Gaza. I swear I’m going to stick to my word anyway, grrrrr.
That kidnapping was committed by MAGAstapo ICEnazis. What does that have to do with Congress?
Booker got to hear his own voice for over 24 hours straight which must have given him great joy. And for that I’m happy for him.
Cannot find anything other than a Twitter post discussing this so can’t prove it (not going to listen to Booker’s entire speech) but apparently he didn’t once mention detained Gaza protestors. He did mention deportations but avoided the political reasons for their detention.
https://x.com/mynameisjro/status/1907410285612163319?s=42
Maybe he just couldn’t find the time to get into those details?
He did send a text at 10:38 PM last night asking for $$$. I had been asleep. Thanks actblue.
He made his bones by working with Chris Christie and Mark Zuckerberg to destroy/privatize the Newark public schools when he was Mayor. It was a mean and nasty business, half-masked by his treacly and banal social justice persona/rhetoric. I don’t see anything different about him now.
He and his ilk are a big reason we have Trump, and personally I wouldn’t p#*^ on him if his heart was on fire.
Here’s the real reason he performed the filibuster:
“Cory’s notable absence. Senate Democrats actually did their jobs and held Big Tech’s feet to the fire during an antitrust hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday. Missing, however, was the subcommittee’s very own ranking Democrat, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who curiously scheduled his 25-hour filibuster right in the middle of the big hearing. Booker has proved to be a reliable ally to Silicon Valley after taking Big Tech campaign cash.” Quote from today’s Lever Daily Newsletter – No link available without a paid subscription.
“How to Secure the Black Sea During a Russia-Ukrainian Ceasefire”
He talks the jargon but that is not surprising as he is retired rear admiral now in a think tank. His idea is to just turn the Black Sea into a NATO lake but says nothing about how if the grain deal came back, that it would be the Russian Navy inspecting commercial ships for hidden weapons going into the Ukraine and not NATO. And I’m sure that Turkiye would be thrilled with the rest of NATO pushing them aside in trying to control the waters off their coastline. Of course if a war broke out all those NATO ships would find themselves in a kill box but I am sure that this sometime admiral is not worried by that. Mostly because he lives several thousand miles away.
Farmers scramble to protect crops after unpredictable ‘fake spring’ disrupts growing season: ‘We can lose our entire crop’ The Cool Down
~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 feet of snow in Tahoe on April Fools day is a neat trick, probably thanks to Hunga Tonga blowing up real good 3 years ago…
Giant volcano eruptions have always been game changers even if in the past those affected have no idea what the cause was and simply blame the citizenry for not being as respectful to a deity, which surely upset him.
The French Revolution is a textbook case, Icelandic volcanoes blow up real good in 1783-85, fomenting a lack of food on account of messed up growing seasons, the price of bread goes up to 50% more than a Frenchman’s daily wage, and then the shit hits the fan.
We know better, in theory.
It’s probably laughably bad form for one who lives in the SF bay area to complain of the weather as we really don’t have weather as people in less temperate climes experience it. However, I will note that the day to day temperature fluctuations we are currently experiencing are unusual and unsettling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina#:~:text=1600%20eruption,-1600%20eruption%20of&text=Based%20on%20historical%20records%2C%20Huaynaputina's,up%20to%2012%E2%80%9319%20hours.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1601%E2%80%931603
p.s.
Huaynaputina had a Volcano Explosivity Index of 6, while Hunga Tonga had VEI of 5-6, but H-T was a rare submarine volcano, adding to the stew milieu.
> The January 2022 Hunga eruption cooled the southern hemisphere in 2022 and 2023 [March 2025]
>> … stratospheric water vapor, sulfate aerosols, and ozone using satellite observations and radiative transfer simulations. Our analysis shows that these components induce clear-sky instantaneous net radiative energy losses at both the top of the atmosphere and near the tropopause.
[nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02181-9]
Ocasio-Cortez promotes “economic populism” led by CIA Democrat Jared Golden as future of Democratic Party -WSWS
Basically, the Dem’s idea is “support these stupid f’in wars and favors to foreign lobbyists and governments” and maybe we will think about throwing some crumbs for services and break you off a bit of your earned benefits.
– ‘How The Times, the BBC and The Guardian Responded to the Le Pen news’ – Hauntologies by Elia Ayoub
Here is how the story *should* have been reported according to Ayoub:
“Marine Le Pen… was found guilty on Monday of embezzling EU funds. As a result, she is barred from standing in an election for 5 years.”
“That is the story. That’s it. She did a crime and was found guilty of doing said crime…”
See. Just a simple story of a criminal receiving her just punishment. Just like Trump. But according to Ayoub, our supposedly liberal press keeps giving these fascists favorable coverage and propaganda victories by letting them and their followers “frame” the story and using the word “populist” rather than calling them Nazis and fascists as they should.
Questions for NC readers: How many of you think this indictment of Le Pen was non-political? How about those pre-election indictments of Trump? How many think the liberal mainstream press has been way too soft and “balanced” in their treatment of Le Pen, or Trump?
I have no doubt that Ayoub actually believes this. In recent years there have been a whole series of such articles by “leftist” critics of the mainstream press. I’ve read several in, of all places, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). There is enough truth sprinkled in these bias-confirming pieces to keep all those true believing anti-fascists on the “left” from seeing how oblivious they are to some deeper truths about the structure of power and what our current Game-of-Thrones political upheavals actually represent. I hope I don’t have to add the qualification that I am absolutely no fan of Le Pen – or Trump. But that would be the judgment of Ayoub-types on the “left.” We see what we want to see.
Generally prosecutors have a choice on who gets prosecuted and what gets washed over. Let’s say that the selection of Le Pen for bashing by the state was vindictive and politically motivated. Does that mean that she shouldn’t have been prosecuted because of the state’s underlying motivation? She still clearly did the crime, and per Ian Welsh was pretty egregious about it.
Claiming political is a red herring.
pjay:
According to this journalist, Cole Stangler, writing for Time magazine, the law is the same law that has been used several times before, quite prominently
https://time.com/7273307/france-le-pen-conviction/
Note the mentions of Juppé, Chirac, and ole Sarkozy, who still may be clanking around in an ankle bracelet.
Also, twenty members of Rassemblement National were convicted — so this is different from the lawfare-cum-sex-titillation on offer by the Democrats in L’Affaire Stormy Daniels.
PS: It is good to keep in mind that the continental / Napoleonic system of law leads to a court system that may be less politicized than the U.S. system is.
–Here in Italy, I don’t vote for judges, and appointments for judges don’t have to be more or less approved in the way that U.S. senators are allowed to interfere in federal appointments. (That written, there still is some jockeying in Italy for appointment to, say, the constitutional court.)
I’m no supporter of MLP (can’t stand to hear her whinging) but she has cleaned up her party and should probably be commended for expelling the riff raff and letting the frankly evil Zemmour scoop them up.
She was found guilty, and we all know she did it. And lots of others have done it and even Alain Juppé had to deal with a few years of disqualification from office.
Where she was mugged by lawfare is that she should have been allowed to run through her appeals before being denied the right to hold office. In her typical fashion, she’s rageing on about “les français” being denied their right to vote, and that her infraction was somehow timed before the Sapin II law applied, which is 1. not what her trial was about and 2. incorrect.
It’s also a bit rich that Ayoub uses one of Derrida’s famous neologisms (in a complex reference to Marx and Europe) as the title of a rather banal little liberal blog.
The author of the law, Michel Sapin, has been giving interviews saying it’s not his fault. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, the judge was not “applying the law” in passing sentence, she was choosing to exercise her discretion to impose the maximum sentence. The “Loi Sapin II” as it’s technically known requires the judge to consider whether disqualification is a reasonable punishment, but whether to inflict it and under what conditions, is for the judge to decide. So a fair summary would be that, considering a series of possible punishments to inflict, the judge chose the harshest possible, which also disqualified Le Pen from standing in 2027. It would have been possible, under the same Law, to have imposed a suspended disqualification, or indeed no disqualification at all, and to exclusively use other punishments such as prison. The practical result is that the choices made by a judge could potentially decide the next election.
The judge apparently believed that instant disqualification was necessary because there was a serious risk of reoffending, and because for Le Pen to stand in 2027 could present a serious risk to public order. Not everyone finds her logic convincing.
Some people are comparing her treatment to that of Christine Lagarde who for her offenses was neither fined or penalized but went on to be the President of the European Central Bank-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Lagarde#Conviction_of_negligence_in_allowing_the_misuse_of_public_funds
But Legarde was in the club which made all the difference.
re: a few cases for comparison to MLP
As The Rev Kev writes, Lagarde has not suffered any penalty.
Neither have members of the European Parliament (720 MPs altogether) – I don´t know how many of them are French.
But the complete number of those involved in possible cases of corruption, scandals and other comparable affairs amounts to around 25% of all MPs there.
Most famously von der Leyen has not suffered any legal consequences (not a French citizen of course) despite her dealings with Pfizer which cost us billions.
Neither has had Olivier Véran, French Minister of Health, 2020–2022, any trouble. He had ordered 500k packages of PAXLOVID in 2022. 130.000 of which remained unused. The retail price was secret until revealed by Le Canard Enchâiné magazine: 999Euros.
With 130k packages disposed of the French taxpayer lost 130M Euros.
MLP has been charged with the embezlement of 3,4M.
With a similar act as Véran his German counterpart Health Minister Lauterbach was responsible for the loss of up to almost 0.5B Euros. EU-wide 3,1M packages of PAXLOVID were never used – worth $2.2B. No consequences whatsoever.
Various MPs in Germany purchased masks insanely over-priced to make personal profit of several million with no consequences.
Macron so far had nothing to fear in the affairs over Alstom or McKinsey.
In the case of Alstom under Macron as Minister of Commerce American GE had enforced the take-over of Alstom (allegedly even using NSA assistance) when Macron bought it back 2 years ago for double the price, causing a loss for the French state of over 600M.
The state prosecutor´s office on finance issues suggested corruption since many involved in the deal were rewarded with their usual cuts who later were donors to Macron´s election campaign. But since Macron was handed over the documents being President the case has turned cold.
Since Macron took office the French state also paid excessive fees to McKinsey ( 1Bn Euros in 2021 only) a company affiliated with Macron well before him being in office. A situation which even before him being President by French law could have been prosecutable.
Art. 17 of the Lisbon Treaty demanded a reduction of the EU-Commission from 27 to 18 by 2014. The members secretly decided to ignore this. A single EU-Commissioner is costing us 2M Euros per year at least. Since 2014 when this should have been implemented we taxpayers paid 180M Euros in excess. With von der Leyen in power at least another 90M will be added.
Considering all these insane sums I am reminded of what Aurelien commented in the links yesterday I believe, that MLP´s defense was rather amateurish.
p.s. It is a different case – but reading a few of German AfD´s provisions in parliament which in themselves made much sense were so amateurish that even I – as a layman – could have produced better ones. Apparently many among these new people who entered politics via the right-wing parties are truly honest everyday individuals who believe good intent is enough and speaking out their mind will be awarded with respect by the system. But they are lacking professionalism. And I can understand why they have been mocked by other media-savvy MPs who are arrogant criminals anyway.
“Xi Jinping is investing in China’s science and technology research as Trump is gutting America’s research foundations’
The article is worth a read but the title itself summarizes it. The Chinese are going about it in a logical, methodical way by identifying five key elements of a science and technology power and then setting five targets to achieve those goals. Meanwhile on the other side of the Pacific, Trump, Musk, DOGE and fellow ideological travelers are taking a chainsaw to the foundations of American scientific research and setting it back decades for reasons that are hard to discern. It’s like there is this resentment to science and scientists and now they have an opportunity to bring them down. The worse possible outcome? Maybe in a decade from now the US will have a reputation of being a scientific backwater and young scientists will go to other countries to conduct their research. You will be able to see this in Nobel scientific awards going more and more to non-Americans. The worse thing about this? It is all totally unnecessary.
I’m thinking the Trump Administration is focused on full privatization of research. What seems like cuts now will be a redirect of funds. Research with even less oversight and transparency. That’s the impression I get from this.
Like cut NASA, fund SpaceX type of thing.
Full privatization of scientific research will assure that science provides the best science that money can buy. In the future, “Follow the Science” will acquire an entirely new and evolving meaning as privatization caves the authority science once commanded.
Indeed. It’s about who controls the research.
Yes, and it’s also about research that won’t get done.
Basic research is not profitable, no company will do it. That’s why we had the system we did. The system worked for all involved, but somebody said tax cuts and “irritable mental gestures” is what we got.
Basic research is not profitable, nobody will privatize that in the US. That’s why the government was doing it. The system worked for all involved, but somebody said “tax cuts” and they let lose with what Lambert would call “irritable mental gestures” over costs. And since it would be ludicrous to think Democrats will do anything about this, now or in the future, I agree with Rev Kev — we’ll be a scientific backwater in no time.
I didn’t say it was going to be “all good”. I made a couple of pointed criticisms.
Just pointed out the way they think.
It was wrong to have dismissed actual action goals and policy goals as “irritable mental gestures”. Some people said so at the time.
I think it may be more than just privatizing reseach: it’s part of the Project 2025 agenda to destroy civil society.
Here is a thread off Bsky that lays it out pretty well.
https://bsky.app/profile/jennycohn.bsky.social/post/3llrolfylyc23
In between all the grifting, of course.
If a man who is payed to be slow-witted can get it 20 years after everyone else… it’s really over, folks.
Dak Prescott?
Tom Friedman
Oh, our ‘Lord Ah Ha!’ (with apologies to William Joyce)
He just had an article “How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift Can Resolve U.S.-China Relations”. I refuse to provide a link.
Saw that article title and refused to even open it.
“EUROPE’S DESPERATE GAMBIT’
It is really getting into the end game territory here. The Ukraine is about ready to collapse. Russia won’t quite until they have achieved their war objectives. Zelelnsky will rather send Ukrainian kindergartners into battle before giving up power or agreeing to a peace. The EU powers are gung-ho in keeping this war going at all costs under the assumption that just a little bit more and Russia will collapse and they will get to cash in. Trump has discovered that he cannot stop this war but may end up passing a multi-billion dollar support bill for the Ukrainians so that he does not lose negotiating “leverage.’ Yep, SNAFU.
re: It’s time for a national rent freeze, The Breach
What about a price freeze (but not wages), to let wages catch up? Nixon did a wage and price freeze, but I couldn’t see the purpose of it and I don’t think it accomplished anything. A price freeze could be lifted once the median wage reaches some tbd level.
re: Iran US Israel
Sorry if this is uninformed: But who says that Iran wants to own nukes?
Dropsite has this good conversation – within the ideological limts of its staff.
Hussain suggests that Iran could try to “race for a bomb” now with its “other deterrents gone” such as “Hezbollah and other militant groups”.
I doubt a bit Hussain´s military expertise picturing Iran clearly as an underdog here. Although he does remind of the fact that Iranian nuclear research facilities are so deep underground that even B2s might not destroy them.
TC: 17:00+
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-yemen-iran-trump-deportations
If Iranians don’t want nukes, then they’re nuts.
I’m trying to figure out what’s taking them so long. Was stuxnet really that good?
I think they really considered to not build them. And try to be decent. If you really want to build nukes it´s not difficult.
Which for the US and Israel is a sad thing I could imagine.
Things with a nuclear armed Iran would be so much easier in a way.
But I am not that much an expert on Iran as I pointed out.
Yesterday I had another one of those “Hold my Adderall and watch this!” moments while doomscrolling through the links.
Donald the 1st unilaterally rescinded all of the collective bargaining agreements with Federal Public sector Unions.
TSA, Air Traffic Controllers, Federal Prison Guards…
Those agreements included “No Strike” clauses.
I’m sure this will have no unintended consequences, especially regarding Contract Law in general.
If these workers get uppity they can simply be replaced by AI.
I am getting the impression DNC loves all of this. So THEY don´t have to do it.
They will only reap the profit once back in power.
To them it doesn´t matter if they are not in the WH for 4 or 8 years.
The logic is the same.
Just the accompanying tune ist different.
I believe the authority for federal worker organized labor is at 5USC7111 et seq, as passed in 1978 92Stat1192. Law does not allow strikes by recognized labor organizations, so I don’t see the need for a specific clause in a Collective Bargaining Agreement.
5USC7103(b)
“(1) The President may issue an order excluding any agency or subdivision thereof from coverage under this chapter if the President determines that—
(A) the agency or subdivision has as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work, and
(B) the provisions of this chapter cannot be applied to that agency or subdivision in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.
“
US imposes Iran-related sanctions on Chinese, UAE-based entities; move will ‘only further worsen’ nuclear issue – Global Times
People can talk about the nuke issue until they are blue in the face. It doesn’t matter if Iran can develop a weapon in twenty years or tomorrow, a pretext will always arise as to why Iran needs to be attacked because it is Israel’s expansion and control over more of the mid-East that is wanted by its establishment and allies.
KHAAAAAAN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRnSnfiUI54
don´t make me watch that film again, for the umpteenth time
p.s. the script in this moment btw makes no real sense.
On page 76 Kirk is performing “KHAN” (script says “Khan — !”) very calm for what Kirk did in the film – and on page 85, around 10 minutes later it suddenly turns out that Kirk never WAS stranded on that moon. He had fooled Khan into believing that. But then – why scream KHAN???
I was thinking of A.Q., not Ricardo~
Taibbi, Weingarten, and Jankowicz gave testimony yesterday to a Congressional committee.
The Need for First Amendment Safeguards at the State Department
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsv66TTwkTk
Thanks!
Why does it happen that I misread words sometimes?
Here the first time I read “No Need for First Amendment”
Jankowicz so far insufferable…(she is familiar with gulags? WOW!)
and I cannot have hearing the term “protect our country” one more time.
It means nothing but destroying the working-class, destroying other countries and protecting the interests of the US elite.
Forgive me for sounding this preachy!
Big Don
Big Don
Ev’ry mornin’ at the White House you could see him arrive
He claimed to be six foot three and weigh 225
Kinda broad at the shoulder and loose at the lip
And everybody knew, ya didn’t give no shit to Big Don
Big Bad Don
(Big Don)
Nobody seemed to know where Don called home
He just drifted into town from Mar-a-Lago and drank diet Coke all alone
He’d often say too much, hardly quiet and shy
And if you spoke crypto-you just said buy to Big Don
Somebody said he came from the New York City scene
Where he was born in Queens
And a crashin’ blow from the Freedom Caucus team
Sent a Louisiana fellow to the Speakership, Big Don
Big Bad Don
(Big Don)
Then came the day on January 6th, no lyin’
When a mob attacked the Capitol and policemen started dyin’
Democrats were prayin’ and hearts beat fast
And everybody thought that he’d reached his last, ‘cept Don
Through the tear gas & melee of this man-made hell
Watched a church mouse of a man that the electorate knew well
Grabbed a hold of the GOP, gave out a groan
And like a giant Oak tree, he just stood there alone, Big Don
Big Bad Don
(Big Don)
And with all of his strength he gave justice a mighty shove
Then the GOP yelled out, “There’s a man above the law-show him love”
And a disgrace was sheltered from a would-be political grave
Now there’s only one left down in Mar-a-Lago to save, Big Don
With bluster and patriotism he wouldn’t back down
Then came that rumble on November 5th on the ground
And then because of inept Kamala & the Donkey Show con
Nobody thought it was the end of the line for Big Don
Big Bad Don
(Big Don)
Now they never went through with a verdict
They just more or less decided to acquit
These few words are written of his stand
“At the bottom of all this skulduggery lies a big, big man, Big Don”
Big Bad Don
(Big Don)
(Big Don)
Big Bad Don
Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnHprUGKF0
This, lol, stay indoors today or you’ll likely start a local conflagration!
BRAVO
On NIOSH:
It’s kind of fascinating to watch civil society, such as it is in America, be completely deconstructed. This is part and parcel with the casual indifference and antipathy the elite have towards American citizens and any kind of government restraint upon their freedom to do as they please.
I doubt much any of this will be rebuilt under a liberal Democrat presidency in the future.
Only after some sort of bubonic plague will kill lots of Americans, irrespective of class… The plague has destroyed feudalism in Western Europe…
Trump is screwing over what is generally considered the Republican base, gutting VA Health care and Medicaid are two examples.
Destroying Social Security is another.
No Medicaid means a large percentage of rural hospitals and clinics will be shut down.
When the only ones professing undying love for Trump are the Broligarchs, will it be enough?
Will Big Don issue an executive order overturning Bruen if the deplorables become restive?
Thankfully, we can depend on the fiery defenders of the poor and the downtrodden in the Democratic Party, Men and Women like Mayo Pete and Antoinette of Color, Hillary with a tan Harris and the Man who made the French Laundry Famous, Gavin Newsome.
I really can’t fathom why Republicans voted for Trump. Who thought it was a good idea to simply tear everything down? I’m sure my aged mom voted for Trump yet she relies on SS and Medicare, plus all sorts of other infrastructure. I really can’t fathom it.
Had an appointment with my primary care doc at the VA today (VA Pacific Islands Health Care System), so for me “gutting VA Health care” seems a bit overblown.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow forecast just took another nosedive:
A lack of staffing at Yosemite National Park, and the decision to open campgrounds, has raised the prospect of existing staff being unable to maintain restrooms as visitors head to the park for some R&R.
“This past week, the acting superintendent of Yosemite National Park made the executive decision that we will be honoring all existing campground reservations. This means that we will be opening Lower Pines Campground, North Pines Campground, and the rest of Upper Pines Campground on schedule,” a post earlier this week on a Reddit page dedicated to rangers said. “The kicker here is that we have not hired enough people to properly manage these hundreds of campsites and all of the restrooms that will be opening as well.
“Yosemite Custodial has not been able to hire any seasonal workers yet, and all permanent openings are still off the table for now. In lieu of this, leadership has asked everyone else to fill in and help clean the restrooms. That includes Interp, Wildlife, Fees, Volunteers, etc., scrubbing toilets until we can get custodial fully staffed later this summer,” the post added
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/04/what-were-hearing-yosemite-national-park
Catch, as catch can.
That’s what the premier National Park will be reduced to, full time NPS employees wearing a few hats~
Seasonal hires are the tarbaby in the works, nothing has been done so far from what i’ve heard here in Sequoia NP, and time is a wasting away in what is normally a tedious long process of screening and tests, all for a part time position!
Thanks so much, Conor, for the link to Potato News Today. One of the things NC Links brings to the table is a ton of new information sources that most of us would never find on our own.
Thanks for going wider as well as deeper in these posts.
I echo XXYY’s thanks for the link to Potato News Today. I added Potato News to the links I track. I would much value other links to information about agricultural concerns in the future. Potatoes are one important crop but tomatoes are another of similar importance, and squash of course. Of the grains, corn, rice, and wheat are also important along with quinoa, oats, millet, buckwheat, … and there are the many other basic food crops I am unaware of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbfhQW6KWL8/
Ray McGovern & John Helmer: Iran warns the US, Russia foresees catastrophe
(Dialogue Works)
Go all the way to the end…Helmer’s closing comments beginning at 1:06:40.
A demonstration of the maxim: “To be America’s enemy is dangerous. To be America’s friend is fatal.”
Even some of the Australians in the comment section were left wide-eyed.
Since UK has more horses than tanks, they are getting busy practising their famous light cavalry charge.
https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1907453106537009333
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who supports sending “peacekeepers” to Ukraine, shows an example of what that would look like.
[video]
Considering that Canada has its own mounted troops, the RCMP, herein appended is appropriate music for His Majesties’ Proposed Mounted Troops.
To wit, The Theme from Dudley Do-right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzIFFKb_tU0&ab_channel=wagthagt
The RCMP (not to be confused with the RHCP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRnGlsvGJYk&t=35s
re: Hollywood and the crisis of the Dems
The End of the Hollywood Kingmaker
The decline of Jeffrey Katzenberg, long the town’s chief political power broker, has left the industry’s Democratic elite without a leader, a plan or the clout they once wielded — just as Trump retakes Washington with vengeance on his mind.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/hollywood-political-revival-trump-1236177834/
“(…)
few others are likely to step into the breach. (…) Some argue that the ascendance of Silicon Valley and the trend of tech companies taking over Hollywood should broaden the search. The proposed merger between Skydance and Paramount has elevated the profile of Oracle fortune heir David Ellison, 42, who gave almost $1 million to Biden’s re-election campaign. However, his father and financial backer, Larry Ellison, is a high-profile Trump supporter. Another name that has emerged is billionaire Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, 34, who recently launched the Department of Angels to aid in the rebuilding of the communities impacted by the Eaton and Palisades wildfires. But a consultant who has worked with Spiegel says he prefers being seen as a philanthropist and has little interest in stepping into the political sphere.
(…)
“The era of the self-appointed mega political [figure] is over. That’s because no one — especially after Katzenberg — trusts these self-appointed kings anymore.”
(…)”
Re: Trump sets 37% tariff against Bangladesh.
That’ll show ’em! MAGA! Protect USian basket weavers!
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/trump-tariffs-live-updates-trump-reveals-liberation-day-tariffs-across-over-150-countries-191201863.html
DOW futures down 783 points after hours … Hope you like your 301k!
‘During an event in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday (3 April), the US president displayed a poster that listed reciprocal tariffs, including 37% on Bangladesh, 26% on India, 34% on China and 20% on the European Union, as a response to duties put on US goods, reports Reuters.’
https://www.tbsnews.net/foreign-policy/trump-announces-37-reciprocal-tariffs-bangladesh-immediate-effect-1106851
Trump has just declared economic war against the whole world. That should be a consequence-free victory. Lesotho cops 50%, Mauritius 40%, Vietnam 46%, Cambodia 49% are some of the worse. Timer to batten down the hatches as there is one almighty ****storm heading this way.
#LiberationDay
Yannis @ UnHerd
“Will Liberation Day transform the world?
The Nixon Shock set a radical precedent”
That really is a sold link, ChrisRUEcon, and should be hoisted to Links. Yanis Varoufakis provides lots of clarity here.
Agreed. Fantastic read!
Trump Administration Demands Additional Cuts at C.D.C.
Perhaps the end of wastewater testing? I guess we’ll see.
This year is lit.
Red Hat Distraction of the (Liberation) Day?
‘Nowhere on earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica
Alex Berenson: “URGENT: mRNA Covid jabs change genetic structures in ways linked to cancer and autoimmune disorders – Scientists call the changes caused by the Pfizer and Moderna shots “epigenetic” – they occur around DNA’s core and activate genes in ways that can promote tumor growth.”
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/urgent-mrna-covid-jabs-change-genetic