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Links 4/26/2025

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Duck moves in to Minnesota DNR EagleCam nest and lays eggs Star/Tribune

The oldest ant ever discovered found fossilized in Brazil ScienceDaily (Kevin W)

Who Were the Carthaginians? Ancient DNA Study Reveals a Stunning Answer Haaretz

A Strange Phrase Keeps Turning Up in Scientific Papers, But Why? ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition Nature (Paul R)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Climate/Environment

Seeing lost winters, not just rising temperatures, shakes climate indifference PhysOrg (Chuck L)

84% of Earth’s Coral Reefs in Crisis as Worst Bleaching Event on Record Hits ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

From boiling hot to freezing cold: Sudden flips in temperature set to increase with climate change PhysOrg

Experiments to dim sunlight to fight global warming will be given the green light by the Government within weeks Telegraph

China?

China exempts some goods from US tariffs Reuters

China tells Trump: If you want trade talks, cancel tariffs BBC

China’s rare-earth mineral squeeze will hit the Pentagon hard Defense One (Kevin W)

Trump tariffs: President vents at China over Boeing as Beijing denies claims of trade deal talks Independent

Rules on self-driving cars loosened in bid to challenge China The Hill (Kevin W)

India

US Seeks India Trade Deal on E-Commerce, Crops and Data Storage Bloomberg

India-Pakistan Row

Pakistan shuts airspace to Indian airlines and suspends trade RT (Robin K)

After deadly Kashmir attack, India reports exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers NPR

Africa

Why the US can’t beat al-Shabaab in Somalia Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

Sudan War Is A Global Crisis In The Making – Analysis Eurasia Review

Joshua Craze, Sudan’s World War New Left Review (Robin K)

O Canada

Rising demand at food banks seen as ‘canary in the coal mine’ for affordability crisis CBC

European Disunion

Why Europe won’t splurge to ward off Russia Euractiv

Brussels rebuffs UK bid to prise open access to EU single market Financial Times

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to rise in popularity, firmly establishing its leadership among political parties in the country UATV

Old Blighty

Recruitment agencies are shutting for business at their fastest rate since the financial crisis as companies tear up hiring plans amid rising taxes and global economic uncertainty Staffing Industry

Israel v. The Resistance

US Has Launched 750 Airstrikes on Yemen Since March 15 Antiwar.com (resilc)

Iran Doesn’t Want Rubio’s Fake ‘Compromise‘ Daniel Larison

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine may have to give up land for peace – Kyiv Mayor Klitschko BBC. resilc: “Temporary is like 50-100-1000 years?

Trump says Ukraine has not signed minerals deal Reuters

The Road to War in Ukraine — The History of NATO and US Military Exercises With Ukraine — Part 2 Larry Johnson

UK intel behind Ukraine’s disastrous Krynky invasion, leaked documents reveal GrayZone (Kevin W)

Ukraine silently encroaches on ‘friendly’ Moldova OpenTheMagazine (Kevin W)

* * *

Imperial Collapse Watch

US to spend $946B through 2034 to maintain, modernize nuclear military power Anadolu Agency

ONE WAR AT A TIME AND PLENTY OF MONEY TO BE MADE IN THE MEANTIME – THIS IS TRUMP’S GAME AS THE RUSSIAN AND CHINESE GENERAL STAFFS UNDERSTAND John Helmer

Trump 2.0

Trouble signs emerge for Trump in DDHQ/The Hill polling average The Hill

Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon CBS (Dr. Kevin)

Musk-owned company says it qualifies for federal contracts reserved for small businesses Musk Watch

Trump cuts federal grants to plantation museum focused on reality of slavery Guardian

Tariffs

How to Prepare for the Coming Supply Chain Shock Matt Stoller

Uncertainty Over Trump’s Tariffs Paralyzes U.S. Businesses New York Times (resilc). Important.

Exclusive: US pharma tariffs would raise US drug costs by $51 billion annually, report finds Reuters (Kevin W)

Why China is taking a much tougher stance towards Donald Trump this time round South China Morning Post

China, Japan, Korea sense Trump trade war weakness Asia Times (Kevin W)

Tariffs imperil America’s status as world investment magnet Axios (Kevin W)

Product shortages and empty store shelves loom with falling shipments from China NBC (resilc)

DOGE

Elon Musk and DOGE’s Savings May Be Erased by New Costs New York Times (resilc). If you thought this was about savings, as opposed to ideology, you were not paying attention.

Steve Bannon wants Elon Musk to provide ‘specific accounting’ of government fraud uncovered by DOGE Semafor (resilc)

Inspector General Probes Whether Trump, DOGE Sought Private Taxpayer Information or Sensitive IRS Material ProPublica

Immigration

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan charged with 2 felonies in ICE case Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Pam Bondi’s striking comments on arresting judges Washington Post (Kevin W)

Trump administration reverses abrupt terminations of foreign students’ US visa registrations Politico (Kevin W)

ICE Cancels $3.8 Billion Contract for Immigrant Tent Detention Camp at Fort Bliss ProPublica (Robin K)

A plot so lost it may never be found The Racket (Randy K)

Our No Longer Free Press

New England Journal of Medicine gets swept up in U.S. attorney inquiry into alleged bias STAT (Dr. Kevin)

What the Doxxing of Student Activists Means For the First Amendment Progressive.org (Robin K)

The Obligations of Capacity Sam Husseini

California proposes to allow testing of driverless heavy-duty trucks Guardian (Kevin W)

Mr. Market Has a Nervous Breakdown

Consumer sentiment is now lower than during the 2008 financial crisis, reflecting worries that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies will create new inflationary pressures Investopedia

US home sales lowered more than expected in March — dropping to their slowest pace since 2009 as panicked buyers bail, new data out today shows Daily Mail

The Bezzle

Indicted ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Pays Roger Stone $600,000 to Lobby for Him New York Times. resilc: “Nigeria has no where near the level of corruption we have in USA USA.”

Why Macro Forecasting Is So Hard Impossible Barry Ritholtz. resilc: “ez, if Trump is alive, it will be worse.”

Guillotine Watch

The Superrich Have Turned the Tiny Florida Town of Manalapan Into the Next Palm Beach Wall Street Journal

Luigi Mangione Enters Plea in CEO’s Murder Case MedPage Today

Class Warfare

Madrid’s Biggest Landlord? U.S. Investment Firms New York Times. resilc: “The cancer of capitalism needs chemo.”

New report cites ‘harmful effects’ of private equity firms buying nursing homes • Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus:

A second bonus:

And a third:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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44 comments

    1. The Rev Kev

      Thanks for that link, hardscrabble. The idea seems to be the one Trump had for Covid back in 2020 as in if you don’t report incidents, then cases remain low in number. Meanwhile Elaine Herzberg still remains unavailable for comment.

      Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    ‘Matt Van Swol
    @matt_vanswol
    Apr 23
    🚨#BREAKING: A wild report from a firefighter in Tennessee confirms that an Amish community whose sawmill completely burned to the ground on the night of April 8th…
    …had been COMPLETELY REBUILT AND WAS ALREADY FUNCTIONING on April 17th, just 8 days later
    Read that again.’

    There was an interesting reply to this tweet below-

    ‘Jeff Leavitt
    @poonschooner
    I lived near Amish country for 2 years in Pensylvania, never met a more humble, hard working people. Doing business with them was always a joy. Every transaction built on trust and integrity. God bless them all.’

    I wonder how many communities that you could say the same of.

    Reply ↓
    1. griffen

      Remarkable. Like going back in time, say for comparison in a Gene Hackman film called Hoosiers. Of course that story about Hickory High and a fictional Jimmy Chitwood is a Hollywood creation.

      Maybe Weird Al was accurate, “we spend most our lives living in an Amish paradise…”

      Reply ↓
        1. griffen

          I am a bit unfamiliar with that equation you reference, but much like the fictional school from that film I attended a very small school in eastern NC. So my connection to the story is strictly on that timeline in the mid to late 80’s, and the film being a memorable depiction of smaller school basketball no matter the location.

          If I’m taking shots at Indiana basketball that was a self goal; in my defense I do admit to loving the story of Coach Dale and the memorable performance by Hopper. Tar Heel is not one word, so I’ll stay in my little yard go forward I suppose, friendly banter or knucklehead comments notwithstanding.

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          1. Steve H.

            Price’s equation can be applied to cooperation, with those who are more alike (less variance) being more likely to cooperate. You and I, iirc we enjoy many of the same things, co-variants as it were. I went to high school in Chapel Hill, and have a certain emotional response to Carolina Blue despite my overt affiliation with Cream-and-Crimson.

            All love, griffen. We are of a one.

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        2. dougie

          I have a portion of the interview in my business to weed out the “Dookies”. I show them a picture of me in my Duck Fook! t shirt, and ask if they would like one of their own.

          My favorite Duke joke is “What do you have in common with the person standing next to you in line wearig a Duke Tshirt?” “He didn’t attend Duke, either.”

          diddukewin.com is a wonderful site to check out. The current answer will remain in place until football season begins. It will give me much amusement over the summer!

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    2. petal

      They would intentionally undercut us(the other farmers) at market and refused to interact in any way with the other market vendors. Wouldn’t even say hi. We were a pretty friendly, nice bunch. They would have a sketchy-looking normie drive them up. This was in upstate NY. They were not liked, except for customers who thought they were quaint and cute in their costumes. The females were not treated very well from what we observed. Also the use of human waste to fertilise crops would lead to problems down the road. And then there are the puppy mills, and the discarded draft horses that had been mistreated.

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      1. dougie

        Thank You. After spending a week at my brother in laws house in southern TN, where he lived an off the grid life in and around a largely Amish community, any idealization I had for that culture was gone. There were so many that the local Walmart had hitching posts for their wagons out front. They had a medical emergency, refused to contact “the English” EMS, yet had no problem asking my brother in law to make the drive to Florence Alabama , an hour away for medical care. I could go on, but those are not my stories to tell.

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    3. Eclair

      There are a number of Amish sawmills in our corner of south west New York and Pennsylvania. Two years ago we happened to be driving down to Pennsylvania and saw a plume of black smoke billowing up. Of course, we had to see what was happening; an Amish sawmill was burning, so fast and so hot that we could see the blackened ribs of the structure being consumed. We passed a couple of young Amish women, hurrying down the road, presumably to alert the neighbor, and maybe use their phone to call the local volunteer fire department (who carry their own water, btw, there being to public water or sewage out here.) The mill was rebuilt in a couple of weeks; we drove by regularly to check on it.

      I have been seeing advertisements for a book about Amish ‘ways,’ supposedly a bible for preppers and homesteaders. What it does not do, is discuss what I consider the greatest strength of the Amish communities; their communal structures of mutual aid and support, focused on the primary social unit of the parish, or church group, usually 15 or so families. Never any larger that can be fit into the ‘front room’ of their Sunday services, held at the homes of each parish family, in turn.

      From the groups of young men who every fall cut and stack a winter’s supply of wood at the house of of each elderly member, to the younger women who gather to clean the house of the family who will host that week’s church gathering, to the sharing of labor and machinery during the planting and harvesting season, especially in case of illness. A large part of their effectiveness comes from their practice in working together: one ‘house raising’ frolic (the local term for the combination of work party and eating) I attended a few years back was a revelation: my husband brought his carpentry tools, but was gently told that he should just enjoy the day, as the group of men raising the house all had their appointed tests and were a practiced team. I had a conversation with a jolly woman whose sole task at this frolic (and all gatherings that required large amounts of food) was to make coffee. Enormous pots, on wood and kerosene stoves, available from dawn to dusk.

      I am going on April 30th, to an auction, for family and friends, at the house and store of my Amish friend, L. She has reached the age when each Amish person, or couple, is expected to pare down their accumulation of ‘stuff.’ There will be food …. and endless pots of coffee ….. and family members and friends will bid on the items for which she has no further use. Similar to the Swedish ‘death cleaning,’ so you don’t leave a huge mess for your family to clean up after you pass on. And, the money raised is a little cushion for your final illness, or to make your old age a bit more comfortable.

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    4. gk

      The San Carlo opera house in Naples burnt down in 1816. It was rebuilt, and reopened in January 1817. These were Catholics, not Amish.

      Reply ↓
  3. Henry Moon Pie

    Amish barn building–

    The Amish do not buy insurance. They are not alone among Christian denominations in eschewing insurance, but most of the others do so because they believe buying insurance betrays a lack of faith in God. The Amish may also cite that reason, but they emphasize that no insurance means that a member of the community that suffers a catastrophic loss will be required to rely upon their neighbors to help them recover.

    This is the opposite of modern American cultural practice. Is the electrical grid subject to frequent outages? Don’t band together to demand better regulation from the government or better management from the utility. Buy a Generac! Are frackers polluting the underground water sources and poisoning your family’s water well? Buy bottled water. Is public transportation poor or non-existent where you live? Buy a car!

    The rest of us outside the Amish community may have to learn to emulate them when it comes to insurance. As insurance companies withdraw from more and more areas due to climate catastrophes and governments find it ultimately impossible to pick up the slack, those who live in high-risk areas may have to band together like the Amish. The problem is that with these modern fires and floods, everybody gets devastated at once.

    Reply ↓
  4. griffen

    Temperature flips, hot to cold and vice versa…nature is a mad scientist. I’ve always or long thought that life in modern America, with shelter and indoor plumbing and all the modern amenities that accompanies a routine existence beats the history of say, life in the post Civil War era. Given the givens but can’t say I’d always reach the outhouse if I had an emergency situation. TMI maybe.

    Modern living with indoor AC makes my younger childhood days, coping at night with a simple window and an old time metal oscillating fan just seem almost barbaric. First world problem for sure!

    Reply ↓
  5. The Rev Kev

    “The Road to War in Ukraine — The History of NATO and US Military Exercises With Ukraine — Part 2”

    What Larry Johnson could have mentioned was that after the coup, that not only was NATO outfitting the Ukrainian army with their weaponry & technology but that NATO instructors were training about five Ukrainian battalions each and every year to NATO standards. For all intents and purposes the first Ukrainian army that the Russians destroyed was a NATO army. I believe that the thinking at the time was that a NATO-trained Ukrainian army would rip through the Russian formations whose soldiers would panic, throw down their weapons and run for their lives. After that it would be a simple matter of occupying the Donbass Republics and maybe expelling the population to Russia. Well, except those that were to be reserved for special treatment that is. And even today they are still underestimating the Russian military. I’m sure that if it got to the point that you had a Russian tank battalion drive down Whitehall, that they would label it as a desperate measure.

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  6. DJG, Reality Czar

    Who were the Carthaginians? A tad breathless. Here’s a breathless quote: ” “This is the first known case where genetics shows a complete mismatch to cultural continuity,” says Prof. David Reich of Harvard University, a leading expert on ancient DNA and one of the scholars who led the new study.”

    I am not sure what Reich is talking about. Reading the article, what we discover is that the Punic language and Punic religion dominated in a population that was a mix of peoples, including Greeks, “Sicilians,” and north Africans = Berbers.

    These are people who have mixed for centuries. Reich should have read The Leopard, in which Tomasi di Lampedusa refers to Sicily as “that America of antiquity.”

    In Sicily, from about 600 BC to 900 AD, Greek was the prestige language. The majority of Sicilians are of Greek descent – but, genetically, Sicily and Malta are a mix. The article acknowledges the mixture that is “the Sicilians” but still doesn’t seem to get the import.

    Likewise, farther north, in Republican Rome, many customs related to the kingship and religion were imports (loans) from the Etruscans.

    Ahhh, yes, the Mediterranean world, ever the mystery to the Anglosphere.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      And you could also say the same of the Roman Empire where different cultures adopted Roman culture and made it their own – except for those bits of local culture the Romans adopted. Surprising, not surprising how often they will do a DNA test on Roman skeletons in places like Pompeii and find that they were never even born in the Italian Peninsular. But Romans they were.

      Reply ↓
    2. Daniil Adamov

      Yeah, it’s interesting, but hardly “stunning”. I hadn’t thought on the precise ethnic composition of the Carthaginians, but yes, this mix figures. I wonder if today’s “Arabic” Tunisian mix is very different genetically from the “Canaanite” one of old.

      Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    “Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon”

    Rumour has it that they borrowed the make-up kit from the J. Edgar Hoover building museum.

    Reply ↓
  8. flora

    re: Canada. From Mark Carney’s think tank, or personal advisory board.*

    https://horizons.service.canada.ca/en/2025/01/10/future-lives-social-mobility/index.shtml?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    It’s written as if this future (or present) is an inevitability, not something to be avoided by better govt policies. ( I love it the illustration has two hands whose two nexus points are the Apple logo and a computer scene. How WEF is that? / ;)

    Sounds like Canadians will own nothing and they will not be happy.

    * from the paper:
    “Policy Horizons Canada (Policy Horizons) is the Government of Canada’s centre of excellence in foresight. Our mandate is to empower the Government of Canada with a future-oriented mindset and outlook to strengthen decision making. The content of this document does not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Canada, or participating departments and agencies.”

    Reply ↓
  9. Kouros

    Poor Moldova…

    “Ethnic Moldovans account for close to 78% of the nation, which is predominantly Christian; Romanians make up 8% and Ukrainians less than 5%. Several officials in the government of President Maia Sandu are Romanian nationals, adding to disaffection among a majority of locals.”

    As a Romanian I have my biases.

    Ukrainians were a nasty lot before 1900s, during USSR, and after 1991.

    But this article is likely linked with the ongoing Russian propaganda, that Moldovans in R of Moldova are not Romanian.

    The historical Moldova straddled both sides of River Prut. One side is now in Romania and there are 4-5 million “Moldovans” in Romania. By this article’s definition I might not be “Romanian” since I am from the westernmost part…

    And more than 50% of Moldovans in R of Moldova have Romanian Passports, including their president…

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      You do realize that that last sentence is not a good thing. It would be like the Prime Minister of Canada waving around an American passport. You would never be sure who they would owe their final loyalty too. That’s why the law in Oz says that if you sit in Parliament, you cannot have a passport with another country. Can you imagine if that was true for the US Congress?

      Reply ↓
  10. The Rev Kev

    “Iran Doesn’t Want Rubio’s Fake ‘Compromise'”

    Rubio is who you send when you are not seriously negotiating at the moment. Meanwhile it looks like the Israelis are trying to torpedo any deal to be had. There has just been a massive explosion in Shahid Rajaee, Iran’s largest commercial port-

    “The source of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area,” a crisis management official said, according to BBC Persian.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx251yyvwr3o

    It will be interesting to hear what Trump has to say about this explosion.

    Reply ↓
  11. Afro

    Re: Zionist Jewish mob chase a lone woman in NYC and chant “Death to the Arabs” in Hebrew.

    I’m partly flabbergasted but also partly not because I know how insular some Jewish people are. The talk about anti-semitism right now is not helpful, it’s one of the most discussed problems, but it’s certainly not one of the biggest actual problems. To be honest I can’t recall once in my mostly North American life where I’ve witnessed actual anti semitism.

    The victims in that video are those two women walking away while being harassed. Sadly, I’m also worried about that cop that I think tried to help. Is a hedge fund owner going to call the police chief and “ask” that the cop he laid off?

    Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      In Israel they call this Tuesday. If you can’t have over a hundred men harassing and shoving a defenseless woman around, where is the fun in that? You could see that cop calling for backup as that could have gone bad real quick and I suppose you would have the same sort of atmosphere at a lynching. If they had managed to trip her over, then I bet that it would be real bad. You wonder though. All those men there. Are they the same ones that jumped aboard a plane out of Israel to avoid serving in Gaza?

      Reply ↓
  12. The Rev Kev

    “Trump tariffs: President vents at China over Boeing as Beijing denies claims of trade deal talks”

    You have to wonder what sort of briefings that Trump is receiving then and who is giving them. He was probably told that the Chinese economy is a paper dragon, that losing the American market would cause the Chinese people to lose their moral & panic, that the government is weak and one major push could lead to regime change by ‘friendly’ billionaires, that they would abandon their markets in other countries so that they don’t lose the American one. Trump seems confounded by the fact that the Chinese came out swinging instead. Wouldn’t the US do the same if positions were swapped? And making bs claims that he is negotiating with them does not impress them and they called him out on it calling it fake news. And if President Donald Trump said that Boeing “should default China” for not taking planes that it had committed to purchase, does that mean the World Trade Organization? Good luck with that as the US has blocked new judges being elected for years now so they no longer have the numbers to rule on any cases. Trump needs a new game plan and one based in reality. And hopefully not one developed by the same people that told him that knocking off China would be easy.

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  13. Camelotkidd

    Chinese companies are recruiting recently laid-off U.S. scientists—particularly those with expertise in artificial intelligence.

    Companies are offering generous “full-cycle support” for relocation to Shenzhen.

    Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
    Like Yves says–It’s not about savings but ideology

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      KLG was talking about this in his “Coffee Break” post yesterday. How laid-off American research scientists are leaving the country to take up posts elsewhere. And when you think about it, there is no guarantee that they will ever return to live in the US again. After all, they may even get a frosty reception at the border and all sorts of hostile examinations on visits back. Can’t blame them for leaving as what else are they to do? Try to find a teaching job or something? A scientist has only so many years to do his work and the thought of just wasting the next four years to pass hoping that the political situation will change would be a bad joke. This really is a case of America burning it’s seed corn and as you say, it is all about ideology.

      Reply ↓
  14. Cervantes

    > Who Were the Carthaginians? Ancient DNA Study Reveals a Stunning Answer Haaretz

    The article seems shocked that some ancient people didn’t primarily identify with their genetics but instead with language, religion, and culture, with some family ties mixed in. Maybe that is the assumption that needs most challenged.

    Even the Romans weren’t primarily about genetics–it was, again, language, religion, and culture.

    And arguably the Greeks in the wake of Alexander’s conquest were the same, although they did retain separate populations from locals.

    Heck, I personally most closely identify with the lineage of my surname, which is only 25% of my genetic heritage at the grandparent level. So even family tradition isn’t the same thing as genetics.

    Reply ↓
  15. ChrisFromGA

    Re: Tariffs and lagged effects

    So this is why I detest the stonk market. It seems the just randomly switch from trading off fundamentals to a mode of psychopathic meth-addled rage buying, where every rumor and false narrative triggers hopium-induced FOMO.

    I guess it is a reflection of our sick society more than anything.

    Reply ↓
  16. Carolinian

    Re NBC on tariffs

    “The threat of empty store shelves has appeared to raise alarm bells inside the White House, more so than months of warnings from businesses about rising prices, said a person familiar with business lobbying efforts around tariffs. Trump administration officials seemed particularly concerned about a shortage of products around holidays, like the Fourth of July and Christmas, the person said.”

    Trump crossed the Rubicon when he let Netanyahu resume the genocide and now, to switch metaphors, he has met his Waterloo with the huge “Liberation Day” mess. In truth who ever knew of a president in such a hurry to fail.

    The problem seems to be that, as in Trump One, he has hired a cast of goons like Pam Bondi with the only difference being this time they are loyal goons so there’s no Trump pretending he had nothing to do with it. Seemingly all he can do is lie to the press about what’s going on and hope Fox News won’t notice. Those empty shelves in the toy department though–the political disaster is becoming ever more obvious.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      He’ll want to get a deal before the middle of next year. July 4th 2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the United States – the Semiquincentennial – when the Declaration of Independence was signed. There will be celebrations galore. Guess which country supplies 98% of America’s fireworks.

      Reply ↓
  17. Dan S

    Re: Experiments to dim sunlight to fight global warming will be given the green light by the Government within weeks

    I suppose we could also just nuke England and that would mostly have the same effect. It would also be a great jobs program. /s If we are resigned to running the largest uncontrolled science experiment in world history (i.e., anthropomorphic impacts to global warming), can we at least not make it worse with crazy geoengineering crap? Do we even have a firm grasp on the first order impacts of such things, let alone the second and third order impacts? In the mostly forgettable adaptation of Matheson’s excellent “I Am Legend” with Will Smith, the premise of the plague is the best part – can’t you just see us, in our ever growing ignorance to risk, gulping down any pill that will give us the cure we’re looking for without any consideration of the risk? I wonder what all the folks taking the GLP-1s just for a quick weight loss fix will be facing in 10-20 years…

    Reply ↓
  18. Lefty Godot

    What Trump should say about “dimming the sun”: To any country that wants to inject chemicals into the air to dim the sun, I will help you by sending a nuclear warhead via hypersonic delivery to your capital city to speed the process along!

    Reply ↓
  20. GrimUpNorth

    Trump Order Fast-Tracking Deep-Sea Mining Threatens Ocean Health LINK

    Haven’t seen this posted yet, he wants to mine both US and international waters.

    Here’s the White House LINK to Trumps executive order issued yesterday.

    Reply ↓
  21. Michael Hudson

    The article on the “Phoenicians” is very interesting. My archaeological colleagues use the term Syrians to describe how merchants brought Near Eastern trade and economic practices — including the charging of interest! — westward around the 8th century BC. I describe this in Ch. 1 of “The Collapse of Antiquity.”
    The practice of traders since Sumerian times was for merchants to create temples as “chambers of commerce” for mediation with local populations. These remained throughout the Aegean, typically offshore or on islands (such as Delos).

    Reply ↓

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